Ficlet: DW: Are You Happy? (Six, Mel, mentions of Peri)
Title: Are You Happy?
Characters: Six, Mel, mentions of Peri
Rating: Teen
Prompt: For sleepismyfriend who wanted me to change one thing in the Doctor's history.
With the burden of his trial over, the Doctor stood at the TARDIS console, head bowed. Mel came through the interior door and came to stand beside him. ‘What’s wrong Doctor?’ she asked after a minute of silently watching him.
He turned to look down at her. ‘Huge chunks of my memory are missing!’ he barked before softening his voice. ‘I’m sorry, Mel. The Matrix is not kind to an old Time Lord’s dendrites.’
He went silent again, staring blankly straight ahead. Mel put a hand on his arm, but said nothing.
‘They told me she died,’ he whispered.
‘Who?’
‘Peri. She’s my friend, a very dear friend. We travelled together.’ He sighed. ‘She probably thinks I’ve abandoned her.’
Mel thought for a moment. ‘Well, why don’t you go check on her? The Inquisitor said she stayed with someone, right?’
‘Ycarnos,’ the Doctor nodded before slamming his fist against the console and raising his voice again. ‘Ycarnos! What in the name of Rassilon would she see in him? He’s overbearing, obnoxious and loud!’ He stomped around the console slamming buttons.
‘Maybe the same thing she saw in you.’
The Doctor turned and glared at her. ‘I’m not sure what you’re implying.’
‘Look, Doctor,’ Mel rationalised, ‘you’ll feel better if you see for herself that she’s happy.’
“You could’ve come back.” The words echoed in the Doctor’s mind as a memory, but something was off. He had no memory of anyone saying that to him, so he reasoned it away as a Matrix echo. ‘And what if she isn’t? What then?’
Mel put her hands on her hips. It seemed so simple to her. ‘You figure it out. You’re both adults.’
The Doctor finally smiled. ‘You’re right. Let’s go!’