✧ 05 ✧

[bonnypiperlad]

[Before taking up Nathan on his offer to send him home, Jamie heads back to his townhouse. There's a few things that were left behind that he needs to fetch, like his claymore. And maybe a few other small things that he's kept as mementos of his trip here. He doesn't know if they'll come with him or not, but he wants to try. However, once he steps through the door, he finds himself wandering through the different rooms, rather than immediately collecting his things. It's funny, he thinks. When he had come here, everything was unknown to him. The technology, the people - the man calling himself the Doctor, who didn't look a thing like the funny little man he had just said goodbye to on the moors of Scotland. None of it made any sense. And when the dreams had started, it had made everything even more strange. All those bits of a life he no longer remembered living...for a bit, he thought he was going mad.

He remembers it now, though. Or, well, most of it. Enough that he can recall his adventures with the Doctor easily. All the beasties they fought, all the times they had to live on their wits, and all the people he had come to meet as well. Ben and Polly, who thought of him a bit like a little brother that was always getting into trouble. Beautiful Victoria, who had broken his heart when she left. And clever Zoe, with her head for figures and an impulsive streak to rival his own. Zoe, who was now back home, like he was supposed to be, and without her memories too. What would happen to his memories, when he left? Would Sophie's socks survive the journey and help them stay put? Or would they slip away from him again, leaving him like he was before?

Standing in front of the viewscreen in his living room, he looks at it, or more accurately, through it. He's not really seeing it. Instead, he's thinking about Nathan's offer. The man needs help, and what does he have to go back to? A life on the run, captured or killed by the English? A life without the Doctor? Without realizing it, the CAT's flickered to life during his trip through the townhouse, and if anyone's actually watching, they might see the indecision on his face as he tries to figure out what to do - and when he finally does speak.]

Maybe it'd not be so bad, if I stayed here instead.

((OOC note: For reference, the thread with the Doctor is occurring last, chronologically.))

Comments

[fortune_sought]

[Sophie is watching from where she's sitting in the living room of her own townhouse, her hands clasped around her abdomen, which has grown quite a bit in the last several weeks. she's concerned by the expression on his face, though she's not sure what help she might be able to offer. still, she does want to speak to him before she leaves, and maybe just someone to listen could help him]

Jamie, are you all right?

[bonnypiperlad]

[He glances up in momentary surprise at the sound of her voice, but realizes what must have happened almost immediately. So while there is a bit of a grimace because of it, the look is gone as quickly as it appeared.]

Aye, I am. It's just that I...I'm not so sure I want to go back.

[fortune_sought]

[she is quiet for a moment before saying, gently:] Would you like to come over for tea? Or I could go there, if you'd prefer.

[Video to action]

[bonnypiperlad]

No, stay where ye are. I'll be by shortly.

[True to his word, a little while later there's a knock on Sophie's door, and Jamie's voice can be heard outside.]

Sophie? It's Jamie. Can I come in?

[fortune_sought]

Please do! It's open.

[Sophie is in the kitchen, just arranging two cups of tea on a platter of scones]

[bit_impossible]

[the Doctor sees it appear on his own CAT, but he doesn't use it to respond. instead, he quietly enters Jamie's townhome. his feeling that Jamie would be here is easily proven correct.]

Is that right? It's not a bad little town when you think about it. [he steps into the living room slowly, sniffing] Well, when you ignore certain aspects of it, anyway.

[bonnypiperlad]

Doctor! You've not left yet! [Jamie's face breaks out into a relieved smile, glad he's not missed seeing his friend.]

I thought, maybe...aye, well. It's not important. Seems a bit strange to think of going home after all this, though.

[bit_impossible]

Nope! [he smiles a bit crookedly, hands tucked into his coat pockets] Not just yet.

[walks over to him] You're right, it is a bit weird. But don't think whatever you're thinking of isn't important.

[bonnypiperlad]

[He's quiet for a long moment, then decides to go ahead and say what's on his mind anyway.] Well, you've not been one to stay in one place for very long, if ye can help it. We've left in a hurry more than once. That is, when I was still traveling with ye.

[softly] But I'm not traveling with ye any more, am I? I was sent back to Scotland, and Zoe was sent back to the Wheel. And at some point ye changed into who ye are now, and things are different.

[bit_impossible]

[looks at him, his expression becoming serious] Many, many times since I was last with you and Zoe. I'm a different man than I was all those years ago, and I've learned since then that are times when you simply can't run. And this is one of those times.

[desertdaggers]

It doesn't seem so bad when there's not something hanging over us.

[bonnypiperlad]

You're right, it doesn't. But...och, I don't know. Are ye thinking of staying, then?

[desertdaggers]

[he shakes his head] Too much going on back home. And… well. I miss home and my friends an awful lot.

[bonnypiperlad]

Oh. Aye, I'd not blame ye for going back, then. I just wish it was as easy for me.

[desertdaggers]

Well… what is there you like about staying, and on the other hand, leaving?

[irreversibly.livejournal.com]

Is there something wrong?

[bonnypiperlad]

Well, not wrong so much. Trying to make up my mind, mostly.

[irreversibly.livejournal.com]

[The way he said it -- "maybe it'd not be so bad" -- and the look on his face... It worried Xion that maybe something's not right back home for him.]

Do you wanna talk it out?

[bonnypiperlad]

[She wouldn't be entirely wrong, there.] I suppose it might help if I do.

Where do I start, though?

[irreversibly.livejournal.com]

What's -- who's -- waiting for you back home?

[wind-of-reason.livejournal.com]

Mister Jamie...

It can be hard to choose, ne?

[bonnypiperlad]

Aye, Fuu. It can. [He purses his lips a moment, then looks at her thoughtfully.]

Would ye mind if I asked ye what happened last time? When ye left here before, that is.

[wind-of-reason.livejournal.com]

Oh, I don't mind at all!

When I left, I was returned to the exact time and place that I was taken from. I didn't remember anything from what had happened, and there seemed to be nothing different about me. I went on and lived my life for a whole year as normal.

[bonnypiperlad]

[The exact same time and place? Jamie can't help but think of the Redcoat he had been fighting when he had left - and the fact that the Time Lords had very nearly done the same thing, dumping him back where he had been taken from and removing his memory.]

Everything that's happened here, everything that's happened with the Doctor from before...it'd be gone?

[He glances down, his expression unreadable.] I'd forget it all all over again.

[wind-of-reason.livejournal.com]

I'm sorry. I think so, if the same thing happens as last time.

Does this make your decision more difficult?