DIARY OF A HALF HUMAN TIME LORD

Chapter One

Hello, my name is Jonathon Smith and this is the first entry in this diary. Normally, I'm rubbish at keeping a diary but this time I feel I have to do this. You see, I'm not what you call an ordinary human and I'm not an ordinary Time Lord. I'm neither and both at the same time. I was born to a man and a woman who are my parents and yet, at the same time, they're not. I'm barely less than a fortnight old, yet I have the body of a man in his late thirties. I have only begun to live and yet I have centuries of memories that aren't really mine and yet they are. I suppose what I'm on about is my life is extremely complicated. I'm here and yet I feel like I don't belong because I'm not quite sure what my purpose is. I was created to help the Doctor and Donna defeat the Daleks. To be the third person in the threefold man, but all that's over and done with and now I find myself asking what's next? In my short life, I've already been abandoned, first by the Doctor and now by Rose's family and now Rose as well, although she hasn't come out and said that to my face. She doesn't have to say it. Her tears say it perfectly. They're not tears for me, mind. They're tears for a man who left her behind and is never coming back, leaving her here alone with some mixed up thing that can't even begin to sort out what his place in the universe is. At the moment, I'm living in a small flat in London because I don't want to live in the mansion where Jackie Tyler can breathe down my neck nor do I want to bother Rose and upset her further because I resemble a man she can never have. So, with their help, I managed to find this place and find some secondhand furniture and settled in to become human, if I can. Torchwood has supplied me with the necessary human identification and they even offered me a job but I have no desire to work there where Rose will be forced to see me on a daily basis and be reminded of the Doctor. Nor do I want to work with Pete who is just as hostile towards me as Jackie is even though I haven't done anything to them. It's because they're angry that the "Doctor" has come back into their lives just when Rose has settled down and started a career. I am not the Doctor, I don't wanna be the Doctor, but because I resemble the Doctor, I get the blame for everything he's done on top of the Doctor's blame for everything I've done. I tried to save the universe and what do I get, kicked out on the beach with Rose and left behind with no TARDIS, no hope of escaping this human existence, and on top of that having the humiliation of being assigned a babysitter. That's the other reason I've avoided Rose. I don't need anyone to look after me and she's got enough to deal with without being my minder.

So here I sit in my new flat with my new identity while I possess the face of an old man. At the moment, Rose is supporting me every week with money from her paychecks and Pete is reluctantly paying for my flat until I can get on my feet which I hope is fairly soon because I don't wanna be a burden on Rose or Pete or anyone else. I just want to be left alone so I can try to suss out who I am and why I'm here.

Jonathon stopped writing and took a swig of his beer. He was sitting at the kitchen table in his flat writing in his brand new diary. He took another swig while he looked over what he had written. Satisfied that he had written everything he had wanted to say, he closed the diary, set it aside, picked up his beer and went into his living room to watch a bit of TV. He set his beer down on the table beside the sofa, picked up the remote and flicked through the channels. He found a quiz show and left it there, mindlessly watching it while he drank his beer. While he watched, he heard the distant sound of thunder and glanced out the window to see the night sky briefly light up from a lightning flash. He watched for a few minutes, waiting for another flash of light and saw one about a minute after the first. He mentally calculated the distance of the storm before he turned his attention back to the quiz show. While he watched, the phone rang and he got up with his beer and walked over to the table beside his battered tan chair. He slumped down in it and answered it.

"Hello?" he said.

"Hi, Jonathan."

"Hi, Rose," Jonathan said, keeping his eyes on the TV.

"What's going on? Are you alright?"

"Yup, I'm perfectly fine," he lied.

There was a pause while he sipped his beer and waited for Rose to continue.

"Um…what are you doing?" she finally said.

"Watching some quiz show on the telly."

"Oh," Rose said.

There was another long pause. John sighed quietly. He hated this. He knew Rose was only calling as a formality, just to check up on him. He rolled his eyes. Probably out of a sense of duty towards the Doctor, after all, she was his babysitter, wasn't she?

"John…" Rose finally said.

"Jonathon, please, if you don't mind. John was his alias," Jonathan said.

"Yeah," Rose said softly. "Um…Jonathon. I was just thinkin'. Why don't you come over…and have dinner with us?"

"With who?" Jonathan said.

"Me…and mum and Tony."

"No thanks, I've already eaten but thanks for the offer," he said.

"Jonathon, she won't say anything. I won't let her."

"She doesn't like me, Rose, and I'm not going to upset her by coming in her house and eating her food," he said.

"Well…can I come over then?"

Jonathon glanced out the window when he heard another thunder boom.

"You better not, Rose. Storm's comin'," he said.

"Storms don't bother me," Rose replied. "I can bring some food for us and…"

"No offense but I'd rather be alone tonight. I'm tired and I just wanna be by myself," he said.

"Oh…okay, Jonathan. Well, you know, I'm here if you need some company. Just ring me if you want me to come over, yeah?"

"I will," he said.

Another thunder boom.

"I better get off the phone, Rose. The storm's getting closer now."

"Yeah. Have a good night then," Rose said.

"You too, Rose."

There was another pause.

"I love you," Rose said.

"Same here," Jonathan said in a dull voice.

"Jonathan, I really do mean that and…"

"Bye, Rose."

Another pause.

"Bye, Jonathan. Have a good night."

"You too," he said.

He hung up the phone and took another swig of beer while he went back to his place on the sofa.

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