So...Now What? [Closed]

[bonnypiperlad]

Jamie has been scarce as of late. Other than his shifts in Engineering and Ranger training, he's been coming up with all sorts of excuses to find himself in parts of the ship he doesn't normally go to. All his usual haunts? He's been steering clear of them. Oh, he's telling himself that it's because he wants to go exploring, or that he's just bored with visiting the same places over and over. Really, though, it comes down to the fact he's avoiding the Doctor.

It's not that he doesn't want to talk to the Time Lord - he knows he needs to, eventually - but he's not even sure where to start. It was easier to talk to Kaylee. Kaylee had only given him a few wee bumps and bruises. The Doctor, on the other hand...

For the fortieth or fiftieth time since the possession, Jamie shoves the thought aside, instead leaning back against the rather alien-looking tree he had found and turning his attention to watch the small herd of deer-like creatures grazing peacefully nearby.

He'd go talk to the Doctor, just as soon as he was ready. For right now, though, Hydroponics seems like a much better alternative than having an uncomfortable conversation.

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[bonnypiperlad]

Jamie hadn't looked away when he mentioned the last bit to the Doctor, so he catches that small change in the Time Lord's expression - and immediately regrets saying what he did. He hadn't meant the Doctor specifically, because the Doctor's not an enemy. Not now, not ever.

When the Time Lord scrambles to his feet, Jamie does as well, reaching out to grasp the Doctor's arm rather urgently. "Look, Doctor, I'd not meant you. But all those other times - with the Q and the Nightmare King. Those were enemies."

Well, okay, the one Q seemed alright, but the other was outright trying to get them to kill themselves, so he's certainly no friend to Jamie. "I'd not thought it through before, but it is a problem, and I will talk to Billy about it for the others. Do ye understand, though, I don't think of what happened with us as being the same thing?"

While the Doctor is focusing on the future, Jamie is focusing on the present, and trying to get his point across to the Time Lord. He may not have said it much, but the Doctor is very important to him, and he wants him to know that. He'll say it out loud if he needs to, but maybe he can get his friend to see what he means by through that touch, and the look on his face. "Will ye still help me, Doctor? Please?"

[makeherblue]

The Doctor looks down at the hand on his elbow, the urgent squeeze. Oh, Jamie.

"Of course I'll help you." He smiles, the smile a little hollow. Even with a young body like this, he feels that weight sometimes. It's not just joints aching (they shouldn't be) or forgetting things. Something else, something even he can't put words to. It's not all the time, but sometimes it's there in full, like right now. "But what happened is the same thing. I was able to just walk right in, no fuss. I should've thought to give you lessons in this all those centuries ago."

For that he's sorry he hadn't had the foresight. But he'd been young and he'd been rather busy traveling with his friends, and there's no changing that. He'll just have to make up for it now. Make sure Jamie and his friends are psychically protected, and that's that. Simple. In theory. Working with humans does tend to factor in some complications here and there, more often than not.

And that's being nice about it.

The Doctor pats Jamie's hand on his elbow, cupping it. "All right, so we'll start with meditations, then work our way up. Bring your friends if they have the time."

He's brisk about it. Feels much, much better to be planning what to do instead of wallowing. Not that he hasn't had some good -- or not so good -- wallows but wallowing won't get Jamie started on learning how to help himself. Jamie thinks he'll help him, but the way the Doctor sees it, it's not quite like that. He can show him. In the end, though, the majority of this will be on Jamie's shoulders. Despite his ex-corpse status, his paradox, the Doctor believes Jamie can live up to the challenge...after all, he's done it so many times in the past.

The Doctor pats Jamie's hand again, almost absently, still looking far away as he tries to figure out the best way to approach the lessons. This would be different if Jamie was one of those humans who displayed any sort of psychic aptitude, like some of his species, but...

[bonnypiperlad]

There's no way the Doctor could have known that this type of situation would have happened, to Jamie's mind. Thanks to luck and a little ingenuity on the Doctor's part, most of the creatures that could have affected him mentally had been defeated, and the last time the Time Lord had seen him, he was about to be sent back to his own time. The likelihood of something of this nature happening to Jamie there would have been nearly nil.

Even if he knew about Space Station Chimera and his own death, he wouldn't think that it would have been something that needed to be taken care of. But then the Ohm came, and changed everything.

He's not expecting the Doctor to simply go in and take care of things, as easy as that would be. For all Jamie may not have the best grasp of some things thanks to the time he's from, he's intelligent enough to know that, he's going to have to do some work here. When he's asking the Doctor to help him, it's more to help show him how to get started. He's still not entirely certain that meditation will work, but he's willing to give it a go.

The absent patting of his hand helps to reassure him some on that front - even though he can tell the Doctor's thoughts have wandered far away. It may take some time, but things will get better.

Jamie lets go of the Doctor's arm, finally, but only to reach up and tap the Time Lord on his shoulder. "Doctor?" Once he's sure he's gotten other man's attention, he gives him a small smile. "Thank you."