Disclaimer: This isn't mine, unfortunately. I'm merely using someone else's creations as it suits my whimsy.

The first time they met, it was raining. The clouds were dark above the small planet and the blue-tinted light they cast across the landscape made the yellow grass appear almost green. The city was alive with activity and people of many different species hurried about, hunched against the rain.

It reminded them both of London. Though they each were remembering two different cities, universes apart, they were the same city in the ways that matter. They had both traveled extensively across much of time and space, and the chances of two such as them meeting on this little planet in the far corner of a distant galaxy a long time from Earth were astronomically small. But then again, impossibilities were a regular occurrence around the both of them, so perhaps a meeting was inevitable.

The Traveler was sitting on a park bench with a large umbrella over his head to hide the fact that he was using water repelling charms that kept the rain off him. The Doctor walked passed him, head down, hands in his pockets, and collar turned up against the rain, and sat down on the bench next to him, resting his elbows on his knees. The Traveler turned to look at him, seeing the set of sadness in his face, seeing the age in his eyes, and seeing the longing in the set of his body when he looked at the city so full of life. He recognized these things that most people can only catch glimpses of because he saw them everyday in himself.

"Sit next to me," he offered the man. When the other started and looked over at him in surprise, the Traveler continued. "The rain is cold and there is room under my umbrella for the both of us."

The Doctor rose to his feet and walked over to the other bench. Once he had folded himself onto the bench and out of the rain, he attempted to wipe the water from his face and brush the dripping end of his messy hair away from his eyes. The other man chuckled lightly and handed him a dry, white handkerchief with looping green embroidery.

"Thank you," The Doctor said, surprised, as he dried his face and the back of his neck where small rivulets of water were running down from his hair line. After he finished, he offered the handkerchief back to the other man.

The traveler waved it away, saying, "Keep it, I have plenty of them and you may find a better use for it than me."

"I think you found an excellent use for it," the Doctor replied, "I had found myself feeling rather soggy, and I thank you for your kindness."

"You're very welcome. Sometimes when I feel…off…I find that a nice gesture from a stranger can be more helpful than one may realize." They both knew that he was talking of more than just being a little wet, but the Doctor remained silent, accepting the comment, and ignoring the subtle inquiry that the man had offered.

The two of them sat in comfortable silence for a long time, watching the city move around them and listening to the sound of voices, vehicles, and rain on the umbrella and the pavement before them.

They felt no real need to speak, because they already understood the other. They knew that they were the same, two travelers, one running, one drifting, feeling the weight of too many years and the aimless meandering of one without people waiting for their return. They saw themselves in the other, and for a time they were not alone as they shared the shelter of the umbrella, a small sanctuary of sorts for just the two of them.

But then the rain ended making the umbrella no longer needed, and the spell that had suspended reality for the two of them was broken, so there wasn't really any reason to stay. The red-orange sun had come back out and the grass was yellow again and the sky was a hazy brown color and it was hard to see how this city on this little planet could have ever reminded someone of the London they each remembered.

They stood up together, giving each other a small nod before walking in opposite directions, the Traveler to find a secluded place to disappear and the Doctor to his TARDIS.

Back in the control room, the Doctor looked at the handkerchief hung to dry on the warm console and thought of how similar the green embroidery was to the man't eyes. A few hours later when he took it down again, he folded it carefully and slid it into an inside pocket in his jacket, before turning to the controls with a smile and setting a course for the universe.

The second time they met, they were sitting on a cloud. The Doctor had taken his TARDIS into the sky to watch the sun rise over London. It was still dark and the stars were out, unobstructed by the barest hint of a glow from the Eastern horizon. The Doctor parked his TARDIS in the barest edge of a cloud in order to stay out of sight of the people below. As he arrived, his the TARDIS alert system went off, telling him of a small object hovering next to him. He hurried to the door and yanked it open, stoping short when he saw the handkerchief man sitting next to him in the sky. He thought that he ought to be surprised, after all, the man was just floating there, but he couldn't help but feel that this was normal, perhaps expected even. Moving more slowly, he lowered himself down to sit level with the man with his feet hanging out of the doorway.

"This is my favorite time of day," the man began without preamble. "They say it is darkest just before dawn, and perhaps that is true, but it just makes the stars that much brighter. And when the sun does come, the light is all the more beautiful for the darkness that precedes it. We cannot truly appreciate something until we know what it is to live without it."

The Doctor hums slightly, his eyes fixed on the growing glow on the horizon. "I enjoy the peacefulness and the poised potential; the feeling of the world waking up and the brilliant life the light brings. I especially enjoy sunrises over London. It's such a brilliant city with so much human potential and I find myself drawn back here time and time again."

"I used to live in London, once upon a time," the floating man said. "It was a different London, not quite the same as this one, but when I see it like this from up above, I can pretend that it is mine. That below me, the sun is rising over the people and places I once knew and if I were to only check, I'd find my old life waiting for me."

The Doctor reached over and took his hand, surprising the other man when he laced their fingers together. He understood the feeling of which the man spoke. (That he could pretend Rose was down there, waiting, not in another London, in another universe.) He knew what it was to lose one's home, one's family and how nothing could ever quite fill that emptiness. But some things could make it better, and he said as much with his actions. I know, and I'm sorry, his gesture seemed to say, I wish I could make it better, but I can't, because nothing really can.

"Thank you," the Traveler said quietly as he brought the Doctor's hand up to press gently against his lips, "I'm glad I can watch the sunrise with you."

Just as he said it, the edge of the sun broke the horizon, flooding their faces with light and warmth and gradually illuminating the city below them. The tops of the buildings were lit first, and they cast long shadows back across the city. The water of the Thames was rushing in just as the light did and the city seemed born anew in the dawn, an ancient, yet timeless place, thrumming with vitality.

As the sun made it's way fully into the new day, the two men rose to their feet, one in the doorway of his spaceship and the other in the empty air. The Doctor continued to hold tightly to the Traveler's hand, until the Traveler stepped forward until they were facing each other and he raised his free had to brush over the Doctor's cheek while he gave a gentle squeeze back. The Doctor loosened his hold reluctantly and the Traveler stepped back before turning on his heel and disappearing with a quiet pop.

The Doctor stepped back as well, softly closing the doors against the blinding light of Earth's sun. As he walked back to the console, the handkerchief felt warm in his pocket, settled next to the rightmost of his two hearts. He raised his hand and rested it against his cheek where the traveler's finger's had touched, before turning to the controls with a smile and setting a course for the universe.

The third time they met, he was watching Donna Noble. She was laughing at something said on the phone as she rushed about, her eye's shinning merrily and a bag swinging from her arm. He was standing out of sight where she would never accidentally look, and he didn't know if seeing her like this, happy and ignorant of his existence, was better or worse. He wanted to mourn the loss of his friend, but it seemed wrong of him to do so when she was so happy, so vivacious.

"Who is she?" the Traveler asked as he stepped up beside him where he was leaning on the railing, looking down at her on the street.

"She was my best friend," the Doctor replied, "but she was dying, her mind burning from the inside out, and to save her I had to lock away all memories and knowledge related to me. If she sees me, she will remember and she will die."

The Traveler looked at him sympathetically. "I'm sorry. Do you want me to ask her if she is happy? Just so you can hear her say it?"

"No," the Doctor sighed, "I know she is happy, it just hurts to see her like that, happy without knowing of our friendship, of the adventures we once shared. It hurts to know she doesn't need me." Like I need her, went unspoken between them.

They were quiet a moment before the Traveler began to speak. "I had a friend, once, whose parents were in danger because we were. She knew that they couldn't protect themselves from what was after us, and she knew that our enemies would not hesitate to use them against her. So she wiped their memories of her existence and had them move to Australia under different names. Years later, after the danger had passed, she went to see them. She told me that she had asked them if they were happy, if they had ever wanted children. They told her that they had never had any desire for children, that a child would have merely torn apart their lives and they were far happier as they were. She left them then, and came back home. She told me later that while she would always love them, it did no good to wish for what might have been and instead she lived her life with the family she had created, not dwelling on the echoes of what is gone. She was a very practical person, Hermione."

The Doctor nodded, "There is wisdom in that. I know I must let Donna go, but I don't have anyone else to pull me forward."

"Neither do I," the Traveler said softly.

"Come with me, then," the Doctor said suddenly, turning to look at the other man. "Neither of us has ties, we are both wandering the stars alone, it would be just the two of us for as long as we want."

"It's not the right time, I think you know that," the Traveler said, not unkindly, "You need to find someone young and bright to push you forwards, someone to whom you can show the stars and see the wonder in their eyes as they discover the beauty in the universe. Someone who can remind you how to see that for yourself."

"Yes, I do need that. But maybe the time will be right the next time we meet." The Doctor gave the Traveler a smile and one last look towards not-his Donna Noble, and called the TARDIS into being beside him. As he stepped inside, he saw the Traveler spin and disappear out of the corner of his eye. Back inside his TARDIS, he muttered a quick "Allons-y," before turning to the controls with a smile and setting a course for the universe.

The fourth time they met, the Doctor was wearing a different face. The Traveler turned to look at him, smiled, and said, "I like the bow-tie."

The Doctor seemed slightly surprised for a moment, saying, "You d-I mean, well of course you do; bow-ties are cool."

The Traveler chuckled and asked, "Have you found anyone to run with?"

The Doctor's expression turned a little bittersweet. "I did, but they don't really need me as much as I need them. They are married, now, and they have their own life that I'm not quiet a part of."

"Did you try to be?" the Traveler asked him curiously.

"Of course I did!" the Doctor exclaimed, "I pop over for dinner sometimes and I invite them on adventures! I tell them all about what I do and I ask about their lives!"

"Do you schedule the dinners before hand?" the Traveler asked, slightly concerned.

"Well, no, but I'm not very good at hitting the right date anyway," the Doctor replied, slightly sheepish.

"Then how about you call them and say a time and date you're going to try to make it on. And tell them that you are going to bring a side and a dessert," the Traveler instructed.

The Doctor looked slightly panicked at the idea. "I don't know how to cook!"

"That's alright," the Traveler placated, "I'll make the food, you just have to set it up. And when you are there, you can talk about making it a regular thing. Then you will be part of their lives without disrupting them."

He smiled, relieved. "Thank you, that's a very good idea. Do you want to come inside?" he asked, gesturing at the TARDIS parked beside them. "You can use my kitchen, if you'd like."

"I would love that," the Traveler smiled. "And by the way, my name is the Traveler."

The Doctor laughed as he held the door open, "And I am the Doctor." He had somehow predicted that the Traveler wouldn't be at all shocked by his bigger-on-the-inside ship. "We make quite the pair, don't we," he said before turning to the controls with a smile and setting a course for the universe.

AN: This is a one-shot for now, though I may come back and add on later.