"What are we doing again?" Sam asked the Doctor.
"We, Sam, are going to finish up a small project one of my former selves started," he replied.
"Really. And what is this 'little project?'"
"Well, it seems that a star went supernova in a system that contained a planet filled with telepaths. As a last ditch effort to maintain their civilization, they projected themselves out into the star, where the force of the explosion hurled their essences away," he told her. "And most of them found their way to Earth. I had dealt with most of them, all but the toughest cases."
"Tough?"
"The ones that drove the receivers to insanity, death, or as in this case ..."
John Allen awoke in a world that seemed so alive and vibrant, he barely knew the words to describe it. A world that existed in peace and harmony. He looked around and saw no-one about. Walking for what seemed hours, he found a house and settled down for a mid-afternoon nap, after checking the house for occupants. When he awoke, a man in a green velvet coat with a gray cravat sat in a chair opposite him.
"Good morning. I am the Doctor. I would introduce you to Sam, but she's not here," he said, smiling.
"What?" John looked around. "What is this place?"
"This is a house on the island of Rof, on a planet with a name even I have problems pronouncing."
"Why am I here?"
"You are here owing to your extreme sensitivity. This planet and the star it orbits, was destroyed several thousand years ago. This is just an image of what was."
"And just how did I get here?"
"You're not really here at all. You just think you are. Your brain has received so much stimuli that it accepts this as reality."
"Then ..." he began to ask.
"Oh, I'm as real as you are. Made of flesh and blood, I assure you. But no-one knew how to cope with the strain this had put on your body."
"So, I'm dead then, aren't I?" John asked matter-of-factly. "And you're my guardian angel ... and this is ..." he got up and ran outside.
"I can see this is going to be a hard one," the Doctor got up and followed John out into the street.
John ran down the street, looking for any sign of life, anything that would show him that the was still a chance. The Doctor caught up to him and put his hand on John's shoulder.
"It won't do any good. She's dead just like all of this." He waved his hand around.
"But ... but ..." John collapsed to the ground and began to cry.
"The car ran into the tree at a high speed. There was not much we could do to save Mrs. Allen, and shortly after she died, well ... Mr. Allen went into this condition. He just keeps repeating the same phrase over and over."
Sam looked at the doctor. "What does he say?"
The doctor looked at Sam. "He just repeats that the world has ended, over and over."
Sam thought of the Doctor and wondered if things were alright.
"Now John, I know you love her. But staying here won't do any good."
"But I can't go back -- she's not there."
"Ah, but she is. She's in here." The Doctor pointed to his head. "And she's also in here." The Doctor moved his finger down to John's heart. "And as long as you keep her there, she'll be there." "But -- it doesn't feel like it." John looked up at the piercing blue eyes that seemed to gaze into his very soul.
"Tell me about her. Tell me what made you love her," the Doctor asked, sitting down next to John on the ground.
"Well, they way we fit together -- she would always seem to know exactly what I was thinking, sometimes before I even knew it myself." The Doctor nodded. "And the way we could finish each other's sentences, the way we could just sit there and watch the sunrise, holding onto each other."
"And that's why you love her?" the Doctor asked.
"Well, there's more. Lots more. Her smile, her frown -- the way she would growl at me when she was angry."
"All these things, they were what you loved about her?"
"Well, I guess it was mostly the way she made me feel. The way I felt complete with her in my life. That's why I love her. She accepted me as being who I was and didn't expect anymore from me." John looked at the Doctor. "But she's gone now, and I'm on my own. Trapped in a world, god knows where ..."
"Well, I wouldn't quite put it that way."
"What do you mean?"
"You're inside a memory. A memory so strong, it overrode all other processes. Even the basic things. Right now ..."
"This isn't real?" John asked.
"Oh, it's real. Just not now. It was real. Not anymore," the Doctor replied.
"Can I go home?" John stood up, brushing himself down. The Doctor reached into his pocket and pulled out a handkerchief, which John used to wipe away the tears.
"Anytime you'd like. You just have to let go."
"But if I let go ..."
"You'll remember it all in time, but it's best to let sleeping dogs lie."
A small group of lights appeared in the sky.
"Ah, I think your ride is arriving," the Doctor said, pointing to the lights in the sky.
The lights flitted and floated about in the sky, almost as if they were clearing a pathway for some greater object. The clouds parted, as if on cue and a great disc floated in the sky.
"It's ... it's ..." John said.
"Yes. It is a flying saucer." The saucer slowly swooped down and hovered a few feet above the ground some yards away from where John and the Doctor stood. A hatch opened and a white light came from the inside.
"Go. Things will be alright. I promise." The Doctor encouraged him on.
John worked his way towards the saucer. Climbing up onto the platform, he looked back at the Doctor.
"Time to go home, John. Time to go home."
John Allen awoke in a bed in a hospital, tubes and wires attached to what seemed to be every part of his body.
"Welcome back, John." The Doctor smiled and took his coat and walked out the door. The doctor Sam had been talking to ran in and immediately called for the nurses.
"What did you do?" Sam would ask him later, after the wordlessly walked out of the hospital.
"I merely reminded him of the one thing that was keeping him alive, yet holding him there."
"And that being?" Sam asked.
"One of the few constants in the universe, Sam. The thing that starts or ends wars, brings the mighty to their knees and raise the weak into the highest clouds."
"Hmm. Let me guess. Love," she said with a smirk in her voice.
"Well, yes. Not much else has enough power to do all that. You see, the force of the telepathic blast hit him as he and his wife were driving home. Their car hit a tree and she died instantly. He, however, survived and let himself fall into a coma, unable to deal with the images from the planet and the feelings he felt ..." The Doctor grew silent. "What does love mean to you, Sam?"
"Well, I think that love is just one of those things you can't give a shape or form to. Something that you can feel, but never feel. Make sense?"
"More than you'll ever know, Sam. More than you'll ever know."