rec: old friends made new, by coru
Story: Old Friends Made New
Author: Coru
Rating:All ages
Word Count: 13068
Author’s Summary: The Ninth Doctor, Rose, Mickey and Sarah Jane Smith work together to uncover the strange behaviours at Deffry Vale High School. AU reworking of School Reunion, in 'A Man Who Wasn't There' series.
Characters/Pairing: Nine/Rose (flirting and denial), Mickey Smith, Sarah Jane Smith
Warnings: None
Recced because: Coru is in the process of writing an Alt Season 2, in which Nine survives. It's been done, yes, but never quite so well. One of the brilliant things about fanfic is the ability to explore what might have been, how a single alteration can change everything. This series, known as "A Man Who Wasn't There", hits just the right balance of covering basically the same adventures, but with the differences of reaction and method of the previous Doctor. While it's a general good idea to start with the first story in a series, I've recced my favorite episode so far, an alt version of School Reunion.
The reunion with Sarah Jane is every bit as sweet as the original, but in this version the implication that this wonderful, strong woman has been simply pining after the doctor for decades is decidedly played down. Mickey makes a decision that will alter future plots, but hopefully increase his sense of self-worth rather sooner. All in all the basic plot begins and ends the same, but the path taken to get there is believably altered.
Sarah Jane pulled her hand loose after a moment, laughing softly. "John Smith?" She repeated, her smile turning a bit nostalgic. "I used to have a friend who sometimes went by that name."
"'S a good name," he nodded, still looking for all the world like a little boy who had just been told he could have Christmas and his birthday all at once this year.
and later-
He met her eyes and she bit back a gasp. She saw then the differences between the man before her and the man - men - she had once known. This Doctor had been broken, shattered to a thousand pieces and roughly glued together again; he was the same creation in essence, but the cracks still showed. Her Doctors, however chipped and mad they might have been, had never known the heartache reflected in this stormy blue gaze.