Title: Somewhere in the Stars
By: angstytimelord
Pairing: Tenth Doctor/Cal Lightman
Fandom: Doctor Who/Lie to Me
Rating: PG-13
Table: VRD challenge - Blue, 5_prompts
Prompt: Singing the blues
Disclaimer: This is entirely a product of my own imagination, and I make no profit from it. I do not own the Tenth Doctor or Cal Lightman, unfortunately. Please do not sue.

***

The Doctor looked up from the Tardis' console, glancing over at where Cal sat, watching the viewscreens. He didn't want to tell his lover that they were back on Earth, but he somehow had the feeling that Cal knew without him saying a word.

To be fair, the other man didn't look overly enthused about being back on Earth. It was obvious that Cal didn't want to leave -- but as much as the Doctor wanted him to stay, he knew that it wasn't possible. Cal had a life, and some serious responsibilities.

He had a business to run; there were people who depended on him for their livelihood. He wasn't someone who could simply take off and not be missed. If only that were the case, the Doctor thought with an inward sigh, but unfortunately, not this time.

And then, there was the fact that he had a child. She was a teenager, a child who needed a father. Cal couldn't simply leave Earth to be with the person he loved; he wasn't the sort of man who would abandon his child to the care of her mother and miss seeing her grow up.

If only things could be different for them, the Doctor thought, his sigh audible this time. Why did he seem to have such an unerring ability to fall for men he couldn't be with? First Jack, now Cal. This pattern was starting to get old.

"What was that sigh for, love?" Cal asked him, startling the Doctor and making his eyes widen. One arm slipped around the Time Lord's waist, his voice soft in the Doctor's ear. "I know you don't want me to leave, but it isn't like we're saying goodbye for good."

"Will we?" the Doctor asked, his voice soft. He was trying to hold back his emotions as best he could; he didn't want them to come tumbling out now, on the verge of Cal's leaving. He didn't want hier lover to think of him as being dour and depressed.

"Of course we will," Cal said, nuzzling the Doctor's cheek with his own. "You're going to come back before long, and we'll spend a bit of time off in the stars together. It may not be the easiest path for us to take, but nothing worth having comes easily, does it?"

"I suppose not," the Time Lord murmured, sighing again. "I can see what I'm going to be doing in the near future, though. I'll be playing a lot of blues records and singing along with them. And I don't think I'm going to be completely happy until I see you again."

"Don't think of it as a separation," Cal told him, shaking his head. "Think of it as .... a little vacation, right? Like we each have our own separate lives to lead -- but those lives include each other, too. We can make this work, Doctor. It'll just take a bit of ingenuity on our parts."

"But it is a separation," the Doctor insisted, refusing to be jollied out of his depressed mood by Cal's words. "You'll be here, doing your job and living your life, and I'll be out there .... somewhere in the stars, alone and wondering if you still want me."

Cal shook his head, sighing softly and pulling the Doctor close against him. "You mean after all this, you still have to wonder if I want you? Haven't I made it perfectly clear that I do? Just because I'm not with you physically doesn't mean we're not together."

"I know." The Doctor looked down, not wanting to meet Cal's forthright gaze. "I just wish we could be together in the physical sense. I wish things could be different for us. I keep feeling that I'll come back and you'll have found someone else and moved on."

"There isn't anyone else," Cal told him, his voice husky. "Not for me. I'll be thinking of you -- and you'll be back before too long, won't you? It's not like you're going to spend years away from me. So there won't be a reason for either of us to be singing the blues for too long."

"I hope not," the Doctor answered, trying to manage a smile. "And yes, I'll be back as soon as I can. So don't be surprised if I show up out of the blue one day, when you least expect it. And much sooner than you might expect, as well."

"I'll just turn around one day, and you'll be right there, smiling at me," Cal said softly, raising a hand to brush a lock of unruly hair out of the Doctor's face. "I can already picture it in my mind, love. We won't be parted for long. I'm sure of that."

"I promise you that I'll be back soon," the Doctor whispered, feeling tears starting to rise in his eyes. He blinked them back impatiently; he wasn't going to cry over their parting. After all, he would keep his promise; he'd see Cal again soon.

But it wouldn't be the same as having his lover with him on a permanent basis, a little voice whispered in the back of his mind. He would be singing the blues from the moment Cal left until he could come back to Earth and they could be in each other's arms again.

"Don't sing the blues too loudly, sweetheart," Cal told him, brushing his lips against the Doctor's mouth. "Just think about how great it's going to be when we're back together. And think about all the things we'll be able to do to each other."

The Time Lord couldn't help but smile at the wicked grin on Cal's face; he knew exactly what the other man was thinking. He would try to keep his mind on that bright spot in the future, rather than brood on the fact that they weren't always together.

"I'll try," he said softly, knowing that their time together now was short. "Anyway, now that we're back on Earth, do you want to go out for a coffee before you head back to your life?" He tried to make the words sound light, even though his hearts were heavy.

He might be somewhere in the stars while this man was on Earth, but he would come back as soon as he could. And Cal was right, the Doctor told himself firmly. Their parting would end in a lovers' reunion -- one that he was sure they'd both hold in their hearts for the rest of their lives.

***