I'm Not the Man I Used To Be

I'll let a kiss answer that, my dear.

Who exactly are you, Doctor?

You know who I am.

Yes, I know who you say you are. But who are you really?

I have been a lot of men, Rory Williams. Many personalities and many faces. Which do you want to know of?

I want to know who you are right not. This great man with this amazing personality and this beautiful face. The man lying next to me, breathing in time with me, looking me in the face right this second. The man that I risk my life for all the time. The man I'm risking a relationship for. I want to know about this man right here. Not any other man you might have once been. Because they are not the man I spends nights with. They are not the man I have secret rendezvous with, hiding from my wife. They are not the man I am in love with. They are not you, Doctor.

But they are me, Rory. They are past versions of me, and they live on through me to this day. Bits of them are living inside of me and always will.

That’s not what I meant.

Then what is it that you meant?

They are not the man you are now. They are not the you that I know. The you that I want to know more about.

Oh Rory, there is such a simple reason behind that.

And it is…?

They are not the man I am now, simply because I am not the man I used to be. The man I used to be would never do something as rash as fall in love with you.

Is rash good, in this case?

I'll let a kiss answer that, my dear.

♠ ♠ ♠

I realize that the lack of quotation-marks is a bit odd,
but it's all stylistic.

So tell me what you think.
I've kind of always wanted to do an all-dialogue story.