Waiting for Jeremy (short story)

Waiting for Jeremy was the eighth short story in the Short Trips anthology Short Trips: A Day in the Life. It was written by Richard Salter. It featured the First Doctor and Steven Taylor.

Summary
As the Doctor drinks tea in a café, he notices a woman staring at him. She asks him if he's "Jeremy", and when she learns he isn't, she tells him her story.

In the 1950s, she met an American soldier and they fell in love. They promised to meet in this cafe when the war ended. However, he never showed up, even though she's been coming to this café for over fifty years.

When the Doctor tells Steven the story, he is appalled that Maggie has spent over fifty years waiting for someone who never showed up. He convinces the Doctor to travel back to 1953, where Steven, dressed as an American soldier, meets Maggie waiting in the café and informs her that Jeremy died in battle.

Back in 2005, Steven wants to visit the café to make sure they've changed Maggie's future, but the Doctor insists on going instead, because if Maggie's there she would recognise Steven.

Maggie is waiting in the café, and she tells the Doctor about the man who told her that Jeremy was dead. She didn't believe the man's story, and now she thinks that Jeremy was probably married and therefore pretended to be dead to get out of meeting her. That still hasn't stopped her from coming to the café every day, hoping Jeremy will change his mind.

Steven blames his performance and wants to go back again, but this time the Doctor refuses.

Characters

 * First Doctor
 * Steven Taylor
 * Maggie Baxter

Worldbuilding

 * Maggie and Jeremy plan to meet at the China Rose Café.
 * The Doctor invites Maggie to be his companion, but she refuses.
 * The Doctor wants someone with whom to play chess or listen to opera.
 * The Doctor and Maggie discuss Tolstoy and Charles Dickens.

Continuity

 * Steven recalls how they interfered in the war between humans and the Omwanar. (PROSE: Making History)