The TARDIS jolted to a stop, and Rose and I opened the door to find a quiet suburban street.
"Where are we?" Rose asked.
"I don't know." I replied, spotting a newspaper stand. "Let's find out, shall we?"
I walked over to the stand and grabbed a paper. I gazed at the front page, hearing Rose's footsteps behind me.
"We're in 2013."I told Rose, who was looking around the street. "March, and in London, to be exact."
"Why did we come here?" Rose asked.
"I don't know." I replied. "I didn't put any set information into the TARDIS." I explained. "I think she just brought us here. I wonder why." I looked off down the street; deep in thought.
Suddenly a door opened a couple of houses down and a woman ran out.
"Help! Please help me!" She yelled. "Please, someone call a doctor!"
Immediately I took off running towards the house, and I glanced back to see that Rose was running after me, a concerned look on her face.
The woman looked up at me with worried eyes as I reached her. "Yes, I'm a doctor, what's happened?" I asked.
"Oh it's terrible! Please come inside doctor, and see for yourself." She said, turning and rushing back through the door, and Rose and I quickly followed her.
The woman led us to an upstairs bedroom, where a girl was sitting on the edge of her bad, a blank stare on her face.
I got down in front of the girl and tried to figure out what was wrong with her, but I couldn't see anything out of place. She looked normal. She was wearing a tank top and a pair of jeans; the look of any typical teenager.
"What's wrong with her?" I asked, turning towards the woman.
"I don't know." She said, on the brink of crying, and Rose walked over to her, wrapping her arm around her shoulder and easing her into a rocking chair in the corner of the room. "She's been doing this for two weeks now, almost every day." She said in between sobs. "Just sitting, or standing, or whatever position she's in when she stops. And then she just looks at nothing!" The woman sobbed more, and Rose rubbed her shoulder in consolation.
"I just couldn't take it anymore." The woman said, starting to calm down. "Her father was at work today and it was just us; I just had to get her help, doctor. Please. She's only sixteen, doctor."
"It's quite alright now." I said, walking over to the woman and taking her hands in mine. "I'll try my best to see what's going on."
She smiled solemnly at me. "Thank you, doctor."
I returned her smile, and then became serious again. "What's her name?" I asked.
"Bethany. Bethany Frankel." She replied. "I'm her mother."
"Thank you." I said, and then went again to Bethany's side.
"Bethany? Bethany, can you hear me?" I asked, taking her face in my hands.
Yes. I heard, but her mouth didn't open. I looked at her, but it didn't seem like the voice was coming from her.
I turned around, and was shocked to see Bethany standing beside me. She was looking down at me, shock in her eyes. I turned back, and the unconscious Bethany was still there.
"Rose?" I asked, turning back to look at the Bethany who was standing beside me. "Do you see anything?"
"No." Rose replied, curiosity in her tone. "I don't see anything."
"Strange. Only I can see you." I said, standing up.
"What?" Her mother asked. "She's here?" She looked around frantically.
"Yes." I said. "But only I can see her. I wonder why?" I replied.
Who are you? She asked, and fear frightened her tone, though I doubted that I caused it.
"I'm the Doctor." I said, looking at her. "I'm here to help."
As I gazed into Bethany's face, sudden recognition hit me. Her mother said that she had been going through these spells for two weeks now, and only now I realized that I had seen her before. Anywhere that Rose and I had gone during the previous two weeks, a strange girl had always been there, on the edge of my vision and my consciousness.
It was Bethany. She was following us.
But that didn't explain why I could see her and Rose couldn't. No, not us. Me. She was following me.
"But why?" I asked aloud. "Why are you following me?"
"I don't know." Bethany replied. "I can't control where I go. I just end up places."
"But there's got to be a reason." I said. "Can you think of anything that would tie you to me?" I asked Bethany, who was starting to look a little fuzzy around the edges. "What's going on?" I asked.
"I'm coming back." She simply stated, and then her entire form dissolved. I spun around, trying to find her, but she had disappeared.
Her mother gasped, and pointed to the Bethany on the bed. "She's waking up!" She said, and then stood and rushed over to Bethany's side.
Bethany had begun to stir, and her mother gently laid her back on the bed. Rose went around to the headboard and I sat down beside Bethany's head.
She stirred a little more, and then her eyes blinked open.
"Oh dear." Her mother sighed, and then wrapped her in a hug. Bethany looked shocked. "Are you okay?" Her mother asked, and she sat back to look at her. Her hands patted Bethany's arms and face to see if she was hurt.
"Yeah, mum. I'm okay." Bethany replied, smiling shyly at her mother. Then she looked at me. "What's wrong with me?" She asked, her eyes terrified.
"I don't know." I said honestly. "There is one way to find out, though."
"Then please do it, doctor." Bethany's mother said, taking Bethany's hands in her own. "Please fix my daughter."
"May we please be alone, Mrs. Frankel? Rose?" I asked. After a moment, Mrs. Frankel rose from the bed, still holding Bethany's hand.
"I suppose." She said, patting Bethany's hand softly before letting it go. "Come along now, dear." She said, addressing Rose. "I'll make us some tea."
Rose smiled softly at me, and then followed Mrs. Frankel out of the room, leaving Bethany and I alone.
"What are you going to do?" She asked, her eyes studying the carpet below her feet. I turned towards her.
"I'm going to figure out why you have a connection with me." I explained. "When you go into that state, another you comes to wherever I am. I still don't know why, but if I can find a connection, then I might be able to see why you leave in the first place."
"How will you do that?" She looked up at me, her eyes wide and contemplating.
"If you'll let me, I can see inside your mind." I said.
Her head tilted to the side out of curiosity. "My mind?"
"Yes." I whispered. I raised my hands to the side of her face. "May I?"
After a moment, she nodded, and I placed my hands against her skin and let myself into her mind. "If there's anything you don't want me to see, just imagine it as a door and close it." I said.
"Okay." She said, her eyes closed.
"You're a smart little thing, aren't you?" I said to myself as I wandered through her thoughts. "You analyze everything. It's incredible." I opened my eyes, Bethany's inner thoughts and ways of processing things momentarily hindering me.
I took my hands off of her face. "Wow. Your mind is like a little machine, isn't it?" I asked, and Bethany looked up at me, a shy smile on her face. "You just keep working, and keep thinking." I said. "You never stop." I say, placing my hand on her chest, feeling her heartbeat, the power source that kept her going. "You never stop." I whispered again.
But then I stopped. My hand was still on her chest. There wasn't any way. I had to be only imagining it.
"What's wrong?" Bethany asked.
"Lay down." I said, and she obeyed, looking at me with cautious eyes.
"It's not possible." I said as I pulled my sonic screwdriver from my pocket.
I placed my screwdriver over her heart and waited.
"What's wrong?" She asked again. "What's wrong with me?"
My screwdriver beeped with results and I jumped back. "No." I said, looking at it. It had to be wrong.
"What is it?!" Bethany yelled at me, sitting up in bed. I looked at her.
"You have two hearts." I said in amazement. "You're a Time Lord."