Ok. So yes, I started a new fanfic. This one is actually in third person this time, but it still has an OC. Also, as I've stated before, there's no romances between my characters and any of the Doctors. Especially not in this one. To me, 10 and Rose were canon and I'm sticking with that. Enjoy!
25 year old Dani Burkhard locked her apartment door and walked out of her apartment building. She stepped out into the bright sunlight and immediately took out her sunglasses to put on. She walked the block or so to the bookstore that her mom owned and where she worked, and unlocked the door.
"Well I see you're already down here." She greeted Lola, her parents 2 year old Samoyed.
Her parents lived in an apartment above the bookstore and would let Lola down there when it was time to open up. Lola was a fixture in the bookstore and their regulars would always come and pet her. Lola barked happily in reply, wagging her white, fluffy tail and licked Dani's hand. Dani went to give Lola a generous scratch on the head and then went to unroll the blinds and turn on the open sign. Normally Lola would follow her, but this morning she sat facing the windowsill and started barking at something.
"What are you barking at?" Dani asked. She went to look out the window to see if there was anything unusual going on, but it was the same thing: people walking down the street, business opening up. "There's nothing there, you crazy dog." Lola continued barking and Dani shook her head as she continued to open up the store. She was unaware that soon, her life would change.
"Morning, sweetie." Her mom said, as she entered the bookstore carrying two tumblers of ice coffee. She gave one to Dani, who took it gratefully.
"Thanks, mom." She said, taking a sip of the delicious, cold ice coffee. Just how she liked it. "It's supposed to be in the 90's again today."
"If the heat keeps up like this, we may need to charge the customers for the AC." Her mom joked.
"Well meanwhile, your dog is going crazy barking at things that aren't there." Dani said, pointing to Lola, who was still barking.
Her mom shook her head. "That dog sometimes, I swear." She said. Lola eventually settled down and curled up on the windowsill, just in time for the first customer to stop by. She greeted the customers by wagging her tail and barking happily and was rewarded by pettings and scratches. The morning went by quickly and soon it was time for lunch.
"Ok, I'm headed to sub place. Any requests?" Dani asked her mom, and Andy, another who worked there. They gave her their orders and she went to go grab the food, unaware that in the ally near the bookstore, something strange was happening.
While Dani was getting the sandwiches at the sub shop, The Doctor was running around the TARDIS in his chucks, flipping buttons on the console. As he was flipping buttons, his eyes landed on a pink jacket strung casually over one of the coral pieces in the TARDIS and his two hearts sank. Rose, his pink and yellow human. He could remember the way she stuck her tongue out between her teeth when she smiled and her genuine compassion. Now she was in an alternate universe, but at least she was safe. That made him feel a tiny bit better, but he knew he would have felt much better if he had been able to tell her he loved her. He shook his head. He shouldn't be thinking of that now. He had adventures to go on.
"Where should we go then? Eh? He asked the TARDIS. The TARDIS made a small humming noise. She missed her pink and yellow human too. He pressed a few more buttons and flipped the lever and off he went to another adventure.
The TARDIS landed with a small groan and The Doctor peeked his head out and grinned. 21st century America. He loved traveling here. All the sights and sounds of a different country filled him with delight. He walked out of the TARDIS and went exploring.
In the meantime, Dani was walking back with the food and drinks. She looked in the alleywayh and glanced curiously at the blue box. She'd never noticed it before there. She chalked it up to a performance piece for some performance group and went back to the bookstore. She was struggling getting the door opened when Andy helped open the door.
"You know, you could have just knocked on the door and I would have helped you." He said, as she walked in.
"But that would just be too easy and you know how much I like challenges." She replied, setting the food down on one of the counters.
"That I do." He said, earning a slap from her.
"Food's here, mom!" She called to her mom, who came out of her office, on her phone. She mouthed a "thank you" to Dani and brought her portion back to her office. Dani and Andy sat down at one of the tables and dug into their food as they talked.
"So I saw the weirdest thing in the alleyway." She said, sipping her Dr. Pepper.
"What?" Andy asked.
"It was this weird, blue box. It said 'police public call box on the top."
"Oh! I've seen pictures of those." He said. "Apparently they were used in the uk in the 50's and 60's. The police would hold criminals in there while they called for backup."
"Interesting. I wonder what it's doing here." Dani wondered out loud.
"Who knows." Andy said. They continued eating until their break was over.
After that, everything was fairly normal, until someone came in. Dani was ringing up a customer, when she noticed someone coming in. She'd never seen him before, so she knew he must have been a new customer. He was wearing a tan trench coat (which she thought was way too hot to be wearing) over a brown pinstriped suit. He was also wearing a white button down with a tie that looked like it had some type of swirling pattern on it. He was also wearing beige chucks. He had slightly spiky, gelled hair and warm, brown eyes. Yup, he was definitely a new customer.
"Hello!" He said cheerfully in a British accent.
"Hi. Can I help you find anything?" She asked.
"Nope. Just looking around." He said, grinning.
"Ok. Let me know if you need anything." She said.
"Who is that guy?" Andy whispered, as they watched him walk around.
"I have no idea." She said. He was certainly interesting. Or at least he seemed interesting. She didn't know much about him, but what she did find very unusual was that Lola had started wagging her tail happily when she saw him come in. She normally kept her distance from people she didn't know.
The Doctor walked around a bit, looking at all of the books. He skimmed a few of them and was muttering to himself about how the events in the books were inaccurate when he noticed a white dog following him.
"Well, hello there!" He said to the dog, who started wagging her tail and licking him when he started petting her. He looked up to notice the girl working at the counter looking at the dog with a surprised expression.
"Uh sorry." She said "She's normally a little skittish around new people. I've never seen her act like that before.
"Ahh, well I must be special then." He said, grinning.
She smiled back. "That must be it." She said.
"Well, I must be off. Loads to do!" The man said, walking toward the door. "You have a lovely store."
"Uh, thanks." Dani said.
"Bye!" He yelled cheerfully and walked out the door.
She walked over to Lola. "Who was that man, hmm? And why were you so friendly to him and none of the other new guests?" She scratched Lola behind the ears and walked back to the counter, watching as the man walked away. "This is a weird day." She muttered to herself.
She quickly forgot the events of the day as she and Andy checked out people. Eventually, it came to be closing time. Andy waved goodbye and left the store. Dani was starting to clean up when her mom stopped her.
"Why don't you go home early." She said.
"Are you sure?" Dani asked.
"Yeah. It's fine. I can clean up. You need to go out and have fun." Her mom said.
"But I think you need help." She started.
"Go." Her mom said, pushing her out the door. "And you'd better not come in tomorrow on your day off or I'll tell your father." She said, half joking.
"Ok. I'm leaving." Dani said, laughing. "Love you!" She called out the door. She started to walk down the sidewalk, when she felt someone following her. She was about to walk faster when someone grabbed her hand.
"Run!" They said. "And don't look behind you!" In normal circumstances, she would have asked why, but whoever spoke to her sounded very urgent, so she obeyed and took off running with whoever it was.