Picking up the Pieces: Not Quite Alone

Author: fireheart93

Rating: K+

Summary: The Doctor is alone again, but how long will he stay that way. Set after Martha but before Donna.

Spoilers: General for the new who, but nothing specific

Archive: please ask.

Disclaimers: I don't own Doctor Who and I don't get any money from doing this.

Feedback: I'd very much appreciate it!

A/N: This is my first Dr Who fanfic. I hope you have as much fun reading it as I had writing it.

Chapter 1-A Planned Unplanned Meeting

The Doctor was alone. Again. Not that he minded, really. When you are alone you can't be hurt. It's better for him to stay alone. He just has to shut out the pain that being alone causes. He decided he could do with a holiday, so he headed off to Alderbran Minor, a planet where the sand is blue and it is summer for 90 of the year. But the TARDIS had other ideas.

The Doctor went out of the TARDIS and looked around. Wherever he was, it wasn't Alderbran Minor. There was no blue sand and it was chucking it down with rain. He was about to go back into the TARDIS when he heard shouts in the distance.

"No rest for the wicked," he murmured to himself as he began to run towards the shouts.

Katana was pissed. Seriously pissed. What was it with men that they just won't take no for an answer. Jonas had spent the last month all but stalking her, and no matter how many times she told him she wasn't interested he kept coming back. Things had come to a head when he had broken into her house last week. She had had to beat him up pretty badly to get him out of there. In retaliation, he had got his five brothers to corner her as she was walking home from work. The direct result of this was that she was now running across the countryside with five large men following closely. And, to top it off, it was poring with rain. Brilliant. All in all, this was not a good week.

As the Doctor got closer he could see five large men chasing a smaller woman. She had just reached a cliff and had turned around to face the men, who were running at her in a single file line (the fastest runners were at the front). The Doctor was about to shout out when the front runner reached the woman. Rather than cowering in fear, as the Doctor expected her to do when faced with a man easily twice her size, she stood up to face him and delivered a rather solid looking kick to his face followed by an even more solid punch to his head. She dispatched the next man with a jab to his throat and the third man with a knee to the groin, which made the Doctor wince in sympathy. However, it was what she did to the last two men that really drew the Doctor's attention. She was obviously tired after her long run and subsequent fight and her remaining adversaries could see that. They advanced on her together. Instead of assuming a fighting position, the woman stood up straight, shut her eyes and raised her hands towards the two men. Just as the Doctor was about to intervene a wave of red/orange force hit the two men, sending them flying several feet and crashing to the ground, unconscious. The third attacker, who had recovered from her earlier attack, got up and ran without looking back. The woman fell to the floor as the Doctor ran over to help.

The Doctor reached the woman just as she began to pull herself up.

"Are you alright?" he asked, his concern mirrored in his face. The woman smiled back at him.

"Yeah thanks for asking. You know, you are first guy all week to ask me that. It makes a change from death threats," she replied, amusement colouring her tone. "I don't want to appear rude but who are you, I don't recognise you."

"I'm the Doctor," he said. The woman was unable to hold in a small gasp, but when she next spoke she sounded normal and offered no explanation for it.

"My name's Katana Fireheart, daughter of Melanus," she responded. "Would I be right in saying that you're not from around here?" she asked, innocently.

"Yeah, you could say that," the Doctor replied. "I'm a traveller, just passing through."

"Well, Doctor," Katana said, with a grin on her face, "do you fancy passing through the town, only I know a place that does the best pizza this side of Positron 5, and you could do with some fattening up!" Her grin took on a dangerous edge, almost daring him to disagree. The Doctor matched her grin with one of his own,

"Best pizza this side of Positron 5? I think I will be the judge of that. Lead the way!"

"So, why were those guys chasing you?" the Doctor asked Katana as they walked towards the town.

"I beat up their brother," Katana said, mater-of-factly. The Doctor looked across at her, shocked. To look at her you wouldn't think her capable of beating up anyone. She wasn't tall, only about 5'3". However, her red hair and hard, grey eyes hinted at a more dangerous hidden layer. Katana met the Doctor's shocked look and laughed.

"It's not as bad as it sounds," she said, loudly. "He asked me to marry him but I refused. He wouldn't take no or an answer and practically stalked me for a month. The final straw was when he broke into my house last night." She glanced across at the Doctor who still looked slightly shocked.

"Let's just say that I had to throw him out rather forcefully. In revenge he got his five brothers to attack me on my way home from work."

"More fool them," the Doctor muttered under his breath. At the sharp look he received from Katana he quickly changed the subject.

"So what do you do?" he asked.

"I work in the tech department for the Andromeda Space Port. We fix any broken technology, both human and alien," she said this with a note of pride in her voice, as if her working there was an achievement in itself. The Doctor looked at her curiously.

"That's a very advanced job for someone so young. How old are you?" he asked.

"Abrupt aren't you," Katana laughed, "we've only just met and you're already asking for personal details. I'm 18 years old and yeah, that is young but I have a way with technology. I just, understand it. Sometimes I understand technology better than people!" She said this laughingly, but the Doctor could tell that it was true.

"So how long have you been working there?" he asked.

"Just coming up on two years now," Katana replied. "Anyway, it's my turn to ask the questions now," Seeing the slightly panicked look on the Doctor's face she laughed.

"Don't worry," she said, "I'm not going to ask for any personal details, just tell me about your travels. I want to hear about the universe." And so the Doctor told her about the universe all the way to the town. But in the back of his mind a few very persistent thoughts spun round and round. How did this woman know he feared personal questions? Why had she gasped when she heard his name? What was the strange force she had used to defeat her attackers? And how did she know he travelled about the universe?