I stand in front of my mirror and stare at my reflection. My short, dark hair falls just below my shoulders perfectly straight and parted on the right side of my head. I wear no makeup and there are no blemishes on my face. My dark brown eyes stare back at me, with their long eyelashes, and my eyebrows grow imperfectly which I've always loathed. My nose is pretty normal, not to long and not to small, not to pointy yet not to round, medium sized, I guess. My thin lips, pinkish, are chapped and cracking. I sigh and apply Chap Stick to my lips then begin to dress myself.

I wear black jeans, a gray t-shirt with black lines on it, a black leather jacket, and red high-top converse. I throw my hair up in ponytail and stick a few bobby pins in it. I decide the outfit is presentable, grab my sunglasses, and leave my room.

The rest of family is off doing something else so I take the kitchen to myself and myself a cup of coffee and some cereal. After I'm done, my mom comes out of her room and tells me that it's time to go. I grab my backpack and head out to the car. First day of school… Yay

My mom pulls up to the door and I get out, standing there until she drives off. I then turn around to look at the small building. Middle school…. I study it, memorizing every detail and then forget all of it. That's what I do with things I don't like, I study them, learning everything about them and then I forget them. This is my third year, of course, yet I do that every time. I see all of the students sitting or standing around, waiting for the bell to ring. Groups of kids, the populars, the geeks, the nerds, the outcasts, the punks… I've never been very social so I walk right past them and head for the door.

I had just put my hand on the door handle when I see something that has never been there before: A blue box sitting to the right of the entrance. I take my hand off the handle and walk over to it. I read the sign on the front that says 'Police Public Call Box' and then I walk circles around it, studying it. What was it? Three of the sides only had pointless squares and windows, but I couldn't see through the windows. The fourth side, though, was a door. I pushed on the door but it was locked, so I studied the door instead. Windows, pointless squares, two door handles, a sign that read 'Police Telephone, Free For Use Of Public' the rest of the sign was pointless except that it said 'Pull To Open'. I pulled the door handle and the sign opened to reveal an old fashioned telephone. I closed the door again and went back to studying the box.

The bell rang a few minutes later and so I went inside to class. All of my classes were boring except my last period, Astronomy. There was a new teacher, Mr. John Smith, who was… odd. He'd read things out from the text book and then mumble to himself in his rare British accent, "Oh no, that's not right. Who wrote this book?" So I studied him, like I do with all the interesting things I find. He was tall and thin, slightly pale. His hair was spiked at the front, his nose thin and long, like the rest of him, and on the bridge of his nose was a pair of glasses. He wore a brown, pinstriped suit with a brown tie. But his shoes are what caught my attention. They were exactly the same as the ones I wore.

After Astronomy was over, I put my book in my locker and then went back out to the blue box. I walked out the door and Mr. Smith was putting a key into lock of the blue box. He just gets odder by the second, doesn't he?

I lean against the doorframe and say to him, "What's a British man doing in the middle of Texas, anyway?"

He turns around to face me and smiles. "That's the question, isn't it."

I scrunch my eyebrows together in confusion. "What's that box, then?"

He looks at the blue box and then back at me. "It's a Police Box from the 1950s." He says, simply.

"Okay, but what are you doing with it? Why is it here?" I ask.

"Curiosity killed the cat." He said.

"But the cat had nine lives." I replied.

"Curious and Clever." He said.

"Yes, I am." I said.

"Nice shoes." He says, looking down at my shoes.

"And yourself." I say, without looking down at his.

"Observant, also?" He says.

"I study things that are odd and interesting."

"You find me odd?"

"No one heard about a new Astronomy teacher, you're british, you own a blue box, and you contradict the text book." I said.

"The text book is wrong." He said.

I roll my eyes.

"What's your name?" He asks.

"Storie. Storie Chastain."

"Would you like to see inside it, Storie?" He asks, gesturing toward the box.

"Why would I? It's most likely empty and it's very small." I said.

He opens the door and says, "Then why don't you take a look?"

I look into the box and see a huge room with a control panel in the middle. My eyes widen and I see him smirk at me. My mouth falls open in surprise and I walk into the blue box.

"Empty and small?" He asks me.

"This is impossible…" I say.

"It's called a T.A.R.D.I.S, Time and Relative Dimension in Space." He said. "It can travel anywhere in time and space."

I look at him with my eyebrows raised. "Sure, it's bigger on the inside, and that's impossible, but nothing can do that." I said.

He closed the door and walked all the way into the room. "Want to bet?"

I scrunch my eyebrows in confusion as he dashes around the control panel flipping switches and punching buttons and pulling levers. He smiles at me at he pulls a lever and then the whole thing start to shake.

I get thrown to the ground and shook around. My body slides into the center console and I grab onto it and stand up. I look over at him and he's smiling. 'What the hell is going on?' I ask myself.

It's stops shaking and I sigh in relief. He raises his eyebrows at me and says, "Take a look outside."

I walk, slowly, to the door and glance back at him before I open the door. He nods his head. I don't know why, but I feel like I can trust this man so I push open the door.

I step out into the crowded street. I see old, mucky buildings and people dressed in rags. "Where are we?" I ask him.

"15th century Cardiff." He tells me.

My mouth fall open once again and I look around, memorizing everything. I look back at him and study him all over again, nothing different except he's put on a light brown trench coat. "Who are you?" I ask.

"I'm the Doctor."

"Doctor who?"

He just stares at me. "Come on," He says, "I was at your school for a reason, we'd better get back."

"What was the reason?" I asked as we made our way back into the TARDIS.

"Three teachers have disappeared in the last week." He said.

I look at him, confused. "There hasn't been any reports about missing people." I said.

"That's why I'm here." He said.

"So you're a detective?" I asked. "I thought you were a Doctor."

"I'm neither." He said.

I raise my eyebrows at him.

"I told you that this box could go anywhere in time and space." He said.

"Yeah, and?"

"Well, haven't you wondered how I got this box?"

"You're some kind of genius scientist?" I guessed.

"I'm a time lord from the planet Gallifrey." He said.

I stared at him for a second and then broke out laughing. After a while, I noticed he wasn't laughing with me. "Wait, you're not… serious, are you?" I asked.

"I'm always serious." He said.

I gaped at him.

"Anyway, the point is, my species and yours aren't the only ones out there. I, occasionally, run into… evil?... aliens?... and, well… stop them?..." he said it like he was questioning himself.

I just stare at him.

"We should get back to the school." He said. He started to run around the center console pulling levers and pushing buttons once again.

"So you think aliens took the missing teachers?" I asked him, once we were back at the school.

"Yes." He replied.

"You've got to be kidding me." I said.

"Well, I'm not." He told me. "It might seem weird but there is a species called the Tienap and they feed off of misery. Middle school teachers don't have the best lives."

I stare at him in disbelief. "You think this… 'Tienap' creature is eating the teachers?" I ask.

"Well… Yeah." He said.

I feel the TARDIS take off and quickly grab onto the center console so that I don't fall. When it stops shaking, I let go of the console and walk to the door and pull it open. There we were, back at the school.

"Allons-y!" He exclaims as he shoots past me and into the school. I follow him, shutting the TARDIS door behind me.

I freeze the moment I step through the school doors. All I see is a crowd of creatures I've never seen before. They look half Hipogriff, like from Harry Potter, yet still half human.

The Doctor stood next to me, stock still like I did. I guess he didn't expect them to just be… there. I was terrified; I had no idea what to do. I thought, turning my head slowly so I could look around for anything that could help us. Then, it came to me.

I took out my pocketknife and popped it open. 'Let's just hope this works.' I thought to myself. I waited a few seconds, hesitating about taking this risk. I took a deep breath and then pounced. I flung myself toward the wall to my right, hitting the fire extinguisher case with my pocketknife. The glass shattered and I grabbed the red can before the Tienap's could even think. The alarm sounded, high-pitched and loud, throughout the whole school and I sprayed every Tienap in range with the fire extinguisher.

My theory was that either the fir extinguisher would irritate them, if not kill them, or the alarm would irritate them or hurt them or something. To be honest, I just needed to get out of there. Luckily, they both worked.

All of the Tienap's who weren't affected by the alarm were frozen solid by the fire extinguisher and all the ones that weren't in range of the fire extinguisher… well, their heads exploded… Yuck!

So my theories worked better than I had anticipated. Who knew that a fire extinguisher could freeze something? But those alarms could definitely blow anyone's head off. I mean, seriously! Have you heard those things?

I stood in front of the Tienap's and the Doctor stared at me with wide eyes.

"Uh… sorry?" I said.

"You were bloody brilliant!" He exclaimed, running over to me and lifting me over his head by the waist and twirling in a circle, grinning up at me. "We would've never gotten out of there if it weren't for you."

After he put me down, I said, "It was just an adrenaline rush and hunch. I had never expected that," –I gestured toward the Tienap's– "to happen."

He smiled at me. "Well, we should probably get all of these things out of here so it doesn't freak the whole school out in the morning. Then, we can be on our way. Place to go, planets to see!" He said.

"We?" I asked.

"If you want." He replied. "I've never really had a companion as young as you but you've definitely proved yourself."

"But, what about my family? My whole life is here." I said. "I can't just drop everything and disappear!"

"Oh, but they'll never even know you were gone." He said, smirking. "I can bring you back to this exact day, to this exact moment. Whenever you want."

My eyes widened and I smiled. "Really?"

"Of course."

"Okay, we it is then."

Daleks and Angels and Sontarans and Judoon and aliens even the Doctor hadn't seen before. Our adventures were exciting and unique, nothing I had ever experienced. The Doctor became my best friend in only two weeks. He saved my life every time we got into trouble. He might've been the one to put me in danger but saving me made up for it.

"I think it's time for you to go home for a while." He said one day, we had just escaped a planet overrun with weeping angels.

I hesitated for a second. I didn't want to go home… Sure I missed my family, a bit, but I didn't want to leave him, ever. "Yeah, that's probably a good idea…" I said.

"Don't worry, I'll come back for you in a few days." He reassured me.

I smiled slightly. "Good."

He dropped me off at my house and I waved as the TARDIS disappeared. I ran into my house and nothing had changed since the day I left. Which kind of happened to be today…

My mother looked up from her computer. "Get lost on the way home?" She asked.

"How late am I?" I asked.

"'Bout an hour." She replied.

"Really?" I asked. "Uh… No I just stayed back to talk to my Astronomy Teacher about… the homework."

"Did he explain it to you?" She asked.

"Yes, I understand now."

"Good."

"Well, I'm going to go read. Call me when dinner is ready?"

"Sure." She said, going back to her computer.

I went into my room and everything was exactly where I left it. Bed unmade, clean laundry sitting unfolded in a laundry basket, book sitting on the laid out futon. I smiled and sat down. It was good to be home but I also couldn't wait to runaway with the Doctor again. I picked up my book and started where I had left off.

After I had gotten through a chapter or two, my mother knocked on my bedroom door and told me that dinner was ready. I could smell it as soon as she opened the door! Burgers and fried! My favorite.

At down at the table, in my spot and smiled as my whole family sat down with me. I really had missed them! They started conversations about random things and I joined in every now and then, like always. It felt so normal.

"Storie, that's not what you were wearing this morning. Did you change?" My sister, Shai, asked me.

I hesitated, looking down at my clothes. I wore a black and white striped jumper and a pair of short with black converse. "Yeah, I spilled coke on myself earlier." I replied.

"Oh." She replied.

"Yeah…" I said.

I dreamed about him that night. The adventures we had. I was going to miss it for the next few days. He showed me things I thought that I would never get to see. He took me to different places and different times, different planets even. It was all so amazing!

I was woken from my sweet dreams by a sound, one that I had heard before. I opened my eyes and at up groggily. Once I realized that the sound was the TARDIS, I was wide awake. I jumped up and ran outside, but it was gone. I went back inside, deciding that it was just a hallucination, and went back to bed.

The next morning, I got up and looked it the mirror and I did not like what I saw. Not my reflection, no, a note. I guess I hadn't been hallucinating after all. He had left me a note:

I can't put you in danger anymore and,

since it seems to be everywhere

I go you can no longer travel with me.

I'm so, so sorry.

Tears started to stream from my eyes. How could he do this to me? I can't just go back to the life I had! He had shown me a whole new way to live. Adventurous and fun! Traveling to the infinity and beyond! HE CAN'T JUST LEAVE ME HERE!

I got back into bed, tears still falling down my cheeks, and curled up with the note clutched to my chest. This note was the only thing I would ever have to remind me of him. All he left me was a goodbye note….

Half and hour later, I decided I should get ready for school, so I got up and stuffed the note into my pocket. I dressed in a t-shirt and shorts, pulling my hair into a bun and slipping into my red high-top converse. I washed my face and grabbed my bag.

My mother was waiting for me in the living room. We left for school without a word. The car ride over was quiet; we didn't have anything to talk about. I wasn't really in the mood for talking anyway. She pulled up and I stepped out, saying a quick goodbye before heading in.

There was no Police Box by the front door today. No sign of him at all. I remembered that just last night we had defeated the Tienaps. Our first adventure. My eyes watered with tears but I held them back.

The day went by agonizingly slowly. Everything was more boring than usual. The one class that I was looking forward to was Astronomy. It was my last hope.

Finally, last period. I stood outside the door, scared. Would he show up? Would he change his mind and come back for me? I stepped inside and saw a small woman standing at the white board. No Doctor… A tear slipped from my eye but I quickly wiped it away and sat in the back of the class.

I guess I was being a bit optimistic. I'm not an optimist I'm a realist. It was foolish of me to think he would have come back for me. He was never coming back. I knew that now.

So life went on without him. As much as I hated it I couldn't stop it. Time ticked by second by second, never stopping. With him, time wouldn't have been a problem. But he left me to take the slow path through life and there was nothing I could do about.

Days passed, then weeks, then months, and then years. I was growing up, becoming an adult, my life passing me by. I became a writer, writing about my adventures through time. I became successful and rich, but all I really wanted was to travel with him again.

I was 25 years old now, signing copies of my books for children and teens. They were all happy and smiling. I'd smile back and make small talk while I wrote my name on the first page, dedicating it to them and saying something inspiring or whatever.

I was looking down at my desk when someone handed me a copy of the book. The one I wrote about my time with the Doctor and how it ended, it was quite popular.

"Whom should I make it out to?" I asked.

"John Smith." A mans voice replied. A voice that I recognized…

"Alright…" I said, think the name was quite peculiar.

"I just have one question." He said, as I was still writing. "Was she happy in the end? Did she live a happy life?"

I stopped scribbling on the book and just hesitated before I looked up. There he was. The Doctor. After 13 years he had finally come back. "Eventually. She never quite got over it though." I said, with slight anger in my voice. "He really hurt her."

"I'm sure he didn't mean to." He replied.

"Why now?" I asked. "13 years and you finally show up! Why now?"

"I came to apologize." He said. "I made a mistake."

"You have a time machine, why couldn't you have fixed your mistake by going back and showing up like you should have!"

"Some mistakes you just have to live with." He said.

"What do you want then?" I asked. "Why are you here?"

"I… miss you…" He said. "I promise I will never leave you unless you really want me to go."

I stood up and walked around to him. "If you think I'm just going to drop everything and travel with you again, you're wrong." I said. "I'm not going to leave for weeks on end and then have you drop me off at the exact moment I left, again. Not again…"

"I'm sorry, Storie…"

"I accept your apology." I said. "Now leave."

His mouth fell open slightly, in disbelief. "Alright." He choked out. "I'll go."

He turned and left. I watched him walk out, holding back tears but once the door swung shut I let the tears fall. I ran to the bathroom and pulled his goodbye note out of my pocket, I had never gone anywhere without it. I sobbed, reading it over and over. Why had I let him go?

2 years later

I wore a long blue dress with one strap and a matching pair of heels with my hair pulled into a curly, messy bun. The writers' awards were tonight and I had been nominated for best sifi-fantasy fiction book! I was so excited! My first nomination!

I showed up and showed the security guard my invitation before stepping out onto the red carpet. I posed for pictures and signed autographs while I watched some other writers step onto the red carpet as well. Some of them I recognized, some of them were complete strangers. But it was very fun to be somewhat in the spotlight.

I watched as a peculiar man showed the guard his invitation and stepped out onto the red carpet. What caught my attention was the way he was dressed, tweed jacket, white pinstriped button down, red suspenders, red bowtie, black pants, and black shoes. He seemed very odd.

I stepped into the building and took my seat, keeping an eye on bowtie man. He sat two rows in front and two seats to the left of me. He was smiling and looking around at everyone.

I walked up and took the seat next to him.

"I'm sorry." I said.

He looked over at me. "For what?" He asked. "You've never done anything to me."

"Don't act like you don't know." I said. "I saw the psychic paper."

"You don't need to apologize, Storie, I understand." The Doctor said. "I left you and you were mad."

"I know." I said. "But I overreacted and I made a mistake, sending you away."

He smiled sadly at me.

I put my head on his shoulder. "I miss you too."

He laid his head on top of mine and sighed.

"Can I come back?" I asked.

"Of course and I'll bring you home whenever you want." He said.

"What if I don't want to come home?"

"Then you don't have to." He replied. "Okay?"

"Okay."

"Okay."

a/n: Read and Review?