A/N: This is a work in progress, so depending on how many people like it I'll continue to write and post.
I do not own any characters except for for Aria Gles.
"That was fantastic!" the man in the leather jacket exclaimed as he closed the door behind him, panting ever so slightly. Traveling by himself, he had accidentally landed on the wrong planet in the wrong time, stuck during the reign of a controlling and particularly cruel monarchy. Being his usual self hadn't worked out, for after insulting the king and his family- mind you, not that he consciously realized he was offending them- he had been sentenced to execution. However, a two kilometer run back to his camouflaged ship sometimes left even aliens tired.
He walked up the grated ramp that led to a circular console in the middle of the large and orange coral control room, lovingly stroking the controls. "You want to choose where we go next, you sexy thing?" A grin spread across his face as the machine purred beneath him, several buttons lighting up in response to his request. He laughed with glee as he raced madly around the console, flipping several levers and pressing a few more buttons as his ship began to shake. He held on to the console, smiling up at the screen that hung from the cylindrical middle of the console. The shaking stopped suddenly, causing the man to type something in on a keyboard that had swung around to rest underneath the screen. "Rural New York, America, 2003? Must be important, you know how Americans react to anything they don't understand." He smirked as he felt his ship give an amused nudge in his mind; in response he ran his hand along one of her railings as he strutted down the ramp.
The man in the leather jacket opened the door to his ship, closing it behind him as he stepped onto the damp morning grass. A colonial-styled house sat in a cleared out section of a wooded area, its light paint dull beneath the cloudy sky.
He approached the building slowly, drawing a strange looking metallic object out and holding it in front of him almost like a gun. A creak sounded, shattering the cricket's rhythmic chirping and drawing the man's attention. He cautiously climbed the house's front steps up to the porch, pausing as he saw a small foot slide out of sight behind a column. He desperately hoped that nothing "supernatural" was going on , because he was not particularly in the mood for it.
"Hello?" he called out in a low voice. A quiet whimper floated back towards him, so he tried again. "You can come out, I won't hurt you."
A pair of large hazel eyes peeked out from where they were hiding. "Promise?" a small voice accompanying them asked.
"'Course I do!" the man answered, lowering his metallic device and crouching down so that his blue eyes were at the same level as the innocent hazel ones. He grinned as a young girl in a pink nightgown edged her way out from where she had been attempting to hide, nervously wringing her long black braided hair with one hand. She took several steps towards him, peering curiously at him once they were a meter apart. The man had thought of several probable questions she might ask him, but wasn't exactly prepared for what spilled out of her mouth.
"Why do you sound funny?"
He teasingly glared at her, crossing his arms in mock annoyance. "I do not!"
She giggled into one hand. "Yes you do, Mister."
The man shook his head, a slight smile growing. "Not mister, Doctor. Call me the Doctor. What do they call you?"
The girl ignored his question, instead staring at the wooden blue box he had stepped out of when he had arrived. "How did you make your ship appear like that?"
The Doctor frowned, narrowing his eyes a bit. "How'd you know it was a ship?" he asked slowly.
The girl looked at him, her expression showing that she thought the question was a bit idiotic. "The engines made a noise. Besides, she told me." The girl skipped past the Doctor and down the steps, stopping to stare up at the blue phone box in awe. "She's pretty," he heard her say before one of the doors swung open on its own accord. She turned to look back at him, waiting patiently until he reached her side. He wasn't sure why his ship had opened the doors like that, and more puzzled on why the girl hadn't gone inside. That is, until he felt her tug on his jacket.
"Go right on in," he said with a large grin that masked the perplexity that he was encountering. It faded slightly into the background though as he watched the amazement grow on the girl's face.
"It's smaller on the outside," she said before racing up towards the console. It took the Doctor a moment to realize what she had said. It was… new, unique... strange.
"This is my TARDIS," he announced as the girl ran her hand along the edge of the console; she was too short to reach the highest buttons and levers. "She can travel anywhere in time and space, and she's alive."
"I know," the girl said like it was the simplest thing in the world. "She told me."
"She told you?"
"Yes. Why are you sad?"
The Doctor suddenly stopped, his hand halfway through typing something on the keyboard. "Why would I be sad?" he asked guardedly.
The girl didn't answer. Instead she ran around the console towards him, tripping once or twice on her nightgown, before she wrapped her arms around his legs, giving him the best hug she could for her height. The Doctor was a statue, frozen for a few moments, before he lifted the girl up so she could wrap her arms around his neck instead.
"I'm not sad now," he amended, and she smiled.
"I'm Aria," she finally told him, and he grinned widely at her.
"Pleased to meet you, Miss Aria. Aria, Aria, Ariaaa. Lovely name you've got." She giggled as he repeated her name, drawing out the syllables longer than they usually sounded. "How old are you, Miss Aria?"
"Five. How old are you, Doctor?"
He paused for a moment, deciding against telling this innocent creature about his long life. "Well, I'm much older than five."
"How much?" she attempted to ask through a large yawn, her eyes droopily shutting.
"Enough to write a good story," he whispered as she placed her head in the crook of his neck, sighing contentedly before nodding off about a minute later. He knew that she would never be able to join him on his travels, at least at this young age. Taking care not to jolt her awake, he walked out of the TARDIS and up the stairs to the front of Aria's house, pulling out his metallic device to unlock the front door. Closing it behind him, he climbed the stairs and followed the hallway on the second floor to its end, assuming correctly by the crayon drawings taped to the lower half of the door that it would be the girl's bedroom. He pushed on the door, which opened slowly with a few small squeaks before stepping into the room and setting Aria down gently on her bed, taking care to tuck her under the blankets.
His eyes stayed on her peaceful form for several moments, wondering what it was like to be innocent and carefree. The Time Lords were hardened through many years of education at the Academy, starting at an age not much older than she was. Even as children, everything had an educational reason behind them. Aria didn't realize how lucky she was.
The Doctor gazed down at Aria for several moments, wondering whether or not this would all be a dream to her.
He counted on it.
As the Time Lord turned to leave, a crinkle from under his feet drew his attention. He bent down, retrieving several crayon drawings. He reached into one of his bigger-on-the-inside pockets and held up his metal device, which created a soft blue glow along with a hum that softly lit up the room. The drawings shocked him. The TARDIS stood out on the first sheet, her top light glowing and 'POLICE BOX' sign clearly printed. The next showed an autumn toned scarf along with a leather jacket, one from a past life and one from his current face. A blonde girl with gold fire in her eyes covered the third, with the silhouette of Gallifrey's citadel burning outlined on the back. The last sheet had four faces drawn by a five year old's hand and labeled with her best spelling: the Hero, the Warrior, the Regretter, and the Forgetter.
The Doctor closed his eyes while gently pocketing the drawings. He recognized two of the faces, always trying to desperately forget the Hero's face, and living with the Warrior's mask. The other two faces he figured were his next lives, which both worried and intrigued him. How did a little, sweet, inquisitive child see images from his past, present, and future? He wondered if she had telepathic abilities; humans were known to exhibit those traits. She could possibly have a smidge of alien DNA from a past family member, it had been known to happen but he highly doubted it was the case here. Maybe some vortex energy had influenced her.
Whatever the case, the Doctor wasn't going to dwell on it until this child was older. He was not going to corrupt such pure and youthful human with the dangers of the life he lived. At least, not yet. There wasn't anything he could do to take away the images she saw, and he felt guilty about that. He hated not being able to help someone, and he swore to himself that he'd come back for her once she was older.
The Doctor dug around in his pockets, grinning satisfiedly once his fingers brushed the cool metal of the object he was searching for. A small golden fob watch sat in the palm of his hand, the circular language of Gallifreyan gleaming on its cover as they spelled out the Doctor's true name, one that could bring the universe to its knees. Such a powerful word, even if whispered, and yet he was placing it in the small hand of this girl who was completely unaware of the power in her possession as she slept peacefully. The Doctor smiled, brushing a bit of hair that had strayed from Aria's braids out of her face. He wasn't going to forget her anytime soon.
The man in the leather jacket kissed the five year old on the forehead before leaving the bedroom, his mind still on the curious girl he left behind.
