Groaning, I raised my hand to my head and pressed my palm against my forehead. My whole head was throbbing, and I felt a bit more than slightly dizzy.

I could hear cars honking and tires screeching from afar, and abruptly the gruesome smell of exhaust sneaking its way up my nostrils and down my throat. An immediate cough erupted, and I clutched my chest.

I stumbled to my feet, grasping around me for something to hold onto. However, I came up empty handed, and had to take a deep breath to calm myself.

When I'd succeeded in doing so, I finally got a good look at my surroundings. People were rushing past me, shop-signs flashing everywhere my eyes turned. I quickly understood I was in London's busiest shopping street; Oxford Street. How no one had noticed me ling on the ground unconscious is beyond me. How no one had stepped on me was even more curious.

As people flew past me, I snapped up several broken parts of conversations; some shouted, some whispered, and some spoken into phones.

"…yeah, I know right? It's madness…"

"…salmon? Healthy and very tasty…"

"…just listen to me, please, I didn't do anything…"

Soon enough I realised I wasn't at home anymore. I was in a parallel universe. The parallel universe my mum was from. My dad, too. Kind of.

I could vaguely remember seeing something unusual in the air, behind the house. I'd reached out and … landed here. I looked around for a sign of the same glassy air, but there was nothing to see anywhere. I was so far away from home, with no idea of how to get back.

Mum was going to kill me. Dad would hopefully defend me like he always did when I stumbled into trouble- DAD!

The Doctor, I needed to find the Doctor. He was the only one who could get me home.

Sighing, I started to follow the crowd down the street, guessing I needed to start somewhere.

What I needed to find was trouble. The Doctor was always around if there was trouble. So where do you go to look for trouble that is more than just a simple crime. Okay, monsters… Monsters are what I really need to find. Where there's monsters these is bound to be trouble, and where there's monsters and trouble, the Doctor will always show up.

As quickly as I could I snuck away from the busy street and onto a side street, soon both regretting my choice and praising it. I stopped immediately, staring at a weird-looking machine, which was fixated on the man before it. The machine looked like it was twelve-sided, with four circle-things up on each plate. It stood on some sort of panel, and the top half of it seem to be able to rotate 360 degrees. It had two arms, though I'm not sure you can call them arms. One of them was a long metal rod, with a suction cup at the end. The other one seemed to work as a kind of laser gun, shooting blue lasers. It kept repeating 'exterminate', which didn't sound too good to me.

"Run!" shouted the man, whom I first noticed then. He wore a thin-white and thick-brown striped suit, a simple white shirt and a brown tie with some squares on that I couldn't make out. On top of this he wore a brown coat that reached him at the ankles.

"Exterminate!" cried the machine again, and my eyes flickered to it as it turned towards me.

"No!" snapped the man, and my eyes shot back to him. His face was so familiar it was eerie. Unruly, brown hair, big brown eyes and a pale face covered in faint freckles.

"What the hell is that?" I asked, somehow not frightened. I probably should have been – He was scared.

He pointed something at it (I guessed the sonic screwdriver), and the machine started to repeat, 'blind. Dalek is blind'.

"So that's a Dalek," I said, more to myself than anyone else.

Suddenly someone grabbed a hold of my hand, and I looked up into the familiar face again.

"Run," he repeated, and dragged me down the ally.

Have I mentioned how much I HATE running? Really HATE it?

By the time we stopped, I thought I was going to faint. I leant on my knees, gasping for air like some crazy person.

"Didn't think it would be this easy to find you," I said, standing up properly – and noticing the TARDIS.

"Oh my gosh, it's the TARDIS!" I gasped and, unbelievably enough, ran the short distance to it.

I turned around and looked at him, a grin on my face. "Can I see it?"

"You know what it is?" he asked, and I think I'm the first to ever having surprised him like that.

"Yeah, the TARDIS: Time and Relative Dimension in Space. It's a time machine and a spacecraft."

He stared at me for a short while, before giving me a curt nod. "Right."

He stepped past me and unlocked the door, moving away so I could enter. I skipped in like the giddiest girl, clapping my hands together.

"This is so amazing," I sigh, just staring around.

"You said you'd been looking for me," he said eventually, snapping me back into reality.

"Yes, I need you to help me get home." I look up at him, brushing some blonde hair out of my face. "I slipped through a gap. I don't know how, and I certainly don't know how to get back."

"A gap? Where are you from?" he asked as he started to get the TARDIS ready for a trip. I didn't know what he was doing, but I figured that was it.

"London."

"London?" He stopped what he was doing and looked at me, slightly puzzled. I had a feeling this didn't happen often, and I'd confused him twice in less than an hour!

"A parallel London."

"Parallel…" he whispered, distraught. He was thinking about her. It didn't take a genius to figure that out. He then seemed to notice me properly, taking in my looks.

"What's your name?"

"Lucy," I answered honestly, wondering if I could tell him my whole name. I decided not to, it would only rip open wounds.

"Lucy James," I lied, looking into his eyes.

His face immediately changed, and he smiled brightly. "Nice to meet you, Lucy James. My name's the Doctor."

He offered me his hand, and I shook it. "It's nice to meet you, too, Doctor."