The Girl Who Forgets: Book 1 Of The Forgetmenot Chronicles

by frosty600

Elissa Brady was a girl who couldn't remember. Woke up each day wondering why and spent it hoping that this time she'd wouldn't. So, when she met the Doctor and then met the Doctor again… the Time Lord couldn't help but wonder why the girl he'd met yesterday couldn't remember him the next. First in the Forgetmenot Chronicles. Doctor/OC.

Disclaimer: I don't own Doctor Who. Just Elissa my o/c.

A/N: So, here's the beginning the new o/c I mentioned in the A/N of 'Chapter 8 of Invitation To Everywhere'. Thanks to those who offered advice and feedback to the idea. It really helped me decide to post it.

Also, thanks to Maethoriel Artemis for pre-reading for me.

CHAPTER 1

Elissa

Elissa closed the door of the microwave and frowned minutely as she read over the handwritten instructions taped to the glass of it again, before she moved her fingers over the panel hitting the ones she needed before hitting the 'start' button getting the machine to whir to life.

She stepped away from the microwave and walked back over to the fridge, pulling it open and peering inside, before pulling out a bottle of orange juice, setting it down on the kitchen bench before she scanned the kitchen cupboards, skimming over the labels before her gaze fell on one labelled 'glassware' which was right next to a cupboard door labelled 'mugs'. She strode over to it and got out a glass, filling it with juice.

Almost emptying the bottle.

She started back over to the fridge, screwing the lid back on, replacing the mostly empty bottle in the fridge door, before closing it again and blinked as her gaze fell on a list labelled 'Things I'm almost out of'.

She grabbed the pen from the magnetic holder above the magnetised notepad and wrote 'orange juice' on the next available space. Blinking at the thing listed above it, 'toothpaste'. Her brow furrowed as she eyed it and bit her lower lip as she wondered if she had replaced that yet… or had she not…? A kernel of frustration rising as she came up with nothing… not a hint of what she'd done the day before. She glanced towards the living room and the open indigo blue journal resting on the coffee table that she'd been reading earlier… the information contained calling to her again… she jumped diverted from the question and her frustration as the microwave came to a stop and 'beeped' as it announced that the food inside was ready.

She grabbed the bowl of porridge out, wincing and readjusting her grip at how hot the ceramic was against her fingers… a warning about that would have been nice…

She paused as her gaze fell to one of the many post-it notes scattered about the flat. 'Bowl will be hot after being in microwave.'

"Helpful," she grumbled with irritation why couldn't she have seen that reminder before she'd gotten the bowl out of the microwave, "Not," though she supposed if she'd been thinking about it, it was common sense… but she'd been distracted… her gaze flicked towards the journal again and she bit her lower lip and settled herself down at the circular dining table, her eyes drifting over the two remaining empty chairs, not sure why she had them, there was only herself in the flat and a small black cat that she'd woken up to on her chest an hour ago now.

Her gaze settled on an indigo blue vase, bunches of small indigo blue flowers inside them, her gaze going to the hopeful message handwritten on a white label stuck to it…

'In hopes of one day being able to remember' a crooked smiley face drawn next to it.

She sighed and started eating her breakfast, eyes darting about the flat that still seemed unfamiliar to her despite trying to find some kind of familiarity in it, taking in the sticky notes of varying colour and age that were liberally scattered about once again, each notating something different. A reminder, some were in different penmanship… three or four she thought so far… but to be fair she'd yet to look at them all… wasn't sure she wanted to… there were just so many! One of them she supposed was her own writing. At least from what she'd seen of it so far had her assuming it was hers, and three that she didn't recognise at all. But… they had to be people that she knew or was supposed to know.

How else would they have been in the flat to leave a post-it note or rather half a dozen or more… most likely more.

She finished her breakfast and dumped the dishes in the sink before she turned and started out of the kitchen and into the corridor, making her way down to the bathroom she'd spied earlier as she'd poked about the flat she apparently called home… looking for familiarity in all the unfamiliar…

She stood in front of the bathroom mirror taking in her appearance, long light brown hair, still in disarray from sleep and hazel eyes peered back at her from a pale face. The same one that had stared back at her from some of the photographs strewn about… depicting her and people she didn't know… not really… though there was the board by the front door. They were all depicted there… a portrait snapshot of them and then a name and who they were to her beside it.

It was nice… and she supposed that they were the ones the other handwriting belonged to about the flat… but still… she wanted… she wished she could actually remember them… know them… instead of waking up… not knowing where she was and why. She shook her head and grabbed for the toothbrush and mostly empty toothpaste bottle and started brushing her teeth, poking about in the cupboards as she did so…

Yeah… she still had to buy more toothpaste it seemed…

A short moment later, her mouth feeling minting fresh and her hair brushed, Elissa sat herself down on the couch and pulled her open journal towards her again. Her gaze going to the note stapled to the top of the fresh page it was on. She peered down at it her eyes scanning over the printed list that she had been using as her guide…

Morning Before Work

Fill Salem's food and water bowl (he's the fluff-ball)

Eat breakfast

Clean teeth & brush hair

Remove dead Forgetmenot flowers from the vase that's on the dining table

Leave home for work at Henrick's 8am (There's a map with directions on your phone)

Look at previous day's journal page if you have time before work

It'll help, trust me.

Elissa.

Elissa. Elissa Brady. She touched the word, tracing her finger over it with a frown, that was her name… it was pretty much the only thing she'd been really certain of when she'd woken up that morning in a strange bed with a strange cat on top of her. She sighed, her gaze going down the list once again. She'd done everything now except for looking at the previous journal page and of course 'go to work'. Her fingers twitched and she glanced hopefully at the time… it was 7:30 now so… she supposed she had time to have a look… her fingers twitched with a mild anxiety and she moved to turn the page only to almost jump out of her skin as a loud ringing noise sounded and she glanced at the phone that was resting on the coffee table were she'd placed it earlier when she'd first come out to the living room.

She reached over and picked it up, staring at the screen that was lit up with 'Rose Calling…' she blinked at the name frowning heavily before she glanced towards her front door where the board was hung up beside it. Her gaze landed on a picture of a young blond, the words, 'Rose Tyler' beside it with the words good friend next to it… although the word 'good' was crossed out and above it in a hand that wasn't her own, possibly it was the blonde's herself which would mean she was one of those leaving post-it notes around the flat, was 'best'.

Elissa blinked again, returning her gaze to the still ringing phone in her hand, biting her lower lip as she slowly moved to press the accept call button and bring it up to her ear, "Hello?"

"Hey!" a bright friendly voice came from the other end and Elissa found herself slowly relaxing just a little, "It's Rose! You're bestest friend in the whole world if you haven't checked the board by the front door yet!"

Elissa blinked again, "I've seen the board," her gaze going to it again, "It's kinda hard to miss."

On the other end of the line Rose nodded, "Yeah, it's supposed to be," she replied, "Have you seen Salem yet?"

Elissa glanced down at the journal, her gaze falling on the printed page stapled to it, "Salem. That's the name of the black fluffy ball of death, right?"

"Oh, what did he do to earn that name? He's a sweetie of a puss," Rose frowned as Elissa mumbled something, "Huh?"

"Woke up and he was on my chest…" Elissa repeated her explanation a bit louder, "Scared me half to death."

"Oh," Rose grimaced a little, she supposed with how her friend woke up every day that would give her a scare, "Yeah, well, he loves ya," Rose replied, "Ultimate lap cat, that one – well when he's not feeling aloof."

"I guess we'll see…" Elissa muttered shooting said fluff-ball a dubious look as it slinked into the room from the corridor.

Rose shook her head, "Have you read yesterday's journal entry yet?"

"Uh…" Elissa frowned and glanced down at the journal again, "No… I was just about to when you called," she flicked the page over and blinked as she took in the writing on the page, dot points some large others smaller.

"Good," Rose nodded as Elissa lifted the stapled printed page from that day out of the way, frowning minutely as she started reading.

"You called yesterday morning," she noted out loud.

"I call every morning," Rose replied.

"Oh…" Elissa muttered in response, there was a moment of silence as Elissa read on, "Oh…" she murmured again, "We went to work together yesterday," she observed, "Is that something we do every day too?"

"No, not every day. Today's my day off. Then tomorrow we work together again and then the next is your day off, Lissa."

Elissa quirked her brows in question, "Lissa?"

"Yep, it's your nickname."

"Oh…" Elissa murmured with another blink, processing, "Ok."

"You right to get to work by yourself," Rose asked in the next instant, "Or did you want me to come walk you to the bus or even ride with you all the way into town…"

"I thought it was your day off?" Elissa frowned.

"It is," Rose rolled her eyes, "But I can still come for the ride if you want."

Elissa was silent a moment and then glanced back down at the journal, flicking it back over to the current day to double check, "I've got a map on my phone apparently," she flipped the page back over to the previous day, "I should be fine."

"I know you do. Mickey and I helped put it on there," Rose replied and Elissa's gaze went to the board again her gaze landing on the picture of a young black man the words 'Mickey Smith' next to it and 'good friend' beside that.

She sighed out a breath, fighting the urge to rub at the bridge of her nose.

"I just worry about ya," Rose finished.

Elissa blinked again at that, "Thanks… but I'll be fine."

"Alright," Rose sighed and then brightened, "Oh and mum says you're to come for dinner tonight."

Elissa whose eyes had gone back to the journal frowned minutely, "It says I came over for dinner last night…"

"You come over for dinner every night, mum and I wouldn't have it otherwise. It's the door five from yours to the left, but don't worry if you don't show up. I'll come get ya."

"That… that almost sounds threatening," Elissa muttered.

"Nah, it's just a promise filled with love and affection," Rose retorted, grinning on the other end of the line tongue poking out from between her teeth, before she sighed, "I should let you go so you can read yesterday's... oh, but don't forget to buy the things off the 'almost gone' list on the fridge if it's not ticked off you need to grab it."

"Yeah, I saw it," Elissa replied.

"Good, I'll see you tonight, Lissa."

"…Guess you will," Elissa replied before lowering the phone from her ear and hanging up, her attention returning to the journal…

*O*O*O*

"How'd she sound today?" Jackie asked from where she was leaning against the kitchen doorframe of the Tyler flat.

"A little distant," Rose murmured dropping her phone down on the table.

"Ah," Jackie sighed and shifted away from the doorframe stepping towards her daughter, "You know better than to read too much into that.

"I know," Rose nodded, before accepting the mug of tea her mum was holding out to her and took a sip, her still brow minutely furrowed and her gaze troubled. It always hurt a little when Elissa was having a distant day… all she could hope was that she'd warm up a little by tonight when seeing them in person… if not well… tomorrow was a new day.

*O*O*O*

An alarm blared from her phone and Elissa almost jumped out of her skin, looking up from the journal she'd been perusing and snatched it up jabbing her fingers at the buttons in an almost panicked fashion, before finally silencing it. She glanced at the time and blinked. It was 8am already… she hadn't realised so much time had passed, but she had gone further back… curiosity about her life driving her to read over what else she had done…

To her dismay it was all routine… no real variation… just work… lists… more lists, endless lists, post-it notes, dinner at the Tyler flat. Hanging out with Rose and Mickey…

She shut the journal, and tucked it under her arm, and with her phone still in hand she scrambled to the door, yanking it open and ducking out it, only to poke her head back in a second later having caught sight of something out of the corner of her eye.

She eyed a fabric shoulder bag, a post-it note above it reading 'Take out with you' she sighed, "Better grab that then," she muttered and nabbed the bag throwing it over her shoulder as her phone 'dinged' and she blinked down at it with a frown. She was trying to get out the door and get to work… not that she knew where that was… she'd yet to really look at the map… she'd been focused on other things all morning.

Crap... were her mornings always like this?

She entered into the text she received from Rose and then blew out a soft relieved breath and smiled slightly as she read, 'Forgot to mention. No need to rush for the bus, you got plenty of time to get there by leaving at 8 xx' her heart-warming towards the blond she could only recall seeing in pictures scattered about her flat.

'Thanks. I was…' Elissa frowned and deleted the half-typed text, not wanting to worry Rose more than she had confessed to being earlier, 'Ok,' she started again, 'Thanks,' she hesitated a moment, before adding 'xx' and hitting the send button. She slung her bag over her shoulder, locked the door and turned away, before pausing briefly stuffing her journal into the bag. Her fingers moving over the keys of the phone bringing up the 'map'. Studying it intently a moment before she nodded to herself, "Alright, seems easy enough," she muttered and started away towards where the map was telling her was stairs down to the lower levels and to the gate that would lead out to the street and eventually to the bus stop, she needed.

*O*O*O*

Elissa stepped off the bus that had come to a stop outside a department store in Central London, her eyes immediately going to the banner that was hung across the main entrance 'Henrick's Sale Sale Henrick's'.

She eyed the sign for a moment then the building it was hanging from… still nothing familiar… nothing had felt familiar yet this morning, no matter how hard she tried to find some hint of the feeling, despite the fact her journal said that she spent a fair amount of time inside that building, working. She sighed and started across the road. She stepped inside her eyes darting about… still nothing… nothing at all.

She sighed again.

"Elissa," a male voice called drawing her hazel gaze to a sandy blond mid forty's man with brown eyes, "Come on," he beckoned her over, "I'll show you what you're doing this morning. I'm one of the managers here, Brent."

Elissa nodded and followed him, silently wondering just how often the man had had to introduce himself to her before… and just how long had she been working here for anyway? …she supposed as they walked past racks of female clothing that it didn't really matter. But still, she found herself a little curious and frustrated that she didn't already know.

Shouldn't she know? And why didn't she? Out of all the information her indigo journal gave her it didn't have any answers as to why she'd woken up without any memory of her life.

*O*O*O*

Elissa shifted back over to the shelf she was restocking, a pile of neatly folded clothes in her arms. She set them down in the last remaining space on the shelf and let out a quiet sigh… mind numbingly bored. Was it always this boring?

"Hey Elissa," Brent called and she turned her head to look at him, "It's time for your lunch break, be back in an hour."

"Ok, sure," Elissa replied with a nod… she felt like she'd been saying that to Brent a lot since she'd started work.

"Come find me when you get back and I'll show you what you're doing this afternoon. I'll be on this floor."

"Alright," Elissa nodded again and turned heading towards where she'd been shown to leave her fabric shoulder bag during her shift.

*O*O*O*

Elissa wandered a busy London street as she ate the salad sandwich she'd bought from a little café. Her eyes darting over the shops. She came to a stop outside a florist, she peered in through the window, her gaze landing on the same indigo flowers that were in her vase at the flat… Forgetmenot's her journal said they were… she smiled slightly… it was a flower that aptly described her she supposed… she didn't want to forget herself… didn't want to wake up again like she had earlier that day…

That fearful moment of not knowing where she was or why she was there… she swallowed and set her jaw as she decided that she'd buy one on the way back to the flat tonight, replace the dead flower that she'd had to bin that morning… who knew maybe one day, it'd pay off and she'd remember something… anything of herself and her life when she woke…

Well, it couldn't hurt at any rate.

Movement caught her attention and she glanced away from the Forgetmenots to see the florist, the woman inside gave her a friendly smile and a wave. Elissa returned both gestures before moving on. Her brow furrowing slightly a little disconcerted by the feeling that the woman inside was obviously another person who knew her at least on sight if not personally when she didn't recognise the woman at all…

She sighed and tugged gently at her lower lip as she wandered back down the street, binning the rubbish from her sandwich as she passed by a bin. She checked the time on her phone and grimaced… it was time to get back to the shop.

Did the lunch hour always go that quick?

*O*O*O*

"This is a customer announcement," a voice came over the tannoy making Elissa pause in the middle of the mind-numbing task of tidying up the racks again for the last hour or so of her shift, "The store will be closing in five minutes. Thank you."

The customers slowly started shuffling towards the cash registers and the exit and a little later Elissa was gratefully slinging her shoulder bag over her shoulder as she made to follow the other employees out of the shop.

"Elissa," and the brunette paused at the sound of Brent's voice calling her once again and turned to look at him, "Before you leave. Could you drop this off with Wilson. He's the Chief Electrician," he elaborated at her confused expression as he held out a small clear plastic bag with money inside it to her.

"What is it?" Elissa asked glancing from the bag to him.

"The lottery money. I'd do it myself but I'm running late to meet the ex-wife. She gets grumpy if I'm not on time to pick up my kid."

"Ok…" Elissa murmured taking the bag from Brent who was shifting a little impatiently, clearly wanting to be off and collecting his kid, "And where do I find this Wilson?"

"Take that lift," Brent gestured towards the doors of the closed lift, "Down to the basement. When you come out of the lift go straight down the corridor, you can't miss his office, it's the blue door with a danger of electric shock sign on it," he told her before he turned and swiftly strode away for the doors that her co-worker's where walking out of.

She turned for the lift he'd indicated and pressed the call button with a sigh, spinning the bag filled with money back and forth between her fingers. The doors of the lift opened with a cheery 'ding' and she stepped inside, glancing about the interior briefly before sweeping her gaze over a panel of buttons by the door. She jabbed the one labelled 'B' and the lift doors slid closed with another cheery 'ding' and started to descend.

It came to a stop and the doors slid open once again and Elissa stepped out, frowning a little as she took in the dimly lit corridor, "Creepy…" she muttered, before shaking her head and continuing on quickly down the corridor. Just wanting to get the money delivered to Wilson and leave… head back to the flat… no to Rose's and dinner… she caught sight of the door she needed, exactly as Brent had described along with 'Office of H P Wilson'… making it indeed very hard to miss. She knocked on the door and then frowned as nothing but silence came from the other side of the door in response. She knocked again, "Uh, Wilson…?" she called, "Uh, I just need to give you the lottery money," she paused and heard yet more silence, "Not there I guess…" she muttered and pulled gently at her lower lip as she glanced about the dimly lit corridor again, "…what now…?" she sighed and glanced down at the bag she was still holding, Brent hadn't said what to do if Wilson wasn't in his office.

A sound echoed up from further down the corridor and she frowned turning to look… "Wilson? Are you down there?" she called, starting down it with somewhat cautious steps, "Uh, dunno if you know me…" she continued as she moved past a rack of clothes, "But it's Elissa…" she came up to a closed door, "Wilson?" she called again hopefully and slowly pressed the door open, squinting into the darkness for a moment before she shook her head and went to turn away, if someone was in there they'd have the light on right…? She started to pull the door shut again only for a noise coming from inside the room to draw her attention, making her pause and turn back to it, pressing the door open again. Squinting to see in the dark, "Hello?" she stepped in cautiously, "Wilson…" she groped at the wall, fingers searching, "Did the lights stop working in here or something…" she trailed as her hand hit on a switch and the storeroom flooded with light, "Guess not…" she muttered dubiously as she looked about the room, the dressed dummies tucked away in it along with stacks of boxes filled to the brim with stock not on the sales floor.

She stepped away from the door, "Hello... Wilson?" she sighed as she glanced about the room that seemed devoid of all life aside from herself, "Anyone…?" she tried again still moving further into the storeroom. Something had been making noise in here. Behind her the door she'd come through suddenly slammed shut, making her jump and turn with wide eyes. She started back over to it and tried the handles only for them to remain firmly shut… locked, "Um…" she swallowed, "What now…" she turned back around, "Another door… please…" she moved back into the room, trying the door to the side she'd passed earlier, only to find it to be locked too. She continued on, her heart picking up a bit of speed, worried that she was trapped inside the storeroom, only for her gaze to fall on another door in the direction she was headed.

She breathed a sigh of relief only for it to still mid breath as another sound came from behind her, making her pause and turn, her eyes widening at the sight of a male dummy as it stepped out of the alcove it had been tucked into, "You're moving…" she gasped with shock as it advanced towards her rather menacingly, "Um, I'm-I'm pretty sure you're not supposed to be moving…" she trailed as she backed away, "Um, if you could stop moving now that'd be great…" she trailed again as a second started moving, advancing towards her behind the first, "Um, really… I uh," she swallowed anxiously as a third came to life before her eyes, "I think I much prefer you guys as inanimate objects… uh, no offence…" she let out a startled yelp as she tripped over a box. She scrambled back up to her feet, readjusting the strap of her dark blue fabric shoulder bag and continued backing up down the storage area, her eyes locked on the dummies advancing on her… all of them in the room with her alive and moving now… steadily shuffling across the space towards her. Her back hit against the wall and she pressed herself against it, hazel gaze locked on the advancing dummies, watching as the first dummy to move raised its arm in preparation to strike, she closed her eyes, screwing them shut, bracing herself, sure it was about to hit her… instead in the next instant a warm hand grasped one of her own in a firm reassuring grip.

Her eyes snapped open with surprise and she glanced to the side to see a man, taller than her, with large ears, a buzz cut, a prominent nose and blue eyes, "Run," the man urged, before he took off pulling her into motion as the dummy's hand cut through the air, just missing her and instead slamming heavily into the wall where her head had been.

The two of them burst through a set of blue doors. Elissa's hand still firmly clasped in the man's as they ran along another dimly lit corridor. The dummies in hot pursuit of them. He led her into a lift and released her hand as he swiftly turned and hit a button whilst Elissa tried to catch her breath as she leaned against the back of the lift. Her wide eyes locked on the male dummy that had moved to strike her closed in on the lift as the doors started to slide closed. Only for the dummy to stick its arm between them in a bid to halt their escape. Without skipping a beat, the man that was wearing a black leather jacket, leapt forward and grabbed the arm that was preventing the doors from clicking shut and tugged, yanking at it until it came free allowing the lift doors to click closed on the dummies that were clamouring to get at them with a 'ding'.

Elissa glanced at him, her eyes still a little wide with lingering fear, "Was his arm supposed to come off like that?"

"Yep!" the man shot her a grin and tossed the arm to her, "Plastic," he stated as she caught it between her hands with a slight fumble.

"It was moving…" Elissa muttered.

The man eyed her with a little concern, "Yep."

"It was gonna kill me…" Elissa continued with a frown.

"Ah, yes…" the man's grin fell a bit as he continued to eye her, his concern growing slightly as he eyed her expression, "But it didn't."

"No," Elissa agreed and took in a slightly shaky breath and then smiled, "Thanks for that, by the way."

The man nodded and grinned at her again, "Your welcome."

"So, what are they… the moving plastic… or is moving plastic normal and only just turned murderous…" Elissa trailed with a little frown as she pondered over that rather worrisome possibility.

The man eyed her bemused at her pondering, "Why'd you think moving plastic, murderous or otherwise is normal?"

"I dunno…" Elissa muttered trailing a little awkwardly… how was she supposed to know what was normal or not, her journal only said so much and she'd only had a chance to really skim over the dot points of the past several pages worth.

"Well, you said it!" the man rebutted.

"I know that," Elissa muttered and tugged gently at her lower lip, before she released her lip and brought her hand down to her shoulder bag feeling the shape of her journal beneath the fabric of the bag.

"Doesn't make much sense," the man observed lightly.

"No, I suppose not," Elissa murmured, "I was just thinking aloud…" she glanced at him again, "Thoughts don't have to make sense, do they?"

"No," the man grinned at her, amusement in his blue eyes, "They don't."

"Good," Elissa murmured and then blinked as she recalled the whole reason she'd been down in the basement in the first place, "I don't suppose you've seen Wilson about have you?"

The man blinked at the change in topic, his brows quirking at her quizzically, "Whose Wilson?"

"Chief Electrician, apparently," Elissa replied.

The man blinked at that, before turning towards the lift doors as the lift came to a stop, "Wilson's dead."

"Oh…" Elissa breathed as the doors dinged open, her brow furrowing, "He is?"

"Yes," the man replied as he stepped out.

Elissa swallowed as she followed him out, saddened and horrified… she couldn't even remember if she'd ever met the man… but, "That's awful."

"Hold on," he turned to her, placing his hands on her slender shoulders and shifting her back and out of the way, "Mind your eyes," he warned before he turned again flashed a strange slender device at the lift control panel, the device whirred briefly and the control panel sparked in response as it's insides got fried.

Elissa blinked at the fried panel and then turned to swiftly follow the man down the corridor, jogging a couple of steps to catch up to him, "So, who are you, then?" she questioned and got silence, "And what about the moving plastic downstairs? Who are they? And, if it's not normal for plastic to move how are they doing it? Um…"

The man glanced at her as she trailed, his blue meeting her hazel for a moment, taking in the curiosity there, "They're made of plastic. Living creatures. They're being controlled by a relay device in the roof. Which would be a great big problem if I didn't have this," he showed her an electronic device. Elissa eyed it a moment before glancing up at his face again as he tucked it away again and continued on down the corridor, her lips parting to form another question, "So!" he spoke before she could, opening a fire escape door he'd been leading her towards, "I'm going to go up there and blow them up, and I might well die in the process."

Elissa's eyes widened with concern and alarm, "You're gonna what?! But isn't blowing things up dangerous…? It sounds dangerous!"

"Oh, don't worry about me," the man cut in and smiled at her again, "No, you go home, go on! Go and have your lovely beans on toast," he urged as he ushered her through the door, "Don't tell anyone about this," he warned as she turned to look at him through still wide hazel eyes, her mouth slightly agape, "Because if you do, you'll get them killed," he said in all seriousness before he shut the door on her.

Elissa stared at the closed door perplexedly, her lower lip caught between her teeth. She slowly started to turn only to pause and turn back fully as the door opened again and the man popped back into view as he leaned out of the doorway.

"I'm the Doctor, by the way," he introduced himself with a grin, "What's your name?"

"Elissa," the brunette replied.

"Nice to meet you, Elissa," the Doctor grinned at her again, "Run for your life!" he told her before shutting the door again.

And Elissa ran through the alley the Doctor had ushered her into and out onto the sidewalk, running down it, eyeing the dummy's in the shop windows dubiously as she dashed past them, glancing back over her shoulder in time to see an explosion blow up the top floor of the shop, her eyes widened at the sight, flames erupting from the windows… her steps faltering slightly as she ran past an alley, that had a blue police box parked in it. She came to a stop a moment later, glancing about the night and the mostly unfamiliar streets… streets that she'd only seen go past in the bus window as she rode into work…

Which way was home…?

She sighed and got her phone out of her bag, biting her lower lip as she brought up the map she'd used to get to work via the bus. She sighed tugging at her lower lip as she continued on down the street as she pondered if she should try and use the map or maybe call Rose… the blond did say they were best friends…

*O*O*O*

"The whole of Central London has been closed off as police investigate the fire," A news reporter for News 24 reported as Elissa sat beside Rose on a settee in the Tyler flat, "Early reports indicate…"

Rose shook her head, "I can't believe that the shop went up," she glanced at Elissa, eyeing her with concern, "You sure you're alright. You're very quiet."

"Y-Yeah," Elissa nodded, "Just um…" she swallowed, returning her gaze to the news as Jackie walked back in from the kitchen, "Just shocked, I guess."

"You are very pale love," Jackie commented, "A bit like the pages of an old bible," she observed and held out the steaming mug in her hand towards her, "Here this should help put some colour back in your cheeks."

Elissa accepted it with a blink, glancing at Rose as Jackie turned in response to the sound of the house phone ringing and made her way back towards the kitchen where she'd left it, "Do I really look like the pages of an old bible?"

Rose shook her head, "Nah…" she assured, "Just a bit paler than normal," the front door of the flat banged open and the two on the settee turned to look as a young black man hurried in, "Mickey hey!" the blond grinned, "Elissa, this is Mickey, he's on your…"

"Board," Elissa finished for the blond the tea mug clutched between her hands as she eyed the young man that appeared relieved at the sight of them.

"I've been phoning your mobiles!" Mickey exclaimed.

"You did…?" Elissa blinked and glanced towards where she'd set down her shoulder bag by the settee, "Didn't hear it…" she trailed as Mickey stepped over to them and the two shifted on the settee making room for him.

"You could've been dead," Mickey exclaimed with concern as he eyed Elissa, "I can't believe your shop went up!"

"It is hard to believe," Rose nodded, "But Lissa's alright."

"I'm fine," Elissa agreed, "Just pale apparently," she took a sip of the hot tea she'd been given.

"Mum's been mother henning," Rose elaborated, "So, don't make a fuss," she urged gently her gaze going to the distracted Elissa again as she took another sip of tea.

"Well, what happened?" Mickey asked as he glanced from Rose to Elissa and back again with curious eyes.

"Dunno," Elissa muttered with a frown, slumping back against her seat a little more, the Doctor's warning still fresh in her mind.

"What was it though?" Mickey pressed curiously, "What caused it?"

Elissa blinked and focused her gaze on him again, "How should I know?"

"Right…" Mickey muttered a bit sheepishly.

"Besides, I was outside already," Elissa muttered, her gaze going to Jackie as she strode back into the room, a phone in hand.

"Debbie is on the other end," Jackie stated as she held the phone out towards Elissa who blinked up at her, "She knows a man from the Mirror," Jackie elaborated in response, "Five hundred quid for an interview!"

"Um…" Elissa trailed a bit uncertainly.

Rose sighed at her mother and snatched the phone from her hand, and hung it up with a jab whilst shooting her mum a look, "Leave her alone," she huffed as she set the phone down.

"I'm just trying to be helpful," Jackie retorted a tad defensively, returning her daughters look, "You've got to find some way of making money now that your jobs are kaput and I'm not bailing you out…" she trailed, distracted as the phone rang again and she snatched it up and swiftly brought it up to her ear as she started from the living room again, "Bev! No, Rose is fine it was her day off today, Elissa though. Poor thing… white as a sheet she is. I've told her to sue for compensation, she was within seconds of death…"

"What're you drinking?" Mickey asked drawing Elissa's and Rose's attention back to him as he checked the contents of their mugs, "Tea? Nah, nah," he shook his head, "That's no good, that's no good. You're in shock," he insisted, "You need something stronger."

Elissa blinked, "Something stronger?"

"He means alcohol," Rose elaborated and then eyed her boyfriend, "Probably beer."

"Um…" Elissa blinked not entirely sure what to make of that, "Do I even like beer?"

"You prefer something a bit more fruity," Rose replied.

"Oh," Elissa murmured and then sighed, that kernel of frustration stirring again at not having been able to know that herself, "Pass then."

"I'd get you something fruity!" Mickey insisted, the two eyed him, "Oh, now come on, you two deserve a proper drink. We're going down to the pub. My treat," he eyed the two hopefully, "How about it?"

Rose smiled a little knowingly, "Is there a match on?"

"I'm just thinking about our friend, babe!" Mickey denied.

"There's a match on, ain't there?" Rose pressed whilst Elissa glanced from one to the other, before her gaze drifted to her bag and the journal poking out from inside it… before her gaze turned to the time. The desire to write down the events that had transpired that day growing before they were lost to her stirring.

"Well, that's not the point…" Mickey trailed and gave the two sheepish looks as he conceded, "We could catch the last five minutes."

"Go on then," Rose urged with a smile, "Elissa looks tired anyway and I'm really not in the mood tonight."

Elissa nodded, "Yeah, I should be getting back to the flat…" she stood, "And I'll get rid of that…" she gestured to the plastic arm resting on one of the chairs. She'd accidentally brought with her… she'd barely been aware she'd been holding it still until Rose had asked about it.

"Oh, Mickey can do that on his way. He's headed out to the pub anyway," Rose stated, "Save you from heading back down and then up again."

"Yeah," Mickey glanced at the arm a bit quizzically, before he turned back to Rose and pointed at his lips and Rose grinned as she pulled him into a kiss, before playfully shoving him away again as Elissa stood and set her mug down on the coffee table. Whilst Rose playful lifted her leg, tripping Mickey as he moved towards the couch with the plastic arm.

"Bye Mrs Tyler!" Elissa called.

"It's Jackie, Lissa love!" came the response.

Elissa turned to Rose and Mickey, "Bye."

"Talk to you tomorrow Lissa," Rose smiled as Mickey picked up the plastic arm and straightened up and turned back to Rose.

"Buh-bye," he waved it at her.

"Bye!" Rose called and rolled her eyes in both exasperation and amusement as Mickey pretended to strangle himself with the plastic hand, an exaggerated expression on his face. He sniggered and turned to follow Elissa out of the flat.

"Bye, Lis!" Mickey called to her, waving the arm at her too.

"Bye, Mickey," Elissa replied and watched for a moment as he turned and started away for the stairs, before she turned and started towards the flat, she'd woken up in earlier that morning.

*O*O*O*

A while later, her 'after work' list completed for the most part, Elissa sat at her dining table, pen scratching over the paper of the journal, her hair still lightly damp from a shower. She created a new dot point and resumed scribbling, pen moving fast over the paper… unsure of how much time she had left before her memories fled.

When she was finally done, jotting down the last thing she felt worth noting down about her day. She closed the journal and stood, wandering back over to the living area and set it down on the coffee table exactly where she'd found it that morning. The label 'READ ME' staring up at her and she sighed out a low breath as she sat herself down on the couch and then blinked as the black feline called Salem leapt up into her lap and swiftly made himself comfortable there, "Hello puss…" she murmured, eyeing the black fuzz-ball that had scared her so that morning deciding a little musingly that perhaps he wasn't so bad as she idly stroked his soft fur and the animal started a contented purring. She relaxed into the couch, fingers still moving through the cat's fur, her thoughts drifting back to the Doctor once more… her brow furrowing with concern as she wondered if he'd managed to survive the explosion he'd set off...

*O*O*O*

'You're safe'

'You're home'

Those were the first things she'd seen this morning when she'd woken up in an unfamiliar room, those two sentences written on a post-it note stuck close to her alarm… the first of many post-it notes she'd come across since waking up to the blare of the alarm.

She'd gotten dressed in the clothes another post-it note said she'd left out for herself, hanging on the doorknob outside her wardrobe. The third thing she'd noticed was the pictures hanging in the corridor outside the bedroom… depicting people she didn't recognise, one of them she'd recognised as herself after looking in the mirror in the bathroom…

She expelled a breath, her gaze going to the blue flowers in the vase atop the small dining table… flowers she'd found out where Forgetmenots thanks to the journal on the coffee table… but nothing she'd seen or read so far told her 'why'. The journal told her a little about what she'd done yesterday and the day before that and the day before that… but that was it…

She turned to the microwave as it bleeped to let her know her breakfast was ready, pausing briefly as her gaze caught on another post-it note in the kitchen. 'Bowl will be hot after being in microwave.' With that in mind she grabbed the bowl out carefully and made her way over to her dining table… a sliver of juice in a glass already waiting for her… she'd forgotten to buy some yesterday it seemed…

She grimaced a little at the thought of what she'd read about yesterday… a lot of it seemed far-fetched… unbelievable and she couldn't help but wonder if the 'her' of yesterday had decided to try and play a trick on the 'her' of today… or maybe trying to make out like her life was more interesting than it was… every other entry in her journal was cut and dry really… predictable… average, boring… and yet when she'd briefly flicked on the telly… it had confirmed that there had indeed been an explosion at the building called Henrick's… but living plastic creatures…

Though why she'd mess with the system meant to help her get a gist of what was going on… she couldn't say…

She sighed and then blinked as she felt something rub up against her leg and looked down, "And what did you want Mr Salem?" she questioned, "I gave you your food…" she trailed as the cat continued to rub against her leg, "Enjoying that are you?"

Salem purred and Elissa smiled, despite the fluff-balls attempt at scaring her to death that morning by lying on her chest staring at her when she'd woken up. Salem rubbed against her leg again wending about the limb briefly before he trotted away, tail high in the air, heading back down the corridor with a lazy gait and out of sight.

Elissa shifted her spoon about her mostly empty bowl of oatmeal, scooping up a little more and bringing it up towards her mouth, only to pause as she heard a strange rattle-like sound coming from the direction of the front door. She frowned and lowered her spoon, placing it back down in the bowl as she got up, starting for the entryway of the flat, the rattling happening again. She paused hesitating a moment as she eyed the front door, her hazel gaze darting to the cat flap as it made the same 'rattle' type sound as it moved.

She stepped closer and swiftly unlocked the door and pulled it open and then blinked as a man with a buzz cut, blue eyes, big ears and a prominent nose, wearing a leather jacket over a dark purple shirt, jumped up from where he'd been kneeling down on his hands and knees in front of her door, frowning at her as she frowned at him.

"What're you doing here?" he demanded.

Elissa blinked, her brows arching at the man, gaze drifting to the board hung by the door glancing quickly over the faces depicted on the photos, none matching his, she focused her gaze back on him, "I woke up here."

"Well, what did you do that for?" the man huffed.

"Uh…" Elissa blinked again a bit thrown, "Well, I assumed it's 'cos I live here," she eyed the man, "What're you doing here?"

"Following a signal…" the man frowned, peering at a slender device in his hand, "I must have got the wrong one."

Elissa blinked again, brow furrowing quizzically, "You followed a signal…?"

"Yes," the man grumped and shook his device, "A wrong one, apparently," he returned his gaze to her, "You're not plastic, are you?"

"Um, what?" Elissa's brows quirked with confusion as she eyed the man and then grimaced lightly as he rapped his knuckles lightly against her forehead.

"Nope," he grinned at her, "Bonehead."

Elissa peered at him, a hand coming up to touch the spot he'd rapped his knuckles against, "Do you normally ask people you've just met if they're plastic?"

The man seemed to still, pausing in turning away, the words that had been rising in his throat forgotten as surprise shot through him and he turned to face her again fully, "What do you mean 'just met'?"

Elissa peered up at him, taking in his expression, "Oh," she murmured in realisation, "We've met before…?" she trailed as he nodded, eyeing her.

"Yeah."

"Oh," she muttered, brow furrowing slightly.

The man blinked, his gaze turning incredulous as he stared at her, "You really don't recognise me, at all?!"

"Um, no…" Elissa replied, her own expression turning apologetic.

"But it was last night!" the man insisted, "We met last night!"

"Last night…" Elissa trailed, her brow furrowing lightly again, before her gaze focused on him once more, there was only mention of her meeting one man last night in her journal and that was… "A-Are you 'the Doctor', then?"

"What do you mean 'am I the Doctor' of course I'm…" the Doctor trailed and stared with increasing incredulousness as she blinked up at him with honest surprise and almost disbelief, "You seriously don't recognise me?!"

Elissa pulled at her lower lip, "I thought I was having myself on…" she muttered, trailing as she turned and started back into her flat, leaving the Doctor to blink after her a short moment before he stepped uninvited into the flat, blue eyes taking in the board hung by the door and the shoulder bag under the sign 'take out with you' before he followed the brunette out of the entryway and paused as he took in the room, brow furrowing quizzically as he swept his gaze over the multitude of post-it notes stuck on various surfaces throughout it…

"So, last night, the living plastic creature stuff in Henrick's basement…" Elissa spoke drawing his gaze back to her, "That all really happened?"

"Yep," the Doctor nodded.

"Oh…" Elissa muttered blinking as she processed that and the Doctor's curious gaze turned concerned.

"You alright?"

"Yeah… think so," Elissa nodded, "I just, really thought I was having myself on."

"You've been saying that," the Doctor observed as Elissa's gaze caught on one of the multitudes of post-it notes.

"Oh…" she blinked at it, before she turned her gaze back to him and offered, "Did you want a coffee or a tea…?"

The Doctor blinked at her a touch thrown, before he glanced towards where she'd been looking before, his eyes landing on the same post-it note 'offer coffee or tea to guests. It's polite,' he turned his gaze back to her, mind really working now as he eyed her, "Might as well have a coffee," he decided, "Just milk, thanks," and watched as she nodded quickly and turned to wander into the kitchen.

The Time Lord's gaze fell on the small dining table, and the vase of Forgetmenots and the hopeful message on the white sticker label. Whilst in the kitchen Elissa flicked on the kettle. Her gaze scanning over a list of different types of coffee, and smiling as she found 'just milk'.

The Doctor looked away from the vase, brow furrowed, starting to get an idea of what was going on… his gaze landed on an indigo blue journal on the coffee table and he wandered over to it intrigued. 'READ ME' he read on the cover before picking it up and flicking through the pages rapidly, reading swiftly over the pages, "So," he called, brow furrowed, "You don't have any memory of your life before this morning?"

In the kitchen Elissa paused with the fridge open, a hand grasping her bottle of milk, "How did…" she scowled, "Are you reading my journal?!"

"Well," the Doctor shrugged unapologetically and dropped the journal back on the coffee table, "It does say 'READ ME' on the cover."

Elissa huffed and shut the fridge door with more force than necessary, moving back towards the boiling kettle and the mug she'd set out by it on the bench. Whilst in the living room the Doctor cast his gaze about the flat again, eyes catching sight of himself in a mirror. He shifted over to it, momentarily distracted, "Ahh, could've been worse!" he declared as he took in his reflection and prodded at his large ears, "Look at me ears."

He turned from the mirror, eyes landing on a metal filing cabinet. He arched a curious brow at it and started over to it, pulling open the top drawer and his brows raised as he took in the back to back spines of journals all of a likeness to the one sitting on the coffee table. He reached in and plucked one out from where it was nestled with the others and flicked through a few pages, frowning heavily. It was the same… a dot pointed catalogue of her memories of a day and a helpful 'to do list' for the morning and afternoon.

He shut it and placed it back in its spot, and looked towards the kitchen to see Elissa standing in the doorway a steaming mug in hand as she stared at him, "How long has your memory been like this for?"

"I-I couldn't tell you," Elissa muttered, starting towards him and her already furrowed brow furrowed deeper as he reached into the drawer again, moving to grab one of the journals further along the drawer. She grasped his arm with her free hand, "Enough snooping, please," she muttered and shut the drawer as he retracted his hand, "Here's your coffee," she muttered as she turned her gaze to him again, holding the mug out to him.

He took it eyeing her, "Do you wake up remembering anything?"

Elissa sighed, "My name… Elissa Brady. Other things I patch together from the post-it notes," she gestured around at the surfaces plastered with post-it notes, "And the journal."

"Any idea why?" the Doctor questioned.

"None," Elissa muttered, "I did look, but there's so much to go through and well. I saw all those," she gestured to the filing cabinet, "And I couldn't bring myself to look inside them. Didn't want to know if they were like that one."

The Doctor glanced at it, "What's wrong with that one?"

"Nothing," Elissa muttered, "But you read it, right? At least some of it?" he nodded, "So, you saw… it was repetitive… predictable," she frowned, "Boring and full of lists. I didn't want to look inside those ones and find them to be more of the same…" she trailed with a troubled sigh, "Can we talk about something else?" she requested, "You said you followed a signal here?"

"I did," the Doctor agreed, "But as I said, I must've caught the wrong one."

Elissa eyed him curiously, "This signal have something to do with the living plastic stuff?"

The Doctor set down his coffee on top of the filing cabinet, "I should get going," he muttered and stepped away from the filing cabinet to start back towards the front door, only to pause as a scuffling sound came from behind the couch, "Your cat inside?" he asked with a frown as he eyed the couch, hoping that a cat would slink out from behind it.

Elissa blinked at him, "Uh," she murmured as he cautiously stepped towards the couch, "Down the corridor I think."

The Doctor shifted closer and leaned over the couch to have a look only for the plastic arm he'd torn from the dummy last night to leap out at him and grab him by the throat. Elissa gasped in shock, before she hurried over to him as he flailed, falling back against one of the couches as he tried to yank it off himself. She grasped it and tugged and tugged with all her might, "Oh… come… on…" she gritted out between tugs, "Get… off… him…" she let out a yelp as it suddenly came free and she stumbled back a few steps. Her eyes widening as she watched it freeze mid spin in mid-air, before it flexed its plastic fingers and darted for her. She let out a shrill alarmed scream as it latched over her face, its plastic palm blocking her airways and fingers digging into her cheeks. She flailed stumbling as the Doctor leapt up off the couch and over to her, his hands latching over the plastic arm again and tugging at it determinedly. The two of them stumbling about the living room, falling up against the filing cabinet knocking the half full mug off it, the mug smashing as it landed heavily on the floor and then away again as they fought to get the plastic arm off her.

The two fell in the next moment, crashing rather painfully into the coffee table. The table crumpling under the pairs combined weight and they hit the floor in a tangle of limbs, all the while they continued to struggle with the arm that refused to release Elissa's face from its grasp. The Doctor managed to push Elissa up onto the couch he'd fallen against earlier, digging for his sonic screwdriver from in his inside jacket pocket, as Elissa continued yanking with growing desperation on the arm attached to her face.

The Doctor's hand closed about the sonic and he pulled it swiftly out of his pocket and aimed it at the arm disabling it with a quick buzz making the fingers go lax and he pulled it away, "It's alright," he assured Elissa as she panted for breath, "I've stopped it. There you go, you see?" he continued brightly as he tossed the now still arm to her, "Armless."

Elissa nodded, swallowing as she sucked in another grateful breath, and scrubbed a hand over her face in the hopes of removing the lingering feeling of its fingers digging into her cheeks, "Thanks!"

The Doctor shot her a quick grin, "Your welcome!" he replied before he leapt to his feet and grabbed the arm back and started swiftly for the door.

"Oh, wait a sec…" Elissa trailed as he didn't stop, leaping to her feet, snatching her journal from where it lay on the floor amid the mess of her now destroyed coffee table and hurried after him, snatching her fabric shoulder bag from its spot by the door as she chased him out of the flat and onto the staircase, "Hold on a minute," she urged as she stuffed her journal into her bag, "Could you just wait a second!"

"Not really," the Doctor replied, "In a bit of a rush. This is me," he turned to look at her, "Swanning off in a rush," he grinned, "See ya!"

"No, but…" Elissa continued, hurrying down the stairs after him, "That plastic arm, it tried to kill you! It tried to kill me!"

"Ten out of ten for observation," the Doctor remarked dryly over his shoulder, not pausing in his stride.

"Please don't walk away," Elissa pleaded still following him persistently down the narrow stairwell, "I just want to know what's going on."

"Well, tough," the Doctor retorted, still not pausing.

"Oh, please, I'm curious…" Elissa trailed as the Doctor didn't pay her any heed, "Not fair," she muttered.

"Life isn't," the Doctor retorted as he neared the gate, Elissa still dogging his steps down the stairwell, "Get used to it."

He stepped out of the gate and continued on almost sighing as Elissa followed him out and away from the block of flats.

"I'm not going away," she told him flatly and the Doctor paused and turned back to her, "I'll follow you all over London, if I gotta."

He arched a brow at her, exasperated and amused at her persistence, "Is that supposed to sound tough?"

"Um… well, that depends," Elissa murmured as she eyed him hopefully, "Did it work?"

The Doctor smirked, "Nope."

Elissa sighed, disappointed, before eyeing him again, "Well, who are you?"

"I told you!" the Time Lord exclaimed, "The Doctor."

"Yeah," Elissa frowned, "But that's a title. So," she pressed, "Doctor who?"

"Just the Doctor," he insisted.

"The Doctor," Elissa repeated, brows quirking upward a bit.

"Hello!" the Doctor grinned and waved the plastic arm at her as if to say 'that's me'. He turned to start away and glanced to the side as Elissa fell into step with him, "You serious about trying to follow me all over London?"

"Yeah," Elissa nodded, "And I will," she insisted and she reached over and grasped the plastic arm, the bemused Doctor letting her pull it from his grasp, "Please, you can tell me," she eyed him, "Are you some kind of police?"

"No, I was just passing through," the Doctor replied, before swallowing a little heavily as he looked away from her, "I'm a long way from home."

"Maybe I did something wrong and can't remember it…" she mused and turned her eyes to him again, "Is that why the plastic stuff keeps coming after me?"

"Oh!" the Doctor huffed focusing back on the issue at hand, "Suddenly the entire world revolves around you!" he huffed and Elissa eyed him with a furrowed brow, "You were just an accident," he informed her, "You got in the way that's all."

"It tried to kill me, twice, cos I got in the way?" Elissa muttered, brow furrowing heavier as she pondered that.

"It was after me, not you," the Doctor replied, eyeing her troubled expression as she stared at him, "Last night," he continued, "In the shop. I was there, you, blundered in, almost ruined the whole thing," he grumbled, "This morning I was tracking it down, it was tracking me down… the only reason it fixed on you at all, is because you met me."

"So… the world doesn't revolve around me, but it somehow revolves around you," Elissa huffed, "Is that what you're saying?"

"Sort of, yeah," the Doctor replied with a bright smile.

Elissa shook her head, smiling back, a tension she hadn't realised was in her shoulders leaving, a short amused sound escaping her, "You're full of it."

He grinned again, "Sort of, yeah."

Elissa rolled her eyes, lips still quirked up in amusement, before her gaze went back down to the arm in her hands, "So, this living plastic stuff," she turned her eyes to him again, "Who else knows about it?"

"No one," he shrugged and Elissa frowned.

"So…" Elissa trailed slightly, "You're on your own?"

"Well, who else is there?" the Doctor asked, giving her a look as they continued to walk, "I mean, you lot, all you do is eat chips, go to bed, and watch telly! While all the time, underneath you, there's a war going on."

Elissa grimaced that sounded far too much like the life she read about having in her journal, "Well," she fixed him with a determined look, "That's not all I want to do," and he eyed her with mild surprise and consideration, "So, start from the beginning. Tell me about this living plastic stuff."

"Creatures," the Doctor corrected.

Elissa blinked, "Ok, tell me about these living plastic creatures," she reiterated and the Doctor found himself smiling again as she waved the arm at him as they crossed the street, "How'd you make it 'armless'?"

"The thing controlling it projects life into the arm," he started to explain, "I cut off the signal, dead."

"Ok…" Elissa nodded, "And how does or was the thing controlling it, controlling it?"

"By thought," the Doctor replied.

"So, thought control?"

"Thought control," the Doctor confirmed and then eyed her with concern as she fell silent, "Are you alright?"

"Yeah. Thinking," Elissa murmured and focused her gaze on him, "So, 'the thing controlling it', who's that?"

"Long story," the Doctor waved off.

"I've got time," Elissa replied.

"I don't," the Doctor responded.

"Oh but…" Elissa exclaimed, "I still have so many questions! I mean, why shop window dummies? It seems weird that the thing controlling the living plastic started with dummies," she rattled off quickly and then took a breath, "What does it want?"

"They want to overthrow the human race and destroy you," the Doctor answered and glanced at her again, "Do you believe me?"

Elissa sighed, "I don't want to," she murmured.

"But you do," the Doctor stated.

"Well… this living plastic stuff has tried to kill me twice already in the space of two days. So," Elissa nodded, "Yeah."

The Doctor slowed and then stopped, "You should go home."

"Oh but…" Elissa protested as she too came to a stop turning to look at him.

The Doctor huffed out a lightly exasperated breath, "I've answered your questions."

"Yeah…" Elissa allowed, he had answered a fair few, "But," she eyed him hopefully, "I still have so many."

The Doctor eyed her, "One more," he conceded.

"Just one…?" Elissa muttered… hardly seemed fair when she had so many still rocking about in her head. The Doctor gave a firm nod and she tugged at her lower lip, thinking another moment, "Alright then, who are you, really?"

The Doctor was silent a brief moment and then stepped towards her, "Do you know like we were saying? About the Earth revolving?" and Elissa blinked and nodded her brow pinching slightly, "It's like when you were a kid. The first time they tell you the world's turning and you just can't quite believe it because everything looks like it's standing still."

Elissa's pinched brow deepened… trying in vain to recall that feeling… even as surprise took her… the Earth actually revolved…?

The Doctor smiled a bit as he watched her glance about in surprise, "It's that feeling. The one your experiencing right now."

Her gaze returned to him, "The Earth actually revolves?"

"Hmm, yes, around the sun," he explained and Elissa peered up towards it, "Oi! Don't look directly at it! You'll hurt your eyes!" he huffed and Elissa jerked her gaze back down, blinking away a couple of spots that were dancing in front of her eyes, before focusing on him again entirely as he started speaking again, "That rotation you can't see. I can feel it," he explained, gently taking one of her hands in one of his own and started to slowly trace a circle around on her palm, "The turn of the Earth. The ground beneath our feet is spinning at a thousand miles an hour. And the entire planet is hurtling around the sun at sixty-seven thousand miles an hour, and I can feel it. We're falling through space, the two of us, right now. Clinging to the skin of this tiny little world, and if we let go..." he released Elissa's hand and her gaze snapped to him startled the brunette having been so absorbed in his explanation, "That's who I am. Now, forget me, Elissa Brady," he told her seriously before he grabbed the arm back from her and waved it at her this time in farewell, giving her a last smile ignoring the disappointment in her hazel eyes as she stared at him, "Go home, back to your lists and post-it notes. You're safer there."

Elissa stood still watching him walk away from her and towards a large blue box, "No problem there," she muttered heavily, "Come tomorrow I won't even recall you existed…" well, until she read her journal… but there was no guarantee that she would believe it… probably think she was 'having herself on' just like she had this morning… and there'd be no Doctor showing up to tell her otherwise this time… she stared after him a moment longer before she slowly and reluctantly turned and started to walk back the way they'd come, her steps feeling heavy and brow furrowed, saddened that by tomorrow she'd have forgotten him.

She paused as a sudden gust of wind blew and a wheezing sound came from somewhere behind her. She frowned and whirled back around, running back to where she'd watched the Doctor walk away from her with lighter feet, to see that the police box that he'd been walking towards, something she'd only really noticed in passing, had vanished as if it hadn't been there at all. She blinked at the spot owlishly, teeth sinking into her lower lip as she cast her gaze about the bright sunny morning, looking for any sign of where the big blue box may have gone.

The loud sound of a ringing phone came from the depths of her fabric shoulder bag and Elissa frowned as she started digging through it, searching for the source of the sound, before pulling out her mobile and blinking at the words lighting up her screen as the device continued to ring, 'Rose Calling…'

"Hey," she heard a bright friendly voice come through the phone as she answered and brought it up to her ear, "It's Rose, your best friend," Rose continued cheerily, "Check the board by the front door if you haven't already!"

"I've checked the board," Elissa muttered distracted.

"Great," Rose exclaimed, "And what about the journal?" she questioned, "You read that yet?"

"Yeah, read it," Elissa replied still distracted.

"Awesome," Rose grinned, "Sorry, I'm a bit later in calling than usual, mum's been nattering at me all morning about having to find a new job and trying to convince me to help her convince you to sue for compensation."

Elissa blinked… she hadn't read anything about 'suing' in her journal, "Compensation?"

"Yeah, to do with Henrick's blowing up… you did put that in your journal, right? Oh, Gosh! You didn't try and go to work, did you? I was worried about that…"

"It was in my journal," Elissa cut in, "Suing wasn't. And no, I didn't try and go into work," she informed her.

"Oh, good," Rose sighed, relieved.

Elissa turned and started walking back towards the Estate and the flat she'd woken up in, "Rose?"

"Yeah?" Rose replied curiously, hearing a questioning tone in her friend's voice.

"If I was wanting to look something up… find out more about something… how would I go about that?"

"A computer with access to the internet," Rose replied without hesitation.

"Right…" Elissa nodded slowly, "And, where would I find one of those?"

"Mickey's got one," Rose replied.

"Would he let me use it?" Elissa asked, biting her lip hopefully.

"I wouldn't have mentioned it if he wouldn't," Rose replied, "Hold on, I'll come over and we can go up to his flat together."

"Oh… I'm not actually – I'm not in the Estate at the moment," Elissa admitted, "I'm walking back to it now though."

"I'll meet you down by the gate then," Rose decided a she started shifting about the flat, "What are you doing out and about so early?"

"Um…" Elissa blinked hesitating, "I'll tell you when I see you," she evaded and hung up the phone before stuffing it back in her bag…

*O*O*O*

"I still don't believe it," Rose muttered from where she was perched on the end of Mickey's bed, Elissa's journal open on her lap as she peered down at the writing of what had happened to Elissa yesterday, whilst Elissa herself was sitting in Mickey's desk chair where the blond had set her up to enable her to search for what she wanted.

"Told you," Elissa sighed, not looking away from the screen of the computer she was using with Mickey's blessing, "I didn't either when I first read it, but then he showed up this morning and a plastic arm tried to kill me," she explained again.

Rose looked up from the journal and eyed the back of her friends head, "And you're sure you weren't dreaming it?"

"If I dream… I don't remember ever doing so," Elissa muttered with distraction as she poked the keys on the keyboard with a finger, brow furrowed in concentration as she tried to narrow the overwhelming number of results down.

Rose sighed and shut the journal, "I dunno Lissa, living plastic creature things?"

"I'm not asking you to believe me, Rose," Elissa murmured frowning as she backspaced her search and paused her finger hovering over the keys as she contemplated what to try as a search next, "I probably wouldn't have if it hadn't happened to me. I was convinced this morning I was having myself on…"

Rose set the journal down on Mickey's bed and stood, "Except this 'Doctor' came to call…"

"Yeah," Elissa agreed.

Rose blew out a breath and stepped toward Elissa's turned back, "Who is he anyway?" she asked as she looked at the screen over Elissa's shoulder.

"Well," Elissa glanced over her shoulder at the blond, "That's what I'm trying to find out."

"Why do you care so much?" Rose questioned, eyeing her friend, "I mean, no offence, Lissa, but you're going to forget all this tomorrow."

"Yeah," Elissa agreed, she would and that sucked… she hated that, that all this would mean nothing to her tomorrow. That she'd probably wake up and think that perhaps she'd been going crazy the past couple of days or like this morning think she was playing some kind of weird prank on herself. She set her jaw with determination and turned her gaze back to the screen, "But that doesn't mean that I can't be as curious as I want to be today," she stated definitively and jabbed her finger at the keys again.

"Alright, Lissa," Rose murmured, smiling a little as she turned her gaze to the screen again as the new set of results popped up and her gaze settled on the top one 'Doctor Who?... do you know this man contact Clive here," as Elissa clicked on it.

The site page loaded and Elissa squinted a bit at the fuzzy picture that popped up, "It's fuzzy but… that looks like him. Like the Doctor."

Rose glanced at her again, "Better click 'Contact Clive' then," she murmured and gestured at the link, Elissa nodded and shifted the mouse until its curser was hovering over the 'Contact Clive' link and clicked.

"Contact who?" Mickey asked, brows quirking at them as he strolled in a mug of coffee in each hand for the two women in his bedroom.

*O*O*O*

"You're not coming in!" Rose insisted as Mickey reluctantly pulled up across the street from the address Clive had given them, "He's safe. He's got a wife and kids."

"Yeah, but who told you two that?" Mickey huffed, eyeing the house, the whole street, distrustfully, before turning to look at Rose and Elissa once again, "He did. That's exactly what an internet lunatic murderer would say."

"Neither of you have to come in," Elissa told them from her spot in the back seat of Mickey's car. It was her that really wanted to come after all.

"No, I'm coming," Rose insisted ignoring her boyfriend's unhappy glower, "I wanna find out what kind of information he's got that he can't just send it in an email."

"I'm telling you," Mickey huffed insistently, "He's an internet lunatic murderer! It's exactly the type of thing they say to lure unsuspecting people into his lair."

"He's not," Rose huffed and opened the car door and hopped out, turning and releasing the front seat so that Elissa could clamber out of the back of the car.

"Thanks, Mickey won't be long," Elissa murmured, before shutting the door behind her and starting across the residential street with Rose. Mickey staring after them with concern, before his gaze was drawn by a man that was wheeling out his black wheelie bin. Mickey glowered at the man with suspicion. Much to the man's bewilderment as he shot Mickey a confused look in return, before he turned and headed back inside.

Elissa and Rose walked up the drive and to the front door of the house, the brunette knocking on the door and the two wait a brief moment, the pair hearing movement on the other side of it before it swung open and an 11 year old boy stared up at them, "Hi!" Elissa smiled, "Clive's expecting us. We were emailing."

The boy rolled his eyes at that and stepped away from the door, "Dad! It's a couple of your nutters!" he shouted, drawing the mans attention.

The boy disappeared back into the house as Clive walked up to the door a friendly smile on his face, "Sorry. Hello. You must be Elissa," he nodded at the brunette, "And you must be Rose," he turned his gaze on the blond as both girls nodded, "I'm Clive. Obviously."

"Uh, I better tell you now," Rose started and gestured over her shoulder towards the car they'd come from, "My boyfriend's waiting in the car, just in case you're going to kill us," she told him and the three chuckled.

"No, good point. No murders," Clive agreed good naturedly. He waved to Mickey who stared at him distrustfully still, but nodded, satisfied at least that Rose had done as he'd asked.

"Who is it?" Clive's wife Caroline called from the floor above them.

"Oh, it's something to do with the Doctor! These young women have been reading the website," Clive called back, before turning his attention to the two women, "Please come through," he ushered them politely, "I'm in the shed."

Clive led the two down the corridor as Caroline came down the stairs, a clothes basket under an arm, "Young women?" she questioned with bemusement, "They're girls?" she laughed with amusement and smiled ironically, before shaking her head as she closed the front door that Clive had left open.

*O*O*O*

"A lot of this stuff is quite sensitive," Clive told them as he led them through the shed and over to his set up, "I couldn't just send it to you," he continued to explain as Elissa and Rose glanced about the shed, "People might intercept it, if you know what I mean," he stated conspiratorially, "If you dig deep enough – keep a lively mind – this Doctor keeps cropping up all over the place. Political diaries, conspiracy theories. Even ghost stories," Rose arched her brows arms crossing over her chest as she fought the urge to scoff out loud at what she was hearing, successfully stilling the urge as she glanced at Elissa who was listening with rapt attention, "No first name no last name. Just the Doctor. Always the Doctor. And the title seems to have been passed down from father to son, it appears to be an inheritance," he continued before pointing over his shoulder at a screen set up behind him that was displaying one of the many pictures he'd gathered over his many years of research, "That's your Doctor there, isn't it?"

The girls followed his finger to the screen, gazes landing on the photo and the brunette nodded her agreement, "Yeah. That's him."

"I tracked it down to the Washington public archive last year," Clive told them, "The online photo's enhanced, but if we look at the original…" he opened up the slender folder he'd picked up and pulled out photos, first showing them one of the Doctor standing in a large crowd, one face among many, "November the 22nd, 1963," he explained and Elissa's brow furrowed a little in confusion as he continued glancing up at him and then back down to the photo, remaining quiet as she listened to his explanation, The assassination of President Kennedy."

"Must be his father," Rose dismissed as she too peered at the second photo they were being shown.

Elissa gave a little nod, "That'd make the most sense… he'd look a lot older now if it was him," she glanced at Rose, "Right?"

The blond nodded.

"Going further back… April 1912," he said as he picked up a photo album and brought it over, "This is a photo of the Daniels family, Southampton. And friend," he pointed to the Doctor and Elissa blinked brow furrowing slightly… it was the same, the exact same face again… looking no older than his other photos but… years and years apart, "This was taken the day before they were due to sail for the new world. On the Titanic. And for some unknown reason, they cancelled the trip and survived. And…" he pulled out a sketch with careful hands, "1883. Another Doctor. And look – the same lineage. He's identical. This one washed up on the coast of Sumatra on the very day Krakatoa exploded. The Doctor is a legend woven throughout history. When disaster comes, he's there. He has a storm in his wake. And he has one constant companion."

"And who's that?" Elissa asked.

"Death," Clive stated ominously and Rose stiffened, her already furrowed brow furrowing further as she stared at the man.

*O*O*O*

Outside on the street where Mickey was still waiting in his car, peering about with suspicion. The black wheelie bin that had been brought out to the curb earlier started to shuffle its way towards him. Catching his attention…

*O*O*O*

"If the Doctor's back…" Clive continued seriously, "If you've seen him, Elissa… then one thing's for certain. We're all in danger. If he's singled you out… if the Doctor's making house calls then… God help you."

Elissa swallowed at that, brow slightly furrowed, "But who is he? You still haven't said who you think he is."

"I think he's the same man. I think he's immortal," Clive admitted seriously, "I think he's an alien from another world."

*O*O*O*

"Alright," Rose exclaimed as she pulled open the passenger side door of Mickey's car, "He's a nutter! Off his head! Complete online conspiracy freak!" she huffed as she allowed Elissa to clamber into the back of the car before pushing the front seat back up and hopping in herself, "And we shouldn't have come!" she groused with annoyance glancing back at Elissa who appeared distracted and deeply thoughtful, "Don't take anything he said seriously, Lissa!" she exclaimed with alarm, "He's seriously a nutter!" she sighed out a calming breath and smiled determined to change the subject and get her friends mind off this 'Doctor' person, "What are we gonna do for dinner tonight?" she asked.

Elissa blinked, focusing her gaze on her friend, "Didn't you say your mum wanted me to come round for tea again?"

"Well, yeah," Rose shrugged, "But I can call and tell her we went out instead," she grinned, "I fancy a pizza?"

"Pizza?" Elissa arched a brow.

"Hmm, yep. We'll get your favourite," Rose promised and Elissa sighed and gave a little shrug, that kernel of frustration rising again at the reminder that the blond and probably even Mickey and Jackie knew more about her than she knew about herself.

"Pizzzaaa!" Mickey elongated the word strangely as he gripped the steering wheel, "P-p-p-pizza!" he stuttered.

Rose blinked at him, a brow quirking, "Hmm, or maybe a Chinese place it's been ages since we did Chinese…"

"Pizza!" Mickey repeated, cutting Rose off, grinning rather manically as he took off down the road, whilst Elissa gripped the handle of the door as the car served a bit erratically back and forth along the street.

*O*O*O*

"Do you think I should try the hospital?" Rose asked as the three of them sat around a table at a pizza restaurant.

"Did you want to work at the hospital?" Elissa asked.

"Not particularly," Rose sighed, sitting back in her chair a bit, "But Suki said they had jobs going in the canteen. We could maybe apply together…"

"I dunno," Elissa muttered brow furrowed, "I think I'll try looking at another shop or something," she grimaced, "Seemed easy enough to deal with my circumstances there."

"Right…" Rose muttered and puffed out her cheeks as she considered, "I could do my A levels… I dunno. It's all Jimmy Stone's fault," she grumbled and scowled, "I only left school because of him, and look where he ended up."

"Why?" Elissa blinked, "Where'd he end up?"

Rose glanced at her mouth opening to reply, when Mickey who was sitting across from them grinning widely cut in, "So, where did you meet this Doctor?"

Rose shot him an irritated look, "I'm sorry, weren't we actively not talking about that? Besides we were having a conversation."

"Because I reckon it started back at the shop, am I right?" Mickey pressed on, cutting across Rose again as he stared intently at Elissa, "He have something to do with that."

Elissa eyed him, brows quirking, "What does it matter?"

"Come on," Mickey cajoled insistently, still smiling at her widely… manically.

"Possibly," Elissa muttered.

"What was he doing there?" Mickey questioned intently.

"Must you keep going on about it, Mickey!" Rose huffed, shifting in her chair, "It might sound daft, but I don't think it's safe," she admitted, "I think he's dangerous."

"I think he's lonely," Elissa murmured softly and Rose turned to her with a surprised blink, brows quirked upwards and Elissa shifted in her chair and fiddled with the napkin on the table in front of her, "Just the impression I got…" it had only been for a brief moment as they'd been talking on the street but it had been there in his eyes.

"But you can trust me," Mickey cut in again drawing the pairs attention back to him, his gaze still focused intently on Elissa, "Can't she," he flicked his gaze to Rose, "Sweetheart. Babe, sugar, babe, sugar," his gaze returned to Elissa as Rose eyed him with confusion, "You can tell me anything. Tell me about the Doctor and what he's planning, and I can help you, Elissa. Tell her, sweetheart," his gaze flicked back to Rose as he continued, "Babe, babe, sugar, sweetheart."

"What're you doing that for?" Rose asked with continued confusion, he'd never done anything like that before.

A waiter approached the table the three were seated around, a bottle in hand, "Your champagne," he proffered it at Mickey.

"We didn't order any champagne," Mickey dismissed, his eyes locked intently on Elissa, he reached across the table and grabbed her by the wrist making her still in the middle of tearing her napkin into little pieces, "Where's the Doctor?"

"Oi!" Rose exclaimed frowning at him, "Leave her alone Mickey."

"Ma'am," the waiter spoke again this time proffering the bottle at Rose, "Your champagne."

"It's not ours," Rose waved him off and the waiter shifted away, "Mickey, what is it?"

Elissa frowned as she tried to tug her wrist out from under his grip only for it to tighten in response, "Let go!"

"Ma'am," the waiter's voice came from around the other side of the table, the man now proffering the bottle at Elissa, "Your champagne."

"It's not mine either," Elissa replied, before grimacing as she tried to pull her wrist free again, "I mean it Mickey, let go!"

"What's wrong?" Rose asked, frowning heavily at her boyfriend, concerned and a little alarmed over his behaviour.

"I need to find out how much you know, Elissa," Mickey retorted, hand tightening about her wrist again, "So, where is he?"

"Doesn't anybody want this champagne?" the waiter cut in, loudly.

"Look," Mickey huffed with exasperation, "We didn't order i…" he trailed off as he looked up, Elissa and Rose following his gaze. Mickey smirked, "Ah. Gotcha."

The Doctor shook the bottle, "Don't mind me," he said cheerily, grinning as he began to open the top, "I'm just toasting my new friend here, who really should've just gone home," he continued as he started fiddling with the cage around the cork, working it open and aiming the mouth of the bottle towards Mickey, "On the house!" he exclaimed as he got it off and the cork popped free of the bottle, smacking directly into Mickey's skull. The cork absorbing into the skin instead of bouncing off and Mickey chewed for a moment, Elissa and Rose watching in shock and alarm as he spit the now mangled cork out.

"Anyway," the Auton Mickey said, standing, glowering at the Doctor as he shifted his hand into a plastic club.

Rose screamed as she and Elissa fled the table a moment before the Auton Mickey smashed the table with its plastic club. Whilst the Doctor discarded the champagne bottle and grabbed the Auton about the head and proceeded to yank until he managed to pull the head free of the body, ignoring the panicked and frightened screams of the other diners in the restaurant.

"Don't think that's gonna stop me," the Auton Mickey declared with a glower and the Doctor grinned at it whilst around him more screams broke out.

"We've got to get people out," Elissa exclaimed as she glanced around at the screaming, terrified patrons, "Rose!" she exclaimed grabbing the blond by the arm at seeing her staring wide eyed with shock as the Doctor held her 'boyfriends' head in his hand as the body continued to flail about destructively, "Rose!" the blond turned her wide eyes to her, "We've got to get people out!" she stated again.

Rose swallowed and nodded, the rest of the world seeming to come back to her, her heart pounding against her chest with continued alarm and fear, "Uh… fire alarm," she called and started towards it, Elissa following her.

The blond smacked her hand against the bell and an alarm blared through the restaurant.

"Out!" Elissa shouted over the shrill alarm, "Everyone get out now!" the patrons scrambled towards the exit as the headless Auton body continued to flail, its clubbed arms waving about smacking into things, "Get out! Get out! Get out!" she shouted and the headless body turned and started towards them, arms still chopping wildly through the air.

"Come on!" Rose exclaimed, grabbing Elissa's hand, "There's an exit through the kitchen," she told her as she turned and ran, the brunette moving with her and the Doctor with the Auton head tucked under his arm, ran after them.

The Auton body destroying more of the restaurant as it followed after them.

Rose and Elissa ran straight down the alley towards the gate whilst the Doctor calmly shut the restaurant door they'd burst through, pulling out his sonic screwdriver. The slender device whirring as he aimed it at the door, locking it, before he turned and started calmly down the alley after the two humans that had reached the locked gate.

"It's locked!" Rose shouted with alarm, smacking her hands against the locked gate with fearful agitation.

"Um, Doctor!" Elissa called urgently, turning to see the man strolling calmly towards them, "That tube-y buzzy thing! Will that undo locks?!"

"Tube-y buzzy thing?" the Doctor muttered a touch indignantly.

"The thing you used to make the plastic arm armless," Elissa huffed with growing alarm as the headless plastic body started banging against the locked metal back exit of restaurant, "I dunno what it's called!"

"Sonic screwdriver," the Doctor stated.

"Who cares!" Rose cried rattling the padlocked gate with growing desperation, "If you've got something use it!"

"Nah," the Doctor replied as he tucked his sonic screwdriver away, "Tell you what," he continued lightly, "Let's go in here," he nodded in a direction.

Elissa turned again and looked at him, her gaze drifting in the direction he was walking to land on a big blue box and she blinked in surprise, recognising it from earlier in the day, "Does that thing follow you or something?"

The Doctor grinned over his shoulder at her as he unlocked the door, "Or something," he replied with amusement, before disappearing inside.

Elissa blinked and started towards the box. Rose looked at her incredulously, "Elissa! It's a wooden box! You can't hide inside a wooden box! Elissa!" she called again as the brunette ignored her as she pushed open the door that had closed behind the Doctor and disappeared inside herself, "Oh, my God… it's gonna get us!" Rose breathed with horror as she turned back to the locked gate and tried again, desperately.

Inside the big blue box, Elissa blinked, gaping as she took in the interior whilst the Doctor fiddled with the head by a rounded console, "How…"

"Give me a minute," the Doctor cut in before she could get more than a word out, not looking up from what he was doing, a second before the door burst open and Rose ran in, and stopped her eyes wide with shock and alarm as she stared at the impossibly large space and then turned and ran back out.

Elissa stared after her with concern, "Shouldn't we get her back in here?" she asked, moving to step towards the doors.

"She'll be back in a moment," the Doctor replied with certainty, not looking up from what he was working on.

The door to the Tardis burst back open and Rose ran back in slightly out of breath from her frantic run about the blue box, "It's going to follow us!" the blond exclaimed with desperation, glancing over her shoulder scared that the body of the headless Mickey that had just punched a hole in the metal back door of the restaurant would break through completely and burst through the doors of the wooden box they were standing about in any second.

"The assembled hordes of Genghis Khan couldn't get through that door, and believe me they've tried. Now, the both of you shut up a minute," the Doctor ordered, his brow furrowed in concentration.

"You see," the Doctor started to explain after a moment of silence had passed, walking around the console, "The arm was too simple, but the head's perfect," he set the head down on the console wiring the last bits of it into the Tardis console, "I can use it to trace the signal back to the original source. Right," he turned to face the two humans in his ship with a grin, giving them his full attention, "Where do you want to start?"

"Are all tall blue boxes bigger on the inside?" Elissa asked as she let her gaze wander around the large room again.

"Nope," the Doctor grinned at her, "This tall blue box is special."

"Oh," Elissa breathed and nodded, glancing about again... silently agreeing the tall blue box was indeed special.

Rose swallowed as she too glanced around, feeling rather overwhelmed, "It's alien," she spoke drawing Elissa's attention back to her.

"Yup," the Doctor agreed.

The blonde's gaze darted to him, eyes wide, "Are you alien?"

"Yes," the Doctor replied and Rose stared wide eyed.

"You're from outer space," Rose reiterated feeling her head start to spin just a little and she took a deep steadying breath.

And Elissa blinked, "Oh…" she murmured lowly, eyes widening a little more with surprise, "That type of alien…"

"Yes," the Doctor repeated and then eyed the two in his ship, "Is that alright?"

"Why wouldn't it be?" Elissa questioned.

The Doctor shrugged and leaned against the console as he eyed the brunette as she turned her gaze about the console room again, "Not everyone takes it very well," his gaze flicked briefly to the blond with them, taking in her rather overwhelmed expression as she glanced about the console room with wide eyes.

"Don't they?" Elissa asked her gaze returning to him.

The Doctor turned his gaze back to the brunette, "Nope."

"Oh…" Elissa murmured again, her head tilting a little thoughtfully as she pondered over that, whilst one of her hands shifted to grip the fabric strap of her shoulder bag.

The Doctor eyed Elissa as she glanced about the console again, "It's called the Tardis, this thing," he patted the console fondly as Elissa's attention returned to him, "T.A.R.D.I.S. That's Time And Relative Dimension In Space."

Rose let out a sob as she burst into tears, drawing their attention back to her, "That's alright," the Doctor nodded, "Culture shock. Happens to the best of us," he assured as he shifted about the console.

"Rose?" Elissa murmured, shifting towards her, brow furrowed slightly with concern and then blinked as the blond latched onto her and she returned the blonde's hug, "We're ok, you know…" she tried to assure.

"No, not that… Mickey," Rose murmured taking a shuddering breath.

And Elissa's eyes widened and saddened for the young man that she couldn't really recall knowing all that well, but was a friend according to the board on her wall… and he'd been kind… before he'd become living plastic. He'd been kind. Her gaze went briefly to the head that the Doctor had set down on the console after wiring it in.

"Did they kill him?" Rose asked as she turned her gaze to the Doctor and Elissa's gaze went to him as well, "Mickey?" Rose added at the confused look the Doctor shot her in response, "Did they kill Mickey?" she continued to question tearfully, her watery eyes narrowing on him with agitation, "Is he dead?"

"Oh…" the Doctor grimaced, "Didn't think of that," he muttered and scratched at his ear… ignoring the accusing look he was receiving from the blond.

"He's my boyfriend. You pulled his head off. They copied him and you didn't even think?" Rose exclaimed, her tone turning as accusing as her look.

"Um," Elissa cut in as her eyes widening once more as her gaze was drawn back to the head resting on the console, "Is he supposed to be melting?"

"Melting?" the Doctor parroted with alarm turning towards the console as Rose exclaimed aghast, releasing her hold on Elissa.

"You're letting him melt!"

"Oh, no, no, no, no, NO!" the Doctor exclaimed unhappily as he started to frantically run about the console, pressing buttons and pulling levers.

"What're you doing?!" Rose questioned with alarm as she and Elissa watched him as he darted about the console.

"Reviving the signal, it's fading!" the Doctor replied not pausing in what he was doing, "Wait I've got it…" he turned his head to look at the monitor, "No, no, no, no, no, no, no!" he groused hands moving frantically over the console. The Tardis starting to shake as the engines stirred to life, the rota rising and falling.

"Now, what're you doing?" Elissa called over the sound of the Tardis engines as the ship shook about them.

"Following it!" the Doctor replied, not tearing his eyes from the console "Almost there! Almost there!" he pressed some more buttons and pulled another lever, "Here we go!" he shouted as the shaking came to a stop and he turned and dashed for the doors.

"You can't go out there!" Rose cried as Elissa moved to follow him out the doors of the Tardis, "It's not safe!"

"Is this where the signal's coming from?" Elissa asked as she stepped out the doors and glanced about the area they'd come moved to.

"No, I lost it," the Doctor bemoaned as Rose poked her head out the doors and blinked as she stepped out herself, "I got so close."

"We've moved," the blond muttered, before she glanced back at the strange blue box with a mildly dubious expression, "Does it fly?"

"Disappears there, reappears here, you wouldn't understand," the Doctor replied distracted as he paced a bit. His gaze searching.

"Does an awful lot of shaking for disappearing there and reappearing here," Elissa commented as she too looked back at the box.

"I told you, you wouldn't understand," the Doctor muttered, still casting his gaze about the embankment, searching…

"But," Rose swallowed heavily, "If we're somewhere else, what about that headless thing? It's still on the loose."

"It melted with the head," the Doctor muttered dismissively, before glancing back at them briefly with his brow slightly furrowed with annoyance, he was busy, "Are you two going to witter on all night?"

Rose sighed lowly, her heart feeling heavy in her chest, "I'll have to tell his mother…" she lamented, wondered just how she was going to explain that one… she doubted very much that 'being turned into a plastic thing' would go over well… she was still struggling to believe it! Her pained expression turned angry as noticed the Doctor staring at her in question, annoyance at the continued to distraction shadowing his expression, "Mickey!" Rose exclaimed angrily, scowling heavily at him, "I'll have to tell his mother he's dead, and you just went and forgot him, again!" Rose's eyes narrowed further simmering anger flaring to a boil as the Doctor rolled his eyes, completely unconcerned, "You were right, you are alien!" she exclaimed hotly, before she turned on her heel and stormed away without a backwards glance, not realising in her fury that Elissa wasn't walking away with her.

The Time Lord who'd glanced after the retreating blond, before he turned his gaze to Elissa who was staring after the blond herself, "You not gonna storm off in a huff then?"

Elissa turned back to him, "No…" she trailed briefly eyeing his back as he turned away from her, "You gonna tell me to go home?"

The Doctor hesitated. He should. He really should. He really, really should, "No," he found himself saying despite that.

"Good," Elissa murmured relieved, smiling a little, "I doubted I could find my way back to the flat from here…" she trailed and eyed his back, "Did you really forget about Mickey?"

"Might have…" the Doctor muttered, "I've got more important things on my mind than one blundering ape."

"Like?" Elissa prompted, eyeing the Doctor with a slightly furrowed brow. She wasn't sure why but she had a feeling that he was referring to humans.

"Like," he retorted with annoyance as he turned to look at her, "Saving all the blundering apes on top of this planet, alright?"

"Yeah," Elissa nodded, "Alright," she shook her head a little and blew out a breath, her gaze catching on the tall blue box that was bigger on the inside, hazel eyes going to the writing above the door, "I thought you said it was called a Tardis."

"It is!" the Doctor insisted.

"Then," Elissa turned her head to look at him again, "Why's it got 'Police Public Call Box' written on it?"

"It's a disguise," the Doctor replied.

"Oh!" Elissa blinked her gaze going back to the blue box, "So it doesn't really look like a tall blue wooden box?"

"No," the Doctor grinned, giving his ship a fond pat.

Elissa eyed the Tardis for another moment, before turning her gaze back to the Doctor, "What is a police public call box?"

"It's a telephone box from the 1950s," the Doctor explained.

Elissa nodded and then blinked at him, "If you're an alien. How come you know so much about Earth?"

"I've visited a few times," the Doctor replied dismissively, "I rather like this planet… one of my favourites."

"Is that why you sound like us… humans I mean," Elissa murmured curiously and he blinked at her, "I mean you sound from close by…"

"No," the Doctor cut in, "That's not why," he frowned at her, arms folding a touch indignantly, "What's wrong with my accent?"

"Nothing…" Elissa assured and then shrugged a little, "It just sounds a lot like mine."

"That's cos you're from the North," the Doctor replied.

"Oh… am I?" Elissa blinked absorbing that, fingers twitching to grab her journal and a pen from her bag and jot that down so that she could remember that tomorrow, "But hold on," she frowned as another thought hit her, "If I'm from the North and you sound like me… doesn't that mean you're from the North too?"

"Lots of planets have a North," the Doctor retorted dismissively, "And technically, you sound like me," he stated, "My lot came before your lot," he clarified.

Elissa blinked, "They did?"

"Yep!" the Doctor grinned a bit at her expression.

"Oh…" Elissa murmured fingers twitching again… it was getting later… and she didn't want to forget… not a moment of this day… but she would… and she'd have to rely on her journal and hope she didn't believe that she was going crazy these past two days, "Ok," she nodded, "And, um… this living plastic creature. What's it doing here? Does it have a grudge or something?"

"Nope. It's got nothing against you. It loves you. You've got such a good planet. Lots of smoke and oil, plenty of toxins and dioxins in the air… perfect," he grinned at her as she blinked at him, "Just what the Nestene Consciousness needs. Its food stock was destroyed in the war, all it's protein plants rotted," he explained, "So Earth… dinner!"

"Any way of stopping it from doing that?" Elissa asked.

He grinned again and pulled out a slender tube filled with blue liquid, showing it to her, "Anti-plastic!"

Elissa blinked at it and then up at him, brows quirked upwards, "Anti-plastic…"

"Anti-plastic!" the Doctor exclaimed, with a bit of an amused smirk before tucking the tube back into his inside jacket pocket, "But first I've got to find it. How can you hide something that big in a city this small?" he grumbled with a frown as he looked around again the deepening night again, hoping to spot something he hadn't before.

"Wait a sec…" Elissa muttered eyeing him as he started pacing back and forth in front of her, "It's hiding something?"

"Yes!" the Doctor exclaimed, "The transmitter. The Consciousness is controlling every single piece of plastic so it needs a transmitter to boost the signal."

"Oh," Elissa cast her gaze about searching the night herself before blinking and turning back to him a little sheepish, "What's it look like?"

"Like a transmitter," the Doctor huffed.

"I don't even know if I've seen one before!" Elissa retorted in return, her brow furrowed with a kernel of frustration, "Let alone what they look like!"

"Round and massive," the Doctor expounded in response, glancing at her as he paced past her once again, "Slap bang in the middle of London. A huge circular metal structure… like a dish…" he came to a stop in front of her, his back to the harbour, "Like a wheel," he gestured with his arms, "Close to where we're standing."

Elissa who'd gone back to glancing about the night at his description of what the transmitter looked like, paused in her search as her gaze landed on a massive wheel, "How huge?" she asked, eyeing the wheel that was light up with blue lights.

"Massive," the Doctor declared and Elissa gaze focused on him, "450 feet at least…" her gaze went back to the towering wheel across the body of water eyeing it up and down, "Must be completely invisible," he muttered with frustration.

"Um…" Elissa tugged at her lower lip.

The Doctor frowned, eyeing her considering expression as she stared at a spot over his shoulder and he turned glancing about swiftly and then turning back to see her still staring, "What?"

"What about that?" she pointed across the water.

The Doctor turned again casting his eyes about the opposite side of the Thames, frowning deeper with irritation as he turned back, "What?"

"Oh," Elissa lowered her hand as she focused her gaze on him again, "Can it not look like a huge glow-y wheel thing, then?"

The Doctor blinked, eyes widening with realisation as he whirled around again, his gaze focusing on the London Eye that he'd been looking past and around but not really at, "Oh…" he breathed and Elissa returned his beaming grin as he whirled back around to face her again, his earlier frustration forgotten, "Fantastic!" he exclaimed before he darted off at a run, grasping Elissa's hand as he passed her. Her hand grasping his in return as she ran with him. The two running across the bridge to the South Bank, not stopping until they reached the foot of the massive wheel.

"Think of it," the Doctor was saying as the pair slowed to a walk, their clasped hands dropping, "Plastic, all over the world," he continued as Elissa paused her staring up at the massive wheel above them, "Every artificial thing waiting to come to alive. The shop window dummies, the phones, the wires, the cables…" he trailed as he glanced back over his shoulder to see Elissa staring up at the structure above them and he strolled back over to her.

"It's pretty," she murmured.

"It is a bit," the Doctor agreed, peering up at it himself for a moment before glancing at her again taking in her expression, the open wonder on her face at something she'd probably seen before but couldn't remember… "It's called the London Eye."

Elissa gave a nod and tore her gaze from it to look at him, "And the living plastic creature's turned it into a transmitter?"

"Yeah," the Doctor nodded and then frowned as he glanced about the area again, "The Consciousness must be somewhere underneath," he muttered as he shifted away again, searching for a possible entrance.

Elissa glanced after him a moment, before starting to wander the area herself, moving towards a parapet. She peered over it, eyes scanning before her gaze caught on something and she frowned at it with consideration briefly, "Doctor!" she called and glanced over her shoulder as he paused in his search and started over to her, "What about that?" she asked and pointed down at what she'd spotted.

The Doctor peered over the low wall and grinned as he clamped eyes on the large manhole at the bottom of some steps, "Looks good to me," he agreed and the two took off at a run again, descending down the set of steps and over to the manhole.

The Doctor bent down and grasped the wheel on top it turning it until the lid came free as Elissa stood behind him peering over his shoulder as smoke tinted an ominous red by a light billowed out at them.

The Doctor started down the ladder, swiftly disappearing from view. Elissa tucked some of her hair behind her ear as she stepped towards it, grasping hold of the ladder herself as she started down it doing her best to peer down at where she was going.

She stepped off the last rung and glanced about the gloomy red tinted space, her gaze landing on the Doctor as he stood in front of another door, working to get it open. She started towards him as he glanced over his shoulder at her.

He turned back to the door and got it open in the next moment, he stepped through it. Elissa following him. The two stepped into another chamber, before starting down another set of steps that led them into a larger multi-level chamber.

"The Nestene Consciousness," the Doctor murmured and pointed to a large vat in the centre of the chamber, a wobbly orange mass inside it, "That's it, inside the vat. A living, plastic creature."

Elissa swallowed a bit anxiously as she stared at the large mass inside the vat, before she turned her gaze to the Doctor again, "So, what now? The anti-plastic?"

The Doctor shook his head, "Not yet," he muttered, "I'm not here to kill it. I've got to give it a chance," he told her before starting forward, Elissa trailing a little behind him as he headed down a catwalk that overlooked the seething vat, "I seek audience with the Nestene Consciousness under peaceful contract. According to convention 15 of the Shadow Proclamation," the Doctor announced, leaning over the railings, and the Consciousness wobbled about, flexing, as it made a reply, "Thank you," he nodded, "If I might have permission to approach?"

Elissa's gaze caught on a huddled form on a lower level and her eyes widened with surprise at the sight of him, "Mickey!" she exclaimed and hurried towards him, the Doctor rolling his eyes, "You're ok!"

Mickey shook his head, wide terrified eyes going back to the seething creature in the vat, "That thing down there, the liquid," he turned his gaze back to her, "Lissa, it can talk!"

Elissa crinkled her nose a bit at the stench clinging to Mickey, but made no mention of it, instead turning her gaze back to the Doctor, "Doctor, he's alive!"

"Yeah," the Doctor nodded a bit absently, "That was always a possibility. Keep him alive to maintain the copy."

"You could have said something earlier," Elissa huffed, frowning at him… he'd let Rose think her boyfriend was dead… let her think it too.

"Can we keep the domestics outside?" the Doctor huffed and Elissa turned back to Mickey shifting to help him up to his feet, "Thank you," he muttered as he turned his attention back to the Consciousness as he continued downward towards the vat.

"You alright?" Elissa murmured.

"Dunno…" Mickey swallowed uncertain of the answer, his legs feeling unsteady under him, "Think so…"

"Am I addressing the Consciousness?" he spoke to the mass in the vat, "Thank you," he nodded as it globbered flexing in response, "If I might observe, you infiltrated this civilization by means of warped, shunt technology. So, may I suggest, with the greatest respect, that you shunt off?" the living plastic globbered again and the Doctor frowned, "Oh, don't give me that, it's an invasion! Plain and simple!" the Consciousness flexed and globbered again. A face forming in the mass, "Don't talk about constitutional rights!" the Doctor demanded shortly and the plastic roared angrily rearing up to form a head, "I… AM…TALKING!" he roared back, "This planet is just starting. These stupid little people have only just learnt how to walk, but they're capable of so much more. I'm asking you on their behalf - please, just go."

"Doctor!" Elissa shouted in warning as two Autons dummies approached the Doctor from behind. The man glanced back at the warning just in time to get grabbed.

"That was just insurance!" the Doctor tried to assure as one of the dummies pulled out the tube of anti-plastic from his inside jacket pocket, "I wasn't going to use it," he continued struggling to get free of the Auton's grip, whilst the Consciousness globbered angrily at him again, "I was not attacking you. I'm here to help," he insisted, "I'm not your enemy. I swear, I'm not..." he paused as it globbered again, "What do you mean?" he asked confused.

Doors above him blew open and the three in the chamber with the Consciousness turned their heads looking up to see the Tardis in the doorway.

"Oh, oh no, honestly, no!" the Doctor exclaimed with alarm and desperation, "Yes, that's my ship," he attempted to explain to the Consciousness only for it to roar enraged, "That's not true," he denied, "I should know, I was there. I fought in the war. It wasn't my fault! I couldn't save your world! I couldn't save any of them!"

"What's happening?!" Elissa shouted with alarm as the place began to shake.

"It's the Tardis!" the Doctor shouted back, "The Nestene has identified its superior technology. It's terrified! It's going to the final phase. It's starting the invasion! Get out, Elissa! Just leg it! Now!" he shouted desperately as he struggled against the grip the dummies had on him. He didn't want to lose anyone else he couldn't.

Elissa stared at him with alarm, her heart pounding, 'Run' where exactly did he expect her to run too? It wasn't like she really knew her way… she could get out of here. Get back across the bridge but then were? Plastic from what he'd been saying was everywhere… even if she could get home… there was plastic in her home… she had cables… wires. She heard her phone suddenly start to ring from her shoulder bag and she stiffened staring at it wide eyed… he'd said phones… she swallowed heavily and tentatively reached in… prepared to toss it from her if it tried anything like the plastic arm had earlier… only to see 'Rose Calling…' lighting up the screen again. She jabbed the green 'accept' button and brought it to her ear.

"Rose!" she shouted at the same minute the blond exclaimed.

"Lissa!"

"Where are you?!" they spoke together.

The blond blinked on the other end, a little surprised, "That's new…" she mused, "We've never done that before."

"Rose!" Elissa shouted over the noise in the chamber as the Consciousness continued to roar, ears straining to hear the blond, "Just listen! Please! Where are you?!"

"I'm outside… looking… you!" came the blonde's broken response as the line crackled heavily, "… box thing… gone! Whe… you?!"

"Rose! Just… go! Go inside!" Elissa tried, even as she couldn't help but wonder if that was really any safer… "Stay away from shops… the dummies, just stay…"

*O*O*O*

"I can't hear… Lis…" Rose shouted frowning heavily on the other end of the line, "You're breaking up… I…" she trailed as the dial tone sounded, "Lissa!" she shouted frustrated. She went to call again only for her phone to ring, 'Mum Calling…' lighting up her screen, "Mum!" she exclaimed as she turned and started away from the North embankment of the Thames, "Really not a good time! I'm trying to find Lissa…!"

Whilst behind her as she turned a corner out of sight, frustration stirring in her as she listened to her mum go on about compensation, the London Eye lit up with energy.

*O*O*O*

"Get out, Elissa!" the Doctor shouted at the brunette who still hadn't moved to do what he'd told her as the Consciousness globbered and flexed with growing agitation, "Just get out!" he urged desperately as a part of the ceiling fell in, "Run!"

"Can't!" Elissa shouted back.

"Just go!" the Doctor insisted as the Auton's started trying to push him into the seething vat.

"The stairs have gone!" Elissa shouted, before her gaze landed on the Tardis and she ran for it, the terrified Mickey following her. She tried the doors, "Oh, no, no…" she muttered with agitation, "I haven't got the key!"

"We're gonna die!" Mickey cried with desperation, alarmed and terrified as he crouched down by the locked blue box, cowering. Overwhelmed by everything that had happened to him and what was going on right now.

Elissa turned from the locked Tardis, pressing her back against the closed doors, darting her gaze about the chamber with growing desperation. She didn't want to die… not if she could help it, and she didn't want the world to end… not like this… not to become food…

Her gaze went back to the Doctor as he struggled with the dummies who had him, trying to grab to the anti-plastic.

"No!" the Doctor shouted and the Consciousness roared the sound indistinguishable to Elissa's ears as she watched.

She swallowed heavily and then pushed away from the Tardis door.

Mickey turned his head to look at her at the movement his already wide eyes widened further, "Just leave him!" Elissa glanced at him frowning, "There's nothing you can do!" he insisted.

"Maybe not… probably not…" Elissa clenched her jaw against the fear making her heart pound uncomfortably in her chest, before she turned and darted away, racing back down the chamber towards the vat, "I don't really know who I am. What type of person I really am…" she swallowed heavily as she continued on, "What I do know… what I'm absolutely certain of right now…" she narrowed her eyes on the dummy holding the tube of anti-plastic, "Is that I don't want to be the type of person who sits down and does nothing!" she came up to the dummy and didn't let herself hesitate, barely let herself come to a stop before she reached out and grabbed the tube the Doctor was reaching for.

The man staring at her with alarm, "No," he shouted as the dummy that had been holding the tube let him go and turned to Elissa.

"You want this?" she held it up, swallowing heavily once more, "Fetch it," she stated as she tossed it into the vat as the Doctor broke free of the other dummies grip and shoved it in as the other leapt after the tube anti-plastic in a bid to stop it. The tube hit the orange creature in the vat, the dummies landing after it… melting into it as the Nestene Consciousness screamed as its orange colouring started to turn blue.

"Elissa!" the Doctor stepped towards her, grabbing her and pulling her back a step from edge as the dying alien started to broil as it writhed and screamed, "Now, we're in trouble," he exclaimed as it started exploding. He grabbed her hand and the two ran back over to the Tardis were Mickey was still cowering, holding onto it for dear life, eyes wide and terrified. The Doctor swiftly fished out his key and got the door open. He ushered them all in before stepping inside himself closing the door on the dying plastic. The fires that had broken out after the explosion, spreading as the Tardis wheezed, dematerialising.

The moment the Tardis reappeared in an alleyway by a row of shuttered kiosks, Mickey dashed out the doors like the hounds of hell were after him, before he fell to the ground and stayed there staring with wide eyes at the big blue box that was overwhelmingly bigger on the inside, terrified and frazzled.

Elissa stepped out after him, her phone at her ear, she paused a step or two outside the doors with a frown, "Beeping…" she muttered pulling the phone away from her ear to stare at it as it continued to beep for a moment before going silent, "What does 'beeping' mean?"

"That particular beeping, engaged signal," the Doctor spoke from the doorway, Elissa's eyes turning to him, "Means your friend is already on the phone."

"Oh…" Elissa breathed and nodded, before tucking her phone back into her shoulder bag, "She's alright then at least," she murmured with relief. She turned her gaze back to the Doctor, "So, that's it then, right? No more plastic coming to life?"

"Yep," the Doctor nodded, leaning against the doorframe, "Nestene Consciousness?" he clicked his fingers, "Easy," he smirked.

Elissa blinked at him, brows quirking, "You call that easy?"

"Well… relatively speaking," he grinned at her, "Yeah!" Elissa shook her head a little disbelieving even as she returned his smile. The Doctor eyed her, "Thanks, by the way," he murmured and she blinked at him, "I'd be dead right now if you hadn't… well, thanks."

"Just returning the favour," Elissa smiled at him again, "And you're welcome!"

The Doctor nodded and straightened up from his lean, "Right then! I'll be off!" he clasped his hands together and paused staring at Elissa, "Unless, uh..." he started awkwardly, "I don't know... you could come with me," he continued as Elissa stared at him a hand coming to rest over her shoulder bag, gripping it. He turned his head to look at his box, patting it with a fond hand, "This box isn't just a London hopper, you know," he turned his gaze back to Elissa, "It goes anywhere in the universe free of charge."

"Don't!" Mickey exclaimed for the first time since coming out of the Tardis, his eyes wide as he realised what was going on before him, "Elissa, he's an alien!" he turned his alarmed gaze to the brunette who wasn't looking at him, "He's a thing!"

The Doctor shot him a glare, "He's not invited," he huffed with annoyance before turning his gaze back to Elissa, blue eyes hopeful, "What do you think? You could stay here and fill your life with work and food, sleep, lists and post-it notes or you could go, uh... anywhere," he enticed with a hopeful smile.

Elissa swallowed, her heart beating heavily in her chest, not the fearful rhythm of earlier but with something else… something that had her wanting to shift from foot to foot, "Is, uh, is it always like that? That dangerous?"

"Yeah," the Doctor admitted and he watched as she tugged her lower lip, "But I'll tell you what else it always is."

Elissa swallowed again, her gaze darting from him to the Tardis and back again, "What…?" she questioned.

"Unpredictable," he replied and then grinned at her, "And certainly not boring!"

"If it's always like today. I don't suppose it could be…" Elissa murmured, tugging at her lower lip again, thinking... considering, before she sighed out a disappointed breath as she recalled the little black ball of fur named Salem who lived with her, "I can't…" she sighed, "I've got a cat back at the flat, so…"

"Right," the Doctor said slowly, "Ok," he nodded disappointed as he stared at Elissa, "See you around," he said in farewell, stepping back inside and slowly bringing the door closed… eyes on Elissa the who time, hoping that she'd change her mind…

Elissa swallowed as the door clicked closed the Doctor disappearing from sight and in the next moment there was a light gust of wind and the Tardis started wheezing as it faded in and out… disappearing from the alley to go elsewhere… she pressed her eyes closed for a brief moment and looked down.

Her heart heavy with disappointment.

She'd forget all about him by the time she woke up tomorrow… forget about everything that happened today and then she'd read about it and probably think she was going crazy. She sucked in a breath and slowly turned away. Her gaze landing on a wide eye Mickey as he still cowered by a pallet, his eyes locked on the place the Tardis had been. She went to take a step towards him, only to freeze, her breath catching in her throat as a sudden gust of wind blew and the wheezing came again and she turned with wide eyes as she saw it fading in and out until it appeared completely back in the alley. The door opened in the next instant and the Doctor was poking his head out the door with a grin, "By the way, did I mention it also travels in time?" he asked, before he disappeared back inside leaving the door ajar for her.

Elissa blinked at that and strode forward curiously, peering in at the Doctor curiously from the doorway, "What do you mean, travels in time?"

"I could tell you or…" the Doctor trailed and grinned as he met her gaze with his own, "I could show you?"

It was a grin that widened as Elissa stepped inside and started towards the console, the door clicking quietly shut behind her. The Doctor yanking down a lever, the wheezing starting again as he sent his ship back into the time vortex.