Prologue

My sister and I always wished something exciting would happen in our lives, we just never thought it would happen so soon.

When we were thirteen, a spaceship crashed into Big Ben! And Downing Street was blown up by a missile. At Christmas, there was a spaceship over London. Then there were these 'ghosts' appearing worldwide on 'shifts'. Turns out they were these things called Cybermen. Christmas 2007, an alien replica of the Titanic almost crashed into Buckingham Palace. Then there were aliens in London. They were cute. A lot of people had this system attached to there cars, it was called ATMOS. Turns out it was alien technology, poisoning us all. Someone burned the atmosphere up to rid the gas. It didn't end there, oh no, no, there was more to come.

The day when the Earth moved out of the Milky Way galaxy. There were twenty-six other planets in the sky. These aliens materialised on the Earth, called themselves Daleks.

My name is Lara Ashcroft, and this is how I met the Doctor.

Chapter One
Goodbye, Hell! Hello, Adventure

"Kylie! Come on down for breakfast, love," a voice calls.

"Coming, Auntie," I call downstairs. Three months in hell, and my relatives still haven't caught on. I headed downstairs.

"Morning," Uncle Denis says to me while reading the newspaper when I enter the dining room.

"Morning," I reply gloomily.

"Oh, for heaven's sakes, you're still not moping about your fanciful sister, are you? Good riddance to the lot of them. Those Daleks are the best things that ever happened to you. Now you can be raised good and proper," Aunt Arlene scolds.

"How can you say that? After they killed Chris?" Yes, the Daleks had to destroy the one thing that would make living here bearable.

"Your uncle and I have moved on, and so should you," Aunt Arlene says firmly.

"What if I don't want to?"

"Well, you're going to have to, Kylie," Aunt Arlene says. I put down my cutlery. I've had enough. I run back upstairs, and open my suitcase. I threw all my clothes in there, which wasn't hard, I only had seven outfits, and four pairs of pyjamas, my electronics, movies, jewellery, toiletries, and books (the entire Harry Potter series), lastly, I threw in my photo album.

"What're you doing?" Aunt Arlene had followed me upstairs.

"I'm leaving," I say shortly. "I've had enough. All my possessions are in my suitcase here. I won't come back until I'm eighteen, but only so I can retrieve my possessions in storage. See you, Auntie."

I heave my suitcase downstairs and out the door. I tug on the handles, and drag it down the street. I stop when I reached a nearby playground. I sit under an oak tree, and began to cry. No one notices. Why should they? Who would notice a red-haired, aqua-eyed crying sixteen-year-old girl? Who is currently homesick for Canada. When I finally stop, I look up to see a man staring at me. He wore a blue pinstriped suit, and a light-brown overcoat. He walks over to me and plops himself on the ground next to me.

"Running away, are we?" he asks, pointing to my suitcase.

"It's none of your business," I mutter in the British accent I've picked up.

"Ah, so you are? Why? Parents don't approve of the boyfriend?"

"No," I snap. "If you really must know, I live with my aunt and uncle. Who're you, anyway?"

"I'm the Doctor," he replies.

"Doctor who?"

"Nothing, just the Doctor."

"Well, all right, 'just the Doctor', I'm–"

"Kylie! Please come back, dear!" a familiar voice calls.

"The Fates just don't like me," I say as my aunt stops in front of me.

"Oh– who are you?"

"I'm Doctor Smith," the Doctor says, standing up. "I saw young Kylie sitting here, and I decided to talk her, she looked upset." He showed her something.

"'Doctor Smith– psychiatrist,'" my aunt read aloud. I move to get a better view, the paper's blank.

"I've told you, I'm not coming back until I'm eighteen," I say shortly.

"Why don't you go on back home, and I'll convince the young lady that running away isn't the best solution, eh?" the Doctor smiles, and Aunt Arlene nods. She heads back to her house.

"So," he sits back down. "Why are you running away, Kylie?"

"My name isn't Kylie," I say angrily. "It's Lara. Kylie was my twin."

"Was?"

"Yeah. She and my parents were murdered by the Daleks, back in Canada. Aunt Arlene loved Kylie, but not me. So I told the social worker my name was Kylie so Aunt Arlene would take me in. Funny, I've always wanted to come to Britain, never thought it'd be my own personal hell. At school, I've got no friends."

"How do you know your aunt doesn't love you?" the Doctor asks.

"She tried to drown me when she I was five."

"Your aunt tried to drown you when you were five?"

"Yeah, Mum went mad, banned Aunt Arlene from our house," I say. "These past months have been hell, she's been trying to convince me I'm much better off without Lara." I let out a snort. "Bit stupid, really. If she knew us at all, she'd know I'm Lara. She didn't even fly over for the funeral. 'It was only Lara. Not Kylie. Doesn't even matter if it's my husband's sister who was killed. She didn't like me.' I've had enough."

"And just where were you planning on staying?" he asks.

"I dunno. Rash decision, really. Have no friends. Well, no one but Harry, and I'm starting to really relate to him," I say as I tug the Philosopher's Stone from my suitcase.

"Harry?" the Doctor asks. He glances at my hand. "Oh, you mean Harry Potter. What did you think of the seventh one?"

"Love it," I answer immediately.

"Did you cry?" he asks me.

"Yeah. Didn't everyone?"

"I did, too. When did you?"

"Page five twelve."

"Oh, that's when Fred dies, isn't it?" he asks.

"Yeah. Never realised how much I liked the Weasley twins 'til then," I say. "What's that saying? You don't know what you got until it's gone."

"Wanna go for a walk?" the Doctor asks.

"To where?"

"How about chips?"

"It's just past breakfast," I point out. "Never mind that, I have a bloody suitcase."

"Good point. We'll make a stop along the way. Come on," he says, getting up. He offers his hand to pull me up. I accept. He pulls me to my feet. I stand my suitcase upright, and we head off, with the Doctor leading the way. We keep walking until the Doctor turns into an alleyway.

There's a blue box. A big blue box. The size of a telephone booth.

"Why are we stopping here?" I ask. The Doctor takes out a key, and unlocks the box. He opens the door and walks in. I just stare after him, blankly. He pokes his head out.

"Are you coming in or what?" he asks. How could two people fit in there? Plus my big, bulky suitcase. I push the door hesitantly, and step inside. I feel my jaw drop. This place is huge.

"What is this?" I ask.

"This is the TARDIS. Time. And. Relative. Dimension. In. Space," the Doctor explains.

"It's a spaceship?" I ask disbelievingly.

"Yup."

"Does that make you an alien?"

"Yup."

"Get out of here," I say. "An alien who reads Harry Potter? But you look human."

"Have you ever seen an alien?"

"Daleks, remember. But when people say alien, you expect something strange, nothing humanoid," I explain. "Like the Daleks. Or those Adipose things. Or the Cybermen, but I don't think they were alien aliens. I think they were alien. You know, like foreign. Or strange. Just not aliens from outer space."

"That's clever, Lara. How did you figure that out?" the Doctor asks.

"Because they would remove everything that makes a human, well, human. I expect most aliens don't understand humans," I answer. "Actually, I think some humans don't understand humans."

"That's very perceptive," the Doctor informs me.

"I'm a very perceptive person, or so I've been told," I tell him.

"Is there anywhen you'd like to go?" he asks.

"I'm sorry, did you say anywhen?" I ask, startled.

"Oh, didn't I tell you? The TARDIS is also a time machine," he says, grinning.

~Cue theme music~

Author's Note: Like? Hate? My first attempt at a Doctor Who fic. I started this ages ago, but lately, I haven't been able to get it out of my head. Let me know what you think.