AN: Hi, there, to everyone who thought that this was worth a try! First of all, thanks for your faith in my summary. :) This is the beginning of a (hopefully really long) series, and actually is one of about three in said series that will ever feature the Doctor himself. For the most part, I am exploring the lives of his companions, the inner workings and classified bits of UNIT, and an outsider's perspective of Torchwood.
That being said, this is pretty much an OC story. The only pairings right now, though, are canon pairings. Currently, the number is 1: Martha/Mickey. Katherine is really just an excuse to examine the morally grey areas of the Doctor's life. I will do my best to make sure she doesn't overshadow the Doctor Who-y goodness that I'm trying to imbue in my stories. Feel free to scold me if I ever go too far into her story and neglect the others. Honestly, I probably will; I just hope by that point people will acccept her as a character in her own right.
In my brain, this is structured as a tv show, a spin-off series if you will. There will be major story arcs, and I plan on ending each 'season' with two (sometimes three) part stories.
Finally, timelines: Katherine is approximately in our modern times. The Doctor has made a stop here, getting into UNIT with Kate Stewart's assistance, for reasons which I may or may not reveal as I see fit; he has come from New York and his encounter with the angels, which is why he has issues. (I'd speak plainly, but you never know who's going to consider it spoilers!)
Well, that's enough babbling! I swear, this is longer than the first chapter! (They will be longer; think of this as a teaser.)

Katherine McIntire grinned with satisfaction as she catalogued the last record of UNIT's run-in with a supercomputer in the 1970's. Now for the hard part: figuring out what to link it to. She deftly flicked through the paper file, searching for keywords.

Her eyes paused at one word that had appeared numerous times as she'd worked her way steadily through the seventies.

Doctor.

"Ok, that's it. Who is this guy?" she murmured, curious. At first, she'd though he was just some alien expert. Long-dead or retired UNIT employees weren't the sort of thing Katherine was meant to upload to the new system; they had no bearing on UNIT as it was now. But if this guy was so important to so many alien encounters... In any case, this time the word 'Doctor' had rung a metaphorical bell. Katherine typed furiously, trying to find any more recent mention of this man.

There was quite a bit from the seventies, she noted, and various individual incidents - "The Doctor Encounter of 1983" seemed notable, and Katherine thought that "The Dalek Invasion of 2009" sounded familiar as well - not to mention a personnel file created in 1970 or so. Frowning, Katherine opened it.

To the young woman's astonishment, multiple pictures came up, as well as the most blatantly obvious "Classified" notice she had ever seen. This "Doctor" couldn't possibly be one person. The pictures seemed to indicate that he grew younger as time passed - not to mention the fact that he seemed to possess a fondness for undergoing plastic surgery.

Katherine groaned aloud. "Brilliant," she muttered in a thick Scouse accent. "You couldn't just be some guy that just did a job and went home to his wife and kids, could you?"

Katherine wasn't good with computers. She could upload files and link them in the first place, but she wasn't very good at going through and editing previously added documents. On top of that, she didn't really have the security clearance necessary to do what she needed with the Doctor's file. She knew who to ask when this sort of thing occurred - Katherine just hated to ask.

Sighing, Katherine gave in and picked up the phone used for inter-office calls.

"Yeah, Mr. Smith? Mickey, could you help a girl out?" she said.

The answering groan made Katherine grin. "What is it now? I should've stuck with freelance work."

"Well, you're here now," Katherine replied. "Want to be magical and assist me? Computers are hard."

"I thought you were supposed to know how to do all of this," Mickey said as he worked his technological magic in his office. "Aren't you here because the generals all thought you were clever?"

Katherine laughed. "Oh, yeah, real clever, all right. But only with things that's thirty years old or older. History's my job, remember? It's about all I can do to turn this thing on."

"Maybe you'd better learn, then. It's not hard," Mickey told her. She heard a click, then the creak of a chair. "Done."

Katherine grinned, putting the file aside at last. "Thanks. I really owe you."

She went to hang up, but Mickey still had more to say. "Why were you looking at the Doctor, anyway?"

"I don't know, really. He pops up a lot, and I think I recognize the name. God only knows where from, though."

"Popping up is one way to put it," Mickey muttered. "Saves the world, steals your girlfriend... leaves again. I wouldn't be surprised if you'd run into him. I'm more surprised you don't remember."

There was a murmur, and Mickey answered in a muffled tone. Returning to the phone conversation, he said, "Well, you've got what you need. I've got to go."

"Bye -" Katherine began, but he'd already hung up, leaving her wondering, not for the first time, what exactly happened to most of the people in UNIT to get them here. Honestly, the strangest people she'd ever met were here, and she was once a performer in Seattle.

Not that it was any of her business. Katherine shook her head, trying to clear it of thoughts of aliens and mysterious, backwards-aging men, and picked up the next folder in her "to-do" pile.

The hum of the scanner soon drowned out her curiosity, lost to the monotone rhythm of an office life.