Disclaimer: I do not own Cats or Doctor Who but I do love them both. This is set approximately a year after the Cats DVD and after the most recent episode of Doctor Who (A Good Man Goes To War).

"Jem, come play with us!"

Etcetera's call broke into my thoughts and I glanced over at her. She stood with a group of the other kittens just on the outskirts of the Junkyard clearing. I was torni between finishing out my kittenhood with fun and trying to be grownup already. My mother caught my eye and nodded.

"I'm coming, Cettie."

Pouncival grinned at me when I joined the group. "At least one of us will have some sense," he said, slipping a hand into mine.

I felt the now familiar butterflies settle in my stomach. Pouncival was cute enough and very nice. I was sure that he would start courting me after my coming-of-age and I was fine with that. Actually, I was rather excited about it.

We went to the nearby park and played – tag, hide-and-seek, keepaway, our normal games. I sat out sooner than usual today though. I was growing up and our games weren't as exciting as they had once been. Pounce joined me a short time later.

"You too, huh?" He said quietly.

"Yeah. It's weird how big the gap is. Remember Vic?"

"She wouldn't even come with us for the last few weeks."

I sighed. At least Victoria and I would be close again. Right now, the gap was too big for us to bridge but after my coming-of-age, that would be better. I missed my best friend.

Hey, Jem, has Munk said anything about him?"

My eyes darted around nervously, but everyone was off playing. "No, Pounce. He and Graddad have been holed up in the den a lot more lately."

"Maybe he'll leave us alone."

"I hope so." Our voices were small in the silence and once again Pounce took my hand. "I wish that we had someone to help us."

We sat quietly, listening to the wind in the trees and the far-off sound of our friends playing. Just as I rested my head on Pounce's shoulder, the silence was broken by a horrible noise – a sort of in and out whirring noise. Pounce and I jumped up, looking all around. He started to say something about going home when it appeared: a large blue box, the bluest blue I'd ever seen, blinking in and out of sight.

"Pounce . . ."

A door on the box swung open and two humans stepped out.

"I've told you, Doctor, you leave the parking brake on and that's the noise. If you'd just –"

"I like that noise, River, it's a brilliant noise. You can stop – Oh, what have we here?"

Pounce tugged on my hand. "Jem, let's clear out. He's too interested, you know?"

"Yeah, I know. I'm coming, Pounce." We started to ease away.

The last human to speak – a male wearing a strange outfit that included a bow tie – pulled out something long and cylindrical and shiny and pointed it at us.

"Don't run off, Jem and Pounce. We won't hurt you."

The cylindrical thing made a high pitched noise and flashed a green light. "Oh, I haven't seen one of you for a long time."

"Wait." I stopped, staring at the man. "You speak Jellicle?"

"The TARDIS translates." He waved at his blue box. "You're calling yourselves Jellicles now? Oh, I suppose you haven't left earth yet – what's the year?"

I supplied the year and he nodded. "Definitely haven't left yet. I'm the Doctor and this is River – are we still calling you that?" he said, turning suddenly to the woman with him.

"I thing that's the least confusing option," she answered with a smile.

"Then that's River Song, my companion. And you're Jem? Short for something?"

"Um, yes. Jemima is my full name. And he's Pouncival." I waved at Pounce with my free hand. "We're Jellicle cats."

The man – the Doctor nodded thoughtfully. "Can I meet the leader of your group?"

Pounce and I exchanged looks and he nodded. "We'll have to tell Munk and Old D sometime anyway, Jem. Might as well take them now. Follow us." We walked quickly back to the 'Yard, listening to the Doctor and River talk behind us.

"This should be interesting." I said when we arrived home. Pounce dropped my hand, to my extreme disappointment. "My dad is over here and – oh, Granddad is with him." My father and grandfather sat on the tire, talking quietly between themselves. "Dad? Granddad?"

"Jemima, who are they?" My father's eyes were wary and a bit angry. We had strict rules against bringing humans into the Junkyard.

"This is the Doctor and River Song. They just appeared in a box in the park."

"Hello, everyone! I'm the Doctor."

Old Deuteronomy rose. "I've heard of you, Doctor, but I thought the stories just that – stories. Welcome to our home."

"Jem, look." Pounce hissed in my ear. I glanced around the Junkyard. The older cats all looked surprised, pleasantly surprised, and were whispering to each other.

"I see that you are in some sort of trouble." Dad looked blankly at the Doctor. "Well, you have a guard. Guards usually indicate trouble. Or just good caution."

"We do have a problem but it's," Dad stopped, "complicated."

"Can I help?"

"I really don't think-" Dad began, but Granddad cut him off.

"That would be most appreciated. Allow me to start at the beginning. I have three sons, Munkustrap, the Rum Tum Tugger," he waved at Dad and Uncle Tug, "and Macavity, who is not here. Three years ago my son Macavity started exhibiting some strange characteristics – shooting lightning, levitation, magical skills but beyond normal. You see, all Jellicles are magical to some degree but Macavity's went far past what we are used to and then grew out of control. We eventually had to exile him due to an accident in the Junkyard." An uncomfortable silence fell on those assembled. No one liked to mention or even think of that awful day. "Since then, he has harassed us here, abducting me and attempting to take others. It has grown so that we are afraid to leave our borders."

"Does he say anything?"

"No." Granddad sighed heavily. "One of the effects of his magic was the loss of his voice."

The Doctor paced for a few minutes. "Can you direct me to his home?"

Jerrie and Teaser were appointed to lead the way. Once they left, everyone went back to their activities and Pounce wandered off to talk to Plato. I was left alone.

"You like him?"

I jumped as River sat beside me. "Yeah, I do." A giggle escaped my throat. "I'm coming of age soon and I hope – well, I think he might court me."

River laughed. "Waiting is awful, isn't it? I had to wait for the Doctor for the longest time. We kept meeting in the wrong order – he's a time traveler. But finally everything worked out. It'll work out for you too."

We spent the afternoon talking, sharing stories and secrets. The Doctor returned in the evening but didn't say much. "He doesn't have a plan yet," River whispered, "but he'll think of something soon."

The next afternoon, the Doctor gathered us all together. "I need Macavity here so I can talk to him but we have to lure him here. Any suggestions?"

Everyone turned to my mother. "No. I do not want to be put into –"

"I'll do it."

"Jem!" Everyone yelled at once, but it was Pounce I heard most clearly.

"Look, we have to stop him, right? I look enough like Mom that he should be tricked long enough for the Doctor to do – well, whatever it is he's doing." It took a long time to convince everyone, but I won in the end.

That's how I found myself sitting in the 'Yard all alone, humming as I waited for Macavity to appear. It was definitely not the most exciting thing I had ever done. Besides the anticipation, it was really boring. And of course, I couldn't help the memories of that awful day when we found my aunt Hecate dead by Macavity. Hecate was my mother's sister and Macavity's mate. That was a terrible day for the tribe.

Movement caught my eye and I glanced up.

Macavity.

He was staring at me, looking . . . well, confused. That was new; usually he looked angry or crazy. He walked toward me, holding out a paw with those long claws and I flinched away. That was when the Doctor stepped out, holding his sonic screwdriver forward. Macavity tensed to attack or run, his eyes darting between me and the Doctor.

In that moment, I had a flashback of memory – I was a three year old kitten, perched on top of the stove in the Junkyard. I lost my balance and fell. My parents were across the 'Yard, with no way to reach me in time and I was terrified. But I landed on something softer than the ground and looked into my uncle Mac's eyes. He winked at me before turning me over to my mother.

"Uncle Mac!" I grabbed his arm. "Uncle Mac, I won't let them hurt you. I promise." His eyes fixed on my face and softened somewhat. "You remember me, little Jemi. Your favorite niece. This man is my friend the Doctor and he wants to help you. Here," I took my uncle's hand and slowly walked over to the Doctor, "I'll be with you the whole time."

The Doctor scanned me with his screwdriver first, to show Uncle Mac that it wouldn't hurt him.

"Well that's not good. But don't worry – I can fix it! Just have to siphon off the excess and . . ." I couldn't understand what the Doctor was saying, and I don't think Macavity could either. I smiled at him, hoping to reassure him. His eyes were definitely less wild now and he squeezed my hand just like he used to.

"That should do it!" The Doctor stepped away.

"Uncle Mac?"

He stared at me again, moving his mouth for a few minutes before . . . "Jemi? I never meant to hurt her – it was an accident."A shudder went through his body I threw my arms around him.

"I'm glad you're back, Uncle Mac."

The rest of the Jellicles flooded out then, swarming Macavity. I knew he had a lot of explaining to do before things settled down but right now, watching my dad hugging my uncle for the first time in years, I was confident that things would work out.

"Jem," Pounce said, slipping through the crowd to stand beside me, "look at this. It's a miracle." He waved at the assembled Jellicles – my mom holding Uncle Mac's hand hesitantly, Uncle Tug standing just behind Uncle Mac with a hand on his shoulder, Jenny fussing over Uncle Mac's dirty fur. I rested my head on Pounce's shoulder with a sigh.

"It's great, isn't it?"

The Doctor left later that night. He bid us farewell, shaking hands and smiling all around. River winked at me, mouthing good luck as they left. Pounce looked at me in puzzlement but I just grinned at him. Life went back to the normal it had been so long ago, with Uncle Mac acting as Dad's second. After the Ball, Pounce did start courting me and I expect that any day now he will ask me to be his mate.

And we have the Doctor to thank for it all.

A Year Later

Pounce and I were in the park alone, enjoying our solitude, when a familiar noise rent the air. We spun around, our eyes landing on the TARDIS and I let out an excited giggle. "Pounce, it's the Doctor!"

"I see that." He shook his head with his usual bemusement at me.

The Doctor that emerged was not the one we had met a year ago but after some talk, we understood. Regeneration made him into a different-appearing person but he was still the same Doctor. We enjoyed catching up with him and were prepared to say goodbye when the time came but he surprised us.

"Would you like to travel with me? I'm a bit lonely now and I thought maybe you'd like to come."

Pounce and I exchanged looks for a moment. "Of course! When do we leave?"

"Right now. Come on." He beckoned us into the TARDIS - an adventure in itself, because it's bigger on the inside. It took Pounce some time to wrap his head around that.

But that's all I have time to relate because I'm on the adventure of my life and I really to be paying attention to that.

Author's Note: Thanks for reading! I'm not really sure how well I wrote the Doctor. I've never written a Doctor Who fanfic before and I've only been a fan since Christmas so I'm still pretty new to the fandom. In the episode "Gridlock" there are several "Catkind" – humanoid felines. So, I just made the cats from Cats that species. This isn't really a normal high-paced Doctor type adventure, but writing adventure stories is not my forte so please forgive that. Anyway, please review and let me know what you thought!