Author's Note

The Doctor and Rose land in 1962 Liverpool and run into four unlikely lads.

The Disclaimer: I own nothing. All rights belong to Russell T. Davies and BBC. I make no money and intend no harm.

Thank you for reading. I hope you enjoy it, any reviews or comments would be great.


"Where are we going?" asked Rose eagerly, clinging onto the console of the T.A.R.D.I.S.

"1926." replied the Doctor grinning happily at her.

"Yeah?" asked Rose. "And what happens then?"

The Doctor pushed a few buttons, turned a strange looking knob, and then turned to Rose, smiling. "The first ever public demonstration of a Television."

"You're joking!" she said incredulously. "You're taking me to see a telly?"

"Not just any telly." said the Doctor excitedly. "It was designed by John Logie Baird, good old Logie. Anyway, this is the first time he shows it to anyone, isn't that great?"

"Yeah sure." said Rose halfheartedly.

The T.A.R.D.I.S lurched violently, sending Rose tumbling to the floor. She looked up at the Doctor, wondering how he always managed keep his feet.

"We're here!" said the Doctor gleefully as he bounded to the door. Rose clambered to her feet and followed him. "January the 26th 1926." He threw the door of the T.A.R.D.I.S open and leapt out, with Rose following close behind him.

"Where's this supposed be?" asked Rose, confused.

"Eh, 22 Frith Street, London." the Doctor said looking around bemused.

"This doesn't look like London." said rose.

"And it doesn't look like 1926 either." said the Doctor. He strolled forward, stopping in front of a brick building. He took his glasses from his pocket and put them on. Leaning forward, he read a flier that had been posted on the side of the building. "You're right," he said. "This isn't London, it's Liverpool and it's 1962."

Suddenly four young men came bursting through the door of the building they were standing in front of. They had longish brown hair and four easily recognizable faces.

"Doctor! Look!" Rose almost shouted, pointing at the men.

The Doctor looked to where she was pointing and his jaw dropped. The group approached them and one man broke apart from the others and bowed comically to Rose, saying, "Lovely evening isn't it, Madam?"

Rose was speechless. The doctor looked more closely at the building the four had come out of. "Wait a minute." he said. "This is the Cavern Club and you're The Beatles."

"That's right mate, you've heard of us?" said the man who had bowed to Rose.

"A bit." said the Doctor grinning broadly.

"Right, well I'm John." he said smiling.

"I'm Paul." said the rather baby faced man on John's left. "Lovely to meet you."

"I'm George." said the handsome man of John's right.

"And I'm Ringo." said the shorter man standing next to George and smiling.

"Well, I'm the Doctor and this is Rose." said the Doctor pointing to Rose who was still too stunned to speak.

"Doctor Who?" asked Paul curiously.

"Just the Doctor." he replied promptly.

"The Doctor? What kind of a name is that?" asked Ringo.

"It's one of them modern names, innit George?" asked John.

"I don't know." replied George.

"Well it's certainly not Doctor Robert." said Rose smiling mischievously, having recovered her ability to speak.

"Doctor Robert?" asked John. "I like the sound of that."

The Doctor gave Rose a warning look before turning back to The Beatles. "Well, it's been lovely to meet you all, but we really should be going. Got an appointment to keep, don't we rose?" said the Doctor turning his gaze on her.

"What?" she exclaimed. "We can't just go. I mean, it's The Beatles, We've got to stay."

"Yeah Doctor, Stay with us please." said John batting his eyelashes and smiling at the Doctor.

The Doctor looked uncertainly at Rose, who was looking back at him, hopefully. "Oh, all right." he said. "What's the worst that could happen?"

Just then, there was a deafening explosion from somewhere nearby. The Doctor turned and saw a billowing cloud of thick black smoke filling the sky. "I think I spoke too soon." he said grimly.

"Oh my God Doctor, what was that?" asked Rose.

"I don't know." said the Doctor. "But we'd better find out."

"Yeah, let's go." said Paul excitedly.

"It looks it came from the docks, we'll take you there." said George.

"I don't know if that's such a good idea." said the Doctor looking worried. "P'raps it's best if you lot stay here."

"Nonsense." said Ringo. "Besides how else would you get there?"

"Yeah!" they said in unison.

"It's too dangerous." the doctor said in vain for they had already started off towards the explosion.

"It'll be all right, Doctor." said Rose. "They're big boys."

"They're four of the most important boys in history, if anything happens to them…" The Doctor trailed off shuddering at the thought.

"Nothing will happen, you worry too much." said Rose following The Beatles. "You coming?" she shouted over her shoulder.

The Doctor reluctantly followed and in ten minutes, they had reached Salthouse Dock, the site of the explosion. They surveyed the destruction. Twisted hunks of blackened metal lay scattered around and several small fires burned on the wooden dock.

The Doctor approached the man nearest him, a sailor by the look of him. "What's happened here?" he asked.

"Dunno," he said looking serious. "The ship was docked, floating there right as rain, then next second, it's blown to hell."

"Is everyone alright?" asked the Doctor, concerned.

"A few bumps and bruises, nothing serious. Bloody lucky." said the sailor knowingly.

"Shall we have a look then, Doctor?" asked Rose.

"Oh, I think so." the Doctor replied smiling.

They walked to the edge of the dock and peered into the churning water. What was left of the ship had sunk and looked like a bad attempt at modern art. The hull was twisted and crushed; it looked pitiful lying there on the ocean floor.

"Look at them lurking over there." said George pointing at two men who stood talking by the dock. One man was speaking in earnest and looked scared, while the other appeared to be shouting angrily.

"Let's have a listen, then." said Paul.

They edged closer to where the men stood, until they were in earshot. "I'm telling you, sir, it's the water. Something funny's going on in the water, it's not right." said the frightened looking man.

"There is nothing wrong with the water!" the other man shouted. "If you go babbling about the water, they'll close the docks. And d'you know what'll happen then?"

"What?"

"I'll lose business, and I'm not going to let that happen. So if you want to keep your job, keep you damn mouth shut." Ha stalked away looking furious, leaving the other man standing there looking forlorn.

The Doctor approached him slowly. "Hello," he said grinning, "What's you name?"

"Sam." said the man looking suspiciously at the Doctor.

"Hello Sam, good to meet you, I'm the Doctor. That man wasn't very pleasant, who was he?"

"Brian O'Neil, he owns most of the docks 'round here, greedy bastard, he is." said Sam, a look of disgust on his face.

"Right Sam, now what's all this about something funny in the water?" asked the Doctor.

"I can't say anything. If O'Neil finds out I talked, I'll lose my job. I got kids to feed."

"Trust me, Sam, I just want to help. If something in the water's causing ships to blow up, then, we've got to stop it." said the Doctor forcefully.

"Oh alright." said Sam uneasily. "But not here. Meet me at Seamus' Pub in an hour, I'll tell you everything." and with that, Sam turned and hurried away.

"You really think something in the water's blowing ships up?" asked Rose. "D'you think it could be alien?"

"I don't know." said the Doctor, his brow furrowed. "We'll just have to wait and see."

"Yeah," said John who had been listening carefully to all that had been said. "And we're coming too."

"And we won't take no for an answer." said Paul.

The Doctor opened his mouth to protest but closed it again when he realized he was fighting a losing battle. Sighing, he followed the boys back to the club. All he had to do was make sure nothing happened to four of the most important people of the 20th century, easy right?