THE COMPANION THAT NEVER WAS/THE STORY THAT NEVER WAS

A/N: Set after the third series. The tenth Doctor had a fourth companion and a number of unexplained adventures. Cara is the perfect match for the Doctor; smart, loyal and determined. Yet, there's a reason why the Doctor has never mentioned her. In fact, does the Doctor even remember her at all? Follows the format of a regular series. Warning: This is going to have a sad ending! If you like happy endings, turn back now! I'm going to have Cara travel with the Doctor and have a friendship with him like he has with any other companion. But the ending is going to be quite different.

Chapter One: Cara

Cara Harvey left her house a little later than usual on a cold January morning. She stepped out onto the snow in thick uggs and a cream scarf wrapped tightly around her neck. Her long brown hair hugged her shoulders as it caught stray flakes of snow fluttering through the fresh air. This was exactly the kind of weather Cara loved – fresh, beautiful and unexplored. Her footprints were the first imprinted along the street.

She was just about to turn the corner when a handsome stranger ran straight into her. She gave a little shriek and jumped backwards, looking the stranger up and down.

"Sorry, so sorry!" he said, grinning madly. "Didn't see you there. Well, yes I did. But I didn't bump into you on purpose. Promise. Oh, by any chance are you taking a trip to the lovely little corner shop on the next street?"

Cara had to concentrate very hard to this man to unravel his rambling. She took in his appearance; his styled brown hair, his tight brown suit, converse and coat. Altogether, he was very handsome. A steady blush heated her cold cheeks as she tried to formulate an answer. "The shop? No, no I was just heading to the bus stop –"

"Ah, the bus stop!" he exclaimed as if it told the secrets of the universe. Cara supressed a chuckle. "That's just across the road from the lovely little corner shop, right?"

"Yes," Cara answered carefully.

"Yeah," said the man, a hand rubbing the back of his neck. "I wouldn't be going down there, if I were you. Why don't you take a little stroll in the morning snow? Or go back to bed and have some beans on toast or –"

"I need to get the bus," Cara argued, "I need to get to Uni. I'm already late as it is!"

He raised his eyebrows, "Oh, you're a student! What's your name?"

"Cara. And you?"

"I'm the Doctor," he grinned.

"That's a title, not a name," said Cara, smiling.

The Doctor laughed, "Yeah, well tell that to my mother. Anyway, Cara the student, just stay away from that lovely little corner shop and the bus stop, and in fact, just that whole street. Alright?"

"Why?"

He grimaced, "It's sort of… on fire."

Cara flinched. It took her a moment for his words to sink in, but as soon as they did, she pushed the Doctor aside and raced around the corner. She continued to run as fast as her legs would allow down the following street. That was when she saw traces of smoke for the first time. The Doctor was running after her, yelling for her to stop. Cara ignored him. With every breath of smoke tainted air that she breathed, it sent a shiver of fear down her spine.

"Cara! Cara, wait!"

The Doctor grabbed her arm to stop her from running. She spun around to look at him, tears stinging her eyes. "My friend works in that shop!" she shouted at him. "I can't just leave him!"

Cara broke free from his clasp and headed towards the shop. Some neighbours were gathered in their gardens, staring but not approaching, most calling for help or chattering away dramatically. The glass door was smashed, debris scattered over the pavement. Inside, the fire was raging across the counter and pulling down the cigarettes on the far side. They fell into the flames, crackling and spraying sparks. Cara could just make out the shadow of the 'Staff' door. As Cara took another tentative step closer a man from a few houses down called out to her, warning not to get too close. Without another word Cara raced towards the threshold.

"Flynn! Flynn, are you there?" Cara coughed as the smoke entered her lungs. "Flynn!"

The next thing she new, strong arms were wrapped around her waist, pulling her away from the opening. The Doctor had returned and was holding her tightly, begging her to calm down. Cara struggled against him, panic in her eyes as she took in the state of the smoking shop.

"Flynn's in there! I need to help him! I've got to-"

"If you'd listen to me for one minute, Cara, I'd explain everything," the Doctor said quickly. "The shop wasn't even open this morning when this happened. It was closed. Your friend wasn't in there. No one was. It was empty."

Cara coughed as she looked into his urgent brown eyes. He patted her back in an attempt to calm her coughing. "You mean – you mean, he's alright? He's safe?"

"Yes," the Doctor said kindly. "Do you have his number or something?"

Shakily, Cara extracted her phone from her coat pocket just as the fire brigade had arrived. She flicked to Flynn's number and hit call. Only a few moments later, a cheerful voice answered her. "Cara! Aren't you supposed to be in a lecture right now?" greeted Flynn.

Cara laughed in spite of herself. "Flynn! Oh, I thought – I mean, yeah I am, but something happened and I thought – the shop, your shop is on fire! I thought you were working this morning," she gushed, not quite making sense to herself.

Flynn paused, his tone changing slightly, "You mean my job is on fire?"

"Yeah, but I was so worried! I thought you were still inside!"

"No, Mr Fletcher gave me the day off! Oh my god, my job is gone. What am I going to do? Do you know how it happened?"

"The fire brigade are here now. It might be okay. This guy just –"

Cara looked around for the man in question. He was gone. Her phone went limp in her hand as she tried to find a trace of him.

Just turning the corner she caught a glimpse of a brown coat. She started to run after him, attracting strange looks from the shop neighbours. "Sorry, Flynn. I'll call you back. Or you can call me back. I gotta go." She hung up her phone.

"Hey!" she called to him. "Hey!" Cara caught hold of his arm and forced him to turn around to face her. "Why are you disappearing?"

The Doctor shrugged, "It's what I do. Trouble is gone. So am I. Nice to meet you, Cara the student. Maybe I'll see you some other time."

"Trouble's gone?" Cara asked incredulously. "The shop is on fire!"

"Yeah. I know. I was there when it happened."

She frowned, "What?"

"It was me. I didn't do it on purpose, of course. But that shop was a lot dangerous than you know. So be thankful."

"You set the shop on fire?"

"By accident!"

Cara glared at him. The Doctor glared at her. They stood there, on the street corner, sizing one another up.

"Do you commit arson often?" Cara snapped, impatient at his secrecy.

The Doctor shrugged, "No. Well… I did blow up another shop once. A lot bigger than your one. But as I said before, it wasn't on purpose. I did what I needed to do and now I'll be off."

"Who are you?" Cara asked hopefully.

"Never you mind."

"What exactly do you have against Spar?"

The Doctor laughed. Cara stared at him, utterly perplexed. He leaned against the wooden fence and smiled, his brown eyes shining. "I like you, Cara the student," he said cheerfully. Cara returned his grin, his happiness seemingly contagious. She raised her eyebrows and stared defiantly at this mysterious man. He sighed with forced effort. "Oh, alright," he began, giving in. "The shop owner – Mr Fletcher I think you called him – is in fact an alien with the intent of starting a secret colonisation here on earth. The back of his shop held weapons, many weapons, for when the time was right to start an invasion. I destroyed the weapons with my sonic device but unfortunately set off the alarm which caused the back of his shop to implode. And here we are!"

Cara frowned. "You're a little weird, aren't you?"

"That's your reply to me telling you someone is trying to take over your planet?" the Doctor asked incredulously. He took a step back and winked, "You're not exactly what I'd call normal either."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Usually when something is on fire and incredibly dangerous, people run away. You, Cara the student, ran right into it," the Doctor nodded to himself. His hand delved deep into his coat pockets and removed a blue-ended tool. "I like that about you."

The device he was holding started to buzz and flash a bright blue. The Doctor waved it the full length of Cara's body, his expression impassive. With a final beep he shoved it back into his pocket. "No, didn't think so," he said to himself. "Ah well. I better get going."

"What was that?" asked Cara. "Where are you going?"

"That was my sonic screwdriver. And you know how I said about Mr Fletcher the alien-weapon-builder? Well, he wasn't in the shop. He closed today for a reason. I'm away to my – ugh, ship let's call it – to trace his signal."

Cara's eyes widened, "Where do you think he is? Not that I don't think you're crazy or delusional or weird, or anything."

The Doctor gave her one last searching look. Then he turned away, his converse crunching the snow and coat billowing in the wind. "I said before he was waiting for the right time to start an invasion," the Doctor called to her. "I think he's set his alarm for today."