Prologue

I was only eleven the first time I met him; young and naive but easy. I didn't need commitment, I didn't ask hard questions, I didn't ask for the truth. I was a pre-teen through and through - annoying, a bit lazy, but only really interested in what was on the outside. I didn't particularly care about what he was like on the inside. And, at that point in time, the only thing I really wanted was a friend.

If there is one thing to describe what the Doctor is to me, its a friend. My best friend. And I have been reliably informed by a number of people that I'm his best friend too. I mean, I'm only 22, which is nothing in comparison to his 1000+ years, but I've known him for eleven years now - well, eleven years for me, a lot longer for him. Its perhaps a bit narcissistic, but I like to think I know him better than anyone else in the universe. And I've definitely got reason to think that.

Our first meeting was a total surprise. It was 2010, October. Halloween, to be exact. My mum and younger brother were out trick-or-treating and my dad was snoring upstairs; I'd been left in charge of handing out sweets to the trick-or-treaters. That's what I thought he was at first, a trick-or-treater, although he was definitely too old. In fact, our first interaction went something like this -

The pounding on the door was relentless.

"You know, it does take me a minute to walk from the sofa to the front door." I grumbled to myself as I entered the front hall, pausing to grab the bowl of lollies from the kitchen. It must be older kids, I thought to myself. Little kids couldn't hit so hard.

I pulled open the door and let out a shriek when a large, bald man crumpled on top of me. He was heavy and smelt like fire and leather; like a lightening storm yet, at the same time, like dust after rain. It was a weird smell.

"What are you doing?!" I shouted. "Are you okay?"

It was definitely a relevant question, as he was lying half over my legs, groaning. He sounded a lot like Evan had when he'd hit his head, although this strange man wasn't crying like Evan had been. Starting to worry when the man didn't answer me, I wriggled my way out from underneath him, grabbing the shoulder of his jacket. Taking a quick look behind me, I started pulling as hard as I could with the plan to at least drag him into the kitchen. It wasn't necessarily a smart idea, I would later reflect, letting a complete stranger into the house when - apart from my sleeping dad - I was all alone but at that moment, I was an eleven year old girl who thought she'd be able to help.

Of course, the plan was put on hold as it took me what felt like a lifetime to drag him far enough into the house to close the door. By the end of it, I had collapsed onto the floor myself, my arms feeling like jelly. The man, although not looking overly large, was very heavy. I stayed on the cool tiles of my kitchen floor for a minute, trying to catch my breath, listening to the man breath heavily. He'd stopped groaning a little while ago although he still made little noises occasionally.

Finally able to breath normally, I pushed myself up off the floor, taking a few minutes to pour myself a glass of water. After a moments thought, I grabbed another glass and filled that as well, putting a large pile of biscuits on a plate before placing all three items on the floor a little ways away from the man. He still hadn't moved from where I'd left him, lying face-down on the floor.

"Excuse me...Sir? Are you alright?" I knelt down beside him on the floor, reaching out to touch his shoulder.

He jerked then, rolling over onto his side and then again so he was sitting up. I stared at the strange movement.

"Where am I?" He sounded northern, like Mum did after a trip to see her sister. "Who are you?" It was a harsh question and I flinched back at the glare he was aiming in my direction.

"Um, you knocked on the door." I said tentatively. "I got you some water." I pushed the glass closer to him and, after a moment, took a biscuit off the plate before pushing them in his direction. "Here."

He only blinked at me and I stared, wide-eyed, as he gulped down the water before scoffing down a biscuit. It was only after he'd eaten another two biscuits that I spoke up.

"Would you...like some more water?"

"Yes, actually." He said.

I scowled at him even as I got up again, picking his glass up from the floor. I refilled his glass before I grabbed another handful of biscuits. After handing him the water, I took one biscuit for myself and handed him the rest of them, noticing he'd eaten all the ones on the plate.

"Fanks." He said, mouth full of biscuit.

I bit my lip as I sat down again.

"Are you alright, sir? Do you want me to dial 999?" It wasn't a thought that had occurred to me until that moment, but I had a sudden flash of my mum telling me to call 999 if I ever really hurt myself. "Or I can wake my dad up" I offered.

He jerked at that, looking at me with sudden interest.

"You just let me into your house when only your dad is here and even he's asleep?" He said it rudely, even though he didn't seem to be trying to be rude.

"You seemed hurt." It seemed simple to me.

"How old are you, exactly?"

"Eleven." I told him evenly.

"Huh." Was all he said before he stuffed another biscuit in his mouth.

I have to say, it was an interesting first meeting. And it didn't stop there.

There was a flood of trick-or-treaters. The man sat on the kitchen floor the entire time, eating his way through the biscuit tin he'd nicked off the kitchen counter. We chatted brokenly around me answering the door.

"What's your name?" I asked him curiously.

"I'm the... The Doctor." He almost seemed unsure about it.

"THE Doctor?"

"What about it?

"Is your first name The?" It would be a funny first name.

"No, of course it isn't. It's a title - Doctor."

"But if that's your title, what's your name?" I asked again.

"Its just the Doctor." He said again. "Anyway, what's your name?"

"Meredith."

"Just Meredith?" He teased.

"Meredith Archer."

And that was when I got to know the Doctor.

"Why were you at my door?" I asked, picking out an orange flavour lolly from the bowl on the floor between us.

"I'd just regenerated, needed a couple things to keep me going." He held up his own, strawberry flavour, lolly. "Couldn't get it from the TARDIS so I came to the nearest house with lights on. Was kind of expecting an adult. How old are you anyway?"

"I'm eleven." I repeated.

"You've already told me that." He said.

"Yep."

I got up at another knock at the door.

"Why are you alone on Halloween?" He asked when I sat down again.

"Its boring going trick-or-treating with my brother and his friends. And besides, I'm not alone, my Dad's upstairs."

"But he's asleep, so you're alone." He told me. "Don't you have any friends to go out with?"

Feeling my heart sink at the question, I shook my head silently, glad when the doorbell rang as an excuse for me to not actually answer the question.

When I'd closed the door again, I turned around just inside to see a small cloud of gold dust disappear into the air.

"Tea!" I jumped at the loud shout from the Doctor. "I need tea."

"I...can put the kettle on." I said slowly.

"Yes. Yes, definitely."

"You're acting weird." I accused even as I filled the kettle with water.

"I'm still cooking. I don't know who I am yet." His grin was maniacal.

I found all the things I needed to make tea with and pulled out two mugs, deciding I wanted one as well. I suddenly found myself glad that Mum had taught me how to properly make tea. It was silent behind me as I filled the mugs with water.

"Do you want sugar in your tea?" I asked politely.

"I don't know, still cooking. Just bring the sugar over with you."

I took him the sugar before going back to finish the tea, setting both mugs carefully on the floor before sitting down.

I watched in amazement as he took a sip of tea, swirling it around in his mouth before spitting it out. He did this after every spoonful of sugar he added until he had five spoonfuls of sugar in his tea. I wrinkled my nose in disgust.

"An infusion of free-radicals and tannin. Just the thing for excess regeneration energy. Course, it's not too bad this time around. Had it worse before." He seemed to confide in her.

"Before?" I was definitely, really confused.

"Ah, little Time-Lord trick. Bit of a change of face, shall we say." His grin was verging into psychopath territory, as I promptly told him. I then tried desperately not to pout as he laughed uproariously. "Like I said, a new face."

Someone knocked on the door before I could say anything. Still pouting slightly, I grabbed the sweet bowl off the floor and made my way to the door. I felt more comfortable with the Doctor than I did with anyone else I had ever met. As I opened the door, I thought hopefully that maybe he'd be my first friend.

And that's what we became - friends. My first friend. And for him, the only friendship that would last him a lifetime, as we later found out.

Now, you've seen the beginning of our story. But you still haven't seen the beginning of our adventures. And I'd tell you the ending, but I haven't even got there yet.

(Found Earth 4356; translated by Finley Boran. On display at Museum de'Luca, Ancient sector)