The Night the Doctor Came to Visit

A loud crashing noise resonated through my room. "The hell?" I sat up and grabbed my phone. 1 am. I hadn't been asleep. Sleep didn't come easy lately. I listened closely, waiting for another noise. I had better not been getting robbed. That's all I needed. Nothing. Just the sound of my laptop quietly whirring at the foot of my bed. A quiet rustling came from the corner. Ugh. That damned mouse was still here? I was hoping it had left while I was away. Sighing I laid back down. My alarm was going off in 6 hours. My first day back at work was tomorrow. I had hoped to get a full night's sleep, but apparently not. I pulled my fleece blanket over me. It was getting colder out. It was definitely fall in London.

The second I closed my eyes another crash resounded from the garden. I bolted from the bed this time. And then I heard it. That noise. An extremely familiar noise that sounded like a key being dragged over a piano string. "Oh my god." What the hell was going on? Is this some kind of joke? If it wasn't 1 am, I'd be more amused. The noise stopped and more bangs and crashes came from the garden. I paused by my window. There was definitely someone out there. Should I look? What if they saw me? Should I say something? Through my thick black out curtains I could see light coming from the garden below. Whatever was going on I had better look. Phone in my hand ready to dial 999, I pulled the tiniest sliver of curtain opened and peered out.

HOLY SHIT. The TARDIS was in my back garden. The man in the garden flat downstairs was a florist and his garden was perfectly manicured into a thing of beauty. And now, nestled between the flawlessly pruned hedge and the tree in the exact centre of the garden was that old, familiar blue police box. This had to be some kind of joke right? I mean, the TARDIS couldn't possibly be real and be in my garden. My mind said one thing, but my eyes were seeing the impossible. The door was open. Light poured out from the control room. Standing in the light, gazing at that perfectly centred tree was the Doctor.

I stood in the window completely frozen, unable to stop staring at what I was seeing. There he was. The 11th Doctor. Looking just like he had when I had seen him last. On my laptop screen just a few hours before. He was tall and thin. His hair flopped over to one side. He was wearing his tweed jacket and brown trousers. Although he had his side to me, I could see a hint of that now infamous bow tie. I blinked hard. This could not be happening. I was asleep. I had finally fallen asleep and was dreaming. Or the lack of sleep had made me start hallucinating. I blinked again. I rubbed my eyes. I even pinched myself. But nothing changed. The Doctor was still staring at the tree. What should I do? Should I say something? What do you say to the freaking Doctor? With courage I didn't even know I had, I opened my window.

"Excuse me." I called out. The Doctor snapped out of his trance and glanced up at me surprised. He blinked for a second and then smiled.

"Oh. Hello." He said with a slight wave. "I'm just…uh. I'm the…"
"You're the Doctor."

"Uh, well, yes. I am."

"And you're in my garden." The hell, Ashlee? I thought. He knows that.

"Again, yes. Yes, I sure am. Uh, how do you know who I am? Have we met before?"

"No. But a lot of people know who you are. You're the Doctor." At this he began to nervously glance around the garden, as if looking for something. "Is something wrong?"

"I thought I deleted…" He began. "Oh, never mind that. Wrong? No, not wrong exactly. Just, looking for something."

"Looking for what?"

"I'm looking for…" He trailed off. A shuffling noise came from behind me. Crap. My housemate Sarah. I had probably woken her up from all this yelling.

"Listen, do you want to come in? Maybe I could help? And it's cold out there."

"I really should just," He glanced back at the TARDIS door. "Oh, why not."

"Meet me around front!" I shut the window and raced towards my bedroom door. I paused for a second and went back to the mirror on my wardrobe. I smoothed my hair and looked myself over. I was wearing black gauchos and a black thermal tee. I shrugged, could be worse. I put my sneakers by the door, just in case. As I practically flew down the three flights of stairs to the front door my heart raced. I was about to let the freaking Doctor in to my flat. Even if this was a dream it was the best one I had ever had.

I stopped just outside the front door. Breathe Ashlee, play it cool. I opened the door and there he was, leaning casually against the screen door frame. Wow. I had half expected to come down here and find no one. He held out his hand towards me. God, they're beautiful. I have a thing for hands in general, but these. The things they had done. "Hello. I'm the Doctor." Willing myself not to squeal with all the emotions pounding through me right now I took his hand and shook it. His hand was warm and his handshake firm. "Ashlee." I managed to squeak out. "Hello there, Ashlee." He replied. We stood there for a few awkward seconds before my brain started working again. "Oh, sorry. Come in."

I led him up the stairs to the first floor landing. He immediately pulled out the sonic screwdriver and began waving it around the house. He pounded up the stairs to the second floor. I winced at the sound. Sarah would wake up at any second and God knows what would happen then. "Doctor? My uh, flat mate. She's probably asleep and…" As I spoke he took to the stairs two at a time and stopped outside Sarah's room on the third floor. He pulled out the sonic and traced the outline of her door. "There." He announced, flipping the sonic in the air and catching it. "Sound proofed." He leapt back down the stairs and continued roaming the house, the sonic making its familiar high pitched whirring sound.

"Oh. Well, great!" What was I supposed to do now? What was he looking for? Was something going to leap out and try to kill me at any second? "Can I help you look?"

"What? Oh, no, no. I got it."

"Uh, ok. Do you need anything? Should I make tea?"

He poked his head out of the lounge and gazed down the stairs at me, a look of utter confusion on his face. "No, I am not looking for a bee."

"No, not bee, tea. Should I make us some tea?"

"Oh tea! Sure, love a good cuppa." He turned and disappeared back in to the lounge.

"Ok" I said out loud to no one in particular. "The Doctor is in my lounge, and I am making him tea. That's perfectly normal."

The kettle seemed to take ages longer than usual to boil. I opened the cupboard…what mug would the doctor use? And why did all our mugs seem to have Winnie the Pooh on them? Pulling out the two simplest mugs I put the tea bags in. I paused. How did he take his tea? I walked back up the stairs to the lounge. A soft glow came from the doorway. He had turned on the Christmas lights strung over the fireplace. He stood by the window, gazing out in to the street, one arm crossed over his chest, biting the nails of his other hand.

I cleared my throat, as if woken up by the noise he turned quickly in my direction. "Hi, um, how do you take your tea?" Gazing behind me in to the hall he didn't answer but rather pushed past me and went in to the bedroom next to the lounge. Panicked, I followed him in. "No, no. This is Beth's room. She's on holiday and she really wouldn't like it that you're in here." Ignoring my statements he began pulling things out of the closet and throwing them on the bed. "Doctor, really, she wouldn't like this." Clothes flew past my head and landed on every available surface. "Could you not?" At that I was hit squarely in the head by a flannel shirt. "Doctor!" He paused, he was half in the closet, his long legs the only part of him I could still see. He worked his way out and turned to face me. God I'm short. "Yes?" His hair was messy and his red bow tie slightly askew. "I really don't think we should be in here. If you could just tell me what you're looking for maybe I could help, instead of you know, tearing the place apart?"

"Oh! Well, what I'm looking for is…is small. And kind of, kind of gray." He was glancing along the baseboards of Beth's room. Small and gray….wait a second…

"Small and gray…like a mouse?" I offered.

"Well it looks like a mouse, yes."

"No way. You mean that damned mouse that has driven me nuts for weeks is some kind of alien…thing?"

"You've seen it?"

"Yeah, it's in my room." I pointed out the door in the general direction of my room. Rushing out and up the stairs the Doctor reached my door before I even had time to say anything more. Glancing at the mess that was now Beth's room, I inwardly cringed at the thought of having to clean it later. The whirring of the sonic sounded from the third floor. The Doctor was in my room. What? Thank God I cleaned it earlier this week. I raced up the stairs, he was standing at my window staring out. He turned at the sight of my reflection. "Now where have you see this mouse?" I pointed towards the wicker shelves holding my books and makeup. "Coming out from under there mostly." He dropped to his knees and waved the sonic around under the shelves. Watching him do this I just had to laugh. Here was this insanely tall man crouched by my shelves trying to see into a two inch high opening. In all the times I had imagined the doctor in my room (don't judge me) this scenario never came up.

"Aha!" Came the shout from the doctor. "I see him. Grab me something to put him in would you?" I ran down to the kitchen as fast as I could. Flinging open the cupboard I grabbed the biggest Tupperware container I could find and raced back up to my room. He was still peering under the shelves, his left hand extended back and waiting for me to hand him whatever I found. I shoved the Tupperware into his open hand. He made some kind of weird squeaking noises and there was a lot of scraping and bumping, but eventually he pulled the Tupperware container back out and inside was that little gray bugger that had been making so much noise the past few weeks. He glanced down at the mouse and then grinning hugely looked up at me. "So how about that cuppa?"

Five minutes later we were sitting at my kitchen table drinking tea with the Tupperware container full of mouse sitting in the middle. "So, what is that?" I asked. "What is what?" He replied, pausing with his mug halfway to his mouth. "The mouse" I answered. "You said it was some kind of space…thing." He set down then mug on the table. "Right, well, it's a um…a species of um…" He trailed off again, squinting at the mouse who was eating a piece of cracker we had put in the container. "Doctor?"

"It's a mouse!" He exploded. He stood up pushing the chair back from the table, slamming it against the counter. "It's a boring old mouse. There is nothing spacey about it. There is nothing spacey about this house. It's the boringest mouse who lives in the boringest house." With that he stalked away from the table and towards the stairs leading to the front door.

"Doctor!" I followed him out into the hall. "What?" He twirled around to face me. "What the hell was that?" I demanded. "What did I ever do to you? You were the one who landed in my garden!" His light green eyes searched mine, as if trying to come up with a witty reply. Finally he blinked and sighed, his shoulders slumping. "I'm tired." He said, holding his arms out from his sides. "Yes that's right, the Doctor is tired." I stared at him, not saying anything. "Honestly, I was just looking for somewhere to rest. Your garden was nice. I just wanted to sit and rest and think. But then you saw me, and you knew who I was. I knew you expect the brilliant Doctor, searching for something hell bent on destroying the world. So I lied."

"Rule number one." I started. "The Doctor lies." He finished, sheepishly smiling. "Come here." I said gesturing to the living room. "Sit." I ordered, pointing at the couch. "You sit and you rest and you think. For as long as you need to." He obeyed, situating himself on the navy sofa. "I'll be upstairs if you need anything." I said. "No." Came the reply. "Stay here with me." He said nodding towards the chair next to the couch. "Ok." So I sat. We sat in awkward silence at first, me avoiding looking over at him too often, but seriously, how could I not. After about 30 minutes I began to relax. I folded my legs under me and just sat, the only sounds in the room was the sounds of our breathing. It was oddly calming. Around 3:00 am he sighed loudly. I glanced over. "I'm just tired." He began. "All of the running and chasing and saving. Sometimes, it just feels like too much. But I can never say that. No, the Doctor cannot be tired…impossible. You humans, you expect so much of me. Everybody expects so much. And I know I'll always give it to you. I was willing to die, to give everything to save you. Of course I didn't die and of course everyone was glad…well, maybe not everyone…but still, nobody wanted to talk about it. Nobody thanked me, or asked me if I was ok." He paused for a moment to breathe. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said anything."

"Are you?"

"I'm sorry?"

"Are you ok?"

He smiled at me and my heart nearly melted. "No," He answered. "But when have I ever been ok?" I smiled back. "You're not ok either." He stated looking me in the eyes. "You're sad. I can tell. Sad people can always tell when other people are sad." Tears instantly sprang to my eyes. "Yeah," I nodded. "I am sad."

"Silly old doctor," He mumbled. "Here I am rambling on about me, when you've been sitting there sad this whole time." I smiled weakly, even when he was sad and tired he still had so much compassion. "It's ok. I like listening." He motioned for me to sit next to him on the couch, so I did. "Well, now it's my turn." And so I began to talk. I told him about that Saturday when I found out, then the trip home, and the funeral and how sometimes I felt so full of feelings I could burst and then other times I felt so numb and outside of myself. And he just let me ramble on until I was finished and tears were streaming down my face. Then he hugged me, a warm enveloping hug. Not a hug that said I don't know what else to do so here, but a hug that said I know exactly how you feel. We separated and I wiped my eyes. "Thank you."

"No, thank you." We fell into silence again for a long while, then I yawned. The doctor silently guided my head to his shoulder. "I can't sleep." I said. "Not since I've been back."

"Well, why don't you lay down here," he said, motioning for me to put my head in his lap. "And I'll tell you stories until you do fall asleep." I lied down with my head in his lap and closed my eyes. He stroked my hair and began to tell me the most wonderful stories about planets and aliens and space. At some point I must have fallen asleep. The next thing I knew I was hearing my name. I looked up to see my housemate Sarah standing above me. Morning light was streaming in through the windows. I was on the couch alone. My fleece blanket thrown over me.

"Did you fall asleep down here?" She asked. I frantically l leapt from the couch.

"Where is he?" I demanded.

"Where's who?" She asked. I ran to the kitchen and looked out the window to an empty garden. "No, no. NO!" He could not do this to me. I pounded down the stairs towards the front door, completely forgetting that I was barefoot and in my sweats. I flung open the door, and there leaning casually against the door frame as he had the night before was the Doctor. The Tardis standing right outside the gate on the sidewalk.

"You didn't really think I'd leave without saying goodbye did you?"

"Maybe." I shrugged. He laughed, the morning sun lighting him from behind.

"Well, I wouldn't. Thank you so much. For everything." He held out his arms and we hugged again. "Ashlee Jones." He said releasing me. "The girl who listened."

I smiled. "If you ever need someone to listen to you again. You know where to find me."

"Indeed I do." With that he turned and walked towards the TARDIS, opening the door with the snap of his fingers. He stopped, turned and waved and shut the door. I stood and watched it disappear, listening to that familiar whirring sound. With a heavy sigh I turned and headed for the door. What in the hell was I supposed to do now? As I reached for the door handle I heard it again. The whirring sound. No way. I turned slowly, half expecting that my ears where playing tricks on me. But it was there. The Doctor poked his head out of the door. "You know," He began, smiling. "I couldn't help but notice these by your door." He held up my sneakers. I turned all shades red. His smile broadened. "Want to get some use out of them?" I glanced up at my house and then back at the Doctor. "Hell yes!" I cried. I flung open the gate and took the sneakers out of his hands. "I'll have you know though," I said as I bent down to lace them up. "I am absolutely rubbish at running." He held out his hand to help me up. Once again I looked at his hand, so mysterious and intriguing. "We'll fix that." He held the door open and I stepped in to the control room, not once looking back.