AN: Hello fellow readers/writers. So, I wrote another version of this story with a different OC: Ana. And, for lack of a better expression, I hated it. I hated it SO much. So now, I redid it with a different OC, Maris. Hope you like her and the story and everything thereabouts. Thanks for stopping by! -Nimith

This Is Gallifrey: Our Childhood, Our Home

Chapter One: What to Do After Doomsday and a Crashed Wedding?

Maris Devereux had only been in London for a month and already she felt as if the walls of the world were closing in. College was hard but college across the 'pond' away from family and friends was even harder. What she would give to catch a break.

It was the first time she had ever taken the underground. Honestly, she didn't like it any better than the subways back in the States. Albeit, these British ones were a mite tidier than the Metra back home in her little suburb outside of Chicago. She inhaled the seemingly universal scent of public transit and leaned her head back against the window as the tram rocked back and forth. On her lap, she tightly held onto her school bag because her knees were bouncing up and down due to pent up agitation. She was late. Maris hated being late. One stop to go before she would sprint as fast as she could to class.

The tram jerked to a halt and Maris checked her watch again. She was never quite good with keeping track of time. There was just too much to do and not enough time in a day to get it all done. Feeling it getting warm as more passengers clambered aboard, Maris decided to tied up her long ebony locks in a ponytail and frowned. She had meant to read ahead for class but completely forgot. Go figure, it would be her luck. She hastily pulled out her copy of Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray and skimmed the chapters ahead.

"Pardon me, excuse me, sorry…" She heard a rather cheery voice through the standing people beside her. She was lucky enough to obtain a seat before the other commuters hoarded in.

"Hello, this seat taken?" The voice asked her. Maris blinked and looked up, bewildered.

"Uh, no." She crossed her legs and made herself small as the man plopped down with a big sigh. He wiggled in his brown trench coat and looked about the car with interest.

"Don't like trams much," he said. Maris looked up from her book again, unsure if he was addressing her or talking to himself. "Too small with way too many people. What do you think?" He turned towards her with a quizzical expression.

"I…what?" she asked, quite put off.

"What. Do. You. Think?" he annunciated.

"About…trams?" she asked, pushing her glasses up the bridge of her nose.

"Uh huh."

"Um," she looked around and shut her book. "I think they smell and they never get me to where I need to be on time."

He chuckled at that and inspected her. "Not a Londoner, I take it? Where are you from? America?"

She nodded and shoved her book in her bag. "Yeah. I'm here for school."

"Ah," he nodded as if in agreement and said, "School. Blimey, I'm getting too old."

Maris raised her eyebrows before slowly turning to look out the window, benignly ignoring the man. Suddenly, the tram lurched forward. She gasped, catching herself before her face smashed against the window.

"What the?"

The man sat up straight and swiveled around in his chair. He took out a bizarre-looking pen and clicked a button. The tip glowed blue and made a 'whirring' sound.

"What's that?" she asked in curiosity, beside herself. He was leaning half out of his chair and pointing the glow-stick down the aisle.

"What, this? Sonic screwdriver. Now, I know it might not be as handy as a sonic laser or a sonic I dunno, hairdryer but it helps with putting up shelves." The man rambled.

"And…you need help in putting up shelves on a tram?" Maris asked.

The man sat back up and turned to her with a bewildered expression. "What?"

"That's what you said it does. Helps put up shelves." She realized how stupid she sounded and pursed her lips together. "Right, just a nutty, don't worry about it." She folded her arms and slouched in her seat, gazing out of the window once more.

"No, no. It can put up shelves. Mostly it's multifunctional as a lockpick, medical scanner, remote control for other devices, and non-terrestrial life tracker." He said quickly, adjusting the settings on the glow stick.

Maris stared at him open-mouthed. Guy was a nutter, he was. "Um, so what you just said didn't make any sense at all. It's psycho-babble, is what it is."

"Well, technically it's techno-babble since I explain scientific concepts that no one seems to comprehend. What's your name, by the way?" he asked, flippantly pointing the sonic at her.

"Me? Maris. Who are you? The techno-babble makes-people-feel-really-awkward-guy?" she said sarcastically.

He shrugged and nodded in half-agreement. "Eh. More or less. I'm the Doctor. Huh…" he checked the readings on his screwdriver before sitting back in his chair and slowly turning towards her.

"The Doctor? Doctor who? Of what? Do you even have a proper name?" she asked, getting mildly irritated yet slightly taken by the stranger.

He smiled widely. "Oh, you have no idea how often I get asked that. What's that around your neck?" He pointed the sonic at it.

"My necklace, bugger off." She swatted at the glow-stick, protectively clutching her locket.

"It has strange readings, is all."

"Oh, I'm sure it does." She said, as if to a child reassuring them that Santa was real. "This is my stop. You mind?"

"Oh. Of course." He got up and stood so she could get out.

"Thanks. Smell you later, psycho-babble-doctor." She muttered, quickly fleeing out of the tram and back up into civilization.

"Just the Doctor!" he shouted after her, drawing the attention of the other passengers. Maris was long gone by then, though.

Happy to be back in open air, Maris checked her watch again. It read quarter to three. She stopped in the middle of the sidewalk and tapped it with a finger. It was dead. She looked around, searching for some other clock. Above a bank was a digital clock with the ambient temperature and the time: 4:15. She was beyond late.

"So, what are you going to school for?"

Maris shrieked and nearly fell over, seeing the Doctor standing beside her. "Oh my God, what is your problem? You don't just sneak up on people! Why are you following me?"

He shrugged. "Strange readings on the sonic." He pointed at the screwdriver. She blinked at him a couple of times, coming to the conclusion that this guy was legitimately crazy. "So, what are you going to school for? That's where you're going now, isn't it?"

Maris shook her head and threw her hands up ineffectively. "I was. I'm too late now, though. And I'm studying English Lit, if you must know. But I'm here for a program with my minor – history."

"Ah, classic." The Doctor laughed. "Love a Roman." Maris made a face, clearly not understanding a word this man said. "So, Maris, nice name by the way. Don't come across many Maris's too often."

"Oh, I bet you don't." She whirled around and began walking away. He bound after her like a dog.

"Last girl I knew had a good name, too. Rose. Well, technically the last girl I knew was named Donna. Bit of a fire cracker, that one. But Rose is a good name. It reflected her in every way…" the Doctor trailed off.

Maris rolled her eyes and stopped. "Look, if you wanna talk about your ex-girlfriends, hire a therapist. Don't find random people on the tram to stalk. It's unhealthy."

"But I'm not stalking you. I'm stalking the readings." He shook the sonic in her face again. "You just happen to be carrying it."

Maris shook her head at him. "Oh, this is ridiculous. Here." She took off her locket and handed it to him. "Go ahead. Sonic it. Find nothing wrong with it, give it back, and I'll be on my way and you on yours."

The Doctor snatched it and sonic-ed the living daylights out of it. He made faces and 'huh-ed' a lot, but eventually found nothing abnormal with it. He handed it back to her with a frown.

"Thanks." She looked up at him with interest. "You really thought something was going to happen, didn't you?"

His shoulders slumped. "It's a little reading. Guess I'm desperate now, aren't I? Following strangers and hoping that their jewelry would actually be some sort of alien honing device… I just get bored, you know?"

Maris slowly shook her head. "No, I don't know. Because I never am bored. I never have enough time to be bored."

"I have too much," he countered enigmatically.

"Good for you. Why don't you get a job? Make some friends? Stop stalking me?"

"I wasn't stalking you!" he insisted.

"Whoa, hang on!" she raised a hand to shut him up. "Did you say alien honing device?"

"I might've, yeah." He nodded.

"Oh, great. You're not one of those, are you?" she asked, folding her arms.

"One of what?" he wondered.

"You know, one of those crazies who actually think the world is being taken over by aliens? Like what people said happened over Christmas?" she explained.

He stared at her a moment before a thick eyebrow rose in amusement. Then he laughed. "Oh, if only…" he managed to choke out between sobs of laughter.

"I don't see what's so funny!" Maris yelled over his inane laughing.

"Nothing, don't worry about it. Now, that…however, is interesting." He pointed over her shoulder towards the hospital.

"What?" Maris turned around and saw a mass of cloud hover around the building. "What's that?"

"What I've been waiting for!" The Doctor said excitedly. He ran a few paces then turned around. "Coming?"

Maris stood there, baffled. A mental war raged before a glance at her broken watch reminded her how restricted she was to time. Perhaps going out of her way to disturb her normal routine and doing something else with her time would be interesting… She shook her head.

"Oh, what the hell. Yes!" She ran after him to the hospital.