Author's Note: If you've NEVER read this story, feel free to ignore the rest of the AN. For those who HAVE read this before, please continue reading.

This was a labor of love that I never intended on showing to anyone, let alone posting online. However, after finishing it, I was compelled to share it with others, to amazing results. So amazing, in fact, that I was encouraged and inspired to write a sequel, Incomplete. About half way through the sequel, I realized I may have been in over my head. While I did finish and post that story, I've been working on a serious rewrite of it thanks to my wonderful beta/co-writer, sss979.

In the process of rewriting the sequel, I realized I could do this story so much more justice and decided to do a serious edit on it. NOTHING of the plot has been changed and I think there's only one extra scene added. It was mostly just cleaning up grammar, punctuation, and dialogue. I am much happier with the finished product.

So, if you have read this before, I encourage you to read it again, though know it's not necessary. If you do read it again, I hope that you enjoy it as much, if not more, than you did the first time.

Disclaimer: I own nothing even remotely related to Doctor Who or Torchwood, only the original character and content.

Chapter 1

The TARDIS landed with its usual jolt, sprawling Rose and the Doctor onto the grating. With a groan, Rose sat up.

"Doctor, where are we?"

"Huh. That's odd."

"What's odd?"

"Well, we were supposed to be going to Barcelona - the planet, not the city - but we're not. In fact, we're far from it."

"I'll ask again. Doctor, where are we?"

"Earth. America. July 2012."

"Why?"

"No idea. Let's find out!"

Grinning, he grabbed Rose's hand and pulled her along. Everything was quiet and still as they stepped out into the night. The Doctor pulled out the sonic screwdriver and scanned the surroundings.

"Seems we've landed in the middle of the night, 2 am to be precise, and there's what seems to be rift activity coming from…" He spun until the sonic started flashing rapidly and beeping. "there." He pointed to an apartment complex about a block away.

"Rift activity? Are you sure, Doctor? We're a long way from Cardiff."

"Of course I'm sure! I'm always sure!" he huffed. "This seems to be a slight branch off the main rift. I had no idea it reached this far. Well, let's go take a look, shall we?"

They walked down to the complex. Quietly walking around the building, they discovered that most of the activity was coming from one specific apartment.

"Hmm, we need to get in there, figure out who or what is causing this." the Doctor mused, mostly to himself.

"But, Doctor, as you stated, it's 2 am. Something tells me the person that lives there won't be too keen on being woken up and told they might have some alien in their flat."

He ignored this as he walked around to the front of the building and looked at the list of names next to the call box.

"If my suspicions are correct, then the occupant of that flat is the manager and is thus accustomed to being woken up in the middle of the night."

"And told they might have an alien in their flat?" Rose said with a wry grin and raised eyebrow.

"What? Well, no, but there's a first time for everything!"

Using the sonic, they made their way into the secure building and to the apartment in question.

The first thing that woke Kari up was the familiar sound of a kind of mechanical wheezing. It piqued her interest until she woke up enough to realize it was just a dream. A few moments later, she woke to a kind of high pitched sound outside her window. Again, she realized it wasn't real and went back to sleep.

Knock, knock, knock

"Ug, come on, people! It's 2 am!" she groaned, climbing out of bed and slipping some pants on.

Knock, knock, knock

"Coming! Hold on!"

She looked through the peep hole and gasped at the sight of two incredibly impossible people. One was a tall, thin man in a brown pin stripe suit, tan duster, crazy hair, and black rimmed glasses. The other was a young blonde woman in a pink hoodie and blue jacket.

"What?" she whispered to herself as she took a step back from the door and shook her head.

"I am clearly still asleep and dreaming because this can NOT be real." Kari said to herself before stepping back up to the peep hole. This time, the man was grinning wide and waving, while the young woman had a very apologetic smile on her face.

"Alright, then, might as well see where this goes." Kari put on her most awake smile as she opened the door. "Yes? Can I help you?"

"Good Evening! Well, night. Weell, morning, but that's relative! I'm the Doctor and this is Rose. Mind if we come in? Thanks!" He flashed some sort of identification and pushed his way into the apartment.

"Doctor!" Rose admonished while stepping in. "I'm sorry, he's a bit rude."

"That's me! Rude…" the Doctor started while scanning the apartment with the sonic.

"And not ginger." Kari breathed as she stared wide eyed at the scene in her living room.

"What did you say?"

"What? Hmm, nothing. Sorry." Kari stammered out, still not quite sure what to make of all of this; still trying to figure out if this was real or not.

"Right. You're the manager here, right?"

Kari nodded before she realized he wasn't looking at her. "Yes, I am."

"Have you noticed anything odd lately?"

This somehow broke her out of her dumbstruck awe. "What? You mean odder than two complete strangers coming to my door at 2 am? A door, I might add, that is within a secure building. How'd you get in?" Kari asked, though she already knew the answer.

"I have a key." he answered matter-of-factly while waving the sonic over his shoulder.

"Right. Well, it would be lovely if someone could please shed some light on just why you're here." Kari stated, getting a bit more confident, mostly because she was sure this was a dream.

Frowning, the Doctor picked up a DVD case from beside the television.

"What's this?"

"Doctor, is that us on the cover?" Rose asked before Kari could answer.

"Yes, it seems to be. I'm sorry, I didn't catch your name."

"It's Kari, and that is a DVD set of the second season of Doctor Who."

"A what?" the Doctor asked, looking the case over, front and back. "Where'd you get this?"

"Online. Why?"

"Well, for starters, it's a bit creepy thinking that my life, our lives, is available on DVD. However, it explains why you're not freaking out having a strange man in your living room with a sonic screwdriver."

"To be honest, I'm still not sure if this is a dream or not."

The Doctor put the DVD case down, flopped into a nearby chair, and ran his hands down his face, "Oh, Kari, I assure you this is very, very real."

At this, Kari's knees give out and she started to fall. Rose caught her and helped her to the couch, taking a seat next to her.

"You gonna be ok? Want me to get you some water?" Rose placed a comforting hand on Kari's knee.

Kari just looked at her hand for a moment, realizing she could absolutely feel her touch and it was very much real.

"Hmm? Um, yeah, I'm ok, just a little shocked. I'll be fine. Thank you."

"Now, Kari, you didn't answer my question earlier." The Doctor leaned forward with his arms on his legs. "Have you noticed anything odd lately?"

"Not really, no. This complex is full of people with mental disabilities. Odd is normal for me."

"Mental disabilities? So, what is this, like a care facility or somethin'?" Rose asked.

"No, it's an apartment complex; it just happens to be for folks with mental disabilities."

"Including the manager?" the Doctor calmly asked. Rose shot him a glare that he waved off while watching Kari's face.

Kari laughed, "No, it's not a requirement for the manager."

"How long have you lived here?"

"About two and a half years." Kari said with a sigh.

"Kari, how long have you been battling the depression?" the Doctor asked with a concerned look.

Kari raised an eyebrow, curious as to how he came to that. "This time around or in general?"

"Both."

"In general, probably about twenty years. This most recent bought has been going on for about 6 months or so."

"Doctor, what does this have to do with why we're here?"

"It has everything to do with why we're here," he said as he stood up and started pacing the floor.

"Kari's flat sits on a branch of the rift, which has telepathic abilities. She's been depressed and lonely, especially lately…say, Kari, did anything happen about six months ago to trigger the depression?" he asked mid-lecture, stopping to look at her again.

She swallowed around a lump in her throat. "My divorce finalized."

"And that's around the time the rift started having a great deal of activity, transmitting out her feelings and latching on to the one thing that seemed to be helping," he said as he held up the DVD case, "me."