The giant blue box crashed into a roof. The Ninth Doctor stepped out, not exactly sure where he landed this time. He had just offered this extraordinary girl, Rose Tyler, a chance to travel with him. She turned him down, much to his dismay, and he flew away right then and there. If only he had told her that the T.A.R.D.I.S. could travel in time as well! He was pretty sure that he went back in time; the box had put him on top of an apartment complex.

Nine looked around to find a little boy sitting on a deck chair near him, mouth agape. In his hand he held a set of vintage cards tightly. "What…. what just happened?"

"What do you mean? I just crash-landed my T.A.R.D.I.S. into the roof of your building. No issue here." He smiled at the boy.

"Your what? Who are you?"

"I'm the Doctor. And the T.A.R.D.I.S.," he explained while pointing to the big blue box, "is my, uh, space ship. Kinda. It travels anywhere in time and space."

The boy smiled a bit, but also looked confused. "The Doctor? Doctor Who?"

"Just the Doctor. And what's your name?"

"Phil. Phil Coulson."

"Well Phil," Nine said with a joyful tone, "you can tell everyone that you've just met a genuine alien."

Phil's eyes enlarge. "I knew it! i knew aliens existed! Nobody ever believes me about anything like that, but I always knew things like aliens and superheroes were real." He looked so happy that he found someone who believed in him.

"Where's your parents, Phil?" Nine asked, on the verge of a realization.

"My dad died a long time ago. And my mom- Peggy- she works for the government, so she's never home. I don't know what she does."

Oh, he was the son of Peggy Carter, a woman who knew the famous Steve Rogers. He looked closer at Phil's vintage cards- they were the Captain America set. "Phil, can I tell you a secret?" the boy eagerly nods. "Aliens, superheroes, they all exist. They're all real. But so are villains, and I've seen a lot of evil in this great big universe in my 900 years."

"Well sure there's evil- like the Red Skull. But don't worry, Doctor, there's always going to be good to wipe out the bad guys."

"How can you be so sure?"

"Well, I just met you- and you seem like a superhero."

Nine didn't know how to respond. He was no hero, and yet here was this little boy who thought the Doctor was someone to be revered.

"Listen, Phil, I gotta go. I just got a distress signal from Norway. I'll come back though, okay?"

"When?"

"You should know something about me. I never know When: I only know Who."

The Doctor steps back into his blue box and sails away, with a young Coulson watching the whole time.

"Doctor?"

Nine had landed at S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters, where a man in his young twenties was staring in disbelief. "Excuse me?"

"Doctor, it's me, Phil Coulson. I got a job with S.H.I.E.L.D. as a field agent. I knew you would come back!"

"Phil?! Last time I saw you, you were this tall! What happened? That was like five minutes ago." NIne realized that his beloved blue box had skipped about fifteen years.

"They told me- the people I work for, that is- they told me that they believed in me. They know that superheroes and aliens are real. They said I could get to work with them someday!"

"That's great, Phil. I'm glad you get to be a field agent."

"So did you just leave my childhood apartment? Or has it been years since then?"

"Well, I went to Norway for that distress call, then I popped up here. Time travel doesn't always take me where I want to go, but I usually don't mind."

"Do you travel alone?"

Nine paused. He was still thinking about Rose. "Sometimes I do, and sometimes people have traveled with me. They never stay forever though. In the end, I'm always alone."

Phil looked sympathetic. "I could travel with you, if you'd like. I mean, I couldn't miss work if it didn't count as field work, but-"

"Coulson! Who are you talking to?" A threatening voice rings throughout the empty halls.

"That's my new boss. He'll try to catalogue you if he sees you. You need to go!"

Nine hurries into his T.A.R.D.I.S. "I'll see you again." he promises as the box disappears, Phil still staring in wonder.

He's on a helicarrier. It's S.H.I.E.L.D.'s, more technologically advanced than the last time he saw them. Nine was sure Phil was on the aircraft.

Suddenly, he sees a plane fly away hurriedly. Nine notices that there had been a fight here. Were those Chitauri aliens everywhere? What were they doing on earth?

He runs around, trying to find a S.H.I.E.L.D. worker somewhere. There's a big room with a hole in the center where a lot of doctors are gathered. Nine rushes in, only to be stopped by a tall man with an eyepatch.

"And who are you?"

"I'm the Doctor. A friend of an agent, Phil Coulson?"

"Ah yes, he's told me all about you," the man says. "Where have you been for these past five years? Running around in your little blue box? You're too late this time. Phil's dead."

"What?" No, no that can't happen. Not to that little boy on the roof with the vintage cards. Not the young man who was so excited to be working with superheroes and aliens. Nine wondered if Coulson had found out that superheroes don't exist.

"Why don't you fly away, Doctor." the man suggests.

Instead, Nine tosses the man a syringe from his jacked filled with a clear serum. "If he really is dead, then try this. It… it's from your country, but 500 years later than now. It'll stop any bleeding, close any wounds, even kill bacteria in infected areas. If you want, I'll never disturb your network again. Just… please let this guy live."

He walks away, the tall man still watching him. "Doctor," he suddenly calls. "Thank you."

Nine nods back at the man, then goes back outside of the helicarrier to find his blue box.