Life after Leo was lonelier than Nikki imagined. She thought Leo would leave to retire and would call her everyday, invite her round for dinner, come into work to see how she was and help her with anything that was bothering her. That was her idea of 'life without Leo'. The real 'life without Leo' was sitting at his grave all day when she had a day off, ignoring Harry's calls and working on auto-pilot with as little personal involvement as possible. Jack told her politely to 'get a grip on things' as it had been over 6 months now and she had to get on with her life as Leo would have wanted her to. She promised she would try but it was hard getting back into a routine that Leo had been a huge part in. She looked for new jobs but it was still the same old thing. She needed something new and exciting to take her mind off what happened in Afghanistan.
It was a Monday and Nikki was in the middle of an autopsy on a man in his thirties. He was extremely tall, thin and above all else unidentifiable. A biker found him on the bank of the Thames the day and the police couldn't find any record of him anywhere. They would not even let her do the autopsy at first in case she damaged any scarring or birthmarks that could be crucial when identifying him. They had allowed her to do it now as they wished to see if he had any medical conditions they could match to medical records. She found the skin to be thicker than usual and found it rather difficult to break the skin. After trying all the different scalpels to hand, she decided to use a sharp knife instead in hope the blade was sharp enough to break the skin. Eventually, after applying a lot of force, she made an incision.
"Stop, stop. Professor Alexander get away from there."
Nikki looked up towards the observation window and saw a skinny man in a quirky suit and a bow tie banging on the window and waving his arms around in a panic.
"Sir, you cannot just walk in here and disturb a post mortem. Leave now before I call security." Nikki demanded angrily. She had no time for dramas and conspiracies anymore.
The man stormed away from the window and rushed into the lab a few moments later. He stormed over to Nikki and put an arm around her waist, pulling her away from the body.
"What are you doing? JACK!" Nikki shouted until the man put a finger to her lips to silence her. This was the first time she had seen his eyes and in them was a glimmer of madness which both intrigued her and terrified her.
"Your colleague knows I'm here and he left about five minutes ago. I'm from the home office, see". He showed her a blank piece of paper.
"The paper is blank and you are a nutter!" she screamed, squirming to get out of his hold.
He shushed her again and took her hands in his."Listen Nikki Alexander, we are no safe. That is not a body it is a shell. Inside that shell is a creature that given the chance will rip both of us to pieces. We need to act fast.
Before she could argue the body began to shake and the stomach began to peal open to reveal a green scaly creature with large, pointed yellow teeth. It hissed and growled as it broke free from the clear goo it was in cased in before turning its lizard like head towards the pair.
"I am not a great fan of violence" the man began "but if you would be so kind as to find some kind of weapon or something to threaten it. They are wild but treasure there lives more than any creature in the universe. Quickly before it's too late."
Nikki rushed out of the room and ran to Jack's desk. He had a gun he had just finished taking prints off and to her luck it was still loaded. When she returned, the thing had begun to pull itself out off the body and was nearly a ceiling level. The man gave a sigh of relief when he saw her with the gun.
"Brilliant. Aim at the head!"
"Me! No, it would be cruel" Nikki argued but the man shook his head.
Your not going to shoot it. This is democracy. Nikki Alexander you will save everyone in this building if you aim that gun."
Taking a deep breath, she aimed the gun. The creature squirmed and shrieked loudly as though she had actually shot it. The man took some kind of stick with a glass orb on the end from his pocket and pointed it at the creature. To Nikki's amazement, the creature disintegrated before her very eyes. The man smiled and gave her the stick.
"There. I can take him home now"
When Nikki looked closely at the orb she saw the creature in tiny form squirming as it had before.
"Who are you? she asked, giving him back the stick which he quickly put back in his jacket.
He smiled but it was a sad one. It was similar to the smile she gave when people asked her about Leo.
"I'm the Doctor" he eventually replied.
Nikki frowned and looked the man up and down. He wasn't like any doctor she knew.
They sat on a bench near the Thames after the man bought Nikki a coffee and a small cake to share. Nikki had cleaned up the 'body' while the Doctor looked over all the equipment in the lab with interest. He could see how upset she was so the Doctor decided to take her for 'snack time'.
"I love cake" the Doctor grinned as he opened the box to the chocolate fudge cake." I prefer Jammy Dodgers though"
Nikki nodded in agreement "I used to live off Jammy Dodgers when I was a student. That and Jelly Babies."
The Doctor nodded enthusiastically " I love Jelly Babies. I used to carry a bag full everywhere I went. That was a very long time ago. I'm a completely new man."
"Who are you? I mean really" Nikki asked in a shy voice. "You are not from the Home Office and you knew all about that thing. I can't believe Jack fell for your lies".
He gasped, looking very offended. "I will have you know I only lie when absolutely necessary."
"Really? How often's that" she teased and laughed when he tried to figure out an excuse. "It doesn't matter, Doctor. Just tell me what I want to know."
"I used psychic paper on your friend and it worked so he believed me" the Doctor explained. "Psychic paper can't outwit you as your too intelligent. Very intelligent in fact. I'm a Time Lord, Nikki and that thing was a Dravec. It's Czech for predator. They evolved when humans used pollutants on a planet that had a reactive atmosphere. I'm afraid I may have accidentally brought it last time I came here and must have latched on to you."
"Me?"
The Doctor nodded "they are very specific about their pray. It must have planned all this. They are really highly intelligent but completely instinctive. Their natural instinct is to pick the best of the bunch. That, in this case, was you."
"How did you know it was in the lab? And what did you mean by humans using pollutants on a planet? Like Mars? And what is a Time Lord? " Nikki asked in confusion.
The Doctor sighed and pulled out a device from his coat. He appeared to be scanning her which caused her to panic. Noticing this, the Doctor began to answer her questions to distract her.
"I landed the TARDIS, my ship, and it detected the Dravec. I set my ship to detect any of them within a 10 mile radius in case someone is in danger. So when I found out it was at the lab I rushed over. My ship travels in time and space and I am also an alien. Time Lords are like humans but not enough for my liking. The planet I speak of is in a whole different quadrant of space. It's nothing like Mars. There, you now know more than 99% of the worlds population."
Nikki burst out laughing and shook her head."Good one. now tell me the truth."
The Doctor rolled his eyes, put the device next to him on the bench and pulled out a stethoscope from his pocket. He handed them to Nikki and nodded to his chest.
She placed the stethoscope on his chest and placed the ear tips in her ears. She listened to the right of his chest before moving to the right, then back to the left and to the right once more. She handed him it back quickly and he put it back in his jacket. The device beeped and The Doctor looked at it side on and smiled.
"Healthy, high intelligent human. Now Nikki Alexander, tell me who you are."
"How do you know my name?" she asked curiously.
"I searched the Lyell centre before coming so I could find an excuse to get in without a fuss. You look very pretty in your picture by the way."
"That's what Jack said." Nikki smiled. "Anyway, as you know I am a pathologist. Born in South Africa, mother died years ago, waste of space dad died around two or three years ago. I came to England when I was young and ended up cutting up dead people. It's not much of a story."
"Everyone's story is a great one." The Doctor assured her and his hearts dropped when she shook her head.
"I wish I could trade my story."
The Doctor smiled sadly and stood up. "Take the afternoon off and cheer up, hero. I hope I will see you again Nikki Alexander. Enjoy the rest of the cake and enjoy life."
Then he was gone.
Nikki looked out onto the river and thought to herself the question she had been dying to ask but never did.
Doctor Who?