Immediately after the end of Voyage of the Damned…
The Doctor sighed as he closed the TARDIS doors and returned to his customary place by the console. 'Alone again,' he thought. 'What a surprise.' Sure, that old man had been pretty good in a fight, but the Doctor couldn't bear to have anyone else nearby right now. And he couldn't risk losing another he was responsible for. It was too dangerous for humans to travel with him. He'd just have to go alone. Anyway, humans had such short lives. Each one only left another scar.
Amid that torrent of thoughts, one rose to the top. 'Get rid of your pain.' And the only way to do that was to go somewhere. Somewhere nice, somewhere where he could get involved in another adventure, one that didn't involve anyone dying. Mind you, that kind of a place was pretty hard to find. Most places with adventures usually have danger and death standing by, waiting for the right person to come along and stumble into them. But the Doctor thought for a moment, and then finally realized the perfect place to visit. New York City, Earth.
He'd always loved New York City- didn't matter what time period, the lights and bustling atmosphere always attracted him. There were plenty of opportunities to do something exciting there; something that didn't involve guns or spaceships or relationships. Now that he had thought of it, the Doctor realized that it was just what he needed. Now only to set the coordinates…
It took him a moment to set them, as he realized that he needed to pick a time period. He wasn't sure at first, because all of them sounded so exciting. But finally he decided on 2008, mid 2008. There were no major crises going on- everything was as safe as New York City ever gets, but exciting at the same time. Smiling a little with joy over his newly-formed plan, the Doctor punched in the coordinates into the console. Earth, June 2008 A.D., Manhattan, enter. The TARDIS whirred to life as it began to disappear from the London countryside.
The TARDIS was about to land when suddenly, with a bang and a loud screech, it suddenly began to shake. "No, no, no!" the Doctor cried in frustration as the TARDIS began to veer off course. "Work, you stupid thing, work!" But the TARDIS didn't respond to his pleas, and instead continued to shake in a disturbing manner. The Doctor was beginning to think it would never end when suddenly, with an even bigger screech than before, it stopped. No warning, it just stopped. The lights turned off, and it seemed the TARDIS had lost all power. The Doctor was dumbfounded. What could have happened? With no alternative idea, he opened the TARDIS doors and stepped outside.
Well, at least was New York City. And in 2008, no less. Seemed like the TARDIS had just passed through a fluctuation in the Time Vortex. Nothing serious; the Doctor was sure that it would recharge itself in a day or two. And for now he time to explore.
The Doctor had landed on the corner of 51st Street and some other street that seemed to have no sign for it. There were shops and restaurants nearby, as well as a bank. The Doctor headed towards the bank. If he was going to spend a couple days in Manhattan, he'd need some money.
However, he was about halfway down the block to the bank when he noticed a strange sight. It was a poster on one of the billboards placed along the street. The sign said "Doctor Who returns July on the Sci-Fi Channel!" And it was his face, his own face adorning the billboard! Donna's face was next to his, which was odd in its own right, but the strangest thing was that it was his own face on the billboard! The Sci-Fi Channel? An Earth TV broadcasting network? Donna was on TV? More to the point, he was on TV? What was going on?!
A/N- Please review- more will be up soon! I promise the next chapters will be longer. And if you have any title suggestions, please leave a review and tell me (I'm feeling uninspired, but I had to name it something)