This is the first time I've written a doctor who story in a while (we're talking about 5 years) but I've wanted to do an OC story for ages!

Hope you enjoy :)

The alarm rang out at 6 AM on the dot. Like it always did.

Natalies hand aimed for it, missed, and whacked the side table instead. She groped, hitting every area of the table as the alarm blared into her skull, until she hit the alarm with such a force that the plastic cracked.

Mornings, despite the early ones every day, were never her forte, and every morning the house felt emptier than usual. Her mum worked six days a week, 12 hours a day, she had to keep them both afloat and not off the street. It still hurt to get up and not have her around, to only catch her when she came in from work, tired and exhausted.

A plus, however, was she could be as loud as she wanted. Save for the neighbours, anyway.

The song blared from her tinny flip phone, as she pulled out her uniform from the drawer. She tried to ignore the mirrors on her way to the bathroom, but when she clicked on the lights, it was hard to ignore it anymore; Black hair stuck up at all angles, green eyes encased in heavy bags, and a hell of a zit trying to make an appearance at her hairline. As appearances went, she wasn't looking too peachy.

Half an hour later, a brush, and some makeup utilised, she looked somewhat presentable. She'd have to, anyway. She was going to be late for work.

The waitressing job was something she had to do just to get by. Her mum needed all the help she could get, and when her mums friend Jane heard about an up and coming restaurant in the middle of Manchester, they needed the staff. She needed a job.

Just a shame the hours were so ridiculous.

Natalie rounded the stairs and left by the front door, giving the door a tug to check it was locked. Paint peeled off the door and landed on her shoe.

"Lovely," She grunted, kicking it off. "Luxury accommodation, right here."

Her walk to the bus stop started with minor grumbling and lamenting her situation. The occasional car whizzed by, her heels scuffing the pavement as she walked.

A man ran towards her. First she saw the flash of the brown coat, then his shoulder hit hers, sending her stumbling backwards.

He didn't stop, didn't apologise, just kept on running, his trench coat flapping behind him.

"Oi!" She called out, but he didn't turn. "Sorry I was in the way of your morning sprint!" Still nothing. Manchester was getting worse for people like that, she swore.

Work was…Well…work.

It dragged, and dragged. She spent most of her time fake smiling at customers who couldn't care less about the service they received anyway.

She rounded one of the tables. A man sat there, judging from the hands wrapped around the menu. It was pulled up over his face.

She coughed.

No response.

"…Ahem."

The menu was lowered, and she caught his face. She'd only seen it in a blur, but the brown trench coat gave him away in an instant. He had spiked brown hair, a strong nose, and eyes—eyes that looked like they didn't belong on someone so young, they were worn, weathered… Tired.

He was still, however, very rude for what he had done to her this morning.

"Can I take your order sir?"

He grinned, making his eyes wrinkle at the corners. "Yes, you can! I'll start with one of your finest mains, then finish with a crème brulee" He put on a French accent for his desert choice, kissing his fingers. "And um….That…That thing…The thing.. Fish bread… Crisps… Crackers!" He yelled loudly, so that it made her jump. "Prawn crackers!"

"…We don't do prawn crackers, sir." She supplied, in a clipped tone. "And might I add, you were very rude this morning."

He blinked owlishly. "Was I?"

"Yep. You might've been in a rush but there was no need to knock me bloody flying." She snapped, her professional decorum melting by the instant. "An apology might've been nice."

"When was that, then?" He questioned, and from the look on his face, it looked like he genuinely didn't know.

"This morning. 'Bout seven ish, outside Stockport Road." She cocked her head to the side. "Do you not remember?"

"Oh!" He slapped his head, making her jump again. "That was me, yeah. Was in a terrible rush honestly, involved a slitheen—well, I say slitheen, a raxacoricofallapatorian and a woman with three heads, well I say three heads its more two and a half…well I say—"

"Right." She interrupted him. Her head spinning at how fast he was churning utter nonsense at her. "…Never mind, forget I asked. What main do you want?"

"Well what I'd really like is to meet your boss." He raised a single eyebrow, chin propped on his hand.

"…You've got a complaint?" She questioned. "Already?"

"Nah!" He grinned. "Exemplary customer service, very attentive! Just need a word with him that's all."

She paled, all the blood running to her feet. "…You're a mystery diner, aren't you?"

"Whats that then?"

"…A mystery diner. You come in and rate our food and have a look at the kitchen and stuff. To test us."

He blinked at her. Before nodding slowly. "Yup. That's me. Mystery…Thingy. Look, even got my credentials and everything." He shoved a piece of paper in her face, and pulled it back just as quick, but it was enough for her to catch his credentials.

She shifted awkwardly. "You're not really supposed to tell us, the point is that we don't know—"

"I'm sorry, what was your name?"

Interrupted, she blinked at him. He was very rude. "Natalie. Natalie Kemp."

He nodded slowly. "Between me and you Natalie, I think you should take the day off. Have some fresh air, pop back home for a bit."

"What?"

"Just have a little bre—"

Light flared from under the kitchen door, a cold bright blue, which made the man stop in his tracks. His eyes narrowed, teeth clenched. "Its already started."

He bolted from his chair and ran straight for the kitchen doors before she could even get a word out. The light still protruded under the door, and she cast a glance back to the restaurant before following him into the kitchen.

"Mate-Sir! Whatever you're called! You're not allowed in there without confirmation!" She ran after him, barrelling through the doors. "It's policy even for mystery din..." Her voice fell flat. "…ers."

In front of her, her boss, Malcolm, was opening his forehead. Literally opening his forehead. Like a zip across skin. He pulled it across, from temple to temple, until his skin started to wrinkle and gather.

She stared, transfixed, as whatever was her boss worked its skin down its body until a green figure emerged. Its eyes were black and beady as it blinked, long green claws erupting from its hands, a protruding stomach hanging over its legs.

"Natalie?!" The man called from the other side of the kitchen. "NATALIE!"

"What the hell is it?" She screamed, backing into the ovens, her eyes stuck on the creature. "Is that my boss?"

The mysterious man grabbed her hand. "Come with me."

He tugged her after him as he ran out of the back door, hitting the fire alarm with his left palm on the way out. Her heart sounded in her ears as she tightened her grip on his hand, her feet starting to fall into rhythm with his.

"I don't even know your name!" She got out, as they rounded a corner, the thing hot on their heels. "And what was that? Why are you stopping? Whats this?"

"Full of questions aren't you?" He snapped back. He'd stopped in front of a blue box, fiddling with the lock. "Im the doctor, that's a slitheen, maybe, and this is my ship."

"Your ship?"

He yanked her inside, charging up…

The ramp.

She halted as the doors slammed behind her. The thing she'd entered, the box, was barely able to fit two people.. and yet…

It was huge. Her heart skipped a beat as she tried to register her surroundings, from the massive centre hub to the round circle egg things on the wall, she was trying to keep herself grounded.

"I know you have questions." He told her, keeping his eyes on what she assumed were the controls. "And I promise, I'll answer them, just let me make us relatively safe first."

She shrunk down to the point where she was sitting on the ramp, her head against the metal barrier. It shuddered and wheezed as the ship lurched to one side.

"Your house…Ship…Thing…" She closed her eyes. "It's bigger on the inside." She said, weakly.

"That it is!" The doctor exclaimed. "Its called the TARDIS. Time and Relative Dimension in Space."

She didn't reply, screwing her eyes shut again, trying to calm herself down. She heard his feet coming closer before she sensed it. When her eyes opened, his hand was extended down to her.

"I know it's a lot to take in." She eyed him up for a second, before taking his hand. He hauled her up to her feet. "Ask any question you want. Go on."

"…Okay." She looked around the tardis. "Is this a spaceship?"

"Yes. And a time machine."

"You're not a mystery diner are you?"

"No."

"…Is my boss an alien?"

"Yes."

"Are you an alien?"

"…Yes."

She nodded slowly. "Okay. What kind?"

"Time lord." He told her simply. "Do you believe me?"

She looked at him, looking for a lie, for madness. His eyes just held truth. "I don't know."

"Understandable."

"Back there… In the restaurant. That things still running around." She clutched the metal barrier. "It could be hurting people, right now."

He grinned at her, and she wasn't sure why. "Nah, its after me. I've had dealings with their kind before, and lets just say they aren't happy to see me again."

"So you're…enemies then?" She walked slowly up the ramp. "And that means they'll follow us? You've moved us right? I felt it move when I was sat down."

"Correctamundo!" He grinned, raking his eyes over her. "Have a look outside."

She hesitated.

"Go on," His voice was soft. "They wont have found us yet, I swear."

"Promise?"

"Triple promise."

Natalie swore under her breath. She should have run. She should have took one look at that monster and ran for the hills, never should have followed him. Yet with the way he was looking at her, his promise, she wanted to see where they had landed. More than ever.

She slowly walked down the ramp, her breath pausing in her throat as she pushed the doors open.

Wherever she was, it wasn't outside the restaurant anymore. Air wooshed past her face as two large fans circulated air around the room. The walls were grey, panelled and…alien.

"…Are we on another ship?" She asked him, not turning round. "It's ship?"

"Yep," He replied, popping the P. He closed the door behind them. "You're adjusting well."

She turned so fast her hair whipped his face, her smile wide. "Am I?" She didn't know why she was so keen to hear his approval, she'd known him three seconds and yet here she was, blindly following him.

"Very well." He repeated, taking off into a stroll. She followed him. "Three seconds ago you were screaming bloody murder about mystery diners and now we're in a spaceship, that is an adjusting masterclass. I'd consider a career change."

"Ha ha." She quipped sarcastically, her eyes darting around the ship as she followed the doctor. "Is there a reason why we're walking right into it's ship? With no weapons?"

"I'm here to talk to it, not blow its heads off." He snapped back. "I'm just hoping it'll remember what happened with Blon-Fel Flotch."

Talking sounds like a great idea until you remember the huge claws. "Blon-Fel who?"

He spun round to face her, a hand running through his hair. "She was a Slitheen. We were in Downing street, she tried to kill me with her brothers running around in human suits and farting until they got blown up."

He said it as if it was the most normal thing in the world. As if she was the stupid one for asking.

"…Farting?"

"I tell you all that and farting's what you pick up on?" He raised an eyebrow. "This just reminds me why I hate starting new." Pause. "Nope, I'm not starting new. You're going home after this. Don't know why I said that. Done with that now."

He was pacing all the way through that rant, and all she could do was stare at him. "…Should we not be finding these raxacoro-things then?"

The doctor glanced at her, his mouth snapping shut, and nodded, before taking off again. He was a very confusing man.

She kind of liked it.

She followed the doctor, through twists and turns of the corridors, before he came to a halt, and she, classy and poised as she was, bumped into his back.

"Sorry."

"Doctor," That certainly didn't come from her. The hissing voice got louder as she stepped out from behind the doctors back. "We've been chasing you for some time. Did you get tired of running?"

"Nah," The doctor grinned. "Ran all my life. Not gonna stop now. Just thought I'd pop by since you've been following me, I do autographs for a quid if you're interested."

Natalie's lip quirked into a grin despite everything that told her she shouldn't be doing.

"And I see you've picked up another stray." Beady eyes pointed at Natalie, who swallowed thickly under the attention. "Did the blonde one bore you in the end?"

"Don't mention her." The doctor snapped, a quick change from his previous attitude. "I came here to talk, not fight. You don't have the materials for an all out attack so why are you wasting your time on me?"

"I came to…assess planets." The raxacoricofallapatorian replied. "I followed you doctor. For a while. Every planet you came across, I assessed for profit, what I could gain. That's when I heard about the Slitheen's attempt on earth."

"And what, you're going to try and blow it up? Did you not see how that ended for the other brady bunch? And they had three times the materials you do. You've only been out of hibernation for 5 years! There's only one of you."

The creature seemed to…narrow its eyes. She didn't know aliens were capable of giving sideye, but here it was, in the flesh. She almost laughed. "The slitheens were stupid. For all their power they had no brain."

"Neither do you by the sound of it." It came out of her mouth before she could stop it, and out of the corner of her eye, the doctors grin widened.

"And who are you, human?"

She opened her mouth to speak, before the doctor spoke for her. He pressed something into her palm; "This isn't just any human, you see, I knew about your plan for the earth, you were very obvious, so I came prepared! Kleng Dakrosen-Traf Gemalene, I give you Natalie Kemp, earths top representative in alien affairs."

Alien affairs?! She glanced down at the object in her hand, whilst nodding very enthusiastically. The piece of paper read what he had just said, an ID badge, her face, name and title. This was going to be a bluff and a half. It was the paper he'd used, the mystery diner one. If all the pressure wasn't on her, she would've laughed.

"Natalie Georgina Kemp." She announced, with a slight tremor in her voice. She held up the paper to the raxacoricofallapatorian, before pulling it down just as quickly. This whole thing sort of reminded her of trying to get into clubs with her fake ID at 17…Only with the bouncer being a bit uglier. "I represent the matter of alien affairs on behalf of the United Nations."

"And you've brought her here, because?" Gemalene questioned. If it had eyebrows, Natalie assumed it would be raised.

The doctor opened his mouth to speak—

"—Because I'm the only one who has the authority to deal with alien threats." Natalie interrupted him, her heart beating at 500 beats a minute. "We saw your ship near the atmosphere before the doctor was even on the scene, and you're probably aware that we have missiles locked onto your location."

The whole thing was a blatant lie, and she kept her eye on the monster in front. It blinked once, then twice.

"You are aware if you launch these missiles, you too will die?" Gemalene questioned, head cocked to one side.

"I'd give up more than myself to save that planet and you should know that." She snapped. "Of all your interactions with the human race, all your scans, and watching, and waiting. I bet you've noticed one thing. Just one. We might be small, but we can fight, and we will fight! There's tonnes of planets out there, it says so on the news…" She coughed, realising her error. "And the intel. That I get on my desk. My united nations desk."

The doctor rubbed his eye with his fingers, his lips tugged into a grin.

"But—" She continued, trying to keep it together. "That means there's plenty to scavenge and sell. Plenty of garbage worlds and universal unpopulated scrap heaps. Maybe a lower profit, sure, but you'll have your lives at the end of it."

"…There is truth, to your words."

She almost smiled in relief. Almost.

"Alright doctor." Gemalene conceded, flicking a few switches. "You can take your representative. You have my word that the earth will not be attacked."

The doctor nodded. "You'll focus on unpopulated worlds?"

"For now."

The doctor nodded. "Right. We'll take our leave."

"But—"

He took her hand, and tugged her away.

"We'll take our leave."

Akin to a child having a tantrum, she let him walk her back through the corridors, dropping his ID into his outstretched hand. Only when they turned the corner did he finally smile.

"That, Natalie Kemp, was brilliant." His smile almost reached his ears. "A Mancunian waitress, bluffing her way to a top alien race without so much as a blink!"

Natalie ducked her head into her chest, grinning from ear to ear. This whole thing hadn't processed yet, but the high she felt was something else. He led her back to the T.A.R.D.I.S, holding the door open for her to enter.

"I'm here all week." She replied. "Or…day. However long time passes in here."

The doctor smiled, flicking switches and running around the console. The hum was somewhat reassuring under her feet. Natalie wriggled her toes as the ship set off, throwing her into the console.

"Rough ride, isn't it?" She asked, grinning across the console at him.

"Always is!" He grinned back. "Allonsy!"

The T.A.R.D.I.S stilled, and she pushed back from the console to run down the ramp, ready for wherever they'd landed. If anywhere. She pushed the doors open, and stumbled out onto the street.

"Here we are!" The doctor stepped out behind her. "About 50 seconds after we left."

"…Oh." She didn't know why, but she'd expected something else. "So this is it then?"

He nodded. Didn't say a word.

"Right. Okay." Pause. "It's just… I would've quite liked to go somewhere else. Just, I dunno, a planet or something, or back in time, that was really good back there. I thought we had fun."

The doctor swallowed, and suddenly he didn't quite meet her eye. "I don't do that anymore."

"Do what, Doctor?"

He glanced down to his trainers, swallowing again. "You heard what Gemalene said, I travelled with people before." His throat seemed to close around his words, as if he was struggling to get them out. "They all left me. For different reasons, different times. I lost them. I'm not going to lost someone again."

This wasn't it.

She knew it wasn't.

Natalie should have took it lying down, said her goodbyes, and left. But this wasn't it for the two of them. She could feel it.

"How old are you?"

The doctor raised his head, blinking at her. "905."

"How many years have you been traveling with people?" She asked, folding her arms. "How many years?"

"Natalie—"

"How. Many. Years."

"…A very, very, long time."

"You probably lost every single one of them and yet you always found someone else. Took them away in your spaceship and carried on." He kept his eyes on the floor, still. "After 905 years of that then you'll know more than anyone how rubbish it is being on your own. Being alone doesn't protect you."

"Yes it does." he snapped, meeting her eye. "It means I don't go through it again."

"And live your life bitter and alone and lonely? Telling jokes to yourself because youre the only person in that huge ship of yours?" She chanced taking a step closer to him. "You need someone. Everybody dies, or gets lost, or leaves. It's inevitable, but don't rob yourself of happiness because you're scared of the loss that'll follow. The good and the bad. It makes people, people."

"I'm not people." He replied.

"Yes you are. You're more people than half the people I know, I know that and I've only just met you." She took another step so that she was nearly in his personal space. "But everybody needs someone."

He glanced down at his shoes. "Alright."

"…Is that an okay?"

He paused, swallowing again. "That's an okay."

Natalies grin spread from ear to ear. She made the last step towards him and slammed her face into his middle, hugging him tightly. "I'll prove it to you, I swear!"

It took him a while, but eventually his hands wrapped around her in a hug;

"I'm sure you will."

Thanks for reading :)