Chapter One.
It was Christmas Eve and the Doctor was sitting alone in the TARDIS. He closed his eyes and pictured her face.
"Oh, Rose," he whispered. "I miss you so much."
Slowly, he stood up and wandered over to the controls, fiddling with a few random buttons. This was his first Christmas alone since he'd met Rose Tyler, and he wasn't enjoying it. He had spent the day moping around the TARDIS, remembering all the times they had shared together. Why did he have to lose her? He slammed his fist down on the console, then winced in pain. The doctor sighed loudly before turning away and wandering aimlessly around the TARDIS.
Eventually the Doctor stopped outside the room that had belonged to Rose. He placed his hand on the doorknob, but then stepped backwards. He hadn't been in there since he last saw Rose, and he knew it would be too painful to go in there with all the reminders of her.
All of a sudden, the TARDIS started humming and whirring, and the Doctor rushed back to the control room. He stared at the main console and saw that the TARDIS was preparing to go somewhere of its own accord.
"What the hell.." muttered the Doctor as the TARDIS shuddered. He shrugged and sat down; he didn't care where he went now that he didn't have Rose by his side. Soon the TARDIS was still, and the Doctor opened the doors and looked out. He gasped when he saw where the TARDIS had brought him.
He turned to grab his long brown coat and put it on before stepping out into the snow. His feet crunched into the snow with each slow step, and a few flakes floated listlessly from the sky, some settling in his tousled brown hair. The Doctor stopped and looked up at the Eiffel Tower, stretching towards the sky in front of him. He smiled sadly, wishing Rose was beside him holding his hand.
The Doctor stood there, staring up at the Eiffel Tower for ages, not noticing time flying past him. He eventually realised that he was shivering from the cold and turned back to where he had left the TARDIS, only to see that it was gone. The Doctor's jaw dropped and he broke into a run, looking around him for a glimpse of the TARDIS. He couldn't see it anywhere.
"Dammit," he muttered to himself and kicked angrily at a lump of snow on the ground in front of him. He stood there for a moment, deciding what to do, then headed off to find a hotel; he would search for the TARDIS tomorrow.
When the Doctor finally found a hotel with a vacancy, he booked a small room and lay down on the bed. He was still shivering from the cold, so he wandered into the small bathroom and had a hot shower. He stood in the shower for about half an hour, letting the hot water run down his body, heating him physically, but leaving his heart cold as the snow outside. The Doctor dried himself off, then staggered into bed. Eventually he fell into a restless sleep, dreaming of Rose.
The next morning, Christmas Day, the Doctor woke up feeling a lot more positive about the day ahead. He quickly got dressed and headed outside to find the TARDIS. He started by slowly wandering the streets, looking down every alley he passed, but had no luck.
"Stupid blasted machine," he muttered angrily after hours of hopeless searching. Then the Doctor looked up and what he saw made his hearts skip a beat. There, in front of him, was a building that looked exactly like the Torchwood building.
"Oh my God," the Doctor whispered to himself, then ran to the door. He slipped in and found no one in sight; the place seemed deserted. The Doctor turned and began heading up a flight of stairs.
When he reached the third floor, a door to the left caught his eye. It was a large red door with a silver metal handle, and a sign hanging from it saying: Authorized Personnel Only.
The Doctor shrugged; he had never been one for following rules. He walked over to the door and tried the handle. Not surprisingly, it was locked. The Doctor pulled his sonic screwdriver from his pocket and pointed it at the lock. The lock clicked open, and he shoved the sonic screwdriver back in his pocket before opening the door. As the door slowly swung open, the Doctor gasped at what was revealed to him. The room he was now standing in was rather large and rectangle, with pure white walls, a shimmering golden floor and one window on the other side. Right beside that window stood the Doctor's beloved TARDIS.
The Doctor walked quickly over to the TARDIS and ran his hand lovingly along the rough wood of the doors. All of a sudden, the door behind him slammed and he spun around to see that he was shut inside the room. He jogged back over to the door and pulled it, but it was locked. He went for his sonic screwdriver again but this time it didn't work; the door had been deadlocked from the outside.
"What on Gallifrey..." murmured the Doctor as he ran a hand through his hair in exasperation. He turned and wandered back over to his TARDIS and tried to open the doors, but they wouldn't budge. The Doctor was beginning to get worried, but that was only the start of things. The Doctor spun around as he heard the lock to the door click and it opened, revealing the silhouette of a man standing in the doorway.
"Bonjour," the man said as he stepped into the room with the Doctor. "You appear to be... lost." The man said the last word with such contempt that the Doctor actually took a step back.
"Um, yes," he started, then swallowed. The man stared at him from narrowed dark eyes, and the Doctor spoke again. "Where am I? And what is this place?"
"Why, Doctor," the man asked in mock astonishment. "You mean to tell me that you didn't come here on purpose?"
"How do you know my name?" the Doctor demanded. The man stepped closer and the Doctor realised that he was very tall, and was dressed entirely in black. The man smiled, looking perfectly evil.
"Doctor, we've been waiting. We knew you would find a way to come back to our parallel universe."