A/N: We're back with the second chapter! I know that the first one was short, but the ones following will be way longer.

Enjoy this chapter of The Cracks In Time!

Chapter 2

The Reality Dream

I know I'm not a big fan of Rose Tyler, but this is unbelievable. Across from me, she's sitting on a bench, staring at her phone with a worried expression on her face.

I snort at the sight. Gosh, I probably should have listened to my mom and came home earlier. I must have really overdone it with Claire last night during the marathon. I briefly close my eyes, waiting for this whole thing to disappear. But when I open them again, nothing's changed. Rose is still on the bench, and I'm still standing on concrete.

"Ha, ha," I laugh sarcastically to myself, staring up at the blue sky. I throw my arms up in the air, "Wake up!" At the sudden commotion, Rose looks up from her phone and turns around to stare directly at me. I slowly let my arms slump to my sides as my face turns bright red, noticing the look she's giving me that clearly says: 'What the hell are you doing?' and 'Do you mind?' That look is quickly wiped from her face, though, as realization takes over. She grins widely and exclaims, "Ellie!"

Huh?

I look over my shoulder to clarify whether she was talking to somebody else, but of course, nobody is there. So how does she know my name?

This should be impossible, I think to myself. God, what am I supposed to do?! There could still be a small chance that I'm still in bed dreaming about this, right?

I can feel Rose's stare burning a hole through my back. "El, are you alright?"

I glance back over to her and then stare at the ground. "Yeah."

She gives me a disbelieving look. "No really, something's wrong, yeah? The look on your face, something's seriously wrong." She starts to stand up from the bench and I take a step back.

Panic overcomes me and I put my hands up in a way to prevent her from coming any closer. "No, stay there! Don't come near me!"

She puts her hands up too, "What's wrong?!"

I point at her, taking several more steps back. "You! How are you here? Wait - don't answer that, stupid question. More importantly, how am I here?!"

She stares at me with worry and confusion, "What are you talking ab-"

Rose is suddenly cut off by somebody calling 'Rose' and apparently 'Ellie', and I swiftly turn around. My eyes widen and my jaw drops. That man is all too familiar. The same man who destroyed his own planet for the sake of the universe. The man who never stops running, saving world after world. The nine-hundred year old alien who travels through time and space in his little, blue, bigger-on-the-inside box called the TARDIS - next stop… everywhere.

What I don't notice though, is that while I'm too busy caught up in my thoughts, the Doctor comes up to me, hugs me, and spins me around. He notices that I'm not hugging back, and gently puts me down. His grin falters a little, "Ellie?" The Doctor looks me in the eyes with his chocolate brown ones. I try my hardest to act calm, cool, and collected. Sadly and miserably, I was failing, and the battle with my inner fangirl was quickly coming to an end. I'm sure you can guess which side of me was victorious.

Oh my God, he's so sexy! Hmm, that suit is so fitting… Look at his hair it's all stickyuppy! Ah, I love his hair. I love it, I love it, I love it! I wonder what it feels like… Is it as soft as it looks? If I could just run my hands through it…

I pause in thought as I realize I'm still staring at him. Apparently, he notices it too, because now he's pointedly raising an eyebrow in my direction.

Dear Lord, he's doing it; the eyebrow. He's giving me the eyebrow! I wonder if he combs his eyebrows… No! Stop it! Bad Eleanor!

I close my eyes for a second and take in a deep breath. When I open my eyes again, I introduce myself. I give him a hand to shake, "Hello, you must be the Doctor. My name is Eleanor Archer."

He doesn't say anything nor does he shake my hand. He takes a step back and just stares. Rose and Mickey don't say anything either, they just stare at me with the same confused and worried look in their eyes. I slump my hand back down to my side. As the one and only Martha Jones once said, 'Never meet your heroes.'

The awkwardness is so thick you could slice it with a knife. I have to break the silence. I give a tight smile and clap my hands together once, "So! Parallel universe, zeppelins in the sky, and Rose's dad is alive. But, the problem is, she can't see him like she wants to. Am I right? Oh, don't answer that, I already know I am." I grin at them, feeling like a total badass.

Mickey is the first to break the silence. "Oh, come on, Eleanor. You can drop the act now."

Now it's my turn to look confused, "What act?"

The Doctor takes out his sonic screwdriver from the inside pocket of his Janis Joplin coat. I mentally fangirl again. Oh my God, it's the sonic! He then waves it up and down the length of my body, scanning me for something. A quick flash of panic runs through me. What if he finds out…

He stops scanning me and checks the readings. I give a nervous smile, "Find what you're looking for, Doctor?"

He glances back up at me with a look of realization, "You're young."

I look at him strangely, "What's that supposed to mean? Of course I'm young, I'm nineteen."

He searches my face, "Yes, but this is the youngest I've ever seen you." He turns around and says to Mickey and Rose, "This is the first time she meets us."

He faces me again.

"What does that mean?" I question, still lost.

The Doctor smirks at me with a glint in his eyes, "Spoilers."

"Spoi– wha– ," I stutter. I stare at him for a few long moments, my mouth going a little dry.

Rose breaks the silence this time, "Anyway, my phone connected. There's this Cybus network, it finds your phone. It gave me internet access," she begins.

I gather myself together and decide it's best to help as much as I can. "You know this is the wrong world," I tell her seriously.

Rose glances at me, but then locks her gaze back onto the Doctor. "I don't exist," she tells us sadly. I remember from the episode that instead of her 'parents' having a child, they bought a pet dog, which they named Rose. Of course she doesn't know that yet, but she still must feel horrible right now.

And that still comes to the conclusion if this is real or not. If this is real, I'll most certainly be having a nervous breakdown later. If it isn't, well, I'll still be having a breakdown later anyway.

I notice that I am again staring at the Doctor, and I quickly look away.

"Are you alright?" That familiar voice pulls me out of my thoughts and snaps me back to reality. Well, this reality.

"Um, do I not look alright?" I ask nervously.

He hesitates a moment, thinking of what to say. "No! You just look a little… red…"

Well, that's because his tenth incarnation is really attractive…

A pause.

They're all staring at me.

Why are they looking at me like that?

"Wait… Did I just say that out loud…?"

They all nod. Rose is giving me a slight warning glare. The Doctor is smirking smugly. Great, I think I just bumped up his ego.

Mickey looks between the three of us. "Okay, so back to the part where you don't exist. What do you mean?"

"Right," Rose nods. "There's no Rose Tyler; I was never born. There's Pete, my dad and Jackie, still married mum, but they never had kids."

"Give me that phone." The Doctor tries to grab the phone out of Rose's hands, but fails.

I decide to pick up the conversation that was being made. "They're rich," I begin. "Rose's mom and dad. They're rich."

Rose smiles at me, "They've got a house and cars and everything they want… but they haven't got me," she stands up from the bench. "I've got to see him."

"You ca-" the Doctor starts, but I cut him off.

"Twenty-four hours the TARDIS is going to be all charged up, ready for us - I mean you to get out of here." I turn to face Rose, "In the meantime, while everybody's waiting, you can go have fun and see your dad." Rose grins at me and pulls me into a hug, which I return.

After Rose and I let go of our brief hug, the Doctor asks me in a serious, yet sarcastic tone, "Uh, Ellie, who's in charge?"

I snort, remembering the ninth Doctor asking Captain Jack that in the episode 'Boom Town.' I glance over at him sheepishly, "Oh, right. Sorry."

He gives me a hard stare for a few moments until nodding and finally saying, "Yeah, what El said."

I smirk and nod. He rolls his eyes, then takes off after Rose.

"Yeah, if I haven't found something better," Mickey mumbles and I grin at him, knowing that he would.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Mickey and I walk in silence as we pass street by street. I'm thinking of asking him how traveling is with the Doctor and Rose, but I already know what his answer would be. He would probably say that it's not as fun as he would like it to be because of the way Rose acts. Whenever I would watch season two of Doctor Who at home, I would always feel sympathetic towards him. I could understand what he felt, and if Rose ever treated me the way that she treats him, I would probably slap her on the spot. But I know Mickey wouldn't do that because he still loves her. I wish she wouldn't ignore him and put all of her attention on the Doctor. That's one of the reasons why Rose isn't my favorite companion.

All of a sudden I bump into somebody and stumble. I look up to see who it is, and my face flashes with confusion and surprise. The only way I can describe her is that she has blonde space-hair.

"Ellie, you need to listen to me very carefully. I don't have much time." The woman - River Song - says urgently.

I nod quickly, taking in her clothing. Which is a spacesuit. Damn.

"Good, now I only need to tell you one thing before I go, and pay attention, remember, because it is very important that you do this: Listen to the cracks."

I blink, not quite understanding what that meant.

River swiftly looks down at her wrist where her vortex manipulator is strapped down. She looks almost scared, like something bad is about to happen. She glances back up at me with fearful eyes, "I need to go, but we'll be meeting up again very soon. Just remember what I told you, for the sake of your life and the rest of the universe." With that, she vanishes with a spark.

I stand there, unblinking, trying to comprehend what just happened.

What did she mean 'listen to the cracks'?

I suddenly feel someone take my hand and pull me forward a little. It's Mickey. "C'mon. I wanna meet someone."

I nod, my mind going a little blank from the advice River just gave me.

We encounter two men dressed in army uniforms who are guarding an entrance into the rest of the city. One of the men approaches us.

"Are we allowed to get past?" Mickey asks the man, gesturing to both of us.

"Yeah, no bother. Curfew doesn't start till ten."

"Hold on, there's a curfew?" I ask him, trying to sound surprised, even though I clearly wasn't at all.

The man gives me a strange look, "Course there is! Where have you two been living? Up there with the tops?"

Mickey and I look up at the sky as we stare at the zeppelins in awe. "I wish," Mickey replies, smirking.

The man stares at us for a couple moments until finally lifting up the road block and letting us through.

"See ya," Mickey waves to them, as I smile.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

After walking a few more blocks, we approach Mickey's grandmother's apartment door and knock.

"Who steps there," his grandmother warns before opening the door. "Who is it?" she asks, trying to feel around with her cane since she was blind. "I know you're there, shame on you tricking an old lady. I've got nothing worth stealing! And don't think I'm going to disappear, you're not going to take me!" She whips her cane up in the air, trying to threaten us.

"Hi," Mickey says simply.

Her face softens and she lowers her can. "Is that you?" she steps down, moving closer to Mickey's voice.

"It's me. I came home," he says, happiness flooding over him.

I smile, taking in this very special moment. And then my mind travels back over to what River said right before she had to go. 'Listen to the cracks...' That's it? Couldn't she have given me a little bit more than that? Oh, and she also said we would be 'meeting up again soon.' The Doctor said that this was the first time he's ever seen me this young. Does that mean that I'm in his future? Do I ever make it back home? And when did I start accepting that this is reality?

I frown and then jump slightly from being pulled into a light hug."Ooh, ya gettin' a little wimpy there, son." Mickey's grandma pats my back.

What the heck?

I turn my head a little to glance at Mickey, giving him a clear message with my eyes: Well, do something! He seems not to notice, which only makes matters worse. I close my eyes and open them again, only to be smacked in the arm. She's now repeatedly smacking me.

"Ow! Stop-"

"You stupid boy; where have you been? It's been days and days! I keep hearing all these stories about people disappearing off the streets-"

Mickey clears his throat, "Grandma, that's not me."

She stops hitting me as confusion flashes across her face. "Then who is it?"

"She's just a friend," he says.

"Is she your girlfriend?" she asks, smiling like that was the best news she has ever heard.

Okay, this is just getting ridiculous.

"NO!" I shout before Mickey can. "I'm a friend, not his girl friend. I'm just a normal, everyday friend."

Mickey's grandmother looks almost disappointed. "I thought you finally had a real girlfriend for once, Rickey."

"It's Mickey," he corrects.

She points a finger at him, "I know my own grandson's name. It's Rickey."

I laugh, but I immediately stop when I hear tires screeching to a halt right beside me. I see people come out of a blue van, who are also starting to drag Mickey away. Wait, what?! My eyes widen and I turn my head sharply in the direction of the van.

Oh, wait. Jake and his crew aren't going to hurt him, so I don't need to chase after them. Thank Rassilon! I pause. When did I start saying that? I sigh. I should meet up with the Doctor and Rose soon, and tell them that I have no idea what happened to Mickey. Yeah, I know that's a lie, but I can't exactly tell them the future. That would be against the rules, right?

I'm pulled away from my thoughts when I hear metal coming in contact with the cement. Uh-oh. Not a good sign. I slowly turn around and try to prepare for the worst, even though I'm nowhere near prepared.

I'm terrified.

And if Cybermen scare me, then think about how the Daleks will in the future. If I travel with the Doctor. I might change my mind later.

Dozens of Cybermen are marching towards me. They're at least twenty yards away, but still. I need to run. Those things creep me out like hell. I turn on my heel and begin running in the opposite direction. I run past more apartments and cars until coming to a complete stop. Dead End. NO! There's no more road, there's just a forest! Oh, please don't tell me I have to run through a forest to escape from Cybermen. I draw out a long sigh. Only option, I have to. Either that, or be deleted. Or worse, be converted into one of them.

I begin to carefully run through the forest, almost being smacked in the face by a branch and tripping over a large tree stump. But, overall, I am fine. No cuts or bruises. Well, not that I know of.

I hear the Cybermen's footsteps fading away and I silently sigh in relief. Bet no companion could top that. Well, maybe one. Okay, that's a lie. Probably all of them could, but hey, don't judge!

I can now see a large house in view, by which I'm guessing is Pete and Jackie's house. I quickly exit the forest and run through the wet and slippery grass. I gasp and fall backwards, realizing my mistake and land on my back. Ow. Yup, there's my bruise. As I slowly sit up and get to my feet, I see the Cybermen coming towards the house and I freeze. Ugh, I hate this position that I'm in right now. It makes me want to run. Run far away from this place and never return. To not look back, but to just keep on running and let the wind take me wherever I want to go. But no, I can't do that. I have to be brave and lure the Cybermen away from the house. And who cares if I don't succeed. At least I'll try my best.

But if I'm going to do this, at least let me have a little fun while I'm at it. I grin with excitement, even though what I'm about to say to them is incredibly stupid. I take in a deep breath and yell, "Hey, over here!" The Cybermen all stop marching towards the house and turn to face me. I start to flail my arms up in the air. "Yeah, you. Look at me, I'm a target!" I put a hand over my mouth to try to stifle my laughter. I can't believe I just took the Doctor's line from 'The Pandorica Opens.'

All fun soon ends when one of the Cybermen lifts up its arm and shoots at me. I quickly dodge the laser and start running as more Cybermen begin to fire their lasers. I pause for a moment when I hear a familiar voice call out, "Ellie, get in here!"

I turn my head to the left and see the Doctor standing in the doorway of Pete and Jackie's house, motioning me towards him. I take off running in his direction, one of the Cybermen's lasers grazing the side of my upper arm. I hiss loudly in pain, and wince slightly at the faint smell of burnt flesh. My burnt flesh.

Oh, they are so going to get it…

I finally make it to the door and shove the Doctor out of my way as I run through. I'm panting, trying to catch my breath. I then jump out of my skin as I feel a warm hand grab my shoulder. I'm forcibly turned around, coming face-to-face with an angry and worried Time Lord.

A dangerous mix of emotions, certainly not to be reckoned with.

"What the hell did you think you were doing? You can't just put yourself out as Cyberman bait! Do you realize how incredibly reckless and idiotic that was? For Rassilon's sake, you could have been killed!" He is basically growling in my face.

"Yeah, but those moves I did out there were pretty cool," I point out, not at all fazed by his angry rant.

He stares at me with a cold, hard gaze.

..

.

"Do you not understand what I just said?!" He moves his hands to my upper arms as he tries to shake some sense into me. I sharply hiss through my teeth and wince when his left hand touches my raw, burnt, and slightly bleeding flesh. I yank myself out of his grasp. His gaze softens as he sees my injury for the first time. "You're hurt."

Oh, look, it's Captain Obvious! I think sarcastically. "Um, yeah. One of the Cybermen got me while I was trying to dodge their lasers. It's fine."

The Doctor starts taking off his tie. He then walks back up to me and starts tying it around my arm. I wince slightly as the fabric makes contact with the raw skin, sending a stinging sensation through my upper arm. "Sorry," he mumbles. He finally finishes tying it, making sure it's secure. "There we go! That should do it for now until we get back to the TARDIS. Then I can bandage it properly." He grins softly at me, all negative emotion gone. I smile back, silently thanking him.

The Doctor then walks back to the window where Rose is standing, watching the Cybermen march closer and closer to the house. Should I follow him?

Go upstairs…

I can hear those two words echo through my mind.

Why do I keep hearing those voices? Wait a second…

Out of the corner of my eye I see a crack on one of the staircase floor boards. But not just any crack, the crack. The same exact crack that I went through from my dimension to this dimension, which also happens to be the same crack from young Amelia Pond's bedroom wall. Somehow, I feel like I can trust it. Wait, is that what River meant? Listen to the cracks? She says if I don't, it could cost my life, and the rest of the universe along with it. I'm not taking any chances.

Okay, I'll go upstairs, I reply to the crack in my head. I take one step up the stairs, but turn back around to make sure the Doctor, nor anybody else is following me. Nope, still standing by the window. I turn back around, only to realize that the crack has vanished. Confusion hits me like a wave as I continue to walk up the stairs.

When I reach the top of the stairs, I notice two rooms on the left of the hallway and one on the right. I walk over to the room on the right and open the door. It's breathtaking. A master sized bedroom with red velvet wallpaper. I walk over to a large dresser and spot dozens of ribbons tacked to the wall above it. They all say 'First Place' on them. "Give up the stupid dog competitions already," I mutter aloud. I then glance back at the door and realize I forgot to shut it. I dash back to the door and close it quietly. That's when I notice something that I didn't notice before. Laying on the bed was a bag, and next to it - a vortex manipulator.

I cautiously walk towards it, gently picking it up by its worn out leather strap. I look at the screen on it and notice that it's cracked. It's broken. I put it back down on the bed and look at the bag. I then grin and my eyes travel back to the vortex manipulator. I shrug, "Oh, what the hell." I pick it back up again and carefully strap it to my wrist, still grinning.

Me, wearing a vortex manipulator. How cool is that?

I glance at the black bag and reluctantly unzip it. I put my hand in the bag and feel around, hoping that nothing will pop out of it and give me a heart attack. But what I don't realize is that my whole arm is deep inside. I roll my eyes, feeling nothing important. Just some water bottles and extra clothes.

Wait, what?

I take a glimpse at my arm and my eyes widen with excitement. "It's bigger on the inside…!" I then frown. What is a dimensionally transcendental bag doing here? I sigh and decide to ignore the many questions that are cluttering my mind right now and to just enjoy the moment. I zip up the shoulder bag and sling it over my shoulder. I smile, but become completely ignorant to the vortex manipulator that is strapped to my wrist… that is now beeping.

I open the door and decide to go downstairs when something stops me. A tingling sensation starts to invade every inch of me, and it's getting stronger. "What is that?" I ask myself, looking down at my wrist where the vortex manipulator is strapped. I try tugging at the leather to get it off of me, having a strong suspicion that the tingling sensation is coming from it, but the leather won't budge. I try again with no success. I start to get seriously frustrated with this thing when I witness a crack disappearing right on the wall in front of me. I then shriek in pain as I feel like I'm being electrocuted.

I suddenly vanish as all of the atoms in my body scatter. It feels as though all the bones in my body are being crushed, and I can't breathe. I can't see anything around me, nor can I feel anything. I can't move, and as I try, it's no use. I'm hurtling through the vortex - traveling through time. I can almost feel my atoms and bones being snapped back together as I land and hit something. Hard.

The world around me fades away as everything turns black and I slip out of consciousness.