Yay! Second chapter! And if you haven't heard yet, I'm making this story into a manga which I'll be posting to my deviantart .com. The first comic should be up around the end of the month or the beginning of next and will include the whole first chapter. I'll continue to post the written story here!

Doctor Who (c) BBC but the story is mine :3

Chapter 2: Names

He awoke vaguely aware that he was in an unfamiliar place, but enjoying the soft blankets none the less. Drifting in and out of a comfortable sleep, the Doctor didn't get up until the smell of food hit his nose. Finally opening his eyes, he arose and looked around. It was more unfamiliar than he expected. He was in someone's living room sleeping on their couch. Why wasn't he on the TARDIS? He rubbed away the exhaustion from his eyes and proceeded to listen to his rumbling stomach, which told him to head towards the smell of food.

When he saw her, he quickly remembered everything. Her attempted suicide, his sudden outburst, and then walking her back to her flat... here. She had insisted on him sleeping on the couch for the night, and he had been so drained that he hadn't really objected. The Doctor hadn't even questioned why she wanted him to stay, but now he found the thought prominent in his mind. He analyzed their exchange the night before, remembering how he had told her about not being able to go home. She thinks I'm homeless, He realized. Even though it was technically true, it was quite embarrassing.

"Oh!" She jumped when she spotted him leaning casually against the kitchen doorway. "I thought you were asleep- you could've told me you were there!" She put her hand on her hip and pouted angrily.

"Sorry." There was something about the way that she looked when she made that face that made him smile.

"I made breakfast if you're hungry." She put a heaping pile of pancakes on the table, and turned to begin setting up other essentials.

"You didn't have to do that." The doctor grinned at her appreciatively, taking his seat. She smiled back and took the seat across from him. Grabbing a massive stack of pancakes, he drizzled them with syrup and began to devour them. "Oh, these are brilliant!" He said with half his mouth full.

She didn't seem to hear him. She was staring silently at the table, brows pulled slightly together.

"Are you alright?"

She snapped her head up. "Huh? Oh, yeah, I'm fine. Just thinking, sorry. I, um, kinda space off sometimes." Her cheeks flushed with red.

"Don't say sorry. Think away." He spun his syrup stained fork for emphasis.

She looked down at her food and bit her lip. "I-It's just, I was wondering..." He watched her expectantly. "I was wondering what do you mean you can't go home? And you said something about 'killing your species'? What does that mean?"

The Doctor inhaled sharply, not having expected her to remember all that. He had no idea how to answer her.

When he didn't say anything , she regretted asking. "N-Never mind. It's too personal, I understand. I, um... just wanted you to know that if you have no place to go, you can stay here... with me. Until you get back on your feet." The blush spread across her face like a wild fire.

She was so kind. His hearts fluttered with admiration. "Aren't you afraid I might be a thief? Or worse?"

"Well, if you are then you wouldn't be trying to caution me, would you?" She smirked. "No, whatever is keeping you from home- it isn't that." She looked confident in her words and she began to eat as if that was the end of it. The Doctor admired her brilliance. It just made him care for her all the more. He felt a little like an open book around her. But that might not be such a bad thing...

"You don't have to worry about me," He tried to assure her. "I have a place to live."

"But... Not really a home?"

He pondered that for minute then concluded, "Yeah, I suppose it's not."

"What's your address, maybe I could visit you sometime?"

He looked down at his hands nervously. "Ah, I don't exactly... have an address."

Frowning, she continued to question, "So you live in your car?"

The Doctor grinned. "No, it's a bit roomier than that."

"So... an RV?"

Blimey, this girl was deductive. "Ah, yeah, an RV." She scrutinized his face for signs of lying, but if she found any, she didn't say anything. The Doctor was relieved. He was terrified of what she would think if she knew what he was. But he wasn't exactly sure why.

After all, it would be nice to have her on the TARDIS. She was brilliant. And she was good company. He could show her so many things... and maybe she could teach him a thing or two.

But the more he thought of her accompanying him, the more he realized he couldn't let that happen. For once, he had to protect himself. All of the companions he had lost were still an open wound, and he couldn't add another loss on top of that. And it always ended in loss.

It didn't help that he cared too much already. Yesterday he had barely met her and he had talked about killing himself because he didn't want to see her die. What if she did die? Or even got hurt?

No, it was best to keep his distance this time. He didn't want another Rose incident.

"This was a lovely breakfast, but I really must be going." She watched him rise to his feet. Her eyes were stressed with worry. "I'll visit, I promise." He assured her. And maybe he would. Just to make sure she was ok.

She grabbed his arm before he could leave the kitchen. "Let me come with you."

He felt a lump form in his throat. "Ah, can't, got important things to do."

"Really? Like what?"

Oh, she was not making this easy on him. "Just... stuff."

"You're lying and I'm definitely coming with you." Her lips pursed sternly.

"You can't. You just can't." His eyes were pleading with her to drop the subject. It was very tempting, but he refused to put her in any danger.

"Well, too bad." She was almost as stubborn as Donna.

An idea struck him. Earth nowadays was all about communication. And Martha had given him that phone...

He pulled out a piece of paper and a pen. "Here, I'll give you my phone number so you can call me anytime you'd like."

She took his number, but her expression didn't relax. "Fine. But here... just in case you need me." With that, she split the paper in half and wrote her own number on it. The Doctor took it and stared at it with a furrowed brow. This was certainly a strange way to get a girls number.

"Alright, I guess I'm off then." He smiled at her and began again to walk away.

"I'm still coming with you."

The Doctor grimaced. These were the times when he wished he could just wave his psychic paper in front of people's faces and say, See? It says right there you can trust me! He spun around to face her. "What do I need to do to keep you here?"

She looked right into his eyes and replied, "Promise me you'll call me if you're in trouble."

Her words took his breath away and made his hearts skip a beat. He couldn't remember the last time someone tried to take care of him, even if he rejected them. So he assured her he would. And he meant it.

His phone rang in his pocket before he could cross the parking lot. The Doctor answered curiously.

"Hello?"

"Just making sure you didn't give me a fake number."

"Well, I didn't. Happy?"

"Yep." She chuckled and then proceeded to hang up.

The Doctor remembered how Martha had shown him how to save numbers on it and tried to save hers. But that only ended with him staring at the contact info.

He still had no idea what her name was...

Indecisively, he looked back at her flat, then down to his phone. Was it really so important that he knew her name? After all, she would probably never know his. But he was so curious it nearly burned.

Yes, he finally decided. It was important to know her name.

She picked up the phone after the first ring. "In trouble already?" She teased.

"No, ah, sorry. I went to go and save your number in my phone and, well... I still have no idea what your name is."

"That makes two of us."

He scratched the back of his neck, and looked up to her window. "Everyone calls me the Doctor."

"Huh. Cryptic." She pulled back the curtains and caught eyes with him in the parking lot. "I'm guessing that's not your real name." She smiled at him.

"Well, no..."

"Then I'm not giving you my real name either. Not until you give me yours."

"Then what in the universe am I supposed to call you?" The Doctor exclaimed.

"Call me Augury."

"Augury?" What a strange name. "Is that you real name?"

"Nope."

And with that, she hung up.