Disclaimer: Not mine. 20th Century Fox's. BBC's.

This chapter is dedicated to all my reviewers. All two of them.

Two days ago, Buffy Summers had been rocked awake by an earthquake. Of course, earthquakes were commonplace when you lived in California, but this one had been particularly severe. It had rattled shelves and thrown Buffy's sister, Dawn, clear out of bed. 'Cocopelli', her mother's favourite exotic statuette, had fallen from the mantelpiece and broken, to the lament of the whole household.

Buffy wished that was all it had done. Now, she stood at the entrance to the underground cave the quake had unearthed, just outside of Sunnydale. She peered into the darkness, hoping that she would be able to see something, anything, of the inside.

But she could see nothing, and was held back by the plastic tape that had been erected by the police. No-one was to enter the cave until it was deemed to be safe. Buffy knew that as soon as that happened, the cave would be flooded with local archaeologists and geologists, hoping to make a discovery. If she was going to explore that cave, she would have to do it soon. Living on the Hellmouth meant that almost every underground cave housed some kind of oogey boogey monster; hence the need for Buffy to explore this cave and kill said monster.

But that would have to wait until nightfall, and cover of darkness.

Buffy looked up and scanned her surroundings for a sign of her Watcher, Rupert Giles. She spotted him a few metres away, beside the roadsign that marked the border of Sunnydale. She saw something else there, too. A rectangle of darker blue against the azure of the sky.

Buffy marched over to Giles and stood at his shoulder, staring at the box. She had never seen it before; in fact she had never seen anything like it. It looked decidedly un-American. She read the words painted over the door and murmured to Giles,

"What's a Police Public Call Box?"

Giles blinked several times and pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose before responding.

"It's…it's a telephone box, from England. You used to see them in cities in the Sixties."

"Uh-huh, and what's it doing here?"

Giles shook his head, looking nonplussed.

"I haven't the faintest idea. Unless…"

He paused; hand over his mouth, with a faraway look in his eyes, as if he were trying to remember some obscure event from his past. Which he was.

Buffy used his silence as an opportunity to get a closer look at the box. She realised that half of the roadsign was now on the ground at her feet, and the box stood where that half had previously been. It was as though half of the sign had been cut away in anticipation of the box's arrival.

"…unless it's him," Giles said finally.

"Who?" Buffy questioned, and the door of the box opened, as if on cue.

A young man with messy brown hair stepped out, brushing the lapels of his dark pinstripe suit with his hands. He caught sight of Giles and Buffy staring at him, and froze for a few long moments. Then he grinned widely and raised a hand in greeting.

"Hello," he said, "I'm --"

"The Doctor," Giles cut in, frowning slightly.

The Doctor looked baffled for a second, and then raised his eyes heavenward. "I'm starting to get sick of everyone knowing who I am. Mind you," he stared at Giles one eyebrow raised, "you do look awfully familiar. Hang on…the word 'Krillitane' doesn't mean anything to you, does it?"

Giles shook his head, looking thoroughly bewildered. "No…no, I'm afraid it doesn't."

"Oh well," the Doctor shrugged, "never mind. But since you already seem to know who I am…"

"I don't," Buffy interrupted. "Not a clue."

The Doctor looked at her for a moment (probably wondering why everyone he met recently insisted on interrupting him), before continuing:

"I'd like to know who the two of you are." His tone was pleasant, not interrogative. Buffy noted his accent; it was British. Not quite as stiff as Giles's clipped tones, but undoubtedly English. She was woken from her reverie by Giles making introductions.

"I'm Rupert Giles," he said, shaking the smiling Doctor's hand, "and this is Buffy Summers."

The Doctor extended his hand with a friendly grin. Tentatively, Buffy shook it.

"Hi."

As they released each other's hands, the Doctor's grin faded. Wide-eyed, he pointed over Buffy's shoulder.

"Thing," he said, his voice barely more than a whisper.

Buffy frowned, nonplussed. "What?"

"Thing!" the Doctor yelled. Buffy spun around to meet the demon standing behind her. It was tall and well-muscled, with a ridged brown exoskeleton and blazing green eyes. Buffy leapt into the air and delivered a kick to the side of its head. Undaunted, it fought back; striking her across the face with a large blunt claw. She dropped to the ground, pulling a knife from her boot as she did so. She caught a glimpse of the Doctor standing at Giles's side, awestruck, before rolling over to crouch behind the demon. Grimacing, Buffy buried her knife into the soft flesh at the back of the demon's knee. She dared out of the way as it toppled over, and gripping its armoured chin, she cut its throat in a quick, matter-of-fact way.

Standing, Buffy took the tissue Giles offered her and used it to wipe the demon's murky blood from her blade. Once again, she looked over at the Doctor. He looked…horrified. He stared at the corpse of the demon, fury contorting his features. He looked at Buffy, injustice burning in his deep brown eyes.

"What did you go and do that for?"

Buffy met his glare with a cool, uncompromising gaze.

"That's what I do. If I hadn't killed that demon, it would have hurt someone, and probably killed them. I can't let that happen."

The Doctor's expression softened slightly; he evidently understood that sacrifices had to be made to protect the lives of innocents. Buffy was mildly surprised, however, by the Doctor's reaction to the demon's arrival – he seemed perfectly willing to accept the existence of a big brown fiend with few or no questions asked. It was as though he dealt with this kind of thing all the time. But then, he had stepped out of a blue telephone box that had appeared out of nowhere. For all Buffy knew, he did.

Either way, she was determined to find out.

"So, Doctor," she said calmly, "you know what I do. How about you tell me a little more about you?"

A/N: Hooray! Things have finally started moving. Please review, as I'd like to know how accurately I've presented the characters, (and if the fic is any good!)