Nancy's mouth opened in a lopsided kind of gape. She couldn't believe what she was hearing. "So, what you're telling me is that you can travel through space and time in a blue phone box that's bigger on the inside?" She was having a hard time processing this whole scenario. "And you won't even tell me your real name. You want me to trust you?"

"Well, that would be nice. But you trusting me isn't exactly at the top of my priority list. But I understand your skepticism. Nobody thinks this is real at first." The Doctor stood facing away from Nancy at the control board. He was silent for a moment. "You see Nancy, there are things out there. Things that hurt people and planets. My job is to save those people and planets. Its a sort of penance that I created for myself. I'm sworn to a life of a hero."

"Penance? What did you do that could be so tragic you have to live in a phone booth?" Nancy walked up to the control board beside the Doctor. She looked at his face. He looked worn and tired, like a traveler.

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you."

"Try me." Nancy actually wasn't planning on believing him, because she hadn't done so yet. But she had to admit that she was curious.

The Doctor turned to look at her. The weariness had disappeared and he looked energetic again. The Doctor had a very foolish grin, it was almost literally spread ear to ear. "I could show you. You and I, we could see the stars. Travel the solar system. Visit the past and explore the future."

Nancy was taken aback at this remark. They had just met and he was already inviting her to travel with him? "Why do you say that? Hell, I still don't believe you about the TARDIS thing. What makes you think I'd go with you?"

The Doctor laughed. "Because I like the way you talk. It's intelligent."

"Well thank you." Nancy felt herself loosen up a little. Perhaps, just perhaps, he was telling the truth. Maybe this whole thing wasn't a dream. The stalled car noise started up again.

"Ah, here we are," said the Doctor, looking up. He crossed over to the door and pushed it open. As Nancy followed him she saw that they were in her living room. "I'm still going to be in town for a bit longer, so you can think about my offer and I'll come back soon." The Doctor grinned and gave Nancy a light shove in to her living room. "See you Nancy."

"See you, Doctor." With that he was gone. The strange noise started and the blue box began to disappear. When he was gone Nancy remained in the living room. A beam of moonlight shone through the window and onto the carpet. She studied the swirls and patterns in the dust floating in the air. All was still. At least, until her dad came bounding down the stairs.

"Nancy? Is everything all right? I heard a noise." Carson Drew was tying his robe as he entered the room. He had bags under his eyes and ruffled hair. He had been sleeping.

"Yeah, just..." Her voice trailed off. She didn't know what to tell him. "You'd better sit down, dad. It's a long story." She crossed over to the sofa and her father followed her.

Nancy proceeded to tell her father everything that had happened that night, and what she had encountered. It took up the better part of an hour, and by the time she had finished a very small sliver of sunlight was visible on the horizon.

"The Doctor, huh?" Her father gave her a blank stare. Finally he reached out and felt her forehead. "Are you sure you're feeling alright Nancy? Would you like me to call the Doctor?"

Nancy frowned and moved away from his hand. "No, no, I'm fine." She glared at a spot on the carpet. Why had she told her father everything? She had known he wouldn't believe her. "You know what, maybe it was just a dream. It just felt so real, was all." She shrugged and looked back at her father.

He still looked concerned. "All right. Well if you say so, I guess I'll go back to bed." He yawned widely and stood. Nancy watched him trudge out of the living room and up the stairs. She waited until she heard his door shut upstairs before she stood. She entered the kitchen. The ice pack she had used earlier was still on the counter. It was melted by now and water covered the surrounding counter. She picked it up gingerly and placed it back in the freezer. She sighed and crossed back to the kitchen sink and looked out the window. She wished it was still last night. When everything wasn't quite so complicated. So much could change in so few hours.

She brushed her titian red hair out of her eyes and opened the back door. Maybe a little fresh hair would do her good. From the patio she could see her shoe prints in the now hardened ground. She looked down at her feet. She was still wearing her sneakers. In fact, she was wearing yesterday's outfit. A skirt, blouse, and sneakers. She also had on her favorite green sweater. "Maybe I ought to go and change," she said to herself and turned back to the house. She went inside and journeyed up into her room. She changed into a more outdoor-accommodating outfit. Jeans, a nice t-shirt, sneakers and a hooded sports jacket. Nancy felt much better prepared for exploring the woods.

She had decided to search for Weeping Angels, or at least the remains of Weeping Angels. She didn't know what she would find but she hoped she would find something that the Doctor had left behind. She packed a small backpack with some toiletries, an extra shirt, her detective's journal, a pen, her magnifying glass that her mother had left her, and her flashlight. She went back down to the kitchen and added some snacks and a refillable water bottle to her backpack. She slung a strap over her shoulder and went back outside. "All righty," she muttered to herself. "I'm ready."

Nancy shouldered the other strap and ventured past the first row of trees. Everything was much more visible, now that the sun had come up. She smiled to herself and began walking, looking around carefully for clues all the while. At last she reached the clearing. The crumbled remains of the Weeping Angel were still on the forest floor. Nancy took her magnifying glass out of her day pack and inspected the remains. It looked just like regular stone. It didn't look strange to her. She shrugged and pocketed the magnifying glass.

While she was doing this, she had been listening to the birds chirping. She realized that there was a sudden absence of noise. This caused her to look up. Before her stood another Weeping Angel, just like the night before. This one did not have a grotesque expression, however. It seemed to be looking straight at her. One of its hands was outstretched and pointing at her. Nancy began to feel a pressure building in her chest as her pulse quickened.

"Oh no." She stood slowly. It didn't seem to be moving. She remembered from last night, it hadn't moved while she looked at it. But the longer she stared, the heavier her eyelids got. Finally she just had to blink. When she opened her eyes again the angel wasn't on the other side of the clearing anymore. It was right in front of her. This time it had the grotesque expression on its face, fangs exposed and arms outstretched. Nancy let out a gasp of fear. "Doctor!" she called. She didn't think that saying his name would summon him, but still, she had to try. She felt her heart beating faster and faster with every second. Her eyelids got heavier and heavier but she would not allow herself to blink.

However, the longer the angel's glare bore into her eyes, the more she needed to blink. Finally she couldn't hold it any longer. The following moment seemed to pass in slow motion. Every second lasted a minute. When Nancy's eyes opened again, she wasn't in the woods behind her house anymore. She was in some kind of a dark room. It smelled of death and disease, and she could hear water dripping and rodents scurrying in the background. She shivered. This is not good, she thought. Not good at all.

She moved forwards in a state of panic, arms outstretched. She touched a wall after about ten feet. She felt moss and rot under her fingers. The only thing she could focus on was her need to escape. Nancy looked around; to her left, right, up, down, over her shoulder. She looked to her right again. A very small pinprick of light flickered in the distance. She moved towards it. As she drew nearer the light grew larger. Finally she reached it. The light was coming through a door. The door felt smooth under her fingers when she touched it. It was most likely made of oak. Nancy kicked at it. "Hey, is anybody out there? Let me out!"

She continued her knocking and banging and yelling for several minutes. Suddenly the door burst open and she flew backwards. Luckily Nancy managed to catch her balance. The incoming light from beyond the door blinded her, but she was able to make out a silhouette. The figure had broad shoulders and a prominent stature, so she assumed it was a young man. "H-hello?" she called out timidly from the depths of the dark room. The figure took a step forward. Nancy knew that whoever it was could see her, but she couldn't see him.

"Who are you?" asked the man in a deep voice. "And how the hell did you get down here?"

Nancy straightened her back, and squinted in an attempt to view the man's face. "I don't know, to be honest. I was just taking a walk through the woods behind my house when a stone angel attacked me- and I ended up here." She shrugged. "My name is Nancy Drew, daughter of Carson Drew, the famous criminal attorney. And you are?"

The man moved his hand and flicked a switch that had apparently been on the wall. Nancy was a tad bit embarrassed that she hadn't discovered it earlier. A dim light came on and enveloped the room in a yellow wash. She could make out all of his features now. It was a young man in his late twenties or early thirties, with dark hair and fair skin. He was wearing a dark blue trench coat over a light blue button-down shirt, coupled with suspenders and brown slacks. Around his waist he had a holster, and in it was on odd looking gun. Nancy gulped.

"The name's Jack Harkness, leader of Torchwood, and former companion of the Doctor." He grinned. "Wait- a weeping angel?" Jack's grin turned into a frown. He looked very concerned.

"The Doctor? You know him?" Nancy's eyes widened at the mention of this familiar term. "Oh my, he was in the woods behind my house earlier. He had been addressing the weeping angel problem- which I didn't know existed until I met him- and then after he left I was taking a walk when one attacked me. And I guess that's how I ended up here."

Jack looked surprised to find that Nancy did in fact know who the Doctor was. "Hm. Yes, that does sound like him. But, uh, what time are you from?"

"Time?" Nancy narrowed her eyes. "What does my time have to do with anything?"

"Weeping angels have the ability to send people back in time. That's how they feed, actually. They send people to an earlier timeline and feed off of their potential energy- all the things that a person could have done, that's what they eat." Jack folded his arms over his chest. "This is November of 1901. I got sent back in time a couple of times myself. But that's my job. I was a time agent before this. Then I travelled with the Doctor for a bit, and now I'm here. Unfortunately I'm stuck here because of a deal I struck with a couple of girls. But it hasn't been too bad."

Nancy rubbed her temple. 1901? Time agent? All of this was getting scrambled in her head, and she struggled to make sense of everything. First the Doctor showing up at her house, now this- she just couldn't take it. Nancy felt as if she were going to vomit. "I-I..."

"Take your time, Nancy," Jack said kindly. "Why don't we go upstairs and you can lay down on a bed? I don't want you to pass out. And, I want to help you as much as possible in getting you back to your own time- whenever that is." He put an arm firmly around her waist, and helped her up into the hallway that was outside the dark room. "You were in our time-out room back there. You were lucky nobody was on time-out, though." He huffed a little bit as they went up a flight of stairs. The lighting changed from electric lanterns to daylight. The musty smell that had been hanging in the air disappeared, and it now smelled of aged wood and fresh air. Nancy let herself lean on Jack, seeing as he had no problem carrying her. They reached the top of the staircase and went down another hallway, until they reached a large oaken door at the very end of the hall. In the room they entered were several more doorways, all with stairs behind them. Jack chose one and they went upstairs, walking for several minutes until they reached another hallway. He went three doors down to the right and went into a room. A large, king sized four poster bed was centered against one wall, with a large fireplace opposite it. On the wall directly opposite to the door were two large windows, and under one of them was a desk. Under the other was a bookshelf.

"This is my room," said Jack. "But you can stay here for the time being. I'll just sleep in the parlor."

Nancy looked around in awe. The room was marvelous. Everything about it was aged and beautiful. She noticed that there was a light fixture hanging from the ceiling. "I like the electric lighting. Most buildings didn't have electric lighting."

Jack smirked. "A very wise observation from a wise young lady. This is Torchwood. We have only the best. It's a very special organization."

"What's so special about Torchwood?"

"Well, a lot of reasons. It's kind of a long story."

"You can tell me later. I've got plenty of time." Nancy shrugged and went to look out the window. A busy street was below them, full of carriages and horses and people and vendors wheeling their wagons full of roasted chestnuts and whatnot. "Where are we?"

"We're in Cardiff, England. A very lovely place, if you're in the right timeline." Jack laughed. "This is the big hot spot for supernatural activity. There's a rip in the fabric of space and time, and it's called the rift. And Cardiff just so happens to be where it is."

Nancy stared out the window as she listened to Jack. Okay, so she was in Cardiff, England, in 1901. None of this was adding up. But then, none of the events that occurred after she had met the Doctor added up. She crossed her arms over her chest. "Uh... Okay." She watched the people moving around down in the street. They looked like insects. "You said you would help me find the Doctor. How are you going to do that?"

Jack crossed the room and pushed down on an oak panel in the wall. The panel slid over and a compartment was revealed. Inside the compartment was a weird container, filled with bubbling water and a severed hand. Nancy gaped at the hand. "What is that?" she asked in disgust.

"This-" Jack said confidently. "Is the Doctor's hand. Don't ask, just go with it." He pushed a button at the base of a container, and a shock wave rose into the water and through the hand. "This ought to attract him. Or at least, a version of him. I'm not sure which one it'll be." Jack shrugged and put the container down onto the desk. "In the meantime, you should get some rest. I remember the first time I fell through the rift. It was not a pleasant experience." Jack shuddered and then pointed to the bed. "Go. Sleep. I've got some business to attend to. I'll be back in a couple hours, and I'll try not to disturb you." With that, Jack exited the room, leaving the container on the desk and Nancy standing by the window. She crossed the desk and examined the hand. She pushed the button, and shivered as the hand writhed. She frowned and turned to go to the bed.

The bed was very large, big enough for at least four people of her build. Nancy kicked off her shoes and climbed into the bed. The mattress was very cushy, and she found herself feeling extremely tired. As she let her head fall against the soft pillow, her titian hair fell in a halo around her head. Nancy closed her eyes, too tired to even think about everything that had just happened. Within a matter of minutes, she was in a deep sleep, and unaware of the noise that the door made as it opened.