Ariel let her feet dangle outside the Tardis giggling happily as she stared down at her home planet while the Doctor frowned and scratched his head at the screen before him.

"This just doesn't make sense," the Doctor muttered. "What would the Daleks want with some teenagers? They don't exactly like humanity."

"Well, maybe they just want some slave labor," Ariel shrugged. "Y'know, people to just do all the dirty work for them."

"They did have some pig slaves last I saw them," the Doctor mumbled., narrowing his eyes at the screen. "Maybe, they're looking to restock."

"Maybe, instead of pigs they're looking for healthy athletic kids. People in the prime of their lives with their whole future before them. People with a lot of potential."

"Potential," the Doctor hummed. "That's it. They don't just need slaves, they need the future of those slaves. If you planned to take over Earth, what would you do to make sure you were virtually unstoppable?"

"Get rid of the people who would stop me," Ariel shrugged simply. That was rule number one with every great villain. They always had to get rid of the people who would foil their plans. Often, it was the hero who stopped them before they got a chance.

"Exactly!" He exclaimed. "They already know I would try to stop them, that's a given. But humanity is strong it perseveres. It resists. So, if they could take away the people with the potential to wipe them out, they'd have an easy win."

"But that means they're targeting other people. Not just the school," Ariel realized with a nod.

"That's right. They're probably just using the young ones for slave labor like you said, but the others," he trailed off.

"The others are dead," Ariel breathed with wide eyes.

The Doctor nodded. "I have to stop them."

"But how?" Ariel wondered. "That Dalek said it was sending the information to the ship. We have no idea how many Daleks are on that ship."

"Which is exactly why we won't be going on the ship."

"What?" Ariel frowned.

"We're going to take them out without them even knowing we're here."

"You're going to destroy the ship?" Ariel guessed.

"Nope. We don't kill people."

"But they're not people, are they?" Ariel assumed. She dreaded to think what could be under all those layers of metal and armour.

"Everyone is a person. No matter how much evil they've put out into the world, they deserve another chance," the Doctor said.

"But you said it yourself. All they can feel is hate," Ariel reminded him. "How would another chance for them end in anything but more death?"

"You'd be surprised," the Doctor mumbled as he pulled the screen closer to him and began typing. "I once met a Dalek who wanted nothing more than to feel the sunlight."

Ariel frowned at the strange idea but shook her head nonetheless and turned away. She let out a shuddering breath and closed her eyes momentarily.

"His name was William Baxter," she mumbled.

"What?" The Doctor frowned, looking at her and away from the screen for a second.

"The head teacher. Mister Baxter. The other kids called him Mister Baxxy. He had two daughters, eight and ten, and a wife. They're probably all dead now aren't they?"

The Doctor just looked down solemnly. "I'm sorry."

"No, it's alright," Ariel sighed and shook her head. "I hardly knew him. I only saw his daughters once when I was leaving class, but," she hesitated. "It's weird knowing I won't ever see him walking around the corridors everyday. How do you do this?"

"Do what?"

"How do you cope with seeing people die? It's not very easy," Ariel mumbled.

"I never-."

"Oh, come on. I can see it in your eyes. They're ancient. You've seen things and I don't believe all of them were pretty."

The Doctor sighed softly and turned back to the screen. "I don't," he muttered.

Ariel nodded in understanding and glanced back at the starry sky just outside their doors. "It is rather beautiful though, isn't it?" She said, smiling softly at the sky. "I suppose that makes up for all the death you have to see. All the beauty of the universe."

The Doctor smiled and watched Ariel carefully. "It does," he mumbled.

Ariel turned back to him and the Doctor immediately swung his head back to the screen and continued typing.

"So, if you're not going to blow them up what are you going to do?" Ariel wondered.

"I'm going to knock out their satellites and defense systems then when they can't hurt us, I'm going to go on board while you stay in here. I'll threaten to wipe out all their systems and leave them dead in the air if they don't leave the Earth and all its people."

"Hold on, why am I staying in here?" Ariel asked.

"I'm not going to risk your life when we still don't know how many Daleks are on board," the Doctor replied simply.

"Oh, and your life is just up for grabs then?" Ariel retorted.

"I've been alive for just over 900 years, you've been alive for barely nineteen. I think it's safe to say if one of us has to go, it should be me."

"No, but you're the one who saves people. You said it yourself you save people across all of time and space and I'm just some student who knows nothing about aliens or how to even operate this ship. You're way more important than me."

The Doctor smiled wistfully. "Ariel Parsons, you are far more important than you believe."

Before Ariel could respond, there was a loud mechanical beep from the screen and both the Doctor and Ariel turned their attention to it.

The screen was filled with spinning circles and lines that Ariel couldn't understand but the Doctor seemed to draw all that he needed from it.

He nodded and took a deep breath, picking up his sonic and heading to his coat to pull it on.

"What am I supposed to do while you're out there?" Ariel wondered.

"Stay safe," the Doctor nodded with a small smile. "Take care of her," he said loudly. The Tardis whirred mechanically.

Ariel grinned. "I'll take care of the Tardis."

"Oh, I wasn't talking to you," the Doctor frowned. He turned to the Tardis wall and smiled, patting it gently. "Take care of her. I'll be back soon."

Ariel rolled her eyes and turned around as he walked out the door and it creaked loudly before closing.

"So," Ariel sighed as she collapsed into the jumpseat. "Hello," she gave a short wave to the center of the console. "I'm Ariel Parsons."

The console made noises that sounded vaguely like robotic laughter.

"Are you laughing?!" Ariel exclaimed. "You are, aren't you? Well, I'm sorry, I've never talked to a ship before. I don't really know what to talk about," she mumbled with a small shrug.

She glanced back at the door, silently wondering if the Doctor needed her help and she should just walk out there after him. She heard a loud robotic voice shout Doctor! and she turned to it with large eyes. She shouldn't have given in and ultimately let him go off on his own. In the end, the first chance she had to save the day she turned out to be a coward like she always was. She was in year 12 and she couldn't even raise her hand in class without growing anxious and wary of what others might think of her. She hoped traveling with the Doctor could change that somehow, but this experience alone proved to her that she had to take the initiative if she was ever going to see some change.

As if reading her mind, the Tardis screen flickered on and within seconds she was met with the Doctor standing before dozens of Daleks just like the one they had seen in Mister Baxter's office. It wasn't an armada which was nice to know but there still seemed to be a few hundred talking to him.

Ariel's eyes widened and she jumped up to get a closer look at the Doctor. While she couldn't hear what they were saying it was nice to know that he was still alive and seemingly okay.

"I feel sort of useless just sitting here. Did he do this with Martha? Did he make her just sit there?" Ariel wondered. "I mean, sure, I know why he does it but next time I should put up an actual fight on going with him. I mean honestly I'm pathetic I just keeled over and let him do what he wanted."

Ariel sighed loudly and began to pace the floor. "Were there others beyond Martha?" Ariel asked. "Like, did he travel with other girls? Particularly girls that had crushes on him," Ariel winced at the very idea, though unsure why. She had just met the man. Sure, he was attractive and radiated confidence beyond anything she had seen before in the idiots her own age but she still barely knew the man.

The Tardis laughed and Ariel spun around with furrowed eyebrows. "Is that a yes?"

The screen flickered and then began flicking through dozens of pictures of women that had traveled with the Doctor.

"Are you kidding me?!" Ariel exclaimed as the Tardis seemed to be flying through pictures of countless women. She was sure he had traveled with more women than she even knew of. "All of them?! Well, that just seems selfish," Ariel hummed, but the Tardis continued to show her pictures. "Are these from the bloody 60's?! And is that a leather bikini?!"

Just then the door creaked open and the Doctor's eyes widened when he saw Ariel's eyes fixated on the small screen which was rifling through all the previous Tardis inhabitants.

"No, no, no, no!" The Doctor exclaimed. "I told you to take care of her! Not show her everyone who's ever lived here!"

Ariel snorted and spun around as the Tardis continued to flicker through the images.

"Nine-hundred years hasn't stopped you in the slightest has it?" Ariel smirked. "Did you take care of the Daleks?"

"As well as I could. They weren't willing to leave so I knocked out their teleport and send them falling into dead space."

"How'd you do that?" Ariel wondered.

"I used the sonic and took control of their navigation. Once they were on a dead set course, I said goodbye and headed back in here," he shrugged.

"That's brilliant," Ariel remarked as she collapsed back onto the jumpseat.

"It was a bandaid. They'll be back sometime, and then I'll figure out what to do. I wasn't ready to stoop to killing them right yet. Not until it's the only solution."

"You're a good man," Ariel said with a small nod.

"Am I?" The Doctor mumbled, speaking mostly to himself but Ariel nodded.

"You are. Or at least you try to be, and even if you're not a good man, that still counts more than anything."

The Doctor smirked. "Why thank you, Ariel Parsons."

"You're welcome," Ariel grinned. She jumped up and stood by the Doctor's side, clutching the console as she rocked back and forth. "So, how exactly does this work? Do you have to take me home now and pick me up whenever you feel like traveling with somebody?"

"Not exactly," the Doctor smiled.

"Then what?" Ariel wondered.

"You can go home whenever you like, just say the word. But until that time comes, you can travel with me for as long as you want."

"Seriously?" Ariel frowned.

"Seriously," the Doctor nodded.

"No restrictions, no boundaries. Just you and me traveling?"

"Yep," the Doctor nodded. "Well, I say no boundaries," he hesitated. "There are a few rules."

"What? No feet on the console or something?" Ariel chuckled. "No chocolate after 9:30?"

"Just," the Doctor sighed, clearly amused but trying to be professional. "Don't wander off. You'll see a lot of things that hate humans and wandering off could end up being very dangerous."

"Got it," Ariel nodded. "But does that mean I'll be allowed out in the future?" She grinned expectantly.

The Doctor chuckled. "Yes, I just don't exactly love the thought of this being your first time out with me and you already have to face the Daleks. Their place in the universe," he shook his head. "It's so much worse than what you could see. Your first adventure shouldn't be them."

Ariel grinned up at him. "Then what should it be?"

The Doctor beamed at her and held out his hand. "Would you like to see?"

Ariel smiled and nodded, taking his hand as the Doctor pulled the lever on the console and sent them flying into space.

"Allons-y!" The Doctor exclaimed.