No matter how hard I tried, I just couldn't fall asleep. The stars outside my window were too distracting. All I wanted to do was turn them into a fabric and make a dress so I could twirl and twirl and twirl until I became the universe.

But there they were, framed by my curtains.

Damn. I had almost fallen asleep that time.

I was leaving for home tomorrow. I had my last final in Objects as History a few days ago and I was ready to go home.

The stars were brighter tonight than they usually were in New York. I could actually see enough to make me smile. The street lamps hadn't turned on yet so it was still light out, getting close to summer, but you could see the stars and that's all I wanted.

The shone so brightly…

Tap tap tap.

I opened my eyes to find it darker than it was a second ago…as dark as it ever got.

Tap tap tap.

I looked around, startled, before my eyes landed on my window. There, the shadow of two people crouching on the fire escape.

I got out of bed and flipped on the light.

"Holy shit!"

There they were. The people I'd been thinking of for months. I hadn't seen them since March, but there they were.

I opened my window so fast I was worried about the glass breaking.

"What the hell are you doing here?" Was what came out of my mouth.

Rose and the Doctor both grinned.

"Rose, I think you should go get us ready to go." The Doctor said slyly.

She grinned and climbed down the fire escape.

We were silent as we heard the clanking of the fire escape as she climbed, the creak of the bottom ladder, and then her footsteps, at a run, down the sidewalk fade away.

Finally, in a strange moment of complete silence, the Doctor looked directly at me.

"Come with me." He wasn't smiling, or giggling, or grinning. And it wasn't a question.

I looked around my room and saw what my life was; one duffel bag full of clothes and a few trinkets, a bed that wasn't my own, and a city that wouldn't miss me. I loved the city. I loved that I could get lost in it. But it wouldn't miss me.

I made the most important decision of my life.

"Absolutely."

I put my key and a note explaining I had to leave early under the landlord's door. She liked me, it would be fine. Then I picked up my duffel and walked back towards the window. He stood back. I took a deep breath and then stepped through it.

I have a history of doing reckless things; my actions with the megaphone should be proof enough of that. But this was reckless, even by my standards.

Nevertheless, my few worldly possessions slung over my shoulder, I shimmied my way down the fire escape, the rusty stairs creaking as I walked. The night was cold and I could hear drivers pounding on their horns on 9th ave. Just an average, beautiful, quiet night on Manhattan. This was why I loved the city.

When we reached the bottom we turned away from the noise, towards 10th. I don't know why 10th was quieter, but it always was. Maybe because it was farther from Broadway?

Broadway, in my mind, was the loudest street in the world.

"How long has it been?"

"Pardon?" It hadn't struck me how quietly we had been walking. I must have been too wrapped up in my thoughts.

"How long has it been? Since the Alvarian Space Worm…"

"That was March…" I scuffed my shoe against the ground, sending a rock spinning into the street.

"Uh huh."

"It's the end of June."

He stopped…actually stopped. "What're you still doing here?"

"My finals were put off this year. Because of the Space Worm."

"Five months…" he looked at me, his eyes wide. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."

"It's alright."

"No we'd only been gone a day before Rose suggested we come back. Took us a few weeks to find you…landed in the 20's at one point by accident. Nasty bit of work, the 20's. All fine for the mortals but the alien activity was ridiculous. Five months…"

I smiled at him, really focusing properly on his face for the first time. "It's okay. You're here now."

His face broke out into a grin, and then we continued on in silence for a few more moments.

I couldn't help but feel uncomfortable alone with him. He looked and sounded human, mostly, but he didn't feel human. Just walking along with him I could feel that there was something different against him. I wasn't sure what to say.

"What do you mean, 'landed in the 20's?'" I asked finally. We were nearing 10th ave.

He looked at me then, grinning like a maniac. "This." He took off towards the street corner.

I stopped for a moment in shock.

"Allons-y!" he called back.

I laughed and took off after him. Alright, let's run then.

He disappeared around the corner, and I laughed, working my legs harder so that I could catch up. But when I rounded the corner…he was gone.

I stood there for a moment in confusion, until I felt someone's hands around my wrists.

Then I was jerked sideways into an old police box, through a bright blue set of doors I glimpsed on my way through the,.

And then I understood what he meant when he said 'landed in the 20's.'

"Wow."

"Yup." The Doctor answered from beside me, his hand releasing my wrist.

"But it's…this is a time machine?"

"Yup." Rose grinned from where she was leaning on the railing.

I looked around in confusion and then directly at the Doctor. "It's like you took a palace and then wrapped it up in an old wooden box.

The Doctor grinned. "Exactly!"

"You ready?" Rose asked.

"You bet!" The shock had worn off and now that she was with us I immediately felt more comfortable. I was ready to go wherever this thing was taking me.

"Where are we going?" The Doctor asked Rose.

"Actually I was hoping I could go see mum and Mickey. Maybe while I'm there you can take Ko somewhere?"

"You and yours family!" He rolled his eyes. "What do you think?" He asked, looking at me.

"Whatever you guys want." The idea of being alone with him again didn't really appeal to me, but I didn't want to back out – this felt important.

"Great, hold this steady, Rose, hold that down. And off we go!" He pushed a button and cranked a wheel and then all of a sudden the whole world was rocking back and forth.

I let go of the lever I was supposed to be holding steady almost immediately, and the ship pitched towards me, sending me flying back against the railings. Luckily, they seemed to be expecting this and the Doctor grabbed it, punching some buttons with his other hand and soon we were back on the ground (I could tell because the ship wasn't pitching around anymore).

Rose laughed, as she walked past me, slowly untangling myself from the bars, towards the doors. "Watch out for this one, Doctor. She seems more accident prone than me!"

I brushed my hair in front of my face to hide my blush.

"I don't think that's even possible!" The Doctor threw back.

She grabbed a sweater off of one of the supports and threw it over her arm. "I guess you'll go find out! I'll stay overnight! Come pick me up tomorrow morning."

"Sounds like a plan!" He was already readjusting the console.

She was already almost through the doors, but she still called back, "Remember, Doctor, twelve hours, not twelve months!"

He laughed as the doors swung shut behind her. He started whistling as he threw a lever and we took off again. I fell against the floor this time before picking myself up and leaning on the center console for support.

"Where to?" The Doctor asked, walking over to me.

"I don't know." I said quietly; suddenly shy to be alone with him.

He put his hands in his pockets, hunching his shoulders. "Oh, we could go to Dronid, Hysperio, past and future Earth of course…" He walked around me as the ship hummed. "How about Anagonia! Anagonia? They've got singing squids!"

I couldn't help but laugh a little bit.

"You like that? Anagonia? Off to see the singing squids?"

I laughed again, beginning to feel more comfortable. I shook my head. "No." I experimentally took my hands off of the console and found that I could stand. I walked over carefully to where he was.

"No?" The smile on his face was infectious.

I laughed again. "Nowhere with singing squids."

His eyes lit up suddenly and walked back around the console, almost skipping, and stopping with his hand on a lever. "I've got an idea!"

"Where are we going?" I smiled.

"It's a surprise." He winked at me and threw the lever.

The ship pitched again and threw me against the console, which I clung to for dear life.

The TARDIS rocked back and forth, but not as much as before. The Doctor flicked a few more switches as it rocked and before I knew it, it had stopped again. He looked at me and wiggled his eyebrows.

I barely suppressed a giggle. I covered up by asking, "Wait – what if Rose needs you?"

He looked at me like I was an alien – and I supposed, to him, I was, but he should've been used to that. He was looking at me like he'd never even thought of that possibility. "If she gets into trouble she has her TARDIS key…and her cell phone. She can always call us…or the TARDIS, anyways. Besides," he gestured around. "Time machine."

I looked at him, incredulous. "You have a phone?"

"900 years of time and space, how can I not have a phone?!" He exclaimed with a laugh. "I was there when it was invented!"

I laughed. "Of course." I glanced over at the TARDIS doors. "So where are we? Your home?"

I looked back and saw a shadow flicker across his face that was gone just as soon as it had appeared, almost making me think that I had imagined it. "No, where's the fun in that? No excitement for me! No, we're on a planet called Florana."

"Florana? Sounds pretty."

He smiled. "It is. One of the most beautiful planets in the galaxy. And one of the most peaceful. I wanted to make sure we had a nice safe trip."

I ignored in implication that it often wasn't safe. "What's it like out there?"

He bit his lip and jerked his head at the door, like 'go and see for yourself.'

I couldn't contain my excitement as I ran to the door, hesitating again as in front of the doors, this time from the other side, before throwing the doors open and staring out in wonder as my eyes adjusted to the bright light. I stood in the doorway looking over the ribbon of beautiful golden sand that ran from left to right, and the blue ocean laying not five feet in front of me. It was just…blue. More blue than any colour I had ever seen on Earth, and yet definitely blue. So blue. There was something so alien about all of it, so different, but not in a bad way. It was beautiful.

I looked back at the Doctor, for once losing all control over my expression and beaming at him, I ran to him and spun in an excited little circle.

He seemed a bit taken aback, but chuckled a little.

"Thank you!" I grinned.

"Welcome to your new life, Nekoda." He smiled gently.

I looked out to the water. "Can we swim in it?"

"Yes, of course." He chuckled, as if he wasn't fulfilling all of my wildest dreams.

Suddenly an awful thought occurred to me. "I don't have a bathing suit.

He laughed. "I have a gigantic closet full of clothes, including swim wear. I'm sure you can find something that will –"

Scraaaaaaaaaaaaaak.

He frowned. "Don't move." He took off around the TARDIS and out the doors.

Well screw that.

Without really thinking about what I was doing, I looked around and saw nothing that could be used as a weapon, at least that I could tell was a weapon and so I just grabbed my phone and stuffed it in my sweater pocket. Armed with just that and a notebook, I crept around the TARDIS and out the doors.

I looked around but I couldn't see him. Luckily, the Doctor's footprints led around the TARDIS. I followed them slowly, carefully stepping only inside his footprints. His feet were so much bigger than mine that my boots were easily able to fit inside their length, but his skinny little converse shoes were a lot thinner.

Behind the TARDIS, meshing seamlessly with the sand came a field of beautiful flowers, full of colour and life. They were the most beautiful and the strangest flowers I had ever seen.

I bent down to examine one on the edge of the sand and saw the petals open and close a little bit. It smelled amazing. It looked a little bit like an orchid except it had three layers of petals on my top, and, as I watched, it spread them out to form a sort of fan and I saw in those petals marbled whites and pinks and purples and blues. It was spectacular.

I looked up and saw the Doctor standing in the middle of the field, bent over and moving his hands around as if he was looking for something. I crouched down so that the flowers would almost definitely block his view of me, sure that if he saw me he would send me back to the TARDIS and make me stay there. After a moment, he seemed to find what he was looking for and stepped forward. All at once he seemed to disappear.

I jumped up, surprised, and tried to lock into my mind where he had been standing. I almost lost the place five times, but then I noticed a little blue flower right there that was shaped a little like a star but also a little like a teacup, with vines coming off of it. I couldn't find that flower anywhere else in the field, so that, I decided, would be my marker.

The moment I took my first steps into the field I could smell the flowers. It was a beautiful smell, all of them at once. Strong, sweet, but not sickeningly so, and not completely overpowering like my mother when she's wearing too much perfume.

I walked over to the blue flower, careful not to crush any of the others, afraid of ruining something so beautiful. When I reached it, I felt around with my hands as I had seen him doing.

It took me a lot longer, but eventually, just to the left of the blue flower from where I was standing, I went to brush aside a small group of flowers and didn't feel my hand make contact. I tried again, and then tried reaching my hand down. It went right through the ground. There had to be a hole there.

As I stood up and looked around, I took a deep breath and jumped forward to where I knew the hole to be.

I landed a moment later in an old tunnel, very old, that looked like it hadn't been used for a very long time. I coughed a little and tried to sweep the dust out of my face.

As the cobwebs settled, I looked around and saw that the tunnel went in two directions. Luckily, the dust played to my advantage and I could see where he had stepped.

I followed as quietly as I could; still only stepping in his footprints. No matter how quiet I tried to be, the silence of the tunnels had other plans and I heard my footsteps echoing around the cavernous tunnel.

After a while, I stopped thinking about danger as much as I walked on and on. It was peaceful and kind of nice. After about twenty minutes, the footprints seemed to turn into a wall and stop.

I frowned and leaned forward, moving to press my hand against the wall. It slid through, and so I moved forward and put my head through.

Inside I didn't see the Doctor, but something about the room felt wrong. I pushed the rest of my body inside, my heart starting to beat faster.

I looked around the room. I saw some sort of control panel on the wall on my right, and a railing behind it in a circular shape. The whole room was an almost circular shape, but not quite circular. It wasn`t a shape I could even have imagined before seeing it. Odd, the way our brains work like that.

I looked around the room slowly, methodically, spotting a door directly opposite me, and I slowly started to walk towards it, continuing my visual sweep around the room. I was in about the middle of the room when I finished the circle.

I jumped back, eyes widening hurriedly and, unbalanced, caught myself on a chair sitting behind me. I felt the chair swivel in place and squeak loudly. I froze in position, eyes locked on the dark figure hanging from the ceiling in the corner of the room.

My heart was beating so loudly I thought that he-she-it was going to be able to hear it. I struggled to quiet my breath.

A hand grabbed my wrist and another one flew over my mouth. Thank God, or I would have let out a yelp. I was spun around and revealed to me was the Doctor, seething, looking absolutely dangerous.

He looked at me with his eyes full of warning before pulling away his hand and, needlessly, putting his finger to his lips. I could feel his anger radiating around him.

I nodded and tensed. Just that slight movement made the chair wheel around and away from me; I lost my balance, letting out an involuntary yelp as I fell, hard, to the ground.

I froze in place on the ground, and the Doctor stepped behind me. I could feel an overpowering sense of anger and danger pulsing out from him, and that, more than the creature, scared me.

I held myself there for about thirty seconds before I let out my breath.

There was a sudden screech the creature in front of us opened itself up, giving me a perfect view of an eight or nine foot tall creature hanging from the ceiling with bat-like wings and short green hair all over its body. Its body got impossibly thin where a human stomach would be, and its eyes were a brighter blue than I had ever seen in my life. And it was terrifying, sending electric waves of terror pulsing through me.

The Doctor pulled me roughly by the wrist, harshly, making me think maybe it was dislocated but I ignored the pain and let myself be lifted before I was running.

And running and running and running and my legs were burning and his hand was tight on my wrist. All I knew was that I'd made a mistake.

The creature behind me was screeching and I couldn't even think of anything that was more terrifying.

Suddenly the Doctor yanked on my wrist again, sending a sharp pain through my wrist and pulling me into what was like a supply closet, except it was filled completely with metal barrels.

We squeezed past the barrels and around them into the very back of the cupboard, held tightly between the dusty wall and the barrels. I had to tilt my head up to get away from the smell coming from the barrels.

I needed to do something. Anything. What could I do. I had to do something. This was my fault…

"Another stupid ape…" I heard the Doctor mutter from beside me and I tensed. He meant me. He meant I was a stupid ape…

The thing screeched and reached the door, coming straight towards us. I forgot what he had just said, pulling myself towards the Doctor without thinking, silently shrinking away.

His arm snaked between my back and the wall behind us, somehow allowing him to pull me closer to him.

The creature screeched and sniffed. It was so close, just on the other side of the barrels. I could hear its breathing.

Closing my eyes, I turned my head into the Doctor's chest and waited. And waited. And waited.

After an eternity I felt the Doctor's fingers under my chin and I let him guide my head back up. I looked at him, terrified, too scared to move. I regretted ever leaving the TARDIS.

I saw the anger in his eyes melt away. "You alright."

"I…I'm…I'll be fine." I swallowed hard. "What was that thing?"

"Krillitane." He said softly. "Alien."

"No, really!" I couldn't help the sarcasm.

He chuckled. Maybe sarcasm wasn't such a bad thing. "Krillitanes have a habit of taking over other races." The look on the Doctor's face was dark again, but when he noticed me looking he let out a little smile. "They take their favourite parts of the species that they conquer. Some wings here, a tail there, eyes…"

"That green fur!"

"Precisely. But how they got here I can't even begin to…that one was on its own. It's been a long time since they looked like that – hundreds and hundreds of years. So this means that he's been left behind by the others…the lone survivor, last of his race as far as he knows…all alone."

I couldn't help it; the Doctor's slight sigh, like he understood, and the sadness in his eyes. I hugged him.

I reached around the barrels and held onto him. He felt so skinny I was sure that I could wrap my arms around him twice. So skinny I thought he might disappear.

He stopped talking, and the sudden silence was a little shocking.

It took him a minute, but he slowly put his arms around me, too.

We stood like that for a long time. A few times I was almost sure I felt drops of liquid heat on my shoulder…but I didn't want to pull away to look. When we finally did separate, his face was set into a natural smile. I must have imagined it.

"Well that was nice!"

I let out a nervous laugh.

"Come on; let's find out how we're going to deal with our krillitane friend!"

I followed him as he squeezed out from the covered, just happy that he was no longer mad at me.

"Now, he was hunting us in the day; means he doesn't have enough to eat. And did you hear it screeching? It almost seemed-"

"Primal…" I frowned, looking around the corridors.

"Well, yes, it is primal, but just because it's on its own." He frowned. "I was going to say inhuman, but primal works." He looked at me. "Don't worry, you'll get the hang of it."

"Thanks?"

"Now…if it's screeching was…primal…that means he's not only on his own but that he's lonely, he's looking for a pack." He paused and then sighed obviously disappointed I didn't get it. "Which means diplomacy! We talk to him, we tell him that we can help, we help, we leave."

"What if diplomacy doesn't work."

"Well…" he ran his hand through his hair. "We're going to have to just get on the TARDIS and go…"

"And leave it here?"

He sighed. "We can't kill him. It's not his fault."

"I'm not saying we should!" I flinched at the thought of having to kill something. "But we got lucky! We can't just leave it here and hope that the next visitors are just as lucky!"

When he ran his hands through his hair, I noticed, it lifted it into a pile of poof.

Before I could stop myself, I leaned forward and up onto the balls of my feet and raised a hand, to move a strand of hair from out of place.

He looked at me out of the corner of his eyes.

"Sorry…." I blushed. I was always friends with a lot of guys and could never stop myself from fixing their hair.

He cocked an eyebrow. "Be careful with the hair." And then took off.

I couldn't help it; I giggled. Then I took off after him.

I turned a corner, still laughing, and then stopped short.

There, in front of me, was the Doctor in the claws of that awful creature, that…krillitane.

I froze. He was unconscious, the thing was snarling at me, and I was unarmed. I thought of looking for a weapon, and I thought of trying to take on the creature. In those moments I thought a lot of things until the thinking got to be too much and I made the decision that probably saved my life: I ran.

I ran for five minutes in the opposite direction, breathing heavy, trying not to pass out, before I finally threw myself in a room, slammed the door behind me, and burst into tears.

This wasn't how I pictured it at all.

I sobbed for a long time. I was stuck without the Doctor. I was stuck on an alien planet. The Doctor was probably about to be eaten.

And I couldn't stop it.

When I finally calmed down enough to stop crying, the first thing I did was get mad at myself for crying. I was being completely useless.

This thought brought on another round of sobs that I tried my best to suppress.

Then my brain started working. I had to do something.

Slowly, as I collected my thoughts, I started to form a plan.

As I walked down the hallway between where I was and the room where the krillitane had been sleeping, I almost turned around five times. Nothing I had ever done had been this stupid, and the more I thought about it, the more I thought it was stupid.

But I had to do something.

The hallways was long and slightly rounded, with rooms off of both sides.

I had a moment of inspiration and stopped at the closet where the Doctor and I had hidden.

I rolled one of the barrels down the hallway. It was slow, because I had to quietly glance inside every door, praying that it wasn't the room, but also praying that it was. Some of the rooms held artifacts I never wanted to see, the objects of nightmares. Occasionally, I wished that it had been the room so that I hadn't had to see what I saw instead.

Finally, I stared at the crack between the door and the wall and saw the chair I had knocked over. This was it.

I mentally steeled myself. I was terrified. My heart was beating so hard I was afraid it might come right out of my chest. My body was devoid of the adrenaline that usually got me through anything that made me scared. I thought that maybe, just maybe, that meant that my body had accepted its imminent death.

I tried not to think about that.

Then I threw open the doors and all hell broke loose.

The screech sounded before I even got through the door.

I didn't look – I just moved, shoving the barrel into the middle of the round-ish room and jumping on top before it finished settling.

When I looked directly in front of me I saw the Doctor stuck to the wall in something like a giant spider web.

That meant the krillitane was behind me.

I took a deep breath and turned around.

It was there, in the corner of the room, poised to attack but for some reason it wasn't.

Diplomacy. The Doctor said diplomacy.

"Mr…Mr. Krillitane thing…I just wanted to…to talk to you." That sounded better in my head. "Sir, I just…the Doctor can help you…this man…alien…guy you have pinned to your wall can help. We can find you a…mate…or a….maybe a pack? We can help!"

It sounded pathetic to me, too. I had to try harder.

By head hurt, my heart was bounding like a rabbit and I was afraid it would give out because of fear.

The krillitane was circling, so I circled on my barrel, carefully trying not to fall off.

I set my shoulders back. "Sir, we can help you. This is your warning. Let us help you or we'll be forced to take drastic measures."

The krillitane let out something that could almost be called a laugh. It was the first time I was sure that it understood what I was saying.

"We can take you to whatever you need." I said more confidently than I felt, starting to shout. "There's nothing for you here but we can find you something! Let him out, so he can help! Let him go! Let! Him! Go!"

The krillitane tensed to pounce just as I made a misstep that sent me flying to the ground and the barrel flying in the other direction.

He flew over my head, screaming.

The barrel, rolling on the ground, was spraying a bright green liquid all around.

Suddenly there was the adrenaline and I stopped thinking again. If I had been thinking, the thought of what I was about to do would have scared me away from doing it.

I ran forward, grabbing the barrel. I used the momentum I had to slingshot the barrel around my body and I threw it at him. The barrel landed on the thing and it screamed as the barrel exploded.

The green gunk went everywhere, tangling itself in my hair. I thought, when it touched my skin, that it would burn, but I didn't feel anything.

The adrenaline drained from my body as I realized that he was down, and I barely managed to drag myself to let the Doctor down.

At some point, he had woken up, and landed on his feet when I tugged the web-strands off of the wall

I felt dizzy all of a sudden, and my wrist was starting to hurt again.

"You alright?" the Doctor's voice seemed far away.

"Yeah, I'm fine." My own voice seemed as far away as his was. That was funny.

And then everything was black.

I opened my eyes to find myself in the Doctor's arms as he carried me back through the tunnels.

I knew I was safe and I let the swaying motion of his walking put me back to sleep.

When I opened my eyes for good, I was laying on a beach.

"Welcome to the land of the living, sleeping beauty." I heard the Doctor's voice from beside me.

It took a minute, but I finally managed to turn my head to see him.

Everything hurt, my brain hurt, and it was hard to move.

Experimentally I pushed both of my legs in the Doctor's direction and pushed myself to sitting. It took a few minutes and I was exhausted when I got there, but already moving was becoming easier.

After a few deep breaths, I stood up, carefully placing my weight on my legs.

"Careful there."

I ignored him and stood up.

The moment I was standing the Doctor's arms were around me, holding me to him.

This hugging was starting to become a thing. I was starting to like it.

"I thought I lost you for a minute there." He said finally.

"You're going to have to try harder than that to get rid of me." I answered. "Doctor, is it…is he…"

"He's dead." He answered, knowing I meant the krillitane.

"I tried, Doctor, I tried the diplomacy and I tried to-" I started.

"I know, I was awake." He paused. "Thank you for saving me, Nekoda."

I ignored the use of my full name. "Well I couldn't very well drive myself home."

I smiled as we untangled ourselves.

"Now then, the TARDIS wardrobe is straight, left, left, right. Bathing gear is right out front. Off you go."

I grinned and headed towards the TARDIS, first at a stiff walk, then a bit looser, and then like normal, and then, finally, at a run.

I was eager to feel how different that ocean felt.