Chapter 2: Meeting Katherine
"WHAT?" repeated the Doctor. He'd never seen this girl before, nor did he know her! How could she get into the TARDIS?
He suddenly got the sensation of deja-vu. This was exactly like his first meeting with Donna. Except this girl wasn't redhead-she had black hair-and apparently knew the TARDIS and the Doctor. How could this be?
The black-haired girl, grinning, looked around at the TARDIS. She had on the brightest smile the Doctor had ever seen. She even looked slightly deranged.
"I-I didn't know I was this known!" she said, laughing. "I mean, I know I'm quite popular for my fangirl-y-ness, but I didn't know...oh my god!"
The Doctor was confused. "WHAT?"
A tear of joy rolled down the girl's cheek. "Oh my god, this is just..." She sobbed a little, and turned around. "Alright, director! You can come out now! Even though my birthday was over two months ago!" She waited a few seconds. "Er, director?"
The Doctor took a step toward the girl. "Who are you and why are you on my TARDIS?" he demanded.
The girl stared at him, seeming to be contemplating something. Suddenly, her blue eyes widened wider than two galaxies. She started screaming, and ran toward the door of the TARDIS. The Doctor followed her, starting to get frustrated. The girl opened the door and stared into the time vortex passing by.
"Oi! Don't open that!"
"Oh my god..." The girl began screaming again. She looked at The Doctor, smiling intensely from ear to ear. "Can I vomit?"
He was taken aback. "Er...sure? But-" He wasn't able to finish the sentence when the girl peeked into the time vortex again and vomited. Now he was getting really confused. How and why did the girl seem to know about the time vortex? She was staring at it as if she were staring at a home she hadn't been to in a long time. "I will ask again, who are you and why are you in my TARDIS?"
The girl started jumping up and down with pure glee as she closed the TARDIS door. She squealed uncontrollably. "I'm in the TARDIS! The actual TARDIS! And I'm standing in front of the Doctor!" She made a noise similar to that of a dying pig.
Now the Doctor was seriously getting frustrated. The girl just wouldn't answer him! "Who are you and why-"
"Hold on, I think I'm going to faint..." The girl hobbled in place for a moment, her eyes began closing, and fell forward into the Doctor's arms. The Doctor, unsure of what to do, sighed, and laid her on the floor for a little while. He brought out two chairs, placed the girl on one, and sat in the other. He brought out an alien book from the year 2345, and started reading it. "I get the feeling that something big will happen soon," mumbled he.
About an hour later, the girl woke up again. She looked around a little, and immediately began screaming again and making several noises that didn't even sound like a human. The Doctor jumped up, startled, for he'd been greatly engrossed in the book. The girl jumped up and down, breaking into a fit of giggles. She fell to the ground, kicking and screaming. Was she having convulsions? The Doctor just sat there and watched in bewilderment. What was wrong with this girl? He'd never seen anything like it! He couldn't tell whether she was having a real strong seizure attack, or just dying in a slow, painful way.
The girl hopped up and screamed extra loud. "I'M IN THE TARDIS WITH THE DOCTOR!" she sang. "WITH THE ACTUAL DOCTOR, AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"
The Doctor couldn't even say anything. All he did was stare.
When the girl stopped screaming, she simply stood there with her eyes fixed on the Doctor. She had a smile that the Doctor had never seen in his entire 900-and-some years of living. Suddenly, she stuck out her shaky hand. "I'm Katherine. Katherine Skyes."
"Er...hello," said the Doctor slowly. He hesitantly took Katherine's hand, as if it were going to burn his own hand off. She commenced to shake it vigorously until he had to manually stop her. "I'm the-"
"I know who you are. I know every detail about you!" Katherine said enthusiastically. "You're the Doctor, a Time Lord from the planet Gallifrey, currently the last survivor and this is your 10th incarnation, technically the 11th if you count your regeneration for the Time War against the Daleks-" Katherine paused to squeal. "-the Time Lords' mortal enemies. But anyways, you've had a total of 52 companions whether they've travelled with you in the TARDIS or not, and by the way TARDIS stands for Time and Relative Dimension in Space, and that anagram was invented by Susan Foreman a.k.a. your granddaughter who you miserably left after she fell in love with some bloke named David Campbell and you continued travelling with Ian Chesterton and Barbara Wright until they escaped in a Dalek time machine. Since then, you've travelled with lots of other companions, like Jamie McCrimmon, Elizabeth Shaw, Sarah Jane Smith, Leela, Ace, Zoe Heriot, and let's not forget Rose Tyler!" She finished with a high-pitched squeal.
The Doctor stared at Katherine wide-eyed. "Okay. That's not creepy at all."
"I even found out your real name! It's-"
The Doctor made 2 stop signs with his hands. "Whoa, whoa, whoa! You are not sharing that! I barely even know you! All I know is that your name is Katherine Skyes and..." He worded his next words carefully. "You...get excited easily."
"Oh my God! The Doctor talked to me! He spoke words to me! And I held his hand!" shrieked Katherine. She zoomed over to the control console, running her hands over the intricate buttons, squealing like mad. "The TARDIS buttons!" She turned to the Doctor. "You know, I actually figured out how to work the TARDIS. You do it like this!" She began to press buttons that to any other person would just be a random button, when the Doctor rushed over and carefully peeled her quivering-with-excitement hands off the controls.
"How did you get here, and how do you know so much about me?"
Katherine opened her mouth to say something, but furrowed her eyebrows and closed it. "Good question, because I have no idea how I got here. I mean, just now I was in front of my telly watching-OH! Guess how I know so much about you!" The demented smile came back on.
The Doctor stared at Katherine a while before taking a deep breath and guessing, "Are you from my future?"
Katherine shook her head.
"Okay...er, are you from my past-like, some sort of lost memory?"
She shook her head.
"Well then...hmmm...perhaps you're from a planet that worships me or something like that?"
She shook her head.
The Doctor stared at her. "This is the very first time we meet each other in all history of time and space, isn't it?"
She nodded.
He sighed. "And you're from Earth, aren't you?"
She noded. She still had that mad smile plastered on her face as if by glue.
"Well then..." The Doctor didn't know what to say next. Suddenly he noticed her shirt. "Oi, hold on-why do you have the TARDIS on your shirt?"
Katherine looked down. "Oh this! I bought this at Hot Topic! It's because-"
"Oh, you know what? I don't care anymore!" he said, throwing up his hands and pressing buttons on the console.
She stared at him, mouth and eyes wide open. Her deranged smile was gone. "What? Why?"
"Because I know what all of this is going to lead up to, and believe me, I don't want to go through all of that again!"
"But you can't take me back home! You don't even know where I come from!"
"Well, judging by your accent and clothes, I can tell that you come from England, 21st century. I got it right, didn't I?"
"Yes, but-"
"Good. Now I'm taking you where you belong. I'm going to take a wild guess and put you in the middle of London, 2010." He yanked on a lever, which sent the TARDIS spiraling through the Time Vortex.
"Doctor! You-" Katherine began, beginning to get frustrated.
"I don't even want to hear it!" the Doctor interrupted as the TARDIS landed with a satisfying whoosh, whoosh...thud. He went lumbering out in the middle of London, England; year 2010, followed by a protesting Katherine.
"Doctor! You literally can't take me back to my home! First off, you don't know exactly where I live! Second, I don't even live here!"
The Doctor continued walking on as he shouted back to her, "That's why you're telling me where you live!"
"No! I'm not telling you that!"
"I'll use the Sonic on you!" The Doctor whipped out his Sonic Screwdriver and pointed it at her.
"Are you flipping kidding me? Sonic Screwdrivers can't do anything to humans!"
"Okay, maybe they can't! But you are telling me anyways or I am going to leave in the TARDIS and hope you find your way home!"
"Fine! I live in room 252, second floor of the Dylan flat building! I guess I can't tell you what I was going to say and you'll have to find out!"
"Then that's where we're going! Oh, look at that, it's right over there!" The Doctor switched directions and started heading toward the Dylan flats, where Katherine supposedly lived. Katherine groaned and followed him. She was really getting frustrated.
"Doctor, you're not even letting me finish a proper sentence!"
"Because I don't want to know how you know so much about me! And I don't care!"
"But how could you not care?" They began climbing some stairs to the second floor.
"Because of reasons I really do not want to explain!"
"Oh, I'm pretty sure I can guess that!"
"Oh, I'm sure! What is it?"
"Because pretty soon, you're going to-"
"Actually, I changed my mind. I don't want to know that either!" By now they were a few feet away from room 252.
"Oh, come on!" finished Katherine with an exasperated sigh. They were at the front of 252. The Doctor gestured toward the door and stepped aside to let Katherine by. She rolled her eyes, glaring at him as she walked closer and closer to the door. She reached out her hand, and tugged on the doorknob. "It's locked," she stated flatly.
"Then use your key," suggested the Doctor softly. Katherine sighed, fishing out her key and inserting it into the keyhole. She tried to turn it, but it wouldn't budge. She turned and glared at the Doctor, trying to unlock the door behind her back.
"Oh, for time's sake! Move and let me do it!" The Doctor pushed her out of the way, pointing the Sonic Screwdriver at the door. There came a satisfying click, and the Doctor opened it. "There you go, home sweet home, safe and sound!" He flashed a forced grin at Katherine. Glaring at him still, she peered inside the flat.
She huffed and said, "That's not my flat."
"Sure it is. Now, come on. Go."
"No. It isn't. Because in my flat, the telly is over there." She pointed to a location in the flat. "The couch is over there. Usually there'd be a coffee table with a pretty blue lamp right there, but there isn't. This is not my flat!" She stomped her foot on the not.
A middle aged woman of about 50 appeared in the doorway. She stared at the Doctor and Katherine, bewildered. "Who are you two?! How did you open the door?!" she demanded. The Doctor looked at her, and smiled at Katherine.
"You see that, Katherine? It's your grandmum!"
"I beg your pardon?"
"Don't you recognise her?" The Doctor motioned to Katherine, who just rolled her eyes.
"I haven't the slightest clue who she is!" said the woman, furrowing her eyebrows. "I think you've got the wrong room."
The Doctor checked the room number. "Ah, nope. This is room 252, just like your granddaughter said."
"That's not my granddaughter! My granddaughter is still in grade school! Now get out, before I call the police!"
"But Miss!" protested the Doctor. The woman began to close the door in his face, but he just kept on going. "You must have Alzheimer's, because you cannot remember that this clearly is your granddaughter, Katherine Skyes! If you'd just stop and listen-" The door closed.
On the other side, the woman shouted, "SHE IS NOT MY GRANDDAUGHTER AND I MOST CERTAINLY DO NOT HAVE ALZHEIMER'S!" Angry footsteps were heard from outside the flat.
Slowly, the Doctor turned towards a death-glaring Katherine. He opened his mouth to say something, but decided against it. Katherine just sucked in a frustrated breath and stormed out. Against his better judgement, the Doctor followed her. He was going to get her safely home and off his back, as frustrating as it was.
"Okay, how old are you?" he asked, walking alongside her.
"I'm 19," she grumbled.
"What year were you born?"
"1995."
"How long have you been living in your flat?"
"About few months. Since August."
"Okay, then we are going to that time." The Doctor walked toward the TARDIS, and let Katherine in. However, she didn't go completely in. Instead, she stood in the doorway while staring at the inside of the TARDIS, her jaw dropping so much it was about to crash to the floor.
"It's b-b-b...big...bigger..." she stammered. Her lips twitched upward, starting to form a smile.
"Oh, here we go again," muttered the Doctor.
"IT'S BIGGER ON THE INSIDE!" she started screaming as she bounded around the TARDIS, feeling it and making sure it was real. Next she went inside it, and ran around to feel that it was bigger than its outside. Finally, she felt the outer walls of the TARDIS and felt the inside of it, trying to touch both her hands. To her glee, her hands never touched. Once more, she started screaming at the top of her lungs, so much that passing pedestrians began to stare, wondering what was going on with this girl. The Doctor smiled at everyone, reassuring them that everything was okay, and quickly ushered Katherine into the TARDIS, closing the door.
"Katherine, would you please stop-" he began, but Katherine began screaming once more.
"I'M IN THE TARDIS AND IT'S BIGGER ON THE INSIDE DO YOU KNOW WHAT THIS MEANS TO ME OH MY GOD OH MY GOD OH MY GOD OH MY GOD A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-AH!" She fell to the ground, tears streaming down her face. She was crying, and at the same time laughing hysterically. Next, she pretty much started twitching and squirming around while making pig-like noises; it looked like she was dying.
The only thing the Doctor could do was stare in amazement and fear. Suddenly, Katherine jumped up, and planted a sloppy kiss on his lips. She held the kiss, dragging it on; all the while the Doctor tried to pry her off, letting out muffled yells of protest. He did not want a kiss from a girl he'd just met, and especially a girl who starts having seizures at the sight of a TARDIS!
When he was able to get her off of him, she only tried to kiss him again...and again...and again...until he somehow managed to get away from her and grabbed a crowbar (don't ask where). He held it out, swinging it like mad whenever she got within 2 metres.
"Alright Katherine, you better start explaining things right now!" he commanded. "Or I'll have to use this!" He swung the crowbar around. Instead of answering, Katherine just giggled, eyes like 2 round balls of pure white and blue. Her black hair looked mangled and unkept.
"I kissed the Doctor!" she breathed. She jumped up and down, squealing inwardly. She tried to run to the Doctor to kiss him again (on the inside she was thinking about more than kissing, if you know what that means), but was stopped by his not-so-trusty crowbar. She tried to move the crowbar out of his hands, but he was too strong for her.
"Keep back and explain to me how you know me! Or I will leave you stranded on the edges of the Kleutanium moons!"
Katherine giggled, purposely making her voice deeper and more seductive. "Do you really want to know?"
"Yes! Now tell me!"
"Drop the crowbar and I will tell you."
"Oh no! I don't trust you enough!"
"Drop it or I won't tell you."
"I refuse!"
"Fine then! I guess you don't get any information. You'll go the rest of your life wondering how this amasingly gorgeous and fabulous girl knew who (haha...haha...) you were, Doctor." Katherine turned away dramatically, flipping her messy raven-black hair in the process.
The Doctor sighed, knowing it was no use. "Oh, alright." He dropped the crowbar, bracing himself for another attack of kisses. Effectively, Katherine lunged at him, lips puckered so much they looked like a duck-face. He put his hands on her shoulders, immediately halting her. Still, she pushed against him. "You were supposed to tell me how you know me!" he protested.
"One more kiss! Just one more kiss, Doctor!"
"Fine! Only because you're a good kisser! But it'll have to be really qui-" He wasn't able to finish his sentence when she rubbed her lips all over his lips. She held the kiss longer than the Doctor would've liked. He had to shove her away in order to get her off of him. Thankfully, she didn't try to kiss him again.
She squealed, and said, "Alright, are you ready for this?"
The Doctor sighed. "Just tell me, please..."
"Okay, okay..." She held up her index finger, trying to die down her laughter. "You ready? Okay..." She let out a breath, calmer than before. With her trademark ear-to-ear grin, Katherine said, "You are from a science-fiction telly programme called Doctor Who."