Okay, so nothing much happens in this chapter, although Castiel does make a bit of an appearance, so yay for that! Also, you'll notice that I made a lovely cover for this story, yaaaaay! lol. Um...yeah, that's about it for now.

I OWN NOTHING (except my OCs) AND DENY EVERYTHING!

Pain.

He was in so much pain. It was excruciating, and made it so hard to focus on anything else. He was only vaguely aware of Alex crying and begging him to get up. He wanted to take her in his arms and soothe her, reassure her that he was alright and everything was going to be okay, but he couldn't. The truth was, he wasn't alright, and it was beginning to look as if things might not be okay. They had gotten separated from Rose and Sarah Jane, and Lassar had badly injured him. Now he was laying on the ground bleeding out while his daughter sat beside him in tears, and the regeneration process wasn't starting quickly enough. He struggled not to think about the pain, to think about something else; about Alex and Rose, about how he hoped he would get lucky this time and turn ginger when he regenerated, about anything and everything except the pain.

Then, finally, he could feel it happening.

He felt his clothes get a bit too loose on his body as his physical build shifted into an entirely new one, felt other things happening, too, and then, in the next instant, it was over.

"Daddy?"

He opened his eyes, blinking a few times before he sat up. There was blood on the floor from the wound Lassar had given him, and Alex was standing a few feet away with bloodshot eyes and tear tracks on her amazed face. He looked at his hands, then reached up touched his hair, discovering that it had gotten longer. He put his hands on his face and felt it. Just as he expected, the structure was different, and the skin felt somewhat smoother, as if he'd taken on a younger appearance than what he'd had previously. He looked back over at Alex, who was still staring at him in wonder, the look in her eyes one of uncertainty.

"I—New teeth. That's weird," he said. Alex watched him as he stood up on slightly shaky knees. "It's alright, Alex," he said, "it's still me. I promise."

Relief washed over her face, and she rushed to embrace him. The moment was short-lived, however, because he remembered something suddenly.

"Rose," he said. "Come on, let's go find Sarah Jane and your mum!"

Everything after that was a blur of sound and color. They eventually found the two women, but it was already too late. Sarah Jane was kneeling on the floor beside Rose with her back to them, but when she heard their approaching footsteps, she turned, her eyes widening at the sight of him. "Doctor?" she asked. "Is that you? What—"

"Lassar wounded me, I regenerated," he said shortly. "What's going on, why is Rose on the floor, is she alright?"
As he spoke, he knelt down beside Sarah Jane, gently turning Rose over onto her back. Her eyes were closed, and she looked so peaceful she could've been asleep. That was, if it hadn't been for the blood trickling down from the place where her skin met the roots of her hair.

"Dad?" Alex said. "What's happening, is Mum okay?"
"Stay back, Alex," he said, "give me a minute, alright?"

Alex and Sarah Jane watched as he gently took hold of one of Rose's wrists and felt for a pulse. Finding none, he began to panic and did the first thing that came to mind, which was to give Rose chest compressions in an attempt to kick-start things back into action. When that didn't seem to work, he tried doing CPR, then alternated between the two, all the while making silent pleas with her to wake up and be alright, not only for his sake, but for their daughter's sake, as well.

"Doctor," Sarah Jane said finally, grabbing him by the shoulders. She shook her head sadly. "It's no use. She's gone. I'm so sorry."

The Doctor gasped sharply as he shot bolt upright in bed and looked around.

How many times had he relived that horrible day in his dreams...?

He lay back down and stared blankly at the ceiling, a million things rushing through his mind, most of the memories of Rose—her smile, the sound of her laughter, her scent, the way she'd been so full of compassion, her joyful tears when she'd held their newborn daughter for the first time, what she had tasted like every time they had kissed, how she used to call him "my Doctor," what a wonderful mother she'd been to Alexandra, the overjoyed expression on her face the day Alex had been born when she'd looked up at him and said, "She has your eyes."

The list went on and on...

He had been absolutely loathe to the very idea of leaving her body behind that day, so he had done the only thing that made sense to him, which had been to pick her up and carry her back to the TARDIS. The Krillitane had made their escape by that point, so he, Alex, and Sarah Jane had reached the TARDIS without any trouble. After dropping Sarah Jane off somewhere and saying goodbye, he had taken Alex back to Powell Estate and, after having to explain that despite the new appearance, it was still him and why it was he looked different, he then did what had been the second most difficult thing he'd ever done during Alex's lifetime, which was tell Jackie that Rose had been killed and how it had happened. Then, a few weeks later, at Rose's funeral, he did the first most difficult thing he'd ever done in his daughter's life:

Saying his final goodbye to Rose Marion Tyler.

He couldn't go back to sleep. Not now, not with all this on his mind. He knew from past experience that every time he closed his eyes, images of that day would flash in front of him, and he couldn't bear to see that again so soon, not after waking up from a nightmare about it. He had decided to keep the TARDIS on the ground until he figured out what had caused the early exit from the vortex, and it was currently the middle of the night wherever they had landed. (Based on the accents everyone in the nearby town had spoken with, he was thinking somewhere in mid-western America, but he wasn't entirely sure and didn't know the exact location, he'd have to check.) He lay there in bed for a few more minutes or so with his eyes open, just staring up at the ceiling. He soon found, however, that he couldn't keep up with that, that he needed to be up and doing something to help distract himself from the unwelcome thoughts and images invading his head.

So he did the only logical thing he could think of and threw the covers off himself, getting out of bed and getting dressed, making sure he had his glasses and his sonic screwdriver in his pocket before heading out into the hall and closing the door softly behind himself so as not to wake up Alex or Levi. He paused for a minute, trying to decide what he ought to do now, then turned and went down the hall, stopping when he came to a door with a hand-drawn sign on it that said in large green and purple letters, ALEX'S LAIR OF AWESOMENESS with random little doodles of various things like smiley faces, flowers, rainbows, and peace signs, lightning bolts, and skull-and-crossbones all over it. As quietly as he could, he slowly turned the knob and opened the door just enough to poke his head in and check on the room's occupant, but when he saw how peaceful and beautiful she looked in her sleep, he couldn't resist going all the way in and closing the door behind himself before getting closer to the bed to have a better look at her.

Alexandra's room was decorated in her two favorite colors, which were lilac and a light shade of green. She absolutely loved Harry Potter, so she had a lot of posters and things on her walls, like a Platform 9 3/4 poster, one that said "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good," and so on, and as he got closer to the bed, because of the way she was positioned and the way the covers were on top of her, he could see that she was wearing her sweatpants with the Hufflepuff house crest on one of the legs, which she wore as pajama pants quite often, so it wasn't surprising to see she had chosen them for tonight. (Hufflepuff was her house, or so she said, just as Levi said that his was Gryffindor. When the Doctor had asked them once what had made them reach these conclusions, they had answered that they'd taken a quiz online to see which houses they would be in if they went to Hogwarts, and those apparently had been their respective results; Alex especially was very proud of her house and owned not only the sweatpants, but also a tank top and a t-shirt with the house crest. "Besides," she said, "our common room is near the kitchen, so yay for that, we get midnight snacks and everyone else doesn't, take that, Levi, in your face!")

She looked so peaceful in her sleep. Younger, even. She had let her hair out of its braids before going to bed, and it was splayed out around her on the pillow in beautiful waves. She was laying on her side hugging her stuffed koala toy against herself with one arm, her other hand laying beneath the pillow. Seeing her like this, the Doctor was almost able to imagine that things were still okay and the Krillitane had never touched their family.

Almost.

He pulled the covers farther up on her, and she shifted a little in her sleep, letting out a gentle sigh before settling back down. He leaned over and planted a soft kiss on her temple, then turned and left the room, quietly shutting the door as he did so. After a moment's consideration of what to do with himself, he decided to go to the TARDIS library. When he got there, he picked a book at random and sat down with it. However, he wasn't really seeing the words on the pages, nor was he truly aware of what was happening in the book, because his mind was otherwise occupied with thoughts of Alexandra and all they had been through together since Rose's death.

He had truly been doing the very best he could to raise her on his own, but it wasn't always easy. In fact, sometimes it was much harder than he expected it to be. There were also times when he felt like he wasn't doing a good enough job, that he was failing as a father and letting down not only his daughter, but also Rose, and the idea that he was doing things in a way that would disappoint Rose always killed him on the inside. Alex had said plenty of times before that he was the best dad she could ever possibly ask for and she wouldn't trade him for the whole universe, and it helped reassure him to some extent that maybe he wasn't screwing things up too badly, but still, there was always at least some small trace of lingering doubt in the back of his mind, that small part of him that couldn't help but wonder, What if?

He didn't know how long he spent there with the book in his hands and these thoughts going through his head, but it must have been at least several hours, because he was snapped out of it suddenly by the sound of movement and voices, and he knew that Alex and Levi must be awake.

Better get down there before either of them got any ideas about messing with the controls or something.

"Claire...Claire..."

"Claire!"
"Huh?!"

She jolted awake and looked around blearily. Crystal was kneeling on the mattress watching her with a concerned expression. "You okay?" the older girl asked quietly.

"Yeah," Claire replied after a moment, "yeah, I'm fine."
"You were kind of freaking out in your sleep. The dream again?"

"I...I don't remember."

Crystal nodded slowly, and Claire could tell that she wasn't fully believed. It didn't matter, though. Let Crystal believe whatever she wanted, just as long as she didn't press the matter. The last thing Claire wanted to do was talk about it. She wasn't very good at being open about this sort of thing. The whole sharing-one's-feelings crap, it just wasn't in her wheelhouse. Thankfully, Crystal knew and respected that, so she never tried to push Claire to talk about things she didn't want to.

Wordlessly, Crystal got up from Claire's bed and went back over to her own, laying down and pulling the covers over herself. For a few minutes or so, the girls lay there silently in the dark.

"Crystal?"
"Mmmmm?"

"Can I ask you something?"
"Yeah, sure, what is it, kiddo?"

"What'd you think of that Doctor guy?"
"Seemed alright. Little...off, but not necessarily in a bad way. Why?"

"I dunno. Just wondering. That guy Levi was kinda cute."
"I guess, but he's probably still a minor. Don't be a pedo, Claire."

"I'm just saying, that's all. Oh, come on, you can't tell me you didn't think he was at least a little cute."
"Not really my type is all I'm saying. Now, the Doctor, he wasn't too shabby-looking if you ask me. Kinda...foxy."

"Seriously? He's probably like twice your age, you realize that, right?"
"Doesn't make him any less attractive. Besides, at least he's not underage."

"He's got a teenage daughter, for Christ sakes!"
"Who says I can't be a good step-mom?"

"You don't even know what the deal is with her birth mother."
"He said in the vamps' cabin that he lost the mother, so I'm assuming she's dead or something."

They were interrupted by Claire's ringing cell phone. She sighed. "We'll continue this discussion in a minute," she said after checking the caller ID. She heard Crystal giggle in the darkness, then hit accept.

"Hey, Cas," she said.
"Hello, Claire," Castiel replied. "I, um...I just thought I'd call to check on you since we haven't spoken in a while. I wanted to make sure you're doing okay."

"Yeah, I'm doing fine. Um...thanks for the concern, I guess? Yeah, no, I actually, um...I'm a hunter now."

There was a beat of silence.

"Hello? Cas, you still there?"
"Yes. I'm sorry, it just...I wasn't expecting that. So...how is that going for you?"
"Pretty good. I made a friend, and we're partners, so...yeah. We make a good team, me and Crystal. Yeah, we actually just wiped out this nest of vamps earlier, saved a couple teenagers from becoming snacks for 'em."

"Oooh, are you talking to your angel friend?" Crystal asked eagerly. "Can I say hi? Lemme talk to him, pleeeaaase?"
"Shut up, Crystal, this ain't your phone call!" Claire shot back.

"Hi, Mr. Angel, sir, Claire's told me all about you and you sound seriously bad-ass!" Crystal said loudly.

Claire rolled her eyes.

"Crystal says—"
"Yes, I—I heard her. I suppose just tell her I said thank you."

"He says thanks. So, Cas, what have you and those troublemakers been up to lately?"
"Sam and I are still trying to figure out a way to get the Mark of Cain off Dean's arm. Sam's got a very powerful witch named Rowena helping us crack the Book of the Damned. Unfortunately, the Book got our friend Charlie killed. The boys found her bloodied up pretty bad in a motel bathtub. It's hit them both pretty hard. Charlie was like a sister to them."

"Shit, that's horrible. I'm so sorry."

"Psst! Hey, Claire! Ask him if he's ever heard of that Doctor guy!"

"What the hell makes you think he has?" Claire demanded.
"That vampire chick knew him, so it's worth a shot, right?"

Claire sighed as she gave another roll of her eyes.

"Hey, Cas, can I ask you something to shut Crystal up?"
"Sure, what is it?"

"You wouldn't have happened to have heard of a guy calling himself the Doctor, would you?"

"The Doctor?"
"Yeah."

"Just the Doctor?"
"Apparently, yeah."

"Has a blue police box that he refers to as the TARDIS, that Doctor?"
"Oh, um, well, I don't know. We didn't see any police box, we met him at the vampires' hideout. One of the teenagers we freed was his daughter."

"His daughter? Interesting. He never mentioned a daughter, but I suppose she perhaps wasn't born yet."
"Holy shit, you've met this guy?!" Claire exclaimed, shooting into a sitting position.

"Yes. A long time ago, before your father allowed me to use his body as a vessel. Before your father was even born."
"So you had a different vessel at the time?"

"Exactly. The Doctor and I met in Indonesia, August of 1883 on the day Krakatoa erupted."
"What?! There's no way he can possibly be that old, I mean he looked early-to-mid-thirties at the most!"

"What's he saying, what's he saying?!" Crystal demanded.
"He said he met the Doctor back when he had a different vessel, in August 1883 in Indonesia the day Krakatoa erupted," Claire replied.

"Seriously?! I wanna hear all of this!"
"Hang on, Cas, I'm putting you on speaker so Crystal can listen."

She took the phone away from her ear and put it on speaker, then, as Crystal got up and came to sit on Claire's bed with her, she put it down between them on the mattress.

"Okay," she said, "keep talking, tell us what the deal is with this guy."

"As I said, it was in 1883. My vessel back then was a young man from a village near Krakatoa named Agung. I won't bore you with all the insignificant details, but to make a long story short, we each ended up revealing to the other what we really were. I told him I was an Angel of the Lord, and he told me that he was a Time Lord."

There was a pause, during which the girls glanced at each other.

"A what?" Crystal asked finally.

"A Time Lord," Castiel repeated. "They're a race from a planet called Gallifrey. They have ships called TARDISes that are able to travel through space and time in what's called the time vortex. TARDIS is an acronym, he told me it stands for Time And Relative Dimensions In Space. He showed me his, let me go inside it, told me that it looked like a blue police box on the outside because the component that lets it disguise itself to blend in with its surroundings, which he called the chameleon circuit, was broken, so it was stuck looking like that. It was much bigger on the inside than it looked from the outside. Unfortunately, he also told me that he was the only surviving Time Lord, that all the others had been killed when Gallifrey was destroyed in the Last Great Time War. He'd been traveling around all by himself ever since. But if he has a daughter, then I suppose he's not so alone anymore, is he? He must have met someone very special."

"Well, whoever she is, Crystal seems to think she's dead for some reason," Claire said somewhat sardonically.
"The guy said he lost her, Claire, it's a natural assumption to make from that kind of statement," Crystal replied.

"Well, I can tell you one thing. If the Doctor is around, then chances are, something big is about to happen. There's no telling what it might be, though, so just...be careful, alright?"

"Yeah, sure thing, Cas."
"Alright. Well, I've bothered you long enough. Like I said, I just wanted to check on you."

"Yeah, thanks for calling. Talk to you later."
"Goodbye, Claire."

"Wow," Crystal said after Claire had hung up. "We met a time-traveling alien. How crazy is that? Welp, I'm going back to bed. See you in the morning, Claire!"

"Yeah," Claire said, "see you in the morning."

Please review? Pretty pretty please?