A/N: In my first days of high school I have discovered the teachers are much more talkative than I'm used to. It's always the same, "We're doing this for you, to not make the mistakes I did when I was your age" and the "You're in the International Baccaloriate (Or however the fudge you spell it) program, and you need to take this seriously." I've also discovered high school just pushes you away from your entertainment times. I only have time to watch one bloody episode of TV before having to go to bed, and hardly enough time to write fanfiction. Moral of story:

They aren't kidding. High school is a shit ton of work.

What was inside that box took Eliana's breath away. It was simple as that, really. She wasn't surprised it was bigger on the inside, that all of this was in one, unsuspicous, unimportant police phone box, but she was surprised it was real. The memories she have regained felt like an unforgettable dream, something of a product of a child's imagination. She felt like a little girl in her imaginary castle, a daydream, a fantasy. All she could say was what everyone else could say, one word:

"Brilliant."

That was the word to describe the Doctor, his TARDIS and the adrenaline pumping through her as she heard the screeching outside the door and the timelord running all around the TARDIS console pulling switches and pushing buttons.

And when the TARDIS took off, as she fought for her balance as the TARDIS bumped and turned through the time vortex, she was shaken into reality. It was real.

She looked over at Merlin, whose stomach was against the floor and was clinging onto the railing. The Doctor looked like a little boy riding a rollercoaster, handling controls with both of his hands, looking up and screaming, "Geronimo!"

How is it possible it's bigger on the inside? She began to wonder as her daydream high started to diminish. How can he travel through time and space?

Then when she looked at all of the flashing lights of the console and felt the nauseous motion of space travel, and when she saw the Doctor in his new body flying the ship like nothing was wrong in the world, she wondered, Why me?

"Why her?"

Setting down his cup of tea a little too forcefully onto his desk, Colonel Mace jabbed his finger at the CCTV footage. "And who is that bloody man with her?"

Martha Jones gave out a silent sigh and wiped a bead of sweat from her forehead due to a long day. "Well sir, I'm pretty sure you can talk it out with your daughter about the man, but about the stealing, I think you should find the cause of it."

Colonel Mace's nostrils flared, his hand twitching as he fought the temptation to grab the cup of tea and smash it against the wall. "I've raised her well. I give her more than just a few pounds a week, so tell me, Mary…"

"It's Martha, sir." Doctor Jones reminded him. Her superior has been growing very old, or as she might suspect, feeling aftershocks from alien attacks. He hasn't been the same ever since he last saw the Doctor. Certainly, he was going mad, either that or he had something urgent to discuss with Martha.

"…Martha, why would she do this?"

Martha had opened her mouth to reply when he waved his hand, taking a sip of his tea and forgetting the anger he had from the reaction to the CCTV footage. "Martha, I've asked you to meet me in my office so I can show you some CCTV footage."

"Which you've already shown me, sir." she told him, slow and calmly.

"No, not that." He pulled up another clip of a road and right in the middle, there was the TARDIS. The Doctor's former companion covered her mouth with her hand, a smile growing behind it. The colonel pressed play and a man appeared on front of the TARDIS, banging and kicking at the door. Quickly, a girl, most likely a teenager, came running towards the scene just as someone opening the door popped his head out.

The video stopped and the colonel grunted. "The bloody thing taped over the rest of the footage, but based on bystander's accounts, those two, the man and the girl jumped into the TARDIS along with the Doctor."

Martha looked over at Colonel Mace. "I am aware that UNIT has begun monitoring the Doctor 24/7 now, but why does it concern you that he has picked up a few new companions?"

Mace grunted. "Well, for one, the man seemed hostile. Secondly, we looked up on the Nilmer family; those two are so normal their profile combined is only one page."

"Why have you called me in?" the former companion asked. "Why me?"

"Well, we have a list of the Doctor's former companions to pick from but you were the most convenient. We need you to go back to the site where the TARDIS had taken off and approach the Doctor." the colonel looked at Martha. "Usually the Doctor leaves a big print on the universe, a big grandiose gesture. This time, however, there's no time phenomenon involved with these two. The TARDIS hadn't crash-landed in their backyard or anything like that. We need you to find out what the Doctor is hiding."

Martha raised an eyebrow, crossing her arms. "But Colonel, if he is hiding something, we should just respect him and leave him to it."

"It's hard for the Doctor to hide things, but this one he's managed to hide. How, I don't know. But you're going to find out, Ms. Jones."

Martha sighed and nodded, rising up to the occasion as she had always done. "Yes sir."

The nauseating twists and turns of time and space travel abruptly stopped, leaving Merlin lying on a chair like a rag doll, Eliana breathless and clinging onto the railing, and the Doctor, already heading towards the door.

"Come on you lot!" beamed the Doctor, opening the door. "Feast your eyes on this!"

Eliana came running to the door whereas Merlin stood up and murmured, "I'm getting too old for this." The Doctor came running back inside to push Merlin out of the TARDIS and onto the alien soil outside.

"Good girl!" praised the Doctor, stroking the TARDIS door. "Oh what a beautiful sight!"

The three have landed right on front of a futuristic building with glass windows and a metal frame. Inside people bustled about, some big and some small, others blue and others green, even some that had four legs, five, maybe six. But that wasn't what caught their attention. It was the floating city on front of them.

Floppy, wooden bridges connected big white structures held in the sky as if by magic, and around them the sky was a rich, royal blue. It took them a moment to realize that they were in the clouds, causing the moist, cool atmosphere.

"Azurterrene, the future humans call it," said the Doctor, "because it's in the sky and it has an atmosphere humans can breathe in."

"Oh my god," said Eliana, grinning. "It's true!"

"Like you ever doubted me." The Doctor patted her back and turned to Merlin. "So, would you want to explore the universe's biggest mall behind us?"

Merlin fumed. "Like I would."

"They have a store for every single time period of every single inhabited planet!" cried the Doctor, turn Merlin to face the building. "If you want you can buy some chainmail!"

Merlin just glared at the timelord.

The Doctor smiled mischiveiously. "There's capes with Camelot's crest on them. Neckerchiefs, how about those?"

Then he turned to Eliana. "The future human race have concocted their best cheesecake and are selling it in there, if you want. There's also a lot of clothes, let me tell you."

Before Eliana could open her mouth the Doctor handed her a plastic card. "The universe owes me a few favors. Pretty sure they won't mind a human girl running about buying things."

The princess jumped up and down excitedly. "Merlin never let me handle a credit card, nevertheless let me go anywhere alone!" she gave the Doctor a quick hug. "Thank you!"

Just as she was about to run into the mall Merlin stopped her. "What makes you think she won't get hurt or kidnapped, Doctor?"

The Doctor rolled his eyes. "Oh Merlin, what an old man." He hopped into the TARDIS and hopped back out, placing a pair of glasses on Eliana's face. "There." Then he threw Merlin a small monitor. "And there. You'll see everything Eliana sees. Eliana, feel free to take them off and put them under a mound of clothes while you're in the fitting room."

Eliana nodded, waving at the two as she ran into the mall, vanishing behind a group of Ood. This left the Doctor and Merlin alone to talk.

"Cup of tea?" the Doctor offered, pointing at the floating city of Azurterrene. "I know a great shop that…"

"I'm am not trusting those bridges." Merlin frowned. "I wouldn't enjoy falling to my death either."

The Doctor nodded, looking down at his shoes. He fidgeted for a while, taking in the sights around him and straightening his bowtie. Then, in effort to feed his restless nature he said, "Cup of tea in the mall then?"

Although Merlin didn't want to, he nodded and the two, those thousand-year old men walked through the doors and into the big maze of a mall inside.

The Doctor located the shop quite easily, leading Merlin to the 16th floor in the 4th hallway. The two sat at the table and after they had ordered, Merlin did nothing but look at the monitor the Doctor had given him.

"Eliana's found that cheesecake place you told her about," murmured Merlin, "and now she's eating it."

The Doctor raised his eyebrows, studying Merlin, his worried stance and his stiff figure. "You know Merlin, after living this long I've gotten good at reading people."

"I've lived so long I know I'm worried about Eliana."

"Yeah, but there comes a time when you need to give her some freedom."

Merlin looked up and glared at the Doctor. "Are you questioning my parenting?"

The Doctor nodded, honest to the bone. "Yes, I am."

The sorcerer sighed, prying his eyes off of the monitor. "After what happened in Camelot, no matter how much we tried, it was hard to hold trust in the highest manner. Sometimes Gwen requested resources instead of a truce. Other times knights would kill without questioning. The death of Arthur shook the entire kingdom, but Gwen was strong."

Merlin blinked rapidly, keeping tears in. "The kingdom fell when she died from old age. None of the knights could take the throne; all were pushing each other towards the throne but none were brave enough to grab the crown. Without a leader I watched as the kingdom collapsed on itself."

The Doctor nodded, pursing his lips together. "And what were her dying words?"

Merlin looked up at the Doctor, sniffing. "I was there beside her, holding her hand, watching as life faded from her eyes as she said, 'Think about it Merlin, years into the future Eliana and Arthur are living together, happy.'" He tried to shake it off when the waitress came and set their tea down on the table but couldn't, a tear falling down his face, "What crushes me as every century passed by is the fact that you haven't showed up on my doorstep yet, and maybe, just maybe, Arthur would never live again."

"I'm not a phyciatrist," said the Doctor, "but I do know Eliana is fourteen and she is old enough to defend for herself. You've done a great job, Merlin, but it's time you've given her freedom."

The Doctor just has a way of being likeable and convincing, and even after a few hundred years knowing him, Merlin still fell for his charm. He nodded and took a sip of tea, spending the rest of the time savoring his alien beverage.

Martha couldn't help feeling like a teenager surrounded by her over-protective parents while waiting for a friend. She kept glancing behind her at the dozens of UNIT cars and soldiers, fully armed and ready to fire. Two soldiers stood on either side of her, wearing much more armor than any of the others. Colonel Mace even had tried to force a bullet-proof vest on her but she insisted the Doctor wasn't dangerous.

"You can never be so sure, even if he is for the greater good." Colonel Mace had told her. "That ship of his is dangerous as well. It can wipe out an entire army for Christ's sake."

Martha could brush off a bullet-proof vest, but she couldn't convince Mace to withdraw the entire force of UNIT soldiers. Just as she expected, she heard the TARDIS and its familiar sound; and when the door opened she just had to blush.

A man with black hair and pale skin came out first, and when setting his eyes on UNIT, held his arms up, slightly dazed and whispering something.

Next, a girl came out, her eyebrows raised and shopping bags hanging from her arms.

The last person came out, and Martha knew he was the Doctor; he stood out from the rest. His grin quickly disappeared from his face when he saw UNIT.

"Hello Doctor," greeted Martha, ignoring the heat crawling up her face. "and I assume these are your companions?"

The Doctor just stared as he strode towards her, facing her eye to eye. They were the same height now, but the Doctor was a stranger to Martha now.

"Why on Earth is an entire army surrounding an exact spot on a quiet street?" demanded the Doctor. "Most people here haven't bloody seen a soldier before! You may as well write a check to the city for compensation!"

Martha struggled to maintain her professional composure. "I insisted you weren't dangerous, but Colonel Mace insisted an entire force of UNIT soldiers should accompany me just in case."

"And he didn't even bother putting armor on you?"

"I insisted I shouldn't wear it."

"And you couldn't make him let you go by yourself?"

"A bullet-proof vest is one thing, but an entire force is another."

The Doctor pursed his lips together, holding his arms out in exasperation. He looked over Martha's shoulder at all of the soldiers and all of their guns pointed at him, and the two soldiers on either side of her, their cold, black pistols so close to his skull he could feel them. Then he looked at Martha. She wanted to hold out a hand and say, "Nice to meet you," instead of giving him a hug and saying, "Nice to see you again!" He was a stranger now, and the Doctor she knew is dead.

The timelord caught her drift, fortunately, holding out his hand for Martha to shake it. "Nice to see you again, Martha."

Martha smiled. "Nice to meet you, Doctor."

The two soldiers beside Martha watched cautiously as they shook hands, their pistols drawing closer. The Doctor jerked back, glaring at the two and looking over at Martha again. "So tell me; what are you doing here?"

"UNIT has started monitoring you 24/7…"

"Oh great!" the Doctor interjected. "Just what I need! UNIT on my back at all times! May as well pick up companions from other planets, if that's what they want!"

"…but we haven't butted in until now, because Colonel Mace is curious to why you picked these two to travel with you."

The Doctor turned around on his heels, staring up at the sky. "My god! Is that what it is these days? Is 'Who will be the Doctor's next companion?' a reality television show? Can I turn on the telly and see a slideshow of a bunch of celebrities and why they should travel with me?"

"No, because there has always been a reason."

"No bloody reason that you can find on records, that's for sure, and I'm pretty sure there was no tangible reason why I picked up any of my companions these last few regenerations."

"A reason we could capture from CCTV, or of the like."

"So what do you want to know then?"

"Why you picked these two up. Colonel Mace's curiousity, nothing more." Then realizing how unsinciere that sounded, Martha added, "I'm just following orders."

The Doctor nodded, staring down at his shoes. "I'm just following orders, Doctor, I'm just following orders. That's what you all say these days. I just want to meet the big boss why gives those orders. Ridiculous, absolutely ridiculous."

He looked behind him at Eliana and Merlin, who both have been staring at UNIT like they were a display. He looked back at Martha and said, "Merlin is the Merlin from the stories."

Martha nodded, looking at the sorcerer. "And the girl?""

That's when the Doctor grinned, finding something he can connect with his former companion without seeming like a complete stranger. "Eliana."

"Eliana?" Martha repeated, smiling. She had always wanted to meet Eliana when she was older, but not like this. "That's amazing! Look at her, she looks just like her mother. And her father, if you squint."

"Definitely. It was hard not squeezing her cheeks or cooing all over the place."

No matter how odd it seemed, trying to talk to a stranger as if she'd know him for quite a while, she took great pleasure to see how big Eliana had gotten. She may not know it, but there were so many people who had looked after her, whether it was the Torchwood team while the Doctor got into dicey situations or one of his companions while on the TARDIS.

Martha turned around and yelled, "Objective reached, you lot, you can all leave now!"

The Doctor stood beside her, slightly impressed, as by one single shout, Martha had dismissed a large body of soldiers. When they had left in their cars, Martha turned back around at the TARDIS, Eliana, the sorcerer and the Doctor, feeling a strange sense of déjà vu. Traveling with the Doctor was brilliant, exhilarating and random, just like this.

"May I?" asked Martha, motioning towards their house. "I've just realized that my husband won't be here for a couple of minutes."

"Uh—erm, sure, I guess." Merlin stammered, walking towards his home.

Once he had closed the door, Eliana was seated beside Martha in the living room where she had been on her third birthday as the Doctor stood at the doorway. The Doctor and his new face sat beside her also. She sat on the couch was random strangers but those strangers have known her for years.

It was after a few silent moments when Martha broke the silence. "Aren't you proud, Doctor? Your little girl has grown up!"

The Doctor replied giddily, "I'm just smiling on the inside. I mean look at these cheeks!" he starting pinching Eliana's cheeks as she grew red. "I used to pinch these after I'd gotten back into the TARDIS! She was so small back then, don't you remember? Jack used to say they lost her in all of their paperwork while Torchwood was taking care of her!"

"I always wondered who she would be when she got older," said Martha, "but now I know."

"Can you two please stop treating me like a baby?" then seeing their surprised faces, she added, "Please?"

"Oh, um, of course!" the Doctor stood up, looking down at the two of them. "I'll just go…and talk to Merlin!"

Once he disappeared into the kitchen Martha looked at Eliana. "Do you remember me?"

Eliana could barely remember Martha. She was familiar, but that was pretty much it. She shook her head and Martha sighed, setting her hand on a pillow. "I'm guessing you remember the Doctor and his old face."

Incredibly shy due to lack of experience with strangers, Eliana nodded. She wanted to say more, as Martha was one of the people who took part in raising her, but kept her mouth shut. Her voice would've trembled and she would've felt very out of place.

"You might wonder why the Doctor came back to see you again." Martha continued. "But I'm guessing it was because he couldn't simply let you go. It was really hard for him to put you on Merlin's doorstep in the first place. But I think there was something that fascinated him about a little baby; there you were, in his arms, barely knowing at thing, barely a year old. Then there was him, with the entire universe in his head and having lived almost a thousand years. He was always interested in big stars, civilizations, but there was something he saw in a small newborn human."

"But why did he choose me to travel with him?" asked Eliana, urging herself to say more. "There must be a lot of other people out there who would love to travel the universe. It's bloody amazing."

"It is," agreed Martha, "but the Doctor's fascinated in humans, our sentimentality, or urge to protect ourselves and our young. The raw human personality, that's what he saw in us. Your parents were great people, so he felt obliged to do what he did. Personally, he took me in after we saved an entire hospital from choking on the moon."

"What?"

Martha smiled. "Oh, long story."

"But who are my parents?"

That's when her expression turned a little sad. "I'm afraid I can't tell you that, sweetheart. There are many questions left unanswered in the world, and they should just stay that way."