The Doctor stood in front of the white wall. The white wall which just mere seconds ago almost swallowed Rose, his Rose…But she was save, save in a parallel universe with her family. Her parallel father did, what HE wasn't able to do, save her from falling into the void.

His shoulders slumped and he gave the white wall, which now separated him from Rose, one last look, turned around and walked back to the TARDIS. Once inside he leaned against the closed doors and listened to his beautiful ship mourning. The Doctor stroke the coral next to him! I know… It feels so empty without her…" He slid down the door and put his head in his hands. What happened next was something one normally didn't see the last of the time lords do: He started crying.

He didn't know what to do, he just lost the love of his life – yes, he knew he loved her, although he never allowed himself to show it to her – and there was nothing he could do to get her back. He didn't even get the chance to say good bye! He banged his head against the door he was leaning at.

That's when he heard a faint screeching noise on the outside of the TARDIS doors. He jumped up and stared at the door. The TARDIS was cloaked with a perception filter! Nobody should be able to see it, not to mention scraping on her doors! He ran to the scanner to have a look at who or what was in front of the TARDIS. Unfortunately the scanner stayed black and didn't show him what he wanted to see. He gave the TARDIS a glare "I'm really not in the mood for your games right now! I wanna know what's outside that door and whether I need to deal with it or not!" He shouted angrily. The TARDIS hummed both offended and compassionate, only Rassilon knows how she's able to express those feelings together. She showed the Doctor the picture of a small tortoise shell cat who was passionately cuddling up to the TARDIS. The Doctor looked at that with shock in his eyes. He had never seen any animal cuddle with his spaceship. Albeit he knew that animals were able to see her most of the time despite the perception filter. Somehow he thought he knew that cat, it was definitely not the first time he saw it. Oh great! Now he was getting paranoid about a cat! He had just decided to stop thinking about that cat and put the TARDIS into the Vortex when suddenly the doors opened on their own. "What?!" He screamed. "Why do you want to have that cat on board? I want to be alone!" He glared at the time rotor. The TARDIS sent him a wave of compassion, strong loneliness and shortly afterwards the feeling one gets when you're sitting in front of a roaring fireplace on a cold winter night – cosiness. "So you want to tell me that I shouldn't be alone? Well, I don't care! I just lost Rose and no one can or will ever replace her!" It was very quiet for a very long moment and then the Doctor's mind was flooded with images and feelings; Rose inside the TARDIS stroking the corals, Rose talking to her, acknowledging that the ship was a sentient being, the feeling of liveliness on the ship, laughter and deep and real happiness. All of a sudden those great images and happy feelings changed into pictures of an empty kitchen with a lonely pink mug in the sink, the lonely and quiet console room, a ship without laughter, without playful and happy banter – a TARDIS without Rose. The Doctor was stunned, he just stared at the console in agony. "Oh dear, I'm so, so sorry! I…I…I just never thought about how you must be feeling about losing her." He stroke the console and then looked towards the still open doors in which a cat was patiently sitting. "Ok, if you want some cat company, we'll take her on board." A strong feeling of thankfulness, and strangely hope, washed over the Doctor. He shook his head and decided to forget about the latter for now. Turning towards the cat he said: „Well then, welcome on board, cat!" The cat meowed and jumped on the jump seat, right next to the jacket Rose had left there. He shut his eyes and quickly turned to the console to send them into the Vortex. He didn't see the eyes of the cat behind him gleam golden.

Once they were safely in the Vortex he turned around again and faced the cat. "So cat, here are a few rules for your time here on the TARDIS. Number one: Don't wander off! You might get lost! B: Don't ever think of killing any of the mice or birds in the gardens! Three or C, whatever you prefer: Don't eat my bananas!" He was about to leave the console room when he stopped again. "Oh, and I think you need a name, can't keep calling you 'cat', can I? Any preferences? You know, I do speak cat." The cat sat up on the jump seat and looked him in the eyes. A sudden feeling of carefully sent thankfulness and appreciation knocked at his mind's walls. The Doctor was really surprised. "Oh! You're a telepathic cat! That's rare on earth! Are you even from earth?" The cat jumped on the console and three letters appeared on the screen. L – I – A, she sent him a picture of herself. "So your name is Lia?" He felt a strong feeling of agreement from her. "Ok then. Hello Lia! I'm the Doctor and that is my ship, the TARDIS, it stands for Time And…" "…Relative Dimensions In Space" the words suddenly appeared on the monitor of the console and Lia winked at him. "Well, good to know you two already got to know each other. But when exactly did that happen? And why do I have the feeling that I have seen you before? I hate being left out!" He wasn't happy at all with how his ship behaved. Lia sent him an image of him petting her head and then looked at him, waiting. The Doctor went over to her and stroke the back of her head. When his hand touched her he was overwhelmed with memories of all the times when he had met her before.

In Cardiff during a refill stop when he was in his last regeneration, she had been the cat he picked up and told about his companions who always wandered off.

She had pushed him towards Rose and sent him pictures of them dancing when Jack wanted to dance with her.

She had more or less forced him to go back and ask Rose a second time if she wanted to accompany him.

He always wondered why the TARDIS decided to bring him to earth once he finished regenerating after the war. Now he knew why, he saw a tortoise shell cat outside the TARDIS, doing what seemed like talking and then saw the controls inside change their direction towards earth.

The most recent memory was of her in 18th century France. She had shown him the way to the fireplace so he could get back to Rose and Mickey.

How did a simple cat manage to be both in 21st century UK and in 18th century France? And how did she manage to get on board the TARDIS? Oh well, the answer to the second question was easy, the TARDIS wanted her to and probably opened her doors for her. But what about the obvious time travel? And why had his memories of this been suppressed? He looked at Lia, waiting for answers. But the only answer he got was a double-feeling of patience washing over him, sent from both the TARDIS and the cat.


Thanks a lot for all the follows and reviews! I was really surprised and really happy :)

I have a question for you, well actually two ;)

1. What do you think about the adventures the Doctor experienced? Should I rewrite them completely with Lia inside or should I just briefly recap them and focus on the Doctor and Lia and Bad Wolf/Rose?

2. WOuld you like to read more about Jack and Jenny? I don't know yet how I would include that but I would try to if you would like to read more about them :)