Hello, I'm alive! This chapter may seem a little off (well, it does to me, anyway) because I'm writing it while medicated (Yey meds!)- so ... yeah. As always, thank you to my lovely reviewers and followers who literally make my life amazing and give me inspiration to keep writing! 3

"Rory, what the hell?!" I shouted as I dropped my head into my hands, "Didn't we just talk about this not ten minutes ago? What did you even tell them?"

She looked up at me with pleading eyes, "Lily, they're your parents, they have the right to know-"

"Like hell they do! Do you even remember what they-"

"Of course I remember, Lily!" she spit back at me, anger flaring dangerously in her eyes, "How could I ever forget! But it happened, and you can't change that! All you can do is accept it and try to move on!"

"Well, I might be able to if they stopped treating me like a freak!"

"Um-" The Doctor cut in awkwardly, causing both of us to turn to him in anger, "Should I -?" he motioned to the doorway.

"No!" We both shouted at the same time before turning back to each other.

"Why do you always have to do this?! Why can't you leave well enough alone!?" I asked defeatedly.

"Because I'm determined to keep this family together!" She took a deep breath to calm herself before speaking again, "Look, I'm not saying I think what they've done is right- because it isn't- but they are your family. And that means something to me even if it doesn't to you."

Oh, great- she's playing the guilt card. "Rory, you're wrong. I do care about family," I stepped closer to her and put my hands on her shoulders, looking right into her eyes with the greatest sincerity I could possibly muster, "But you're my family. You practically raised me, not them. I came back to see you, not them," I dropped my arms to my sides, "Please don't make me do this."

She looked down and to the left with her eyes the saddest I have ever seen them, "I'm sorry," she said brokenly, not meeting my eyes for shame, "It's out of my hands now. They're already on their way already for dinner."

I sighed and turned away from her, avoiding the Doctor's gaze and looking out the window at the street below. I could run. I could take the Doctor's hand and drag him down the street and fly away in the TARDIS, never looking back. Everything would be fine: I could forget my miserable life on Earth and travel with the Doctor until the day I died.

I finally turned away from the Earth scene in the window to look at the Doctor. He had run too. Even though he insisted that he was running to the universe, I knew at least part of him was running away from what he'd done on Gallifrey. Is that what we would be if I left now too? Just two people running from their past in a blue box? No, I thought to myself, I'm tired of running. I had run from my parents for more than ten years now, and what had that accomplished? Nothing, that's what- except of course making Rory miserable. If I faced my demons now, I wouldn't have to do it again. Of course, this reasoning was being fought by my severe desire to never see my parents again.

"Lily?" The Doctor asked in a concerned voice.

I snapped out of my reverie and my eyes focused on him before I faced my sister again, "Dinner, huh?"

Rory let out a breath she seemed to be holding for a very long time. She smiled sheepishly and nodded.

I nodded back, "Well, I hope they don't bring beans. Lord knows he won't eat any," I pointed in the direction of the Doctor, only to earn a very shocked and confused look from him.

He looked between Rory and I, "What? You're making me stay now?"

I smiled at his reaction, "Oh, yeah. If I have to do it, so do you. Do I have to remind you that this is all your fault for bringing me back late?"

He sighed in resignation, "Fine, but you owe me."

I smiled nervously at him, I'm going to have to introduce the Doctor to my parents.

/\/\/\/\/\/\

Ding-dong

Oh, God!

This was a horrible decision...

The Doctor looked down at me from his position at my side and seemed to sense my distress. He interlocked his fingers in mine and squeezed it in encouragement, "It's going to be fine. People love me," he said with a self-satisfied grin.

I gave him a look of disbelief, "You've never met my parents."

"Oh, come on. They've raised you, how bad can they be?" He gave me a heart-warming smile and watched as Rory walked towards the door.

She opened the door and I cringed as I heard my parents' voices, "Oh, Aurora, we're so glad you found her. Is she alright?" My mother's voice asked in worry.

"Yes, she's fine," I could hear footsteps coming towards us in the hallway and I unhappily released the Doctor's hand, "She just lost track of time, that's all."

I could hear them rounding the corner, "Well, that doesn't sound like our-" My mother came into view at the entrance to the living room and stopped dead at the sight of the Doctor and I. "Oh! I suppose that explains it," she exclaimed with an understanding nod.

My father appeared at her side and heaved a heavy sigh of disapproval, "Yes, unfortunately it does." He began to glare at the Doctor.

My mother was a little shorter than Rory and I, and had the exact same blond colored hair that Rory had (and that I used to have). She had light grayish-blue eyes and a slightly curvy frame that all the women in the family shared. My father, on the other hand, stood a little taller than the Doctor and had light brown hair with deep brown eyes. The way he was glaring at the Doctor made him look more like a hungry falcon than a human at the moment...

"I believe we haven't been properly introduced," The Doctor said to my parents, taking a step forward, "My name is the Doctor." He held out his hand and my father took it, not breaking eye contact with him.

"I'm Harold and this is my wife, Jeanette." He waved in the direction of my mother, who then shook the Doctor's hand.

"Well, it's a pleasure to finally meet you both. I've heard so much about you." Which of course was a complete lie, but the Doctor said with the upmost sincerity. Over the months, I had learned that he was a very good actor and that rule #1 was: the Doctor lies, but I honestly couldn't tell if he was being sincere at the moment about being glad to meet them. My parents at least seemed convinced, though.

"Yes, well I wish I could say the same about you," my father said with a forced grin.

I could tell this was going to get very awkward, very fast, "Mum, what did you bring for dinner?" I asked, pointing to the aluminum foil wrapped container in her arm.

"Just some leftover pork and bean stew."

I nodded, "Of course it is."

I said this more to myself, but my mother seemed to hear my aversion to beans and take it as a personal insult, "Well, I would've had time to make something else if you had told us you were coming back, or kept in any contact with us at all," my mother's gaze turned to ice as she looked me in the eyes, clearly conveying the message that me taking off was definitely not okay.

This is going to be a long night...

/\/\/\/\/\/\

"So Doctor tell me, what do you do for a living?" We were all sitting at the dining room table, my parents on either end and the Doctor and I sitting across from Rory. We all had a bowl of bean stew in front of us, and the Doctor broke his slightly disgusted gaze from the bowl and looked at my father.

"I travel," he stated simply, "I go everywhere and anywhere. I never stop, really," he laughed a little.

"You ... travel for a living?" My mother always struggled with ideas that challenged the sanity of her perfect world.

"Yes." After this the table fell silent, except of course the occasional scraping of cutlery against the bowls. The Doctor was really making a valiant effort of eating the beans, and I shot him an apologetic smile. At least he didn't call my mother's beans "evil" as he usually would.

"And so you decided to take Lily to travel with you? As a ... ?" My father left the question open for the Doctor to answer.

"Companion," he answered quickly.

"Companion," my father repeated, a false smile plastering his face, "Is that what they're calling it these days?"

"Dad," Rory said harshly in a warning tone.

"What?" he asked in frustration, setting down his silverware, "It's a reasonable assumption- we're all thinking it. Forgive me if I'm a bit upset that this stranger is taking advantage of my daughter!"

Well, that escalated quickly.

"Dad, stop it!" I slammed down my silverware too.

"No!" my mother cut in this time, "Your father's right, Lily: why would you run off with him? You just met the man and you chose him over your own family!"

"It was my decision to go with him! I'm an adult, remember? I can actually decide for myself!"

My dad stood up in frustration and placed his palms on the edge of the table for emphasis, "No, you can't! That's your problem: your mind plays tricks on you! You can't think straight, Lily, you're sick!" My father's eyes saddened as he said this, but nothing could've helped my sympathize with him about it. For over a decade I had taken their crap about wanting to protect me, and I was never going to take it again.

"There it is!" I said with a mirthless laugh as I stood up as well, "There it is! You know, Dad, I'm not actually insane!"

"Well, you could've fooled me," he shot back, not missing a beat, "You know what the doctors said, Lily!"

"You're gonna take the doctor's side on this?! They don't know anything! Why can't you just let me control my own life?" I looked between both my parents as I said this, and vaguely registered that the Doctor was very awkwardly trying to make himself invisible in the chair beside me. I wondered what this scene would've looked like to him: my father and I standing up facing each other, my mother sitting back in her chair like she was waiting until we got it out of our system, and Rory in her chair with her head in her hands. It wasn't so strange to me since I had grown up like this, but I couldn't imagine the position I was putting the Doctor into.

My dad shook his head and looked down, "Why can't you understand? We're just trying to do what's best for you!"

"I don't care!" I smiled. Getting this off my chest made me feel the best I'd felt in years. "I'm going to do what I want now! And what I want is to travel with him!" I pointed at the Doctor without looking at him, "And if you can't deal with that, then get out."

My parents looked shocked at my demand, and honestly I was probably more shocked than they were. But that didn't mean I didn't mean it. I felt as if I had just had a psychological breakthrough or something. Suddenly, I was glad I came to see my family, if even it was just to set my parents straight. All the pent-up angst and animosity I'd built against my parents was finally being released and I'd never felt so free.

"Fine," my father said, his tone dangerous, "Come on, Jeanette."

My mother stood and opened her mouth to protest, "Harold-"

"We're leaving," he interrupted with a note of finality. My mother stood with a defeated expression and avoided my gaze as she passed me on her way out. No one said a word as they left, or even after the door slammed with a definite click.

"Well," I said after an awkward silence, finally sitting back in my chair, "that went better than I expected."

It was silent again, but I could feel a faint movement on my shoulder coming from the Doctor and was surprised to see him shaking in suppressed laughter.

"I'm sorry, I don't know why I'm laughing," he apologized, letting a small chuckle escape his lips.

I heard laughter erupt from across the table and looked up to see that Rory was giggling as well. I couldn't help but start to laugh too as she struggled to speak due to lack of oxygen, "That was ... so horrible." She became caught in a fit of laughter again, "Did you see their faces?"

By this time I was balled up in my seat with my hands wrapped around my stomach from laughing so hard, "Well, congratulations, Doctor. You just survived your first domestic."

"Oh, believe me, that wasn't my first. It was certainly the worst, though," he said smiling.

"Well, that's us Watercreeks for you: we always strive to be the most memorable."

"That I already knew," he said earnestly, looking straight into my eyes. Suddenly, the whole world seemed to stop. I had a sweeping urge to close the gap between us like I had last time we were in this house together. But it had been so short then, so unappreciated. I didn't feel for him then like I did now, and could you blame me? Here he was, sitting in my dining room after witnessing a shouting match between my parents and I and he wasn't running. He didn't even want to be here but he came ... for me. I knew I would do anything for him, but it was only now that I realized he would do the same for me. I wanted- needed- to be closer to him. I wanted to let him know that I would never leave him either...

"So what now?" Rory asked expectantly of us. We both turned away from our moment and looked at her.

Good question...

Domestic issues- YEY! Well, at least now you know why she was so ready to leave with the Doctor, and the next chapter is going to explore that even more! I would say that the next chapter is going to be up soon, but I'm so unpredictable that it won't mean anything, so... Until next time :)

Please tell me what you think!