Obviously there's not much alien stuff in this story. It's primarily about Alex's back story and establishing his meeting and relationship with the Doctor. The next original story will be more Doctor Who-ish :) And I've suddenly realised that the Doctor putting things through companions' front doors in a rather Wibbly-Wobbly fashion is what happened in The Big Bang. I thought up that point before I remembered the similarity, promise!

Another Meanwhile in the TARDIS coming your way, before we move onto The Time of Angels!

First Contact – Part Three

Shrill screams of horror erupted. At the last second, Elliot had thrown himself in front of Eva, taking the laser for her, which hit him square in the chest. Tears streamed down Eva's face as she knelt beside Elliot's lifeless body, lying on the grass. The light of the bonfire reflected eerily in his eyes, still wide open, a ghost of his last heroic act for the woman he loved. Alex was knocked off kilter in shock, stumbling backwards to lean on the wooden garden fence, shaking.

"Brave work, for a human," said the alien triumphantly, nodding. "He would have made a good Sontaran."

"He was defenceless!" the Doctor shouted at the Sontaran, incensed. "You give them a chance! You always give them a chance! Even you lot, after everything your race has done, I still give you a chance!"

"You know of our race then?" asked the Sontaran, interested. "What do you know?"

"Oh yes," the Doctor whispered to the alien, walking towards it menacingly. "I know the Sontarans. And I know of your pathetic little war. A 50,000-year war, raging across the cosmos, with countless innocent races caught in the crossfire."

"But not for much longer! The Rutans are weaker than they have been for millennia! We are close to our glorious victory!"

"Oh stop it. You've both been saying that for 20,000 years. And you'd think that after 50,000 years of death, and killing, you might have a shred of pity, a shred of mercy, a shred of respect for innocent life. But that would be too kind for the glorious Sontarans, wouldn't it? So... trigger-happy."

"Time Lord!" the Sontaran cried suddenly, its raspy voice filling the silent air as the people in the garden cried silently, some rocking back and forth in shock. The machine on the Sontaran's wrist had beeped. The scan was complete. It smiled a revolting smile. "But this is marvellous. You talk to me of mercy, and respect for life. The man who carries death and destruction with him, like a plague. The man who disintegrated his entire race in one second. You talk to me. You are worse than the entire Sontaran race, Doctor." The Sontaran drew his gun once more. "I will rid the universe of your presence, once and for all."

People were whimpering all around Alex. The Doctor was staring down the barrel of the Sontaran's laser gun in... not quite fear, but something. Eva was lain over Elliot's lifeless corpse in fits of tears. Other couples were holding each other tightly, whether for comfort, warmth or security, Alex wasn't sure. He looked across the crowd to see Daisy, her arms firmly wrapped around Ollie. Alex suddenly realised. Every single person in the garden was with someone; only he and the Doctor stood alone.

"Why are you even here?" the Doctor asked the Sontaran, most likely stalling for time. "You shouldn't be here,"

"Reconnaissance." It said simply. "A good armed force always investigates their targets."

"Targets?" the Doctor asked. Did that mean an impending invasion? Alex thought. He looked at the sky. The blue light effect had disappeared, he realised, since the Sontaran had crashed. Weakly, Alex sank to his feet. However, instead of coming to rest on the grass, he'd sat on something thoroughly uncomfortable.

"A soldier would be unwise to reveal future stratagems to an enemy."

Alex reached down and pulled the thing out from underneath him. He realised it was his bag that he'd lost. He suddenly remembered throwing it against the fence earlier that night, while talking to Elliot. Elliot...

"You crashed here though. Why did you crash?"

Alex wiped his eye, smoke from the nearby bonfire nearly making him choke. He looked at the fire, still burning a few feet behind where the thing called the Sontaran stood, cocked gun still aimed at the Doctor.

"Mere Rutan sabotage."

Alex was struck by something. Inspiration was a slightly wrong word. Grief? Rage? Despair? He didn't know. He surreptitiously crept his hand into the bag, reaching for The Big One. His hand knocked the bottle of alcohol he'd put in there earlier too. Even better.

"Let me take you back to Sontar," the Doctor tried, slightly desperately. "I can help you. I can take you and your ship back to Sontar. No-one else needs to die tonight."

Alex pulled the cap off of the bottle and poured some of the liquid onto the bottle. The flammable liquid.

"That solution would be inadvisable, Doctor. The last of the Time Lords will meet his end at my hand and my gun." The Sontaran licked his lips repulsively, relishing the moment. His finger squeezed on the trigger slightly.

"Oi. Mr. Potato Head," Alex called to the Sontaran, firework in hand. He turned to look at Alex, distracted. "You look like you could do with a cooking." Alex violently launched the firework from his hand in the direction of the bonfire. The flammable alcohol coated on the firework ignited as it came into contact with the hot, burning fire. The flames caught hold as the rocket began to crack. The firework erupted. A blistering inferno erupted as a ball of fire released unmitigated amounts of energy. More shrill screams sounded, almost out-doing the sound of the explosion. Alex and the Doctor hit the ground, an incredible burning heat rushing safely over their heads. The Sontaran was afforded no such luxury. The blaze rushed into him and struck him full-force, knocking him clean off his feet, scolding his furious face. The Sontaran landed violently on the hard ground, his gun knocked out of his hand. He seemed to have been knocked out. When the furore had subsided, the Doctor leapt to his feet and kicked the laser gun away from the Sontaran's hand, just in case.

"I did that," Alex whispered, shocked by his actions. He glanced around and saw the scold marks on the ground. A few plants were on fire. The grass around the bonfire was completely gone. The bonfire was also beginning to simply glow, having burnt itself out. Black scorch marks coated the Sontaran's pod.

"Yes you did," the Doctor told him, running over to Alex and helping him to his feet. "And you just saved my life. Thank you." The Doctor clapped him on the shoulder. "You did well, yeah?" he asked Alex, who was still looking distressed at his actions. Eventually, he broke into a smile.

"Yeah," Alex took a deep breath and walked over to the Sontaran. "What should we do with him?"

"Oh I've got some friends who can sort things out. You got a mobile?" Alex took out his phone and passed it to the Doctor, who typed in a number. "How do I put it to speaker?" Alex took the phone and showed him.

"This is the Unified Intelligence Taskforce. How may I help you this evening?" said a female voice on the phone. It sounded like a call centre.

"Listen, it's the Doctor. It's me. Put me through to someone."

Silence, followed by a click and a dialling tone. Eventually, a new voice came onto the line. "Doctor?" A mature male voice this time.

"Yeah, it's me."

"An honour to talk to you sir. General Tobias Cork Sir."

"'Ello Toby. Got a job for you if you're up for it. Clean up operation."

"What manner of clean up sir?"

"Sontaran warrior plus pod. Still alive, I think. Unarmed. Sontarans should be on record."

There was a sound of typing from the other end of the line. Eventually, Cork returned. "Yes sir. I've got the file here sir. Sontarans, a clone race, originating from the planet Sontar in the Mutter's Spiral-"

"Yeah, I know, I've been there. I just need you to get rid of it, can you do that?"

"Absolutely sir. Where might we find the Sontaran?"

"Back garden of the- hold on," he turned to Alex. "What's the address of this place?"

"24 Middleton Crescent," he replied immediately.

The Doctor smiled slightly at his readiness. "24 Middleton Crescent," he repeated into the phone. "Found it? Yeah. Just send the regional squad. Soon as pos'. Thanks." Without waiting for a response, the Doctor hung up and passed the phone back to Alex. "Thanks."

"Who was that?"

"UNIT. The Unified Intelligence Taskforce. Basically an army unit who deal with aliens- what're you doing?" The Doctor noticed that the Sontaran's gun which he'd kicked away had been picked up by someone.

"We need to kill it," Ollie said angrily, waving the gun around in his hand. He pointed it at the Sontaran lying on the ground, aiming.

"No we don't. It's unconscious, and I've dealt with it."

"It's going to invade!"

"Ollie. It's unconscious," Alex pointed out. "And there's only one of them. Let him deal with it."

"Who the hell are you anyway?"

"I'm the Doctor. I've just saved your life. Don't ruin it by taking someone else's."

"That thing killed Elliot!"

"And what makes you better if you kill it?" the Doctor asked him, glaring. Ollie faltered. "Now, put the gun down."

"But I-"

"Put. The gun. Down," The Doctor overrode him. Ollie held his gaze for a few seconds. Eventually, he lowered the gun, holding it limply.

The Doctor turned his back on him and walked away. Alex followed him, listening as he spoke. "So. How d'you like fighting aliens?"

"Sorry?" Alex asked, slightly surprised.

"Good feeling, isn't it? Saving lives." Alex nodded slowly, mouth open slightly in surprise. "Oh yeah. What were you saying earlier? I brought your firework?"

Alex found his voice. "Yeah. I got this as well." He picked his bag up again and took the note out from it which had told him to stay until 11:00. He handed it to the Doctor. "I wasn't going to stay until then. I wanted to leave early. But that came through my door earlier, and I decided I would stay until eleven. I don't even know why. Was that you too?"

"No. Well, yes. Sort of. It's definitely my handwriting. But I haven't written it yet." He shrugged. "I'll do it later."

"Eh?"

"For Sontar!" a familiar coarse voice cried. Frightened screams reverberated around once more, followed by the buzzing of the laser gun as it fired three shots. The Doctor and Alex whirled around and took in the scene. The Sontaran lying face-down on the ground in front of Ollie, who held the laser gun in his hands, still pointed at the Sontaran's lifeless body.

"I said to put the gun down!" the Doctor shouted, advancing on Ollie angrily.

"He came at me! He was shouting!" Ollie whimpered, finally dropped the gun on the floor and shaking.

"He's four foot tall! What was he going to do to you?"

"But it's an alien!"

"So am I! Are you going to kill me?"

As the Doctor continued to berate Ollie, Alex knelt down beside the Sontaran and heaved him over so he was on his back. "Sorry," he said to it, as he closed the Sontaran's eyes.

"Come on," the Doctor said, pulling Alex to his feet. Ollie and his friends had retreated near to the house, though the Doctor had ordered everyone not to leave the garden; UNIT would need to speak to everyone. The Doctor walked over to the Sontaran's pod and sat inside, pressing buttons and pulling levers.

"What're you doing?" Alex asked.

"Need to disable the pod. Make it inactive so it doesn't blow up on us when UNIT try to move it," the Doctor pulled wires out of ports as he spoke and pointed a strange device at each one, which lit up in blue and emitted an unusual noise. Alex sighed and sat on the step out of the pod. The Doctor looked at him and took pity. "Listen," he told him, touching him on the shoulder compassionately. "When they arrive, I'll need to talk to them. But I'll make sure you don't have to. You've been through enough tonight."

"Thanks," Alex almost whispered. "You said you were an alien."

"I am."

"What kind?"

"Time Lord. Last of."

"Sorry."

The Doctor waved away Alex's pity. "I can give you a lift home if you want. Back to your parents'. No, you've probably moved out now haven't you? What're you, 23? 24?"

"Twenty-three. Yeah, I've moved out. No parents though, they died nearly a year ago."

"Oh. I'm... sorry... how?"

"Remember last Christmas Eve? That alien star thing?" The Doctor's eyes darkened slightly. He simply nodded. "Well, my parents were on this business trip to London. They were coming home on the train when one of those electricity beams hit the track. The train exploded. 87 people died."

"That was my fault..." the Doctor whispered.

"Sorry?" Alex asked, turning to the Doctor, who was still working on the console.

"Nothing. So... you've got no-one?"

"Got a sister. But she's with my grandparents, hardly ever see her anyway. No girlfriend anymore. I've thought about leaving. Karen – my sister – keeps my here. I'll always be here, as long as she needs me."

The Doctor seemed deep in thought. Eventually, he spoke. "What if I could give you an escape? The best escape ever. But one where you could come back home in the blink of an eye, whenever she needed you?"

Alex chuckled cynically. "That would be great. Don't know a cure to death too, do you?"

"Not one that I can teach." Alex turned to him again, questioningly. "Doesn't matter." He pulled one more wire out of a socket and used his blue light on it. "Right. Done."

"Now what?"

"Now, I want to show you something," the Doctor jumped out of the pod and began to jog towards the house. Alex followed, before stopping when the Doctor did. The Doctor turned to him. "We were never actually introduced, were we? What's your name?" the Doctor asked, holding out a hand.

"Alex. Alex Morgan." Alex took the Doctor's hand and shook it.

"Good to meet you Alex Morgan. I'm the Doctor. Now, come with me!" he ran through the open patio doors and into the dark house, Alex behind him, smiling.

F I R S T C O N T A C T

"What is it?"

"It's a phone box. Sort of." The Doctor had led Alex into Eva's living room. In the middle of the room stood a large blue box, with the words 'Police Public Call Box' on the top.

"And what is a Police Public Call Box? And why have you got one?"

"It's an old phone box that policemen used to use in the 50s and 60s."

"Why've you got one?"

The Doctor, leaning on the box smiled and pushed the door open with his thumb. A yellow-ish white light spilled out of the door. "Step into my office."

Alex gazed inside, intrigued. He glanced at the Doctor, who smiled a cheeky smile. Succumbing to curiosity, he stepped forward and over the threshold of the mysterious blue box.