Hey guys I'm back! Bit late on the update but I've have essays due which i've been writing so that took primary concern. Here is chapter 7 hope you enjoy. Please keep reviewing, following and favouriting this story :) I love reading reviews.

Chapter 7 Can I Stay?

It was the shouting that woke Lauren up this time. She didn't open her eyes immediately as reality decided to loudly make itself apparent around her. In fact she refused to open them. In a vain attempt to ignore the argument below and focus on the blissful state of sleep, she burrowed herself even further into the armchair catching the scent of, she presumed, the Doctor. Apparently crossing universes whatever way she did drained one's energy levels. Lauren never felt more tired in her life.

It was the Doctor, Clara and Danny arguing. Clara snuck Danny in using that invisibility watch. Lauren gave up after thirty seconds of ignoring (listening to) them and opened her eyes. She had moved during her sleep and was now facing the console. She didn't bother moving or doing anything else, simply just watching the scene unfold at an angle due to her head positioned on the fold of the armrest. God they argued a lot in this episode.

Eventually Danny and Clara left, albeit unhappily. The Doctor stepped out of the door muttering to himself, Lauren could just about still see him standing outside. Then the voice of Courtney Woods was heard. Lauren only saw her when she poked her head through the door to see the inside of the TARDIS, she sat up straight as Courtney laid eyes on her. Before Courtney could saying anything to Lauren the Doctor pulled her back from the TARDIS by her collar.

"Who's that girl?" Courtney said loud enough for Lauren to hear.

"A lost student who shouldn't be here. Lauren Raven, taking her home." The Doctor said briskly

"Oh Rena was wondering where you got to!" Courtney shouted to Lauren who heard her loud and clear.

Oh Rena! The nice girl she first spoke to here. She was friends with Courtney? Okay. Lauren smiled at the thought of her wondering what happened to her. "Tell her I'm ok, I'm with a friend and thanks for asking." Lauren called back.

The Doctor and Courtney finished their small talk and the Doctor came back inside and closed the door. "Two days. I can do it."

"Yes. Get a move on." Lauren said even if the Doctor said it more to himself rather than to her. The Blitzer was going to arrive very soon.

"Afternoon sleepy head." The Doctor said with emphasis on the word afternoon as he got back to work. Lauren yawned an afternoon in return and stretched in the chair. Her feet hit something in front of her. Lauren looked down in puzzlement as she saw her school bag sitting there.

"Clara found your bag." The Doctor said without even looking at her to know what she was wondering.

"Well it's not even my school bag, it just appeared with me I think. Anyway I've already finished school to begin with." Lauren said. The Doctor said nothing. He did however take a mental note of what she said and filed it to the back of his mind for later thought as he continued on with his work.

"Though it does have my name on it," Lauren murmured as she looked at the white tag on the back of the bag with her name written on it. Whose handwriting was that? It was not hers she was quite sure of it. "More to the point who has their name written on their school bag? I certainly never did!"

It bugged her because something was off about this. There was something else going on she felt it, then her stomach rumbled. Or maybe it was just her stomach she considered. "Doctor? Got any food?"

Xxxxxxxxxxx

It was around two hours later when the scanner started bleeping. The Doctor who was carrying his tool box suddenly stopped and turned, staring in shock at the scanner. "No, no, no. No! No, no, no, no, no!" He hastily shouted as he grabbed his ghostbusters style backpack and stuff. Lauren tossed the book she was reading aside and ran down to him.

"I'll fetch Clara for you." It was less a question more of a statement. She wasn't going to miss out on all the fun, she wanted a distraction if she was going to be suck here. Anyway she had an advantage of knowing what was going to happen. Lauren ran out of the TARDIS with the Doctor hot on her heels.

The Doctor quickly guided them to the hall where parent's evening was currently being held. Clara was seated in view of the doors, the Doctor started waving through the glass trying to get her attention. She was busy talking to a girl's parents and Lauren decided it would be easier to just walk in, she was wearing the uniform after all so she wouldn't stand out.

"Let me," she said walking into the hall. Danny noticed her first. Lauren made a face at him, darting her gaze to Clara, indicating for him to get her attention. Danny coughed loudly and Clara looked up to him then to Lauren. "Miss Oswald?" She said in a polite voice. "Sorry to interrupt but can I borrow you? It's urgent."

Clara got up and Danny looked like he was about to follow suit. "Yes, of course Lauren." She turned to the girl and her parents, "Sorry won't be long. Student needs me." They made a bee line to the doors and out into the playground where the Doctor was standing with his backpack. "What's happening?" Clara asked.

"Clara, the vortex is opening." The Doctor explained urgently.

Danny came out to them and was being for the moment unhelpful. "You said Thursday night. Right, hall, quick."

"PE, shut up! Clara, it'll scan the area. If it gets to parents evening, it'll kill them all."

"We've got to evacuate." Danny cried.

The Doctor and Lauren both had enough, "Shut up!" they screamed in unison.

"Quickly," Clara cut in, "What do I do?" The Doctor explained to her what to do with the sonic screwdriver to distract it. Danny unhelpfully remained the Doctor his gadget wasn't ready. They had two minutes the Doctor explained, Clara left with sonic in hand and the Doctor told Danny to leave them alone as they left to go to the storeroom.

A minute later Clara burst into the storeroom just as the doors exploded behind her, the sound of the Blitzer's robotic voice rang, "Destroy. Destroy."

"Doctor, now! It's got to be now!" she yelled. But the Doctor needed a bit more time. Clara dodged the weapon fire and helped the Doctor with his backpack while Lauren crouched behind a table shouted "Hey! Blitzer remember me? What am I?"

The Blitzer turned to her guns blazing and she suddenly realized the danger. "Nine stop query scan. Temporal disruption." The Blitzer repeated.

The Doctor got the time he needed and used his backpack to give the Blitzer its orders but of course the final input code was missing. It was going to self-destruct. Cue Danny please she thought as the Doctor and Clara began to panic. "Come on Blitzer I'm full of artron energy!" Lauren desperately tried to stall it until Danny arrived, it looked like it was working, except it was working too well as it fired at her, screaming she avoided the hit and ran behind Clara.

Finally Danny called the Blitzer before appearing from thin air as he turned off the invisibility watch before doing an impressive flip over the Blitzer who fired at him. The Doctor got the final input code in, confirming override of self-destruction. The Blitzer powered off, and everyone breathed a collective sigh of relief. Clara and Danny were overjoyed and hugging each other, Lauren after catching her breath smiled at the happy sight. Good start Danny you did something useful. The Doctor finally admitted Danny did well after it, turned out he was protective over Clara, he feared Danny wouldn't be good enough for her. Lauren found it endearing, he cares for her even if it doesn't always look like it.

Xxxxxxxxxxx

The world was safe from the Skovox Blitzer. Everything happened as it should have, Clara and Danny left to go back to her flat happily and the Doctor took Courtney and her in the TARDIS to watch the Blitzer float harmlessly in space. After he dropped Courtney back and the mess she made was cleaned Lauren sighed contently at the console. She patted its edge and the TARDIS hummed in response. The time ship seemed happy with Lauren's presence here. Lauren pondered if the old girl knew if she was going to arrive today, if she always knew this would happen; the TARDIS could see the future after all. Lauren heard the door close and the Doctor stepped up to stand by the console on the opposite side of her. He was back wearing his usual outfit again. Lauren had fangirled at the sight of him back in his trade mark costume much to the confusion of the Doctor.

"So…" Began Lauren.

"So?" Said the Doctor.

"What happens with me? You're not going to leave me on my own are you?" Lauren tried for what she hoped was a strong tone of voice but it caught at the end.

He pressed a switch and flipped a lever, typed on the keyboard. "Like you would survive in a world that is not your own, I'd give you a week tops out there." The Doctor set the ship back to drift in the vortex.

Lauren allowed herself the smallest of smiles, hope spreading in her chest. "So can I say? Here, with you? And Clara? This ship?" Her heart began to race at the thought, all of time and space with the Doctor. She wanted this. Hell, this is her dream and if she could travel with him she would be too distracted to think about her family, friends, and the guilt it would cause.

The Doctor looked to her and took in her hopeful gaze. He mentally sighed. The lost girl he mused, so very far from home. He wasn't looking for a new companion although with Clara with PE having another one wouldn't hurt he reasoned. She did prove useful in the end.

"I'd said I would help you didn't I?" He said after a pause. Immediately as the words left his mouth the girl beamed with happiness, she was grinning from ear to ear, so big he thought it would crack her face. Before he could protest Lauren had bounded towards him and captured him in a hug. Her arms wrapped tightly around his waist and head resting on his chest.

"No, no, no, no. No hugs!" He pried her off him though she managed to take hold of his arms instead. "Rule one no hugs! If you want to travel with me you have to stick by my rules."

"Yes. Thank you, thank you Doctor!" The Doctor gave a small brief smile in return. "Though I can't promise the no hugging rule. Can I pick a room? If I'm going to stay I need a room."

"Of course. There are many rooms pick your favourite. Go down that corridor, turn left, keep going straight then turn right. Should be a few there. Try not to get lost."

Lauren quickly left down the corridor to find her room. She followed his directions and began trying a few doors. The first door she tried was locked. The second door she tried was also locked. And the third and the fourth doors was also locked. She was being to get confused then she found it. Her door. Lauren looked to her right to see a dark rich wooden door with beautiful patterns carved into the wood. Gallifreyian patterns. Her name was carved near the top. Yup this was the door to her room. The door was a standard size and the wood stood out in stark contrast to the metal walls of the ship. Most doors were metal. Perhaps bedroom doors were made of wood for a more warm welcoming feeling, or maybe it was down to personal preference. She must preferred the beautiful wooden door.

"OK what have you got in store for me on the other side?" The TARDIS hummed encouragingly for her to enter and see for herself. Lauren turned the knob and stepped into her new bedroom and gasped.

It was bigger than any room she had before. Yet it appeared just as cosy as it did spacious. It was the ceiling she had gasped at, instead of boring and plain as she was expecting, the ceiling was full of stars and galaxies. An image of the deep space was projected like a hologram by the TARDIS, galaxies and clouds moved softly like real space would and the stars twinkling. Lauren watched in awe as a shooting star passed. It reminded her of the scene in Closing Time with the eleventh Doctor and Stromageddon. It was beautiful, so real looking yet as a projection it held an artistic flare to it that made it look like a masterpiece. The image took on a blueish purple tone. There was a double bed in the middle with sheets that were the colour of the night sky covered with white dots representing stars. The rest of the walls was like the ship itself and the floor was carpeted.

Opposite the bed was a large TV screen mounted into the wall, to the left side of the bed closest to the door was a small stand of drawers with a lamp sitting on top. By the wall over on the far right at the end of the room was a grand Victorian wardrobe with a mirror on the door, and a matching dark wooden chest of drawers sat off from it. The desk and chair was keeping with the apparent Victorian theme of the furniture. The desk was elegant standing on its four nimble legs.

Lauren laughed as she saw the desk also had a three way mirror like Clara had in her flat. The Doctor wouldn't understand the need for three mirrors. There was an attached ensuite. What Lauren found impressive though (apart from the space ceiling) was the upper level above the wardrobe and the ensuite along the wall. The spiral stairs beside the chested drawers lead to the upper balcony which was like a small library like the console room. Rows of books sat across the selves from one side to the other, complete with a very comfy looking chair like the Doctor's.

"Oh my, old girl this is amazing! This is beyond any normal room, any room I could imagine thank you so much!" Lauren jumped happily around the room like a child in a toy store.

The TARDIS hummed loudly clearly impressed with herself, as she should be Lauren thought.

Lauren looked to the mirror on the wardrobe and realized she was still wearing blood splattered uniform. She was a mess. She quickly got changed into a pair of pyjamas found in the drawers and washed her face and brushed her teeth. Emerging from the bathroom Lauren flopped straight into the bed and nested herself under the covers. Hopefully her energy levels should be back to normal tomorrow. The lights dimmed and the girl thanked the ship.

Sleep captured her before thoughts of her life before became too sharp in her head, because of this Lauren's first official night on the TARDIS was the most peaceful. The rest of the many nights that would eventually follow would not be so kind to her. Tonight though the girl was contently resting in a blanket of stars and under the watchful gaze of the galaxies of outer space above.