When the TARDIS materialised back firmly in the 2090s, the Doctor expected to find a most likely confused but unharmed Sarah sitting next to the river, while the hustle and bustle of city life went on above her.

Instead, he found the world exactly the same as when he left it.

"What are you doing here?" he asked Atlanta in an irritated tone.

Atlanta, for her part, was equally irritated. "You didn't change anything!" she spluttered angrily. "Come late September, the Americans returned and initiated a massacre. That was when I went into suspended animation."

The Doctor wasn't sure what to say. "But I blew them up!" he protested. "I blew all of them up!"

"I wonder what the Brigadier would say to that," Sarah smiled from the corner she'd settled herself down in. Apparently she'd calmed down somewhat since the Doctor's departure, but she was still evidently in pain.

"I can't believe I forgot to check the date," the Doctor chided himself angrily. "When was that?"

"Late August," Atlanta replied grumpily.

"But it was so warm!"

"Some days in late winter are deceiving," Atlanta responded. "They try and trick us into thinking it's spring."

Sarah stared at the two arguing people. "Are you saying," she interjected, "that all that effort came to nothing?"

The Doctor nodded.

Sarah looked disbelievingly at the Doctor. "When we get out of here," she told him, "you are taking that capsule back to Gallifrey and fixing it."

"But I can't do that!" the Doctor protested. "I've meddled in Time! And now I have to do more meddling in Time!"

"You're the bloody President!" Sarah spat the words at her friend.

The Doctor sighed. Mentioning random things in moments of weakness never got him anywhere, but he still did it.

"What are you going to do?" Atlanta asked curiously.

The Doctor paused to think. "Those aren't Americans who invaded the second time round," the Doctor told his two assistants thoughtfully.

"Yes they were," Atlanta argued. "Sarah has the burns to prove it."

The Doctor shook his head. "You remember what you saw, Atlanta, that I blew the American building up?"

"Of course I do!" Atlanta exclaimed irritably. "But it didn't work, did it?"

"The entire American army was inside at the time."

Atlanta glared at him disbelievingly. "But it was a very small building."

"Atlanta, you were recovering from poison at the time," the Doctor argued. Sarah stared blankly at both of them, but didn't earn herself any recognition. "Your senses were distorted. You were incredibly weak, too."

Atlanta waited for the Doctor to go on. Irritated at his silence, she exclaimed, "well, go on! I won't know what your point is until you say it!"

"Well, obviously someone else invaded Earth the second time."

"Like who?" it was Sarah who spoke this time.

"Well, a bunch of people very good at imitating an American accent," the Doctor answered. "Or something else."

"I don't like the way you said something," Sarah argued. "What's your point?"

"I think someone decided to take advantage of my horrible blunder and invade Earth."

"What, aliens?"

"Why not?"

Sarah rolled her eyes. "It's always aliens, Doctor. And if not aliens, androids controlled by aliens."

"But it makes sense," Atlanta protested. The Doctor beamed. "And if it were aliens..." it was her turn to beam at the Doctor. "You're every Philosophy class's dream come true!"

This wasn't the remark the Doctor had expected, and it took several moments for him to formulate a response. Not an incredibly good response, but a response nonetheless.

"Uhm, all right then." The Doctor paused to consider what he had to do. What he had done before wasn't true meddling – it had already happened. What he had to do now was real meddling. He had to save Sarah from her horrible ordeal. He had to save the world from being massacred. But most importantly, he had to save the world from alien invasion. If he knew anything about evil aliens, and he did, he didn't think they would be content to masquerade as Americans forever. They might have for eighty odd years, but that would one day change. Be it tomorrow or in ten thousand years, it would change. And to prevent it changing, there was only one simple solution...

"I'm going to go back again," the Doctor grinned. "See you in September, Atlanta. And Sarah, if she disappears, don't worry – it means I've succeeded. With a grin, the Doctor stepped into the TARDIS and it dematerialised again. The standing Atlanta and the seated Sarah exchanged a glance, and Sarah did the thing she thought most reasonable.

"Jelly baby?"


Atlanta lay around in her backyard lazily, reading a book. Since spring began four weeks ago, the city had enjoyed remarkably good weather – an occurrence Atlanta was being sure not to miss. Her yard was tranquil and peaceful, and while Atlanta was still unnerved by the community centre – any reasonable person would, even if it had been cleaned up – she had mostly gotten over the little disaster of five weeks past.

Suddenly, a loud wheezing, grating noise disturbed the quiet. Atlanta looked up and past her book to notice a large blue box sitting next to her Dad's shed. Out from the box emerged the Doctor, as scarf-wearing and curly-haired as he had been when he saved her life – and the world – five weeks ago.

"Hello," he grinned. "What's the date?"

"September 27th," Atlanta answered in a bemused tone. "What are you doing here?"

"Um, I wasn't so successful in saving the world," the Doctor admitted guiltily.

"What do you mean?" Atlanta asked. "These five weeks have been wonderful. Warm and almost carefree. At least, compared to the last three years."

The Doctor nodded. Maybe telling her about the alien invasion wasn't a good idea yet. "Good book?" he inquired.

Atlanta smiled. "The Hitch-Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy," she answered. "It's brilliantly funny... have you heard of it?"

The Doctor grinned. "Of course! Got a lot of things wrong, but it is just a story, after all."

Atlanta smiled bemusedly. She wasn't completely sure why, but the book reminded her of him a lot. She thought that a lot of the jokes in the book could have been told by the Doctor himself.

"What did you mean, you weren't so successful in saving the world?" Atlanta enquired. "The Americans aren't going to come back, are they?" Her tone was calm, but hurried.

"Oh no, of course not," the Doctor assured her. "Well, technically not."

"Technically not?" That had to be a breach of some grammatical rule.

The Doctor wished he had gotten a better idea from the Atlanta of the future about the alien invasion. He had no idea where to start. "Have you been watching the news while I was away?"

"Yes," Atlanta admitted. It had been a habit she'd gotten herself into.

"Excellent," the Doctor grinned. "What's been happening recently?"