Here's another new one and I'll post another on Friday.

Yes, to those who've asked, I am still updating other things. I got hooked by a Sherlock game (Sherlock Holmes: Chapter One, which I highly recommend) that inspired a new fanfic that has distracted me, but have partial chapters I'm working on for things like Alexander, Doctor's Dog, Soul Clash and Welcome to Hell. I've just got other things I also need to deal with like finding a second job, finishing a proposal to start on my Master's thesis, and whatever else decides to get thrown my way.

Best way to get me going though? Reviews and nagging me on discord, lol. Hope you enjoy this one.


I scratched at my head in mild annoyance, not really listening to the customer in front of me as the woman ranted on about her refund that I couldn't return.

"It's the wrong size! I bought it yesterday and you're saying you can't take it? What is your problem! Are you even listening?"

"Ma'am, without a receipt, we can't take—"

"Why do I need a receipt? I was here yesterday! You should remember me if you were working properly!"

"Ma'am, hundreds of people walk through here—"

"Where is your manager! I want to speak with them right away!"

"Yes, ma'am. I'll contact them as soon as—"

"I want to see them right now! Where is your manager!"

I let out a soft sigh, picking up the phone on the desk and dialing the intercom. "Can I get a manager to the returns? Manager to the returns."

The intercom went off and I looked back to the woman who was still ranting and raving as I set her dress aside.

"I have called the manager, ma'am. He'll be here momentarily, so if you would just step to the side so I can help the other customers, then—"

"Why should I have to move? Oh, never mind then! You people are so incompetent! You'll never see me here again!"

She started to storm off and my gaze idly trailed after her as I muttered a quiet.

"Thank you for shopping at Henrick's…" Bitch. I looked back to the other person in line and forced on a small smile at the mother's understanding look. "How can I help you, ma'am?"

The rest of my shift went surprisingly well, up until closing when I bumped into my coworker.

"Oh, sorry, Nell. Didn't mean to bump into you."

"It's fine," I muttered, rubbing at my chest where her forehead had bounced off it. "It's, um… Lily?"

"Rose," she corrected, not seeming too bothered by my mistake, thankfully—though I still winced at the screwup. "Wrong flower." She held out her hand. "Rose Tyler. We met at the last safety meeting, remember? They paired us up to do the—"

"The practice drill, I remember," I muttered, shaking the offered hand and spotting the bag in her other hand. "You going downstairs?"

She nodded, lifting up the bag. "Yup. Have to give the lottery money to Wilson." She hesitated then. "Would you, um, mind coming with? If you haven't anything to do, that is. I just get a little worried about the basement. Jumping at shadows, you know?"

I honestly didn't want to but knew I would feel terrible if I didn't. "All right. Sure."

"Oh, thank you so much."

We stepped into the lift down and she bounced impatiently from foot to foot.

"So, um… I saw you with that lady earlier. I hate customers like that. She probably got that dress ages ago, you know? Just wanted to see if she could get the money by pushing you around like that. It's been coming up more lately, in the shops." She glanced at me as I rubbed the back of my neck awkwardly.

I was terrible with small talk. "Is it?"

She nodded. "Yeah. How do you handle stuff like that? If it were me, I'd be either shoutin' back at the lady or in tears."

I shrugged. "Learned to be calm and patient. I've got a bad heart," I replied, tugging idly at the collar of my shirt.

"No way. Seriously? That's rough."

"Suppose," I murmured, the two of us drifting back into silence as the lift reached the basement and we stepped out.

"Wilson?" She called out, seeing no sign of the electrician. "Wilson, I've got the lottery money. Wilson? You there? I can't hang about cos they're closin' the shop."

We moved to the man's office and she knocked on the door as I glanced around with a hint of unease. Girls always assume I'm the big, tough kind of person and drag me into these sorts of places. I'm really not. I hate things like ghosts ever since my aunt—I nearly jumped out of my skin when there was a clattering down the corridor.

"Hello?" Rose called out, moving towards the noise as I slowly trailed after her. "Hello, Wilson, it's Rose. Nell too. Hello? W-Wilson?"

She didn't receive a reply, nudging open a door into a darker section of the basement before I stopped her with a hand on her arm.

"Maybe he's not in? He could've left early."

"Then, what's with the noise we heard?" She argued, making me wince and retract my hand.

"Wouldn't he have answered?" I pressed, doing what I could to keep calm despite all circumstances as she flicked on the lights to reveal some of the shop dummies.

"He's probably just mucking about. He knows I don't like it down here," she complained, stepping further into the room as I resisted a groan.

Yet, I seem to be the one ready to bolt for it while you're still heading in like the ridiculous people in horror films. I begrudgingly followed after her. And I'm the moron trailing after you like a lost puppy despite my logic telling me to do anything but. She continued to call out for Wilson, trying a door even, only for the one behind us to slam shut. I let out a small moan at the noise, which had made my heart jump dangerously in my chest as Rose made a dash for it. I hastily hurried after her, finding her tugging uselessly at the handles.

"We're locked in! Nell, you try!"

"I-I'm honestly not much stronger than—"

"Just try!" She pressed, and I did, tugging at the handles just as uselessly as she did.

Then, more noise from the other end of the corridor made us both freeze.

"Is that someone mucking about?" She shouted down the corridor as I rubbed lightly at my chest.

"Oh, I'm really not good with horror stuff."

She shot me a look. "Seriously?"

"Bad heart," I reiterated, earning an apologetic wince from her.

"Right. Sorry. I just sort of expected… With your appearance…" She gestured at my short-trimmed, choppy brown hair, jeans, and my old, ragged black hoodie to emphasize.

"Long hair is troublesome, especially when it's curly," I grumbled, looking down at my clothes with an awkward expression. "And I dress for comfort, really."

"Right." She jumped with me when a shop dummy began to shakily move, then another. "Yeah, you've got us. Very funny," she scoffed, but they didn't stop. "Right, I've got the joke. Whose idea was this? Is it Derek's? Is it? Derek, is this you?"

"I-I don't think it's anyone from the shop," I muttered, eyes flicking between each dummy as more joined in and we were backed against a door.

With nowhere to go, a dummy lifted its arm to hit her upside the head. I pulled Rose behind me and grimaced, waiting for the hit, but someone grabbed her hand and caught our attention.

"Run!"

I barely had time to blink before Rose and I were rushing along a different corridor after the mysterious man in a leather jacket; his hand wrapped firmly around hers. The dummies were quicker now though, less jerky as they rushed after us. Somehow, we made it back to the lift and the man closed the doors, only for a dummy's hand to get jammed in-between. The leather-clad man jerked it a few times before the arm just popped right off, allowing the door to close.

"You pulled his arm off," Rose breathed out as I pressed my back firmly against the wall of the lift and closed my eyes, trying to calm my racing heart.

"Yup," the man replied, as if it were no big deal, and chucking the arm at Rose. "Plastic."

"Very clever. Nice trick," Rose said with a hint of bite to her tone. "Who were they then, students? Is this a student thing or what?"

"W-What?" I questioned her, confused as to how she came to that conclusion.

The man seemed to agree in that aspect as well.

"Why would they be students?"

"I don't know."

"Well, you said it. Why students?"

"Cos to get that many people dressed up and being silly, they got to be students."

"That makes sense. Well done," he praised.

"Thanks."

"H-Hold on a second," I argued, a bit flabbergasted. "Students? You pulled his arm off and there was no person in that!"

The man blinked at me with bright blue eyes. "Ooh, even better. You're right. They're not students."

"Whoever they are, when Wilson finds them, he's going to call the police," Rose declared, making me gawk at her in disbelief.

"Wilson? Are you kidding? Those things probably got to him already!"

"Who's Wilson?" The man asked.

"Chief electrician."

The man nodded. "She's right, then. The chief electrician's dead."

Rose's mouth dropped open as the lift stopped and the doors opened. "That's just not funny. That's sick!"

"Hold on. Mind your eyes," he said, doing something to the lift controls that I pointedly ignored until it sparked, and he bolted again.

"Who are you, then? Who's that lot down there? I said, who are they?" Rose called after him.

"This whole place is mental," I panted out when we'd caught up with him. "H-How the hell'd we end up with living plastic? S-Someone put computer chips in them or something?"

Again, the man stopped and shot me a curious look.

"You said living plastic."

"What else could it be?" I muttered, giving him an uncertain look in return as I rubbed lightly at my chest. He's odd, yet he seems to know what's going on. Better than Rose or me anyway. Is it bad I want to trust him?

"You're right, is all. It's not often I say that to people, but they're not being controlled by individual chips. There's a relay device on the roof controlling them with a sort of thought control, which would be a great big problem if I didn't have this." He grinned, holding up a small device that made my eyes widen.

"Is that a bomb?"

"Yup!" He chirped. "I'm going to go up there and blow them up, and I might well die in the process, but don't worry about me. No, you go home. Go on. Go and have your lovely beans on toast. Don't tell anyone about this, because if you do, you'll get them killed."

We were both nudged out the back door and he closed it shut behind him as I ran a hand through my hair and took a few steps back.

"Bloody hell, I've finally lost it, haven't I?"

The door swung open again as he reappeared.

"I'm the Doctor, by the way. What's your name?"

"Rose," Rose breathed out and his eyes swiveled to me.

"And you? The clever one?"

Clever? Me? "Um, uh… N-Nell. Nell Owens.

"Nice to meet you, Nell, Rose." He grinned again, something manic flashing through his gaze. "Run for your life!"

Then, he was gone again and by the time his warning kicked in and Rose and I had dashed across the way, the top of the building blew up, leaving us both standing there in shock. People ran about screaming as the windows showered glass on the floor and by the time I turned to Rose to question what we'd just seen, she was already bolting down the street—leaving me on my own to try and wrap my head around what had just happened. It took a second to settle in my mind and my heart sank as I realized the ultimate meaning of what had just happened. I just lost my job.

I dragged my feet along, heading down the street in a sort of daze before settling into my usual route. I dropped by a florist, picking up a small potted kiwi succulent and making my way to the hospital down the street. I didn't bother checking in, giving a small nod to the nurse at the nurse's station and moving down the hall to room 114. I knocked on the door, grateful to find myself not interrupting a nurse as I stepped in and settled down in a chair beside the bed.

"Hello," I murmured softly, reaching out and grasping at the bony thin wrist nearest me and lightly lifting it to touch the side of the potted plant. "I bought another one for you. I thought you'd be happy, even though I've sort of overwhelmed you with these things."

My gaze drifted to the window sill where a number of other succulents rested in their pots, being cared for only by the nurses and myself on occasion. I lowered the hand and moved the pot to join the others, shifting slightly in my seat as I mulled over what had happened only moments before.

"I, um… I met someone today at work. He was… eccentric. You might have liked him, though I only met him for a minute." I chuckled bitterly. "He said I was clever."

There was no response, though I never expected one as I ran my thumb over bony knuckles and my smile fell.

"I… I, um… U-Unfortunately, I lost my job today too. Not of my own fault, but…" I swallowed thickly, mind spinning around the hospital bills I needed to keep up with and insurance money as well as money to take care of myself on top of everything. "Sorry," I murmured, dragging my free hand down my face. "I-I know you'd be scolding me right now for thinking about money and trying to take care of you, but… I just…"

My throat swelled as heat burned in the back of my eyes, threatening tears as I brought the hand up to clasp near my forehead.

"God, I wish you would just wake up, Michelle. I don't want to sound like I'm asking too much, but just… please… I-I could really do with some encouragement right now."

But the only sound in the room was the quiet steady beeping of the heart monitor.


Years passed after the incident with the plastic dummies and I had more or less moved on. I'd gotten compensation money from Henrick's—mostly to keep me from suing them—and had gotten a new job too. One far less stressful than working returns at a large store. As for Rose, I hadn't seen her since. The only reminder I'd gotten of her was the missing posters that went up not long afterward. They took them down around a year later, so they must have found her. I hadn't heard anything more about the Doctor though, which I suppose was a good thing. I had been a little more uneasy since the plastic-coming-to-life incident.

Ever since then, the world seemed to have turned on its head. A spaceship crashed into Big Ben and aliens apparently caused Downing Street to blow up. Then, there was some sort of earthquake in Cardiff which, upon my looking into, may have had connections to aliens as well. I wasn't usually one to believe in conspiracy theories, but I'd seen the plastic dummies firsthand, so the government's lie didn't quite sit well with me. And now that I've finished my Level 7 courses, I can actually apply it to some of this stuff. Though, that wasn't getting me anywhere. Our technology isn't advanced enough to actually do anything as far as locating disturbances like this.

I sighed, trying to push the thought from my mind for right now. It was Christmas Eve, after all. My first day off in a while, giving me a chance to go out to eat instead of the usual takeout. Though, it's not much fun on my own now... I let out a soft sigh, watching my breath fog up the air only to hear something strange. It was a sort of wheezing, grinding noise that made me pause in the alleyway I was passing through. My brows furrowed as it got louder, accompanied by crashes and a startled scream, before a large blue police box suddenly bounced off a van and some barrels next to me, making me jolt back with wide eyes.

A man poked his head out as I stared.

"Here we are then," he chirped. "London, Earth, the solar system! I did it! Jackie! Mickey! Blimey!" The man who'd stepped out of the box stumbled back. "No, no, no, no. Hold on. Wait there. I've got something to say. There was something I had to tell you. Something important. What was it?" He spotted me then, eyeing me with a curious tip of his head. "Oh, hello! Do I know you? You seem familiar."

My mind spun, not sure what exactly was going on. "A-A flying blue box."

"That was mine!" He beamed, making me blink as he abruptly stepped back. "No, hold on, hold on, hold on. Sh, sh, sh, sh," he shushed everyone, grabbing a hold of Mickey and Jackie. "Oh! I know. Merry Christmas!"

The man then collapsed, getting caught partially by Mickey as the police box opened again and Rose surprisingly stepped out.

"What happened? Is he all right?" She asked, Mickey scrambling for an answer.

"I don't know. He just keeled over. But who is he? Where's the Doctor?"

"Doctor? I could do with one of those," I mumbled, bringing a hand to my head.

"Nell?" Rose gaped.

"Hello," I muttered, leaning against the barrel behind me. "God, I've lost it again, haven't I?"

"What are you doing here?" Rose asked.

"Just walking by," I replied. "Going to get dinner… Did that box really fly?"

"Who is this guy?" Mickey asked then, gesturing to the unconscious man in his arms as Rose tried to think up something to tell me. "Where's the Doctor?"

"That's him, right in front of you. That's the Doctor," Rose informed, not looking too convinced of it herself.

"What do you mean, that's the Doctor? Doctor who?" Jackie huffed, before grimacing. "Right, well whoever he is, we need to get him inside. He's already keeled over. Nell, was it? Can you help?"

"I guess," I muttered, helping the supposed Doctor to his feet with an arm across his shoulders.

I'd been getting into better shape in my spare time as well, adding to what exercise I was getting while working with a moving company.

"How much did you see?" Rose questioned, as I helped carry the Doctor up to their flat.

"I was nearly hit by a flying blue police box," I muttered, shooting her a look as she winced. "And you called him the Doctor. The same Doctor who blew up our first job to prevent living plastic from taking over the shops."

She groaned, pressing a hand to her face. "Great. I'll have to tell you too." Her eyes snapped up to mine seriously as Jackie opened the flat. "You can't say anything, understand?"

"Sure," I mumbled.

I was led to a bedroom where I laid the Doctor down and stepped out, so Mickey could change him into some spare clothes and Rose could explain.

"So… he's an alien."

She nodded as I tried to process that, working through what she'd told me about the face-changing alien in the other room and his mysterious blue box.

"And you missing for a year, was because you were traveling with him in that blue police box through…"

"Through time and space."

"Right… Time and space…"

She glared. "If you're not going to believe me, then you can just—"

"I believe you," I cut her off, shrinking back a little at her glare and holding up my hands. "R-Really. I… kind of have to. I saw the living plastic before and with the whole spaceship in the Thames and Cardiff's supposed earthquake…"

"You… believe me?"

I rubbed the back of my neck. "Mostly? The whole blue box being a time and space machine is a bit hard to wrap my head around, but… aliens are a bit of a given at this point. Don't think there are many people who don't believe in them by now, so…"

"But he changed," she argued, sounding more disbelieving than I was.

I shrugged. "Aliens seem like a sort of 'anything goes' kind of thing. We can't really expect them to work by our standards."

"I… guess," she muttered, looking a bit conflicted.

"Can… Can I ask…" I started, trying to think of a way to ask my question. "How did… I mean, is he okay?"

"I don't know. I can't remember what happened and he wouldn't tell me."

"But this… changing faces thing. It can't be… Well, it can't be pleasant, right? To change everything about you. Something like that must be…" Painful, I would think.

"I-I don't know," she muttered, looking uneasy. "He never said anything. I hardly know what's happening."

I hesitated, not wanting to act oddly, but feeling a bit worried myself. "Is it… Is it all right if I stick around? Make sure he's all right?"

She looked surprised. "Really? Why? You hardly know him."

I winced, knowing that myself and rubbing the back of my neck awkwardly as I turned my gaze to the floor. "It's just… he did kind of save us before. From the living plastic. I just kind of feel like I owe him one, is all." Honestly, he reminds me of Michelle and I may not know him much, but she wouldn't let me live it down if I just walked away.

"Um, all right," she gave in. "I'll let my mum know you're staying for Christmas." She frowned then. "What about your family? Won't they be worried?"

I shook my head. "Nah, not really." I'm not about to mention the complete lack of family I have. Not now, anyway.

"If you're sure."

I hummed, slowly trailing after her to the bedroom where the Doctor lay. After informing her mother of my plans, Rose hovered over the man as he slept, looking worried. I nearly jumped out of my skin though when Jackie suddenly returned with a stethoscope in her hands.

"Here we go. Tina the cleaner's got this lodger, a medical student, and she was fast asleep, so I just took it. Though I still say we should take him to hospital."

"We can't," Rose argued. "They'd lock him up. They'd dissect him. One bottle of his blood could change the future of the human race. No!" She emphasized when Jackie went to argue further. "Sh!"

Rose went to check the Doctor's heart and I blinked in surprise when she moved it to the other side of his chest.

"Both working," she said, startling me a little.

"What do you mean, both?" Jackie questioned.

"Well, he's got two hearts."

"Oh, don't be stupid."

"He has!" She pressed.

"Anything else he's got two of?"

I coughed pointedly, flushing slightly as Rose huffed at her mother.

"Leave him alone."

They stood up to leave as I settled into Jackie's abandoned chair.

"I'll just… keep an eye on him I guess."

"Yeah, thanks," Rose replied shortly, rushing out with Jackie on her heels.

I let out a soft sigh, watching them go. "You'd think she'd be more open to things like face-changing aliens." I glanced at the Doctor. "Not like there are any set rules for what aliens can be like."

The Doctor exhaled then, making me stare in surprise as a cloud of gold dust floated out of his mouth.

"And, I'm going to try and not be surprised by any other weird stuff you do. Starting now, because that? That was weird." I leaned back then, startled as the dust floated my way. "H-Hey now. Why are you flying towards—"

I coughed as some of it drifted up my nose and mouth, turning away and waving a hand to shoo it off out the open window. My eyes watered as I cursed under my breath.

"C-Christ, was that necessary? It's like a fizzy drink up my nostrils." I shook my head to shake off the feeling, coughing a moment longer before settling back in my seat with a small glare at the Doctor. "Now, I'm sticking around to help you out since you saved us from those plastic dummies, but I really don't appreciate that dust thing."

The man gave no response, as expected, and I let out a soft sigh, looking out the window.

"Though, here I am getting upset with an unconscious man I barely know." I gave him a small brief glance. "My… wife was in a coma, you know... They kept telling me to talk to her because some people who wake up from comas say they heard everything people were telling them." I went quiet for a moment, a small sad smile on my face. "Never found out if they were right or not, but I never gave up hoping they were…"

I lightly touched my chest, closing my eyes as the strong thrum of my heart beat against my ribcage. There was a hint of loud shouting down the hall that I raised a brow to, but turned my attention back out the window, not wanting to get involved in whatever domestics were happening within the Tyler family. Jackie though came up a few moments later with a cup of tea for me.

"Rose is going out with her boyfriend for some Christmas shopping. Is there anything you need?"

I shook my head, accepting the cup from her. "No, thank you though. I'll just keep an eye on Sleeping Beauty, I suppose."

Jackie gave me a sad look. "Your family won't be missing ya?"

"No."

"I am so sorry." She gripped my shoulder in comfort. "I'll tell you what. You worked with Rose at Henrick's, right?" At my nod, she continued. "You're welcome here any time. Christmas dinners, all of it. You hear? Be sure to leave me your phone number too, so I can ring you for meals."

"Jackie, you don't have to—"

She shook her head, not taking my arguing at all. "No. I won't have someone eating alone on Christmas. I mean it. You come over any time you need."

I sighed, giving in as she headed over to answer the doorbell.


I must have fallen asleep at some point, dozing off in the chair and waking up only when I began to cough again from the same fizzy feeling as before working its way up my nose. I groaned, pawing at my nose with a small glare at the Doctor in annoyance.

"I told you no more of that," I grumbled, only to hear loud shouting down the hall that sounded more fearful than argumentative.

Rose, Mickey, and Jackie suddenly burst in shouting, startling me and sending me to my feet in concern as Rose rushed to the Doctor.

"We've got to save the Doctor!"

"What? What's going on?" I questioned, trying to figure out what was happening as Jackie shouted from the doorway.

"What are you doing!"

"We can't just leave him!"

Mickey rushed in as well, as Jackie hesitated.

"No, leave him! Just leave him!" She shouted, surprising me at how quickly she was willing to abandon the Doctor to some threat I wasn't privy to.

"Get in here!" Mickey demanded, and she rushed in as something crashed outside, and I went to help them move a wardrobe in front of the door.

"What's happening?" I asked.

"Killer Christmas tree!" Mickey supplied, shocking me for a second before my mind clicked back into gear.

"After the Doctor?"

"Apparently!"

Rose began shouting at the Doctor to wake up then, worrying me. Changing his face is what knocked him out, right? Wouldn't waking him up early cause more harm than good? I abandoned the wardrobe, hurrying to Rose in an attempt to help.

"Doesn't he have something to stop this sort of thing? A-A remote controller or something?"

"He just needs to wake up!"

"But that might make things worse! Just think for a second and—"

She stood up, slamming some sort of pen device into my chest rather painfully. "Here! But it's not going to do any good! He's the only one who knows how to work it! We need him!"

I scrambled to keep the device from falling as she turned back to the Doctor, and I looked over the pen in confusion. Okay, think! I don't know what this is, but it's an alien device that might help. There's no screen, just a few buttons. Has to be controlled somehow. Something easy. Non-human. Alien. Think. Think… My eyes widened. Think! Like with the living plastic! Thought control! The tree burst in then, Jackie crying out as I lifted the pen towards the Christmas tree. Point and think. Stop the tree! Yet, nothing happened, and I went pale, stumbling back as a branch whipped hotly across my left forearm and made me drop the pen on the end of the bed. I fell back, heart racing erratically in my chest as Jackie cried out.

"I'm gonna get killed by a Christmas tree!"

They're all gonna die, and it's my fault. Then, the Doctor snapped upright, scooping up his device and causing the tree to spark and shatter to pieces.

"Remote control. But who's controlling it?" He questioned, getting up and bolting from the room with the others rushing after him as I stayed on the ground beside the bed, still in shock.

They could've gotten killed. All because I tried to be clever. For one moment, they made me feel smart and I wanted to prove I was. And they nearly died because of my selfishness. I clenched my eyes shut trying to focus on calming my heart just as the others returned with an even sicker-looking Doctor. He was put back to bed and covered, hastily being coddled by Rose before Jackie spotted me.

"Oh, not you too. What's wrong, dear? Do you need a doctor?"

"No. No doctors," I breathed out. "I-I just need a minute."

"You're bleeding," Mickey pointed out the gash on my arm. "I'll grab the medkit."

"Is there anything I can do?" Jackie offered.

"T-Tea, maybe?" I asked, more to give her something to do as she helped me into a chair.

My eyes drifted to the Doctor as Jackie left and even Rose stepped out for a bit. I sighed, leaning back into the chair as exhaustion settled in, having not been getting very good sleep as of late.

"I'm sorry. If I had just… If I could have just figured that thing out, they wouldn't have had to get you up… but I'm obviously not that clever… I nearly got them killed." I dragged a hand down my face—the lingering self-doubt trying to pull me into a dark hole of my own making. "I nearly killed someone again."


Rose dropped by the bedroom to check up on the Doctor, eyeing the sleeping woman in the chair beside him. She didn't know Nell well, other than what she'd found out recently about the woman's bad heart. She was almost glad Nell stuck around though. The woman accepted the Doctor being an alien far easier than she did—which was a little odd—but it gave Rose time to try and work out her own feelings about the Doctor's change. Nell also gave her something to think about. Like the Doctor being more alien than she thought. Nell was right in that aspect. She couldn't be placing what was normal for humans onto the Doctor, but the way he changed so completely was what was ultimately bothering her. She didn't quite understand why he didn't just do something. Especially since they now discovered that a ship full of aliens was headed their way.

"The Doctor wouldn't do this," she muttered quietly to Mickey, so as not to wake her ex-coworker. "The old Doctor, the proper Doctor. He'd wake up. He'd save us."

"You really love him, don't you?" Mickey said softly, making Rose turn to hug him as a jolt of pain went through his own heart.

The group settled in for the night, only to be woken up the next morning by shouting outside. Nell got up and rubbed at her head as she came out of the bedroom.

"What's all that noise then?"

"I dunno," Rose said, stepping outside and speaking with a neighbor before poking her head back in. "It's Sandra. Her husband's walking with a bunch of the people out up to the roofs. They got weird lights around their heads or something."

"What? Like a sort of mind control?"

"Well, I don't know!" Rose bit back, making Nell wince as Rose headed out to try and figure out more with Mickey on her tail.

"No need to shout," Nell murmured under her breath, popping into the kitchen and spotting Jackie just before she handed her a cuppa. "Thanks."

"Of course, dear. And don't mind Rose. She's just a bit upset about what's going on with the Doctor and all that. I mean, changing faces? What sort of alien does that?"

Nell cracked the smallest of smiles. "Dunno. His sort, I suppose. We don't exactly know what aliens are like, really. They could be anything. Horses with dogs' heads or mermaids or people that look just like us and the Doctor but can change faces or have an extra toe. Interesting, innit?"

Jackie snorted, giving her a look over her own cuppa. "You sound like him. Like the Doctor. Are you into space and all that?"

"I took a few classes," Nell admitted with a small sheepish look. "I liked the philosophy of it all, but the science just seemed a bit… strained, you know? I like maths more. Equations that just sort of work themselves out in a neat little package. None of that 'what if' stuff that make theories so flimsy."

"I suppose…" She replied, sounding as if she had no clue what Nell was talking about, which Nell just ignored.

"Sorry. I know it's a bit complicated."

The door opened, and Mickey and Rose returned, clicking on the TV to watch the news where the Prime Minister soon gave an emergency broadcast asking for the Doctor's help. Rose burst into tears, clinging to Jackie as Nell quietly slipped past them into the bedroom where the Doctor was. She didn't quite understand why Rose was so upset. The Doctor was here, but—like humans—he was hurt or sick or whatever. He couldn't help because he physically couldn't. It wasn't that he'd changed and didn't want to. Nell wanted to explain this to her, but she feared it wouldn't give Rose hope, just add fuel to the fire and possibly make Rose angry with her instead—out of sheer frustration. So, Nell kept the thoughts to herself, mopping up the Doctor's sweaty brow once more and sitting on the side of the bed next to him, just as the windows shattered and the ground quaked.

Nell grimaced, uncovering the Doctor from when she'd thrown herself over him out of instinct, and looking over at Rose and Jackie who'd run in. The group rushed outside, leaving Nell to let out a soft sigh and move towards the window, leaning out to look up at the large ship that moved to hover over London.

"That… That is not good," she muttered, just as the others rushed back in and Rose began stripping the blankets off the Doctor.

"Mickey, Nell, we're going to carry him," Rose demanded. "Mum, get your stuff and get some food. We're going."

"Where to?" Mickey asked before Nell could.

"The Tardis. It's the only safe place on Earth."

"That's his ship, right?" Nell asked, heaving the Doctor's arm over her shoulder as Mickey took the other side and Rose grabbed his feet.

"What are we going to do in there?" Mickey interjected.

"Hide."

"Is that it?" Jackie huffed.

"Mum, look in the sky. There's a great, big, alien invasion and I don't know what to do, all right? I've traveled with him, and I've seen all that stuff, but when I'm stuck at home, I'm useless. Now, all we can do is run and hide, and I'm sorry," Rose snapped shortly. "Now, move."

Nell pursed her lips but didn't argue as they heaved the Doctor downstairs and to the Tardis; Rose snapping at her mother as she struggled to carry heavy bags of food.

"Just give her a break," Nell muttered, earning a heated glare from Rose. "She's just trying to help."

Rose didn't bother with a response as they budged open the Tardis doors and brought the Doctor inside. Nell gaped for a moment before shutting her mouth with an audible "snap" as they placed the Doctor on the grated floor.

"No chance you could fly this thing?" Mickey asked Rose as Nell snapped out of her daze and helped Jackie with the bags of food.

"Not anymore, no."

"Well, you did it before."

"I know, but it's sort of been wiped out of my head like it's forbidden. Try that again and I think the Universe rips in half."

"Ah, better not then."

"Maybe not."

"So, what do we do? Just sit here?"

"That's as good as it gets."

"Right, here we go," Jackie smiled, holding up a thermos. "Nice cup of tea."

"Mm, the solution to everything," Rose huffed.

"Now, stop your moaning. I'll get the rest of the food."

Jackie left, passing Mickey the thermos as he chuckled.

"Tea. Like we're having a picnic while the world comes to an end. Very British." Mickey looked at the monitor and set the thermos down. "How does this thing work? If it picks up TV, maybe we could see what's going on out there. Maybe we've surrendered. What do you do to it?"

"I don't know. It sort of tunes itself."

"Should we really be messing with it?" Nell asked, still sort of looking around as Mickey and Rose messed with dials and switches.

"What do you know?" Rose snipped.

"I know it's alien and we're not. I know that messing with controls to anything you don't know is a bad idea. So, prodding at buttons to a space and time ship seems like it could cause trouble, right?" Nell challenged, slightly annoyed now with Rose's snapping. "We could just be telling that other ship where we are, or we could be one button away from blowing up the universe."

Mickey, trying to play peacemaker, stepped forward. "Maybe it's a distress signal," he offered as an explanation for the beeping that started up.

"A fat lot of good that's going to do."

"Are you going to be a misery all the time?" Mickey huffed.

"Yes."

"You should look at it from my point of view, stuck in here with your mum's cooking."

Rose perked up then, eyeing the door. "Where is she? I'd better give her a hand. It might start raining missiles out there."

"Tell her anything from a tin, that's fine."

"Why don't you tell her yourself?"

"I'm not that brave."

"Oh, don't I know," she chuckled, stepping out only to scream, startling both Mickey and Nell.

"Rose?"

They both rushed out, not noticing the thermos they'd knocked over in their haste.

"Get off! Get off me!" Rose shouted, but Mickey and Nell were a bit stunned to find out they were now standing in the middle of a spaceship full of aliens.

"W-We moved," Nell murmured, just as Rose pointed back.

"The door! Close the door!"

Nell whipped into action, pulling the blue door to the Tardis shut—not wanting to know what trouble these other creatures could get into with a time and space machine—just before she and Mickey were also grabbed by the Sycorax. Two more people were shoved into the group of humans then, and Rose was quick to hug Harriet Jones—a familiar face neither expected to see.

"Rose! I've got you! My Lord! Oh, my precious thing. The Doctor. Is he with you?"

"No," Rose murmured. "We're on our own."

"He's sick, I think," Nell offered, trying to be helpful. "Unconscious in his… um, ship thing."

"And you are?" Harriet questioned.

"Nell Owens," she muttered with a small wave, eyes glancing about the alien ship with a hint of unease. "An ex-coworker of Rose's. And uh… a person at the wrong place, wrong time, I suppose. Nobody important, honestly…"

Harriet huffed. "Everyone's important, my dear, especially in a situation like this."

Nell nodded, not entirely convinced as the leader of the Sycorax spoke—the human translator, Alex, explaining what was being said.

"The yellow girl. She has the clever blue box. Therefore, she speaks for your planet."

"What?" Nell questioned, not seeing the logic as Harriet was quick to protest.

"But she can't."

"Yeah, I can," Rose argued, stepping forward only for Mickey to stop her.

"Don't you dare."

"Someone's got to be the Doctor."

"They'll kill you," Harriet also warned.

"Never stopped him."

"Let me do it," Nell offered, surprising them.

"What? But you don't know anything about aliens."

Nell rubbed the back of her neck. "I've dealt with a lot the past few hours, honestly. And I may not know much, but why not go out with a bang?" She managed a grimace of a smile. "Besides, I've always been good at fibbing." She looked around and swallowed thickly. "Just a bigger audience this time."

No one really knew what to say, but Harriet bowed her head and Nell took that as the okay to step forward towards the leader of the Sycorax.

"Hello."

The creature scowled and snapped out words that Alex translated. "Who are you?"

"Nell Owens," she answered civilly, clearing her throat of the slight wobble that came out of fear of addressing an alien. "The actual owner of that ship."

"The blonde is—"

"Not the owner just because she stepped out first," Nell cut him off, earning tense looks of apprehension from the others. "Not that you care, really. You just want someone to make demands to, right? So, what is it you want?"

The Sycorax leader smirked. "Surrender or they will die."

"They?" Nell questioned, Harriet speaking up from behind her.

"The people on the roofs. They're all the A Positive blood types in the world."

"And if we surrender?"

"Half is sold into slavery or one-third dies. Your choice," Alex translated for the Sycorax leader, whose hand hovered over a bright red button.

Nell looked a little surprised though. "Oh, well, take the one-third, I suppose."

"Nell!"

"What!" The others shouted as what she said even surprised the Sycorax leader a little.

Nell winced, having almost forgotten that the others were there to hear her rather rash-sounding decision. "Sorry, it's just… well, for one thing, one-third is less than one half. And slavery is hardly living, so having one-third die seems like the better option—"

"That's not your decision to make!" Harriet argued, only for Nell to hold up her hands.

"I-I get that! Really! J-Just let me explain real quick!" She tried, hurrying to move in closer to speak, in worry that the Sycorax leader might just smite her down without waiting for their discussion. "I'm just trying to buy time and get information."

Harriet's eyes narrowed suspiciously.

"I-I don't know how they got those people on the roofs, but there's got to be a trick to it," Nell tried to explain. "You can't just control free will like that. The only ones who might be in trouble would be those who were suicidal enough to jump themselves, but most people naturally won't. So, they can't force those people on the roofs to jump. It must be a bluff… I hope."

Harriet seemed to have relaxed at the rather well-thought-out explanation, though Rose looked a little hesitant.

"But you don't know that for sure," she argued, only for Nell to gesture to the hesitating Sycorax leader.

"But he stopped, didn't he?" Nell paused, looking to the startled leader. "Or she. Sorry, I don't quite know how alien genders work. C-Can I just call you 'it' or 'they'?"

Rose openly gaped at the sudden boldness coming from Nell, though the woman herself was absolutely petrified with fear at this point and babbled out whatever was coming to mind without a verbal filter. Nell was honestly just trying to distract herself.

The Sycorax leader, desperate to maintain authority over this, stepped away from the button. "Blood control was just one form of conquest. I can summon the armada and take this world by force."

Before any of the others could say anything, Nell lifted a hesitant hand.

"Why?"

The Sycorax leader scowled. "What?"

"Why? I mean, we're not exactly better than you in any way. Your technology is far beyond ours and us as slaves is honestly a terrible idea. We're too fragile and lazy to do much other than annoy you or waste your time." Nell passed a shaky hand through her hair. "I mean, I'm rambling just to buy time for someone else to just burst in and be heroic. But I just don't see the point in taking over a world of people just so vastly inferior. Makes no sense."

Rose moved up to Nell's side, teeth grit in anger at how the woman was handling such a dangerous situation. "Who cares why! They're trying to kill us!"

"I-I'm just saying—"

The Sycorax leader growled, shutting them up. "If you are the best your planet can offer as a champion, then your world will be gutted—"

"Then your world will be gutted," Alex translated just a second behind the actual Sycorax leader, surprising everyone as the alien seemed to be speaking English.

"And your people enslaved!"

"Hold on, that's English," Alex breathed.

"He's talking English."

"You're talking English," Rose gaped.

"I would never dirty my tongue with your primitive bile," the Sycorax spat as Rose spun to make sure the others were hearing what she was.

"That's English. Can you hear English?"

"Yeah, that's English."

"Definitely English."

"I speak only Sycoraxic!" The leader bellowed, making Nell blink.

"So, what's translating?"

"The Tardis," Rose breathed, looking hopeful as she turned to the blue box. "It's working, which means—"

The blue doors opened to reveal the Doctor, who smirked.

"Did you miss me?"

The Sycorax wailed, swinging his whip towards Nell, who was quick to stumble back when the Doctor stepped in front of her and pulled the whip out of the leader's hands.

"You could have someone's eye out with that. You all right there?"

Nell nodded shakily, still a bit stunned as the Doctor moved past her and snapped the leader's staff over his knee as well.

"You just can't get the staff," he quipped. "Now, you just wait. I'm busy."

The Sycorax leader was stunned as the Doctor turned away and beamed a grin at the others.

"Mickey, hello! And Harriet Jones MP for Flydale North. Blimey, it's like 'This Is Your Life.' Tea! That's all I needed, a good cup of tea! Superheated infusion of free radicals and tannin. Just the thing for healing the synapses. Now, first thing's first. Be honest, how do I look?"

Rose stumbled. "Um, different."

"Good different or bad different?"

"Just… different."

"Am I… ginger?"

Rose's eyes swiveled up to his hair. "No. You're just sort of… brown."

"Ugh, I wanted to be ginger. I've never been ginger. And you, Rose Tyler, fat lot of good you were. You gave up on me. Oh, that's rude. That's the sort of man I am now, am I? Rude. Rude and not ginger."

"I'm sorry, who is this?" Harriet questioned, confused at the new person who suddenly strolled in.

"I'm the Doctor."

"He's the Doctor," Rose confirmed.

"But what happened to my Doctor? Or is it a title that's just passed on?"

"I'm him. I'm literally him. Same man, new face. Well, new everything."

"But you can't be."

"Harriet Jones, we were trapped in Downing Street and the one thing that scared you wasn't the aliens, it wasn't the war, it was the thought of your mother being on her own."

"Oh, my God," Harriet gasped, seeing the proof now.

The Doctor smiled. "Did you win the election?"

"Landslide majority."

"And you!" The Doctor spun around and pointed a finger at Nell, who jumped, surprised as he hurried over and stood just inches from her face. "I don't even know who you are, but you're familiar. Have we met?"

Nell opened her mouth, faltering, before managing to speak. "I'm, uh… W-We met. Before you changed, that is. The, um… living plastic?"

The Doctor's eyes widened, the memory clicking into place where it had failed to do so until now due to his scrambled regeneration.

"Nell Owens! The clever one! How could I forget you, eh?" He clapped her on the shoulders, making the woman wince before he got uncharacteristically serious and leaned down a little to her level.

Which wasn't far. She was surprisingly tall for a woman.

"Now, I want you to tell me something, okay?" He said, eyes narrowing slightly as he watched her closely, practically tasting how uncertain she was. "How is it, that you are so willing to accept aliens and changing faces and regeneration energy floating in your face, but you can't accept that you are brilliant in your own right?"

"W-Wha—"

"If I might interrupt," the Sycorax leader cut in, forcing the Doctor to release the floundering woman and face him with a small, slightly annoyed, smile.

"Yes, sorry. Hello, big fellow."

"Who exactly are you?"

"Well, that's the question," he hummed, angering the creature in front of him.

"I demand to know who you are!"

"I don't know!" The Doctor shouted back, mockingly, before going on a ramble. "See, there's the thing. I'm the Doctor, but beyond that, I-I just don't know. I literally do not know who I am. It's all untested. Am I funny? Am I sarcastic? Sexy?" He winked at Rose. "Right old misery? Life and soul? Right-handed? Left-handed? A gambler? A fighter? A coward? A traitor? A liar? A nervous wreck? I mean, judging by the evidence, I've certainly got a gob. And how am I going to react when I see this?" The Doctor chuckled as he pointed up at the button for the blood control. "A great big threatening button. A great big threatening button which must not be pressed under any circumstances, am I right? Let me guess. It's some sort of control matrix, hmm? Hold on, what's feeding it?"

"A positive blood," Nell spoke up, stopping the Doctor as he knelt down, making him blink in surprise. "It's um, blood control," Nell continued, rubbing the back of her neck. "We… sort of went over this while you were… sick. It's a bluff, I think."

The Doctor stood up, smacking the red button before bounding down the steps and getting in Nell's face once more; curious about this person he'd met once before.

"You don't say? And you figured that out? All on your own?"

Nell nodded as Mickey chimed in.

"She offered to take place as the speaker for Earth. Questioned them and everything."

Nell winced, leaning back a little from the Doctor. "I just asked why they were bothering to take over a place like Earth. We're not much really, in comparison."

"Well, you're wrong about that. Earth is lovely!" The Doctor beamed. "The hypnotism thing is what gets me though. How'd you figure that out? I mean, that's all blood control is. A cheap bit of voodoo. Scares the pants off you, but that's as far as it goes. It's like hypnosis. You can hypnotize someone to walk like a chicken or sing like Elvis. You can't hypnotize them to death. Survival instinct's too strong, as you've said, apparently."

"I just… After seeing the living plastic, I got a bit… superstitious?" Nell tried to explain. "Looked into lots of stuff: aliens, ghosts, witchcraft, and things. I just… guessed, honestly. When he… it?" She shook her head, ignoring the gender confusion for the moment. "…When he didn't react the way I expected, I assumed it was a bluff, though I didn't know how it worked. Then, he said he'd summon an armada. I asked why and then you showed up."

"Oh, I see. All caught up then," the Doctor chirped, smiling and wrapping an arm around Nell's shoulders, much to her uncertainty. "See? What'd I say? Clever."

"I'm not really—"

He raised a brow, and she begrudgingly sighed, not bothering to finish, which made him smile as he released her once more to address the Sycorax leader.

"But why? Look at these people. These human beings. Consider their potential. From the day they arrive on the planet and blinking step into the sun, there is more to see than can ever be seen. More to do than—No, hold on. Sorry, that's The Lion King. But the point still stands. Leave them alone!"

"Or what?"

"Or…" The Doctor grabbed a nearby sword. "I challenge you."

The leader cackled as the Doctor hummed.

"Oh, that struck a chord. Am I right that the sanctified rules of combat still apply?"

"You stand as this world's champion."

"Thank you. I've no idea who I am, but you just summed me up."

"Is this really a good idea?" Nell asked, a bit worried about the whole sword-fighting for the world when the Doctor had just gotten better.

The Doctor tossed his robe to her, winking. "Trust me."

Nell sighed, pulling it off her shoulder and laying it over an arm as she muttered under her breath. "I don't even know you."

"So, do you accept my challenge?" The Doctor asked the leader. "Or are you just a cranak pel casacree salvak?"

The leader hissed at the possible insult, raising his sword as the other creatures in the ship cheered.

"For the planet?"

"For the planet."

And the fight began.


I watched the Doctor battle it out with the Sycorax leader with a hint of uneasiness. The Doctor seemed to be losing, honestly, taking the fight out onto a stone balcony in the attempt to get more space. Or buy time? What is he thinking? He just got better, didn't he? He really shouldn't be—An image of Michelle making dinner after a long month of being sick flashed through my mind and I swallowed thickly, pushing the memory aside for now as the leader bashed the Doctor's nose. Rose and I all took a step forward, but the Doctor was quick to stop us.

"Stay back! Invalidate the challenge and he wins the planet."

"What can we do then?" I breathed out, Rose obviously just as worried as I was. "There's got to be something. We can't just leave this all up to him."

"Says you," Rose muttered, shooting me a look. "You were the one trying to deal with it all before."

"But I made peace with my death ages ago," I argued, shifting uneasily as I watched the Sycorax leader roar. "He's only just been born, hasn't he?"

Rose didn't know what to say until our eyes were drawn to the Doctor as he was disarmed and knocked to the ground—his left hand getting sliced off.

"You've cut my hand off," the Doctor muttered, making the leader cheer as I went pale at the sight of blood on the Doctor's sleeve slowly soaking the striped pajamas he was wearing. "And now I know what sort of man I am. I'm lucky. Because quite by chance I'm still within the first fifteen hours of my regeneration cycle, which means I've got just enough residual cellular energy to do this."

The Doctor stood, dripping blood onto the rocks before holding up his stump as that familiar gold dust curled around it and a hand was regrown.

"Witchcraft!" The Sycorax leader accused.

"Time Lord."

I felt a little light-headed at the thought, trying to convince myself I'd imagined his hand getting cut off, but the blood was still there, reminding me that it was very, very real. Rose though was rather quick to push it from her thoughts, grabbing a sword and tossing it to him.

"Doctor!"

He caught it expertly, swinging it around a few times as he grinned at her. "Oh, so I'm still the Doctor, then?"

"No arguments from me."

"Want to know the best bit? This new hand? It's a fighting hand!"

The two went back to fighting as I brought a hand up to cover my mouth.

"He regrew his hand."

Rose raised a brow at me. "You can believe in aliens, but not that?"

"I-I'm gonna need a minute," I admitted, trying to push away everything that made the Doctor appear human in my eyes as I tried to focus on how alien he truly was. "Is he a lizard?"

"What?" Rose scoffed. "No!"

Not a lizard. Right. J-Just regrew a limb like a lizard. Okay. J-Just calm down. I can just ask him later. Yeah, you know, if the planet isn't taken over by other aliens. I gripped my shirt for a moment, taking a deep breath to try and calm down just as the Doctor knocked the Sycorax leader down, ending the fight.

"I win."

"Then kill me," the leader hissed.

"I'll spare your life if you'll take this Champion's command. Leave this planet, and never return. What do you say?"

"Yes."

"Swear on the blood of your species," the Doctor growled.

"… I swear."

"There we are then. Thanks for that. Cheers, big fella," the Doctor chirped, stabbing the sword into the ground and returning to the relieved group of us.

Did nobody worry when they saw him get angry just now? I wondered, eyeing the Doctor uneasily and sensing how dangerous the man was now that I could see him in action.

"Ah, not bad for a man in his jim-jams," the Doctor smiled as Rose took his robe from me and helped him into it. "Very Arthur Dent. Now, there was a nice man. Hold on, what have I got in here?" The Doctor pulled out a fruit from his robe pocket. "A satsuma. Ah, that friend of your mothers. He does like his snacks, doesn't he? But doesn't that just sum up Christmas? You go through all those presents and right at the end, tucked away at the bottom, there's always one stupid old satsuma. Who wants a satsuma?"

The Sycorax leader got up, grabbing his sword and charging at his back, but the Doctor reacted quickly, throwing the orange fruit and hitting a button that removed a portion of the balcony—sending the leader tumbling to the ground below.

"No second chances. I'm that sort of a man," the Doctor said sternly, sending an icy chill down my spine as he walked past me back into the main area of the ship.

I closed my eyes with a soft inhale, hearing him address the other aliens inside, but not really listening as I exhaled. Dangerous. He's very… dangerous and… something else. There's something off about him. Other than the whole alien bit. He seems… old. I opened my eyes and shuffled back into the ship just as we were teleported back to Earth and the ship started to fly off. I pushed the intruding thought of how we'd teleported out of my mind, and eyed the Doctor as he smiled at the group, spreading hugs and cheer as Jackie joined us. Then, a startling sound cut through the air as beams shot up, destroying the retreating ship.

There was only a beat of silence before I saw the instant change in the Doctor as he stepped toward the one person who could have been responsible.

"That was murder."

"That was defense," Harriet Jones argued. "It's adapted from alien technology. A ship that fell to Earth ten years ago."

"But they were leaving."

"You said yourself, Doctor, they'd go back to the stars and tell others about the Earth. I'm sorry, Doctor, but you're not here all the time. You come and go. It happened today. Mister Llewellyn and the Major. They were murdered. They died right in front of me while you were sleeping. In which case we have to defend ourselves."

"Britain's Golden Age," the Doctor spat as even I bowed my head, feeling a hint of shame for the human race.

"It comes with a price."

"I gave them the wrong warning. I should've told them to run as fast as they can, run and hide because the monsters are coming. The human race," the Doctor growled.

"Those are the people I represent. I did it on their behalf," Harriet tried to defend.

"Then I should have stopped you," the Doctor muttered as I moved away from the group and leaned up against the brick wall nearby, just out of earshot.

The human race indeed… I think I get it now. The Doctor… He must be tired. I let out another soft sigh, rubbing my chest for a vain sense of comfort. I understand that much, at least.

"You all right?"

I glanced up to see the man himself standing in front of me—the others having started heading off back towards the flats. It was startling almost, how quickly he could go from furious to joyful or concerned.

"I'm fine," I muttered, not entirely truthful, which he must have noticed.

"You sure?" He pressed as I pushed off the brick wall and started to walk with him. "It's a lot to handle, I'm sure. Aliens and invasions and such on Christmas morning. It's understandable if it's bothering you, though you've been handling it quite well, from what I've heard."

"I…" I pursed my lips, trying to work out what I wanted to say. "I'm flexible… in that aspect. Believing in the unbelievable, I mean. I sort of had to, considering..."

His gaze softened. "I'm sorry about your wife."

I was about to question how he knew about her, but then I remembered that I'd spoken to him before, while he was unconscious.I cracked a wobbly, teary smile down at the pavement. "Yeah. So am I." It was my fault anyway.

"You know, Nell, I have plenty of space on my ship," he mused, watching me from the corner of his eye, nonchalantly. "I wouldn't mind some more company."

"You must get lonely."

I pushed aside Jackie's words and gave him a look. "I had a bad heart."

"I know."

"Things like this…" I paused, working out the words. "I've been told not to get too wound up. No extensive exercising, that sort of thing."

He raised a brow. "Hasn't stopped you yet."

"Things could change."

The Doctor frowned. "So, you're not going to risk it."

"No… probably not. I'd rather just—"

"Die miserably, isolated from the world doing a nine-to-five job and personally distancing yourself from anyone even remotely friendly?"

I winced. "I'm not trying to—"

"But you are," he pressed, the two of us stopping outside the flats by his Tardis. "Nell, I might not know you and you probably don't know much of anything about me, but I'm willing to give you a chance at living. Properly living. I can show you the stars, history, the future. Anything you've ever dreamed of, but you're hesitating because of what?"

"Why do you even care?" I questioned, passing a hand through my hair as I struggled to understand. "You're an alien who just happened to bump into me while I was helping Rose, and again as I was just walking by. I'm just a single human out of trillions. I'm not important."

"Everyone is important," he pressed, eyes blazing as he took my shoulders. "And I mean every word of that. You are important, Nell. And you may not realize it, but you've beat the odds! You've survived where every doctor and physician has told you time and time again that you wouldn't, and that's brilliant! That is amazing in every sense of the word! And you know what? Without you alive right here, right now, something could have gone wrong on that ship. The Sycorax might have very well enslaved the human race if you hadn't noticed their bluff. I might have died if you hadn't helped Rose understand my regeneration just that tiny smidge more. So many things could have happened, but they didn't because you were here, and that's what makes you important. What makes everyone important. Because everyone has a place in time. Everyone affects it in different ways. And all I want to do right now is change into some decent clothes and take my ship out for a spin with you and Rose. Show you the universe and everything you've been missing while tucked away in that flat of yours."

"But my heart—"

"Will be fine," he pressed, giving me a soft smile. "I swear. I'll even take you to a hospital in the future if you want."

I didn't want to believe his offer. I wanted to pretend this was just a joke he was playing with me, but I also wanted to believe in the impossible. Just for a moment. Just for a while. This man, this alien Doctor. I wanted to believe that he would give me something to live for, and in return, I wanted to understand him better and help him in any way I could.

"All right," I muttered, earning a small smile.

"All right?"

I nodded slowly, cracking a slight smile in return. "Yeah, why not?"

He laughed, looping me under his arm joyously as he made for Jackie's flat. "Welcome to the team, Nell Owens!"

Yeah, welcome to the team.