Author's Note: Thanks so, so much to Ellie & QuinnLockwood for leaving me multiple reviews! I can't even say how much I appreciate it. If you guys ever want to see something special, send me a message and I'll try to work into the story!

"Are you okay?"

Groaning as I brushed dirt from my cheek and out of my eyelashes, I turned towards the voice that had addressed me. Its source was a young woman who looked about my age; she was tall, lithe, and pale, with her long hair pulled back into a ponytail. The top half of her hair had been dyed a bright shade of blue that matched her eyes and faded into cotton candy pink about halfway down, with her undercut colored blue as well. A silver nose ring pierced her right nostril and both of her earlobes had been pierced with modestly sized plugs. All in all, she was beautiful and I was already crushing hard.

"Um, y-yeah," I stammered, moving to sit instead of lying sprawled out across a bed of crushed pansies.

The woman left her easel, dropping her paintbrush on her seat, and hurried in my direction. "You took quite a fall," she said as she knelt down. I noticed that her accent sounded Welsh and briefly wondered if I would stumble across a member of Torchwood anytime soon. "How'd you do that?"

I blew a raspberry to remove a few stray specks of dirt that had caught on my lips. "Do what?"

"You just appeared outta thin air! Like somethin' outta Star Trek!"

"I do that… sometimes."

The woman's stunningly blue eyes shifted to the crushed bed of flowers. "And you also ruin my garden," she huffed. Then she smiled. "Sometimes."

"I'm sorry."

"That's okay. I can always find other flowers t'paint." Offering me her hand, the woman helped me to my feet and then rested her closed fists on her hips. "I'm Josie. What's your name?"

"Diana."

"Nice t'meet ya! D'you want some tea? Coffee?"

I frowned and narrowed my eyes. "Why are you so friendly? Sorry, that was a little rude, but I did just crash into your garden and ruin your flowers."

"And beam into my backyard like Cap'n Janeway." Josie waved a hand dismissively. "I'm a friendly person. An' you seem nice enough, ruined flowers notwithstanding."

Josie led me inside through the sliding glass door at the back of the house, then trailed towards the front of the house to the kitchen. It was impossible not to notice that almost every surface was covered with large, stunningly lifelike paintings, and that many of those paintings were of more than just a pretty garden. One painting was of green armored Ice Warriors, another of flying saucers in an alien sky, and another of a young woman with short, black hair and a mischievous smile. The painting seemed so real that for a moment I wondered if the girl would walk right of the frame and say hello.

"Your paintings are so beautiful," I said upon stepping into the kitchen. It was small, mostly decorated with wood cabinets and tiled countertops, and the walls had been painted a soft yellow. "They look so real!"

"Thank you," said Josie cheerfully. "Didjya want anything? Ya never said."

I hummed thoughtfully. "Um…" My stomach grumbled at that moment and I hurriedly pressed my palm against it to quiet it. Sheepishly, I met Josie's eyes and smiled. "I'm good. I don't want to impose-"

Josie opened the refrigerator door and peered inside. "Nonsense! I think I have enough stuff t'make us both a couple o' sandwiches. D'you like ham or turkey better?"

Confused by but incredibly grateful for Josie's kindness and friendliness, I adjusted my glasses. The lenses turned black for a moment and I hastily pressed my finger against the bridge to revert them to normal glasses before Josie saw. "Uh, ham?"

"Good, because there's almost no turkey left." Throwing me a wink over her shoulder, Josie added, "I had a midnight snack last night 'n' got a li'l carried away."

After Josie had made us both some food and poured out tea for herself and water for me, she haphazardly threw everything back into the fridge and guided me to the dining room. The dining table was just big enough for about four people, but two of the chairs were occupied by paintings.

"Sorry 'bout the mess. I don't usually have people over."

I set my plate and drink down on a plastic placemat. "That's okay. You should see my room, it's a total disaster." But I realized after the words had left my mouth that that wasn't true any more. I forced my smile to stay in place until after Josie turned her attention to her food. "Anyways. So, um, this is going to sound a little weird, but could I ask where I am?"

One of Josie's eyebrows shot into the air. "You don't know?"

"Well, I'm guessing I'm in the UK. You sound Welsh-ish?"

She laughed. "I'm not actually from Wales, but I've been here long enough that my accent's changed. But you're definitely not from 'round here either," she said, eyeing me as she took a sip of her tea. "Canadian?"

"American," I chuckled.

"So, were you in America before your li'l portal thing beamed you over here?"

Try an exploding space station. "Yeah."

Josie leaned forward, her chin cupped in her hand and her elbow braced against the table. "How does that work, then? D'you have, like, a portal gun or some kind o' Stargate or somethin'?"

"Or something. I kind of just show up places and hope for the best, to be honest."

"Sounds exciting!"

I took a bite of my first sandwich and nodded. "I guess so."

Somewhere inside the house, a clock began chiming. Josie and I had fallen silent as we continued eating. After the clock had stopped, I looked out the nearest window and noted the patches of orange sunlight streaking through gloomy, grey clouds. 3 o'clock? But it looks like the sun's about to set!

"What's the date?" I wondered

"Er, I think the fourteenth?"

"No, I mean, like, the full date."

Josie smiled and stole another bite of food. "Did your head get messed up when ya beamed over or didjya just get blackout drunk the night before?"

I shrugged. "Just curious."

"February the fourteenth." Josie's charming laughs enough to prompt a smile from myself. "You're very strange." She grinned and I felt my cheeks flush slightly. She was way too pretty. "Good thing I am, too."

"So, why'd you come here?" Josie asked. "Were you looking for someone?"

I handed over the silverware I had just finished washing and she dried them off with a hand towel. "Sort of. Usually there's someone I know after this happens, but I don't know where she is. At least, I think she's a she." I borrowed Josie's hand towel to wipe down the extra water that splashed onto the counter. "I don't suppose you know anyone called the Doctor?"

"You'll have t'be a li'l more specific than that. What's her name?"

"That is her name. Doctor."

"What, she just popped outta her mum an' her parents called her Doctor?"

"No," I laughed, "but that's what she calls herself. That's what everyone calls her."

Josie replaced the silverware in one of the drawers, then took another sip of her tea. "Unfortunately, I don't know anyone just called 'Doctor'. Is she your ticket home?"

"Yeah. I just don't know where she is."

"So, what're you gonna do until you find her?"

I glanced out the kitchen window, the sun having already disappeared behind the houses across the street. The sky was growing darker with each passing minute. "I don't know."

"D'you have somewhere t'go, someone you can stay with?"

"Not really," I said, inspecting my suddenly fascinating fingernails.

From the corner of my eye, I could see Josie turn and look out the window. She fiddled with the gold, heart shaped locket around her neck. "It's already getting dark. Why don't you stay here tonight?"

My head snapped up and I stared incredulously into her eyes. "You don't even know me."

"You don't know me. For all you know, I could be a serial killer! I promise I'm not, though," she added quickly. "You don't have anywhere to go an' a long time ago, neither did I. It wouldn't be right to turn you away. So, if you trust me, you can stay here for as long as you need t'find your Doctor friend."

"I-I don't know what to say. Thank you!"

"Don't mention it." Josie pushed away from the counter and gestured beyond the kitchen walls with her thumb. "Lemme show you the guest rooms."

"You'll have to excuse all the paintings," Josie continued as we headed towards the dining room. "It's my job, but it's also my hobby. I also have tremendous amounts of free time, so now I'm sort of drowning in artwork."

"There are worse ways to go."

I lingered in the hallway just beyond the dining room, looking at a beautiful painting of a pink sky and black-blue landscape. In the bottom corner was a tiny splotch of indigo paint vaguely shaped like a box. When I asked the artist about the piece, she just smiled.

"I've a wild imagination."

The gentle crackle of a lightbulb coming to life accompanied the sudden flood of light that illuminated the hallway. At the back was a dark wood staircase that appeared several decades old. The wood was smooth and worn in certain places, and the floorboards creaked underfoot.

The walls of the second story were the same faded shade of purple-grey as the rest of the house, minus the kitchen, which I suspected Josie had painted herself. The top of the stairwell opened to a perpendicular hallway, two doors centered directly in front of us. To our right were two other doors, this time on our side of the hallway, and at the very end was another stairwell that led to the third and final level. Another door stood on our left just beside the wall.

"There's a bathroom here an' here." Josie pointed to the left of the two doors directly ahead, then to the door closest to the other stairwell. Then she grabbed the handle of the right door. "This room's the only one I have made up at the moment."

Flicking the lights on after pushing the door open, Josie stepped back with an arm outstretched, gesturing for me to look inside. The floor lamp that had turned on was missing all but one of its bulbs, the other four arms framing the center one as the light shone weakly through a faded, multicolor glass shade. A twin sized bed and chestnut frame stood in the middle of the room, decorated with white sheets and a white comforter that had been embroidered with dozens of off-white daisies. Neatly placed beside an analog clock on the bedside table was a brass lamp with a white shade.

"I feel like I've stepped into 1970."

Josie snickered. "Yeah, it's a li'l hippie, but I like it."

"No, it's nice. I like it, too. Thanks."

"Course!" Wiggling her fingers in my direction, Josie started for the stairs. "Now get yourself settled in. I'll be right back."

Shrugging my jacket off and tossing it across the mattress, I plopped down on the side of the bed and heaved a sigh. Looking at the faint streaks in the pale yellow paint on the walls, I fiddled nervously with the pendant hanging around my neck. Doctor, where are you? I wondered. You're the only constant I have. Where are you?

"What's so funny?" I said, squinting suspiciously in Josie's direction as she tried to muffled her laughter.

Josie passed me a breakfast bar, sliding it across the kitchen counter. She pointed to the left side of my head and smiled. "Your hair's a li'l prickly."

I ghosted my palm over the shaved part of my hair and felt my cheeks flush with crimson heat. I licked my palm, then quickly tried to tame the sticky-up bits as best I could. "I should probably shower, but…" I eyed the breakfast bar. "I'm really freaking hungry."

"There're extra towels folded under the sink if you need 'em." Unwrapping her own breakfast bar, Josie stepped past the kitchen window and the early morning sunlight, although shining from the opposite end of the sky, seemed to illuminate her skin. "Didjya sleep well?"

"It took me a while, but I got there in the end. You?"

"Like a baby," she admitted. "But I woke up early 'cause I just had to start on this new painting." Josie lightly nudged me in the ribs as she passed. "I'll see ya after your shower, eh, Star Trek girl?"

I watched her move into the living room and sit down by her easel, a mostly blank canvas propped up and a table stationed beside it with paints, a palette, and a cup full of brushes. The neckline of her crop top slipped down her shoulder slightly, revealing the straps of her periwinkle tank top, and she tugged at the shirt with an annoyed sigh. Upon realizing that I was staring, I forced myself to go back upstairs and shower.

My clothes weren't dirty and, thankfully, didn't smell, but Josie had turned the heater on and there was no way I was wearing my denim jacket if she kept it on, so I left it sprawled out on the mattress. After toweling my hair dry and running my fingers through it in an attempt to look somewhat decent, I started downstairs and stole into the kitchen to look for another breakfast bar.

Josie had painted a purple and pink something on her canvas by the time I returned to the living room. I'd noticed before my shower that there was an enormous bookcase on one side of the room and started looking through the collection for something interesting.

A distant, familiar wheeze sounded somewhere outside and I turned, my lungs filled with hope. I stepped away from the bookcase towards the doorway, something inexplicable pulling me in the direction of what I hoped was the TARDIS and, consequently, the Doctor. A loud creak sounded in the back of the house, and Josie and I both whipped our heads towards it.

"Did you hear that?" Josie whispered. I nodded, praying that it really was the Doctor and not a burglar. "Hello?" she called. "Who's there?"

Stepping around the corner of the doorway, the floorboards creaking beneath her feet, a woman appeared and leaned against the frame with a smirk. Impossibly dark, curly hair had been shaved into an undercut on the bottom with a small fringe on top, the woman's bangs just touching her eyelashes. She crossed her arms over her chest. "Funny. That's precisely what I was going to say." With one leg crossed over the other in a pose that radiated smug confidence, I couldn't help thinking that the woman seemed very familiar. "I'm the Doctor. And I'd very much like to know what you're doing in my house."

"Doctor?" Josie and I exclaimed, both incredulously and simultaneously.

I looked over the woman's tattered, green overcoat, the hint of a fob watch chained to a button on her waistcoat and mostly hidden inside a pocket, and decided it wasn't all that difficult to identify which incarnation of the Time Lady I'd been drawn to, even if she looked nothing like Paul McGann. Between her midnight hair, radiant black skin, and the noticeably alluring curve of her waist, I was having trouble determining if I was a little disappointed that the Doctor I remembered didn't exist or if I was overwhelmingly gay for the Doctor that stood before me.

Josie's voice seemed far away when she breathed, "You're the Doctor?"

The Doctor, however, clearly wasn't paying any attention to her because her focus was entirely and uncomfortably on me. The smirk and smug pose melted away as the Time Lady stared silently at me, her big, brown eyes flitting across my face. I glanced hesitantly at Josie, who shrugged and shook her head, then looked to the Doctor again.

"Doctor? Are you okay?" I said slowly.

She smiled and it was heartbreaking. "Yes, of course." I pretended not to notice the water pooling in her eyes. "It's good to see you again."

"I-It's good to see you, too."

Breaking out of her musing, the Doctor snapped and pointed at Josie. "When I come back, I want an explanation as to why you're in my house."

"When you-? Where are you going?" Josie asked, jolting out of her chair.

But the Doctor had already disappeared down the hallway at that point. I caught Josie's eyes and frowned, shaking my head in confusion. She set her paintbrush and palette down on the seat, and hurried over, reaching for my arm.

"Is that the Doctor you were talking about?" she whispered.

"Yes."

"Is it just me, or did she seem t'be acting a li'l strange?"

"It's definitely not just you."

Josie and I remained standing by the bookcase for a moment, peering down the hallway as if we could somehow see the Doctor. Then Josie nudged me in the arm with her elbow and grinned. I laughed, watching her wiggle her eyebrows suggestively.

"What?"

Josie gestured to the hallway with a nod of her head. "She's pretty, isn't she?"

"Yeah… Why?"

"What, you thought I wasn't gonna notice you checking her out? Or checking me out, for that matter?"

Taken aback by Josie's lack of subtlety, I sputtered nonsensically for a few moments before finally turning my gaze to one of the paintings propped against the wall. "I-I wasn't checking you out. I wasn't checking a-anyone out! I was just-! I was only looking."

"Mm." Josie sat down at her easel again and crossed one leg over the other, leaning forward with her arms resting on her thighs. "Whatever you say, Star Trek girl."

The Doctor came bounding into the room then, her eyes immediately landing on me. "Now, then. Who's going to explain everything to me?"

Josie replaced her paintbrush and palette on the table. She stood and extended her arm towards the Doctor with a smile. "I'm Josie. Josie Day." I chuckled softly when the Doctor's handshake was firm enough to prompt a startled reaction from the painter.

"A pleasure to meet you, Josie, but why are you in my house?"

She shrugged. "Well, painting, mostly. I needed a place t stay and this place was empty. It was practically falling down! I-I thought it had been abandoned, so I patched it up as best I could-"

"Yes, well, I'm sure it's been a few decades since I last looked in," said the Doctor. She finally dropped Josie's hand and turned to look around the room, her hands clasped behind her back. "I like what you've done with the place, by the way."

"What's brought you back?" Josie wondered. "Not that you can't come back t'your own house, I mean. But after all this time?" She frowned, reached for her pendant and clasping it tightly as she watched the Doctor investigate the room. "I'm sorry. I'm babbling. I just wasn't expecting any visitors. Or landlord visits. Well… I don't know what this is, actually."

The Doctor waved a hand half over her shoulder, half over her head as she knelt near the bookcase, rummaging through a pile of stuff. A teddy bear went flying over her shoulder. "Oh, don't mind me. I'm just looking for a book." I eyed the bookcase and smiled, shaking my head. She plucked a small, metallic square from the pile and squinted at it. "It's very important and she must have left it here."

"She?" I echoed.

Dropping the metal square back into the pile, the Doctor stood and looked at the bookcase. "Me. The other me."

"The other you?" Josie squeaked.

"Yes. Old, white hair, frills, a nice scarf," she explained, gesturing a circle around her face as she mentioned the scarf. "You wouldn't have liked her, Josie. She had no appreciation for art, spent all her time taking things apart and leaving bits lying about. But Diana liked her." The Doctor glanced at me and grinned. "Didn't you?"

I felt my mouth drop open. "Uh…"

"Oh, don't tell me you didn't? I thought you liked her back then!"

"I-I did," I assured her, although I wasn't sure why I felt compelled to say so.

The Doctor's smile returned and I couldn't look away. She was so beautiful. "Excellent."

"You're not making any sense," Josie said, coming up to stand on the Doctor's left side while I stood on her right.

The Doctor leaned closer to the bookcase and tsked. "You've rearranged it!"

Josie huffed and crossed her arms over her stomach. "They were a mess. I alphabetized it."

"They were chronological." The Doctor's hand shot out and grabbed a book. She inspected it, then tossed it over her shoulder. "It was near the end of the shelf because I haven't met her yet!"

"Met who?" I asked, ducking out of the way of the Doctor's arm as she tossed another book aside.

"Charlotte Brontë, of course! I'm looking for my copy of Jane Eyre."

I dropped into a crouch and searched the books along the bottom shelves, but didn't spot anything with Brontë's name or the title. Josie's legging-clad calves suddenly came into view. I titled my head back to see her moving one of her paintings from its place hanging from a nail on the top shelf. It showcased an orange backdrop and brownish rock formations, and shimmered slightly as it drifted in and out of a sunbeam.

"They're unusually good," said the Doctor. "What do you do with them?"

"I sell them when I can find someone who's actually willing t'give me money for them. I'm under no illusions, Doctor. They're a bit of an acquired taste."

"I like them," I said, standing as Josie set the painting aside.

The Doctor rubbed her finger along the ridge below her bottom lip. "You've chosen some rather interesting subjects."

Josie went on to explain that her paintings had become popular enough with the locals that several people had bought them to hang in their own homes, and that one of her pieces even hung in the local pub. A knock at the front door cut her off.

"I think you've another visitor," said the Doctor. She snatched the painting off the ground and looked over it closely as Josie ran off to answer the door. "This doesn't look very much like Earth, does it?" she said to me.

"I dunno. It could be Arizona at sunset."

The Doctor rolled her eyes. "You're supposed to agree with me."

Josie's voice drifted into the living room, along with that of another woman. It was a Welsh lady who was speaking so quickly and frantically that I could hardly understand her, but from what little I could hear it seemed that she was upset over some kind of attack. I crept closer to the doorway so I could hear better.

"It was a monster!" the woman exclaimed.

"A monster?" I jumped upon hearing the Doctor's voice just behind me. I turned and saw that she had moved into the hallway just outside my periphery.

"It was just like the ones in your funny painting," the woman continued, as if she hadn't seen the Doctor appear from behind a bookcase at the mention of a monster attack. "A man made out of stone with glowing eyes and fingertips. Demon spawn, I tell you!"

Josie shifted her weight from one foot to the other, her hands balanced on her hips. "Mrs. Fellowes, how long were you in the pub before-?"

Mrs. Fellowes huffed, a few strands of her dark bangs falling over her eyes. "I'm not sure I like your implication, Josie! I'd only had a sweet sherry!"

The Doctor, who had moved steadily down the hallway towards the front door, spoke again. "Take a deep breath, Mrs. Fellowes. I'm the Doctor and I love a good monster story. Josie's going to put the kettle on-"

"Oh, am I?"

"You are. And Mrs. Fellowes is going to tell us exactly what happened - from the beginning. Then she's going to show us where all this happened."

"I'll take you there now," said Mrs. Fellowes, "and I'll explain on the way."

"Oh. Right then."

Josie put a hand on Mrs. Fellowes arm. "Just give me a second to grab my shoes." She turned and spotted me peeking out from the living room. "Oh, by the way, that's Diana." I waved awkwardly. "She's a friend."

Realizing I'd left my shoes in the guest room, I excused myself and darted up the stairs to retrieve them. On my back downstairs, the Doctor met me at the bottom with her hand on the bannister. I finished readjusting the collar of my jacket and offered her a tiny smile.

"Have you been here long?" she wondered.

"Less than a full day. Josie was kind enough to take me in since I didn't have anywhere to go."

The Doctor nodded. "Yes, she seems very nice, doesn't she?"

"Yep."

I took the hand that the Doctor offered me and descended the final stair, noting but not acknowledging the strange manner in which she looked at me. I felt like I was under examination. Tugging my hand free, I slipped both appendages into my jacket pockets and smiled again. What else was I supposed to do when she looked at me as though I was something she'd never seen before?

"You okay?"

"I've had better days."

"Oh. I'm sorry."

Smiling another bittersweet smile, the Doctor offered me her arm and I took it even though I didn't want to. My mother and grandmother did, after all, raise me to be polite. "Don't be. You're making me feel better already."

The weather was more brisk than I was used to, but it soon warmed to an almost perfect temperature due to our walk. My arm remained looped around the Doctor's until we reached the pub, Mrs. Fellowes explaining all the while exactly who she'd spoken to, what she'd had to drink, and how the creatures had seemingly appeared out of nowhere and scared most of the other customers away.

I only half paid attention to what the woman was saying, not caring enough to listen very closely. I kept thinking about what the Doctor had said to me before I faded, the things she had happened, and how much I missed the Doctor last night when I thought I was all alone. I hardly knew the woman, but finding myself all alone in a foreign country left me scared and desperate for a friend, and she was the only one I had.

What continued to confuse me was the way every Doctor I'd met had acted around me. I felt like I missing a vital piece of information, but I couldn't guess what it was. All I knew for sure was that the Doctor cared for me. The Doctor, of all people, cared for me! I was a college student with a dead-end job and no family, and she was a fictional character turned savior of the universe. Somehow, it didn't seem right when there were people like Romana, Clara, Zoe, and Jack in the Doctor's life, people who were smarter and more important than I could ever dream of being.

"I don't understand," said Mrs. Fellowes as we strode inside the White Hart pub. There were no customers and no monsters to be found. "They were right here. They were just like those things in your painting, Josie, I swear! One o' them tried to grab me!"

The Doctor had let go of my arm so she could wander around the empty pub. Josie, standing by the fireplace where a small fire was struggling to stay alight, called myself and the Doctor over. She pointed at the painting that hung on the wall above the mantlepiece.

"Someone's vandalized it! There were loads o' stone people here an' now?"

The painting was of a regular, blue sky and a grassy field littered with boulders, but there were vaguely humanoid shapes in the piece that looked as if they'd been scratched out.

The Doctor frowned. "Shame. It looks like it was one of your best. Suspicious, isn't it?"

Josie raised an eyebrow. "The fact that someone's ruined my painting? 'S not the word I'd use."

Spinning around to gesture to the pub with widespread arms, the Doctor said, "No, the fact that it's Sunday lunchtime and there's no one in the pub."

Mrs. Fellowes waved her hand in Josie's direction, then pointed to a green mark on the floor by her feet. "Josie, look. Footprints! They're in paint."

"Curiouser and curiouser." The Doctor knelt down and dipped her forefinger in the paint. "This must be where they emerged from the painting." We followed the path that the footprints left, winding around tables towards another door at the back of the pub. The Doctor sniffed the paint on her finger. "It's the same color as the painted grass and it certainly smells like oil paint."

"'Emerged from the painting'?" Josie repeated incredulously. "You can't seriously be suggesting th-that the stone men just woke up an' climbed out?"

"Can't I?" Wiping her finger on her tan colored trousers, the Doctor jumped up and started for the back door. "C'mon! Let's see where this trail leads!"

The footprints wandered through the open doorway, along a stone walkway, and finally to a courtyard several meters beyond the pub grounds. At the center of the courtyard was a metal cross about my height and behind, at the courtyard's edge was a little church, and gathered between the cross and the church was what looked to be the entire village. Standing with their backs to us were towering, stoney beings with light glowing in the space between their boulderous body parts. I caught sight of an Ice Warrior in scaled, green armor before the Doctor grabbed hold of my hand and pulled me to the ground.

A stone wall about waist height encircled the edge of the pub's property and the Doctor had us crouch behind it to remain out of sight. "Seems there's a bit of a brouhaha on the village greens," the Doctor said, biting back a smile that tugged at the corners of her mouth.

"What the hell is a brouhaha?" I whispered.

"Use your context clues, Diana."

My eyes rolled back far enough in my head that I could've sworn I saw the back of my own skull. Then I rubbed my fingertips against my eyes when they started aching because I rolled them a little too far back. "Will you tell me those things are, then?"

"Witherkin. Creatures of living starlight that fashion bodies from drifting asteroids. They've no place in a tiny Welsh village."

"They're beautiful."

The Doctor's head snapped in my direction. "They're also incredibly dangerous."

Admiration turned to fear in the blink of an eye. "Ah." Never mind, then.

"They certainly look like the creatures from my painting," Josie whispered.

"That's because they are, Josie." One Witherkin lumbered past us and we quickly ducked out of sight, then peeked over the top of the wall to watch it leave. Its steps were jolty and uncertain like a puppet on a string. "Just look at them, the way they move! Awkward, unsteady. They have no real depth."

Josie huffed. "My art has depth!"

"They're animated constructs, walking art."

"But how could my paintings come t'life like this?"

Beside me, Mrs. Fellowes mumbled a pray under her breath. "Dark magic," she breathed with a shaky finger pointed towards the creatures. "Mark my words, Josie, there's evil business going on here."

The Doctor scoffed. "I've seen many things in this universe that defy easy explanation, Mrs. Fellowes, but I've yet to accept any one of them as magic."

"What're they gonna do t'all those people?" Josie asked.

We watched as the Witherkin, Ice Warriors, and a stray Cyberman herded the villagers into a corner of the courtyard. The villagers were terrified and confused, but as far as I could tell none of them had been hurt or killed. Somehow I knew that was important, but I wasn't sure what it meant.

"They're following the narratives of their paintings," the Doctor explained. I watched the hair around her eyes dance in the wind. "Acting out the stories you gave them, Josie. They lack any real, guiding intelligence. They're just impressions of the real things herding these people with no obvious purpose."

Two Witherkin suddenly stepped directly into view, their shadows swallowing us up. Their featureless stone faces were profoundly more terrifying than they should have been. Yelping, I fell onto my backside and crawled back several paces as one of the Witherkin stepped over the wall. I was half aware of the Doctor pulling me to my feet. I turned and bolted back inside the pub, racing for the main entrance, determined to survive another day.

I was yanked backwards by a hand on my arm. Turning to fight whatever had grabbed me, I stopped short when I realized that it was the Doctor. "Where do you think you're going?" she asked with a half smile. "Josie, did you-"

"Yes, but it's not going to hold them for long!"

Josie and Mrs. Fellowes had barricaded the back door with a chair, but the Witherkin were pounding against it. Falling back a few paces, Josie wrapped her arms around herself as a guilty expression washed over her face.

"Doctor, I… I painted those things. I created them, but I-I never intended this. What do we do? What did I do?"

"That's precisely what I intend to find out, Josie." Releasing my arm, the Doctor whipped out her sonic screwdriver and pointed it at the young artist. The screwdriver whirred softly, the triangular, blue tip glowing brightly.

"What are you doing?" Josie yelped.

"Scanning you."

"Ask first, next time. And scanning for what?"

Releasing a button on the sonic, the Doctor pulled her arm back. "Animae particles. You're dripping in them."

Josie looked down at her hands, her mouth agape as tiny, golden tadpoles whizzed around her body. The tadpoles, which I guessed were the animae particles the Doctor had mentioned, were so luminous that Josie looked as if she were glowing.

"What the hell? Are these animae particles?" she asked, twisting her hands as the particles flew in between her fingers.

"They were developed by the Artificers of Wrall," the Doctor explained, "a reclusive order of monks who used them to animate the illuminations in their holy texts. That explains what happened to your paintings! You must have unknowingly impregnated them with some of the particles, giving them some semblance of life. But that's not enough, not on its own." She frowned and tapped the tip of her sonic against her temple as she thought. "There's some other force at play," she mumbled. "There must be. Perhaps something catalyzed by the arrival of the TARDIS-"

"Doctor!" Josie called. The glow of the animae particles had started to grow stronger, threatening to drown Josie in their light.

A quick flick of the sonic turned the particles off, so to speak. The Doctor smiled apologetically. "Sorry! Now, what was I saying?"

"I don't know!" Josie yelped. "None of it made any sense! I'm not psychic!"

The Doctor's face lit up a moment later. She gasped and put a hand on Josie's shoulder. "That's it! Oh, brilliant, Josie, brilliant!"

A loud thud from the opposite side of the door made me gasp. Mrs. Fellowes had grabbed a coat stand and was holding it before her like a staff, somewhat reminiscent of Gabrielle from Xena. She tried to tell the Doctor that the Witherkin were breaking through, but the Time Lady was too busy talking to herself to notice. I caught only every few words, but managed to piece together that she had left an old telepathic circuit at Josie's house and that it had somehow activated with the arrival of the TARDIS.

"If it's interacting with the animae particles, it could explain what's bringing your paintings to life!" she said to Josie.

Josie clutched her head, her mouth twisted into a frown. "Doctor, I don't understand!"

"Doctor!" Mrs. Fellowes screamed.

The door had splintered in the middle where the arm of a Witherkin had broken through the wood. The coat stand swung through the air as the rest of the door shattered and the Witherkin stepped through the doorway. I felt the Doctor's arm brush over my stomach before I saw it, her hand resting on my hip as she placed herself in front of me. My hand found its way to her shoulder where I gripped her coat until my knuckles turned white. The appearance of a second Witherkin made my body turn rigid.

"Careful now. We don't want anyone to get hurt," said the Doctor, although I wasn't sure if she was speaking to the rest of us or the Witherkin. "They only only want to talk us on a walk to the village cross."

Still brandishing the coat stand, Mrs. Fellowes glared stubbornly at the two creatures. I spotted Josie shuffle towards the pub entrance from the corner of my eye and followed her lead, desperate to get away from whatever danger the Witherkin presented. The Doctor glanced over her shoulder at me, then back at the Witherkin as they took a rumbling step forward.

"I think there's nothing else for it," she sighed. Lifting both arms into the air, the Doctor said, "Take me to your leader!"

The Doctor and Mrs. Fellowes were grabbed by the two Witherkin as another entered the pub behind them. The coat stand clattered to the floor and I paced backwards as the third Witherkin advanced on Josie and I.

"We'll keep them busy, Josie! You know what to do!"

"I don't! I-I have no idea!"

The Doctor grunted as the Witherkin guided her towards the doorway, her arms held behind her back. "Do what you do best!" She strained against the Witherkin's grip, half shouting over her shoulder as she was pushed outside. "You decide how the story ends!"

Dodging the remaining Witherkin's outstretched arm as it swooped overhead, I turned and bolted for the entrance. Josie appeared by my side, then shot past me like a bullet. I felt the Witherkin's footsteps shake the earth. Josie was several paces ahead of me, sprinting down the street with her ponytail whipping back and forth in the wind. By the time we reached her house, having to hide myself behind a large shrub as another pair of Witherkin plodded by, I was having a hard time catching my breath. As I've always said, I'm a bit like Gimli: able to sprint short distances, but not built for long distance or endurance running.

I darted to the front door once the creatures were out of sight, but the door was locked. I pounded my fist against the door, shout-whispering Josie's name, but the door wasn't unlocked. I pressed my ear to the door and tried to listen for the sound of her voice or footsteps, but heard nothing. Uncomfortable being in plain sight, I speed-walked around the house to the backyard, passing through the open gate that divided each yard, and found the back door open as well.

"Josie?" I called, sliding the glass door shut behind me. "It's me. Are you here?"

"In the front!"

Racing down the hallway, I padded into the living room to see the woman sitting at her easel painting. In the middle of the pink and purple canvas was the Doctor, her face devoid of any features and her coat half painted. "What are you doing?"

"The Doctor said t'do what I do best. This is what I do best! I-If I'm right, then maybe this is the answer!"

A few hasty brushstrokes later, the Doctor's coat was completed and her facial features were filled in. Josie had hardly lifted her brush from the canvas when the Doctor's hand came to life, fingers grasping at air as her arm stuck out from the canvas. Josie jumped up and stumbled back a step, her paintbrush falling to the floor as the rest of the Doctor stepped out of the canvas. Although Josie was a great artist, there was something off about the Doctor's face. It was emotionless and her eyes were tiny, moderately horrifying black dots below texture less eyebrows. She brushed past us both to stand by the bookshelf where the real Doctor had rummaged through a pile of stuff earlier. Digging around in the mess the real Doctor had made, the animated Doctor picked up the same metallic square that I had seen before and threw it to the ground. It shattered into a dozen pieces and then the animated Doctor faded away. She reappeared on the canvas in the same position Josie had painted her in, but with no semblance of life.

Josie turned to me, her eyes wide. "Did... Did I do it?"

I shook my head. "I don't know."

"We should go back to the pub."

"Do we have to go all the way back?" I groaned. "Don't you have a car? Or a bike?"

"No, neither. But we have t'get back. If I didn't do this right, then maybe the Doctor can help."

As Josie started for the front door, it suddenly occurred to me that I had seen something in the backyard, having dismissed it completely at the time. "Wait," I said. "I think I know how to get us there."

"It's-! Oh, my God, it's beautiful!" I could see Josie spinning around in slow circles, her head tilted back. "How does it do that?"

I grumbled a vague, unsure response as I tapped away at the controls. As far as I could tell, there were no telepathic circuits on the console like in the Twelfth Doctor's TARDIS, which meant I had to try and figure out how to either locate the Doctor or find a map of Josie's village. Since the first option felt more challenging, I decided on asking Josie for the name of her village and locating the pub on a map. Once I'd entered the date, time, and village name onto the scanner, a map appeared and I was able to lock onto the pub's coordinates. Throwing the dematerialization lever, I smiled proudly and let the TARDIS do the rest.

Josie followed me outside and I felt my heart swell with pride when I saw that we had materialized inside pub without any problems. She raced towards the back of the building, climbing over the broken remnants of the door and then stumbling into the yard; I stayed close to the TARDIS. Although I couldn't see any Ice Warriors or Witherkin, I didn't want to risk getting captured. I squinted and saw Josie leap forward to embrace someone. The Doctor! I realized.

Moving to the doorway, I rested my hand against the frame and looked around the yard. There were no monsters in sight and the townspeople were chattering pleasantly in the courtyard. The Doctor was speaking to Josie, her hands resting on the painter's shoulders as she smiled. Then she tilted to the side and her eyes landed on me.

"Is it safe?" I called.

"Yes!"

The Doctor started for the pub with an arm around Josie's shoulders, the pair falling into step as they chatted softly. "She did it!" the Doctor beamed once she was in earshot. "Josie Day, you saved your village!"

She shrugged nonchalantly, flipping her ponytail over her shoulder with a sarcastic smile. "All in a day's work, Doctor!" Her smile turned genuine and she looked from me to the Time Lady. "So, back home?"

The Doctor nodded. "Jane Eyre awaits!"

Author's Note: This chapter is a decent length (finally!) and I thought it was really fun to adapt a comic story. I'm planning to do more of these in the future, so let me know what you think!