Chapter 2

Disclaimer: Been feeling an urge recently to write this so here we are!

One Week later

A week had passed since the Doctor had made his return to Earth after apparently going through centuries of War on his home planet. A week that saw him sleep the entire time, which had honestly worried those who knew him as never had they seen him sleep so much. But figured his body and mind needed it more then anything else at that point. The fact he hadn't had any nightmares as far as they were aware due to a lack of screaming out from his sleep spoke to the fact of how truly tired he was as well. Torchwood had even shown up to try and cause trouble considering an old missive of their's but they had been soundly rebuffed thanks to UNIT and the Brigadier reaching out to the Queen. It didn't help that one of their own, a Captain Jack Harkness had helped in the rebuffing as apparently he knew the Doctor from a point in time that had yet to happen and wasn't about to let the more zealous aspects of the organization have their way with the Doctor in any of his bodies. Or did already happen if one really thought about it if they wanted a headache. And while the Doctor's health and mental state was a worry on everyone's minds who knew him, the state of the Old Girl herself on the inside as well as the outside somewhat was also rather worrisome.

The fact she had looked so empty in the main control room was unnerving to the Doctor's old long time friends. Grace especially had been shocked since she remembered how Victorian like the Tardis had been during her short time with him. Repairs were clearly needed and while Ace and even Sarah Jane had some experience in Tardis maintenance, it was clear they needed a bit more help. And thusly, one Mickey Smith of UNIT's Auto Mechanics and Engineering Department had been recruited to help out despite the fact he was relatively new to UNIT but showed a lot of promise. He'd been amazed by the Tardis and a little horrified by its state and quickly got to work in fixing her up with Ace, Sarah Jane, and the others' help if they were able too. However, an issue of Mickey's would end up waking the Doctor from his deep sleep much to his irritation. And once he spotted the source of his irritation, he frowned and quickly left the room he'd been given and got down the stairs as fast as he could in his pajamas and robe.

"Good Heavens, girl! There are people trying to sleep so for God's sake leave the boy alone so he can work in peace!" He shouted as he came out of Alistair's home and into the front yard.

Thankful the Old Girl had sent him a message about the young lad doing his best to try and help repair her as he was making his way out there. A young Blonde girl shot him a look that he was none too pleased by. "Just go back inside and mind your own business, yeah? This is between me and my boyfriend."

"And I've already said my piece on it, Rose. I can't take you out this weekend and you need to accept that due to what I've got goin' on here." Mickey told his girlfriend tiredly and feeling embarrassed that a guest of the Brigadier's was seeing all this.

Especially when the Brigadier and others were about and likely hearing the argument! She shot him a look that told him all he needed to know that she wasn't happy with his answer. "What? Workin' on some stupid box?"

"I'll have you know that the Old Girl is nowhere close to being stupid! For she may be old but she can still travel with the best of them!" Yelled Theta irately in defense of his oldest and dearest friend.

His connection with the Tardis told him of how annoyed she felt over the Blonde Human's unkind words. But was pleased with his. The girl shot him a look and looked to be about to say something rather unkind when Alistair himself showed up. "Miss Tyler, if you are not going to be presenting yourself in a polite manner at my home, I will have to ask you to leave. Young Mickey has already told you he can not take you out and your refusal on it is greatly disturbing one of my oldest and dearest friends from the sleep he needs. Something I will NOT have. Is that understood?"

Thoroughly chastized, Rose nodded her head in understanding while Theta had a thoughtful look on his face. "Tyler… Would you happen to have any relation to a Professor Rex Tyler by any chance?"

Rose looked momentarily confused for a moment before speaking. "Umm, yeah? He's my Uncle but I don't have much to do with him."

"Yeah, because he's always on about you doing more to improve yourself by going back to school." Mickey said with a snort and gained a glare in return.

"An educated mind is a wondrous thing to have." Theta said with a decisive nod.

With an educated mind, one could use it to topple an empire or create one. Along with many other wonderful possibilities. An eyeroll came from the girl before she spoke. "Whatever, I'm goin' home. Which is where I'll be when you decide you actually want to be my boyfriend, Mickey."

And with that, she made her leave while Mickey just sighed unhappily and turned around. "S-Sorry about you havin' to see that, mate. You too, sir."

"Quite alright, Mickey, quite alright. Its clear Miss Tyler clearly has some maturing to do. And hopefully its sooner rather then later so her mother will be more at ease."

"One can hope." God, he loved that girl but she was too much at times.

"Reminds me a bit too much of my long departed wife for my liking but like Alistair said, its quite alright. Though I wager you could do much better then her. Now… What on Earth are you doing with my Tardis?" Even though the Old Girl had given him something of an idea, he still wanted to hear it from the young man himself while wondering when a good time would be to go and see his old friend, Rex Tyler the Professor.

This startled the young man as he had no idea this was the owner of the alien box that was bigger on the inside then what it was on the outside! "T-This is yours!?"

"Something to that effect, yes." Replied Theta with a smile.

"I… Wow! You, you have an amazing machine here, sir! Needs a lot of repairs that I've been workin' on after the Brigadier asked me to look into it but she is amazin'!"

Theta smiled and could feel a pleased hum from the Tardis. "You have my and the Tardis' thanks, young man, for your kind words. And I am not too terribly surprised she is in need of repairs after the war we went through. Maybe I'll join you in fixing her up after I've eaten as it seems I've slept up quite the appetite." He admitted a little embarrasedly as his stomach rumbled a bit loudly.

Causing Alistair to chuckle. "I'd… I'd be honored, sir." As who knows what he could learn from an actual Alien!

One that was revered all through out UNIT itself! "Please, call me Professor or Theta, sir reminds me too much of the war."

"R-Right, my apologies."

"No worries, young man, no worries at all."

His stomach rumbled again and the old man almost rolled his eyes again while Alistair just chuckled. "Come, old friend, let's see what we can find in the kitchen to feed the beast that is your stomach. Of which I can honestly say I've never heard before until now!"

"You're going to greatly enjoy that, aren't you?"

"Of course!"

Despite himself, Theta couldn't help but feel amused by his old friend's words. And thankfully, there would be quite the feast for them to find once they were in the kitchen and he'd need at least an hour and a half to digest it before he could move since it'd been such a long while since he'd ate so much. But it was well worth it in his eyes!

Author's Notes: Some probably won't like the way I wrote Rose here but I've never been a huge fan of her's and in this, she's still fairly young and bratty. Professor Tyler on the other hand, is an actual character from The 3 Doctors during Old Who/Third Doctor's era. Though the first name is just something I took from his actor. I thought of the idea of connecting him with the Tylers some time after watching The 3 Doctors but never got around to using that until now. Not quite sure when I'll update this again as I'm planning to just update whenever the mood strikes me. Or until my other projects are out of the way.

Happy New Year's folks!