*Edited Mar 22nd 2018. Fixed tense changes, smoothed the dialogue out.

Awareness slowly returns. I can feel my bed beneath me and I nuzzle down into the blankets, trying to deny my state of wakefulness. Unfortunately, I was awake and my body wasn't going to let me forget it.

As I lay there, the wisps of my dream came back to me. Vivid dreams were nothing new to me, but the one I had last night was a little more intense than I was used to. Jeeze, I thought to myself, first I get hit by a car and then I end up in a hospital that gets transported to the moon. No wonder I had been so confused in the dream. I really needed to stop browsing the alien tag on Pinterest before I go to sleep.

Giving up on pretending to be asleep, I finally pry my eyes open. Only my room wasn't the thing that came into focus. Instead of the cream walls and bookshelves I was expecting, I saw white walls and machines with flashing lights. The bed I was in wasn't my bed. Sitting up abruptly, I try and contain my panic.

I look down at myself, taking note of the fact that I was wearing a pair of plaid pajamas. My stomach clenches in dread and I swallow harshly. These weren't my pajamas. I had not put these pajamas on. My eyes dart around the room, trying to figure out where I was and just what was going on. Unfortunately, the walls don't offer any answers. There is a small table next to the bed with a comfy looking chair next to that, a half full mug sitting on the table along with a book. Also, strangely, there is an umbrella leaning beside the chair. Before the ramifications of those things are able to set in, I hear what sounds like foots steps coming from outside the room.

I panic. Throwing my legs over the bed, I jump down and grab the closest thing I might be able to use as a weapon, which happens to be the umbrella I noticed earlier. Frantically looking around for something to hide in, or behind, I come up short. Unfortunately, the decorator of the room hadn't seemed to decorate with ease of hiding in mind. By now the door is opening, so I just dart around to the other side of the bed, putting it between me and the open door.

A man walks in, but he doesn't notice me at first. To be fair, I'm busy gaping at him in return. It was the man from my dream. The man with the question mark vest, who also called himself the Doctor.

"But!" I exclaim. "You aren't real. You were a dream."

The man looks up, startled. "Mabel! It's good to see you up and about." He starts to move across the room towards me.

I grip the umbrella and bring it up to point it at him. "Stop!" I manage to croak out. He stops.

Looking at him over the bed, I try to even out my breathing. So many different thoughts are darting around my head all at once. I have no idea what to do. Fight, flight? But I do know one thing. I'm tired of being scared. After a few seconds of silence, I let out a sigh and lower the umbrella tiredly. This man may be weird, but he hadn't tried to hurt me. And honestly, he had all the chance in the world to do so while I was sleeping.

The Doctor raises an eyebrow at me and I scowl at him in response. "I'm not sure what is going on." I admit to him.

He shrugs and responds, "Is anyone ever sure of what's going on?"

I feel like sighing again, but I manage to restrain the urge. Deciding to make myself comfortable, I climb back onto the bed and sit cross-legged while facing him. "Please, sit down"

The Doctor pulls out the chair from beside the table and sets in in front of the bed facing me. He sits down, giving me an expectant look.

"Who are you?" I ask. "You told me you were the Doctor earlier, but unless there are two men named the Doctor I don't see how you can be."

The Doctor nods at me. "I am indeed the Doctor, and the other man you met was also likely the Doctor."

"But how is that possible?" I frown at him.

"I'm an alien." He responds, lips quirking up into a crooked smile.

I scrub my hands over my face. "So you're saying that you what? Shapeshift?"

"Well." He responds. "That's not completely inaccurate."

Well then. I decide to just move on. "Where am I?"

The Doctor's face brightens into a smile. "This is the Tardis. Stands for Time and Relative Dimension in Space."

I eye him. "So you're trying to tell me that I'm on a spaceship right now?"

"Yes." Like it's nothing special.

"A spaceship." I repeat.

He nods. "A spaceship. Well, it also travels in time."

"I'm still not convinced you're an alien, and now your trying to tell me that you have a spaceship that travels in time?" Maybe I was still asleep?

"But I am an alien." The Doctor responds. "This is a spaceship, it does travel in time and I can prove it to you." Leaning forward he holds out his hands in my direction. "I have two hearts."

Narrowing my eyes at him in suspicion, I hesitantly place my hands on his. He tightens his fingers around my wrists and pulls them forward until I am touching his chest. I think he wants me to feel his heartbeat? I concentrate, and slowly I am able to feel the vibrations. Thump Thump, goes one side of his chest. Thump Thump, goes the other. Thump Thump Thump Thump. Beats under both of my hands. Hands which are on different sides of his chest. I pull back my hands and stare at them in shock.

"Okay," I whisper. "This all seems so much more real than it did a minute ago." Looking up at the Doctor, I swallow. "Was it all real then? The car?" He nods, face serioous. "The Hospital then, I really did get stitches?"

The Doctor scowls. "Stitches, yes!" He points a finger at me. "Do not do that again!"

"Well it's not like I tried to get stitches!" I grumble, off kilter.

"Not that." He corrects. "You nearly tore all of the original stitches out. You caused enough damage to yourself that even with the tools I had at my disposal there is still a scar."

I look down at my stomach and raise my shirt up a bit. I can see a somewhat jagged scar bisecting my bellybutton and traveling down towards the top of my pajama bottoms. Alien technology. Huh. Handy that.

I direct a sharp look up at the Doctor. "I'm supposing that you were the one who put these clothes on me then?"

"Not me!" The Doctor is quick to reassure me, hands up like he's fending off an attack. "I had Ace come and do it. I assumed that you would be more comfortable that way."

"You assumed right." I confirm. "Thank you."

"Well then. I'm sure you'd like a shower. Go through that door there and you should find one." He nods over to a door that definitely hadn't been there before. I squint at it in disbelief. Where had that been when I was looking for somewhere to hide? "Oh!" The Doctor exclaims, reaching into his pocket and pulling out a pair of glasses. "Here, I made these for you."

I look at the glasses, then back up to him. He looks so pleased with himself. Slowly, almost against my will, I smile up at him. "Time travel you say?"

His smile takes on a proud edge. "Clever girl."

Taking the glasses from his hand, I thank him, before heading into the bathroom to clean off the smell of hospital that is lingering in the room.

I let out a happy sigh as I finish pulling on the clothes that someone had helpfully left outside the bathroom door. A shower had been just what I needed. I felt more grounded than I had since I woke up in the hospital.

I still wasn't completely convinced that this was real, but freaking out at every little thing wasn't going to help me at all. Then there was the Doctor, he seems to know me in some sort of fashion, but if he was being truthful about time travel then maybe it was possible that he knew me from his past? His past, being my future? It would explain why everyone seems to know my name when I've never seen them before.

The Doctor was some sort of shape changing alien I guess? The evidence of his heartsbeats seemed to be legit. Time travel I was a little more suspicious about, but considering that I had apparently caught on fire earlier and ended up in a different place, I wasn't going to dismiss it completely just yet.

I shake my head to clear that thought from it. Time to stop hiding around in here. Placing my glasses on, I enjoy the way the world comes into sharp focus. Huh, proper prescription and everything. More evidence towards the knowing me previously tab.

Heading to the door, I follow the corridor down the hall. At the end of the corridor, there is a choice of going left or right. Looking down either side only shows more corridor. I bite my lip in hesitation for a second before I decide to just go down the left corridor. I make it about two steps before I feel something. A warm tugging sensation in my head. Like someone has grabbed my hand and is pulling me in the opposite direction.

I'm already in the process of turning back towards the right corridor before I realize what has just happened.

Something

In

My

Head

Instead of following through with the movement, I jerk my body to try to stop turning around, but my legs get tangled together and I fall to the ground with a clattering bang.

Laying there for a moment I just contemplate life. And aliens. In my head. Which at that moment throbs in time to my heart beat because of course I hit it when I fell to the floor. Cursing profoundly, I bring my self into a sitting position. Which is when the Doctor hurries around the corner, and gives me a concerned look.

"What are you doing down there?" He asks me, audibly bewildered.

"I'm just enjoying the scenery," I reply in a deadpan. "Also wondering why I just felt something rummaging around in my head, but the scenery is probably more important." If you haven't noticed sarcasm is my defense mechanism.

The Doctor reaches down and grabs my arm to help me up. "Oh yes." He responds, sounding a little guilty. "That's the Tardis, she's sentient. She helps translate other languages, and sometimes gives directions. Were you going down the left corridor?" He nods in that direction.

"Yeah." I reply.

"There, you see? Nothing to worry about. She was directing you towards the console room. If you were to head down the left corridor you would eventually hit the library." Yeah, cause that makes it all better.

My hands feel a little clammy so I rub them against my pants roughly. "So, space ship that travels in time is also sentient and can get into my mind." I check off, my voice as calm as I can make it.

The Doctor eyes me worriedly. "Yes"

I close my eyes and count to ten. My voice still comes out low and sharp. "With everything earlier, you didn't think to mention the fact that your spaceship could get into my head and mess with things?"

I can hear the Doctor shift around, and I open my eyes just in time for my vision to get obscured again. This time by a pale jacket. He wraps his arms around me and holds me to his chest in a hug. "The Tardis doesn't 'mess' around in your head. She just helps." The Doctor pulls back to look at me and places his hands on my shoulders. "I would explain more, but you seem to be leaving now."

I frown at him. "What do you mean I'm leaving?" But I think I already know. I can feel the heat start to rise. Swallowing shallowly, I can hear my voice wobble as I ask, "I'm on fire again, aren't I?"

The Doctor's hands move from my shoulders and cup my face. "Breathe."

I let my breath out in a whoosh and then the light brightens, obscuring my vision once again.

I'm left blinking out spots from my vision, unsurprised to find myself in an entirely new room.

My breath catches as the spots recede enough to actually take a good look at the room around me. There is a central pillar that has all sorts of levers and buttons on it. The floor is glass and shows wires trailing from the central pillar. Everything around me glows a warm orange. It's…gorgeous.

The same warmth from earlier in the corridor fills my head again, only this time instead of tugging, it feels like a welcome? My eyes narrow and I eye the central pillar in suspicion. The warmth takes on a vaguely humorous tone and I get the feeling that the Tardis is laughing at me.

"Okay," I mutter. "I'm talking to a sentient spaceship that travels in time." Heading over to the pillar I reach out and touch it gently. "The last time I did this 'jumping' thing I ended up somewhere the Doctor was. Considering that it was the second time I saw him, I'm assuming that it isn't a coincidence." The ship sends me feelings of affirmation. "Is he here now?"

I get the sense of someone grabbing my hand again. It pulls me towards a set of doors. I look up at the pillar. "He's outside of those doors?" Affirmation, again, before the presence fades.

As I head towards the doors, the sound of something banging into it startles me. Hesitating, I listen, but the only thing I can make out is muffled voices. Deciding that the Tardis wouldn't have led me here if there was something wrong, I proceed to open the door, and have to back up quickly to get out of the way as a gangly looking man falls in through said door.

"Mabel!" A female voice cries out in surprise, followed immediately by a male voice saying the same thing.

The man who fell through the door jumps to his feet, pulling his left suspender back into place. "This isn't what it looked like!" He blurts, sending a stern look towards the woman still on the other side of the door. The woman briefly looks chastised before she raises her chin and glares back at him.

Taking a look at the man, I take in the outfit of black slacks that are too short, suspenders over a pink shirt and a bowtie to complete everything. The only other person I've seen wearing something as ridiculous as this was the Doctor. My guess was that this was him, I mean he did say he was a shape changing alien after all.

"A woman pushing a man up against a door, with the man being half undressed. It looked pretty self-explanatory to me." I raise an eyebrow. "I'm not entirely sure what else it was supposed to look like."

The Doctor shakes his head, insistent. "It wasn't like that, I was saying no!" He looks over at the woman. "You're human! You're Amy. You're getting married in the morning. In..the..morning." Oh, low blow Amy, trying to kiss another guy the night before your wedding. I feel bad for her potential husband.

"Doctor?" She asks, hesitant now.

"It's you. It's all about you. Everything. It's about you." The Doctor continues. I'm so lost.

"Hold that thought" Amy says, posing seductively against the door. Eugh.

"Amy Pond." The Doctor states. "Mad, impossible, Amy Pond. I don't know why, I have no idea, but quite possibly the single most important thing in the history of the universe is that I get you sorted out right now."

"Seriously?" I ask, incredulous. Do they have to do this in front of me? "I'm still in the room."

The Doctor looks over at me with a grimace. "Not in that way!" Okay that clears that up, in what way then?

He rushes over and grabs Amy's arm, using it to drag her into the Tardis. He reaches around her to close the door, then runs up to the main pillar and starts pressing buttons and pulling levers. The Tardis shakes and I scramble to grab something before I'm thrown to the ground for the second time that day.

Finally, the shaking seems to even out and I let go of the railing, Amy doing the same from the opposite side of the room. She glances at me for a second, before going up to the Doctor and attempting to grab his arm. A sharp look from him stops her in her tracks.

"Doctor?" Amy asks in confusion.

"It's been a long day, I suggest you go take a shower." He responds, ignoring her questioning look.

He turns to me and gently grabs my arm before leading me out of the room and down a hallway. "It didn't mean anything." He says to me, voice low and serious.

I eye him. "Okay?"

"I'm serious." The Doctor insists.

"I believe you." I respond slowly, watching him eye me. He seems to find what he was looking for because tension I didn't even know he had drains from his shoulders.

His hand relaxes from its grip around my arm and I can feel his fingers slide against my skin, causing me to shiver, as he follows my arm down to my hand, gripping it loosely. I look up at him in surprise, but he just smiles down at me.

Before I can question him about what he is doing, we enter a room that looks vaguely like a kitchen.

The Doctor gestures at a chair and motions for me to sit down. I take the suggestion, watching in curiosity as he putters around.

"So what are you going to do with Amy?" I ask, once the silence has hit awkward levels. "You didn't look very pleased earlier."

"I'm going to bring in backup." He informs me. "Anyways! Tea! Best thing for the synapses after a rough day. Nothing like a superheated infusion of free radicals and tannin."

The Doctor comes over with two mugs and places one in front of me. "I'm not a huge tea person." I tell him, well I am but I'm pretty picky when it comes to tea. It's just easier to say that I don't like tea, then accidentally offend the man by not drinking it.

"Liar." He smiles, one that starts out small but grows the longer he looks at me. "You love tea. This is your favorite." Oh, that's kind of off putting. Time travel though. I bring the tea up to my lips and hesitantly take a sip.

"Mhh," The sound of appreciation leaves my lips almost involuntarily. My body relaxes into the chair behind me. I draw in a deeper sip. "This is gorgeous!"

The smile on my face fades though, as I notice the intense look he is directing my way. He's still smiling, but his eyes are sad. "I didn't notice at first. This is early for you."

"If by early you mean I've only met you twice before, than yes." I respond. Setting the cup of delicious tea down on the table, I direct my full attention to the Doctor.

"I should have known, I haven't seen you with this color hair in decades." The Doctor says, reaching out and tugging on a piece of my orange colored hair.

I narrow my eyes at him. "You are very touchy feely."

He seems amused at this. "Am I?"

"Yeah." I respond. "Hugging, arm tugging, hand holding."

He hums as he thinks about it. "I guess I am."

"I don't even know you." I tell him. "You're being very familiar with me."

He reaches forward with his finger and taps my nose. "Ah!" he exclaims. "You might not know me, but I've known you for a very long time now. This must all seem very strange and mad at the moment, so you are latching on to something that makes sense. It's easier to ask me why I touch you casually, then it is to actually process everything that's been going on." He pauses to take a breath. "The touching, do you want me to stop?"

What? My nose wrinkles as I try to untangle that sentence. "Honestly, I don't even know. I'm still half convinced this is all a dream."

The Doctor tilts his head to the side and places his hand, facing up, on the table next to mine. An invitation, my choice. I bite my lip, hesitating for a second, before I place my palm into his. His fingers curl around mine.

At that kindness, I can feel tears stinging at my eyes again. I try to take my hand back, but he tightens his fingers and won't let me. Ridiculous girl, I say to myself, you need to stop crying at everything. I take a shuddering breath and bring my other hand up to hide my face. "This had gone so far beyond anything I've ever experienced that I honestly don't know how to handle it."

I hear the Doctor's chair scrape across the floor as he stands up, leaving his hand in mine but moving around the table. He pulls my other hand from my face and presses a kiss to my forehead. "It's okay to not know." He tells me, voice low. "Mabel, it's okay to be scared."

I pull back from him, and this time he lets me. Taking a deep breath, I wipe the moisture from the corner of my eyes. "Being awfully familiar again Doctor." I tease him. "A girl can take that the wrong way y'know?"

He looks at me for a second before breaking into a smile of his own. "What's to say that I don't want you to take it the right way?"

I look at him, a little shocked. "Do you mea-"

"Spoilers, Dear." The Doctor interrupts, placing a finger on my lips.

I bat his hands away from my mouth and stand up, ready to argue, but he spins around and starts babbling again.

"If I remember this correctly, this being after you just left my seventh self, then you shouldn't be tired at the moment. What do you say about going on an adventure?" His beams at me.

"An adventure?" I narrow my eyes at him.

He leans in. "An adventure."

Excitement trickles through me. The Doctor must see my face change because he grabs my hand and starts to drag me out of the room. "Wait!" I cry out. He stops, looking at me in confusion.

I grip his hand tighter and drag him back over to the table. Grabbing my mug, I down my now cold, but still delicious, tea. "There," I say. "Now we can go."

The Doctor guffaws, bending over from the of his laughter. "What?" I ask him, but he just continues to laugh. A little annoyed I tug on our joined hands. "I thought we were going on an adventure?"

Straightening up, he beams at me and pulls me down the hallway. "Yes, adventure!"

"So where are we going?" I question him, a little excited. Okay, a lot excited.

"It's a surprise!" He responds in a bright voice. I pout at him, but he just laughs at me.

We reach the room with the pillar and he runs around it, all the while pressing buttons and pulling levers again.

"Y'know, when I first saw this room I was blown away by how beautiful it was." I tell him.

He gapes at me for a second before smacking himself in the forehead. "Oh, silly Doctor." He seems to berate himself, before straightening up and gesturing around to the room. "So, what do you think?"

I hum thoughtfully. "It's gorgeous. Everything here looks warm, lived in. It looks like a home."

"She, not it." The Doctor replies, continuing his mad race around the console.

"She?" I echo.

"I told you that the Tardis was sentient, well she's a she, not an it." He continues matter of factly.

I look up at the pillar in guilt. "Sorry, I didn't know." I get a feeling of warmth back, so I guess she's not mad. Looking down, I just barely catch a glimpse of the Doctor's proud face before the ship shakes and I am sent careening towards the railing again. Ooph, railing meet stomach. "Can't you fly this thing without throwing everyone everywhere!"

The Doctor just smirks at me. "Where's the fun in that?"

Glaring at him halfheartedly, I find my feet and brace until the shaking stops. The Doctor grabs a tweed jacket from a set of seats near the console and pulls it on. Hurrying over to me, he takes my hand again and drags me over to the door. "First alien planet." He murmurs. "Excited yet?"

I smile. It's time to see if this ship is what he says it is. "Oh yeah."

He opens the door and I can see light coming in from outside. My breath catches and this time I'm the one dragging the Doctor out the door. I gape up at the trees surrounding us. The 200 foot tall, orange trees. Orange trees, with purple leaves.

"This is so cool!" I squeal, spinning around as much as his hand will let me. As I do this, I catch site of a blue box. A blue box that I can still see the console inside of. "What?!" I exclaim in disbelief. Dropping the Doctor's hand, I run over to touch the outside of the box. I do a circuit around it, then I peek inside and see the console room is still there. "How?" I ask the Doctor, mind completely boggled. "It's bigger on the inside!"

A flash interrupts me from my brain breaking again. I focus on the Doctor and see the camera in his hands. Frowning, I shake my head and decide to focus on more important things. "So is it like some sort of dimensional thing. Like on the outside it's a box, but the inside is hooked up to another dimension which is why it can all seem to fit into the box?"

"Have you always been this clever?" The Doctors asks me, face fond.

"Stop that." I brush off the flattery. "Am I close?"

"Weeell, yes. I mean sort of, but mostly yes." He responds, face scrunching up like he's thinking hard. "Anyways, we are in the Dagmar Cluster on a relatively small planet called Ousterious. This planet won't be discovered for another 3,000 years or so. A whole world, and we are the first people to see it."

The Doctor smiles down at me, snapping his fingers, which causes the doors of the Tardis to close. "What do you say, Mabel Falkov? Are you willing to find out what's out here?"

I slot my arm into his and gesture out into the trees. "You bet I am, let's go explore." And for hours, that's exactly what we did.