Author's Note: Head's up, I may not be posting again until sometime next week. I'm going to try to post the next chapter on Friday but we're traveling for Thanksgiving so it might not happen. Have a wonderful Thanksgiving everyone!

Chapter 4

For a moment Laila just stared at the man. "Sir, are you—are you quite sure you're alright?" she said finally.

He blinked, and ran his fingers through his hair. "Alright? Now that—" He raised an eyebrow. "That is a bit of a subjective question, wouldn't you say? I know quite a few people who would say I wasn't alright. Oh, did you say what year it was?"

She shook her head. "It's—it's 1943, sir," she said, a little faintly. She wasn't even sure she should be answering his question. What other year could it be? Had he come straight from the madhouse?

"Oh—wonderful!" He jumped to his feet, nearly pulling her with him. "So I've landed in the middle of the war this time! And where—England, I'm assuming? It's usually England."

She shook her head. "Uh—this is America, sir," she said, backing away just a bit. The man was quite obviously a bit mad. Well—more than a bit. "Sir, I should—I should really be getting back." She took another step backwards. "Mama's going to kill me…."

"Alright—fair enough." He turned. "I'll just—say have you seen a blue police box sitting around here anywhere? I seem to have lost it…."

She blinked. "Sir—"

"I know, I know, I don't seem much like police, do I? Well, I'm not. I'm the Doctor." He held out a hand. "Nice to meet you."

She managed a little giggle. "Laila Wood," she said, returning the handshake gingerly.

"Laila Wood." It sounded as if he were trying out the name. "Laila Wood—I like it. Has a nice ring to it. Well—where did you say this was, anyway?"

"Uh, Linborough, sir. The town of Linborough—how do you lose a police box?" She couldn't help it—she was curious. "It seems like it'd be….a little….hard to lose…." Her voice trailed off. She was talking to a perfect stranger who didn't even know what year it was.

And yet, oddly enough, she rather liked him.

"Oh, bit of a long story. I think you'll understand when you see it—the police box, I mean. At least, you'll understand a bit more. Uh—well, it's actually rather hard to understand. What do you say to showing me about the town a bit?" he blurted.

She shook her head quickly. She was no fool. She wasn't going to go walking about the town with a perfect stranger. "I've really got to be getting home—"

A noise behind her caught her attention and she turned to see a car driving past. She sighed. Had she just been startled by a car? Well—she was—jumpy. This was all so—odd. She stared absently at the car as it drove off down the street—and blinked.

That car. It wasn't right.

She took a step forward, standing on her tiptoes and trying to catch a glimpse of it as it rounded the corner. There was something off about it. Something—something wrong. But she didn't quite know what—

"Laila?" The Doctor's voice behind her made her start, and she turned and nodded towards the car.

"That car was—what was wrong with it?"

"Doesn't seem to be anything wrong with it to me. But you know, I'm not one to ask about normal." He gave her a half-grin. "You've probably figured that out by now."

"Yeah, I—I have," she said weakly. "I, uh—oh, hi, Mr. Cartwright!" She turned and waved to the old man who sat rocking on his porch, giving him the usual bright smile. "Morning….." Her voice trailed off and she felt a flush rising to her cheeks.

That wasn't Mr. Cartwright.

Someone else sat on Mr. Cartwright's porch, drinking a cup of tea and leaning back in the rocking chair like he owned the place.

She turned away, flushing furiously. He was probably staring at her.

"Sorry," she mumbled sheepishly, as if he could hear her. One odd little occurrence, and she was suddenly a clumsy idiot who didn't know how to speak to strangers. The town was the town, and everything was fine.

But everything wasn't fine. And she couldn't shake the feeling that the whole town was wrong, somehow. The feeling that there was something off about it. Something—

"Laila?"

It was a strange voice that spoke this time, and from far away, echoing down the street. She turned back, staring past the Doctor and at the road sign just behind her. The sign that read Falling Star Lane….

A woman stood just behind the sign.

"Laila?" she called again, and Laila took a hesitant step forward. She didn't know the woman. How did she know her name?

"Hello?" she said, taking a few more cautious steps toward the strange woman. "Hello…."

"Laila? Rey?" The woman seemed to stare through her, through the town, through the morning sunlight. In fact, it didn't seem as if she were seeing anything at all. Her eyes were wide, and—and frightened.

Just looking at her unsettled Laila, somehow. It was as if—she blinked, rubbing her eyes and looking again. No. No. That wasn't possible.

She was flickering.

Laila took a stumbling step backwards. "Doctor?" she said, and her voice was strangled. "Doctor, there's something—"

The Doctor was at her side in an instant, whipping a pair of glasses out of his suit pocket and slipping them on. He looked the woman up and down.

"Hmm," he muttered. "Now that is strange." He reached into his pocket again, and pulled some sort of strange device out of it and flicking a button on its side.

Laila wasn't sure what to stare at. So she just stood there, her eyes wide, her mouth opening and closing like a fish, her astonished gazed alternating between the device in the Doctor's hand and the strange, flickering, frightened woman.

"Is she a ghost?" she said in a small voice. "I….I don't believe in ghosts…." Her voice trailed off and she took another step backwards.

"I've found that people often don't believe in a lot of things they should believe in." The Doctor scanned the device in front of the woman like some kind of—something. Laila wasn't even sure what to compare it to. It looked like a rather large pen, but the tip lit up with a strange, electric blue, and a thoroughly unfamiliar wobbling sound emanated from it. He shook his head and shoved it back into his pocket. "Nothing," he muttered, before stepping forward and holding out a hand.

For a moment, the woman's frightened gaze focused on him. She began to reach forward—

Her mouth opened as if to cry out, but no sound came. She stumbled backwards, looking around wildly like a frightened deer.

And then she was gone, flickering out and leaving the street empty.

Laila stood frozen for a long moment, staring at the space where she had been. "I want to go home," she said in a small voice. "I just want to go home—"

And then she was running, her feet pounding along the sidewalk, following the route she had taken so many times before. Running, running away from the Doctor and the strange flickering woman and Falling Star Lane.

Running towards something normal.