Ok, next chapter! Sorry it took so long, life kept gettting busy and mom kept kicking me off of the computer. But i am currently at my dads, who doesn't care how long i'm on the comp, so yay! This one's really long, could've probably split it into 2 chapters if i really wanted to , but i didn't so consider it a bonus for havving to wait an extra day or 2. READ, REVIEW, FAVORITE, OR FOLLOW! oh and enjoy ;)

When Lia pulled into her yard that evening, her father and Deb were just walking out the front door, keys in hand.

"Lianne, we're going out." Said her father as Lia dismounted her bike and took her helmet off. "We'll be back later. Don't forget to take care of the horses."

The two got in the old pick up and drove off, leaving Lia alone in the yard. She huffed, blowing a strand of hair out of her face. She walked the bike into the shed and let the horses out. When she entered the house she paused in the door. It was dead silent. It's not that she really minded being alone, she'd stopped relying on most people years ago, but being in a house, all by yourself, for an entire night can get well…lonely.

Lia threw her shoes in the corner. She made herself some dinner and ate in front of the TV; a taboo by Debs standards, but Lia could honestly care less at the moment. She watched an episode of "Unsolved Mysteries" until it started to get dark out, at which point she went to take the horses in. As she was walking out of the pasture, she looked over her shoulder at the forest in the distance. She watched it for a minute, waiting to see if anything happened. Nothing did. She turned around and went back to the house.

She headed up to her room. She grabbed her Sherlock Holmes book and lay down on her bed, planning on spending the rest of the night immersed in the adventures of the Victorian detective. She'd been sitting for almost an hour, when suddenly she heard a noise outside. It sounded almost like some kind of engine, but not like any she'd ever heard. As the noise got louder, a breeze began to pick up, causing the wind chimes on the front porch to clang together manically. Then all at once, it was quiet again. Lia set her book down and looked out her open window at the yard below. There was nothing there.

She quickly scanned the yard again with her eyes. As far as she could see, there was nothing out of the ordinary out there. She was just getting back to her book when she heard a scuffing noise outside. She sat up quickly and looked out to the yard again. She could see a figure making its way across the yard, headed in the direction of the front door.

Lia sat back from the window. There were no houses around hers for nearly a mile in either direction, and no one would just drop in at this hour unannounced. She jumped off her bed and grabbed her baseball bat out from underneath her bed. She quietly tiptoed down the stairs, silently cursing every squeaky, creaky step that she hit.

When she had reached the bottom of the staircase, she crept up to the door, holding the bat at the ready. Coming from the other side of the door was a weird whirring sound. Lia leaned her back against the door, trying to keep her breathing shallow. Her heart was racing.

She quietly turned the lock on the door. In one swift movement, she turned the handle of the front door and swung it open.

"Oh, um hello."

"You?" she exclaimed in disbelief, It was none other then the strange man from the box she'd crashed into this morning, and the one she'd seen wondering around town.

"You?" he said in confusion, standing up from where he'd been crouching in front of the door.

"What the hell are you doing here?"

"Oh, um I was just - "

"Breaking into my house?" she cut him off.

"No, you see I was just – I didn't think anyone was home so." He rambled taking a step towards her.

Lia stood in the door and waved her bat at him threateningly, daring him to take a step closer. "That's it I'm calling the cops." She said.

"Oh you really don't want to do that." Said the man.

"Oh yeah watch me."

There was only one problem: the phone was on the wall, back in the kitchen.

"Ok, you stay right there. Don't even think about moving, I do know how to use this thing." She said nodding to the bat.

Lia quickly walked back to the kitchen and picked up the phone. She dialed the police and waited for someone to answer. Suddenly she heard the strange whirring sound again and the line went dead. She looked up in surprise and saw the man standing in the kitchen with her, holding up the weird flashlight thing she'd seen him with earlier.

"What the hell did you just do?" she asked him, desperately trying to dial again, but nothing happened, it'd stopped working.

"Sonic screwdriver." He said holding up what she had though was just a flashlight. "Can deactivate most electronics, among other things." He finished, putting it in the pocket of his trench coat.

She hung the phone back on the receiver. "Ok, who are you?"

"I'm The Doctor."

"Yeah and I'm Florence Nightingale." She said sarcastically. "Now seriously what's your name?"

"I just told you, I'm The Doctor."

"Ok, fine if you're not going to tell me. Now, why were you breaking into my house, in the middle of the night, with a cyber, er sonic whatever?"

"Sonic screwdriver." He corrected her. "And I was following the trace of a sub-fractional temporal energy disturbance."

"What?" asked Lia, completely lost.

"Seen anything strange around here? Anything odd been happening lately? Things you can't explain?"

"Well, there have been people disappearing, and crop circles, and that weird glowing in the forest." She said pointing in the direction of the woods.

"Those woods over there?" The Doctor asked, walking out the front door.

"Yeah, but it's probably just kids messing around." She said from the door. "Where the hell are you going?" she called after him as he headed out into the pasture towards the forest.

Lia grunted in frustration, watching him walk away. "You're not getting away that easily." She muttered to herself. She threw on her Doc Martins and chased after him, catching up before long.

"By the way," The Doctor asked as she came up besides him. "What's your name? Cause I've met Florence Nightingale, and you are definitely not her."

"Lia." She said.

"Nice to meet you, Lia. Now, tell me about these disappearances."

Lia hesitated. What the heck was she doing? She was following the man who had just tried to break into her house, into a forest, at night, when people have been going missing. This had bad idea written all over it. This guy was probably some kind of psycho killer or something.

"Lia, you can trust me." He stopped walking and looked at her. "I know what you're probably thinking, but I'm not going to hurt you."

He gave her a look so honest, that she couldn't help but believe him.

They began walking again. "Lately, people have been going missing at night." She started. "So far there's been five of them. They'll go out at night, and then the next morning, nothing." She said. "No traces of them at all, but then in a field nearby, a huge crop circle will appear, you know, giant circles and rings and patterns, stuff like that."

The Doctor was silent the whole time, taking in every detail.

"The police are completely stumped, so nothing's really happening. And people just keep going missing." Lia finished.

They had just reached the end of the pasture. In front of them, a wooden fence separated them from the edge of the forest. Up close, the dark woods looked dark and foreboding, and much bigger then they did from the barn.

"So, what about this glowing you mentioned?" asked The Doctor, looking at the woods besides them.

"It's nothing really," said Lia looking at the woods as well. "I was putting the horses in one night when suddenly, bam," she said gesturing with her hands. "It's lit up green like a Christmas tree. It didn't last very long though, only a few seconds."

There was a silence between them for a moment.

"Well thank you for all that information, Lia, now I must be going." The Doctor said, sounding almost cheerful as he hopped the fence and headed for the woods.

"What?" exclaimed Lia, hopping the fence after him. "You tried to break into my house; I'm not letting you get away that easily!"

The Doctor turned around to look at her. "You sure?" he asked menacingly. "Following a strange man into the dark woods? Anything could happen."

"Oh shut up." She huffed and pushed past him into the forest. He followed behind her with a small grin on his face.

They walked together through the woods, going deeper and deeper. The deeper in they went, the thicker the trees got and the darker everything became. The doctor was in the lead, scanning with his screwdriver.

"So," Lia began, trying to break the silence. "Where's your big blue box?" She'd looked for it on her way home that night, but it wasn't in the road anymore, in fact it wasn't anywhere.

"Oh she's around." He said, holding up his sonic to look at a reading before going back to scanning.

"So is that what you do? Travel around with a big blue box, scanning things and looking for trouble?"

"That basically sums me up, yeah."

"So are you actually from England?"

"Well, not originally, but I seem to spend a lot of time there."

"Right." She said. "You, uh, got any family?"

The Doctor paused a moment before answering. "I used to, but they're gone now." He said sadly.

"I'm sorry." Lia said, kind of regretting asking.

"What about you?" The Doctor asked. "You've got to have someone who's missing you right now."

She laughed bitterly. "I live with my dad and my step mom, but they're not exactly parents of the year. They don't even know I'm gone."

They walked in silence for a few minutes, with nothing but the sounds of the forest and their own crunching footsteps between them.

"Oh, hello what's this?" exclaimed The Doctor, looking at his screwdriver.

He suddenly turned to the right and took off running.

"Hey wait up!" cried Lia, chasing after him once again.

She ran through the woods, trying not to trip or fall. She followed The Doctor, trying not to lose sight of him in the darkness. Suddenly they both came to a stop in a small clearing.

"What on Earth is that?" exclaimed Lia in shock and awe.

"Oh I'm pretty positive that's not from Earth." said The Doctor.

In the clearing was a metal pod. It was about the size of a car and had carvings all over it, which were giving off a slight green glow in the darkness.

The Doctor walked closer, but Lia hung back at the edge of the clearing, not sure if she wanted to get any closer to that thing. The Doctor climbed up onto the pod, scanning it.

"What is it?" Lia called to him, walking closer, rubbing her arms together. The temperature had dropped rapidly after the sun had set, and she wished she'd though to grab something warmer to wear. She pulled her red plaid flannel tightly around her.

"Not quite sure." said The Doctor, examining the pod. "You cold?" he asked looking back at Lia, who'd started to shiver a bit.

"It's nothing really, I'm fine."

"Here take this," he said taking off his trench coat and throwing it down to her. "You need it more then I do."

"Thanks." She said as she put it on. It was a bit big, but at least it was warmer.

"Yeah, just stay out of the pockets." He said, turning back to the pod, causing Lia to look down at the pockets suspiciously for a moment.

The Doctor pressed some settings on his screwdriver and scanned, while Lia watched him curiously from the ground. Without warning the top of the pod sprung open, throwing The Doctor to the ground.

"Are you ok?" asked Lia as she helped him up.

"Yeah I'm fine, I'm fine." The Doctor said brushing himself off.

They both looked back at the pod, which was now glowing green with the same light Lia had seen before.

"Well would you look at that." said The Doctor as he climbed back up. "Oh it's an escape pod!" he exclaimed. "A good old fashioned escape pod. Well not that old fashioned," he said scanning it with the screwdriver. "In fact, this type of technology isn't even supposed to be around for another, oh, four thousand years."

"So, what, it's from the future?" asked Lia.

"Either that or another planet."

"So it's alien?" Lia asked cynically.

"Yep." He said popping the p and hopping down from the capsule, walking over to her. "And it's crashed. See that green light? It's a homing signal, telling someone to come and find it."

"So there are others out there?"

"Quite possibly."

"And they're the ones taking the people?"

"Probably."

"Are they friendly?"

The Doctor hesitated. "I don't know."

There was a rustling in the brush nearby. They both turned to look but they couldn't see anything. The forest had suddenly gotten quiet; there were barely any sounds.

"Lia, you need to get out of here now." said The Doctor in a hushed tone looking at the forest around them.

"What?" asked Lia "Why?"

"Just get home. Get home and lock the doors and stay there, and whatever you do, don't turn back." His tone was deathly serious, and Lia was beginning to get scared.

Suddenly there was a growling sound coming from the opposite side of the clearing.

"Run." said The Doctor not looking at her.

Lia started to back away from him towards the edge of the clearing they'd come through. "But what about you?" she asked.

"Trust me, I'll be fine, just go, run, now!" he yelled as the growling became louder.

Lia ran through the woods for all she was worth. The trees were casting long shadows in the moon light, and she could only hope that she was headed in the right direction. Behind her she swore she could here something crashing through the foliage after her. She tripped a few times, and her legs were scattered with cuts and bruises, but she didn't let them slow her down. She finally crashed through the leaves and found herself at the edge of the forest, not to far from where they had gone in. She didn't slow down. She sprinted across the field towards the house, which was glowing in the distance.

She was running up her long driveway when she suddenly heard a roar behind her. She turned around and screamed just as she was blinded by a beam of light. She put her arms up in front of her in defense. There was a screeching sound and suddenly the light was gone.

"What in gods name were you doing?" said a voice, annoyed. "We nearly hit you!"

She slowly lowered her arms. It was a truck. Her dad's truck. She'd run out into the driveway as they were pulling in and they'd nearly run her over.

Her dad walked over and stood in front of her waiting for an explanation. Lia just stood there, still panting from running. What was s he supposed to tell him? That she followed a strange man into the woods and found an alien escape pod, and then run for her life from some unseen monster? She didn't think he'd take it well.

"I – I was just…going for a walk. Out in the fields." She lied. "I thought I heard something – an – animal or something, it sounded like it was following me, so I ran." She stammered. "I didn't mean to run in front of you guys."

"I told you to stay out of the fields at night." Her father scolded. "You could have been kidnapped, like those other people, or worse."

Lia nodded quietly.

"What the heck is this?" her father asked holding up the sleeve of The Doctors trench coat, which Lia was still wearing.

"It's just a friends." She said, pulling back the sleeve. "They let me borrow it."

Her dad looked at her suspiciously for a moment, and then turned back to the truck, which was idling on the side of the driveway.

He drove up towards the house, leaving Lia standing on the side of the driveway. She looked back towards the woods. Whatever had been chasing her was gone, but there was no sign of The Doctor. She turned and walked back to the house, hugging the coat to her like a security blanket.

"Hey what you done to the phone? It's not workin'." said Deb as Lia walked in the door.

"I don't know, haven't touched it." Said Lia, and walked upstairs. She could hear Deb complaining about having to call someone in the morning on the other phone to come out and fix it.

Lia crashed onto her bed. The adrenaline was wearing off, and her body began to ache, begging for sleep. She turned to close the window above her bed. She paused to look at the woods, but there was nothing, no sign of The Doctor or the aliens.

She hung the trench coat on her bed post and changed for bed. She was asleep before her head even touched the pillow.

Well, that was exciting wasn't it! I really hope my doctor is more or less in character. His lines literally write them selves; it's like he's talking in my head or i'm having a conversation with him, it's nuts! From here on out, my updates are going to be a bit slower, because we're getting to the point in the plot where i haven't really planned everything out yet, so bare with me. Should be up within the week though (I actually have to work and do school work still *Eye roll*) Well that's all for now, see ya soon!