A/N: Oh my god, i'm such a bad writer, sorry it took so long for the update; life and mother just kept getting in the way. Not to mention a really bad case of plot block. And i actually have had to work lately, and summer homework, and my cat died, and i started watching Supernatural...and well you get the point. This chapter is a beast, it nearly took up 7 pages in a word document. not my best work i don't think, but hopefully it'll get better in the next chapter. Also if anyone wants to beta PM me and let me know! keep in mind i've never actually had a beta before, so i'm not really sure how it works ^^;

Please review and favorite and enjoy!

Early the next morning, there was a loud, continuous rapping on the front door.

"Cool ya jets, I'm comin'." Deb snapped as she clomped down the stairs, tying her bathrobe.

She opened the door to find a lanky man in a pin striped suit.

"Hello, I'm here to fix your telephone." he said, rocking back on his heals.

"Oh, well I hadn't even called anyone about it yet." she said, a little surprised.

"Yeah, well, we're good like that." he said as he walked in. "Plus, there have been several other incidences in the area, so one could only assume that your phone would also need repairing." He said quickly.

"Oh, yeah, ok." Deb said, not completely able to follow him. "I'm gonna send ma step daughter down, she was here when it broke, and, ah, I'm not exactly decent at the moment." she said flirtatiously, swinging the end of the sash of her robe around.

"Ah, yes, ok, good." he stammered, looking away.

Deb huffed at his rejection and walked upstairs and banged on Lia's door. "Get up!" she hollered, which jolted Lia awake. "Man's downstairs here to fix the phone, go down and keep an eye on him," she ordered and went back to her room.

Lia groaned and buried her face in her pillow. As if she didn't have enough to do this morning with the horses before going to work, now she had to watch a stupid repair man to make sure he didn't walk off with the TV or something. She quickly got dressed and was walking downstairs. Then she caught sight of The Doctor.

"You?" she exclaimed. She wasn't really sure whether she wanted to hug him or hit him for worrying her last night. She couldn't decide, so she just stood there on the staircase looking at him.

"Hello." the Doctor gave her a little wave.

Lia sighed in exasperation. "What are you doing here?" she asked as she went down the rest of the stairs and stood in front of him, arms crossed.

"I'm here to fix the phone." he said rather cheerfully.

"You mean the phone that you broke?"

"Yep, that's the one." he said, "Also, I need my coat back."

"Ah, so the truth emerges."

"Yeah, well, I came to fix the phone too." he said scratching the side of his face.

"Uh huh, sure you did." Lia said sarcastically as she went back upstairs to fetch his coat from her bedpost where she had hung it last night.

She came back down and found him in the kitchen, wearing a pair of glasses and sonicing the telephone. When he heard her come back in he put the phone back on the receiver. "Ah, yes, brilliant." he said as she threw him the coat.

She leaned against the door frame as he put on the trench coat. She wasn't really sure why she had been worried about him last night. She'd only even known the man a few hours, though she had to admit they were a pretty eventful few hours. But he had sent her running off through the woods, in the middle of the night, getting chased by who-knows-what, and if he thought he could show up the next morning acting all fine and dandy and expect her to be happy to see him then he had another thing coming.

"Alright, now that that's all settled," he clapped his hands together, "Lets go." he said with a grin and headed for the front door.

"Go where?" Lia asked following after him. "And what the hell happened last night?"

He stopped and turned around to look at her. "Why back to the alien escape pod of course, keep up!"

"You're actually going to go back there?" she exclaimed. "Back to the place with the thing that wants to kill us?"

"Yep."

"You're completely insane. Why would you think I'd want to come with you? I nearly died last night – twice!"

"Twice, why twice?" The Doctor asked confuse.

"Once from that alien thing," she counted on her fingers, "and twice when I nearly got run over by my parents running for my life!"

"Why were your parents trying to run you over? That's not very nice."

"They weren't! And that's not the point. The point is..." she trailed off, running her hand through her hair.

"Lia, you're the one missing the point," The Doctor said. "That thing's still out there, and pretending it doesn't exist isn't going to make it go away, and we're the only ones who know about it."

Lia sighed, silently hating that he had a point.

"Yeah, even so...it's still dangerous..." she said.

"Well that just makes it more fun."

Lia chuckled.

"So, lets go!" said The Doctor, walking out onto the front porch.

"Wait, I can't, I have to go to work." Lia said, joining him.

"Oh come on, this is must more exciting then...flipping burgers or making change!"

"I'm sorry I – I really can't."

"Well, if you say so," The Doctor said and began walking away.

"Well," Lia started. "I guess I could take...one day off..."

"Ah that's the spirit!" he exclaimed.

Lia grinned and ran inside to call the diner.

"Dan's Diner, how may I help you?" said a bored tone on the other end.

"Tiff, hey it's me." Lia said, relieved it hadn't been Carla who'd picked up.

"Hey b, what's up?"

"I'm calling in a sick day, not feeling so good." Lia lied.

She could hear Tiff chuckle on the other end of the line. "Wow, never thought I'd hear those words comin' from your mouth. What you really up to?"

"Oh, you know, not much," Lia said scratching the back of her head. "Just...going out."

"Uh huh," said Tiff in an amused tone. "You better give me the deets later, consider it payment for covering your lazy ass." she laughed.

Lia laughed as well. "Ok, will do, thanks."

she hung the phone back up and ran back out to meet The Doctor.

"All set?" he asked looking at her. She nodded in confirmation. He grinned. "Ok, off we are then!"

They walked back the same way they had the other night, through the field and into the forest. During the day it looked a lot less frightful, with the sun streaming in through the leaves, and the birds singing happily over head.

When they started getting near the clearing with the escape pod, Lia stopped.

"That thing isn't going to still be there is it?" she asked nervously.

"Shouldn't be," said the Doctor, still walking.

"Well that's reassuring." Lia said sarcastically.

"It seems to be nocturnal, hunting only at night. This time of day it's probably hiding, shouldn't bother us."

"Hunting?" she asked. "You mean that thing is what's kidnapping all those people?"

"Well, not so much kidnapping, more like...eating." the Doctor said.

"That's...disgusting." Lia said partly revolted, partly fearful. "That could've been me last night..." she wondered aloud.

"Yeah, but it wasn't," the Doctor said reassuringly, "You seem too tough for that."

She laughed softly and smiled.

They finally reached the clearing from last night. The pod was still there, hatch wide open. The Doctor walked up to it and peered inside at the controls. Something had done a number on it; claw marks slashed across the dash and there were a few wires sparking still.

"Wow." Lia said, looking in. "Gonna need a good mechanic to get that working again."

"Nah...they don't want it working," said the Doctor, scanning. "Whatever that thing was, it didn't want to be found." he said walking away.

"What?" she asked following after him.

"The pod, it's no longer giving off a distress signal. That green light last night? Dead." he said, leaving the glade.

"Ok, so?"

"Think," he spun around. "Where do escape pods come from?"

"Uh," Lia said surprised by his question. "other...spaceships?"

"Exactly, spaceships that are crashing! Which means, around here, in this forest, there's a wreckage..." he said looking around at the woods.

"Great," Lia groaned. "More aliens."

"The only question is, why does it not want to be found? And if it doesn't, why would it hang around here near it?"

They walked for a while, the Doctor scanning with his screwdriver. Suddenly he groaned and whacked the device against his palm repeatedly.

"What, is it broken?" Lia asked.

"No, it's something around here, it's interfering with the sonic... nothing's ever done that before." he said, and suddenly it started working again. "Whatever it is, it must be powerful, probably coming from the ship."

They trekked on, going deeper and deeper into the forest. They had been walking for a while when Lia had to stop to get some pebbles out of her shoe. She balanced on one foot, shaking the rocks out, while the Doctor walked on without her, distracted by his scanning.

Lia had just tied her shoe back on her foot when she heard a low rumble behind her. She froze. She slowly turned around to see a large dark creature crouched a few yards away, staring intently on her.

"Doctor," she called quietly, beginning to back away from the animal, but he didn't hear her. She didn't dare take her eyes off the beast, which she was pretty sure was the thing that had chased her last night. It looked like some kind of giant, black panther, except it's back was covered with scales, which went all the way to it's tale, which honestly looked like it belonged more to a lizard then a feline.

The creature began to creep forward, stalking Lia. She continued to back away from it slowly, not wanting to set it off, but as she was backing up she stepped on a stick, making a loud crack.

"Shit," she cussed.

Like a rocket, the creature jumped at her, claws and teeth flashing.

"Doctor!" she screamed, breaking into a run.

The creature followed close behind her, practically at her heels. Lia raced through the trees, trying to get away from the animal and find the Doctor, who seemed to have wondered off further then she had realized. Adrenaline pumped through her veins, and her lungs burned. The creature jumped over her and landed in front of her. She screamed and tried to change direction, but it was too fast, cutting her off.

She finally managed to sprint off in one direction, but it was still behind her, she swerved trying to shake it, and it skid on the loose dirt, but it recovered and chased after her. She ran into a clearing and tripped over a tree root, she landed a slid a few feet. The creature circled her.

My god, she thought, I'm going to die... I'm going to be eaten by a giant space cat...didn't that one coming.

It stopped off to her left and growled at her. Suddenly it sprung at her, teeth aimed for her throat. She screamed and tried to shield herself with her arms. Out of nowhere a giant net appeared, catching the beast and entangling it so that it couldn't move.

The Doctor ran into the clearing."Lia!" he yelled, running over to her. He crouched down and held her. "Are you hurt?" he asked.

She sat there catching her breath, eyes huge and locked on the alien, which was screeching and struggling against it's bounds.

"Y – yeah I – I'm fine..." she said even though she was shaking.

He helped her up, steadying her. She brushed the mud from her jeans.

All of a sudden there was a crashing noises in the foliage around them. The Doctor stood in front of Lia protectively. A half dozen helmeted humanoid creatures burst onto the scene, wielding futuristic looking guns at the ready.

They convened on the beast, and shot at it, causing the creature to go limp.

"No, why'd you shoot it?" exclaimed the Doctor angrily, walking away from Lia and approaching the leader.

Several of the other creatures turned and trained their guns on The Doctor when he got close to the leader, but he ignored them.

The leader began to talk to The Doctor, but Lia really couldn't understand him. It didn't sound like any language she'd ever heard, but apparently The Doctor understood it, because he was speaking back to it, obviously upset. Hesitantly, Lia moved closer, and as she got closer, the leaders words slowly changed into English.

"It was only a knock-out ray, it was not harmed." the leaders words grew clearer.

"Well what is it, and who are you to have the authority to shoot it?"

"It is a Dracattus, one that escaped from our ship a few days ago, and I am Satyr Smith, commander of the Kleth ship Tarazed IV."

The Doctor turned to watch the other Kleth, who were gathering up the Dracattus and dragging it back into the woods.

"What was it doing here?" he pointed at it. "How did it escape?" he asked turning back to Satyr.

"There was a breech in out security, and it got loose. Ravaged our systems and fled in an escape pod. It crashed to Earth, as did we. We've been trying to recapture it and repair our ship for days, but both were going poorly until just now. You're companion made excellent bait, she led it right into one of our traps." he said nodding at Lia.

The Doctor clenched his jaw and turned to Lia, "He says thanks for -"

She held up her hand to stop him. "You don't need to tell me twice, I do understand English, Doctor." she said giving him a look.

He looked at her confused, mouth still open mid sentence, but after a moment he recovered and turned back to Satyr. "So you said your ship needs repairing?"

"Yes, we are in most dire need."

"Well, I've had my fair share of dealings with spacecraft engines, I might be able to lend you a hand," said The Doctor.

Satyr nodded. "That would be most appreciated," he said. "Follow me."

Lia and The Doctor followed behind Satyr and the other Kleth as they headed back to their ship.

"You don't seem to like them very much," whispered Lia. "So why are you offering to help them?"

"They carry guns," he frowned. "I don't like guns. Plus, as soon as their ship is fixed, they'll leave, taking the Dracattus with them."

They walked the rest of the journey in silence. Then, slowly, through the trees, the ship emerged. Lia looked at it in amazement. It was huge, nearly the size of an airplane, only much wider. A hatch opened in the side and a ramp lowered. The lead Kleth who were carrying the Dracattus went first, and The Doctor and Lia filed in with the rest. The inside was just as impressive as the outside, with sleek metal walls and light panels.

"Oh my god," Lia breathed in wonder, looking at everything.

"Much better then flipping burgers, yeah?" grinned The Doctor.

"Definitely."

The group carrying the Dracattus went off in a different direction, and the rest of them entered the main control room. Once inside, the Kleth removed their helmet, and Lia almost gasped. While they looked human, their faces were wrinkled and their hairless head had a spine of spikes going down the middle. They were also about a head shorter then they looked with their helmets on. Lia tried not to stare, but she was finding it difficult.

So, what might we call you?" asked Satyr.

"I'm The Doctor, and this is Lia."

Lia gave a little nervous wave. "Hi."

"Well welcome Doctor and Lia, to the Tarazed IV."

"It's nice," said The Doctor looking around. "What exactly do you do?"

"We are a prisoner transfer ship. Currently our only prisoners are the Dracatti."

"Wait, what? Sorry Dracatti? As in plural?" The Doctor asked.

"Yes, the Dracattus we caught today and it's mate. They are being held on the lower levels."

"Oh, of course – stupid, stupid!" The Doctor exclaimed to Lia. "That's why it stayed in the forest. It didn't want to be far from its spouse. It was waiting for it, hoping it would find it..." The Doctor trailed off, a sad look in his eyes. "Anyways," he snapped back to reality, addressing Satyr. "Mechanics, engines," he said walking over to a table that had a holographic diagram of the ship projected on it. "What exactly is the problem?"

"The thermal mien circuits were damaged when the Dracattus was escaping, we've been unable to fix them."

"Have you tried sending out a distress call? Get help from passing ships."

"Also damaged, plus with the Dracattus roaming free it would not have been safe for another ship to aid us. We placed warning signs in the fields where the Dracattus hunted, warning others of its presence.

"The crop circles," Lia said. "That was you? Well they didn't help very much, people still died."

"Yes, quite unfortunate." Satyr said, unconcerned.

"Now," he said turning back to the Doctor. " The mien circuits are in the bottom of the ship, but the area sustained heavy damage when we crashed, making it dangerous; we've already lost good men trying to repair them.

"Yeah, well those men weren't me, and they didn't have this," he said, buzzing his screwdriver a couple times proudly. "Shouldn't take too long to get you back up and running. Lia, any good with engines?"

"I know a bit yeah, kept my bike running long enough." she nodded.

"Good, you're with me," he said heading for the door.

"Doctor, wait," called Satyr. "you should take these," he handed them some ear pieces. "so we may offer you assistance if needed. Also we need to scan you both into the computer mainframe, as a means of keeping track of you."

Another Kleth came over with a device and scanned Lia.

"Female, age: 20, race: Human." the machine spoke.

The Kleth ran the scanner beam up and down The Doctor.

"Male, age: undetermined, race: unknown."

Lia looked at The Doctor in surprise, but the Kleth didn't pay it much attention. They took the scanner and plugged it into the main computer. Two dots appeared on the diagram of the ship, one red one blue.

"There, now we can track your movements throughout the ship." said Satyr. "Caylem will be your guide." he gestured to one of the other Kleth. "He will take you as far as the lower level, but after that you're on your own."

"All righty then." said the Doctor. "Lead on."

They took the elevator all the way down to the prison hold, which was as far as it went. They walked down the corridor, passing several plate glass windows that looked into empty cells. Lia paused for a moment when they passed the Dracatti's cell. One was lying on the floor, but the other was pacing in front of the window, agitatedly. The one pacing growled when it saw Lia.

"Hard to believe this whole thing was caused by one giant cranky cat." she said.

"Don't be fooled," said Caylem. "Those creatures are just as intelligent as you or I, they are not to be trifled with." he finished and continued down the hall with the Doctor.

Lia glanced back at the holding cell. The Dracattus lying on the floor seemed to be observing her, following her with its eyes. Lia walked away quickly, rejoining the others.

A/N: Alright, i hope it wasn't too bad. Reviews earn you a free virtual cookie and a hug from me, so send me some! next chapter should be up in about a week or so, since i actually have to work and do summer homework now that the summer's almost over (*sobs*) keep checking back in for more, or even better, add me to your watch list! See you next time!