Thanks to Megamafan16 for the review! I know neither of the tagged characters have appeared yet but give me some time and I promise they will! In fact... well read on and find out!

A New Companion

Why did he go back? Why had he said hello?

He could have let her die that night in the basement. She had blundered in and ruined his plan. So many had died because of him already. So why her? Why couldn't he have let her alone?

Maybe it had been the way her time stream clouded that had fascinated him. It didn't simply end… it just vanished. Like something he couldn't …no something he was forbidden to see. It split his head open to try to read her future. Trying to see what her future held hurt worse than trying to look into his own.

But all those thoughts fled his mind as the Autons cornered her and she closed her eyes, ready to die, helpless. Without a second thought, he had grabbed her hand. He had whispered that word. Run. And from that moment on, his life was linked irrevocably to hers. Her strand twisted impossibly tightly around his own and was swallowed by the oblivion that kept him from seeing his own future. He could not see her future anymore.

He had tried to keep his distance. She was just another human. Just another person he'd have to leave behind eventually. He should have just kicked her outside and left it at that; no connections, no complications, no pain. And by Gallifrey, he had completely intended to. But something made him turn around and introduce himself. Something made him ask her her name: Rose.

No harm in knowing her name. He set it up so she could assume he had died that night in the explosion. He could just leave and she'd never think of him again, except as that strange, crazy man with big ears who had blown up her job. She would be safe.

Then the signal had led him right back to her, right into her home. He'd hidden how shocked he was, intending to make a quick escape but she had other plans. Rose Tyler, he learned, didn't like to take no for an answer.

So he had done what he'd come to do: squash out the signal. And he'd left again, pushing her away as carelessly as he could manage, ignoring the pang in his left heart every time she called after him, begging him not to run. But he had to keep her away. Even though his right heart jumped every time she touched him so familiarly, as if she had known him her whole life. As if she trusted him. Even though, when her hand was in his, the universe grew quiet. The racket in his head was dimmed to a manageable roar. And she was so… different from the other humans. She argued with him, sassed him, kept him on his toes. She laughed with him. And yet she was just that: human. How could she possibly understand? How could she share his life?

So he told her to forget. And he left. He could've erased her memories, made her forget that she had ever seen him, kept her safe. But he couldn't. He couldn't bring himself to touch her like that. Not after she had looked at him like that. Not after holding her hand so familiarly and speaking of his deepest awareness. The path he walked alone. The last of the Time Lords.

He should have known that wouldn't be the end of it.

Then the TARDIS had taken him right back to her because she was in danger. It had never fixed on another being like that before. It was like the machine couldn't get its heart off of the girl. Almost as if it wanted her with him. It wanted to protect her too.

So he had saved her again and shown her his living machine. Rationally, he thought once the machine saw her, it would lose this unconventional obsession with the girl. But under that, he wanted to see her reaction to his occupation. Something in him wanted to know her at least for awhile before he said goodbye again for the last time. He hadn't meant to give her her first trip in the TARDIS, it had just kind of happened. He had been too worried about losing the signal.

At first he'd regretted that she'd tagged along. All she did was obsess over that kid Ricky or whatever while he was busy trying to figure this out. She barely even seemed to care that he was not of this world. She wasn't in awe of him, she wasn't repulsed by him, she wasn't even impressed by him. All she did was argue and question him. It drove him mad. Before long, his anger had boiled to the surface and he was shouting at her. He never shouted. What was it about her that got to him like this? One minute they were engaged in a shouting match the next, laughing at their own brilliance in finding the transmitter.

And on the bridge his hand had shot out of its own accord and found hers again. A perfect fit.

He realized he was beginning to grow fond of her company. But he knew it couldn't last. He'd have to say goodbye before long.

Then she had saved his life. She had been indispensible in finding and flushing out the living-plastic Nestene Consciousness. He'd told her to run and instead she'd fought back. Not many creatures facing the end of their world would have been able to do that. He and the entire planet would have been dead without her. It would have been downright rude not to offer her the choice after that. So he had and she'd refused. Relieved yet resistant, he had left yet again, conditioning his thoughts to the fact that he would never see her again. He would never again hold her hand or feel her so close to him. She would be long dead the next time he returned. She had chosen, she would be safe. But the TARDIS again would not let him leave her. So he extended one last offer knowing she couldn't refuse this one: "Did I mention it also travels in time?"

And to his delight and concern, she had run to him.

Resist though he had, the blonde had worked her way into his life.

I might be absent for awhile due to something called exams... I'll be thinking longingly of this story and my others the whole time though.