All translations, explanations, advertisements, polls, and thought processes are at the end of the chapter.

Disclaimer: All shows/ books/ video games/ songs that are mentioned in this chapter are all © to their respective owners, I don't own them.

It was getting harder and hard to keep track of the time that passed here. I haven't see the light of day since I had last been in the hospital…and even then it had only been through a window. I wondered when I would wake up, if I would even wake up at all.

I had already accepted this fantasy as a reality, just as my life in the hospital was a reality and my life before the cracks was yet another reality. I decide to keep them all separate, they all seemed to have different rules and they expected different things. While sometimes the realities intersected, most of the time, they did not.

In order to cope, I had to be prepared for my life to change, yet again, any second. What would happen next, I had no idea. Maybe I would find myself back at home, maybe I would find myself in the intensive care wing at the hospital. I hoped not.

The last time I was there, I was sedated for most of the duration until my next visit to the psychologist Dr. Pierce. She liked to send me there often if she felt that I was too unruly or explosive. I learned after the first few times that it was best to maintain my silence. It was far too quiet and I was left alone with what little of my thoughts were left for too long.

I really started to dislike the color white then and also vowed to not wear clothes that were too confining or skin-tight.

Because if I really was in the intensive care wing, I realized, I would be seeing white and be wearing a strait jacket again for a long time.

I had been starting to think that nothing at all was real, that all of it was fake. I was starting to forget things again, and it was making me anxious. Really, the only thing I could clearly remember from my…existence before the cracks was biology. I still hated it, despised it with a passion, but the facts didn't dissipate like my memories of my early childhood were starting to.

It was little details, nothing specific. Like my parents' street address and phones numbers, what county Underwood was in, my brothers' birthdays, the name of the ice rink my grandma would take me to where we'd figure skate, the elementary school I went to… Things like that.

Maybe Dr. Pierce was right, if I couldn't remember how was it real in the first place?

The talk with the Doctor, the one that I had worried over having, finally happened. He told me that everything I ever remembered was real and that I mustn't forget that. I was doubtful though, because of how many times the memories conflicted with each other.

When I told the Doctor as much, he said that the doctors at the hospital I used be in had no clue that he actually existed. He also said that they thought I had leave of my senses because they couldn't believe the truth, that a misguided truth was easier to swallow.

I tried to explain to him, once again, that in my life before the cracks I remembered him being from a television series and how thousands of people knew and loved it. He wouldn't listen, tried to convince me that while I knew of him through those memories of watching on Netflix, it was actually my mind trying to make all the information easier for me to understand.

"You're in a fragile state of mind right now, Penelope," he had told me. "It's a delicate thing anyway, the mind, but with the emotional trauma you've suffered in the void…Now it's on the defensive. You've mentally regressed several years and you're lucky to not have gone into a fugue state…" He went on to specifics, telling me in technical and medical jargon about how I translated all the visions of the future into easily digestible episodes.

Eventually I told him that I hated biology and that the only science I could do was science fiction.

He pulled a face at my rather frank statement but let the subject go. "It's too soon," he muttered. "We'll try again in another week."

"Week?" I echoed. "H-how long have I b-been here?"

"Oh, thirteen days, nine hours, forty-two minutes, and sixteen seconds, but who's counting?" He joked.

"You are," I informed him helpfully.

I was starting to get restless here, wherever "here" was. I was still on the fence about whether or not I was actually in the TARDIS or only in my own mind. Donna and the Doctor had just gotten back from another adventure a few days ago and I had to admit, I was envious. I was becoming tired of being inside, regardless of the fact that this place was infinite.

"I've r-run out of words for b-big," I confided in Donna at one point.

"None of them seem adequate, do they?" She agreed.

"Not big e-enough though," I murmured.

Donna looked at me sympathetically before excusing herself, saying that she was going to have another word with the Doctor. Alone once again and left to my own devices, I sulked. All I really, truly wanted was to see outside, just a glimpse would be enough. I was starting to regret taking the sight of the outdoors for granted. When I was cooped up in the hospital, I would long to be outside, the view not being enough, but now…

A window to the outside would make me overjoyed.

I tried concentrating hard, hoping meditation would alter the environment around to the outdoors, if I was, indeed, dreaming. However, I only ended up looking somewhere between a hamster and a tomato. I let out a frustrated shriek and flopped on the table, completely done with the world. Moping wasn't the best way to solve a situation. In fact, it rarely worked at all unless you had a doting relative nearby at your beck and call or you were a little kid who was like two-years-old.

And it didn't make me feel better at all.

I started to fidget and ended up leaving the library, unable to stay still any longer. I couldn't stand it, I had to move. I was going to go crazy otherwise!

Well, even more so than I already was.

I felt the hallway give a sudden lurch and stumbled forwards, almost losing my footing. As I braced myself against the wall, I realized the Doctor was piloting the TARDIS somewhere. My guess was that he was trying to avoid the conversation Donna was trying to have with him or he had it with her and was trying to move on from it. The Doctor wasn't one to dwell in the matters like the one Donna probably wanted to talk about.

A pang of longing hit me, but I did my best to stifle it. "C'mon," I muttered. "Let's go t-try to find a garden or s-something." My legs refused to cooperate and this time I lost my footing, landing hard on my butt and banging my head on the wall on my way down. I yelped and rubbed the back of my head, it smarting more than my bottom did. It actually started to throb, a terrible headache began to form and all I wanted was to go take a painkiller.

With blood pounding in my ears, I got up from my seated position on the floor and dazedly stood, trying to get my thoughts in order despite the sudden onset of the headache. I wandered down the halls with one hand clutching my head and the other bracing me against the wall.

I briefly wondered how on Earth I was going to be able to find the painkillers in the sickbay, but my head gave another painful throb and I stopped thinking about it. The hallway suddenly seemed so stuffy and I felt nauseous. I needed air.

Shakily, trying to not get sick, I continued to make my way down the hall. I stumbled down a few more feet as I pressed against the wall, leaning against it. My legs couldn't support me any longer and I slowly slid down to the ground.

I let out a choked sound, feeling my heat beat faster and faster as the pressure continued to build. I couldn't breathe, I was so scared, my heart just kept beating faster and faster. Was I having a heart attack? Was I dying?

My vision tunneled and I knew no more.

I was outside.

I was startled to find myself out in the open and sitting on a bench, not in the TARDIS hallway as I had originally been. I looked around with a strong sense of confusion. How did I get here? Did I simply fall asleep or was the attack real and I passed out? But that wouldn't explain how I got out here. I searched the area around me for the familiar form of a tall, blue police public call box, but of it, I saw no sign. Stumped, I continued to survey the area around me.

I was all alone; there were only strangers here and no TARDIS, Doctor, or Donna.

Did I merely imagine the whole thing? Possibly, I mean, I was only going to be there temporally in the first place, I even told them as much. I must've reached the end of my delusion, just like all my visions ended.

Still, I was outside.

I closed my eyes, relishing the sound of the outdoors. There was the ambient chatter of voices as people went about their daily lives in the market area I had found myself in. There was the sound of a water area nearby, possibly a giant lake or a small river. Wind blew through some nearby trees and birds sang their various calls.

I opened my eyes. The light seems different from what I remember, a darker blue. It's richer and more vibrant, as if I'm viewing it through sunglasses. A tree branch moves in the breeze, its leaves a see-through green, so green it doesn't even seem like it could be real. I bend my head further back and gaze at the wall the tree trunk makes in obscuring my vison. Once, I learned that trees grow from the inside out, a circle of wood for each year.

I straighten and look once more at the imitation sky above me, it's too beautiful to be real, but maybe it's because it's been so long since I last seen it. My heart beats an off-rhythm and it makes me cough. The motion seems to awaken me from whatever trance I had been in and I stand, even though I'm unsure of where to go next.

I wandered, having no specific place in mind, just moving my legs and enjoying the warmth that the sun gives me. A marina appears before me, but I am not surprised about that, I had heard the wave and water birds calling out to each other. What I am surprised about is, is how it's not the lake I thought it would be. It wasn't the lake by Underwood or Fergus Falls.

It was a giant and unfamiliar bay.

"Where am I?" I murmured, confused. This couldn't be right. How far away have I gone? How far had I sleep-walked? Is sleep-walking even a thing when you weren't really asleep in the first place? With my luck, I wouldn't be surprised. Either way, though, I needed to go back to the hospital; I needed to call for someone to retrieve me. I didn't have a phone, so I needed to borrow one from somebody.

I looked around for anything that might help and spotted an italicized and cursive blue "I" out of the corner of my eye. 'Information,' I recognized with a heavy sense of relief. I made my way down the stairs and over the information…something. Was it a hut, shack, store? I couldn't tell, but decided it would be better to call it a store since this word seem less offensive if said out loud.

I opened the door and was greeted by a man behind the counter. He seemed vaguely familiar, as if I had seen him before somewhere. I hoped he didn't recognize me, because that would just be mortifying to have him remember me when I couldn't remember him.

He had light, close-cropped brown hair and honest brown eyes. Once again, I was struck with how similar these eyes were to my brothers' eyes. This man's eyes, however, in no way reminded me of my grandpa's eyes. His young face, maybe late twenties or extremely early thirties, turned towards my direction, he examined me.

"Normally," he said with a bit of humor. "Most stores have a policy that goes something like, 'No shirt, no shoes, no service,' but you seem a bit lost, so I'll make an exception."

I looked down, my feet were both bare and extremely dirty. I now noticed a dull throb and tinge of pain coming from my feet. Why had I gone without my shoes? I went barefoot in the TARDIS in my dreamscape, but never in the hospital…

I must've lost them. It was my only logical explanation.

"Alright?" He asked, the concern that developed in his tone drew my attention back to him.

I nodded hesitantly before changing my mind and shaking my head. "I-I'm lost, do you know wh-where I am?"

"By the Roald Dahl Plass, just a short walk away."

"Wh-where?" I asked in surprise.

"Roald Dahl Plass, it's in Cardiff, Wales," he answered slowly and carefully.

"Wales?!" I exclaimed in alarm. "I'm in Wales?!" I shook my head. "N-no, there m-must be s-some mistake. I sh-should be in M-Minnesota, n-not Wales."

The man had an unreadable look on his face and he asked me cautiously, "You were in America? What was the last thing you remember?"

"A b-bad headache," I answer honestly. "M-my heart beating s-so fast, I thought I w-was having a h-heart attack." I shook my head. "I n-need to call the h-hospital."

"Are you injured?" He asked me in alarm, coming out from behind the counter.

Distantly, I shook my head again, pushing up my pink sleeve from my long-sleeved shirt. I twisted the hard, plastic, hospital bracelet I was wearing. I showed it to him. "I-I was al-already in one. I n-need to go b-back."

He took my proffered arm gently and looked my bracelet, reading the information on it. His eyebrows rose in surprise and shock before lowering in a serious expression. His eyes then looked at me, seeing my patient and hopeful expression as I looked back at him. He swallowed hard and cleared his throat, "Why don't you wait here on this seat while I talk to my…" His voice trailed off before finally settling on the word, "…manager."

"…'kay," I said agreeably. I went to the chair he indicated and winced slightly at the sting and protest my feet gave now that I had finally noticed them. I heard him suck in a breath and turned to see what he was looking at. There were traces of blood where I walked, small smears. "Oh," I murmured. "I'm sorry."

He shook his head. "It's fine. I'll get Jack and the first-aid kit…" He went behind the 'staff only' door, and I was left to my own devices. I absent-mindedly swung my feet, which were hovering several inches off the ground because of the too-tall chair. I unintentional brought a memory to the surface, it was about one of the road trips with my grandparents, one of our longer journeys.

I remember looking out a window as I swing my legs back and forth. On one side of the car are rocks and the ocean. On the other side of the car are dense trees and big fields. Grandma would always bring her entire modern classical CD collection. I remember the tune "I Wonder as I Wander" and my grandma's fingers dancing softly across her lap.

Unconsciously, I had started to hum that half-remembered tune.

"You weren't kidding, Ianto," came a distinctly familiar, non-British voice. "We really do have a barefoot, little girl in our store." I looked up and the tune died in my throat.

I really, really couldn't help noticing how good-looking he was, especially at this short of a distance. Not the ordinary sort of good looking either, but the Hollywood actor kind, the Brad Pitt cheekbones and double dimples kind. Funny thing was, all my thoughts just sort of froze. I had no thoughts going through my head and it let me just sort of mentally step back to admire him. A long pause went out before I realized I should say something.

"Hi."

Then he smiled.

I couldn't help but wonder at it. As an aspiring dental hygienist, you have to be able to notice a perfect smile when you see it, and that's what it was, perfect. No, they weren't just perfect, they were immaculate. I've never-and I mean never-seen such a beautiful set in anyone mouth before. Even more astounding, I bet they were natural, no work needing to be done.

I blinked hard and shook my head, I could feel it clearing up already once the initial reaction of stunned amazement passed. "H-has anyone told y-you that you've g-got a great set of t-teeth?"

He looked taken aback briefly but his lovely, gorgeous smile was quick to return to its original place. "Not usually, no, they're too busy checking out other things that I got a great set of." He winked flirtatiously. I felt my whole face, neck, and ears burn.

"N-no. I m-mean, I'm-I'm s-s-sure you d-do, but-but I… erm," I stumbled over my words, my thoughts abandoning me just when I needed them the most. I uneasily looked away, uncomfortable with the rolling sensation that I had just gotten in the pit of my stomach, which kept doing not-completely-unpleasant flips.

He laughed, "Just kidding, kiddo. Chief would probably skin me alive." He walked over and offered his hand. "Mind if I see the bracelet?" I shyly handed my arm over, trying to ignore how it was tingling where he held it. My blush increased two-fold.

He hummed thoughtfully, "Didn't know he had a cell, but then again, didn't know he had a ward either." I looked up at him in confusion as he released my arm and walked away a few paces to make a phone call.

The man from before-Ianto, was it?-took the man-with-the-great-teeth's place, brandishing a wash cloth and a first-aid kit. He started to gently clean my feet, despite my protests of, 'I can do that.' He then disinfected them, added a clear cream, and carefully wrapped my feet with gauze. He looked up with a knowing smile. "You can take the bandages off in a few hours."

"T-To change them?" I asked for clarification.

"No, just take them off," Ianto answered but didn't give any further explanation before he got up and went behind the door again. I frowned at the door he had went through in confusion but the subject and source of my puzzlement didn't return. After a while, I turned my attention to my bracelet on my wrist, idly reading it.

Name: Penelope Elaine Carter

Age: 24

DOB: November 6

Ailment: Mental Disorientation and Regression

Caretaker: The Doctor

If Lost Please Contact Me: 0770-090-0461

I made a quiet noise of alarm before rubbing my eyes and checking again. This couldn't be right, this wasn't what was supposed to be on the bracelet. I must be hallucinating again. This wasn't good.

Swallowing hard, I hid the bracelet underneath my long sleeve once more, unable to look at it anymore, unable to bear the fact I was losing my mind…again.

The man-with-the-great-teeth ended his call and snapped his cellphone shut. 'Again with the flip-phones!' I smiled briefly at the thought. Images of stereotypical valley-girls munching on bubble gum as they chattered on their pink phones before shutting them with a crisp sounding snap! went through my mind. I shook my head, clearing it, now was not the time for daydreams.

The man came over, his white teeth flashing in the light of the store. "Well, I just called the Doctor and spoke with him. He didn't even realize you were missing until I called! He usually isn't that careless… Said something about you never giving the inclination of wandering off before. What changed that?"

I stared at him as if he had grown two heads. "You're joking, right?"

"Try me," was all he said, folding his arms across his chest.

I frowned at him disapprovingly. "R-really, it's not funny. I understand if y-you're a fan of my b-books, but you shouldn't play j-jokes like that."

"Like what?"

I let out a frustrated noise, "The D-Doctor isn't real. You have a p-poor taste in jokes. It's not funny."

Realization rippled through his face. "So that's what it meant by mental disorientation." He looked at me in consideration, muttering to himself, "And I has a good hunch as to what the other is." Louder, he said to me, "If he wasn't real, then how could I have been talking to him?"

"I-I…well…you could be l-lying," I offered.

"Maybe," he allowed. "But then who was I taking to just then?"

"I don't know," I admitted sheepishly. "I-I wasn't paying attention."

"Right," he sighed before trying a different tactic. "How about I prove to you that he's real?"

"How?" I asked him dubiously.

"By taking you to meet him," the man answered breezily as he looked at his watch. I stared at him in disbelief. He couldn't actually believe that the Doctor was real, could he? Just how far was he going to go with this prank? Was he deluded too? It might not be safe to stay around him much longer… I moved to get up so as to try to sneak away or run, but my feet tingled again and I was dissuaded from that idea.

My movement attracted his attention anyway, and he looked at me, eyes catching notice of my bandaged feet. "Ooh, forgot about your shoeless-state." He scratched the back of his head. "Don't think we have any extra boots to loan you, sorry." He seemed to puzzle over what to do before he snapped his fingers as an idea hit him. "You can't walk with your feet like that, so I'll just carry you."

"Wh-what?" I asked, completely bewildered and positive that I had heard him wrong.

"You don't look like you weigh anything and it's just a short walk to where the TARDIS is parked," he assured me, wrongly assuming that I was concerned about being too heavy and not worried about some stranger carting me off somewhere. He starting striding towards me and, alarmed, I made to back away, only to find that I had nowhere to go with the chair behind me.

In a smooth motion, he hoisted me onto his back where I wrapped my arms and legs tightly around him, certain that I would fall off and hit my head otherwise. I eep-ed and he chuckled as he starting giving me a piggy-back ride out of the store.

I was amazed that he made it up the stairs without having to readjust me even once.

"D-Do you work out or s-something?" I asked, trusting him enough to loosen my grip and relax slightly.

He shook with laughter, answering, "Or something."

I shook my head. "Wh-who even are you?"

"Captain Jack Harkness at your service," he replied, turning his head around to give a flirty wink. I flushed red, unsure of how to respond or react, brain too shut down from his pheromones to process his name properly. "I already know your name, though, Penny. I can call you that, right?"

I think I managed to nod, I can't quite remember.

"Jack, quit it!" A voice snapped. "Don't you start this up again." My mouth dropped open in surprise. There, right in front of me, was a large and wooden box in a deep shade of blue and standing next to it was a man that I was so sure didn't exist. Yet, there he was in all of his Time Lord glory, frowning at me and my carrier. His eyes lowered and narrowed, focusing intensely on my feet. "What happened there?"

Jack made to shrug, but it was a bit difficult with me on his back. "She was running around without any shoes on, what do you expect?" He asked rhetorically before he changed the subject slightly. "So, do you care to explain what all this is about, Doc? This is the first time I've ever heard of you doing something even remotely medical."

The Doctor sighed, "Penelope is precognitive and has been publishing books about my life until recently. She's somehow survived going through the void and it's taken a toll on her mentality…Although, most of it I'm attributing to being in a mental facility and being heavily medicated for several years."

"Do you think that there's going to be any side-effects?" Jack asked the Doctor seriously.

"Not quite sure yet, but she needs to be monitored and under my supervision," the Doctor responded.

"But keeping her aboard the TARDIS like you have…" Jack's voice trailed off.

"It's temporary until she is off the neuroleptics. Penelope becomes easily disoriented with her surroundings and for weeks didn't accept the TARDIS as reality." The Doctor paused, a sheepish look starting to form on his face. "Actually, that was the original reason why we stopped in Cardiff before Penelope wandered off. Donna and I were discussing the possibility of taking her out on adventures with the two of us."

"And what was your verdict?" Jack asked half-jokingly and half-serious.

"Well, before I was a bit hesitant, I'll admit, but now I see that most of my concerns were unfounded," came the bemused answer. There was a pause. "Would you like to join us, Jack?"

Jack shook his head. "Can't, sorry, Doc, but I got my own team now, can't spare the time."

"The TARDIS is a time machine," the Doctor tried.

"With you driving it."

"Oi! I do a brilliant job driving her!" He protested.

"But I've seen better."

"What? Who?"

"You know who," Jack said in exasperation.

"What, Voldemort?"

"Ha-ha, very funny. You're going to have to confront it someday, Doctor, can't avoid it forever."

"Watch me," came the stubborn reply.

Jack sighed, "Right, well, I have to be getting back. Time to get down, kiddo." I loosened my grasp even more and he gently set me down on my own two feet. He ruffled my hair and grinned in a friendly manner. "You can come for a visit anytime but make sure your guardians know where you are next time," Jack chided me lightly.

The Doctor startled, repeating, "'Guardians?' How can you be so sure there's another?"

"Since when you do travel alone for long periods of time?" Jack countered. "You have another companion with you, just mentioned her…Donna, right?" He craned his neck to look around the Doctor at the TARDIS. "Any chance she's coming out so I can say 'hi?'"

"None, it starts with just a 'hi' with you," the Doctor accused.

"Ooh, harsh," Jack winced before a sly grin took residence on his face. He leaned down and mock whispered in my ear, "Between you and me, I think he's just jealous of the attention I gave everyone else. I still haven't bought him that drink yet."

"Wh-what?" I squeaked, looking between the Doctor and Jack with wide eyes.

"Jack!" The former sputtered in protest, tugging me away from the latter. "Quit it!" Jack just laughed and gave a final wave as he turned, walking away from us. The Doctor watched him go with a mixture of exasperation and fondness before turning to me with a slight frown, looking very confused indeed. "How did you get out?" He asked me.

I shrugged, a frown starting to develop on my own face. "D-Don't know, I-I think I p-passed out."

The Doctor's frown deepened and he turned, opening the wooden door beside him. "Well, that's not good." He went inside and disappeared, voice trailing away after him, "I'll do some cranial scans and a full body diagnostic scan. Might have to go inside myself, though, to make sure nothing's amiss…"

I stayed put outside of the large, blue, wooden, phone booth and looked at it apprehensively. I feared what lay inside, it could all be real…or it could not be. The question was, how would I know the difference? Gulping, I inched forward, peeking inside and gasping. A cavernous console room glared back at me and I backed away, rubbing my eyes for good measure. Right in front of me was a demure looking booth with its door open, but inside the door was…was…extraordinary.

A memory or a vision of a foggy and cloudy landscape with a sky absolutely filled with stars came to me. I saw the same blue box, only a bit dirtier and unkempt looking, in front of me. I could hear arguing voices but they were muted and indistinguishable, two people strode toward the booth. The man flashily shoved open both doors and continued to stride inside of it. The interior was completely dark expect for four dark, glowing, purple circles and a light blue light that was quickly obscured by the man's body and the woman followed behind him.

The view was over her left shoulder and I could clearly see the two exterior sides of the box and the complete, marvelous interior of the box that was far too big to be real! Its complete vastness was revealed when the man flipped on the lights. Everything looked so alien, machine-like…something you would expect to see in a stereotypical flying saucer. A voice clearly came to me and I spoke along, "It's called the TARDIS and it can travel anywhere in time and space…"

…and it's mine.

Abruptly, I jolted to awareness with a start. I stared at the inside before hurriedly circling around the outside, ignoring the tingles and random jolts of pain it caused my feet. I knocked on the wooden walls and waved my hands around it, but it was solid, there weren't any extra invisible bits. I circumvented it a second time, sure that I had missed something, when the Doctor stuck his head out, looking amused.

For a moment I saw double when he said, "Go on, say it. Most people do." I stared at him before hurrying inside the booth, certain that was where the trick was. The small chuckle he gave overlapped with the chuckle of the other man.

The inside of the booth, of the TARDIS, was completely different from the other one I had saw. This one was the magical, whimsical one I remembered. I saw it with new eyes now, feeling like I went through the gate of Terabithia and entered a whole new world, a world that had one particular quality that strangely reminded me of…

"You stole Mary Poppins's purse!" I blurted out, completely stunned.

I could hear him choke in surprise. "What?"

"Her purse," I repeated, turning to face him. "You took it!" I waved around the general area of the console room. "Th-This box holds more than sh-should be possible!"

The Doctor looked mildly insulted, sputtering, "My TARDIS is better than some carpet bag! Yes, the qualities are the same with them being dimensionally transcendental, but my TARDIS is so much more!"

"It really is bigger on the inside than it is on the outside," I murmured in a daze, wrapping my arms around myself. "It's all real, I'm not dreaming."

"No," the Doctor told me, his voice softening. "No, you're not." His hand landed on my shoulder and he started to lead me down the hallway. "C'mon," he said. "There's something I need to check first before we go get Donna."

The Doctor was put in a tough position. The results of the scans were normal and the tests were negative concerning any brain damage. Penelope's mind was completely healthy, if only a little off-balance from the remains of the neuroleptics. The Time Lord supposed that the anti-psychotics could be the source of her blackout and memory loss, but it was highly unlikely that such a small amount would cause such a strong reaction.

He needed to get a closer look, some things needed to be observed manually and couldn't be picked up by devices, especially if it was a mental problem and not a physical one.

Thing was, this also provided the Doctor the chance to answer some other, more pressing mysteries.

"I just need you to answer some questions, Penny," he said, using the pet name that Donna seemed so fond to use, he hoped it would put her more at ease. "Just listen to my voice and look me in the eyes, yes, like that." He gently took her hands in his, with three points of contact, she would slip into a trance without any trouble, especially since she didn't suspect a thing. Gently, slowly, he enclosed her mind with his empathic field, guiding her into her subconscious, into a deep hypnotic trance.

"What do you remember from before coming into the hospital?" He asked, starting out easy.

"I was walking home and saw a glow coming from the Old Tree. I went over to it and was consumed by the light. I heard the echoes and not-wind, the Song of Time itself. It was so beautiful…" She said dreamily, surprisingly without a hint of her usual stutter. This pointed it out to be a highly-developed nervous tic, having a psychological cause instead of a physiological one, something that would require speech therapy as well as regular therapy sessions to be rid of. The Doctor grimaced, that would be the last thing that Penelope needed at the moment.

The subject of his musings continued, "But then, something changed, it didn't want me anymore, and I fell into the darkness. It was so dark, Doctor. So, so very dark. The voices, the screams, everywhere, I could hear them. The chill seemed to sink to your bones, I was so scared. I wasn't alone, they were everywhere, hiding, lurking, waiting, the monsters, the Great Evil, the forgotten, the banished, the punished…"

She trailed off, a near imperceptible tremor started, a faintly intimidated expression crossed her face. It disturbed the Doctor how much she was able to feel and then express in this state, the fear must be deeply ingrained and intense if it was able to make a small break through the trance and show itself. "They were going to kill me, I was dead, but they were going to kill me. I did almost die, got close to it with a dalek, but the Great Devourer killed it first because it drew attention to itself.

"My mind started to burn at one point. I was dying, I would've died, if I wasn't sedated when I was. There was too much knowledge inside my head, all those things I knew...It came from the creatures around me. I...I killed them. All those Daleks and Cybermen and Weeping Angels and Chronomites and anything else nearby, they were all there...and I killed them."

The Doctor was at a loss, "You...killed them, how?"

"I absorbed them, what are we all but atoms? Their matter was ripped apart from the force of my matter, something made me different, most likely I had gotten some residue from the crack thus making my attracting force stronger than the void's. The life became nothing but information, information that I absorbed into myself. I didn't mean to in the darkness, I just wanted to go home. No, not even that, I just wanted it to end. I wanted the horror to stop.

"It did the moment I left the darkness by some miracle. I was eventually taken into the hospital, forced into a comatose state by my own mind that was trying to cope with all I knew. I was either trying to expel it or download it during that period-"

"What do you mean by 'expel or download,' Penelope?" He asked sharply.

"I wasn't aware of it most of the time, but I've been told that I mumbled a lot, nonsense mostly."

"What kind of nonsense?" The Doctor had a suspicion to what it might been from what he had been told by Dogers, Penelope's psychiatrist.

"Complex mathematical formulas and theorems, advanced theories about higher metaphysics, rules of Cosmic Science, xenobiology, the theories behind the schematics of weapons and defense technology, basic theory of Time Rings and their blueprints, the laws and theories of stellar manipulation-"

The Doctor interrupted her, properly intimidated by the small human girl in front of him, "You know what that is?"

"It's there and comes if called upon, like now. Normally, I don't remember consciously, sometimes I'll get visions or ideas. I write them down or drawn them...and then I forget. I can't access them purposely by myself, but sometimes I do by accident."

"How are you able to know this right now? How are you aware of this?" The Doctor was suspicious and wary of the possible threat in front of him.

"I don't, not normally. This is the older me, the me from before, my subconscious self that is usually buried under the conscious mind and the new me that developed to maintain my soundness of mind." The Time Lord was not surprised by this answer. A spilt-personality often happened as a result from traumatic experiences to protect oneself. It would also explain her blackout and memory loss, she must have switched to this personality before him…This personality that just freely confessed to knowing a great deal of information.

"You said you couldn't access them, the memories and information, by yourself, could others?" The Doctor mostly meant himself, but there was the deeply worrying concern that others could access such a dangerous wealth of information.

"They could if they have hypnotic or telepathic capabilities. Through hypnosis, they could simply prompt me for the information or they could telepathically go inside my mind to access it."

"Just like a memory stick," he realized. "You're like a USB drive." When she confirmed it, the Doctor felt a rush of both apprehension and giddiness. "I could access it right now?"

"You could," Penelope said simply, not expanding her answer.

He frowned at her phrasing. "Would it harm Penelope, er, you, in any way?"

"Depends on how rough or gentle the retrieval is, you are in my mind after all…"

"...I'll leave it for now, until I can be sure that she won't suffer from my curiosity." He didn't want to hear that little girl crying out in fear or pain in his mind again, or at all, if he could help it. It reminded him too much of the voices of the children lost on Gallifrey, those 2.47 billion children. He swallowed guilty before giving himself a mental shake, gently pulling away from Penelope's subconscious.

The young girl in front of him blinked in a slow and dazed fashion, waking up from the trance state much like one would wake from a dream. Her eyebrows furrowed in confusion, a puzzled look crossing her face. "Wh-What did you w-want to ask me, D-Doctor?"

The Doctor thought quickly. There were many other question he had, but none that this particular Penelope could answer. Well, actually this was one that she could, one that he had been meaning to ask her for a long time coming.

"How do you feel," the Doctor asked slowly. "…about joining Donna and I on an adventure?"

To Be Continued...

Explanations:

* Yes, Penny has been put in solitary confinement for the first few months, as she was extremely distressed and inconsolable. She had been sedated and put in a strait jacket to prevent harm from coming to herself or others. Dr. Pierce, however, was liable to be overzealous in her job and may have sent Penny there more times than was necessary.

* For the Doctor's phone number, I use the same one provided in the episode "Journey's End."

* Any guesses on who the better driver is? I'll give you a hint, she's a companion.

* Yes, I would seriously accuse him of stealing the idea from Mary Poppins, especially since I've know Mary Poppins longer than I've known Doctor Who.

* Stuttering is a real issue I suffer from. My mind starts going too fast and my mouth can't keep up, often leaving me unable to say what I want to say. I'll get "blocks" in my speech or repetitions. Penny's stutter is an exaggerated version of mine, one that was made worse by her situation. Mine's brought on my nervousness and anxiety or being highly emotional or excited. Hers is now mostly an anxiety wrought stutter. She'll eventually become a more confident character and will stutter less (at least, that's my goal), but until then, she'll go into lapses of silence. She can talk, she just doesn't want to, because she's unsure of herself and everything around her.

* So, Penny apparently has another personality, the older Penny long buried by the hospital, which has been reawakened in Penny's desperation to see the outside world. You won't see much of "Old Penny" but she'll be there, hiding behind the scenes. Appearing often in dreams or visions.

Advertisements (Warning: Spoilers!):

TITLE: Afterimage

AUTHOR: Fan Fictional Authoress

ID: 10488757

SUMMARY: Sara thought she had finally escaped from the Time Lord Victorious, only to find herself in an alternate dimension with another survivor of her universe and another Doctor! Follow Sara and Penny as they try to escape and find their own way home. An AU crossover of Emptyvoices's "Lost in Time" and Fan Fictional Authoress's "Faith, Trust, Pixie Dust, and Man-eating Trees."

OPINION: Okay, this is a crossover between this story and Emptyvoice's "Lost in Time." WARNING: THERE WILL BE SPOILERS FOR THIS STORY! Seriously, I cannot stress this enough. If you don't care about the spoilers, be my guest and read the awesomeness. If you hate spoilers and don't want certain plot points to be revealed, don't read it. Simple as that. :)

Thought Processes:

So, it finally begins, Penny's travels with the Doctor and Donna, the moment all of you have been waiting for! Just for point of reference, the episode that we'll start on is 'The Sontaran Stratagem.' It'll be different from want you expect though, for one thing Penny won't be following the Doctor around all the time. And for another, I am most certainly NOT copying down the script WORD FOR WORD.

I hate it when other writers do it, so I'm going to try to avoid that, savvy?

I'm try to put up three more chapters before college starts, because after that I won't have time to work on any of my stories. I'm be a full-time student with a part-time job on top of that. I understand that some of you are both that and more, but I have lower energy levels and not-so-great time management skills. After August 25, updates will be spotty at best and non-existent at worst.

Just a heads up.

Happy Saturday,

FFA, the Fan Fictional Authoress

Date Submitted: Saturday, July 26, 2014.