A/N: Hi! Can I just say thank you to everyone who has read, reviewed, favourite'd and followed this story so far. I'm genuinely so happy that this idea has gone down so well. So thank you! Now all I have to do is keep you on board...no pressure then.

I had wanted to get this up sooner, but life has been getting in the way a bit. I've started planning Ch3, but, because I've started preparations for going back to Uni (I'm going to Norway this year, and they start in August rather than September), I'm not sure how much time I'll have to write. Oh, and if this heatwave could stop now that would be great, too, considering the heat hasn't help my motivation.

Anyway, hope you enjoy!

To say that John was having a week from hell was an understatement. Not only was the marking of papers taking up most of his time, he was now in the middle of having to deal with one of his most problematic students being caught plagiarising. It meant paperwork. Lots of paperwork. Lots more paperwork on top of the lots of paperwork he already had. And conversations with a student that who barely managed to scrape passes and only turned up for lectures once in a blue moon.

If that wasn't enough to deal with, there was also the issue of the dreams John had currently been having. He had always had an overactive mind, especially at night when he couldn't control it; always dreaming about the impossible and the wonderful, but lately his dreams had had him breaking out in cold sweat and waking up screaming. He kept dreaming of a war – a war he had been part of – a war, in which he had been the only survivor. The dreams meant he hadn't been sleeping enough recently, and he knew it wouldn't be long before they started affecting his work.

Sighing, John rubbed at his tired eyes and typed his password BadWolf1987 (he'd always been a big fan of Little Red Riding Hood as a child) into his computer, bringing up his student's file.

"Right, Daniel, I suspect you know why you're here," John started, looking at the young man sat in front of him. Daniel (Dan) James was your typical University student. He was bright, out with his friends whenever he could, and drank coffee every day to clear his obvious hangovers, but he had no real drive. No passion to do well. John had tried everything with him; had offered to help him with anything he needed, but Dan never came; never showed any signs of wanting to better himself at all. It frustrated John no end. He, and the rest of the department, could see that Dan had potential, that he could be a really good physicist if he put the work in (his own work in), but he just didn't care. There was nothing more frustrating than seeing a young lad like Dan put all his intelligence and brilliance to waste.

"You're a bright lad, Dan," John said. "I don't understand why you went to these lengths, knowing that it was likely that you would get caught."

"I dunno," Dan replied. He didn't exactly show remorse for what he had done, but there was none of his usual arrogance that John noticed to carried around with him. "Just felt like the only thing left that I could do."

"Well, if you came to lectures more than you might have been able to do this on your own," John looked at him over the rims of the glasses he was wearing. "And even if there was something you were stuck on, you could have asked for help or advice. I couldn't have told you what to write, but I would have helped explain things to you that you didn't understand. It's what we're here for after all, I don't just get paid to stand at the front of the room and talk for hours a day and mark a few papers."

Dan didn't say anything back and John just sighed.

"You do realise that this is a serious matter, don't you? If this happens again, we do have the right to expel you from the University and I'm sure that's not what you want, is it? It's certainly not what I want at any rate. Like I said, you're a clever lad and it's time you started to use what you have if you want any chance of getting a degree at the end of your course. I want to help you, but only if you want to help yourself.

"I'm going to have to refer this upwards and we'll have to see what they say about what steps we will have to take. In the meantime, do not let this happen again. You may go."

Dan nodded and left the room, leaving John in his office running a hand through his already unkempt hair, muttering something about students under his breath.

It was at times like this that he wished he had never taken up teaching in the first place. Other times, it was the best job in the world.

Martha sighed in relief as she stared at the readings on the screen. Nothing. That would good. Her team that she had put together after Donna had explained to her what had happened had been monitoring and searching for signals that might alert them to the Family's presence on Earth. Last night she had gotten a call from one of her team, telling her that they had picked up something they couldn't make out. This morning she was double checking the readings, even after find nothing upon arriving last night. There was still nothing. Nothing was good. Martha liked nothing.

But she still told everyone to stay vigilant at all times. Just in case.

Martha toyed with the idea of telling Donna or not, not wanting to panic or worry her over nothing. However, this was the Doctor's life they were in charge of right now and there was no way Martha was going to take any unnecessary risks. Telling Donna to keep a firmer eye on John was the best option. After all, it may be nothing now, but in her experience, nothing usually turned into something.

Donna had taken the news calmly and promised to keep a closer eye on John, even if it meant having to take him out of the University at every chance she got.

Later that evening, John sat at his desk in his home study staring wordlessly at the latest doodle he had drawn in the journal he kept his strange dreams in. He had had the book for years it seemed, never really remembering when he had decided to record his dreams in the form of fiction.

He tried to record his dreams every evening or morning if he had the time, but sometimes he could go days without writing a word and yet still remember everything so vividly from nights before when he eventually found the time to write. He hadn't ever shown the journal to anyone; no one even knew he had it, it was his little secret. In all honesty, considering the dreams he had, anyone he told would probably tell him he was mad or making it up (which of course, he was in a sense), telling him that he should probably seem some dream therapist because, no doubt, his dreams could mean something. John knew what they meant, though. It meant he had an overexcited imagination, even now, in his mid-thirties. He'd always been an imaginative child; seems some things stick with you.

John continued to stare at the image he had drawn, reliving the dream that had come with it. It was one of the more haunting dreams he had had. One of the ones where he would wake up sweat-soaked and shaken. To look at it, the image didn't pose much of a threat – a strange looking pepper-pot armed with nothing more than a plunger and a whisk – yet, in John's dreams they had killed millions and been part of the cause of destruction for a number of planets.

Because, you see, in his dreams, John wasn't John Smith. He wasn't even human. He was a man named the Doctor. A man who traveled the stars in an old-fashioned Police telephone box that was bigger on the inside. He was ancient and alone. Always moving. Never stopping. He had defeated the faces of evil time and time again, preventing the deaths of millions, but causing the deaths of thousands. He had fought in a war that had been so much bigger than the human mind could imagine and he was the only survivor. He was a man who carried guilt around with him like a rucksack, never able to put it down long enough to breathe. And yet, he was wonderful in his unique way; a real lover of life and adventure.

A man John could never be.

But his dream self wasn't always alone, not really, but the relationships he had with people never lasted long. The Doctor's friends came and went. He had friends, but he seemed to lose them all.

Currently, his traveling companion (as they were sometimes called) was Donna. John supposed it made sense since she was his best friend and they saw each other a lot. No, Donna being in his dreams as the Doctor's best mate made complete sense, but John had often dreamed of Martha being there too, before Donna. It was strange really, he didn't know Martha that well and the dreams had been happening long before he had met her personally. And there had been someone else, too. Someone who the Doctor seemed to miss terribly. He couldn't remember what had happened to her, but one day, the young blonde woman with no name just disappeared. He hadn't had many dreams with just her yet – hid dreams never seemed to run in order – but John couldn't help but find himself looking forward to seeing her, getting to know her in his little made-up world. Funny, isn't it, how the mind works; the people you create around you. The enemies and friends you make for yourself. You could be anyone. Anyone at all. And John's mind had created this. He wondered if they were trying to tell him something, but didn't know what. So he decided to ignore any potential messages. After all, they were only dreams.

It was just that often felt like memories. Memories of a life never lived.

Having caught up with recording his latest set of dreams, John sighed and closed his journal, knowing that he would have more to fill it with soon enough. All he wished for, though, was for the nightmares to fade. Surely, the Doctor's life wasn't always full of doom?

A universe away, someone else had dreamed of the Doctor. But these dreams were different. They were full of hope and of love. They were memories, but also hopes for the future. They had been sad at times; memories of that dreadful day had plagued the mind for too long. But not anymore. Not anymore, because, if this worked, then the memory wouldn't have the same impact. She'd be home. Right where he had told her it was impossible to be again.

It had taken a long time to get to this point. A long time. Many years. But, finally, here she was. Just one jump away. The clues were all there; the words marking her return both in our universe and hers. A message. A road to follow. A ticket home.

And when the blue light had faded away, taking her with it, the words were the only thing in the room left to tell anyone who knew that she had even been there.

BAD WOLF

"So how's he doing then?" Wilfred Mott asked his granddaughter and she walked up the hill where her grandad was often found stargazing.

"He's still so different," Donna admitted. "It's weird, because sometimes he seems so…Doctor. And then he'll say something or do something that reminds me he isn't the Doctor at all."

Wilf nodded. Donna had told him what had happened the moment she had come back home. He knew she wouldn't admit it, but she had nearly been in tears the day she arrived at her old home's front door. Having the Doctor turn human was like losing her best friend. He was still there, but yet not. Wilf couldn't even begin to understand what it was like to see someone change like that in front of you, but he had listened and told Donna that it would be alright. The Doctor clearly trusted her to do the right thing and with good reason, he had told her, which had made her smile.

"Couple more months and you'll be flying through the stars once more," Wilf told her.

"I know, I just hope that nothing happens during that time. We've already had a scare."

"How do you mean?" There was a worried look on Wilf's face. He cared about the Doctor, too.

"Martha's team at UNIT thought they had seen something on their monitors. They scanned again, but it was a false alarm, thankfully," Donna explained. "Martha said they're being extra careful now, and that's great, really it is, but I can't help but worry."

"I know, sweetheart. But if anything does happen, you said that the Doctor gave you a list of instructions. Doesn't that tell you anything?"

"He said that, if they find us, I'm supposed to open the watch." Donna sighed. "I just hope he hasn't lost it in the time that he's had it. Maybe letting him keep it wasn't the best idea."

"What about if he opens it too soon?" Wilf worried.

"He won't," Donna told him, more to reassure herself than her grandfather. "He said that there was some kind of perception thingy on it, so he won't think anything of it. Let's just hope it stays that way. The last thing we need is him getting curious. And he is about a lot of other things. It's one of the traits he seemed to have kept from his alien self."

"Guess you'll just have to make sure you keep an eye on him."

"Don't worry, I don't plan on letting him out of my sight for very long. Well, to the extent that it doesn't become weird at any rate."

Wilf just laughed.

Above the Earth, a ship passed silently. It had already passed once before, but had smelt nothing. Now there was something new that had enticed them back to the planet, thinking they might have found what they had been searching time and space for.

They came close, close enough to smell what they needed, but far enough away that they wouldn't be detected from the primitive sensors of the planet below. They had made that mistake already, they had made their presence almost known. But now, they were taking precautions. They wouldn't get any closer until they were sure they had found the Time Lord they had been hunting.

There. They could smell it. Time. But…hold on, no, it wasn't the Time Lord, the smell was slightly different. This creature was new. They smelt of time, but it wasn't the dusty, old stale smell of the Time Lord. No, this smell was new and fresh. A smell of raw energy. Whoever this creature was, they were young and powerful. Their lifespan couldn't be detected, the scent was too muddled. But it was new and exciting. Consuming this creature would definitely give them more time than they had.

Because they knew, they had worked it out. The Time Lord they were hunting had taken precautions. They had hidden themselves, in and amongst the crowd, trying to escape the inevitable.

But this new creature, they were otherwise unaware. They hadn't hidden themselves from consummation. They were in plain sight. It wouldn't take long to find them; to hunt them down and use their life force to find the Time Lord. Their senses told them that the two couldn't be far apart. It was likely that two creatures like that would eventually find each other, if they didn't already know each other. Find the new creature, find the Time Lord.

They set the coordinates and began to descend on the planet below. They didn't care for detection now. Once landed, their ship would be hidden and their hunt would begin.

The Family would soon live forever.