Disclaimer: I don't own anything Doctor Who, but I do own Cat. She's mine.

"Bugger!"

My eyes flew open, giving me a blurry, one-eyed view of my large bedroom. I could feel my heart beating loudly in my throat, and my stomach was churning. That was a voice. I heard a voice. That was a voice, right? Of course it was! I may be odd, but insane is something I'm not.

Quickly, I flung my comforter off of my small frame and tried to run to my window. I say 'tried' because I ended up tripping on the leg of my nightstand due to my lack of eyewear. After falling flat on my face, I quickly scrambled back to my feet and grabbed for the black blob on my nightstand. Once the glasses were on my nose, I rushed to the window and gazed out at the Police Box.

It was still there, as I'd expected, but there was something else. Something tall. And it was moving. I could just make out limbs moving around in the darkness. This must've been the person who had yelled. A man going by the shape of the form and the voice.

I swallowed against my dry throat, as if that would help the sick feeling in my stomach. Then, on a sudden whim, I snatched my favorite sweater from my messy floor and pulled it over my head. I ran out of my room, tripping on my own feet. I ran past the doors that led to my deck and down the staircase, careful to slow down as to keep myself from falling. At the bottom of the stairs, I made a U-turn and made a beeline for the sliding doors. When I reached them, I paused. What if the man was dangerous? What if he was armed?

I looked around me, desperately searching for something I could use as a weapon. After considering a fork, my TV remote, and an umbrella, I sighed. I could spare the extra minute to run to the kitchen and get a large knife.

My feet carried me past the bathroom and turned left into my kitchen. I had a better view of the Police Box from here, and I could see the man a bit clearer as well. He was indeed tall, and it looked like he was wearing a dress. Then again, the view wasn't spectacular, and I could have easily been mistaken.

I shook my head and snatched the biggest cutlery knife I owned before running back into the living room. Yes, I know the rule about running with knives, but there was a strange, tall, possibly cross-dressing man in my backyard with the big, blue Police Box that appeared out of nowhere. If you were me, would you have cared about the danger of running with a knife in your hand? I didn't think so.

I reached the sliding-door quickly, and quietly pulled the doors open. I silently stepped out onto the patio, backing up to the side of my house in order to be hidden in the shadows. I held my breath subconsciously as I inched towards the edge of my hiding spot, my hands shaking. The night was chilly, and I was glad I'd worn my sweater. However, even my giant sweater wasn't big enough to cover my legs, which were clad in my Batman sleep shorts.

"Stupid, stupid, stupid!" The man grumbled, kicking the Police Box with a gray trainer-clad foot.

Hiding in the shadows, I listened intently to the man. Maybe he'd say something helpful, like why he was in my back yard.

"What's wrong?" He pulled a stethoscope out of the inside pocket of his overcoat (it wasn't a dress, my bad), and I immediately thought one thing: What the hell? Who carries a stethoscope in their pocket? And where do you get an overcoat with pockets big enough to carry a stethoscope?

I shook my head and listened again.

"Nothing? Really?" He asked as he placed the round piece against the wood of the Police Box. "Why won't you tell me what's wrong?"

He was treating it like it was alive. It was wood, it couldn't be alive. So, I came to a conclusion.

I had an insane man in my back yard.

I had an insane man in my back yard talking to a giant, blue Police Box. At that point, I probably should've called the police, but I couldn't help but be curious. In fact, I was so curious that my fear was overridden.

In my reverie, the knife slipped from my sweaty hand and clattered loudly on the stone floor of the patio. To make sure I didn't stab my foot, I jumped away from the knife and out into the faint moonlight.

At the sound, the man jumped and turned around faster than I could say 'help'.

He didn't look dangerous. Maybe a little insane, but never dangerous. The first feature I noticed was the deep brown eyes. But they weren't just brown, they were… different in some way or another. Beneath those odd eyes, I could see the faint traces of bags, as if he was exhausted. His hair was a few shades darker than his eyes, and if I'd known him I would've run over and ran my hands through it. Yeah, it looked that good. It almost seemed to defy the laws of gravity. His high cheekbones cast shadows down his face, pale in the moonlight.

I quickly fumbled to grab the knife from the ground and held it in front of me, trying to seem like a threat. "W-Who are you?"

The man didn't seem scared at all by the knife. Instead, he grinned at me. "I'm the Doctor!" He looked like a child, grinning as it pulled the wrappings off of Christmas presents. "And you are?"

I swallowed the developing lump in my throat. "What kind of a name is the Doctor?"

His expression changed rapidly, and he tucked his hands in his pockets as he looked up in thought. "I'm not really sure, it's a good one, though." He had an accent, easily recognized as British. "And yours would be…?"

"Cat," I took a step back as he paced towards me. "Cat Black."

His strange eyes lit up, the grin reappearing. "Cat? As in Catherine?" This guy was weird.

"Um… Yeah…" I mumbled with a slow nod.

"Oh, that's brilliant!" He walked closer, his long legs carrying him surprisingly far with each stride. When he was close enough to touch me, he reached over and carefully peeled one of my hands from the handle of the knife. He then shook it firmly. "You're brilliant, really, you are! I'm a huge fan!"

Alright, murderers and rapists don't shake your hand. With that in my mind, I reluctantly lowered the knife and stared at him. "Um, a fan of what?"

The smile on his angular face fell, and he quickly released my hand. He looked past me at my house. "What's the date?"

It took my brain a moment to register the sudden change of topic, and another moment to actually come up with the answer to his question. "July 16th."

He looked slightly impatient. "And the year?"

Alright, he was an insane hermit. "2011."

"Oh…" His face pinched and he made the sort of sound that comes out of your mouth when you're in excruciating pain and you're trying to be quiet about it. I hadn't nicked him with the knife, had I? "Not published yet, then."

I glanced down at the knife, and then realized what he'd said. "What do you mean 'not published'?" I asked as I furrowed my brow.

"Nothing!" He yelped. "Is that your house? Let's have a look." He slipped past me, towards the sliding-door. "Come along, Catherine!"

I sneered and followed. "It's Cat!" Everyone called me Cat, and they were smart to do so. I hated my name, always had.

He didn't reply as he disappeared inside. I ran after him. Even I wasn't stupid enough to let an insane man run around my house unsupervised. I found him running about my living room, peeking under pillows and looking behind odd things, like my TV.

"I suppose I should've known it was pre-2014," He mumbled as he fell onto his stomach, looking under my couch. "I mean, this obviously isn't China."

"China?"

He froze, and then looked back at me. He hopped to his feet. "Me and my big mouth," He grinned. "Forget I said anything. I need a bowl." He spun on his heel and sauntered into my kitchen. Upon hearing my cupboards opening and my kitchen-ware clattering, I rushed after him.

"Is that thing yours?" I asked as I glanced out the window.

He didn't seem to hear me. "Where do you keep your bowls?" He asked as he looked to me, an expression of confusion plastered to his face.

"Um…" I blinked and shook my head. "First cupboard on the right."

He rushed to said cupboard and pulled it open. I normally had to stand on my tippy-toes to look in my cupboards, but I was rather short. He had to be at least six feet, I was only five-five.

As he rummaged, I spoke again. "Is it yours?"

"Yeah, it's mine!" He flashed a grin my way. "Sorry, by the way. I normally land her on street corners and things like that. Didn't really have control of it this time." He pulled one of my Tupperware bowls out and flipped it over in his hands before discarding it onto my counter.

I caught one word that didn't make any sense. "Wait, did you say 'land'?"

"Yes, land." He snorted, as if I were asking a question with an obvious answer. "Did you think I pushed her here?" He pulled out a stack of bowls and tossed them onto the counter beside the other one he'd set there. Finally, he pulled out the biggest plastic bowl I owned. "Aha, perfect!" It was then that he ran past me again.

I groaned and turned to follow, setting the knife on my kitchen table on the way out. He was odd, but I didn't think he was going to hurt me. Especially if he shook my hand and asked to borrow a bowl. He owed me.

He sprinted out of the door and across the yard to the Police Box.

I stopped at the door. I needed a moment to think. This had been the weirdest night of my life, and I needed to sort through everything that was going on.

I thought about this Doctor. Many of the things he'd said tonight hadn't made much sense, like that whole thing about China and 'not published yet'. He acted as if he'd heard my name before, too. I suppose he could know me because of Black Sky, but that seemed highly unlikely. I wasn't on the pay roll, I didn't even work there, that was Ian's thing.

I shook my head and stepped outside, wrapping myself in my arms as I began to cross the yard. The door of the Police Box was ajar, even though it had been locked or stuck or something earlier in the night. I didn't know if he'd left it like that to suggest that I follow, or if he'd just been in such a rush he hadn't closed it properly.

I stopped again as I reached it. What could he be doing in there? It was far too small for him to be doing anything productive, and it definitely wouldn't help if I followed.

Suddenly, his head popped out, that silly child-like grin in place. "Are you just going to stand there, or are you going to come in?"

I blinked, and my glasses slid down my nose. "Um… I -I don't know…"

His brown eyes rolled in their sockets and his arm appeared, reaching towards me. He grabbed the loose material of my sweater and threw the door open, pulling me inside.

"Won't it be really…?" I trailed off as I saw the space before me. "Cramped…?"

My jaw dropped, and he chuckled and spun away.

It wasn't like I'd pictured. It was too big, and too bright to be like I pictured. I'd imagined a small, dark area with a telephone and nothing else, but this was… wow. It was a huge, round, domed room with walls made of metal plates. The plates were fixed with what looked like lights. The Doctor's overcoat hung on one of the five or six odd, wavy structures supporting the ceiling. They reminded me a bit of dead tree trunks, only metal and a bit squarer. Cords and cables hung from the supports and ran the perimeter of the room, but all of them connected to the odd thing in the middle of it all.

The metal grates beneath our feet clanged dully as the Doctor hopped the three steps in a single bound, leaving him about five feet from the thing at the room's core. "What do you think?"

I looked around in awe. "I think I'm going insane."

He grinned at me and dropped to one knee, his long fingers wrapping around the mesh metal. With a single tug, the grate lifted from its place in the floor and he set it aside. He swung his legs around and slowly lowered himself into the hole left behind. "Come here, would you?"

I cautiously made my way up the staircase, and then sat down Indian style beside the hole the Doctor stood in.

He set the Tupperware bowl down on the side of the hole opposite me and thrust a pile of wires and cords in my arms. "Hold this for a few moments, would you?"

I looked down at the cords. "Are they safe? I mean, I'm not going to get electrocuted, right?"

He snorted and bent down. "No." He might've been kneeling, but I couldn't see that far into the hole. He thrust his arms into the odd metal pieces and rubber-coated wires beneath the grates. After a few moments, he pulled his arms back, an odd, blue-ish liquid coating all of the fingers on his left hand. "Ooh, that doesn't bode well."

I leaned forward slightly. "What is that?"

He pulled a pair of black-framed glasses from a pocket on the inside of his jacket and set them on the bridge of his nose before mumbling a string of long words that I didn't know in an extremely quick manor. Even if I had recognized the words, I don't think I would've heard enough of them to make sense of what he'd said.

"What?"

He looked up at me and opened his mouth to explain, but hesitated for a moment. He smiled. "Ha, we match." He fiddled with his glasses.

I felt myself smile faintly. "So, what's that stuff?"

"It's sort of like oil, only… better."

Oh, I understood that. "And why's it covering your fingers?"

He rubbed his thumb against the oil-covered fingers. "It's leaking," He frowned. "It's not supposed to leak. It's never leaked before. Hand me the bowl?"

I looked down at the pile of cords in my arms, and then said the most childish thing I'd said in days. "You're closer."

He smirked at me, and then grabbed the bowl. He ducked down again, his arms disappearing once more as his lips thinned. He was focusing completely on whatever he was doing.

As I sat back and looked around the room again, a yawn escaped my lips. I'd probably lost a good hour of sleep due to this man. I, being extremely lazy, would have to make up that hour. Oh, he really owed me now.

"All done!" He clapped his hands together, making me jump roughly a foot in the air. "You can drop those." He nodded to the cords and wires.

I let them slip from my arms and got to my feet. "Do you need me for anything else?"

"Nah," He shook his head, removing his glasses and returning them to his pocket. "That should be good for now."

I nodded. "In that case, I'm gonna go back to bed," I rubbed my eyes beneath my glasses. "You're not going anywhere, are you?"

"Nope," He grumbled as he pulled himself out of the hole and stood with his hands in his pockets. "I'm kind of stuck. Why?"

"I expect you can give me an explanation for… this." I looked around the room. "Anyways, good night. Well, no, I guess it's good morning now…"

He chortled. "Pleasure meeting you, Catherine." He held his hand out.

I grabbed his hand. "It's Cat."

He smiled. "No, it's Catherine."

That was the third time he said my name, but it was the first time that I actually listened. The way he said it, there was no E. I found that I rather liked the way he said my name. Damn British accent.

I sighed. "Whatever, night."

"Good night."

As I left the Police Box, I felt his eyes on me. Those odd, odd eyes.

A/N: Wow, this is a long chapter. Compared to my rough draft, this is really detailed and a lot better. However, the chapter was getting so long with all of the added details that I had to cut a bit off. I'll be adding that to the scene I set up for the next chapter, though, seeing as it's sort of important.

So, the Doctor is here. Are you happy? I am. I think he turned out rather in character. See, I've got a bit of a problem with complicated characters, but I'm doing my best with the Doctor. In fact, the rough draft was so out of character that I made Cat OOC. You know it's bad when you're screwing up your own original character.

Anyways, I realize I'm posting this rather early. I was just so excited, and I wanted to get it to you as fast as I could. I've read a couple of stories where the author has to apologize for not posting on time. How can that happen? If you really love what you're writing, you'll put it up as fast as your self-restraint will let you! That's my case, at least.

So, I hope you enjoyed. I know you're all waiting for him to go crazy and shout "ALLONS-Y!", like I was while writing this. I'm just gonna warn you right now, that doesn't show up until almost the end of the story. No, I didn't forget, it just never seemed like the right time. Anyways, most of the odd, unexplained things the Doctor said will be clarified next chapter.

Thanks for reading!

-Jazmine