A/N: I didn't get my five review target :( This time please review if you can, it only takes one minute and it makes my whole day! As always thanks to those who reviewed and alerted this story!

There's actually going to be a few more chapters before New Earth, because I'm doing my research into it so I can get most of the dialogue accurate. So look forward to a (very) mini-episode for the Doctor and Ava!

Disclaimer: Only own Ava and no-one else. Sheesh

REVIEW! Sorry if I sound a bit repetitive, I've spent an absoloute AGE on this chapter.

*CHAPTER REWRITTEN 27/05/12*

I narrowed my eyes and span to face Rose, pointing back at the Doctor. "Is this some sort of joke? Because I think he just suggested this is what you travel in."

Rose grinned, and the Doctor winked at her. "I did say you were in for a lot of surprises, Ava."

"But this," I spluttered, my arms gesticulating wildly, "It's a box! A bloody tiny wooden box! How… Just how?"

The Doctor was grinning manically, clearly enjoying my reaction. To him, it was obviously pretty amusing showing someone who was so unaware about him and his life the TARDIS for the first time.

E.g., me.

Was he mad? Was I mad? Were we both mad? Was he trying to make me believe that I was mad?

Oh God. I felt dizzy.

"How does it move? Does one of you have to push it? God that must take ages! I suppose you save on petrol, though. But don't you look a bit odd going round in a blue box? People must think you're a bit odd and…" I babbled, until the Doctor silenced me; pressing a finger to his lips.

Rose shook her head. "I wish you'd teach me how to do that, Doctor. I could do with knowing how to shut her up sometimes."

I found myself unable to speak, so I couldn't defend myself.

Oh yes. He was definitley the mad one.

Should I be worried by that?

The Doctor half-smiled, backing away from the side of the TARDIS. "Ah, just another one of my many amazing Time Lord traits, Rose."

"Wait a second- Time Lord? What?" I exclaimed, "Seriously, slow down!"

The Doctor laughed, "One thing at a time, eh?"

I nodded, "That would be nice."

The Doctor laughed again. "I'm seriously surprised you haven't run away yet. Most people take a look at the box and just shoot off. Well, a lot of people."

"Why? It's just a box." I sniffed, "It's not scary, it's just, well, weird."

Rose snorted from behind her. I turned round and gave Rose an evil look from over my shoulder, and she merely covered her face with her hands to mask her giggles.

"What?" I snapped, "What have I said this time?"

The Doctor chuckled, shaking his head; pressing his hands on my shoulders. "Would you like to go inside?"

I bit my lip. "Is there really much of a point? There is no way that we can all fit in there."

The Doctor grimaced. "Yep, I definitley see what you mean there, Ava. From what I've seen you're a pretty logical person- from the outside that may seem so."

I raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean 'on the outside'?"

"Nothing and everything." the Doctor answered cryptically, determined not to give anything away.

I huffed. "That is not an answer."

"Just open the bloody door, Ava," Rose said, sounding a bit exasperated.

I glanced up briefly at the Doctor, who splayed his hand out in the direction of the door. "Feel free."

I walked forward, my feet crunching in the snow which sounded so much louder at night than during the day. The only other sound was the noise of the two people breathing behind me; which was sort of creepily calming. I came up to the double-door entrance of the box, smoothing my hands along the dark blue wood. Despite it being outside for the evening, the wood wasn't wet or cold. It was… Well, it was perfect. Completely smooth with no ridges or imperfections.

And the blue, up close, you couldn't even describe the beauty of it. It was so rich and bold, yet so effortlessly elegant at the same time. It was unlike any other shade of blue I had seen before; if I had, I was sure I would've noticed it.

To me, the whole thing was flawless- but despite that, there was no denying that it was incredibly old. The way it just stood there, like it owned the place, just made me think that it had stood in the exact same way in many other places. If it was brand new, the TARDIS wouldn't look like it had as much authority as it had now. The Doctor had clearly travelled in it long before he'd met Rose.

Confusingly, the windows depicted nearer the top of the box were sort of pulsing with a golden glow. It was like there was some sort of immense power hiding away within; but how was that possible? It was a miniscule wooden box. Barely even two people could fit in there- so how could anything vaguely powerful be in there too?

I outlined the circular frame of the Yale lock in the middle momentarily with my index finger, before working my way up to the silver handles. It was like metal had sensed that my hands were freezing cold, so it instantly throbbed with a comforting warmth. I couldn't deny that that was slightly weird, but I didn't let go. I didn't want to let go. Something about it just made me want to hold on.

It made me feel safe. Something that I hadn't felt in a very, very long time.

"In your own time," the Doctor teased from behind her, awakening me from the sort-of trance that I'd fallen into. The safety vanished and was replaced with a fear that was blossoming in the pit of my stomach.

There was something about the TARDIS that the Doctor wasn't telling my. It wasn't just a wooden box; so what could it be?

There was something pretty scary about the unknown.

I quickly stole a look at the Doctor. He must've noticed how anxious I looked, as the grin he sported so well drained away.

"Doctor, what is…? What is it?" I whispered, trying to hide the fact that I was shaking. I was properly, properly scared.

"Ava," the Doctor said reassuringly, "Behind those doors is probably the most amazing thing you'll ever see. Ever."

Seeing that I still looked unsure, he continued.

"Ava. Ava, look at me." the Doctor asked, and my eyes immediately bored into his. "Open the doors, and you won't regret it. I promise."

"It's not just wood, is it?" I questioned, my voice wavering.

"Ava," he pressed his middle finger under her chin, "Ava. Trust me."

-x-

It was strange how two little words can really change the way you look at someone. The Doctor, who only an hour ago, was a total stranger to me, was now someone I considered way more than a stranger.

All because of those two little words.

Trust me.

I was instantly surged with a new vouch of confidence- the anxiety not completely vanishing, but knowing the Doctor was behind me all the way made me feel so much more brave.

"Ok," I uttered, "I trust you."

The Doctor simply nodded, his face a picture of seriousness. Rose's face was similar but a little regretful; like she was remembering something.

I inhaled deeply, letting the fresh night air into her lungs. I squeezed my eyes tight shut, gripping the handles and pushing them with all my might; even though I had noticed it had said pull on the doors, but for some reason I thought this box wasn't going to tell you the answers straight-forwardly. It was way too complicated to just show you the way.

"You can open your eyes now," the Doctor breathed in my ear. "You've done it."

I waited a second before opening one of her eyes, and the sight that met me just made me almost faint with the adrenaline rush- but I didn't.

I ran forwards, my mouth in a perfect 'o', my eyes not quite believing the sight that met them. This, it was just, just impossible.

The inside was bigger than the outside. So… yeah.

"What I said before, I take it back." I said, walking around the room and smoothing my hands along the coral buttresses and grabbing the cables which festooned the middle panels.

The Doctor was grinning now I had got over her initial fears. "What did you say before?"

"About spaceships and all that crap," I grinned back at him. "How I didn't believe in them. I take it back. Because this is a spaceship, right?"

Rose frowned with concentration. "Time and relative dimension in space," she recited, before looking at the Doctor and he beamed back. "That's what it stands for. TARDIS."

"Maybe not such a stupid name then," I mumbled. I was so busy admiring everything to really take any notice of what Rose and the Doctor were saying.

Everywhere was just impossibly huge; even from the amazingly massive main room, corridors sprouted off everywhere which would probably reveal an infinite amount of rooms. There really was a whole world crammed into this tiny box.

In the centre of the mesh platform was a broad coral-encrusted panel covered in bizarre, out of the ordinary objects in the place of switches and buttons- like this obviously complex machinery had been patched up using the contents of any old junk yard. But the way this stuff which would've been rotting in the ground was being used was incredible; it just proved that the Doctor was really as quirky as he made out to be.

The column at the centre of the panel was pulsing with a faint green light, and the discs inside were moving gently up and down like it knew that someone new was here. Something about this 'spaceship' made me think that it really was alive.

"Wait," I paused, "How come it's…"

"Bigger on the inside?" Rose finished, her eyes brightening.

"Dimensionally transcendental," the Doctor corrected her, and Rose stuck her tongue out at him.

"No," I shook my head, "How come it's on Earth? Wouldn't the government take it or something? How did it come here?"

"Let's save that story for another day, eh, Ava?" the Doctor answered, abandoning the subject. "Let's just concentrate on now. So what do you say? Want to come with us?"

I knew her answer, but I still had a few questions that needed answering. "Where can we go?"

The Doctor sighed, shoving his hands in his pockets. "Where can we not go?"

"Did he mention that the TARDIS can travel in time too? As well as space?" Rose quipped.

"Rose!" the Doctor scolded, "I was going to drop that on her gently. Not just throw it at her!"

Rose glowered. "You threw it at me! But I suppose I'd got used to the idea of aliens. I was getting chased by shop dummies, after all."

"Exactly!" said the Doctor, while I just stared at him with amazement.

"Time? And space?" I squealed like a child, "Are you kidding me?"

Rose shrugged. "I've met Charles Dickens."

"Well that's decided then." I said, making my way to the door. "Don't go anywhere, travelling man."

-x-

The clock on the wall revealed that the time was way past midnight. I had been sat on Rose's sofa for the past couple of hours, not being able to sleep.

How could anyone possibly sleep after being told that you were going to travel? Oh, not just travel, but travel in a time machine? It was so unbelievable. It was like something out of a sci-fi movie- that, as well as finding out that aliens existed.

Maybe this Christmas wasn't as bad as I had originally thought. Like the Doctor had said earlier, who needs family? Especially when you have the whole of time and space at your fingertips.

Rose and Jackie had gone to bed a couple of hours ago; Jackie not leaving until she had made sure that I was completely comfortable. She even offered me her bed, but I firmly declined the offer. I was perfectly happy on the sofa, and my head was so full of stuff I wasn't planning on sleeping anyway.

Rose also offered her bed, but I also refused that as well. Rose had then nodded, shuffled off, and closed the door behind her.

The Doctor had a camp bed on the floor in the living room; but in the whole two hours I had been sat there he hadn't returned once. Rose had said he didn't sleep much, but surely that wasn't healthy.

After another ten minutes just staring at the clock, I decided to go and look for him. Throwing on my coat over a pair of Rose's pyjamas, I walked out of the flat and soon found him; standing on the little balcony thing outside that overlooked the Estate. He looked so majestic, with that stern yet serene look on his face. He'd thrown a tan trench coat on over his suit and it was billowing in the wind- he looked so magnificent. I couldn't believe I actually knew this man.

And that man definitley hid a lot of secrets. And I, in time, was going to find out those secrets.

"Hello Ava," he said, not even looking at me. He could sense my presence.

"Hello," I said, standing next to him. "Couldn't sleep?"

"Nah," the Doctor shrugged, "Just seemed a shame to waste the night."

"Yeah." I smiled, looking up at the sky. The stars were visible, but masked with the hazy glow of the streetlights below.

"Look at the stars, Ava," the Doctor told me, he too looking up, "Aren't they just amazing? Yeah, I know, it's London- but other places in the universe you can see those stars perfectly."

"It's funny to think that somewhere further away than I can imagine, an alien could be looking at those stars too," I chuckled.

"Every second, a new one burns into life; big balls of gas and fire and life. There are so many incredible things about the universe, Ava. Every little thing counts." the Doctor went on, his voice filled with passion.

"Something Rose said earlier," I started, now looking at the Doctor instead of the sky. "She had said that she was blind to all the small things, now she'd seen all the big things. Is that what you're going to do to me, Doctor? Because now, all the small things really make me, well, me. Jackie's awful cups of tea, that dog that always shits on my doorstep, that bloody annoying ice cream van that always seems to be around at five o'clock in the morning. Will I not appreciate those anymore?"

The Doctor pressed his hand on mine. I couldn't help but embrace the jitters which were going up my spine. "I can't tell you what to see, Ava. But me, I appreciate everything I see. To me, everything is important. I don't know how you can say that one experience is better than the other."

"You know," I chuckled, "You sound a bit like an intergalactic Jesus."

The Doctor laughed loudly at this, "Maybe I am. I'm certainly old enough. Great guy was Jesus. You'd probably like him." he quickly moved on so I couldn't ask any more questions about that. "Would you like to see one?"

"What? A Jesus? I thought there was only one of…"

"No! Not a Jesus. A star. Any star."

"What? Tonight?"

The Doctor grinned, "Yeah. You can have your first spin in the TARDIS while Rose is asleep, if you want. I promise I'll tell you a bit more about myself."

"Running off with a strange man in the middle of the night…" I half-smiled. It was shameful how much that appealed to me.

"Oh," the Doctor grinned, "I'll promise to return you."

"Okay. Count me in. Take me to the stars, Doctor."