As he agonized over his decision, the Doctor thought back and reminisced about the absolutely bizarre way in which he had first encountered Michelle Reynolds.

*****

The Recent Past

It was one of those days in the TARDIS, as the Doctor experimented with Heisenberg's uncertainty principles, when the ship made a strange noise. The sound it made was almost like the beginning of a song. There was a pause, and then the same five notes repeated themselves.

The Doctor peered at the engine over top of his glasses. "Since when have you had an affinity for the music of Prince?" he asked the TARDIS. There was no reply. Nearby, a device gurgled air bubbles through the water inside. Shaking his head at the TARDIS having yet another attention-deficit-disorder moment, the Doctor went back to his work. It was not unusual for the TARDIS to have a mind of its own.

A few minutes passed in silence, and the Doctor had almost made a breakthrough, when there was a flash of pink light and a "whoosh" noise. Surprised as hell, the Doctor snapped, "How is it that I keep getting bothered by these interruptions? Honestly! Every bloody temporal hiccup and it's like the universe sneezes in my face...uh, hello?"

There was a shadow on the floor. The Doctor looked past the engine and his jaw dropped. "Can I help you?" Just in his field of vision was a woman in her mid 20's, holding a suitcase. She was no picture to look at, probably 250 pounds or such, and was dressed absolutely outlandishly. Her strawberry blonde hair was stuck up in feathered, spiky curls, and she wore a red leather double breasted woman's jacket with a belted mini-skirt the same shade. Her boots were also the same color. Gold hoop earrings adorned her ears, and she appeared to have on powder blue eyeshadow. There was a strange red stone suspended around her neck in a gold chain, one that seemed to pulsate with a life of its own.

The woman looked at him and crowed exultantly, "Yes!!! I made it!!!"

"What?"

Her accent was American, and sounded Midwestern, like that of Captain Jack Harkness. The nasality was much more noticeable in this woman. "I made it to the 1980's, obviously!" She dropped her suitcase and clapped her hands a couple of times. "Oh, you fit right in. Hair like that from A Flock of Seagulls...clothes from Phil Collins...you are just too cute!"

The Doctor was still royally confused. "What?"

The woman shook her head and rolled her eyes. "Not much of a talker, are you? Oh well, it doesn't matter. It's time to dance. Let's party like it's 1999, baby!!" With a wider stride, she went to take a step, forgetting that the leather mini-skirt didn't allow for much give when walking...and toppled right over.

The Doctor rushed to her side. "Are you all right? There's kind of a step there, it drops off just slightly..."

The woman sighed in annoyance. "I noticed, duh! Now shut up and let's get to dancing. I just fell, that's all."

The Doctor smiled wryly. "Not going to wonder why there aren't any others here?"

The woman looked at him as if he was insane. "I don't know, the sci-fi decor scared everyone off?"

"That's because this isn't a dance club."

The woman looked around. "So this isn't Club Marionette, circa 1984?"

"I'm afraid not."

Now the woman looked up at him, wondering if she had been transported into a serial killer's hideout or something similar. "Then...where am I?"

The Doctor hesitated, then said, "You're in a TARDIS."

******

SLAP! What he had definitely not expected was the crack across the face she gave him. "I am not retarded! Wow, you're a really classy individual, using derogatory terms toward women like that!"

He rubbed his jaw. "Yowza. If you were listening, you would hear I said 'TARDIS'. It stands for Time And Relative Dimension(s) In Space."

The woman stopped. "I'm in a space ship?" She glowered at the stone pendant she was wearing and held it in her hand. "Whole lot of good you did, Stonehenge find! You were supposed to take me back to the 1980's! To escape from lousy 2008, remember?"

She stood up and started walking away from the Doctor, albeit wobbling slight in the hideous boots. "I can't believe it...I bought the clothes, had the records...I was all ready to start my life over. And now, I end up in this piece of crap."

The Doctor was insulted. "This is my home, thank you very much. And...well, at least the way you know it, it's 2008."

The woman scoffed. "Yeah, well, it looks like a lousy disco to me. I don't see anything 'space-y' about this place. I'm off." She grabbed her suitcase, headed for the door, and opened it...only to find herself staring out into a gaseous nebula dotted with stars.

*****

The scream she gave would have pierced the ears of any poor innocent man, but the Doctor was used to it, after his time with Donna Noble. She slammed the door shut and stared at him, wide eyed. "That's...that's space out there!"

The Doctor nodded cautiously. "Yes, this is the Milky Way galaxy. I did say you were in a TARDIS, after all."

The woman was starting to visibly sweat. "But I just thought you were joking...some random gay guy living alone with too much time on his hands, so he decorates his pad with cheesy sci-fi related things."

The Doctor burst out laughing. "No, no...I'm not gay, though I do live alone."

The woman gave him a suspicious look. "So...do you have a name?"

He thrust his hands into his pockets. "They call me the Doctor."

She waited for him to say more. When he didn't, she wryly stated, "So what's the rest of it? Is it Doctor Love? 'Doctor, Doctor' by the Thompson Twins?"

"No. Just the Doctor. And what do they call you, Earth girl?"

She threw off her jacket, revealing a sweater underneath. "I tend to go by Michelle Reynolds. At least, that's the name my parents gave me...Doctor."

Michelle walked slowly up to the Doctor, and gave him the once over with her eyes. "Did you just call me 'Earth girl'? If you did, that gives me an excuse to call you 'Earth boy.'"

The Doctor gave a mysterious smile. "But that wouldn't be accurate. I'm not human."

Michelle laughed, skeptically. "Sure you are. Look at you. You're as human as they come."

"Not in the slightest. Though...I do have a half human version of myself gallivanting about in another dimension, but that doesn't really count."

Michelle folded her arms. "I don't believe you. Prove it."

The Doctor reached into his jacket pocket. "Simple enough." Michelle tensed until he withdrew a stethoscope, and handed it in her direction. She looked at him uncertainly.

"Take it. I promise I won't hurt you."

With nervous hands, she placed the stethoscope in her ears and watched the Doctor unbutton the top few buttons of his shirt. "What am I listening for?"

"You'll know it when you hear it."

****

She placed the stethoscope against the right side of his chest. There it was, a clear, solid heartbeat. Michelle frowned. "This is kind of creepy. Can we be done with this now?"

"Not quite." He looked pointedly at the left side of his chest. As if in slow motion, she moved the stethoscope to the left side...and got a second heartbeat.

Michelle jumped back several feet. "No!"

"Oh, yes."

"No!"

"Oh, yes."

"Seriously, I mean no!"

The Doctor rolled his eyes. "You have a time-traveling stone and the existence of an alien surprises you?"

Michelle clapped her hands excitedly. "No, not at all! It's just that you have Two Hearts, like the Phil Collins song, and you dress like Phil Collins, so now I know you have a connection to Phil Collins!!"

The Doctor sighed. It was going to be a long time explaining the truth to this one.