Ch. 2

"You've been doing this for weeks!" an obviously dyed blond 40 year old woman yelled at her only daughter. "Soon you're going to end up killing 'er, and what would you do then?"

"Mum, she can't die, no offence." the 21 year old faced the girl at her side. "When do you think you'll be ready again? Or do you want to rest here?"

"No, I'll just go home to rest." The little girl yawned. "It could take anywhere from a day to a week, that perception filter was hard work. Anyway, I'm not sure if I should pop over here and tell you to be ready or-"

"Just zap me over, I'll make sure I don't do anything too dangerous."

"Well then, we've got to talk to him. I'm going to rest now, good-bye Zeta! Good-bye Jackie!" the five year old waved at the two women she now thought of as family and disappeared.

"Where does she go when she.. disappears like that?" Jackie asked Zeta. "And please, eat somethin'. You're starving yourself, you are."

"Fine Mum, I'll find something, but I'm pretty sure she goes to the Void. She-"

"The Void is, what, exactly?"

"It's basically the space between the universes. It's... nothing, nowhere. The Doctor could give you an explanation about it so big, you wouldn't know if he was actually talking about it, or a toaster." She glanced away, eyes moist. "I don't know how she stands being there, poor thing. Anyway, she told me that's where she was born, her first waking moments were in the Void. It's fascinating, really Mum, you just don't understand the size-magnitude-of it." Zeta giggled and hastily wiped her eyes.

"Well, R-"

"Call me Zeta. The first person to call me by my name has to be the Doctor. My Doctor." Don't cry, she scolded herself.

"Come here, sweetheart." Jackie murmured, taking her daughter into her arms. She's still just a child, Jackie thought as she pulled Zeta close. She should be at home with her mum, not saving the world. Jackie remembered the time before Harmony; for three months Zeta had moped around doin' nothing. Whenever someone said something or did something specific, Zeta would look like she was goin' to burst into tears; though she never did. The family learned early on never to say "Fantastic!" or "Brilliant!" around her. Jackie tried to help her, tried to keep her mind occupied, but there was nothing she could do. Then, one random day, Zeta vanished suddenly. She came back hours later with a small child by her side. Zeta was crying-actually crying, not the glistening eyes like everyone was used to-but she was also smiling. Jackie was so thankful to see her daughter smiling, that she didn't care if the little girl beside her kept disappearing when she tried to speak. Zeta had looked at her in concern-which was odd, because she didn't do that anymore-and told the girl to rest while she finshed the story. So Zeta told her mum about disappearing and showing up in the TARDIS, then hearing a knock on the door. Zeta also said that she was going to find the Doctor if it was the last thing she did. "Sweetheart," Jackie coaxed, "When you find a way to stay, what will I do?" she started to cry herself.

"Mum, you're going to be a good mother to Tony, a good wife to Pete, and you're going to have a fantastic life. Can you do that for me, have an absolutely fantastic life?" Zeta got a far away look in her eyes and Jackie nodded.

"I'll do that for you, sweetheart, but remember you can always come home." she watched as her daughter nodded slowly, not trusting herself to speak.

"Do you have any tomato soup, Mum?" Zeta asked suddenly. Then, they both started laughing like there wasn't a care in the world.

+++++DW+++++

The TARDIS lurched suddenly, throwing the Doctor fall off of the captain's chair. "What the-" he jumped up and stared at the screen in front of him. The Doctor had had the TARDIS inside the time vortex for the past day, contemplating where to go next. Usually, someone would be there to talk to him, tell him something that made a paticular place appear in his mind. Unfortunetly , it had been silent for days, Martha had left more than a week ago; TARDIS time. In fact, it had been three days, 17 hours, 38 minutes, and 15 seconds since he spoke to anyone besides the TARDIS, and that had been to a little girl.

It seemed as though the TARDIS landed too smoothly to be important, or at least, not too important. The Doctor stepped outside to find himself right in front of the Powell Estate. "This can't be right." he murmured.

"Can't it, Doctor?" a strangely familiar voice asked from behind him. Turning around, another little girl was standing there, her expression distant. He couldn't tell if she was blind or not by that look. "Let me guess, I look about," she faked a questioning pause. "eight. Seven or eight, nine if you push it." she smirked as comprehension dawned on his face.

"What year is it?" he exclaimed. He could've sworn he fixed the calender via TARDIS time last week, or was that the dish washer? You can never tell with those sorts of things.

"2012. Three days after you talked to me, or as Earth inhabitants call it, January 3rd."

"Actually, there are a few planets in the galaxy that use the Earth calendar-wait, what?" Three days isn't enough for almost three years... or is it?

"It's something about where I live. I would explain it, but I think Zeta would do a better job."

"Who's Zeta? Is she your alien friend? That is, if you are an alien. Do you mind?" he asked, taking a stethoscope out of his pocket. Why did I pick out a stethoscope, she can't have two hearts.

"I don't mind, but you can't!" she exclaimed much forceful than she meant to. "At least, you can't until you know my story. Who better to tell you than the girl herself, Zeta." closing her eyes in concentration, they heard a faint sizzling noise.

"Really?" a somewhat familiar voice cried from behind the TARDIS. "I thought I could pop out of nowhere, not behind everything!" where had the Doctor heard this voice?

"Sorry, Zeta, it takes a lot of energy to get you here, I'd probably faint here and now if I got you on the right spot. Just be patient, I'm gettin' there." the little girl huffed.

"It's fine, Harm, I just thought I wouldn't be behind his police box when he figured out who I am." the Doctor could tell the person was staring at the TARDIS adoringly. She was definitely a girl.

"Hold on, let me figure this out." the Doctor commanded. "You little girl, grow unnaturally faster than you would if you were from Earth. In fact, there's no planet in this galaxy that would ever work like that. Well, I say none, there is Alacazma, but those people don't look even closely human. They're blue, and green, and yellow! Not pink and yellow like My Rose, but-" he swallowed thickly. "Right! The girl behind my ship, she sounds so familiar I can literally taste it... it tastes like strawberries. She can't be Martha; doesn't sound like it, can't be Donna; there would be more sass in her tone and she wouldn't be looking for me. Why can't I think? I have a headache, like some Time Lord trying to force in their thoughts, though that's not possible." Instantly the headache dulled, but the Doctor still didn't know who it was. "She's... who is she?" he screamed at the girl, running his hands raggedly through his hair.

"Go ahead and talk about me like I'm not even 'ere." the voice said.

The Doctor snapped his head up from where it had been resting in his hands. The teasing voice could only belong to one person in any dimension or galaxy that he had ever known better than he knew himself. The Doctor could even see her teasing smile.

AHAHAHAHA, cliffhanger! I think I should be able to update every Friday and if I can't, it'll be Sunday night-Eastern time. Right, so thanks for reading and the stuff that you do!