On the ride to the Karrows', the Doctor and Castle kept up an amiable conversation, but River wasn't paying attention to them. She was focused on their driver. Detective Kate Beckett.

The detective intrigued her. She seemed at first glance to be a strictly by-the-book toeing-the-line cop. A mindless foot solider of a bigger corporation. But no, in only two days she'd proved to be so much more. Her mistake had been in thinking the detective was driven by rules and a paycheck. But in truth, she was like the Doctor, and in more ways than one. She was driven by guilt, yes, and grief, but it was more than that.

Beckett did what she did for the victims and their families. She was utterly, unshakeable determined to bring closure to others when she herself could find none. And nothing, not aliens or flaming swords or time travel, would get in the way of that.

River's respect for the woman was increasing rapidly, especially after her performance in the morgue. She really wasn't interested in self-gain or even just unburdening herself with the monumental knowledge of alien life and possible invasion. All she cared about was keeping innocents safe. That took serious guts. She was a clear leader as well. The way the two detectives had looked at her, it was clear they respected her.

And yet she wasn't alone. River cast a quick glance at the writer wrapped up in eager conversation with her husband. Richard Castle, the writer who met a pretty detective and decided to play cop to impress her. That was what she'd gathered from what the Doctor had first told her about him. Her own first impressions were that he seemed like Beckett's companion, the one who tagged along and helped.

But then she'd seen them together in the TARDIS. Beckett had been scared, scared of going insane if what she was seeing was wrong, and scared of what it meant if what she was seeing was right. Through that fear, she person she had trusted to ground her was Castle. She had trusted his judgement completely. That went beyond a simple friendship. There was something deep between those two. And earlier, in the morgue, with the two of them sitting together, River had seen the look that passed between them. Caslte wasn't just a tagalong; they were partners. The by-the-book detective and the goofball writer. Two people so different, but from what River had seen between the two of them, they fit each other almost perfectly. Two halves of a whole.

Their dynamic was intriguing, and not so different from her own relationship with the Doctor. She would have to watch them more closely. There was more to be learned about those two.

SCENEBREAK

There was no answer at the door of the Karrows. The lights were out inside, and it had all the presence of being vacant. But Beckett knew better.

"Tanya?" She gave the door another few knocks, glancing casually at the open window. "Tanya, it's Detective Beckett, open up." Castle, River, and the Doctor stood silently behind her.

Still no answer. Beckett checked to make sure no one else was nearby, then called out, "Tanya, I know you're in there. We checked about your aunt, and we found out someone hacked our system and changed things around. There is no aunt. Someone made a fake bank account and file for her." No response.

Beckett's voice dropped to a lower, softer tone. "Tanya, I'm not here to take you or your brothers away. I want to help. I know about your... situation." There was a muted sound from inside, but them silence fell again. "I can't come in here without a warrant unless you let me in. But if I bring a warrant into this then the foster service is going to realize you're living here alone, and I won't be able to do anything about it. I'm trying to help you, Tanya. Let me in."

The silence stretched on for several moments. Finally, the sound of a lock being opened was heard. Beckett let out the breath she'd been holding and shared a quick, relieved glance with Castle. The door pulled back a little, and Tanya's face looked out, much more scared than before. "What do you want?" she asked hoarsely.

"To find your dad's killer," Beckett said simply.

Tanya looked at them warily with those strange gray eyes of hers, but finally she opened the door fully and let them in. When all four adults were inside she closed the door quickly behind them, locking it again, before turning back to her visitors. She leaned against the door, arms crossed defiantly in front of her chest, but with none of the fire she'd had in their last visit. "You know about our 'situation?'" she asked with a dull attempt at a sharp tone.

Beckett relaxed her shoulders, trying to appear as non-offensive as she could. Castle backed off a few paces, gesturing for River and the Doctor to do the same. The two time travelers were regarding the girl with mixed sympathy and interest.

The detective explained gently, "We know that you're aliens." Tanya's eyes widened slightly, but then she relaxed into a defeated slump, her eyes going dull. "We're not here to cart you away to any secret labs, Tanya. I'm not a scientist, I'm a cop. I'm here to solve a murder."

Tanya's eyes widened in surprise, and she let out an incredulous laugh. "Wait, back up. You find a family of aliens, one who's been killed, and you're more worried about a murder investigation?" Then her eyes dulled again. She shook her head sadly. "Oh, just give it up, detective. You'll never catch them."

Beckett and Castle shared a look. "'Them.' So you know who it is?" Castle asked.

Tanya looked at him searchingly for a moment. She had just opened her mouth to answer when her little twin brothers came running into the room, the older John following more slowly. The two redheaded twins slowed when they saw the strangers, then hurried to hide behind their sister's legs, peeking out fearfully. "Tanya, you said we weren't s'pposed to let people in," little Erik whispered.

Ron nodded. "You said they'd take us away from you." His voice went quiet and fearful at the thought.

John hurried to stand by his sister's side, squaring his shoulders in an attempt to look brave. "Who are you?" he asked boldly. He was trembling a little, but he stood firm by his older sister.

Beckett crouched down to be at the twins' eye level. "I'm not taking anyone away," she said gently. "I'm here to help. My name is Kate, and this is Rick, River, and the Doctor."

The Doctor took a step forward. "Don't worry, I'm not human either. But I really think introductions should go both ways." He pulled out his sonic screwdriver for Tanya to see. "Do you mind?"

Tanya hesitated for a moment, then sighed. "Fine. Have at it."

The Doctor waved the screwdriver at the children like a wand. The change was instantaneous. One moment with was a girl and some redheaded boys staring at them, the next there were three miniature Karrows. John looked almost like a shorter version of his father, but the twins had slightly paler skin and darker spots on their face, wrists, and ankles.

Except for Tanya. When the screwdriver waved over her, nothing had changed. There was still a thin, light brunette girl with strange gray eyes standing protectively in front her her alien brothers. The Doctor frowned in confusion, then gave her a quick scan with the screwdriver. His eyebrows went up in surprise. "Huh. No shimmer."

Tanya gave a little mock bow. "Tanya Pierce, full-blooded human, at your service." She paused thoughtfully. "Well, I say full-blooded. I think I mighta had a few aliens thrown in my family line somewhere. I never met my great-grandfather, but I think I got his eyes."

The strange gray, almost silvery eyes glared out at them with slightly more fire. Beckett could see she was gaining confidence since they hadn't called in any scientists or government. Gently she asked, "Can you tell us where you and your family are from?"

"And why anyone would want to hurt you?" Castle added.

Tanya tensed, but finally nodded. "Alright. Let's sit down though, this could take a while."

SCENEBREAK

"I was born on a distant colony in the 51st century," Tanya explained quietly. They were seated on the two couches in the living room. Tanya sat in the corner across from Castle and Beckett, while River and the Doctor watched from the other couch. There was a haunted look in the girl's silver eyes as she continued, "My parents died when I was only a kid. I found out more about them and my family by hacking into their records than I ever did when they were alive. All I knew for the first few years was that they were poor and they'd left me poorer, with debts to pay to some not nice people." Her eyes hardened for a moment.

River spoke up. "You hacked into their records?" Far from being accusing, she sounded impressed.

Tanya smirked. "Yep. I've always been good with computers." She looked down at her hands for a moment, her smile fading. "My parents weren't exactly respectable, and they'd owed some serious people. I had to learn to pay off those people and live on my own. So I did. I lived on the streets, I figured out how scrounge out the right kinds of jobs, and I learned quick. I learned the hard way what happened if I didn't pay up."

She took a deep, shaky breath and lifted her head again. "I finally managed to get out of debt, but once you get into that kind of life you can never really leave. I kept taking jobs - or just plain stealing what I needed if times got bad - and I kept myself alive. I had it better than some. I know my way around a computer. I taught myself how to hack into files, which got me money sometimes, but only if I was careful."

The girl sighed. "Well, I wasn't careful enough. I'd been caught for some minor convictions here and there, and I'd never been fully charged, but those minor convictions were starting to pile up, so by the time they caught me extracting money from a rather wealthy contractor's account, they had enough on me to put me away for a long time. So I ran."

"How?" the Doctor asked curiously.

In response, Tanya slid back her sleeve to reveal a strange sort of wristband. Beckett didn't know what it was, but the Doctor and River seemed to recognize it. Tanya noticed the detective's confusion and explained, "It's a vortex manipulator. It can let you travel through time in space."

The Doctor started to protest scornfully, "That's not time travel," but River shushed him impatiently.

Tanya slid her sleeve back down and continued, "I'd nicked it off a time agent a while back, but it was really beaten-up when I got it. I'd been working on it for a while, but this is probably the most complicated bit of tech I'd ever found. It took ages to even get it partially working again. It wasn't finished by the time the cops came after me, but it was my only shot, so I used it to escape. It worked, thank God, but it burned it right out. I fixed it a bit, but it's not safe to use for time or space travel."

Her expression softened into the first smile Beckett had seen her give. "I was transported to 21st century, on a little planet called Akali. It's not too far from here, just three solar systems over. It's only about half Earth's size, but it's so beautiful there." Her smile grew sad and wistful for a moment. She took a deep breath and continued, "There are so many species who live there, but the only intelligent ones were a species called the Arondrians. They lived in small communities, mostly only interacting with family, but they were a peaceful race. They lived in caves that had been carved in the most beautiful arches and shapes, and they lived on the fruits and plants that grew in the forests. Oh, the forests were wonderful. Trees that stretched up as far as the eye could see, great meadows, huge plants, and little brooks. It was so different from the world I'd come from. And that's where I met Tikrah and his family."

Beckett's brow furrowed for a moment. "Who's Tikrah?"

"Tikrah. Tim Karrow. I had to come up with a fake name for him, but I didn't want it to be too different from his real name." She gestured to her brothers, who were sitting in the kitchen, John talking to his younger brothers in an attempt to distract them from the strangers. "John's name is Jonora, and Erik and Ron are Irie and Ren."

"I'd come to Akali expecting to have to keep running, keep stealing, keep living the same life, but I was so wrong. There aren't any streets on Akali, just forests and caves. I was wandering, lost and starving, when Tikrah found me. They'd never seen a human before, but he didn't even question me. He took me straight to his family cave and introduced me to his children and his wife, Riiara. They were so welcoming. They gave me food and they said I could stay with them as long as I needed." Her voice began to waver slightly. "They… they didn't even question me, not even for a second. They just trusted me and took me in. And now they're gone." Her lip trembled, and tears threatened to spill over in her eyes.

Beckett knew she needed to distract Tanya so she could get her emotions in check again. "Did they know how to fix your vortex manipulator?" she asked quietly. A random question to be sure, but it would distract the girl.

Tanya looked surprised at the question, but with a quick sniffle she got a hold of herself. "No, they're weren't a technology-based culture. They were vegetarians – what did they need hunting tools for? They harvested the plants they found in the forest. No, they had no need of technology. They were more interested in stories and self-discovery. The Arondrian race was much more open about their feelings than humans. That's not to say they were always honest. No, it's more like they valued the discovery and the harvesting of someone's true self more than any species I've met. They would have long, in-depth conversations just about how they felt and what they thought it really meant about themselves. It wasn't religious or anything, they didn't believe in some great spirit that determined everything, they just thought that knowing your own self was the most important thing you could have."

She gave a slight chuckle. "And oh, the stories they could tell! They may not be able to work technology, but they weren't stupid, far from it. They came up with so many fantastic tales. Creatures from other worlds, legends passed down from their culture, made-up tales of their own lives. And the things they could do with plants. They were fantastic healers, and they knew enough of science that they were starting to create their own plants. It was incredible. And they let me be a part of it without any questions. They adopted me."

The girl's eyes hardened, and that hatred from the day before blazed in her eyes. "I had been there a year when the Fatorins came. An advanced species of alien who'd lost their home world in some war or other. They came in their ships and they met with the Arondrians. They said they weren't trying to invade, they just wanted to share the space. A planet to host two species. The Arondrians accepted. Of course they did, they never could turn away anyone in need. And for a while things went well."

"But then a new Fatorin took leadership. Raktor." She spat his name out like a curse. "He believed that the Fatorins should have total control of Akali, and that they had the right to drive the Arondrians out. He soon had an army to back his words. It… wasn't a long war. The Arondrians had never had to fight before, and they didn't have any form of weapons. It was over in a few weeks. The entire Arondrian race, gone."

Tanya gulped, eyes watering. "Riiara was killed early on. After that, I knew Akali wasn't safe anymore. So I took my family and we escaped. The Fatorins had these small combat ships they used to attack. I was able to commandeer one, which I used to get my family out. We… we had to walk through the battle fields to get there. Irie and Rie were asleep, they didn't see anything. I tried to keep Jonora from seeing too much, but I think he still remember. It was… horrible. So many dead, just lying there, gone." She blinked back more tears.

Beckett reached out to grasp Tanya's trembling hands. "I'm sorry, Tanya. I truly am." She and Castle shared a sad, horrified glance. The detective knew how much it felt like a knife to the gut whenever she looked at that picture of her mom in that alleyway. But to see an entire species, the one that adopted you, bleeding their lives out in front of you? She couldn't imagine how horrible that had to be. A quick glance at River showed her to look horrified and sympathetic, but the Doctor didn't seem surprised at all, just dully, tiredly sad. There was sympathy there too, and a deep, deep pain. He lost his species too, Beckett remembered sadly.

Tanya took a shaky breath and gave Beckett a weak smile. "Thanks." She didn't draw her hands back as she continued, "I was able to bring them here to Earth. We crashed way out in the woods, no one saw us come down, at least I don't think so. We wandered for a bit, but finally we were able to find a town where they had computers I could hack into. I set up an identity for us as the Karrow family and got us a one-way ticket to the most crowded place I could find – the great city of New York." Her voice became mocking on that last bit. "It was hard for all of them, especially Tikrah. It was so ugly here, so noisy, so crowded. Bit of a culture shock. And he'd lost his wife. I really thought it was going to kill him for a while, but he pulled through for me and for the boys. I got him a quiet little shop where he could sell and read stories all day. I hired Mindy to help with the financial stuff, Tikrah was never really good at that. I constructed an entire backstory and got our files to stretch back for years and years. Honestly, it wasn't that difficult, 21st century technology is a breeze after everything I've seen in the 51st century. But I was always worried that I'd left something out, that it wasn't detailed enough, that we'd be found out."

Beckett remembered something from earlier. "Esposito said Kar- Tikrah didn't have any medical records."

The girl let out a snort. "Knew I'd forgotten something," she sighed. "We were fine for two years. The boys had some trouble at school, but I was able to help out. We grew as plants at home and we read the stories of this world. We were happy."

She trailed off, fear coming back into her eyes. Beckett waited a few moments, then prompted her gently, "What happened?"

"I saw one." Tanya whispered. "A Fatorin, just for a few seconds in the shadows of an alley, but I saw it. It was shuffling around, growling like an animal. I ran back home as fast as I could to make sure everyone was alright, and I told Tikrah what I saw. He thought I'd imagined it, he thought that we were safe, that I had made us safe… if I could have convinced him to hide…" She paused, unable to go on.

Castle leaned forward, eyes sympathetic. "So you think this Fatorin came after you and your family?"

Tanya nodded more firmly now. "Yes." She looked at all four of them in turn, silver eyes going hard and demanding. You said you're here to help, they seemed to say, so you better pay up. "Find the Fatorin, and you've found Tikrah's killer."

I cannot even say how long I've been looking forward to this chapter. I'm really proud of my original characters / aliens / backstory in this one. Especially Tanya. I really hope you guys like the concept I came up with, with the Arondrians and the Fatorins and Akali. All of those names, by the way, come from an old wolf roleplay I used to be part of. I felt the names were awesome enough to use. There's more to come, don't worry. There's still a culprit to catch, and more mystery to uncover.