Disclaimer: Nothing related to Doctor Who or the Harry Potter Series is mine. I swear. I wish I owned them, cuz then I might have a bit more money, but I don't.

Warnings: Book Two of Three (Main books anyway). Swearing. Sarcasm. I have only watched the new series, no knowledge of early Doctor Who. EWE, kind of...

Dedication: To the Writers and Producers of Doctor Who, thank you for giving me something else to obsess over, now that Harry Potter is long gone. And to the lovely people who encourage me to continue writing in their reviews. To the lovely people who encouraged me to post the next chunk. To my lovely reviewers, GryffinPuffGirl and Emaelin, thank you for everything you've said.

Book 2: Stories of A Shop Girl

Summary: A Death too soon. A woman who steps up to save the world.

Rating: Dark T

Genre: Adventure/Drama

A/N: So the chapter after this is where canon starts being deviated from. Just a little bit.

A/N 2: Please, someone tell me what they think of Maria. I'm not asking for my health. I'd like to know so that I know about my skills as a writer. Because I really can't tell, given as I know all of the characters secrets, and every little thing I say about a character feels like 'everyone is going to know the secret'.

A/N 3: I am currently in university, and my studies are a priority. Knowing that, please be forgiving when I don't post as often.

A/N 4: Got to say, I love this chapter. I love the Captain.

Part 1: Just a Replacement?

Chapter 8: The Strange Child

I was in my room, looking at my wardrobe, and thinking about the past few weeks.

We'd visited Satellite 5, a news station. I heard that the Face of Boe got pregnant (I had so many questions then next time I saw Harry after that point). I almost got turned into a zombie like reporter. Not fun.

I met and kind of saved Rose Tyler's father. And they knew the Grangers, which was strange seeing my parents again, even when they were very young. And a little me was there. I accidentally touched mini-me, which ended up almost killing the Doctor and everyone else inside. Strange day that was.

Which brought us here. I grabbed a random shirt from the closet, frowning when I saw it was the Union Jack. I grabbed a coat, and hightailed it up to the console room.

Lights were flashing, so I immediately asked, "What's the emergency?"

"It's mauve." I frown.

"Mauve?" I ask, sounding the word out in my mouth.

He glances up at me, his face contorted into something I'd never seen before. Fear. "The universally recognized colour for danger." I blink, mentally re-arranging my bestiary colour guide, reversing it.

"What happened to red?"

He frowned, darting to another side of the console, I followed. "That's just humans. By everyone else's standards, red's camp. Oh, the misunderstandings. All those red alerts, all that dancing." He focused back to the screen he was in front of, reading it aloud. "It's got a very basic flight computer. I've hacked in, slaved the TARDIS. Where it goes, we go."

I frowned. "And that's safe, is it?"

"Totally." He spoke to soon, because as soon as he did, something went BANG! and something else went BOOM! "Okay, reasonably. Should have said reasonably there. No, no, no, no! It's jumping time tracks, getting away from us."

I give him a look, but he doesn't see it. "What exactly is this thing?"

"No idea." Typical Doctor answer.

"Then why are we chasing it?"

"It's mauve and dangerous, and about thirty seconds from the centre of London." The TARDIS materializes and I step out after the Doctor. "Do you know how long you can knock around space without happening to bump into Earth?"

"Five days? Or is that just when we're out of milk?" I give him a grin.

"Of all the species in all the Universe, and it has to come out of a cow." He sighed, before looking around. "Must have come down somewhere quite close. Within a mile, anyway. And it can't have been more than a few weeks ago. Maybe a month."

"A month? We were right behind it." I exclaim.

He frowned. "It was jumping time tracks all over the place. We're bound to be a little bit out. Do you want to drive?"

"Sure." I said, grinning at him. "How much is a little?"

"A bit."

"Is that exactly a bit?"

"Ish."

I sigh. "What's the plan then? Are you going to do a scan for alien tech or something?"

He gives me a look that screams 'stupid ape', "Rose, it hit the middle of London with a very loud bang. I'm going to ask." He takes out his psychic paper, and shows it to me. I pretend to study it, and he reads it aloud to me. I still can't see much more than a blank slip of paper though. "Doctor John Smith, Ministry of Asteroids. It's psychic paper. It tells you-"

"Whatever you want it to tell me, I remember." I said, thinking back to Platform One, Harry, the Face of Boe and Cassandra.

"Sorry." He said, before walking towards the door marked 'Deliveries Only".

I sigh. "Not very Spock, is it, just asking."

"Door, music, people. What do you think?"

"I think you should do a scan for alien tech. Give me some Spock, for once. Would it kill you?" He leans over to sonic open the door, and then glances at my shirt. He frowns.

"Are you sure about that t-shirt?" I glance down at it.

I give it an evaluating look. "Too early to say. I'm taking it out for a spin."

Mummy? Mummy? A voice echos down the small alleyway. I glance around, looking for the source.

"Come on if you're coming. It won't take a minute." He ducks inside the room, and I finally spot the source of the noise. A small kid, no older than Teddy, last I saw him (age 5).

"Mummy?" He's wearing a gas mask, and old looking clothes.

I look back to the door, trying to get the Doctor's attention. "Doctor? Doctor? There's a kid up there!"

He doesn't pay attention. I run towards the other building, finding an escape ladder, and take it up to the roof. "Are you alright up there?"

"Mummy?"

I get on the roof, but the kid is still above me.

"Mummy?"

"Okay, hang on. Don't move!" I say, looking for some way of getting up there. Of course, I never actually have my magic when I need it. I turn my head, looking around the roof for something I could use as a make-shift ladder. I frown, turn my head back to the kid. There's a rope, hanging beside the building. Accidental magic? Was this kid a wizard?

I grab the rope, giving it a good tug, and finding it secure. I start climbing up the wall to the child.

"Mummy. Balloon!" The child points upwards, and I follow the hand to see a barrage balloon. It moves away from the building, taking me with it. I freeze, holding the rope even closer. This wasn't good.

"Doctor!" I try, hoping that he would be able to find me.

From this vantage, I've got a great view of London, with its search lights, explosions, and a squad of German World War Two planes, headed straight for me.

"Okay, maybe not this t-shirt." I comment, glancing down. No way I could drop from this height. I was stuck in the air, with a Union Flag across my chest, during the Blitz. What else could go wrong?

I start going through my history, attempting to remember what I learnt about the Blitz, and trying not to focus on the fact that I was most likely going to die.

My mind stumbled on two distinct pieces of knowledge that made me swear.

One, Tom Riddle was somewhere down there, hiding from the bombs. And there was a great urge to go kill the little nasty.

I frowned. The Doctor wouldn't like that.

My second thought was less pleasant. Grindlewald was somewhere in all of this mess. He had tons of followers, and there were people being killed right now by them. They always struck during the panic of the bombs.

I decide that even if I don't have my magic, I'd rather have my wand on me, than off me. I reach one hand down towards my bag. And then the other hand slips.

I scream. I'm falling. I'm really falling. I shut my eyes, waiting for the world to catch me.

It never does.

I open my eyes back up again. I'm hovering in mid-air with nothing to catch me. I scream again. My heart rises up in my chest, and I really, really wish the lie I had told Harry back on New Earth was real.

I was still deathly afraid of heights.

"Okay, okay. I've got you." A voice called out. A speaker, I guess, because the voice was distorted.

"Who's got me? Who's got me, and you know, how?" I say, eyes wide. I glance down, just to be sure it's not some form of thresal, and immediately snap my head back up. Bad idea. Really bad idea, I thought to myself, swallowing the wave of nausea that followed looking down.

"I'm just programming your descent pattern. Keep as still as you can and keep your hands and feet inside the light field."

I frown. "Descent pattern?" I didn't like that.

"Oh, and could you switch off your cell phone?" I give whatever is talking a look, which they seem to see. "No, seriously, it interferes with my instruments."

I grumble, reaching for my bag and phone. "You know, no one ever believes that." I grab it, and turn it off.

"Thank you. That's much better."

I grumble some more. "Oh, yeah, that's a real load off, that is. I'm hanging in the sky in the middle of a German air raid with the Union Flag across my chest, but hey, my mobile phone's off."

"Be with you in a moment." And who ever it is, leaves me hanging. Literally.

Who was this? Obviously someone either alien or from the future. Or both. The voice sounded familiar. I shake the feeling away, giving where I thought the voice was coming from a glare. "Ready for you? Hold tight!"

"To what?!" I yell, ready to strangle who ever this was.

The voice seemed to stop for a second before conceding my point. And then I'm freefalling again, only this time, it feels more like a mixture of apparation and portkeying somewhere.

I end up in a pair of arms, with an American voice talking to me. "I've got you. You're fine, you're just fine. The tractor beam, it can scramble your head just a little."

I glance up and gape. Captain Jack Harkness. "Hello."

"Hello." He gives me his semi-famous grin. And I swallow.

"Hello." I blink, frowning. "Sorry, that was hello twice there. Dull, but you know, thorough."

He gives me a wary look, and I realize I'm still in his arms. He puts me down, and I stand, a little uncertain. "Are you alright?"

I nod. "Fine." I give him a look. "Why, are you expecting me to faint or something?"

"You look a little dizzy." I frown, sitting, trying to make the world stop spinning a little bit.

I give him a look from the floor. "I've got a big fear of heights." I put my head to my knees, focusing on the fact that I was on solid(ish?) ground. It takes a few minutes, the whole time, I was focusing on either the fact that I was on some form of solid ground, and the fact that Jack was currently in the same room as me. Last I saw of him, he ran into the arch in Cardiff during 1869.

My stomach not rebelling any more, I look up. "Better now?" I swallow, looking at him. Same coat. And a hat.

"You got lights in here?" He smiles, and flicks on a set of lights. They blink on, and I glance around the room. It's small, cramped and very spaceship-ish. There are bundles of wires hanging from the ceiling, and I get up and sit down on a bunk. He's sitting down on the pilot seat.

"Hello."

"Hello." I said, giving him a smile.

"Hello."

I give him a look. "Let's not start that again."

"Okay."

And then I decide to play, 'Let's ask questions that have answers I already know.' "So, who're you supposed to be, then?"

"Captain Jack Harkness, One Three Three Squadron, Royal Air Force. American volunteer." He hands me a blank sheet of paper, which I guess is psychic paper.

I give him a smile. "Liar. This is psychic paper. It tells me whatever you want it to tell me."

"How do you know?" He looks shocked.

"Two things. One, I have a friend who uses this all the time."

"Ah."

"And two, it's never worked on me."

He gives me an appraising look. "Tricky thing, psychic paper."

"Yeah. Can't let your mind wander when you're handing it over." I give it back to him. My mind flashed to Harry for a second.

He glances at it. "But it works on you." I give him a look, and he reads non-existent words off the paper. "You sort of have a boyfriend. No name listed. But you consider yourself to be footloose and fancy free."

"What?"

He gives me a flirty grin. "Actually, the word you use is available."

I snort. There was no way I was touching Jack. "No way."

"And another one, very."

I roll my eyes. "Shall we try and get along without the psychic paper?"

He tosses it to the side. "That would be better, wouldn't it?"

I give the spaceship another look, and compliment it.

"Gets me around."

I smile. "Very Spock."

"Who?" I turn and look at him.

"Guessing you're not a local boy then."

He gives me a look. "A cell phone, a liquid crystal watch, fabrics that won't be around for at least another two decades, and a purse which is bigger on the inside. Guessing you're not a local girl."

I snort. "Guessing right." I glance down to my hands. He does too.

"Burnt your hands on the rope?" He gets up from his seat, and I slide in, ignoring him. I look out the window and gasp.

"We're parked in midair. Can't anyone down there see us?"

He glances out the window for a second. "No." He turns back to me. "Can I have a look at your hands for a moment?"

I give him a look. "Why?"

He gives me an impatient one right back. "Please? You can stop acting now. I know exactly who you are. I can spot a time agent a mile away."

I blink. "Time agent?"

"I've been expecting one of you guys to show up. Though no, I must say, by a barrage balloon. Do you often travel that way?"

I laugh. "Sometimes I get swept off my feet. By balloons." He takes my hands, ignoring my protests and wraps a piece of cloth around them. "What are you doing?"

"Try to keep still." He flicks a button, and around my hands, it started glowing gold. I frowned. "Nanogenes. Sub-atomic robots. The air in here is full of them. They just repaired three layers of your skin." The glow stops, and he unties me. I rub a finger over the new skin and frown.

"Well, tell them thanks." I comment. The air glows brightly again, and I scream. It surrounds my body, and Jack looks a little panicked. They focus on my back, and on my left arm.

They dissipate, and I frown. My arm looks the same. I wonder if the nanogenes can see through the potion. I swallow, thinking of what they might have done. And my back. Jack checks me, and I wince in pain.

I blink. I pinch myself, and tears well up in my eyes. It hurts.

It hurts.

They fixed my nervous system. I can feel pain again. I glance up at Jack, who's looking at me concerned. I throw my arms around him. First he saves my life, then he inadvertently healed damage that happened over one hundred years ago. He smiles, and then gives me a look.

"Shall we get down to business?"

I blink, pulling away. "Business?"

"Shall we have a drink on the balcony? Bring up the glasses." He clicks a button, and a hatch opens. He gestures to a set of champagne glasses, and I take them following him up. Only to stop.

"I know I'm standing on something." I mutter, making it a mantra. A click happens and I look down, almost fainting in relief. "Okay, you have an invisible spaceship."

"Yeah."

I glance to the right, and gasp, holding back laughter. "Tethered up to Big Ben for some reason."

"First rule of active camouflage. Park somewhere you'll remember." He opens up the champagne bottle and pours two glasses, taking one from me once he was finished. I sit, glancing around at the sight.

And then I think of the Doctor. "You know, it's getting a bit late. I should really be getting back." I put down the champagne. Even if the pregnancy was paused, alcohol could do horrible things to a foetus. I swallow. I'd almost forgotten.

Jack looks put out. "We're discussing business."

"This isn't business." I said. I take the glass, and hold it up. "This is champagne."

He lies down next to me. "I try never to discuss business with a clear head." He looks at me, taking a sip. "Are you travelling alone? Are you authorized to negotiate with me?" I look at him, trying to figure out what he was playing at. He was obviously early on, given as he didn't recognize me.

"What would we be negotiating?" I asked, hoping I might be able to lie myself out of whatever he was planning.

He gives me a look. "I have something for the Time Agency. Something they'd like to buy. Are you in power to make payment?" I swallowed. 'Con' screamed in the back of my head.

"Well, I, I should talk to my companion."

"Companion?"

I frown. "I should really be getting back to him."

"Him?"

I swallow again. "Do you have the time?" He points his remote at Big Ben, which lights up, displaying that it was 9:30. "Okay, that was flash. That was on the flash side."

"So when you say your companion, just how disappointed should I be?"

I give him a look. "Okay, we're standing in midair."

"Mmm-hmm."

"On a spaceship, during a German air raid." He nods again. "Do you really think now's a good time to be coming on to me?"

"Perhaps not." He glances down to his ship. "Do you like Glenn Miller?" He clicks another button on his remote again, and music floats up from the interior of the ship. He gets me up from my sitting position. And he holds me close, and dances. "It's 1941, the height of the London Blitz, the height of the German bombing campaign, and something else has fallen on London. A fully equipped Chula warship. The last one in existence, armed to the teeth. And I know where it is, because I parked it. If the Agency can name the right price, I can get it for you. But in two hours, a German bomb is going to fall on it and destroy it forever." He pulls away. "That's your deadline. That's the deal. Now, shall we discuss payment?"

"Do you know what I think?"

"What?"

"You used to be a Time Agent, now you're some kind of freelancer."

Jack looks affronted. "Well, that's a little harsh. I like to think of myself as a criminal."

"I bet you do."

"So, this companion of yours, does he handle the business?"

I freeze, thinking of what to say. "Well, I delegate a lot of that, yeah."

"Well, maybe we should go find him."

I give him a look. "And how're you going to do that?"

"Easy. I'll do a scan for alien tech."

I snort, thinking to myself, he's trying a little too hard.

He leads us to a hospital, which makes me shiver. Nothing good happens in hospitals when the Doctor's around.

"Hello?" Jack yelled. I called out too. We wander and then the Doctor runs into us. "Good evening." Jack holds out his hand."Hope we're not interrupting. Jack Harkness. I've been hearing all about you on the way over."

I give the Doctor a significant look. "He knows. I had to tell him about us being Time Agents."

"And it's a real pleasure to meet you, Mister Spock." Jack said, before something caught his attention in another room.

The Doctor gave me a look, eyebrow raised. "Mister Spock?"

"What was I supposed to say? You don't have another name outside of 'Doctor', and mentioning that has a tendency of getting us shot at." I give him a look. "Don't you ever get tired of Doctor? Doctor who?"

He gives me an upset look. "Nine centuries in, I'm coping. Where've you been? We're in the middle of a London Blitz. It's not a good time for a stroll."

"Who's strolling?" I give him a smile. "I went by barrage balloon. Only way to see an air raid." I start following Jack into the other room.

"What?!"

I turn back to him, "Listen, what's a Chula warship?"

"Chula?" I shrug and he walks past me. I sigh and follow.

"This just isn't possible. How did this happen?"

The Doctor glared at Jack. "What kind of Chula ship landed here?"

"What?"

I try answering. "He said it was a warship. He stole it, parked it somewhere out there, somewhere a bomb's going to fall on it unless we make him an offer."

"What kind of warship?"

Jack frowned, defensive. "Does it matter? It's got nothing to do with this."

"This started at the bomb site. It's got everything to do with it. What kind of warship?"

Jack glared. "An ambulance! Look!" He brought up a hologram of it. "That's what you chased through the Time Vortex. It's space junk. I wanted to kid you it was valuable. It's empty. I made sure of it. Nothing but a shell. I threw it at you. Saw your time travel vehicle, love the retro look, by the way, nice panels. Threw you the bait-"

"Bait!?" I hissed, angry.

"I wanted to sell it to you and then destroy it before you found out it was junk."

I glare. "You said it was a warship."

"They have ambulances in wars. It was a con. I was conning you. That's what I am, I'm a con man. I thought you were Time Agents. You're not, are you?" He gave us a look.

"Oh. Should have known. The way you guys are blending in with the local colour. I mean, Flag Girl was bad enough, but U-Boat Captain?" He looks at the Doctor who looks offended. "Anyway, whatever's happening here has got nothing to do with that ship."

I sigh, and turn from Jack to the Doctor. "What is happening here Doctor?"

"Human DNA is being rewritten by an idiot."

I frown, trying to understand that. "What do you mean?"

"I don't know. Some kind of virus converting human beings into these things. But why? What's the point?"

I frown. He changed his answer.

I didn't get much time to dwell on that, because just then, all the patients in the room sat up. Not good.

"Mummy. Mummy. Mummy? Mummy?" I swallow.

"What's happening?"

The Doctor frowned. "I don't know."

The patients stand up and start shuffling towards us.

"Shit! No, don't touch me!" A voice called, and a kid ran into the room. He dodged through the bodies shuffling towards us, and glanced our way, before running over. "Finally, found you guys."

"Who the hell are you?" The Doctor growled. The kid looked barely out of his teen years. He had a cross between red and brown hair, high cheekbones and bright TARDIS blue eyes. He was extremely skinny, and looked a fair bit like the other Doctor, the one who'd given my my pendent.

"Call me Rio," He said, before turning to the advancing zombie like creatures.

"Doctor." I said, concerned.

"Don't let them touch you." He said.

"What happens if they touch us?" Rio said, looking around. I step in front of him, guarding him.

The Doctor answered. "You're looking at it."

The patients began muttering, various different versions of the the sentence Mummy.

"Well, I'd say we've bypassed good, and just ran straight for horrible." Rio said.