Sorry this chapter took so long! For some reason it was just a big brain-block. Also, this is story is part one of a trilogy, but due to timey-wimey problems, I'm writing all three books at the same time. So sometimes I may go weeks without posting, then post three chapters at a time :p

When the ship finally stopped moving, I didn't know where I was or what to do. I didn't even know when I was. The dial wasn't offering any more clues and I didn't want to risk pushing buttons without knowing what they would do. I decided my best bet was to look outside so I walked shakily to the door and stepped out.

I immediately shrunk back against the TARDIS in terror at the sight in front of me. There were nearly a hundred horrific creatures – red, bulky, and covered in suckers. The attention of all of them was fixed on one man: the man in the box: the Timelord.

"Leave!" he commanded. "And don't return to this planet again."

One by one the creatures disappeared in a flash of blue light. When the last one was gone, the man turned around. His eyes instantly lit up at the sight of the time machine.

"My TARDIS!" he exclaimed. "It's here!" then his eyes fell to me.

I slowly stood and held out a trembling hand with the TARDIS key.

He looked at me, then at the key, then back to me. "How did you find it?"

I cleared my throat softly. "It was in my house…sir."

"Oh! Brilliant." He took the key out of my hand and I pulled back at his touch. "Thanks!" he said, clearly not noticing my reaction and flashing that smile I had thought so gorgeous when I watched his message. Now all I could think of was my vision.

He practically bounced into the box and I hesitantly followed.

"Hello you beautiful thing, you! Oh I've missed you!" He ran around the room touching everything and babbling to the TARDIS. She in turn hummed and glowed twice as brightly.

"Why didn't you get out?" he asked, suddenly standing right in front of me.

"I – I'm sorry. The TARDIS, um," I withered under his gaze. "she locked her doors before I could get out. I'm sorry."

"What do you keep apologizing for?"

"N-nothing," I stammered. "I just wanted to tell you that I did try. To get out."

"No, it's like…" he moved in closer, squinting at me, and I stepped back.

"You're terrified of me!" his voice and his face spoke shock. "But I'm not scary. See!" he wiggled his fingers, "no weapons," he pulled back his lips, "no fangs."

I smiled a little despite my fear. "It's just…what I saw."

"What'd you see?" When I still hesitated, he gave an encouraging smile. "Come on, you can tell me. I promise I won't be mad!"

I gathered my courage, "Um, when the TARDIS started taking off – after I tried to open the doors – I had a," I shook my head, "sort of vision. I don't know."

"It's ok! What was in the vision?"

"Well, you."

"Well that's fancy. I feel fancy now, being in a vision. I'm flattered. What was I doing?"

"You were angry," I whispered. He froze. "You were angry and they were all so afraid. And sometimes –" my voice fell even lower, "you killed them."

He looked horrified. "I'm not a – look, I've –" he fumbled for words.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean –" I didn't know how he would react now.

"Look," he said firmly, "I protect people – that's all I do – I protect them."

I found myself wanting to believe him. "But you've killed so much."

He bowed his head. "I have."

I thought he looked broken-hearted and I felt pity for him. He was silent for a moment and I worked up the courage to ask him,

"Why are they afraid when they hear 'Timelord'?"

His head shot up. "Where'd you hear that?" his voice was strained.

I hadn't expected his strong reaction. "In the vision…" I trailed off.

"You shouldn't have seen any of that."

I didn't know what to say.

After a moment the Doctor spoke again. "Let me show you something." He pushed some buttons and pulled a lever and the TARDIS traveled, a little more smoothly than before. When it stopped moving, he walked to the door, put his hand on the handle, and said quietly, "Come look."

I came and he opened the doors. I gasped in awe. All around were billions of stars. We were in space. He waited a moment, letting me take it all in, then said, "You look at this and see stars – beautiful, gigantic balls of burning gas. But when I look, I see so much more."

The vastness and beauty of it all was entrancing, but I tore my eyes away to look at him. "What do you mean?"

"I come from a race called the Timelords. Once we were one of the most powerful races in the universe."

I could feel my eyes going wide.

"My people could feel the movement of Time yet weren't bound by it. When I look at the world, I see what it is, but also what it was and what it will be. That's what I am. And that's why they're afraid. I'm not a tyrant or a monster. But when people are getting hurt and can't just stand by and do nothing."

I nodded slowly. It made sense, I just didn't know what to do with it.

"I'm the Doctor. What's your name?"

I started. "Um, Adalyn. My name is Adalyn."

"You don't need to be afraid of me, Adalyn, ok?" He looked concerned. "And I really don't know why you saw that."

I looked out again, more to avoid eye contact than anything else. I just wanted time to make sense of it all.

He sighed. "I'll take you home." He reached in front of me and closed the doors.

At that moment an alarm went off. The Doctor frowned. "Hold on –" he pulled a large screen over and his frown grew deeper looking at it. "They're back." He sprang into action, pulling knobs, pushing buttons and setting dials.

"What happened?" I asked, startled.

"Those creatures you saw a minute ago are back. In force. I shouldn't have left so quickly." He pulled a lever and the ship went careening through space. I grabbed on to railing just as my feet lost contact with the floor.

"I thought you were taking me home!" there was a touch of panic in my voice.

"I'm sorry, Adalyn, really I am." he shouted over the TARDIS' loud groanings. "But there isn't time. I have to get back."

"But it's a time machine!" Confusion and adrenaline were overcoming my fear of him.

"It's really complicated!" he yelled.

Just then the TARDIS jerked hard and I lost my grip on the railing and went flying through the air. The Doctor released his hold on the railing and lunged forward, catching me. The ship must have landed because everything was suddenly still. We stood still, catching our breath. He was still holding my shoulders.

"You need to trust me."

I pushed away shakily. "I don't know you."

"Trust me anyway."

I hesitated. He waited, searching my eyes anxiously.

"Fine."

He smiled. "Good girl." He ran to the door. "Stay in the TARDIS. I'll be back." He hurried out.

I sighed and sat down, but only for a minute, then I started pacing. The time machine poked my consciousness like I might poke my siblings.

"What is it?"

You know you want to. She sounded smug.

"Nope." I sat down and crossed my arms. "I'm just gonna wait for him to take me home."

Boring.

"Hey!" But I knew she was right. All that time spent trying to get in the box and reach a new world and now I was just going to sit here?

I leapt up. "I'm just gonna take a peek." I hurried out to escape her laughter and closed the door behind me.

"I did tell you to stay inside." a voice said.

I jumped and turned to see the Doctor. He hadn't gone far from the TARDIS. He was holding a small device with a blue light that was buzzing quietly. Both the device and his gaze were toward the sky. I looked up and gasped. The sky was full of huge ships.

"What are they?" I asked.

"They're zygon ships."

"Zygon?" I repeated incredulously.

"Yeah, the red cone-shaped ones covered in suckers." He tore his gaze from the sky to look at me. "Attractive, weren't they?"

I remembered the glimpse I'd gotten of them. "What do they want?"

"Take over the earth." he stuck the device in his pocket.

"What's that?"

"Sonic screwdriver. I've got to hurry. Are you coming?"

I nodded.

"Then run!" he grabbed my hand and pulled me along. As we ran through the city streets people ran by us screaming frantically as zygons beamed down to the surface.

"We need to help them!"

"Yeah, that's what I'm working on. Oh, hold on." We stopped in front of a building and he pulled out his sonic screwdriver and aimed it at the lock. I looked up at the sign above the building. It read Hampton School of Science and Engineering. The lock clicked, and the Doctor grabbed my hand again pulling me inside, through a long hall, and up an even longer staircase.

"What on earth are we doing?" I panted.

"Well, I was going to look for someone clever and an engineering school seemed like the place to find that someone, but the building is empty." We had reached the top of the stairs.

"We broke in."

"Yes, we did..." the Doctor looked into a few classrooms before walking into a room filled with lab equipment. He spun around before turning to me with a wide, mischievous smile on his face, "and look!" he spread his arms wide, "I found someone clever!"

I caught on. "So you have a plan?" Somehow his smile was contagious, and I felt my lips turning upward.

"Now I do. Cuz now I have all this equipment." He was pulling bottles of chemicals out of the cabinet and lining them out on the table.

"How can I help?"

"How old are you?"

I lied, "College. I can help."

He paused just for a second. "Funny, you don't look like you're in college." He tossed me a toolbox. I caught it.

"Find the water heater and bring it here."

I shook my head, "Wait, bring what?"

"The water heater."

"Oh!" Whatever the madman said. I took off.

It didn't take me long to find the water heater. I carefully turned it off and detached it. The tank was large and heavy so I was grateful that the elevator was close. I rolled it down the hall and into the elevator, taking it up to the Doctor on the top floor.

When I got to the lab the room had undergone horrific transformation.

"You got it!" the Doctor rejoiced.

"You built something." I said dumbly.

"Oh yes!"

"And…removed the ceiling."

The Doctor took the tank from me. "Oh yes!"

He went to the work of hooking up the water heater to his invention and I came over and crouched next to him.

"So…it compresses hydrogen? "

"That's exactly what it does!" he looked pleased.

"Then you don't want to do that," I pointed to a valve, "because it will release it into the atmosphere."

"Precisely. You are quick, aren't you?"

"But as soon as it hits the air it will combust." I made note of his comment while pretending to ignore it.

"Precisely!" he finished his task and leapt up. "Zygons are extremely afraid of fire. If I fill the upper atmosphere with fire they will fly like crazy out of here."

"Yeah, and catch all the buildings on fire."

"Nope! Because," the Doctor pointed "this traps the hydrogen in pockets that pop only when they reach the zygon ships, because their ships release a by-product of their fuel which –"

"Ok, got it. That's fine. But what about the zygons on the ground?"

"That's why this is part B of the plan." He grabbed my hand and took me running down all the stairs.

When we got outside, he pulled several hand-sized devices out of his pockets and handed them to me. I wondered how he had fit them all.

"Right," he said, "so what we need to do is make a perimeter around all the zygons on the ground. They can't have spread too far yet, but it will still take some time, so we need transportation."

I looked around. "Bikes!"

"Brilliant!" We ran over to the bike rack and the Doctor used his sonic screwdriver to break the locks on two bikes.

"Set one every mile and push the middle button to activate them," he instructed, hopping on his bike. "Meet back at the school when you're done!"

We both took off. I rode as fast as I could through the city streets. There were still people running and screaming. I desperately wished I could stop and help them, but I knew whatever the Doctor's plan was would be our best hope so I just pedaled harder. I set up and activated the four devices the Doctor had given me and retraced my path back to the school.

I was only a block away from the school when I turned a corner and almost ran into a glaring zygon. I skidded to a halt and fell, the bike landing on top of me. My leg scraped against the pavement and I cried out in pain. The zygon bent down and grabbed the bike. It threw it as if it were a toy and then reached for me. I screamed in fear then the zygon fell on top of me. A second later it was rolled off and I saw the Doctor standing there with a two-by-four.

"Doctor!"

He helped me up and I threw my arms around his neck and started crying.

"It's ok, I've got you." The Doctor hugged me back, then disentangled my arms from him. "We've got to hurry now."

I nodded.

He turned around and crouched down. "jump on my back."

My leg stung so I didn't argue. He ran with me riding piggy-back the last block, into the building, up the elevator, and to the lab. There, he put me down and ran over to his machine.

"So how does this work?" I asked. "What do the things we set up do?"

"Each one locks onto zygon DNA within a half-mile radius."

"Wow!"

"And then they all connect and run back to here!" he waved a hand at his creation.

His words were like a punch to the gut. "Wait, they connect to the fire machine?"

"Yep!" he popped his 'p'.

I started to panic. "I didn't know that's what they did!"

"No more zygons on the ground and we'll just have the ones in the air to take care of."

"But that can't be it! I mean, you can't just do that!"

He looked at me curiously. "They had their chance. I gave them fair warning." He turned back to the machine.

I grabbed his arm. "Then give them another chance."

He turned around fully now and I gulped, remembering again just who he was.

"Give them another chance," I whispered. "What's the point of being powerful if you can't show mercy?"

His eyes pierced mine, but I held his gaze.

"Adalyn," he finally said, "I'm not going to kill them."

"Wait – you're not?"

He shook his head. "That's not the kind of man I am."

"But everything I saw –"

"I've killed."

I froze.

"I've killed more than you can imagine. But not like this. Never like this." He bit his lower lip and looked away. "When I fight it's to protect life, not destroy it.

I was quiet. "I misjudged you. I apologize."

"It's ok. You still don't have a reason to trust me."

"I might now," I admitted softly.

The Doctor smiled. "Then will you help me?"

"Yes."

"Ok!" he was in action again. "hand me the thingy."

There was a wrench at my feet, so I gave it to him. He used it, so I suppose I guessed right.

"So the devices latch onto their DNA, then this machine connects all the signals and locks onto the ships – that's where this machine does its main job – but then I built in a transporter that will send all the zygons on the ground back up to their ships."

"Oh," my lips formed the word silently.

"As soon as they're on the ship, we send up the hydrogen pockets and KABOOM-"

I jumped a little.

"- the sky is alight. Obviously they won't be hurt – the fire won't even hurt the ships. But it'll be just enough to make them uncomfortable."

I could see now that he was angry, he was just keeping his anger controlled.

"They didn't listen the first time, but they'll pay attention now." He whipped out his sonic screwdriver and pointed it at the machine. "Allons-y!"

I expected something explosive, but instead thousands of bubbles flew out of the machine and up through the ceiling.

"it's pretty!" I exclaimed in surprise.

"Yeah," the Doctor smiled.

We watched the bubbles float up toward the ships. They were so calm. Then, in a fraction of a second, the sky was enveloped in fire with a deafening noise.

"Haha!" the Doctor jumped and laughed triumphantly. "That'll do it!"

My heart was pounding with fear and excitement. "What happens now?" I yelled, ears still ringing from the explosion.

The Doctor looked suddenly serious. He straightened his tie and adjusted his jacket.

"Business."

I wasn't sure what he meant. "Are you going to talk with them again?"

He nodded. "Yeah."

"Ok. How will that work?"

"I'm gonna go up there."

"But… isn't that going to be dangerous?"

The Doctor was adjusting the transporter, his mouth set in a stern frown. "Sometimes showing mercy is dangerous."

I realized he was a far better man than I'd given him credit for. "Ok." I came close to stand with him.

"No. Not you."

"Wait, what do you mean? Why not?"

"Because it is dangerous and this is my job. You go wait in the TARDIS."

"But –"

"TARDIS! Now!" He yelled.

I pulled back, trembling a little. "Ok," I agreed, "But you come back safe or I don't care if do yell at me – which is just rude by the way – I will come back and get you out."

He looked surprised and a little bit ashamed, but he only nodded. "I'll be back."

He pocketed his sonic screwdriver, twisted the transporter, and was gone.

I just stood there for a minute, then I went downstairs and outside. The streets were still chaotic and I mused on how strange it would look if anyone stopped to see: the city in a frenzy and one girl just walking.

I got back to the TARDIS. It occurred to me that she could be locked, but she wasn't and I went it. The TARDIS and I greeted each other silently and I sat down to wait for the Doctor.

Twenty minutes later, I heard the TARDIS door open and turned to see the Doctor come in. I thought he looked exhausted.

"Is it finished?" I asked.

He immediately got rid of the tired look and plastered on a smile. He did it like it was second nature.

"Yup! Earth won't be seeing them again! Well, not for a hundred years or so."

"Wait, you mean after all that they'll come back again?" I couldn't believe it.

"Oh yeah, lots of times. They never learn."

"What will you do next time?"

"Oh, I'll come up with something clever."

I shook my head in admiration. "You always do this, don't you? Save the earth, be patient with the same race over and over again?"

The Doctor shuffled his feet, "Well, I like to think that's what I do," he said modestly.

I thought a second. "You never did tell me your name."

"Course I did!" he leaned back against the console, crossing his legs. "It's 'the Doctor'."

"That's a title."

"It's also my name." he insisted.

"Wait, do all Timelords get names like that?"

He looked thrown. "Well, kind of. We're given names at birth, just like you lot, but when we're older we get to choose a name."

"Oh! So you chose 'Doctor'."

"Yup."

"In that case, Doctor, I really like your name."

"Really?" he sounded extremely pleased.

I chuckled. "Yeah. It suits you."

Now he looked as if I had paid him a serious compliment.

"Thank you," he said sincerely.

I was surprised, but only said, "You're welcome!"

After a minute he said, "I never mentioned: I love the pajamas."

It took a second to register, then I looked down at my clothes. Sure enough, I was still in the pajamas I'd fallen asleep in. What was worse, they were my Winnie the Pooh pajamas. I groaned. "That is so embarrassing."

The Doctor laughed. "Good old Pooh. Little young for you."

I blushed and mumbled, "They're comfy."

"How old did you say you were?"

"I didn't."

"No, you said you were in college. But you're tiny! You look, like, fourteen."

I chuckled slightly, glad to turn the conversation. "I'm fifteen. And I'm not in college. I was saving time."

"How come a fifteen-year-old knows so much chemistry? And how to disassemble a water heater? Blimey, is your mother a plumber or something?"

"No, I've never even taken a proper look at a water heater." I confessed.

"So you're just clever."

I blushed.

"That's alright! Clever's good! I'm just used to being the only one, is all."

I snorted. "I bet you are."

He just smiled at me.

"What?" I asked.

"Nothing. Just… you got over your fear pretty quickly."

"I mean, there were people in danger. We had to do something."

"I meant your fear of me."

I blanched. "No," I said cautiously, "I didn't."

He peered into my face and he may as well have been peering into my soul.

"No," he said slowly, "you would still be scared. After seeing what you saw –" he shook his head. "But you still have the guts to sass me."

We held each other's eyes. Then his face split into a huge grin. "I like that."

Suddenly he was at the console as if there were hidden springs in his shoes.

"Right! So off we go! Your home: July 15, 2014." He pushed a thousand buttons then put his hand over the wibbly lever and looked at me. "Allons-y!" He pulled the lever and we went careening through space.

A minute later the TARDIS stopped and he ran out the door. I followed. We were at my house. The trees rustled softly around us. All the windows in the house were dark. It was still night.

"There you are: home again. No one will even know you've been gone." He stood next to me, hands stuck in his pockets, looking just like he had in the message. "That's the beauty of time travel, you travel for a year, see the universe, and still get back in time for tea."

I didn't respond. Part of me was still reeling from all I'd seen, the other part of me was dying to see more.

"Well," the Doctor said after a moment, "I guess I'll be off." He sounded hesitant.

"Thank you." I spun around to face him.

He halted and waited.

"I mean, for letting me share in that experience. I know, it's not like it was your choice for me to meet your TARDIS, but-" I laughed, "wow, this is awkward."

He was listening intently.

"I guess what I'm trying to say… is that it was an honor to get to know her, even if was just for a little bit."

I shifted awkwardly in the silence that followed my speech. The Doctor was still staring me down.

"You know," he finally said, "I've known a lot of humans, had a lot of them as friends – even as travelling companions. And they would fall in love with the adventure, with the other worlds, and, well, with me."

I tried to hide my smile.

"But I've never met anyone who loved my TARDIS as much as I do. Who loves her like you do."

I turned my back to him to hide the small stab of pain I felt. "Yeah. Well, she's beautiful." And now I was losing her.

"Adalyn-" he paused to search for the right words. "You've seen what I do. You know who I am. Do you trust me?"

I twisted around to see him, holding out his hand to me. My heart raced. "Wha- what are you saying?"

"I'm saying: Come with me, Adalyn."

"Come…with you?"

"Come see the universe. It's brilliant and beautiful."

I felt a smile spreading across my face and he began to smile too.

"Yeah." I stepped forward and put my hand in his.