AN: As stated in my other DW fics, my DW stories are unbeta'd. This was inspired by the now-infamous pipersmith on tumblr. Love it and had to jump on board. This fic is finished-so if you like it, I'll post the rest of the chapters. I really just want to see if there is any interest in this sort of AU and try my hand at a bit of something different. Remember, though Rose is the Time Lady Doctor here, she won't have the exact same personality as the canon Doctor. That makes her reactions different. Also, John is uber smart. His reactions are going to be different than other companions. And, last but not least, this is a whole 'nother universe. Please be kind.

Our story begins with one John Smith; a common name for a rather uncommon man. At age four and three quarters (to be precise, which John was always wont to do) John first began to suspect he was different from those around him. His father, first pleased with his youngest son's aptitude, became increasingly concerned with the boy's extreme intelligence and lack of social skills. John saw equations and formulas everywhere and had a capacity to confine the world around him to a string of gibberish his father couldn't hope to comprehend.

It had scared Arthur Smith to look into his son's too old eyes and realize he couldn't follow him. John was too smart and didn't have the common sense to keep mum about it in school. He was naturally eager and kind hearted, always ready to help or correct. He just didn't understand that while his brain was massive, his body was not. Children are cruel to that which is different. John was poor and brilliant and far too weird for his peers. Rory, John's older brother, had gotten into more scraps protecting him than their father would ever know. It grated on him-why couldn't John simply keep his mouth shut? But, Rory wasn't always there and those days when John would shy away from touch with bruised eyes and defeated shoulders meant Rory's irritation would dissipate into a helpless rage.

John was finishing university by the time he was fifteen. However, a decade of taunts and bullying had pushed him further into his own mind. He didn't understand people, so when he received his second doctorate at twenty, he'd given them up for the safety of his numbers. His father insisted he not move when John took a job at a local university, so he was reminded to eat. His brother and Rory's new wife, Amy, called once a week to draw him from his calculations for a brief hour. Thus, John felt his life would continue in this vein until he died alone-probably with a dry erase marker in his hand.

He was quite irked one Monday when he reached his classroom and found a young woman auditing the class without applying for permission. He was required by the university to teach two post graduate classes per semester, and though he didn't care if his students actually attended class, he did know every name on his roster. He didn't like someone coming into his classroom uninvited.

Passing the sign in sheet around (because he was required to turn that in as well after his first disastrous semester) he stopped and met the woman's eyes. Though she smiled, there was something infinite and ancient in her face. John's brows shot up as his mind whirled into action, calculating the symmetry of her features, the slight physical impossibilities of her movements, and the way she was now watching him with something like curious disbelief.

Clearing his throat as he became aware of his students' interest, John tried to dredge up his professor's mask of authority.

"I don't recall seeing a memo of an audit," he stated lowly.

Her eyebrow arched as she glanced from him to some sort of wallet in her hands. She flipped it open.

"What do you see?"

Eyes narrowed, he crossed his arms, wondering if this was some sort of joke. It, unfortunately, wouldn't be the first time.

"It's blank," he said, deadpan.

A beaming grin split the woman's face. "Oh, that's just brilliant!" But, she stored the wallet in her jeans and sat forward. "Doctor Tyler, Dr. Smith. I'm not here for your class, Professor. I'd like a word with you after, actually." All the cheer left her demeanor and her voice dropped until he was the only one to catch her next words. "It's about experiment C-Z-9."

The bottom dropped out of his stomach. Clenching his hands, he spun and made his way to the front of the board. Once there, he wrote out a long series of equations and turned back to his class.

"I want a ten page paper on the validity of these figures by next week. Dismissed."

The students rushed to scribble down the theory, girls shooting slightly venomous glares at Doctor Tyler before they left. Sure, Dr. Smith was a fruitcake, but he was cute and rocked the geeky scientist look with his bow tie. They'd never want to keep him, but he was certainly better eye candy than the rest of their professors at this level.

When the class had left and John had packed his messenger bag, he motioned for Doctor Tyler to follow him. She did so quietly and when they reached his office, she scanned the room with a strange humming device he'd never seen. Frowning, he watched as she pulled a small round button from under his paper tray. Confiscating a glass he'd left from this morning, she turned it over on the button and pressed her odd device to the glass. A moment later, she nodded in satisfaction and straightened.

"What did you do?" he asked, griping the strap of his bag nervously. "And how did you know where the bug was?"

She smiled and waved the cylinder like device at him. "Sonic screwdriver. I vamped up the density of the glass by two hundred percent. That should keep Big Brother out." Her eyes sharpened and her joviality faded. "Now, care to tell me why a nobody university suddenly has a contract with the government involvin' Temporal Manipulation?"

Swallowing, he forced his hands still. "How do you know about that?" Because he couldn't lie worth spit and these past few months have frayed his nerves to their breaking point. He was trapped in the experiment and anything right now that might save him was pounced on like a rabid dog.

"Oh, I know a lot of things, Johnny, but that's not the issue. Do you have any idea how dangerous what you're doing is? You've no business meddlin' with Time. The Vortex is beyond your ken and certainly beyond any tech humans have right now. The force of it would rip you apart."

"I know that!" He burst in, unable to help himself as his hands flew up, writing out unconscious calculations as he yelled at her. "They threatened my father," he spat, the messenger bag falling from his shoulder with his agitated movements. "They can get to him and my brother anytime. It's stupid, absolutely beyond our capabilities from all of my calculations, and I've been trying to slow their progress, but they'll kill my family."

"John!" the blonde woman exclaimed; grasping his hands and bringing him out of the swirl of string theories that made up his world.

At her touch, he flinched back automatically, muscle memory too indicative of the kind of childhood he'd had. There was an awkward pause before the other doctor turned his hands over and squeezed them gently, then released him.

"You map the world in equations," she said in surprise. "I read your file, but it never hinted at that. You're able to nearly reach beyond three dimensions, if your unconscious gestures are any indication. That's fantastic!"

Hesitantly, he raised his eyes to her warm brown orbs. Excitement and something else were displayed there, taking him aback. No one had ever guessed what he was gesturing before, even other scientists. He'd told his father once, but no one had ever just known. So how had she?

"Look, Johnny, I'm not here to hurt anyone. I'm here to stop those whack jobs from screwin' up Timelines. Tell me what you know so I can shut them down and we can save your family."

"What are you?" he managed. "You don't make sense-the way you move."

She grinned so widely a hint of tongue touched her teeth. "I can feel the turn of the Earth, John Smith." Offering her hand, she wiggled her fingers in invitation. "Care to try?"

A fuzzy sort of feeling rushed through him at the gesture. When had someone offered a hand to him peacefully outside of his family? There was no mocking in her gaze, only an incomprehensible intelligence and understanding. Slowly, he slid his hand across hers, allowing her to lace their fingers. Between one heart beat and the next, he almost stumbled as the world shifted. Green eyes flew open in shock as he rapidly calculated all the sensations suddenly bombarding him.

"One hundred and seven thousand kilometers an hour," he breathed, stunned as he stared at her.

"Yep," she giggled, popping the 'p' and letting him go.

Abruptly, John's world stopped, the calculations stuttering before whirling furiously to decode and decipher what'd just happened. Coming to the only logical conclusion, he turned wide eyes to her.

"You're not human," he whispered. "Your heartbeat's too rapid, your movements too impossible and you shouldn't be able to do…," he waved his hand to indicate what she'd just shared with him.

Picking up his messenger bag, she held it out to him. "That a problem?"

Terrified awe bubbled in him as he hastily shook his head and accepted his bag. "Who are you?"

Winking, she linked her arm carefully with his. "I'm the Doctor," she answered.

"Doctor Tyler?" he asked dubiously, forcing his muscles to relax under her hand.

That got a laugh from her. "No, just 'the Doctor'. Keep up, John Smith! We've work to do."

Helplessly, he allowed her to lead him out, nearly blushing at the startled looks they were receiving. He was never seen with anyone socially and now here he was-arm in arm with a beautiful woman who'd interrupted his class. The Doctor smirked and leaned into him a bit.

"These people need to get a life," she told him loud enough for the eavesdroppers to hear and hastily move to mind their own business.

Unable to help the laugh that drew, he chuckled and made a faint motion of basic equation in the air. "They're just shocked to see me speaking with someone voluntarily."

They were away from the student area now and heading toward the labs. John tensed when a rather large man stepped into the hall and did a double take at the Doctor.

"Well, well, freak-did you finally grow a pair? Your boyfriend must be awfully disappointed."

The Doctor scowled and looked up at John, whose hands were trembling with the effort not to gesture.

"Johnny?" she asked lowly.

Snapping back to himself, John unclenched his jaw. "Doctor Tyler, this is Dr. Westin, head of the Temporal spearhead campaign. Dr. Westin, Doctor Tyler…"

"Representing CERN," she finished, flashing the blank wallet at the other man.

John was surprised when his tormentor glanced at the paper and a calculating gleam appeared in the other man's eyes.

"She's on the review board," John added before he could think too much on the reaction, "and is personally checking with each project today and tomorrow."

Dr. Westin's face twisted into something John supposed was his idea of charming. The Doctor's expression indicated her opinion on the matter, making a tension in John's chest loosen. She wasn't taken in by the odious scientist.

"I'd be more than happy to show you around, Doctor Tyler. Run on back to your hidey hole, headcase," he sneered at John.

"As we are contemplating Dr. Smith as a candidate for the Nobel next year," the Doctor broke in, her speech pattern shifting to something exceedingly articulate, "I find that he will be the most adequate escort. Do excuse us."

Sweeping by the flummoxed man, the Doctor tugged John along down the hall. At the end, John scanned his security badge to let them into the lab. Once inside, the Doctor rushed to one of the supercomputers as John began explaining the experiment and what the government was doing.

"Why did Westin believe you?" he finally had to ask. "That paper is blank."

She flashed him a smirk. "Psychic paper. Lets people see whatever they want to-or whatever I want 'em to." Her careless accent was once more pronounced. "You're a genuine genius, Johnny. It didn't work on you."

His eyebrows shot up in shock and amusement. He couldn't help feeling a petty vindication over the other scientist who'd made his professional life Hell.

The Doctor was typing in a flurry of motion; apparently reading faster than a human could ever hope to do. The seconds ticked by rapidly, and the pressure began making John anxious as the reality of what they were doing dawned on him. He was trusting a stranger-an honest to God alien-to stop the experiment and save his family. If he was wrong…

"What are you doing?" he whispered, glancing to the door nervously.

"Lookin' for my old friend, ha! The Oncoming Storm virus. It's popped up dormant in every temporal tippin' point on Earth in the last twenty six years. I just have to activate it and voila! Temporal data munched into vapor. Anybody uploading backup files will find the virus eatin' those as well."

Satisfied, she slipped over to the bits of machinery cobbled together in what the higher ups hoped would eventually be a Vortex Manipulator. John blinked rapidly when she drew an odd pistol and pointed it at the parts. One trigger pull later, she stuffed the gun back into her pocket, the worktable parts having disappeared.

"Squareness gun," she chirped.

The sound of someone swiping a badge in the door threw John into motion. Snatching up the Doctor's hand, he yanked her around and behind a large supply cabinet. Green eyes widened comically when he found himself pressed flush against her body. Impossibly, she began to shift further into him trying to reach something in her leather jacket. John could feel his face begin to burn.

"What the Hell?!" they heard a man yell.

An alarm sounded ominously as the Doctor maneuvered her sonic out and aimed it at the door to lock it. Frantic yelling and pounding erupted in the hallway when the other scientists and security realized they couldn't get in.

Mental calculations clamoring for an answer, John daringly reached into the Doctor's pocket and retrieved the squareness gun. The Doctor's eyebrows shot up when he aimed and fired at the wall behind her. Immediately, they scrambled out, with the blonde taking back the weapon outside. One adjustment later and she'd fired again, this time putting the wall back to rights.

"Nice to meet ya, John Smith," she grinned. "Run for your life!"

Apparently, the Doctor had not only destroyed the experiment, she had scrambled the personnel file on John so thoroughly that it would take years for the higher ups to fix. A few innocuous orders later to the right people and his family was safe.

A profound rush of relief swept through him so forcefully, he nearly collapsed. Turning back to the blonde woman once they made it several blocks, he was thus startled to find her gone. An odd wind blew down the alleyway carrying an unfamiliar wheezing sound before everything fell silent once more.

"Doctor?" he called cautiously.

But, she didn't answer and try as he might, he couldn't find her. She'd simply disappeared as if she'd never been there at all.