Back to the Start:

Author Note: This is an AU crossover, which pairs the Twelfth Doctor with Clara, and Olivia Benson with John Munch. The SVU setting should be considered around Season One.

Summary:

The Doctor goes back to the year 2000, to track down Detective Olivia Benson, to thank her for saving the life of an old friend prior to joining the Special Victims Unit. It's a trip back in time he has meant to make for a long while, and he decides not only to thank her, but to have a hand in making a happier future for her – if he can persuade her to realise that Eliot Stabler will always be a friend but never a lover, and that the real love of her life is actually her colleague John Munch.

But the Doctor's visit has also been carefully timed - Liv and El are on the trail of a 'vampire killer', who is actually an alien feasting on human blood, and as the Doctor tries to ensure Olivia's future happiness, he must also stop the alien killer from claiming more victims, before going back to Clara, and facing up to his own truth – that it is time he told her exactly how he feels about her...

Can the Doctor defeat an alien creature before it strikes again, and will he succeed in ensuring Olivia's future happiness, as well as his own with Clara Oswald, who is waiting for him to return in the year 2015?

Rated: T

Warnings: Not many, expect some blood and alien violence, some scenes of a romantic / intimate nature, and adult themes / discussions, an emotional rollercoaster.

Disclaimer: I own nothing but my love of fandom.

Dedication

~for my sister Ragdolly216 XXXX ~

Chapter 1

Coal Hill School, 2015

"Where are you going?"

As she asked him that question, Clara looked hopefully at the Doctor, and he knew why – she was used to him turning up at the school and asking her to come outside for a moment, and then she would leave her class and they would walk off together with him wearing the caretaker's coat, until they reached the office where the Tardis was tucked away, and then he would take off the coat, as he was doing now, and beneath it, he wore a dark suit with a jacket of crimson lining. He wasn't her boyfriend but she looked at him like she wished he was. And she was also looking at him like she expected him to take her with him yet again...

"Where are we going?" she asked for the second time.

The Doctor opened up the door of the Tardis.

"Me, not you."

She stared at him.

"Excuse me?"

"You're not going anywhere -not this time - I'm just off to repay a favour for a friend, its nothing interesting."

Clara looked at him doubtfully.

"I mean it, Clara!" he insisted, "A few years back someone did a favour for a friend of mine and I've always meant to pop back and repay her -"

"Her?"

He heard it in her voice, that little spike of jealousy... The Doctor knew how he felt about Clara, he had known in the life before this one that he loved the girl, but even though she had now broken off her relationship with Danny Pink, she had made no attempt to get closer to him, and for the Doctor, making the first move, especially one that would involve such a show of emotion, was difficult. He kept hoping it would come from her first...

"Who is she?" Clara asked him, and the Doctor gave a sigh.

"Someone who helped out a friend of mine. And I won't be gone long. I just wanted to let you know that if you need me, just give me a call. I'll see you soon."

"But I -"

The Doctor went into the Tardis, shutting off her words as she looked in surprise at the closed door and then as the machine began to make its familiar groan she stepped back, watching as the Tardis faded from sight...

"I wanted to come with you," she said sadly, her gaze fixed on the empty spot where the Tardis had stood. Then she turned away and left the room, heading back down the corridor to continue teaching her class. And as she walked back, she was still wondering why he had left her behind...

New York, Year 2000:

Detective Olivia Benson had spent more than an hour at her desk going over case notes, photographs, then more notes, and then she put them down again, ran her fingers through dark, jaw length hair and shook her head.

"Victim's in the bath tub... Doors and windows locked, no forced entry, no struggle...How did the perp get in? I'm missing something, I know I am..."

Her partner looked at her thoughtfully.

"I don't know, Liv," said Eliot Stabler, "But we will find out... Three victims in a week all dead in locked bathrooms, all drained of blood and left floating in water? I'm not even sure this is a sex crime - the only sign of assault we find is a single puncture wound on the neck."

She met his gaze.

"You think we should hand it over to homicide and leave them to try and work it out?"

Then she smiled, and so did El.

"I've never given up on a case yet."

"Neither have I," she replied, and then she thought again about the facts as she knew them to be.

"All in water...but no blood in the water..."

"Maybe he's drinking it."

They both turned to see Detective John Munch looking across at them, he was leaning back against his chair and by the look on his face, they both knew he was about to come out with a wild theory that may or may not have the word conspiracy attached to it.

"Drinking it?" said El.

Munch shrugged.

"There have been cases of people drinking blood, it's not like it's never happened before. Blood drinking goes way back through history -"

El dismissed his suggestion at once.

"So how come there's no trace of it left at the scene? What's our perp doing, drinking it through a straw?"

And Liv closed some case notes, blocking out the sight of a dead woman floating in water, her skin white as porcelain, with a deep gaping hole in her neck.

"Three in a week," she added, "It's almost like he's -"

"Feeding?" Munch suggested, and El shook his head as he resisted the urge to laugh at Munch and his far out theories.

"Do you want me to go into Cragen's office and say Hey, Cap, I think I know what we're dealing with – our perp's a vampire, we just need to check out the cemetery, turn up a few graves, find the one that's just sleeping and drive a stake through his heart. Yeah, I think the Cap will go for that..."

And then he smiled as he shook his head, but Munch did not smile.

"Forget all you've read about Dracula, that's just fictional. Think about the real ones...human vampires...blood drinking cults, for example. Now tell me it's impossible."

Liv and El exchanged a glance.

"I still want to know how the perp gets in."

El nodded.

"So do I," and he glanced to Munch, "I know he doesn't turn into mist and creep under the door!"

Munch spoke up again.

"And still we're back to no sign of a struggle – did these girls know their attacker?"

"And he ended up in a locked bathroom with all three of them?" Liv wondered.

Munch shrugged again.

"Maybe he's a popular guy."

"No, I don't think they knew him," Liv replied, "And I still don't know what I'm missing."

"They were all in very warm water," El said, "Not just a warm bath, hot."

Liv looked to her partner and then to Munch and gave a sigh.

"No, I don't buy that... too crazy. "

"Why would it be crazy?" Munch asked her, "Hot bath, warm blood... maybe he wants to drink it warm?"

Liv shook her head.

"I don't buy the blood drinking idea," she said, "Maybe he just wants a weird signature, wants to go down in history as some kind of -"

"Vampire?"

She shot a glance to Munch.

"Nut job," she replied, ":Like every other perp we've ever handled who likes to prey on lone women."

Then she got up from her desk.

"Time to go."

Munch had turned back to his computer screen, but on hearing her words, he looked back at her.

"Need a ride home, Liv?"

She shook her head.

"El's driving me tonight, but only because my car's getting fixed. And I don't need a ride, I could get the bus if I wanted to. And thanks for the offer Munch, but I'm not scared of vampires – or anything else this city has lurking after dusk."

As El put on his coat and headed for the door, Munch watched as Liv followed, then El looked back at him.

"Night John," he said, and Munch nodded, and then he turned back to the screen, still searching through police records for a possible lead – and still finding nothing.

They didn't talk much as El drove Liv home. He glanced at her a few times, knowing her mind was still on the case. When he finally reached his destination, he pulled up and parked and Liv turned and looked at him.

"I don't think I'm going to get this case out of my head until it's over," she admitted, "How many more women is this guy going to kill before we catch him? It's a case with no leads -"

"You need to leave it at work," he said to her, "Get some rest, leave it at work until tomorrow."

She briefly smiled.

"I'll try not to think about a vampire out there somewhere...I know Munch comes up with some crazy theories sometimes, but this time, it really is too far fetched."

El looked into her eyes and thought - not for the first time - how quickly and easily he had grown fond of her. Olivia Benson was easy to like, and like was putting it mildly – if circumstances had been different...

No.

He cancelled that thought.

"Munch means well."

"I know he does."

Eliot hesitated, remembering promise to a friend that made this so much more difficult than it ought to be.

"Good night Liv," he said, and she smiled and he smiled back, then she got out of the car, and purely because he cared, he waited until she had gone inside her apartment block before driving away.

As Eliot Stabler headed home, his thoughts were not on work – because he left that at work. His thoughts should have been on home, but instead they drifted to a conversation that had happened a few months back, when John Munch had confided in him and El had promised not to say a word.

Munch had been married several times, and not to anyone who measured up to her, she was the last person he had expected him to be attracted to – but Munch had told him, I'm crazy about her, about Liv. You know how I feel about work and relationships, I don't mix them. I don't know what to do. Maybe I can't do anything. But please, don't tell her.

That was the last thing he had expected John to reveal as they sat together at his apartment sharing a beer. And he was surprised after Munch had concluded he had to accept it would never happen, to see him look so emotional. It went deep, it was more than attraction. He got that part, because Liv was easy to fall in love with.

And to Liv, John Munch was just the slightly quirky, bordering on eccentric guy who was part of their close knit team, who she knew through work - and would never be anything more...

Then home was in sight, and El pushed aside all thoughts of work and Munch and his heartache, and smiled as he thought of his wife and his children, and spending the rest of the night with his family, where he could firmly close the front door on the beckoning night and the darkness it brought with it that reminded him of the horrors he saw every day working in the Special Victims Unit. He was going home, where his wife would hug him and he would not mention work, and he could spend time with his kids, and he could just be Daddy for a while.

Liv had tried to take Eliot's advice, going home and taking a shower and then having dinner before relaxing on the sofa with just the lamp on in the front room while outside, the skies over New York grew dark as evening gave way tonight fall. She had opened a bottle of wine and taken one sip and put the glass down, then she had looked to the window and thought again about the case:

The killer was out there somewhere...

Then she tried again to relax, closing her eyes as she gave a heavy sigh, trying to reach for sleep that seemed so far away.

And then a strange sound jolted her from rest as a groaning wheeze sliced through the air, and a brief flash of light lit up somewhere beyond the partly open door that led out to the hallway.

She sat up and listened, thought she heard a faint sound, like perhaps a door opening...

That was all she needed to jump up and peer around the door, but the hallway was in darkness now...except for a faint glow coming from the spare room, which promptly fell dark.

She was instantly hit with the thought that she was in a bath robe and her gun was in the bedroom – and she partly wondered why she was so wired all of a sudden – she knew what happened, she saw it every day at work, but this was her home, and it was safe, she was smart, she knew about security...

There had to be a perfectly rational explanation...

Keeping that thought in mind, she stayed on the side of caution and saw no movement in the hallway, and then she darted for the bedroom to grab her gun.

The Doctor was still in the Tardis. He knew he had arrived at the correct destination, and he had briefly looked out, but then decided it would be best to go back inside for a few minutes, and then he waited at the console for a few moments, already guessing Olivia Benson would have heard the Tardis land, and of course would not understand what was happening...Not yet.

Then he walked to the door, paused again as he collected his thoughts, and felt sure he would get nothing but initial hostility when he went outside and found one of New York's finest, probably armed, and demanding to know who he was and how he got into her apartment...

He opened up the door, and the light from within the Tardis shone into the room. And as he came face to face with Detective Olivia Benson, he saw the look in her eyes as she stood there in firing stance, the gun aimed to hit him square in one of his hearts as soon as he made a move.

He looked at her, and she looked back at him, her aim unwavering.

"Get down on the floor," she said in a low voice, "Don't make me pull the trigger."

And the Doctor stared at her, his mind racing as he wondered how to diffuse the hostility, and then he raised his hands.

"Don't shoot," he said quietly, "I'm not one of the bad guys..."