"The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown."

― H.P. Lovecraft

Chapter 9: Stage Nine, The Offer

"Anyhow, to put this simply, there are no such things as aliens in my universe."

The Doctor's eyebrows rose up higher that Susan had ever seen before. "Impossible," he said. "There are always alien races across the universe."

Susan shook her head. "No, actually I'm pretty sure there aren't any in my universe, since the first thing we were taught in astronomy class was the fact that there's no known life outside of the planet Earth," she recited. "It annoyed me, as I had been a Whovian for a few years by that point in my life."

The Doctor blinked. "A... Whovian?" he asked, wondering if he wanted to know.

"Yep," Susan said with a grin. "As in a Doctor Who fan."

"Doctor Who?" The Doctor asked. "What is that?"

"You said the thing," Susan giggled. Then she coughed, putting on a serious face. "Simply put, it's the longest running sci-fi show about an alien who travels in time and space with his companions who are, more often than not, from Earth."

"You're serious, aren't you?" The Doctor said, staring at her. "There an actual TV show about me."

"My name isn't Sirius," Susan said with a wink. The Doctor grinned in response, catching the Harry Potter reference. "But yes, there really is a TV show about you."

"Well, this is all very interesting. Are you saying that you knew what was going to happen because you've seen all this happen in an episode of this show?" He asked, squinting at her.

"Well, technically yeah," she said, but then her expression turned thoughtful. "But obviously I wasn't a character, and now that I've kind of changed things I have no idea what will happen."

"About that," he said and eyed Susan. "What exactly made you open the fob watch?"

Susan scratched her neck nervously under his gaze. "I'm not sure what you were thinking when you used the Chameleon Arch, Doctor," Susan said. "But I'm pretty certain that you didn't mean to put the people around you in danger."

The Doctor frowned.

Susan hastily continued. "It's just, if you were to hide in the watch for the next two days, numerous people would have died. The family is on their way here right now."

The Doctor's face darkened. "And they would do... what?"

Susan hesitated. "They would take four villagers and use their bodies to look for you," she said. "Eventually they would find John Smith, and threaten to kill his friends if he didn't gave the watch to them."

Martha winced. "That's horrible..."

"Would he have done it?" Doctor asked quietly. "Would John Smith have given the watch to them?"

Susan shook her head. "He wouldn't have gotten the choice. One of the kis would have taken the watch for safekeeping and hid it until it was time. Then he went to John Smith and gave it to him. Nurse Redfern..." Susan paused.

The Doctor looked at her thoughtfully. Susan collected her courage and looked him straight in the eye.

"In the end, Nurse Redfern and Martha would have talked him into opening the watch, because they would both realize that there wouldn't be a world for John Smith to live in if they allowed the Family have their way. Then you would go to the Family's spaceship, pretending to be John Smith. You would give them the empty watch and push some buttons to make their ship self-destruct," Susan recalled.

She looked back at Martha, not capable of looking at the Doctor anymore. "In the end none of them are killed," Susan said, quietly as a whisper. "You're so angry with them... You don't give them that chance."

The room was silent. Martha stared at Susan and the Doctor with wide eyes.

"I think I understand," The Doctor said after a while.

Susan looked back at him. He was being completely serious. "Yes, I think you do," she said in return. "What should we do now that you're here before your time? I've changed the history," she said, and then her eyes widened. "Oh my god, are we going to die now?"

The Doctor's eyebrows rose to his hairline. "What?"

"Is those time reapers from season one going to eat us now?" she squeaked. "Oh, god, I completely forgot about that, I'm so sorry..."

"I don't think so," the Doctor said, still eyeing Susan with an amused expression on his face. "History isn't written in stone, you know that, don't you?"

Susan stared at him. "But it's you! Are you sure this isn't any huge fixed point in time and now I've completely destroyed your future or something and the reapers are going to eat us and oh god."

Martha stared at Susan with a blank expression.

"Susan," the Doctor said and grabbed her shoulders. "We're not going to die. It's is all fine," he reassured.

Susan swallowed, only half aware of the hands on her shoulders. "Are you sure?" she asked. "Because if you die because of this or Martha dies or something happens then it's my fault because I've changed things!"

The Doctor shook his head. "I am absolutely sure we're going to be fine," he said. "It was my choice to change into a human, and now I can see that it was a bad one. I'm thankful for your help."

Susan closed her eyes, took a deep breath and then opened them again. "Okay," she said, now acutely aware of the hands on her shoulders. "I'm just glad you're not angry with me."

The Doctor raised a questioning eyebrow.

"Angry people scare me," Susan quipped. "I'd rather have people getting along. If I could, I'd like to be friends with everyone." She quickly shook her head. "Well, obviously not anyone, it would be kind of pointless to be nice to people who already hate me or something, well I guess it would make sense, if it would change their minds or..."

She noticed that both Martha and Doctor were staring at her.

"Oh," Susan said. "Sorry, I have a bad habit of rambling about random things."

Martha hid a smile. "I know someone who has a similar habit," she said, glancing at the Doctor from the corner of her eye.

Susan blinked up at the Doctor, who was still holding her shoulders. "Are you going to let me go or are you waiting for a hug or something?" She asked. Because she definitely would do that.

He let go like his hands were burning.

Susan pouted. "Rude."

"Sorry," he mumbled and ran his fingers through his hair. Susan eyed the hair with rapt interest. My gosh, she so wanted to do that, but with her own hand. "We'd better go back to the TARDIS and figure out a plan."

Martha blinked. "You don't already have one?"

Susan nodded in agreement, eyeing the Doctor absentmindedly. "You probably do, don't you?"

The Doctor just grinned. "Now, telling you wouldn't be any fun at all, would it?"

The Doctor crafted a hand written letter to the headmaster, notifying him of John Smith's resignation and informing the man of his return to John Smith's childhood home with Martha in tow. He left the letter on his desk.

Half an hour later, Timothy Latimer came to see John Smith and found the letter. On his way to give it to the headmaster, he noticed a fob watch on the floor. It was a curious little thing with strange markings on the backside. Feeling like he might need it some day, he pocketed the watch and kept it.

"Doctor, I remembered something!" Martha called out to the Doctor who stood in front of the TARDIS with the key in hand, about to unlock the door.

"What is it?" he asked, looking back at her.

"Just earlier, Susan opened the TARDIS doors without a key!" Martha said excitedly.

"What!" the Doctor exclaimed, whirling around.

Susan coughed. "Well, she let me in."

The Doctor raised his eyebrows. "What?"

"She's highly telepathic, you know."

"What!?" His face was incredulous.

Susan tried to keep a straight face. "You do know that you say that really often, right?"

The Doctor ignored her, in favor of still being baffled. "How? I've never..." he trailed off.

Susan sighed. "You underestimate the TARDIS," she said, still amused at the Doctor's baffled expression. She decided not to mention the fact that he could open the doors with a snap of his fingers if he wanted, since that line belonged to River.

"What exactly did you do?" Doctor asked, looking at Susan with rapt interest. "Can you do it again?"

Susan raised an eyebrow. "Well, I only did it because I wanted to convince Martha about my intentions, and since the TARDIS is highly telepathic, I just told her I wanted to help you. There's really no use of doing it again, since you're here and we can just open the doors with a key."

The Doctor stared at her for a while. "That's just amazing," he said. "I've never heard of anything like that happening."

Susan was tempted to poke out her tongue. "Maybe she just likes me."

The Doctor shook his head, amused, and opened the doors with the key. They stepped inside, and he immediately ran to the console to turn the power on. Then he disappeared to change his clothes. Only minutes later he returned to the console room with his brown coat and converse shoes. Martha was sitting on the only seat available, but Susan was still standing.

Susan stared for a minute before taking out her phone. "Do you mind? I really love that outfit."

The Doctor grinned and struck a pose. Susan took the picture and put the phone back to her shoulder bag.

"Was that a mobile?" Martha asked. "It looked... different. Very flat."

"Ah," Susan said. "Yeah. It's a Samsung Galaxy. Don't worry, you'll be enjoying the age of smart phones by 2011. They just keep getting larger and larger."

The Doctor worked with the controls and at the two of them. "Never mind that," he said, waving a dismissing hand at Martha. He turned to look at Susan. "Really? No comments? No 'it's bigger on the inside'?" he asked, now realizing that he had a new person with him.

Susan grinned. "I was already here with Martha, remember?" she giggled. "And besides, the only comment I have about the TARDIS is that she's beautiful."

The Doctor nodded, approving. "That she is."

Susan patted the console a few times herself, before her eyes widened and she looked back at the Doctor. "Doctor, there are many kind of alternative universes, right?"

The Doctor glanced at her. "Yes, apparently."

"So there could be like universes where other TV shows or books were real?"

The Doctor thought about if for a moment before nodding. "Possibly. Why?"

Now it was Susan's time to manhandle the Doctor. She grasped the front of his jacket and shook him gently. "Doctor, this is a question of utmost importance."

The Doctor blinked at her. "What is it?"

Susan stared at him, unblinking. "Is Twilight real?"

The Doctor made a face. "You mean that horrible piece of literature written by that―"

"Yes, yes, that one."

The Doctor didn't miss a beat. "No."

Martha laughed at their expressions, the Doctor looking sour even at the mention of Twilight and Susan looking gleeful as the Doctor put her fears to rest.

Susan finally let him go and coughed. "Sorry, it's just a very frightening image, that kind of world being real." She shuddered. "Sparkly vampires."

Doctor nodded seriously. "I understand."

"What do we do now?" Martha asked and rose from her seat. "If we're not staying here, I really want to change my clothes."

The Doctor looked thoughtful and he glanced at Susan. "You said the Family is arriving tomorrow?"

Susan nodded. "Yes, tomorrow evening. They land on a field not too far away from the school."

The Doctor pulled a few levers and danced around the console. The engine started to purr. "I think we should go there then," he said, not looking at Susan or Martha. "I'll take care of them on my own."

Susan bit her lip. "Are you sure?"

"If what you say is true, they don't deserve a chance to chase me," he said. "I'll go to them."

Susan and Martha exchanged worried glances.

The Doctor guided the girls to the kitchen and told them to stay there until his return. Martha glared at him until he left and Susan felt a bit doubtful about the whole thing. But they soon forgot about it as they brewed some tea and started chatting.

"So how long have you been travelling with him?" Susan asked and took a bite out of a biscuit. "I know some of the things you've done, but not nearly all of them. And I've actually got no idea how long the time is between every episode."

Martha did a quick calculation in her head. "I think it's been a little over three months, now," she said with a grin. "It's really hard to keep count with all the time travel."

Susan laughed. "I'd imagine so. I'm not even sure how old I am right now. When I left it was December 2013, and I arrived to this reality it was February 2008."

Martha whistled. "I see how that would be a bit complicated," she said. "How old were you when you left?"

Susan smiled. "How old do you think I am?" She really loved to ask that question.

"Hmmm," Martha said, eyeing her carefully. "You can't be older than twenty-one, can you?"

Susan nodded. "Good guess," she said. "I'm twenty, just couple of months shy from twenty-one."

"Pretty young, still," Martha mused.

"I guess," Susan agreed and sighed glumly. "I don't really celebrate birthdays anymore. You know, after you turn 18 it just means you're getting older and then before you know it, you're supposed to be married with kids and a husband who doesn't care about science fiction." She grinned suddenly. "Key word being supposed to. I really don't care for any of that myself."

Martha laughed. "Yes, I know the feeling," she said. "After experiencing these kind of things with the Doctor, I wonder how anyone would want to get back to that."

Susan became somber quickly. "It's not all fun and games, you know," she said pointedly, thinking back to what the Doctor was probably doing at the very moment. "Sometimes people die and he has to face the consequences."

Martha nodded. "Is that why you decided to help us?" she asked.

"Partly, yes," Susan said slowly. "That and because I couldn't just let all those people die. And because Nurse Redfern would have fallen in love with him, with a man she couldn't have. It would have caused more needless heart break."

Martha looked down.

Susan bit her lip. "It's not you, you know," she said. "He really just doesn't care for domestics. The rest of the Time Lords are gone. So he has friends. A lot of friends, to fill that hole. They are his family."

Martha looked up and smiled bitterly. "I'd suppose you would know about that too," she said.

Susan smiled softly. "You would have told John Smith, if I hadn't done this," she admitted. "You were going to say it to him just to get the Doctor back."

Martha's eyes widened. "What happened afterwards?"

Susan sighed and shook her head. "Nothing," she said. "It just got awkward for a while, then you both sort of forgot about it."

"What got awkward?" the Doctor asked from the doorway, making Susan and Martha jump in their seats and turn to look at him. Their eyes widened.

"Nothing," Susan said quickly. "You're done?"

The Doctor nodded. "All taken care of," he said casually, hands in his pockets.

Susan recognized his expression and bit her lip. "So, what's the plan from here?" she asked.

Martha smiled at Susan's nonchalant tone and glanced pointedly at the Doctor.

The Doctor pulled at his left ear nervously. "I guess, if you wanted to, you could..." The Doctor said and coughed. "You could come and travel with us for a while."

Susan's eyes widened and she rose up form her chair. "What? Really?"

"Well, I could take you back to the year you came from, but that would be a bit dull, wouldn't it?" the Doctor said, starting to ramble. "Not to imply that your life is dull or anything, but well, if you're a fan I'd imagine you'd like a trip or a few..."

Susan tacked him into a bear hug. "Thank you! Thank you!"

The Doctor awkwardly patted her on the back. "You're welcome."