Title: Doctor's Faith Healing

Author: DWDuck

Pairings: Faith and The Doctor (10th), Buffy and Spike

Rating: R to NC-17

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the rights to BtVS or Doctor Who. I'm just playing with their stuff. AU for Doctor Who.

Setting: Season 7 BtVS and Pre- Water of Mars Doctor Who

Notes: Au for Doctor Who (new companion) and eventual explicit sex.

Summary: The Powers That Be recognize that the First is too strong for Buffy and the gang and send for help from another power. A sentimental, romantic blue box delivers the Lonely God to Sunnydale so he can face off with the First once again.

Doctor's Faith Healing

Prologue

The Powers That Be took their seats around the conference table in the stark white room. They had convened a meeting to discuss the crisis at the temporal nexus point known as Earth. Their interference and then lack of assistance had led to the premature deaths (twice now) of the Slayer known a Buffy. The latest death should have been permanent, but somehow the Witch Rosenberg had gotten her hands on the spells and items necessary to mystically resurrect Buffy. Disturbingly, the ramifications of a mortal doing such a resurrection had been kept from her. Most of the items necessary for the spell had been sealed off from the reality and an investigation was being conducted as to how they had been brought back into phase with the normal Universe. The act of bringing Buffy back to life had given the other side the opening they needed to release its most powerful player, the First Evil. No one knew where the corporeal body of the First was kept, but its spirit had been released on earth to wreak chaos and destruction.

"Have you finished running the simulations?" the Spokesman asked.

"Yes we have," the Planner replied. "9,999 times out of 1,000 the Slayer and the rest of the potentials are destroyed and the First takes over the earth. From there the simulations breakdown. Simply using our forces, we can expect to regain balance in a millennium, possibly two," she said sadly.

"Time is irrelevant. We will learn from our mistakes. We gave this Slayer too much freedom," one of the Powers said.

"Time is never irrelevant," a relatively new power countered. She looked at the one who had spoken coldly. "I have recently ascended and I'm new to how you do things," she said. "Am I correct is saying that the Great Treaty says that at this point any energy we expend to help Buffy and her friends defeat this 'First Evil' will be met with equal energy from the other side?" she asked.

"That is correct. Balance must be maintained," the Spokesman said.

"What does the treaty say about outside powers interfering?" she asked.

The Spokesman paused and closed his eyes while he mentally reviewed the entire 1,896,567 page treaty drawn up by Wolfram and Hart. He opened his eyes and looked at the newest power. "The treaty specifically says that neither side can request help from an outside power, but neither can they stop a power from interfering of their own free will," he said. "I believe this was put in to allow some of Wolfram and Hart's clients access to the Earth." The Spokesman saw a gleam in the young "woman's" eyes. "Do you have something in mind?" he inquired.

"Just a moment," she said. After a pause she spoke, "I just sent a draft of a message to the Arbitrator to make sure it was free of any kind of request for service. The message has to contain only the facts of the current situation," she said. A collective gasp went up from the table at the name of the Arbitrator, the being who oversaw the conflicts of the Universe and whose judgment was final. "What? Hasn't anyone ever thought to run a draft by him first to see if it was acceptable? He seemed quite pleased at the notion. Hold a moment," she closed her eyes, "He sent back a reply. The Arbitrator agrees the message is simply a statement of current events and does not rise to the level of a request," she said smugly.

The assembled Powers That Be were shaken to the core at the audacity of their newest member. The Spokesman finally got up the nerve to ask, "What powers are you hoping will interfere on behalf of the Slayer?" He tried to think of the groups that were operating currently and they all had their plates full at the moment.

"I'll give you a hint," she said coyly, "you might recognize this description, 'He's like fire and ice and rage. He's like the night, and the storm in the heart of the sun. He's ancient and forever... He burns at the center of time and he can see the turn of the universe... And... He's wonderful.' He also happens to be my grandfather," Susan said proudly. All noise in the conference room ceased.

The Spokesman sat in his chair numbly. "The Lonely God," he muttered softly. The paradox to end all paradoxes. A mere mortal more powerful than all of the Powers That Be combined. The Spokesman had never bothered to learn who the new member of the Powers That Be had been before she had ascended. He knew who she was now, they all did. For the first time in a cosmic age he felt awe tinged with fear. This new member in their ranks had been Susan, the granddaughter of the Doctor. She was an ascended Time Lady, and would most likely soon have his position as leader of the Powers That Be. If what she had just pulled was any indication of what was to come; things that had stayed the same for eons would be changing soon.

"But the message isn't for him. He doesn't really do well when he gets all the information up front," she admitted. "The message is for the most beautiful creature that ever existed. A beat up, old type 40 TARDIS," Susan said fondly of her home for so many years. She stood up and strode out of the room, leaving the others to either sink or swim in her wake. Once she was in the hallway, she let out a big breath of air. She didn't need to breathe, but old habits were hard to break. Susan hoped they bought it. She wasn't just worried about Buffy and the Earth. She was worried about her Grandfather. Once she had ascended, she had peeked in on him and seen the terrible pain in his soul from the loss of Rose Tyler. The fact that Rose was living a happy life with a human version of him didn't help him much. He had not allowed himself to love anyone since the death of her grandmother and the loss of Rose had shattered his heart. Susan used her enhanced Time Lady ability to look into the Vortex and see all of the possible timelines that stood in store for him. Too many of them held empty, lonely lives. Sure he had companions as he always had, but he never found love. Susan hoped that by sending to him to the Slayers (both powerful and feisty women) he might find love with one of them, love he so desperately needed.

Chapter 1

Buffy Summers stormed down the street towards the Bronze. "How could Faith be so irresponsible?" she fumed. Her fellow Slayer, Faith Lehane, had taken the potential slayers for a night out on the town. "After that freaky priest guy handed us our asses, we should be training harder, not strutting around like a cat in heat," Buffy thought. She rounded the corner and walked along the back side of the large warehouse that housed the Bronze. She was so incensed she almost ran face first into the large blue box standing in the middle of the alley. Buffy looked up at the words on the lighted strip at the top. "Police Box?" she snorted. "Yeah, like that will help cut down crime." Buffy walked around the obstruction and made her way to the front of the building. She went inside, the bouncers not even bothering to check her ID.

As soon as Buffy got inside, her Slayer senses went into overdrive. She quickly scanned the room and saw the vampire population outnumbered the human population in the club. Faith and several of the potentials were doing a rather seductive dance with one of the few human groups of males in the Bronze. Buffy began shepherding the potentials who weren't on the dance floor towards Willow, Xander, and Anya. She was trying to figure out a way to contact Faith (all though the other slayer must have felt the presence of the vampires as well), when a skinny man in a blue, pin striped suit strode purposefully through the crowd towards Faith. She looked at his clothes for clues to whether or not he was a vampire. "Nice suit with red chucks…not normal, definitely not normal," she thought. Buffy relaxed when instead of attacking Faith from behind, he politely tapped one of the boys on the shoulder. Before the boy could say anything, he grabbed faith by the hand and spun her further onto the dance floor. "Well as long as he's in front of her, it will make it easier for her to stake him," Buffy said under her breath. She got the potentials out of the building in groups led by embarrassed Scoobies. Buffy came back to the main room and found a slow song playing and Faith dancing very, very close with the stranger. Buffy snorted in amusement at the look of terror on the guy's face.

(Earlier that evening)

The Doctor pulled out the hammer strapped to the underside of the console and gave the controls a good whack while trying to keep the green stabilizers steady with his foot. "Where are you taking me?" he asked in frustration of the disobedient TARDIS. "I just wanted a vacation. Maybe see Mars, but no, you decide that there is an emergency and send us tumbling through the Vortex," he complained. The TARDIS shook and he fell over into the airline seats he had installed on the railing. "Glad I put those there. Starting to bruise in my old age," he said to himself. The TARDIS shook again and tossed him off the seats onto the floor, bumping his head on the center console. "Ah, that's more like it," The Doctor said. The shuddering and shaking stopped to be replaced by the familiar "chains being pulled over gears" sound of the TARDIS materializing somewhere. The Doctor was a bit chagrinned to think that as landing went, the TARDIS did better on that one than he had on his last three. He stood up and put on his reading glasses as he looked at the readouts, trying to figure out where he was. He cast a curious glance at the time rotor. "Earth? 2003? What are we doing here?" he asked. As if to answer, a panel on the console slid open and a new sonic screwdriver rose out of it. "Ooh! You shouldn't have," The Doctor said. He quickly snatched the new tool out of the slot in case the TARDIS took him literally. A light flashed under the slot, seemingly impatient. "Oh, one to a customer, eh?" The Doctor asked. He took out his old sonic screwdriver and placed it in the slot. The tool dropped into the console and the panel slid closed. A second panel opened and a small rectangular piece of plastic popped up. The Doctor tilted his head from one side to the other as he looked at it, trying to figure out what it was for. He picked it up and the second panel slid shut.

The plastic card's sides were in the golden ratio, but the Doctor figured that probably wasn't important. The front had the Seal of Gallifrey embossed on it as well as a square hologram. There were a string of numbers and the words "The Doctor" in raised print on the front. He titled the card and saw the hologram was a small picture of the TARDIS. The back of the card had a black stripe that appeared to be some form of archaic, magnetic media. Also on the back was a phrase written in old High Gallifreyan. It read, "It's used to buy stuff with". "Oh…that's what these are for," The Doctor said. "I always wondered." The door to the outside swung open automatically, drawing his attention away from the card. The Doctor tucked the credit card away in a pocket of his jacket. Ever the curious child, The Doctor spared one glance at the time rotor and then looked out into the dark alley with a huge grin on his face. "Allons-y!"

From the lack of starlight and the pervasive smog smell, the Doctor knew he was somewhere in Southern California. Judging from the warehouses surrounding the alley, he was also in an in an industrial district. "If I'm in an industrial district, why can I hear music?" he wondered aloud. The Doctor followed the rhythmic bass beat to the front of the nearest warehouse where a bouncer was checking IDs. Fishing out the psychic paper from his jacket, the Doctor showed it to the bouncer who just waved him in. The Doctor folded the two blank pieces of paper up and put them back in his pocket. He opened the doors and his senses were assaulted by the loud music and frantic energy found inside any club Galaxy wide. Glancing around, the Doctor was able to make out a dance floor, a stage where a live band was playing, and a bar. Deciding one looked less conspicuous with a drink in hand, the Doctor headed to the bar to order a banana daiquiri, and try out his new purchasing rectangle.

The Doctor sipped his drink and glanced around the room. The music was nice. Not quite his taste, he was more of punk rocker himself, but still nice. With a band this good, there should have been a lot more people here. While looking for signs of why more people didn't patronize this particular club, the Doctor noticed a group of men standing on the cat walk staring intently at the dance floor. Their stares were anything but friendly. He followed their stares and saw they were looking at a group of attractive young human females doing some sort of a fertility rites dance off to one side. "Jilted lovers, I suppose," the Doctor thought. He let his gaze wander and found a second group of men staring with hatred at the group of young ladies. Becoming concerned, the Doctor looked harder at people ringing the dance floor and counted two other, smaller groups staring with animosity at the group of women. The Doctor was able to discern that the majority of the ill will was centered at what he took to be the leader of the girls, a lithe brunette with long hair. She was wearing a pair of tight, black jeans and a VERY tight, red tank top. The top was so tight it was obvious she was not wearing a bra underneath it, all though she apparently didn't need one. "Gravity does have its favorites," the Doctor chuckled. A look of surprise chased across his face at what he had just said. "I have to stop hanging out with Jack so much," the Doctor warned himself. He finished his drink and made his way to the dance floor to play the wandering knight errant once again.

Faith was blowing off steam and more importantly letting the potentials blow some off as well. She had chosen to come to the Bronze because she heard that it had become a real hangout for vampires, more so than usually. The newbies might not be ready to take on an Uber-Vamp yet, but they were all more than ready to dust some garden variety vamps. Her original plan had been to use herself, Kennedy, and a couple of the other stronger girls as bait on the dance floor. They would whip the blood suckers into a frenzy and draw them into the center. The rest of the slayer potentials would then attack from the rear. It had been good plan until she realized how many of the fang-faced shitheads there were in the place. She was busy teasing the jocks that were too stupid to leave town while trying to come up with another plan, when a tall, skinny man in a blue suit tapped one of the jocks on the shoulder.

"Excuse me, do mind if I cut in? Of course you don't. Thanks," he said quickly with a British accent. The newcomer took Faith's hand before the jock could react and took a step away. Up until then, Faith had come to associate that accent with stuffiness like Giles and Wes. This guy was the exact opposite. His voice was overflowing with bubbling energy. The big, goofy grin he gave her as he spun her away from the jocks and the potentials further smashed the British stuffy stereotype. When they were in the center of the dance floor he said, "Hello, I'm the Doctor," with infectious smile.

Faith made a quick appraisal. She thought his messy dark hair gave his sharp face boyish charm. Faith put her hand on his arm and gave it a slight squeeze. She felt well toned muscle. Faith nodded in approval. It wasn't that he was simply skinny; it was that he had a runner's build. She let her mind wander and wondered what his butt looked like. "Guys who run a lot always have nice butts," she thought. "Like to role-play, huh? Cool," Faith said. "I can be your patient," she said in a low, husky voice. She slid her body seductively down the front of his.

"What? What?" the Doctor stammered. Faith giggled at the genuine look of confusion on his face. "That's my name…'The Doctor'," he tried again.

Faith leaned back in surprise. "Your name is 'The Doctor?" she asked him. The Doctor nodded. He expected the whole argument over it being a title, not a name; but got, "And I thought Buffy's parents were cruel." The Doctor opened his mouth to say something and then shut it when nothing came to mind. He had no idea how to respond to that. "So Doc, just because you don't want to role-play doesn't mean we can't have a good time," Faith said. She ran her hands from his shoulders to his chest.

"Um…yes…well, you see," the Doctor gently took her hands off of his chest. A piece of his mind that he tried to keep tucked away enjoyed even this brief bit of physical contact with another person. "The reason why I came over to talk to you is that I think you are probably in a great deal of danger," he warned. The Doctor's smile never wavered, but eyes flicked back and forth from Faith to the groups of men who were staring at her in hatred.

"What makes you say that?" Faith asked. She already knew she was deep shit, but wanted to see what his take on things was.

"I noticed about 20 men circling the dance floor and they all seem to be focusing their rage on you. Why would that be?" the Doctor asked.

"Ex-boyfriends?" Faith offered. The Doctor arched an eyebrow. Faith shoved him in the shoulder. "Don't judge," she warned.

"Doesn't really matter, I suppose. What does matter is the fact that like sharks, they have been circling for a while now and soon they will strike," the Doctor said.

"So you came onto the dance floor, putting yourself in the middle of a feeding frenzy, to warn me?" Faith asked suspiciously.

The Doctor paused before answering. He gave her a child like, however somewhat maniacal grin. "Yeah, I have a habit of doing that. Isn't it great?" he said.

"Cute and brave. Not very bright to get in the middle of a vampire ambush, but sweet," Faith thought. "OK, here is the plan, Doc. Stay near me and I might be able to get you out of this alive. They won't attack until the music stops. Oh, and you miscounted. There are 35 of them in the club," Faith assured him.

"I thought I was saving you?" the Doctor asked confused, and somewhat put out. The song ended and was replaced by a slow one. The Doctor took Faith's right hand in his left and put his right on her waist in a very proper fashion.

Faith rolled her eyes at both his comment about saving her and his attempt at slow dancing. Faith let go of the Doctor's hand and wrapped her arms around the taller man's neck. Faith smirked at how uncomfortable this seemed to make the man who called himself the Doctor. She pulled herself close to him and inhaled his scent with her enhanced Slayer senses. "Weird…I've never smelled a guy like this before. It's not bad…just different," she thought. Faith rested her head on his chest and felt him tense up. "What is wrong with this guy? Is he gay? Is he…" her thoughts were interrupted when her hearing picked up two, distinct set of heart beats. The Doctor looked down at Faith who looked into his concerned eyes. Faith tapped out the four beat pattern unique to his species on his chest with her hand. She smiled up at him, causing some of the tension to drain from his body. "Well, at least I know you aren't a vampire," she teased him.

"Vampire?" he asked.

"Yeah, you know…blood sucking fiends with no souls…enhanced strength and fighting skills," Faith explained. "The guys you watched surrounding the dance floor…" Faith looked at him like she was trying to see a glimmer of comprehension.

The Doctor had been wondering why that one chap in the corner hadn't drawn a breath in the last 5 minutes even though he had been pacing back and forth. The Doctor tried to be nice, but old racial prejudices took over. "Those aren't real vampires," he said condescendingly.

Faith sighed deeply. She let go of the Doctor and took a step back. "If you want to live to see tomorrow you need to accept something. Vampires…are…real, and they're about to try kill everything with a soul in this place," Faith said angrily.

"Trust me. No one knows better than me that vampires are real, but this lot," the Doctor gave a broad arm movement, waving at the crowd. "This lot are not real vampires." The music ended and over half of the patrons in the club, including the bouncer, shifted their facial features to their vampire form. The nearest vampire launched itself at Faith who spun around and kneed it in the stomach as it flew by. It landed it a heap by her feet and rolled over to look at the Doctor. "What?" the Doctor yelled, affronted by the attack.

"THAT is a vampire," Faith told the Doctor. She pulled out a wooden stake she had hidden in the small of her back and plunged it into the creature's heart. The vampire exploded in a cloud of dust.

Faith prepared herself for the inevitable freak out of her recent dance partner. She was surprised when she heard him speak to the cloud of dust in a soft, sad tone of voice. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. We thought we had them all rounded up. We never imagined one of them had made it to Earth. I'm so sorry," he said, a tear sliding down his cheek. Faith watched the Doctor clench his jaw and straighten his back. He looked at her and what she saw in his eyes gave her goose bumps. She had first assumed that this guy was nothing more than some cute, geeky Watcher. Faith now saw a terrible warrior that could make even a Slayer give pause, but just for a moment. He reached into the interior of his jacket and pulled out a silver cylinder and turned so that he stood back to back with her. "Just so you know, these aren't real vampires," the Doctor insisted. He looked down at his new sonic screwdriver and focused his attention on the new settings.

While the Doctor fiddled with whatever it was that he had grabbed, Faith busied herself with keeping him and her alive. A vampire did a sloppy roundhouse kick at her head. She grabbed his ankle and then spun towards his leg, punching through his kneecap. Faith tossed the crippled vampire into a pair that was coming up on the Doctor from his left. Faith heard a loud whistle and then saw Buffy flip from the catwalk to land near her and the Doctor. "Glad you could join us, B," Faith said.

"Slay now, talk later," Buffy ordered, angrily. Buffy rolled over Faith's back to kick two vampires and then stake a third. A fourth punched her in the face. Faith was kicked in the stomach, dropping her to her knees. She spun on one hand and one knee, the other leg outstretched. The leg sweep knocked the offending vampire down. Buffy staked the downed vampire and Faith took the opportunity to get back to her feet.

"What's crawled up your butt, B?" Faith asked huffily. Buffy only glared at her while they fought a losing battle against the tide of vampires.

"At least I got all of the potentials out of here," Buffy thought. "It looks like a new Slayer is going to be called real soon."

"Someone's been holding out on information from me, again," the Doctor said as he figured out what the new settings were for. Faith and Buffy watched him scamper up onto the stage. He tapped the mic and caused a brief bit of feedback. The fighting stopped as everyone in the club looked up to see what the skinny madman was going to do. "Hello there. I heard it was open mic night and I thought I might just give it a try," he said. His smile was back in full power. "Is everyone having a good time?" the Doctor asked. The vampires in the room cheered.

"What is he doing?" Buffy whispered to Faith. Faith just shrugged her shoulders. They both looked around at the sea of undead and saw that the numbers had risen. Someone had been making phone calls.

"Glad to hear it," the Doctor replied to the cheers. His face became stern and the Slayers could feel power radiating from him. "Because I want to let you know that while I'm in town, this will probably be the last time any of you vampire half-breeds have any fun at all." The tone of the room changed. The crowd started to push towards the stage, dragging Buffy and faith along with it. "I'm guessing that most of you have never heard of me, but I suggest that you go find something really old and really evil. When you do, ask it one simple question. Ask it 'When you have nightmares, what do you dream about?'" the Doctor commanded. He glared at the crowd that had pushed right up to the stage. "I guarantee everyone of them will tell you the same thing…ME!" the Doctor shouted. He raised his sonic screwdriver above his head as the first wave of vampires rushed onto the stage. The Doctor thumbed the switch and the blue crystal in the end of the sonic screwdriver released a powerful pulse of stored full-spectrum UV light. The vampire hoard in the Bronze screamed as one and covered their smoldering faces and eyes. The Doctor jumped off the stage and grabbed a Slayer by each hand. "RUN!" he ordered.

The three of them had no problem pushing their way through the blinded vampires. Once outside, the Slayers casually moved two large dumpsters to block the entrance. The Doctor was astounded at the show of super human strength. He whipped out his sonic screwdriver again and waived it their direction. He ran his hand through his dark hair as he tried to make sense of the readings. "What?" he stammered. The readings showed that they were two perfectly healthy, NORMAL human women.

"Who's he?" Buffy demanded.

Faith looked at her lucky find. He had played hard to get when they danced, but part of her got the distinct feeling that winning this guy over would be worth it. She decided to not let Buffy in on the fact that he wasn't human just yet. Faith almost rubbed her hands in glee at how cute he looked when he was confused. He was glancing at his little silver thing and then and them. "His name is the Doctor," Faith told Buffy. "And he is coming home with us," she informed the senior Slayer.

"What?" the Doctor and Buffy said together.

Buffy paused and thought about how he had handled himself in the Bronze. At this point they could use all the allies they could find. "Ok," was all she said with a toss of her head. Faith and Buffy walked up to the Doctor and each put an arm in his.

"It's best not to argue," Faith told the Doctor with a smile as she sensed he was about to protest his abduction by two beautiful women. As they escorted an arguing Doctor down the alley, Faith slipped her arm behind him and squeezed his butt, causing him to jump. "Oh yeah, lots of running," she thought with a smile.