If We Ever Meet Again

Disclaimer: Still don't own Doctor Who. Nope, sadly, no.

Notes: Forgive the long wait. TARDIS got stuck, repairs needing making. Wibbly wobbly, timey wimey...you get the idea. Enjoy!

Chapter Three

"A Doctor of what, exactly?" Evelyn asked, levering herself off the floor. The skinny chap...or the Doctor, as he seemed to insist on calling himself...rocked back and forth on his heels as he answered.

"Nothing, just The Doctor. Although looking 'round at all this, you might hazard a guess at quantum physics and nuclear engineering, I suppose." He turned, sending the tails of the duster swinging like the trailing edge of a cape, and sauntered back to the center column. "So, Alice Graham..." He turned again, hands in pockets, and leaned on the console. "What are you doing in my TARDIS?"

"Looking for a place to hide, actually." She glanced at the closed door; no sounds of the outside world came through it, the soft electronic hum drowning everything else out. "I thought..."

"Hide?" A frown creased his brow. "Hide from whom? Was someone chasing you?"

"Well, yeah, bunch of street thugs with switchblades." She dusted herself and check the bump on her head. No blood, thank goodness. For a split second, she let herself shiver, just to let go of the adrenaline.

"You all right?"

"I'm fine, just a little shook up." She glanced at the door again, feeling a foolish, but beginning to realize that she was essentially trapped inside a weird blue box that was bigger on the inside with a possible madman calling himself a doctor. Would that door even open if she tried it? "I, uh...I should be getting home."

"Oh, you'll be needing a lift then!" The manic grin was back, doing absolutely nothing to help her anxiety, accompanied by a leap to the console and much pressing of buttons and pulling of levers.

"No, really, I think I can-..."

"Too late!" The pull of a final lever sent the world tumbling. The floor seemed to lift under her feet and she grabbed onto a railing for support. Before she could even catch her breath to cry out, everything stopped. After a few seconds, Evelyn dared to crack one eye open, only to find the Doctor regarding her from a foot or so away.

"All right then?"

"All right? Are you out of your mind? What the hell was that!"

"Oh, right. Should've mentioned. TARDIS stands for Time and Relative Dimensions in Space." When her only response was a completely blank stare, he sighed the sigh of a man who's had to make the same explanation numerous times and elaborated. "Means it can travel in time and space. Any time or place in the whole of the universe, not just this planet, any planet you could name and even all the ones you couldn't."

"So...we've moved?"

"Oh yes. If I've calculated correctly, we should be just outside your flat. Well, on the same street at least. Well, the same block. Well...maybe I'd better take a look." A sick feeling crept into Evelyn's stomach briefly, but the street outside was the familiar little courtyard to which she was accustomed. "Ah, see? Safe and sound! Mind you, usually the old girl likes to take a bit of a joyride to wherever she feels like." He leaned against the doorjamb and appeared to address the machinery. "Decided to behave yourself for once, have you?"

Oh, that was just about enough of THAT. Evelyn scooted out the door as fast as she could without seeming rude.

"Hold on!" The Doctor hopped out after her. "I just wanted to say...it's been so good to meet you. Really. I'd ask for your autograph, but I don't want to seem rude."

"That's nice and all, but I'm not famous," she insisted.

"You're not famous YET," the Doctor corrected. "But you will be someday, Alice Graham. You're going to light up the great stages from here London to New York to Tokyo and back again. And all because you have the courage to keep going to one more audition."

"Which one?" she couldn't help asking.

"Ah, can't tell you that. Can't meddle too much, you see. But it's soon. It'll be on a day when you don't even feel like getting out of bed, let alone getting on a stage. But you do it anyway. And that's what makes you: you never give up. You're going to be brilliant, Alice Graham. Absolutely brilliant." That took her slightly aback. Aside from being the first bit of encouragement she'd heard in ages, he spoke with such sincerity that she couldn't help believing him.

"Oh. Well...thank you." She fumbled for a minute, unlocking her front door to buy time. What exactly does one say to a prognosticating madman with a flying Police Box? "Would you like to come in for a cup of tea?" He raised one eyebrow in exactly the same dubious fashion she herself had done more than once. "I do mean just a cup of tea. Least I can do since you gave me a lift home."

"Well, why not. Best I should stick around anyway, just in case."

"In case of what?" Because that didn't sound ominous at all.

"Do you have a nice oolong or are you one for those herbal tea things?" He was striding past her now and into the tiny flat, leaving her to dash after him and pray that she'd remembered to pick up anything she wouldn't want a guest seeing. Fortunately, the place was clean enough. The Doctor wandered a bit, examining the various things she'd tacked up on the walls while she filled the kettle and dug out the tea and some mugs.

"Out of oolong at the moment. Assam all right?"

"Assam's fine, thanks. Where's this?" He was pointing to a collage of photos.

"Oh that. That's home, back in the States."

"Oh that's right, you're an American," he said, as if he'd just recalled something obvious.

"Yup. Born and raised less than twenty miles from Lake Erie. Constant lake-effect snow in the winter. Drifted all the way up to the second story windows one year." They'd gone sledding from the porch roof for half an hour before her Dad had found them out.

"And this one?"

"I moved to Philadelphia after college to try and start my singing career. It was really slow going. Right as I got there, the economy took a nosedive and nobody wanted to hire me. Then I came here with a girlfriend for vacation and decided maybe it was time for another change of scenery."

"Trans-Atlantic is a pretty long way to go for a change of scenery, isn't it?"

"Oh, I love it here. Sure, it's been a little rough, but this is a great city, especially for a history buff like me. And the last two years here have been absolutely insane. I mean, I'm here, living in London, watching history being made, and I absolutely love it."

"Yeah," the Doctor said, with another big smile. "Me too." The kettle whistled, spoiling the reverie, and Evelyn dashed back into the kitchen.

"I suppose you'll be wanting this to go then."

"Well, I s'pose I could stay a bit longer, just to make sure you're all safely squared away."

"Honestly Doctor, I'm in my own apartment," Evelyn said, pouring hot water into the teapot with a couple of teabags. "I don't see what could possibly-..."

"SHH! Don't say that!"

Evelyn froze, mouth open in mid-phrase. "What?"

"Don't ever say 'what could possibly go wrong.' Don't ever ever say that. Because that's always the cue for something to go horribly, horribly wrong!"

"Um, okay. I think you're confusing a London apartment with a horror movie. Mind you, some days there's not much difference, but still. And besides, you said it yourself."

The Doctor winced and frowned. "I did, didn't I. Bloody hell..."

Right on cue, something started rattling in the kitchen cupboard. Evelyn jumped backward as the cabinet flew off its' hinges, barely missing her head and making a sizeable dent in the opposite wall. From the shadowy depths, something round and metallic rolled onto the counter and began to beep ominously.

"Doctor, what the hell is that thing!" Spikes suddenly protruded from the metal surface and the pace of the beeping sound increased.

"That," the Doctor said, shoving Evelyn toward the door, " is why we never ask what could go wrong! Move!"

The two of them barreled into the hall just as an explosion ripped through the apartment behind them.