The autumn sun was just setting over Bloomington as Lindsay Adams left the bookstore where she worked and headed for home. It wasn't a bad job, normally; what could be better than spending one's day in a room full of books? But to be honest, it had been a bad day; she'd been reprimanded again for reading when she was supposed to be working. One more time, her usually-kindly boss had told her, and she'd be fired.

It didn't matter, she told herself. She didn't need the money, she was only a month away from getting accepted at Harvard, and then she'd be in a place where people wanted her around.
At least that's what she told herself. And Lindsay Adams was very good at believing her own lies. It was what kept her sane, in a world where no one understood her.

As she crossed the street she saw something blue out of the corner of her eye. She turned to look, and it was gone. She shook her head, decided she'd imagined it, like she did so many hopeful things, and kept walking.

There it was again. And this time, when she turned her head, it stayed—a blue box, taller than a person, sitting nonchalantly-could a box be nonchalant?—in the parking lot of the cafe next to the bookstore.

It was dark blue and rectangular, with a yellow light on top. Could it be—maybe! She headed back cautiously towards the box, and stopped about arm's length from it. The writing on the sides was right...She reached out and touched it, to make sure it wouldn't disappear. It stayed, and felt exactly like she'd always imagined it would. She took a step closer and knocked on the door.

After about half a minute, the door was opened by a tall skinny man with messy brown hair. He wore dark pants, a tweed jacket with patches on the elbows, and a blue bow tie.

"Hello?" he said, looking around. Then he spotted Lindsay. "Hallo, and who are you?"

"Lindsay Adams," Lindsay said. "Are you the Doctor?"

The Doctor was dumbfounded. Here he was, first time back on Earth since Christmas, and someone had gotten through the TARDIS's perception filter. Not only that, but she knew who he was. Who was she? He'd certainly never met her before. Nor did she seem to belong to any of the secret societies he'd encountered. She was American, though; so that didn't necessarily mean anything.

Meanwhile, Lindsay's mind was racing. I shouldn't have done that, shouldn't assume he's really the Doctor... "Probably just an actor," she muttered, then froze, realizing she'd said it aloud.
The silence that followed was awkward. Make small talk, part of Lindsay's brain suggested. She dithered another while, then spoke. "So...they're starting the show again?"

The expression on his face as he responded was not at all what she'd predicted. He looked puzzled. "Show? What d'you mean, 'show'?"

"I mean Doctor Who," Lindsay said, as if it were obvious. (Well, it was to her.) "You're playing the Doctor, right?"

...

It finally clicked in the Doctor's head. "Doctor Who? The programme?" The girl nodded. "You really think I'm an actor on a television programme?"

"Well, what else could you be?" Lindsay blurted. "The Doctor doesn't exist..." Silence fell again, as the Doctor tried to decide whether or not to feel insulted. Then he felt something at the back of his brain. The girl was broadcasting a thought, and he picked it up. It was the same wish nearly all of them had had...and he owed it to Amy, if not to all of them, to keep granting it.

"...does he?" Lindsay wondered. She looked up at the Doctor, who smiled.

"Want to see the inside of the TARDIS?"

Lindsay brightened despite herself as the Doctor opened the door of the box he'd appeared from. She took a deep breath and warned herself not to get her hopes up. Then she followed him inside.

The control room was darker and more spacious than she'd ever seen it on the show. Gone were the gleaming white walls with their honeycomb pattern, the polished console, the sliding doors. This room looked like a cave full of old junk, the rotor a pillar that touched the ceiling, everything bronze and teal and not at all like she'd expected.

"It's different," was her first reaction.

The Doctor was disappointed. "Don't you mean it's big—"

"Of course it's bigger on the inside," Lindsay interrupted. "It's always been bigger on the inside; it's dimensionally transcendent. But it's never looked like this. What did you do to it?"

"I rebuilt it," the Doctor retorted, "when I regenerated last. Well, I helped it rebuild itself, well, actually, she did most of the work, and I—what're you doing?" Lindsay was edging toward the console. Her expression had changed; was that awe? Hmm. Haven't seen awe in a while. Annoyance, yes; adoration; couple of other emotions starting with A, but not...

"It's real," Lindsay breathed. She realized she didn't care that it was different, or that the Doctor was different. "It's the TARDIS, and you're the Doctor, and—"

Lights started blinking on the console. The time rotor began spinning, and the shaking that shoved Lindsay against the console was accompanied by her favorite sound in all the universe. They were taking off.

But her joy was short-lived. "What did you do?" the Doctor demanded from across the console, where he seemed to be hanging on for dear life.

"Nothing!" Lindsay shouted, trying desperately not to press any buttons. "I didn't touch it! It just—"

The Doctor finished her sentence. "Started on its own?" Lindsay nodded. "She does do that sometimes. Not your fault-well, maybe it is your fault, she likes to show off—but nothing to worry about! Nothing to worry about." Lindsay nodded again.

The Doctor let go of the console, and began running around it, flipping switches and pushing buttons. Lindsay backed away and fell into a chair. Even there, she felt like she was in the way.
Soon the rotor slowed, the floor stopped shaking, and the TARDIS made its noise again. "Here we are!" the Doctor announced.

"Where?" Lindsay asked uncertainly. This was starting to be too much. Even if it was the real Doctor, and the real TARDIS.

"Not a clue," the Doctor said cheerfully. "Care to do the honors?" He gestured toward the door.
"Um...don't we check the scanner first?" Lindsay glanced around for something that looked like a screen. There, in the far wall.

"What's the fun of that? Come on..." The Doctor grinned.

Lindsay got up, glanced from the door to the Doctor and back, then tiptoed to the door and opened it.

And yelped, and closed it again immediately.