As We Keep Running

Introductions

It was him. It was really, really him. I gasped and he raised his eyebrows- err, what would be his eyebrows, if they hadn't gone God-knows-where.

"Well, what were you expecting- David Tennant?" He dished up the bacon and eggs and I sat down at the table, resting my head on my hands.

He sat down across from me and started eating. I didn't touch the food he had placed in front of me, but instead continued to stare down at the table. This was unbelievable- unreal. Impossible. There was no way that someone from another world, from a TV show, was in my house right now. Unless Matt Smith had somehow snuck into my house and I was on Prank'd, this was completely and utterly impossible.

"You're probably wondering why I'm here."

My head snapped up and I gave a one-syllable laugh. "That's an understatement."

"Then I suppose I should be fair and tell you, but first... Are you going to eat that?"

I pushed my plate towards him, in complete shock at the casual nature of his words. "Go ahead."

He leaned in and started to talk in a quiet, intense way once the plate was empty. His sentences had no pauses, but sudden breaks in them. It was mesmerizing. Everything felt so much more real. "Since you seem to already know who I am, let's just start with the show. The show.... is a disguise. If people see me on the streets, they may recognize me, but they recognize me as someone else, someone that I am not. In many cases I am just vaguely familiar to someone, and the moment they know exactly who I am, I am gone. Never there, never to be seen again by them. Just gone." He suddenly popped back in his chair for emphasis before leaning in again and continuing. "Now you're probably wondering why I'm here with you. The answer is simple. You did not call, you are not in trouble, you simply did nothing but appear in my future. And that's when I did something, something that I regret and something you won't know of until that day comes. And to make up for that horrible time, I'm trying to make up for this. So tell me-" He stood and pushed his chair back- "where and when would you like to go first?"

I shut my eyes tightly. "This is a dream," I said, "the Doctor is not in my house. This is all just a dream, and I will wake up, and no one will be here except for me and Winston."

And it worked. When I opened my eyes, the Doctor was nowhere in sight. I let out a sigh of relief and stood up, turning around. I definitely needed more sleep. Of course, as I began to walk, I bumped right into him. He was back at the sink, washing the now-empty plates.

"Who's Winston? I could've sworn you were single."

I slapped my hand onto my forehead. "Why are you still here? You're a hallucination! You're not real!"

"Ah, so you can speak directly to me. Now who is Winston?"

"Winston is my cat, for Christ's sakes!"

"Good, I was worried for a moment there. Now, where would you like to go?"

"Nowhere! I can't just go with a strange man into a dark box and go on deadly missions! It's dangerous! For all I know, you could be some criminal! I can not and will not go anywhere with you!"

He furrowed his brow. "I'm not that strange, am I?"

I stepped back and looked him in the eye. "I feel like- I'm going to have to ask you to leave."

Winston wandered down the hallway and rubbed against the Doctor's legs. The time lord scooped up the cat. "If I'm leaving, I'm taking the cat with me."

"Has it really come down to empty threats?"

"So you don't mind me taking your cat?"

I grabbed Winston from him, grumbling. "Of course I mind."

"Oh come on, at least come and see her."

"Her? What, is River with you?"

"No, no. The TARDIS. Surely you've heard of it?"

I stomped to the front window, set Winston down on the couch, and pulled back the shades. Sure enough, the recognizable blue phone box sat on the sidewlk outside of my townhouse. "That's impossible."

The Doctor was directly behind me. "Of course it's possible. Anything is impossible."

I twirled to face him. "Promise that you won't murder me."

He said nothing, but instead grinned in the slightest bit. I couldn't help but trust him. "Five minutes," I muttered.

"It's a time machine," he laughed. "There's no such thing as five minutes."