A/N: Hey there :) New chapter, it's quite long. I understand that it may come out of the left field, but I promise it'll all make sense *winks*. Hope you enjoy :)

Instead of screaming, like the last time, Rebecca woke up rigid in bed, heart pounding. Again, she flicked the lights on, reminding herself where she was. 

I'm in the TARDIS, not in New York.

Getting out of bed, she sat on the floor, surrounded by papers and pencils and crayons. Fear overwhelming her, she fell into a trance, drawing everything her troubled mind conjured. Terrifying monsters, strange creatures, terrible worlds, beautiful worlds. Everything went onto the paper. Her mind was churning and vomiting thoughts everywhere. Eventually, Rebecca's head drooped, and she fell asleep among the stacks of paper.

"Rebecca? Is your humany sleepy time done yet....Oh." The Doctor barged into the room, and Rebecca propped her chin up on her elbow, blinking blearily.

"It is now" bringing her feet underneath her, she stood, papers tumbling around her like fallen feathers. 

"These look really cool. Are you an impressionist, then?" sheets ruffled as he stooped and examined them. "Some of these...." His voice trailed off as he peered closer.

"No. Just a bad artist." Rebecca surveyed the drawings with disdain. They weren't very good, but they were colourful. As she looked at them, bile rose in her throat. Rebecca had never encountered any such creatures in her life, but whenever her eyes fell upon them, her gut filled with inexplicable terror. Bitter bile rose in her throat, and she swallowed. She needed a good run – to sweat her problems away. Noticing the Doctor's curious stares, she shoved the papers away.

"You're funny" his gaze snapped back to her face "Where to today?"

A random thought occurred to Rebecca "How are you already perfectly dressed?" she grumbled, self conscious about her bed head and sweatpants.

"Magic." His grin persisted "So, where to?"

"I need exercise, something to clear my head from all of this.... Creepy pasta. Take me to a running track on another planet, alien boy."

"Sure. Wait – does that mean I have to run as well?"

Rebecca just patted his chest and then entered her bathroom to get changed.

A half hour later, Rebecca opened the TARDIS door and a gorgeous sight greeted her. A rough track wove its way up the mountain, the compacted dirt overgrown with weeds. It was dark still, the sun had not risen. Mist hung in the air. The mountains rose all around her, knocking Rebecca's breath out of her. She was tiny. The place was abandoned, the only things were the tall, tall trees with the purple trunks and orange leaves. Unfamiliar animals rustled the undergrowth, and strange chirps filled the air. The peak was visible almost directly above her, it was impossibly steep. It seemed the planet must have been previously inhabited by a long-legged race.

Rebecca stepped onto the alien ground, inhaling deeply. The frigid air burned the inside of her lungs. One step, then two. Faster and faster.

An hour later, she stood at the peak, gulping desperately. The cold air hit her impossibly overheated body from all angles. She had let her fears and nightmares be her fuel. And now the tank was empty. A blush rose up her body, she was flushed from head to toe. Her lungs felt like two ovens, boiling her insides. The sweat poured off of her, the ground beneath was damp. She sat cross legged, breathing in and out. The silence seemed to make everything clearer, and the cold made everything sharper. This world was all angles and sharp lines, but Rebecca didn't mind. A breathtaking sight took over now. Three suns rose from all around her. The light bled upwards, turning the dark blue lighter, and purple, orange, bled across the sky with inky fingers. The blackest point stood directly above her, forming the peak of the triangle. And now, even that was gone.

Heavy breathing came behind, and she turned around. The Doctor stood with his hands on his knees, hunched over and wheezing.

"H-how did you?" he managed between breaths.

"Track team in high school and regular practice. You missed the sunrise." Rebecca smirked, finding it amusing to see the Doctor so... Awkward.

He slicked his sweaty hair back and stood straighter "This region was previously inhabited by the" he made a series of clicking noises "Tribe. Gone, now, of course. Loosely translated to English, it means tribe of the-"

"Rising sun" she finished.

He looked at her strangely.

"TARDIS translation matrix, remember?" She grinned.

"Right. Sometimes I forget.

"Doctor...." Rebecca felt liberated by all that she had experienced in such a short time. The things she had seen, the people and worlds and emus she had saved. So this shouldn't be an issue, right?"

"Yep" he replied, popping the 'p'.

"I should go make the cake again and give it to my parents." Sand shifted as she rocked back and forth on her heels.

"Yeah" he laid a hand on her back "Don't worry. You'll do great"

"I hope so. Back to the TARDIS, then?"

The Doctor nodded.

"Race ya"

An hour later, they had descended the mountain, entered the TARDIS, bathed, and now stood in the kitchen. As Rebecca surveyed the pantry, a feeling of hopelessness fell over her.

"What's the matter?" The Doctor asked, pulling bowls and spoons out of the kitchen cupboards.

"All we have are alien ingredients." A tone of despair pervaded her voice.

"That's FINE. It'll taste fine." He proceeded to tear open a package.

"Sure" she sounded dubious.

They began working, though. The kitchen looked like a science experiment gone horribly, horribly wrong. Blue slime mixed with green powder, yellow gloop mixed with something in a neon box. As the kitchen became messier, Rebecca began to wonder who the kitchen belonged to in the first place.

"Doctor. You're friend, Rose. What happened to her?" The colours began to blend as Rebecca stirred the concoction with a spoon.

"She's fine now." The Doctor looked down at his shoes.

"What happened to her?" Rebecca wasn't going to let the topic go so easily.

"Stuff."

"Look. I'm travelling with you now. I think I deserve to know something, yeah?" She greased a cake tin.

"Fine. We were companions. Travellers. Pirouetting through the stars without a care in the world. Rose Tyler and The Doctor. Together forever" he looked wistful, and his fingers absentmindedly traced one of the painted flowers.

"You loved her, didn't you?" Pity filled her eyes. They say to have loved and lost is better than to have not loved at all. Rebecca thought it was a load of bullcrap.

"It never would've worked out. In any case, I was too cowardly to tell her. Through a lot of incidents, she got trapped in an alternate universe. She got back. She used something called a dimension cannon. It wasn't safe, but-"

"She loved you." Rebecca put the cake into the oven and washed her hands.

"Yes." His voice broke. "But she had to go back. Through a weird accident, my friend Donna combined with a severed hand, and we got two hybrids. A clone of me, who Rose lives with in the alternate universe, and the DoctorDonna. Donna's brain couldn't have handled it. I lost Donna that day. I made her forget all her travels. Only way for her to survive. I lost Rose as well."

"Doctor" Rebecca hugged him tightly, hearing his hearts beating in his chest. Her heart broke for him. 1200 hundred years old. How many people had he lost?

"Please don't die."

"I'll try my best" she pulled away, grinning.

The oven dinged. She supposed it was some hi-tech version - it was absurdly quick after all. Grabbing the mitts, she pulled it out.

"It looks disgusting." They surveyed the cake with their hands on their hips. It was hideous.

"I'm sure it tastes fine." He poked it. It felt like rock.

"Yeah, I mean. We'll drown it in frosting."

A few hours and a very terrible cake later, Rebecca rang the bell to her parent's house. A dog started barking, and she beamed. It had been forever since she'd seen Whisky.

"Rebecca, hey!" her mother opened the door and stepped out. "Who is this?"

"MOM!!!" Rebecca flung her arms around her mom and squeezed her tight. Grinning broadly, she stepped back. "This is The Doctor."

"Hello! Why don't you both come in?" She swung open the door and took the cake from the Doctor's hands, leading them through the house. It was rather average, a staircase lead upstairs to her parents' studies and their room. The ground floor held a quaint kitchen which perpetually smelt like cinnamon and various other spices. As a result, that smell reminded Rebecca of every good memory she'd ever had in the house. Suddenly, a shape bounded out of the living room and collided with Rebecca at full force.

She fell to the ground, laughing. "WHISKY"

The dog wagged his tail so hard it looked like his bottom was going to fall off. With a very long tongue, he lavished Rebecca's face with slobbery kisses. He rather resembled a furry cannonball, running around at top speed.

"How is he?" she asked, patting his head.

"Aw, you know him. An idiot. What's up? Why'd you visit?" they made their way into the kitchen and she put the cake onto the counter.

Rebecca nodded to the Doctor and he pulled a confetti gun out of his pocket. 

"Mum. Open the box."

Peering at her curiously, she lifted the lid. The Doctor cranked open the gun and rainbow confetti flew into the air.

"Surprise!" Rebecca flung her arms out and grinned, but inside, she was terrified. Would her parents accept her? Would they think she was a freak? Would they cast her out of the house and disown her? She swallowed tersely, throat and mouth dry. Her worry disappeared as soon as her mum burst out laughing.

"RAM!" her mother hollered "COME DOWNSTAIRS AND EAT CAKE! REBECCA FINALLY CAME OUT OF THE CLOSET!"

With a smile, her mother hugged her and said "About damn time."

The Doctor smiled at that, the two were hugging each other with tears in their eyes – they were actually, legitimately crying with joy.

"Why don't you two stay for dinner? I'm making tortilla soup." They agreed enthusiastically and began pulling bowls out of the cupboards, filling them with the steaming soup. Rebecca's father bounded into the kitchen, glasses slipping down his nose and hair flying everywhere.

"There's my favourite bisexual!" he pulled her into a hug.

"How did you guys know?" Rebecca sat on the counter cross-legged.

"Honey, please. We've watched movies with you. Nobody straight looks at Scarlet Johanson like that" she held up a dark hand and snorted.

"Beti! Don't say things like that!" her father looked scandalised.

"Whatever. I'm just glad your boyfriend gave you enough confidence to come out. We wanted to ask you – it just seemed too awkward."

Rebecca and The Doctor choked on their soup. A little dribbled out of the corner of his mouth and he swiped at it quickly with the back of his hand.

"We're not" she began

"Dating" he finished.

"We're travelling together" Rebecca explained. "Nothing romantic. We're friends, that's all"

"I'm much too old for... hanky panky. I'm twelve hun-"

"Twelve years older than me" she cut him off.

"Right. So, what do you do, Doctor?" Rebecca's mother turned to look at him.

"I- uh. I... I... I write travel journals?"

"Wow! I always told my Rebecca she could have written! Where all have you been?" Her father smiled, brown eyes lighting up.

"Portugal, Peru, Japan, you name it! Though I do seem to have a soft spot for 21st century London!"

"That sounds wonderful! Where are you taking Rebecca? Nowhere dangerous, I hope?"

"Of course not, dad" She smacked him lightly.

"I must say, the two of you bear a surprising resemblance!" The Doctor slurped a bit of his soup. Rebecca's mum's eyes filled with alarm, and her dad looked afraid. They managed to hide it, though, and Rebecca didn't notice.

"Surprising how? They're my parents." she dismissed him with a wave.

"Yeah," he retorted "but not biologically."  

Rebecca's bowl clattered to the floor and the bang echoed throughout the silent kitchen.