"Doctor!" Dr. Jones said excitedly. I was still marveling over the sudden appearance of the phone box.

The mysterious man stepped out of his box and gave Dr. Jones a hug, then extended a hand to me.

"'Allo, I'm the Doctor. And you are?" He seemed friendly, but I wasn't taking any chances.

"The Mutant Avian-Human Hybrid Girl with Atrocious Fashion Sense. Seriously, what's your name?"

"Like I said, I'm the Doctor. People call me the Doctor, I call me the Doctor, I'm called the Doctor. While I suppose I could call you Mahhg Afs, I think there's probably something you'd rather be called."

I was stunned for a moment. Grown-ups never had a comeback for our snarky remarks. I quickly composed myself and replied, "My name is Maximum Ride."

"Come up with that yourself, did you?" His tone was serious now. How did he know?

"Yeah… I go by Max." Ugh, pull it together, Max, you don't need to get friendly with this guy!

"Well, Max, I see you've met Martha Jones-"

Dr. Jones (I guess it's okay to call her Martha?) interrupted him. "That's Doctor Martha Jones."

A grin lit up the Doctor's entire face. "Fantastic! I'm still the Doctor, though… the definite article…"

I cleared my throat loudly.

"Right, then, so, Max," he leaned in close, "what makes you special?"

No one has ever asked me that before. No one has ever had to.

"Well, for starters," I stretched out my wings. Even with one of them being bandaged, it was still an impressive sight. To my great surprise, he waved them off.

"Yes, yes, the wings, but I'm talking about you, Max, what makes you special?"

I was speechless. The Doctor didn't care that I was the most successful recombinant lifeform ever, didn't care that I had freaking wings growing out of my back, he was asking about me.

And somehow, I wanted to believe him.

[AN: Okay. So. School has hit me hard, and I haven't been able to write, oh, ABYTHING. Plus I made the mistake of adding a fandom to my repertoire. (Homestuck, for anyone who cares) So now I am completely spread thin. If I can survive until the holidays, I swear I'll update SOMETHING. Just bear with me. Thanks! DMLunatic… has to do homework. Ugh. Peace!]