A/N: Surprise! ^-^ Welcome to Déjà Vu: Series 3, an AU revision of Doctor Who's Series 3 based on my Heart of Time Saga, a set of stories that include my OC the Angel, a Time Lady who becomes the Doctor's Mate. In my original series, the 9th Doctor discovered her in Van Statten's museum and freed her. This story will be a 'what-if' where, instead of the 9th Doctor finding her, it's the 10th Doctor that encounters her first ;) Just HOW he managed to miss her in Van Statten's will be revealed as the story goes on }:)

Even though this is an AU retelling and essentially a new story, I would still recommend reading the Heart of Time Saga (A Treasured Discovery to The Nightmare Begins) for more about Angel, her abilities, and her life with the Doctor :)

Some notes:

~8~ is a scene break

'italics' will come to mean telepathic speaking

This story will be an attempt to encompass as much of what is happening in the episodes as possible, including background and other scenes that don't involve Angel or the Doctor :)

I am going to try to update this story every other Saturday, alternating between a chapter for my other AU, Rewritten, and this story :) This story will follow a similar format as the original series, each episode will be 3 chapters, each special will be 5 chapters :)

Disclaimer: I do not own Doctor Who...otherwise Idris would have stuck around more :)

~8~

The Lazarus Experiment: He's Here!

The Doctor, last of the Time Lords of Gallifrey, raced around the console of his TARDIS, trying to pilot the old box as best he could with just one pilot to speak of. Typically, for a TARDIS such as his, a Type 40, essentially a museum piece, it took about 6 pilots to do a proper flight but there was just him alone to handle it. Off to the side, one Martha Jones, the latest in a long line of companions (though the Doctor himself wouldn't have defined her as such, this was just a gift trip, just one…well, admittedly a very long one, with many parts, but just ONE trip, that was all he agreed to, not taking on a permanent companion), was watching him curiously, especially his face, he seemed confused.

And rightly so.

The TARDIS was near flying itself, it seemed. He was hardly doing a thing which was quite baffling to him given that, the last few times he'd flown the box with Martha there, it had been…a bumpy experience to put it lightly. If he hadn't known any better, he might have thought that the box was fighting against him leaving earth the moment he got Martha onboard after they dealt with the Judoon on the moon. Well, to be fair, it had actually started a bit earlier than that, with that Donna woman. He'd gone to pilot the box away and it fought him, to the point where the two forces, his piloting and the box itself, just reacted and sent it flying into the air and into space, allowing him to get it into the Vortex. It had just become more noticeable when he'd tried to leave with Martha, at first he'd just thought that it was a reaction from the Huon particles and Donna that had thrown the box's navigational systems off. The Judoon hadn't done anything like that to the box, it had been safely across the street from the hospital at the time, had been fine jumping to the future to meet Martha at her brother's party and then going back to meet her that morning on her way to work. It wasn't till he'd tried to get them to the Vortex that it got bumpy and stubborn. But that was rubbish, what reason would there be to STAY on Earth? There wasn't. It was just one planet out of billions of trillions and, granted the humans were a wonder, they were just one species of many with intelligent life walking about. Still, the last few goes with Martha had left a lot to desire in terms of smoothness and yet here they were, the box rocketing towards the earth and…landing perfectly, with ease, without a single bump or thump.

Well, that was something.

"There we go," he smiled at Martha, not about to tell her that the rather smooth sailing they'd just experienced, her first trip of the sort, had nearly nothing to do with him, "Perfect landing," he cast a glance at the rotor as the box gave out what he might have thought was an exasperated and huffy groan at the lack of proper credit, "Which isn't easy in such a tight spot."

"You should be used to tight spots by now," Martha teased, moving over to him to elbow him gently in the side, "Where are we?"

"The end of the line."

Ok, admittedly, that likely wasn't the best way he could have described it. He almost felt guilty for doing so when he saw the way Martha's eyes lit up in excitement, clearly expecting some sort of awesome destination to lie right outside the doors. There was hope in her eyes, that the adventure, that the 'one trip,' might have been extended yet again.

"No place like it!" he called after her in a rather bad attempt at giving her a hint of where they actually were without having to crush her hope entirely.

Martha did pause though, seeming to sense there was something more to his words, but she just shot him a grin, threw open the doors, and ran out…he could see her stop short in the doorway and sighed, stepping out after her and right into her bedroom of her little house.

"Home," Martha deadpanned, "You took me home?"

"In fact," he took a deep breath, rubbing his eye at the awkwardness of the moment, "The morning after we left, so you've only been gone about 12 hours. No time at all, really."

"But…" Martha shook her head, trying to process how that was possible, despite the fact she'd just been to the past twice and the future as well, "All the stuff we've done, Shakespeare, New New York, old New York…"

"Yep, all in one night," he murmured, leaning over to look closer at a few pictures decorating the room of Martha's family, "Relatively speaking. Everything should be just as it was," he turned to her, gesturing around the room itself, "Books, CDs…" he used a pencil to pick up a pair of knickers that were drying on a rack, "Laundry," Martha gave him a withering look for that last one as she quickly snatched her undergarment back, "So, back were you were, as promised."

"This is it?" Martha couldn't help but ask, trying her level best not to pout or reduce herself to begging to go with him. Though she couldn't stamp down the hope that, after the last few trips, the Doctor might just want her to tag along.

She'd do it too, even if it meant hearing more and more about Rose and constantly being compared to his last companion, she just…she wanted to see the Universe.

But the Doctor's next words dashed her hopes entirely, "Yeah, I should probably…um…" he gestured back at the TARDIS, about to turn and head into it when Martha's phone began to ring.

Martha didn't make a move to answer it though, choosing instead to stare him down and let the answerphone pick up, "Hi! I'm out! Leave a message!"

"Martha, are you there?" a woman's voice called out just after the beep, "Pick it up, will you?"

"It's Mum," Martha offered by way of explanation, "It'll wait."

The Doctor raised his eyebrow at that last part though, a small part of him wondering how humans could go without speaking to their families. Given all he'd been through, if he could just SEE his mother one more time he'd give the universe to do it. But, then again, that would be a bit harsh to think of Martha for not speaking to her mother when Rose herself had been willing to abandon her to a parallel world…

"Alright then," Martha's mother huffed, "Pretend that you're out if you like," he had to crack a smile at how well the woman knew her daughter, "I was only calling to say that your sister's on TV. On the news of all things. Just thought you might be interested."

THAT, however, DID get Martha moving as she turned instantly to the TV behind her and grabbed the remote to turn it on. It took only seconds to switch to the news station and she couldn't help but gape when she saw her sister really was there, standing beside a rather old man that the bottom of the screen labeled 'Professor Lazarus.'

"The details are top secret…" the man was saying.

"How could Tish end up on the news?" Martha mumbled to herself, confused. There had been no mention just last night at the party for her brother that she was going to be on the telly and, knowing her sister, that would be the first thing she told anyone the moment she knew.

"Tonight, I will demonstrate a device…"

"She's got a new job," Martha continued, more to herself than the Doctor, trying to work out exactly how and why Tish was there, "PR for some research lab," she hadn't thought it was that big of a firm but clearly she'd been mistaken.

"…with the push of a single button, I will change what it means to be human."

Martha rolled her eyes at that one, big firm or not it was a load of crock, and turned the telly off, focusing on the Doctor once more, "Sorry. You were saying we should…"

"Yes, yes, we should," the Doctor nodded, "One trip is what we said."

And it was one trip, just one. He…he didn't really want to be around humans right now, not like that, not for so long. Rose had been…a change, from the war, fresh air and fresh life, youth and innocence. It had been what he'd needed to recover from the war enough to become the man he was now. He'd almost tricked himself into thinking she wasn't just a human, in terms of lifespan and fragility. Sure she had made quite a few mistakes, but she'd learned, she'd gotten better. Near the end Rose had the makings of almost reminding him of what it was like to be around the Time Lords she hadn't sounded quite as human.

Perhaps that had been a bad thing, in the end. He'd stopped seeing her as 100 percent human, had tricked himself into thinking that what usually happened with them wouldn't happen with Rose…and then it had, and she'd been lost to him. She may not have withered, decayed, and died before his eyes as he'd once told her was a hardship for him to bear, but it just hadn't gotten to that point. She'd still been lost, ripped away before her time, much like so many humans were before her.

He just…he wished there was a Time Lord out there, just one, ANY one would make him happy. Even if the Master were there, his arch-enemy, he'd be thrilled. Because he wouldn't be alone.

He just…he didn't want to be alone anymore.

But the only ones that were around him were humans, the mortal humans.

It was a difficult cross to bear and made the loneliness feel that much more keen.

"Yeah," Martha spoke and his eyes snapped to her, hoping that she hadn't been talking and he'd been not listening, but it seemed like she was just starting again, "I suppose things just kind of…escalated."

"Mmm," he shrugged, "Seems to happen to me a lot."

"Thank you," Martha told him earnestly, "For everything."

"It was my pleasure."

He gave her one final smile and nod, before turning and stepping into the TARDIS, Martha remaining standing there with tears gathering in her eyes as she watched the box start to fade away, a funny wheezing noise following it that the Doctor had never really explained to her. Not that he would explain, he seemed to have had it firmly rooted in his mind from the start that she wouldn't be sticking around. What point would there have been to tell her anything about the box?

She sighed and turned around, moving to start putting her laundry away…when the wheezing noise returned. She spun around, her eyes wide as the TARDIS reformed exactly where it had landed before, the Doctor sticking his head out only moments later.

"No, I'm sorry," he frowned, jerking his head towards the TV, "Did he say he was going to change what it means to be human?"

~8~

In a laboratory that night, an old man, Professor Lazarus, stood in an office just above the labs, looking out at London below him, a woman as old as he was, (though he groused in his mind she was likely older) stood beside him, dressed in a fashionable dark dress with her gray hair pulled back into such a severe bun that her wealth couldn't be denied just by looking at her.

"Are you sure it's safe?" she asked him quietly, knowing there were others in the room behind them and, if one of them overheard, and it leaked to the media, all their efforts would be wasted.

"There were some…issues," Lazarus admitted, "They've been resolved. I'm confident I'm in no serious danger."

"That's comforting, Richard, but it wasn't just you I was worried about," she rolled her eyes.

Something that he mirrored though with a bit more distaste, "Your concern is touching."

"The people in that room will represent billions of pounds' worth of potential investment," she hissed at him, sensing he wasn't taking this seriously, "Mr. Saxon wants to be sure they like what they see. His representatives will be there, watching, waiting to report back, and if this goes wrong…"

"Don't worry. Our friend will get his money's worth."

"Professor Lazarus?" a voice called behind them and they turned to see Tish walking towards them with a small file in her hand, "You wanted to see the guest list for tonight?"

"Yes," he grinned lecherously at her, "Thank you, Leticia," he reached down just as she pressed the file onto his desk, resting his hand on top of hers to keep her from turning away, "That's an interesting perfume. What's it called?"

"Soap."

His grin faltered and slowly began to fall into a deep scowl as Tish pulled her hand away and strode out of the office.

The old woman behind him snorted, "Shall you be able to keep your focus for tonight? Or shall I have to find someone to cover young Leticia's role for the time being?"

He gave her a sharp look for that, "It will be fine," he nearly hissed at her, "Tonight's going to be…perfection."

~8~

"Tonight's going to be a nightmare," a young woman breathed as she sat before another, slightly older woman who was putting the last touches on the long, blonde hair of the girl before her.

"What makes you say that?" the woman asked, not sounding concerned.

"I dunno," the blonde sighed, swallowing hard, crossing her arms and squeezing her elbows, "Just…a feeling. I can't shake it," she looked up at the woman, "Why can't you go instead?"

"I thought you wanted to go tonight?" the woman frowned, stepping back and setting down the curling iron she'd been using, picking up some hairspray. She put her hand over the girl's forehead, keeping the spray from her eyes as she gently used the can on her hair, "You ASKED to be the one to go tonight."

"I know," the blonde murmured, "I'm just…nervous, I suppose."

The woman paused a moment before placing the hairspray back, a gentle, understanding look in her eyes, "Another nightmare?"

"No," the blonde shook her head, "No, it was...it was a nice dream last night," she smiled softly at that.

"You dreamed of him again?" the woman smirked playfully, recognizing the softness in the girl's eyes and smile, one she always got when a particular person appeared in her dreams, "Your Dream Lord?"

The blonde blushed at the tease, "Just a bit," she mumbled.

The woman laughed, "Perhaps he'll be there tonight then. All the more reason for you to go."

"I just…I don't understand why I was allowed to go. 'Changing what it means to be human?' I can't understand why anyone would want to do that. And if they DO change being human, what do they become then? A bird? A fish? A...a scorpion? I know nothing about…about whatever it is this professor bloke's actually trying to do."

"I think you know quite a bit about it, actually," she gave the blonde a pointed look.

"Not like that," she argued, "It just…happens. I don't know the science behind it. And…and YOU'RE the partner in all this, you're the one the photographers would be looking for and…"

"And that's just why," the woman gave her a smile, "It gets tiring after a while, being photographed. You haven't been much, you'd have a better time of it tonight. Listen," she crouched down before the blonde, taking her hands, "You don't have to do anything, talk to anyone, say anything. We've been assured that the press will be controlled during this, it won't be so bad. And…it'll be good for you to get out, be around other people."

The blonde sighed but nodded, "You're worrying about me," she said softly.

"We both are," the woman agreed, "You've been getting anxious lately, not sleeping well, absent minded," she eyed her, hesitating, "You're lonely…"

"No I'm not," she shook her head, insistent, "I have you and…"

"I know," the woman cut in gently, "I meant that you've spent your whole life one way and it's all been uprooted. We can't give you that part of your life back, but, maybe, someone else can. You just need to go out there and see if it's possible."

"And you think I'll find it tonight?"

"Don't you?" she gave the blonde a pointed look, "Come on," she stood, leading the blonde over to a full length mirror a few feet away, placing her before it, putting her hands on the blonde's shoulders as she stood behind her, smiling a little at how the girl before her looked only a year or two younger than herself, yet was so much older in reality, "You look beautiful."

The blonde blushed slightly as she looked at herself. She was very happy with her outfit and appearance, happy she'd agreed to let the woman behind her do it. If she let anyone else, she'd end up with far too much extravagance and makeup. She liked simple things and that was what she was now. Her dress was simple, knee-length, strapless but fitted, white. And over that was a sort of lacy, dark blue covering with little feather patterns worked into the lace. It was fitted to fall over the white dress, but also gave her 3/4 length sleeves and a round neckline. It was lovely and simple. Her hair was equally so, blonde, long, just lightly curled, her makeup barely there, just gloss for her lips and a hint of eyeshadow to bring out the green of her eyes, the shade making the small little gold flecks within stand out more, and just a hint of blush.

She reached up and touched the woman's hand, squeezing it, "Thank you."

The woman squeezed her shoulders, "Just be safe tonight," she murmured, "If you feel like it'll be a nightmare, if you have a bad feeling about it, be careful. And call us," she turned the blonde to face her, "Anything goes wrong, let us know, we'll come for you."

The blonde nodded, leaning in to hug the woman tightly.

~8~

Martha nearly laughed at how the Doctor was fussing with a cuff on his black suit while they walked down the street and towards Lazarus Labs where a gathering was being held. After the Doctor had returned, they'd looked up Lazarus on her laptop and gotten an idea of what his experiment tonight would be, at least in the sense that they found out WHERE it would be and when and the Doctor had decided, with a little help from the psychic paper, that they ought to crash it and see what was going on. That was where they were headed now.

The Doctor had wanted to sneak in there beforehand, but she'd reminded him with all the preparations, they'd be noticed in no time flat as the only people there would be the ones that were working on the experiment. It was best to wait till later, till that night when the party was starting and slip in that way, there would be guests aplenty and no one would notice two new people in the crowd. He'd begrudgingly agreed, even less so to the fact that they'd have to dress the part and actually wear black tie and formal clothing. She was wearing a lovely little plum colored dress with no sleeves, went to her knees, along with some heels. If she might have been hoping that the Doctor would compliment her on her choice, she was mistaken to do so as he'd spent the entire time trying to make his own suit work for him.

He'd, somehow, nearly strangled himself trying to get the black bowtie on till she stepped in and got it fixed for him.

She silently prayed that a day never came where he switched his longer tie to a bowtie, he'd probably end up choking himself.

"Oh, black tie," she looked over when she heard the Doctor mumbling under his breath, "Whenever I wear this, something bad always happens."

"It's not the outfit, that's just you," she teased, "Anyway, I think it suits you. In a James Bond kind of way."

For a moment he didn't seem pleased with that comparison, "James Bond?" but then he shrugged, "Really?"

She rolled her eyes and shook her head at him, walking on, only to stop a moment later when she realized he wasn't beside her any longer. She turned back to see him standing there with a frown on his face, staring at the entrance to the labs just across the street, still with one arm curled against him and his other hand on his cuff.

"Need me to fix that for you?" she asked, not quite sure why he'd stopped.

But the Doctor's frown just deepened, the line of his brow furrowing as he stared past her. She glanced over her shoulder, but there was nothing there but the labs and the line of people starting to be admitted in. There were quite a few of them, most of the older variety though she did spot a younger man or woman or two. There was a ginger man in a gray suit, an Asian woman in a deep red gown, two more middle-aged men following a blonde girl in a blue and white dress into the labs, all of them following the older crowd into the halls. There was nothing remarkable about the sight.

She shook her head and turned back to the Doctor, "Doctor?"

"Hmm?" he snapped his gaze back to her, "Sorry, what?"

"Everything alright?" she raised an eyebrow at him, "Need help with your cuff?" she repeated, pointing at it for good measure.

"Oh, um," he looked at his cuff, almost seeming confused as to why he'd stopped fixing it, and back to the labs, on the cusp of falling back to his distraction, before shaking his head firmly, "Yeah, yeah, if you could, that'd be great thanks."

She nodded, stepping up to him and working on his cuff, not seeing how he stared past her and at the labs again.

He couldn't help it though, there was just…something off about it. It was like a niggle in the back of his head and it felt like it was coming from the labs. But it was impossible, a niggle like that? He hadn't felt it in over a hundred years, it was nothing, nothing at all. It was just a lingering, phantom niggle from what he'd been thinking earlier that day.

It wasn't like there was a Time Lord in there.

~8~

Martha wasn't sure what was going on with the Doctor at the moment. He'd been talking as they'd walked into the lab, but it had seemed forced, almost like he was purposefully babbling away about the history of the black suit and the human tradition of wearing one, and then he'd just…stopped. They'd set foot into the main reception area where all the other guests were and he'd just stopped. Not even stopped, his jaw hadn't popped shut, he hadn't stuttered to a halt, his mouth was even still hanging open but he wasn't saying anything.

"Doctor?" she asked, "Are you sure you're ok? Is everything alright?"

But he didn't answer, he just kept staring out into the crowd.

She followed his gaze to a large white box that was set up in the middle of the room just as a blonde woman walked around behind it. It was about the size of a refrigerator, she'd guess, with a series of four white beams surrounding it, all attached to the top of the box by a curved piece of metal. She was about to ask what it was, when she'd heard a voice to her side call her and saw her sister hurrying over.

The Doctor fell deaf to the greeting and conversation that Martha was having with her sister, he was only vaguely aware of Martha mentioning his name in introduction and giving some sort of excuse for him being there with her. He was staring but he wasn't sure at what. The niggle was worse now, more like an itch in his head that he couldn't scratch. His mind had to be playing tricks on him though, it had to be, there were NO other Time Lords left alive, his actions on Gallifrey had made sure of that.

It had to be his mind, all in his mind. Yes. It was a combination of Rose's departure, of Lazarus's remark on changing humanity, of Martha's hope of not having to leave him. It was just combining to remind him just how lonely he was, how much he wanted another Time Lord around, it had to be that. And he had to stop it. He had to focus. Because he did recognize that white box that he was absently trying to stare through, he knew what it was and if a human tried to make something like that now, the chance of it succeeding were slim to none. And if that thing was going to be activated tonight, he might have to stop it. To do that he couldn't afford to get distracted by a niggle that didn't actually exist, an itch that couldn't exist.

"That thing over there," he spoke, nodding at the white box, not even sure what Martha and Tish were talking about anymore or what topic he might have interrupted, he just needed to be sure, "Is that a sonic microfield manipulator?"

"He's a science geek," Tish remarked, "I should've known," but instead of answering the question, she merely turned back to her sister, "Gotta get back to work now. I'll catch up with you later."

"I take it that means she didn't know?" the Doctor looked at Martha, when another voice called out, distracting her once again.

"Mum!"

The Doctor nearly scoffed when he saw Martha run for an older woman in a golden dress and hug her tightly, so NOW she wanted to be around her mother? Humans, they were so odd.

He looked back to the side, staring hard at the white box, feeling his attention pulled towards it once more but…for some reason…he almost felt like his focus was just directed in that direction. He almost wished Time Lords had developed the ability to see through things, that way he'd at least be able to see what was behind the white box. Not that there was anything there at all, nothing at all, because that niggle didn't exist and the way his mind kept returning to that box it had to mean that something in him knew that this experiment wasn't going to work and was trying to tell him that. That was the reason he kept looking at the box, it had to be.

Now if he could just focus enough to…

"…just the Doctor," he heard Martha speaking and turned his attention away from the box and over to her, realizing that she'd been talking to her mother and, what appeared to be, her brother about him while he'd been standing there, rudely ignoring the rest of them, "We've been doing some work together."

"Yeah," he blinked, feeling utterly lost about exactly what Martha might have said about him before this, "Alright," he reached out to shake Martha's brother's, Leo if he remembered correctly, hand, taking it as a good sign that the boy wasn't trying to punch him like the mothers of his companions tended to slap him. And, speaking of mothers, best to make a good impression, "Lovely to meet you, Mrs. Jones," he turned to shake the woman's hand as well, "Heard a lot about you."

He didn't quite think that it was the wrong thing to say in such a situation, though the pursing of the woman's lips and how she started to narrow her eyes at him made him reconsider that, he was actually really rubbish at dealing with people, humans especially, came from being an alien.

"Have you?" the woman did not sound impressed, "What have you heard, then?"

"Oh, you know," he started to scratch the back of his neck in nerves, "That you're Martha's mother and…um…no, actually, that's…that's about it," he sighed, defeated in that he'd been caught, "We haven't had much time to chat, you know, been busy."

The wince that Martha gave at his words made him think he'd just said something very wrong, though he couldn't for the life of him figure out what that was or why.

"Busy?" the woman appeared on the edge of slapping him now, "Doing what, exactly?!"

It was then that he realized exactly what the woman had inferred from his answers and did his best not to blush or stutter…and failed miserably at both, "Oh…you know…stuff."

Fortune must have been smiling at him for not even a moment later, just a single second before Mrs. Jones could start to berate him or cause a scene for what she thought he and Martha had got up to, a soft pinging noise echoed through the room, above the din of the various guest chatter, coming from a glass that Professor Lazarus himself was holding in his hand and tapping with a knife as he stood on a platform before the white box.

"Ladies and gentlemen," he smiled, the room having to fall deadly silent to be able to hear the weak-voiced man, "I am Professor Richard Lazarus and tonight I'm going to perform a miracle. It is, I believe, the most important advance since Rutherford split the atom, the biggest leap since Armstrong stood on the moon. Tonight, you will watch and wonder. Tomorrow, you'll awake to a world which will be changed forever."

He gave the crowd a short, stiff bow, before stepping down from the platform and walking towards the white box that one of his young, female assistants had opened for him, before the woman turned to join her partner in starting up the machine at a bank of controls to the side.

The Doctor watched with a frown, fighting against the itching in his mind that was taunting him to look at the crowd instead. A high-pitched whir began as a bright blue light started to surround the box, the four white pillars around it spinning themselves and racing around the box as well. Thankfully the niggling in his mind quieted suddenly when a high-pitched squeal began to ring out along with the whir, an alarm.

"Something's wrong!" the Doctor cried, twisting to look over at the control bank where the two women were scrambling to try and stop the box, "It's overloading!" he dashed over to them as the panels began to spark, leaping over the side of one and flashing his sonic around, but nothing was working.

"Somebody stop him!" the woman who had stood with Lazarus shouted, turning to look at the few guards they had stationed in the room, "Get him away from those controls!"

"If this thing goes off, it'll take the whole building with it!" he snapped, not even casting a glance at the woman, instead choosing to focus on stopping the imminent explosion, "Is that what you want?" he grit his teeth when the sonic failed to stop the controls and turned to the powercords, yanking one out of the main control hub and looking straight to the white box, nearly heaving with relief when the spinning and the blue light began to slow and fade. But that lasted only a second before he was jumping over the controls again, calling out to Martha, "Get it open!"

Martha jumped and dashed ahead to the door of the white box, prying it open just as the Doctor reached her, releasing steam from the box and stumbling back when a younger man who looked a good deal like Lazarus stepped out.

The man, now appearing 40 years old, grinned, feeling his wrinkle-free face before casting his arms out wide, "Ladies and gentlemen, I am Richard Lazarus. I am 76 years old and I am reborn!"

The Doctor could only gape at the man as camera flashes went off around the room, Lazarus laughing in glee.

Though one young blonde woman in a blue and white dress cautiously stepped further and further away even as the crowd drew nearer to the professor, staring at him with wide, worried eyes.

~8~

As various guests and investors flocked around Lazarus a short while later, his partner walked among the crowd, grinning widely as she saw people examining the contraption that Richard had built, laughing to herself when she heard people whispering about wanting to test it out, wanting to buy their own versions of it. She paused, however, when she saw a young blonde woman standing at the edge of a buffet table, a small glass of wine in her hand. She didn't appear to be drinking it, more just holding it as she stared across the way at Lazarus himself while he had his photo taken with a few guests. She would have laughed at the sight, young women all around the room were now eyeing the man differently, had it not been for the fact that the girl wasn't looking at him in that sort of fashion but with a frown.

"Everything alright, my dear?" she made her way over to the girl.

"Lady Thaw," the woman greeted with a small smile, shaken from her thoughts, nearly jumping when the words had been spoken.

"That was quite an event, wasn't it?" Thaw beamed.

"Yes," the woman responded hesitantly, "That was…something," her gaze drew back to Lazarus as she spoke.

Thaw's lips pursed, sensing an unease in her tone. And unease, especially from the girl before her, would not do well for business. Too much rested on this night being a success, and the girl…she could ruin everything with a simple word to the right person.

"It was utterly fascinating," Thaw continued, "Truly astonishing, don't you think?"

"I suppose," she hesitated to answer.

"You don't have to lie to me, my dear girl," Thaw forced a laugh, turning to link her arms with the young woman's, if there was one thing she was good at in this world it was schmoozing and winning people over, how else would Richard have gotten his funding if not for her charisma? "I can tell you have some misgivings about what just happened."

"That machine was going to explode," she murmured, though her gaze didn't move from Lazarus, not even to glimpse the box, "Something went wrong."

"Oh posh," Thaw waved her off, "Forgive me for saying so, my dear, but you don't seem the scientific sort. You couldn't possibly know for sure."

"I don't," she agreed, "But your equipment did, the alarms were going off…"

"A minor glitch," Thaw cut in gently, "You can rest assured that we would do many more tests before allowing other members of the public to try it."

The woman shifted at that, "Human nature isn't something to be trifled with," she murmured, "You are human for a reason, and to be human is incredible," she glanced at Thaw, "Why would you want to be anything else?"

"Oh my dear girl," Thaw laughed, "The machine doesn't change anything, save to make us a bit younger," she smiled genially, "We'll all still be as human when we step out as we were going in."

The woman finally looked at the box instead of Lazarus, hesitating to speak her fearful thoughts. She couldn't shake the sinking feeling in her stomach that told her that no, they wouldn't be quite as human.

"If you have concerns," Thaw continued, seeing the woman's expression growing more concerned instead of reassured, "I'm sure Richard would be more than happy to enlighten you. Shall we join him?" she gestured at her partner.

The girl glanced over, seeing that he appeared to be speaking to some guests that had their backs to them, "No," she answered, a little too quickly, "He's…he's busy, at the moment, no," she shook her head, swallowing hard, trying to keep her voice from shaking, "I'll…talk to him later?" she looked at Thaw, "If that's alright?"

Thaw nodded, "Of course dear," she smiled again, this time more forced, as though she could tell the girl truly had no desire at all to speak to the man, "I'm sure he'll appreciate your thoughtfulness in not wishing to disturb his moment."

The girl gave Thaw a small smile and nod, watching as the woman walked off, thankful she hadn't insisted upon speaking to the man just yet. She didn't know what sort of excuse she could come up with to keep that from happening. She didn't even know WHY she didn't want to talk to Lazarus, he was…she didn't know, but something in her, every instinct inside of her, was telling her to get as far away from him as possible.

Because he was just…wrong.

He was wrong, so very, VERY wrong.

She shook her head and took a sip of her drink, only to grimace a moment later and spit it back into her cup.

"Urgh," she groaned under her breath, "That's terrible, that's nothing like the gums," she set the cup down and picked up a napkin, dabbing at her tongue as she walked away, trying to find something that tasted less wretched to drink, and, if it brought her farther away from Lazarus and his box, that was all the better.

~8~

Lady Thaw stepped up beside Lazarus as he chatted with a few guests. She knew she should have waited, should have let them reach a break in the conversation before she interrupted, but there was something she had to speak to him about. There were…concerns about the box and its viability and its safety and he would need to make some sort of demonstration, speak to a few key people and reassure them before they'd be able to take their plans to the next level. The sooner they did that the better.

"Excuse me," she smiled at the guests, placing a hand on Lazarus's arm to turn him away for a private word, "That was the most astonishing thing I've ever seen. Look at you!"

"This is only the beginning," Lazarus beamed, "We're not just making history, we're shaping the future, too."

"Think of the money we'll make. People will sell their souls to be transformed like that. And I'll be first in line!"

Lazarus winced, cracking his neck loudly with a gasp of pain before he spotted a waiter passing with a tray of hors d'oeuvres. Before he knew it, he'd walked over and snatched the whole tray up, starting to gobble each and every little nibble on the plate down.

"Richard!" Thaw cried, horrified at his behavior.

All he could say in his defense was, "I'm famished!"

"Energy deficit," a voice spoke, making the two look over to see the Doctor and Martha approaching, the Doctor nodding his head at Lazarus in greeting, "Always happens with this kind of process."

"You speak as if you see this every day, Mr.…" Lazarus eyed the Doctor critically.

"Doctor," he replied, "And, well, no, not every day, but I have some experience in this kind of transformation."

Lazarus snorted at that, "That's not possible."

The Doctor shrugged as though he hadn't expected Lazarus to believe him anyway, "Using hypersonic sound waves to create a state of resonance. That's…that's inspired."

That seemed to win him some approval though, "You understand the theory, then?"

"Enough to know that you couldn't possibly have allowed for all the variables."

"No experiment is entirely without risk."

"That thing nearly exploded!" the Doctor almost shouted, making Lady Thaw roll her eyes, he was the second person to grouse to her about the supposed dangers the machine possessed, "You might as well have stepped into a blender."

"You're not qualified to comment," Thaw replied snippily, not needing to be nearly as polite to this man as she did other guests. She didn't recognize him so he had to be some sort of obscure investor or scientist or a family member of one of the other guests. She was certain neither she nor Richard invited him and there was no way he'd have gotten if it hadn't been a plus one of some sort.

"If I hadn't stopped it, it would have exploded," the Doctor repeated.

"Then I thank you, Doctor," Lazarus chuckled, "But that's a simple engineering issue. What happened inside the capsule was exactly what was supposed to happen. No more, no less."

"You've no way of knowing that until you've run proper tests," Martha agreed with the Doctor.

Thaw let out a huff of air at that, truly, it was just this case and that girl, they were the only ones that seemed to have such an issue with their successful experiment.

Lazarus took it better than she did, letting out a laugh instead of a huff, "Look at me! You can see what happened. I'm all the proof you need."

"This device will be properly certified before we start to operate commercially," Thaw nearly repeated the words she'd said to the young woman from before, honestly that should be all the reassurance that they needed!

But Martha just seemed horrified, "Commercially?! You are joking. That'll cause chaos!"

"Not chaos," Lazarus shook his head, "Change. A chance for humanity to evolve, to improve."

"This isn't about improving," the Doctor defended, "It's about you and your customers living a little longer."

Lazarus didn't even deny it, "Not a little longer, Doctor. A lot longer. Perhaps indefinitely."

"Richard," Thaw cut in, having had enough of this berating, "We have things to discuss. Upstairs."

The trio watched as she turned and walked away, her nose held so high in the air that they were sure she couldn't even see where she was going.

Still, Lazarus moved to follow, "Goodbye, Doctor. In a few years, you'll look back and laugh at how wrong you were," he quickly reached out and took Martha's hand in his own, bestowing a kiss to the back of it, giving her a wink for good measure, before following his partner away.

"Ooh, he's out of his depth," the Doctor shook his head once they'd gotten out of earshot, "No idea of the damage he might have done."

"So what do we do now?" Martha turned to him, ready to help.

"Now…well, this building must be full of laboratories. I say we do our own tests."

Martha grinned and held up her hand, "Lucky I've just collected a DNA sample then, isn't it?"

The Doctor beamed at that, letting out a happy laugh, "Oh, Martha Jones, you're a star!"

The two of them dashed off through the crowd, brushing past a young blonde woman in a white and blue dress, a woman who tensed and turned slowly, her green eyes growing impossibly wide as she saw who had passed her. Her breath caught in her throat as her gaze latched onto the man in the black suit, with the brown sticky-uppy hair, and she stared as though she couldn't believe she was seeing what she was. She gasped only when they disappeared from sight through a door. She turned, maneuvering her way through the crowd in the opposite direction the two had gone, not looking up as she dug through the small clutch she'd been given yet not bumping into a single person. She moved over to a small corner of the hall, as quiet a place as she'd be able to find and pulled a mobile out, pressing it to call out on speed dial and held it to her ear.

"What's wrong?" was the instant reply on the other end, a masculine voice ringing in her ear with a seriousness and concern that would have made her smile of she hadn't been in shock.

"He's here," she swallowed hard, "The man from my dream. He's HERE."

There was a soft chuckle on the other end, "Have you said hello yet?"

"No."

"Rude," he tsked playfully.

She pouted at that, "I haven't spoken to him at all yet."

"Well get to it!"

She hesitated though, "I…can't."

There was silence on the other end, "Why not?"

She glanced around at the people surrounding her and lowered her voice, "What if he doesn't like me?"

The silence was longer this time, but was followed with another soft chuckle, "I like you."

"But…"

"And if I like you," he sighed, almost sounding…sad, "Trust me...he'll love you."

She smiled at that, "You really think so?"

"Let's just say, 'I have a feeling.'"

"That's my line," she teased with a small laugh, feeling better.

"Got you to smile though, didn't it?"

She shook her head at that, but the fact was, she WAS smiling now, "You…you really think he'll like me? You're not just saying that?"

"I do," she could almost hear the nod in his voice, "You're…an angel. Even a Dalek would love you."

She looked down, really smiling now, before nodding to herself, "I'll go talk to him now," she determined, "Thank you Harry."

A/N: What? What?! WHAT! Harry? Hmmm...there are quite a few 'Harrys' in Doctor Who that would likely know a fair bit about Daleks though...I wonder which one this is? }:) Virtual cookie to anyone who guesses who this particular Harry is and virtual cupcakes to anyone that guesses who the woman that was helping the 'blonde' get ready before was ;)

And woo! I had posted on my tumblr when I hit 1000 followers a little 'teaser' that related to Angel ('Thank you Harry'), I hope those of you who saw it are squealing a bit now that you know where it came from ;) Series 8 and writing it for Angel, with the Master being around again, really got me excited for the prospect of starting this story in Series 3 because of the Master being there too and it made me really want to write and post this AU in particular for a few reasons we'll see ;)

Also, I've been considering titles for all the other AUs, even though I've only started the Professor and Angel's for now, I was thinking of keeping with the pattern I started with the Professor. Her AUs are 'Rewritten: Series 1' and 'Rewritten: Series 2' and so on, I think I'd like to keep that trend going with the other AUs. So this story will be 'Déjà Vu: Series 3' and the next will be 'Déjà Vu: Series 4' and so on :) I DO have a secondary title in mind for another AU (an AAU lol) I'll be posting of Angel's one day, but 'Déjà Vu' will be the designated one for this particular AU :) I feel like it relates well to the small AU changes that I'm making, especially with it starting in Series 3 it'll leave some feelings of déjà vu as we go ;)

So...Boom! Angel's back! ^-^

I have to say though, it'll depend a lot on the reaction to this AU starting that'll determine if I keep posting every other Saturday (at least for the rest of this year) or if I'll delete the story and just focus on Rewritten. On one hand I should probably focus just on one AU and get it done sooner, but on the other hand, it might be nice to see two AUs playing out and break things up a bit this year, and this AU has been really digging into me and demanding to be written/posted lol :) I hope you all enjoyed this chapter though :)

For a quick reference, I picture Angel (the 'blonde') to look something like her original 9th self, which is someone similar to Laura Vandervoort ;)