I LOST ACCESS TO MY ACCOUNT AS MEPOND, SO I OPENED THIS ONE. SORRY I JUST GOT AROUND TO REPOSTING MY WORK, BUT I WANTED THE NEXT CHAPTER OF THIS ONE READY TO GO FIRST. IT'S THE ONE YOU'VE ALL BEEN WAITING ON THE LONGEST. I'M ALSO MAKING SURE THERE ARE NO GLARING ERRORS BEFORE POSTING ANY OF IT. IF ANYONE SPOTS SOMETHING, PLEASE LET ME KNOW IN A CONSTRUCTIVE WAY.

Enter, The Doctor

Chapter 1: What?!

Summary: YAHF: Xander picks up something that isn't a gun in Ethan's shop.

Note: This is a little off from real life, because I don't know enough about the earlier Doctors, and I wanted this to be David Tennant's incarnation. So, even though the reboot started in 2005, I'm pretending that Xander could be watching it anyway. That said, I'm not changing the timelines from inside the shows, only the outside. "Rose" still happens in 2005, and "Halloween" still happens in 1997. It's time travel!

Xander wandered around the shop looking through what he thought he could afford in the toys and guns section while Buffy tried to convince Willow to go all out for Halloween. Good luck with that. He knew she wasn't really ready to be all out there. She'd be stunning when she was, though, no doubt. He had all kinds of respect for his oldest friend, and he knew that once she got over her shy, she was going to be magnificent.

He had a set of fatigues from the army surplus store and he was really just looking for a gun to go with them, figuring he could afford something that simple. Not that he didn't wish he could afford something better, but that was the way it went. Money wasn't about to start growing on trees, even in Sunnydale.

He had just found the toy M-16, when he spotted it. No way! But it was. He grabbed the little toy with the blue light on the end of it. Sure, it was just a flashlight. But it was made to look like a sonic screwdriver, one from the most recent season of Doctor Who! Ever since they had rebooted the British scifi series, Xander had watched it avidly, surprised at first that a British TV show could be so good, then just glad that Giles had BBC America. It was the one thing British that Giles and Xander could both agree on.

He thought hard. His Dad had one decent suit, chocolate brown, and he could come up with a collared shirt and tie. It wasn't pinstriped, and he couldn't afford Converse sneakers, but he could buy the screwdriver and a pair of fake square-framed glasses here. Then he'd just need to figure out his hair. Perfect!

So Buffy went home with an eighteenth-century dress, Willow went home with a ghost costume just like Xander had known she would, and he went home with a screwdriver and a pair of brainy specs. At least two of them would look good tomorrow night.

Early the next night. . .

The Doctor blinked and looked around. What?! How had he gotten here? Where was here, anyway? And what were those things?!

All over what appeared to be a typical late 20th-early 21st century American street in late October, small monsters of many different species were running abound and attacking costumed human children and adults. He took out his sonic and ran a quick scan over one little monster as it ran past him. Oh, that was interesting! They were actually all human, but something else had been laid over the top. The child was still there, but the monster was on the outside of them. Almost as if-his eyes widened as a horrible thought occurred to him. He scanned himself, and sure enough, the Time Lord was only a facade over a young human, about sixteen or seventeen years old.

He must have stopped breathing because he felt his respiratory bypass kick in. He felt normal, but—yes, he could sense that human mind, just under the surface. Quickly he skimmed the boy's thoughts. He was understandably stressed, but seemed all right. This wasn't like the situation with Cassandra, so he wouldn't be squishing the boy out of existence in his own head. He also sensed the contact, and more, he understood what it meant. Doctor? I'm sorry! I had no idea this was going to happen when I dressed up as you for Halloween!

Quickly the Doctor calmed the boy down. That's all right, really. I'm flattered. Can you tell me your name?

The boy pulled himself together. Right. Sorry. Name's Xander. Hey, is that Willow?

He paid more attention to his surroundings, and spotted a provocatively dressed girl headed in their general direction. She spotted him and yelled, "Xander!"

The Doctor shook his head. This was going to get complicated quickly. "Hello, Willow, was it?"

"Xander?"

"Well, sort of. He's here, but I kind of got wrapped around him somehow." He held his hand out to her. "I'm the Doctor."

She moved to shake his hand automatically, but her hand passed right through it. "Oh!"

From inside him, Xander cursed, fluently. She dressed as a ghost! Does that mean she's dead?

"Xander, calm down. Willow, Xander tells me you dressed as a ghost. I think you'd better show me where you left the rest of yourself."

"Right, and Xander dressed as the Doctor. So I guess you're really the Doctor? The Time Lord? Oh, this is bad. We need-" Then she spotted someone. "Buffy!" She ran toward a raven-haired girl in 18th century dress. Seriously, she could have walked out of a ball or the court of George III. And she looked utterly bewildered. The Doctor scanned her, and sure enough, she was simply laid over the top of a different person, one identical in face and form, but different in mind and hair color. "Buffy, are you okay?"

A roar behind them made the Doctor whip around. Two large monsters were right there, and he quickly changed the setting on the sonic to emit a high pitched screech at volume. The sound was excruciating, and the monsters left. He turned back around and found that the young noblewoman had collapsed in a faint. He shook his head. There was a reason he didn't take his traveling companions from that era. "All right, let's get her out of the street. Willow, where did you leave yourself? I need to check on you, as well."

With that he knelt down and picked the girl up. She was quite small, and no trouble to carry, but he carried her over his shoulder to keep one hand free to use the sonic if need be.

As they ran, Willow said, "Is Buffy okay?"

"She's fine, she just fainted. You, I'm not sure of. Now leg it!"

Finally realizing that he was worried about her, Willow ran back to the old woman's porch. Her body lay there, still covered by the sheet he hoped wouldn't become her shroud. He sat Buffy down, where she groaned a little. Good that she was all right, but right now he was much more worried about Willow. He took up the sheet and got it to where she could use it for a pillow. It was very disconcerting, having the spirit behind him and the body in front. He checked her pulse while he ran a quick scan. "No pulse, but-" He read his scan. "Yes! Your body is in some kind of suspended animation. It's being generated by the same energy that's holding me over your friend here and holding that noblewoman over your friend Buffy. In fact, all of these monsters seem to have been created by it."

Xander said, That's freaky! But Willow's gonna be okay?

"Yes, Xander, she'll be fine. But it really is dangerous out here. We need to get both your body and the young lady indoors."

Willow shook her head. "I don't understand. Buffy is the strongest person I know."

"Buffy's not the one in front, though. Right now, you're not talking to your friend Xander. You're talking to me. It'll be the same with her when she wakes up. Which she seems to be doing now." He turned to the other girl, who was beginning to regain consciousness. "Hello, there. I'm the Doctor. How's your head?"

The girl was still a little out of it, but she said, "It doesn't hurt, but it spins, a bit. Where am I? Who are you?"

"I'm the Doctor, as I said. And your name?"

"Elizabeth MacSumrhadh. Doctor who? And who is she?"

"We're friends, and right now we're all in very real danger. We're going to a safe place, but you're going to have to keep up. Do you think you can do that?"

"But your dress, and hers! Why is she naked?" Xander laughed, having heard that line before.

He raised an eyebrow at her. "You're not related to the English royal family are you?"

Confused, she said, "No, why?"

Infected by Xander's laughter, he chuckled and shook his head. "No reason. Come on, up you get." He helped the girl to stand up, then turned to Willow. "We need a safe place, and we need information."

In unison, Xander and Willow said, "Giles." Willow continued. "He's got the best information on spells and demons. And I'm betting this is a spell, not a demon."

Now the Doctor was confused. "What? Why?"

Oblivious to his confusion, Willow said, "Because the effect is very widespread, but still doesn't affect everyone. See, there's still real people out here. Of course, it could be a demon casting a spell. You never know around here."

Xander agreed. Yeah, Doc. I know you're used to looking for aliens, but that's not the way it works here.

"Magic and demons?" He could tell the boy was telling the truth, close as their psyches were, but magic was just not a force he was used to reckoning with.

Here, they're real. In that parallel universe, the Hindenburg never crashed, so there were zeppelins everywhere.

"Right, but that's just a minor difference. What would cause-oh! Carrionites! In this universe the Carrionites must never have been defeated, or at least not before they started exploring the universe. They must have reached Earth at some point and got the early humans to follow them, or at least some of them. Well, that does change things. I wonder what else is different."

Willow had been watching him, and said, "You know that's creepy, right? Talking to yourself and answering?"

Xander and the Doctor both said, "You're a ghost!"

She looked sheepish at that. "Oh, yeah."

Suddenly Elizabeth started screaming about a demon. They all turned to look. An SUV drove hurriedly down the road, trying to avoid the mini monsters. "That's not a demon," said Willow. "That's a car."

Elizabeth was hiding behind the Doctor. "What does it want?"

He shook his head. Xander said, And we thought Buffy was blonde.

Silently the Doctor agreed, but that wouldn't help matters. Besides, Rose was blonde, and she was quite capable and sensible. "It's a machine, child. You've been brought to the future by accident. Now we're going to go to someone named Giles, presumably a person with more knowledge about this particular threat than I have. We're going to have to run, all right?"

Elizabeth frowned. "Can't you carry me? Or—or find a steed?"

He shook his head. Priorities. "No time for the steed, and I've got to carry the body of this girl. See, the magic of the night, the same that brought me from the future and you from the past forced her out of her body. We can't allow the body to become damaged if she is to return to it when this has all been reversed. Now, I don't want to leave you here, but-"

"No!" she said quickly. Visibly rallying, she said, "I-I can run."

He gave her a brilliant smile, knowing that it was taking a great deal of courage not to utterly depend on the man of the group. "Brilliant!" He picked up Willow's body, and settled it over his shoulder, just as he had carried Elizabeth before. "Willow? Lead the way."

She squared her shoulders, and said, "Right. This way." The Doctor and Elizabeth followed her toward the high school.

Not too much distance or time had passed before a woman's screaming attracted their eyes. Willow shouted, "Cordelia!"

Sure enough, there was a woman in a very tight cat costume being chased by a not-so-costumed Yeti. Briefly, the memory of fighting robot versions of the creatures in his second body skittered across his consciousness, but he quickly thrust all thoughts of Jamie, Victoria and Tibet away from his mind. This was a much more organic creature, anyway.

She spotted their group, as well. "Xander! Help me!"

Telepathically, so as not to embarrass the boy, the Doctor said, Why are all your friends girls? Then he shouted at Cordelia. "Come on!" She ran toward them, and the Doctor got his sonic ready. "Cover your ears!" The sound coming from the screwdriver was more than enough to get the blasted thing to back off. Then he shouted to it in perfect Tibetan to leave them the bloody hell alone.

Surprised and hurting from the sonic attack, the Yeti went in the opposite direction.

Out of breath, the costumed woman said, "What's going on?"

Willow said, "Okay, your name is Cordelia, you're not a cat, you're in high school, and we're your friends. Well, sort of." But the Doctor knew. This woman had not been affected by the magic. Finding out why not would be the key to unraveling this mystery.

Rolling her eyes, Cordelia said, "That's nice, Willow. And you went mental when?"

Surprised and excited, Willow said, "You know us?"

Cordelia huffed, "Yeah. Lucky me." Looking between Willow and the Doctor, she said, "What's with the name game?"

"A lot's going on."

"No kidding. I was just attacked by Jo-Jo, the Dog-Faced Boy. Look at my costume!" She showed them that the Yeti had torn her sleeve. "Do you really think that Partytown's gonna give me my deposit back? Not on the likely."

The Doctor interrupted her before her tirade could continue. "Wouldn't it be more sensible to have this conversation somewhere not crawling with magically animated costume creatures?"

Willow nodded. "Yeah, come with us. We're headed to the library. Giles should be able to figure this out."

"Who died and made you boss?"

Willow gave her a look, but just kept walking.

"Cordelia," said the Doctor. "Don't make jokes about dying tonight. I'm carrying her body, and if this doesn't get fixed, she might not be able to get back into it."

"Xander, what's with the British? You really have been hanging around Giles too long."

Xander bristled at her disregard of Willow's condition. Oh, Will might die, but I don't care 'cause I'm too 'Queen of the Populars'!

"Talk and run, Cordelia. We'll explain on the way, now shift!"

It wasn't long before they were joined by a person who instantly raised the Doctor's hackles. Xander didn't like Angel very much, but he acknowledged that the vampire was an ally, and completely in love with Buffy Summers.

The Doctor was never one to follow Time Lord law, but in the case of vampires, he could see the point of their kill-on-sight order. In his own universe, the Time Lords had wiped out the Great Vampires in a massive war after accidentally releasing them from their home universe. It hadn't stopped the creation of the Lesser Vampire races, including the vampires of Earth, the Saturnyne and the Plasmavore.

Angel had a soul, and he was on a mission of penance for all he had committed while that soul was absent, so the Doctor tamped down on his gut reaction based on Xander's honest assessment of the creature. It was a concept he understood well, that guilt toward one's crimes against the universe, and Angel seemed to be honest.

Soon, they arrived at the local high school, and he wondered how it could be that one of the best occult collections in North America was in a high school library. That was also where their luck with the monsters ran out. The monster was large, with huge bovine horns on either side of its head, and Elizabeth was understandably frightened. Angel moved to protect her, but in the process he revealed his demonic nature, and she absolutely freaked out, running off alone into the night.

Angel dealt with the beast by knocking it unconscious, not knowing if it was an affected human or a real demon and not wanting to take the chance, but the look on his face at Elizabeth's terror of him was enough to cement the Doctor's growing good will. He realized that Buffy was this man's Rose, the one who made him better, his love, and his redemption, but also facing the prospect of a dark future without her when eventually she died. The thought of seeing that look on Rose's face if she ever learned of his actions during the Time War-well, that was his greatest fear.

Angel desperately wanted to run off after Elizabeth, but the Doctor said, "Help me get Willow and Cordelia safe, and I'll help you look for her."

"You're not really Xander, though. You don't know the town like he does, so how are you going to help me?" Frustration and indecision played across the vampire's face.

"I'm not, but he's still in here, and I'm a telepath. We're able to talk to each other, so he can help as well."

Angel nodded. "All right. Let's go."

Giles had been looking forward to this quiet time. Halloween was traditionally a day of rest for the undead and demonic, a day they believed to be horribly commercialized by humans, and it wasn't something they wanted to participate in and make worse. Which meant Giles could catch up on his filing and paperwork without interference.

At least it meant that until Willow walked through a wall and nearly frightened him into an early grave. Catalogue cards went flying and completely inappropriate language may or may not have exploded out of his mouth.

Willow wrapped her arms around herself shyly, despite the very suggestive outfit she was wearing. "Hi."

It took him a bit to calm down, but she had time to explain that the town was under some kind of spell before Angel and Xander came into the library through much more conventional means; the door. Giles was quick to note that Xander was carrying a body. Willow's body. He laid it on an empty worktable as gently as he could.

Giles paled considerably, and Xander was at his side instantly. "Easy," he said with a southern English accent. "Have a seat before you topple. Now, I promise willow is very much alive. Her body is in suspended animation and her spirit is being projected out into the physical world. She'll be all right as long as we can find what's causing this and stop it."

Giles sat down obligingly, trying to stop his head from spinning. He couldn't help but stare at Willow's body, but Willow's ghost stepped in front to block his view. "Come on, Giles. We really need you."

Giles took a deep breath, letting out slowly to steady himself. He looked up at Xander, but he knew that it wasn't Xander he was talking to. "Who are you?"

"I'm the Doctor. Now I've promised to help find Elizabeth. She saw Angel's face and ran off, didn't believe he was on her side."

Giles shook his head with confusion. "Elizabeth?"

Willow said, "It's Buffy. She dressed up as this girl from the 18th century, and now she's all, 'I can't do anything without men.'"

Giles looked at Xander again. Brown suit, blue pinstripes, square-framed spectacles, and Converse trainers. Southern English accent. The Doctor. The Doctor! "Xander dressed as the Doctor? Wonderful. I have only one question for you before you go. When are you?"

The Time Lord raised an eyebrow at him in surprise. "Just got done visiting the coronation of Elizabeth II."

Giles nodded. "Understood. Can Xander hear us?"

"Yes, he's fully aware and he and I can talk. Why?"

"Xander, we're a bit ahead of him. Don't accidentally reveal anything he doesn't know."

The Doctor's eyes widened. A lot. "He understands. Blimey, thanks for the catch! All right, we'll be back. Cordelia, you stay here. It's safer. And we'll bring Elizabeth back here as well."

Giles nodded, then turned to the problem at hand as the alien and the vampire left the library. He couldn't believe it. The Doctor was in Sunnydale, however briefly!

Cordelia watched them go with a fist on her hip. "What's that guy's riff?"

Giles shrugged. "He's just very used to taking charge. It happens when one is a massively superior alien intelligence with nearly a thousand years of experience." He walked to where they'd laid Willow's body, wrapped in the sheet that was her costume, but for warmth, not to hide her. He gripped her hand. It was cold, and he shivered. "He was certain?"

Willow nodded. "Yeah. He scanned, ah, me with that little blinky light thing."

Giles gave her a watery smile. "Sonic screwdriver. Right. Now the question we have to answer is what's different in how you, Buffy and Xander dressed tonight and how Cordelia dressed. What did she do differently?"

"Besides have style and class?" snarked Cordelia.

Giles pulled a face. "Clearly we have very different ideas on that point. No, it can't be anything so subjective as looks. It has to be a concrete difference between the costumes themselves. What did Xander actually purchase?"

Willow shrugged. "Just the screwdriver thing and the glasses. I bought the—the ghost costume, and Buffy rented that dress."

Giles's head bobbed to the side in contemplation, and he took his glasses off to polish them. "And you, Cordelia?"

She glared at him. "It's a rental, okay? And Partytown is not going to be happy with me."

Willow perked up. "Partytown. That's what's different. We went to that new place, Ethan's."

The Doctor looked around as he and Angel hit another intersection. Bloody twisty little town! "Are you sure she came this way? My scans are useless with all this background interference."

Obviously very worried, Angel said, "No."

"Look, I'm sure she'll be all right," said the Doctor, trying to comfort the vampire. Odd, that.

But he knew better. "Buffy would be all right. Elizabeth is helpless." He caught a whiff of her scent, and a flicker of hope crossed his face. "C'mon!"

Just across the street, unnoticed by either searcher, William the Bloody knelt before a small group of temporary child demons. "Did you hear that, my friends? Somewhere out here is the tenderest meat you've ever tasted, and all we have to do is find her first!"

The name of the costume shop had sent a frisson up Giles's spine, and leaving Cordelia in the library with the body, Giles and Willow went to the shop to investigate. The shop looked trashed, but there didn't seem to be anyone inside, at least not in front. They both called out, not wanting to be accused of trespassing, but no one answered.

Willow found the idol in the back. "Giles-"

He came to see what she had found, and saw the image, its eyes glowing a dull, acid green. "Janus. Roman mythical god."

"What does this mean?"

He shrugged, still looking around. "Primarily the division of self; male and female, light and dark-"

"Chunky and creamy." Giles's head whipped around toward the voice. Ethan Rayne. "Oh, no, sorry. That's peanut butter."

Both fear and rage clouded the edges of his senses, but his vision focused like a tunnel on his former friend. "Willow, get out of here, now."

"But-"

"Now!" His tone brooked no argument, and Willow had the sense to listen. As she left through the curtain and headed back toward the library, he said, "Hello, Ethan." It was a struggle as he fought to control his emotions. This man represented all about himself that he hated, and his many, many regrets. Giles wasn't a fan of Doctor Who because of the scifi element, though that did tend to resemble life on the Hellmouth. No, he identified with the character of the Doctor, a lonely old man with horrors, regrets and guilt in his past, and finding redemption from the young people who had become his charges and friends.

And also, he was possessed of an old enemy who had once been a dear friend. "Hello, Ripper."

After finding Elizabeth and protecting her virtue from the horrid pirate who had found her, they had to convince her about Angel. She said to the Doctor, "But he's—he's a vampire!"

"Yes, he is. But he was given back the gift of his soul, and because of this, he is able to be a good man again. I promise, he is a friend." He willed the silly girl to believe him.

She allowed Angel to help her stand. "Really?"

"Absolutely."

Willow came running down the alley at that moment. "Guys!"

Angel turned to see her. "Willow?"

"Guys, you gotta get inside!" She pointed down to the other end of the alley. A blonde vampire in a leather jacket had led a group of other vampires and mini monsters into the alley.

Xander said, That's Spike! We need to run!

Angel pointed the other direction. "This way. Find an open warehouse."

"Right," said the Doctor.

Angel picked up Elizabeth and followed him, and Willow brought up the rear.

Unfortunately, an open warehouse was going to be their only protection, unless the Doctor could do something about that. The door was broken, but he managed to use the sonic to vibrate it loose. Then he shut it and sonicked the lock so it melted. He shouted, "Find out if there are any other ways in!"

After a moment or two Willow shouted, "Doctor, there's another door over here!" He ran to help secure the door but it proved futile. One of the demons ripped through the thin sheet metal of the main door. This door became their hatch, but before it could be used several of the demons had gone straight for Angel to restrain him, and Spike had cut Elizabeth away from the group. Two large vampires took hold of the Doctor, as well, and despite the fact that Time Lords are stronger than humans, he was no match for the two of them.

Spike was completely focused on Elizabeth. "Look at you," he said, his loose Cockney accent laced with patently false concern. "Shaking. Terrified. Alone. Lost little lamb." He moved closer with every word, and when he was leaning over her he gripped her head by the hair, moving her head so her jugular was exposed, while tears slid down her cheeks and she whimpered with fear.

Angel screamed, "No! Buffy!" He struggled against the ones holding him, to no avail.

The Doctor also struggled futilely against his captors. He yelled, "Don't do this! I swear you will regret this! Stop now!"

A sudden wind of magic passed over the town, and the Doctor was briefly very dizzy. Then his head cleared, and he was no longer being restrained. Not questioning his good fortune, he ran for Spike and pulled him off the girl. Her hair came with him!

Suddenly she stood up. Gone was the helpless Englishwoman, replaced by a strong, modern teen with straight shoulder-length blonde hair and an axe to grind. A wicked smirk curled the side of her mouth, and she said, "Hi, honey. I'm home." Then, dress or no, she started beating the vampire. He was kicked into a pile of rubbish and came up with a length of pipe.

Most of the monsters were now children again, and the Doctor moved to protect them. That was when he saw Xander, and he realized they'd been separated. He grinned, and Xander grinned right back. Brilliant!

Angel got rid of the rest of the vampires, dusting one while the others ran. Only Spike was left, and Buffy was using the pipe to make him regret his choices. Finally, she jabbed him in the stomach with it. As he groaned in pain she said, "You know what?" Then she rammed the pipe under his chin and he flew across the room into the pile of crates he'd been holding her against. "It's good to be me."

Spike came up rubbing his chin with one hand and holding his gut with the other. Looking around, he saw that he was alone, and took off. Buffy let him go, knowing there could be other opportunistic demons around and not wanting to leave the children.

Xander came up to her. "Hey, Buff. Welcome back."

"Yeah, you too. Looks like your passenger didn't leave, though."

The Doctor smiled at them. "Nope. I'm not just a character that was laid over a real person, unlike Lady Elizabeth. Whatever power was used to make this night happen had essentially wrapped me around Xander like a shell. Whatever it was has stopped, so the other characters have simply returned to being clothes, but it took energy to pull me here, and it'll take at least as much to send me back."

Xander looked around. "Where's Willow?"

Now the Doctor's smile was much wider. "Back where she belongs, in her own body."

Angel came up to Buffy. "You okay?"

"Yeah." She waved a hand at the clutch of kids. "I guess we'd better get these guys back to their parents." She looked at the Doctor. "You all right?"

"Me? Oh, I'm always all right. I think I'll head back to the school, check on Willow, and that Cordelia. Seriously, though, Xander. Why are all your friends girls, but you don't have a girlfriend?"

Xander glared at him. "Rude, Doc."

He chuckled, pulling on an ear. "Perhaps. And don't call me that, please. Right then, I'm off. I supposed we'll be seeing each other for a while until I can figure out how to get back to my own universe."

"Right." Xander looked thoughtful, now, wondering if by his impetuous decision he had stranded the Doctor here.

The Doctor reached the school about the same time that Giles returned. He couldn't help but notice that the other man's knuckles bore the signs of having delivered punishment to someone's face. He decided the questions could wait until the two girls they'd left inside the building had gone home, though.

Giles had his own questions, like what had gone wrong. Why was the Doctor still here, despite the spell having been broken? "Hello again, Doctor."

"Mr. Giles."

He smiled. "Rupert, please. Well, if you haven't been sent home, at least you aren't stuck to a sixteen-year-old boy any longer."

The Doctor laughed, looking down at his shoes for a moment. "Right. Mind, he's not bad, got a good head on his shoulders, cares for his friends. But definitely not a situation I'd want to be in permanently."

"Neither is living life in a linear fashion. Besides, that universe needs you. We'll have to find you a way home. Did everything else seem to turn out all right?"

He nodded. "Yes. We should find Willow right back where she belongs. I've got about a million questions about this universe, questions I'll have to be able to answer before I attempt to go home. Any method I could think of that would allow me to cross back into my own universe would likely rip the two of them apart. Actually, I very recently had an adventure in a completely different one with my R-my traveling companion. Though, I guess you already knew about that." He shook his head in wonder. "How is it that you know about me, you and Xander? I mean I think I'm flattered that he wanted to be me for Halloween, but where does that knowledge come from?"

Giles took a deep breath, not sure how he was going to take this. "In this universe, there are no Time Lords, of course, but somehow your life has still been observed, and over—over time there have been human men who looked like you, or enough like you to pass, and those men have been-well-actors." He looked him in the eye, waiting for his reaction.

"Actors!? It's a television programme?" The Doctor's eyes were practically bugging out of his head.

Giles couldn't help it, and he laughed at the Doctor's discomfiture. "Not just a programme, but the longest running science fiction series in the world having just reached its thirty-fourth year, spanning ten of your lives, and holding the Guinness record for number of episodes in a science fiction programme. Only soap operas have run longer."

The Doctor laughed too, the corners of his eyes crinkling deeply. "That's embarrassing, that is! And that's how you and him know my future. How much more have you got than me?"

"Just to the end of the year, relatively speaking."

They reached the library at that point, greeted by the melodious sound of Cordelia bitching. "I mean, it's like he was completely ignoring me."

Willow's voice was very bored. "I can't imagine why."

"I know, right?"

"Giles!" Willow hopped off the long table where she'd been sitting and ran to him for a hug, grateful to be able to get one.

Then she saw the Doctor. "Oh! How come you're still here? Is Xander okay?"

"Oh, he's fine," he said. "Alone in his head again. The energy wasn't holding me to him any longer, so I just sort of slid off. But where Elizabeth was just a suit of clothes, as was your temporary death, I'm a living person, and while the energy pulled me here, the lack of it can't get me home. Frankly, I'm at a loss. I know nothing of magic, other than understanding that words have power."

Giles nodded. "That's why you keep your birth name hidden, yes?"

"Yes. Strangely enough, ancient Gallifrey did have a culture of magic users; in fact they nearly dominated the planet. It was their war with the Great Vampires, in fact, that weakened them enough for the Time Lords to take over. They had to finish the Vampires off, of course, and the Pythia, their dictator, was so incensed at losing, she cursed the Time Lords with sterility, a curse which has lasted tens of thousands of years. I don't doubt the power of magic, but I don't have a clue about it either." He grinned. "That's a rare thing, that is."

That made Giles and willow both smile. Giles said, "Well, you two should both be getting home for the night." Both girls agreed and left the library. "And since you seem to be stranded, I have a guest bedroom in my flat you're welcome to, Doctor."

The Doctor nodded. "Thanks." Then he pointed to Giles's hands. "What happened tonight, Rupert?"

All traces of levity fell from Giles's face. "You'll have heard of Janus, Roman god of doors and transitions, as well as chaos and division." At the Doctor's nod of acknowledgment, he continued. "The man who did this is an old-um-acquaintance of mine, and he has always served the chaotic side of that particular deity.

"When we were young, we were quite close, good friends. But he showed me the darker side of magic, and I was so captivated by him, and by the power of what we were doing-." He shuddered. "He convinced me, and the others, that no one would be hurt. Then someone was. Someone died." He was staring out at nothing, remembering. Then he looked at the Doctor. "I blame myself, of course. But I blame him, too. He was the one with the knowledge, and the power, and he reveled in that darkness we had unleashed."

Perhaps sensing that Giles needed to talk to someone about everything this had brought up, the Doctor stayed silent.

"I needed to find out how to stop the spell. But I used that as an excuse. More than all that, I needed to make him feel at least some small part of that pain. I'm not proud of it."

They had sat together in a pair of the chairs that surrounded the work table Willow had been laying on, and for a few moments, they remained silent. Then the Doctor started to talk. "My best friend growing up was a boy named Koschei. He and I went to the Academy together, were inducted on the same day. We were friends, but that induction ceremony forever changed him, made him go mad. He developed a lust for dominance and war, and always he heard drums in his head."

"The Master." Giles had watched the older series, as well.

The Doctor nodded. "I had to put him down more than once. But always in the back of my mind is the friend I loved."

Giles stood and went to the book cage, where he reached for a particularly thick tome. He opened it to reveal that it was a dummy, hiding a secret stash of something highly illegal on a public school campus; a fifty-year-old Scotch. He pulled a pair of glasses from a different shelf and brought them out into the workspace.

He poured them both a generous glass before re-corking the bottle, then handed one of them to the Doctor. "To old friends," he said, holding up his own glass.

The Doctor thought for a moment, then raised his own. "To new friends, Rupert."

Giles smiled a wearily. "I'll drink to that, Doctor."

And they did.