The ground was damp, and the sun had begun to settle behind the tree-bearing hills. The sky glowed with the last embers of the day.

A curly haired girl sat cross-legged on the slight slope of a hill that had a great overlook of the sunset. She ignored the slight itchiness of the wet grass and stretched her legs out.

"It's beautiful isn't it? I also love the smell after a good rain. It has been a while, huh?"

Maggie smiled as she turned her head the familiar female voice behind her. Elizabeth's squinted blue eyes greeted her as she nodded towards the sunset.
"Yep," Maggie agreed, turning back towards the sunset. She loved how the rain seemed to make everything more crisp. She inhaled deeply, taking in the lovely scent.

"Petrichor…" she muttered.

"Sorry, what?" Elizabeth said.

"Oh…nothing. It's just the smell of dust after rain, it's actually called petrichor."

"Oh, okay…you have fun with that then. I'm just going to go back inside now. Too many mosquitoes for my taste," Elizabeth shuddered, leaving Maggie alone again.

Maggie sighed, "I learned that one from the Doctor," she chuckled silently to herself.
Of course she hadn't actually met him. He wasn't even real. He was just a character on a television show…but sometimes she did like to pretend that he wasn't.
Of course that was just a dream, but still a beautiful one that she liked to indulge herself with. She never stopped dreaming that.
The girl who dreamed.

A loud ear-bursting noise filled the air, making Maggie nearly leap a foot in the air in surprise. She stood up and looked around, wide-eyed.
"Elizabeth?" she shouted.

No answer.

Her breath caught as there was another crash, this time coming from the side of her house, near the garbage bins. She slowly walked towards the source of the noise.

"Hello?" Maggie spoke up, more meekly than she had intended.

For a moment there was silence, and she took another step forward.

"Bah!" a man shouted, emerging from the pile of rubbish, knocking falling garbage bins off of him. Maggie yelped in surprise, her hand shooting to her mouth as she watched this strange man climb out of her trash.

He looked to be covered with what may have been either soot or dirt, and he shook his head as he spit out a few random bits of trash.
"I've had better landings," the man muttered as he hopped to his feet. He paused as he noticed Maggie standing stiffly a few feet away, eyes widened and head tilted softly to the side.

"Hello!" the odd man began, a grin stretching across his face.

He had a British accent, Maggie noted. That was odd…

"Who are you?" Maggie sputtered, shaking her head as her eyes flickered up and down his form.

"Blunt one, aren't we? American...judging by the accent and...demeanor."

"What's that supposed to-?"

"-Anyway!" he cut her off brusquely, "You wouldn't happen to have a towel or something, would you? I may need to clean off a bit…" the man looked as Maggie stared at him.

"Are you alright?" the man frowned.

She mouth opened slightly to say something, but she ended up just gaping at him as she shook her head.

"Why are you dressed like the Doctor...?"

The man's nearly non-existent brows furrowed together.

"Because I am the Doctor...how do you...?"

The Doctor frowned for a moment, before a big goofy smile slowly spread across his face as if something had suddenly dawned upon him. He shook a finger at her.

"Ahhh…you, I was warned about you. You, what's your name, is it Molly?"

"Maggie," she corrected nearly automatically, blinking as the strangeness of her predicament dawned upon her.

"Oh, yes, now I remember."

Maggie folded her arms across her chest with a half-scoff.

"Remember? Look, I'm sorry...if you need directions or anything, that's cool with me, but you're not going to just waltz into my yard claiming your a fictional, sci-fi, action hero, and then pretend like we've met before."

"Sci-fi...?" the dark haired man began, before shaking his head. "I'm not claiming to be anything. I am the Doctor."

"No...he isn't real. That's not possible," Maggie said simply, narrowing her eyes and unfolding her arms to hold up her hand, "Hold on, who warned you about me?"

A small smile played on the edges of the man's lips.

"Well…it's a bit complicated."

Maggie just stared at him once again, before laughing.

"Look...I don't know who you are, but you're not the Doctor. And if you actually believe you are, you're probably just some crazy guy messing with me. The Doctor isn't real, he's a fictional character."

The man gestured lazily and gave a shrug.

"What is considered fictional or real in one universe, may not be in another. Objective reality is an illusion, Mags, and you better get that in your head pretty quick.""

the man snapped his fingers, still wearing that subtle, smile as he met her eyes.

"You are right about one thing though..."

she paused, unsure of what this odd man would do.

"...what?"

"I definitely am some crazy guy, but I'm not messing with you.

She eyed him carefully, leaning in ever so slightly to get a better look at him.

If he isn't telling the truth, that is by far the best cosplay I have ever seen.

She mused silently, meeting this strange man's green eyes.

"Okay...Let's just say you really are the Doctor. Why are you here?"

"I don't know yet...The old girl malfunctioned and I landed here. Some sort of force with enough electromagnetic pull to cause the TARDIS to crash land...It threw me out when I was trying to break into the main circuit board...hence me crashing into your bins," he gestured to the area around him as his head swiveled around, taking in the surroundings.

Maggie nodded hesitantly, "So...how much did this mystery person tell about me then? "

"Not nothing...but not exactly something."

"You're strange."

His eyes snapped back down from his search of the surroundings and he offered a warm smile.

"The whole thing's just a bit….wobbly. Relative perception of reality aside, allow me to start over," the Doctor extended a sooty hand, "Hello, I'm the Doctor."

Maggie felt a sharp tug in her gut and something in her brain clicked into place as she looked at his hand.

What if he actually is the Doctor?

A smile had crept onto Maggie's face subconsciously. She met his grip.

"I'm Maggie. Maggie Dalton. "

The Doctor smiled, "Well, Maggie, would you mind if I went inside, and spruced up a bit?"

"….Yes, of course!" she sputtered out before common sense got the best of her.

"...Wait, hold on, if you're the Doctor, prove it to me. Could I see your sonic screwdriver? What about the TARDIS?"

"You ask a lot of questions."

"Yes."

"Well, good. Just make sure they're not stupid," he smiled, flicking out his sonic and scanning the air.

"Whoa! You have some cowboys out here," glancing over at Maggie, "No pun intended."

Maggie fought the urge to roll her eyes

"Like I've never heard that one before. Come on...you look and smell like you fell into a volcano."

"Well, it's sulfur you're smelling and actually…."

"One bombshell at a time, please."

"You want anything to eat? I think we have some fishsticks in the fridge," she remarked dryly.

"No thanks, not hungry," the Doctor said as he scrubbed the last of the soot off of his face. Maggie silently marveled at the man before her. He had to be the Doctor, either that, or a perfect doppelganger. Every detail was the same, from the barely there-eyebrows, to the cheekbones and the just-right shade of tweed paired with the bow-tie.

"Do you usually stare this much?" the Doctor's eyes met hers and a slight smile played on his lips. Maggie's face flushed and she quickly looked away as she shook her head.

"No, this is just…..weird to me. "

The Doctor's head turned as the clicking of heels echoed on the hardwood floor.
"Hey Liz, this is….."

"Let me guess, one of your nerdy friends. Nice costume by the way," she nodded to the Doctor and her light brown hair swayed. "Anyway, I'm heading out for the night, and sleeping over at Amanda's. Later!" Elizabeth waved, slamming the door behind her.

"Costume?" the Doctor inquired, looking back towards the door.

"Yeah, that was my sister, Elizabeth. You…. remember, I told you...you aren't exactly real here, in this objective reality...I suppose. You're a character in a television show. So, of course she thought you were just wearing a costume," Maggie shrugged, "And besides…..you don't exactly see many people wearing tweed jacket s and bowties around here."

The Doctor grimaced and straightened his bow-tie, "Well, maybe people around here just aren't cool enough for them."

"Bow-ties are cool," Maggie chuckled, staring out the window and looking at the now dark sky.

"Where are the rest of your family?"
"Oh, well, Liz and I are both in college, but we're home for break, so everyone's out doing their own thing. Sense we went off to school, my parents picked up house-flipping as a hobby...that's what happens when you watch too many home improvement shows I guess," she added with a laugh.

The Doctor clapped his hands together,

"Okay! Let's get down to business!"

"To defeat, the Huns," Maggie added.

"What?"

"Nothing."

The Doctor leapt out of his seat and paced the kitchen.

"So, what do we have? Something brought the TARDIS here, to this location, but what? What could it possibly be? This is an alternate universe."

The Doctor rubbed his hands together in thought.

"Tell me, Maggie, has there been anything strange happening here recently?" he said, pausing and leaning against the granite-top island.
Maggie laughed at the thought of anything occurring in the low-key suburbs around her, let alone something odd.

"I'm going to have to say no on that one. Do you want to know what this town's nickname is?" Maggie said running a hand through her messy hair. The Doctor looked over at her.

"And what would that be?" he asked.

"The Brentwood Bubble. It's the place where nothing ever happens," Maggie said as she stood up and walked over to the fruit bowl, grabbing an apple, "It's almost as if there's a literal bubble around the place. It's the most boring place on earth…" she pursed her lips a moment.

"Come to think of it, the bubble metaphor is a little too accurate. Around here, tornadoes go around us, snow goes north and south, but never in the Bubble. I've seen it myself actually."

The Doctor tilted his head, examining her carefully.

"I had horrible storm anxiety when I was a kid...but slowly I became less and less scared of them when I watched the storms roll in, happen, then leave. You used to be able to stand outside and watch the worst of the storm go around us..."

"That's it! Maybe there really is some sort of force field around your town," the Doctor said, taking off and running at towards the door.

"Hey, hold on! Where are you going?" Maggie yelled after him, and she ran after him. She skidded to a halt as he peaked back around the door.

"To the TARDIS, are you coming?" he inquired. Maggie nodded, her brown curls bouncing slightly. The Doctor smiled, and pulled her out the door by her hand.
"Geronimo!"