AN: Honestly, I just wanted to write about Ace. A ficlet of sorts. No real plot, I'm sorry to say, and no real spoilers, although there are suggestions at the end for the setting of Remembrance of the Daleks and a reference to Dragonfire. I don't own these characters.

Sometimes, it seemed like a nice vacation was just what the Doctor ordered.

So the Doctor thought as he stepped out of his magnificent blue box into the city in front of him. Yes, the marvelous city in front of him was amongst his favorite in the galaxy, no doubt about that. The enormous towers and fantastic bridges never failed to inspire his two Time Lord hearts. It was posh, it was grand, it was-

"London?" his companion said as she, too, walked out of the TARIDS. "Oh, for goodness' sake, Professor, you've got a spaceship. Don't tell me we're on Earth."

"Not Earth, Ace," the Doctor said with a laugh. "New Earth, and New London. Look to the sky." He pointed his umbrella towards an enormous pink planet that overtook the heavens. "After Earth is deemed unsuitable for life, you all spread across the galaxy and decide that this is a good place to start."

"Why?"

"Oh, you know. It's roughly the same size as your own planet, the atmosphere is similar, and nobody particularly cares if you take it, since it is, in essence, just another unused moon."

Ace continued to stare at the rosy orb in wonder as the Doctor started off down the street, his umbrella thrown flippantly over his shoulder. He smiled as he saw the passersby, who were all so uniquely human, so brilliantly ordinary, and so incredibly different from the young girl with whom he travelled.

Speaking of which, she had lagged behind quite a bit. The Doctor turned back, seeing that Ace was curiously occupied with examining the streets, with paying attention to how she almost fit in –but, at the same time, stuck out like a sore thumb. People didn't bat an eye at her and the bomber jacket she wore or her out-of-date ponytail, but her reactions to the world her were quite peculiar.

"It's like watching a movie, where you know everything has to be right, but nothing is." She scrunched up her nose as she ran up to the Doctor. "You know that old filmmaker, Hitchcock or something like that, who would put all of his sets at an angle, and it always drives you crazy but you can't put your finger to what's wrong? It's like that."

The Doctor chuckled as he put his arm around her shoulder. "I suppose so, yes. But there's an entire universe out there, far stranger than this, I assure you."

"Well, yeah," she replied, her brow furrowed, "but that's different, you know? Those, they're different, and you expect them to be different, so it's not too weird. But this…" She trailed off as she stared at the people around her, the humanoid cats walking down the street, the advanced fashion. "I expect it to be the same, and it sort of is, but it still isn't. It's like it's supposed to be Earth, but it's just not." She shook her head as though she were trying to chase away an unpleasant thought.

"If this is too much for you, Ace," the Doctor said, letting go of her shoulder, "we can easily go back to the TARDIS." He tapped the tip of his umbrella to the ground and gestured back the way they came. It was unnecessary, he was sure of it. He hadn't spent much time travelling with this young girl, but she wasn't too difficult to predict.

"No, no." Just as he expected. "It's not that it's too much. It's just…" She took a deep breath. "When I was swept up and taken off to Iceworld, it was weird, but nothing seemed too weird compared to a time storm, so I was alright. But when I hear the words New Earth, I kind of expect it to be like Earth, and it's not. It isn't bad or anything, just… Different." She turned and smiled at the Doctor.

"Very well." He smiled back, flipping his umbrella back over his shoulder and starting down the street once more in the direction he'd began. "You know, if you think this is strange, you really ought to see, say, London, 1963."