My name is Willow.

A few months ago I met an alien from a different planet and fell head over heels for him.

Travelling with my cousin, Rose, and a few more faces.

However, times have changed and I'm not exactly sure who the Doctor is now.

The big-eared man has vanished, replacing him with a new man.

Worst of all, he's not Northern anymore.

***

Willow and Rose stood there in awe and surprise at this new man in the Doctor's place. A few minutes ago, he practically exploded. Now someone else stood in his spot. Abruptly, the man sped over to the console and started controlling it like the TARDIS was his. "6 PM... Tuesday..." He muttered.

Rose still held onto the pillar she hid behind earlier, while Willow was hesitantly moving towards the mysterious male. "October... 5006... On the way to Barcelona!" He turned a knob, muttering again. 

Eventually, he straightened up and faced the girls with a grin. "Now then... what do I look like?" He asked as if they knew who he was. However, the girls didn't have a chance to speak. "No, no no, no no no no no-no-no. No. Don't tell me."

Both were bemused by this man but Willow was mostly intrigued by him, especially when he was patting himself down as if he had never seen himself before. "Let's see... two legs, two arms, two hands... Slight weakness in the dorsal tubercle." His hands flew up to his hair, thoroughly stroking it. "Hair! I'm not bald!"

He ran his fingers through his hair gleefully. "Oh, Oh! Big hair!" His palms glided down his face, reaching his sideburns in delight. "Sideburns, I've got sideburns! Or really bad skin. Little bit thinner..."

The man tapped his stomach twice, feeling around. "That's weird. Give me time, I'll get used to it." Suddenly, he shot up in surprise. "I... have got... a mole. I can feel it."

Willow felt Rose's breath tingle the back of her neck, her fear could be sensed. She placed a hand on Rose, eyeing her. "Don't move."

His shoulders rotated slightly, not noticing the girls' expressions. "Between my shoulder blades, there's a mole. That's all right. Love the mole." Eventually, he turned to them with a wide grin, ready for assessment. "Go on then, tell me. What do you think?"

Willow timidly took a few steps forward. "Who are you?"

The man appeared slightly astounded by her question but a smile remained on his face. "I'm the Doctor."

"No... Where is he? Where's the Doctor?" Her voice rose, wanting to know where the real Doctor was. This couldn't have been him. "What have you done to him?"

"You saw me, I, I changed..." He threw back his hand, gesturing to the spot where he appeared. "Right in front of you both..."

Rose slyly shuffled towards her cousin "I saw him sort of explode, and then you replaced him, like a... a teleport or a transmat or a body swap or something."

Willow nodded in agreement, pushing her hand against his chest. "Exactly. You're not fooling us!"

The fake Doctor did not interject, in fact, he appeared lost for words. Willow took a few more steps in his direction, attempting to act tough. He rocked back on his heels in disbelief, though the girls did not seem to notice. Rose came up Willow's side and spoke once more. "I've seen all sorts of things. Nano genes... Gelth..."

"Slitheen," Willow suggested, trying to piece things together. "A Slitheen can take the form of anyone using their skin."

"Oh, my God, are you a Slitheen?" The blonde asked in fear.

However, the man raised his eyebrows but calmly conversed. "I'm not a Slitheen."

Willow had enough of this business and was determined to find out where the Doctor had gone. "Send him back. I'm warning you; send the Doctor back right now!" She said, raising her voice in a shout.

"Willow, Rose, it's me." He pled in annoyance. The man lent forward in urgency, in order to make them believe him. "Honestly, it's me."

Willow gave a vacant stare, bewildered and amazed at the same time. Her chest pounded slightly from her heavy breaths. "I was dying. To save my own life I changed my body. Every single cell, but... it's still me."

"You can't be." She replied, examining him. "I'm pretty sure he never mentioned anything about turning into a completely different person."

He took a few steps closer, looking straight into her blue eyes. "I can prove it, Willow." His gaze shifted to Rose, talking undeviatingly to her. "Very first word I ever said to you. Trapped in that cellar. Surrounded by shop window dummies.... oh... such a long time ago. I took your hand..."

To emphasise his point, he grasped her hand. Rose briefly glanced down at their palms until he spoke again. "I said one word... just one word, I said... 'Run'."

"Doctor." She said.

The Doctor was beaming away, knowing that Rose finally realised. "Hello."

Willow shook her head, needing more proof. "What about me? Name something only the Doctor would know-"

"99 Red Balloons." He responded, sauntering over to her.

"What?"

"One night you came into the console room and I caught you dancing to 99 Red Balloons." He explained with a cunning smirk.

She bit her lip, looking over to Rose who was giggling to herself. Unexpectedly, she slapped his arm in retaliation, after which he cried out in pain. "Well, you didn't have to tell everyone."

"That really hurt, you know."

"It was supposed to hurt." She sighed in an exasperated fashion while the Doctor took off to the other side of the console.

"And we never stopped, did we? All across the universe. Running, running, running..." The Doctor continued while flicking a few switches. "One time we had to hop. Do you remember? Hopping for our lives." Abruptly, he began madly hopping on one foot as Rose and Willow stayed by the pillar. " Yeah? All that hopping? Remember hopping for your life? Yeah?! Hop? With the..."

His wild enthusiasm died down after noticing the girls' reactions. "No?"

"Can't you change back?" Willow questioned, missing her version of the Doctor already. 

The facial expression, on which he wore, contorted into a frown. "Do you want me to?" 

"Yeah." She answered in a shy manner.

"Oh." 

"Can you?"

"No." Willow regarded his disappointment, as well as Rose's glares, but did not react towards it.

Soon enough, he glimpsed back up at her. "Do you want to leave?"

She gulped in shock, not wanting to leave the life she had grown to love. "Do you want me to leave?"

His eyes widened, quickly correcting his mistake. "No! But... your choice... if you want to go home..." Both girls appeared upset by his remark, home's the one place Willow didn't want to be at the moment. "Cancel Barcelona. Change to... London... the Powell Estate... ah... let's say the 24th of December. Consider it a Christmas present."

He configured with the controls, understanding what he was doing. He really was the Doctor with a different face. "There." He stepped back, tucking his arms underneath his armpits in an almost defensive manner.

Rose stared at him in confusion as Willow lost her confidence to speak. The TARDIS shuddered a little as they travelled through the Time Vortex. "We're going home?" Rose catechised.

"Up to you. Back to your mum... it's all waiting. Fish and chips, sausage and mash, beans on toast... no, Christmas! Turkey! Although... having met your mother... nut loaf would be more appropriate." He noticed a little simper come from Willow's lips. "Was that a smile?"

"No." She quickly stated.

He smirked knowingly. "That was a smile..."

"No, it wasn't"

"You smiled..." He teasingly asserted. Rose stood a little way away, watching the event unfold.

"Shut up all right!" Her shout silenced the Doctor. "You may say you're the Doctor but are you really?"

"Oh, come on, all I did was change, I didn't-" Instead of ending his sentence, he made a sudden gagging noise as the TARDIS shuddered again.

Willow glared at him questioningly. "What is it?" 

He quickly gathered himself together. "I said I didn't-" Nevertheless, he made more disgusting retching noises as if he was going to be sick.

The TARDIS shook repeatedly, each time getting more and more violent. The girls hooked their hands onto the console cautiously. "Er... are you alright?" Rose queried before seeing golden particles seep through the Doctor's mouth.

"What's that?" Willow glimpsed up at the energy in astonishment.

"Oh... the change is going a bit wrong and all." He gagged again, falling to his knees as his face contorted in distress. 

Rose tried to straighten up against the console but continuously failed. "Look... maybe we should go back. Let's go and find Captain Jack, he'd know what to do."

"Gah, he's busy! He's got plenty to do rebuilding the Earth!" A lever on the console startlingly caught his eye. "I haven't used this one in years."

Pulling it, the trio was almost flung off their feet as the TARDIS shook more. "What're you doing?!" Willow screamed at him in anger and fear.

He crazily beamed like a clown. "Putting on a bit of speed! That's it!" More knobs were twisted and turned as Rose and Willow were thrown in different directions. "My beautiful ship! Come on, faster! That's a girl!"

This was definitely not the Doctor at the moment. He was crazed and demented like a lunatic. "Faster! Wanna break the time limit?!"

"I'm not sure you're allowed to do that!!" She yelled across to him. 

Rose looked distinctly alarmed and joined in with the screaming. "Stop it!"

"Ah, don't be so dull... let's have a bit of fun! Let's rip through that vortex!" He crazily sneered before catching Willow's eyes. As soon as they both looked at each other, he slightly calmed down. For a few moments, he knew that she was frightened. "The regeneration's going wrong. I can't stop myself. Ah, my head..." He grimaced in pain.

Although, he swiftly sprang back up again and he returned to his maddened state. "Faster! Let's open those engines!" After configuring with another knob, a bell started to ring.

"What's that?" Rose demanded as he wormed his way round to her side.

"We're gonna crash land! " Instead of acting panicked, the Doctor sounded delighted. His maniacal laugh sent shivers down her spine.

The second he mentioned they were crashing, Willow screamed. "Well then, do something!" 

His voice rose hysterically. "Too late! Out of control!" He ran around the console, giggling like everything was a huge joke. "Oh, I love it! Hot dawg!"

He hopped up and down in joy and excitement. "You're gonna kill us!"

"Hold on tight, here we go!" The three people glared at each other. One was as high as a kite, another was terrified out of her wits and Willow was trying to piece together what was happening. "Christmas Eve...!"

***

Time to get into the world of Willow once more! I can't wait for what's in store but you all know what's coming at the end. However, I will say that the Doctor and Willow will be closer than ever!!

I hope you enjoyed this short intro before we head into The Christmas Invasion. I won't be able to write it all this week as I am really busy but I'll try.

Thanks for reading and stay tuned for the proper beginning to The Girl Who Knew.

- Alice ❤