The Doctor and Elise exited the TARDIS.

"No, Amy, it's definitely not the fifth moon of Cindie Colesta. I think I can see a Ryman's," the Doctor said.

An explosion came from inside the TARDIS and threw the two of them to the ground as the TARDIS started to take off by itself.

"Amy! Amy!" the Doctor yelled.

As the Doctor stared at the spot where the TARDIS once stood, Elise looked around them.

They were on earth obviously, but where?

The Doctor stood up and brushed himself off.

What were they supposed to do now? Where would they stay? How would they get the TARDIS back? What if they never got it back?

"Hey", the Doctor said, kneeling in front of her, "Elise, look at me".

Elise snapped out of her thoughts and looked at his calming green eyes.

"I will get Amy and the TARDIS back. I promise. It'll be okay", he told her, "This will just be a daddy/daughter trip, okay?"

Elise nodded.

"Now come here", he said.

Elise wrapped her arms around his neck and the Doctor rubbed her back to try and keep her calm.

They just needed to find somewhere to stay while he figured out what they were going to do. The first thing the Doctor did was sonic an ATM to get some money.

He smiled remembering doing the same thing after he met Donna. The Doctor looked down at Elise as he remembered the other ginger that had magically appeared in his TARDIS.

He got them something to eat and checked them into a hotel for the night. If the TARDIS didn't appear soon, he was going to have to go shopping for some new clothes for Elise.

Elise slept curled up into the Doctor's side that night. She missed Amy and the little blue box she called home.

The next day, they wandered around the town for a while until the Doctor spotted a card sitting in the window of a shop. He picked it up and smiled, recognizing his companion's hand writing.

They followed the directions to the house and rang the doorbell.

A man threw open the door and said, "I love you."

The Doctor smiled. "Well, that's good, because I'm your new lodger. Do you know, this is going to be easier than I expected." He took the fluffy pink keys from the man.

"But I only put the advert up today. I didn't put my address," the man said.

"Well, aren't you lucky I came along? More lucky than you know. Less of a young professional, more of an ancient amateur, but frankly I'm an absolute dream."

"Hang on a minute, mate. I don't know if I want you staying." The man looked down at Elise. "Umm, the ad didn't say anything about having kids".

"Oh, well Elise is very well behaved".

"She doesn't cry or anything? Throw temper tantrums?"

"Oh, no. Nothing like that".

Elise gave the man a small wave.

The man took the keys from the Doctor. "Give me back those keys. You can't have those."

"Yes, quite right. Have some rent." The Doctor handed the man a bag with money in it. He had of course keep some for himself and Elise, just in case they needed anything. "That's probably quite a lot, isn't it?" the Doctor asked, "Looks like a lot. Is it a lot? I can never tell." The Doctor invited himself in and Elise followed behind him.

The lights upstairs flickered, giving Elise a bad feeling. There was something wrong about the upstairs.

"Don't spend it all on sweets, unless you like sweets," the Doctor told him, "I like sweets. Oh!" The Doctor put his hands on the man's shoulders and air kissed him on both cheeks. "That's how we greet each other nowadays, isn't it? I'm the Doctor. Well, they call me the Doctor. I don't know why. I call me the Doctor, too. Still don't know why. And this is Elise."

"Craig Owens. The Doctor?"

"Yep. Who lives upstairs?"

"Just some bloke."

"What's he look like?"

"Normal. He's very quiet."

There was a loud crash.

"Usually."

The Doctor entered Craig's flat.

"Sorry, who are you again? Hello? Excuse me?"

The Doctor looked up and saw the stain on the ceiling. "Ah. I suppose that's dry rot?" he asked.

"Or damp. Or mildew."

"Or none of the above."

"I'll get someone to fix it."

"No, I'll fix it. I'm good at fixing rot. Call me the Rotmeister. No, I'm the Doctor, don't call me the Rotmeister. This is the most beautiful parlor I have ever seen. You're obviously a man of impeccable taste." The Doctor hopped up on the counter. "We can stay, Craig, can't we? Say we can."

"You haven't even seen the room."

"The room?"

"Your room."

"My room? Oh, yes. My room."

Elise tugged on his pant leg.

"Our room. Take us to our room."

Craig led them to the room they would be staying in. "Yeah, this is Mark's old room. He owns the place. Moved out about a month ago. This uncle he'd never even heard of died and left a load of money in the will," Craig said.

"How very convenient. This'll do just right. In fact..."

There was another loud crash from the flat above.

The Doctor touched his tongue with his index finger and tested the air. "No time to lose. I'll take it. Ah you'll want to see my credentials. There." The Doctor pulled out his psychic paper and shower it to Craig. "National Insurance number. NHS number. References."

"Is that a reference from the Archbishop of Canterbury?"

"I'm his special favorite. Are you hungry? I'm hungry."

"I haven't got anything in."

They went into the kitchen and the Doctor started raiding the fridge and cabinets. He and Craig talked as he cooked. "You've got everything I need for an omelette fines herbes, pour deux. So, who's the girl on the fridge?" the Doctor asked.

A photo of Craig and a woman sat next to a postcard with Vincent's self-portrait.

Elise smiled sadly. She missed Vincent.

"My friend. Sophie," Craig told him.

"Girlfriend?"

"A friend who is a girl. There's nothing going on."

"Oh, that's completely normal. Works for me."

"We met at work about a year ago, at the call center."

"Oh really, a communications exchange? That could be handy."

"Firm's going down though. The bosses are using a totally rubbish business model. I know what they should do. I got a plan all worked out. But I'm just a phone drone, I can't go running in saying I know best. Why am I telling you this? I don't even know you."

"Well, I've got one of those faces. People never stop blurting out their plans while I'm around."

"Right. Where's your stuff?"

"Oh, don't worry, it'll materialize. If all goes to plan."

Less than twenty minutes later, the omelets were gone and Elise was curled up in the Doctor's lap.

"Oh, that was incredible. That was absolutely brilliant. Where did you learn to cook?" Craig asked.

"Paris, in the eighteenth century. No, hang on, that's not recent, is it? Seventeenth? No, no, no. Twentieth. Sorry, I'm not used to doing them in the right order."

"Has anyone ever told you that you're a bit weird?"

"They never really stop. Ever been to Paris, Craig?"

"Nah. I can't see the point of Paris. I'm not much of a traveler."

"I can tell from your sofa."

"My sofa?"

"You're starting to look like it."

"Thanks, mate, that's lovely. No, I like it here. I'd miss it, I'd miss..."

"Those keys."

"What?"

"You're sort of fondling them."

"I'm holding them." Craig dropped them and got up.

"Right."

"Anyway. These, these are your keys." He picked up a key ring and held them out.

The Doctor got up with Elise in his arms. "We can stay?"

"Yeah, you're weird and you can cook and your daughter doesn't scream her head off. It's good enough for me. Right." Craig went through the keys. "Outdoor, front door, your door."

"My door. My place. My gaff. Ha ha! Yes. Me with a key."

"And listen, Mark and I, we had an arrangement where if you ever need me out of your hair, just give me a shout, okay?" Craig winked and the Doctor winked back, not understand the cue.

"Why would I want that?" the Doctor asked.

"In case you want to bring someone round. A girlfriend or, a boyfriend? Elise's mother maybe?"

"Oh, Elise's mother and I aren't together, but I will. I'll shout if that happens. Yes. Something like, I was not expecting this! By the way, that. The rot. I've got the strangest feeling we shouldn't touch it." He patted Craig on the shoulder and left the living room to put Elise to bed. He laid her down on the bed and covered her with the blanket.

Elise was out the moment her head hit the pillow. She slept more than the average Timelord, but maybe it was because she was so young.

He hoped she wouldn't wake up while he was gone. He had some shopping to do.

The next morning, Elise woke up and sat up in the bed. She panicked for a moment before she remembered where she was.

At the foot of the bed was a small backpack (covered in a galaxy pattern of course) with a note on it.

"To: Ellie. From: Dad."

She looked in it and found new clothes. There was also a sketchbook and some colored pencils. Elise got dressed, emptied the backpack except for the art supplies, and made her way into the living room to wait for the Doctor. She walked past the bathroom where Craig was waiting outside the door.

The Doctor was singing very loudly.

Craig knocked on the door. "Doctor."

"Hello?"

"How long are you going to be in there?"

"Oh, sorry. I like a good soak."

A loud banging noise came from upstairs.

"What the hell was that?" Craig asked.

"What did you say?" the Doctor asked him.

"I'm just going to go upstairs. See if he's okay."

"Sorry?" Craig left the flat.

"What did you say?" the Doctor asked, "Craig?"

Elise heard a loud thumping sound come from the bathroom and she rolled her eyes.

The Doctor came running out of the bathroom with a towel around his waist and Elise followed after him.

The two of them met Craig near the stairs.

Elise rolled her eyes again when she saw the Doctor holding an electric toothbrush instead of his sonic screwdriver.

"What happened, what's going on?" the Doctor asked.

"Is that my toothbrush?" Craig asked him.

"Correct. You spoke to the man upstairs?"

"Yeah."

"What did he look like?"

"More normal than you do at the moment, mate. What are you doing?"

"I thought you might be in trouble."

Craig laughed. "Thanks. Well, if I ever am, you can come and save me with my toothbrush."

A phone started ringing inside the flat.

Craig pushed past the Doctor to go and answer it.

The Doctor started to go upstairs as a blonde woman came in the front door.

"Oh! Hello," she said, looking at the half-naked man and small child before her.

The Doctor came back down the stairs. "Ah! Hello. The Doctor."

"Right."

"You must be Sophie."

The Doctor air kissed her cheeks like he had done with Craig.

Sophie looked at Elise. "And who might you be?" she asked.

"This is Elise. My daughter". The Doctor softly smiled at her as he lovingly ran a hand over her hair.

"Daughter? Oh".

The three of them went into the flat where Craig was talking to someone on the phone.

"No, Dom's in Malta. There's nobody around. Hang on a sec." Craig walked up to the Doctor. "We've got a match today, pub league. We're one down if you fancy it?"

"Pub league. A drinking competition?"

"No, football. Play football."

"Football. Football. Yes, blokes play football. I'm good at football, I think."

"You've saved my life. I've got somebody. Yeah, all right, I'll see you down there. Hey, Soph."

"Hey, I thought I'd come early and meet your new flat mate."

The Doctor walked over to the fridge and grabbed a carton of milk. He looked down at Elise. "Are you hungry?" he asked her.

Elise shook her head.

"Do you play, Sophie?" the Doctor asked.

"No, Soph just stands on the sidelines. She's my mascot," Craig said as the Doctor took a drink of the milk straight from the container.

If Amy were here, or if Elise were older, she would have smacked him for being so rude.

"I'm your mascot? Mascot?" Sophie asked, offended.

"Well, yeah, not my mascot. It's a football match. I can't take a date."

"I didn't say I was your date."

"Neither did I."

There was an awkward pause, before the Doctor broke the silence. "Better get dressed." He handed Craig his toothbrush back.

"The spare kit's just in the bottom drawer," Craig told him.

The Doctor nodded. "Bit of a mess," he said before slamming the door in Craig's face.

The two adults looked down at the small child.

Elise went over to a chair and sat down while Sophie and Craig talked quietly. Elise wasn't listening to their conversation anyway.

Humans were so odd sometimes.