CHAPTER THREE — DOCTOR WHO?
juniper and rose — part three

"Just start at the beginning." — juniper holloway

THE DOCTOR RAN OUT OF THE TYLER'S FLAT WITH ROSE AND JUNIPER NOT FAR BEHIND. He was a rather odd man who knew a lot of random and peculiar things, or in short, Juniper was intrigued by him. For a reason she did not know, her agonising headaches only occurred when he present so somehow, whether he meant to or not, he was a part of the cause. And that meant that Juniper wasn't going to let him leave without answering at least a few questions first.

"Hold on a minute," Rose called out as her and Juniper chased after him, the latter still a bit dazed from the worst headache she had ever had. "you can't just go swanning off?"

Without even stopping nor turning back, the Doctor answered. "Yes I can. Here I am. This is me, swanning off. See ya!" Juniper just rolled her eyes as she continued to follow him down the stairs.

"But that arm was moving, it tried to kill me!" Remarked Rose, her fingers gliding over the hand rail as she dashed downwards.

"Ten out of Ten for observation."

The young blonde was growing irritated by the man in front of them, he would not explain what was going on and it just made her even more frustrated. "You can't just walk away!" She yelled and Juniper winced slightly, her head still pounding. Rose certainly did get her ability to shout from her Mother. "That's not fair. You've got to tell us what's going on."

The Doctor continued to ignore her and Juniper sighed exasperatedly, running her hands down her face as if she was trying to wake herself up from an absurd dream. "No, I don't." He shot back just as he reached the bottom of the staircase.

Still hot on the Doctor's tail, the trio exited the building, the Doctor staring down at the hand with both curiosity and annoyance. "All right then, we'll go the Police." Rose threatened their mysterious and slightly handsome stranger - the latter was just in Juniper's opinion. "We'll tell everyone." Juniper had to resist the urge to roll her eyes. No one would believe them if they did, so what was the point in trying?

Then Juniper realised what Rose was planning and smirked, she was proud of her young friend. Continuing on from Rose, Juniper piped up. "You said we'd get people killed if we said anything to anyone, so, your choice."

"Tell us or we'll talk." Rose finished, her voice full of confidence that Juniper didn't know was fake or not.

Clearly not impressed nor frightened by their threat, the Doctor turned back to the girls, raising his eyebrow at them questioningly. "Is that supposed to sound tough?"

"Sort of."

"Doesn't work." The Doctor said bluntly.

Curiously, Juniper inquired, the dull throbbing in her head finally subsiding. "Who are you?"

"Told you, The Doctor." He replied and his words made the wavy haired blonde roll her eyes yet again. She knew his name, what she wanted to know was who he truly was and what could he do to help sort out the living plastic situation because there had to be more of them out there.

Rose groaned and asked. "Yeah, but Doctor what?"

'Doctor who sounds better than Doctor what,' Juniper thought and then she wondered how many times had The Doctor been asked that question, because surely it would eventually get on his nerves.

"Just 'The Doctor'."

Juniper raised her eyebrow at him, her eyes sparkling with a mixture of curiosity and suspicion. "The Doctor?"

At his name, he turned back to her, his face sporting a wide and cheeky grin and then he waved at her. "Hello!" Juniper giggled softly to herself.

"Is that supposed to sound impressive?!" Rose questioned and Juniper let out a quiet 'ooo', eagerly awaiting his comeback.

"Sort of."

The two blondes jogged to catch up with the Doctor so they were now walking on either side of him. "Come on then, you can tell us." Rose tried to convince him as Juniper's eyes watched the man's face, trying to figure out who he was. "We've seen enough." The Doctor turned to look down at Juniper for a split second before returning his gaze to the path ahead. "Are you the Police?"

Juniper compelled herself not to roll her eyes at her best friend for the stupid question she had just asked.

"No! I was just passing through. I'm a long way from home." For some reason, Juniper had the feeling he didn't mean up North.

Looking back up at the Doctor, Juniper inquired, her eyes flickering across to her young blonde friend. "But what have we done? How come those living plastics creatures keep coming back to us?"

"Oh, suddenly the entire world revolves around you two." The Doctor said sarcastically. Juniper glared at him harshly because he knew fully well exactly what she meant. "You two were just an accident. You got in the way, that's all."

Juniper's hand shot up to clutch her locket to offer herself some sort of comfort. "It tried to kill me!" Rose reminded him, not believing that the Doctor truly understood what had just occurred back up in the Tyler flat.

"It was after me, not you!" He tried to reassure them but it did nothing to help with the slight panic that was growing inside of Juniper.

A storm was brewing inside both her stomach and mind, confusion, fear and anxiety were mixed together like a recipe that would only cook disaster and to top it all of, she still had not gotten the answers she wanted.

"Last night in the shop," the Doctor continued as he kept glancing between them whilst speaking. "I was there and you two blundered in, almost ruined the whole thing." He whined before raising the plastic arm up and glaring at it. "And this morning, I was tracking it down, it was tracking me down. The only reason it fixed on you cos you'd met me." Said the Doctor. Juniper arched her eyebrow at his slightly arrogant words.

Rose scoffed, her head twisting around to look over at Juniper who was sharing the same look of disbelief on her face. "So, you're saying the entire world revolves around you?" She asked incredulity, her and Juniper still trailing after the man in question.

"Sort of, yeah."

Juniper snorted at his pomposity, folded her arms neatly over her chest and then said with teasing smile lining her lips. "Oh, you're full of it."

The Doctor turned back to her, his grin widening at the sight of the joyful look on her face. Her smile could light up a room, well, that was just what he thought anyway. "Sort of, yeah."

"Who else knows about what's going on with the plastic?" Juniper inquired and Rose hummed as if to say she was thinking the same thing.

"No one."

The brown eyed girl frowned at his words that she couldn't help but think had a deeper meaning. "Are you on your own?" Softly asked Juniper, trying to be as kind and cautious as she could with what she believed to be a hard and difficult subject for the man who they owed their lives to. Subconsciously, Juniper's fingers wrapped themselves around her gold locket chain.

At the gentleness in her tone, his face faltered slightly but he quickly placed back up the façade he was so used to wearing. "Well, who else is there? I mean, you lot, all you do is eat chips, got to bed and watch telly while all the time, underneath you, there's a war going on." One word stood out from the rest, it made her body freeze and her mind ache, it made her want to break down and cry before screaming out in anger and word was 'War'. She had no clue as to why that one word may her feel so many things and she just simply clutched her necklace tighter in an attempt to calm herself down before either of the two people she was with noticed.

Taking a deep and comforting breath, Juniper let go of her locket to reach down and pull the plastic arm from the strange man's hand and in response, he looked at her dubiously. "Just start at the beginning." She instructed calmly.

The trio kept on walking and Juniper hadn't realised how far they had gone until they reached the small field on the back of the estate.

"I mean, if we're going with living plastic," Rose started and Juniper just gave her friend a look of disbelief. "and I don't even believe that but, if we do, how did you kill it?"

Now that was an excellent question, Juniper thought and it was one she also wanted the answer to.

The Doctor looked between the girls before replying as simply as he could. "The thing controlling it projects life into the arm. I cut off the signal. Dead." To show that she understood, Juniper nodded her head which caused a strand of her dirty blonde hair to fall in front of her eyes.

As she placed the yellow ribbon of hair behind her ear, Rose asked. "So what, radio control?"

"Thought control." With her eyes widening to the size of saucers at those words, Juniper sighed heavily. After sensing both the confusion and slight fear from the girls, the Doctor looked back at them and considerately asked. "You two all right?"

"Yeah."

"Suppose so." Juniper mumbled, the throbbing starting to return at the back of her mind. Whilst stuck in thought, Juniper turned to face the Doctor and wondered aloud. "So, if these plastics are being controlled, then what by?"

The Doctor smirked somewhat proudly at her for asking the right sort of question. "Long story." He simply replied. Unsatisfied by the answer, Juniper frowned at the man.

"What's it all for?" Rose inquired, the trio leaving the field behind. "I mean, shop window dummies, what's that about?" A small laugh escaped the teen's lips as an infectious smile spread across her face. Juniper couldn't help but smile too and she had to admit, her friend did have a decent point.

Juniper chuckled, her grin widening as she asked jokingly. "Is someone trying to take over Britain's shops?" Both Rose and the Doctor laughed and the man looked down at her with an amused smile.

"No!" The two girls giggled, the elder nudging the man between them with her shoulder as he said. "It's not a price war." That just made them laugh even more. After all the giggles had died down, the Doctor told them honestly. "They want to overthrow the human race and destroy you." He looked at Rose and then at Juniper. "Do you believe me?"

"No."

"Yes."

He smirked at Juniper's words before speaking directly to Rose. "But you're still listening." Then he began to walk away and Juniper couldn't help but feel like they were going to see him again.

"Really, though, Doctor... Tell us." Pleaded Rose, her eyes trained on the man's back as he continued to walk away and in the direction of a blue Police box that Juniper was sure wasn't there the night before. "Who are you?"

He stopped in his tracks. Together, the girls watched as his face shone with a nostalgic smile before he moved around to face them. "Do you know like we were saying? About the Earth revolving?" He asked them. Juniper nodded her head at the man who was making his way back towards them. "It's like when you're a kid. The first time they tell you the world's turning and you just can't quite believe it because everything looks like it's standing still. I can feel it." He took their hands in his own just like he did the night before. "The turn of the Earth. The ground beneath our feet is spinning at a thousand miles an hour, and the entire planet is hurtling round the sun at sixty-seven thousand miles an hour, and I can feel it." Juniper didn't know whether or not to believe his extraordinary words, but either way, she felt sympathy for him. "We're falling through space, you two and I, clinging to the skin of this tiny little world, and if we let go..." He dropped their hands. "That's who I am. Now forget me, Juniper Holloway and Rose Tyler." Slightly dazed from his speech, the Doctor easily removed the plastic arm from Juniper's grip and waved it at them. "Go home."

After the Doctor walked away again, Juniper sighed, swinging her arm around her friend's shoulder, leading her away from the man who was making his way towards the blue box. They kept on walking back towards the Tyler flat and Juniper dared to look over her shoulder just as they were about to turn back around a corner and was both surprised and intrigued to see the mysterious hero unlocking the front door to a box that somehow appeared out of nowhere. She just shook her head, returning her gaze to the path in front of them.

Rose looked up at her friend, leaning her head on Juniper's shoulder, seeking comfort in what was a confusing time for her. "We're gonna try and find out more about him, aren't we?"

Juniper smirked down at the blonde, ignoring the strange whooshing sound in the distance. "Oh, definitely."

AFTER A QUICK INTERNET SEARCH, THEY FOUND A WEBSITE DEDICATED INTO FINDING THE MYSTERIOUS MAN THEY KNEW TO BE KNOWN AS 'THE DOCTOR'. It was run by a conspiracy theorist, not that Juniper was surprised, but compared to most theorists she had met, he didn't seem to be too bad. So, with a quick lift from Mickey, the two blondes arrived at his address, eager to hear what the man had to say.

"You're not coming in." Rose teased her boyfriend as both her and Juniper unbuckled their seat belts. "He's safe, he's got a wife and kids."

"Yeah, who told you that?" Mickey queried, wanting to ensure sure both his girlfriend and friend were safe because he believed that a lot of conspiracy theorists were either nut-jobs or serial killers. "He did! That's exactly what an internet lunatic would say."

Juniper laughed and then clapped her hand down on Mickey's shoulder. "You have a point there, but don't worry, if he is a crazy killer, I'll put him in his place before he can even touch Rose." She reassured the anxious boyfriend.

Mickey looked at Rose as he pointed back at Juniper. "See! She gets it!" The teen just rolled her eyes at them before exiting the car. With the blonde's back facing them, Juniper shared a look with her friend, one she knew he would understand; it meant that she would protect Rose no matter what. Smiling gratefully, the man nodded to show that he knew what she was telling him.

Juniper opened the side door and got out of the car, jogging until she caught up with Rose who was almost to the front door. Out of the corner of the eye she could still see Mickey watching them as they reached the house that Clive had said he lived at. The elder of the two raised her hand and rapped her knuckles against the white wooden door. Both Rose and Juniper were surprised when the door opened to reveal a small boy who was looking at them curiously.

"Hello." Juniper greeted him with a kind smile. "We've come to see Clive. We've been e-mailing."

The boy looked back into the house, calling out. "Dad! it's one of your nutters." Juniper scoffed quietly at the boys words.

A man, slightly chubby around the middle with dark brown hair and khaki trousers, quickly took the boy's place. He waved at them both with a friendly smile spread across his face. "Hello! You two must be Juniper and Rose." Taking Rose's hand first, he shook it and then did the same with Juniper.

The manager without a store pointed to herself and then Rose. "I'm Juniper and this is Rose, in case there was any confusion." She told him.

The man smiled and then introduced himself. "I'm Clive, obviously."

Both girls laughed before Rose spoke up, gesturing to the yellow vehicle across the street. "We'd better tell you — my boyfriend's waiting in the car, in case you're gonna kill us!"

Clive chuckled and then pointed at the girls like a parent telling off a child. "No, good point. No murders." He said, waving to Mickey in the car who was glaring at him harshly. A voice belonging to no doubt his wife called out to him to ask who was at the door and he smugly replied with. "It's to do with the Doctor, they've been reading the website." Clive turned back to the girls, motioning towards the inside of the house. "Please come through, I'm in the shed."

Following Clive like inquisitive puppies, the two girls headed out to the shed, hoping that the man could offer them some insight on the question they both wanted an answer to: 'Doctor who?'

INSIDE CLIVE'S SHED, JUNIPER AND ROSE TOOK IN THEIR SURROUNDINGS, WHICH WAS A LOT CONSIDERING THE NUMBER OF DOCUMENTS AND PICTURES HE HAD PINNED UP ALL OVER THE PLACE. It kind of reminder Juniper of a crime board which left her with the question, 'What kind of crimes had he committed?'. Juniper tried to reassure herself it was nothing because even though she hadn't been around the Doctor long, she knew he was a good man, or at least tried his very best to be.

"A lot of this stuff's quite sensitive," Clive started his explanation, rummaging through his things as he did so. "I couldn't just send it to you, people might intercept, if you know what I mean." Juniper hummed in understanding but when he turned his back she circled her fingers on either side of her head, expressing how slightly cuckoo she thought the man in front of them was. Rose stifled a laugh. "If you dig deep enough and keep a lively mind, this Doctor keeps cropping up all over the place." He swivelled back around, this time with a file clutched tightly in his hands. "Political diaries, conspiracy theories, even ghost stories."

Juniper watched intently as Clive joined them on their side of the bench and placed the large blue folder down in front of them. He opened it up and both the girls instantly moved their gaze to the papers inside, desperate to find the answers they were looking for. She didn't know what to believe when it came to the Doctor, so as Clive said, she had to keep a lively mind.

He continued. "No first name, no last name, just 'The Doctor'. Always 'The Doctor'. The title seems to be passed from father to son, it appears to be an inheritance." Juniper arched her eyebrow questionably at that. Clive turned and pointed to a picture he had on the website and asked the two blondes. "That's your Doctor there, isn't it?"

Juniper nodded in verification when she set her eyes on the image they had both seen on Clive's website that had brought them there in the first place. "Yeah." Rose hummed, agreeing with her friend.

"I tracked it down to the Washington Public Archive just last year." He informed them as they finally tore their eyes from the picture on the screen. "The online photo's enhanced, but if we take a look at the original..." Rose moved in close to Clive to try and see what he was about to show them so Juniper poked her head between them, staring at the photo he was pulling out from the folder.

It was of the Doctor, no surprise there, but the people around him were not dressed in your typical modern clothes. If she had to guess, 1960's, but how was that possible? On instinct, her hand shot up to her locket, her fingers caressing the golden lid to help calm her for what was coming. Clive moved on to the next photo, a more zoomed out version of the previous one, but this time, there was a Police motorcycle included. It was a parade. The final image really did take her breath away. She had certainly been right about the 1960's and she knew that for certain the moment she set her eyes on John. F. Kennedy, on the day he was shot.

"November 22nd 1963, the assassination of President Kennedy. See." He pointed out. That definitely was the Doctor, there was no denying it, but how was it possible?

Rose ran her finger over the picture. "Must be his father." She said with wide eyes, trying to make sense of what she had just seen.

Clive put down the photo before riffling through his things yet again. "Going further back. April 1912," At the date, the wavy haired blonde perked up, her heart racing; April 1912 was when the Titanic sunk. This time the not-so-crazy conspiracy theorist returned with a notebook and an old photo. "this is a photograph of the Daniels family of Southampton, and friend." He pointed out a man in the photo that was most certainly the Doctor. Juniper's eyebrows furrowed in thought as a shot of pain blasted through her skull causing a small and almost inaudible groan to escape her lips. "This was taken the day before they were due to sail for new world on the Titanic." So, she was right about the Titanic connection. "But for some reason, they cancelled, the trip, and survived."

It didn't make sense. For starters, how could he have lived for so long? And also, how did he know what was going to happen? Unless... No, she didn't want to think about it, correction, the headaches didn't want her to think about it.

"And here we are," Clive unpinned a scrap piece of paper from the wall before handing it to the girls. It wasn't even a picture, just a sketch, but it was still the Doctor, leather jacket and all. "1883, another Doctor. Look, the same lineage, he's identical." Juniper shook her head, having a descendant who looked the exact same wasn't that rare, but for all of them to be the same, it was just impossible, so it had to be the same man even though that seemed just as unlikely. "This one washed up on the Sumatran coast, the night Krakatoa exploded. The Doctor is a legend woven throughout history. When disaster comes, he's there. He brings the storm in his wake, and has one constant companion."

After gulping nervously and tightening her grip on the gold around her neck, Juniper asked. "Who's that?"

"Death."

Juniper shook her head, she just couldn't believe it. It was all too much and it felt as if her head was going to explode. Seeing her friend's pain, Rose looked at her worriedly, placing her hand on her shoulder gently. "Juniper, are you ok?"

Waving her hand dismissively, she replied. "I'm fine, just another headache." Rose frowned, she really was starting to get concerned for her friend, because her headaches sounded agonising.

"If the Doctor's back," Clive continued warningly, regaining the attention of the two blondes. "if you've both seen him, then one thing's for certain. We're all in danger." Both startled by his words, the friends turned to each other, sharing looks of fear and anxiety. "If he's singled you two out, if the Doctor's making house calls, the God help you." Juniper instinctively reached for Rose's hand, not just to comfort her, but also herself.

"But who is he?" Rose questioned in an attempt to get the answer they had come to get. "Who so you think he is?"

With fear glinting in his eyes, Clive replied. "I think he's the same man. I think he's immortal. I think he's an alien from another world." Rose sighed and rolled her eyes at his response before leaving the shed and heading back towards Mickey.

Juniper's eyes darted across the pictures and evidence before them before staring Clive in the eye. "I think you're wrong." She told him, watching as he jumped slightly from the unexpected words. "According to you, he has appeared at important points in History, even if he was immortal, the chances of it happening that many times are impossible. So, he must've known it was going to happen." Rose had left, so she wasn't there to hear what she was about to say, which was partially a good thing, because if she was, Juniper would never hear the end of it. "I think he's a time traveller." Clive paused, pondering her words, wondering why he had never thought of that before. "It was nice to meet you." Juniper said with an honest smile before turning to follow after her friend with all the new information swirling around in her head.

The Doctor was a time traveller, she was sure of it.

WHEN JUNIPER EXITED CLIVE'S HOUSE, HER MIND WAS TICKING AWAY. Everything that he had told them was useful and informative, it helped her to piece together some of puzzle that was 'The Doctor', but her young friend didn't seem to think so. Rose wasn't sure what to believe and was currently sat with Mickey in the car, waiting for Juniper to join them.

She made her way over to the vehicle and leaned against Rose's side door, looking down at her. "We're gonna go and get pizza, wanna come with?" Rose asked and Juniper just sighed and shook her head.

"I'm going to walk, clear my head." She hummed, her eyes taking in more of her surroundings, which included a strange looking Mickey who sported a creepy smile and shiny complexion.

Before she could ask what was going on, Rose said. "Sure, ok, but if you change your mind, just phone and we'll save you some."

Juniper smiled at her kind offer but shook her head once again. She needed some time to go over what they had just found out, she needed some time to try and figure out the Doctor. With her vision slightly impaired by the dizziness she was feeling, she watched as Rose and Mickey drove off, but she couldn't help but sense that something was not right.

As soon as her friends were out of sight, she started to walk away and after turning a corner, the strange whooshing sound from before met her ears. She whipped around on the spot to come face to face with the man they had dedicated the last few hours to finding stuff about.

"Hi." The Doctor said, his face completely serious for once as he looked at her straight in the eye with his arms folded tightly over his chest. "We need to talk."

Hi there, I hope you have enjoyed chapter three of 'Until the Stars Burn'.

So, Juniper and Rose have managed to find out more about the Doctor, not that Rose believes it, and Juniper is having even more trouble with her headaches, my poor baby just can't catch a break. I made my first memes and here is one that shows what's going on inside her head.

And here are some more I made for the chapter

So I was wondering, what do you all think of my book so far?

See you in the next chapter and thank you so much for reading.

Sincerely, Rosie aka Winter326