Read the A/N at the bottom for more information.

It is, with great joy and endless trepidation, that I have continued with this story. Here is Chapter Two. Enjoy.

Disclaimer: The rights of both the Doctor or Alex do not belong to me.

Three hours and two pit stops later, Alex found himself in a little abandoned town in the middle of nowhere. Slowly, he dismounted his motorcycle and took off his helmet. This couldn't be the right place… Could it? Running a hand through his hair, Alex pulled the letter out of his back pocket. His eyes scanned the paper and then checked the GPS he'd pulled up on his I-phone. Yes, these were the right coordinates.

So… Where was the Doctor?

Suddenly, as if on cue, there was a crash from the building to his left. In a flash, Alex had a gun in his hand, appearing from nowhere. More loud crashes made Alex step closer, made him slowly fall into a half-crouch. His senses were going into overdrive at the possibility of danger.

There was another crash, louder than the previous ones, and the door of the building flew open. Smoke poured out with a flashing light, making the entire scene that more eerie. And that was when a singular figure came out of the smoke. It paused in the doorway, and Alex was unable to tell what it was. He had the gun raised at the prone figure, unsure if it would end up to be friend or foe. But then the figure stepped out into the sunlight, coughing and trying to wave the smoke away.

Alex smiled and lowered his gun. "Hello, Doctor."

The man strode out into the street. "Alex!" he cried cheerfully, moving forward as if to hug him. However, he froze halfway to him. "Oh. You brought a gun. I don't particularly like guns. Well, actually, I don't like any weapons in general."

Alex rolled his eyes at the Doctor's ramblings on weapons; he'd heard them all before. "All right, all right, I'm putting it away." The twenty-year-old did as he said he would, putting the handgun back into its shoulder holster under his jacket. After that was done, he jerked his head towards the building the Doctor had just exited. "What happened there?"

The Doctor looked over his shoulder, then looked back at Alex. "Ah, yes, well, I might've miscalculated the coordinates a bit." Another loud crashing noise came from behind him and he flinched, whirling around.

Upon hearing that, Alex couldn't help but laugh. "Let me get this straight. You crash-landed the TARDIS inside a building?"

"It wasn't my fault!" the other man cried.

"Sure... Blame the TARDIS. Couldn't be your fault, no." As soon as the Doctor opened his mouth to respond, Alex cut him off with, "So, what'd you send the letter for?" He crossed his arms and leaned against his motorcycle, waiting for the other's response. There would be no beating around the bush. No, the Doctor would simply have to explain why he'd contacted Alex after five months of silence.

The Doctor opened his arms wide and smiled that – Alex would call it clever – smile of his. "Can't I just have wanted to see you?"

"You would've just showed up with the TARDIS if you'd wanted to visit," Alex said. "This is something more."

With a sigh, the Doctor raised his hands and said, "You caught me. Ulterior motives and whatnot." He turned and began walking back towards the building from where he'd originally came from. In the doorway, he stopped and looked back at Alex. "Are you coming or what?"

The smile on Alex's face could not have been any larger as he ran to catch up with him.

.oOo.

It had been only a few months since Alex had been inside the TARDIS, and he missed every second of it. Already his fingers brushed along the console, feeling the familiar levers and knobs. He felt more at home here than he had ever felt since he'd left England.

The Doctor danced around the console now, flipping levers and plotting out a destination, and Alex moved out of his way. "Where are we going?" he asked.

"England, yesterday," said the Doctor, smiling, as he ducked underneath the console and pulled out a folder. From there, he pulled out another blue envelope. "The Pond's house."

"Pond? As in Amy and Rory?" Alex had been told all about the married couple that were taking a short break from traveling in the TARDIS.

"Yes. We have to drop off a letter. Or, rather," the Doctor paused and shot a glance towards him, "You do."

"Doctor– " began Alex, but the man flipped a lever and the TARDIS began to take off.

"Geronimo, Alex!"

.oOo.

Alex muttered obscenities to himself under his breath as he trudged toward the flat where Amy and Rory lived. It was only because the Doctor had promised to explain everything to him that he was doing this. In his hand was the blue envelope he was to deliver. Forcing a smile onto his face, he bounded up the front steps and rapped on the door twice. A few seconds later, a red-headed woman opened the door. Alex had to swallow hard; he had a brief flash of Jack before shoving the memories back down.

"This letter was in my mailbox," he said, ever so charming while lying through his teeth. "But it had your address on it, so I thought I'd return it."

As Alex held out the letter, the woman took it. Amy, presumably. Speaking almost absentmindedly, she said, "Thanks." She took the letter and he tilted his head in farewell before turning to leave. With his back turned, Alex heard her let out a breath as she examined the envelope. "Doctor," Amy whispered. Alex could only smile as he sauntered away.

Yeah, the Doctor often had that effect on people.

.oOo.

One hour later, Alex had managed: to sneak in and out of a futuristic prison, to face off with an angry old man equipped with a shotgun, and to talk a 1930s movie star into helping him. Collapsing back into the TARDIS, he shot a look at the Doctor. "Okay," he said. "I have delivered three letters, nearly gotten shot, and I'm pretty sure I have a date with Katharine Hepburn." He sunk into a seat lazily. "Would you care to explain now?"

The Doctor sighed. "Well, there's no point in putting this off any longer, is there?" He walked over and sat down besides Alex. Suddenly, he seemed older than he had ever appeared before. "I am 1103 years old now, as you know. I've seen a lot of things in my life. I've seen a lot of death. And now I know that it's time for my own."

Alex was confused. "So, you're just going to regenerate again?"

Sadly, the Doctor shook his head. "No. This time, there will be no regeneration. I will die. There will be no coming back."

The twenty-year-old shot to his feet. "What do you mean 'there will be no coming back'? You're the Doctor, you can't just die!" he shouted. Although he would never admit it, his yelling came more from fear than from any other emotion. There was silence as the Doctor just looked at him, sadness in his eyes. Alex ran a hand through his hair, trying to calm down, to be strong. "How do you know you're going to die? No one knows that."

"Someone told me. Someone who witnessed my death. And they won't be the only ones there, either. Those letters I had you deliver, well, they're invitations, of a sort. I wanted to say good-bye; I'll be meeting up with them all later," explained the Doctor.

Alex closed his eyes; he was trying to make sense of it all. "If you're going to be meeting up with them later, why am I here now?"

The Doctor let out a breath. "Well, that's where it gets complicated. You're here because you're going to play a very important role."

"In your death?"

"Sadly."

"I won't kill you!" Alex said, panicking a bit.

The Doctor shook his head again and met the other's eyes. "No, you won't. But you will have a main role."

Sensing it was a losing battle, the younger man sat down, putting his head in his hands. "What will I do, Doctor?" he asked, his voice slightly muffled.

The older man reached out and put his hand on Alex's shoulder, giving it a quick squeeze before responding. "You're the one who'll tell me. You'll tell me everything: what I'll do, who I'll invite, what'll happen."

Looking up, Alex said, "So, I'm just going to tell you everything about your own death? Jesus Christ, that's..." He trailed off.

"Tough, I know," finished the Doctor. "But it won't be for a while."

"What?"

"There will be a specific time and place where you'll explain everything. After all, we still have an adventure or two left before then."

Alex looked helpless again. "But when will I know when to tell you?"

The Doctor paused, as if remembering. "When you, the girl, and I all meet up on a mission with the mega-computer."

"What?"

"You're asking a lot of questions today, aren't you?"

"That's because I'm pretty damned confused!" Alex said. "Who's the girl? What mega-computer? Doctor?"

But the Doctor had stood up. The moment of sadness was already gone. The Timelord had managed to get over his death, Alex could see. So, it was time for Alex to do the same. He took a deep breath and tried to push a lid down on those feelings. Years of practice served him well here, and he managed to shake off the sorrow. He would make the most of the time left with the Doctor.

Speaking of, the Doctor was flipping levers and pulling knobs again. The TARDIS made her noise, getting ready for take off. Alex braced himself against the console.

"Where are we going now, Doctor?" he yelled over the whirring of the spaceship.

"Middle of nowhere! I've got a meeting to attend!"

.oOo.

They ended up out in the desert, next to a road. There was an old-fashioned car sitting alongside the road, but that was the only thing for miles. Alex had poked his head out to see where they were, but as he saw, it was nothing remarkable. "Um, Doctor?" When he turned around, he saw the man rifling around in a storage compartment.

"A-ha!" cried the Doctor, pulling out something triumphantly. It was a cowboy hat, which he promptly stuck on his head. "And now I fit in!" Alex tried to contain his laughter at the sight of the man in a suit, a bow tie, and now a Stetson. To each their own, he supposed. As the Doctor approached the door to the TARDIS, Alex stepped back to let him through before following him out into the baking heat of the desert.

Suddenly, the Doctor turned to face Alex. "This is the end of our journey today. It will be the last time I see you, but not the last time you'll see me."

Alex tried no longer to make any sense of what the man said. But, as he looked around, he said, "You aren't just going to leave me here, are you?"

"What? Oh, heavens, no. That," the Doctor said, jerking his finger back towards the car, "is my ride."

And once again, the twenty-year-old was confused. "Is there possibly an explanation here?"

The Doctor smiled. "Of course! I will be taking that car to meet with Amy, Rory, and River, while you take the TARDIS."

"Huh?" asked Alex, dumbstruck.

Reaching out with his left hand, the Doctor clapped his companion on the shoulder. "She's all yours now. Take care of her, please. She's a good girl." As Alex stood there, clearly unable to say anything, the Doctor began backing away after looking down at his watch. "Okay, we've got three minutes here. Don't forget, Alex: you, me, the girl, mega-computer." He turned to walk away, but stopped, as if remembering something. "Oh, and you need to go to one-oh-one west Franklin street and be there by six thirty-seven. Before, preferably, enough time to hide the TARDIS, you might not need it for a while."

"Doctor- " began Alex.

From down the road, dust began billowing up as a vehicle came towards them. A bus. "They're early!" cried the Doctor. "Don't know why I'm surprised, honestly. Go, Alex!"

Alex had no choice; he turned and walked back to the TARDIS. As he stood in the doorway, he saw the Doctor tip his hat towards him. "Geronimo, Doctor," he said, quietly before turning into the ship and shutting the door behind him.

End of Chapter Two.

...

A/N

I have decided to make this into a multi-chapter story. And, even better, the plot bunny has bit, so it's all been plotted out.

I'm sorry if the characters were OOC. I'm sorry if it didn't quite make sense. I hope I'll be able to explain that all later. Please drop a line if you don't get something, I'll try to respond and/ or fix it.

Hell, who am I kidding? Drop a line, anyway. Love to hear from you!