Broken Hearts Still Beat

Chapter 9

The Doctor ushered Alexine to the captain's chair in the control room and told her to stay put. She watched with fascination as he danced around the panel, pushing levers and twirling dials that made no sense to her. He left the window panel open, so she was able to observe the display of the planet reaching up to meet them. Soon she could no longer see the entire sphere in the window.

The Tardis landed with an indiscernible bump on the planet's surface. The Doctor consulted his panel.

"We're ok. We can breath the air without any problem. The temperature is warm, but you should be used to that. Let me see your shoes."

Alexine lifted her foot up, and the Doctor turned around and grabbed it between his knees, examining the bottom of her slipper. "That won't do at all," he said. "We need you in something a little sturdier to go walking."

He led her through the Tardis, up a long winding metal staircase to an area that had racks of clothes and accessories. He held out his hand after asking her for her slippers, and started picking up different footwear, holding it against her slipper until he was satisfied with his find.

"Sit down on that bench," he gestured with his head. He looked at her, a grin on his face that she was beginning to associate with mischief. "Let's play Cinderella."

"What's Cinderella?" She asked.

"Not what, who! You don't know? Well, I guess you wouldn't. Remind me one night when we're bored to tell you about her. But for now, my lady, may I have your foot please?" He kneeled on one knee in front of her and patted the one remaining upright. Alexine placed her foot where he indicated. He had a shoe that was white and covered the whole foot. It had little holes up the front of it with thick strings weaved in and out of the holes. He tightened the strings before tying them into a bow.

While he was giving her feet his attention, her thoughts were on what he had just said. Remind him one night when they were bored. She wondered how many nights she would have with him. Her eyes were twinkling with excitement at the thought of the adventure they were about to enter. He truly was a drug. And she was getting hooked.

"What are those?" She asked, standing up and bouncing a bit on the balls of her feet, experimenting with the sponge like feel of the footwear.

"Trainers," he said. "They're perfect for running about. You'll see."

He opened the doors of the Tardis with a flourish and taking her hand, they stepped outside onto the soil of the planet. Her heart beating wildly and her face flushed with exhilaration, Alexine looked about her at the strange landscape.

They were in a meadow with knee high delicate looking grass. It was colored a muted green, with white wispy tops on the stalks. Off to one side, there was a slope with larger vegetation shading the ground. The sky was actually tinted pink! The surface, though, was covered with green vegetation. She sniffed, and smiled at the pleasantness of the sweet air.

The Doctor kneeled down, poking between the grass stalks and bringing up some soil pinched between his fingers. He touched his tongue to it, closing his eyes in concentration, as he tasted it.

"What is it?" Alexine asked.

"I was just seeing if it tasted like strawberry," he said.

"Strawberry?"

"Something else for me to tell you about! I need to start a list."

He took her hand in his, and swinging their arms between them, he took off towards the slope. "Isn't this pretty?" He grinned that toothy smile of his, which had an infectious effect on Alexine.

"It's wonderful!" She exclaimed.

"I told you earlier that I wanted to talk. I want to tell you about Time Lords" he began.

As they walked about the meadow and explored the slope, the Doctor told Alexine a little about his past. She had a bit of a problem grasping his age – well over a thousand now of his years. When she did the math to figure out how many moons it represented, she stared at him, speechless. He had to convince her that he could travel across time as well as space, and he used the story of Pompeii and the honey to emphasize his point. He told her about the rules of interfering and the consequences of traveling to different dimensions. He carefully skirted the parts of the stories where companions were involved, unwilling to open that part of his heart up for examination just yet. After a while they sat on the slope overlooking the meadow where the Tardis sat peacefully, its blue a strange contrast to the green meadow.

"So you had to blow up the mountain and the town to stop the creatures?" She asked incredulously.

He looked at her with a haunted look on his face. "Twenty thousand souls were lost that day because of me."

She put her hand on his arm. "No. Not because of you."

"But don't you see? I pushed the button. I decided it had to be done."

"How long ago did this happen?" She asked.

"Well, historically wise, if I took today's date on your current calendar, and transitioned the vortex, having to adjust for the bend in the universe, mind you, and-"

Alexine interrupted. "No, you misunderstood. For you, when did this happen? Yesterday? Last moon?"

"Oh. For me. Let's see." His eyes looked up as he did a quick calculation in his head. He looked down again, his eyes meeting Alexine's. "About a hundred and ten years ago. For you, it would be over thirteen hundred moons."

She nodded her head. "That type of pain settles into a constant ache, doesn't it?" She softly said. "It never goes away."

He stared at her for a long time, speechless that for the first time ever he met someone that understood the consequences of the responsibility that he shouldered. "Never" he finally responded.

She squeezed his arm where her hand still rested, grateful that he had shared that much of himself with her.

"And now for you, Miss Alexine. I have a question." His voice, although not quite as serious as it had been, still had a weight to it that warned of its nature. "Tell me more about this cloak of yours."

"What do you want to know? I told you how I got it and that I can't get rid of it."

"You use the cloak when you need to appear somewhere outside of the cottage, right? You put it on, think of where you have to go and when you pull up the hood then poof – you're there?"

"That sums it up, yes," she answered.

"Then Alexine…how did you get on my ship?"

She stared at him for a moment, the meaning of his question slamming into her brain with the speed of a meteor. "Wasn't I wearing the cloak?"

"Nope, no cloak" he replied.

She thought of it for a bit and realized for the first time that she didn't remember seeing the cloak since she took it off after arriving home following Rosemary's death. "I don't know," she said slowly, choosing her words carefully. "I was sick and I was pretty emotional." She closed her eyes, as if blocking out the meadow before her would help her memory. "I thought of putting the cloak on, but I didn't see it. I was just calling for you, saying your name and the next thing I remember, I woke up on the Tardis."

"You were able to appear without the cloak, Alexine. That could come in handy one day." The Doctor saw that she wasn't listening to him at that moment.

She gasped, her hand flying to her mouth as she looked up at the Doctor, her eyes opened wide. "It's gone! The cloak is gone! It let me leave!" Her heart beat with excitement and her face became flushed. "Doctor! It's gone!" She screamed. She launched herself forward towards him, throwing her arms around him and knocking them both to the ground. She was laughing and crying at the same time.

He laughed with her, standing and pulling her up with him. He wrapped his arms around her back, lifted her up and twirled her around over and over until they both became dizzy and collapsed back onto the ground, out of breath but still grinning ear to ear. He rolled over onto his side, propping his head up on his elbow. He looked down at her, laying on her back in the grass, breathing hard and smiling that incredible smile of hers. He took a piece of grass and tickled her nose with it.

"You're going to have to find a new career now, you know" He teased.

"I can do anything, though, right?" She asked, as if seeking his permission.

"Well, I think you should take a vacation first, if you ask me."

Alexine suddenly remembered the wish she made the first night that she met the Doctor. "My wish" she said softly, reverently.

"What wish?" He asked.

"When you showed me the shooting star. I wished to be normal, and if I couldn't be normal, at least to have a vacation."

"One vacation, coming up!"

"You said that sometimes wishes come true but in a different way than we expected. That sometimes they give us what we need and not so much what we want. I remember it!"

"At least you didn't have to step off a mountain," he teased.

"Oh, no!" She said with a surprised gasp.

"What's wrong?"

"I left my equipment on the mountain!" She said with laughter in her voice.

"What mountain?"

"My cottage! Everything I have is in the cottage! And I can't even get back there now!" She jumped up, laughter bubbling out of her, and she threw out her arms and turned around and around, her face pointed towards the sky, uncaring that she had no clothes except the ones on her back, no books, nothing except the one thing she needed the most.

Her freedom.

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The Doctor leaned back, watching her celebrate her newfound independence. Her happiness was contagious, and he briefly thought back to the prior day, when she told him her story, and compared the despondency of the day before to the ecstasy that she was experiencing now. He really liked her. She understood him. She was intelligent, curious and had more compassion than anyone he had ever met.

She had no way to get home now. He supposed if he tried very hard, the Tardis could probably find the cottage in the desert. But if he brought her back there, would that cloak be waiting for her? He shuddered at the thought of sentencing her back to that life. She was safe with him. He could keep her here. He sat up abruptly at that thought. Keep her. On the Tardis. Should he?

He had made a rule. No more companions. He looked at her again, as she ran about like a child, reveling in her free will. She wouldn't have to attend any more deaths. She could stay with him, and he would show her everything. And she can show him some things, too. She already had. She showed him compassion, understanding, acceptance and more. But most of all, she showed him how to have a life of purpose again. His life was better because she was in it. And he wanted more.

In the end, it was much easier to break this rule than it was to make it. Besides, after more than 100 years, maybe it was just time to try again. Everything dies. Even rules. His mind made up, he interrupted her celebration.

"Alexine" he called.

She came over, flopping down on the grass next to him, still smiling. "Hmmm?"

"What will you do now?"

"Vacation, I thought we already decided!" She said with laughter.

"After that? Any plans?" He added casually. His heartbeats began to quicken, anxiety and excitement were mixed in their rhythm.

"No, I haven't got that far yet!" She exclaimed.

"Travel with me."

"To where?" She asked.

"Everywhere. Together. I'll show you everything. We'll dine in New New York, swim in the water nebula, watch shooting stars as they explode out of their suns. We'll meet kings and peasants, and witness the birth of planets."

"Can we listen to two headed opera singers?" She asked.

"Oh, yes. We'll definitely listen to two headed opera singers. Are you in?" He held his breath in anticipation of her answer.

"Ummmm….I don't know."

His smile dropped off his face.

"Well, I kind of had this thing in the desert. I was going to catalogue the rocks to keep track of them. Then I was going to sweep the sand to make sure it stayed neat. OF COURSE I'LL COME!" She screamed.

"Don't ever do that again!" He moaned.

They both sat back, satisfied with their day and started planning their first trip.

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They spent the entire day on the planet, exploring, talking and behaving like children with their carefree thoughts. They never saw another living being on the planet during the day they spent there. It was just the Doctor and Alexine and their amazing pink planet, the only important things at that moment in all of creation.

Even perfect days come to an end, and this one proved that fact when the dusk descended first over the slope and finally the meadow itself. Holding hands, they hiked back towards the Tardis, their steps slower with their depleted energy.

"I could use some ice cream" the Doctor said.

"Something else that I don't know what it is. What do you do with it?" Alexine replied.

The Doctor stopped in his tracks, causing her hand to pull from his. He put a hand over his face in an exaggerated display of frustration. "Oi! I have to teach you EVERYTHING! I thought you knew SOME things!"

Alexine was in too good of a mood to let his teasing be misconstrued. "Nope, you'd better start at the beginning. What is ice cream?"

"Some things can be taught, others must be experienced. Come with me." Again he held out his hand to her, and they entered the Tardis together. After making sure the door was closed behind him, he led her into the galley and pulled out a chair for her. He bustled about, pulling a spoon out of a drawer and pausing in front of it. His well-worn mischievous smile once again appeared. "You have to be blindfolded."

"What?" She squealed.

"Trust me. No sight."

"Can't I just close me eyes?"

"Nope. I don't trust you!" he ignored her snort at those words, and pulled a scarf out of the drawer. Returning to where she sat, he loosely tied it around her eyes, rendering her incapable of seeing what he was doing. "Don't move," he warned.

His reward was a giggle, which was greeted with his own smile. He went to the cold storage and selected a tub of chocolate ice cream. He scooped some into the bowl, and after returning the tub, he sat down in front of her, straddling a chair backwards as he rested his arms on the back of the chair. "Open your mouth," he said. He scooped up some of the treat in the spoon, but paused for a moment just before placing it in her mouth. The sight of her sitting there, her beautiful face turned up towards him, an expectant look on her face stirred him deeply. He felt a skip in his pulse before shaking his head slightly and continuing on with his play.

Obeying his command, Alexine partly opened her mouth. She figured since they were in the galley and he had removed a spoon from the drawer prior to blindfolding her that ice cream was something you ate. She felt the spoon touch her lips and closed them over the contents. Never in her wildest dreams was she prepared for the sensation of cold and sweet that assaulted her mouth. "Oh!" She exclaimed.

The Doctor sat there, watching the expression on her face. She had physically jumped when the coldness registered, and then he swore she almost melted when the sweetness hit her taste buds. "Alexine, meet chocolate ice cream. Ice cream, meet Alexine. I have a feeling you two will be good friends." He chuckled at the look of ecstasy that crossed her face.

She reached up and ripped the blindfold off, eagerly reaching for the bowl in his hands. "Mine, gimme!" was all she could stutter.

He lost it then. He threw his head back and laughed – the kind of belly laugh that leaves you gasping for breath and sore afterwards. She ignored him, intent on figuring out what this ice cream was all about.

He stood up, preparing to leave the galley and go to the control room. "I think I know where our first trip will be," he said.

"Uuummph," was all that was heard from Alexine.

Eyes twinkling, the Doctor replied: "Earth. 1950's. When ice cream was still hand packed by sodajerks and banana splits weren't considered evil. We're going to Earth!"

Alexine waved her hand at the Doctor. "Go away. I'm having an out of body experience and I want to be alone with Mr. Chocolate."

His laughter was heard echoing through the Tardis as he walked away. This was going to be a fantastic trip!

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Alexine's bag sat back in the cottage in her closet, the cloak folded neatly inside of it. The cottage was quiet, silently standing while the sun and moons went through their cycles, waiting for the day that it would appear again. Soon.

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