Chapter Eleven

Oh God.

My Doctor. My poor Doctor. Can it really be true? Could he really become a monster himself someday? What Alan told me is horrifying and yet, it makes sense to me. Now that he's told me all about the Valeyard and the Doctor's darkness, I can look back and see the warning signs, but every time I did I overlooked or dismissed them because I couldn't fathom him ever turning evil. But, what if he does? What if he becomes this Valeyard and does decide to attack us? Could I really destroy the man I love in order to save Alan and the rest of the universe? Oh God, please don't let me find out the answer.

"Rose, I've been thinking."

"Yeah?"

Alan smiled.

"When we begin our grand and glorious worldwide adventure, where do you want to go first? Are we going east through Russia, west towards Spain or down towards Italy?"

"How about we go north and visit the North Pole?"

"No thanks, had my fill of freezing cold for now," Alan said as she giggled.

"Um…I really don't care, any direction is good."

They entered the restaurant and sat down by the door.

"Well, just for your information because I know the Doctor mentioned once he knew five billion languages and obviously a huge chunk of that went with Donna, I can still speak and read Spanish, French, Italian, German and Welsh fluently and I know a smattering of Chinese and Japanese and Latin and that's it. So, just be aware that in certain countries I will be completely gormless when it comes to speaking and reading the language. Which could be fun, but then again could be a total pain in the arse as well. But, just throwing that out, in case you think I'll be able to just communicate with anyone in their native tongue. If I could do that, I would have told you what that farmer said on the telly yesterday."

They looked over and Alan smiled when the waitress came up.

"Well, hello again," he said. "Listen, can I ask you your name since this is the third time you've waited on us?"

"I'm Freya."

"Nice to meet you, Freya, I'm Alan and this is Rose."

"Hi," Rose said, smiling.

"You want polsa again?" Freya asked.

Alan looked at Rose.

"You wanna eat yet?"

"Not yet, I'm not hungry, but if you are…"

"No, I'm not hungry either. Just two Cokes for now, please?"

Freya nodded, wrote it down and walked off.

"So, what d'ya think? Which direction?"

Rose thought.

"Let's go through Russia. I've never been through Asia before and I'd love to see Japan."

"Okay. We'll go through Russia, perhaps see China and India…although….is China communist here?"

'Yes."

"Gotta be careful going through it then, don't wanna end up in jail because they think we're spies. But…perhaps explore India, Japan, Indonesia, go down to Australia, then over to America and then up to Canada and down to South America, then on to Antarctica where we'll finally see the bloody penguins that never showed up."

Rose giggled.

"Then, we'll freeze to death," she said. "And become ice statues..."

"Until global warming melts us and we wake up saying, what the hell happened? Where'd Antarctica go?"

He smiled and thanked Freya when she brought over their Cokes. He turned his attention back to Rose when she left.

"But, finally, we'll end up back in Europe and explore that before finally returning home. And hopefully, that'll be a looooooooooooong way off."

"You really aren't looking forward to going back to London."

"No, why would I be? I have a million different memories of London, courtesy of him, and there's really nothing that exciting about it. Not to mention your mum, the further I stay away from her, the better."

"Alan, I'm sorry for what she said about you being a threat to…"

He held up his hand.

"You don't have to apologize for her. She's not happy because A, the "Doctor" has returned after two years and B; I have your former Doctor's temperament and neither one of them got along very well. Throw my Noble-itis into the mix and you've got a situation that's just ripe with tension. I believe at the moment, distance is the best solution."

He took a swig of his Coke and sighed.

"Ah, hits the spot. But, anyway, is there anything on your mind, anything you want to pick my brain about now that you can be privy to the Doctor's innermost secrets."

"You really don't mind talking about him?"

"No, I mean he's not me and it's not like he can listen in and hear me talking about him, so go ahead. Any burning questions?"

Rose spun the straw around in her Coke while she thought.

"What was he doing with Reinette when he was supposedly off partying with the French?"

"He was dancing with her."

"That all?"

Alan raised his eyebrow.

"Do I detect a hint of jealousy, Miss Tyler?"

Rose looked away as he grinned.

"He actually did suspect that you were envious of the time he spent with her, but I can assure you that he did nothing sexual with her. He just danced."

"Why was he dancing?"

"Because…Reinette saw into his mind, saw how lonely he was and got it into his head that a knees up was just the thing for him."

"When did she see into his mind?"

"Just after you and Mickey left, he scanned her brain to try to find out what the clockwork robots wanted with her and she accidentally saw into his mind and learned who he was."

"And thought he needed to dance?"

"There comes a time, Time Lord, when every lonely little boy must learn how to dance, her exact words."

"And it never occurred to him that while he was dancing and living it up, we might be in trouble?"

"Well…he did try to leave several times, but Reinette kept introducing him to more of her friends and he didn't want to be rude, so he'd say hello and then they'd want to chat with him and he'd drink a few banana daiquiris and then more people would come over and on and on it went until he looked up at the clock and realized how much time had passed, so that time he put his foot down, apologized to Reinette, hurried back and got there just as the clockwork robots were menacing you and Mickey. He still had an empty glass in his hand that he hadn't bothered to set down when he ran off, so he pulled out a bottle of multi-grain anti-oil from his pocket, poured it in the glass, pulled the tie up to his head, pulled out a pair of shades and voila, instant drunk. The rest you know."

"So, he wasn't really drunk, it was just an act."

Alan nodded.

"Yeah, Time Lords don't get drunk unless they want to."

"So…he could drink ten barrels of whiskey and still be sober if he wanted to be."

"Yup. And no, I seriously doubt if I can still do that and I don't want to try. I enjoy having a clear head. Anything else?"

"What happened after he got back to the TARDIS? He went to see Reinette and he came back depressed. What happened?"

"The "magic door" shifted time again and when he returned to take her along with you guys as a companion, six years had passed and she had just died."

"Oh God…Okay, that makes much more sense than the, "I'm always alright" line he gave us."

"She also left a letter for him. He read it the moment you and Mickey left."

"Oh yeah? What did she say?"

He quoted it word for word.

"My love? She called him my love?"

Alan shrugged.

"Like I told you before, Rose. Charisma. You fell in love with him, Reinette fell in love, Jack fell in love, Martha fell in love, Sarah Jane fell in love, the only one who didn't fall in love was Donna, but then Donna's an oddball anyway," he said, winking. "And even Arthur the horse fell in love and followed him around the ship. He's irresistible to people and animals alike."

"Well, I can understand that," Rose said as he chuckled. "So…only 43 when she died? Blimey, so young."

"Yeah, the king told him she worked herself to death and I think personally she was probably heartsick after the Doctor left, especially since he promised to take her with him."

"Poor woman. I mean, yeah, I can completely understand why she fell in love with the Doctor. Because…who wouldn't fall in love."

Alan's eyes widened when she stroked his face. He glanced around.

"Are we about to be arrested for indecent exposure now?" he teased.

"Mmmm, I don't know, up to you."

Alan raised his eyebrow.

"Um…you know, that charisma thing can be a blessing, but then again, it can backfire and get you arrested as well," he said. "Apparently, I have inherited his gift for putting people under his spell."

"Mmmm-hm, you have."

Alan thought a moment.

"I command you to take your shirt off and fondle yourself in public."

He grabbed the hem of her shirt when Rose started to raise it up and smacked her hand as she giggled insanely.

"Gotta be careful with you. You actually do have the guts to take on a dare," he said.

"Yup, I do."

"So, now your fears about Reinette and him can finally be put to rest after three long, agonizing years, eh?" he said, winking.

"I know, I know, it's just that…I was angry that we almost got killed while he was off partying and it's just always been in the back of my mind that she and him…"

"Rose," Alan said, taking her hand. "Let me just tell you this. Even though he didn't show it, he felt incredibly guilty about what he'd done. Especially since if he had delayed leaving the party another few minutes, you two would have ended up dead. He came within a hair's breath of losing you and it tore him up inside. He resolved never to do anything like that again. And…And in the five and a half hours that he was trapped in France, they didn't do anything either. They just sipped wine and talked. He was never unfaithful to you. Now…were you unfaithful to him? Did you and Mickey do some spooning while he was gone?"

He poked her arm and grinned.

"No, Mickey and I didn't do anything except wonder where the hell he was and how he was gonna get back. By that time, I really didn't care for Mickey in that way."

"Yeah, you weren't too happy when Mickey-boy asked to travel with you guys."

"Because I got used to being alone with him and Mickey is a nice guy, but he's just so…clingy. It's annoying."

"And yet, I'm allowed to just tag along wherever you go and you just hang off me and fondle my lovely hair. Isn't that clingy?"

"Well…I don't mind you doing it because I love ya."

"Oh, good, I was beginning to think I'd have to walk several feet behind you now, so I wouldn't invade your personal space and invite a beating."

"No, you're perfectly fine."

"Gotcha. So…now that your fears of Reinette have been extinguished, anything else you wanna know?"

Rose took a swig of Coke while she thought.

"What happened right after the gap closed?" she said.

"He met Donna."

Her eyes widened.

"Right after?"

"Yeah, he had about a minute to mourn your loss and suddenly, he looked over and Donna was standing in the TARDIS in a wedding dress."

"What? How?"

Alan smiled and related the story to her. Rose listened with fascination as he told her all about the Doctor saving her from the Racnoss queen. She shook her head when he finally finished.

"Blimey, I missed out on a lot being here," she said. "And the Racnoss…that's one of the species the Doctor killed off?"

"Yes."

"And they are…were…giant spiders?"

"Yes, they had been around since the dark times and the Time Lords fought them for eons and it was thought that they had been eliminated completely until the Doctor found the nest."

"Giant alien spiders," she muttered, shaking her head. "You know, before I met the Doctor I never would have believed in any of this stuff. It boggles my mind the kinds of things that exist in the universe."

"Yes and it boggles my mind that some humans think that life on Earth is the only life out there. First off, it's an extremely arrogant way of thinking and secondly, just the sheer number of planets and galaxies and star systems out there and Earth is the only one capable of supporting any life? Okay…then you would have to think why Earth? What makes Earth so special that it's the only planet in the universe that has life on it? It makes no sense when you think about it."

"Yeah, you're right, but I guess if you've never seen giant alien spiders, then the whole thing seems kind of fanciful."

"You've never seen the wind, but does that mean it's a fanciful thing? Just because you haven't seen it doesn't mean it exists."

Rose nodded.

"I just wish everyone could have the same chance to explore the universe as I did. It's something everyone should do."

"Yes, but not everyone is fit for a life of traveling the stars. Some people wouldn't be able to cope with the danger, some people would be closed minded about everything or want to go off and kill every alien they saw, no matter if they were good or bad and then…there are some out there who shall remain nameless who are willing to betray others for their own gain."

Rose giggled when Alan coughed and said, "Adam!" in the middle of it.

"Okay, yes, I admit Adam was a fluke," Rose said.

"Oh, he was more than just a fluke. Your boyfriend nearly got you and the Doctor killed."

"He wasn't my boyfriend. He was just a friend."

"Really? The Doctor didn't seem to think so."

"Well, apparently, the Doctor is prone to fits of jealousy just like I am. And on that note, are you going to be jealous if I go talk to another man?"

"Would ripping the other man's head off and using it like a basketball qualify as being jealous?"

"Oh, come off it, you wouldn't do that."

"No, I wouldn't."

He gave her an evil grin.

"Or…would I?" he said in an ominous voice.

He sniggered when Rose gave him a playful slap on the side of the head. He glanced down at their empty glasses.

"Well, since we already paid for our beverages awhile back, shall we sally forth and find something else to do?" he said.

"I'm ready when you are."

She checked her pocket.

"Do you wanna try to find a shop, so we can buy a comb?"

"Oh!"

Rose looked at the ecstatic look on his face.

"What?"

"Oh, Rose, we're gonna share a comb together?" he said in a high-pitched voice. "Oh, I can't believe I'm gonna be sharing a comb with my best girl. How romantic is that? Can we share each other's lice as well?"

"All right, smart ass,"

"Sorry, dearest, Noble-itis again. Creeps up on me and then sarcastic things just come out my gob without warning. Kind like Tourettes. Damn that Noble for touching me when I was regenerating. Now I have this urge to go be a temp and file something. Help me, Rose, save me before the uncontrollable urge to go fetch coffee for people overpowers and controls me!"

He giggled when Rose put her head in her hands and shook it.

"Yup, I have a feeling our worldwide adventure will never get boring," she said, standing up. "Come on then, let's go get our comb."

"Yipppeee!" Alan squealed, bursting out of his seat.

He gave her an evil grin when everyone in the restaurant turned to look at them. Rose, who was now red from head to toe, grabbed the giggling half human's hand and quickly pulled him out the door.