Chapter 9

Later Ace was asleep by the fire. The Doctor silently crept past Ace to her bedroom where Nita was sleeping. He knocked quietly on the door, hoping not to wake Ace.

"Come in!"

The Doctor entered and saw Nita sitting at the desk. She smiled at the Doctor.

"Sit down?"

"No…I better not. I…"

"What's wrong?"

"I've come to say something."

"What?"

"Um…Time Lords don't usually have relationships."

"Doctor…"

"Nita…I want you to know that I care about you deeply, but I'm no good at this sort of thing, and it's difficult for a Time Lord."

"What are you tying to say?"

"…umm…"

"Well, whatever you need to say, please say it!"

"I can't Nita. I wish it didn't have to be this way…but just believe me when I say that you've made a great difference in my life and that…I love you."

"I don't understand what you're trying to say."

"Nita…I don't think there's any way that you can understand it."

"Please, Doctor, please…I have to know. If you sincerely do love me…then tell me the truth."

"All right then. I'm a Time Lord."

Nita looked at him with an expression that said 'well duh!'

"Time Lords don't have romantic relationships, especially with humans."

Nita became angry. "Yes, Doctor, I do understand."

The Doctor looked relieved, not realizing that she wasn't done yet.

"I understand that because you are a high and mighty Time Lord, you think you're too good for the likes of me, a 'lowly' human!" She slapped the Doctor's face. "Oh I've been rejected before but the fact that you would lead me to believe there was some hope for us and even tell me you love me before turning around and telling me I'm not good enough for me is so…insulting and degrading! All you had to say is 'I don't love you and we'll never be more than friends.' That at least would've been respectful!" She pushed him out the door and shut it in his face and locked it.

"But that's not the truth!"

The Doctor removed the flower that Nita had given him from his suit and left in on the floor outside her door and went out the front door.

Nita collapsed onto her bed with her face in her pillow, crying.

The Doctor walked into the Pub looking utterly depressed.

"Doctor! What can I get you, the usual?"

"No, Patrick, I'm going to need something a lot stronger than that tonight."

"Sarsaparilla," said the bartender, with certainty in his voice.

"Rum, Patrick."

"Rum? Doctor, are you sure? You know what happened to you on Foundation Day…"

"Rum."

The bartender took out a bottle. "Okay, I ain't your Pop." He poured some in a small shot glass. "I just don't wanna see you…losing the whole thing."

"You can leave the bottle."

"It's a woman, right?" asked a bearded man. "I knew it! I have seen that look on a man's face a thousand times, all across the country. Well I can tell you, friend. You'll get over her."

"Oh-ho. Nita was one in a million. One in a billion. One in a googolplex. The woman of my dreams and I lost her for all time."

"I can assure you, sir, there are other women. I have peddled this barbed wire all across the country, and it has taught me one thing for certain. It's that you never know what the future might bring."

"Oh-ho…the future, I can tell you about the future."

The next morning Ace woke up by the fireplace, expecting to see the Doctor already pottering around the kitchen. "Oh…oh, man, did I sleep…what time is it, Professor?" She suddenly realized the Doctor wasn't there and a quick check of his bedroom revealed he wasn't there either. "Professor!"

She pulled out the photo of the tombstone. Underneath the 'Here lies…' the name 'Dorothy McShane' began to appear.

Meanwhile, at Jones's camp…

"Wake up!" Jones kicked one of her gang members in the stomach, forcing her to cringe and try to get up. "I got me a maid to kill!"

"It's still early, boss," complained one gang member.

"It's still early!" agreed another.

"I'm hungry," replied Jones.

In the pub, the Doctor was still holding his shot glass. He was talking to the entire pub.

"…but in the future, you don't need horses. You have horseless carriages called automobiles."

An old man laughed. "If everybody's got one of these automo-whatsits, does anybody walk or run anymore?"

"Of course they run. But for recreation, for fun."

"Run for fun? Ha-ha, what the hell kind of fun is that?"

Another old man began to laugh.

Ace ran next door to the blacksmith shop. "Professor! Professor!" Realizing that the Doctor was not there she ran back outside. She looked around and spotted the Pub.

Inside the Pub, everyone was watching the Doctor with his shot glass.

"How much has he had?" asked an old man.

"None," replied the bartender. "That's his first one and he hasn't touched it, yet. He just likes to hold it."

The old man laughed as Ace ran into the Pub.

"Professor! Professor!" She saw the glass. "What're you doin'?"

"I lost her, Ace. I messed up big time."

"It will be all right, we just need to get out of here."

"Where?"

"To the TARDIS!" she cried in what's-wrong-with-you voice.

"Right," said the Doctor with conviction. "Let's get going." He set down his glass.

"Great."

"Gentlemen, excuse me, but my friend and I have to go."

"Here's to ya, blacksmith," said the old man, raising his glass in salute.

"And to the future!" a second old man raised his glass too.

"Amen," said a third old man.

"Amen," said the Doctor, raising his glass from the bar and going to drink it.

"Doctor, no!" cried the bartender.

But the bartender was too late and the Doctor swallowed the rum. As the enire bar watched the Doctor take one step forward and keel over, smashing the old men's table.

"Professor! Professor! Professor! C'mon, Professor, wake up, wake up, Professor." Ace turned to the bartender. "How many did he have?"

"Just one."

"Just one?!" asked Ace in disbelief. "C'mon, Professor."

"There's a bloke that can't hold his liquor," said the bartender.

"Gimme some coffee…black," Ace requested.

"Joey, coffee!" called the bartender.

Ace looked out the window and saw the clock. It read 7:45."