Alyssa stared at the man wearing the Doctor's clothes as he ran around the console, flicking various switches. What the hell did I just witness? Who is this man in front of me? And what happened to the Doctor? He had said that he was going to change as he was dying but she never expected him to explode with that orangey light, leaving behind the unfamiliar man before her when the light faded, wearing the Doctor's clothes.
"6pm…Tuesday..." the newly regenerated Doctor muttered turning a knob "October... 2006... On the way to Barcelona!" the Doctor straightens up and faces Alyssa grinning as if he was pleased with himself. "Now then... what do I look like?" Alyssa just stared at him, unable to form any words in her shock "No, no no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. No. Don't tell me" the Doctor checked himself over "Let's see... two legs, two arms, two hands..." the Doctor rotates his wrist "Slight weakness in the dorsal tubercle" his hands fly to his head "Hair! I'm not bald!" he said happily running his hands through it. "Oh, Oh! Big hair!" the Doctor touched his face "Sideburns, I've got sideburns! Or really bad skin. Little bit thinner..." the Doctor slaps his stomach "That's weird. Give me time, I'll get used to it. I…have got… a mole. I can feel it. Between my shoulder blades" he rotated his shoulder "love that mole!" the Doctor turned his attention back to the still shocked and slightly scared red head "go on then, tell me. What do you think?" he asked wanting to get her opinion.
"Who…who are you?" Alyssa managed to say quietly.
The Doctor was a bit confused by her tone. She sounded…scared. "I'm the Doctor", he replied.
Alyssa shook her head "No…where is he? Where's the Doctor?" her voice rose "what have you done to him?"
That confused the Doctor even more. He'd told her that he was going to change so he couldn't understand why she was acting that way. "You saw me, I, I changed…right in front of you", he reminded her gesturing to the spot where he'd regenerated.
"I saw him sort of explode, and then you replaced him, like a…a teleport or transmat or body swap or something", Alyssa said. Both her empath abilities and a small voice in her mind telling her that he was telling the truth. That she had seen him change but she was too caught up in this situation to take any notice to the voice or her empath abilities.
The Doctor stared at her in disbelief. She still wasn't accepting what she'd literally just witnessed only minutes ago. He had to get her to understand, no he needed her to understand that although he had changed, he was still the Doctor. "Ali it's me", he said softly, taking a step forward but she took a step back, still scared. "Honestly, it's me" he added trying to ignore the hurt he felt when she moved away. But he continued in his attempt to get her to understand, though he didn't take another step closer to her "I was dying. To save my own life I changed my body. Every single cell, but… it's still me"
"You can't be", the red head whispered.
"Then how can I remember this? Our first trip we went ice skating. Our second one, I took you to the moon in 1969 to see the moon landing up close", the Doctor said "the song we danced was called A Thousand Years".
Alyssa's eyes widened as she finally realised that this was the Doctor. There was no way for him to know those things if he wasn't. Why didn't I take notice of my abilities? She thought mentally kicking herself for not taking any notice of them, they would've told her that he was telling her the truth. Though to be honest she was rather shocked over what had just happened that she wasn't really thinking clearly. At least not enough to consider listening to her abilities and the little voice inside her head, which had now changed its tune to 'I told you so' which she pointedly ignored. "Doctor", she breathed.
The Doctor smiled seeing that she now knew without a doubt it was him "Hello"
"I…I'm so sorry for how I acted, not believing you. My abilities where telling me that you were telling the truth but I didn't listen to them" Alyssa admitted "it's just…just a lot to take in".
"You don't need to apologise Ali. I know it is a lot to take in", the Doctor said. Although he was confused by her initial reaction, he now understood the reasoning behind it. He should've realised sooner that it was a lot for her to take in. The Doctor took a step back "so what do you think?" he asked, honestly wanting her opinion about this new him.
Alyssa looked him over, having not really done so earlier as she was too caught up in the shock of him changing right in front of her "it's different", she said.
"Good different or bad different?" the Doctor asked, hoping for the former.
"Good different without a doubt", Alyssa replied.
"Am I… ginger?" he asked seriously, really, really hoping he was. He'd always wanted to be ginger and out of all the bodies he's had so far, none of them had been ginger.
"No, I'm afraid you're a brunette", Alyssa answered.
"Aw I wanted to be ginger", the Doctor whined "I've never been ginger". It wasn't fair, Alyssa had lovely red hair while he was stuck with boring brown in this regeneration.
"Well…if it's any consolation, I think you still look good" that made the Doctor feel a little bit better even though he was a bit putout that he still wasn't ginger.
"Right!" he clapped his hands and dashed to the console "Barcelona. Dogs with no noses and lots of running guaranteed. We did lots of running didn't we? All across the universe" he flicked some switches "And that one time we had to hop", he added hopping on the spot.
"Yeah we did look rather ridiculous", Alyssa said with a laugh remembering that particular adventure.
"Oh and don't forget dancing" the Doctor went over to Alyssa, grabbed her hands and danced with her around the console room in a pseudo waltz. and spun her on the spot. She giggled when the Time Lord dipped her, getting a smile out of him.
"I wonder if you know more moves than you did before", Alyssa said as he pulled her back up.
"Let's find out", the Doctor said eagerly.
"But first we need music", Alyssa pointed out "Can't really dance without it".
"You're right Ali", the Doctor agreed. He dashed back over to the console and ran around it trying to find the controls to play music like he did last time after their trip to WW2. The Doctor stopped what he was doing when he felt rather strange all of a sudden.
"Are you ok?" Alyssa asked concerned by the look on his face.
"Yeah I'm f-" he broke off gagging.
"Doctor?" Alyssa asked.
He tried to talk but ended up gagging again a bit more violently this time "uh oh", he muttered.
"What is it?" Alyssa asked worriedly.
"The change is going a bit wrong", he replied before gagging again, falling to his knees. Alyssa crouched in front of him very, very concerned for him.
"Is there anything I can do?" she asked hating to see him this way. The Doctor opened his mouth to say something when a lever on the console caught his eye.
"I haven't used this one in years", he said jumping to his feet. He pulled the lever causing the TARDIS to shudder violently, nearly knocking him off his feet.
"What're you doing?!" Alyssa shouted as she fell backwards onto her bum.
"Putting on a bit of speed!" the Doctor said sounding crazed "That's it!"
With some effort, Alyssa managed to get to her feet. She grabbed onto the console and the Doctor ran around it turning knobs. "My beautiful ship!" the Time Lord shouted racing around flicking all the switches he could "Come on, faster! That's a girl!" he said urging his ship on. Alyssa stared at him slightly worried about the way he was acting and also being a little afraid of it too. "Faster! Wanna to break the time limit?!"
"Stop it!" Alyssa yelled at him just wanting him to calm down.
"Ah, don't be so dull Ali…where's your sense of adventure? Let's rip through that vortex!" he hollered not even noticing Alyssa making her way around to him. The Doctor felt a hand on his arm and glanced to his left at the red head. He found himself calming a little from her touch "The regeneration's going wrong. I can't stop myself", he admitted. The Doctor grimaced in pain "Ah, my head..." he groaned before he violently jerked away from her, turning crazed once more "Faster! Let's open those engines!" he shouted darting around the console to pull a random lever.
"What's that?" Alyssa asked as a bell started to ring.
"We're gonna crash land!" the Doctor replied laughing manically.
"Well then, do something Doctor!"
"Too late! Out of control!" the Doctor said, his voice rising hysterically "Oh, I love it! Hot dawg!" he hopped on the spot excitedly. Alyssa clung onto the console tightly terrified about what was going to happen. "Hold on tight, here we go!"
"Mum do you see it?" Rose asked as she and her mother ran out of their block of flats the moment they heard the sound of the TARDIS.
"No I don't", Jackie replied looking around.
"Jackie! Rose!" Mickey shouted running over to them "it's the TARDIS!"
"We know!" Rose said looking around for the blue box.
Suddenly the TARDIS appeared out of thin air, 20 feet above their heads. Mickey ducked down Rose pulled her mother to the floor as the box crashed against the buildings until it came down, skidding into a Post Office van and knocking a few dustbins out of the way.
Mickey, Rose and Jackie slowly stood up as the door opened and an unrecognisable man wearing the Doctor's clothes stumbled out. He noticed them straight away "Jackie! Mickey! And…Rose…" he made a face as he went over to them "No, no, no, no, hold on" he took a couple of steps back "Wait there. I've got something to say. There was something I had to tell you, something important. What was it? No, hold on…" the man walked over, placing his hands on Jackie and Mickey's shoulders, thinking hard "hold on. Hold on, shush, shush, shush, shush… oh!" Jackie, Mickey and Rose jumped in alarm at his outburst "I know!" the man looked from one to the other, panting and beaming "Merry Christmas!"
He then promptly collapsed. A moment later, Alyssa stepped out of the TARDIS. "Oh god is he ok?" she asked worriedly.
"I don't know, he just keeled over", Mickey replied.
"But who is he? Where's the Doctor?" Rose asked looking down at the unconscious man.
"That is the Doctor", Alyssa said nodding to him.
"What do you mean, that's the Doctor?" Jackie questioned looking confused "Doctor who?"
The Doctor was now tucked up in bed, now dressed in striped pyjamas. Alyssa sat on the edge of the bed while Rose and Mickey hung back. Jackie hurrying into the room holding a stethoscope "Here we go" she handed it over to Alyssa "Tina the cleaner's got this lodger, a medical student, and she was fast asleep, so I just took it", Jackie explained "Though I still say we should take him to hospital".
"That's not a good idea, since he's an alien", Alyssa stated, putting the stethoscope in her ears "Both are working", she said as she placed it on either side of his chest, relieved to heart both hearts beating.
"What do you mean, 'both'?" Jackie questioned, a look of confusion on her face.
"He's got 2 hearts", Alyssa replied, taking the stethoscope out of her ears.
"Oh, don't be stupid", Jackie said clearly not believing her. The red head just gave her a look telling her that she wasn't joking.
"Ali, can I talk to you for a moment?" Rose asked and the empath nodded. As soon as they were in the living room, the blonde tore into Alyssa. "What the hell did you do to him?!"
"I didn't do anything!" Alyssa exclaimed "he had to do it to save his life".
"A likely story. You had a hand in this. Now tell me the truth!" Rose shot back.
"I don't have to tell you bugger all! You should count yourself lucky that we crash landed by your place cos neither of us would've wanted to be within 1000 miles of you!" Alyssa said, her voice rising "usually I'd be happy to give a second chance but honestly? You don't deserve it", she spat. Jackie and Mickey came out, staring at the arguing pair. They both knew that Rose had be brought home because she'd done something bad but neither knew how bad until now.
The blonde stepped back, eyeing the red head warily when she saw her green eyes flicker gold. "You tried to…tried to…" Alyssa shook her head, stumbling back a couple of steps.
"Ali, are you ok?" Mickey asked.
"I…I need some air", Alyssa mumbled "won't be long". She pushed past Rose roughly and left the flat.
"I've never hated someone before but man I really hate that bitch", the empath grumbled to herself as she walked along the street. She closed her eyes and let out a breath, trying to release her frustration. Maybe browsing the market stalls will calm me down she thought. Alyssa nodded. Yes, that's what she'll do.
When the 21 year old got to the little Christmas market, she relaxed and gave a small smile, allowing the festive feeling wash over her. She was wandered around the stalls, wondering if she should get her mother a small something. She probably should considering that it was Christmas. As she picked up a bauble, Alyssa frowned, getting a feeling that she was being watched.
The red head slowly turned around to see three guys dressed as Santa, holding instruments. Nothing about them should've set alarm bells ringing but that's exactly what happened. She watched them lower their instruments before letting out a scream as they fired a blue flame out of them!
"Get down!" James shouted, appearing out of nowhere, grabbing her and pulling her behind a stall.
"Why are they shooting at me!" Alyssa exclaimed, huddling next to the blonde.
"They want the Doctor", he explained "they see you as an obstacle".
"Oh, that's nice. Why couldn't it have been Rose?" the red head complained.
James snorted, unable to help but agree with her words. Why, indeed, he thought.
Out loud, he said, "We need to get back, before they find him."
"But what are they?!" the red head asked, her voice rising with her terror as the Santa's blasted a tree near where they were hiding.
James' face darkened as he replied, "Pilot Fish".
"Pilot what?" Alyssa asked, only for James to yank her away from where they were after one of the Santa's had the tree that they had shot fall on top of it.
"Come on," he shouted, leading her away and towards a cab that he had waiting nearby only to be beaten to it by Rose and Mickey.
"You've got to be kidding me!" Alyssa griped as they watched it drive away "now what?"
"We run", James replied, gripping her hand tighter before he took off.
By the time they'd gotten the Tyler flat, the pair found Rose, Jackie and Mickey staring at the Christmas tree. The tree itself had started to spin on the spot, like some coniferous Tasmanian Devil. "Are you three thick or something?" James shouted, pushing Alyssa into the spare bedroom "move!"
"We have to get him out of here", Alyssa proclaimed going to the bed where the Time Lord lay.
"There's no time", James told her as the others rushed into the room, Mickey and Jackie blocking the door with the wardrobe.
"So what do we do?" the red head asked.
"I know", Rose answered "we need the Doctor's help".
"You're not waking him", James said, firmly, blocking her.
"We need him!" Rose exclaimed "he's the only one who can stop it!"
"You're not waking him", the blonde repeated, levelling a glare at her.
Rose huffed in annoyance at the man. She hated him almost as much as she hated Alyssa. "So…how do we stop it then?" the empath tentatively asked, not wanting James to snap at her too.
"I will stop it", James answered.
Rose snorted "you?" she scoffed "how? You're trapped in here with the rest of us".
"And far more capable in taking down that tree than you are", the man shot back. Alyssa pressed a hand over her mouth, supressing her snickers at how James was telling off the younger woman. "You two get away from the door", he instructed to Jackie and Mickey. They quickly did as he said and he moved over to the wardrobe covered door, taking his sonic from his pocket as discretely as he could.
Rose's eyes widened when she saw it "how do you have one of those?" she demanded. James glanced at her about to say something when the Christmas tree smashed through the wardrobe, throwing him backwards.
"James!" Alyssa shouted as he was in the tree's path. The blonde snatched up his fallen sonic, pointed it at the tree and pressed the button. The tree exploded. James was jolted forward when the red head rushed over and threw her arms around him from behind. "Are you ok?" she asked "I was so scared".
The blonde managed to twist around so that he was facing her "I'm alright", he said softly, hugging her back "It's not the worst thing I've been through, believe me".
"That's not helping", Alyssa mumbled, hiding her head in his neck.
"Sorry", James said, rubbing her back. The Doctor cleared his throat, making the red head jump and the blonde just rolled his eyes at the Time Lord "you should be sleeping", he said sternly, getting to his feet bringing Alyssa with him. He knew the danger of him waking up too soon.
"I would've been if it weren't for all the commotion", the Doctor shot back, getting out of bed. He never will admit it but it was Alyssa's shouting that had roused him. Just the mere thought of her in danger was enough to bring himself out of the healing coma that he had been in. "Now, let's see what was the cause of it all", the Doctor said and strode out of the room, grabbing a dressing gown along the way.
The group filed out of the flat, looking over the balcony. Down on the ground were the three Pilot Fish, one holding an object that looked speciously like a remote control. Alyssa involuntarily tensed up when she saw them making James pull her close to him, glaring at the robots. "That's them" Mickey said "What are they?"
"Pilot Fish", the empath mumbled.
"And how do you know that?" Rose demanded.
"I told her", James replied, taking out his sonic again. This time the Doctor noticed it. He frowned. How does he have one of those? he thought. This James Sven piqued his curiosity even more than before.
The blonde pointed the device at the Pilot Fish in a threatening manner, his arm tightening around Alyssa's waist slightly. He pressed the button and the three robots were destroyed just like the tree. "You have a sonic?" the red head asked, surprised as she finally noticed it.
"Yep", James replied "before you ask Doctor, its mine. I didn't steal it from you at any point", he added. The Time Lord opened his mouth to say something when he coughed instead, throwing himself back against the wall, clearly in pain. "Mickey, help me get him inside", James ordered "Ali pop the kettle on, we're going to need the strongest cup of tea you can make".
"What about us?" Rose questioned as he and Mickey took hold of the Doctor, hauling him to his feet. Alyssa had dashed into the flat, going straight for the kitchen.
"Stay out of the bloody way", James snapped. The two males escorted the Time Lord into the home while Rose and Jackie trailed after them.
"Why does he need tea?" Mickey asked as they set the Doctor on the sofa.
"It'll help the regeneration to settle quicker", James replied "which he'll need given what's about to come".
"How do you know so much?" the Doctor groaned, head in his hands.
"I'm afraid I can't tell you, you'll have to trust me", James answered.
"Why should I?" the Time Lord questioned, managing to glance up at blonde.
"Cos Ali trusts me", the man told him. The red head in question then hurried into the room, carefully holding a mug of tea.
"Here you go", she said, giving it to James who handed it to the Doctor. The Time Lord all but downed it in one go, sighing in relief as he could feel his mind and body settling.
"How do you feel?" James asked.
"Much better", the Doctor replied.
"I don't understand how tea was supposed to help", Alyssa admitted "I mean I'm glad it did but still…"
"Tea is a superheated infusion free radicals and tannin, brilliant for healing the synapses", the blonde explained.
"Now, I'd like you to tell me what you meant by 'what's about to come'. What is coming?" the Doctor questioned. He knew that Pilot Fish were there for him but something else was going to arrive soon…the 'shark' as it were.
"I think its best if we talk in private", James replied. While he had the memories of how it was supposed to play out, it had already been changed yet again due to his presence. So it didn't matter too much if he told the Doctor that the Sycorax were coming.
The Time Lord followed the blonde haired man out on to the balcony. "Ok, we're alone. So what's coming?"
"Sycorax. The Sycorax are coming", James said seriously "they're coming to take over the planet".
"Where…" the Doctor trailed off when both males heard Mickey shout
"Ali!"
The pair rushed back inside to find the red head on the floor. "What happened?" the Doctor demanded, hurrying to the empath's side.
"I don't know, she said her head was hurting and then collapsed", Mickey explained. James held out his sonic to the Time Lord who took it and scanned Alyssa.
"I don't understand. This is like before. Elevated brain waves but otherwise fine", the Doctor glanced at James, who just shrugged. He wished he could tell the Time Lord what was happening to her but unlike certain things, that was something he was going to find out eventually. The Doctor gave back the sonic to James before carefully picking up the 21 year old and carrying her to the living room where he gently placed her on the sofa. "Either your sonic is faulty or there's something else going on and its not registering, whatever the case may be if you know something James…you have to tell me", the Doctor said "please".
"I'm afraid I can't", James regretfully admitted "some thing's just have to be lived through".
"But this is Ali!" the Time Lord argued "if you cared for her at all…"
The blonde's eyes darkened "don't you dare", he growled angrily, actually causing the Doctor to take a step back from him "you have no idea how much she really means to me…" his expression softened "but I still can't tell you anything, you'll just have to trust me when I say that Ali will be fine".
The Time Lord glanced at the unconscious red head. He wanted to trust James, he really did but this was Alyssa. Of course he was still going to worry! Rose scoffed under her breath. "Ali this and Ali that", she muttered "she's just faking it to get attention". That earned her glares from both males.
"Rose!" Jackie exclaimed, knowing full well that the young woman didn't fake passing out as both she and Mickey where present when it happened.
"What? She's a bloody attention seeker", the blonde stated.
"Shut up!" both the Doctor and James said, angrily.
"Ali is a 1,000 times better than you'll ever be", the Time Lord told her.
"You're just a petulant child who instead of talking out your grievances with people, you try to kill them instead", James snarled.
"I-I did no such thing!", Rose stammered.
"Yes, you did. Van Statten's museum", James shot back and the younger blond paled. The Doctor glanced at James rather shocked about this revelation. How could he have possibly known that? It was impossible unless Alyssa had mentioned it while they were in Cardiff.
"Rose…" Jackie breathed, staring at her daughter in disbelief "how could you…"
"That's the reason she was brought home", the Doctor explained "I couldn't have her onboard after doing that".
Jackie's eyes widened "you told me to was your choice to come home!" she cried "why did you lie?"
"It's what she does", James spoke up "she lies and hurts people. Where she gets it from is anyone's guess. I know it wasn't you, Jackie. You raised her to be better than this" he turned to the Doctor "I think it would be best to take Ali to the TARDIS. She would be safer there". The Doctor nodded in agreement.
James sat by Alyssa's bed while waiting for the Doctor to choose his outfit. To say it was weird to actually watch the Time Lord fight the Sycorax Leader was a bit on an understatement. He winced, rubbing his wrist as he recalled it getting cut off. He was damn lucky to have still been in the 15 hour window otherwise it could have been a whole different story.
His eyes flickered back to the red head as she began to stir. "Hey", she mumbled.
"Hey", James softly, greeted back.
"What did I miss?" Alyssa asked.
"Well, the Doctor had a sword fight...and won. Basically saved the planet: again", the blonde explained.
"Of course he did", Alyssa muttered "so where is the Champion of Earth now?"
James laughed "careful he doesn't hear you say that his ego is big enough already", he said, making the empath laugh too "he's in the wardrobe looking for an outfit. Been in those PJs long enough. How are you feeling?"
"Surprisingly fine", Alyssa admitted "thought I'd have a raging headache but no".
"That's good", the Doctor said from the doorway. The pair looked over at him. He was now wearing a long light brown coat with a brown pinstripe suit. "What do you think?"
"I like it", Alyssa replied.
"Suits you", James agreed "no pun intended", he added at Alyssa's amused look "anyway, I'm afraid I have to go now".
"Do you have to?" Alyssa asked as he got up, sadness welling in her chest at the thought of him leaving again. She had grown rather fond of him.
"Sorry Ali, I do", James replied, quietly. He reached out, placing a hand over hers "but you'll see me again, I promise". Alyssa cracked a small smile at his words.
The Doctor frowned at what he said. Just who was this James Sven? The way he seems to be with Alyssa was almost…too friendly. The blonde turned around, rolling his eyes at the Time Lord's expression. Gods he's gonna feel like a right space dunce when he finds out who I really am he thought, internally smirking.
The Doctor watched him leave before he went over to Alyssa, sitting down on the edge of the bed. "Are sure you're ok?" he asked.
Alyssa sighed "yes, I'm fine", she assured him "I promise".