The TARDIS let out a worried hum at how anxious the Doctor was getting over the empath's condition. She'd been unconscious far longer than either of them would like. Not even going to a parallel universe and back made the young woman stir.

The Time Lord sighed, running his hand through his hair. "Stop thinking so hard. I can hear the gears whirring in your brain", Alyssa murmured. The Doctor looked over at her and his face brightened seeing that she was awake.

"You're awake", he breathed, overjoyed and relieved.

"Yeah, I am", Alyssa slowly sat up, the Doctor quickly getting up to help her. "What did I miss?" she asked, sitting back against the pillows he'd rearranged.

"Reinette was saved. She lived a good life. Uh…we went to a parallel world and Mickey decided to stay behind", the Time Lord explained.

"Why did he do that?" Alyssa questioned, confused.

"His Gran. She was alive in that world and his parallel counterpart was killed…"

"So he decided to stay", Alyssa finished and he nodded "that's good. He's a good man".

"Yes, he is", the Time Lord agreed, sitting down beside her "Oh, Ali…I was so scared. I was terrified that I…I was going to lose you".

"I'm sorry I scared you", Alyssa said quietly "but I'm not going anywhere, I promise".

"Good. That's good", the Doctor said.

"Though…having said that I'd like to spend a little time with my family", the red said continued "if that's ok".

"Of course its ok!" the Doctor said quickly, even though he really wanted to tell her it wasn't. It wouldn't have been right to make her stay despite the fact that he was terrified about losing her.

"Are you sure?" Alyssa questioned, sensing that he was anything but ok.

"Yeah, I'm sure", the Doctor replied, doing his best to keep himself calm. The empath frowned, still feeling quite a bit of anxiety from him.

"It'll only be for a few days, I promise", the young woman assured him.

Several days later saw Alyssa skating around the ice rink. She had really missed being on this one! The TARDIS was nice and all but it wasn't the same. It was this rink that she'd learned how to skate…the place she had entered into her first competition. Heck she'd even met the Doctor here AND where her friendship with James had formed.

The empath picked up the pace so she had enough momentum to launch herself into the air, landing perfectly on one skate. That earned her a slow clap from the side lines. Alyssa turned to see James standing there. "James!" the red head said happily, skating over to him as quickly as possible "whoa!" she cried out as she headed toward the exit, faster than she intended. James held out his arms to grab her but at the speed she was going, Alyssa ended up bowling him over instead.

"You sure know how to knock a guy off his feet, dontcha?" James teased, making her blush.

"S-sorry I was going too fast", she stammered.

"Oh I'm not complaining", James remarked "you can do that anytime". He smirked as she blushed even more.

"You're as bad as Jack", she mumbled, standing up, trying to will the redness out of her cheeks "did he teach you how to flirt or something?"

The blonde scoffed "as if. Don't need any lessons from Pretty Boy Harkness".

Alyssa did a double take at his words. That's what she'd called Jack. But how did he know that? She certainly didn't tell him. "That's what I called him", she said "but I never told you that".

"The Doctor told me", James explained. The empath looked at him for a moment before she turned, heading over to the bench where her shoes and bag had been left. The blonde, let out a breath of relief, glad she brought it. Such as stupid slip up he mentally berated. He needed to be more careful! He didn't want to have to mess with Alyssa's head again. Twice was more than enough.

"I'm all done", Alyssa declared, breaking through his thoughts "wanna go get some cake and hot chocolate?"

James smiled "sounds good to me", he agreed "as long as we share a slice".

"Uh, no way! The last time we 'shared', you ate most of it", Alyssa reminded him.

"You sure that was me?" James asked 'innocently' "cos it doesn't sound like me at all".

Alyssa giggled "yeah, it really was you" she linked arms with him "but don't worry I'll get you an extra big slice". The two of them left the ice rink, arm in arm.

"Oi, keep your fork to yourself!" Alyssa playfully scolded, telekinetically flinging his fork out of his hand when he reached for her cake slice. James pouted at her. "Its your fault for hoovering up your cake so fast", she pointed out, digging into the rest of hers "should've taken your time".

"I was hungry", the blonde stated.

"Not my problem", Alyssa said with a cheeky grin "oh that's mature", she remarked when he stuck his tongue out at her.

"This is coming from the woman who stole my marshmallows from my hot chocolate", James lightly retorted.

"Touché", the red head conceded and pushed the plate across the table "help yourself". The man grinned, picked up his fork and ate a couple of forkfuls of the cake slice.

"So good", he mumbled around the mouthful.

"You said it", Alyssa agreed. The two of them continued to eat rest of it until there was nothing left. "So what now?" she asked as they exited the café, several minutes later.

"Now…" James glanced at the shimmer/ watch on his wrist "now the TARDIS is going to show up".

Alyssa blinked at him "Really? How do you…" she trailed off when the blue police box started to appear in front of them "…know?" she glanced at the blonde "are you psychic, James?"

He chuckled "no, I just knew", he replied. They watched the double doors open, revealing the Doctor.

"Doctor!" Alyssa greeted, happy to see him. She moved over to the Time Lord and gave him a hug.

"Hey Ali", the Doctor greeted back, wrapping his arms around her waist.

"Please tell me Rose isn't with you", James spoke up "don't need her spoiling an otherwise good day".

"No, I've sent her home", the Doctor assured him.

"Thank god for that. She's a pain", James remarked.

"Definitely", Alyssa agreed "So um…are we heading off soon?" she asked the Time Lord, stepping out of his arms.

"That was the plan", the Doctor answered "is that ok?"

"That's fine with me" the red head glanced at James "how about you?"

"I'm cool with it", he said in response.

"Great!" Alyssa said, happily and reached forward, taking James hand "you're coming too", she declared, pulling him into the ship, past a none too happy Doctor.

"Oh great", the Time Lord groused under his breath. He'd been hoping that Mr James Sven would go on his merry way so it would just be himself and Alyssa.