Alicia

" You never told me how this all started in the first place?" Hint hint. The Doctor paused and looked me in the eye.

"You really want to know?" He asked. emphasis on really.

"Yep gotta know my history." I winked at him as I walked round the control panel. He sighed, the sound was blissful to my ears. It wasn't meant to sound that way though.

"The planet Mercy, where the Amorans' come from explained their, uh marriage system to me." He began to fiddle with his console again.

"You mean when we did the ritual?" That was the only thing I could base this on.

"No before that." He kept his eyes down.

"There's a before?" I widened my eyes. For some reason he looked up at me.

"Allegiance, which is what we have done, changes the whole of existence between two people. The whole thing is called ''Mathe" or change." He began to explain.

"Oh like The Order of the Mathe." I acted all spooky and deepened my voice.

He grinned before carrying on. "the allegiance part is all about protection and renewal or, well its all touching and lovey dovey. I was remembering all this which must have been when I went to far."

"Went to far, like an accident?"

He nodded. "Please, tell me about what this accident involved." I leaned on one hand and drew in closer as though he were telling me a gripping story. He seemed so embarrassed. I don't know why but it was making me laugh.

"Do I have to?" I can't imagine him saying anything like that to any other being that exists. He's to confident (and dare I say a little full of himself).

"We're married now, of course you do." I chose that moment to invoke my right of knowledge.

"I secreted a hormone specific for allegiance." I laughed more as he blushed. "It's not funny."

"It is from where I'm sitting. Okay so tell me more" I managed to calm myself to a small giggle every now and then. "Don't look so worried, I don't want to know any more about your body than necessary. At the moment." I winked. Every audible moan of relief escaped him.

I'm not entirely sure it was all relief though.

The Doctor took a deep breath before he replied. "Everyone, even on other planets, can sense the hormone, Even if they don't realise it, but only one person answers. I do mean whatever sex when I say everyone. Some species don't even have different sexes." He added as an after thought.

Its my turn to feel embarrassed. "I'm guessing that I am the person who decided to... What exactly did I do?"

"You might remember having a dream not long before met. Somehow some personal information must have been transferred. "

Now I was definitely confused and so was he by the looks of it.

"If you don't know how I answered you how did you find me?" The Doctor made a face I recognised since it mirrored my own.

"I'm still not entirely sure. It's as though I just knew how to find you. It only took a few hours." He started fiddling again.

"You know I was six when that happened."

"That doesn't matter. Apparently you can be any age to, as the Amorans' put it, gain allegiance."

"I know that. So why are we going back?"

"We're going to find out what to do next." He suddenly started grinning like we were going on some great adventure.

"Oh." I quickly moved away from what Ì was thinking. "You know I'm still not sure you know how to drive this thing."

"I'm over nine hundred years old of course I know what I'm doing." He said grinning.

"Says the person who gained a wife by accident." I point out.

Then we both fell over as we landed.

Doctor

When we arrived Clman welcomed us openly. I'm quite nervous about this visit but it seems essential.

Clman warned me to look out for any changes, now that I'm seeing them I don't know what to do about them. You could say I asked for this visit.

I'm surprised by the first thing he says when we sit down.

"You two need to talk more."

I haven't really thought about it. I give Alicia a lot of her own space and we do talk but we don't talk about anything serious. We don't talk about us.

Clman continued.

"I know why you're here. This won't be an easy conversation. It would have been easier if you had talked to each other more."

Alicia squirmed. She isn't even sitting next to me. She's six inches away at least.

"You have both noticed that you find it hard to concentrate when the other one isn't around.

But it won't stop there. Both of you will be connected by a physical bondage of sorts.

When you are near each other you won't be able to see it. The further apart you are from each other and the longer you are away from each other the more fierce it will get. You will learn more as time goes on.

The mental bond also draws you together if you can't find each other. Trust me, you will want to be together.

There are other physical challenges you will become aware of as well. Mental challenges too.

But before I leave you to talk about this I need to warn you about some more personal issues.

Generally if two Guandans are separated there are other physical responses. I can't be sure what will be the same for you and what won't.

These side effects could be strange rashes, producing a strange odour, sleeplessness, headaches, sore palms and soles of the feet and in extreme cases some amorans' have had scale rot. I don't know what would happen to you.

There could be terrible mental damage if left to long as well.

I'll leave you both to talk about this between you now."

Clman left and I sat in silence unsure what to say.