The idea for this story came from lillyrose on the xmouthonlegsx lj comm. Thanks, lillyrose.


"Congratulations, Dad. Pitched gun battles in the streets of Las Vegas and you still had to get married? I'll give the lady this, if she still had the nerve to marry you with all that going on she must have guts. Lots of people are still hiding in their cellars. Yes, I'll call you every day. What? Of course she would, but your new wife—oh? That's nice of her. Of course Gran wants to see you, but she'll want to see the new girl, too. I'll get you two on the phone together tomorrow. The doctor says she needs lots of rest but otherwise she's doing fine. Don't rush back alone, you're a married man now. Again. Ta!"

Alice hung up the phone and laughed for two minutes straight. No one was there to hear her except K-9. Sarah had an appointment with her literary agent and Tegan was at the hospital with Barbara.

"Mistress! Open the back door, Mistress!"

"K-9, why do you want to go out?"

"Imperative, Mistress."

"All right, I'm coming." Alice went to the back of the flat and opened the door onto the patio.

"T… T…."

"TARDIS."

Alice yelped. In the shadow of the deck of the flat above stood a tall young man in a pinstriped suit. It was he who had spoken. A tall blue box was standing out in the little yard.

K-9 went out past her. "Greetings, Doctor-Master."

"Hello, K-9! Good dog." He patted the metal head and the tail antenna rotated.

Alice took a deep breath and cleared her throat, glad of the professional training that gave her command of her voice.

"Doctor. Were you looking for Aunt Sarah Jane?"

"Yes, I picked up K-9's messages. Who are you? You look familiar."

Alice grinned and stepped outside to let him get a good look at her under the light. "Aunt Sarah said if I ever met you, I should tell you my full name. It's Alice Barbara Chesterton."

The Doctor smiled and when his brown eyes lit up she realized his face had been grave before. "You're Barbara's daughter?"

"No. Granddaughter. I was named for both my grandmothers," she said mischievously.

His gaze sharpened and she felt butterflies in her stomach. A thousand year old time traveling world saving alien genius is looking at me and figuring out things about me. It IS him. I do believe in the Doctor, I do, I do.

Alice laughed her deep husky chuckle.

He reached out suddenly and took hold of her chin, turning her face to look at her profile. She'd teased him, but Alice wasn't sure she liked that even from her childhood hero. Her fine straight brows drew together and she frowned at him.

She holds herself tall and straight as a queen. That's like Barbara. But her voice, her nose, and that wary look…

"Oh, good grief. You're Tegan's daughter, aren't you? That's… incredible! Wonderful!"

The Doctor stared at her as though she were some marvel on a distant alien world. Alice couldn't help smiling. "So you are a genius."

"Can I hug you? Because I've practically got to."

"Of course you can. You're my godfather."

He hugged her, half-raising her from her feet in sheer glee. "Godfather? How did that happen?"

"Dad put your name down on the baptismal certificate and Professor Jones stood in for you. You know, Jo Grant's Professor. Mum always said she thought it was fair that the Professor stood in for the Doctor."

"Sarah Jane insisted I put it down just that way. 'The Doctor', not Doctor John Smith. She was the godmother." The Doctor let go of Alice. Tegan was standing in the doorway. "Hello, Doctor."

Alice murmured, "Mum, I called Dad. I promised him he could talk to Gran tomorrow. She'll still be in hospital, right?"

"They want to keep her one more day. Doctor, would you like to come see her? To see Barbara?"

"How could I come all this way and not see Barbara? Mrs. Chesterton now, is it?"

"It's Miss Jovanka. I'm divorced. I think Johnny was more in love with you than me, anyway," Tegan said in her old dry way. "It didn't work out, except for Alice, of course."

"I'm a godfather! Best news I've had all day." He smiled and shook his head as though he didn't quite believe it.

Tegan looked past him to the TARDIS. "Alice, love, give us a moment, please?"

"I'll get the car. I'm not missing this. Gran won't be half chuffed!"

"Go inside, K-9."

"Yes, Mistress." The robot dog followed Alice into the house.

The Doctor was still grinning from ear to ear. "I'm so happy for you, Tegan. I love how she's like both you and Barbara. If her temper goes with her looks she must have the tender, yielding disposition of a wall made of dwarf star matter."

"She's a sweet girl but she knows how to stand up for herself." Tegan had hung back as if afraid she might be sucked into the TARDIS. The Doctor didn't come to her, and she realized he was looking at her as if uncertain of his welcome. His smile dimmed. So she went to him and put her hands on his chest, over his hearts. She was grown up now; she should act like it.

"I inherited my grandfather's cottage in Little Hodcombe. Barbara and I live there together. She still does some tutoring in history and she likes his library. I'm a professional artist. I've done illustrations for Sarah's work. I've a beautiful daughter who is a very talented singer. That was Johnny's blood. He's a rock musician. She's studying opera. I'm very happy, Doctor. It's so good to see you again." Tegan glanced at the TARDIS. Sarah Jane had had a lot to say, over a few glasses of gin, about lovely, young, blonde Rose Tyler. The Doctor was smiling at her, but she knew in her bones that he was not as happy as he appeared.

Tegan did not ask. She hugged him, and he put his arms around her and hugged her back as though she were made of glass.

"I'm glad. We didn't part very well."

"I'm indestructible, remember?"

His arms tightened around her then and she felt his breath stirring her hair in a long sigh. "I remember." Some of the tension left his wiry body.

Tegan did not ask about Rose. She stepped back. "I'll see if Sarah Jane can meet us at the hospital. Go join Alice, you." She fished out her phone.

"Still coordinating? I always knew how to pick them." Pain twisted his face briefly and she pretended not to see it. Yet.

The Doctor sat up front with Alice. Tegan sat in back, deep in thought and letting the others talk with few interruptions from her.

"So where's your old dad?"

"Las Vegas. He was there when this started, getting married again. It's his fourth!"

"I'm a hard act to follow," Tegan said in her most hard-boiled Australian way. It made the Doctor laugh, as she hoped it would.

"I can't believe she's already pregnant. Oh, bloody hell. I'm going to have a kid brother or sister one-twentieth my age. Mum, if anyone asks, please tell them you were a child bride."

Tegan snorted.

Alice kept glancing at the Doctor.

"Go on. You know you want to ask."

"Oh, all right, then. What happened to the Cybermen and the Daleks? We all saw them flying through the sky."

"I sucked them all into the void between two universes. You see, there's this parallel universe where these Cyber—"

"K-9 told us. Mum was the first one to guess what they were. She'd been drawing the ghosts then she had a dream that they turned into Cybermen," Alice said proudly.

The Doctor looked back at Tegan and she regarded at him levelly. "The ones I remembered, of course, not these… parallel robots."

He nodded. "I saw your drawings in K-9's transmission. Well done, Tegan." His voice was a little hoarse. She knew they were both remembering Adric's death, and wondered if he was thinking of other, more recent deaths. With that tone, his voice reminded her strongly of the blond Doctor she'd traveled with. He looked that age now, only quite different.

A certain detail struck Tegan. "I can't believe you're wearing hair gel."

Alice chuckled. Her voice was far more musical than Tegan's—even without the Australian accent Tegan's potential as an opera star was severely hampered. Sometimes she thought she could forgive Johnny all the arguments and pain when she heard Alice's laugh.

The Doctor touched his hair lightly. "It just seemed right. How about the suit? Look, no celery!" He turned to flash his bare lapel.

"Thank God for small favors. Your suit is sharp, Doctor, even if you're wearing trainers with it."

"He's got this brilliant neo-retro thing going on. I approve," Alice gave her opinion then suddenly blushed as if she could feel Tegan's eyes on the back of her head.

"Appropriate for a time traveler, no?" The Doctor grinned at Alice and she blushed more. He looked back at Tegan. "What happened to Barbara?"

"When the Cyberman showed up in the flat she was fine. She might have been having it there for afternoon tea, she was so superbly calm. But seeing the Daleks was a little much for her heart to take." The Doctor's face grew so grim it almost frightened Tegan. "She'll be fine, Doctor. Barbara is as healthy as a human of her years can be. She was so brave. I was hiding behind the sofa trying to get Alice on the phone."

It was past visiting hours at the hospital, but the Doctor got them in by flashing some fake credentials that apparently convinced the head nurse he was a proper medical Doctor.

"Shameless," Tegan murmured, and he winked as he passed her.

At Barbara's bedside, he was all seriousness. He leaned over the bed and stared at her for a long moment. Alice pulled a chair up to the other side of the bed and sat down by her grandmother, taking her hand. "Gran, Gran… there's someone here to see you," she called very softly, though the Doctor lifted a hand to stop her.

He had recognized immediately that tall slim body and the fine proud bones of her face. Her hair was silver, but much the same style as it had been over forty years ago. At Alice's call, the papery lids rose and Barbara's firm gaze settled on him.

"It's me, Barbara. The Doctor." He took her other hand.

"What a reversal. Now you are young and I'm old. At least, to outward appearances." She smiled at him. "How old are you now, Doctor? Don't leave out a year—every one you own up to will make me feel like an infant."

"Nearly a thousand," he said as if confessing a scandal.

"And how's the TARDIS?"

"Still the best ship in the universe. You'd hardly know her now; I've changed the internal configuration so much. Would you like to see her?"

She shook her head slightly. "No, Doctor. I'd rather remember it as it was that night you kidnapped Ian and me. He's gone, you know—cancer. Who are you traveling with now?"

The door opened and Sarah Jane came in, still holding her press credentials in one hand. Sarah had a way of getting in places, too. "Rose Tyler and Mickey Smith, right, Doctor?"

Tegan bit her lip and swiftly glanced at the Doctor. He wasn't crying. He wasn't crying because he was the Doctor. He wasn't crying because he was a thousand year old Time Lord, the last survivor of his race. He wasn't crying because Barbara was old and frail and he didn't wish to distress her. Tegan rather thought that if all those things weren't true, he would weep there and now. She went to stand behind Alice's chair and stroked her daughter's dark auburn hair.

"Not any more," the Doctor's mouth imitated a smile. "They're living in the parallel universe. They've family there who were already dead here, years ago. Rose's father and Mickey's grandmother."

Alice looked up at him, innocently confused. "But wouldn't they be different people?"

"Not so different as all that. Rose's mother was dead there, but when this universe's Jackie Tyler met that universe's Pete Tyler… it was love at second sight." A real smile curved his lips, betraying the falseness of its predecessor.

Barbara squeezed his hand. "That's a beautiful story, Doctor. I'm so glad I got to see you again, but I really can't keep my eyes open another moment. I've already taken my sleeping pill."

"I'm lucky to have caught you before you nodded off. Sweet dreams, Barbara Wright Chatterton." He leaned over and kissed Barbara on the cheek.

She closed her eyes, smiling. "Chesterton, you cranky old man—you always got it wrong on purpose." They left Barbara to her rest.

The Doctor laughed softly and turned away, thrusting his hands into his pockets. Sarah had picked up on his distress too, Tegan saw, but Alice simply didn't know him well enough.

"Mum said you were always putting your hands in your pockets," Alice said in perfectly controlled sotto voce. Laughter ran through the words like a thread of 24-karat gold.

"Hard to break bad habits at my age," the Doctor said breezily and held the door for the ladies.

"Don't, please!" Alice told him teasingly. "I grew up hearing all about them, and I should think you were a stranger if you didn't have them. Keep them!"

She's flirting. Tegan noticed it with grim unsurprise. Hard to blame her. He's damned good looking this regeneration and more charming than ever. Mine was far more reserved. Tegan Jovanka reminded herself she was a gray-haired matron, a grown woman, and far too sensible to be jealous of her own daughter. And of the Doctor! She'd better worry that Alice would get her heart broken.

Beside her, Sarah Jane shook her head ever so slightly and ruefully. Tegan exchanged glances with her friend out of the corners of their eyes and shrugged. In female talk, it was a whole conversation.

Ahead of them, Alice chatted brightly with the Doctor, making him laugh. Tegan elected to join Sarah in her car for the drive home.

"Tegan, do you know what you're doing?"

"Letting nature take its course. Sarah Jane… if we didn't want her to be fascinated by the Doctor, we should have kept our mouths shut twenty years ago. It's far, far, too late now. My daughter's got a good head on her shoulders. She'll make the right decision for her."

"She's making him laugh. Something's wrong. I mean… he's upset. I think he parted badly from Rose. They were thick as thieves. You should have seen the look on her face when Mickey asked to travel with him. Rose was madly in love with the Doctor. I know the signs. I would have left my mother for him. I don't think she meant to leave him."

"Sarah, we can't ask him about it. The most British thing about the Doctor was always his stiff upper lip."

"He goes on, I know. It's how he copes." Sarah Jane's hands flexed on the steering wheel and she did not look at Tegan.

Back at the flat, Tegan declined a visit to the TARDIS. "Like Barbara, I want to remember it as it was then. Doctor… I know you rarely get a chance to visit old friends, but if you ever do go by Terminus again, you will give Nyssa my love, won't you?"

"Of course, I will," he promised her, both knowing how unlikely it was.

Sarah Jane set about making tea. The two older women thus colluded to leave Alice alone with the Doctor.

She, of course, could never have turned down the chance. He opened the door for her.

When Rose Tyler had paid her first visit to the Earth of her past, she had stepped out of the TARDIS as a bride goes to her wedding. That was how Alice Barbara Chesterton entered the TARDIS. Her eyes were round and sparkling. She kept clutching her hands to her chest as if afraid her heart would burst free.

"Oh, Doctor," she said exultantly, "It I is /I bigger on the inside than the outside. Just like all the stories." Alice almost danced around the console. She touched things with her fingertips as if expecting them to be as fragile as soap bubbles, figments of a dream landscape.

He watched her from the shadows, his arms folded across his chest. When she turned to look at his silent figure, he spoke at last. "So. Fancy a spin?"

"Yes. And no. If you'd showed up when I was eight, Doctor, I would have stowed away and we would have had wonderful adventures and you would help me save the universe." She came closer, standing in a spot where she was slightly elevated. He had to lift his face to hers, into the light where she could see him. "If you'd showed up when I was fourteen, I would have consented to marry you and go on wonderful adventures in between having children. It's a good thing you didn't show up when I was fourteen. Close escape you had there." He grinned at her.

"And now?"

"I've already given myself to something bigger than I am, Doctor. Music. I'm going to be very good." Alice spoke out of knowledge, not arrogance, and the passion of an artist. "Music is the pursuit of perfection. When I sing, it is for ears that notice the smallest flaw in my performance, that hear every shade of inadequacy in the instrument that is my voice. It's impossible to be good enough. But sometimes the impossible happens, and I sing as if Time itself stood still and all the Universe listened. And to make those moments possible, I have to give all of myself. No lesser sacrifice is accepted."

"I'd like to hear you sing someday."

"Do me a favor, Time Lord. Pick a night when the reviews say I sang like an angel." They both chuckled, and then she asked the Question. "Doctor, what happened to Rose Tyler?"

"She was going to stay. She left her mother behind in the other universe to stay with me. She was with me when I reversed the void to take all the Daleks and Cybermen to hell. She nearly fell in with them. Her father crossed universes to save her, and if he hadn't taken her back with him she'd be in hell right now. Now the breach is sealed and there's no way to get back there. It's impossible."

Alice looked down into the face of a man who was in hell right now. Alien, a thousand years old: he was still a man in hell. She walked down to join him. She spoke to him, and Alice felt the word come from the same place the music did in those rare moments of perfection. "You should make Time stand still and the universe listen to you, Doctor. Do the impossible. You'll never forgive yourself if you don't."

The knife went in with love. Alice put her hand on his shoulder, and as Nyssa of Traken had done, kissed him softly on the cheek in farewell. He brushed his cheek against hers, and then she let him be, there in the darkness of his place of power.

When she got to the door, she heard him speak from where she'd left him. "Alice, tell your mother I'm very proud of my god-daughter." She smiled over her shoulder at him and went out. By the time she'd opened the back door of the flat, the TARDIS started to roar in dematerialization.

Alice walked in crying to the accompaniment of the farewell song of the TARDIS. Her mother carefully hid her relief and hugged her.

"Oh, mum… he lost her. I think he loved her, Rose." As a proper budding opera star, Alice cleared her throat and got control of her voice. She told them what had passed between her and the Doctor without varnishing her own role.

Sarah Jane dried her own tears in silence, leaving Tegan to speak.

"Alice, love… that's one man you never tell to do the impossible. He'll do it. Don't cry. He would have done it anyway. You put it into words, that's all."

"I felt like I had to. The words said themselves."

In the bathroom, Alice washed her face and listened to the voices of Sarah and Tegan sitting down to tea. They'd done the end of the world multiple times, but this was her first. She had sent the Doctor out into the stars alone, and hurting. Now she was part of the stories.

Alice Barbara Chesterton breathed. It was deliberate breathing, testing the readiness of her carefully trained instrument. The throat was so vulnerable to harm. Her breath fogged the window and she rubbed it clear. Up in the sky she could see the first bright star of the evening. Somewhere, out there and over the rainbow, the Doctor was living the stories. Very softly, for only her ears and impossibly his, Alice sang.

When you wish upon a star, makes no difference who you are
Anything your heart desires will come to you.

The End