Chapter Two:
Five Minutes Later…
VWORP, VWORP, VWORP.
At the left side of the room the door to the Tardis flew open partway through materializing despite a shout from the Doctor, "You can't do that!"
"You promised me Paris. I can do whatever I want!" Alexys shouted trying to get through the door in her very formal 1880s Parisian attire.
"It's not my fault the Chelonian's were there trying to destroy the planet! What was I supposed to do? Bugger off with the new bride?" The Doctor opened the other door to allow her to walk through effectively.
"It was supposed to be our honeymoon!" she huffed looking back at him.
"We had our honeymoon on Midnight! Or did you forget the Sapphire Waterfall?" he gave her pointed looks that turned her cheeks crimson.
"We got married on Midnight at the Sapphire Waterfall. That was not the honeymoon!"
"Sure felt like one to me," he smirked.
Her eyes grew wide as she began to hit him with light fists that didn't really hurt though he pretended to shout "Ow, ow! Ooooow!" When Alexys tired herself out she looked into the living room with excitement, squinting at the glare of the TV, "Alex! I have ne…Alex? Hicks? Hello! What time is it? Are we back at the right time?"
"Of course we are. Just because something is different doesn't mean it's my fault," he huffed.
She looked back to him with a little smile, "Well…how 'bout I punish you anyway?"
His eyes grew wide before letting out a cough, "Well…I'd…I mean…then I'd have to lock you up on a volcano planet."
"No, no, no," she grinned, "I'm not going in any volcanoes anymore."
The two scampered inside, shutting the doors behind them.
VWORP, VWORP, VWORP.
Just as the Tardis of the Ninth Doctor faded away the Tardis of the Eleventh Doctor arrived toward the far right side of the room. Alex emerged wearing the traditional garb of a Senator of Rome. Hicks ran out past him as he shook his head in disbelief, "I can't believe Livia was an alien the whole time?"
The Doctor came out after him, "Not just an alien but the QUEEN of the Universe as she dubbed herself. What I can't believe is you let her get away!"
"She's the love of my life!" Alex huffed despite the grimace from the Doctor, "I couldn't hurt her or stand by. Especially after the WILD first date we shared. I'll always remember our time together."
The Doctor pulled Alex's arm and lifted the sleeve of his tunic to reveal a healing slash above his elbow, "She stabbed you!"
Alex gripped his arm, throwing his head back in delight as he sang, "Memories!"
"I'll let Hicks out, might want to turn down the telly while you're at it. That is bright," he mentioned as he walked out of the living room.
Alex moved for the remote but noticed the couch that was empty. In that time it must have been five minutes to pass but it already felt like five lifetimes. He had so much he had to tell Alexys, so much to tell his parents, so much to tell…his therapist! For the first time in his life he felt…happy? No…he had felt happy before! But the nagging pain had been dulled tremendously and he had to share the news.
"Alexys!" Alex called out, excitedly, happily, "Alexys!"
There was no answer except for Hicks returning ahead of the Doctor with the bag of dog food they had returned to acquire. He walked to the Tardis, calling back to Alex, "Shall we get on then? I see you still didn't turn down the television."
Alex had a brief memory of himself turning off the TV before leaving and paused to grab the remote but Hicks' incessant whining and barking distracted him long enough to return to the Tardis. It left again in its fashion of noise and absence only for the Ninth Doctor's Tardis to emerge opposite of it. Alexys stumbled out with giggles as she blew kisses and waved goodbye. She shut the door but forcefully opened it once with a shout, "Half an hour! Don't forget half an hour!"
"I'll be here!" boomed the Doctor's voice in return.
She shut the door once more and walked to the couch where she plopped down and took a drink from the Cola that was still waiting for her. Exhaustion wrapped its finger around Alexys despite the brightness of the television and she shut her eyes for just a moment. The only thing to wake her was the VWORP, VWORP, VWORP of the Tardis but when she looked to the left of the room it was empty. It wasn't until she turned to the right to see Alex emerging from a different Tardis of a slightly newer and slightly bluer fashion.
"Shut the front door!" she yelled as Alex walked out in a beautifully tailored tuxedo and his hair slicked in a proper hairstyle of a gentleman. "Alex!"
"That is Sir Alexander of Vienna to you," he smirked in a formal manner before completely breaking and collapsing on the couch with her as the Tardis vanished, "Where have you been!"
"Where have you been!"
"Where have you been," Alex motioned toward her apparel that could only be categorized as…futuristic.
"Forget that, check this out!" she shoved her left hand toward him to revel a diamond ring that was perfectly sculpted for Alexys. A simple band with a small rock that definitely did not look like it came from Earth.
"Wait…you're married? To…the Doctor?" he turned ashen.
"Don't worry, I told him it's an immediate divorce once he regenerates," Alexys grinned.
Alex let out a sigh but stopped midway to look at his friend, "What is happening right now?"
She shook her head, "I don't know but I'm going with it."
"Is this real? Is this honestly real?" Alex for the first time had some space to consider what had been occurring for the past…months?
"It feels real. The clothes are real. The people are real. I mean…look at what I'm wearing? Look at what you're wearing. We didn't have this here before we left. This has to be real…" Alexys looked to her phone that was sitting on the coffee table, "But I have another test. I'll facetime Sam and you facetime Lisa. If they can see what we're wearing then…it has to be real right?"
"I guess that's…true."
They grabbed their phones and began the ringing of the facetime call. Sam answered at once, "Hey, Lo, what's up?"
"Hey, nothing. Just chillin' here with Alex. What are you guys up to?" Alexys did nothing to tip off her sister anything odd was occurring and made no mention of her outfit.
"We're here ju…you look different. Wait…what are you wearing? Are you having another photo shoot or something?" Sam began in excited tones.
Alexys figured she'd leave it at that, "Yeah, haha, well. I love you so much!"
"I love you too, weird," she muttered
The two hung up while Alex had not yet reached Lisa though just seeming himself through the eye of the iPhone seemed to persuade him enough into believing it was real. He looked to Alexys, "I gotta tell you, if this is a delusion then it's a damn good one and I'm leaning in."
"Me too!" Alexys screamed. "Tell me everything that happened after I left."
"Well, I got up to pack a bag and as I did that's when the Eleventh Doctor appeared."
She grimaced.
"I wouldn't talk. You married the Ninth Doctor," Alex teased.
"That's my husband!"
They laughed as Alex continued, "Yeah well, the Eleventh Doctor showed up and he was strangely…"
"Affectionate?" Alexys finished.
He shook his head, "Intimate."
Alexys shuddered.
"Really though. He said 'I had no clue how much I'd miss you, Alexander.' And then went on to say that by his calculations this would be the first time we met…He knows things about me, things that I like, my preferences. We definitely have met before," Alex sighed.
"It's the same here. He cuts himself off before saying anything too detailed but there are moments, big moments, we've had leading up to us being married. I mean. It's the Doctor…he asked me to marry him," Alexys looked down at her ring happily.
"So did you guys…"
"Yes!"
Alex screamed in happiness for her, "Tell me all the details."
"Wait…did you two?" she looked between Alex and the empty space where the Tardis would be.
A blush crept over his features before he straightened himself, "A gentleman doesn't kiss and tell."
"AHHHH!" she screamed with happiness, "How! When! Where!"
"It was Rome, everyone was doing it! But that doesn't change the fact that he took me to a beautiful open field under the stars and the fact that we've done it many times since," Alex gushed.
"Ahhhhh! Wait…Rome…did you meet…" she trailed off, not needing to go further.
Alex became serious once again before nodding, "I met Livia."
"The love of your life!" she screamed, "What was she like?"
"The Queen of the Universe with aspirations big enough to threaten time as we know it," Alex spoke in one huff, "The Judoon came to take her away but I helped her escape."
"Alex!"
"She's the love of my life," he sighed before pointing to his arm, "She stabbed me but not before professing her undying love for me."
"How romantic," Alexys shook her head, "Wait…the Judoon. Okay…so you still have knowledge of the show, right?"
He nodded, "Yeah, everything we've seen has happened I think until he meets Clara or…maybe sometime a little before?"
"Yeah…it seems I'm somewhere in between his last regeneration and meeting Rose," Alexys went through her mind with all the situations that lead her to such a conclusion, "I feel at a disadvantage but it's not? We've run into creatures that have been on the show, we've gone to places that have been on the show, and he brings up the time war with such guilt and I don't know how to tell him that it's for nothing!"
"You don't tell him that it's for nothing. I don't know what's going on but I think we should err on the side of caution and not mention anything we know that hasn't happened yet and we definitely should not mention that they are a show," Alex sighed before looking back to his Hookah, "Oh, thank God."
Alexys laughed as she got up from the couch, "I take it you haven't had a chance to try space bud?"
"Oh I have…and it knocked me out for a week sooooooo I'm happy to have my Earth strains!" he chuckled before taking a hit from the Hookah.
"I can't wait to hear but first I have to use the bathroom and I'm going to pack my bag too! That was a great idea!" Alexys ran to the other side of the Air B&B.
"Oh right, I'll get on that," Alex jumped to his feet with the intention of doing the same thing.
VWORP, VWORP, VWORP.
"Every damn time," Alex mumbled to himself as the Tardis on the right side appeared.
"Are you all done here, did you find Alexys?" the Eleventh Doctor questioned as he stuck his head out wearing a fez. "Come on, I've got James Berry, Karl Heinrich Ulrichs, and Oscar Wilde waiting for you at a Shisha Bar in Morocco."
"What! We're coming! I'll call her," Alex stepped into the hall and shouted her name in a way that it would vibrate across the walls to get her attention.
"I'll be right there!" she called back.
VWORP, VWORP, VWORP.
"I know I said half an hour but I got bo—"
Absolute silence.
Alex was stunned as he looked at the two Doctors looking at one another. A harmony of the same person in two different voices began to shout, "Who are you? Is that my? How'd you? Ohhh…"
The Eleventh Doctor touched his own face and pulled on his own ears, "Did I really look…like that?"
The Ninth Doctor ran his hands through his hair then grabbed at his chin, "Do I really end up…like that?"
Alexys skipped into the living room wearing a tie dye shirt and leggings only to stop with a gasp, "Wait…if you're here and you're here that means something like…"
The brightness from the TV roared to reveal that it wasn't the TV at all but a growing crack in the shape of a twisted smiling face. The Eleventh Doctor grabbed for Alex as the Ninth Doctor grabbed for Alexys and they shouted together, "No, no, no not good not good!"
"Wait! Alex! Grab my hand"
"Alexys!"
She shimmied out of the hold and reached across the space as Alex did the same. The Doctors grabbed onto their respective companions but the jostle of motion was enough for Alexys to grab Alex's fingers and as she did a burst of light exploded from their hands that seemed to be swallowed by the crack and once it did the crack shrunk to merely a smirk. The two hugged each other then everyone looked to Alexys in surprise.
"What…how did you?"
"Well, typically to close the crack it needs to consume a complicated space-time event and I figured the Blinovitch Limitation Effect might be enough to stall it," Alexys beamed. She looked to Alex with a whisper, "I may have read up on some stuff in the Doctor Who fan wiki."
He nodded in understanding but the Eleventh Doctor narrowed his eyes on Alexys, "How do you know about the cracks?"
"How do you know about the Blinovitch Limitation Effect?" the Ninth Doctor narrowed his own eyes.
"I…uh…guessed?" her voice turned into a squeak but before they could turn their minds onto her she looked to the Eleventh Doctor, "The real question is what is he doing here?"
"What are you doing here?" the Ninth Doctor snapped, "You're violating the First Law of Time!"
"I'm not doing anything," the Eleventh Doctor snapped right back, "You aren't supposed to be here."
"You aren't supposed to be here!" he shouted right back.
As they shouted Alexys felt a strangeness in the air once more. She looked behind her to the crack but saw it was relatively dormant but when she looked up ahead her breath was caught. She motioned toward Alex to look up and he gasped too.
"Uhhh…Doctor…"
They both shouted, "What!"
Alex motioned up, "Look."
Their eyes scanned upward and gasped as they took a protective step before their companions. Coming from the ceiling and through the fireplace was a swirling, motion of time and space and air like a tentacle aiming right for them. The two Doctors shared undecipherable complaints as they motioned toward each other with blame.
"What is it!" Alexys shouted.
"Oh, you don't know?" The Ninth Doctor mocked. She stuck her tongue out at him.
"I know this…I vaguely remember this," the Eleventh Doctor mused.
"It's a Time Fissure," the Ninth Doctor looked between Alex and Alexys then rolled his eyes when he realized he needed to explain, "It happens all the time, minor ones usually. It's a weakness in time and space like the web of time untangling. Big ones like this need seeing too but typically they resolve on their own."
"Oh…it's really coming back to me now…" the Eleventh Doctor mumbled to himself, pulling the fez from his head.
Alex and Alexys looked to each other with huge eyes as their memories returned with seeing the Doctor looking into the time fissure with the fez in hand.
"What do you think you're doing?" the Ninth Doctor snapped.
The Eleventh Doctor threw the fez into the time fissure with a grin, "Oh…this is where we all come in."
