Disclaimer: Any canon content belongs to its respective owners such as BBC and its writers. All original content, however, does belong to me and its contributors.

A/N; Yes, yes I know another long wait between chapters. I got lost in the time vortex a bit and sorta came back later than expected with this (aka real life is a big black hole of doom). Anyway, I enjoyed this chapter, especially the connecting that was being made by the characters. I felt like it had quite the "lets do this" adventure feel by the end, even if the trouble they might be about to get into might be scary.

Yeah that whole situation got weird pretty quick like. I hadn't even had much time to realize just how far down the hole like Alice I was until it had actually happened. Yet I remember it as vividly now as I did then. From that night on I was left in a state of not only disbelief, but unsure of what to say or think. It was like my body just went with the motions and the almost auto pilot my brain seemed to want to waver on, let me get through the emotional angles of the situation at hand.

What was worse was what I thought I knew, I didn't. I had clearly been well out of my league with John, if that was who he even had really been I had thought at the time. Clearly now I know better, but still. From the moment I woke up the next day, I knew that all the cards were going to be laid out, the truth was going to come to the forefront, and I was going to know more answers to questions rolling around in my head then I knew what I was going to do with. I definitely had gotten more than what I had bargained for. Sadly by that point there really was no turning back and just forgetting.

I woke with a start sometime later. The dream that had filled my mental vision faded as fast as it had come to me in sleep. Rubbing my eyes I looked around to see if John was in the room still. He was, and I was grateful to see his face first thing. I lightly smiled at him, and he did so in return, but not at the same warmth I gave him. Something was on his mind, and it seemed to weigh heavy. This made me sit up better and clamber out of bed to join him for what looked like to be coffee and muffins.

As I sat across from him at the makeshift desk table, I gave him a once over with my eyes. Just by observing alone I could tell a lot and it made me sad.

"You didn't sleep did you?" I asked.

"Couldn't." John said shortly.

"More like wouldn't. You were supposed to wake me and take a sleep shift." I scorned.

"Yes well, I wasn't tired. And you seemed to be pretty sound until the last hour or so." he stated taking a bite of a muffin.

"So, what are you thinking about then?" I asked putting creamer and sugar into the coffee that was mine.

"Just stuff." he said, his voice a bit more distant than usual.

"Okay Mr. Mysterio, what kinda stuff?" I mocked a bit with a tease voice. He just raised a brow at me and then sighed as if the weight of the world fallen upon him.

"Like…" he began, his hand idly stirring his coffee as he thought of the right words to say. "The fact that the one woman was right."

"What do you mean? I thought they were just talking out their butts about whatever it was so they could just stall, or at least try to." I stated with a bit of surprise.

"That may be, but she was right, about you not knowing." he stated a bit solemnly then looked away. "I'm sorry, I'm really so sorry, but I have lead you into this dangerous situation and well…I haven't been completely honest with you about who I am."

"Wait….what?" I was lost.

"You want to know why I'm so chill about all this?" he asked, all I could do was nod yes. "It's because this is me. This…"

He gestured out away from himself, "All of this! The reason we are here even right now. All because of me. In some way I brought this down upon you, upon your friends, even upon the world. I am a magnet for the strange, the unusual, the abnormal, the weird, and yes sometimes even fantastic yet scary things that happen in this strange universe."

"You couldn't be that bad…" I tried to assure, starting to maybe understand where he was going with this. The impression I got was he felt it was all his fault, but it wasn't and we were in this whole deal together.

"Yes…..I am." he said a bit more bitterly. "In fact…"

He got up and began to pace a bit, his coffee left behind unattended, "You are not the first….nor probably will you be the last, but still! That doesn't excuse me Alex, it never did and it never should. I wronged you. By getting you involved. I thought…."

"Thought what?" I prodded hoping he'd finish what he was saying.

"Oh I don't know! Maybe…no. Look does it really matter the reason. It was selfish okay." he sort of brooded. "Selfish and foolish."

"Whatever reason, I highly doubt it was that." I tried to assure. "You saved me. You didn't have to do that. You didn't have to make it so I could see what was going on. Granted I think I was sort of grasping things on my own a bit, but not at the rate you brought it to light. You wanted me to believe in something. Well here I am, I believe now. And not because your making me, but because I want to. So whatever it is you're not telling me, it probably won't surprise me any worse than what I've already discovered overnight."

He sighed and came to sit back down finally, but still didn't touch his coffee. Instead he twirled the stir straw idly staring at it instead of me.

"Fair," he finally said after a few moments of silent. "It was still selfi-"

"I don't care….tell me." I pressed.

"Alright, alright don't get snippy." John stated leaning back into the chair. "The truth. My name really isn't John, and I'm not really from out of town. Well, actually that's kinda speculate able but, really in the common sense I'm not. And dealing with this, these aliens, is my life. I mean I don't always deal with these aliens in specific but, ya know. It's the thought that counts. Anyway….I really go by The Doctor or just Doctor for short, no need always for the "the" at the beginning. I'm really from another planet. And I travel through space time to explore and on the off chance occasion freelance to deal with, things like this. So um, yeah. That's the truth."

At that moment I didn't know whether to stare dumb struck into oblivion as I tried to process this knowledge, squee in some form of excitement, or hyperventilate and pass out from being overwhelmed. All three sounded tangible and likely. Why, might one ask? Because from my stand point I already knew exactly who that was. Well at least a form of him. This though, this form I had never seen before. It was as if this form existed spite the visual knowledges I had of who he was and it had me reeling. How could he possibly be real? And in my world for that matter? A part of me concluded it had to be the same reason the other creatures were here. Some sort of space time vortex or anomaly deal gone wrong.

"Alex?" he inquired, breaking the acquired silence that had seemed to form after he spoke. "Are…are you alright? Alex?"

"Hmm." I finally mumbled from my revere. "Oh sorry right. Just one thing?"

"What?" he asked.

"Are you mad?!" I asked. "I mean seriously, Doctor Who?!"

"No just-"

"Yes, yes, I know "Just The Doctor". But seriously! This….this ….just no. No, no, no, no, no…..no." I pointed a finger at him wearily. "Cause if that's the case and you are mad…you can't be real. The Doctor cannot be real. The Doctor, is a fictional character in a tv show. So you can't be here!"

"Ah…" he tried to begin to explain, but my flailing hyperventilation didn't allow him to continue just yet.

He just raised a brow at me instead as if this was not some sort of new news to him somehow, as if he'd heard this exact same speech somewhere or somewhen else. He did seem still a bit surprised to be here, as in my world, but the fact it happened didn't seem to surprise him somehow. Perhaps he had done it before? Outside of the obvious reasons such as tv, I could have guessed of course. Like maybe another adventure into a world like mine, or even mine, but maybe another time? Who knew? I finally came down enough for him to speak though.

"Well, um…that's a bit unsettling. Didn't even realize…heh that's a thing." was the first thing he seemed to admit, rubbing the back of his neck. "I mean, technically it's not supposed to be possible, but, I've come to now realize I just sometimes don't really get a choice in the matter it seems. Wouldn't be the first. And it wouldn't be the first I've managed a world such as yours either."

"Well even you, yourself, if The Doctor is who you really say you are, then yeah you really shouldn't be able to be here. Not just for the sake of your life being a show here, but I mean actual dimensional rules, that you state no less." I pressed. I wasn't an avid fan, but I did watch this man's life on at least an off and on basis basis when I could after work. A part of me was still not quite convinced he was who he was claiming to be. I could have probably handled hearing anything, even ex murderer better than I was handling this.

"Well I am, and this is happening." John….The Doctor, stated. "Don't tell me your one of those awkward super fans who has a form of me in just about everything are you? Because let me tell you, been there, done that, got quite awkward I must say. Not a good regeneration period either…."

"Wait! What?! No!" I sputtered after taking a sip of coffee, I swore to the heavens he did that on purpose to get me all fired up.

"You sure, cause, I don't want things getting all ….strange, or worse super fan domestic on me. It'll make things very difficult you see. Especially if neither of us can concentrate, I mean in the task at hand. Not that you'd be distracting, but you know….oh come on, you know what I mean!"

"I know what you meant." I snorted a bit but rolled my eyes. "And no I'm not going to go all oogley eyes over you and be that weird crazy misery lady in the corner waving at you like a stalker. That's just …creepy. Besides, if ….IF this is all real and I'm not just in some Nyquil possible induced dream, then I …I mean we, really have a big problem on our hands. I mean forgive me for my disbelief. I know I should take your word for it seeing as there's aliens here, in Seattle, in my universe apparently. I'm just having a bit of a hard time just letting those sorts of thoughts in my head. After all if it all is true, and everything gets figured out in the end like a classic episode of well…your life, then you'll be gone, back to your universe and me…..I'll still be stuck here, and without a nine to five job to distract me from the emptiness."

"You'd have Aaron." he offered. "And your friend…Sansa."

"True, but I'll still know. Know that somewhere, out there. You'd be really real. Really taking on aliens to save planet Earth, but only it wouldn't be my Earth it would be yours. Guess I could say we're kinda lucky we don't have the same alien invasion level issues otherwise I think we'd all be toast by now."

I took another drink of coffee and then looked into the dark depths of my cup, "Plus, what am I going to tell the others. I can't just say oh by the way I met The Doctor and we went on a jolly adventure to save your behinds. No, even through all this, Aaron and Sansa would think I'd cracked and would think I'd need therapy. I just, I don't know. It all's just a lot to process."

"Don't sweat the small stuff. We'll figure out that bridge after we get them back alright." The Doctor assured. "In the meantime, you gotta finish your breakfast and we have to get to my way of doing things."

"You mean….the TARDIS." I stated more than questioned, holding the cup close to my face.

"…Yes. At least, that's a part of it." he stated feeling a bit wierded out by me saying that, but then let it go as if shrugging of a simple comment. "Soon as we do that, the sooner we'll get your friends back in time for a good cup of coffee and a decent meal."

"Yeah…" I mused to myself worriedly. I did worry about the both of them, even if it didn't quite seem like it outwardly.

"Don't worry, we'll get 'em" The Doctor sounded confident in that matter. "And we'll send our unwelcome guests back to where they belong to boot."

"Yeah." I nodded again. What I didn't expect was for The Doctor to take a moment to look at me as if he was deciding something hard, and then came over and just put his arms around me, just on my shoulders from behind and hugged me. I definitely wasn't expecting him to do that, not from the way I knew him. There was only one or two regenerations that were known for hugs, and this wasn't one of them that I knew of, but then what did I really know, this face wasn't one I'd seen at all before. So instead of arguing it, I let him just embrace me in that warmth.

Come to think of it, the sensation from the hug I was feeling wasn't even in that being attracted to him sort of way. It just felt good, like a friend one knew for a long time. To be honest it felt strangely safe, even though it shouldn't have, knowing some of the things I knew about the real him. I took a free hand though, and placed it on his out of unconscious habit and closed my eyes. Here I was, with The Doctor. How incredible was that! Yet all I could really think about, as I sat there being held, was my friends lost to the aliens that had decided to invade my universe.

A few hours later and we were on our way. My mind only still able to think about Aaron and Sansa and what might be happening to them. The Doctor had kept a watchful eye on me as we had walked, but I knew clearly he was in a hurry to get back to his TARDIS. The idea just seemed so strange and so unreal, but my mind was so much elsewhere that a part of me wasn't even taking in the wow factor of this anymore. At least, not until we came upon it. That infamous blue box with its intricate sign on the door that was actually nonsensical rubbish since the door was more often known to swing in, not out. Its iconic Police Public Use Box tag on the top like it were some car license plate. And it's whimsical blue topper light. It didn't really set in, however, until I touched what felt like real wood. I knew it wasn't, but there was still nothing to truly compare otherwise other than head knowledge.

"You gonna stan' there like a fish out of water, or ya gonna come inside?" The Doctor stated, just slightly amused from deep inside the TARDIS, I hadn't even noticed he'd already gone inside. "You know, for someone who seems to know my life a bit you seem to still do whatever other passenger who comes aboard does. Gawk like a guppy until you're almost literally drug aboard. Reminds me of another companion I had once. Her, and her brother were quite a pairing really. Anyway, come on, daylights burning."

I turned red from embarrassment. No matter how much a person may say to themselves they'd never do what other companions would do if they were in the same situation, sometimes it just happens anyway whether one likes it or not, and for me that was the case.

"Coming!" I called and then darted inside before I might get left behind potentially, though at this point I didn't think he intended to do that. He looked at me, a half smile on his face, but still a genuine concerned one. As bad as this situation probably was, if there was one thing to know about The Doctor, was that no matter what situation he or his companions were a part of, he always tried to make things less dismal then they really were, or at least tried too. That probably was one of the better parts of the time lord. It made him live more up to his name than even he probably could fathom with the ability to feed his friends the hard pills to swallow by giving them a dose of some sort of sweet syrupy goodness to cover its pain and disgustingness.

I had to admit though, what little I saw of his life on a screen, was not even a breaths depth close to what I really saw before me. His TARDIS was massive inside. It had quite an inclusive feel to it though, almost homely, like a family should be there. Its more golden textures, mixed with softer more chrome like metallic surfaces gave the place a comfy texture. It was nothing like his earlier regenerations I'd seen that seemed stiffer, structured, or maybe a bit hodge podged with theme. The floor designs were a bit more open and not as structured, but that was okay, it still was not confusing to figure out where things went to. Yet they still seemed to blend into the background coincidently more so, which could lead one to possibly not catch a staircase if they weren't focused on it enough and might pass it instead if one didn't know the design well.

As I stared in awe, I drew close to The Doctor and the control console he was already started to work hard at. After taking in the controls and how different they seemed this time, I looked over at him and couldn't help but smile a bit. Just the way he was standing in front of one of the panels, made me think of how intense the split haired by many, eleventh/twelfth incarnation of The Doctor would be when he'd be hot on the trail of something very important and would stare at a screen intensely for long moments at a time before coming to a conclusion. From the thinned lips to the hard furrow browed stare, it was all there. I could tell he was intent on finding what we were looking for.

"Ah hah! Gotcha!" he crowed in hope.

"Really?" I raised a brow after almost jumping out of my skin. "That was quick."

"Yep!" he continued and began to move around the console in a flourish like he normally did, slightly shooing me out of his way as he turned dials, pushing a few buttons, and checked a few screens before he came back around and looked at me. "Jus' the way I like it."

"Right." I nodded.

"Now, it's time for me to put my promises where my mouth is." he stated with a half grin, putting a hand on the notorious lever that would take us both through the space time vortex, hopefully in this case, to where my friends were. He gestured me to come over closer to where he was and then looked down at me, his eyes now looking more like that of "the oncoming storm" or "Doctor Victorious" or something. "Let's go get your friends back, alrigh'?"

"Yeah." I nodded in agreement but swallowed hard anyway.

"You got this, we got this." he stated pulling my face up to meet his gaze. "I know it."

I smiled at him a little. This caused him to smile back, a genuine grin. He then took my right hand gently and then firmly placed it on the handle with his other one that was still there.

"Ready?" he asked.

"Yes." I breathed, anxiety still in my chest. "Let's do this."

"Great!" The Doctor stated, his mood sounding a tad more chipper than before as he yanked down the lever and the TARDIS began to make its wind up "Vwhoorp" sound. All I could do from keeping myself from falling over, was bracing myself against the control console. Being flung about definitely was not quite anything a person could understand just through watching. No you had to be there, in the TARDIS, being flung, across time and space with The Doctor by your side to know just what it felt like. And let me tell, it was the most exhilarating ride of my life.