Chapter Three

The Doctor found himself standing on a stage with the girl who dragged him here.

"The Doctor's back!" she announced into a near-by microphone. The large crowd cheered loud enough to drown out anything else she was going to say, so she backed away and gave him another smile.

He just stared at her. There was something familiar about her but he couldn't quite figure out what. Then a name popped into his head. "Tarina?"

She laughed. "No… but I can see where that's coming from," she answered. "We are on that blasted set for so long that it's probably understandable that you would confuse me for that character… although fans do it all the time…" She sighed before continuing, "My name's Marisa, remember?"

"Right… Sorry… You know how it is."

It was her turn to stare, now. "Are you sure you're alright? You seem really… different…"

"Yeah, I'm… fine…" he explained, "It's just…We're on a stage."

"There's definitely something different about you…" she laughed.

The Doctor just smiled, unsure of how to act.

"This is bad," the actor panicked.

"I don't really see how it's all that bad," the girl said as she leaned on the control panel. "And how do you know so much about the Doctor, anyway? It's kind of…"

He interrupted her, "Oh, that. It's an interesting but very long story, actually. Maybe I'll get a chance to tell you it if universe doesn't happen to EXPLODE!"

It was silent for a really long time before the girl spoke again. "Wait… What?"

"Sorry, it's just… nerves…" the actor explained, "I mean, the Doctor's currently at a party that he's supposed to know nothing about whereas I'll now be stuck in here because… Well, just because!"

"That actually didn't explain anything at all…" she replied, "but I think I get what you're saying; that he's already out there and then if you go out there people'll really wonder what's going on."

"Yes, that's exactly it."

"I still don't understand the whole lookalike thing, though…"

The actor sighed and really though about how exactly to explain it. "Well… I guess shortening the long story…. It's like this…"

The Doctor took a quick look around bemused and… more than slightly confused. There were tons of people, most of which were dressed up as one of his past lives, the multitudes of partners he had, or even some were dressed up as his enemies. They were even showing parts of his life on jumbo-screens somehow, although some were in horrible 70's quality whereas others looked like there were just made this year.

Then there was the music. He could have sworn he'd never heard it before in his life yet it sounded so familiar. "Like going though the time-vortex…" he mumbled to himself.

"What?" Marisa asked.

"Just… talking to myself," he stated quickly.

She turned away slightly bored. "Must have been hearing things…"

He let out a slow sigh. Somehow he felt he should also be a bit more careful as well… Who was this guy he was pretending to be, anyway?

She just stated at him.

"…Well?" the actor asked, unsure of what her stare meant.

"…You're… just kidding… right? ... This is all some kind of a joke…."

He shrugged. "I… really wish it was…"

"…But…you…he…. You're human!" she finally choked out.

"Like I said, it's a TV show…"

"It's impossible!"

He sighed and immediately tried a different route. "TARDIS; it stands for Time And Relative Dimension In Space, it can go to any planet in any time."

She gasped. "How did you…?" He looked at her in an 'I told you so' way. "It doesn't mean anything, anyway; I'm sure lots of people all over the place know about the Doctor," she quickly amended.

"Yeah, but how many of those people look, sound, and can act EXACTY like him, hmm? Bet you don't find many of those wandering the galaxy," he stated, then immediately added, "Oh dear lord, I am starting to sound like him…"

She stared at him, hard. "So? I don't see how…" He interrupted her with an extremely serious look. "…I don't like that look…"

"Well, I don't like where this is going…"

She shivered. "What do you mean?"

"I think… the Doctor might have been confused… for me…."