Dinner had the potential to be extremely awkward, but in the end, it turned out pretty well. As beautiful as the restaurant looked from the outside, the moment Alex walked in, her arm wrapped through Matt's, conjoining them together, her breath was literally almost taken away. The sheer size of it was enough to make anyone speechless, yet the decoration only added to the magnificence displayed by the building.
There was a huge chandelier dangling precariously from the ceiling, which was absolutely smothered in 16th century style plaster carvings, which looked like it was just made completely out of diamond. The sixty bulbs that were encased within it beamed out, sending bright shafts of light out all over the hall. There were paintings hanging on the wall that looked like they belonged in the Louvre or the Tate, and there were hundreds of candelabras scattered across the edges of the room, all the candles individually lit. The tables themselves were rosewood and mahogany, but covered by a thin silk sheet with incredibly intricate lacing all over.
Matt had to forcibly drag her forwards a few steps when they first walked into the hall, where she was so stunned by the general splendour that Alex stopped dead. 'Come along Kingston,' he said jokily, and she snapped out of the trance and walked alongside him, suddenly aware of the stares they were getting from the other guests.
All night, so far, she had been able to spend as herself, but now they were out in public; people were going to recognize her, and people would start rumours about the bruise encompassing half of the left side of her face. She pulled a few curls in front of her left eye, and Matt smiled sympathetically as they reached the haughty looking waiter who was ready to seat them.
'Hi there, we've got a reservation under the name of Smith,' Matt said cheerily, and the waiter raised an eyebrow at the ignorant fool who was standing before him, and he coughed a little and checked the book. Alex looked at him confusedly; how and why did he have a reservation? She tugged on his sleeve a little, but he grinned at her and placed a finger to his lips and winked. There was a little moment where they just looked into each other's eyes, the rest of the world just a blur, but they were rudely interrupted by the waiter.
'Excuse me Mr Smith, if you would like to follow me to your table.' The waiter, an elderly gentleman wearing a bowtie and black suit, spoke with such a posh English accent that Matt and Alex, being the two immature adults they could be at times, almost burst into hysterics. Instead, they just snorted and then followed the waiter. He led them to a table in the middle of the room, but both were quick to protest and Matt piped up, 'You don't have a table that's a little more private do you?'
The waiter raised his eyebrows, having finally recognized who they were (along with the rest of the restaurant who were currently watching them – most being surprised by his arm around her waist and it being just the two of them), but did not protest and led them over to a small table for two by one of the huge five metre high windows in the wall. The lights outside were blurry, but could still be seen, and Matt pulled her chair out chivalrously, and then sat down opposite her.
The waiter handed them each an exquisitely lavish menu and hurried off, having just taken the order for drinks. Alex immediately dropped the menu onto the table, clattering the cutlery slightly, but not making a large noise, and asked, 'How did you have a reservation for this place?'
He smiled meagrely, and then said, 'Please don't be offended by this, but I booked this place because it was supposed to be mine and Daisy's third anniversary today.' He paused and Alex looked a little uncomfortable, but he leaned back in his chair, clasped his hands together and continued, 'But, you know about the break-up, and I was going to cancel the booking, but you rang and I thought you sounded like you needed cheering up and a bit of dinner.'
The uneasiness that had been her expression loosened and Alex smiled, 'You've done pretty well at that actually Matt. You didn't have to do this though, you know.' He grinned widely at this, leaning forward in his chair, and he took her hand which was resting innocently on the table and gave it a gentle squeeze, 'Alex, I care about you a lot, probably a bit too much-' he blushed, 'and you deserve nothing but the best.' She reddened in the cheeks as well, and yet again, the elderly waiter interrupted their moment with their drinks and a want to take their orders.
'Oh, I'll have the…' Alex began, looking down at the menu and then up at the waiter, but she hesitated when Matt started pulling faces at her across the table, imitating the posh waiter. She bit down on her lip, trying to prevent herself from giggling, and she kicked Matt under the table to try and stop him, but he just lifted his head back and stared at her impressively, sticking his chest out in another impersonation.
Alex took one look at the waiter and burst into quiet hysterical giggles for a few minutes. The waiter looked unimpressed and then turned to look at Matt, who was restraining his laughter, but also going rather purple in the face in the meantime. Alex wiped tears from her eyes and quickly replied, 'I'll have the tagliatelle please,' before she started laughing again, setting Matt off as well. 'I'll have the same,' Matt replied, and the waiter frowned nastily at the couple and quickly left, snatching the menus from them.
'Matt, don't do that!' she hissed, and he just hooked a single eyebrow and looked at her suggestively. They engaged in conversation for a long time actually, and she found it surprisingly easy to speak to him like this. They had spoken like best friends before, but this time it was in the Ritz with wine and bruises and dinner. The food itself was brilliant, but the waiter was still a little peeved at the two's mockery of him earlier.
'Oooooh, you've got to come back to mine afterwards Alex, I've got something you're going to love to see.' He said it with such excitement that she had no clue exactly what he was insinuating and as a result, she blushed ferociously red and coughed a little, alerting him to what he had just said. He laughed and replied, 'Maybe that would be best for another time. Anyway, I've got hold of the first copy of The Wedding of River Song!'
Alex looked at him, her eyes lighting up and she leant down a little, grasping the silk cloth and she almost yelled, 'How did you manage to get hold of that?' He grinned at her incredulity, and was about to tap his nose in secrecy when he just muttered under his breath, leaning across the table and whispering in her ear, 'I might have nicked the back-up copy from the director.'
'Oh you didn't,' she whispered back, and he nodded guiltily, although the pleasure he got from seeing her so happy went quite unnoticed by her. Gosh, she really didn't know how much he cared for her, did she? She didn't have the faintest clue, even though he had told her enough times tonight.' More conversation followed, the most random things talked about, but also Matt's escapade of stealing the series finale disc from the director's office and how they hadn't noticed yet.
'Do you mind if we have pudding back at mine? I have ice cream in the freezer,' Matt suggested when he asked for the bill, and Alex nodded, a little lightheaded about the fact he wanted her to return to his apartment. He had already mentioned it, but she had been so surprised by his little act of theft and what he had taken, that she had completely forgotten about it. Oh well, couldn't be that bad of a thing, it was only a DVD and some ice cream, it wasn't like it was hot, passionate, steamy sex was it?
He then paid, refusing to let her alleviate the burden in any way, shape or form, and together, arm in arm once again, they left the building, Alex's spirits soaring higher than the sky, as cheesy as that sounded.
They slowly walked out of the building, laughing and joking like hyenas until they reached the top of the grand staircase leading down to the road where they could easily call a taxi back to his apartment, which she still wasn't sure was a perfectly fantastic idea.
Before they descended the stairs, however, Matt stopped, gently grabbing Alex by the forearm and turning her around so she was facing him. He wanted to tell her something, but he couldn't get the words out, so instead, he slowly put one of his long gangly hands on either side of her beautiful face and leaned in so their foreheads were resting upon one another's. To his great relief, she didn't back away and seemed all so comfortable in this position like he was.
'Alex, I just want to tell you again how much you mean to me. I don't want you to ever forget that, and I'm not going to let you get hurt, I'm going to look after you,' he muttered, his voice like treacle sliding through her ears, pleasing her in more ways than one.
His touch was so intimate that she almost shivered, but it felt so right to have him this close.
'Matt, I just wanted to thank you, so much, for tonight,' Alex stuttered out, her voice beginning to tremble, but not breaking yet due to his hands slowly caressing her cheeks, 'I honestly don't know what I would've done without you. You picked me up, and just, thank you.' She sounded so sincere and honest that he had no doubt whatsoever in his mind that she was telling him the truth. It was just one of those moments when everything seemed like it was in a perfect state of ecstasy. One of those moments when both could forget the still visible bruises of the past, one of the moments where the whole world could just go and screw itself and neither would notice.
So he kissed her. He couldn't not kiss her really.
Due to his gentle grip on her, and the fact their foreheads were already resting deeply upon one another's he only had to lean in, tilt his head to the left a few degrees, and press his lips to hers. One of his hands immediately went to rest in her hair, and the other travelled slowly down her curvaceous form until it lay to rest on her hip. Sensing her almost reluctance, he began to pull away, realizing he may have just made the worst decision of his life, but her lips tightened on his, and she quickly wrapped her arms around his neck and indulgently began to return his kiss. He could feel her smiling against him and knowing this meant he had her approval, he only increased the intensity.
It was far from the first time they had kissed, oh they had done so that many times in the studio, but this was the first time they had kissed as Matt and Alex, not as the Doctor and River Song. The first time they had kissed of their own free will. Not that the other times hadn't been enjoyable, but this was just so extraordinary. They weren't restricted out here, they weren't being told when to stop, and how to act, and it was just a simple, natural splendour.
His fingers were now curled so tightly around her hair that he was surprised she hadn't drawn away to disentangle herself and his eyes were shut so hard that all he could see in his mind was her. Her hands were clasped around the back of his neck, twirling tiny strands of his mahogany brown hair around her fingertips. She shouldn't be enjoying this; she shouldn't be continuing doing this once she had a clear sense of what was currently happening.
It was so incredible. She had kissed him before, but never, never like this. It had always been dictated by the Doctor Who crew, but it had always been safe. This scared her in a way because she didn't know what was going to happen next. Oh, it could be anything; they could break apart and just forget it and never speak of it ever again, or they could hitch it up a notch, grab a taxi, go back to either of their apartments and just spend the night together in a more than mature way.
Technically, what they were doing right now, kissing and embracing outside of the Ritz, was pretty much illegal. She was married, even though tonight had destroyed any hopes of that lasting any longer, and every second she spent still locked in this magnificent osculation was so wrong, but it just felt so right.
She tasted absolutely gorgeous, her deep red lipstick smearing messily over his mouth as their lips brushed against one another's, exchanging more than just saliva. He couldn't get enough of her, changing the direction and expanding the size of his mouth to try and bury his lips deep within hers. There was so much he wanted to say to her, so much he wanted to do her, but knowing that none of it would be completely appropriate for either of them – no matter what either of them wanted.
But he had to apologize first. He felt like he was taking advantage of her; she was obviously in a very difficult place right now, confused beyond reason, and so deeply vulnerable that she would probably trust anyone with her right now. But he would finish this kiss first, there was no point breaking it off just to say sorry…
Eventually though, both their lungs were screaming at the top of their voices for air, and so Matt and Alex gracefully drew apart, their faces just millimetres away from each other.
'Matt,' she breathed intimately. 'Alex,' he responded in the same exhausted voice, a small smile beginning to grace his lips. There was a moment of reconcilable silence where all either could hear was the heavy breathing oscillating from each other's mouths. 'That was probably a mistake,' he said clearly, although his voice was still nothing more than a small mumble. She nodded slightly, whilst his hands now, again, resting on her pale cheeks, and ignored the previous statement for a moment. She refrained from speaking for such a long time that Matt eventually just gave in, removed his hands and began to walk slowly away, beginning to descend down the stone steps. He almost tore his tie off, but just undid it and the top button, feeling very Bond in that motion. He had almost reached the bottom, a deep depression beginning to sink to the bottom of his stomach, when there was a loud tapping behind him, increasing in volume until a voice pierced through the atmosphere, the voice he so wanted to just say something.
'Matt!' she called desperately, and he turned reluctantly to see her holding up the hem of her dress to prevent herself from tripping or getting it dirty, running down the steps as quickly as she could. 'Matt! Wait one second!' He gave her the time that she required, and waited for her to reach him at the bottom of the stairs. The beams from the street lights amplified the bruise that was beginning to blacken around her eye, but he ignored this and looked directly at her. He just raised an eyebrow when she positioned herself a few centimetres away, and she just frowned sadly at him.
'Yeah, it was probably was a mistake,' she began, and he was confused as to how this had any relevance to her actions, 'but mistakes aren't always bad.' He was even more perplexed by this in the split second before she launched herself forwards and kissed him even more ferociously and passionately than before. He staggered backwards with the force at which she collided with him, but he instantly wrapped both arms around her shoulders, running his fingers through her luxurious masses of hair, and she kissed him with such desperation that he knew she was scared of what she was doing, afraid of being caught, afraid of what the consequences for her would be.
'Alex, let's go back to mine?' he suggested after almost four minutes, and she immediately looked a bit concerned and her expression turned fearful and anxious and a tad nervous. She stuttered initially but quickly mumbled, 'Matt I can't-'. He smiled like she was a young blushing schoolgirl caught in the act of copying someone else's homework.
'No, not like that,' he chuckled, and the relief that appeared on her face may have been slightly offending at any other time, 'I promised ice cream and an unaired episode of Doctor Who. I'm good with promises.'
Matt called a taxi and, hand in hand, they entered it, unaware of the controversy that would be caused the next day.