Chapter 18

"Can we talk about something?" asked Alex.

"Um, yeah," said Doctor.

"Outside," said Alex. She walked out onto the terrace and sat down on one of the chairs outside. The Doctor followed her outside and sat down one the terrace ledge.

"I thought you said you were afraid of heights," said Alex.

"I am, but this isn't high enough for me to freak out," said the Doctor, "Besides, if I fall, I won't get that hurt. I've fallen from higher heights than this." The Doctor looked at Alex and added, "What did you want to talk about, Alex?"
"I really don't know how to say this, but..." hesitated Alex.

"You have feelings for me," finished the Doctor.

"How did you know that?" asked Alex.

The Doctor smiled and told her, "Did you forget that I am excellent at reading people? They're like an open book to me. That's how I read Tesla Howard so easily. That something that I inherited from my fourth incarnation. Oh, sorry, rambling. I inherited that to from my tenth incarnation."

"That's okay. It makes me laugh when you ramble," said Alex, nervous, "But that wasn't the thing I wanted to talk to you about. I wanted to know if these feelings for you are real?"

"What do you mean real?" asked the Doctor, "Oh, you mean ever since the Heart of the TARDIS opening those six months ago."
"Yeah," replied Alex, "It wasn't long after that that I started to feel this way."

"The Heart of the TARDIS cannot create feelings in a person for another person," said the Doctor, "The Heart of the TARDIS is actually the portion of the Time Vortex that is inside all TARDISes. It can't create emotions in someone."

"So that means these feelings are real?" Alex asked, gaining more confidence.

The Doctor's face sank and he told her, "Unless, somehow, when the TARDIS and you linked together, the bryo nebulizer was imprinted on you. That would mean the way the TARDIS feels towards me would be the way you feel towards me."

"What?" Alex's face was crushed.

"No, I don't think that happened because the bryo nebulizer can be linked to only one person at a time or in a Type 40 TARDIS just one person ever. That would be. Even though I stole her from TARDIS dry dock, she was never used before and I am the only one she ever connected with. So no, the feelings you have are from something else."

"But we both opened the Heart of the TARDIS together and we were sucked into that light thing," said Alex, "I just don't want my heart broken again. It hurts too much."

"Well the universe is big, vast, and unpredictable and complicate. It does things for unknown reasons and impossible things just happen. When that happens, it's called miracles. Maybe the universe did one of those impossible things six months ago and connected us. It hasn't been the first time that the massive universe had done one of those impossible things. Heck, I am one of those impossible things, but that is another story for another time," explained the Doctor, "And I know what it's like to have your hearts broken or for you heart broken. It hurts when it happens and will always be with you."

"So are you saying that this could be real?" asked Alex.

"Basically, yes that is what I am talking about," replied the Doctor.

"Why didn't you just say that in the first place?" asked Alex.

"I have a habit of extending a normal short answer to a massive answer that could be simplified. Ah! I'm doing it again," said the Doctor, "I'm rambling again. Well, I do that all of the time. I should be used to it by, but for some reason I'm not. I mean I am almost twenty-three hundred years old."

Alex cleared her throat and the Doctor asked her, "I'm doing again, aren't I?"

Alex smiled with her annoyed face and nodded saying, "Yeah, you are."

"Sorry," said the Doctor.

"That's okay," said Alex, "Unlike when anyone else rambles and I find it annoying, I find it kind of cute when you ramble."

"Cute?" the Doctor asked stunned, "You find it cute? How can rambling be cute?"
"I don't know," said Alex smiling and face beaming, "It just is."
The Doctor calmed down and stood up from his spot on the terrace ledge and sat next to Alex, "I just realized something. I am cute and amazing and awesome and unbelievable and impossible."

"And arrogant," said Alex, getting upset.

"I inherited that from my sixth self," said the Doctor, smiling, "Well part of my arrogance. That guy was a jerk, but he was caring."

Alex's face was washed over with realization, "You did that on purpose didn't you?"
"Yeah, I did," said the Doctor.

"You keep tricking me," said Alex, "How do you do it? I'm usually the one tricking people."

"I've had over two millenia of practice, while you've had under two decades. It isn't a fair fight," explained the Doctor.

"Well two thousand years old, I'll be able to give you a run for you money," said Alex.

"But then I'll be over four thousand," said the Doctor.

"I just can't win with you, can I?" asked Alex.

"No, I don't think so. Well, not yet anyway," said the Doctor.

"It's kind of cold out here," said Alex, "We should go back inside."
"Actually, why don't we go somewhere else instead," the Doctor said. The Doctor took out his teleport watch, and started to press some buttons. He took out his sonic screwdriver and started to work on the watch. He explained what the watch was when he was working on it. He continued, "See, Alex, this is more than just a teleport watch. In fact, teleportation is addition I put in. This watch is actually a vortex manipulator. In simpler terms, its a time travel watch. It's very crude and frankly an insult to time travel, but it works none the less. I just never used it for time travel because well I have a TARDIS and I find this thing as an insult. I feel that way because I am a Time Lord and it's in my nature, but I will make an exception tonight."

Alex was lost and asked him, "What are you talking about?"

"This," said the Doctor. He grabbed Alex's hand and pressed the button. The two vanished into a short burst of dark blue electricity.

Jerry and Theresa saw the electricity and ran outside.

"Weren't Alex and the Doctor out here?" asked Theresa.

"Yeah, but what was that blue lightening stuff?" asked Jerry, "I bet Alex used a spell to do something."

"No, she didn't," replied Theresa, "Remember the Doctor's immune to magic. He demonstrated it to us."
"That's right. Then were did they go?" asked Jerry.

"I don't know."

The Doctor and Alex appeared in the blue electricity on some wide open plain. Alex looked around and saw no buildings or people or anything she could recognize.

"We are we?" asked Alex.

"12,000 BC," said the Doctor, "Somewhere in North America. Its the same date, though. It's just December 24, 12000 BC instead of December 24, 2010 AD."

"I'm 14,000 years in the past?" asked Alex, "We can time travel using magic, but this is so much further than even what magic can do."

"I chose this place for a reason," said the Doctor, "Come with me." The Doctor grabbed Alex's hand and ran up a hill and stopped on the edge. There was a drop off into a massive canyon. "This is why I chose this place."

The Doctor let go of Alex's hand and let her see why he brought them there. "Oh my god," said Alex, breathless.

"Do you like it?" asked the Doctor.

Alex couldn't say anything. She just stared down at the scene below. The ground was lit up by a massive full moon and millions upon millions of stars on the black night sky. There was a herd of Colombian mammoth grazing under the night sky. Giant ground sloth moved between the mammoth and a herd of millions of buffalo were on the other side of the canyon. There were several fires in the middle of the canyon. "What's that?"

"That is a tribe of your ancestors. The original settlers of the Americas," explained the Doctor. He sat down on the edge of the cliff, "How do you like it?"

"I..this is...us...this is amazing," said Alex. She sat down next to the Doctor.

"Merry Christmas, Alex Russo," said the Doctor. He put his arms around her and kissed her on the side of the head. The two sat there for the next several hours and watched the animals in the canyon move around. After a while they looked up at the stars in the sky and the Doctor started to explain about all the stars that he had been to or would like to go to. Alex didn't care. This was the most amazing thing that she had ever seen.