A/N: You can find Alex's outfit for this chapter on my Tumblr, under the name 'darksideofparis'.

Alex tiptoed into the console room and sat down on a step that led down to the underworking's of the console. The lights were dim, probably in an effort to simulate night. Since both girls had been exhausted and still reeked a little from Star Whale vomit, the Doctor had decided to wait until they all had had some rest before they raced off to see Winston. Alex was glad about that decision; it had taken three showers to get all of the dried vomit out of her hair and another one just so she didn't feel so disgusting anymore. And four showers in one day was not exactly thrilling to a person who feared water.

Now, she was dressed in a short, loose white nightgown and socks. Her hair was down and slightly curly, as it always was whenever she first got out of the shower. She critically watched as the Doctor fiddled with some wires and they sparked in his face. He grimaced and muttered something incomprehensible under his breath, though Alex figured it was probably curse words.

"You know, if you don't want that to happen, you probably shouldn't be doing that," she remarked. The Doctor jumped in his seat and looked up at her through the glass of the floor. He'd had a suspicion she was in here, ever since his heart rates jumped a few notches.

"Like you know the inner workings of the TARDIS!" he argued at her.

Alex simply smirked at him. "I don't, but I could probably fix her better than you ever could." A rumble from the TARDIS herself signaled that she agreed with this statement.

The Doctor rolled his eyes. "Women, always ganging up on me," he complained. Despite this, he found himself smiling at Alex. "Well, just don't sit there!" he called up. "Come on down!"

Alex happily obliged and settled herself at the bottom step. She covered her knees with her nightgown and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. She watched in silence for a moment as the Doctor fussed with something. Despite their playful banter, the air around them was tinged with awkwardness and tension. That was the reason Alex had come down here to speak to him; she needed to clean the air with him and not just forget their argument.

The Doctor knew this, too, and had wondered if she would come down here. Now, it seemed as though he had been correct in his suspicions. He had planned on just shrugging off and forgetting his vicious argument with her and moving on, but it seemed Alex didn't have the same idea.

"So. . ." she began, desperate to break the silence between them.

"So. . ." the Doctor copied, staring down at the floor.

Alex sighed and looked up at the TARDIS ceiling. "So, that was an interesting conversation on Starship U.K.," she laughed dryly.

The Doctor snorted. "A conversation? Is that what we're calling it?"

"Well, I don't like saying we fought," Alex admitted. "And so viciously either."

"Neither do I, even if it is the truth." The Doctor pushed his foot against the floor and swung a little in his swing.

Alex leaned back against the stairs. "It's just . . . it really angered me that you were so willing to send Amy home, after she'd waited fourteen years for you. And she made one mistake, a mistake that she didn't even remember making. In my eyes, after I saw you sonicing the Star Whale to let us hear it screaming, I just knew she had been right in trying to prevent that side of you from coming out." Alex picked at a loose thread on her gown, deliberately avoiding his eyes as she said, "That look in your eyes and on your face? It scared the hell out of me. I had never seen such pure hatred before until that moment."

The Doctor remained silent. He knew Alex was right. His anger had consumed him, similar to how crazy he had acted in his last regeneration on Bowie Base One. He had been blinded by rage and hadn't attempted to come out of the darkness of it until Alex begged him to stop. Somehow, her words had resonated in him and he had stopped. But then he just had to try and blame Amy for everything. In retrospect, it wasn't Amy's fault. She hadn't known what she was doing and he had been wrong for blaming her.

"Believe me when I say that I regret that," he said finally.

Alex raised her head. "You do?" she said, her voice somewhat doubtful.

The Doctor stared at her. "Of course I do!" he cried in such a way that Alex knew he was telling the truth.

She nodded and bit her lower lip. "Well, that's good. I was a little worried that. . ." She trailed off, not wanting to get into that.

The Doctor, however, was curious by what she had to say. "Worried that. . .?" he repeated, wanting her to go on.

Alex sighed, knowing he wasn't going to let it go until she told him. "I was worried that if you sent Amy back, you would send me home as well," she confessed.

The Doctor blinked. When he had been telling Amy that he would send her home, he hadn't even thought about Alex. As far as he had been concerned, she was still going with him. She hadn't done anything to anger him. But he realized that Amy leaving would probably devastate Alex and him being mad at her best friend would probably make her think he was mad at her as well and that she needed to leave. And that was the last thing he wanted.

He got up and joined her on the step. Tilting her head so that her eyes were staring straight into his, he took in a deep breath and exhaling, said, "I wasn't even thinking of sending you home, Ally. At that moment, all I could focus on was Amy and how I thought she had done wrong. As far as I was concerned, you were still coming with me."

Alex smiled at his words. "That's good to know," she remarked. "But, had you really sent Amy home, I probably would've gone with her. Knowing me, I'd be completely disgusted with you and never want anything to do with you again after you sent my best friend away."

"Lucky it didn't come to that," the Doctor thanked.

Alex made a noise of agreement. "Lucky indeed. So what about me?" She stared at him intently. "How come you fought so viciously with me?"

The Doctor let out a long breath and leaned back against the step. "I think because you were arguing against me," he admitted after a few minutes. "I don't like others challenging me." He let out a dry laugh. "After nine hundred and seven years, you start figuring out what makes you snap."

Alex's eyes widened and she looked upon his body. "No way," she breathed. "You're nine hundred and seven?!" She ran a hand through her hair, her face expressing shock. "You don't look a day over twenty-five!"

The Doctor laughed. "In Time Lord years, twenty-five is equivalent to an Earth three-year-old. But thanks for that."

"It's the truth," Alex insisted. Holy crap, 907?! There's no way I can even think about kissing him now!

"But seriously," the Doctor said, getting back to business, "I would never send you away just because I was angry. I don't deliberately set out to do that."

"Good," Alex smiled. "Maybe now we can actually have a pleasant conversation without the air around us being tinged with weirdness?"

"Absolutely," the Doctor agreed.

Alex leaned back, glad that everything had been resolved between them, and couldn't help but glance into his eyes. They were filled with sincerity and regret and . . . love? Alex mentally slapped herself. No, genius, that is not love! Stop that!

Despite these reasonable thoughts running through her head, Alex couldn't help but still gaze into them, trying to find all of the hidden emotions in them. There was something so old and haunted about the Doctor's eyes. They truly revealed the nine hundred and seven years of their owner. And despite how torn and worn down they at first appeared, Alex knew that there was a hidden childlike quality in them that came out whenever he was in the midst of doing something completely ridiculous.

Or whenever they happened to be bantering with each-other. That occurred then, too.

Unbeknownst to her, the Doctor was also looking at her eyes. In addition to their changing colors, they also contained a brightness that exposed her simple young years. Which reminded him. . . "How old are you?" he asked abruptly.

Alex blinked, not expecting that. "Well, when you first met me, I was eighteen. Now I'm twenty. My birthday isn't until August 31st. I'm a few months younger than Amy, whose twenty-one."

Oh, God, she's young, the Doctor thought. Well, everyone's young compared to me.

"Why ask?" Alex questioned.

The Doctor shook himself and shrugged. "Just wondering."

Alex shrugged. "Okay. Not exactly twenty going on two hundred, am I?"

"No," the Doctor chuckled. "I guess not."

They sat in silence for a moment before Alex yawned. The Doctor looked over at her. "You should be in bed. We'll be going to see Winston in a few hours."

"I know," Alex admitted. Running a hand through her hair, she quickly got up. However, in her haste to leave, as she stepped forward, her ankle banged against the step, causing her to fall forward. Alex felt herself falling forward until she just . . . stopped. Looking down, she saw an arm wrapped around her waist and then felt someone pulling her back against them. When she looked up, she met the worried eyes of the Doctor.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

"I'm fine." Alex glanced down, still seeing his arm wrapped around her. Its presence was making her stomach do weird flip-flops. "It seems I have a knack for nearly falling down things," she remarked.

"Or falling out, in one case," he reminded her of her almost fall into space.

Alex shrugged, but could barely concentrate on it, seeing as how she was still pressed up against his chest and oh-so close to his face. "Yeah," she breathed. "I'm a total klutz."

Alex tilted her head up to look at him and the Doctor subconsciously bent his head down to hers. Alex's breath hitched and the Doctor was nearly resorted to using his respiratory bypass system. Almost without being aware of it, their faces moved closer to each-other, closer, closer, closer. . .

Suddenly, a loud explosion of sparks blew up under the console. Alex and the Doctor jumped, spreading a large distance between them. The Doctor stared at the wiring. "Great, just great," he muttered before launching into a small tirade of curses under his breath in some language Alex could barely understand. Not that she was paying much attention anyways. She was too busy thinking about that almost-kiss.

"R-right, well," she stammered, backing up the stairs slowly so she wouldn't trip and be forced to go through that again. "I'm going to bed. See you soon!"

The Doctor looked up. "Good—" he started but Alex had already scampered off.

He sighed and leaned against the railing, putting his head into his hands. It was good timing by the TARDIS that that explosion had occurred. Had it come just a few seconds later, he'd have barely noticed, as he would have been too busy kissing Alex. And he could not get involved with her. I can't think about kissing her, he told himself. I cannot think about kissing those beautiful pink lips, putting my hands on that small waist, sucking her tongue. . . The Doctor slapped himself. What the hell was he thinking? Before he could get distracted by that train of thought again, he hurried back under the console to fix the problem before they went to see Winston.

Meanwhile, Alex slammed her door close. She sank against the warm wood and closed her eyes. Oh, God, she was acting like a hormonal teenager again! Kissing the Doctor was NOT a good idea. Oh sure, he was hot, but he was a bloody alien! Alex ran a hand through her hair and felt the sweat gathered at the base of her neck. Oh, great, I'm getting all hot and bothered over a centuries old alien!

Alex sighed and quickly got into bed. Sleep, that was what she needed. She needed sleep.

A/N: The Doctor and Alex almost kissed! Yay! I'm hoping you all can buy the quickness of their relationship. They did feel a connection to each-other back during 'The Eleventh Hour' . . . and the Doctor finds Alex's name familiar . . . wonder why that is? I know, but I'm not telling. But we will find out soon. :)

Sorry about the short chapter, but I want to make each episode three chapters and I thought adding this part to Part 2 would make that chapter way too long.

Thank you to ElysiumPhoenix for reviewing and to those who followed/favored this story. Please everyone, keep it up!