"This is cold," River breathed as she stared at him in utter shock. "Even by your standards, this is cold."
The Doctor pulled the straw he was chewing on out of his mouth. "Or 'hello!' as people used to say," he smiled.
Amy blinked at him rapidly, wondering if what she was seeing was some sort of mirage produced by her grief-addled brain. "Doctor?" she breathed.
"I just popped out to get my special straw," the Doctor explained, seemingly oblivious to their stupefied expressions. "It adds more fizz."
Alex stared at him. She felt like she had been kicked in the heart. What was going on? Was what just happened at the lake some kind of prank? Because if it was, the Doctor had better watch out or she'd slap him into a brand-new incarnation . . . maybe even two since her emotions were all over the place.
How could he be alive?! It didn't make any sense! It defied all logic! Alex swallowed as she tried to control the onslaught of tears threatening to erupt. Her throat burned at the action, red and raw from all the gasping and crying she had been doing over the last hour or so.
She was pulled back into the present when Amy began circling the Doctor, like she was trying to see if he was real or not (she probably was). The Doctor's head turned to follow her as she did this, looking rather confused and a bit alarmed at her behavior. "You're okay," Amy said incredulously. "How can you be okay?"
The Doctor frowned. What the hell was going on? Amy looked like she had seen a ghost. Actually, she, Rory and River all looked like that. He couldn't tell about Alex because she was standing so far away. He could only see her skinny jean clad legs and cream-colored kitten-heeled boots.
Seeing that Amy was still so obviously distressed for whatever reason, he reluctantly pushed aside his thoughts about Alex and reached out to hug her. "Hey, of course I'm okay," he assured her, patting her on the back. "I'm always okay, I'm the King of Okay. Oh, that's a rubbish title. Forget that title." Quick as a blink, he released Amy and stepped forward to hug Rory. "Rory the Roman! That's a good title! Hello, Rory."
He clapped the bewildered man on the shoulder and stepped forward to address River Song. River looked very calm and cool, a combination which really wasn't good when paired with the woman, not that the Doctor recognized that. Instead, he smiled at her. "And River Song. Oh, you bad, bad girl. What trouble have you got for me this time?"
River's only response was to give him a sharp slap across the face. The sound echoed throughout the diner and the force of her hit sent the Doctor's head whipping to the side. Oh, that's going to leave a mark, he thought as he swiveled back to look at her.
"Okay," he winced, rubbing his cheek. "I'm assuming that's for something I haven't done yet."
River stared at him, a pissed-off and aghast expression on her face. "Yes, it is," she said through gritted teeth.
"Good. Looking forward to it." Not.
He turned away from River, his eyes immediately locating and resting on Alex. Alexandria Nicole Locke. The only thing he could think about for the past couple of months. It honestly amazed him as to how he could focus on little else when she wasn't around, making smart little comments about the various things he did, calling him Doc, giggling whenever he did something particularly amusing, or impressing him with her knowledge and general humanness.
He had missed her so much. So much in fact, he had actually considered going back into her timeline just to see her when she was younger, as he'd always wondered what she was like during that time. The TARDIS, of course, had been heavily against this, pointing out all the paradoxes and dangers this could bring up. Instead, his brilliant, sexy machine had come up with another idea. She had made a slideshow of many different pictures of Alex, some taken from the photos in her bedroom, others ones that the TARDIS had somehow taken when Alex was onboard.
Regardless of how she had managed to do such a thing, the Doctor loved it. He often found himself just watching the slideshow multiple times, taking in all of Alex's marvelous features. The brown-blonde hair. The hazel eyes that changed colors every time you looked at them. Her tiny, 5'4 frame. Her long legs. Her full, pretty pink lips. The tiny white scar on the right side of her nose from where she tried, and failed, to pierce her nose when she was a teenager. All of her was exquisite and he just wanted to memorize every feature.
Now, as his eyes landed on her, he noticed several things very quickly. Alex's beautiful hazel eyes were red-rimmed, her irises the hideous neon green they got whenever she had been crying. Her lips were bruised and a harsh red. The skin under her eyes, along with her cheeks, was red and puffy and she was clutching onto the charm of her sonic necklace like it was a lifeline. Most important of all, she was staring at him with an expression of unabashed shock and apprehension.
What's wrong with her? What's happened to her?! the Doctor thought, alarmed. The others were upset about something, sure, but none of them on the level that Alex was. He hurriedly bent down to her eye-level and looked into her eyes. "Ally, what's wrong?" He reached up and ran his thumb across Alex's cheek, wincing when she shuddered and flinched away. "Ally, please tell me!" he begged. "What's wrong? Have you been crying? Your eyes. . ." He trailed off, his hearts breaking when Alex turned away from him, her eyes closing, but not before one solid tear leaked out and ran down her cheek, dripping onto the floor.
"I don't understand," Rory broke in, partially because he really didn't understand what the heck was going on, and also because he could see the Doctor's sudden reappearance and continuous questions wasn't calming Alex down any. The poor girl looked like she was two teardrops away from a breakdown. It was best if he temporarily redirected the Doctor's attention so that the girl had time to compose herself. "How can you be here?"
"I was invited," the Doctor replied, holding up his envelope, though his eyes never wavered from Alex. "Date, map reference. Same as you lot, I assume, otherwise it's a hell of a coincidence."
Amy shook her head. "River, what's going on?"
"Amy, ask him what age he is," River commanded. Alex would have been the better person to ask but based on the way she was acting right now, it didn't look like she was going to be much help for a while.
The Doctor frowned. What did that have to do with anything? "That's a bit personal," he retorted.
"Tell her!" River snapped. "Tell her what age you are."
"Nine hundred and nine." A slight squeak echoed from Alex. Hearing this, he quickly grasped her shoulders and pulled her forward so he could press her into his chest. Alex complied with the movement, her arms wrapping around his waist and clutching him tight.
Rory frowned in confusion. "Yeah, but you said you were—"
River cut him off before he could reveal anything. "So where does that leave us, huh? Jim the Fish? Have we done Jim the Fish yet?"
The Doctor smiled at the ridiculous name. "Who's Jim the Fish?" he questioned as he ran a hand through Alex's hair, the silky strands feeling smooth and perfect against his skin.
"I don't understand," Amy whimpered.
By this point, the Doctor had just about had enough. His companions were keeping secrets from him, secrets that, based on the way they were acting, were rather horrible and traumatic. His fingers increased their running through Alex's hair as his tolerance reached its breaking point. "I don't!" he shot back, glaring at Amy, Rory, and River. "What are we all doing here?"
There was silence for a moment as the companions tried to figure out what to tell him. How did you tell a man that you saw his older self killed, if you even told him that at all? Amy and Rory looked at each-other uneasily, then at Alex, who still had her head buried in the Doctor's chest and didn't look like she'd be much help, before finally resting on River. Out of all of them, River seemed the most capable and prepared to handle this bizarre, frightening, confusing situation.
"We've . . . been recruited," River said slowly as she concocted a story that wasn't technically a lie. It just had a few details removed. "Something to do with space, 1969, and a man called Canton Everett Delaware III."
The Doctor raised an eyebrow, his curiosity piqued. "Recruited by who?"
"Someone who trusts you more than anybody else in the universe." Seeing him starting to look down at Alex, River hastily clarified, "No, we know it's not Alex."
The Doctor's face fell a little, but he could see how she was right. Alex surely wouldn't have been crying if she had set this whole thing in motion. "And who's that?"
Much to everyone's surprise, it was Alex who answered. Her head slowly rose and she smiled sadly at him as she said, "Spoilers."
~The Pros and Cons of Silence~
Alex labored and struggled with her suitcase as she dragged it through the TARDIS doors. The Doctor had the time machine parked right by the diner's back entrance, eliminating the need for the car and a hastily concocted cover story for where they had gotten it. The Doctor's future self had certainly considered all the variables.
The Doctor leaned against the inside of the doorframe, watching as Alex swore and fumbled with the suitcase. The last time he had seen her with it, she had been leaving. Now it meant that she would be staying. He couldn't be more thrilled. Of course, he'd be a lot more thrilled if they could get the thing in here before Alex changed her mind.
He sighed when Alex failed, for the third time, to get the hulking mass of a suitcase over the tiny ledge in the floor. "Oh, Ally, give me that!" he cried in exasperation. Not giving her any time to object, he grabbed the suitcase and lifted it with ease. A second later however, he staggered under its enormous weight.
"Rassilon, Ally!" he gasped as he scrambled up the steps to the console before he dropped the bag. "Did you pack all of Leadworth in here?" He ran over to the hallway that led off the control room and set the suitcase down against the wall, knowing that the TARDIS would make sure nothing happened to it.
Alex didn't say anything, instead stepping through the door and into the TARDIS. She reached out to touch the wall. A familiar hum sounded beneath her fingertips and a warm, delighted buzz traveled up her arm, making her giggle. Above her, the somewhat dim lights turned bright, casting the whole control room in a luminous, brilliant glow. Up by the controls, the Doctor grinned. The TARDIS had missed Alex, maybe even more than him.
"Hey, gorgeous," Alex murmured as she petted the wall. "Miss me?" A loud, affirming hum rang out throughout the whole room.
Alex laughed and headed up the console steps, only to remember that she was alone with the Doctor. She paused. Normally she would have been absolutely thrilled about this, but the man she usually liked being alone with was now most definitely suspicious of her thanks to her reaction to seeing him in the diner.
She shook her head and continued up to the platform. She could have kicked herself. After all that time spent locking down her emotions, these had bubbled to the surface, alarming him and making him all the more determined to figure out what they were all hiding. For the very first time, Alex actually wished that she wasn't alone with the Doctor, because she knew that he could easily pry the information out of her whenever they were alone. It was rather eerie, the attraction and influence they had over each-other. They could get each-other to reveal their deepest, darkest secrets with as little as 'please'.
Luckily for Alex, some deity out there was listening, for right then, the Ponds and River piled in. Amy settled beside Alex next to the railing on one side of the platform, Rory on the opposite side, and River on another. All of them watched the Doctor run around the console and begin piloting the TARDIS.
"1969!" he exclaimed jubilantly. "That's an easy one! Funny how some years are easy. Now, 1482, full of glitches. Now then, Canton Everett Delaware III. That was his name, yeah?" Amy suddenly pushed off the railing and went down the steps to underneath the console. "How many of those can there be?" Alex went after her, River following a second later. "Well, three, I suppose." The Doctor looked up just in time to see River disappearing beneath the console, Amy and Alex no longer in sight. "Rory, is everybody cross with me for some reason?"
Rory blinked. "I'll find out." He immediately scrambled down the stairs and under the console, leaving the Doctor alone with his puzzled thoughts.
"Explain it again," Amy was saying as Rory approached them. Amy was sitting on the floor directly under the glass platform. River was leaning against the stair railing with Alex at her feet. Rory knew that the only reason Alex was in such close proximity to River was because she was wary of the numerous, large, oil-filled holes that decorated the lower level of the TARDIS. For good reason too. All three companions had to once help the Doctor out when he fell into one of the holes. That was a fun Wednesday, Rory thought dryly.
"The Doctor we saw on the beach is a future version," River explained, pulling Rory back to the present. "Two hundred years older than the one up there."
"But all that's still going to happen. He's still going to die."
"We're all going to do that, Amy."
"We're not all going to arrange our own wake and invite ourselves," Rory retorted. He honestly couldn't understand why the Doctor would do that to them, especially Alex. He had to know the kind of reaction she'd have to his death. "So, the Doctor, in the future, knowing he's going to die, recruits his younger self and all of us to, to what exactly? Avenge him?"
"No," Alex muttered, shaking her head. Rory noted that her hair was messy and tousled from where she had run her hands through it in frustration. She wrapped her arms around her knees. "Avenging isn't his style."
"Save him," Amy suggested hopefully.
"Yeah, that's not really his style either," Rory said, not unkindly.
"We have to tell him!" Amy declared. She straightened up, looking completely ready to run up there and reveal all to the Doctor.
River shook her head and eyed Amy seriously. "We've done all we can. We can't even tell him we've seen his future self. He's interacted with his own past. It could rip a hole in the universe."
"Yes, but he's done it before!"
"And in fairness, the universe did blow up," Rory reminded her.
"But he'd want to know!"
"Would he?" Alex questioned. The group turned to her. An eyebrow was raised, and her features were a mixture of askance, melancholy, and reluctance. "Really, Amy, would anyone want to know when they were going to die?"
Amy shrugged, acknowledging the truth behind her words. Before anyone could say anything else, the Doctor's head popped down from above the platform.
"I'm being extremely clever up here and there's no one to stand around looking impressed!" he snapped. "What's the point in having you all?!"
River glared at the space his head had been in once he disappeared back up above the platform. "Couldn't you just slap him sometimes?" she hissed.
Alex stood. "Pretty much every day," she sighed.
"River, we can't let him die!" Amy continued to protest. She leapt to her feet and planted herself in River's path, preventing the woman from passing. "We have to stop it. How can you be okay with this?"
Alex frowned at River, wondering this as well. She'd never really seen River scared before. Maybe rattled, but not truly scared or upset. Actually, compared to the rest of them, she was handling the Doctor's future death rather well. She watched River take a deep breath before answering.
"The Doctor's death doesn't frighten me. Nor does my own." She sighed sadly and looked at the ground for a moment. "There's a far worse day coming for me." Without another word, she walked around Amy and up the stairs to the platform.
Alex sighed. "As always, she manages to reassure me," she quipped under her breath. Amy and Rory let out little snorts of amusement. If Alex was making little insults about River, that meant she was coming back to them.
The three climbed up the stairs and back to the platform. At the console, River was standing, arms crossed, by the controls, warily watching the Doctor pilot his ship. None of them could really blame her for her uneasiness. The Doctor had told Alex he'd failed the TARDIS flying test on Gallifrey, after all.
The Doctor looked up at the sound of their footsteps and smiled brightly when he saw Alex. Much to his relief, her cheeks were no longer red and puffy, and her eyes had changed to a warm chocolate brown. Even better, her hair was tousled and wild, just how he liked it. Still grinning like an idiot, he swept over to her and wrapped an arm around her shoulders, leading her over to the console. Alex immediately leaned into him, comforted by the familiar act.
"Time isn't a straight line," the Doctor began in his familiar lecturing voice as he pulled a lever on the console. "It's all bumpy-wumpy. There's loads of boring stuff like Sundays and Tuesdays and," he grimaced, "Thursday afternoons. But now and then there are Saturdays! Big temporal tipping points when anything's possible! The TARDIS can't resist them, like a moth to a flame. She loves a party, so I give her 1969 and NASA, because that's space in the sixties, and Canton Everett Delaware III, and this. . ." He and Alex rushed over to the monitor, Alex reaching over to press the button the Doctor nodded to, ". . .is where she's pointing."
The other companions quickly gathered around them to examine the screen. "Washington D.C., April the eighth, 1969," Amy read. "So why haven't we landed?"
"Because that's not where we're going."
The others frowned at him. Where could we be going? Alex wondered. His future self said to go to 1969! He wouldn't have done that for no reason.
"Oh," Rory blinked, surprised. "Where are we going?"
"Home," the Doctor replied, pulling away from Alex and promenading around the console as he spoke. "Well, you two are. Off you pop and make babies. And you, Dr. Song, back to prison. And me? I'm late for a biplane lesson in 1911. Or it could be knitting. Knitting or biplanes, one or the other." He fell back into a jumpseat as the others hesitantly stepped forward to stare at him.
"What about me?" Alex spoke up, her arms crossed.
The Doctor grinned at her. "I thought it went without saying that you'd come along too, Ally. How are you at knitting?"
"Rubbish."
He beamed at her. "Me too! That's why I asked for the lessons."
Alex smiled back, but it was a forced one. As much fun as knitting or biplane lessons in 1911 sounded, they had to go to 1969. Something was happening during that year, something that she bet had to do with the Doctor's future death. She swallowed thickly, feeling her throat ache a little as she did so.
The Doctor, noticing her silence and forced smile, turned away from her to study the rest of his companions. They were all frowning, their expressions guarded. What weren't they telling him?! He knew they knew something he didn't, and that just infuriated him.
"What?" he snapped when they continued to look at him that way. "A mysterious summons. You think I'm just going to go? Who sent those messages? I know you know. I can see it in your faces." He narrowed his eyes, allowing just a hint of the Oncoming Storm to appear in them. "Don't play games with me," he warned, an ounce of darkness in his voice. "Don't ever, ever think you're capable of that."
"You're going to have to trust us this time," River told him calmly.
The Doctor's frown intensified. Trust River Song? Was she serious? He liked her well-enough, considering she was from his future and all, but trust her? No. He seriously doubted that he could ever do that.
"Trust you?" he sneered, allowing himself to vocalize his thoughts. He stood and slowly crossed over to her. "Sure. But, first of all, Dr. Song, just one thing. Who are you?" River simply stared at him. It was the exact reaction the Doctor had expected. "You're someone from my future," he continued. "Guessing that, but who?"
Still, she said nothing.
"Okay. Why are you in prison? Who did you kill, hmm? Who was the girlfriend you attempted to kill? Now, I love a bad girl, me, but trust you? Seriously?"
"Trust me," Amy's voice rang out.
"And me." The Doctor turned at that voice. It was Alex. She stood beside Amy, looking rather brave and determined, quite the opposite of what you would expect from a person who had been crying for almost two hours.
Alex nervously watched the Doctor appraise them both for a moment before he slowly nodded. "Okay," he murmured, stepping over to them.
Amy took a deep breath before plowing into her explanation. "You have to do this, and you can't ask why."
He only frowned at her. "Are you being threatened?" he demanded. Unfortunately, considering the type of aliens he had dealt with, that was a distinct possibility. "Is someone making you say that?"
"No," Amy insisted. She prayed that Alex wasn't looking at River.
"You're lying," he challenged.
"No, she isn't," Alex insisted, putting all the acting skills she had honed during her four years in the Southern Bristol High School Drama Club to the ultimate test.
The Doctor eyed her a moment before saying, "Swear to me. Swear to me, both of you, on something that matters."
Amy thought for all of one second before giving him a small smile. "Fish fingers and custard."
"Salsa dancing," Alex said a moment later. She smiled brightly at him, remembering the huge dancing pavilion he had taken her to in Rio to cheer her up after Rory's supposed demise by one of the cracks in time. They had danced for so long that night and then again at Amy and Rory's wedding, shocking everyone with the Doctor's not-so-horrible-after-all dancing skills. Those times in his arms were some of her best memories.
A twinkle shined in the Doctor's eyes at her words. He remembered those nights quite vividly. It seemed that only in Alex's arms did he have any dancing ability. Out of them, he danced like a drunk giraffe, at least in Amy's words. He knew those memories were precious to Alex, just as Amy's memory of her first encounter with him was precious to her.
How could he not trust them after hearing that?
He smiled at them. "My life in your hands, girls."
Alex and Amy smiled relieved smiles which dropped the instant he turned his back. As they watched him go to the console, their eyes were drawn over to River. She was nodding approvingly at them.
"Thank you," she said lowly so as to keep the Doctor from hearing.
Amy and Alex didn't say anything. Amy just headed over to Rory while Alex went to the console, leaning against it at a spot close to the Doctor.
"So!" the Doctor exclaimed as he ran around the console like a five-year-old on a sugar high. "Canton Everett Delaware III! Who's he?"
River waltzed over to the monitor to examine the information the TARDIS had gathered on the mysterious man. "Ex-FBI," she read. "Got kicked out."
"Why?"
River shrugged. "Six weeks after he left the Bureau, the President contacted him for a private meeting."
"Yeah, 1969. Who's President?"
"Nixon," Alex sneered, rolling her eyes. In her opinion, the man was only slightly better than Warren G. Harding and even then, not by much.
"Richard Milhous Nixon," River recited. "Vietnam, Watergate. There's some good stuff, too."
"Not enough," the Doctor and Alex argued.
River rolled her eyes at their simultaneous speaking, but still managed to retort, "Hippies!"
"Archaeologist," the Doctor countered. He rushed around the console, flicking switches, pushing buttons, and throwing levers so fast none of the companions could keep up with him. "Okay, since I don't know what I'm getting into this time, for once I'm being discreet. I'm putting the engines on silent."
"When do you ever know what you're getting into?" Alex questioned.
He frowned playfully at her. "That hurts, Ally," he retorted as he pulled a lever on the console. Much to the companions' alarm, a loud wailing sound rang out, completely the opposite of what should happen to silent engines. Once the Doctor's back was turned, River immediately darted forward and flipped the lever back down, cutting the sound off. She then flicked a switch, and the engines went silent.
She stepped back just as the Doctor whirled around. He stared accusingly at her. "Did you do something?"
"No, just watching," River said innocently. Despite her dislike for the girl, she had paid attention to Alex's instances of acting over the years.
The Doctor eyed her another moment before ultimately dismissing it. "Putting the outer shell on invisible," he announced, running back around the console. "I haven't done this in a while. Big drain on the power cells."
"You can make the TARDIS invisible?" Alex asked excitedly . . . right as a bunch of bright, almost blinding lights came on.
River shook her head. "Very nearly," she muttered. She reached out and threw a few switches back, turning the lights off.
The Doctor darted over to her. "Did you touch something?" he demanded.
River shook her head. "Just admiring your skills, sweetie."
"Good. You might learn something." Turning his focus back to the controls, he didn't see River smirk triumphantly. "Okay. Now I can't check the scanner. It doesn't work when we're cloaked. Just give us a mo." With that, he hurried down the stairs, but came to a stop and whirled around when he heard everyone else rushing after him like a stampede of elephants. "Whoa!" he shouted, causing them to stop in their tracks. "Whoa, whoa, whoa. You lot, wait a moment. We're in the middle of the most powerful city in the most powerful country on Earth. Let's take it slow."
And without another word, he opened the door and stepped out into the Oval Office.
It was dark outside, probably past quitting time in Washington. A few lamps had been turned on all around the room. Sitting in front of the desk on one side of the room was Canton Everett Delaware III, his back to the Doctor. Behind the desk was President Nixon, his chair turned to face the gardens outside the window. A tape recorder on the desk was currently playing, both men enraptured in listening to it. A ringing noise sounded on it, most likely a telephone, cutting off a second later as it was answered.
"Hello?" Nixon asked on the recording. "Who is this? This is President Nixon. Who's calling? Is this you again?" Curious, the Doctor cautiously crept forward, pulling a notepad and a pen out of his jacket pocket so he could copy the recording down.
"Mr. President?" a little girl's voice rang out.
"A child!" Canton gasped in astonishment.
How can a child call the President of the United States? the Doctor wondered as he continued to creep closer.
"This is the President, yes," Nixon confirmed.
"I'm scared, Mr. President," the little girl whimpered. "I'm scared of the spaceman."
"A little girl?" Canton asked.
"Boy," Nixon corrected, not bothering to turn around.
It's a little girl, the Doctor thought, rolling his eyes.
"How can you be sure?" Canton countered.
The Nixon on the recording interrupted them. "What spaceman? Where are you phoning from? Where are you right now? Who are you?"
There was a small pause, as if the little girl was considering whether or not to answer any of these questions. Finally, she said, "Jefferson, Adams, Hamilton."
"Jefferson, listen to me," Nixon began, but at that moment the call ended, the little girl apparently having hung up.
"Surely this is something the Bureau could handle, sir," Canton suggested.
"These calls happen wherever I am," Nixon protested. "How do I know the Bureau isn't involved?" The Doctor couldn't help but agree with that logic, considering the U.S.'s history with phone-hacking. "I can't trust anyone," Nixon continued as he swiveled around. He was about to continue, but his voice immediately died when he caught sight of the Doctor, still scribbling away at his notepad, oblivious to the fact that he had been discovered. Seeing the president's look of alarm, Canton whirled around and hurriedly sprang to his feet.
The Doctor glanced up when he realized they weren't saying anything. Still ignorant of the situation, he waved for them to continue before focusing back on the notepad. Then, it came to him, like one of Alex's whacks on the back of his head. He slowly looked up, knowing he had better come up with something fast to explain just how he was in the most secure room in the most secure building in America.
"Oh! Hello!" he greeted as he began backing up towards the invisible TARDIS. "Bad moment. Oh, look, this is the Oval Office! I was looking for the . . . uh. . ." In his haste, he bumped into and about knocked over a lamp before he caught it at the last second. ". . .oblong room. I'll just be off, then, shall I?" He spun around, only to walk straight into the invisible TARDIS, toppling to the ground.
~The Pros and Cons of Silence~
Inside the TARDIS, a loud thump sounded from the outside, causing a reprieve from the silence that had invaded the control room during the Doctor's absence. Amy, Rory, and Alex looked up, puzzled by the noise, while River just sighed and muttered, "Every time."
"Don't worry!" the Doctor called from outside. "Always does that when it's cloaked!" A second later, he let out a loud shout. "Ah, no! Stop that!"
Busted, Alex thought, rolling her eyes. She was a little surprised actually. She'd have thought he'd get caught sooner.
River hurried over to the monitor and dragged it over to face the doors. "He said the scanner wouldn't work," Rory reminded her.
"I know," River replied, grinning as she plugged a large wire from the console into the scanner, sparks shooting out a moment later. "Bless."
Alex had to laugh a little. "Rule One, Rory," she quoted. "The Doctor lies. Or is ignorant on many aspects of the TARDIS."
"Let's go with the second one," River said as she fiddled a few of the scanner's knobs. A moment later, an image appeared and not a very reassuring one at that. The Doctor was currently on the Oval Office floor, being held down by several members of the Secret Service.
"River, have you got my scanner working yet?!" he yelled, his voice a little strained due to his pinned position.
River groaned. "Oh, I hate him."
Alex frowned at the screen. "I'm going to kill him," she declared.
"I'll believe that when you actually do it, Ally," River retorted.
Alex was about to snap at her for calling her a nickname she only allowed the Doctor to call her when the latter cried, "No, you don't! And you will not, Ally! River, make her blue again!"
River immediately jumped into action, frantically working at the console before glancing back up at the scanner. On the screen, Nixon, Canton, and the rest of the Secret Service agents were all gaping at the now visible police box.
"Mr. President," the Doctor called out from where he was now lounging behind the desk, having escaped the Secret Service at some point during the TARDIS's reappearance. The agents whirled around, quickly aiming their guns at him, but the Doctor didn't flinch in the slightest. "That child just told you everything you need to know, but you weren't listening. Never mind, though, because the answer is yes. I'll take the case." He then blinked, now noticing the guns. "Fellows, the guns, really? I just walked into the highest security office in the United States and parked a big blue box on the rug. Do you think you can just shoot me?"
River's eyes widened and she practically flew over to the doors. "They're Americans!" she shrieked as she stuck her head out. The guns immediately switched over to her.
"I resent what that implies, River," Alex retorted as she walked out of the TARDIS. She glanced at the guns before holding up her hands and calmly leaning against the time machine. "Hi. Actual American here, so don't shoot me."
The Doctor jumped up from his seat, remembering that Americans were quite trigger-happy. "Don't shoot!" he cried, holding up his hands. "Definitely no shooting!"
"Nobody shoot us either!" Rory requested as he and Amy came out. "Very much not in the need of getting shot! Look, we've got our hands up."
"Who the hell are you?" Nixon demanded, stepping forward a little.
"Sir," the young Canton cautioned, eyeing the TARDIS crew with a mixture of apprehension and curiosity, "you need to stay back."
"But who are they and what is that box?"
"It's a police box," the Doctor answered, rather confused as to why Nixon hadn't figured that out. It was pretty obvious. He nodded to the sign above the TARDIS door that read, inexplicably, POLICE PUBLIC CALL BOX. "Can't you read?"
"Doc," Alex warned, seeing the President starting to look rather agitated. She knew the thought of shooting them all was getting more and more tempting by the second. And frankly, she did not want to die in 1969 at the hands of Richard Nixon, of all people. "Might want to explain what we're doing here?"
"Right, yes," the Doctor declared, nodding approvingly at her. "Thank you, Ally. I'm your undercover agent on loan from Scotland Yard. Code name the Doctor. These are my top operatives, the Eyes, the Legs, the Nose, and Mrs. Robinson."
While Alex rolled her eyes, Amy glanced down at her legs, and Rory examined the bridge of his nose, River let out an exasperated huff. "I hate you," she ground out.
"No, you don't," the Doctor retorted, smirking slightly.
Stop flirting! Alex mentally shrieked, even though she really wanted to say that out loud. However, this was probably not the best time for her jealousy to start rearing its ugly head.
"Who are you?" Nixon questioned.
"Nah, boring question," the Doctor dismissed, waving him off. "Who's phoning you? That's interesting. Because Canton Three is right. That was definitely a girl's voice, which means there's only one place in America she can be phoning from."
"Where?" Canton asked.
"Do not engage with the intruder, Mr. Delaware!" an African American agent, clearly the head of the group, snapped.
"You heard everything I heard," the Doctor reminded them. "It's simple enough. Give me five minutes, I'll explain." He leaned back in his chair and planted his feet up on the desk, making Alex shake her head at his behavior. "On the other hand," he continued, "lay a finger on me or my friends, and you'll never, ever know." Especially if they laid a hand on Alex. They certainly never would know, because they would all be dead. It was a rather dark thought for the Doctor, one he wasn't accustomed to thinking when it involved a pretty girl, but he knew that that was what was likely to happen if anyone in this room hurt Alex in any way.
He now watched as Canton tentatively approached the TARDIS, completely in awe of the police box. "How did you get in here?" he wondered. "I mean, you didn't carry it in."
"Clever, eh?" the Doctor smirked.
"Love it."
"Do not compliment the intruder!" the black agent snapped again.
Canton ignored him. "Five minutes?"
"Five minutes," the Doctor affirmed.
The other agent frowned, not happy with this development at all. "Mr. President, that man is a clear and present danger to—"
"Mr. President," Canton said, cutting the irate agent off, "that man walked in here with a big blue box and four of his friends, and that's," he pointed to the other agent, "the man he walked past. One of them's worth listening to. I say we give him five minutes. See if he delivers."
The Doctor beamed at him. "Thanks, Canton!"
"If not, I'll shoot him myself."
The Doctor's face fell. "Not so thanks," he muttered.
"Sir," the other agent started up again, "I cannot recommend—"
"Shut up, Peterson!" Nixon snapped at him. He sighed begrudgingly and nodded at Canton and the Doctor. "All right," he agreed. "Five minutes."
The Doctor grinned and quickly lowered his feet, sitting up properly in the chair as the Secret Service agents reluctantly lowered and holstered their guns. "I'm going to need a SWAT team, ready to mobilize," he instructed. "Street level maps covering all of Florida, a pot of coffee, twelve Jammie Dodgers, and a fez."
Alex rolled her eyes and sauntered past the agents over to the desk. "Get him his maps," she told Canton as she hopped up onto the desk beside the Doctor.
The Doctor deflated a little at her words. "So little faith in me, Ally," he bemoaned. "We're going to have to work on that."
"I'm sure the next few minutes will restore it," Alex smiled at him. Even though she was still pretty stunned at actually seeing him alive and well after watching him get gunned down at Lake Silencio, she was trying to push it to the back of her head and not dwell on it. She had to concentrate on whatever the heck was going on here. The Doctor's future self wouldn't have sent them to 1969 for no reason.
A few minutes later, a bunch of maps of Florida had been gathered and assembled all along the desk. The Doctor, sans jacket, was leaning over the maps, giving them his best attentive stare, the one Alex thought was incredibly sexy and wished was often directed on her. Alex continued sitting on the desk, idly examining a small map of southeastern Florida. Other than seeing the spots where several retirement communities would be in a couple decades, she didn't see anything peculiar. Certainly not whatever the Doctor was looking for, at least. Nixon sat beside her in his chair and Canton stood beside the Doctor, both of them curiously watching the man work. Across the room, Amy, Rory, and River were standing around, looking at the different things in the room as they were unsure on what else to do. Two Secret Service agents kept watch over the group.
"Why Florida?" Canton questioned as he watched the Doctor lean over a map.
"That's where NASA is," the Doctor explained. "She mentioned a spaceman. NASA's where the spacemen live. Also, there's another lead I'm following."
Like the one we saw at the lake, Alex thought. But why would a NASA astronaut want to kill the Doctor? No, it's something a bit more complex. Something alien. It's got to be. It's the Doctor!
Alex put the map down and pursed her lips, absently reaching up and playing with her sonic necklace. "Doc, did you write down that recording you told me about?"
The Doctor glanced up at her. "Oh, yes," he said distractedly. "It's in my jacket pocket if you want to take a look."
Alex hopped off the desk and hurried over to where the jacket had been aimlessly tossed on one of the couches. She dug around in one of the pockets for a moment before finally pulling out a small notepad. She opened it as she headed back over to the desk, flipping past numerous scribblings of what looked like complicated mathematical equations and theorems and even, much to her surprise, a Christmas list. A few more pages and she finally found the hastily written-out recording.
What spaceman? she read. Where are you phoning from? Where are you right now? Who are you? . . . Jefferson, Adams, Hamilton.
Alex frowned. Okay, what kind of parent named their kid Jefferson? That was as bad as some of the stupid names celebrities out in Hollywood came up with for their kids. Jefferson Adams Hamilton, Alex mused. Nobody has that kind of name, especially a little girl. Alex looked back over the notes, then noticing something. The Doctor had put down little dots after Nixon's question and before the girl's reply. That meant the girl had hesitated before answering. But why?
She could've been considering whether or not she should tell him. But I don't know. . .
However, before she could ponder this anymore, she suddenly heard Amy murmur, "I remember."
Alex's head popped up and she whirled around so fast, she nearly toppled off the desk. Clutching onto the edge for support, she looked at Amy. She was facing the door leading out of the Oval Office. Rory was standing in front of her, a confused look on his face.
"Amy?" he questioned. "What do you remember?"
Amy blinked, looking totally bewildered by what he was asking. Alex glanced over at the Doctor. He was watching the scene with a similar, but more worried expression. Alex was sure it was a twin of the look on her own face. She turned back to Amy, who she now saw was glancing over at the doorway. Alex craned her head to look around Amy so she could better see it.
There was nothing there. So why was Amy so caught up in it?
"I don't know," Amy stuttered, shaking her head. "I just. . ." Suddenly, she trailed off, looking quite ill. She put a hand over her stomach. Alex stiffened at the action.
"Amy, what's wrong?" Rory asked fearfully.
"Amy?" River broke in as she moved to stand closer beside the girl.
"Are you all right?" the Doctor and Alex asked together, though they didn't really notice it. They were too focused on Amy to joke and flirt about another one of their simultaneous speaking moments. Even River didn't say anything.
"Yeah, no, I'm fine," Amy sputtered, growing just the teeniest bit more ill at all the sudden attention on her. Not to mention, but the way Rory and River were standing around her was making her feel claustrophobic, which didn't help with her sudden nausea any. "I'm just feeling a little sick."
Alex sprang off the desk and darted over to her friend's side. "Mind pointing us in the direction of the nearest bathroom?" she asked Peterson.
"Sorry, ma'am, while this procedure's ongoing, you must remain within the Oval Office," Peterson replied, sounding just the tiniest bit bitter. He probably resented the fact that he didn't get to shoot the Doctor and have a cool story to tell his friends at one of the downtown bars.
Alex frowned at him and narrowed her eyes. Idiot. She had half a mind to simply drag Amy right past him and out the door. They wouldn't shoot her, not if the Doctor had anything to say about it. Just as she was about to do this though, Canton ordered, "Shut up and take them to the restroom."
Peterson bristled at the command. Fortunately for him, the other agent watching them stepped forward. "This way, ladies," he said, waving his hand at the door.
"Just me actually," Amy corrected him.
Alex blinked in surprise. "Amy—" she started, but her friend cut her off.
"Alex, I'm fine. It's probably just something I ate, that's all." Amy smiled wryly. "You know our cooking attempts. Besides, you're needed here. No one else is better equipped to help the Doctor figure out something than you."
Alex smiled at the compliment, but that didn't banish her concerns for her friend. "Are you sure though?" she checked.
"Yes. Now go. Shoo." Amy lifted a hand from her stomach to wave Alex away before following the Secret Service agent out the door. Rory made a move to follow her but was stopped by Peterson blocking the door.
Alex bit her lip in worry. She knew Amy could take care of herself, but for some reason, she was really worrying about her. She didn't know why. Almost absently, she felt a small twinge at the back of her mind. She frowned. Why was that happening? Her mind only did that when there was a perception filter nearby and as far as she could tell, there wasn't any in the Oval Office.
But before Alex could ponder the subject any longer, Canton pulled her back to the present by saying, "Your five minutes are up."
"Yeah, and where's my fez?" the Doctor returned, not even glancing up from his map.
Uh-oh! Alex thought as she hurried back over to the desk and leapt back up on it. Nixon frowned at the action, but she ignored him. Though she was pretty sure that Canton would extend the five minutes considering he seemed pretty intrigued by them, she knew it was only a matter of time before Nixon or one of the other agents insisted they be taken away. They needed to solve this thing and fast.
She turned back to the notepad. Jefferson Adams Hamilton. No, that couldn't be the little girl's real name. It was too big and complicated for a little girl. So, if the little girl hadn't been answering Nixon's question as to who she was, what question had she been answering?
What spaceman? Where are you phoning from? Where are you right now? She seriously doubted the spaceman's name was Jefferson Adams Hamilton, so that only left two questions. Where are you phoning from? Where are you right now?
Like one of those lightbulb-over-the-head moments in the movies, it came to her. "Doctor!" she cried, leaping off the desk so she was right at his side. "I figured it out! It's so obvious! It's staring us in the face!"
"What is?" Canton question, looking understandably puzzled.
The Doctor, however, instantly caught on to what she was saying. He had long stopped trying to figure out how he and Alex could do this, connect the dots in each-others minds without saying that much. "Exactly!" he cried. "Figured as much but wasn't a hundred percent sure."
"You should've told me earlier," Alex replied, not giving the others any clue as to what she and the Doctor were talking about. "Would've saved us a little time. Two is better than one and all that."
"Ally, you're brilliant."
Alex preened at the compliment. "Flattery will you get you anywhere," she teased, entering full-on flirting mode before she remembered what was at stake here. "Except an actual location."
Like they were one, the Doctor and Alex leaned down and squinted at the maps. "There's only one," Alex muttered under her breath as she scanned the southern tip of Florida, a finger pressed to the spot where Cape Canaveral was. "Can't be that difficult to find."
"How do you figure that?" the Doctor asked, scanning the northern tip of Florida.
"Figure what?"
"That there's only one."
"It's not exactly a common street name," Alex retorted.
Canton, continuing to watch the two in bafflement, leaned over to speak to Rory. "Do they do this a lot?" he muttered.
"All the time," Rory nodded. "You kinda learn to just go with it."
"Not to mention their speaking simultaneously," River added with an eye-roll. "It's very annoying."
Right then, the phone on the desk rang.
All eyes, except for the Doctor and Alex's, shot to it. "The kid?" Canton guessed.
Nixon eyed the phone as if it might be a bomb. "Should I answer it?"
Right then, the Doctor and Alex's eyes connected on the exact same spot on the map. "THERE!" they shouted, startling everyone so much they all jumped a good foot in the air, even Amy and the one Secret Service agent as they re-entered the room.
"The only place in the United States that call could be coming from," the Doctor said.
"Told you it was obvious," Alex remarked, sending the Doctor a flirty smirk while her eyes switched from forest green to topaz.
The Doctor beamed at her. "Ally, you're brilliant," he said again. He picked her up and twirled her around in a circle, ignoring Alex's cackling and half-hearted hits to his shoulders as she told him to put her down.
Canton dodged their movements and leaned over to examine the area of map they'd indicated. When he saw it, his eyes widened in astonishment. "You, sir, ma'am, are geniuses," he complimented. And they really were. Who else could figure that out in under ten minutes?
"It's a hobby," the Doctor waved off.
"More like a profession for you, Doc," Alex laughed as he set her down.
Canton smiled a little at them before turning to face Nixon. "Mr. President, answer the phone."
Nixon nodded and lifted the receiver. With his other hand, he reached over and turned on the tape recorder. "Hello? This is President Nixon."
"It's here!" the little girl on the other end shrieked. "The spaceman's here! It's gonna get me! It's gonna eat me!"
The Doctor and Alex frowned, both feeling automatically protective of the little girl. Within an instant, Alex had shot across the room, grabbed the Doctor's jacket, and was now helping him into it. "There's no time for a SWAT team," the Doctor said as he straightened his lapels, desperately trying not to think about how nice it had been when Alex helped him into his jacket. It was something no one else had ever done for him, something his ninth incarnation would have called domestic, but he couldn't help but hope that it would happen again. . . Focus, you bloody idiot!
"Let's go!" he cried, pushing those thoughts to the very back of his mind. He grabbed Alex's hand and ran with her over to the TARDIS, followed by the Ponds and River. "Mr. President, tell her help's on the way!" He and Alex stepped aside to allow the others entrance. Once River was inside, they turned to Canton.
"Canton, on no account follow us into this box and close this door behind you," they said simultaneously. Canton blinked at them, more stunned by this than what they had actually said, while the two grinned at each-other.
"More simultaneous speaking," the Doctor observed, his voice in that low timber Alex loved.
"Our habit's back," Alex matched in a similar voice, unknowingly causing shivers to go down the Doctor's back.
"Welcome back, Ally."
"Good to be back, Doc," Alex grinned before pulling him into the TARDIS.
~The Pros and Cons of Silence~
A/N: Some Dalex fluff! I absolutely love the Doctor and Alex's interactions with each-other! And . . . a mystery. Alex experiencing mind twinges? What could that mean? All I can say is, we'll get a lot more questions before answers. :}
Review Replies:
writingtofly - I agree, finally indeed. I'm so glad to be posting this! :)
hanzrob2 - I'm so glad to hear that and I'm so glad it's finally here too! :D
secretlyanalien - I'm so glad you enjoyed the New Year's surprise! It was hard for me to resist posting until midnight, lol. Glad that you enjoyed the opening scenes! I had a blast writing them, especially the very first one with Kendra. Hope you enjoyed this chapter! :)
Jojo - Yes, I actually published! It's a New Year's miracle, lol! In answer to your question, I did publish the Christmas-themed one-shot, It Happened on Yuletide, in January 2016. 12 Days of Sneak-Peeks on my Tumblr was 2017. Hmm . . . interesting theory about 'The God Complex'. The Doctor's dialogue in the last chapter certainly suggests that possibility but we'll have to wait and see what happens. :)
TheSlayerofGallifrey - I'm so happy I'm posting too! Glad you liked the first chapter and hope you enjoyed this one! :)
Oceana-Wolf - Glad you loved the first chapter! I hope you feel the same about this one! :)
Sam Fraser - I'm afraid we won't be getting Kendra's reaction to finding out who the Doctor really is, at least, not that I've planned on having it occur. It might change in the future but, for now, Kendra is a one-off character in this story. Alex won't be particularly embarrassed about her actions towards River upon finding out who she is, I'm afraid. In her defense, there's gonna be a lot more going on, as the summary to the story suggests. {:{
bored411 - Yeah, Alex's presence at Lake Silencio is pretty significant. It means a lot of things are different here. {:{
SopherGopherroxursox - I'm so glad you stayed with me through the outrageous wait and that you enjoyed the chapter! :)
fangirl0012345 - So happy that you enjoyed the chapter! Hope you liked this one just as much! :)
whitedwarf - I did! I posted! Yay! Oh, the part where the Doctor and Alex reunite is my favorite too. I agree, Moffat is really good at the twisty timeline plots. I loved the idea of an older Doctor being at Lake Silencio, one who's undergone things that, at the start of the season, we know nothing about. It's really intriguing. :) In regards to your question, Alex would experience that bit of adrenaline because the real Doctor was inside the Teselecta. Haha, yeah, the kiss thing in regards to how the Teselecta did it is pretty funny. We'll see how the real Doctor managed to pull it off in 'The Wedding of River Song'. :) So glad that you're excited for this chapter! Hope it didn't disappoint! :D
SopherGopher'sAwesomeSister - I'm so glad you enjoyed the first chapter! Hope you enjoyed this one too!
Thank you so, so, SO much to everyone who reviewed, followed and/or favorited this story! Please review and see you tomorrow! :)