The Pros and Cons of Silence

by DarkSideofParis

*SEQUEL TO LIVING THE LIFE OF ALLY* Alex knew her life would never be the same again after she met the Doctor, but she never expected to witness his death, learn of an alien cult gunning for him, nor begin suffering mysterious pain attacks. And, of course, River. But maybe these wild events will finally get them to admit their love? 11/OC AU Season 6. 2nd in the Alex Locke Series.

36. The Turning Point

A/N: Alex's outfits for this chapter can be viewed on my Tumblr, under the name 'darksideofparis'.

~The Pros and Cons of Silence~

The Doctor's mind was going a million miles a second as he rushed Alex into the TARDIS. He led her up the stairs to the platform and then to the railing, placing one of her hands on it so she could grip it when they took off. He rushed to the console, silently begged the TARDIS to take off smoothly for Alex's sake, and threw the lever.

It took him only twenty seconds to settle them into the vortex, but it felt like so much longer. His task completed, the Doctor hastened to Alex.

Alex shook and trembled violently as she was ushered into her love's arms. Her thoughts were a confused whirlwind of questions and emotions.

How the hell could she have two hearts? Had Madame Kovarian actually been experimenting on her? What for? What kind of use was there in that? What else had that woman and her cronies done to her? Confusion, worry, and anger ran through Alex like a hurricane and was soon followed by anxiety.

What was going to happen to her? Was she like the Doctor now or was she some kind of hybrid? Were there side-effects? Would she die?

Alex gulped and shuddered harder. The Doctor's arms tightened around her, not that she felt them. She was trapped in the horrible whirlpool of thoughts and worries and feelings her mind kept conjuring, even though she didn't want to think or feel any of them right now.

The Doctor's stomach twisted at Alex's obvious confusion and worry. Another thrum of anger ran through him at Kovarian, Manton, and anyone else who was involved with them for making Alex suffer this way, for making her shake and tremble, for making tears steadily run down her face.

He kept his arms tightly around her, refusing to separate from her by even a millimeter. Carefully, he turned them around and backed up until the back of his legs hit the jumpseat. He fell into the soft, worn leather and pulled Alex on top of him. She went automatically, curling into his lap like a scared child. She buried her face into the crook of his neck, inhaling his musky cologne like it could save her, like it could provide the answers to all the questions running rampant in her brain.

The Doctor ran a hand through her hair, cringing at how greasy and somewhat tangled it was from months of neglect. He refused to let it bother him though. With his other hand, he reached down and tilted Alex's chin up so as to meet his gaze. Her eyes were bright neon green, the skin underneath red and puffy. He caught a tear with his thumb and wiped it away.

"Ally," he whispered, the first thing he'd said since rushing her in here. "Ally, love, please stop crying. I can't stand to see you like that and I know how much you hate it. . ."

Alex blinked and hesitantly reached up to touch her cheek. It was damp. She blinked again. She hadn't even realized she'd been crying, so caught up in the question-factory her mind had become. She took a deep breath and tried to do as the Doctor requested. Desperately, she tried to picture happy, funny things.

Lacey stealing that duck on her sixteenth birthday. Her senior class prank where she, Ross, Mike, and Lacey got four pigs from a nearby farm and labeled them 1, 2, 3 and 5 before letting them loose in the school and watching the administrators nearly wet themselves as they tried to find the nonexistent fourth pig. That episode of Boy Meets World where Jack and Eric dressed up as ugly women to evade a goon. The time she and Amy tried to make cookies, only they forgot to spray the pan, so they ended up sitting on the kitchen floor, picking little bits of chocolate chip chunk off with a spatula.

After a few minutes, Alex's sobs had faded away to sniffles. Her lips curved into a small smile, remembering the look on Rory's face when he came home to find her and Amy sprawled out on the kitchen floor, calmly picking at the stuck cookies while they discussed the latest antic Mels had pulled.

The Doctor's own lips quirked upwards upon noticing the action. "Good memory?"

"Yeah," she murmured.

The two were silent for a few moments, content with just being close to each-other. It had been nine months, close to a year, since they had actually physically touched each-other. The Doctor kept one hand running through Alex's hair and the other wrapped securely around her waist. Though he knew Alex was still rather fragile, even though she had stopped crying, he couldn't resist the urge to snake his hand under her tank top. The skin of her back was cool to the touch, a sharp contrast to the warmth the Doctor was used to feeling from her, but it didn't matter. It was still soft, silky-smooth flesh, real flesh, and all he wanted to do was caress it, re-familiarize himself with the parts of Alex's body he knew so well.

He expected Alex to jerk at the rather daring move, but surprisingly, she made no sound of protest. Quite the opposite, in fact. She made a little sound halfway between a moan and a purr, her back arching like a cat's, pressing her skin tighter against his palm. She buried her nose back into his neck. The Doctor's breathing went shallow as without removing her face from his neck, she reached up and, one-handed, untied his bowtie and released the first few buttons of his shirt. Her palm slipped into the newly created gap and settled on the upper part of his chest, right over one of his hearts. Her nails ran against his skin and the Doctor shuddered. It was such a simple action, her fingernails lightly scratching his skin, but it was so intimate as well. It wasn't something he ever would have pictured someone doing to him. Not until he met Alex, at least.

For several minutes, they sat in the jumpseat, arms tightly entwined. Their bodies thrummed with adrenaline. It was a non-stop rush in their veins, their bodies relishing in the long overdue skin-to-skin contact. Just as when the Doctor had rushed into her room at Demons Run, Alex felt like she could get drunk off it. Her body was practically singing, her skin fizzing, and the hair on her arms standing straight up. A quick peek at the back of the Doctor's neck revealed that the hair there was standing on end too. Alex smiled. Good to know I'm not the only one affected.

Alex could have happily sat on that jumpseat in the Doctor's lap for hours. She suspected he felt the same way. But while her body only rejoiced in reuniting with the Doctor's, her mind was altogether different. It continued to ask questions, mull over the ones she'd already thought of, as well as come up with new ones. All of them, however, had no answers, or at least none that would be gleaned by sitting still.

Finally, Alex gave in. "Doctor," she said, her voice nothing more than a whisper. "What am I?"

The Doctor was silent for a few moments as he tried to figure out what to say. "I'm not sure," he confessed. He grimaced when Alex physically drooped at his answer. "You . . . you have two hearts."

"Am I . . . like you then?"

"I don't know." He nudged her off his lap. "But I know how we can find out."

A few minutes later, they were in the med-bay. Alex was sprawled out on the bed while the Doctor stood at the foot with the collapsible med-scanner. He plugged the sonic screwdriver into a side outlet and stepped back. "Stay still, Ally," he directed, unnecessarily since Alex had undergone this type of scanning many times. Too many times, in the Doctor's opinion.

A moment later, the scanner beeped. The Doctor ran forwards and yanked the sonic out. After a few moments of examination, he started pacing back and forth, muttering words under his breath that Alex strained to make out.

She bit her lip. "Well?" Her voice made the Doctor stop in his tracks. She waited until he turned to face her before asking, "Am I . . . am I okay?" Please let me be okay, she prayed. Please let me be okay. . .

The Doctor smiled gently. "Of course you are, Ally." Coming up to the bedside, he sank down next to her. His fingers found a not too greasy lock of her hair and he twirled it around. "There is some minor dehydration and lack of nutrients we'll have to address, along with gaining some of your muscle mass back, but other than that, you're healthy."

Alex let out a sigh of relief. That was good. She wasn't going to suddenly keel over or anything. But that still didn't answer whether or not the two hearts inside her were the only new additions to her anatomy. "And what about. . ."

"I need to do a few more tests and scans." He nodded at the med-scanner. "That thing only tells me whether you're ill or not. I'll need to do x-rays, blood samples—"

"Okay, I get it." She pushed him towards the edge of the bed. "Just hop to it, Doc."

First thing were the blood samples. Alex tensed when the Doctor brought out the syringe, but his reassuring manner made her relax. As the needle pricked her skin, Alex forced herself to recall more funny moments she had experienced. The one her brain came up with was the 'seduction' scene from Friends episode, 'The One Where Everybody Finds Out'.

She kept her gaze firmly on the ceiling as the Doctor pulled the needle out of her inner elbow, wiped the spot with a cloth, and bandaged it up.

"Interesting," he murmured as he studied the syringe's contents.

Alex quickly saw the reason why her blood was suddenly so interesting. Her blood was still red, only now it seemed to contain a bright orange hue. She swallowed thickly. "Yeah, interesting," she muttered.

Seeing her expression, the Doctor hastily set the syringe on a nearby cart, out of sight. "Either way, Ally girl, that part's over." He sat on the edge of the bed and cupped Alex's chin. "That wasn't too horrible, now was it?"

"I wouldn't go that far." The Doctor, not at all bothered by her sarcasm, chuckled, and dropped a kiss on her forehead.

The next test was one that Alex had never heard of. It was an m-ray scan. According to the Doctor, it wouldn't be used until the 33rd century, m-rays only being discovered in the 32nd. He'd assured her that the test was perfectly safe, even on somebody from 2011, but Alex was still wary. She trusted his word, of course, but something told her she wasn't going to be as comfortable getting medical tests now as she had been in the past.

The scan was identical to that used for x-rays, only the development time was a little shorter. Alex let out a breath she hadn't known she'd been holding when the Doctor stepped back into the med-bay. In his hands were sheets of glossy, black, see-through paper.

"What exactly is an m-ray?" Alex asked as he resumed his perch on the edge of the bed.

"Mental activity and measurement ray. Basically what it says on the tin."

"It measures brain activity."

"Yes, but it goes a bit further than that." He held up a sheet of paper. On it was a small graph with words and numbers Alex couldn't quite make out. On the graph was a thin gold line that stretched upwards for about five inches. "See this graph? It's a measure for telepathic activity. The gold line represents your average brain activity. If the line went more than ten inches up the graph, that would mean that you had glimmerings of telepathic ability. You could communicate with me without me having to go into your mind."

"But it's only a few inches up."

He nodded and put the graph away. "Yes. It appears Kovarian's butchering staff didn't mess with your brain any, or if they were planning on it, they didn't get to do so. Your brain activity is the same as it was the day I first met you; more advanced compared to humans, but nowhere near a Time Lord."

"So Kovarian was trying to turn me into a Time Lord?"

The Doctor pursed his lips. "Possibly. I'll have a better idea when we do the x-rays."

So they did the x-rays. Alex stared upwards, absently looking for patterns in the hideous popcorn ceiling as invisible rays ran around the room and scanned her inner organs. She refused to allow herself to think of what else could have been added to her body and why. Every time a thought like that came up, she crushed it and continued looking for clouds or smiley-faces.

After what felt like an eternity, but was only a few minutes, the Doctor reentered the room, a bunch of x-rays in hand. Alex carefully raised herself up against the pillow as the Doctor went to a light-board hanging on the wall at the foot of the bed.

Alex craned her head to examine the images. Her eyes widened. "Whoa."

The Doctor nodded. "My sentiments exactly." He studied the first x-ray, which detailed an image of Alex's two hearts. "Two hearts, just like we heard." He turned to the second image. It showed a rather different version of Alex's lungs. Tube-like objects ran all around the lungs in a type of system the Doctor immediately recognized.

Alex, of course, didn't. "What the hell did they do to my lungs?!"

The Doctor put a hand on her knee. He squeezed it reassuringly and felt her tense muscles relax under the motion. "It's called a respiratory bypass system," he explained gently, trying to keep himself calm instead of cursing Kovarian and her army out like he desperately wanted to. "It's a system that allows you to go without actually breathing for a short period of time. I've found it rather handy on occasion." He swallowed heavily. "Probably why you had some trouble breathing back at Demons Run. Your body is still getting used to the new addition."

Alex nodded, but she could hear the underlying darkness in his voice. He was trying to hide it, she could tell, but the Doctor was furious. He was livid that someone had tampered with her body for their own purposes, forcing her to go through complete agony for . . . whatever the hell their purpose behind the alterations had been. Alex was sure that he wanted to tear Kovarian, her medical staff, and her army limb from limb, not stopping until they were all a single pile of torn, bloodied limbs on the floor of their base.

But he wouldn't. He wouldn't because she kept him calm, kept the darkness within him from taking over. And for that, Alex was grateful.

The final few x-rays didn't show anything new to Alex's body, something both she and the Doctor were glad about. The Doctor shut the light-board off and took the x-rays down, placing them on a side cart for further review later. He then sat down beside Alex, bringing his legs up so he could sit cross-legged.

Alex scooted further up the pillow to try and meet his eye-level. "Is that all the tests then?"

"No." The Doctor smiled at her weary sigh. "But it's just one more, I promise." He reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out, of all things, a simple electronic thermometer.

Alex raised an eyebrow. "You want to take my temperature? Really, Doc?"

"Haven't you ever noticed that I'm not as warm as you and the Ponds are?"

Alex thought for a moment. Now that he mentioned it, the Doctor's skin did always seem cooler than everyone else's. She had never really thought about it though. Either it wasn't that noticeable, or she just chalked it up to his being an alien. It would certainly explain why he hadn't been sweating up a storm in Bristol like Amy and Rory. "Yeah . . ."

"It's because my body temperature is much lower than humans. 59 degrees Fahrenheit to be exact."

Alex's eyes widened. She placed her right hand over her left wrist. Either she was imagining things, or her skin felt slightly cooler now.

It took only twenty-five seconds (the Doctor counted) to get their answer. Alex withdrew the thermometer the moment it beeped and held it up to where she and the Doctor both could see it. "59 degrees," she breathed.

"59 degrees Fahrenheit," the Doctor murmured.

Alex handed him the thermometer. He took it wordlessly and tucked it back into his jacket.

For a long while, neither of them spoke. What else could be said? They didn't know.

But as more time went on, the more curious Alex became. "Can I regenerate?"

The Doctor looked up sharply at the question. "I, I don't know."

And quite honestly, he didn't want to know.

It was most likely a fifty-fifty chance that Alex could regenerate, but he definitely didn't want to end up in some dangerous, death-on-their-doorstep situation where they would be forced to find out. Either way he thought about it, it wasn't necessarily a good thing. On the one hand, Alex would live, but her appearance and personality would alter, and he really didn't want to see her change, if only slightly. On the other hand, Alex would be dead, and he really didn't want to see that either. Alex's death would be the end of his sanity, the end of this good, wonderful, happy period of his life the universe had granted him.

"And I hope we never find out."

"Me too," Alex confessed. She couldn't imagine going through a process like regeneration. Call her vain, but Alex liked the way she looked. Not to mention but regeneration, from the little she'd heard about it, sounded like a very painful process.

"So, I'm okay then?" She gazed up at the Doctor. "I mean, I'm not gonna keel over or anything?"

He smiled gently at her. "Of course not. Don't get me wrong, it's not ideal, not something I would wish on anyone else." Especially you, he thought but didn't say. It wasn't necessary. Alex already knew it. "But this is not life-threatening. In fact, I would even go as far as to say its enhanced you quite a bit. The only reason you're so tired is because you've been deprived of vital nutrients and activity for nine months. Not to mention, but your body is still accepting the new organs."

Frankly, he was surprised her body had accepted them as much as they had. It was something he would have to look into.

"Am I a Time Lord then?"

"Not a full-fledged one." He titled his head back in thought. "You are . . . a genetically-engineered Time Lord. Time Lady, technically, but whichever you prefer."

A genetically-engineered Time Lord. It sounded so . . . well, for lack of a better word, alien.

Which is because it is, Alex thought. She was no longer a human. She was an alien.

"Oh my God," she gasped.

The Doctor surged forward and enveloped her in his arms. He'd known the shock would hit her sooner rather than later. He kept a tight grip on her as she buried her face in his chest. Her breath heaved and hoed, not quite crying, but not being entirely calm either. He ran one hand through her hair while the other went up and down her back in soothing ministrations.

Alex felt him draw her up into his arms and maneuver them until she was sitting in his lap. She kept her head bowed, one ear to his chest. Beneath his pale blue shirt, she could hear the firm beating of two hearts, pumping blood through his alien body. The sound had never unnerved her, and it still didn't. But it was a startling thing to realize she now had two hearts thumping in her chest as well.

How long they sat like that, they weren't sure, but when Alex finally pulled away, her back was aching. Based on how the Doctor rolled his neck and something made a cracking sound, parts of him were hurting a bit too.

"You know," Alex said slowly, "there is a silver lining in all this. Something Kovarian helped us out with."

The Doctor stared at her incredulously. "What could possibly be good about any of this?"

Alex bit her lip and hesitated before answering. "My mortality. Look," she said hastily when the Doctor started to protest, "you've never said anything, but don't deny that it hasn't been on your mind since the day we officially got together."

The Doctor stayed silent. She wasn't wrong. He'd thought about her mortality almost constantly, but always shoved it aside in favor of living in the moment as Alex had asked. Then he didn't have the time to worry about it because her pain attacks started, and he became obsessed with finding out what they were and how to stop them.

"And now," Alex continued, "well . . . I'm sort of, kind of like you, right? I mean, you're 909 and you don't age. Now . . . now I'm like that. It's no longer a worry."

The Doctor surprised her by shaking his head rapidly. "No, no, no." He jumped off the bed and began pacing the room. "No, no, no, no, no, NO!" He ran his hands through his hair, the normally neat combover now resembling a hedgehog. "We don't know that for sure, Alexandria, and you'd best hope and pray to that God of yours that you're not like that! It has its drawbacks, you know!"

He stood there for a moment, panting slightly due to how fast he'd spoken. He truly hadn't meant to break into such an outburst but hearing such a thing come out of Alex's mouth threw him in two directions; one where he was angry and confused and upset that Alex might have to suffer like him, and the other where he was happy that he would get to keep and hold onto her for much longer than he had originally thought.

Now wasn't the time to get into that though. He had to concentrate on taking care of Alex.

He shook his head. "I'm sorry. Let's just drop that for now, okay?"

"Okay," Alex agreed through a yawn.

"You're tired. You need rest."

"And I'll get some, but first. . ." She trailed off and bit her lip. She knew that what she was about to reveal would make him go ballistic.

The Doctor raised an eyebrow. "What? What is it, Ally?"

In reply, Alex wordlessly pulled her tank top up to expose her abdomen. While part of her didn't want to, she kept her gaze on the Doctor. His eyes widened at the sight of her surgery scars. The emerald irises steadily darkened as they raked over each and every scar and caught sight of the dried blood.

He reached out and lightly touched one of the scars. He paused for a moment to make sure it wasn't hurting Alex in any way before tracing it. This particular scar started between her breasts and ended at her belly-button. Although it was red, it was also slightly faded, more so than any of the other scars.

This scar was the very first one Kovarian's team of butchers made.

Alex nibbled on her lip, forcing herself to keep looking at him despite how all the nerves in her body told her to do the opposite.

The Doctor's whole demeanor was dark, the kind of dark that was so palpable you could actually feel it, hovering like a thick cloud in the atmosphere. His eyes were almost pitch-black, and his jaw was clenched so tightly, Alex could make out the hardness of his bones beneath his muscles and skin. His hands were clutched around the edge of the bed, knuckles turning white.

"They did this to you?" he asked, but it wasn't really a question. He knew this was what had been causing all of her pain attacks the last few months, why she felt a slicing sensation tearing through her skin. It was because at the time, someone had been slicing a scalpel through her flesh.

"Yes," Alex murmured.

If it was possible, the Doctor's jaw clenched even tighter. Alex was sure she could see a vein throbbing. She jumped when he abruptly let out a loud swear word. As he turned and stormed away from the bed, all the muscles in his body tightened, his bones stiff and unyielding, his tendons threatening to snap with all the pressure placed upon them.

How could someone do that to her? How?! What kind of person would willingly participate in an organization that kidnapped a young woman so they could experiment on her?! And, more importantly, why the hell hadn't Alex told him about those scars before they left Demons Run?! Why didn't she show them to him when he first found her? If she had, Kovarian and her army would never have gotten away with baby Melody. No, they would all be dead.

"Why didn't you tell me, Alex?" he demanded. He whirled around and stalked back to the bed. When she didn't immediately answer, he narrowed his eyes even more, making them resemble little slits.

"You should've told me, Alexandria," he snapped, and Alex winced. He was calling her Alexandria. Never a good sign with him when he was in this state. "Kovarian and her army of morons did that to you," he pointed at her numerous scars, "and they should've paid for doing that to you. If you had told me like you should've, I would've killed that infernal woman the second I saw her."

Alex sighed. It was just as she had imagined. He wanted to kill the people responsible for hurting her. It was exactly what she had wanted to prevent, why she hadn't shown him the scars the moment they were reunited on Demons Run. He would have done something he would deeply regret later. The Doctor hated, loathed having to kill people, even it was for a greater good. Now here he was, proclaiming he would have gone against his principles just to avenge her.

It was a little terrifying.

"You would not," she retorted.

He snorted. "Really?" He turned away from the bed just as she reached out to lay a hand on his arm. "And what, pray tell, makes you think that?"

"Because," Alex said firmly, "I'd never have let you. We both know you can't stand to disobey me, Doc. It would have killed you to try."

The Doctor couldn't argue with that, but he refused to admit it. "They'd have deserved it!" he spat, his lips curled into a snarl. "And who knows? Maybe Amy and Rory would still have a baby in their arms right now."

Alex felt the blow land in her gut, exactly where he had intended it. "We don't know that for sure," she said in a voice that made her sound a lot calmer than she actually felt. "Kovarian had this whole thing planned for a very long time. If you tried something, she might've killed Melody. And not to mention, but you'd have caused a paradox. River, unfortunately, needs to be in our lives at various points and I don't think the universe could stand a paradox of that magnitude happening."

Again, the Doctor faltered. Alex was right. Kovarian was an evil mastermind. There was no doubt she'd had Demons Run planned down to the very last possibility for quite some time. And, if he had tried to go after her for hurting Alex, she might have hurt or killed Melody in retaliation. Where would that have left them? Alex would be avenged, sure, but Amy and Rory would be distraught at their baby's death.

And River . . . well, the Doctor didn't really want to think about River right now, but Alex did have a point about the woman's status in the universe. They couldn't afford to have her life ended and the universe ruined just because of his anger at someone harming his Ally.

He was pulled out of his thoughts by Alex sighing, "Doctor. . ." He looked up and again noticed how tired she was. There were dark circles under her eyes and her skin seemed even paler than it had a few minutes ago. She slumped against the headboard, the pillow all but forgotten. She was already tired, her body recovering from all the turmoil it had gone through and what had he done? Forced her into an argument that had worn her out even more.

Alex's eyes fluttered and she let out a long sigh. "Doc, I'm sorry I didn't show you or tell you about my scars, really, but can we please not do this? I don't want to argue with you. Not now."

Any remaining fight in him dissolved at her words. "Of course," he agreed, voice now soft and gentle. He walked back over to the bed and sat down beside her, leaning in close. "I'm sorry for blowing up at you."

Alex offered him a tired smile. "It's okay. Just try not to do it again."

He nodded. "Deal." He leaned down and pressed a kiss to her forehead. Alex's eyes closed at the wonderful feeling of his flame-flavored lips on her skin. When he pulled back, she had to force herself to open them.

"Let me get that Chimerian healing salve and it'll look like those scars were never there."

It didn't take the Doctor long to apply the universally-renowned healing salve onto Alex's damaged skin. Alex deeply inhaled the salve's intoxicating gardenias and grapefruit scent, a scent that made it seem like everything after this point was going to be alright. Probably what the Chimerians were aiming for, she thought.

Her skin buzzed in excitement at the Doctor's touch. Alex forced herself to keep still whenever he accidentally brushed over a ticklish spot. The last thing she needed was him discovering how ticklish she was. He'd never give her any rest.

"There," he announced. He straightened up from his bent-over position and wiped his hands on a cloth that had materialized out of nowhere. "Give it a minute and those scars will be gone."

"Good. Now all I want is a shower and a nap. Preferably a long one. Like Sleeping Beauty long."

The Doctor chuckled. "Which do you want first? Shower or nap?"

As much as Alex wanted to go straight to sleep, she really didn't want to do so while feeling so . . . gross. The Doctor had done a good job of covering it, but Alex knew she was a bit disgusting. She could feel how slick her hair was against the back of her neck and she'd caught an aroma she was 99% positive was coming from her. "Shower. Definitely shower."

The Doctor nodded, then glanced back down at her stomach. The salve had completely faded into her skin, taking her scars with it. "There we are!" he cheered. "100% healed. Not a blemish in sight."

"Wonderful," Alex smiled. She carefully sat up and tugged her tank top down, but not before catching sight of the dried blood stains still decorating her skin.

The Doctor saw this but decided not to comment on it. It wasn't a good idea to think about what had happened to Alex at Demons Run. All they needed to do now was concentrate on getting Alex strong again.

Once Alex was done fixing her top, the Doctor put his arms underneath her and lifted her up bridal-style. Alex couldn't help but laugh at this now signature move. "Doc, I'm not crippled," she giggled. "I can still walk."

"I know," he smirked, but he didn't put her down and, quite truthfully, Alex didn't mind.

He carried her out of the med-bay and down the hall, but in the complete opposite direction of where her room was. Alex frowned and stared back down the corridor. "Um, Doc? My bedroom's back that way."

"I never said we were going to your bedroom."

Alex raised an eyebrow but decided not to object. She was just glad to be back with him, properly in his arms, not like all those times her Flesh counterpart had been in them. Now, she would have the chance to actually curl up next to him in bed, hug him, touch him, kiss him. . .

Wait! They hadn't properly kissed since he rescued her. They kept getting interrupted whenever they tried. A smirk crossed her lips. Well, not anymore.

"Doc, wait!" she cried. "Can you put me down for a sec?"

The Doctor eyed her curiously but obeyed. "What's wrong, Ally?"

Alex leaned back against the wall and smiled at him impishly. The Doctor's hearts started thumping rapidly. That impish grin of hers meant she had something in mind, something that usually meant really pleasant things for him. "I was just thinking," she began, "that for all the times we've kissed as a couple, it wasn't really me. I mean, my heart and mind, yeah, but . . . not me. My physical body."

Oh. . . Now he was getting it. The Doctor crossed his arms and leaned against the wall opposite her. "Oh, yes," he nodded, making his voice go very serious and low, just how she liked. "That's . . . that's very upsetting."

"Very," Alex said gravely, something that clashed immensely with the grin threatening to overtake her face.

"Guess we should rectify that then."

"Yes, I suppose we should."

No other words were spoken. The Doctor and Alex moved forwards at the exact same time, meeting each-other in the middle of the hall. He planted his hands on her hips, pulled her to him, then leaned down and pressed his lips to hers.

Both moaned as they made contact, real and true contact. Alex's lips still held that sweet and sour flavor, but now that the Doctor knew this was the real physical her, he swore the flavor was ten times more powerful than the one that had been manufactured on her Flesh body. He swept his tongue between her lips, not bothering to silently ask for permission, and ran it over every inch of her mouth.

Alex's knees buckled. God, he was so wonderful, sexy and . . . well, alien, but that was a good thing. It made her even more attracted to him, that he wasn't like any other man she'd met.

In an effort to keep from falling down as he continued to explore her mouth, Alex wrapped her arms around his neck and moved herself even closer to him, now to where their bodies were touching. They melded together like puzzle pieces, a perfect fit. A fresh crop of adrenaline swept through their systems, ice cold and sharp as a knife, making them shudder. Alex's whole body shook. She wasn't sure whether it was the adrenaline, her body growing tired, or a combination of both. Either way, she didn't care. She wasn't going to stop. Not now. Maybe not ever.

The Doctor sensed her getting unsteady on her feet and pulled back. He smirked when Alex let out a little whimper at the loss of contact, but he made sure she wasn't upset for long. He gently pushed her backwards and up against the wall before stepping forward, keeping her completely trapped. Not that Alex minded. She gave him a devil-may-care smirk, daring him to do more.

He accepted. He grabbed her hips again, digging his fingertips into the thick black denim that separated him from her flesh, and dragged her to him. He put his lips back on hers.

This time, it was a fight for dominance, with Alex's tongue barging into and directing his mouth. He growled in warning and at just how good it felt. He moved his hands up and down her thighs before bringing her right leg up to wrap around his left hip. Alex moaned at the sharp bulge she felt pressed against her center. The Doctor tilted his hips, rubbing up against the seam of her jeans. Alex moaned and had to bite back the urge to just start grinding against him. She wasn't ready for that level of intimacy yet, not that her body seemed to agree. It was vibrating again, and she could feel that same urge she'd felt when they reunited on Demons Run – to shove him down, rip his clothes off, and press their bare skin together – rearing its head.

As she was so occupied trying to suppress her physical urges, the Doctor was able to get the upper hand. Pushing his hips against Alex (and delighting in her shuddering moan), he gently pushed her tongue out with his own and started nibbling on her bottom lip. Alex's hands grabbed and tugged at his hair, making him shudder and groan. He kept nibbling until her mouth fell slack. When it did, he drove his tongue inside, sweeping it over the back of her teeth, over her tongue, everywhere he could reach. At the same time, he rolled his hips against hers. She finally gave in and echoed the action. Before they knew it, they were completely lost in the passion and ecstasy of each-other, hips bucking and grinding like they had never done anything else.

He moved away from her lips and down to her neck, trailing hot open-mouthed kisses all the way to her throat. Alex moaned, her head falling back against the wall. One hand fell out of his hair and to her side as he continued, his tongue writing what she suspected was Gallifreyan on her skin. His hips never faltered, still pushing up against her core. The bulge in his trousers was huge. Alex whimpered imagining how it would feel inside her. She suspected very large but also very fulfilling, filling her up physically while also serving to fill up her whole being, completing her.

Alex's eyes started to close. She was getting more and more hypnotized by the spell he was putting her under. His hands were everywhere: her shoulders, her legs, her hips, her waist. His mouth was constant, licking and nibbling and sucking and kissing her skin until she was sure every inch of it had some kind of mark made by some part of his mouth. His hardness teased her, revving her up but not giving her satisfaction. . .

So color her surprised when she let out a long yawn.

The Doctor stopped alternatively nibbling and licking the hollow of her throat and glanced up.

Alex blushed furiously. "Sorry," she cringed. "You're not boring me, I swear."

He merely laughed and straightened up. "You're tired." He smiled and lifted her into his arms to resume their journey down the corridor.

It wasn't but a minute later that he paused in front of an old mahogany door. At first glance, it looked like any other normal door except for the just barely noticeable carvings in the center. They were circular with intricate designs in the middle – dots, dashes, tiny circles, and a wide variety of shapes. Anyone else would mistake them for drawings, but Alex knew they were actually Circular Gallifreyan. Wonder what they say. . . It could be anything. The Doctor's name or even an elaborate 'Keep Out' sign.

The door opened on its own, silently swinging into the Doctor's bedroom. It looked like it had the last time Alex had seen it, only there were now more clothes decorating the floor and it seemed as though the bed hadn't been slept in. The covers had been made up with far more neatness than the Doctor was capable of, suggesting that the TARDIS had been responsible. Altogether, it led Alex to suspect that the Doctor had only used this room to bathe and get clean clothes during the weeks he was looking for her and Amy.

You poor man. She couldn't imagine the turmoil and worry he'd suffered and gone through. She couldn't compare it to her own situation, seeing as she had been mostly sedated during it.

The Doctor carried her into the (thankfully clean) bathroom. He set her down in front of the shower. "Do you need any help?" he asked, eyeing her thin frame warily.

Alex flicked the switch by the door. The overhead light was bright, and she did her best not to squint. "No, I think I'm good." She smiled at his doubtful expression. "But I'll shout otherwise, deal?"

He smiled. "Deal. I'll be right outside."

Once the door clicked closed behind him, Alex set about undressing. She kicked off her combat boots, casting them in the direction of the Jacuzzi tub, and pushed her jeans down her thin legs. By the time she cast off her tank top, her hearts had started to beat just a little faster than normal. Alex grimaced and tried to ignore it. Her body was just adjusting to moving around again, not to mention all the new additions. The Doctor had said she was fine physically. He never would have lied to her about that.

Alex smiled brightly when the shower turned on by itself. "Thanks, Gorgeous," she murmured. A hum sounded throughout the room, the vibration traveling up Alex's legs. It was warm and felt rather like a caress. Clearly, the TARDIS was happy to have the real her back, too.

The water was nice and hot as Alex stepped in. She sighed gratefully. She couldn't stand cold water or even lukewarm. It just reminded her of the biting, freezing cold Atlantic waters the night her parents drowned. The sea had been so harsh and punishing, waves slamming into her, tossing her around like a rag doll. The bitter salt scent had oozed into Alex's lungs, her skin, and her clothing. But it was the cold she remembered most. It was cruel and unforgiving, seeping into her very bones so that she'd still been shivering hours later at the hospital, despite the pile of blankets the nurses had covered her in. Ever since, when forced to interact with water for long periods of time, Alex preferred it to be nice and hot, almost to the point of boiling.

Adrenaline continued to hum through her veins, albeit at a somewhat slower force than before. Alex concentrated on it as she stepped closer to the spray. The Doctor wasn't in the bathroom with her, but he was nearby. He was probably standing right on the other side of the door, ears straining for the slightest yelp or cry. He wouldn't let anything bad happen to her. Not if he could help it.

Alex had to admit, despite her body occasionally flinching back from the spray, it was pretty close to heaven getting all the dirt, sweat, grime, and dried blood off her body. The TARDIS had moved her preferred bathing products into the shower, nestling them alongside the Doctor's. It gave Alex a little thrill, seeing her sweet pea and violet body wash next to his banana scented one. She poured lavender shampoo into her hair until she was confident that her hair was no longer greasy, only wet. Her skin was nearly rubbed raw by the time she finished scrubbing the blood stains off. She didn't want to see so much as a tiny speck on her body. She wanted all physical traces of her torment on Demons Run gone. The ones she could actually see, at least.

Soon after she finished scrubbing, though, Alex slumped against the shower wall. She wanted to shave (she really needed it) but she was so tired. She was shaking, her legs threatening to give out. Her hearts were beating out a samba, racing to power her abused body, and her breathing had turned a bit labored. Truthfully, Alex was surprised she had lasted this long without slumping to the floor but why did it have to end now? Why did she have to be so damn exhausted? Why couldn't she just power through, like she'd always done?

Just as she was about to swallow her pride and call for the Doctor, a hum rang out. Suddenly, Alex felt something against the back of her legs. She turned around to find a bath chair that definitely hadn't been there a few seconds ago.

Alex grinned as she sank into it. "Thank you, Gorgeous," she said, patting the wall above her head. The TARDIS hummed and sent another vibration rushing through her fingertips.

Alex had just set her razor back on the built-in soap dish when the Doctor's voice, shouting over the rush of the shower, called out, "Ally, are you okay?"

"Fine, Doc! I'll be out in a minute!" Right as she finished saying this, the water turned off. With a grunt, Alex heaved herself out of the chair and out of the shower.

She wasted no time in drying herself off with one of the thick, fluffy towels from the towel rack. But as she set the towel beside her clothes, another thing occurred to her. What the hell was she going to wear? She couldn't just go out in nothing (though she had no doubt the Doctor wouldn't mind that option).

Another hum rang out and Alex turned to the sink. Resting atop it was a pile of clothing: underwear, socks, black leggings and, interestingly, a white men's dress shirt. Even before she smelt the familiar traces of musky cologne, Alex knew who it belonged to. "Thank you, Gorgeous," she smiled, giving the vanity a pat. "Think this will drive him wild?"

The TARDIS hummed, fast and frantic. It sounded like an enthusiastic 'YES!'.

Alex chuckled. "Okay, then."

Sure enough, the Doctor's expression when she opened the door was priceless. He was standing right outside the door, and he nearly toppled over as it opened. Upon catching sight of Alex's attire, he did so again.

"Ally!" he exclaimed. His emerald green eyes were wide as saucers and his delicate eyebrows had rocketed straight up into his hairline. His fingers twitched, no doubt wanting to grab hold of her shirt and see if it really was his. "Uh, y-you . . . what are you. . ."

Alex smirked. "Cat got your tongue, Doc?"

He swallowed heavily, his Adam's apple bobbing. "In-interesting choice of attire," he finally stuttered out. He nodded at her shirt.

"It is, isn't it?" Alex ran her hands over the front of the shirt. She'd buttoned it up almost to her neck, but now she undid the buttons until a glimpse of cleavage was visible. The Doctor swallowed again. His eyes were nearly popping out of his head, but Alex was pleased to note the emerald green irises were steadily turning dark in color. "TARDIS picked it out."

Thank you, Sexy, the Doctor thought. When he heard Alex giggle, he realized he'd accidentally said that out loud. Struggling to shake off his embarrassment, he forced his gaze away from his shirt (By Rassilon, did she look so tempting in it!) and over to the bed. His attention so focused on Alex in her new, inviting bedtime attire, he hadn't noticed that the TARDIS had turned the covers down. In addition, his bedspread had been replaced by Alex's fluffy snow white one. Apparently, aside from trying to drive him mad with desire, the TARDIS was also trying to make sure Alex was comfortable. At least she's being that considerate, the Doctor thought dryly.

He watched Alex go to the bed and quickly crawl under the sheets. Once she was settled, he tugged them up to her shoulders, tucking her in. "Comfy?"

Alex smiled and nodded. "Very. But you know what would make me even more so?"

He had a feeling where this was going, but he wanted to hear her say it. "What is it?"

She tugged the bedspread and sheets down a little. "Stay with me?"

The Doctor smiled. "Never refused you before, have I?" He shrugged his jacket off and moved to toss it to the floor, but when Alex gave him a sharp warning look, he obediently hung it over the back of the desk chair. He unlaced his boots and placed them at the foot of the bed. Then, as he crawled into bed beside her, he pulled his loose bowtie off, dropping it onto the nightstand.

She waited until he was completely under the covers before moving closer and snuggling next to him. She closed her eyes, a soft smile gracing her lips, and draped one of her arms over his chest. "Thank you," she murmured sleepily.

He stared at her, bemused. "Whatever for?"

Alex forced her eyes open, exposing sleepy honey-brown orbs. "For rescuing me. And for just . . . being here."

Another smile crossed his lips. "Always, love," he promised. He pressed a chaste kiss to her lips. "Now go to sleep."

"Yes, sir," Alex giggled. She closed her eyes again. "Goodnight, Doc."

The Doctor wrapped an arm around her back and tugged her closer. "Goodnight, Ally."

~The Pros and Cons of Silence~

When Alex woke up, it wasn't slowly and half-heartedly. One second, she was asleep, the next she was wide awake. Her mind, even while dulled during sleep, hadn't forgotten any of yesterday's events. Especially not the twin thumping she could feel in her chest.

Rolling over, she found (much to her relief) that the Doctor was still beside her. He wasn't sleeping though, as Alex had hoped he would. Instead, he was reading a thick book on quantum mechanics. He wasn't that absorbed in it, though, for a split second after Alex laid eyes on him, his head turned. "Ally, you're awake!" he said cheerfully. He tossed the book onto the nightstand. "I was wondering how much longer you'd sleep."

"How long was I out?"

"Almost eleven hours."

Alex's eyes widened. While she loved sleeping and sleeping in, she couldn't recall sleeping for almost eleven hours straight. "Seriously?"

"It's not that surprising, love." His gaze roamed to her chest, as though he could see her two hearts through layers of cotton, skin, and muscle. "Your body has been through quite the ordeal. You're still . . . adjusting."

"How long will I have to adjust?" Alex asked. "Because the TARDIS had to conjure a chair for me in the shower."

The Doctor looked rather alarmed by this information, but he quickly schooled his features into an expression of thoughtfulness. "Probably not too much longer, so long as we keep you moving around and active."

"You're not thinking of landing us in the middle of a civil war or an uprising, are you?"

He chuckled. "No, love. I was thinking of something more . . . mundane. I came up with quite the plan while you were sleeping."

Alex shifted into an upright position. The moment she stopped shifting, the Doctor wrapped an arm around her waist and tugged her close. Alex nestled into his side, relishing in the close contact. She was practically craving his touch. The feeling of his palm pressed against her waist (his hand having snaked up under her shirt again) felt like the ultimate high. Her skin buzzed pleasantly at his touch and adrenaline flooded her veins. She was even a little light-headed, no doubt from the plethora of chemicals her brain was manufacturing. Not that she was complaining. After being holed up at Demons Run for almost a year, the sudden influx of chemicals and sensations experienced when the Doctor touched her was absolutely divine. How she hadn't noticed that she wasn't experiencing this kind of thing when she and the Doctor first got together was beyond her.

"And what does this plan entail?"

"Well, first, breakfast."

Alex's stomach growled. It suddenly occurred to her that she hadn't actually eaten anything in about nine months. "Don't have to tell me twice," she said as she clambered off the bed.

Alex was relieved that she didn't feel exhausted upon reaching the galley, though she couldn't quite keep a sigh from passing her lips as she sat down. The Doctor raised an eyebrow at this but didn't comment. Instead, he made his way to the stove and started fixing the tea kettle.

"Hope that's for you, Doc, because I'm not having tea."

The Doctor rolled his eyes. "As I keep telling you, Ally, a good cup of tea is the best way to start a day."

"And as I keep telling you, you've been spending too much time in England, Doc."

The Doctor shook his head but went to the cabinet where the mugs were stored and grabbed Alex's favored Central Perk mug. As his tea brewed, he stuck the mug under the seldom used coffee maker. The last person who'd used it, if he was remembering correctly, was his other American companion, Peri Brown. Like Alex, she wasn't much for tea, either. The moment Alex's preferred Starbucks House Blend was ready, he slid it under her twitching nose. Not for the first time, he marveled at how Alex could knock back the hot beverage without burning a hole in her tongue.

"Caffeine," Alex hummed. She took another long gulp of coffee, relishing in the hot liquid running down her throat.

"You can get caffeine from tea, too," the Doctor muttered. Louder, he said, "And slow sips, Ally. Remember, you haven't actually had physical food for months."

Alex obediently took a small sip. "What exactly were they giving me at Demons Run, do you think?"

"Basic nutrients, I presume." The Doctor rattled around in the pantry, knocking cans together and causing a box of Amy's favored Frosted Cheerios to topple to the ground. "They did want to keep you alive, after all. But you could be healthier." He paused, remembering how her tank top yesterday had been so baggy. "Much healthier," he said, voice low and dark.

Alex hastened to change the subject. "So what am I eating? I presume something bland so my stomach won't revolt."

"Oatmeal!" the Doctor cheered, pulling out a box of that very food. He pretended not to notice Alex's grimace.

A short while later, he was trying not to grimace at the amount of brown sugar Alex was sprinkling on her breakfast. "I did say bland, didn't I, Ally?"

Alex shot him a look. "It's already bland. I'm just trying not to make it taste that way." She eyed his bowl of chocolate cereal. "And you could have at least suffered in eating this with me."

Just to annoy her, the Doctor took a large spoonful of cereal. "Many things I'm willing to do for you, love, but that's not one of them." He chuckled at Alex's curse-filled mutterings.

When they were finished, the Doctor tugged Alex to her feet. "You're not going to like this next part of my plan," he said ruefully. "But it is to help you."

Alex definitely hadn't liked it. Changing into the sports bra, shorts, and tennis shoes the TARDIS had laid out for her in the Doctor's bedroom, they had gone down to the TARDIS gym (which Alex hadn't even known existed. It wasn't like there was a lot of need for it, considering the type of situations the Doctor landed his companions in.). As her body was still adjusting (she had to sit down and rest for ten minutes upon finally arriving in the gym), the Doctor started her off easy. This consisted of walking on a treadmill for fifteen minutes, then lifting weights. The most Alex could lift was ten pounds, but she had a feeling that would change pretty soon. The Doctor would see to it.

The moment she was done, the Doctor permitted her to go off and relax. "Take a nap," he suggested.

"Doc, I slept for eleven hours!"

"Doesn't matter. Like I said, your body is still adjusting to everything it's gone through. That takes an enormous amount of energy. You'll be sleeping more before you start sleeping less like me."

His words rang in Alex's ears as she headed off to his bedroom. She would soon not need to sleep every night. The Doctor slept, at most, a few hours a week. What would she do when that happened? She supposed she could go with the Doctor on his nighttime adventures or read or watch TV. There were a lot of shows she'd been wanting to watch but hadn't had the time for. Guess I can start marathoning Criminal Minds, Alex thought. She'd been interested in that show for a long time, had even seen a few episodes, but had never had the time to sit down and watch it straight through.

Once she got back to the Doctor's room, Alex took a lightning-fast shower. Upon toweling off, she discovered that the TARDIS had taken the liberty of picking out her clothes again. Her favorite pair of ripped jeans sat on the vanity, along with socks, underwear, a lacy white camisole, and another one of the Doctor's shirts. This time, the TARDIS had selected a striped, red collared shirt.

"You really like me wearing the Doctor's clothes, huh?" Alex asked. A fast, affirmative hum rang throughout the room. "Well," Alex chuckled, "good thing I like it, too."

After changing, she settled down on the bed. She wasn't very tired. Still, Alex knew she should relax. She'd felt her hearts thumping rapidly near the end of her workout. At least her limbs weren't shaking as much. Alex hoped that was a good sign.

With a sigh, Alex settled back against the new mound of pillows the TARDIS had conjured up. Before she could even ask the time machine, the cabinet over the TV opened. Alex found the remote tucked in the right-hand nightstand, buried under a bag of Jelly Babies and various tinkering materials. Turning the TV on, she immediately pulled up Netflix. Alex vaguely remembered its days as a DVD rental by mail, but it had recently moved away from that and into streaming content on the internet. According to the Doctor, while it was available in 2011, it really became popular a few years from now.

It didn't take her long to find Criminal Minds. Alex rolled her eyes as a woman who was obviously about to become a victim of some kind communicated with someone online about a car for sale. Honestly, she knew better than that. Then again, Alex was pretty sure she was the only one who'd paid attention to the yearly 'Dangers of the Internet' lecture she and her peers had been forced to sit through during all four years of high school.

Alex found herself tensing as the woman, Heather, got into the car with the mystery man. To her surprise, she found herself shaking as the man drove Heather around the rainy streets of Seattle. She knew what was about to happen. Police procedurals were predictable like that. But they had never bothered Alex before. She couldn't recall ever tensing or shaking during one of her many Castle marathons.

Sure enough, the driver failed to slow down to drop Heather off. Heather, growing more and more panicked, looked down at the door lock. Of course, there was none. The man had removed it as he helped her into the car. Heather turned and the man abruptly hit her in the face.

Alex yelped. She didn't even register the scene changing to Hotch and Haley playfully arguing over baby names. All she could think about was that kidnapping scene, variants of which she'd seen hundreds of times, freaking her out. Why? Why did it spook her so much? It wasn't even that scary. She'd seen worse.

With a little shake, Alex flicked the episode off and, after a bit of scrolling, selected the pilot episode of Glee. She'd seen a couple of episodes already, but marathoning the show had always been on her to-do list. The show was cheesy, but the covers were almost always good. Plus, Alex knew it wouldn't freak her out.

As the episode faded in on the Cheerios practicing on the football field, Alex pulled her knees to her chest and tried to settle back against the pillows. Still, as the episode played, her mind continued to dwell on her freak-out and the mysterious reasons behind it.

~The Pros and Cons of Silence~

Alex was on the fourth episode of Glee (and thoroughly convinced that she hated Rachel) when the Doctor came in. "Hey," he smiled. He glanced at the TV, currently showing Rachel belting out Celine Dion's 'Taking Chances'. "I thought you'd be asleep."

Alex hit the pause button. "Wasn't tired." She refrained from telling him about her near Criminal Minds panic attack. He was already worried about her. He didn't need to be given more reason to be. "What's up?"

"Well, first. . ." The Doctor passed her the large tray he was carrying. On it were two pieces of plain toast and a glass of milk. "Your lunch." He smiled ruefully. "Not the most appetizing of meals, I realize, but I still want you to keep eating bland stuff for now. If you can keep that down, we'll try something a little heartier for dinner."

"Fine with me." Alex took a bite of toast and motioned for the Doctor to sit down beside her. "What else?"

Crossing his legs at the ankle, the Doctor settled back against the pillows. He took a moment to admire Alex in yet another one of his shirts before answering her question. "I've spent the past few hours analyzing your blood sample." He said the words slowly and carefully, as if he feared of setting her off.

Alex tensed. She took another bite of toast, but she wasn't really hungry anymore. "And . . . is it bad news?" she asked, her brow furrowing.

The Doctor reached out and ran his thumb over the furrow. Her skin immediately relaxed under his touch. "Not bad," he assured her. Suddenly feeling the urge to have her closer, he patted his knee. Alex quickly abandoned her lunch tray and crawled into his lap. Once she was comfortable, the Doctor started running his fingers through her hair. The corners of his mouth crept up a bit when Alex hummed in delight. "Just . . . different."

"Okay." Alex wrapped an arm around his neck, her fingertips lightly scratching the back of his neck. She smirked when the Doctor tried to bite back a groan. "Well, whatever it is, it can't be bad. I'm a big girl, Doc, I can handle it."

"I know." He took a deep breath. "Well, to begin with, using the blood sample I took, I analyzed your DNA structure and compared it to my own."

"And?"

"And . . . it's an exact match to mine."

Alex was silent for a moment, struggling to figure out the significance. "And that means what exactly?"

"It means that you are now aging at the same rate I am. Time Lords age much, much, much slower than humans, Ally."

"So I was right then. Kovarian and her butchers did solve my mortality problem."

The Doctor gritted his teeth at how she kept saying that those horrid people had done her a favor but nodded anyways. "Yes. For the foreseeable future, your physical body won't age past twenty-one. It will be centuries before you start showing signs of aging past that."

Alex pursed her lips and sat in his lap silently. She wasn't quite sure what to say. She had suspected that Kovarian's alterations had compromised her aging, but to hear it said out loud was quite a different manner. It made this whole thing seem more real.

"I'm sorry, Ally," the Doctor murmured. He wrapped his other arm around her, enveloping her in a tight hug. "I looked into a way we could reverse your biology, make you human again, but. . ."

"It would be fatal, wouldn't it?" Alex guessed.

He nodded. "Your body has accepted the new organs added to you. The whole process isn't that different from organ donations on Earth." He was still surprised Alex's body had accepted the additions so well. Where had those organs come from? Another thing he had to look into. "It's highly likely if we tried to remove them, your body would go into shock and simply. . ." He trailed off, unwilling to finish that sentence. Clearing his throat, he went on. "Not to mention, there's risks involved in actually preparing you for surgery. Anesthesia is harmful to Time Lords – not fatal, but near-enough – and I have no doubt that Kovarian made sure you had every weakness that a full-fledged Time Lord like me has."

"But why?" Alex wracked her brain for a possible answer but was unable to come up with anything. This whole situation was just so strange and different from everything she knew. "Why would Kovarian try and turn me into a Time Lord? She hates you, and me a little, I guess. She wouldn't try to help us by turning me into a Time Lord so I can age right along with you."

The Doctor's voice was grave. "I agree, she wouldn't. I had the TARDIS download those files they were keeping on you and your operations, but Dorium was right – the software's nearly impenetrable. It'll take me a while longer to get into them."

Alex smiled gently. "It's alright." She ran her nails across the back of his neck again, delighting in how he shivered. "The fact that you're trying is more than enough."

They sat in silence for a while. Still lightly scratching the back of his neck, Alex rested her head on the Doctor's shoulder. He tilted his head slightly to the side so she could nestle into the crook of his neck. He continued to keep his arms wrapped tightly around her, somewhat afraid that someone would snatch her away again if he loosened them for even a second. It occurred to him that he and Alex didn't usually sit together in silence, but perhaps they were becoming accustomed to it. It was nice to just relax with someone you cared a great deal about, alone with them and your thoughts.

But sooner or later, silence always gets broken. "There is more," the Doctor whispered.

"Hmm?" Alex tilted her head up, allowing him a glimpse of her topaz-colored irises before they switched to light green.

"I found more in your DNA than just aging at the same rate as me."

Alex straightened a little but didn't move her head out from the crook of his neck. "What is it?"

He hesitated slightly before saying, "I found small traces of Time Lord DNA embedded into your regular human DNA structure."

Alex wrinkled her nose, puzzled. "But Kovarian's lot added that in. When they were putting a second heart and a respiratory bypass system in me."

The Doctor shook his head. "No, no," he said quietly. "I looked into that but. . ."

By this point, despite his earlier reassurances, Alex was starting to get worried. She removed her head from his shoulder and straightened up. "What is it?" she asked again, a bit more frantically. "Tell me, Doctor! I have a right to know!"

"I know, I know, love, it's just. . ." The Doctor sighed and forced the words out of his mouth. "The Time Lord DNA I found was old. Specifically, twenty-two years old. You were born with it."

Alex stared at him. For a long time, neither spoke. The silence that had started to seem comfortable between them was now worrisome, wrought with shock, anxiety, and confusion. Alex struggled to comprehend his words.

How the hell could she be born with Time Lord DNA? Her parents weren't Time Lords. If they had been, they would have survived that boating accident by regenerating. And the Doctor had seen the photo of her parents in her bedroom. Wouldn't he have recognized them if one or both had been Time Lords? Had the Time Lords even been able to recognize another member of their species away from Gallifrey? The Doctor had mentioned not being able to recognize an old enemy of his, some Master bloke, but his explanation had been pretty vague, the topic something he was clearly not comfortable discussing in depth with her just yet. There had been a brief mention of a watch before he changed the subject, but Alex doubted that particular tidbit would help them right now.

She closed her eyes. Her brain felt like it was on overdrive now, trying to process so many things that it was actually starting to hurt.

Just as Alex was sure she was on the verge of a massive headache, she felt two fingers lightly touch her temple. Instantly, the thoughts in her head cleared, pushed to the back of her mind to be muddled through later.

Her eyes burst open, and she gaped at the Doctor. "How did you do that?"

He shrugged modestly. "Little Time Lord trick I learned in the Academy. Never had to use it until now though. Usually, my companions are never silent as they try to collect their thoughts. They just blurt them out."

Alex let out a little giggle, knowing that he had made the joke on purpose to try and make her smile. Still, it didn't completely distract her from this new mystery. "Doctor," she murmured, her hands clutching his shirt collar, "how is this possible? I mean . . . the only way I can think of it being possible is if my parents were . . . but they weren't. . ."

"Ally, how much do you know about your parents?"

Alex blinked, even though she knew she really shouldn't be so surprised at the question. She swallowed and shifted uncomfortably. She didn't like talking about her parents, but she knew she had to. It was the only way they might get answers to this insane revelation. "Not that much," she admitted. "I mean, I have some memories of New York, but they don't really reveal much about my parents. My mom played the piano and drank red wine. My dad worked a lot." Alex sighed and shook her head. "Everything else I know from a Wikipedia page about the company."

"I know. I looked it up. There were a few bits of information that were wrong, so I corrected them, but otherwise it was pretty accurate. But aside from family history, I took a look at your parents."

"Did you recognize them? Can Time Lords even do that? Or could they, I mean?"

"Somewhat," the Doctor shrugged. "I could recognize someone as a Time Lord – if there were still any around – but not specifically who they were. But no, I didn't recognize either of them. But as I was looking into your mother, I got to thinking about something."

"What?" Alex demanded. "Thinking about what?"

"Her eyes, Ally. Haven't you noticed how in that photograph of yours, your mother's eyes are changing colors? Chocolate brown to dark green."

Alex thought for a moment. She'd never paid much attention to her mother's eyes before, but now that the Doctor mentioned it, she could recall seeing her mother's eyes doing just that. "Yeah," she breathed. "So that's where I get it from."

"Indeed. But the human eye isn't meant to change colors like that, not even hazel ones."

"So you're saying . . . you think my mom had Time Lord DNA as well?"

"Precisely." The Doctor's eyes were sparkling, thrilled at having solved this conundrum. They only grew brighter as he continued speaking. "She wasn't necessarily a Time Lord, but she had the DNA. It explains so many things about you, Alex. Your eyes, your mental abilities, everything. A Time Lord married or got involved somehow into the Docherty family. They hit that five percent chance. Time Lord traits would be passed down in every generation, each one getting fewer and fewer traits until finally, the only thing left would be slightly modified DNA and slightly advanced mental abilities."

Alex slowly began to nod along. Surprisingly, everything the Doctor was saying made sense. "Okay, so, just to recap, you believe a Time Lord married into or somehow got involved in my mom's side of the family at some point in time?"

"Right on the nose. It would have to be a few centuries back though. The DNA I found in you was embedded in there very deep. That's why I never found it whenever I scanned you. Unless you're looking for it, you would completely miss it."

"So I already was a genetically-engineered Time Lord," Alex mused.

"More like a slight hybrid," the Doctor corrected. "You were more human than Time Lord, believe me. In fact, I suspect that if you'd had kids before becoming altered, the gene would've died out with them. I believe it's also why your body accepted the new organs as well as they have. The Time Lord DNA already imbedded within you remembered the biology of an actual Time Lord and helped your body adapt accordingly. Even altered the rest of your DNA."

Alex nodded slowly, taking all this in. After a few moments, she fixed him with a curious stare. "Do you think it's possible we can find out who the Time Lord that settled into my mom's family was?" Her copper eyes widened. "Wait. If the product of a Time Lord/human union resulted in a child that was half Time Lord. . ." She grinned. "They could still be alive! They probably wouldn't have your lifespan, but they'd certainly live longer than the average human, right?"

But looking at the Doctor, Alex saw he was not enthusiastic. Actually, he looked physically pained. Slowly, he shook his head. "No, Ally. They wouldn't be."

Alex stared blankly. "What?"

The Doctor sighed and, taking one of his hands away from her waist, ran it through his hair, disturbing his comb over. By the time Alex gently tugged his hand away, his hair rather resembled the long, combed back style he'd worn back when she first began traveling with him. "The child from a Time Lord/human union wouldn't necessarily be a perfect hybrid, half-human, half-Time Lord."

"And just how do you know this?" Alex demanded, her topaz eyes narrowing. "Correct me if I'm wrong, but you said yourself the chance of a baby being conceived from a human/Time Lord union was less than five percent. This isn't exactly a common occurrence!" She wouldn't have been surprised to learn Time Lords mingling with humans that way was forbidden. From what she knew of the Time Lords, they were a very pompous race, holding themselves superior to most other races and life forms. No doubt they would have considered humans a 'lesser being'. The idea of degrading themselves with humans probably would have been horrifying to them.

"You're right," the Doctor said, with no small amount of forced calmness. His dark emerald eyes rested firmly on her, and Alex had to resist the urge to flinch. Apparently, her outburst had struck a nerve. "But I have seen this before. Or something like it, at the very least."

Alex blinked. "With who?" she asked quietly.

For several moments, the Doctor was silent. His jaw was clenched, his emerald irises now a deep, dark green that bordered on black. The remaining hand around Alex's waist tightened, but Alex didn't think it had anything to do with her. Rather, it involved whoever it was that had also, somehow, been a Time Lord/human hybrid. Finally, in a voice that was little more than a whisper, he said, "My grandson." Louder, he said, "Well, great grandson, but. . ." He shrugged. "Technicalities," he murmured.

Alex sat perfectly still. She wasn't sure why she was so surprised. She knew about Susan, of course. It was no revelation that the Doctor had been a grandfather. But the idea of him being a great-grandfather. . . Well, that just reaffirmed how much older he was than her, how many differences there were between them. He'd had a family with children, grandchildren and, thanks to his longer lifespan, great grandchildren. She had dead parents, and a grandmother who was only a few levels above the Dursley's. It was quite the culture shock.

But Alex pushed past it. Looking at the Doctor now, she saw just how difficult this was for him. She had no doubt his grandson was dead. He would have said otherwise. She shifted closer, resting her head back in the crook of his neck. She smiled at the little sigh he let out. His body, previously stiff with tension and grief, relaxed back into the pillows. "Will you tell me about him?" she murmured.

The Doctor nodded. Still, it took him a few moments before he was able to start saying anything. "You know about Susan," he began quietly. "She left Gallifrey with me to travel." He sighed wearily. "She'd been having some difficulties with her mother at the time, wanted Susan to follow her path in the Academy and go into politics. But Susan was far too much like me." He chuckled. "My son used to say she was my carbon copy. She even rather resembled me in my first incarnation. Anyway, Susan and her mother were barely speaking, so my son, knowing that it was only a matter of time before I stole a TARDIS and ran off, suggested taking her with me. A 'learning experience', he called it."

"Don't take this the wrong way," Alex said slowly, unsure how he would react to what she was about to say, "but your son sounds really smart except for his choice of wife."

To her relief, the Doctor burst out laughing. "Yes, none of us could figure out what he saw in her. Me, my wife, and several of my other children tried to talk him out of marrying her, but to no avail. But it all worked out, I suppose. Susan was the eldest grandchild and, to some family members' detriment, my mini-me."

He fell silent for a moment, remembering his long-gone family, before forcing himself back to the conversation at hand. "Anyway, Susan and I traveled for a while and we eventually ended up on Earth, in 1963 London. The TARDIS navigational systems were fried – a story for another time – so we had to stay in place while I made repairs. Susan was still rather young at the time, and she didn't particularly fancy hanging around a battered TARDIS all day helping me with repairs. After a few weeks, she finally wore me down and I allowed her to enroll in a nearby school." He smiled broadly. "Coal Hill School."

Alex fiddled with the TARDIS charm on her necklace. "I gather, being a girl from a completely different time and place, she didn't often fit in there, did she?"

"Not really, no. Her knowledge was rather scattered, you see. Susan could run circles around everyone in physics and chemistry, but her history was a bit off. It eventually caught the attention of two of her teachers, Barbara Wright and Ian Chesterton."

"You've mentioned them before. You told me they ended up marrying after they left you and now they're professors in Cambridge."

The Doctor nodded. "Correct, Ally."

"So, they got curious about Susan's bizarre knowledge. Let me guess? They followed her back to the TARDIS, encountered you, and. . ." Alex's eyes widened and the Doctor cringed. He knew it wouldn't take her long to figure it out. Sure enough, a split second later, she smacked his arm. "Oh my god, Doctor! Are you seriously telling me this whole companion thing started with a kidnapping?!"

The Doctor rubbed his arm. "Well. . ."

Alex rolled her eyes. "For God's sake," she muttered. She wondered what Amy and Rory or Sarah Jane would think of this. To think, this exclusive club of companions had started with the Doctor kidnapping his first two.

"I thought they were going to expose Susan and me!" the Doctor cried. "We'd had a run in with some Colonel Rook bloke who wanted to use us as part of some 'war' effort." And considering Torchwood One existed at that time, the Doctor maintained he had made the right decision. "Anyway," he continued pointedly, "we all traveled together for a while. We eventually ended up in 22nd century London in the midst of a Dalek invasion." He felt Alex tense at the mention of his arch-enemy. "Susan ended up falling in love with one of the freedom fighters, David Campbell." He sighed softly. "I knew she wouldn't leave me, thought I was too dependent on her. So. . ."

"You made the choice for her," Alex finished.

He nodded. "I locked her out of the TARDIS, told her goodbye, and that one day, I would return."

"So I'm guessing she married David and they managed to hit the five percent chance?"

Remembering what he had originally meant to discuss with her, the Doctor cleared his throat and nodded. "Yes. She sent me a hypercube after he was born." He chuckled. "Nearly fell over when I heard what was inside. As we've been saying, there was only a five percent chance they would have a child."

"What was his name?" Alex asked softly.

The Doctor smiled down at her. "It was Alex, actually. Alexander David Campbell." He tilted his head towards the dresser. "There's a photo of them over there, if you're interested. Silver frame, polaroid." He wasn't surprised when Alex immediately hopped off his lap and all but ran over to the dresser. She made quick work in locating the photograph in question before darting back over to the bed and re-settling in his lap.

Alex studied the photograph with intense interest. The photo had been taken on the TARDIS, specifically in the barely-used dining room. Four people were seated around the table. One was a tall, handsome man with wavy, dark brown hair that went down to his shoulders. His eyes were a lovely blue though, depending on how Alex tilted the photo, they appeared to be different colors: ice blue, gray, even chocolate brown. He was dressed in a long, bottle-green velvet frockcoat, a high collared white dress shirt, grayish-green trousers, a floppy gray cravat with a pin stuck near the bottom, and a six-buttoned silky green waistcoat with a golden pocket watch. He reminded Alex of Mr. Darcy or one of the heroes in Marigold's collection of historical Harlequin romances. And, for some bizarre reason, she couldn't take her eyes off him.

Seeing this, the Doctor rolled his eyes. Of course Alex would be transfixed by that incarnation. She would have gotten along with his eighth self. Hell, his eighth self would have adored her. Then again, the same could probably be said for most, if not all, of his past incarnations.

"Enjoying the view, Ally?" he asked, with a bit more snark than he'd intended.

Alex jumped. "Oh, um, sorry, Doc." Her sunken cheeks flushed as she hastily studied the other diners. Sitting to Mr. Darcy's left was a young woman not that much older than Alex herself. She had chin length blonde hair with dark brows and eyes. She was dressed in 21st century clothing: a black leather jacket, a graphic tee advertising a band Alex had only vaguely heard of, and blue jeans. There was a sort of confidence about her, and Alex was left with the feeling that she would have liked this girl, whoever she was.

Sitting on Mr. Darcy's left was an older woman. She reminded Alex of an aging fairy or elf creature with dark, curly hair, dark eyes, and pale skin. She wore a plain off-white sweater, jeans, and boots. On her left hand was a plain gold band.

Sitting beside her was a young teen Alex immediately knew to be Alex, the Doctor's grandson (and wasn't that weird, her boyfriend having a grandson with her name!). He appeared to be seventeen or thereabouts with dark, slightly shaggy hair, dark eyes, and lightly tanned skin. He wore a plain white t-shirt with a black jacket thrown over it, jeans, and battered sneakers. He was a good-looking kid, Alex had to admit, but with his family tree, she thought with a smirk, that wasn't really a surprise.

"He's very handsome," she said softly. She shot the Doctor a grin. "Just like his grandfather."

The Doctor snorted in spite of himself. "Thank you, Ally."

Alex studied the two women again. "Is the woman he's sitting next to Susan?"

"Yes. She looks a bit older there than when I traveled with her."

"Who's the other girl? Companion?"

Going off the Doctor's thick swallow, Alex realized that yes, this was a companion and no, she had not met a good end. "Yes," he said softly. "Lucie Miller. From your time period. I met her in 2006." Alex wasn't surprised, nor did she protest, when after another heavy swallow, the Doctor changed the subject. "That photo was taken at Christmas 2187 here in the TARDIS, after we all had dinner. That was about six months after I met Alex."

Alex frowned. "You hadn't met him before then?"

"No. I don't really have an excuse as to why. Just never got around to it. But I finally crossed paths with him when he was seventeen." He grimaced. "He was in a rather rebellious stage."

"I gather 'rebellious' means more than getting piercings, tattoos, and possibly getting arrested for underage drinking."

"Bit different, yeah," the Doctor snorted. "This was about twenty years after the end of the decade long Dalek occupation, and Earth was still pretty much in ruins. Susan likened it to a new Dark Age. Technology as you know it was pretty much non-existent and the only food came from farming. And at the time, there was a crops shortage. Susan was rather busy trying to get things back in order and David had died a couple years back, so she didn't notice that Alex was becoming involved with some pretty bad people."

"How bad are we talking?"

"He got involved with this group called Earth United. You can basically think of it like a white supremacy group. Bunch of young kids who had grown up in this harsh, unfair world where little was being solved by the adults. Instead of blaming them though, they blamed aliens. Not just the Daleks, but any and all aliens."

Alex's jaw dropped. "But Alex was an alien! Partially, anyway!"

"Yes, but he didn't know that at the time. Susan and David kept it a secret. Thought telling him would make it hard for him to live a normal life."

"And of course," Alex smirked, "you disagreed."

"When I learned of it, yes."

"So, I'm assuming after you met Alex, he wised up and ditched Earth United?"

The Doctor smiled warmly. "Yes, he finally saw sense. Course, I don't think he actually agreed with them, just lashing out after his dad died and trying to get Susan's attention. I saved him from this race called the Guldreasi who were trying to make Earth a slave planet for its war machine, and told him of his origins. I wanted him to have an education on Gallifrey, so he could achieve his full academic potential as a Time Lord, but he decided to stay with Susan." The Doctor winced. "In hindsight, I doubt he would have even been allowed into the Academy, being partially human."

"Yeah," Alex said, remembering what had led to the Doctor telling her all of this. "You said the child of a human and Time Lord wouldn't necessarily be half and half." She stared at the young teen in the photo. "How much of a Time Lord was Alex?"

The Doctor suddenly looked rather tired. He rubbed the bridge of his nose. "Only seven percent," he said softly. "I analyzed his DNA at that Christmas dinner and found that only seven percent of his genome was Gallifreyan in origin. He wasn't telepathic, only had one heart, and he couldn't regenerate." With a shake of his head, he continued, in a slightly louder voice, "That didn't stop me from planning to give the TARDIS to him at some future point, though only after he traveled with me. Even had a room all made up for him, but he decided to go on a grand tour with Lucie instead."

Alex dreaded asking her next question. But she had to know. Not to mention, but she suspected the Doctor had to tell her. He wanted her to shed some light on the dark parts of himself that he kept locked away, something she was only too eager to do. "What happened to him?" she whispered. "To Alex."

The Doctor took a deep, shuddering breath. Alex was startled to see his eyes welling with tears. Within a flash, she shifted so that she was straddling him, their chests pressed together. She gently cradled his face, her thumbs wiping away the tears starting to fall. When the Doctor spoke again, his voice was barely more than a whisper. "The Daleks invaded Earth again, trying to conquer it. Alex and Lucie fronted the resistance, even saved me from being blown up in one of the Dalek saucers. They and Susan traveled in one of the saucers to the Dalek base in North America. They had a bomb with them. They were going to use it to try and destroy the base. The saucer. . ." He shuddered. "The saucer ended up getting caught in a magna-clamp. Alex and Susan were taken off the saucer, but Alex. . ." Tears spilled down his cheeks, faster than Alex could wipe them away. "Alex ran at the clamp's control panel. H-he . . . he was shot by a Dalek."

Alex's two hearts sank. She'd known as the Doctor was talking that Alex was dead, but she'd been desperately hoping otherwise. She would have liked to meet him. And Susan. And Lucie.

"Lucie ended up sacrificing herself to detonate the bomb." The Doctor focused on Alex's eyes, watching as they turned from honey to topaz to light green. "She flew a Dalek saucer into their stronghold and detonated the bomb. It created a time warp that sucked the Daleks in."

Knew I would like her, Alex thought. It took a lot of courage and bravery to sacrifice yourself in order to end an invasion. That was something Alex could respect. It was a damn shame she would never get to meet Lucie though. "I'm so sorry, Doctor," she murmured as she wiped away more tears. Her hearts nearly broke at the sight of her normally strong, courageous, stubborn-as-hell Doctor reduced to tears from the memories of what happened to his grandson and companion. It did, however, offer her additional insight into why he loathed the Daleks so much, as well as why he reacted so violently towards the Daleks in the Cabinet War Rooms. He had probably fantasized about beating the Daleks with a spanner or any number of objects multiple times over the years, especially after the horrid creatures caused him to lose something or someone dear to him.

She pressed a kiss to his forehead. It was a small comfort, she knew, but she hoped he would receive some reassurance from it. "Thank you for telling me," she said, dropping another kiss to his lips. It couldn't have been easy for him. Alex wondered if this was the first time he'd spoken about his grandson and Lucie since their deaths.

By this point, the Doctor's tears had stopped, though he was suddenly left feeling very drained. It was like a great weight had been lifted off him, one he hadn't known he'd been carrying. "You deserved to know," he said with a shrug. With a rough swallow, he added, "And now you know why I don't believe any of your ancestors may be alive. Granted, there's no telling how much of their genomes were Gallifreyan, but it's still safe to say it wasn't a half-half situation."

Alex nodded slowly. "I see that now." She picked up the photograph, having dropped it to the side when she straddled the Doctor. Her eyes roamed over the four people smiling at the camera, blissfully unaware of the tragic turn their lives would take. She swallowed thickly as she looked at Alex. Had he been alive today, he would be the closest thing she'd ever get to a grandchild, him and his mother. Would he have accepted her though? Would Susan? The Doctor had just mentioned his wife (the first time he'd done so, in Alex's recollection), but he hadn't given her any insight into what the marriage had been like. Happy? Strained? Neutral? If it had been happy, it was highly possible Susan might not have accepted her, preferring to stay loyal to her grandmother.

Still, Alex liked to hope they would have liked her, for the Doctor's sake if nothing else.

Rubbing her thumb across her pseudo-grandson's face, Alex shifted her gaze to the Mr. Darcy at the head of the table. "You haven't mentioned who this is," she said. She tilted the photograph in the Doctor's direction and tapped the man in question.

The Doctor stiffened. Yet another thing he had to go over with Alex: the full effects of regeneration. Since it was highly possible she could do that now, she deserved to know just what she might have to endure in the future. So far, she only knew about the physical changes and nothing else. She definitely deserved the truth. It was something he should have told her even before this whole mess started, if he was honest. "That's me, Ally. I was in my eighth body then."

Alex's eyes widened and she gaped at the photograph. Well, that explains why I couldn't take my eyes off him, she thought. She'd been looking at the Doctor. Even though she hadn't known it was him, she was still instinctively drawn to him. "That's you?" she demanded, her gaze roaming over the Eighth Doctor. "But, but, you look so different! Where's the tweed jacket and bowtie? Why are you dressed like Mr. Darcy?"

The Doctor sighed. He knew this was an important discussion, one that was necessary for Alex to know. However, after unloading about his grandson, Susan, and Lucie, he was simply too tired to go into more. He shifted against the pillows, his body settling into a reclining position.

Fortunately, Alex noticed. She took in the dark, slightly haunted look in his eyes, the sudden droopiness of his limbs, as well as the deep circles under his eyes. When was the last time he slept? she wondered. Was it the night she first came to his room, when she'd woken him up with her screams? She wouldn't have been surprised. The room had shown no evidence of being inhabited for more than a few minutes during the time he and Rory were searching for her and Amy.

Alex set the photograph on the nightstand, placing it facedown so the Doctor wouldn't have to look at it anymore. "It's okay," she murmured. Her fingers were already undoing his bowtie. She set it atop the photograph. "You can tell me later, after you've rested."

The Doctor groaned, even though the idea of a nap sounded almost heavenly. "Ally. . ."

"Don't 'Ally' me," Alex said firmly. She pushed his tweed jacket off his shoulders and down his arms until he was forced to shake it off. Alex hopped off the bed long enough to drape it over the back of the desk chair. She climbed back on the bed, smiling satisfactorily as the Doctor kicked off his boots. "You're going to rest now, okay? You really need it, Doc."

The Doctor shifted into a horizontal position. "Maybe you're right," he murmured, his eyes already shutting.

"Aren't I always?"

The Doctor offered a scoffing noise in response before falling silent. All that could be heard now was his deep breathing as he drifted into slumber.

~The Pros and Cons of Silence~

Even after the Doctor woke up from a five-hour rest, the opportunity to talk to Alex about the full effects of regeneration didn't come until the following day.

After a busy few hours in his personal laboratory examining Alex's blood again, the Doctor strode into the library. He found Alex curled up on the couch in front of the fireplace, a thick book in her lap. As he got closer though, he found that it wasn't a book, but a photo album.

"The TARDIS gave it to me," Alex said without turning around. Naturally, she had sensed him the moment he walked in. "It's got all your faces in here."

The Doctor settled down beside her. Sure enough, the album had copies of all the photos from his dresser, as well as a few he'd forgotten he'd taken. The page Alex was on now showed a black and white photo of his first incarnation. Susan had been messing around with a Polaroid camera she'd found and managed to snap the one picture he had of himself, Barbara, and Ian. It had been taken in the control room, all three gathered around the console. The Doctor was pretty sure it had been taken not long after the two schoolteachers finally began to trust him and vice-versa.

"My original face, I guess you could say," the Doctor said, pointing to his first incarnation.

Alex studied him intently. The Doctor here was rather old, looking to be in his late sixties (though Alex was sure the Doctor in the photo was much, much older than that). He had long white hair that fell down the back of his neck and wore a black Edwardian frock coat, a waistcoat over a wing-collared shirt, a dark necktie, and a pair of checked trousers. The Doctor's hand was outstretched towards the console, so Alex was also able to see he wore a ring set with a large stone. Had someone told Alex she would find this man attractive, she would have laughed her head off. Now, it didn't seem so shocking. Alex would have been more surprised if she didn't feel anything towards him.

She eyed the other two people in the photo. They were a man and a woman, somewhere in their early thirties. Based on how close they were standing, they knew each-other and were quite comfortable with one another. The woman had short dark hair styled similar to Jackie Kennedy's and wore a modest blouse and slacks set. The man beside her also had dark hair and wore a sweater, a collared shirt with a dark-colored tie, and slacks.

"Barbara and Ian, I presume?" she asked. "The two schoolteachers you kidnapped?"

The Doctor rolled his eyes (he was never going to hear the end of that) but nodded. "Yes. I think that's the only photo I have of the three of us."

Alex nodded and started turning pages, passing several shots of a younger Susan with Ian and/or Barbara, as well as a few other companions with the First Doctor. She finally arrived at a black and white photo of the Second Doctor and Jamie, standing outside the TARDIS on some mountainside. The Second Doctor was noticeably younger than the First with a mop of jet-black hair in a Beatles-reminiscent haircut. His clothing was noticeably different as well: a black frock coat that looked to be far too big for him, a light-colored shirt, and baggy trousers that, upon closer inspection, looked to be held up with a bunch of safety pins. However, Alex was pleased to see he also wore a bowtie. Once again, she found this Doctor attractive as well.

The Doctor watched silently as Alex flipped through the album. He could tell when she identified his incarnations by the little smile she gave and how her thumb traced their facial features. She spotted his third self in a photograph taken at the annual UNIT Christmas party. He and Jo Grant were standing before the elaborate Christmas tree the latter had spent the better part of two days decorating. Keeping the Christmas spirit in mind, his third incarnation (appearing in his fifties by human standards, with an impressive bouffant of white hair, blue eyes, and a broad Roman nose) wore a red velvet smoking jacket over a white ruffled shirt, dark trousers, and a forest green necktie.

His fourth self was found in a photograph he recalled being taken by Sarah Jane, having discovered Susan's Polaroid. She'd made him pose in front of the console and while he complained about her being a 'Silly Sarah', he'd ultimately gone along with it. His fourth incarnation was a very tall man with big, boggling brown eyes, a mass of brown curls, and a prominent smile. Alex noted that this Doctor seemed to prefer layers: a white shirt that she could barely see as it was hidden beneath a tweed waistcoat, a rusty orange cravat, and the absurdly long, multi-colored scarf she recalled wearing in the Dream Lord's TARDIS reality. The rest of the outfit consisted of a light brown frock coat, plain brown trousers, and a brown, wide-brimmed hat.

His fifth incarnation's photo also included Nyssa, Adric, and Tegan. It was a sort-of family photo, taken not long after Tegan agreed to travel on the TARDIS full-time. Alex's brow furrowed a bit at the Fifth Doctor's costume. Thanks to all the cricket matches Amy made her watch, she immediately identified his outfit as a variant of a cricketer's, or at least one from a few decades back: a cream-colored frock coat with, interestingly enough, a celery stalk pinned to it, a white collared shirt with bright red question marks embroidered on either side of the collar, a cricket sweater, striped trousers, and an optimo-style Panama hat with a red band that had a small black and white pattern on it.

"What's with the celery?" Alex asked. It was the first thing she'd said in several minutes.

The Doctor winced. Honestly, he wasn't sure what he'd been thinking wearing that. At the very least, he could have kept it in his pocket. "Well," he shrugged, "that incarnation did have an allergy to certain gases in the Praxis galaxy range. For Time Lords, celery is an excellent restorative, so if I had come into contact with those particular gases, the celery would turn purple, alerting me to it, and then I'd eat it."

Alex didn't fail to notice the reference to an allergy she knew this Doctor didn't have (they'd been to the Praxis range several times) but chose not to comment on it yet. "And these other people, who are they?"

The Doctor pointed to each person as he named them off. "Nyssa, Adric, and Tegan. Nyssa and Adric were both aliens – Adric actually from another universe – while Tegan was from 1981 Australia."

Alex studied the three companions. Nyssa didn't look much older than eighteen, but she was unmistakably beautiful. There was an exotic quality to her too, detectible even through a photograph, that Alex attributed to her being an alien. She had curly, shoulder-length dark hair with big dark eyes, a heart-shaped face, and prominent cheekbones. She wore an interesting outfit that seemed to be made entirely of crushed purple velvet: a puffy-sleeved shirt and slim pants. Next to her, Adric appeared much younger, probably fifteen or so. He had long, wavy black hair and a sort of smug look around his lips. He wore a long-sleeved yellow shirt with a red breast pocket. Pinned to the pocket was a blue star badge. On the Fifth Doctor's other side was Tegan. She was older than the other companions, probably around Alex's age, with short brown hair and eyes. Interestingly, she wore a purple stewardess outfit.

Alex already knew bits and pieces about Tegan (namely that she and the Doctor bickered like cats and dogs), but next to nothing about Nyssa and Adric. She wanted to ask about them, but she knew now was not the time. With a small sigh, she flipped the page. Upon seeing the Doctor's sixth incarnation, Alex's jaw dropped.

The Sixth Doctor, again posing by the console, was a handsome man with curly blond hair and, like his previous selves, attractive to Alex. However, his fashion sense. . . No one could claim that the Doctor had a good sense of fashion in any incarnation, but his sixth one took the cake. Alex gaped at the garish, multi-colored, and multi-patterned coat that adorned the Sixth Doctor. The rest of his outfit wasn't much better, consisting of a white shirt with the same question marks on the collar as his fifth self had worn, a blue polka-dotted necktie, a dark colored waistcoat, and yellow trousers with black pinstripes.

"My . . . God, Doctor," she gasped. "What were you thinking?"

The Doctor grimaced and had to turn away from the picture. Looking at that horrifying coat was actually giving him a headache. "I honestly don't know, Ally," he sighed. "All I can say was that that incarnation had some . . . issues. The regeneration was rather unstable as well."

"How so?"

"Me and my companion at the time, Peri Brown, were exposed to spectrox. Normally, that wouldn't be so bad except we were exposed to it in its raw form, which is deadly. I got an antidote, but some of it spilled on the way back to the TARDIS. There was only enough left for one dose and—"

"You gave it to Peri," Alex finished. She smiled softly. Of course he would do that. The idea of using it on himself never would have occurred to him. That was just one of the many things she loved about him.

The Doctor nodded. "Yes, and the regeneration was particularly traumatic. I started hallucinating past companions and then the next incarnation was. . ." He grimaced. "Well, you can see for yourself what his mental state was."

"I'm sure it wasn't that bad," Alex murmured even as she flipped the page. Clearly, the Sixth Doctor was not an incarnation her Doctor wanted to dwell on.

The next incarnation of the Doctor had been caught in the middle of a chess game. The Doctor remembered Ace taking that photo, having gotten bored with his seventh self trying (and failing) to teach her the game. His outfit in this incarnation was calmer than his sixth's (though pretty much anything would have been in comparison), consisting of a plain white collared shirt, sand colored tweed plaid trousers, a yellow pullover adorned with red question marks and blue-green zigzag patterns, an off-white safari-style jacket with a red paisley scarf worn under the lapels, a matching handkerchief in the breast pocket, a fob watch chained to the left lapel, and a red paisley tie. In appearance, the seventh Doctor looked a bit older than his predecessor with dark brown hair and eyes that Alex wouldn't hesitate to describe as all-knowing. Something told Alex that this incarnation of the Doctor, more than any of the others she'd seen, was not someone to trifle with.

She paused to study the same photo of the Eighth Doctor she'd seen yesterday before flipping to the next photograph. It had been taken by Jack Harkness and the Doctor hadn't even known about it until he and Rose were long off the TARDIS. Jack had captured it in the middle of the Doctor making repairs to the console.

Alex ran her thumb across the Ninth Doctor's face. He appeared older, roughly in his forties by human standards, and seemed rougher than his previous incarnations, a bit harder to reach emotionally. Of course, Alex knew this was the Doctor fresh off the Time War. It was no wonder that this version of him would be a bit darker and rough around the edges. He had short, dark buzzed hair and ice blue eyes and wore a plain purple jumper, a black leather reefer jacket, and dark trousers. His outfit reminded Alex of Victorian mourning costumes, at least in color. It made sense though. He would have been mourning the loss of his planet and people particularly hard at that point in time.

The Doctor rolled his eyes when Alex visibly perked up at the photo of his tenth incarnation. He supposed he couldn't entirely blame her though. That face was one of the best ones he'd had.

The photo had been taken by Donna on the beaches of Space Florida. They had gone on a day during the off-season, so the beach was deserted. The Tenth Doctor stood in front of the ocean, beaming at the camera. He had brown hair that stuck up everywhere, rather like a hedgehog's, and sideburns. His brown eyes were as bright as his smile, causing Alex to smile as well. His outfit, like that of his ninth self, was tame compared to past incarnations, consisting of a plain white collared shirt, a brown, blue pinstriped suit that clung to his slim frame, a brown patterned tie, and a beat-up pair of Converse All-Stars.

"So. . ." Alex struggled to think of what to say. The photos certainly cleared all her misconceptions regarding regeneration. She'd thought that the Doctor, while gaining a new face, retained his basic personality. Same clothes, same insistence that bowties and various hats were cool, same ridiculous love of fish fingers and custard. . . But those assumptions had been shot to hell. Clearly, regeneration was something far more complex than she'd initially thought. "Um . . . regeneration is. . ." She shook her head. "Yeah, sorry, Doc, but I'm speechless."

He smiled at her, but Alex could tell it was slightly strained. "It's okay, Ally. It's . . . a bit difficult to wrap your head around."

But he was surprised by Alex shaking her head. "No, no, I get the whole process. It's just. . ." She paused, trying to put her thoughts into words. "Well, it's a bit daunting that I might be able to do that." Change her face, parts of her personality. . . It sounded vaguely like the plot of Face/Off, only more extreme than a face transplant. She eyed the Doctor. "Can I regenerate? I know I asked you before and you said you didn't know, but you've been analyzing my blood. . ."

The Doctor rubbed a hand over his face. "It's difficult to tell, Ally," he admitted. "I have found bits of regeneration energy in your blood sample, but I can't tell just how much you've got. Not without somehow analyzing all the blood in your body, which is impossible. I'd say it's about a fifty/fifty chance. I also can't tell if Kovarian and her butchers somehow added it – though where they would get it, I have no idea – or if your DNA somehow managed to get your body to start producing it after recognizing the Time Lord DNA."

Alex sighed. "Okay, then." She honestly wasn't sure how to feel about his answer. It didn't exactly reveal much. Placing the photo album on the coffee table, she scooted closer to him. The Doctor let out a happy hum as he wrapped his arm around her waist while Alex settled her head against his chest. His two heartbeats thudded softly beneath her ear, a soothing rhythm that helped to calm her rampant thoughts.

The Doctor slipped his hand under her shirt to rub circles against her waist. Alex was once again wearing another one of his shirts, this time a Beastie Boys shirt he'd picked up at a concert shortly before meeting her and the Ponds in America. Which reminded him. . . No, he told himself. Not now. He strongly suspected that if he dared to confront Alex about what Amy had told him at the acid factory when she thought he was his ganger now, the only thing that would happen would be a massive row. Besides, Alex was still on the mend. She was only just starting to put some weight back on. As desperate as he was for answers, the Doctor knew he had to be patient and wait. It was a task that was usually easier said than done for him, but with Alex, somehow, someway, it was easier.

Alex hummed and pressed herself against his palm. She crossed her legging-clad legs at her socked ankles and slung them over the Doctor's lap. She could have stayed like this forever, simply relishing in being with the Doctor, but her mind was still going over everything she'd learned about regeneration and the gaps in her newfound education. "Doc?" she asked. He hummed in response. "Can I ask you a few questions?"

"Of course, Ally." He continued rubbing circles against her skin though, now that Alex paid closer attention, she thought it just might actually be Circular Gallifreyan he was tracing.

A conversation for another time, she dismissed. "So, I noticed in the photos that your personal style changes from incarnation to incarnation. How much does . . . everything else change? I mean," she continued hastily, hoping that she wasn't offending him, "you mentioned your fifth incarnation having an allergy that I know this you doesn't have. Not to mention, but how much of your thoughts and feelings change?" If you regenerate while you're with me, is there a chance you won't want to be with me anymore?

The Doctor, however, knowing her so well, knew what she wasn't asking. Removing his hand from under her shirt, he gripped her hips and pulled her up until she was sitting in his lap. He cupped her chin, gently but firmly turning her head until her gaze met his. Guarded copper eyes met piercing emerald green. "Listen to me, Alexandria," he said, his voice firm and determined. "I will always adore you." He couldn't say he loved her, not like this. It had to be during a special moment, not while he was trying to convince her that despite his exterior changing, underneath he was still the same person. "Aspects of my personality may change – I may be rubbish at drawing in one body, and a regular Picasso in another, or a bit more manipulative and cunning than I normally am – but nothing about my thoughts or feelings towards people change. I will still treasure each and every one of my companions, I will still loathe Daleks, and I will still flirt and banter with you, kiss you, and put you on a pedestal because you are, without a doubt, the most precious thing in the universe to me."

He cupped her cheeks, pulling her face closer to his. Their lips were almost touching now and as he spoke, his lips briefly touched hers on certain words. "You are, to be quite frank, Alexandria Nicole Locke, everything to me." He chuckled. "And I'd be lying if I said that didn't scare me half to death sometimes. I've never felt this way towards someone before. And I doubt I will again."

By the end of his sentence, tears were glistening in Alex's eyes. The Doctor paled when he saw them. "Oh, Ally, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to upset you—"

But he was cut off by Alex giggling. "Happy tears, Doc," she grinned. She leaned down and pressed a kiss to his cheek, as a few of those 'happy tears' ran down her own cheeks. "I promise."

"Never understood that," he muttered. "Happy crying."

"It's a human thing," Alex smirked. "Time Lords need not apply." That quip earned her a pinch to her side. Alex laughed. "Alright, alright," she said as she wiped her tears away, "but in all seriousness. . . Thank you, Doctor. I-I know it sounds silly, but I just needed to know."

He cupped her chin. "Not silly at all, Alex." Of course that would be the first thing she worried about. He couldn't blame her. He had told her that he was no longer head over heels in love with Rose as his prior incarnation had been. Not that he didn't love Rose any less, but. . . Well, their time had passed. He had moved on and, he had to admit, it was for the better that he had.

He slung an arm around Alex's waist as she shifted back into a sitting position on his lap, her head resting just beneath his chin. "Any more questions?" he asked.

She shook her head. "No, I think I've got a pretty good grasp on regeneration. The outside changes, some allergies may appear, some skills may be gained or lost, but underneath, you're still the same person, right?"

He grinned. "Right," he said, and he placed a kiss on the top of her head.

~The Pros and Cons of Silence~

Alex rolled her eyes. "I'll be fine, Doc." It was the tenth time she'd said this and, frankly, she could no longer keep the annoyance out of her voice.

The Doctor shot her a look that fully expressed his annoyance. "So you say," he said with no small amount of forced patience. "But I don't agree."

Alex sighed. They'd been having this argument since last night when, during dinner, Alex asked him if he would park the TARDIS on Earth for a little while so she could run an errand. She wanted to go by a hairdresser's and get her blonde highlights put back in. To Alex's mind, this had been a perfectly reasonable request. It wouldn't take a lot of time – an hour or two, tops – and it would allow her to stretch her legs a bit, as well as finally touch proper Earth soil for the first time in nine months. She hadn't thought the Doctor could find any fault in her request.

She'd been wrong. Big time.

The Doctor hadn't given her an exact reason why he didn't want her leaving the TARDIS to accomplish this very simple task, but Alex strongly suspected it was because he didn't want her out of his sight. It made sense. She had been taken from him when he wasn't around to try and prevent it. He was no doubt feeling guilty over that incident, even though he shouldn't be. No one had seen Kovarian, the Silence, or Demons Run coming. His reasoning presumably also involved her health. All in all, very reasonable concerns.

Damn if it still wasn't infuriating though.

"Doctor, I know you're worried," Alex said, forcing herself to be calm, to consider all this from his point of view. "But I'll be fine. Getting highlights doesn't take a lot of time. An hour or two at most. Also, if you're worried about me physically, you said yourself just last night, I'm much better than I was a week ago."

It was true. In the one week since Demons Run, Alex had come a long way health wise. She no longer got shaky limbs when she stood up or walked around for a long period of time, her two hearts had settled into a normal rhythm of eighty beats per minute each, and she was putting on weight again. Much to her and the Doctor's alarm, she had only weighed 100 pounds post-Demons Run. She still wasn't her target weight yet, but she had gained ten pounds thanks to a combination of the Doctor's fitness regime and specially-prepared meals that he made sure were packed with carbs and protein. Her cheeks were still a bit sunken in and her skin rather pale but overall, Alex was doing much better.

The Doctor leaned back against the console, heaving out a heavy sigh. "I know that, Ally. Believe me, I'm grateful for it. But I still don't like the idea of you going off on your own."

Alex pursed her lips, but bit back her retort. "I know and I understand that, Doctor, but this is my life and health we're talking about. I get to have a say, too."

The Doctor's expression indicated he wasn't happy about this, but nevertheless, he yanked down the lever that would send the TARDIS flying down the time vortex. A few moments later, the time machine landed with a heavy thump. The Doctor glanced at the coordinates. "Outside the British Museum," he reported. "Monday, April 25th, 2011, half past one in the afternoon."

Alex grabbed her black leather jacket from the jumpseat. "Thanks, Doc!" she called over her shoulder as she made her way to the door. "Remember, two hours tops! You won't even notice I'm gone!"

Outside, the street was packed. Several people were making their way to and from the steps leading to the main entrance of the British Museum. The sun shined brightly overhead but there was a distinct chill in the air. Not that Alex really felt it. She could detect it, but it wasn't affecting her as changes in temperature normally affected humans. She certainly wasn't shivering, nor did she have the urge to zip her jacket up.

Resisting the urge to dart up the steps and explore the museum (something that Alex, in her few years of living in England, had yet to do), Alex made her way down the crowded sidewalk. Pausing at a crosswalk, she dug out her phone. According to Google Maps, the closest hair salon was a couple blocks away. Not too horrible a distance. She had walked much further on various adventures with the Doctor.

However, as Alex made her way across the street, a strange feeling overcame her. Her whole body tensed as a man in a business suit stepped a little closer to her. He wasn't even aware he was doing it; his eyes were glued to his iPhone. A woman in a jogging uniform, her dark hair swept up into a high ponytail, came up on her other side. Alex crossed her arms over her chest, hoping no one would notice that she was starting to tremble.

The man and woman headed their separate ways the moment they all reached the sidewalk. The man turned left onto a side street while the woman jogged ahead at a brisk pace. Alex let out a breath she hadn't even known she'd been holding. She uncrossed her arms, letting them flop to her sides. Her hands were still shaking. Good lord, she thought, what is wrong with me?

Determined to put it out of her mind, Alex marched down the sidewalk. Her black combat boots, paired with her jacket, a white t-shirt (for once one of hers), and black leggings, pounded against the pavement. It was almost like a warning to her fellow pedestrians: don't mess with me.

Still, as Alex made her way towards the salon, her newfound feelings refused to go away. She felt a bit paranoid, even scared. She found her gaze darting all around, studying the people surrounding her intently. Everyone, from the group of old ladies outside the ice cream parlor sharing a banana split to the bald man in a sportscoat talking loudly on his cellphone to someone named Monica, were a potential threat. Alex's hands tightened into fists, ready to fight anyone who approached her. She glanced over her shoulder, checking to see if anyone was following her. There was a kid in a skateboard who had been right behind her since she left the British Museum, but he was about fourteen. Still, the sheer knowledge that he'd kept up with Alex thus far refused to leave her mind.

By the time she reached the salon, located in the shadow of the Royal College of Anaesthetists, Alex's hearts were pounding. It was like they were trying to beat out of her chest. Alex ran into the salon, attracting a few stares, but she didn't care. She had reached her destination and now she would complete her errand, then go back to the Doctor. She was suddenly regretting not asking him to come along, even though she knew he would have been bored at the salon and probably would have broken something.

Alex continued to feel anxious even as she spoke with the girl at the desk, waited for ten minutes on an ugly floral sofa next to a woman with an ill-advised perm, then spoke with Andrena, the hairdresser, explaining what she wanted as well as dodging the woman's questions on just why she had waited so long to resume her highlights. Andrena had to repeatedly tell Alex to tilt her head down as she trimmed her hair; Alex's gaze kept wandering to the mirror, eyeing the people behind her.

Alex tried to concentrate on Andrena's chatter about her boyfriend and his smelly dogs, the Ellie Goulding album playing overhead, the receptionist ordering a salad for lunch, anything to keep her mind off her sudden fears. As she sat in a chair, her hair wrapped in foil, Alex tried and failed to read a Cosmo article educating her on the latest spring makeup trends. The only time she felt even a modicum of something other than fear was when she was paying the receptionist. As she slid her card through the reader, Alex noted her widespread relief. She was going to be back with the Doctor in a matter of minutes. He'd smile at her familiar brown-blonde locks, maybe twirl some strands around his fingers. Alex smiled just thinking about it.

However, as she walked back towards the British Museum, her anxieties crept back over her. It was like a heavy blanket suddenly being draped over her, weighing her down. Her eyes slid back and forth across the streets, watching everyone, checking to see if they were looking at her. When someone was looking at her, Alex flinched and walked faster. By the time she reached the sidewalk where the TARDIS was parked, she was all-out running.

The BANG the door made as it slammed behind her didn't go unnoticed. Up by the console, the Doctor frowned. Alex tried not to fidget under his scrutinizing stare. It was times like this that she wished they weren't on the same wavelength, that they couldn't sense when something was bothering the other.

Pushing her anxieties (which had vanished the moment she stepped into the TARDIS) aside, Alex smiled brightly. She didn't even have to fake it. It simply came naturally. She was so happy to be back in the Doctor's presence. "How's it look?" she grinned as she rushed up the steps to the platform.

The probing look in his eyes slowly vanished, replaced by genuine pleasure. "I must say," he said lowly, stepping closer to her, "I much prefer the blonde over simple brown." As if to punctuate this statement, his fingers wrapped around a lock of her hair, his thumb rubbing the brown-blonde strands.

Alex smiled warmly, her eyes switching from copper to dark green. "Me too."

~The Pros and Cons of Silence~

Alex bolted upright, a scream wrenching from her throat. Her hearts were thundering against her chest, as though they were trying to break out. She could barely breathe; all that came out of her mouth were screams.

The room was dark, almost pitch black. Why was it so dark? The Doctor's bedroom was never this dark. The walls always seemed to give off an inner glow, rather like a massive nightlight had been built into them. It wasn't that way now though. Now, the room was cast in shadows.

Alex gasped for breath. She couldn't breathe. Somewhere in the back of her mind, she registered something in her chest kicking in, something that helped her take regular breaths between screams, but the majority of her mind was focused on her terror, the dark room she'd been left alone in . . . again. Where was he? Why wasn't he coming? Did he not know she was in danger?

Tears trickled down her cheeks, but Alex didn't even feel them. "DOCTOR!" she shrieked. "DOCTOR!" Her throat ached from screaming, but she had to get him. She tried to get up, to go find him, but found that she couldn't move. Her legs were restrained.

Her eyes widening, Alex thrashed around. "DOCTOR!" she begged, silently pleading for the darkness to produce him, for him to step out of the shadows with that ridiculous grin she adored, the one that let her know even when they were facing down a horde of Daleks that everything was going to be okay. But she didn't see him. He wasn't coming.

But no sooner had she thought that when there came a loud thud from somewhere outside the room. It sounded rather like someone side-checking the wall, the way people did when they were running, their feet concentrated on movement and not necessarily direction. A split second later, the door was thrown open, sending it banging back against the wall. Dim light spilled into the room, outlining the silhouette of a tall, lanky man in a bowtie.

Alex's screams faded away. The tears continued to roll down her cheeks, but at a much slower rate than a few moments ago. "Doctor?" she whispered. She almost couldn't believe it. He had come.

The Doctor raced into the room and up on the bed beside her. He could see that Alex was trembling as he carefully untangled the sheets from her legs. "Ally, Ally," he murmured, maneuvering her into his lap as he settled back against the pillows. "What's wrong, love?" He wiped away her tears, inwardly cursing as he caught sight of her neon green orbs. "What is it, love? Tell me."

Alex was silent for several minutes as she struggled to reorient herself. She was not restrained: it had just been the sheets knotted around her legs. She was not in the dark. The dim light from the hallway seeped into the room and the walls were starting to regain their pale blue glow. Her hearts had slowed down from their thunderous pace and her respiratory bypass system had stepped back, allowing her lungs to regain control. She breathed slowly and deeply, easing herself away from the hearts-wrenching terror she'd experienced just moments ago and into. . . Well, not quite calmness, but something close to it.

"I . . . I. . ." She swallowed, wincing at the ache in her throat. No doubt her screams had something to do with it. "I had a dream, only. . ."

The Doctor eyed her. "Only what, Ally?" he asked, brushing her bangs out of her eyes.

Alex shivered. "Only it wasn't just a dream. It was . . . a memory."

The Doctor tensed. He knew this was going to happen, he'd known it was coming, he just hadn't known when. When he spoke again, it was in the careful, wary way of trying not to set someone off. "Was it about what I think it was about?"

A fresh crop of tears welled up in Alex's eyes as she nodded. "Yes," she whispered. "I remember when Amy and I were kidnapped. . ."

Alex muttered a curse under her breath as someone continued to shake her shoulder. Without opening her eyes, Alex flopped a lazy hand at the offender. "Go away," she muttered. She rolled onto her stomach, burying her face in the pillow.

A split second later, her comfortable pillow was abruptly yanked away. Alex groaned.

"Wake up, Alex!" Amy hissed. One hand holding her pillow hostage, the other continued shaking her shoulder. "Come on, get up, it's an emergency!"

Alex pushed herself up onto her elbows. She didn't open her eyes though. "Is there something wrong with Rory?" she asked, her voice low and drowsy. "With your parents? His dad?"

"No, everyone's fine."

"Is the house on fire?"

Even with her eyes closed, she knew Amy was rolling her eyes. "No. But it is an emergency."

Alex resumed her previous position on the bed. As Amy was still holding her pillow hostage, Alex nestled her head into the newly bare section of mattress. Nowhere near as comfortable as a pillow, but it would do.

Amy let out a loud groan. "Dammit, Alex! This is a proper emergency!"

"If you need pads," Alex muttered against the purple sheets, "I have a box under the sink in my bathroom. Midol, too."

"This isn't that kind of emergency! Actually, I may not even need those for nine months or so. . ."

Suddenly, Alex was wide awake. She nearly knocked Amy backwards as she popped up, holding herself up with the palms of her hands. "What?!" she cried, light brown eyes wide. She gaped at Amy's flat abdomen, easily seen thanks to the tight tank top Amy wore. "You're pregnant?!"

Amy shrugged. Only now that she was awake did Alex notice all the warring emotions on her friend's face: excitement, nervousness, fear, all of them vying for dominance. "I dunno. Maybe? I am late. I woke up just a little while ago and I was thinking about what to get when I go to the grocery later this week, and I automatically put pads down, but then I realized I had a fresh box under the sink and then I remembered I bought that box over a month ago and I haven't opened them yet and that was when I realized I'm late. Way late!"

Alex shifted into a sitting position, her back propped against the wall. "Have you told Rory?"

"No, no!" Amy shook her head wildly. "He's still asleep upstairs. He had that late shift last night. I don't want to tell him unless I'm absolutely sure." She gave Alex a pleading look. "Please come to the chemist's with me? Please?"

"Of course I will, Ames." Alex peered out the bedside window. Though it was early April, the sky outside was dark. A glance at the clock revealed why. "Ames, it's only seven thirty. Is the chemist's even open yet?"

"I called down. Henry said he was already down there getting a bunch of prescriptions ready for the senior center pickup. He said he'd leave the door unlocked and we could come right in."

Alex shoved the cover and sheets off her legs. "Okay, give me a few minutes to get dressed."

Less than five minutes later, her pajamas exchanged for a clingy black tank top, black jeans, black combat boots, and a black leather jacket along with her ever-present ring and sonic necklace, Alex walked down the dark streets of Leadworth. Beside her, Amy had thrown a flannel shirt over her tank top, pairing them with jeans and some ratty sneakers. Her hands were shoved in her pockets, but that didn't stop her from taking them out every few seconds and fiddling with her fingers or running them through her hair.

"Ames? Are you okay?"

"What? Of course I'm okay! Why wouldn't I be?"

"Amy, it's perfectly normal to be nervous. Even scared."

Amy opened her mouth to argue, but abruptly shut it. Her hands, which had been fiddling with themselves, fell to her sides. "I know," she said quietly. "I just. . . It's just a big change, isn't it? What if I'm not ready for it?"

"Do you not want to have kids?"

"No!" Amy cried, looking aghast. "No, no, I do, really! Honestly, Alex, I was really thrilled when I realized I was late. But still. . . This changes everything, doesn't it?"

Alex paused to consider this. Amy wasn't exaggerating. A lot of things would change. Amy's body would change, adapting to the pregnancy, Amy and Rory would probably have to start looking for a bigger house or transform Rory's study into a nursery, diapers and a crib would have to be bought, Lamaze classes would have to be attended, there would be less nights of drinking with Mels and hanging out at the Queen's Garters, more staying up with a fussy baby, Alex may or may not have to move out so as not to get in the way, and there would be no more traveling in the TARDIS for Amy and Rory. The TARDIS, as incredible as it was, was not a good place to raise a baby. Not to mention, but the Doctor would probably object to the child being brought on board. Trips through time and space would instead turn into trips to the pediatrician, eventually followed by parent-teacher night at the local school, soccer games, and Christmas pageants.

It was true. Everything was going to change.

Alex struggled to figure out what to say. "Yeah, Amy," she said softly. "A lot of things are going to change. But . . . it's a lot of good changes though, don't you think?"

Amy considered this. As she did, her hand absentmindedly rested on her stomach. "Yeah," she whispered, her eyes shining. She gave Alex a grin. "Definitely good."

By this point, they had reached the chemists. Sure enough, Henry had left the door unlocked. The sound of the Black Eyed Peas singing their latest single, 'Just Can't Get Enough' greeted them as they walked through the door.

Amy glanced up towards the speakers, squinting in the glare coming from the bright fluorescent lights. "Henry doesn't have a huge music taste, does he?"

Alex snorted. Henry Vernon's father was well-known around Leadworth for his extensive record collection, but his son had failed to become fully invested in music as well. His taste was limited to the Billboard Top 40 chart. As such, the Black Eyed Peas were getting as much airplay at Vernon and Son's Chemists as they were on any number of radio stations around the world.

They spotted Henry at the front counter, counting how much money there was in the till. He waved at them as they passed, maneuvering past the multitude of shelves loaded with Easter products – Cadbury Eggs, Peeps, chocolate bunnies, little stuffed rabbits in a wide variety of colors, Easter baskets stuffed with everything from Hot Wheels to coloring books – towards the family planning section. The aisle was chock full of different varieties of condoms, pre-natal vitamins and, most importantly of all, pregnancy tests. Amy and Alex stared at the long line of pink and blue boxes.

Amy picked up a box at random. "Which one?" she wondered. "They all look so different."

Alex grimaced. The sex-ed unit in ninth grade health hadn't covered this. "Maybe we should get a variety? Just to be safe. I mean, they all require you to do the same thing, don't they? Pee on a stick."

Amy snorted. "True." She shifted the box she was already holding to underneath one arm. "Don't forget. You can't tell Rory. Not yet."

"Wasn't going to," Alex assured her. Like Amy, she refused to get Rory's hopes up. Not until they had definitively confirmed that Amy was pregnant.

Smiling widely at her friend, Amy reached for another test. Just as her fingertips grasped a Clearblue box, a heavy thump rang out.

The girls looked around. "Henry?" Alex called. "Was that you?" No response.

"Maybe he dropped something," Amy said.

Alex started towards the aisle entrance. "Well, just to be safe, we'd better—" Her voice abruptly cut off. Her eyes widened.

Standing at the head of the aisle was a figure Alex had never seen before. She said 'figure' because whoever it was definitely wasn't human. The figure, at least seven feet in height, was clad in a tight suit with a white collared shirt and a black tie. It was so tight that Alex suspected it was actually part of the creature's skin. Its overall skin was gray. Its head was bulb-shaped and very reminiscent of a skull. There were two deep recesses on either side of where the bridge of the nose should be; Alex could just vaguely make out a beady little eye inside each. The creature's hands had four large, long fingers each.

While fear had left her momentarily paralyzed, it quickly regrouped to allow Alex to move. Fast. "Amy!" she cried, sprinting back down the aisle. Amy was gaping at the creature too, her fingers gripping a pregnancy test so tight her knuckles were turning white. "We have to go, now!"

Amy, her eyes never wavering from the creature, nodded. Still clutching the pregnancy test, she and Alex barreled down towards the other end of the aisle. Alex thought quickly as they ran. This end of the aisle led out to the side aisle that was usually where menstrual products and adult diapers were kept. It ran all the way down to the door, which was about thirty feet away from their current location. All they had to do was high-tail it out of here and sprint to home. From there, they could grab Rory, get Alex's car, then drive like hell to London. They could call the Doctor on the way or once they got there. There was no doubt in Alex's mind. This creature, whatever it was, hadn't landed in Leadworth on accident. Alex wasn't sure how she knew it – instinct, maybe – but whatever this creature was, it had come to Leadworth for the sole purpose of tracking down her, Amy, and Rory. What for, Alex didn't want to know.

Amy abruptly stopped once they reached the end of the aisle. Glancing at her, Alex saw her expression was one of confusion. "Alex, why are we—"

Alex grabbed her hand. "No time!" She didn't let Amy get another word out, instead dragging her into the side aisle. She turned them towards the door, only to skid to a stop.

Two more of the bulbous-headed, suit-clad figures were blocking their path.

In the blink of an eye, Alex had them turned the other way. She mentally revised her plan. They could run to the back of the store and flee through the back door by the pharmacy. It would set off the alarm, alerting the fire department, which would cause the alien figures to either flee or fight back, but she, Amy, and Amy's possible child would be safe.

But they only got a few steps before two more figures stepped out of the laxative's aisle.

"Dammit!" Alex screamed. Vaguely hearing Amy starting to shriek, she dragged her back to the family planning aisle. "They've got us surrounded!"

Absolutely no doubt: they were after her and Amy. But how to get away?

At the head of the family planning aisle, the first alien figure had been joined by another one. They stood at the head of the aisle, arms straight at their sides like bouncers blocking the entrance to an exclusive, popular club.

Still holding Amy's hand, Alex maneuvered them to the center of the aisle. They stood back-to-back, each keeping some of the creatures in sight. "Henry!" Alex shouted. "Where are you?!" How Henry was going to help she had no idea, but beggars couldn't be choosers. Their options of escape had dimmed dramatically.

"Henry!" Amy echoed. Her voice shook from fear. "Henry, get out here!"

"We could really use some help right now!" Alex yelled.

Then, someone answered, but it wasn't Henry. "If you're shouting for the chemist, I'm afraid he's been detained for the time being."

The two alien figures at the head of the aisle parted to allow someone to step through. The new arrival was humanoid and female with dark, curly brown hair piled on top of her head. She wore a two-piece black leather skirt suit and heels, but that wasn't what caught Alex's attention. It was the silver eyepatch fixed to her right eye. Her dark lips were curved into a sinister smile as she came to a stop mere feet away from Amy and Alex.

"Where's Henry?" Amy demanded, risking a glance over her shoulder to glare at the woman. "What have you done to him?!"

But Alex wasn't concerned about that. Linking her other arm around Amy's, Alex straightened to her full height. "I request communication in accordance to Convention 15 of the Shadow Proclamation, the cessation of hostile actions in order to parley."

The woman blinked, apparently surprised by the request, but nodded. "Granted."

Amy, still focused on the creatures blocking the other end of the aisle, hissed to Alex, "How did you know that?"

"Heard the Doctor say it to those hostile Groske," Alex whispered back. She had asked the Doctor more about the Shadow Proclamation and Convention 15 after that adventure had ended and he'd proceeded to educate her on several of the 2,366 articles that made up Shadow Proclamation doctrine. With her selective eidetic memory, she'd filed it away for future reference. She'd simply never thought she'd have to use that knowledge in a situation like this, though. Louder, she said, in a no-nonsense tone, "Identify yourself."

"Madame Kovarian."

"Planet of origin." Before Kovarian could answer, Alex rattled off, "Galactic coordinates, species designation, and your purpose of being here according to the universal ratification of the Shadow Proclamation."

Kovarian answered, in the same bullet-clipped fashion as Alex, "Trenzalore," some coordinates Alex knew she would never be able to find on an Earth map, "human, and as for my purpose, well. . ." Her lips curved into a sinister crimson smirk. "That would be because of you, Ally. You are the Doctor's Ally, are you not? I suspect so, going off the necklace."

Alex glanced down at her glittering necklace, but otherwise gave no indication of the alarm she could feel rapidly rising inside her. "I see," she said slowly. She hoped these aliens couldn't hear how fast her heart was beating. "And what purpose do you have with me?" She knew, just knew that it wasn't good.

But instead of answering, Kovarian turned to address the creatures at both ends of the aisle. "Now."

As one, the creatures made their way towards Amy and Alex.

Anyone else would have panicked, stood frozen as their kidnappers approached them. Not Amy and Alex. With one quick glance at each-other, they nodded, then separated. They attacked.

Alex randomly grabbed boxes off the shelves and started throwing them at the rapidly advancing creatures. Beside her, Amy did the same, even shoving several boxes off the shelf and knocking them to the floor. One creature stumbled over a pregnancy test. Another fell. Several were forced back by boxes of pregnancy tests and bottles of pre-natal vitamins smacking them in the head and chest. Still, they kept coming. They would be knocked back a step or two, but they quickly recovered.

Just as Alex was readying to throw another box at her attackers, Kovarian's voice rang out. "Admirable, really." She was standing off to the side, arms crossed over her chest as she watched the assault with an almost bored expression. "A fierce strength and resolve to fight even in the midst of such low odds. . . Just the qualities I was hoping to find in the Doctor's Ally. You will do quite well for our purpose."

Alex bit back the urge to ask just what purpose that would be. She suspected Kovarian wouldn't answer anyway. Instead, Alex flung the box at her. Maybe, just maybe, seeing their leader attacked would cause these creatures to attend to her instead of going after herself and Amy.

A box of condoms hit Kovarian right in the face. To make matters even better, a corner of the box struck her right in her un-covered eye. Kovarian screamed and slapped a hand over her left eye. Her other hand fruitlessly batted away the litany of condom boxes Alex was assaulting her with. "Get her!" she screamed, shooting Alex a glare. "For God's sake, get them!"

Galvanized by her words, the creatures pushed forwards. Soon, they were practically on top of Amy and Alex. Throwing boxes of pregnancy tests and condoms was futile now.

Amy, utilizing the knowledge she'd gained facing off against Kate Hayler in year ten hockey, viciously kicked at the creatures' shins. Her hands were busy smacking their hands with the two pregnancy tests she had somehow managed to hold onto. Alex did much the same, kicking and hitting wherever she could reach; heads, chests, legs, groins, arms. She even managed to scratch one of the creature's eyes. It let out a groan in a deep, raspy voice. Overhead, the bright fluorescent lights flickered.

Still, despite the girls' best efforts, it wasn't enough. There were too many of them. Amy and Alex screamed, thrashed, kicked, and swore as the creatures finally managed to grab them. One grabbed Amy and held her tightly. Two held Alex.

"You'll never get away with this, you god-damned bastards!" Alex screeched. "You've heard of the Doctor! Just imagine how fucking pissed he'll be when he learns we were kidnapped!"

"Who says he's going to find out?" Kovarian asked. Even with a hand clutched to her now bleeding left eye, she still managed to radiate menace. She smirked darkly at Alex. "In fact, who says you'll actually be leaving this godforsaken place? Or," she added as a creature holding a syringe approached, "who said you would even remember this?"

Amy and Alex gaped in horror at each-other. What did all that mean? They weren't sure, but they knew it wasn't anything good. In fact, it was the exact opposite of good.

Both girls stared in fear at the creature with the syringe. Alex swallowed heavily as it came closer to her. Right as the needle pierced her skin, she and Amy both screamed, at the top of their lungs, "DOCTOR!"

The sedative – for what else could be in the syringe – was fast-acting. Seconds after the needle was pulled out of her skin, black dots danced across Alex's vision. She tried to fight it, but it was no use. Her body slumped backwards, her eyes rolled into the back of her head. But right before she slipped into complete unconsciousness, she heard a distant voice saying, "Grab her necklace. The Flesh will never be able to duplicate it. The Doctor will notice otherwise and everything we've worked for will be ruined."

No, Alex thought. Not my necklace. It was her most precious possession, right after her parents' wedding bands. But she was powerless to do anything. The last thing she felt before all went black was the feeling of a chain being removed from her neck.

The first thing Alex registered upon waking up was that she was in darkness. Well, near darkness. There were windows along the back of the dark chamber she was being held in, but they revealed nothing but a dark night sky. Stars twinkled, casting a thin glow through the thick windowpanes.

The next thing Alex registered was that she was strapped to something. She realized this as she tried to move her limbs. Her arms, legs, and torso had been strapped down with thick belts, attached to a metal harness.

Alex's eyes darted around the dark room. At first, it was difficult to see anything, but after a few minutes her eyes adjusted. Sitting before her harness, on a raised platform, was a large vat filled with some kind of thick white goop. On the floor in front of this was a small open tub.

What the hell was going on? Alex looked around for someone to ask – or yell at – but before she could, someone stepped out of the shadows. Alex's eyes narrowed. "You bitch," she growled.

Madame Kovarian was hardly fazed. "Ally. I had hoped you would still be unconscious for this next part, but. . ." She shrugged as if to say, 'oh well'.

"You're going to be unconscious with possible internal bleeding when I get out of here!" Alex snapped. "Where's Amy?! What the hell did you do with her?"

"Ms. Pond is fine," Kovarian said calmly. "As is her child." At Alex's surprised expression, she smirked. "Yes, you'll be pleased to hear she is pregnant. We have much more efficient and quicker ways of finding out than the typical 21st century methods."

"You let her go," Alex warned. Her voice was dark and low, her eyes a deep, dark green bordering on black. "She hasn't done anything to you. Like you said, it's me you want."

Instead of replying, Kovarian walked over to the vat. Her hand rested on a switch. "Yes, it is," she murmured. "And we will have you." Then, before Alex could question her anymore, she flipped the switch.

A series of lights came on over Alex's head. Suddenly, she found her eyes fluttering. Once again, she was being forced into unconsciousness. At the same time, the thick white goop started to pour into the low tub.

Though her eyes were fluttering, her body trying to give in to the machine's demand for unconsciousness, Alex was still able to watch something forming in the tub. Something like a head formed first and she saw a small indentation where a mouth would be opening, as though it were taking a breath. The rest of a body followed, arms, a small torso, and long legs. To her amazement, the figure in the vat even had clothes. She could see a black leather jacket, black jeans, and black combat boots. . .

Alex realized just exactly what she was seeing as her doppelganger jerked upwards. Its first sound was what Alex made as she was forced to sleep.

Her Ganger woke up screaming.

"I woke up later that morning in my bed back in Leadworth," Alex recounted. By this point, she was straddling the Doctor's lap. She'd needed to look at him while she narrated her horrifying memories, just to assure herself that she wasn't back there, that she was here, on the TARDIS, safe and sound, with him. "I had no idea what happened. I was even in my pajamas." She shuddered at the realization that someone, possibly Kovarian, had undressed her.

The Doctor ran a hand through her hair. "You didn't remember anything?"

"Nothing. There wasn't a single clue that something had happened. I did have a pounding headache though." She winced just remembering it. That headache had been the worst one she'd ever had. "It felt like a jackhammer was drilling into my skull. All I could do for the rest of the day was lie in bed."

"When you were plugged into your Ganger, Kovarian blocked your memories of the kidnapping," the Doctor theorized, "since she couldn't actually erase them. Your mind, however, fought back."

"Unsuccessfully," Alex muttered, a bit self-conscious.

The Doctor shook his head. "Ally, you can't blame yourself. The fact that your mind fought back is a testament to its strength. Besides, you had no idea how to control your mind to remember when you weren't even aware you'd forgotten something."

Alex considered his words. "True." She still wished she could have realized something was wrong, though.

"What about this Henry Vernon?"

"Oh, he was fine. I guess Kovarian and the Silence just knocked him out. That was probably the thump Amy and I heard. That day, I went by there for something to relieve my headache and he was still there. He had a bump on his head, said he fell while restocking some shelves." She paused, thinking. "I guess they must have wiped his memory some, because he didn't say anything about Amy calling him."

"They were probably there lying in wait," the Doctor grimaced. He hated to think that Amy and Alex had been in danger in Leadworth, a place where they were supposed to be safe when not traveling in the TARDIS. "They knew you would come by the chemists eventually. Or perhaps they planned to abduct you from your house, but simply had to hide nearby before they could do so, and the chemists was the best place."

"It is only five minutes away from our house," Alex mused. She shuddered, again remembering how the Silence had managed to get her and Amy back into their house without being seen. "I'm going to have to get the locks changed."

The Doctor nodded firmly. "Yes, be sure you do. I doubt they'll be back, but just in case."

Alex nodded, but her mind was already elsewhere. "There is something else, though," she revealed.

The Doctor raised an eyebrow. "There is? You remember something else?"

"Yeah, I guess my dream-memory unlocked it. Right after we, um . . . met you in Utah and then went to the White House, it was when we were in the Oval Office and Amy went to the bathroom. . . Well, do you remember she said—"

"'I remember'," the Doctor said, both an answer to her question and an echo of Amy's words. He rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "Presumably saw a Silence. They were crawling all around 1969 before I interfered with Apollo 11's video and audio transmissions. I daresay they were keeping an eye on us, just to make sure events from their perspective didn't get compromised."

Right, Alex had almost forgotten the fact that the Silence they had encountered in 1969 had already gone through the Battle of Demons Run and kidnapping Melody/River. Time travel: it could get confusing. "Yes, well, anyway, right after she went to the bathroom, I felt this kind of . . . twinge in my mind."

"The same kind of twinge that you experience when your mind senses a perception filter and is trying to see past it?"

"The very same." Alex pursed her lips in thought. "I also felt this huge sense of worry towards Amy."

"Your brilliant mind again, Ally," the Doctor smiled. "Despite Kovarian and the Silence blocking your memory of the kidnapping, your mind was fighting back against it, trying the best way it knew how to let you know that something was wrong."

Alex nodded, having guessed as much. "Over the three months we spent counting the Silence, the twinges increased. They only happened when I was thinking about Amy and her pregnancy."

The Doctor frowned. "But you never mentioned them to me after 1969."

Alex nodded frantically. "That's just it! When Amy and I were kidnapped from Graystark, the Silence kept knocking us out with their post-hypnotic suggestion and making us forget how much time had passed. Well, on Amy, at least. They tried with me, but it didn't work. I always faked sleep. But I did fall asleep at one point. Up till that point, I was still experiencing the twinges. But when I woke up . . . I felt like I had forgotten something."

The Doctor considered this for several long moments. "I believe," he said slowly, "the Silence did that."

"Yeah, I figured as much. I've been wracking my brain trying to figure out why they kidnapped me and Amy back in 1969 if we were already Gangers."

"Yes, that puzzled me too until now. I suspect you and Pond were taken for two reasons. One, as a precautionary measure, to keep us from rescuing Melody. And two, to adjust your Ganger a bit to keep your mind from trying to remember your kidnapping in Leadworth."

"Bang up job they did," Alex said with an eye roll. "That was when I started feeling the pains and shifting in my chest."

The Doctor chuckled. "Your beautiful, brilliant mind, Ally," he murmured, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. "They truly didn't understand what they were dealing with. Every time they tried to suppress your memories, your mind simply fought back harder, completely refusing to give in."

Alex grinned. "Can't help it if I'm stubborn."

"I highly doubt that," the Doctor snorted. Any retort Alex might have made was cut off as he pressed his lips to hers.

The kiss was soft and slow, tender even. The Doctor's lips tasted like the embers of a dying fire: cool, with a bit of warmth beneath. Sweeping her tongue inside his mouth, Alex was treated to more of the intoxicating flavor. It was just what she needed right now, soft and sweet with a little bit of edge, assuring her that she was in his arms and that he had her, always.

Thanks to their respiratory bypass systems, they were able to kiss much longer than usual. Eventually, though, the Doctor pulled back. He was pleased to note that Alex no longer resembled a frightened rabbit. There was a bit of spark back in her eyes, replacing the terror that had been there when he sprinted here upon hearing her screams all the way from his personal laboratory. Still, he also saw the tiredness in them. As well as a bit of fear he knew his Ally would be loath to admit to.

"You should get some more sleep," he murmured. He caressed her cheek, letting out a pleased hum when she leaned into his touch.

Alex's heartbeats quickened slightly. She knew he was right. She had only gone to bed about two hours ago. To her, it was the middle of the night. But what if she dreamed that awful memory again? Or her mind conjured up new horrors based on it? She didn't think she could handle another terrifying nightmare. Not all by herself, at least.

She cupped his chin. "Will you stay with me?" Her voice was barely a whisper. "I know you're busy and all—"

He cut her off with a chaste kiss. "Of course."

With a smile, Alex shifted off his lap and back into the soft sheets. She took a moment to smirk at the Doctor's heated gaze, caused by looking at her wearing only his shirt and a pair of socks, before tugging the sheets back over her. The Doctor settled down beside her, his head propped up by a bunch of pillows. He held his left arm out, allowing Alex to nestle her head on it. By the time he tugged her closer, she was already fast asleep.

Alex didn't have any more nightmares or reemerging memories that night. But that didn't mean her mind was completely settled.

~The Pros and Cons of Silence~

June 11th, 2011 – Cabo San Lucas

It was a slow day at Barriga Ilena, Corazón Contento. Daffy, dressed casually in a white sundress patterned in black and orange, her favorite pair of tattered black Converse, and a dangly beaded ear cuff on her left ear, drummed her fingers against the bar. There wasn't anything for her to do. There were very few customers: a few day-trippers, reeking of sea salt and sunscreen, seated near the back of the restaurant, a couple of old men at the front alternatively sipping coffee and flipping pages in their newspapers, and one man seated by the door who wasn't actually a customer. He was a German tourist who'd gotten separated from his group. He was waiting to rejoin the group, who had promised to swing by the restaurant on their way to a bar several blocks away. Daffy had kept him happy with plenty of ice-water and some chicken chimichangas on the house. Unfortunately, he had eaten all the food and was now engrossed in playing some game on his phone. Not really someone Daffy could look to for distraction.

Blowing a raspberry, Daffy tuned into her time senses. 2:17 in the afternoon. The lunch rush was more of a lunch crawl, the day-trippers down at the beach primarily opting for the food trucks and carts operating by the board walk, while office workers on their lunch break would opt for fast food, not a sit-down restaurant. The restaurant would only get busy around five when the take-out orders started rushing in, followed by families and couples taking advantage of a lovely Saturday night to spend quality time together. But that wouldn't be for several more hours.

All in all, a long, long, long day.

Blowing yet another raspberry, Daffy reached under the bar and pulled out her advanced chemistry textbook. She was perfectly proficient in Earth chemistry, as well as several other planets, but it gave her something to do. Besides, it was fun to spot the errors.

Daffy was scribbling over a frankly ludicrous paragraph not ten pages into the book when her time senses, usually dormant unless she wanted them to be, suddenly snapped to attention. She stiffened.

It was hard to describe time senses to humans. Daffy had tried with Liv once. Daffy's mother had gotten the gist of it after the Doctor explained it to her, but Daffy knew her mother was clever, much cleverer than the average human. Time senses, more or less, went like this: if there was some kind of shift or jump in time, Daffy could sense it. She could read timelines at a glance, if she was so inclined. She could resist jumps and distortions and even perceive the interstellar motions of planets and other cosmological bodies: in other words, sense the turning of the Earth. She only demonstrated this last sense at parties though. It was a real crowd-pleaser.

But another sense was being able to detect the presence of other members of her species. It wasn't a sense that was often used but when it was, it meant at least one of her relatives was close by: her grandfather, her father, or her mother.

Her grandfather was on some business in Guadalajara and not due back until next week. Which left only two options.

Sure enough, coming through the door were her parents. Which wouldn't have been bad if they were the versions Daffy knew.

But no. They were younger versions, ones who didn't know her. Going off their appearances – her mother's slightly sunken cheeks and thinner than usual frame, her father's protective arm around her shoulders and dark, wary eyes – they were coming off the Battle of Demons Run, one of the most defining events of their lives.

For a moment, all Daffy could do was stare. She was like a deer in the headlights. She hadn't planned for this! She'd planned for every contingency when she eavesdropped on her parents' official first date last month, but that was because she knew what was coming. She'd heard the story from them before. She knew what was and what wasn't supposed to happen.

She knew nothing about this.

It was only as her parents came closer to the bar that Daffy finally sprang into action. "I'll be with you in a minute!" she called over her shoulder as she sprinted around the bar, into the kitchen, and down the short hallway into the bathroom. Once the door was safely locked behind her, Daffy dug around her dress pockets. After pulling out a pack of bubblegum, a rubber-band ball, her cell phone, and her favorite lip gloss from the beauty planet Exquisite, she finally found her contacts. Daffy grimaced as she put in the lenses. They pinched her eyes and felt rather dry despite having just come out of contact solution, but they did the trick. Her eyes, which had been switching from light green to dark, now showed a plain, nondescript brown.

The next thing to do was get her perception filter in place. Reaching into her pocket again, Daffy smiled when she pulled her sonic screwdriver out on the first try.

Daffy was quite pleased with her sonic screwdriver. She'd made it herself. As a child, she'd had a sonic charm bracelet, her dad and grandfather having collaborated on it for her fifth birthday. She'd adored the charm bracelet but as she'd gotten older, she'd longed for something a bit more mature. After years of begging went nowhere, one night, Daffy sat herself down in her personal laboratory aboard the TARDIS and simply built herself a proper sonic. It had taken less time than she'd thought it would. The TARDIS had provided her with schematics of all her dad's old sonics, as well as the plans he'd designed when constructing her mom's necklace. From there, it was merely a matter of figuring out what she wanted, gathering up the materials from one of the many storage closets aboard the time machine, and putting it all together. Her parents had been stunned when she bounced into the kitchen the following morning wielding the slim, silver device topped with a hot pink diode.

"Only your child," Alex had said dryly as the Doctor poked at the device while Daffy tried to swat his hands away, "would go off and build herself a sonic screwdriver after being told she couldn't have one."

But even her mom had to concede that Daffy's sonic was a work of wonder. It contained a few more functions than her dad's sonic screwdriver (though not an ability to work on wood; Daffy was still puzzling that out), such as a mild perception filter, the kind her mom's mind would bypass without even realizing it.

The perception filter was simple. It simply masked Daffy's brainwaves so that her dad would sense her as a human, not a Time Lady. Her mom, even after her forced evolution, didn't have time senses, so Daffy didn't have to worry about her.

Once the perception filter had been activated, Daffy put everything back in her pockets. She looked at herself in the slightly dingy mirror (she'd have to remember to wipe that down later). "Here goes nothing," she murmured. With a deep breath, she pushed the door open and headed back out to the bar.

Her parents hadn't gone anywhere. They were leaning against the bar. Alex appeared slightly tense, her shoulders stiff as she tried to pay attention to the subtitles on a Spanish-dubbed rerun of Will & Grace. But every few moments, her eyes wandered, taking in the few patrons. The Doctor, his arm still wrapped around Alex, was doing much the same. He was studying the patrons with the same intensity a general might give a complicated battle plan, searching for potential weaknesses and threats.

It made Daffy sick inside. Demons Run and all the events surrounding it were sore spots for her parents. By the time she'd come along, her parents had mostly recovered from it. Still, Daffy could remember the nights her mother had woken up screaming, dreaming of her and Amy's kidnapping in Leadworth. The nightmares were few and far between, but it was a reminder that time didn't heal all wounds. Sometimes, scars stuck around.

Remember your role, Daphne Marigold: friendly neighborhood bartender. With another deep breath, Daffy forced a bright smile. "Hello! Sorry to keep you waiting. Anywhere in particular you want to sit?"

"Patio," Alex said, her voice slightly softer than usual. Daffy wasn't surprised by her choice: it was over ninety degrees today. As air conditioning was extremely desirable in this weather, the patio was deserted.

Daffy led them to the same table as last time. As her parents settled themselves to their menus, Daffy studied them. It was clear they had just come from the beach or at least had been outside for a while. It was difficult for Time Lords to get tans, but certainly possible. Alex's usually pale skin had a slight pink tinge, her hair swept up into a messy chignon. She wore a creamy white camisole, ripped jean shorts, small gold hoop earrings, and flat, strapped sandals. Her finger and toenails had been painted the same bright shade of fuchsia. Both her necklace and her ring gleamed in the bright sunlight. Her dad continued to wear his eleventh self's usual attire, but he had made a few minor concessions to the weather: his tweed jacket was nowhere in sight, his braces hung loosely by his hips, and he wore a pair of black sunglasses and a floppy men's sun hat.

Daffy absently wondered what fate had befallen this hat. She'd never seen it before.

"What can I get you to drink?"

"Water," answered the Doctor.

Alex eyed the drinks section of her menu. "Frozen margarita."

Daffy smiled brightly. "Coming right up!"

Once the bartender (whom, even in her distracted state, Alex had noticed wasn't as cheerful today) left, Alex set her menu down. "You okay?"

The Doctor blinked. "I'm sorry?"

"I said, are you okay?"

He frowned. "Shouldn't I be asking you that?"

Alex shrugged. "Maybe." Crossing her arms on the tabletop, she leaned closer. For a brief moment, she tilted her head back, her eyes shutting as she relished in the sun shining down on her face and the faint breeze coming off Medano Beach. Being here right now, she could almost forget the crazy hurricane of events that had happened to her over the course of the last week. Almost.

She opened her eyes and looked at the Doctor again. He had lowered his sunglasses to the end of his nose. His emerald eyes peered at her worriedly. It was the same emotion she'd seen in them every time she'd looked at him today. "Doc, all day you've been looking at me like I'm about to shatter right in front of you. So I ask again. Are you okay?"

The Doctor sighed. He should have known Alex would see right through his façade. All day, he'd tried to play himself off as his normal aloof, hyper-active self. But of course, Alex being Alex, and being who she was to him, she'd known better. "I'm alright, Ally. Really. Just worried."

Alex held her open hand out on the table. The Doctor wasted no time in linking his fingers with hers. Both relished in the thrum of adrenaline the contact created. "About me, I'm guessing?" she asked, staring down at their entwined fingers.

"Got it in one," he smiled, but it was lacking his usual cheer. With a weary sigh, the Doctor's free hand rubbed his face. "Alex," he said, his tone suddenly serious. "Have you noticed that you're not particularly comfortable around people anymore?"

He didn't miss the way Alex stiffened, the slightly guilty look in her eyes, or how that look was quickly replaced by defensiveness. "I'm perfectly comfortable around you, Doc," she said, smiling in what he suspected was supposed to be flirtation.

He didn't bite. "I mean strangers, Alex. People you don't know very well. I've seen you be quite comfortable talking to people on our adventures, never hesitating to approach someone. But today, more times than I can count, I've seen you flinch away from others, stiffen anytime someone comes near us, and you've barely spoken to anyone other than me." He gestured towards the bar inside, where Daffy could be seen assembling Alex's frozen margarita. "You talked plenty with the bartender there last time we were here. Now? Only a few words."

Alex turned away from him. She didn't want to hear this. The Doctor was hitting on quite a few truths she didn't want to admit to. Without acknowledging him, she stared down at the packed beach. At least a thousand people were down there, tanning, swimming, eating ice cream, thoroughly enjoying their non-complicated lives. She wouldn't say she wanted to be one of them – she quite liked her life actually – but still. . . Sometimes, it would be nice if her life was a little less . . . messy. She would like to get rid of the hard truths the Doctor was hitting on.

But the Doctor wasn't put off by her attempts to ignore him. "Remember when I dropped you off to get your highlights put in? You came racing into the TARDIS like something was chasing you."

Alex inwardly swore. Damn. She'd thought he'd forgotten all about that. "I got spooked, is all."

"Spooked by what?" Then, before she could answer, he said, "And why didn't you tell me about it?"

"It didn't matter," Alex said. Her voice was flat, but there was no mistaking the slight tremble.

The Doctor sighed softly. He hadn't wanted to resort to this, but desperate times called for desperate measures. "Alright, then. Ally, will you,"

Alex's topaz eyes widened. "Doctor, don't you dare—"

"Tell me,"

"Stop it!" she hissed.

"Why you are so scared to be around people now,"

"Doctor, please!"

"For me, please?"

Alex's eyes were wide. Her breathing was slightly hitched. Adrenaline was thrumming through her veins. She should have known he would pull something like this. After all, she had done the exact same to him to get him to agree to Young Kazran's request to visit him and Abigail every Christmas Eve. If that kind of thing worked on him, why wouldn't it work on her as well? And it did. She could feel the pull to answer him, like a rope wrapped around her tongue, pulling tightly so the words would spill right out. "Damn you," she muttered. She was pleased to note that the Doctor had the grace to look apologetic. "Fine."

Alex started to lean back in her chair, but abruptly leaned over the table. The Doctor leaned closer too. Unnoticed by them, Daffy dropped off their drinks. Seeing how intensely her parents were looking at each-other, Daffy made herself scarce.

"It all started on my first official day back on the TARDIS. After I cleaned up from my workout, I settled down to watch TV. I was going to watch Criminal Minds. But. . ." Alex frowned. "For some reason, I just got so freaked out over the opening scene. It was a kidnapping. This woman was communicating with a guy online about a car for sale. She went for a ride with him and then he was supposed to drop her off back at work. Only he didn't stop." Alex bit her bottom lip. She hated talking about this, but the Doctor had asked her, even said 'please'. It was almost like a failsafe built inside her. She had to obey.

"I don't understand it, Doc. I've seen probably every police procedural made in my time. Tons of them begin with kidnappings, some of them even worse than the one in the Criminal Minds episode I was watching. But it just. . ." She shook her head. "I was shaking and trembling. I don't know why. I was just. . ."

"Scared?" the Doctor suggested.

Alex thought about it. "Yes, I think so, but more like. . ." She paused, searching for the right words. "More like déjà vu now that I really think about it. I was unsettled for a while afterwards. Took me until halfway through the second episode of Glee before I could really forget about it and focus on the show."

The Doctor nodded. "Okay. Now what about the day of your hair appointment?"

Alex sighed. "I don't know, Doc. I was walking by myself on the sidewalk, something we both know I've done a hundred times in more dangerous places than London, when I just got spooked. I was constantly looking at everyone, trying to see if they were a threat to me or not. I kept checking behind me to see if anyone was following me." She laughed suddenly, a harsh, self-mocking laugh. "I was terrified of a teenager on a skateboard. Can you imagine? A teenager. Barely looked fourteen. But I got all terrified because he kept up behind me for a couple blocks." She continued to recount her paranoia in the hair salon, the relief she felt while paying the receptionist when she realized she could go back to him, and the return of her anxieties on the way back to the TARDIS.

When she was finished, the Doctor took her hand again. He wordlessly nodded at her frozen margarita. Alex took a quick sip. It wasn't as frozen now, but still plenty cold. She licked the salt off her lips, smirking at the Doctor's heated gaze. But he wasn't about to be thrown off track.

"Ally," he said, his thumb rubbing over her knuckles, "I believe you are experiencing mild PTSD."

Alex blinked. "You mean post-traumatic stress disorder?"

"I personally prefer 'post-traumatic stress syndrome', but yes. As I said though, a very mild version of it. I daresay some psychologists on Earth wouldn't even say you had PTSD."

Alex twisted her parents' ring. "Huh," was all she said. She had heard of PTSD, of course, but typically only in connection with soldiers coming back from Iraq and Afghanistan. She had never really considered the idea that she could have it.

Then, something occurred to her. She gazed down at her melded-together ring, remembering exactly how she had acquired it. "You get PTSD after experiencing traumatic events, right? Then how come I didn't have it after the boat accident?"

"The majority of people who experience traumatic events don't develop PTSD," the Doctor explained. "Young children are also less likely to show distress. But I do suspect you developed an even milder form of PTSD after the boat accident. You're afraid of water, Ally. Don't like to get near it, unless you're around me or I'm nearby."

Alex shifted uncomfortably. She really didn't like the idea that she'd had a mental disorder since she was five years old, even if it was a mild version. She had always known that her fear of water wasn't natural, or even healthy, but it had never occurred to her that it was part of a bigger problem. Not to mention, but she had experienced plenty more traumatic events since the boating accident. Traveling with the Doctor, as much as she hated to admit it, could be pretty harrowing.

"It's pretty annoying," she groused. She took a long sip of her drink. "I mean, I've always been really good at compartmentalizing. Some stuff that's happened to me traveling with you, Doc, has been stressful, but it's never bothered me. Why now? Why this?"

"This kidnapping by Kovarian and the Silence is rather different than anything you've experienced before, Alex." He nodded at her chest. Alex could feel her two hearts thudding softly beneath the several layers of skin and muscle. "Aside from being taken from your home, where you are supposed to feel safe when not traveling in the TARDIS, your body was significantly altered." He shook his head. "I can't imagine how someone could compartmentalize all that, could act unaffected by it."

Frankly, he was rather amazed and a little worried about how much Alex had compartmentalized already. Her experience aboard the Byzantium with a Weeping Angel in her mind (contained though it was), going undercover at the Calvierri School in Venice and getting slapped by that guard, getting dissected by Malokeh, slipping into a coma on the Moon when the Talerians were trying to invade, becoming trapped in the Pandorica with him. . . So many moments where she had been in danger, yet she brushed them off with a roll of her eyes and a sarcastic comment. It was both impressive and concerning.

Alex drained the rest of her frozen margarita, which by this point was not so much frozen as lukewarm. "So what are we going to do about it?"

The Doctor smiled at how she said 'we'. Not 'I', but 'we'. They were a team. "Since it's just a mild case you have, I daresay nothing too drastic. Simply trying to get you used to being around people again without being so paranoid. After we eat, we'll go back onto the boardwalk. I'll watch the crowd, you just try and enjoy yourself."

As wonderful and easy as that sounded, Alex was skeptical. "You really think it'll be that simple?"

The Doctor finished off his water. "No," he admitted, adjusting his sun hat. "But I think it's a worthwhile start."

Alex smiled softly. The Doctor smiled back. So wrapped up in smiling at each-other, they almost didn't notice the bartender approaching them.

"Right then!" Daffy chirped, her good mood restored by the sight of her parents smiling besottedly at each-other. "Are we ready to order?"

~The Pros and Cons of Silence~

"Well, this is new," Alex observed. She raised an eyebrow. "What's the occasion?"

The Doctor looked affronted. "Do I need to have a special reason to make the woman I l— . . . care deeply about breakfast in bed? Especially when said woman is still recovering from being kidnapped by an insane woman in an eyepatch?"

Alex pushed herself up against the mound of pillows. She was lying in bed (the Doctor's bed, though Alex was starting to think of it as theirs) dressed in a long-sleeved black shirt, red, white, and black plaid sleep pants, and black socks. "Yes, dear, I know," she said, smiling innocently when the Doctor raised a surprised eyebrow at her endearment. "And it's very sweet of you, but I can get food for myself, you know."

The Doctor placed the large breakfast tray he was carrying on the newly-cleaned dresser and ambled over to the bed. He sat down next to Alex and wrapped his arm around her shoulders. "Yes, I know," he said softly. "But do you mind? I like doing this for you."

Alex smiled and leaned up to press a light kiss to his lips. "Not at all. Again, very sweet of you."

"That's me all around, isn't it?" the Doctor teased.

Alex gave him a dramatic eye-roll. "Well, I wouldn't go that far. . ."

"Oi!" he chuckled. He pressed a kiss to her forehead, then another on her lips, before getting up.

"Well, thank you for breakfast. Now hand me that tray. I'm starving."

The Doctor laughed and fetched the tray, placing it on her lap. Her breakfast was a rather elaborate affair compared to the bland oatmeal she'd been eating last week, but anything else would have been. The Doctor was determined for her to put some weight back on. Much to his alarm, he'd found out that post-Demons Run, Alex weighed only 100 pounds, far less than she was supposed to weigh. He had calculated the number of calories a person of her height and weight was supposed to eat every day and made meals for her that were packed with carbs and proteins, plenty of weight-gaining nutrients. He also forced her to lift weights and walk on the treadmill in the mostly-unused TARDIS gym (something Alex wasn't hesitant in letting him know she loathed immensely). Still, despite how much she hated it, he knew Alex would admit that all of this was helping her build her muscles back up and gain a few pounds.

He studied her once again as he set the tray down. Alex's cheeks were no longer sunken in as they had been two weeks ago, nor was her skin deathly pale. In addition to the food and exercise, he'd taken her back to Cabo so they could spend some time in the sun. Alex's previously pale skin was now a light tan color. Her hair even appeared lighter than usual, the sun having turned her blonde highlights a shade not that far off from white. Overall, her current appearance was a damn sight better than it had been two weeks ago.

Alex tucked some strands of messy, tousled, bedhead hair behind her ears and eagerly studied her breakfast plate. There were two eggs, sunny-side up, two pieces of toast with cinnamon-flavored spread on top, two pieces of bacon, and a large steaming cup of coffee. Even though I keep telling him I can do things for myself, I could definitely get used to this being a regular thing, she thought.

"Thanks, Doc," she grinned before taking a large sip of coffee.

"No problem, Ally." He placed a kiss on top of her head. "I'll be in the lab if you need me, or just want to see me."

"I'll probably take you up on that," Alex remarked, though they both knew that her 'probably' was really a 'definitely'. The Doctor nodded his understanding and left the room, leaving the door ajar in case she called for him.

Alex smiled and tucked into her breakfast. As she ate, she couldn't help but think back over the past two weeks. Though they had revolved around the difficult task of getting her healthy and well again, they were also some of the greatest days of her life.

After finishing her breakfast, Alex changed into workout clothes, then headed down to the gym. Normally, the Doctor would have accompanied her, but since he'd specifically mentioned that he would be in his lab, Alex decided that whatever he was doing in there was more important. Probably analyzing the blood sample and scans again, she thought. The Doctor was determined to figure out just how much of a Time Lady she was now. Every day, there came a few more interesting revelations about what her body was now capable of.

Just for starters, Alex had a respiratory bypass system. The Doctor had taught her how to activate it and how to store oxygen. It was quite brilliant, really. They had also determined that she could survive extreme temperatures, the kind that would be fatal to humans. The Doctor had placed her in a room and had the TARDIS alter the temperature to various degrees. At 30 degrees Fahrenheit, Alex couldn't feel even the slightest hint of a chill. Well, she could feel it, but it didn't affect her. It was the same for a temperature over one hundred degrees. She could feel the heat, she knew it was there, but it didn't cause her to break into a sweat or pass out. Because of that experiment, the Doctor had determined she could most likely survive things that would have proven fatal to humans, such as extreme electric shocks and falling from large heights.

The 'most likely' worried Alex a bit. She hoped that it actually meant 'definitely'. She also hoped that there would never come a day where the Doctor's hypothesis had to be tested.

In the gym, Alex tightened her ponytail and put her ear-buds in before setting into the now familiar routine. With the voices of Shakira, Taylor Swift, Jason Aldean, and more echoing in her head, she lifted weights (thanks to the Doctor, she was lifting thirty pounds now, twenty more than she could in high school) and alternatively ran and walked five miles on the treadmill. By the time she was done, she was a sweaty mess. She grimaced slightly as she toweled her forehead off. She had never been a big fan of sweating. Oddly enough though, ever since she started traveling with the Doctor, she'd been doing it quite a bit.

Alex headed back to the Doctor's bedroom and took a quick shower before putting on a silky white tank top, black leather pants, black ballet flats, an infinity necklace layered over her sonic one, and silver stud earrings. Once she was finished dressing, she paused. What should she do now?

She'd managed to fill her days with various occupations. She'd made a good dent in her to be read pile, blazing through the Callahan Garrity mysteries as well as Les Misérables (though Alex thought the musical was a tiny bit better; no meandering exposition on characters that only said a few lines, for one thing). She'd also managed to watch all six seasons of Glee, even though the series wouldn't come to an end until 2015 in her time, and catch up on General Hospital. She was considering marathoning Downton Abbey. The second season was supposed to start airing in September, but the Doctor had all six seasons and the movies in the TARDIS auditorium.

But for some reason, reading books or watching endless amounts of TV didn't hold any appeal for Alex today. Perhaps that was a sign that she was getting better. She no longer needed to lay in bed for hours resting. Now, she could do something more pro-active. She briefly considered exploring the TARDIS again. Maybe she could do something about the garden. Alex didn't know anything about gardening beyond the fact that you had to water the plants and make sure they got lots of sunlight, but there was no better time to learn, right?

But even that didn't hold much appeal. What did hold appeal was going and finding the Doctor. Alex didn't know what they would do when they reunited. Then again, she did have some ideas. . .

Alex blushed as she walked out of the bedroom and down the corridor. She couldn't help the way she felt though. Try as she might, her desires were constantly bubbling to the surface. It was a real effort to keep them concealed, to push them aside in favor of more practical matters. Ever since she and the Doctor had reunited on Demons Run, Alex had been craving him. He was like a wonderful, intoxicating drug that she'd just taken a little of and loved, subsequently needing more, more, more. Instead of just them touching, she needed them pressed skin to skin, needed him to explore her body the way she wanted to explore his. She wanted kisses and nibbles and sucks in various places, places no other person would ever see. She needed to have her legs wrapped around his waist, feel soft cotton sheets underneath her, and fall asleep with their limbs intertwined, her hair messy and his jaw carrying the hint of a five o'clock shadow.

Alex sighed. Not now, Alexandria, she drilled to herself. Take it slow. They had just physically reunited since she'd originally left the TARDIS all those months ago (or was it a year?). It was only natural her body would be craving his, touch-starved as it was, but that was no excuse to let things get out of control. No, this needed to be taken slow. This romance with the Doctor wasn't like the ones she'd had in high school. It wasn't something to do to pass the time, something you did so you had company at parties and plans on Friday and Saturday nights. This was special, something sacred. It couldn't be ruined. Alex wouldn't let that happen.

Over the past two weeks, in between helping her build her strength and weight back up, fixing her meals, and taking her to Cabo, the Doctor had spent much of his time in his personal laboratory, using it to analyze and research all of her changed anatomy. In her two weeks aboard the TARDIS, Alex had been inside only once. It was a large space, reminiscent of her high school chemistry classroom, though distinctly more cluttered and impressive. The white walls were lined with shelves that seemed to be much stronger than they appeared, considering the amount of stuff they held. Glass specimen jars, a few with actual specimens of . . . something inside them, bottles of chemicals with peeling, faded labels, beakers and vials, a few of them cracked, little bits of machinery and tech, the majority of which didn't appear to come from Alex's time period, piles and piles of books, ranging in subject from medicine to chemistry to zoology to physics to any number of scientific studies . . . and all of it piled on the shelves in seemingly no order, though Alex suspected there was an order to them, just not one she could comprehend.

Half a dozen lab benches lined the middle of the room, nearly all of them holding something. One held a collection of microscopes, ranging from the very early models used in the 1600s to the more advanced ones that had cameras attached. Another bench held nothing but magnifying glasses. Along the back wall was a counter. A large sink sat directly in the middle of the counter. The counter itself was covered in plants, all of them under thick glass covers. Attached to each cover was a label that listed the type of flower inside, followed by a bold-faced warning: DO NOT SNIFF, EAT, OR TOUCH! The Doctor had explained that these flowers were poisonous, and it could be very dangerous to be around them unless you had the proper instruments and training. Alex recognized a few of the specimens: belladonna, aka deadly nightshade, hemlock, foxglove, and strychnos nux-vomica, the source of the poison strychnine. There were unfamiliar flowers as well, presumably from places other than Earth. Why the Doctor had them, Alex didn't know, but she was sure it was for some purpose. She just hoped he didn't end up regenerating after fiddling with them and accidentally poisoning himself.

She paused just inside the door to make sure the Doctor wasn't busy. He was sitting with his back to the door, tweed jacket tossed onto one of the lab benches. He sat in a corner of the room behind a large mahogany desk, perched on a high-backed stool. He was examining something, but because of Alex's angle, she had no idea what it was.

She was just about to leave him to his work when he suddenly called out, "Ally, are you going to stand there all day or come in?"

She blushed and obediently walked in. "I just came to see what you were doing." She peered at the desk. Amidst a bunch of other scientific-looking equipment was a rack holding a couple of test-tubes. Each one was filled with an inch of red liquid that had an orange hue emanating from it.

My blood, she realized. She hadn't seen it since the day the Doctor took the sample. Now, as she made her way around the desk, Alex studied it curiously. It was still regular blood, save the orange hue. Aside from that, it didn't look much different from the samples she'd given at doctor's offices over the years, or when she'd donated a pint to the Red Cross during the cheerleading team's annual blood drive in junior year. Still. It was a very blatant reminder that her life as she had previously known it was over. She was different now, in more ways than one.

"Anything else about my body you need to tell me?" Alex asked.

"No, not really," the Doctor admitted. "I was just double-checking, making sure. I believe we've come to a full conclusion of what your body is now capable of." Then, because seeing Alex standing there in those tight black pants was just too tempting, he reached out and grabbed her hips. Alex jumped at the unexpected touch, but quickly relaxed as the Doctor pulled her closer. Before she knew it, she was seated in his lap.

She rested her head on the Doctor's chest, smiling when he wrapped an arm around her shoulders and cradled her to him. "So, are there any other little puzzles you've figured out that you'd like to tell me about?" she asked teasingly.

"Well, I think I know why you're a fixed point, or part of one at least."

Alex blinked. She hadn't been expecting that. Actually, she had kind of forgotten that she was a fixed point. "Oh?" She tucked her head into the crook of his neck. While she was curious about the Doctor's theory, her mind was more occupied with getting as close to him as possible with clothing on. "How so?" she asked, her fingers absently playing with his bowtie.

"You were part of a fixed point in time."

Alex stopped playing with the bowtie. Her eyes flicked upwards. The Doctor's face was set in a dead serious expression. His eyes had darkened slightly, a small preview to the Oncoming Storm look he usually reserved for the most ruthless of enemies. Alex bit her lip. Suddenly, she felt horribly intimidated.

He kept those dark emerald depths firmly on her as he asked, "Alex, do you remember when Amy went to talk to me back at the acid factory? After I started hearing and connecting to the Flesh?"

Oh, shit, Alex thought. In all the drama, horror, excitement, and revelations the past several weeks had brought, she'd forgotten that Amy had quite possibly spilled the beans about the Doctor's future death to the very person it would happen to. And based on the Doctor's question, it looked like that 'possibly' was a 'definitely'. Her eyes darted downwards. "Yes," she said hesitantly, the word coming out like a question.

The Doctor nodded, having anticipated this answer. "Do you know what she told me?" Without waiting for a reply, he said, "'You can be killed, and I might have seen that happen. Because you invited us to see it. Your death'."

Alex didn't say anything. She wasn't sure if she was even supposed to say anything. She kept her gaze on the ground, unwilling to meet the Doctor's eyes. Stupid Amy!

The Doctor barely noticed that she was no longer looking at him. He just continued on. He had waited a good two weeks to broach this subject and now that he had, he simply couldn't stop. He had to talk about this. This was his future. "Right after that, she said, 'Alex was almost shot! How could you make her go through something like that?'." The reminder of what his future self had put her through jarred the Doctor's attention back to the young woman in his lap. Falling silent, he put a finger under Alex's chin, tilting her head up to face him. A wave of pity washed through him at the sight of unshed tears in her eyes and her distraught expression. Whatever had happened before he picked her, the Ponds, and River up in Utah had clearly done a number on her.

"Ally, you lied to me." His tone was neither furious nor judgmental, just stating a fact.

"Well, what was I supposed to do?!" Alex exclaimed. A few tears escaped and rolled down her cheeks. She furiously rubbed them away and clambered out of his lap, crossing the room until she was standing at the counter, right in front of the deadly nightshade jar. She turned back in time to see the Doctor swiveling to face her. To her relief, he didn't look at all angry or betrayed, just worried and confused. Probably for her wellbeing, if she had to guess. Perhaps for his future, too. "River made us! It was a fixed point, and she said if we told you, because you interacted with your own past, it would rip a hole in the universe!"

"I have done it before, you know."

"And when you did it, the universe blew up," Alex said flatly. A few more tears dribbled down her face while her eyes slowly started to turn neon green. "I'm sorry," she sobbed. "I thought I was doing the right thing at the time, really."

"Ally, I'm not mad," the Doctor assured her. Upset that she didn't tell him? Yes, but he wasn't about to get into that, not when she was crying. He hated it when she cried.

He opened his arms. Alex immediately jumped into them. The stool was sent rocking, but neither of them noticed.

The Doctor wrapped his arms tightly around Alex's shaking, sobbing frame. He inwardly cursed himself for making her experience his future death, along with nearly getting shot. If he knew it wouldn't completely screw up time, he'd go back and give his future self a nice slap.

Eventually, Alex calmed down and crawled back into his lap. She wrapped her legs around his waist and linked her arms around his neck, bringing them even closer together. The Doctor lightly kissed her lips and ran a hand through her hair. "I'm so sorry," he murmured, "for having to make you watch. . ." He trailed off, unwilling to say, 'my death'.

"It's okay," Alex whispered back, though it really wasn't. "You were probably fulfilling a paradox. You knew I got shot at there, so I had to be there and see it."

The Doctor's gaze suddenly turned distant, his mind starting to connect pieces he hadn't even known were loose. "Yes. . ."

Alex frowned, noting that his tone of voice had gone confused. "Doc?" She cocked her head to the side and studied him critically. He appeared to be deep in thought, but over what she didn't know. "What is it?"

"It's what you said about your being shot at. It's just. . ." He shook his head. "It doesn't make sense that you got shot at. If the person who killed me intended to kill you as well, your death would cause a paradox."

"But wouldn't that only be true if it was Kovarian who wanted you dead?"

"I'm pretty sure she was involved in this." His eyes snapped down to hers. "Ally, who exactly shot me?"

Alex bit her lip at the memory of the shooter. "It was an Apollo astronaut." Seeing the Doctor's baffled expression, she added, "I swear, it literally walked right up out of the lake we were at and after you told us to stay back, you went down and talked to it."

The Doctor's brow furrowed. "It didn't shoot me right away?"

Alex shook her head. "No. And you didn't try to fight them either. It's like . . . it's like you knew who they were, and you were just . . . assuring them or something." She couldn't help but grimace at this last part. The idea of the Doctor comforting his killer wasn't something that settled well with her. If it had been up to her (and had she not been so distraught and shocked at the time), she would have throttled the astronaut to within an inch of its life.

"You never saw the actual person inside the suit?"

"No. None of us did. River tried shooting at it, but the bullets didn't seem to have an effect." A horrifying thought occurred to her. Her chocolate brown eyes widened to the size of saucers. "Oh my God, Doctor! Do you think that astronaut was—"

"Melody?" His mouth fixed itself into a grim line and he nodded reluctantly. "Yes, I believe so. We saw a little girl in a spacesuit at that warehouse and I think we both know who that little girl was."

"Oh my God," Alex breathed. Amy and Rory's daughter had been turned into a weapon, an assassin, just as Kovarian had promised. It was true then. There was no hope in getting baby Melody back. Alex had already suspected as much, but this realization just made the truth hit home harder.

Then another thought occurred to her. "Wait. River was already there. She didn't seem to recognize the astronaut." Her eyes narrowed. "Was she lying?! Did she know you were going to get shot and didn't do anything to stop it?!"

"Calm down, Alex," the Doctor drilled, though he couldn't help but feel a spark of irritation at River as well, but not for her shooting him. It was because she knew Alex was going to get shot at and hadn't done anything to try and stop it. "Keep in mind, River was around the Silence for probably nearly all of her life. She may have been forced to try and kill me and was later made to forget it."

Alex considered this. It did make sense, especially considering how River had forgotten seeing all those Silence in 1969. She definitely hadn't been faking that. "Okay, so just to clarify everything, Amy and Rory's daughter Melody was taken, Melody was raised by Kovarian and the Silence to kill you, and grew up to become River Song, who may or may not remember killing you, and has supposedly reformed and, despite being your goddaughter, has a gigantic crush on you?"

The Doctor grimaced at the reminder of his goddaughter being romantically interested in him but nevertheless said, "Yes."

Alex groaned. "My head hurts."

The Doctor gave her a wry smile. "Mine too, especially because I don't understand why Kovarian and her Silence league would make River shoot you, since that shooting of you was at your Ganger while you were being turned into a genetically-engineered Time Lord."

"And we still don't know why they were turning me into a Time Lord in the first place."

He smiled ruefully. "So far we've gotten more questions than answers."

"And a headache or two."

The Doctor's countenance abruptly turned serious. "You do realize, Ally," he said, giving her a no-nonsense look, "that Amy and Rory aren't to know anything about River and her shooting of us?"

Alex's jaw dropped. "Doctor, it's their daughter! Don't you think they deserve to know?"

"Alex, right now, the Ponds are living in hope that their daughter will somehow be returned to them, still her baby self. Anything we say about River and her future to them right now will go in one ear, out the other. Not to mention, but we're risking timelines enough as it is with you telling me some of the details of the shooting." He sighed wearily. "No, we're gonna have to play this carefully. I'll figure out a way to get the Ponds to realize the truth of this situation."

"More like you'll figure out a way to tell Amy," Alex retorted. "I'm pretty sure Rory will be a bit more realistic about all of this."

"You're probably right. But let's not worry anymore about that right now. Let's just focus on us right now and getting you well, okay?"

Alex smiled. "I think I'm more than well enough, but you have yourself a deal, Doc." She then leaned forwards and pressed her lips to his.

Alex had meant the kiss to be chaste, but before she knew it, things had gotten steamy. The Doctor's tongue invaded her mouth, swirling around in a manner that made Alex's knees go weak and a shiver run down her spine. Her hips rocked into his and the ensuing friction made both gasp and moan. Alex's hands scraped through his hair, tugging on strands to make him groan. Her two hearts pounded rapidly. Adrenaline tumbled through her veins, giving her so much energy, she had no idea what she was going to do with it. Actually. . . Okay, she could still keep things slow while going to the next level, couldn't she? Surely she could. All she had to do was get the Doctor on board.

She didn't think that would be very difficult. The Doctor had now moved away from her lips and was trailing hot, sloppy, open-mouthed kisses down her neck. Every now and then, his tongue would come out for a lick or his teeth for a quick nibble. He soon came to the top of her tank. His mouth continued downwards, getting closer and closer to an area he hadn't explored yet, but was more than eager to now.

Unfortunately, they were so caught up in each-other, they failed to realize their frantic movements were causing the stool to rock unsteadily beneath them. Just as the Doctor reached the new area of exploration, the stool finally gave out and toppled sideways, throwing him and Alex from its seat.

Alex's arms wrapped tightly around the Doctor's neck. She felt his arms tighten around her waist and his body somehow roll in mid-air. A moment later, they slammed to the ground. The Doctor lay beneath Alex, sparing her from taking the brunt of the impact.

Alex was sprawled out on top of him. Her left leg was wrapped around his right one and her arms were still around his neck. "Oh my God," she panted, shifting up into a sitting position. "Are you okay?"

Though the Doctor's back was aching from the hard impact on tiled floor, he growled, "Never better," and planted his hands on her hips, yanking her back down. Their lips met and a battle for dominance ensued, tongues and teeth clashing together. Not surprisingly, Alex lost, and she soon found herself lying underneath the Doctor.

The tile beneath her was cold, but Alex barely felt it thanks to her new Time Lord physiology and the man above her, snaking a hand under her top. Alex sighed softly and moved her hands to the Doctor's suspenders, tugging on them until he finally shrugged out of them. She gasped at the feeling of his fingernails scraping along her stomach as he inched her tank top up, making her legs shake in a way that no man before him had ever been able to do.

God, she wanted him. She'd wanted him ever since he rescued her from Demons Run. Her body screamed for his, as though wanting to complete the connection they had shared since first meeting. She wanted him so badly, she could barely stand it. But did she really want their first time to be on the floor of the medical bay?

"Doc," she managed to choke out. She moved her hands to his shoulders and pushed him up and away from her collarbone, where he'd been in the process of marking her.

The Doctor stared down at her, his eyes dark as night, something that only made Alex even more aroused. His lips were red and swollen, his hair unkempt and messy, and his shirt wrinkled and slightly untucked. He was so bloody sexy right now. And to think I caused that, Alex thought appreciatively.

"Yes, Ally?" the Doctor gasped, pulling her back into the moment. To Alex's surprise, he didn't sound at all out of breath, but she then realized he'd activated his respiratory bypass system. If things went where she hoped they were headed, she would have to do that, too. "What is it, love? Do you want to stop? I'm sorry, I just got carried away—"

Alex cut him off by yanking his head down and pressing a quick, bruising kiss to his lips. "God, no," she gasped when they broke apart. "No, I don't wanna stop, just maybe move locations."

Her meaning wasn't lost on him. His eyes darkened even more, the green bordering on black, and he quickly jumped to his feet. "Of course, a bed, you need a bed," he muttered to himself. He sounded as if he were scolding himself for not thinking of that detail.

He pulled her to her feet and then to his chest. Alex stood on tiptoe to meet his lips again. Their tongues twirled together as the Doctor guided her out of the lab, both occasionally stumbling in their haste.

"Yours or mine?" Alex wondered.

"Mine," the Doctor rumbled, the growl in his words making Alex shiver. He smirked and moved to lift her up. Him carrying her would make their search go so much faster. . .

Then a trilling noise rang out from down the hall.

The two broke apart and stared, confused, in the direction of the control room. The trilling noise continued. Slowly, it dawned on them that it was the console's telephone.

The Doctor shook his head impatiently and turned back to Alex. "Ignore it," he commanded. "Whoever it is will wait." He gripped her hips, fingers digging into the tight leather, and captured her lips in a possessive kiss.

"Are you sure?" Alex asked in between kisses.

The Doctor was about to answer in the affirmative when the answer-machine picked up. "Oh, blimey! Okay . . . you probably leave a message at the tone or something," the Doctor's voice rang out. "Sorry, I wasn't really trying to do this, I was looking for the BRAKES!" A beep sounded, cutting off whatever racket had presumably followed. Another voice began speaking, a voice guaranteed to pull the couple out of their passion-induced haze.

"Doctor? Alex?" Amy called. "Doctor, Alex, can one of you hear me? Are you ever gonna hear this, Doctor? You don't even know you've got an answer phone!"

The Doctor and Alex looked at each-other. Wordlessly, they started down the hall to the control room. All the while, they continued listening to Amy's message.

Amy laughed a little, only to ultimately break off into a sigh. "How can you be so clever and so completely stupid at the same time? Well, if you or Alex can hear this, please just pick up the phone. Don't get confused, Doctor, I'm not invisible or trapped in a space ball or something, I'm just talking on the answer phone. So just pick up the phone!"

There was a momentary silence. Amy sighed again. "Doctor, you said you'd find my baby. You said you'd find Melody. Have you found her? Because you promised. I know she's gonna be okay, I know she'll grow up to be River, but . . . it's just, it's not the point, it's . . . I don't wanna miss all those years, you know? I . . . I can't stand it. Can't. Please, Doctor, please Alex, please. . . Okay, phone me back when you know something. Please, Doctor, at least do that, or Alex, please make him. As soon as you know, okay? Alright, bye." Amy's phone clicked as she hung up and a beep sounded, signaling the end of the message.

By this point, the Doctor and Alex had reached the console. They stood there silently, Amy's message slowly but steadily sinking into their brains. The Doctor bowed his head and reached out to pull Alex into his side. Alex complied with the movement and wrapped her arms around his chest, providing him with some silent comfort. She knew without him telling her that he felt deeply guilty for not being able to give Amy the baby girl she desperately wanted, so any way she could comfort him now, she'd try.

The two were silent for a long while, caught up in their thoughts. Finally, the Doctor sighed and murmured, almost inaudibly, "I owe it to her to try and get Melody back."

Alex nodded silently in agreement. While she knew that the Doctor knew it was next to impossible to get Melody back without it causing a number of paradoxes, it didn't mean that he couldn't try. "I'm more than happy to help, Doc."

She knew what he was going to say the moment he opened his mouth after nearly a minute of silent contemplation. "Actually, Ally . . . I think it's best if I dropped you off in Leadworth while I go look for Melody. You're well enough now that you don't need me hovering over you 24/7."

Alex narrowed her eyes at him. "Do you think that I'll try to jeopardize looking for her or something just because she grows up to be River in the future?" Even if River didn't act like it, and even if Alex didn't like the kind of person River had grown up to become, Alex was her godmother, and she would search for her godchild until it killed her.

The Doctor shook his head rapidly. "Of course not, love," he assured her, placing a hand on her shoulder. "I know you wouldn't do that. But keep in mind, this is Madame Kovarian we're dealing with. She's one of the most cunning people I've ever encountered." He pulled her close to him and placed a light kiss to her forehead. Alex's eyes involuntarily closed at the action. "She's already tried to harm you once," he whispered. "I don't intend on it happening again."

Alex opened her eyes and smiled at him. "Should've known you'd have a good reason." And honestly, she wasn't really relishing the idea of encountering Madame Kovarian or any of her cohorts again. Not unless she had the Doctor and maybe a bunch of Navy SEALS's alongside her. She stretched upwards to give him a quick kiss. "Alright, for once I won't argue with you."

The Doctor raised an eyebrow. "That's new. Are you feeling okay, Ally?"

Laughing, Alex swatted his chest. "Right as rain, thanks to my personal physician. Go ahead and set in the coordinates for Leadworth while I pack a bag."

Ten minutes later, Alex was back in the console room, a duffel bag full of clothes and personal items slung over her arm. She watched the Doctor hurry around the console, pulling levers, pressing buttons, and flicking switches. Finally, the TARDIS made its familiar materialization noise, followed by a loud thump.

The Doctor pushed a lever up and leaned against the console. "Here we are. Leadworth, England, approximately two weeks after you lot went to America, 2:55 in the afternoon."

"Thanks." Alex heaved her duffel bag further up her arm but made no move to head towards the door. "Are you gonna come out and talk to Amy and Rory?"

He shook his head, expression downcast. "No," he said quietly. "Probably wouldn't be best right now."

Alex nodded. He was probably right. "Alright. When do you think I'll see you again?"

The Doctor thought for a moment. "Let's see, it's May right now . . . maybe the end of the summer? Late August?"

"I'll hold you to that." She walked over to him, stopping only when they were right next to each-other. She lowered her arm, allowing the duffel bag to slide downwards until it hit the ground with a dull thump. She stared straight into the Doctor's dark emerald eyes. She wanted to memorize them, as she knew it would be a long while until she saw them again.

Alex felt her hearts skip a beat at the thought of being away from him for several months – again, her mind couldn't help but add – though it wouldn't be like last time. Last time, she'd been hiding her feelings from him, trying to convince herself that they'd fade away after a few months apart, but she knew now they would only grow stronger. Last time, she had left him upset and heart(s)broken at her sudden departure.

She refused to do that again.

Ever so carefully, she stood on tiptoe, placing her hands on his shoulders for balance. The Doctor stood perfectly still, as if he knew what she was planning and didn't want to risk interrupting a moment of it. Alex moved towards his lips, her eyes involuntarily shutting. Slowly, her lips met his.

Unlike their typical rushed and flurried kisses, this kiss was a slow burn. Alex hummed at the taste of the Doctor's flame-flavored lips, while he groaned at her intoxicating sweet-and-sour tang. Almost without their meaning to, the kiss grew steamier and steamier until Alex had somehow ended up pressed against the console, one leg hitched around the Doctor's hip.

Fortunately, the Doctor still had a little sense left. He planted his hands on Alex's shoulders and gently, but firmly, pushed her away from him. Alex breathed heavily and tilted her head back, exposing her collarbone. The Doctor's eyes darkened, and he felt the urge to lick his lips. Mentally shaking himself, he took a step back.

"Thanks," Alex blushed once she caught her breath. "Things just kinda . . . escalated."

The Doctor smirked. "Seems to happen a lot with you and me."

"I think that's true for anyone you travel with." She pushed off the console and stepped forwards, right in front of him again, and wrapped her arms around his neck. "Though not like with what happened a few seconds ago."

Though the Doctor was itching to kiss her again, he forced himself to hold back. "You'd probably best go now," he murmured, "else I won't let you out of here till things are done . . . escalating."

A rush of heat ran through Alex's veins. How could this man make one word sound so tantalizing? She was pulled out of her lustful thoughts when the Doctor bent down and retrieved her duffel bag. He held it out to her in offering. Alex took it wordlessly.

It's not gonna be forever, she reminded herself. It's just a few months.

She wanted to kiss him again. Since she knew what would likely happen if she did that, Alex walked determinedly to the doors. Once there, she paused and turned around. Just as she expected, the Doctor was leaning against the console, arms crossed, eyes firmly fixed on her.

Déjà vu, Alex thought. But this time was different than last time.

She smiled brightly, her topaz-colored eyes turning to chocolate brown, then to dark emerald green. "See you, Doc," she grinned.

He beamed back at her, realizing what she was trying to do. "Goodbye, Ally."

Alex allowed herself and him one final smile and a wave before heaving the duffel bag higher up her shoulder and pushing the door open.

She stepped out, the door falling shut behind her. She was in the backyard of the house Amy and Rory had rented shortly after getting married, the one they'd begged her to move into as well.

The TARDIS engines started up. Alex whirled around just in time to see the blue box slowly fading in and out of reality. So captivated by the TARDIS dematerializing, she almost didn't hear the patio door being slammed open behind her.

"Doctor!" Amy shouted. Within an instant, she was by Alex's side, still clad in her pajamas and bathrobe despite the fact that it was three o'clock in the afternoon. Rory, also clad in PJ's, ran along behind her, coming to a stop at the patio doorway.

But they were too late. The TARDIS had dematerialized back into the time vortex.

Amy stared forlornly at the spot the TARDIS had vacated. "Where's he going? Did he find Melody?" She grabbed Alex by the shoulders and spun her around to face her. "What happened to you? River wasn't very willing to give any information. . ."

Alex took a deep breath as Amy continued to chatter on, nearly all her questions concerning the whereabouts of her daughter, with Alex's mysterious incarceration at Demons Run being a reoccurring afterthought (not that Alex was offended; any parent should hold their child as a first priority).

"Amelia!" Alex cut in, forcing Amy's mile-a-minute mouth to close. She turned and gave a quick wave to Rory, then gestured for him to come closer. "Hi, yes, I'm fine, don't worry. Long story, but there'll be plenty of time to discuss that later. As for Melody, I promise the Doctor's doing everything he can think of to help. . ."

~The Pros and Cons of Silence~

A/N: *cautiously pokes head out from around doorframe* So . . . I'm really, really, really sorry for the long wait between chapters. I won't bore you with the particulars as to why, but just know that I WILL complete this story, no matter how long it takes. And look! A brand new, SUPER LONG chapter. This chapter is actually 67(!) pages long on my Word Document and, not counting this author's note, tops off at 37,772 words. This is the longest chapter I've written for the Alex Locke Series so far, hands down. Not a bad treat for an over a year wait, right?

Now, I'm not sure when the next few chapters will be up. Two of them just need some editing and then they'll be ready for posting, so hopefully an update will be coming in the next few days.

Notes on reviews . . .

TheLightBringer666 - Thank you! Hope you enjoyed the chapter!

NicoleR85 - You were right in that they turned her into a Time Lady! Hope you enjoyed the chapter!

bored411 - As this chapter explains, Alex is uniquely equipped to deal with the trauma of a second heart, a respiratory bypass system, and more thrust on her. I hope you liked this chapter!

ShadowTier - I LOVE it when I leave people speechless! Here are just some of the reactions promised and I hope they live up to expectation. We'll be seeing more in the next few chapters.

blue - The new organs are new, having come from a donor (though maybe not a willing one). We're going to find out later in the story just where the new organs came from. Hope you enjoyed the chapter!

Super . Nova . 397 - Sorry about the odd time zones (and a year+ long wait!). Hope the chapter was worth the wait though!

Rebecca - Thank you! I'm definitely continuing on with the story, and finishing it, so no worries there. Hope you enjoyed the chapter!

gwencarson126 - Thank you! I'm so glad you love the story so much. Hope you enjoyed the chapter!

Loveless150050 - I'm definitely planning on doing an AU 10/Alex story, just not sure when it will be out. I'd like to put it out after I finish 'Pros and Cons', but we'll have to see.

Alvia the Ginger - Merci beaucoup! I'm so glad you find Alex to be an interesting character. I work hard to keep her as realistic and complicated as possible, someone who could likely exist in reality. I'm glad you liked her blowup towards Amy. I really haven't seen anything like that in other Doctor Who fanfictions and it's such a shame, because it really is an interesting thing to explore. That's something I'm always trying to do in my writing, finding new things to explore so I can see how people handle it. Her body being forcibly altered is definitely, I think, a new idea for Doctor Who fanfiction, and I'm really glad you like it! I hope you enjoyed the chapter!

KaizenRaize - Here's the long-awaited update! Hope you enjoyed the chapter!

BlueDarkDragon - Everything with me is fine. Life just got busy is all, and unfortunately, I'm a slow writer (I'm trying to get better at that. Last thing I want to be is George R.R. Martin). I will NEVER lose my desire and love for this story, no need to worry about that. Thank you! I really want to be a professional writer someday, so hearing comments like that is really encouraging. I hope you enjoyed the chapter!

Please review and see you later!