Alex's Beginning

Chapter 8

"It's not Smith, that's not my real name." The Doctor finally responded to Martha as he walked over to the left side of the balcony to look over.

"Who are you, then?" Martha asked.

His name was on the tip of her tongue, but then she realized she shouldn't say it. They were busy with other things, and it really wasn't the appropriate time to explain. Now that she's thinking about it, she wasn't really sure when exactly that would be a good time to explain. "I'm the Doctor." So high and mighty when he says it, Alex mentally giggled. He had to look them right in the eyes when he said it. He had to show everyone that the Doctor was here - smartest person ever to be in the room.

"What kind of name is the Doctor?" She asked, just going along with it, having fun. "I mean... what is it then, Doctor Smith or something?"

"Just the Doctor..." She caught the look at he sent her way, and it caused her to raise an eyebrow. She couldn't quite interpret it though. She wasn't sure why he had been looking at her that way. He was acting as if she was some big puzzle that he was solving.

"How to you mean, just the Doctor?"

"Just..." Clearly, the Doctor didn't have a better explanation for it. "The Doctor."

"So, what, people just call you that? The Doctor?" She mocked his title a bit, because even if she did know that was his name. Even if she did call him that just like any other good Whovian, it was still funny by human standard for names.

"Yeah."

"Well, I'm not." Martha replied, turning away to face out into the distance. "As far as I'm concerned, you have to earn that title." Yeah, you go Martha, she thought. Don't just take his name and go along with it. Have him earn the title, oh how she loved Martha.

"Well, I'd better make a start, then." He picked up a piece of stone that must have fallen off from the building. "Let's have a look." He threw it out into space, only to have it deflected. She watched, fascinated, as it made a ripple effect from what seemed like nothing at all. "There must be some sort of force field keeping the air in."

Something rather morbid occurred to her. "Wait a minute, if that's what's keeping in the air... That means it's the only air that we have..." She was almost afraid to ask. "What happens when that runs out?"

He turned to her, and she swore that both of them were thinking the same thing. "How many people are in this hospital?"

The American blinked, before looking towards Martha. The doctor-in-training seemed thrown that the question was suddenly directed at her. "I don't know, a thousand?" Martha threw out.

She turned back to the Doctor. "One thousand people. Suffocating." He seemed to get that through clenched teeth, and she knew it was for good reason. That was appalling!

"Why would anyone do that?" Martha asked horrified.

The Doctor couldn't hold in his curiosity anymore. "Better question is how did you know my name?" She perked her head up, and pointed to herself. "Yeah, that's what you called me. Back inside, when you wanted me to apologize for being rude - you called me by my name."

"Oh my God, you did..." Martha was shocked.

"I did?" She hadn't even realized it. She couldn't even specifically think back to when he was talking about. "I..." But clearly she did, and she could feel herself panicking. How to explain this without sounding crazy? Yeah sure, the Doctor had experienced some weird things but she was sure that this was going to take the cake.

"How did you know my name?" At this point, the Doctor was towering over her. She swallowed, even knowing who he was still didn't stop her from being intimidated just the slightest bit.

"Well... I..." She wasn't sure how to get away with this. She wasn't sure how to put it in a way that would let them move on quickly. She looked to Martha, but the woman was looking at her with shock and clearly she wasn't going to help her out. "It's hard..." She looked back and forth, this time not looking at either person. "I'm not... It's hard to explain." Without sounding like a loon.

"Well then, do you best..." The Doctor replied, clearly careless of how she put it as long as she explained it.

She leaned back against the balcony, this time with her back pressed against it. She tapped her fingers against the surface, a nervous tick of hers. "I'm... not from here..." That had to be the crappiest beginning that she had ever given.

"Of course not," Martha said, trying to rational this part. She couldn't blame her, considering what she was going to drop her with. "You're from America."

She titled her head back and forth, a 'so-so' look on her face. "Yeah, but... that's not quite true."

"What do you mean?" The Doctor demanded.

"I'm from America, but not... not this America." She knew he would understand it quicker than Martha. He had run into parallel universes before. "A different America."

Just like she predicted, a look of understand appeared across his face the instant after she spoke. "A parallel universe."

"Seriously?" Martha gasped as she turned to the Doctor, before turning back to the person she had thought was her friend. "So you're Alex from another world?"

She bit her lip. "No..." Oh, this was such a nightmare, and she really wished she hadn't spoken the Doctor's name. "I'm not... I'm not Alex, Martha." The woman just stared at her for a long time, and she had to look away and back to the Doctor. His eyes were easier to stare into than Martha's right now. "I'm not Alex. I don't even know how I got here in the first place. I was minding my own business, and then suddenly I wake up and I'm here with this poor girl's life and face and name and everything." Oh dear God, now she was rambling. Someone please stop me, "And how do you even explain that to everyone? I look exactly like her. I'm not supposed to, I mean, I don't have black hair and eyes like these - and can I just say how weird it this has been for me? It's just ridiculous. And no one even realized that I wasn't this Alex. That's almost scary, how similar this means I am to this Alex. Or how completely unobservant people are."

"How did you know who I was, then?"

That was easier to explain, somehow. "Doctor Who." The Doctor blinked, and she elaborated in more detail. "It's an English television show that started in the 1960s and it got cancelled around the 1980s, and it picked back up again in 2005 - that's the one that I'm the most familiar with. I love that show. It's my favorite." She felt so uncomfortable under the weight of both Martha's and the Doctor's stare that she couldn't help but add, "Weirdly enough that was what I had been watching before I ended up here."

"So everything that's happened between us? Everything that we've been through? All of that is gone?" Martha asked angry now. For good reason of course. "Where's the real Alex then?"

Before anyone could answer a large grinding noise hit their ears and they turned towards the left side of the hospital. Out of nowhere huge cylinder type ships appeared and moved away from the hospital and towards an even area of moon only a few feet away. With the new addition of people, the three of them forgot all about her predicament and came back to the present. "Aliens." Martha was stunned. "That's aliens. Real, proper aliens."

The Doctor knew them by their proper name. "Judoon." Weren't those the really short ones with the round heads? No wait... Those were Sontarans, which one where the Judoons again? Before she could properly think about it, the Doctor was already moving back into the hospital. She was quick to follow and heard Martha right on her heals.