SOMETHING OLD, SOMETHING NEW
Chapter Seventy Six After spending the rest of the day at the aquarium, the three of them piled back in the car for supper. By that time, the wind had begun to pick up again and it started to rain. “I guess the hurricane is starting to catch up to us,” Rose said. “It won’t be as bad up here,” Awinita assured her. “As soon as it hits land, it’ll die down again. All they’ll get up here is wind and rain and maybe some thunderstorms. I think we’re far enough away now.” “That’s good because I really don’t fancy running all the way up to Michigan just to get away from it,” Rose said. “Question is, do you guys want to head over to Memphis or go up?” “Might as well head to Memphis,” Alan said. “Are you planning on driving there tonight?” “Gonna try to. It’s not that late and I figure it won’t take more than a couple of hours to reach it. Get something to eat and then head out.” Alan settled back in the passenger seat and put his hands behind his head as Rose pulled out of the Aquarium parking lot. They drove around downtown Chattanooga looking for somewhere to eat. They found a Mexican restaurant and went inside. “I figured this would be a nice change of pace from the burgers and chips,” Rose said to them. “Great idea, I could go for a taco or two,” Alan said. The waitress came by with a basket of tortilla chips and some salsa. She sat them down and took their orders for Cokes before heading off again. Alan munched on a chip as he stared out the window at the raindrops cascading down the glass. “Glad we got Lookout Mountain and the aquarium out of the way,” he said as they took menus from the holder beside them. “Yeah, me too,” Rose said. “Looks like we’re in for another rainy, windy night.” “You want me and my eyes to do the driving again?” Alan asked. “Would you? I’m sorry, I hate to keep asking you because we all need to take turns driving but…” He held up his hand. “This is a special situation though. I got us through the wind and the rain in Florida and I don’t mind doing it again tonight. Just don’t worry about it. You aren’t putting any burdens on me. I wouldn’t have offered if I didn’t want to do it. All I care about is our safety, not who drives when.” She smiled and squeezed his hand. “Now-wah, what are we all having?” he asked. “You wanted tacos, yeah?” Rose asked. “Yeah, I’m kinda eyeing this taco and enchilada dinner. That sounds good. How ‘bout you?” “I’m trying to decide between a taco and a fajita,” she said. “They don’t have a meal with both of those?” Alan asked. Rose frowned. “I don’t see one,” she said. “How ‘bout this then? The one I’m ordering comes with two tacos. Get the fajita and I’ll give you one of my tacos.” “You sure?” “Yup.” “Okay, I’ll do that then. What ‘bout you, Awinita?” “I’m gonna get a couple of burritos, I think,” she said. Alan giggled softly. “What?” Rose asked. “Would you hate me if I ordered an entire bottle of tequila and drank it down before getting behind the wheel?” “I wouldn’t hate you but I would make you run behind us all the way to Memphis so you could get the alcohol out of your system,” Rose said. “Ah, but I just found out I still had the ability to read minds, maybe I also have the ability to drink liquor and not get soused.” “Well, you can experiment on your own time then, not when you’re driving down the motorway to Memphis.” “You can drink a bunch of booze and not get drunk?” Awinita asked. “Um…the Doctor can, I’m not sure about me.” “Wow, I wish my uncles had that ability,” she muttered. “No one’s ever pointed out to your uncles that they’re disrupting the holiday celebrations?” Alan asked. Awinita snorted. “Many a time, my friend, but not only does it not work, it pisses them off even more. So eventually everyone just stopped trying,” she said. “Odd behavior that,” Alan said. “On Gallifrey, drinking to the point of drunkenness was rare.” “Well, yeah, because you just said the Doctor couldn’t get drunk,” Awinita pointed out. “Ah, but he can get drunk if he wants to, he just has to alter his body chemistry to do it. Gallifreyans could in theory get drunk, the majority chose not to, although every planet has its exceptions.” “So, the Doctor knew someone who was a wino then?” Awinita said. “No, but when he was a boy his “father” would talk about this weird guy that would hang out by himself up in the mountains and get pissed on Hashleberry wine.” “The hermit you said would tell the Doctor ghost stories?” Rose said. “No, no, not him. This was a different guy. No, the hermit was harmless. The other guy was mentally unbalanced.” “Like the Master?” Rose said. “Eeeeeh, yeeeeah, except I don’t think he was evil like the Master was. He just had a lot of problems. He wasn’t a Time Lord so the Doctor never encountered him at the Academy or anything like that. He was supposedly just a weird old pariah. 99 percent of the population didn’t get drunk because that impaired the brain functions and that was looked down on in a society that prized intelligence. That’s probably why that was loomed into Gallifreyans in the first place, so we could enjoy alcohol without risking the effects. I didn’t feel any effects when I had that scotch the other day but that was one tiny glass.” “Well, you’re not getting an entire bottle of tequila and gulping it down so you can make sure,” Rose said. “Nah, I don’t like the taste of tequila anyway,” he said, winking at her. “Give me a pint of bitter instead.” “Ick,” Awinita said, sticking out her tongue. “Give us time, we’ll get you hooked on them,” he said, smiling. The waitress came back, took their orders and went away. “Hey guys, I was thinking,” Awinita said. “Halloween is coming up. Do you guys wanna try to find more haunted houses to walk through when it gets closer to the date?” “Hmmm, that might be fun. If we can find some decent ones like the Haunted Cavern. My mates and I used to go to ones that were total rubbish,” Rose said. “We could always try to find an actual haunted house and spend the night in it,” Alan said. “Um, you couldn’t stand Mary botherin’ ya, why would you purposely spend the night in a real haunted house?” Rose asked. “I was tired though and I wasn’t in the mood to deal with her. I figure if we can find a haunted house, we could pretend we were in an episode of Most Haunted. I’d be Derek, of course.” “Yeah, I can just imagine you as Derek,” Rose said, rolling her eyes. “I can just see you going through the bleedin’ house saying, “I feel a spirit here!” in a melodramatic voice. I s’pose I’d be Yvette then?” “Yup.” “Who am I then?” Awinita asked. “Um, you’re the insane American who follows us around and mutters, “You’re all gonna die!” at inopportune moments,” he said. “Suits me,” Awinita said as they laughed. “Actually, I have another crazy idea. How ‘bout on Halloween night, we drive the van down a street in whatever town we’re in and get Alan to go up to the door and trick and treat so we can get some candy.” Alan stared at her. “I’m a bit old, aren’t I?” he said. She shrugged. “My friends used to do that when they were well into their teens. They’d get dressed up and take a pillowcase and people would give them candy.” “Well, what would I dress up as?” “Yourself, just tell people the truth, you’re a half alien and see what happens.” Alan looked at Rose. “Dare I?” he said as Awinita laughed. “You wanna make a fool of yourself, go ahead,” Rose said. “Wait, you’re not stopping me?” “No, I’ll be in the car and if we do this, I’ll be sure to park in a dark area so no one can see me but I’ll have a clear view of you,” she said. “Hmmm,” Alan said. “I know you’re gonna go through with it, you have that gleam in your eyes,” Rose said. “It might be fun,” Alan said. “Just to see how many people would actually give me sweets.” “And if they don’t, are we gonna throw rotten eggs at the houses and put toilet paper all over their trees and bushes?” Awinita said. “Nah, we won’t go that far,” Alan said. “No smashing pumpkins or anything like that. I’ll just go up and say trick or treat and let whatever happens, happen. And whatever spoils I get, we’ll split three ways.” “What if you get one sweet?” Rose asked. “I’ll tear it into three pieces,” Alan said, shrugging. “Share and share alike, I say.” “If we do this, Rose, be sure to drive into the roughest neighborhood you can find so we can watch Alan dodge bullets and pit bulls.” “That’s not a bad idea; I think I might do that. Make my fiancé work for his sweets.” “Do your worst, I will procure the booty without breaking a sweat.” Rose looked at Awinita. “You know, the more we talk about this, the more I want to see it. I think we will do this on Halloween night.” “Brilliant,” Alan said. “We can go trick or treat and afterwards onto a haunted house for some fun scares and follow that up with a night in a real haunted house somewhere.” “Well, I guess Halloween’s all penciled in now,” Rose said. “Now we just have to figure out what we’re going to do on the other days.” They looked over when the waitress set their food down in front of them. They thanked her and she went away. Alan gingerly picked up one of his tacos and set it on Rose’s plate. “Thank you, dear,” she said. “No problemo.” “I’m surprised you were willing to give that up,” Awinita said. “Knowing what an eating machine you are.” “Nah, I’m more than happy to share with the love of my life,” he said. “I will happily starve just as long as she has a full little belly.” “You better not starve yourself. You already look like a famine victim now,” she said as Rose choked on her Coke. Alan gave her a stern look when Rose coughed violently. He patted her back until she calmed down. “Now see, you were griping about me making you choke on liquids and you turn right around and do it to Rose,” he said. “Sorry, Rose, I didn’t mean to make you choke,” she said. “S’alright, it was worth it just to hear the famine victim quip.” “What is it with people telling me and the Doctor that we’re anorexic thin?” Alan asked. “You are, you’re the skinniest man I’ve ever seen,” Awinita said. “I mean, I know you said the Doctor does a lot of running but both your metabolisms must be on warp speed or something, especially since you eat every chance you get.” “I can’t help it, that’s just the way this body is made,” he sniffed. “The Doctor wasn’t quite this thin in his other life,” Rose said. “As for the other lives before it, I have no clue.” “He’s always been thin for the most part. His sixth life was when he was at his heaviest…so far,” he said. “Why? What’d he look like in his sixth life?” Rose asked. “Well, he had curly hair and…” “No, show me,” Rose said. “Um, I really don’t want to,” he muttered. “Why not? Was he morbidly obese or something?” “No, it’s not that. It’s his…clothes.” “What about his clothes?” “My, it’s really pouring down now,” Alan said, glancing out the window at the rain. “Alan, what about his clothes?” Rose said, emphatically. Alan sighed. “If I show you, please understand this. The Doctor was…a little barmy in that life and his clothing kinda reflected that, alright?” “Alright,” Rose said, shrugging. “Make sure that your mouth is clear,” he said to her. Rose swallowed the bit of fajita in her mouth. “Okay, mouth clear.” Alan sighed. “I have a feeling I’m gonna regret this,” he muttered putting his fingers up to her temples. Rose closed her eyes as Awinita watched. There was a moment when nothing happened and then Rose’s mouth dropped open. “Oh my God, what the hell is he wearing?” she said. “I told you,” Alan said, leaning back. Rose opened her eyes and stared at him. “Whatever possessed him to wear that?” she said. “It doesn’t even match, nothing matches. Forget the weight; I don’t think anyone would get past the outfit to notice he was chunky.” “Show me, would you please?” Awinita said. Alan did the same thing to Awinita. “What?” she said, staring at the image in disbelief. “Yeah, I agree with you, Rose. He looks like he was in an explosion at a paint factory.” Alan took his hands away and went back to eating while Awinita opened her eyes. “Wait, they didn’t all dress like that, did they?” she said. “No, trust me, they didn’t,” Alan said. “That wasn’t even a normal outfit,” Awinita said to Rose. “Where’d he find it, Ringling Brothers? All he needed was the white face and the red nose and he’d be set.” Alan rolled his eyes when they giggled. Awinita laid a hand on his shoulder. “Well, I’m so glad you have a better fashion sense than he did,” she said. “You aren’t the only one who’s glad,” he muttered. “Trust me, I don’t approve of the way he dressed. I don’t approve of him in general. He was an oddball.” Awinita chewed on her burrito thoughtfully while she stared at him. “So…” she said after swallowing, “once you change back into your full Time Lord self, you’ll be able to regenerate and change your body?” “Yes.” “And this right here, this will be gone forever?” she said, gesturing to his body. “Yes, if I regenerate, nothing of this body will remain. Everything changes.” Awinita took another bite of her burrito while she thought that over. “So,” she said, “in essence, you’ll be dead. The you, you here.” “In a manner of speaking, yes. There will still be some aspects of my personality that will carry over but for all intents and purposes, the man sitting here in front of you will cease to exist.” She looked at Rose. “And that’s what happened with his other self, he basically died and Alan’s Doctor was born?” “Yes. And he’s right, there are some mannerisms in his Doctor that were in the other Doctor, but he became a completely different man when he changed.” “So in a technical sense, you’ve been with three men. You have Alan, had the Doctor and the other Doctor.” Rose nodded. “Yes, especially since Alan doesn’t act exactly like the Doctor so yeah, it’s like loving three different men.” “So if he does become a Time Lord again and he does die, you’ll end up being married to a different man then.” “Yes, but deep down inside I will still love her,” Alan said. “That will never change because I won’t let it. Besides I don’t plan on dying for a long time yet, not as a half human and not as a Time Lord. So I don’t think Rose needs to worry about waking up in bed and finding a different man there.” “Besides I’m gonna love him no matter who he is,” she said. Alan raised his eyebrow. “You’ll love me even if I don’t have this fabulous hairdo?” he said, amused. Rose considered that. “Is it possible for you to change everything except the hair?” “Um, no.” “Darn, on second thought, maybe I will fall out of love with ya then if you don’t have your fabulous hair.” “I guess I’ll have to stick you in the mind control machine then if that happens,” Alan muttered under his breath. “You what?” Rose said. “I don’t think I heard ya right, something ‘bout sticking me in a mind control machine?” Alan feigned shock. “I said nothing of the sort,” he said as Awinita laughed. “Honestly, Rose, sometimes I wonder where you get these wacky notions that come into your head.” Rose tousled his hair affectionately and the three of them finished up their supper.
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