Chapter 6

Ten minutes till eight, the Doctor put his blue jacket back on and walked out of the TARDIS followed by K-9. The Doctor walked up the stairs and K-9 elevated off the ground and followed the Doctor up the staircase. The Doctor walked into the Russo's home for the first time since the Hoix incident. He saw Theresa and Harper standing behind the bar and Jerry, Justin, Max and Alex sitting at the table. The Doctor saw Alex's face light up when he walked into the room. K-9 floated in behind the Doctor before landing on the floor next to him. Everyone looked at the mechanical dog and then back to the Doctor.

The Doctor went and took a seat next to Alex. He saw all the faces looking back at him and the years of sadness and loneliness melted away. The animal that was growing and fuming inside of him was being subdued and tamed. The Doctor was home. He had a home to live in and was so happy. He didn't want to leave.

***

Alex sat down next to her dad at the dining room table. There was an extra seat at the table and she didn't know why. She heard someone coming up the staircase and she looked and saw the Doctor walking up, now in his trademark jacket and sweatpants. She looked at him in the eyes, but this time they were different. They were not as old looking. They were not as painfilled and lonely. They were young and happy and comforted. She smiled at him and he smiled back.

She saw something move behind the Doctor. It was a floating metal dog that landed to the Doctor's right. She had never seen anything like it before. The dog rolled its way to the bar and stayed there. The Doctor walked up to the chair next to Alex's and took it. She saw the way he looked at everyone in the family. He was so happy, she thought to herself. She felt a sense of pride that she had helped this man out of darkness. She never would admit it to her family, but she did like helping people and she knew it was not just her, it was all of them.

***

Harper and Theresa took their seats at the table and the food was passed around. The table was full of smiles and laughter. The Doctor thought back to his other companions. He thought about the first time he took humans on a trip in the TARDIS. He went through all of his adventures and companions, from Susan, Ian and Barbara all the way to the Russo family. The Doctor smiled as he saw all the bright and shining faces of his friends. He didn't think about the heartbreak they gave him. He didn't want to ruin the moment. He looked around and thought to himself that of all the places to be stranded in the universe for a few months to a year, he was glad it was here with this family.

Out of the blue, he felt the knot return to his stomach and jerked inside. The others didn't notice, they were having too good a time. The Doctor was jarred out of his daydream and he didn't like it. He looked around and didn't see anything. He needed to find out why his gut was knotted.

Just as suddenly as it appeared, it vanished. The Doctor decided the time to worry would be later. All he needed to at this very minute was to live in the present and enjoy the moment, and he most certainly would.

"So Doctor," said Justin, "Do you want to tell us about one of your trips?"
The Doctor looked up and answered, "Yeah, I tell you one. There are just so many though. What should I talk about? The Aztecs, Romans, Pompeii, The Key to Time, Silurians."

"What about Gallifrey?" asked Theresa.

The Doctor looked around at the table. Only Alex knew what happened to Gallifrey. The Doctor told her when they first met. She was ready to hear the story again, but she knew that the Doctor would leave out the part of the Time War and the destruction of his people.

"Well, where do I start?" the Doctor asked himself, "Gallifrey the Shining World of the Seven Systems. The sky is a burnt orange with a citadel enclosed in a mighty glass dome, glistening under the twin suns. Beyond that the mountains go on forever, slopes of deep red grass capped with snow. When the second sun would rise in the south, the mountains would shine. There were forests all over that planet. Their leaves were silver and when the sunlight would hit those leaves they looked like a forest on fire.

"On the continent of Wild Endeavor, between the Mountains of Solace and Solitude, there stood the citadel of Time Lords, the oldest and most mighty race in the universe. Looking down upon the galaxies below. They swore never to interfere only to watch. There were some Time Lords like myself that were dubbed renegades because we didn't believe on just watching, we wanted to do something. Renegade Time Lords are the ones that are traveling through time and space unchecked. For better or for worse."

The family watched as the Doctor's face was so sincere, even his eyes were tearing up as he explained and described his home.

The Doctor decided it was now or never. They were all together. He would tell them about the War, the Time War, the Last Great Time War.

"It sounds so beautiful," said Harper.

"It was beautiful," said the Doctor.

Alex looked at the Doctor with "Are you sure you want to tell them?" look in her eyes.

The Doctor noticed it and replied, "Alex, I think they should know. I have to stop pretending. I have to stop lying to myself. I have to face the truth."

"What truth?" asked Jerry suspiciously.

"I lied to you. I lied to you all. I could pretend, just for a bit I could imagine that they were still alive beneath the burnt orange sky, but they're not. I'm not just a Time Lord, I'm the last of the Time Lords. There's no one else. It's just me, it's only me."
A looked of shock waved over everyone but Alex. He had told her this all before.

"What happened?" asked Justin.

"War. Simple as that. There was a war. A time war. The Last Great Time War. My people fought a race of being called the Daleks for the sake of creation and they lost, we lost, everyone lost. Now they're all gone, they're all dead. My family, my friends, even that sky."

That was it Jerry said to himself. That the source of the Doctor's hatred towards the Daleks. He finally found out the truth, but wished he hadn't. It wasn't what he expected. He thought the Doctor might have been some terrible criminal, not the last of his people.

"As the Time War raged, the universe convulsed. It was beaten and battered. Tears in reality started occurring all over the place. It was invisible to the smaller species, but devastating to the higher forms of life."
"If your a Time Lord and can travel through time, why can't you go back and save your people?" asked Max.

"Because of the Time Lock. The Time Lock was put into place for that very thing. The Time War was so devastating and powerful, that any alteration could tear the universe itself apart. Besides nothing can get in or get out of a time lock except for something was already there. Even then I still would never go back into the Time War. The War turned into Hell."

"Can we talk about something else?" asked Harper, "This is depressing."
"Of course we can," said the Doctor, "What do you want to know about?"

"What about the Romans?" asked Justin.

"Okay," said the Doctor, "Just so you know that fire had nothing to do with me. Well maybe something to do with me." The Doctor smiled as he went on with his story about his adventures through time and space. This was going to be one fun night he thought to himself.

The End