Alex furiously pressed her foot to the gas pedal and sped off down the winding country road. She had finally gotten her car sent over and she needed to go off on a long drive and let off some steam.

Turning up the volume on her Josh Turner CD, Alex took a sharp right turn and felt her blood pounding in time with the music. She had been living in England for two weeks and trouble was already surrounding her.

The decision to move to England had been sudden. Tired of working at a Vegas strip club after getting kicked out of the best university outside of the Ivy League, Alex had been desperate to get away from everything and had by chance come across a documentary on TV about life in England. Ten minutes later, her belongings were being packed and she was using her tip money to buy a one-way ticket to London.

Of course, the cost of living in London was expensive and Alex was already paying a fortune for sending her beloved 56 Chevy over. As if searching for a job in London that didn't require a college degree wasn't bad enough, she had received a call today from Carla concerning her inheritance. The old bat had happily informed Alex that there was no way she was getting her inheritance until her twenty-fifth birthday, by which it would probably be spent up by the trustee, none other than Carla herself.

Alex grimaced and pressed the pedal down even harder. Just thinking of the low-life grandmother she had lived with for thirteen years made her angry. Carla was greedy and loved dangling Alex's rightful money in her face. It was her money, dammit! Alex knew that by the time she received it, it would probably be completely drained.

Alex took another sharp turn and found herself nearing a town square. Well, that was lovely. She could find more people to completely humiliate herself around. Pursing her lips and turning the volume up higher, Alex sped through the empty square, kicking up dust all around. Had she bothered to notice, she would've seen a few people gape out their windows at the American car speeding through town, completely oblivious to the peace it was disturbing.

Alex was too blinded by the anger racing through her veins to even notice how quiet the village was. It was the total opposite of London, which she had found to be pretty noisy and crowded, just like Vegas. In fact, had she been paying attention, the village almost would have reminded her of Bristol on a February afternoon when everyone was cooped up inside with blankets and a bottle of gin to keep themselves warm.

Racing through the square, Alex almost didn't notice the two people coming out of a small clothing boutique and stepping right into her path. Their eyes widened and they dove back to the safety of the sidewalk. Alex snapped out of her angry daze and swerved sharply to avoid them, nearly hitting a tree in the process. "Oh shit!" she cried, turning the car off.

Meanwhile, Amy Pond was furious. What the hell?! What kind of maniac just speeds through a village and doesn't care if they nearly hit people? Well, a maniac, that's what, she thought wryly as she turned to look at the man sitting on the sidewalk next to her.

"You okay Rory?" she asked.

Rory nodded, not mentioning the fact that his heart was still racing from nearly getting run over. "Yeah, I'm cool," he panted.

Amy nodded and stormed across the street to the foreign-looking car. She didn't care who the occupant was, she was going to give them a piece of her mind…these thoughts flew out of her mind however as she saw a girl about her age scramble out of the car.

The girl was really pretty with light brown hair that contained blonde highlights. She was about 5'4 and was dressed in a long-sleeved black shirt, black skinny jeans, scuffed-up combat boots, and a gold ring on the ring finger of her left hand. However, as Amy got closer, the thing she really noticed about the girl was her eyes. They were hazel but it seemed that every time she looked at them, they changed color. The first time she looked, they were honey colored; the second time, forest green.

Alex ran a hand through her hair and dashed over to the red-headed woman she was sure was about to give her a stern-talking to. "Okay!" she interjected before Amy could say anything. "I am really, really, really sorry about almost running you and your friend over! Really, I am! I'm not usually a reckless driver, I swear! It's just I was so angry but not that you care, and it's really no excuse…"

Amy's eyes widened as the girl rambled on nervously, swearing up, down, and sideways that she was sorry for almost hitting her. The girl was clearly American, probably southern judging by her accent, and was clearly very sorry for nearly killing her. She hadn't even paused to take a breath yet!

"…and I don't blame you if you want to press charges, although I'm begging you not to! I swear, it was an accident and won't happen again and-,"

Amy held up her hand to get the girl to stop talking. "Okay, you're forgiven!" she cried. "Just take a breath, please."

Alex nodded and took a few deep breaths. As soon as she felt her heart go back down to regular beats, she started talking again. "Right, sorry. I tend to ramble when I get really upset."

Amy smiled at her. Despite nearly getting run over by her, she had to admit, she kind of liked the girl. "It's fine, it happens to the best of us. I'm Amelia Pond, but everyone calls me Amy."

Alex nodded. "Alexandria Locke, but call me Alex."

As the two were doing introductions, they didn't notice Rory coming over to them or his sudden gaping at the car that had nearly killed him. "Holy crap!" he cried, attracting the girls' attention. He looked at Alex. "Is this a 1956 Chevrolet?"

Alex nodded and smiled, pleased. "Yep! My pride and joy." She patted the roof of the car gently on this.

Rory crouched down to study the hood. "Incredible," he breathed. "It looks brand new."

While Amy rolled her eyes, Alex leaned against the car door. "My dad got it from a car collector when I was three," she explained. "It was always meant for me to drive when I turned sixteen but my gr-…guardian never would let me." On this, Alex reflected on the times when she would sneak the car out of the garage and drive it to school during the many weeks when Carla left her home alone. "That's why it looks as though it's never been used."

"God, I would love to own a car like this," Rory said.

Amy shook her head. "Boys and their toys," she muttered. "I'll never understand it."

"This car's a classic Amy!" Rory cried and Alex furiously nodded her head in agreement.

Amy gave him a look. "And this classic car nearly ran you over." As an afterthought, she turned to Alex and said "No offense."

"I almost appreciate being run over by it," Rory joked. He then turned to Alex. "Seriously though, you were going pretty fast, nearly a hundred if you want my opinion. Why?"

Alex shifted. How could she explain her complicated relationship with Carla and how pissed off she became today by it? "I was mad," she admitted quietly. "Family drama and I needed to let off some steam. I never meant to nearly hit you two, I swear. I was just overcome with road-rage or something."

"What could make you so mad to go a hundred miles an hour?" Amy demanded. She crossed her arms and gave Alex an expectant look. After nudging him with her arm, Rory copied her but it looked more like he was doing it for laughs then actually meaning it.

Alex bit her lip to keep from laughing at the ridiculous stance and instead tried to figure out how to answer Amy. "It's kinda a long story," she said.

Amy shrugged. "We've got plenty of time. There's not much to do here anyways."

Alex looked around the town square, surprised to find that it was still empty. You would think that a near vehicular homicide would've attracted people. "Yeah, where is here exactly?"

"Leadworth," Amy said. Alex could hear the disapproval in her voice.

Rory shook his head at her. "It's not that bad," he argued.

"It's completely boring and you know it," Amy insisted.

"Okay, I get that you would much rather travel with the Doctor but-,"

"RORY!" Amy screeched. Glancing at Alex, whose eyes appeared pretty surprised, she said softly "We don't need to bring him up. I've gotten over that."

"Who are you talking about?" Alex interjected. Contrary to what Amy and Rory were thinking, she could hear them loud and clear. "Who's the Doctor?"

Amy waved dismissively. "Nobody," she insisted, ignoring the doubting look on Alex and Rory's faces. "Anyway, you were saying about what spurred your case of road rage?"

Alex shifted from one foot to another and Rory sensed that the girl was pretty nervous. "Hey, I have an idea. Why don't we go back to Amy's? It's better to talk there and Sharon will be out."

"Good idea," Amy agreed. She turned to look at Alex. "You don't mind, do you?"

Alex shook her head. "No, I'll drive if you just tell me the way."

"We came in Rory's car," Amy explained. "Just follow us. It's not a long drive."

Ten minutes later, Alex pulled up behind Rory's car in front of a large house. She had to admit that it was very pretty but it also seemed pretty large for just Amy and her aunt.

"Do you have siblings?" Alex asked as they headed up the walk.

Amy shook her head. "No, I'm an only child. My parents died when I was a kid and my aunt moved in with me." On this, she paused for a moment, thinking. "Never really felt like she was my aunt though. She was always leaving me home alone for hours on end while she went off drinking or something."

Alex nodded, empathy written in her eyes. She was glad that she knew somebody else who had grown up a lot like her. "Yeah," she said quietly, staring at the ground. "I know the feeling."

Amy gave her an inquisitive glance but by that point, Rory had unlocked the door and was quickly ushering them inside. As Amy and Rory removed their jackets, Alex gazed around the entryway. It was a bit grander than the huge house she had lived in back in Kentucky but it wasn't bigger than Lacey and Marigold's house. The walls were wallpapered dark blue with purple accents, the floor was covered in rich red carpet, and the staircase banister was in a slight need of dusting.

Alex wandered over to a nearby mirror and studied her reflection. Her hair was in need of a slight trim, especially her bangs, which were getting closer and closer to touching her eyelashes. She hadn't gotten her highlights done since her last appointment two months ago and they were fading a bit. She quickly studied her eye color. She had often been complimented by her eyes and she had been asked more than once if she wore contacts. At the moment, they were topaz.

Amy watched her out of the corner of her eye. "I hope you don't mind me saying this," she said suddenly, "but it's really freaky how your eyes change color and all."

Hardly bothered, Alex laughed. "No, I don't mind," she assured her. "They're hazel and they've been this way for as long as I can remember. Everyone's always asking me if I wear contacts or something."

Satisfied with this explanation, Amy shrugged and flounced into the parlor, Alex and Rory following. Alex looked around the large parlor. The robin's egg blue walls needed to be repainted and the dark blue carpet had recently been vacuumed. The drapes were pulled back from the window, allowing the dim February sunlight to shine into the room.

Amy plopped down on a gray velvet sofa with Rory settling in next to her. Alex sat across from them on a matching sofa. She crossed her legs and then uncrossed them nervously. This was new. She rarely got nervous. Even during all those A.P. classes she had taken her junior year, she hadn't gotten nervous about the exams or essays or anything. Academics was simple for her, as easy as breathing. Being interrogated by two English people she had nearly hit…not so much.

Amy leaned back against the couch and crossed her arms. "Explain," she demanded. "What made you so angry that it nearly made you kill us?"

Alex let out a long breath she wasn't even aware she had been holding and bit her bottom lip. "Like I said, it's a long story."

"And as I said, we've got plenty of time," Amy reminded her, not changing her posture in the slightest.

Alex nodded and swallowed hardly. "Okay, if you insist. It all really begins when I was five. My parents…died and I was sent to live with my grandmother in Bristol."

"You don't sound English," Rory interjected.

Alex smiled and laughed a little. "Not the Bristol over here," she clarified. "I mean Bristol, Kentucky, population 2,200 last I checked."

"I thought you were from the south," Amy admitted. "Your accent is pretty hard to miss."

"Thanks," Alex said. "Anyway, it wasn't easy. My parents were really rich and according to their will, I would get my inheritance when I turned twenty-five. In the meantime, it would be under control of my grandmother and guardian, Carla." Rory and Amy noticed how Alex practically spat the name out and also caught a flash of hatred in her eyes.

"But Carla was hardly a satisfactory guardian," Alex continued. "She was a drinker - got kicked out of AA - partied until the wee hours of the morning, I'm almost positive she did pot, and she was absolutely greedy. Being in charge of my inheritance, she could do what she liked with it." On this, Alex cast her eyes down at her jeans and picked at a loose thread along the side. She didn't want to look at the pity in their eyes as she said this next part.

"She spent a lot of money on alcohol, drugs, whatever she liked." Alex grimaced and shifted a little in her seat. "I hated her. She never hit me or abused me like some kids that I went to school with were, so in that way I was lucky, but we still resented each-other. The thirteen years I lived with her were hell, total hell.

"I mainly focused on my schoolwork, telling myself that if I got a first-class education, I'd be much better off. I did extra-credit hours for my freshman and sophomore years until my guidance counselor insisted it wasn't healthy for me to be working that much at my age. During my senior year, I found out that I got accepted to my first pick college, Octavian University, the best college outside of the Ivy League."

Rory perked up upon hearing this tidbit of information. "Wait, I've heard of that university," he said. "Wasn't there a big scandal a few months ago involving the dean or something?"

Alex swallowed and nodded stiffly. "Yes, there was," she said sourly. "I flew off to Vegas and was at Octavian for a few months when the scandal occurred. I had gotten a full-scholarship along with nine other students. The scholarship fund wasn't big so it was an absolute privilege to get in. The dean was in charge of it and it was his biggest responsibility."

Amy could sense the direction this story was taking. "Let me guess," she said quietly. "He misused the scholarship fund."

"You could say that. What no one knew was that the dean was cheating on his wife, sleeping with prostitutes and paying them off with money from the scholarship fund. He figured that no one would notice; thought that it couldn't be tracked back to him."

Rory shook his head. "Christ, for a dean of a big university, he wasn't exactly the sharpest knife in the drawer."

"That's one expression for him," Alex said. She decided not to tell them about all the names she had called Dean Forrester in her diary over the last few months. "Well, during tax season, the accountants discovered that the books on the fund didn't match up with what was really in the bank." Staring straight ahead, she said slowly "Dean Forrester had completely drained the scholarship fund. My whole future tossed out the window in favor of a bunch of sleazy, slutty Vegas girls with fake tans."

"But you sound so smart!" Amy cried. "Surely you could've stayed in!"

Alex shook her head. "I couldn't. Imagine it Amy; the university was totally disgraced. After all this talk about being better than the Ivy League, they were like Penn State, but worse! Plus, most of the kids who won the scholarship were from rural areas; they couldn't afford to attend the university anymore. Therefore, two weeks later, we were kicked out."

Amy was absolutely indignant. For God's sakes, Alex sounded so intelligent! Amy herself had heard a few things about Octavian and she knew it was a good school, equivalent to Harvard or Oxford. How could they kick her out for the sole purpose of embarrassment? "Couldn't you apply to another college?" she asked.

Alex sighed. "It was too late to apply to any other colleges. I figured that out pretty quickly and moved to Vegas. I got a job…at a club but I hated it. I decided that if I could get into my inheritance, I could get some tuition and apply to colleges when the new deadlines came out. I then called my parents' attorney and asked him to look into it."

"But it didn't work?" Rory asked. He knew the answer though; there wouldn't be any reason for Alex to be sitting here talking to them if she had gotten into her inheritance.

Alex shook her head, her long light brown hair swinging around. "No. It's impossible. Carla completely controls it and she rules over whether or not I can get any access to it before I'm twenty-five. I always knew that was the most-likely possibility, but I still hoped. However, after receiving a call from the lawyer saying that it didn't look so good, I simply gave up. I saw a documentary on TV a little while after that call about life in England so I thought what the hell? It wasn't like there was anything worth living for in America.

"So I packed my bags, got a plane ticket, and moved to London. I spent a lot of money sending my car over and I quickly discovered that not a lot of places in London are looking for girls who got kicked out of college. I've been staying in a hotel for the past few weeks. My car got here today and right after that, Carla called."

"What did she say?" Amy asked nervously, thinking about how angry Alex had been just a little while ago. Whatever Carla had said must've been enough to set Alex off into a case of road rage.

Alex clenched her jaw and her eyes narrowed slightly. In addition to them changing color, Rory and Amy both thought they were even freakier when they narrowed like that. It was literally like they were holding back a storm of rage that was just threatening to escape Alex's body and wreak havoc all over the parlor.

"Carla happily told me that there was no way I was getting my inheritance before I was twenty-five," Alex revealed. Her jaw clenched even tighter as she remembered the conversation that had taken place less than two hours ago. The glee in Carla's voice…it made Alex angry and upset all at the same time.

"She then started going on about how I was an ungrateful little lout who she took in out of the kindness of her heart." Alex rolled her eyes dramatically. "Please. We both knew the reason she took me in was to get her hands on all that money, pure and simple. When I pointed this out, she started yelling at me, accusing me of wasting all her money on frivolous things during my thirteen years with her."

"That cannot be true," Amy argued. In the hour she had known Alex, she could already tell that Alex was a person who would work for what she wanted and not grovel and beg for it.

"It's not," Alex said dryly. "I worked my butt off in high-school to earn my own money to pay for practice ACT tests, clothes, shoes, jewelry, books, anything that I wanted so that I wouldn't be forced to ask for it." Alex gazed off into the distance, deep in thought. "I'm pretty sure the only thing that I asked her for was a Barbie Dream House when I was eight. She shot that down, naturally."

"What happened next?" Rory asked hesitantly.

Alex remembered what she had been talking about before she had begun thinking about the disappointment her eight-year-old self had suffered when she hadn't gotten the only birthday present she had asked for. "Oh yeah," she blinked. "Well, I argued this, pointing out the jobs I held in high-school and how she abandoned me for weeks on end during her drinking and drug binges…and we started yelling at each-other."

Alex shook her head, remembering the conversation. She truly didn't want to relive it any more than she already had to. "You don't need a complete play-by-play do you?" she asked Amy.

One look at her tired eyes gave Amy her answer. "No, I think we get the picture."

Alex nodded, relieved, and leaned back into the couch, finally feeling comfortable enough to do so. "So in the end, she screamed that she was going shopping and that I was paying for it. I knew she meant my trust fund. Then she hung up." She let out a dry laugh. "She's probably in Lexington buying the most expensive Coach purses she can find right this minute.

"Anyways, I got furious and since I had my car, I decided to get away for a little while and…" Her voice trailed off and she smiled slightly. "You two know the rest. So there you have it. My Cinderella story that still doesn't have me wearing glass slippers and finding my prince."

There was silence for about five seconds before Amy quickly leaped up and dashed to Alex's side. Almost without warning, she threw her arms around her. "I am so sorry about that," she said sincerely. She stared into Alex's surprised eyes and nodded quickly. "Really, I am."

"That goes for me as well," Rory added. He smirked at the two. "Though, unlike Amy, I'm not nearly as expressive about it."

Amy stuck her tongue out at him before turning her attention back to Alex. "Seriously though, I can't believe you had to go through all that. Some of it I could quote from my own experiences but the rest I can't."

"I thought you went through something similar," Alex confessed. "Especially when you said your aunt used to leave you alone for hours on end while off drinking."

Amy sighed. "Yeah, that wasn't fun for a seven-year-old. Still, I was luckier than others. She didn't abuse me or anything. She's mostly pretended I don't exist unless I need something, which is never nowadays."

"Does she still live here?" Alex asked. "Rory said that she wouldn't be home."

Amy nodded. "Yeah, she hasn't been here for the past two weeks. Not that I care. It's technically my house now. She mentioned once that in my parents' will, I got the house when I turned eighteen." She then smirked. "And I'm nineteen now, so I can do whatever I want with it!"

Alex laughed. "It's a nice house," she observed, looking around the room again. "It reminds me of the house I lived in back in Kentucky. Carla spent a ton of money on a mansion on the outskirts of town. It's huge with two gables on either end. When I was a kid and still believed in fairytale endings, I would sit up in the gables and pretend I was Rapunzel right after her mean step-mother had chopped off all her hair, just waiting for her prince to ride up and rescue her."

"I know the feeling about fairytales too," Amy agreed. She gave a fleeting thought to the Doctor and how he had said her name was like a fairytale name when she was a kid, but she immediately pushed it aside. She was an adult now. The Doctor had been nothing more than a figment of her imagination she had dreamt up during her lonely childhood. He was as real as that prince that Alex mentioned.

Alex sighed and gently remover herself from Amy's embrace. "Well, you two wanted to know why I nearly ran you over," she said as she started getting up. "Now you know and you'll never have to see me again."

Rory and Amy simultaneously frowned and Amy yanked Alex back down. "Oh no, forget it," she protested.

"You're not going anywhere," Rory chimed in.

Alex stared at them. "What do you plan on doing to me then?" she demanded, her voice shrill. "Holding me hostage for ransom? I'll tell you right now, Carla will give you a fortune to keep me here." Of course, she was being sarcastic, but Amy and Rory still burst out laughing anyways.

"Nothing like that," Rory insisted.

"You're staying here!" Amy exclaimed. "I mean, you can't be living in a hotel for the rest of your life."

Alex felt an overwhelming sense of gratitude for these two people she barely even knew but it was just as quickly replaced with a well-known feeling; pride. It was the same emotion that kept her up late studying for exams, the same emotion she felt when Lacey gave her an old prom dress that had the pricey tags still attached, the very same emotion she had developed ever since she was five and her kindergarten teacher had tried to give her permission to not do the family portrait assignment, since she had lost her parents just a week before.

"I don't need charity," she said tightly as she tried to get up again but Amy yanked her back down.

"It is not charity," Amy argued. "I'm going to help you find a job and you can pay rent if you like." Secretly, Amy didn't care if Alex laid around the house for the rest of her life, just as long as she wasn't living in a hotel out of a suitcase.

"I'll pay rent," Alex said quickly. "A hundred bucks a week," she offered.

Amy was thinking a much lower price than that. "Fifty," she said. "I don't need that much money."

Alex was tempted to raise the price again but after seeing the look on Amy's face and then glancing over to see the same one on Rory's, she decided not to challenge it. "Deal," she agreed, shaking Amy's hand.

"Great!" Amy chirped. She leapt up and pulled Alex along with her. "Come on. I'll show you around. Then, we can go to your hotel and get the rest of your things."

Alex smiled. "Actually, you won't have to. As soon as my car arrived, I put all my stuff in it. The hotel I was staying at was quite seedy and I didn't like leaving all my stuff lying around where anyone could steal them."

"That's brilliant!" Amy exclaimed. "Rory can unload it all for you."

"What?" Rory cried, but the girls ignored him and walked upstairs, chattering away.

Amy led the way into a hallway and waved her hand around. "There are five rooms up here. One's mine, one's Sharon's, two are bathrooms, and the spare is over there." She pointed to the door closest to the window at the end of the hallway, which sat right above a radiator.

Alex looked around the hallway and her eyes narrowed in confusion as she saw a door directly across the hall from the window. Amy had said there were only five rooms but that door led off to a sixth. "You're sure there are only five rooms up here?" she asked.

Amy nodded. "Of course! I've lived here since I was seven, so I'm pretty sure." Alex watched as Amy passed the sixth door without even a glance. It was as though Amy didn't even see it. She walked over and opened the door to Alex's new room. "Here you go. Check it out."

Alex walked cautiously past the mysterious sixth door and over to her new room. As she stepped across the threshold, she gasped. The room was gorgeous.

The walls were white and two windows on one wall overlooked the backyard. On one side of the room was a black iron framed bed with a white bedspread and purple pillows on it. A white nightstand sat next to it with a purple lamp on it. There were two empty bookshelves on the other side of the bed with a white desk and black swivel chair further down. A large chest of drawers sat next to the closet door and the middle of the room was dominated by a purple and white striped rug. It reminded Alex of her room back in Kentucky and also made her think how large and freeing the room seemed with the minimal decorating scheme.

Amy grinned upon seeing Alex's expression. She almost looked like a kid in a candy store. "Do you like it?" she asked. "It hasn't been redecorated in ages. I think we made it like this when I was eleven."

"I love it," Alex said sincerely. "It reminds me of my old room back in Kentucky. It was all purple and black and white and I would spend a little of my paycheck each week on one new thing for it because I was obsessed with decorating." Laughing at the memory, Alex trailed a finger on the soft white bedspread. "It's perfect. I'll be getting my money's worth."

"Glad to hear it," Amy joked. "My room's right next door." Disappearing from the doorway, Amy headed next door and Alex quickly followed her, something she found herself doing a lot of lately.

"Wow," Alex said as she looked into Amy's room. If her room was understated and minimal, Amy's was cluttered and screamed look at me!

The walls were blue, a deep brilliant shade of blue Alex had never seen before. She liked it immediately because it was so different and resolved to find something with that color for her room. Amy's wrought iron bed also had a white bedspread with little Christmas lights wrapped around the headboard. A desk sat in one corner of the room cluttered with what appeared to be an assortment of stuff. Curious, Alex wandered over.

"Um, none of that stuff is meant to be taken seriously!" Amy called nervously as Alex stepped closer to the desk. She stared in wonderment and curiosity at the clutter.

The first thing that caught her eye were some drawings. They were all of a little girl with red hair and a matching coat standing next to a man in ratty, tattered clothing. Alex looked over and found a paper-Mache doll of that man and girl, looking the same as they did in the drawings. In addition to the dolls, there were also little paper-Mache boxes painted that same shade of blue on the walls. Scribbled on them were the words POLICE PUBLIC CALL BOX and Alex counted at least five on the desk.

She turned to look at Amy, who had an embarrassed look on her face. "What is all this?" she asked. "Should I be worried you have a ton of drawings of a man after a bear attack?"

Amy giggled at Alex's assumption of the reason for the tears on the man's clothing. "If you knew me when I was seven you would be," she admitted.

Alex smiled and picked up one of the blue boxes. "What's a police public call box?" she asked.

"It was a type of telephone booth for calling the police back in the fifties and sixties," Amy answered. "They used to be all over London, but not so much now."

"And you made these…why? Because you thought they were really cool?"

"In a way," Amy said vaguely. She let out a long breath and flopped onto the bed. "You'd think the truth is silly."

"No, I wouldn't," Alex insisted. She set the box back down and went over to sit next to Amy. Placing her hands in her lap, she gave Amy her best attentive face. "Come on, just tell me. It can't be that silly."

"You say that now." Amy sighed and ran a hand through her hair. She already knew that Alex wasn't going to let the subject drop so she decided to oblige her. If Alex thought she was a freak afterwards, it wouldn't be anything she hadn't heard before.

"Okay, one night twelve years ago, when I was seven, when Aunt Sharon was out bar-hopping, I was home alone thanking Santa for my Easter gifts." Seeing the quizzical look on Alex's face, she added "It's a British thing. I don't think they do that in the States. Anyway, I was also asking him to send someone to fix that." She then pointed to the opposite wall and Alex turned to see a huge crack.

"Holy crap," she breathed and she involuntarily shivered. She wasn't normally scared of anything but that crack just screamed menacing.

Amy nodded in sympathy. "I know. It scared the hell out of me when I was little. That's why I was asking someone to come and fix it. Anyways, as I was doing that, I heard this weird grating and groaning sound coming from the backyard. Right after that was a crash. Something had just broken the original shed." Amy smiled thoughtfully. "I raced to the window and saw a huge police box lying on its side in the place where the shed used to be. Being so clever, I threw on my coat and boots and raced outside."

Alex laughed. "If that had happened to me, I'd be calling the cops."

Amy laughed as well. "I know. Kids are so intelligent, aren't they? Well, after I got outside, I could see that the box was on fire on the inside. There was a bunch of smoke coming out of the doors. Right as I was thinking about going back inside, the doors suddenly flung open and that man in the drawings popped out, asking for an apple."

Alex blinked. "What?"

"I know, I couldn't understand it either. The man, whose name he told me was the Doctor, said something about cravings and how that was new and all that. I then asked him if he had come about the crack in my wall. Just as he was asking what crack, he fell to his knees and…this weird light came out of his mouth."

Alex frowned, trying to visualize Amy's words. "What, like a flashlight kind of light?"

"No, no," Amy shook her head. "It was like this little orange glowing wisp of light. It disappeared a few seconds later. I asked him what was going on and he said he was still cooking. He then asked me if it scared me and I said no, it was just weird, but he really meant the crack."

Alex shook her head. "He would've scared me when I was a kid. We kept a pistol in the dining room sideboard and I knew how to shoot it when I was only seven years old. I probably would've shot him if I were you."

"Good things are a bit different in Leadworth than in Kentucky," Amy joked. "But he didn't seem scary to me. A little bit mad maybe but not scary."

Alex nodded, although she couldn't really see a difference between being insane and being scary. "Okay, so what happened next?"

"Well, he told me his name was the Doctor and that I was not to ask stupid questions or wander off." Amy rolled her eyes. "As if I would wander off, it was my own house! Right after that, he walked into a tree." Alex snorted. "Yeah, he said the steering was a bit off."

"Good lord," Alex said. "It sounds as though he wasn't physically in control of his body. Kinda like he was a toddler learning how to walk."

Amy's eyes brightened. "That's it exactly! I've never been able to come up with a good comparison but that's a great one! Well, since he was still muttering on about cravings, like a good little girl, I let him into the house and gave him an apple." She then made a face. "He took one bite and spat it out onto the floor."

"If he did that with me, I would've smacked him," Alex declared.

"Wait, it gets worse. So, after I reminded him that he said he loved apples, he said that they were rubbish. He then requested - no, demanded - yogurt. He spat that out too."

"Jesus," Alex cried disapprovingly. "Did he not remember what he liked or something?"

"Or something," Amy said dryly. "He said it was a new mouth, new rules." Amy leaned back and stared at the ceiling. "I can't remember every single thing I gave him that he spat back out but I do remember the final thing. After I tried to give him carrots, he started rummaging around in the refrigerator, muttering he knew exactly what he needed."

Alex sat up straight and bounced a little in anticipation. "What was it?" she cried eagerly.

Amy prepared herself for the disappointing look on Alex's face. "Fish fingers and custard."

Alex blinked. "Huh?" What kind of food was that?

"I think you call them fish sticks in the States," Amy said. "As for the custard, it's the same."

"So, you're telling me, that this man actually ate fish sticks with custard? That that, out of everything you gave him, was the one thing he didn't spit back up?" When Amy nodded, Alex shook her head, eyes wide. "Now I know you must be joking."

"I wish I was about that," Amy answered. "It is a disgusting combination."

"You can say that again," Alex muttered. "Go on then. What happened next?"

"Well we were eating at the table and the Doctor asked me my name and I told him. He said he liked it, that it was a fairytale name." Alex flashed back to their conversation about fairytales and not having faith in them anymore. She wondered if that encounter with the Doctor made Amy that way. But she realized Amy was still talking so she tuned back in.

"…asked where my parents were, that we should've woken them by now, and I told him I didn't have a mum and a dad anymore, just an aunt. When he asked where she was, I said she was out. He looked appalled at the thought that she had left me all alone and said so. I told him I wasn't scared and he said of course I wasn't. And if I wasn't scared of him, then it must be a pretty scary crack in my bedroom."

Alex was pleased at the thought of this Doctor disapproving of Amy's aunt. She certainly felt the same way, having grown up with an American version. "Did he ask about…your home life?" she said uncomfortably.

Amy shifted slightly. "No, he didn't ask and I didn't volunteer. I'm sure he guessed it though, or at least had a hunch. I mean, what reasonable explanation is there for leaving a seven year old all alone at eleven thirty at night?"

None, Alex thought but she knew it was a rhetorical question so she didn't reply. "So, he looked at that crack," she guessed, nodding her head at the aforementioned crack. "What'd he say about it?"

Amy grinned. "Now, here comes the weird part. There were these voices coming through the crack and they kept saying Prisoner Zero has escaped. I'd grown up hearing them so this wasn't a surprise. But then he used this weird metal tube thing to open the crack up. He said that if I knocked the wall down, the crack would still be there because it wasn't in the wall."

"Where was it then?" Alex asked.

"It was a crack between two points of time and space," Amy said, her voice grave.

"But that's not possible," Alex said slowly. She thought over that physics book she had read one summer and tried to recall if it said anything about cracks in the universe. She was pretty sure it hadn't and that there were no such things. "There cannot be a crack in the universe. It's physically impossible."

Amy shrugged. "I'm just going by what he said. I don't really understand it either, to be honest. Anyway, he opened up the crack and we were staring into this big black hole. Then this huge eyeball appeared and said Prisoner Zero has escaped. It then closed and as it was closing, this little beam of light shot out and flew into the Doctor's pocket. He pulled out a wallet, something he called psychic paper, and on it was Prisoner Zero has escaped."

"So, that eyeball was what?" Alex tried to figure out what that eyeball could possibly be and why it kept blabbering on about an escaped prisoner. "Was it a guard in some kind of prison?"

Amy looked surprised that Alex had deduced this so quickly. It certainly spoke volumes about her intelligence level. "Yeah actually," she said. "You're good at this."

Alex smiled. "Years of cramming knowledge into your head, you tend to gain a few deducting skills. Comes in handy on tests you barely studied for. Anyways, what'd the Doctor do?"

Amy was pleased that Alex seemed to believe her. It had taken forever for Rory to believe her and even then, he was still skeptical. "The Doctor started muttering on about why the guard kept telling us that and then he said that maybe Prisoner Zero had escaped through the crack."

"Wouldn't you two have noticed?"

"That's what he said. Suddenly, he stiffened and ran out of the room. He paused in the hallway and seemed to look at something at the end of the hallway," Alex immediately thought about the door that Amy didn't seem to notice, "and he said something about being in the corner of his eye. All of a sudden, there was this loud clanging noise and he raced down the stairs yelling no, no, no over and over again. We ran back out to the blue box and he started climbing back in, saying something about the engines phasing."

But boxes can't have engines, Alex thought, unless… "That blue box wasn't just a blue box, was it?"

Amy nodded enthusiastically. She was glad that Alex could keep up with her. It was pretty refreshing having somebody immediately believe her and guess what she was going to say before she said it. "No, he said it was…a time machine."

Alex blinked, shocked. A time machine?! She had always believed that time machines were just works of science fiction, like the DeLorean in the Back to the Future movies or Hermione's Time-Turner in Harry Potter. But if Amy was to be believed (and truthfully, Alex did believe her because no one had the imagination to come up with a story that crazy) time machines weren't just a concept of science fiction movies and books and a possibility in the world of quantum physics. They were real.

"So…the Doctor, for whatever reason, crashed the time machine in your backyard that night and it started malfunctioning," Alex summarized. "Okay, then what?"

"He said that he wouldn't have a time machine much longer if he couldn't get it stabilized. A five minute hop into the future should work, he added," Amy continued. At this, sorrow and slight resentment filled her eyes and Alex couldn't help but dread the words to come out of her mouth next. "I asked if I could come with him, because I couldn't imagine a time machine really being in my backyard. He said it wasn't safe, which I guess is true considering it was still smoking and everything…" She trailed off, clearly caught up in what happened next.

Alex reached out and squeezed her shoulder. "Hey," she said. "If it's too painful for you to talk about, you don't have to tell me anything else."

Amy's shoulders quaked with silent laughter. "No, I'm fine," she dismissed, although they both knew she really wasn't. "Really, I can talk about it. You are one of very few people who haven't called me crazy upon hearing this."

"Because you aren't," Alex insisted. She knew that something had happened to Amy that night when she was seven and if this was what Amy said happened, then that was what happened and Alex would accept it and not judge her.

"Thanks," Amy said, her gratitude filling her voice. "Anyway, he said I couldn't come with him because it wasn't safe. He told me to give him five minutes and that he'd be right back." Amy leaned back on the bed and stared up at the ceiling. "I told him people always say that, because it is the truth. Aunt Sharon would say it to me before she would go out on drinking binges and I wouldn't see her for hours, a couple times days."

Alex's heart sank for her new friend. She truly wished that the Doctor hadn't done what she was sure he had done. "And what did he say?"

Amy smiled slightly. "He jumped down and asked me if he was people, if he looked like people. Makes sense, since he had a bloody time machine. He then told me to trust him, because he was the Doctor." Alex didn't say that that seemed like a pretty weak reason for someone to trust you but she hadn't been there that night, so who was she to judge?

Amy sighed. "Then the Doctor hopped into the time machine, shouting Geronimo all the way down."

Alex's head dropped to her chest in disbelief. "He really said Geronimo?" she repeated, her voice expressing more disgust than it had when she learned the Doctor had eaten fish fingers and custard.

"That's what I heard," Amy confirmed. "Then there was that wheezing, grating noise again and the box started fading in and out, fading a little more until it was completely gone. The second it left, I raced upstairs and packed a little suitcase and ran back outside to wait for him." Amy stopped talking and fell quiet.

Alex felt her heart sink even lower than it had before. Damn the Doctor! How could he destroy a little girl's hopes like that? "He didn't come back, did he?" she said quietly.

Amy shook her head and Alex could've sworn there were a few tears in her eyes. "No," she confirmed. "I stayed out there waiting all night for him, so long that I fell asleep and woke up the next morning to hear Aunt Sharon screaming about the shed being broken. I tried to tell her about the Doctor but she dismissed it as childish notions and figured the shed fell down due to termites."

"Did you tell anyone else about the Doctor?"

"Oh yes," Amy winced. "I told everybody about him. All the adults were convinced I was crazy and I was sent to a grand total of four psychologists."

Alex's eyes widened. "Four?" she repeated. "Why so many?"

Amy looked a little embarrassed. "I…uh, kept biting them because they said the Doctor wasn't real." Alex chortled at this and fell back laughing. Amy attempted to glower at her but she kept smiling.

"It's not funny," she said in a supposedly cross manner but the smile on her face completely ruined her intentions. Alex kept laughing and eventually, Amy was forced to laugh along with her. "Okay, maybe it is a little bit," she conceded.

"Freaking hilarious actually." Alex sat back up and crossed her arms over her chest. "So the Doctor hasn't come back at all? That's pretty low of him."

"Maybe so," Amy admitted, "but I've grown up since then. For all I know, I just imagined him due to suffering a lonely childhood for so long."

Alex frowned. She highly doubted that the amount of drawings and dolls on the desk was created from a lonely imagination. They had seemed so real and detailed. Alex was sure that this Doctor was real and that Amy had met him that night. But if Amy wanted to pretend that that event never happened, then it was her business.

Amy sighed and then jumped off the bed. "Okay, enough with my crazy childhood ramblings. Let's go get your stuff. I've known Rory long enough to know that it'll take him days to get all that stuff to the door, let alone the second floor."

As Amy dashed out into the hallway and hurried down the stairs, Alex lingered and walked over to study the crack in the wall. Tracing it lightly with her fingernail, she couldn't help but think of how an alien prisoner (because it had to be an alien prison, right?) could escape through the crack into Amy's house. And if that had taken place twelve years ago, where was Prisoner Zero now?

Alex shrugged and stepped back from the crack. Despite Amy's story of the crack having been closed, she still felt a little wary towards it. She made a mental note to stay away from it and went out into the hallway to go and help Amy and Rory. But as she headed towards the staircase, she stopped at the door at the end of the hall and stared at it.

There was no mistaking she could see it. There was also no mistaking that there were six rooms on this floor and Amy had said there was five. Maybe she didn't count this room? Maybe it was a storage closet or something. Knowing she wouldn't be satisfied until she looked, Alex reached out and turned the knob.

Cautiously entering the room, Alex looked around. The room didn't appear to be in use. Actually, it looked as though it had never been used. The wallpaper was gray and peeling, dust and dirt covered the floorboards and several crates, and gray painter's canvas was stretched out in various places. The room seemed big enough to double as another bedroom or a small study if a responsible adult actually lived in the house. Alex couldn't help but wonder why it had been sealed off.

Alex stepped into the center of the room and looked all around. She wasn't sure what she was looking for exactly, just that she was looking for something. She felt a weird prickling sensation at the back of her neck, warning her about something, and she whirled around only to see…nothing. There was nothing there.

But there was something in this room. She could feel it. But whatever it was, it didn't want to be seen. Was it Prisoner Zero? Had he been hiding in here all these years, making the room invisible from Amy so she wouldn't guess he was here?

Alex bit her lip and quickly whirled around again. She couldn't see anything but she just knew that Prisoner Zero was here. "Listen up Prisoner Zero," she suddenly called, surprising herself. "I know you're here and I know that you've done something with this room to make sure Amy doesn't notice it."

Alex's voice was powerful and commanding, something she had only found herself capable of doing when she was threatening somebody from doubting her, in the past usually a boyfriend or a rude patron at the diner she had worked at. "I don't care whether or not you escaped from prison; that's your problem. What I do care about, however, is you being here in the same house with Amy for several years." Alex narrowed her eyes, even though she was currently facing an empty wall. "If you hurt her in any way, so help me God, I will kick your alien ass. Oh and the Doctor? He'll show up soon, I'm sure. I seriously doubt a man like him would allow an alien convict to wreak havoc on a human girl's house and mind."

She waited for some kind of sign from Prisoner Zero but she still didn't see anything out of the ordinary. Dismissing it that the alien (if there was one here) wasn't going to reply to her demands, Alex twirled on her heel and headed out of the room. Reaching for the knob, Alex looked around the room again. She still felt like that there was something in here that wasn't good. It wasn't much to go on, but Alex knew that there was something in this room that was best not let out.

She turned the lock on the knob and pulled the door behind her. Hopefully, Prisoner Zero couldn't work a simple lock. She leaned against the door, slightly winded by what she had just done, when Amy's voice rang out from downstairs. "Alex! What are you doing? Aren't you coming?"

It took a moment for Alex to find her voice. She swallowed and called back "Yeah! I'm coming!" She straightened up and headed towards the stairs but paused on the top step to turn around and look at the sixth door. There was something in that room that Amy didn't know about. Somehow, Prisoner Zero, if he was really in there, was making sure Amy couldn't see the room. But that brought up another point. How come Alex herself could see it?

Shrugging, Alex started down the stairs again. Asking herself these questions wouldn't lead anywhere and she needed to help Amy and Rory anyways. But as she walked down, Alex resolved to keep an eye on the sixth door, just to be safe.