Chapter Three: Bring In the Birthday Boy
The Tenth Doctor was grinning from ear to ear as he piloted the TARDIS with Captain Jack Harkness inside.
Jack himself was suspicious about the Doctor’s intentions. He was usually very cheerful, but this time he was extra…well, bubbly.
“Doctor, what’s going on?” he asked, not for the first time.
“You’ll see,” he replied, still grinning.
As always, the TARDIS had no problem at all landing on Alnilam. He never did find out why that was.
“Captain Jack, welcome to Alnilam.” The Doctor opened the doors and let Jack step outside. He’d never, in all their travels, been to AL’s home planet before. In fact, he didn’t even know it was AL’s home planet.
“Wow!” Jack exclaimed when he saw the multicolored landscape and the large stone house in the center. “Whose house is that?”
“You’ll see.”
Jack frowned as the Doctor led him up the stairs, still all smiles. He rang the doorbell and opened the door.
The bottom floor was dark, save for the sunlight streaming through the windows.
The Doctor ushered him to the stairs, trying to keep Jack from seeing the photos of Lisa, her guys and the unicorns that were on the mantle.
The Doctor knocked twice on the door to the game room, then opened it to inky blackness, for the curtains had been drawn.
Suddenly, they were pulled open and the lights flicked on. AL and everyone else jumped out and yelled, “SURPRISE!”
AL herself came bouncing out of the crowd to give Jack a big hug. “Happy birthday, Jack!”
Jack’s smile couldn’t have been wider. “Oh, my god, thank you, Lisa. Thank you…everyone…” His voice trailed off when he saw the Ninth Doctor amongst the group.
He smiled. “Hello! Nice to see you here.”
Jack asked, “Where, exactly, is ‘here’?”
“You are on Lisa’s home planet of Alnilam,” Data answered for them. “Several of her past romantic interests – ”
“And me!” Hooks squeaked from the punch table.
“ – have been gathered here for a system her alter ego calls a ‘blog’.”
Jack looked confused and AL patted him on the arm. “Don’t you worry your pretty little head. Let’s eat!”
End chapter three.
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