Chapter Text
It had been two days, and Alex isn’t on set. They had rearranged Matt’s scenes to stay on schedule, but in all his time working with her, Alex had never missed a day, whether it was a table read, costume fitting, shooting, anything. He’s worried.
So worried that he paces between takes. He’s even too jittery to have his usual coffee. When he tried, he spilled it all over one of the lighting guys. He can’t help but feel like Alex must hate him for leaving. At the end of the day, Moffat pulls him aside quietly.
“I hate to ask this, Matt, but did you take something?”
Matt scratched his head, confused for a minute.
“Wait, you mean like drugs? Steven, god, no. Really?”
Moffat shrugged. “Just thought I should ask. You seemed…on edge, is all.”
Matt bites his lip but doesn’t say anything.
“Well, anyway, you and Alex work it out. I can’t have my two favorite people this distracted, now can I?”
Matt looked up and glared at Moffat. He was the reason she was distracted. He didn’t even have the decency to tell her she was fired. How dare he?
“I’ll see you both tomorrow. Right?” Moffat looks pointedly at Matt, ignoring his glare.
“I can’t speak for Alex-“
Moffat cuts him off. “Do something. If she’s not here tomorrow, I’m not sure I’d be worth your time to come in either. Catch my drift?”
Matt is stunned and motionless.
“That’s why you’re the best.” Moffat says with a wink, sauntering off.
Matt stands there for a few moments, seething, before storming to his car and driving off in a huff.
Before he knows it, Matt is banging on Alex’s door as hard as he can. It’s 8 in the morning, he knows she must be home.
He waits for what feels like forever, but when he hears the lock click, his thoughts all flood to the front of his mind. How unfair this is, how he’s hurting too, how she can’t just not show up to work, how…
The door opens and Alex is in jeans and a pull-over, with her hair pulled up.
Matt opens his mouth to let loose what he’d been thinking the whole car-ride over, but instead finds his hands grabbing hold of Alex, one hand on her hip, one on the back of her head, and smashing his mouth on hers.
After a moment, she moves her hands to his chest, pushing back, but he grabs her tighter, hauling her backwards into her apartment. He presses harder, but she moves a hand to his cheek, tugging slightly. Suddenly, she loses her footing, and falls backward. Matt tries to hold onto her, but her shirt slips through his grasp and she hits her head on the floor.
Matt is mortified and reaches to help her up, but she waves him off harshly.
“Get off. Dammit, what do you want?”
Matt doesn’t relent, grabbing her by the elbow and helping her to stand.
“I’m so sorry. Are you-“ That’s when he sees.
Salome, standing in the doorway to her bedroom, staring open-mouthed. Matt’s eyes feel like they should pop out of his head. He looks to Alex, who is looking at her feet, then back to Salome.
“Hey, poppet…”
She stares at him with growing apprehension.
“Salome, get your bag. You’re going to be late.”
Grabbing her bag, Salome stares at them as she walks to the front door.
“Bye Mum. I’ll, um, I’ll text you later.”
Alex nods and smiles at her daughter. The door closes behind her.
Alex whips to Matt, scowling.
“How dare you? How dare you! I am NOT your toy. You do not get to drop in whenever it suits you and accost me in front of my daughter, for Christ sake!”
Matt’s mind goes blank. He’s forgotten every excuse, every explanation he’d planned.
“I-“
“No!” Alex yells. Her eyes are beginning to glisten.
“I don’t want to hear it. This-“ She continues, pointing between herself and Matt. “This no longer exists. So I don’t want to hear any of your stories. I need you to leave.”
Matt felt his stomach drop. He hadn’t meant to assault her like he did. He thought his actions could show her how sorry he was. But this was an overreaction.
“Alex, look, please. Moffat-“
“Oh no. I’m not talking about that man, and I’m certainly not letting you use him as an excuse for your behavior. Get out. I’m not kidding Matt.”
Matt tries again, but she stops him with her hand out. Feeling betrayed and even angrier, Matt turns and leaves. In the hallway, he remembers Moffat’s threat.
He knocks on her door. No answer. He knocks again, softly.
“Go away.” He hears her voice right behind the door and it sounds tired.
“Alex…” He doesn’t know how he’s going to convince her to come tomorrow when he can’t even get her to see him.
“The producers-“ He stops. This is the wrong track and he knows it. He can’t guilt her into this and he certainly can’t use Moffat’s threat to lure her. His brain is clouded and his chest is aching, the fear that Alex could be serious about her declaration sinking in. Is she really gone?
Matt stands, head propped against her door. He waits, and after a few minutes, he hears soft sobs from behind the door. It kills him to think her pain is his fault. He has to make this right. Even if it means he loses her for good this time.
He knocks again. She doesn’t answer, but the crying stops.
“Hello, my name is Matt Smith. I work on Doctor Who.”
Still no answer.
“And, well, I’ve been sent with a message from the crew that they miss you very much and would like you to come back to work.”
Silence.
“Besides, they’re tired of getting harassed by that terrible actor who trips on all their cords.”
He hears chuckles behind the door.
“I spilled my coffee on some poor guy today, Lex.”
The laughter stops abruptly, and he knows he went too far. He bangs his head on the door.
“Anyway, I said I’d pass on the message. They all said the show isn’t the same without you. And if you come back, you would see very little of me. You see, I get a bit star-struck, so I’d be too nervous to hang around, really. We’d practically be strangers.”
His palm is rested flat against the door. He feels a bit foolish and turns to go.
“Ok, well. Thank you for your time Ms. Kingston.”
When Alex hears him move away from the door, she stands quickly, peering through the peep hole. She watches him walk all the way down the hall and out of view before she sinks back down again, knees clutched to her chest, and cries.
She finally did it. He left, gave up.
She got what she asked for, but it doesn’t feel good like it should. It feels empty and painful. She doesn’t know how she’s going face him tomorrow. Part of her wants to hit him so hard he’ll never think of hurting her again, but part of her wants to drag him into a closet somewhere and have her way with him.
This is what she gets for dating a child, she tells herself.
Alex takes a deep breath between sobs. Tomorrow will be quite an adventure.