The TARDIS wheezed and moaned as it tried to land in the most unobtrusive spot on the busy street. New Year's Eve was in full swing and the uncharacteristic warm weather had led to a surge in party activity. Street parties, barbeques, spontaneous outdoor dances were all happening along with the usual club and bar scene they had materialised near. The Doctor hadn't meant to land on New Year's Eve, but chasing a mysterious alien through time streams was bound to land you in funny little places at funny little times. God only knows what the creature wanted with Earth on New Year's Eve in 2016.

"Rose!" The Doctor called, sweeping up his trench coat and double checking the scanner. He was definitely in the right place; traces of radiation were all over this city on this night. Keying the sonic into the radiation signature he barely paused to look up when a rumpled Rose dragged herself into the control room.

"What?" She asked with a yawn.

He looked her up and down and figured she wouldn't get carted off for being dressed in shorts and a T. She even had shoes on. "Come on, we've landed."

"Hold on." She said. "Where are we? What do I need to wear?"

"Earth, New Year's Eve, 2016. You look fine, come on or we'll lose it." He didn't wait for her to argue, lunging for the door and walking straight away from the TARDIS. He wasn't exactly sure which direction he was supposed to go in, but if he didn't look like he did Rose would be straight back to her room and he just didn't want to wait. This puzzle had been gnawing at him for days and not knowing what it was he was chasing was grating on him. All the readings he had been able to get off it kept ruling possibilities off the list, and he was growing very short on time-travelling species. Really short. As in he had completely ruled out everything he knew. It was fascinating. It was frustrating. It was…

Heading the other way.

Rolling his eyes, he pivoted and pushed through a crowd of tipsy party-goers who broke out in a storm of giggles and yells behind him. He could hear Rose apologise as she trotted to keep up and he spared her a quick smile as she caught up with him, still jogging to make pace with his longer strides.

"Hold on, do we know what it is yet?" She asked, obviously still trying to wake up.

"Nope." He replied, stopping abruptly to check the weird reading on the sonic.

"What it wants?" She tried.

"Not a clue."

"Where it is, exactly?"

"Somewhere in the city." He turned in a slow circle, before taking a few steps in one direction, pausing, and then pacing back. Finally he found the direction the signal was strongest and took off again.

"So what you're saying…" Rose huffed as she kept pace "is that I could've gotten dressed, maybe had something to eat while the TARDIS narrowed down the signal or whatever and we wouldn't be running around like idiots in the middle of a busy street."

He inwardly winced. She maybe, possibly had a point. But he was so close; he just couldn't wait around and twiddle his thumbs while this thing kept teasing him. "2016!" He deflected. "Brilliant year! Well, good." He tilted his head. "Ah, mediocre. Depends who you ask really. Donald Trump elected into Presidency, war still going on in the Middle East, Finding Dory released in cinemas… Live through 2016 and it's either the best or worst year of your life." He rolled his eyes at that. "Humans, you can't half be melodramatic."

"Whatever." Rose said. "You got a location or what?"

"It seems to be coming from…" He swivelled about and rushed through an alley and out onto another brightly-lit street. "Here!" He said triumphantly, sonic pointing at a sleek-looking club decked out in fairy lights with music and smoke oozing out onto the street. He was about to head straight up to the entrance when Rose stopped him.

"We can't just walk in there!" She hissed, arm gesturing at the long line of people dressed to the nines in clinging dresses and designer jeans. "And don't wave the psychic paper about either! There is no way there's an inspection going on during a New Year's Eve party, the caterers and staff'll all have a dress code and VIPs are going to be dressed up even more than that lot!"

"What do you suggest then?" The Doctor asked, eyes still searching the front of the building for any sign of odd alien activity.

"I suggest we go back to the TARDIS and get dressed into something a bit less comfortable." Rose scrunched her nose up at her own getup. "Something I haven't just slept in either."

He ran a hand through his hair and tore his eyes away from the building long enough to look at her. "We don't have time, who knows what it's doing or where it's going to go next. We have no way of knowing that it's going to stay in there!"

"It's New Year's Eve!" Rose said back. "There's parties everywhere! Wherever it goes, we're going to need to blend in, and right now we're not blending in. Unless you want to spend the night in prison, we're going to need to back up the psychic paper with something."

"So go get dressed then." The Doctor said. "I'm going in, give me a buzz when you're ready and I'll come back for you, yeah?" He stormed over to the front of the waiting line, only feeling a little guilty for brushing Rose off when he looked back at her quickly, only to see her marching back in the direction of the TARDIS, all tense and out of sorts. Letting out a sharp breath, he pasted on a beaming smile and approached the bouncer, who looked like he could easily be part ogre.

The bouncer looked him up and down, clearly unimpressed and went to turn back to the line of people who were giving him equally unimpressed looks. "Uh, hello there." The Doctor said, flashing the psychic paper. "I believe I'm expected."

The bouncer's eyebrows rose and he gave the Doctor another assessing look. "Member are you? Must be new. Didn't get the email about the dress code and start time, did you?"

The Doctor put on a wince and shrugged apologetically. "System crashed a couple days ago, only got the confirmation text this afternoon. Wasn't going to show up but then plans got cancelled at the last minute, you know how it is." He didn't even really know what he was rambling on about, but the Bouncer had a semi-glazed expression that seemed to be working in his favour. "So, I just go in, yeah?"

The bouncer gestured to his friend, who rushed around to a section of red velvet rope and unhooked it. The Doctor strode forwards and just as he was about to push his way through the smoke into the dark club beyond, he ducked back and shook his head sharply. "Sorry, almost forgot. My friend, she's been a bit delayed – not great with plan changes – she's going to be a few minutes. Name's Rose Tyler, blonde, yea high." He gestured with his hand and then ducked back into the club before the Bouncer could refuse the unspoken order to let her through when he saw her.