Author's notes: I like this story more than a lot of fans I know, though I think it would be stronger without the fart jokes. For this reason, and because they would be less funny in print, I'll be cutting them out.

Disclaimer: I do not own Doctor Who (I'm not sure any one person could claim to anyway. My point is, I don't work for the BBC)

Aliens of London/World War 3

I bring you a warning: Everyone of you listening to my voice, tell the world, tell this to everybody wherever they are. Watch the skies. Everywhere. Keep looking. Keep watching the skies. - The Thing From Another World

Chapter 1: The Unhappy Return

Amidst the rumble of traffic and the noise of daily life, no-one paid much attention to the wheezing-groaning sound, nor looked over as the TARDIS materialised in the middle of a council estate in eastern London.

Rose stepped out of the box and looked around at her home estate. The walls, the bins and the graffiti. After everything that had happened to her lately, it seemed strange that such an ordinary place could exist. "How long have I been gone for?" She asked The Doctor.

"12 hours."

Rose laughed. She guessed she couldn't stay in the TARDIS for too long or her hair would be noticeably longer. But the fact that she could go off on these fantastic adventures then step straight back into daily life was another entry on her list of marvels. "I won't be long," she said, "just got to speak to my mum."

"What're you gonna' tell her?"

"Dunno. That I went to the year 5 billion and met Charles Dickens in 12 hours? Nah, I'll tell her I spent the night at Cherene's." She turned to go. "Don't go flying off!"

As his companion disappeared up the stairs, The Doctor peered round the estate for something to do for a few minutes. There was nothing much of interest in this place for a man who'd seen the downfall of Robespierre. A bunch of boarded up shops, some discarded newspapers, a collection of fliers posted on some pillars.

He decided to give the fliers a read. No particular reason, just to pass a few minutes. As usual, they were full of people offering cheep haircuts and asking about lost pets. One amused him: Bike for sale. Rear wheel not actually round. Price reflects this.

Looking at the next poster down, his hearts stopped briefly It was a photo of Rose, captioned: Missing Person: If anyone has any information on Rose Tyler, please call the number below. Last seen...

Rose breezed cheerily through her front door and dropped her keys in the bowl. "I'm back!" She called. "Cherene's getting all upset again. Are you in?" Footsteps from her mother's room confirmed that she was. "So anyway, what's been going on round here? How're you?"

Jackie appeared in the doorway, staring at her as though looking at a ghost.

"What?" Rose grinned. "What's that face for? It's not the first time I've stayed out all night.

Jackie dropped her mug. She looked Rose up and down as if checking for something. "You're here." She gasped.

"Course I'm here. Where would I be?"

"You're really here, I can't believe it!" She leapt forward and pulled her startled daughter into a tight hug. Over her shoulder, Rose noticed that the kitchen table was littered with missing person notices and helpful pamphlets.

At this point The Doctor burst in. "I made a mistake." He said. "It's not twelve hours, its twelve months. You've been gone a year. Sorry."

It had taken all of ten minutes for "Rose, thank God you came back." To transform into "How could you disappear like that!" A policeman had been called round, but he was struggling to get a word in. Ultimately, he decided it may be best to let Mrs Tyler make the enquiries for him.

"The days and weeks I sat here, all on my own!" She shouted. "I thought you were dead! And where were you? "Travelling!" What sort of answer is that?" She turned to the policeman. "You ask her, she won't tell me. That's all she says, "Travelling!""

"That's where I was." Rose said sheepishly.

"Your passport's still in the draw!" Jackie roared. "It's just one lie after another."

"I meant to phone, I really did. I just... forgot."

"What, for a year? You forgot for a year! And I'm just left sitting here, on my own! I just don't believe you. Why won't you tell me where you've been?"

"Um, that's sort of my fault." Said The Doctor. "I, um... employed Rose as my companion."

"When you say companion, is this a sexual relationship?" The policeman asked.

"No! Never." The Doctor and Rose said quickly.

"Then what is it!" Shouted Jackie. "Because you waltz in here, all charm and smiles. And the next thing I know, my daughter vanishes off the face of the Earth! How old are you? 40? 45? Did you find her on the internet? Did you go online and pretend you were a doctor?"

"I am a doctor!"

"Then prove it!" Jackie snarled. "Stitch this!" And she whacked him round the face, sending him sprawling into an armchair. Rose decided not to take sides in their argument.

The policeman eventually decided that there was no evidence of foul play on either side. Rose was fine, though he still had no idea where she'd been. His job done, he left the Tylers to sort their problem themselves.

Rose, by this point, had been brought to tears by the situation. Having expelled her frustration on The Doctor's face, Jackie was once more filled with the overwhelming desire to hold her daughter close and let her know that everything would be fine. Throughout her absence, a part of her had always feared that Rose wasn't coming back because she was afraid whether she'd be welcome.

"Did you think of me at all?" She asked."

"I did, mum. All the time." Rose said, truthfully.

"One phone call, just to let me know you were alive."

"It's hard to explain."

"That's what terrifies me. What can have happened that could be so bad that you find it so hard to tell me. Where were you?"

Rose just sobbed even more at that question so Jackie pulled her in again. It could wait.

"I can't tell her." Said Rose. "I can't even begin to tell her. She'll never forgive me."

The Doctor had gone up to the roof to escape the domestic scene for a while. He'd rarely dealt with this sort of problem before. Though some of his friends had taken extended periods of absence from home, they tended to have the capacity to sort everything out once he'd dropped them off. At least he hoped they did. He tried, where possible to get them back to a good place and time for resuming their lives. But it occurred to him that this probably wasn't the first time he'd screwed up.

"I missed a whole year?" Said Rose. "A good year?"

"Middling." The Doctor shrugged.

"It's so useless." She groaned.

"Well if it's this much trouble, are you gonna' stay?"

"Dunno. I can't leave her now. Not after what I did to her."

"Well, she's not coming with us." He said flatly. "I don't do families."

That got a laugh from Rose. "I can't believe she slapped you!"

"900 years of time and space, I've never been slapped!"

Rose laughed some more.

"It hurt!" He insisted.

"You're so gay." Rose laughed. She pondered for a moment. "When you say 900 years, is that..."

"My age, yeah." The Doctor finished. It was roughly correct.

"My mum was right, that is a bit of an age gap. Blimey, every conversation with you just goes mental." She stood up and wandered closer to the railings. Taking in the sights and sounds of the everyday world. The distant rumble of traffic, the idiot below with his music on too loud. The roar of an aircraft overhead. It was a far cry from life in the TARDIS. She was starting to feel like a stranger on her own planet. "The thing is. I can never talk to anybody. Because... all that stuff I've seen. And no-one else knows about it."

Their conversation was interrupted as the roar of the overhead aircraft rose to a deafening level. They spun around and saw a sleek metal spacecraft powering towards them, flying a couple of metres over their heads.

The ship twisted and wobbled in the air, leaving a great trail of smoke behind it. Somehow, it was able to dodge all of the taller buildings, manoeuvring itself over the Thames. It clered Tower Bridge by inches and sped towards the city. A manoeuvring thruster misfired and it veered to the right. By one final desperate course correction, it managed to miss Saint Paul's. But then the engines went out completely and it plummeted downwards towards the tower most Londoners knew as Big Ben. The hardened argonite wing sliced easily through the clock face, striking Big Ben itself as it went. The ship continued its descent, landing with an almighty splash in the Thames.

"That's not fair." Said Rose.

Almost as one, the population of London rushed towards Westminster. The roads were backed up for miles around. The army had to be called in to keep order and prevent a general crush around Westminster bridge, only a few press people got through.

The Doctor and Rose had barely got a mile from her flat before they ran into their first roadblock. The army were in the process of setting up a series of rings around the site, each designed to alleviate some of the chaos caused by people trying to get past the next ring. No-one was getting to Westminster without a seriously good reason.

"Did you know this was gonna' happen?" Said Rose

"Nope."

"Do you know who it is?"

"Nope."

"Do you know why it crashed?"

"Nope."

"I'm so glad I've got you."

The Doctor was grinning broadly. "This is why I travel Rose, to see history happening, right here!"

"Well, let's have a closer look. Never mind the traffic, we've got the TARDIS."

"We've already got one spaceship in the middle of London." He said "I don't want to park another one on top of it."

"But your spaceship looks like a big blue box. No-one's gonna' notice."

"You'd be surprised. Big crash like this. There'll be all sorts. Trust me, the TARDIS stays where it is."

"So history's happening, and we can't see it. I suppose we could do what everyone else does."

"What's that."

"Watch it on TV."

There was certainly no shortage of TV coverage. Almost every channel was showing some kind of breaking news report. On Chanel 5, a reporter was covering the destruction of Big Ben. ("Big Ben's the bell, not the tower." The Doctor muttered, though he supposed it had hit the bell as well.) Chanel 4 were covering the authorities attempts to contain the rush of sightseers and quell civil disturbances throughout the country. ITV were filming the wreck itself, where army divers were going down into the wreck. On BBC2 the Blue Peter presenters were showing how to make a cake shaped like a spaceship.

The Doctor took a look round the room. Some of Jackie's and Rose's friends had come round to chat about the spaceship and where Rose had been. Jackie was glaring at him occasionally, as though she wanted him out. For now though, Rose's reassurances were convincing her to let him stay. He ignored her glare and switched to the news channels. A CNN reporter was reporting a worldwide grounding of flights. The US government, she said, were urging people to watch the skies, just in case. The Doctor flipped over to BBC News. They'd managed to get a reporter right on to Westminster bridge.

"I can now confirm," said the reporter, "that a body has been found. A body of non-terrestrial origin. Here, you can see it now!" He gestured over to some steps, where some men in high visibility jackets were carrying a figure, covered in a sheet. Now this was interesting.

The Doctor was distracted, at this point, by Cherene putting an arm around him.

"Love the jacket." She said.

"Er... thanks."

"So, you and Rose aren't actually together then?"

"Nope."

"So, do you have anybody?"

The Doctor looked glum. "Rather not talk about it right now."

Noticing that Rose was inadvertently squinting at her, Cherene decided it wasn't worth it.

The Doctor turned his attention back to the TV, where a new reporter was now standing outside the gates of Albion Hospital. "The body is being brought to a secure UNIT mortury, under armed guard. This building has been evacuated, all the patients transferred." The reporter put his finger to his ear abruptly. "I've just received word that General Asquith is being escorted to this location. Whitehall, at this time are denying everything. We still have no confirmation of the presence of an alien body within these walls."

"Doctor" Toshiko Sato flipped hurriedly through the medical textbook she'd found. When she'd agreed to fill in for Doctor Harper, he'd assured her that the job would simply involve cataloguing some of the bodies in the UNIT archives. She hadn't expected to find herself dealing with the biggest find since the Yeti. And if anyone found out she wasn't a medic, she'd be in big trouble.

She looked up to see General Asquith enter the mortuary. "Right then, let's get a look, shall we." He said.

Toshiko lifted up the sheet. Asquith gagged slightly and took a step back.

"And that's real then?" Said the General. "It's not a dummy or a hoax or anything?"

"I've X-rayed the brain case." She said, as calmly as she could. "It's wired up in there like nothing I've ever seen. This is alien."

"Right." Said Asquith. "There are some experts being flown in. Until then, keep that thing out of sight."

With the help of some orderlies, they moved the body into one of the draws. Seeing the General turning to leave, Toshiko ran after him.

"Excuse me sir." She said. "I know it's a state of emergency and there's a lot of roomer flying around but... Is it true what they're saying about the Prime Minister.

Asquith thought for a moment, then decided it was best to turn and walk out without another word. Sato wasn't the first to ask that question today. Every head of state throughout the world was hurriedly preparing an address for their people. And yet the prime minister of the very country where the crash had happened was nowhere to be seen. No-one even knew where he was. Asquith just hoped that this wasn't linked to the alien's arrival.