"Thanks Lily. Need any extra help? And Rose, how is he? Any change?" Lily shook her head as Rose murmured: "He's worse. Just one heart beating." She sounded so defeated, so hopeless as she sat down, Jackie following her onto the couch with a heavy heart. Lily dumped the bag in the kitchen, and went back to check on the Doctor herself. He looked deathly pale, and he was sweating buckets but he was shivering as though he was still cold. Lily brushed her hand over his forehead, down the side of his face, feeling the burning heat.

"You'll be alright." She whispered, trying to convince herself and him, even if he couldn't hear her. "You have to be. We need you, Rose especially even if she won't say it. So you have to get better." She brushed her hand over his chest momentarily, remembering what Rose had said about his hearts, before she let her hand wander down to the Doctor's. She squeezed it reassuringly, before she rose and left the room. What she didn't see was how the Doctor's frown from the pain alleviated, even if only by little.

Rose looked up as Lily entered, and motioned for her to come over. "Mickey's found out what pilot fish are." She informed Lily, and Mickey also looked up. "See, pilot fish…" "They're scavengers that swim along sharks, yea I know." Lily sighed as Rose and Mickey stared at her. "I forget you're smarter than Rose." Mickey smirked, and Rose punched his arm. "She's also smarter than you, you idiot." Rose finally managed a grin, but it faded quickly as Jackie drew their attention the TV.

"Funny sort of rocks." Jackie muttered as the newsreader went on about the photographs from Mars coming in from the British satellite Guinevere One. "That's not rocks." Rose murmured in horror as they all stared at the TV screen. Lily stared at the fuzzy image curiously just as the newsreader on the TV was saying: "This image is being transmitted via mission control, coming live from the depths of space on Christmas morning." Lily gasped in horror as the pixelated image on the TV cleared to reveal an ugly, red-eyed alien that then growled at the screen.

Rose began to pace anxiously as Mickey and Lily moved back to the laptop. "Try hacking into the military." Lily urged as Mickey worked. "Got it!" He muttered after a moment. "Here, take a look." He twisted the screen so Lily could see and called out: "Rose. Take a look. I've got access to the military."

As Rose moved to also peer at the screen, Lily murmured: "They're tracking a spaceship." "Yea," Mickey agreed, "It's also big, it's fast, and it's coming this way."

"Coming for what, though? The Doctor?" Rose questioned. Lily shrugged, chewing her bottom lip anxiously as Mickey replied: "I don't know. Maybe it's coming for all of us." He clicked around, getting a clear image of the four aliens on his screen as they continued to gurgle something in an alien language. "Have you seen them before?" He questioned Rose as Lily also looked at her cousin.

"No." Rose replied softly, and Lily's heart sank. We're so in trouble. "What are they saying though?" Lily asked curiously. "Is there any way we can find out?" She looked to see Rose looking, if possible, even more ashen. "I don't understand what they're saying." Rose whispered. "The Tardis translates alien languages inside my head, all the time, wherever I am."

"So, why isn't it doing it now?" Mickey wondered. "I don't know." Rose admitted. "Must be the Doctor. Like he's part of the circuit, and he's… he's broken." Rose broke off, and Lily looked at her in sympathy. It was clear to hear that, despite Mickey's continued hope, Rose had fallen in love with the Doctor and that it was hurting her to see him hurting and so different. Lily grasped her cousin's hand and Rose looked at her. Lily gave her a small yet encouraging smile and Rose's lips twitched up half-heartedly in an answering grin before it fell again. She turned as Jackie left to check on the Doctor, and followed her into the bedroom.

"Do you think she'll be alright?" Lily asked. "Who?" Mickey asked confused. "Rose." Lily replied, looking up at Mickey with a frown. "Why wouldn't she be?" Mickey asked, and Lily simply shook her head before going to join her cousin. She found Rose leaning against the hole where the doorway was, looking down at the Doctor. Lily stood next to her cousin as Mickey joined them, watching while Jackie slept soundlessly next to the Doctor.

"The Doctor wouldn't do this. The old Doctor, the proper Doctor, he'd wake up. He'd save us." Rose's voice caught as tears welled in her eyes. At that Mickey sighed as well. "You really love him, don't you?" He asked. Rose didn't answer but closed her eyes against her tears. "We've just got to keep believing that it'll be ok." Lily whispered, and Rose sighed, leaning her head on Mickey's shoulder before turning into his embrace. Mickey patted her back, and Lily saw the look of acknowledged resignation on his face and she sighed. He looked at her and gave her a small smile that she returned before she turned back to watching the Doctor.

Lily wasn't sure how much time had passed when suddenly they heard Jackie's neighbor outside, calling out to her husband: "What is wrong with you? Jason? Jason?"

Lily opened the front door and peered out: "Sandra, is everything alright?" She asked as Sandra turned to her desperately. "Sandra?" Rose asked as she and Mickey joined Lily at the door.

"He won't listen," Sandra cried hysterically, "He's just walking. He won't stop walking. There's this sort of light thing." Lily glanced at Rose and Mickey, just as Sandra noticed Jason heading up the stairs. "Jason? Stop it right now! Please, Jason, just stop." Sandra cried, running after her husband. Lily noticed movement downstairs and peered over the side of the building. "Rose!" She gasped, and Rose and Mickey joined her at the railing, looking out to see crowds of people walking through the estate. "Oh my god." Rose breathed.

They watched in horror, as the people all walked up the stairs towards the roofs. Lily rushed up the stairs, Rose and Mickey hot on her heels, and they all arrived to find Sandra still desperately trying to stop her husband from continuing. Lily reached the pair just as Rose arrived next to her and the two girls peered around and down. "Oh my god." Lily whispered as they saw people just lining the edge of the roof, all stopping right at the edge.

"What do we do?" Mickey asked desperately. Lily looked at them, when Rose's words made her blood run cold. "Nothing." Rose mumbled. "There's no-one to save us. Not anymore." "So that's it? You're just giving up?" Lily asked incredulously and Rose looked at her emotionlessly. "What can we do? There's nothing we can do, not without the Doctor, and he's not here!" At the end, Rose's agitation broke through and she brushed past Lily, heading back downstairs without another word.

Mickey patted Lily on the shoulder in sympathy before following Rose down. Lily shook her head in frustration, before looking around. Hopeless despair broke over her as she saw the desperate attempts of people trying to pull their loved ones away from the roof edge, and tears welled in her eyes as she heard their hysterical cries. Slowly, she turned away as well, walking with heavy steps back to Jackie's apartment.

She entered to find everyone else in front of the TV. She stood next to Mickey, just in time to hear the end of the Prime Minister's speech:
"I would ask you all to remain calm… But I have one request." The Prime minister took a deep breath, and Lily almost didn't believe her ears as she heard what followed. "Doctor. If you are out there, we need you." Jackie turned in despair to look at them as Rose heaved suppressed sobs before turning to walk to the bedroom. "I don't know what to do. If you can hear me, Doctor." Lily followed her cousin and slowly joined her at the entry to the bedroom. "If anyone knows the Doctor, if anyone can find him," Seeing her starting to cry, Lily gently took her hand. Rose burst into tears and, turning, began to sob on her shoulder, "the situation has never been more desperate." Lily gently patted her back as the Prime Minister finished: "Help us. Please, Doctor. Help us. God help us."

Rose continued to sob and Lily gently patted her. "We'll think of something. He'll wake up, I know it." Lily tried to comfort her cousin but Rose just shook her head as her sobs began to grow louder. And when Jackie joined them, the dam broke and Rose began to wail. "He's gone. The Doctor's gone. He's left me, Mum. He's left me, Mum." Jackie gently took her daughter into her arms as tears began to run down Lily's face, kissing her forehead and shushing her soothingly. "It's alright. I'm sorry."

But as soon as the words left her mouth, the windows in the living room shattered as the whole building shook. Jackie screamed and they all turned in panic. "Must have been a sonic wave of some kind." Lily gasped. "The spaceship… it must be here." She whispered, and Mickey, hearing her, ran outside and looked up at the sky. Rose, Jackie and Lily followed, and they were just in time to see what looked like a massive flying island appear in the sky.

Rose grabbed Mickey and Lily and began to drag them back inside. "Mickey, we're going to carry him. Mum, Lily, get your stuff and get some food. We're going." Rose said curtly, beginning to draw the blankets off the Doctor. "Well, where to?" Mickey asked as Jackie stood there still in shock.

"The Tardis. It's the only safe place on Earth." Rose replied, picking up Howard's dressing gown. "What're we going to do in there?" Jackie asked confused. "Hide." Rose shrugged, beginning to slip the Doctor into the dressing gown. "Is that it?" Jackie asked as Lily frowned.

"Mum, look in the sky." Rose said through gritted teeth. "There's a great, big, alien invasion and I don't know what to do, alright?" Her tone turned desperate as she looked between Lily and Jackie. "I've travelled with him, and I've seen all that stuff, but when I'm stuck at home, I'm useless." Jackie swallowed as Rose continued. "Now, all we can do is run and hide, and I'm sorry. Now, move." Jackie turned in silence and went to gather her stuff, but Lily stayed staring at her cousin. "Lily, please!" Rose begged, and Lily finally turned to help Jackie but not before pausing to glance at the Doctor one last time.

Jackie was rushing about her room so Lily went into the kitchen and began to stuff all the cans she could find into a duffel bag. She spotted the pot of tea Jackie must've made earlier, and poured all of it into a thermos. She then hauled all the stuff out as Jackie arrived to empty the fridge into another bag.

Together, they grabbed all her bags and followed Rose and Mickey out the door. Jackie fumbled with a few of her bags and Rose cried out in exasperation: "Mum, will you just leave that stuff and give us a hand?"

"It's food!" Jackie retorted. "You said we need food!" "Just leave it!" Rose yelled as she turned into the stairway. Lily sighed and patted her aunt. "She's just stressed. Come on, I'll go help her if you've got all the stuff." She said and, when Jackie sighed and nodded, Lily darted forward to help Rose as she struggled to turn the corner at the stairs.

Together, the three of them managed to get the Doctor outside. "How're we going to all fit?" Lily huffed. God, this man was heavier than his skinny frame looked. Maybe it's an alien thing? Lily wondered. "What?" Rose puffed next to her, as Mickey fumbled with the door before stumbling in. "How're we all going to fit inside that box?" Lily repeated as she struggled to let Rose through first. "Oh…" Rose laughed briefly and Lily wondered why. "The Tardis'll fit us fine." "But how will a box this small…" Lily's voice trailed off as she followed Rose in and she blinked. "Come on!" Mickey groaned, starting her out of her stupor and they headed further in towards a central consol.

"No chance you could fly this thing?" Mickey grunted as they moved. "Not anymore, no." Rose responded. "Well, you did it before." Mickey groaned as they reached next to the consol. "I know, but it's sort of been wiped out of my head, like it's forbidden." Rose gasped out as they finally lay the Doctor gently down on the floor. "Try that again, and I think the Universe rips in half." She finished as they all stood upright. "Ah, better not then." Mickey mused. "Maybe not." Rose agreed

"So, what do we do? Just sit here?" Mickey asked as he looked about. Lily was still standing in shock next to the Doctor. "That's as good as it gets." Rose snapped. "Right, here we go!" Jackie exclaimed as she spied the thermos. Popping it open, she sniffed it in satisfaction. "Nice cup of tea, thanks Lily sweetie." "Mmm, the solution to everything." Rose griped.

"Now, stop your moaning." Jackie scolded as she passed the thermos over to Mickey. "I'll get the rest of the food." And with that, Jackie took off out the Tardis again. "Tea. Like we're having a picnic while the world comes to an end. Very British." Mickey joked. When neither girl responded, he peered at Lily.

"Lils? You alright?" He asked. Rose also turned around to see Lily still rooted by the Doctor, silently staring up and around. At Mickey's question, she started and finally her eyes focused on the two of them. "It's bigger on the inside." She said in disbelief. Rose snorted and Mickey grinned. "Really? We never noticed." Mickey smirked as Lily smacked him before she started peering about the consol.

"So interesting. So this is how it flies about?" She asked and Mickey nodded. "Yea, although I don't really know. Better to ask Rose. Hey, Rose. How does this thing work?" He pointed to a screen on the consol, and Rose turned around. He paused to put down the thermos as he realized something. "If it picks up TV, maybe we could see what's going on out there. Maybe we've surrendered. What do you do to it?"

"I don't know. It sort of tunes itself." Rose said in exasperation as she started pressing buttons on it. Lily wrinkled her nose in annoyance at Rose's constant bemoaning. Mickey stared at the screen some more. "Maybe it's a distress signal." He suggested as the blue shapes moved about on the screen. "A fat lot of good that's going to do." Rose muttered and Lily sighed. "Are you going to be a misery all the time?" Mickey asked, also annoyed. "Yea." Rose responded sulkily. "Rose." Lily said, finally having had enough.

"You should look at it from my point of view," Mickey interjected, "stuck in here with your mum's cooking." Lily laughed as Rose paused. "Where is she?" She suddenly asked, as though just realizing she'd been gone for a while. "I'd better give her a hand." Rose stood up and walked towards the door. "It might start raining missiles out there." "Well aren't we cheery." Lily said sarcastically and Rose finally managed to grin at her. "Tell her anything from a tin is fine!" Mickey called after her in a panic.

"Uh, I brought all the tinned food." Lily pointed out. "Oh. Then tell her not to bother with more food." Mickey said with a grin. "Why don't you tell her yourself?" Rose asked amused. "I'm not that brave." Mickey said somewhat sheepishly and Lily laughed again. "Oh, I don't know." Rose grinned too as she left the Tardis.

Suddenly, she screamed and immediately Lily's head whipped around. "Rose?!" She and Mickey cried. "Lily, stay here with the Doctor!" Mickey yelled as he sprinted out the door, dropping the thermos. Lily hesitated as Rose continued to shriek. Suddenly she heard Rose yell: "Get off me!" And Lily made up her mind. She started for the door but paused for a second to look down when she almost slipped on the spilt tea. Just then she heard Rose screaming to close the door and Lily's head snapped up. She ran for the door, but it slammed shut just in front of her and for some reason, it locked, keeping her inside.

"Rose! Mickey!" She screamed, trying to get the door opened. She continued to pound and rattle the door, until she screamed her voice hoarse before she eventually slammed her fist into the door and slid it down in frustration. "Rose." She whispered when she heard an odd hissing sound- almost like water dripping on an electric motor. "The tea." She realized and was about to turn when a hand appeared on her shoulder. She jumped and whirled around to find herself face to face with the Doctor.

"Doctor…" she breathed and he cocked his head to look at her. She appraised him, noting how much better he looked with a healthy glow to his complexion. "Rose." She suddenly said and he cocked his head to the other side, raising an eyebrow at her. "Rose, she's outside, so's Mickey, they need help, but the door locked on me!" The words flew out of Lily's mouth as she looked up at the doctor desperately. "They need help." The Doctor grinned at her and, stepping past her, reached for the door. Lily stood beside him as he opened both doors.

"Did you miss me?" The Doctor asked with a grin. Lily peered past him to see a Rose, Mickey, the Prime Minister, and several of the large aliens they'd seen on TV earlier. She realized they must have landed on the alien ship somehow as she looked up and saw thousands of the same aliens lining the walls in a coliseum-type arena. Just then, one of the aliens (who she supposed must be the leader) roared and cracked an electric whip at them. Lily yelped in surprise but the Doctor was unaffected, simply catching the whip and pulling it out of the other alien's hand.

"You could take someone's eye out with that." He chided as he walked forward to meet the alien. Lily followed, moving next to Rose and checking if she was okay. "How dare…!" Big and ugly cried as he lifted a thick club but the Doctor simply grabbed that off him too and snapped it easily across his knee.

"You just can't get the staff." The Doctor grumbled. "Now, you! Just wait. I'm busy." He declared before turning back towards the group of humans. "Mickey! Hello!" He cried cheerily. "And Harriet Jones, MP for Flydale North!" He continued, turning to face the Prime Minister. Lily noticed he completely ignored Rose, not even glancing at her. "Blimey, it's like 'This Is Your Life'."

He turned back to face Lily. "Tea!" He said excitedly as Lily shifted uncomfortably aware that he'd completely bypassed Rose right between her and Mickey. "Hello again! Lily, wasn't it?" Lily just stared at him as he continued without a care. "That's all I needed, a good cup of tea!" Lily stared at him like he was daft and he grinned wider at her. "Superheated infusion of free radicals and tannin. Just the thing for healing the synapses." He declared before finally turning to Rose.

His face dropped and his tone became deadly serious. "Now, first things first. Be honest," he stared at her intently, "how do I look?" Lily frowned as Rose gazed at him, taking his features in. "Um, different." She finally said. "Good different, or bad different?" The Doctor asked. "Just different." Rose replied.

"Am I…" the Doctor said, ever seriously, "ginger?" Lily snorted as Rose lifted her gaze to his hair and said: "No, you're just sort of…" she shrugged a little, "brown." "Argh, I wanted to be ginger." The Doctor whined as he turned to walk a little ways away past Lily.

"I've never been ginger. And you, Rose Tyler!" He suddenly turned and pointed at Rose, almost taking Lily's eye out in the process. "Fat lot of good you were! You gave up on me. Oh that's rude." He suddenly said contritely as he lowered his finger. "That's the sort of man I am now, am I? Rude. Rude and not ginger." He mused while Lily's head began to spin as she tried to keep up with his thought process.

"I'm sorry. Who is this?" The Prime Minister interrupted, completely confused. "I'm the Doctor." The Doctor replied as if it was obvious, and Rose whispered in confirmation: "He's the Doctor." "But what happened to my Doctor?" The Prime Minister cried. "Or is it a title that's just passed on?"

At that, the Doctor strode forward. "I'm him." He announced. "I'm literally him. Same man, new face. Well, new everything." He acknowledged with a smirk. "But you can't be." The Prime Minister said in disbelief. "Harriet Jones." The Doctor said with his eyebrows raised. "We were trapped in Downing Street and the one thing that scared you wasn't the aliens, it wasn't the war, it was the thought of your mother being on her own." The Doctor said softly. "Oh my God." The Prime Minister stood in shock, finally taking it all in.

"Did you win the election?" The Doctor asked, peering down at her, his eyes softening. The Prime Minister smiled at that. "Landslide majority." She admitted happily. "If I might interrupt." The other alien interrupted in agitation. They all turned to him and the Doctor started apologetically. "Yes, sorry. Hello, big fellow."

"Who exactly are you?" The alien questioned. "Well, that's the question…" the Doctor replied chirpily, but he was interrupted again by the red alien as it roared: "I demand to know who you are!" "I don't know!" The Doctor imitated the alien's roar, before he began to ramble in his normal voice. "See, there's the thing. I'm the Doctor, but beyond that, I just don't know. I literally do not know who I am. It's all untested. Am I funny?"

He began to wander around, moving past Mickey and Rose. "Am I sarcastic? Sexy?" He winked at Lily and Rose, and Rose smiled bashfully. "Right old misery? Life and soul? Right handed? Left handed?" His speech began to pick up speed. "A gambler? A fighter? A coward? A traitor? A liar? A nervous wreck?" He climbed up some stairs. "I mean, judging by the evidence, I've certainly got a gob."

"You said it." Lily muttered and the Doctor grinned at her before turning back to look up the stairs he had been climbing. "And how am I going to react," he said grinning, "when I see this." He pointed up at what looked like… "a great big threatening button." Lily pursued her lips as Rose started to frown at the Doctor, but he ignored both girls as he hopped up the stairs closer to the red button. "A great big, threatening button which must not be pressed under any circumstances, am I right?" The other aliens began to climb up after him as the Doctor continued oblivious to Rose's rising anxiety. "Let me guess, it's some sort of control matrix, hmm?" Lily frowned at that as the Doctor mused. "Hold on, what's feeding it?"

The Doctor bent down to open a base under the button and peered in. "And what've we got here?" He stuck a finger in and licked what looked suspiciously like… "Blood? Yeah, definitely blood." He declared as Rose and Lily pulled faces in disgust. "Human blood. A Positive, with just a dash of iron. Ah, but that means blood control. Blood control." Lily's face drained of color as the Doctor continued. "Oh, I haven't seen blood control for years. You're controlling all the A Positives." Lily's heart dropped as the realization hit home. "No…" She gasped as Rose looked at her.

"Which leaves us with a great big stinking problem." The Doctor continued, ignoring her. "Because I really don't know who I am. I don't know when to stop. So if I see a great big threatening button which should never, ever, ever be pressed, then I just want to do this!" He slammed his right hand down on the button as Rose, Lily and the Prime Minister yelled: "NO!"