Of Beating Hearts: First in the Bonded Souls Saga

by frosty600

Soul Bonds. They were rare among Time Lords it was rarer still for a Time Lord's Bonded to be a different species. So, the last thing the Doctor expected was to find his own. But things rarely went as the Doctor expected. So, on the Christmas Eve he took Rose home and he laid eyes on Rose's second cousin Ivy for the first time and sensed the Bond all he could do really was smile...

2. Chapter 2 Christmas Invasion P2

Disclaimer: I don't own Doctor Who. Just Ivy my o/c.

A/N: Big thank you to everyone who followed/favourited and reviewed the first chapter. Another one goes to Maethoriel Artemis and Saberbladeprime for pre-reading for me and giving feedback.

Also just a quick reminder that I'll be working on 'Evolution of the Daleks' for Lost Girl Chronicles Book 3 next.

Having said that I hope you guys enjoy the second half of the Christmas Invasion.

CHAPTER 2

Christmas Invasion

Part 2

Ivy sat on the edge of her bed, her concerned gaze focused on the Doctor, his face contorted in pain as his head shifted restlessly atop the pillows as he shivered under the covers, sweat beading over his fevered skin. The ends of the stethoscope were in Ivy's ears as she held the rounded bit to one side of the Doctor's chest, listening intently to the rather erratic beating of one of his hearts, before shifting the rounded end across to the other side of his chest. She bit her lower lip, green eyes troubled as she stared at him. Her concern for the strange alien only growing at hearing complete silence from his second heart. She touched her fingers to the fevered skin of his wrist, checking his pulse again to find it still hammering harshly against her fingers and just as erratically as his one beating heart.

She pulled the stethoscope from her ears as Rose, who'd managed to gather herself, strode purposefully into the room. Though the blond stilled at the sight of Ivy with the stethoscope clutched in her hand as she sat on the edge of the bed, she swallowed heavily, a fresh wave of guilt gnawing at her insides at the sight of him lying there, tucked under the warmth of the covers, restless in his suffering. Her gaze flicked back to Ivy, "How is he?"

Ivy glanced over her shoulder at her cousin and stood, sighing out a heavy breath as her concerned gaze returned to the Doctor, "He's just got the one heart beating now," she murmured, before her gaze returned Rose and she paused, her lips parting to form an 'oh' of dawning realisation as she took in the look of devastation on the blonde's face as her sad eyes rested on the Doctor's prone form.

'She loves him.'

Ivy's eyes that were slightly wide from the realisation, darted from Rose to the doorway as Jackie strode in, a small bowl with a cloth inside it in her hands, "Here we are," she held it out to Ivy as Rose jerked out of her horrified sort of daze at the sound of her mum's voice and whirled around to look at her, "A cool cloth like you asked for."

"I'll do that," Rose stated, sharper than she'd intended, her heart hammering against her ribcage with fear for the Time Lord and her guilt. The blond truly scared that he was dying now, and if he did it'd be all her fault. She swallowed heavily as she took the bowl from her mum, ignoring the looks she was getting from her mum and cousin as she turned back to the bed, kneeling down beside it as she picked the cloth up and set down the bowl.

Jackie frowned as she eyed her daughter's back for a moment, before she sighed out a breath and turned, starting back out of the room with a shake of her head.

"Ivy?" Rose spoke after a moment when she didn't hear the sound of a second set of footsteps following her mum's out of the room, not looking up from the Doctor's face as she started to mop tenderly at his face and brow, "I know this is your room," she continued her voice strained, her throat constricting around the words as she bit back the sharp ones that wanted to burst forth from her, "But could you…" she trailed as her voice started to tremble with unshed tears, the backs of her eyes pricking hotly with them as they welled in her eyes blurring the Doctor's face as she continued to mop at his face.

"Uh, yeah…" Ivy nodded her agreement, regarding her cousin's back for another moment with troubled eyes. Her gaze darting to the Doctor again briefly before she turned for the door, her eyes landing on Mickey as he paused in the doorway, his laptop tucked under his arms as he peered into the room and her troubled eyes saddened as his worried expression fell slightly, his darkening with something akin to resignation as he eyed Rose as she tended to the Doctor, 'He knows,' Ivy realised a moment before his gaze flicked to her and he gave her a small nod, before his gaze drifted back to Rose almost helplessly before he moved away from the door.

Ivy glanced back at Rose and the Doctor again, her eyes lingering briefly on her cousin as she tried to fathom the blonde's reasoning, before she turned away and moved for the door, her cousin's love life was none of her business, even if she didn't personally agree with treating someone, anyone, the way Rose was treating Mickey…

It wasn't any of her business, Ivy reminded herself, even as she couldn't help but wonder if the Doctor returned her cousins feelings…

She sighed out a low breath at herself, before giving her head a shake as she stepped through the doorway, trying to shake the thoughts from her head. There were more important things going on than Rose's love life and whether or not an alien with an intense stare returned those particular feelings.

She felt a bit of a small pleasurable tingling shiver run up her spine as she recalled his prolonged stare, his intense gaze fixated on her… she scowled at herself with mild irritation and gave her head another shake chasing the memory of his intense eyes away with an effort. The memory of his eyes on her proving to be a hard one to chase away.

Ivy Prentice, she chided herself, there are more important things going on at the moment than a pair of rather nice eyes with an intense perplexing stare.

The tense line to Rose's shoulders eased slightly as Ivy left the room, her lower lip trembling as tears started to fall unbidden from her eyes. She blinked them away, taking a shaky breath as she continued to mop at the Doctor's face, her heart aching with its every beat as it sat heavily in her chest. 'He'll wake up,' she assured herself, even as she felt a growing sense of helplessness, she sucked in another shaky breath. Her eyes going to the stethoscope Ivy had placed back down on the nightstand…

*O*O*O*

Mickey looked up as Ivy stepped into the living room where he was setting up his laptop, "Ivy, is it alright if I unplug this?" he asked, pointing to a power cord that was plugged into a power point, "My laptop battery's low."

Ivy glanced at the indicated power cord, "Yeah," she nodded, "That's fine."

Mickey immediately unplugged the cord and plugged in his laptop charger as Jackie stepped into the living room from the kitchen, a steaming mug of in each hand, "Jackie," he glanced at her as he straightened up still fiddling about with his laptop as he set it up, "I'm using the phone line. Is that alright?"

"Yeah," Jackie nodded as she pressed one into Ivy's hands, "Keep a count on it," she told him as she plonked the second down by his elbow, "It's midnight. Christmas day," she told him before she turned and headed back into the kitchen to grab two more mugs that she'd left on the kitchen counter.

Whilst Ivy stilled for a moment her gaze flicking up to the clock, her free hand clutching around the locket that was still hidden under her jacket and shirt, before she turned her eyes to the screen of Mickey's laptop, taking a sip of her tea as she watched what he was doing, his fingers clacking over the keys, focusing her attention back on the present, her fingers slowly releasing their grip on the oval shaped locket.

Ivy's gaze was drawn to Rose a moment later as the blond stepped past her on her way into the living room, "How is he?"

Rose turned her head to look at her and Ivy caught sight of her slightly smudged mascara, the only physical evidence that the blond had been crying. Rose swallowed, once again biting back the sharp venomous words that wanted to spew from her mouth as her mum stepped back into the living room with the last two tea mugs, "The same," she muttered heavily as she sunk down on the arm of a couch, "Just one heart beating."

"So, he's worse," Jackie sighed as she pressed one of the mugs into Rose's hands, before she sat herself down in a chair.

Rose shot her mum an annoyed look for that, her heart constricting painfully at the words, she sucked in a shaky breath, doing her best to reign in her shortening temper, "Yeah…" she murmured, one hand clenching over her knee whilst the other tightened about the handle of her tea mug. Telling herself once again that he'd wake up. He was the Doctor there was no way that he wasn't going to wake up… except he wasn't… she squeezed her eyes shut trying to drown out the voice of doubt that wouldn't go away since he'd changed.

"Scientists in charge of Britain's mission to Mars have re-established contact with the Guinevere One space probe," Rose opened her eyes focusing her gaze on the telly as the reporter continued, the three women in the living room focusing on it, whilst Mickey continued to type, focusing intently on his search, "They're expecting the first transmission from the planet's surface in the next few minutes."

"Yes, we are," Llewellyn confirmed speaking live from the press conference that was going on at the moment, "We're, we're back on schedule. We've received the signal from the Guinevere One. The Mars landing would seem to be an unqualified success."

"But is it true that you completely lost contact earlier tonight?" another reporter questioned.

"Yes, we had a bit of a scare," Llewellyn confirmed, "Guinevere seemed to fall off the scope, but it… it was just a blip. Only disappeared for a few seconds," Mickey frowned in concentration as Llewellyn continued, "She is fine now, absolutely fine. We… We're getting the first pictures transmitted live any minute now. I'd better get back to it. Thanks."

"Here we go," Mickey spoke up and Ivy's gaze returned to the laptop screen as Rose swiftly got up, moving to stand beside Ivy as she looked at the laptop screen, "Pilot Fish. Scavengers, like the Doctor said. Harmless. They're tiny," he explained, "But the point is, the little fish swim alongside the big fish."

"And I'm guessing the big fish aren't scavengers," Ivy murmured with a slight frown as she continued to eye the monitor.

"Nope," Mickey agreed, "The big fish are the predators."

"You mean like sharks?" Rose asked.

"Great big sharks," Mickey nodded, his fingers moving over the keyboard again, "So, what the Doctor means is, we had them… now we get that," he pushed a finally key and an animation of a big shark swam across the screen, snapping at them viciously.

"Something is coming…" Rose muttered as the telly cut to static, "How close?" she asked Mickey urgently.

"There's no way of telling," Mickey shook his head glancing back at Ivy and Rose, "But the pilot fish don't swim far from their daddy."

"So, we don't have long before 'daddy' comes looking," Ivy muttered as she eyed the monitor that was still displaying the aggressively snapping shark.

Rose took a steadying breath, her stomach churning with worry for the unconscious Time Lord, who so far had shown no signs of getting any better. That feeling of hopelessness sinking deeper. She glanced at Ivy, "Probably not."

"Funny sort of rocks," Jackie said drawing their attention, the three following her pointed finger to the telly as a newsreader announced.

"The first photographs."

Rose crossed her arms, eyeing the screen dubiously, "That's not rocks," she told her mum as they squinted at the blurry out of focus image on the telly.

"No," Ivy agreed as she tilted her head, eyes still squinted as she tried to make out the blurry image, "But what…?" she trailed as the newsreader continued.

"This image is being transmitted via mission control, coming live from the depths of space on Christmas morning."

The image distorted and then became clear to reveal a red-eyed ugly alien with a head like a goat's skull as it growled and gurgled at them aggressively making the four of them jump back in surprise at the suddenness of it.

"I'm guessing those are the sharks…" Ivy muttered, swallowing as her hand clenched around her locket protectively as the image cut away. She glanced at Mickey and Rose as the two looked at her, her hand loosening about the locket as she calmed from her small shock, offering them a small wry smile, "Kind of hoping that I'm wrong though…"

Rose's lips quirked upwards into a faint smile in response, reminded in that moment why she'd always liked spending time with Ivy growing up.

Mickey turned back to his laptop, brow furrowing in concentration, eyes locked on the screen, as his fingers tapped rapidly over the keys, "Let's see…"

"The face of an alien life form was transmitted live tonight on BBC1," the newsreader continued his report.

*O*O*O*

Three black cars drove through the gates of the Tower of London and drew up outside. One of the drivers got out and swiftly moved to open the back door for Llewellyn, the man getting out of the car as Major Blake stepped out of the building.

"This way, sir," Blake called indicating a direction and Llewellyn started forward, Major Blake falling into step with him.

A couple of moments later Llewellyn was led into the Unit Base, by Blake and two soldiers flanking him.

"Mr. Llewellyn," Blake and once again indicated a direction in the busy room, this time with a nod and Llewellyn's gaze landed on a figure he recognised immediately.

He swallowed slightly and smoothed his hands down his jacket, straightening out imaginary creases as he approached her, whilst Blake moved off disappearing into another equally as busy room, "Mr. Llewellyn, ma'am."

"Harriet Hones," she replied, introducing herself, as she held up her ID card for him to see, "Prime Minister."

"Oh, yes, well," Llewellyn floundered slightly as Harriet lowered her ID card, "I know who you are," he nodded, "I suppose I've ruined your Christmas."

"Never off duty," Harriet replied, waving off the concern, "Now, we've put out a cover story. Alex," she indicated the rather capable young man standing beside her in the room that was bustling with activity, "Has been handling it."

"We've said it was a hoax," Alex supplied, "Some sort of mask or prosthetics," he explained and Llewellyn nodded as the younger man continued on, "Students hi-jacking the signal that sort of thing."

"Alex is my right-hand man," Harriet stated, drawing Llewellyn's gaze back to her, "I'm not used to having a right-hand man. I quite like it though."

"Quiet like it myself," Alex stated and the two grinned at each other.

"I…" Llewellyn began, "I don't suppose there's any chance it was a hoax?" he asked just a little hopefully.

"That would be nice," Harriet sighed, "Then we could all go home," she eyed the slightly nervous man before her, "I don't suppose anyone's offered you a coffee…?"

"No," Llewellyn shook his head.

"But, no, the transmission was genuine," Harriet continued as she poured the man a hot cup of coffee, "And this seems to be a new species of alien," she stated as she handed it to him, "At least, not one we've encountered before."

"You seem to be talking about aliens as a matter of fact," Llewellyn murmured as he eyed Harriet a little sceptically.

"There's an act of parliament banning my autobiography," Harriet replied simply as Blake stepped back of the room he'd entered and started towards them.

"Prime Minister?" he called as he came to a stop beside her.

"I'm with you," she nodded and followed him into the busy room he'd just left, Llewellyn following after them, clutching his coffee.

"Miss Jacobs, can explain," Blake told them as they approached a blond woman, who immediately rose from her seat behind her desk to meet them.

"I don' think we've been introduced," Harriet started with a friendly smile, "Harriet Jones," she held up her ever present ID again, "Prime Minister."

"Yes, I,I know who you are," Jacobs nodded, before she got to the issue at hand, "The transmission didn't come from the surface of Mars. Guinevere One was broadcasting from a point 5 thousand miles above the planet."

"In other words," Blake cut in, "They've got a ship and the probe is on board."

"But if they're not from the surface, then… they might not be from Mars itself," Llewellyn suggested.

"Of course not," Blake scoffed as he eyed Llewellyn, who blinked at him, "Martians look completely different," Llewellyn's eyes widened in shock as he stared at the Major who continued as if he wasn't, "We think the ship was in flight when they just came across the probe."

"And they're moving," Jacobs added, "The ship's still in flight now. We've got it on the Hubble array," she stated, turning back to her computer.

"Moving in which direction?" Harriet asked.

"Towards us," Jacobs replied.

"How fast?" Harriet questioned.

"Very fast," Jacobs replied as she brought up a diagram of the Hubble Array onto a large screen on the wall.

Harriet stared at it intently watching the ship as it moved steadily closer and closer towards the Earth, "What was your name, again?" she asked glancing at the other woman.

"Sally," Jacobs replied.

"Thank you, Sally," Harriet murmured as her gaze went back to the screen watching it intently once again.

*O*O*O*

"Hey!" Mickey called and Ivy and Rose turned to look at him from their respective positions around the living room, "Take a look," he gestured at his laptop and the two hurried back over to him, eyes going to his laptop screen, "I've got access to the military. They're tracking a spaceship. It's big, it's fast, and it's coming this way."

"Coming for what, though?" Rose questioned with a concerned frown, "The Doctor?"

"That'd be my guess," Ivy murmured, eyeing the diagram on the screen with a frown of her own, that ship really was coming in fast.

"I don't know," Mickey shook his head, "Maybe it's coming for all of us," he suggested as he turned his gaze back to his laptop, tapping on the keys again and clicked the mouse a few times and managed to get a clear image of four of the aliens as the gurgled and snarled at each other rather aggressively in Ivy's opinion.

"What kind of aliens are they?" Ivy murmured.

"Have you seen them before?" Mickey asked and both her and Ivy looked at Rose in question.

Rose shook her head, "No," she frowned at the screen harder as the aliens started speaking, "I don't understand what they're saying."

Ivy glanced at her at her again, "Are you supposed to?"

"The Tardis translates alien languages inside my head," Rose started to explain, glancing at Ivy and Mickey, "All the time, wherever I am."

"So, why isn't it doing it now?" Mickey asked with confusion.

"I don't know," Rose admitted heavily, "Must be the Doctor. Like he's part of the circuit, and he's… he's broken."

"He's not broken. Not really," Ivy tried, placing a comforting hand on her cousins shoulder and Rose eyed her with a frown, "You heard him. He just needs something to help get better. If we can just find out what that is…"

"How?!" Rose cut her off, her voice sharpening as her frowned deepened with growing despair and agitation.

"I-I dunno," Ivy murmured and Rose jerked her shoulder out from under her cousins hand.

"Then just shut up!" she exclaimed harshly, "You don't know anything about him…!" Rose trailed as Ivy stared at her, before she turned and stalked out of the living room, trembling hands clenched into fists at her sides.

Mickey watched her go before glancing at Ivy, "You alright?"

Ivy glanced at him, lips quirking slightly, "Yeah," she nodded, before she sighed out a breath, cheeks puffing out briefly.

"She didn't mean it," Mickey murmured reaching out and squeezing her arm.

"Yeah, I know," Ivy sighed with another nod, tucking some of her pink hair behind her ear, "She's got the Prentice temper from Jackie."

"You saying you don't?" Mickey asked, eyeing her with a quirked brow.

"Oh, I do. A bit," Ivy admitted a hand toying with her locket, "But, I take more after my mum than my dad, he was the Prentice," she reminded Mickey, her eyes drifting to the side, fingers still toying with her locket as she recalled the way her mum would simply quietly stare at her dad when he lost his temper or he did something she thought completely stupid. Gale Prentice née Jackson would just continue to stare until her husband started to flounder and stutter, before finally falling silent, before she'd finally speak… Ivy hadn't quite mastered the 'stare' quite like the way her mother had, but she'd hoped to one day… still did…

Ivy's brow creased slightly as a sudden itch flared, prickling over the skin on the back of her right shoulder, she scratched it.

*O*O*O*

In Ivy's bedroom, the Doctor frowned as he breathed heavily, the voices of the people in the flat reaching him as his body tried to heal.

*O*O*O*

"I'm getting demands from Washington, ma'am," Blake reported as Harriet Jones walked over to him, "The President's insisting that he take control of the situation."

"You can tell the President, and please use these exact words, he's not my boss, and he's certainly not turning this into a war," she stated, before she moved back across the room, re-joining Alex as he sat in front of a laptop. "What have we got?"

"Nothing yet," Alex admitted, glancing at his boss, "Translating an alien language is going to take time."

"How far off is the ship?" Blake asked as he joined them.

"About five hours," Alex replied and Harriet's gaze went back up to the screen that was showing the big spaceship that was heading directly for planet Earth.

*O*O*O*

"Despite claims of an alien hoax, it's been reported that NATO forces are on red alert," a newsreader was saying as Rose came back through the living room. Her eyes flicking about it, looking for a head of pink hair, before landing on Mickey questioningly.

Mickey pointed towards the kitchen a second before the sound of a cupboard opening and then shutting came from it. Rose nodded gratefully and started for the kitchen, her teeth sinking into her lower lip as she stepped into the doorway and her eyes landed on Ivy who was standing with her back to her as she fiddled with mugs.

"Hey," Rose called softly as she stepped into the kitchen, her breath a little baited as she waited to see if she was about to greeted with a bout of 'Prentice' temper from her cousin.

Ivy glanced over her shoulder at her, gaze flicking over the blond, "Hey," she stated simply before she turned back to what she was doing, flicking on the kettle, "I'm making hot chocolate," she spoke again after a short beat of silence, even as she placed a tea bag into one of the mugs for Jackie, "You want one?"

"Yeah," Rose nodded as she leaned against the table, fiddling with her sleeve jacket as she eyed Ivy's back as she continued to fiddle with the mugs, getting them ready, "Do we have those little marshmallows?"

"Oh!" Ivy exclaimed blinking at what she had set out, "Oops!" she started over to the pantry again, "They would have been sad little hot chocolates without the little marshmallows," she commented as she looked in the pantry, eyes scanning for the bright packaging for the little marshmallows that were brilliant for adding to a hot chocolate.

"You have one or two marshmallows?" Ivy asked a couple of moments later as she was adding milk to the hot water in the mugs.

"Three," Rose stated.

"You and Mickey," Ivy muttered with a small grimace at how sweet three of the little marshmallows would make it but none the less added them, before she picked up two of the mugs and turned to Rose, "Here," she held out one.

"Thanks," Rose murmured wrapping her hands around it. Ivy nodded and then grimaced as that itch that she hadn't really thought about the first time flared again. She slapped her now free hand over her right shoulder and Rose frowned in concern, "You alright?"

"Yeah," Ivy muttered, "Just an itch," she stated as she scratched at it again, the itch soothing again in response, "I think I might have gotten bitten by something," she sighed with a shrug as she lowered her hand again, before continuing on her way out of the kitchen. Her eyes going to the telly as she handed Mickey his hot chocolate.

"Speaking strictly off the record," the newsreader was continuing with their report on the 'alien hoax', "Government sources are calling this our longest night."

Ivy moved back into the kitchen, stepping past Rose who was lingering, heading towards the last two mugs. She was reaching for the little bag of marshmallows to add a couple to her own hot chocolate when Rose spoke again.

"I didn't mean to snap at you earlier," the blond murmured shifting a bit awkwardly as she used one hand to tuck some of her blond hair back behind her ear as Ivy added her marshmallows to her drink, "I just… I feel so…" she swallowed heavily past the growing lump that had lodged in her throat, "Helpless… So," she swallowed again as Ivy turned to face her the tea she'd made for Jackie and her hot chocolate in her hands, "I'm sorry."

Ivy nodded, "It's alright," she murmured lowly, "You were right," she sighed, "I don't know anything about him."

"Still, I shouldn't have told you to 'shut up'," Rose sighed herself, "I just, I want him to wake up and be him."

Ivy blinked at the wording, "But… he is him, isn't he?"

"He is…" Rose muttered, even as her brow furrowed dubiously as she glanced to the side her gaze far away in that moment, "But he's not…" she half mumbled.

Ivy was silent a moment, taking in her cousins troubled and equally dubious expression, before she broke it, "I should uh," Rose's eyes snapped back to her, "Get this to Jackie…" she proffered the tea mug, "You know before it goes cold," and she started from the kitchen once more.

Rose sighed out a low conflicted breath, her gaze going down the so far untouched hot chocolate. She took a long gulp hoping that it'd do something to take her mind of the guilty despondent churning of her stomach.

Whilst Ivy approached her bedroom where Jackie was sitting by the still unconscious Doctor, "Oh, come on, sweetheart," Jackie pleaded with him gently as Ivy stepped in through the doorway, "What is it you need? Tell me."

"Anything?" Ivy asked.

"No," Jackie sighed, "Not a murmur from him," before she glanced at Ivy to see the mugs in her hands, "Is that tea for me?"

"Yeah," Ivy nodded, holding it out to her.

"Just what I need," Jackie sighed as she took it wrapping her hands about it, before she eyed the Doctor half musingly, "You know if he woke up long enough, a spot of tea just might help him feel better too. Works wonders tea."

Ivy blinked, eyeing Jackie with a slightly sceptic gaze, before she turned her gaze back to the Doctor, "You think?"

"Well, it couldn't hurt," Jackie sighed and then grimaced, "Oh this chair…" it wasn't the comfiest and it was starting to become an effort to keep her eyes open, "I need to go lie down for a bit," she muttered, before glancing up at Ivy.

She nodded, "I'll sit with him," she assured the older woman, "Go have a rest," and Jackie got up, clutching her tea in her hands and started from the room.

"Just holler if you need anything, love," Jackie told her as she paused in the doorway looking back at Ivy as she sat down.

Ivy nodded her agreement and Jackie left the room, headed for her own and a much needed lie down. She took a sip of her hot chocolate, before her gaze fell on her half read book, she reached for it flipping it open to the page she was on, before hesitating and glancing up at the Doctor again, "I don't suppose you like Harry Potter do you? I'm reading the Half Blood Prince at the moment. I'm up to um… Harry's just about to hide the book…" she trailed, feeling a little foolish, but she'd heard somewhere… couldn't precisely remember where that unconscious people could still hear what was going on about them and that it could help… she flipped the book closed, opening it up to the beginning, willing to put off finding out what happened at the end so that the unconscious man on the bed, if he could indeed hear her, wouldn't be confused if he'd never read it before. She glanced up at him again, still feeling a bit foolish, before she lowered her gaze back down to the book, flipping past the cover page to the beginning of the actual story. She cleared her throat softly, before taking a breath and starting to read aloud…

*O*O*O*

Harriet Jones walked through the still busy room at the Unit Headquarters and over to Major Blake as he sat in a chair, deep in thought. His gaze focused on her as she approached him and he immediately got to his feet, "I don't suppose we've had a code 9?" she asked hopefully, "No sign of the Doctor?"

"Nothing yet," the Major replied, before giving her a curious look, "You've met him, haven't you?" Harriet nodded, "More like the stuff of legend," he murmured.

"He is at that," Harriet agreed with a small smile, "Failing him…" she met his gaze unwaveringly, "What about Torchwood?"

"I…" the Major hedged rather surprised.

"I know I'm not supposed to know about it, I realize that. Not even the United Nations knows," Harriet responded to his surprise, hoping to quiet his doubts, "But if ever there was a need for Torchwood, it's now."

"I can't take responsibility."

"I can," Harriet rebutted, "See to it. Get them ready," Blake gazed at her a moment longer before he nodded and turned smartly, walking away to do as he'd been commanded.

"Prime Minister…" Alex called as he came towards her at a quick clip.

Harriet turned to him, "Has it worked?"

Alex nodded, "Just about," he replied as he set his laptop down on a desk to show her, Llewellyn and Jacobs coming up to them to watch.

"People…" Alex began to translate, "That could be 'cattle'..." he told them, "You belong to us. To the Sycorax… they seem to be called 'Sycorax', not Martians…" he explained, before going back to translating once more. "We own you. We now possess your land, your minerals, your precious stones. You will surrender or they will die. Sycorax strong. Sycorax mighty. Sycorax rock… as in the modern sense, they rock," he concluded.

"They will die?" Llewellyn muttered, "Not you will die, they will die? Who's they?"

Alex shook his head, "I don't know, but it is the right personal pronoun. It's 'they'," he told them confidently.

"Send them a reply," Harriet commanded, "Tell them… this is a day of peace on planet Earth…" Alex nodded as he hastily took notes, "Tell them… we extend that peace to the Sycorax. And then tell them… this planet it armed and we do not surrender."

Sally Jacobs nodded as Alex finished noting down what Harriet had said, "Come on," she murmured and the three left Harriet alone.

*O*O*O*

Rose leaned against the doorframe of the bedroom, her eyes troubled as she watched the Doctor as he slept on, still showing no signs of improvement or of waking up for that matter. Ivy sitting in the chair beside him, leaning against the back of it and her head slanting to the side as she dosed, a book open in her lap.

Mickey moved into the doorway, coming to stand beside her, taking in the two in the bedroom as Rose glanced at him, before her eyes returned to the man in the bed, "The Doctor wouldn't do this," she murmured, her voice shaky slightly, "The old Doctor. The proper Doctor. He'd wake up. He'd save us."

Mickey eyed her, his eyes as sad as they were resigned in already knowing the answer, "You really love him, don't you?"

Rose turned her head to look at him again, the answer in her eyes, but she couldn't bring herself to say it, because saying it would mean losing Mickey and she wasn't ready to let him go. Her dependable completely normal, human, Mickey. She turned her eyes back to the room, her eyes lingering on the Doctor's prone form. She swallowed heavily, her hands clenching at her sides as her gaze flicked to her dosing cousin as she shifted slightly in her sleep, the book on her lap starting to slip, as the blond recalled how the Doctor had looked at Ivy in that moment just after he'd woken up, the way he'd stared, the expression on his face.

It was a moment she was trying to dismiss, to not think anything of, because he'd only just woken up and so was bound to be out of sorts and all kinds of confused, and he wasn't himself, not really… but at the same time, she couldn't help but think that that look had actually meant something and she didn't like it! Because she'd really thought that her and him where… but that look on his face as he'd stared at Ivy…

Rose swallowed heavily again, before she sighed out a shaky breath as the backs of her eyes pricked and turned from the room and moved back towards the living room, her steps a bit jerky as her mind and stomach churned, her teeth abusing her lower lip harshly as she tried once again to tell herself that she was wrong. That she was jumping to conclusions as she so often did when she felt the unpleasant stab of jealousy.

Mickey lingered in the mangled doorway of the room a moment longer, staring in at the Doctor and Ivy, before he turned and started away himself, following Rose into the living room, "What about the Doctor then?" he questioned making the blond pause and turn back to look at him with a furrowed brow.

"What about him?"

Mickey eyed her, his gaze growing a bit cautious but still he pressed on, "You saw the way he was looking at Ivy…"

Rose's hands clenched tighter, her heart hurting, "I-I don't know what you're talking about," she denied with an irritable shake of her head as she moved to turn away again, the backs of her eyes pricking hotly once again.

Mickey took a step towards her, "I'm not blind, Rose," he murmured as gently as he could, "And I may not know much about aliens, but I do know men," he stated as he stared at her levelly, "And he may be an alien man but he's still a man. And, Rose..." he sighed as she turned to look at him again unshed tears welling in her eyes, "I know that look."

"He wouldn't…" Rose tried, her head shaking, "He wouldn't…" she tried again her throat constricting around the words as she couldn't help but recall that look again, that look of fascination, of… and it hadn't been directed at her.

"He's still just a guy, Rose," Mickey rebutted, his tone still as gentle as he could make it given his own pain at the situation between him and his girlfriend, "Like any other."

"He's not," Rose denied, "The real Doctor…" she swallowed heavily past the lump in her throat, "The proper Doctor. He's better than…"

Mickey sighed as he eyed Rose's wilfully stubborn expression, one that he'd seen many times before in the past, "Alright, maybe he is," he murmured dubiously, something Rose ignored as she nodded resolutely and moved to turn away again, "But what if he's not?" he questioned softly making the blond pause and turn back around to face him again, "What if he's just like all us other guys out there…"

Rose shook her head, the tears starting to well in her eyes and she blinked them back, "I don't know…" she muttered, not wanting to think about it… though, the answer was right there on the tip of her tongue.

Mickey eyed her, "Do you plan on staying with him?" he asked as he stepped closer standing right in front of her, needing to know even if the answer made the ache in his chest as he stared at Rose's despondent face deepen, "Travelling with him? If he is…?"

"I don't know," Rose replied again, her voice shaking again as her welling tears spilled down her cheeks, though really… she did know. It was the same answer it would always be. She turned into Mickey's body, wrapping her arms around him, hugging him to her tightly as she let out a shaky sigh. Comforting herself in that moment that no matter what was going on with Doctor… if that look really did seem to mean what Mickey thought it did, that she'd still have him. That she'd always have Mickey. Rose squeezed her eyes shut against the thought, knowing that it was horrible, but she just couldn't really bring herself to care as more tears spilled down her cheeks and she hugged Mickey tighter against the ache in her heart.

Mickey hugged her back, breathing out a low sighing breath as he stared at a random point in the room, not really seeing it. His gaze as pensive as it was troubled. His heart feeling heavy in his chest as it sank further.

In her bedroom, the book slipped from Ivy's lap and she jerked awake, blinking blearily at the Doctor's prone still sleeping form, before the sleepy fog cleared from her brain, "Oh," she sat up straighter, "Oops," she sighed, not really sure when it was that she'd fallen asleep. She bent down and picked up the book, before setting it down on the nightstand beside her. She got up with a slight grimace, her mouth feeling dry. She stepped out of the room and headed into the living room to get to the kitchen, only to pause at the sight of Rose and Mickey hugging each other, the blonde's cheeks streaked with tears.

Rose opened her eyes, her gaze landing on Ivy's concerned face and she pulled back from Mickey as she wiped at her eyes, "What is it?" she asked a little tersely, her voice rasping a bit, raw with emotion.

"Nothing… I…" Ivy paused, "What's happened?"

"Nothing," Rose huffed, still wiping at her eyes trying to wipe away the wetness of her tears from her cheeks.

"Ok…" Ivy murmured, eyeing her cousin with concern, "I could put on some tea…?" she trailed as Rose bit out a laugh.

"You sound like mum," the blond sighed as she plonked herself down on one of the couches, her hands clenched over her knees.

"Yeah…" Ivy nodded, "I suppose I did," she eyed her cousins stiff posture and expression, "I uh, I guess I'll leave you guys to it," she murmured, getting the sense that she wasn't really wanted in the living room right at that moment, before she turned to get herself a drink from the kitchen before heading back to her room.

Rose watched Ivy step into the kitchen and she blew out a shaky breath, her gaze going to Mickey as he sat beside her. He arched a silent questioning brow at her and she looked away again, her shoulders slumping as the sound of the tap running in the kitchen reached them as Ivy got herself a glass of water. Her right leg jogging up and down as she sank her teeth viciously into her lower lip once again, her expression conflicted. She blew out another breath, her eyes going back to the kitchen as Ivy stepped out again, a glass of water in her hand. Their eyes met and Ivy offered her small smile, expression still full of concern, before moving to walk on, "Ivy," Rose called and her cousin turned back to her, "You…" she blew out another breath, her heart aching in her chest and her fingers twitching over her knees, so conflicted over what she wanted more, her cousin out of her sight for the moment or for her to stay, "You can stay if you want," she managed to get out, her voice shaky.

Ivy hesitated eyeing her cousins face, just moments ago she'd been positive that the blond hadn't wanted her to stick around. But Rose jerked her head, encouraging her over and Ivy gave a small nod, "K," she murmured softly and started towards them, sitting down on the other side of Rose on the couch.

The blond released another shaky breath, before forcing her tense body to relax back into the comfy couch, her head falling against Ivy's shoulder after her cousin had gotten comfortable, feeling more tears wanting to well in her eyes as Mickey threw a comforting arm over her shoulders, whilst Ivy took one of her hands in hers, giving it a comforting squeeze, the three sitting in companionable silence.

*O*O*O*

"They got the message," Sally Jacobs called as dawn broke over the horizon, "Here comes the response."

"What is that?" Harriet asked as she stared up at the screen where the Sycorax leader was holding out his hand, a blue light playing over it, "Was that a reply?"

"I don't know," Alex admitted with a frown, "It looked like some sort of energy…" he mused, "Or static."

"Almost like someone casting a spell," Llewellyn thought out loud a moment before the blue light that was playing over the Sycorax hand surrounded Sally's head and a some of others in the large bustling room of the Unit Base, "Maybe it's a different form of language," Llewellyn continued more seriously, "Some sort of ideogram or pictogram," he suggested as Sally and two other women and a man with the light around their heads turned and started walking out, "What the hell?" he exclaimed with alarm, "It's the light! It's the same light! Sally? What're you doing? Sally?" he called as he tried to grab her, only for the entranced Sally to pay him no heed whatsoever as she continued on as if he hadn't tried to get her attention at all.

"Oh, leave her!" Harriet called, "You'll hurt her!"

"Let them pass!" Blake ordered sternly as the security guards raised their guns, preparing to open fire.

"Where are they going?" Llewellyn questioned as they watched the entranced members of Unit walk out.

*O*O*O*

"What is wrong with you?" a woman's voice came from just outside of the Tyler flat.

Ivy frowned her head turning in the direction it was coming from, "Is that Sandra?" she asked as she got up.

"Jason?" the same voice called with desperation.

"Yeah," Rose frowned with concern herself as she and Mickey got up, the three of them walking towards the door.

"Jason?" Sandra called again as she followed after Jason as he walked along, giving no indication that he was even aware that she was there.

Rose, Ivy and Mickey popped their heads out of the door to the Tyler flat, "Sandra?" the blond called, drawing the concerned woman's attention.

"He won't listen. He's just walking. He won't stop walking!" Sandra explained fretfully, "There's this sort of light thing," she shook her head and turned back to the man she was following with growing desperation, "Jason? Stop it right now!" she tried again, still trailing after him, "Please, Jason, just stop!" she cried as Ivy, Rose and Mickey took a few cautious steps forward eyes on the entranced unresponsive Jason, "Right now!" Sandra tried.

Ivy, Rose and Mickey stepped over to the balcony railing the balcony and looked down at the ground below to see dozens of people walking in the same hypnotised state as Jason. The three shared a look before they turned, starting to follow after Jason and the increasingly frantic with worry Sandra…

*O*O*O*

"They're all heading in the same direction," Harriet observed as they followed the entranced members of Unit into a narrow corridor of the base.

"It's only certain people," Llewellyn murmured as he glanced around at those walking as if in a hypnotic daze, "Why isn't it affecting us?"

"Prime Minister?" Alex called and Harriet turned her head to look at him, "It's happening all over the country."

*O*O*O*

On another residential street, a woman chased after her children as they walked down the street, "Alan, come on, now stop this. It's not funny anymore!" she cried, "Come on, Alan, come back inside the house. Katherine… Katherine, listen to me…" she tried to stop them without success, "You come back inside right now. And you, Jonathan, you come back inside with mummy. You're scaring me now! Come on!" she turned to her husband again, "Alan, help me out here, please!"

All around her others were doing much the same as her as they tried unsuccessfully to get any kind of response from their loved ones.

"As far as I can tell," a policeman in another area, reported into his walkie-talkie, "They're heading for any sort of high-rise building. Anything with stairs…" he continued as he watched the entranced masses helpless to do anything else, "Anything with steps…"

*O*O*O*

"They're going all the way up," Llewellyn called down to Blake who was standing on a lower section of the staircase, "They're going to the roof," he informed the Major before he turned and started hurrying back up the staircase towards the roof, moving around the entranced people as they calmly continued to slowly make their way up the building.

*O*O*O*

"Just making my way to the front of the building now," the policeman continued to report into his walkie-talkie, "There's hundreds of them," he looked up, "Oh, God. They've gone right to the edge. They're going to jump," he exclaimed his eyes widening with growing horror, "They're all going to jump!"

*O*O*O*

"Sally, stop it," Llewellyn hurried across the roof after Sally Jacobs, "It's Danny Llewellyn," he hurried in front of her, walking backwards as she mindlessly continued towards the edge of the roof, "Daniel Llewellyn. Sally, just concentrate. Listen to me. You're being controlled. We need you!" he continued to try and stop her, "Stop it, Sally!"

*O*O*O*

"Jason, I'm talking to you!" Sandra continued to try as she followed Jason across the roof, Ivy, Rose and Mickey stepping out onto the roof after them, as others hypnotised by the same force continued to slowly walk towards the edge of the roof of the Powell Estate. "Just stop!" Sandra pleaded.

Ivy, Rose and Mickey stepped towards the edge themselves looking around at the entranced people as they slowly lined themselves up along the edge, and then stopped, standing on the edge as if waiting for some sort of final signal.

*O*O*O*

"It's not just the whole country," Alex reported to Harriet as they walked across the large room of the Unit Base they'd been in when the Sycorax had sent their response to their message, "It's the whole world."

*O*O*O*

"They've stopped," the police man continued to report in through his walkie-talkie as he stared up at the rooftops where the entranced people where lined up at the edges, surrounded by concerned and alarmed citizens as they too stared up at the people that looked about to jump to their deaths at any moment, "They've all stopped. They're just… standing there," the policeman continued, "Right on the edge."

*O*O*O*

"According to reports," Alex began as he stood in front of his laptop, eyes on the screen as Harriet stood beside him, her own eyes on the screen, "It's like a third. One third of the world population," Alex swallowed heavily rather horrified as he glanced at Harriet, "That's two billion people ready to jump."

Up on the roof of the Unit Headquarters, Llewellyn turned to Blake as he joined him upon the roof. The Major looking around at all the people lined up at the edge – just waiting, "Surrender or they will die…" Llewellyn murmured with horrified realisation of just what the Sycorax where planning to do if they didn't comply with their demands.

*O*O*O*

"What do we do?" Mickey asked, his gaze going from the entranced people the three of them where standing at the edge of the roof with to Rose.

"Nothing," Rose muttered despondently, "There's no-one to save us," she swallowed heavily, "Not anymore."

"He could still wake up…" Ivy murmured, her own eyes going to her cousin.

"Yeah…" Rose muttered dubiously, unable to help but think that if he was going to he would have already, "Maybe…" she shook her head, arms crossing defensively over her chest as she turned from the roof edge and started back across the roof to the door. Mickey and Ivy exchanging a brief look before following her.

*O*O*O*

"Wait a minute…" Alex murmured with a frown as Llewellyn and Blake joined them, returning from the rooftop, "There is a pattern. All these people tend to be father and son, mother and daughter. Brothers and sisters… family groups, but not husbands and wives.

"Oh my, God," Llewellyn breathed as he stared at his computer screen, and Harriet and Alex turned to look at him in question, "It's Guinevere One," he turned to them, "Have you got medical records on file for all your staff?"

"Course we have, yes," Alex responded and Llewellyn moved to one side so Alex could see the screen.

Harriet stepped over to Blake, taking him to one side, "What about Torchwood?"

"Still working on it," Blake murmured, glancing at her, "Bear in mind, they have just lost a third of their staff."

Harriet turned her head to look at him, eyeing him intently, "But do they have what we need?" she questioned.

"Yes, ma'am," Blake nodded.

"Well, tell them to hurry up," Harriet ordered, before their attention was drawn back to Llewellyn and Alex as the former exclaimed.

"Here it is," he scanned his eyes over the medical records he'd brought up, "Sally Jacobs… blood group A Positive," he glanced at Alex, "Who else walked out?"

Alex paused a brief moment in thought, "Luke Parsons," he stated.

"Luke Parsons…" Llewellyn typed the name in, bringing up Luke's medical records, eyes scanning them, "A Positive."

"Jeffery Baxter," Alex listed.

Llewellyn's fingers moved over the keys again, "Baxter… A Positive," he announced, "That's it. They're all A Positive."

"How many people in the world are A Positive?" Blake asked.

"No idea," Llewellyn shook his head, "But I bet it's one third."

Blake frowned, "What's so special about that blood group?"

"Nothing, but…" Llewellyn sighed, before admitting, "It's my fault. Guinevere One… it's got one of those plagues identifying the human race. Er… a message to the stars. I mean, you don't expect anything to come of it, but… I put on maps and music and samples. There's wheat seeds, and water, and… and blood. A Positive. The Sycorax have got a vial of A Positive. And, well, I don't know how, but… through that…"

"They control the blood," Harriet deduced.

"Oh, my God," Llewellyn bemoaned guiltily, he honestly hadn't thought anything would come of it, nothing ever did of those types of things.

"There's one more thing I can try," Harriet murmured, "Major," she started away, walking purposefully, "With me," and the Major followed Harriet from the room.

*O*O*O*

"Ladies and gentlemen…" Harriet began her emergency broadcast to the nation from the Prime Minister's Office, "If I may take a moment during this terrible time. It's hardly the Queen's speech, I'm afraid that's been cancelled," she turned her head to speak to someone in the office with her, "Did we ask about the royal family?... Oh. They're on the roof," she turned back to the camera set up in front of her, "But, ladies and gentlemen, this crisis is unique, and I'm afraid to say, it might get much worse…"

*O*O*O*

Jackie, Ivy, Rose and Mickey stood in the Tyler flats living room eyes on the telly, watching Harriet's broadcast, "I would as you all to remain calm. But I have one request – Doctor. If you're out there… we need you."

Jackie bit her lower lip and turned to look at Mickey, Ivy and Rose. Rose, however didn't look back at her, just continued to stare at the telly, her heart aching in her chest and the back of her eyes pricking hotly with tears.

"I don't know what to do," Harriet continued, "But if you can hear me, Doctor…"

Rose turned away and started to walk rather numbly from the living room. Ivy, Mickey and Jackie looking after her.

"If anyone knows the Doctor, if anyone can find him… the situation has never been more desperate…"

Jackie started after Rose with concern, following her down into the corridor.

"Help us…"

Ivy turned her eyes to Mickey to see him still looking after Rose despite the fact that she was no longer in sight, a pained look on his face. The sound of Rose heart wrenching sobs reaching them. Mickey sighed out a low breath and glanced at Ivy as he felt her hand touch his arm giving it a comforting squeeze, he gave her a bit of wry smile, before the windows suddenly smashed, showering them with shattered glass and he was wrapping his arms about Ivy protectively as they ducked down as the ground shook violently.

"What was that?!" Ivy gasped, her eyes wide with shock as she and Mickey straightened up and looked around at the mess.

"Don't know," Mickey frowned, "But…" he trailed and started for the front door, Ivy following him, glass from the shattered windows crunching under their shoes.

*O*O*O*

"Sonic wave!" Llewellyn shouted of a blaring alarm in the Unit Base, "It's the spaceship, it's hit the atmosphere!"

*O*O*O*

Ivy and Mickey walked out of the Estate, joining the non-entranced people in staring up at the sky as a large spaceship soared into view.

"Daddy's here…" Ivy muttered as Rose and Jackie came to stand with them, the large spaceship obscuring the sun as they watched it continue on its flightpath, the massive spacecraft hovering over central London.

Rose stared up at it for a few more seconds, her brow furrowed and heart pounding against her ribcage before she turned and ran back towards the flat, Ivy, Mickey and Jackie following her back inside.

Rose made a beeline for Ivy's bedroom, "Mickey, we're going to carry him," she stated urgently as she threw the covers off him, "Mum, get your stuff, and get some food," she demanded, "We're going."

"Where to?" Mickey asked as he shifted to help.

"The Tardis. It's the only safe place on Earth," Rose replied, before her gaze went to her cousin, "Ivy," her cousin's concerned gaze lifted from the Doctor's prone form to her, "Get the doors open ahead of us…" Ivy nodded before she swiftly started back towards the front door of the Tyler flat as Mickey and Rose shifted about the bed.

"What're we gonna do in there?!" Jackie questioned in protest, the last thing she wanted was to be inside that strange bigger on the inside box.

"Hide," Rose responded flatly.

"Is that it?" Jackie asked her arms crossing as she eyed her daughter dubiously.

Rose shot her mum a look full of exasperation and impatience, "Mum, look in the sky. There's a great big alien invasion and I don't know what to do, alright? I've travelled with him, and I've seen all that stuff, but when I'm stuck at home, I'm useless. Now, all we can do is run and hide, and I'm sorry, now move," and Jackie turned and left the bedroom, whilst Rose turned her full attention back to the Doctor, moving to take his shoulders whilst Mickey shifted a bit more to take his legs, "Oh, lift him up."

*O*O*O*

"They're transmitting," Llewellyn called as Harriet Jones stepped into the room and hurried forward, returning to the Unit base, "Onscreen."

The Sycorax leader on the screen mounted on the wall started to speak, "Will the leader of this world stand forward," Alex translated.

Harriet immediately stepped forward, her eyes locked on the alien on the screen, "I'm proud to represent this planet."

The Sycorax leader spoke again, "Come aboard…" Alex translated again.

"How do I do that?" Harriet asked the aliens on the screen, in reply, she, Blake, Alex and Llewellyn where enveloped in a blue light.

"Wh… what's happening?" Llewellyn asked, a bit alarmed.

"I would imagine," Harriet mused calmly, "It's called a teleport," she stated before they were beamed from the Unit base into a massive cavern-like area of the Sycorax ship, with thousands of Scyorax lining the galleries. The leader shifted, stepping towards them and the four humans did the same.

"It's a helmet," Llewellyn exclaimed as the leader reached up to remove the skull like helmet from his head, "They might be like us," the revealed face was flatter, but still bony and Llewellyn swallowed, "Or not," he added hastily.

*O*O*O*

"Are you sure you don't want a hand?" Ivy asked as she walked backwards, eyeing Mickey and Rose as they came out the front door, struggling with the comatose Doctor between them.

"No," Rose grunted as she shuffled backwards, her arms hooked under the Doctor's, "Just go get the gate…" she huffed.

Ivy nodded, giving the three a last look before she turned and hurried off ahead to get the gate to the Powell Estate open like she'd been asked.

Rose glanced back towards the flat as her mum bustled out of the front door, struggling with half a dozen carrier bags, "Mum, will you just leave that stuff," she huffed with exasperation, already changing her mind as she and Mickey continued to struggle with the limp, deadweight that was the Doctor in that moment, "And give us a hand?"

"It's food!" Jackie protested, "You said we need food?"

"Just leave it?!" Rose insisted.

"Why don't you get Ivy to help?!" Jackie huffed back still struggling with her carrier bags.

Rose bit her lip, half wishing that she hadn't sent her cousin on ahead to get the gate open, "She's getting the gate!" she huffed, "Mum," she whinged, adjusting her hold on the Doctor and Jackie huffed and rolled her eyes, resisting the rather intense juvenile urge to whinge right back, in her own growing frustration with the situation.

*O*O*O*

"You will surrender," Alex translated, reading off his translation software as the leader of the Sycorax spoke, "Or I will release the final curse and your people will jump."

"If I can speak…" Llewellyn said as he pushed his way to the front.

"Mr. Llewellyn," Blake grabbed his arm, holding him back, frowning at him, "You're a civilian!"

"No!" Llewellyn turned to him, his expression adamant, "I sent out the probe. I started it. I made contact with these people, this whole thing is my responsibility," he pulled his arm from Blake's grasp and took a couple more steps forward, his attention returning to the Sycorax leader that was still slowly descending from the stairs that he'd been standing on when they'd been teleported inside the ship, "With respect… sir. The human race is taking its first step towards the stars… but we are like children compared to you. Children who need compassion. I beg of you now… show that compassion."

The Leader of the Sycorax who'd been staring as if bored whilst Llewellyn talked raised a glittering force-whip and with a powerful movement whipped it out at Llewellyn, it cracked around his neck and Llewellyn gave a cry of pain, the whip about his throat glowed blue and in the next moment his flesh disintegrated, leaving what was left of his skeletal remains to fall to the ground.

Blake took an angry step forward, glaring at the Sycorax leader heatedly, "That man was your prisoner! Even your species must have articles of war, forbidding…" Blake was cut off as the whip came cracking through the air again and in the next moment, he was nothing more than a smouldering pile of bones next to what used to be Llewellyn.

Alex made to step forward, but Harriet placed a hand on his arm, before stepping forward herself, her ID card in hand, "Harriet Jones," she identified herself as she eyed the Sycorax leader, "Prime Minister."

The Sycorax leader spoke again.

"Yes. We know who you are," Alex read the translated text, "Surrender or they will die."

Harriet eyed the alien leader cautiously, "If I do surrender, how would that be better?" she asked as the Sycorax leader held his hand over a big red button and spoke curtly once again.

Alex swallowed as the translated text appeared once again. "Half is sold into slavery or one third dies… your choice."

Harriet closed her eyes pained by the choice laid out before her… vehemently wishing, praying for the Doctor to arrive… to save them as he'd done last time.

*O*O*O*

"Is it unlocked?!" Rose called after Ivy as her cousin hurried ahead of them towards the big blue police box that was close now, but still pretty damned far when she and Mickey where still struggling with the Doctor's weight.

"Yeah," Ivy called back as she came to a stop in front of the Tardis doors and pushed her hand against the doors and they swung open for her. She blinked at the interior her mouth falling open into a gape at the sheer size of the room beyond the doors.

"Ivy!" Rose whinged as she and Mickey finally reached the Tardis doors only for her cousin to be blocking the way.

"Yeah…" Ivy swallowed unable to tear her eyes away from the inside of the Tardis, "Sorry… it's just… it's really bigger on the side…" she breathed with awe.

Rose rolled her eyes with irritated impatience as she shifted her grip on the Doctor again, her arms really starting to ache, "Yeah! Admire it or whatever later, Ivy!" she huffed, "As in after you've shifted your butt from the doorway!"

"Right… sorry, yeah!" Ivy exclaimed sheepishly promptly stepping inside and out of the way to let Rose and Mickey through.

Mickey offered her a bit of an understanding grin as he shuffled past her, "Bit overwhelming at first, ain't it?"

"Yeah…" Ivy nodded her gaze darting to him and then away, as she continued to look around the large console room, "Just a bit!"

Behind them, Jackie was still struggling with the carrier bags as she followed after Ivy, Rose and Mickey, dropping one…

She hurried in the through the doors a moment later and paused for a moment looking around herself at the sight that had made her turn around and flee the first time she'd followed her daughter inside the strange box that had appeared out of thin air. Whilst Ivy slowly wandered about the room, trying to take it all in…

"No chance you could fly this thing?" Mickey asked, through slightly panted breathes as he continued to shuffle forward, his hands gripping the Doctor's legs firmly.

"Not anymore, no," Rose panted slightly herself.

"Well, you did it before…" Mickey pointed out.

"I know, but it's sort of been… wiped out of my head, like it's forbidden," Rose murmured as they carefully placed the Doctor down on the grated panelling of the console room floor, "Try that again and I think the Universe rips in half."

"Ah, better now, then," Mickey murmured as they sat down.

"Maybe not," Rose agreed.

"Sounds rather bad," Ivy murmured as she wandered over to them, coming to sit beside them, her eyes still wandering around the room.

"Just a bit," Rose nodded her agreement, before blowing out a low breath, her shoulders slumping, that blank space in her memory haunting her… a song that was all she could remember… but… it had to have been more… because whatever it was had forced the Doctor to change… to become something other than himself…

"So, what do we do?" Mickey asked breaking into the blonde's spiralling guilt-ridden thoughts, "Just sit here?"

"That's as good as it gets," Rose huffed with frustration.

"Right…" Jackie wandered over towards them having pulled a thermal flask from one of her many carrier bags, "Here we go. Nice cup of tea."

"Mmm, the solution to everything…" Rose muttered.

"Now, stop you moaning," Jackie sighed as she handed off the thermal flask full of tea to Ivy, "I'll get the rest of the food."

"Tea," Mickey smirked slightly as Jackie strolled back out of the Tardis, "Like we're having a picnic while the world comes to an end. Very British."

"Well, we do carry on, don't we," Ivy murmured as she looked down at the thermal in her hands, before looking up again trying to lighten the mood, "End of the world, pfft," she waved a mock dismissive hand, "We'll have some tea and scones and just…" she trailed as Rose's expression didn't lighten as she sat staring broodily at one of the grated panels.

They lapsed into silence.

Mickey glanced around and caught sight of the monitor and stood moving towards it, "How does this thing work?" he asked, "If it picks up TV, maybe we could see what's going on out there."

"Does it pick up TV?" Ivy asked as she stood joining him at the console, placing the thermal down on it as she looked at the black screen.

"Doctor, said it did," Mickey shrugged and pressed a few buttons, "What do you do to it?" he asked, glancing at Rose.

The blond sighed as she got up to her feet and joined them at the monitor, "I dunno," she muttered still a bit snappish, "It sort of tunes itself," she pressed a few buttons herself and a bleeping sound started.

"What's that?" Ivy muttered peering at the screen that was now displaying a weird pattern to accompany the bleeping.

*O*O*O*

Alex flinched slightly as the Sycorax leader started speaking again, voice angry now as a bleeping noise sounded through the spaceship they were still trapped on.

"The noise. The bleeping," he read from his translation software, Harriet glancing at him as he continued, "They say it's machinery. Foreign machinery. They're accusing us of hiding it. Conspiring. Bring it on board."

*O*O*O*

Jackie stepped back out of her flat carrying two more carrier bags full of food, making her way back to the Tardis only to stop short as in a sudden flash of light the Tardis disappeared right before her eyes, "Rose?" she called in alarm, "Ivy?" she dropped the bags and took a couple of hurried steps further, before she turned her wide horrified gaze up to the spaceship that was still hovering in the sky, fear churning in her gut, "Rose! Ivy!"

*O*O*O*

"Maybe it's a distress signal," Mickey suggested in response to Ivy's question as the three of them stared at the strange pattern being displayed on the scanner as it continued to bleep.

"Fat lot of good that's going to do," Rose muttered.

Mickey eyed her, "Are you going to be a misery all the time?" he asked, her attitude starting to wear on him.

"Yes," Rose responded simply.

"You should look at it from my point of view, stuck in here with your mum's cooking," Mickey attempted to lighten the mood.

"This from the guy that wolf's it down like it's gonna disappear off the plates every Sunday," Ivy retorted a bit dryly.

"Yeah, trying to get it off the plate quicker," Mickey responded a bit glibly, a teasing grin on his face that had Ivy rolling her eyes, lips quirking upwards.

"Where is she?" Rose muttered as she glanced about the console room to see that her mum still hadn't come back in, "I'd better give her a hand," she sighed, "It might start raining missiles out there."

"Tell her anything from a tin, that's fine," Mickey called after the blonde's retreating back as she headed for the doors.

"Why don't you tell her yourself?" Rose asked him as she glanced back over her shoulder at him, not pausing in her stride.

Mickey levelled a serious look at his girlfriend, "I'm not that brave," he said as Ivy turned back to the monitor eyeing the odd pattern again.

Rose placed her hand on the door and paused for a moment as she looked back so that she could smile at Mickey slightly, "Oh, I don't know…" she stepped out the door and screamed as rough hands grabbed her.

"Rose!" Mickey shouted racing towards the doors after her as Ivy whirled around her eyes wide and she started after Mickey, heat pounding in her chest at the terror that had been in her cousins voice as she screamed…

*O*O*O*

"Get off! Get off me!" Rose shouted at the aliens that had grabbed her, gaze turning to the Tardis as Mickey ran out. "The door!" she shouted at him, "Close the door!"

Mickey turned back to the doors of the Tardis his eyes landing on Ivy who was about to run out of them, before he felt unfriendly hands brush him and he lurched forward stepping out of reach to slam it shut a second before those same unfriendly alien hands grabbed him, he shouted his voice mingling with Rose's as she shouted too.

*O*O*O*

Ivy rattled at the doors, only to find them suddenly stuck as if locked, "Ok…" she muttered swallowing heavily, her mind racing and heart pounding, "Ok…" she turned away from the doors, absently scratching at the back of her right shoulder again as that itch flared again, "What do I do?" she muttered, her gaze went to the Doctor's prone form as he continued to sleep, "What do you need?!" she called urgently and a touch frantically, somehow hoping for an answer, "What the hell do you need?!"

She glanced around the console room, hoping for some kind of answer to jump out at her. Her gaze caught on the thermal of tea that was still resting where she'd set it down. She swallowed, it was completely ridiculous, really. It was tea! It was just tea, but… and maybe it was the desperation talking, but she couldn't shake the sudden feeling that 'tea' was exactly what the Doctor needed, it was barmy! Ridiculous!

Still, she hurried back over to the console, limbs trembling slightly with adrenaline as logic warred with the sudden niggly feeling. She grabbed the tea and started hurriedly unscrewing the lid as she turned back around to look at the Doctor's unconscious prone form, "Ah, it can't hurt…" she swallowed, "Right?" there was a new bleep-like sound from the console, a bleep that definitely sounded like it was affirmative, even encouraging. Ivy blinked, glancing back at the console, eyeing it a touch sceptically and a bit curiously… had it really just answered her question… before she shook it off and started across the console room towards the Doctor. The need to hurry gripping her, Rose and Mickey where out there with those rather unfriendly looking aliens! And they'd been screaming, shouting!

And, Ivy faltered just a little bit, just how was she supposed to give the Doctor the tea without him choking on it…?

A startled cry escaped her as her foot caught on the edge of one of the grated panels that had been lying completely flat before and she tumbled forward, landing heavily on the grating the open thermal of tea tumbling through the air and landing by the Doctor's head, its contents spilling over the grating by his head.

"No!" she breathed, her eyes wide as she stared frozen for a moment with the horror of having spilled it, before she scrambled back up to her feet, her knees and palms stinging just a little from the landing. She took a couple of hurried steps over to where the thermal had landed lifting it up peering inside and swallowed heavily at the mostly empty thermal, there was barely anything at all left inside… just dregs… she glanced from the contents of the thermal down at the wet grated panelling by the Doctor's head, the spilled tea dripping down through the grating into the workings underneath the console…

Ivy pressed her free hand to her mouth, horrified, she'd botched it!

*O*O*O*

The Sycorax leader yelled gleefully and the thousands in the galleries cheered at having captured the alien technology as Harriet stumbled towards Rose, "Rose," the two hugging rather terrified, "Rose! I've got you. My Lord. My precious thing," she said in overwhelming relief at seeing the familiar face of the blond, hope kindling, "The Doctor… is he with you?"

"No," Rose muttered, shaking her head, "We're all on our own."

"Well, not completely," Mickey muttered and Rose threw him a dubious questioningly look, "There's Ivy," he murmured quietly, "She's still in there."

Rose rolled her eyes with exasperation, "And just what do you think she's gonna be able to do?!" she hissed. Mickey levelled a look at her for her tone, not appreciating it as his previous awe of the massive spaceship they were in had shifted to fear, and Rose grimaced, "I just mean… oh, you know what I mean," she mumbled thickly, Ivy was brilliant, but she'd never had to deal with aliens before, not like she had, not like Mickey had… not like Doctor had… does, did… back when he was still him… the proper him.

"Well…" Mickey hesitated, Rose's eyes going back to him, "She might be able to wake him…" he shrugged a bit helplessly, "Or something…"

Rose shook her head, biting her lower lip harshly as she looked out over the horde of aliens before them… she wanted the Doctor to wake up and actually be the Doctor more than anything, but she didn't see how Ivy would manage it… he'd hadn't shown any signs of waking since he'd collapsed again after all.

*O*O*O*

Ivy's hand lowered from her mouth as steam… tea vapour, rose up from the grating surrounding the Doctor's head and he breathed it in, his lips parting a brief moment later and he breathed out more of the wisping golden energy. It floated through the air, wending its way over to her. She ignored it as it did a playful circuit around her head before floating away. Her wide eyed gaze fixated on the Doctor as his pained expression smoothed over as he continued to breath in the steam and then he shifted, slowly stretching out his arms.

"Oh…" she breathed, "You're kidding…." she hadn't really thought the tea would work despite the niggling feeling and yet… the Doctor after hours of showing no improvement was… he was waking up!

"Urg… blimey, those two where a bit rough with me," the Doctor muttered with a grimace as he opened his eyes and sat up, rolling his shoulders, before his gaze shifted, focusing on the gaping with surprise, Ivy. He grinned at her brightly, his hearts picking up speed at the sight of her, his Soul-Bonded, who was once again staring at him with a shocked and rather perplexed expression on her face, "Hello!"

"You are soo alien!" Ivy gasped incredulous, unable to help herself, the mostly empty thermal still clutched in one hand.

"Hmm, yep," the Doctor agreed and bounded energetically to his feet, before pausing and eyeing her a bit cautiously, "Is that a problem?"

Ivy blinked again, he was staring at her like the answer really mattered to him. Like it was rather important to him, "No," she murmured, "Not really."

The Doctor arched a brow, "Well, which is it?" he questioned, his brow furrowing slightly, "No or not really? There's a bit of a difference between the two."

"No," Ivy said again, "It's no. No, it's not… just," she blinked down at the thermal in her hand, "Tea?" she looked up at him again, her gaze perplexed again as he beamed another wide grin at her a tension she hadn't noticed leaving his thin frame as she continued rather bemused, "Seriously? Tea?"

"Hmm, why so surprised? You were going to give it to me, before you tipped it on the floor, brilliant idea actually…" the Doctor nodded, smiling at her rather brightly again, "Tea vapours, far more potent."

Ivy's cheeks flushed slightly, a little embarrassed, glancing down a bit sheepishly, she hadn't really thought it would… and then the whole tripping thing, "Didn't mean too…" the thermal was taken from her hand and she looked up at him as he gulped down the last little bit at the bottom, hardly even a swallows worth.

The Doctor pulled a face, "Bleh! Cold…" he grimaced and tossed the thermal aside and it landed with a clatter on the console room floor behind him.

Ivy shook her head, chasing away her bemusement, "Forget the tea!" she exclaimed, "Doctor, we're in the middle of a…"

"Invasion?" he nodded, starting towards the door, "I know."

"And Rose is out there," Ivy followed him, "And Mickey and the uh… the ship. The um, the…"

"Tardis. She's called the Tardis. That's Time And Relative Dimension In Space," the Doctor explained glancing at her.

"Yeah, the… Tardis," Ivy processed that with a blink and then nodded hurriedly, "Wouldn't let me out…"

"Well, course not," the Doctor stated, watching as she glanced about with a slight frown at the affirming bleep the ship made in response to his statement, "Considering…" he murmured, trailing as he simply eyed her.

Ivy turned her perplexed gaze back to him, "Considering what?"

"Ivy, wasn't it?" the Doctor asked, tugging at his ear, avoiding the question for the time being, as he looked away from her again, catching her nod as she frowned at him now out of the corner of his eye. There wasn't really time to explain or anything… and he'd have to figure out how to tell her… he'd never really expected and yet… he beamed another wide grin as he glanced at her again, there she was! Walking, large as life, a couple of steps behind him, Ivy… he blinked as he realised, "Ivy what?"

"Prentice," Ivy replied, eyeing him as she continued to follow him towards the doors of the Tardis, her heart pounding against her ribcage with nervousness and a bit of fear at the unfriendly aliens that were beyond... but her cousin was out there and so was Mickey…

"Well, Ivy Prentice…" the Doctor murmured, testing out the sound of her name, as they came to a stop at the Tardis doors and he turned his head to look back her again with another rather cheery grin, "Let's say 'hello', shall we?"

Ivy swallowed heavily against the lump lodged in her throat, but nodded, "Yeah…" she murmured and the Doctor turned back to the doors and pulled them open to see all the eyes in the rather massive room beyond focused on them.

"Did you miss me?" he asked and Rose positively beamed, her face lighting up with delight at the sight of him actually standing up, awake… full of life.

The Sycorax leader roared loudly as the Doctor started out of the Tardis doorway. Ivy following him out and cracked his whip through the air. The Doctor's easily caught it, his eyes narrowing slightly on the leader as heard Ivy shifting behind him, the end of the whip could have easily lashed past him and hit her, hurt her, or worse. His jaw clenched and his hand tightened about the whip and he yanked on it sharply in the next instant, pulling it out of the Sycroax leader's hand, "You could have someone's eye out with that!"

The Sycorax leader roared in fury once again, before he charged this time, staff swinging for the Doctor an angry snarl on his lips, "How dare…"

The Doctor's eyes narrowed further and he snatched the club off the leader too before breaking it over his knee and throwing the now useless pieces to the floor, "You just can't get the staff. Now, you, just wait. I'm busy!" he ordered as he carefully urged Ivy around from behind him, pointing a warning finger at the incredulously staring Sycorax leader as he started over towards Mickey and Rose a protective hand on Ivy's lower back, "Mickey, hello!" he greeted jovially, "And Harriet Jones MP for Flydale North!" he said as he turned to the older woman, whilst Ivy stepped over to Rose giving her a quick tight hug that the still relieved and beaming blond returned, "Blimey, it's like 'This Is Your Life!'" he exclaimed.

Ivy pulled back, "You ok?"

"Yeah, yeah…" Rose nodded, barely able to tear her eyes from the Doctor, "How did you…" she began but trailed, swallowing heavily as his eyes turned to her, they were so different and she didn't just mean that they were now brown instead of the familiar blue she was used too… they were colder in their regard of her, a distance that she was sure hadn't been there before he'd had to go and change like he had.

"It was Ivy," the Doctor grinned and his eyes shifted to his Soul-Bond, Rose swallowing harder than before as she saw his eyes warm, "She figured it out!"

"I wouldn't say that…" Ivy muttered as Rose's eyes darted to her, her hands twitching into fists at her sides, "More of an accident, really."

"Well, then it was a brilliant accident!" the Doctor exclaimed and wrapped Ivy in a sudden hug, squeezing her lightly.

"You're kind of a touchy person aren't ya…" Ivy muttered as she returned the hug, patting him on his back with a slightly awkward air and her expression mildly bemused once again, not having been expecting the embrace.

"Dunno…" the Doctor mused as he pulled back, Rose's expression faltering even as she told herself it was only a quick hug… just a quick friendly hug… it didn't necessarily mean anything, "Might be… still figuring out who I am now," his gaze flicked back to Rose and the blond was quick to smile again in response as he finally expounded, his attention focused on her, and Mickey, "Tea! That's all I needed, a good cup of tea! Superheated infusion of free radicals and tannin. Just the thing for healing the synapses."

Mickey arched a brow as he glanced at Ivy, eyeing her with bemusement, "How'd you manage to figure that out?"

"I was kind of desperate," Ivy muttered and gave him a slight shrug, "Figured what was the harm in trying… and then well… I tripped and spilt it…" she grimaced lightly and ran her fingers over her palms the skin still slightly unpleasantly tingly from the impact, "It was like the floor moved all on its own, one minute. Completely flat, next I'm stubbing the toe of my runner on a bit of elevated grating…"

Mickey couldn't help it, he sniggered in bemused amusement and shook his head, grinning a bit incredulously… tea!

Rose swallowed heavily against the lump that had lodged itself in her throat all over again, she offered Ivy a small smile that was barely more than a slight upwards curve of her lips, her heart aching in her chest horribly, and she sucked in a slightly shaky breath, "You couldn't have accidentally spilled tea over him earlier?" she managed to get out, her voice a little strained with emotion, even as she tried to make her tone light and joking.

Ivy shrugged a bit and tucked some hair behind her ear, "Wouldn't have steamed earlier," and Rose blinked, steam? What did steam have to do with it.

"Enough about tea," the Doctor cut in before she could ask, their eyes immediately going back to him, "Now…" he stated seeing that he had their attention back, "First thing's first…" his eyes drifted to Ivy eager for her opinion, "Be honest, how do I look?"

"Um…" Rose hedged, and the Doctor's flicked to her still more distant than she was used to but expectant, "Different."

He rolled his eyes, "That helps," he grumbled, before he turned his gaze back to Ivy, his eyes hopeful, as Rose bit her lower lip harshly, her arms crossing over her chest a bit defensively a fresh ach seizing her heart as she eyed the Time Lord whilst on the other side of her to Ivy Mickey also eyed the Time Lord and how he was looking at Ivy, like he really wanted to know what she thought of how he looked.

"Well um," Ivy looked him over, somewhat bemused by him all over again as he stared intently at her, waiting expectantly for a description of some kind, "Your sort of tall, uh, a bit thin," she described.

"Good, bad? What?" the Doctor cut in a bit impatient, and really just wanting to know if she liked how he looked.

"Just…" Rose cut in, her brow furrowed slightly in an unhappy crease, arms still crossed over her chest, "Different," she muttered lowly. It was the best way to describe him at that moment, and despite his looks, she wasn't all that sure she liked this new him… how different he was to what she was used to.

"You're…" Ivy began and then glanced at her cousin's unhappy face and trailed slightly, hesitating in what she was going to say, "Not bad," she finished a tad lamely as she glanced away from the blond again, she'd been about to say 'attractive', but she didn't want to hurt her cousin and from the look on Rose's face… despite how the blond was trying to hide it, it was clear in her eyes at least to Ivy that she was hurting as the blond stared at the Doctor with a bit of a lost expression, her joy from earlier dampened behind her pain.

"Not bad, is good, right?" the Doctor murmured with a slight frown still eyeing Ivy, he had the feeling she'd been about to say something different, possibly something a bit more direct and was a little disappointed that he didn't get to hear her original opinion. He grinned though in the next instant as she gave him a nod, before his expression turned rather serious as he eyed her, "Am I… ginger?"

"Ah, no…" Ivy told him as her eyes flicked up to his rather ruffled and sleep mussed hair and the Doctor seemed to deflate before their eyes with the weight of his disappointment, and Ivy blinked bemused all over again.

"I'm not…?" the Doctor muttered.

"You're more of a brown," Rose offered.

"Aww," the Doctor whinged rather put out and turned away from them, "I wanted to be ginger," he pouted, "I've never been ginger," he grumbled before he suddenly spun back around and pointed an accusatory finger at the blond, "And you, Rose Tyler," the blond stared at him a little wide eyed at the abruptness of it, "Fat lot of good you were. You gave up on me…" the Doctor trailed, finger lowering, "Oh, that's rude," he realised, "That's the sort of man I am now, am I? Rude," he mused, pondering the development as the humans eyed him with bemusement and Harriet with mounting confusion, "Rude and not ginger."

"Seems like it," Ivy nodded as she eyed him, her brows quirked upwards as she took in his pondering expression.

"Would have preferred to be rude and ginger," the Doctor muttered with a small pout, a hand going to his hair, tugging at it a bit sulkily. Was ginger, just once, too much to ask for? Whilst Ivy shook her head a bit at that. He really was a perplexing person… shouldn't he be wanting to be 'not rude and ginger'?

Harriet, who'd been staring rather confused herself, finally broke her silence, "I'm sorry. Who is this?"

The Doctor glanced over at her, "I'm the Doctor."

"He's the Doctor," Rose murmured lowly as Harriet's gaze flicked to her questioningly, her heart still aching in her chest as she went back to eyeing the Time Lord.

"But what happened to my Doctor?" Harriet asked still rather confused, "Or is it a title that's just passed on?"

The Doctor moved towards her, "I'm him. I'm literally him. Same man, new face… well, new everything."

Harriet frowned at him dubiously, "But you can't be…"

"Harriet Jones, 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 recalled.

"Oh, my God," Harriet breathed, staring at him a little wide-eyed with shocked realisation.

The Doctor leant down towards her slightly with a small grin, as he eyed her, "Did you win the election?"

"Landslide majority," Harriet replied with a pleased smile.

"If I might interrupt!" the Sycorax Leader shouted and the group spun around, almost having forgotten their situation completely.

"Yes, sorry! Hello, big fella!" The Doctor responded, eyeing the Leader of Sycorax a bit sheepishly at having gotten so side tracked.

"Who exactly are you?" The Sycorax Leader asked.

"Well," the Doctor replied with a fixed grin, "That's the question."

"I DEMAND TO KNOW WHO YOU ARE!" the Sycorax Leader roared his demand, rather aggravated and insulted at having been so dismissed.

"I DON'T KNOW!" the Doctor roared back, copying the Sycorax Leader, before he relaxed his posture once more, "See, there's the thing. I'm the Doctor, but beyond that, I… I just don't know. I literally don't know who I am. It's all untested," he began to walk, addressing everyone present, "Am I funny? Am I sarcastic?" he glanced over to where Ivy was standing with Rose, "Sexy?" he winked at her and Rose frowned glancing at her cousin who was staring at him with brows that were quirked in bemusement and amusement shining in her eyes as she stared at the Doctor. Rose bit her lower lip harshly, she couldn't be sure, not really, but she had the sinking feeling that he hadn't been aiming that wink at her and she looked away from her cousin again, gaze returning to the Doctor as he continued on, "Right old misery? Life and soul? Right handed? Left handed? A gambler? A fighter? A coward? A traitor? A liar? A nervous wreck? I mean judging by the evidence I've certainly got a gob," he mused.

The Doctor's gaze caught on the large red button, "And how am I going to react when I see this," he pointed up at the button, a somewhat insane smile curving up his lips, "A Great Big Threatening Button," he ran up the stairs with a laugh, " A Great Big Threatening Button That Must Not Be Pressed Under Any Circumstances, am I right? Let me guess. It's some sort of control matrix, hmm?" he mused as he examined it, "Hold on, what's feeding it?" he bent down and pulled open the base of the pillar directly under the button, his eyes landing on the red liquid inside it, "And what have we got here? Blood?" he dipped a finger into it and brought it up to his lips.

"Oh, he's not going too…" Ivy trailed, grimacing with a bit of disgust as he licked the red liquid off his finger, "Gross…" she shivered a bit and felt that itch spread over her right shoulder again. She reached up scratching at it again, soothing the itch away once more. Whilst Rose grimaced in disgust herself, silently agreeing with her cousin.

"Yeah, definitely blood. Human blood. A Positive, with just a dash of iron," the Doctor waggled his tongue around at the nasty taste and wiped his finger clean on his borrowed dressing gown, "Ah, but that… means blood control…" he beamed rather delighted at the discovery, despite the lingering bad taste in his mouth, "Blood control! Oh, I haven't seen blood control for years," he exclaimed and the Sycorax Leaders malicious grin began to fade, changing into a bit of a grimace as the Doctor continued, "You're controlling all the A Positives," he declared, "Which leaves us with a great big stinking problem. 'Cos… I really don't know who I am. I don't know when to stop," he rambled on and on, "So, if I see a Great Big Threatening Button Which Should Never, Ever, Ever Be Pressed… then I just wanna do this…" he smacked his hand down onto the button and there was an immediate outcry of 'No!'.

*O*O*O*

On the rooftop of the Powell Estate everyone with the blue hazy light surrounding them took a step forward, only for the light to flicker out and the people looked around rather confused at their situation.

"What the hell am I doing up here?" Jason asked as he stared about confused along with the others that had been lost in the hypnotic trance of the blood control.

"Get away from the edge!" Sandra replied rather relieved that whatever it was that had been happening was over.

*O*O*O*

"You killed them!" Alex shouted horrified.

The Doctor turned to look at the Sycorax Leader unconcerned by Alex's accusation. "What do you think, big fella? Are they dead?"

The Sycorax Leader bared his teeth. "We allow them to live," he said tersely attempting to dismiss the issue.

"Allow? You've no choice!" the Doctor remarked, "I mean that's all blood control is. A cheap bit of voodoo. Scares the pants off you, but that's as far as it goes. It's like hypnosis," he mused thoughtfully, "You can hypnotise someone to walk like a chicken or sing like Elvis. You can't hypnotise them to death. Survival instincts too strong."

"Blood control was just one form of conquest. I can summon the armada and take this world by force."

"Well, yeah, you could, yeah, you could do that, of course you could," the Doctor agreed with the Sycorax Leader, "But why? Look at these people," he gestured to the humans on board the ship as he spoke with rising passion, "These human beings. Consider their potential. From the day they arrive on the planet and blinking step into the sun, there's more to see than can ever be seen. More to do than…" the Doctor trailed blinking, "No, hold on… sorry, that's the Lion King. But the point still stands. Leave them alone!"

"Or what?" the Sycorax leader sneered.

"Or…" the Doctor glanced to the side, before he snatched a sword from one of the Sycorax standing guard near him before he ran down the steps and onto the empty floor space in front of the Tardis, "I challenge you!" he declared, holding the sword aloft and the Sycorax burst into a round of derisive laughter, "Oh, that struck a chord," the Doctor mused, "Am I right that the sanctified rules of combat still apply?"

The Sycorax Leader began down the steps, unsheathing his sword, "You stand as this world's champion?"

The Doctor shrugged out of his borrowed dressing gown, "Thank you. I've no idea who I am, but you just summed me up," he tossed the dressing gown at Ivy, who neatly caught it and folded it, tucking it under one of her arms, her eyes glued to the scene before her so not noticing the way Rose shifting beside her and frowned a bit, teeth once again abusing her lower lip in a mixture of continued confusion, hurt and concern for the Time Lord, "So, you accept my challenge? Or are you just a cranak pel casacree salvak?" the Doctor asked, the insulting words that the Tardis refused to translate got an angry hiss from the Sycorax leader, and the two combatants knelt down across from each other.

"For the planet?" the Sycorax Leader asked.

"For the planet," the Doctor agreed and in the next moment they were up and the ring of steel meeting steel rang through the area of the spaceship as their blades clashed. Once, twice and then Ivy was wincing and biting her lower lip anxiously as the Doctor was thrown to the ground by the Sycorax leader, who laughed derisively at the Doctor's obvious lack of skill with a sword. The Doctor clambered back up to his feet.

"Look out!" Rose couldn't help but shout an anxious warning as the Sycorax leader swung his sword at the Doctor again.

"Oh, yeah that helps. Wouldn't have thought of that otherwise, thanks," the Doctor shouted back, his voice practically dripping with sarcasm as the fight resumed again. The Doctor backing up the stairs as he did his best to parry the heavy blows being levelled at him. He hit a button on his way past it, "A bit of fresh air," he commented as he stepped back into the hull of the spaceship, the Sycorax Leader following him closely. Ivy, Rose, Mickey, Harriet Jones, Alex and a few of the Sycorax following them up the stairs to keep the two combatants in sight.

The two where bathed in sunlight as they continued to fight, swords clashing again and again. The Sycorax Leader driving the Doctor back to the edge and hit him on the nose causing him to let out a groan of pain. Movement, he saw out of the corner of his eye drew his attention and immediately he held out a hand, Ivy and Rose both having taken a step forward, drawing them to an immediate halt before either of them had managed to take more than a step forward, the two staring at him with eyes wide with alarm, "Stay back! Invalidate the challenge and he wins the planet," he cautioned them, before he turned his full attention back to the Sycorax Leader the two charging at each other again, the two grunting with the effort as their swords connected before the Doctor was forced back and right off his feet once again.

The Sycorax Leader didn't let the opportunity go to waste as he slashed down and his sword met flesh instead of metal slicing the Doctor's arm off just below the elbow. The hand and sword falling over the side of the ship, plummeting to Earth.

The Doctor stared after his falling hand rather annoyed and irritated by the pain and the sight of his falling severed limb, "You cut my hand off."

"Ya! Sycorax!" the Leader yelled in triumph.

The Doctor clambered back onto his feet, "And now I know what sort of man I am. I'm lucky. 'Cos quite by chance I'm still within the first fifteen hours of my regeneration cycle, which means I've got just enough residual cellular energy to do this!" he held up what was left of his arm and as all of them watched, his arm grew right back.

"Witchcraft!" the Sycorax Leader shouted.

"Time Lord," The Doctor corrected.

"Completely and utterly alien," Ivy muttered, her face a bit pale from having seen the Doctor's hand being chopped off and then regrown in mere seconds, before her gaze caught on the hilt of a sword, the blade sheathed at one of the Sycorax's hips. She released the tight grip she had on the Doctor's borrowed dressing gown with one hand and shifted, closing her freed hand around the hilt and hefting it out of the scabbard, before she turned back to the Doctor, "Here! Catch!" she called and tossed it through the air towards him with all her might as the Time Lord turned to her in response.

"Doctor!" Rose shouted as he caught it easily, still anxious, terrified for him in that moment, knowing that the fight would be recommencing soon and he'd been losing, had just lost a hand right before her eyes.

"Oh, so I'm still the Doctor, then?" the Doctor called back to the blond as he twirled the sword about his hand with more skill than he'd shown with it previously.

"No arguments from me!" Rose replied with a slightly watery smile as she watched him, relief filing her as she watched him, this was him.

"All you did was argue," the Doctor grumbled and Rose's expression fell again, a bit stung, "But do you want to know the best bit?" he continued on his eyes now back on the rather incredulous and annoyed Sycorax leader, "This new hand…" the Doctor put on a Texan accent as he continued, "It's a fightin' hand!"

The Doctor ran at the Sycorax Leader again, sword raised and the fight between them resumed, the skill level between them evening out as their swords clashed again and again, until the Doctor managed to disarm the Sycorax Leader, taking hold of both swords he slammed the hilts into the other aliens stomach, once and then twice and the Sycorax Leader fell back, right on the edge, overlooking London. The Doctor levelled the tip of his sword at his defeated opponent's throat, "I win."

"Then kill me," the Sycorax leader gritted out, his breaths coming out laboured, his body pained from the blows he'd sustained.

The Doctor stared at him unwaveringly, "I'll spare your life, if you'll take this Champion's command. Leave this planet, and never return. What do you say?"

The Sycorax Leader stared up at him and nodded with heavy seated reluctance, "Yes," he forced himself to bite out.

The Doctor jabbed the point of the sword closer, his face set in a grim angry line, "Swear on the blood of your species," he demanded.

The Sycorax Leader grimaced, but conceded, "I swear."

The Doctor's face lightened and he shifted the sword away, "There we are then. Thanks for that. Cheers, big fella," he said as he jabbed the point of his sword into the sandy type floor of the spaceship.

"Bravo!" Harriet Jones cheered as she clapped.

"Completely mental," Ivy murmured as she moved towards the grinning Time Lord, his dressing gown in her hands.

"You think?" he asked scratching at the back of his head a bit as he eyed her.

"Yep, that and kinda brilliant," Ivy added as she handed over his dressing gown and he swiftly shrugged it on with a beaming grin.

"That kind of says it all," Rose murmured, drawing the Doctor's attention to her and she smiled at him, her heart still rather sore at the distance she was perceiving in his eyes, the lack of that warmth that she wanted to see, was so sure had been there before he'd changed, but maybe just maybe… he was just hurt by her previous confusion and uncertainty… and she hoped that all they needed was a bit of time for things to go back to how they were.

"Ah, well," the Doctor mused cheerily offering the blond a smile in return, that had Rose relaxing a little and smiling just a bit easier, "Not bad for a man in his jim-jams," he tied the sash of his dressing gown, securing it closed, "Very Arthur Dent. Now there was a nice man…" he trailed as he stuck his hand into the pocket of his dressing gown and his hand closed about another unexpected object, "Hold on, what have I got here?" he pulled it out and the three blinked at it, "A Satsuma?" the Doctor muttered a bit confused and Rose let out a bit of giggle, trying to get the weight in her heart as her uncertainty continued to niggle at her persistently whilst Ivy shook her head, "Ah, that friend of your mothers, Rose," the Doctor realised, "He does like his snacks, doesn't he? But doesn't that just sum up Christmas?"

The Doctor started walking back towards the others Ivy and Rose falling into step with him. He threw the rounded fruit up in the air and caught again as he continued, "You go through all those presents and right at the end, tucked away at the bottom, there's always one stupid old satsuma. Who wants a satsuma?" he asked, before glanced at Ivy again and he held it out towards her with another cheery grin.

"Er, no," Ivy shook her head and gently pushed it away from her, "Not me, thanks."

"Don't like satsumas?" the Doctor questioned his eyes focused on Ivy, the brown depths curious even as he absently tossed it up into the air and caught it again.

"Or any other kind of tangerine-like fruit," Ivy replied, wrinkling her nose slightly in distaste as the Doctor nodded, letting out an acknowledging hum.

Rose bit her lower lip as she eyed them, the Doctor's focus entirely on Ivy as they walked… and her heart ached all the harder at the look on his face, the interest there, like he was thrilled to learn something about Ivy, even if it was just something little like the fact that she didn't like to eat tangerines.

"What about bananas?" the Doctor questioned, oblivious to Rose's pain as he stared intently at Ivy, eager to learn more about her now that he finally had the time to do so, since waking up, "Do you like those?"

"Um… I guess," Ivy brow furrowed thoughtfully as she pondered the question, "I prefer them more in a cake or bread," she mused, "Love banana bread and banana cake. Could totally eat one of those all to myself…" she trailed and scratched her cheek, the tiniest bit embarrassed, "Well, you know, if I was starving… why?"

"Good fruit bananas, brilliant," the Doctor nodded pleased, before his expression fell slightly at a horrible thought struck, "Oh, I wonder if I still like them…" it'd be horrible if he didn't. He loved the taste of bananas.

"You don't know?" Ivy arched a brow.

"Well, new taste buds," the Doctor replied with a small shrug.

"Right…" Ivy murmured, eyeing him as the three of them continued to walk slowly over to the others.

The Doctor tore his eyes from Ivy to glance at Rose as he asked, "Does your mum have any bananas at home?"

"Um…" Rose blinked at him, swallowing heavily past the lump in her throat as she thought about it, "I dunno," she muttered heavily, she hadn't really noticed any, but at the same time she'd hardly been looking.

"There is," Ivy informed him, "I bought them the other day. Was gonna bake them into a banana cake," she eyed him as he stared at her hopefully, "But you can have one if you want," she'd bought more than she needed to use in the recipe.

"Brilliant!" the Doctor grinned and Rose let out a low sighing breath, her hands clenched inside her jacket pockets as she tore her gaze from them her eyes finding Mickey who was staring at her, they're eyes meeting and she felt the backs of her eyes prick hotly at the sympathetic expression in them. She didn't want Mickey to be right… and, the Doctor… her gaze drifted over to him almost helplessly, he could just be being friendly… an infuriated roar from behind them had her thoughts cutting off abruptly and her head whipped around. Ivy doing the same and their eyes widened in terrified alarm to see the Sycorax leader, sword back in hand and charging at the Doctor's back, snarl curving down his lips.

The Doctor didn't even bother to look back as he lobbed the satsuma over his shoulder. The fruit hit a control on the spaceships hull, and the Sycorax Leader plummeted to the Earth with a bellowing scream as a piece of the wing opened up in response. The smile slid off the Time Lord's face as he calmly continued forward, "No second chances," he stated coolly as Ivy and Rose turned their heads back to face the front eyes going to him as they too continued walking alongside him, "I'm that sort of man."

*O*O*O*

The Doctor stood in front of the Tardis with Ivy and Rose still on either side of him and the other humans that'd been teleported onto the spaceship, all of them staring at the thousands of Sycorax aboard the single ship as the Doctor addressed them, "By the ancient rites of combat, I forbid you to scavenge here for the rest of time," he decreed, "And when you go back to the stars and tell others of this planet, when you tell them of it's riches, it's people, it's potential. When you talk of the Earth, then make sure that you tell them this. It is defended."

They were teleported away in the next moment and the small group along with the Tardis reappeared on a street.

"Where are we?" Rose asked as she glanced about the street, looking for something that she recognised.

"We're just off Bloxom Road," Mickey replied, "We're just round the corner, we did it!" he cheered as he jumped up and down in glee.

The Doctor held up his hand as he watched the spaceship above them as the ships engines started up, "Wait a minute… wait a minute…" and the humans stood around him on the street looked up at the massive spaceship above them too. The Doctor beamed a bright smile as the ship flew away, heading off into the sky.

"Go on, my son!" Mickey cheered, grinning widely at the departing ship, "Oh, yeah!" he hollered overcome with relief.

Rose jumped onto Mickey's back, a wide grin of her own on her face, caught up in the triumph of the moment as she too watched the ship, "Yeah! Don't come back!"

"It is defended!" Mickey hollered and then Rose was jumping off his back enveloping him in a tight cheerful hug.

Rose released him and turning her eyes landing on Ivy, before her cheerfully grinning cousin was hugging her and she stilled, hesitating for the briefest of moments as her heart plummeted downwards again, before she returned the embrace, her gaze going helplessly to the Doctor to see him smiling, his eyes going to her for a brief moment, before his gaze drifted almost helplessly back to Ivy and Rose lowered her gaze, returning her cousins hug for another second before pulling away, turning from her to swiftly hug a surprised Alex. Her smile now somewhat fixed, whilst behind her Mickey and Ivy exchanged a joyous hug.

The Doctor watched them, a small stab of jealousy searing through him at seeing Ivy hugging Mickey despite the fact that he could see that it was nothing more than a friendly hug, and his eyes narrowed just a bit on him, but then Ivy was pulling away, and her head turned, her eyes going to him and she gave him a sunny smile, her cheeks dimpling at him, and just like that the small stab of jealousy faded into nothing and he grinned at her in return. Her green eyes slid past him and he turned following her gaze, his eyes landing on Harriet Jones as she grinned at him.

"My Doctor," she raised her arms.

"Prime Minister," the Doctor returned her grin and the two shared a brief, happy, hug, before pulling away again.

"Absolutely the same man," Harriet declared decidedly, "Are there many more out there?" she asked as they turned their gazes up to the sky.

"Oh, not just Sycorax," the Doctor replied, "Hundreds of species. Thousands of them. And the human race is drawing attention to itself. Everyday you're sending out probes and messages and signals. This planet's so noisy. You're getting noticed… more and more," he turned his gaze back to her, "You better get used to it."

"Rose! Ivy!"

"Mum!" Rose cried whirling around to face her with a beaming grin, so glad to see her as the older woman ran towards them.

"Jackie!" Ivy called back, following quickly after Rose as the blond ran towards her mum.

The Doctor grimaced slightly as he caught sight of the older Tyler woman, having also turned at the sound of her shouting, "Oh," he sighed, "Talking of trouble…!" he muttered, though with very little heat.

"Oh, my God!" Jackie breathed as she hugged her daughter, "You did it, Rose!" she released Rose to hug Ivy to her next, having been so afraid that she'd lost the both of them in one fell swoop when the Tardis had disappeared in that strange light, "Ivy! Oh!" and the Doctor smiled at them from where he was standing as Mickey stepped over joining the three women.

Alex's communication device beeped drawing his attention from the happy little scene taking place in front of them.

"You did it too!" Rose exclaimed as Jackie released her cousin, "It was the tea," she grinned, "Fixed his head."

"That was all I needed, cup of tea," the Doctor agreed.

"I said so!" Jackie declared.

"That you did," Ivy smiled at her.

"Is it him though?" Jackie asked her attention returning to Rose, her eyes tuning concerned as she took note of the strain on her daughters face, behind the smile she was wearing, trying to hide what she was feeling behind it, Is it really the Doctor?" she continued, before she caught sight of the Harriet Jones and she paled slightly, rather distracted by the sight of the woman, "Oh, my God, its' the bleedin' Prime Minister!"

The Doctor smiled and opened his arms, "Come here, you," and Jackie stepped towards him and threw her arms around him. Mickey and Rose soon joining in, making it a group hug, the blond hugging her arm that was about the Doctor tightly, trying to convey how sorry she was that she'd hurt him, just wanting things to go back to how they'd always been between them. Ivy smiled as she wandered towards them a bit slower, before she let out a small slightly startled yelp as the Doctor reached out and tugged her into the group hug the moment she'd wandered into reach, before she let out a bit of a laugh as she threw her arms about them too, the Doctor's arm that was draped about her back squeezing.

"Awww…" Jackie sighed as she pulled back the group hug breaking up and she eyed the Time Lord with concerned eyes, "Are you better?"

"I am, yeah," The Doctor assured.

A short distance from them Alex stepped up to Harriet Jones and murmured lowly, "It's a message from Torchwood. They say they're ready."

Jackie looked to Rose, Ivy and Mickey, her expression shifting from concerned to unimpressed, "You left me!" she accused.

"I'm sorry," Rose apologised.

"It wasn't intentional," Ivy murmured apologetically, "Honest. It just sorta happened… didn't even know we'd moved till…" she trailed, glancing at Rose who was doing her best to subtly shake her head, only to stop as her mother's gaze darted back to her having caught the movement out of the corner of her eye, her eyes narrowing and Rose put on her best 'innocent' face whilst Mickey quietly sniggered into his hand and the Doctor grinned a bit amused.

"I had all the food," Jackie huffed, still eyeing her daughter a bit suspiciously.

"Tell them to fire," Harriet ordered.

Alex spoke into his earpiece, "Fire at will," and barely a moment later five green beams of light streaked up into the sky, they met a and then fired a single beam out into space. The beam accurately hitting the Sycorax asteroid ship with a loud kaboom. That had The Doctor, Ivy, Rose, Mickey and Jackie looking up in the direction of the sound.

"What is it?" Rose questioned with alarm, "What's happening?"

"That – That was the ship," Ivy murmured, her eyes wide with horror as she stared up at the explosive light they could see in the sky above them, directly where the Sycorax ship had disappeared from view as they ascended back up into space.

The Doctor turned from the sky, his expression cold and unyielding as he stared at Harriet Jones, slowly stalking towards her, "That was murder."

Harriet swallowed, "That was defence," she rebutted, "It's adapted from alien technology. A ship that fell to Earth ten years ago,"

"But they were leaving," the Doctor stated just as angry as before.

Harriet met his cold flinty gaze head on, unflinchingly, standing by her decision as the best one under the circumstances, "You said it yourself, Doctor. They'd go back to the stars and tell others about the Earth. I'm sorry, Doctor, but you're not here all the time. You come and go. It happened today. Mr. Llewellyn and the Major, they were murdered. They died right in front of me while you were sleeping."

Ivy swallowed heavily as she looked at Harriet Jones, her eyes still wide with horror, "There was thousands on that ship..." she murmured, thousands that had agreed to honour the Doctor's victory and leave them in peace and never come back to Earth to scavenge.

Harriet's gaze went to her, "We have to defend ourselves," Ivy shook her head, that hadn't felt or looked anything like defence to her. That- that had been an attack after the fact… a deadly sort of sucker punch. Harriet took in the expression on much younger woman's face, "I don't expect a child to understand."

The Doctor turned his eyes from the aghast look on Ivy's face, a look that was swiftly turning cold as she continued to stare at Harriet, his own gaze returning to Britain's Prime Minister, "Britain's Golden Age," he sneered.

"It comes at a price," Harriet retorted.

Ivy stared at the woman flatly, "I voted for you."

Harriet blinked at that, her attention returning to Ivy, "And I thank you for your support…"

"Don't," Ivy scoffed and shook her head, they may not have been pleasant or all that friendly, but all she could think was the thousands on that ship, now dead… thousands of aliens who just might have had families waiting for them somewhere out there. Families that'd now never see them again, just like she'd… she did her best to turn away from the painful thought of her parents absence and her eyes narrowed into a glare as she continued to stare at Harriet, "If I could go back, I wouldn't do it again," she stated coolly.

"As regrettable as that is," Harriet began, straightening her already impeccable posture a bit more under the accusing eyes of the group before her, "I stand by my decision."

The Doctor glared at her coldly, "I gave them the wrong warning. I should've told them to run as fast as they can, run and hide because the monsters are coming. The human race."

"Those are the people I represent. I did it on their behalf," Harriet declared firmly and Ivy blanched, that certainly hadn't been what she'd been voting for when she'd decided to vote for 'Harriet Jones' for Britain's next Prime Minister.

"I should have stopped you," the Doctor remarked icily.

Harriet shot him a look, "What does that make you, Doctor? Another alien threat?" she had to fight the urge to flinch as if possible the Doctor's gaze turned colder, simmering with an ice cold rage and he stalked another step closer to her.

"Don't challenge me, Harriet Jones, 'Cos I'm a completely new man. I could bring down your Government with a single word."

Harriet stared at him with a forced calm, "You're the most remarkable man I've ever met, but I don't think you're quite capable of that," she remarked with certainty.

"No, you're right," the Doctor agreed with a terse nod and watched her silently as she subtly relaxed at the assurance, "Not a single word, just six," he commented coolly.

"I don't think so," Harriet replied, tensing again despite herself as she eyed the angry Time Lord.

"Six words," the Doctor reiterated calmly meeting her gaze with that cold fury that was still simmering beneath the surface.

"Stop it!" Harriet demanded unnerved despite herself.

"Six," the Doctor glared at her a moment longer, as Harriet stared back a silent battle of wills, before he stepped around her moving towards Alex, removing his earpiece so that he could whisper into his ear for a brief moment before he stepped away without another look at Harriet Jones.

"What did he say?" Harriet asked Alex urgently.

Alex shrugged a bit awkwardly, "Oh… well… nothing… really," he muttered doing nothing to calm the Prime Ministers fears.

"What did he say?!" Harriet insisted with increasing alarm as the Doctor, Ivy, Rose, Mickey and Jackie started walking away.

"I… nothing!" Alex exclaimed, "I don't know!" he insisted.

Harriet turned from him, her alarmed gaze going to the Doctor's retreating back, "Doctor! Doctor, what did you…" she shouted after him, "What was…" she turned back at Alex, pinning with frantic eyes, "What did he say?!" Alex merely shook his head and she turned back to the Doctor who'd not even paused in response so far, let alone look back at her, "What did you say, Doctor? Doctor?!" she shouted only to be completely ignored by not just the Doctor but by all five of the people retreating from her. The frantic tension left her shoulders as she took a breath and let it out slowly, her alarmed expression falling, "I'm sorry," she murmured as Alex turned and started away, returning his communications device to his ear.

"So…" the Doctor began as he glanced at Ivy as she walked on his left, forcibly turning his mind from Harriet Jones and the mass murder that had just taken place right in front of him, instead choosing to focus on something much more pleasant, like learning a bit more about his Soul Bonded, "Why pink?"

"What do you mean, 'why pink'?" Ivy asked a tad evasively, eyeing him in return as she fingered the ends of her dyed hair.

"Well," the Doctor shrugged, "Pink's not a natural colour for human hair is it," he stated, still eyeing the pink strands with curiosity.

"No," Ivy agreed with a low sigh, glancing away from him again, her brow slightly furrowed as her fingers left the ends of her hair, "It's not," she took a breath and gave herself a bit of shake before glancing back at him with a bit of half-hearted smile, "I just like it," she told him before adverting her gaze again.

The Doctor frowned slightly as he continued to eye her, getting the distinct feeling that she wasn't saying everything, possibly even lying… but from the look on her face, she didn't want to talk about it any further with him at the moment. He scratched at his ear as he cast about for something else to say, something that'd open up the conversation between them again only for a phone to start ringing and Ivy dug her phone out of her pocket, casting her gaze over the screen, "Oh…" she murmured and then she was picking up her pace, walking ahead of him and the rest of the group as she answered the phone and brought it up to her ear.

"Hi…" Ivy spoke into her phone and listened to Jay-Jay's rapid and concerned reply, "Yeah, I'm fine," she assured him, before asking, "You?" and she listened to her best friends response all the while ignoring the feeling of eyes on her back as she continued to walk heading back towards the Powell Estate and the Tyler flat, "Oh!" she blinked again, "That's right… you're an A Positive, aren't you…?" she winced and pulled the phone from her ear at her best friend's rather loud and boisterous response to that.

Whilst Rose sighed out a low breath, her steps slowing as her shoulders slumped as the Doctor stared at Ivy's back like he'd like nothing more than to just call her back, Mickey noticed and dropped back to walk with her. Rose glanced at him, "Don't say it," she whispered, a pleading edge to her voice, "Please," Mickey nodded and threw a comforting arm over her shoulders instead, trying to squish down the part of him that was hopeful that with the Doctor's continued interest in Ivy that things between him and Rose would go back to the way they were before the Doctor had swanned into their lives.

Whilst Jackie Tyler glanced from Ivy to the Doctor, to Rose and back to the Doctor, her mind turning over what she was witnessing, before her brow creased into a small frown she sighed out a low breath her hands digging into her pockets. She'd wondered since she'd helped Rose get back to him – to save him, if the Doctor returned her daughter's feelings and it seemed like now she had her answer… and it wasn't the one she could see that her daughter was hoping for.

*O*O*O*

The Doctor, still dressed in his borrowed striped pyjamas and dark blue dressing gown shifted about the large Tardis wardrobe, rifling through clothes hung on a rack, a considering frown on his face as he pulled one out and held it up against himself, before shaking his head and hanging it back up amongst the other clothes and started rifling again, before moving away from the rack and onto another as he searched for an outfit that he liked.

*O*O*O*

Rose was helping to set the table for Christmas dinner when the front door of the Tyler flat opened and she looked up. Her expression falling with a little bit of disappointment at seeing Ivy walking in through the door a tray balanced in one hand with a cake atop it that was wrapped with a protective tea towel to protect it on the way over.

"Oh," Ivy sniffed appreciatively, "It smells good in here," she commented as she wandered in towards the kitchen, "Thanks for letting me use your kitchen, Mickey," she said as she passed him on the way.

"Yeah, no worries," he called pausing in his carving as he glanced up at her as she stepped into the kitchen placing the tray down, fingers fiddling with the tea towel, "How much of a mess did you leave for me to clean up?"

"None," Ivy stated as she unwrapped the towel from her freshly baked cake, "I cleaned up whilst I was waiting for the cake to cool and as an extra 'thank you'," she started back towards him her fingers digging into her pocket, "I even did the dishes you'd left on the sink," she pulled out his keys and set them down where he could see them.

"Oh, cheers!" Mickey grinned and went back to carving the roasted chicken.

Rose rolled her eyes, as she shook her head as she eyed the yummy looking cake, "Who bakes banana cake at Christmas," she muttered intending it to be teasing, but it came out a little terse and biting.

Ivy shrugged, "Me, obviously, and Jackie said she didn't mind."

"Course she didn't," Rose nodded as she went back to setting the last of the table, "You're her favourite cousin."

Ivy blinked at her a little innocently, "You saying I'm not yours?"

Rose glanced up at her a tiny slightly fixed smile curving up her lips as she regarded Ivy, "Off and on," she replied casually, still smiling slightly, before looking away, swallowing heavily as she put down a knife and a fork by another plate.

"Hmm, yep," Ivy nodded lightly, "Sums us up nicely."

"Ivy," Jackie called, "Can you gives us a hand, love?" and Ivy turned and hurried over to Jackie who was standing by the stove a heavy pot in her hand and was trying to get the strainer that she'd accidently bumped out of place situated back in the sink.

*O*O*O*

The Doctor continued to rifle through the racks, still in jim-jams and dressing gown, a long red scarf draped casually around his neck now. A brown pinstripe suit caught his eye and he pulled it out looking it over before he grabbed a long brown gown. He smiled at them with delight before he turned and dashed off, eager to get changed.

*O*O*O*

Rose and Ivy shifted about the table serving vegetables onto the dinner plates, working in a familiar tandem from past Christmas's, whilst Jackie and Mickey sat at the table, an open bottle of bubbly set at Jackie's elbow, Jackie having just filled up the wine glasses.

*O*O*O*

The Doctor stepped slowly in front of a mirror as he did up another button on his suit jacket that he had on over his long brown coat. He turned around, this way and that examining his reflection, before he turned back to face it completely and leaned in towards the reflective surface, running a hand over his face as he examined it closely. He ran his tongue over his teeth, feeling them out again, still getting used to the feel of them, before he turned his head to different angles trying to get a really good look at himself this time round. He raised his eyebrows, sniffed and then nodded at his reflection, before turned and started out of the enormous wardrobe, walking past an old hat stand that had a long scarf that he'd favoured a few bodies ago now hanging from it as he left it, heading towards Christmas dinner.

He stepped back into the Tyler flat with a smile and then sniffed at the air appreciatively, "Oh!" he grinned, "I smell banana cake!"

Rose rolled her eyes as she looked away from him again as he strolled towards the table, "Course you'd focus on the banana cake," she muttered, before she expelled a bit of a heavy sigh, even as her lips twitched upwards at the memory of his previous self and the banana he'd pulled out his pocket during the London Blitz.

"Well, I did say I was planning on baking one," Ivy reminded him and the Doctor gave her a cheery nod.

"So, you did," he grinned.

"Well, come and sit already," Jackie urged waving him towards the table, "All the food'll get cold at this rate!" she chided him lightly and the Doctor sat himself down in an empty chair at the table between Ivy and Rose.

"Oh, that's yours," the Doctor said a bit later, pushing the cracker he'd just pulled with Ivy and won towards her, a red hat from a previous cracker with Rose already on his head. Ivy peered inside it and pulled out the hat tucked in it out and the Doctor grinned rather brightly at her, "Ah, pink!" he exclaimed, "Lovely!"

"Well," Ivy shrugged as she unfolded the hat, "It won't clash with my hair at least," she mused as she sat it atop her head, the pinks meshing rather nicely.

Rose who'd just pulled another cracker with her mum, winning herself a green Christmas hat, that she'd placed atop her head, bit her lower lip having caught the interaction between them, before her gaze was drawn to the telly, "Look, it's Harriet Jones!" she exclaimed and they all turned towards the telly, the Doctor stood reaching into his inside jacket pocket to pull out a pair of spectacles as he stared at the telly.

"Prime Minister, is it true you are no longer fit to be in position?" A reporter questioned.

"No," Harriet replied firmly, "Now, can we talk about other things."

"Is it true you're unfit for office?" the same reporter asked as the Doctor fitted his spectacles over his nose, his expression grim as he listened to the interview.

"Look, there is nothing wrong with my health," Harriet insisted, "I don't know where these stories are coming from. And a vote of no confidence is completely unjustified."

"Are you going to resign?" the same reporter continued to question refusing to be dissuaded.

The phone rang and Jackie was immediately out of her seat to go answer it.

"On today of all days, I'm fine. Look at me, I'm fine. I look fine, I feel fine," Harriet continued to insist.

Ivy shook her head and glanced away from the telly again as the report fired off another question completely unwilling to shift the direction of his line of questioning as Jackie stepped back into the room, "It's Beth. She says go and look outside."

"Why?" Rose asked as turned from the telly to look at her mum with confusion.

"I don't know, just go outside and look. Come on, shift!" Jackie urged and the group made their way outside.

"Oh, it's beautiful," Rose breathed as she looked around at the white flakes that were falling from the sky and coating the ground, "What are they, meteors?" she asked the Doctor as she turned her head to look at him.

"It's the spaceship breaking up in the atmosphere. This isn't snow, it's ash," the Doctor replied and the smile fell from the blonde's face.

"Oh…" Ivy murmured, her own expression falling, the pretty flakes losing all of their charm as she looked up at them now sadly, her previous delight gone.

"Ok," Rose half mumbled, her gaze returning to the ash as it continued to fall about them, "Not so beautiful."

"This is a brand new planet Earth," the Doctor murmured as he stared up at the sky, "No denying the existence of aliens now. Everyone saw it. Everything's new."

"Brave new world," Ivy murmured, her face turned up to the sky.

The Doctor turned to her, his eyes bright with excitement and hope as he regarded her, wanting nothing more than to be able to share the stars, the universe with her, with his Soul-Bonded, to be able to show her the wonders that were out there just waiting to be explored, "Did you wanna see some?"

Rose stilled, her heart plummeting in her chest, her eyes wide with alarm and hurt as her head turned to look at him.

"What do you mean?" Ivy asked as she turned her head to look at him, her expression curiously quizzical.

"New worlds?" the Doctor clarified with a wide encouraging grin.

Ivy blinked at him, not having expected the question at all, her eyes darting to the big blue police box that was actually a bigger on the inside spaceship and time machine, before they darted back to the Time Lord that was still staring at her waiting with baited breath for her answer, "You want me to come with you?"

"Well, yeah," the Doctor nodded, tugging at his ear a little uncomfortably, just wanting her to say 'yes', "If you'd like too…"

"What about me?" Rose asked, her voice a little cautious and the Time Lord whirled around to look at her.

"I well, um…" he blinked at her, not having been expecting the question, "I just sort of thought, that you didn't want too."

"No, I do! I do!" Rose insisted adamantly and Mickey sighed out a low breath as he regarded his girlfriend that last of his hope that she'd be staying here now, with him fizzling into nothing… though really. He'd already sort of half known that she wouldn't… not really, but he'd been so hopeful that just maybe, this time…

"Do you though?" the Doctor wondered as he eyed his companion, "'Cos, I thought… 'cos I changed…"

"Yeah, I… I thought, 'cos you changed… you might not," Rose's eyes drifted to Ivy who was watching them, before going back to the Doctor, her eyes full of hope that he wouldn't deny her, that his interest in Ivy really was just because he was hurt and thought that she didn't want to be with him anymore, just maybe she couldn't help but hope as she continued, "Want me anymore…"

"Oh," the Doctor blinked, "I'd love you to come…" he nodded and Rose beamed with delight her hope soaring, swelling in her chest.

"Ok," she exclaimed with delight.

The Doctor returned her grin, rather happy not to have lost Rose as a friend and travelling companion before he turned back to Ivy, "Well, what do you think? Did you want to come?" the hope Rose was feeling plummeted once again, having half expected hope that he'd take back his offer to Ivy, but then, really, she should have known better than to think he would do something like that.

"I well, um…" Ivy frowned slightly in thought, her mind racing, today had been brilliant in so many ways, but also kind of terrifying.

"There's plenty of room," the Doctor assured her at her hesitation, jerking a thumb at his brilliant old box.

Ivy glanced at him again, "I suppose…" she murmured softly, glancing away again, the thought hitting her that maybe this was what she needed. A chance to get away… to get out of her head for a bit and see something new. That, maybe, getting out of London for a while, away from her pain, the loss of her parents would help her to heal, and there was a large part of her that wanted to go. To say 'yes' and see what was out there, "One trip wouldn't hurt," she mused quietly, but still loud enough for those she was stood outside with to hear.

The Doctor blinked a little disappointed, one trip… it wasn't much, wasn't what he'd wanted, not at all, but then he grinned with excitement, his hearts warming with his elation, "Brilliant!" he exclaimed. He could work with 'one trip'. It wasn't a 'no' and it was fairly easy for one little trip to become two and for that to become three, then four and then hopefully to her not wanting to leave at all.

Whilst the tension in Rose eased a little and she even managed to smile at her cousin with something rather close to delight. She could deal with one trip and in a way it'd be nice having her cousin along for just one trip with her and the Doctor in the Tardis. She hadn't been lying after all, Ivy was her favourite cousin 'on and off' in the best of ways and then, then things could go back to the way they'd always been before, before 'Jack' anyway, just her and the Doctor and the whole of time and space at their fingertips.

Mickey sighed, eyeing Rose's once again, bright and beaming expression with increasing disappointment, "You're never going to stay, are you?"

Rose turned to him, her smile fading slightly, "There's just so much out there. So much to see… I've got to," she insisted.

Mickey smiled at her sadly, but understanding all the same, "Yeah," he mumbled hands burying themselves in his pockets so that he could hide the tremble to them. His disappointment weighing on him rather heavily in that moment.

Jackie shook her head, eyeing Ivy, Rose and the Doctor with a slightly troubled frown, "Well, I reckon you're mad, all three of you," she stated, "It's like you go looking for trouble."

The Doctor rushed over to her throwing an arm around her shoulders, a beaming excited grin on his face, "Troubles just the bits in-between," he exclaimed, "It's all waiting out there, Jackie, and its brand new to me. All those planets… creatures and horizons… I haven't seen them yet! Not with these eyes…"

Jackie pinned him with a look, "You will look after her won't you?" she murmured, eyeing him, needing to hear him say it.

"I will," the Doctor promised, the enthusiasm shifting into a serious look as he met Jackie's eyes, "I'll look after the both of them," he swore

Jackie nodded, still not entirely happy as she glanced at her cousin… all she had left of Malcom and Gale, but believing him. Despite their rather rocky start, he'd more than earned her trust the moment he'd sent Rose home to her all those months ago.

The Doctor stepped back over to Ivy and Rose, coming to stand in between them again, "So," Rose asked eagerly, "Where're we gonna go first?"

The Doctor glanced at Ivy, "What do you think?" he asked with another beaming grin, "Where'd you like to go?"

"Oh, um…" Ivy floundered, wondering just how she was supposed to choose somewhere to go, "I dunno! I've never been anywhere off Earth before!" she exclaimed.

He laughed jovially and nodded, "Just pick a direction," he urged, "Any direction!"

Ivy glanced around the night sky, the ash still falling about them, before her lower lip still clamped between her teeth as excitement thrummed she pointed up into the sky, "That way?" she glanced at him.

The Doctor peered in the direction she was pointing and grinned, "Oh! Brilliant choice!" he draped his regrown arm about Ivy's shoulders, giving them an excited friendly squeeze, "Definitely that way!" he pointed in the same direction with his free hand.

"So," Rose grinned herself, excited at the prospect of seeing something, somewhere completely new, "That way!" she pointed in the same direction as the Doctor and Ivy.

"Oh, yes!" the Doctor glanced at Rose still grinning widely and Ivy couldn't help the excited bubble of laughter that escaped her. The Doctor's laughter joined hers as his gaze returned to her. Rose's giddy laughter followed in the next instant. The Doctor lowered his arm and draped it over Rose's shoulders too, "Absolutely… fantastic!"