A/N:So I had this written pretty much since I uploaded ch2... Sorry I didn't upload, my life kinda became hell in the past month and a half and I only just had time to post...

"Mickey!"

Mickey winced as he answered the call that arrived to his earpiece to hear Spencer calling out into his ear.

"Mickey, I found it!" Spencer went on. "The Doctor needs a superheated infusion of free radicals and tannin! Tea, he needs tea!"

"Yeah," Mickey muttered, looking around at the spaceship he was standing on. "A bit too late for that. Spencer, the Sycorax… they found the TARDIS. We're on their ship."

"Do you have a chance to negotiate?" Spencer asked and Mickey could hear ruffling of papers from the other end of the line.

"Maybe," he muttered, just as the Sycorax leader declared Rose to be the owner of the TARDIS and, therefore, able to speak for the Earth. "Yes. She's not the owner of the blue box," he said quickly, stepping forwards. "I am!"

"Mickey?" Rose asked, confused.

"Trust me," Mickey replied, tapping his ear lightly to let her know Spencer was on the line before repeating the words the Time Lord said in his ear. "I seek audience with the leader of the race known as Sycorax under Conversion 15 of the Shadow Proclamation."

"Permission granted," the man who held the translator said.

Mickey swallowed hard as he moved to stand in front of the leader. "It is an illegal act under article 57 to seed, burn or destroy a fully established Level 5 planet such as the Earth," he said. "Unless, of course, a law was broken – which didn't happen."

"You have threatened to attack us."

"You threatened first," Spencer said and Mickey repeated. "Earth sent the first message at 21:47 London Time, but the Sycorax message that contained the sentence 'Surrender or they will die' was accepted at 21:23."

"Earth had tried to send missiles," the translator told him.

"Not until after you used blood control – which, if I may remind you, is illegal in all but three planets, none of which is Earth," Spencer countered. "You have, essentially, stolen the minds of a third of the Earth's population, and Class 374 clearly states that theft of an artefact of great cultural value legitimizes the use of lethal force to ensure the artefact's recovery."

"You have knowledge not of this world," the Sycorax growled.

"You have knowledge not of this world," the translator repeated.

"We withdraw the permission granted earlier!"

"We withdraw the – hold on, that's English!"

"He's talking English," Harriet Jones repeated.

"I would never dirty my tongue with your primitive bile!"

"That's English," Rose said again. "Can you hear English?"

"Yeah," Mickey agreed. "That's English."

"Definitely English," the translator said.

"I only speak Sycoraxic!" the leader called out.

"If I can hear English, then it's being translated," Rose said. "Which means it's working, which means…"

They all turned to look at the TARDIS just as the doors opened, revealing the Doctor who was smiling cheekily.

"Did you miss me?" he asked. The Sycorax used the moment of distraction to crack his whip at Mickey's head, but the Doctor easily caught it and pulled it out of his grasp. "You could have someone's eye with that," he scolded.

"How dare!" the leader called angrily as the Doctor took another Sycorax's staff ad broke it in half.

"You just can't get the staff," he said. "Now, you just wait, I'm busy. Mickey, hello! And Harriet Jones, MP for Flydale North. Blimey, it's like 'This Is Your Life'. Tea! That's all I needed, a good cup of tea! Superheated infusion of free radicals and tannin."

"That's what he said!" Mickey blurted out before he could stop himself.

"Who?" the Doctor asked, pausing when he saw the earpiece. "Is that…?"

"Mickey, there's a button at the bottom of the earpiece," Spencer said. "Press it."

"Pressed it."

"Doctor?" Spencer asked, his voice echoing around the air. "How are you?"

"Never better," the Doctor replied. "Bit busy, though. Call you later?"

"You better," Spencer laughed.

"Trace the call," Harriet whispered to her assistant behind him. "Can you trace it?"

"It's impossible," the assistant breathed out. "I can't, they're using technology that shouldn't exist for another century."

"You got this under control?" Spencer asked.

"You bet it."

"Talk to you later!"

"Looking forward to it!" the Doctor laughed, turning to Rose as Spencer hang up the phone. "Now, first thing's first. Be honest… how do I look?"

It took the Doctor three hours to call back.

As soon as he hung up the phone, Spencer ran back to the roof. It didn't take long before Emily – and the rest of the hypnotized people – snapped out of their trance and realized where they were standing. Spencer pulled Emily away from the edge and into a tight hug.

They went back to his apartment, where Spencer explained everything that happened since she went to sleep, from the message the Humans went and up until the Doctor waking up. Emily listened carefully, sipping on her tea as he talked and asking the occasional question about things she didn't understand.

When he was done, Emily decided to go back home. Even though he couldn't help but feel slightly disappointed, Spencer understood. It was a long night, and she needed time to think everything that happened over.

After she left, Spencer walked back into his bedroom and looked at the books scattered on the floor. With a sigh, he started placing them back at the bottom of his bedside drawer, the news acting as background voices to his work and his phone close by.

The Doctor didn't call before he finished, but Garcia did, multiple times. He didn't answer any of her calls. He knew he couldn't avoid her forever, but he planned to try until he can't anymore.

It was bad enough that Emily knew the truth – not only did it put him in danger, but her knowledge endangered her, as well. His enemies wouldn't hesitate to use her against him, and he refused to put any more of his friends at risk.

When the last book was placed in its hidden place, Spencer looked up at the TV. The reporter just finished explaining, for the fourth time, about the explosion of the Sycorax spaceship.

He hoped the Doctor wasn't the one responsible. He didn't want any more blood on his oldest friend's hands.

His phone rang again and he glanced at it, expecting to see Garcia's name on the screen once more. When he saw the caller ID, he nearly dropped the phone in his haste to pick it up.

Incoming: TARDIS Phone.

"Doctor?" he answered. "What happened? Why did the ship explode? Please, tell me it wasn't…" he trailed off, scared at the answer he might receive.

"It wasn't me," the Doctor replied darkly. "That was all Human."

"Who?" Spencer asked.

"Harriet Jones," the Doctor said.

"The Prime Minister?!"

"Not for much longer."

Spencer sighed. "What did you do?"

He could almost hear the Doctor grimace. "I may or may have not asked her assistant doesn't he think she looks tired," he admitted. "It was the fastest way to ensure Britain won't have a murderer for a Prime Minister."

"It was Misogynic," Spencer corrected. "But I'll scold you for that later. What happened? Why did you regenerate? Rose said something about… about Daleks."

"A single ship escaped the Time War," the Doctor said. "Fell through Space and Time. Hid in the darkness. Converted humans for centuries. I found them in the year 200,100. Fought them."

"Did you kill them?"

There was no mercy in Spencer's voice as he asked the question, but there was no bloodthirst, either. The words were coated in a thick layer of apathy, and just a little bit of curiosity. The Doctor wasn't sure if this was a good thing or a bad thing.

"Not me," the Doctor sighed. "I was going to do it. Send out a Delta Wave, kill all of the Daleks… and all of the Humans on Earth. And die in the process. I sent Rose away to keep her safe but in the end… I couldn't do it. And then Rose came back. She took in the Vortex and came back, killing all of the Daleks, but it was killing her. I had to take it out."

"You transferred it to you and regenerated," Spencer said in understanding.

"She doesn't even remember it ever happened."

Spencer took a deep breath before talking again. "I'm sorry your friend had to go through that," he said honestly. "But… I'm also glad you didn't press that button. I think…" He let out a shaky sigh. "I think one double genocide is enough, don't you agree?"

"The Daleks could have returned," the Doctor told him. "The War could have started again, with only two of us to fight this time."

Spencer thought for a moment, weighing his words before speaking. "A little over a year ago, you told me the War had ended," he said. "But the person you were back then… it wasn't you. It wasn't the Doctor, not really. Rose changed you," he added. "She changed you for the better. Make sure to tell her I said that."

"I will," the Doctor promised, a small smile in his voice. "What about you? How are things on your end?"

"Well, Emily's a bit shaken," Spencer sighed. "Which is understandable, she did go through brainwashing."

Both Time Lords grimaced.

"Yeah," the Doctor said, "That's never nice."

"And I'm pretty sure Garcia knows something's up," Spencer added. "I knew way too much about aliens, even by Earth standards of a genius."

"What are you going to do?"

"Well, I'm not going to tell her," Spencer replied. "I know that much. But if – when she finds out on her own… I'll explain."

"You're a good friend, Spencer," the Doctor said.

"No," Spencer sighed. "I'm a really bad friend. I'm just… a good Human."

"Sure beats being a good Time Lord," the Doctor joked and Spencer laughed. Don't be a stranger, will you? Call every once in a while."

"Pick up every once in a while," Spencer retorted. "And don't get into too much trouble!"

"I make no promises!" the Doctor called back, hanging up before Spencer could protest.

The younger Time Lord smiled, leaning back on his couch. It was clear that it will take a while to get used to this new Doctor, but maybe now that the War wasn't so fresh in his mind, he'll be able to move on.

It was clear that one person had already – unknowingly – made it their mission to make the old Doctor return. Rose was good for him, she really was. Now all it took was for the other Time Lord to realize it, too.