I'm so sorry that I haven't updated in nearly four months, but this year so far is not going too well. I've been ill, and then as soon as I recovered my laptop decided to corrupt it's hard-drive, and it took about a month to get the files off it, because we couldn't find them. So it's taken about two months to find everything. Needless to say I'm not feeling too charitable towards technology at the moment.

Disclaimer: Not Mine

The Unquiet Dead: Part One

"Hold that one down!"

"I am holding that one down!" I shouted at the Doctor as the whole TARDIS rocked about, nearly knocking my off my feet. I tottered unsteadily, "What do you want me to do, hold every single lever that happens to be on this console down?" I looked at him, "I've only got two hands!"

"Hold them both down!" he ordered me, and I rolled my eyes as I did what he asked. Rose was pressing several buttons on the side and the TARDIS rolled and shuddered. I felt faintly sick at the action and silently swore to myself that if I was going to be sick then it was going to be all over the Doctor's shoes. It would at least serve to serve him right.

"It's not going to work," Rose called at the Doctor and I smiled as I pressed a random button. I half suspected that you could press any button on the console and end up somewhere in the universe.

The Doctor looked up indignantly at Rose's words and I suppressed a smile in amusement at the expression. He didn't realise how silly it made him look, "Oi!" he pointed at her, "I promised you a time machine, and that's what you're getting. You've seen the future, now let's have a look at the past," he stared at the panel screen, reading the symbols. I accidentally let go of the levers, craning my head to look at what he was watching, "1860. How does 1860 sound?"'

"Perfect," I held onto the console tightly, as the whole room groaned and tilted, "Tell me again, what happened in 1860?"

"I don't know," he sounded practically giddy at the prospect, "Let's find out. Hold on-" he slammed down another lever, and I closed my eyes against the tremors. It would be that I would develop motion sickness in a time machine travelling through the Time Vortex, "Here we go!"

"I can't wait for it to happen," I murmured to myself, closing my eyes as the TARDIS. I patted the glass of the console, "Please get us here in one piece, I'm not particularly fond of being strawberry jam on the floor," it rolled violently, and I looked at the Doctor, "Doesn't she have stabilisers or something? I'm going to be sick,"

"Just breathe," he told me, "Let go of the console," I looked sceptical, "Go on," I sucked in a breath, silently counting to ten, before letting go of the console. The tremors that could feel when holding onto the console died away almost immediately, the vibrations now running through the door, "Not too bad?" I nodded, leaning against the railings, "Oh, nearly here,"

He pressed a button, smoke issuing from a vent and then with an almighty shudder, which knocked all of us to the ground, the TARDIS finally parked.

"Blimey," Rose sat up, holding onto her head, before smiling widely.

I sat from where I was lying on the ground, "You're telling me," I answered her, returning her smile, and patting myself down, "I'm all right. I don't think there's anything broken?" she nodded back, and I turned to look at our driver who was still studying the screen, "So...are we there yet?" I moved to look at the screen, but it didn't make any sense to me, "Where does it say where we are? London...Paris?"

He grinned, "Give the man a medal," he looked up, "Earth. Naples. December 24th. 1860?" I stopped slightly at that. Naples? Well, each to their own, it would be interesting either way.

"That's so weird," Rose smiled, "It's Christmas," the Doctor smiled, "But it's like..." I raised an eyebrow, "Think about it though. Christmas 1860 happens once, just once, and then it's finished, it's gone, it'll never happen again," she looked at the Doctor, "Except for you. You can go back and see days that are dead and gone. A hundred thousand sunsets ago," she grinned, "No wonder you never stay still,"

"Not a bad life," the Doctor remarked.

I leant against the now still console, looking at the green light, "Better with three," they both looked at me, and I smiled before running to the door, "Come on, Rose, 1860 awaits us,"

"Oi, Oi, Oi!" the Doctor called after us, "Hold it. Where do you think you're going?" I gestured to the closed doors, as if it were obvious, "Go out there dressed like that, you'll start a riot, Barbarella," I didn't feel fazed by that prospect, but I supposed that it wouldn't be the best option in Victorian Italy. The Doctor pointed down a hallway, "Go down there, there's a wardrobe. First left, second right, third on the left, go straight ahead, under the stairs, past the bins, fifth door on your door," Rose and I stared at him, "Well go on! Hurry up!"

We both ran for the hallway, Rose in front of me, "Second to the left, right?" she called behind her as we walked quickly down the second corridor on the left.

"No, third door on the left," I opened the right door, walking down another corridor which looked exactly the same as the previous corridor, "Under the stairs," we ducked under some iron grilled stairs which looked like they went to several flights of corridors and rooms, "How big is this place?" Rose nearly tripped on the bins, "Watch out, Rose," she rolled her eyes at me, before opening the fifth door.

We stopped short at the sight of the wardrobe. Well, the Doctor said wardrobe. The whole place was more reminiscent of a department store shoved into a police box. Floors upon floors filled with different types of clothing were unveiled to my eyes. I wasn't someone who was crazily obsessed with clothes. I would be happy with anything that was clean and not a bright colour, but even I had the urge to look at every single article in this wardrobe. It would put anyone's wardrobe to shame.

Rose only managed to let out a sigh as she looked at the clothes. We both looked at each other, and I knew that she was perhaps as overwhelmed as I was with this clothing, "That's a lot of clothes," she finally told me.

"I noticed," I replied, dryly, pulling myself back to the present. 1869 was waiting outside the TARDIS' doors, and I was not going to pass that up, "So...are we looking under V for Victorian? Or O for old fashioned?" I waved my hand in front of Rose's face, "You can stay here for long as you like. I'm going to see Naples,"

She snapped to at that, and started looking around the different sections, "I don't suppose that we'll ever run out even if we stayed here forever," she called from her spot, "How about this?" she pulled out a bright pink lycra costume. I burst out laughing, "Let's not completely scare the locals,"

It was another five minutes before we found anything that would be suitable for 1860. I helped Rose into a black dress, and for once I could really see how wearing a different type of clothing changed what a person really looked like. Her face was...somehow more structured, and her posture seemed more upright as well. She looked beautiful.

"Stop staring at me," now it was her turn to wave her hand in front of my face, "It's your turn now. Kit off," I smiled at her childlike humour and got changed into the dress that I had found amongst the feathers and beads. It wasn't what I had ever expected to wear, and it really wasn't I usually wore. Ankle length, full bodice dresses seemed to be really quite laborious to get on, and I was only glad that we were going at Christmastime because once I had got the dress on, I was already feeling somewhat flushed.

Once we had finally finished dressing and pulling shoes on, we walked precariously back to the console room where the Doctor was humming lightly to himself, his jacket slung over a chair and was fixing something underneath the grills. We must have been gone longer than I had thought. I noticed that he hadn't bothered to change.

He noticed us, and blinked, "Blimey," It was better than a completely horrified response.

"Now don't laugh," Rose warned him, pointed a finger, before pulling the dress up a little, "It took ages to get these things on us and I am not going back to change for at least another hour,"

"You both look...beautiful," I directed my attention towards the main console, not being completely used to receiving compliments from anyone, "Well...considering," I raised an eyebrow at that, "Considering that you're both human,"

"I think that was a compliment," I remarked, staring at the light again, "So I won't hold it against you," I finally looked back at him, "I see you haven't changed. Won't you get mobbed?"

"I've changed my jumper," he jumped out of the grate, "Come along," Rose ran past him, opening the door and grinning at me as she disappeared, "1860 out there," he told me, and I smiled, "I've done it all before...now it's your turn," I walked slowly towards the door, resting one hand on the door, "It's still going to be there when you open that door,"

I smiled at him before opening the door. A flutter of snow brushed my face and I looked outside to see the darkened night sky in which tiny flakes of snow were fluttering slowly down to the ground. Rose was already standing there, crunching around in the white on the ground.

I placed a foot outside, tentatively, "This is rather peculiar," I murmured, stepping on snow that had fallen hundreds of years before. Snow that had fallen before even my grandmother had been born. Now that was a very peculiar thought, "This is..." I walked further out, looking at the brick wall, "This is..." I couldn't exactly express my thoughts.

How can one express the sight of a time that most can never return to?

The Doctor stepped out behind us, wearing his leather jacket, and he shut the TARDIS door behind him, "Ready for this?" he asked us and Rose and I, looking at the sky, "Here we go. History,"

We walked down the small cobbled street, heading onto a main road. It was so fascinating, with so many people, colours and shapes and sounds. People singing carols, and there was thick snow throughout the whole street. I could smell the scent of Christmas orange and pine needles off the trees. It smelled like Christmas did at home. There was always the idea in my head that the past was pictured like a black and white film, with no colour injected into it. But this was...bigger and brighter than anything that I had ever expected to see.

There was just one thing that struck me as being rather odd. "Naples?" I inquired as we crunched through the snow.

"Naples," the Doctor agreed, breathing in deeply, and grinning at me.

"1860?" I pressed him harder. It wasn't that I completely doubted that we were in the past. There was just his sense about the whole place that didn't exactly seem Italian. It felt homely...rather an English atmosphere. I hadn't ever been to Italy, and I was sure that the Italian atmosphere was wonderful, but even with the TARDIS translating other languages; there was still a crispness of accent in the people's voice. Like it was familiar.

"1860," the Doctor replied, and I looked at him, raising an eyebrow, "Don't you believe me?" I smirked at that before returning to my sightseeing of everyday people in 1860. The Doctor on the other hand, went to a news vendor, paying him for the newspaper, before opening it up to read it, "Ahh," he looked a little disgruntled, "I did get the flight a bit wrong,"

"I don't care," said Rose, loving every bit of it. She was doing the same as I was, her eyes looking at every single fact about this strange and wonderful world that we seemed to have arrived in. She hadn't spoken since we had left the TARDIS, and I didn't blame her. You wanted to take everything in, and words would only distract you from seeing.

"It's not 1860, it's 1869," he told us.

"We don't care," I said, smiling as we passed two small boys who were sitting on a stone step, eating something that looked like a very tough meat pasty. It was worlds away from what I was used to.

"And it's not Naples," he added

I turned to look at him, glad to have my feeling verified, "So where exactly are we, Doctor?" I inquired of him, "If we aren't in Naples and if we aren't in 1860. We're certainly not in the present day,"

"I don't care," Rose repeated, still enjoying herself so much that our location didn't matter.

I looked at the Doctor expectantly. "It's Cardiff," he informed us, which made Rose stop, and me carry on walking as we strolled down a street of Victorian Britain. Rose quickly caught us up again, "I have to say this is all rather tame around here. I was thinking more angels on the loose," he grinned at us, "Or perhaps Christmas trees with a grudge. But this..." he looked around, "This is what humans do. Every year, you sit around the table, eat the same food, watch the same shows, and do the same things you've done since you were a child. It's absolutely fantastic. And you'll never change,"

Screams suddenly erupted from a nearby theatre and people seemed to be running outmoded their faces contorted in pure fear. I looked at the Doctor, "You were saying, Doctor?"

"Oh that's more like it!"

So what do you think? Nearly finished the next chapter so I'll be posting that up soon, maybe Friday...we'll see.