I don't own anything in the Doctor Who universe, just Celeste.
AN: I think I'm going to have a heart attack that's how I excited I am for this. I honestly don't even care if you guys are as excited as I am. I just have to get typing. GAH.
Celeste continued to watch as the Daleks organized themselves to prepare for the invasion and the Doctor. One of the Daleks approached her and she looked at it cautiously.
"You know the Doctor. You understand him. You will predict his actions!"
She shrugged and suppressed her growing smile. "I don't know. And even if I did, I wouldn't tell you anything."
"Predict! Predict! Predict!"
"TARDIS detected in flight!"
"Launch missiles. Exterminate!"
"An effort in futility. That won't work you know. You can't stop him. You took me, that was your first mistake," Celeste said confidently.
"You have predicted incorrectly!"
Celeste merely smiled.
Jack and the Doctor were piloting the TARDIS while Rose clung to a railing.
"We've got incoming!" Jack yelled. The Doctor smirked as they all clung to various parts of the TARDIS. The missiles struck and the explosion rocked the TARDIS violently. Jack grinned after the shock wore off.
"The extrapolator's working. We've got a fully functional forcefield. Try saying that when you're drunk."
The Doctor chuckled and pulled another lever. "And for my next trick!"
Celeste chuckled as the TARDIS appeared around her and the Dalek that had been guarding her.
"Celeste, get down!" The Doctor shouted. She ducked her head as the Dalek fired over her. Jack shot at it with the modified defabricator, destroying it. Celeste slowly stood up and laughed.
"You did it," she said cheerfully. The Doctor grabbed her and hugged her tightly.
"You need to stop disappearing on me," he whispered to her.
"And you need to stop taking so long to rescue me," she whispered back. The Doctor chuckled and let her go slowly. He left his hands around her waist as if he was worried she would disappear again. Rose felt her anger flare. Just when she thought everything would work out, she just had to show up again.
"I told you I'd come and get you," the Doctor said cheerfully. Celeste smiled up at him.
"I knew you would. Never doubted you."
He grew solemn. "I did. You all right?"
"I'm fine. How are you?"
"Not bad, been better." She looked at him fondly. Jack strode up to them and pouted.
"Hey, don't I get a hug?"
Celeste laughed at his pout. "Of course you get a hug."
"I was talking to him." Celeste rolled her eyes and hugged Jack. He kissed the top of her head and pulled away.
"Welcome home, little one."
She smiled at the nickname. "I thought you'd be exterminated."
"Oh, you were lucky. That was just a one shot wonder. Drained the gun of all its power supply. Now it's just a piece of junk," Jack said as he tossed the gun over his shoulder. Celeste shook her head at him. She looked over at Rose and gave her a small smile.
"Hello Rose."
Rose nodded. "Celeste," she said flatly. Celeste held back the flinch at Rose's greeting. Rose turned to the Doctor.
"You said they were extinct. How come they're still alive?"
"One minute they're the greatest threat in the universe, the next minute they vanished out of time and space," Jack pointed out.
"They went off to fight a bigger war. The Time War," the Doctor said grimly. Jack looked at him in shock.
"I thought that was just a legend."
Celeste shook her head. "No, it was very real. And very sad." The Doctor looked at her tenderly.
"I was there. The war between the Daleks and the Time Lords, with the whole of creation at stake. My people were destroyed, but they took the Daleks with them. I almost thought it was worth it. Now it turns out they died for nothing," the Doctor said bitterly. Celeste reached over and grabbed his hand, squeezing it tightly.
"There are thousands of them now," Celeste murmured softly.
"We could hardly stop one. What're we going to do?" Rose asked in frustration.
"No good standing round here, chin wagging. Human race, you'd gossip all day. The Daleks have got the answers. Let's go and meet the neighbors!" the Doctor said as he tugged Celeste towards the door. Celeste chuckled as she let him pull her out of the TARDIS.
"You can't go out there!" Rose screeched. Rose and Jack both stared out the door and could only hear the Daleks screaming in rage.
"Exterminate! Exterminate! Exterminate!"
The Dalek's weapons hit a forcefield, leaving the Doctor and Celeste unharmed. The Doctor snorted in derision.
"Is that it? Useless! Nul points." He turned around and shouted at Jack and Rose. "It's all right, come on out. That forcefield can hold back anything."
Jack sauntered out followed by Rose. "Almost anything," Jack said dryly.
"Yes, but I wasn't going to tell them that. Thanks," the Doctor muttered sarcastically.
Jack smiled, "Sorry."
The Doctor turned and stared at the Daleks. Celeste stood next to him silently.
"Do you know what they call me in the ancient legends of the Dalek Homeworld? The Oncoming Storm. You might've removed all your emotions but I reckon right down deep in your DNA, there's one little spark left, and that's fear. Doesn't it just burn when you face me? So tell me. How did you survive the Time War?"
There was complete silence for several moments. Then, a voice rumbled from the deep part of the ship.
"They survived through me."
A large apparatus was lit up a Dalek armor that had previously exploded. Inside was a blue-skinned Dalek. The Doctor's eyes darkened as he realized who it was.
"Celeste, Rose, Captain, this is the Emperor of the Daleks.
"You destroyed us, Doctor. The Dalek race died in your inferno, but my ship survived, falling through time, crippled but alive," the Emperor croaked out.
"I get it," the Doctor snapped.
"Do not interrupt!"
"Do not interrupt!"
"Do not interrupt!" Three Daleks all cried out. Celeste rolled her eyes at them.
"I think you're forgetting something. I'm the Doctor, and if there's one thing I can do, it's talk. I've got five billion languages, and you haven't got one way of stopping me. So if anybody's going to shut up, it's you! Okie doke. So, where were we?"
Celeste pressed her lips together to prevent her laughter from escaping. The Doctor squeezed her hand gently as a silent command to keep quiet.
"We waited here in the dark space, damaged but rebuilding. Centuries passed, and we quietly infiltrated the systems of Earth, harvesting the waste of humanity. The prisoners, the refugees, the dispossessed. They all came to us. The bodies were filtered, pulped, sifted. The seed of the human race is perverted. Only one cell in a billion was fit to be nurtured."
"So you created an army of Daleks out of the dead."
"That makes them half human," Celeste said.
"Those words are blasphemy!" the Emperor spat.
"Do not blaspheme. Do not blaspheme. Do not blaspheme!" The Daleks chanted.
"Everything human has been purged. I cultivated pure and blessed Dalek," the Emperor sneered.
The Doctor raised an eyebrow. "Since when did the Daleks have a concept of blasphemy?"
"I reached into the dirt and made new life. I am the God of the Daleks!" The Emperor roared.
"Worship him! Worship him! Worship him!"
"They're insane. Hiding in silence for hundreds of years, that's enough to drive anyone mad. But it's worse than that. Driven mad by your own flesh. The stink of humanity. You hate your own existence. And that makes them more deadly than ever. We're going," the Doctor said. He tugged Celeste back towards the TARDIS as Jack and Rose also made their way back inside.
"You may not leave my presence!"
"Stay where you are!"
"Exterminate!"
They ignored the Daleks as they started shooting and the TARDIS door closed softly.
The TARDIS reappeared in Satellite Five and the Doctor burst from the blue doors. "Turn everything up. All transmitters full power, wide open. Now! Do it!" He shouted.
"What does this do?" asked the woman in charge as she pushed some buttons on a nearby console.
"Stops the Daleks from transmatting on board. How did you get on? Did you contact Earth?"
"Well, we tried to warn them, but all they did was suspend our license because we stopped the the programs."
"And the planet's just sitting there, defenseless. Lynda, what're you still doing on board? I tol dyou to evacuate everyone."
"She wouldn't go."
"Did want to leave you," Lynda said with a shrug.
"There weren't enough shuttles anyway, or I wouldn't be here. We've got about a hundred people stranded on Floor Zero," another woman said.
The woman in charge gasped. "Oh, my god. The Fleet is moving. They're on their way."
The Doctor flew to a conduit and started pulling out wires. "Dalek plan. Big mistake, because what have they left me with? Anyone? Anyone?"
"A giant transmitter," Celeste said cheerfully.
"Exactly! Thank you, Celeste. Now, if I can change the signal, fold it back, sequence it, anyone?"
"You've got to be kidding," Jack muttered.
"Give the man a medal!"
"A Delta Wave?" Jack asked incredulously.
"A Delta Wave!"
"What's a Delta Wave?" Rose asked.
"A wave of Van Cassadyne energy. It fries your brain. Stand in the way of a Delta Wave and your head gets barbequed," Jack said dryly.
"And this place can transmit a massive wave. Wipe out the Daleks!"
"Well, get started and do it then," Lynda said, wringing her hands.
"Trouble is, wave this size, building this big, brain as clever as mine, should take about, oh, three days? How long until the Fleet arrives?"
"Twenty two minutes," the woman in charge said fearfully. The Doctor turned his attention back to the wires.
Jack exhaled and started gathering the few weapons they had in the control room. "We've not got a forcefield so they can't blast us out of the sky, but that doesn't stop the Daleks from physically invading."
"Do they know about the Delta Wave?" The woman in charge asked.
"They'll have worked it out at the same time. So, they want to stop the Doctor. That means they've got to get to this level, five hundred. Now, I can concentrate the extrapolator around the top six levels, five hundred to four nine five. So they'll penetrate the station below that at level four nine four and fight their way up."
"Who are they fighting?"
Jack looked at her grimly, "Us."
"And what are we fighting with?"
"The guards had guns with bastic bullets. That's enough to blow a Dalek wide open."
"There's six of us."
"Rose, Celeste, you two stay and help me. I need all these wires stripped bare," the Doctor said from the floor. Celeste grabbed a few wires and started stripping them silently.
"Right, now there's four of us."
"Then let's move it. Into the lift. Isolate the lift controls." The woman and her colleague rushed towards the lift. Lynda glanced over at the Doctor sadly.
"I just want to say, er, thanks, I suppose, and I'll do my best."
The Doctor smiled at her, "Me too." They shook hands and Lynda walked towards the lift. Jack looked at the three of them and tried to smile but it came out as more of a grimace.
"It's been fun, but I guess this is goodbye."
"Don't talk like that. The Doctor's going to do it. You just watch him," Rose whispered. Celeste looked at Jack sadly as he approached her.
"You are worth fighting for," he told her softly. She smiled and he gave her a gentle kiss. He turned and kissed Rose gently on the forehead, "Bye kid." Tears fell down Rose's cheeks as Jack turned towards the Doctor. "Wish I'd never met you, Doctor. I was much better off as a coward." He kissed the Doctor and looked at them all with a grin. "See you in hell."
Celeste touched her lips as she watched him leave. "He's going to be all right, isn't he?" Rose asked tearfully.
Celeste and the Doctor worked side by side on several wires. He glanced over at Rose who was far enough away to not hear him whisper to Celeste. "You know, what I have to do, don't you?"
Celeste nodded her head and gave him a sad smile. "I won't try to stop you."
"Why? We could leave everything, just get in the TARDIS and go. Why wouldn't you want to avoid what I'm going to do?"
She picked up another wire as she answered. "Because you're a good man. You'd never let the Daleks kill these people."
"And it never occurred to you to." Celeste shrugged lightly.
"I told you before, I won't run away. I'd rather face it head on." A beeping started on a nearby console and the three of them looked up at it.
"The Delta Wave's started building. How long does it need?" The Doctor muttered. They rush over to the console and look at it curiously.
"Is that bad? Okay, it's bad. How bad is it?" Rose asked worriedly. The Doctor looked over at Celeste whose green eyes reflected her quiet acceptance. He looked back at Rose, "If I use the TARDIS to cross my old timeline, we can do it. Yes!"
He rushed into the TARDIS followed closely by Rose. Celeste followed more slowly, pausing at the door for a brief moment. He gestured to a lever and spoke to Rose, "Hold that down and keep position." Rose grabbed the lever and looked at him, eyebrows furrowed.
"What's it do?"
"Cancels the buffers. If I'm very clever and I'm more than clever, I'm brilliant, I might just save the world. Or rip it apart."
"I'd go for the first one," Rose said dryly. She glanced up at the monitor and read the information it displayed.
"Me too. Now, I've just got to go and power up the Game Station. Hold on!" He rushed to the door and stopped in front of Celeste. She reached up and brushed her hand against his cheek, tears in her eyes. He kissed her forehead gently and nudged her inside the TARDIS, leaving quietly. She watched him pull out his screwdriver and point it at the TARDIS, starting the engines. The door closed and Celeste grabbed the handle, tugging at it.
"Doctor, what're you doing? Can I take my hand off? It's moving!" Rose shouted. She glanced over her shoulder and her eyes widened as she saw Celeste tug at the door. She let go of the lever and ran to the door, pounding on it with her hands.
"Doctor, let me out! Doctor, what've you done?"
Celeste backed away from the door and turned around just as the hologram of the Doctor appeared.
"This is Emergency Program One. Celeste, Rose, now listen. This is important. If this message is activated, then it can only mean one thing. We must be in danger and I mean fatal. I'm dead or about to die any second with no chance of escape."
"No!" Rose shouted. Celeste closed her eyes.
"And that's okay. Hope it's a good death. But I promised to look after both of you, and that's what I'm doing. The TARDIS is taking you home."
Rose started to sob, "I won't let you!"
"And I bet you're fussing and moaning now, Rose. Typical. But hold on and just listen a bit more. The TARDIS can never return for me. Emergency Program One means I'm facing an enemy that should never get their hands on this machine. So this is what you both should do. Let the TARDIS die. Just let this old box gather dust. No one can open it. No one'll even notice it. Let it become a strange little thing standing on a street corner. And over the years, the world'll move on and the box will be buried. And if you want to remember me, then you can do one thing. That's all, one thing. Have a good life. Do that for me, Celeste. Have a fantastic life."
The hologram disappeared and Rose kicked the console in frustration. "You can't do this to me! You can't leave me! Take me back! Take me back!" She turns on Celeste who hadn't moved from her spot near the door. "You! Why didn't you stop him?! Why are you so useless?!" The engines stopped and Rose shoved past Celeste onto the street outside her home. She dashed back in a few seconds later. "Come on, fly. How do you fly? Come on, help me!" She pushed a few more buttons and finally hung her head in frustration. She stalked back out, ignoring Celeste.
Mickey came running around the corner and his face lit up. "I knew it! I was all the way down Clifton Parade, and I heard the engines. I thought, there's only one thing that makes a noise like that." He paused when he saw the look on Rose's face. "What is it?"
Rose threw herself at him, sobbing into his shoulder. He looked up at Celeste who was locking the TARDIS door. She met his eyes and shook her head. He hugged Rose tighter and whispered to her soothingly.
Jackie and Mickey ate their chicken quietly, looking between Celeste and Rose in concern. Rose was staring off into the distance while Celeste was tapping her fingers on her knee anxiously.
"And it's gone up market, this place. They're doing little tubs of coleslaw, now. It's not very nice. It tastes a bit sort of clinical," Jackie said with her mouth full.
"Have you tried that new pizza place down Minto Road?" Mickey asked her.
"What's it selling?"
"Pizza."
"That's nice. Do they deliver?"
"Yeah."
Jackie looked at Rose again. "Oh, Rose, Celeste, have something to eat will ya?"
Celeste smiled at Jackie, "No thanks, Jackie. I'm not hungry right now." She glanced over at Rose and chewed her lip at the desolation on Rose's face.
"Two hundred thousand years in the future, he's dying, and there's nothing I can do," Rose whispered softly.
"Well, like you said, two hundred thousand years. It's way off," Jackie said trying to get her to open up a bit.
"But it's not! It's now. That fight is happening right now, and he's fighting for us, for the whole planet, and I'm just sitting here eating chips," Rose snapped.
Jackie set her chicken down. "Listen to me. God knows I have hated that man, but right now, I love him and do you know why? Because he did the right thing. He sent you both back to me."
"But what do I do every day, mum? What do I do? Get up, catch the bus, go to work, come back home, eat chips and go to bed? Is that it?"
Celeste rolled her eyes and stood up, walking to the window to stare down the street.
"It's what the rest of us do," Mickey pointed out.
"But I can't!" Rose shouted.
"Why, because you're better than us?" Mickey asked sarcastically.
"No, I didn't mean that. But it was. It was a better life. And I don't mean all the travelling and seeing aliens and spaceships and things. That don't matter. The Doctor showed me a better way of living your life. You know he showed you too. That you don't just give up. You don't just let things happen. You make a stand. You say no. You have the guts to do what's right when everyone else just runs away…" She stopped suddenly and glanced up Celeste, whose back was turned towards her. She swallowed thickly and got up, hurrying out the door.
Mickey, Rose and Celeste walked slowly down the street. Celeste glanced around and spotted the words Bad Wolf near the play area. She tore her gaze away and decided to let Rose try to figure it out.
"You can't spend the rest of your life thinking about the Doctor," Mickey told Rose.
"But how do I forget him?" Rose asked.
"You've got to start living your own life. You know, a proper life, like the kind he's never had. The sort of life that you could have with me."
Rose looked at the ground sadly before turning her eyes towards the words. She frowned, "Over here. These words…"
Mickey shrugged, "That's been there for years. It's just a phrase. It's just words."
"But what does it mean? I know I've seen them before…" Rose said, trailing off.
Celeste sighed, "It's a message. Written across time. It's here and it's in the future. It's telling us we can get back, that we can help him escape."
Rose looked at her in shock before running towards the TARDIS. Mickey and Celeste followed her inside.
"All the TARDIS needs to do is make a return trip. Just reverse," Rose said excitedly.
"Yeah, but we still can't do it."
"The Doctor always said the TARDIS was telepathic. This thing is alive. It can listen!"
Celeste ran her hand down along the railing and she felt the TARDIS brush against her mind affectionately. She smiled slightly and looked over at the console where she knew the Time Vortex was housed.
"It's not listening now, is it?" Mickey said skeptically.
"We need to get inside it. Last time I saw you, with the Slitheen, this middle bit opened, and there was this light, and the Doctor said it was the heart of the TARDIS. If we can open it, I can make contact. I can tell it what to do."
"Rose," Mickey said with a frown. Rose didn't glance at him as she hummed a response. He looked at her with troubled eyes. "If you go back, you're going to die."
"That's a risk I've got to take, because there's nothing left for me here."
Celeste flinched as she saw the hurt look on Mickey's face. "Nothing?" Mickey asked softly.
"No."
"Okay, if that's what you think. Let's get this thing open." They both rushed out of the TARDIS, Celeste momentarily forgotten.
Celeste stared at the console as she approached it slowly. "Okay, beautiful. What's it going to be? Am I going to have to pry you open or are you going to cooperate?"
The TARDIS hummed softly and the door clicked shut. She glanced at it in surprise and her head whipped back when she heard a hiss. Golden light spilled underneath a crack and Celeste swallowed nervously. "Last time I saw some golden light, I was taken from one universe to another. No crazy tricks this time, right?"
The TARDIS didn't respond but the hatch opened wider. Celeste let out a breath and stepped into the light. She gasped as she felt the power wrap around her body and mind. She could hear whispers and singing in her head and in that moment, she knew everything.
Rose and Mickey got back to the TARDIS just as it started to disappear. Rose screamed in anger and frustration as it vanished before their eyes.
"Doctor, you've got twenty seconds maximum!" Jack shouted between shots from the Daleks. His machine gun ran out of ammo and he threw it aside, pulling out the pistol. He fired at the Dalek until it too was empty.
"Exterminate!" The Dalek said.
Jack smiled grimly, "I kind of figured that." The Dalek fired at him and he was flung into the lift, unmoving.
The Doctor rushed around the control room. "It's ready!" He shouted just as several Daleks entered the room. He glared at them. "You really want to think about this, because if I activate the signal, every living creature dies."
The Emperor popped onto the viewscreen. "I am immortal."
The Doctor snorted, "Do you want to put that to the test?"
"Then prove yourself, Doctor. What are you, coward or killer?"
The Doctor grabbed the final switch firmly but couldn't push it. He smiled grimly, "Coward. Any day."
"Mankind will be harvested because of your weakness," the Emperor said triumphantly.
"And what about me? Am I becoming one of your angels?"
"You are the heathen! You will be exterminated!"
"Maybe it's time," he said softly. He closed his eyes, prepared for his fate when the sound of the TARDIS's engines could be heard. His eyes snapped open and he turned around to stare, slack jawed, as the TARDIS appeared.
"Alert! TARDIS materializing!" A Dalek cried out.
"You will not escape!" The Emperor roared.
The TARDIS's doors opened and Celeste stood there bathed in golden light. The energy spilled out and snaked around the TARDIS. The Doctor's look of shock turned to one of horror.
"What've you done?" he whispered.
Celeste looked at him with golden eyes. "I looked into the TARDIS and she looked into me."
"You looked into the Time Vortex! Celeste, no one's meant to see that!" The Doctor shouted.
"This is the Abomination!" The Emperor said angrily.
"Exterminate!" A Dalek shot at Celeste, who merely held out a hand to stop the beam. She glanced up at the lettering on the wall.
"I am the Bad Wolf. I create myself. I take the words, and scatter them throughout time and space as a message." She waved her hands and the letters faded.
"Celeste, you've got to stop this. You've got to stop this now. You've got the entire vortex running through your head! You're going to burn!" The Doctor cried out fearfully.
"You have to be safe. The Doctor. My Doctor. Safe from the false god," Celeste murmured.
"You cannot hurt me! I am immortal!"
Celeste sneered at him. "You are tiny. I can see the whole of space and time. Every single atom of your existence and I divide them." She held out her hand and the Daleks slowly disintegrated into nothingness. "Everything must come to dust. All things. Everything dies. The Time War ends."
The spaceship that the Emperor was on vanished in a wave of golden light. Celeste let out a soft sigh as she last of the Daleks was disintegrated.
"Celeste, you've done it. Now stop. Just let it go," the Doctor pleaded.
"Not yet, I can't just yet. I must bring life," she murmured. She found Jack and focused on him. He gasped and flailed as he was brought back to life. She closed her eyes in sorrow and relief.
"But this is wrong! You can't control life and death!"
"Doctor, I see everything. All that is, all that was, all that ever could be. I see why she brought me here. I know my purpose." Celeste gasped and clutched her head. "My head," she whimpered.
The Doctor stood up and held out his arms. "Come here," he said gently.
"It's killing me, it burns," she gasped. She looked up at him with burning gold eyes. She cupped her face and brushed her cheeks gently to wipe away her tears.
"I think you need a Doctor," he said. He leaned down and gently kissed her. She relaxed against him as the energy of the Time Vortex left her eyes and entered his. Once the transfer was complete, she collapsed into his arms. He gently lifted her up and carried her into the TARDIS. He breathed the energy back into the TARDIS and the doors closed. He set her down gently and went back to the console to set the coordinates.
Celeste woke up a few moments later. She pushed herself up and looked around the TARDIS in confusion. "What happened?"
The Doctor glanced at her from where he was working. "Don't you remember?"
She closed her eyes and frowned. "There was whispering and singing in my head. I remember golden light." Her eyes flew open and she looked at the Doctor who was grimacing in pain. "Oh god. Doctor, I'm so sorry."
The Doctor smiled at her fondly. "Celeste Smith. I was going to take you to so many places. Barcelona. Not the city Barcelona, the planet Barcelona. You'd love it. Fantastic place. They've got dogs with no noses. Imagine how many times a day you end up telling that joke, and it's still funny."
Tears gathered in her eyes and spilled out as she blinked. "I'm sorry, I didn't think about your regeneration. I just, knew I had to do something." She took a step towards him as he doubled over in pain.
"Stay away! You know what's happening. Every cell in my body's dying."
She nodded and watched him sadly. She wiped away her tears and sniffed. "I'll see you again in a moment, yeah?"
He grinned at her through the pain. "Before I go, I just want to tell you one thing. You were fantastic. Beautifully fantastic. And you know what? So was I."
His back arched and gold light burst from his body. Celeste raised her hand in front of her eyes to prevent the light from blinding her. After a few seconds the light died and the Doctor stood there in oversized clothes, swaying slightly. He looked over at Celeste and his eyes lit up.
"Hello! Okay, Oooh, new teeth. That's weird. So, where was I? Oh, that's right! Barcelona!" He threw her a grin before throwing a lever on the console. Celeste took in his appearance and shook her head in amusement. The Doctor checked the monitor.
"6PM… Tuesday… October… 5006. On the way to Barcelona!" He straightened up and held his arms out to the side. "Now then, what do I look like?"
Celeste raised an eyebrow at him. He waved his hands quickly to stop her from answer. "No, no no, no no no no no no no. No. Don't tell me."
Celeste smiled and crossed her arms as she watched him check himself out.
"Let's see. Two legs, two arms, two hands… Slight weakness in the dorsal tubercle…" His hands flew up to his head and he let out a laugh filled with delight. "Hair! I'm not bald!"
Celeste chuckled and continued to watch him in amusement as he felt along the sides of his face.
"Sideburns, I've got sideburns! Or really bad skin. Little bit thinner," he said as he smacked his stomach. "That's weird. Give me time, I'll get used to it." He let out a gasp and rolled his shoulders. "I've got a mole. I can feel it! Between my shoulder blades, there's a mole. That's all right. Love a mole." He stops his own assessment and looked at Celeste expectantly. "What do you think?"
Celeste pressed her lips together and tapped her chin thoughtfully. "Well, your hair is completely crazy." She started to circle him, still looking thoughtful. "You definitely need to change clothes, those do nothing for you." She stopped in front of him and flicked his ear, causing him to yelp and rub it with a pout. "You look fine, goof. And no, you're not ginger."
The Doctor deflated, "You're not nice. I remember you being nice. Did you get replaced while I was regenerating?" He poked her forehead and she swiped as his hand. "Nope, still human it seems."
She crossed her arms, "What, do you want me to leave now because I teased you?"
He looked at her in alarm, "Do you want to leave?"
"Of course not. I told you before that I'd never leave you. I knew you were going to change, I just feel bad that I was the cause of it."
The alarmed look left his eyes slowly and he looked at her softly. "It was worth it."
She smiled and nudged him gently towards the console. "Barcelona will have to wait, Doctor. Let's try London, Powell Estate, December 24th."
He smiled at her and entered the coordinates. The TARDIS shuddered at the changes of directions. The Doctor danced around the console back towards her but stopped suddenly as he gagged. The TARDIS shook a bit harder at the same moment.
Celeste gasped, "Damnit, I almost forgot this part. Doctor, you need to get the TARDIS to London, now. The energy leftover from the Time Vortex is still in your system."
He groaned and retched again. He shakily pushed a lever on the console and the TARDIS jerked violently, nearly sending them both to the floor.
"Gotta put on some more speed!" The Doctor said, his eyes wild. He turned a few knobs and shouted at the TARDIS. "My beautiful ship! Come on, faster! That's a girl!"
Celeste grit her teeth and clung to the console. "Doctor! This is not the best way to show me a good time!"
The Doctor laughed crazily and danced around the console. A bell started ringing and Celeste looked up in horror. "Oh god, we're going to crash!"
"Out of control! Oh, I love it. Hot dog!" The Doctor shouted with an excited hop. His eyes meet Celeste's and they stared at each other for a moment. "Hold on tight, here we go! Christmas Eve!" They both clung to the TARDIS for dear life as she crashed into several flats before crashing into some garbage bins.
The Doctor threw open the door. "Here we are then, London. Earth. The Solar System. We did it!" He looked up and saw Jackie, Mickey and Rose staring at him. "Jackie! Mickey! Rose! Blimey! No, no, no, no, hold on. Wait here. I've got something to say. There was something I had to tell you., something important. What was it? No, hold on, hold on. Hold on, shush, shush, shush, shush. Oh, I know! Merry Christmas!" He smiled at them and collapsed on the pavement.
Celeste came out and slapped her forehead, "Honestly! Couldn't you wait one minute?" She hurried up to him and checked him over.
"Who is he? Where's the Doctor?" Rose asked angrily.
Celeste didn't look up from him as she checked his pulse, "This is him, right in front of you. This is the Doctor."
"What?!" Rose screeched.
Jackie looked confused. "What do you mean, that's the Doctor? Doctor who?"
Celeste looked up at them and sighed heavily. This was not going to be pretty.