Thanks to Kissyfur85, celebinazliyaren, TyShawna, WorldJumper0123, Belle France, LithieStormfox, farscape, Daniellexx, Clover1231, Cherokeefox20, Lady R. Joseph, AlphaWolf246, ruler of the ice dragons for following/faving my story.
Savethemadscientist: yep it does make a change that he didn't have to convince Josie.
NicoleR85: thanks!
Josie blinked at the sudden change of light when the Doctor dragged her out of the TARDIS, barely giving her time to recover from the crash landing. Her eyes widened when she saw, after her eyes finally adjusted to natural daylight, they hadn't landed on a different planet. They'd landed on Earth. Outside her house in fact. "Um…Doctor? Unless the planet Barcelona has a building that looks identical to my house…I think its safe to say were in the wrong place".
"Oh". The Doctor said taking in their surroundings "ah well this can be a pit stop. Besides you have been home since the Slitheen invasion".
"And who's fault is that I wonder?" Josie asked in a teasing way "you're the one who was taking us all over the universe. Didn't exactly have a chance to make a request to go home".
"But you had fun, though?" the Doctor asked, his head starting to spin. It seemed that he may have to go into a healing coma for the remainder of the regeneration cycle after all.
"Of course I did!" Josie replied "aside almost dying, I had the time of my life".
The Doctor smiled despite how he was feeling "Good I'm…" he didn't get anything more than those two words out before he suddenly collapsed, shocking Josie.
She knelt down beside him and gently shook his shoulder "Doctor?" no response "Doctor! Come on spaceman don't do this! I can't move you on my own".
"Josie?" a very familiar voice said. Josie looked up and saw it was none other than her best friend Beth Greyson.
"Beth? What are you doing here?" Josie asked.
"Some guy with this Scottish accent and bushy eyebrows told me to be here", Beth replied.
"He sure does get around", Josie muttered. That Scottish man seemed to be popping up quite a bit. First telling her to not give up hope then telling Mickey to go to Cardiff…now it seemed he told her best friend to be at her house. It made her wonder, who exactly was this guy and why was he getting involved?
"Oh my god", Beth breathed, staring at the TARDIS "is that the TARDIS?" she then glanced down at the unconscious Time Lord "a-and that's the Doctor! I'm right aren't I? He's the Doctor?"
"Yes, he IS the Doctor", Josie confirmed "do you think you could help me?" she asked.
"Oh! Right, of course", Beth said. The purple haired young woman crouched down, putting her hands under the Doctor's arms while Josie took hold of his legs. Together they carried the Time Lord into her home. The pair took him into the spare bedroom and laid him on the bed, but not before removing his leather jacket and shoes "Will he be ok?" Beth asked.
"Yeah, he'll be fine", Josie answered.
"Are you ok?" Beth countered glancing at her friend "sweetie? What is it?" she asked seeing her start to tear up.
"It's all my fault. He's like this because of me", Josie answered.
"What do you mean?" Beth questioned.
"I tried to save his life. It worked…but it almost killed me so he…um…" Josie swallowed back the tears "he saved me. And it cost him a regeneration. The weird thing is, he's not mad at me. Before he regenerated he called me…fantastic" Beth hugged her friend when she burst into tears. "I'm sorry Beth", Josie sniffled, stepping back "its just been one crazy ride".
"Why don't we talk about it over a cup of tea?" Beth suggested "unless he's going to wake up soon" she nodded over to the Doctor.
"No, it'll take him a few hours to wake up", Josie said "a cup of tea sounds like a good idea". The pair left the room, heading for the kitchen.
"So tell me about you 'crazy ride'", Beth said leaning against the kitchen counter watching Josie put water into a kettle "how did you finally meet the Doctor?"
"Well, he actually came here asking for my help", Josie answered taking out two mugs and putting tea bags in each "surprised me when he showed up. I wasn't excepting to see him in my home".
"What did he need you help with?" Beth questioned.
"Remember the thing on the news about the UFO crashing into Big Ben and then the Thames?" Josie asked.
"Who can forget that?" Beth said "it was a pretty big deal for almost everyone in London".
"It was a fake", Josie told her "the real aliens were disguised as overweight people. They wanted to start WW3 in order to destroy the Earth to sell off pieces of it as fuel. We…or more correctly Mickey Smith stopped them by firing a missile at 10 Downing Street" she turned to the kettle as it clicked off and poured out water into the mugs "after that I joined the Doctor and Rose on their travels".
"That's some first meeting", Beth remarked taking out milk from the fridge and giving to Josie when she indicated for it "so where else did you go?"
"Oh, here and there", Josie answered adding milk to the mugs "we went to an alien museum and was almost killed by a Dalek…"
Beth paled at that "oh my", she breathed remembering what Josie had told her about those monsters.
Josie glanced at her "yeah…that wasn't at all fun" she took out the tea bags, dumping them onto the small dish by the kettle "The next place was run by this big blob monster called a Jagrafess…which we destroyed by the power of knowledge. After that Rose wanted to see her father on the day he died" she picked up a mug and held it out to Beth who took it "that was a mahoosive mistake. Paradox…the Doctor being taken… Rose was sent home" Josie took a sip of her tea "The Doctor and I then went London 1941 where we met Jack Harkness. American, reasonable looking, flirted with everything that walked including me until I set him straight. From then on he was like an annoying big brother".
"Wait, was?" Beth asked picking up on her use of the past tense.
Josie set her mug down "we lost him", she replied.
"I'm so sorry", Beth said quietly "what happened?"
"He died fighting. Probably the way he would've liked to have gone out", Josie said. She sighed "I'm gonna miss him", she added.
"What happened after?" Beth asked.
"I tried to save the Doctor's life and well…you saw him", Josie said.
Beth set down her mug and went over to Josie "Its going to be ok Josie", she said gently putting an arm around her "The Doctor is going to have his little rest and as soon as he's awake, us three will have Christmas dinner".
Josie looked at her in surprise "Its Christmas?" she asked.
"Yeah, didn't you know?" Beth, questioned.
"No, I didn't", Josie answered "you get sort of timeless in the TARDIS. You can remember days and nights but the exact date can sometimes be forgotten, especially when your travelling to different time periods".
"Why don't you go for a walk?" Beth suggested "might get into the Christmas spirit".
"I don't know Beth…" Josie said.
"The Doctor will be fine with me for a little while", Beth said "go, on. Enjoy the fresh air of Earth".
Josie laughed "ok, I'll go for walk", she said. She finished up her tea, pulled on some shoes and a jacket. Josie checked in on the Doctor on her way out, he was still unconscious.
"This is super weird", the blackette muttered as she walked, taking in all the Christmas decorations. As she told Beth, you get kinda timeless in the TARDIS, don't really keep track of things like birthdays and Christmas. Hm… maybe I should get a little something for Beth and the Doctor? she thought.
As she wandered around the little stalls trying to find a good present for her two friends, Josie couldn't help but feel like something was wrong. She looked up from the snow globe she'd been inspecting and saw a brass band dressed as Santa. Josie straightened up eyeing the brass band and the more she looked at them, the worse the feeling she got.
Slowly the band lowered their instruments and then without warning, they started firing blue flames out of them! The Snow globe dropped out of her hand, shattering on the floor as she took cover. This was crazy! She was being attacked by a brass band! But why on earth would they be attacking her? What did she….Josie's eyes widened when it hit her. The Doctor! They have to be after the Doctor! She had to get back home, fast!
She darted out from behind the stall and ran as fast as they could down the street. "Taxi!" Josie shouted, waving her arms to flag one down. The black vehicle pulled up to a stop in front of her and she clambered in. She told the driver her address before she took out her phone to ring Beth. She had to warn her about the imminent danger. "Come on Beth, pick up", Josie muttered hearing the phone ring several times. She groaned when she only got her friend's voicemail. She left a short message before the hung up.
The second the taxi reached the end of her street, Josie had him stop. She tossed some money at him "keep the change", she said and got out. As soon she hit the pavement, she ran.
"Oh, hey Josie", Beth greeted at the blackette burst through the front door.
"Why didn't you pick the phone?" Josie asked going from room to room, looking around, checking to see if any of the band had beaten her home "I've just been attacked by a Santa Brass Band".
"Oh, my god", Beth breathed "are you ok?"
"I'm fine", Josie replied "why didn't you…" she trailed off when she saw a Christmas tree in the living room, complete with ornaments. "Where did that come from?" she asked.
"I uh bought it a week ago. As the Scottish guy said you'd be here for Christmas…I thought I'd get it as a surprise", Beth explained "it came while you were out. Though I didn't order it decorated".
As soon as she said that, the tree lights up by itself and starts playing Jingle Bells. "Oh my god!" Beth cried as baubles floated off of the tree. They shot around the room, crashing into walls and furniture. Beth and Josie quickly took cover. "We've got to get out of here!" Beth exclaimed.
"You don't say!" Josie said which as much sass as she could muster. She looked toward the doorway. "Make a run for it, now!" she ordered. They surged to their feet and rushed to the doorway. Josie cried out when one of the baubles stuck her across the face.
"Josie!" Beth yelled seeing her friend go down. Suddenly there was a high pitched noise and Christmas tree exploded, as well as the baubles. The purple haired woman stared at the mess shocked. She was brought out of it when the Doctor moved past her, going over to Josie. He gently touched her and she groaned, shifting a little.
"Doctor", she mumbled, squinting up at him "you're awake".
"Yeah, I am", he said. He knew it was potentially dangerous to be awake right now but when he heard the commotion…Beth's shout for her friend…he had to do something. And it was a good thing too otherwise both of them could've been severely hurt. The Doctor carefully helped Josie to her feet, steadying her when she swayed.
"How did you stop the possessed Christmas tree?" Josie asked looking over at the remains of the tree.
"Sonic screwdriver", the Doctor replied "and it's not possessed, at least not in the way you think. It was remote controlled".
"So who's controlling it?" Beth spoke up "is it your Santa Brass Band Josie?"
"Lets go find out", the Doctor said.