Yasmin led the way to her flat. Ryan, still in awe, was shaking his head. "Can't believe you live here. I can see this block from my window. Almost neighbors, all this time."

"I know." Yasmin grinned at him. "It's cool."

"Yeah."

They neared a woman worriedly working on her phone, continually glancing back up at the door. The Singer only noticed her, truly, because Rikou was frowning at her. "Everything all right?" he asked her.

The woman glanced at him. "Fine, thanks."

Yasmin opened her flat door. "I'm home! Got a couple of mates with me," she called. "They're probably all out."

An older man who looked quite like Yasmin emerged. "You've brought friends back. Sonya? Yaz has brought friends back. I'm getting food."

A woman, Sonya, stepped into the entranceway. "What, you actually have friends?" Sonya looked the new arrivals up and down. "She paying you?"

Yasmin, seeming to have very quickly begun to regret offering to introduce her new alien friends – if the Singer and the twins could be called her friends in any way that the Doctor could – managed to find enough chairs for them all to sit around the table. Of course the Doctor, ever contrary, started to wander.

Both twins, though they were attempting to hide it, could not tear their gaze away from the pile of trash in the corner of the room.

"Look at your views," the Doctor said. "Never had a flat. I should get one. I'd be good in a flat. I could get a sofa. Imagine me with a sofa, like my own sofa. I could get a purple one, and sit on it." She turned to look at the humans. "Am I being weird?"

Ryan nodded. "A little bit, yeah."

"I'm trying to do small talk. I thought I was doing quite well."

Yasmin shrugged. "Needs work."

"Maybe I'm nervous. Or just socially awkward. I'm still figuring myself out."

"Oh!" Nella exclaimed, blinking as she sat straighter. Everyone looked at her. "Oh, sorry. Just remembered something." She gave her twin a very intentional look, mouthing 'purple couch', and made him shake his head at her. They were seated on opposite sides of the table, essentially the furthest away from each other that the Singer had ever seen them be.

The Doctor tore her gaze away from her niece to frown at the mess the twins couldn't help but notice. "You really like junk. Are you collecting it, like stamps?"

"Let me tell you about this mess," Yasmin's father said, still moving about the kitchen.

Sonya shook her head. "Don't get him started."

"Dad, we keep telling you." Yasmin turned to face him. "Stop picking it up. Mum's going to go crazy when she sees you've brought it home again. It stinks."

"I can't just leave it there."

"So why do we have to have it?"

"Well, I thought maybe that as your sister is a policewoman..." Yasmin's father gestured at her.

"Police officer," she corrected.

"And she said she'd do something about it."

Yasmin nodded. "I did, and they're looking into it."

"Well, not fast enough." Her father looked at the rest of them. "It's a disgrace."

"Don't keep it in the kitchen. Put it down the chute."

"It's evidence," he pointed at Yasmin with a spoon. "And you know what it's evidence of?"

"A conspiracy," his daughters said in unison.

He nodded. "Exactly. A total conspiracy and getting worse."

The Doctor grinned, spreading her arms. "I love a conspiracy."

Sonya looked between Ryan and Yasmin. "So, are you and Yaz..."

"Mates," Ryan said. "We were at primary school together."

"Just mates, then?"

"Yeah."

"That's good." Sonya looked at her sister with raised eyebrows.

Yasmin's phone rang, making her step away to answer it. "Hi, Mum...what, now? I'm just in the middle of..." Yasmin sighed, "fine." She hung up.

"Is she all right?" Yasmin's father asked.

"Yeah. She forgot something. Asked if I'd drop it at work for her." Yasmin turned to the rest of them. "She's got a new job, posh hotel opening. Do you mind if I nip out quickly?"

The Doctor stepped closer. "Need any company?"

"Nah, I'll be fine."

"We'll look after your friends," Yasmin's father gestured at the rest of them. "I'm going to make pakora."

Yasmin's horror was clear. "Dad, don't. He's terrible at pakora."

"We never meet your friends. She never brings anyone around."

Sonya nodded. "Married to the job."

"At least I've got a job to be married to." Yasmin waved to all of them. "Bye."

"Hope you don't crash," Sonya called after her.

"Girls, now..." Yasmin's father said as she left, shaking his head.

"Sisters," the Doctor was still wandering the flat. "I used to be a sister, in an aqua-hospital. Actually, turned out to be a training camp for the Quiston Calcium Assassins." She bent down, studying something in the trash pile.

Ryan gave her a look. "Going off on one again."

The Doctor picked up a piece of paper from the pile. "Ooo, you've got a parcel to pick up. Left with a neighbor."

"Yeah, I've been trying to get that for days. Couple of doors down. No reply."

"Do you want me to go get it while you make your terrible pakora?"

Rikou stood. "Come on, aunt. And everyone else."

"Five people for one parcel?" Sonya asked.

Nella matched her twin, moving to the door. "Could be a very big one."

The Doctor, Singer, and Ryan followed the twins outside, walking to the distressed woman from before. "No word from Graham?" the Doctor asked Ryan.

"You think I should've gone with him?"

The Doctor shrugged. "You know him better than me."

"Not much."

They reached the woman. "Still no answer?" the Doctor asked her. "We've got a package to pick up for number 34. Think she took it in. You a friend?"

"We work together at the uni. She hasn't been in for a few days. Didn't call in sick, isn't answering her messages. Thought I'd drop by, see if she's okay." The Doctor ducked down, looking through the letterbox. "I'm Jade."

"I'm Ryan," he introduced himself. "That's the Doctor."

"Charity," Nella took over. "He's my brother Ash, she's our mother the Singer."

"Hello, Anna?" the Doctor called through the letterbox. "It's next door but one. Have you got a parcel for us?" She stood, looking back at them. "I mean, I could open the door."

"What, like, break it in?" Jade asked.

"No, just sort the lock. If you thought it was appropriate. If you're worried about her."

Jade nodded. "I am."

The Doctor took out her sonic and opened the door, though the twins both raised their eyebrows at her. Inside, they found an apartment covered in spider webs. Rikou reached up to rub some of the web between his fingers.

"Anna?" the Doctor called, walking through. "How long did you say it'd been since you'd seen her?"

Ryan flicked the light switch. "Power's out."

"A few days," Jade said, answering the Doctor's question.

Nella was the first into the main room, turning in a small circle to take it all in. "Lot of cobwebs for a few days."

The Doctor nodded to her. "Yeah, that's what I was thinking."

"Whoa," Ryan breathed. "This is proper weird now."

"Yep." The Doctor turned to Jade, who went to the window to study the web. "Did Anna ever mention she had a problem with spiders?" Jade shook her head. "Let's take a look downstairs." She led the way to what looked like a bedroom, gently pushing open the door. The twins were right behind her, though the Singer was in the back with Ryan. "Anna?"

"Is she in here?" Ryan asked, given the darkness of the room.

The Doctor carefully approached the bed and the figure resting on top. Rikou followed her. "You okay? Anna?"

Ryan went over to the window and pulled open the curtains. The Singer flinched back from the state Anna had been left in. Her entire body was wrapped in cobwebs like she'd been cocooned.

"My God, Anna..." Jade said.

The Doctor glanced at her. "I'm sorry."

"Spiders don't do that," Ryan said. "Do they?"

"Wrong question, Ryan." The Doctor straightened. "You should be asking where's the spider that did this?" As she spoke, Nella crouched down, looking under the bed.

"You think it's still in here?"

"Found it," Nella said. She didn't move as a large spider emerged from under the bed. "Hello there, sweetie."

"Look at the size of it!" Ryan gasped.

"No sudden moves," the Doctor said carefully, tapping Nella on the shoulder to make the girl stand, though she didn't.

Jade was frowning at the spider. "It's domestic but it's way too big. It's not harmful." Nella looked tempted to pet it.

"Charity," the Singer said. Thankfully, Nella obeyed her mother, standing and moving back to join them by the door. "Let's put a door between us."

The Doctor nodded. "When I say now, quick as you can." The Doctor opened the door. "Go, go, go...go!" they all darted outside. "Ryan, keep it in there. Back in a sec." The Doctor rushed off. Rikou was the only twin who followed her, leaving Nella and the Singer to help Ryan press back against the door.

"We're out, it's contained," Ryan said, breathing hard. "Only a spider. Big spider, but only a spider. Not mad keen on spiders."

Jade glanced down at their feet. "Um..."

The Singer looked down. The spider was attempting to scrambling through the gap under the door, though it could only fit its legs through in its desperation. "Doctor, hurry!" she called after her sister as Jade rushed to join them.

"It was a pretty cute spider," Nella said, not sounding like she was holding a door closed against a far too large spider.

"Cute?" Ryan gasped.

The Singer was suddenly very glad the twins had been willing to have a dog as a pet when they'd been younger.

"You guys, get up here!" the Doctor called, appearing at the top of the small staircase. The three of them had just reached her when she squirted something sharp smelling in a ring around the hallway, Rikou busy rubbing some kind of a paste in the same spots.

"Oi, you just covered us in vinegar," Ryan said.

"Spiders' feet are their noses and they hate the smell of garlic," the Doctor explained. "And the acetic acid in the vinegar means it won't come any further."

Though they couldn't see the door the spider was behind, they could hear the door being broken down.

"Where is it?"

Nella, standing beside Ryan, pointed up at the ceiling. When they all looked up, they watched the spider approach from above and then drop down on a string of cobweb, hissing back as it neared the line of what must have been garlic.

The Doctor leaned down. "Hi. We don't mean you any harm. You're not supposed to be this big and you're definitely not supposed to attack humans. You stay here until I figure this out. Deal?" the spider didn't hiss, which the Doctor took as an agreement. "Let's go."

They rushed out of the flat, though Nella paused as they closed the door, kneeling down to look through the letterbox.

"Oh, I did not like that," Ryan shook his head.

The Doctor turned to the woman. "Jade, who are you exactly? I saw you check those cobwebs and you weren't surprised."

Graham ran up to them, breathing hard. "Hey! You'll never guess what I just found in the loft room."

Ryan raised his eyebrows. "It better not be a massive spider."

"Yeah. Like a big spider had shed its skin." Graham gestured to indicate the size.

"A woman has died, and I think you know more than you're telling," the Doctor said, refocusing on Jade.

The woman took a moment before answering. "This isn't the first incident. Something's happening with the spiders in the city. They're out of control."

Nella straightened, but when she turned to face the rest of them, she seemed only to be avoiding Rikou's attention. "Admit it," he said. "I was right."

"I'm still beating you."

Rikou shrugged, grinning. He looked to the Doctor and the Singer. "Knew there was something up with spiders. She didn't believe me."

Nella made a face at her twin, sticking her tongue out.

A/N: Another adventure! This one with spiders, which the twins seem to find quite a bit more exciting :)

Notes on reviews:

Purplestan: Oh, there's definitely a fight coming, but you'd be surprised at how long these two (particularly in these regenerations) can go without talking about their problems, particularly with all these distractions that keep coming up. Yeah, that reveal is definitely going to have an impact on the Singer and the Doctor's relationship, but don't want to be any more specific about if that means it'll be good or bad ;)