Disclaimer: I do not own Doctor Who and I never will! But I do own Sophie McQueen and any other characters I come with.
Author's Note: Enjoy the next chapter of the rewrite to Written in the Stars!
Sophie stepped off of the bus in front of her old apartment building, grinning as her eyes sparkled beneath her glasses. She couldn't believe she was back here after all this time and she remembered the right bus to take to get here after getting to England, South of London. Her suitcase lugged behind her as she walked towards the entrance, a skip in her step. She had a week worth of clothes in her suitcase even though she was only planning on being here for week. She learned from Samantha a long time ago that one could never have too clothes, especially when you go on vacation.
Sophie went through the entrance and up the long winding stairs. By the time she got up to Rose and her mum's flat, she was out of breath, sweating a bit, enough where she had to pull her blonde hair up in a ponytail.
"Wow…I forgot how long these stairs were…" Sophie shook her head, but then she grinned. "Great to be back!" She knocked on the flat door, and it immediately opened, revealing the familiar motherly form of Jackie Tyler. Her grin widened more if that was possible. "Jackie, long time no see!" The blonde hadn't changed one bit and she looked like she was decorating for Christmas, if the Christmas lights around her neck were any hint.
"Sophie? Sophie McQueen?" Jackie questioned.
"Yep! That's me!" Sophie beamed, happy that she recognized her.
Jackie beamed right back. "Well, don't be a stranger, give me a hug!"
Sophie couldn't help but laugh and she nodded enthusiastically as she released her suitcase to give Jackie a hug. "I'm so happy to see you! You look gorgeous!" she complimented.
This made the older woman blush. "Well, thank you!" The compliment brought an even bright smile to her face. "And look at you, you're all grown up! Rose is going to be so happy to see you!" Jackie pulled back from the hug and gestured inside the flat, grinning now. "Well, come on in, love!"
Sophie smiled as she grabbed her suitcase and walked inside, looking around as she took everything in. Just like Jackie, the inside of the flat hadn't changed a bit either. It was as if nothing had ever been moved, and it probably hadn't been. Sophie felt right at home being here, making her glad that she had decided to come visit Jackie and Rose.
"Would you like some tea, sweetheart?" Jackie's voice broke Sophie's train of thought.
She looked over at Jackie, finding the older woman right beside her as she smiled kindly. "Yeah…that would be great."
Jackie nodded. "Well, make yourself at home."
"Always."
Sophie smiled again and Jackie smiled back at her before she went back into the kitchen to make us some tea. It had been such a long time since she had some good English tea, and if she remembered correctly, Jackie made the best tea in the world. Following Jackie's instruction in making herself at home, Sophie headed into the living room and settled down on the couch. She looked around the area, her eyes catching the picture on the wall. Sophie recognized her as Rose. Her best friend looked exactly the same, a little bit mature but her looks were the same. Short blonde hair, and soft chocolate brown eyes. Sophie glanced around a bit more, noticing the Christmas tree and the presents beneath it, but there was no lights on the tree. Sophie figured Jackie had been about to put them on when she knocked the door.
Finally, Jackie joined her in the living room, with two cups of tea in her hands. "Here's your tea, love." She handed one of the cups over to her and Sophie graciously took it from her.
"Thank you." Sophie gave her a smile as she took a sip of the tea and she sighed in contentment. Oh yeah, just like she remembered.
"You're welcome." Jackie sat down next to her, taking a sip of her own tea. "Did you have a good trip?"
"Yeah, it was good." Sophie answered softly. "Tiring but good. Nothing happened, so it was pretty boring."
"And how's your aunt?"
"She's good too. I talked to her before I left America." Jackie nodded as Sophie took another sip of her tea and she sighed, savoring every sip of her tea. She and Jackie stayed in comfortable silence until Sophie broke it. "So, where's Rose?"
A nervous look seemed to pass over Jackie's face, but it was gone just as quickly. "She should be around soon." The woman responded, and Sophie frowned, feeling as if the blonde was lying but she said nothing about it as she pushed the feeling away. "I think she said that she was going to go see Mickey before coming back home."
The mention of that surprised Sophie. She assumed that they would have been broke up by now. Mostly because of the way Rose talked about him in their letters, saying how she wasn't in love with him as much as he was with her.
"They're still dating." Sophie said, making it into a statement than a question. She nodded in reply and Sophie looked surprised for a little bit longer before she shook her head. The young blonde finished the rest of her tea, then she sat it on the side table in front of her. "Would you like some help decorating?"
Jackie smiled at her brightly at her offer. "That would be great, Soph!"
Sophie gave her a grin. "Great, just let me go and put my stuff away, I'll be right back!" She grabbed her suitcase, about to leave, but stopped at the sound of Jackie's voice.
"You can put your stuff in Rose's room. You don't mind staying in there, yeah?"
"I don't mind at all, I figured that's where I was staying."
Smiling at her one last time, Sophie left the living room and went down the hall towards Rose's room. Since this was a two bedroom flat, it wasn't hard to find her best friend's bedroom. She returned to the small living area to help finish up with the tree and anything else Jackie needed help with. At the moment, Sophie was putting up the stockings when she noticed Jackie sitting on a nearby chair with presents in her hands, staring down at them wishfully.
"Jackie?" she questioned concerned, but she didn't seem to hear her, so Sophie rose a voice a little. "Jackie?" This made the older woman jump and she looked over at her, startled. "Are you alright?"
She nodded quickly. "Yeah, I'm fine, love."
Sophie didn't believe her. There was something wrong, but she didn't press her, knowing how some people hated that.
As Jackie finished up with the Christmas, suddenly there was a strange sound. It sounded like an engine turning. The sudden sound of it startled Sophie so much that she dropped the stocking she had been busy putting up.
"What the hell is that?" Sophie mumbled, but she noticed Jackie's face brighten up as if she recognized the sounded.
"Rose!"
Sophie wanted to ask her what the noise was, however before she could, Jackie had already ran out the door. Eyes wide, Sophie stopped what she was doing and raced after her friend's mother.
"What's going on?!" she exclaimed after her as she tried to catch up to her. Jackie didn't reply to her as she picked up the pace even more. Damn, could the woman run! Sophie could barely match her speed. Somehow, she managed to catch up to her as Jackie called out a familiar name.
"Mickey!"
Sophie recognized the young man Jackie was calling to as Rose's boyfriend from the pictures Rose had sent her. She was so confused right now. Didn't Jackie say Rose was with Mickey? If that was true, then where was she? Sophie couldn't ask because they didn't seem to notice she was there.
Mickey ran up to the two of them, looking just as excited as Jackie was. "Jackie, it's the TARDIS!"
Sophie's eyes widened at the mention of the Doctor's time machine. No…no…he couldn't be talking about the same TARDIS. It…it was impossible!
"I know, I know, I heard it!" Jackie cried, gripping onto Mickey's shoulders. "She's alive, Mickey! I said so, Mickey, didn't I?! She's alive!"
Sophie finally found her chance to speak up. "Wait a minute!" she yelled, finally getting their attention to turn to her. She took a deep breath and let it out. "I thought you said Rose went to see Mickey!" Jackie looked sheepish as she pointed to Mickey, who looked confused now.
"Who are you?" he asked. Sophie was going to reply but he cut her off, "Nevermind that right now." She made a face at him. Rude.
The whirling sound continued on.
"Well, where is it then?" Jackie questioned out loud as she and Mickey looked around while Sophie stood there, still completely confused. Her head was pounding and she had a whole of questions burning in her mind, but she managed to keep them from flowing out in a tailspin.
There was a sound coming from behind them. Sophie, Jackie, and Mickey whirled around.
Sophie's eyes went as wide as saucers as a vortex opened up right in the sky and out came the little blue box Sarah Jane had told her so much about. She just couldn't believe it! Then again, it was heading right towards them, spinning out of control! They had to keep ducking as the TARDIS bounced off one blocks of flats, and then a second, then a third. It barely avoided a post office van before it finally crashed into a set of waste bins.
This was literally the shock of Sophie's life. Of course, she believed in the stories her aunt told her, but she never believed she would ever see the TARDIS in real life, or get a chance to meet the Doctor. The thought of it made Sophie squeal on the inside.
The TARDIS doors opened up, revealing a skinny man wearing a black t-shirt, a leather jacket, and a pair of black pants. Since this was the TARDIS, this had to be the Doctor. He wasn't what Sophie had expected, or imagined, but it didn't matter. It was the Doctor! She held back another squeal of excitement as he looked around for a moment before grinning widely.
"Here we are then! London. Earth. The Solar System. We did!" He rambled excitedly as he stepped out of the TARDIS, standing in front of Jackie and Mickey, then he took notice to them, his grin widening as his brown eyes sparkled with enthusiasm. "Jackie, Mickey!" His expressive eyes met Sophie's and she tried to contain her excitement. "And who are you then? We haven't met before, have we?"
Sophie didn't have time to reply as he changed the subject in a blink of an eye.
"Blimey! No, no, no, no, hold on!" The Doctor went around the small group, Sophie, Jackie, and Mickey trying to follow his erratic movements. "Wait there! There was something I had to tell you, something important. What was it? No, hold on, hold on." He grasped Jackie and Mickey's shoulders as Sophie watched on with a strange look on her face. "Hold on, shush, shush, shush…"
Sophie had no idea what he was trying to say, so she just guessed. "Uh, Merry Christmas?"
"Yes, yes, that's it!" He cheered, surprising her by giving her a hug and swinging her around for a moment before settling her back down on her feet. He grinned widely at Sophie before going on, now sounding out of breath. "Merry Christmas!"
And suddenly, he collapsed on the ground. Sophie gasped and ran to his side, falling down on her knees beside him. This caused her to miss a familiar someone had exited the TARDIS.
Sophie felt his pulse and she sighed in relief as she found one. He had just fainted, thank God.
"What happened? Is he alright?"
"Yeah, he just fainted." Sophie answered, not realizing it was different voice.
"Sophie!?"
The sound of her name made her look up and she jumped to her feet at the sight of Rose Tyler before her. "Rose!" Sophie exclaimed, then they both asked at the same time, "What are you doing here?"
Mickey spoke up, cutting them off before they could answer each other. "Who is he?" he asked, pointing at the unconscious Doctor. "Where's the Doctor?"
"That's him right in front of you." Rose said quietly. She looked hurt and it showed in her soft brown eyes. "That's the Doctor."
"What do you mean, that's the Doctor?" Jackie questioned, confused, as she stared at the Doctor. "Doctor who?"
Sophie gazed at him, unable to believe it was actually him. But here he was, right in front of her. She definitely didn't expect something like this would happen when visiting Rose, especially learning she was probably his new companion.
There was change in the air, and it was yet to be seen, how much change there was going to be.
-0-
Once they got back to Jackie's flat, Sophie helped Rose bring the Doctor into Jackie's room and into bed. Mickey changed him into a pair of flannel pajamas, and then Rose explained everything, including about the Doctor. Sophie just nodded along with her friend's words since she already knew about him from her aunt's stories. As Rose told her about him, she was still trying to wrap her head around the fact she actually was meeting the Doctor. Sophie wanted to touch him, to make sure he was properly real, and wasn't just a figment of her imagination. She did think about telling Rose that she already knew about the Doctor, but she decided against it since it didn't really matter at this point.
Rose sat near the Doctor while Sophie settled down at the end of the bed while they watched over him. As they waited for Jackie to get back, they didn't really say much to each other until Rose broke the silence, causing Sophie to look over at her.
"I'm sorry about this." She apologized. "Mum should have explained everything to you what was going on after you got here."
"It's alright, Rose." Sophie gave her a smile, showing she meant it. "I don't blame you for it…though it would have been nice to know, but no harm done. Really."
Rose looked relieved, then she let out a giggle. "You're taking this real well." She commented, amused. "Most people would have run out the door by now."
Sophie laughed at that. "Good thing I'm not most people, I guess." Her friend giggled again. "Besides, I know you wouldn't lie about something like this. It's too big of a thing to lie about."
She nodded in agreement as she stared down at the Doctor, a sad look crossing her face. "The old Doctor would have woke up by…" she whispered to herself.
Sophie heard her and she touched her shoulder in comfort. From what her aunt told her about regeneration, at first it was difficult to comprehend, especially when you didn't know if he was the same person, but he was. He may look different and have a different personality, but he was always still the Doctor.
Jackie came back into the room with a stethoscope in hand. "Here you go, love." She said, handing it over to Rose. "Tina, the cleaners, got this lodger, a medical student, and she was fast asleep, so I just took it." She sat down next to Rose as Sophie brought her legs on the bed and tucked them beneath her. "Though, I still say we should take him to the hospital."
"No, that's the worst thing we could do." Sophie said before Rose could even say anything. "Just one drop of his blood could change the world forever. He will tested be tested on, just like any alien would, even if he does look human."
Jackie still opened her mouth to protest, but Rose cut her off before she could.
"No! Shush!" Her mother shut up after that. Shaking her head, she put the stethoscope on and checked his heart, then she went to the other side of his chest. Sophie didn't question it, already knowing her friend was checking his hearts, since he had two of them. Rose nodded with a look of relief on her face as she took off the stethoscope and sat it down on the bed. "Both working."
"What do you mean, 'both'?" Jackie looked startled.
"Well, he's got two hearts." Rose responded, like it was obvious.
This made the older Tyler scoff. "Oh, don't be stupid."
"He has." Rose slipped off of the bed and stood up to her feet before she started heading out of the room.
Jackie looked back at the Doctor with interest in her eyes. "Anything else he got two of?"
This caused Rose to pause at the open doorway and turned around to face her mum with a stern look on her face. "Leave him alone!" she warned as she walked out of the room with Jackie following right behind her after looking at the Doctor one last time, leaving Sophie alone with the Doctor.
She stared at him, the awe crossing her face again. She was still unable to wrap her mind around the fact he was here. In fact, she didn't want to leave the room, worried if she left he wouldn't be there anymore after she came back. Meeting the Doctor was like meeting the hero of your favorite book. Unable to keep herself from doing it now, Sophie reached forward and touched his cheek. His skin was soft…she found herself blushing at the thought. Where did that come from?
Sophie jerked her hand away just as the Doctor exhaled this weird golden energy. She watched with interest as it flew out the open window. Once it disappeared, Sophie glanced back at him, finding he was still passed out. She frowned as she hoped he would be okay. She stared at him one last time before she sighed and moved off the bed. She went into the living room where Jackie and Rose were, and they were watching the news on the telly.
"Why's she on the telly?" Rose asked Jackie, speaking of Harriet Jones, who was currently on the screen.
Sophie knew who the woman was. Though she lived in America, she still kept track of what was going on the United Kingdom.
"She's the Prime Minister now." Sophie answered for Jackie and Rose looked surprised as she looked over at her mum for confirmation.
Jackie nodded in response. "I'm eighteen quid a week better off." She told her, crossing her arms. "They're calling it, Britain's Golden Age." Jackie grinned then as she kept her eyes on the telly. "I keep on saying my Rose met her."
"Did more than that, stopped World War Three with her." Rose stated proudly with her own grin.
Being the curious mind that she was, Sophie wanted to know all about this, but she had a feeling it was story for another time. Looking at the telly, she decided to listen to what they were talking about.
"Prime Minister, what about those calling the Guinevere One Space Probe a waste of money?" An interviewer asked Harriet Jones as she stood behind her podium.
"Now, that's where you're wrong. I completely disagree if you don't mind." Harriet Jones said, and Rose's grin widened at the screen. "The Guinevere One Space Probe represents this country's limitless ambition. British workman ship, sailing up there amongst the stars."
Sophie wasn't very interested about it anymore, so she went to go check on the Doctor. He was still the same, and she was concerned. Was he going to stay like this forever? Sophie hoped not. She wanted to see the man that her aunt spent hours upon hours gushing about, but she wasn't seeing it and it was bit disappointing. Sophie sighed again as she grabbed the stethoscope to check on his hearts again and they were still beating. She took it off and sat it down on the bed before she kneeled down on her knees, resting her elbows on the bed next to the Doctor.
"Well, your hearts are still beating, Doctor." Sophie said softly, cupping her hands together and resting her chin on them. "You can't be dead, so why aren't you waking up? Mmm? You know, you can't stay like this all day. You're going to have to wake up sometime. Or is this what you do? Stay out of it, then at the last minute, you'll wake up and fight the big bad aliens like in the movies or something?" He didn't respond, which Sophie had expected, so she heard how crazy she sounded as she rolled her eyes skyward.
"Now, I'm just taking to myself. I knew that all this alien stuff would get too much one day." She shook her head and stared at him. "I mean, yeah, I did believe my aunt's story but seeing you here…in the flesh…I just can't believe it. I'm just glad to know you're properly real…and not only that, Rose is your companion! I didn't expect that at all."
She sighed, shaking her head again. "I wonder if you can hear any of this. Probably not, or you would have said something by now, so I'm just rambling to myself. But I had to get all of this out, all this stuff in my head and it was bound to explode if I didn't say anything soon. So yeah, I think I'm done…"
Sophie finally took a breath as all of that came out in a rush. She hadn't talked this much in forever, as she was mostly a shy person, but she felt like she could say anything to the Doctor, even if he was unconscious at the moment. She shook her head once again. "You probably think I'm crazy talking to you like this. Good thing you're actually out of it, so I don't have to hear you say it."
"Well, I wouldn't be that rude."
Sophie jumped at the sound of his voice, her heart beating fast against her chest because of the Doctor startled her. She managed to catch her breath as she looked back up at him, finding him staring at her, eyes trailing over her face. Sophie forced herself not to blush and shy away from his intense staring.
"Have we met before?" he asked, sleepiness in his tone. Sophie didn't have time to say anything as he fell back into unconsciousness as if he had never woken up in the first place.
Mouth open slightly, Sophie stared. Well, that was weird.
"Sophie?"
She jumped up to her feet at the sound of Rose's voice, getting startled again, and she whirled around to find her best friend standing behind her. "Rose, you scared me." She breathed out as she placed her hand on her once again beating heart.
Her friend laughed a little. "I'm sorry, I was just wondering if you wanted to come to the market with me and Mickey."
"No thanks, you go spend time with your boyfriend." Sophie told her, knowing it had probably been a long time for them. "I'll just stay here with your mum and the Doctor.'
"Are you sure?"
"Yeah, I'm sure." Sophie nodded.
"Okay, well, I'll see you later then, yeah?"
"Of course." Sophie smiled. "I'm not going anywhere, Rose.'
"Right, of course." Rose said. "We'll be back soon." She glanced at the Doctor. "Oh, and if he wakes up, call and let me know."
Sophie nodded and her friend left the room, leaving her alone with the Doctor once more.
'Too late for that Rose.' She thought to herself as she glanced at the Time Lord.
TBC...
In...
The Christmas Invasion, Part 2
Again let me know what changes you want to see! :D