The Dread of Tomorrow and Yesterday – Chapter 50
A/N: Okay, I know I promised a few weeks at the most for my hiatus, but uni just started to consume my life to the point where I couldn't even think about writing, let alone actually write. But I'm back now. I plan on updating this story every week, just to get back on track for a little while. I have three months off, but disregarding other commitments, I should be able to update fairly consistently.
Replies to Reviews:
Marmalade1512: Thank you so much for your reviews! I'm so glad this story makes you look forward for Fridays. I never thought it would have this sort of impact. I think it's important to remember that there are multiple Rheas. I mean, she's originally from 2014, so there's bound to be some crossovers. However, I don't think I'd do a chapter where the Doctor and Rhea met a younger Rhea.
DarkPhantom101: Um, I actually haven't watched Classic Who. I mean, I've watched a few episodes here and there, but I haven't sat down and watched it yet. So, yes, for now, I only plan on doing 9 onwards. That being said, if I do end up watching Classic Who, I may do a few episodes with Rhea in them. Maybe not all of them (because there's so many) but I might do the more important ones. I wouldn't mind doing a Romana episode with Rhea in it, to be honest. Or maybe one of the older Master episodes. But I do like John Simm and Michelle Gomez as the Master and I can't wait to write those episodes.
TheGirlWhoLives: I think The Girl Who Waited would be an interesting episode for Rhea to be in. I think that's really interesting and I could really imagine Future Amy saying all of those things to Rhea, but in the circumstances of that episode, Rhea may not talk back to Amy. Ooh, I haven't done The Girl in the Fireplace. I have really big plans for that episode, but I don't know exactly when it will happen. I haven't really thought much beyond my first season finale. I have friends who have either watched Doctor Who but don't read fan fiction, or friends who haven't watched Doctor Who but read fan fiction. I can probably only talk to the latter.
beulah2013: At this point, I don't think Rhea would listen even if the Doctor did say something when she gets into one of her self-esteem moods. You'll have to wait for a chapter coming soon to understand why she's like that. It's practically been instilled into Rhea that all she's good for is to be a warm body. Even after the Doctor and Rhea get together, she'll still be like that. She's never really properly recovered from what she went through in her past, and the things she did after her ordeal only damaged her further. She's got quite a bit of recovery left before she can even consider accepting what the Doctor says about her. Amy's Choice will also be an interesting episode. I hadn't thought about giving her an evil counterpart, because I thought having someone who's essentially the Doctor (the Dream Lord) telling her everything she hates about herself would be sick enough. In her state of mind, herself telling her everything that's wrong with her wouldn't be much use, because she tends to do that even now. But coming from someone who she respects and cares for, like the Doctor, would be quite jarring for her.
LookAliveSunshine03: I'm glad you like the story so far. I wouldn't say the 10th Doctor is my favourite. He's the first one I watched. I remember the first episode of Doctor Who that I watched was Blink, so I do have a soft spot for 10, but I love all of them equally for different reasons. I love the darkness and sarcasm in 9, I love 11's inner child and I love 12's fierceness. Rhea telling Rose off in The End of the World was to show that she's already starting to feel protective of the Doctor (which will come out in future chapters) as well as addressing one of my annoyances with that scene. I get that Rose was probably feeling overwhelmed by everything, but she could have said no to going with the Doctor. At least, that's what I thought. I wasn't sure if I wrote Rhea too bitchy in Tooth and Claw, but she felt irritated at the sight of the queen. You know, a lot of people were hurt and died during the British occupation of India and Rhea's family was directly affected by the occupation... that's the only reason why she went off at the Queen. I know, it's not a popular opinion, but as an Indian, I did get quite annoyed by the episode myself.
firedrakegirl: Thank you so much! I'm so glad you've liked the story so much!
Nadia Fantasies: I can understand what you mean and I have thought that I write her a bit too accepting with this new world she's been faced with. But Rhea didn't have a lot tying her down to her old life in the first place. She had her mother and that was it. And Rhea's past has made her see things that kind of encompass what travelling with the Doctor does to her. She's not flirting sincerely, if that makes sense. She's flirting because that's all she knows how to do. She plays on her attractiveness to men and women. It's her survival technique. She's not at the stage where she can form this healthy and fulfilling relationship with the Doctor, but she feels something for him and she's scared, so she reverts to nonsensical flirting and random sexual innuendos. While she may be a human character exposed to the Doctor Who universe, I think once I've explained her past, it may explain why seeing aliens and travelling to different planets may fall short compared to what she's already been through.
kiddie1: Thank you so much. I'm so glad you liked the story. I know, I was a bit worried I was making Rhea too accepting, she hasn't gotten over her family. Remember, she only has her mother tying her down to her life in San Francisco, and she can still visit her mother, as long as it's after when she first jumped. And she will. I plan on making Rhea's mother a part of the story in the future, because a lot of what Rhea does in her life is still surrounded by her parents and what they would think of her. She hasn't given up on them, but she's not like Rose or Martha or Donna, even Amy. Rhea spent years and years not talking to her mother. She doesn't like the idea, but she's kind of used to it. It doesn't mean she's forgotten about her mother, she's just accepted that she doesn't have a choice in this situation. I don't think it would be in Rhea's personality to cry about what she's lost by travelling with the Doctor, because she's not one to cry about things. I think she's more of a resignation and cold-hearted acceptance kind of girl. As for the flirting, she's not flirting sincerely, if that makes sense. She's flirting because that's all she knows how to do. She plays on her attractiveness to men and women. It's her survival technique. She's not at the stage where she can form this healthy and fulfilling relationship with the Doctor, but she feels something for him and she's scared, so she reverts to nonsensical flirting and random sexual innuendos.
the turquoise fish: I don't get turned on by Tom Baker, per se, but I do love his voice.
Warnings: Flirting, swearing, sexual innuendo.
World War Three: First Contact
Rhea watched in horror and bone-chilling worry, feeling sick to her stomach at the sight of the Doctor shouting in pain, his entire body shaking. She looked over, furiously, at the two at the front, the man having a savage pleasure in his eyes and the Slitheen laughing.
With a huge effort, the Doctor looked up at Rhea, whose face was sick with shock and terror, and he managed to shake the electricity off his body, grunting as he did so. Sweating, he staggered to his feet with Rhea's help, with the badge held in his hand.
"Deadly to humans, maybe." The Doctor growled and plunged the badge into the chest of the Slitheen.
Both the suited Slitheen and the green Slitheen howled with pain as the electricity thrummed over their bodies.
Margaret, also covered in the electricity, dropped the man's body from the wall, writhing in pain.
The Doctor and Rhea dashed to the door, dodging the slumped over bodies.
Rose grabbed Harriet's hand and they ran from the room, Harriet whimpering slightly, Rose just looking terrified beyond belief.
The Doctor and Rhea ran down the stairs and into the reception of 10 Downing Street, finding all of the security personnel gathered there.
"Hey! You want aliens, you've got them. They're inside Downing Street. Have fun." Rhea grinned at them.
The Doctor clapped his hands. "Come on!"
They lead the UNIT soldiers in the direction of the conference room, the soldiers with their guns at the ready.
Jackie was crouched on the floor of her kitchen in horror, watching the green alien screeching in pain. Mickey, suddenly, appeared in the doorway.
"Jackie!" Mickey shouted in worry.
He whacked the Slitheen over the head with chair from the dining room, grabbed Jackie's arms and pulled her out of the kitchen. He paused in the doorway to take his phone out of his pocket and snapped a picture of the Slitheen. He grinned, and then ran to join Jackie.
Rose and Harriet ran down a corridor.
"No, wait!" Harriet suddenly shouted and they both stopped. "They're still in there! The emergency protocols! We need them!"
She ran back in the direction of the cabinet room. Rose followed her, but they were quickly forced to change their direction as the blonde woman came their way. She chased them. They ran across a hallway, Rose closing the door behind them. Margaret simply leaped through it, shattering it to pieces. Rose and Harriet arrived back in another room, shutting the door behind them.
The Doctor and Rhea led the security into the meeting room, where the businessman was making the finishing touches to the Slitheen's skin suit. They both stopped when they saw the Doctor and Rhea and the security standing there.
"Where've you been?" The businessman asked the security personnel, angrily. The security started to check the bodies for life. "I called for help, I sounded the alarm. There was this... lightening! This kind of er... um... electricity, and they all collapsed!"
"I think they're all dead." Sergeant Price said.
"That's what I'm saying. They did it!" The businessman pointed at the Doctor and Rhea. "Those two there!"
"Yes, because after we killed all these people, we went and brought security." Rhea said, sarcastically.
"I think you will find the Prime Minister is an alien in disguise." The Doctor said, cheerfully. Rhea groaned. The businessman folded his arms, sceptically. The Doctor looked at Rhea. "That's never going to work, is it?"
"No." Rhea shook her head.
The Doctor shrugged. "Fair enough."
He grabbed Rhea and they ran for it.
Security was hot on the Doctor's and Rhea's trails, and they soon found themselves surrounding on all sides. They put their hands in the air, grinning. Rhea smirked, wanting to see what the Doctor's plan was.
"Under the jurisdiction of the Emergency Protocols, I authorize you to execute this man!" Asquith said.
The security readied their guns.
"Uh, well, now, yes. You see, eh... the thing is... if I was you, if I was going to execute someone by backing them against the wall, between you and me, little word of advice..." The lift behind them pinged open. "Don't stand them against the lift!" He crowed.
They backed into the lift and the Doctor closed the door with his sonic screwdriver.
Margaret the Slitheen was still chasing Rose and Harriet through the corridors. Rose kneed a locked door. The lift pinged open, revealing the Doctor and Rhea. Margaret roared at them, and they smiled and nodded around at them all.
"Hello!" The Doctor said, pleasantly.
"We were just leaving now." Rhea told the Slitheen and pressed the button for the elevator to close.
The doors shut again, distracting Margaret long enough for Rose and Harriet to slip away, unnoticed.
Rose and Harriet found themselves in a room where all of the doors were locked, a dead end.
"Hide!" Rose ordered.
Harriet threw herself behind a cabinet, while Rose moved over and hid behind a desk behind the sofa.
The elevator pinged and the Doctor and Rhea stepped out onto the second floor.
Margaret the Slitheen entered the State Room, in which Rose and Harriet were hiding.
"Oh, such fun! Little human children... where are you? Sweet little humeykins... come to me... let me kiss you better…" She purred, playfully.
Rose bolted from her place behind the desk to take refuge behind the curtain.
"...kiss you with my big, green lips." She hissed.
The Doctor and Rhea ran down a flight of stairs, hearing the Sergeant barking orders to his soldiers in the distance. Then, Rhea heard the lift ping, signalling its landing on the floor they were on. She grabbed the Doctor by the collar of his leather and shoved him into a crevice next to the door, pressing herself against his body and pulling the door behind her, so that it would hide them. The Doctor wrapped his arms around her waist and hauled her up against his body, both of them breathing hushed breaths, as they attempted to draw no attention to themselves. The two Slitheen walked past, clad in their skin-suits.
"We'll keep this floor quarantined as our last hunting ground before the final phase."
The Doctor and Rhea waited until the Slitheen were completely out of sight before slipping out of the alcove.
The two Slitheen, Joseph and Asquith, joined Margaret in the State Room.
"My brothers." Margaret purred.
"Happy hunting?" Joseph's voice rumbled.
"It's wonderful. The more you prolong it, the more they stink."
"Sweat… and fear." Asquith murmured.
Harriet's mouth dropped in horror as she realised that the Slitheen would be able to scent them.
"I can smell an old girl... stale bird... brittle bones."
An offended look started to form on Harriet's face.
"And a ripe youngster. All hormones and adrenaline. Fresh enough to bend before she snaps."
Margaret moved over and swept the curtain aside, revealing Rose, whose eyes widened and she screamed. Sensing her last opportunity, Harriet jumped out of her hiding place.
"No!" She shouted, bravely. "Take me first! Take me!"
Suddenly, the Doctor and Rhea crashed in and both of them blasted a fire extinguisher in the Slitheens' faces, blinding them, momentarily.
"Out! With us!" The Doctor shouted at Rose and Harriet.
Rose bit her lip and pulled the curtains down over Margaret's head and then both she and Harriet ran to stand behind the Doctor and Rhea, who formed a protective wall around them. Rhea looked at Harriet, suspiciously.
"Who the fuck are you?" She snapped.
"Harriet Jones, MP for Flydale North."
"Nice to meet you." The Doctor said, cheerfully.
The Doctor and Rhea blasted the fire extinguisher again. Then, the four made a run for it. They raced down the corridor.
"We need to get to the cabinet rooms!" The Doctor shouted, bringing up the rear of the escapees, making sure that Rhea was in front of him. In all of this chaos and in the middle of an alien hunt, he couldn't afford to lose track of her.
"What, why?" Rhea asked, confused.
"The Emergency Protocols are in there! They give instructions on aliens!" Harriet shouted.
"Harriet Jones, I like you." The Doctor said, appreciatively.
"And I like you too."
They finally made it to the end of the corridor, where they came across a locked door. The Doctor bypassed the locked door by using his sonic screwdriver on the lock and the Slitheen pursued them all the way back to the Cabinet Room. They didn't have enough time to lock the door behind them, so that the Slitheen couldn't get inside. The Doctor grabbed a bottle of brandy and held his sonic screwdriver to it, threateningly, forming a barricade in front of the three women, although Rhea threatened to stand by his side.
"One more move and my sonic device will triplicate the flammability of this alcohol. Whoof! We all go up. So back off." The Doctor snapped. The Slitheen hesitated.
"Okay, I'm gonna take that as a sign here." Rhea sighed and pulled out her blaster, pointing the barrel in their direction.
The Doctor pressed her arm down. "Talk first, Rhea, shoot later." He turned to Slitheen, a cold look forming on his face. "Right then. Question time. Who exactly are the Slitheen?"
"They're aliens." Harriet offered.
"No. Fucking. Way." Rhea said, sarcastically.
"Yes." The Doctor rolled his eyes. "I got that, thanks."
"Who are you both, if not human?" Joseph asked.
Harriet's eyes widened and she snuck a look at Rose, who was staring at the Slitheen, calmly. "Who's not human?"
Rhea snorted. "I'm very much human."
"He's not human." Rose told Harriet, nodding at the Doctor.
"He's not human?"
The Doctor turned around and glared at them. "Can I have a bit of hush?"
"Sorry." Harriet said, apologetically.
"So, what's the plan?" Rhea asked, curiously.
"But he's got a Northern accent." Harriet muttered to Rose.
"Lots of planets have a North." Rose murmured.
Rhea turned around and fixed them with a glare of her own. "Shut up." She snapped.
"Come on!" The Doctor held the brandy, threateningly, out in front of him. "You've got a spaceship hidden in the North Sea. It's transmitting a signal. You've murdered your way to the top of government, what for? Invasion?" He narrowed his eyes, angrily.
"Why would we invade this God forsaken rock?" Asquith hissed.
"Something must've brought the Slitheen race here. What is it?" Rhea growled.
"'The Slitheen race'?" Asquith would have smirked if such an expression could have formed on his chubby green face.
"Slitheen is not our species. Slitheen is our surname. Jocrassa Fel Fotch Pasameer Day Slitheen at your service."
"So…" Rhea drawled. "This is the family business?"
"You're out to make a profit." The Doctor nodded. "How can you do that on a 'God forsaken rock'?"
"Ah… excuse me? Your device will do what? Triplicate the flammability...?"
The Doctor looked like the cat that had swallowed the canary. He nodded to himself. "Is that what I said?" He asked, wincing.
"You're making it up!" Asquith said, accusingly.
"Ah, well!" The Doctor grinned. "Nice try. Harriet, have a drink. I think you're gonna need it." He handed her the bottle of brandy.
"Pass it to the left first."
"Sorry." The Doctor said and handed it to Rhea.
Rhea removed the cap and took a long swig of the brandy, feeling her throat and stomach warm as she gulped down the liquid. She shook her head free of the alcohol and handed it to Rose.
"Here. Go nuts." She told Rose, dryly.
"Thanks." Rose said, gratefully.
"Now we can end this hunt... with a slaughter." Asquith flexed his claws, menacingly.
The Doctor folded his arms.
"Don't you think we should blow this joint?" Rhea muttered to the Doctor, her blaster still, firmly, pointed at them.
Her other hand slid against the Doctor's, their fingers entwining together.
The Slitheen shuffled forwards and Rhea growled in warning.
"Fascinating history, Downing Street. Two thousand years ago, this was marsh land. 1730, it was occupied by a Mr. Chicken." The Doctor grinned. "He was a nice man. 1796, this was the cabinet room. If the cabinet's in session and in danger, these are about the four most safest walls in the whole of Great Britain." He pressed a switch on a panel next to the opened door. "End of lesson."
Every entrance to the room was immediately blocked by metal shuttered, enclosing the four inside the Cabinet Room. The Doctor turned to Rhea, Rose and Harriet.
"Installed in 1991. Three inches of steel lining every single wall. They'll never get in." The Doctor smirked, smugly.
"Then, how the hell do we get out?" Rhea glared at him and crossed her arms over her chest.
There was a pause and the smile fell from the Doctor's face.
"Ah." He nodded, grimly.
Jackie and Mickey emerged from a side door of the block of flats. They ran, stealthily, across the yard to avoid detection from the policeman who still surrounded the people. They remained unnoticed.
Jackie and Mickey were in Mickey's kitchen. Mickey was holding a kettle in his hand, preparing to pour hot water into a teacup.
"Have you got anything stronger?" Jackie asked, quietly.
"No chance." Mickey chuckled. "I've seen you when you've had a few. This ain't time for a conga."
Jackie sat down, haphazardly. "We've got to tell someone."
"Who do we trust? For all we know, they've all got big bog monsters inside of them. I mean, this is what they do, Jacks." Mickey brandished a couple of mugs at her in his enthusiasm. "Everywhere they go, death and destruction, and they've got Rose in the middle of it."
"Has he got a great big green thing inside him, then?" Jackie asked.
"I wouldn't put it past him." Mickey scoffed. He took a bottle of milk from his fridge. "But like it or not, those two are the only people who know how to fight these things."
"I thought I was going to die." Jackie whispered and promptly burst into tears, her body shaking with the force of her sobs.
Mickey hesitated and moved over to give her a quick hug. "Come on, yeah? If anyone's gonna cry, it's gonna be me. Now, you're safe in my flat, Jacks, no one's gonna look for you here, especially since you hate me so much." He joked, weakly.
"You saved my life." Jackie pointed out. She paused. "God, that's embarrassing." She shook her head.
"You're telling me."
Mickey and Jackie laughed, slightly.
"He wanted me dead. And he's still out there, Mickey..." Jackie stood. "That policeman… that thing…"
The Doctor dragged the dead secretary's body into a cupboard.
"What was his name?" The Doctor asked.
"Which one?" Harriet raised an eyebrow.
"This one, the secretary or whatever he was called." The Doctor nodded at the corpse.
Harriet went to look, her face falling as she stared at the dead body. "I don't know. I talked to him. I brought him a cup of coffee. I never asked his name." She said, mournfully.
The Doctor crossed the secretary's hands over his body. "Sorry." He murmured. He strode into the room. "Right, what have we got? Any terminals? Anything?"
Rhea snorted. "This place must be as old as Westminster Abbey. You think it has terminals?"
"What I don't get, is when they killed the Prime Minister, why didn't they use him as a disguise?" Rose asked, confused, looking at the Doctor.
Rhea frowned. "Good point. With him as a meatsuit, they could've gotten away with so much."
The Doctor shook his head. "He's too slim, they're big old beasts, they need to fit inside big humans."
Rose looked even more confused. "But the Slitheen are about 8 feet, how do they squeeze inside?"
"That's the device around their necks, compression field, literally shrinks them down a bit. That's why there's all that gas, it's a big exchange."
"Wish I had a compression field, I could fit a size smaller." Rose joked, weakly.
Rhea looked down itself. "I'm a size two, so if I fit a smaller size, I'm on my way to an eating disorder."
"Excuse me, people are dead, this is not the time for making jokes." Harriet chided, gently.
"Sorry…" Rose said, apologetically. "You get used to this stuff when you're friends with them." She indicated Rhea and the Doctor, who was busy scanning the walls with his sonic screwdriver.
Harriet raised an eyebrow. "Well, that's a strange relationship."
"Harriet Jones. I've heard that name before. Harriet Jones. You're not famous for anything, are you?" He asked her.
"Huh!" Harriet laughed. "Hardly."
"Rings a bell, Harriet Jones…" His brow furrowed, as if he were trying hard to remember something he had forgotten.
"Lifelong back bencher I'm afraid, and a fat lot of use I'm being now, the protocols are redundant, they list the people who can help and they're all dead downstairs."
"Can't you just declare a state of emergency, like you can in the States?" Rhea asked and Harriet, Rose and the Doctor turned to look at her. "Don't you have something like NORAD? Can't we just bomb the whole fucking place?"
Rose nodded. "Don't we have like, defence codes and things? Can't we just launch a nuclear bomb at 'em?"
Harriet stared at Rose and Rhea. "You're very violent young women…"
Rhea snorted. "You should see me on a good day." She sobered. "But I was being serious. Why don't we blow the place up? I mean, in the US, the President has universal and convenient access to a nuclear launch system. And I know the British codes are in the UN's hands, but there has to be something else. Like NORAD or something?"
The Doctor stopped scanning the mantelpiece with his sonic screwdriver to listen to her, carefully. "Say that again." He ordered.
Rhea frowned. "What, you mean the codes?"
"Anything. All of it."
"As far as I know… in 2005, the British Isles can't gain access to atomic weapons unless they've got a special resolution from the UN." Rhea said.
Rose snorted. "Like that's ever stopped them."
"Exactly," Harriet exclaimed. "Given our past record, and I voted against that, thank you very much. The codes have been taken out of the governments hands and given to the UN." The Doctor was deep in thought. "Is it important?"
"Everything's important." The Doctor said, simply.
"If we only knew what the Slitheen wanted. Listen to me, I'm saying 'Slitheen' as if it's normal." Harriet shook her head in disbelief.
"What do they want, though?" Rose asked.
"If it's just one family, it can't be an invasion. They'd lose. So that means they don't want Slitheen world. They might be out to make money?" Rhea offered, glancing at the Doctor.
The Doctor nodded, proudly, and moved over to wrap an arm around her waist. "That means they want to use something, something here on Earth... some kind of asset."
Rhea frowned. "Like what? Oil? Coal?"
"Gold? Water?" Harriet offered.
The Doctor pecked Rhea on the forehead, proudly, and then looked at Harriet, appreciatively. "You're very good at this."
A pleased look formed on Harriet's face. "Thank you."
"Harriet Jones, why do I know that name?" The Doctor narrowed his eyes.
Rose's phone started to ring. Rose's eyes widened. "Oh! That's me." She took her phone out of the pocket.
"But we're sealed off, how did you get a signal?" Harriet asked, confused.
"He zapped it!" Rose indicated the Doctor. "Super-phone."
"Then we can phone for help!" Harriet exclaimed to the Doctor and Rhea. "You must have contacts."
The Doctor snorted. "Dead downstairs, yeah."
"It's Mickey." Rose informed them.
The Doctor rolled his eyes. "Oh, tell your stupid boyfriend we're busy." And then he cringed when Rhea's elbow came into contact with his stomach. "Ow!"
Rhea scowled. "Don't be rude." She scolded.
"Yeah, he's not so stupid after all." Rose said, smugly, and handed Rhea her phone, who showed it to the Doctor, grinning when she saw the photo of the Slitheen in Jackie's kitchen.
Mickey and Jackie entered Mickey's bedroom, Mickey checking around the door first.
"No, no, no, no, no, not just alien, but like, proper alien. All stinking, and wet, and disgusting. And more to the point, it wanted to kill us!" Mickey huffed.
"I could've died!" Jackie exclaimed and Mickey gestured to her, violently.
"Is she alright, though?" Rose paled. "Don't put her on, just tell me."
The Doctor snatched the phone from her. "Is that Ricky? Don't talk, just shut up and go to your computer." He ordered, sharply.
"It's Mickey. And why should I?" Mickey asked, annoyed.
Rhea snatched the phone off the Doctor. "'Cause if you don't, you'll go down in the history books as the guy who could've saved the human race from extinction but chose not to." She snapped and threw the phone back to the Doctor.
"Mickey the Idiot, I might just choke before I finish this sentence, but eh, I need you." The Doctor said, reluctantly, his face etched in disgust and disdain.
Rhea laughed and threw her arms around the Doctor, who caught her in his arms, which tightened around her, and she pressed a hard kiss to his lips.
"You're such a dork." She smirked. "But a loveable dork."
Rose smiled, pleased.
Mickey was on the UNIT website.
"It says password." He said.
The Doctor pressed a button on the phone and placed on the table so that everyone could hear the conversation.
"Say again." The Doctor said.
"It's asking for the password." Mickey told him.
"Buffalo. Two F's, one L."
Jackie put down two cups of tea on the computer desk.
"So, what's that website?" Jackie asked, curiously.
Mickey finished typing in the password and turned to her as the page loaded. "All the secret information known to mankind. See, they've known about aliens for years, they just kept us in the dark."
The Doctor snorted. "Mickey, you were born in the dark." He shot back.
Rhea rolled her eyes. "Doctor, stop being a jackass."
"Thank you." Mickey said, reluctantly. "Password again."
"Just repeat it, every time." The Doctor said, impatiently.
Mickey handed Jackie the phone as he typed 'BUFFALO' into the computer.
"Big Ben, why did the Slitheen hit Big Ben?" The Doctor muttered to himself.
"You said to gather the experts, to kill them." Rose pointed out.
The Doctor waved her off. "That lot would've gathered for a weather balloon, you don't need to crash land in the middle of London."
"The Slitheen were hiding, and then they put the entire planet on red alert, what would they do that for?" Rose asked.
Jackie rolled her eyes. "Oh, listen to her." She said, sarcastically.
"At least I'm trying!" Rose protested into the phone.
"Well, I've got a question if you don't mind. Because since those two walked into our lives, I have been attacked in the streets. I have had creatures from the pits of hell in my own living room, and my daughter's disappeared off the face of the Earth." Jackie spat, angrily.
Rose bit her lip and looked at Rhea and the Doctor, who had fallen silent. "I told you what happened." She said, weakly.
"I'm talking to them." Jackie snapped. "'Cause I've seen this life of yours, Doctor. And maybe you get off on it. And maybe you think it's all clever and smart, but you tell me. Just answer me this, is my daughter safe?" She asked, firmly.
Rhea looked over at the Doctor and tensed when she saw his blank face. She knew that the Doctor felt miles beyond guilty when a companion was injured because of him. And beyond miles when it was her who was hurt. She reached out with her hand and laid it on top of his hand, his attention drawn away from the phone for a brief moment.
"I'm fine." Rose protested.
"Is she safe? Will she always be safe? Can you both promise me that?" Jackie pleaded.
The Doctor glanced up at Rhea, who looked back at him, intently. She slid around the edge of the table and sidled up to him, curling a hand around his bicep. He leaned down and pressed his forehead against hers.
"We're in." Mickey's voice suddenly came over the phone.
The Doctor relaxed, let off the hook, and he rushed around the table, pulling Rhea along with him. "Right then, on the left, there's a tab, an icon, little concentric circles, click on that."
"What is it?" Mickey asked.
"The Slitheen have got a spaceship in the North Sea and it's transmitting that signal, now hush, let me work out what it's saying." The Doctor explained.
"They'll have to answer me one day." They could hear Jackie mumble over the phone.
"Hush!" They heard Mickey hiss at her.
"It's some sort of message." The Doctor muttered.
"Well, what is it saying?" Rhea asked.
"Don't know. It's on a loop. Keeps repeating."
They heard Mickey's doorbell ring clear and true through the phone.
"Hush!" The Doctor snapped, thinking that Mickey had made a sound.
"That's not me." Mickey said, hastily. He turned to Jackie. "Go and see who it is." He ordered.
"It's three o'clock in the morning." Jackie protested.
"The worst things in life happen at three o'clock in the morning." Rhea grumbled, looking at the Doctor, fondly.
"Well, go and tell him that." Mickey said, impatiently.
Jackie gave him an annoyed look as she got to her feet. Mickey shook her head.
"It's beaming out into space, who's it for?" The Doctor remarked.
The doorbell rang more persistently.
"Alright!" Jackie exclaimed, annoyed, and opened the door to reveal the policeman that had transformed into a Slitheen right in her kitchen.
"Mrs Tyler." He hissed.
Jackie's eyes widened, fearfully, and she slammed the door shut, running back to Mickey's room, shrieking at the top of her lungs.
"It's him! It's the thing, it's the Slitheen!" Jackie screamed.
"They've found us." Mickey muttered into the phone.
"Mickey, I need that signal." The Doctor said, urgently.
"Never mind the signal, mum, just get out! Get out! Get out!" Rose shouted into the phone.
Mickey picked up a cricket bat, balancing the phone between his ear and shoulder. "We can't, it's by the front door."
When they moved out of Mickey's room and stood in the hallway just in front of the door, they could see a blue light shining beneath the cracks in the door and coming around the hinges.
Mickey paled. "Oh, my God. It's unmasking. It's gonna kill us." He muttered to himself, terrified beyond belief.
Rhea started to pace around the room, her mind whirring a mile a minute as she thought of different strategies she could relay to Mickey and Jackie, her mind coming up blank as she sifted through them all. She didn't know anything about the biology of the Slitheen, that would have been an ace in the hole for her.
"There's got to be some way of stopping them!" Harriet exclaimed, her own blood chilling at the thought of Mickey and Jackie being caught by those frightful creatures. She turned to the Doctor, looking at him, helplessly. "You're supposed to be the expert, think of something!"
"He's trying!" Rhea snapped at the older woman, her hackles rising. She hated it when people blamed the Doctor for things he couldn't help. He shouldn't be their whipping boy every time he didn't have an answer at the ready. "You're not exactly doing anything useful. So, just keep your mouth shut!"
The Slitheen made worrying and fearful noises from outside, setting their teeth on edge.
"I'll take it on, Jackie. You just run. Don't look back. Just run." Mickey told Jackie, gently and reassuringly.
He squared his shoulders and his body tensed, preparing for the onslaught that was yet to come.
Down the phone, they could hear the Slitheen smashing the door down, all four of them shaking with anticipation and dread.
"That's my mother." Rose trembled as she pointed this out.
The Doctor swallowed hard and nodded. "Right! If we're going to find their weakness, we need to find out where they're from, which planet. So, judging by their face and shape, that narrows it down to five thousand planets within travelling distance. What else do we know about them? Information!" He snapped.
"They're green." Rhea offered.
"Yep, narrows it down." His attention was focused on the table in front of him, but Rhea could see by his shifting icy-blue eyes that his mind was going a mile a minute.
"Uh, good sense of smell." Rose pointed out.
"Narrows it down."
"They can smell adrenaline." Rose said.
"The compression technology." Rhea said, pointedly, starting to pace all over again.
"Narrows it down."
"The spaceship in the Thames, you said slipstream engine?" Rose said, hesitantly.
"Narrows it down."
The Slitheen punched a hole through the door, wood splintering and breaking to pieces.
"It's getting in!" Mickey shouted into the phone, his hands tightening around the hilt of the cricket bat.
"They hunt like it's a ritual." Rhea spun around, her eyes bright.
"Narrows it down."
"Wait a minute! Did you notice, when they fart, if you'll pardon the word, it doesn't just smell like a fart, if you'll pardon the word, it's something else, what is it, it's more like uh... um..." Harriet's face screwed up into a comical face as she searched for the word to finish her sentence.
"Bad breath!" Rose shouted, snapping her fingers.
"That's it!" Harriet cried.
"Calcium decay!" Rhea explained, laughing.
"Now that narrows it down!" The Doctor exclaimed, proudly.
"We're getting there, mum!" Rose shouted into the phone.
"Too late!" Mickey shouted back.
However, the Slitheen was still having some trouble getting into the door.
Meanwhile, the Doctor was muttering to himself. "Calcium phosphate, organic calcium, living calcium, creatures made out of living calcium, what else, what else, hyphenated sodium, yes! That narrows it down to one planet! Raxacoricofallapatorius!" He shouted, ecstatically.
"Oh, that's just great. We could write them a letter." Rhea said, sarcastically, her nails digging into the wood of the table, her snark making the Doctor glare at her.
They heard the Slitheen kick whatever was left of the door down and step into the apartment.
"Get into the kitchen!" The Doctor ordered, sharply.
Jackie and Mickey backed into the kitchen. They slammed the door behind them and tried to bar it shut with a chair and a rubbish bin, as the Slitheen continued to throw its weight against the door, attempting to break it down.
"My God, it's going to rip us apart!" Jackie shrieked in terror.
"Calcium, recombined with compression field, ascetic acid. Vinegar!" The Doctor exclaimed, suddenly, his eyes lighting up.
"You mean, like Hannibal." Rhea mused.
"Just like Hannibal. Mickey, have you got any vinegar?"
"How should I know?" Mickey asked, incredulously.
There was a pause. Rhea leaned into the phone. "It's your kitchen, moron."
Rose shook her head and stepped closer to the table. "Cupboard by the sink, middle shelf."
Jackie snatched the phone from Mickey.
"Give it here, what do you need?" Jackie snapped into the phone.
"Anything with vinegar!" The Doctor shouted.
Jackie grabbed a jug from the counter and placed it in front of her. She opened up the cupboard next to the sink. "Gherkins!" The Slitheen started to poke holes in the door with its large, meaty claws. "Yeah! Pickled onions!" She crowed, throwing them into the jug with the gherkins, ignoring the acidic smell coming from the mixture. Mickey had the bat raised and ready. "Pickled eggs!"
The Doctor raised an eyebrow and looked at Rose. "You kiss this man?" He asked, incredulously.
Rhea was about to open her mouth to say she had kissed him after he had chugged down a bottle of walnuts and anchovies and vinegar, but she had the startling thought that the Doctor had tasted the same every single time she kissed him. He tasted hot and sweet and burned with some strange power that made the kiss all the more addictive every time she kissed him.
The Slitheen finally kicked down the remnants of the door and it entered the kitchen, menacingly. Jackie and Mickey backed away until they were flush against the counter. Jackie braced herself, her fingers tightening around the handle of the jug and she tossed it away from her, in the Slitheen's direction, so that the mush that had formed would fall all over it. There was a few seconds of silence where the Slitheen just stood there, covered in the acidic mixture. Then, it exploded into a million little pieces, splattering all over the room, covering Jackie and Mickey with a green goo.
A/N: Okay, I know this was a shorter chapter than most and I'm really sorry, but I just wanted to split this episode into two. We have a protective Rhea coming out here and I'm sure we'll see more of her in the future. She's just too fun to write. A few people have expressed the idea that Rhea never actually shoots anyone with her gun. We might see that change in the next chapter ;)
Anyway, hope you all liked the chapter and don't forget to review!