I tried so hard to get 12 in here. I attempted to write two separate episodes with him. I even banged most of a chapter out, but it felt forced and unsatisfying. So I scrapped it and started new with a different Doctor. I'm still not entirely happy with this chapter now, but it is what it is.

Hope you enjoy!

~RainingCoffee

PS. I don't know why, but this chapter refused to show up after a bit. Like the story said it was there, but it wasn't showing up when you went to look for it. Hopefully this fixes it?

Finishing my entry, I sit back with a sigh. It hadn't seemed so at the time but a lot had happened in just a few days.

My eyes slide over to the Doctor, who was in the process of cursing at some gizmo he was trying to get to work at his own desk. I walk up behind him and flop my body down on top of his, wrapping my arms around his neck.

He oophs, but brings his own hand up to pat at my arms. "What's all this then?"

"Just reflecting over the last few days. A lot has happened." I mumble into his hair.

The Doctor hums, clasping one of my hands with his own and placing a kiss on it. He swivels his chair around so he's facing me.

Quietly, hoping the world will stop and listen, I duck my head into the Doctor's neck and whisper. "I just want to stay in one place with you for a while."

The Doctor's arms come up around me and crush me against his body tightly. "Oh Mabel." His voice is sad. "I know. Trust me, I know."

I close my eyes tightly against the heat I can already feel building up my legs. "I don't want to go yet."

The Doctor stokes my hair, but doesn't say anything. I can feel his conflicting feelings swirling around in the back of my mind. I realize that the Doctor is just as upset as I am that I'm jumping.

For some reason that thought is a comfort to me. My world goes white and this reality fades away, but for the first time in a long time, I'm smiling while it happens.

I reappear in a tangle of limbs, flailing before hitting the ground.

"Mabel?" I hear Rose ask. I groan in response, and she laughs. "I'm so glad you showed up! You left while we were in the Tardis and then he changed and now I don't know what to do!" Her voice becomes progressively more frantic the longer she talks.

My hand reaches out, still a little blind, to pat her on the back. "Woah hun. Slow down. What's wrong?"

She takes a deep breath to steady herself. "The Doctor sent us away because of the Daleks. But you wouldn't accept that. I know that you knew how to pilot the Tardis, but you said you couldn't to get back. You said you had no other choice."

The more she talks, the more it feels as though something is being set in stone. "Rose." I say, panic in my voice. "Stop talking, right now."

But she doesn't seem to hear me, or maybe she does and she doesn't care. "You cracked open the heart of the Tardis and it went into you somehow."

The feeling coalesces, a noose tightening around my neck. Rose starts to say more, but I lunge for her and cover her mouth with my palm.

"Stop talking right now." I demand. She takes in my expression, pupils dilating in surprise. "Don't tell me anymore. You can't tell me events that haven't happened to me yet. If I had gone in blind, not knowing anything, then there was a good chance that I would have been able to fly the Tardis to go back. But you just told me that I open the heart of the Tardis and now I have no choice but to do that."

I pull my hand from her mouth, disappointed. "You said he changed? How? Did he change his face?"

Rose nods, thoroughly chastised. "He's in here." She leads me towards a room in the back of an apartment.

I open the door and find the Doctor lying in a bed. The pretty boy Doctor with the great hair. Sitting down next to him on the side of the bed, I bring a hand up to feel his forehead. His temperature is higher than it should be. Reaching out mentally, I get a faint hint of exhaustion, healing, sleep, before his consciousness recedes.

My eyes open, I hadn't realized I had closed them in the first place. "He should be fine." I murmur to Rose, hearing her answering sigh of relief. "He just needs to rest, I get the feeling this wasn't a traditional regeneration."

Rose looks at me. "I forget sometimes that you guys are aliens, and then one of you goes and does something like this." I can hear her feet rock back and forth on the carpet. "I'll let mum know you're here."

I hum in acknowledgement, but otherwise don't move. This is the first time I've seen the Doctor down and out like this. It's not an entirely pleasant feeling, seeing the person you care for helpless. My hand reaches out for his and I grip it tight, sending all the support I can muster.

Some time later, a woman bustles into the room. Rose's mom, more than likely. I attempt a smile but it must not have been very convincing because she tuts at me.

"Poor dear. I'm Jackie, Rose's mum. Rose stepped out, but I thought you'd like a cuppa." Jackie tells me, handing me a hot cup of tea.

My smile evens out into something more genuine and I take the cup from her. "Thanks Jackie, and thanks for not minding us being in your apartment."

Jackie waves me off. "Of course. Rose wouldn't hear of anything different. And I can't put a man out while he's hurt. Even if he is rude." She says the last part in a mumble under her breath.

I laugh, and she sends me a mortified look. "Don't worry Jackie. I'm quite aware he's rude."

Her face is still a bit red, which probably contributes to the hurried pleasantries and the hasty exit from the room. I look back at the Doctor. "I've been spending to much time with you, mister. I've gotten out of practice with normal niceties."

He doesn't respond, but it's not like I was expecting one anyways at this point.

Hours pass. I'm starting to feel tired myself, but I have a feeling that going to sleep would be a bad idea right now.

This feeling is proved correct when Rose, Jackie, and an unfamiliar man rush into the room. The man and Jackie push a dresser across the floor to block the door. There are noises as if something is smacking against the door violently.

"What going on?" I ask, alarmed.

Rose goes over to the Doctor and shakes him. "Doctor, wake up!"

He doesn't wake up and Rose lunges for his leather jacket, frantically searching the pockets for something. A spinning Christmas tree? A spinning Christmas tree breaks through the door and starts heading towards us.

Rose makes a noise of victory and places the sonic screwdriver in the Doctors hand. "What are you doing that for?" I ask her, incredulous. "Give that here." I snatch the screwdriver from his hand and point it at the tree.

The Doctor had explained it a bit when I was with his bow tied self. The screwdriver was a little bit telepathic, basically point and think. Stop! I command, pressing the button on the side of the screwdriver at the same time.

The tree violently explodes. The screwdriver dings with new information. I'm not entirely sure how the Doctor actually reads anything from the screwdriver, that's a lesson I haven't had yet. But I know what he normally does to get the information, so I try that. As soon as I bring up the side of the screwdriver to my eyes, a stream of information bursts into my head. Most of it doesn't make any sense, but one thing stands out.

"There was someone else behind that. Someone else was pulling the strings. But who?" I murmur, mostly to myself.

The Doctor pushes me, at least that was what it feels like. A sort of mental nudge. There is something outside.

I head outside, walking along the balcony. There are Santa's out on the pavement below us.

"That's them. What are they?" The man asks. Rose shushes him.

I raise the sonic screwdriver, and the Santa's take a step back. A light comes from the sky and they are beamed away.

The man scoffs. "They've just gone. What kind of rubbish were they? I mean, no offence, but they're not much if a sonic screwdriver's going to scare them off."

Shaking my head, I look over at him. "No, they were just like the tree. Being controlled by something. But the fact that they left means that they must have found what they were looking for. That means whoever is controlling them is probably heading this way."

The man doesn't look pleased by that, which to be fair, I'm not all that pleased by it either.

Jackie bustles all of us inside, sitting us down on the couch and making sure that everyone has a fresh cup of tea before anyone quite knows what's going on. I hide a smile as I take a sip. Jackie and I will probably get along just fine.

Rose directs her attention to me. "You said they were remote control. Who's controlling them?"

"I don't know." I admit.

The man scowls. "Well what's the point of you then?"

"Mickey!" Rose scolds him.

"No Rose." Mickey argues. "You go off with them, trust them with your life and she doesn't have any idea of what's going on."

Rose puffs up, ready to fight. "It's fine Rose." I tell her, ignoring Mickey entirely. "Tell Jackie thanks for the tea, I'm going to go check on the Doctor."

I leave them there, retreating to the bedroom. The Doctor is just as we left him earlier, sleeping rather peacefully. I clear off the debris from his blankets, picking a piece of door off his shoulder.

"Mickey's right." I murmur out loud. As soon as we get back to the Tardis, I was going to find some books or something. I wasn't of any use here. So far, I had mostly relied on the Doctor to figure things out. But I couldn't do that now.

Frankly, it was embarrassing. I had been riding on his coattails instead of doing anything for myself. Well, I thought to myself, I wouldn't be doing that anymore.

The door opens and Rose walks in, there's a serious look on her face. "There's something you should see."

I follow her out into the main room. She gestures at the tv. Though it would probably be more accurate to say that she's pointing at the alien that the tv screen is broadcasting around the world. It has red eyes, with a head like a goat's skull. It's growling and shaking its head at the screen.

"What do you wanna bet that this was what was controlling the tree and the robot santas." I nod at the screen.

"How come I can't understand what it's saying?" Rose asks. "The Tardis usually translates alien languages inside my head, all the time, wherever I am."

"That's a good question." I hum in contemplation. "I haven't heard them do anything other than snarl. So they may not have said anything, or the translation circuit is busted." I might not know a whole lot, but the translation circuit was one of the first things I asked the Doctor about. It was interesting to me that the Tardis translated so many different languages.

Rose looks unhappy, but settles herself back in front of the tv. Several hours pass, several excruciating hours. I go in and check on the Doctor a few more times. Each time he seems just a little closer, mentally. I have a feeling he's going to wake up soon.

A commotion from the hallway breaks up the monotony of waiting. "-Jason? Jason?"

Rose and Mickey exchange a glance from where they are cuddling on the couch, then get up to go check it out. I follow them, taking in the scene outside the apartment. There seems to be a man walking along the hallway. A woman is right beside him, and she looks upset.

"Sandra?" Rose asks the distraught woman.

"He won't listen. He's just walking. He won't stop walking! There's this sort of light thing. Jason? Stop it right now! Please, Jason, just stop." Sandra follows Jason as he walks towards a staircase.

A glance down at the ground floor shows that several other people are doing the same thing.

We follow them up to the roof. All of the people who seem to be controlled are lining up at the side of the roof. There's a moment where my heart gets stuck in my throat and I'm positive that they are all going to jump, but nothing happens.

"Something is wrong here." I murmur to Rose.

Mickey scoffs. "Of course something is wrong, there's people lined up along the roof about to jump."

I glare at him. "I don't know why you are being a dick, but I don't appreciate the fact that you try to start a fight every time I say anything." He opens his mouth to respond, but I cut him off. "And yeah, they are lined up, about to jump. So why haven't they done so yet?" I shake my head. "This feels like a power play."

I rush back downstairs to Rose's apartment. A different woman has come onto the tv now. There is a small caption at the bottom of the screen. It tells us that she is Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Harriet Jones. "Ladies and gentlemen, if I may take a moment during this terrible time. It's hardly the Queen's speech. I'm afraid that's been cancelled."

Harriet looks off to the side and you can faintly hear her ask about the royal family. She looks disappointed by the response, before she shakes herself and refocuses on the camera. "But, ladies and gentlemen, this crisis is unique, and I'm afraid to say, it might get much worse. I would ask you all to remain calm. But I have one request. Doctor, if you're out there, we need you. I don't know what to do. If you can hear me, Doctor. If anyone knows the Doctor, if anyone can find him, the situation has never been more desperate. Help us. Please, Doctor. Help us. God help us."

Rose sniffles from behind me. I turn and fold her into a hug. "He's left us Mabel!"

I shush her. "He hasn't left us Rose, he's healing and will be back on his feet in no time. We just gotta hold down the fort until that happens."

Her answering smile is a little wet, but at least it's a smile. Unfortunately, this is the moment where all the glass in the flat shatters. As soon as it's finished, I run over to look outside. There is a huge rock flying in from the outer atmosphere.

"We need to move the Doctor, he isn't safe here." I murmur.

Rose nods, determined. "Mickey, we're going to carry him. Mum, get your stuff, and get some food. We're going."

Mickey frowns. "Where to?"

"The Tardis." I answer. "It's probably the only safe place right now."

"What are we going to do in there?" Jackie asks.

"Right now? Hide." I respond.

Jackie looks at me in disbelief. "Is that it?"

"Mum, look in the sky. There's a great, big, alien invasion going on. And the Doctor is out of commission. The next person who knows half as much as him about aliens is Mabel, and if she is telling us to go hide, then it's a good idea to go hide." Rose tells her mother.

Jackie bustles off to the kitchen with Rose, probably to grab the supplies Rose asked her to, and I head over to the room the Doctor is in. He's still laying there. Someone, probably Jackie, has tucked a small bear under one of his arms.

"Alright Doctor." I say to him. "This isn't going to be big on dignity." Pulling the blankets off of him, I shift him closer to the edge of the bed. I position my arms around his waist, pulling and using the momentum to throw him over my shoulder in a fireman's hold.

A noise from the door causes me to turn. Mickey is there, gaping at me. I supposed it does look funny. A woman who is 5 feet, 2 inches carrying someone who is about 6 feet over her shoulder. "Do you know where the Tardis is?"

There is still a dumbfounded look on his face, but Mickey heads for the door, gesturing for me to follow. Rose and Jackie emerge from the kitchen. Rose has a couple of grocery bags and Jackie has a few more.

Rose unlocks the Tardis and we all bustle through the doors. I kneel, placing the Doctor gently on the ground, hand coming up to cradle his head so it doesn't smack on the flooring. On second thought, I pull my jacket off and place it under his head as a cushion.

Rose and Mickey walk over to the console and start a quiet conversation. I tune them out as best as I can, focusing on the Doctor. He's closer now, it won't be long until he wakes up.

Jackie walks back into the Tardis, I hadn't been aware that she has left in the first place. "Right, here we go. Nice cup of tea." She says, holding up a thermos.

"Mmm, the solution to everything." Rose teases, taking the thermos.

"Now, stop your moaning." Jackie scolds, heading back towards the door. "I'll get the rest of the food."

"Tea." Mickey laughs. "Like we're having a picnic while the world comes to an end. Very British. How does this thing work?" He asks, pointing to the Tardis monitor. "If it picks up TV, maybe we could see what's going on out there. Maybe we've surrendered. What do you do to it?"

Rose shrugs. "I don't know. It sort of tunes itself." She places the thermos on the side of the console, looking towards the door. "I should go help mum. It might start raining missiles out there or something."

"Tell her anything from a tin, that's fine." Mickey suggests as Rose walks towards the door. He picks up the thermos and opens it, getting a drink ready.

Rose scoffs. "Why don't you tell her yourself?"

Mickey cringes. "I'm not that brave."

"That's right." Rose nods, stepping outside. Seconds later she screams. Mickey darts for the door, dropping the thermos. I'm only a step behind him.

"Get off! Get off me!" Rose commands the alien that has a hold of her, struggling.

I lunge for the door, managing to close it right before one of the aliens grab me. They yank me over to where they have Rose and what looks to be the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.

"Rose!" The Prime Minister, Harriet I think her name was, exclaims. Her and Rose hug. "Rose! I've got you. My Lord. Oh, my precious thing. The Doctor, is he with you?"

"No." Rose admits. "But Mabel is here."

An alien, I really need to figure out what they are called, steps forward. "The yellow girl. She has the clever blue box. Therefore, she speaks for your planet."

The man at Harriet's side repeats it, and I realize that they still can't hear it properly like I can. It must be because I am connected to the Tardis.

I step forward before anyone else can say anything. "No, I will speak for this planet."

"You speak the language of the Sycorax?" The alien, a Sycorax most probably, asks.

"Oh, I speak a little of everything." I say whimsically, smile shaper than steel. I'm frantically trying to remember what the Doctor said all those years ago. "More importantly, I want to know just what you think you're doing. This is a fully established level five planet. You have people lined up along roof tops, about to jump off. I wonder what the Shadow Proclamation would have to say about that."

The Sycorax that had stepped forward narrows it eyes at me. The other Sycorax, and there are hundreds all around the dome we have found ourselves in, all quiet down.

"What do you know about the shadow proclamation?" The Sycorax demands.

"I know enough. Enough to know that what you are doing here is illegal." I respond.

The Sycorax smiles, a ghastly sight. "Then we shall have to dispose of you."

It should have been an effective threat, but at that moment my connection with the Doctor goes from passive to active. Awareness blooms as the Doctor brushes his consciousness over mine. There are gasps from behind me as the translation circuit seem to find a conduit through the Doctor once more. "Hold on, that's English." The translator exclaims.

"I would never dirty my tongue with your primitive bile." The Sycorax insists.

"That's English. Can you hear English?" Rose asks someone.

Mickey nods. "Yeah, that's English."

The Sycorax scowls. "I speak only Sycoraxic!"

"If I can hear English, then it's being translated. Which means it's working. Which means-" Rose cuts herself off.

The door to the Tardis opens, and the Doctor's voice fills the air. "Did you miss me?"

"You're late!" I scold him, looking over my shoulder at him. At that same time, I share worry and my relief that he is okay now.

His smile turns sheepish. Before he gets a chance to respond, the Sycorax that is in front of me yells and cracks a whip towards the Doctor.

The Doctor catches it, yanking it out of the Sycorax's hand. "You could have someone's eye out with that." He scolds.

"How dare!" The Sycorax spits. Taking a step back, I try to draw as little attention to myself as possible. I have no desire to become collateral again.

The Doctor grabs a club off of another Sycorax, snapping it in half over his knee. It would look as if he did it for no reason, but the quicksilver flash of his eyes in my direction tells a different story. He keeping the attention on himself so I have time to move out of the way. "You just can't get the staff. Now, you, just wait. I'm busy." The Doctor points a finger in the Sycorax's face, serious. He turns back to us, his expression doing a complete 180. "Mickey, hello! And Harriet Jones MP for Flydale North. Blimey, it's like This Is Your Life. Tea! That's all I needed, a good cup of tea! Superheated infusion of free radicals and tannin. Just the thing for healing the synapses. Now, first thing's first." He says, spinning around and stopping right in front of me. "Be honest, how do I look?"

"Wellll." I draw out, teasing. "You seem to be a bit of a pretty boy now."

"A pretty boy?" Scandalized, his hands come up to feel his face.

A comment from the last time he regenerated comes to mind. "And you're still not ginger."

The Doctor groans. "I wanted to be ginger. I've never been ginger." He suddenly points a finger into my face. "And you, you picked me up like a sack of potatoes. You could have asked someone else to help, y'know? Oh, that's rude. That's the sort of man I am now, am I? Rude. Rude and not ginger."

"I'm sorry." Harriet interrupts. "Who is this?"

"I'm the Doctor." The Doctor says.

"But what happened to my Doctor? Or is it a title that's just passed on?" She asks, bewildered.

"I'm him. I'm literally him." The Doctor insists. "Same man, new face. Well, new everything."

Harriet shakes her head. "But you can't be."

The Doctor looks her in the eyes and lowers his voice. "Harriet Jones, we were trapped in Downing Street and the one thing that scared you wasn't the aliens, it wasn't the war, it was the thought of your mother being on her own."

"Oh, my God." Harriet murmurs.

"Did you win the election?" The Doctor asks, expression lighting up.

Harriet beams back at him. "Landslide majority."

The leader of the Sycorax steps forward. "If I might interrupt."

"Yes, sorry." The Doctor says, spinning to look at the Sycorax. "Hello, big fellow."

"Who exactly are you?" The Sycorax asks.

"Well, that's the question." The Doctor responds, scratching at his chin.

The Sycorax visibly loses its limited patience. "I demand to know who you are!"

"I don't know!" The Doctor yells back. "See, there's the thing. I'm the Doctor, but beyond that, I just don't know. I literally do not know who I am. It's all untested. Am I funny? Am I sarcastic? Sexy?" He winks at me. I roll my eye in return. "Right old misery? Life and soul? Right handed? Left handed? A gambler? A fighter? A coward? A traitor? A liar? A nervous wreck? I mean, judging by the evidence, I've certainly got a gob."

"You can say that again." I mumble, the Doctor's lips twitch in response.

"And how am I going to react when I see this, a great big threatening button." The Doctor continues., rushing up a set of stairs. We all follow him. As stated, there is a large red button sitting on a pillar of sorts. "A great big threatening button which must not be pressed under any circumstances, am I right? Let me guess. It's some sort of control matrix, hmm? Hold on, what's feeding it?" He fiddles with the pillar under the red button, opening up a compartment.

"And what've we got here? Blood?" The Doctor muses, dipping a finger in and tasting it. Ugh, so gross. He was definitely brushing his teeth before I let him kiss me after that. "Yeah, definitely blood. Human blood. A Positive, with just a dash of iron. Ah, but that means blood control. Blood control! Oh, I haven't seen blood control for years. You're controlling all the A Positives. Which leaves us with a great big stinking problem. Because I really don't know who I am. I don't know when to stop. So if I see a great big threatening button which should never, ever, ever be pressed, then I just want to do this." He slams his hand down on the button.

"No!" Harriet and Rose exclaim.

"You killed them!" The translator accuses.

"What do you think, big fellow? Are they dead?" The Doctor asks the Sycorax.

"We allow them to live." The leader proclaims.

"Allow?" The Doctor scoffs. "You've no choice. I mean, that's all blood control is. A cheap bit of voodoo. Scares the pants off you, but that's as far as it goes. It's like hypnosis. You can hypnotize someone to walk like a chicken or sing like Elvis. You can't hypnotize them to death. Survival instinct's too strong."

The Sycorax leader puffs his chest out. "Blood control was just one form of conquest. I can summon the armada and take this world by force."

The Doctor considers that. "Well, yeah, you could, yeah, you could do that, of course you could. But why?" He leans in and looks at the Sycorax leader sincerely. "Look at these people. These human beings. Consider their potential. From the day they arrive on the planet and blinking step into the sun, there is more to see than can ever be seen. More to do than." Wait a minute. That's really familiar. "No, hold on. Sorry, that's The Lion King. But the point still stands. Leave them alone!"

"Or what?" The Sycorax jeers.

"Or." The Doctor grabs a sword from one of the Sycorax, rushing back over to us. "I challenge you."

All of the Sycorax, every one of them in the dome, laughs at that.

"Oh, that struck a chord." The Doctor looks around. "Am I right that the sanctified rules of combat still apply?"

"You stand as this world's champion." The Leader states.

The Doctor smirks. "Thank you. I've no idea who I am, but you just summed me up." He removes his dressing gown and throws it over to Rose. "So, you accept my challenge? Or are you just a cranak pel casacree salvak?"

The Sycorax leader hisses in offense. "For the planet?"

"For the planet." The Doctor confirms.

Both of them lunge forward, swords clashing against one another.

"Look out!" Rose cries.

"Oh, yeah, that helps. Wouldn't have thought of that otherwise, thanks." The Doctor replies sarcastically. His face scrunches up as the Sycorax presses him closer to a corner. It's evident that the Sycorax leader is the better swordsperson.

The Doctor retreats up a tunnel. "Bit of fresh air?" He asks cheekily.

We follow them out onto a ledge outside. The Doctor crosses swords with the Sycorax multiple times, but despite his best efforts, he gets driven back towards the edge of the platform. The leader does a particularly fancy move and smacks the Doctor across the nose with the back of his arm.

I take a step forward, but the Doctor stops me. "Stay back!" He yells, throwing out his arm in warning. "Invalidate the challenge and he wins the planet."

The Doctor charges the Sycorax leader once again, but the Sycorax leader seems to have grown tired of beating the Doctor up and knocks him to the ground. The Doctor is right up next to the edge. My muscles lock up, heart in my throat as I wait.

The Sycorax brings his sword down and cuts the Doctor's hand off. The hand, and the sword it was carrying, fall off the platform. "You cut my hand off." The Doctor says in disbelief. He sits up, throwing me a glance and shaking his head. He must feel how close I am to running over, planet be damned.

"Ya! Sycorax!" The leader chants, the rest of the Sycorax cheering.

The Doctor stands up slowly. "And now I know what sort of man I am. I'm lucky. Because quite by chance I'm still within the first fifteen hours of my regeneration cycle, which means I've got just enough residual cellular energy to do this." He brandishes the arm with the missing hand and a new hand grows right out of the stump.

"Witchcraft." The Sycorax leader hisses.

"Time Lord." The Doctor corrects.

From beside me, Rose grabs a new sword from one of the Sycorax beside us. "Doctor!" She cries, throwing the sword over to him.

"Want to know the best bit?" The Doctor asks the Sycorax leader, twirling the sword around. "This new hand? It's a fighting hand!" He finishes with the worst southern accent I've ever heard before.

"Oh." I mumble under my breath, certain he can still hear me. "You are never doing that again."

The Doctor grimaces, and I get a burst of agreement through the connection.

The Sycorax leader charges the Doctor again, but it's clear that with the new hand the Doctor now has the advantage. The Doctor disarms the Sycorax leader, thumping him in the abdomen with the back of both swords. The leader falls down, right at the edge of the platform.

"I win." The Doctor states, placing a sword to the Sycorax leader's neck.

"Then kill me." The Sycorax leader grits out through his teeth.

The Doctor contemplates the Sycorax leader. "I'll spare your life if you'll take this Champion's command. Leave this planet, and never return. What do you say?"

The Sycorax glares up at the Doctor. "Yes."

"Swear on the blood of your species." The Doctor insists.

"I swear." The Sycorax hisses.

The Doctor pulls his sword back, smiling. "There we are, then. Thanks for that. Cheers, big fellow." He turns and walks back in our direction.

"Bravo!" Harriet exclaims.

"That says it all." Rose agrees. "Bravo!"

"Ah, not bad for a man in his jim-jams." The Doctor says, beaming at us.

"Not bad at all." I confirm, sending affection across the connection.

Rose holds out the robe for the Doctor. He takes it, shrugging it back on. "Very Arthur Dent. Now, there was a nice man." I feel his confusion as he reaches into the pocket of his robe. "Hold on, what have I got in here? And apple and a satsuma?" The Doctor looks at me, but I shrug. I have a good of a clue as he does at this point. The Doctor shrugs back. "But doesn't that just sum up Christmas? You go through all those presents and right at the end, tucked away at the bottom, there's always one stupid old satsuma. Who wants a satsuma?"

We start to walk back inside. I keep an eye on the surrounding Sycorax. This feels a bit like a trap, and I don't want to get caught up in one again.

From behind us, there comes a warrior cry. The Doctor immediately throws the satsuma in his hand and hits a button on the side of the ship, his face is severe. The warrior cry turns into a scream. I look behind us to see that part of the platform has receded, leaving the Sycorax leader falling.

"No second chances." The Doctor states. "I'm that sort of a man."

A shiver runs down my spine. I know he did it in self defense. The Sycorax leader would have killed us, but still. I wasn't expecting that. The Doctor swings an arm over my shoulders, tugging me closer to him. I clutch the side of his robe in response.

The Doctor leads us to stand in the middle of the dome. He looks up at the assembled Sycorax and starts to talk. "By the ancient rites of combat, I forbid you to scavenge here for the rest of time. And when go you back to the stars and tell others of this planet, when you tell them of it's riches, it's people, it's potential. When you talk of the Earth, then make sure that you tell them this. It. Is. Defended."

The Sycorax are silent, but we are beamed back down to Earth.

"Where are we?" Rose asks.

"We're just off Bloxom Road. We're just round the corner, we did it!" Mickey exclaims.

"Wait a minute, wait one minute." The Doctor murmurs, looking up at the Sycorax spaceship.

The ship hums, taking off into the atmosphere. The Doctor smiles in response.

Mickey jumps up and down, embracing Rose. "Go on, my son! Oh, yeah!"

Rose beams. "Yeah! Don't come back!"

"It is defended!" Mickey shouts.

Harriet Jones comes over. "My Doctor."

The Doctor smiles at her. "Prime Minister."

"Absolutely the same man." She shakes her head. "Are there many more out there?"

"Oh, not just Sycorax. Hundreds of species. Thousands of them. And the human race is drawing attention to itself. Every day you're sending out probes and messages and signals. This planet's so noisy. You're getting noticed more and more. You'd better get used to it." The Doctor advises her.

"Rose!" Jackie calls from down the road, running towards us.

"Mum!" Rose calls back, overjoyed.

"Oh, talking of trouble." The Doctor mumbles, letting go of me and turning to walk towards them.

I look at Harriet Jones, smiling. "You were amazing up there. Didn't lose your cool, attempting to negotiate. You were fantastic."

"Thank you." She says to me.

The translator guy's phone rings. "It's a message from Torchwood. They say they're ready." He informs Harriet.

"Tell them to fire." Harriet tells him.

"Wait what?" I ask, sending a bolt of alarm over to the Doctor to get his attention. "Tell me you aren't going to do what I think you're about to do."

"Fire at will." The translator says into the phone despite my protest. The Doctor's shoulder brushes against mine right as five beams of light meet in the middle of the sky, combine and shoot out into space. The Sycorax asteroid explodes under the force.

"What's going on?" Rose exclaims.

"That was murder." The Doctor states, his voice is cold.

Harriet raises her chin. "That was defense. It's adapted from alien technology. A ship that fell to Earth ten years ago."

"They were leaving." My voice is just as cold as the Doctor's.

"You said yourself, Doctor, they'd go back to the stars and tell others about the Earth." She tries to justify it. "I'm sorry, Doctor, but you're not here all the time. You come and go. It happened today. Mister Llewellyn and the Major, they were murdered. They died right in front of me while you were sleeping. In which case we have to defend ourselves."

I scoff. "Shooting someone in the back as they walk away isn't defense."

"Britain's Golden Age." The Doctor says in disgust.

"It comes with a price." Harriet insists.

"I gave them the wrong warning." The Doctor responds. "I should've told them to run as fast as they can, run and hide because the monsters are coming. The human race."

Harriet looks at us. "Those are the people I represent. I did it on their behalf."

"Then I should have stopped you." I tell her, disappointed. My earlier words, where I praised her, taste like ash in my mouth.

"What does that make you, the both of you? Another alien threat?" She demands.

"Don't challenge us, Harriet Jones. You may have met us once before, but now we're completely new people." The Doctor leans in. "I could bring down your Government with a single word."

Harriet shakes her head. "You're the most remarkable man I've ever met, but I don't think you're quite capable of that."

"No, you're right. Not a single word, just six." The Doctor corrects himself.

"I don't think so." She responds.

"Six words." He repeats.

Harriet is visibly uncomfortable now. "Stop it!" She tells the Doctor.

"Six." The Doctor tells her softly. He moves around me, walking over to the translator. Removing the Bluetooth device from his ear, the Doctor leans in. He says just six words, like he promised. "Don't you think she looks tired."

Finished, the Doctor doesn't even look back at Harriet Jones as he walks away, gently placing a hand on my arm and guiding me away with him.

"What did he say?" I hear Harriet ask the translator.

"Oh, well, nothing, really." The translator responds.

"What did he say?" She asks again, more insistently.

"Nothing. I don't know." The translator repeats, clearly taken aback by her tone.

"Doctor!" Harriet calls after us. "Doctor, what did you? What was that? What did he say? What did you say, Doctor? Doctor! I'm sorry."

He doesn't look back, and neither do I. My sympathy dried up when the beams of energy made the Sycorax ship explode.

After we round the corner, and Harriet isn't visible anymore, the Doctor relaxes his hold on my arm. His fingers trail down to my hand and I thread my fingers through his.

Jackie beams at everyone. "I'll make us the best Christmas dinner you could imagine, just you wait."

The Doctor hesitates. "How about we meet you there?" I offer. "I'm sure the Doctor wants to change out of these pajamas and into something new."

"Oh, alright." Jackie frowns at us. "But don't you even think about leaving before hand mister. Or I'll have a slap ready when you get back!"

"Alright, Alright." The Doctor says. "I won't leave before dinner, I promise." The Tardis is back where we left Harriet Jones, so we turn and head in that direction.

I hide my smile in his shoulder. It's funny to see the Doctor cowed by Rose's mother. "It's not funny Mabel." He grumbles. "Jackie Tyler has one heck of a slap. Y'know I spent hundreds of years traveling around and never once did I get slapped by someone's mother. Then I met Jackie Tyler and it was all 'Pow'."

"I bet you deserved it too." I say to him. He doesn't respond, but I can feel his embarrassment in response so I'm going to assume I'm right.

Thankfully, Harriet and her translator have left by the time we walk back around the corner, so we don't have to deal with them.

The Doctor opens the Tardis with a key that he pulls out of somewhere. No seriously, those aren't even his clothes where did it come from? He winks at me as I open my mouth to ask, so I decide not to say anything at all. Leave it to mystery.

"So I'm a pretty boy huh?" The Doctor muses, scrunching his nose up.

"You haven't looked in a mirror yet, have you?" I tease him.

He uses our linked hands to pull me closer. "I don't have to. It doesn't matter what I look like, so long as I look good to you." The Doctor murmurs.

"Charmer." I murmur back, reaching up to cup his cheek. "I suppose you are handsome by conventional standards, but you have to know that what you look like doesn't generally matter to me. I care for you because you are the Doctor, not because of what your face looks like."

The Doctor's face turns sappy, and he leans in to kiss me. "Yeah, no." I tell him, shifting my hand to his mouth and pushing him away. "You are going to go brush your teeth before you kiss me. Or did you forget that you decided to put human blood in your mouth earlier."

"Yes, I had actually." The Doctor grimaces, then pouts down at me. "Are you sure I can't convince you to reconsider?"

"Brush. Your. Teeth." I insist, pushing him towards the hallway. He goes, grumbling the whole way.

The first thing the Doctor does when we reach our room is go into the bathroom. I head into the wardrobe, picking out a new pair of leggings and after a moment of deliberation, a simple tank top and comfy cardigan.

I throw the clothes onto the bed in preparation, but before I can strip and head into the bathroom myself, the Doctor reemerges looking determined.

He reaches me, hands cupping the bottom of my face, circling around my neck. The kiss that follows causes my toes to curl in my shoes and leaves my knees weak.

"Woah." I murmur, the taste of his toothpaste is minty in my mouth.

The Doctor smirks. "You were right. I am a bit of a pretty boy this go."

I hum in response, walking us back towards the bed. We flop down, the Doctor curling up with his head on my stomach. My hand runs through his hair, a comfort to both of us. "I'm glad you are awake and okay now." I admit.

The Doctor sighs. "It was a..difficult regeneration."

"I suppose you can't tell me why?" I try. He shakes his head in response. "Hmm, okay. Is there anything I can do to make you feel better?"

"You're already doing it." The Doctor responds, sharing with me just how much my presence is a balm to his new mental connections.

I'm pleased that I can help, but that was a really sappy answer. "That was a really sappy answer mister."

The Doctor hums. "Didn't you know? I'm the king of sap."

"I'm starting to get that impression." I tell him, a sappy smile of my own on my face. The smile fades though, as I remember what Rose said to me earlier and the reaction my body had to it.

"Okay." I say. "Serious talk now. Something happened earlier, while you were sleeping." The Doctor sits up, sensing the change in my mood. He looks concerned. "Rose started telling me about what had happened-"

"She what?" The Doctor asks, alarmed. "How much did she tell you?"

"She told me that I said I couldn't fly the Tardis back, and that-" I hesitate at the look on his face. The Doctor's expression is becoming more angry the more I say. "She told me that I took the Tardis inside of myself."

The Doctor's body locks up, everything in him going tense. "I stopped her before she could say anything else, but I could feel it. I don't have a choice anymore do I? When the time comes, I'm going to have to do what she told me I did." I throw an arm over my eyes so I don't have to see his expression. "And I have a feeling that me doing so is directly responsible for your regeneration. I don't want to be responsible for your death."

Sighing, the Doctor removes my arm from over my eyes. "It's a fixed point now. When the time comes, you won't have a choice. And you didn't cause my regeneration, it was my choice." He taps me on the nose. "You're always going on about how it's your choice to stay with me, well that works in reverse too you know. It's my choice to be with you, even if it ends up being dangerous."

I frown up at him. "Besides." He continues. "We have the benefit of multiple lives to soften the blow when it comes to permanent endings."

"I feel as though you meant that to be comforting, but I'm not quite sure if it worked out that way." I tell him.

"Maybe not." The Doctor responds. "But it got you to stop thinking about my death."

"Can we stop talking about your death and go back to kissing or something?" I ask, somewhat desperately.

His lips quirk up into a smile. "As much as I wouldn't mind kissing you more, you were the one who told them we were going to come to dinner, so we should probably get ready for that."

I sigh in response, getting up from the bed reluctantly. "And why did I go and do that?"

The Doctor shakes his head, I can clearly feel his bafflement in response. "It probably has something to do with the fact that you actually like Jackie."

The statement is said with such honest confusion that I can't help but bark out a laugh in response. "Of course I like her. She seems like a dependable sort of woman."

He makes a noise like he doesn't agree, but to be fair, most of his attention seems to be on me as I tug him up from his sitting position. I kiss him, gentle but insistent. The Doctor opens for me willingly, and paying close attention to the connection, I focus on finding and exploiting all of his sensitive areas.

I pull back and the Doctor follows me, like a pendulum on a swing. I kiss him once, twice, three more times and then shift back to rest my forehead against his.

"Woah is right." The Doctor murmurs.

My lips quirk up in a smile, and I can't help but feel a little smug in response. "Stop that." He mutters petulantly. "It makes me want to kiss you again."

"I'm not seeing the downside to that." I tell him. "But, you're probably right. We should start getting ready. I'm assuming you want to go find a new outfit?"

The Doctor nods, eye going distant. "Any hints dear?"

I hum. That's a tough one. "Think professional but casual at the same time."

"What kind of hint was that?" He asks, refocusing on my face.

"An accurate one." I say, lips twitching at his feigned frustration.

Rosealyn – This was one of my favorite Classic Who episodes, probably because Ace is one of my favorite Classic Who companions and this is the episode where she gets introduced. Thank you for understanding!

Bekka G – Thank you for understanding! Hope you enjoy the new chapter. ?

Guest on chapter 5 – I love the eighth Doctor as well! In later chapters I bring a little more information in about my version of Gallifreyan physiology which explains a bit more in depth about the biological processes.

Helenwhogirl – Thank you very much!

Guest on chapter 7 – That was the plan all along, it was tough letting the plot unfold without rushing anything.

Nene9131 on chapter 4 – Yeah, I didn't want to drag it out like that. They are both consenting adults, in my opinion there was no reason for them to hold off on it. I'm glad you are enjoying it!

Flip Flops n Crop Tops – Thank you very much for your kind words! I'm attempting to make it as realistic and interesting as possible. Well, as realistic as Doctor who normally is anyways. So these kind of reviews really make my day!

Falling Right Side-Up on chapter 4 – It is a bit fast paced, I agree. But there are plot reasons for it.