For a couple of seconds after hearing the Doctor's voice, Rose, Sarah Jane, and Christine remained completely still, so much so that for a while, it seemed to Maureen and Heather that the three of them were somehow paralyzed.

"What do you think's going on, Maureen?" Heather asked anxiously, finally breaking the silence which had filled the dining room.

"I'm not sure," Maureen responded, looking around to see if Eric or their parents were around to help out, and upon not seeing any of them show up, she said, "Go get Mum and Dad, Heather. I think something strange must be going on with Sarah and…"

Suddenly, the two girls saw what had to be the most unusual phenomenon they'd ever seen in their lives. As Rose started to blink and slowly open her mouth to speak, what appeared to be clouds of sparkling dust started floating out of Rose's eyes and mouth, and flew up to the celling. A manic cry of "I'm free!" was soon heard, followed by a wild laughter which sounded as if it came from a man who'd just discovered he won the lottery. As the dust came close towards the girls, Heather shrieked while Maureen ran off as fast as she could to find their parents.

However, as soon as the dust approached Heather, it seemed to leap away from her, returning to the celling once again. At that moment, Sarah looked up and appeared to have gained an understanding of the situation which Heather could not even begin to understand, since she developed that serious expression which always came about when she was trying to explain some of her more complex journalism assignments to Maureen and Heather, and she said aloud, "Doctor? Is that you?"

"Doctor? Sarah, what are you talking about?" Heather asked in confusion.

"Heather, I think it's best if you leave as soon as possible. This isn't a safe situation, and there's no way I could easily explain it to you in a manner which you could understand," Sarah told her.

But Heather didn't get the chance to this, since Maureen had returned with their parents and Eric.

"Sarah, what's going on?" Violet demanded, but upon noticing the dust, a look of recognition seemed to dawn in her face, and she gave Tom an anxious look which he immediately understood.

"It's happening again for sure, Violet," he stated, almost forgetting the fact that their children were with them, and had no idea what he was referring to.

"What do you mean, Dad?" Eric asked, calling him back to the full extent of the situation.

Trying to explain to him at this moment was out of the question. How could Tom or Violet even try to explain the fact that some creatures, incapable of taking on a physical form, transformed themselves into energy once they left the people or objects which they'd taken possession of? That only certain people, including Sarah, were capable of seeing their physical form when they were in such a state? And how they'd encountered such creatures twice, the first time in university when a classmate who turned out some sort of duplicated copy of a dead girl had disintegrated before Violet's eyes, and the other time when masses of people in Northern Ireland were attacked by extraterrestrials under the disguise of soldiers?

Before the two of them could think of a proper answer, the mass of energy flew in the direction of Christine, and the manic laughter from before now became a shattering scream, as it started entering her through her wide-opened mouth and eyes. Her struggle to remain conscious was obvious through her quick breathing and the trembling of her arms and legs, and by the time all the energy went through her, she could handle it no longer, and collapsed onto the floor.

Rose, who appeared to be in some deep pain or exhaustion, now started crying hysterically. As before, Heather came up to look after her, while Tom and Violet, along with Eric, rushed over to Christine's side, getting prepared to examine her.

"Tom, Violet, now's not the time," Sarah called out, reminding themselves of something they'd somehow forgotten after all their supernatural encounters years before. "Give it about five minutes, and then we'll see if there's something we can do about this."

They both nodded, but it didn't long for the questions to start, with Violet being the first to ask: "Sarah, did you know something was going on with Rose all along?"

"I did," Sarah Jane admitted. "I became aware that Rose was psychic from the moment I first saw her; a nearly perfect connection of the mind, as I used to say. At first, I thought that was the only thing going on with her, but then I found out that she'd become… possessed, I guess you can say, by that alien I told you about who so closely resembled a human."

"I see," Tom said, nodding, already knowing a little about the alien Sarah called "The Doctor" due to what she'd told them as an explanation after what appeared to be a year of disappearance (to that day, neither he nor Violet fully understood for how long she'd really been gone). "But shouldn't the situation have been more severe than what we've been seeing? And isn't it possible that this alien responsible for that incident where Rose passed out in school and caused a blackout?"

"I don't know, Tom," Sarah Jane responded. "You both know perfectly well that I had such episodes myself, and being possessed by an alien was never the reason for it. Although with all the physical and mental pressure of both ESP and possession, it wouldn't be hard to believe if both factors had been responsible for the incident. Perhaps she…"

She was interrupted by the sight of Christine sitting up, looking a little pale but otherwise not as bad as they expected a possessed person to be. As a matter of fact, it could almost be said that she looked better than she'd been earlier in the morning, since the dark circles surrounding her eyes were now gone, and there appeared to be an energetic look coming through her eyes, as if she'd just witnessed something very fascinating and unbelievable.

However, it was only upon seeing the anxious faces of those around her that the look of fascination on Christine's face quickly shifted into one of confusion and worry. "What happened to me?" she managed to ask. "Why are you all looking so worried?"

"Never mind us, love. How are you doing?" Violet answered, putting an arm around Christine's shoulder. Sarah Jane now followed Eric and Maureen, who'd noticed what was going on with Christine, into the kitchen to get water and other emergency supplies, and Tom stayed with Violet, not sure what to expect.

"I'm actually feeling okay. For a moment, I felt as if I'd fallen asleep, and then I started seeing someone talking to me. It was a man who was sort of funny-looking and weird, but when he first started talking, he seemed really worried, and he kept apologizing to me for getting stuck inside of me; that's how he explained what happened to me. I didn't understand what he meant, so I kept asking…"

She was interrupted when Tom placed his hand around her forehead, examining her in the same manner as he'd done alongside his mother when they'd been looking after the possessed during the incident in Northern Ireland. Turning to Violet, he said, "There's no sign of fever or any other symptom of illness as far as I can tell."

"That's strange," Violet said. "Nearly every possessed person we've seen showed some sign of illness, or at least weakness."

"Possessed?" Christine asked, now getting more anxious than before. "Are you trying to say that there's some demon inside me?"

"Don't try to trigger any anxiety," Sarah Jane warned, coming in with a glass of water. Eric had a first aid kit, while Maureen was holding the bottle of ESR, which she kept examining curiously. "If you do so, it could worsen the state she's in, and seeing how she is now, we should do the best we can to help her remain as she is."

"No worries," Tom said, and he patted Christine in the back. "It may not be too much to worry about, Christine. For what it seems right now, all we have to do is keep you calm and you might turn out okay after all."

"So there is no demon?" Christine wanted to know.

"What's this about demons? Looks like you've still got a lot of explaining to do, Dad," Eric said.

"It's certainly not an ordinary scenario, Eric. If you had been here from the start, you'd be twice as startled as you are now," Maureen stated.

"It's not a demon, Christine," Violet explained. "But this man you saw probably isn't human. From what Sarah has told us, and what we've seen for ourselves, he's capable of changing form when it's necessary. If it means having to get inside a human in order to stay alive, then such creatures have to do it, even if it's sometimes against their will."

She almost expected Christine to look confused over what seemed like too much information to take in at once, but instead, she nodded as easily as if she were explaining the rules to a game. "I think I get it. John Smith, that's the name of the man I saw, explained it to me a little. But for some reason, he kept bringing up Rose, and the woman who's with us right now too, I think." Then, turning to look at Sarah Jane, who was now with Rose and Heather, she asked, "Excuse me, but is your name Sarah Jane Smith?"

"Yes, it is," Sarah Jane responded, and although she already knew the answer, she asked, "How did you know that?"

"The man I saw told me so, and if he's right about that, then I guess everything else he's told me is true too," Christine said.

"Do you know what's happening, Sarah Jane?" Rose asked, her voice slightly quivering.

"I don't any of us really knows, Rose," Heather said, thinking that Rose wasn't understanding the situation.

Sarah Jane, who felt that she knew more than she was willing to admit, said, "I think I am, Rose, but if we had to explain it fully to all the others, I don't know if…"

"John Smith has left my mind, and he's now inside Christine's!" Rose finally managed to say, feeling that she had to say something sooner or later, even if Sarah Jane already knew it. She managed to startle Heather, who looked inquisitively at Sarah Jane and then her parents, and Maureen and Eric, who'd been listening in to the conversations from before, looked just as flabbergasted as before.

"Oh boy, we're certainly in for a wild ride this weekend, aren't we, Maureen?" Eric asked. "At least if it had been demons, as unlikely as that would have been, we could have just gotten holy water from the church and had splashed it on her to get rid of them. If it's an alien like Sarah is claiming, we're probably going to have to get in contact with one of those secret agencies like the ones in the movies, or perhaps even summon a UFO over to our house. That is, if this isn't all just nonsense, perhaps one of our bloody neighbors pulling some nasty trick on us. I never did believe in aliens that much, as a matter of fact."

"You can't remain too skeptical, Eric," Maureen said, starting one of her philosophical speeches. "We live in such a big world where we're not likely to encounter even half of all the strange stuff it has hidden around in our lifetimes. Many of us will keep questioning everything we see, and rightly so, but to simply dismiss the existence of certain concepts closes off the opportunity to make certain discoveries."

At this point, Tom and Violet returned to the kitchen, both to finish a little of the cleaning they'd started earlier, and to talk amongst themselves about what was going on, leaving their kids to either have their own conversations on it or to turn to Sarah for an explanation.

"Blimey," Eric scoffed in response to what Maureen said. "I'm sure half of those philosophers you study so much would have laughed in your face. Some things just don't exist period, like Father Christmas or the Tooth Fairy."

"We don't really know," Maureen went on. "The way I see it, Mum and Dad have always been aware of something which they haven't told us about. I could always tell by these secretive looks they always had on their faces back when they'd read us fairy tales or fantasy books when we were little. Didn't you ever notice them at all?"

Eric shrugged. "How should I know? That was a long time ago, and for all I know, perhaps they just got too hocked up on the stories themselves. It's not that different from how they are during their concerts, which Dad always says is like a form of escape to them."

Sarah Jane smiled at them. "You're not that wrong actually, Maureen. Your parents always were aware of the existence of things which they'd never told you about." Then, hesitating a little before going on, she continued with her revelation, saying, "As a matter of fact, their first experiences with this came about when they met me. You see, I was never just an ordinary person. I have always been capable of seeing things that others can't, of having this ability to sense what will happen next, or when something goes wrong. Things similar to what you saw right now are something which I've been witnessing for years. Ever since I was a child, as matter of fact."

Maureen and Eric looked instantly shocked, finding it difficult to believe what they'd just heard. Eric wondered whether the dust had made her go crazy, while Maureen thought back more intensely on her parent's bedtime story expressions, realizing that she'd noticed something similar in how Sarah would look when describing her own stories. Heather, however, eyed her curiously, indicating that she wanted to know more. "So are you saying that you weren't just clever?" she asked. "That there was something unusual about you all along?"

"Yes, Heather. That's exactly what I'm saying," Sarah Jane declared.

"And the flying dust isn't strange to you at all? You're aware of what it's supposed to be?"

"I have seen something like it before, but if you want to know all the details, you're going to be in for a long story."

Then, looking at Rose, who wasn't able to believe that Sarah Jane had admitted something so major at a moment like this, Heather asked, "Is Rose supposed to be like you as well? Was something like this the reason why she fainted at school during the blackout?"

"I am like her, Heather," Rose explained. "We both have something called ESP."

"So that's what this is all about?" Eric asked. "You had me a little confused with that explanation of yours, Sarah, but at least Rose was able to clarify it somewhat."

"Come on, Eric," Maureen said with a sigh. "Just let them go on with what they have to say."

"Sorry about that," Eric said. "This is all just too much to take in right now. Feel free to go on whenever you'd like."

"I understand, Eric. It's a lot for me as well, and I've been experiencing all this for forty-one years now," Sarah said, trying to take matters a little more lightly for once.

However, she didn't get the chance to go on, because Christine was now calling out to them: "Sarah Jane! Rose! Please come over right now!"

Sarah Jane and Rose both walked up to Christine, who was now seated on the couch with a blanket wrapped around her.

"What's going on, Christine?" Rose asked.

"It's John Smith," Christine asked. "He wants to talk to both of you right now because he thinks there's some way he can get back inside of Rose."

"And what would that be?" Sarah Jane asked.

In response to that, she heard an urgent sounding Scottish voice calling out to them:

Rose? Sarah Jane? Can you both here me? If you can, call out to me.

Yes we can, the two of them responded at the same time.

Good, John Smith answered more cheerfully. I was almost worried we'd get lost in telepathic communication, but somehow, it seems to be working, even though someone else is temporarily serving as my host.

So, Doctor, you do realize that this is the first time we're speaking in about eleven years, right? Sarah Jane asked.

I can't forget something as important as that quite easily, Sarah. So, it turns out we were able to meet again after all, although not exactly in the matter which either of us had in mind, isn't it?

You can say that again, Doctor, Sarah Jane responded. But perhaps all the traveling really did expand both our minds more than we expected.

I think that might explain this situation perfectly well, Sarah. Thanks to the Time Lords' failed assassination attempt, I got to do a lot more of that after you left, and it really did help expand my mind, and that of my assistants in return. Then, calling out to Rose, he said, So Rose, do you miss me already? Do you feel any differently now that I'm gone?

I'm talking to you right now, John Smith, so I don't really miss you too much, Rose replied, provoking internal laughter from both John Smith and Sarah Jane. But I don't think I feel different. Everything feels the same way as it did when you were inside me.

Must be all that energy that was left over. Well, things are a little different here. Christine's mind has been expanded more than yours has in some ways, Rose, mainly due to her being older and more experienced than you are. However, because she doesn't have some of the powers as you do, some areas are closed off. The combination of both of these things makes the situation of me being stuck in her mind a lot more dangerous. I can only stay here for a short period of time, or else I'll run the risk of making Christine become insane, or lose some of her mental capacity.

But why did it happen, John Smith? Rose asked worriedly.

Yes, Doctor. Try to explain it in the best way you can, Sarah Jane demanded.

The presence of three psychics around the same place provoked the release of a lot of my energy. And because there was another child there, I was not able to remain in place for less than a minute. Nina, the woman who placed me in Rose's mind, told me that I could be transferred over to the mind of another psychic child if they were to come in contact with both my host and at least one other psychic. However, the older the child is, the less chance I'd have of remaining in place without causing serious damage to the child's mind. The same situation would occur with a child who's less powerful than my host. And if both of these factors were present, I would have to call on both psychics present to help me get back to my original host as soon as possible, because the consequences of remaining in the child would be twice as bad as it would be with just that one factor.

So what should we do, Doctor? Sarah Jane asked.

Allow me to give the directions, and listen as closely as possible. This is one situation in which you really must do exactly as you're told, John Smith said rather firmly, making sure he had the full attention of them both.

Next, Rose and Sarah Jane discover what steps they must take next, and Sarah Jane discovers the full extend of who Christine is.