Disclaimer: This chapter contains a triggering scene. Sorry if this bothers anyone.

I sat up, rubbing my eyes, thoroughly surprised I had slept through the night. Getting out of bed, I stretched and looked through the clothes in the closet. When I finally found something of mine, I dressed and went out to the living room where I found Jackie, Rose, and Mickey already up. After a quick good morning, I went and checked on the Doctor. Glad to see he was still breathing, I returned to the living room.

The four of us had been talking for a while when we heard voiced outside. Curious, Rose, Mickey and I went to see what was happening. Outside, people were aimlessly walking towards the stairs. We could see others going along with them trying to snap them out of their daze. "Sandra?" Rose asked.

"He won't listen. He's just walking. He won't stop walking! There's this sort of light thing." She then returned her attention to her husband. "Jason? Stop it right now! Please, Jason, just stop." Looking down, we could see that there were more people walking through the estate. Rose and I worriedly glanced at each other before following them.

"Jason, I'm talking to you! Just stop!" When we reached the rooftop, they stopped at the edge.

"What do we do?" Mickey asked.

"Nothing. There's no one to save us. Not anymore." I grimaced at Rose's words before leading them back inside.

I sat on the couch watching Harriet Jones on the TV with the family and Mickey. "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 started to cry at the woman's pleas. "He's gone. The Doctor's gone. He's left us, mum. He's left us, mum."

I abruptly stood and stalked off to the Doctor's room, going to sit at in the corner chair. Tears threatened to fall but I quickly forced them back. I needed to be strong, for both Rose and the Doctor. She still didn't believe that he was the Doctor, that he hadn't left. The man was still around, he was just ill, healing. I took his hand in mine and squeezed it, letting him know he wasn't alone. "She may not believe that you're still here, but I do. You just need rest, to heal…" I sighed. "It's funny. It took you dying for me to realise how much we need you, how much I need you. Please, Doctor, hurry up and get better. It's not the best thing to ask but I don't know what to do. I'm not as smart as you thought, I suppose." As I wiped away a stray tear, I went to rest my head on the bed, the window suddenly shattered, showering the two of us with glass. I jumped up and ran to the living room. "We have to go."

"What the hell was that?"

"Sonic wave probably. We have to get the Doctor out of here."

Rose nodded, swiftly catching on to what I meant. "Mickey, we're going to carry him. Mum, get your stuff, and get some food. We're going."

"Where to?"

"The Tardis," I replied.

"It's the only safe place on Earth."

"What're we going to do in there?"

"Hide."

"Is that it?"

"Mum, look in the sky. There's a great, big, alien invasion and we don't know what to do, all right? We've travelled with him, and we've seen all that stuff, but when we're stuck at home, we're useless. Now, all we can do is run and hide, and I'm sorry. Now, move." She turned from her mum to Mickey. "Oh, lift him up."

While Rose and Mickey carried the Doctor, I helped Jackie as she struggled with the bags. "Mum, will you just leave that stuff and give us a hand?"

"You're the one who told her to get food, Rose."

"And now I'm telling her to leave it!"

"Don't yell at me just because you're scared, Rose. You aren't the only one. Snapping at people won't help the situation. Now, I'm helping her with the food. Hurry up and get him inside."

"Who made you the boss?"

"I could ask you the same." We glared at each other for a bit before she continued to help Mickey carry the Doctor.

When we were all inside, I went to sit in the captain's chair, enjoying the familiarity, the feeling of being home. Rose and Mickey were standing around the console and Jackie was going through a bag. I glanced at the Doctor, making sure that he was breathing. It scared me that he could be dying, even though I didn't want to admit it. I sighed and looked back at Mickey and Rose, tuning into their conversation. "I know, but it's sort of been wiped out of my head, like it's forbidden. Try that again and I think the Universe rips in half."

"Ah, better not, then."

"Maybe not."

"So, what do we do? Just sit here?"

"That's as good as it gets." I rolled my eyes at her. Her attitude was beginning to annoy me, especially since she was giving up so easily.

"Right, here we go. Nice cup of tea," Jackie said as she handed us a cup.

"Mmm, the solution to everything."

"Now, stop your moaning. I'll get the rest of the food." She handed Mickey the thermos and left the Tardis.

"Tea. Like we're having a picnic while the world comes to an end. Very British." Mickey gave a small laugh and then turned to the monitor. "How does this thing work? If it picks up TV, maybe we could see what's going on out there." He began to press buttons. "Maybe we've surrendered. What do you do to it?"

Rose went along, pressing more buttons. "I don't know. It sort of tunes itself."

I stood and went over to them, hitting a few buttons absentmindedly, ultimately turning it on. "Thanks." I nodded and returned to my seat. They were looking at the pattern the screen showed. "Maybe it's a distress signal."

"Are you going to be a misery all the time?"

"A fat lot of good that's going to do," Rose muttered.

"Yes."

"You should look at it from my point of view, stuck in here with your mum's cooking."

Rose looked up, "Where is she? I'd better give her a hand. It might start raining missiles out there."

"Tell her anything from the tin, that's fine."

"Why don't you tell her yourself?"

"I'm not that brave."

"Oh, I don't know," Rose mused before she went outside. Not a second later, she screamed. I jumped up and ran out of the Tardis.

"Rose?" I heard Mickey yell before he ran out after us.

"Get off! Get off me!"

"Mickey, the door!" He quickly turned and closed it before an alien was able to reach it.

The aliens herded us all with Harriet and a young man. "Rose! Cerys! I've got you. My Lord. Oh, my precious things. The Doctor, is he with you?"

"No. We're on our own." I rolled my eyes but it went unnoticed by the two women.

"The yellow girl. She has the clever blue box. Therefore, she speaks for your planet," the man said, translating what the alien said.

"But she can't."

"Yeah, I can."

"Rose…" She glanced at me and turned away.

"Don't you dare."

"Someone's got to be the Doctor."

"They'll kill you," Harriet tried to reason.

"Never stopped him."

"You're being stupid, Rose."

"Do me a favour, Cerys, and shut up. I really don't care what you have to say."

I looked away, grimacing at her, and biting my tongue. "Fine. Your funeral."

She walked forward. "I, er, I address the Sycorax according to Article Fifteen of the Shadow Proclamation. I command you to leave this world with all the authority of the Slitheen Parliament of Raxacoricofallapatorius, and er, the Gelth Confederacy as er, sanctioned by the Mighty Jagrafess and, oh, the Daleks! Now, leave this planet in peace! In… peace."

I choked back a laugh as the aliens chortled openly. "You are very, very funny. And now you're going to die."

"Leave her alone!" Harriet yelled.

"Don't touch her!"

"Leave her alone."

Mickey and Harriet were held back as they moved to shield her. I stood back, watching it all. "Did you think you were clever with your stolen words? We are the Sycorax, we stride the darkness. Next to us you are but a wailing child. If you are the best your planet can offer as a champion-"

"Then your world will be gutted-" I looked up, realizing that I could understand the alien's words. A smile quickly replaced my frown. He was back.

"Then your world will be gutted-"

"And your people enslaved."

The translator looked up from his palm pilot. "Hold on, that's English."

"He's talking English."

"You're talking English."

"Wonderful observations but he's not speaking English," I said only to be ignored.

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

"That's English. Can you hear English?"

"Yeah, that's English."

"Definitely English."

"I speak only Sycoraxic!"

"If I can hear English, then it's being translated," Rose started. "Which means it's working. Which means…" We all turned to the Tardis, waiting for the door to open. When it did, the Doctor stepped out.

"Did you miss me?" The Sycorax cracked his whip but the Doctor caught it and pulled it from the alien's hand. "You could have someone's eye out with that."

"How dare!"

The Doctor took the staff from the Sycorax leader and broke it over his knee. "You just can't get the staff. Now, you, just wait. I'm busy." He pointed at the creature and turned to us. "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." He turned to Rose and me. "Now, first thing's first. Be honest. How do I look?"

"Er, different."

His eyes drifted to me waiting for my response which was a smile. "Good different or bad different?"

Just different."

"Am I… ginger?"

"No, you're just sort of brown."

He turned striding away a bit. "I wanted to be ginger. I've never been ginger." He turned, pointing his finger at her. "And you, Rose Tyler, fat lot of good you were. Cerys never gave up but you gave up on me." He stopped, thinking about what he had said. "Oh, that's rude. That's the sort of man I am now, am I? Rude. Rude and not ginger." I smirked, holding back a chuckle. He walked over to me, grabbing my face and kissed me with a sense of urgency. I felt a tingle run through my body as the kiss deepened. I placed my arms around his neck, one of my hands running through his hair.

By the time he pulled away, we were both a bit breathless. "Been wanting to do that for a while now." I blushed and averted my eyes since he still had a hold of my face.

"I'm sorry. Who is this?"

He dropped his hands and turned to face Harriet. "I'm the Doctor."

"He's the Doctor."

"But what happened to my Doctor? Or is it a title that's just passed on?"

He walked over to her. "I'm him. I'm literally him. Same man, new face. Well, new everything."

"But you can't be."

"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."

"Did you win the election?"

"Landslide majority."

"If I might interrupt."

He turned to the Sycorax leader, crossing his hands behind his back and smiling. "Yes, sorry. Hello, big fellow."

"Who exactly are you?"

"Well, that's the question."

"I demand to know who you are!"

"I. Don't. Know! 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 turned and winked at me, causing me to smile. "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." He stopped walking. "And how am I going to react when I see this, a great big threatening button." He ran up the stairs and stood in front of a stand that held the button. "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 bent down and opened the base. "And what've we got here? Blood? Yeah, definitely blood." He placed a finger in and tasted it. I grimaced a bit. "Human blood. A Positive, with just a dash of iron." He rubbed his finger on the dressing gown. "Ah, but that means blood control. Blood control! Oh, I haven't seen blood control for years. You're controlling all the A Positives." The Sycorax leader hissed. "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 slammed his hand onto the button.

"No!" the four beside me yelled.

"You killed them!"

"What do you think, big fellow? Are they dead?"

"We allow them to live."

"Allow? 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 hypnotise someone to walk like a chicken or sing like Elvis. You can't hypnotize them to death. Survival instinct's too strong."

"Blood control was just one form of conquest. I can summon the armada and take this world by force."

"Well, yeah, you could, yeah, you could do that, of course you could. But why? 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-"

"That's the Lion King, Doctor," I said.

"Thanks, dear. Sorry but the point still stands. Leave them alone!"

"Or what?"

"Or," he started, pulling a sword from one of the Sycorax's sheath and running back towards the Tardis. "I challenge you." The aliens laughed. "Oh, that struck a chord. Am I right that the sanctified rules of combat still apply?"

"You stand as this world's champion."

"Thank you. I've no idea who I am, but you just summed me up." He took off his dressing gown and tossed it to me. "So, you accept my challenge? Or are you just a cranak pel casacree salvak?"

The two knelt. "For the planet?" the leader asked, agreeing after whatever the Doctor said to him.

"For the planet."

The two went for each other, their swords clashing. The leader swung his sword, almost striking the Doctor.

"Look out!" Rose yelled.

"Oh, yeah, that helps. Wouldn't have thought of that otherwise, thanks." I continued watching the pair. It was obvious that the Sycorax leader was more experienced with a sword than the Doctor and while I was a bit worried but I knew he could handle himself. The Doctor backed up, running through a tunnel, pushing a button that opened a door, with the leader following. "Bit of fresh air?"

We followed them to the hull, watching as the Doctor was pushed to the edge and then hit in the face. I frowned. He had just gotten that face and it was a nice looking one at that. Rose made a move towards them and I rolled my eyes. It had to be her to try to do something unnecessary. "Stay back! Invalidate the challenge and he wins the planet." She stopped and stayed where she was and the two charged towards each other. The leader hit the Doctor, knocking him down and swiped at his hand, cutting the right one off. I watched as both the hand and sword fell. "You cut my hand off."

"Ya! Sy-cor-ax!"

"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 held his arm up and grew a new hand. I stared at him, impressed.

"Witchcraft."

"Time Lord."

"Doctor!" Rose yelled as she threw him another sword which he expertly spun in his hand after catching it.

"Oh, so I'm still the Doctor, then?"

"No arguments from me!"

"Want to know the best bit? This new hand? It's a fighting hand!" he said, taking a Texan accent. They started to fight again, this time the Doctor having the upper hand. He disarmed the Sycorax leader and hit him in the abdomen twice with the hilt of his sword. The alien fell on the edge, half his body hanging over the side with the edge of the sword to his neck. "I win."

"Then kill me."

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

"Yes."

"Swear on the blood of your species."

"I swear."

"There we are, then. Thanks for that. Cheers, big fellow." He tossed the sword to the side and walked over to us.

"Bravo!"

"That says it all. Bravo!" Rose said, running to him.

"Ah, not bad for a man in his jim-jams." I helped him put on the dressing gown. Once on, he draped an arm around my shoulder. "Very Arthur Dent. Now, there was a nice man. Hold on, what have I got in here?" He reached into the dressing gown's pocket. "A satsuma. Ah, that friend of your mother's. He does like his snacks doesn't he? 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?" He suddenly threw the Satsuma at a control. I turned to see the Sycorax leader fall through the opening. The Doctor turned me back around, keeping his arm on me. "No second chances. I'm that sort of a man."

We walked back into the spaceship. The Doctor had taken his arm from my shoulder and was holding my hand. Rose, Mickey, Harriet and the translator followed behind us. "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 its riches, its people, its potential. When you talk of the Earth, then make sure that you tell them this. It. Is. Defended." With that said, we were all beamed back to the ground.

"Where are we?" Rose asked.

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

"Wait a minute, wait a minute," the Doctor said, waiting until the spaceship flew away.

"Go on, my son! Oh, yeah!" Mickey whooped.

Rose jumped onto his back. "Yeah! Don't come back!"

"It is defended!" Rose and Mickey hugged and then Rose went to hug the translator. The Doctor and I watched it from the side-lines.

"My Doctor." Harriet said as she came over to us.

"Prime Minister. He released me as they hugged. Pulling away, he intertwined our hands again.

"Absolutely the same man. 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."

"Rose! Cerys!"

"Mum!"

"Oh, talking of trouble." I smiled at him before pulling the Doctor over to her.

I let go of his hand and hugged her. "Oh, my God! You did it, girls. Oh!"

"You did it too! It was the tea. Fixed his head."

"That was all I needed, cup of tea."

"I said so."

"Look at him."

"Is it him, though? Is it really the Doctor?" she asked before she turned her attention to behind us. "Oh, my God, it's the bleeding Prime Minister!"

"Come here, you." I stood aside as the four of them had a group hug. When they separated, he gave me a confused glance. I shrugged before looking away. He took my hand in his again.

"Are you better?"

"I am, yeah."

Jackie turned to Rose, Mickey, and me. "You left me."

"I'm sorry."

"I had all the food." As I was giving her another apology, five green beams shot through the sky, hitting and destroying the Sycorax ship.

"What is that? What's happening?"

The Doctor turned around and stalked over to Harriet, pulling me with him. "That was murder."

"That was defence. It's adapted from alien technology. A ship that fell to Earth ten years ago."

"They were leaving though," I told her.

She glanced at me and turned her attention to the Doctor. "You said yourself, Doctor, they'd go back to the stars and tell others about the Earth. 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."

"Britain's Golden Age," he spat.

"It comes with a price."

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

"Those are the people I represent. I did it on their behalf."

"Then I should have stopped you."

"What does that make you, Doctor? Another alien threat?"

I squeezed his hand. "Don't challenge me, Harriet Jones, because I'm a completely new man. I could bring down your Government with a single word."

"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."

"I don't think so."

"Six words."

"Stop it!"

"Six." He released my hand and walked over to the translator. After whispering something in his ear, he grabbed my hand and we walked over to the others, all of us walking away. We could hear Harriet asking what he had said as well as her apology. I sighed, knowing the day was not over yet.

I sat on my bed in the Tardis as the Doctor looked for something to wear. I wanted to talk to Rose about what had happened but knowing she was still upset, I knew she would continue to ignore me. I wasn't sorry since I had nothing to be sorry about but the things she said, the way she had acted, it still hurt. We rarely had rows and the ones we had were often over thirty minutes later, with us joking around and laughing. This one was different. Something had changed between us and I didn't know what it was.

Deep in thought, I barely heard the knock on the door. Thinking it was just a random noise, I jumped, a bit startled, when the door cracked open and the Doctor poked his head in. "Ready?"

"You go on. I'm not going."

"They're your family."

"No, it's Rose's family. I was just the stray cat they felt sorry for."

"You don't really believe that?" I looked away. "Cerys, they love you."

"I'm sure… It doesn't matter. You go and have fun. It's Christmas."

"I can't have fun without you."

"You have Rose."

"I don't want Rose," he fiercely stated before he softened his voice. "I want you to come."

"Why? Why me?! What, do you feel sorry for me too? Are you just being nice because I didn't give up on you, that I tried to convince Rose you were still you? Is that why you…" The tears I tried to hold in fell. "Why you kissed me?" He looked away. "You don't want me. You want the person I remind you of. I don't blame you; she was probably extraordinary, perfect." I took in a breath. "Please… just stop pretending you care about me." He nodded, not looking at me and left the room. Once the door was closed, I broke down, allowing the sobs that I had stifled to escape.

As I cried, I reached under my mattress, the place I hid it after the library incident, searching for the blue pill bottle. When I found it, I unscrewed the cap and dug for a blade. With one in my hand, I replace the cap and bottle and locked myself in the bathroom. After removing my jeans, I pressed the blade to my already scarred left thigh. I gently ran it across my skin, enjoying the coolness of the blade before I went for the first tear.

I continued to rip at my skin, ignoring the slight sting each time I hit a fresh cut. I didn't want to feel anything anymore. I didn't want to cry anymore. The thought of downing my collection of pills came to mind but I ignore it, not ready to deal with the emotional baggage that came with failure. Cutting would do until the time when I was ready arrived. Feeling weak, I added more cuts. I stopped a while later, when the front of my thigh was no longer visible due to the blood. Examining them, I sighed. I'd cut deeper than I had in a while. Slowly standing, I went through the cabinet looking for gauze, antibacterial paste, and something to wrap my leg with. When I had found it all, I took a bath, careful when cleaning my thigh. Once finished, I added the paste, gauze and wrap before putting on sweatpants and an oversized hoodie and returning the razor blade to its bottle. Emotionally and mentally exhausted, I collapsed into my bed, letting sleep take me.

Hey all. Thanks for sticking around. I was going to post in the morning before my flight (I'm heading to Miami for the summer ^.^) but I figured I could do a chapter tonight AND tomorrow morning (hopefully) since I might end up straying from my set schedule. But, we'll see.

Honestly, this was a pretty rough ending to write... kinda triggered me haha but I pulled through it. Anyways, as I wrote the final scene, I felt kind of bad for both Cerys and the Doctor... and then I made the Doctor awesome again. I know he isn't one for admitting his feelings, but I really wanted him to be different with Cerys without making him too out of character and I hope I accomplished that.

And onto the reviews. Thanks again for them. Like I've said from the start, they are extremely appreciated.

Lizzybug2000: Love that you're loving the story. And I'm definitely the same when it comes to seeing how everyone does their OCs. As for your question... I can say that Old Who is in the works with the half-breed thing. Think humanoid inhabitants of Skaro... both. The specifics will be brought up in later chapter but if you go on the Tardis Wiki page thing... you'll find the answer ;)

EmmieRaeJean: Welcome to the story :) I'm glad to hear you're enjoying it and that you like Cerys. She's honestly one of my favourite characters I've created in a long while. If you've figured it out, PM me. I'll let you know just how close you are to the answer. The Girl in the Fireplace episode will most definitely be one of the eventful ones. It actually starts a domino effect but I can't say more.

I'm-a-Klaus-addict: Hopefully you didn't get caught. Yeah, similar names and it might be a nickname but then again, it just might be coincidence. Then again, the Doctor has said never to ignore coincidences unless you're busy ;) I'm glad you're excited and I promise the big reveal will be in The Idiot's Lantern episode.