"It's twelve months," Chris heard someone say from another room, "you've been gone a whole year."
Chris blinked her eyes open, allowing them to adjust to the light in the room she was in. When she could focus she noticed that the room was very pink and there were pictures of one Rose Tyler and another Mickey Smith in the room. She grinned and sat up, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes.
She felt a little more awake than she had before popping off but she knew that if she didn't sleep soon then she'd pass out during something dangerous. Her clothes were still the ones that she had worn on her last adventure and she felt very much so in need of a shower. She swung her legs over the bed and stood up. She glanced at the pink sheets and noted with a grimace that they would need a wash because of her.
She very carefully opened the door to the room and slid into the hallway, making sure the door made no sound as she shut it behind her. Chris tiptoed to where the voices were and were just in time to see the ninth Doctor get slapped in the face by one Jackie Tyler.
Chris couldn't help but burst into laughter at The Doctor's shocked look. She doubled over missing the looks of confusion and suspicion from the other three. By the time she calmed down The Doctor had moved in front of the other two and was scanning Chris, probably to make sure she was human.
"Alrighty, mate," Chris said, and then blushed after she hiccuped. "Oh, sorry, I don't think I've slept in awhile. I've also spent the last forty-two minutes preventing a spaceship from crashing into the sun in the Torajii system, it was quite the dangerous adventure and… Oh sorry, spoilers."
"Who are you?" The Doctor demanded suddenly, drawing the human's attention to him.
"Oh, your ears are big, aren't they," Chris chuckled before suddenly frowning, "you really don't know who I am, do you?"
"How'd you get in here?" Jackie demanded, assuming a protective stance in front of Rose now that there were two threats to her daughter.
"I just kinda… appeared? Yeah, that's the word appeared. I just kinda appeared in Rose's bed, sorry about your sheets dear. The Torajii sun is very hot when you have no heat shields." Chris paused then, "sorry, spoilers again. I'm Chris Wesley, nice to meetcha."
The Doctor's brows furrowed as he examined the human in front of him. She didn't seem to be dangerous but his scan showed something that wasn't human inside her. He'd have to get a more thorough scan on the Tardis later to be sure of it though.
Rose turned to The Doctor in shock, looking between The Timelord and the woman standing in her mom's living room.
"How can that be Chris?" Rose questioned The Doctor, gaining Chris' attention as the black-haired human frowned.
"Sorry, what?" Chris asked, "'ave we met before or not? You two are confusing me now."
"We've met Chris Wesley before but you're not her." The Doctor said darkly, trying to figure out what he should do with this woman who was pretending to be his friend.
"Unless I somehow regenerated or you're keeping something from me then I'm the only Chris Wesley that's popping up randomly in your timeline, Doc," Chris said, addressing The Doctor because she knew she'd have to get him to trust her in order for her to stay. "Of course, there could be multiple Chris Wesley's but you seemed to know me in the future and you weren't confused as to who I was then."
"Hmm," The Doctor hummed crossing his arms as he processed what the human said. He was surprised that she simply stood there and took it, letting him do his thing.
"Hey Doc, Jackie, Rose before too many more questions are asked is it possible for me to take a shower and perhaps change my clothes. I was serious about the whole sun thing."
So much for letting him do his own thing.
After Chris had showered and changed into new clothes, courtesy of the Tardis (not that The Doctor had let her in the Tardis, he'd just grabbed clothes for her, they weren't even her clothes), the Quatro sat down in Jackie's living room. Despite the protests of the other three Jackie had decided to call the police in order to get a statement and potentially make money off of a claim or a lawsuit against the bald man that claimed to be traveling with her daughter.
Chris was sitting next to Rose, leaning back against the couch with her eyes closed. If it wasn't for the facial expressions she was making The Doctor would have thought she was asleep. This Chris seemed to respond in much the same way as the Chris both he and Rose had met previously. She would wrinkle her nose or raise an eyebrow to express whatever she was feeling but would only interject when she knew what she was going to say before hand.
Except when she was tired, apparently. The Chris that he had met before was a woman of few words, however, it was obvious that she had been through a lot so maybe it was just that this Chris was much younger than the other Chris.
Whatever the case he didn't trust the woman in front of him. She obviously knew more than she was letting on. She had also apparently been sleeping in Rose's bed which did not sit well with him at all. The Doctor was very protective of his companions.
I know you're watching me. A voice spoke in his mind, making The Doctor jump and look around suspiciously.
Who are you? He demanded, not noticing that Chris was watching him with an amused smile.
Guess, you get two of them.
Chris? The Doctor asked, snapping his head over to look at the woman who was giving him a thumbs up.
Got it in one, you must be proud.
How are you doing this? The Doctor demanded.
How are you doing this? Chris countered easily.
Telepathic fie- He cut himself off, you don't actually need me to explain, do you?
Not particularly, no. Chris was watching the proceedings with the cop as she spoke with The Doctor, I know you don't trust me, doc, I can feel it coming off you in waves.
Empath?
Low level, yes.
Interesting. The Doctor commented when he suddenly felt an elbow in his side and turned to see Rose glaring at him.
"You gonna help me or what?" Rose snapped, making The Doctor wince.
"Sorry," The Doctor murmured, properly chastised by his blonde companion.
Chris was exhausted. The cop had left and Rose had gone to the roof nearly ten minutes ago. She knew that The Doctor wanted to follow but that he still considered Chris to be a risk factor. She groaned and curled herself into a ball, slipping her shoes off as she did so and letting them fall to the ground.
"I'm gonna take a nap, you can go check on Rose, y'know," Chris told the time lord before flipping over and snuggling into the back of the couch for comfort.
By the time the front door was closed Chris was asleep
"I can't tell her. I can't even begin. She's never going to forgive me," Rose said when The Doctor arrived on the rooftop, " and I missed a year. Was it good?"
"Middling," The Doctor teased, leaning against the rail.
"You're so useless," Rose said with a laugh. The two waited in silence for a moment before The Doctor spoke.
"Well, if it's this much trouble, are you gonna stay here now?" He asked, glancing at the human.
"I don't know," Rose said honestly, "Can't do that to her again, though."
"Well, she's not coming with us," The Doctor joked.
"No chance!" Rose agreed
"I don't do families," the Time Lord informed with a grin.
"She slapped you!"
"900 years of time and space and I've never been slapped by someone's mother," The Doctor informed gravely.
"Your face," Rose laughed.
"It hurt!" The Doctor said indignantly.
"When you say 900 years," she ventured.
"That's my age," The Doctor told his human companion.
"You're 900 years old," Rose asked
"Yeah," The Doctor agreed
"My mum was right," Rose giggled, "That is one hell of an age gap. Every conversation with you just goes mental. There's no one else I can talk to. I've seen all that stuff up there, the size of it, and I can't say a word. Aliens and spaceships and things, and I'm the only person on planet Earth who knows they exist."
As if the aliens knew what Rose Tyler was talking about a spaceship chose that exact moment to crash land in the Thames, hitting the Big Ben first.
"Oh, that's just not fair," Rose Tyler groaned as she and The Doctor ran down to do what all the other humans were doing- watch the telly.
"I'm telling you, Doctor," Chris groaned once more, "if you would just let me into the Tardis I could show you that she's already created a room for me. And not just any room, a room that follows my timeline, so it's always there for the present me."
"And I'm telling you, I'm not letting you on the Tardis," The Doctor snapped, crossing his arms and turning from the human.
"She's a sentient ship, if she thinks I'm a danger she can just kick me out," Chris glared at the obstinate Time Lord, "I'm being courteous by asking, y'know. I could very easily have just walked on and you'd be none the wiser."
"Oh really?" The Doctor challenged, raising an eyebrow at the girl.
"Really," Chris said before raising her hand and snapping. She watched in delight as the Time Lord's face fell when the doors swung out to let the human in. "and besides, I've got a key."
Chris sauntered through the doors, taking a moment to greet her friend before going to find her room. She wanted to switch out the clothes in her bag and she wanted to take a moment to grab the screwdriver she had left on the bedside table the last time she'd been in there.
"Did it never occur to you why there was this one room, out of every room in the Tardis, just this one, that you couldn't enter." Chris crossed her arms as The Doctor entered to explore the room
"No," The Doctor defended, "it never did, why?"
"Because this is my room and I'd appreciate it greatly if you didn't go rooting through my belongings,"
The Doctor paused to glare at Chris, "Who said this was your room?"
"The Tardis did, Doc. The first time I met her." Chris explained, "probably about 300 years into your future. Now if you'd kindly exit so I could get my own clothes on that'd be great."
"But-" The Doctor started when Chris rolled her eyes and began to push him out of the room.
"But nothing," Chris said, "we can talk later. Besides, don't you have a world to be saving or a Telly to be watching or something."
"Fine," The Doctor grumbled, "but we will be talking."
"Aye aye, capitan," Chris saluted with a smirked before shutting the door in The Doctor's offended face.
"You're hurting her," Chris said, leaning against the wall as she watched The Doctor hit a hammer against the console. She'd decided to take a nap after changing into a pair of her own jeans and a black and white flannel. "If you just listened to the Tardis you'd understand that she knows how to do her job."
"What would you know?" The Doctor sneered, pausing between hits to glare at the human.
Chris rolled her eyes as she walked down the ramp and up to the console. She set her palm down next to the throttle and smiled as she felt a pleased hum run up her arm. Chris blinked before looking at The Doctor.
"I can hear her," Chris murmured gently, "I've no idea why and no idea how, but she talks to me, Doctor."
The Doctor just grunted and Chris shrugged her shoulders, knowing he wouldn't listen to her. She instead went and sat against the wall, watching The Doctor as he worked and humming to herself. Her hand fiddled with the buttons on her bag that she had sat in her lap. She was tempted to pull out her sonic and use it on the Tardis just to mess with The Doctor but she knew that with the slitheen being in London now was not the time.
Chris was debating telling The Doctor about the Slitheen when the Tardis suddenly jolted to a stop. Chris was on her feet and at the door in a moment, only waiting for The Doctor because she didn't want to be the one walking out first into a room full of armed men.
"Seriously, I hate guns," Chris said as she watched the room full of Red Berets aim their guns at The Doctor and her. She shook her head but didn't bother to raise her hands as she heard a scream from another room.
"Defence plan delta! Come on. Move! Move!" The Doctor ordered, leading the men out of the room with Chris on his heals. She quickly overtakes The Doctor, running into the room and straight to where she can see Toshiko, the doctor that was working on the 'alien' cowering in fear.
"Where did he go?" Chris demanded, intent on saving an innocent life.
Toshiko's hand trembled as she pointed in the direction of the pig and Chris took off at a sprint, ignoring the questioning look she'd received from The Doctor. She had a single minded focus on that poor creature.
"Don't shoot," The Doctor yelled, catching sight of the creature as he sprinted past Toshiko towards a door.
"Outta my way," Chris shouted, shoving men aside that weren't moving fast enough. She nearly knocked a grown man on his backside as she pushed past him. She dove through a doorway and back into the original room, knocking the pig to the ground just as a shot rang out.
"NO!" Shouted The Doctor.
Chris landed on top of the pig with a thud. She'd heard the shot ring out but when she assessed herself there was no blood. She quickly looked down at the creature trapped under her body, she was surprised that she was able to hold it down.
After quickly looking over the creature Chris let out a sigh of relief. She took a moment to calm her frantically beating heart before glaring up at the men who were still poised to shoot.
"He's just scared," Chris snapped, startling the men, "he was only scared and you tried to kill him."
"It's a pig," The Doctor said, dumbfounded.
"Yes, and you lot tried to kill him," Chris glared at the soldiers, "now put down your weapons and help me out. You too, Doc."
"Help you with what," The Doctor raised an eyebrow.
"He's coming with us." Chris grinned brightly, patting the pig on the forehead, pleased at the returned nudge from the creature.
The Doctor was already shaking his head, "no."
"Yes, he is," Chris said, knowing she had already won. All those times she'd thought there had been someone else on the Tardis aside from The Doctor and his companions she'd been right. "His name is Steve and I met him in the future."
Not technically true but The Doctor didn't need to know that.
"But-"
"If you don't bring him onto the Tardis, Doctor, you're going to cause a paradox." Chris reminded him gently, "you know you have to do it so we may as well get a move on."
"Steve?" The Doctor asked, "who names a pig Steve?"
"Alright, so I lied. I went and had a look," The Doctor said sheepishly as he exited the Tardis, Chris, and Steve on his heels. "But the whole crash landing's a fake. I thought so. Just too perfect. I mean, hitting Big Ben. Come on, so I thought let's go and have a look."
"My mum's here," Rose said, stopping The Doctor in his tracks.
"Oh, that's just what I need," The Doctor rolled his eyes, "Don't you dare make this place domestic."
"You ruined my life, Doctor," Mickey accused, "They thought she was dead. I was a murder suspect because of you."
"You see what I mean?" The Doctor asked Rose, "Domestic."
"I bet you don't even remember my name," Mickey accused.
"Ricky." The Doctor stated immediately.
"It's Mickey," Chris and Mickey said at the same time.
"No, it's Ricky," The Doctor corrected.
"Have we met before?" Mickey asked, facing Chris.
"Nope!" Chris said cheerfully, "I'm Chris, pleasure to meet you, Mickey Smith."
"Have you guys told her about me?" Mickey asked, looking between The Doctor and a distracted Rose.
"Nope," The Doctor grinned.
"I know things," Chris grinned, taking pleasure in teasing Mickey good naturedly.
"What kinds of things?" Mickey asked, drawing Chris into a more personal conversation.
"I know the future," Chris said with a smirk, "for instance I know for a fact that you, Mickey Smith, are going to help save the world."
"Doubt it," The Doctor grumbled, earning himself a glare from Chris.
"And I know for a fact that big ears over there is an asshole," Chris said with narrowed eyes. "Now if you'll excuse me, Doctor, I've got a meeting to attend."
Chris pushed The Doctor aside and started fiddling with the controls of the Tardis. She had no idea what she was doing but she hoped that the Tardis would figure it out for her. She was incredible like that.
"What the hell do you think you're doing?" The Doctor snapped, stepping into Chris' way.
"Saving the world, something you're too busy making fun of someone to do!" Chris snapped right back. "Now, get out of my way or get to work."
"You're not the boss of me." The Doctor ground out.
"And you're not my boss either. Now that we've got that settled why don't you stop wasting time and start doing your job."
The Doctor glared at Chris who glared right back. She then huffed and walked away, shaking her head in disappointment as she sat on the captain's seat, ignoring a now bewildered Mickey.
"And what do you presume my job is?" The Doctor asked haughtily.
"You're a doctor," Chris snapped, "your job is to help people. Or at least that's what I thought it was."
Chris watched in silence as The Doctor worked under the console of The Tardis, trying to patch in the flight path. She had considered just telling him where it had come from but she had the feeling that he wouldn't believe her right now.
"So how'd you get caught up with this lot?" Mickey asked, leaning against the rail as he also watched The Doctor work.
"I literally pop up randomly in The Doctor's life," Chris informed the Londoner. "I've got no control over it. Honestly, my life has turned into some bad fanfiction."
"Huh," Mickey said, processing this information.
"I'm gonna go check on Steve," Chris said, standing up and walking out of the console room. She needed space and since she was concerned about her newest friend it was a good opportunity to escape.
Chris entered her bedroom, where she'd set Steve up on a pile of blankets on the floor, and was pleased to see that the pig was sleeping soundly. The Doctor hadn't had the chance to check Steve out yet but Chris knew that he was going to be okay.
With a smile Chris crossed the room to grab her bag before heading to the kitchen, knowing she would need some food in the coming hours. She packed her bag before heading out to the console to see The Doctor cheering at his own success.
"Got it! Ha, ha! Patched in the radar, looped it back twelve hours so we can follow the flight of that spaceship," he ran to the monitor on the console and fiddled with the knobs until the picture showed up, "Here we go. Hold on. Come on." The Doctor hit the monitor, trying to get it to focus, "That's the spaceship on its way to Earth, see? Except. Hold on. See? The spaceship did a sling shot round the Earth before it landed."
"What does that mean?" Rose asked.
"It means it came from Earth in the first place." Chris said, coming up beside Rose and throwing an arm around the woman's shoulders, "It went up and came back down. Whoever those aliens are, they haven't just arrived, they've been here for a while. The question is, what have they been doing?"
Chris removed her arm from around Rose and walked over to the captain's chair. While her earlier shower and nap had helped she still felt exhausted from recent events and wanted to get some rest.
"While you figure out the answer to that I'm going to take a nap," Chris muttered before setting her bag on the ground and getting comfortable. "Night."
Chris shook her head at Rose's wonder as she, The Doctor, and Rose were being escorted to 10 downing street in a police car. She was too focused on the situation at hand to be excited at their impending location. In fact, she was getting more upset as they approached downing street. Chris was not looking forward to meeting the Slitheen at all.
"This is a bit posh," Rose commented, "If I knew it was going to be like this, being arrested, I would have done it years ago."
"We're not being arrested, we're being escorted," The Doctor informed, glancing at Chris to see her staring pointedly out the window.
"Where to?" Rose asked
"Where'd you think?" The Doctor grinned, shaking off Chris' silence. "Downing Street."
"You're kidding," Rose said
"I'm not," The Doctor assured
"10 Downing Street?" Rose said disbelievingly
"That's the one."
"Oh, my God. I'm going to 10 Downing Street?" Rose squealed, "How come?"
"I hate to say it, but Mickey was right." The Doctor looked positively disgusted at having to agree with something that Mickey Smith had said, "Over the years I've visited this planet a lot of times, and I've been, er, noticed."
"Now they need you?" Rose questioned, seeing for the first time how much she truly did not know about The Doctor.
"Like it said on the news. They're gathering experts in alien knowledge." The Doctor reminded, "And who's the biggest expert of the lot?"
"Patrick Moore?" Rose teased.
"Apart from him," The Doctor grinned, playing along with her joke.
"Oh, don't you just love it," Rose elbowed The Doctor.
"I'm telling you. Lloyd George, he used to drink me under the table," The Doctor informed, "Who's the Prime Minister now?"
"How should I know?" Rose asked, "I missed a year."
Chris shook herself out of her mood as the car came to a stop and waited patiently for the door to open. She quickly exited and made her way into the building, ignoring the flashing lights and raised voices. She didn't need any of the attention.
She nearly fell to the ground when she bumped into an older woman who was mingling with the UNIT officers. Chris couldn't help but smile as the woman apologized and introduced herself
"So sorry there," Harriet said, "Harriet Jones, MP Flydale North."
"Chris Wesley," Chris said, "and there's no harm done at all, Ms. Jones."
The two look up as a man starts talking.
"Ladies and gentlemen, can we convene?" The man said as he handed out ID cards to the gathered people, "Quick as we can, please. It's this way on the right, and can I remind you ID cards are to be worn at all times."
"Here's your ID cards." he handed a card to both Chris and The Doctor, who looked over at Chris in surprise, "I'm sorry, your companion doesn't have clearance."
"I don't go anywhere without her," The Doctor argued, still looking in shock at Chris.
"You're the code nine, not her. I'm sorry, Doctor, Chris." The man said, "It is the Doctor, isn't it? And you're Chris, right? She'll have to stay outside."
"She's staying with me," The Doctor said, tearing his gaze from Chris, who was putting the ID around her neck in confusion.
"Look, even I don't have clearance to go in there," Ganesh said, "I can't let her in and that's a fact."
"It's all right," Rose said good naturedly, "You two go."
"YOu're that Chris Wesley?" Harriet asked Chris, who was still studying her ID card.
"Yeah," Chris said absentmindedly.
"Not now. We're busy." Ganesh scolded, "Can't you go home?"
"I just need a word in private," Harriet argued as Chris and The Doctor were led away by Ganesh.
"Apparently I'm an expert," Chris whispered to The Doctor as they waited for the meeting to start, "who'd have thought it."
"Not me," The Doctor whispered back.
"Rude," Chris chided, "do you still not believe that I'm the only Chris Wesley there is?"
"Hush," The Doctor muttered as general Asquith, a man that he'd spoken to briefly earlier stood up.
"Now, ladies and gentlemen, if I could have your attention, please," general Asquith said to the gathered experts, Chris and The Doctor among them, "As you can see from the summaries in front of you, the ship had one porcine occupant."
"Of course, the really interesting bit happened three days ago, see, filed away under Any Other Business." The Doctor interrupted, knowing he needed to take control of the situation, "The North Sea. A satellite detected a signal, a little blip of radiation, at one hundred fathoms, like there's something down there. You were just about to investigate and the next thing you know, this happens. Spaceships, pigs, massive diversion. From what?"
"If aliens fake an alien crash and an alien pilot, what do they get?" The Doctor said, coming to a realization, "Us. They get us. It's not a diversion, it's a trap."
ID card off, now. Chris startled at the voice in her head, having not heard from Rain in a while. She quickly followed the command before looking to The Doctor, wondering if she should warn him.
"This is all about us. Alien experts." The Doctor continued, not seeing Chris take off her card, "The only people with knowledge of how to fight them gathered together in one room."
Chris nearly gagged as one of the disguised Slitheen let out some gas. She'd been disgusted seeing this all on T.V but actually experiencing it was a thousand times worse.
"Excuse me, do you mind not farting while I'm saving the world?" The Doctor snapped, having lost his train of thought.
"Would you rather silent but deadly?" The Slitheen replied haughtily.
Doctor, ID off, now. Rain said to The Doctor, who glanced at Chris in confusion to see that she was no longer wearing her ID.
"Oh My God," Chris suddenly gasped, staring in shock as the slitheen unzipped themselves from their human disguises, she wanted to warn the people in the room about their ID tags but she was too shocked and disgusted to move.
"We are the Slitheen," The Slitheen who'd been Asquith introduced.
"Thank you all for wearing your ID cards," the other Slitheen said, holding up a remote, "They'll help to identify the bodies."
Chris watched in horror as the shocks immediately took effect. Even The Doctor was not exempt from the electrocution. Chris could feel the static in the air but she couldn't get her body to move. She felt tears come to her eyes as she watched The Doctor struggle to get the tag off as the rest of the experts present fell to the ground.
"Holy shit," Chris gasped out, falling to her knees and covering her ears as a panic attack came on. She'd never seen death like this. And the smell, the smell of burning flesh made Chris gag as she vaguely heard The Doctor confronting the Slitheen.
"Deadly to a human, maybe," The Doctor said as he removed the ID and tossed it at the Slitheen who were promptly electrocuted.
The Doctor hauled Chris to her feet and dragged her out of the room, knowing they didn't have time for Chris to lose control like she was doing. He paused only for a moment to adjust his grip as he forced Chris to follow him.
"Sorry," Chris was muttering, not paying attention to what was happening around her or where she was going, "I'm so sorry."