They spent the rest of the night taking turns catching quick naps, keeping an eye on the government feeds on Mickey's laptop, and watching over the Doctor as he slept fitfully. Rose could tell that Jack felt like he wasn't doing enough. She felt the same, even though she knew it was illogical and that they were doing everything that they could do under the circumstances. She wished she knew what to say to Jack, but since she did feel the same as he did, she found it hard to reassure him.
Around sunrise, she was pulled from yet another restless nap by an exclamation from Mickey.
"Oi!" he called from the living room. "The Sycorax are replying to the message from last night!"
Blearily, Rose pushed herself out of her bed and shuffled quickly down the hall. Jack emerged from his vigil over the Doctor and Jackie poked her head out from the kitchen.
"I guess it's time for me to make more tea, then," she called out. Without waiting for a response, she ducked back into the kitchen. Rose could hear her puttering about with the tea things.
Rose made her way over to the couch and took a seat next to Mickey. "What have we got?" she asked as Jack sat down on Mickey's other side.
"It was just a short video," he said. He typed something, and a box popped up on top of the rest of the data. The video replayed. One of the Sycorax held out its hand. A ball of blue light appeared, and then the video ended.
"That's it?" Jack asked. "That's their reply?"
"Not very talkative, are they?" Rose commented.
"Are they trying to scare us with cheap magic tricks?" Mickey mused. "They can't think too highly of us if they think a ball of light is gonna manage that."
Suddenly they heard a commotion outside. It seemed like half the estate at least had gone outside at exactly the same time. Rose closed her eyes briefly. "Something tells me things are about to get worse again," she said.
Mickey set his laptop back on the makeshift coffee table and the three of them headed towards the front door of the flat.
As they approached the door, Rose could hear one of her neighbors yelling at her husband, asking him what was wrong and repeating his name.
She opened the door and she, Jack, and Mickey all peered out around it. "Sandra?" Rose said, zeroing in on her frazzled neighbor.
"He won't listen!" Sandra exclaimed. "He's just walking, he won't stop walking!" She gestured wildly at her husband's head. "There's this sort of… light… thing!" She had hung back to speak to Rose, but as her husband continued in the same measured pace, she hurried to catch up to him. "Jason!" she called after him. "Stop it!"
"They're heading up," Rose said, watching the zombie-like movement of the people under the control of the blue light. "They're going to the roof."
"Mickey?" Jack said, voice carefully modulated.
"Captain?"
"Go check the computer. See if the government's talking about this yet. Turn on the television. I'm betting it just got interesting again." He paused, then added, "and make sure Jackie's all right."
"Got it," Mickey said, disappearing back into the flat.
"Come on, Rose," Jack said. He took her hand, and together they followed the crowd of Powell Estate residents to the roof.
"Jack," Rose began. Her voice trembled slightly, and she scowled before starting again, steadier. "Jack, do you think they're going to jump?"
Jack shook his head. "I don't know, Rose."
"The Sycorax, their message… it said they will die."
Grimly, Jack nodded. "This is probably what they were talking about. But, Rose… depending on what exactly that blue light is…" He squeezed. "The human psyche is pretty strong. And besides, the Sycorax probably won't kill them right away, anyway. This is probably just proof of the severity of their threat."
"Probably," Rose repeated flatly. Well that's a confident assessment of the situation, she thought caustically.
They reached the roof, and found that all of the blue-light zombies had made their way to the edge and were standing in neat lines. They appeared to have no particular inclination to move, whether said movement was to jump forward or to step back. Rose took a deep breath, trying to calm her racing heart. "So it's like you said," she murmured. "Just a threat."
Jack strode forward until they had a clear view of other roofs in the area. Each roof was lined with people standing like statues at the edges and people bunched up behind them, begging them to come down. "For now," Jack said darkly.
They stood there silently for a moment, surveying the activity around them solemnly. "We should go back down," Rose said finally. "See what Mickey's found out. Have some of Mum's tea."
"You Brits and your tea," Jack muttered as they turned around and headed back down the stairs. "I mean, I appreciate a good cuppa now and then but I swear the British think it fixes everything."
Rose glanced over her shoulder before whispering, "Not everything."
Wordlessly, Jack squeezed her hand. They made their way back into the flat.
"What's happening out there?" Mickey asked without preamble when Rose and Jack got to the living room.
"That same blue light from the Sycorax's last message, it's glowing around a bunch of people's heads," Rose explained quickly. "The ones who are affected all went up to the roof, and they're just standing at the edge. Nothing anyone says to them will make them move."
"According to this," Mickey said, gesturing at his computer, "a third of the population is affected."
"A third of the country?" Rose asked, disbelieving. "That's insane."
But Mickey shook his head. "Not just this country," he said solemnly. "A third of the population of the world. It's worldwide, Rose."
Numbly, Rose sank into her mother's chair. "Worldwide," she repeated quietly.
Jack laid a hand on her shoulder, and she absently reached up to lay her hand on top of his.
"What do we do?" Mickey asked, his voice sounding uncharacteristically small.
Rose shook her head. "Nothing," she said dully. "There's nothing we can do." She turned her attention to the news, which Mickey had muted while he worked on the computer. Rose picked up the remote and turned the volume back on.
The BBC were airing live pictures from all over London as well as throughout the country and the rest of the world. Countless people with pulsing blue lights around their heads, standing blank and still at the edge of any roof more than a few stories high. Some of the anchors were missing, and those that remained were repeating the same facts, over and over, seemingly unable to even speculate on the situation.
After ten minutes or so, one of the anchors announced that they'd received word that the Prime Minister was about to address the nation. "One hopes," the anchor said weakly, "that she'll have some answers for us, or some advice."
The screen changed to the familiar confines of the Prime Minister's office at Ten Downing Street, and Harriet Jones was sitting at the desk, face serious.
"Well at least she's not on the roof," Mickey muttered.
"Small favors," Jack said in agreement.
"Ladies and gentlemen," Harriet Jones said from her office. "If I may take a moment during this terrible time. It's hardly the Queen's Speech," she added apologetically. "I'm afraid that's been cancelled." It looked like a thought occurred to her, and she looked off-screen to her left.
"Did we ask about the royal family?" she asked. She waited for a response, and when she got it her face fell. "Oh," she said blandly, turning to the camera again. "They're on the roof." She blinked, seemed to steel herself. "But, ladies and gentlemen, this crisis is unique. And I'm afraid to say," she added, "it might get much worse."
Jackie, who must have heard Harriet's voice from the kitchen, came in to the living room and stood behind Rose, hands resting on top of the chair back.
"I would ask you all to remain calm," Harriet continued. "But I have one request," she said, and a note of pleading entered her serious tone. "Doctor. If you're out there… we need you."
Rose stifled a gasp, and Jack's hand tightened on her shoulder. She could feel Mickey and her mum staring at her.
"I don't know what to do," Harriet said. Rose could sympathize, she thought weakly. "But if you can hear me, Doctor…"
At this, Rose pushed to her feet and turned away from the telly. Jack's hand trailed down her arm as she moved, and his fingers tangled loosely with hers when she stopped.
"If anyone knows the Doctor," Harriet said imploringly, "if anyone can find him…" Rose stiffened. "The situation has never been more desperate.
Rose pulled her hand from Jack's and, trying to ignore Harriet's voice, walked to the doorway of her mum's bedroom, gaze steady on the unconscious Doctor. She felt hot tears running down her cheeks but couldn't stop herself from crying.
"Help us," Harriet said. "Please, Doctor. Help us," she finished.
A broken sob escaped Rose, and she heard Jack behind her sharply telling Mickey to turn off the news. Rose couldn't seem to stop crying, the sobs coming in great gasps. She felt her mother take her shoulders and turned into the comforting embrace.
"He's gone," she sobbed against her mum's shirt. "The Doctor's gone. He's left me, Mum." She continued to sob, unable to catch her breath.
"It's all right," Jackie said gently, stroking Rose's back and kissing the top of her head. "I'm sorry," she added.
Suddenly, the air was filled with the sound of broken glass. Rose jumped out of Jackie's embrace and looked around in shock to find that every window she could see in the flat had shattered.
"What the hell?" Mickey said, picking up a piece of glass and examining it as if it could explain why it had broken.
Jack strode quickly to the front door of the flat and went out onto the balcony. Rose, her sobs at least temporarily subsided in the face of a new problem, trailed after him. Dimly, she registered that glass was crunching under her feet as she stepped up to stand next to Jack at the balcony railing.
As far as she could see, broken glass was everywhere. Near as Rose could tell, there wasn't a single remaining pane of glass in sight.
"Must have been a sonic wave," Jack said. "Which means…" he began, only to trail off as a huge spaceship, looking as if its structure had been ripped directly from some mountain on its planet of origin, slowly moved into view. "The ship has entered the atmosphere," Jack finished as the ship covered the sun and left the Powell Estate in shadow.
"We have to go," Rose whispered, gazing steadily at the ship.
"Say what?" Jack asked, looking down at Rose.
She tore her gaze from the rocky spaceship and looked up into Jack's eyes. "We have to get in the TARDIS. We have to go now."
Without waiting for a reply, Rose whirled around and jogged back into the flat.
"Mickey!" she called out. "Come help Jack carry the Doctor." She got to the living room and found her mum already picking up shards of glass and collecting them in a plastic bag. "Mum, get your stuff, and get some food. We're going."
"Where exactly are we going to?" Mickey asked. Jack stood behind him, leaning against the wall of the hallway outside the bedroom. His face was carefully blank, his arms crossed casually over his chest.
"The TARDIS," Rose said decisively. "It's the only safe place on Earth, so that's where we should be."
"What are we gonna do in there?" Jackie asked, confusion with a slight touch of hysteria in her tone.
"Hide," Rose said, matter-of-factly. She focused in on Jack, almost daring him to contradict her.
"That's all we're gonna do?" Jackie asked incredulously. "Hide?"
"Mum, look in the sky," Rose said, gesturing out the windows they hadn't reinforced after the killer Christmas tree, now glassless. "There's a great big alien invasion and I… I don't know what to do, all right? I've travelled with him, and I've seen all that stuff, but when I'm stuck at home I'm useless." She had another flash of memory from her brief time at home before returning to the Doctor and Jack on the Game Station, and it only fueled her frustration. "Now all we can do is run and hide, and I'm sorry. Now move!" She gestured at all of them, urging them to start following her orders.
Jack and Mickey went into the bedroom to sort out the Doctor, while Jackie scurried away to collect some food and clothes. Rose glanced around the living room, looking for anything they might want to take with them. Seeing nothing, she went to the kitchen, where Jackie was putting tinned food into bags.
"Listen, Mum, don't worry about clothes and stuff, the TARDIS has got a wardrobe room that's like having twelve department stores in your closet. Just put together some food and things to drink."
"Tea," Jackie said firmly. "I've got another pot of tea going, and I'm packing up the cupboards."
Rose rolled her eyes over her mum's obsession with tea in the last twenty-four hours. Jack had rather hit the nail on the head with his observation about British people and tea - at least where Jackie was concerned. Even when Rose had been a little girl, Jackie's first response to a tough situation was a good strong cup of English Breakfast. Rose couldn't even remember the number of teabags they'd gone through when Jimmy Stone had broken Rose's heart.
Leaving her mum to her packing, Rose went over to check on the boys.
"Are you sure you don't want to share the load?" Mickey was saying as Rose came into the room. "You don't have to carry him by yourself."
Jack was once again holding the Doctor in a fireman's carry. He shifted the Doctor's weight slightly and shook his head. "I'm fine," he said. "He's really not that heavy, to be honest. Skinnier than he used to be."
Rose spotted the Doctor's old clothes sitting on the dresser, neatly folded. His leather jacket was hanging off one of the knobs on the drawers. They certainly weren't necessary items for their ability to take shelter on the TARDIS, but with no idea what fate they were leaving the flat to, Rose found herself snatching up the jeans, jumper, socks, and jacket. "Where's his boots?" she asked.
"By the door," Mickey said, clearly unsure why Rose wanted them. "Do we need them?" he asked.
"Just bring them," Rose said. "And see if Mum needs help carrying the bags."
A minute later, Jackie and Mickey came out of the kitchen, both laden with shopping bags.
"We're hiding in the TARDIS, not moving in!" Rose exclaimed.
"You said to bring food!" Jackie said. "I'm bringing food!"
Rose rolled her eyes, but dropped the subject. "Let's just get to the TARDIS," she said.
The four of them made their way down the stairwell, across the courtyard, and into the TARDIS. Rose resolutely shut the door behind them as Jack carefully laid the Doctor down on the grating.
"No chance you two could fly this thing?" Mickey asked, gesturing to the console.
Rose and Jack exchanged glances before Rose shook her head. "Not without the Doctor. We just don't know enough about it."
Jack nodded. "I know a little bit, and Rose is fantastic at following the Doctor's instructions, but we're more likely to create bigger problems than solve this one if we actually tried to fly it without his help."
Mickey furrowed his brow. "But Rose did it before," he said. "When you and the Doctor sent her here alone, and she wanted to go back to you and help."
"Well, yeah," Rose said, reaching back in her mind and dimly remembering Mickey in the big yellow truck, the panel covering the heart of the TARDIS finally flying open, and tendrils of golden light enveloping Rose in warmth and song. "But it's been sort of… wiped out of my head?" she tried the explanation out, unsure if it was really what she meant but deciding it was the best way to explain it. "Like it's forbidden," she said. "What I did that time, I mean."
She looked over at Jack, but he was making a big show of checking over the Doctor. He clearly knew something, but Rose sensed that he didn't want to explain without the Doctor's help unless he had to do so. She looked back at Mickey. "I think if I tried that again, the universe would rip in half or something."
Jack looked up then, and said in agreement, "Or something."
"Ah," Mickey said, "better not then."
"Yeah," Rose said. "Better not."
"So…" Mickey said. "What do we do, then? Just sit here?"
Rose threw her hands in the air, frustrated with the question. "Yes!" she said testily. "That's as good as it gets. If you get bored, go exploring. Even the Doctor doesn't know how many rooms there are!"
Jackie appeared at Rose's side with a thermos in her hand. "Right, here we go," she said soothingly. "Nice cup of tea."
"Hmm," Rose said sardonically. "The solution to everything."
"Now stop your moaning," Jackie said sternly. "I'll get the rest of the food."
"The… the rest?" Rose repeated as Jackie turned on her heel and headed down the ramp to the door. Rose looked down at the six shopping bags Jackie and Mickey had already brought down.
"You wouldn't tell me how much we needed," Jackie said briskly. "There's a few more bags. I'll be right back, don't worry."
With that, she slipped out the door and shut it behind her. Rose shook her head and leaned against the console. She looked down at the Doctor and Jack, who had stayed crouched at the Doctor's side throughout Rose and Jackie's exchange about the food.
"How is he?" Rose asked.
"Well," Jack said, "the good news is that the heart that wasn't working before is working now." He paused briefly before adding, "The bad news is that the one that was working isn't working anymore."
Rose let out a long stream of air. "This sucks," she said under her breath. She always tried to limit her complaints about situations with the Doctor, since he often had very little patience for them. But, well, the Doctor wasn't listening right now, was he? So she'd complain if she bloody well wanted to, she decided.
"Tea," Mickey commented, picking up the thermos and pouring himself some tea in the plastic cup that went on top of the thermos. "Like we're having a picnic while the world comes to an end," he said, tone amused. "Very British."
"That's what I was saying," Jack said, pushing to his feet. "There's nothing like a British man and his tea. During the Blitz…"
Jack started one of his stories, but Rose tuned him and Mickey out, staring pensively at the Doctor. Jack was so comfortable with him already, so confident in the idea that this new man was in fact the same man, unquestionably.
Mickey laughed at something Jack said, then gestured to the TARDIS' console screen. "How does this thing work?" he asked, getting Rose's attention. "If it picks up TV, maybe we could see what's going on out there. Maybe we've surrendered or something." He glanced between Jack and Rose. "What do you do to it?"
Rose gestured vaguely at the console. "I dunno," she said finally, "it just sort of… tunes itself? The Doctor mostly fiddles with it."
Jack shook his head. "I'll show you," he said, pointing to a set of controls. "I set her to run silent before, but hopefully just turning on the view screen and hijacking some TV feeds won't set off any alarms."
Jack wasn't particularly optimistic that turning on the monitor would somehow not call attention to the presence of the TARDIS - not when the aliens had a ship that impressive and all the technical capabilities they'd already displayed. It was, therefore, a calculated risk. But Jack figured things could only get so much worse if they were discovered.
Besides, if they were discovered, it would give them something to do, and having something to do would hopefully be enough to pull Rose out of her funk.
"It's these controls here," he said, and began naming buttons and switches, pointing as he did so. "On/Off switch, channel scanner, switch to exterior camera…"
"There's an exterior camera?" Mickey said, surprised. "Where?"
Jack leveled an amused look at Mickey. "We've discussed the chameleon circuit with you, have we not?"
"Well, yeah," Mickey replied defensively. "But I thought it was broken!"
"Only so that it doesn't change anymore," Rose said. "I'm reasonably sure he could fix it if he wanted to," she added. "But I like that he doesn't."
"Me too," Jack agreed. "Now then, let's see what the good old BBC is saying." He flipped on the monitor and began fiddling, looking for news stations.
Mickey had been leaning over the console, watching what Jack was doing. He began to pull back, but lost his balance in the process and caught himself on the console. Jack resisted the urge to roll his eyes when the beeping started a moment later.
"What's that?" Mickey asked. "Is it like a distress signal?"
"Fat lot of good that's gonna do," Rose muttered. She had taken her usual seat in the captain's chair, but she was slumped there with uncharacteristic apathy. Jack frowned, but before he could say anything, Mickey piped up, ribbing her good-naturedly.
"Are you gonna be a misery all the time?"
"Yes," Rose said firmly.
"You should look at it from my point of view," Mickey said, leaving Jack to fiddle with the console on his own. "Stuck in here with your mum's cooking."
Jack glanced over his shoulder to see that Rose had managed a tiny smile at that. Then her gaze sharpened, and she looked over at the door. "Where is she?" she asked. "Shouldn't she have gotten back by now?"
Jack and Mickey both shrugged. Jack was, quite frankly, more concerned about the beeping, which had yet to stop. He reached up and yanked the screen closer to him, as he'd shifted to a different section of the console in an attempt to figure out the source of the problem.
"I'd better go and give her a hand," Rose said, getting to her feet. "It might start raining missiles out there and we can't have her running around in all that, now can we?"
"Tell her anything from a tin'll be fine," Mickey said impishly.
Rose paused at the door, hand on the knob. "Why don't you tell her yourself?"
"I'm not that brave," Mickey replied, the picture of seriousness.
Rose grinned at him. "No comment," she said. "I'll be right back," she added.
She was halfway through the door, still looking back into the TARDIS, when Jack realized what had happened.
"Shit," Jack breathed. "Rose!" he called in the direction of the closing door. "Wait!" he shouted, just as the sound of Rose screaming filtered through the crack in the door, which she hadn't quite finished closing before whatever caused her to scream happened.
Mickey, who had picked up the thermos of tea to pour himself another helping of it, dropped it in surprise. "Rose?" he called out, then glanced briefly at Jack before taking off towards the door.
Jack wasted no time deciding whether or not to follow. The Doctor had been holding steady in essentially the same condition for hours, whilst Rose was in peril. Besides, if Jack didn't go after Rose now, there would surely be hell to pay to the Doctor when he woke up and found out about it.
Jack and Mickey stumbled out of the TARDIS and Jack found that his discovery seconds before Rose had screamed had been correct - they were no longer on Earth.
They were in the Sycorax ship, surrounded on all sides by the Sycorax themselves.
"The door!" Rose yelled at them. "Close the door!"
In the nick of time, Jack scrambled backwards and slammed the TARDIS door. At least the Doctor was still safe inside his ship, Jack thought wryly. Well, he told himself, you wanted to give Rose something important to do. You've managed that.
More to the point, Jack suspected, Mickey's stumble onto the console had managed it.
Restrained with his arms behind his back by one of the Sycorax, Jack watched as Harriet Jones hurried over to Rose.
"Rose!" she said, sounding incongruously relieved to see her. Jack remembered the tale of Slitheen in Downing Street, having been regaled with the whole story after their encounter with Blon in Cardiff. He'd heard of Harriet Jones before, of course. Hers was a story that was still told in his time. Everyone knew who she was.
Rose pulled her arm free of the Sycorax who had been holding on to her and embraced Harriet.
"Rose!" Harriet said again, hugging her tightly. "I've got you. My lord. My precious thing." She pulled back slightly, still holding Rose's shoulders. "The Doctor," she said hopefully. "Is he with you?"
Her voice shaking, Rose shook her head. "No," she said. "We're on our own."
It was effectively true if not essentially true, and as such Jack was already coming up with an array of increasingly desperate plans and ideas to attempt to get them out of this mess. He scanned the cavernous room they were in. Surrounded by hoards of Sycorax, in addition to himself, Mickey, Rose, and Harriet, there was one other young man. He was a reasonably attractive man, Jack thought. He held a tablet of some kind and had a bluetooth device in his ear. Jack pegged him fairly easily as Harriet's assistant and figured he wouldn't be particularly helpful in the event of things getting even more sticky than they already were.
The Sycorax who were restraining Mickey and Jack shoved them towards the other humans, and Jack rubbed his wrists. He positioned himself directly behind Rose and tried to look menacing.
One of the Sycorax, whose extra-ornamental dress and impressive glowing staff seemed to mark him as the leader, pointed at Rose and spoke angrily.
Harriet's assistant immediately looked down at the tablet he was holding, which Jack assumed had some kind of translation software installed on it. "The yellow girl," he said, reading off the translation. "She has the clever blue box. Therefore, she speaks for your planet."
"But she can't," Harriet said protectively, worry edging her tone.
"Yeah," Rose said, voice firm and quiet. "I can."
"Don't you dare," Mickey said quickly.
"Someone's gotta be the Doctor," Rose said. "Might as well be me."
"Jack can do it!" Mickey whispered fiercely.
Rose looked at Jack sharply, eyes flashing as if daring him to contradict her. Jack grinned at her instead, confident in her abilities. "I've got your back, honey. Give 'em hell."
Rose smiled at him and turned to speak to the Sycorax leader, only for Harriet to take her by the shoulders again.
"They'll kill you," she said.
"Never stopped the Doctor," Rose said grimly. "Won't stop me."
Rose stepped forward, her steps somewhat hesitant. The confidence she'd been displaying a moment ago seemed to drain away, and Jack wished he could communicate his support to her telepathically.
"I, um…" she began tentatively. "I address the Sycorax according to… article fifteen of the Shadow Proclamation," she said, and Jack smiled. She did pay attention rather well, Rose Tyler. "I command you to leave this world," she continued, voice strengthening somewhat, "with all the authority of the…" She trailed off briefly, seemed to be grasping for words for a second. "The Slitheen Parliament of Raxacoricofallapatorius," she finally said, the name of the planet coming out in a rush, "and um, the Gelth Confederacy…"
She trailed off, glanced over her shoulder at Jack. He nodded encouragingly, although he figured there wasn't much her speech could do in the current situation. Not because of what she was saying, but because Jack was fairly certain that nothing anyone, other than perhaps the Doctor, could say to remedy the situation. If nothing else, it was buying them precious time.
"As, uh, sanctioned…" she continued, "by the Mighty Jagrafess… and… Oh!" she exclaimed, pointing to emphasize what she was saying. "The Daleks! Now, leave this planet in peace!" She said it firmly, then when there was no response repeated, somewhat tentatively, "In… peace…"
After a few seconds of silence, the assembled Sycorax all burst out laughing simultaneously. Chuckling himself, the Sycorax leader spoke to Rose once again.
Jack and the rest of the humans looked to Harriet's assistant for the translation. "You are very, very funny," he said. He paused as the Sycorax leader said something else. Blanching, he translated, "And now you are going to die."
All at once, Harriet, Mickey, and Jack all lunged toward Rose, shouting for the Sycorax to leave her alone, to not touch her. All three of them were quickly restrained by nearby Sycorax. Jack struggled ineffectually against the hold of his captor and grit his teeth in frustration.
The leader circled Rose menacingly, speaking to her steadily as Harriet's assistant translated as quickly as he could.
"Did you think you were clever with your stolen words?" the leader said through the assistant. "We are the Sycorax," the leader roared, shaking his fists in the air. "We stride the darkness."
The leader hissed at Rose, and she flinched visibly. Jack strained against his captor even more, but the Sycorax held him tightly.
"Next to us," the assistant continued to translate, "you are but a wailing child. If you are the best your planet can offer as a champion…"
"Then your world will be gutted," a loud, gravelly voice said, just before the assistant said the same thing. Jack stilled, staring hard at the Sycorax leader. He was fairly certain he'd just heard the alien's speech in English.
"… and your people enslaved," the Sycorax leader finished.
"And your people enslaved," the assistant parroted, before looking up at the Sycorax leader, face screwed up in confusion. "Hold on, that's English."
"I would never dirty my tongue with your primitive bile!" the leader proclaimed in loud, angry English.
Rose pointed at him, a hint of smile tugging at the corner of her mouth. "That's English." She turned around and looked at the rest of them. "Can you hear English?"
"Yeah," Mickey said as they all nodded. "That's English."
"Definitely English," the assistant said.
"I only speak Sycoraxic!" the Sycorax leader yelled, sounding more furious than ever.
Rose spared him a single glance before locking gazes with Jack. "If I can hear English… then it's being translated." The sadness that had been behind her eyes since the Doctor had regenerated started to fade away as she processed the implications of the Sycorax language being translated in her head. "Which means it's working," she said. "Which means…"
As if they'd choreographed it, she and Jack turned their heads as one to look over at the TARDIS. Seconds later, the doors opened wide and the Doctor stood there, smiling broadly at the assembly that greeted him. He was still in the striped pajamas and blue dressing gown they'd dressed him in hours ago.
"Did you miss me?"