AN: Hey guys! Sorry for being so late, but these last few weeks have just been a whirlwind of school, events, and extracurricular activities, and I have not had the chance to sit down at a computer. Thank you all for your support regarding my story and I hope you like the new chapter. Enjoy!
Chapter 31
No less than three seconds after we land, the door swings open with a creak. However, the Doctor doesn't even glance up before trying to explain himself. "Alright, so I lied. I went and had a look, but really that's Alice's fault. Also, the crash was a fake," he rambles, not catching the amused look on my face as I observe Rose, Mickey, and Jackie's facial expressions. "I mean, hitting Big Ben. Come on, so I thought, let's go and have a look-"
"My mum's here," Rose interrupts with a bemused expression. The Doctor finally looks up and sees the extra people in the room. "Oh, that's just what I need," he groans sarcastically. "Don't you dare make this place domestic." It's not my place to speak, so I quickly slip past and out of the Tardis, leaning against the side. I couldn't hear much, but the annoyed hums of the Tardis, I can guess that it's not pretty. After a very confusing minute, Jackie storms out, followed by Rose calling after her. The weary-looking Doctor soon follows, leaning against the door frame.
"Family drama?" I tease softly. He simply sighs and rests his head on the blue wood. Mickey tentatively slips out, staring at the pair of us. He looks a little less furious, considering I'm sure he blew up at the Doctor already, but he still looked wary. A few tense minutes later, Rose joins us, looking thoroughly exhausted. "That was a real spaceship," she concludes. "Yep," the Doctor and I reply. "So it's all a pack of lies? Are they invading?"
"Funny way to invade," Mickey snorts. "Putting the world on red alert." The Doctor agreed, humming positively. "Good point!"
"So…" I say. "What are they up to." I already know, but it's fun to play along with the show. We enter the Tardis again, only for the Doctor to fiddle with the monitor and completely ignore us. "So, what're you doing down here," Mickey states. "Well Ricky-"
"Mickey."
"Ricky, if I was to tell you what I was doing to the controls of my frankly magnificent time ship, would you even begin to understand?" The Doctor lifts an eyebrow. "I suppose not," Mickey shrugs.
"Well, shut it, then." Very eloquent, Doc. "Some friend you've got," Mickey grumbles. "He's winding you up, I'm sorry," Rose apologized. Mickey just mumbled a hushed "Okay". We fell into a comfortable silence. I treaded over to the Doctor, staring at the Gallifreyan symbols scrolling across the monitor. "Every day," Mickey suddenly whispers. "I looked. On every street corner, wherever I went, looking for a blue box for a whole year." Rose looked sadly at the ground. "It's only been a few days for me. I don't know, It's-" Rose trailed away, trying to explain. "It's like waking up from a coma," I say, my eyes never leaving the monitor. "All these people wait for you to wake up from a dead sleep for years, but when you do, you're confused. You believe it's only been a few hours, and people are crying and laughing and you're just confused." I know they're all staring at me. "Had some personal experience with that?" Rose joked softly, but there was no real humor behind her tone. My lips quirk, "No, not really." They all look even more confused, but I ignore them.
Eventually, Mickey asks the question he's been holding in. "Did you even miss me?"
"Of course I did!" Rose looked shocked. "I missed you," Mickey says quietly. Now it's Rose's turn to ask the tricky question. "So, um, it's been twelve months, have you….seen anyone else?" She closed her eyes, bracing for the worst. "No." She seems surprised, exclaiming, "Oh."
He shrugs, "Mainly because everyone thinks I murdered you." Her face falls a little at that. "Oh, right." This whole situation is just getting increasingly more awkward. I'm desperate to flee, but there's nothing else to do, the action's all right here. The Doctor seems to notice my disrest. "You're very wise, you know. For a 22-year old, I mean." He mumbles as Rose and Mickey continue staring anywhere but at each other. "The whole 'coma' explanation, quite brilliant. How did you know how it felt?" he asked. "I don't," I reply. "I just happen to watch a lot of ER television shows." He chuckles, but I don't think he believes me. I sigh staring at the monitor. It beeps suddenly and the Doctor grins excitedly. "Got it! Ha ha!" he laughs, giving me an enthusiastic high five. "Patched in the radar, looped it back twelve hours so we can follow the flight of that spaceship. Here we go...hold on, come on!" He's mostly talking to himself, but Rose looks like she's about to ask something when he speaks again. "That's the spaceship on it's way to Earth, see?" He jabs a finger at the diagram of the Earth, a small spaceship headed towards it. "Hold on, see? The spaceship did a sling shot round the Earth before it landed."
"What does it mean?" Rose questioned. "It means it came from Earth in the first place," I comment. "It went up and came back down."
"Whoever the aliens are, they haven't just arrived, they've been here for a while," the Doctor reveals. "The question is, what have they been doing?"
00000000
(Rose P.O.V)
Rose and Mickey were leaning against the control panel, channel surfing on the scanner. Mickey looked more amazed by this then the fact that he was in a time machine. "How many channels do you get?" he asked, face aglow in the monitors light. "All the basic packages," the Doctor brags, arms crossed and a smirk on his face. Alice is on the floor, coat bundled and used as a pillow, writing in her journal. Rose admires the fact that she can have enough patience to sit down and write down everything that happens to them. Rose would've given up a long time ago. The Doctor was about to switch to sports for Mickey when the reporter on the screen spoke. "It is looking likely that the Government's bringing in alien specialists- those people who have devoted their lives to studying outer space." The Doctor inhales knowingly. "UNIT. United Nations Intelligence Taskforce. Good people," he comments, his eyes focus on the wall as he reminisces."
"How do you know them?" Rose asks, only to be answered by Mickey. "'Cos he worked for them." He continues after observing the stunned face of the Doctor. "Oh yeah, don't think I sat on my backside for twelve months, Doctor. I read up on you. You look deep enough on the Internet or in the history books, and there's his name, followed by a list of the dead." Some of the earlier hostility has returned to his voice. The Doctor recovers from his shock quickly and puts on a smirk. "That's nice, good boy, Ricky." Rose tries not to notice how bad Mickey's comment actually shook him. She shakes her head and asks, "If you know them, why don't you go and help?"
"They wouldn't recognize him," Alice says, tucking her journal under her arm and climbing to her feet. "She's right. I've changed a lot since the old days. Besides, the world's on a knife-edge. There's aliens out there and fake aliens. We want to keep this alien," he points to himself, "out of the mix. I'm going undercover, and, er, I'd better keep the Tardis out of sight. Ricky, you've got a car. You can do some driving." Mickey doesn't even protest, just sighs, "Where to?" The Doctor smiles. "The roads are clearing. Let's go and have a look at that spaceship."
Rose steps out of the dim-lighted Tardis only to be blinded by a bright light. When her eyes adjust, she realizes that it is a helicopter search light and many armed men are surrounding them.
"Do not move!" Someone yells threateningly. "Step away from the box and raise your hands above your heads!" They all obey, wary expressions on their faces. Mickey breaks away and tries to run while Jackie emerges from the building, realising the severity of the situation. "Rose!" she calls, rushing towards her daughter. Rose winces as soldiers roughly grab her mum who is continually screaming, "Rose!" Mickey is nowhere in sight and the police are still screaming orders. "You are under arrest!" An authoritative voice yells. Rose is scared and everything is blurring in the bright light still surrounding the trio. The Doctor and Alice look over to her, smiling reassuringly before commenting.
"Take us to your leader!"
0000000
I patted the soft leather below me. After the scary police encounter, we had been ushered into a surprisingly plush, private car and were being driven quite fast. "This is a bit posh. If I knew it was going to be like this, being arrested, I would have done it years ago," Rose joked, her tongue poking out from between her teeth. "We're not being arrested," the Doctor said matter of factly, "we're being escorted." Rose looked curious and nervous at the same time. "Where to?" I smile a bit. "Where'd you think? Downing Street." the Doctor scoffed, stating it as if it was obvious.
"You're kidding."
"I'm not."
She leaned back, exhaling forcefully. "10 Downing Street?" she asked, still in denial. "That's the one."
Rose looked about three seconds away from exploding. "Oh, my, God. I'm going to 10 Downing Street!" I glanced at the Doctor, a bit confused. "British thing?" I mouthed. "British thing," he replied. "So what, we're being taken to Downing street because they need your help? This, UNIT or whatever?" Rose said, slipping back into adventure mode: calm, serious, but excited and curious. The Doctor shrugged. "Like it said on the news. They're gathering experts in alien knowledge, and who's the biggest expert of the lot?" He flipped the collar of his leather jacket a little bit, an attempt at being cool. "Patrick Moore?" His smirk faded a bit. I couldn't help adding, "Giorgio Tsoukalos?"
"Shut up, you two." Rose and I chuckled at the Doctor's reddening cheeks. "Who's the Prime Minister now?" the Doctor suddenly asks. Rose shrugs. "How should I know? I missed a year." They turn to me. "I'm American." They smile. "And, spoilers." Our car slows as we approach Downing Street. Thousands of cameras flash outside, trying to catch a glimpse of who was in the tinted car. When we step out, a roar of questions and babble emerge from the crowd. I'm feeling strangely Doctor, completely unfazed, smiles and waves at the many reporters. "Oh my God," Rose mutters unhappily. We turn back to the entrance, bracing ourselves for the tough encounter before us. Rose grasps my hand comfortingly, followed by the Doctor. After quick glances, I breathe, and we walk as a trio towards 10 Downing Street.
AN: This chapter is a little shorter than what I wanted it to be, but my internet is acting funny and it's really late. Thank you for continuing to support my story, I know I can be a bit infuriating sometimes. I'll try my best, but being the end of the year, everything is happening in the next two weeks. My next chapter will probably be a little shorter, but as soon as I'm free for summer, longer chapters should start emerging from the shadows. Thanks again!