A/N: Okay, guys! As of yesterday, I am now officially COVID free; just have a pesky cough that won't go away, but I'm on the mend. YAY!

I don't own Doctor Who. I only own my OC Katy and this story.

Please review and no flaming will be tolerated.

Happy reading x

DON'T GIVE UP, NEVER GIVE UP

"Now we're breaking away, from what holds us down. This could be the day, that brings out the light. Now we're marching on, with the will of never giving up. This time we'll have won, without a fight." – Eagle-Eye Cherry: 'Don't Give Up' (Sub Rosa [2003])

Entrance Lobby
Downing Street

The Slitheen Family stumble as though all of them had had the rug pulled out from underneath them. Something was very wrong, and unfortunately, they had a feeling what they were all sensing right now was only about to get worse.

"He's dead," Asquith told his brother, Green, sorrowfully. "Sip Fel Fotch Pasameer-Day-Slitheen is dead."

"I felt it," Green acknowledged; shocked that his brother had been outwitted by an inferior human. He looked at his brother quizzically. "How could that happen?"

"Somebody must have got lucky." Asquith guessed, a dark look passing over his face and Green's. Those somebodies were going to pay for murdering their brother.

"That's the last piece of luck anyone on this rock will ever have." Green declares. It was time to move into the last phase of their plan. They head outside to address the media with the promised broadcast. "Ladies and gentlemen, nations of the world, humankind. The greatest experts in extra-terrestrial events came here tonight. They gathered in the common cause, but the news I bring you now is grave indeed. The experts are dead, murdered right in front of me by alien hands. Peoples of the Earth, heed my words. These visitors do not come in peace…"

Cabinet Room

"Listen to this." Mickey suddenly speaks up, cutting off the mini celebration the Doctor, Katy, Rose and Harriet were having, after saving Jackie and Mickey from being slaughtered by the Slitheen. The four of them gather around the speaker in the middle of the table, just as Mickey holds up his phone in front of the telly so they can hear Green's broadcast. "Our inspectors have searched the sky above our heads, and they have found massive weapons of destruction. Capable of being deployed within forty-five seconds." Green states, solemnly.

"What?" the Doctor yelled in disbelief.

"Our technicians can baffle the alien probes, but not for long. We are facing extinction, unless we strike first." Green continues his speech. "The United Kingdom stands directly beneath the belly of the mother ship. I beg of the United Nations, pass an emergency resolution. Give us the access codes. A nuclear strike at the heart of the beast is our only chance of survival. Because from this moment on it is my solemn duty to inform you, planet Earth is at war." Green finishes his speech with what is assumed to be a 'heavy heart'.

"I call bullshit." Katy scoffs, and the Doctor nods his head in agreement, still obviously mystified by what he had just heard Green falsely announcing to the world.

"He's making it up. There's no weapons up there, there's no threat. He just invented it." He reassures the three women trapped in the room with him.

"Do you think they'll believe him?" Harriet wondered.

"They did last time." Rose pointed out.

"That's why the Slitheen went for spectacle." The Doctor explains Green's actions. "They want the whole world panicking, because you lot, you get scared, you lash out—"

"—They release the defence code." Katy's eyes widen in realisation.

"And the Slitheen go nuclear." The Doctor looks grim.

"But why?" Harriet questioned, looking amazed that the Slitheen would stoop so low just to get what they wanted; by resorting to unnecessary measures that could potentially have disastrous consequences. The Doctor walks over to the latch beside the metal shuttered doors and releases it, causing the shutters to slide open. It reveals Margaret in her human skin suit, and several other 'naked' Slitheen standing there, keeping watch in case they had decided to make any moves to escape.

The Doctor glowers at her.

"You get the codes, release the missiles, but not into space because there's nothing there. You attack every other country on Earth. They retaliate, fight back. Start of World War Three. Whole planet gets nuked."

Margaret nods in confirmation, "And we can sit through it safe in our spaceship waiting in the Thames. Not crashed, just parked. Only two minutes away." Harriet walks over to stand beside the Doctor, staring at her in bafflement.

"But you'll destroy the planet, this beautiful place. What for?" She asked. The Doctor filled this question.

"Profit," He stated angrily. "That's what the signal is beaming into space. An advert."

"The sale of the century. We reduce the Earth into molten slag, then sell it, piece by piece." A nasty little smirk spreads across the disguised alien's face. "Radioactive chunks, capable of powering every cut-price star liner and budget cargo ship." The scowl on the Doctor's face deepened; his blue eyes hard and sharp like icebergs floating in the middle of the ocean, and just as deadly. "There's a recession out there, Doctor. People are buying cheap. This rock becomes raw fuel."

"At the cost of five billion lives." The Doctor concluded, dangerously.

"Bargain." Margaret shrugged, carelessly.

"I give you a choice," the Doctor declares; offering his one and only chance to the Slitheen to back down from their plan. "Leave this planet or I'll stop you." He warns, icily.

"What, you?" Margaret laughs humourlessly. "Trapped in your box?"

"Yes. Me." The Doctor closes the shutters on Margaret's face, as the smirk slowly fades from it, and she starts to worry.

Next Morning
Westminster Bridge

All around the world, humankind sit glued to their tellies as they wait for any news from the media about the decision the UN has made according to procedures. On News 24, Hitchinson gives a solemn, sobering report.

"Yesterday saw the start of a brave new world. Today might see it end. The streets are deserted. Everyone's home, just waiting, as the future is decided in New York."

Outside the UN
New York, New York

A female news reporter gives a similar report from outside the UN headquarters.

"It's midnight here in New York. The United Nations has gathered. England has provided them with absolute proof that the massive weapons of destruction do exist. The security council will be making a resolution in a matter of minutes, and once the codes are released, humanity's first interplanetary war begins."

10 Downing Street
Cabinet Room

The tension in the room is thick. Nobody has slept, and everyone is on tender hooks; knowing that at any moment the UN would grant permission to the group of Slitheens the emergency codes to start World War Three. Jackie and Mickey are still in contact with the group inside the Cabinet Room, and Jackie is not any closer to being calm about her daughters still being in mortal peril and surrounded by Slitheen.

"All right, Doctor. I'm not saying I trust you, but there must be something you can do." Jackie pleaded.

"If we could ferment the port, we could make acetic acid." Harriet suggests, but her idea is rejected, on the basis that it could take too long to actually ferment what alcohol there was. Not to mention:

"It'd be a good idea, except that I don't think there would be enough to take out all of the Slitheen." Katy pointed out. "Besides, who knows how many there actually are squatting out there in Downing Street." The Doctor nodded, agreeing with Katy's point, and looking incredibly frustrated that they couldn't come up with an idea or even a plan to stop the Slitheen from succeeding in their plans to destroy the Earth for profit. Mickey was still surfing UNIT's website for something that they could use.

"Mickey, any luck?" Rose asked her boyfriend.

"There's loads of emergency numbers. They're all on voicemail." Mickey responds, sounding extremely unconvinced that they'd be able to find anything that could be of any use to them to get them out of their situation, and save the Earth.

"Voicemail dooms us all." Harriet quips, sarcastically. Katy glances at the sealed doors with frustration.

"If we could just get out of here."

"There's a way out." The Doctor states, and they all look at him in surprise.

"What? There is?" Rose spoke up, looking hopeful.

"There's always been a way out."

"Then why haven't we used it yet?" Katy questioned, a little nervous about what the Doctor's answer could be. He looked at the speaker phone, looking a little hesitant to say what he was going to say next.

"Don't you dare!" Jackie warns sternly. "Whatever it is, don't you dare!"

"But that's the thing," The Doctor says. "If I don't dare, everyone dies." He points out.

"Do it." Katy was resolute. The Doctor looks at her in surprise.

"You don't even know what it is." He points out to her. "You'd just let me?" Katy didn't blink, just looked at him with a determination on her face. All she wanted was the world and everybody living in to be safe. She glanced over at her sister and was pleased to see a look of approval on Rose's face as well.

"Yeah."

"Me too." Rose backed Katy up. The Doctor hesitated, it looked like he was regretting even saying anything, even though it meant that they'd get out of this room in one piece, and in the process, save mankind.

"Please, Doctor. Please." Jackie pleaded. "They're my daughters. They're just kids." The Doctor glared desperately at the speaker phone.

"Do you think I don't know that?" He snapped at Jackie, who fell silent at the anger she could hear in the Doctor's voice. "Because this is my life, Jackie. It's not fun, it's not smart, it's just standing up and making a decision because nobody else will."

"Then what're you waiting for?" Katy mumbled, feeling bad for putting the Doctor up into making a difficult choice. The Doctor looked up at her and her eyes widened at the pain and vulnerability she could see in his eyes.

"I could save the world but lose you." He stated, looking very pointedly at Katy, and her eyes widened. She could swear that she could feel her heart thudding in her chest. Harriet stepped forward frowning.

"Except it's not your decision, Doctor. It's mine." She declared, very seriously.

"And who the hell are you?!" Jackie demanded.

"Harriet Jones, MP for Flydale North." Harriet responded, not at all fazed by the anger she could hear in Jackie's voice. "The only elected representative in this room, chosen by the people for the people." Then she turned and looked the Doctor dead in the eyes. "And on behalf of the people, I command you. Do it!"

With a renewed confidence, the Doctor nodded obediently and got to work on a plan to both get them out of there, and to save the world simultaneously.

"How do we get out?" Rose sidled up to the Doctor, talking to him in hushed tones. She had seen the look the Doctor had given her sister and felt slightly jealous that it wasn't directed towards her. But she forced those negative feelings down; it was not the time for being petty.

"We don't. We stay here." The Doctor replied, succinctly. He reached for the Red Box the Emergency Protocols were kept after Harriet replaced back inside after declaring the information contained inside to be redundant and useless. The Doctor then instructed Mickey to look up a specific website and wait for further instructions. "Use the buffalo password. It overrides everything." He tells Mickey.

Mickey's Flat

Jackie walks over to Mickey's side to see what he was typing so frantically on the computer screen. What she saw wasn't exactly very promising. In fact, it made her feel very nervous.

"What are you doing?" She demands to Mickey, who answers despite still clicking away at what he was doing on the website.

"Hacking into the Royal Navy." He responds, before finally locating what the Doctor was looking for. He turns his head in the direction of his phone, which he had put on loudspeaker so that the Doctor and everyone else in the Cabinet Room could hear. "We're in." He tells the Doctor, triumphantly. "Here it is. HMS Taurean, Trafalgar Class submarine, ten miles off the coast of Plymouth."

"Right, we need to select a missile." The Doctor instructs, but Mickey hesitates when he realises something important about what the Doctor is requesting him to do.

"We can't go nuclear. We don't have the defence codes." He points out.

Cabinet Room

"We don't need it. All we need's an ordinary missile." The Doctor explains patiently to Mickey, understanding why the boy was hesitating. What he was doing was highly illegal, not to mention extremely dangerous for everyone involved. He literally had the life of not only his girlfriend in his hands, but also the life of his best friend. And Jackie would hate both the Doctor and him for life if anything happened to them. "What's the first category?"

"Sub Harpoon, UGM-A4A." Mickey responded promptly.

"That's the one. Select it." The Doctor requested. He winced when he heard Jackie's desperate, determined voice threaten Mickey over the line.

"I could stop you."

"Do it, then." Mickey called her bluff, bravely. Jackie reluctantly backed down, praying to every god she could think of that her daughters would come out of this alive and safe. There would be hell to pay if the worst should happen. The Doctor glanced warily at Katy, Rose, and Harriet who looked back at him just as scared and nervous.

"You ready for this?" The Doctor questioned Mickey, for once not at all scathing or sarcastic.

"Yeah." Mickey responded, after a few moments.

"Mickey the Idiot, the world is in your hands." The Doctor reminds him, and Katy closed her eyes and squeezed Rose's hand in hers, feeling her sister's anxiety on top of her own.

'Yeah, no pressure intended, right Doctor?' Katy thought a little worriedly.

"Fire." The Doctor orders. Mickey double clicks on the launch button on the computer screen, and there is a big whoosh off the coast of Plymouth as a deadly missile launches from below the sea, heading straight for Downing Street.

"Oh, my God." Jackie frets, despairingly.

Harriet glances about the room and a thought suddenly occurs to her.

"How solid are these walls?" She ponders out loud, and unfortunately the answer the Doctor gives her isn't good.

"Not solid enough. Built for short range attack, nothing this big." The Doctor explains, and Katy pales instantly. However, Rose immediately takes charge of the situation.

"All right, now I'm making the decision." She declares, heading straight for a nearby cupboard and starts pulling things out of it. "I'm not going to die. We're going to ride this one out. It's like what they say about earthquakes. You can survive them by standing under a doorframe." Rose straightens up and turns to address the other people in the room with her. "Now, this cupboard's small so it's strong. Come and help me. Come on." Katy and Harriet rush over to assist Rose, as the missile heads up the Channel.

"It's on radar." Mickey informs the Doctor, who is watching Rose, Katy and Harriet emptying out the cupboard so it can accommodate the four of them. "Counter defence five five six."

"Stop them intercepting it." The Doctor instructs.

"I'm doing it now." Mickey is on the ball, and the Doctor grins approvingly.

"Good boy."

"Five five six neutralised." Mickey declares, as the Doctor quickly hangs up and unplugs Rose's phone and rushes over to the cupboard where Katy, Rose and Harriet are already barricading themselves.

Outside the Cabinet Room

Inside the security office, they immediately pick up the missile the Doctor has launched towards Downing Street on the computer. The man who spotted it, raises the alarm.

"What do you mean, incoming?" Price, the man who was in charge, demands and looks over the shoulder of the man who raised the alarm, and he pales drastically. Price sets off the fire alarm. "Everybody out now! Now!" He races up the stairs to alert Green and the other Slitheen of the impending danger, unaware that he was about to stumble upon the real aliens the world had been focusing on but had not seen. Green blinks at the ceiling, trying to work out where the alarm was coming from.

"What the hell is that?" He croaks, just as Price bursts into the room.

"Sir, there's a missile." Price reports in and freezes when he sees the Slitheen in their real bodies. He backs away from them, immediately. "Sorry." Price turns and runs for it, as the missile closes in, approaching the Thames, from the south. Jackie steps out onto the balcony and nearly cries out in horror when she sees it pass from Mickey's balcony. The Slitheen, realising that they had been exposed, and are now in immediate danger, start squabbling over the body suits, trying to get into them.

Downstairs, Price fires a shot into the air as he and his men and the remains of the Downing Street staff run out of the building to safety.

"Everybody run!"

The missile begins its descent.

The Cabinet Room Cupboard

The Doctor, Katy, Rose and Harriet are all huddled together in the slightly cramped space of the cupboard, clutching each other's hands for luck and for some semblance of comfort. Harriet glances over at the Doctor, who was squashed between Katy and Rose, who were clutching onto his hands for dear life and also burying their faces into his shoulders.

"Here we go. Nice knowing you all. Hannibal!" Harriet shouts loudly, as the missile finally impacts against Downing Street in a loud KABOOM! The four of them tumble around in the cupboard, as it shakes then rolls through the remains of the building inside its steel shell. To Katy, it was almost like being trapped inside an active washing machine, only without being drowned with soapy water in the process.

The rubble of Downing Street

Slightly bruised, but otherwise fine; the Doctor pushes the steel door open of what was the shell of the Cabinet Room. Harriet steps out and takes in her surroundings, with a relieved grin.

"Made in Britain." Harriet joked, as Price comes running over to her, looking over Harriet, the Doctor, Katy and Rose in horrified wonder.

"Oh, my God. Are you all right?" He quickly checks, as Harriet greets him, authoritatively.

"Harriet Jones. MP, Flydale North." Price blinks at her in confusion. "I want you to contact the UN immediately. Tell the ambassadors the crisis is over. They can step down." When Price doesn't immediately move, Harriet frowns at him sternly. "Go on, tell the news."

"Yes, ma'am." Price agrees and rushes off to follow her orders. Harriet turns and address the Doctor, Katy and Rose. She grimaces at what remains of Downing Street. "Someone's got a hell of a job sorting this lot out." She remarks, before realising something very important. "Oh, Lord. We haven't even got a Prime Minister."

"Maybe you should have a go." The Doctor suggests, grinning at her.

"Me?" Harriet blinks. "Huh. I'm only a backbencher."

"We'd vote for you." Katy gestures between herself and Rose, who nods with enthusiasm. Harriet looks embarrassed by the praise.

"Now, don't be silly." She scolds lightly. "Look, I'd better go and see if I can help." She turns and makes her way down the pile of rubble. "Hang on! We're safe! The Earth is safe!" She shouts to the gathering crowd of worried bystanders. "Sargeant!" Harriet calls out to a nearby soldier, taking charge of the situation. The Doctor, Katy and Rose watch Harriet rush off; the Doctor with a knowing smile on his face, that both girls frown at curiously.

"I thought I knew the name." The Doctor suddenly realises. "Harriet Jones, future Prime Minister. Elected for three consecutive terms." Katy and Rose blink in surprise. "The architect of Britain's Golden Age."

"The crisis has passed!" Harriet declares to the media who swarm around her to get the new information. "Ladies and gentlemen, I have something to say to you here today! Mankind stands tall, proud and undefeated. God bless the human race."

The Tyler's Flat

The Doctor returns Rose and Katy back to Jackie who embraces them both the moment she sees them, safe and sound and completely unharmed; save for a few bruises from being thrown around when the missile hit Downing Street. The Doctor leaves shortly after that, leaving his companions to have some quality time with their mother, while he goes to attend to something in the TARDIS. The three women settle down to watch the aftermath on the telly.

"Mankind stands tall, proud—" Harriet is seen addressing the media, and Jackie turns down the volume, looking disgusted.

"Harriet Jones. Who does she think she is?" She asks rhetorically. "Look at her, taking all the credit. Should be the both of you on there. My daughters saved the world!" Jackie protested, like the proud mother she was. Rose and Katy had identical smirks on their faces, when the realised that Jackie was about to eat crow.

"The Doctor helped a bit." Katy reminds Jackie, who sighs a little.

"All right, then. Him too." She concedes, then grins. "You should be given knighthoods."

"That's not the way he does things." Rose tells Jackie. "No fuss. He just moves on." She looks at her mother meaningfully. "He's not that bad if you gave him a chance." She encourages Jackie who shrugs.

"He's good in a crisis, I'll give him that." Jackie admits.

"Oh, now the world has changed. You're saying nice things about him." Katy teased, and Jackie pouted a little.

"Well, I reckon I've got no choice. There's no getting rid of him since you're both infatuated with him." Katy blushes heavily, while Rose scowls at Jackie, unamused by the insinuation.

"I'm not infatuated." Rose protests.

"I think you've got it all wrong, mum." Katy agrees, still trying to hide her embarrassment.

However, Jackie observes both of her daughters and realises that one is genuinely in love with the Doctor, or at least has a crush on him. While the other, seems to like the idea of the mysterious alien but can't decide whether to act upon her feelings or not. She decides to let it go for now. The love triangle forming would sort itself out sooner or later, and Jackie would be there to console and pick up the pieces when the time came.

"What does he eat?" Jackie suddenly changes the subject, startling both girls.

"How do you mean?" asks Katy, frowning a little at the sudden change in topic; believing that Jackie would still be teasing them like all loving parents would do when their child has a potential love interest. The fact that she wasn't, threw her a little.

"I was going to do shepherd's pie. All of us. A proper sit down." Jackie decided, and both girls sagged in relief, pleased that Jackie was coming around. "'Cos I'm ready to listen. I wanna learn about the both of you and him, and that life you lead. Only, I don't know, he's an alien. For all I know, he eats grass and safety pins and things." Katy giggles at Jackie's vivid imagination.

"He'll have the shepherd's pie." Rose reassures Jackie, then pulls a playful grin. "You're going to cook for him?"

"What's wrong with that?" Jackie frowns.

"He's finally met his match." Rose responds, and Katy attempts to stifle her giggles by burying her nose into her mug of tea.

"You're not too old for a slap, you know." Jackie reminds Rose, then turns and looks warningly at Katy. "Either of you." Then suddenly remembers something. "By the way, you can go and visit your Gran tomorrow. And you'd better learn some French, Rose." Rose raises a confused eyebrow. "I told her you both were in France. I said you were au-pairing." Jackie picks up the empty mugs and wonders back into the kitchen, just as Rose's phone suddenly rings. She answers it when she notices the caller ID saying 'Tardis Calling'.

"Hello?"

"Right, I'll be a couple of hours, then we can go." The Doctor declares, and Rose waves Katy over so she could listen in and contribute to the conversation.

"You've got a phone?" Katy questions, surprised, because she hadn't seen any phone when they were last in there, apart from the display one in the door which wasn't hooked up to anything.

"You think I can travel through space and time and I haven't got a phone?" The Doctor snorted, sounding a little insulted. Both girls rolled their eyes at the Doctor's childishness. "Like I said, couple of hours. I've just got to send out this dispersal." Katy and Rose hear the Doctor push a button. "There you go. That's cancelling out the Slitheen's advert in case any bargain hunters turn up."

Katy nudges Rose and points to the kitchen at Jackie's back, reminding her of Jackie's request for the Doctor to join them for supper that night. Rose glowers at her for making her break the news but sighs heavily and speaks anyway.

"Er, our mother's cooking." Rose reluctantly reveals.

"Good. Put her on a slow heat and let her simmer." The Doctor responds dryly.

"She's cooking tea. For us." Katy elaborates.

"I don't do that." The Doctor is quick to answer, and both girls groan at his response, already knowing that he didn't do domestics, but still had to try and convince him otherwise. It was the only way that Jackie was ever going to trust him, let alone allow both girls to go traveling with him through time and space.

"She wants to get to know you." Rose insists.

"Tough. I've got better things to do." The Doctor was stubborn.

"Oh, c'mon, Doctor. It's just tea." Katy urges him.

"Not to me it isn't."

"She's our mother." Rose points out, and the Doctor snorts.

"Well, she's not mine."

"Hey, hold on, Doctor. That's not fair." Katy protests frustrated that the Doctor wouldn't yield just this once and humour them both.

"Well, you both can stay there if you want, but right now there's this plasma storm brewing in the Horsehead Nebula." The Doctor attempts to entice his two companions. "Fires are burning ten million miles wide. I could fly the TARDIS right into the heart of if then ride the shock wave all the way out. Hurtle right across the sky and end up anywhere. Your choice." Rose and Katy look at each other; a hard decision must be made, and nobody but them can make it. What the Doctor had just described to them sounded extremely tempting, and probably a sight worth seeing. But at the same time, it meant leaving behind their mother.

Decisions, decisions…

Jackie walked out of the kitchen, pausing for a moment when she realised that neither Katy or Rose were still sitting in the living room. She knew that they had been talking to the Doctor on the phone, but why did they suddenly disappear? Shrugging, she headed towards one of their rooms, bound to find at least one or both of them in there.

"I was thinking. I've got that bottle of Amaretto from New Year's Eve. Does he drink?" Jackie questioned, then paused when she saw that Rose was packing a rucksack. She frowns then turns to Katy's room, which was adjacent to Rose's and saw that she was in the process of doing the same thing. Both girls look up at their mother, waiting for Jackie to say something. "I was wondering whether he drinks or not." Jackie repeats her question, suddenly very solemn when she realises what was happening.

"Yeah, he does." Rose nods, absently. Katy finishes packing and loops her rucksack and purse over her shoulders and carries her laptop case in one hand. She walks over and stands in the doorway of Rose's room, looking sadly at Jackie, who looks close to tears. Jackie immediately walks over and pulls Katy into a hug, while addressing the both of them.

"Don't go, sweethearts. Please don't go." She pleads.

Powell Estate Courtyard

Mickey is sitting on a rubbish bin reading a newspaper about recent events, while the Doctor supervises a young boy of about ten, cleaning off some 'Bad Wolf' tag graffiti he had left behind on the side of the TARDIS. The kid finishes scrubbing the wall, looking at the Doctor with a look that was both frightened and baleful, but the Doctor merely grins back at him from where he was leaning against the TARDIS doors, unintimidated.

"Good lad," He complements him, cheerfully. "Graffiti that again and I'll have you. Now, beat it." The Doctor orders in a parental-like tone, and the kid doesn't think twice; he picks up the bucket and scrubbing brush he was using and runs off. The Doctor then turns towards Mickey, who was still reading the newspaper with a frown.

"I just went down the shop, and I was thinking, you know, like the whole world's changed. Aliens and spaceships all in public. And here it is…" Mickey closes the newspaper and turns it towards the Doctor so the cover is facing him. The headline reads: ALIEN HOAX. "How could they do that? They saw it." Mickey was mystified, but the Doctor shrugged nonchalantly.

"They're just not ready." The Doctor states, not at all surprised. "You're happy to believe in something that's invisible, but if it's staring you in the face, nope, can't see it. There's a scientific explanation for that: You're thick." The Doctor concludes, still smiling cheerfully.

"We're just idiots." Mickey sneers, resentfully.

"Well, not all of you." The Doctor admits, looking at Mickey meaningfully.

"Yeah?" Mickey was surprised at the compliment the Doctor had given him. The Doctor walks away from the TARDIS and pulls a CD from within the infinite spaces inside his jacket pockets, and hands it to Mickey.

"Present for you, Mickey." He takes it from the Doctor, looking at it curiously. "That's a virus. Put it online. It'll destroy every mention of me. I'll cease to exist." The Doctor explains.

"What do you want to do that for?" Mickey is puzzled.

"Because you're right, I am dangerous. I don't want anybody following me." The Doctor states, very seriously. He sees Katy, Rose and Jackie coming out of the block and walking towards them. "You could look after them," The Doctor indicates to the approaching Tyler sisters. "Come with us." The Doctor offers. But Mickey shakes his head.

"I can't. This life of yours, it's just too much. I couldn't do it." Mickey admits, then widens his eyes when he realises something, and looks at the Doctor pleadingly. "Don't tell 'em I said that." The Doctor nods, looking a little disappointed about the rejection, but recovers easily enough when the Tylers finally reach them. It appears that Jackie is still trying to appeal to her daughters to stay, rather than going off with the Doctor.

"I'll get a proper job. I'll work weekends. I'll pass my test, and if Jim comes round again, I'll say no. I really will." Jackie pleads.

"We're not leaving because of you," Rose reassures Jackie. "We're travelling, that's all, and then we'll come back."

"But it's not safe." Jackie points out, still clutching at Katy's hand. She pries her fingers away from Jackie's grip.

"Mum, if you saw it out there, you'd never stay home." Katy admits to her mother. The Doctor eyes both of their oversized rucksacks and Katy's laptop with a raised eyebrow.

"Got enough stuff?" He asks, sarcastically.

"No, probably not." Katy retorts, just as sarcastic, but gives the Doctor a cheeky wink and a teasing grin; which the Doctor rolls his eyes at but gives her back an affectionate smile and shake of the head. Rose responds to the Doctor's comment by thrusting her rucksack at the Doctor's chest and smiling sarcastically at him too.

"Last time I stepped in there, it was spur of the moment. Now I'm signing up. You're stuck with me." She teases, and the Doctor gives an exaggerated long-suffering sigh in response. Rose turns towards Mickey, who was already hugging a slightly tearful Katy goodbye. While Rose was stirring up the Doctor, he had explained to Katy his reasons for not wanting to come along, and Katy understood; travelling around with the Doctor was not everyone's cup of tea. She kisses Mickey chastely on the cheek before stepping back as Rose approaches. "Come with us. There's plenty of room." Rose invites Mickey who gives the Doctor a subtle look, which the Doctor takes as a hint and steps in.

"No chance. He's a liability, I'm not having him on board." The Doctor lies convincingly, and Rose gives him a disapproving glare.

"We'd be dead without him." She points out, but Katy, who already knew the reason, backs the Doctor up.

"The Doctor's TARDIS, the Doctor's rules." Katy states, ignoring when Rose shoots her a disbelieving look.

"Exactly. My decision is final." The Doctor nods, and Mickey gives the Doctor the thumbs up behind Rose's back. Rose sighs in disappointment before throwing Mickey an apologetic smile.

"Sorry." Mickey and Rose kiss goodbye.

"Good luck, yeah?" Mickey states, and steps back to allow Jackie to give her farewells. But Jackie was still determined to stop them from leaving. She scowls at the Doctor.

"You still can't promise me. What if they get lost? What if something happens to you, Doctor, and they're left all alone standing on some moon a million light years away. How long do I wait then?"

"Mum, you're forgetting. It's a time machine. We could go travelling around suns and planets and all the way out to the edge of the universe." Rose reassures her.

"And by the time we get back, yeah, ten seconds will have passed. Just ten seconds." Katy adds.

"So stop worrying. We'll see you in ten seconds' time, yeah?" Rose pulls Jackie into a hug, and a second afterwards, Jackie grabs Katy and pulls her into the hug as well.

"Love you, Mum." Katy whispers into Jackie's ear, before both she and Rose pull away from her and follow the Doctor into the TARDIS. Mickey gives a little wave at both, and Katy blows a little kiss at him before closing the door behind her. The TARDIS dematerialises, and Jackie glances down at her watch, counting down ten seconds before looking up.

The TARDIS doesn't reappear.

"Ten seconds." Jackie grouses, before turning and heading back to her flat. Mickey just carries on reading the newspaper.

TTFN xx