His Favorite Star
The Christmas Invasion
Chapter 7

"Well it's better than the last one, I'd say." she said with a haughty tone "ooh I'm probably going to be a pain in your ass..." she said with a toothy grin. When they landed the Doctor gasped excitedly and looked out of the TARDIS door. Star stayed and continued to look in the mirror. "I like this one..." she said thoughtfully

The small ginger took off her old brown glasses to admire the freckles that dotted along her pale slender nose and faded away into her cheeks, the blonde behind her, having a look of horror on her face. Rose was terrified. They had both changed their faces right in front of her. It was a bit too much for the human to take, so she turned to exit the TARDIS when both girls were startled by a thud against the outside ground. Rose was the first out the door, with the ginger on her tail. Star peeked out from behind the taller human and she saw her brother unconscious on the ground. "What happened?! Is he alright?!" Rose asked, going to the Doctor's side, looking down on him with a concerned expression. Star saw Mickey and Jackie standing over the man with just as much surprise as Rose. "I don't know, he just keeled over!" Mickey said, looking up at Rose, then back down to the Doctor. "But who is he? Where's the Doctor?"

Star smirked and leaned against the door of the ship with her arms crossed. "That's him, right in front of you, love." her gravelly irish voice said, gaining the group's attention. The ginger smirked and winked at Mickey, making her freckles dance on her cheeks. Rose nodded and looked down at the man on the ground. "That's the Doctor." she confirmed with a troubled look. Jackie looked up at her daughter with confusion etched across her face. "What do you mean, that's the Doctor? Doctor who?"

Stars grin only grew at the saying as she rolled her teal eyes and pulled the Doctor's arm, hoisting him over one of her shoulders with ease. "Never gets old…" she muttered taking big steps towards the apartment complex.

In the Tyler's flat, the Doctor was lying comfortably in a guest bed wearing blue and white striped pajamas. Star pulled the covers up around her brother, making sure he was as comfortable as could be, then laid on one side of him while Rose sat on the other. The small alien watched the human's concerned gaze over her brother and it made her smile a bit. Stars head, although quiet and dull, was pounding with drums. She laid her head on her brother's shoulder, seeking his comfort, but as soon as she had gotten comfortable, Jackie came in holding a tube looking thing. She handed it to Rose, who put two of the tubes up to her ears. "Here we go. Tina the cleaner's got this lodger, a medical student, and she was fast asleep, so I just took it. Though I still say we should take him to hospital." Jackie said sitting in front of her daughter. Rose removed the stethoscope from her ears and gave Jackie an insistent look. "We can't! They'd lock him up! They'd dissect him! One bottle of his blood could change the future of the human race." Rose explained, to which Jackie began to object but was quickly hushed.

Star watched the human as she put the stethoscope back into her ears and slowly press the drum flat onto the Doctor's chest quietly listening to the man's heart beat. Rose started to pull away but the small ginger, made a small hum, stretching her hand out putting it on Rose's, gently sliding the human's hand to the other side of her brother's chest. Rose's eyes widened a bit but she did as she was directed. "Both working?" the small girl asked with a groggy voice. The human just nodded and watched the ginger snuggle up to her brother's shoulder sleepily. "What do you mean, both?" Jackie asked, confused. "Well, they've got two hearts apparently." Rose explained. "Oh, don't be stupid." Jackie protested in disbelief. "We do Jackie…" Star groaned. She was becoming weaker, regeneration being a slower process for her than for her brother. The smaller sibling began dozing off on her brother's shoulder, letting the drums take her into the darkness of sleep. "Anything else he's got two of?" Jackie asked quietly, getting an eye roll from Rose. "Leave them alone." Rose said escorting her mother out of the room, letting the siblings sleep peacefully.

Star listened to the deep thudding in her ears, distracting her from the churning of her insides. The younger Time Lord slept soundly and dreamt of red grass and beautiful cities and two gorgeous sun's making shadows of mountains across white leaved trees that she ran under. She followed other children's playful laughter in her hazy little vision. Two boys that she adored and thought the world of. The younger sibling was happy dreaming such beautiful things but her dream began to grow dark. The sound of children's laughter fading into the drums that began to close in on her sound mind. Flashes of green and black all around, the ground beneath the trees and mountains turned over and ruined leaving no more red grass to run through.

Star sat up a bit too suddenly, breathing heavily, only to cry out in pain from doing so. Her red hair was plastered against her skin with sweat and she immediately looked over to her brother. It took her a few minutes but she realized where she was and slowly began to calm down, wrapping her arms around her brothers, making sure not to wake him. Star could hear Jackie on the phone as she left the room. She could smell freshly brewed tea and saw a steaming cuppa on the table beside the bed. Star calmed her breathing and rested her head on her brother's shoulder once more.

That is until she heard a clatter from outside the closed bedroom door. The ginger sat up when Rose and Mickey burst through the front door, and she noted the panic on the two humans voices. They were talking too fast for the ginger to understand from the other side of the door. For how weak she was, she could barely move let alone defend her brother while he was in this fragile state. There was a moment of quiet that made Star really nervous. Star weakly sat up when she heard music start to play. And it wasn't good music either. There was banging outside which made her instinctively pull out her gun aiming it at the door. Star was shocked to see Rose bursting through it with Jackie and Mickey behind her. Rose went to Stars side. "Wake him up!" she asked urgently as the other two humans pushed a wardrobe against the door. Rose went and grabbed the sonic screwdriver out of the Doctor's jacket pocket. Star hadn't moved getting a dazed look on her face the flash of green lights on the tree sending an icy shiver down her spine. Rose shook the ginger but no matter what she did Star wouldn't respond, frozen as if she had never woken up from the nightmare. The blonde yelped, seeing the tree coming through the door, tearing the wardrobe apart, quickly trying to get the Doctor to hold the sonic. The human knelt down to the doctors ear, pleading "Help me."

Star was nearly knocked off of the bed when her brother suddenly sat up pointing the screwdriver at the tree. The object in question suddenly exploded into tiny green bits. Stars teal eyes unblinkingly watched one of the green lights weekly flicker, as if she was being mesmerized. "Remote control" her brother mused seriously."But who's controlling it?" The Doctor asked as he stepped over his sister, getting out of bed. Star laid there, unmoving, quietly letting the fading light torment her mind. She welcomed the peace of being alone as the humans followed her brother out the door.

The gingers stomach suddenly churned painfully and as her mouth opened in a breath of pain, golden dust floated out of her mouth gracefully. It took a few moments for the girls muscles to relax from the strain. Something was wrong with the regeneration process on the inside, causing her organs to twist in pain, but only for a moment. Star hadn't noticed Mickey picking her up and placing her in bed beside her brother, fading in and out of consciousness. Star felt a cold cloth go across her brow and she turned her head towards the feeling, that was soon taken away and replaced with the feeling of someone leaning over her. The ginger weakly cracked one eye open to see Rose using the stethoscope to listen to her brothers hearts again. The small ginger found comfort in the way the human took care of her brother, taking great care to run her hands through his brunette spiky hair as he slept with a worried look. "He's worse. Just one heart beating." Rose mused quietly, hoping the younger sibling she was leaning over wouldn't hear. Her brothers face looked peaceful, which made Rose a bit happy to think he was dreaming peacefully. Star flinched when she felt something cold on her chest, turning her teal eyes down to see Rose, listening to her hearts with an expression of worry etched across her face. Star could see the concern in the humans big brown eyes.

"What are you..?" Star asked, her voice sounding light and feathery from how weak she was. "H-How... " Rose paused but pulled the stethoscope back. "Your hearts, they're barely beating…" The small ginger shook her head, waving the human off with a small fake smile. "I'm fine… Regeneration is different for everyone… Neurial implosions, bursting and energy and all that..." Star said, trying to act reassuring to the human. In all honesty it was perfectly normal for Star's hearts to slow down to an almost nonexistent pace during regenerations. The girl was missing some sort of gene in her whatever her brother called it. Rose nodded only half believing the words coming from the ginger's blonde sighed and stood, quietly leaving the siblings to their rest.

Star woke up from her dreamless sleep to the sound of the telly outside the room. "Ladies and gentlemen, if I may take a moment during this terrible time. It's hardly the Queen's speech. I'm afraid that's been cancelled." there was a question about the royal family that the drums in Stars head drowned out.

"They're on the roof."

This caught the gingers attention immediately. She sat up weakly looking out of the now christmas tree shaped hole in the wall to the TV to see the prime minister, the one they had saved on the screen with a very serious expression on her face. Star sat up on the bed, minding her brothers body, which was engulfed in a pillow, and painfully tried to listen.

"But, ladies and gentlemen, this crisis is unique, I'm afraid to say, it might get much worse. I would ask you all to remain calm. But I have one request." the prime minister paused. Star could see the desperation in the woman's face.

"Doctor, if you're out there, we need you. I don't know what to do."

Rose turned to the guest room and looked at the ginger. Star could see the girls heart breaking before her, her big brown eyes filling with tears as she walked to the door, leaning on the side, gazing on the siblings. Star knew that the tug in her chest, how it hurt her heart to see Rose like that.

"If you can hear me, Doctor. If anyone knows the Doctor, if anyone can find him, the situation has never been more desperate."

Star watched as Rose's face contorted to release the sobs she held in, Jackie quickly coming to cradle her daughter. The small Time Lord had to look away, look to her brother putting her hand on his.

"Help us. Please, Doctor. Help us. God help us."

Star took a shaky breath. The planet her brother loved was under attack and he wasn't awake to save it. She could hear Rose's sobs from behind her and sighed, trying her hardest to hold back her own, letting only a few drops escape from her eyes. She took a deep breath and wiped the small tears away from her pale cheeks. There was a rumbling in the distance, the kind that Star knew well. She immediately turned and covered her brothers face as glass all around the apartment burst into tiny shards. As soon as the shards ceased to fall, Star wincing at the pain from her insides, slid off the bed, careful to not get glass on the Doctor. "What the hell was that?!" Mickey yelped, recovering from being knocked back from the impact.

"That, love, was a sonic wave...Means there's something big just entered your atmosphere." Star groaned. She held the bedside table to steady herself, with another hand on her torso. "Get me outside…" she ordered. Mickey was the first to help the ginger limp outside, holding one of her arms to keep her steady, the sound of glass cracking under their shoes as they walk out near where the TARDIS landed. Rose wiped her face and followed close behind, looking up to the sky that began to grow dark. Star saw all the people lined up along the rooftops and sighed, biting her lip nervously. The ship that cast the shadow on the world below looked to have the appearance of a comet or piece of rock with spikes coming out of the sides, that was easily the size of England itself. Rose came to stand beside the smaller ginger staring up at the ship.

"Well shit…." Star muttered watching the ship slowly glide over the city.

Rose hesitated, but turned to go back inside. "Get my brother, we're going." Rose nodded and ran back into the apartment. "Where to?" Mickey asked confused. "The TARDIS you dumbass… safest place right now…" she winced and limped over unlocking the door. Star sent Mickey to help Rose as soon as the ginger was in the blue box. "What're we going to do in there?" Jackie's shrill voice objected. "Hide." Star stated simply, messing with the console. "Is that it?"

"Jackie, really! There's a great, big, Sycorax invasion and I know I'm not my brother, okay! But you know what? I've grown up with him, and I've seen things you all couldn't even imagine! But when he's off saving the universe I'm just a burden, I'm useless. Now, a-all I can do is make sure you lot stay safe and alive, and I'm sorry. Now go help get my brother!" Star ordered, trying to limp around the console pressing buttons and pulling levers to keep the TARDIS anchored and hidden from others sight. While she waited for the three to arrive she weakly sat on the floor resting against the underside of the console.

As soon as Rose and Mickey carried the Doctor into the blue box they carried him up the ramp and laid him in front of his sister, who was attempting to get up from the metal grated console floor. Jackie came into the ship carrying about a dozen bags on her arms and Star gave her a look. "Dafuq?" Star muttered. The small ginger slid back down to sit on the grated floor. She was exhausted, her insides hurt, but she was on a mission. Keep these three humans alive. Star could hear the mother and daughter gripping back and forth at each other. "Now stop your moaning. I'll get the rest of the food." Jackie said walking out of the TARDIS. "Thank Rassilon!" Star said as soon as Jackie left "Now i swear to everything if either of you start talking I will kick you out and leave you here! So shut it, I have a headache!"

The two humans talked quietly in fear of the gingers wrath, messing with the monitor on the console. The monitor started beeping and Star's head shot in their direction with a glare. "What the hell are you doing?!" she snapped making the two humans flinch back away from the monitor. The ginger slowly relaxed, struggling to get up to turn the beeping off. She held her side, leaning on the console for balance and typed on the monitor turning the sound off. Rose and Mickey shied away from the console, keeping out of the ginger's way.

The only thing keeping the female Time Lord awake at this point was pure stubborn determination. She knew this regeneration wasn't as brave as her last one. It annoyed her but there was nothing to be done about it. Star examined her brother's new face again. It was handsome, she would give him that. The angular jaw and slender nose made his face amusing to look at, along with the sideburns that reached the bottom of his ears and the light trace of freckles along his nose and high cheek bones. His brow bone was a bit low for Star's taste but it just added to the manly face he now wore. Star reckoned this Doctor would be one of Rose's favorite, personality wise and appearance wise. His spiky hair was soft when Star weakly ran her fingers through it, before opening her mouth to let more golden dust flow out. Her insides felt a bit better when she did so, softening the churning and feeling less like a meat grinder was inside of her ribcage.

Star noted the boredom in the two humans. Mickey going to grab a cuppa tea, meaning to give it to Star because of how weak she looked, while Rose was leaning on the console again, both talking to each other quietly. Rose was getting worried about her mother and how long she was taking, heading to the door to go check on her, only to pause seeing Mickey walk over to the pale looking time lord. Rose sighed with worry before opening the door. The human girl yelped being pulled from the ship by a bony hand. Mickey and Star's attention snapped to his girlfriend's shriek of fear as the man dropped the cup of hot tea to run to her aid. "Rose?" he yelled as he also ran out the door. "The door! Close the door!" Rose's voice yelped from outside. Mickey closed the door causing Star to lurch forward onto her hands and knees, trying to get herself up. She saw her brother exhale more golden energy and saw the console dim for a moment then light up brightly. Star smiles painfully and watches her brother slowly wake up, opening up his now big brown eyes.

His face scrunched up, seeing his sister on her hands and knees in pain, and sat up with a wide toothy grin that made Star roll her eyes. "Good morning Starshine!" he said cheerfully. She shook her head and collapsed on the floor. "Outside! They need you! Now!" she said urgently between pained gasps. "You need me too… and you need to sleep." he said gently helping the ginger sit up against the console again. Star stubbornly used the Doctor's arm to stand with. "I'm fine." she said exhaling more gold energy "Now go… You've gotta save the world again..." She gave her brother a proud smirk that made her freckles dance along her cheeks. The Doctor looked at her for a moment before getting a similar smirk, nods to her then calmly walks to the entrance of the ship and opens the doors.

"Did you miss me?" He asked in an amused voice.

This show of confidence gave Star a proud smile, as the doors closed behind him. She quickly clicked on the keyboard to listen in on everything. She felt a twist in her chest and sat back in the TARDIS console chair, knowing she only had a bit more to go before she was done regenerating fully. Star knew by this point she would still need that damned inhaler again, because her lungs were already burning from her labored breathing. Another cloud of gold energy came wafting from her mouth. She had a sigh of relief when the pains in her body disappeared with that cloud of energy. The ginger sat up quickly, with her newfound energy, took a puff from her inhaler, and bounced to the door.

They seemed to be back on Earth on a street with much construction work being done, enjoying a pleasant reunion with Jackie and the Prime Minister. She saw everyone hugging and rejoicing for their victory as the Sycorax asteroid ship began flying off back out to space, stepping out of the blue box a few steps to get a better view of everything. Star walked over to the group, leaning calmly on the railing along the side of the sidewalk. She noted the Prime minister and another man talking away from the group, noting that the elderly woman had a troubled look on her face as the man walked away talking into an ear piece. The group jumped as suddenly bright green lights shoot up from the city into the sky at the retreating ship getting everyone's attention as it caused the retreating ship to explode into a million fiery pieces in the atmosphere. Everyone paused in shock, Star covers her mouth choking down a scream of utter horror at the action. "What is that? What's happening?" Rose stuttered.

The two alien siblings looked at the Prime minister, the eldest having a look of anger and the youngest having a look of heart broken fury. The latter balled her hands up into fists, taking a few steps toward the elder woman, her eyes burning with tears. "That was murder! You bitch!" Star said, fighting the grip of her brothers hand on her arm, holding her back.. Harriet had a haughty look of self righteousness as she said "That was defence, if you don't mind. It's adapted from alien technology. A ship that fell to Earth ten years ago." Star was taken aback by how arrogant the woman was. "No! That's not defence! They were leaving! That was bloody genocide!" Star objected, letting the hot angry tears run down her pale cheeks.

"You said yourself, Doctor, they'd go back to the stars and tell others about the Earth. I'm sorry, Doctor, but you're not here all the time. You come and go." Harriet said in a huff. The prime minister was puffing her chest up trying to explain herself to the siblings. "It happened today. Mister Llewellyn and the Major, they were murdered. They died right in front of me while you were sleeping. In which case we have to defend ourselves."

The Doctor scoffed, not believing what he was hearing. "Britain's Golden Age." he said, releasing his sister's arm to gently turn her towards him so he could lean down to wipe the tears from her face. "It comes with a price." was Harriet's haughty response. "I gave them the wrong warning. I should've told them to run as fast as they can, run and hide because the monsters are coming. The human race." The Doctor said turning back to the woman who had a righteous look on her face. "Those are the people I represent. I did it on their behalf." Harriet explained, nodding as if it made perfect sense. Star nearly flew into a rage, turning from her brother, who struggled to keep his sister from lunging at the woman again. "Then we should have fecking stopped you!" Star sobbed, angrily wiping the tears from her eyes.

Harriet's eyes glared at the smaller alien. "What does that make you, Star? Doctor? Another alien threat?" the woman asked. The Doctor didn't try to stop Star from stepping up to glare right into the woman's face. "You're damn right…" the ginger growled threateningly, making Harriet visibly flinch. Her brother came to stand behind her, having his sister's back on this situation, his eyes dark with anger. "Don't challenge us, Harriet Jones, because I'm a completely new man. I could bring down your Government with a single word." The Doctor threatened. Star smirked, seeing the nervousness in the woman's expression as she tried to find her resolve. "You're the most remarkable man I've ever met, but I don't think you're quite capable of that." Harriet said, the ginger hearing the shaking in her voice. The Doctor raised his eyebrows and gave her a little shrug, putting his hand into the pockets of the blue robe. "No, you're right." he said stepping out from behind his sister to look the taller woman straight in the face. "Not a single word, just six."

"I don't think so!" Harriet objected in a worried tone.

"Six words." The Doctor repeated.

"Stop it!" The woman yelled, with a scared expression.

"Six." He said finally, passing the woman to go and quietly whisper something to the worried looking man that was with the prime minister. As soon as he was done, Doctor walked back, putting an arm over his sister's shoulder, keeping his cold expression as he walked back to the apartment complexes with the small group of humans. Star could hear Harriet begging to know what her brother said and it gave her a satisfied grin.

Rose watched the siblings previous interactions, noticing the differences from their former selves. They had some similarities, like their passion for life and peace as well as how they cared for each other. "I think I'm going to go change… Bit weird wearing another man's pajamas." The doctor said with a slight laugh looking down at the blue night shirt and pants. "Can I go? I don't really like my old outfit too much." Star said, her voice still shaking a bit from the lingering heartbroken rage she had. The human smiled as Doctor swerved off course, heading to the TARDIS with his sister, entering the ship only to close the doors behind himself. The ginger covered her face, taking a deep breath as she walked up the ramp to the console to sit for a moment. "You going to be okay?" she heard her brother ask, with a worried tone. She just nodded and sighed. "I'll be fine…" she said taking her hands from her green eyes and gazes at her brother's new handsome face. He knew she wouldn't say any more and nodded to her, hesitantly heading to the stairs, his sister following a few moments after. The stairs led to a HUGE room of clothes, with small shelves holding accessories and shoes of different variations and styles.

The siblings rummaged through the piles of clothes, a bit excited to find out their new styles and tastes. Star was looking at a grey dress when suddenly, a ball of cloth hit her in the back of the head, and she heard snickering from her brother when she turned to look at him. He was acting a bit too innocent as he looked at a smart blue dress shirt, but she just laughed and shook her head going back to throw the grey dress over her shoulder. Star tried on a long colorful scarf as she twirled an umbrella in her hand, getting a look from her brother that made her giggle and give him a big grin. The siblings tried on many things, but finally decided on an outfit each of them liked.

The Doctor decided on a smart brown pinstriped suit, with the blue dress shirt, a striped tie and white converse. The suit fit his form perfectly, showing off how slender he was and matched his hair almost perfectly. He turned to a mirror in the room and ran his fingers through his hair, spiking it up into a slight mohawk looking hairstyle. The final touch was a pair of black framed glasses and a trench coat that he threw over the railing and down to the console below.

Star chose a loose fitting grey shirt that went to her hips, wearing a black leather vest over it, black jeans and a pair of black riding boots to go with it. The ginger stepped in front of her brother and looked into the mirror to put on a black dog collar, as well as silver hooped earrings. She slipped on a pair of biker gloves and did a turn in the mirror. Star sighed and held one side of her red hair back to see how it'd look, liking it. She slicked it back with the same hair gel her brother used to spike his hair and let the other side hang in a fluffy mess.

"Okay, Star, you're beautiful, let's go!" the Doctor said with a laugh, getting a glare from the ginger. "Go on, I'll be there in a minute…" she said looking at the desk of makeup thoughtfully. "Don't look now, but you're turning into a girl!" her brother laughed, dodging the shoe that was immediately thrown at him. The ginger sighed as the TARDIS fell quiet and she looked at the cosmetics on the desk. She shook her head and began to apply the small bits of makeup, not really knowing what she was doing.

When she was finally done, Star looked like one of those models she sees in the shop windows. The ginger smiled a bit satisfied, and headed to the door. When she closed the door behind herself, locking it to be safe, a small white snowflake landed on her arm. Star looked down to see the ground was covered in white snow. She heard footsteps coming up beside her, Star looked up to find it was her brother, Rose and MIckey looking up at the sky. The ginger turned her head up to see that there were meteors streaking across the sky, in a gorgeous display. "Oh, it's beautiful. What are they, meteors?" Rose asked curiously. Star and Doctor shared a look and both got a serious look. "It's the spaceship breaking up in the atmosphere." The Doctor explained. "This isn't snow Rose, it's ash." Star said with a solemn voice. Rose got a slightly sick look and looked down. "Okay, not so beautiful." she muttered.

"This is a brand new planet Earth. No denying the existence of aliens now. Everyone saw it. Everything's new." the doctor said quietly. Rose looked at the Doctor, who was still staring up at the sky. Star watched the two quietly leaning up against the corner of the TARDIS. She sighed, knowing what was going to happen and turned to reopen the ship's doors.

"Well get in losers, we're going adventuring!" she said with a laugh, her brother and Rose following her after saying their goodbye's. The ginger rounded the console to see the two's smiling faces and types something into the keyboard.

"Where to next Doctor?"

TO BE CONTINUED...