A/N: I've been writing faster than I've ever written before! I don't know what's come over me. I should be studying homework, I know. . Anyways, here's yet another one! I'm just on a roll!

Warning: I might have a dry spell soon if I can't find a way to keep this going. It always happens with me. :D

Thanks for all the reviews and reads! Hope you enjoy!

World War Three

Part 1

By the time I'd pulled my blush under control, the Doctor had come charging back with soldiers right behind him. Hopefully the Doctor stayed oblivious.

Were my lips swollen at all?

Shaking my head, I shoved my way next to him. "Doctor, just what on Earth is going on? What did you do?"

"Aliens in Downing Street." Came his breathless response, a grin almost splitting his face in two. "Try and keep up."

He actually grabbed my shoulder and hauled me in after him.

I almost regretted following him. At least a dozen people, all dead. My hand flew to my mouth and my stomach roiled. The safties around my little mind wavered. I could feel the agony they'd went through before they'd died as a sour-lightening on my tongue. How had the Doctor escaped?

"Where have you been?" Exclaimed an overweight ... well, fat man in a suit from the front of the room. Another"fat" man in a soldier's uniform stood next to him. "I called for help. I sounded the alarm. There was this lightening, this kind of, er, electricity, and they all collapsed."

I glanced at the Doctor. The dissapointment there confirmed my suspicions. I snorted. "That's the worst excuse in the history of excuses." I hadn't meant for it to be said too loudly, but the slight twitch of the Doctor's mouth told me otherwise.

"I think you will find the Prime Minister is an alien in disguise." The pause following the Doctor's announcement almost made me laugh. "That's not going to work is it?"

Shaking my head, I tried to control the sudden racing of my heart. I'd seen the tension of the Doctor's shoulders even beneath the leather jacket. "Nope. Nice try."

Making a face, the Doctor grabbed my hand. "Fair enough." He practically yanked my arm off as he tore out of the room, forcing me to keep up with him.

Our charge came to a screeching halt as soldiers filled the hallway in front and behind us. With another arm-jerking tug, the Doctor shoved me until my back was against the wall, which put him in between me and our pursuers.

I was not thinking about how nice he smelled.

Instead, I focused on the wall behind me. My fingers brushed against something I'd know in any country. Buttons. Elevator buttons.

I'd never pressed a button so fast in my entire life.

The fat general pushed through the sea of black, quite red in the face himself. "Under the jurisdiction of the Emergency Protocols, I authorise you to execute this man and his pretty friend!" He snapped, waving a finger at us.

I gulped and squeezed the Doctor's hand tightly. If I focused too hard, I could feel the guy's malice jabbing at me. I'd never felt that kind of ... hatred before. That almost scared me more than the fact we might die.

The Doctor squeezed my hand in return, the smile on his face not even trying to hide his nervousness. "Well, now, yes, you see, er, the thing is, if I was you, if I was going to execute someone by backing them against the wall, between you and me, little word of advice..."

Ding! I'd never loved a sound so much at that moment.

"Don't stand them against the lift!" The Doctor almost knocked me over, shoving me inside the elevator while keeping me behind him. He pulled out the silver device from his coat and aimed the little blue light at the controls, causing the doors to close a thousand times faster than they should have.

Feeling the slight jolt as the elevator began to rise, I sagged against the wall. Either adrenaline or stress bubbled inside until it came out as a short laugh. My hand slapped against my mouth. Laughing would not help the situation at all.

Then the Doctor barked a laugh, giving my shoulders a squeeze. "Brilliant! Just brilliant, Jessica Gale!"

A shiver passed over my skin at the familiar gesture. "So I'm not useless after all? Am I still worth keeping around?"

"Just this once," the Doctor replied shortly, some of the giddiness dissapearing into the sternness I'd seen before. Not as intense, but still potent. "Do you see why I didn't want you to come? It's dangerous."

I shrugged with a little grin. I did not want to talk about that when there were aliens running around. "I don't know. At least it's not boring, right?"

A harsh sigh puffed out of the Doctor's chest. Yep, definately annoyed with me now. He opened his mouth to reply when the doors slid open.

A real, proper, alien-looking alien froze on the other end of the hall. Green, with an E.T. head and a gorilla body with long, sharp-looking talons. Rose and a woman were struggling with a door at the other end.

Without even thinking, I stuck my fingers in my mouth, whistling as loud as I could. The alien jerked around in our direction. Although my heart pounded against my chest, I flashed a cheeky grin and waved. "Hello! Need a lift?" Thankfully the Doctor was already sending the doors shut again. "Oops! Too late! See ya!"

With the annoyance on the Doctor's face, I could almost see him beating it against the wall. Or smacking me upside the head. He didn't say anything. I let him be. Who knew was was going on in that head of his? "How's your head?"

I blinked, momentarily too stunned to answer. I'd thought he'd forgotten in all the rush and chaos. I smiled at him. "Better now. I ... uh ... I found a memory that'll do the trick. Well, two, but I can switch between them, you know?" Okay, shut up. That was the nerves, I told myself. Not because I was nervous being in the small space with him. Just adrenaline. Nibbling on my lip, I fixed the Doctor with a look. "Are you okay, though?"

The Doctor's eyebrows crinkled. "What? What are you talking about now?"

"You were in the same room as those people. I don't know what ... what killed them, but if they all died at once, the aliens must've tried to kill you too. So, again, are you okay?" I kep my tone soft. He didn't seem the type to complain.

If the Doctor was stiff before, he became so rigid I thought I could get a paper cut just by looking at him. Shutters slammed down behind his eyes, face going as blank as possible. "Course I'm fine. I'm always fine. Aliens in Downing Street in people suits and you're worrying about me?"

"Someone has to." He'd lied about being fine. Well, I thought he had, but with all his emotions non-existant to my mind, I couldn't be sure. "Rose has you on a pedistal. I don't. You don't have to lie to me." The words just came easily, like I'd planned on the awkward moment all along.

Now the Doctor's face had become so guarded and full of warning that I knew I'd stepped over some sort of line. "I'm fine," he almost growled before turning away from me, rubbing his head and muttering. Something along the lines of "bloody empaths" and "shouldn't have gotten inside her head."

Thankfully, the doors finally opened and the Doctor almost tore out of there, leaving me to scramble after him. When the Doctor ducked into a room, I thought he'd ditched me. Then a hand gripped my arm and yanked me back into the Doctor's hiding space. "Doctor, what ..."

His hand clamped over my mouth. He shook his head.

Then I heard voices nearby. Alien ones. "It does us good to hunt. Purifies the blood."

My eyes widened. How the Doctor had heard them I had no idea. I wasn't about to complain, though.

"We'll keep this floor quarantined as our last hunting ground before the final phase." Another one. This voice didn't sound that different. Just enough to tell me that there were two aliens out there.

We hardly dared to breathe as the aliens left. It only then occured to me how tightly pressed together we were ... and how I'd rested my hands on his chest in the moment of confusion. Beneath my fingertips, it rose and fell in a short, quick rythmn. Adrenaline, or whatever the Doctor had that worked the same way. As I focused, I could feel a distinct beat under my palm.

One-two, one-two. Or even one-one, two-two.

That didn't belong to a normal heartbeat. Could he have more than one?

Now is not the time to be thinking about anatomy, idiot.

That only made it worse. The hand on my mouth smelled distinctly him. Rough, but not unkind. I lifted my eyes to his and when they met, I couldn't ignore the way my whole insides turned a thousand summersaults in one instant. I cleared my throat and glanced at his hand again. I couldn't use my hands to move it without making it more awkward.

As if remembering it was there in the first place, the Doctor jerked his hand away. "Now will you shut it," he snapped, breath a low whisper.

I smiled. "Only if they get this close again. I'm afraid it'll take a lot of work to get me to shut up."

"Clearly," he muttered, but a glint had appeared in his eyes. One that twisted my insides even more, if that were possible. A little bit of a smile started on his face, as well.

In the awkward silence, I could've sworn I'd felt that breath hitch a couple times.

Maybe.

"So," I cleared my throat again. "Now that they're looking for us, what do we do?"

"Come on, Doctor. You're the smart one! Think of something already!" I snapped, more from adrenaline than annoyance as the group of aliens loped even closer. My whole skin seemed on fire.

In spite of the danger and our predicament, running with the Doctor, Rose, and the woman -who'd introduced herself as Harriet- was the most fun I'd had in a long time. If they did this on a regular basis, I was definately sticking around.

The Doctor grabed a decanter that was almost full and held up that device to it. . "One more move and my sonic device will triplicate the flammability of this alcohol. Whoof, we all go up. So back off." Even to my ears, he sounded crazy enough to do it.

I almost smacked my forehead with my palm. "Really," I muttered. "That's it?"

Rose elbowed me, hard. "Oi, leave him alone."

At least the aliens believed him.

The Doctor straightened at once, his relief nudging at my senses. "Right then. Question time. Who exactly are the Slitheen?"

"They're aliens," came Harriet's reply, her grip tightening around the red box.

"Yes. I got that, thanks." Ha, his tone had morphed into the same one he used with me.

One of the aliens tilted its head. "Who are you, if not human?"

"Who's not human?" Oh boy, Harriet definately had trouble keeping up.

"He's not human," Rose and I replied at the same time, grinning a little at each other.

"He's not human?"

I made a face. "Duh."

The noise coming from the Doctor had already begun sounding familiar. "Can I have a bit of hush?"

"Sorry."

A quirk of the Doctor's eyebrow was all the response I got. "So, what's the plan?" He addressed the aliens, who so far hadn't said a word about the chatter.

"But he's got a Northern accent," Harriet protested.

Rose's grin spread a little more. "Lot's of planets have a north."

The Doctor almost growled. "I said hush. Honestly, Jessica, she's as bad as you. Now, you've got a spaceship hidden in the North Sea. It's transmitting a signal. You've murdered your way to the top of government. What for, invasion?"

The aliens' postures changed, sending my bad vibes off the scales. How much longer till they decided to try and call his bluff? "Might want to hurry it up, Doc," I whispered, shifting backwards a couple steps.

"Why would we invade this God-forsaken rock?" Scoffed a Slitheen.

I could almost hear the wheels in the Doctor's head spinning. "Then something's brought the Slitheen race here. What is it? And would you shut it," he added, glaring at me yet again.

"The Slitheen race?" Their amusement smacked against my barriers as they laughed. "Slitheen is not our species. Slitheen is our surname. Jocrassa Fel Fotch Pasameer-Day-Slitheen at your service."

Wow, and I thought my name was bad. "Gazundheit," I giggled a little, even drawing a glare from Rose this time.

"So you're a family." I didn't need to see his face to feel the bitter irony behind the Doctor's words. He didn't do families and yet he'd had to deal with Rose's mom and now an alien one. All in one day.

"A family business."

The Doctor perked right up, like a lightbulb suddenly went off in his head. "Then you're out to make a profit. How can you do that on a God-forsaken rock?" If anything, the wheels in his head had picked up the pace.

I could feel my heart racing in response to his growing excitement.

The aliens paused, not good. "Ah, excuse me? Your device will do what? Triplicate the flammability?"

There went our safety net.

The Doctor shuffled a little, his sheepish grin practically screaming at me. "Is that what I said?"

"I told you to hurry up." I sighed, resisting the urge to smack his head again.

"You're making it up," pronounced one of the aliens. I really couldn't tell one from the other.

"Ah, well! Nice try. Harriet, have a drink. I think you're gonna need it," he added, reaching backwards and completely bypassing me.

"You pass it to the left first," the woman corrected.

The Doctor switched sides without changing tone or face. "Sorry."

Rose took the decanter while making a face. "Thanks."

"Now we can end this hunt with a slaughter." The Slitheen began taking a step forward.

I gulped. Prayed that the Doctor actually had a plan.

"Don't you think we should run?" Rose insisted, backing up a step.

The Doctor hadn't moved, so neither would I. I shook my head. "It would be like trying to outrun a gorilla. Not possible."

"Fascinating history, Downing Street. Two thousand years ago, this was marsh land. 1730, it was occupied by a Mister Chicken. He was a nice man. 1796, this was the Cabinet Room. If the Cabinet's in session and in danger, these are about the four most safest walls in the whole of Great Britain. End of lesson." He reached to a small panel and pressed a button I didn't know was there. "Installed in 1991. Three inches of steel lining every single wall. They'll never get in." His self-confident grin was almost contagious.

Almost.

I crossed my arms, fixing him with my best scolding glare. "Great idea intially, Doctor, but how are we getting out of here?"

The Doctor's glare vanished quickly as our situation dawned on him. If he'd been the type, I'd swear he'd be blushing as he shuffled on his feet. "Ah."

"Do you ever think that far ahead ..."

"You. American. Shut. Up."