"I thought I knew him Mum," Emily was saying. "I thought me and him were, you know, best friends? Then he goes and does this to me."
"What if it's really him? Won't he think you've deserted him?"
"He won't remember, will he? Besides, Rose is there, you know what she's like, remember the sick cats she used to bring home?"
"Yeah but that man lying in her bed is a bit different to a cat Emm, I mean. Hadn't you better go and check how he is?"
"Rose will call out if he gets worse. How could he do this to me Mum? The places we've been and the things he's showed me, what if he doesn't want me to go with him any more? Do I want to go with him? How can I settle back down but do you know what really gets me?"
Jackie supposed she was going to find out even if she didn't really want to.
"All the 'I'm the last of the Timelords' and the 'There's no-one left I'm the only one'. How can he say that now when there's another one, lying in the bedroom?"
"You're not thinking straight Emily, why don't you go in there and give Rose a break?"
"No, I can't Mum, just looking at him fills me with all these doubts. I'll go lie down on the sofa. What's been going on while I've been away? Where's cousin Mo got to then?"
"She's in the Peak district now, I swear one of these days she'll settle down. Hey guess what?"
Emily stopped her pacing and left the kitchen, going to the living room that looked like a battlefield, mess everywhere.
"That Harriet Jones?" Emily asked as she glanced at the TV that had been left on when they had been trying to avoid getting shredded by a Christmas tree.
"Yeah, she's Prime Minister now, I'm miles better off."
"What's this satellite thing she's on about?"
"I dunno, they were sending some spaceship to explore Mars. Complete waste of time if you ask me, you should tell them about all the real aliens you've seen."
Emily turned around. "You are joking Mum, didn't you listen to what I told you all earlier? If they got hold of the Doctor, they'd dissect him. He said something about a military organisation though, I think he called it UNIT, said he used to work with them back in the 70s and 80s."
She sat herself down on the sofa, which had miraculously evaded being shredded to bits while Jackie went off to see how much more damage had been done, cursing both Rose and Mickey for bringing that damn tree into the flat. She'd heard the front door going, assuming Mickey was cowering off home now Rose had a new hobby and if according to what Mickey had said, Rose had her eyes on who used to be Emily's friend.
Over the past months since Emily had come back, she'd never noticed her two daughters had become distant, Emily spent less and less time at home and even when she'd been 'grounded' she'd insisted on going back to help that alien but now, she'd suddenly left it to her sister to take care of him. She looked up when she heard the front door opening, meaning to tell Mickey to stop letting himself in all the time. He closed the door and was holding a laptop, cables trailing out of it.
"I'm gonna use the phoneline Jackie, is that ok?" he asked, trying to avoid the pile of plaster on the floor.
"Yeah, keep a record of it, it's not cheap ya know? What you doing anyway?"
"Something the Doctor said, about pilot fish."
"How would you know Mickey?" Emily called out from a pile of cushions on the sofa. "You were a fat lot of good out there."
"Huh? He's your friend Emm so why is Rose in there, worried about him? You didn't do much yourself ya know? He changes his face and it's like you don't want anything to do with him," Mickey retorted, plugging the modem cable into the phone line and opening the top of the laptop.
"Well I might, when he wakes up," Emily huffed back, aiming a cushion in his direction but it landing on the floor as it bounced off his arm.
Mickey began his search for pilot fish, not happy with the results. Jackie stood in the doorway. It was getting late, it was almost ten and she had no idea how long that man was going to be laid out flat in Rose's bedroom. The last few hours had been tense, Mickey was typing away, looking up these pilot fish and had somehow wandered onto the tracking of the satellite that was approaching Mars.
Rose was dozing off and woke up suddenly, realising she was leaning on the man's arm. She got up and put another cloth on his forehead, she swore he'd got hotter, how was he still hanging on? Maybe he really was an alien after all, she'd only half-believed her older sister. She wandered into the living room to see Mickey glued to the computer screen, Emily appeared to be asleep and Jackie was trying to catch up on her soaps she'd missed earlier, the Christmas edition she had taped when the commotion had kicked off.
Rose stood behind Mickey, resting her hands on his shoulder.
"Whatcha found Micks?"
"Shush Rose, Emm's asleep. Look at this."
He flipped the screen back to the images he'd found earlier. "See, pilot fish lure the big fish or as you could put it, we get them first, then that comes along."
Rose made a face as a shark or whatever it was swallowed the pilot fish.
"So, we've had them Santas, what's coming next?"
"I've been tracking that satellite, you know, the one on its way to Mars. Jackie, have you finished watching your soap?"
"A few minutes if you two shut it."
"Nice Mum," Rose signed, yawning. "I need a cuppa. You've not told anyone have you?"
"Told anyone what?" her mother asked, stopping the recording, Rose wondering how her mother had finally grasped programming the video recorder.
"About the Doctor, who da ya think?"
"Emily's convinced that ain't him."
"Yeah, I know but he still needs our help Mum."
"Rose, come and look at this," Mickey called out to her. "Don't go telling me that's a satellite."
Jackie had turned over to the 24 hr news, since the Doctor, on one of his rare visits had got her the paying channels. At least he'd been useful for something, she'd thought at the time.
"Well look at this then, they say that satellite has disappeared off the radar," Jackie commented.
"That's what I'm trying to tell you Rose, it just vanished," Mickey insisted.
"He said something is coming," Rose thought out loud.
"Well whatever it is, no-one's picked it up yet."
No-one but Jackie was taking any notice of the TV. Rose went back to check on the sleeping Doctor, he was tossing his head, still letting out the golden energy every now and then.
"I wish you'd wake up and tell us what's going on," Rose sighed, sitting back down on the chair and yawning.
Mickey stood in the doorway as Rose wearily put her head on the side of the bed. He knew he'd lost her for good when Emily had disappeared but now, she seemed intent on staying by this stranger's bedside and there would be no getting her away. He let himself out, Jackie hearing him go and getting up herself, went to her wardrobe and dragged the spare duvet out, going back and putting it on the sleeping Emily. She stood watching Rose, her and her strays, now she had a new hobby and it wasn't cats or fluffy animals.
It was gone midnight but at six, they were woken up by Mickey banging on the door. It was Rose that stirred, letting him in.
"Mickey, what you doing here so early?" Rose yawned.
"Couldn't sleep so I went back online, he was right, something is coming, put the TV on."
They went into the living room, Emily still spark out, putting the TV on and keeping the volume low. A man was declaring they had re- established contact with the satellite and they were about to receive live pictures from it at any moment.
"Wow, exciting stuff Mickey," Rose prodded him as he sat on the floor in front of her chair.
"Shush Rose, wait and see."
"Oh, so you know more than we do? That'll be the day."
"Be serious Rose, just wait."
"What's going on?" Jackie asked, standing in the doorway in her dressing gown.
"They're gonna show pictures from that satellite Mum," Rose informed her, wondering if her sister was going to sleep through the entire thing and miss it or was she just faking it, her being in denial and all.
Jackie perched on the chair arm, moving Rose's elbow. Suddenly, the picture on the TV went all fuzzy and when it cleared they all stared in disbelief.
"That ain't any Martian landscape," Jackie gasped, gripping Rose's arm.
They all jumped when the picture came into focus and saw three what looked like aliens with large bony heads. One of them roared and the picture went off. Mickey quickly got up and crossed to where he'd plugged the laptop back in, switching it on.
"It's coming in fast," he declared. "I reckon it will be here in about two hours, the speed it's going."
"What you on about Mickey?" Rose asked, getting up.
"The spaceship," he replied, staring at her for not knowing.
"What spaceship? So he was right, something is coming. I'd best go check on him then. Mum, are you gonna wake Emm?"
"Leave her, does she actually sleep when she's in that blue box?"
"No point in asking me Mum, is there?" Rose replied, leaving the disaster of a living room and going into the kitchen and filling the kettle with water.
Going into the cupboard, she brought out the teabags to refill the caddy and waited for the water to boil. How on earth had they got mixed up in all this? She'd not had time to think last night, being left to tend who had once been the Doctor, not that she'd had much to do with him except when Emily had conned her into traipsing to Cardiff to deliver her passport, that she didn't even need. This new one though, he just seemed so familiar somehow. Then she began to wonder if she'd been right, he was the man she had spoken to last New Years Eve, the man in the shadows.
His voice had been a bit different but if he'd had too much to drink that night, it could be him but maybe he'd not been drunk, maybe he'd been injured somehow and she'd gone off and left him. What if somehow, that had been when he'd become the Doctor? Emily kept bragging about time travel, anything was possible. She shook her head, made the tea and went back to her bedroom, putting the mug on the bedside table. Then she went to the bathroom to freshen herself up, getting herself some clean clothes and taking a quick shower, feeling much better afterwards.
Coming out of the bathroom, Rose heard a loud sonic boom overhead and the sound of glass breaking outside. Her mother and Mickey dashed out of the living room, almost knocking poor Rose over.
"What the hell was that?" Jackie asked, opening the door and seeing the glass partition at either side of the door shattered.
"I told you, its here Jackie," Mickey stated, looking upwards.
"Well if that didn't wake the Doctor and Emily, nothing else will."
"Did someone mention me?" a voice behind them asked.
They all turned around to see the Doctor in Howard's dressing gown, minus the slippers, which had been too small for him.
"What have I missed then?" he asked, seeing the shattered glass. "And why are there tree shaped holes in the walls? Oh, right, that would have been the Christmas tree that exploded last night then, sorry about that. Where's Emily?"
He carefully peered over the glass partition and looked up, seeing what appeared to be a large rock above them.
"Who are they?" Rose managed to ask.
"No idea but whoever they are, they're after me. Best go get dressed and you lot will be safer in the Tardis. Who were you again?"
"Crikey, have you lost your memory? It's Rose."
"Ah, yes, how could I forget? Sorry. What's this then?"
He went in the dressing gown pocket and brought out a satsuma, tossing it to Rose, who grinned and put it in her jacket pocket. "Oh, your friend likes his snacks Jackie. What are you all standing around here for? Go get Emily and we'll all pop down to the Tardis, then I can find out who that lot is. Have they made any demands?"
Mickey shrugged his shoulders. "Not that I know of but they'd hardly phone us would they?"
"Mickey the idiot. I didn't mean that, I meant anything they demanded of the government. Who's the Prime Minister these days?"
"Harriet Jones," Rose managed to say as they followed him back inside, the Doctor being careful where he stood.
"Did that sonic boom wake you up?" she asked as he went back into her room to retrieve his clothes, which were now far too big for him but he thought they'd have to do, at a pinch.
"Nah, the smell of hot tea, a fusion of tannins and free radicals, nothing like it to clear the synapses. Gather what you need then we'll go down to the Tardis, how's your sister sleeping through this lot?" the Doctor asked, noticing his companion still hadn't made an appearance.
"Beats me, does she actually sleep in that box of yours?" Jackie wanted to know, coming out of her bedroom, relieved that neither the killer tree or the sonic boom had destroyed it, like the rest of the flat.
Rose and Jackie went into the kitchen to give the Doctor some privacy to get dressed, Mickey was doing his best to wake the sleeping Emily.
"Come on Emm, you're missing all the excitement," he told her, shaking her shoulders. "The Doctor's awake, you can ask him now, if it's really him."
Emily just stayed asleep, Mickey giving up. He turned around as he felt someone was watching him.
"How long has she been asleep?" the Doctor asked him, now wearing black jeans that were held up by a belt, on its last notch but still a bit slack, a black jumper and a leather jacket, hanging off his now slender frame. The shoes seemed about right, thankfully.
"Since around ten last night, nothing woke her up, Jackie going on about watching TV, nothing at all. What's wrong with her?"
The Doctor stood over her, reaching for his sonic screwdriver that Rose had put back in his pocket after the tree exploded but changed his mind, thinking it would alert the aliens above them.
"She absorbed the time vortex, no human or Timelord is meant to do that. I had to take it out of her, it's all gone now but it must have taken its toll on her, she's suffering from exhaustion, that's all. We'll have to carry her down to the Tardis, they may know where I am, if those robots reported back to them or maybe they had nothing to do with it, maybe that was someone else controlling them? Still, one problem at a time."
Mickey volunteered to pick up Emily, Jackie had two carriers of food, Rose leading the way then locking the door. They got downstairs, having to wait for the lift but Rose and the Doctor choosing the stairs, the Doctor already looking around and opening the Tardis door.
"Some parking that was," Rose laughed, while they waited for the others.
"Thanks, I was on the verge of collapsing you know. Thanks for looking after me."
"How did you know it was me?" Rose asked him, blushing the colour of her name.
"Emily's been asleep, she'll be fine in a few more hours and I couldn't see your mother staying with me all night, could you?"
"Oi, I heard that," Jackie objected as she entered the Tardis, Mickey behind her.
"Just lay her down for now or you can take her to her room if you want?" the Doctor told him.
Mickey went for the first option, she was surprisingly heavy. He crossed over to the console, watching the Doctor, who was studying the various dials and knobs.
"I'm off to get some more food, don't go anywhere without me," Jackie declared, opening the door to see the place deserted.
She'd been expecting people to be rushing around and screaming the aliens had landed but after the spaceship that had landed in the Thames had been declared a hoax, everyone was ignoring it.
"Can you get the football on that thing?" Mickey asked, pointing to the monitor.
"Yes, I get all the sports channels but it's hardly the time to be watching them, Rickey."
"It's Mickey."
"You only think it's Mickey and leave it alone."
Before he could be stopped, Mickey had turned the monitor on.
"Now look what you've done," the Doctor told him, looking annoyed.
They felt a rapid movement then a thud as they landed on the alien spaceship. Jackie had just come through the outer door of the flats to see the Tardis disappear in front of her, dropping the remainder of the bags she was carrying.
"Where are we?" Rose whispered.
"On board the ship I expect," the Doctor replied, looking at the screen since Mickey had turned it on.
"I don't suppose they'll think the Tardis is empty?" Rose suggested.
The Doctor raised his eyebrows. "If they call us out, you two stay in here and look after Emily."
"No chance, you can't face them on your own."
"I'll be fine Rose, honestly. I'll just talk to them, tell them to leave and that will be that."
"Yeah?" Rose laughed.
"You doubt my capabilities?"
"You think they'll be impressed?" Rose asked, trying not to laugh again.
"They'd better be. Now both of you, stay here, I mean it."