The Doctor moved Rose out of the way, she had got in front of him.
"Who are they?"
"No idea, I've not come across them before but they are not from Mars, I can tell you that much. I'll be fine, really, it's safer for you in here, trust me."
"Did Emily always do as she was told?"
"Well, not all the time but that's beside the point. While you're delaying me, they are getting inpatient."
Mickey was looking at the screen.
"Seems they've already captured some people."
Rose let the Doctor move her, his hands gently on her waist which made her feel a little giddy. She crossed over to Mickey.
"It's Harriet Jones and she's with another man but look at that, there are a pile of bones on the floor. Did they kill someone?"
The Doctor had moved Mickey out of the way, looking around. Rose couldn't let him go out there so she grabbed Mickey's arm.
"I'm not going out there," Mickey whispered as she led him to the door.
"It's us or him, we can at least find out what they want."
Rose opened the door carefully and looked around but before she could stop Mickey he had opened it fully and they were both grabbed, the door slamming behind them.
"What did I tell them?" the Doctor asked himself, hearing the door closing.
"Emily! What are you doing here?" Harriet asked her as she approached, holding her arms out.
"I'm not Emily, I'm her sister, Rose. What's going on?"
"Who exactly are you?" the man beside Harriet asked her, looking at his data pad as who appeared to be the leader spoke in some unknown language.
"Who are you lot then?" Mickey scoffed.
"We are the Sycorax and you will be the next to die."
Harriet stood in front of Rose. "Leave her alone."
"No, it's ok. What do you want?"
"They want us, the Earth and the person who they say has the technology inside that box. Where is he Rose?" Harriet asked.
"If you mean the Doctor, not coming, we're on our own. Me and Mickey were messing about waiting for Emily when the thing just took off."
The Doctor was still inside, he knew he should go out there and rescue them but since he'd woken up, he'd had a strong feeling about this girl, like he'd been travelling with the wrong sister though at least he'd not had Mickey the idiot tagging along. He looked across at the still sleeping Emily.
The man with Harriet was translating again. "The girl with the technology will speak for the planet."
"Me?" Rose asked, looking at Harriet. "Ok then, I'll speak for the planet."
She tried to remember all the species Emily had talked about and came out with them one by one. "Oh and the Daleks," she finished. "Now leave this planet in peace, in peace," she mumbled one last time, losing her nerve.
The leader of the Sycorax just laughed. "Now you will all be enslaved."
"I heard what he said. That was English."
"I heard it too," Mickey spoke up, still being held.
"I would never dirty my tongue with your primitive language," their leader insisted.
Rose had gone to stand by Mickey. "Didn't Emm say something about the ship translating?"
"Yeah, I think so but why wasn't it working earlier then?"
"Don't ask me, unless he wasn't fully healed? She said something about the ship getting into your head but what if he has to be there and he was still a bit out of it?"
Everyone suddenly looked beyond Rose and Mickey.
"Were you looking for me?" the Doctor asked, now wearing different clothes that Rose thought looked more like he should be wearing but she didn't know how she knew that.
The Sycorax leader brought his whip-like weapon in front of him, about to go for the Doctor but he just caught the end and tugging it out of the alien's hands, broke the thing in two.
"Right, first things first. You can wait – I'm busy. Hello, blimey, it's Harriet Jones."
"Who's this?" Harriet asked.
"It's him, he says he's the Doctor, who else could he be?" Rose told her.
"Who exactly is the Doctor?" the Sycorax leader wanted to know.
"Sorry big fella, well that's the question, isn't it? Who is the Doctor? First though, what do I look like?" he turned and asked Rose. "Am I ginger?"
"No, just brown."
The Doctor was disappointed. "Oh, I've always wanted to be ginger but never mind."
"Didn't you look in the mirror?" Rose asked.
"I was a bit busy and you, you did exactly the opposite to what I told you and came out. Are you always going to be like your sister?"
"Well excuse me for tryin' to save your ass."
"He looks different," Harriet observed.
"Good different or bad different?" he asked.
"Just different," Rose told him, seeing the Sycorax leader was getting impatient.
"Right, down to business. What are you lot doing here?"
"They're holding some of the population in a kind of trance," Harriet offered.
"Really? Is that the best you can do?" the doctor asked.
"You stand as this planet's champion?"
"You could say that I suppose but what have you to gain eh? These people are just beginning to explore, there are much more interesting species out there, why come here?"
The Sycorax leader seemed through listening as he tossed a sword in the Doctor's direction. He caught it deftly and took his jacket off, tossing it to Rose.
"I want that back," he called over to her.
He took his position, facing the alien. "So, for the planet then?"
"For the planet."
"I win, you let everyone go and leave the solar system."
"Agreed but if you lose, the whole planet will be enslaved."
"Doctor, you can't do that," Rose called out. "What about all those who are still under their influence?"
"Yes, about that, how are you controlling them?" he asked, spying a very large red button. "Oh, a red button, I love red buttons," he grinned, striding over to it. "What have we got here then? Blood control? I've not seen blood control for ages, I love it!"
Rose was staring at him. He'd been all serious inside the ship but now, it was like he was running hot and cold.
"No!" Harriet yelled as he was about to push the red button. "You'll kill them all."
"Nah, you can hypnotize someone to walk like a chicken or sing like Elvis but not to jump, if that's what you mean?"
"How do ya know they're gonna jump?" Rose asked.
The Doctor shook his head. "I'm right though so if I do this?" he asked pressing the button as Rose, Mickey and Harriet, plus the man who had remained quiet all held their breath.
"So, did I kill them all then?" the Doctor asked.
"We allowed them to live," the leader told him, lifting his sword, which the Doctor had forgotten he was still facing.
Lifting his own, he defended himself as the hordes of Sycorax cheered.
"Oh, that struck a chord," the Doctor declared as he went backwards up some steps. "Let's see what's out here then."
He pressed another button and found himself outside on a ledge, high above London. Rose, Mickey and Harriet all followed as the Doctor continued but suddenly, he lost his balance.
"Watch out!" Rose yelled, stepping forward.
"Stay back, if you interfere, he wins," the Doctor warned her, regaining his balance.
The Sycorax leader roared again, hefting his sword at the now standing Doctor. The sword fight continued but suddenly, the alien gained the advantage and the Doctor fell to the ground. Rose called out again but his opponent lifted his sword and with one swift movement, chopped off the Doctor's right hand.
Rose wanted to run to him but Mickey held her back.
"Remember what he said Rose," Mickey warned her.
The Doctor looked up as the leader declared his victory.
"Now I know what sort of man I am," he stated, springing back on his feet, the alien turning around. "As it happens, I'm lucky, I'm still in the first fifteen hours of my regeneration cycle which means I have just enough residual energy to do this."
As if from nowhere, another hand began to take shape.
"Witchcraft!" the leader declared.
"No, Timelord."
Rose turned and grabbed a sword from the nearest Sycorax and tossed it in the Doctor's direction.
"Doctor!" she called to him, hoping he'd catch it as she tossed it in his general direction. He did and went after the leader again.
"See this hand? It's a fightin' hand."
They continued a few more minutes, the Doctor lost his sword but so did his opponent but he had the advantage, striking a few blows as everyone watched on, cringing. The leader fell to the ground and the Doctor picked up his sword.
"That's it, I win. Now, swear on the blood of your species."
"I swear."
"Good, now we can all go home. So, you believe it's me then?" he asked Rose as she handed him his jacket.
"No arguments from me, here, have a satsuma."
The Doctor caught it one-handed, fingering the soft fruit. "Ah, that friend of your mother's," he laughed.
He heard a noise behind him and knew the leader was coming after him, he hadn't trusted him to keep his word. He aimed the satsuma at a button and the rest of the platform gave way, sending the Sycorax leader plummeting back down to earth.
"No second chances, I'm that sort of a man."
They got back inside and the Doctor addressed the rest of the aliens, giving them a warning to stay away from the earth and as he got out the last of his words, they found themselves just around the back of the flats. They saw the ship leaving and Mickey jeered. Harriet stepped up to the Doctor.
"So, it's really you then?"
"Prime Minister. When we were trapped in Downing Street, your only concern was your mother."
"You're absolutely the same man."
Harriet's aide received a call just as Jackie came running along the road.
"Rose, you're safe! Everyone was on the roof, they were gonna jump. Where's Emm?"
They all looked around at the sound of the Tardis door opening.
"What was I doing in there? I was asleep on the sofa."
They all laughed as Rose and Jackie greeted her, Mickey and the Doctor hanging back but they all looked up when a beam aimed into space and the retreating Sycorax ship exploded.
"They were leaving," the Doctor snapped at Harriet, who had just given the go ahead.
"You said yourself Doctor, they would go tell others. You're not here all the time, we have to defend ourselves."
"So I have to fight you as well? I can bring you down with six words, just six."
"Does that make you an enemy?" Harriet asked him.
The Doctor walked past her and approached her assistant, taking the hands-free out of his ear.
"Don't you think she looks tired?" the Doctor whispered.
The Doctor walked back to the others, Rose taking his arm on one side and Jackie on the other, Emily and Mickey following behind, Emily trying to ask him what she'd missed.
"You slept through it all Emm, the Doctor having a sword fight with the alien leader."
"What alien leader?"
Mickey laughed and filled her in on the details as they got back to the flat, Jackie having retrieved most of the groceries she'd dropped on the floor on seeing the Tardis disappearing.
"I don't know what we're gonna have for Christmas dinner," Jackie declared as they all piled into the flat, which was still a mess.
"Ah, leave that to me," the Doctor declared, getting out of her grip.
"Need some help?" Rose asked, keen to find out if there was the remote chance he may actually ask her if she wanted to go with them. Up until now, she was content to leave the adventures to her sister but now she had been on an alien ship, well two alien ships, she was developing a liking for it.
"Why not? Well don't just stand there – allons-y!"
Emily stared after the Doctor and her younger sister, why had he asked her to go help him?
"Hey Emm, best watch out for Rose," Mickey goaded her as they left.
"Yeah. Hell Mum, haven't you cleaned up?"
"Bloomin' cheek, you can help madam, sleeping all last night and then Mickey having to carry you down to that blue box."
"It's called the Tardis Mum, how many more times? Hang on, Mickey carried me?" she asked, horrified at the very thought.
"Was I supposed to leave you behind?" Mickey huffed.
Rose meanwhile was trying to keep up with the Doctor, who seemed to walk twice as fast as she was.
"Keep up Rose," he called behind him as they went back the way they'd just come.
"Why didn't you move your ship before?" she yelled back at him.
"Oh, you sound just like your mother," he complained, reaching the Tardis and opening the door.
Rose followed him inside, wondering how she was going to carry all the bags back on her own. The Doctor was standing at the console, watching her.
"Leave them Rose."
"Are you gonna carry them for me?" she laughed.
"No need, hold tight."
The ship jerked and Rose held onto the railing by the door, not realising it had closed behind her.
"Have you back home in a jiffy," he told her, picking up a rubber mallet and bashing one of the controls with it.
"Blimey, do you always do that? Hold on, you're not moving this thing are you?"
The Doctor raised his eyebrows, not that she could see from where she was clutching the rail.
"Yes I'm moving this thing."
"Well you'd better not land it in my mum's living room, she's still mad over the tree. Where you gonna get Christmas dinner from then?"
The Tardis landed with a thud.
"Open the door," he told her, picking up a long light brown coat from one of the struts.
Rose did as she was told and they found themselves in a market place, quite old by the looks of things. The Doctor took hold of her hand and dragged her from one stall to another, him getting a wallet out but Rose seeing no money exchanging hands but not daring to interrupt him as he piled vegetables in paper bags into her arms.
"Right, now for the turkey," he finally declared.
"You're joking?" Rose laughed, wishing she had a plastic carrier bag but not wanting to say it out loud, in case they'd not even been invented yet, judging by the way people were dressed.
They went to the furthest corner of the market to a food stall.
"Hello there, I'm the food inspector and I'm very sorry but I'm afraid I'm going to have to take that cooked turkey there away for a proper inspection."
The man stared at him as the Doctor pointed to a just cooked whole turkey on a metal plate, a cover just at the side. He shoved the paper in front of the man, who just covered the turkey up and handed it over. Rose thought apparently, they took more notice back then of food inspections than they did these days. The Doctor put his psychic paper away in his pocket and accepted the now covered turkey.
"Merry Christmas," he grinned back at the man, indicating to Rose they should leave, quickly, before the man realised he'd just been conned into giving away the goods.
"What about some roast chestnuts?" Rose queried.
"Yes, wouldn't be the same without them around the turkey, would it? Just reach in my pocket and get that paper out again."
"What?"
"Rose, my hands are full. Just get the wallet out and show them it."
"How does that work then?" she smiled as they reached the seller, who had just put some chestnuts into a brown paper bag as they approached.
"Do I have to explain everything?"
Rose grinned and carefully balancing three paper bags, reached into his pocket, pulling out the wallet. The Doctor winked at her, Rose blushing bright red.
"Don't get used to that," she grinned back at him, flashing the psychic paper and accepting the bag, not being able to put the wallet back, thankfully.
They walked back to the Tardis, unsure how this was going to work.
"Ah, right, key. Rose, sorry, you'll have to put those down and hold this."
He held up the turkey. Rose did as asked and he let them in, picking up the bags she had put on the ground. A few minutes later, they were gathering everything up and Mickey was waiting outside, Rose throwing the carriers from that morning into his arms.
"Where have you two been?"
"Ah, Rickey, make yourself useful and help Rose," the Doctor called, picking up the turkey he'd placed on the worn-out seat by the console.
They eventually made it back to the flat, Jackie letting them in. She was surprised to say the least and Emily could only stare. She pulled Rose into her wreck of a bedroom and questioned why she'd gone off with the Doctor.
"Seriously Emm?" Rose asked. "You slept through the entire thing and you're asking me why I went off with him? You're the one who couldn't accept who he was, remember?"
"Yeah, well I was tired, wasn't I? I know who he is now."
"Yeah, soon changed your tune."
"What are you two on about?" their mother asked, reaching for a pan as the two sisters walked into the kitchen. "Here, get these veg on while I put the turkey on a low light to keep it warm. Where did you get it from Rose?"
"You wouldn't believe me if I told you Mum."
"After what happened today? I'd believe anything now. Get a move on both of you, or we'll be eating this next year."