So another chapter at last. I suppose some people would be a bit confused about the time streams so I'll just clarify:
For 10 and Rose it's just after Tooth and Claw.
For Mickey and Martha everything from the show has past and the two are happily married and working for UNIT.
For Donna, she was caught in the teleport in the library but Scar hacked it so she was brought here instead of the hard-drive.
11, Amy and Rory came from just after the events of Vampires of Venice.
River's last encounter with the doctor was Day of the Moon. So she hasn't been through the Big Bang or any of her episodes before that. But all the ones afterwards, aside from Angels take Manhattan of course.
Jack's last encounter was Last of the Time Lords.
And 12 and Clara were just coming from Into the Dalek.
on with the story.
NEXT TIME…
INT. TARDIS
Inside the TARDIS, it is mayhem. The whole ship is shaking and an alarm is going off.
THE DOCTOR: Now you've seen the future let's have a look at the past. 1860, how does 1860 sound?
ROSE: What happens in 1860?
THE DOCTOR: I don't know, let's find out.
"Well that's one way to decided." River commented offhandedly.
"Yeah, remember the time we tried to fly the Tardis blindfolded just to end up somewhere completely random." Said 11. She burst out laughing, as did 11 and 12. The others smiled slightly, imagining what that must have been like, aside from 10, who was looking at them like they were insane.
He pulls a lever down.
INT. CHAPEL OF REST
CLOSE UP: A candle is lit. An old woman is lying dead in a coffin.
REDPATH: I can't believe she's gone.
SNEED: Not gone, Mr. Redpath, sir. Merely sleeping.
The old woman open's her eyes.
Everyone jumped.
"That's not normal." Said Donna.
"Yeah, no kidding." Martha muttered.
INT. SNEED'S KITCHEN
SNEED: She's up and on her feet and out there somewhere!
GWYNETH: Mr Sneed for shame how many more times.
"No way! Gwen?!" Jack cried.
"What? Her name was Gwyneth." Rose said.
"Yeah, see it's cause your Gwen's lived in Cardiff her whole life, as have the rest of her family." 11 began explaining things to Jack. "So because she's always been close to the rift spatial genetic multiplicity occurred and can we talk about this later."
Jack shrugged and leant back in his seat, he decided to file all questions on spatial genetic multiplicity away for another time.
EXT. SNEED AND COMPANY, STREET
The old woman is walking down the street, wailing with blue gas emitting from her mouth.
GWYNETH V.O.: It's ungodly.
INT. THEATRE
STAGE MANAGER V.O.: Excuse me, sir, Mr. Dickens, this is your call.
The curtains open for Dickens' show.
"Charles Dickens. Oh My God!" Amy cried.
"You actually met him?!" Martha asked, turning to 10 and Rose. The both nodded but didn't speak, both were too busy reminiscing.
The audience applaud. The dead old woman is sitting slap bang in the middle of them.
SNEED V.O.: Use the sight
EXT. STREET
SNEED: Find the old lady, or your dismissed.
Gwyneth looks up at him, shocked.
A lot of fists tightened and jaws clenched. Nobody liked the way Sneed was treating Gwyneth at the minute. Rose in particular, who had, had the most experience with him aside from the doctor. She never liked him, not that she wanted him dead, but there was nothing she could have done about that…
INT. THEATRE
The old woman's face starts to glow blue.
DICKENS: What phantasmagoria is this?
She wails and the gas spreads into the room. The crowd panics.
"Incredible, gaseous fusion with human matter…" River began muttering a lot of technical stuff in her analysis. 11 smiled fondly at her, he loved it when she figured things out.
EXT. CARDIFF SQUARE
The Doctor and Rose hear the screaming. The Doctor grins.
THE DOCTOR: That's more like it!
He tosses the newspaper over his shoulder and runs in the direction of the screaming. Rose follows.
A few people rolled their eyes while others smiled fondly. Things were much more fun when they got dangerous.
INT. THEATRE
The blue gas takes on a humanoid blur as it sours around the room, wailing.
INT. CHAPEL OF REST
Mister Sneed crosses a room where a woman lies dead in her coffin and a man stands over her. The man's name is Redpath. Sneed lights a gas lamp. He walks to the mans side.
SNEED: Sneed and Company offer their sincerest condolences, sir. In this most trying hour.
REDPATH: Grandmamma had a good innings, Mr. Sneed. She was so full of life. I can't believe she's gone.
SNEED: Not gone, Mr. Redpath, sir. Merely sleeping.
A short silence.
REDPATH: May I have a moment?
SNEED: Yes, of course. I shall be in the next room, should you require anything.
He leaves Redpath alone with his Grandmother. Redpath, with his head bowed in grief, does not notice the gas enter her dead body and her eyes snap open. She suddenly grabs Redpath by the neck and throttles him.
"Oh my god." Donna cried.
"I know right." Rose said, leaning over towards her slightly. Mickey and Martha, who were in-between the two, also expressed their agreement.
Mister Sneed bursts back into the room upon hearing the commotion.
SNEED: Oh, no.
The old woman twists her grandson's neck around and he falls to the floor. Redpath tries to wrestle the lid back on the coffin.
SNEED (CONT'D): Gwyneth! Get down here now! We've got another one!
"Another one!" Martha exclaimed. Rose and 10 both offered small nods, and River, Jack and Mickey lowered their heads in thought.
He is not strong enough to get the lid back on the coffin and the old woman kicks the side off.
"Wow. She's strong." Said Amy. She caught Clara's eye and the two nodded. They seemed to be on similar terms as far as their timelines were concerned. They had both know the 11th doctor and had only been in the Tardis for a short period. They both felt it good to have someone to relate to.
EXT. SNEED AND COMPANY, STREET
Mrs Pearce walks from the house, wailing blue gas emitting from her mouth.
"Cool." Said Jack. "I can't believe I missed this." He added, in mock sadness. And Rose, being in such a playful mood, stuck her tongue out at him. He sent her back a cheeky grin causing everyone on the first two sofas to laugh and the couple on the third to smile, happily.
OPENING CREDITS (minus names)
"THE UNQUIET DEAD"
"I can see why they call it that." Said Mickey.
"I still don't get it, I mean I thought ghosts weren't real." Said Donna.
"They aren't," 10 said. "See they aren't ghosts, their gaseous beings that use the corpses because human decomposition causes…"
"Shh! Spoilers." River cut in. 10 nodded, seemingly only just realising he'd been talking.
INT. TARDIS
Inside the TARDIS, it is mayhem. The whole ship is shaking and an alarm is going off.
THE DOCTOR: Hold that one down!
ROSE: I'm HOLDING this one down!
THE DOCTOR: Well, hold them BOTH down!
ROSE: It's not going to work!
"How would you know, do you know anything about flying a Tardis?" 12 asked. Rose simply shrugged with a look on her face that clearly read: "I don't know".
THE DOCTOR: Oi! I promised you a time machine and that's what you're getting. Now, you've seen the future, let's have a look at the past. 1860. How does 1860 sound?
ROSE: What happens in 1860?
THE DOCTOR: I don't know, let's find out. Hold on, here we go!
The TARDIS screeches through the time vortex.
INT. SNEED'S KITCHEN
Mr. Sneed is dabbing at his forehead.
SNEED: Gwyneth! Where are you, girl? Gwyneth! (Gwyneth appears).
"Would now be a good time to ask about spatial genetic multiplicity?" Jack asked, turning to 11.
"Uh…" He began, unsure if it was a good time.
"Look it's incredibly complicated and I'm sure we all want to watch so can we discuss this later?" Asked 12. Jack looked mildly disappointed but complied. 11 mouthed his thanks to 12 when no one else was looking.
SNEED: Where've you been? I was shouting!
GWYNETH: I've been in the stables, sir, breaking the ice for old Sampson.
SNEED: Well, get back in there and harness him up.
GWYNETH: Whatever for, sir?
SNEED: The stiffs are getting lively again. Mr. Redpath's grandmother, she's up and on her feet and out there somewhere, on the streets! We've got to find her!
GWYNETH: Mr. Sneed, for shame! How many more times? It's ungodly!
SNEED: Don't look at me like it's my fault! Now come on, hurry up! She was 86. She can't have got far.
GWYNETH: What about Mr. Redpath? Did you deal with him?
SNEED: No. She did.
"Well!" Said Donna, disgruntled.
"I couldn't agree more." Said Martha. Mickey, Amy, Rory, Rose and Clara also gave murmurs of agreement. This Sneed character was sure tactless for an undertaker.
GWYNETH: That's awful, sir. I know it's not my place, and please, forgive me for talking out of turn, sir. But this is getting beyond, now. (Sneed nods). Something terrible is happening in this house, and we've got to get help.
SNEED: And we will! As soon as I get that dead old woman locked up and safe and sound. Now stop prevaricating girl, get the hearse ready. We're going body snatching.
"Ooo, I went body snatching once, this confused alien somehow escaped from the plasma induced cell we had made so we had to get this van and…" Jack suddenly got lost in some crazy story, whilst everyone looked on in complete bewilderment.
In short their expressions where pretty much: ?
EXT. STREET AND ALLEYWAY
The TARDIS materializes on a deserted street. Snow is falling.
INT. TARDIS
The controls are steaming and both the Doctor and Rose are lying on the floor laughing.
River let out a long sigh, the doctor would never learn how to fly the Tardis properly. And yet his companions seemed to enjoy it. Strange…
They get up.
ROSE: Blimey!
THE DOCTOR: You're telling me! Are you alright?
ROSE: Yeah. I think so! Nothing broken... did we make it? Where are we?
THE DOCTOR (studying the screen): I did it! Give the man a medal.
"Well maybe when you do get to the right place, we will." Rose said to 10 in mock anger. She tried to keep a straight face but failed and ended up exploding into laughter, along many of the other occupants in the room. The doctors all looked insulted but only 10 made any attempt to argue.
"I always get the right place."
"Well! Mostly."
"Well! Sometimes."
"Well…" He tailed off unsure of where he was really going with this. The other doctors shook their heads embarrassedly at his pathetic attempts to defend them.
THE DOCTOR (CONT'D): Earth, Naples, December 24th, 1860.
ROSE: That's so weird... it's Christmas.
The Doctor gestures towards the door.
THE DOCTOR: All yours.
ROSE: But, it's like... think about it, though. Christmas. 1860. Happens once. Just once, then it's gone. It's finished. It'll never happen again. Except for you. (Studies him intently). You can go back and see days that are dead and gone and a hundred thousand sunsets ago... no wonder you never stay still...
10 smiled at Rose, he really could never stay still for a moment, the traveling, it was just so much fun.
Meanwhile on a darker note, 11's mind had gone back to the dalek invasion a few years ago, when he had been forced to stop running and finally realised there was more than one reason he ran. He really did enjoy traveling and couldn't stand being still but at the same time, he realised he also ran from all the mistakes he'd made because he couldn't handle the shame. He'd touched so many lives, always trying to help but sometimes pulling others into battles that were not their fight, or his for that matter and the way he handled it, sometimes he shouldn't make it so…
From across the room, 12 was watching his 11th form intently. He knew what he was thinking. And he agreed but he also remember what Clara had taught him. Or rather reminded him. 'We don't walk away'.
THE DOCTOR: Not a bad life.
ROSE: Better with two.
They grin at each other for a few moments. Then Rose slaps his bum and dashes towards the door.
Jack turned to Rose, his mouth halfway open when she said:
"Don't. Even. Say. It."
So he just started laughing instead, while she rolled her eyes in an attempt to disguise the blush forming on her cheeks.
ROSE (CONT'D): Come on then!
THE DOCTOR: Oi, oi, oi! Where do you think you're going?!
ROSE: 1860!
THE DOCTOR: Go out there dressed like that, you'll start a riot, Barbarella! There's a wardrobe through there. First left, second right, third on the left, go straight ahead, under the stairs, past the bins, fifth door on your left. Hurry up!
Rose rushes off to get changed. The Doctor grins after her.
"Wait you actually got all that?" Clara asked.
"No, but the Tardis was happy to show me the way." Rose replied.
"Really? Lucky." Clara huffed. Rose laughed lightly, don't get her wrong she felt sorry Clara and the Tardis didn't get along, but their bantering sure was funny.
EXT. STREET
Sneed and Gwyneth are driving through the streets looking for the old woman.
SNEED: Not a sign. Where is she?
GWYNETH: She's vanished into the ether sir, where can she be?
Sneed stops the hearse and looks at Gwyneth.
SNEED: You tell me, girl.
GWYNETH: What do you mean?
SNEED: Gwyneth, you know full well.
GWYNETH: No, sir. I can't.
SNEED: Use the sight.
"Sight?" Half the people in the room asked. The doctors just gave them all looks that said: "wait and see".
GWYNETH: It's not right, sir.
SNEED: Find the old lady. Or you're dismissed.
Gwyneth looks anxious.
SNEED (CONT'D): Now, look inside, girl. Look deep. Where is she?
Gwyneth closes her eyes. The opens them again, and stares straight ahead.
GWYNETH: She's lost, sir. She's so alone. Oh, my lord. So many strange things in her head.
"Is she? She can't be…" Martha said, disbelief crossing her features.
"And yet…" Jack tailed off, thinking it over. "Of course! The rift!" He cried, jumping out of his seat in excitement. Most of the group looked at him like he'd lost his mind, aside from Rose, River and the doctors. Who all smiled/nodded in agreement.
SNEED: But where?
GWYNETH: She was excited. About tonight. Before she passed on, she was going to see him.
SNEED: Who's "him"?
GWYNETH: A great man. All the way from London. The great, great man.
INT. DRESSING ROOM
There is a knocking at a door. An old man - Charles Dickens is kneading his forehead inside the room.
STAGE MANAGER: Mr. Dickens! Mr. Dickens! Excuse me, sir, Mr. Dickens, this is your call.
"I still can't believe it, the Charles Dickens." Rory said. Rose flashed him a smug look causing the others to roll their eyes. He was obviously new to all this. With the doctors reputation they had all managed to meet someone famous by now. Martha's mind immediately went back to her meeting with the great William Shakespeare, whist Donna thought of Agatha Christie and Amy remembered meeting Winston Churchill.
Mr. Dickens does not respond. The stage manager comes into the room.
STAGE MANAGER: Are you quite well, sir?
DICKENS: Splendid, splendid. Sorry.
STAGE MANAGER: Time you were on, Sir.
DICKENS: Absolutely. I was just...brooding. (Stage manager throws him questioning look). Christmas Eve. Not the best of times to be alone.
STAGE MANAGER: Did no one travel with you, sir? An old lady wife waiting out front?
DICKENS: I'm afraid not.
STAGE MANAGER (laughs): You can have mine if you want.
A lot of the companions look somewhat affronted by his remark. The doctors all understood but they had to try teach their traveling friends that customs in the past were different. Well, most of them knew that but that didn't mean they had to like it, after all.
DICKENS: Oh, I wouldn't dare. I've been rather, let's say, clumsy, with family matters. By God, I'm too old to cause any more trouble.
STAGE MANAGER: You speak as though it's all over, sir!
DICKENS: Oh, no, it's never over. On and on I go. The same old show.
They look at the poster announcing his show.
DICKENS (CONT'D): I'm like a ghost, condemned to repeat myself... (Stands) ... for all eternity.
STAGE MANAGER: It's never too late, sir. You could always think up some new turns.
DICKENS: No, I can't. Even my imagination grows stale. (Takes long swig of drink). I am an old man. Perhaps I've thought everything I'll ever think.
"He does seem to be thinking along the lines of giving up though." Said Mickey.
"Well, that's what happens when humans get old." 10 said. "They get tired."
Still! The lure of the lime-light! As potent as a pipe what, eh? (Stage manager helps him change his jacket). On with the motley.
INT. TARDIS
In the TARDIS, the Doctor is doing some more unnecessary repair work. Rose swans in and he turns off his sonic screwdriver and looks at her in surprise.
THE DOCTOR: Blimey!
ROSE: Don't laugh!
THE DOCTOR: You look beautiful!
Rose stops laughing and smiles instead. There is a pause and the Doctor looks away awkwardly.
THE DOCTOR (CONT'D): ...considering.
He turns on his screwdriver again.
ROSE: Considering what?
THE DOCTOR: That you're human!
"What's wrong with that?!" Amy asked, indignantly.
"Nothing." 10 said quickly. He hadn't known Amy long, but already he could tell she wasn't the type of person you wanted to get on the bad side of.
ROSE (amused): I think that's a compliment... Aren't you going to change?
THE DOCTOR: I've changed my jumper! Come on!
He jumps out of the space beneath the controls.
ROSE: You, stay there! You've done this before. This is mine!
She hurries towards the door and opens it.
EXT. STREET AND ALLEYWAY
Rose looks out onto the 1860 street. She makes one footprint in the untouched snow then withdraws her foot again.
"My 20th century feet leaving their mark in the 19th." Rose announced proudly. A lot of the others laughed good-naturedly.
Then she steps out altogether. The Doctor follows her.
THE DOCTOR: Ready for this?
She smiles and he offers her his arm. She takes it.
THE DOCTOR (CONT'D): Here we go. History!
They walk off together.
INT. THEATRE
The curtains open for Dickens' show. The audience applaud. The dead old woman is sitting slap bang in the middle of them.
Martha, Donna, Amy, Clara, Mickey and Rory, who had been enjoying the lightheartedness of the episode, suddenly felt their stomachs fill with dread. If the trailer for this episode was anything to go by, things were about to take a turn for the worst very soon.
Meanwhile, in contrast to the others. River and Jack had sat up suddenly feeling much more interested.
EXT. CARDIFF SQUARE
The Doctor and Rose walk down the street, observing everything. Rose in amazement, the Doctor with his usual grin on his face. He walks in another direction and Rose follows. There are carol singers in the background.
"Incredible isn't it?" River said to Rose. Who nodded with an enthusiastic grin.
"It was amazing when I first saw the past." Amy decided to add. "I use to love history at school but seeing it up close…"
"Wonderful." Clara finished, she and Amy shared a smile. As did 11 and 12, they were very pleased with their friends interactions.
EXT. CARDIFF SQUARE
Sneed and Gwyneth arrive at the theatre.
GWYNETH: She's in there, sir, I'm certain of it.
They alight from the hearse.
EXT. CARDIFF SQUARE
Not far away, the Doctor is buying a newspaper. He unfolds it and scans it.
THE DOCTOR: I got the flight a bit wrong.
"Really." "Nooo." Wow." "I'm shocked."
An array of sarcastic comments bounced around the room at hearing that the doctor got the flight wrong. The doctor's all looked affronted but kept their mouths shut, knowing they all had a point. Getting to the right place, right time was exactly their best skill.
ROSE: I don't care.
THE DOCTOR: It's not 1860, it's 1869.
ROSE: I don't care!
THE DOCTOR: And it's not Naples.
ROSE: I don't care.
THE DOCTOR: It's Cardiff.
ROSE (pauses): Right...
"There is nothing wrong with Cardiff." Jack said, defiantly. He had grown extremely fond of the city, having worked there for so long. Rose laughed nervously, not quite sure why he was being to defensive.
INT. THEATRE
Dickens is talking to a rapt audience.
DICKENS: Now, it is a fact, that there was nothing particular at all about the knocker on the door of this house. But let any man explain to me if he can, how it happened, that Scrooge, having his key in the lock of the door, saw in the knocker, without it's undergoing any intermediate process of change, not a knocker - but Marley's face. (Audience gasp).
A few people looked confused as to why these people were so shocked, but most understood that this was probably the first time these people had heard the story and that the whole ghosts and ghouls thing wasn't as common in those times.
DICKENS (CONT'D): Marley's face! It looked at Scrooge as Marley used to look. It looked like...
The gas is escaping from the old woman. Dickens, seeing as how he is the only one facing the audience, is the only one to notice.
DICKENS (CONT'D): Oh, my lord! It looked... like that! (Points a trembling finger at the old woman). What phantasmagoria is this?
The woman has risen in her seat. She lets out a long, loud wail. The audience scream and trample each other in their hurry to get away.
EXT. CARDIFF SQUARE
The Doctor and Rose hear the screaming. The Doctor grins.
THE DOCTOR: That's more like it!
"Of course." Clara said, exasperation evident in her tone. 12 looked considerably confused by this, he didn't seem to understand why she wasn't fascinated by all this.
He tosses the newspaper over his shoulder and runs in the direction of the screaming. Rose follows.
INT. THEATRE
Dickens is desperately trying to get his audience to sit down again.
DICKENS: Stay in your seats, I beg you. It is a lantern show, it's trickery.
Sneed and Gwyneth are struggling against the crowds to enter.
GWYNETH: There she is, sir!
SNEED: I can see that!
The gas zooms around the room.
SNEED (CONT'D): The whole bloomin' world can see that!
The Doctor and Rose enter. They watch the gas zoom around.
THE DOCTOR: Fantastic.
The last of the gas leaves the old woman's mouth and she slumps back in the chair, just a dead body once more. The Doctor approaches Mr. Dickens.
THE DOCTOR (CONT'D): Did you see where it came from?
DICKENS: Ah. The wag reveals himself, does he? I trust you're satisfied, sir!
The Doctor looks slightly taken aback.
"Why is it everywhere I go people assume I'm up to no good." 10 sighed.
"Well you do tend to show up unkanownced and start sticking your nose where it isn't wanted." River pointed out.
"Which, let's face it, totally screams suspicious." Amy added. 10's Face contorted from one of annoyance to sheepishness, as he silently agreed that they were right.
ROSE: Oi! Leave her alone!
Sneed and Gwyneth are making off with the old woman's body.
ROSE (CONT'D): Doctor, I'll get 'em!
THE DOCTOR: Be careful! (Jumps onto stage). Did it say anything? Can it speak? I'm The Doctor, by the way.
DICKENS: Doctor? You look more like a navy.
THE DOCTOR (indignantly): What's wrong with this jumper?
"Why would it be the jumper?" Amy asked. The doctors shrugged looking somewhat abashed. They often said odd things in the heat of the moment when they were caught up. Hmm… They all suddenly had the notion that they better learn to control their mouths, lest they accidentally say something they'll regret.
EXT. CARDIFF SQUARE
Gwyneth and Sneed have successfully loaded the body into the back of the hearse. Rose catches up with them.
ROSE: What're you doing?!
GWYNETH: Oh, it's such a tragedy, miss. Don't worry yourself, me and the master will deal with it. (Tries to bar Rose from seeing inside the hearse) . The fact is, this poor lady's been taken with the brain fever and we have to get her to the infirmary.
Rose pushes Gwyneth aside and feels the old woman's forehead.
ROSE: She's cold... She's dead! Oh My God, what did you do to her?
Sneed approaches her silently from behind and clamps a tissue full of a drug, probably chloroform, to her mouth. She struggles for a few seconds and then goes limp.
Strangely enough no one was consumed by concern this time. More anger, at Mr Sneed. Well the doctors all had the urge rush in and protect Rose, as they would should any of their friends be in danger. While the women in the room were all furious at Sneed for drugging Rose. As for the men, well Mickey and Rory were feeling somewhat upset but did a better job of keeping their cool, and Jack, he was only becoming more excited for the next scene.
GWYNETH (shocked): What did you do that for?
Everyone relaxed a bit after they learned Gwyneth had no part in attacking Rose. They all liked her a great deal. Rose was struck by a wave of longing as she remembered her, she'd felt so close to the young servant and wished more than anything to see her again.
SNEED: She's seen too much. Get her in the hearse!
Gwyneth bends down to pick up Rose's legs.
INT. THEATRE
The blue gas is still zooming around inside. It dives into one of the gas lamps and disappears.
THE DOCTOR: Gas! It's made of gas!
EXT. CARDIFF SQUARE
By the time the Doctor comes down the steps of the theatre, Gwyneth has just finished pushing Rose's head out of sight into the hearse. She slams the door shut.
THE DOCTOR: Rose!
He runs towards the hearse.
DICKENS: You're not escaping me, sir! What do you know about that hobgoblin, hm?
The hearse drives away. The Doctor stares after it.
DICKENS (CONT'D): Projection on glass, I suppose. Who put you up to it?
THE DOCTOR: Yeah, mate. Not now, thanks.
The Doctor spots a coach and runs towards it, shouting to the driver.
THE DOCTOR (CONT'D): Oi, you! Follow that hearse!
Donna reached over the seats and gave 10 a smack on the back of his head.
"Ow! What was that for!"
"Being excessively rude to people." She stated simply.
"Hey that was the last me take it up with him." He grumbled. Though he wasn't really angry, he was actually starting to find Donna rather amusing…
He jumps into the coach.
DICKENS: You can't do that, sir!
THE DOCTOR: Why not?
DICKENS: I'll tell you why not?! I'll give you a very good reason why not! Because this is my coach!
THE DOCTOR: Well, get in then! (Pulls Dickens in. To the driver-). Move!
"And yet another example of your famous sass." Jack exclaimed. The others chuckled merrily, even 10 and 11. 12 just remained expressionless as usual although Clara could see the fire in his eyes growing stronger every second they were here.
The coach rumbles off.
THE DOCTOR: Come on you're losing them.
DRIVER: Everything in order, Mr. Dickens?
DICKENS: No! It is not!
THE DOCTOR: What did he say?
DICKENS: Let me say this first. I'm not without a sense of humour...
THE DOCTOR: Dickens?
DICKENS: Yes.
THE DOCTOR: Charles Dickens?
DICKENS: Yes.
THE DOCTOR: THE Charles Dickens?
"YES!" Everyone yelled.
"Honestly." Rose sighed placing her head in her hands, her old doctor was smart but so… slow.
Little did she know Amy was having similar thoughts. She was comparing this doctor to her doctor, they both seemed to have a habit of taking ages to work out what was going on, missing the obvious and jumping to conclusions.
DRIVER: Shall I remove the gentleman, sir?
THE DOCTOR: Charles Dickens! You're brilliant, you are! Completely 100% brilliant! I've read 'em all! Great Expectations, Oliver Twist and what's the other one, the one with the ghost?
DICKENS: A Christmas Carol?
THE DOCTOR No, no, no, the one with the trains... The Signal Man, that's it, terrifying! (Dickens looks pleased). The best short story ever written! You're a genius!
"You may be over doing it a bit there sweetie." River simpered, giving 11 an affectionate pat. He was tempted to protest but it was honestly nice to see her joking around about something other than killing people. Not that she wasn't hot when she did that… Wait what was he thinking?!
DRIVER: You want me to get rid of him, sir?
DICKENS: Er, no, I think he can stay.
THE DOCTOR: Honestly, Charles, can I call you Charles? I'm such a big fan.
DICKENS: ...what? Big what?
THE DOCTOR: Fan! Number One Fan, that's me.
DICKENS: How exactly are you a fan? In what way do you resemble a means of keeping oneself cool?
THE DOCTOR: No, it means "Fanatic", devoted to. Mind you, I've gotta say, that American bit in Martin Chuzzlewit, what was that about?! Was that just padding or what? I mean, it's rubbish, that bit.
"Yeah got to agree with you there." Rory said. He'd read Martin Chuzzlewit for an English project once and to be honest the American stuff didn't really make much sense.
DICKENS (disgruntled): I thought you said you were my fan.
THE DOCTOR: Ah, well, if you can't take criticism... go on, do the death of Little Nell, it cracks me up. No, sorry, forget about that.
A few people shook their heads and scrunched their faces finding it increasingly hard to keep up. Whilst the doctors were inwardly laughing thinking about "the death of Little Nell"
THE DOCTOR (CONT'D): come on, faster!
The driver urges the horses on.
DICKENS: Who exactly IS in that hearse?
THE DOCTOR: My friend. She's only nineteen, and it's my fault. She's in my care, and now she's in danger.
DICKENS: Why are we wasting my time talking about dry old books? This is much more important. Driver! Be swift! The chase is on!
Everyone smiled. It was nice to find someone actually helping the doctor for a change, well truth be told most help him eventually but they usually need much more persuasion.
DRIVER: Yes, sir!
THE DOCTOR (delighted): Thatta boy, Charlie!
DICKENS: Nobody calls me Charlie.
THE DOCTOR: The ladies do.
DICKENS: How do you know that?
THE DOCTOR: I told you... I'm your Number One...
DICKENS: Number One Fan, I know...
A few people chuckled at this doctor's sense of humour.
INT. CHAPEL OF REST
Gwyneth and Sneed have one end each of Rose.
GWYNETH: The poor girl's still alive, sir! What're we going to do with her?
"How about let her go!" Donna yelled at the screen. The people on her sofa all jumped a few inches, and when she noticed she blushed ever so slightly for her outburst. Like most she'd become so engrossed in the episode she'd almost forgotten there were others in the room. She had the same trouble at home when she was watching a soap with her mates. Meanwhile, when everyone had calmed down Rose and 10 allowed smiles of gratitude to grace their features in appreciation for Donna's concern.
They settle her down on a table that is evidently used for dead bodies.
SNEED: I don't know! I didn't plan any of this, did I. Is it my fault if the dead won't stay dead?
GWYNETH: Then whose fault is it, sir? Why is this happening to us?
They leave the room, shutting and locking Rose in. A gas lamp flickers.
Everyone in the room felt their bodies go numb with a mix of concern for Rose and anger at Sneed and Qwyneth. Aside from Rose who was trying, successfully, to remind herself that this was all in the past.
INT. SNEED AND COMPANY, HALLWAY
SNEED: I did the Bishop a favour, once. Made his nephew look like a cherub. Even though he'd been a fortnight in the weir. Hey, perhaps he'll do us an exorcism on the cheap.
There is a knock on the door. They both look up, alarmed.
SNEED (CONT'D): Say I'm not in. Tell them we're closed. Just...just get rid of them.
INT. CHAPEL OF REST
Rose wakes up. She looks slightly out of sorts, and does not notice when the gas from the lamps fills the corpse of Redpath. He sits up suddenly.
A few people unknowingly clenched their hands.
INT. SNEED AND COMPANY, HALLWAY
Dickens knocks on the door again and Gywneth opens it.
GWYNETH: I'm sorry, sir, we're closed.
DICKENS: Nonsense! Since when did an undertaker keep office hours? The dead don't die on schedule. I demand to see your master.
"He makes a good point." Rory said, and Amy threw her head back with a groan of exasperation.
"What?" He asked.
"If this is about your grandmother again…" She started, only to be cut off by a string of denials from Rory. The others simply decided it was a personal matter.
GWYNETH: He's not in, sir.
She makes to shut the door, but Dickens forces it open again.
DICKENS (angrily): Don't lie to me, child! Summon his at once.
"Ooo." Jack drawled. The others rolled their eyes but knew they couldn't shut him up if they tried. Well, River could think of a few ways but to tell the truth she was finding his outburst amusing if a little annoying.
GWYNETH: I'm awfully sorry, Mr. Dickens, but the mater's indisposed.
Behind her, a gas lamp flares up.
THE DOCTOR: Having trouble with your gas?
DICKENS: What the Shakespeare is going on?
"Aww cool, famous people acknowledging each other. Amazing." Said Mickey.
INT. CHAPEL OF REST
Rose suddenly notices the corpse behind her. She jumps in alarm as he starts making zombie noises at her.
ROSE: Are you all right? You're kidding me, yeah? You're just kidding.
He climbs out of the coffin.
ROSE (CONT'D): You are, you're kidding me, aren't ya?
He takes staggering steps towards her.
ROSE (CONT'D): Okay, not kidding.
Most of the people in the room didn't know whether to be amused or concerned. Rose was in imminent danger but her attempts to get the corpse to admit he was joking was somewhat funny.
She runs to the door and tries to open it.
INT. SNEED AND COMPANY, HALLWAY
The Doctor forces his way in and presses his ear to the wall.
GWYNETH: You're not allowed inside, sir!
THE DOCTOR: There's something inside the walls.
INT. CHAPEL OF REST
Rose backs against the door. The old woman's body rises from the other coffin and Rose gasps.
They went for concerned.
INT. SNEED AND COMPANY, HALLWAY
THE DOCTOR: The gas pipes. Something's living inside the gas.
INT. CHAPEL OF REST
Rose lobs a vase at Redpath.
"Good move." 10 whispered to her, she smiled.
It does nothing but cause him to stumble slightly. Rose rattles the handle frantically.
ROSE: Let me out! Open the door!
INT. SNEED AND COMPANY, HALLWAY
Gwyneth, the Doctor and Dickens hear her. Gwyneth closes her eyes in dismay.
THE DOCTOR: That's her.
He runs off to her rescue. Dickens's follows.
ROSE V.O.: Please, please let me out!
Everyone began to get even more concerned as Rose's voice became more frantic. Rose herself was trying to forget how desperate and scared she had felt; it did help that by this time she'd been in far more terrifying situations.
INT. CHAPEL OF REST
Rose keeps hammering on the door. Both corpses are walking towards her.
INT. SNEED AND COMPANY, CORRIDOR
ROSE V.O.: Open the door.
The Doctor charges past Sneed.
SNEED: How dare you sir! This is my house!
"Yeah and you're keeping innocent girls hostage in it." Everyone wanted to yell. They didn't of course, it wouldn't help.
Dickens charges past him too. He shakes his finger at Gwyneth as she runs after them.
SNEED (CONT'D): I told you!
INT. CHAPEL OF REST
Rose is still hammering on the door as the corpses get closer and closer.
ROSE: Let me out! Somebody, open the door! Open the door!
Redpath clasps a hand over her mouth, muffling her scream. At that moment, the Doctor kicks the door in.
THE DOCTOR: I think this is my dance.
He releases Rose from Redpath's grip.
They all let out a long sigh of relief. The doctor to the rescue again.
DICKENS: It's a prank? It must be. We're under some mesmeric influence.
"Aww, I liked him till he denied it." River whined. 11 gave her an understanding smile.
THE DOCTOR: No, we're not. The dead are walking. (Grins down at the panting Rose). Hi!
ROSE: Hi! Who's your friend?
THE DOCTOR: Charles Dickens.
ROSE: Oh. Okay.
"You're taking that pretty well." Martha said, sounding impressed. When the doctor took her to meet shakespeare it had blown her mind.
"Well you know," Said Rose. "It wasn't exactly the most shocking thing to happen that day."
Everyone had to agree there, seeing as their were gas ghosts and walking dead people. Meeting Charles Dickens was probably the most normal thing that had happened this episode, apart of course from the doctor getting the flight wrong.
THE DOCTOR (to the corpses): My name's the Doctor. Who are you, then? What do you want?
REDPATH: Failing. Open the rift, we're dying. Trapped in this form, cannot sustain, help us.
"Wait, so they go around killing people to use as hosts, then they ask for help?" Clara cried. The doctors all shifted their gaze to the floor. She was right, they should have seen the gelth were no good. They were just so desperate to help fix the mistake they'd made.
Both Redpath and his grandmother raise their heads to the ceiling. The blue gas leaves them with a wailing sound and both corpses fall to the floor.
INT. SNEED'S PARLOUR
Gwyneth is pouring them all tea while Rose is having a go at Sneed.
ROSE: First of all you drug me, then you kidnap me, and don't think I didn't feel your hands having a quick wander, you dirty old man.
The Doctor sniggers.
"What's so funny." Rose demanded. Having been so rapped up in her rant at the time, she hadn't formerly noticed the doctor's amusement at her temper.
"Nothing, I, I don't remember." 10 stuttered out. He didn't want his own taste of her anger.
SNEED: I won't be spoken to like this!
ROSE: Then you set me in a room full of zombies! And if that ain't enough, you swan off! And leave me to die! So come on, talk!
"Wish you worked for me." Jack said, "I could use some good interrogation methods like your's."
"All I said was 'come on, talk'". Said Rose. He just laughed. 'simplicity is best, sometimes' He thought to himself.
SNEED: It's not my fault, it's this house! It always had a reputation. Haunted. But I never had much bother until about three months back. And then the stiffs...
Dickens looks mildly offended.
SNEED: ...the um, the dear departed, started getting restless.
DICKENS: Tommyrot.
SNEED: You witnessed it! Can't keep the beggars down, sir! They walk. And it's the queerest thing that they hang on to scraps...
Gwyneth gives the Doctor his tea.
GWYNETH: Two sugars, sir, just how you like it.
The Doctor looks at her retreating back curiously.
"I'm guessing you didn't tell her that." River muttered to 11, he nodded knowing she'd be working everything out pretty soon. In fact he was fairly certain it would all just fall into place as soon as she discovered Gwyneth had grown up on the rift.
SNEED: One old fella who used to be a sexton almost walked into his own memorial service! Just like the old lady going to your performance, sir! Just as she planned.
"Probably a psychic after-image." River concluded. 11 nodded and 10 stared at her with fascination. Smart, Fun, Beautiful. It was becoming increasingly obvious why his older self had married her.
DICKENS: Morbid fancy.
THE DOCTOR: Oh, Charles, you were there.
DICKENS: I saw nothing but an illusion.
THE DOCTOR: If you're going to deny it, don't waste my time. Just shut up.
"Aww great." Jack whined.
"What?" Amy asked, turning to him.
"The doctor told Charles Dickens to shut up and I wasn't there to see it." He complained. The others laughed merrily and, though they wouldn't admit it, the doctors felt a certain amount of pride at the remark.
Dickens is stunned.
THE DOCTOR (CONT'D) (to Sneed): What about the gas?
SNEED: That's new, sir, never seen anything like that.
THE DOCTOR: Means it's getting stronger, the rift's getting wider and something's sneaking through.
ROSE: What's the rift?
THE DOCTOR: A weak point in time and space. The connection between this place and another. That's the cause of ghost stories, most of the time.
SNEED (with revelation): That's how I got the house so cheap.
Dickens sneaks un-noticed from the room.
SNEED (CONT'D): Stories going back generations. Echoes in the dark. Queer songs in the air and this feeling like a... shadow. Passing over your soul. Mind you, truth be told, it's been good for business. Just what people expect from a gloomy old trade like mine.
A lot of eye rolls were exchanged. When Sneed wasn't getting on their last nerve he was doing a damn good job of getting up their nose.
INT. SNEED AND COMPANY, CORRIDOR
Dickens, wandering the corridors alone, examines the gas lamps.
DICKENS: Impossible.
INT. CHAPEL OF REST
Dickens goes back into the room where Rose was locked up and takes the lid off Redpath's coffin, where Redpath is lying peacefully, his arms crossed across his chest. He waves his hands in front of his face, shakes him a bit, and fumbles around underneath the coffin, all the time oblivious to the Doctor watching him with his arms folded in the doorway.
"5…4…3…2…" Jack began counting down.
THE DOCTOR: Checking for strings?
DICKENS: Wires, perhaps? There must be some mechanism behind this fraud!
"Aw, darn I was hoping he would freak out." Jack moaned. A lot of people were thinking of slapping him across the face, but luckily for them River exorcized her array of skills by pressing the back of his neck in such a way that he passed out. He flopped sideways onto the arm of the couch, and River sat back. Smirking. When Rose, Martha, Donna and Amy managed to catch her eye they all mouthed thank you's.
The Doctor unfolds his arms and walks over to Dickens.
THE DOCTOR: Oh, come on, Charles. All right. I shouldn't have told you to shut up. (Places a hand on Dickens' shoulder). I'm sorry. But you've got one of the best minds in the world. You saw those gas creatures.
DICKENS: I cannot accept that.
THE DOCTOR: And what does the human body do when it decomposes? It breaks down and produces gas. Perfect home for these gas things, they can slip inside and use it as a vehicle. Just like your driver and his coach.
DICKENS: Stop it! Can it be that I have the world entirely wrong?
THE DOCTOR: Not wrong. There's just more to learn.
DICKENS: I've always railed against the fantasies. Oh, I loved an illusion as much as the next man, revelled in them, but that's exactly what they were. Illusions! The real world is something else. I dedicated myself to that. Injustices. Great social causes. I hoped that I was a force for good. Now you tell me that the real world is a realm of spectres and jack o' lanterns. In which case - have I wasted my brief span here, Doctor? Has it all been for nothing?
"I'd just like to point out that I never said spectres or jack o' lanterns. Thats superstitious nonsense." 11 said. The other doctors nodded their heads. Whilst their companions kept adding to their mental notes of what does and doesn't exist. It was often hard trying to figure out if things like ghosts and demons and witches weren't real, there wasn't much they couldn't believe after everything they'd seen, after all.
INT. SNEED'S KITCHEN
Gwyneth is lighting another gas lamp when Rose comes in and starts washing up.
GWYNETH: Please, Miss! You shouldn't be helping! It's not right!
ROSE: Don't be daft. Sneed works you to death. (Hands her the cloth to dry up). How much do you get paid?
GWYNETH: Eight pound a year, miss.
ROSE: How much?
GWYNETH: I know. I would've been happy with six.
Rose looks dumbfounded.
"Actually that's not so bad for the time period." 10 informed everyone. "Let's see, £8… Well in if timed by the rate of inflation and divided by the class separation minus the tax increase is…"
"£660.00."
Everyone looked towards 12's sofa as he'd been the one who'd spoken. He regarded their stares with little interest as usual although inside he was secretly feeling pretty smug at having been the first doctor to work out the answer.
ROSE: So, did you even go to school or what?
GWYNETH: Of course I did. What do you think I am? An urchin? I went every Sunday. Nice and proper.
ROSE: What, once a week?
"Also normal for that time." Said 10.
"I know, I know." Rose assured him.
GWYNETH: (nods) We did sums and everything. To be honest, I hated every second.
ROSE: Me too.
They both laugh.
GWYNETH (as if this is completely outrageous): Don't tell anyone, but one week, I didn't go and ran down the heath all on my own!
ROSE: I did plenty of that. I used to go down the shops with my mate Shareen. And we used to go and look at boys!
Gwyneth stops laughing at once and looks scandalized.
"Ah now were getting to things that aren't considered quite so appropriate for the time." 11 said.
"I thought it happened all the time." Amy inquired.
"Well yes but it was considered a scandalising activity when mentioned in public."
Amy nodded, unsure of what else to say.
GWYNETH: Well, I don't know much about that, miss.
She turns back to the washing up.
ROSE: Come on, times haven't changed that much! I bet you've done the same.
GWYNETH: I don't think so, miss.
ROSE: Gwyneth! You can tell me! I bet you've got your own someone.
GWYNETH: I suppose. There is one lad...
Rose looks extremely chuffed.
GWYNETH (CONT'D): The butcher's boy. He comes by every Tuesday. Such a lovely smile on him!
ROSE: Oh, I like a nice smile. Good smile, nice bum.
Again, Gwyneth looks shocked.
As do the doctors, they knew of Rose's more common side, but weren't extremely well acquainted with it. The other girls weren't quite as relaxed and open about such issues as Rose was but they understood enough not to be surprised.
GWYNETH: Well, I have never heard the like!
Rose just laughs. Then, Gwyneth laughs too.
ROSE: Ask him out! Give him a cup of tea or something, that's a start.
GWYNETH: I swear, it is the strangest thing, miss. You've got all the clothes and the breeding but you talk like some sort of wild thing!
ROSE (shrugs): Maybe I am. Maybe that's a good thing.
"I concur," 10 whispered to her. She couldn't resist smiling broadly, she enjoyed the doctor's compliments more than anything.
ROSE (CONT'D): You need a bit more in your life than Mr Sneed.
GWYNETH: Oh, now that's not fair. He's not so bad, old Sneed. He was very kind to me to take me in. Because I lost my mum and dad to the flu when I was twelve.
ROSE: Oh, I'm sorry.
GWYNETH: Thank you, miss. But I'll be with them again, one day. Sitting with them in paradise. I should be so blessed. They're waiting for me. Maybe your dad's up there waiting for you too, miss.
"How did she?" Martha wondered.
"She's a part of the rift isn't she? Time and space all running through her head." River questioned 11 quietly. He nodded in confirmation and she allowed her head to relax onto his shoulder having finally worked things out.
ROSE: Maybe. (Nods, then realises). Um, who told you he was dead?
Gwyneth realises what she has said and turns quickly back to the washing up.
GWYNETH (lightly): I don't know, must've been the Doctor.
ROSE: My father died years back.
GWYNETH: You've been thinking about him lately, more than ever.
ROSE: I s'pose so... how do you know all this?
GWYNETH: Mr. Sneed says I think too much. I'm all alone down here. I bet you've got dozens of servants, haven't you miss.
They laugh.
ROSE: No, no servants where I'm from.
GWYNETH: And you've come such a long way.
ROSE: What makes you think so?
Gwyneth suddenly looks very serious.
GWYNETH: You're from London. I've seen London in drawings, but never like that. (Stares at Rose intently). All those people rushing about. Half naked, for shame. And the noise... and the metal boxes racing past... and the birds in the sky, no… No they're metal as well. Metal birds with people in them. People flying. And you, you've flown so far, further than anyone! The things you've seen... the darkness... the big bad wolf... (Staggers backwards, afraid). I'm sorry! I'm sorry, miss!
"She saw it coming." Rose murmured absentmindedly.
"That was seriously creepy." Donna put in. Everyone else was still trying to figure out how she had such incredible powers.
ROSE: S'alright...
GWYNETH: I can't help it, ever since I was a little girl. My mum said I had the sight. She told me to hide it!
THE DOCTOR: But it's getting stronger. More powerful, is that right?
Rose and Gwyneth both jump as they turn to see the Doctor standing in the doorway.
"Dear god are you trying to give people a heart attack." Donna cried. 10 laughed sheepishly at her remark.
GWYNETH: All the time, sir. Every night. Voices in my head.
THE DOCTOR: You grew up on top of the rift. You're part of it. You're the key.
"And I thought you weren't philosophical in any way." Martha observed. She shot a cheeky smile at 10 as she said it. He strenuously denied her accusation.
"She's got a point though," Rose cut in. "I mean it didn't half sound foreboding: You're the key!" She joked in an overly dramatic voice. This stopped 10 in his tracks. Unable to come up with a comeback he simply shank down in his seat and tried to ignore the others snickering.
11 and 12 also kept their heads down, relieved that they weren't being teased directly.
GWYNETH: I've tried to make sense of it, sir. Consulted with spiritualists, table wrappers, all sorts.
THE DOCTOR: Well, that should help. You can show us what to do.
GWYNETH: What to do where, sir?
THE DOCTOR: We're gonna have a seance.
"WHAT!" Half the people in the room yelled. The doctors nearly leapt out of their skin they were so startled.
"You? Seance? How did this happen?"
"Relax." 11 soothed. "It was really a psychic link path powered by the rift energy but those people of 1800 would have understood it even less than you."
He was right, no one quite grasped what he was trying to say so they brushed it off and turned back to the screen. Keen to see the 'seance'.
INT. SNEED'S PARLOUR
They are all sat around a table.
GWYNETH: This is how Madam Mortlock summons those from the Land of Mists. Down in Bib Town. Come. We must all join hands.
DICKENS: I can't take part in this.
He gets up.
THE DOCTOR: Humbug? Come on, open mind.
DICKENS: This is precisely the sort of cheap mummery I strive to un-mask. Seances? Nothing but luminous tambourines and a squeeze box concealed between the knees. This girl knows nothing.
THE DOCTOR: Now, don't antagonise her. I love a happy medium.
ROSE: I can't believe you just said that.
Everyone in the group, except for River and the doctors, all synchronised with the Rose on screen. Aside from Rose who said: "I still can't believe you said that." The doctors merely grinned at those on their sofa's this time. The guys on 10's sofa rolled their eyes, the ones on 11's sofa smiled and laughed as well and Clara, the only member on 12's sofa, smiled warmly revelling in her doctor's happier attitude.
THE DOCTOR (to Dickens): Come on, we might need you.
Dickens sits down again.
THE DOCTOR (CONT'D): Good man. Now, Gwyneth. Reach out.
GWYNETH: Speak to us. Are you there? Spirits?
Dickens rolls his eyes.
GWYNETH (CONT'D): Come. Speak to us that we may relieve your burden.
She raises her eyes to the ceiling. A murmuring fills the room.
ROSE: Can you hear that?
DICKENS: Nothing can happen. This is sheer folly.
ROSE: Look at her.
GWYNETH: I see them. I feel them!
The gas creatures begin to fill the room.
ROSE: What's it saying?
THE DOCTOR: They can't get through the rift. Gwyneth, it's not controlling you, you're controlling it. Now look deep. Allow them through.
GWYNETH: I can't!
THE DOCTOR: Yes you can. Just believe it. I have faith in you, Gwyneth. Make the link.
Gwyneth looks almost pained. Then suddenly, she lowers her head and opens her eyes.
GWYNETH: Yes.
Three gaseous figures appear behind her - the Gelth. Dickens' mouth drops open.
As do many of the audience's. Even River seemed surprised this time, she hadn't expected the girl to be strong enough. The universe really was full of surprises.
SNEED: Great God. Sprits from the other side!
THE DOCTOR: The other side of the universe.
GELTH: Pity us. Pity the Gelth. There is so little time, help us.
THE DOCTOR: What do you want us to do?
GELTH: The rift. Take the girl to the rift. Make the bridge.
THE DOCTOR: What for?
GELTH: We are so very few. The last of our kind. We face extinction.
THE DOCTOR: Why, what happened?
GELTH: Once we had a physical form like you. But then the war came.
DICKENS: War? What war?
GELTH: The Time War.
The Doctor and Rose glance at each other.
As did everyone else. Most were looks of comfort or pity, except for Clara and 12. For them is was the, now, usual:
'not yet.'
'when.'
'soon.'
GELTH (CONT'D): The whole universe convulsed. The Time War raged invisible to smaller species but devastating to higher forms. Our bodies wasted away. We're trapped in this gaseous state.
THE DOCTOR: So that's why you need the corpses.
GELTH: We want to stand tall. To feel the sunlight. To live again. We need a physical form, and your dead are abandoned. They go to waste, give them to us!
ROSE: But we can't!
THE DOCTOR: Why not?
"Yeah they need help." Donna snapped. She was angry that Rose didn't want to help these people.
"But they can't have our world's dead, that's a recipe for disaster." Martha argued.
ROSE: It's not... I mean, it's not...
THE DOCTOR: Not decent? Not polite? It could save their lives.
"True but big world changes like letting aliens inhabit the dead would have a number of consequences both good and bad. I'm not so sure the world of 1869 is ready for something like that." Said Martha.
"Yes but perhaps it was selfish to think that we shouldn't help them." Rose sighed, she was slightly regretting her actions, seeing them from an outside point of view this time.
"You're both right." 10 assured them, "The Gelth should have been helped but we should have tried to find a smarter solution."
They stare at each other for a moment.
GELTH: Open the rift. Let the Gelth through. We're dying. Help us. Pity the Gelth!
They disappear and Gwyneth collapses forwards onto the table. Rose gets up immediately and goes to her.
ROSE: Gwyneth!
DICKENS: All true.
ROSE (to Gwyneth): Are you okay?
DICKENS: It's all true.
The Doctor is silent.
INT. SNEED'S PARLOUR
Rose is mopping Gwyneth's forehead as she lies asleep on a couch. Slowly, her eyes open. She fidgets.
ROSE: It's alright. You just sleep.
GWYNETH: But my angels, miss. They came, didn't they? They need me?
The Doctor is leaning on a wall just behind Rose.
THE DOCTOR: They do need you, Gwyneth. You're they're only chance of survival.
ROSE (turns angrily): I've told you, leave her alone. She's exhausted and she's not fighting your battles.
"She's right, rift energy is dangerous, exposure to it's pure form could be enough to kill her." River informed everyone. 10 and Rose looked at each other having not formally know this. They both lowered their gazes as they realised they should have worked it out. If simply reaching into the rift for a few minutes in that room had caused her to pass out from exhaustion they should have realised going to the main rift would be enough to kill her.
The Doctor leans his head back and sighs. Rose turns back to Gwyneth and offers her a drink.
ROSE: Drink this.
SNEED: Well, what did you say, Doctor? Explain it again. What are they?
THE DOCTOR: Aliens.
SNEED: Like... foreigners, you mean?
THE DOCTOR: Pretty foreign, yeah. From up there. He points skywards.
SNEED: Brecon?
THE DOCTOR: Close. And they've been trying to get through from Brecon to Cardiff but the road's blocked. Only a few can get through, even then they're weak. They can only test drive the bodies for so long, then they have to revert to gas and hide in the pipes.
DICKENS: Which is why they need the girl.
ROSE: They're not having her.
THE DOCTOR: But she can help. Living on the rift, she's become part of it, she can open it up, make a bridge and let them through.
DICKENS: Incredible. Ghosts that are not ghosts but beings from another world who can only exist in our realm by inhabiting cadavers.
THE DOCTOR: Good system. It might work.
Rose gets up and walks over to the Doctor.
ROSE: You can't let them run around inside dead people!
THE DOCTOR: Why not? It's like recycling.
"I'm not sure recycling's such a good thing when it's on such a large scale." Clara said, uncertainly. Amy smiled at her, indicating her agreement.
ROSE: Seriously though, you can't.
THE DOCTOR: Seriously though, I can.
ROSE : But it's just... wrong! Those bodies were living people! We should respect them even in death!
THE DOCTOR: Do you carry a donor card?
ROSE: That's different, that's...
THE DOCTOR: It is different, yeah. It's a different morality. Get used to it or go home. (Rose is silent. He speaks in softer tones -). You heard what they said, time's short. I can't worry about a few corpses when the last of the Gelth could be dying.
ROSE: I don't care, they're not using her.
GWYNETH: Don't I get a say, miss?
Both Rose and the Doctor turn to look at her.
ROSE: Well yeah… Look. You don't understand what's going on.
GWYNETH: You would say that miss. Because that's very clear inside your head, that you think I'm stupid.
"Not so much stupid as well, whats the right word. I mean for her time she knew a lot but people in the 19th century didn't have as much scientific knowledge as we do or…" Rose attempted to explain herself but she couldn't find the right words. 10 placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. He understood what she was trying to say.
ROSE: That's not fair!
GWYNETH: It's true, though. Things might be very different where you're from. But here and now, I know my own mind. And the angels need me. Doctor, what do I have to do?
THE DOCTOR: You don't have to do anything.
GWYNETH: They've been singing to me since I was a child. Sent by my mum on a holy mission. So tell me.
The Doctor smiles at her.
THE DOCTOR: We need to find the rift. (Approaches Sneed and Dickens). This house is on a weak spot, so there must be a spot that's weaker than any other. Mr. Sneed. What's the weakest part of this house? The place where most of the ghosts have been seen?
SNEED: That would be the Morgue.
ROSE (still disgruntled): No chance you were gonna say "gazebo", is there?
A few people laughed softly at her remark.
"Gazebo?" Martha asked. She looked at Rose, who simply shrugged raising her eyebrows in a sheepish fashion.
Everyone looks at her.
INT. SNEED AND COMPANY, MORGUE
Pan over dead body's covered in cloth, surrounded by tools. The key turns in the door, and they all troupe in, lead by the Doctor.
THE DOCTOR: Talk about Bleak House.
ROSE: The thing is, Doctor, the Gelth don't succeed. 'Cause I know they don't. I know for a fact there weren't corpses walking around in 1869.
THE DOCTOR: Time's in flux. It's changing every second. Your cozy little world could be rewritten like that. (Clicks his fingers). Nothing is safe. Remember that. Nothing.
Donna was about to protest when a bright light blinded everyone. They all blinked and readjusted their eyes as it dimmed into a blue crackling. Once again Scar was in front of them.
"Donna I know what you're thinking and I expect 11 and 12 do also." She cast an eye over the two who sent silent replies. "I just wanted to inform you that I've learned, new things like this can always happen but things that have already happened cannot be changed. Basically you can always add to time but you can't take away."
"Excellent way of summing it up, I didn't think it could be done." 11 complimented her.
"I did, though usually by the words: 'Timey Wimey'." She hinted. 11 bit back a laugh and smiled knowingly at her.
She returned his grin the snapped her fingers and became engulfed in blue light once again.
DICKENS: Doctor, I think the room is getting colder.
ROSE: Here they come.
The Gelth flood into the room. Their leader positions itself in an archway. It has the voice of a child.
GELTH: You have come to help! Praise the Doctor! Praise him!
ROSE: Promise you won't hurt her!
GELTH: Hurry! Please. So little time. Pity the Gelth.
11 felt River's grip tighten on his hand.
"Something wrong?" He asked her.
"I don't trust them." She proclaimed. He smiled and sadly wished she had been with him at the time. Perhaps things would have been different.
THE DOCTOR: I'll take you somewhere else after the transfer. Somewhere you can build proper bodies. This isn't a permanent solution, alright?
GWYNETH: My angels. I can help them live.
THE DOCTOR: Okay, where's the weak point?
GELTH: Here, beneath the arch.
Gwyneth positions herself beneath the arch.
GWYNETH: Beneath the arch.
Rose rushes to her.
ROSE: You don't have to do this.
Gwyneth places her hands on Rose's cheeks.
GWYNETH: My angels.
Rose staggers backwards.
GELTH: Establish the bridge, reach out of the void, let us through!
GWYNETH: Yes. I can see you! I can see you! Come!
GELTH: Bridgehead establishing.
GWYNETH: Come to me! Come to this world, poor lost souls!
GELTH: It is begun! The bridge is made!
Gwyneth's mouth opens and the Gelth pour out of it.
GELTH (CONT'D): She has given herself to the Gelth!
DICKENS: There's rather a lot of them, eh?
Everyone felt a growing pit in the middle of their stomachs. They recognised it immediately: dread.
GELTH: The bridge is open. We descend.
Suddenly, the figure becomes demonic. The gas turns from blue to red.
GELTH (CONT'D): The Gelth will come through in force.
DICKENS: You said that you were few in number!
GELTH: A few billion. And all of us in need of corpses.
The bodies rise.
Clara sighed. She should have seen this coming. Typical just when you think you've finally found something that could be good and helpful it's just another invasion. 12, uncharacteristically, placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. She was so absorbed into the events of the past she barely even registered the irregularity of this act and simply relaxed into his touch. He smiled, although he found it difficult to express he knew he cared for Clara a great deal. He'd already established that there was nothing between them but she was still probably the closest friend her had at the moment.
SNEED: Gwyneth... stop this! Listen to your master! This has gone far enough. Stop dabbling, child, and leave these things alone. I beg of you...
ROSE: Mr. Sneed! Get back!
A corpse grabs Sneed from behind, the Doctor and Rose leap back.The corpse snap's Sneed's neck and another of the Gelth fills his body through his mouth.. Mr Sneed looks up at them through blank, dead eyes.
THE DOCTOR: I think it's going a little bit wrong.
"That's putting it mildly." Mickey huffed.
"I agree." Said Martha, jokingly raising her hand. The others caught on and all put their hands in the air. Aside from the doctors who simply ignored them, not seeing any point in retorting, and Jack who was still out cold.
SNEED: I have joined the legions of the Gelth. Come. March with us.
DICKENS: Oh, good grief.
The corpses advance on the Doctor and Rose.
GELTH: We need bodies. All of you. Dead. The human race. Dead.
They are backing the Doctor and Rose against a dungeon door.
THE DOCTOR: Gwyneth, stop them! Send them back! Now!
GELTH: Three more bodies, convert them. Make them vessels for the Gelth.
DICKENS: Doctor, I... I can't! I'm sorry! This new world of your's is too much for me!
The Doctor looks behind him, spots the dungeon door, pushes Rose in there with him and slams it shut again so they are both locked in there.
DICKENS (CONT'D): I'm so...
He jumps and runs from the Morgue as one of the Gelth screeches and swoops at him. The corpses are clambering to get in the dungeon.
GELTH: Give yourself to glory. Sacrifice your lives to the Gelth.
THE DOCTOR: I trusted you. I pitied you!
GELTH: We don't want your pity! We want this world and all its flesh.
They are rattling the door.
THE DOCTOR: Not while I'm alive.
GELTH: Then live no more.
"How did you get out of this?" Rory asked.
"He'll think of something. He always does." Amy reassured him. A cluster of agreements resounded around the room. 10 smiled, it made him feel good to know his friends had so much faith in him. However 11, who had dealt with so much since, was beginning to feel perhaps it was wrong of him to instil hope into people knowing he wasn't the great hero all of them thought him to be. It was only a matter of time before someone got hurt.
INT. SNEED AND COMPANY, HALLWAY
Dickens has run from the Morgue and rests panting against the door. The gaseous creatures swirl around the knocker, making it look exactly like the knocker from his story "A Christmas Carol", and he runs again.
"How ironic." Amy giggled.
INT. SNEED AND COMPANY, MORGUE
The Doctor and Rose are flattened against the dungeon wall while the Gelth are rattling the door.
ROSE: But I can't die. (Looks at the Doctor for reassurance). Tell me I can't! I haven't even been born yet, it's impossible for me to die! Isn't it?!
THE DOCTOR: I'm sorry.
"I really am, I was sure you were going to die because of me." 10 admitted. He saw no sense in hiding his feelings anymore, something about this place just made him feel open and trusting. Everyone was also under these effects, Scar had rigged the room with these stimulants hoping to bring the occupants closer together, but none of them had noticed yet. It was very subtle.
"You have nothing to be sorry for. You're the best thing that's happened to me." Rose soothed, placing a hand on his arm. Mickey looked slightly downtrodden by her statement knowing that for her they were still together.
"You're the best thing that happened to me." Martha whispered in his ear. He smiled and kissed her.
"Probably." She added. He gave her a playful shove and the two started laughing.
EXT. SNEED AND COMPANY, STREET
Dickens has run from the house altogether. One of the Gelth has followed him.
GELTH: Failing! Atmosphere hostile!
The figure dives into a gas lamp.
DICKENS (realising): Gas... The Gas! Yes!
"BRILLIANT!" River cried, realisation passing clearly through her features. The doctors all nodded. Humans were often thick but now and then they got a few more intelligent ones.
INT. SNEED AND COMPANY, MORGUE
ROSE: But it's 1869, how can I die now?
THE DOCTOR: Time isn't a straight line. It can twist into any shape. You can be born in the 20th century and die in the 19th and it's all my fault. I brought you here.
ROSE: It's not your fault. I wanted to come.
THE DOCTOR: What about me? I saw the fall of Troy! World War Five!
"Oh great, please say those wars aren't in our time." Rory moaned.
"Those wars aren't in your time." 11 said, a bit too quickly. The others sighed, frustrated by the idea.
THE DOCTOR (CONT'D): I pushed boxes at the Boston Tea Party, now I'm going to die in a dungeon! (Horrified). In Cardiff!
"Yeah, not really the best way to go is it?" 11 wondered.
"You can say that again." 12 grumbled. Clara and Amy both burst out laughing.
ROSE: It's not just dying. We're gonna become one of them.
INT. SNEED AND COMPANY, HALLWAY
Dickens rushes back into the house and begins to turn all the flames off the gas lamps, so that the gas is released into the air. Wheezing slightly, he covers his nose and mouth with a handkerchief.
INT. SNEED AND COMPANY, MORGUE
ROSE: We'll go down fighting, yeah?
THE DOCTOR: Yeah.
ROSE: Together?
THE DOCTOR: Yeah!
They link hands.
THE DOCTOR: I'm so glad I met you.
Rose looks up at him, surprised.
ROSE: Me too.
They smile at each other.
The doctor (10) and Rose in reality did the same. While 11 and 12 looked on, nostalgia flowing deep within them. They missed Rose so very much. But, she was happy, on the parallel world with their metacrisis. Besides, they had new friends and loves now.
At that moment, Dickens rushes into the room.
DICKENS: Doctor! Doctor, Turn off the flame, turn up the gas! Now fill the room, all of it, now!
THE DOCTOR: What're you doing?
DICKENS: Turn it all on! Lamp the place!
He turns another one on.
THE DOCTOR: Brilliant. Gas!
ROSE: What, so we choke to death instead?
DICKENS: Am I correct, Doctor? These creatures are gaseous!
THE DOCTOR: Fill the room with gas, it'll draw them out of the host. Suck them into the air like poison from a wound!
"Ohh…" Martha realised. Good thing she took science to become a doctor.
The corpses all decide to turn on Dickens instead.
DICKENS: I hope... oh, Lord. I hope that this theory will be validated soon.
The corpses advance dangerously on him.
DICKENS (CONT'D): If not immediately.
THE DOCTOR: Plenty more!
He smashes a gas canister against the wall and all the creatures are sucked from the bodies with a scream.
DICKENS: It's working.
The Doctor and Rose are free to come out of the dungeon.
THE DOCTOR: Gwyneth! Send them back! They're lying, they're not angels.
GWYNETH (simply): Liars.
THE DOCTOR: Look at them. If your mother and father could look down and see this, they'd tell you the same. They'd give you the strength. Now send them back!
ROSE (choked): Can't breathe.
THE DOCTOR: Charles, get her out.
Dickens grabs Rose's arm, but she shakes him off.
ROSE: I'm not leaving her!
Everyone felt a mixture of pride and companionship for Rose, knowing in their hearts that they'd say the exact same thing.
GWYNETH: They're too strong.
THE DOCTOR: Remember that world you saw? Rose's world? All those people, non of it will exist unless you send them back through the rift.
GWYNETH (firmly): I can't send them back. But I can hold them. Hold them in this place, hold them here. Get out.
Her hand goes to her apron pocket and she takes out a box of matches. Rose rushes forwards.
ROSE: You can't!
"NO!" Everyone yelled. Not Gwyneth, no…
Rose and the doctors all bowed their heads in grief at the memory of Gwyneth's death. She was one of the few people in the world who could see the universe. Others merely blotted it out.
GWYNETH: Leave this place!
The Doctor grabs Rose's shoulders.
THE DOCTOR: Rose, get out, go now, I won't leave her while she's still in danger, now go!
Dickens and Rose leave the Morgue. The Doctor holds his hand out for the matches.
THE DOCTOR (CONT'D): Come on, leave that to me.
Gwyneth does not respond. The doctor leans back, shocked.
INT. SNEED AND COMPANY, HALLWAY
Dickens leads Rose back through the dark house, filled with gas.
DICKENS: This way! (coughs)
INT. SNEED AND COMPANY, MORGUE
The Doctor places his hand on Gwyneth's neck, feeling for a pulse. His face falls.
"She's dead." Amy breathed. She had said it as a statement but still looked to the others for confirmation. The looks on Rose and 10's faces were all she needed. Everyone had silent tears flowing down their cheeks now, even tougher people like River and 12.
THE DOCTOR: I'm sorry. (Places a kiss on her forehead). Thank you.
He runs from the Morgue. Gwyneth takes a match out of the box and waits for a few moments, to be sure the Doctor is safely out of the house. Then she strikes the match.
EXT. SNEED AND COMPANY, STREET
The whole house goes up in flames, the Doctor diving out of the doorway only just in time to join Rose and Dickens. Rose fixes him with a look that plainly asks why Gwyneth is not with him. The Doctor looks back at her.
ROSE: She didn't make it.
THE DOCTOR: I'm sorry. She closed the rift.
DICKENS: At such a cost. The poor child.
Rose has not looked away from the Doctor.
THE DOCTOR: I did try, Rose, but Gwyneth was already dead. She had been for at least five minutes.
ROSE: What do you mean?
THE DOCTOR: I think she was dead from the minute she stood in that arch.
"I did say." River piped up. "Pure rift energy's powerful." A lot of people glared at her, they weren't in the mood for her theories at the moment. She took the hint and lapsed respectfully into silence.
ROSE: But... she can't have, she spoke to us. She helped us - she saved us. How could she have done that?
DICKENS: There are more things in Heaven and Earth than are dreamt of in your philosophy. Even for you, Doctor.
No one said it but they all silently agreed it was the truth. After all they'd seen they knew that the doctor was amazing but he could never know everything.
Clara was starting to realise that the doctor wasn't as alien as he seemed, there were a lot of human aspects about him. And like all humans he wasn't perfect.
ROSE: She saved the world. A servant girl. No one'll ever know.
"We know." Said Rory.
"I'll make certain this all goes down in the UNIT files." Mickey declared.
"Me to." Said Jack, who had woken up a few minutes ago. "I'll ensure that this is all in the records at Torchwood."
Rose smiled gratefully at them. Gwyneth was amazing and people deserved to know of her.
In her private room…
Scar was observing the goings on and felt disappointed that they would not be able to go through with their declarations, as she would have to wipe their memories. But she could perhaps slip the files they intended to write into the archives herself…
All three of them gaze at the burning house.
EXT. ALLEYWAY
The Doctor, Rose and Dickens have arrived back at the TARDIS.
THE DOCTOR: Right then, Charlie-boy, I've just got to go into my um... shed. Won't be long!
"Shed? Great cover?" Amy complimented sarcastically. The doctors surprised everyone by just breaking out in genuine laughter. The others all looked at them quizzically, but it wasn't long before they all joined in.
He fits the key in the lock.
ROSE (to Dickens): What're you gonna to do now?
DICKENS: I shall take the mail coach back to London. Quite literally post-haste. This is no time for me to be on my own. I shall spend Christmas with my family and make amends to them. After all I've learned tonight, there can be nothing more vital.
THE DOCTOR: You've cheered up!
DICKENS (enthusiastically): Exceedingly! This morning, I thought I knew everything in the world, now I know I've just started! All these huge and wonderful notions, Doctor! I'm inspired. I must write about them!
ROSE: Do you think that's wise?
DICKENS: I shall be subtle at first. The Mystery of Edwin Drood still lacks an ending. Perhaps the killer was not the boy's uncle. Perhaps he was not of this earth. The Mystery of Edwin Drood and the Blue Elementals. I can spread the word! Tell the truth!
"I don't remember any of that in the story…" Martha noted thoughtfully. Some of the others who had good knowledge of history had already worked out what 1869 meant for Dickens but decided to keep it to themselves. No sense spoiling the mood.
THE DOCTOR: Good luck with it. Nice to meet you. (Shakes Dickens' hand). Fantastic. He turns back to the TARDIS door.
ROSE: Bye, then. And, thanks.
She kisses him on the cheek. Dickens looks taken-aback.
DICKENS: Oh, my dear, how modern. Thank you, but, I don't understand, in what way is this goodbye? Where are you going?
THE DOCTOR: You'll see. In the shed.
He opens the door of the TARDIS.
DICKENS: Oh, my soul. Doctor, it's one riddle after another with you. But after all these revelations, there's one mystery you still haven't explained. Answer me this: who are you?
"We'll never know." Claimed Donna.
"We don't need to." Clara added. She knew better than anyone that the knowledge they all had of the doctor was enough and there was no need for any more.
A pause.
THE DOCTOR: Just a friend. Passing through.
DICKENS: But you have such knowledge of future times. I don't wish to impose on you, but I must ask you. My books. Doctor, do they last?
THE DOCTOR: Oh, yes!
DICKENS: For how long?
THE DOCTOR: Forever!
Dickens tries to look pleased and modest at the same time.
THE DOCTOR (CONT'D): Right. Shed. Come on, Rose...
They both turn to the door.
DICKENS: In, in the box? Both of you?
Jack waggled his eyebrows at the two and opened his mouth but a look from River set it tightly shut once again. He placed a hand on the back of his neck in an attempt to protect himself.
THE DOCTOR: Down boy. See ya!
The Doctor and Rose enter the TARDIS and shut the door after them.
INT. TARDIS
ROSE: Doesn't that change history if he writes about blue ghosts?
THE DOCTOR: In a weeks time it's 1870, and that's the year he dies. Sorry. He'll never get to tell his story.
A lot of people, who hadn't worked that out, looked very dejected by the news. It was a shame really. He was one of the world's better people, but then again he was already dead for them.
They both look at the screen where they can see Dickens is still standing outside.
ROSE: Oh, no! He was so nice.
THE DOCTOR: But in your time, he was already dead and we've brought him back to life, and he's more alive now than he's ever been, old Charlie-boy. Let's give him one last surprise.
He hits a button and the engines rev up. They smile as they watch Dickens' face when the TARDIS disappears before his eyes.
EXT. ALLEYWAY
Laughing, Dickens' walks away from where the TARDIS stood.
Everyone smiled knowing Dickens had come to terms with what happened and would surely enjoy the last year of his life far more than if he had not met the doctor.
EXT. CARDIFF SQUARE
Dickens emerges into the Square.
PASSER-BY: Merry Christmas, sir.
DICKENS: Merry Christmas to you. God bless us! Everyone!
The smiles in the room widened greatly.
God bless us indeed…
CLOSING CREDITS
Oh and P.S for anyone who was wondering about my recurring notions of the twelfth doctor waiting for the right moment to tell everyone else about what happened to Galifrey I thought the 'right moment' would be during the episode "Dalek" because it's when we get the best look at what losing his world actually did to the Doctor.