A/N: Let's continue!
I do not own Doctor Who. All I own is this story and my OC.
Please review and no flaming will be tolerated. Enjoy :)
'FISHING' FOR ANSWERS
"I see this life, like a swinging vine.
Swing my heart across the line.
And in my face is flashing signs.
Seek it out and ye shall find."
– OneRepublic: 'Counting Stars' (Native [2013])
Queen's Arcade
Rose and Mickey were walking down a busy street with market vendors, both heavily rugged up because of Britain's cold weather. A nearby brass band, dressed in Santa robes, were playing God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen loudly, but not even the Christmas song was able to bring at least a smile to the blonde's face. Mickey turned to look at her with a slight frown on his face.
"So what do you need? Twenty quid?" He asks Rose, who finally cracks a barely there smile on her face.
"Do you mind? I'll pay you back." She promises, as Mickey pulls out his wallet and palms a £20 note into her hand. He shakes his head, a small smile on his face.
"Call it a Christmas present." Mickey responded, as Rose nods then lets out a frustrated sigh and tilts her head back to glare at the night sky above her head.
"God, I'm all out of synch. You just forget about Christmas and things in the TARDIS. They just don't exist. You get sort of timeless." Rose complains, and Mickey rolls his eyes in annoyance.
"Oh, yeah, that's fascinating, because I love hearing stories about the TARDIS." He drawls, sarcastically. "Oh, go on Rose, tell us another one because I swear I could listen to it all day. TARDIS this, TARDIS that…"
"Shut up." Rose winces, but Mickey wasn't finished with his mocking.
"Oh, and one time the TARDIS landed in a big yellow garden full of balloons." He teased her with a slightly falsetto voice trying to mimic Rose who shoves him lightly.
"I'm not like that!" She protests, and Mickey smirks, unfazed by Rose's embarrassment and annoyance.
"Oh, you so are." Mickey disagrees, almost triumphantly. Rose notes the look on Mickey's face and acquiesces, realising how much of a broken record she must've sounded to him.
"Mmm, must drive you mad. I'm surprised you don't give up on me." Rose mused, and Mickey lets out a snort.
"Oh, that's the thing, isn't it? You can rely on me. I don't go changing my face." Mickey pointed out, and the teasing smile on Rose's face drops when she remembers that she had the Doctor with a different face waiting for her back at the flat.
"Yeah." She agreed, gloomily. "What if he's dying." Mickey lets out an exasperated growl underneath his breath.
"Okay." He protests and Rose winces at her mistake.
"Sorry!"
"Just let it be Christmas. Can you do that? Just for a bit." Mickey requested, beseechingly. "You and me and Christmas. No Doctor, no bog monsters, no life, and death." He asks, and Rose smiles and links arms with him.
"Okay." Rose agrees.
"Promise?" Mickey asks, warningly.
"Yes!" Rose laughs, and Mickey grins triumphantly.
This was the Rose he missed. The one who he had known before the Doctor came stumbling into their lives and stolen her attention away from him. However, due to the new circumstances surrounding Katy and apparently her mutual attraction to the Doctor and he with her, the possibility of a relationship with Rose again, might not be out of the picture. Only time would tell though.
"Right! What're you going to get for your mum and Katy?" Mickey asks Rose who frowns, deep in thought.
The Tyler's Flat
Jackie was pacing the length of the guest bedroom, still taking in what her daughter had just revealed about herself and what had recently transpired on their adventures with the Doctor before he had changed faces.
"So, correct me if I'm wrong. But did you just tell me that you're an alien? Like him?" Jackie points towards the still sleeping Doctor and Katy sat sheepishly in her chair, wondering if she was about to be rejected by Jackie because she had been an alien all along.
"That's about the gist of it, Mum." Katy confirmed. "Are you mad?"
"Why would I be mad?" Jackie genuinely sounded shocked by her question. "You couldn't help where you came from. Besides, it sounds god awful what happened for you to get here." She winced at the idea.
"You really have no idea." Katy confirmed.
"So, what happens now? Does this mean that you and the Doctor are the last of your kind in the world?" Jackie asked curiously.
"Yeah." Katy whispered, looking upset. "It's just the Doctor and me. The last of the Time Lords."
"So you'll just continue travelling the universe like you've been doing before?"
"That's the plan. Provided the Doctor still wants me to." Katy nodded.
"I see. I don't think I need to know what Rose might want to do." Jackie realised, sounding disappointed.
"Not necessarily, Mum. You weren't there when we watched him regenerate. Rose apparently doesn't really believe that he is the Doctor, despite having a different face." Katy stated, a little annoyed with her sister.
"So she might want to stay?" Jackie allowed herself to look a little bit hopeful.
"Like I said, not necessarily. We'll just have to wait and see what happens after the Doctor recovers from regenerating." Katy didn't promise anything, and Jackie deflated a little. Suddenly, the doorbell rings, and Jackie goes to the bedroom door.
"I'll get it." Jackie disappears down the hallway, and Katy turns and sits down beside the Doctor, taking his hand again and biting her bottom lip, feeling worried.
"I really hope I did the right thing in telling, Mum." She hoped. Jackie sticks her head back in the guest room, looking slightly confused.
"Could you come give us a hand, sweetheart. We've got a delivery at the door." Jackie announced and Katy frowned.
"A delivery?" She gets to her feet. "Be right back, Doctor." She tells his sleeping form before going to the hallway and sees Jackie trying to wrestle a large evergreen Christmas tree through the front door. "Where'd the hell did that come from?" Katy questioned, coming forward and helping Jackie pull it through without damaging the branches and spreading pine-needles on the carpeted floor.
"Dunno. Do you think Rose might've left it? She did go shopping after all." Jackie mused, and Katy frowned.
"I don't think so. We've already got a Christmas tree." Katy reminds her mother who shrugs.
"Well, at least it's already decorated. Might as well use it." She and Katy half-drag, half-carry the slightly heavy tree over to where the plastic white one was and switched them. But Katy was getting a very weird feeling that something was wrong. She started getting it the second she saw the tree on the doorstep. "There! Doesn't that look like a lovely tree?" Jackie beamed and Katy nodded, looking uncertain.
"Yeah. Lovely." She muttered, just as the landline suddenly starts ringing. Jackie snatches it up and answers.
"Hello? Oh, hey Bev." Jackie covers the mouthpiece with her hand. "Did you want another cuppa, love?"
"Oh, no thanks, Mum. I'll just go and sit with the Doctor." Katy declined and walked back up the hallway to the guest room, still staring suspiciously at the new Christmas tree.
Queen's Arcade
Rose and Mickey continue walking leisurely around the marketplace, not buying anything, just talking, and catching up on what Rose had missed when she and Katy had managed to break open the TARDIS's console and went forward in time back to the Doctor in 200,100.
"I'm round there all the time now, you know." Mickey was explaining to Rose about the fact that he was going round to the Tyler's flat regularly, since the incident with the TARDIS. "She does my dinner on a Sunday, talks about you and Katy all afternoon, yap yap yap." Mickey continues telling Rose, who is only half-listening as she noticed that the brass band, who were not only wearing the Santa robes, but also plastic Santa masks, had started following them since they had started playing God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen. She narrows her eyes suspiciously, especially when they stop playing and start aiming their instruments like guns directly at them. One fires a flame out of his trombone, which immediately causes a panic among the crowd of shoppers.
Rose and Mickey take cover behind a nearby stall.
"It's us! They're after us!" Rose realises, as one of the Santas uses his tuba to create a blast that takes out a large tree nearby, sending it crashing down onto him. Rose and Mickey flee for it.
"What's going on? What've we done?" Mickey questions, in frightened bewilderment. "Why are they after us?" Rose doesn't answer choosing to flag down the nearest taxicab.
"TAXI!" she yells, sticking out a hand to wave down the nearest black cab. Once she gets one, they clamber into it and rattle off the Powell Estate address to the driver who immediately takes off. "They're after the Doctor." Rose realises, and Mickey groans in annoyance, scowling at her.
"I can't even go shopping with you. We get attacked by a brass band. Should've stayed back at the flat with Katy." Rose scowls at the idea, as she pulls out her phone and starts searching for a saved number. "Who're you phoning?"
"My mum." Rose replies, hastily.
The Tyler Flat
Unaware that Rose and Mickey were in danger and racing back home to warn them to protect themselves and the Doctor, Jackie was still yakking away on the phone to her friend Bev, while Katy had brought in one of her novels and was perched on a chair beside the bed, reading silently to herself while keeping the Doctor company.
"They turn up, no warning. I've got nothing in." Jackie was bitching to Bev and Katy decided she had to defend herself.
"It's not like we had a choice of destination, Mum. The Doctor was the one driving." Katy shouts out, and Jackie just gives her daughter a look, places down the cup of tea on the coffee table and turns to walk back to the kitchen, still talking like Katy hadn't spoken a word. "I said, girls, if you want a Christmas dinner of meat paste, then so be it." Katy rolls her eyes and continues reading her book.
"In one ear and out the other. Might as well have not said a word…" She mumbles, and continues reading, missing the Doctor's lips curl up into a smirk; indicating he had heard what Katy had just muttered before going back to her book.
Taxi
Rose hanging up in frustration when she hears the busy tone on the other line, indicating that somebody was already using the phone. Two guesses who.
"Get off the phone, Mum!" Rose hisses worriedly.
"Who were those Santa things?" Mickey questions, and Rose shrugged, still trying to phone the flat in case.
"I don't know. But think about it. They were after us. What's important about us?" Mickey just looks at her, waiting for the answer. Rose looks sheepish. "Well, nothing, except the one thing we've got tucked up in bed: the Doctor."
The Tyler's Flat
Guest Bedroom
Jackie suddenly enters the guest bedroom, talking at full volume, causing Katy to jump at the unexpected intrusion and she scowls at her mother who ignores her, as she places down a fresh cup of tea for her on the bedside table.
"Oh, no. Don't come round, darling. No, flat's all topsy turvy." Jackie continues to her friend. "Yeah, Rose just barges in and litters the place. At least Katy's a little more considerate."
Katy winces, wishing that Jackie wouldn't keep comparing her and Rose like that to her friends. It was one of the few things that makes Rose resent Katy for, every time it is brought up. But at least, Katy now knew her 'consideration' came from her upbringing as a literal 'Lady' back on Gallifrey, when she and the Doctor had been brought up and conditioned as Time Lords and Ladies, through etiquette classes. Apparently, the chameleon arch couldn't completely hide that part of her past.
"No, I'll come round and see you on Boxing Day." Jackie leaves the room, and Katy sighs and goes back to reading, only to pause momentarily when the Doctor suddenly exhales more of that golden energy from his mouth like before. And like before, the golden wisps danced around her fingers before going out the open window.
"What the hell is that stuff?" Katy ponders out loud, wishing that the Doctor would just wake up and explain what was going on with him, instead of continuing to sleep. Suddenly the front door opens and Rose and Mickey burst in, both out of breath and looking frantic. Katy marks her place in her book and sets it aside on the bedside table, before getting to her feet and walking towards the door frame to see what was going on.
"So, save us a chipolata…" Jackie trails off mid-conversation with Bev, and frowns when Rose comes barrelling up to her.
"Get off the phone." Rose demands, as Jackie holds out the phone to her.
"It's only Bev. She says hello." Jackie placates as Rose takes the phone from her and puts it to her ear.
"Bev? Yeah. Look, it'll have to wait." Rose hangs up abruptly and sets down the phone on the coffee table. "Right, it's not safe. We've got to get out. Where can we go?" Rose takes charge of the situation, which causes Katy to frown and disappear back into the bedroom to get the Doctor ready for immediate transfer from one place to another without wasting time. She left the door open wide so she could still hear the conversation outside.
"My mate Stan, he'll put us up." Mickey offers, obviously trying to be helpful. But Katy almost immediately nixed it at the same time that Rose did.
"That's only two streets away. What about Mo? Where's she living now?" She asks Jackie, but Katy pipes up before their mother could.
"Peak District." All heads swivel towards Katy who was looking at them grimly. Rose nods, calculating quickly in her head exactly where and how far away that was from here in the Powell Estate.
"Well, we'll go to Cousin Mo's then." Rose starts heading towards the Doctor's bedroom, but Jackie immediately steps in front of her, blocking her.
"No, it's Christmas Eve!" She stated angrily. "We're not going anywhere!" Rose's eyes clap onto the new Christmas tree that Katy still had extreme misgivings about and frowned cautiously at it. "What're you babbling about?" Jackie continued ranting, before Rose puts a hand on her mother's arm and points towards the tree.
"Mum. Where'd you get that tree?" Jackie turns and looks at the green Christmas tree in confusion. "That's a new tree. Where'd you get it?"
"We thought it was you." Jackie responded, looking at Katy for back up, and the brunette walked a little out of the Doctor's bedroom so she could contribute to the conversation. Rose looked at her mother quizzically.
"How can it be me?" Rose asked.
"Well, you went shopping. There was a ring at the door, and there it was!" Jackie explained, getting a little anxious.
"No, that wasn't me." Rose insisted, and Katy groaned; realising that the Doctor's brand of trouble was beginning to rear its ugly head once again … only this time, the man in question was out cold and still recuperating from his latest regeneration to be of any assistance.
"Then who was it?" Jackie pondered, nervously. Suddenly, the tree lights up by itself and starts playing Jingle Bells.
All eyes widen in alarm.
"Oh, you're kidding me." Rose groaned irritably. Sections of the tree start rotating in different directions, creating a strong wind. It starts to move, chopping through the coffee table.
"Oh, fuck!" Katy swore underneath her breath and immediately moved for the Doctor's bedroom. Mickey picks up a nearby chair and holds it out to fend off the tree.
"Get out! Go, go! Get out!" He yells at Jackie and Rose, who immediately run for the front door; only for Rose to double back and head into the Doctor's room also, finding Katy attempting to wrestle the Doctor into a TARDIS blue dressing gown by herself … and having difficulties. Rose comes over to the other side of the bed and helps pull the Doctor upright so Katy could thread his arms through the sleeves.
"We've got to save the Doctor!" Rose shouts back at Jackie and Mickey. Jackie comes in and stares incredulously at both her daughters.
"What're you doing?"
"We can't just leave him." Rose protests angrily to Jackie, who groans in frustration before turning and sticking her head out of the doorway and shouting back at Mickey who was still attempting to fend off the murderous Christmas Tree with the chair.
"Mickey!" The spinning tree was shredding the chair legs. "Leave it! Get out! Get out!" She waves frantically at him.
"Mickey!" Rose echoes her mother.
"You can't stop it, Mick! Just get in here!" Katy shouts impatiently at her best friend, who immediately ditches the broken chair and practically dives into the Doctor's room when the spinning tree speeds after him. Jackie is frozen, staring at the encroaching tree.
"Get in here!" Mickey growls at Jackie who doesn't think twice and heads inside the room, just as Mickey slams the door shut. Then she and Mickey pull a wardrobe across the door, barricading the doorway as Katy and Rose attend to the Doctor, who is still out cold.
"Doctor, wake up!" Rose shouts frantically at the Doctor.
Improvising, Katy dives for where they had tossed the Doctor's black leather jacket on the end of the bed and rummages around the larger-than-it-appeared pockets for his sonic screwdriver. When she finds it, Katy sticks it in the Doctor's right hand, and flinches back in surprise when the tree smashes through the door and starts working on the wardrobe, throwing around splinters and large chunks of wood.
"I'm going to get killed by a Christmas tree!" Jackie shrieks fearfully. Rose leans over and whispers into the Doctor's ear.
"Help me." She pleads. But the Doctor doesn't wake up. Rose looks disappointed and hurt from the lack of response. A large chunk of the wardrobe suddenly dislodges and ricochets towards Katy, hitting her hard in the head, which causes her to scream in both pain and surprise and she collapses to the ground, out for the count.
"Katy!" Jackie and Mickey scream out in alarm, which immediately causes the Doctor to suddenly sit up and aim the screwdriver at the tree.
It explodes.
As Jackie and Mickey rush to Katy's side, and Rose reacts with jealous disbelief that the Doctor had reacted almost a split second after Katy had gotten knocked out. He narrows his eyes darkly at the tree, looking both curious and angry.
"Remote control. But who's controlling it?" He pondered. The Doctor flips his legs over the side of the bed and stands up, securely tying together the sash on his borrowed dressing gown and made a beeline for the injured Katy. He impatiently shoves both the worried mother and best friend out of the way and examines a small, but deep cut on Katy's head that was slowly oozing blood that was trickling down the brunette's forehead. His anger deepens, as he gently taps Katy on the cheek trying to bring her out of it. "Katy? Katy-love? Wake up now, c'mon." He coaxes soothingly, and Katy's eyes slowly open.
"Doctor? What happened?" She mumbled groggily, before attempting to sit up and regretting it almost immediately when the world starts spinning.
"Woah, easy now." The Doctor lightly chuckles, increasing the jealousy within Rose as she watches nearby. "You've just experienced a small bump to the head." The Doctor explains, as Mickey scoffs in disbelief.
"You call that a small bump?" He points towards the trickle of blood on Katy's head, and both the Doctor and Jackie glower at Mickey as the Doctor slowly helps Katy sit up and lean against him.
"So that's what the throbbing of my head was?" Katy joked lightly, inhaling the Doctor's familiar natural scent and slightly spicy but pleasant smell of his aftershave.
"Can you stand?" the Doctor questions her quietly and Katy frowned a little.
"I think so." She tries and shakes her head. "Nope, I might need a little help up." Katy decides and both the Doctor and Mickey help Katy to her feet.
"Right then. I think you might need a little bit of fresh air, Doctor's orders. Follow me."
Outside the Tyler's Flat
The Doctor wraps one of his arms securely around Katy's middle and pulls her along beside him, as he leads her, Jackie, Mickey, and Rose outside to the balcony overlooking the Powell Estate Courtyard. He leans his head against her temple and whispers low enough for only Katy to hear.
"How are you feeling?" He asks, sounding serious.
"Better now that you're awake." Katy responded, smiling in relief.
He grins and kisses her temple as they make it to the balcony. The Doctor gently passes Katy to Mickey as he looks down at the courtyard with a dark look on his face. The four of them look down at the ground and spot three Santas gazing up directly at them, one of them was holding a radio controller. Mickey's eyes widen in surprise.
"That's them. What are they?" Mickey questions.
"Shush!" Rose quiets him as the Doctor raises his screwdriver once again and aims it at the Santas, who immediately back off. They are beamed away.
"They've just gone." Mickey scoffs once again. "What kind of rubbish were they? I mean, no offence, but they're not much cop if a sonic screwdriver's going to scare them off." He sneers. The Doctor answers his question.
"Pilot fish."
"What?" Rose blurted out, confused.
"Just like the Doctor said: Pilot fish; they're kinda like scouters looking for prey for their masters." Katy explained, earning an approving smile from the Doctor before his face suddenly screws up in pain and he crumples in on himself and falls back against the opposite wall. "What's wrong?" Katy demanded, looking worried.
"You lot woke me up too soon. I'm still regenerating. I'm bursting with energy." The Doctor explains weakly, then exhales more of the golden energy from his mouth that Katy had witnessed twice before. And like before, it immediately goes for Katy, hovers in front of her and dances around her outstretched hand before flying away. The Doctor beams when he sees this before his face crumples with pain and beads of sweat start forming on his forehead. "The pilot fish could smell it a million miles away." He continues explaining. "So they eliminate the defence, that's you lot, and they carry me off. They could run their batteries on me for a couple of … OW!" Both Rose and Katy immediately go to the Doctor's side, and the Doctor grabs and clenches to Katy's hand for dear life.
"Oh! Oh! Oh!" Jackie looks worried for him.
"My head! I'm having a neuron implosion. I need—" The Doctor states, before cutting himself off. Jackie immediately moves into 'mum-mode'.
"What do you need?" The Doctor tries again but is instantly interrupted by Jackie.
"I need—"
"Say it. Tell me, tell me, tell me." Jackie insists, earning a glower from the Doctor.
"I need—"
"Painkillers?"
"I need—"
"Do you need aspirin?"
"I need—"
"Codeine? Paracetamol? Oh, I don't know, Pepto-Bismol?" Jackie listed the possibilities, and Katy decided to wade in before the Doctor could blow his top at Jackie, which according to the annoyed expression on his face directed at her currently, wasn't probably very long off.
"Uh, mum. If you just wait for him to tell us—"
"Liquid paraffin. Vitamin C? Vitamin D? Vitamin E?" Jackie ignored Katy, still trying (and failing) to be helpful.
"I need—" The Doctor attempted to speak up for himself.
"Is it food?" Jackie chirped, and the Doctor looked at her with frustration, while Katy, Rose, and Mickey winced sympathetically at him. They had all been on the receiving end of Jackie smothering them when they were feeling ill themselves. "Something simple. Bowl of soup. A nice bowl of soup? Soup and a sandwich? Soup and a little ham sandwich?" Jackie looked at him hopefully.
"I need you to shut up." The Doctor finally snaps, before scrunching his face up with pain again, and Jackie glowers at him.
"Oh, he hasn't changed that much, has he?" She observes to her daughters and Mickey. The Doctor clutches to Katy almost desperately, as he tries to give them instructions.
"We haven't got much time. If there's pilot fish, then—" he cuts himself off when he feels something bulky in his dressing gown pocket. "—Why's there an apple in my dressing gown?" He asks, frowning in confusion.
"Oh, that's Howard. Sorry." Jackie apologises.
"He keeps apples in his dressing gown?" The Doctor raises an eyebrow at her.
"He gets hungry." She shrugged.
"What, he gets hungry in his sleep?"
"Sometimes." Jackie nods. The Doctor screams out in pain again and drops the apple from his hand, needing to be held up by Katy and Rose.
"Argh! Brain collapsing." He realises before turning his attention on Katy, who looks at him with worry. "The pilot fish. The pilot fish mean that something, something, something is coming." He trails off, before passing out and falling face-first into Katy's lap.
A/N: I apologise for the short chapters, but this episode was REALLY long when I typed it out in full. I'll update the next one soon :) TTFN!