Hello all. I know some might have gotten this story alert for my Fairy Tail story. I want to apologize because I know it has been a long time, but I have not forgotten about it and I am working on editing what I have and finishing it, but I can't force it or I will grow to resent it and it won't be written well. But this story here is complete. I will be posting a chapter every three days or so. I am mainly waiting just to get feedback to see if I need to altar the story along the way of posting. I did write this story for myself to read but I decided that I liked it so much I wanted to share it with others. Season two is almost complete, two chapters left, and season three is mostly planned out. I look forward to people views on this story here.

With this story, I just added an OC. Rose is still there and I think out of the whole first season, my character uses only a handful of Rose's dialogue because it fit to go with the reactions of what was said. I tried to make my character's dialogue as original as possible and while some of the scenes don't really change, I focused more on their thoughts and emotions of what I would image if my character had been there originally and how the character's themselves, such as Rose or the Doctor, would think as things happened along the episodes.

Xxxxxx

"Rose! It's time to get up to go to work, if you don't hurry you won't be able to fix your bed head hair!" Layla says as she pounds on the door leading to Rose's room. She puts her ear to the door and chuckles as she hears Rose grumbling inside after being woken up.

Layla walks into the kitchen and cooks up breakfast for herself and Rose quickly while humming mindlessly. She is eating her breakfast when Rose shuffles in yawning. "Good morning, Layla." She mutters tiredly.

"Here Rose, I made extra of my food for you to have. You seem to have gone back to sleep after my first attempt to wake you up after I got done working out."

Rose looks faintly disgusted at the thought of eating eggs with spinach and turkey bacon. Layla looks on faintly amused while Rose contemplates eating or not. Layla gets up and pulls out a plate of plain eggs, regular bacon, and toast from the oven to keep it warm. Rose instantly brightens up, sending Layla a smile in gratitude and starts eating her food quickly. "I don't see how you can stand to eat that stuff, it's not very appetizing."

"I've been doing it so long that I enjoy it. Plus, it is healthier and I want to stay fit. You should join me when I work out and eat the food I do, it is far healthier than all the chips you eat, you know?" Layla teases knowing very well that Rose will never join her again after the one and only time she ever tried exercising with her.

Rose blanches, having flashbacks of that traumatic morning. "How about not. Plus, while I eat a lot of chips, I haven't gained weight so I'll stick to my chip diet…and you stick to your food."

Layla playfully pulls a face in amusement and looks at the time. "Oh, we have to go or we'll be late." They both exit the kitchen passing by Rose's mum, Jackie, who is sitting on the still in her dressing gown watching the telly.

"Bye mum, love you!" Rose says giving her mum a kiss on the cheek and grabbing her jacket and bag.

"Bye Jackie, see you later, have fun on your day off today!" Layla says as she grabs her mobile and keys.

"Bye girls, have a good day at work. Be careful while you're out." She mutters distractedly, absorbed by her program.

Xxxxxx

The girls realized they are slightly behind and rush to make it to the bus stop in time. "Whew, made it." Layla states as she looks at Rose amused by her slight huffing from the short amount of fast walking they had to do. "See this is why you should join me for my workouts. It would increase your stamina. I'm sure Mickey Mouse would enjoy that too." She wiggles her eyebrows and leers suggestively.

Rose sputters and blushes as her best friend says that with no discretion surrounded by people. Rose thought that after having lived with her for five years and being best friends since they were preteens, she would be used to Layla making comments like this and having no shame in what she says. "Pervert, I do fine on my own and have had no complaints." She slightly whispers back. Rose sends a glare to her friend when she laughs at her for being embarrassed. She slightly envy's Layla for being bold and herself without worrying about being mortified. They begin to talk about what they plan to do later that night when the bus stops announcing their stop and they make their way off the bus. They both sigh as they look up at the being of their job.

"We need to get better jobs." Layla mutters as they make their way to the staff lockers.

"You might be able to, you have you're A-Levels, but I don't. Maybe I should go back and get them." Rose replies.

"Well, I don't know what I want to do as a career right now, I want to travel, but that requires money. If you go back to school, I'll help you study. I think it would be a good idea if you did though."

"I'll think about it, but thank you for your support. Are you coming to lunch with me and Mickey?"

"Yeah, I'll come with you two, I never miss an opportunity to make fun of Mickey Mouse." She retorts cheekily.

"You're so mean, he still blushes and tears up his banana to this day because you pushed his head down when he was going to take a bite causing him to deep throat it." Rose whispers that last part quietly.

Laughing loudly at that memory. "Oh come on you know it was funny."

"It was traumatizing to him!" Rose tries to look mad, but she quickly starts sniggering at the memory too. "Alright it was funny, but don't tell him I said that."

The girls are still chuckling as they clock in and go meet with the manager to find out where they are going today. "See you at noon Rose." Layla says as she goes the opposite way Rose is going after they got their tasks.

"See ya!" She calls back.

Xxxxxx

"This is a customer announcement; the store will be closing in five minutes. Please make your way to the registers to check out. Thank you, and have a great evening."

After the hours go by slowly for the girls, it is finally time to go home. Rose and Layla are talking to each other and joking around when they are stopped by the security guard waving a plastic bag in front of them that holds the lottery money. Rose sighs and grabs the bag and heads towards the lift. Layla not wanting to leave without Rose, goes with her. They take the lift down to the basement and go to Wilsons office.

"Wilson? I've got the lottery money. Are you in there Wilson?" Rose, getting a little irritated at not being answered, knocks again and harder this time. "They're closing the shop, Wilson; I can't stay here much longer. Wilson! Ugh."

Layla is smiling in amusement, she loves her best friend, but she has to admit that Rose gets irritated too easily, especially when you don't answer her when she demands an answer or thinks she should get one. The girls jump in shock having heard a noise down the corridor, not expecting it. Layla looks down the corridor suspiciously while Rose calls out for Wilson again. With no answer, they both look at each other before shrugging and walking down the hall towards the noise.

"Rose, ever heard of horror movies where the girls in the movies go towards the noise and everyone yells at the screen for them to not go, and how stupid they are?" Layla asks her quietly.

Rose gulps, already having doubts about continuing since there was no reply's back. "Yeah, why?"

"Well, those girls are always horribly murdered…. hope that doesn't happen to us." Layla then starts to laugh at the scared look on Rose's face. "I'm joking Rose. We should go check anyways incase Wilson was in there and he is hurt and unable to answer us."

Rose glares at her but agrees with the statement, now worrying that Wilson might be hurt. They get to the door where they heard the noise and Layla opens it and turns on the lights. "Wilson? Are you okay? It is Rose and Layla, do you need help?" They weave around the boxes of clothes and dressed mannequins. As they get further into the room, the door they came in at slams shut.

"You're kidding me." Rose says as she runs back to the door trying to open it.

"Well shit." Layla says blankly at the same time when she sees that the door won't open.

They both quickly turn around when more clattering happens behind them. Rose is looking scared and worried while Layla, the more protective of the two, is starting to get angry. "Who the fuck is there?" Layla asks crossly as Rose asks who is mucking around.

A mannequin twitches and starts to move and it walks towards them "Very funny, you got us. Very funny." Rose says sarcastically hoping that it is a prank. Layla quickly goes to Rose's side, ready to take action to protect her. More and more mannequins are twitching and then walking behind the first. "Right, we've got the joke. Whose idea was this? Is it Derek's? Derek is this you?" Rose asks nervously. Hair on the back of her neck is standing up and she is grasping the back of Layla's shirt tightly.

"Rose, while I wouldn't be surprised that Dickhead Derek would play a prank on us, I don't think this is a prank."

Rose huffs at how even in a time like this, Layla still expresses her dislike of Derek. The girls both start to back up with Layla in front of Rose as the mannequins start crowding around them. With them up against the wall, the mannequin that is in the front lifts its arm up as if to take a swing at them. Layla goes on the offensive and kicks the mannequin in the stomach. More mannequins start to advance when Rose feels someone grab her hand from the side of her.

"Run." The Doctor says, as he watches the mannequins starting to come closer. Layla, unknowing of the Doctor being here, is startled when she feels a hand wrap around her hand and yank her out of the room. She sees that Rose is the one who grabbed her, but an unknown man had grabbed Rose's and was pulling them away from the mannequins. The mannequins are chasing after them quickly, well as quick as a plastic mannequin can, which was actually pretty fucking quick. The Doctor pulls them through the basement and into the lift and presses the button to close the doors. The lead mannequin is able to squeeze its arm in before the door closes all the way. The girls watch on, one is panic and the other is curious and full of adrenaline, as the Doctor grabs the arm and with a few tugs pulls it off the mannequin and the doors close.

"You pulled his arm off!" Rose exclaims while still slightly panicking.

The Doctor throws the arm to Rose. "Yep. Plastic."

"Very clever." Rose says sarcastically, now finally starting to calm down since they are away from the mannequins.

Layla turns her eyes from Rose to the Doctor and takes a better look at him. He was taller than her with short brown hair, slim face, and big ears and nose, but on him, it fit his face nicely. He was wearing a black leather jacket with a black jumper under, and black jeans, and boots. Overall, she approves, loves the black, and finds him to be very attractive. "Considering how easily you pulled it off and there wasn't an arm attached, I'm going with it not being a human attacker. Also, there were no wires that I could see, so not electronic. So Stranger, what did you do that semi naked seemingly moving plastic felt the need to attack?" She questions and looks at the Doctor expectantly.

The Doctor had been trying to ignore both of the girls so he could do the job he came to do. He didn't need anyone else butting in and getting in the way. However, there was something about the way the woman asked her question. She asked it calmly, knowingly. Like she knew she was right about what she said, but wanted confirmation. He turns to look at her and feels like he has been punched in the gut. Before, with the mannequins, the adrenaline, and that he hadn't looked at her when he pulled the other girl out of the room had hidden what he just now discovered. He can barely breath, and that is saying something since he has a bypass respiratory system. His hearts are pounding, his palms begin to sweat, and blood is rushing in his ears.

He never thought this would happen to him. Especially with what happened to his people. He knew it could happen with other species, but the chances of that are low. He didn't know if he deserved this, no, he knew he didn't deserve this, but it was an opportunity that he wasn't going to let slip past him. She will mean everything to him. His Promised One, or to humans' beliefs, his soulmate, but to Time Lords, it was so much more than that. She was also the most beautiful woman he has ever seen. He didn't know if that was the bond talking or not, but he didn't care either way.

She had hair that was short, pixie like, cut very short on the sides and back and longer on the top that was styled up and towards the front. Oddly enough she had white hair. He wondered if it was dyed, but seeing that she had white eyebrows and eyelashes he didn't think so. She had the palest blue eyes, almost like they didn't have a color at all that stood out with the brushings of red eyeshadow and lovely pale skin. Ah, he thought she is albino, but that didn't take away from her beauty. She almost looked unearthly. She was 5'8 roughly, and her body; he swallowed hard and he feels his cheeks start to warm up. She was wearing a black pleated skirt with fishnet stockings under and white Doc Martin boots, black fingerless arm warmer gloves, a choker necklace, and a black and white checkered corset vest accentuated her curves and tiny waist nicely. She also had snakebite lip piercings, both nostrils pierced and several in her ear. He could see a few medium sized tattoos on her biceps, one had a coffin with chains and a key on a necklace. The other bicep had a grim reaper and a skeleton. Overall she was a very striking woman.

Realizing he had just been blankly staring at the woman, he clears his throat. He then thinks back and remembers she asked him a question. The Doctor is amused by her blunt and very accurate question fires one back at her. "What makes you think they are after me and not you or your friend?"

"Wait it has to be a prank, right?! Some students or something?" Rose asks. Both the Doctor and Layla look at Rose, both having different reactions. The Doctor had forgotten about the other girl and Layla was just blankly staring at Rose, waiting for her to catch onto the silliness of her question. Rose looks back at Layla. "What? It is a good question!... Isn't it?"

Layla just facepalms at Rose and slightly shakes her head. She turns back to the Doctor and gives him a deadpanned look. "Unless they wanted the lottery money we dropped back there, why would they continue to chase us after trying to attack us? Besides I haven't done anything to warrant moving plastic mannequins coming after me. Well unless Jimmy Stone has something to do with them, but he is dumb as fuck, so I highly doubt that." She says remembering the time she beat up Jimmy for breaking Rose's heart after she left school for him. "With Rose, well Rose is pretty vanilla, so there wouldn't be any reason for them to come after her." She smirks cheekily at Rose at this. "So, logically they are after you. No Rose, like you said, he pulled the arm off of one. Students are not involved. Of course, I could be wrong and it is robotic, but like I said before, there was no wires, unless it was a wireless type of robot. I highly doubt that though, who would want to have robotic mannequins anyways? I'm going to go with something that had nothing to do with humans and it was something else. Or it could have been magic." She crossed her fingers in hope that it was.

Stunned at her intelligence, he gives her an appraising look as the elevator opens. Remembering that he has a mission to do, he walks out of the elevator without answering his Promised One's question. I need to find out her name. Seeing as the girls have the option of either following him or going back down to the mannequins, they both choose to follow him.

"Wait what about Wilson? Was he still down there?" Rose questions the Doctor.

"Who is Wilson?" He responds, but is looking at Layla as he asks his question.

"He is the chief electrician."

He gives Layla a sad look. "Wilson is dead."

Rose huffs at being ignored and gets slightly irritated. "That's sick! That is not funny at all"

The Doctor, wondering why this girl would think that he would joke and laugh about someone's death, ignores her as he disables the lift mechanism with his sonic screwdriver. "Mind your eyes." He warns. Layla ignores his warning and looks as he takes… is that a sex toy? Because it kind of looks like one, she wonders incredulously. She watches as he disables the lift.

Tired of being ignored Rose demands. "Who are you then? Who's that lot down there? I said, who are they!"

Irritated that she won't stop her demanding screeching, turns to her and answers. "They are made of plastic. Living plastic creatures. They are being controlled by a relay device on the roof. That would be a great, big problem if I didn't have this." He pulls out something from his pocket that should not have been able to fit inside, and they can see it is a bomb. "So, I am going to go up there and blow them up, and I might well die in the process, but don't worry about me. No, you go on home. Go on, enjoy your lovely beans on toast. Don't tell anyone about this, because if you do, you could get them killed." He shuts the door on them that leads to the roof as he finishes his statement and the last thing they see as the door closes is a big grin on his face. He then remembers he still doesn't know his Promised One's name. He opens the door back up still smiling. "I'm the Doctor, by the way. What're your names?"

"Rose." She says perplexed at the swift changes in the man.

"I'm Layla." She says in amusement. She can't help but smile when she sees his grin.

If possible, his smile seems to brighten having finally learned his Promised One's name. "Nice to meet you, Layla and Rose. Now run for your lives."

"Doctor?"

"Yes, Layla?" The longer they stand there the giddier he is becoming at having her attention on him. Wow, the desire for attention sure does kick in quick, he thought.

"Do you need help?"

"You want to help me blow up a building?" He asks surprised.

"What? No! I want to help you with this living plastic stuff. Seems like we're in trouble if it killed an innocent person Wilson for no reason."

"Are you going crazy Layla? This is mental, we need to leave right now!" Rose exclaims.

The Doctor was torn. He wants her help and to be around her, but just not at this moment, not while he is going to blow up a building and she could get hurt. Reluctantly he has to say no to her. "No, Layla, I have it covered, but thank you for the offer."

"Okay, please be careful." She says seriously. "It would be a shame for the women of this world to lose a cutie like you." She says in a lighter tone with an impish grin. She gives him a wink and laughs at his stunned look. If anyone else had told her they were going to blow up a building and living plastic she would back away quickly so she doesn't get murdered by a nutter. However, with this Doctor, he has kind eyes and she has a feeling she can trust him, and surprisingly she does, even after just meeting him.

The Doctor feels his hearts speed up, happy that even though she just met him, and after telling her he was going to blow up the building, she is being so kind and wishing him well. He is also shocked at her compliment. He can already tell he will enjoy being around his Promised One. "I will. Hurry out. Don't want you getting hurt." He says and means that fiercely, he never wants her to get hurt.

After he closes the door, Rose, afraid about being in the building with a bomb takes off running with the mannequin arm still in her hand and shouts over her shoulder. "Come on Layla!" Layla takes one last look at the door and bites her lip before running after Rose. He will be fine, she thinks, but she can't help but worry about this stranger.

xxxxxx

The girls make their way to the main road, looking at the mannequins in the store window worriedly. They don't have to wait long before a huge explosion happens on the roof and a giant fireball takes out the upper floors of Henrik's. They look at each other, both realizing that this will be all over the telly and Jackie will be worried, run off to get home quickly, passing an old out of date police telephone box that is parked in the alley between two other stores.

xxxxxx

"The whole of Central London has been closed off as police investigate the fire…"

Rose flops down on the chair and Layla lays on the couch as Jackie walks into the room while on the phone. "I know. It's on the telly. It's everywhere. They are lucky to be alive. Honestly, it's aged them. Skin like an old bible. Walking in now you'd think I was her daughter. Of course, with Layla she can pull off the grandma look with her white hair." Jackie catches the pillow that Layla threw at her and smirks teasingly at her, the joke helping to ease her worry over the two girls. Jackie was so anxious about the explosion and she is glad they are home and safe. She hands Rose a cup of tea and Layla a water bottle. "Oh, and here's himself right now."

Mickey enters the room and goes straight to Rose. "I've been phoning your mobiles. You could've been dead!" He says to both of them. "It's on the news and everything. I can't believe your shop went up!"

"We're all right, honestly. We're fine! Don't make a fuss." Rose says tiredly.

"Well, what happened?" He asks.

Rose looks slightly panicked at the question and Layla cuts in to help her out. "Don't know, we weren't in the shop when it happened. We were on our way home."

"Here it's Debbie on the end. She knows a man on the Mirror. Five hundred quid for an interview." Jackie holds the phone out to Rose.

"Oh, that's brilliant!" She takes the phone and quickly hangs up on her. Jackie huffs and Layla is quietly laughing at the two.

"Well, you're got to find some way of making money. Your job's kaput and I'm not bailing you out." She says will little heat knowing she would always help them if she could. The phone rings again and Jackie answers it. "Bev! Their alive. I've told them, sue for compensation. They were within seconds of death." She trails off as she leaves the room. Both girls look exasperated with her dramatic act, but is glad that she being her normal self after hearing about the explosion.

"What are you drinking, tea and water? Nah, that's no good. No good at all. You both are in shock. You need something stronger." Mickey says while putting Rose's tea on the table.

"We're fine." Both of them say at the same time. Mickey Mouse must be taking lessons from Jackie on how to be dramatic, Layla thinks.

"Now, come on, you deserve proper drinks. We're going down to the pub, all three of us. My treat. How about it?"

Layla looks at Mickey and smirks. He is laying it on really thick right now. I wonder if Rose put together what he doing, especially since he knows I don't drink. Rose looks at her and winks, letting her know she caught on. "Is there a match on?" Rose asks knowingly.

"No, I'm just thinking about the both of you babe." He tries to say innocently.

"There's a match on, ain't there." She states.

Busted, Mickey continues on sheepishly. "That's not the point, but we could catch the last five minutes."

"Go on, then. We're fine, really. Go."

"Bye. Bye." Mickey avoids Rose trying to trip him and heads out the door.

"Well, I am going to eat some toast and go to bed. I'm knackered after today. Night Layla."

"Night Rose, sleep well." Layla is too curious to go to bed. She sees that Rose brought home the mannequin arm and picks it up looking at is interestedly. She goes to her room and sits at her desk. She looks at the joint where the arm connects to the shoulder and see that it looks like a normal mannequin arm that goes into the torso. No room for a human like she thought and no wires coming out of it either. Wondering how plastic can be living, she questions if it is a type of magic, hopefully. Harry Potter world, here I come, or something else. She tries to think of how it could move and as she is pondering, she is tapping her fingers on her desk. A thought hits her and she looks at her fingers tapping away. Brain waves. Mind control? Her brain is telling her fingers to move like a thought was telling the mannequins to move.

Wondering if she figured it out, she puts the arm back in the living room. She had a strange feeling that they would be seeing the Doctor soon. Well, he did blow up the building, he might not have grabbed a mannequin for himself to examine. Since he purposely went to blow up the building, he was probably chasing after the brain of the operation. If he tracked the relay down to the department store, he might track this arm down trying to find the head honcho. Curiosity now appeased she goes to eat and then go to bed. She wanted to be well rested for what she was thinking would be an interesting day tomorrow.

xxxxxx

The next morning Rose's alarm clock goes off like normal. "There is no point in getting up, Sweetheart. You've got no job to go to." Jackie says as she drinks a cup of tea while standing in the door frame. She would have said the same to Layla, but she always gets up to work out anyways, losing her job wasn't enough of an excuse to disrupt her routine. Going into the kitchen Jackie puts bread in the toaster and sits down to talk with Layla about jobs she would want to do.

"There's Finch's. You could try them. They've always got jobs." Jackie mentions as Rose shuffles into the kitchen and plops into a chair.

"Oh, great. The butchers." She moans.

"Well, it might do you good. That shop was giving you airs and graces, and I'm not joking about compensation. You've both had genuine shock and trauma. Arianna got two thousand quid off the council just because the old man behind the desk said she looked Greek!" Layla snorts at that. "I know she is Greek, but that's not the point. It was a valid claim." Jackie insists as she leaves the kitchen to go back to her room to get ready for the day.

"It's too early in the morning for her to be this dramatic." Rose mutters as she sips her tea. Layla went to reply but the both turned their head towards the front door when they heard it rattle. "Mum, you're such a liar. I told you to nail that cat flap down. We're going to get strays."

"I did! Weeks back." She shouts back from her room.

Layla, figuring that Rose can handle it, goes back to her breakfast while Rose walks to the front door grumbling on the way. "No, you thought about it." She bends down seeing the screws that once held the flap down on the floor. The flap moves, startling Rose. She hesitantly reaches for the flap and opens it. She is surprised to see the Doctor looking at her from the other side. Quickly she gets up and opens the door to see him looking at her confused.

"What are you doing here?" He is surprised that his signal led him to Rose, but he is now hopeful that he will find more information on Layla. He wants to see his Promised One, but can't track her down until he deals with the Autons.

"We live here." She retorts.

We? Annoyed that he had to deal with Rose and not his Promised One. "Well, what do you do that for?"

"Because I do. We're only at home because someone blew up our job." She says crossly.

He was hopeful that with Rose saying 'we live here,' that Layla is here too. However, seeing as his Promised one doesn't seem to either be here or close enough to hear Rose getting annoyed, he will stick to his plan to track her down later and talk to her. "I must have gotten the wrong signal. You're not plastic, are you?" For his own amusement he taps her on the head. "No, bonehead. Bye then."

Rose grabs the Doctor by his jacket and pulls him inside. "You. Inside. Right now.

"Who is it?" Jackie asks as Rose and the Doctor pass by her room.

As they pass by Jackie's room, Rose lets go of the Doctor's jacket to talk to her. "It's about last night. He's part of the inquiry. Give us ten minutes." She continues on her way towards the living room not realizing that the Doctor stopped by Jackie's door. She bumps into Layla who, having heard that Rose brought someone in, wanted to see who it was. "It's him Layla, the guy from last night!" Rose whispers quietly to Layla and goes into the living room to clean up some.

Layla smirks in satisfaction that her hunch was right about seeing him soon and looks down the hallway at him. She is able to catch the part of the conversation he was having with Jackie. "I'm in my dressing gown." Layla can hear Jackie trying to be seductive and holds in a bubble of laughter wanting to see this play out.

The Doctor nods his head obliviously. "Yes, you are." It's sad, sometimes he picks up on others intentions and other times it goes right over his head.

"There is a strange man in my bedroom." Jackie coos.

"Yes, there is." the Doctor agrees again.

"Well, anything could happen." Jackie is trying to hint at what she is implying and the Doctor finally understands what she was leading too.

The Doctor blanches, bluntly says "no" and walks down the hall towards Layla. His face brightens up having seen her at the end of the hallway, but he starts to pout when he sees that she is looking towards him and is laughing at what just happened. Although he is happy that she is smiling and laughing, he just wished it wasn't at him. She also looks fantastic today and feels his hearts speed up. She is wearing a black tank top that had skeletal hands cupping her breasts and ripped up black skinny jeans and purple high-top converses. She also has on the choker she wore last night, studded bracelets on both wrists. He is also able to see that she has even more tattoos on her forearms and they are an array of them. They are randomly placed, but these ones are small. He could see a spider with a web, a few skulls, stars and moons decorated throughout. There are also bats, ravens, and even a black cat, and he can see the theme she is going for.

Layla couldn't help but laugh at what she had just seen. While she didn't want Jackie to be upset at being turned down, the Doctors reaction was just too great to not laugh at. Although he was irritated at the blonde ape for bringing him inside when he has a mission to do, he is happy that he gets to see his Promised One after all and sooner than he planned. He goes to talk to her when Rose interrupts when she sees him.

"Don't mind the mess. Do you want a coffee?" She asks.

Wanting to prolong the visit more he agrees. "Might as well, thanks. Just milk." Rose continues to talk to the Doctor about going to the police while Layla looks on at the Doctor as he is walking around the room, ignoring Rose. Rose won't be happy about that. When she wants answers and gives suggestions, she demands action, Layla thought with humor.

The Doctor, realizing why Rose dragged him in, starts ignoring her while going around in the living room looking for more information about his Promised One without seeming like a creep. He was also nervous about starting a conversation with Layla, so playing the curious card might help with his nerves. He was a lot older than her, well obviously he thought, but not just in literal age, but in the way his new regeneration looks as well. He looked to be in his 40's while she looked to be in her early 20's at most. He looks in the mirror on the wall and thought in dismay, oh she would never fall for this daft old face. "Ah, could have been worse. Look at the ears." He says out loud while flicking his ears and is giddy at hearing Layla chuckling.

"I think they fit your face nicely, very attractive." Layla says with no shyness and is pleased when she sees a dusting of pink on the Doctor's cheeks.

"I'm not blaming you, even if it was some sort of joke that went wrong." Rose continues to talk from the kitchen not realizing her audience was not even listening.

The Doctor then picks up a book from the table and flicks through it quickly. "Hmm. Sad ending." He continues to walk around the room taking it in, while subtly looking at his Promised One. The Doctor picks up some mail, hoping that he can learn Layla's last name, and with luck when he sees Layla Stevenson and the next one says Rose Tyler on the envelopes.

"All the same, he was nice. Nice bloke." Rose babbles on.

The Doctor sees a deck of card and wants to show Layla a card trick he learned and starts trying to shuffle the deck while saying, "luck be a lady." Layla was taking a drink when the cards that the Doctor was shuffling goes flying everywhere and she chokes on her water in laughter while the Doctor looked sheepish at having failed.

"Anyway, if we are going to go to the police, I want to know what we are saying. I want you to explain everything. I don't even know your name. Doctor, what was it?" Rose asks as she finally comes into the living room with the coffee and gets the Doctor's attention.

"Just the Doctor." He replies back.

Rose scoffs. "Like that is your name. Layla, do you believe that?"

"Hmm, yes. Even if it is a nickname, he doesn't know us and he might not feel comfortable enough to tell us his name, even if that is what most humans do. Besides, even if it isn't his real name, that is how he introduced himself and seems to be what he prefers to be called. Who am I to tell him that his chosen name can't be used? Not really any different than some music artists names that are out nowadays."

The Doctor is surprised. Everyone questions his name or tells him that it isn't his name. While she might wonder about his real name, she is willing to call him the Doctor because it is what he prefers. Rose, used to the way Layla thinks, looks towards the Doctor, about to start demanding information again when she gets interrupted as the plastic arm that she brought home was now trying to strangle the Doctor. Layla immediately goes to help him, while Rose looks shocked and frozen in place.

With the help of Layla, the arm finally releases its grip on the Doctors neck, and it gets flung in the air towards Rose and attaches to her face, cutting off her breathing. The Doctor gets to Rose first and starts trying to pry it off. Layla stays off to the side out of the way because Rose was moving erratically around trying to get it off. The Doctor gives it a big yank and trips over the glass table and falls on top of it, breaking it, bringing Rose down on top of him. Even in a situation like this, the Doctor flinches at having someone other than his Promised One on top of him. The bond has only just been recognized but it knows it is the wrong person and makes it known to him; at first, until the bond is completed, touching others would cause similar reactions. It gets easier though the more he is around Layla, and eventually he won't flinch at others.

Layla looks towards Jackie's room and is glad to hear the hair dryer on. If she came out and seen this, she would blow a gasket. The Doctor, wanting Rose to get off of him, finally brings out his sonic screwdriver and jabs it into the arm causing it to freeze its movements. He squirms out from under Rose. "It's alright, I've stopped it. There you go, see? Armless." Layla would have laughed from the pun had Rose's life not just been in danger.

Rose grabs the arm from the Doctor. "Do you think?" And she hits him with it.

"Ow!" The Doctor gets up and grabs the arm. He got what he came for and more information about his Promised One. Now back to work and away from the violent ape.

Xxxxxx

Both Layla and Rose huff as the Doctor leaves. Rose in irritation of not getting answers and Layla from being even more curious about the Doctor and what he is doing. They quickly chase after them, going down the building's staircase. With his long legs and head start he has a good amount of distance on them. "Hold on a minute. You can't just go swanning off!" Rose is trying to talk and quickly follows after him and she is getting winded making Layla smirk as her breathing is normal.

"Yes, I can. Here I am. This is me, swanning off. See ya." The Doctor says back while picking up his speed slightly trying to out walk them.

"But that arm was moving. It tried to kill me." She cries out.

"Ten out of ten for observation." The Doctor says at the same time that Layla asks, "did you think you dreamed about the semi-naked mannequins from last night Rose?" The Doctor sends Layla a grin while Rose, just huffs.

She tries to get answers from the Doctor again. "Look, you can't just walk away. That's not fair. You've got to tell us what's going on."

"No, I don't." By now the Doctor has made it out behind the flats.

"Alright then. I'll go to the police. I'll tell everyone. You said, if we did that, we'd get people killed. So, your choice. Tell us, or I'll start talking." Rose says as she pulls out what she thinks is her trump card.

The Doctor scoffs. "Is that supposed to sound tough?"

"Yeah Rose. I'm with the Doctor on this, they would think you are a nutter and lock you up after they laugh in your face." Layla points out.

"Who are you?" Rose asks for the umpteenth time.

"Told you. The Doctor."

"Yeah, but Doctor what?"

The Doctor mentally pouts that she said what and not who. It was one of his favorite questions. "Just the Doctor."

"The Doctor." Even as Rose says this, she still sounds skeptical.

The Doctor gives a cheesy grin and wiggles his fingers. "Hello!" Layla can't help but laugh at the silliness happening in front of her. The Doctor, hearing her, turns to her with the same grin and wiggles his fingers at her.

"Is that supposed to sound impressive." Rose asks snidely.

"Sort of."

"Come on, then. You can tell us. We've seen enough. Are you the police?"

Layla snorts at that. "Rose, the police would have made sure the building was empty before they blew it up, besides that, I highly doubt the police would use a bomb anyways."

The Doctor nods his head towards Layla. "She's right. I was just passing through. I'm a long way from home." He saddens as he thinks of his home. Layla frowns as she hears the loneliness in his voice and sees his slumped shoulders. Something happened when he was at his home if he is this lonely and not going back for a visit.

Rose plows on though. "But what have I done wrong? How come those plastic things keep coming after me?"

Irritated at the blonde for continuing to question him snaps back. "Oh, suddenly the entire world revolves around you. You were just an accident. You got in the way, that's all."

"It tried to kill me!" She cries out frustrated.

"Rose, it tried to kill him first. It isn't after you. We just got in the way like he said. He was the one who blew up the relay, makes sense that they would go after him. We had nothing to do with that, so that is why it didn't kill us last night, but tried to kill the Doctor when it thought it had the chance." She was amused at the shock on their faces, but really it was just connecting the dots to figure it out.

"So, what you are saying is the whole world revolves around you?" Rose asks the Doctor.

The Doctor smiles. "Sort of, yeah."

Rose and Layla smile at this. "You're full of it!" Rose points at him dramatically. She is definitely her mother's daughter; Layla thinks with irony, too early for dramatics indeed.

The Doctor just smiles and repeats himself. "Sort of, yeah."

Seeing the Doctors smile, Rose thought she could get more information. She grabs the mannequin arm from the Doctor and stops walking. "But, all this plastic stuff. Who else knows about it?"

The Doctors smile fades. "No one".

Layla hears the sadness. "What, you're on your own? No one else with you?"

"For now, yeah." The Doctor looks at Layla with a look she couldn't label. The Doctor turns back to Rose. "Well, who else is there? I mean, you lot, all you do is eat chips, go to bed, and watch telly, while all the time, underneath you, there's a war going on."

"Start from the beginning. I mean, if we're going to go with the living plastic, and I don't even believe that, but if we do, how did you kill it" Layla wonders why after what they had seen last night and the killer arm earlier, that Rose still didn't believe him. The Doctor was also thinking the same thing.

"The thing controlling it projects life into the arm. I cut off the signal, dead."

Rose tries really hard to follow along. "So that's radio control?"

"No, it is thought control." He felt bad that she was attacked because of him. "Are you alright?" Layla mentally fists pumps that she was right. She was also proud of Rose for trying to figure it out without sounds sarcastic.

"Yeah, I'm fine. So, who's controlling it, then?" At this question Layla looks at the Doctor, clear curiosity displayed on her face.

The Doctor sees this, but with Rose there, he has to disappoint her. He wants to take his Promised One with him to see the stars, not Rose. "Long story." He says and holds back a wince at the disappointment on her face.

"But what's it all for? I mean, shop window dummies, what's that about? Is someone trying to take over Britain's shops?" They all start laughing at the silliness of Rose's question.

"No, it's not a price war. They want to overthrow the human race and destroy you. Do you believe me?" He asks hopefully. He wouldn't be surprised if they didn't believe him, but he hoped his Promised One, did.

Layla picked up on something different that Rose probably didn't catch. 'Overthrow the human race and destroy you' he said you, not us. He isn't human? That means whatever is causing this war, wasn't human either. Alien?

Both girls answer at the same time. "No." "Yes." The Doctor is filled with relief that his Promised One believes him. He looks at Rose. "But you're still listening."

Even more confused about what she was hearing wants to know who this man is. Though she still had her doubts, he was intriguing. "Really though, Doctor. Who are you?"

The Doctor grabs each of their hands, he twitches with Rose's, the bond yelling at him to let go, that it was wrong to touch her but ignores it, and tightens his hand around Layla's as it tingles. "Do you know like we were saying about the Earth revolving? It's like when you were a kid. The first time they tell you the world's turning and you just can't quite believe it because everything looks like it's standing still."

With his hand holding theirs, they are fascinated as they can feel a change in the air around them, they are completely enraptured. "I can feel it. The turn of the Earth. The ground beneath our feet is spinning at a thousand miles an hour, and the entire planet is hurtling round the sun at sixty-seven thousand miles an hour. We are falling through space, all of us, clinging to the skin of this tiny little world, and if we let go." He trails off as he quickly let go of Rose's hand, but slowly and regretfully let go of Layla's hand. "That's who I. Now, forget me, Rose Tyler. Go home." He gives one last look at Layla, purposely not telling her to go home and forget him, and starts to walk back to the Tardis. He would try to entice Layla to travel with him soon.

Rose, still discombobulated about the experience she just had, turns around and walks back to go home, not realizing that Layla stayed back. Layla is thinking back on everything she heard and understanding what this man was doing. She wants to help, but he already told her he didn't need it, even if he did sound sad about being on his own. "Doctor." She calls out. When he turns around, he is surprised and happy that she stayed back. "Thank you. For helping us."

"You offered your help yesterday, does that offer still stand?" The Doctor asks hopefully. This would be the perfect opportunity to try to entice her, since Rose was gone. She would be able to see the Tardis and we can talk about traveling the universe. Hopefully she would want to come with me.

Layla, surprised, gives the Doctor an excited smile and walks over to him with a pep in her step, if she was a dog, her tail would be wagging madly. "Of course. What can I do?"

"First, there is someone I want you to meet." He grabs her hand, and feels his hearts speed up. His hand starts to tingle where they touch. He pulls her over to where he parked the Tardis and unlocks the door. He walks inside and tells her to follow him. He can't wait to see her reaction. He can already feel the Tardis humming in delight. The Tardis herself can feel the connection between her thief and his Promised One and is excited that he finally found her and that he is smiling. He hasn't smiled much lately since they got back from the war. Hopefully his Promised One can help heal him, mentally and emotionally. The Doctor turns around waiting to see her reaction to the Tardis. He hopes he gets to hear his favorite statement.

Layla looks confused as to why the Doctor went into an old police box…. that shouldn't even be here in this day and age. Of course, she wouldn't mind being up against him, he is quite attractive. Shrugging her shoulders, she goes inside and her jaw drops. She looks around the room with awe and childlike curiosity. Seeing all the controls, she realizes that this is probably his ship if he really isn't human. It looks very technologically advanced than what they have on earth. That bums her out that it probably wouldn't be magic if there is clearly technology around.

She decides to tease him first but also check to make sure it isn't magic. "So, you're a wizard that has magic powers like Harry Potter?" She asks very seriously. It becomes harder to keep a straight face when she sees the Doctor's reaction.

The Doctor starts sputtering at the fact that he didn't get to hear his favorite line and that his beautiful Promised One is under the impression that there is a such thing as magic. Soon, without even realizing it, he is off on a tangent that his beloved Tardis is sentient and there is no such thing as magic and what Tardis stands for. Layla couldn't take it any longer and burst out laughing loudly. The Doctor stops talking and looks at her with his eyebrows scrunched together. Why was she laughing? His confused face was so cute, but it made her laugh even more. Soon she stops laughing except the few chuckles that still escape. "Based on the acronym of your ship, the inside of your ship is in another dimension, yes? Otherwise, it wouldn't be possible for the outside to look like a small box, while housing the large area they were standing in." The Doctor is just gaping at how quick she was to figure it out.

"Fantastic! You are absolutely correct. Great job." He gives her a big smile that causes her to feel a warmth in her chest and gives him a big grin in return, causing his hearts to speed up at the beauty of her smile. However, that smile soon drops and she looks disappointed. Was that a sigh?! Oh no, does she not like my ship? He soon starts to panic internally.

"Are you sure? Just some alien technology? It would have been cooler if it was magic like Harry Potter, I suppose this is as close as I am going to get to magic like Mr. Weasley's tent." She finishes playfully.

The Doctor stops panicking when he realizes she is teasing him and now just looks amused at her playfulness. He knows little about her, but her personality seems to be bright and playful. Her face turns serious and decides to ask him one more question. A serious question. The Doctor realizes that what she is about to say next will be serious and arranges his face to look serious too.

"I have a very serious question here Doctor. It is the matter of life and death." She pauses for suspense and can see the Doctor leaning forward in anticipation and worry. She has to pinch herself to keep from giggling. "Is there a Harry Potter universe, and if so, can we go to it?"

The Doctor practically stumbles forward at her question and listens to her giggling. He realizes she was teasing him again and sends her a mock glare, but he is hiding his joy that she seems to be taking all of this very well and that she wanted to take a trip with him already. "All in all, she is beautiful. Thank you for showing her to me. I am assuming she was who you wanted me to meet?" She asks and moves her hand over the columns gently.

"Yes, she was who I was wanting you to meet. You don't have a problem with that though, do you? With us being aliens?" She didn't seem to give off a vibe that it bothered her, but he doesn't know her much at all and can't say for certain, although he is hopeful that she is okay with it.

Layla hums and looks around the Tardis before looking at the Doctor. "No, new species are being discovered every day. If we can find species that are new to us on our planet, why wouldn't there be different species in the universe? I always thought that there was more out there besides our planet. We, as humans in today's era, don't have the technology to travel through space yet besides going to the moon and mars, so it is understandable that it is a big unknown for everyone what exactly is out there in the universe."

"Fantastic." The Doctor claps his hands together and starts to move around the Tardis' console. "So, Layla, first thing we need to do is track the signal from this arm to the source."

"Won't it be a problem since you cut the signal off back at my flat?" She inquires. She walks up next to the Doctor and stands next to him, not noticing his hands are slightly shaking from being right next to her and wanting to touch her.

If he didn't already know what to expect when meeting his Promised One, he might have struggled with the urges that his body is feeling. The bond doesn't cause instant love, no, but it does cause the body to yearn to be close and touching. It is during those times that their souls can 'get a feel' of each other, to get their minds to accept what their souls already know. It is like drawing a moth to a flame, instinctual.

When Time Lords meet their Promised One, it doesn't take long for them to want to be around each other all the time to get to know one another. It is a sacred bond and if they are already married, that marriage is terminated so they can be with their Promised One. If their parents are arranging a marriage for them and they meet their Promised One, all attempts at other people are prohibited and only the two involved can decide if they want to be together or not, usually they do get together.

The urges calm down the more they get to know their Promised One, but the need to casually touch stays imprinted in the body. They would also be very protective and possessive. They would want their Promised One's attention on them and not on other possible suitors. Jealousy was very common to see. Usually, it doesn't take long for Time Lords to marry once they meet their match. The Doctor couldn't think of anyone that had knowingly given up the chance to be with their Promised One. However, since Layla is human, she won't feel the urges to the extent that he will. Since the chances of meeting a Promised One in another species were low, not much information on the impulses were documented. From what he read last night, she would trust him a lot faster than she might have normally, and be curious about him. She also would unconsciously give him casual touches as her soul is drawn to his. The thing about Promised Ones is that at first, it is always monogamous, because the souls are trying to merge together, and it is a process that sometimes takes a while. It depends on the species that are merging. But down the line, when the bond settles, if the couple chooses, they could add more people to the relationship, it all depends on the couple and their sexual needs/wants.

But she could still reject him and the bond, but she has to be strong and sure in her feelings and reject him with no doubt in her mind for the slight urges that she would experience to go away. It had happened to a Time Lord who had been matched with a different species. The Time Lord was rejected, but she continued to have the urges to be around her Promised One. She was in agony every day that she couldn't be with him, and when he died, she killed herself because she couldn't live without him being alive, he thought.

When bonded, the two involved would join their souls together with the aid of the Tardis's if the ones matched were different species and when one died, the other followed to prevent the living one from only having half their merged soul, which means, in his case, that Layla's lifespan will match his, so he would not have to lose her in only a small number of decades. He could spend centuries with her. Unless they have young children, the surviving parent's soul would latch onto the child or children's' soul temporarily to fill in the gap until they are at a self-sustaining age and then the surviving parents' soul would release to be with their bonded in the afterlife. It is the bonds way of making sure that the progeny is protected until they can take care of themselves and carry on for future generations of the family line.

The thought that he couldn't win Layla's heart is an agonizing thought, he didn't want to be alone anymore. Adding that to the depression he already has about the war, makes him feel like he could cry. He quickly blinks his eyes to remove the urge and focuses back on what she said to distract him from the thoughts that he wouldn't be with her. "No, I just stopped the signal from relaying information back and forth, which, without a command, caused it to stop moving. However, it technically isn't a dead signal. Kind of like an old connection, if I hook it up to the Tardis, I could activate it again to trace it back." As he was saying this, he was hooking up wires to the arm and when he was finished, he looked at Layla waiting for her next question.

"So, how do you plan on dealing with this living plastic, Doctor?"

"I have to give it a chance to leave earth." He says seriously, showing no room for debate.

"What about Wilson? They killed him, do we ignore that and let them get away? What are the chances they will even leave peacefully, they already showed they are not peaceful creatures?"

The Doctor hums thoughtfully at her questions. They were goods ones too. "I don't know what the chances of them peacefully leaving are. However, with Wilson's death, only three of us know that it was an alien, and anyone would call us nutters if we said so. It would be best to try to get them to leave though to prevent more deaths. I always give them a chance Layla, one that, unfortunately, many tend to ignore, but sometimes, I have to do things that I hate to protect the innocent." He says sadly.

Layla looks into his eyes and sees the pain of the decisions he has to make. His eyes, they show so much. They look so old, like they have seen more than anyone else, and that he has so much pain in them. "Okay Doctor, you know what you are doing, I'll support you on this. It would be best to have things go peacefully then to add more deaths to the tally count." However, she looks over at the arm and sees something that she doesn't think should be happening. "…It's not supposed to be melting, right?"

The Doctor whips his head around so fast his neck cracks and he is surprised he didn't get whiplash. "No, no, no." He starts to chant over and over as he erratically moves around the console trying to quickly trace the signal before it fades. The Tardis starts to shake and make a strange noise. Layla quickly grabbed onto the railing to keep from falling. With as erratically as he is moving, I feel like there is supposed to be more people piloting this ship.

"Well, I was able to get it to take us to a stronger source of the signal. Maybe we will get lucky. Let's go see what drew us here." He says as if everything was going according to plan and nothing went wrong. He opens the door and sees that they are in an alley. He grabs Layla's hand, and sighs internally at the persistent itch his body had was soothed. The bond has only been known for less than a day and it is already trying to connect. He opens the door that they landed in front of and pulls her through.

They look around and see that they are in the local pizzeria. They weave their way around the employees in the kitchen to go out to the lobby. The Doctor and Layla look around at the customers trying to see what was projecting the signal. Layla spots something very interesting and squeezes the Doctors hand to get his attention. "Is that what we are looking for?" She points to the table that caught her eye.

The Doctor looks at where she is pointing and he grumbles. They see Rose with Mickey, who looks like shiny plastic. How does she not notice that, that is not her boyfriend? They both think the same thing. The Doctor regretfully took his hand from Layla's and grabs a nearby serving tray. Layla realizes what he is doing, snickers, and grabs a bottle of champagne that was nearby and hands it to him. The Doctor grins at her and has her stay back out of sight of the occupants of the table, but to where she can see hear and see what was going to go down. They listen in onto their conversation and mentally facepalms that Rose still hasn't noticed something was wrong.

"What was he doing there?" Mickey's ugly twin asks.

"I'm not going on about it, Mickey. Really, I'm not, because, I know it sounds daft, but I don't think it's safe. I think he's dangerous." Rose says trying to get Mickey to drop the topic.

Why does she think he is dangerous? Did she look into the Doctor and find out something? Layla ponders. The Doctor is worried that she will agree with or go by what Rose says and then she won't want to travel with him.

"But you can trust me, Sweetheart. Babe. Sugar. Babe. Sugar. You can tell me anything. Tell me about the Doctor and what he's planning, and I can help you, Rose. Because that's all I really want to do, Sweetheart. Babe. Babe. Sugar. Sweetheart." The doppelganger stutters out.

"What're you doing that for?" Rose questions and looking at him like she was confused.

Layla throws her hands up in the air in exasperation. That was a total give away that the thing sitting in front of Rose is not the Mickey Mouse she knows and loves, and she still doesn't see it. The Doctor turns around to face her and looks at her with amusement. He turns back to the table and hold out the serving tray with the champagne to the doppelganger. "Your champagne."

The Mickey doppelganger doesn't even look at him. "We didn't order any champagne. Where's the Doctor?" The Doctor pouts at being ignored and he hears Layla chuckling quietly. He walks over to Rose's side of the table and holds out the tray again. "Madam, your champagne.

Rose shoots him down. "It's not ours. Mickey, what is it? What's wrong?"

"I need to find out how much you know, so where is he?" He starts demanding and grabs Rose's hand tightly. Layla has to stop herself from jumping in and protecting Rose. She believes the Doctor can handle it, but ponders to herself why she has so much faith in the man at this point.

Annoyed now, the Doctor asks them again. "Doesn't anybody want this champagne?"

"Look, we didn't order it." The doppelganger finally looks up at the Doctor. "Ah. Gotcha."

The Doctor is vigorously shaking the bottle up. "Don't mind me. I'm just toasting the happy couple. On the house!" The Doctor releases the cage corked and it shoots into the doppelganger's forehead.

They all watch in fascinated disgust as it is absorbed in his head and he spits it out of his mouth. "Anyway." Mickey says as he gets up and turns his hand into a giant spatula and chops the table with it.

"Yeah, spank that table, Daddy." Layla quips as Rose flees, screaming, and Mickey wrecks the table. The Doctor quickly grabs the doppelganger's head and gives it a couple of yanks before it pops off. Seeing this, the other customers inside start screaming.

The doppelganger continues to talk even though he is no longer attached to his body. "Don't think that's going to stop me" It starts flailing around. Rose quickly runs to the fire alarm and pulls it while yelling at everyone to get out. Layla is looking out making sure no one gets hurt in the process and that no children are left behind. During the chaos, the Doctor grabs Layla's hand and Layla calls out to Rose to follow them as they run through the kitchen, back to the door that leads to the Tardis.

The Doctor releases Layla's hand and seals the door shut while Rose runs down the alley, past the Tardis, but is in dismay when she sees that they are chained and padlocked close. The Doctor looks at Rose in amusement and then turns to Layla and nods his head towards the Tardis.

"Come on, use the tube-thingy." Rose says as she pulls on the gate.

"It is a sonic screwdriver." He replies back as he gets his key out.

"Rose come on in here with us. The gate is locked and unless you plan to climb it, come with me if you want to live." Layla says in her best terminator voice and hears the Doctor snort as he unlocks the Tardis and goes inside.

"Really?! We can't hide inside a wooden box. It's going to get us!" Rose exclaims in panic.

"Come on Rose, trust me. We will be fine." Layla goes inside knowing that Rose would trust her and follow. While Layla wasn't sure about the strength the outside the Tardis, she had faith that since the Doctor wasn't running around panicked, then he believed they would be fine. It was a lot to put that much faith into someone so soon after meeting them, but she just had a feeling she could trust him. Plus, he seemed like a genuinely nice guy, I don't think he would let harm come to others if he could prevent it.

Rose runs insides the Tardis and stops instantly. She runs outside again and around the Tardis. She quickly runs back inside though when her plastic boyfriend finally breaks through the door. She sees the Doctor calming working around the console while Layla is asking questions. "It's going to follow us!"

"The assembled hordes of Genghis Khan couldn't get through that door, and believe me, they've tried. Now, shut up a minute." The Doctor says gruffly, focused on wiring the head, not meaning to be rude, but was distracted.

"…What did you do to piss them off?" Layla asks and has to laugh at the indignant look on the Doctor's face.

"You see, the arm was too simple, but the head's perfect. I can use it to trace the signal back to the original source." The Doctor exclaims excitedly with a wide smile.

"So, will this one melt like the arm?" Layla smirks cheekily, although she was worried about Mickey and if he was alright. She didn't want to bother the Doctor about one person, when the whole earth is in trouble.

The Doctor just looks at her amused and then turns to Rose. "Right. Where do you want to start?

Rose looked overwhelmed as she stared around the inside of the Tardis. "Er, the inside's bigger than the outside?"

The Doctor smiles happily, he loved it when people said that. He nods his head. "Yes."

"It's alien." She says wide eyed.

"Yes." He nods again, waiting for her to come to the natural conclusion.

"Are you alien?"

"Yes. Is that all right?" He wonders if she would be as accepting as his Promised One was. However, Layla's reaction was one of a kind and very different from the disbelief he normally gets.

"Yeah." Rose says quickly, like she hadn't really processed the whole conversation. Layla was looking at her worriedly. She could see the meltdown about to happen, between both finding out about an alien, but also wondering what happened to Mickey.

"It's called the Tardis. T-A-R-D-I-S. That's Time and Relative Dimension in Space." The Doctor says proudly with a big grin.

Rose bursts into tears and Layla runs to her and holds her while she cries. Rose's grips her best friend like a lifeline, extremely worried about her boyfriend. Layla is also worried. While she realized that to the Doctor saving billions was more important than just one person, but to them Mickey meant a lot.

The Doctor rambles on obliviously, hardened by the aftermath of his life and having been alone for a long time that he has become apathetic. "That's okay. Culture shock. Happens to the best of us."

"Did they kill him? Mickey? Did they kill Mickey? Is he dead?" Rose's words are getting harder to understand through her tears. She doesn't understand how someone could be so heartless and cruel. Layla had been trying to stay positive, that he was alright, but listening to Rose's questions made her doubt that he was okay. Tears started to gather in her eye at the thought that he wasn't alive anymore.

"Oh, I didn't think of that." The Doctor says carelessly, but winces when his Promised One looks at him with tears in her eyes. His hearts clinch at her anguish and worry about their friend.

"He is my boyfriend and Layla's best friend. You pulled off his head. They copied him and you didn't even think?" Rose's grief turns to anger as she snaps at the Doctor.

"Look, the chances of him being alive are pretty good. They should have kept him alive to maintain the form." The Doctor says to the girls shamefacedly and with remorse, trying to cheer up the girls. He forgets that he is used to things like this, and this was the first time for the girls.

They both look hopeful and hug each other tight. Letting go, Layla goes to say something when she smells something horrible. She looks at the head and realizes that she was smelling melting plastic. "Um Doctor? The head is melting."

"Melting." He says confusedly. He looks over seeing that the head is indeed melting. "Oh, no, no, no, no, no!" He starts running around the console like mad turning knobs and shifting levers.

Rose, not having been in the Tardis when she moves yet stumbles around before grabbing onto a railing like Layla did as soon as she felt the shaking start. "What are you doing?" Rose is gripping the railing tight, confused about what was happening.

"Following the signal. It's fading. Wait a minute, I've got it. No, no, no, no, no, no! Almost there. Almost there. Here we go!" The Doctor rushed the words out quickly. The Tardis stops moving and he is straight out the door like a rocket. Layla is right behind him wondering where they moved to this time.

"Wait Layla! Doctor? You can't go out there. It's not safe." Seeing as they don't come running inside to escape a headless body, she huffs out a breath and goes outside with them. She is instantly confused when she sees it is the evening. Wasn't it just daylight?

The Doctor is lamenting to Layla. "I lost the signal. I got so close."

Rose cuts in "We've moved. Does it fly?" That is what they always show in the alien movies, right?

"Disappears there and reappears here. You wouldn't understand." He mutters grumpily, mind still on the lost signal. Layla nods her head thoughtfully, makes sense, humans don't have access to this type of technology.

"If we're somewhere else, what about that headless thing? It's still on the loose." Rose was worried about it coming across someone and hurting them.

"It melted with the head. Are you going to witter on all night?" He says that like she should have already known that.

"Hey now Doctor, that was a valid question. What if it hadn't melted and attacked someone?" Layla chided him.

"Are you sure he is still possibly alive? We don't even know where he is. I'll have to tell his mother he is missing." Rose pauses here when she sees that the Doctor is looking at her confused. "You just went and forgot him, again! You were right, you are an alien."

"Look, if I did forget some kid called Mickey…" The Doctor is interrupted by Rose, and Layla is looking between the two like a tennis match.

"Yeah, he's not some kid…" Rose doesn't get to finish because the Doctor interrupts her this time.

"It's because I'm trying to save the life of every stupid ape blundering on top of this planet, alright?" He shouts out. He then mentally winces when he realizes that he accidentally included his Promised One when he didn't mean to in that statement even though he knows she is intelligent. He hopes she isn't upset about that.

However, Layla isn't upset in the slightest. To her, she sees how much smarter he is than the human race, to be able to travel in time and space and rattle off the knowledge that he does. She doesn't take it personal about the ape comment, because to him, they are apes.

"Alright." Rose sulks. However, she moves onto something decidedly more important. "If you are an alien, how come you sound like you're from the North?"

The Doctor was expecting more questions from her, but not that. He looked at her flabbergasted. Layla can't help but laugh at both the question and the Doctor's reaction. "Lots of planets have a north." He replies without really thinking about what he was saying.

"I think every planet has a north, Doctor." Layla says and gives him a mischievous grin.

"What's a police public call box?" Rose asked moving onto the big blue box that was right there.

"It's a telephone box from the 1950's. It's a disguise." He says brightly and in amusement. Humans are peculiar when they are in shock. At the same time Layla raises her brows, that big blue box is supposed to be a disguise? That is like going hunting in neon pink and using cymbals as a game call. It definitely stands out.

"Okay…" Rose says skeptically. She was thinking similarly. "And this, this living plastic, what's it got against us?"

"Yeah, you said that it was looking to destroy the human race, but you didn't say why." Layla cut in wanting to know what the plastic had against them.

"It has nothing against you humans. It actually loves you. You're got such a good planet. Lots of smoke and oil, plenty of toxins and dioxins in the air, perfect. Just what the Nestene Consciousness needs. Its food stock was destroyed in the war, all its protein plants rotted, so Earth, dinner!"

"Can we stop it?" Rose asked hopefully.

The Doctor put his arm into his pocket all the way up to the elbow and pulled out a tube of blue slime. Rose gaped at him and Layla looked on curiously. Unable to resist the temptation she steps closer to the Doctor and opens up his jacket pocket and looks inside. She puts her hand inside feeling around and then shoves her arm in feeling the multitude of items and that there was still room where she could reach further in. The Doctor looks at her amused and his hearts skip a beat at her being so close to him.

She pulls her arm out and looks at him. "I want one." She gently demands. The Doctor almost caves in, but they have more important things to be doing right now.

"Maybe later. Right, now, this is anti-plastic. It will get rid of the Nestene Consciousness." The Doctor says getting the girls back on track. "But first I've got to find it. How can you hide something that big in a city this small?"

Rose was confused again. "Wait, hold on. Hide what?"

"The transmitter. The Consciousness is controlling every single piece of plastic, so it needs a transmitter to boost the signal." He says as he looks around trying to find it.

"Well, what does it look like?" The girls ask together.

"Like a transmitter." The Doctor says in 'duh' like fashion. "Round and massive, slap bang in the middle of London. A huge circular metal structure like a dish, like a wheel. Radial. Close to where we're standing. Must be completely invisible."

The more and more he describes the transmitter, the more the girls facepalm at his obliviousness. They struggle with not outright laughing when he starts questioning their looks of disbelief. Rose just continues to look at it with her lips quirked up, feeling smug that she found it. Layla gives in and smooshes his lips together like a fish and turns him to face the transmitter. He finally catches on that they are looking at the London Eye, the biggest wheel in the world. He only has one thing to say.

"Fantastic!"

xxxxxx

They all take off running towards the Eye. Rose is all sweaty and huffing, she glares mildly in annoyance at the Doctor and Layla; they were breathing normally. The Doctor loves this. Solving problems, running around, and best thing is that his Promised One is with him and helping. Layla grins at Rose, it's like she can feel her annoyance, and sticks her tongue out at her in humor.

The Doctor starts talking and Rose wonders how he can still have the energy while running. "Think of it, plastic all over the world, every artificial thing waiting to come alive. The shop window dummies, the phones, wires, the cables."

Rose jokingly says, "the breast implants." She was not really realizing how serious the situation is. The Doctor laughs, but he is so used to these situations. Sometimes humor is the only thing holding back the grief.

Layla got to thinking about all the things that would be controlled and how everyone would be in harm's way. "Oh fuck!" She gasps and slows down unknowingly. Rose and the Doctor heard her exclamation slow down and look at her realizing she wasn't with them. "What's wrong?" The Doctor asks worriedly.

"The children!" They look at her and she can almost imagine a question mark floating above their heads and she looks at them in disbelief. "Children play with all kinds of plastic toys!"

They look horrified at her words and collectively they all pick up the pace to get to the Eye. The Doctor gets a warm feeling in his hearts and also in his body at how protective she is to children, even though, in this body, he isn't big on domestics. What he doesn't know is that she always thinks about children's welfare due to her own past. Adults should always protect children; they are the future and innocent, she thinks.

They stop close to the Eye. "We've found the transmitter. The Consciousness must be somewhere underneath." The Doctor says as he looks around trying to find a way down, below the Eye. The girls look around and both spot the manhole and grin to each other as they run over to it.

"Do you think this could be it?" Rose asks Layla.

Layla kneels down and can see through the holes and see an ominous red light shining through. "I think so, look at this light. Go get the Doctor, Rose, I am going to try to get this cover off."

Rose takes off and sees the Doctor a little way away. Rose cups her hands around her mouth. "Doctor! We think we found a way to get there."

The Doctor looks over beaming. He sees that it is only Rose and wonders where Layla was. "Fantastic!" He is grinning madly as he follows Rose and sees Layla as she just finished moving the manhole cover to the side. Woah, she is strong. His feels his cheeks slightly burn as he stares at her, she was slightly flushed and a small sheen of sweat starting to gather on her face and neck. The Doctor clears his throat roughly and claps his hands. "Looks good to me. I'll go first." He wants to make sure it is safe before the girls go down.

They climb down a short ladder into a brick-built area with lots of chains. "Looks like someone's sex dungeon: dark, mysterious, and of course, chains. My kind of room." Layla leers at Rose and the Doctor. They both have different reactions. Rose sputters and blushes while the Doctor's eyes darken as he looks at Layla and he can feel his cock twitch and harden slightly as he imagines her in bondage. He has noticed that this regeneration is slightly more domineering than his previous bodies, but he wouldn't be opposed to being dominated either if that is what his Promised One wanted.

"You're so easy to rile up Rose." Layla smirks at her friend. She was too busy teasing Rose like always whenever she made a sexual remark that she didn't notice the Doctor's reaction. If she had, she would have felt heated from his burning gaze.

The Doctor is able to somewhat pull himself together although his voice is husky and deeper when he talks to them, and leads the girls through a door and down a flight of steps into a multi-level chamber. "The Nestene Consciousness. That's it, inside the vat. A living plastic creature."

"Well, then. Tip in your anti-plastic and let's go." Rose comments with no filter to her words.

The Doctor is patient and used to humans not seeing the bigger picture. "I'm not here to kill it. I've got to give it a chance."

"Well hopefully it chooses to leave peacefully." Layla says quietly. She adds in her head, for your mind's sake. After talking with him about it earlier, it was easy to piece together that there are times where aliens chose not to leave or stop doing what they were doing and he had to take measures to stop them…permanently. She could see the turmoil in his eyes when it was brought up and knows it hurts him to have to do it.

The Doctor walks down to a catwalk that overlooked the seething vat. "I seek audience with the Nestene Consciousness under peaceful contract according to convention 15 of the Shadow Proclamation." The Doctor says clearly and confidently. The stuff in the vat flexes and bubbles as if it was communicating back. "Thank you. If I might have permission to approach?" The Doctor asks, but doesn't wait for a reply as he is already walking towards it.

Layla was fascinated that the Doctor could understand what this vat of goop was saying. She walked closer to him to see more of their interaction. She hears Rose gasp and sees her moving to a lower level and runs down. "Oh, God! Mickey, it's me! It's okay. It's alright." Rose whispers to Mickey as she hugs him tightly.

"That thing down there, the liquid. Rose, it can talk!" He is quivering and scared as he whispers back.

"Geez, Mickey you're stinking." She turns to the Doctor and Layla and shouts up. "Doctor, you were right! They kept him alive."

"Yeah, that was always the possibility for them to maintain the copy. Can we keep the domestics outside, thank you?" The Doctor says a little irritated that she was interrupting his conversation. Layla smiles in happiness that Mickey was alright and gives them two thumbs up. She always tried to stay positive and with the Doctor's words earlier, it was easier to do.

The Doctor sees that Layla followed him and grabs her hand, excited for her to see another alien species. He pulls them closer to the vat. "Am I addressing the Consciousness? Thank you. If I might observe, you infiltrated this civilization by means of warp shunt technology. So, may I suggest, with the greatest respect, that you shunt off?" He tries to be respectful, he really does, but his personality can't help but be rude at times. Especially when it wouldn't be helpful to him in the slightest. A face starts to form in the vat of goop and gurgles back at the Doctor.

"Oh, don't give me that. It's an invasion, plain and simple. Don't talk about constitutional rights. I am talking!" The Doctor yells the last bit. A bit more calmly and passionately, he continues. "This planet is just starting. These stupid little people have only just learnt how to walk, but they're capable of so much more. I'm asking you on their behalf, please, just go."

"Layla! Doctor!" Rose shouted at them, but she was too late in her warning. Several shop mannequins grabbed Layla and the Doctor. One of them reaches into the Doctor's pocket and pulls out the anti-plastic.

The Doctor panicked. "That was just insurance. I wasn't going to use it. I was not attacking you. I'm here to help. I'm not your enemy. I swear, I'm not." The vat of plastic starts gurgling back to the Doctor and he looks confused. "What do you mean?"

A door slides open to reveal the Tardis. The Doctor struggles more against the mannequins. "No. Oh, no. Honestly, no. Yes, that's my ship. Wait, that's not true. I should know. I was there. I fought in the war. It wasn't my fault. I couldn't save your world! I couldn't save any of them!" The Doctor is screaming out in anguish and the vat is arguing back.

Layla could see the devastation in the Doctor's face as he is pleading to the Consciousness. War huh. Must be what he is suffering from and what happened to his home, maybe. It must have not ended well and I can't imagine what he went through with him being against violence and trying to save humans and the Consciousness. "Doctor, what's going on?" She asks.

"It's the Tardis! The Nestene's identified its superior technology. It's terrified. It's going to the final phase. It's starting the invasion! Get out and take Rose with you! Just leg it now!"

"Oh yeah like I can leave right now!" Layla says while pointedly tugging her arms that the mannequins are holding. "Besides, I'm not leaving without you. Ohana means family, and family doesn't get left behind." Even in a moment like this, she can't help but try to relieve the tension.

The Doctor would have snorted in amusement if he wasn't so touched that she wouldn't leave him behind, but he also grits his teeth because she is being held captive and can't leave. Layla starts to fight the mannequins that are holding on to her. However, when she dispatches one, more come along. She is taken by surprise when after she tosses a mannequin over the railing, she feels another one pushing at her to follow the same path. She fights and holds on as best as she can, but is soon over the railing taking the mannequin with her. Luckily, she grabs onto the bottom of the railing and is now dangling. Unluckily, the mannequin that pushed her is also holding onto her legs trying to get her to let go.

The Doctor's hearts pound harshly in his chest and his eyes are opened wide; his face goes pallid. Tendons in his neck are standing out, and he is blinking rapidly. A soft 'no' is whispered out before he is struggling like mad to get to her. "Layla! Layla, hold on tight please! Don't let go!" Blood is rushing in his ears. He is trying to free himself, but more mannequins are holding onto him and he is unable to get away. I have only just found her! I can't lose her now!

Rose is beyond scared, she is petrified. She had called her mom, and she is out shopping with those mannequins around, the Doctor is being held captive by the mannequins, and her best friend is hanging on for her life, with a mannequin on her legs. Stupid mannequins. Mickey is holding onto her legs crying and she doesn't know what to do to help. She looks around for anything that can help her to save them. Mickey is shouting at her to just leave him, not seeing Layla hanging from the railing since he is crouched down to the ground and a level above them. But how can she leave her best friend and a man who makes her want to experience new things?

"I've got not A-Levels, no job, and no future." She grabs an axe and chops through the metal ring that is holding a very long chain to the wall and takes a firm hold. "But I tell you what I have got. Jericho Street Junior School under 7's gymnastic team. I've got the bronze!" She runs and swings out along the side of the catwalk kicking the mannequins into the vat. The one holding the anti-plastic was also kicked into the vat causing it to turn blue as the Consciousness cries out in agony.

"Rose!" The Doctor reaches out and grabs her around the waist and pulls her onto the catwalk when she swings by. He quickly let's go and goes to pull up Layla. Before he can reach out to her though, he sees her fingers slip and she starts to fall. He dives towards her quickly and is able to grab her wrist and he holds on tight.

Determination flows through him and he pulls her up quickly. He wants to hug her tightly, but now isn't the time. "Now we're in trouble." Explosions start and the signals from the Eye stop. The mannequins start to stagger and fall over. The Doctor is holding onto Layla's hand tightly pulling her towards the Tardis. Rose and Mickey follow behind them. Mickey is on the floor panicking while Rose and Layla grab onto the railing as the Doctor runs around the console piloting her away to a safer place.

The Tardis materializes on the embankment by a row of shuttered kiosks and Mickey runs out, terrified. Rose's phone rings and sees it is her mother. She listens for a few seconds before she hangs up with a smile. She goes over to Mickey, who is trying to hide behind a pallet. Layla goes up to him and hugs him and tells him she is glad he is alright. The Doctor looks on with a strained smile in the doorway of the Tardis.

"A fat lot of good you were." Rose says smugly to the Doctor.

The Doctor snaps his fingers. "Nestene Consciousness? Easy." He painfully remembers the terror he felt when he almost lost Layla and that he couldn't help her before she got to that point. However, a new determination flows through him to do better at protecting her. She is his to keep and he wants and needs her safe.

"We were pretty useless in there, Doctor." Layla says with a wry grin.

"Yeah, you'd both be dead if it wasn't for me. See, I don't need to be a kickarse mixed martial artist to save the day like you Layla." Rose says with a cheeky grin.

"Yes, we would. Thank you." The Doctor is very appreciative to the blonde for helping out.

Layla hugs Rose tight. "You're the bestest friend I could ever have Rose."

The Doctor clears his throat to get their attention. "Right then, I'll be off, unless, er, I don't know, you two could come with me. This box isn't just a London hopper, you know. It goes anywhere in the universe free of charge." The Doctor asked this like it would be no big deal if they said no, but he was tense and starting to sweat. He was just holding himself back from outright begging Layla to come. He also likes the idea of traveling with Rose. She was good companion material. If Layla did come, he also thought she would be happier to have her best friend with her too. Plus, it would help keep him in check and not overwhelming her with his feelings and sexual tension. It's funny to him, he has been in a lot of relationships but the feelings were never as strong as this. Feelings that he was quickly developing and couldn't regret that they were happening to begin with, for all that he tried to avoid anything domestic.

"Don't. He's an alien. He's a thing." Mickey says tearfully, worried that they would be charmed by this new creature and run off with him.

The Doctor glared at Mickey for trying to convince them to stay. "He's not invited. What do you think? You could stay here, fill your life with work and food and sleep, or you could go anywhere." He knew he was laying it on thick, but he really wanted them to come.

Rose looks conflicted. "Is it always this dangerous?"

"Yeah." The Doctor was slightly worried this would deter them, but they needed to know that it wouldn't always be an easy or fun adventure.

Layla stayed quiet while she waited for Rose to make her decision. She had decided she was going to go; this was a once in a lifetime opportunity. She didn't want to influence Rose though, especially since she had Mickey to consider. She avoided looking at the Doctor to not give away her intention to go and say something before Rose decided. She can feel him looking at her though.

"Yeah, I can't. I've er, I've got to go and find my mum and someone's got to look after this stupid lump, so." Rose knew she was giving up a great thing, but she couldn't just leave and be gone for an undetermined amount of time, especially with her mum looking for her.

Layla could hear the longing to go in Rose's voice and knew she had to say something so Rose wouldn't miss this chance. Before the Doctor could say anything she cuts in. "Rose, don't you remember what Tardis stands for? Time and Relative Dimensions in Space. The Tardis is a time machine. We could be gone for weeks and the Doctor could get us back to this exact time like nothing has happened." Layla knew that Rose was along for the ride when she beamed a wide and excited smile.

Rose looks at Mickey and kisses him on the cheek. "Thanks."

Mickey was confused. "Thanks for what?"

She smirks. "Exactly." She grabs Layla's hand and follows the Doctor into the Tardis where he pilots her away and dematerializes in front of a baffled and upset Mickey.