Promised One 2

by arielle.dawnn

A continuation of season one with my OC Layla.

1. Christmas Invasion

The new Doctor smiles back at Layla happy that she seems to recognize him. He is excited and ready for a new adventure. No regenerating is going to hold him back. He starts to dash around the console and flicks switches and levels while checking the monitor. "6 PM… Tuesday…" Rose is looking on, half concealed by a pillar and Layla is watching with a slightly amused look, but is also very curious, and bemused. He is definitely an alien. The Doctor pays them no mind, he just continues working around the console. "October… 5006… On the way to Barcelona!" He straightens up and looks back and forth between the girls with a big grin on his face showing how pleased with himself he was.

The grin drops into a little more serious expression as he looks at them, still not registering their looks. "Now then… What do I look like?" He doesn't even give them a chance to reply before he is holding up his hands to silence the already quiet girls. "No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. No. Don't tell me."

This time Rose looks bemused and Layla has to stifle a small chuckle because even though she seen him change, she can see the old Doctor in this new one's eyes, and she can still see some of the old Doctor's personality in this new one. He definitely still has a gob on him.

"Let's see… two legs, two arms, two hands…" He grabs his left wrist with his right hand and circles and squeezes it slightly "Slight weakness in the dorsal tubercle."

He then goes to the thing he is most worried about… apparently. His hands shoot up to his head, slight worry on his face as he pats around feeling his hair. "Hair! I'm not bald!" Layla looks at Rose to see if she finds this as humorous as she does and she can see that Rose is not taking this change well at all.

The Doctor is still playing with his hair, making it even more wild than it was before and sticking it in all kinds of directions. "Oh, oh! Big hair!" He moves his hands down and feels his sideburns and looks extremely excited. "Sideburns, I've got sideburns! Or really bad skin. Little bit thinner…" He slaps his stomach. "That's weird. Give me time, I'll get used to it." He starts shifting around, doing some weird movement with his torso and his face is scrunched up, he rotates his shoulders and this wide beaming smile like he made the best discovery in the universe appears on his face. "I… have got… a mole. I can feel it."

Layla can hear Rose breathing heavily and on her way to a panic attack and the Doctor is totally oblivious. Well, it is good to see that not everything has changed and why is he still talking about a mole? "Between my shoulder blades, there's a mole. That's alright. Love the mole." He finally looks at the girls and gives them a grin, settling on Layla. "Go on then, tell me. What do you think?" He is really hoping she likes this regeneration.

"Who are you?" Rose's question was asked timidly, but heard by both the Doctor and Layla.

His face falls as he sees how she is hiding from him and doesn't seem to believe that he is still himself. "I'm the Doctor."

Rose shakes her head not believing him. "No… where is he? Where's the Doctor? What have you done to him?" Towards the end her voice had risen with the surge of different emotions. Where is my Doctor?

"You saw me, I, I changed… right in front of you." He looks towards Layla pleadingly with tense shoulders to see if she believed him and he relaxes when she gives him a calm nod. He isn't sure why she believes him and Rose doesn't, but he is happy for it.

For Layla, it is a mixture. She can see it in his eyes, his mannerisms, the fact that it happened right in front of her. But, the biggest thing, was that she still felt this pull towards him. One she has felt for a while since meeting him, the safety, the comfort.

"I saw him sort of explode, and then you replaced him, like a… a teleport or a transmat or a body swap or something."

The Doctor doesn't say anything and lets her talk. He is somewhat speechless. It is probably his fault for not telling and explaining to them about his regenerations, but he was hoping he didn't have to, at least not so soon, and his other companions that had been around when he had to had reacted a lot better. But then again, Rose didn't react well to the Tardis being in her head either.

Rose takes a few steps towards him and pushes him in the chest. "I've seen all sorts of things. Nanogenes… Gelth…" She gives him a dark look and she thinks she knows what happened. "Slitheen…" The Doctor just raises his brow, incredulous that she would think that he was a Slitheen of all things. But she takes that as a possible confirmation. "Oh, my god, are you a Slitheen?"

"Rose, he is too skinny to be a Slitheen. He is smaller than one of their legs. They wouldn't be able to fit in his skinny body." Layla was trying to help the Doctor out, she could see that Rose's disbelief was starting to hurt the Doctor's feelings, that she didn't trust him when he told her it was him.

The Doctor looked at Layla thankfully and gave her a nod, he turned towards Rose and looked at her calmly. "I'm not a Slitheen."

"Send him back. I'm warning you; send the Doctor back right now!" Rose had gone from talking to shouting as she demanded him to change back.

He flinched slightly, even if he could change back, he didn't want to. This body feels better, he feels… happier. Less broody, less angry. He wouldn't want to go back to how he was, and he can only think of one reason why he would be that way as he side-eyes Layla. He looks at Rose somewhat pleadingly. "Rose, it's me. Honestly it is." She doesn't respond but her breathing is fast and he knows he needs to explain better and quick before the has an anxiety attack. "I was dying. To save my own life I changed my body. Every single cell, but… it's still me."

"You can't be." She whispers, her eyes start to burn and her heart hurts.

"Then how could I remember this? Very first word I ever said to you. Trapped in that cellar. Surrounded by shop window dummies… such a long time ago. I took your hand." He didn't do that this time, but he was staring intently at her to get her to believe his words. "I said one word… just one word, I said… 'run'."

He gazes at her as her eyes fill with tears. "Doctor." She murmurs.

He nods to her and looks at Layla, wanting to show her and wants her to be one hundred percent sure. "And you, the first thing you said to me, you were saying how I pulled the arm off so easily and what did I do that semi-naked seemingly moving plastic felt the need to attack me. So perceptive and cheeky, you." The Doctor gives her a grin and she can't help but laugh.

Rose finally realizes that this man is the Doctor. But he isn't her Doctor. Or is he? She doesn't know anymore and is so confused on what she is feeling and what is happening. She sighs heavily and stumbles backwards as the impact of what has just happened hits her hard, and why it happened. It's all my fault. I did this.

The Doctor continued on talking, not noticing that Rose was deep in her own thoughts. "And we never stopped, did we? All across the universe. Running, running, running… One time we had to hop. Do you remember? Hopping for our lives." He started hopping and Layla laughed at how ridiculous he looked. He looked like he stuck his finger in a socket and tried on his older brothers' clothes and was hopping around with a goofy grin on his face. He wraps an arm around Layla and sighs at being able to touch her again after the thoughts from the Game Station. Not hearing from Rose, he looks at her and sees that she is just staring at him. "No?"

"Can you change back?"

The Doctor winces. "Do you want me to?"

"Yeah." Layla inwardly grimaces at this. She might think that the previous version of him was slightly more attractive than this one, but he seems happier than the last. Less broody and he seemed so excited, especially when he was playing with his hair. But she doesn't care what he looks like, she is his friend, and she wants him to be happy, no matter what he looks like.

His face goes kind of blank. "Oh."

Rose looks at him hopefully. "Can you?"

"…No." He wasn't happy that she asked. He wasn't happy at first that he had to regenerate because he was worried about Layla and how she would feel, but she doesn't seem to care and he feels a lot better, emotionally and mentally. He looks at Rose. "Do you want to leave?"

"Do you want me to leave?" Her voice with tinged with hurt and her eyes were wide open.

"No! But… your choice… if you want to go home…" He didn't ask Layla, he didn't want to ask her, hoping that by not asking, she won't say anything about it. He goes to the console. "Cancel Barcelona. Change to… London… the Powell Estate… ah… let's say the 24th of December." He looks at her. "Consider it a Christmas present." Now that he thinks about it, he does have something he wants to give Layla, this trip would be the perfect opportunity to give it to her. He types in the coordinates as Rose gets closer. "There." He tucks his hands under his armpits in a defensive way and shifts closer to Layla seeking her comfort. He is grateful when he feels her hand slide underneath his jacket and rub his back like she used to do.

"We're going home?" The Doctor didn't like how she included Layla in that, but he didn't say anything.

"Up to you. Back to your mum… it's all waiting. Fish and chips, sausage and mash, beans on toast… no, Christmas! Turkey! Although… having met your mother… nut loaf would be more appropriate." Rose looks down trying to hide a smile. "Was that a smile?"

"No." But she refuses to look at him.

"You liar, you know when it comes to the Doctor your mum can get a little…" Layla trails off and grins at Rose who quirks her lips up.

"You smiled." The Doctor teased Rose.

"No, I didn't." She pouts.

"Oh, come on, all I did was change, I didn't…" He stops talking as he suddenly gags and the Tardis shudders. Layla and Rose look at him worryingly.

"What?"

"What's wrong Doctor?" Layla could feel the tenseness in the Doctor's back and he was starting to tremble.

"I said I didn't…" He gags again but this time it more violent and he makes this nasty retching noise. "Uh oh."

Rose gets a little closer to him, slowly, like she was worried she would catch whatever was wrong with him. "Er… are you alright?"

He gags again and golden energy comes flowing out of his mouth. Layla looks on curious. It looks like the vortex. Did he not get rid of it all from his body? Rose doesn't remember the vortex though. Her memory is still blank from when she was at home until she woke up on the floor and didn't recognize the energy. "What's that?"

"Oh… the change is going a bit wrong and all." He gags again and falls to his knees. His face contorts in pain and he grabs his head.

"Look… maybe we should go back. Let's go and find Captain Jack, he'd know what to do." Rose helps him stand up with Layla's help and they hold onto him as he moves a little erratically.

"Yeah, what happened to him anyways, is he okay? Safe?" Layla was worried, she hadn't seen him when they came back, and with everything going on, he had slipped from her mind.

"Gah, he's busy. He's fine. He's got plenty to do rebuilding the earth!" The Doctor looks up and seems to hone in on something on the console. "I haven't used this one in years." He flicks it and the Tardis shudders violently. They all stumble almost falling onto the floor.

"What're you doing?!" Rose screams at him.

"Putting on a bit of speed! That's all!" The Doctor has a crazy grin on his face and Layla is doing her best to stay standing and hold onto the Doctor so he doesn't fall either since he doesn't seem the most stable right now. He turns more knobs and levers. "My beautiful ship! Come on, faster! That's a girl!"

The girls are looking at him alarmed as the shaking gets even worse than before and they feel the Tardis speed going faster than they have ever gone before. The Doctor's eyes are wide and his smile is showing practically all of his teeth like a psychopath. "Faster! Wanna break the time limit?!"

"Stop it!" Rose's grip on the console slips and she is flung a little bit away from the Doctor. There haven't been many times where the Doctor has scared her, the biggest time she can recall is when Layla got eaten by the reaper, but this was starting to come in as a good runner up to that one.

"Ah, don't be so dull… let's have a bit of fun! Let's rip through that vortex!" He sneers at her nastily.

"Doctor, tone down the crazy please." Layla soft calming voice is what finally penetrates through the madness.

He looks at her with remorse, he can see the fear in her eyes, and he is angry at himself for scaring her. "The regeneration's going wrong. I can't stop myself." He grimaces in pain again and hunches over. "Ah, my head… listen, when we land, I doubt I will be awake long, I need to sleep. That will be the only way I will heal, let me sleep as long as possible. I will wake when I am healed." The moment of rationality ends and he violently springs up, standing and his voice has gone back to being a psychopath. "Faster! Let's open those engines!"

A bell rings and Rose looks around confused. "What's that?"

He suddenly appears in her sight causing her to stumble backwards and he looks at her absolutely ecstatic. "We're gonna crash land!"

The bell hasn't stop ringing and Rose has to yell over it to be heard. "Well then, do something!"

"Too late! Out of control!" He starts to run around the console practically skipping in glee and giggling. "Oh, I love it! hot dawg!"

"You're gonna kill us!" Rose screeches at him.

"Rose, yelling at him when something is wrong with him is not going to help, just hold on tight and prepare to hit hard." Layla herself had sat down on the grating and was wrapping herself around one of the rail bars.

"Here we go! Christmas Eve!" The Doctor doesn't hold onto anything. He was so far gone in his craze that he didn't even think about the girls. He knew if he had been thinking rationally this would have never happened, and if it had, he would have been wrapping himself around Layla to protect her more. But the guilt of how much danger he put them in won't hit until far later. As soon as they land, he shoots off towards the doors before the girls have fully registered that they have landed.

xxxxxx

Jackie is half-heartedly decorating her flat for Christmas when she looks at the gifts she had wrapped for her girls. She looks at them thoughtfully, wondering how they were doing, if they were okay, and when or if she would ever see them again. These last three months since they left to save the Doctor have been miserable for her and Mickey. But they stuck together, they had faith that everything would be okay, but it doesn't help the hurt, the emptiness of not having them around. She sets the gifts under the tree but her head snaps upwards when she hears a familiar noise and listens intently. Recognizing it, she bolts out the door. "Rose! Layla!"

Mickey has also had the same thoughts that Jackie has had. He hopes that Rose and Layla are alright, and even if he isn't a big fan of him, he hopes the Doctor is too, if only because the girls care about him. Mickey and Jackie have been able to take some comfort in each other's company though. He goes over and visits with her several times a week and they have dinner and catch up. He is going over there after work today as well since it is the day before Christmas and all. Right now, though, Mickey is at work. He too, hears a faintly familiar noise. "Hey, turn that down. Turn it off, Stevo. Turn that off! John, shut up!" He listens intently and realizes what is it and runs off towards the noise.

Xxxxxx

"Mickey!" Jackie sees him running towards the same area that she was headed to.

"Jackie, it's the Tardis!" They are okay!

"I know, I know, I heard it. They're alive, Mickey. I said so, didn't I? They're alive!" Jackie was rambling all excited that her girls were finally coming home and she could see for herself that they were alright.

"Just shut up a minute." He was trying to figure out where they were coming in from, they could hear the Tardis, but it had yet to materialize.

"Well, where is it then?" It had never taken this long for the Tardis to materialize before.

They are both facing the same way when the Tardis comes out of the vortex in midair and bounces off one block of the flat, a second, and a third, luckily not damaging them. It avoids a post office van and finally crashes into a set of waste bins. The doors immediately open. They see a man who was wearing strangely familiar clothing come stumbling out.

"Here we are then London. Earth. The Solar System. We did it." He sees Jackie and Mickey and his face lights up happily. "Jackie. Mickey. Blimey! No, no, no, no, hold on. Wait there. I've got something to say. There was something I had to tell you, something important." The whole time he was rambling he was moving around erratically circling Jackie and Mickey and they were following him warily wondering who the hell he was and how he knew them. "What was it? No, hold on, hold on. Hold on, shush, shush, shush, shush. Oh, I know! Merry Christmas!" He then collapses onto the ground out cold.

Layla and Rose come running out when they realize that they have landed and the Doctor had taken off. When they get outside, they see him passed out on the ground. Layla sighs and goes towards him while Rose looks at him and bites her lip. All my fault.

Rose looks at her mum and Mickey. "What happened? Is he alright?"

Layla is checking on his pulse and the back of his head to make sure that he isn't bleeding. They didn't need to add a head wound to the list of problems they had to deal with right now.

Mickey shrugged. "I don't know, he just keeled over. But who is he? Where's the Doctor?"

"That's him, right in front of you. That's the Doctor." Rose told him a little hesitant like she still wasn't one hundred percent sure herself. Mickey grimaced. Rose will think that this man is more of attractive than big ears was. His shoulders slump as he realizes that his chances of getting back with her have gone down even more.

Jackie looks between the girls with her brows furrowed. "What do you mean, that's the Doctor? Doctor who?" Seems like they all forget at times that the Doctor is not human. Layla thought to herself as she sees the confusion on everyone's face. She isn't going to say she understand everything, because she doesn't, but she knows that the Doctor is an alien, and they have seen aliens do weird things. This one must just be a perk of his species.

Xxxxxx

It didn't take much to convince Mickey to change the Doctor into some pajamas that Jackie had around the flat. He was the only guy around and he didn't want Rose doing it and seeing the alien without clothes on. He then sits out in the living room, not wanting to crowd in the room, or see Rose put so much care and attention on another man. They were all back in Rose's room where she had insisted on putting the Doctor. He was tucked in and sleeping soundly and they were waiting on Jackie to see if she could get any type of medical equipment they could use.

Layla had thought about digging through his jacket pockets, figuring that he had all kinds of useful things in there, but she was hesitant. Now that they were home, and the Doctor was seemingly safe, the numbness from before was starting to fade and the grief was slowly coming through. Yes, the Doctor was laying there, in the bed, alive and breathing. But he had sent them home while he stayed, assuming he was going to die, and in a way, he did die. And now, she didn't want to mess with his jacket, doesn't want to go digging around in it. Hell she didn't know what she would find.

The Doctor kept all kinds of weird things. She wouldn't be surprised to find useful things, she knows he has first aid kit, and an ungodly number of bananas, which any amount more than zero is too many. But hell, knowing him, he would probably have a bowling ball, or a string of holiday lights, some cymbals, or even a tortilla press. And now she was having to fight the temptation of giggling at the insane idea of taking his bananas and using a bowling ball to roll over them or the tortilla press to smash them and she knows that her thoughts are turning into a hysterical mess.

She is knocked out of her thoughts when Jackie comes back into the room with a stethoscope and hands it to Rose. "Here we go. Tina the cleaner's got this lodger, a medical student, and she was fast asleep, so I just took it. Though I still say we should take him to the hospital."

"Jackie, while I am sure that he would appreciate your concern, he is an alien, and who knows what he would do while he is sleeping. Could be something that would show that he isn't a human besides the internal organs." Layla wrapped her arm around Jackie's waist and leaned her head on her shoulder.

"We can't. They'd lock him up. They'd dissect him. One bottle of his blood could change the future of the human race. No! Shush!" Rose's worry over the Doctor was making her more irritable and snappier than usual. She was doing everything she could to hold back the tears as she stares at him and remembers how it is her fault that he is in this position.

"He should be okay, he told me he just needs to sleep to heal. So I assume that as long as we don't wake him, he will heal faster." Layla let Rose know what the Doctor told her, but wasn't expecting the look she got from her.

Rose's mouth thinned and she squinted her eyes at Layla, the jealously could obviously be heard in her voice. "How do you know that?" What else has he told her that he hasn't told me? Did she know about this face changing thing? What other secrets do they have?

Layla looked at her slightly confused. "He told me he needed to sleep in a moment of lucidness when he was crashing the Tardis on the way here. Didn't say anything else though, just that he needs to sleep to heal. If he needs anything else, he will have to tell us when he wakes."

Rose swallows harshly and bites her lip. It had hurt her to think that the Doctor had been telling Layla things and not her and she was jealous. She puts the stethoscope on the Doctor's chest and she listens to both sides of his chest to check his heart beats. "Both working."

"What do you mean, both?" Jackie looked at her oddly.

"Well, he's got two hearts." Rose was telling her mum this like it was totally normal. And after everything she has seen, she supposed it was sort of normal to just expect stuff like this.

"Oh, don't be stupid."

"He has." She snaps.

Jackie's eyebrows went up and her mouth pursed in thought. "Anything else he's got two of?" Layla tossed her head back in laughter at the question. I love Jackie. Jackie looks at Layla and can see that some of the grief that she had seen earlier has cleared. Not a lot, but she would take what she could get.

"Leave him alone." Rose says a little nastily as she stands and leaves the room and Jackie follows after her wanting to get more information. Layla looks at the Doctor in time to see him exhale some of the golden energy that drifts off towards the window. Yeah, a fine example of why they can't take him to the hospital. That just screams, 'I'm totally normal, don't experiment on me, please'.

Rose goes into the kitchen to look for some food, trying to keep from thinking about what had happened. But her mum just wouldn't let her, she slams the fridge door shut as her mum sits at the table and starts to grill her. "How can he go changing his face? is that a different face or is he a different person?"

"How should I know?" She snapped, but then felt guilty. "Sorry. The thing is I thought I knew him, mum. I thought me and him were... And then he goes and does this. I keep forgetting he's not human. The big question is where'd you get a pair of men's pajamas from?"

Jackie just looks at her daughter for a moment. She can see that Rose has feelings for the Doctor, but she could also see that in Layla's eyes too. But Layla is not going to claim him like Rose has, not unless the Doctor himself went to Layla first. And it isn't because Layla doesn't go for what she wants, it's because Rose also has feelings for him. Layla would never let a man come between them unless the interest was returned. But until the Doctor, there hasn't been a man that both of her girls were interested in, not like Rose and Shareen. That is a question she wants an answer to. Does he even have feelings for one of her girls? And if so, which one does he want to be with? And which one will she have to comfort when the dust settles? "Howard's been staying over."

"What, Howard from the market? How long's that been going on?"

"A month or so. First of all, he starts delivering to the door and I thought, that's odd. Next thing you know, it's a bag of oranges…" She is cut off when Rose spots someone familiar on the telly.

"Is that Harriet Jones?" She walks out of the kitchen and into the living room, paying no mind to her mum.

Jackie sighs in disappointment. "Oh, never mind me."

Jackie follows Rose into the living room and smiles as she sees Layla and Mickey goofing around like they used to do all the time. She is pleased that the bruises that were on her face are clearing up and look a lot more healed than they did the last time she had seen her, which apparently was less than an hour to them.

Rose turned up the volume on the telly. "Why's she on the telly?"

"She's Prime Minister now. I'm eighteen quid a week better off. They're calling it Britain's Golden Age. I keep on saying my Rose and Layla have met her." She always likes to boast about her girls. While she hasn't had Layla in her house as long, they are both her pride and joy.

"Did more than that. Stopped World War Three with her. Harriet Jones…" She mused.

They watch the news for a little while longer before Mickey asks Rose if she would like to out with him for a little while. Rose agrees figuring she could get some Christmas presents while she was out as well as spend some time with her somewhat boyfriend. Layla isn't worried about it. She had been picking up souvenirs for Jackie and Mickey while they were traveling and she will give them the random things she thought they would like from the different planets and species.

Xxxxxx

"So, what do you need? Twenty quid?" Mickey asked Rose as they walked down the sidewalk downtown London.

"Do you mind? I'll pay you back." She asks as she conveniently forgets that she doesn't have a job and therefore no money.

He waves it off though. "Call it a Christmas present."

"God, I'm all out of sync. You just forget about Christmas and things in the Tardis. They don't exist. You get sort of timeless." Rose rambles on with a dreamy smile on her face oblivious to the sour look on Mickey's.

"Oh, yeah, that's fascinating, because I love hearing stories about the Tardis. Oh, go on Rose, tell us another one because I swear, I could listen to it all day. Tardis this, Tardis that." At least with Layla, she can talk about other things besides the Tardis, unless it is to tell me about things I'd like, or the Doctor. Like she told me about that mixed martial arts fight she was in. And, unlike Rose, Layla asked what I had been up to and how I was doing.

She pushes him playfully. "Shut up."

"Oh, and one time the Tardis landed in a big yellow garden full of balloons."

"I'm not like that!" She said indignantly.

"Oh, you so are."

"Mmm, must drive you mad. I'm surprised you don't give up on me." She wraps her arm around his and leans against his shoulder as they walk.

"Oh, that's the thing, isn't it? You can rely on me. I don't go changing my face." Sometimes he wondered why he kept trying with Rose, but then he would see her smile at him and think about the good memories they had, how much he loves her, and remembers why he continues to try.

"Yeah." The smile she had been giving him fades into worry as her thoughts go right back to the Doctor. "What if he's dying?"

Mickey stops walking, clearly irritated. "Okay."

"Sorry!"

"Just let it be Christmas. Can you do that? Just for a bit. You and me and Christmas. No Doctor, no bog monsters, no life, or death." He was pleading with her, and the realization that he had to do that makes his heart clench painfully. But he doesn't want to give up.

She nods her head. "Okay."

"Promise?"

"Yes!" It was the least she could do. She knew she was stringing him along, but for some reason, she just couldn't let him go. Mickey gives her a grateful and happy smile that causes a tightness in her chest from the guilt.

"Right! What're you going to get your mum?" They continue to walk around the market for a little while longer. It was somewhat busy, being Christmas time and all, but Rose had a weird feeling of being watched. She started looking around as Mickey kept talking. "I'm round there all the time now, you know. She does my dinner on a Sunday, talks about you and Layla all afternoon. Yap, yap, yap."

Rose's eyes hone in on some weird figures standing in the distance. Looking at the faces, she could see that they looked like plastic masks and that they were actually following her and Mickey. When they realize that Rose has caught onto them, they stopped playing and one fires a flame out of his trombone, creating a panic in the crowd. Mickey drags Rose behind a nearby stall as they watch the fake Santa's. "It's us! They're after us!" They watch as the Santa's go around creating all kinds of destruction before they flee.

"What's going on? What've we done? Why are they after us?" Mickey had a feeling that he knew what she was going to say.

"Taxi! They're after the Doctor."

I knew it, he thought. "I can't even go shopping with you. We get attacked by a brass band. Who're you phoning?"

"My mum." She tries calling, but all she gets is the dial tone telling her that her mum is once again on the phone. "Get off the phone!"

"Who were those Santa things?

"I don't know. But think about it. They were after us. What's important about us? Well, nothing, except the one thing we've got tucked up in bed. The Doctor."

Xxxxxx

When Mickey and Rose left, Layla had flopped down onto the sofa facing down. She is exhausted. She hasn't slept since before they were in Japan except for that small nap on Game Station. Then the whole Game Station event happened and her fighting tournament. She wants to sleep, but with Rose gone, she wants to stay awake incase the Doctor needs her for something. He told her he needed to sleep, but he didn't say hold long and he wasn't really in the state of mind to tell her anything else he might need.

She can hear Jackie humming in the kitchen happily and Layla smiles. She figures it is because she and Rose are back and it is Christmas. She just feels bad that the Doctor is injured and she knows Rose is very upset about it. Whether it is because she has feelings for him, or because she thinks it is her fault, Layla doesn't know, but Rose had been holding back tears the whole time they had been here.

She had been laying on the couch for a while and was starting to fall asleep. She lethargically got up and decided to go check on the Doctor. She doubted he had changed, but for her peace of mind she went anyways. Going into Rose's room, she sees that he hadn't changed positions or moved at all. She grabs the stethoscope and checks his hearts and hears that they are beating strongly, and the double beats is strangely soothing. She grabs a chair from Rose's desk and brings it to the side of the bed. She doesn't know if the Doctor is aware and can hear around him or not, but she decides to talk to him just in case he is, and give him something to think about besides the quiet.

"If you don't heal up well, and soon, I am going to throw all of your bananas away and I will convince the Tardis to get rid of any you bring on board as well." There. Better to start with a simple threat. Nothing speeds the Doctor up like threatening his naners. She looks at his body to see if there was any change and pouts when she can't detect anything. She grabs his hand and sighs at the touch and is slightly startled when she feels his hand tighten around hers a little bit.

"Well, at least I know that you are indeed sleeping and not in a coma." She is gently rubbing her thumb over the back of his hand, absent mindlessly. "You really have Rose worried. She thinks it is her fault you're like this. I'm not sure what to think about it. Hell, you even have Jackie worried for you. You've come a long way from that slap she gave you. I noticed something earlier too. Before we brought you up here, I noticed that the Tardis wasn't responding like she normally does. I could barely hear her. I am assuming it is because she is tied to you, and you're injured."

Jackie comes into the room while she is on the phone and carrying a mug of tea. "Oh, no. don't come round, darling. No, flat's all topsy turvy. Yeah, they just barge in and litter the place. Yeah. No, I'll come round and see you on Boxing Day." Jackie sets the mug down on the side table next to the Doctor and looks at Layla. "In case he wakes up." When she leaves, Layla sees more of the golden energy come out of his mouth.

"See, I told you she was worried, we all are." She lapses into silence. She had thought about leaving and letting the Doctor sleeping in peace, but when she tried to pull her hand away, he tightened it and didn't seem like he wanted to let go. She didn't want to wake him, and it seemed like he wanted to know that someone was there while he was vulnerable. Layla is startled when she hears the front door slam open and then slam shut again and Rose yell at her mum to get off the phone. She looks at the Doctor and tries to get him to let go of her hand but he won't let go. "Doctor, there seems to be something going on, I would like to be informed, please let go. I will come back. I promise." As if accepting her words, he slowly let's go of her hand and she walks into the living room to a panicked Rose and Mickey.

"My mate Stan, he'll put us up."

Rose shook her head. "That's only two streets away." She turns to her mum. "What about Mo? Where's she living now?"

Jackie is looking at Rose oddly, but her panicking is starting to make Jackie panic a little. "I don't know. Peak District."

"Well, we'll go to cousin Mo's then."

"No, it's Christmas Eve! We're not going anywhere! What're you babbling about?" Jackie was not understanding why they had to leave their flat all of a sudden.

Rose wasn't paying attention to her though. She was staring at the Christmas tree in the room. "Mum. Where'd you get that tree? That's a new tree. Where'd you get it?"

Jackie looks at the tree warily. "I thought it was you."

"Why would she buy a new tree? We both loved the white one." Layla asked looking confused.

"How can it be me?"

"Well, you went shopping. There was a ring at the door, and there it was!" Now that Jackie is thinking about it, it doesn't really make sense.

"No, that wasn't me."

"Then who was it?"

The tree lights up by itself and starts to play Jingle Bells. Sections of the tree start to rotate in different directions, creating a strong wind. It starts to move and it chops through the coffee table. "Oh, you're kidding me." Rose moaned.

"No, I don't think so. Now, we need to move!" Layla moves towards Rose's room.

"Get out! Go, go! Get out!" Mickey picks up a chair to fend it off while Rose and Jackie run for the door.

"We've got to save the Doctor." Rose runs into her room and stops realizing she has no idea how to save him with the only way out is blocked and it took three of them to bring him up and slowly in the first place.

"What're you doing?"

"Mum, we can't just leave him."

"Mickey, while I applaud the bravery and the gallant effort to protect us damsels in distress, get your ass in here with us." The spinning tree shreds the chair legs and Mickey looks at Layla and gives an aggressive nod showing that he agrees with her.

"Leave it! Get out! Get out!" Jackie screamed at them. "Get out of there! No, leave him. Just leave him!" Even as Jackie said it, she grimaced and felt a tightness in her chest as the guilt hit her. She may not be the biggest fan of the Doctor, but he has helped them and he makes her girls happy and she was telling them to abandon them to this killer tree.

Layla had dragged Mickey into Rose's room and Mickey stuck his head out the door. "Get in here!" Jackie gives in and quickly runs to them as the tree heads for them. When she gets in Mickey and Layla push Rose's wardrobe in front of the door and lean against it to try to hold it closed.

Rose runs over to the Doctor and is shaking his shoulders. I can't do it. I need my Doctor. He always fixes things. He can fix this too. "Doctor, wake up!"

When he doesn't move, she goes to his old clothes and rummages in his pockets for his sonic screwdriver and puts it in his hand. The tree smashes through the door and is getting through the wardrobe. Layla is looking over towards Rose and the Doctor, and while she doesn't want to wake the Doctor, she agrees with Rose that he is the only one who can save them right now. She is just hoping that Rose can get him awake.

"I'm going to get killed by a Christmas tree!" This was not the death that Jackie pictured for herself, and not this young either.

Rose leans over and speaks into his ear. "Help me." But he doesn't move. She sits back and tears fill her eyes. She doesn't know what else to do.

The tree is almost through the wardrobe and Mickey has moved away to keep from getting chopped, but he sees that Layla has stayed and refused to move, ensuring that there is still some resistance against the tree. He can see the determination on her face and knows that she won't give in, even if it hurts her.

Which apparently it does. He sees her face contort in pain. "Layla! No! Let go!" He goes over and pulls her away and at the same time he misses seeing the Doctor shoot up and aiming his screwdriver at the tree causing it to explode. Rose looks on at the scene while biting her lip. Did he not wake for me because he needed time to come into consciousness or was it because of Layla? The more she thinks about it, she writes the latter off. He didn't wake for her, why would he wake for Layla. Yeah, he must have just needed a bit to fully wake up.

However, she was right about the latter. It wasn't until he had heard that Layla was in trouble that he was able to wake, the bond giving him the boost he needed to rise up. "Remote control. But who's controlling it?" He gets out of bed and goes to Layla who had her back facing Mickey and her shirt pulled up showing him her back, but keeping her front covered. The Doctor swallows the growl that almost escapes his throat. He steps closer to her and sees that her back is scratched up and there are splinters in her skin. "Let's take care of the tree controllers and then we will take care of you."

"I'm in no hurry or going anywhere. Lead the way, Doctor." She hands him a dressing gown and the Doctor leads them to the balcony. The look towards the ground and see three Santa's looking up at them and one is holding a controller.

"That's them. What are they?" Mickey said this more for Layla's benefit, letting her know why him and Rose came back in a panic.

"Shush!" Rose snapped at him.

The Doctor has a cold look on his face, his eyes are darkened in anger. They hurt my Promised One. He aims his screwdriver at them and the Santa's back away. They then beam away and are gone. Mickey scoffs unimpressed. "They've just gone. What kind of rubbish were they? I mean, no offense, but they're not much cop if a sonic screwdriver's going to scare them off."

"Pilot fish." The Doctor informed them.

"What?" Rose asked him. Layla didn't know what it was either, but she wasn't really concerned about that. She was looking at the Doctor and she could see that he wasn't doing well. He was clammy and shaking really hard. His eyes showed his pain and his hands twitched.

"They were just pilot fish." He repeats thinking she didn't hear him. He curls over in pain and leans towards Layla looking for comfort only she could give to him.

Rose pushes Mickey out of the way and gets in his personal bubble. "What's wrong?"

"I woke up too soon. I'm still regenerating. I'm bursting with energy." He exhales more golden energy.

"Yeah, that is the third time I have seen you do it today." Layla told him.

He nodded his head, but winced at the action. "You see? The pilot fish could smell it a million miles away. So, they eliminate the defense, that's you lot, and they carry me off. They could run their batteries on me for a couple of ow!" He stumbles backwards towards the wall and slides down it taking Layla with him when she tried to catch and hold onto him. He grabs one of her hands and grips it tightly and gets some emotional relief from their bond and it helps him tolerate the pain a bit better.

"Oh! Oh! Oh!" Jackie was worried again.

The Doctor grabs his head with the hand that is not gripping Layla's. "My head! I'm having a neuron implosion. I need…"

"What do you need?" Jackie was ready to get him whatever he needed.

"I need…"

"Say it. Tell me, tell me, tell me." But she wouldn't let him get a word in to tell her.

"I need…"

"Painkillers?"

"I need…"

"Do you need aspirin?"

He tensed slightly and made a mental note to tell the girls to make sure no one ever gives him aspirin. "I need…"

"Codeine? Paracetamol? Oh, I don't know, Pepto-Bismol?"

"I need…"

"Liquid paraffin. Vitamin C? Vitamin D? Vitamin E?"

"I need…"

"Is it food? Something simple. Bowl of soup. A nice bowl of soup? Soup and a sandwich? Soup and a little ham sandwich?"

The Doctor finally lost his patience with the woman. Even though he is appreciative that she cares and is trying to help, the pain is making him snappy. "I need you to shut up."

Jackie griped. "Oh, he hasn't changed that much, has he?" Rose looked on bewildered. Layla though, she was outright laughing. She knew she had seen the old Doctor in this new one in the little bit of time that he had been awake. This just proved that while somethings might be different, i.e., less broody, and happier, his base personality hasn't changed.

He squeezes Layla's hand getting her attention and ceasing her laughter. "We haven't got much time. If there's pilot fish, then." He stops for a second and reaches into the dressing gown pocket. "Why's there an apple in my dressing gown?"

"Why do you keep bananas in your jacket pockets?" Layla turned the question around on him because both were just weird when you think about it.

Jackie blushed softly. "Oh, that's Howard. Sorry."

"He keeps apples in his dressing gown?"

"He gets hungry."

"What, he gets hungry in his sleep?" He was totally confused and didn't know why he was so stuck on this particular part of the conversation.

She just shrugged. "Sometimes."

"Seems more convenient to me, honestly. Maybe I should keep pears in my pockets from now on." Layla says with a happy grin that fades when she doesn't get the expected response from the Doctor, she normally gets anytime she brings up pears.

"Argh! Brain collapsing. The pilot fish means that something, something, something is coming." He passes out and he falls fully onto Layla causing her to fall onto the floor with the Time Lord laying on top of her. She would totally appreciate position this if he was conscious and not injured.

Xxxxxx

They manage to haul the Doctor back to bed and tuck him in. He wasn't looking so good now. He was sweating like he had a fever and he was shaking slightly like he was freezing. Mickey had left to get his laptop so they could do research on what he had told them before he passed out. "Jackie, I'm using the phone line. Is that alright?" Mickey asked and Jackie agreed knowing they needed information.

"Yeah. Keep a count on it. It's midnight. Christmas day." She leans against the door to Rose's room and sees Rose wiping a washcloth against the Doctor's forehead and Layla sitting hunched over in a chair with her elbows on her knees and hands holding up her head. "Any change?"

Rose shook her head and gave her mum a mournful look. "He's worse. Just one heart beating." She blinks her eyes rapidly to try to keep the tears from falling down. Only one thought running through her mind continuously, my fault.

Jackie looks at Layla and remembers, now that everything has calmed down, that she was hurt. "Come here, love. Let's get your back looked at and bandaged."

Layla sighs and gets up, her back slightly sore, but not too bad. Jackie takes her to the kitchen where there is the best light and she gathers the first aid box. She then helps Layla take her shirt off so it doesn't scrape against her back. Jackie tsks. "Well, it's mainly just scratches, but you do have some splinters that need to come out and those vary in size, but I'm sure you will feel better once they are out. Nothing that will scar though. Kind of looks like road rash more than anything."

"I'm not worried. You've patched me up before. I know I am in capable hands." Layla sits down in the chair facing the back and Jackie pulls up another one along with the rubbish bin. She washes her hands really well and then gets to work starting in one area and combing through to get the splinters out. One splinter was slightly large and she could see and feel Layla tense. "Ooh sorry, love. This piece looks like it is the biggest you have to worry about. Ah, see I figured you would feel better when these came out." She said in response to the sigh of relief that Layla had given as she relaxed when Jackie pulled it out. Once Jackie had gotten all the splinters that she could see out, she hesitated a moment. "This is always the tough part, especially on big wounds. Do you want Mickey in here with you? It's the alcohol."

If it had been a small amount that she had to do, she wouldn't worry about it, but it already feels like her back is on fire from the open air and getting the splinters out. "Yeah, normally I wouldn't but I think in this case, it would be best."

"Mickey, come help us a second please." Jackie calls out to him, but not too loud to disturb the Doctor or Rose, who was still with him.

Mickey comes into the kitchen, not even batting an eye at Layla not wearing a shirt and grimaces at her. "Ooh, ouch. Alcohol?" He guessed.

"Yeah, just try to distract her for me please."

Jackie starts to run an alcohol soaks cloth over her back and Layla tenses and she sucks in a quick breath. Mickey grabbed her hands and let her squeeze them and brought up a topic that he knew would distract her, and one he was curious on. "You said last time, when we had to deal with Margaret, that you were going to explore more of the Tardis and see what other rooms would be there that I would like. Were you able to do that?"

Layla, grateful for the distraction, gives him a slightly pained smile. "Yeah, she is definitely infinite, and I am sure I haven't even scratched the surface, but there are several that I found that I think you would enjoy. There is obviously a sports room, filled with all kinds of sports equipment, and not just from Europe, the whole world, and other planets too. And it has telly's in there where you can watch whatever sport you want on it at any time. There is a gaming room, like console and computer games. There is a skate park and a pool. And there is also crafting rooms for all types, like sculpting, pottery, or cross-stitching. The Tardis also has an excellent kitchen and recipes from different places, because I know you, and I know Rose, and the times you have eaten at home, you did the cooking. The last room I had found is one we definitely need to do, it's the paintball room. It is set up with a field course."

Jackie had been listening as she was tending to Layla and she had to smile softly at what she heard. There was a vast difference between her and Rose. Rose talked about the Doctor and what he did on the trips they took. But Layla, she talked about rooms that Mickey would like in the Tardis. This whole time she never brought up the Doctor and Jackie thought it was because Layla knew that Mickey was not his biggest fan, especially because of Rose. She finishes putting the last bandage on her back and gets her attention. "There, love. All done. Thanks, Mickey, for your help."

They both looked at her in surprise. They had both been so far into their conversation that she hadn't even been paying attention to her back anymore. "Thank you, Jackie. You're the best." She turns to Mickey and gives him a hug which he returns gently, mindful of her back. "Thanks, Mickey Mouse. Didn't feel a thing. Now, let me go put on a shirt, and you can tell us what you found out about the pilot fish. We need to get an idea of what kind of trouble to expect."

Mickey just gives her a soft smile. "Thank you, Layla. We should definitely try out some of those rooms though." Mickey watches her leave and wonders if she truly knows how grateful he is to her. She was his best friend, she made time for him whenever they came back to visit and very rarely brought up the Doctor because she knew it bothered him. I mean, she took the time to look at rooms I would like. Me. That thought has probably not even crossed Rose's mind. Sometimes he wishes that he had fallen for Layla, he thinks it would have been easier. But she was too much like a sister to him and it made him feel icky to think about it. He went to his laptop and had all the stuff he found pulled up and waited for the girls to come out.

Layla had walked by Rose's room on the way to her and popped her head in. "Rose, I need to get a new shirt, but Mickey is in the living room waiting for us so he can tell us about what the Doctor warned us about. I will just be a second and then I will be out there. She quickly walked away after saying her bit. She had a hard time being in the room with both the Doctor and Rose. Rose was fawning all over him, acting like a grieving wife taking care of her husband, and it made Layla feel unpleasant. She didn't like the idea of Rose and the Doctor together like that. She didn't like the idea of the Doctor with anyone like that. And while she wanted to be with the Doctor while he healing, she was afraid of her emotions, the jealously and possessiveness, she was feeling when it came to him. She didn't want to say or do something and ruin her friendship with Rose. Besides, with the way Rose is acting now, I doubt she would let anyone else care for him anyways.

She didn't know that the Doctor could hear what they were all saying and how she was not coming to visit him and he wondered why. Did he do something wrong? Why was Rose the one taking care of him. It should be Layla who gets to do that, just as he would do it for her. Rose's touch felt wrong. He could also tell he that he was in Rose's bed. It smells like her and it feels wrong to be in her bed. He wished they had put him in Layla's bed so he could be surrounded by her scent and the feeling of rightness. His face was scrunched up in pain, but he could feel himself relax as he felt his Promised One run her fingers against his cheek softly and ran them through his hair. "This is the opposite of getting better, Doctor. My threat still stands to your naners." He could hear the teasing in her voice, but he wouldn't be surprised if she actually did it just to mess with him. "Alright, research time. Sleep well, Doctor."

The longer that Layla thought about it, the better it sounded. She figured she should take advantage of the opportunity while she could. She quickly grabs a shirt and puts it on slowly. Then heads into Rose's room. She can see that the Doctor is in pain and it hurts her heart. She runs her fingers against his face and is surprised to see him relax and she gives into temptation and runs her hand through his hair, enjoying the texture of it. With a reminder of her previous threat, she heads out to the living room.

She goes out to see that the news is still talking about the space probe that it has been talking about since they got home yesterday. She plops on the couch on the other side of Mickey causing her and Rose to fall onto him and him to complain. Rose gave a small smile and laugh, the first one since the Doctor had first passed out.

Once we were comfortable, Mickey pointed to his screen. "Here we go, pilot fish. Scavengers, like the Doctor said. Harmless. They're tiny. But the point is, the little fish swim alongside the big fish."

"Do you mean like sharks?" Rose asked him quietly.

"Great big sharks. So, what the Doctor mean is, we had them, now we get that."

"Something is coming. How close?"

"Knowing our luck, within the next few hours." Layla said dryly.

Mickey shrugged, but from what he had seen, he wouldn't be surprised to see that Layla would be correct. "There's no way of tell, but the pilot fish don't swim far from their daddy."

"So, it's close?" Rose wondered.

"Funny sort of rocks." Jackie cut in as she was looking at the telly.

The first photographs.

Rose shook her head. "That's not rocks."

"That is most likely the great big shark." Layla sighed.

This image is being transmitted via mission control, coming live from the depths of space on Christmas morning. It showed a red-eyed, ugly, alien with a head like a goat's skull. It growls and gurgles at the screen before they cut it off. The news continues to talk about it, but Rose and Layla look at each other in worry. They didn't know what this alien was, but it didn't look friendly at all, and the usual hero of the earth was injured.

"That is one ugly daddy, who would want to have little fishes with him." Layla says trying to lighten the tension.

Xxxxxx

Not much happens for a little while. Rose still going in and checking on the Doctor and Layla napping, her head resting on Mickey's shoulder. He gently shakes her awake and calls for Rose. "Hey, take a look. I've got access to the military. They're tracking a spaceship. It's big, it's fast, and it's coming this way."

"Coming for what, though? The Doctor?"

Layla made a face. Now, she knows that the Doctor has a big ego and thinks the world revolves around him, but now Rose is thinking that too? "We have only been here for less than two days. It seems highly unlikely that they are here for the Doctor. The pilot fish though, could just be looking for alien energy for fuel like the Doctor said."

"I don't know. Maybe it's coming for all of us." Mickey said, agreeing with Layla that it could be for a totally different reason. Mickey shows them a clearer image than what they had seen before and it still didn't make a difference to the girls. "Have you seen them before?"

"No." Rose said as Layla shook her head.

Mickey played a clip that was on file and it showed the aliens talking, but the girls couldn't understand what they were saying. "I don't understand what they're saying. The Tardis translates alien languages inside my head, all the time, wherever I am." Rose's breath hitched at another example that something was wrong with the Doctor.

"So, why isn't it doing it now?"

"I don't know. Must be the Doctor. Like he's part of the circuit, and he's, he's broken." A sob breaks free and a tear runs down her cheek.

"Rose, he just needs to sleep, he even said so. He will heal and save the day in the end and probably do it in those grandpa jammies and slippers." Layla tells her softly, trying to get her to relax and have faith in the Doctor.

Jackie and Layla are in the room with the Doctor this time, Rose having fallen asleep on the couch for a nap. Jackie looks at him pleadingly. "Oh, come on, Sweetheart. What do you need? What is it you need? Tell me." Layla watches on, not giving up the belief that he will be okay.

Layla eventually falls asleep but blinks her eyes open. She doesn't move wondering what woke her up. "The Doctor wouldn't do this. The old Doctor, the proper Doctor, he'd wake up. He'd save us." Layla could hear Rose say miserably.

She hears her Mickey Mouse sigh. "You really love him, don't you?"

Rose doesn't answer and Layla takes that as confirmation and it stings her heart. As if the Doctor could read her mind and hear the bitter thoughts, she feels his hand on top of her head that is still laying on the side of the bed from where she had been sleeping. She feels him lightly moving his fingers in her hair. She sighs and falls back asleep at the soothing motions.

Xxxxxx

It is a couple of hours later when she wakes again and goes into the living room. She sees the despair on Rose's face and Mickey looking out the window in worry. "What's wrong? What happened?"

"There are people on the roofs of building, just standing on the edge. They aren't stepping off or anything, but they aren't responding to people calling for them either. Don't know what's going on." Mickey told her as he pointed to a building that had a bunch of people on the edge.

But, ladies and gentlemen, this crisis is unique, and I'm afraid to say, it might get much worse. I would ask you all to remain calm. But I have one request. Doctor, if you're out there, we need you. I don't know what to do. If you can hear me, Doctor. If anyone knows the Doctor, if anyone can find him, the situation has never been more desperate. Help us. Please, Doctor. Help us. God help us.

Harriet's pleading was the straw that broke Rose's back and she bursts into tears that she had been trying not to shed all day. She goes to her mum and buries her face in her neck. "He's gone. The Doctor's gone. He's left me, mum. He's left me, mum."

Jackie rubs her back softly and soothing tells her. "It's alright. I'm sorry."

Layla was actually starting to get irritated at Rose. She knows that Rose believes that what happened is her fault, and maybe it is, but she shouldn't give up on him so soon. He has already saved them once with the tree, and that was at the last second. He will do the same with this. Besides, that is usually how he does things anyways. Suddenly, all the glass in the area of the neighborhood shatters. They all duck and cover their heads.

"Mickey, Layla, we're going to carry him. Mum, get your stuff, and get some food. We're going." Rose took charge and rushed into her room and threw the covers off of the Doctor.

Layla and Mickey follow her and Mickey looks at her questioningly. "Where to?"

"The Tardis. It's the only safe place on earth."

"I agree, many things have tried to get in and haven't been able to, this would be no different. It looks like a wooden box, but it isn't a wooden box." Layla tells him.

They are lugging him out when Jackie meets them at the door. "What're we going to do in there?"

"Hide." Rose told her simply, too focused on trying to not drop the Doctor.

"Is that it?"

"Mum, look in the sky. There's a great, big, alien invasion and I don't know what to do, alright? We've traveled with him, and seen all that stuff, but when I'm stuck at home, I'm useless. Now, all we can do is run and hide, and I'm sorry. Now, move."

"Rose, no matter where you are, you're not useless. Look at you now, taking charge, getting us all to safety. That isn't useless." Layla told her seriously. Rose gives her a grateful smile.

Somehow, they make it down to the bottom floor carry the Doctor while Jackie has the bags of food, they are all slightly huffing from the weight of their cargo. Layla looks around and sees people out and looking around, but no one has stopped them. "You know, I am now kind of fearing my safety here all of a sudden. We are carrying an unconscious man, who could be dead for all they know, and no one is stopping us or asking any questions."

Mickey snorts out a laugh and Rose just looks around and sees that no one cares, but lets out a chuckle too. "Yeah, that is a little scary to think about. Good thing we have good intentions."

They get closer to the Tardis when Layla realizes they have a problem. Unless they put the Doctor down on the ground, they can't get into the Tardis because her key is in her pocket. Rose looks up and sees her mum lagging behind. "Mum, will you just leave that stuff and give us a hand."

"It's food! You said we need food."

"Just leave it for now."

"Jackie, we need you to open the Tardis up for us, I don't want to put him on the ground to get the door open. Key is in my pocket. Thank you." Layla quickly cut in before Rose loses anymore of her temper on her mum. Plus she was wearing out quickly. Normally she wouldn't have a problem holding the Doctor's weight, but she was still exhausted from Game Station. They lay the Doctor on floor grating and all sigh that they were able to drop their load. Mickey and Rose go over to the console and Layla goes to a column and tries to talk to the Tardis.

"No chance you could fly this thing?" Mickey asked Rose as he watched her press buttons, move levers, and turns knobs.

"Not anymore, no." She doesn't even remember doing it the first time.

"Well, you did it before."

"I know, but it's sort of been wiped out of my head, like it's forbidden. Try that again and I think the universe rips in half." She half-heartedly jokes.

"Ah, better not, then." This conversation is getting stale, and fast. He thought.

"Maybe not."

"So, what do we do? Just sit here?"

"Until the Doctor is healed and wakes up, there isn't anything we can do. We don't know these aliens and while we have traveled with the Doctor, it's not like the government would let us speak for the earth anyways." Layla points out to them.

"That's as good as it gets." Rose's mood was going downhill and fast, well even faster than it had already been going since this mess started.

Jackie brings out one of the most important items she had brought with her, at least in her opinion. She holds up her flask. "Right, here we go. Nice cup of tea."

"Mmm, the solution to everything." Rose replied dully.

"Now, stop your moaning. I'll get the rest of the food." She leaves and hurries back to the flat to get the rest of the food, not wanting to be out in the open when the aliens came.

Mickey picks up the flask and gives a cheesy grin. "Tea. Like we're having a picnic while the world comes to an end. Very British. How does this thing work? If it picks up the TV, maybe we could see what's going on out there. Maybe we've surrendered. What do you do to it?" Mickey was playing around with the remote trying to get it to come on and Rose hadn't stopped fiddling with the buttons.

"I don't know. It sort of tunes itself."

Layla felt a faint sense of annoyance from the Tardis, her 'voice' was so soft she barely felt it, but she looked over at Rose and Mickey and seen that they were still messing around with the controls. "The Tardis or the Doctor usually does it for us. I tend to not mess with the controls unless I am directed."

One of the monitors catches Mickey's attention. There was an odd blip on it that wasn't there before. "Maybe it's a distress signal."

"A fat lot of good that's going to do." Rose's sulky attitude was really getting to Layla, but apparently it was getting to Mickey too.

"Are you going to be a misery all the time?"

"Yes."

"It could always be worse Rose, at least we are safe here. We know you're upset, but taking your snappy attitude out on us isn't going to help anything." Layla tells her shortly, finally at the end of her patience with Rose's attitude.

"You should look at it from my point of view, stuck in here with your mum's cooking." Mickey agreed with Layla, but he knew that Rose would just continue to be in a strop until the Doctor woke up. He didn't want Layla to get yelled at by Rose just because Rose finally annoyed her to the point of saying something.

Rose realized that it had been a while since she had seen her mum. It shouldn't have taken that long to come back from the flat. "Where is she? I'd better give her a hand. It might start raining missiles out there."

"Tell her anything from a tin, that's fine." He smirked at her and Layla laughed knowing that if Jackie heard that, he would get slapped like he used to by his gran.

"Why don't you tell her yourself?" Rose asked him while giving him a small smile.

"I'm not that brave." He definitely didn't want a slap.

"Oh, I don't know." She says flirty smile. She walks out the door and is suddenly grabbed by the aliens that were on the telly and she screams.

"Rose?" Mickey runs to the door, dropping the flask of tea in the process near the Doctor. Layla follows soon afterwards.

"Get off! Get off me!" Rose is fighting against them, but it is no use. She sees Mickey and Layla run out after her. "The door! Close the door!"

They are able to turn around and close the door before they too are grabbed by the aliens. They are shoved over towards Harriet and another man. Harriet reaches for the girls. "Rose, Layla. Girls! I've got you. My lord. Oh, my precious things. The Doctor, is he with you?" She asks the last bit quietly, looking at them with a desperate look.

"No. we're on our own." Rose tells her.

"He was injured and is healing right now. We aren't sure how long it will take for him to heal. If we can stall, maybe we can hold out until he wakes up." Layla tried to give Harriet some hope when she seen her face fall in despair at Rose's answer.

"The yellow girl. She has the clever blue bow. Therefore, she speaks for your planet." The man next to Harriet told them, letting them know what the alien said.

"But she can't." Harriet didn't want what happened to Blake and Llewellyn to happen to Rose if she said something they didn't like.

Rose straightens up. "Yes, I can."

Mickey grabs her wrist. "Don't you dare."

"Someone's got to be the Doctor." She just hopes she can do it well enough.

"They'll kill you." Harriet looked at her with fear in her eyes.

"All we need to do is stall. Have faith in the Doctor. The Doctor is very good at stalling just by opening his mouth and blurting out whatever is on his mind. I mean, even one time he told the guy we were up against how much he loved bananas. Rose is good at talking too, that's all you should have to do, keep them occupied and hopefully it will be long enough. You can do it Rose."

Rose gives her a nod. Layla's vote of confidence helped boost her assurance that she could do it. She looks back at Harriet and Mickey. "Never stopped him." She turns to the aliens, who they had been told were called the Sycorax. "I, er, I address the Sycorax according to Article Fifteen of the Shadow Proclamation. I command you to leave this world with all the authority of the Slitheen Parliament of Raxacoricofallapatorius, and er, the Gelth Confederacy as er, sanctioned by the Mighty Jagrafess and, oh, the Daleks! Now, leave this planet in peace! …In peace."

It was quiet for a few seconds and Layla facepalmed. "Rose, you started off reaaaally good, and then hmm no wait now that I think about it, I could see the Doctor saying something like that if he was stalling too. Good job." Layla gave Rose a cheesy smile and a thumbs up. Rose was to wound up to laugh, which Layla had been hoping for. She could see how tense Rose was and was trying to get her to relax.

The Sycorax all look at each other and then back at their leader and then they all start to laugh. Once they calm down the leader speaks and the man translates. "You are very, very funny. And now you're going to die."

Harriet tries to go to Rose to tug her back but is held back by one of the guards. "Leave her alone!"

Layla and Mickey also try to get to her, but are held back as well, but Mickey in the defense of someone he loves gains all the courage in the world yells at them. "Don't touch her." Layla can see that they won't listen to anything they say and just gives them a dirty look.

The Sycorax continued to talk with the man translating. "Did you think you were clever with your stolen words? We are the Sycorax, we stride the darkness. Next to us you are but a wailing child. If you are the best your planet can offer as a champion…"

It gets a little odd after that, the Sycorax continues to talk with the man translating, but they are saying it in the same language. "Then your world will be gutted and your people enslaved."

The man stops reading and thinks for a second. "Hold on, that's English."

"He's talking English." Harriet repeated.

"You're talking English." Rose said again.

"Hold on, is there an echo here?" Layla said sarcastically, but her heart was beating faster at what this means and she sighs in relief as she feels the Tardis reach out to her and give her comfort. Her body goes slack, all the tension leaving her.

The Sycorax looks at them angrily. "I would never dirty my tongue with your primitive bile."

Rose cocks her hip to the side and crosses her arms over her chest. "That's English. Can you hear English?"

"Yeah, that's English." Mickey agreed.

"Definitely English." The translator said.

Layla looked at Harriet and raised a brow. "It's your turn to be the echo ma'am."

"I speak only Sycoraxic!" Came the aliens enraged shout.

Rose ignored him. "If I can hear English, then it's being translated. Which means it's working. Which means…"

Rose looks towards the Tardis and everyone follows her example, even the Sycorax, who was curious as to why they were saying he was speaking English. The doors open and the Doctor walks out in his grandpa jammies and slippers.

"I told you he would save us dressed like that." Layla whispers to Rose and they both snicker quietly.

The Doctor looks around and spots his favorite person and his friends. His eyes take in Layla and can see that her face is clearing up of bruises from the Game Station, my clever ship most likely gave her the paste that is used on bruises. He sees that her eyes look tired and she looks worn down in general. Her hair is a chaotic mess, which is great, because he loves the look on her. He remembers that she was injured by the tree and he hopes she had it taken care of. He will ask her if he can look at it later. He also remembers his behavior on the way back to earth and he can still see the look of fear on her face as they prepared to crash and he was too messed up to protect and care for her. The guilt that I feel that caused that look to be on her face will stay with me for a long time, he thinks. He never wants to be the reason she gets scared like that again. She gives him a beautiful smile and he doesn't look away from her when he asks. "Did you miss me?"

The Sycorax have no idea who this man was, but the leader was done talking and ready to get back to conquering. He takes his whip and cracks it towards the man, expecting him to end up in a pile of bones, but he is surprised when the man catches it in his hands and yanks it out of his hand since he wasn't expecting it.

The Doctor gives the Sycorax leader a stern look and lightly chided. "You could have someone's eye out with that."

Another one of the aliens that was closest to the Doctor headed towards him with his weapon, a staff. "How dare!"

The Doctor takes that off of him as well, and breaks it over his knee easily. "You just can't get the staff. Now, you, just wait. I'm busy. Mickey, hello! And Harriet Jones MP for Flydale North. Blimey, it's like This Is Your Life. Tea! That's all I needed, a good cup of tea! Superheated infusion of free radicals and tannin. Just the thing for healing the synapses. Now, first thing's first. Be honest, how do I look?"

He spoke so quickly and moved from topic to topic that it took them a second to catch up to what he asked. He was looking at Layla to get her opinion on whether she liked how he looked or not. It was something he was worried about because he knows she really liked the last incarnation. He shifted his gaze to Rose too. He didn't care what her opinion was, but he had heard everything that was said when he was sleeping, and he doesn't want to cause a jealousy issue if he didn't at least make it look like he cared what she thought. And as long as she doesn't start treating Layla badly, he won't say or do anything yet. He should probably say something, but he wasn't leading her on. He never once gave any type of signal that he was interested in her as more than a friend. He is hoping she can work through her feelings on her own.

"Er, different." Rose didn't know what to think. This was not her broody, leather wearing Doctor anymore. She didn't know who this was really. Layla was looking him over and hadn't said anything, but he could see the flash of sadness in her eyes and he could only think it was for his previous body.

"Good different or bad different?" He was trying to get her to say something, anything. The anticipation was killing him.

Rose shrugged. "Just different."

Layla smirked at him. "Wow Doctor, I didn't realize you were so vain." And he pouts because that still didn't answer his question. She chuckles at his pouting, but gives him an answer. "You look good. Still attractive. You'll be the new star of people's wet dreams."

Rose sputters, but isn't surprised at what she said. The Doctor's face reddens and he has to bite his tongue to keep from asking, 'does that include yours too?.' He asks them the one question that is the most important to him. It is what he always wonders on all of his regenerations. "Am I… ginger?"

"Pfft." Layla was not expecting the question and tried to stifle her laughter but couldn't.

Rose's eyes widen a little comically at the random question. "No, you're just sort of brown."

The Doctor stomps his foot like a child in a tantrum. "I wanted to be ginger. I've never been ginger. And you, Rose Tyler, fat lot of good you were. You gave up on me." He paused for a second and replayed the words in his head. "Oh, that was rude. That's the sort of man I am now, am I? Rude? Rude and not ginger."

"If it makes you feel better, you were like that before." Layla tells him helpfully and he just gives her the stink eye and reaches over and pinches her side. "Good to see you up and well, about time too. Didn't know you needed so much beauty sleep." Layla said cheekily.

"Well, someone did threaten my precious bananas and I couldn't let that happen." He tells her letting them know he had heard what they said, but he isn't sure if they realize how much they had actually talked when they were around him.

"I'm sorry. Who is this?" Harriet cut in wondering who this man was.

"I'm the Doctor." He gives her a big smile.

"He's the Doctor." Rose tells her, but sounds a little uncertain.

"There's that echo again." Layla muttered to Mickey who snickered.

"But what happened to my Doctor? Or is it a title that's just passed on?" Harriet felt sadness sweep through her at the thought that something had happened to the leather wearing alien.

"I'm him. I'm literally him. Same man, new face. Well, new everything." He grabs his cheek and pulls on it slightly.

"But you can't be." People don't just change into a whole new person. She thought to herself forgetting that as an alien, he would be different.

"Harriet Jones, we were trapped in Downing Street and the one thing that scared you wasn't the aliens, it wasn't the war, it was the thought of your mother being on her own." Just like how he did it with Layla and Rose, he told Harriet only something he would know to prove that he was himself.

She covers her mouth with her hand in shock. "Oh my god."

"Did you win the election?"

She gives him a giddy smile. "Landslide majority."

"If I might interrupt." The leader of the Sycorax asked pretty politely for someone who was threatening the earth.

The Doctor turns to him and his eyes widen like he forgot he was even there, and knowing the Doctor, he might have. "Yes, sorry. Hello, big fellow."

"Who exactly are you?"

He puts his hands together behind his back. "Well, that's the question."

"I demand to know who you are!" The leader hollered.

"I DON'T KNOW!" The Doctor roared back but louder to outdo him. "See, there's the thing. I'm the Doctor, but beyond that, I just don't know. I literally do not know who I am. It's all untested. Am I funny? Am I sarcastic? Sexy?" He looks at Layla and gives her a wink and clicks his tongue. Rose was still bewildered by how the Doctor was acting to really pay attention to where he was looking as he had asked that. "Right old misery? Life and soul? Right-handed? Left-handed? A gambler? A fighter? A coward? A traitor? A liar? A nervous wreck? I mean, judging by the evidence, I've certainly got a gob."

"Once again, I don't think that is anything new, Doctor. You also have to ask yourself, new body, new tongue, new tastebuds. You could hate bananas and love pears." Layla knew she should be taking the alien invasion more seriously, but it was so much fun getting the Doctor all worked up. He looked at her in horror at even suggesting that. Someone clears their throat and the Doctor goes back to what he was talking about.

"And how am I going to react when I see this, a great big threatening button. A great big threatening button which must not be pressed under any circumstances, am I right?" He had walked up to the big red button and Layla was surprised that the Sycorax let him and didn't try to stop him. "Let me guess. It's some sort of control matrix, hmmm? Hold on, what's feeding it?" He opens the base of it and sees a puddle of red. "And what've we got here? Blood?" He sticks his finger in it then puts it in his mouth to taste. He then sticks his tongue out like he wants to wipe the taste off. "Yeah, definitely blood. Human blood. A Positive, with just a dash of iron. Ah, but that means blood control. Blood control! Oh, I haven't seen blood control for years. You're controlling all the A Positives. Which leaves us with a great big stinking problem. Because I really don't know who I am. I don't know when to stop. So, if I see a great big threatening button which should never, ever, ever be pressed, then I just want to do this." He slams his hand on the button

Rose and Harriet yell out at him too late to stop him. "No!"

When nothing had changed from what they seen, Layla looked at the Doctor and pouted. "That was anticlimactic." From what the Doctor said about not knowing himself, it seems with the new body comes a new personality. She already knew that when she seen that this one was less broody and happier. But she thinks one thing would stay the same no matter what body he had, and that was his morals and ethics. He wouldn't harm innocent people if he could prevent it.

The translator however, does not know him. "You killed them!"

The Doctor ignores him and turns to the leader. "What do you think, big fellow? Are they dead?"

"We allow them to live." The leader says sulkily.

"Allow? You've no choice. I mean, that's what blood control is. Like hypnosis. You can hypnotize someone to do embarrassing things, or eat foods they don't like if they keep threatening the foods you like." He looks at Layla and chokes down a laugh at the horror on her face. "You can't hypnotize them to death. Survival instinct's too strong."

"Blood control was just one form of conquest. I can summon the armada and take this world by force." The leader shrugs his shoulders and says without a care in the world.

"Well, yeah, you could, yeah, you could do that, of course you could. But why?" He looked around like he was truly puzzled at this. "Look at these people. These human beings. Consider their potential. From the day they arrive on the planet and blinking step into the sun, there is more to see than can ever be seen. More to do than… no, hold on. Sorry, that's the Lion King.

"Yeah, you should be sorry Doctor, I do the quoting of entertainment, don't steal my bit." Layla wags her finger at him. Mickey puts his hand over her mouth and tugs her to his chest to keep her quiet and misses the glare that the Doctor send him for touching her like that. He turns the glare to the leader. "But the point still stands. Leave them alone!"

"Or what?" He asks the Doctor in condescension.

"Or…" The Doctor moves around and grabs a sword from one of the guards and runs back standing in front of the Tardis. "I challenge you." All of the Sycorax immediately start to laugh at him and he just raises his brow. "Oh, that struck a chord. Am I right that the sanctified rules of combat still apply?"

"You stand as this world's champion?" The leader looked at the Doctor and took in his skinny figure in his grandpa jammies. It wouldn't even be a challenge for him.

"Thank you. I've no idea who I am, but you just summed me up." The Doctor takes off the dressing robe and throws it towards the group of humans. Rose grabs it and holds onto it, relishing in the warmth from him. "So, you accept my challenge? Or are you just a cranak pel casacree salvak?"

The leader growled at the apparent insult. Well, Layla assumed it was an insult, and it must have been a good one for the Tardis to not translate, must not be for 'delicate' ears. "For the planet?" The leader wanted confirmation that if he beats this small man, that he could continue with the invasion with no resistance.

The Doctor nods. "For the planet."

They charge and clash swords and Rose panics. "Look out!"

"Oh, yeah, that helps. Wouldn't have thought of that otherwise, thanks." He says sarcastically. Everyone could see that the leader was the more experienced swordsman, but he didn't have what the Doctor had. He didn't have a reason to fight. Sure, he wanted to take over, but the Doctor didn't see that as a good reason. He wanted to protect the humans on earth, his friends, his human mate. He had a lot more to lose, and when backed into a corner, the Doctor gets a lot more vicious. He retreats up a tunnel that leads outside. "Bit of fresh air?"

They continue to fight and the Doctor is driven to the edge and is then hit on the nose. Rose runs forward as if to help him, but he shouts down to her. "Stay back! Invalidate the challenge and he wins the planet." The distraction costs the Doctor and the leader knocks him down and then slashes with his sword. The cut caused the Doctor's hand and the sword to fall to earth. The Doctor looked at the stump on his arm and back at the Sycorax. "You cut my hand off." He sounded so offended, like the girls had just asked him to put seatbelts in the Tardis because of his crappy piloting.

"Ya! Sycorax!" They cheered.

"And now I know what sort of man I am. I'm lucky. Because quite by chance I'm still within the first fifteen hours of my regeneration cycle, which means I've got just enough residual cellular energy to do this." Everyone watches as a new hand grows out of the stump.

"Witchcraft." The leader hisses.

He just wiggles his fingers in a greeting. "Time Lord."

"Doctor!" Rose had gotten another sword for him and threw it to him. Layla would have helped her get one, but her back was still sore from the tree. He looks down at Rose with his eyebrow raised and his voice was tart. "Oh, so I'm still the Doctor, then?"

"No arguments from me!" Rose gave him a beaming smile like she had never doubted him and had always believed in him. His mouth twists into a slightly sour expression that the girls can't see.

"Want to know the best bit? This new hand? It's a fighting hand!" He puts on a terrible southern accent and regrets it immediately. They start fighting again and eventually the Doctor disarms the leader and hits him in the stomach with the hilt of the sword, twice. "I win."

"Then kill me." The leader says resentfully.

"I'll spare your life if you take this Champions command. Leave this planet, and never return. What do you say?"

"Yes."

The Doctor isn't a fool though. "Swear on the blood of your species."

The leader huffs. "I swear."

The dark look leaves the Doctors face and he grins happily. "There we are, then. Thanks for that. Cheers, big fellow." The humans all come up towards him and give him big smiles and words of congratulations.

"Bravo!" Harriet is clapping wildly.

"That says it all. Bravo!" Rose was jumping up and down in excitement.

"Ah, not bad for a man in his jim-jams." He says as Rose helps him put the dressing gown back on.

"See, I told you he would save the day dressed in his grandpa jammies." Layla smirked at him and squealed when he pinched her side and it tickled her. The Doctor gave her a devious grin, but let it go… for now. "Very Arthur Dent. Now, there was a nice man. Hold on, what have I got in here?" He reaches into the pocket of the dressing gown. "A satsuma. Ah, that friend of your mothers. He does like his snacks, doesn't he?"

"You're no better with your bananas in your pocket Doctor." Layla chuckled.

"Yes, well. Doesn't that just sum up Christmas? You go through all those presents and right at the end, tucked away at the bottom, there's always one stupid old satsuma. What wants a satsuma?"

As they are walking, they don't see the Sycorax leader getting up and grabbing his sword. He runs toward the Doctor, his intent obvious. The Doctor was apparently paying attention though because he throws the satsuma at the control on the spaceship hull, and a piece of the wing opens up and the leader falls to his death. "No second chances. I'm that sort of man." Layla looks at his face and sees the dark look and feels a tingle go through her. She reaches down and grabs his hand and is happy when he holds it tightly and her muscles seem to lose the tension they had.

The Doctor turns towards the remaining Sycorax. "By the ancient rites of combat, I forbid you to scavenge here for the rest of time. And when you go back to the stars and tell others of this planet, when you tell them of its riches, its people, its potential. When you talk of the earth, then make sure that you tell them this. It is defended." After his speech all of the humans and the Tardis are teleported off of the Sycorax ship.

Rose looks around looking for landmarks. "Where are we?"

"We're just off Bloxom Road. We're just round the corner, we did it!" Mickey excited.

"Wait a minute, wait a minute." The Doctor was hoping that they followed what he said and are leaving. It would be a nice change if for once they left when he told them to.

The spaceship flies away and Mickey started jumping up and down. "Go on, my son! Oh, yeah!"

Rose jumps on his back. "Yeah! Don't come back!"

"It's defended!" Mickey sets Rose down and then gives her a hug before Rose takes off to give the translator a hug. Layla goes to Mickey and gives him a hug, missing the narrowed eyed look from the Doctor.

"My Doctor." Harriet comes over to him.

"Prime Minister." He gives her a smile and a quick and awkward hug… Well awkward for him.

"Absolutely the same man. Are there many more out there?" She asks as she looks up at the sky.

"Oh, not just the Sycorax. Hundreds of species. Thousands of them. And the human race is drawing attention to itself. Every day you're sending out probes and messages and signals. This planet's so noisy. You're getting noticed more and more. You'd better get used to it." As usual the Doctor goes off on a tangent and fails to see the haunted look on Harriet's face.

"Rose! Layla!" Jackie comes running down the road towards them.

"Mum!" "Jackie!" They shout at the same time and they form a three-way hug.

"Oh, talking of trouble." The Doctor jokes.

"Oh, my god! You two did it! Oh!"

"You did it too! It was the tea. Fixed his head." Rose informed her mum wanting her to know that she helped too.

"Mickey also helped because he was the one who dropped it on the way out when Rose screamed and it did it's magic to help the Doctor." She hip bumps Mickey wanting him to show him that he helped as well. The Doctor looked slightly green at the thought that both Jackie and Mickey helped him get better.

"That was all I needed, cup of tea." He told her.

"Well, next time you're sick or injured and can't wake up and tell us what to do, we will put you in a bathtub full of it." Layla clapped her hands together like it was a plan they all agreed on.

"Is it really him, though? Is it really the Doctor? Oh, my god, it's the bleeding Prime Minister!"

"Come here, you." The Doctor was quick to notice that this regeneration was a little more touchy-feely, but with the bond unfinished, it still felt wrong. But he was able to put it aside and they all did a group hug.

Jackie starts to get onto Rose and Layla for leaving her behind and the Doctor watches amused. The next thing they knew five green beams shoot up into the sky, meet each other, and fire out into space. The Sycorax ship is hit and blows up.

"What is that? What's happening?" Rose looked on in horror. Layla looked at the only person who could have done it and sees the grief on her face.

The Doctor either doesn't see it or doesn't care and storms up to her. "That was murder."

"That was defense. It's adapted from alien technology. A ship that fell to earth ten years ago."

"But they were leaving." He said through clenched teeth.

"You said yourself, Doctor, they'd go back to the stars and tell others about the earth. I'm sorry, Doctor, but you're not here all the time. You come and go. It happened today. Mister Llewellyn and the Major, they were murdered. They died right in front of me while you were sleeping. In which case we have to defend ourselves." Harriet was defending herself and her decision. She knew that the Doctor wouldn't approve, but she did have the best intentions for the humans on earth. And while she made that decision, it doesn't mean she doesn't feel grief that she was the one to order it and how many she killed.

"Britain's Golden Age." He sneered.

"It comes with a price." She liked to think of it to how it was at Downing Street with the Slitheen. The Doctor had come up with the idea of the missile and kill them, a few of their lives to save billions. That is how she is choosing to look at this now, a few hundred aliens to save billions of humans.

"I gave them the wrong warning. I should've told them to run as fast as they can, run and hide because the monsters are coming. The human race." He feels a flicker of guilt as he says this because his Promised One is a human and she is no monster.

"Those are the people I represent. I did it on their behalf."

"Then I should have stopped you."

"What does that make you, Doctor? Another alien threat?" She doesn't understand why he can't see it from her point of view.

"Don't challenge me, Harriet Jones, because I'm a completely new man. I could bring down your government with a single word."

"You're the most remarkable man I've ever met, but I don't think you're quite capable of that." She didn't see how he could be.

"No, you're right. Not a single word, just six."

"I don't think so." But a bit of worry works itself into her heart.

"Six words." He smirks. He hasn't even done anything yet and she is already fulfilling her role in his plan.

"Stop it!"

"Six." He walks over to the translator and whispers his rumor and lets the seeds of doubt grow. He turns away, not giving Harriet another look and walks back to the others. He is angry and trying to calm down so he doesn't take it out on the others and they let him be. He is in his own head replaying everything and he misses Layla looking back at Harriet.

Layla sees the look on Harriet's face. She had watched from the moment the ship blew up until now. The haunted look, the grief, the despair, and the resigned regret. She can see that Harriet believes one hundred percent that she did the right thing, and Layla can see it from her point of view. She can understand why Harriet did what she did. Her heart goes out to her. While she doesn't know what the Doctor did, based on her pleading, it has something to do with her, and most likely her career. And because the Doctor can't or won't understand, he ruined that for her. She may not agree with her choice, but she does understand it and doesn't condemn her either. She gives one last look to Harriet who meets her gaze. She gives her a nod, showing that she understood why she did it. That even if the Doctor no longer likes her, that she has not made an enemy out of her. She turns and catches up to the others. They had been talking in excitement and the Doctor had been brooding so they didn't notice she wasn't around, and they didn't question her.

Xxxxxx

It is hours later and everyone but the Doctor is at the flat enjoying being with each other. They are working on Christmas dinner. Well Jackie's cooking, but Layla and Mickey are sneakily going around and adjusting things like they normally do. They get dinner done at the same time that the Doctor walks in dressed in his new outfit. After they eat, they are pulling Christmas crackers and just goofing around, enjoying the night. The telly is still on from earlier that day and they see a press conference happening and on it shows Harriet being questioned about her mental state. The Doctor puts on a pair of glasses as he watches grimly with hard eyes.

Layla looks on in sympathy. She can see that the Doctor really did ruin her career and that was only with just saying a few words. Layla knew that Harriet was dealing with the aftermath of her decision to kill the Sycorax mentally and then to have this dumped on her, would not help and the way she is acting now is not helping her case. The Doctor looks over at Layla no longer wanting to see the press conference and frowns at the look of sympathy on her face as she continues to watch the telly.

The phone rings and Jackie answers it. "It's Beth. She says go and look outside."

"Why?" Rose was stuffed, she didn't really want to move anywhere.

"I don't know, just go outside and look. Come on, shift."

They go outside and see white flakes falling from the sky. Rose raises her hand in the air to catch them. "Oh, it's beautiful. What are they, meteors?"

"It's the spaceship breaking up in the atmosphere. This isn't snow, its ash." His voice devoid of emotion.

"Okay, not so beautiful." She grimaces as she wipes it off her hands.

Layla looks up at the sky and just continues to watch, paying respect to those who died. The Doctor sighs. "This is a brand-new planet earth. No denying the existence of aliens now. Everyone saw it. Everything's new."

"And what about you? What are you going to do next?" Rose was hesitant to ask him this, not sure if she was still wanted aboard his ship.

"Well, back to the Tardis. Same old life." He shrugged but watched Layla and was hoping she was still going to be traveling with him.

"On your own?" Rose asked quietly.

The Doctor looked at her surprised. "Why, don't you want to come?"

"Well, yeah." She gives him a happy smile glad she can still come.

He gives her a skeptical look. "Do you, though?"

"Yeah!"

"Layla, what about you? You're still coming right?" The Doctor asked her with a hopeful smile.

"Hmm? Yeah of course, didn't realize that me going was in question, I just assumed you were waiting until tomorrow for us to leave." The Doctor beams at her. He was glad that she hadn't thought of leaving him with him changing.

"You're never going to say, are you?" Mickey had heard them talking and couldn't hold the question back. It was solely aimed at Rose though.

"There's just so much out there. So much to see. I've got to."

He gives a resigned nod of his head. "Yeah."

"Well, I reckon you're mad, the three of you. It's like you go looking for trouble." Jackie pointed out, seeing a pattern in these adventures. She had been pretty quiet tonight, spent most of the time just enjoying the holiday with her family, but she was also observing. She wanted an answer to her question that she had asked herself when the girls brought him here after he had changed. Did he have feelings for one of them? It was obvious to her that he did. He stared at her throughout the night, anytime he thought no one else was looking and was constantly talking to her. Her heart hurt because she knew one of her girls would be devastated one day when they realize for themselves or they are told. But her girl is tough, she can pull through the heartache.

"Trouble's just the bits in-between. It's all waiting out there, Jackie, and it's brand new to me. All those planets, and creatures and horizons. I haven't seen them yet! Not with these eyes! And it's going to be fantastic." While the Doctor was talking, he was moving his hands around in the air.

Rose looked at him warily. "That hand of your still gives me the creeps." She grabs it anyways missing the twitching in his hand. "So, where we going to go first?"

He pulls his hand away from her and uses it to point at the sky. "Er, that way. No, hold on. That way." He wraps his free arm around Layla's waist and pulls her closer to him.

Rose was looking at the sky where he pointed so she missed this. "That way?"

"Hmm?" The Doctor had stopped paying attention, he was getting a warmth flowing through his body and where he was touching Layla was tingling.

"Yeah, that way." Rose says dreamily, still not noticing.