Aliens in London
Lily thought the hardest thing she would ever have to do was to let Rose go, but she was wrong. This was infinitely harder. This…waiting. A whole year. A whole year searching on street corners and listening out for that achingly familiar wheezing sound just hoping against hope that this time her sister and that strange Doctor would be returning.
Lily had glimpsed into the Doctor's life, had seen the danger and the absolute terror and now, after the longest year of her life, she had to wonder if Rose was ever actually coming back. The Doctor had said the danger was always there. What if Rose hadn't been so lucky? What if she was actually…gone. Gone like their father. Gone like Mickey's grandmother. It was the not knowing that hurt her the most.
However, no matter how hard it was for Lily, she knew it was so much worse for their mum. She has no clue what happened, has no clue whatsoever that Rose did nothing other than disappear. She had been sending out posters and organising search parties, desperately hoping that she wouldn't lose Rose like she lost their dad. Mum also starting clinging to Lily with all she had. Lily tried to make it easier on her, by keeping her updated on where she was at all times, calling when she left the house and when she got back, but she knew it wasn't enough. Lily was suffering the loss just as badly and that meant her mum had to see her walking around and breathing, but not really living as she once did.
On a dull, grey Tuesday, Lily dressed herself in skinny jeans, a graphic T, her usual grey hoodie and converse, a turquoise beanie to match her nails and fingerless gloves, and she headed over to Mickey's flat, making sure to dodge anyone who was on regular speaking terms with her mum, which turned out to be more people than she thought.
When Mickey opened the door he was wearing a grey t-shirt and a pair of boxers, just like he did most of the time when he was home alone.
"Hey, Mickey," she greeted with a small quirk of the lips and kissed him on the cheek in greeting. "I told my mum that I got called into the hospital, so I can be here for a while"
Lily had finally started a psychology training programme at the local hospital, although she did work at Finch's butchers on her evenings and weekends. Lily hated the job, but she had to find some way to help her mum with the bills now that they didn't have Rose's pay check coming in as well.
"Right, and last time you were visiting Shareen, the time before that you were going shopping, and what was the time before that one? Oh, right, taking a walk," Mickey said rather bitterly as he closed the door behind her and they made their way into the kitchen where Lily began to wash to mugs and Mickey put the kettle on.
Lily sighed, looking at Mickey in sympathy.
"I know. It's not my fault. You know my mum doesn't want me seeing you, what with everything," Lily said, grimacing and Mickey scowled, leaning against the counter.
"What with her whispering around that I killed Rose, you mean," Mickey said and he looked away.
Lily followed his gaze and saw that he was looking at a pile of letters on the countertop and she narrowed her blue eyes. Quickly putting the two clean mugs on the side and drying her hands, she moved to snatch up the letters and flipped through them, seeing that they were from no one she recognised.
"They're still doing this?" Lily demanded angrily, glaring at Mickey, who just shrugged in response.
Scowling, she tore all the letters into halves and then into quarters before chucking them into the bin. People from all over the estate had been posting utterly vicious things through Mickey's letterbox and it was grating on her last nerve.
"Speaking of, guess where I was yesterday morning," Mickey said.
Lily studied his expression for only a second before sighing, able to detect exactly what he meant after so many years of being best friends.
"The Police Station, again?" Lily asked, closing her eyes for a moment to rub at her temples in severed annoyance. "Isn't that the fourth time now?"
"Fifth," Mickey corrected as he began to make tea. "Since it's the one year anniversary of her 'disappearance' they wanted to bring me in for questioning again."
Lily sighed again. When it had been clear Rose hadn't just gone away for a couple of days, Mickey became a prime suspect and her mum didn't help matters, pointing fingers in his direction also. It was hard, because neither she or Mickey could say anything about what actually happened, because who would believe them if they did?
Mickey handed her one of the mugs of tea and kept the other for himself. She took a deep sip as he led her back to his bedroom where his computer was.
"Did you find anything else on The Doctor?" Lily asked, moving some dirty clothes out of the way to perch on the edge of his bed as Mickey sat down on the swivel chair in front of his desk.
"Well, it was difficult, but I dug deeper and found this place called UNIT. I hacked into their system, getting through the instillation protocols to get into the sub-frame-" Mickey started and Lily blinked blankly at him.
"Mick!" Lily cut in, making him look up from the computer. "I don't understand any of that technical stuff, so just tell me what you found," she said giving him a small smile.
"Just look," he said, turning his screen and Lily put her cup of tea on the desk so that she could lean down beside Mickey to look at the screen.
"He used to work there?" she asked in surprise.
"Yep. Supposed to be the best alien expert out there," he said with a scoff, and Lily couldn't help but chuckle under her breathe. She didn't doubt that he was the best expert, considering he was an alien.
She used the mouse to scroll down slightly and clicked on one of the links on the sight, frowning when a list of names popped up.
"Tina Freeman…George Thomas…Justine Argent…what is that?" Lily asked, her brows furrowing.
"A list of the dead," Mickey said and Lily's eyes snapped to his face in shock. "It seems one is always involved when the Doctors name pops up."
Lily bit her lip, sharing an extremely worried look with her best friend. She hoped Rose was okay, but what was the alternative? That she just left with a virtual stranger and forgot about her family for a whole year?
Aliens In London
"Mum, I'm home!" Lily called, dropping her keys on the kitchen counter and moving into the living room so that she could flop down onto the settee.
"Okay, sweetheart," Mum's voice came from her bedroom.
Lily sighed at the relief that was evident in her mum's voice. It seemed that whenever Lily left the house now she was in a perpetual state of worry and Lily hated it. If only she could somehow tell her mum the truth and actually get her to believe it. The news had said that the thing with the dummies had been one great big hoax and everyone believed it, moving on as though nothing had happened, so Lily didn't have a leg to stand on if she told the real truth.
She leaned forward and grabbed one of the flyers from the kitchen table. It was a missing person's poster for Rose. She looked sadly at the picture of her sister grinning and ran a finger over her face. Putting the flyer back on the pile she put her head in her hands and swallowed painfully, willing herself not to cry. She just missed Rose. Missed her so much that her insides burned with it.
Lily's head snapped up when she heard the flat door open and she wiped furiously at the few stray tears that had slipped down her cheek. She frowned walked towards the door, but she froze when it was in sight her eyes widening and her jaw going slack.
It was Rose.
Rose was standing right there. With that wide grin on her face that Lily hadn't seen in so long, not on her sisters face and not on her own. Rose's eyes lit up when she caught sight of Lily, her grin widening as she put her keys on the side just as Lily had before.
"Hey, Lil," Rose greeted as though nothing had happened. "So, what's been going on? How've you been?"
Lily surged forward and pulled Rose in the tightest hug imaginable. She buried her face in Rose's hair and breathed in the familiar scent of her older sister as Rose hugged her tightly back. A few tears leaked out of Lily's eyes again and she gave a breathy laugh in relief. Her sister was here. She was safe. She was perfectly fine and she was here.
"Mum!" Lily shouted in delight, pulling away from the hug. "Mum! It's Rose! She's here, she's actually, properly here!"
Lily missed the looked of confusion on Rose's face as she all but bounced on the balls of her feet. She heard something smash from her mum's room and a moment later she came running out in her usual silk dressing gown.
Mum's face had gone blank in shock as she stared at Rose, looking like she couldn't quite belief what she was seeing, hardly daring herself to hope.
"It's you," mum breathed.
Rose's brows furrowed and tried to share a look with Lily like they usual did when their mum was being weird, but Lily was just grinning, tears filling her blue eyes and Rose's expression just became even more confused.
"Of course it's me," Rose said in a completely bewildered voice.
"Oh, my God. It's you. Oh my god," mum cried, rushing forward to grab Rose into a hug.
Absolutely giddy with her sister's returned Lily quickly joined the hug too, clinging tightly and hoping she never has to go through this again. Rose looked over her mum's and sister's shoulders and her eyes widened when she finally caught sight of the piles of missing person's leaflets all over the living room.
Suddenly the door swung open again and Lily pulled away from the three person hug just in time to see the Doctor rush in, slightly breathless from the many stairs he had to run up to get to the flat.
"It's not twelve hours, it's twelve months, you've been gone a whole year," the Doctor said to Rose, making Lily frown at her sister in confusion. Then he turned to Lily and their mum with a grin and said, "Sorry."
Aliens in London
As their mum got on the phone to the police to say that Rose had returned, Lily took her sister into her bedroom with her. Rose was eyeing Lily with slight trepidation. Lily hadn't said anything since the Doctor had walked in and her face was scarily blank, giving Rose no insight as to what she was thinking.
Finally, as they both sat on Lily's bed, she said, "A year, Rose, you were gone a whole year."
Rose swallowed thickly, not taking her eyes off of her sister's expression, which had suddenly become very pained with tears in her eyes. Rose hated it when her sister cried and always did whatever she could to make it better, but how could she make it better when she was the cause of it?
"I'm sorry," was all Rose could say.
Lily huffed out a breathy laugh which held no humour, and she shook her head in disbelief.
"You're sorry, you're sorry? That's all you've got to say?" Lily demanded, her eyes narrowed. "You have no idea what it's been like. Searching and listening out for any sign of the TARDIS, any sign that you were coming back, but to find none. I've seen the Doctor's world, I've seen how dangerous it was…I thought you were dead Rose!" Lily cried and a few tears spilled out as her voice cracked.
Rose's brown eyes filled with tears then and she sniffed, not able to meet her sister's eyes. She knew what that felt like. When Mickey and Lily had been taken by the Nestene Consciousness and she thought her little sister was dead, the pain was unfathomable. It felt like she could have bled to death with the pain of it and she couldn't believe she had put Lily through that.
"And, mum! You have no idea how hard it's been, mum crying when she thinks I can't hear her. You should have been here on your birthday Rose! Neither of us could barely even get out of bed-"
"-I'm sorry!" Rose exclaimed, unable to hear any more as tears began to fall down her cheeks. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry, okay? I never meant for this to happen, I never meant-"
Lily pulled Rose into a tight hug then, both sister's grabbing at each other with desperate fingers, trying to remind themselves that the other was there as they began to cry in earnest. It had been a while since Lily had cried like this for Rose, not a few months since her Rose's birthday as she was always trying to be the strong one for mum, but now she was able to let it all out and it felt like a dam had broken.
Finally, Lily pulled away, sniffing and wiping her wet cheeks. She took a deep breath and let it out slowly, her shoulders slumping. Lily and Rose shared a look before they both fell back in sync and lay on Lily's bed, their blonde hair splaying together across the blue bedspread. They used to do this all the time. Just lay together in silence or talking about anything and everything. It was just one of the other million things Lily had missed about her sister.
"What happened, Rose? You didn't even call…" Lily said.
Rose sighed, turned her head to look at Lily.
"It's only been a few days to me. Just a few days and with everything going on I just…" Rose tailed off.
"Forgot?" Lily finished, setting her jaw as hurt coursed through her. Her sister had forgotten about her. They usual spent absolutely every day with each other and she just…forgot.
"You know I love you…I love you more than anyone," Rose said, her voice cracking slightly. "I'm sorry…" she said again.
Lily released a shaky breath.
"I know. I know you are," she said.
They lay there in silence for a moment and Rose's hand found Lily's so that she could weaving her fingers through her little sister's and squeeze to remind her that she was here now, and she had no intention of leaving Lily behind again. Even if it meant begging the Doctor to let her come with them…or telling him she had to leave. Rose was declaring right here, she was never leaving her sister again.
"Well…it's been a year," Lily started and Rose turned her head to look at her, "I'm nineteen now. We might as well be twins," she turned her head too and shot Rose a cheeky grin.
A grin bloomed on Rose's face and the two of them began to laugh.
"Okay, so catch me up," Lily said, sitting up and crossing her legs Indian style on the bed so she could face Rose. "Catch me up."
Rose propped herself up on her elbows, grinned, and began to tell Lily about her adventures in Platform One and how Cassandra, a flap of skin who proclaimed herself the last human, tried to sabotage the watching of the burning of the earth just to get money. Her travel to Naples, 1969, which ended up being a trip to Christmas in Cardiff, 1960, resulting in her meeting Charles Dickens and defeating ghost-like creatures called the Gelth who manipulated them in order to take people's bodies. Finally there was a trip to the 455th century where people were seemingly getting killed by invisible aliens, but it turned out to be an abandoned ship's computer moving on an emergency programme, which the Doctor repaired.
Aliens in London
It didn't take long for the police to come and start interrogating Rose on where she had been. The Policeman, Tom as he had told her (she made it a point to learn everyone's name), didn't seem all that worried, seeming content to allow mum to ask most of the questions. Lily suspected Rose wasn't the first person in the Powell Estate to just take off without warning anyone.
Lily was perched on the arm of the chair Rose was curled up on, her sister seemed to be trying to avoid mum's eyes. The Doctor was standing just behind them, his hands clasped together in front of him and he was watching the scene with a fairly guilty look.
Lily couldn't help but wonder about him. All those lists of the dead that seemed to follow him wherever he went. She had seen what he had done last year with the living plastic, so perhaps the fact he was there had nothing to do with it, more that he turned up to help. She couldn't help but worry though. She suspected that the Doctor sometimes forgets that real life goes on, that humans aren't as infallible as…whatever alien he is, Time Lord did Rose say?
She looked away from the Doctor and instead looked at the scene going on. Mum was pacing the room, only ever pausing to shout at Rose or to glare at her.
"The hours Lily and I have sat here, days and weeks and months, all on our own. We thought you were dead, and where were you? Travelling. What the hell does that mean, travelling?" their mum was saying. "That's no sort of answer," she turned to Tom the police man then and said, "you ask her. She won't tell me. that's all she says. Travelling."
"That's what I was doing," Rose muttered in answer.
"When your passport's still in the drawer?" Mum challenged, leaning closer to Rose and pointing towards the drawer in question. "It's just one lie after another."
"I meant to phone," Rose said, sounding rather choked up and her eyes were shining brighter than usual. "I really did. I just – I forgot"
"What, for a year? You forgot for a year? I just don't believe you," Mum said, moving to stand in front of the settee. "Why won't you tell me where you've been?" she asked, her voice marginally quieter.
"Actually, that's my fault," the Doctor put in and Lily and Rose glanced at each other before looking up at the Doctor, wondering where he was going with this. "I sort of err, employed Rose as my companion," he grinned.
Lily winced, knowing that this excuse was going to no good. She was starting to understand why the Doctor never involved the police last year with the Nestene Consciousness, he didn't seem all that good at knowing the right things to say.
"When you say companion, is this a sexual relationship?" Tom the policeman asked.
"No," both the Doctor and Rose said, looking at the policeman as though he were insane to even suggest it.
"Then what is it?" Mum asked, moving forward angrily to get right up in the Doctor face. "Because you, you waltz in here all charm and smiles, and the next thing I know, she vanishes off the face of the Earth! How old are you then? Forty? Forty five? What did you find her on the internet? Did you go online and pretend you're a doctor?"
"I am a doctor," the Doctor said defensively.
"Prove it. Stitch this, mate!" mum snapped and then she slapped the Doctor in the face.
Lily's blue eyes widened and she was so surprised that she actually slipped from the arm of the chair and fell into Rose's lap. Lily and Rose shared a look, half part sympathy and half part amusement, as the Doctor made a sound of pain and put a hand to his cheek. When the Doctor straightened up again he looked utterly astonished at such a thing occurring. Lily didn't know why he was all that surprised, if you take a woman's daughter away from her for a year, you're going to get slapped. He was just lucky Lily wasn't the type to hold a grudge or she was sure she would cause him some bodily harm as well.
Not soon after Tom the Policeman left, Mum took Rose into the kitchen to talk to her properly now she had gotten her anger out, so Lily took the Doctor up to the roof, telling Rose to meet them there when they were done talking.
As the Doctor looked out over the Powell Estate from where they were sitting, Lily watched him. She didn't know anything about this man. This man who had save the world, this man who had taken her sister away from her for a whole year, but seemed to be someone Rose trusted explicitly. She found herself wanting to understand him, because he was so much harder than anyone else on Earth. Perhaps it was because he wasn't from Earth, he had seen and suffered so much more and Lily was intrigued to no end.
"Your race…the Time Lords, was it? There are more of you, yeah?" Lily asked curiously.
The Doctor didn't turn to look at her, but she knew he heard as his jaw clenched and a look of absolute sadness and pain and regret cemented itself into his ancient eyes. Lily made her first discovery about him then. He seemed to have a lot of sorrow and anger inside of him, she decided that the manic energy and sharp, offbeat wit she had seen in him was a façade to hide the pain within.
"No, just me," he said, almost flippantly, but Lily knew he cared. From the stories Rose told her he seemed to care more than most. "The war that the Nestene Consciousness told you about, the Time War. My people fought in it, and we lost. Everybody lost. The last Great Time War and Gallifrey burned, I'm the only Time Lord left."
He got a distant look in his eyes and Lily bit her lip. She was normally good at comforting people, but losing your entire race? Your planet and your home? This was loss on a scale that she didn't even know what to do with, so she settled for reaching out a hand and taking his in hers. The Doctor looked down at their hands for a moment before he looked at Lily and gave her a small smile, which looked more like a grimace, squeezing her hand.
Rose came up then, and the Doctor dropped Lily's hand immediately. Lily reckoned he didn't let himself be vulnerable for more than a moment, just a moment and then he would stitch himself up and run again. Just how far must he have run to come all the way to Earth?
"How did it go?" Lily asked as her sister perched herself on the other side of Lily.
Rose sighed, giving Lily all she needed to know and Lily wrapped her arm around her older…well, they were the same age now weren't they?...sister's shoulders.
"I'm sure she'll come around," Lily said comfortingly, her blue eyes soft.
Rose just shook her head and sighed again.
"I can't tell her," she said. "I can't even begin. She's never going to forgive me. And I missed a year. Was it good?"
Lily's brows rose.
"You're asking me? I was having trouble with the fact that my sister was missing for a year, I have no idea," Lily cried.
"You're so useless," Rose scoffed.
"Well, if it's this much trouble, are you going to stay here now?" the Doctor put in, gaining both girls' attention.
Lily quickly saw past the flippant attitude he was putting up and could tell he was extremely reluctant with the idea of Rose staying home. It must be hard. Being the last of your race, maybe the idea of losing a friend just made it that much harder. Lily couldn't even begin to fathom what the Doctor went through, but she knew one thing, when suffering with loss, no matter how big or small, no one should ever be alone.
"I don't know," Rose said and Lily turned to see the same reluctance of her sister's face to. "I'm not leaving Lily again though," she said firmly and Lily bit her lip, trying to hide how pleased she was with that. "Do you think, maybe, I don't know, she could come with us?"
Lily looked at Rose in surprise at the question. She never thought that he sister would try and get her to come along, but she was glad she did, it showed she cared, and Lily needed that after a whole year without her. Lily turned to the Doctor then, donning the same hopeful expression that Rose was wearing. She thought back to the stories Rose told her and how could she not want that? Long for something more that the same day to day thing. She was reminded of Oscar Wilde's, Lady Windermere's Fan: "We're all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars," Lily actually had the chance to touch the stars, and she hoped the Doctor would let her.
The Doctor crossed his arms over his chest, his forehead wrinkling as he looked at Lily thoughtfully.
"I reckon so," The Doctor said finally.
"Thank you!" Lily cried, throwing her arms around the Doctor so that he let out a laugh, grinning from ear to ear and Rose whooped, wearing that famous Tyler grin that was currently on Lily's face too.
The three of them sat there for a moment, just grinning at what brilliance was no doubt to come, before the Doctor suddenly looked at them sternly, pointing a warning finger in their faces.
"Your mother's not coming though," he said.
Lily and Rose both laughed. Lily suddenly felt lighter and happier than she had in a long time, and she could only hope that as she spent more and more time with Rose and the Doctor that the feeling would continue.
"No chance," Rose laughed.
"I don't do families," the Doctor said, crossing his arms again.
"She slapped you!" Rose exclaimed, making Lily laugh even harder as she recalled the incident of not that long ago.
"Nine hundred years of time and space, and I've never been slapped by someone's mother," said the Doctor, sounding rather affronted and grimacing slightly.
"The look on your face though," Lily teased with a grin, making Rose chuckle in remembrance.
"It hurt!" said the Doctor, rubbing a hand over his cheek as he had when it had first happened.
"You're so gay," Rose laughed.
Lily chuckled for a moment before he mind caught up with what the Doctor had said: 'Nine hundred years of time and space'…
"What do you mean nine hundred years…?" Lily asked slowly, her brows furrowed.
"That's my age," the Doctor stated.
"You're nine hundred years old?" Rose repeated.
"Yeah" the Doctor nodded.
Lily and Rose shared an utterly surprised look, scarcely able to believe it, but then again he is an alien with a bigger on the inside blue box and the universe inside his head. Lily and Rose both schooled their features and nodded.
"Our mum was right," Rose said. "That is one hell of age gap." She sighed then and got to her feet, taking a few steps away from Lily and the Doctor. "Every conversation with you just goes mental. There's no one else I can talk to. I've seen all that stuff up there, the size of it, and I can't say a word. Aliens and spaceships and things, and Lily and I are the only people on planet earth who know they exist"
Lily opened her mouth to say that she sincerely doubted that, but in that moment there was a deep horn and the three of them jumped in shock, turning. Lily gasped and ducked with the other three as a space ship, trailing black smoke, passed overhead and headed for the city. They stood and watched its progress with slack jaws and wide eyes.
Lily blinked, staring at the black smoke rise into the air on the horizon.
"Oh that's just not fair," Rose breathed.
From beside her the Doctor already wore a giant grin and let out an excited laugh. Lily and Rose looked up at him and couldn't help but grin themselves and the three of them began to run, fully intending to get a closer look.
Aliens in London
By the time the three of them skidded to a stop, traffic was completely halted, people exclaiming in annoyance, car horns blaring. The army seemed to have closed the roads using their huge green trucks, holding guns and ushering people away.
"It's blocked off," the Doctor stated.
"Well, we can see that," Lily said, panting slightly and holding her side from all the running, not at all as used to it as Rose and the Doctor.
"We're miles from the centre," Rose said, sounding only slightly winded. "The city must be grid locked. The whole of London must be closing down."
"I know," the Doctor exclaimed. "I can't believe I'm here to see this. This is fantastic!"
Lily and Rose said a look before looking up at the Doctor in bemusement. He was grinning widely, practically bouncing on the balls of his feet.
"Did you know this was going to happen?" Lily asked incredulously. "Has this got something to do with you? Because so far the only times I've seen anything unusual has been when you were there"
"Nope," the Doctor stated, still practically beaming with unconcealed joy.
"Do you recognise the ship?" Rose asked.
"Nope"
"Do you know why it crashed?" she tried again.
"Nope"
Lily and Rose shared another glance before they both sighed in annoyance at his lack of foreknowledge.
"Oh, we're so glad we've got you," Rose breathed sardonically.
"I bet you are," The Doctor grinned, completely ignoring her tone. "this is what I travel for, Rose, Lily. To see history happening right in front of us."
Lily looked at him for a moment before a slow smile appeared on her face. It was as though his excitement was seeping from him and Lily couldn't help but feel the least bit giddy at this event that cut through the melancholy of her day to day life.
"Let's go and see it then," Lily said in excitement.
"Yeah," Rose agreed with a nod. "Never mind the traffic, we've got the TARDIS"
"Better not," said the Doctor, finally calming down slightly. "Already got one spaceship in the middle of London. I don't want to shove another one on top."
"Yeah, but yours looks like a big blue box. No one's going to notice," Rose pointed out.
"Oh, you'd be surprised. Emergency like this, there'll be all kinds of people watching," the Doctor said. "Trust me. the TARDIS stays where it is" he said firmly.
"So, history's happening and we're stuck here," Rose summed up, not sounding at all amused, and she and Lily shared another aggravated look.
"Yes we are," the Doctor said, craning his neck so that he could see what was going on up ahead better.
"I guess it's time for the human approach then," Lily said, making the Doctor look at her questioningly, but Rose already seemed to have picked up where she was going with this.
"We watch it on the Telly," the two sisters said in sync.
The Doctor got a funny look on his face then, as though the thought would have never occurred to him had Lily not have pointed it out. It seemed the 'human approach' was something a Time Lord didn't spend all that much time doing.
Aliens in London
When they got back to the flat, mum had already invited Ru Chan, from the flat above there's over, and Lily knew without a doubt that more people would be coming. It was just like their mum to jump at the chance to gather people, whether it was to welcome Rose home or to celebrate the alien ship crashing Lily couldn't tell, she wouldn't be surprise if it was both knowing their mother.
Lily and Rose both curled up on the settee, while Ru sat at the kitchen table, their mum made tea, and the Doctor claimed the arm chair in order to turn on News 24.
"Big Ben destroyed as a UFO crash lands in Central London," the Reporter said. "Police reinforcements are drafted in from across the country to control widespread panic, looting and civil disturbance. A state of national emergency has been declared. Tom Hitchenson is at the scene."
The camera switched over to the man in question.
"The police are urging the public not to panic. There's a help line number on the screen right now if you're worried about friends or family," Hitchenson said as a number in red block letters appeared beneath his image.
The Doctor grabbed the remote and flipped the channel onto AMNN to watch the US news in order to see what they had to say on the matter.
"The military are on the lookout for more spaceships," the woman said. "Until then, all flights in North America air space have been grounded"
The Doctor flipped the channel back to News 24 just long enough to hear Hitchenson say: "The army are sending divers into the wreck of the spaceship. No one knows what they're going to find" before he switched it back again.
"The President will address the nation live from the White House, but the Secretary General has asked that people watch the skies" the woman from AMNN said.
Both Lily and Rose were looking from the Doctor, to the TV, and back again, Rose biting her thumb nail nervously. Lily was carefully studying his expression to see if he was noticing anything they were missing with his superior knowledge on the subject. All Lily could pick up was that it didn't seem all that threatening seeing as the one ship mentioned had crashed accidentally, but she couldn't help but wonder if the Doctor saw something else.
She looked away from the man only when her mum came back from the kitchen with mugs of tea for Ru, Lily and Rose, but she didn't have one for the Doctor. Lily wasn't all that surprised. Both she and Rose had tried to get her to be more accommodating to the man, but to no avail, they were lucky she even allowed him back into the flat.
"I've got no choice," Mum was saying to Ru in answer as to why the Doctor was there.
"You've broken your mother's heart," Ru was saying angrily to Rose, gesturing with her hands like she always did when she spoke, completely speaking over mum.
"I'm not going to make him welcome," Mum said, not minding at all that they were speaking at the same time, Lily reckoned that was how they all communicated, mum and her friends were all chatty.
"I cradled her like a baby," Ru continued.
"Ru, just leave it, yeah?!" Lily exclaimed, finally having enough of it. She hardly needed reminding how distraught her mum was, not that she was that much better when she realised Rose might not be coming back.
Ru visibly bristled at the interruption.
"And you!" she began again, this time turning her glare onto Lily. "Letting that man in here like it's nothing, completely forgetting what he'd done to you and your poor mother-"
Lily sighed in annoyance, straightening the beanie on her head and was extremely relieved when the Doctor cut in.
"Oi, I'm trying to listen," he said, glaring at everyone for just a moment before turning back to the Telly and Lily began to watching him watching the screen again.
"-his current whereabouts," a Reporter standing outside 10 Downing Street was saying. "News is just coming in. We can go to Tom at the Embankment."
The camera switched back to Hitchenson, who was still standing beside the Thames.
"They've found a body," he said and Lily saw the Doctor's brows rise but he didn't look altogether shocked. "It's unconfirmed, but I'm being told a body has been found in the wreckage. A body of non-terrestrial origins. It's being brought ashore."
There was a knock at the door and their mum quickly bustled to let more people into the flat. Just as Lily predicted the gathering was turning into a small party, now with wine being served.
"A body of some sort has been found inside the wreckage of the spacecraft," Hitchenson went on.
"Oh, guess who asked me out," their mum smiled, standing from when she was perched beside Lily on the arm of the settee. "Billy Crewe."
Lily looked up at her mum then, the woman stealing her attention.
"Ooh, really?" she asked, her brows rising in surprise. "He's rather fit for an older bloke"
"Lily," Rose hissed jabbing her in the back, from where she was being spoken to by everyone who were 'just so happy she was back', and nodded towards the TV, indicating that if she couldn't watch then she had to.
"Right," Lily said rather sheepishly and watched the news again, trying to drown out her mum talking to Ru and everyone else who had joined them in the flat.
"-Brought to the nearest short," Hitchenson was saying. "Unconfirmed reports say that the body is of extra-terrestrial origin. An extraordinary event unfolding here live in Central London. The body is being transferred to a secure unit mortuary, the whereabouts is yet unknown. The roads in Central London are being-"
Lily jumped slightly in surprise as the channel flipped over to Blue Peter when Matt Baker was showing you how to make a spaceship cake. Looking around she couldn't help but let out a laugh as she saw that the Doctor was now wrestling little Charlie, Debby's son, for the Remote.
"Lily, you shut up!" the Doctor exclaimed, narrowing his eyes and pointing a finger at her in a faux threatening manner.
Lily chuckled again before holding her hands up in a surrendering gesture.
"Charlie, come here mate," Lily cooed and Charlie rushed over to sit in her lap so that she could get the remote from him and turn the news back on.
The Doctor only nodded to her in thanks and went back to watching the screen now that New 24 had returned.
"-Albion Hospital," Hitchenson said. "We still don't know whether it's alive or dead. Whitehall is denying everything, but the body has been brought here, Albion Hospital. The road's closed off. It's closest to the river."
Lily jiggled her legs up and down to keep Charlie calm on her lap and watched the Doctor lean forward in his seat, his brow furrowed. Lily narrowed her blue eyes at him suspiciously. The way he was acting certainly didn't fit with his idea of sitting back and letting it play out. He was taking an interest in this and Lily wanted to know why.
"I'm being told that General Asquith is now entering the hospital," Hitchenson went on. "The buildings been evacuated. The patients have been moved out onto the streets"
Lily's brows furrowed and she frowned. Those poor patients. There was a crash landing and now all of them had to go out onto the streets. That was absolutely awful.
"The police still won't confirm the presence of an alien body contained inside those walls," Hitchenson said.
The camera flipped to Andrew Marr reporting from outside 10 Downing Street.
"Mystery still surrounds the whereabouts of the Prime Minister. He's not been seen since the emergency began. The opposition are criticising his lack of leadership and…hold on," Andrew Marr turned as an official looking car pulled up and a portly man got out. "Oh, that's Joseph Green, MP for Hartley Dale. He's chairman of the Parliamentary Commission on the monitoring of sugar standards in exported confectionary. With respect, hardly the most important person right now."
Lily was so busy frowning at the telly for the strange absence of the Prime Minister that she visibly startled when the Doctor got to his feet. He didn't say a word as he made his way through the people in the flat towards the door.
"Hey, Charlie, go find your mum for me sweetheart," Lily told Charlie with a smile, setting him on the ground to run and find Debby.
She got to her feet and hastily made way after the Doctor. Rose soon doing the same when she noticed what had happened.
"And where do you think you're going?" Rose demanded as she and Lily caught up with the Doctor just outside of the flat.
"Nowhere," the Doctor shrugged and Lily raised a sceptical brow. "It's just a bit human in there for me. History just happened and they're talking about where you can buy dodgy top-up cards for half price. I'm off on a wander, that's all."
"Right," Rose scoffed. "There's a spaceship on the Thames and you're just wandering."
"Nothing to do with me. it's not an invasion. That was a genuine crash landing. Angle of descent, colour of smoke, everything. It's perfect," Lily didn't know if she imagined it, but she was sure something flashed in his eyes when he said the word perfect.
"So?" Rose asked, brows furrowed.
"So maybe this is it," the Doctor said. "First contact. The day mankind officially comes into contact with an alien race. I'm not interfering because you've got to handle this on your own. That's when the human race finally grows up. Just this morning you were all tiny and small and made of clay. Now you can expand. You don't need me," he nodded towards the open door behind them where they could hear David Bowie singing Starman on the radio. "Go and celebrate history. Spend some time with your mum"
Lily could tell that Rose was being convinced, but she still seemed slightly hesitant.
"Promise you won't disappear?" she asked, narrowing her eyes.
The Doctor didn't answer for a moment, before suddenly he grinned.
"Tell you what," he began to root around in the inner pockets of his leather jacket before he pulled out a single key on a chain and handed it to Rose. "TARDIS key. It's about time you had one. See you later"
Before Rose could do much more that bite back a smile at being allowed a key, the Doctor was off again. When a second later Rose returned to the party, Lily ran to catch up with the Doctor. He didn't slow down his pace down the stairs as she caught up, and didn't even look at her.
"I couldn't help but notice that you didn't promise," Lily said, her voice taking on a rather accusatory tone.
"Great observational skills," The Doctor commented shortly and Lily rolled her eyes, after a year she had almost forgotten how aggravating a conversation with him was.
"I want to come with you," Lily blurted before she could stop herself.
The Doctor stopped only for a second, just long enough to turn to her and say, "I'm not going anywhere…and no"
Lily sighed and quickly followed him down the stairs, grabbing his leather clad arm to stop him again so that he would look at her while she was talking.
"You take me with you, or I will go back up to that flat and tell my mum you are just dying to tell her everything you and Rose got up to on your travels," she said strongly, putting her hands on her hips and raising her brows challengingly.
The Doctor considered her for a moment.
"You hide that devious side well," he commented and Lily shrugged.
The Doctor turned and began to descend the stairs again. Lily sighed, knowing that she wouldn't be able to convince him and was just about to turn to go back up to the flat when the Doctor stopped and looked at her expectantly.
"Well, come on then," he said.
Lily perked up and one of the famous Tyler grins appeared on her face as she hastened to follow him, a skip practically in her step. The Doctor grinned too, feeling Lily's enthusiasm seep into him, it was one of the main reason he enjoyed having companions so much: they looked at the adventures with such joy that he actually began to get that feeling again.
Lily followed the Doctor into the TARDIS, and once she did she grinned. Last time she was in here she was too overcome with panic and shock from the living plastic that she didn't really take that much time taking the ship in. The console had a stunning blue glow and the almost tattered furniture and the controls, which looked as though it had been fixed with random junk from a garage, just showed how much the ship had been through. It was beautiful.
Lily jumped when she heard the tell-tale wheezing sound of the TARDIS taking flight and she had to grab onto one of the coral beams to her left.
"What's wrong with it?" Lily called over to the Doctor, who was darting about the controls, pulling different levers and twisting different knobs. The TARDIS didn't sound like it was running well at all, not to mention all the shaking.
"Not an it, a she!" the Doctor called back, he had now resorted to pulling out a large hammer, and he began to hit the console to sort it out.
"What?" Lily shouted in confusion.
"The TARDIS is a she!" he said loudly. The TARDIS finally came to a shuddering landing and Lily sighed in relief, letting go of the beam and straightening her beanie. "TARDISs are grown, not built, she's alive"
Lily looked at the Doctor with wide eyes.
"The TARDIS…is a living thing?" Lily said slowly.
"Yep!" The Doctor grinned, popping the p, before moving past her to exit the TARDIS.
Lily looked about the TARDIS with new eyes, and, although she didn't want to admit it, rather weary ones too. She was standing inside a living thing. A living thing that could fly through time and space. Now that she thought about it, she could feel a presence in the back of her mind. Was that the TARDIS? Just as she thought of it, the TARDIS gave a hum, and Lily jumped. She bit her lip, and after a lingering look on the console, followed the Doctor.
The TARDIS seemed to have parked herself in a store room, so Lily had to squint slightly to get used to the dark room. she moved to stand behind the Doctor, who had pulled out his sonic screwdriver to unlock the door.
"Shh!" Lily hissed to the Doctor as the sonic screwdriver made an odd whirring noise. She wasn't sure exactly where they were, but she could guess that they were somewhere they weren't supposed to be, and the last thing she needed was to get caught.
"It's not me, it's this," the Doctor whispered back in affront.
"Well, you're the one that made it," Lily replied smartly.
The Doctor opened the door and they walked into a room full of red berets – the Parachute Regiment. They stare at each other in silence for a moment, then the soldiers grabbed their weapons and point them at Lily and the Doctor. Lily's eyes go comically wide, and she shoots an annoyed look at the Doctor, who grinned at her sheepishly. It seemed that this wasn't a new experience for him.
Suddenly Lily jumped when she heard a scream in the distance. Everyone else in the room clearly heard it too and as they all looked in the direction of the far door.
"Defence plan delta! Come on. Move! Move!" the Doctor shouts in a commanding voice that makes it easier for Lily too imagine him being part of the time war.
The Doctor grabbed Lily's hand and pulled her out of the room, the Soldiers hastening to follow. The Doctor, and in association Lily, lead the Marines out of the room at the double.
"Spread out," the Doctor told the closest soldier. "Tell the perimeter it's on lockdown" for a moment the soldier just stared at him, and Lily didn't blame him, this was an order from a stranger and his friend who appeared to have snuck into the hospital through the store cupboard. "Do it!" the Doctor added sharply and this time the soldier listened.
"Mick, Terry, side room. now!" he ordered and the soldiers began to spread out, yelling things like "clear!" and "keep it moving!"
The Doctor leads Lily further through the hospital in the direction where Lily supposed the scream must have come from. Clearly Time Lords must have superior hearing or something as Lily wouldn't have known where to go. They reach the room at the end of the hallway, which, with a shiver, Lily realised was the Mortuary.
When Lily and the Doctor entered the room, they quickly spot a female doctor, cowering by her desk, a cut on her forehead that was still bleeding. The room was in a state of disarray…looking almost as if someone, or something, had rushed about in a panic.
The woman looks up at them fearfully, still shaking slightly, "I swear it was dead"
"Coma, shock, hibernation, anything," the Doctor crouched down beside her and Lily quickly followed his example. "What does it look like?" he asked.
Lily jumped, unconsciously moving closer to the Doctor when metal clattering echoed around the room.
"It's still here," the Doctor breathed.
Lily eyes were wide, her heart thumping so hard in her chest that she was surprised everyone didn't hear it. She was in the same room as an alien. An actual proper alien, not like a big vat of plastic, but an alien that had come to earth in a spaceship.
The Doctor lifted one of his hands an gestured for a soldier outside the door to come in and kneel by the three of them. Lily watched with bated breath as the Doctor, slowly and quietly, began to make his way further into the room. Her eyes began to water as the Doctor began to lean around a cabinet to see what was hiding behind it, and she blinked rapidly realising it had been a while since she had.
"Hello," the Doctor said.
There was a loud squeal and more clattering a suddenly, running out from behind the cabinet and out the door, clad in a space suit, was – a pig? Lily fell back against the war beside the woman in shock, staring at where the pig was running.
"Don't shoot!" the Doctor shouted when the soldier on the other side of Lily raised his gun and he quickly ran after the pig.
After only a seconds hesitation Lily followed. She had just gotten out of the room when a loud bang echoed. Another soldier had shot his gun.
"What did you do that for?" the Doctor demanded of the soldier, glaring. "It was scared! It was scared."
The pig was lying on the ground and Lily moved past the Doctor to kneel at its side, looking at it curiously. Its snout and eyelashes were twitched and its breathing was laboured because of the gunshot wound in its stomach. Only semi-awe of the Doctor crouching down beside her, she reached out a hand to gently stroke its soft head. It trembled beneath her palm and her breath hitched again as a sadness seeped into her. It was scared, terrified really, and now it had taken its last breathe right in front of him.
"Doctor," Lily whimpered, not taking her eyes of the dead creature in front of her. She had never in her life witnessed death, and she felt tears fill her eyes in response to such a horrible event.
"I know," the Doctor murmured, pulled her close to him so that she could rest her head on his shoulder, seeming to guess what she was going through, and together they mourned the poor creature.
Aliens in London
Soon after the Doctor, Lily and the woman, Toshiko she learned her name was, were standing over the body of the pig, which was now lying on the cold, steel table in the mortuary.
"I just assumed that's what aliens look like, but you're saying it's just an ordinary pig from earth," Toshiko said.
"But I don't understand," Lily said, shaking her head and trying her best to not look at the pig in question, sure she would start crying again if she did, "it walked on its hind legs, we saw it…"
"It's like a mermaid. Victorian showmen used to drawn the crowds by taking the skull of a cat, gluing it to a fish and calling it a mermaid. Now someone's taken a pig, opened up its brain, stuck bits on, then they're strapped it in that ship and made it dive bomb. It must've been terrified. They've taken this animal and turned it into a joke," the Doctor explained, his arms crossed over his chest, his expression hard and a cold fury in his voice.
Lily felt sick to her stomach. That poor animal. It had been taken and experimented on and then forced to fly and crash and practically die, not knowing at all what was going on. The Doctor was right, it would have been downright terrified. Lily looked up at the Doctor, her blue eyes swimming with tears. His face soften in response. He reached out and squeezed her hand comfortingly and gently led her out of the room, not saying anything to Toshiko, and back to the TARDIS.
Lily was silent for a moment as the Doctor worked on the controls and the TARDIS began to wheeze as she took off.
"Is this…normal, for you?" Lily asked finally.
The Doctor looked up from what he was doing to look at Lily considering her question.
"Sometimes," he admitted, rather reluctantly.
He found himself liking Lily, liking her pure heart, and he liked Rose too, he didn't want to say anything that would cause the two of them to decide he was just too dangerous to travel with. He didn't think he could take that after the war.
Lily was quiet again, but this time for only a second before she asked, "but the other times. You get to help? You make things better? Save people?"
The Doctor nodded.
"Then it's worth it. There are so many bad things, but those are always worth it to get the good," Lily said. "My Granddad taught me that"
The Doctor looked at her for a moment before smiling softly.
"He sounds smart, your granddad," he said.
"He was," Lily said, her smile slipping only slightly. "I loved him. He always wore this ridiculous bow-tie that I just loved, and he always had things like that to say. My mum always said I inherited his kind heart"
The Doctor pressed pulled one more lever on the console and the wheezing started up again and Lily was thrown forward slightly so that she had to hold onto the console to steady herself as they landed. Practically on seconds later the TARDIS door was opening and Rose was coming inside.
"All right, so I lied," the Doctor said as he began to move around the console again to press buttons.
Lily turned and her eyes widened when she saw it wasn't just Rose that had come into the TARDIS. Mickey was there too, and Lily wanted to kick herself for being such a terrible friend, with the excitement of Rose coming home and the invitation to go with her and the Doctor, she had completely forgotten to even call Mickey to tell him about Rose's return, God knows her mum wasn't going to. However, it wasn't even just Mickey, it was her mum. She was looking about the TARDIS with completely wide, shocked eyes, but unlike Lily she didn't seem awed by the TARDIS, she seemed completely overwhelmed. Lily met Rose's eyes and her sister winced in acknowledgement to the dilemma.
"Doctor," Lily tried, wanting to make him realise they weren't alone.
"I went and had a look," the Doctor continued, not seeming to hear Lily's interruption. "But the whole crash landing's a fake. I thought so. Just too perfect. I mean, hitting big ben. Come on, so I though let's go and have a look-"
"Our mum's here," Rose said.
That caught the Doctor attention. He finally stopped faffing about the controls and looked up. His eyes going from Lily and Rose, to Mickey, to their mum and back again. He rolled his eyes with a vague expression of annoyance.
"Oh, that's just what I need," he said, before he pointed a warning finger in the direction of the Tyler sisters, "Don't you dare make this place domestic"
Mickey stepped forward now, a harsh glare on his face as he approached the Doctor.
"You ruined my life, Doctor," he said angrily and Lily winced, knowing the Doctor had unintentionally done that. "They thought she was dead. I was a murder suspect because of you"
The Doctor didn't even acknowledge Mickey before saying, "You see what I mean? Domestic" to Lily and Rose, who just shook their heads helplessly, not knowing what to do.
"I bet you don't even remember my name" Mickey said.
"Rickey," the Doctor answered almost immediately.
"It's Mickey," he replied, not seeming in the least bit impressed.
"No, it's Rickey," the Doctor disagreed.
"I think I know my own name"
"You think you know your own name?" The Doctor repeated sardonically. "How stupid are you?"
"Mum, don't!" Rose exclaimed suddenly, making Lily jump.
She looked over to where their mum was. The overwhelming feeling of the spaceship seemed to have gotten the best of her and their mum had turned heel and ran out of there, not having had the explanation from any of them on what exactly is going on.
"Don't go anywhere," Rose warned the Doctor, before saying to him and Mickey, "Don't start a fight! Lily, watch them!"
Lily gave her sister an affronted look at that. 'watch them'? She wasn't there babysitter. It wasn't her job to keep her ex-boyfriend and the alien she ran off with calm in said aliens space ship. Now there's a situation she'd never have expected to be in. she wasn't able to say anything to Rose though, as she had quickly left the TARDIS to have words with their mum.
"Okay," Lily said, trying to start up a different conversation before Mickey and the Doctor could go at it again. "I don't understand, how did we get to the seeing that the alien wasn't an alien at all, to the crash landing being fake?" she asked.
"So that was a real space ship though?" Rose said as she came back in the TARDIS.
Lily gave her a questioning look, wondering what had happened with their mum, but Rose just shook her head sadly at her. That was all the answer she needed and Lily sighed sadly. That was going to be an explanation and a half, trying to get their mum to see that what they're doing was okay.
"Yep," the Doctor replied.
"But Lily just said it was all a pack of lies," Rose pointed out. "So, what is it, then? Are they invading?"
"Funny way to invade," Mickey spoke up for the first time, "putting the world on red alert."
"Good point!" the Doctor said, looking at Mickey as though completely surprised that he could say something relevant and Lily pursed her lips at the exchange. "So, what're they up to?"
Aliens in London
The Doctor muttered something complicated about the TARDIS before he had set to work under the grating that made up the floor to mess with various wiring. Rose seemed much too busy worrying about what she was going to do about everything, so Lily left her sitting in the jump seat so she had some time with her thoughts, and stood with Mickey watching the Doctor work.
"So, what're you doing down there?" Mickey asked curiously and Lily had to admit that she was wondering the same thing.
The Doctor sighed in annoyance, pausing in his fiddling of the wires and removing his sonic screwdriver form his mouth to answer.
"Rickey," he started.
"Mickey," Lily and Mickey corrected together.
"Rickey," the Doctor continued as though they hadn't even interrupted. "If I was to tell you what I was doing to the controls of my frankly magnificent time ship, would you even begin to understand?"
"I suppose not," Mickey admitted, frowning.
"Well, shut it, then," the Doctor snapped, before ducking down beneath the grating again, using his sonic screwdriver on a couple more wires to his left.
Lily pursed her lips in annoyance at the exchange again and Mickey, looking half hurt and half annoyed, went to go and talk to Rose. Lily sighed, and sat down on the floor so that her legs were dangling down into the hole where the Doctor was. Mickey had always has a self-confidence problem, something that Lily had always tried to help him with, especially since her desire to be a psychologist, but this whole problem with the Doctor was just erasing all the work she had done. Rose running off with an alien that could offer her the whole of time and space and seemed to be incredibly smart too, how could Mickey feel good compared to him. He just didn't see himself in the same light as Lily saw him.
"That was mean, you know," Lily told the Doctor quietly.
The Doctor sighed.
"Well, excuse me for not particularly caring for your sister's boyfriend's stupid questions," The Doctor said in exasperation.
"He's a mechanic, he's interested!" Lily said defensively. "He was just interested in how the TARDIS works, just like he is with cars, you can't blame him for asking questions"
The Doctor didn't say anything for a moment and the way in which he continued to fiddling with wires and the whirring that came from his sonic screwdriver made her begin to think he wasn't going to.
"…did you just compare the TARDIS to a car?" the Doctor asked finally.
Lily paused, thinking back to what she had said, and ducked her head down a small reluctant laugh escaped her lips and she couldn't help but smile as the Doctor grinned up at her.
"Got it!" the Doctor exclaimed as he fiddled with the last two wires.
The Doctor pulled himself out of the floor and hopped to his feet, helping Lily get up too as he did. He went over the console and pulled down a ratty looking screen with a few knobs on it.
"Ha, ha!" he said. Patched it in the radar, looped it back twelve hours so we can follow the flight of that spaceship." He fiddled with a few knobs before a picture flickered to life on it. "Here we go. Hold on. Come on" he hit the side of the monitor so that the picture was stop being so fuzzy.
Lily and Rose shared completely bewildered looks as they looked over the Doctor's shoulders at the screen, not having any clue what they were looking at.
"That's the spaceship on its way to earth, see?" the Doctor explained, pointing. "Except. Hold on. See? The spaceship did a completely sling shot round earth before it landed"
"But that means-" Lily started.
"That it came from earth in the first place," the Doctor nodded, guessing her next words. "It went up and came back down. Whoever those aliens are, they haven't just arrived, they've been here for a while. The question is, what have they been doing?"
Lily, Mickey and Rose shared a look, not having a clue as to the answer to his question, but all feeling just as unnerved at the idea of aliens being on the earth for such a long time and coming up with such an elaborate plan.
Now that the monitor was working, Lily, Mickey and Rose began to channel-hop on the scanner, trying to find anything of any use on the TV.
"How many channels do you get?" Mickey asked as they flipped through another five channels in rapid progression.
"All the basic packages," the Doctor said absently.
"You get the sports channels?" he asked.
Lily laughed slightly. It was comforting to know that even with all this alien stuff turning her life completely on its head, Mickey still stayed the same. She smiled up at her best friend and leaned into his side in the hope to show him how much she appreciated his presence.
"Yes, I get the football," The doctor rolled his eyes, before he suddenly perked up at a particular channel Rose landed on. "Hold on, I know that lot"
"It is looking likely that the Government's bringing in alien specialists – those people who have devoted their lives to studying outer space," the woman on the TV said.
"UNIT," the Doctor elaborated at Rose's questioning look. "United Nations Intelligence Taskforce. Good people"
"How do you know them?" Rose asked.
"'Cos he's worked for them," Mickey said and the Doctor and Rose looked over at him in surprise. "Oh yeah, don't think I sat on my backside for twelve months, Doctor. Lily and I read up on you"
The Doctor turned to Lily at this point, raising a brow in her direction and crossing his arms across his chest, making Lily blush slightly.
"You'd taken my sister for a year," Lily said defensively, "what else was I supposed to do?"
The Doctor jerked his head slightly in acknowledgement of her words.
"You look deep enough on the internet or in the history books," Mickey continued, "and there's his name, followed by a list of the dead"
"That's nice," the Doctor said flatly. "Good boy, Rickey"
"If you know them," Rose cut in, trying to stop the argument before it began, "why don't you go and help?"
"They wouldn't recognise me. I've changed a lot since the old days," the Doctor said and Lily frowned, looking at him up and down. He couldn't have possibly changed so much that people he used to work with don't recognise him. "Besides, the world's on a knife-edge. There's aliens out there and fake aliens. We want to keep this alien out of the mix. Im going undercover. And er, I'd better keep the TARDIS out of sight. Rickey, you've got a car. You can do some driving"
"You could at least try to sound polite," Lily told him and the Doctor just rolled his eyes.
"Where to?" Mickey asked.
"The roads are clearing," the Doctor said. "Let's go and have a look at that space ship"
The four of them exited the TARDIS and they were immediately ambushed with the deafening sound of a helicopter above and blinded by an intense spotlight. As a reflex, Rose pulled Lily close to her side and the sisters both rose their hands to try and block out the light slightly. Lily was only vaguely aware of Mickey leaving her side as she was too focused on the police that were surrounding them.
"Do not move!" a policeman shouted. "Step away from the box and raise your hands above your heads"
Lily, Rose and the Doctor all looked about curiously. Police cars and Saxon armoured carriers surrounded them. Lily's heart was speeding in her chest, not having a clue as to what was going on, but she was starting to realise that this was what life with the Doctor was like.
"Rose! Lily!" Lily hears her mum's voice shout.
Squinting because of the spotlight, Lily looked in the direction her voice had called and saw her mum struggling with some soldiers that had grabbed her, still shouting hers and Rose's names.
"Raise your hands above your head," the Police said again. "You are under arrest"
Lily, Rose and the Doctor all did as they were asked.
"Take me to your leader," the Doctor grinned, bouncing slightly on the balls of his feet. Lily and Rose both looked over at the Doctor, not looking at all impressed with the bad joke.
It didn't take long for the Tyler sisters and the Doctor to be ushered into a sleek black car. Lily was rather confused by it if she were being honest, there were all those police cars and they were put into this fancy one, with the leather seats and tinted windows.
"This is a bit posh," Rose commented, seeming to have the same thoughts. "If I knew it was going to be like this, being arrested, I would have done it years ago"
Lily laughed.
"Oh yes, the years in a dark prison cell, so worth the trip in the fancy car," Lily mocked and Rose and the Doctor both grinned.
"We're not being arrested," the Doctor said. "We're being escorted"
Lily and Rose shared confused looks.
"Being escorted to where?" Lily asked.
"Where'd you think? Downing Street" he replied.
Lily and Rose just stared at him for a moment, gobsmacked, their eyes wide. Lily waited for the punchline, but it never came. They couldn't be going to Downing Street. Why would they be? Lily was starting to think the idea of aliens were making more sense than the actions of humans. Maybe she should go into alien psychology instead…is that even a thing? She would have to ask the Doctor.
"You're kidding," Rose said.
"I'm not," said the Doctor, a wide grin on his face,
"10 Downing Street?" Lily added, still not quite being able to believe it.
"That's the one"
"Oh, my god," Rose breathed.
Lily and Rose both suddenly broke out in grins, visibly bubbling with excitement, "We're going to 10 Downing Street!" they both exclaimed, to each to each other, giddily pulling each other in the best excited hug the car would allow. The Doctor laughed at their excitement.
"How come we're going to Downing Street?" Lily asked, still grinning.
The grin fell from the Doctors face at that.
"I hate to say it, but Mickey was right. Over the years I've visited this planet a lot of times, and I've been, er, noticed" the Doctor said, grimacing slightly.
"Now they need you?" asked Rose.
"Like it said on the news. They're gathering experts in alien knowledge, and who's the biggest expert of the lot?" the Doctor had a rather smug smile at this, and Lily noticed that he had quite a big ego for someone who held so much self-loathing.
"Patrick Moore?" Rose suggested, making Lily laugh.
The Doctor huffed, "Apart from him"
"Oh, don't you just love it," Rose and Lily grinned, leaning back in the swanky seats and looking at the Doctor with bright eyes.
"I'm telling you," said the Doctor. "Lloyd George, he used to drink me under the table. Who's the Prime Minister now?"
"How should we know? She's missed a year and I've been too worried wondering when she was going to come back to pay attention to much of anything," Lily said.
When the car finally pulled to a stop, the Doctor climbed out and Rose and Lily followed. They were assaulted instantly by a large crowd of people and news teams with cameras. The Doctor grinned for the cameras, while Lily and Rose flinched from all the bright lights.
"Oh, my God," Lily and Rose breathed at the same time as the crowd shifted and they were led up to number ten.
Aliens in London
When they got inside, the entrance hall was flooded with UNIT officers and other high clearance people, all of which were talking amongst themselves and stipulating what they thought could be going on.
"Ladies and gentlemen, can we convene?" an Indian man called, trying to quiet everyone. "Quick as we can, please. It's this way on the right, and can I remind you ID cards are to be worn at all times. He's your ID card," he said as he handed one to the Doctor. "I'm sorry, your companions don't have clearance," he added, when Lily, Rose and the Doctor went to enter the door that had been indicated.
"I don't go anywhere without them," the Doctor said, grabbing one of Lily's and Rose's hands in each of his and holding up for the man to see to prove his point.
"You're the cod nine, not her," the man said patiently. "I'm sorry, Doctor. It is the Doctor, isn't it? They'll have to stay outside"
"They're staying with me," the Doctor insisted.
"Look, even I don't have clearance to go in there," the man said, "I can't let them in and that's a fact"
Lily frowned when she saw that the Doctor looked ready to argue again. She was flattered at how hard he was trying to keep them with him, but the man did seem honestly apologetic.
"What's your name?" she asked him.
The man looked rather surprised, and she supposed he mustn't get asked that a lot.
"Ganesh, ma'am," he replied and Lily smiled kindly in response.
"Well, thank you, Ganesh, I'm Lily. I'm sure we'll be find out here, won't we Rose?" Lily asked, the smile never leaving her face.
"Yeah, it's all right. You go," Rose told the Doctor and Lily nodded encouragingly.
"Excuse me. Are you the Doctor?" an older woman asked as she approached them from the crowd.
"Sure," the Doctor grinned. For a national crisis he sure seemed to be enjoying this an awful lot.
In contrast to the Doctor, Lily was surprised to see Ganesh have such a negative reaction to the woman, in fact he seemed rather annoyed by her.
"Not now," he told her sharply. We're busy. Can't you go home?" he sighed in exasperation.
"I just need a word in private," the woman said to the Doctor, not seeming at all put off by Ganesh's reaction to her.
"I suppose so," the Doctor replied. "Don't get into any trouble," the Doctor told Lily and Rose as he left in the direction all the other experts went. The sisters shared amused looks and rolled their eyes. It was hardly going to be them who got into trouble, it was normally the Doctor who ran head long into it.
"You haven't got clearance. Now leave it," Ganesh told the woman firmly when she went to follow, before he turned to Lily and Rose. "I'm going to have to leave you with security"
"It's alright, I'll look after them," the woman put in quickly, the man looked rather sceptical. "Let me be of some use." She grabbed Lily and Rose by their elbows and began to rapidly lead them away before Ganesh could get another word in. "Walk with me. Just keep walking," the woman said lowly, and Lily and Rose said a bewildered look around her. "That's right. Don't look around. Harriet Jones, MP Flydale North," she said as she showed them her card. "This friend of yours, he's an expert, is that right? He knows about aliens?" she asked as they rounded the corner.
"Why do you want to know?" Rose asked suspiciously.
Much to the sister's shock, the woman put a hand over her mouth and began to cry. Lily quickly moved forward and wrapped her arms around the woman, rubbing her arm comfortingly and making soothing noises.
"It's okay," Lily muttered.
"Why don't you tell us what's wrong," Rose suggested softly.
Aliens in London
Harriet hadn't told them what was wrong, but she had consoled herself enough to lead them to the cabinet room and show them what was bothering her. Harriet handed it to Rose as she explained. It was clear that what it was used to be a person. Rose held it, looking at the zip on the forehead, but Lily could barely even look at it without feeling like she wanted to throw up, never mind touch it.
"They turned the body into a suit," Harriet was saying, still sounding rather shaky, and Lily was in no confusion as to why. "A disguise for the thing inside!"
"It's all right. We believe you. It's, it's alien. They must have some serious technology behind this. If we could find it, we could use it." Rose said and began searching the room.
"Rose I'm not sure. Even if it is a machine that…converts bodies into suits…" Lily swallowed looking pale, "I don't think we'll be able to use it to help us"
Lily was starting to wish the Doctor had just stayed with them, he would know what to do. Lily didn't know the first thing about Aliens, and Rose, even though she had been on a few trips with the Doctor, obviously didn't know much more.
Rose didn't answer and just opened a different cupboard. Lily gasped loudly and Harriet covered her mouth. A man's body had fallen out. It was the Prime Minister.
"Oh, my God," Lily cried in horror, moving to stand by Rose and pulled her away from the body slightly, holding onto her sister's arm so tightly her knuckles went white. This was the second dead body she had seen today and this was even worse as this was a person.
"Is that the…" Rose started, but was cut off by the door opening.
"Harriet, for God's sake," Ganesh snapped in annoyance as he entered the cabinet room. "This has gone beyond a joke. You cannot just wander – oh, my God. That's the Prime Minister!" he exclaimed, his eyes widening as he caught sight of the body.
A portly blonde woman with a blue suit walked in then, her small heel clicking slightly on the floor. She wore a deceptively sweet smile on her lips.
"Oh! Has someone been naught?" she asked in a tone that made Lily's insides freeze and she tightened her grip on Rose.
"That's impossible," Ganesh cried. "He left this afternoon. The Prime Minister left Downing Street. He was driven away!"
"And who told you that, hmm?" the portly woman asked in a tone one would use with a child. "Me." she reached up to her hairline and Lily was horrified to see that right there, on her left temple – was a zip.
Author's Note: PLEASE REVIEW!