Disclaimer: I don't own Doctor Who. That all belongs to the wonderful people who have the right to say that they own it.

A/N: Here's the second story in my Lady Oracle Apocrypha. This will cover Season 2 of Doctor Who and features my Time Lady OC, the Priestess, who's the Doctor's significant other from back on Gallifrey. He found her again in Van Statten's museum and they've been travelling again, with Rose along for the ride. I strongly urge that you read the first story in the series, Dream Weaver, which will explain a lot of things, before you read this one.

I know that this has been a very long time coming. It's actually taken me almost 4 years to write this story where the first one took only a couple of months. I wish I had a better explanation than real life, but a lot of things were going on in my life, and I am a full-time university student, but I promise you that I never actually gave up on this series.

By the way, those who reviewed the last chapter in Dream Weaver, I've put my replies at the bottom.

Bad Moon Rising

Chapter 1

The Christmas Invasion: Bad Santa

The Doctor dashed towards the console and flicked a few switched, his eyes scanning the monitor.

"6 pm… Tuesday…" He murmured, while the Priestess watched him from the other side of the console and Rose looked at him, watching the Doctor, half-concealed by a pillar. The Doctor turned a knob. "October... 5006... On the way to Barcelona!" He straightened and looked over at the Priestess, grinning as if extremely pleased with himself. "Now then... what do I look like?" The Priestess opened her mouth to say something, but he held a hand up to silence her. "No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. No. Don't tell me."

The Priestess rolled her eyes.

"Let's see... two legs, two arms, two hands..." He flicked his wrist. "Slight weakness in the dorsal tubercle." His hands flew to his hair, running through the dark brown locks.

The Priestess watched Rose, carefully, noticing the shocked look on the girl's face. She knew that regeneration for humans was a concept that was hard to believe in and hard to accept. All she hoped was that if Rose could not acknowledge that this Doctor was the Doctor, that the girl's mistrust wouldn't hurt her Theta Sigma too much.

The Doctor ran a hand through his hair, gleefully. "Oh, Oh! Big hair!" His fingers ran down his sideburns, his face transforming into an expression of delight. "Sideburns, I've got sideburns! Or really bad skin. Little bit thinner..." He patted his stomach. "That's weird. Give me time, I'll get used to it." The Doctor said, reassuringly, with the air of someone who had made a great discovery. "I... have got... a mole. I can feel it." The Priestess watched in trepidation as Rose began to breathe, heavily, the Doctor not noticing at all. "Between my shoulder blades, there's a mole." He rotated his shoulders. "That's all right. Love the mole." He grinned at the Priestess and Rose. "Go on, then, tell me."

The Doctor stood straight up before the Priestess and Rose, ready for their assessment, his hair all ruffled.

"What do you think?" The Doctor asked, a little nervously.

The Priestess smiled, just a bit shyly. "Very nice, Doctor," She said, appreciatively, her eyes raking over his body.

He nodded at her, smugly. Like this body, then?

Hmm, very, she purred. You are very… pretty.

Pretty? His voice sounded offended. Couldn't you have said 'handsome' or 'fit' or something more manly?

I do not believe you need my reassurances in that regard, my love. You have always been the most handsome man I have ever seen.

"Who are you?" Rose asked, quietly and timidly.

The Doctor looked crestfallen and slightly surprised, his shoulders slumping. "I'm the Doctor."

Rose shook her head, not being able to believe him. "No... Where is he? Where's the Doctor?" Her voice started to rise. "What have you done to him?"

The Priestess took a step closer to Rose. "Rose, he is the Doctor," She said, cautiously.

"You saw me, I-I changed..." The Doctor indicated over his shoulder to the place where he had regenerated. "... right in front of you."

Rose shook her head. "I saw him sort of explode, and then you replaced him, like a... a teleport or a transmat or a body swap or something." An angry look formed on her face.

The Priestess moved over to the Doctor and laid a hand on his arm, comforting him, as his mouth opened and closed, but no words came out. Rose took a few steps towards them. At arm's length, she shoved her finger against his chest, raising the Priestess' hackles.

"You're not fooling me," Rose hissed.

The Doctor rocked back on his heels from the force of the shove, as though he cannot believe what he was hearing.

The Priestess growled under her breath. She gripped Rose's wrist and pushed her back, gently. "That is enough, Rose. You may not believe him, but believe me. He is most definitely the Doctor."

"No," Rose shook her head. "I've seen all sorts of things. Nanogenes... Gelth..." Rose glared, darkly, at him. "Slitheen..." The Doctor raised an eyebrow in amusement. Rose's eyes widened in horror. "Oh, my God, are you a Slitheen?"

"He is not a Slitheen," The Priestess snapped. "And you cannot be a Slitheen. Slitheen is a family, not a species. He would have to be a Raxacoricofallapatorian."

"Send him back. I'm warning you, send the Doctor back right now!" Rose shouted, helplessly. She looked at the Priestess. "How can you believe this faker? Did he do something to you? Like scramble your brains?"

The Doctor sighed. "Rose, it's me," He said, pleadingly, leaning forward in his urgency to make her believe him. "Honestly, it's me." He turned to the Priestess. "Tell her."

"I have; she is not listening to me," The Priestess huffed. "And now she believes you have done something to me. What am I to do?" She sent him a withering look.

Rose just stared at them, her chest rising and falling very fast.

"I was dying. To save my own life I changed my body. Every single cell, but... it's still me," The Doctor explained, lowly.

"You can't be," Rose whispered.

The Doctor shot the Priestess a helpless look, but she shook her head, which he took to mean she's your companion, deal with it on your own. He sighed and took a few steps closer to Rose, looking her straight in the eyes.

"Then how could I remember this? Very first word I ever said to you. Trapped in that cellar. Surrounded by shop window dummies... oh..." He looked away from her, his eyes softening while he reminisced. "Such a long time ago. I took your hand..." To emphasise his point, he took her hand in his. Rose glanced down, briefly, at their joined hands before her eyes shot back to meet his. "I said one word... just one word, I said... "Run"."

The two gazed in each other's eyes, Rose's slowly becoming filled with tears.

"Doctor," Rose whispered, hopefully.

The Doctor grinned, pleased.

"Hello," The Doctor murmured, gently.

Rose sighed in an almost exasperated fashion and stumbled backwards, the impact of what had just happened finally hitting her hard. The Doctor tugged on the Priestess' arm and pulled her around the other side of the console.

"And we never stopped, did we? All across the universe. Running, running, running…" He flicked a few switches on the console. "One time we had to hop. Do you remember? Hopping for our lives." He started to hop, madly, up and down on the spot, while Rose had her back against the pillar, watching him, carefully. The Priestess pursed her lips and stared at him with amusement. "Yeah? All that hopping? Remember hopping for your life? Yeah?! Hop? With the..."

The Doctor looked at the Priestess, noticing Rose's lack of reaction, and his wild enthusiasm drained away from his voice. The Priestess shrugged and the hopping subsided.

"No?" He called out, weakly.

"Can you change back?" Rose asked, quietly.

The Priestess winced and looked at the Doctor with concern. It was a hit below the belt to ask a question like that. Even though regeneration transformed their looks and sometimes facets of their personalities, they still remained the same person underneath all of that skin and hair and tissue and blood. The Doctor was still the Doctor. He was the same Doctor she had known in the Academy. While his appearance may have changed ten times (and she still hadn't quite forgiven him for putting himself in a position where he needed to regenerate to save his own life, and thus bringing himself closer to a permanent death), he had always remained the Theta Sigma she had fallen in love with.

She wondered if Rose, with her year of knowing the Doctor, could appreciate what that meant – but it did nothing to still her anger at Rose's insensitive comment.

The Doctor looked as if Rose had slapped him across the face. "Do you want me to?" He asked, slowly.

"Yeah."

"Oh," The Doctor whispered and reached for the Priestess' hand, an action which was hidden by the console.

"Can you?"

"No," The Doctor said, disappointedly.

The Priestess hid her gall that the Doctor would want to return to his previous regeneration all for the sake of this one human girl.

The Doctor glanced, briefly, down at the door.

"Do you want to leave?" He asked, afraid of what the answer might be.

Rose recoiled. "Do you want me to leave?" She whispered.

"No…" The Doctor said, quickly. "But... your choice... if you want to go home..." He could still see the sadness on Rose's face and he looked down at the console. "Cancel Barcelona. Change to... London... the Powell Estate... ah... let's say the 24th of December." He looked at Rose. "Consider it a Christmas present." Rose started to edge closer to the console. "There."

He stepped away from the console, his arms tucked under his armpits in an almost defensive manner. The Priestess reached out and rubbed his back in comfort, sensing that the rejection of his companion had hit him hard. Rose looked at him and then back at the console, while the TARDIS shuddered as it changed direction.

"I'm going home?" Rose asked, slowly.

"Up to you," The Doctor shrugged. "Back to your mum... it's all waiting. Fish and chips, sausage and mash, beans on toast... no, Christmas! Turkey! Although..." He grimaced. "Having met your mother... nut loaf would be more appropriate." He joked.

Rose looked down, quickly, trying to hide a smile.

"Was that a smile?" The Doctor teased. He looked at the Priestess. "Wasn't that a smile?"

"No." Rose shook her head.

"That was a smile," The Priestess said, pointedly, almost hopefully.

"No, it wasn't."

"You smiled…" The Doctor said, teasingly.

"No, I didn't."

"Oh, come on, all I did was change, I didn't..." The Doctor gagged as the TARDIS shuddered.

The Priestess rushed to his side, concern and worry etched across her face, as Rose watched them, questioningly.

"What?" Rose raised an eyebrow.

"I said I didn't…" The Doctor gagged again, violently, and doubled over, retching.

The Priestess swallowed hard, pressing her hands against his back and stomach, holding him up with whatever strength she had. Her eyes scanned his face and body, worriedly. She didn't even need to search his eyes to know that something had gone wrong with the regeneration. She knew something would go wrong. No one could take the whole time vortex into their body, return it to the TARDIS, regenerate and come out healthy on the other end.

"Uh oh," The Doctor looked up at the Priestess, frustration and pain in his eyes.

Rose edged, cautiously, around the console. "Er… are you alright?" She asked, awkwardly.

The Doctor's mouth parted and a wisp of golden energy floated out.

"What's that?" Rose asked, worriedly.

"Oh... the change is going a bit wrong and all," The Doctor said, reassuringly.

He gagged again, his face contorting in pain, and would have fallen to the floor had the Priestess not hooked her arms under his and held him up against her.

"Look... maybe we should go back. Let's go and find Captain Jack, he'd know what to do," Rose suggested.

"No," The Priestess said, sharply. "Jack has his own undertaking. We must not interfere."

The Doctor nodded. "He's got plenty to do, rebuilding the Earth!" A lever on the console suddenly caught his eye. "Haven't used this one in years." He muttered to himself.

"Doctor!" The Priestess shouted, her hand reaching out to stop him.

The Doctor flicked it before the Priestess could stop him and the TARDIS shuddered, violently, sending all three of them to the floor.

"What're you doing?" Rose shrieked in dismay.

"Putting on a bit of speed! That's it!" The Doctor muttered, crazily. He turned a few more knobs while Rose and the Priestess clutched onto the TARDIS for dear life. "My beautiful ship! Come on, faster! That's a girl!" Rose looked distinctly alarmed, while the Priestess shook her head in disbelief. The Doctor looked and sounded violent, crazed. "Faster! Wanna to break the time limit?!"

"Doctor. Stop," The Priestess snapped, gripping onto his arm, her nails digging into his skin. "You will kill us all."

The Doctor shook his head, too far gone and too worried to listen to her warnings.

"Ah, don't be so dull... let's have a bit of fun! Let's rip through that vortex!" The Doctor said, slightly nastily and still crazed. He caught the Priestess' eyes for a moment and his body relaxed, his hands clutching onto him, desperately. "The regeneration. It's going wrong. I can't stop myself."

Nikki, the Doctor whispered, desperately.

He didn't need to say anything further. She already knew.

I know, my love, the Priestess told him, reassuringly.

He grimaced in pain, his head falling onto the Priestess' shoulder, calming when he felt her nails rake through his hair. "Ah, my head." He groaned. Suddenly, he violently sprung up into a standing position again and his voice returned to a crazed pitch. "Faster! Let's open those engines!"

A bell started to ring through the TARDIS.

Rose looked around, frightened. "What's that?" She asked, fearfully.

"It is the cloister bell. It signals that we are about to crash," The Priestess said, grimly.

The Doctor laughed, manically.

"Well, then, do something!" Rose shouted at the Priestess over the sound of the bell.

"I am unable to," The Priestess scowled at the Doctor. "He has locked the controls."

The Doctor ran around the console, giggling to himself. "Oh, I love it! Hot dawg!" He exclaimed, hopping in the air, excitedly.

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

"Hold on tight, here we go!" The Doctor exclaimed. Their eyes met across the console, the Doctor grinning madly, the Priestess resigned and Rose looking terrified.

"Christmas Eve…!"

Jackie picked up a red bauble and hung it on a white Christmas tree, which was situated in the corner of the living room of her flat. She picked up two presents, ready to put them under the tree, when the label pasted on one of them caught her eye. She sat down, slowly and heavily, holding the present close to her chest. The label read "To Rose. Merry Christmas. Lots of love, Mum x".

She still hadn't quite figured out if she'd done the right thing by helping Rose to return to the Doctor and whatever terrible situation the alien had found himself in.

The Christmas present almost seemed to be laughing at her.

The radio in the shed was blaring out 'Merry Christmas'. Mickey suddenly paused in his work, listening intently.

"Hey, turn that down. Hey, Stevo, turn that off! Turn it off!" Mickey shouted at one of his colleagues.

The radio was turned off and Mickey's eyes widened when he heard the sound of the TARDIS engines in the distance. He stilled and then ran off.

Jackie, who was hanging up some Christmas cards on a length of string on the wall, paused and turned around, her ears tuning into the grinding and whirring sound of the TARDIS engines.

"Rose!" She cried out in relief and hope.

Jackie exited the block of flats and ran outside into the Powell Estate, where she was jointly, shortly, by Mickey. They ran towards each other.

"Mickey!" Jackie shouted, joyfully.

"Jackie, it's the TARDIS!" Mickey exclaimed, happily.

"I know! I know, I heard it! She's alive, Mickey! I said so, didn't I? She's alive!" Jackie cried out, tears coming to her eyes.

"Shush!" Mickey shouted. "Shut up a minute." He hissed.

They both looked, frantically, around for any sign of the TARDIS.

"Well, where is it then?" Jackie asked.

Suddenly, the TARDIS appeared out of thin air, about twenty feet above their heads. It crashed against the buildings on either side as it fell to the Earth. Jackie screamed and clutched onto Mickey like a lifeline. It finally skidded to a halt, smashing into a post van and knocking over some dustbins on the way. The Doctor threw the doors open and peered out, his mouth wide open as if he'd never seen London before.

"Here we are, then! London! Earth! The Solar System! We did it!" The Doctor exclaimed.

He stumbled out of the TARDIS, gazing up at the flats, his mouth still hanging open, the Priestess framed in the doorway after him. Jackie and Mickey both stared at him in shock and confusion. The Doctor suddenly noticed them.

"Jackie! Mickey! Blimey! No, no, no, no, hold on," He stumbled backwards a few steps, his face contorted in confusion. "Wait there, I've got something to say. There was something I had to tell you. Something important, what was it? No, hold on, hold on..." He stumbled over to Jackie and Mickey and put his hands on Jackie's and Mickey's shoulders, his face thoughtful. "Hold on, shush, shush, shush, shush... Oh!" Jackie and Mickey jumped in alarm. "I know!" He looked from one to the other, panting and beaming. "Merry Christmas!"

And he collapsed, falling to the ground unconscious. The Priestess' eyes widened and rushed over to him, falling to her knees beside the Doctor, her hand sliding over his forehead and hair and pulling his head into her lap. Rose came out of the TARDIS and noticed the Doctor and the Priestess on the ground. She felt a stab of jealousy at the way the Priestess' hand moved over the stranger's skin, practically radiating comfort and love. If he really were the Doctor, Rose was already at a disadvantage. The Priestess didn't seem to consider the whole changing-his-face thing a big deal.

It must be a Time Lord/Time Lady thing. They wouldn't have been able to talk to each other if they freaked out every time one of them changed their face, Rose reasoned with herself and felt marginally better about the whole situation.

"What happened? Is he all right?" Rose asked, a little worried.

"He is resting. The regeneration weakened him, greatly," The Priestess said, reassuringly, allowing her mind to soothe the Doctor's back into rest.

"But who is he? Where's the Doctor?" Mickey asked, confused.

"He is the Doctor," The Priestess said, simply, her eyes not leaving the Doctor.

Rose nodded. "That's him. Right in front of you. That's the Doctor."

Jackie frowned. "What d'you mean, 'that's the Doctor'? Doctor who?"

The Priestess laughed, softly, at that.

"And who's she?" Jackie asked, narrowing her eyes at the woman.

"The Priestess," The Priestess said, hoarse with worry, her eyes never straying from the Doctor, who laid there on the ground, as still as if he were dead. "I am a Time Lady."

The Doctor was tucked up in bed, wearing a pair of striped pyjamas. The Priestess was sitting at his side, while Rose sat at the end of the bed, both of them looking at him, when Jackie entered the room, holding a stethoscope.

Jackie handed the stethoscope to the Priestess and sat next to her daughter. "Here we go. Tina the Cleaner's got this lodger, medical student. And she was fast asleep, so I just took it." The Priestess started to put the stethoscope in her ears. "Though, I still say we should take him to hospital."

"No," The Priestess said, firmly, pressing the end of the stethoscope to one side of her chest. "They would imprison the Doctor and myself. They would dissect us. The body of a Time Lord is a miracle. There are empires out in the universe that would rip this planet apart for just one cell." She said, slowly, her finger running across the Doctor's jawline. "And…" She looked uncomfortable. "The Doctor may pose a problem when he opens his eyes."

"What do you mean?" Rose asked, softly, having to concede that the Priestess had more knowledge when it came to the Doctor and Time Lords in general.

The Priestess sighed. "Time Lords become quite erratic after regeneration. Especially after regenerations that are quite violent. The Doctor had a violent regeneration." She made it a point not to look Rose in the eye, lest her eyes turn accusing. She sighed. "The Doctor has had violent regenerations before. When he woke in his sixth body, he attempted to strangle the companion he was travelling with." Jackie and Rose looked horrified, and the Priestess grimaced, understanding how her words could cause alarm in the humans. "He registered that what he what he was doing was destructive and he immediately stopped, I swear to you." She said, hurriedly, returning her attention to the Doctor's heartbeat.

Jackie and Rose opened their mouths to say something.

"No! Be silent!" She hissed.

Their mouths snapped shut.

The Priestess heard his steady heartbeat on one side of his ribcage. She nodded to herself and slid the stethoscope to the other side of his chest, listening for a heartbeat. She smiled, finally, and removed the stethoscope.

"Both are operational," The Priestess murmured.

Jackie frowned at the woman. "What d'you mean 'both'?"

"Time Lords have two hearts," The Priestess explained, blithely.

"Oh, don't be stupid," Jackie said, contemptuously.

The Priestess seethed. "I am not stupid. I can assure you, my intelligence far surpasses that of yours and your daughter's." She snapped. "My species has a dual cardiovascular system."

Rose scowled at the dig to her intelligence and stood up with a huff, walking over to the door. She knew that would come up, eventually. She knew when it came to intelligence that the Priestess was much more suited for the Doctor than she was. The Priestess was smart as hell and witty. She followed every word the Doctor said without missing a beat, whereas Rose had to pause every now and then to take in what the Doctor said.

"Anything else he's got two of?" Jackie asked after a moment.

The Priestess gave her a withering glare.

"Leave him alone," Rose warned her mother, turning back to face her.

She left the room and Jackie peered at the Doctor once more before following her. The door closed and the Priestess and the Doctor were left alone in the room. The Doctor's mouth opened and a wisp of golden Time Vortex escaped from him, floating out of a window and up into the sky.

In the kitchen, Rose opened the fridge and picked up a pork pie.

"How can he go changing his face?" Jackie asked, frowning. Rose shut the fridge door. "Is that a different face or is he a different person?" She asked, curiously.

Rose threw her hands in the air. "How should I know?" She exclaimed, frustrated. She paused and her shoulders slumped. "Sorry." She murmured, guiltily. Jackie nodded. "The thing is... I thought I knew him, mum." Her eyes filled with tears, her voice trembling. "I thought me and him were... and then he goes and does this." She wiped her tears away with the back of her hand and sniffed. "I keep forgetting he's not human." She laughed, wetly. "And she knows so much and I'm just left in the dark."

Jackie tried to look as sympathetic as possible. It hadn't taken her long to see the friction between her daughter and the Time Lady. She had already guessed by the fervent way that Rose had tried to get back to the Doctor that her daughter was in love with him. And she had seen by the way that the Priestess attended to the Doctor back in the courtyard and her guest room that there was already something there between the Doctor and the Priestess, or the Priestess was even more in love with the Doctor than her daughter was.

She hadn't even liked the Doctor and Rose having a friendship, let alone a romantic relationship. Rose was young and impressionable, and the Doctor had shown her a world that Rose had never thought possible. She had even begun to think that Rose was just transferring her feelings for the travel onto the Doctor. It didn't actually matter in the end. All Jackie knew was that it would end in heartbreak for her daughter and that was something she didn't want to happen.

But Rose had always been stubborn; she wouldn't take well to her telling her any unkind truths, and she had already made her position on travelling with the Doctor very clear.

Rose took Jackie's hand in hers and made an obvious effort to paste a smile on her face and make her voice light-hearted again.

"The big question is... where'd you get a pair of men's pyjamas from?" She asked, lightly.

Jackie started to walk away, exhaling. "Howard's been staying over."

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

"A month or so. First of all, he starts delivering to the door and I thought, 'that's a bit odd'. Next thing you know, it's a bag of oranges-"

Rose lost attention quickly and turned her head towards the direction of the television, distracted by what was being broadcasted

"Is that Harriet Jones?!" Rose exclaimed, leaving the kitchen and going into the living room.

Jackie scowled. "Oh, never mind me…" She muttered.

"Why's she on the telly?" Rose asked, staring at the screen.

"She's Prime Minister now. I'm eighteen quid a week better off," Jackie proclaimed, and Rose smiled, incredulously. "They're calling it 'Britain's Golden Age'. Keep on saying "my Rose has met her"."

Rose shook her head. "Did more than that. Stopped World War Three with her. Harriet Jones..."

"Harriet Jones, what about those calling the Guinevere One Space Probe a waste of money?"

"Now, that's where you're wrong. I completely disagree if you don't mind."

Rose laughed.

"The Guinevere One Space Probe represents this country's limitless ambition. British workmanship sailing up there among the stars."

"This is the spirit of Christmas, birth and rejoicing, and the dawn of a new age, and that is what we're achieving fifteen million miles away. Our very own miracle."

On the television screen, a computerised image of the probe was zoomed in from Earth.

"The unmanned probe Guinevere One is about to make its final descent. Photographs of the Martian Landscape should be received by midnight tonight."

The Priestess sat on the bed, next to the Doctor, one hand smoothing over his forehead and hair and the other clasping one of his.

"When we came across each other for the first time, I absolutely knew you would be trouble," She murmured, lifting up his hand and pressing a kiss to his upturned palm. "You were bright and easy and mischievous, and I was this awestruck little girl who had known nothing but pain and fear. You looked at me as if the sun and the moon and the stars rose in my eyes." She swallowed hard.

The Doctor's eyes remained closed, but his hand tightened around hers, making her smile in reply.

My Theta Sigma. My fighter, she murmured through their link, knowing that even in his rest state, he could reach out through their connection.

"Regeneration always has its imperfections, I will not deny that. But you cannot remain bedridden like this," She whispered. "I cannot allow it. I dislike being selfish now, when you are so unwell. But all I have is you and all you have is me. If one of us were to..." She couldn't even finish her words. "We could not do it. We could not go on. Not properly, at least. We would be shells. Please, please, just be well again."

She leaned down and kissed him, slowly and softly and with love, on the forehead.

"Do not leave me alone in this world, my love. We still have an eternity to live."

Rose and Mickey were walking down the street together. It was crowded with Christmas shoppers, chatting children and beaming adults all around.

"So, er, what d'you need? Twenty quid?" Mickey asked, hesitantly.

Rose took the note he held out to her. "Do you mind? I'll pay you back."

"Call it a Christmas present," Mickey joked and he laughed to himself.

"God, I'm all out of synch. You just forget about Christmas and things in the TARDIS. They don't exist. You get sort of... timeless."

"Oh, yeah, that's fascinating, 'cause I love hearing stories about the TARDIS. Oh, go on Rose, tell us another one 'cause I, wow, I could listen to it all day. TARDIS this, TARDIS that..." Mickey attempted to say lightly, but he knew he was being utterly serious with his words.

Every conversation he had with Rose was ultimately directed towards the Doctor or the TARDIS or her many travels. Sometimes he wondered why he was still chasing after someone who didn't even think of him before talking.

"Shut up!" Rose smiled, thinking he was joking.

"Oh! One time, in a big yellow garden, full of balloons."

"I'm not like that!" Rose protested.

"Oh, you so are," Mickey said, knowingly.

"Hmm, must drive you mad. I'm surprised you don't give up on me."

"Oh, that's the thing, isn't it? You can rely on me. I don't go changing my face," Mickey said, earnestly.

"Yeah," Rose's brow furrowed. "What if he's dying?"

"Okay," Mickey growled, halting, finally fed up.

"Sorry!"

Mickey took her hands in his. "Just let it be Christmas! Could you do that? Just for a bit. You and me, and Christmas. No... no Doctor… no... no bog-monsters... no life or death."

"Okay." Rose nodded.

"Promise?" Mickey raised an eyebrow.

"Yes!" Rose rolled her eyes.

"Right! What're you gonna get for your mum?"

They started to walk again. Rose looked behind her, distracted, as Mickey started talking again.

"I'm round there all the time now, you know. She does my dinner on a Sunday... talks about you all afternoon, yap yap yap yap yap..."

Rose really wasn't listening to Mickey's words. She looked back at the brass band of masked Santas, who were playing 'Good Tidings of Comfort and Joy'. She gazed at them for a few seconds, sensing that there was something odd about them. Suddenly, their trumpets were revealed to be flamethrowers. Blue flame shot out of them and people ran around, screaming. The Santas started blasting around and there was a lot of commotion. Rose and Mickey ducked behind a stall.

"It's us! They're after us!" Rose shouted.

The Santas blasted the stall Rose and Mickey were hiding behind and Rose screamed. They ran, the blasting of the Santas pursuing them. One of the blasts caught the enormous Christmas tree in the Square instead and it fell to the ground on top of one of the Santas. Its mask clattered to the ground and Rose and Mickey ran down the street.

"What's going on? What've we done? Why are they after us?" Mickey asked, frantically.

A taxi drew up.

"Taxi!" Rose shouted and they clambered inside. "They're after the Doctor… and the Priestess." She said, reluctantly.

Mickey shook his head in disbelief and frustration. "I can't even go shopping with you. We get attacked by a brass band."

The taxi drove off and Rose tapped a number into her mobile.

"Who're you phoning?" Mickey asked, incredulously.

"My mum," Rose answered, putting the phone next to her ear. After a few moments, Rose sighed in frustration. "Mum, get off the phone." She said, exasperatedly.

"What about the Priestess?"

"Nah, she doesn't have a phone," Rose growled.

"Who were… those Santa things?" Mickey asked.

"I dunno. 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."

Jackie wandered into the Doctor's room with a cup of tea, the phone clutched in her hand.

"Oh, no. Don't come round, darling. No, flat's all topsy turvy." She handed the cup of tea to the Priestess, who accepted it with a nod of gratitude. "Yeah, she just barges in and litters the place. Yeah, no, I'll come round and see you on Boxing Day."

When she left the room, the Priestess placed the cup of tea as close to the Doctor as possible, knowing that the tannins evaporating in the steam would aid in his recovery, watching in worry as the Vortex escaped through the Doctor's mouth again.

The taxi pulled up and Rose and Mickey jumped out and started running towards the flat. They burst into Jackie's flat, where Jackie was still on the phone.

"So, save us a chipolata…"

"Get off the phone!" Rose snapped.

Jackie scowled at Rose, annoyed by the abruptness of Rose's tone. "It's only Bev! She says hello."

Rose snatched the phone off her mum. "Bev? Yeah, look, it'll have to wait." She hung up and looked at Mickey and her mother.

The Priestess came out the door, closing the door behind her, and she walked over to Rose and Mickey.

"What is wrong? Why are you shouting, Rose?" The Priestess asked, slowly.

"There were these Santas up in High Street. They just started shooting people with blue flame," Rose explained, hurriedly.

The Priestess paled and her attention was drawn back to the room where the Doctor was sleeping. "Scavengers. The Doctor's body still contains the Time Vortex. He is breathing it out as he recovers. The scavengers are being attracted to it."

"It's not safe, we've gotta get out, where can we go?" Rose asked, quickly.

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

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

"I dunno!" Jackie shook her head. "Peak District!"

"Oh, we'll go to Cousin Mo's then," Rose nodded to herself.

"It's Christmas Eve! We're not going anywhere! What're you babbling about?" Jackie frowned at her daughter.

The Priestess swallowed hard as she stared at something in the corner of the living room.

"Jackie… Rose…" Both women turned to look at her. "That tree… it was not there when we arrived. Where did it come from?" Jackie and Rose turned to look at it, noticing it that it was white and not green. "It is new. Where did you get it from?"

Jackie rounded on Rose. "Well, I thought it was you!"

"How can it be me?" Rose snapped.

Jackie shrugged. "Well, you went shopping, there was a ring at the door, and there it was!"

"No, that wasn't me," Rose shook her head.

"Clearly, it was neither of you. Therefore, where could it have come from?" The Priestess demanded.

A/N: Hope you all liked the first chapter of The Christmas Invasion. We're getting more Rose jealousy in this chapter (because frankly, her attitude in this episode pissed me off royally) but we'll have to wait for later episodes in Season 2 to see how the Doctor's growing relationship with Rose affects the Priestess.

Reviews:

NicoleR85: I'm glad you liked the ending to season 1. As you can probably see, there is some friction beginning between Rose and the Priestess. While Rose doesn't necessarily blame the Priestess, she is quite irritated at the fact that the Priestess does know more and makes that very much known.

ajwehri: I'm glad you liked the moment between 10 and the Priestess. I have a feeling they'll have a much flirtier relationship that 9 had with the Priestess, which of course, is one of my favourite parts of season 2. I will definitely be writing this series well into the 12th Doctor's regeneration. As far as how long that will take, who knows, but it will keep going on.

AxidentlGoddess: I'm so glad you enjoyed that last chapter! As you can see, there's definitely already some friction between the Priestess and Rose, and this is all while the Doctor's sleeping, so you can imagine that it'll probably just get worse when the Doctor's awake and oblivious. I don't want to spoil too much about the whole outing of their relationship, because that's a plot point on its own. There will be trouble in paradise, but that's not so much because of 10's personality as it is because of the issues that are already in their relationship way before Rose came into the picture – if anything, she's just going to exacerbate it.

time-twilight: Thank you! Yep, 10 and the Priestess is definitely going to be funny!

Shooting-Star-00: Thank you! I really do hope that 10 and Annika have heaps of chemistry. I'm so glad you're enjoying the story so far!

Loveless150050: Thank you so much for the offer!

shara-frost: Aww, thank you! Yeah, I can understand why you have more a soft spot for Rhea; she's my baby, plus, you know, I'm a South Indian as well. I'd like to think Rose has many layers; she is definitely kind, compassionate, funny, but at the same time, one thing that I heavily noticed in season 2 was that she is very insecure, and when she gets insecure, she becomes mean, which is something I don't approve of. And she tends to dig at flaws in people that I would actually say is more bullying than anything – like weight and intelligence. Rose is definitely interested in the Doctor and she's not a huge fan of the Priestess right now, and probably won't be in the future either, but I don't plan on diminishing her good qualities at the same time. She will have her own moments of character growth and understanding.

LeahReddington: Thank you so much! I was under the impression that Rose didn't actually start to properly fall for the Doctor until he was in a more aesthetically-pleasing form like 10, so if anything, the jealousy won't actually begin until this story, rather than the first one. Not to mention, I do think Rose has her fair share of good qualities and bad qualities, and I don't plan on diminishing either just to emphasise the good or the bad.

Kat. A. Coop: Thank you!

Blloom1234: Hope you liked it!

Guest: Thank you so much!

CaptainWilliamsN7: Thank you!

LucSinclair: Thank you so much! I'm so glad you liked it, and don't worry, you'll see plenty of sweet and fluffy and possessive 10 with the Priestess.

Brookiecookie2002: Unfortunately, I was determined to actually write the whole second story before posting it, and it took a very long time.

Guest: Thank you! I'm so sorry the second story took so long, but I actually wanted to write the whole thing before I started posting it and it kind of got away from me.

SeleneAlice: Hopefully, the wait was worth it!

Brookie Twiling: Thank you!

annabethnotannie: Thank you so much! I'm so sorry the second story took so long, but I actually wanted to write the whole thing before I started posting it and it kind of got away from me.

Kathiena: Thank you! I'm so sorry it took so long to post the second story!

Anon: Thank you so much! Don't worry, even if it takes me a long time to update, I'm determined not to give up on any of my stories!

Counting Sinful Stars: Thank you!