CHRYSALIS

ALIENS OF LONDON

Once the Tardis lands, we step out. The Doctor leans against the door and folds his arms.

"How long have we been gone?" I ask.

"About 12 hours." He tells us.

We all laugh.

"Right, I won't be long, I'm just gonna see my mum." Rose says.

"What're you going to tell her?" He asks.

"I don't know! I've been to the year 5 billion... and only been gone for, what, 12 hours?" She says.

I giggle while the Doctor lets out something between a laugh and a snort.

"No, I'll just tell her I've spent the night at Shareens. See you later! She starts to walk off before turning back, "Oh, and don't you disappear."

The Doctor gives her a look before settling against the Tardis. He looks at me, "Aren't you going to visit your gran?"

I shake my head, "She's visiting her friend in the hospital today, it was on the calendar."

He wanders around with his arms folded and kicks an empty bottle across the yard. I spot a poster taped to a lamppost. I walk over to it and look at it. I rip it down and shove it into the Doctor's chest before running to Rose's flat.

I slam the door open and run into the living room. Jackie gasps and pulls me into a hug with them.

Then the Doctor comes in, "It's not 12 hours, it's er... 12 months. You've been gone a whole year." He laughs apologetically while we stare at him, "Sorry."

"The hours I've sat here. Days and weeks and months all on my own. I thought you were dead! And where were you? Traveling. What the hell does that mean? Traveling? That's no sort of answer!" Jackie shouts at me and Rose.

Rose and I are listening to her rant quietly.

She turns her attention to the police officer, "You ask her. She won't tell me! That's all she says. Traveling!"

"That's what we were doing." Rose defends weakly.

Jackie gestures furiously, "When your passport's still in the drawer? It's just one lie after another!"

"I meant to phone, I really did, I just... I forgot." Rose says.

"What, for a year? You forgot for a year? And I am left sitting here? I just don't believe you. Why won't you tell me where you've been?" Jackie begs.

"Actually, it's my fault." We all look at the Doctor, "I sort of er, employed the girls as my companions."

"When you say 'companion', is this a sexual relationship?" The police officer asks.

All three of us shout, "No!"

Jackie walks towards the Doctor, "Then what is it? Because you, you waltz in here all charms and smiles, and the next thing I know, they vanish off the face of the Earth! How old are you then? 40? 45? What, you find her on the internet? Did you go online and pretend you're a doctor?"

"I AM a Doctor!" He says.

"Prove it! Stitch this, mate!" She slaps him hard across the face.

The Doctor groans loudly, Rose rolls her eyes and I pinch the bridge of my nose.

I sit on a wall that is on the roof and the Doctor is leaning against it.

"I don't even think my mom cared that I was gone for a year." I say.

The Doctor looks at me, "Why aren't you living with her?"

"My mom and I don't have the best relationship. She likes to pretend I'm normal, when I'm not, I'm autistic. She couldn't deal with the 'temper tantrums' as she calls them, so she sent me to live with my grandma as soon as I was eighteen. She didn't call at all in the year I was living here and I don't think she even tried to visit once I was reported missing." I explain.
"I'm sorry about your mum." He speaks softly.