Halfway Out Of The Dark || The Doctor

The Christmas Invasion

"Oh, yeah, hopping for our lives." the Doctor laughed, hopping on the spot. "Yeah, all that hopping?" he asked Rose, who was just standing there sadly. "Remember hopping for our lives?" the Doctor tried, but to no avail, "Yeah? Hop? With the... no?" he gave up.

"Can ya change back?" Rose asked.

"D'ya want me to?"

"Yeah."

"Oh."

"Can you?"

"No." the Doctor answered seriously, "D'ya want to leave?"

"D'ya want me to leave?" Rose asked back.

"No." the Artist answered this time, "We want you to stay, but if you don't wanna be here anymore, then we can take you home."

Rose was silent, so the Doctor turned to the console. "Cancel Barcelona." he said, resetting the coordinates, "Change to... London, the Powell Estate."

"Any particular date?" the Artist asked, helping him.

"Er... let's say the 24th of December." the Doctor replied, glancing at Rose, "Consider it a Christmas present."

"Right, 24th of December 2006 it is." the Artist said, imputing that date into the TARDIS' controls, then the Doctor pulled a lever and the box changed course.

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

"Up to you." the Doctor replied.

"Like I said, we'd rather you stayed with us." the Artist added, "But if home's what you want..."

"It's all waiting." the Doctor continued, "Fish and chips, sausage and mash, beans on toast... no, Christmas, turkey! Although... having met ya mother... nutloaf would be more appropriate."

"Still rude, then." the Artist remarked dryly.

"Oh, yes." the Doctor grinned, then he noticed that a small smile had slipped onto Rose's face. "Was that a smile?" he asked her.

"No." Rose muttered, the smile quickly dropping.

"That was a smile..." the Doctor insisted.

"No it wasn't."

"You smiled."

"No I didn't."

"Oh, come on." the Doctor groaned, "All I did was change, I didn't..." He suddenly gagged, while the TARDIS jerked.

The Artist quickly rushed over to him. "What is it?" she asked him.

All the Doctor could say was; "Uh-oh." before gagging again.

"Are you alright?" Rose asked, rushing over as the Doctor opened his mouth and a golden swirl of energy drifted out of it. "What's that?" she asked him.

"Oh... the change is going a bit wrong, that's all." the Doctor waved her off before dropping to his knees and clutching his stomach in pain.

"Look... maybe we should go back." Rose suggested, "Let's go and find Captain Jack, maybe he can help."

"Gah, he's busy." the Doctor waved her off again.

"Earth took a pasting from the Daleks." the Artist explained to Rose as she helped the Doctor to stand, "Jack stayed to help rebuild." Of course, that wasn't true. The Time Lords had left Jack behind on the Game Station for quite a different reason, but now wasn't the time for explanations.

"Haven't used this one for years." the Doctor muttered, eyeing one of the levers on the console.

"Don't you dare!" the Artist warned, but the Doctor ignored her and pulled the lever anyway, causing the TARDIS to lurch violently.