As the Tardis starts materialising outside the Council Estate Rose and her mum lives in, a bunch of loose pages of newspaper fly around on the concrete floor. Rose and the Doctor step out of the blue box. The man leans against the box with his arms crossed.
"How long have I been gone?" Rose asks the man.
"About 12 hours." the Doctor tells her. Hearing this only makes her laugh as she looks around.
"Oh..! Right, I won't be long. I just want to see my mum."
"What are you gonna tell her?" he asks
"I dunno. That I've been to the year five billion and only gone, what, 12 hours? No, I'll just tell her I spent the night at Shareen's. See you later." she waves as she walks off. "Oh, don't you disappear." she turns around and points at the man. The Doctor just nods.
___________
Rose jogs up the stairs getting to her and her mum's flat.
___________
The Doctor wanders away from the box just when the Captain opens the door "Doctor!" he shouts, as the Doctor kicks a plastic bottle on the floor. He turns around after noticing a piece of paper on a lamp post. He looks back at the paper and he walks over to it as the Captain jogs over to the man. "Doctor, it's not been 12 hours..." he says, his attention drawn to the missing poster the Doctor is looking at.
___________
As Rose gets to her flat she opens the door and steps in. "I'm back! I was with Shareen. She got all upset again... Are you in?" she drops her keys off on a side table and makes her way further in to the flat. "So, what's been goin' on? How've you been?" she sees her mum in the kitchen holding a cup. "What's that face for? It's not the first time I've stayed out all night.". Jackie drops her cup of tea.
___________
The Doctor finishes reading the missing poster. The poster says - Rose Tyler has been missing from her home on the Powell Estate since 6th March 2005. He looks over at the Captain and without saying anything the two men quickly run to Rose's flat.
___________
"It's you." Jackie says.
"Course it's me." Rose replies confused.
"Oh, my God, It's you. Oh, my god." Jackie hugs her daughter. Rose hugs her back and notices a table full of missing posters, with her face on them.
The Doctor and Captain burst through the door. "I-It's not 12 hours, it's 12 months. You've been gone a whole year. Sorry!" the Doctor explains as Rose and Jackie look at the two men.
___________
Outside a young boy spray paints the words 'Bad Wolf' on the side of the Tardis.
___________
After a little while, Jackie had called the police and a policeman was now in the flat taking notes. "The hours I sat here - days and weeks and months - all on my own! I thought you were dead, and where were you? 'Travelling'! What the hell does that mean, travelling? That's no sort of answer!.. You ask her, she won't tell me." Jackie goes off. Rose is sitting on a chair as the Captain sits on the arm of said chair and the Doctor stands behind him, neither men wanting to be involved in the domestic. "That's all she says, 'travelling'."
"That's what I was doing." Rose speaks.
"With your passport still in the drawer? It's just one lie after another!" Jackie says pointing towards Rose's bedroom.
"I meant to phone, I really did. I just... I forgot."
"For a year? You forgot for a year, and I'm left sitting here?! I just don't believe you! Why won't you tell me where you've been?"
"Actually, it's our fault. We sort of... employed Rose as our companion." the Captain says trying to help the situation.
"When you say companion, is this a sexual relationship?" the policeman asks.
"No!" the younger looking man answers.
"No!" Rose also answers.
"Then what is it? Because you..! You waltz in here, all charm and smiles, and the next thing I know, she vanishes off the face of the Earth!" Jackie says leaning down to face the Captain before turning her attention to the Doctor. "How old are you then, 40, 45? What, did you find her on the Internet, d'you go online and pretend you're a doctor?"
"I am a doctor."
"Prove it. Stitch this, mate!" she slaps the Doctor.
"Ow! Oh-h!" the Doctor complains.
Later on Jackie and Rose hug "Did you think about me at all?" Rose's mother asks.
"I did, all the time, but..." Rose informs her with tears still in her eyes.
"One phone call. Just to know that you were alive."
"I'm sorry, I really am."
"But d'you know, what terrifies me is that you still can't say. What happened to you, Rose? What can be so bad that you can't tell me, sweetheart? Where were you?"
___________
The Captain and Doctor are on the roof of the Powell Estate when Rose joins them. "I can't tell her. I can't even begin. She's never going to forgive me. And I missed a year. Was it good?"
"Middling." the Captain tells her looking over the city.
"You're so useless." Rose tells him.
"Well, if it's this much trouble, are you gonna stay here now?" he asks turning towards the girl and the Doctor.
"I dunno. Can't do this to her again, though."
"Well, she's not coming with us." the Doctor says. All three burst out laughing at this comment.
"No chance!" Rose says.
"We don't do families." the Captain adds.
"She slapped you!" Rose says looking towards the Doctor.
"900 years of time and space, and I've never been slapped by someone's mother." the Doctor says.
"Well, I can proudly say that I'm the only one, between the two of us, to not have been slapped by someone's mother." the Captain smiles informing Rose.
"No.. not someone's mother, but..." the Doctor is interrupted.
"Nope. Don't go there." the Captain tells him as the Doctor just smiles.
"Your face." she smiles.
"It hurt!" he says, placing a hand on the side of his face.
"You're so gay!" Rose says. "When you say 900 years..."
"That's our age." the Captain chimes in, after turning his back on the two to look out over the city again.
"You're 900 years old."
"Yeah." he answers.
"My mum was right. That is one hell of an age gap." she says, eventually jumping down from where she was sitting. "Every conversation with you just goes mental. There's no-one else I can talk to! I've seen all that stuff, up there." she walks over to where the Captain is standing. "The size of it, and I can't say a word. Aliens and spaceships and things... and I'm the only person on planet Earth who knows they exist. And... who slapped you?" Rose directs the question at the Captain.
*PAAAAARP*
Before the Captain can respond a noise overhead takes the attention of the three people as they all turn around and see a spaceship fly inches above their heads, making them drop to their knees. The ship continues towards the bustling city eventually crashing through Big Ben and into the River Thames.
The three watch a plume of black smoke rise into the air "Oh, that's just not fair." Rose says as the two men start smiling and laughing. The Doctor grabs Rose's hand and they all run off.
___________
Horns beep and emergency sirens blare, as the police and army block off roads that head towards the inner city. Rose, the Doctor and Captain rush towards the blockade.
"It's blocked off!" the Doctor says.
"We're miles from the centre. The city must be gridlocked. The whole of London must be closing down." Rose says looking around the street.
"I know! I can't believe I'm here to see this. This is fantastic!" the Captain exclaims.
"Did you know this was gonna happen?" she asks looking at the man in the suit.
"Nope!" he smiles.
"Do you recognise the ship?"
"Nope!" both men respond.
"D'you know why it crashed?"
"Nope!"
"Ah, so glad I've got you." she remarks, turning to look back at the blockade.
"Bet you are!" the Captain says.
"This is why we travel, Rose. History happening right in front of us!" the Doctor tells her.
"Well, let's go and see it. Never mind the traffic, we've got the Tardis." she says.
"Hmm. Better not." the Captain responds.
"They've already got one spaceship in the middle of London, we don't wanna shove another on top." the Doctor adds.
"Yeah... but yours looks like a big blue box. No-one'd notice."
"You'd be surprised. Emergency like this, all kinds of people will be watching. Trust me, the Tardis stays where it is." the Captain tells her.
"So history is happening, and we're stuck here." Rose says kind of sadly.
"Yes, we are.." the man replies.
"We COULD always do what everyone else does." she says gaining the attention of the two men who turn to look at her. "We could watch it on TV."
___________
Back in the Tyler's flat they put the BBC News on "Big Ben destroyed as UFO crash-lands in central London. 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 Hitchinson is at the scene." a news presenter states. As the Doctor, Captain and Rose watch on. The Doctor sitting in the chair in front of the TV, the Captain sitting on the floor in front of him and Rose on another chair where earlier the policeman once sat.
"The police urge the public not to panic. There's helpline number on screen now, if you're worried about friends or family." another man says as the camera pans to the crash site.
The Doctor then changes channel to an American News station. "The military are on the lookout for more spaceships, until then all flights in North American airspace have been grounded." a lady reports.
The Doctor changes the channel again, this time back to the BBC News. "The army are sending divers into the wreck of the spaceship. No-one knows what they're going to find."
Flipping back to the American News channel. "The president will address the nation live, from the White house. But the Secretary General has asked that people watch the skies."
"I've got no choice!" Jackie says walking in to the living room with a cup of tea in her hand and passing it to Rose.
"You've broken your mothers heart!" Jackie's friend tells Rose.
"Make them welcome or risk never seeing you again." Jackie says.
"And I cradled her like a child." Ru says.
"Oi! We're trying to listen!" the Captain says looking back towards the two women who are talking over each other. The door bell rings.
"News is just coming in. And we can go to Tom at the Embankment." the broadcaster says.
"They've found a body. I-It's unconfirmed but I'm being told a body's been found in the wreckage, a body of non-terrestrial origins. It's being brought ashore." Hitchinson reports.
The Doctor and Captain lean in towards the TV trying to hear the reports clearly. "A body of some sort has been found inside the wreckage of a spacecraft." the broadcaster repeats. The Captain looks around and sees more people sat in the living room with them.
"Oh, guess who asked me out? Billy Croot!" Jackie announces, the Doctor and Captain look at her with a shocked expression, both men shake their head and turn back to listen to the TV.
"Unconfirmed reports say 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, whereabouts as yet unknown. Roads in.." the broadcaster says.
"And when you've stuck your fins on you can cover the whole lot in butter-cream" a man says on the TV as the Doctor wrestles with a toddler to turn the channel back to the live coverage.
"..Albion Hospital." the camera pans from the gate entrance to the TV reporter.
"We still don't know if it's still alive or dead. Whitehall is denying everything. But the body has been brought here, Albion Hospital. With roads closed, it's the closest to the river..." Hitchinson says.
The Doctor placed the toddler on the floor for the Captain to deal with "Go on." the Captain whispers pointing towards the other people in the room. He looks up to see the Doctor smiling down at him. Both men turn their attention back to the TV.
"I'm being told that General Asquith is now entering the hospital." the camera turns and shows a police car with its sirens blaring is driving into the hospital grounds. The Captain looks to his right at the people gathered in the room and sighs shaking his head. "The building's evacuated, patients have moved out onto the streets. The police still won't confirm the presence of an alien body contained inside those walls."
___________
The General marches down a corridor with an escort, he enters a room where a physician is in attendance waiting next to a white sheet that is covering the body.
"Let's have a look, then." he says walking over to the body. The woman lifts the sheet to show him. "Good God! And that's real? It's not a hoax or a dummy, or..?"
The woman shakes her head "I've x-rayed the skull. It's wired up inside like nothing I've ever seen before. No-one could make this up."
"We've got experts being flown in. Until they arrive, get that out of sight." he tells her. She places the sheet over the head and two physicians put the body into Body Cold Chamber 5.
___________
The physician runs down a corridor to catch up to the General. "Excuse me, sir. I know it's a state of emergency and there's a lot of rumour flying around, but... is it true what they're saying? About the Prime Minister?" The General looks at her and without answering he turns around and heads out followed by the escort.
___________
Andrew Marr is reporting live from outside 10 Downing Street. "Mystery surrounds the whereabouts of the Prime Minister. He's not been seen since the emergency began. The opposition are criticising his lack of leadership... Hold on." the camera pans to an incoming car. "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."
___________
Inside 10 Downing Street, a man walks up to Joseph Green and shakes his hand. "Indra Ganesh, sir, Junior Secretary with the MOD. I'll be your liaison."
"Where the hell is he?" he asks the liaison.
"If we could talk in private, sir? Follow me upstairs." he says as the two men start making their way up the stairs.
"Excuse me... Harriet Jones, MP for Flydale North." a woman introduces herself, holding her ID.
"I'm sorry, can't it wait?" Indra asks before turning to walk off.
"But I did have an appointment at 3:15."
"Yes, and a spaceship crashed in the middle of London. I think the schedule might have changed" he then leads Joseph Green up the stairs, leaving Ms Jones behind. "You've heard about the body, sir?" he whispers to the other man.
"Never mind that. Where is he? Where's the Prime Minister?" Green asks.
"No-one knows, he's disappeared. I have to inform you, with the city gridlocked and the Cabinet stranded outside London, and that makes you Acting Prime Minister. With immediate effect."
"Oh, Lord! Oh, hold on..." *FART* "Pardon me. I-It's a nervous stomach. Anyway..!" the two men continue up the stairs.
Ganesh walks through a door holding his hand out "Margaret Blaine, she's with MI5." he explains to the man following behind.
"There's no more information, sir. I personally escorted the PM from the Cabinet Room to his car. This is Oliver Charles, Transport Liaison." she introduces the man standing next to her.
"The car's disappeared. There's no record of it, sir. Literally vanished." Charles informs the Acting Prime Minister.
"Right. Inside, tell me everything." Green ushers the two people in to the room
"Er, sir..." Ganesh says making all three people turn back, he holds up a Ministerial Red Box. "Emergency protocols. Detailing the actions to be taken by the Government in the event of an alien incursion."
"Right. Good." *FART* "Blimey! Pardon me. Get to work, eh?" he takes the case off of his liaison and enters the room, eventually closing the door. He walks toward the big table and places down the box opposite Blaine and Charles. Looking at each other the three start chuckling.