Saleen Harper walked out of the computer store, shopping bag slung over her shoulder as she looked up into the darkening sky. Phil Coulson came out a moment later, putting his sunglasses on, still looking pish posh in his suit. "You got everything?" he asked.
"I think so," she replied. "Skye should have her hands full with all of this for a while."
"Where to next?"
"I need a coffee," she muttered in reply.
He chuckled, then fell silent. "Did you hear that?"
Saleen tilted her head, eyes narrowed in concentration. Her eyes widened when she heard a whooshing noise. One she knew quite well. She looked at Coulson. "Oh my God."
"They made it!"
Saleen and Coulson ran through the crowd of people and headed towards where the whooshing was getting louder. Along the way, they saw Jemma Simmons start to run with them, and they slid into an alleyway. "Saleen!" Jemma shouted.
"Jemma, it's the TARDIS!" she shouted back.
"I know, I know! I heard it! She's alive, Saleen. I said so, didn't I? I told you she's alive!"
"Then where is it?" Coulson asked, looking around.
There was a vvvvvworp sound, and the TARDIS emerged in midair, banging into three blocks of flats. Jemma squeaked in surprise, and Saleen's eyes widened. "What happened to it?" she asked in shock.
The TARDIS barely avoided a post office bin, and it finally crashed into trash bins. Saleen set down her bag and approached, Coulson and Jemma behind her. She stopped so suddenly Jemma ran right into her when a completely unfamiliar man opened the doors of the TARDIS - while dressed exactly like the Doctor. "Here we are, then!" he said brightly, in a South London accent that made Saleen blink. Coulson had a hand on his gun, and Jemma was backing away. "London, Earth. The Solar System. We did it!" He seemed to acknowledge they were there and gave them a big grin. "Jemma! Coulson! Saleen! Blimey!"
"How do you know our names?" Saleen demanded, drawing her gun as Coulson did the same.
The man held up a hand. "No, no, no, no. Hold on. Wait there. I've got something to say. There was something I had to tell you, something important." He walked towards them, almost in a pacing manner as he tried to complete his thought. "What was it? No, hold on. Hold on. Hold on. Shush, shush, shush, shush." He held up a finger, then his eyes brightened. "Oh, I know! Merry Christmas!" And he promptly collapsed unconscious.
Jemma shrieked and danced backwards as Saleen and Coulson dropped down, trying to help him. The sound of the TARDIS door opening again made them look out, and Jessie scrambled out, and her eyes widened when she looked down, seeing him on the ground. "What happened?" she asked, closing the door. "Is he all right?"
"I don't know!" Coulson replied. "He just keeled over."
"Who is he?" Saleen asked. "Where's the Doctor?"
"Ah." Jessie scratched the back of her head. "That's him. Right in front of you. That's the Doctor."
Jemma's eyes widened. "What do you mean, 'that's the Doctor?'" she asked. "Doctor Who?"
***
Jessie sat next to the Doctor's bed, breathing shakily as she watched him just . . . lay there, not moving. She looked up as Jemma and Skye came in, Jemma handing Jessie a stethoscope. "Here we go. Picked it up from the Bus, just if you needed it."
"I still say we should take him to the hospital," Skye said.
"Can't. They'd lock him up," she said, putting the stethoscope on. "They'd dissect him. One bottle of his blood could change the future of the human race. Now shush!" Skye obediently stayed quiet as Jessie checked the left side of the Doctor's chest, then switched to the other side. She sighed in relief. "Good. Both are working."
"Both?" Jemma echoed.
"Yep," Jessie confirmed, draping the stethoscope over her shoulders. "He's got two hearts."
"Anything else he's got two of?" Skye asked.
Jessie glared at her. "Oh, leave him alone," she muttered. She stood and headed for the door, and the two other women followed him.
She never saw the golden energy from the TARDIS be exhaled from the Doctor and wrap around her, sinking through her skin.
***
"How can he go changing his face?" Leo Fitz asked as they all gathered in the kitchen. "Is that a different face, or is he a different person?"
Jessie sighed. "Both. He has a way to, uh . . . 'cheat death,' I guess you'd say. Every cell in his body changed. He's still the Doctor, but he's . . . not." She shook her head, digging through the fridge. "Sorry. I kept forgetting that he wasn't human for a while." She frowned, poking her head up. "The better question is where did Skye start getting men's pajamas from? Because I'm pretty sure neither Fitz or Coulson stay here, let alone wear those kinds of pajamas."
Skye blushed. "Howard's been staying over."
"Who?" Jessie asked.
"Guy from the market," Jemma replied as Saleen clicked the TV on.
"And how long has this been going on?" Jessie asked, raising an eyebrow.
"A month or so," Skye replied, and Jessie's attention was drawn to the TV when she heard a familiar voice. "First of all, he starts delivering to the door, and I thought, that's odd. Next thing you know, it's a bag of oranges - "
"Is that Harriet Jones?" she asked abruptly, heading for the living room.
"Oh, never mind me," Skye muttered.
"Why's she on the TV?" Jessie asked, leaning on the top of the couch.
"She's Prime Minister now," Coulson replied. "They're calling it Britain's Golden Age. Keep bragging that you've met her."
"Did more than that," she said with a grin. "Stopped World War Three with her." She sighed in appreciation. "Harriet Jones."
***
It was Jessie, Fitz, and Jemma out that evening as Jessie began getting ready for Christmas. "So, what do you need?" Jemma asked, looking through her purse. "Twenty quid?"
"Do you mind?" Jessie asked, still getting used a little to the British currency. "I'll pay you back."
Jemma waved a hand with a smile. "Call it a Christmas present."
"God, I'm all out of synch," Jessie sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose. "You just forget about Christmas and things in the TARDIS. They don't exist. You get sort of . . . timeless."
Fitz rolled his eyes. "Oh, yeah, that's fascinating, because I love hearing stories about the TARDIS. Oh, go on, Jessie, tell us another one. Because I swear I could listen to it all day. TARDIS this, TARDIS that - "
"Shut up," Jessie muttered.
"Oh, and one time, the TARDIS landed in a big yellow garden full of balloons."
"I'm not like that!" Jessie protested.
"You sort of are," Jemma admitted hesitantly.
"So are," Fitz corrected.
"Must drive you mad," Jessie said sarcastically. "I'm surprised you don't give up on me."
"Well, isn't that the thing?" Fitz asked. "You can rely on us. We don't go changing our faces."
"And if he's dying?" Jessie retorted.
Fitz blinked. "OK," he said.
"Sorry!" Jessie apologized as she almost ran into someone.
"Just let it be Christmas," Jemma told her, taking one of her arms. "Can you do that? Just for a bit. You, us, the team, and Christmas. No Doctor, no bog monsters, no life or death."
Jessie nodded, smiling. "OK."
"Promise?" Fitz asked, beginning to grin.
"Yes!"
"Right!" Jemma said with a smile, looking around at all of the shops. "What're you going to get Skye?"
"We're around there all the time now," Fitz said, and Jessie paid little attention as she investigated . . . and began to notice the band of Santas approaching them. "Skye and May alternate on dinner, and Saleen tells stories about you all afternoon, yap yap yap - "
Jessie turned to face the band as they stopped, and the trombone player fired flame out of his instrument. Jessie raised a hand and sucked it into her palm. "They're after us!" she told them, running through the crowd.
"What's going on?" Jemma asked, sounding panicked as they ran. "What've we done? Why are they after us?"
"TAXI!" Jessie shouted, waving one over. It screeched to a halt by her, and the three of them scrambled into the back seat. "They're after the Doctor," she replied.
Fitz groaned. "I can't even go shopping with you! We get attacked by a brass band." Jessie snorted as she began dialing a number. "Who're you phoning?"
"Skye."
***
Saleen rolled her eyes as Skye chattered with a London friend as she and Coulson walked towards the Doctor's bedroom. "She honestly talks so much."
"Talking seems to be the only way to avoid thinking about how Jessie was gone," Coulson told her, setting a mug of tea down by the Doctor's bed. "She lost Grant, and then Jessie went back to try and save the Doctor in year . . . whatever it was. She was worried sick."
As they left, still talking about Skye, they didn't see more of the golden TARDIS energy be exhaled from the Doctor.
***
Jessie grabbed Jemma and Fitz's hands and phased through the door, running towards the living room. "So save us a chipolata," Skye was saying into the phone.
"Get off the phone!" Jessie told her, smiling and waving to Melinda May, who was sitting on the couch, reading some kind of magazine.
"It's only Bev," Skye told her. "She says hello."
"Bev?" Jessie asked, taking the phone and speaking into it. "Yeah. Look, it'll have to wait." She hung up, tossing the phone back to Skye. "Right. It's not safe. We'e got to get out. Where can we go?"
"One of my friends, he still lives here, Stan," Jemma suggested. "He can put us up."
"That's only two streets away," Jessie disagreed, beginning to pace. She turned to Saleen. "What about Mo? Where's she living now?"
"Mo? I think she went to Peak District."
"Then we'll go there," Jessie decided.
"No!" Skye protested. "It's Christmas Eve! We're not going anywhere! What're you babbling on about?"
Jessie opened her mouth to respond when she noted that the white Christmas tree Skye usually had was now a luscious green. "Skye . . . where'd you get that tree? That's new. Where'd you get it?"
"I thought it was you!" Skye said.
"How can it be me?"
"You went shopping, there was a ring at the door, and there it was!"
"It wasn't me," Jessie said.
"Then who was it?" May asked, standing from her chair.
Jessie blinked as parts of the tree began to spin, and she felt the wind begin to pick up. It began to spin towards them - destroying the coffee table in the process. She screamed, backing up. Coulson and Fitz promptly picked up chairs, pushing the other girls behind him as they fended the tree off. "Get out!" Coulson shouted. "Go, go! Get out!"
"We've got to save the Doctor!" Jessie replied, running for the bedroom.
"What're you doing?" Saleen shouted.
"We can't just leave him!" Jessie shouted back.
"Fitz!" Jemma called.
"Get out of there!" May called as well.
They made it into the bedroom, and Skye and May stared at them in shock. "Leave him!" Skye insisted. "Just leave him!"
"Get in here!" Coulson ordered.
Jessie scrambled to the Doctor as Coulson, May, and Fitz worked a wardrobe in front of the door, and Saleen began icing it shut. "Doctor, wake up!" she pleaded in his ear.
She looked up when the tree burst through. Coulson and May tried shooting it, but without prevail as it kept coming. "I'm going to get killed by a Christmas tree!" Saleen cried in disbelief.
Jessie got an idea and dug through the Doctor's jacket and pulled out the sonic screwdriver, placing it in the Doctor's hand. She leaned into his ear and whispered two words. "Help me."
She jerked backwards when he sat up straight, responding instantly to her plea, aiming the screwdriver at the tree. It exploded, much to the shock of the other agents. "Remote control," he murmured, a thoughtful look on his face. "But who's controlling it?"
He headed out of the apartment, and Jessie followed instantly. Saleen was next, and the rest of them filed out. Jessie poked a head over the Doctor's shoulder as they made it to the balcony. She squeaked when she saw three Santas looking up at them. One of them held a radio controller.
"That's them!" Jemma said.
"What are they?" Coulson asked.
"Shush!" Saleen told them.
The Doctor pointed his screwdriver at them. For some reason, it made the Santas back away, and Jessie watched as they beamed up.
Fitz blinked in surprise. "They've just gone," he said, and Jessie rolled her eyes at stating the obvious. "What kind of rubbish were they? I mean, no offense meant, but they're not much cop if a sonic screwdriver's going to scare them off."
"Pilot fish," the Doctor said thoughtfully.
"What?" May asked.
"They were just pilot fish."
He made a retching noise and keeled over again. Jessie grabbed onto his arm, and he grabbed onto hers. "What's wrong?" she asked desperately.
"You woke me up too soon," he rasped. "I'm still regenerating. I'm bursting with energy." He retched again, and golden energy swirled out of his mouth. Jessie didn't notice it seep into her skin. "You see? The pilot fish could smell it a million miles away. So, they eliminate the defense - that's you lot - and they carry me off. They could run their batteries on me for a couple of - " His face twisted, and he closed his eyes. "Ow!"
Skye started freaking out, just like Skye would. "Oh! Oh! Oh!"
"My head!" the Doctor groaned, holding a hand to it, and Jessie adjusted her grip so she could help support him. May was on the other side doing the same thing. "I'm having a neuron implosion. I need - "
"What do you need?" Skye asked quickly.
"I need - "
"Say it. Tell me, tell me, tell me!"
"I need - "
"Pain killers?" May asked.
"I need - "
"Do you need aspirin?" Jemma wondered.
"I need - "
"Codeine?" Saleen rattled off. "Paracetamol?"
"Oh, I don't know," Skye sighed. "Pepto-Bismol?"
"I need - "
"Liquid paraffin?" Coulson asked, and Jessie wanted to smack every single one of them. "Vitamin C? Vitamin D? Vitamin E?"
"I need - "
"Is it food?" Skye asked, fidgeting. "Something simple. Bowl of soup. A nice bowl of soup? Soup and a sandwich? Soup and a little ham sandwich?"
"I need you to shut up!" the Doctor finally managed to bark out before doubling over again.
Skye looked offended, and she glared at Jessie. "Well, he hasn't changed that much, has he?"
"We haven't got much time," the Doctor said, putting his screwdriver in his pocket. "If there's pilot fish, then - " He blinked, pulling something back out. "Why's there an apple in my dressing gown?"
"That'll be Howard," Skye replied, taking the apple. "Sorry."
"He keeps apples in his dressing gown?" Saleen asked with a giggle.
"He gets hungry!"
"What, he gets hungry in his sleep?" the Doctor asked.
"Sometimes!"
The Doctor cried out, and Jessie and May struggled to keep him upright. "Argh! Brain collapsing!" He turned to Jessie, looked her right in the eye. "The pilot fish. The pilot fish mean that something . . . something . . . something is coming."
He passed out, and May and Coulson took the Doctor back into the house. Jessie followed, taking a wet washcloth, following them into the bedroom. She swallowed, sitting back down in the chair and wiped off his brow.
"Skye!" Saleen called. "I'm using the phone line. Is that all right?"
"Keep a count of it, then!" Skye shouted back, coming in. "It's midnight," she told Jessie. "Christmas Day. Any change?"
"He's worse," Jessie whispered, checking his pulses. "Just one heart beating now."
***
Jessie paid little attention to the TV as she walked over to where Saleen and Coulson were huddled around Saleen's laptop. "Here we go," Saleen told Jessie. "Pilot fish. Scavengers, like the Doctor said. Harmless. They're tiny. The point is that the little fish swim alongside the big fish."
"Like sharks?" Jessie asked.
"Great big sharks," Coulson confirmed darkly. "So what the Doctor means is that we had them. Now we get that."
"Something's coming," Jessie muttered, leaning over them. "How close?"
"There's no way of telling, but the pilot fish don't swim far from their daddy."
"So it's close?"
"Funny sort of rocks," Jemma commented from the couch.
Jessie looked up as photos flashed across the screen. "That's not rocks," she whispered, plopping down next to May.
"This image is being transmitted via mission control, coming live from the depths of space on Christmas morning," the reporter said.
Jessie jerked backwards as a red-eyed alien with a head like a goat's skull appeared. It growled and gurgled at the screen, and Jessie sighed. "The face of an alien life form was transmitted live tonight on BBC1."
"On the 25th of December, the human race has been shown absolute proof that alien life exists."
"These remarkable images have been relayed right across the world."
"I'm into the military," Skye said, clicking a few keys. "Take a look." Coulson, Jessie, and May joined her, Fitz, Jemma, and Skye looking over at them from their places on the couches. "They're tracking a spaceship. It's big, it's fast, and it's coming this way."
"Coming for what, though?" Jessie asked. "The Doctor?"
"I don't know," Saleen admitted, clicking on a photo. "Maybe it's coming for all of us."
Jessie looked at the aliens, now four of them. "Have you seen them before?" May asked.
Jessie only shook her head. "No." She listened as they began to speak, and she furiously tried to hear what they were saying. "Come on, come on, come on," she whispered, but no translation came.
"What?" Fitz asked her.
"I don't understand what they're saying," Jessie replied, looking up. "The TARDIS translates alien languages inside my head, all the time, wherever I am."
"So why isn't it doing it now?"
"I don't know," Jessie admitted. "Must be the Doctor. Like he's part of the circuit, and he's . . . " She faltered, closing her eyes. "He's broken."
***
A few hours later, Jessie walked in to see that Skye had fallen asleep by the Doctor, her head in her hand. Jessie shook her head as she stood there. "The Doctor wouldn't do this," she whispered as Jemma came in behind her. "I know he's regenerated and all that, and he's different . . . but he'd wake up. He'd save us."
"You really do love him, don't you?" Jemma asked in a whisper.
Jessie nodded firmly and turned to hug Jemma, burying her face in her friend's shoulder as her tears fell.
They stood like that for a while before they heard a voice. "Fitz?"
Jessie poked her head out the door to see Fitz in some sort of trance, walking for the door. "Fitz?" she asked.
"What is wrong with you?" a female voice outside shouted. "Jason? Jason!"
Jessie ran out, followed by the rest of the team. Fitz was joined by another blank-faced man, his wife running after him. "Sandra?" Jemma asked.
"He won't listen!" Sandra sobbed. "He's just walking. He won't stop walking! There's this sort of light thing. Jason? Stop it right now!"
Jessie looked over the balcony to see tons of people lining the streets and walking - Fitz among them. She looked up to see where they were headed, and her jaw dropped. "Oh my God, they're going to jump!"
Jemma began running instantly, followed by the rest of the team. They stopped by Fitz, looking glassy-eyed over all of London. Saleen swallowed, then looked at Jessie. "What do we do?"
She shook her head. "Nothing," she choked out. "There's no one to save us. Not anymore."
***
May leaned forward, watching the TV. "You'll want to hear this," she said.
Jessie sat down next to her, seeing Harriet Jones sitting at a desk. "Ladies and gentlemen, if I may take a moment during this terrible time. It's hardly the Queen's speech. I'm afraid that's been cancelled." She looked off to the side. "Did we ask about the royal family?" She looked back. "Oh. They're on the roof. But, ladies and gentlemen, this crisis is unique, and I'm afraid to say it might get much worse. I would ask you all to remain calm. But I have one request." She took a deep breath. "Doctor. Jess." Jessie inhaled sharply, and May squeezed her hand. "If you're out there, we need you. I don't know what to do. If either of you can hear me. If anyone knows the Doctor or his friends, if anyone can find him, the situation has never been more desperate. Help us. Please, Doctor. Jess. Help us. God help us."
"Turn it off," Jessie whispered.
Coulson complied, sitting down. "Jemma's still up there," he said lowly. "She's not leaving Fitz."
"He's gone," Jessie said, her voice shaking with sobs. "He's just gone. He's not responding to anything, and I don't know what I'm supposed to do!"
Skye hugged her sympathetically when all of the glass shattered. Jessie ran outside instantly, feeling the wind whip her hair around. She was joined by the others and her jaw dropped as she watched a rock-like ship flew overhead. She instantly ran back inside, going for the bedroom. "Coulson, we need to carry him," she said. "Skye, get your stuff, and get some food. We're going."
"Where to?" Coulson asked as he and May moved to the bed to help the Doctor.
"The TARDIS," Jessie replied, slinging her bag over her shoulder. "It's the only safe place on Earth."
"What're we going to do in there?" Saleen asked.
"Hide," she replied. "And wait for the Doctor to wake up."
"And that's it?"
"Look in the sky," Jessie told her. "There's a great big alien invasion, and I don't know what to do, all right? I've traveled with him, and I've seen all that stuff, but when I'm stuck here, I'm useless. Now all we can do is run and hide and wait. And I'm sorry." She looked at each of them, seeing their consent. "Now move."
***
"No chance you could fly this thing?" Saleen asked as they made it into the TARDIS, Coulson and May lying the Doctor on the grated floor.
Jessie shook her head, gripping the console. "Not anymore, no."
"You did it before," Saleen pointed out.
"I know . . . but it's sort of been wiped out of my head, like it's forbidden. Try that again, and I think the universe rips in half."
Coulson grimaced. "Better not, then."
"No," Jessie agreed. "Maybe not."
"So, we just sit here?" May asked.
Jessie nodded. "As good as it gets."
"Here we go!" Skye said as she came inside. "Nice cup of tea. Jemma had it going in the kettle."
Jessie smiled. "The solution to everything."
"AC, can you give me a hand with everything else?" Skye asked.
Coulson smiled at his nickname and nodded, following Skye out. Saleen sat on the console as May sat in the captain's chair. "Tea," Saleen snorted. "Like we're having a picnic while the world comes to an end." Jessie made a face, and Saleen shook her head. "Very British, and FitzSimmons isn't here." She began poking at a screen. "So how does this thing work? If it picks up TV, maybe we could see what's going on out there. Maybe we've surrendered." She raised an eyebrow at Jessie. "What do you do to it?"
"I don't know. It sort of tunes itself."
"There's something on the scanner," May said, pulling it up. Jessie peeked over her shoulder, and May looked back at her. "Maybe it's a distress signal?"
"Well, what a fat load of good that'll do," Jessie muttered, folding her arms.
"Are you going to be this miserable the entire time?" Saleen asked.
"Until the Doctor wakes up and I have an idea on what to do, yes," she replied.
Saleen grinned. "You should look at it from my point of view. Stuck in here with Skye's cooking."
May smirked, and Jessie frowned. "Where is she? And Coulson?" She headed for the door. "I'll go lend them a hand. Might start raining missiles out there for all I know."
"Tell her anything from a tin, that's fine," Saleen said.
Jessie raised an eyebrow. "Why don't you tell her yourself?"
"She's not that brave," May suggested.
Jessie rolled her eyes and opened the doors. "I don't know - " She stared one of the Sycorax right in the face and screamed when it grabbed her.
"Jessie!" May shouted, dropping the tea flask and running after her, Saleen right behind her.
"Get off! Get off me!" Jessie shouted, trying to get out of the Sycorax's grasp. She looked up to see another head for the door. "The door! Close the door!" May promptly shut the doors right before the Sycorax made it.
"Jessie!" Jessie looked up sharply, then started crying as Harriet Jones ran towards her, her arms held out. "Jessie!" Jessie launched herself into the Prime Minister's arms, burying her face in the woman's shoulder, just relieved to see someone else. "I've got you. My Lord. Oh, my precious thing."
She felt a hand on her shoulder, and she looked up to see the familiar face of Indra Ganesh smiling down at her as well. She sniffed and hugged him, too, as Harriet greeted May. Harriet then turned back to Jessie. "The Doctor . . . is he with you?"
"Not yet," she replied. "Currently, we're on our own."
The Sycorax leader said something, and Indra looked down at a translating device. "The brown girl," he said. "She has the clever blue box. Therefore, she speaks for your planet."
"But she can't!" Harriet protested.
"Oh, yeah I can," Jessie retorted.
"Don't you dare," May warned her.
"Someone's got to be the Doctor," Jessie pointed out.
"They'll kill you!" Harriet said weakly.
"Never stopped him," Jessie said simply, and the others gave up. She turned to the Sycorax, swallowing when she saw their numbers. "I, er . . . I address the Sycorax according to Article Fifteen of the Shadow Proclamation. I command you to leave this world with all the authority of the realms of Asgard and Vanaheim, the Slitheen Parliament of Raxacoricofallapatorius, and . . . er, the Gelth Confederacy as, uh . . . sanctioned by the Mighty Jagrafess - " She ignored the odd looks she was getting, Saleen mouthing "who?" at her. "And - oh, the Daleks!" She nodded, trying to feign confidence. "Now, leave this planet in peace!"
The Sycorax all burst out laughing, and Jessie sighed. "You are very, very funny," Indra translated as the Sycorax leader spoke and approached her. He swallowed. "And now you're going to die."
"Leave her alone!" Harriet instantly shouted, trying to rush forward, even as Sycorax hurried to hold the others back.
"Don't touch her!" May added, even though she and Saleen were held back as well.
"Leave her alone!" Saleen tried one last time."
"Did you think you were clever with your stolen words?" Indra began to translate. "We are the Sycorax. We stride the darkness. Next to us, you are but a wailing child. If you are the best your planet can offer as a champion - "
"Then your world will be gutted," the Sycorax stated.
"Then your world will be gutted," Indra repeated, then furrowed his eyebrows.
Jessie began to grin as the Sycorax finished. "And your people enslaved."
"Hold on. That's English," Indra commented.
"He's talking English," Harriet confirmed.
Jessie grinned wider, feeling like jumping up and down. "You're talking English!"
"I would never dirty my tongue with your primitive bile," the Sycorax spat.
Jessie smirked in satisfaction. "Oh, that's English. Can you hear English?"
"I can," May confirmed, seeming a bit confused.
"Yeah, that's English," Saleen said.
"Definitely English," Indra put in.
"I speak only Sycoraxic!" the Sycorax leader protested.
Jessie gave a thumbs up. "So I can hear English. It's being translated, then. Which means it's working." She turned towards the TARDIS. "Which means - "
As if on cue, the doors opened, and the Doctor poked his head out, looking wide awake and rather cheery for someone being unconscious for most of the night. "Did you miss me?" he asked.
"I rest my case," Jessie said, bowing. "You may cut in."
The Sycorax leader cracked a whip, but the Doctor caught it and tugged it out of his hand. "You could've taken someone's eye out with that," he said casually.
"How dare!" the Sycorax shouted.
The Doctor took the club from another Sycorax and broke it across his knee. "You just can't get the staff," he commented, tossing the pieces away, and May caught them. "Now, you - " He pointed to the Sycorax leader. "Just wait. I'm busy." He turned to Saleen and grinned. "Saleen, hello!" She waved a little absently, and he grinned to May. "And Miss Melinda May. How's piloting the bus going?"
"It's flying," May replied slowly.
"Good, good." He turned and gave a huge grin to Harriet. "And Harriet Jones, MP for Flydale North, and Indra Ganesh, junior secretary. Blimey, it's like This Is Your Life!" He turned to Jessie, and he matched her grin. "Tea!" he declared. "That's all I needed. A good cup of tea. Superheated infusion of free radicals and tannin. Just the thing for healing the synapses. Now, first things first. Be honest." He tilted his head. "How do I look?"
Jessie made a show of looking him over. "Well . . . different."
"Good different or bad different?"
"I'd say good, but this is coming from the girl who's traveled with you for about a year now."
"Am I ginger?"
She snorted. "No. You're just . . . " She shrugged. "Sort of brown."
"Naw, I wanted to be ginger!" he whined, backing away and acting like a kid throwing a tantrum. "I've never been ginger." She giggled, then blinked when he spun on her, pointing at her. "And you, Jessie Nightshade . . . well, fat lot of good you were! You practically gave up on me!" His eyes widened in astonishment, lowering his hand. "Oh, that's rude." She put a hand over her mouth as he got a thoughtful look on his face. "That's the sort of man I am now, am I? Rude. Rude and not ginger."
"I'm sorry, but who is this?" Harriet asked.
"I'm the Doctor!" he replied.
"He's the Doctor," Jessie agreed.
"But what happened to my Doctor?" Harriet asked, looking confused. "Or is it a title that's just passed on?"
The Doctor walked up to her. "I'm him. I'm literally him. Same man, new face . . . well, new everything."
"But you can't be . . . " she whispered.
"Harriet Jones. We were trapped in Downing Street, and the one thing that scared you wasn't the aliens. It wasn't the war. It was the thought of your mother being on her own."
Harriet's eyes widened in astonishment. "Oh my God . . . "
"Did you win the election?"
She grinned and chuckled. "Landslide majority."
"If I might interrupt."
The Doctor turned back to the Sycorax. "Yes, sorry. Hello, big fellow."
"Who exactly are you?"
"Well, that's the question."
"I demand to know who you are!"
"I don't know!" the Doctor said in almost an exact copy of the Sycorax leader's voice, making Jessie grin. "See, there's the thing. I'm the Doctor, but beyond that, I just don't know." Jessie grinned wider as he began to babble. "I literally do not know who I am. It's all untested. Am I funny? Am I sarcastic? Sexy?" There, he sent a wink in her direction, making her flush, and making May smirk and Saleen snicker. "Right old misery? Life and soul? Right handed? Left handed? A gambler?" He kept going up the stairs to something, and Jessie followed. "A fighter? A coward? A traitor? A liar? A nervous wreck?" He chuckled. "I mean, judging by the evidence, I've certainly got a gob." He stopped at a big button, and he peered at it in interest. "And how am I going to react when I see this? A great big threatening button. A great big threatening button which must not be pressed under any circumstances. Am I right?" He nodded. "Let me guess. It's some sort of control matrix, hmm? Hold on. What's feeding it?" He crouched down and opened the base of the pillar. "And what've we got here? Blood?" Jessie winced as he licked the sample, just to make sure. "Yeah, definitely blood. Human blood. A Positive with just a dash of iron. Ah, but that means . . . blood control. Blood control!" He grinned, jumping back up. "Oh, I haven't seen blood control for years. You're controlling all the A Positives. Which leaves us with a great big stinking problem, because I really don't know who I am. I don't know when to stop. So, if I see a great big threatening button which should never, ever, ever be pressed . . . " Jessie's eyes widened as he held up a hand. "Then I just want to do this."
"No!" she cried as the Doctor hit the button, her voice in synch with Harriet's.
"You killed them!" Indra added.
The Doctor folded his arms, looking at the Sycorax leader. "What do you think, big fellow?" he asked. "Are they dead?"
"We allow them to live."
"Allow?" the Doctor repeated. "You've got no choice! I mean, that's all blood control is. A cheap bit of voodoo. Scares the pants off you, but that's as far as it goes. It's like hypnosis. You can hypnotize someone to walk like a chicken or sing like Elvis. You can't hypnotize them to death. Survival instinct's too strong."
"Blood control is just one form of conquest," the Sycorax said. "I can summon the armada and take this world by force."
"Well yeah, you could, yeah," the Doctor agreed, and Jessie looked bat him in bewilderment. "You could do that. Of course you could. But why?" He gestured to Jessie, Harriet, Indra, Saleen, and May. "Look at these people. These human beings. Consider their potential. From the day they arrive on the planet and blinking step into the sun, there is more to see than ever can be seen. More to do than - " He cut off, blinking. "No. Hold on." He shook his head. "Sorry. That's The Lion King." Jessie snorted loudly, and he sent a wink at her before turning back to the Sycoraax. "But the point still stands. Leave them alone!"
"Or what?" the Sycorax challenged.
"Or . . . " The Doctor looked at Jessie, raising his eyebrows in a silent question. She nodded her full support, and he took a sword from one of the Sycorax aides, running back to the TARDIS. "I challenge you!" he declared. Jessie looked around as the Sycorax began to laugh. The Doctor raised an eyebrow yet again. "Oh, that struck a chord," he noted. He looked at the Sycorax leader. "Am I right that the sanctified rules of combat still apply?"
"You stand as this world's champion," the Sycorax declared.
"Thank you," the Doctor said, taking his robe off. "I've no idea who I am, but you just summed me up." Jessie caught the robe when he threw it to her, and he turned to the Sycorax, sword pointed down to the floor. "So, you accept my challenge? Or are you just a cranak pel casacree salvak?"
The TARDIS didn't translate, so Jessie assumed that was not a nice thing to say. It was further fueled when the Sycorax growled and drew his own sword. "For the planet?"
The Doctor nodded. "For the planet."
Jessie jumped back when their swords crossed over and over. "Look out!" she shouted when the Sycorax tried a tricky maneuver.
The Doctor quickly avoided the strike. "Oh, yeah, that helps!" he called back to her. "Wouldn't have thought of that otherwise, thanks!"
It was clearly obvious that the Sycorax was a better swordsman - or maybe the Doctor was faking it, with him Jessie never knew - but the Doctor backed up a tunnel. "Bit of fresh air?" he asked.
Jessie ran out after them, closely followed by the others. The Doctor was backed up to the edge, and Jessie handed the robe to Saleen, summoning her armor and reaching over her shoulder for one of her swords. The Doctor noticed and held up a hand. "Stay back!" he called to her, and she froze where she stood. "Invalidate the challenge, and he wins the planet!"
She swallowed and nodded, but Saleen had to physically hold her back when the Sycorax leader pushed the Doctor backwards, and with a downward slice, cut off the Doctor's hand and sent it and the sword hurtling down to Earth. The Doctor looked down, then back up. "You cut my hand off," he said, stating the obvious in disbelief.
Jessie mouthed "duh" to him as the Sycorax cheered. "Sycorax!"
"And now I know what sort of man I am," the Doctor noted with a small smile. "I'm lucky. Because quite by chance, I'm still within the first fifteen hours of my regeneration cycle. Which means I've got just enough residual cellular energy to do this." He held up his arm, and Jessie's eyes widened as another hand grew in place of the old one.
"Witchcraft!" the Sycorax accused with a hiss.
The Doctor's eyes darkened, and Jessie knew the Sycorax was a dead alien. "Time Lord," he corrected.
Her hand flew up over her shoulder to grasp the hilt of her longsword, and she drew it in a swift motion. "Doctor!"
He turned to her and caught the sword she threw, twirling it experimentally. "Oh, so I'm still the Doctor, then?"
"Never doubted you for a second," she replied.
The Doctor turned to the Sycorax. "Want to know the best bit? This new hand?" He grinned. "It's a fighting hand!"
Jessie watched as the Doctor now began to get the upper hand, steadily overwhelming the Sycorax leader until he made a fancy maneuver and disarmed the leader. He slammed both hilts into the Sycorax's abdomen twice, making him fall back to the edge. "I win," he said simply.
"Then kill me," the Sycorax sneered.
"I'll spare your life if you'll take this champion's command. Leave this planet and never return. What do you say?"
"Yes."
"Swear on the blood of your species," the Doctor commanded.
"I swear."
And just like that, the Doctor stepped back. "There we are, then!" he said brightly. "Thanks for that. Cheers, big fellow!"
"Bravo!" Harriet cheered as the Doctor came back, handing the Sycorax sword to an aide and handing Jessie's back to her.
Jessie smiled at him. "Harriet says it all. Nice job."
"Very Arthur Dent," the Doctor commented as she helped him put the robe back on. "Now, there was a nice man." He put a hand in his pocket and frowned. "Hold on. What have I got in here?" He pulled out something round and orange, and he tossed it experimentally. "A satsuma." He grinned at Jessie. "Oh, that friend of Skye's. He does like his snacks, doesn't he? But doesn't that just sum up Christmas? You go through all those presents, and right at the end, tucked away at the bottom, there's always one stupid old satsuma." He held it up. "Who wants a satsuma?"
May drew a knife and cocked her arm to throw, but the Doctor threw the satsuma at a panel on the side of the ship. She heard a roar, and she turned to see the Sycorax leader fall as part of the wing opened underneath him. "No second chances," the Doctor said, putting one arm around her shoulders. "I'm that sort of man."
***
The Doctor stopped in front of the TARDIS and looked around at the Sycorax. "By the ancient rites of combat, I forbid you to scavenge here for the rest of time," he declared. "And when you go back to the stars and tell others of this planet, when you tell them of its riches, its people, its potential. When you talk of the Earth, then make sure that you tell them this: it is defended."
Jessie felt them get teleported away, and she looked around as they landed on a road. "Where are we?"
"Just off Bloxom Road," May replied, smiling as she looked around. "We're just round the corner. We did it!"
"Wait a minute," the Doctor told them, holding up a hand. "Wait a minute."
Jessie grinned as the spaceship flew off. Saleen cheered, jumping up and down. "Go on, my son!" she shouted. "Oh yeah!"
"Yeah!" Jessie shouted as well, doing a dance with her friend. "Don't come back!"
"It is defended!"
The two laughed and hugged each other tightly, and then Jessie hugged Indra. He hugged her back, then pulled away when his phone rang. "It was good to see you again, Jessie," he told her, walking away to answer it."
"Jessie! Saleen!"
Jessie grinned as Skye and Coulson ran up, Jemma and a weary Fitz behind them. "Hey!"
"Talking of trouble," the Doctor commented, but Jessie didn't care as she hugged Skye.
"Oh my God!" Skye shouted, hugging her tightly. "You did it, Jessie!"
"Jemma did it, too," Jessie said, grinning. "It was the tea that he needed. Fixed his head."
"That was all that I needed," the Doctor confirmed, smiling at the agent. "Cup of tea."
"I said so," Skye said smugly.
"Look at him," Jessie told her.
"Is it him, though?" Jemma asked, peering at the Doctor, who shuffled under her gaze. "Is it really the Doctor?" She looked past him and squeaked. "Oh my God, it's the bleeding Prime Minister!"
The Doctor laughed. "Oh come here, all of you."
They got in a huge group hug, and the Doctor patted Skye on the shoulder. "Are you better?" she asked him.
"I am, yeah," he replied.
"You left us," Coulson told Jessie flatly.
She winced. "Teleport. Didn't really expect that."
"And we had all the food!"
There was a rumble, then Jessie flung her arm up to cover her eyes as bright green beams shot out from buildings around and met to fire at the Sycorax ship. It exploded, and Jessie winced against the sound. "What is it?" she asked. "What's happening?"
The Doctor turned to Harriet, who was standing there with Indra, Indra with a guilty look on his face. "That," he said slowly, walking up to her. "Was murder."
"That was defense," Harriet corrected. "It's adapted from alien technology. A ship that fell to Earth ten years ago."
"But they were leaving!" Fitz protested.
"You said it yourself, Doctor," Harriet ignored Fitz. "They'd go back to the stars and tell others about the Earth. I'm sorry, Doctor, but you're not here all the time. You come and go. It happened today. Mr. Llewellyn and the Major, they were murdered. They died right in front of me while you were sleeping. In which case, we have to defend ourselves."
"Britain's Golden Age," the Doctor mused, his face growing dark.
"It comes with a price," Harriet replied.
"I gave them the wrong warning." Jessie shivered as he looked at Harriet with the Oncoming Storm peeking through. "I should've told them to run as fast as they can. Run and hide because the monsters are coming. The human race."
"Those are the people I represent. I did it on their behalf."
"Then I should've stopped you."
"What does that make you, Doctor? Another alien threat?"
"Don't challenge me, Harriet Jones, because I'm a completely new man. I could bring down your government with a single word."
"You're the most remarkable man I've ever met, but I don't think you're quite capable of that."
He shook his head. "No, you're right. Not a single word. Just six."
"I don't think so."
"Six words."
She looked panicked. "Stop it!"
He leaned down to her. "Six." He beckoned to Jessie, and together they walked over to Indra. The Doctor leaned down and whispered in his ear. "Don't you think she looks tired?" he asked.
Indra swallowed, and the Doctor took Jessie's hand. "I think we're done here," he said, and they walked off.
"What did he say?" Harriet demanded.
"Oh, well," Indra sputtered. "Nothing, really."
"What did he say?"
"Nothing. I don't know."
"Doctor!" Harriet shouted, and Jessie threw a wave over her shoulder. "Doctor, what did you do? What was that? What did he say? What did you say, Doctor? Doctor! I'm sorry!"
"No second chances kind of man," Jessie murmured, and the Doctor squeezed her hand.
***
The Doctor walked around inside the TARDIS wardrobe, examining bits of clothing here and there. He had his old leather jacket hanging up on a coat hanger, and took out a photograph in one of the pockets: his last body and Jessie, her sitting on the console, him draped in the captain's chair. He grinned, remembering when Jack had taken the photo.
Some day he was going to have to explain to Jessie what exactly had happened to Jack. For now, however, he had a very important mission.
He made a face when he saw one of the jackets, a mess of colors. He shuddered, wondering how his sixth self had worn it. Now that he was who he was, he couldn't believe he'd ever worn that.
His gaze was drawn to a brown suit with blue pinstripes. He held it up experimentally, then found a long light brown coat. He nodded in satisfaction and left to change.
***
Jessie looked up from the table when the Doctor came in, and he held his arms out as if waiting for her opinion. She just spent a moment gawking at him. He was wearing an Oxford style shirt, a brown pinstriped suit over that. He was also wearing a TARDIS blue tie, and a long light brown coat over it all, and she had to grin when she saw he was also wearing Converse shoes. She smiled widely at the Doctor and gestured to the seat next to her. He smiled back and sat down next to her.
For once, they were all laughing and having fun, and the Doctor was at least pretending to enjoy it. He even went far enough that when a red paper crown came out of one of the poppers, he let Saleen and Jessie put it on his head. She burst out laughing when Fitz and the Doctor pulled one, coming up with a pink crown. The Doctor grinned at her. "Oh, that's yours."
"It's pink," she said, taking it and plopping it on May's head. "It's May's!" The Doctor burst out laughing as May glowered at her, then Jessie got their attention by looking at the TV. "Look, it's Harriet."
Jessie listened as the reporters grilled her about being fit for office, and she couldn't help but notice the firm look on the Doctor's face as they watched. The phone rang, and Skye answered it. She listened for a few seconds, then looked at them all. "It's Beth. She's saying to go and look outside."
"I don't know," Skye replied, making a shooing motion. "Just go and have a look outside. Come on!"
Jessie grinned and went, the Doctor behind her. She gasped when she saw snow falling, and she smiled as she saw lights flash across the sky. "Oh, it's beautiful," she whispered. She looked at the Doctor. "What are they? Meteors?"
"It's the spaceship breaking up in the atmosphere," he replied. "This isn't snow. It's ash."
"Oh." She looked back up. "Not so beautiful."
"This is a brand new planet," the Doctor said. "No denying the existence of aliens now. Everyone saw it. Everything's new."
"And you?" she asked, tilting her head. "What are you going to do next?"
"Back to the TARDIS," he replied as they began walking in that direction. "Same old life."
"Do you want me to come with you?" she asked hesitantly.
He blinked. "Don't you want to come?"
"Well, yeah!"
"Even though I changed?"
"I thought because you changed, you might not want me to come."
"Oh, I'd love you to come."
She smiled wide. "OK."
"You're never going to stay, are you?" Fitz asked.
"There's just so much out there," Jessie told him. "So much to see. I've got to."
"Yeah," was all he said.
"Well, I'm still saying you're mad, the two of you," Skye said bluntly. "It's like you go looking for trouble."
"Trouble's just the bits in between," the Doctor told her, walking to the TARDIS. "It's all waiting out there, Skye, and it's brand new to me. All those planets and creatures and horizons . . . I haven't seen them yet! Not with these eyes. And it is going to be . . . " He stopped by Jessie, then gave her a smile, then finished softly. "Fantastic."
She gave him a wide grin, and he held out his hand for her to take. She did, and she leaned into his side. "So where are we going first?"
The Doctor looked up. "Er . . . " He pointed. "That way. No. Hold on." He switched. "That way."
She pointed along where he did. "That way?"
The Doctor raised an eyebrow at her. "Hmm?"
She smiled. "Yeah. That way."
The Doctor grinned as they stood watching the ash fall. Jessie wanted to tell him that he hadn't needed to tell her that word, fantastic, to convince her that he was the Doctor. She had just known. She leaned her head on his arm, since she couldn't reach his shoulders, and she felt his arm go around her waist. No matter how he looked, he'd still be the Doctor.
The challenge now was to find out more about this Doctor.
***
And it's going to be fun writing this series. :) I've already got a whole plan out for it . . . and for Doomsday which I'm sure is going to become a shocker to everyone. :)