Rose opens the door to the TARDIS and she steps outside to the square by her apartment building. Elizabeth and The Doctor follow Rose outside and the two lean up against the blue police box. Rose was taking the time to take her surroundings in, even though it was the same place she grew up at it was still strange to understand what she saw happened.
"How long have we been gone?" Elizabeth asked.
The Doctor smirks at her and Rose, "About 12 hours."
Rose starts to laugh as she is astonished that she had traveled time. Elizabeth was still stunned she met the famous Charles Dickens being the book nerd she is. Though, seeing Earth explode, meeting Charles Dickens was way cooler.
"Oh! Right, I won't be long. I just want to see my mum." Rose said. "What are you going to tell her?" The Doctor asked as Rose began to walk towards her building.
"I don' t know," She answered. "I've been to the year five billion and only been gone, what, 12 hours? No, I'll just tell her I spent the night at Elizabeth's."
Elizabeth groans as she pushes off the TARDIS to follow Rose. "Rose, I swear she won't believe you."
The Doctor chuckles as he watches the two girls walk away. "Oh!" Lizzie exclaims. "Don't you disappear!" She waves her finger at The Doctor. The Doctor smiled and nodded.
Rose and Elizabeth run up the stairs rushing to see the famous Jackie Tyler. Down below, The Doctor was looking around the square. He kicks a plastic bottle and the suddenly something catches his eyes.
He approaches a metal pole that had a paper half way taped to it. It was flowing through the breeze but The Doctor could see it as clear as day. It was a missing person poster.
A missing poster for Rose Tyler.
Rose and Elizabeth enter the Tyler apartment and Rose announced their return.
"I'm back! Sorry, I was just helping Liz with a problem." Rose said, walking into the sitting room. Elizabeth follows her behind and the find Jackie Tyler in her pink pastel robe holding a cup of tea.
"So, what's been going on? How you've been?" Rose asked her mother. Jackie looked at the two of them with wide eyes. Elizabeth looked at her confused, as she just stared at the two girl not answering any of Rose's questions.
"What? What's that face for? It's not the first time I stayed out all night," Rose told her mother, who was still staring at them as if they've been resurrected.
Jackie drops her mug full of tea and it shatters everywhere, tea splashing all over the floor.
"It's you." Jackie whispered in disbelief. "Course it's me." Rose replied.
Elizabeth was so confused on the situation and she then spots a big pile of paper stacked on their table. She inches closer to investigate the paper and too her surprise it was the same missing poster of Rose the Doctor had seen.
Elizabeth gasped softly. She turns back in time to see the alien run into the apartment. "It's not 12 hours, it's 12 months. You've been gone a whole year. Sorry.." He told Rose.
Elizabeth sighs and rubs her forehead. "Good gravy," She whispers under her breath.
-----
The Irish woman was sitting in the Tyler's sitting room listening to Jackie yell at Rose. She wasn't paying attention as Jackie was more focusing on Rose. Elizabeth was thinking.
'Why was I not reported missing? Where's my missing posters?'
Was her mother not aware that she disappeared for a year with no word?
"Actually it's my fault," The Doctor begins catching her attention. "I've sort of employed them as my companions."
"When you say companions, is this a sexual relationship?" The police officer, who was sitting across from Rose, asked. Elizabeth snorted at the question as Rose and The Doctor shout their answer.
"No!"
"Then what is it?" Jackie yelled at the alien. "Because you, you waltz in here, all charm and smiles, and the next thing I know they vanish off the face of the Earth!"
Elizabeth sighed and got up from her spot. She entered the Tyler's kitchen and started to rummage through the cupboards for a snack. She was tired of Jackie biting the Doctor's head off as she had to listen to it for the past hour.
As she turned around after finding jammed filled cookies, Jackie slaps the Doctor. "Oi!" Elizabeth yells, mouth full of cookie. She swallowed and stormed out of the kitchen. "There's no need for that, Jackie!" She snapped.
Jackie rolled her eyes at Elizabeth and continued to glare at the alien. Elizabeth sighed and grabbed his hand.
The woman pulls the alien out of the living room and out the door. She was growing frustrated by the minute and just wanted to get out of there. Instead of going back down the stairs, they headed up to the roof.
Elizabeth lets out a long sigh as she hopped up on a platform, letting her legs swing slightly. The Doctor rubbed the cheek that Jackie had assaulted as he mumbled like a small child. "You okay?" Elizabeth asked him.
"Yeah, I'll be fine." He smiled softly. Elizabeth snickers quietly as she watched him rubbed his cheek more. "She's a crazy one, isn't she?"
"Definitely. She slaps pretty hard." The Doctor whined. "Oh, you big baby." Elizabeth snickered louder. "Doctor? Can I ask you something?"
"Sure," He replied.
"Why do you think I don't have any missing posters? Or why wasn't I reported missing?" Elizabeth asked as she looked down sadly.
"I don't know, I was wondering the same thing." The alien said as he grabbed her hand to comfort her.
"Have you tried calling?" The Doctor asked. Elizabeth shakes her head. She didn't really have much time between Jackie freaking out about their return.
Elizabeth rummages through her bag and finds her small phone. "I'm gonna ring her," she says, dialing her moms number.
The phone beeped and voice spoke, "We're sorry but the number you have-"
Elizabeth ends the call and stares at her phone.
'How? This is the same number.'
"There you are!" Rose exclaims as she bounds up the steps. She approached the brunette and climbs up next to her. Rose sighed and crossed her legs.
"My thoughts exactly, Rose." Elizabeth mumbled.
"I can't tell her, I can't even begin." The blonde said. "She's never gonna forgive me."
Eliza huffed and leaned against her hand. She was still staring at her phone that she was fiddling with in her other hand.
"I mean, we missed a year. Was it good?" Rose asked the Doctor.
"Middling," He answered.
"You're so useless," Rose muttered.
"Well, if it's this much trouble, are you gonna stay here now?" The Doctor snapped.
Truth be told, he didn't want them to leave. He wanted them to stay and go on adventures with him. He enjoyed their company, especially Elizabeth's.
Rose sighed and looked at her brunette friend. "I don't know, I can't do that to her again." She answered the Doctor.
"Well, she's not coming with us." The Doctor retorted.
Elizabeth snorted and snickered. Rose and the Doctor soon followed along and laughed.
"No chance." Elizabeth said.
"I don't do families." The alien told them.
Rose giggled. "She slapped you."
"900 years of time and space, and I've never been slapped by someone's mother." He said to Rose.
"I find that hard to believe." Elizabeth mumbled. The Doctor whipped his head around to look at her and playfully glared.
"Oi!" He exclaimed. The girls giggled.
"Your face." Rose said, still giggling. "It hurt!" The Doctor whined.
"You're so gay." Rose sighs, earning another snort from Elizabeth. "So, when you say 900 years..." She continues.
"That's my age," The Doctor stated.
"You're 900 years old?" The two girls asked him.
"Yeah," The Doctor replied.
"My mum was right, that's a hell of an age gap." Rose giggled.
Elizabeth cackles and The Doctors turns to her and squints. She stops closes her mouth but, a few giggles did escape.
Rose hops down from her spot and sighs.
"Every conversation with you just goes mental. There's no one else I can talk to." Rose frowned.
"There's me." Elizabeth points out. "Yes, Liz. But think. We've seen all that stuff up there, the size of it, and we can't say a word." Rose said.
Elizabeth nods.
"Aliens and spaceships and things, and we're the the only people on planet Earth who knows they exist." Rose continued.
Just then, a horn blares behind the three space travelers. They all spun around and saw a huge spaceship flying low.
"What in the name..." Elizabeth trails off.
The spaceship flies farther into the city of London and faintly, they could see it crash into a building.
"Doctor! It just flew into Big Ben!" Elizabeth shouts as she points at it.
"Oh, that's just not fair." Rose mutters. The Doctor laugh maniacally and grabs their hands.
----
The three stop in the middle of traffic as they spot the military stand guard. People shouting and cars honking around.
"It's blocked off!" Elizabeth groans. "We're miles from center. The city must be gridlocked."
"The whole of London must be closing down." Rose said.
"I know, I can't believe I'm here to see this! This is fantastic." The Doctor exclaims.
"Did you know this was going to happen?" Rose asked the alien.
"Nope!" He replies. "Do you recognize the ship." The blonde asked.
"Nope!"
"Do you know why it crashed?" Elizabeth asked.
"Nope!"
"Oh, I'm so glad we got you." Rose mumbled and rolled her eyes. Elizabeth snickers.
"I bet you are. This is what I travel for, Rose, to see history happening right in front of us." The Doctor said.
"Well, let's go and see it. Never mind the traffic. We've got the TARDIS." Rose said.
"That wouldn't be smart." Elizabeth told the blonde. The Doctor nodded agreeing with Elizabeth. "They've already got one spaceship in the middle of London. And I don't wanna shove another one on top."
"Yeah, but yours looks like a big, blue box. No one's gonna noticed." Rose said.
"You'd be surprised an emergency like this. There'll be all kinds of people watching. Trust me, the TARDIS stays where it is."
Rose huffed at his statement. "So history's happening, and we're stuck here?"
"Yes, we are." Elizabeth answers as The Doctor smiles. "We could do what everybody else does."
The Doctor gave the brunette a confused look. "We could watch it on TV." She clarified.
-----
"Big Ben destroyed as UFO crash-lands in central London. Police reinforcements are draughted in from across the country to control widespread panic, looting and civil disturbance."
"Do you think they would call the TARDIS a UFO?" Elizabeth asked The Doctor from her spot by the TV.
The Doctor playfully glared at her. "Over my dead body. She won't be classified with those nincompoops."
Elizabeth giggles at his reaction. The Doctor couldn't keep a straight face as he heard her giggles. He smiled at her and rolled his eyes.
"A stare of national emergency has been declared. Tom Hitchingson is at the scene."
"The police has urged the public not to panic. Here's the helpline number on screen right now, if you're worried about friends or family."
Elizabeth watched the camera pan from the anchorman to the crash site of the spaceship. It was below the London Eye and sitting in the Thames. "That's an interesting spaceship.." She mumbles.
The channel suddenly changes to another news channel.
Elizabeth gets up from her spot and walks into the kitchen, where Jackie Tyler was fixing tea.
"Jackie? Have you spoke with my mum?" Elizabeth asked.
"Can't say I have dear. I left you voicemails and such. I thought you didn't want to leave after I told you Rose was missing." She said.
Elizabeth furrowed her eyebrows in confusion. "But, she would've answered. She would always answer."
"I'm sorry dear. I don't know." Jackie said and patted her shoulder as she left the kitchen. Elizabeth huffs and spots the jammed filled cookies she ate from earlier.
She grabbed one and chomped on it. She was always one of those that stress eats. Did something happen with her mom?
"Doctor? I have to go check on my mum." Elizabeth told him. She watched as the alien wrestled with a young child over the TV remote. She smiled softly as he grabbed it finally and changed the channel back.
"Hmm?" He asked as he noticed her standing next to him. "I said, I have to go check on my mum. I haven't heard anything from her..."
"Right. Okay. I'll stay here with Rose. You'll come back right?" He asked. She could sense the nervous energy from him once he asked that question.
"Of course I will. You're stuck with me now. Just like Rose." She snickers. The Doctor smiled at her, "Good."
Elizabeth turns and leaves the Tyler's apartment.
-----
Elizabeth approached her house, she noticed the curtains were closed and no light was seen inside the house.
Strange. Her mother should be home.
She pushed her house key and unlocked the door. "Mum?" She called.
Elizabeth entered the living room and noticed all the furniture was gone. The walls were cracked and there where holes scattered across.
Her eyes squinted in confusion. "Mum?"
Into the kitchen she went. Or what was left of the kitchen.
Cabinet doors were opened and the fridge was tossed on it's side. She quickly ran up to her room.
Her bed was made but, her piles of books were thrown all around the floor. Posters were falling off the pale blue walls her chandelier from the corner was now just a pile of glass.
Elizabeth let out a sob as she continued to search for her mom. Her mothers room was in the same state as hers. She sits down on her mother's bed and sniffs.
Silent tears rolled down her cheeks as she spaced off into thought. Where was my mum? What happened to the house?
All these questions flowed through her mind as Elizabeth noticed something sitting on her mother's vanity.
An old leather book and a letter. She sniffed and reached towards the book. The texture of it seemed familiar to Elizabeth. She didn't know where it came from because she's never seen this book around the house.
Elizabeth places both the letter and the book in her bag. It must have been important seeming this was the only belonging left in the house.
She knew she must return to Rose and The Doctor. No time to mourn seeming there was an alien spaceship in the Thames that needed investigating.
The one thing though, she couldn't understand was the letter. The envelope containing the letter had a name written on the front in her mother's neat cursive.
'Theodora'
------
Hello rats.
tis I.
I have returned with this story. I am back to writing again. I apologize for the delay. I am writing notes for this story. Some of the hints I'll leave will be obvious and some other will be explained.
Point out any mistakes. I am writing on my phone because my computer decided to unalive itself so it would help. I also ask for the future chapters if there is any confusions that needs explained just leave a comment and I'll explain. But IF IT CONTAINS A SPOILER. I wont respond😂 or I will but with the wrong answer cause I'm mean.
don't forget to check out my other stories. I am currently writing a Dean Winchester story which is going to be interesting.
smell ya later rats
liz