Chapter Text
Rose is still staring, alarmed, even a bit scared as the Tenth Doctor (still in the leather jacket) full of energy, bounds round the console, flicking a few switches and checking the monitor.
“Six P.M.!” He presses a button. “Tuesday!” He presses another button. “October!” He presses another button. “Five thousand and six! On the way to Barcelona.” He straightens up and faces Kathy and Rose, grinning as if extremely pleased with himself. “Now then... what do I look like?” He gives them no chance to reply before holding up a hand to silence them. “No, no, no, don’t tell me.”
Rose looks completely bemused while Kathy rolls her eyes fondly.
“Let’s see... two legs, two arms, two hands...” He tests his wrist, circling it. “Slight weakness in the dorsal tubercle.” His hands fly to his head. “Hair! I’m not bald!”
Rose jumped when he snapped his hands up to his hair in shock. It even startled Kathy even though she was expecting it. The Doctor runs his hands through his hair gleefully.
“Oh, Oh! Big hair!” He then moves onto the side of his face, looking and sounding delighted as he strokes that part of his face. “Sideburns, I’ve got sideburns! Or really bad skin. Little bit thinner…” He slaps his stomach. “That’s weird. Give me time, I’ll get used to it.” Then, with the air of someone making a most wonderful discovery, he announces delightfully, “I... have got... a mole. I can feel it.”
Rose is breathing heavily, looking scared. Kathy reaches for her, to comfort her but the companion flinches and then grimaces in apology. The Doctor seems not to notice.
“Between my shoulder blades, there’s a mole.” He rotates his shoulders, feeling out the mole.
“Is the mole bad Doctor?” Kathy quips, shaking off the hurt she felt from Rose’s reaction. It’s not her fault really considering how scary and confusing everything must be for her right now. For now, she needs to focus on the newly regenerated Time Lord in front of her.
The Doctor shrugs. “That’s all right. Love the mole.” He grins at them. “Go on then, tell me.” He stands straight up before them, ready for assessment. His hair is all ruffled. It’s almost reassuring to see such a familiar picture.
“Oh, you’re actually going to allow us to talk now?” Kathy says, crossing her arms.
“Yes. What do you think? Handsome?”
Kathy wrinkles her nose. “Ish…”
The Doctor looks ready to argue against that even if he hasn’t even looked at himself yet, when Rose interrupts in a quiet, timid voice, muttering, “...who are you?”
The Doctor looks crestfallen and slightly surprised. “I’m the Doctor.”
Rose shakes her head, not believing him. “No... Where is he? Where’s the Doctor?” She demands, her voice rising as disbelief starts to turn to panic. “What have you done to him?”
“You saw me, I, I changed...” he indicates over his shoulder, the spot where he regenerated, “...right in front of you.”
“Rose,” Kathy says, trying to defuse the situation. “He’s the Doctor. I’ve seen him do this before.”
The Doctor abruptly points at Kathy. “Spoilers!”
Yeah, thanks.
Rose ignores this. “No. No, there’s no way. I saw him sort of explode, and then you replaced him, like a… a teleport or a transmat or a body swap or something.” She turns to Kathy. “I don’t know what you’re playing at but you’re not fooling me.”
“Why would I lie about this?” Kathy asks. “You saw him ranting on about Barcelona just like he was a minute ago. He was setting the course with the controls. Only the Doctor could—”
“Because you always lie!” Rose snaps at her, making her stiffen. “You lie a– and you never say anything! T– then, people die and the Doctor gets hurt a– and… and I just can’t trust you!”
Kathy goes quiet, giving her a small nod of acceptance. She turns her gaze to the ground as the Doctor lightly frowns, eyeing her. Kathy only looks back up when Rose takes a few steps towards the Doctor. At arm’s length, she pushes him in the chest. The Doctor rocks back on his heels as though he cannot believe what he is hearing.
“I’ve seen all sorts of things, I’ve seen Nanogenes and Gelth and,” she looks darkly at him, “Slitheen...” The Doctor raises his eyebrows as Rose lets out a gasp. “Oh, my God, are you a Slitheen?”
“I’m not a Slitheen.” The Doctor calmly reassures her.
Kathy watches quietly, staying unnoticed, as Rose’s panic only mounts. She demands that the Doctor be brought back, convinced this man is some kind of imposter. The Doctor softens his voice, leaning toward her, pleading for her to believe him. He explains that it’s still him. Rose whispers in protest, unable to accept it. The Doctor steps closer, his gaze fixed on hers, and reminds her of the first time they met. He reaches for her hand, the same way he once did, and whispers the word: Run.
Recognition breaks through her panic. Tears brim in Rose’s eyes as she whispers, “Doctor.” He grins softly. “Hello.”
Rose stumbles back, overwhelmed, and pulls her hand free. He lets her go, turning back to the console, almost too buoyant with restless energy. He chatters on, recalling their many adventures, running and hopping for their lives, laughing as if he can coax her back to the joy of it all.
But when Rose only stares, shaken and silent, his voice falters. Her next question slices through his enthusiasm: “Can you change back?”
Disappointed, he admits he can’t.
Kathy is startled briefly by a nudging in her mind. She realises that it’s the mental telepathic link she shares with the Doctor. Kathy looks up to see him staring at her like he’s looking to her for… something. Answers? A reaction? Maybe wondering if she is as upset about his change as Rose is. Not true of course. She’s met this version of him before. She knew it was going to happen. Is he upset she hadn’t warned him? He is practically bursting at the seams with energy… which is something Kathy will need to intervene on.
“Do you want to leave?” He asks Rose, turning back to her.
Rose is shocked. “Do you want me to leave?”
“No!” The Doctor answers quickly. “But... your choice... if you want to go home...” Rose still looks upset.
“Okay delay Barcelona, we are going back to Earth,” Kathy says, walking over to the console and starting to pilot the TARDIS back to Earth. “I think we all need a minute and I need to check to see if my plants are still alive, probably not. Let's hope Jackie checked in.”
“Ooo I know the perfect time.” The Doctor says, walking over to and typing in the coordinates. “Christmas Eve!” He says with glee. He steps back, his arms tucked under his armpits in an almost defensive manner. The TARDIS shudders as she changes direction.
Rose looks at them, then back at the console. “I’m going home?”
“Up to you. Back to your mum.” The Doctor replies breezily. “It’s all waiting. Fish and chips. Sausage and mash. Beans on toast. No! Christmas! Turkey! Although, having met your mother, nut loaf would be more appropriate.”
And Rose just gives a bit of a smile. She looks down quickly, to hide it.
The Doctor grins as he notices it. “Was that a smile?”
“No.” Rose retorts, trying to hide her smile even more.
Kathy appreciates this calm before the storm, before the Doctor goes haywire and watches amusedly as the Doctor and Rose go back and forth, the former teasing the latter. Suddenly, the Doctor gags and doubles over in pain as the TARDIS shudders.
“Doctor!” Kathy yells rushing forward and grabs his arm.
“What?” Rose asks, looking at him questioningly.
The Doctor tries to speak but the same thing happens again, more violently. He makes nasty retching noises.
Rose edges cautiously around the console as Kathy gently holds him up. A piece of golden time vortex issues from the Doctor’s mouth.
“What’s that?” Rose asks.
“Oh... the change is going a bit wrong and all.” The Doctor remarks. He gags again. He falls to his knees, his face contorted.
“Kathy?” Kathy turns to see the companion looking at her pleadingly.
“Let's get him to Earth where he can rest.” Kathy simply replies. “Doctor don’t.” She warns as the Doctor looks at a lever. “Please don’t.” She tries to pull him away from the console.
“Haven’t used this one in years.” The Doctor says. Kathy grabs the wrist that’s reaching out. He looks at her surprised and annoyed.
“The regeneration is going a bit wrong.” She informs him. “You shouldn’t touch the controls.”
“Bah, what do you know?” He scoffs, jerking her around and flipping the switch with his other hand with a cheeky grin as the TARDIS lurches violently, the three of them almost being knocked off their feet. She stays juddery, a rough journey, now. Rose runs forward, to hold on to the console, opposite them. “Didn’t foresee that one, did ya?”
“You utter—”
“What are you doing!” Rose cries as he pulls Kathy along with him to mess with more controls.
“Putting on a bit of speed! That’s it!” The Doctor replies crazily. He turns more knobs while Rose tries to maintain a more secure grip on the console.
“Kathy stop him!" Rose pleads as Kathy grunts; her back hitting the console rather harshly as the Doctor twists her arm up behind her head in a rather painful position.
She glares at him as he smirks with a wiggle of his brows from in front of her; his knee pressed between hers to keep her from moving behind him in any direction as his other hand snaked behind her back to fiddle with more knobs.
“I would love to if he wasn’t trying to pop my shoulder out of place.” She hisses out with a grimace. “Believe it or not but Time Lords are rather stubborn and stupidly strong right after regenerating.”
She tries to read him through their telepathic link but she can’t get a hold. It’s almost like static TV, the single isn’t quite going through.
“My beautiful ship! Come on, faster! That’s a girl! Faster! Wanna to break the time limit?!”
Rose looks distinctly alarmed at the Doctor’s violent and crazed tone. “No! I don’t wanna break the time limit. Just let me!” Kathy yells, trying to get the TARDIS back to normal speed. She tries to use the swing of the TARDIS for momentum as she grabs hold of his arm and leather jacket.
“Wah, wah, wah.” He drawls, unimpressed as she attempts to swing him off balance.
He easily unhooks her grip from his suit, forcing her to suck in a gasp of pain when he uses a bit too much pressure to slam her gut-first into the console again. He leans over her as she clenches her teeth; one arm pinned beneath her trying to keep her from pressing into any more buttons while the other he has twisted up behind her back.
“You aren’t even trying. Typical Kathy. When are you going to start being useful? Taking some risks, saying things you should’ve said ages ago before people get hurt.” He snarls before bursting out in a mad cackle again.
Kathy flushes in shame and embarrassment at his words, trying not to tear up as she tries to remind herself that he doesn’t really mean it, that his head isn’t right at the moment to truly mean it.
He yanks on Kathy’s arm brutally, finally enticing a cry of pain from her and a round of curses before he abruptly releases her and takes a small stumble back; sobering up for half a second.
“The regeneration’s going wrong. I can’t stop myself.” The Doctor grimaces in pain. “Ah, my head...” Kathy moves to help him then he violently springs up into a standing position again, and his voice has gone back to being crazed. “Faster! Let’s open those engines!”
A bell rings. Rose looks around, frightened. “What’s that?”
“We’re gonna crash land!” The Doctor cries sounding delighted. He laughs manically.
While he’s distracted, Kathy tries to get the TARDIS back in order.
“Well then, do something!” Rose yells over the sound of the bell.
“Too late! Out of control!” The Doctor says, voice rising hysterically, seeing what Kathy was trying to do. As he runs around the console giggling, "Oh, I love it! Hot dawg!" As he jumped up and down.
“You’re gonna kill us!” Rose cries.
“Hold on tight, here we go!”
——
2006 AD/CE
The ride wasn’t the smoothest. There was very little Kathy could do after whatever the Doctor did on top of what little time she had, but she managed the best she could.
Once the ship lands, Kathy is shoved back forward with the soft feeling of an apology and sags against the console with a sharp gasp.
“O– oh, that was… not okay. Never again.” Kathy breathes, resting her sweat-covered forehead against the edge of the console. “Please tell me that I stop it from ever happening again.”
The TARDIS lets out a groan which doesn’t bode well but Rose hurries over, stopping in front of the Doctor and Kathy, looking at them in concern.
“W– where are we? What happened?”
“London,” Kathy replies.
The Doctor ignores, hurrying toward the doors and throws them open before stumbling out, still decked out in the leather jacket of his previous self.
Kathy huffs before glancing at a still very shaken Rose. “We'd better go after him.”
Rose lets out a shaky sigh and nods. The two of them step out just as the Doctor collapses at Jackie and Mickey’s feet. Kathy hurries over to the Doctor, crouching down next to him while Mickey does the same.
“Is he okay?” Kathy knows he will be in the end but that doesn’t mean she’s not going to worry about him.
“I don’t know, he just keeled over,” Mickey replies, confused. “But who is he? Where’s the Doctor?”
“That’s him, right in front of you. That’s the Doctor.” Rose tells them though she looks disbelieving of herself.
“What do you mean, that’s the Doctor? Doctor who?” Jackie splutters out. Kathy snorts at the mention of the TV show title. She loves it when they do that. This causes Jackie to then turn on Kathy. “And where have you been?! I’ve had your son and his wife questioning me and we had no idea where you’d gone!”
Oh yeah, the transmat, the game show. Feels like millions of years ago now.
“In my defence, I was forcibly taken.” Kathy winces apologetically. “Rose might have mentioned a transmat before she came back to save us? And to answer your question, yeah that is the Doctor.”
“What do you mean?” Jackie questions in bewilderment. “How could that possibly be him? He doesn’t even look like the same man.”
She realises they are all waiting for her to do something; to guide them, or explain the Doctor’s regeneration.
“His species change faces. It’s perfectly normal.” Kathy tries to reassure, knowing that it must be really bizarre for them.
“Then, what’s wrong with him?” Jackie asks, staring down at the unconscious Doctor with worry.
“He’s just going through the regeneration cycle. He needs to rest for a while.” Kathy explains. “We need to get him inside and warmed up.”
“Right, it’s bloody freezing,” Jackie mutters.
Kathy pulls one of the Doctor’s arms around her shoulders. “Help me you two?”
“Yeah, sure,” Mickey says quickly. He and Rose help Kathy lift the limp Doctor up. “He’s heavier than he looks,” Mickey observes with a grunt. “Getting him up the stairs’ll be a nightmare.”
Kathy can’t help but agree. Even though he is so skinny now, he still weighs pretty heavily. Kathy guesses it must be the new height that he has added on. Though, then again, he is not that much taller than Nine. Only by a few extra inches. So, it can’t be entirely that.
They make their best effort at it while Jackie flutters about uselessly, nattering about dropping him on his head. Eventually, she runs ahead to get things ready for them, leaving Kathy, Rose and Mickey to lug him up to the flat, hoping against hope that nobody pops their head out to see what’s going on.
——
Inside the flat, Kathy focuses on not jostling his head too much as they carry him through the door and down the hall. Jackie is waiting for them there, smoothing down the bedspread with the frantic dutifulness of a housemaid.
“Set him down, there– gently, Mickey, unless you want to give him a head trauma on top of everything!” Kathy orders.
They lay him down on the bed, making sure he is comfortable. Mickey dresses the Doctor in pyjamas. The Doctor lies unconscious in bed, tucked in. He almost looks like he is sleeping peacefully. Almost.
Kathy brushes some of the Doctor’s hair from his brow as she checks him over once he has been settled. She immediately withdraws her hand. He is burning up. His breathing is even, if a little fast, but she can still sense him through their link. She’s glad of that at least.
“He’s gonna be alright,” Kathy tells Rose, as the blonde almost looks like she is ready to plan a funeral when Kathy tells her about his temperature. “We just need to wait, he’ll be fine.” She sighs, sitting down next to him. “He’ll be up and about in no time.”
She takes the Doctor’s hand and strokes it with her thumb, before turning to Rose who sits on the other side of the bed to her. “Anyway, enough about him, how are you?”
Rose looks away from the Doctor and at Kathy. “Dunno. I’m still…” She shakes her head.
“Processing?”
“Yeah.” Rose nods. “Processing.”
Jackie walks into the room, holding a stethoscope, and sits next to Rose. “Here we go.” She hands it over to Rose. “Tina the cleaner’s got this lodger, a medical student, and she was fast asleep, so I just took it. Though I still say we should take him to hospital.”
Kathy shakes her head. “That would be too dangerous. He has two hearts, and they won’t know how to handle that. He’ll die for real if he goes there.”
Rose listens to both sides of the Doctor’s chest as her mother blinks at Kathy.
“He’s got two hearts?”
“Both working,” Rose says, pulling the stethoscope off her ears and holding it out to Kathy. “Do you wanna check?”
Kathy shakes her head, before turning back to Jackie. “We do.”
“Why didn’t you tell me that?” Jackie asks, baffled.
“Trying not to overwhelm you?” To be honest, Kathy doesn’t know why.
“Anything else you two got two of?” Jackie asks next looking at the Doctor as her daughter stands to leave.
“Leave him alone.” Rose hisses. She walks out of the room. Jackie slowly gets up, eyeing the Doctor once again, before leaving the room quietly.
Kathy turns back to the Doctor and gives his hand a squeeze. “You know, you should really start explaining regeneration to people the moment they start travelling with you.”
He sighs in his sleep, exhaling a bout of regeneration energy. Kathy looks at it and looks towards the open window. If she closes it, maybe the Sycorax wouldn’t be attracted to his energy and invade the planet. Or maybe they would even with just the space probe.
Regardless, it is sometimes easy to forget how important this episode is. If the Sycorax don’t do what they will do, the Doctor’s hand won’t be cut off, which means the Metacrisis will never happen, which means all of reality would be consumed by Daleks because Donna Noble won’t be able to use her newly acquired Time Lord knowledge to save the universe, which is… less than ideal. And there’s the fact that if the Sycorax don’t come then what happens with the Master?
With all that in mind, she lets the energy escape the room.
——
Kathy walks into the kitchen and is immediately handed a cup of tea by Jackie. Rose and Mickey sip their own.
“Thank you for bringing my Rose back, knew I couldn’t trust that idiot.” She says.
“Mum!” Rose cries despite herself.
Kathy laughs. “She’s got a point, he is, and always will be, an idiot. And thanks for the tea, I’m dead on my feet.”
She’s not necessarily tired physically thanks to her non-human DNA but she’s certainly emotionally drained.
“That’s alright darling.” Jackie turns back to her daughter. “She is better explaining it all than you do and I trust her better than him. He already hurt you once and now he’s all different. How can he go changing his face? You said he wasn’t all different though, yeah, Kathy?”
Kathy nods. “Yeah. New face, new personality, new everything. I do something similar except I don’t fully change as I’m not a full Time Lord. It’s messy but he’s still the Doctor. Same memories, same morals, same person. It’s just… gone a bit wrong. He’ll be out for fifteen hours if he’s lucky.”
“Isn’t that a bit much?” Jackie asks, looking baffled by that.
“Nah, he’ll be right as rain. The only change will be some new personality quirks.”
“But how do you know?” Mickey asks finally. “That it’s still him, I mean.”
“I know all his faces. I’ve met this face multiple times already. He’s just as much the Doctor as the version you knew. Just a different body.” Kathy explains. Same software, different case.
“So what happens next?” Rose asks. Her mug looks empty but she still clutches it tight. Anything to ground her.
Kathy shrugs. “Christmas, right? We can do Christmas while we wait for him to finish his regeneration cycle, and then off you go again.” She pauses. “If you want.”
There’s a beat of silence as Rose looks at the floor while the others watch her.
Kathy sighs and shakes her head. “Anyway, I should head to mine to check on things.” She puts her mug down and turns to leave. Better to give them a moment while they still can.
Jackie’s voice stops her. “Hang on.”
Kathy turns to her. “What?”
“Where’s my hug?”
Kathy softens and gives her a big hug. She forgets sometimes how nice it is to have a mother figure in your life.
Jackie pulls back. “Alright, now you can leave.”
“See you guys in a bit,” Kathy says to them.
As Kathy leaves she hears Rose say: “The big question is. Where’d you get a pair of men’s pyjamas from?”
Kathy laughs softly to herself as she locks Jackie's front door behind her and walks back to her own flat. It's been a few months, but, it appears, Jackie's kept an eye on the place — post stacked neatly, curtains still drawn the same way Kathy left them. It's oddly comforting, like time here hasn't moved at all.
She drops her keys on the counter and exhales, rubbing her eyes. Her mobile vibrates in her pocket. She checks the screen — Ashildr.
"Ashildr?" Kathy answers.
"Kathy. Thank the stars. I hoped you'd answer."
Kathy smiles faintly. "You sound surprised. I haven't fallen off the planet."
Ashildr's tone is dry. "You vanished for months. Even Carlyle started pacing. Do you have any idea how annoying that is to watch for a century and a half?"
"Sorry. I was taken. Transmat kidnapping." Kathy says.
A short, knowing snort comes down the line. "Of course. Doctor trouble, then."
"When isn't it?" Kathy replies, her voice carrying a grim amusement.
She leans against the counter, glancing toward the window as if the night itself could hear her next words. "Listen — you and Carlyle might want to stay quiet for a bit. There's something coming in the next few days. Big ship, lots of noise. It's going to get messy. Don't interfere, and don't draw attention."
"That bad?" Ashildr asks, tone still wry.
"It's Christmas," Kathy says. "You know how it goes."
Then, faintly through the line, Kathy hears something — a shout, a crash, another voice raised in anger.
She straightens. "What's that?"
"Nothing," Ashildr says too quickly. "Just... the usual chaos."
Kathy's eyes narrow. "Don't lie to me, Ashildr. That sounded like—"
"It's fine." Ashildr interrupts, her voice tightening. "Really. Just... stay where you are, all right? We'll talk properly soon."
The call ends before Kathy can reply.
She stands there for a long moment, phone still in her hand, listening to the empty flat hum around her. Then she exhales, muttering to herself, "Yeah. Fine. Sure it is."
Kathy sighs lightly and sags onto the sofa, lying down and closing her eyes. Due to her genetics, she doesn't need to sleep that often but a good power nap will sort her out for a bit especially given everything that's about to happen.
——
"What the hell are those things?!" Mickey cries as they pile into the taxi.
"I don't know," Rose says, fumbling with her phone. "But think about it— they were after us. Just us."
"But there's nothing special about us." Mickey points out.
"What if it's not us they're after?" Rose suggests, pressing the phone to her ear. She squeezes her eyes shut, hands shaking. "Come on, Kathy, pick up!"
——
Kathy rouses a little when she hears her phone ringing. Who would be calling her right now? No one other than–
She jumps up and grabs the phone. "Rose? Everything alright?"
"Kathy, are you with my mum?" Rose's voice is frantic from the other end, and Kathy's eyes widen. The robot Santas are after them, aren't they?
"No I'm still at my flat. Oh God, they're after you aren't they?"
"You knew?!" Rose exclaims.
Kathy nods slowly. "It's an episode."
"A warning would've been nice! Anyway, can you go to my mum? And maybe prepare to get out?!"
"I'm afraid not, Rose. We need to stay at yours."
"Why?!"
"Uh, spoilers?"
Rose huffs.
“Don’t worry, I’ll go over there now!”
As soon as she ends the call, Kathy is pushing her way into the Tyler’s flat, looking around frantically. She knows they’re going to be alright but it’s to make sure everyone comes out of this part somewhat unscathed.
It’s not long till she hears Jackie talking on the phone in the living room.
“…she turns up, no warning. I’ve got nothing in. I said, ‘Rose, if you want a Christmas dinner of meat paste, then so be it’.”
“Erm– Jackie?” She calls her. She’s looking frantically in her jacket pocket for her sonic and is getting increasingly concerned that she can’t find it when her eyes catch on something. Jackie’s Christmas tree which had once been white is now a dark green and that is ringing some sort of alarm bells in Kathy’s head.
Jackie turns to her, an eyebrow raised. “What is it darling?”
“We need to enter the Doctor’s room immediately.”
At that moment, the doors burst open and Rose comes rushing in with Mickey behind her. “Mum, get off the phone!”
“It’s only Bev, she says hello.”
Rose grabs the phone from Jackie. “Bev? Yeah, look, it’ll have to wait.” She cuts the call, throws the phone onto the sofa, and says, “Right, you sure that we have to stay Kathy? Cause it’s not safe. We need to get out of here.”
“They’re gonna catch us wherever we go, we need to stay here,” Kathy says. And– oh my god where is her sonic? The dang thing seems lost within her pockets.
“Is that what happened in your show?” Rose questions.
Kathy shakes her head. “Actually, in the show, that tree over there came to life in… well..” She nods towards the green Christmas tree that had arrived. The stars on it start to light up. “Now.”
“You have got to be kidding me.” Rose mutters, as sections of the tree start to rotate in different directions, creating a strong wind, and the tune to ‘Jingle Bells’ starts to play. As the spinning becomes faster, so does the music, and the tree starts to move closer to them.
Kathy thought that expecting it to happen, making a billion plans about it, and being calm while talking about it would make her not scared when it actually happens, but as usual, the universe decides to prove her wrong.
She screams along with the rest of them, backing into the hallway as the tree destroys the coffee table and slowly makes its way towards them. Mickey picks up a chair and holds it in front of the tree, buying them more time as it shreds away the chair's legs.
Kathy runs towards the room where the Doctor is. “Everybody, get in here!”
Rose doesn’t need to be told twice. She runs past Kathy into the room.
“Jackie, Mickey, get in here!” Kathy yells. Jackie runs inside, and Mickey comes in shortly after, as the tree destroys a glass cabinet.
Mickey slams the bedroom door shut right behind them. Both he and Jackie pull a wardrobe across the door, hoping to have it as an extra barrier of protection. Kathy hurriedly hops over the Doctor to the other side of the bed, digging around for her sonic. Trying to face the door to be ready when the tree bursts through.
“Who sends a Christmas tree that kills people?!” Jackie shouts as she and Mickey try to keep the wardrobe steady at the door.
“Kathy? Your sonic?!” Rose cries frantically from where she crouches next to Kathy.
“I can’t find it!” Kathy yells as she keeps going through her pockets.
“How can you not find it?!” Mickey huffs.
“Bigger on the inside.”
“What?” Jackie splutters.
“We don’t have time.” Kathy retorts.
“We need to wake him up!” Rose cries.
“If we wake him up now, he’ll get worse!” Kathy argues. “I–I just need to use the sonic.” Then her hands find the sonic. “Ah!” She pulls it out.
Just then, the tree burst into the room cutting through the door and the wardrobe; Jackie and Mickey are just able to jump out of the way. Kathy is knocked back as pieces of wood fly into her. She falls to the floor before she quickly gets up.
Kathy lifts the sonic and points it towards the tree, the red light shining through the four silver claws. The tree sparks and blows apart at the last second, drawing a relieved breath from Kathy as she instantly sags and falls back against the foot of the bed. She chuckles for a second, unable to help herself as she drops her head back against the mattress. The three humans blink in silence. Kathy gets up and goes outside.
——
Kathy leads the trio out. Down on the ground outside the complex, three robotic Santas gaze up. Kathy glares at them, seeing one holding a radio controller to control the tree.
“That’s them,” Mickey says, leaning against the railing. “What are they?”
Kathy doesn’t answer him as the Santas stare at her, backing up some in unison as she points her red and silver sonic at them menacingly. She keeps her gaze harsh until they disappear in a flash of blue light, teleporting away. She lets her arm drop, sighing heavily.
Mickey laughs. “They’ve just gone. What kind of rubbish were they? I mean, no offence, but they’re not much cop if a sonic screwdriver’s going to scare them off.”
“Pilot fish.” Kathy murmurs, staring at where they’d been. “They weren’t the real threat. There’s a bigger problem following after. It’s why we can’t wake up the Doctor. It’s too early. Would’ve set his recovery back.” She turns to look at the trio, who are all wide-eyed and hanging on to her every word. “Now, we need to keep an eye on the TV. That’s how we’ll know the Sycorax are here.”
“Sycorax?” Rose asks nervously.
“Nothing we can’t handle,” Kathy tells her lightly. “Come on, let’s get back inside.”
——
Inside the Tyler’s flat, Kathy sits with the Doctor, watching over him. Thankfully, because he wasn’t woken, there’s no fever or only one heart beating so that’s all good. Plus, Kathy can still feel the telepathic connection they share is still going strong, pulsing and weaving in its familiar but faint way.
Most of the room is a mess from the killer tree. Splinters and pieces of rubble lie everywhere in the bedroom. Kathy apologised to Jackie, telling her they would try to fix up the place for her later. Jackie merely waved away, saying briefly as she is used to it by now. The mother went to make them a couple of cups of tea along with Mickey. Rose lingers at the doorway, eyeing the two of them.
She knows the Doctor absolutely has to wake up only when he is on the Sycorax ship so that things can go the way they are supposed to. Hopefully not waking him up during the entire Christmas tree fiasco, won’t affect things. He could wake up earlier. And she can’t let anything affect the happenings of this episode, since major future events are anchored on it.
“But what were those things?” Rose asks. “Why were they after us?”
“They’re after the Doctor,” Kathy explains. “They’re pilot fish sent by a bigger one. They were ordered to kill us so that way they could get the Doctor. They want to use him to run their ship as a power source.”
“How could they do that?” Mickey asks as he and Jackie re-enter with their cups of tea for themselves and Kathy and Rose.
At that moment, the Doctor gasps out, letting a small burst of regeneration energy escape and float out the window.
“With his regeneration energy.” Kathy casually quips to the baffled duo made up of Mickey and Jackie. Rose meanwhile eyes the familiar sight of regeneration energy with uncomfortably. “Very powerful stuff. They could use that as energy for years.”
“That’s the same stuff I saw around the Doctor when he… well, you know,” Rose says, staring into her tea.
“Yeah, it’s the energy Time Lords use to regenerate, to change their face,” Kathy tells her. “Basically, it’s a way to cheat death.”
“Does it always make you look younger? I wouldn’t mind getting a facelift.” Jackie comments lightly. Rose rolls her eyes at her mother’s response while Mickey chuckles.
“No. It’s random. It can make you younger or older. Or have two heads or no head or even a different gender.” Kathy says, giggling some at their taken aback expressions. “Like I said, random. You never know what you’re going to get when you regenerate.”
“He could’ve turned into a chick? Oh, what I wouldn’t give to see him strutting around in heels.” Mickey snorts loudly, finding the very idea beyond hilarious.
“So, will he be all right?” Rose asks after a moment, staring down anxiously showing that despite how she feels about the sudden change, she still cares about the Time Lord.
“Yeah, he’ll be fine. Just… give him some time.” Kathy whispers.
——
After that discussion, they all gather in the lounge. Mickey has fetched his laptop, taking up the entire phone line to connect to the Internet. Trying to be useful, he is researching pilot fish.
Kathy claimed a seat on the ground, her eyes on the TV, sipping her tea. They are still discussing the Guinevere Space Probe, which has just landed on Mars and should be sending pictures of its surface any moment. The head of the program, Llewellyn, seems nervous but excited about the new discoveries about to happen. Kathy knows what is about to happen, though, and knows it isn’t going to go as well as poor Llewellyn hopes.
“Here we go, pilot fish,” Mickey says, clicking his laptop. “Scavengers, like Kathy said. Harmless. But the little fish swim alongside the big fish.”
“Do you mean like sharks?” Rose asks.
“Great big sharks,” Mickey confirms gravely, nodding to his computer as a video of a shark plays.
“Yes, we had pilot fish now something else is coming,” Kathy says.
“You said it won’t be bad, though, right?” Rose asks Kathy.
“I said we could handle it.” She corrects. “Not that it wouldn’t be bad.”
“Happy Christmas to us.” Mickey huffs.
“Funny sort of rocks,” Jackie comments, watching the TV screen as the first image from Guinevere shows up. It starts as a distorted, blurry image of the Sycorax leader’s eyes.
“That’s not rocks.” Rose realises.
The camera pulls back to show the alien’s full face. It’s a red-eyed ugly alien with a head like a goat’s skull. It growls and gurgles at the screen.
“And there’s the bigger fish. Hey Mickey, can you hack into the military? See if there’s anything they are hiding.” Kathy instructs.
“What the hell is it?” Jackie cries in confusion.
“The leader of the Sycorax,” Kathy responds. “They stole the space probe and are transmitting to us.”
“Are they coming for the Doctor?” Rose questions.
“Yes, but don’t worry about it. They’re not as big of fish as you think.” Kathy responds. “Really only plunders wanting to enslave the human race.”
“Oh, is that all?” Rose asks sarcastically. “Well, then, I guess we could always invite them to Christmas dinner.”
“Ha ha,” Kathy says lightly, rolling her eyes at Rose. “Just don’t worry. Mickey? Could you keep track of their ship? We need to be watchful in case of any changes.”
Mickey salutes. “On it boss.”
Kathy’s reminded of Jack, the jack she’s just left behind. The knowledge that she will go back one day to help him doesn’t alleviate the guilt she feels.
——
“Kathy, the aliens sent in a transmission of some kind,” Mickey calls a short time later. A news reporter on the TV was going on about how the alien footage was a hoax, but no one paid the television any mind. “And look,” he lugs the laptop over to the coffee table, angling it so they can all see, “the military is tracking a spaceship. It’s big, it’s fast— and it’s coming this way.”
“So what do we do?” Rose asks.
“Nothing,” Kathy answers. “Can’t do much until they actually try to invade.”
“So we’re just sitting ducks?” Rose demands.
“They’re not going to attack yet— they’re going to try to make us surrender first,” Kathy says, ignoring Rose’s tone.
Mickey gets a clear image of four of the aliens. UNIT has an even bigger picture of more of them. The Sycoraxans are all staring at them menacingly. The leader speaks in a gravelly voice.
“I don’t understand what they’re saying. .” Rose realises. “The TARDIS translates alien languages inside my head, all the time, wherever I am.”
“She’s connected to the Doctor.” Kathy murmurs. “He’s down, so she is, too. But I know what they’re saying. It’s just a threat: ‘Cattle, you belong to us. To the Sycorax. We own you. We now possess your land, your minerals, your precious stones. You will surrender or they will die. Sycorax strong, Sycorax mighty, Sycorax rock’.”
“They… what?” Rose blinks.
“Like in the modern sense. They think they’re amazing.” Kathy shrugs.
“Do they rock, though?” Mickey asks.
Rose glares at him. “Mickey!”
“I’m just asking her a question to lighten up the mood, that’s all!”
Kathy can’t help but smile at that. “Well, their spaceship is actually made of rock so they do… in a way.”
Mickey grins and even Rose has a somewhat less serious expression on her face.
“But you said ‘They die’? Who’s they?” Rose questions next.
“It’s to do with the Guinevere Space Probe.” Kathy begins to explain. “And basically, in the probe, there’s a bunch of human things. You know, for them to get to know us better. Like maps of the world, our music, all that nonsense… and a vial of A positive blood.”
“What sort of idiot sends out blood for others to get to know us?!” Rose exclaims and Kathy shrugs.
“Daniel Llewellyn, apparently. In his defence, he didn’t know aliens existed till just about now. Anyway, the Sycorax managed to find a way to control people using this vial of blood. Like…” Kathy snaps her fingers repeatedly while trying to find the word, “...hypnosis. And they’re going to use that to intimidate us. All the people with A positive blood type are going to be hypnotised into walking up to the roof of the nearest building and standing at the edge of it. And if we don’t submit to the Sycorax, they’ll claim that they’ll make everyone jump. But don’t worry—” She says quickly, when she sees Rose’s horrified expression.
“What do you mean ‘don’t worry’?! You can’t just spring that on someone and tell them not to worry!” Rose cries.
“You didn’t wait for me to finish my sentence! Anyway, like I was saying, they won’t be able to do that. Because blood control isn’t strong enough to make someone kill themselves. And the second they compel someone to kill themselves, their control over them would break. Hence, don’t worry.”
Rose nods slowly. “Oh.”
Kathy straightens up. “Well, we should all probably get some rest now. It’s not going to help anyone if we’re all down in the morning. Mickey wanna bring your laptop and stay at mine? We need to keep watching the feed for anything else.”
——
Once Mickey has set up the laptop in the lounge and gone to bed at Kathy’s insistence, Kathy looks out the window to see that the sun is just starting to peek up around the horizon of the city. Down below in the complex area, she can see the TARDIS still parked in the same spot, unmoving and just as vigilant as Kathy. She can almost feel the old girl’s worried nature over the Doctor’s well-being.
“It’ll be okay, I’m looking after him. We all are,” Kathy whispers. She can almost hear a humming reply from the old girl within her mind. Gentle reassuring warmth spreads through her. She knows the TARDIS will remain watching over them. Just as she always has. Just as she always will. Kathy smiles, feeling better by the TARDIS’s loving comfort.
She knows right now that Harriet is sending out her own reply to the Sycorax. Telling them that they won’t surrender and that Earth offers peace. She knows it won’t work and that they’ll all have to fight for Earth’s survival. She needs to be ready for when the Sycorax come and she will.