Disclaimer: I don't own Doctor Who. I just own Sophie who walked into my head and wouldn't leave.

A/N: Firstly: Hello! Secondly: there isn't really a secondly. I just felt like starting with firstly. I'm excited to be writing again especially for a brand-new fic in a fandom that I haven't written in before.

Also, huge thanks goes to Maethoriel Artemis for inspiring me to write this fic and for also doing me the huge favour of reading it over for me. You helped so much! If you haven't checked out her fics, I encourage you to. I love all her Doctor/OC fanfics and always grin like a looney tune when she updates.

Chapter 1

Sophie and Rose

'Stupid, creepy plastic mannequins of death.'

Sophie thought edgily as she eyed the male mannequin that was standing motionlessly in front of her in the store she was currently employed in. Which she had fondly named Hen-ra-hell. The mannequin in question was innocently displaying the shirt and shorts that it was dressed in, looking for all the world like it was just a harmless hunk of person-shaped plastic.

Mannequins had always given her the creeps however, so she was hardly convinced by its very convincing act of harmlessness. If she didn't work in a store that sold clothes, she wouldn't be anywhere near the blasted thing with its unseeing eyes and creepy posed arms and legs. She swallowed as she continued to eye the thing. Normally, she'd shove her unease aside as just being paranoid and silly in her aversion. However, her dreams of late had been strange.

In fact, strange and disturbing didn't quiet cover it. In them the mannequins moved! They moved by themselves! Not just moving either, they spread terror. They tried to not only hurt people but to kill them.

It didn't really make any sense to her. She'd never had any proof for her aversion before and yet her dreams. She shivered and fought the urge to rub her hands over her arms, feeling goose flesh rise under the sleeves of her jacket.

So, here she was eyes to chest with a mannequin that was possibly an evil plastic creature in disguise wondering if it was about to spring to life and lunge at her.

"Oi! Connolly!" the irritated voice of her manager drifted over to her making her internally cringe at being caught doing something odd… again, "Your paid to work not to day dream! Hurry up and change the clothes on the mannequin. You don't have all day to stuff about,"

"Yes Sir. Sorry," Sophie apologized, forcing her gaze away from the mannequin to her manager to offer him an apologetic smile that probably came out more as a grimace. Still he nodded and moved on having properly chastised her.

'Well, at least he didn't think I was doing something odd… well too odd.'

She breathed out a sigh as she eyed the mannequin again. Her fingers twitching at her sides as she squared off with the stupid plastic death trap. Slowly she reached out and began doing her job. Grimacing as she removed the arms to make her life a little easier.

She bit her lip as she set them down on the ground one after the other. She wished that she could just discount them as just weird dreams fuelled by too much coffee or too much sugar, but well… all too often her dreams came true. In fact, if she dreamed at all, it was usually some strange vision that made no sense or if it did it was maddeningly unhelpful.

She huffed a little as the shirt still fought her attempts to remove it and she dreaded trying to take the shorts off the damnable thing.

'You're probably being stupid!' she scolded herself. 'Killer mannequins? Can you say manifestations of your fear?'

The fabric of the shirt against her fingers reminded her uneasily of the fact that she wasn't wearing her gloves. She wasn't allowed to wear them whilst she worked. Which wasn't so bad… it wasn't like her job involved touching. Still it left her disconcerted, probably always would. She was so used to the cloth of her gloves against her fingers. The barrier the best protection she had against the visions that would sometimes assault her upon touching some else's skin.

She'd purchased her first set of gloves after a particularly harrowing vision after she'd shaken the hand of a teenage girl she'd met. One who'd just moved to the town… Sophie shivered and turned her thoughts away from the memory that haunted her. Her hands still moving as she moved to the legs, detaching them from the hips, before she began struggling to get the shorts down the mannequins unyielding hips.

When she was finally done and had successfully redressed and reattached the mannequin's limbs she gratefully shuffled away, straightening folded clothes and putting shirts back on hangers as she went. Her tension level not decreasing as her head began to ache from the stress of concentrating so hard for so long. It didn't help that the shop was at peak hour and practically over run with customers and somewhat frantic staff.

Their thoughts threatening the mental barriers she struggled to hold at all times at the shop… or rather whenever she was out of her small house. She skilfully dodged around the customers only stopping to address their needs, her hands carefully clasped politely behind her back.

She felt sweat roll down her back and swallowed hard.

'Relax. Just breath.' She told herself as she continued to work the floor. 'It's got to be time for my break soon.'

A while later Sophie gratefully sat in a chair in the employee breakroom, munching on the roll that she'd packed that morning before starting her trek to the dreaded bus stop. She was working on relaxing the tense muscles in her back and shoulders. The grip on her mental shields also relaxing as she allowed herself a breather. The mess of minds in the shop below where far enough away up here to be easily ignored as a harmless white noise that made no sense to her. And for the moment she was alone in the breakroom.

She slammed them up with a brief wince as she felt a mind grow closer. One she recognised as Rose Tyler. She looked to the door as it opened and her blond co-worker stepped into the room, her eyes focusing on her.

"Good you're here. Manager wanted me to let you know your down below once you finished break," Rose told her before she turned and left as quickly as she'd come.

A small relieved smile graced her lips. Down below meant sorting through stock. Away from people. The rest of her shift was looking up. Well, her smile fell. Apart from the fact that she'd be alone with all the mannequins stored down there.

'Bugger.'

*O*O*O*

Sophie stepped out of the store fiddling with the gloves that were now covering her hands so that they were sitting properly. A small bounce in her step as she made her way towards the bus stop. She was that much closer to getting home and taking a load off.

With a practiced ease she manoeuvred around those on the street path, a soft hum escaping her lips as she thought about what she should do for tea.

Her pleasant thoughts screeched to a halt as she spotted a face coming towards her through the crowd. The large ears, piercing blue eyes, cropped hair, leather jacket…

The man in her dream! Her heart pounded. The man that was in her creepy dream about the killer mannequins! If he was real. If he was here… then the mannequins.

She paled drastically and her eyes were wide as people continued to pass her by.

The man however came to a stop staring at her curiously and perhaps a bit concerned for the petite brunette that looked like she'd seen a ghost, "Oi, you alright?"

Sophie blinked and focused her gaze on him, her heart hammering against her chest as she stared at him, hoping that he wasn't real. That none of it was real, "Uh, fine," she managed to get out, before she forced her feet to move once again. Her shoulders hunched as she ignored the heavy gaze of the man, hoping like hell that he didn't follow.

'Bleedin' buggering hell! Just what I need actual killer mannequins!'

*O*O*O*

The next morning Sophie shifted around her living room, tidying papers, shifting the remotes only to shift them back. She was full of nervous energy, despite the fact that she had almost convinced herself that she hadn't seen the man from her dream last night. She didn't want it to be real. She really didn't. If it was real…

'Stupid mannequins. Why'd it have to be mannequins?' she whined to herself with a huff. She flopped down onto her couch. She allowed herself to be splayed over it for a long moment before she sat up and pulled her laptop over to her.

She only had a half day today and as she'd been far to shaken up last night to do any of the work she needed to do to keep up with her university work. She really couldn't afford to waste the morning too.

However, shoving the thought of mannequins springing to life and trying to murder everyone was a hard thought to squish.

*O*O*O*

Sophie shrugged out of her jacket and shoved it into her locker with a great reluctance, however she was feeling to uncomfortably warm to keep it on after her agitated brisk walk.

She pushed it closed and turned to leave for the floor only to accidentally almost bump into another person. One she'd been too distracted to notice. She jerked back in her surprise and slipped almost falling to the floor.

She would have preferred a bruised backside to what happened next as the blond reached out and caught her bare arm stopping her descent short. She froze however, her eyes widening and her breath catching as she got swept up in a vision that set her teeth on edge.

The mannequins advancing, Rose backing away fear in her eyes as she yelled… lottery money clutched in hand…

Sophie blinked back into the present in time to catch a stray thought from the blond.

'Great. She's acting weird again.'

It wasn't thought with vindictiveness or any maliciousness. Still the thought made her flinch as she straightened herself out. Her mind racing.

Rose frowned at the brunette, "You alright?"

"Uh, yeah fine. Just sort of spaced for a bit. Sorry for almost running into you," Sophie apologized and quickly hurried away. Her hands clenched over her arms as she practically took the stairs down at a run.

Leaving behind a confused Rose that had only just come back from her lunch date.

*O*O*O*

'What am I doing?' Sophie bemoaned as she stood in front of the elevator that would take employees down to the lower floor. 'Oh, just what the hell am I doing?' she chewed her lower lip almost viciously as she loitered. Her brain working furiously, barely hearing the preclosing warning that was played over the speakers and the customers began shuffling out.

"Oi! What are you doing? Shops closing ya know?" Rose asked as she walked over to the brunette that was standing in front of the lift that she needed.

Sophie jerked and Rose chuckled, "You're a bit of a space cadet today aren't ya?"

Sophie blinked rapidly, before nodding, "Yeah a bit," she muttered.

"So… what are you doing? I need to go down…" Rose trailed off pointedly.

"Oh!" Sophie jumped, "Uh, so do I!" she exclaimed making Rose raise a brow at her.

"You forget something down there?"

Sophie quickly nodded. It was as good of an excuse as any… and just 'Oh bugger what do I think I'm doing?' But she couldn't just do nothing. She couldn't just let Rose go down by herself. Though really, she had no clue what she could aside from get killed alongside the blond… but she doubted she could live with herself if she left knowing that it was going to happen and she'd done nothing…

Rose nodded and gave the uncomfortable brunette a smile that she hoped was reassuring, "Right. Come on then. We'll drop the lottery money off and grab what you left and be out before they lock up," that being said Rose jabbed the button and alighted the lift.

Sophie bit her lower lip harshly and stepped in after her with a heavy reluctance that made her feet feel heavy. The lift dinged closed behind her and they began to descend.

Rose looked at her visibly troubled co-worker with concern, "You know, they won't lock us in. It'll only take a jiffy and we'll be off home,"

'Talking? Really? Why must there be talking? I don't think I can get my tongue to make vowel sounds let alone full words.' Still she tried as she blinked at the blond, before finally managing to muster up a nod for the other woman. Her mouth feeling too dry and her tongue too thick.

Rose sighed and rolled her eyes. 'Really how weird.' She couldn't help but think, unwittingly making the frazzled Sophie wince as the thought hit her weakened barriers.

The lift pinged and the two stepped out of the elevator and they made their way down the hallway. Sophie trailing a little behind as she looked around apprehensively. Their footsteps echoing in the silent basement.

"Wilson?" Rose called, "Wilson, I've got the lottery money," they came to a stop outside Wilson's door, "Wilson?" she tried again, knocking just in case. She sighed in irritation when she was met with silence.

Sophie fisted her hands into her shirt blinking down at them, her heart stuttering momentarily from its rapid beat as she realized that she'd been so distracted that she'd forgotten to put her gloves on… or even go back to her locker for her jacket and handbag.

She shrugged it off though. There was only Rose down here and Wilson. She doubted Wilson would touch her and Rose, if she did well she'd already had a vision of Rose today. It rarely if ever happened twice in a row for the one person.

"You there?" Rose called down the hallway, "Look, we can't hang about 'cause they're closing the shop. Wilson! Uhh, come on!" she muttered to herself before she looked at Sophie again eyeing the nervous way she was looking about with concern, "Look, you may want to go ahead and find what you've left if you're that worried about being locked in," she suggested.

Sophie swallowed thickly, before she shook her head, "N-No," she managed to get out, "I'll w-wait,"

Rose eyed her, before she shrugged.

Sophie jumped as a sound suddenly echoed to them from down the hallway whilst Rose merely looked in the direction it came from, before starting down towards it.

"Um, maybe we should just go?" Sophie murmured as she stepped after Rose.

Rose shot her a look, "You can, but it's me who's gonna get into trouble if this lottery money isn't handed in,"

Sophie flinched a little but nodded reluctantly, coming up beside the blond as she forced herself to move a little faster. The basement had never felt so creepy to her before.

"Hello? Hello, Wilson, it's Rose," she glanced at the girl who was still with her much to her surprise, "And Sophie," she added, "Hello? Wil… Wilson?"

'Oh, can we just hurry up and get to the killer mannequins all ready?' Sophie wrinkled her nose at herself. 'Did I really just think that?' she thought as Rose opened the fire door they'd come to a stop in front of. 'Ok, I take it back!' Sophie thought as she realized what door they were in front of… the spare mannequin storage area. A room she avoided like the plague! 'The killer mannequins can wait!'

"Rose!" she rasped as she followed the girl into the room only to be ignored or not heard as the blond turned on the light. She flinched at all the mannequins that were as still as plastic was supposed to be. Sophie eyed them just waiting for it as she followed Rose through the room. She recognized these mannequins!

"Wilson? Wilson?" Rose called as she looked over the room, searching for the source of the noise. She reached a door and tried it, frowning when the handle wouldn't budge. Both girls jumped as the fire escape door slammed shut behind them. They ran back across the room, Rose trying the handle only to find that it was locked.

She glanced over at Sophie only to see her watching the mannequins with something akin to horror. A small sound from behind her had her whirling around to face the room, "Is that someone mucking about?" she asked and moved to walk back into the centre of the room, only for a small warm, sweaty hand to grasp hers and hold her back drawing her gaze to the other woman.

Sophie flinched at the skin to skin contact, unused to the sensation, but no vision assaulted her as she'd believed earlier, "I don't think it's someone mucking about," she murmured her small voice carrying in the otherwise quiet room.

Rose frowned at her sceptically, "Of course it's someone mucking about. What else could it be?" she tried to pull her hand from Sophie's, but for the first time in her life Sophie tightened her grip refusing to let go.

"The mannequins," she breathed, her eyes wide as the mannequins began to slowly come to life.

Rose snorted and looked back into the room only to stiffen in surprise at seeing the mannequins shuffling slowly towards them. She stepped back towards Sophie her hand tightening around hers in return, suddenly glad for the contact as fear started to burn in her chest, "Heh… You got us, very funny," she tried to brush off, watching as more mannequins came out just waiting… hoping for the punch line. Her shoulder brushed against Sophie's as she backed into the wall as they continued to advance.

"Right, I've got the joke! Who's idea was this? Was it Derek's?"

"Rose," Sophie began, her legs trembling as she fought to control her breathing. It just had to be killer mannequins!

"Derek, is it you?" Rose unwittingly cut Sophie off as she scrambled for a logical explanation. Only to be met with more silence.

The dummy closest to them began to raise its arm to attack them when Sophie felt a large warm hand grip her own in a firm reassuring grip. She didn't have time to glance at the newcomer before she was assaulted by images that rushed through her head in a muddle. She barely heard him say "Run," as she saw a strange vat of lava-like goop that had a face. The man by the edge held by more mannequins.

She stumbled as she was pulled into a run by the man in the leather coat, her vision clearing, her other hand still clasped firmly around Rose's reassuring her that the blond was moving with them as she struggled to get herself back in the present and focused on where her feet were moving.

The three ran into another lift. Sophie leaning against the back. Her eyes still wide as one of the pursuing mannequins halted the closing of the door with its arm. The man didn't even hesitate to grab it and after a couple of yanks managed to pull it free of the mannequin allowing the door to close and the lift to begin moving.

Rose stared aghast, "You pulled his arm off!"

The man nodded, "Yep!" he tossed the arm to Rose with a smile, "Plastic," he told them. His gaze straying the brunette that was still leaning against the wall, just breathing in and out.

"Very clever, nice trick! Who were they then, students?" she demanded to know, "Is this a student thing or what?" her gaze going briefly to the brunette in mild concern their hands still clasped together.

"Why would they be students?"

Rose shrugged, "I don't know," she muttered.

"Well, you said it! Why students?"

"Cause… to get that many people dressed up and being silly… they gotta be students?" Rose rationalized.

The man grinned at her, "That makes sense! Well done,"

Rose nodded with a small smile, "Thanks,"

"They're not students," he informed her before turning his gaze to the brunette again who still hadn't said a word, "What do you think?" she turned blue eyes to him and for a moment he didn't think she was going to answer, but eventually with a quiet voice; like she was struggling to get her mouth to cooperate she replied.

"I think, that the bleedin' mannequins are trying to kill us!" she said with conviction, before muttering lowly just loud enough for him to hear, "Frikkin' creepy plastic mannequins of doom,"

He couldn't help the chuckle and the grin, nor the surprise at just how close she was… she was right, sort of.

Rose spoke again before he could reply, "Whoever they are, when Wilson finds them, he's gonna call the police,"

"Who's Wilson?" he asked.

"Chief electrician," Rose replied her hand finally releasing Sophie's as they stepped out of the lift after the man.

"Wilson dead," he responded flatly.

Sophie flinched. She hadn't thought of Wilson. Rose on the other hand glared at him, "That's not funny, that's sick!"

"Hold on," he told them shifting them back and out of the way, "Mind your eyes," he warned before he flashed his sonic at the lift's controls disabling it with a flash of light.

Rose scowled, "I've had enough of this now!" she grumbled stalking after the Doctor. Sophie only a step behind. Her heart rate calming now that the danger was past for the moment.

"Who are you then? Who's that lot down there? I said, who are they?" Rose asked again, frustrated with the lack of response from the man.

The man nodded at the brunette as he continued down the hall the girls following, "She was right. Well, mostly right. They're made of plastic. Living creatures. They're being controlled by a relay device in the roof. Which would be a great big problem if I didn't have this," he showed them an electronic device, "So!" he opened the fire escape door he'd been heading, "I'm going to go up there and blow them up, and I might die in the process. But don't worry about me, no. Go home, go on! Go and have your lovely beans on toast," he ushered both girls through the door, not giving them time to formulate any kind of reply, "Don't tell anyone about this, because if you do, you'll get them killed," he told them before shutting the door on them.

Sophie blinked at the closed door, hardly daring to believe that they had made it out alive. A small frown pulling down her brow as she realized Rose would have been fine. That man would have saved her… she glanced at Rose and received a small bemused smile from her, one that she returned and hoped that it was better than a grimace… she had a feeling that it was grimace instead of a smile…

Before either girl could move a step away the door opened again, the man popping back into view.

"I'm the Doctor, by the way," he introduced himself with another smile, "What your name?"

"Rose," the blond replied still bemused.

The Doctor focused his gaze on the brunette that still hadn't said much throughout their small adventure, but what she had said… was surprising.

Sophie felt heat rise to her cheeks as she realized he'd meant her to, "Sophie Annette Connolly," she finally responded only to flush a deeper shade. 'Moron. You're first name would of done just fine!'

The Doctor grinned in amusement and nodded, "Nice to meet you, Rose, Sophie Annette Connolly," she flushed redder, "Run for your lives," he told them before shutting the door again.

The two shared a brief look, before they dashed down the hallway both heading straight for the nearest exit.

They made it outside in record time, heading towards the street. Sophie reached out with a hand and grasped Rose's arm pulling her away from the side of the road as a taxi sped past, "Watch it!" the driver shouted at them.

"Thanks," Rose murmured distractedly as they continued to move at a quick clip away from the building.

They glanced back in time to see the top floor of their workplace blow up. They don't stop running passing a blue police box. A couple of blocks later they slowed to a stop.

They stood in silence for a moment, catching their breath.

"So," Rose broke the silence, "He blew up the building,"

Sophie nodded, "Yep,"

"And those mannequins were really?"

Sophie nodded again this time uncomfortably, "Yep. Always knew they were creepy,"

Rose let out a short laugh of amusement, "No one'd believe us would they?"

Sophie shook her head, "Nope," a small frown twisting down her brow as she realized that her handbag, jacket, purse, phone, gloves had all blown up with the top floor… she touched one of her jean pockets and let out a small breath of relief at finding that she at least still had the keys to her house.

Rose took in the frown and tilted her head at the brunette that she had often thought rather strange over the years of their acquaintance. Though really, she'd never made much effort to get to know the older woman, "You live the opposite side of town don't ya?"

Sophie blinked a little startled by the question, "Uh, yeah. How'd you…"

Rose smiled, "You catch the bus going the opposite way at the stop,"

"Oh right," Sophie murmured starting to feel a little awkward. It'd been a long time since she'd had to hold an actual conversation that was more than a moment, possibly two long. 'Was this small talk?' she pondered briefly, before she could decide Rose was speaking again.

"Well, you may as well come to mine. It's closer at this point,"

Sophie blinked again, processing the suggestion with surprise… she was being invited over to another person's home. That had never happened before… she'd always been too weird to get invited to anything.

Rose raised an eyebrow at Sophie's strange reaction, it seemed the brunette was full of them, "Come on don't just stand there like a knob. I'm sure mom's going spare by now,"

"Sorry," Sophie mumbled embarrassed all over again. She fell into step beside the other girl twisting her naked hands together anxiously in front of her. Missing the familiar comfort of her gloves.

*O*O*O*

Sophie sat on the couch beside Rose, her hands clasped tightly together still, but at least not twisting anxiously as she watched Jackie Tyler pace the floor, a phone glued to her ear. Jackie Tyler had been welcoming and warm… warmer than she was used to… when she'd appeared unannounced with her daughter.

She ushered her onto the couch along with Rose and had offered her a soothing cuppa tea after fretting about how pale they were. Well Rose more than anything, but she'd been included. She shot a look at Rose when the older woman moved back into the kitchen when the kettle flicked off, phone still angled against her ear, cupped between her ear and shoulder as she made the tea.

Rose gave her a 'just go with it' shrug. Her gaze going to the tv focusing on the news that was broadcasting the explosion.

Sophie's gaze flicked to the plastic arm that Rose had forgotten she'd been holding until they'd stepped inside her home. She couldn't blame the other girl. She'd been too preoccupied to notice it either. She kind of wished that she'd gone on not noticing the thing because now she really couldn't stop looking at it.

She blinked and focused her gaze on the mug that was suddenly thrust into her face. Looking up a little further she mouthed a 'thanks' to the woman as she took the mug with both hands, careful not to touch Jackie's bare hand.

She really didn't want another vision. She was already feeling rather drained and out of it as it was.

"I know, it was on the telly!" Jackie was talking into the phone, "It's everywhere! She's lucky to be alive! Honestly, it's aged her. Skin like an old bible. Walking in now you'd think I was her daughter!"

Rose rolled her eyes at her mother just as the front door opened drawing the rooms attention.

"Oh, and here's himself…"

Mickey hurried into the room, his focus zoomed in on Rose and he rushed over to her. Sophie budged up and pressed herself into the back of the couch to avoid the dark-skinned man's flailing limbs that had almost knocked her mug out of her hands.

"I've been phoning your mobile, you could've been dead! You could have been dead! It's on the news and everything! I can't believe your shop went up!" he exclaimed in a rush and crushed Rose into a hug.

"I'm alright, honestly, I'm fine! Don't make a fuss,"

Mickey pulled back and froze for a moment as he took stock of Sophie for the first time, "Oh, and who's this then?"

"That's Sophie my co-worker. We left work together," Rose repeated what she'd told her mother.

"Oh, hello then," he greeted still staring.

"Hi," Sophie returned the greeting, before taking a sip of tea to excuse herself from further talking.

Mickey turned his attention back to Rose, "Well, what the hell happened?" he asked gazing from Rose and Sophie and back again expecting an answer.

"We don't know!" Rose replied, a little exasperated by the question. Her mother had asked it enough since she'd got home, before the phone started ringing.

"What was it though, what caused it?" he asked curious.

Rose shook her head and shrugged, glancing at Sophie who was contenting herself with drinking the tea she'd been given. Giving no indication that she was going to jump in and help out, "We weren't in the shop, we were outside. We didn't see anything…" she trailed off as her mother walked back into view, holding the phone out to her.

"Debbie is on the other end, she knows a man from the Mirror. Five hundred quid for an interview!"

Sophie watched them interact feeling awfully out of place. She probably should have just gone home. She'd be able to relax then… her mental barriers were still frazzled and their thoughts were putting pressure on them, wanting to break through and glide through her mind all willy-nilly.

The phone rang again and Jackie immediately picked it up and launched into another conversation as she walked from the living room once again.

"What are you drinking? Tea? No, no, no, that's no good," Mickey said after checking Rose's mug, "You're in shock, you need something stronger,"

Rose looked at him questioningly, "Why?"

"You deserve a proper drink, you and me, we're going down the pub, my treat, uh," he trailed glancing over at Sophie a little guilty at having forgotten she was there, "You're welcome too, of course. How about it?"

Rose smiled knowingly, "Is there a match on?" Whilst Sophie fought not to choke on her tea as she'd inhaled a little of the liquid in her surprise at the invite.

"I'm just thinking about you, babe!" he denied.

"There's a match on, ain't there?"

"Well, that's not the point… we could catch the last five minutes," Mickey conceded with a shrug.

"Go on then. I'm fine, really, beside I've got Sophie here. Go," she urged then gestured to the arm that was lying in a chair, "Get rid of that,"

Mickey pointed to his lips and Rose obligingly gave him a quick kiss. He pushed her back into the chair earning a laugh.

Sophie watched as the couple said goodbye to each other, ending with Mickey pretending to strangle himself with the arm, making her flinch again. She shook herself out and sat down her mug, "Uh, I should probably get going to,"

Rose looked at her in surprise, "Don't be silly. You're staying the night. It's getting late. We've got a floor mattress we can set up in my bedroom and you can borrow some jammies,"

Sophie blinked taken by surprise once again. The day really was taking the strangest turns… though she didn't believe they were bad, just new, strange… and perhaps a little uncomfortable.

Slowly she nodded. She didn't really fancy trying to make her way home. She was tired and she had no money on her for a cab or a phone… she could handle a night here, right?

"Ok, as long as it's no trouble," she murmured her hands twisting together again.

"I wouldn't have offered if it was," Rose told her, before getting up off the couch, "Come on let's get the bed set up," she nudged her leg a little with her own and Sophie stood and followed the other girl out of the living room.

*O*O*O*

Rose eyed Sophie as they sat together at the breakfast table. Her mother having finally stopped nagging her about her getting another job. It wasn't her fault that Henrick's got blown up.

The brunette looked uncomfortable once again as she sat across from her, rubbing at her exposed arms every now and then and frowning into her bowl of half eaten cereal.

"Where's your jacket, gloves?" She asked, finally pinpointing what it was that was different.

Sophie shrugged, "Got blown up,"

Rose choked on her own breakfast, "What?!"

"I hadn't gotten my handbag and stuff out of my locker on the top floor,"

"So you haven't got any ID, phone, bank cards…" Rose muttered, wondering how she hadn't noticed last night, "Nothing?"

"No," Sophie patted her jeans pocket, "I've got my house keys. I'll just have to replace the rest," she shrugged again.

The girls were distracted by the sound of rattling by the front door. Rose stood up and Sophie followed suit curious, "Mum," Rose called, "You're such a lair, I told you to nail that cat flap down. We're going to get strays," she shouted as she moved towards the front door.

"I did it weeks back," Jackie yelled back from her bedroom.

"No, you thought about it!" Rose stopped as she saw the screws on the floor, before her gaze was drawn to the cat flap as it moved. She leapt backwards knocking into Sophie by accident. She leaned back down and gingerly poked the cat flap open. Only to real back at seeing the Doctor's face. She leapt back onto her feet and thrust open the door.

The three stared at each other in surprise.

"What are you doing here?" the Doctor asked glancing between them.

Rose frowned, "I live here,"

He turned his gaze to Sophie, "And I suppose you live here too?"

Sophie shook her head, "Nope. Visiting,"

"We'll what're you doing that for?" the Doctor asked.

"Because I do! And because she did! And we're only here because someone blew up our job!" Rose growled.

The Doctor ignored her outburst as he pulled out his sonic screwdriver again giving it a shake, "Must have gotten the wrong signal," he muttered, before glancing over the two girls again, "You're not plastic, are you?" He knocked his knuckles against Rose's head whilst Sophie shook hers in the negative. The brunette grimaced as she received the same treatment, half expecting a vision only to be relieved not to get one, "No, boneheads, both of you," he grinned, "Bye, then!" he turned to leave, only to be grabbed by Rose and dragged inside… not that he really tried to get away. He was curious despite himself.

"You, inside. Right now," she demanded before shutting the door.

"Who is it?" Jackie called from her bedroom.

Rose poked her head inside as she moved past, "It's about last night, he's part of the inquiry. Give us 10 minutes," she lied easily.

Jackie nodded, "See, it's good you stayed Sophie. He won't have to make two trips now,"

Sophie nodded her agreement, "Yeah," she murmured when she realized Jackie couldn't see her as she was standing out of sight by the living room as she waited for Rose to finish in her bedroom. She was half tempted to join her, but she was already dressed and well, that'd mean passing the Doctor and possibly accidentally brushing up against his skin. She didn't want to tempt fate. She'd been lucky that she didn't get a vision when he rapped his knuckles against her forehead. No, she definitely didn't want to risk it, not when she was in a short-sleeved shirt and didn't have her lovely elbow length gloves to depend on. She'd seen more than enough visions of evil plastic mannequins of doom!

"They deserve compensation," Jackie told him.

The Doctor nodded as he leaned against the doorframe, "Huh, we're talking millions," he agreed. He glanced about the bedroom, before his gaze shifted to the brunette that was standing a little awkwardly as she too waited for the blond.

He regarded her from the corner of his eye. There was something about her… something that he couldn't quiet put his finger on. It was almost familiar… and yet was completely foreign at the same time. Confusing and intriguing and he couldn't put his finger on what it was.

He didn't know enough and she didn't seem the type to rattle on like other humans either. There was a loneliness to her, he could see that. She had to be in her early 20's at the most. So why was there such loneliness in her eyes?

Vaguely he was aware of the older woman, Rose's mom talking to him, "Yes you are," he responded to a statement. His attention still on Sophie, "Yes there is," he agreed.

"Well anything could happen,"

The Doctor turned his attention back to Jackie at that and took in her body language and the flirtatious look on her face with a single glance. Oops, "No," he shut her down and moved away from the door towards Sophie. Rose walking back down the hall behind them.

Sophie skirted around him carefully highly aware of her bare arms and the position of his hands hanging harmlessly at his sides. Unwittingly earning another curious look from the man as he catalogued the reaction and filed it away in the growing mystery that was Sophie Annette Connolly.

"Don't mind the mess," Rose excused as she walked past the Doctor towards the kitchen, "Do you want a coffee?" she offered her two guests.

"Might as well, thanks! Just milk," the Doctor accepted as he moved further into the living room.

Rose glanced at Sophie pointedly until she realized she was included in the offer. It was one thing she'd noticed in their brief closer acquaintance. The woman would assume that you weren't talking to her unless you made it clear in some way shape or form. Silent staring seemed to get the job done… well eventually and it was kind of fun watching her flush in embarrassment when she realized.

"Oh, no thanks," Sophie finally cottoned on, her cheeks indeed flushing a light red, "I just had one," Rose nodded and entered the kitchen to make the Doctor and herself a coffee.

The Doctor watched the interaction covertly as he snooped about the well lived in room. If he had to hazard a guess he'd say that despite seeming pleasant enough and was attractive by human standards, that she was socially isolated. Wasn't at all used to being included or perhaps if she was it'd been in a negative situation that had forced her to learn to ignore the talk around her to not be hurt… either option was sad…and as equally confusing. It just added to the ever growing 'why' that surrounded the girl.

He picked up a magazine to look busy and flipped through it rather quickly, "That won't last, he's gay and she's an alien," he spoke loud enough for the brunette to hear. He received a look, a quirked brow and silently questioning gaze that was a bit speculative and a bit curious, but nothing verbal. So, she'd listened, but didn't feel comfortable responding, or didn't think she was meant to? Or responding led to a negative reaction? He dropped the magazine back onto the coffee table. Still more 'why's' too many and no answers. He fought off the pout that wanted to form as a simmer of frustration and determination grew. The small human couldn't out puzzle him, that'd be embarrassing.

"I'm not blaming you," Rose said from the kitchen completely unaware of what was going on in the living room as she continued to make coffee, "Even if it was just some sort of joke that went wrong. Right? …Sophie?" she added on seeing as she couldn't stare the girl into understanding.

"Uh right," Sophie agreed her cheeks flushing red again. She wasn't really sure what was going on. Social queues were a bit of a mystery to her unless they were obvious but there was definitely something going on.

Not so much with Rose the other woman was curious… it was the man that called himself Doctor. He wanted something from her, but she didn't know what! The way he watched her out of the corner of his eye or from under his lashes. If she hadn't been so hyper aware of other people she probably wouldn't have noticed it, but life at the orphanage wasn't easy for an outcaste.

She didn't think he meant anything malicious. That wasn't the vibe she was getting... but, he was still watching, waiting for something… couldn't he just ask? Instead of whatever it was he was doing as he shifted about the living room. A book in hand now. It didn't help that she couldn't really concentrate on him and what his deal was. She was too busy keeping the irate mental ranting of Jackie out of her head… not to mention the other two occupants that were closer.

Rose's mind was as open as always, her thoughts a mix of curious and annoyed. She focused harder not wanting to hear anything specific, it was bad enough invasion of privacy to get a gist of what was going on inside her head.

Then there was the Doctor. To her relief his mind wasn't pressing against hers in fact she couldn't feel much thought wise from him at all.

There was something else there though. Something that was completely different to anything she'd come across before. It wasn't bad, it was just like she was tasting something new… and it felt nice to not have to fight his thoughts away, instead… she didn't really know how to describe it… he was just closed off from her and yet there was a hint of warmth…

She shook herself out of drifting thoughts as Jackie's angry inner monologue threatened to break through once more.

The Doctor watched once again intrigued as he realized with a small start that Sophie was concentrating… concentrating rather hard, if the scrunch to her brow was any indication. Only for it to relax for a moment as if her mind wandered, and then a grimace flickered across her face and she was back to concentrating like her life depended on it… yet she was aware of what he was doing, every time he moved her gaze would flick to him and then away… damn it more questions.

He picked up a book and watched as her gaze flicked to him again and then away, brow still creased with concentration, an eye twitched…

He flicked through the book, his gaze briefly scanning the pages already familiar with it, "Hmm. Sad ending," he dropped it back down, perhaps louder than necessary earning another look, this time a fraction longer. Was that irritation? Progress? His lips quirked up in a smile.

Sophie felt her eye twitch. The man was distracting her… deliberately! And she still had no idea why. 'It's official. He is a jerk-mc-jerk face and that's that.' She breathed out a slow breath. She needed to concentrate not get irritated, irritation would make maintaining her barriers harder. She could almost feel like crying, but that was another distraction she didn't need. 'What the bleedin' hell did he want?!'

"They said on the news that they'd found a body," Rose continued still oblivious.

The Doctor picked up an envelope and read the letters addressee 'Rose Tyler'. He shifted deliberately heavy footed and stood facing the mirror, taking in his features, "Ahh, could've been worse!" he declared and prodded at his large ears, "Look at me ears," he angled himself so that he could look at the long curly haired brunette, "Don't ya think?"

Sophie met his gaze and blinked rapidly feeling like a deer caught in headlights as she realized he'd been actually asking her for something. 'Why are you asking me? I'm rubbish at this!' she desperately wanted to whine. 'What's he even looking for?' she thought a little desperate as he continued to stare at her expectantly. "Uh, I think they suit you," she eventually muttered.

"Oi! What's that supposed to mean?" he responded, his gaze somewhat calculating as the girl floundered for a response.

"I, uh mean. I…" she grimaced as her barriers wavered and Jackie came through loud and clear for a moment, "I mean that your features work well together,"

He grinned at her leaving her floundering again, "You think so?" he asked jovially turning his attention momentarily back to the mirror.

Sophie wilted where she stood. 'Wait, were you annoyed or pleased? I don't get it!' she slouched over to the couch and crumpled into. 'I totally hate you jerk-mc-jerk face!'

The Doctor glanced down at her on the couch and immediately felt a flash of guilt. He hadn't meant to… really he hadn't… he was just curious, but it looked like she was about to either pass out or snap under the pressure. He immediately stepped away, her gaze shooting to him again. This time the blue depths agitated and lingered waiting for his next move. 'Oops.' Was all he could think guilty as he cast his gaze around for something that'd lighten the mood… anything would do. He really hadn't meant to! Why did it even… oh he was really starting to get annoyed with 'why'. The cheeky bugger was taunting him. His gazed landed on a pack of cards and he smiled 'Success… maybe.'

"All the same he was a nice bloke," Rose continued on.

The Doctor picked up the deck of cards and swiftly shuffled them. Sophie's eyes still on him agitation diming down to wariness, blue lonely eyes screaming exhaustion, "Luck be a lady," he declared.

"Well anyway if we are going to go to the police, I want to know what I'm saying," Rose explained still puttering in the kitchen.

The Doctor shuffled the cards again this time making them go flying all over the place, "Maybe not," he murmured sheepishly, his gaze meeting Sophie's again and was relieved to see a small smile quirking her lips and a lightening in her eyes, before she looked away.

Rose continued to talk from the kitchen, "I- we want you to explain everything, right Sophie?"

"Right," she muttered obediently. Right now she really didn't care overly much, her head was hurting.

Scuffling behind the couch made her freeze and she stood up whilst the Doctor looked in that direction curiously, "What's that then? You got a cat?" he asked Rose.

Sophie grimaced there was no signs of a cat living here…

"No…" Rose answered confused by the question.

The Doctor shifted closer leaning over the couch to have a look only for the plastic mannequin arm to leap out at him and grab him by the throat.

Sophie tensed then raced forward her hands closing over the plastic arm. A jerk-mc-jerk face or not… she didn't want him to die. She tugged and tugged whilst Rose continued to talk, the Doctors hands brushing against hers making her wince each time in preparation for a vision, but none came and she continued to tug, sweat beading on her brow as her barriers wavered and fractured her concentration slipping and she heard Rose's scepticism in her thoughts, Jackie's thoughts at least had calmed down. Finally the arm came away from the Doctor's throat and hovered in the air between the three of them for a moment.

Sophie panted and hastily tried to reaffirm her barriers only for the arm to twist in mid-air and launch itself at Rose. She moved without really think, attaching herself to the arm again and tugging as Rose shrieked and failed. The Doctor beside her, both tugging and shifting about as Rose flailed in panic as the hand cut off her air supply.

It ended with them crashing rather painfully in to the coffee table, scolding hot coffee pooling on the floor around them.

The Doctor pushed Rose onto the couch and pulled out his sonic screwdriver disabling it with a quick push of a button making it release Rose.

"It's alright, I've stopped it. There you go, you see?" he said brightly as he tossed it to her, "Armless,"

Rose narrowed her gaze on him, "Do you think?" she snarked whacking him over his shoulder with it.

"Ow!" he whinged. His gaze moving to Sophie who was catching her breath and grimacing, "You alright?"

Sophie shot him a look, "Yeah. Fine," she muttered as she pushed herself to her feet. She really needed a quiet place…

The Doctor gave her a disbelieving look. She was pale, as pale as the early evening he'd first spotted her on the street, only really noticing her because she'd come to a dead stop… he sighed internally which was another question that he didn't have an answer for… and he didn't have time to figure it out. Not any of it, not at the moment. So, he'd have to leave it; which irritated him, he hated not being able to solve a puzzle. She was human how difficult of a puzzle could she be… answer pretty damn tough… he scowled involuntarily at that.

He flicked his gaze back to Rose who was staring up at him all questions, "And you?"

She waved the plastic arm at him threateningly.

He nodded, "Right. Yep. Fine," he snatched the arm back and took off, an annoyed 'oi' calling after him and then the pounding of feet… two sets. Now that had his feet wanting to slow and turn back. The blond he'd expected but Sophie? She looked dead on her feet almost and she hadn't seemed all that interested, but then – she wasn't exactly typical… she was a mystery seemingly wrapped in an enigma… and it just kept growing, which was exciting and annoying all at once. Especially when he didn't have time!

'What the hell am I doing?' Sophie thought as she hurried down the steps after Rose chasing after the Doctor. He was annoying. A Jerk-Mc-Jerk face that had threatened her concentration to the point of her practically breaking under the pressure of trying to maintain it. Hell, her barriers had broken in there and she was still erecting them and reinforcing them the thoughts of Rose and those in close enough vicinity hammering against the flimsy film she'd managed to get back up so far.

But he hadn't known and he'd seemed apologetic… or at least she thought the thing with the cards was supposed to be a silent attempt at an apology… for her distress…

The real thing was, she wasn't lonely at the moment, not really. She was a little… ok a lot stressed, but she wasn't really lonely.

She'd talked and people had listened without derision. It was strange and it was nice… and she wanted it for just a little longer, even if her head was screaming for the quiet of her own home.

She had a feeling that this was worth it and with her entire body feeling sore in some way… she wasn't exactly sure why she was feeling that way, but still she was running.

"Hold on a minute, you can't just go swanning off." Rose declared, silently rather glad that Sophie was choosing to follow. She had a feeling she may just have an easier time to trying convince the man that was currently running away to talk, with some back up… even if that back up didn't talk much. She'd seen how his gaze had lingered curiously on the brunette… it could only work in their favour, right?

"Yes I can. Here I am, this is me, swanning off," he replied his voice rather cheery as he swept his gaze back at them briefly, "See ya!"

"That arm was moving, it tried to kill me!" she tried continuing to follow Sophie dogging her steps on the rather narrow stairwell.

"Ten out of ten for observation," he commented.

"But," Sophie huffed, her side twinging from the hit to the coffee table and consequent collision with the ground, "Why is it trying to kill at all?" she asked. The Doctor glanced at her surprised by the question, "You have to tell us that at least?"

The Doctor grinned, "No I don't," he retorted as they reached the bottom of the stairs and started for the door. It was a good question, but he didn't have to do anything. They exited out onto the street.

"You have to tell us what's going on," Rose demanded.

"No, I don't," he reiterated.

Rose slowed to a stop, "Alright then. We'll go to the police. We'll tell everyone. You said if we did that we'd get people killed…"

"Actually. We probably don't want to do that," Sophie muttered causing Rose to trail off, "We'll really want to avoid the nice people with the strait jackets," she murmured her voice quieting at the stares she was getting from both the Doctor and Rose, her cheeks threatening to flush red all over again.

The Doctor nodded at her, "Yep, you'd earn yourselves a nice matching pair of strait jackets. Good luck being all tough then,"

Rose cleared her throat irritated, "In the basement those mannequins tried to kill us!" she gestured between herself and Sophie, "Then a plastic arm just tried to kill me. So, what have I done wrong. How come those plastic things keep coming after me?" she demanded to know.

The Doctor rolled his eyes, "Oh, suddenly the whole world revolves around you! You were an accident, you both were, you got in the way, that's all,"

Rose frowned, "It tried to kill us!"

"It was after me not you! Last night in the shop, I was there, you two blundered in. Almost ruined the whole thing. This morning I was tracking it down, it was tracking me down… the only reason it fixed on either of you at all, is because you met me," he grumbled exasperated.

Sophie raised a brow and Rose cocked her head, "So, what your saying is, the entire world revolves around you,"

He smiled brightly, "Sort of, yeah,"

Sophie snorted before she could stop herself, "Oh you're full of it," she muttered, her cheeks tinged pink.

He grinned again, "Sort of, yeah," earning an eye roll and small smile.

"But all this plastic stuff, who else knows about it?" Rose asked.

"No one," he shrugged, making both girls frown in thought.

"What you're on your own?" Rose asked incredulous.

"Well, who else is there? I mean you lot, all you do is eat chips, go to bed, and watch telly! When all the time, underneath you, there's a war going on!"

Rose snatched the arm back and took a step back, "Ok, start from the beginning," falling into step along with Sophie as the Doctor started moving again.

"If you're gonna go with this living plastic, and I don't even believe that, but if we do... how did you kill it?" Rose asked.

"The thing controlling it projects life into the arm. I cut off the signal, dead," he explained.

"So that's radio control?" Rose guessed.

The Doctor shook his head, "Thought control," he corrected and was met with silence he glanced at the two women, "Are you alright?" he asked concerned, culture shock wasn't unheard of.

"Yeah," Rose agreed and there was silence.

The Doctor huffed, "Oi, talking to you too Soph?"

"Soph?" she muttered questioningly under her breath, before she shook it away, "Yeah, I'm alright," she replied, "Just, who's controlling it, then?" she wondered out loud making Rose nod in agreement having been thinking the same thing.

"Long story," the Doctor waved off.

"But what's it all for? I mean, shop window dummies... what's that about? Is someone trying to take over Britain's shops?" Rose questioned only half serious. Sophie shook her head a small chuckle escaping her lips as Rose and the Doctor laughed.

"No," he denied.

"I know," she assured.

"Good," Sophie murmured, her voice quiet once again, "It'd be kind of worrying if plastic living or not was starting price wars," she crinkled her nose at the idea. Surprised at herself for voicing the thought out loud.

"It's not a price war," he said with a small chuckle before he turned serious once again, "They want to overthrow the human race and destroy you," he admitted and glanced at the two following him once again trying to judge their reactions, "Do you believe me?"

"No," Rose said with an unapologetic shrug.

"Yes," Sophie said at almost the exact same moment, and flushed darkly as Rose and the Doctor stopped to stare at her in surprise. She looked away, trying to will away the flush to her cheeks. She doubted that she'd blushed so much in her life then she had since she'd met the Doctor, "I don't see why you'd lie," she muttered under her breath. Besides she'd seen the mannequins, the killer arm, plus her visions… it wasn't all that hard for her to be a believer.

The Doctor smiled at her, not that she could see, still turned away as she was, cheeks still flushed red. He turned back to Rose, "But you're still listening," he told her a little smugly.

"Really though, Doctor. Tell us. Who are you?" Rose asked her gaze determined.

The Doctor came to a stop and turned to face the two fully, Sophie staring at him again, curiousness in her gaze as well, obscured by guarded eyes but there all the same.

"Do you know like we were saying? About the Earth revolving?" he stepped closer to them, "It's like when you were a kid. The first time they tell you the world's turning and you just can't quite believe it because everything looks like it's standing still. I can feel it," he explained taking Sophie's hand and feeling as she tensed slightly before relaxing, stirring his curiosity once again.

"The turn of the Earth. The ground beneath our feet is spinning at a thousand miles an hour," he released her hand to take Rose's, "And the entire planet is hurtling around the sun at sixty-seven thousand miles an hour, and I can feel it. We're falling through space, you and me. Clinging to the skin of this tiny little world, and if we let go..." he released her hand, "That's who I am. Now, forget me, Rose Tyler, Sophie Annette Connolly." He grabbed the arm back from Rose and waved it at them smiling once again, "Go home," he told them firmly.

Sophie watched as he walked away Rose beside her. She sighed out a breath, it seemed like it was over and she couldn't help but be disappointed, but what else could she do. He'd made himself clear… she glanced over at Rose who glanced back. Before they turned and began to walk, each starting to head in a different direction for home. Only for a wheezing sound to attract their attention and they whirled back around and they ran back to see that the police box that they had only really noticed in passing that had been their earlier had vanished.

*O*O*O*

Sophie and Rose walked down the pavement together back towards the Tyler apartment. There had been no verbal conversation between them since the blue box had disappeared and yet by silent understanding they had both agreed to head back to the Tyler's residence.

"So, what do you think made the wheezing sound, Soph?" Rose broke the comfortable silence between them, testing the nickname the Doctor had used.

Sophie mouthed the shortened version of her name under her breath and wrinkled her nose she wasn't sure if she liked it. She'd never been anything other than Sophie, or more unpleasantly 'Freakzilla,' "I think," she murmured slowly, "It was the big blue box that disappeared,"

"Yeah me too," Rose replied quickly her voice bright and much less careful. She smiled, a tongue stuck between her teeth smile that had Sophie's lips twitching upwards, "So, not insane, right?"

"Right," Sophie agreed.

"And you really believe him about the living plastic?" she asked curiously.

Sophie looked down at her feet, "You saw the mannequins of doom, right? The killer mannequins of doom,"

Rose swallowed her smile fading. She'd seen them didn't mean she wanted to believe it was more than a prank gone wrong… she paused in her thought and gave Sophie an amused look, "Why do you call them that? Mannequins of doom?"

Sophie scowled at the ground, her cheeks heating up again lightly. She really had to stop blushing so much. It was embarrassing, but she really wasn't used to talking out loud to people and she'd sometimes say things she usually just thought without really thinking it through if she let her mouth get away from her, "Always found 'em creepy," she muttered, "Then one day I was running from, well, I was running, and I wasn't really paying attention ducked into a store and ran smack bang into one knocked it off balance and it fell on me. They've been the stupid mannequins of doom ever since,"

"Ouch?" Rose offered.

Sophie nodded rubbing her nose, "Yeah ouch,"

The pair made it to the Tyler's front door. Sophie lifted a hand touched Rose's sleeve, her eyes a little wide, "I don't think we want to go in there," she murmured.

Rose frowned at the brunette, "Why not?"

Sophie blinked over at the blond, wondering how to explain, finally she shrugged, "Listen," she offered and hunched a little closer to the door.

Rose copied the movement with a confused frown, only for her own eyes to widen as she heard the faint sound of her mother's rather annoyed voice as she ranted about the coffee table and the mess left on the floor. She turned her gaze to Sophie, "You heard that?" she asked as she pulled back from the door immediately losing the sound of her mother's voice.

Sophie twirled a lock of curly hair around her finger, "Yeah, sort of," Rose snorted at how close to the Doctor she sounded. Sophie crinkled her nose, "Oh. Not going to be able to use that, again am I?"

Rose shook her head and smiled, "Not without sounded pretentious," she teased.

"Yeah, never again," Sophie muttered.

"Come on, we should leave before she comes looking," Rose said and they began walking quietly away from her front door.

"Where are we going?" Sophie asked.

"To a man with a computer," Rose replied.

Sophie cocked her head to the side, "I've got a laptop at home," she offered.

Rose glanced over at her and smiled, "Yeah, but Mickey's closer,"

"Oh," she murmured in understanding as they made they made their way down the hall, Rose leading the way, "Do," she began but cut herself off and sucked on her lower lip gently.

Rose tilted her head a gestured for her to continue with a kind smile to encourage her eyes curious.

"Do you think, Mickey would let me borrow a jacket?"

Rose gave her a quizzical look, "It's warm out today," she swept her eyes over the shirt sleeve shirt and the way Sophie was cupping her arms, pulling her bare elbows in towards herself, "You really don't feel comfortable with bare arms don't cha? Why not just wear long sleeve shirts?" she asked curious.

"Because I love my elbow length gloves and long sleeve shirts get in the way, but puffy sleeve jackets are still comfy if it's cold, and I haven't had the chance to go home yet to get another pair,"

Rose winced, right. She'd forgotten that most of her stuff had gone up in the explosion at Henricks, "I tell you what we'll drop by yours a little later and get you suited up. Until then I'm sure Mickey can find something clean for you to put on," she frowned, "Well, he better have," she muttered under her breath her voice a little steely, before she brightened again, "And I'm sure you can call your bank about new cards whilst we're there then join me at the computer,"

Sophie paused in the hallway, "You sure he won't mind?"

Rose came to a stop to and smiled, "Of course not. He already likes you,"

Sophie tilted her head, her expression adorably confused and cautiously hopeful, "He does?"

"Of course. He invited you to drinks on him last night at the pub. That's practically a declaration of friendship from Mickey,"

"It is?"

"Yep," Rose confirmed, "Hey relax, Mickey is a great guy. Wouldn't hurt a fly that one. Or more accurately probably couldn't," she teased, yet with mock seriousness. They started walking down the hallway again. Rose eyeing Sophie's thoughtful, but cautious expression suddenly feeling sad for the brunette and she wasn't really sure why, but something told her in that moment that the brunette wasn't all that used to kindness.

*O*O*O*

Sophie hung up Mickey's phone and set it down on its cradle. A clean jacket that was about two times too big for her covered her arms, and her hands to, allowing her to relax somewhat. Her shields had also begun to solidify again and her headache had receded to a dull ache. She could deal with the ache though.

She was used to the dull ache. It was practically her constant companion and the headache was better than being barraged by the unwanted thoughts of others all the time. Still she'd have to be careful. She'd been put through a mental ringer today.

She got up and padded over to Rose who was scrolling through a webpage that seemed to be about the Doctor.

"Thanks Mickey,"

Mickey smiled, "You're welcome. You're lucky Rose doesn't normally like other women wearing my clothes,"

Rose rolled her eyes at her boyfriend, "Yeah well, Soph is awesome,"

Sophie wrinkled her nose again, there was that name again. 'Soph,' it sounded weird in her ears, "I am?" she asked as Mickey moved away from them busying himself with a knickknack that required his attention momentarily.

Rose glanced over her shoulder at the brunette smile in place, "Yeah. You stayed with me in that basement when you coulda run off and left me on my own, but you didn't even though you were scared. I don't think even my mate Shareen woulda done that," Rose scrolled down the web page and clicked with the mouse whilst Sophie quietly processed. Her brain a whirl and a warmth in her chest that felt foreign.

"Looks like we've got a winner," Rose said excitedly as she clicked on the contact info of Clive. Her fingers moving over the keys as she typed out an email.

Sophie sat back on the bed, letting Rose type and chatter about what was being said between her and Clive. Mickey moving in and out as he puttered around his apartment. A tentative smile playing across her lips.

A short while later found the three piled into Mickey's car Sophie now decked out in fresh clothes a new jacket and elbow length gloves the trio having briefly stopped by her place like Rose had promised. Rose and Mickey in front whilst she sat behind Rose watching the streets go by. It wasn't long until Mickey reluctantly parked out front of Clive's family home.

He stared up at the house distrustfully, "Are you sure,"

Rose rolled her eyes and cut him off, "You're not coming in! He's safe. He's got a wife and kids," she told him once again.

"Yeah, but who told you that? He did. That's exactly what an internet lunatic murderer would say," Mickey warned still glaring at the family home.

Rose hopped out of the car and released the seat forward so that Sophie could clamber out after her.

Sophie shut the door behind her and followed Rose up the path, "Are you sure you want Mickey to stay in the car?" she asked quietly as they made their way up the drive.

Rose scoffed, "If I let Mickey come. He'd spend the whole time glaring at Clive making accusations out of thin air and we'd find out nothing about the Doctor. Mickey'll be fine in the car… well, he'll get over it," she muttered as she glanced briefly over her shoulder at him to see that he was giving a poor neighbour putting out his bins a suspicious glare. 'At least I don't think he can get into trouble in the car?'

Rose and Sophie made it up to the front door. Rose raised a hand and knocked on the door. Barely a moment later the door was pulled open by an 11 year old boy. Rose smiled, "Uh, hello, we've come to see Clive? We've been emailing,"

The son rolled his eyes and stepped away from the door, "Dad! It's a couple of your nutters!" he shouted, drawing the mans attention.

The son disappeared back into the house as Clive walked up to the door and friendly smile on his face, "Sorry. Hello. You must be Rose and you're Sophie," both girls nodded, "I'm Clive. Obviously,"

"I better tell you now, my boyfriend's waiting in the car, just in case you're going to kill us," she told him and the three chuckled.

"No, good point. No murders," he agreed good naturedly. He waved to Mickey who stared at him distrustfully still, but nodded, satisfied at least that Rose had done as he asked.

"Who is it?" his wife Caroline called from the floor above them.

"Oh, it's something to do with the Doctor! These ladies have been reading the website," he called back, before turning his attention to the two women, "Please come through," ushered them politely, "I'm in the shed,"

Sophie and Rose follow Clive through the shed, "A lot of this stuff's quite sensitive, I couldn't just send it to you. People might intercept it, if you know what I mean," he told them as they moved towards his set up, "If you dig deep enough – keep a lively mind – this Doctor keeps cropping up all over the place. Political diaries, conspiracy theories. Even ghost stories. No first name no last name. Just the Doctor,"

Sophie and Rose nodded as they stared and listened to Clive. So far it was all matching up with what little they actually knew of the man.

"And the title seems to have passed down from father to son, it appears to be an inheritance," he pointed to a photo on his computer screen, "That's your Doctor there, isn't it?"

Sophie nodded.

"Yeah," Rose responded with a nod of her own.

"it tracked it down to the Washington public archive last year. The online photo's enhanced, but if we look at the original," he pulled out photos. The first being one of the Doctor standing in a crowd, "November 22nd, 1963. The assassination of President Kennedy,"

"It must be his father," Rose muttered a little unsurely.

"Then his father's his twin," Sophie murmured staring at the photo hard… it should be impossible… there was family resemblance and then there was the same person, but how?

"Going further back… April 1912," he said as he picked up a photo album and brought it over, "This is a photo of the Daniels family, Southampton. And friend," he pointed to the Doctor, "This was taken the day before they were due to sail for the new world. On the Titanic. And for some unknown reason, they cancelled the trip and survived. And…" he pulled out a sketch with careful hands, "1883. Another Doctor. And look – the same lineage. He's identical. This one washed up on the coast of Sumatra on the very day Krakatoa exploded. The Doctor is a legend woven throughout history. When disaster comes, he's there. He has a storm in his wake. And he has one constant companion,"

"Who's that?" Rose and Sophie asked at the same time.

"Death," Clive said seriously staring at the two women willing them to understand, "If the Doctor's back… if you've seen him, Rose, Sophie… then one thing is for certain, we're all in danger. If he's singled you out… If the Doctor's making house calls… then God help you,"

"Who is he? Who do you think he is?" Rose asked unsure if she really wanted to know.

"I think he's the same man. I think he's immortal. I think he's an alien from another world," he told them seriously.

The two exchanged looks, before Rose said their fair wells and quickly made her way from the house Sophie's gloved hand clasped in her own to make sure the quiet girl was with her, "Alright!" she exclaimed before she'd even gotten in the car, ushering Sophie into the back before righting her chair, "He's a nutter! Off his head! Complete online conspiracy freak. You win!" she ranted letting out an exclamation of air as she finally threw herself into the front seat with frustration, her gaze going to Sophie in the rear view mirror the brunette looking more thoughtful than irritated. Then she'd never really seen Sophie get upset. She'd always been calm, well if not calm then tense, or sometimes spacey, but never outright angry.

She took a breath and put a smile on her face, "What're we going to do tonight? I fancy pizza? Soph? Mickey?"

Sophie nodded, "Pizza sounds good… uh… no money," she muttered going red faced.

Rose chuckled good naturedly, "Don't worry I'll cover ya," she said with a friendly wink.

"Pizzzaaa! P-p-p-pizza!" Mickey stuttered.

Rose blinked, "Or a Chinese…"

Before she can finish Mickey says pizza again before driving off in a wobbly line.

*O*O*O*

Sophie stared at Mickey as she sat next to Rose across the table from him. Something was different. Granted she didn't know the boy well. She'd seen him maybe once or twice from afar aside from today, but if you asked her. He was acting weird, but Rose who would know him best didn't seem to think anything was wrong as she chatted away to them as they awaited their food.

"Do you think I should try the hospital? Suki said they had a few jobs going in the canteen. We both could," she said to Sophie.

"And serve chips… wear a hair net?" she fingered her long thick curly hair. A small shiver running through her at the image.

Rose wrinkled her nose at the image presented of herself with her own hairnet dishing out chips, "Or maybe my A levels… what about you Soph? You got yours?"

Sophie shrugged, "I'm in Uni," she admitted.

Rose looked at her surprised for a moment. She hadn't known that, but she supposed that explained why Sophie had only been part timing at Henricks, "What ya studying?"

"Literature and creative writing," Sophie murmured fiddling with a napkin in front of her.

Before Rose could comment on her choice of majors Mickey who was grinning like a loon spoke drawing their attention once again.

"So, where did you meet this Doctor?" he asked

Rose frowned, "I'm sorry, wasn't I talking about Sophie and I's future for a second," she said snidely, wanting to talk about something normal after having her head put through the ringer by Clive. Something Sophie seemed happy to do despite being quiet, but her boyfriend? No… he just had to keep rubbing it in!

"Because, I reckon it started back at the shop, am I right? He have something to do with that?"

"No," Rose and Sophie said in near unison.

"Come on," Mickey wheedled.

"Sort of," Rose relented with a sigh.

Sophie on the other hand had started slowly chewing her lower lip as she stared hard at the Mickey that was sitting across from them. Her eye twitching a little as she shakily probed forward with her telepathy. Her head starting to pound harder almost immediately.

Her mind still strained from earlier in the day. She was leery of trying, but she had to know… had to know if something really was wrong with the boy she was really hoping was a possible friend.

"What was he doing there?" Mickey asked.

"I'm not going on about him, Mickey. I'm not, because, I know it sounds daft but… I don't think he's safe. I think he's dangerous," she murmured reluctantly.

Sophie bit her lip as she prepared for the onslaught of other minds pressing against her own without her barriers and she reached for Mickey, swearing silently to pull back immediately if it was him and do something to make up for the invasion of privacy even if he never knew…

She recoiled however when she didn't hear Mickey in there, in fact she could swear it was empty except there were thoughts… or something, but they weren't in English! It wasn't any language she could ever recall hearing either, nor anything similar to what she'd heard; not that there had been all that many. She slammed her barriers back up and gritted her teeth as her brain pounded against her skull and her eyes watered as she wondered what she could do… could she even do anything… would Rose even leave her 'boyfriend' behind if she asked if they could go somewhere without him… would the thing wearing Mickey even let them?

'Oh, bugger my head!'

"Soph? Soph? Are you alright?" Rose asked.

"Y-yeah, just uh, almost fell off my seat," she lied and cringed at how bad it was. It seemed like her brain cells had gone on holiday after the day she'd been having.

"Tell me about the Doctor sweetheart, babe, sugar, darling, sugar," Mickey rambled in quick succession.

Rose shot him a glare, "I think Soph is a bit more important right now!" she spat at him before turning her gaze back to Sophie whose pained eyes had turned to surprise, once again making the blond feel sad.

Sophie lifted lips into a lip sided smile that was half hearted, "I'm fine. Promise. Just sudden a headache,"

"I'll see if I can get you some aspirin or something," Rose decided.

Sophie shook her head, "Nah, it'll go away on its own. Always does," she said a little too brightly.

"See, she's fine, sweetheart, babe, sugar, sweetheart,"

"What are you doing that for?" Rose asked concerned, that wasn't like Mickey.

Sophie looked up as she felt a familiar guarded mind approaching. Her eyes widening slightly at seeing him. His eyes met hers and he pressed a finger of his free hand against his lips in a 'shh' gesture.

She blinked in acknowledgement, but couldn't get herself to look away in that moment. There was something different in his eyes this time as he stared at her. He looked at her like she was something new… fascinating… and a deep loneliness that stabbed at her own soul sharply in recognition… but what had changed since he'd left them this morning and told them to forget him…

She tore her gaze back to the table, her heart pounding against her ribcage. His mind was guarded against telepaths… did he… but… how long had he been in the café and could he have sensed it… she didn't know and that scared her… everyone that knew… she shuddered…

She was drawn out of her spiralling thoughts as a slightly panicked thought of Rose reached her and she slammed her barriers up tighter before glaring at Mickey. A hand shifting slowly for the cutlery knife beside her, "Let her go Mickey,"

"Your champagne?" the Doctor posing as a waiter asked Mickey. His voice drew Sophie's gaze up to him briefly and she was glad his eyes weren't focused on her this time.

"We didn't order any champagne," Mickey waved him off.

The Doctor moved over to Rose. His gaze drifting to Sophie again as he proffered the bottle at Rose Sophie glanced away from him again disconcerted by the new look in his eyes as he regarded her. 'I've done it again haven't I? Got my hopes up…'

Mickey's hand tightened around Rose's and Sophie curled her hand around the knife, ignoring the feel of the Doctor's gaze for a moment, before she felt a tugging against her mind. A soft compulsion to look up. She did reluctantly, blue meeting blue and he gazed pointedly at the knife in her hand and subtly shook his head. His gaze telling her to trust him.

She tore her gaze away with a grimace, her fears partially confirmed. She'd never met another telepath however so… she couldn't be sure what it felt like. Still she released the knife and felt the Doctor's eyes shift from her and for a moment she swore she could have felt a brief flash of approval… but that was impossible… she didn't get approval…

"Ma'am. Your champagne," he offered the bottle to Rose.

"It's not ours," Rose waved him off without looking up to focused on staring at Mickey with concern now, "Mickey what's wrong?"

"I need to find out how much you know, so where is he? Tell me and I can help you and Sophie," Mickey demanded.

"Doesn't anybody want this champagne?" the Doctor asked loudly as he stood beside Mickey again.

"Look," Mickey said with exasperation, "We didn't order i…" he trailed off as he looked up and smirked, "Ah. Gotcha," he declared.

The Doctor shook the bottle, "Don't mind me," he said cheerily as he began to open the top, "I'm just toasting the happy couple. On the house!" he exclaimed as he popped the cork and it went soaring straight at Mickey. Hitting him square in the forehead, but instead of bouncing off, it was absorbed and Mickey chewed for a moment before spitting it out.

Sophie grabbed Rose's hand and squeezed in an attempt to reassure before she stood, "Come on," she urged and Rose stumbled to her feet.

"Anyway," the Auton Mickey said before he shifted his hand into a plastic club.

Rose screamed in shock, but allowed Sophie to lead her away, her wide eyes still on Mickey… who wasn't really Mickey as the Doctor grabbed him by the head and began to pull, tearing the head from its body.

"Don't think that's going to stop me!" the head said as the body continued to flail about scaring the customers in to a panic and they began to scream.

"This way," Sophie said to Rose and tugged her over to the fire bell. Rose snapped out of it a little and nodded moving with Sophie, being closer Sophie hit the bell, whilst Rose who had a stronger voice shouted, "Everyone out! Out now!" the customers ran, "Get out! Get out! Get out!" Rose yelled a few more times before she Sophie and the Doctor fled through the kitchen and out of the back exit.

The Auton body following.

Rose and Sophie ran to the gate, Rose banging against the locked gate whilst Sophie glanced about for anything that might be useful in helping to get the chain off.

Her gaze landing on the blue box that had disappeared earlier and freezing. They were much closer this time and… it felt… warm? Behind them the Doctor calmly locked the door to the back exit with his sonic, before moving towards them. His gaze landing on Sophie as she stood stock still, staring at his Tardis. His attention was drawn to Rose as she yelled at him

"Open the gate! Use that tube thing, come on!" she demanded.

"What this? This is a sonic screwdriver," he corrected calmly.

"Use it!"

"Nah. Tell ya what, let's go in here," he nodded to his ship, before moving towards it, the Auton still banging against the door and Rose still trying to get the gate open. He paused beside Sophie, glancing at her face and was glad to not see fear in her eyes as she gazed at his ship. The telepathic thrum of her brushing against them gently this close to her. No, it was curiosity and wonder, and she hadn't even seen the inside yet.

He grasped her gloved hand, blinking at the feel of cloth instead of flesh, having briefly forgotten that her hands had been covered by the creamy coloured material in the café and registering the way she tensed briefly at the contact before relaxing.

He shrugged off his curiosity for now, he'd have time later, instead he gave her hand a squeeze to ensure she was back in the present and not with his ship, "Come on," he gestured again with his head to the door, before releasing her hand and pulling out his key to unlock the Tardis, and stepped inside, busying himself whilst he waited by setting up what he needed.

He didn't have to wait long before the quiet presence of Sophie stepped in through the door and glanced up to see her reaction and wasn't disappointed by the awe and surprise on her face. Her mouth falling into a small 'o' as she slowly turned around in a small circle to take as much in as she could.

"Oh, you're gorgeous," he heard her breathe and to his surprise the Tardis hummed in appreciation in response. He flicked his gaze back to Sophie to see she was smiling like she had understood the response the Tardis had given to her statement. It seemed his old girl was already fond of Sophie Annette Connolly. Well, it wasn't very often that a telepath apart from himself entered her, let alone someone who could hear her and understand…

Still, that left another question surrounding Sophie not only who she was but what… he itched to question her even give her a quick scan with his sonic, but… he was busy. Right yes, busy had to trace the signal…

Rose ran into the ship, "Doctor it's going to get us!" she slammed the door behind her only to stop in her tracks eyes wide, before she turned and ran back out. The Doctor snorted a small huff of laughter but continued to work.

Whilst Sophie stepped towards the door worried for the blond, only for her to come back in a moment later, "It's gonna follow us!" she shouted desperately.

"The assembled hordes of Genghis Khan couldn't get through that door, and believe me they've tried. Now, shut up a minute," he ordered and ignored the quiet almost too soft for him to hear the huff of 'rude' that came from Sophie.

Sophie slowly wandered around the console room, her hands behind her back to stop herself from touching. She just wanted to look. There was an approving hum in her mind that she assumed was the ship… a sentient ship! It was mind boggling, but she could feel 'Her?' another approving hum and a smile curled up her lips. She was warm… comforting… something she'd never had… she paused there and turned her mind away. Doing a mental 180 that had the low-level hum in her mind send out a soothing pulse that had her blinking back tears. 'Why?' why was she…

The Doctor frowned over his work, sending a quick glare to his Tardis. He could tell she was communicating with Sophie and it was distracting, especially when he could see her shifting emotions drifting across her face. 'Do you mind I'm working?' the Tardis sparked a little at him and he glared a little, but let it go…

He got up, head in hand, "You see, the arm is too simple," he said drawing their attention, "But the heads perfect. I can use it to trace the signal back to the original source," he said as he finished wiring the head in. He turned and faced them, "Right. Where do you want to start?" he asked them.

"Um… the inside's bigger than the outside?" Rose murmured uncertainly.

The Doctor grinned really that never got old, "Yes," he agreed.

"What's her name?" Sophie asked, her eyes still drifting around the console room.

The Doctor's smile softened a little… that was a first, "She's a T.A.R.D.I.S. that's Time And Relative Dimension In Space,"

Sophie shook her head, "No, I meant her name. What's she called?"

The Doctor blinked and a faint pink dusted his cheeks and he coughed, "Well, that, you'll uh, you'll have to ask her," he murmured and glanced away.

Leaving Sophie to stare at him for a moment in light confusion, only for the ships soft hum of what sounded like laughter to fill her mind and she cocked her head, "Ok, I will," she decided softly earning a choke from the Doctor, who then sent another stern look at his ship.

"Don't be cheeky," he grumbled at it without any real heat.

Rose frowned, her head spinning, "What do you mean ask the ship its name it's a ship,"

"She's sentient," the Doctor said hurriedly whilst patting a soothing hand over the console whilst Sophie winced a little not used to feeling the ships displeasure, no matter how minor and fleeting.

Rose took in a deep breath, "Right, so… it's alien then?"

"Yep,"

"Are you alien?" Rose asked the Doctor.

"Yes," the Doctor responded again, this time watching her carefully, "Is that ok?" he asked looking from Rose to Sophie and back again.

"Yes," Rose responded quickly, almost hastily.

Sophie cocked her head at him, "Yeah. It's ok," she murmured her gaze curious, "You look human?" she questioned.

"No, you look Time Lord. We came first," he corrected.

"Time Lord?" Sophie murmured, her expression still curious. He waved cheerily, wiggling his fingers at her as if saying 'that's me,'.

The Doctor was saved from having to bring up a different line of conversation, ready to move on from talk of his people, when Rose who'd gone silent, let out a soft sob drawing their attention back to her.

"That's ok," the Doctor said whilst Sophie hesitated for a moment, before she crossed the distance on light feet as the Tardis hummed a reassurance in her mind, stopping by the now seated blond. A slightly shaky hand coming to rest on the younger girl's shoulder. Hoping that this was right… she'd never really had to comfort a crying person before.

'Was it always this uncomfortable?'

The Doctor had to bite back a snort of laughter as he picked up Sophie's thought… he hadn't meant to, but he'd loosened his own mental shields when he'd recognized the feel of a telepath using their powers to reach out back in the café and it had been projected outwards… likely by accident if he was right in his observations.

"Culture shock," he carried on his lips still twitching upwards, "Happens to the best of us,"

Rose reached up and gratefully grasped Sophie's hand in her own. The touch helping her feel a little more grounded even as her heart ached, "Did they kill him? Mickey? Did they kill Mickey? Is he dead?"

The Doctor grimaced, his lingering amusement vanishing at the prospect of domestics happening on his ship… "Oh… didn't think of that," he muttered and scratched at his ear… ignoring the accusing look he was receiving from the blond that was now clutching Sophie's hand tightly, leaving her a bit off balance, and mentally floundering, was she even doing this right? 'I'm so rubbish at this.'

"He's my boyfriend. You pulled his head off. They copied him and you didn't even think?" she said, her tone turning accusing. The girl's attention was drawn to the console as movement caught their eye to see that the Auton Mickey head was heavily melting into the grating, "And now you're just going to let him melt?"

"Melt?" the Doctor parroted he turned, his eyed widening, "Oh no, no, no, no, NO!" he grumbled as he began running around the Tardis' console, sending a mental grumbled at the Tardis for not letting him know, only to receiving an annoyed mental harrumph in return and a small shock against his hand.

The Tardis shook as the engines stirred to life, "Almost there! Almost there!" the Doctor urged his old girl on, "Here we go!" he shouted as he parked the Tardis once again, before racing out the door.

"You can't go out there, it's not safe!" Rose shouted after him, before swiftly moving after him, forcing Sophie to move as well.

'Uh, I'm sure the Doctor will clean that up for you later,' she attempted to sooth the Tardis, not liking the feel of her annoyance. She preferred the gorgeous ship as happy and warm as she had been when she'd first stepped inside. She received a hum that she perceived to be the equivalent of a 'he better' the or else heavily implied, before she was completely dragged out of the ship after the Doctor.

Both girls looked around in surprise at seeing that they were no longer out the back of the café but on the Thames embankment, opposite the London Eye.

"I lost the signal," the Doctor bemoaned, "I got so close,"

"We've moved! Does it fly?" Rose asked.

"I don't think so," Sophie murmured, her hand slipping from Rose's slackened grip, and wiggled her fingers a little to get a bit of feeling back in them… Rose had really been holding on hard, "If it'd flown, wouldn't it have attracted a crowd?" she murmured. She couldn't imagine a big blue box flying through the streets being overlooked.

"Disappears there, reappears here, you wouldn't understand," the Doctor replied distracted as he paced a bit. His gaze searching.

"But if we're somewhere else, what about that headless thing? It's still on the loose," Rose asked with a small frown of concern.

"It melted with the head, are you going to witter on all night?" he muttered not wanting to be distracted whilst he was trying to find the transmitter.

Sophie felt her eye twitch. 'Is he always this rude?' she hadn't meant to project the thought anywhere, but the Tardis hummed an affirmative that didn't really surprise her.

"I'll have to tell his mother…" Rose lamented her voice trailing as she wondered just how she was going to explain that one, drawing the attention of both Sophie and the Doctor once again. Sophie allowed Rose to take her hand again, it was the least she could do, seeing as she was at a loss as to what else she could offer.

Rose scowled at the Doctor as he stared at her in question, annoyance at the continued to distraction shadowing the expression, "Mickey!" Rose exclaimed angrily, "I'll have to tell his mother he's dead, and you just went and forgot him, again,"

"He might not be," Sophie added, her voice quiet, not she wanted to draw attention to herself with Rose's angry thoughts battering at her barriers, but the words had slipped out before she really had a chance to realize she was going to say them.

"You were right! You ARE an alien!" Rose squeezed Sophie's hand gratefully in response to the brunette even as she yelled at the stupid alien. She went to turn and walk away and take Sophie with her when the Doctor spoke again.

"Look, if I did forget some kid called Mickey,"

"Yeah, he's not a kid!" Rose exclaimed a little insulted as she whirled back to face him. If he thought Mickey a kid what must he think of her.

"It's because I'm trying to save the life of every stupid ape blundering on top of this planet, alright?" he yelled. His gaze flicking to Sophie as she winced and the frown of concentration appeared on her face and she took a small step away from them both, as much as their clasped hands would allow. He internally sighed as another question was added, but he couldn't focus on it… he was still bleedin' busy.

"Alright!" Rose shouted back.

"Yes! It is!" he snapped back. His gaze flicking to Sophie again and he just couldn't help himself as he mentally reached forward to gently brush against her to get an idea of what was wrong, only to be rebuffed rather viciously by a shoddy erratic barrier that was designed to keep everything away. It was the equivalent of a 'piss off'. He was lucky that he knew what he was doing, or that probably would have hurt… but still… rude, completely. And he wasn't even sure if she knew that that was what she was doing right now… infernal curiosity of a woman.

Rose shook her head disbelievingly drawing his attention back again and Beside her Sophie relaxed cautiously as Rose's mental consciousness calmed and stopped battering at her, clambering to be heard. Something which, didn't go unnoticed by the Doctor.

"If you are an alien, then how come you sound like you're from the North?" Rose asked curiously.

"A lot of planets have a North," he harrumphed as he folded his arms and looked away from her, slightly thrown that she wasn't shouting anymore and still rather put out, by all the domestics he was having to deal with… well at least it wasn't in the Tardis, that was something.

"What's a police public call box?" Rose asked next.

The Doctor grinned, "It's a telephone box from the 1950's," he said as he patted the Tardis fondly.

Sophie nodded, "They used to detain people in them until they could get them to the station," she murmured and then flushed at the look she was receiving from Rose.

"Where'd you learn that? Your uni classes? Wouldn't think it'd be covered in Lit," Rose questioned as she observed Sophie as the brunette shuffled uncomfortable under the combined intense stares of the Doctor and Rose.

"No, not for school," she denied, "The old Warden used to lament that they weren't around anymore," she shrugged, "Couldn't threaten to lock us in for the police to take away when we were naughty," she muttered under her breath unaware that they were both close enough to hear her bitter muttering, "So, why does she look like a police box?" she asked nodding to the Tardis hoping to distract the two that were still staring at her, making her want to twitch like she'd done something naughty.

"It's a disguise," the Doctor replied after a moment, silently filing the new information away in the growing mental folder that was Sophie Annette Connolly. He'd come back to it later.

Sophie smiled it didn't seem like a good disguise to her. A big blue box… but it seemed to suit the strange man that owned her.

Rose shook her head as bemused as Sophie, "Ok. And this living plastic, what's it got against us?"

"Nothing, it loves you. You've got such a good planet. Lots of smoke and oil, plenty of toxins and dioxins in the air… perfect," he grinned at them, "Just what the Nestene Consciousness needs,"

Sophie grimaced at the name. She had a feeling that it was the big vat of lava like goop she'd seen when the Doctor touched her hand.

"It's food stock was destroyed in the war, all it's protein plants rotted, so Earth… dinner!"

"Any way of stopping it?" Rose asked.

The Doctor grinned and pulled out a tube of blue liquid from his inside jacket pocket, "Anti-plastic!"

"Anti-plastic?" Rose repeated dubious.

"Anti-plastic?" Sophie echoed, rather non-pulsed that saving the world was down to anti-plastic.

"Anti-plastic!" the Doctor confirmed, before tucking it away again, "But first I've got to find it. How can you hide something that big in a city this small?" he grumbled as he looked around again, hoping to spot something he hadn't before.

"Hold on… hide what?" Rose asked as she and Sophie watched the Doctor as he began to pace again.

"The transmitter. The Consciousness is controlling every single piece of plastic so it needs a transmitter to boost the signal,"

"What's it look like?" Rose asked again, her own eyes skirting around the darkening streets.

"Like a transmitter," the Doctor retorted.

"Ooh, so helpful really," Sophie muttered under her breath, earning another look from the Doctor, this one accompanied by an eyeroll.

He was getting to that bit! "Round and massive, slap bang in the middle of London. A huge circular metal structure… like a dish," he came to a stop in front of them, his back to the harbor, "Like a wheel. Close to where we're standing,"

Sophie and Rose almost at the exact same time glanced behind him at the London Eye that was looming high in the sky and so far, matched his description.

"It must be completely invisible," the Doctor continued oblivious.

Rose and Sophie nudged each other at the same moment knocking elbows gently, they glanced at each other, back to the Eye then back to each other and then grinned in agreement.

The Doctor blinked at them confused at their reaction. Didn't they get the seriousness? End of the world as they knew it? "What?" he asked. They nodded at something behind him. He turned around with a frown, glancing right at it without registering it. He turned back to them completely non-pulsed, "What?" he demanded again glancing from one to the other waiting for one of them to speak.

Rose shook her head at him, her gaze still on the Eye. Sophie used her hand to gesture at it.

He turned around again with a frown, before turning back to look at them, "What is it? What?" he demanded.

Sophie sighed, this was going to take all night. 'I mean really it's right bloody there big as you please!' she thought not sure whether to be amused or frustrated.

The Doctor frowned, having caught the projected thought. Eyeing her a little suspiciously. 'Does she know she's doing that?' irritated at the insult to his intelligence.

"He's kind thick, ain't he?" Rose murmured a little smug earning a glare from the irritated Time Lord.

"That or blind," Sophie muttered.

"You know, we could probably just go on without him at this point," Rose teased enjoying the moment after how he'd forgotten Mickey.

"Um… rather not face the killer mannequins without the anti-plastic thanks,"

"Humm," Rose agreed, her tongue poking out between her teeth as she smiled.

He turned around again searching again, only to stop dead and repressed the need to slap his forehead, "Oh… Fantastic!" he ended brightly whirling around to face them again no longer irritated as they were off.

He grabbed Sophie's free hand as he ran past them, tugging both into a run as Sophie's other hand was still clutched in Rose's the blond not having let go earlier.

The Doctor frowned as he once again felt her tense for a moment at the contact, before relaxing once again… it was almost like she was expecting something to happen and was relieved when it didn't… He tightened his grip on the slender appendage briefly… he was beginning to think enigma wasn't a big enough word to express just how much of a giant question mark she was!

The three hurried towards the London Eye, finally slowing to a stop once they reached the foot of the giant structure, their linked hands dropping.

"Think of it. Plastic, all over the world. Every artificial thing waiting to come to alive. The shop window dummies, the phones, the wires, the cables…"

"The Breast implants…" Rose added and Sophie scrunched her nose at the mental image that gave.

"Still, we've found the transmitter. The Consciousness must be somewhere underneath," he said and they started to look around for a possible entrance.

"What about down here?" Rose called from where she'd found a manhole. The Doctor ran over Sophie just behind him.

"Looks good to me," he agreed and the three descended. The Doctor took the lid off the top, smoke billow out at them tinted red by a light.

'Oh, that's ominous.' Sophie thought as she followed Rose down the ladder where the Doctor was waiting for them. They took off down the dimly lit corridor. He opened a door that led into another chamber and they headed down a small stairway.

The Doctor pointed at the vat of orange mass, and paused as a thought not his own drifted to him once again a panicked exasperation to it. 'I knew it! I frikkin' knew it! It just had to be the lava goop! Why can't my visions be wrong! Just once I'd like 'em to be wrong!'

He darted a surprised look at Sophie… that he hadn't been expecting… and just like normal with the woman… he didn't have the time to question her! Oh, she had to be doing this on purpose! Well, he considered again, maybe not… either way he would be sitting her down after this!

He cleared his throat and focused once again on the issue at hand, "The Nestene Consciousness, that's it, inside the vat. A living, plastic creature," he informed them.

Rose nodded, then gave him a look, "Well, then. Tip in your anti-plastic and let's go," she urged.

The Doctor frowned at her, "I'm not here to kill it. I've got to give it a chance," he said sternly.

Sophie held back a groan at that. She could see it in her minds eye now. The Doctor grabbed by two of the living plastic mannequins of doom by the vat of lava plastic… Ooh this was so going to end badly! And-And just crap! 'Why me?' she whinged to herself, because like before with Rose and the mannequin in the basement. She couldn't know and do nothing, but bugger it all… she really wasn't a… oh, just bugger.

"I seek audience with the Nestene Consciousness under peaceful contract. According to convention 15 of the Shadow Proclamation," The Doctor announced and the Consciousness wobbled about as it made a reply, "Thank you. That I might have permission to approach,"

Rose spotted Mickey's huddled form and ran to him, earning an eyeroll from the Doctor, "Oh my God! Mickey!" she gasped relieved, "It's ok! It's alright!" she told him as she squatted down next to him with a relieved smile.

"That thing down there, the liquid, Rose, it can talk!"

Rose wrinkled her nose at her boyfriend, "You're stinking!" she grumbled at him, before smiling at the Doctor, "Doctor, Sophie they kept him alive!"

Sophie nodded and gave the blond a distracted smile as she glanced around the large space, searching with her eyes.

He nodded, "Yeah, that was always a possibility. Keep him alive to maintain the copy,"

Rose glared at the Doctors back, "You knew and you never said? Can you believe that Sophie?"

Sophie nodded again, "Yep," she muttered still distracted.

"Can we keep the domestics outside, thank you?" the Doctor sniped at them whilst Rose helped Mickey to his feet.

The Doctor approached the vat, "Am I addressing the Consciousness? Thank you. If I might observe, you infiltrated this civilization by means of warped, shunt technology. So, may I suggest, with the greatest respect, that you shunt off?"

Sophie took a breath, her heart pounding in her chest. She couldn't stop the killer mannequins, from getting to the Doctor they'd overpower her and she had no weapon to speak of. She'd eyed off the axe, but well, she was more likely to get herself then the plastic waving that thing around… still she looked. Lump in her throat.

"Oh, don't give me that, it's an invasion! Plain and simple! Don't talk about constitutional rights!" the Doctor demanded and the plastic roared angrily rearing up to form a head, "I… AM…TALKING! This planet is just starting. These stupid little people have only just learnt how to walk, but they're capable of so much more. I'm asking you on their behalf - please, just go,"

"Doctor!" Rose shouted and Sophie croaked simultaneously as two Autons approached the Doctor from behind.

But they grabbed him anyway.

Sophie felt sweat cling to her skin… and she chewed her lower lip. So much for the Doctor saving himself approach. She bemoaned and her hands clenched as one of them took out the anti-plastic.

'Crap! I didn't see that! Stupid worthless visions!' Sophie gritted her teeth and slowly started to force herself to inch forward, her blood pounding in her ears.

"That was just insurance! I wasn't going to USE it," the Doctor assured the living plastic struggling to get free whilst the plastic globbered angrily at him, "I was not attacking you. I'm here to help. I'm not your enemy. I swear, I'm not... what do you mean?" he asked confused.

Sophie froze eyes wide as the doors practically blew open to reveal the Tardis.

"Oh, oh no, honestly, no! Yes, that's my ship," the Doctor attempted to explain to the plastic only for it to roar, "That's not true. I should know, I was there. I fought in the war. It wasn't my fault! I couldn't save your world! I couldn't save any of them!" he shouted.

"What's it doing?!" Rose shouted as the place began to shake.

"It's the TARDIS! The Nestene has identified its superior technology. It's terrified! It's going to the final phase. It's starting the invasion! Get out, Rose! Sophie! Just leg it! Now!" he shouted desperate. He didn't want to lose anyone else he couldn't.

Behind him Rose dialled her mom, whilst Sophie swallowed thickly, her eyes narrowing. The rest of the world white noise.

It was now or never and she refused to die to plastic she refused. She broke into a run straight at one of the mannequins holding the Doctor prisoner and barrelled into its back, knocking it in… only to slip when she tried to stop and fell over the edge. Her hand barely catching the edge of the ledge, leaving her dangling precariously.

The Doctor let out a horrified shout, and struggled against the second Auton, "Just hold on Sophie. Just hold on!" he shouted at her.

Sophie nodded, "Yeah, not planning on letting go!" her fingers digging into the cement. Her hands feeling sweaty in the confines of her gloves.

Behind them Rose hung up from her mom scared for her, "Get out Rose!" the Doctor shouted trying to break free still, "And hang on Sophie. Just keep hanging on!"

Rose frowned "Where is Sophie?" her gaze lowered and her eyes widened at seeing a set of fingers gripping onto the edge of the ledge where one less Auton was, "Oh My God!" she gasped and hurried forward ignoring Mickey who tried to cling to her.

As quickly as she could she ran to the ledge, crouching down she grabbed Sophie by the wrist tightly and began to pull and scowled as the material of her gloves shifted against her hold, "You just had to be wearing gloves," she gritted out. Ignoring whatever the Doctor was shouting. She was focused on pulling Sophie out and not falling in herself… something that would be easier if Mickey would help… but the boy was cowering by the door of the Tardis, eyes wide with terror… no help to be had there.

Sophie reached up with her other hand and grabbed the ledge and began trying to help heave herself up. Rose immediately felt the difference and managed to get Sophie's upper body up past the ledge and then Sophie was completely on the ledge with a last great pull and they were stepping away from the edge both breathing hard.

"Get out Rose, Sophie! Just get out!"

"The stairs are gone!" Rose shouted, "And we don't have the key!"

The two shared a look, before gazing back to the doctor as the stubborn Auton continued to hold the Doctor in place. The anti-plastic still in hand and held out of the Doctors reach.

They stared forward determination in their stride. Rose grabbing the arm clutching the Doctor and trying to pull it off.

Sophie hurried around it, avoiding getting to close to the edge. She didn't fancy going for another tumble. She reached up and grabbed the tube and tugged the tube of blue liquid out of the Auton's hand making it release the Doctor and turn to her.

She hurriedly threw it at the living plastic goop and the Doctor and Rose pushing the remaining Auton over the edge.

The Doctor grabbed them both and backed them away from the ledge, "Right, now we're in trouble," he said as the Consciousness began exploding as the anti-plastic killed it.

The three hurried back towards the Tardis where the cowering Mickey waited. The Doctor got the door open and ushered them all in before stepping inside himself closing the door on the dying plastic.

The fire spread throughout the chamber as the Tardis disappeared.

The moment it reappeared in an alleyway, Mickey dashed out the doors like the hounds of hell were after him, before he fell to the ground and stayed their staring at the box terrified.

Rose stepped out next a lot calmer, her phone already going to her ear as she rang her mother again, needing to know that she had escaped unharmed.

Sophie lingered by the doorway of the Tardis for a moment, just staring at the interior of the beautiful ship. She rested a hand against it smiling at the increase in the warm hum in her mind, before she sighed and stepped out into the alleyway herself just as Rose hung up from the frantic rambling of her mom, noticing the cowering Mickey she ran over to him and immediately found her legs being used as a teddy bear, "Fat lot of good you were!" she grumbled at him and got a whimper.

"Nestene Consciousness?" The Doctor said from where he stood in the doorway of the Tardis and clicked his fingers, "Easy,"

Rose smirked at him, "You were useless in there. You'd be dead if it weren't for me and Soph," she gestured at the brunette where she stood closer to the Tardis wanting to bask in the ships warmth longer.

The Doctor nodded in agreement, "Yes, I would. Thank you, both of you," he added with a pointed look at the brunette who blinked then gave him a small smile and nod, "Right then! I'll be off!" he clasped his hands together and paused staring at Sophie, "Unless, uh... I don't know... you could come with me Soph, Rose?" he added as he turned his gaze to the blond.

"Don't! He's an alien! He's a thing!" Mickey cried clutching Rose tighter.

The Doctor shot him a glare, "He's NOT invited. What do you think? You could stay here and fill your life with work and food and sleep, or you could go, uh... anywhere," he enticed them. His gaze going from Rose back to Sophie who was staring at the Tardis with longing and he couldn't be sure, but he thought the Tardis was communicating with her again. He glanced at his ship with a quirked brow. 'Just what are you up to?' he asked her only to be completely ignored.

Sophie breath had hitched in her throat at the offer surprise making her blink rapidly for a moment. She wanted to… she really wanted to. The Tardis was amazing and she was humming in her mind teasing her, enticing her, urging her to take the step. That it was worth it, worth everything. Then Rose's voice broke through the surreal possibility of that life and reality came rudely crashing down.

"Yeah, I can't... I've um... gotta go and find my mum and um... someone's gotta look after this stupid lump," she said with a small laugh.

The Doctor nodded in acceptance, disappointed, but there was Sophie and he was almost certain that she would come, "Soph?"

"Soph?" Rose echoed questioningly as the girl remained quiet.

Sophie blinked back her own disappointment and winced a little as the Tardis tried to sooth her, cajole her, "I-I-I can't. I've got uni," she said awkwardly, her gaze going to the Tardis again and that longing… although at the moment she wasn't sure if it was completely hers or the consciousness of the Tardis. She stepped back from the ship with a great reluctance.

The Doctor stared shocked. He'd been so certain that he'd get one if not both, but he'd been turned down twice… even his ship seemed sad now… and perhaps… irritated?

"Right," he said slowly, "Ok. See you around," he said in fair well. His gaze focused on Sophie right up until he closed the door. A moment later the engines revved to life and with its wheeze it slowly disappeared.

Sophie winced, feeling the loss of the Tardis in her mind… leaving her feeling bereft and cold despite her jacket and gloves. With led legs she walked over to Rose, "Um, you saved me too. So, uh, thanks… really thanks. Death by evil plastic, not the way I wanna die,"

Rose nodded and linked their arms, "You're welcome," they both sighed, "You ever feel like real life just exists to kick ya?"

Sophie nodded, "Yep," she agreed popping the 'p'. Both ignoring the now shell-shocked Mickey.

*O*O*O*

In the Tardis the Doctor tripped as he tried to move away from the console and he shot a glare at her, "Oi! Stop that!" as he pulled himself back up. He yanked his hand back from the console as she shocked him, "Why are you taking it out on me she's the one that said no! I wasn't gonna drag her on board… either of them,"

The Tardis rocked violently throwing the Doctor to the ground, "Oi!" he shouted, "How is this my fault!" he growled at the irritated Tardis sparks exploded at his feet forcing him to leap back, "Well, if you'd just talk to me… you talked to Soph. Don't try to deny…" the Doctor trailed off as he was once again rocked off his feet.

"I'm not saying I'm not going to go back!" he shouted, "Just not now! I still need to have a chat with Soph. Figure her out," another explosion, "And help… help!" he yelped and the Tardis settled slightly, but her irritation with him was pulsing throughout the entirety of the ship, "Neither of 'em are going to be able to come if you break yourself!" he snarked only to regret it as a small fire broke out over the console.

He raced for the fire extinguisher only for the Tardis to rock herself violently again and throw open the doors almost tossing him into the vortex. He gripped at the door and pulled himself back in breathing hard, "Oi! Are you trying to kill me?!" the Tardis shuddered again threateningly.

He tried to pull the door closed only for them to remain stuck, "What? What is it?" he shouted staring at his Tardis before glancing out at the time vortex.

He tried to shut the door again only for the Tardis to fight him, "What? I can't fix what's wrong if you don't talk to me?" she thrummed in exasperation at him and almost tossed him out the Tardis again, might have succeeded if he hadn't been gripping the door.

He gazed quizzically at the Tardis interior then back to the time vortex she was threatening to toss him into and back again. His face went slack at it dawned on him, "Oh… I'm thick today. Getting old… Course they said no, I didn't tell 'em about…" the Tardis calmed and the floor evened out the console stopped sparking and she hummed a little happier at him, "Humans with their structured little lives. All those obligations," he chuckled to himself, "Of course they said no. Have to be home for beans on toast,"

He closed the door and headed for the console, hurrying around it pushing buttons as he set the course. He paused before the last one, "I'm only asking one more time," he warned the Tardis, "And only cause it's my fault for forgetting. If they say no this time…" he shrugged as he trailed off. He wasn't entirely sure what he'd do about Sophie if she said no. He never could resist a mystery… well, he'd figure that out if she said no a second time… maybe entice her with just one trip… and see if he couldn't hook her in that way…

The Tardis hummed at him in an 'uh-huh. Sure' manner. He shot her a half-hearted dirty look, but pushed the button sending them back.

*O*O*O*

"Come on. Let's go," Rose said and tried to move only for Mickey not to budge, leaving him for now she nudged Sophie with their linked arms, "You wanna come back to mine again? Mum won't mind,"

Sophie nodded, "Yeah. That'd be nice,"

"Right well, help me with this lump and we'll head off," Rose muttered untwining their arms as they began trying to shift the boy into movement, "C'mon… come on…" she urged.

"Come on Mickey," Sophie muttered as she tugged at his arm… they both stopped and whirled as the wheezing sound that was starting to become familiar came from behind them.

They stared shocked as the Tardis reappeared. The soft warm hum filling Sophie's mind again. The door was opened and the Doctor popped his head out of the doorway and smiled at them, "By the way… did I mention, it travels in time?" he said with a grin, before he disappeared back inside leaving the door ajar for them.

'Please?' the hum of the Tardis seemed to mean as it pulsed through her mind again, none of her earlier disappointment in her rejection present. Sophie didn't need it this time. It'd been hard enough turning down the offer once. She doubted she would have been able to say 'no' a second even if the Tardis didn't travel in time.

Beside her Rose turned to Mickey again, "Thanks," she murmured and gave him a quick kiss to the cheek.

Mickey looked at her confused, "Thanks for what?"

"Exactly," she replied before she turned to Sophie with a wide grin. The brunette returned it. She grasped Rose's hand and together they ran for the Tardis leaving a horrified Mickey behind as he watched them disappear inside the blue box. The door clicking shut behind them.