Touch The Sky: Doctor Who/Studio C [Book 3]

The Stolen Earth (Part 1)

The Stolen Earth

(Originally: 04x12, 'The Stolen Earth'; aired June 28, 2008)

A/N: Hello friends, it's been a while. An entire quarter, in fact. Boy, a heck of a lot has changed (I'm single! I moved to a different dorm room! I'm a dorm monitor! I'm actually decently fit! I'm occasionally a somewhat functional adult!). I'm nearly finished with this Stolen Earth/Journey's End arc, but since I can really only write on the weekends for the most part, they may be slow in working their way up here (but certainly quicker than three whole months, whoops). Anyways, the entire CTW universe is... almost finished. Once we finish these next two episodes, there will be a few smaller arcs left and then one big, penultimate rewrite of The End of Time... and that's it. So buckle up and enjoy the ride!

London, England—8:13 am

The TARDIS had barely landed on a quiet street in London when the Doctor flung open the doors, the other three close behind. The Time Lord's save-the-universe run pulled up short as he glanced around.

"It's fine..." he said, shooting glances around like he expected the world to erupt into flames any moment. "Everything's fine. Nothing's wrong, it's all fine!" A milkman had pulled to a stop a little ways up the street and the Doctor lifted his voice to call to him. "'Scuse me! What day is it?"

"Saturday!" the milkman called back.

"Saturday," the Doctor repeated, just to his companions. "Good. Good, I like Saturdays."

"So... I just met Rose Tyler. Again," Matt put in.

"Again?" Donna asked.

Mallory waved a hand. "Long story."

"Yeah," the Doctor said.

"But she's locked away in a parallel world," Matt pointed out.

"Exactly. If she can cross from her parallel world to your parallel world, then that means the walls of the universe are breaking down. Which puts everything in danger, everything! But how?"

After a moment, Matt shook his head. "You know," he said after a beat, "if I die in an alternate timeline one more time, it's going to become a meme." Mallory flinched at his words and he grimaced. "Sorry, Mal," he said, then glanced back at the Doctor.

For a moment, the Time Lord pulled a pair of 3D glasses from his pocket and pushed them onto his face. His eyes widening almost imperceptibly, the Doctor turned on his heel and jogged the few strides toward the TARDIS, Donna close behind.

Mallory, on the other hand, caught Matt's arm and spun away from the ship, her head cocked. "Can you hear that?"

"Hear what?"

"Sounds like a child..." she murmured. "Crying... or screaming." Without another word, she strode off to the sound of the TARDIS door swinging shut. Matt shot a glance back at the blue box before following.

Down the street, the milkman looked over in puzzlement as the Earth shook slightly, rattling the milk bottles together. A shingle fell off the roof of the house next to him.

Inside the ship, the Doctor fiddled with the controls for a long moment before Donna spoke. "Thing is, Doctor... No matter what's happening, and I'm... I'm sure it's bad, I get that, but... Rose is coming back. Isn't that good?"

Finally, the Time Lord looked up, eyes crinkling from a tiny smile. "Yeah."

Before another word could be spoken, the TARDIS lurched, sending them both grappling for the console to stay on their feet. "What the hell was that?" Donna asked when it stopped.