The TARDIS materialised and the three stepped out Rose carrying a large rucksack. "Do you seriously need all of that stuff?" Rita laughed watching her friend struggle with the bag.

"Yeah I do" She groaned heaving it onto her back. The Doctor laughed and they followed Rose to her mothers flat. The sun was surprisingly shining and it was quite warm.

"Doctor you might want to brace yourself" Rita laughed as Rose opened the door announcing that they were back. The Doctor looked at her raising a brow as Jackie Tyler ran out the kitchen beaming at them.

"Oh, I don't know why you bother with that phone. You never use it!"

"Shut up, come here!" Rose opened her arms for her mother who accepted the embrace hugging her daughter tightly.

"Oh, I love you!" She smiled squeezing Rose possibly to death.

"I love you!" Rose beamed.

"I love you so much!" Jackie said back, the Doctor attempted to make his way past but was pulled back by Jackie "Oh no, you don't. Come here!" She pulled the Doctor by his face and gave him a kiss, something he was most definitely not expecting or liking. "Oh, you lovely big fella! Oh, you're all mine." She squeezed him. He stood there stuck, trying to escape.

"Just, just, just put me down!" He begged. She let him go and he walked off a look of horror on his face. Rita laughed and Jackie looked at her. Rita held out her hands in defence and cried out: "Just a hug will do!" Jackie laughed and hugged the brunette. She then let her go and Rita followed standing beside the Doctor.

Rose removed the bag from her back and placed it in her mothers arms. "I've got loads of washing for you. And I got you this." She reached into her pocket and brought out the gift she had brought for her mother. "It's from the market on this asteroid bazaar. It's made of, er," She tried to think. "What's it called?" She asked over her shoulder.

"Bazoolium." The Doctor reminded her and she nodded turning back to her mother.

"Bazoolium. When it gets cold, yeah, it means it's going to rain. When it's hot, it's going to be sunny. You can use it to tell the weather." She grinned.

"I've got a surprise for you and all." Jackie grinned back and Rose's face fell a little.

"Oh, I get her bazoolium, she doesn't even say thanks." She said over her shoulder to Rita and the Doctor.

"Guess who's coming to visit?" Jackie beamed looking at her watch. "You're just in time. He'll be here at ten past. Who do you think it is?" She asked.

"I don't know." Rose shrugged.

"Oh go on, guess." Jackie pressed on.

"No, I hate guessing. Just tell me."

"It's your granddad. Granddad Prentice. He's on his way any minute, Right, cup of tea!" Jackie walked into the kitchen and Rose looked at her mother confused.

"She's gone mad." She muttered and the Doctor and Rita walked up standing next to Rose.

"Tell me something new."

"Rude" Rita pointed at him. "And still not ginger, you know you always could just dye your hair, never thought of that?" She placed a hand to her chin. "Would look a little odd though" She chuckled and the Doctor rolled his eyes.

Rose continued to frown staring into the kitchen. "Granddad Prentice, that's her dad. But he died, like, ten years ago." She widened her eyes. "Oh, my God. She's lost it. Mum? What you just said about granddad." She walked off.

"Dye my hair? Really" He raised a brow at Rita.

"Oh shut up" She playfully swatted his arm walking into the kitchen after Rose.

Jackie looked at the watch on her arm again then smiled up at Rose. "Any second now."

Rose looked at her mum sadly. "But he passed away. His heart gave out. Do you remember that?" She spoke softly not wanting to hurt her mother's feelings.

Jackie nodded. "Of Course I do."

"Then how can he come back?" Rose asked her.

"Why don't you ask him yourself? Ten past. Here he comes." She smiled. A human like shape then walked through the wall and stood next to Jackie.

"Here we are, then. Dad, say hello to Rose. Ain't she grown?" Rita, Rose and the Doctor looked like they had just seen a ghost. (which they Ironically had sort of)

The three ran out the block of flats and look around seeing the 'ghosts' everywhere.

"They're everywhere!" the Doctor said in horror frantically looking around him. Rose then saw one of the 'ghosts' behind the Doctor and tried to warn him to get out of the way. "Doctor, look out!" She shouted as one of them passed through him, something that looked very uncomfortable. The people at the power estate didn't look alarmed or scared, they sort of welcomed the ghosts.

"They haven't got long. Midday shift only lasts a couple of minutes. They're about to fade." Jackie informed them as the Doctor shook the horrible feeling off.

"What do you mean, shift? Since when did ghosts have shifts? Since when did shifts have ghosts? What's going on?" He asked looking at Jackie with his brows furrowed in confusion.

"Oh, he's not happy when I know more than him, is he?"

"Bit of the opposite with Rita if you think about it" Rose mumbled scratching her neck, Rita looked at her frowning. "What?"

"But no one's running or screaming or freaking out." The Doctor interrupted the conversation pointing out what was exactly going on.

Jackie looked at him. "Why should we? Here we go. Twelve minutes past." She informed them and the ghosts disappeared just like that.

They headed back upstairs following the Doctor trying to find out as much as possible he turned on the TV and began to scroll through the channels. He flicked through the channels frowning as every channel had some sort of mentioning of the 'ghosts' whether it be the News, soap operas or the weather they all mentioned the 'ghosts' "It's all over the world." He muttered switching the channel to another with Eastenders then playing showing Peggy arguing with a 'ghost'.

Clearly having enough the Doctor turned the TV off and threw down the remote. "When did it start?" He asked Jackie.

"Well, first of all, Peggy heard this noise in the cellar, so she goes down-" Jackie began to explain not understanding his question.

"No, I mean worldwide." He made it clearer and she then explained: "Oh. That was about two months ago. Just happened. Woke up one morning, and there they all were. Ghosts, everywhere. We all ran round screaming and that. Whole planet was panicking." She then pointed to the Doctor. "No sign of you, thank you very much. Then it sort of sank in. It took us time to realise that we're lucky."

Rose then looked up. "What makes you think it's granddad?"

"It just feels like him. There's that smell, those old cigarettes. Can't you smell it?" She asked her daughter who shook her head at her sadly. "I wish I could, mum, but I can't."

"You've got to make an effort. You've got to want it, sweetheart."

"The more you want it, the stronger it gets."

"Sort of, yeah." Jackie nodded at his explanation.

"Like a psychic link. Of course, you want your old dad to be alive, but you're wishing him into existence. The ghosts are using that to pull themselves in."

"You're spoiling it." Her voice cracked a little.

"I'm sorry, Jackie, but there's no smell, there's no cigarettes. Just a memory."

"But if they're not ghosts, what are they then?" Rose asked.

"Yeah, but they're human! You can see them. They look human." Jackie protested.

"She's got a point. I mean, they're all sort of blurred, but they're definitely people."

"They look it, but are they really?" Rita asked the Doctor more than anyone, trying to hint to him a little that they were not people.  

"Maybe, maybe not. They're pressing themselves into the surface of the world. But a footprint doesn't look like a boot."

"Come on then what's the plan?" Rita asked as the Doctor jumped up. "Oh wait you don't do plan" She followed him out.

"All in good time Rita, for now back to the TARDIS " She nodded following him out.

  ---------------------------------------------------------------- 

"According to the paper, they've elected a ghost as MP for Leeds." Rose walked in with a paper in hand. Rita looked up from the jump seat and couldn't help herself from grinning at the scene about to unfold before her. "Now don't tell me you're going to sit back and do nothing."

The Doctor then popped up from below the console with a backpack and a something looking like a hosepipe in his hand. "Who you gonna to call?" He asked in a ridiculous voice.

Rose replied cheering a little. "Ghostbusters!" and started to laugh.

"I ain't afraid of no ghosts." Then ran outside the TARDIS. Rita almost fell over laughing as she walked out following him with Rose behind her doing exactly the same, having to hold on to the railing to stop themselves from collapsing onto the ground.

The Doctor placed three metal orange cones in a triangle. "When's the next shift?"

"Quarter to. But don't go causing trouble. What's that lot do?" Jackie nodded to the cones.

"Triangulates their point of origin."

"Triangulates in a triangle" Rita chuckled a little.

"I don't suppose it's the Gelth?" Rose guessed.

"Nah. They were just coming through one little rift. This lot are transposing themselves over the whole planet. Like tracing paper."

"Tracing paper but not very good at tracing," Rita muttered and the Doctor nodded attaching a wire to each of the cones.

"You're always doing this. Reducing it to science. Why can't it be real? Just think of it, though. All the people we've lost. Our families coming back home. Don't you think it's beautiful?" She asked the Doctor and he simply answered: "I think it's horrific." Her face fell a little and the Doctor ran in the TARDIS with a coil of wire then plugging it into the TARDIS. "Rose, give us a hand!"

She ran inside and Rita followed then Jackie. "As soon as the cones activate if that line goes into the red, press that button there." He pointed to one on the console. He then brought out the sonic screwdriver. "If it doesn't stop setting fifteen B. Hold it against the port, eight seconds and stop." He handed her the sonic screen and she repeated the instructions to him to make sure she understood correctly. "If it goes into the blue, activate the deep scan on the left"

She held up her hand and leant over the TARDIS. "Hang on a minute, I know. Push that one. She pointed."

He gritted his teeth a little. "Close."

She pointed to another. "That one?"

"Now you've just killed us."

"How lovely" Rita chuckled and Rose laughed as well pointing to another button. "Er, that one?"

The Doctor beamed at her. "Yeah! Now, what've we got. Two minutes to go?" He ran out. "Rita I need you to help with this!"

"Coming!" She shouted running out.

"When I say so press this button" he pointed to a button on a small box.

"Got it that button there" she nodded.

"Anything you can tell me?" He asked.

She hummed in thought for a moment. "Oh they won't try and shoot you"

"Shoot me?" He asked. "Who?"

"Secrets you have to wait and see" she grinned as the Doctor used the hose like objects on the cones.

"What's the line doing?" The Doctor shouted over his shoulder to Rose in the TARDIS

"It's all right. It's holding!" She replied moving to the left a little to shout in the direction of the doors.

"You even look like him?" Jackie blurted out sounding a little upset.

"How do you mean?" Rose asked not looking up from the monitor and watching the Doctor and Rita watching the 'ghost' "I suppose I do, yeah." She nodded agreeing with her mother.

"You've changed so much." Jackie softly spoke.

Rose looked up a little annoyed at what her mother was talking about. "For the better."

"I suppose," Jackie muttered.

"Mum, I used to work in a shop." She said harsher than she intended it to sound.

"I've worked in shops. What's wrong with that?"

"No, I didn't mean that."

"I know what you meant. What happens when I'm gone?" Jackie asked her daughter.

Rose then looked at her mother over her shoulder. "Don't talk like that."

"No, but really." She continued asking again. "When I'm dead and buried, you won't have any reason to come back home. What happens then?"

"I don't know." Rose shrugged finding the topic a little unsettling she turned back to the monitor trying to ignore the last few moments.

"Do you think you'll ever settle down?"

"The Doctor never will, so I can't. I'll just keep on travelling." Rose replied.

"And what about Rita? Who even is she Rose you said a friend when I last saw you, but that was it. Who is she?" Jackie asked.

"She's a friend, a really good one as well, it's confusing and you wouldn't understand"

"At least try to explain." Jackie continued.

Rose blew out a sigh then explained to her mother. "Rita comes from a parallel world in the future, in her world this" she looked around the TARDIS. "This wasn't real and was a made up TV show that she used to watch, the Doctor and I found her on a Dalek ship." Jackie looked at her daughter horrified thinking Rita was some kind of Dalek after what Rose had told her about them the last time. "She's not a Dalek mum!" Rose loudly exclaimed. "And the Doctor promised to find out how she got on the ship."

"And her family? Those two?" Jackie asked.

"She hasn't got any." Rose sighed. "And I don't know."

"And you?"

"The way he looks at her sometimes says it all, sure I do mum but I just don't know about him."

Jackie sighed then thought back to her comment earlier. "But you'll keep on changing. And in forty years time, fifty, there'll be this woman, this strange woman, walking through the marketplace on some planet a billion miles from Earth. But she's not Rose Tyler. Not anymore. She's not even human."

"Here we go! Rita press that button now" The Doctor ordered, she complied pressing the button then standing back beside the Doctor as the cones activated.

"The scanner's working. It says delta one six." Rose shouted from inside the TARDIS.

"Come on then, you beauty!" The Doctor laughed.

"When you know what it is you won't be thinking that" Rita muttered under her breath so the Doctor wouldn't hear even with his 'superior Time Lord DNA'.

A 'ghost' then appeared and a buzzing line going from each of the cones creating a triangle. The Doctor placed on what looked like normal cardboard 3D glasses. "Rita, could you press that button on the control box?" He pointed. She nodded and pressed it. "Also turn the dial a little to the right."

She nodded again following the instructions given. "Don't like that much, do you?"

"Looks like it's having a little dance" Rita chuckled watching the 'ghost'

"Who are you? Where are you coming from?" The Doctor asked knowing he wasn't going to get a response. "Whoa!" The 'ghost' became a little restless trying to grab Rita and get out. The Doctor pulled her back by her shoulders before it touched her. "That's more like it! Not so friendly now, are you?" He grinned then looked down "You okay?"  He asked the brunette still holding on to her shoulder.

"Good, yeah" she nodded. The ghost then disappeared.

"What happened!?" Rose shouted.

"They turned it off, got the signal though, help me with this Rita" he started to collect the equipment bringing it back into the TARDIS, she helped with it then remembered the control box almost leaving it behind then ran out collected it and bringing it in.

"I said so!" The Doctor ran around the TARDIS pressing buttons and flipping levers. "Those ghosts have been forced into existence from one specific point, and I can track down the source. Allons y!" He flipped a final lever, him and Rose fell back onto te jump seat and Rita squealed getting knocked as well, however, falling right on top of the Doctor. She squealed again jumping up just as fast as she fell down her cheeks becoming hot just like the rest of her body, full of embarrassment, yet possibly something else.

The Doctor then jumped up from the seat as well rushing around the TARDIS. "I like that. Allons-y." He thought aloud. "I should say allons-y more often. Allons-y. Watch out, Rose Tyler, Rita Stone. Allons-y. And then, it would be really brilliant if I met someone called Alonso because then I could say, allons-y, Alonso, every time." He rambled on then stopped looking at Rose. "You're staring at me."

"My mum's still on board." Her eyes glanced in the direction of her mother who looked pretty pissed. The Doctors face turned to true horror and Rita had to bite her lip to stop herself from laughing.

"If we end up on Mars, I'm going to kill you." Jackie hissed at him.

The Doctor turned to the scanner looking through as the TARDIS dematerialised and was held armed troops coming in surrounding it.

"Oh, well, there goes the advantage of surprise. Still, cuts to the chase. Rose, stay in here, look after Jackie. Come on Rita"

"I'm not looking after my mum." Rose protested standing in front of the TARDIS doors.

"Well, you brought her."

"Why does Rita get to go?"

"I was kidnapped!" Jackie shouted.

"Doctor, they've got guns." Rose told him.

"And I haven't. Which makes me the better person, don't you think? They can shoot me dead, but the moral high ground is mine." He grinned. "Plus, Rita said they wouldn't shoot so she gets to go," he walked out Rita following and then shut the TARDIS door so they couldn't look inside. The Doctor held up his hands and Rita stood just behind him a little diagonally. A woman on high heels obviously the leader of the operation ran in beaming. "Oh! Oh, how marvellous. Oh, very good. Superb. Happy day." She began to clap and the Doctor frowned slightly not expecting the reaction even when Rita told him he wasn't getting shot.

"Told you" she muttered. The soldiers then joined it clapping along with their leader.

The Doctor signalled for them to stop forcing on a smile. "Er, thanks. Nice to meet you. I'm the Doctor, this is Rita" she nodded after being introduced.

"Oh, I should say. Hurray!" She started to clap again.

"You, you've heard of me, then?" He asked.

"Well of course we have. And I have to say, if it wasn't for you, none of us would be here. The Doctor, Rita Stone and the Tardis." Rita frowned a little. How do they know of me? They started to applause the two again and the Doctor signalled for it to stop yet again after blinking at what thy just said.

"And you are?" He asked her.

"Oh, plenty of time for that." She waved her hand.

"Yvonne Hartman" Rita spat her name. "Head of this place, never liked her or it, except for a friend who I know." Yvonne looked a little shocked that Rita knew her name. "Sorry me knowing that not on your precious records?" She shot a smug grin.

"No it's not" she admitted then turned to the Doctor. "But according to the records, you're not one for travelling alone. The Doctor and his companion. That's a pattern, isn't it, right? There's no point hiding anything. Not from us. So where is she?"

"But there is Rita?" He frowned gesturing to the brunette beside him.

"But she's not your companion though" the woman laughed and Rita raised a brow. 

"Yes. Sorry. Good point." The Doctor nodded not wanting to argue. They did have guns. "She's just a bit shy, that's all." The Doctor played along then reached inside the TARDIS after slightly opening the door and grabbed the first person there.

"But here she is, Rose Tyler." He pulled out Jackie instead and he sighed a little not trying to show it. "Hmm. She's not the best I've ever had. Bit too blonde. Not too steady on her pins. A lot of that." He moved his hands about gesturing to a mouth opening and closing meaning that she talked too much. "Mind you not as much as Rita"

"Watch it" Rita narrowed her eyes.

"And just last week Rose Tyler here, she stared into the heart of the Time Vortex and aged fifty-seven years. But she'll do." He sighed again.

"I'm forty." Jackie protested.

"That was also ages ago" Rita pipped up. "Before you met me"

"Deluded. Bless." He put on a sad smiled. "Not Rita she's telling the truth." He added. "I'll have to trade her in. Do you need anyone?" He asked. "She's very good at tea. Well, I say very good, I mean not bad. Well, I say not bad." He made a disgusted face. "Anyway, lead on. Allons-y. But not too fast. Her ankle's going."

"I'll show you where my ankle's going." Jackie hissed at the Doctor.

"It was only a matter of time until you found us, and at last you've made it. I'd like to welcome you, Doctor. Welcome to Torchwood." She opened the doors to a massive warehouse fulls of jeeps, crates and a spaceship.

"That's a Jathar Sunglider." The Doctor Identified.

"Came down to Earth off the Shetland Islands ten years ago." She informed.

"What, did it crash?" He asked.

"They shot it." Rita clenched her jaw clearly not liking Yvonne. "Guess who followed orders to shoot on Christmas day" she glared at Yvonne.

"It violated our airspace. Then we stripped it bare." She protested. "Now, if you'd like to come with me. The Torchwood Institute has a motto. If it's alien, it's ours. Anything that comes from the sky, we strip it down and we use it for the good of the British Empire."

"For the good of the what?" Jackie frowned.

"The British Empire." Yvonne repeated.

"There isn't a British Empire."

"Not yet." A soldier then walked up to Yvonne with a large gun. "Ah, excuse me. Now, if you wouldn't mind." He handed her the gun and she showed it to the two. "Do you recognise this, Doctor?"

"That's a particle gun." He told them.

"Good, isn't it? Took us eight years to get it to work." She beamed proudly.

"It's the twenty-first century. You can't have particle guns." He simply told her.

"We must defend our border against the alien. Thank you, Sebastian, isn't it?" She asked trying to remember.

"Yes, Ma'am."

"Thank you, Sebastian." He nodded then walked off. "I think it's very important to know everyone by name. Torchwood is a very modern organisation. People skills. That's what it's all about these days. I'm a people person." The Doctor took the opportunity to ask: "Have you got anyone called Alonso?"

She frowned at the odd question. "No, I don't think so. Is that important?"

"To him everything's important" the Doctor grinned at her comment.

"No, I suppose not sorry Rita. What was your name?" He looked at Yvonne.

"Yvonne. Yvonne Hartman."

The Doctor picked up a black object looking like a gear but much larger with a handle on top. "Ah, yes. Now, we're rather fond of these. The Magnaclamp. Found in a spaceship buried at the base of Mount Snowdon. Attach this to an object and it cancels the mass. I could use it to lift two tonnes of weight with a single hand. That's an imperial ton, by the way. Torchwood refuses to go metric."

"I can see why you don't like them" he whispered into Rita's ear causing her to chuckle a little.

"I could do with that to carry the shopping." Jackie thought aloud and Yvonne looked at her like she was mad. "All these devices are for Torchwood's benefit, not the general public's."

"So, what about these ghosts?" He asked.

"Ah yes, the ghosts. They're er what you might call a side effect." She shrugged.

"Of what?"

"All in good time, Doctor. There is an itinerary, trust me." They heard a truck and turned noticing the TARDIS on the back.

"Oi! Where are you taking that?" Jackie snapped at Yvonne watching the truck.

"If it's alien, it's ours."

"You'll never get inside it." The Doctor promised.

Yvonne hummed in response and went to head off. The Doctor noticed Rose slightly opening the doors to see the Doctor outside. He gave her a little nod before the truck drove off.

The Doctor caught up walking down a hall following Yvonne. "All those times I've been on Earth, I've never heard of you."

"But of course not. You're the enemy. You're actually named in the Torchwood Foundation Charter of 1879 as an enemy of the Crown." Yvonne informed him.

"1879. That was called Torchwood, that house in Scotland." He looked at Rita who nodded remembering the house.

"That's right. Where you encountered Queen Victoria and the werewolf." Yvonne told him.

"Hold on" Rita jumped in. "I was never exiled. The Queen never told me to leave, her words were to somehow help him" she shrugged not understanding.

"Yes you are correct, still a Dame" Yvonne nodded.

"Don't call me one though, especially you."

"I think he makes half of it up and forces them to go along," Jackie said to Yvonne.

"Her Majesty created the Torchwood Institute with the express intention of keeping Britain great, and fighting the alien horde." She explained continuing down the hall.

"But if I'm the enemy, does that mean that I'm a prisoner?" The Doctor asked.

She nodded. "Oh yes. But we'll make you perfectly comfortable. And there is so much you can teach us. Starting with this." She opened the doors and Rita groaned at the sight of a huge golden almost brown sphere floating in the air.

"Now, what do you make of that?" Yvonne asked. The Doctor and Rita slowly stepped towards it.

"Don't like it at all" Rita stated crossing her arms.

"You must be the Doctor and Rita Stone. Rajesh Singh. It's an honour, sir, ma'am." A scientist held out his hands which the Doctor ignored not looking away from the sphere. Rita looked at the man and shook her head. 

"Yeah." The Doctor stared at it.

Jackie looked at it. "What is that thing?"

Yvonne shrugged. "We got no idea."

"But what's wrong with it?"

"What makes you think there's something wrong with it?" Rajesh asked Jackie.

"Don't know. It just feels weird."

"Well, the sphere has that effect on everyone. Makes you want to run and hide, like it's forbidden." The Doctor walked up the steps and placed on his 3D glasses looking at the sphere closer.

"We tried analysing it using every device imaginable but according to our instruments, the sphere doesn't exist. It weighs nothing, it doesn't age. No heat, no radiation, and has no atomic mass."

Jackie protested not believing what he had said. "But I can see it."

"Fascinating, isn't it? It upsets people because it gives off nothing. It is absent."

"Upsets me because of something else. You know about the running and hiding? That's me right now" Rita told them.

"Well, Doctor?" Yvonne asked for his thoughts.

"This is a Void Ship." He stated. "Rita definitely has a right to want to run and hide"

"And what is that?" Yvonne crossed her arms waiting for an explication.

"Well, it's impossible for starters. I always thought it was just a theory, but it's a vessel designed to exist outside time and space, travelling through the Void."

"And what's the Void?"

"The space between dimensions. There's all sorts of realities around us, different dimensions, billions of parallel universes all stacked up against each other. The Void is the space in between, containing absolutely nothing. Imagine that. Nothing. No light, no dark, no up, no down, no life, no time. Without end. My people called it the Void. The Eternals call it the Howling. But some people call it Hell." He finished removing the 3D glasses from his face and placing them in his pocket and moving to sit on the bottom step.

"But someone built the sphere. What for? Why go there?" Rajesh asked.

"To explore? To escape? You could sit inside that thing and eternity would pass you by. The Big Bang, end of the Universe, start of the next, wouldn't even touch the sides. You'd exist outside the whole of creation."

"You see, we were right. There is something inside it." Yvonne beamed happily.

"Oh, yes." The Doctor stood up.

"So how do we get in there?"

"We don't! We send that thing back into Hell." He pointed at it. "How did it get here in the first place?" He looked at Yvonne.

"Well, that's how it all started. The sphere came through into this world, and the ghosts followed in its wake."

"Show me." He demanded walking out and turning left. Rita rolled her eyes.

"No, Doctor," Yvonne called to him, he then turned in the opposite direction heading right.

"He does that sometimes," Rita told Yvonne then ran to catch up with the Doctor.

Only the second part of Army of Ghosts and then two parts of Doomsday left. I'm excited to end and see Martha but I'm gonna miss Rose and Rita together :(