Chapter 4 – The Investigation
"Doctor!" Rose called as she rushed through the doors of the Tardis. "What-"
"Shut the doors!" The Doctor waved at the door as he rushed around the console, getting the Tardis ready to travel.
Rose pulled them shut, but not without complaint, "What are-"
"What was the date?" The Doctor interrupted.
Rose frowned. "What date?" There was a bite to her voice.
"When was it? The date your aunt Eva disappeared." He finally bothered to face her.
"You just took off-"
His urgency momentarily vanished, and he flashed her a brilliant smile. "Knew you'd catch up."
Rose wasn't entirely satisfied with his answer; however, his smile drew a blush that warmed her face.
"What was the date then?" He asked once more, oblivious to Rose's frustration.
She narrowed her brow. "August. It was August 1, 1986," She grumbled. "That was the date Mum and Dad were gonna get married."
"August 1, 1986, it is!" The Doctor jumped into action, pressing buttons and pulling levers.
While it was good to see him flying around the console, she was still hurt. He'd nearly left her. This wasn't like him. Sure, there was that time he'd gone off to the hospital without her. However, that had been different. He'd at least stopped when she'd called after him. Not to mention he'd given her a Tardis key. That was certainly something. This time he'd just run off.
The Doctor interrupted her internal grumbling. "I'm setting the Tardis for dawn. That will give us a bit of time to look around the scene without interfering with events."
This Doctor was so different… but so much the same. She watched as he grew more and more energetic as he rushed around the console. He lifted his leg and used his heel to press a button to his far right. Yep. Much more energetic. And fit. She couldn't help but admire his bum as he leant over along the console to pull a lever on his left. Oh yes. Very fit. The corners of her mouth lifted as she recalled the wink he'd given her on the Sycorax ship. Oh yes, most definitely sexy.
She was forced to divert her gaze when he spun around and hurried towards her in three long strides. He grasped her by the arms. His face had become deadly serious once more.
"Weeping Angels Rose!" He gave her a shake, and his dark brown eyes glittered.
Chocolate, Rose thought. Creamy milk chocolate. She swallowed.
She was startled out of her musings when he suddenly released her, spun around, and then waved his hands in the air before slapping them on his knees. "Haven't come across weeping angels since my 8th incarnation."
"They're some sort of statue then. Time travelling statue?" Rose asked.
"Yes… well no. They don't time travel…well…" He looked into the air and contemplated that thought. His eyebrows rose, and his mouth gave a tight considering frown before making a popping noise.
Rose couldn't help but notice that his Doctor certainly had an expressive mouth. She blushed once more.
"I suppose they might be able to." He continued. "Being stone they'd make it through the vortex just fine." He nodded and then rubbed his chin with his hand.
Rose shivered. That hand was still creepy.
"Yep. Stone… all that energy," he muttered more to himself than to her as he scratched his sideburn. He then spun around once more to face her. "They're powerful. Yeah. Really powerful.
"What do you mean?"
"They feed off time energy," he explained. All you humans," he wiggled his finger at her as though she made up the entirety of the human race, "you're like a feast, so unsuspecting. Moment by moment, day by day radiating small amounts of chronon energy. Each second, each half a second, each half of a half of a second. They feed on your years in one big bite" He bit at the air in demonstration.
Rose instinctively stepped back. His teeth looked rather dangerous, though the action sent an odd sort of thrill up her spine.
"One little touch." He leant forward and gave her a tap on the shoulder. "That's it! All it takes." He promptly turned back around, headed back to the console, and began to pace. It wasn't long before he turned to face her once more, his expression was dead serious, and Rose was sure it was mingled with fear. That certainly wasn't good.
"Though, if they're really deteriorated," he warned. "If they're starving, they can get desperate. Really desperate." His eyes met hers. "A snap of the neck means instant regeneration!" The Doctor's voice had lowered, and he rubbed the back of his neck.
"So, that's what got Eva?" Rose asked as she rubbed her own neck.
The Doctor paced in a circle, studying the floor. Rose's hand twitched when he ran his hand through his hair.
"Haven't heard of a case where they sent someone into the future." He ran his other hand down the side of his face, drawing Rose's attention to his profile. "Though…" He looked up to Rose. "It's definitely possible. Yes, yes, yes, definitely possible, just unlikely."
He then tapped the corner of his eye. "Their weakness is also their greatest defence mechanism. They can't move, not one bit so long as they're being watched. But if you blink… if you blink at all, you're in danger."
Rose blinked. "What do you mean?"
"Well, they're quantum locked if they're being watched.
"They can't move at all if you're looking at them?"
"Yep."
"So, you just have to keep your eyes on them?"
"Right. But if you look away, if you blink, that's all it'll take." He moved forward swiftly and looked her in the eye. "Don't blink Rose, not even once." He then added as though it was an afterthought, "Of course, if there's more than one, you're in a bit of trouble and better hope they don't send you back to the dark ages."
Rose shuddered and scratched at her scalp as though she could still feel the fleas. She had no desire to revisit that particular period. She'd spent three days in filthy 1131 Wales while the Doctor 'helped' some bloke named Galfridus translate Merlin's diary. She'd been surprised to learn that Merlin hadn't been a wizard or some sort of prophet. He'd been an early time traveller who'd left his diary behind when he went on what he thought would be a brief trip into the future. He'd ended up falling into a deep fissure near 1742 Cardiff. The Doctor's 'help' guaranteed that Galfridus' "Prophecies of Merlin" wouldn't encourage someone to go meddling with time. She scratched her head again.
"So that statue that Eva ran into in the cemetery was more than likely one of these Weeping Angels?" She asked.
He nodded. The Tardis shook slightly and the sound of it materialising ended their discussion.
The Doctor hurried over to the monitor.
Rose followed and moved in next to him. "Yep. That's Willow Hills." She turned to him. "Mum said Eva left the house sometime around 12:30 or 1:00 in the morning. She'd be already gone by now."
The Doctor nodded. "We'll have to be careful. Really careful. That angel could still be out there. Remember, don't blink."
Rose nodded.
"Wink if you see one and back away very carefully." He demonstrated dramatically, winking with one eye and then the other.
Rose couldn't help but laugh.
The Doctor's face lightened, and they both burst into giggles. It was then she realised it, "You giggle!" She pointed at him.
The Doctor immediately stopped, and his expression turned serious. "I do NOT giggle."
Rose nodded and began a full out laugh. "Yes, you do." She drew a circle in the air near his mouth. "You giggled."
The corner of his lip twitched. Then, in one dramatic movement, he rolled his eyes, turned, and strode towards the doors. He gestured for her to follow, but before Rose could get far, he turned around and smiled brilliantly and winked. He then disappeared through the doors of the Tardis.
"That's it." Rose nodded to two small monuments. "Grandpa and Grandma Tyler."
The pair stood there in silence staring at the headstones.
As Rose continued to study the grave before her, the Doctor's gaze moved around the cemetery. He hadn't seen anything out of place yet. He was drawn from his canvas of the area by a sharp intake of breath. He glanced down to Rose and then followed her gaze to an empty bit of grass off to the side.
"It's weird," Rose said in a soft, strained voice. "Seeing it like that. Knowing that's where he'll be."
The Doctor tentatively wrapped his arm around her and pulled her closer.
"I mean… my dad is out there… alive." She nodded to the road and then leant her head into the Doctor's chest.
He gave her a squeeze and pulled her close to his side so he could rest his chin on the top of her head. As he did so, he took the time to scan the area off to the side once more. There were very few monuments resembling any sort of statue, which made things easier. His attention was once again drawn down to the young woman as she pulled on his jacket and then stepped away.
"I suppose we best try to find where she disappeared from."
He nodded. "Come on then. Eva was headed back to the cab right?"
Rose nodded. "That's what mum said from what Eva told her."
"Right then." He took her hand. "We'll head this way towards the road." He then pulled her along a worn path of grass.
As they walked, they turned in slow circles, each scanning the surrounding area, careful not to have their back facing away in one direction for too long.
"Ah! There we are." The Doctor picked up his pace and pulled Rose along towards a bag laying in the middle of the path. As they neared it, they could see a white coating of powder all around it.
The Doctor knelt down and studied the bag, but didn't touch it. Rose crouched beside him.
"What's all that?" Rose gestured to the white powder on the grass.
"I'm certain, fairly certain… No! Don't!" The Doctor shouted as he attempted to pull Rose's hand back. Unfortunately, he was too late. She'd touched the powder and disappeared in a blink. "No… no… no! He frantically patted his hands in the powder, hoping it might take him wherever she'd gone, but nothing happened. Not a thing. "No!" He cried out once more.
A feminine scream from somewhere behind him cut through his cry. He spun around and witnessed Rose falling from thin air just ten feet or so in the direction from which they'd come.
"Rose!" He hurried forward.
Rose groaned. "Good Lord! What happened?" She rubbed her hip as she ungraciously tried to stand.
"Are you okay?" The Doctor helped steady her and then drew out his screwdriver and began scanning her.
"Fine… fine I think." She dusted off her pants. "What happened?"
The Doctor must have been satisfied with whatever he'd found with his sonic screwdriver, so he put it back in his pocket. "You touched the dust. Don't touch the angel dust."
Rose looked up at him slightly confused at first and then burst out into laughter.
"What?" The Doctor wasn't amused.
"Angel dust."
"You could have been sent into the past or into the future to who knows where!"
Rose just giggled. "That really would have been a trip."
The Doctor's concern suddenly dropped, and he rolled his eyes. "Right. Phencyclidine."
"What! It's funny. Angel Dust. PCP."
The Doctor shook his head and strode back to where the dust was scattered on the grass. "Just don't touch it," he scolded her.
He then knelt down next to it and…
"What are you doing?" Rose pulled at his arm back as he reached towards the dust. "You said not to touch it!"
"Doesn't affect me."
Rose reluctantly released his arm and watched as the Doctor wiggled his finger in it. She cringed when he lifted it to his mouth and gave a lick. It was both disgusting and slightly alluring.
The Doctor made a face and nodded. "Definitely. Most definitely a Weeping Angel. All that dust and the aftertaste. Yuck!" He stuck his tongue out and smacked his mouth a few times as though it might relieve the bad taste in his mouth. He wiped his finger off in a dust-free patch of grass. "Chronon energy." He looked to Rose. "One of the more distasteful, literally distasteful, parts of regeneration. There's always that aftertaste of energy." He wrinkled his nose and shuddered.
Rose tried not to laugh. "What do you mean?"
"Chronon energy, time energy, it's what makes regeneration possible for Time Lords. It's what sustains us." He then nodded to the dust, "and Weeping Angels."
"So, are you like related then?" Rose asked. She was only partly joking.
"No." It was clear he was offended.
Rose grimaced. "Sorry." She then changed the subject. "So, what do you think? Is it still here do you think?"
The Doctor shook his head as he scanned the surrounding area. "Not the one that touched Eva that's for sure." He nodded down at the white powder. "The amount of energy in this dust isn't enough to regenerate the angel. It's done for. Dead. Demolished. Destroyed." Apparently finished with that particular line of conversation, he reached over, picked up the purse, stood, and began rifling around inside.
Rose watched as he pulled out various items, holding them up for her to see.
"Lipstick, pen, keys…" He jingled the keys around a bit before dropping them back in the purse. He fished around a bit more and pulled out, "a tam…" his eyes widened as he realised what the long white paper-wrapped cylindrical object in his hand was and quickly dropped it back into the purse.
Rose couldn't help but laugh as his cheeks reddened. "Serves you right. Is there any particular reason you're going through Eva's purse?"
"Not really." The Doctor pulled out a black leather wallet, opened it, examined Eva's ID, and then handed it to Rose. "Well, we know it's hers." He peered back into the purse, and his eyes lit up. "Oh! I love those. Love them! Love them! Love them." He reached in and pulled out what appeared to be Skittles that had been left in the bottom of Eva's purse for too long. A few of them looked like they'd melted at one point.
Rose grimaced as the Doctor popped the lot into his mouth. "That's disgusting. Really disgusting."
The Doctor ignored her as he looked around to see if he'd missed any at the bottom of the purse.
Irritated, Rose snatched it from the Doctor.
"Hey!" He complained.
Rose stuffed her aunt's wallet back into the bag. "Weeping Angels," She reminded him.
He rolled his eyes and then looked around. "I think there was just one and," he nodded to the dusty spot on the grass, "this one isn't going anywhere."
Rose watched as the Doctor reach in and fumble around inside his pockets.
"Where is it… where is it?" He muttered as he continued to fish around. He eventually gave up on the outside pockets and opened his jacket to rummage through the inside. "Where… ah ha!"
Rose was only vaguely surprised when he pulled out what looked like a mini hand vacuum. He then proceeded to clean the grass. "What? What are you doing?"
"Can't have someone stumbling upon all of this," the Doctor explained. "And… I want to run some tests." He continued to vacuum.
Rose shook her head in amusement and then sat down on a nearby bench.
When the Doctor was satisfied that he'd cleaned up most of what had been left of the angel, he dropped the little vacuum back in his inner pocket. "That should do it." He then pointed into the distance, somewhere over Rose's shoulder. "There."
"What?" Rose turned.
He nodded towards a large mausoleum. "We'll go back a few hours and park the Tardis behind that mausoleum and wait. We should be able to see what happened from there and not worry about coming into contact with your aunt or the Weeping Angel."
Rose nodded. She momentarily considered the idea of keeping the angel from touching her aunt; however, with the experience she'd had with her father, she knew better.
Rose wrapped her arms around herself. "Lord, it's August, and it's cold. Why's it so cold?" She shivered.
The Doctor glanced down at her and removed his jacket.
"Thanks." She smiled up at him as he placed it over her shoulders. "It's August, and it feels like back at the estate." Wondering just how long they'd been there, she glanced down at the Doctor's wrist. He wasn't wearing a watch. She briefly wondered where her Doctor's… no… the Doctor's watch was. She looked up to him. "What time is it anyway?" It felt like they'd been there for hours and she briefly wondered if something had changed in the timeline and Eva had just decided not to stop at the cemetery.
"1:30," the Doctor told her as he scanned the graveyard. The angel was out there. Somewhere.
Rose groaned. They'd been there for an hour.
It was then the Doctor heard it, the sound of an engine. "Enter Eva," the Doctor whispered and grinned at Rose.
Rose smiled and peered into the darkness, eagerly awaiting the first glimpse of her aunt.
Rose didn't have to wait long. There she was. Even though Rose knew she shouldn't laugh, she had a hard time trying not to giggle. Eva was weaving back and forth along the path towards the gravesite, grumbling something about never drinking martinis again. Eva was most definitely intoxicated.
It was Rose's turn to grumble an hour later. "Is she asleep?" Rose nodded to her aunt who was still kneeling before the graves.
The Doctor shrugged. They really couldn't tell from where they were watching. He supposed it was possible.
"What could she possibly have to say that would take that long?" Rose pushed her hands into the pockets of the Doctor's coat. "Ewww." Rose cringed when she felt her hand squish into something soft and moist. "Ewww," Rose whined as she pulled her hand out. She gave it a sniff. "You've got a rotten banana in there."
The Doctor looked down at Rose's hand; it was covered in brown goo. He sniffed the air. Yep, banana. "Wondered where that went."
Rose looked at him in disbelief and began trying to wipe it off in the grass. "How long has it been in there?" Part of her didn't want to know.
"Well, I think it was in 1968. My 4th regeneration."
Rose cringed. "1968? How could it be in there since 1968?"
The Doctor shrugged. "Might have been a few years earlier, I modified those pockets back in 1967. Keeps things fresh… well relatively." He nodded to the smashed banana bits in the grass. "I think it worked pretty well considering. I've regenerated quite a few times since then."
Rose shook her head in disbelief, but couldn't contain the smile pulling at her lips. "You're nutters."
The Doctor grinned. "Never claimed to be otherwise." He then turned back to where Eva was still kneeling. "I suppose- Oh, there we are… there we are," the Doctor's voice lowered.
"What?" Rose looked towards where Eva still kneeled.
The Doctor nodded in her direction. "Just there. Just in the distance."
Rose scanned the area in front of Eva, and her eyes widened when they focused on a statue of an angel. It hadn't been there before. "That's it!"
He nodded.
"Why isn't it moving towards her?" She asked.
"Remember. It can't, not when we're looking at it." The Doctor turned to her, just for a moment.
"So how are we going to watch what happened?" Rose asked.
"We're not… not exactly." The Doctor explained.
They both turned back to where the angel had been. It had moved closer.
"What are we going to do then?" Rose asked.
"I just need to take a look when it gets closer," the Doctor explained, "get a better idea. I want to see if it looks different in some way."
"What do you mean different?"
"We'll the more time energy a Weeping Angel consumes, the newer the statue appears. I suspect that any statue that would send someone forward in time would be rather fit. They'd need loads of chronon energy to send someone forward and still survive."
"Fit?"
"Yeah." The Doctor glanced at Rose. "New and shiny."
"Okay…" Rose blinked.
The Doctor turned back to watch Eva. "She's up!" the Doctor jumped up from where he'd been sitting next to Rose. He then glanced in the direction the angel would come. It had moved again.
Rose stuck her head out to see what was going on. She let out a gasp. "It's standing where my father is going to be buried!"
The Doctor nodded and squeezed Rose's hand.
"So," Rose asked a bit later, "it's stalling because we're here?"
"Yeah. We were here the first time… we've always been here." He ran his gaze along the path and to the point where Eva would come in contact with the angel. "It would have gotten to her much more quickly. Who knows what would have happened otherwise."
Rose looked up to him. "So, it is a fixed point."
He nodded. They both turned and looked back towards Eva. They were just in time to see her turn and look behind her. They could just make out the confused expression on her face upon seeing a statue that hadn't been there before.
"Look away Rose." The Doctor said softly.
"What?" Rose was shocked that the Doctor would request such a thing. "It will get… oh." Rose looked away.
They locked eyes until they heard Eva's cry in the night. They quickly turned to see what had happened. Both the Doctor and Rose's eyes widened as they watched Eva fall forward, her arms out, and her hands around the statue's neck.
The Doctor had been wrong.
"It can't be!" He exclaimed, his voice louder than he intended. He watched in amazement as the angel moved, just briefly, before falling backwards under Eva's weight. In a blink, the statue burst into a cloud of dust and then, Eva, along with most of the cloud, disappeared completely.
The very last evidence of Rose's aunt was a loud cry, and Rose was sure she'd heard Eva say her mother's name.
Rose turned to the Doctor. "I thought you said it couldn't move if we were looking at it."
The Doctor was still staring at the spot where Eva and the angel had been. All that remained was the powdered stone still swirling in the air. "That shouldn't have been possible," he muttered in disbelief.
"Doctor?" Rose questioned.
The Doctor blinked and then looked to Rose. "Well obviously, it's possible, just… it's just… How?" His eyes widened. "Wow!" He suddenly spun around in a circle before turning to face Rose.
"Did you see that Rose? Did you see that?" The Doctor's excitement was growing, and a mad smile was returning to his face. "It moved. That angel moved! That was fantastic! That angel was perfect! Like finely polished marble!" The Doctor grasped onto Rose's arms and looked down at her with a brilliant smile, awaiting her response.
Rose didn't smile. She didn't think it was fantastic. "Doctor," she said in a worried tone, "could that angel have travelled with her? Travelled into the future? Could it be at the Powell Estate?"
The Doctor's eyes widened. He hadn't thought of that.