A/N: Okay, that last chapter was mean. Plus the alerting service is down yet again so I'm just posting whenever I get the reviews to be honest, lol. So I wuv all of you who reviewed! (Dances about) Everyone else who didn't...feel guilty. (Grits teeth and growls)
Chapter 8 – My Missing Time Lord
It was 9:00am exactly before Rose got bored of waiting.
She felt completely rejuvenated after her and the Doctor's previous night together, if not slightly wandering where he was. Maybe they'd just kept him in after his scan for his physiotherapy session? She knew he had one early that morning. It would probably be finished before breakfast was over, and he'd most likely be hungry.
11:00am, and he still hadn't appeared.
Breakfast finished at 10:30am, so she'd managed to sneak out a few pieces of toast to keep him going until lunch at 1:00pm.
1:00pm.
No Doctor.
Truly worried now, she began to think hard. Would he have gone back to their bedroom to sleep off the sedation? She reasoned this out to be most likely, so she skipped lunch in favour of walking back to their bedroom.
She opened the door, and found nothing.
She bit her lip, jogging over to the bed in the hopes of finding a note, but it was pristine and spotless from when the cleaners had come in that morning. Confused, she was about to go out the door and check the physiotherapy room, when she noticed something.
His trenchcoat was gone from the chair he'd discarded it onto last night.
Her heart raced. What? This wasn't right. Had he just left without saying?
She checked the drawers in which his clothes had occupied before, but to her horror – nothing was in there.
What was going on here?!
Reception was deserted, bar Exxon the small blue man operating the computer behind the desk as per usual.
Rose marched straight up to the desk like a woman on the warpath, slamming her fist down onto the wood and making Exxon jump in surprise.
"Y-Y-Yes Ma'am, w-what can I do for you?" he stuttered out, terrified.
"I wanna know what the hell you've done with my boyfriend!"
"S-Sorry ma'am?"
"What did you do with him?! Why's all his stuff gone?! I DEMAND TO KNOW WHERE HE IS RIGHT NOW!!!" she screamed, almost in tears of rage.
"W-What's his n-name?" he stuttered out again. It was apparent he'd possibly never been addressed like this before.
"The Doctor," she replied in a levelled voice, managing to calm herself down a bit.
Exxon immediately began to type 'the doctor' into his little computer database, fear making him slightly anxious about whether the computer was going to choose to crash at this precise moment in time or not.
He looked surprised.
"He doesn't exist."
Rose blinked, startled. "…I'm sorry?"
Exxon gestured at the screen of the computer, and Rose leant forward to take a look at the database.
'No records found.'
Rose blinked again. "What?"
"There's no record of 'the Doctor' ever being here. Is it possible you got his name wrong? Does he go by any other name?"
"…This isn't…it's not…what the hell?! If this is some kind of sick, twisted joke, you'd better bloody stop now because I ain't findin' this funny!"
"No joke, ma'am. I'm sorry; the Doctor doesn't exist. What's your name? Perhaps we'd better get you back to the ward you were just in…"
"Are you sayin' I'm crazy?" Rose demanded, slamming her fist back on the table for a second time, sending pens everywhere. "You saw him! You spoke to him! You booked us in!"
Exxon looked scared. "I'm sorry ma'am, I don't remember."
"But…you took us…Mr. Hollins! Where's Mr. Hollins? I demand to see him, now!"
"I'm sorry, he's on a business trip and won't be back for some time. What is your name?"
Rose staggered backwards, her face a mixture of horror and shock. He'd just…disappeared? And the manager too? What the hell was going on? Had the receptionist's memory been wiped? Why hadn't hers? Where had the Doctor gone? Who took him? Was he safe? A million and one questions flew through her head, but no one was on hand to answer her.
"I…I have to go," she blurted out, ignoring the receptionist as he called after her, tearing it to their room. She would grab her things and go back to the TARDIS. Maybe the Doctor was there. It was a last resort, but it was her last hope. Something seriously wasn't right, and perhaps they were all in danger.
But when she got back to the TARDIS, she found no Doctor waiting to greet her. The door was half unlocked, obviously the Doctor had been here and done his unlocking, but hadn't been able to get inside. She uttered her command word and unlocked the door, hands trembling. There the TARDIS console was, standing alive and proud in a whirl of beeps, clicks and the smooth, ever present humming providing backing vocals for such a bizarre choir.
Like nothing was wrong.
She checked on Rory, and even he was burbling and giggling like he normally did, managing to say, "mama!" as she lifted him up and kissed his forehead.
She just didn't know what was going on.
She put Rory back to bed and traipsed through the TARDIS, deep in thought. Her feet were taking her where they liked, but she did need a walk to calm herself down.
Perhaps she hadn't checked one place?
But no. It was impossible. She had checked everywhere, and he had been nowhere. But this was totally stupid…it was like someone had tried to erase him from existence, and hadn't done a very good job of it. For a start she could still remember him, plus the TARDIS was still here.
As she snapped out of her thought trail back to the real world, she realised that her feet had taken her straight to his bedroom. No, hang on. Their bedroom.
She let a tear go as she stepped further in, within reaching distance of the bed cover. She picked it up and held it to her chest, burying her head into it and using it to wipe her tears dry. It still smelt of him new him and old him. She couldn't smell any other scents – she had unconsciously been searching for the scent of his other bodies, but then realised he must change the cover every so often. Or she was sleeping in a nine hundred year old duvet every night. Eww.
"Oh Doctor," she whispered to the ceiling, still rocking to and fro with his cover. "Where are you?"
A/N: Chapter 9 – Has This Author Gone Gothic?
But, as he had said – she'd refused to put the Time Vortex back. If she just put it back straight away this time, there would be no need for loads of complications. She'd just absorb the Time Vortex, go get him, bring him back into the TARDIS and zoom off straight away again. Happy, happy, happy.
Mind set, Rose Tyler extended out her arm to the console, ready to lift it open – when a sudden, extremely familiar voice from behind her interrupted her movements.
"Hello, Rose."
