Perfume

Chapter Nine: Mystery

By Rhondda Lake

Rose ran back to her room, her heart pounding in her chest. Her pounding heartbeat was a combination of joy, that the Doctor was more himself; fear, that he was so afraid; and good old fashioned 'gah'. Oh, but the last few minutes had been the most erotic in her life. She was still blushing.

She found Jack before she even got to her room. He was marching down the hall with long, purposeful strides, a gun in his hand.

"Hold it right there. What do you think you're doing? You are not going shoot the Doctor." Rose blocked his way. She winced when she saw the angry red marks on Jack's neck; no doubt they'd be bruises in an hour.

"Tranquilizers." Jack held up the gun to show Rose the dart in the chamber. "I'm not going to kill him, just tuck him in minus the bedtime story."

"Well you aren't gonna shoot him with anything. You have no idea what those things will do to his system. Besides, he's better. The Doctor knows who he is and recognized me and the TARDIS. He told me to check on you, and then have the two of us barricade him in the infirmary." Rose did not like this plan, but she felt obligated to deliver the message.

Jack looked surprised. "He is feeling better then. Good. I like breathing. It's a hobby I'd like to continue." He touched the red marks on his neck before starting to march with purpose past her and down the hall.

She followed after him, her shorter legs working faster. "I not gonna let you shoot him."

"If he's lucid I don't plan on it. But I am going to do as he says and barricade the infirmary door." Jack took two lefts and a right past a metal circle stairway.

"You see, here's where I see a problem with this plan. Do you know how to fly the TARDIS?"

Jack turned to look at her. "Nope, and I don't fancy learning with a crash and burn landing. So we have to help the Doctor. We also can't let him roam the TARDIS when he could turn and attack us at any moment."

"Attack you. He didn't attack me," Rose muttered, but by then Jack was too far ahead to reply if he even heard.

There was a window in the door, and they could see the Doctor bent over a microscope.

Without a word Jack pointed a rod at the door and a small laser beam burst forth. There was the stink of burnt metal, ozone and a wisp of smoke. He'd welded the door to the frame next to the handle.

"Any luck?" Jack called through the door.

"Not particularly. Something's sending my amygdale and hypothalamus into overdrive. Whatever it is appears to also be suppressing advanced cortex functioning. I'm thinking clearly at the moment, but I'm not certain how long this clarity will last." His words were in that clipped and impatient tone that warned others to back off.

"Do you have any idea what he just said?" Rose looked hopefully at Jack.

"A bit. Something's jacked up the hormones responsible for emotional and sexual responses while inhibiting his higher brain functions, such as logic and reason."

"Sounds like someone slipped him a mickey. How much did you two drink earlier?" Rose raised an eyebrow.

"Ha, ha," Jack mocked flatly. "No, it's something else. I don't think it's affecting us, whatever it is."

"Let's look at this one step at a time. When did you first notice him acting off?" Rose twisted a lock of hair around her finger. "Did it just start today?"

"No. It started a few days ago I think. Would you have gambled on him swimming in the Singing Sea with us? Not that I didn't appreciate the lovely view, but he's more uptight than a Victorian Vicar when it comes to personal modesty. When he really let's his hair down he might take off the jacket. He's all armoured up in his clothes."

Rose nodded. She had been surprised on Angel's Playground as well. But they had fun, and they were all so relaxed, there was no reason to question it. Besides, like Jack, she had enjoyed the view of the Doctor in his swim trunks. It had featured in her dreams that night.

"Okay, so it was at least since then. But he'd been there before, so it couldn't have been anything there, right?" Rose chewed on her bottom lip as she thought. "Unless it was something in the air that wasn't present before. We don't know when he had been there before. Couple hundred or thousand years something new could have developed, yeah?"

"Unless whatever it is worked damn fast I'd rule out that planet as well. We were only there for a half hour before he agreed to go swimming. So it had to be from before then," Jack reasoned aloud.

"But he didn't even leave the TARDIS on Janushia Two, so it couldn't have been anything from there. Maybe something from the swamp planet. Some bug or something we dragged in with us." Rose peered through the window in the infirmary door.

The Doctor was scribbling on a clipboard and looking over a computer screen.

"A very distinct possibility. If the exterior atmospheric sensors were out, maybe the interior were wonky as well. I'm going to go run some scans on the interior atmospherics from the Consol Room. Will you be okay here?" Jack looked at the welded spot on the door. "He's pretty much locked in tight."

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just go do what you can. I'm feeling useless anyway." She pushed on Jack's arm, urging him to go.

She rested her forehead against the infirmary door and pressed her hand against the cool metal. She wished she could do more to help.