Disclaimer: I don't own the Doctor, the TARDIS, Rose or any of the characters, planets, technology etc that appear in Doctor Who. I wish I did but who doesn't?

Chapter Summary: The Doctor and Rose discuss the mysterious events that the Doctor has started unearthing.

Chapter Four: Shops

When she found him, the Doctor was sat cross-legged on a bench, getting funny looks from people as they walked past.

'So you're not going to ask me if I've had a nice time,' Rose said.

The Doctor didn't look up from the tiny, hand held computer in his palm. 'No.' He glanced up and grinned. 'You brought food!'

'Yeah, have it,' she said, handing it over. 'It isn't really my sort of thing.'

'No,' he agreed, examining the contents and helping himself quite happily. 'I wouldn't think so.' He dug into the meal, using the metal skewer with easy confidence, not dropping a single piece, like she had done.

'What kind of trouble did you find?' she asked, sitting down next to him.

'That death,' he said, 'wasn't the first one. There have been a lot of disappearances in this city for the past three years. And there have been some violent murders. All kinds of horrific injuries to the bodies.'

'Like what?'

'Limbs missing, skin torn off of the bodies, bones and internal organs missing. Not just missing, but removed with surgical precision. Some of them weren't exactly dead when found.'

Rose grimaced. 'Like that man?'

'Exactly.' He shook his head. 'Nine hundred years of time and space and I still don't understand the full scale of horror the beings of this universe are capable of.' He sounded more sad than angry.

'What are we going to do?' she asked a moment later. 'Do you think it's connected to the distress signal?'

'Seems like too much of a coincidence, doesn't it?' he said, cheering up a bit. 'I think we should assume for the moment that the two events are related. In my experience, these things usually are.'

'What's the plan, then?'

'Haven't a clue.'

Rose thought that his good spirits seemed mostly returned and said, 'Nothing new there, then. What are we going to do in absence of a plan?'

'Well,' he said thoughtfully, 'the signal came from Circle Three. Not entirely sure where, but it's somewhere in here. If we noticed a distress signal, chances are someone else did, too. What we need to do is find someone who is most likely to have detected the signal and known what it was.'

'Where do you suggest we do that?'

'No idea.'

Rose thought for a few moments and then said, 'I went into a computer shop on the fourth level. Think someone in there might know something?'

The Doctor considered this and said approvingly, 'Maybe, maybe not, but it's worth a try. Good thinking. Let's make our way up there.'

Rose motioned at the computer in his hand. 'Where did you get that?'

The Doctor cleared his throat and said hastily, 'Let's get going, Rose.'

'You stole it, didn't you?' she asked, catching him up.

He avoided looking at her. 'Which way is quickest? Ah, that way!' He charged off towards an elevator. Rose shook her head and followed him, running to keep up. He jumped into the elevator and she dove in just before the doors closed.

'Didn't you learn anything from the last time we got on different elevators?' she demanded.

He shrugged. 'Never seen you move so fast, though.' He gave her a cheeky grin and then pressed one of the floor numbers.

Rose opened her mouth to reply and realised he was leading her away from the previous subject. 'Well?' she said. 'Did you?'

He glanced down at the computer in his hand and tucked it away in one of his many pockets. 'I have no idea what you're talking about,' he said with great dignity.

Rose shook her head, but gave up, seeing that she wasn't going to win this one.

'So, we're going to try this computer place?' she asked.

'Like you said, it's possible someone detected something. Maybe we can then find out who sent the signal.'

'Great.' She smiled, looking pleased. 'Things have been too quiet recently, right?'

He thought about this then nodded.

'You get cranky when things are too quiet,' she said.

He scowled. 'I do not get cranky.'

'Yeah you do.'

'No I don't.'

'Yeah you do.'

He sniffed. 'I don't like the quiet life,' he said eventually.

Rose laughed.

The elevator stopped.

'Here we are then,' he said, stepping out and taking a good look around. 'Where was this shop?'

'This way.' She couldn't suppress a small feeling of smugness as she led him through the crowd, motioning for him to keep up with. For once, she wasn't having to run after him. She grinned over her shoulder at him and was rewarded with his usual cheerful smile in return.

The computer shop was massive. The Doctor actually looked impressed as he took a look around, casually.

'Excuse me,' he said to one of the staff, a young human woman wearing a bright purple t-shirt with the name of the shop emblazed across it.

She gave him a bright smile. 'Yes, sir? Can I help you?'

'I was just wondering – who is in charge here?'

Rose was surprised. He usually poked around casually, slowly drawing answers out of people before they even realised what he was doing.

'Mistress Liana,' the girl replied. 'Why? Are you one of her visitors?'

'Yes,' the Doctor said, flashing a piece of psychic paper at her. 'Here to visit her.'

'I see.' The girl gave him a slightly suspicious look, no longer so friendly. 'Well, Mistress Liana is here at the moment, so you're in luck, sir. Would you like me to find her for you?'

'You do that,' the Doctor said pleasantly. The girl ducked her head quickly and with a muttering of, 'Yes sir, right away sir,' she scurried away.

'This Liana must have powerful friends,' the Doctor observed.

'She seemed scared,' Rose commented.

'The powerful people in this city are people to be scared of,' he confirmed. 'I'm not surprised. What does surprise me is – if this Liana has powerful friends she probably is powerful. What is a powerful woman doing running a shop?'

'Maybe she wants something to do,' Rose suggested. 'Power can be boring, I guess. You might take something on as a hobby.'

'Maybe,' he agreed. 'There's more fun and interesting things you can do, rather than running a shop.'

Rose smiled. 'Aren't there just.'

They exchanged glances and sniggered.

The girl returned and, very nervously, said, 'Mistress Liana sends her apologies, she was not expecting any visitors today and requests that you wait, if that is not too much trouble. She will not be long.'

'Of course,' the Doctor said.

The girl looked relieved, ducked her head again and once again hurried away.

The Doctor and Rose exchanged glances again, puzzled looks this time.

'I suppose we just wait,' the Doctor said, picking up some peculiar contraption that Rose had no idea what it was, and examined it with obvious interest.

'All right,' she said. 'You going to tell me what something of these things do?'

'If you like,' he said dubiously. 'Might bore you, though.'

'One thing you never are, Doctor,' Rose said quite calmly, 'is boring.'

Hope that was enjoyable! Update will hopefully be in the next couple of days! Thanks to everyone who reviewed, they are greatly appreciated!