Thanks for reviewing everyone! You guys are great!

I'm back from Ireland so this chapter is coming from my house and not a random interent cafe. I had a good time - thanks!

Hope you enjoy!

(Aren't cliff hangers nasty?)

A Recognised Loss

Part Twelve

Rose and the Doctor heard the scream – they both recognised it instantly as it shot through their bodies and into their souls.

'Venetia!' they both shouted as they began to sprint in the direction of the scream.

Venetia looked up into the eyes of the stranger, it was an old man in his fifties at least, he was hunched over, his dead thin grey hair hanging forward over his shoulder and flapping in the wind caressing Venetias' face. Every time the hair touched her a new wave of fear would shoot through her followed by a violent set of tremors. The man had grey, dull eyes that scared Venetia – they were hollow, lifeless and they looked her up and down. He smiled a toothless grin, his tongue passing over his empty gums in a taunting manner

'Well what do we have here?' he asked clutching Venetia by her shoulders, the mans voice was hoarse and crackled like the sound of burning timber – his voice chilled Venetia right through to her soul. Her mouth opened on a scream but it never came – the man pressed his grubby finger against her soft lips – he wore gloves, the kind that had the fingertips cut off. His hunched figure was covered by a dull grey coat, stained and torn from years of wear. His grey beard was ferocious and wild – Venetia was almost frozen with fear. She ignored the mans fingers on her lips and let out another soul wrenching scream as her fingers dug into her teddy.

As the screams became louder and more terrifying the Doctor and Rose were beginning to fear for their daughters' safety more and more. Each scream sent a new wave of fear through them as they began to imagine the thousands of terrible things that could happen to a little girl alone in the darkened streets of London. Each time Rose closed her eyes she could see Venetia smiling, laughing, playing – then followed by a news bulletins of various children kidnapped, missing, found dead – she was not going to let her daughter become another statistic. With that thought in her mind Rose began to sprint along side the Doctor. Rose never knew she could run this fast – well she'd never had a reason to, but now she did – she was running to save the most important thing in the world, her daughter.

Venetia was frozen with fear as the mans bad breath lingered in her face, his fingers dug into her shoulders and she winced with pain. She was almost frozen with fear but then she remembered the stories that her mum and dad had told her – how they laughed in the face of danger, how they fought with their last breaths and how they always came out alive. Knowing that she was their daughter, in so many ways she was prepared to fight back - she wasn't one to go down without a fight – she kicked the man in the shins – hard - he yelped and let go of her, Venetia took this chance and began to frantically run away from him back along the bridge to where she came from. She could hear the foot steps pounding along behind her as the old man gave a chase, she clutched onto Winnie as she ran and ran – her legs already tired from the running that happened earlier.

The Doctor and Rose knew they were getting close, they could hear the screams becoming louder and louder and the icy atmosphere around the bridge continued to increase. The Doctor and Rose froze in their tracks as they saw a frantic little girl running down a road, blonde curls flailing along behind her and a Winnie the Pooh flying at her side. Behind the girl an old man ran reaching out trying to grab her into his lecherous grasp. Roses' scream pierced the air causing the man to stop in his tracks, the little girl continued to run forward

'Mummy! Daddy!' she screamed as she hurled herself in their direction.

'Venetia!' Rose screamed as she ran towards her daughter, her arms open. Venetia threw herself into her mothers arms, her arms tightly clamped around her neck. Rose buried her face in Venetia's hair, her tears falling fast and freely

'Oh my baby' she whispered as she clung to her. The Doctor stalked forwards towards the man

'She alright?' he called over his shoulder – his voice deadly serious

Rose knelt down in front of her, grasping her shoulders wanting to shake her

'Why did you run off? Why would you do something so stupid?' she begged her voice cracking as her tears fell, her daughter stared back wide eyed and frightened – Rose pulled her into her arms again

'Are you alight? Sweetheart, are you okay?' she asked into Venetia's hair. The little girl clutched at her mother again and nodded slowly

The Doctor was swiftly approaching his prey – initially the man had frozen in place at the sight of the Doctors furious eyes staring out of the darkness – he had then turned to flee. The Doctor had chased after him before grabbing the back of his coat and pulling him to the floor, he now stood over him, his boots beside the mans head.

'What the hell' he began as booted foot collided with the mans stomach 'do you think you are doing to my daughter'

The man winced as the Doctor kicked him

'I just…. saw her and tried to …. help her' the man began to weakly lie. The Doctor grabbed the man by his neck and pulled him to his feet – he stared down into the mans face, his eyes wild and darkened with anger, his face was twisted into an angry glare and his eyes were narrowed. He was very tempted to strangle the man right this second but he managed to refrain – instead his fingers rested around the mans throat, an unspoken threat.

'If I so much as see you even looking at her again – even thinking of her and I swear they will never find your body after I'm finished with you' he spat into the mans face. He could feel the man trembling under his fingers but the Doctor didn't care – he wanted the man to feel as scared as Venetia must have done. Just as he was about to finish his threat the man started and kicked the Doctor – the Doctor stumbled backwards as the man began to run off, the Doctor turned to give a chase but something stopped him – a little voice calling out of the darkness

'Daddy?' it asked sounding so small and vulnerable. He turned around and saw his baby girl shaking in her mothers arms, the Doctor jogged back over to them. He gently stroked a piece of hair off her face

'You okay?' he asked softly looking into the little girls wide brown eyes, she nodded slowly before throwing one arm around his neck, the Doctor moved forward clutching his daughter to her. There they stood – the three off them clinging onto one another trying to block out the fears of moments before.

As they began to walk down the street back home the Doctor noticed Venetia shivering – Rose was carrying her, holding her close but it didn't seem to be keeping the chills at bay. He stopped and pulled his coat of and gently draped it over Rose's shoulder falling forwards over Venetia – she gratefully sunk into the depths of the coat savouring the warmth.

Hope you liked. Please review?

More bad news - I'm going to Cornwall at 3am tomorrow so I won't be able to update for a while. The house we are staying in doesn't have interent access and the family I'm going with don't seem the type to let me disappear for hours to visit interent cafes. So I don't think I'm going to be able to update again until Saturday the 12th of August - sorry!