FFYAOA: Chapter Five

This did not look good. Rose inched closer to Jack, his mere proximity making her feel better — even if only a touch. She swallowed, nervousness making her feel sick to her stomach.

"Hey guys — can we talk about this?" Jack asked, smiling despite the situation. "I'm sure this is all just a mix-up."

"There is no mix-up."

Rose looked from the four goons with guns to the man that had stepped into the doorway. He didn't look any friendlier than the firing squad, she noted with a rising sense of dread. Slightly pudgy, balding — he looked like the stereotypical tyrant to her.

"We didn't do anything," Jack offered with a shrug. "I figure you have to have mistaken us for someone else."

The man's lips pressed into a thin smile. "It matters not if you did anything that you consider to be worthy of note. You arrived here with a person of interest."

The Doctor, of course, Rose's brain supplied to her as she lingered over their captor's words.

"And it is him that we are interested in speaking with," their captor continued, though the way he said 'speaking' led Rose to believe that it was the last thing they actually wanted from the Doctor. "Tell us where he is."

"No clue," Jack shrugged.

The pudgy man's already thin smile slipped to a full frown. His eyes darted to Rose and she felt a chill creep across her skin. "Is that your answer as well?"

"I don't know where he is," she agreed with a nod, thankful that her voice didn't tremble too much.

"Why do I not believe you?"

"It's the truth!" Jack protested, taking a step forward. Instantly the guns swung level with his head and heart. Rose gasped and Jack halted immediately in his tracks. Only when it was clear that they were not going to fire did she breathe again, but her heart was still racing frantically. Jack sighed. "We don't know where he is."

"And, again — I do not believe you," the man sneered. "No matter. I know just how to lure him into the open."

As if they had been waiting for a signal, four more guards came stomping into the room. Rose bit her lip to keep from crying out in pain when her hands were jerked behind her back, bound, and she was shoved forward, the tip of a gun digging into her back when she tried to hold back and not be taken from Jack.

What was going to happen to them?

Through the building they were led, past other rooms that looked just as much like a jail cell as the one her and Jack had been kept in. No matter which was she turned her head, there were no obvious avenues of escape and no sign that the Doctor was anywhere nearby planning to break them out of this place. Before she knew it, doors opened in front of her and bright light momentarily blinded her. She felt the warmth of the sun and drew fresh air into her lungs. Outside! They were outside!

She looked around, squinting as her eyes struggled to adjust to the sunlight. On and on they walked, through the city, the sounds getting louder as they marched, nearing somewhere that obviously had a lot of people.

The first thing she recognized where the bazaar tents that her and Jack had had their sights set on when they'd first started out of the Tardis. The citizens of the city stepped out of their way as they continued on, the guards that surrounded her and Jack giving no indication that they would have stopped moving even if a citizen had dared to stay in the way anyway.

And then they stopped walking entirely. Rose stumbled to a stop, barely managing to catch her balance without falling on her face.

"That doesn't look good."

Rose's head snapped up, eyes darting around to get a look at what Jack was talking about. She froze. "Are those…"

"Stocks," Jack confirmed grimly. "They're going to put us in the stocks, right here in the center of the bazaar. Hard for the Doctor not to notice that, I suppose."

She wasn't naïve. She knew what would happen when the Doctor came to get them free. He'd be captured by the guards that would undoubtedly be lying in wait somewhere close by.

"He won't fall for it, don't worry," Jack muttered to her as he was forced up, first, to the wooden stocks. They were on a platform in what Rose could only assume was the center of the bazaar. Everyone would be staring at them, she realized.

And Jack was right, the Doctor wouldn't fall for this trick. He'd see it for what it was and then try his best to work around it. What worried her was what happened if that didn't work. Would he rush in and try to save them anyway? Her first Doctor had been that rash. He would rush headlong into danger to save her. But was this Doctor like that?

Did she really want him to be? To risk his life for theirs?

She didn't know.

"Hey! HEY! All you have to do is ask, guys!"

Rose turned her attention back to Jack. The guards had taken a knife to his shirt, slitting it up the front. With a smirk that said he wasn't going to let this get to him any more than anything else had, Jack pulled the remains of the shirt from his pants and then off of his body. The undershirt went, too, after a none-too-friendly prod from the nearest guard. He was forced to kneel with a hard shove to his back. She saw Jack wince and knew that it had to have hurt him, but he didn't utter a sound and she was proud of him for that. Not giving the enemy any satisfaction was always a good idea — even if only for your own pride, she knew. Knowing she was next, Rose watched as Jack was forced to put his head and wrists into the stocks. The sound of the device closing rocketed through the now-quite bazaar.

Before she could even recapture her wits, Rose felt her own contingent of guards pushing her forward, up the steps. On top of the platform, she could see out over the center of the bazaar. Everyone had come out to watch, it seemed. There wasn't a spare inch of space to be had. This planet was just like any other, she supposed — people enjoying watching other suffer.

"Strip."

The command was expected, but Rose still had to fight not to flinch. Their captor – who she decided to refer to as Sleazy – licked his lips in anticipation, his prominent brow already beading with sweat in the sunlight. His gaze darkened when she didn't immediately jump to it.

"Take your clothes off – or the guards will do it for you."

Rose nodded, fingers moving stiffly to the bottom of her shirt. She was glad that she'd worn clean and rather modest knickers that day. Her gaze was locked with Sleazy's as she tugged the shirt up. This wasn't that hard. Sure, this was more people than had ever seen this much of her skin, but that was all right. She'd get through this. Then the Doctor was going to owe them somewhere peaceful and restful next, she told herself. Somewhere with a beach and gentle waves. Only her first trip out and already she was plannin' on needing a vacation from the danger.

She pulled the shirt over her head and told herself that this wasn't much different from being out at the water in a bikini. Right?

"Trousers, too."

"What?!?" Jack's cry echoed hers, both angry.

"You didn't make him take his off!" Rose protested.

"Thanks, Rose, sweetie," Jack said, but it was with something that almost sounded like amusement. "Just remind the nice man that I still have my pants."

Rose threw a smile over her shoulder, unsure if Jack could even see it from the angle he was at.

"Guards," Sleazy prompted. "Assist her."

Rose twisted away, fingers already fumbling with the catch of her trousers. There was no way she was going to have someone else strip her of her clothing. She'd do this herself.

Just like a bathing suit, she told herself silently.

She pushed her jeans down, kicking off her shoes so that she could step out of them. Swallowing down her disgust at being forced into this situation, Rose lifted her head to stare at the evil little man before turning to the stocks. Without prompting, she got down on her knees and placed herself in the wooden restraint. Everyone behind her was getting a nice little show of her arse, she knew.

"We'll be alright, Rose," Jack tried to assure her.

Rose wished she could believe him.

She forced herself to keep looking forward, meeting the eyes of the crowd that gathered to watch this spectacle.

This would not break her – she'd endured too much already in her life to let something like this be her undoing.

Sit out like this too long and she'd get a sunburn all up and down her back – definitely not a fate that she wanted to endure.

The Doctor had sure better show up sooner rather than later.

END Chapter