A/N: This is a longer chapter than most of my chapters. But I really liked the way this turned out. By the way there are some Torchwood elements in this chapter, hope you enjoy it. And please R/R. Free David Tennent heart shaped cookies to those who review.

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Chapter 3: Camping is fun

"Ahh come on Doctor it will be fun. I thought you liked camping. Besides don't you want to camp in some spot where it's rumored to be haunted by fairies, elves, and nymphs," Rose wiggled her fingers lightly in joking, "ooooh spooky…." Rose looked around the forest, Roundstone Woods. It was one of these forests that were old and ancient, she wondered briefly if some of these trees might be as old as the Doctor. It was also a bit cold and she was glad she had a nice warm jacket on.

The Doctor rolled his eyes, "I prefer being in the TARDIS than camped out on wet soggy ground, thank you very much. Besides it gets cold, and then there are spiders. I have you know I hate spiders. They're creepy for one, then they crawl, and then if I am lucky they'll bite or do something nasty and I'll end up dying and regenerating."

Rose smirked and shook her head, "You are such a wimp, Doctor. Besides, I thought you wanted to check out all those local legends about this elf lady of the forest."

The Doctor coughed, "I am not a wimp. And I just don't like spiders, bad memories. And I do want to find out more about this 'elf.' I can think of a dozen or so alien species that could fit that description."

"At least it's not a monster, we are after. How bad can an 'elf' be?"

The Doctor smiled, "I once had a bunch of 'elves' as you put it try and kill me, they were in a middle of a civil war, and I helped put a stop to it. It was such a mess on their home planet. They were good people, Rose, but that doesn't mean that good people aren't capable of violence. So don't underestimate anything Rose."

"But I thought elves were suppose to represent goodness, mercy, and are full of grace."

"You have watched way too much Lord of the Rings, Rose. Generally most of the species that qualify as 'elvish' are basically good, but some of them, there just like any other race, capable of good or evil."

Rose smiled and then said, "Whatever you say, Doctor. It still sounds very Tolkienesque to me. Besides, I have never seen you camp before. I bet you can't even set up a tent."

"I can too set up a tent."

Rose chuckled, "I bet you can't do it without the sonic screwdriver."

The Doctor grinned,"Oh ye of little faith. I can set up a tent blindfolded. Besides I use to camp out on Gallifrey."

Rose raised an eyebrow, "Prove it"

"All right, Rose Tyler. Since you are so sure that I can't set up a tent, I'll just have to set up a tent just to prove that I can."

The Doctor opened the doors of the TARDIS with a squeak and went inside. Rose sighed and leaned against a tree and waited for the Doctor to come out with the tent. The TARDIS was enormous, and knowing the Doctor he'd probably get lost in there finding the tent. She looked around and found herself looking at all the wildlife around her.

A short distance away from the TARDIS was a circle of old looking stones near a tree. Rose decided to explore it a bit. She walked off away from the TARDIS; she shivered lightly as she walked further away from the TARDIS. Did it just get colder? She looked at the round circle, in places like this, particularly strange places like this, rumors abounded of fairy circles where the fairies gathered and played.

She sighed and stepped in the middle of the circle. She heard a bit of rustling in the bush and growth of the woods. "Hello? Someone out there?"

A gust of wind suddenly started to blow out of nowhere. And suddenly a hand emerged or seemed to emerge from one of the trees and pushed Rose out of the fairy ring. Rose looked up and saw a woman; she wore course almost woolen looking clothing. A cap covered most of her head, but a few sandy blond curls underneath the cap showed. Her eyes were of a blue color, a color that Rose thought she had never seen before. She seemed rather young to her, probably in her early twenties and about her own age. She said softly to Rose, "Don't stand in the ring…."

Rose frowned, "Why not?"

"I have seen them."

"Seen who?"

The woman shook her head looking incredulously at Rose, "The fairies. They do not like it when humans stand in their rings."

Rose raised an eyebrow, "I am not saying that I believe in fairies…."

The woman chuckled lightly,"They almost killed you, I saved your life. Do not disrespect the fairies, they do exist."

Rose sighed and leaned against a tree, "Whatever you say. I don't understand what you mean, fairies, kill me?"

The woman sighed and shook her head, "They are evil beings. They kill people. They killed a woman once. She came here often and took pictures of them. I should have…."

The woman paused looking a bit sad, "I should have stopped her. Taking pictures of the fairies…you leave the fairies alone and hope they do not bother you."

Rose looked at the woman; she seemed slightly sad and a bit melancholy. She then asked, "Why didn't you stop the woman from taking pictures?"

The woman sighed, "I was scared. People ask too many questions. Torch…" She paused a moment and muttered lightly under her breath and then said, "People ask too many questions and I am afraid."

Rose looked at the woman, "Well thanks for saving my life and not being afraid to do so. I am Rose. And you are?"

The woman looked thoughtful for a moment and looked to be debating as whether to give a name and finally she said, "I am Tash."

Rose raised an eyebrow, "Tash? That's an odd name, is it short for something?" Then again, the Doctor had the oddest name of all. He insisted on being called 'The Doctor' and nothing else.

Tash chuckled lightly, "Maybe…. But your name is pretty; to be named after flowers is an honor."

Rose heard the Doctor's voice calling, "Rose….where are you? Don't tell me you have gone wandering off again."

Tash suddenly cringed lightly and Rose put a hand on her shoulder, "Don't be afraid, that's my friend. He's nice, a bit daft at times, but he's alright."

Tash tried to smile but her lips remained pursed together as if she was terrified. Rose said, "Come on, you should meet him. He'll be pleased to know you saved my life."

Tash dug her hands in her pockets of her woolen outfit, and her hands curled around something. She sighed and Rose pushed her forward, "Come on, don't be bashful. The Doctor won't bite."

Tash moved unwillingly but moved. Rose said, "Doctor….I am alright. How's that tent coming?"

They passed through some of the shrubbery of the woods, Rose had taken her eyes off the woman for a moment and she was gone. Rose frowned. People didn't vanish into thin air, at least not normal people. It reminded her of the time Blaine Slitheen used a teleport and disappeared, but the Doctor had brought her back. Rose pursed her lips and shuddered lightly, Tash, had to have been an alien or she might have been a human that had managed to find a teleportation device. But humans, at least normal humans didn't carry such devices, at least not at this time. So the woman who had saved her life had to have been an alien.

She found the Doctor bent down working on setting up the tent. Rose sighed and shook her head. The tent was lopsided. "If you think I am going to sleep in a lopsided tent, Doctor…."

The Doctor grinned but Rose also noticed that there was a bit of a sparkle in his eyes, Rose always noticed it when the Doctor was fibbing about something, "It was fine. It was fine, Rose. Trust me. I had it pitched right and then you came and it was lopsided."

Rose chuckled lightly, "Right, Doctor….it just suddenly happened to be pitched properly and then I came along and it suddenly just slumped lopsidedly."

"It did Rose. I am telling you it did."

Rose sighed and shook her head, "Whatever you say, Doctor. I still don't think you can set up a tent."

Rose's thoughts went back to Tash and she said, "Umm Doctor? I went off for a bit."

The Doctor sighed still fumbling trying to fit Pole A into Pole B but it wasn't working right, and instead Pole A ended up into Pole D and the tent projected oddly upward. "I know, Rose." He muttered lightly, "Just once I'd like to have a companion who didn't wander off so much."

Rose could tell the Doctor's mind was fully engaged with the tent. She coughed a bit to tell the Doctor that her next words were serious, "I went to explore a fairy circle. I stepped inside of it."

The Doctor's head went up, "Rose, don't you ever do that. Fairies are dangerous. I know you humans think they are cute but they're not."

"I know, Doctor. Someone told me."

The Doctor frowned, "Who? It wasn't me."

"Well I was standing in the ring; it got cold all of a sudden. And a gust of wind came up and suddenly this woman appeared and pushed me out of the ring. She looked human, or at least I thought she was human. But she had these very beautiful blue eyes; they were so beautiful, I have never seen eyes like that before. Anyway she scolded me for standing in the ring, told me that she saved my life that the fairies would kill me."

The Doctor nodded and let out a sigh of relief, someone had managed to save Rose and he was grateful. He had been bumbling around the TARDIS looking for a stupid tent and part of him felt ashamed that he hadn't been there to keep Rose from getting hurt, but someone knew of the danger and pushed Rose out of the way.

"I just found out that her name was Tash, and suddenly you called me and I told her that you'd probably want to meet her and thank her for saving my life. She seemed kind of hesitant and scared. Come to think of it, she seemed rather skittish period. She kept saying she was scared and afraid, and the only reason I think she saved my life was because she felt bad about not saving another person's life. I pulled her along to meet you and suddenly she just disappeared. I think….I think she might have teleported away."

The Doctor nodded and stood up away from the lopsided tent, "Show me, Rose."

Rose nodded and went where she had last seen the woman before she disappeared around some of the bush and wood of this forest. "Here Doctor."

The Doctor took his sonic screwdriver out and did an energy scan, "Hmm slight energy readings. You should have told me sooner Rose, the pattern is a bit dispersed and scattered now. I couldn't reverse her teleport if I tried. I could try. But it might end up killing her, and if she saved your life, I don't want to kill someone who saved you."

"Who do you think she is, Doctor?"

The Doctor sighed and looked thoughtful, "We're in a wood that is filled with a lot of old legends and myths about fairies, elves, gnomes that sort of thing. We were looking for an elf; I think she found us instead."

Rose nodded, "If she saved my life Doctor, she can't be that bad, can she?"

"I don't know Rose. But we're dealing with an alien, that doesn't want to be found. Doesn't want to be noticed, finding her might be really tricky. I'll do some scans…."

Rose grinned,"For alien tech…"

The Doctor rolled his eyes, "Provided that the scans work. Not all races use technology that can be picked up with scans."

Rose smiled and look back over at the tent, "First's things first, Doctor. You're not getting out of putting that tent up. No matter what's happened, you stated that you could put up a tent blindfolded and…."

The Doctor ran his hands through his hair, "Fine. I'll prove to you that I can put up a tent."

o- A few hours later -o

The Doctor looked at the tent, it still sat lopsided and Rose grinned, "Come on Doctor, its getting dark, I am cold and you're no way close to getting that tent up."

The Doctor looked up at the setting sun and then looked at Rose with pleading eyes, "It's much warmer in the TARDIS, Rose."

Rose rolled her eyes, "Fine, Doctor, we can spend the night in the TARDIS. But tomorrow, we are going to camp outside."