a/n: Again, sorry for the wait! My writing pace is slow but steady so it'll get there eventually

*Rose*

Rose was startled out of her revere when her mobile started bleeping at her from the console. She had been zoning out like this a bit lately, always in the middle of something. Last night she had tried cooking dinner for herself, hoping the activity would take her mind off of… well, you know… instead she had burnt it and made herself even more miserable. Investigating the source of the noise led Rose to discover a text from Donna.

"How are you doing? I don't know about you, but I feel like an adventure! Don't suppose you'd pick me up would you? Try for Tuesday, morning's good for me – see you soon then!"

Rose couldn't help but laugh aloud a bit at the audacity that defined her best friend Donna. Why not? She thought, smiling as she programmed the coordinates for the journey. If there was anyone who could cheer her up, it was Donna.

A couple minutes later Donna had joined Rose in the TARDIS.

"So where do you think this time?"

Donna asked.

"Not sure, how about we set her to adventure mode?"

Rose replied smiling, and Donna rolled her eyes.

"Since when have you got that thing working? The alias 'Bad Wolf' is hardly a coincidence – The first TARDIS was a wild dog, this one's an obedient pup!"

Acting hurt on behalf of her TARDIS, Rose defended her beloved ship.

"Just because she isn't as desperate to throw us into trouble every trip doesn't mean she's any less of a TARDIS!"

Donna laughed at that, and Rose soon joined in – she knew Donna was joking around, and her TARDIS had thrown them into their fare share of trouble. It was just a simple fact that Rose ended up where she wanted more often than The Doctors' ever had for him.

"Right then, adventure mode - need a hand in any way?"

Donna asked. Rose smiled and directed her to maintain stability of various instruments on the console.

"Here we go!"

Rose called and started to dematerialise them. She had the stabilisers primed, and so was caught off guard when the ship started rocking and bucking about through the trip before landing. Donna just laughed at Rose's puzzled expression, saying,

"What? It's more fun that way!"

Rose smiled, assuming that Donna had disengaged the stabilisers. Rose didn't care too much – It was just that rumble-tumble flight wasn't as fun on her own so she had been avoiding it lately.

"Shall we?"

Donna asked, motioning towards the doors.

"After you!"

Rose followed her out – she didn't even bother to check the whether the stabilisers had actually been disengaged. What else could have caused the commotion?

The exterior of the TARDIS had changed for the era they had landed in – An elegant coach on the streets of Victorian London, windows covered by cloth shades. There wasn't any driver – nor horses, but it was far less conspicuous than her Porsche exterior would be.

"So, what's your bet?"

Donna asked, and Rose surveyed the whole scene around them before answering.

"London definitely, late 1800s I'd say – probably after I was made a Dame. Have I told you about that time in Scotland?"

Donna rolled her eyes.

"Royal werewolves? Nah, doesn't ring a bell,"

she joked, giving Rose a pointed look.

Rose laughed and put her hands up in defence.

"Okay, okay! What about you? What's your bet?"

"Wouldn't be fair if I made a guess."

"Why not?"

"Because…"

Donna started and walked over to a nearby bench. She retrieved a discarded newspaper and straitened it out, clearing her throat and announcing the date in an all-knowing tone.

"August the 4th, 1895!"

Rose laughed.

"You could have guessed, then checked! Besides, that's the newspaper date – not the day date."

Donna seemed to think over this piece of information, before conceding with a light voice.

"Give or take a few days."

Donna continued to read and raised her eyebrows, sparking Rose's interest.

"What's up?"

She asked, strolling over to see the front page as well.

"I think the TARDIS found us some trouble."

Headlining the newspaper were the words "Disappearances Continue to Baffle Detectives."

The two women sat down and read through the whole article, grinning and exchanging glances every now and then.

"Right then! – Plan of attack,"

Donna started after they had finished reading.

"I'm interested in this 'Great Detective', so I'll go round and 'check in' so to speak. Do you want to check out the latest 'crime scene'?"

"Sounds good to me, meet back here in 24 hours or call me sooner if you need."

Getting her bearings, Rose headed off in the direction she hoped would lead her to the address of the latest appearance. The streets weren't exactly like the 21st century, even if they were similar. Eventually she got there, and the first thing she noticed was the smell. It was vague, obviously having dissipated over time, but the residual traces of metallic particles were definitely there. Teleport? No… it was something else… something familiar actually… Rose was trying to think back to where she recognized the smell when she heard a woman's voice call out to her from behind.

"Sorry miss, can I help you?"

Turning around Rose came face to face with a woman dressed like a maid with dark drown hair and a sweet face. Rose also noticed another person further off with a dark veil over her face (she assumed from the clothing the person was a she). Quickly thinking back over her actions for the last few minutes that the pair could have been watching her, Rose came to two conclusions. First, her actions would only have been conspicuous to someone who knew the place was important – someone interested or involved in the mystery, or victims of it. Second, her actions had not been melancholic, they had been investigative and the strangers words had not been consolatory – so unless the maid was stupid, which she didn't look, she was either very interested in the case or involved and asking out of suspicion. Taking a deeper look at the maid's face and another observation of the veiled woman further off, Rose decided that the question was out of suspicion of ill-intent. She would have tread carefully.

"Oh, you know, the disappearances, horrible mystery isn't it? I was just having a look around, you know, any chance of a clue."

The maid continued to look at her with a wary expression and Rose noticed that the other woman had come forward to speak. Her voice was much deeper than the maids, and at guess, Rose thought she must be the maid's mistress.

"Yes, these disappearances are horrible indeed. But there is no need to worry, the police are doing everything they can to solve this mystery."

Rose turned away at that point to survey the surroundings again, and made the mistake of muttering just a bit too loud,

"Too bad that's not enough…"

In hindsight, that comment had probably taken as sarcasm rather than musings.

"I'm sorry, but who exactly are you again?"

The veiled woman asked with more insistence and Rose could see now that underneath her veil was something not quite… human…. Anyone else would have writen it off as a mutation or a condition, a mask even. Rose however, had learnt long ago that if the TARDIS lands you anywhere with trouble, it's almost always alien trouble. And if anything remotely alien is hanging around where the trouble is, best proceed with caution. Trying to carefully extract herself from the situation she backed away, saying,

"Oh, no one, you know… just curious. But I'll go now if you like, just…"

Too caught up with the veiled woman, Rose failed to notice the maid moving around behind her until she spoke.

"Yes, what exactly are you doing here? And I mean, here – because this isn't 17th century at all."

After a moments confusion realisation cascaded down Rose as she remembered her phone sticking out of the top of her back pocket. Only time travellers would know that, and no amount of protesting would convince them now that she was a 'local'. Giving up on the feigning ignorance play, Rose dropped her arms that had been raised earlier in protest. In a more relaxed voice she confronted them, turning her head from one side to the other to speak to both of them.

"So, time travellers and aliens then? Don't suppose you're behind the disappearances then?"

The veiled woman, who Rose was certain now was an alien, practically snorted in reply.

"I don't suppose you could answer that question yourself? So far you are the only chance of a clue anyone's seen since the mystery began. I'd say you're suspect number one at this stage."

Rose frowned, it was possible that she was playing with her, but their was every possibility that what she was saying was the truth, and that these two were working to solve the mystery. Before she had time to think about this further she further the cold snap of handcuffs about her wrists and was held in place by a firm grip on her wrists when she tried to spin around in surprise.

"Hey!"

Rose cried, annoyed with herself for letting her guard down – the maid costume was obviously a guise, this woman was no maid. More like a partner in crime with the veiled alien.

"Sorry, but as mam puts it, you're suspect number one and until otherwise it's our job to keep you secure."

Rose was about to struggle and protest some more when she felt the rim of a blaster against her back through her top. Almost apologetically, the maid explained,

"I don't want to hurt you, especially if you are innocent – just don't make a fuss and this will all be over soon."

Rose stilled but glared at the veiled woman with fierce eyes.

"Might I at least know who my captors are? See my captors face?"

She spoke quietly, but kept her voice intense, making sure that the pair knew she wasn't taking this lightly. With great dignity, the alien lifted her veil to reveal a scaled, lizard-like face. For a moment Rose was reminded of a similar lizard-like race that she had come across in her travels, but she dismissed the thought as that species had a third eye and this one only had two.

"Since you refuse to identify yourself, I see no reason to identify us."

She motioned to the maid with a nod of her head, continueing,

"Come on dear, I think you know we're going."

"Yes I do mam."

Rose groaned inwardly when she felt the maid slip her phone out of her back pocket.

"And I'm sorry miss, but I'm going to have to confiscate this for now as well."

Rose prayed that she wouldn't notice her sonic as well, or at least that she would mistake it for being an actual pen. An idea sparking in her mind, she took a risk and retorted,

"You gonna take my pen as well in case I try to stab you with it?"

The maid huffed and muttered something along the lines of,

"I'd like to see you try…"

It seemed her gamble payed off though as she made no move to take it, just pushed her along the road following the lizard woman – veil back on – with one hand clasped on her left wrist and one pressing the blaster to her back still. Rose had no idea where they planned to take her, but she hoped Donna was safe. At the very least, Rose hoped she wasn't being paraded through the streets like a criminal and turning every head on the road.

a/n: Thanks to all my readers, followers, favouriters and reviewers!