"Doctor, is that you?" Rose asked.
There was a creak in the floor board and Rose swallowed hard. Someone or something was in here with her and her fight or flight response was leaning towards flight. A loud bang had her stumbling backwards.
Where was her bow tie wearing, floppy haired, git of a Doctor? Rule number one was always 'don't wander off' but he never bothered to follow it himself. If he didn't get back soon, she was going to regenerate him.
A shiver shot down her spine as a soft scratching noise emanated from the other room. Clenching her eyes shut, she tried to convince herself that the noises were perfectly harmless. For Christ's sake, she had stared down Daleks in the eyestalk and hadn't flinched, but an old abandoned cabin in the American Northwest in 1890 was terrifying.
Cold fingers wrapped around her shoulder and she let out a blood curdling scream. Her eyes sprung open and she tried to escape but the hand held her firmly in place.
"Calm down, Rose it's just me," the Doctor grinned, a mischievous glint in his eyes. Slowly she turned, breaking heavily. His eyes narrowed as he studied her. "You look like you've seen a ghost." Letting go of her, he clapped his hands together and rubbed them.
"This place gives me the creeps," Rose admitted. "Did you find the signal thing you were looking for?"
Tentatively, he reached out and pulled her into a hug, his cheek resting on the top of her head. "I did. Turns out it was a low level psychic field that increases the amount of adrenaline in someone and then promotes the flight response.
"Like a muggle repelling charm?" she asked, snuggling against his chest. His presence always had a calming effect on her.
Smiling, he leaned back and kissed her on the nose. "A fitting analogy. The device seems to be some sort of security system. The only thing still operating on a ship that crashed long ago. I don't think it will be running for much longer though. Maybe a few months at the most."
She shifted, pulling out of his embrace but took his hand in hers. "So what's to stop people from finding the ship once the battery on the security system finally goes out? I don't remember reading about a spaceship, even a crashed one, being found on Earth in the late 19th century."
His eyes widened and he checked his watch. "I might have attached an explosive device, just a small one. But still enough to atomize the ship and flatten everything in a 100 meter radius." He tugged her towards the door.
"Does that include this house?" she asked, now grinning.
"It might."
They reached the exterior door and Rose could see the TARDIS sitting across the field. Looking up at him, she laughed. "Time to run?"
He laughed, his hair falling into his eyes as he gazed down at her. "Time to run."
Hand in hand they sprinted back towards the time and space ship that they called home. The Doctor managed to slam the door shut with them safely inside just as his bomb exploded. A moment later, he threw them into the Vortex as they took off looking for their next adventure.