Forgotten

Chapter 5: The Woman

Disclaimer: Doctor Who belongs to the BBC

Note: Thank you so much for the incredible support. I am VERY sorry for the extremely overdue update (I had some health issues over the past few months). I will hopefully post a new chapter soon.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

When the TARDIS came to a screeching and abrupt halt, The Doctor peeked his head outside. It was daytime, the sky above a clear, cloudless blue. Amelia Pond was nowhere in sight. Quickly, The Doctor left the machine, Rose following close behind. "Doctor?" She questioned.

"Hold on." He paused, urgency lining his expression. He called out, "Amelia!"

"I'll find her." Rose moved to enter the house, pulling on the handle of the door, but it was locked.

The Doctor moved to the door, stepping in front of Rose. He pulled out his sonic, glancing briefly at Rose as a whizzing noise sounded from within it. When their eyes met, she spoke up. "Doctor. It was night when we left. How long has it been?"

He shrugged slightly, the door creaking open. He wasted no time in stepping through. "I don't know. A few hours, maybe…" The Doctor's voice was preoccupied. "But, that's not good. It's very, very… not good." He finished his sentence a little awkwardly, the end of it very slow, as if he wasn't sure where he was going with his words.

"Why?" Rose began to follow him up the stairs. "She probably just went to sleep right? What's the problem?"

"The problem…" He began, taking the stairs two at a time now. His voice was raised to almost a yell as he continued. "That Prisoner Zero is here!" He paused very briefly. "Amelia! Are you alright? Amelia!"

Rose had been silent for more than a few seconds right now. He turned to her just in time to see a wooden mallet near his face.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Once she was able to open her eyes, it took quite a while for the shapes around her to come into focus. The side of her head was throbbing, no doubt from whatever she had been hit with. She was on her side, lying in a different room than where they had been, at the top of the stairs. Suddenly, a figure came into view across the room. "Hello." Rose attempted to sit up, but she was restricted from moving due to a pair of handcuffs. One end was attached to her wrist, while the other was attached to a doorknob. The figure didn't respond, instead turning around and just staring at her. It was a young woman, with red hair and a police uniform. "Hello? Can you hear me?"

The woman rolled her eyes, taking a radio from her waistband and putting it to her mouth. "AP to station. I'm going to need backup. I have a woman here being charged for breaking and entering." She clicked the radio off and placed it back on her belt. "Who are you?"

"Who am I?" Rose questioned, her voice slightly defensive. "Who are you? And why wouldn't you answer me?"

"I don't have to answer your questions." The other woman said emotionlessly, her eyes holding suspicion. "You're the one being arrested."

"Arrested? Just… hold on." Rose paused, her eyes suddenly widening. "That man. What happened to him? He was-"

"You didn't answer my question. Who are you?" Her voice was more harsh now.

Rose's voice was slow and steady as she responded. "My name's Rose. I came here with a man- we were just looking for a little girl. Amelia. She used to live in this house."

The woman's eyes widened.

"Do you know where we could find her?" Rose questioned, but received no answer. The woman just stared at her with confusion.

"I'll be back."

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

"I'm going to need backup. The man is being arrested for breaking and entering. He is currently being restrained. Description… raggedy. Yes, alright." The woman repeated much of what she had said to Rose only a few moments prior, speaking into her radio.

The Doctor blinked open his eyes, attempting to bring his hand to his head, but fell short, his hands restrained by handcuffed. He was able to sit up against the heating vent, but no more. His eyes darted around, attempting to figure out what had just happened.

"Sit still." The woman said quickly.

"You hit me… with a bat…" He stated, his voice slow.

"And you were breaking and entering." She stated at the man, a slight frown on her lips.

The Doctor attempted to pull at his restraints, but was unable to move much more than a few inches. "Hold on, you're a police woman…"

"I am. And-"

He interrupted her. "Where's that girl. She was with me. Right behind me. Blonde hair, relatively pretty." He paused and met the woman's eyes. "Where is she?"

"It doesn't matter where she is…"

He paused, watching the woman hesitantly. "And where's Amelia Pond? A little girl. Red hair." The woman's eyes widened, a look of recognition and confirmation in her gaze.

"Amelia?"

"Yes. She's a little Scottish girl. Have you seen her? I told her I'd be back. In five minutes, really, but I made a bit of a mistake."

The woman stared at him emotionlessly. "Amelia Pond hasn't lived here in a long time. For six months."

"No." The Doctor shook his head, his words coming from his mouth quickly. "No. I wasn't gone six months. No, I promised." He laughed a little. "I don't break my promises."

The woman turned on her heels without another word and left the room.

"Wait! Hold on." The Doctor called after her.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Rose sighed slightly, attempting to think of a way out of the situation. She was trapped in a bedroom, handcuffed to a closet. Any moment, a police woman was going to come in and arrest her. And The Doctor was nowhere to be found. Had she hit him as well? And surely there were better ways to go about the situation than hit them over the head. Rose glanced up, being brought out of her thoughts by the sound of the door opening.

"Come on." The woman approached Rose and took the handcuff from the door, but kept the other fastened to her wrist.

Before Rose was off the ground, she was being pulled out the door. They had been down the hall from where she and The Doctor had been, in one of the bedrooms. As they made their way toward the staircase, The Doctor's figure came into view. He was lying on the ground, his hands handcuffed to the heating vent.

"Doctor!" She called.

The woman frowned as the two of them approached The Doctor. She unlocked her end of the handcuffs and looked to Rose. "Sit down."

"What?"

"Just.. sit down. Do what I say."

Rose frowned back at the woman, letting out a long breath as she sat down, reluctantly. The woman handcuffed the other end around the vent.

"Rose- are you alright?" The Doctor questioned quickly.

She shrugged, still agitated. "As good as I can be, I suppose. What about you?"

"I-"

The woman cut him off, looking down at the two of them now, her arms crossed. "Amelia Pond does not live here."

The Doctor's attention moved to her, his eyes alert now. Rose glanced down at his pocket. The screwdriver he had been using was sticking from it, and the thought came to her as to why he hadn't used it. "Then who does?" He questioned.

"I do." She responded simply.

The Doctor looked past her, at a door that stood at the end of the hallway. "How many doors?"

"What?"

"How many doors in this hallway. I need to know right now." His voice sounded quick now, and urgent.

"Why?" Rose wondered. Asking the question before the woman got the chance to.

"Because… now count the rooms. It'll change your life."

"Five." She stated. Her gaze was hesitant.

Rose looked around, a small frown appearing on her face as well. "Six.."

"Now look," The Doctor told her, his expression serious. "Look in the corner of your eye, where you never want to look."

Rose became nervous suddenly, and the woman picked up on it. "Just do it. Just look behind you," Rose said.

Slowly, the woman turned around, her eyes widening as she did so. "No. No, that's not possible. It's not-"

"It's the perception filter, right? It's on the door. All around it, really."

The Doctor glanced to his left, his gaze confused. "Rose, how did you know that?"

She just shrugged, looking slightly distant all of the sudden. "There's something that came here. And it's hiding. It's always been hiding."

"She's right. Now you need to uncuff us." His gaze was worried as he watched Rose. He shook his head to clear it, instead focusing on the woman.

"I don't have the key, though. I lost it."

"How do you lose a key?" He called after her. "Just- just don't go through that door. Don't touch it." His gaze returned to Rose, who was rubbing her head with her free hand. "Are you okay?" He asked.

"Yeah. It must just be because of that cricket bat.."

"Alright, we need to get this handcuffs off. Now, in my pocket-"

Before he finished his sentence, she had moved her hand to his pocket, taking out the screwdriver. "Here," she said as she handed it to him.

The Doctor quickly used it on his own handcuffs, the ends snapping open almost instantly. He stood up, crouching as he removed her restraints as well. Rose stood up and turned around. The woman's hands were on the doorknob and within a second, it was open. She stepped through. "There's nothing in here."

The Doctor ran to follow. The door was closed, yet the woman's voice could be heard on the other end. He used his sonic screwdriver on it, but nothing happened. "What makes you think you'd hear it?" He called.

"Why? There's nothing in here…" Her voice trailed off.

"Get out of there!" The Doctor yelled, pulling on the door forcefully now.

The woman frowned, gazing around the room. The walls were blue, paint peeling off of the walls, leaving just as many patches bare as there were painted. Wooden crates littered the floor. She gazed around, seeing nothing. The hairs on the back of her neck pricked upward, leaving the sense that someone- no, something, was there. Every time she turned around; however, nothing was there. "There's nothing!" She called back. "It's just.. just me."

"Look. Look out of the corner of your eye."

"Why? What's here? What is it?" She called, her voice sounding increasingly anxious.

The Doctor's voice was urgent. "Don't try to see it! See it and it'll kill you."

She gazed around her, and without thinking, turned around completely. Only a few inches away was a… thing. She couldn't classify it as an eel, exactly, but it was also not exactly a snake. The monster was slimy, it's teeth baring in her face. Her eyes widened and she froze in place.

The Doctor's mouth hung open, his expression becoming more panicked as he was unable to hear the woman. "What's happening?" Suddenly, a high-pitched scream sounded from within the room and the door burst open. The woman pushed past The Doctor and slammed the door shut behind her with a loud bang. The Doctor quickly moved to the closed door and shined his sonic screwdriver on it, attempting to lock the door. His expression looked troubled. For a few moments, he tapped the end of the screwdriver against his hand, frowning. "It's not working." He turned on his heels to face the woman.

The woman frowned. "Well, the door's closed.."

"And an inter-dimensional space creature is going to stop for a wooden door." The Doctor said seriously.

"You've got to be kidding, right?" Rose questioned.

The Doctor rolled his eyes. "Yes I'm kidding!"

A whirring sound could be heard from behind the door.

"What's it doing?" The woman asked.

"We need to go. You need to get out of here." The Doctor began moving toward the stairs. "And besides," Rose looked to her. "You've got back up coming, right?"

The woman shook her head in response. "There is no back up coming."

Rose's eyes widened. "I heard you- on the radio."

"It wasn't a real radio."

The Doctor spoke up now. "But you're a police woman."

Their conversation was cut short as the door burst from its frame, the door itself shattering into hundreds of fragments. A man stood in the doorway, glaring at them. And beside him, a dog. Neither moved forward, but suddenly the man's mouth opened, a growling sound coming from his mouth.

"What is it? What's it doing?"

"It's the creature. The one from before. It's disguised itself. The perception filter went through alright, but the sound." The Doctor said, staring at it.

"It's just a bit off." Rose spoke, her voice slow.

"Just a bit." The woman nodded.

The Doctor's voice was directed at the creature now. "But how did you manage that? Where'd you get the pattern from? It had to come from somewhere, something…"

The creature took a step forward, the growl now a deep rumble. The man's mouth opened, the sharp teeth the woman saw before now baring.

Rose's eyes were wide. "Doctor. What now?"

"We stay. We're perfectly safe. 'Cause there's backup." He stared into the eyes of the creature. "But if we had no backup, then you would have to kill us, correct?"

A voice sounded from somewhere above, but where, no one could pin point. "Prisoner Zero, we have this residence surrounded."

"And what's that?" Rose questioned.

"That… that would be backup." The Doctor said, not breaking eye contact with the creature. "Now I repeat," he told it, "We do have backup, so we're perfectly safe."

The voice continued from above. "Prisoner Zero will be evicted from this residence, or the human residence will be incinerated."

"These guard aren't messing around…" Rose frowned.

"No.. they're not." He paused, "But, we're safe… you know, apart from incineration."

The voice repeated its previous statement.

"Okay, now run!" The Doctor said quickly, and led the group down the stairs. Once the back door of the house had closed behind them, he used the sonic screwdriver on the handle. This time, it locked.

"Now what's going on?" The woman called after Rose and The Doctor, who were in the lead.

The Doctor paused, turned around, and then began speaking again at a quick pace. "A convict was hiding in that room. An alien one and now it's turned into a man and a dog and probably many other things… and now someone's about to incinerate your house."

"Is that all?" Rose joked, but her tone was serious.

"Yes, but the TARDIS won't let us in. It must still be rebuilding. And it's probably not too happy with you, either." He said the last part with his eyes on Rose.

"Me? Why?"

"I'll explain… later. Much later."

The voice sounded one last time from above. "Prisoner Zero, if you don't leave, you will be incinerated."

The woman frowned. "We need to go." She took The Doctor's arm and began pulling him away from the machine.

He shook free and ran away from the machine, and to a shed. "Wait. I destroyed this shed. The last time I was here."

The woman rolled her eyes. "And there's a new one."

"No, but this one's old. Ten years old, at least!" His eyes widened. "I'm not six months late, I'm twelve years late." His voice was lined with dread.

She frowned. "We've got to go."

"Doctor, she's right. We have to go." Rose told him, grabbing his hand.

The Doctor shook his head. "No. This is important. You said six months. Why did you say six months?" His voice was urgent as he repeated his question several more times.

The woman turned abruptly on her heels and yelled angrily into The Doctor's face. "And why did you say five minutes?!"

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

I know this may be a little boring, what with the repeats from The Eleventh Hour. I have big plans for this story in the near future. Thanks for reading and for your patience! Any reviews, follows, or favorites are IMMENSELY appreciated.