John watched Rose run out of the room. He knew she didn't want to believe the man she knew, a man she cared about, could be capable of killing innocent women, but both the Doctor and Sherlock thought he was.
"John, go after her. She shouldn't be on her own until he's caught," Sherlock said.
"Yeah, all right," John said, needing no further prodding.
He ran into the hall as she pulled open the door to the stairs and started down. He chased after her. She was already out of sight around the corner, but her footsteps echoed back to him.
"Rose!" he called.
She either couldn't hear or chose to ignore him. He raced around the corner and down the next set of stairs. She was a lot faster than he gave her credit for. He called her name again, but again received no reply.
He had to catch her before she made it out of the building. Before he lost her in a crowd of people. For all he knew James could be waiting for her to be alone. If those bodies were any indication of what he planned to do to her…John pushed the thought aside. It was too horrible to think about.
As he turned the last corner he caught sight of her and pushed himself to go faster. He reached his hand out grabbing her shoulder as she reached for the door.
"Rose! Stop!" he insisted.
"Don't!" she yelled, swinging around to slap him in her blind fury. He caught her wrist, forcing her to look at him.
"Rose, it's me, John," he said.
Her eyes found his. He could see anger burning under her tears.
"John?"
"Yes, it's me."
Her anger drained and there was nothing left, but guilt and pain. It was enough to overwhelm him.
"John," she sobbed, throwing her arms around his neck. "They're wrong. I know they're wrong."
He didn't have any words to comfort her because both Sherlock and the Doctor agreed that James was the most likely suspect, something that he now believed too, but she didn't need to hear that, not at the moment. So, he held her as she cried because that's all he could do.
For the first time he wished Sherlock was wrong. John knew he wasn't, but he wished he was. For her sake. She cared about James and, although, having someone she cared about die was difficult, finding out that person had been turned into a murderous psychopath was worse. Especially when that psychopath wanted to kill her.
After a few minutes she pulled away, wiping her eyes. He watched her mask slip back into place. He was pretty sure she'd learned that trick from the Doctor, now that he'd met him, pretending she was all right when she was as far from it as a person could be.
"I'm…I'm sorry," she said.
"Nothing to be sorry about," he replied.
"I just…I expected Sherlock to say those things, but the Doctor…" She shook her head. "The old Doctor would've believed me…would have trusted me, but this one…I…I don't know." She looked away for a minute. He wasn't sure how to answer her so he remained quiet until she looked back. "I think I'm going to go home."
"Mind if I tag along?"
He couldn't let her leave on her own. Even if she wanted to pretend everything was all right he couldn't. She'd been kidnapped under his watch once and he wasn't about to let that happen again.
"Did Sherlock send you to babysit me?" she asked, suspicion evident in her voice.
He could've made something up, but she had the ability to see through that sort of thing.
"You shouldn't be alone until…" he trailed off not wanting to say until we catch James.
She sighed.
"I suppose I understand, but that doesn't mean I'm happy about it."
"I'll tell you what," he said, opening the door and then following her out, "if you promise to be a good girl and not wonder off I'll buy you some chips on the way home."
She looked at him for a moment and he wasn't sure if his plan to alleviate the situation was going to backfire or not, but then her eyes softened.
"You think you can buy me off that easily?" she asked, taking his arm.
She was trying to sound offended, but the corner of her mouth twitched, indicating there was a smile that only needed a bit more coaxing.
"I know I can buy you off that easily," he said, giving her a smile and she couldn't keep hers hidden any longer.
He hailed a cab. Then opened the door and waited until she climbed in before he slid in next to her. He hoped Sherlock and the Doctor would come to some kind of understanding. James needed to be found and dealt with before he decided to go after Rose.
Standard Disclaimer.
Thank you to all my brilliant readers!
If you have time reviews are always welcome. :)
