Hey everyone! I'm back with the new chapter! Sorry for the little delay but I was on vacation and I didn't have my computer with me. Hope you will like it, don't forget to tell me what you think of it :)
Like always, my beta is the best! Thanks to her !

Chapter 19

Rose had been the last one in the room. When they all barged in, she had been the one doing damage control. She had tried her best to convince the poor butler to wait outside until they could check everything over, wanting of course to spare the poor man the vision of his dead friend. She also had to persuade everyone, well everyone that was not the Doctor, Donna or Agatha Christie to wait in the corridor. Assuring them that the Doctor would be the one with the answers. It had not been easy but she had not been a UNIT colonel for nothing.

"I told everyone to wait outside," she said in direction of the Doctor as she entered the room, closing the door behind her, making sure they were alone.

"Good choice, Rose " said the Doctor absently, his attention fully on the various documents he was shuffling through on the desk, as Donna still searched the body of the poor professor for any clue. "We will probably need to ask them some questions after this." He took out his glasses and scrubbed his eyes."Nothing worth killing for in that lot. Dry as dust I'm afraid."

"Hold on," said Donna, straightening up suddenly, like she just realized something vital. "The Body In The Library? I mean Professor Peach, in the library, with the lead piping?" she asked with a certain glee, looking at Agatha and Rose with the biggest smile possible.

But before anyone could react, the Doctor jumped in the middle, clapping his hands with force and smiled. Redirecting the attention on himself. "I think we're finished here."

"Someone should call the police, no?" asked Agatha as the Doctor opened the door, getting face to face with the rest of the guests who were all waiting impatiently in the corridor.

"No need to!" he said, brandishing his psychic paper with a flourish. "Chief Inspector Smith from Scotland Yard, known as the Doctor." He pushed a startled Donna in front of him. "Miss Noble is the plucky young girl who helps me out. and miss Tyler is..." He turned to Rose with a puzzled look. "Miss Tyler is well…"

She took a step forward, before the Doctor could have the time to put his foot into his mouth and ruin everything. "Rose Tyler, private investigator from the UNIT detective agency," she said with aplomb.

Clemency looked at her quizzically. "I say…"

"I think it's time we ask questions to each of you, no?" Donna looked to the group, trying her best to cut the awkward tension that was taking place. And not give the Doctor time to say something stupid.

"Donna is right. Go into the sitting room. We will question each of you in turn," the Doctor said as Rose closed the door behind them so no one could enter the library.

Agatha Christie nodded in their direction and led the others away, throwing a last confused look at their group before disappearing into one of the sitting rooms. As soon as they were sure they were truly alone, Donna's smile died out and she turned around, smacking the Doctor on the shoulder who jumped out with a yelp. "The plucky young girl who helps me out?" she said indignantly.

"No policewomen in 1926," he grumbled, rubbing his arm with a pout, making Rose smile at his childish manner.

"So why Rose is the private investigator then?" Donna challenged with her arms crossed.

Rose grinned widely. "Because contrary of the Doctor, I'm rather good at thinking on my feet in a split second!" she said proudly. The Doctor made a face to her as Donna laughed at his expense.

She gently nudged him, showing him it was just for laughs. As he started to smile at her, she realized something. "So why don't we phone the real police by the way?" she demanded, curious as to why the Doctor wanted to implicate himself in a human trouble.

"Well…" started the Doctor, putting away his sonic paper into his pocket. "The last thing we want is PC Plod sticking his nose in, especially now that I've found this." He opened the door of the library and crouched, scraping some gunk off the floorboards. When he stood, he showed them what he had on his finger. "Morphic residue," he said in a resolute voice.

Donna looked curiously at the strange thing he was showing around. "Morphic? Doesn't sound very 1926."

He nodded. "It's left behind when certain species genetically re-encode."

"So does that mean that the killer is an alien?" Rose asked apprehensively, not sure if she wanted the response or not. She could not help but think that she was really glad to wear mostly practical shoes. Because at the rhythm they were going, she was predicting an alien invasion before the end of the evening.

"Yes, and it means one of that lot is an alien in human form," he said while taking a tissue from Donna, who looked a little repulsed, to wipe out his hand from the weird goo.

"Anyway," Donna said while trying not to touch the tissue that the Doctor was trying to return to her. "There's a murder. A mystery. And to top it all off, we have Agatha Christie."

The Doctor looked puzzled. "So? Happens to me all the time."

"No, but isn't that a bit weird?" Donna continued with extreme excitement at the idea. "Agatha Christie didn't walk around surrounded by murders. Not really. I mean, that's like meeting Charles Dickens and he's surrounded by ghosts at Christmas."

The Doctor and Rose exchanged a look. "Well…" the Doctor said while scratching his neck.

Rose smiled as the nostalgia filled her head. It had been the adventure that made her realize that her feelings for the Doctor was a little less platonic than planned. "The first time we almost died together," she offered with a tongue-touching smirk and nudging him playfully.

"I would say it was the first time you were jeopardy friendly but that would be lying," he said, smiling like a loon. She had been so beautiful that night, making his previous regeneration very jealous of anyone who looked even remotely in Rose's direction.

"Oh, come on!" Donna huffed in exasperation, cutting short the moment between her two friends without realizing it. "It's not like we could drive across the country, and find Enid Blyton having tea with Noddy." She had a moment of doubt. "Could we?" she asked, looking at Rose then the Doctor. "Noddy's not real. Is he? Tell me there's no Noddy," she said with a touch of freight. The idea of him existing was terrifying.

"There's no Noddy," the Doctor responded, with the most serious face possible. Making Rose snort at the idea that something like that could be legitimately possible in the grand scheme of things.

"Next thing you know, you'll be telling me it's like Murder On The Orient Express, and they all did it," Donna said with a roll of her eyes at the absurdity they were in.

"Murder on the Orient Express?" Agatha asked as she reappeared in the hallway, visibly tired of waiting for them.

"Just an expression," Rose said quickly while silencing Donna with her hand, who was clearly two seconds away from putting her foot in her mouth again.

Agatha nodded, pleased with the response. "I'll keep it in mind."

The Doctor clapped, moving the attention on himself again. "Anyway!" He said, giving a side look to Rose, who was apologizing discreetly to Donna. "Agatha and I will question the suspects. Rose go interrogate the personnel. And Donna you search the bedrooms. Look for clues." He leaned in direction. "Any more residue." He said with arched eyebrows.

As the Doctor was taking out what looked like a magnificent glass from his pocket, Rose was already moving. "I'll be back in half an hour," she called out before walking in direction of the kitchen.

"So…" Rose started, looking to the three people in front of her. "Have any of you ever met the professor before today?" She asked with the most friendly smile she could muster.

"He had been invited by Miss Eddison multiple times, Miss," answered the maid with a pinched look. "I'm pretty sure he was a friend of the family."

"I don't understand why someone would do any harm to that man," Hart said with a regretful stare in direction of the door, like he could see the poor professor from here. "He was always nice to everyone, even to us. Not all people who come by are like that…"

"Did the professor do anything out of the ordinary today?" Rose asked while mentally taking notes at the same time. Everything said and every behavior observed, and discussed with the Doctor, Donna and Agatha later in private. "Like the fact he was in the library instead of drinking with everyone."

Davenport nodded his head negatively. "No, he was always like that. Generally he was talking with miss Davenport, or any other guest for a moment, and then he would go to the library for at least an hour before coming back."

Rose looked at him curiously. "Why the library? Was he was doing research on something specifically?"

Davenport scratched his chin, frowning as he was thinking hard. "I think he was doing research for his book. But I can't think of what it was all about…"

"A dead man's folly nothing more," said the maid somewhat grumpily. "Asking foolish questions and whatnot."

Before Rose could ask anything else or respond to Chandrakala, she heard Donna scream in the distance. Without any second thought, she started to run.

She almost collided with the Doctor and Agatha Christie as she had reached the top of the stairs. They only exchanged a glance before running again.

"It's a giant wasp!" Donna screamed as soon as they set foot on the corridor, making them all stop in their tracks.

"What do you mean, a giant wasp?" The Doctor looked puzzled as Agatha was catching her breath in the background.

Donna looked deeply annoyed. "I mean a wasp that is giant." She turned to Rose when she saw that the Doctor was clearly still not understanding her. "Rose help me!"

Rose shrugged helplessly. "I don't understand either. Are you allergic to wasps?" She really tried to understand what was happening but she was completely out of it for once.

Donna raised her arms in despair, frustrated at the lack of comprehension of her friends. "When I say giant, I don't mean big. I mean flipping enormous!" She pointed at the 'gift' left behind by the wasp. "Look at its sting."

The Doctor and Rose exchanged a look, before they looked at the direction that Donna was turned to. "Let me see," said the Doctor, taking out his specs.

That thing was effectively enormous. And clearly not from this earth, unless the wasp had undergone an extreme mutation without anyone ever realizing it. They had entered the room and as the Doctor was inspecting the bedroom, Rose started to poke the sting, waiting for something to happen. As she further examined it, she wasn't sure if she wanted to see the creature attached to it…

"It's gone. Buzzed off," the Doctor declared as he turned around, disappointment written all over his face, making Rose smile at his definite envy to go head first in trouble.

Agatha crouched beside her, enthralled by the sting." But that's fascinating," she said, her hand moving in its direction.

The Doctor bolted in their direction. "Stop, don't touch it!" His tone was frantic, making Agatha jump backward and Rose almost tripping on herself, afraid that the sting was suddenly coming to life. "Let me," he then said, taking out a pen and scooped some gunk from the stinger into a test tube. Not realizing the black look that Rose was sending his way.

"Giant wasp," he said as Donna was looking curiously above his shoulder "Well, tons of amorphous insectivorous lifeforms, but none in this galactic vector," he finished, looking directly to Rose who frowned at the implication.

"I think I understood some of those words. Enough to know that you're completely potty," said Agatha who appeared annoyed at their visible folly.

"Lost its sting, though." Donna didn't hide her utter relief. "That makes it defenceless."

But all hope she had about that was rapidly crushed by the Doctor. "Oh, a creature this size? Got to be able to grow a new one."

"Great…" Donna muttered as Agatha was getting more and more irritated by the second. "Can we return to sanity? There are no such things as giant wasps," she said with a cross of her arms.

" Exactly. So, the question is: what's it doing here?" he asked as his expression grew more and more serious.

"Maybe he's visiting?" Rose asked, more to make the Doctor and Donna smile than anything else. With great success as the Doctor snorted.

As Donna opened her mouth to ask something, they heard a scream outside followed by the sound of something heavy hitting the ground. They all looked at each other briefly before going off running.

As they had ran outside, they saw the body of the poor maid, still pinned down by what they supposed to be a Gargoyle from the roof of the manor. Rose was the first one to reach her, soon followed by the Doctor, Donna and Agatha. She skidded to her, taking her hand in hers, searching for any means to help her.

"She's still conscious!" Rose called out urgently while trying her best to comfort Chandrakala, who was in deep shock and dying by the second.

As the Doctor was taking out his sonic screwdriver, Chandrakala suddenly tightened her grip on Rose's hand. "The poor little child," she breathed out before suddenly going limp, her hand dropping to the ground.

"She's dead…" said Rose, tearing up a little. She had talked to her less than fifteen minutes ago and now she was dead. Donna in a gesture of comfort had put her hand on Rose's shoulder. But it was a sad moment all around. As Agatha was closing the eyes of the maid, they started to hear a strange buzzing sound in the distance.

"There!" yelled the Doctor who was pointing to the roof of the house, where a giant wasp was flying over. They could all see the stinger that was reflecting the light in the distance, showing it has grown back in the few minutes it had disappeared. "Come on!" called the Doctor, already running back to the mansion.

"You were not kidding when you said it was giant!" said Rose, trying her best to keep the pace as the Doctor was already inside.

"You don't say!" Donna answered with as much sarcasm as possible, as they had reached the stairs. She then turned to Rose with a smile. "Hey, this makes a change. There's a monster, and we're chasing it this time."

But Agatha was clearly not having it. "It can't be a monster. It's a trick. They Do It With Mirrors!" she insisted while trying her best to find any thread of normality. Reminding Rose from her time with Charles Dickens. Apparently historical figures and alien didn't mix well.

As they reached the upstairs corridor, they were greeted by the sight of the Doctor having a standoff with the giant wasp. "By all that's holy," said Agatha, horrified at what she was seeing.

"Oh, but you are wonderful. Now just stop. Stop there," commanded the Doctor as the wasp was lunging at him, scraping the wall with his stinger, making it impossible for Rose and Donna to approach or help the Doctor.

"We need to help him!" hissed Rose as she tried for the third time to move forward, but without any possibilities as she didn't have any possible weapon at the moment, not even a heel as she had chosen to wear flat shoes for the day. She was turning around widely, trying to find anything that could help.

"Oi, fly boy," Donna suddenly yelled, making wild gestures in the direction of the wasp, who turned his attention to her. As Rose was internally contemplating her friend's sanity, Donna took out the magnifying glass and pointed it in the direction of the insect, who retracted back into another corridor.

"Don't let it get away!" the Doctor yelled out frantically, who looked a little tousled after his little face to face with the flying creature. "Quick, before it reverts back to human form!" They tried to follow the creature, but it was nearly impossible as he took off with an almost impossible speed.

After a few seconds they turned to what seemed a dead-end "Where are you? Come on. There's nowhere to run. Show yourself!" the Doctor challenged with satisfaction. But before he could gloat further, all of the doors opened, letting out every guest from the party. The shoulders of the Doctor slumped at the realisation that he had been beaten by a giant insect. "Oh, that's just cheating…."

Donna and Rose could not help themselves and laughed.