Scotland's Mist

Chapter 7

Rose turned to face the Doctor, resting her elbow on the table and her cheek in her hand. "What do you think?" She asked quietly as he drew his hand back to his side to face her better.

"I think that Leslie's still out there," the Doctor said.

Rose furrowed her brow. That wasn't exactly the 'call to action' she had been expecting after an encounter like that. "That's awful optimistic, Doctor," she began carefully. "We can't just assume that she's alright."

"No, that's right, we can't," the Doctor admitted. "But I've got... I've got a feeling, Rose, I really do. She's not dead."

Rose reached over to lay a hand over his. "Please don't assume." She whispered. "It hurts you when you assume."

He offered her a small smile and kissed her on the cheek before pulling her to her feet. "We'll be fine, don't worry. I think we ought to go back to the forest."

"It's daylight," Rose protested as he pulled her out the door by her hand.

"The mist doesn't come until night."

"We'll find something to busy ourselves with," The Doctor said nonchalantly, not noticing how Rose's cheeks flushed.

"But d'you think we'll find anything?" Rose pressed.

"Oh, you'll need something to eat, won't you?" The Doctor continued as though she hadn't spoken. He dug his free hand into his pocket and pulled out packet of what Rose assumed was dried beef and tossed it to her.

She caught it and stuffed it into her hoodie pocket. "Doctor," she said warningly.

"Alright," he sighed. "I don't know if we'll find anything, but I know I want to walk around in that forest for awhile, see if we can find anything interesting."

She smiled in his direction and bumped his shoulder. "And by that you mean point the sonic screwdriver at stuff for awhile?"

He returned her grin. "You know me so well, Rose Tyler."

Assured by him finally returning the conversation she had in mind, she ripped into the back of dried beef and they made idle conversation.

He was far too optimistic for being the Doctor. He wasn't exactly pessimistic, she knew that, but she also knew that he was cautious. Him assuming Leslie was alive was really odd, even for him, the Doctor, the king of all things odd.

But his hand in hers reassured her, hoping that something so normal would keep things that way.

They reached the forest in a reasonable amount of time, the Doctor growing more and more excited as they reached it. A bounce entered his step.

"Think of it, Rose! We're on the same playing field. Neither of us know a blessed thing that the other doesn't. This is something we can figure out together."

She had to smile at the thought. "That's true," She mused as they passed the TARDIS. "Doctor, don't you want to test the atmosphere or something in the TARDIS? To figure out, I dunno, something weird about the area?"

The Doctor paused for a moment, offering the blue box a thoughtful glance. "No," he said decidedly, pulling Rose along their way. "Maybe tomorrow, after we've watched some more. I'd like another night of study."

Rose arched an eyebrow. "Do you mean a night of being imprisoned by fog?" She asked skeptically.

"If it comes to that," The Doctor said casually. Rose snorted. "Alright, it's likely."

It was barely mid-morning, and Rose couldn't imagine what they'd be up to for many hours that could keep them busy.

"The air isn't thinner," The Doctor mentioned after scanning the air. There's nothing new to me, nothing odd." He lifted a shoulder in a half hearted shrug. "I don't detect anything in the air."

"Maybe we should scan the mist when it comes back," Rose suggested.

The Doctor paused and nodded. "Right then. We'll do that."

They started walking again, deeper into the brush, when Rose's foot caught on a branch and she lurched forward. The Doctor caught her, holding her upright with extreme ease. "You alright?"

Rose's head swam with his proximity, his breath rustling her hair, but she eventually remembered herself and nodded slowly. "Yeah, look, it was a branch."

The Doctor regretfully let her go to look behind her. "No, Rose, it wasn't. There's nothing here."

Rose turned and peered around his shoulder. "There was, I caught my foot under it."

The Doctor squatted down, running the palm of his hand over the overgrowth, feeling for anything that Rose could've caught on, but felt nearly nothing. "Rose, there's nothing here," he said, his voice full of intrigue.

He pulled Rose down next to him, and she went to her knees in the grass. She ran her own hands over the ground. "Okay, yes, weird," she agreed. "It was definitely there, Doctor, I don't trip over nothing."

"That's right," the Doctor agreed, "You don't."

He pushed some leaves and dead grass aside to reveal what Rose had possibly tripped on. It appeared to be a lever that sunk into the wood of a tree root. "You triggered it," he said.

"With what?" Rose asked, almost afraid to touch it.

"Walk over it again, keep an eye on it though," the Doctor stood up and stuffed his hands into his pockets and watched her as she stood. She made to take a step, and the lever shot out of the ground, right where her foot was about to catch it.

"Oh," she said, surprise filling her voice.

The Doctor tugged her back away from the lever and ran the sonic over it. "Your heat triggered it," he told her after the scan had finished. "It's... What it leads to, I don't know, but I guess it goes somewhere. Want to find out?"

Rose nodded eagerly. "Wait," she said, "Is this gonna have to be one of those things that I'll have to do alone and just see if I live or not?"

The Doctor laughed. "No, I'll follow you," he assured her. "But there's one thing I actually might know," he said thoughtfully.

"What's that, Doctor?" She asked, gazing up at him.

"This isn't just about the mist."