ABDUCTION

Chapter Eight

Jack unlocked the door to room one and they stepped inside. The room wasn't very big but it had two wooden beds inside it with fresh linen on them and a large table in between them. There was one window above the table and a lamp on the table along with some magazines. There were wooden lockboxes under each bed with a lock that used the same key as the room and on the ends of the beds were some towels, a flannel and a white bathrobe.

"He makes it cozy, considering it really isn't," Jack said, looking around. "So the bathroom is at the end of the hallway?"

"I think so," the Doctor said as he walked over to the bed on the left and carefully laid Rose on it.

"Can she walk inside that thing?" Ianto said while he and Jack walked up to the foot of the bed.

"Dunno but I'll be happy if she's able to walk at all after being shocked like that," the Doctor said, glancing at them. "Who knows how much internal damage that did. And what he did to her before that. Not to mention Jackie. We still need to find her. Blimey, we have a lot on our plate today."

"Why don't you lot look for that man. I'll stay and guard Rose," Ianto said.

"We can take turns guarding her," Jack said. "Just to make it fair."

The Doctor nodded. He looked at the doorway when someone knocked on the doorframe. Jack and Ianto turned and saw a humanoid lizard standing there holding a tray filled with cups of tea and sandwiches. She was wearing a white dress and a small white bonnet. Her skin was blue, mottled with yellow and her long tail was swishing back and forth while she nodded her head to them.

"I'm Veronica, sirs. I've brought you food?" she said.

"Thank you, set it here," the Doctor said, pointing to the table.

Veronica nodded and came inside the room. She glanced at Rose while she set the tray down on the table and then bowed at the waist.

"Will you be needing anything else, sirs?" she said to them.

"No, we're good," Jack said after the three men shared a look.

"Very good, sirs. Let me know if you need anything else."

They thanked her and she walked out and closed the door behind her.

"So, are we heading out?" Jack said to the Doctor.

"Just a moment. Let me have a moment with Rose and I'll join you outside," the Doctor said.

Jack nodded and he and Ianto turned to go. The Doctor watched them and waited until they closed the door behind them. He looked down at the woman he loved and found the force field, laying his hand against it.

"I hate to leave you here," he murmured to her. "But I need to find that bloke and force him to free you. I'm sorry, Rose. I'm sorry this happened to you and Jackie but I will sort it out, I promise."

He froze when he heard Rose moan and he watched while she slowly moved her head and opened her eyes.

"Doctor?" she murmured.

"Yes, I'm here, Rose," he said gently as Rose tried to focus her eyes on him. "How do you feel?"

"Like hell," Rose said as she turned her head to him.

"You're still trapped inside this force field; we can't get you out at the moment. The sonic is useless anyway. I have a feeling we'll have to find Chuckles and force him to give up the device. He put one around the TARDIS as well so we brought you in here since this is a slave trading planet and the slavers were becoming interested in you. Which is probably the point. If we hadn't found this place, we'd be fighting off the slavers as well as trying to find him."

"Doctor, he still has Mum. I haven't seen her since they separated us. I was in a lab strapped to a table with her and then he forced me to leave and that's the last I saw of her. If he's doing this to me…"

"I know and I will find her. I will sort this out, I swear," the Doctor said, cursing inwardly that he couldn't touch her and comfort her. "Ianto, the new bloke, is staying with you here and guarding you while Jack and I search for the git."

"Can Jack stay with me? No offense but I don't know Ianto," Rose said.

"Well, we're going to take shifts guarding you but yes, I'll take Ianto and Jack can stay here. Can you move inside this thing?" he said, slapping the force field with his hand.

"Dunno, I was transmatted out of the spaceship and he forced me against that pole and tied me up. Then he put that thing around me. I haven't walked in it."

"Well, just rest; you got a heavy dose of electricity. We can find out if you can walk later."

"Doctor, he can do that through his hands as well. He shocked me and Mum when we wouldn't cooperate."

"And he wears gloves. Must have some sort of electricity weapon built inside his gloves…at a guess, anyway. There may be people who can generate electricity like that but thanks for the warning."

"Doctor, will I be safe here?" Rose said.

"I think so. The proprietor seems friendly. His name is James and there's a reptilian woman called Veronica who served us food. Unfortunately, we can't get the food to you yet. But they seemed concerned about you and offered us rooms for free after we explained about you. And Jack will make sure no one mucks with you. He'll rip their liver out and eat it if they so much as breathe on you wrong."

"Thank you for getting him," Rose said. "I was surprised to see him but it's nice to see him again after so long."

"I agree. Now I better go, they're waiting for me outside and the longer we wait, the bigger advantage The Dementor will have against us."

Rose chuckled at the Dementor quip. She raised her hands and was surprised when the force field stretched and allowed her to raise her arms up. The Doctor gazed at her tenderly while she put her hands near his cheeks.

"Please be careful," she said softly.

The Doctor put his hand around the force field on her right hand and put his lips against it, pretending to kiss her arm while Rose watched.

"I will be very, very careful and so will Ianto. I'm sure he'd say that if he was in the room."

"I'm sorry about not wanting him. I don't want to make him feel bad but I don't really know him and…"

"It's alright, I'm sure his feelings won't be hurt. Besides, I'm sure Jack would rather guard you for the moment until we're sure we're safe here. And…there's a force field around you so I know he won't be putting his manky paws all over your body while I'm gone."

"Oh please, it's not like that between us."

She giggled when the Doctor snorted at that.

"I trust you, it's him I have doubts about," the Doctor teased. "Be good, my vacuumed packed companion."

"You be good and don't kill…The Dementor straight away. Save some for me."

"I will, count on it," the Doctor said before kissing the force field again.

He laid his hand on the part of the force field above her head while Rose lowered her arms. He fetched the blanket from his bed and covered her up before telling her goodbye. He walked to the door, opened it and told Jack that Rose requested him to stay.

"See ya later, Yan. Blondie wants me to guard her bod," Jack said to his lover.

"And don't you go abducting her and taking her somewhere," the Doctor said, pointing his finger at Jack's face.

"Moi?" Jack said innocently while Rose giggled at that. "Oh alright, I'll refrain from taking her to some cozy Casbah inn and romancing her."

"See that you do. Rose, resist him…somehow. Ianto, come with me, we're going to go hunting for the git."