IT WAS A DARK AND STORMY NIGHT
Chapter Three By the time they reached the fireplace, Rose was glad to be far away from that room and back in the comforting light. She felt a bit strange but she figured that was just nerves and the shock of what she saw in the room. She wanted to sit back down but the Doctor was beckoning to her and she followed him into the next room. She froze when the Doctor pointed to the portrait of the lady; it was her down to the dress she wore. Rose held her candle up and walked over to the other side of the table. "Was it a ghost?" she said, half to herself and half to the Doctor. "I don't believe in ghosts, you know that," the Doctor said behind her. "Then what d'ya think it was?" Rose said, turning to him. "She gave off her own light, she didn't respond to us and she vanished when I touched her. What else could it have been?" "It could have been many things, Rose. It could have been a hologram, one reality bleeding through another, a traveler from another time or a glimpse of a person from another time. Don't automatically assume the supernatural." "Okay, I might believe a hologram then since she seemed to be giving off a light of her own. But why would you put a hologram in an empty house?" Rose said. "Don't know but I'm not jumping to conclusions and thinking the house is haunted," the Doctor said. "Having said that, I think we should investigate further. Perhaps we can find the explanation for what's going on somewhere in this house. Do you want to come with me or split up?" "I'd like to go with you but maybe we'd get more done if we split up," Rose said. "Okay, you stay down here, I'll take the first floor and perhaps we'll share the second floor and any floors above it," the Doctor said. "So I find something and I just scream?" Rose said. "Well, you might wanna come and find me first before you scream. But if it's an emergency then scream all you like and the Oncoming Storm will be at your side. Unlike the ongoing storm which is outside." Rose chuckled when the Doctor gave her a cheeky little grin. "See what I did there? Oncoming Storm, ongoing storm, I'm brilliant." "Yeah, yeah, go and start your investigation before your ego fills up the room and suffocates us all," Rose said fondly. The Doctor winked at her and turned to exit the room. "Be careful, my love!" The Doctor froze and turned towards Rose. Rose, for her part, was slightly shocked at hearing herself call him her love. That part sorta slipped out without her thinking about it but she liked the fact that the Doctor seemed thrilled by it. He put his candle on the table and gave her a firm hug. Rose put her candle down next to his and returned the hug. "You be careful as well. No getting into trouble or I shall be cross," he teased. "Trouble? Me?" Rose said, feigning innocence. The Doctor snorted at the innocent act and patted her head before he picked up his candle. "Good hunting," he called over his shoulder as he left the room. "And you," Rose called out. Then to herself she said, "My love," loving the sound of it. She surprised herself by saying it just then. She never really had the courage to say it or anything like it but it felt good to finally get it past her lips. After all, she did love the Doctor with all her heart. A wave of sadness washed over her when she realized that she had never really told the Doctor she loved him and he had never done the same. He loved her, she was sure of it so why couldn't he say it. Yeah, yeah, Time Lord curse and all that, but still…why won't he say I love you to me? What's the harm in it? She thought. She frowned. Why am I suddenly fixated on this train of thought anyway? She thought. He has never said the words but I can see by his actions and the looks he gives me that he does love me…but still, why won't he tell me he loves me? Rose shook her head and cleared her thoughts. There was a time and a place and now was not the time to confront the Doctor with the fact that he'd never said he loved her. He was doing a task and she was given the same task to do so that's what should be focused on at the moment. Still, it'd been over two years since she'd known him and it was past time to admit his feelings for her, right? If he was such an Oncoming Storm, why couldn't he muster up the courage to say three bloody little words then? It didn't take that much courage to say three fucking words and… Rose forcibly stopped her train of thought since not only was she trailing off into the why he won't love me territory again now she was beginning to get angry about it. She took a couple of deep breaths and muttered, "Task at hand, task at hand…" She kept her mind on her mission as she used the candle to navigate out of the room. The Doctor stood at the top of the stairs and cupped his hand over the flame. Now there was no light coming from under the door or any other door. Still, he walked over to the room and opened the door, determined to find a credible reason for the woman's disappearance. He shined the firelight around, trying to find a holodisc but there was nothing on the floor except dust. On the wall, however, was the blood stains and the writing but now it was faded and he could tell the blood stains were old, not fresh like before. That puzzled the Doctor. "Okay…the woman could have been a hologram but that blood was fresh so how did it fade and dry so fast?" he muttered to himself as he walked over to it and bent down. He ran his hand down one of the blood stains and looked at his hand. Nothing on his hand, except dust. "But it was fresh, I could see that much," the Doctor said. "Gotta be some illusion. Can't be a real ghost, there is no such thing as ghosts. Just some silly human explanation for things beyond their understanding. Well…very little is beyond my understanding and I'll find out what's going on here if it takes all night!" He turned and walked towards the door, intending to check the other rooms in the hope that something inside one of them would shed a light on the mystery.
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