SPACEMAN AND THE MOON ― doctor who

eleven ; the idiot's lantern part two

chapter eleven ; the idiot's lantern

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THE DOCTOR STOOD NEXT TO ROSE IN THE DETECTIVE'S OFFICE with a cheeky grin on his face. Rose smiled next to him, glancing between him and the Bishop.

"Start from the beginning. Tell me everything you know."

"Well, for starters, I know you can't wrap your hand around your elbow and make your fingers meet," he joked and Rose smiled, coughing back a laugh.

"Don't get clever with me. You were there today at Florizel Street, and now breaking into this establishment. Now you're connected with this. Make no mistake."

"Well, the thing is, Detective Inspector Bishop--"

"--How do you know my name?"

The Doctor's eyes fell to the man's collar. "It's written inside your collar. Bless your mum," he gave a smile before sobering up. "But I can't help thinking, Detective Inspector, you're not exactly doing much detective inspecting, are you?"

"I'm doing everything in my power."

Rose frowned. "Not enough, though, right?"

"All you're doing is grabbing those faceless people and hiding them as fast as you can," The Doctor shook his head. "Don't tell me orders from above, hmm? Coronation Day. The eyes of the world are on London Town so any sort of problem just gets swept out of sight."

"The nation has an imagine to maintain."

"But doesn't it drive you mad?" The Doctor questioned. "Don't you want to go out there and investigate?"

"Of course I do. But, with all the crowds expected, we haven't got the man power. Even if we did, this is beyond anything we've ever seen. I just don't know anymore. Twenty years on the force, I don't even know where to start. We haven't the faintest clue what's going on."

"That's not your fault," Rose told him gently. "This is way beyond anything you could have seen coming."

"That could change," The Doctor supplied. "Start from the beginning. Tell me everything you know."

Rose glanced back as another person was brought to the holding area, but didn't get much of a look and focused more on the task at hand.

"We started finding them about a month ago," Detective Bishop told the pair as they looked at the map with faceless people's locations on it. "Persons left sans visage. Heads just blank."

"Is there any sort of pattern?" The Doctor went over the notes, a feeling that he was missing something. But what?

"Yes, spreading out from North London. All over the city. Men, women, kids, grannies. The only real lead is there's been quite a large number in Florizel Street."

"Found another one sir," a man came in with another person, a woman, by the looks of the dress, and a blanket over her head. Rose's heart dropped when she noticed the skirt -- no, it couldn't have been... For a moment, she glanced at the Doctor, swallowing. Maybe this was her chance to take him back. Luna was great and all but she'd captured his attention in a way that used to be reserved only for Rose.

"Oh, er, good man, Crabtree. Here we are, Doctor. Take a good look. See what you can deduce.

The Doctor slowed, throwing the notes on the counter and walking towards the woman as the man lifted the blanket. "No," he pleaded quietly, voice shaking. "Not again, please don't do this to me again, Luna Peterson."