While You Were Out ...

Chapter 9

"No one has been here at all ?!" The Doctor stared at the sea of blank faces before him. "Oh, dear, oh, dear, oh, dear," he then fretted, wringing his hands. "I was so sure I had come closer to solving this." From what they had told him, it was obvious Jamie and Zoe had never been here.

"Come closer to solving what?" a dark-haired, female scientist suddenly asked, her expression curious.

The Doctor gazed at her, looking lost before simply shaking his head in frustration.

A tall, fair-haired male scientist tentatively approached him. "Sir, what happened?" he asked softly, his expression tinged with polite concern. "What is your dilemma?"

The Time Lord sighed as his gaze slipped down to his hands. "I recently arrived here with my companions and we'd only just begun exploring your planet when they disappeared without a trace. I haven't been able to locate them at all. I've walked, well, quite a ways, and there is no sign of them. I then speculated that—Oh, what's the use? It's not as if you'll understand."

Another male scientist, this one of average height with thinning, brown hair, stepped forward.

"Actually, yes. We do."

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Lying atop the bed in his newly unshared quarters, Jamie sighed in frustration. It had been a long day and he couldn't wait to get to sleep, but instead ended up just staring at the darkened room, his bedclothes, the ceiling, and back again. He even tried counting Highland Sheep in hopes it would make him drift off, but it hadn't worked.

He had been kept awake by the thoughts of all that had happened over the past two days running through his head nonstop. He was thankful the scientists allowed him and Zoe to continue working with them, and that they hadn't been thrown out with no place to go. But things were so different now.

Zoe was now in her own quarters, some huge building for all the lasses a short block away. He barely even got a look at the building and of course had no idea where exactly her room was. Jamie had made it his job to protect her ever since he'd first known her. How could he do that now? What if another sandstorm started up and ended up shattering the glass of her windows, much like the accident at the laboratory? What if someone tried to kidnap her?

What if she just disappeared, like the Doctor?

Jamie grimaced, placing his hands over his ears to silence all the "what-ifs" coursing through his mind. It was pointless in letting them take over and drive him mad.

But he knew he wouldn't rest until he knew she was safe.

Ungracefully rising from his bed, he put on his boots and then made his way out of his quarters.

Jamie kept to the shadows as he traversed the paved path from his own quarters to the all-female dormitory. He felt overwhelmed as he gazed up at the imposing structure. He certainly had his work cut out for him; where would he even begin looking for Zoe?

Well, he could start with the ground level ...

A quick but thorough search —in which he hid behind retaining walls and shrubs in order to avoid being spotted— proved fruitless. He had carefully peered through each of the windows and hadn't seen anyone resembling Zoe inside any of the rooms.

He then turned his attention to the fire escape.

After having climbed it and inspected the rooms of several more floors, he began to grow frustrated. Where was she?! Finally reaching the fourth floor, he'd almost decided to give up when he suddenly caught a glimpse of a lass lying on a bed that faced one of the windows. At first glance, her dark hair spread across the pillow looked much like Zoe's, not to mention he thought he also saw a resemblance in her face. He realized then as he spied the wee figure in the bed that it wasn't just for his peace of mind regarding her safety that had propelled him ...