On the run

Chapter 16

Jake escorted Rose downstairs, Rose remaining silent. Jake knew she wouldn't relax until she was away from the city and he didn't envy Pete when Rose found out where she was going and who was looking after her. Now though they had another possible problem, Yvonne's missing or deceased cousin, James Smith. He'd not had time to look into it but he was going to.

"So, glad to be getting away?" Jake asked her on the way down, having putting an over-ride on the lift so it wouldn't stop.

"Yeah though I wish I'd some idea where I was going. So you think Yvonne's cousin looked like the Doctor? How did you find that out?"

"Are you worried Yvonne will find out I've been digging into her family? I can handle her but don't read too much into it Rose, you thought Steve looked a bit like him."

"Only the way he dresses for work. There was that detective down on the south coast I saw on TV last year."

"Yeah but he had a beard and I saw him recently in the paper, it was even thicker. You have to face it Rose, everyone has a double, even on your world you said you'd seen that actor."

They reached the ground floor and Rose handed her employee card and ID to him as they walked to the door.

"I hope they don't think I'm being escorted from the building?" Rose smiled.

"You'd just love that Rose," Jake grinned as the driver of one of the courtesy cars got out to open the door for her. "If you were being thrown out, you'd be calling a cab."

Rose turned to give him a hug. "Thanks Jake, see ya soon?"

"Yeah, look after yourself, I'll see you for training."

"Yeah, hopefully. Bye."

She got in and Jake watched her drive off, answering his phone.

"Has Rose left yet?" Mickey asked him.

"Yeah, why?"

"I just bumped into Steve, he was asking about her."

"Mickey, she doesn't need Steve right now, she thinks he's brought all this up."

"I know but she doesn't need you know who either."

"Of course she does Mickey, that's exactly who she needs. I just hope she doesn't freak out when she meets him but I'm worried about the other one now," Jake told him as he made his way back to the security office.

Back up in Yvonne's office, she was furious that Owen Harper had got the better of her, since he'd claimed he wasn't taking sides and she'd heard he'd tried to get cosy with Rose while Steve was off getting her a drink at the party. Now, she was going to have more people finding out what happened that night and what happened to James because her relatives didn't want to talk about it. If he'd not be caught by the Cybermen, then where had he disappeared to?

Rose was in the back of the car on her way home, thinking about what Jake had said about Yvonne's cousin. She'd not seen a photo because Jake had said he'd not read that much about him but if he looked like a younger version of the Doctor at the time he disappeared, surely Yvonne would have caught on unless she really hadn't seen him that much?

When she got home, she found her mother in the kitchen and made herself a sandwich, getting a look from the cook's assistant. Jackie had just left her, knowing it wasn't easy for her to be going away and left her to go get packed. Tony went to find her when he got home from school, standing in the doorway.

"Will you be leaving early Rose?" he asked her.

"Yeah dad wants to miss the heavy traffic. I'll be home before you even miss me."