Doctor Who_ Rip Tide - Louise Cooper [30]
The Doctor smiledA wouldn't call you ordinary in the least. I doubt if you know how un-ordinary you are.'
Nina glowed involuntarily at the compliment, then quickly and firmly crushed the reaction. 'You know what I mean!' she said sharply.
'Yes. Sorry. To answer your question, I need human help because the problem Ruth is causing has taken on a human aspect. And I didn't pick you at random. I know you've been watching Ruth for some time, so you've doubtless discovered a few things about her that I don't know.' He paused. 'Then of course, there's the connection with your brother.'
'Steve?' The ice dagger sharpened. 'How the hell do you know about that?'
The Doctor smiled. 'Open eyes, open ears, and insatiable curiosity. It isn't exactly difficult to find out about people in a village like this.'
That was true enough, and Nina relaxed fractionally, but her expression darkened. 'Then if you've found out so much, you know Steve's got the hots for her.'
'He certainly seems to have, doesn't he? Tell me, is that why you're so suspicious of her?' A slim hand reached across the table and came to rest on hers; a sympathetic gesture, but she had the feeling that, perhaps, it conveyed something more. 'It's obvious, to me at least, that you feel very protective towards Steve.'
Stupidly, irrationally, Nina felt a prickling behind her eyes. 'I didn't like her from the start. All that stuff about being a journalist; it didn't ring true –'
'But Steve couldn't see what you saw?'
She nodded, and blinked rapidly. 'He still can't. He's nuts about her. I – I don't want him to get hurt ...' Suddenly she looked up and met his gaze with a confused compound of anger and desperation. 'And you're saying she might literally hurt him!'
Her reaction confirmed the Doctor's surmise. Steve was the key to her co-operation; she loved him fiercely, almost possessively, and because of it a part of her was afraid to dismiss what she was hearing, just in case it might possibly be true. But the thread of her belief was still fragile, reluctant, and one wrong move now could destroy it irrevocably. As they talked he had been inwardly debating how much to reveal to her. Now, he made his decision. But it would take care and patience.
He said aloud, 'As yet, Nina, I truly don't know. But it's possible.'
Nina stared down at her untouched meal. She didn't want it, or any more wine, or anything except the ability to think clearly, which was the one thing she could not do. The Doctor could see her inner turmoil, and he spoke gently.
'It's a lot for you to absorb in one sitting, Nina. Do you want some time to think about it?'
She nodded.
'And perhaps you'd like some more concrete proof, as well?'
Nod again.
'I can give you that. If you'll trust me.'
'How?'
'By showing you the TARDIS, close to.'
She shivered, and her mouth jerked briefly in an odd, cynical grin. 'Oh, that's the trick, is it? Get me inside the house, and then —' But she didn't know what then amounted to, or what she wanted it to amount to, so she just shook her head and didn't finish the sentence.
'I understand your caution.'
'I bet you do.' She looked directly at him again. 'Why don't you talk to Steve instead of me?'
'Because Steve wouldn't listen. You said yourself, he's ... got the hots for Ruth. That sort of thing prejudices a man.'
Reluctantly she acknowledged the logic of that. But if he thought she was just going to walk into that house with him ...
A demon inside her said, Go on — that's exactly what you want to do, and to her astonishment and dismay Nina heard herself reply, 'Well, maybe I could...' God, what am I saying? Take it back, take it back! But it was too late to take it back, so instead, frantically, she tried to dissemble. 'That is — I don't mean now, not at night!'
The Doctor pushed his plate to one side. He had eaten half the meal and would have enjoyed the rest; to be seen enjoying it, though, would have sent Nina the wrong signals. 'I wouldn't dream of asking that of you,' he told her kindly. 'We