"Doctor, where are we?" Rose's eyes wandered around the room, taking in the 80's style hotel-esque design. "And when?"
"Well, Rose, I can say with 100 percent certainty that we are not on Barcelona." He looked perplexed as he whipped out his sonic screwdriver. "Huh."
"Doctor, I don't like the sound of that." Worry crept into her voice.
"Well, according to the handy sonic, we aren't anywhere. According to the sonic, wherever we are doesn't exist."
"I definitely don't like the sound of that." She inched closer to him, not quite in hand holding range. "Can we leave?"
"The TARDIS's monitors indicate that this is a fixed event. Whatever is about to happen has to happen. Trust me, I'd much rather be on Barcelona." He held out his hand, which she took. "Let's see what we can find out."
They wandered down the hall where they had landed. The hallway didn't branch off in any direction, so they continued onward. Everything was quite, there was no sign of anyone. After about 10 minutes of walking that hallway they reached what could only be described as the lobby. There was a reception desk with one of those little bells. The large marble statue of some naked dude sat in the middle of the lobby, staring with a grin that seemed to mock them. The Doctor had let go of her hand as he went to investigate the reception desk.
"Doctor?"
"Hmm?"
"Do you know who this statue is?" He turned around to look at the statue. He walked up to the statue, tilting his head as he analyzed it.
"Oh no. Rose, this is Phobos."
"As in the Greek god of fear?" She squeaked. He turned to her with a look of surprise. "What? I payed attention to Greek Mythology. Found it quite fascinating, really."
"Yes, as in the Greek god of fear. And what do you want to bet that those rooms back there are full of people's worst fears. Imagine, every phobia contained in one hotel." Rose shivered. She looked around the lobby, her eyes settling on the far wall. Which appeared to be covered, almost from ceiling to floor and from one corner to the opposite, in photos. She walked slowly across the room to get a better look. Many of the photos were of humans, or humanoids. Some were of aliens she recognized, like one of those Cat Nuns they met on New Earth, a Sycorax, and two Ood, as well as multiple others that she didn't recognize. A closer look showed that beneath each picture was a little plaque, bearing a name and a number.
"Doctor, you might want to come look at this." Underneath a picture of a woman who looked eerily siimilar to Nicole Kidman, only with deep brown almost black hair, read "Susanne Kol, 529". Rose jumped slightly as she felt the Doctor step up behind her. "Doctor, I'm going out on a limb here, but I'm going to say that room 529 contains Susanne Kol's worst nightmare." She nodded at Susanne's picture. "And that room 039 contains Sir Ian Monte Carlo's." Pointing this time to the picture of an old man with a top hat. "Is this a trophy wall?" Disgust crept into her question.
"What do you mean by that?"
"On the telly, on some crime shows they talk about how some murderers like to take something of the victims. Like a wedding ring or a lock of hair. What if these pictures are trophies?"
"Well, I hope we won't have to find out." He grabbed her arm, and pulled her as he started heading back to where they left the TARDIS. "Just do me a favor and don't open any doors." His hand slid down her arm until it reached her hand, which he then grasped firmly, almost as if he wanted to prevent her from wandering off. The long hallway seemed even longer, but they finally made their way back to the TARDIS. As they walked past the door reading 010, the Doctor felt a twinge in his head, like the door was calling out to him. Open me it seemed to be saying. And he was tempted, so tempted. But he walked straight by, continuing on to the TARDIS.
Once they reached the TARDIS, he didn't hesitate to open the door and walk right in, Rose right on his heels. As the TARDIS door closed behind her, the Doctor had let go of her hand. Rose leaned against the door, as the Doctor did his usual prep for sending them into the Time Vortex. She stayed there, leaning against the door until the ship had stopped it's rocking as they entered the Time Vortex.
"Doctor..." She had walked up beside him, looking down at the grated floor. "What would have happened if we had found our door?"
"Rose..." he started, and just as quickly stopped. He sighed, and placed his hands on the console and leaned forward. He sighed again before speaking. "I honestly don't know. That's why I told you not to open any doors. I don't know and didn't want to find out. Why?" She was quite for a minute before responding.
"As we were walking back to the TARDIS, I felt a..." she made the motion of trying to grasp the right word to describe it. "A pull almost, as we walked past room 007. It was like it wanted me to open the door. But I have a feeling I know what would have been behind that door, so I ignored it." She let out a small chuckle. "That and you had a death grip on my hand." A small smile appeared on his face.
"Really? Tell me, what scares Rose Tyler the most." She was quite again, this time for longer.
"Losing you." The Doctor stood up straight and turned towards her, a look of shock and awe on his face. "It would be a life without you, a boring life of no traveling to far off places and alien world. A life without my best friend." He reached out and pulled her to him, embracing her in what could have been a bone-crushing hug. She returned the hug, and breathed in the comforting scent of soap, applegrass and what she assumed Time would smell like if it had a smell. Little did she know he was doing the exact same thing, breathing in her floral and guava scent. Still in their hug, she just had to ask. "What do you think would have been behind your door, Doctor?"
Daleks. The word flitted across his mind. Weeping Angels. Gallifray burning. Cybermen. The Beast. Slitheen. Silurians. Sontarans. Ideas flickered, each were plausible answers. But somehow he knew that it wouldn't have been any of them. "Honestly? Your guess is as good as mine." His response seemed to please her, so they stood there still hugging for a few more minute. She yawned, and he chuckled. "Okay, Sleepy. Why don't you go get some shut eye, and I'll try to land us somewhere nice and tropical without anyone to bother us. Sound good?"
She nodded her agreement. "Just not Barcelona. Seems every time we try to go there we end up somewhere else and end up having to run." She yawned again. "Night, Doctor."
"Night, Rose." He watched her walk down the TARDIS's hallway, waiting for her to disappear from sight before leaning once again against the console. He let out another sigh. Oh, he knew what would be behind his door. He knew, that if he had opened that door bearing the number 010, he would have seen his pink and yellow human, lying on the floor, dead.
A/N: The Doctor's room seems obvious, so no explanation needed. But if you're wondering, Rose's was room 007 (not because of Bond, James Bond) but because BAD WOLF is 7 letters.