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“Doctor,” Liz called out, expectant, “I’m heading off now.” Her personal items weighed heavily in the box she carried.
“Hm,” was all he said, squinting at a flower under a microscope. Then he glanced up. “Oh, you’re free, are you? Come have a look at this.”
Wearily, she indulged him one last time. It looked perfectly ordinary; cellular and vascular structures all intact. “It’s a rose.”
“No poisons,” he muttered, “no explosives, no carcinogens; no, no, it’s not right.” He looked at her without seeing her, eyes distant, too far in his own head to notice her sad smile. “How would you conceal a weapon in a rose, Liz?”
“Isn’t it nearly Valentine’s? Perhaps you’ve an admirer.”
He flinched. “For Earth’s sake, I hope not. No, there’s something I’m missing here. Something needlessly contrived, knowing him.”
“Who’s it from?” she asked, patiently.
“An old... school friend,” he said, somewhat evasive. She hadn’t even realised Gallifrey had a school; but, there were a lot of things she didn’t know about the Doctor.
“Did you get a note?”
His hand flashed out to cover it. “Perhaps.”
“I’d conceal it there.”
“Of course!” he beamed. “Genius, Liz!”
He didn’t notice the door shutting.