Donna was part way through between impressed and annoyed, and between relieved and disappointed. She shouldn't have expected as much from him, but she also knew that he had done better than she had thought he would. As far as she was concerned it was a genuine result in itself. The Doctor had taken her shopping, and not on some mysterious planet halfway across the galaxy, it wasn't even on one of the 39th century shopping satellites orbiting the moon (though they were fun and full of bargains, or at least she was told they were bargains, she wasn't entirely sure how their credit system worked and the Doctor had not complained at the cost).

They were shopping in Kingston, a normal town centre not far from Chiswick, where she sought some normal Earth bound gifts for her mother's birthday. An event that she would not miss even if it was not top of her list of things to do, and, as she had advised the Doctor if she was going to have to visit with her mother on her birthday then she was not going to go empty handed and if she was going to have to endure that without the Doctor's company (she knew better than to ask), he could at least come to the shops with her. At least with the TARDIS they could avoid Saturday shopping and instead had arrived on Wednesday morning.

He had survived both River Island and Next and he had even picked up a few things to look at from the home section in BHS, but that was as far as his interest and his patience had stretched. When it came to shopping Donna mused that the Doctor was no different from other men. He hated it and it bored him and it irritated him and why did they now have to go and look in John Lewis's? Surely there was something suitable there?

They walked through to the main shopping centre and through the back up a glass lift to the third floor and then into the Bentall's shopping centre. "You can go and get a cup of tea if you like?" Donna offered as the Doctor tried his best not to show his disdain at yet another large department store yet could not have looked more like a disgruntled six year old if he tried as he kicked at the floor with his Converse and pouted over the side of the landing looking down on the racks of clothing or up at over-priced soft furnishings.

He absently wondered if he could blow this one up just for the Hell of it? There were shop dummies in there and even if they were not Autons there was always the remote risk that under the right circumstances they could be reanimated and therefore they were a threat? He perked up slightly at the offer of tea as Donna got her wallet out from her jeans. She knew he wouldn't have any money that he could actually spend on contemporary Earth and she wasn't having him rob another cash point just for tea.

"Doctor?" Donna got his attention with a five pound note. "You'll be able to get a cup of tea and a slice of cake for that," Donna offered. "The café is just up on the top floor. I won't be long and I'll join you and then we can go and get some lunch somewhere? There is a nice Italian at the other end of the high street?" she offered.

"The other end of the High Street we just walked down to get here?" the Doctor asked her.

"Yeah," Donna confirmed and swatted at him when he tutted. "You spend your life running you can't tell me that walking one end of a street to another has worn you out?" she challenged him.

"It's not the walking," he muttered.

"Tea and cake?" She waved the fiver in front of him.

"Thank you," he took the money. "Where is the café again?"

"Up the escalators to the top floor and then to the right, you can't miss it," Donna reminded him of where the café was. "I'll see you shortly."

The Doctor made his retreat. He went up the escalator backward watching Donna as she twisted and turned through the rails of clothing like an expert. Every time he had turned or moved he seemed to have been grounded in the hip with a metal rail or ended up knocking some sort of dress off the rail to crumple on the floor and then because Donna simply would not allow him to leave it he'd have to get it to stay on the hanger again and hang it back up, usually turning into another rail and losing something else into a heap on the floor. He hated shopping and it seemed that shopping hated him. Yet Donna moved amongst the rails with ease. Her fiery hair meant she was easy to keep track of as she took on the entire market in fashion to find her mother the perfect gift, even though she knew her mother was just likely to exchange it.

He watched her until he reached the top of the escalator and then he almost fell off it backwards as his heels ground on the lip under which the step he was standing on disappeared. His Converse squeaked audibly as he grappled to right himself and then straighten himself out. He glanced around to make sure no one had noticed. A young shop assistant in a black and white uniform not dissimilar to Henrik's was trying desperately not to show that she had not only noticed but been amused. The girl had mousy shoulder length hair but she had a kind face and she was not much older than Rose had been when the Doctor met her. His hearts sighed for a moment, but then he couldn't help but laugh. "I should probably look where I'm going," he commented to the girl as he passed her.

"I would recommend that, Sir," she agreed and then laughed. "Is there anything I can help you with?"

"I'm looking for the café?" he offered and waved the fiver like it was his week's pocket money. "I have been relieved from shopping duties for tea and cake," he advised keenly.

"It's just up the next escalator and then to the right," the shop assistant offered. "Or, there is a lift just over there if you think that might be safer?"

"Tricky those escalator things," the Doctor commented and laughed.

"They can be," she agreed.

"Thank you for your help, Alex," the Doctor offered noting her name on her badge. She smiled and he bounded off towards the next escalator. He travelled up it forward this time. When he got to the top he went to the railing and looked down. "Made it!" he called down to Alex. She laughed and gave him a thumbs up as he turned to the right and headed toward the café.

As he went to the café entrance he paused and looked down over the railing again. The floor space on each of the levels was slightly smaller so he could see into the second floor and the first and then the ground floor formed the central circle right down below in the food court. He couldn't see Donna anywhere and Alex had returned to her job of changing some a display over to some new promotional device that was supposed to… oh, it was a new kind of T-shirt bra. Lift, support, and separate with an invisible comfort?

He was about to go and get his well-deserved cup of tea when he saw three men moving around through the furniture level below. They caught his eye. They were not furniture shopping they were carrying out discrete scans. He moved around the barrier above to get a better look at what they were looking for. The scanner they had in their hands was not contemporary nor was it from Earth. From above he could see that they had small bony protrusions along the back of their necks. They were fairly well covered by the collared shirts they were wearing, and unless actually looking at them from above, as he was, no one would have noticed that they also had three crowns on their head. Their thick hair was combed in waves away from the three spirals.

"Bylaxians?" the Doctor commented to himself. "What are Bylaxians scanning for in a shopping centre in Kingston?" He got his sonic screwdriver out and he discretely scanned them as they carried out their discrete scans. There was an alert on their scanner as they did.

"Upstairs," one of them advised. "It is upstairs. It is coming from directly above us. Not moving."

The Doctor ducked back away from the railing as the tallest Bylaxian with the scanner looked up. What could they be scanning for that was above them and not moving? The Doctor looked around him. There wasn't anything out of the ordinary there. Just the entrance to the café and the toy section and it wasn't even good toys, it was baby toys for very young babies. Lego, he liked Lego, but apparently human babies ate that so it wasn't going to be in there. He didn't think eating Lego was very smart. Maybe the Bylaxians were scanning for Lego? Or maybe? He sighed and scratched his head. Maybe he wasn't going to be getting his cup of tea and his cake any time soon and they were in fact scanning for him.

There was one way to find that out. The Doctor moved away and went over to where Alex had told him the lift was. He got in the lift and held the door open until he saw that the three Bylaxians had got on the escalator and were travelling upward. He then sent the lift down a level and got out of it. At the top of the escalator the Bylaxian scanned again. His suspicion was correct. They were scanning for him or something he was carrying. He didn't have anything in his pockets that he normally wouldn't have.

The Doctor looked up to them as the Bylaxians looked down. They made eye contact and the Doctor watched as they pointed at him. One of them went on the escalator back down and two of them started to run down the steps. The Doctor hurried away from the lift. There was a link from that level away from the shopping centre. Bylaxians weren't known as being a violent or particularly aggressive race but they weren't known for spending much time off world either. He didn't know why they would be there but if there was any risk at all he would rather they were somewhere quiet rather than in the shopping centre.

The corridor passed over the main road and he could see the traffic beneath them. There were shopping displays of all the over priced goods and the special deals available in the shopping centre and someone had posted a colourful A3 poster about an up and coming dance with a list of celebrity DJ's that he had never heard of nor was likely to hear of again. There was no one else in the foyer beyond the footbridge. It had led them into the car park foyer where the pay machines were. He glanced around. There was CCTV there but there was no one else in the area. He sparked the camera out with the sonic screwdriver as he once again undertook the role of public menace.

The Bylaxians made their way into the foyer area. One of them immediately went behind the Doctor to block his exit into the multi-storey car park but he was not interested in escaping. He didn't think he would need to. He didn't understand what they would be doing but they were Bylaxian. He'd not be in any danger from Bylaxians but what were they doing on Earth? If they were discovered then they could be the ones in danger and that would also put him in danger.

"Hello?" the Doctor greeted them trying to sound pleasant rather than wary. "I take it that you are looking for me?" he asked them.

"You are a difficult man to find, Doctor," the tallest of the three Bylaxians commented. He stood close to seven foot and was broad shouldered. He was a pretty big man even for a Bylaxian who tended to average larger than the average human male.

"You're a Bylaxian scout group?" the Doctor checked with them. "What would you be looking for me for?" he asked them.

"You need to come with us."

"That would be rather inconvenient. You see I'm here shopping. With a friend. It is her mother's birthday at the weekend and we need to get her a gift and well, I was just on my way for tea and cake. There is only so much shopping that I can take, though I understand the markets on Bylax are fairly spectacular? It is not somewhere I have been before, and unfortunately not somewhere I will be going today. I decline your offer," the Doctor advised and bowed his head slightly.

"It is not an offer," the Bylaxian behind the Doctor stated. "You will be coming with us."

"Perhaps this is something we can discuss?" the Doctor suggested.

"There will be no discussion," the Bylaxian advised. "You will either come with us willingly or you will come with us against your will. Either way you will be coming with us."

"Now just wait a minute. You can't come waltzing into a shopping centre and just kidnap a man while he is shopping?" the Doctor suggested. "Why do you want me to go with you?"

"There will be no questions. You will come with us."

"Oh, you obviously haven't done your research, well, you must have done in order to find me. Nice bit of scanning you did there. What were you scanning for?" the Doctor asked and glanced at the scanner. "Two hearts?" the Doctor asked. "Well, I guess that makes sense. I have two hearts, you have two hearts, well, actually six considering there are three of you. Scanning for the familiar in a planet of single hearted beings," the Doctor suggested. "That is as far as your research has gone, because if you think you can come here and not have me ask you questions then you are sorely…"

"We do not have the time for this," the smaller of the Bylaxians who was still several inches taller and likely fifty pounds heavier than the Doctor commented. He glanced at the tallest with the scanner and received a nod of consent. The Doctor managed to duck away from the first strike with a small baton. It had been aimed at his head and he had felt it coming rather than seen it. It struck his shoulder and sent a shocking numbing pain shooting down through his arm. He spun around just in time to see a flash of red as the second blow with the cosh struck him on the head. His senses sparked out immediately as he crumpled to the ground.

The tallest of the Bylaxians opened a lid on his watch and spoke into it. "The mission has been a success. We have him."