Midnight ⋆ Doctor Who²

40. The Doll's House

AURORA CAN'T STRESS ENOUGH HOW SHE HATES THIS. Being attacked in a doll's house? It beats everything they've ever lived. Well, maybe except the Maze of The Dead. Or the Daleks. Or the Pandorica — okay, you get it, she hates this.

She just really doesn't like those big peg dolls. At least they're not very quick, because the Doctor threw Alex the shears and is determined to start rambling, instead of actively retreating into another place.

"Massive psychic field, perfect perception filter, and that need," the Doctor starts. "That need of Claire's to, to..."

He suddenly stops, Aurora bumping into him. "How about we get the hell out of here first?"

"Stupid Doctor." He hits himself on the forehead. "Ow."

Alex uses the shears to fight off the doll, while Aurora's brain rushes to conclusions. The faster she answers their questions, the faster they can run. "George is a Tenza!" she cries out, her heart hammering in her chest as the doll gets closer. "Can we go now?"

"Of course he is," the Doctor breathes out, still lost in thought.

"He's a what?" Alex cries out.

Aurora freezes as peg dolls approach from all directions. She gets closer to the Doctor. "A cuckoo," he rambles. "A cuckoo in the nest. A Tenza. He's a Tenza." He tries to open a door but there are dolls hiding behind it. Aurora quickly tugs him away, closing the door. "Millions of them hatch in space and then whoomph, off they drift, looking for a nest. The Tenza young can sense exactly what their foster parents want and then they assimilate perfectly."

The dolls are circling them now, Alex struggling to fight them off with the shears. "George is an alien?"

Aurora takes the shears from his hands and hits the two dolls in front of them. "Yep."

"But he's... he's our child!"

No matter how hard she fights them off, they eventually back up the staircase. "Of course he is!" Aurora cries out. "The child you always wanted. He can be both, you know."

Alex takes the shears back, holding them in front of the dolls at the foot of the staircase. "He sensed that instinctively and sought you out, but something scared him," the Doctor rambles on. "Started this cycle of fear. It's all completely instinctive, subconscious. George isn't even aware that he's controlling it." He turns to Aurora. "So we have to make him aware. George!"

Aurora looks up and begins to shout too. "George, you're the only one who can stop this but you have to believe! You have to believe. You have to know you're safe."

"We can't save you from the monsters. Only you can," the Doctor tells him. "George, listen to me!"

Aurora lets out a big sigh, looking back down. Her eyes widened. "Rory?!"

"Rory!"

Rory is fighting some peg dolls of his own, trapping the other side of the stairs. They're stuck.

Rory's eyes light up in relief. "Rora, Doctor!"

Aurora kicks a doll that seemed a bit too close to her. "Where's Amy?"

Rory points at the doll behind him. Oh my God.

"Oh, no. The dolls are people. If they can get George to fight his monsters, then they'll go back to their original forms.' The dolls are closing in, despite how hard they're fighting. "George! George, you have to face your fears!"

The Doctor and Aurora end up back to back, each facing dolls. "You have to face them now," the Doctor screams at George. "You have to open the cupboard, or we'll all be trapped here forever in a living death. George!"