The Doctor:
"So, how did it go?" I asked Sera as she teleported back into the TARDIS, smiling slightly. "Seeing as I already knew everything I was just lying. Jagrafess and Adam, still hate that guy."
"Yeah, it was amazing, and you are not as grumpy as you said you were." She laughed, coming over and kissing me softly, biting my lip a little. "I'm bored, let's do something as a family, well, a sort of family, as we have no idea where Melody is and we never find her, she sort of find us."
I laughed at that, shaking my head. "And we may not even find the one parallel to where we are which could get very confusing for all of us. AMY, RORY, SERA'S BACK!" She shied away from me, covering her ears and I smiled apologetically. "Sorry, Princess, I always forget."
And then the Mini-Ponds came in, and they were all happily chatting away while I started us off somewhere amazing and exciting, and then I got a message on the psychic paper. "Please save me from the monsters." I muttered, throwing it to Sera who looked at it confused for a moment. "Haven't done this in a while.
"Haven't done what? What are you doing?" Amy asked, trying to read over her sisters shoulder, but she moved, pulling a lever.
"Making a house call, apparently." She said, and then we landed, and Ser lead the way out of the TARDIS by a big puddle.
"No offence, Doctor, Sera," Rory started.
"Meaning the opposite."
"But we could get a bus somewhere like this."
"The exact opposite." Sera laughed, resting her head on my shoulder as we walked further into the grotty looking estate.
Amy smiled at her husband, taking his hand. "Well, I suppose it can't all be planets and history and stuff, Rory."
"Yes, it can. Course it can." I told them, pressing the button for the lift. "Planets and history and stuff. That's what we do. But not today. No. Today, we're answering a cry for help from the scariest place in the universe. A child's bedroom."
I handed Rory the psychic paper, letting him and his wife have a look at it. "Please save me from the monsters? Who sent that?"
"That's what we're here to find out."
Amy nodded, handing it back to me. "Sounds like something a kid would say."
"Exactly. A scared kid. A very scared kid. So scared that somehow its cry for help got through to us in the TARDIS." I told them, pocketing it and pressing the lift button again. How long does it take?
"Yeah, but you've traced it here."
"Exactly." It finally arrived and we all stepped inside. "Ah. Going up."
Sera:
We split up, me and the Doctor together, as he didn't trust me alone, smart, Amy, and then Rory. We ended up talking to a dotty looking old woman, and we turned on our charm offensive. "Hello."
"Is it about the bins?" She asked, taking in my sensible trousers and plain red top. Apparently I look like a council official, brilliant.
"Pardon?"
"The bins. I can't be expected to get down all them stairs. I need new knees." I needed new hands, mine were starting to go funny.
"Not the bins, no, Miss?"
"Mrs Rossiter." She corrected, then pointed to her side. "I've already got a new hip. I'll be able to manage when I get the knees. Up and down them stairs like Sherpa Tensing, then."
"Can we come in?"
Mrs Rossiter pulled the door so that she was only a head. "Course not. You could be anyone."
"We could be, but we're not." The Doctor smiled, still trying the charm offensive. Doctor, we are in a council estate in London, these people are trained to shut doors. "I'm the Doctor and this is my wife, Seraphina." And then the door was slammed in our faces.
We tried a few more doors, then watched Amy and Rory talking to each other going past a little boy peering out of his window, looking terrified at what they were saying. Gotcha.
"Hey. Any luck?" Ames called across to us, seeing that I was sat on the balcony, the Doctor's arms around my waist. He was always scared when I did things like that, mostly because of my old bi polar, when I would have needlessly taken the risk and jumped across. My old softy.
"Three old ladies, a traffic warden from Croatia and a man with ten cats."
"What are we actually looking for?" Rory asked, looking a little fed up of being here.
"Ten cats." I repeated, shaking my head. I loved cats, I was sorta a giant one right now, and I couldn't afford that many vet bills. "Scared kid, remember?"
"I found scary kids" Amy suggested, making me smile a little. "Does that count?"
"Er, try the next floor down. Catch you later." The Doctor told them, pulling me backwards off the faded white concrete and onto my feet again. They nodded their agreement and headed towards the lift while we knocked on the little boys front door, flashing the psychic paper as soon as his dad came to the door.
He blinked in confusion as he looked at the paper, then back at the pair of us. "Oh. Right. That was quick."
"Was it?" We both checked the paper, then nodded to ourselves.
"Claire said she'd phone someone. Social Services." We absently agreed with him. "It's not easy, you know, admitting your kid's got a problem."
"You've got a problem. I've got a problem. I bet they're connected, I'm the Doctor. Call me Doctor, this is my wife/partner Seraphina, you can call her Sera. What can we call you?" He was rambling and he knew it.
"Alex."
"Hello, Alex." I smiled, stepping inside the door pulling the Doc with me. "So, tell us about George." That was a complete guess, I saw the label on the nearest room.
A little while later we were looking through the family albums, making me think that we should probably make some up for ourselves. They let me keep one photo of my daughter as a baby, and I cherished it.
"Ever since he was born he's been a funny kid." Alex explained to us, stood up while we were say down.
I looked up at him, a little confused. "Funny's good. We like funny, don't we?"
"He never cries." He continued, not really listening to us. "Bottles it all up, I suppose. Tell him off, he just looks at you."
"How old is he?" The Doctor asked, taking my hand loosely.
"He was eight in January. I mean, he should be growing out of stuff like this, shouldn't he?"
"Maybe." I agreed, subconsciously thinking about what Melody may have been up to at age 8. I would never know. "It's got worse, though lately?"
"Yeah. We talked about getting help. You know, maybe sending him somewhere. He started getting these nervous tics. You know, funny little cough, blinking all the time. But now it's got completely out of hand. I mean, he's scared to death of everything."
"Pantaphobia." The Doctor told him, kissing my hand.
"What?"
"That's what it's called. Pantaphobia." I explained, absently playing with his wedding ring. I did that a lot, it just reminded me we were finally together. "Not a fear of pants though, if that's what you're thinking. It's a fear of everything. Including pants, I suppose, in that case. Sorry. Go on."
"He hates clowns."
We both sighed at that one. "Understandable."
"Old toys." Creepy as hell. "He thinks the old lady across the way is a witch." I'd been thinking that myself. "He hates having a bath in case there's something under the water." How did he know there wasn't? "The lift sounds like someone breathing." OK, that was a little weird. "Look, I don't know. I'm not an expert. Maybe you two can get through to him."
"We'll do our best.
Amy:
"Amy? Amy? Are you here?" I groaned, waking up on the floor next to him.
"Yeah. Here. No, here. It's me." He shined his small penlight around the dark room
"You okay?"
I nodded, sitting up and looking at him. "Yeah, I think so."
"What happened to the lift? We were in a lift, weren't we?"
"Yeah, yeah." I agreed, nodding a little. "We. I remember getting in and then.
What?"
"We're dead, aren't we." Oh, what was he on about now? "The lift fell and we're dead."
Rory, we are not dead, just because you have died countless times already. "Shut up."
"We're dead. Again." He repeated, making me shove his shoulder.
"Oh, shut up. Let's just find out where we are" We started moving around the house, finding a lot of wood panelling and a tall ceiling. For some reason it seemed to be some type of Georgian style layout.
"You know, it's obvious what's happened." Rory told me, shining the torch around the next room.
I glanced back at him. "Yeah? Really? Because it's not obvious to me." Sera was the smart one between us, I mean, when it came to common sense and living a normal life, I could probably last more than a day before getting board, but if I had to diffuse a bomb with a bobby pin and a tooth brush? That was her forte.
"The TARDIS has gone funny again." Rory explained, making me want to hit him with my shoe. "Some time slippy thing. You know, The Doctor's back there in Eastenders-land with Seraphina and we're stuck here in the past. This is probably seventeen hundred and something"
"Yay. My favourite year." I muttered, leading the way through another door that creaked loudly, and then I walked into some sort of fire irons, making it clatter. "A bit neglected, wherever it is."
"Let's find the front door, at least. Then we can work out where we are. When we are." He corrected, while I walked over to a pan and tapped it.
"Rory?" He looked over at me. "Look at this."
He just gave me a look. "Well, it's a copper pan."
"No, it's not." I tapped it again, letting him listen. "It's wood. It's made of wood and just painted to look like copper."
"That is stupid." He agreed, tapping it himself.
I looked around more, then saw something on the shelf. "Wait. Hang on." I grabbed a lamp, seeing something that wasn't really time appropriate. "There's a switch." Flicking it a flame shaped bulb lit up.
"Wow. Well, not seventeen hundred and something, then." Rory admitted, moving over to a set of draws in the side board and opening it, revealing a big eye in it. Hesitantly, I reached forwards, touching it, and hearing a familiar squeak.
"It's glass. It's a glass eye." And then Rory's torch started flickering. "Stop doing that."
"It's not me." And that does not make me feel any better. "Come on."
"Yeah. Hang on." Then I retreated back to the counter, grabbing the wooden pan for protection. I was not going down without a fight.
The Doctor:
"George? You okay? What's the matter? Oh. Never mind. Were you having a nightmare, son?" Alex asked, running into his sons room when a smashing noise came, and Sera and I followed.
"Wasn't a nightmare. I wasn't asleep." Ah, the old Sera method, stay awake until you get knocked out. "Who are you two?"
Sera smiled softly at him, moving closer and offering her hand. "My name is Sera and this is my husband the Doctor."
"A doctor?" He asked, staring at me in horror. "Have you come to take me away?"
"No, George. We just want to talk to you."
"What about?"
"About the monsters, my Lovely."
A little while later I was whizzing through his Rubik's cube, not actually solving it but giving it a damn good go, while Sera was sat next to George, the scaredy cat 8 year old. Most 8 year olds were scared all the time, I was terrified. Though there was a big race difference there.
"Maybe it was things on the telly, you know?" His dad suggested, pacing lightly through the room.
"Right."
"Scary stuff, getting under his skin, frightening him." We murmured our agreement. "We stopped letting him watch."
Sera made a face, sticking her tongue out. "Oh, you don't want to do that."
"Then Claire thought it might have been something he was reading."
"Great. Reading's great." She grinned, and I remembered that theoretically she still owned a book shop, not that she'd been there in over a year. Poor Marcus, still running it. "You like stories, George? Yeah? Me, too. When I was your age, about, ooo, a 700 years ago, I loved a good bedtime story. The Three Little Sontarans. The Emperor Dalek's New Clothes. Snow White And The Seven Keys To Doomsday, eh? All the classics."
I threw the Rubik's cube away in frustration, giving up on it. "Rubbish. Must be broken. I hate those things." His dad gave me a look and I stood up, picking it back up. "Better tidy it away, though, eh? How about in here?" I moved towards the cupboard, but he shook his head vigorously. "No. Not in the cupboard. Why not in there, George?"
"It's a thing. A thing we got him doing ages back." Alex explained for him while he was blinking really fast, doing the little cough we were told about. "Anything that frightens him, we put it in the cupboard. Creepy toys, scary pictures, that sort of thing."
"And is that where the monsters go? Yeah. There's nothing to be scared of, George. It's just a cupboard." Sera smiled, rubbing his shoulder gently while I went to unlock it, just as someone hammered at the front door, making us all jump. And Sera made the lamp blow. Clever.
"Front door." Alex said, motioning for us to stay put and going to answer it, letting in a man that Rory had spoken to earlier.
"Evening." He said, walking right into the flat.
"Oh, hi" We listened to them talking for a little while, and we could see that George was getting scared, obviously not fond of the man particularly much, and I could see why. So we got out our screwdrivers.
"Are they torches?" George asked, seeing the green and purple ends of them.
We shook our heads. "Screwdrivers. Sonic ones. And other stuff."
"Please may I see the other stuff?" Aw, good manners, he was being brought up well.
"You may." We both made some of the little toys start to move quietly, making his face light up a little. "Ah, pretty cool, eh?
Sera grinned at him, wrapping her arm around his shoulder. "That's better. No tears from George, that's what I've heard. Go on, give us a smile, there's a brave little soldier. Bit rusty at this, I never got to raise our baby." She blinked, shaking her head a little and got to her feet. "Anyway, let's open this cupboard, eh? There's nothing to be," She trailed off, scanning it, then turned to me alarmed. "Off the scale. Off the scale. Off the scale. How?"
And the Alex came back into the room "Right. Sorry about that. So, have we got this thing open yet?"
"No! No, no, no, no, no. You don't want to do that." Sera told him, her eyes shaking as she stopped them from glazing over into a vision. She was getting very good at controlling them.
Sera:
I started rummaging through the cupboards as Alex was telling us off for making his son believe his nightmares. You always listen to your nightmares, they're your darkest fear coming to light. "You're supposed to be professionals. I'll never get him to sleep now. It's so irresponsible."
"No, Alex. Responsible. Very. Cupboard bad. Cupboard not bare. Stay away from cupboard. And there's something else. Something I've missed. Something staring me in the face. I don't miss things often." I replied, getting down some mugs and putting tea bags in them.
"Look, I'd like you to leave, please. You're just making things worse." No, we were getting to know what was going on, but we will fix it. "Will you stop making tea. I want you to leave"
"No."
He stared at the Doctor, who was looking through the cupboards, looking for something himself. Probably biscuits. "What? What do you mean no? Leave. Get out. Now, please. Look, maybe this was a bad idea. We should sort out George ourselves."
"You can't."
"No one's going to tell us how to run our lives. I don't care who you are or what wheels have been set in motion. We'll sort it."
"We're not just professionals. I'm the Doctor, and this is my wife the Writer."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"It means we've come a long way to get here, Alex." I told him, pausing to look at him. "A very long way. George sent a message. A distress call, if you like. Whatever's inside that cupboard is so terrible, so powerful, that it amplified the fears of an ordinary little boy across all the barriers of time and space."
"Eh?"
"Through crimson stars and silent stars and tumbling nebulas like oceans set on fire. Through empires of glass and civilizations of pure thought, and a whole, terrible, wonderful universe of impossibilities. You see these eyes?" I made them flash gold. "They're old eyes, they've seen all of time and time has seen them. And one thing we can tell you, Alex. Monsters are real."
He blinked at us, now looking quite scared. "You're not from Social Services, are you?"
"First things first." The Doctor said, giving up on his hunt through the cupboards. "You got any Jammie Dodgers?"
"Why?"
"Because George's monsters are real" We made the tea and I grabbed the photo albums again, getting curious about what was going on that I was missing. Because I didn't miss much, unless I was knackered but I'd been sleeping a little better now that I wasn't a walking ball of Flesh. "What is it with these photos? Anyway. Good. Nice tea. Nothing like a cuppa, but, decision. Should we open the cupboard?"
His dad blinked again. "What?"
"Should we?" The Doctor asked him, wrapping his arm around my waist and pulling me into him on the sofa.
"Well"
I didn't give him a change to finish. "Got to open the cupboard, haven't we. Course we have. Come on, Alex. Alex, come on. How else will we ever find out what's going on here?"
"All right, but you said" The Doctor interjected this time.
"Monsters. Yeah, well, that's what we do. Breakfast, dinner and tea, and the inbetweeny bits. Fight the monsters. So this, this is just an average day at the office for us."
"Okay, yeah. You're right."
"Or maybe we shouldn't open the cupboard." I suggested, looking at my husband with a fake worried expression on my face. It was cruel, but it was the best way to get him to agree with us if we just kept talking, too fast for him to really understand us.
"Eh?"
The Doctor nodded, agreeing with me. "We have no idea what might be in there. How powerful, how evil that thing might be."
"We don't?"
"Come on, Alex. Alex, come on. Are you crazy? We can't open the cupboard."
He nodded, looking petrified of us as we got our feet and put our faces close to his. "God, no, no, we mustn't."
"Right." I nodded, grinning. "That settles it."
"Yes. Settles what?"
"Going to open the cupboard" The Doctor grinned, heading to the little boys room. We started towards the cupboard door, while George peered out from behind his dad, the lift making us jump a little as we unlocked the cupboard, opened it, and leapt backwards, screwdrivers pointed ready. There were clothes, and toys on the bottom. "I don't understand it. It has to be the cupboard. The readings from the sonic screwdriver, they were-"
I didn't hear the rest of it, I was running out of the room, grabbing the photo album again. "How old is George, Alex?"
"What? How old?" He asked, following me out, as well as the Doctor who had worked it out too.
"Yes. How old is George?"
"Well, I told you. Just turned eight."
"So you remember when he was born, then?"
"Of course."
"Course you do. How could you not? I'll never forget the day my daughter was born. You and Claire. Christmas Eve, 2002, right?" I asked him, taking my Doctor's hand and looking intently at him as I showed him the photo album.
"What? Er yeah."
"Couple of weeks before George was born. Tell me about the day he arrived. Must have been wonderful, it was for us, sort of."
"Well, it was the best day of my" there was a big pause then, "life."
"Sure?"
"Yes."
"You don't sound sure." I said softly, stepping closer to him.
"What are you trying to say? Look, I don't like this. I've told you before, I want you both to go." Oh, how could we do that? This was important, a little boy with monsters that came to life then disappeared again.
"What's the matter, Alex?"
He shook his head vigorously. "I can't. Oh, don't. Oh, this is scary."
"No, Alex, this is scary. Claire with baby George. Newborn, yes?" I pointed to the photo album again and he nodded his agreement. "Less than a month after Christmas."
"So?"
"So look." The Doctor told him. "Look. Claire's not pregnant."
"What?"
He repeated himself. "Not pregnant."
"Well, of course not. Claire can't have kids!" He shouted, and then suddenly everything fell into place.
"Say that again."
"We tried everything. She was desperate. As much IVF as we could afford, but. Claire can't have kids." And then what he said hit him too. "How? How can I have forgotten that?"
"Who are you, George?" I asked softly, looking at the little boy who was blinking like crazy, his little cough coming every few seconds. Oh, you poor, poor little boy...
"It's not possible. This isn't-"
"George?" I asked him, moving forwards a little, but then the toys started to shake, the bedside lamp glowing brightly with it's new bulb after I broke the last one, and then the cupboard door opened again, a white light flooding out and grabbing us. George! George, what's going on? Are you doing it? Please, I can help you control that, I have abilities myself!" I shouted, my bare feet, digging into the carpet as I trued to stop the Doctor and I from flying backwards.
"What's happening?"
"Please save me from the monsters. Please save me from the monsters. Please save me from the monsters. Please save me from the monsters."
"George, no!"
"Please save me from the monsters. Please save me from the monsters. Please save me from the monsters." We weren't the monsters!
"Help me, Sera, Doctor!"
"Please save me from the monsters."
"George, no!" I screamed, as my husband was ripped from my grip, back into the cupboard. "Doctor!"
"Please save me from the monsters. Please save me from the monsters. Please save me from the monsters." And then his dad was gone, leaving just me.
"Georgie, please! I can help you!" But then I was back in the cupboard too, and everything went white.
Rory:
We were in the basement now, the wooden planks having been replaced by flagstones, and I pointed down another corridor. "Let's try down here." We found an empty bird cage over turned on the floor, a candelabra not far from it. But there was a front door. "Oh, at last." I went to turn the door handle, thne groaned. "Argh."
"What is it?" Amy asked, looking over at me from near the clock.
"No doorknob. Wooden pans, a massive glass eye, and now no doorknob."
"And this clock."
I headed over to her. "What?"
"Look, the hands, they're painted on." She wiped her finger across the face of it, and the hands didn't move. And then we froze, hearing a child's laughter and footsteps. "You hear that?"
"Yeah. Wait." I told her, listening hard.
"They're getting closer."
"They?"
We crossed to the next door with the laughter behind it and I opened it, Amy ready to bash it with the wooden pan. But there was just a 3 foot tall Peg doll there.
Amy let out a shaky, relieved laugh. "Oh, it's just a. It's a dummy. Oh, it's just a dummy."
"This is weird." I muttered, staring at it as we took a step back
"Yeah, says the time travelling nurse." Ah, fair point. "Yeah, er, let's just leave that for now. Come on." We turned away, heading through more corridors.
"Why aren't there any lights?" I asked, my heart starting to beat erratically and even if I wasn't a nurse I would have known what that meant. "I miss lights. You don't really miss things till they're gone, do you? It's like what my nan used to say. You'll never miss the water till the well runs dry."
"Rory."
I kept talking, rambling more than I had since I was a plastic Roman. "Except light, I mean, not water. Lights are great, aren't they? I mean if this place was all lit up, we wouldn't even be worried at all."
"Rory." I stopped, looking at my wife. "Panicking, a bit."
I nodded, sighing a little. "Yeah, yeah. Sorry."
"Yeah." And then we heard a voice coming towards us, and I recognised the landlord running, being chased by what seemed like nothing.
"Help me, please. Keep them away from me. Keep them away." The life sized Peg doll grabbed him, making him scream as he slowly became a Peg doll himself.
"I take it all back." Amy muttered, grabbing my hand. "Panic now." And then we ran back the way we'd come, the doll calling after us.
"Don't run away. We want to play." And then we got into the library, slamming the door behind us.
"Lock it!" Amy shrieked at me, but I couldn't.
"There isn't a lock." Then it was pushed open again. "No, no, no, no, no!"
"Come on!" Amy growled, and we pushed it shut again, and I grabbed a large cotton reel to put against it. "We can't stay in here. We've got to get out!"
"Er, how?" I asked, looking at her while keeping the door shut.
"Take control, Rory. Take control of the only thing we can. Letting them in."
OK, I think that the pressure was getting to her a little bit. "Letting them in?"
"It'll surprise them. We open the door and we push past them. Kick them, punch them, anything, okay?"
I nodded in agreement. "Okay."
"Okay." I gabbed myself a mop and then Amy dragged the cotton reel away. "Go on!"
I pushed one of the dolls flat on it's face, managing to run through, but saw Amy behind me still. "Amy, come on." And then the Purcell doll grabbed her/
"Rory!"
"Amy! Get off" I shouted, going to hit him/her off but she was transformed into a peg doll, and they all started singing.
"Tick tock goes the clock, and all the years they fly. Tick tock and all too soon, you and I must die." No, Amy...
The Doctor
"George! George, don't do this. We want to help you, George." Sera was shouting, her voice desperate to be heard as I got to my feet, taking her hand and calming her down a little.
"We went, we went into the cupboard." Alex said, looking around in shock as to where we were. "We went into the cupboard. How can it be bigger in here?"
I gave him a small smile. "More common than you'd think, actually. You're okay." I looked at Sera who was biting her lip to the point it was starting to bleed. "You are OK, Princess, we'll help him" She nodded, wiping the blood away and hugging me quickly. The age of 8 and not being in control of what you could do, that was well up her street.
"Where are we?"
"Obvious, isn't it?" Sera shot back, her face still partially hidden in my shoulder. She was hurting still, and being around a kid with out of control abilities... There was a possibility our Melody would have had the same problem.
"No."
Ser lifted up her head, eyes flashing bright gold and lighting up the area for a moment. "Dolls' house. We're inside the dolls' house."
"The dolls' house?"
"Yeah, in the cupboard, in your flat. The dolls' house."
Alex shook his head, still not getting it. "No, no, just slow down, would you?"
"Look. Wooden chicken. Cups, saucers, plates, knives, forks, fruit, chickens. Wood." I was throwing them all at him at this moment, and he caught every single one. "So, we're either inside the dolls' house or this a refuge for dirty posh people who eat wooden food. Or termites. Giant termites trying to get on the property ladder. No. That's possible. Is that possible?"
"Doctor, you're not helping." She whispered, and I sighed. Probably not.
"Look, will you stop? What is he? What is George?" He was a scared kid, who else could he be? "And how could I forget that Claire can't have kids? How?"
"Perception filter. Some kind of hugely powerful perception filter. Convinced you and Claire, everyone. Made you change your memories. Now, what could do that?" Sera explained, looking at her reflection in the mirror and fixing her already perfect hair. Still smelt of cinnamon and vanilla.
We moved on and Alex kept staring at it for a moment, and then shook his head. "Just a mirror."
"So, Claire can't have kids and something responded to that. Responded to that need. What could do that?" I asked aloud, letting the question just hang there and Sera had her thoughtful face on, but Alex thought that I was asking him.
"I thought you two were the experts, fighting monsters all day long. You tell me."
"Oi! Listen, mush." Seraphina grumbled, looking back at him. "Old eyes, remember? I've been around the block a few times. More than a few. They've knocked down the blocks I've been round and re-built them as bigger blocks. Super blocks. And I've been round them as well. I can't remember everything."
Then there was the lift noise and Sera didn't notice. "Ser"
"It's like trying to remember the name of someone you met at a party when you were two. I grew up twice!"
"Sera, the lift."
"And I can't just plump for Brian like I normally do."
"Seraphina, listen!"
"Shush." Then she paused. "What's that?"
"It's the lift. It's the sound that the lift makes. George is scared stiff of it." And then the electric lights on the candelabra went out one by one, lighting up and going out. "Five times."
We both looked at Alex. "What?"
"The lights. It's happening five times. It's like one of George's habits. We have to switch the lights on and off five times."
"Now you're getting it." Sera grinned, clapping him on the shoulder.
"What do you mean?"
"What do you tell George to do, Alex, with everything that scares him?" I asked, getting it now too.
"Well, put it in the cupboard."
"Exactly. And George isn't just an ordinary little boy, we know that now, so anything scary he puts in here. Scary toys, like the dolls' house. Scary noises, like, like the lift. Even his little rituals have become part of it. A psychic repository for all his fears, but what is he?" Sera questioned, then froze, looking up at something. "No..."
"Oh, my God." Not understanding why Sera was scared, I tried to sonic her, but nothing was happening. "A gun? You've got a gun?"
"It's not a gun. Wood! We've got to invent a setting for wood. It's embarrassing." Sera muttered, grabbing a pair of pinking shears and prodded the doll back to make our escape. "I'm sorry, Ame's... Come on."
"Don't run away. We just want to play" Not really interested in what you want to play, creepy wooden Amy doll.
"Massive psychic field, perfect perception filter, and that need. That need of Claire's to, to. I'm a stupid mother, should have seen that!" She slapped herself in the forehead. "Ow." Alex took the shears, starting to fight off the doll himself. "George is a Tenza. Of course he is."
"He's a what?" The Peg dolls were approaching from all directions now.
"A cuckoo. A cuckoo in the nest" I explained, while Sera shook her head, her eyes glazed over. "A Tenza. He's a Tenza. 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."
"George is an alien?"
"Yep."
"But he's he's our child."
Sera snapped out of the vision now, "of course he is. The child you always wanted. He sensed that instinctively and sought you out, but something scared him. Started this cycle of fear. It's all completely instinctive, subconscious. George isn't even aware that he's controlling it. So we have to make him aware. George!" Her voice got higher, desperate as we were backed up the stairs. "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. I can't save you from the monsters, I couldn't even save our daughter. "Only you can. George, listen to me. George, listen to me."
"Rory!" I cut her off, seeing him stood at the top of the stairs.
"Sera, Doctor!"
"Where's Amy? She..." I trailed off as he pointed to the doll behind him. "Oh, no. George! George, you have to face your fears! "You have to face them now. You have to open the cupboard, or we'll all be trapped here forever in a living death. George!" I shouted, while Sera gave a roundhouse kick, knocking the soldier back a little, but they kept coming.
"George, listen to me. George! George, listen to me. George! Please! George, you have to end this. End this. End it. End it now! Please, my sister!"
And then they the dolls stopped moving, and we saw George at the bottom of the staircase. "George. George, you did it. You did it. Hey, it's okay. It's all okay now. Everything's going to be fine." The dolls started moving back towards him instead. "No! No! No, no, no, no, no. Georgie, you created this whole world. This whole thing. You can smash it. You can destroy it, my Lovely."
He shook his head, and I tried to place why. "Something's holding him back. Something's holding him back. Something." And then it hit me. He was scared of being alone, of not being accepted. "That's what did it. That's what the trigger was. He thought you were rejecting him. He thought he wasn't wanted, that someone was going to come and take him away."
"Well, we, we talked about it."
"Yeah, and he heard you, Alex." Sera snapped, ready to run and help George if he needed it. "A Tenza's sole function is to fit in, to be wanted, and you were rejecting him."
"We just couldn't cope! We needed help!"
"Yes, but George didn't know that. He thought you were rejecting him. He still thinks it." I shouted to him, holding Sera back as I realised what had to happen. Visions aren't always the best.
"But how can we keep him? How can we? He's not-"
Sera cut him off impatiently, her nails gradually getting a darker red. "Not what?"
"He's not human." The dolls got around George, trapping him.
"No." We breathed, and then he called out for his dad, making him push his way through all of the dolls to grab him.
"Whatever you are, whatever you do, you're my son, and I will never, ever send you away. Oh, George. Oh, my little boy." He hugged him close and I felt the door to the cupboard open. "My little boy."
"Dad."
Sera:
Well, that was an interesting adventure, and now it was over with breakfast. Kippers, which are incredibly icky. And then Claire came home and the Doctor went to greet her. "Hello. You're Claire, I expect. Claire," air kisses, as usual, "how'd you feel about kippers?"
"Er who-"
"They sent some people about George. It's all sorted." Her husband smiled, kissing her cheek.
"Yeah, we had a great time, didn't we, my Lovely?" I asked him, giving him a high five. Kids were so adorable.
"Yeah."
"See? He's fine." The Doctor smiled, while she stared in shock.
"What, just like that?"
"Yes." I nodded, taking my husbands hand. "Trust us." And then they got into making breakfast, and we started off back towards the TARDIS.
"Sera, Doctor, wait." Alex called, running after us as we left the flat, cuddled into each other as we walked. My hearts were hurting and I needed to just et some sleep.
"Sorry, yes. Bye." I smiled, shaking his hand.
"No, no, you can't just. I mean"
The Doctor interjected. "It's sorted. You sorted it. Good man, Alex. Proud of you."
Alex blinked, a little confused. "What, that's it?"
"Well, apart from making sure he eats his greens and getting him into a good school, yes." I nodded, giving him a big grin.
"But is he going to, I don't know, sprout another head or three eyes or something?" You what? unless that became typical for humans I think not.
"He's one of the Tenza, remember." I reminded him, my grin not wavering. "He'll adapt perfectly now. Hey! Be whatever you want him to be. I might pop back around puberty, mind you. Always a funny time." It faltered then, and the Doctor's grip on me tightened.
"I'm sorry about your daughter. It's not nice, having things taken from you." My hearts sank again, but I just smiled a little, shrugged.
"She's out there, saving the day, and living. She's not dead. And she never will be." I whispered softly, and the Doctor kissed my head. "Nice to meet you, Alex. Never stop loving your little one."
"Kippers are getting cold." Claire called, and then we were gone as he turned around, finding the Mini-Ponds at the bottom of the block.
"Come on, you two. Things to do, people to see, whole civilisations to save. You feeling okay?" I asked Amy, putting my hand on her arm as she seemed a little shell shocked still.
"Er, I think so."
"Well, it's good to be all back together again, in the flesh. Come on." I linked arms with her, and pulled her back into the TARDIS. "Now, did someone mention something about planets and history and stuff?"
Rory nodded, putting his hand up. "Yeah."
"Where do you want to go?" The Doctor asked, heading to the console and getting ready to take us anywhere in time and space, but Amy was a little confused, mind blocked. "Mind's gone blank."
"Well, I have just been turned into a wooden dolly." She defended, and I laughed, hugging first her and then Rory. My family. Without them, everything would have been so much harder.
"Excuses, excuses."
"It's tough, though. It's like being given three wishes. The whole universe?" Rory said again, and we nodded.
"Or universes." I pointed out with a yawn, and the Doctors arms snaked back around me from behind, and I let my head flop back onto his shoulder with a small grin. "Ooo, three wishes, like Ali Baba. How about that?"
And then I was lost in a vision, not seeing anything, just hearing. Children, singing like a nursery rhyme. "Tick tock goes the clock, even for the Doctor." And then everything was dark, and my hearts felt like they were shattering.