Another short-ish one. :/ I just felt like this one was done...finally. Took long enough. I was just so tapped when I finished the last chapter and this episode just does not want to come out. Luckily Celtic Woman had still been amazingly helpful. It should get better later. I hope.

Anyway, this is not my best work. This entire chapter was kind of a disappointment to me, but it's leading up to more important things so I needed it. Next chapter should be Josie meeting the Doctor and Professor. I'm so excited!

Disclaimer: Still own nothing...

Brigadier Sir Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart stood with his hands folded behind his back, staring through the viewing window to where the threat was being detained. If it was a threat. He still wasn't so sure. Years of working with the Doctor and Professor had taught him one thing at least. Not everything is what it seemed. That one rule kept him believing that the nasty looking alien in front of him might be a friend and that his granddaughter was still alive and safe somewhere out there. The fact that his daughter willingly sent her only child to some random government facility just because of a few nightmares that came true made him sick to his stomach. Needless to say he hadn't spoken to his daughter since, and that had been three, nearly four years ago. Josie would have been almost eleven now.

Shaking his head, the Brigadier focused on the problem in front of him; the one he was more likely to solve. The alien was about the size of very large gorilla, but dark red with long demonic horns coming out from his head. He had four beady black eyes and small pointed teeth similar to a shark's. Long talon-like claws protruded from each of the three fingers on his hands and his feet, though large, were shaped like a goat's. It truly was what he envisioned a demon to look like.

He was just contemplating how to approach said alien when a loud mechanical grinding started echoing throughout the room and a wind blew from nowhere, scattering loose paper all over the floor. An ecstatic grin spread across his face when he turned to see a familiar blue box fading into existence in the middle of the room. Vaguely he heard some guards shouting and guns being loaded in the background. One short command later and he had all weapons on the floor, knowing the Doctor and Professor wouldn't step out until they knew it was safe. The door swung open right on cue and a man with dark curly hair and rather large teeth poked his head out, a colorful striped scarf dangling from his neck all the way to the ground. He had a wide manic grin plastered on his face.

"Brigadier!" he called joyously as he bounded out to shake the man's hand vigorously. "So good to see you! How have you been?"

He smirked back at the alien, "Doctor. I've been better I'm afraid."

"That's a shame."

The door creaked open again, revealing a young woman in a leather jacket closely followed by a man in a suit with question marks all over the vest. He smiled and nodded at the Brigadier while corralling the teenage girl forward.

"What's this?" The Doctor drew everyone's attention to the alien next door.

"Not sure," the Brigadier shrugged. "Showed up in South London last night. Can't figure out what it wants exactly."

"Boy, that is one ugly alien," the girl pulled a face.

"Ace," the Professor sighed.

"Sorry, but it is," Ace shrugged, before giving him an apologetic smile. The professor patted her shoulder.

"Well then," the Doctor grinned as he straightened his shoulders. "How 'bout I go ask ugly why he's here, hmm?"

The Brigadier motioned him toward the door, "After you, Doctor."

"But sir," a soldier stopped them, "Protocol dictates…" his voice trailed off as he caught his superior's glare. The Doctor poorly hid his chuckle behind a cough.

The small group consisting of the Brigadier, the Doctor, the Professor, and their young companion Ace, entered the containment room. Glaring at the human-like creatures, the alien shuffled to the far end of the room as the Doctor approached. The following conversation was completely lost on the Brigadier who, never having traveled on the TARDIS, didn't have it translating for him. Most of it sounded like grunts and growls to him while the others had expressions of complete understanding. When Ace started laughing, he shot the Professor a questioning look, but he merely shook his head, smiling slightly. However, what really startled him was when the Doctor suddenly shoved his arm into his jacket pocket all the way to his shoulder, then exclaiming triumphantly, he pulled out a large stuffed teddy bear that was missing an eye. The alien immediately perked up like a puppy. The Doctor tossed it the teddy and the alien caught it in its mouth, looking like it was actually smiling. Suddenly it shrunk down in size until it looked more like a small odd monkey than anything else.

The Doctor bent over and picked it up, "Well that's settled. Now I can take a quick hop across the galaxy and then, tea." He gave the Brigadier a pointed glance, clearly wanting to hear more about why he hadn't been very well recently. He gave the elder alien a nod as they walked back to where the TARDIS waited, surrounded by curious soldiers.


It had taken all of ten seconds, linear time, for the TARDIS to drop off Harris (the giant red alien turned cute red alien monkey) on his home planet with his parents and return to UNIT headquarters. How he had managed to traveled across the universe searching for a lost comfort blanket without his parents noticing was still a mystery.

Now the Doctor sat with Ace on one side and the Brigadier on the other, the Professor wandering around the office, with tea set out on the table in front of him.

I've been better I'm afraid. The Brigadier's words reverberated through his mind. It was always worrisome when the strong, experienced humans he called friends were having troubles enough to actually admit it. But there had been an underlying tone that Alistair had tried to hide. Something was going on in the old soldier's life to truly beat him down. The Doctor never thought that would have been possible, and yet the proof was sitting in front of him. The aging man had dark circles under once-bright-now-dull eyes. His hair was thinner and grayer, even for someone his age and there were too-deep worry lines on his brow and around his eyes.

"Are we going to have to force it out of you?" The Doctor half joked, hoping to elevate the tension some.

The Brigadier gave a small smile before sighing, "It's family troubles. Nothing for you to worry about."

"Nonsense," the Doctor shook his head. "We may not be able to help, but you look as though you could use someone to talk to."

The human looked at each of the faces surrounding him as the Professor took a seat next to him. His shoulders slumped slightly as he admitted defeat, "my daughter and I haven't been talking the past few years."

He had a daughter? It seemed they had been out of touch with their older friend than they thought. A glance at his brother told the Doctor they were having the same thoughts. All that aside, this seemed an easy enough problem.

"We had a bit of a row," he continued, "when I found out she'd sent my granddaughter away." He hesitated.

The Doctor raised an eyebrow, "She sent her own daughter away? Why?"

Glancing around, the Brigadier continued to hesitate before straightening in determination. His voice took on a hard edge, "Apparently, Josie was having these dreams."

"Dreams?" the Professor asked skeptically. How did that lead to being sent away?

He nodded, "Dreams that were coming true."

The Doctor's eyes widened. A small child with dreams that became reality? It sounded as though she were having visions, not dreams. Of course her twenty-first century mother would ship her off. Those sorts of people wouldn't be understood for a few hundred years, and even then there would always be certain humans who feared those who became more powerful than them. It was just far too early in history to hear of something like this. This story was troublesome to say the least. If they hadn't been involved before, this information clinched it.

"Do you know where your daughter sent her?" he asked, leaning forward, eager to gather as much information as possible. They had a little girl to rescue.