Fear Her 2.0
"Future?" Olivia smiled, shoving her hands into her jeans pockets as she leaned back on the console, watching the Doctor race around it.
"Future!" he grinned in confirmation, sailing up next to her. "Love the shoes, by the way."
She glanced down at her feet and grinned at her black Converse before looking back up at him, smiling, "Thanks. Yours aren't so bad either."
He grinned down at his white Converse before slamming a lever down and racing for the door.
"Come on!" he called as she raced after him. He stepped opened the door and was about to step out when he came to a halt, muttering, "Ah."
"What?" Olivia frowned as he shut the door and ran back to the console.
"Just need to straighten out," he explained, quickly running around the console before the TARDIS landed again and he ran back to the door. "Hate parallel parking. Come on!"
He grabbed her hand and cheered this time as he pulled her out onto a street and she glanced back at the huge, blue bins they were parked between, instantly realizing what he must've done wrong.
"Ok, so this doesn't look drastically different so…let me guess: Near future?" she smiled, letting him lead her down the street they were heading for.
"I had a passing fancy," he shrugged, grinning down at her. "Only it didn't pass, it stopped. Thirtieth Olympiad!"
"Liking the passing fancy so far," she grinned, hugging his arm as they walked under an Olympic Banner that said London 2012 on it.
"Only seems like yesterday a few naked Greek blokes were tossing a Discus about, wrestling with each other in the sand and crowds stood around—No, wait a minute…that was Club Med," the Doctor laughed at his own joke as Olivia rolled her eyes, still letting him pull her down the street with houses on either side. "Just in time for the opening doo-dah, ceremony, tonight. Thought you'd like that. Last one they had in London was dynamite. Wembley, 1948, I loved it so much I went back and watched it all over again."
"Doctor?" Olivia called, warily, staring at something stapled to a post they passed. She made her way toward it, now pulling the Doctor along as he rambled on through his musings.
"Fella carrying the torch," he rambled on. "Lovely chap. What was his…? Mark? John Mark? Legs like pipe cleaners, but strong as a whippet."
"Doctor," she tried again as they stood by the post, but he wasn't paying attention as she examined the flyer.
"And in those days everyone had a tea party to go to."
"Doctor," she drawled, rolling her eyes as she impatiently waited for him to notice what she was looking at.
"Did you ever have those little cakes with the crunchy ball bearings on top? Do you know those things?" he asked, demonstrating with his fingers.
"Yes, I do, now look," Olivia snapped, pointing to the flyers stuck to the post.
"Nobody else in this entire galaxy's ever even bothered to make edible ball bearings! Genius!"
"Would you—?!"
"I see them, Liv," he cut into her scolding as he looked over the flyers again. "What's taking them, do you think?"
"No theories just yet," she replied, looking to him as he turned to look down the street and at the houses. "You?"
"Snatching children from a thoroughly ordinary street like this," he mused again.
"Tell you another thing I've noticed," she reported, rubbing her free hand over her arm, the other still in the Doctor's hand as they both looked around the street. "It's freezing."
"Is something reducing the temperature?" the Doctor wondered to himself.
"According to the flyers, all three of those kids went missing this week," she reported as the Doctor released her hand to pull off his coat and she looked to him in wonder, asking, "What makes a person take three kids?"
"What makes you think it's a person?" he asked back, wrapping his coat around her shoulders. "Take care of that. Janis Joplin gave me this. Don't want it lost."
"Thanks," she shivered, pulling it closer around her. She hadn't realized it was going to be this cold when she chose not to bring her own jacket. She glanced to a woman putting her trash out, looking terrified that they were even there. "Well, the whole street's terrified. Doctor—?"
She cut herself off when she turned to see him down the block and sighed in exasperation before heading after him. She was halfway to him when a Mini Coupe drove up and stalled in the middle of the street, right next her, a tarmacking van on the other side of the street and the worker putting something away. The driver tried starting his car but the engine wouldn't turn over, making Olivia frown in wonder as the tarmacker strolled over.
"There you go," he called. "Fifth today. That's not natural, is it?"
"Don't know what happened," the driver explained. "I had it serviced less than a month ago."
"Nah, don't even try and explain it, mate," the tarmacker assured him. "All the cars are doing it. And you know what? It's bonkers. Bonkers. Come on, then, pal. I'll help you shift it. Quicker you're on your way the happier you'll be."
Olivia watched as the two men started pushing the car with some effort, making her smile in amusement.
"Need help?" she asked.
"No, we're alright, love," he insisted, but she made her way to him anyway.
"Extra pair of hands can't hurt," she smiled, sweetly, and he moved aside to let her help push the car a few paces.
The engine suddenly sprung back to life, making her stumble and the tarmacker fell over completely as the car jolted forward, the driver quickly hopping in, thanking them as he drove off.
"You said that was the fifth one today?" Olivia noted.
"Been doing it all week," the tarmacker confirmed.
"Around the same time those kids started going missing?" she noted.
"Yeah, I suppose so," he shrugged, heading down the road where she had been heading toward the Doctor.
"I'm Olivia, by the way," she smiled.
"Kel," he introduced himself.
"So, Kel, tell me about the cars stalling," she entreated.
"Every car cuts out," he instantly began explaining. "The Council are going nuts. I mean, they've given this street the works. Renamed it. I've been tarmacking every pothole. Look at that. Beauty, innit?"
"That is a lovely bit of street," she nodded with a smile.
"And all because that Olympic Torch comes right by the end of this close. Just down there. Everything's gotta be perfect, ain't it? Only it ain't."
"It takes 'em when they're playing," an old woman, Maeve, that had been heading toward them down the street said, stopping in front of Olivia and making her jump with a start.
"What does?" she frowned.
"Danny, Jane, Dale," Maeve listed. "Snatched in the blink of an eye."
Olivia nodded before noticing a burly man marching after the Doctor who looked like he was trying to get away from him as they both approached the three.
"I'm a police officer," the Doctor fumbled, backing toward them. "That's what I am. I've got a badge and a…police car. I can prove it. Just hold on."
He grabbed the edge of his coat, looking for his Psychic Paper as Olivia shook her head in shame at him.
"We've had plenty of coppers poking 'round here," the man snapped. "And you don't look or sound like any of them."
"See, look, I've got a colleague!" the Doctor announced, pointing to Olivia who shot a wide-eyed stare at him. "Lewis."
"She looks less like a copper than you do," he retorted as the Doctor was finally able to pull out the Psychic Paper.
"Training," he explained. "New recruit. It was either that or hairdressing, so…Voila!"
He showed off the Psychic Paper to each person around him before stepping back next to Olivia to tuck the paper in the pocket of his coat again.
"What are you going to do?" a mother, who'd come out of the house they all stood in front of, wondered.
"The police have knocked on every door," Maeve explained. "No clues, no leads, nothing."
"Kids run off sometimes, alright?" the man with them explained as Olivia noticed another woman hurry toward them. "That's what they do!"
"I saw it with me own eyes," Maeve insisted. "Dale Hicks in your garden, playing with your Tommy and then—" She made a sound and demonstrated with her hands before going on. "Right in front of me, like he was never there. There's no need to look any further than this street. It's right here amongst us."
"Why don't we—?"
"Why don't we start with him?!" the neighbor that had joined them snapped, pointing to Kel and his co-worker, interrupting the Doctor. "There's been all sorts like him in this street, day and night."
"Fixing things up for the Olympics!" Kel defended.
"Yeah, and taking an awful long time about it!" Tom's dad pointed out, irritably.
"I'm of the opinion that all we've gotta do—"
"What you just said, that's slander!" Kel interrupted the Doctor.
"I don't care what it is!" the neighbor shot back.
"I think we need to just—"
"I want an apology off her!" Kel demanded.
"Stop picking on him," Maeve scolded as Olivia bowed her head into her hand, sighing in exasperation.
"Yeah! Stop picking on me!" Kel echoed.
"And stop pretending to be blind," Maeve added. "It's evil!"
"I don't believe in evil," the neighbor shot back.
"Oh, no, you just believe in tarmackers with sack loads of kidnapped kiddies in their van!" Kel retorted.
"Hey, that's not what she's saying," Tom's dad defended.
"Would you stop ganging up on me?!" Kel snapped.
"Feeling guilty, are we?" the neighbor shot back.
"Fingers on lips!" the Doctor shouted, placing his finger over his own lips.
Olivia had jumped and shot her gaze at him at the sound of his voice, watching him glare at each person in turn until they did as instructed. When he came to her she frowned at him, wondering if he honestly expected her to do the same when she hadn't even been speaking. He urged her, silently and she hesitantly brought a finger up to place it over her lips, still saying nothing.
"In the last six days, three of your children have been stolen," the Doctor began. "Snatched out of thin air, right?"
"Can I…?" Maeve asked, raising her hand slightly and the Doctor nodded as everyone else kept their fingers over their lips. "Look around you. This was a safe street till it came. It's not a person. I'll say it if no one else will. Maybe you're coppers, maybe you're not. I don't care who you are. Can you please help us?"
Olivia's eyes drifted up to a window owned by the woman who hadn't said a word since stepping out of her house. She frowned up at the child in the window, staring down at them, and something about the stare made a chill threaten to crawl up her spine. The girl's mother, Trish, looked to Olivia, then looked up at her window before turning to head back into her house, catching everyone's attention.
"Well," the Doctor chirped, making everyone look to him again. "Best get started then. Come on…Lewis."
The Doctor grabbed Olivia's hand and pulled her back toward the house he'd been investigating. He stopped near the child's goal set up in the garden and started sniffing around the area, making her smile as he reminded her of a bloodhound hot on the trail for whatever it was looking for.
"Can you smell it?" he asked her, making her frown before she took in a deep breath through her nose, the scent she caught making it wrinkle in disgust. "What does it remind you of?"
"Uh…metal?" she guessed and he nodded in approval, making her grin back before he dragged her down the street and between two houses.
"Danny Edwards cycled in one end but never came out the other," he explained as they strolled down the walkway. "Whoa! There it goes again!" He stopped and held his hand up as it still held hers for her to see. "Look at the hairs on the back of my manly, hairy hand."
Olivia couldn't help but giggle before inhaling and blanching, "Same smell."
"There's a residual energy in the spots where the kids vanished," the Doctor explained, pulling her back toward the road. "Whatever it was, it used an awful lot of power to do this."
They made their way into another yard where Olivia grinned at the sight of a ginger cat nearby.
"Aw! Aren't you the handsomest thing?!" she grinned, releasing the Doctor's hand and heading for the cat.
"Thanks! I'm experimenting with back-combing," the Doctor grinned before stopping and seeing her kneel next to the cat, making his grin instantly fall and he sneered, "Oh."
"Sweet little thing," Olivia smiled, then felt like daggers were being thrown at her before she looked to the Doctor, remaining in his spot and still sneering. "What's the matter with you?"
"I'm not really a cat person," he reported, still looking uncomfortable. "Once you've been threatened by one in a nun's wimple, it kind of takes the joy out of it."
"Oh, you're such a big baby," Olivia grumbled. "This is a normal cat, not a New Earth cat."
He gave another sneer before she looked back to the cat as it strolled toward an empty box nearby. She stood and followed it but when she peeked into the box…the cat was gone.
"What…the…hell?" she blurted.
"What?" the Doctor called, stepping toward her and she lifted the box, only to be assaulted by the metal smell they'd detected earlier. "Whoa! Iron residue! Blimey! That takes some doing. Just to snatch a living organism out of space/time. This baby is just like 'I'm havin' some of that.' I'm impressed."
"Rambling, Doctor. Rambling," Olivia warned. "So he's obviously been transported…but where?"
"It can harness huge reserves of ionic power," the Doctor explained. "We need to find the source of that power. Find the source, and you will find whatever has taken to stealing children and fluffy animals. See what you can see. Keep 'em peeled, Lewis."
"Yes, Sir," Olivia nodded with a salute as the Doctor went off and she began her search from anything out of the ordinary.
She was passing a garage door when she heard clanging and crashing from behind it, making her jump with a start. She frowned and made her way toward the door, wondering if it might possibly be the cat and whatever had made it disappear transported it into the garage. She listened at the door before jumping again when it banged against the door.
"Ok, hang on," she murmured, reaching for the door handle and opening it, but when she lifted the door, it wasn't the cat that came flying out of it.
Olivia cried out and fell back when something that looked like a huge ball of lines came out and hovered over her, sounding like static.
"Stay still!" the Doctor called from somewhere, and she heard the hum of the Sonic sound before the thing instantly shrunk and dropped toward her, into her hands. She caught her breath, not moving as she heard the Doctor's footsteps rushing toward her then looked up at him as he held a hand toward her. "Okie dokie?"
"Uh-huh," she breathed as she grabbed his hand and he hauled her to her feet. "Thanks."
"No probs," he grinned before hugging her close and she wrapped an arm around him as they looked down at the thing in her hand, moving it around to examine it with the tip of the Sonic. "I'll give you a fiver if you can tell me what the hell it is, 'cause I haven't got the foggiest."
"I think you killed it," she voiced as he took it from her hand to look at it.
"It was never living," he assured her. "It's animated by energy. Same energy that's snatching people." He tossed it up into the air and caught it a few times with an amused smile. "That is so dinky! The Go-Anywhere Creature! Fits in your pocket, makes friends, impresses the boss, breaks the ice at parties."
"Give it here before you lose it," Olivia smirked, grabbing it back from him and tucking it into the pocket of his coat as she still wore it. "So now what?"
"Now, we go have a look at that thing in the TARDIS," he said, taking her free hand and leading her back down the street, but he stopped when she winced, yanking her hand from his. "What's the matter?"
"I must've scraped my hand when I fell," she guessed, looking at the road rash on her palm as he stepped closer to gently hold her hand in his to examine it.
"It doesn't look too bad," he observed, reaching into his jacket for his Sonic and running it over her palm to scan it. "Just hold still."
Olivia swallowed, her heart racing as she watched him, intent on healing the hurt. The burning on her palm lessened, and when she looked to her hand she noticed the redness fade before he pulled the Sonic away and smoothed his palm over hers, holding her hand in both of his as she looked up at his wide smile.
"Better?" he hoped and she nodded before he gripped her hand again and pulled her toward the TARDIS.
She tried to calm her racing heart, but it only worsened when his hand shifted to entwine their fingers as he dragged her into the blue box. He stopped at the console and turned toward her to pull on her hand. She stumbled forward with a gasp as she nearly rammed into him and stared at him with wide eyes as he leaned closer to her. Her heart pounded in her chest as she thought he was about to kiss her, but when his hand sunk into the pocket of his coat she wore, she quickly looked down to watch him pull the ball out of it. He released her hand with a grin and stepped away to place the thing on the console for the TARDIS to scan it as she took a deep breath and leaned, heavily on it and he stepped to the scanner.
"You alright?" he frowned up at her and she only nodded as she stepped toward him again to look at the screen as well. "Oh, heigh-ho, here we go. Let's have a look."
She watched as the screen only read in Gallifreyan, beeping out its results and she looked to the Doctor.
"Get out of here," he frowned in disbelief.
"What?" she asked as he reached into his inside jacket pocket, retrieving a pencil. "What does it say? I can't read Gallifreyan."
Instead of answering he lifted the ball and used the eraser on the pencil to run it over the surface. Some of the lines disappeared, making Olivia stare in at it in awe.
"It is!" the Doctor chirped with a frown, lowering it and blowing the eraser shavings from it to examine it. "It's graphite."
"Like in a pencil?" she frowned, still smiling in wonder, and he nodded. "A scribble attacked me, huh?"
"Scribble creature," he added, pressing it to his nose to sniff it then pulled it back to let her smell it as well. "Brought into being with ionic energy. Whatever we're dealing with, it can create things, as well as take them."
"Ok, but why would it make a scribble creature?" she wondered as they still stared at it before she looked up at him, thinking aloud, "Or maybe it was a mistake? Like when you scribble over something when you don't have an eraser. Kids do it all the…time…"
The Doctor looked to her with a frown when she trailed off and she looked like she was thinking.
"That girl," she breathed.
"Of course!" the Doctor ground out, as if he should've known, then frowned at her as he asked, "What girl?"
"That woman that went into the house, that didn't say much when we were in the street," Olivia explained. "Her daughter, in the window. Something triggered my Spidey Senses about her. Her mother even looked scared."
"Are you deducting?" he smirked, leaning lower to meet her gaze as she smirked.
"You know what, I might be," she grinned, biting the corner of her lip, cheekily.
"Copper's hunch?" he wondered, his nose scrunching as his upper lip curled and making her giggle at the face.
"Permission to follow up, boss?" she giggled.
"Granted," he nodded, setting the scribble creature on the console again to take her hand and pull her toward the door of the TARDIS as she only continued giggling. When they were outside, he turned to her, still holding her hand, asking, "Well, Lewis, where to?"
"Trish's house," she replied, running ahead and dragging him after her, their roles reversed for once. "This way!"
He laughed as she pulled him easily down the street until they reached Trish's house and rang the doorbell, fidgeting on her feet, slightly. The Doctor watched her tuck her hands into his coat pockets and looked up at him watching her then glanced down at herself, noting she still wore his coat.
"Do you want it back?" she wondered about the coat.
"Nope," he shrugged, leaning over to use the knocker on the door. "Unless it's too heavy for you."
"I like it," she shrugged a shoulder, pulling it tighter over herself before pressing the collar to her nose. "It smells like you. And it's warm."
The Doctor chuckled before they looked to the door as it opened and Trish looked them over with a wary gaze.
"Hello! I'm the Doctor, and this is Olivia. Can we see your daughter?"
"No," Trish nearly snapped, glancing between them. "You can't."
"Ok, bye," he chirped and they both turned to head back into the street, but they were stopped halfway.
"Why?" Trish called, making them turn. "Why do you want to see Chloe?"
"Well, there's some interesting stuff going on in this street and I just thought—well, we thought that she might like to give us a hand," the Doctor explained.
"But, if mom says 'no' we can hardly argue with that," Olivia shrugged.
"Yeah, sorry. We'll let you get on with things…on your own. Bye, again."
They turned and started to head for the street, but a second later they were stopped once more.
"Wait," Trish called, making them turn to her again. "Can you help her?"
"Yes, I can," the Doctor smiled.
Trish gave a slight smile of hope before stepping away from the door and he took Olivia's hand to pull her back toward the house and into the living room of Trish's home. Olivia took a seat on the sofa in front of the TV that was playing covering of the Olympic Torch being run, and the Doctor stood beside the sofa as Trish stood near the stairs.
"She stays in her room most of the time," Trish explained. "I try talking to her, but it's like trying to speak to a brick wall. She'll give me nothing, just ask to be left alone."
"And Chloe's dad?" Olivia wondered, noting the change in Trish's expression as she looked to her.
"Chloe's dad died a year ago," Trish reported.
"Oh," Olivia murmured. "I'm sorry."
"You wouldn't be if you'd known him," Trish scoffed.
"Well, let's go and say hi," the Doctor smiled and Olivia stood but didn't advance.
"I should check on her first," Trish excused. "She might be asleep."
"Why are you afraid of her, Trish?" the Doctor wondered.
"I want you to know, before you see her, that she's really a great kid."
"I'm sure she is," the Doctor replied, honestly, but both he and Olivia noticed she was stalling.
"She's never been in trouble at school," she continued. "You should see her report from last year. A's and B's."
"That's great," Olivia grinned. "Obviously clever. Clever's good. Um, can I use your restroom?"
Trish nodded and Olivia made her way past her to head up the stairs, hearing the mother praise her child and her achievements to the Doctor. She stepped past the bathroom door and toward what looked like Chloe's door, but when she noticed the shadow of moving feet under it, she quickly ducked into the nearby closet and shut the door. She watched Chloe open the door and head down the hall before stepping out of the closet and into her room, finding the walls covered in drawings.
Olivia narrowed her eyes at some of the drawings, recognizing some of the faces, and the cat in one of the pictures. She gasped when something rattled behind her, making her whirl around and knock over a cup filled with pens and pencils from the desk she'd stopped next to. She frowned when she saw nothing behind her before kneeling to pick up the things she'd dropped, but when she looked up at one of the pictures, her eyes widened in disbelief.
It had moved.
She jumped when the closet door rattled again, making her whirl back toward it and stare at as she set the cup down on the desk, swallowing hard. She stepped toward it, trying to calm her thumping heart as she gripped the handle on the doors. A strange breeze made her frown as the clothes hanging in the closet flapped around and she moved them out of the way to see what was glowing red behind them.
The drawing of a man with strangely glowing eyes and drawn with a fist seemed to growl out her from the back wall of the closet.
Chloe's father.
"I'm coming," he growled.
"Doctor!" she called, unable to look away, and a moment later the Doctor was pulling her back and slamming the doors shut as she finally looked to him. "Wanna have a look?"
"No, ta," he retorted as Chloe and Trish came in behind him.
"What the hell was that?" Trish demanded as the Doctor reached into the pocket of his jacket for his glasses to slip them on, approaching the pictures lining her walls to examine them.
"It was a drawing," Olivia explained to Trish. "The drawing of a man."
"What man?" Trish asked, moving for the closet door to open it but Olivia remained leaning against it, meeting Trish's gaze.
"Not a good idea," she warned, making her turn to Chloe.
"What have you been drawing?" Trish asked her daughter.
"I drew him yesterday," Chloe reported.
"Who?"
"Dad."
The Doctor looked up at them from a stack of drawings he was looking over and watched without a word.
"Your dad? But he's long gone. Chloe with all the lovely thing's in the world, why him?"
"I dream about him, staring at me."
"I thought we were putting him behind us. What's the matter with you?"
"We need to stay together."
"Yes, we do."
"No, not you. Us. We need to stay together, and then it'll be alright."
Olivia frowned up at the Doctor as Trish stepped toward Chloe and touched her shoulders and face, but Chloe looked as though she was disgusted by the contact.
"Trish," Olivia called, drawing her attention to her. "Having you seen what the drawings can do?"
"Who gave you permission to come into her room?" Trish snapped, making Olivia deflate. "Get out of my house."
"Tell us about the drawings, Chloe," the Doctor finally spoke up.
"I don't wanna hear any more of this," Trish pleaded.
"The drawing of her father spoke," Olivia reported.
"He's dead!" Trish argued. "And these are kids' pictures. Now get out!"
"Look, Chloe has a power that somehow took Danny Edwards and Dale Hicks and the other kids that have gone missing," Olivia explained, calmly. "She's using it to kidnap them."
"Get out!" Trish demanded.
"Have you seen them move?"
"I haven't seen anything!"
"Yes you have," the Doctor argued, making all eyes shoot to him as he kept his gaze on Trish as he approached her. "Out of the corner of your eye. And you dismissed it, because what choice do you have when you see something you can't possibly explain? You dismiss it, right, and if anyone mentions it, you get angry, so it's never spoken of ever again."
"She's a child."
"And you're terrified of her. But there's no one to turn to 'cause who'd going to believe you the things you see out of the corner of your eye? No one. Except me."
Trish stared at him for a moment before asking, "Who are you?"
"I'm help," he assured her.
Olivia glanced to Chloe who moved around her mother to sit at her desk, picking up a pencil and sliding a piece of paper over to draw on it.
"Why don't we all head downstairs and, uh, leave Chloe alone for a bit, huh?" Olivia suggested, drawing their attention to her.
The Doctor met her gaze and nodded before whipping off his glasses and entreated Trish to head out of the room. She passed Olivia and the Doctor stepped toward her to take her hand, pulling her toward the door and down the stairs, following Trish into the kitchen. Once there, he absentmindedly released Olivia's hand to grab a jar of jam sitting on the countertop and stuck his fingers into it to have a taste.
"Um…Doctor," Olivia called as he stuck his fingers into his mouth, leaning back on the counter and looked up at her in wonder. She shook her at him not to do it and he glanced at Trish before setting the jar down again like a child being caught with his hand in the cookie jar. "Her pictures are alive. The people she draws end up in her pictures."
"Ionic energy," the Doctor explained. "Chloe's harnessing it to steal those kids and place them in some kid of holding pen made up of ionic power."
"And her dad in the closet?"
"How many times do I have to tell you? He's dead," Trish insisted.
"I don't doubt that, but whoever that is she drew, it's alive, too," Olivia replied.
"If living things can become drawings, then maybe drawings can become living things," the Doctor murmured, staring into space as they both looked to him. He gave an exaggerated chill, making them frown at him before he explained, "Chloe's real dad is dead, but not the one who visits her in her nightmares. That dad seems very real. That's the dad she's drawn, and he's a heartbeat away from crashing into this world."
"She always got the worst of it when he was alive," Trish reported, nostalgically.
"How can a little girl be doing any of this?" Olivia wondered.
"Let's find out," he suggested, shoving off the counter and heading back toward the stairs.
Trish and Olivia followed him to up the stairs and into Chloe's bedroom, where the little girl now sat on her bed, waiting for them. The Doctor stepped up to her as Chloe kept her gaze on him, lifting a hand to make the 'Live Long and Prosper' sign from Star Trek.
"Nice one," he complimented, kneeling in front of her as she lowered her hand.
He lifted his hands to gently take her head into his hands, and Olivia realized he was using his telepathic abilities to find out what was happening. Chloe began lying back as the Doctor helped her and Trish took a step forward, but Olivia took her arm to hold her back.
"I can't let him—"
"Trish, it's alright, I promise," Olivia assured her. "He's not hurting her."
"Now we can talk," the Doctor said, stepping back from Chloe to stand over her.
"I want Chloe," the thing inside her spoke in a whisper of a voice. "Wake her up. I want Chloe."
"Who are you?" he questioned.
"I want Chloe Webber!" it demanded, slamming a hand down on the mattress.
"What have you done to my little girl?" Trish shuddered.
"I'm speaking to you," the Doctor called, circling the bed, all business now. "The entity that is using this human child. I request parley in compliance with the Shadow Proclamation."
"I don't care about shadows or parleys."
"So what do you care about?"
"I want my friends."
"You're lonely, I know," the Doctor sympathized, kneeling next to the bed, his tone softening. "Identify yourself."
"I am one of many. I travel with my brothers and sisters. We take an endless journey, a thousand of your lifetimes. But now, I am alone. I hate it. It's not fair, and I hate it!"
"Name yourself."
"Isolus."
"You're Isolus," the Doctor breathed in realization. "Of course."
"Our journey began in the deep realms, when we were a family," the Isolus began, one hand lifting a pencil and starting to draw without looking, tears coming to her eyes and rolling down her temples.
"What's that?" Trish asked of what she was drawing.
"The Isolus mother, drifting through space," he explained. "See? She jettisons millions of fledgling spores. Her children. The Isolus are empathic beings of intense emotion. When they're cast off from their mother, their empathic link, their need for each other, is what sustains them. They need to be together. They cannot be alone."
"Our journey is long."
"The Isolus children travel, each inside a pod. They ride the heat and energy of solar tides. And it takes thousands and thousands of years for them to grow up."
"All those years floating in space?" Olivia frowned. "Don't they get bored?"
"We play."
"Play?" Olivia smiled, sadly ad the Doctor sat next to Chloe on the bed. "Really?"
"While they travel they play a game. The use their ionic power to literally create make-believe worlds in which to play," the Doctor explained. "Helps keep them happy. While they're happy they can feed off each other's love. Without it, they're lost."
Olivia swallowed, feeling tears come to her eyes at how alone the poor thing must feel as the Doctor looked back to Chloe to ask, "Why did you come to Earth?"
"We were too close," the Isolus explained, drawing on another sheet of paper.
"That's a solar flare from your sun," the Doctor explained. "Would have made a tidal wave of solar energy that scattered the Isolus pods."
"Only I fell to Earth. My brothers and sisters are left up there, and I cannot reach them. So alone."
"Your pod crashed," the Doctor frowned. "Where is it?"
"My pod was drawn to heat, and I was drawn to Chloe Webber. She was like me, alone. She needed me, and I her."
"You empathized with her," the Doctor murmured, stroking Chloe's cheek. "You wanted to be with her because she was alone, like you."
"I want my family. It's not fair."
"I understand. You want to make a family. But you can't stay in this child. It's wrong. You can't steal any more friends for yourself."
"I am alone."
Olivia and Trish jumped as something banged at the closet door, calling for Chloe. Olivia grabbed Trish's arm and pulled her away from the door as Chloe began seizing, slightly.
"Trish, how do you calm her?" the Doctor questioned.
"What?" Trish frowned.
"When she has nightmares, what do you do?" he asked again, but Trish only stared at him for a moment before he demanded, "What do you do?"
"I sing to her," she finally replied.
"Sing to her," Olivia ordered, urgently as she pushed her closer to Chloe, the Doctor stepping out of the way.
Olivia latched onto the Doctor's hand as they watched Trish start singing to Chloe, stroking her hair to sooth her, the closet door rattling as the drawing tried to come to life. A moment later Chloe's eyes shut and she shifted toward her mother as she slept, and the thing behind the door quieted, making Olivia sigh in relief and lean heavily against the Doctor.
"It came to her because she was lonely," Trish choked as she looked at her daughter, her voice full of emotion as she wrapped her arms around her to hug her tightly. "Chloe, I'm sorry."
Olivia felt a tear roll down her cheek before she wiped it away, and the Doctor looked to her as she gave a sniffle, trying to keep him from seeing her tears. He could tell she empathized with both Chloe and the Isolus.
"We should get all the drawing materials out of her reach," he murmured to her. "Every pen, every piece of paper, every pencil and crayon, got it?"
She nodded as they both moved around the room, collecting the pencils, pens and paper. Trish finally stopped crying and stood to help them, knowing all the nooks and crannies she would hide them before the three went downstairs.
"Chloe usually got the brunt of his temper when he'd had a drink," Trish explained as she collected the scattered drawing materials around the lounge, Olivia helping her. "The day he crashed the car, I thought we were free. I thought it was over."
"You ever talk to her about it?" Olivia wondered, handing her a handful of pens.
"I didn't want to," Trish replied, stepping away to collect more as Olivia pursed her lips in slight irritation as the Doctor remained silent in the doorway, watching them.
"That could be why she feels lonely," she replied in a firm tone, making Trish look to her with wide eyes. "She has all these nightmares about him but she can't talk to you because 'you don't want to.'"
"Her and the Isolus," the Doctor finally chimed in as Trish turned away from her to hide the pens and pencils and he stepped up next to Olivia to place a hand on her shoulder. "Two lonely kids who need each other."
"It won't stop," Olivia realized.
"It's desperate to be loved," he confirmed. "It's used to a pretty big family."
"How big?" Olivia frowned up at him.
"Say around…four billion," he shrugged, making Olivia's eyes widen in disbelief before his hand smoothed down her arm to take her hand. "Trish, don't leave her alone. We have to get back to the TARDIS."
Olivia nodded as the Doctor pulled her toward the door and out into the street.
"We need that pod," he reported, making her frown.
"But it crashed," she recalled. "Won't it be in tiny pieces?"
"Well, it's been sucking in all the heat it can," he noted, dragging her after him. "Hopefully, that should keep it in a fit state to launch. It must be close. It should have a weak energy signature the TARDIS can trace. Once we find it, then we can stop the Isolus. We can scan for the same trace that I picked up from the scribble creature. Just need to widen the field a bit."
He said nothing else as they reached the TARDIS and he pulled the key for the door out of his pocket to open it and step in, still dragging Olivia after him, shutting the door behind her. He released her hand and made his way around the console as she watched him gather little pieces, constructing something as he went.
"Do you need help?" she wondered, approaching the console as he sat in the jump seat, but he kept his eyes on the thing in his hand as he constructed.
"You can tell me why you were so…let's say, firm with Trish about not wanting to talk to Chloe about her dad," he replied, making her face drop as she leaned back on the console, fiddling with the edge as he glanced up at her, before reaching into his pocket, recalling something he needed. He pulled out a piece of gum, handing it to her, adding, "And chew on this gum."
She frowned at him before taking it and fiddling with it a moment before popping it into her mouth. She chewed on it a moment before she responded.
"When my dad left…there was a stint where I couldn't talk to mom about it," she explained, not looking at him. "I felt just as lonely as Chloe does now. I had Aaron to talk to, but…I wanted to talk to mom. Ask her why, and where he went, and that I thought…it was my fault. It wasn't until five years after he left that she finally asked if I wanted to talk about it. By then, I'd already gone through and finished off going through…a phase."
He paused and looked up at her, frowning, "Phase? What kind of phase?"
Olivia turned to her with a near glare and repeated, "A phase. Let's leave at that, please, Doctor."
His frown disappeared before nodding and turning back to the thing he was working on, standing to step closer to the console, next to Olivia.
"Anyway, it was all because my mother 'didn't want to,' that I felt so alone, even with my best friend," she resumed. "She regretted it later, but by then everything had been said and done. I can sympathize with Chloe." She looked to the Doctor as he still worked, knowing he was listening before she asked, "How'd you know the Isolus was lonely before it said anything?"
"I know what it's like to travel a long way on your own," he replied, rapidly then looked up at her as she lifted two odd looking things in her hands. "Give me the stina magnetic, um…the thing in your left hand."
She handed it over, giggling at his attempt to tell her what he wanted before resorting to simpler terms.
"It's good, though…that you sympathize," he murmured, concentrating on what he was doing.
"I'm not sympathetic to the temper tantrum it pulled back there," she informed him as he gestured to her to put one of the pieces into the slot he pointed to in his project.
"It's a child, and it's scared!" he defended, blowing some dust away from the machinery. "That's why it went to Chloe. Two lonely, mixed-up kids. You were a kid once, eh? Binary dot."
"Yes, and I know what they're like," she nodded, handing him what he asked for. "I'm not saying I haven't forgotten what it was like to be scared at that age…I just know they can also be…irritating."
"You chose your words carefully," he chuckled before holding his hand out, asking, "Gum."
She spit it into his presented hand and he stuck it onto the thing, making her sneer in slight disgust.
"Look, kids can't always get their way," she shrugged. "The sooner they learn it, the better."
"What about trying to understand them?" he wondered, shaking it in his hands.
"Well, yeah, I get that," she nodded, then smiled, slightly, adding, "You talk with the patience of a parent."
"I was a dad once," he murmured, making her look to him with wide eyes.
"You what?" she frowned, wondering if she'd heard right, but instead of answering, he looked to his project.
"I think we're there," he grinned, standing and stepping toward the console as Olivia stared back at him, realizing she wasn't going to get an answer.
"Fear, loneliness, they're the big ones, Liv," he explained, fiddling with the console. "Some of the most terrible acts ever committed have been inspired by them. We're not dealing with something that wants to…conquer or destroy." He stepped next to his scanner where Olivia stood on the other side, watching him. "There's a lot of things you need to get across this universe. Warp drive, warmhole refractors. You know the thing you need most of all? You need a hand to hold."
Olivia smiled as she stepped in front of the screen and held a hand out to him, making him grin and take hold of her offered hand.
"You've got my hand," she smiled, before looking to the scanner when it made a sound. "What's that?"
"It's the pod!" he cheered, looking to the screen as well. "It is in the street! Everything's coming up Doctor."
Olivia giggled with a nod as he held onto her hand and pulled her with him toward the door, shutting it behind him.
"Ok, it's about two inches across, dull gray, like a gull's egg, very light," he explained as she started stepping ahead of him, knowing where they were headed.
"Got it," she nodded, wrapping his coat a little tighter around herself as she continued, "I understand love, but it needs heat too, since it's sucking up all the heat around here, right?"
The crash of glass made her freeze and whirl around with wide eyes…to find the Doctor, and the TARDIS, had disappeared.
"Oh, no," she groaned, rushing toward the pile of glass that was a device to help them before growling in anger as she stood and ran down the street. She pounded on Trish's door, and when it opened she launched up the stairs to Chloe's room.
"It's ok!" Trish called, following her. "I've taken all the pencils off her."
"Obviously not!" Olivia shot back, rushing into Chloe's room and yanking the piece of paper she was drawing on from her to stare down at it in panic.
"Oh, no, no, no!" she growled, staring down at the picture of the Doctor and the TARDIS Chloe had drawn…trapping them both in it.
"Leave me alone!" the Isolus demanded, drawing Olivia's gaze to her. "I want to be with Chloe Webber! I love Chloe Webber!"
"Please," Olivia nearly shuddered. "Please, bring him back."
"No!"
The refusal made her expression and her mood change from pleading, to anger at the insolence of it, and she slammed the paper down on the table, glaring at Chloe.
"He's the only one that can help you and get you back to your brothers and sisters!" she snapped. "Bring him back!"
"Leave me alone! I love Chloe Webber!"
Olivia took in a breath, calming her anger, remembering that she was dealing with a stubborn, frightened child, and remembering how it felt to be a frightened child. Nothing but what you wanted in that moment would console you, not even the promise of what you wanted in the first place. She looked to the picture with the Doctor and the TARDIS on it under her hand, trying to fight back tears as she lifted it to stare at the image of the Doctor.
"I'm gonna get you out, Doctor," she whispered, then set it down as she turned to the door, passing Trish and ordering her, "Don't let her out of your sight, I don't care what happens, got it?"
Trish nodded as Olivia passed, hurrying down the stairs and into the street.
"Ok, it runs on heat," she recalled, then noticed Kel leaning over a piece of asphalt he'd just tarmacked with a grin.
"Look at this finish!" he grinned as she rushed toward him. "Smooth as a baby's bottom. Not a bump of a lump."
"Hey, Kel, seen anything in the street in the last few days?" she asked him, hiding her panic. "Maybe giving off heat?"
"I mean, you can eat your dinner off this!" Kel grinned, making Olivia bow her head in exasperation. "Beautiful. So you tell me why the other one's got a lump in it when I gave it the same love and craftsmanship as I did this one."
"You can write a book when you've figured it out," she sighed. "Can you please think back six days ago?"
"Six days," he echoed then recalled, "When I was laying this the first time 'round."
"Huh?" she frowned.
"Well, that's when I filled in this pothole for the first time."
Olivia frowned in thought before recalling the car she'd seen drive over this spot and go out…the heat being sucked from the engine, and now Kel's explanation of the tar lumping.
"Hot tar," she breathed in realization.
"Blended to a secret Council recipe," Kel grinned as Olivia raced toward the van sitting a few yards away. "No, I don't keep it in the van!"
She opened the door and jumped into the back of the van, rummaging through the things in it before she grinned when she found a pickaxe and jumped out, ignoring Kel's protests about touching things that belonged to the Council. She leaned the axe against her leg and stripped off the Doctor's coat and tossed it at Kel.
"Hold that for me, yeah?" she asked before lifting the axe and slamming it into the tarmacked square he'd been fawning over.
"No!" he shouted, holding onto the Doctor's coat as Olivia continued hacking away at the tarmack. "You just took a Council axe from a Council van, and now you're digging up a Council road! I'm reporting you to the Council!"
She dropped the axe when she felt she'd dug far enough and started sifting through the rocks until she found exactly what the Doctor had described to her as the Isolus pod, grinning, "There you are!"
"What is it?!" Kel snapped as Olivia approached him, staring at the pod.
"Nothing that belongs to the Council," she retorted, taking the Doctor's coat back from him and pulling it on as she rushed toward Trish's house again, running in and calling, "I found the pod! Hopefully the Isolus will know what to do with it, because I haven't really got a clue."
She looked up in the lounge to see Trish coming out of the kitchen and her heart leapt in panic as her eyes widened at her, the TV blaring next to them.
"I told you not to leave her alone!" Olivia snapped before the TV caught their attentions.
"My god! Uh, what's going on here?"
Olivia looked to the screen to see the Olympic Stadium, full of people just one second ago, now empty of every single person…and she knew exactly who had done it.
"I don't care if you've got Snow White and the Seven Dwarves buried under there, you don't go—"
"We've got bigger problem than your Council road, Kel," Olivia cut in, still staring at the TV as he approached and stared at the screen. "But that won't be enough to make up for four billion siblings."
She shot toward the stairs and ran up to Chloe's room to open the door, only to find she'd blocked it so they couldn't get in.
"Chloe, it's Olivia! Open the door! I've got your ship!"
She looked to Kel who had followed them up the stairs with his pickaxe and she grabbed it from him.
"Get back!" she ordered before wailing at the door with it as hard as she could until there was a hole big enough in the door to reach in and move the chair blocking it. She rushed in to find Chloe drawing an image of the Earth on her wall next to her closet where the drawing of her father was trying to break through.
"Chloe, I have your ship," Olivia told her, holding the thing in her hand toward her. "It's been sucking up the heat from the street and the cars."
"It needs more than heat," the Isolus argued.
"I'm not being funny or nothing, but that picture just moved," Kel announced. "And that one!"
Olivia frowned and looked to him as he pointed to the picture on the bed of the Doctor…but he was pointing to the Olympic Torch which hadn't been in the picture before.
"The torch?" she frowned, just as the feed of the Olympics showed the runner on his way with the torch from Chloe's laptop.
"The Torch is still on its way," the announcer reported. "I suppose it's much more than a torch now. It's a beacon of hope and fortitude and courage. And it's a beacon of love."
"That's it!" Olivia shouted, dropping the paper and shoving past Kel and Trish to get to the stairs again.
She raced down the street, shoved past the people leaning up behind a barrier to see the runner go by with the torch. She tried to get past it but she was stopped by a policeman who told her she'd have to stay behind the barrier. The pod chirped in her hand as the torch went by and she stared down at it with wide eyes.
"You can feel it," she breathed before backing up to clear the crowd and took the thing into her hand, her gaze on the torch. "Feel the love…and pray my throwing skills haven't gotten rusty."
She threw the pod toward the torch and watched as it flew through the air and landed right into the flame. She screamed in elation and spun around before turning to Kel as he caught up with her and threw her arms around him for a tight hug.
"You did it!" he cheered, then frowned when she stepped back, "What did you just do?"
"Don't worry about it, Kel," she laughed. "You won't have any problem with that piece of Council road anymore."
She patted his arm before stepping down the road to see all the children had returned from the drawings Chloe had made, making her smile…but she couldn't find the Doctor. She jumped when a hand grabbed onto her arm and she looked to Maeve with a smile.
"I don't know who you are, or what you did, but thank you, darling!" she smiled, kissing her cheek and making Olivia's smile widen. "And thank that man for me, too!"
"I would if I could find him," she sighed as the old woman walked away, looking around. "All the pictures have…come…to life."
Her gaze moved to Trish's house where a familiar red glow came from Chloe's bedroom window, making her heart race in panic.
"Trish!" she shouted, running for the house, but just as she got to the door and slammed shut. She grabbed the handle, but the door wouldn't budge and she looked up to see Trish trying to get out on the other side.
"The door's stuck!" Trish shouted.
"Chloe, it's not real!" Olivia tried as both she and Trish tried to get the door open. "It's residual energy, but you can kill it! It's feeding off your fear! You need to be brave!"
"I can't!" Chloe cried. "Mummy!"
"I'm here, Chloe," Trish assured her as Olivia watched them both sink down to the floor to sit, holding hands. "You're not alone. You'll never by alone again."
"Try singing!" Olivia called. "Keep singing!"
She heard them singing and a moment later she noticed the glow fade, and the growling disappeared, making her sigh in relief and lean against the door. She picked at the wood of the door, unable to stop thinking of where the Doctor was, knowing he had to have come out of the drawings.
"Maybe he's gone somewhere," Kel guessed, drawing her attention to him as he approached and she sighed again.
"But…he left his coat," she murmured, picking at the collar of the coat she wore. "He'd never leave his coat behind."
Kel looked lost for a moment before suggesting, "Come on, let's get inside and see if the others came back on the telly."
She nodded and they stepped through the door, making their way into the lounge where Trish and Chloe were watching TV, the announcer telling everyone that the stadium was full again before they showed footage of the torch bearer.
"But hang on, the torch bearer seems to be in a bit of trouble. We did see a lash of lightening earlier that seemed to strike him. Uh, maybe he's injured."
Olivia gasped when she watched the man go down, the torch in his hand…until a pair of Converse came into a view and a hand pulled the Torch from his.
"Doctor!" she grinned, tears of joy coming to her eyes as she watched him running the torch then lighting the pyre to start the games. "That man will be the death of me, scaring me like that all the time."
That Evening...
Olivia watched the Doctor stroll down the street from Trish's front door, a cake for him topped with edible ball bearings in her hand before rushing out into the street when he passed without noticing her. She strolled behind him a step or two before calling out to him.
"Oi, Time Boy!" she grinned, making him whirl around as she held her hand out, smirking, "Want some cake?"
He grinned and they both burst into laughter as he stepped back toward her, taking the cake from her and grinning, "Top banana!"
He took a bite of the cake and looked to be in heaven as he chewed and she just watched him.
"I can't stress this enough," he reported through a mouthful. "Ball bearings you can eat: Masterpiece!"
She giggled, trying to fight back tears before throwing her arms around him and burying her face into his shoulder as he hugged her in return.
"I thought I lost you," she whispered as she pulled back and he looked down at her as she sniffled, lifting his free hand to brush away a tear that rolled down her cheek.
"Nah, not on a night like this," he grinned, holding the cake between them to let her have a bite and she giggled before taking the bite. "This is a night for lost things being found. Come on."
"Where are we going?" she frowned in wonder as he took her hand to pull her down the street.
"I want go to the game!" he grinned through a mouthful. "What we came for."
"Well…I guess," she grinned back, leaning on his arm a bit before they both looked up at the sky, lighting up with fireworks. "Oh! You should have your coat back."
She let go of his hand to pull his coat off as he gobbled down the rest of his cake and she helped him slip it on before stepping in front of him to fix his collar.
"Thanks for letting me use it to warm up," she grinned.
"Ooh! Cozy!" he grinned, making her giggle as he looked to her and their eyes met, causing her heart to thump in her chest. He lifted the collar to bury his nose into it before pulling it back down with a grin as he took her hand. "Smells like you now."
He leaned down to leave a kiss on her cheek as she blushed slightly before he dragged her down the street to head for the stadium to watch the games.