A/N Bit of a delay. Christmas festivities and the like. Apparently I didn't meet the Christmas Special deadline, but I am almost done.

Chapter 10 - He Hesitates

As it turned out more than a few of the inspectors were big fans of the blog and gladly accepted Sherlock's help on the case. The lead DI led the group up to the shop's security booth and played the footage. In the video the Doctor entered through the front doors, made a beeline for the girl, picked her up under his arm, and left so quickly and with so much purpose no one quite knew how to react until it was too late. "Eerie, ain't it?" the detective inspector asked, glancing towards Sherlock for approval, "like he came in just for her."

"Clearly. Where's the other tape?"

"Other..."

"This is the footage from inside the store. There's a camera out front facing the road. Show me that footage."

"Right, of course," the man fumbled with the controls but managed to find the right spot. "It's like he sees her and he just can't resist."

Sherlock stood up, "Yes, very good deduction detective inspector, now if you'll excuse us, my team and I would like to go over the evidence on our own," as Sherlock spoke he was not very subtly walking the man to the door.

"Of course, if you need anything..."

"We know who to call," Sherlock shut the door.

"I know how it looks, but the doctor wouldn't hurt anyone, much less a child."

"Obviously," Sherlock returned to his seat in front of the computer and played the clip again, "I mean just look at him. He's practically bouncing down the street, big goofy grin on his face, just as your father said. Happy, excited, headed home to his Clara." Clara chose to ignore the comment. "And then something catches his eye," Sherlock freezes the footage, the Doctor is looking to his left, something has grabbed his attention. His smile is gone. He stares right at the Sainbury's, presumably through the large front windows. "Now, watch what he does next." The Doctor turned back in the direction he was going, even took a step forward before stopping an looking back at the store window. After a moment's consideration he walks towards the store.

"He hesitates?" John offers, without a guess as to why that's relevant.

"Yes. Why? I think it's safe to assume this girl, and possibly others, are in danger and that's why the Doctor has intervened," the others nodded. "The Doctor doesn't exactly seem like a hesitate in the face of danger type. If this was the end of the world he would have acted immediately. Likewise with a large loss of life. So it's something smaller. What's small enough that he'd rather come home to you, or would at least consider it? Personal injury? A single death?"

"There's no such thing as 'small enough' to ignore, with the Doctor. He would help," Jack said with certainty, "besides, he'd know Clara would understand."

"I think you're exactly right," that caught the group a little off guard. "So then why does he hesitate?" Sherlock looked right at Clara as he asked this. She met his gaze, but said nothing, so Sherlock continued, "He just waltzes in there and takes the child, not really his style, is it?"

Even though he again directed the question to Clara she remained silent. Jack answered instead, "No, he usually does a lot of talking. I think that's the Doctor's first strategy, see if he could talk his way out of it."

"There may not have been time," John pointed out.

"Quite right. Though it still seem strange that he would make a spectacle of himself, what with how hard he works to keep a low profile. Deletes himself from history, didn't you say? Funny that he would allow there to be so many witnesses to this act," once again Sherlock looked at Clara. Her face was a mix of understanding, fear, and denial, but he knew she was clever enough to have reached the same conclusion. "Unless he was no longer concerned with this face."

"Don't say it," Clara warned. Her arms were crossed over her chest and her voice was ice cold.

"He's enjoying this body, isn't he? Had it for a while? Giving it up might give him pause." Clara continued to glare at him.

"Sherlock you're reaching," John warned.

"Besides, how does that theory help us? What we need to know is what the Doctor saw and where he went with the girl," Jack added, trying to deflate the tension between Sherlock and Clara.

"That's true," Sherlock turned back to the monitor and watched the interior footage again. "Are there aliens who can take over a person? Impersonate them or control their bodies, perhaps?"

"Yes..." Jack answered uncertainly, watching the footage for anything that could prompt that question.

Sherlock put the recording back to the beginning, "Watch the child."

"She looks terrified," John said with sympathy.

"Obviously. What else?"

"This isn't show and tell. We are running out of time. If you know something tell us." There was a fire in Clara. She was not to be crossed. Sherlock liked that.

"She is terrified. But she never once looks at her mother. A six year old child, snatched away, I can understand her being too afraid to scream, but any child would look to their mother. She has either been replaced or taken over by an alien. Perhaps our alien expert could tell us which one."

All eyes turned to Jack. He smiled his charming grin, "Already working on it. I told my team to meet us in Lancashire. Sent them over to the girl's house a little while ago," His mobile rang, "and that will be our answer now." He answered the phone and after a rather short exchange he was staring at Sherlock, shaking his head, obviously impressed. That look however was soon replaced by a worried one. After hanging up the phone he said, "It's an Yksin. They're sort of like large, space insects. As larva they take over a host and use it as an incubator. Takes about 72 hours for the creature to gestate. When it's close the creature releases erillinen waves, they're almost like telepathic pheromones."

"To attract others?" Sherlock asked.

"No, they're a completely individual species, all offsprings are clones. The pheromones are just a chemical byproduct and the little girl's house was swimming in them."

"So the creature's almost grown up. What happens to the child when it's done?" Clara asked, fairly sure she knew, but hoping for a different answer.

"It will emerge, killing her in the process. Based on the levels of erillinen waves at the house it could have happened at any point last night." Clara looked worried.

"And the Doctor," Sherlock began, "would he be able to detect these 'pheromones'?"

"I believe so."

"Did he kill it then? Can you destroy the alien thing without hurting the girl?" John asked, trying to sound more optimistic than he felt.

Jack shook his head, "Once they're linked you can't kill one without killing the other."

"Is it dangerous when it emerges? Was the Doctor protecting others by taking the girl away?"

"Unlikely. The bug might lash out if it really felt threatened, but mostly they just fly away. They don't even release their offspring until they've entered a different solar system."

"Then why does the Doctor even bother? He took the girl, clearly he thought he could help her. He must have had some solution," Sherlock went over the information again in his head, what were they missing?

Jack was doing the same; his faced was lined in concentration. Suddenly his head shot up, "I know what he's doing," he glanced down at Clara. Her arms were still folded across her chest protectively. The pained look on her face told him that she'd already figured it out. "If the creature felt threatened it would find a new host."

"Would that reset the gestation?" John asked.

"No," Jack said solemnly, "but it would save the girl."

Sherlock looked between Clara and Jack, "By killing the Doctor."