Author's notes: I don't have much experience in writing action scenes but I still think this is a pretty exciting chapter. Like I said before, the end is really near and you could say that this is where the climax begins…

Chapter 10: The Doctor's Moment

There is never really a way to contemplate one's inevitable demise. Even for the Doctor, there are times where he has no idea what to do in the face of certain death; he has run from it, he has fought it, but never did he ever had to completely accept it. As the lights dimmed, however, he knew that the same nightmare that had haunted him for two years will only repeat itself and it was going to very soon. The tree remained as still as he was during the seemingly endless night; a few times he thought he saw some sort of movement but only turned out to be a trick of the lights or the results of his own fatigue.

Never before had the Doctor had to spend a whole night whilst being this close to danger, at least not when he was conscious. He had tried again and again to convince the Jones to get rid of it, how he was sure that something bad was going to happen. But as long as he remained under the disguise of John Smith, not even Martha would believe him. As he nursed himself gently to sleep, the images of killer Christmas trees raged within his mind; much of his memory has returned to him in the last few hours but what caused his fear of Christmas and more importantly, how to deal with it, remained as elusive as ever. And whenever he thought he was about to drift away into dreamland, there would be a little Santa waiting for him with a very big gun.

"Santa!" He exclaimed in his mind, which in turn caused him to wake up again, "At least I know what they are now…"

He took another glance at the gigantic tree but like before, saw no evidence of danger. With a frustrated sigh, he walked over to the inanimate object and ran his hands over its spiny surface and colourful decorations. "What are you…?" It was not unlike any other Christmas trees he has ever seen; green spines, dark brown trunk. And yet that tiny star still kept him alert for he still could not work out why it was there; it was far too small to act as a finishing touch for the decoration and yet it was still noticeable. Dazed by his need for sleep, the Doctor made one last analysis on the tree before unplugging it for safe measure.

"Don't think I'm through with you…"

The Christmas morning came with it the most horrid present ever devised; Martha's sister's singing. It became clear to everyone in the house that despite the laws of biology, she was still somehow drunk.

"Shut up already!" A grumpy Martha in a yellow dressing gown half tripped down the stairs and collapsed into the sofa, regardless that she has just crushed her guest. "I'm one sleepless night away from going insane." From the kitchen, her sister turned the radio onto its loudest setting and along with her singing came music that thundered through every bone in Martha's body. "All I want for Christmas is you!"

"All I really want is for her to shut her face." She mumbled and gave her guest a poke in the head. With a groan he woke to terrible pain in his legs and saw a bizarre sight where Martha was sitting on them. She laughed tiredly and took an effort to get up; somehow the whole idea of Christmas didn't really appeal to her this year… "That's just great," She groaned, which caught the Doctor's attention, "I knew mum would leave that thing on all night long, why didn't you switch it off?"

A sudden chill ran down the Doctor's spine as he snapped his head towards the tree so hard there was a slight crack, and before him was a sight he had dreaded since the night before: the tree was spinning like it was meant to with lights that glowed from the tips of every spine and the sound of Jingle Bells was rumbling from inside. Terrified, the Doctor leapt up and caused Martha to fall flat on her face. He ignored her protests as he rushed to the socket and saw that the plug that was supposed to be unplugged was perfectly in place.

"What's wrong with you?" Martha yelled as he slowly backed away from the tree and his right hand gently crept into his back pocket, where he fished out what he believed to be the sonic screwdriver. As soon as the silver and blue device came into her vision, Martha gasped and clutched it in her hands with disbelief. "Where did you get this? Answer me!"

But he remained silent and still, his gaze fixed upon the tree, which seemed to spin faster with every second. "Get everyone out of the house." The Doctor said with a command like voice and to Martha's dismay, his grip upon the sonic screwdriver only tightened. "There's no time for me to explain so get everyone out of the house. NOW!"

Terrified and confused, she let go of his hand just in time to witness a horrendous transformation: the ferocity of the tree's spin began to die down and for a brief moment, it appeared to bend forwards and back, like a great beast that was awoken by some unseen force. With a click, two spiny appendages expanded from the mid section followed by a great crack as the base and bottom section split in two. Like some monster created in the 80s, the tree gave a unnatural roar that would silence lions as the top section ripped itself open and revealed a mouth full of spikes for teeth. It roared again and dived for the Doctor, who couldn't move fast enough to get out of the way. The creature smashed him into the wall opposite and began to gnaw upon his body. Martha screamed as the horrid mass of spines scratched and bit the Doctor as though it hasn't eaten for days.

From upstairs, Mr Jones yelled for them to be quiet as he climbed down and rubbed his eyes, only to see half of the living room in shreds as the Doctor managed to boot the creature off long enough to get back to his feet. Dust and scratch marks covered every inch of his being as he urged Mr Jones to run just as the creature launched yet another assault, this time on Martha.

The scream that followed was inhuman as Mr Jones struggled to wrestle the beast off of her daughter, only to turn its attention upon him; the creature tossed him away like a rag doll and pursued the Doctor to the kitchen. By this stage even Martha's sister had noticed that something was wrong as she dived for cover in the corner whilst the beast smashed the shelves of exotic wine where the Doctor's head had been. Enraged, Martha burst into the premise, she spied for a weapon and settled on a meat cleaver that was knocked out of the drawers during the chaos. With a scream she hacked away at one of the monster's appendages until she heard a yelp as the branch fell with a thud onto the floor tiles. But her victory was short lived as the stump where the creature's 'arm' was began to grow and within seconds, it became a new appendage that was almost twice as long as the first. With no effort at all, it threw the woman aside where it could search for more victims, only to see none; both Martha's sister and the Doctor was no longer in the room. Confused, the creature shuffled through the remains of the kitchen counter like a massive gorilla as it searched for the its missing breakfast.

From the hall, Martha struggled to her feet; she could not believe how she was still alive as she watched the still confused creature tear through the dishwasher. Everything was in ruins as she crept to her father, who was covered in splinters and barely conscious. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw her mother who was close to tears as she struggled to remain quiet; her sister was scrounged up against the door and from above, her brother gasped at the scene below. And yet she could not see her guest anywhere.

And just as she despaired at what to do next, the sound of screaming came to her ears: the creature was in great pain as it backed out from the kitchen and fell into a slump upon the living room carpet. Above it, the Doctor hosed it down with a fire extinguisher and seemed almost relentless as he stepped down upon the creature's appendages. The monster gave a hoarse groan as the tiny star upon its top flashed repeatedly but came to an abrupt end as the Doctor silenced it with a click of his sonic screwdriver.

And once again, the house fell silent.