Jack and the Doctor worked hard through most of the night to narrow the list down. It was after midnight when Lissy's blood curdling scream broke the silence.
"Daddy, daddy, daddy," She screamed panicking. The Doctor ran into the medi-bay and rushed to her side.
"Daddy's here," He said taking her into his arms as Jack entered. Jack paused to turn the light up, that he had dimmed to let the children sleep. Lissy grabbed tightly onto the Doctor and tried to pull herself up into his arms as Jack ran over. The Doctor sat on the edge of the bed and allowed her to crawl into his lap as she shook for the deep sobs that overtook her small body.
"Don't let the little girl get me." She cried, with her face buried against his chest.
"What little girl?" Jack asked as he looked around the medi-bay. "There is no one but you and Sophie sleeping in her sweetie."
"What does she look like?" The Doctor asked but Lissy didn't answer as she clung to him. The Doctor held her tightly and hummed her lullaby until she stopped crying and just clung to his shirt. She looked so lost and fragile that his hearts broke. She was staring into the still darkened side of the medi-bay, her eyes fixed on the far right corner.
"What do you see Lissy, do you see the little girl?" The Time Lord asked and she nodded against him.
"Don't go in the shadows," She whispered to Jack as he started to head towards that side of the room. He stopped and came back over to knell next to the bed.
"Why not Lissybear," Jack wondered but Lissy had fallen quiet again. They tried a few more times to get her to describe the girl but she refused to talk. Martha came into check on Sophie and to give Lissy her pain medication and she slipped back to sleep. The Doctor carefully laid her on the bed and kissed her head.
"When you leave the medi-bay make sure the light stays on," He informed Martha. He took Jack's hand and led him to the kitchen. He started a pot of coffee for Jack while he put the kettle on for himself.
"It couldn't be the vashda narda," Jack thought out loud. "They don't take human form."
"It sounds as though it was a shadow fiend," The Doctor answered him as he turned and leaned against the counter.
"Shadow fiend," Jack sounded doubtful as he repeated it.
"It is also know as a Shadowguiest."
"But those are make believe, just like the boogeyman." Jack laughed.
"On earth yes, but on other planets they are a very real threat. They take the form of a child and lure other children into the shadows where they devour them. It couldn't have been the one to take Lissy or she wouldn't have come back, which means someone is keeping it as a pet." The kettle whistled and the Doctor poured himself a cup of tea and Jack a cup of coffee. He took them both to the table and sat down.
"Wouldn't it just eat it's keeper?" Jack asked the Doctor.
"In its true form it's not strong enough. That is why they pray on children." The Doctor shuddered. "Lissy being slightly telepathic can sense there was something wrong with it. She would have been smart enough not to go into the shadows."
"What about the cut on her foot?" Jack asked confused.
"Whether it did it or not, I don't know. As soon as the infection hit though, she was safe from the creature. They are known for only taking healthy children."
"This doesn't help us to find who took her," Jack sighed.
"No," The Doctor agreed.
-DW-
Three days passed before Lissy's fever final broke. Once it did so it was another two days before they operated a second time on her foot. During that time the Doctor and Jack had managed to narrow the list of Time Agents down to just over a hundred people. Of those hundred, they had them split in to several groups, depending on how likely it was for the men to commit the crime.
Jack was slowly working through the first list, using the vortex manipulator. All of them so far had been dead ends and the Doctor had the feeling they would continue to be until Lissy talked more. At the moment she was unusually silent. She had barely spoken two words since she cried at the little girl in the corner. She also hardly touched her meals and slept a lot.
Martha was working with her and giving her a safe environment in which to talk without Jack and the Doctor but only time would help. Right now they were trying their best to give Lissy a sense of normalcy. The day after the second surgery on her foot the Doctor carried her off the TARDIS and to the living area.
"Lissy," William smiled happily up at her from where he was playing on the ground with Matthew. "Play?"
The Doctor sat her on the ground near her brothers and William handed her one of the blocks. She took the block and threw it at the corner of the room.
"Lissy," The Doctor scolded gently as he went and retrieved it and gave it back to William, "Play nice with your brothers." She scooted on her butt back away from them and sat leaning against the couch with her arms crossed. The Doctor sat down next to her and hugged her one armed.
"It's okay to be afraid Lissy, but Daddy and Papa are not going to let anyone hurt you again. You can talk about what happened." She looked up at him but still didn't speak. "I didn't talk for the longest time and it hurt."
"Does it still hurt?" She asked softly.
"No, because now I talk to papa when I am feeling bad." The Doctor answered smoothing her hair back. "You can always talk to me, papa, Aunt Martha and Uncle Mickey or Aunt Sarah. We all love you very much Lissy." She looked back at her brothers as she went quiet. The Doctor looked up as Jack entered the room. He looked at the Doctor questioningly and the Doctor shook his head and mouthed not now. Jack nodded and continued on his way to his office. He hoped silently that the Doctor would get Lissy to talk.