A/N: new chappie! enjoy!

Chapter 21: Cupboard

The Doctor watched Olivia closely as she came down the stairs with two mugs of tea in her hands for Amy and Rory, handing them to the couple with a smile. She stepped toward the console, frowning when she saw the Doctor staring at her but said nothing as she looked back to what she was doing. Amy and Rory chatted as the Doctor still watched Olivia and strolled around the console to step next to her.

"Yes, dear?" she chirped, grabbing the rail under the scanner to pull it toward her and look at the screen.

"Why did you run away from me earlier? You've never done that before," he murmured as she still stared at the screen.

"You'll have to get under there and fix…that," she reported, pointing to something on the screen where a diagram of the underside of the console was displayed.

"Liv, you're dodging the question."

"Damn right, I'm dodging the question. I don't wanna talk about it."

"Well, I do, so could you stop looking at the scanner and look at me?"

"Nope."

The Doctor shoved the scanner away, finally making Olivia glare at him.

"When we were in the hall, having a moment, you ran away. Why?"

"Maybe I didn't want a moment. Ever think about that?"

"Now you're lying because I could tell you were enjoying it until I told you not to hit me. Why? And I'm not going to ask again."

"Good."

Olivia turned back to the console and reached for the scanner but before she could pull it closer she cried out in pain. She leaned on the console and held a hand to her head as pain flared behind her eyes.

"Liv, what's the matter?" the Doctor asked, gripping her shoulders and turning her toward him as she seemed to slowly recover.

"I'm getting…something," she strained as Amy and Rory hurried toward her to see if she was alright. She frowned as she looked to the Doctor, still holding a hand to her head. "A telepathic message."

"What does it say?" he asked as she looked away from him to focus.

"I can hardly make it out," she replied before wincing again in pain, then the message came in clearly. "It's…a little boy. He's saying…'Please save me from the monsters.'"

"Ow!" the Doctor called, reaching into his jacket pocket with a frown and looked at the Psychic Paper.

"Please save me from the monsters," he read aloud as Olivia frowned at him in wonder, the message dying down in her mind. He kissed her forehead before hurrying around the console. "Haven't done this in a while."

"Haven't done what?" Amy wondered as he worked on the console and Rory looked over Olivia. "What are you doing?"

"Making a house call," the Doctor replied.

"I'm fine, Rory," Olivia smiled as she stood tall. "Just haven't gotten a telepathic message like that in a while."

Rory nodded before glancing to the Doctor as he looked at the scanner as Amy stood with him.

"What about you and the Doctor?" he asked, making her frown at him in wonder. "Everything ok with you two?"

"Oh…yeah, sort of," Olivia replied, honestly, but vaguely. "Just a little spat. We'll get over it."

"Can't imagine what your spats are like," he muttered, and she couldn't help but chuckle before the TARDIS shuddered to a halt, making them all head for the door.

Rory was the first to head out, followed by Amy, but the Doctor gripped Olivia's arm before she could head out of the TARDIS, making her look up at him with a frown.

"I still want to know what's wrong, Liv," he murmured. She rolled her eyes and nodded before pulling away from his grip to head out of the TARDIS and into the courtyard of a block of flats.

"No offense, Doctor," Rory called as they all looked around.

"Meaning the opposite?" the Doctor guessed, shutting the door behind him.

"But we could get a bus somewhere like this," Rory resumed.

"The exact opposite," the Doctor confirmed.

"Well, I suppose it can't all be planets and history and stuff, Rory," Amy retorted.

"Yes, it can," the Doctor argued, grabbing Olivia's hand to pull her toward the building. "Of course it can. Planets and history and stuff, that's what we do. But not today, no. Today we're answering a cry for help from the scariest place in the universe…a child's bedroom."

They walked toward the lifts as Amy and Rory followed Olivia and the Doctor.

"So, Olivia said she got a telepathic message," Rory recalled as he and Amy stopped up behind them, the Doctor pressing the button to call the lift. "Who sent that?"

"That's what we're here to find out," the Doctor replied.

"And she said it was a kid," Amy recalled as well. "A little boy?"

"He sounded scared," Olivia reported. "Very scared."

"So scared that, somehow, his cry for help got through to us in the TARDIS," the Doctor confirmed.

"Yeah, but you traced it here?" Amy frowned in wonder.

"Exactly," he replied just as the lift opened. "Ah! Going up."

He pulled Olivia into the lift with him, Amy and Rory following them in.

"Now, I want you to ask around the building," he instructed them, releasing Olivia's hand to wrap his arm around her shoulders from behind, setting his chin on her shoulder as the lift moved. "Look for clues."

"Right, clues," Amy nodded, then frowned but the lift stopped and they all filed out before she could question him, Amy and Rory heading one way, Olivia and the Doctor heading another. The Doctor glanced down at his hand as it still held Olivia's, then glanced at her.

"I'm surprised you're letting me hold you hand," he admitted.

"Oh, should I deny my own pleasures just because I'm irritated with you?" she retorted, making him frown at her as they stopped at a door and she glanced at him as she knocked. "I like having my hand held…even when you're being…you."

He smiled at her, but they both turned to the door when it opened to reveal an elderly woman on the other side of it.

"Hello," the Doctor greeted as Olivia waved with a smile.

"Is this about the bins?!" she questioned, making the couple frown in wonder.

"Pardon?" the Doctor replied.

"The bins! I can't be expected to get down all them stairs! I need new knees!"

"Not the bins, no, Miss…?" the Doctor asked.

"Mrs. Rossiter," she replied. "I've already got a new hip. I'll be able to manage when I get the knees. I'll be down them stairs like Sherpa Tenzing, then."

"Wonderful," Olivia smiled. "Can we come in?"

"Of course not!" Mrs. Rossiter objected, grabbing her door and getting ready to close it if she had to. "You could be anyone!"

"We could be, but we're not," the Doctor replied as she started shutting the door. "I'm the Doctor!"

The door was slammed in their faces and Olivia sighed, tiredly before they turned to head toward the next door.

Some time later...

"This isn't gonna work," she sighed, as they strolled down the balcony. "There's too many. We'll be here for hours."

"Or not," he replied, deftly as he looked down to the other end of the building.

She frowned at him before following his gaze, seeing Amy and Rory on the floor below them, and a little boy peeking out of the curtains covering his windows.

"He looks scared," Olivia noticed.

"Yes, he does," he replied, pulling her toward the stairs leading to the next floor to meet Rory and Amy.

"Hey!" Amy smiled. "Any luck?"

"Three old ladies, a traffic warden from Croatia, and a man with ten cats," the Doctor replied.

"What are we actually looking for?" Rory asked.

"Ten cats!" the Doctor grinned then replied, "Scared kid, remember?"

"I found scary kids, does that count?" Amy wondered, making Olivia giggle.

"Um, try the next floor down," the Doctor suggested. "Catch you later."

He pulled Olivia with him, heading toward the window where they'd seen the little boy and knocked on the door. As the door opened the Doctor pulled out his Psychic Paper to show whatever credentials he wanted the man that opened the door to see.

"Oh! Right, that was quick," the man said, making the couple frown at him.

"It was?" Olivia asked as the Doctor looked to his Psychic Paper in wonder.

"Claire said she'd phone someone," the man explained as the Doctor tucked the paper away. "Social Services."

"Yes, yes," the Doctor replied as Olivia nodded.

"It's not easy, you know," the man reported. "Admitting your kid's got a problem."

"You've got a problem, I've got a problem, I bet they're connected," the Doctor replied. "I'm the Doctor and this is Olivia Felton. Call me 'Doctor' and call her 'Olivia.' What can we call you?"

"Alex," he replied, shaking the Doctor's hand then Olivia's.

"Hello, Alex," the Doctor grinned before taking Olivia's hand and pulling her past him and into the flat. "So, tell us about George."

Olivia frowned in wonder at how he knew his name as Alex shut the front door, then noticed a door with a child's drawing on it with the words 'George's Room' written on it.

"Have a seat," Alex entreated, gesturing toward the sitting room where the Doctor pulled Olivia toward the sofa to sit. "Would you like something to drink?"

"Not yet, thank you," the Doctor replied.

"Nothing for me, thanks," Olivia smiled before looking to the table in front of the sofa and reaching for the white album sitting on it. "Is it alright if I look at this?"

"Oh, go ahead," Alex replied, sitting in the arm chair next to her. "It's got George's baby pictures here."

He helped her flip through the book to the pages with George in them.

"Ever since he was born, he's been a funny kid," Alex explained.

"Well, that's good," the Doctor replied, shifting closer to Olivia to look at the pictures over her shoulder. "We like funny, don't we, Liv?"

She only nodded as she looked through the pictures.

"Well, he never cries," Alex explained, making Olivia give a frown. "Bottles it all up, I suppose. Tell him off, he just looks at you."

"How old is he?" Olivia wondered as the Doctor took the album to look at it.

"He was eight in January," Alex replied. "I mean, he should be grown out of stuff like this, shouldn't he?"

"Maybe," the Doctor replied, setting the book back on the table. "It's got worse, though, lately?"

"Yeah, we talked about getting help," Alex nodded. "You know, maybe sending him somewhere. He started getting these nervous ticks. You know, funny, little cough, blinking all the time. And now it's got completely out of hand. I mean, he's scared to death of everything."

"Pantophobia," the Doctor reported.

"What?" Alex frowned.

"That's what it's called," the Doctor explained. "Pantophobia. Not a fear of pants, though, if that's what you're thinking. It's a fear of everything. Including pants, I suppose, in that case."

"Sorry, Alex," Olivia smiled when the Doctor trailed off. "Please, continue."

"He hates clowns," Alex resumed.

"Understandable," the Doctor muttered, making Olivia smirk.

"Old toys. He thinks the old lady across the way is a witch. He hates having a bath in case there's something under the water. The lift sounds like someone breathing." Alex sighed before resuming, "Look, I don't know. I'm not an expert. Maybe you can get through to him."

"I'll do my best," the Doctor smiled.

There was a crash from his room, causing all three of them to shoot to their feet and hurry toward the door, Alex in the lead.

"George?" he called, opening the door and hurrying in and Olivia was about to run in after him, but the Doctor stopped her. "Are you ok? What's the matter?"

"Wait," the Doctor whispered to her when she frowned at him.

"Were you having a nightmare, son?" Alex asked George in the room.

"It wasn't a nightmare. I wasn't asleep," George replied and his voice was so small that Olivia gave the Doctor a pitiable look, pleading with him to let her go in. He nodded and took her hand to step into the doorway. "Who are you?"

"I'm the Doctor," he replied.

"A Doctor?!" George gasped. "Have you come to take me away?"

"No, George," he replied. "I just want to talk to you."

"What about?" George asked.

"About the monsters," the Doctor replied, and Olivia watched the little boy blink rapidly as he just stared at them.

"Who is she?" he finally asked of Olivia and she smiled as she stepped toward the bed to kneel next to him.

"My name is Olivia Felton, and I'm here to help the Doctor, help you."

She tapped his nose with a smile, expecting him to give a childish giggle, but he only stared at her, making her smile fall as the Doctor stepped into the room, lifting a Rubix cube from the table next to the door and examine it. Alex stood to turn on the light as the Doctor sat at the foot of George's bed, Olivia standing to sit next to him on the mattress as well.

"Maybe it was things on telly, you know?" Alex guessed, pacing in front of them.

"Right," the Doctor blurted, working on the cube.

"Scary stuff getting under his skin, frightening him."

"Mm-hmm."

"Should we stop letting him watch?"

"Oh, no, don't do that," Olivia objected, winking at George who only stared at her.

"And Claire thought it might have been something he was reading," Alex went on.

"Great! Reading's great," the Doctor grinned, leaning forward to look at him around Olivia. "Do you like stories, George? Yeah? Me too. When I was your age – about, ooh, a thousand years ago – I loved a good bedtime story. The Three Little Sontarans, The Emperor Dalek's New Clothes, Snow White and the Seven Keys to Doomsday. All the classics." He tossed the cube across the room. "Rubbish. It must be broken. I hate those things."

"Of course, it's not good to leave things lying around the room like that, is it?" Olivia fake smiled and gave the Doctor a scolding look before standing and hurrying to Alex as he picked it up, and she took it then looked for a place to put it. She glanced at the cupboard and smiled to George, nodding at it and asking, "Does it go in here?"

George gasped, his already wide eyes shooting wider and making the Doctor frown as he stood to step next to Olivia who was also frowning at him.

"No, not in the cupboard," the Doctor realized. "Why not in there, George?"

"It's a…thing," Alex explained. "A thing we got him doing, ages back. Anything that frightens him, we put it in the cupboard. Creepy toys, scary pictures, that sort of thing."

"And is that where the monsters go?" the Doctor asked George, but he only blinked in response, making the Doctor turned toward the cupboard to approach it. "There's nothing to be scared of, George. It's just a cupboard."

Olivia stepped toward George to sit with him on the bed, placing a comforting hand on his shin as they all watched the Doctor step to the cupboard. He touched the door, slowly lifting a hand toward the key, making Olivia swallow. They all jumped and gasped, the Doctor whirling around when they heard pounding.

"Front door," Alex sighed before turning to answer the continual pounding.

Olivia frowned at George when he leaned forward to see out of his door, hearing the landlord speaking with Alex. She smiled at him and lifted a hand to run it over his head as the Doctor watched them then pulled out his Sonic Screwdriver. He pressed the button to make it glow, the sound filling the room and catching George's attention.

"Is that a torch?" George asked.

"Screwdriver," the Doctor corrected with a smile as Olivia smiled up at him before he stepped toward them and sat on the bed next to her. "A sonic one. And other stuff."

"I've got one, too," Olivia smiled, pulling her Sonic out to show it to him.

"Please may I see the other stuff?" George hoped.

"You may," the Doctor nodded as Olivia grinned at his politeness.

The Doctor pointed his Sonic at the toys scattered across the room, and one by one, robots and cars came to life, moving around the floor.

"Pretty cool, huh?" Olivia smiled as she looked to George who only stared at his toys coming to life and she handed her Sonic to him. "You wanna see it?"

He nodded and took the Sonic to examine it, carefully.

"That's better," the Doctor smiled. "No tears from George. That's what I've heard. Go on, give us a smile. There's brave little soldier."

Olivia frowned at him in wonder, however she couldn't help but smile as she looked up at him.

"Bit rusty at this," he muttered before standing and pointing his Sonic at the cupboard. "Anyway, let's open this cupboard, eh? There's nothing to be—"

The Sonic made a strange sound, making Olivia frown up at him as she remained on the bed with George.

"Doctor?" she called.

"Off the scale," he breathed, sitting on the bed again and staring at it with wide eyes as Olivia's eyes widened at him. "Off the scale."

Alex stepped back in the room, sighing, "Right, sorry about that. So have we got this thing open yet?"

He stepped toward the cupboard to open it.

"No!" the Doctor shouted, standing and approaching Alex, making him stop and turn to him with wide eyes. "You don't want to do that."

"Why?" Alex wondered as Olivia remained on the bed with George, wrapping an arm around him and pulling him close.

"Because George's monsters are real," the Doctor replied, making Alex frown at him in confusion before the Doctor left the room.

Alex looked to Olivia who only shrugged and shook her head to tell him she didn't know, and Alex followed the Doctor out of the room. She was about to follow them out when George gripped her hand as she stood, making her look to him in wonder but he only stared up at her.

"I promise, we'll be back in here in a second," she smiled, then touched her Sonic, still in his hand. "Keep that, just in case, ok?"

George nodded and Olivia smiled warmly before heading out the door and into the kitchen where the Doctor was looking through the cabinets.

"You're supposed to be a professional," Alex snapped as the Doctor still moved around the kitchen. "I'll never get him to sleep now. You're so…irresponsible!"

"No, Alex, responsible, very," the Doctor shot back. "Cupboard bad. Cupboard not bare. Stay away from cupboard. And there's something else. Something I've missed, something staring me in the face. Liv, find it for me."

"Sure," she frowned. "I'll work on that."

"Look, I'd like you to leave, please," Alex requested. "You're just making things worse." He stared at the Doctor as he only continued making tea before looking to Olivia who only shrugged before he marched toward the Doctor. "Will you stop making tea?! I want you to leave!"

"No," the Doctor blurted, making Olivia sigh and lower her face into her hand.

"What? What do you mean, no?" Alex snapped as the Doctor went to the fridge to open it, but Alex marched toward him to shut the door, looking at the Doctor. "Leave, get out."

The Doctor opened the door again, making Alex shut it again.

"Now, please!" Alex snapped again and the Doctor only stared at him before he sighed. "Look, maybe this was a bad idea. We should sort out George ourselves."

"Can't," the Doctor argued, reaching into the fridge for something then moving back to the counter.

"No one's gonna tell us how to run our lives. I don't care who you are or what wheels have been set in motion. We'll sort it!"

"I'm not just a professional, I'm the Doctor."

"What that supposed to mean?"

"It means I've come a long way to get here, Alex, a very long way. George sent a message, a distress call, if you like. Whatever's inside that cupboard is so terrible, so powerful, that it amplified the fears of an ordinary little boy across all the barriers of time and space."

"Eh?"

"Through crimson stars and silent stars and tumbling nebulas like oceans set on fire, through empires of glass and civilizations of pure thought and a whole terrible, wonderful universe of impossibilities. You see these eyes? They're old eyes. And one thing I can tell you, Alex: Monsters are real."

Olivia bit her lower lip, staring at the Doctor as he stared at Alex who stared back at him.

"You're not from social services, are you?" Alex guessed.

"First things first," the Doctor replied. "You got any Jammie Dodgers?"

Later...

"What is it with these photos?" the Doctor wondered, his cup of tea in one hand, the photo album in the other as Olivia and Alex sat on the sofa with their own cups of tea, Olivia nibbling on a Jammie Dodger. He shut the book, setting it down and standing as he called, "Anyway! Good, nice tea. Nothing like a cuppa. But decision…should we open the cupboard?"

Alex choked on his tea as Olivia frowned up at the Doctor in confusion.

"What?" Alex questioned.

"Should we?" Olivia wondered as he turned to them.

"Gotta open the cupboard haven't we?" the Doctor went on. "Course we have. Come on, Alex! Alex, come on! How else will we ever find out what's going on here?!"

"Right, but you said—"

"Monsters, yeah, well, that's what I do. Breakfast, dinner and tea, fight the monsters."

"This is an average day for us," Olivia chimed in, downing the last of her tea.

"Ok, yeah, you're right," Alex nodded to the Doctor.

"Or maybe we shouldn't open the cupboard," the Doctor recanted. "We have no idea what might be in there. How powerful, how evil that thing might be. Come on, Alex! Alex, come on! Are you crazy?! We can't open the cupboard!"

"God, no! No, we mustn't!" Alex panicked.

"Right. That settles it."

"Settles what?" Olivia asked the Doctor as he downed the last of his tea.

"Going to open the cupboard."

A/N: reviews?