Family Affairs

by loulouflowerpower

11/OC-Time Lady. Secrets are being kept from the Doctor and the Hatter, secrets involving what happened in America that might just lead to deadly consequences, but with their child on the way and a new enemy known as the Silence lurking in the shadows, can they really protect their child from this new threat? Just who is River Song to them? And what will happen when Silence falls?

25. Chapter 25 The God Complex, Part 1

The God Complex, Part 1

The Doctor looked over the top of the banister of the stairwell, looking down it curiously as the Hatter stood beside him, casting her eyes around the place with a small frown on her face. The TARDIS had unexpectedly decided to take them on a little mystery tour, leaving them all quite surprised when they stepped outside the TARDIS to find that they had landed in what appeared to be an old hotel from the 80's, judging by the frankly terrible floral wall paper and gold and red patterned carpet that covered the floor. It even smelt like an old hotel, like dust and wood.

"'Let's go to the Ravan-Skala,' he says," Amy complained as she joined them by the banister with Rory, looking over the railing, too. The Doctor grinned and nodded along with her, "'The people are six hundred feet tall. You have to talk to them in hot air balloons and the Tourist Information Centre is made of one of their hats,' he says. 'The Hatter almost burst into tears of joy at the sight,' he says," she shook her head as the Hatter looked back across to her, smiling faintly at the memory, "I'm sorry, but I don't see any huge hats and I'm pretty sure if there was one around here, the Hatter would have found it by now".

The Time Lady pointed her finger at her, "You bet I would have," she said very proudly. She wouldn't be much of a Hatter if she couldn't sniff out a hat, let alone a giant one, even if she was currently choosing not to wear her own hat. She just…didn't feel ready to start wearing it again, if she ever would.

"Amy, Beaky…" the Doctor cut in, looking back up to them with a wide smile on his face, like an excited child right before Christmas. The Hatter cleared her throat pointedly at his little nickname for Rory and he paused, glancing back to the brunet with a slightly sheepish look, "I, um, mean Rory…" he corrected himself, not wishing to get on her bad side again. He had just gotten off it after everything that had happened at Two Streams the week before, he really didn't wish to spend another week trying to apologise to her. He fixed his bright smile back onto his face, looking back up to Amy and Rory, "This could be the most exciting thing I have ever seen! Well…" he paused, glancing back to the Hatter with a soft smile, "Actually, let's say it's on the list of most exciting things I've seen".

The Hatter raised her eyebrows at him, amused, knowing perfectly well that he was just trying to get on her good side, "Nice try, sweetheart".

Rory blinked at the Doctor, "You're kidding," he said flatly, looking around the landing, unimpressed.

"How can you be excited about a rubbish hotel on a rubbish bit of Earth?" Amy asked, looking back to the Doctor with a confused frown.

"Ah, but that's where you're wrong," the Hatter flashed her a quick smile, casting her eyes around the landing once more as she leaned against the banister, "You see, this isn't Earth, Amy, it's been designed to look like Earth".

The Doctor grinned in delight, staring around, "The craftsmanship involved," he remarked excitedly, shaking his head, "Can you imagine?"

"What?" Amy frowned, seeming to finally be taking a bit of interest now, "Then where are we?"

The Hatter pushed off from the banister and skipped down the steps and back down to the next floors landing, the others following close behind her, passing the TARDIS that they had parked surrounded by several potted plants and the walls covered in framed photographs. She glanced at the pictures curiously as she passed, each one containing someone different and seeming to be employees, since they all were wearing the same white dress shirt and a tie.

"We don't know," the Doctor admitted, though he really didn't seem to be the slightest bit concerned about their lack of knowledge, if anything it only seemed to delight him even more. He easily caught up with the Time Lady and took her hand, "Something must have yanked us off course. Look at the detail on that cheese plant!" he suddenly exclaimed, catching sight of one of the potted plants and lightly tugging the Hatter over towards it to take a closer look, reaching out with his free hand to grab one of the leaves and sniffing it.

"Right," Rory said slowly, casting his back a quick look as the Hatter shook her head fondly, "But who would mock up an Earth hotel?"

The Doctor caught sight of a glass bowl sitting on a nearby table full of red apples and eagerly reached into the bowl, plucking one of the fruits out and tossing it into the air before catching it again, "Colonists maybe, recreating a bit of home," he spun back around to face the humans, "Like when ex-pats open English pubs in Majorca," he laughed slightly and lifted the apple up to his mouth, taking a large bite. He had grown a bit fonder of apples since the Hatter had become so obsessed with them during her pregnancy, "No, whoever did this, I am shaking his stroke her hand stroke tentacle," he said around his mouthful of apple as he chewed.

The Hatter made a face at his talking with his mouthful and lightly nudged his side, "Manners, Doctor," she scolded lightly, making him quickly close his mouth. To try and make up for it, he offered the apple to her and she, unable to resist, broke into a small smile and took the fruit, taking a bite herself. She had preferred green apples during her pregnancy, she had like the slight tartness of the green to the sweetness of the red ones, but she enjoyed the fruit regardless.

"Have you seen these?" Rory called over to them, drawing their attention over to him as he moved to peer at the framed photos covering the walls. The Time Lords moved closer to see for themselves, "Look at the labels underneath," he pointed to one the pictures that actually had a Sontaran in it, a small label beneath the picture, "'Commander Halker, defeat…'" he pointed across to another picture, this one of a young human man, "'Tim Heath, having his photo taken…'" he moved on to another picture of a young humanoid woman, "'Lady Silver-Tear…Daleks'".

The Time Lady blinked in alarm and glanced back to the Doctor, seeing the same startled expression mirrored on his face. The Daleks? Well, this certainly had just taken quite a serious turn.

Amy moved to look at the same wall as Rory, "'Paige Barnes, other people's socks,'" she read aloud, ducking down slightly to look at one of the pictures below it, "'Tim Nelson, balloons. Novice Prin, sabrewolves. Royston Luke Gold, Plymouth?'" she frowned slightly in confusion, before moving on to another picture, this one of a young, dark haired woman, "'Lucy Hayward, that brutal gorilla…'" she shook her head and glanced back to the Doctor and the Hatter, "What does it mean?"

The Hatter frowned deeply, feeling quite puzzled over the whole thing. Even the pictures of the people didn't make sense, most of them looked exactly the same with each person looking directly back at the camera with a wide, toothy smile on their faces…well, the humans, anyway. Most of the aliens didn't seem to be smiling, but even still, none of it made sense to her, "I haven't got a clue, Amy," she confessed, feeling a wave of excitement wash over her.

The Doctor simply broke into a wide grin, "Let's find out!" he turned and lightly pulled the Hatter along with him as they took off down the stairs, practically skipping down them as Amy and Rory hurried to catch up to them.

They seemed to have found themselves down on the ground floor, but it was thankfully very easy to find what appeared to be the main desk of the reception. The large room was still following the same 80's hotel theme, only it had painted white bricks on the walls and brown tiles covering the floor. There wasn't anyone in sight as the four of them entered the room, casting their eyes around curiously as the Doctor moved across to the front desk and hit a small bell, trying to call for attention, when three people suddenly came running around the corner towards them, making Amy and Rory shout in surprise as the Time Lords both jumped, moving closer to one another, staring back at the three strangers as the Hatter very nearly choked on her mouthful of apple. One of them, a young Indian woman in a pair of blue hospital scrubs was even brandishing a chair leg at them.

"Blimey, that was a bit quick," the Doctor commented, eyeing the strangers warily as he pattered the Hatter on the back as she rubbed at her throat, her eyes watering slightly from forcing the bit of apple down her throat without completely chewing it.

"Good service here," the Time Lady muttered hoarsely, slipping the apple into her pocket. She really didn't feel like it any more after that.

"We surrender!" a man that was clearly an alien, going by his mole-like appearance cried, waving around a white hanky.

"No, it's okay, we're not…" Rory began, holding up his hands quickly.

"We surrender!"

"…we're nice!" he finished, talking over the top of them as the others all started shouting.

"Shh, it's all right!" the Hatter tried to tell them, speaking soothingly.

"She threatened me with chair leg!" the Doctor exclaimed in disbelief, pointing back to the young woman. He looked quickly back to the Hatter, his eyes wide, "Hatter, did you see that?"

The Time Lady sighed slightly, feeling a headache coming on with all the shouting, "Yes, I saw, sweetheart," she nodded.

"Who are you?" the young woman demanded, not lowering her makeshift weapon.

"Oh, God!" a dark haired man, looking as if he was barely out of his teens, gasped out. He stared around the room in horror, "We're back in reception".

"We surrender!" the alien shouted again, still waving his hanky around at them and hiding slightly behind the young woman and man.

"I've never been threatened with a chair leg before!" the Doctor shook his head, looking back to the Hatter with an excited smile.

The Hatter cleared her throat and shifted on the spot, "Um, I do believe I once threatened to hit you with one," she reminded him a little embarrassedly, a faint blush colouring her pale cheeks. Her regeneration at the time did enjoy making rather violent threats when angry…

"Oh, right…" his smile faded slightly, wincing at the memory. He had accidently gotten the two of them arrested and thrown into jail after they had been accused of stealing, though he supposed that it wasn't really stealing if the thing you tried to knick was yours to begin with. Still, the Hatter hadn't been pleased with him, not one bit; her Third regeneration always did have quite the temper on her. She once tried to strangle the Master, he probably ought to have been grateful she hadn't tried to do that to him and only threatened to hit him with a chair leg. He didn't think she would have actually gone through with it…well, he hoped not, anyway. He gave her a small smile and wrapped his arm around her waist, "I sometimes forget how violent your Third regeneration could be when angry," he said fondly. It had always been rather entertaining to watch, well, when it wasn't directed towards him.

"Thankfully, she was mostly all talk," the brunet sighed, feeling her cheeks starting to cool down a bit now. She smiled slightly, glancing back to him with a cheeky glimmer in her eyes, "Mostly".

Amy looked back and forth between the two of them, rolling her eyes at the fact that, once again, they had managed to become distracted at a time that they really ought to be focused, when something registered in her head and turned back to Rory, "Did you just say, 'It's okay, we're nice?'" she asked, shaking her head at him.

"Okay, I need everyone to shut up now!" the young woman called over the other's, making everyone stop talking and look back to her. She took a step towards them.

"Rita, be careful, yeah?" the young man said hurriedly, looking quite nervous.

Rita hardly seemed to listen to him as she carefully eyed them, moving closer to them, peering into their faces, "Their pupils are dilated," she remarked thoughtfully, holding up a finger, "They're as surprised as we are," she moved back to her own little group, not taking her eyes off them, "Besides, which, if it's a trick, it'll tell us something".

The Hatter blinked slightly in surprise, "Oh, you are quite good," she said approvingly, nodding to her, breaking into a small smile, "I like you, you're clever".

"She is good, isn't she?" the Doctor agreed, glancing back to the Time Lady and back over to Rita, "Amy, with regret, you're fired," he pointed back over to Amy, not seeming to be overly concerned.

"What?" Amy narrowed her eyes at him.

"I'm kidding," he flashed her a quick smile and waved a dismissive hand at her, but the moment he had his back turned to her, he looked back to Rita and mimed holding a phone up to his ear, mouthing, 'We'll talk'.

The Hatter struggled to hold back a laugh as she focused on the mole-like alien, raising her eyebrows at him, "Hello, there," she greeted him politely, giving him a little wave, "It's not exactly hard to figure out that you're from Tivoli, given your very obvious pathological compulsion to surrender".

"Yes," the Tivolian confirmed, smiling quite proudly, "The most invaded planet in the galaxy. Our anthem is called, 'Glory To Insert Name Here'".

She nodded, her smile becoming slightly strained, "Oh, yes, very catchy".

"You with the face…" the Doctor turned his attention back to the others, focusing on the young dark haired man.

"Sorry, you are…?" the brunet trailed off expectantly, raising her eyebrows.

"Oh," the man blinked slightly, before adverting his eyes quickly from hers, "I'm Howie".

"Howie," the Doctor nodded to him, "You said you were surprised to be back in reception".

"The walls move," he informed them, still seeming to be finding it difficult to meet their eyes, "Everything changes".

He frowned slightly, not finding the answer specific enough for his liking, "You, clever one…" he looked at Rita, "What's he talking about?"

"The corridors twist and stretch," Rita explained, "Rooms vanish and pop up somewhere else. It's like the hotel's alive".

"Fascinating," the Hatter remarked thoughtfully, before she sighed and pulled a face, the soft music playing in the background really starting to grate on her, "Sorry, would anyone mind if I turned that awful music off?" she didn't even wait for anyone to answer as she walked across to the reception desk, smiling brightly as she found the cassette player that was the source of the music, switching the tape off. She straightened and turned back to the others, sighing in relief now that the horrible, cheerful tune was no longer drifting through the air, "Ah, peace," she said happily.

"Yeah, and it's huge," Howie added, glancing back to Rita before looking at the Time Lords. The Hatter made her way back to the Doctor's side as they listened closely, "With, like, no way out".

"Have you tried the front door?" Rory asked, and pointed over to the set of wooden doors behind him.

"No," Rita said sarcastically, "In two days it never occurred to us to try the front door. Thank God you're here!"

Amy laughed as Rory looked a little embarrassed. The Doctor and the Hatter exchanged a look as he reached into his blazer pocket and retrieved his sonic screwdriver, stepping over to the doors to scan them, before pulling them open to reveal the white brick wall behind it.

"They're not doors, they're walls," he spun back around to look at the others, "Walls that look like doors. Door-walls, if you like, or 'dwells,'" the Hatter eyed him with a faintly amused expression as he caught her eyes, sending her a little wink, "'Woors' even…"

"Ah, sweetheart," the Hatter cut in with a smile, patting his arm fondly, "I think they get the idea," she threw the humans and Tivolian a pointed look.

He followed her gaze to find them all staring at him, looking caught between exasperation, in Amy and Rory's case, and confusion, "Oh, right," he said slowly, giving her a quick smile, "Thank you, dear," he pressed a kiss to her cheek and let go of her, "And the windows are…" he turned and walked over to where a curtain was covering a window, pulling the fabric aside to reveal more of the wall, "Right," he nodded, turning back around, pointing back to the wall with his thumb, "Big day if you're a fan of walls".

"Bad news if you're claustrophobic," the Time Lady commented, glancing at the walls. She was quite grateful this regeneration only had a slight issue with spiders.

"It's not just that," Rita added, drawing their attention back to her, "The rooms have…things in them".

The Hatter raised her eyebrows curiously, "Ooh, things, you say?" she said eagerly.

"Hello!" the Doctor called brightly, growing just as excited, "What kind of things? Interesting things?" he glanced at the Hatter, "We love things, don't we, dear?"

"Things are our specialty," the brunet agreed happily, linking her arm with the Doctor's as they both focused back on Rita, "So, please tell us more about these things".

Rita hesitated and glanced back to Howie and the Tivolian, before turning back to them, "Bad dreams," she replied.

The Doctor's smile slipped off his face as he exchanged a quick look with the Hatter, who also looked a little unnerved by the response, "Well, that killed the mood," he frowned slightly, looking back to them, eyeing Rita's hospital scrubs curiously, "How did you get here?"

"I don't know," she shook her head, shrugging, "I'd just started my shift. I must have passed out, because suddenly I was here".

"I was blogging," Howie told them, looking down at his shoes, "Next thing, this".

"Oh, I was at work," the Tivolian said with a smile, fiddling with the hanky in his hands, "I'm in Town Planning. We're lining all the highways with trees so invading forces can march in the shade".

"Ah," the Doctor and the Hatter nodded as Amy and Rory smiled politely.

"Which is nice for them".

The Hatter cleared her throat, "Yes, how…kind of you," she agreed, her voice sounding a little higher than normal. She had visited Tivoli once and hadn't stayed very long; she hadn't been able to handle the way that all the locals had practically begged her to enslave their planet. It had been one of the strangest experiences of her life and she had felt very relieved to leave. Actually, now that she thought about it, she was quite surprised that the Master and the Rani hadn't found themselves on Tivoli, the Rani would have had plenty of locals more than happy to be experimented on and the Master…well, he could have had a taste of ruling, probably before he ended up destroying the planet.

"Yeah…" the Doctor said a little awkwardly, before he clapped his hands, "So what have we got?" he raised his eyebrows, looking around at them, getting back on track, "People snatched from their lives and dropped into an endless, shifting maze that looks like a 1980's hotel with bad dreams in the bedrooms," he summarised, picking a Rubik's Cube up from the reception desk and tossing it into the air before he caught it, "Well, apart from anything else, that's just rude".

…

The Doctor and the Hatter made their way back up the stairs to the landing that they had left the TARDIS on, hand in hand, while the others followed close behind them, "We'll pop back to the TARDIS," he remarked cheerfully as they went, "We'll do a planet-wide diagnostic sweep, and then we'll have a sing song".

"I think the sing song's going to have to wait, sweetheart," the Hatter frowned deeply as they came to a sharp stop, looking at the place that they had parked the TARDIS in…only it was gone. The TARDIS had completely vanished. She and the Doctor moved forward into the empty space, the Doctor holding his hands out before him, trying to feel for the time machine in case the old girl had decided to have a little fun with them and turn herself invisible. That was the best case scenery.

"Where's the TARDIS?" Amy asked in alarm, looking quickly to the Time Lords, "You parked it there, didn't you?"

The Time Lady nodded, casting her eyes around the landing, but it was the right place. The same pictures were hanging on the wall and the pottered plants were all correct, "It was definitely parked here," she frowned, starting to grow quite worried now, "And I very specifically remember putting the handbrake on".

"What's a TARDIS?" Howie questioned, confused.

"Our way out," Rory replied, leaning over the banister with a sigh, "And it's gone," he covered his face with his hands.

The Hatter blinked, her head snapping up as she heard the music start up again through the speakers, the soft melody sounding even more creepy now that it had turned on all by its self. She resisted the urge to shiver and glanced at the Doctor to see him frowning, too, hearing the music. Oh, she really did hate it when they found themselves in a creepy house or, in this case, a hotel and things started turning themselves on. This was the reason why humans believed in ghosts.

"Okay…" the Doctor breathed, reaching out to take the Hatter's hand, looking quite unsettled, "This is bad. At the moment, I don't know how bad, but certainly we're three buses, a long walk and eight quid in a taxi from good," he reached up with his free hand and rubbed his forehead worriedly, shooting the brunet beside him a concerned look.

The Time Lady sighed and squeezed his hand comfortingly, looking back to the humans, focusing on Rita, "Are you the only ones here?" she asked.

"Joe," Rita answered, exchanging a quick glance with Howie, "But he's a bit tied up right now".

"Oh?" she looked between Howie and Rita, "Is he in the kitchen or something?" she smiled, "I could do with another little snack, that apple didn't quite cut it".

"No, I mean he's…tied up right now".

The Doctor and the Hatter blinked, looking back at each other, startled.

…

The Doctor slowly pushed the dining room door open and stepped into the large room that had circle tables scattered all around the room, a small raised stage at the front of the room, and even a bar off to the side. The Hatter followed closely behind him, her eyes instantly falling onto the young, well-dressed man that was sitting at one of the tables, tied to the chair with a length of rope around his chest. He didn't look very well, his eyes seemed quite unfocused and he seemed to be muttering quietly to himself, but their attention was quickly diverted from the man by all the ventriloquist dummies that surrounded him, all laughing with their heads bobbing up and down. Suddenly, all the laughter stopped and the dummies heads all turned to watch the Time Lords as they moved further into the room, while Amy, Rory, and the other's slowly entered the room.

The Hatter swallowed and edged a little closer to the Doctor, eyeing the dummies. Okay, so perhaps ventriloquist dummies ought to be added to her list of things this regeneration really didn't like, right along with dolls and Furby, "Now this is just plain creepy," she muttered to the Doctor.

"Don't worry, I'll save you if they attack," he whispered back to her with a playful grin, winking in an attempt to distract her.

She scoffed, "Oh, you mean like last time we were attacked by a puppet and you hid under a table?" she said innocently, raising her eyebrows at him.

He blushed, "That was one time".

"Once is more than enough to prove just how brave you are against a puppet, Doctor, I assure you".

He cleared his throat and quickly looked at Joe, trying to get off the subject of that adventure, "Hello," he greeted the man as he and the Time Lady walked closer to his table, "I'm the Doctor and this is the Hatter…" he gestured to the brunet, who gave the man a little wave.

Joe looked up at them, his eyes still unconfused, "We're going to die here," he told them, sounding quite dazed.

"Well, they certainly didn't mention that in the brochure," he said lightly, making the Hatter smile. He eyed Joe carefully, growing serious, "Is Joe there?" he asked, "Can I have a quick word?" he let go of the Hatter's hand and walked over to one the tables, grabbing two of the chairs and dragging them across to Joe's table, taking a seat on one while the Hatter sat down on the second, instantly taking each other's hands once more.

"Oh, it's still me, Doctor, but I've seen the light. I've lived a blasphemous life, but he has forgiven my inconstancy, and soon…he shall feast".

The Hatter frowned slightly, eyeing him closely, "But you have been here for two days already, why has it taken this long for this…'him' to feast?" she questioned.

"We weren't ready. We were still raw".

"But now you're what, cooked?" the Doctor raised his eyebrows, glancing back at the Hatter.

"If you like," Joe replied, smiling faintly as the Hatter's eyes fell on his tie clip that had a small horseshoe on the metal work and then down to his cufflinks that were in the shape of dice. Interesting, so he was a gambler, then. She wondered if that meant anything important, possibly, but right now she couldn't figure out the significance. She glanced at the Doctor to see that he had noticed the same thing that she had, "Soon you will be, too," he continued, "Both of you. Be patient. First, find your rooms".

"Rooms?" the Hatter repeated slowly, frowning, "We both have rooms?"

"There's a room here for everyone, Hatter," he smiled, "Even you two".

The Doctor frowned, not feeling overly comfortable with all this talk about rooms and death, "You said you'd seen the light now," he commented, trying to change the subject.

"Nothing else matters anymore. Only him. It's like these things," he nodded to the dummies surrounding them, "I used to hate them! They make me laugh now," he looked back to the Time Lords and manically laughed, "Gottle o' geer! Gottle o' geer!" he laughed again, looking around at the dummies as they joined in with him. The Doctor and the Hatter glanced around warily as Joe grew a bit more serious, "You should go," he told them, smiling widely, "He'll be here soon".

The Doctor gave him a small smile and stood, walking over to the bar and ducking behind it, reappearing a moment later with a hand dolly that he slide beneath Joe's chair, "I think you should come with us," he said as the Hatter rose from her own chair.

….

The Hatter sighed as she sat on top of the reception desk, her legs dangling over the edge of the desk. She leaned over into the office area and switched the music off again before straightening to look back to the Doctor as he stood by the wall nearest to her, Amy, Rory, and Rita leaning against the desk while Howie and the Tivolian were in the office area with Joe, who was still firmly tied to his chair.

"Why you four?" the Doctor asked aloud, eyeing the four that had originally been taken, "That's what I don't understand, aside from all the other things I don't understand," he sighed, shaking his head, "Hatter, ideas?" he looked hopefully to her.

The Time Lady glanced back to the four for a moment, "I don't know either, sweetheart," she admitted grimly, meeting his eyes, "And I really, really don't like not knowing".

"What does it matter?" the Tivolian looked around at them all, shrugging, "Sooner or later, someone will come along and rescue us…" he paused, considering it, "Or enslave us".

Amy and Rory stared back at him as the Hatter sighed, reaching up to rub her forehead.

The Doctor shook his head, deciding it probably be a wise idea to cut in, "First, we find the TARDIS," he said, tapping his hands against the surface of the desk.

"And as soon as possible," the Hatter agreed, very much wishing that they could leave this very strange hotel. It was strange, she didn't usually find places like this creepy, but the idea of there being rooms for them somewhere with bad dreams inside them was very unsettling for her to think of. She had enough bad dreams in her life as it was; she really didn't wish to revisit any today.

He reached over and took her hand, giving her a comforting look, knowing that she was finding this whole adventure far from fun today. He couldn't say he was overly pleased being stuck inside the hotel himself, "Quick thing before we go," he paused, looking very seriously back around at the humans and the Tivolian, "If you feel drawn to a particular room, do not go in, and make sure someone else can see you at all times".

"Joe said, 'He will feast,'" Rita said quietly, looking a little afraid, "Is there something here with us?"

Joe laughed manically, as if someone had just told a brilliant joke, making everyone look over to him.

The Hatter raised her eyebrows, "Would you like to tell us something, Joe?" she said calmly, "Perhaps what you seem to find so amusing would be a good start. Goodness knows I could use a good laugh right about now…"

"'Here comes a candle to light you to bed,'" Joe recited, looking around at each other them, "'Here comes a chopper to chop off your head. Chop, chop, chop, chop…'" he looked directly at Howie.

"Can we do something about him?" Howie exclaimed, waving his hands around at Joe as the man started laughing again.

The Hatter reached into her pocket, pulling a roll of duct tape as the other's blinked at her, even the Doctor was looking a little surprised. She smiled faintly, her eyes dancing cheekily as she pulled a stripe of tape, "Shall we?" she paused, glancing at the Doctor, "Ooh, I think I enjoyed that a little too much".

The Doctor coughed, his cheeks a little pink, "I know I did," he muttered, dragging his eyes off her.

…

The Doctor and the Hatter walked down the hallway of one of the hotel's floors, looking around curiously as they went, while the Tivolian pushed Joe along behind them with the hand dolly, a piece of tape covering the man's mouth. Rita, Rory, Amy, and Howie followed close behind them, heading off down another hallway as the Hatter was forced to grab the Doctor's arm, tugging him back down the corridor after the others as she realised that he hadn't noticed the other's not following.

"Personally, I think you've got the right idea," the Tivolian said to Joe, leaning down slightly to speak to him, still pushing him along, "Times like this, I think of my old school motto, 'Resistance Is Exhausting'".

Amy made a noise at the back of her throat as she overhead the alien and shook her head, glancing back over to the Time Lords. The Hatter sighed, giving her a small smile before she glanced back behind her to where Rory and Howie were lagging behind slightly.

"I've worked out where we are," Howie was saying eagerly to Rory, his eyes looked bright with excitement and he was even managing to look at Rory's face.

"Hmm?" Rory hummed, looking across to him.

"Norway".

The Hatter blinked, "Norway?" she repeated, unable to stop herself from cutting in.

Howie's head snapped over to her, looking startled that she had been listening, but it didn't seem to deter him for long, though he once again seemed to have trouble meeting her eyes, "You see, the US government has entire cities hidden in the Norwegian mountains," he told them quickly, looking completely sure of himself, "You see, Earth is on a collision course with this other planet, and this is where they're going to send all the rich people when it kicks off".

"Amazing," Rory remarked, staring back at the younger man as the Hatter tried hard not to laugh out loud, settling for smiling faintly in amusement.

"It's all there on the internet," he nodded, before nervously checking over his shoulder.

"No, it's amazing you've come up with a theory even more insane than what's actually happening".

"Actually, Rory," the Hatter cut in with a small scolding look in Rory's direction, "It's not so farfetched, just…not quite correct this time," she said with a kind smile to Howie.

Suddenly, the door of Room One Hundred and Eight opened just as the Doctor was walking past it and a tall man stepped out into his path, making him stop, dressed in a white singlet and shorts with a whistle hanging around his neck. From within the room, the sound of school bell ringing could be heard.

The Doctor stared at the man, slightly confused as he quickly looked back to the Hatter, who could only shrug, just as clueless as him, "Hello," he greeted the man carefully.

"Have you forgotten your PE kit again?" the man looked the Doctor up and down, narrowing his eyes. Everyone stopped and turned back to watch, "Right, that's it, you're doing it in your pants!" he turned and stormed back into the room, slamming the door shut behind him.

The Hatter moved to the Doctor's side, placing a hand on his arm as he looked a little shocked, "Are you…" she trailed off as she caught sight of something out of the corner of her eye, "No, don't!" she cried, whipping back around as Howie reached out to open one of the doors.

She and the Doctor ran over to him, trying to reach him and push him out of the way, but they weren't fast enough. Howie had already twisted the doorknob and pushed the door open, staring inside. The Time Lords came to a skidding halt beside the young man, looking back into the room to see a group of young girls gathered inside the room, each quite pretty and dressed as if they might have been at a party. The girls looked over to them and broke into giggles.

"Oh, look, girls," one of the girls, a pretty blonde called over the laughter, "It's H-H-H-Howie!" she mocked, making the others laugh even harder.

"What's loser in K-K-K-Klingon?" another with dark hair asked mockingly.

Howie stumbled back with a gasp, ducking his head, "Shut the d-d-d…the door!" he stuttered out, pointing a shaking finger back towards the door, and the Doctor quickly closed it as the Hatter looked at the young man sadly, feeling her hearts going out to him. She knew how awful it was to be bullied, it was one of the cruellest and crippling things that someone could go through, "This is just some m-m-messed up CIA stuff," he said firmly, shaking his head as he looked down at his shoes, "I'm…I'm telling you".

The Doctor nodded reassuringly and wrapped his arm around his shoulders, "You're right, keep telling yourself that," he exchanged a look with the Hatter as he gently guided Howie away from the door and down the hallway, patting his chest, "It's a CIA thing, nothing more".

"I think you are being very brave, Howie," the Hatter told him sincerely, linking her arm through his and flashing him a comforting smile. Howie's head snapped around to her, startled, "I mean, even I'm finding this place quite creepy," she continued cheerfully, "And I do this sort of thing all the time".

"Y-you do?"

"Oh, yes. Not many people would be able to handle all of this like you are".

He smiled very slightly and ducked his head, seeming to gain a little bit of his confidence back. The Hatter looked over Howie's head to meet the Doctor's eyes to find him smiling softly at her. She shook her head and looked away, though she couldn't stop the faint blush from covering her cheeks.

….

They continued making their way through the hallways, making their way up the stairs to the next floor above and heading off down another hallway. The Doctor ran his hand against the wallpapered wall as they went, flicking one of the light sconces while the Hatter walked backwards and cast her eyes around, when she looked up at the ceiling to see that a low beam that she had just stepped beneath had three strips of plaster that had been scraped off repeatedly, by the look of it. She frowned and reached up, grateful for her long legs, and lightly touched her fingertips against the strips.

"Doctor," she called as she lowered her hand and eyed the dust covering her fingertips. The Doctor was instantly by her side, looking closely up at the strips on the beam.

"Hmm, interesting," he said quietly, glancing back to her as she nodded, wiping the dust off her hands and onto her skirt, not caring if it left very noticeable white marks.

Amy walked a few steps on from them and frowned, crutching down to pick up a few pieces of paper that she had found lying on the floor.

"Er…guys?" Rory said from where he had paused to tie his shoelaces up, looking up to see a door that said 'Fire Exit' on it.

Amy climbed back onto her feet, staring down at the paper, seeing it covered in scribbled writing, "Look…" she moved closer to the Doctor and the Hatter, drawing their attention to her, when a loud animalistic growl suddenly echoed down the hallway, making their eyes widen and their heads snap in the direction. Behind them, Joe began straining against the ropes binding him, "Okay," she stared off down the hallway, "Whatever that is, it's not real, yeah?"

"No," the Doctor breathed, reaching out to grab the Hatter's hand, holding it tightly as they took a small step back, "No, I'm sure it isn't, but just in case, let's run away and hide anyway…" his speech grew faster as the Hatter reached out to grab Amy's hand, both looking around hurriedly for somewhere they might be able to hide. They couldn't try running back the way they came, the…thing, whatever it was, would surely be able to see them trying to run and take chase…assuming it had legs or eyes, of course. His eyes landed on a nearby door and, without pausing to consider what might be waiting behind it, he darted over to it, "In here," he said quickly, pulling the Time Lady, who in turn tugged Amy along, too.

The three of them dashed over to the doorway, Howie and the Tivolian following right on their heels and into the room, leaving Rita to wheel Joe into another room just across the hallway.

"No, this way!" Rory called as he turned slightly away from the apparent Fire Exit to see them all darting off into the rooms, making no move to follow them. He frowned, "I've found…" he trailed off as he turned back to face the Fire Exit, only to find that the door had disappeared, Room Two Hundred and Nine in its place.

The Hatter lightly pushed Amy into the room as she and the Doctor paused outside, looking back down the hallway to where Rory was slowly backing away from a door, staring at it, "Oh, honestly, Rory," she shook her head at him, letting go of the Doctor's hand to hurry over to Rory, "This is not the time to be admiring doors," she grabbed his arm as she reached him, trying to usher him over towards the still open door that Amy, Howie and the Tivolian had gone through.

Rory blinkered slowly in confusion as he let her lead him away, pointing back to Room Two Hundred and Nine's door, "There was a…"

"Yes, later," she quickly cut him off, her voice firm as she cast the hallway ahead of them a slightly nervous look, half expecting to hear the footsteps…or whatever this thing had to move about on, approaching them, "We have slightly more pressing concerns right now, Rory".

He nodded and sighed, throwing the mysterious door one last look before he and the Hatter hurried over towards the open door, the Doctor moving aside to let them in first before following himself, running inside…only to come to a screeching halt behind Amy and Howie. The Hatter made a funny noise in her throat, like a strangled yelp of alarm, which drew the Doctor's attention, just as he finished slamming the door shut.

"Ahhh!" the Doctor shouted in fright, very nearly jumping back into the wallpapered wall behind him as he came face to face with two Weeping Angel's, one with its mouth open and it's sharp teeth on display, while the other had its hands innocently covering its eyes.

"Don't…blink," Amy told them quietly, her eyes steadily fixed on the Angel's, not blinking.

Howie looked at her in confusion, "What?"

The lights began flickering in around the room and the Hatter swallowed hard, reaching out to grab the Doctor's hand as the Angel's began moving towards them through the snippets of darkness, but there was something not quite right about their movements. She frowned as she narrowed her eyes at them, taking note of how they had moved their arms so that they were now reaching out towards them and yet, they hadn't moved to actually touch them yet. They had plenty of time to move across the room and attack them, but they hadn't. It was like they were just trying to scare them, make them believe they were going to attack.

"Amy, get back," the Doctor said worriedly, reaching out to pull Amy closer to the wall that he and the Hatter had their backs pressed against, Rory and Howie quickly moving to do the same thing. He edged closer to the Hatter, trying to shield her, but she shook her head sharply and moved away before he could, "Hatter!" he frantically tried to grab her arm to pull her back towards the wall, but she simply stepped out of reach, eyeing the Angel's closely.

Still, they made no move to try and attack them. None at all.

"This isn't right," the Hatter remarked, frowning deeply as she glanced back to the others, "They've had all the time they would need to get us and yet, we're still here, alive and unharmed," she turned back to the Angel's, making the them blink at her words, the Doctor dragging his eyes off her back to also eye the Angel's thoughtfully, "This isn't normal behaviour for the Wheeping Angels".

"No," he agreed slowly, taking a step forward until he was level with her, his eyes still fixed on the Angel's, who hadn't made any further attempt to move, despite the flickering lights, "It isn't, is it?" he cautiously reached out his hand and touched one of the Angel's chests with his finger, his eyes widening in realisation, "They're not real," he spun back around to the others, Amy still staring at the Angel's, "Amy, they're not real".

"What?" Amy gasped, still refusing to look away or blink.

The Hatter moved to her side, placing a comforting hand on her shoulder, "Amy, listen to me," she moved to stand in front of her, forcing her to look away from the Angel's, "Those are not Angel's," she gestured back over to the so called Angel's, "They're fake, if they weren't then we would be dead or displaced in time by now".

The Doctor stepped over to them, giving Amy a gentle smile as she blinked slowly, still looking quite fearful, shooting the Angel's a wary look over the Hatter's shoulder, "It's just your bad dream, Amy," he assured her comfortingly, "That's all".

Rory frowned slightly, "I don't think they're for us," he commented quietly, shooting his wife a quick look, before looking passed her to where the Tivolian was hiding in the large wooden wardrobe, peeking out through the door to the Angel's, his eyes wide with terror. There was a loud roar from outside the room and the alien screamed, slamming the wardrobe door closed.

The Hatter jumped slightly, both from the strange roar and the door being slammed so suddenly, glancing warily at the Doctor. She really, really didn't like this, being stuck inside one of these rooms while a mysterious…thing lurked outside the door. She met the Doctor's eyes and knew without needing to ask what he was planning to do, giving him a small nod, silently telling him to be careful. He smiled faintly, reaching out to lightly touch her arm before letting her go and moving across to the room's door.

"Doctor, what are you doing?" Amy whispered, watching him near the door.

"I'm sorry, I just have to see what it is," the Doctor said softly, glancing at her, his eyes flickering over to the Hatter. She smiled and nodded to him again, understanding perfectly well that sometimes, you had to take a risk in order to get results and they needed to figure out what was going on here if they had any chance of escaping. He returned her smile and even winked, before turning back to the door and bracing his hands against the surface of the door, leaning in to peer through the peephole, "Oh, look at you…" he said after a moment as the Hatter looked down to see a shadow move across the gap between the door and the floor, "Oh, you are beautiful".

"What can you see?" the Hatter asked, her voice low as she moved to stand beside her, glancing from him to the door curiously.

"It looks like a Minotaur," he told her, when he suddenly jumped back, just before something banged heavily against the other side of the door. The rest of the group flinched, too, staring back worriedly at the door. He glanced back at the door, slightly nervously before looking back to the Hatter, who was half expecting the door to be smashed in at any moment, "Oh, dear…"

A tense moment of silence fell over the room, the only sound coming from the low growling noise coming from the other side of the door. The Hatter swallowed and took a step closer to the door, carefully peering out through the peephole to see that the Doctor's description of the creature was quite accurate. It was very similar to a Minotaur with thick skin and a very large head, tufts of white hair covering what little she could see of it. It seemed to be quite tall and she imagined very strong, but even as she waited for it to smash the door down, it didn't. It did seem, however, to be intelligent enough to know that something was behind the door; otherwise it would have moved on by now. Was it perhaps trying to study them? Or just simply waiting for them to come out?

"Hatter…"

"Shh," she quickly hushed the Doctor, waving a hand back to him, not taking her eyes off the peephole. Suddenly, the door just up the hallway sprung open and Joe half stumbled out, twirling around clumsily on the spot to face the creature. Her eyes widened, "Oh no, Joe's managed to get free!" she hissed to the others, her concern only growing as she noticed the creature turn in Joe's direction, "Oh, this is very, very not good. I think it's going after Joe now…"

"Come on, come to me!" Joe's voice rang out from behind the doorway, "Come to me…" he suddenly broke off with a scream.

The Hatter grabbed the doorhandle and went to turn it, but the Doctor's hand covered hers, stopping her just in time. He gave her a sharp look as she responded with a deep frown, about to make a comment about his protectiveness while a man was in danger, when the sound of Joe's scream suddenly stopped. In fact, even the growling noise had faded now. They both blinked slightly and the Doctor gently pulled the Hatter's hand away from the handle, replacing it with his own as he made sure to place himself in front of her as he opened the door and looked quickly up and down the hallway, his eyes widening as he caught sight of Joe's shoes disappearing around a corner at the end of the hallway, being dragged along.

"Leave him alone!" the Doctor shouted, taking off down the hallway after the creature and Joe, the Hatter running right beside him. They sprinted down the hallway, only to find it empty, but it didn't deter them as they took off down another hallway and another and another, finding themselves back in the stairwell, but there was still no sign of either the creature or Joe.

"How big is this place?" the Hatter wondered aloud, shaking her head as she moved to peer over the stairs railing, "Joe!" she called down, unable to see anything. She turned her attention up to the upper floors, "Joe! Where are you?"

The Doctor sighed heavily, his expression growing grim. This really wasn't looking good for Joe, not good at all. He reached out and took her hand, turning and running up the stairs to the next level, finding themselves once again running through what felt like an endless maze of hallways with doorways leading off it. They even split off at one point, be it slightly reluctantly, both heading off in different directions as they continued desperately searching for any sign of Joe.

"Joe!" the Time Lady called loudly as she jogged along her hallway, when she stopped in the middle of a hallway, catching sight of something shinny lying on the floor. She frowned and bent down, looking at the small cufflink in her hand in the shape of a dice. That was Joe's; she remembered seeing him wearing it when they had first met him. She straightened, just as the Doctor appeared from the other end of the hallway, hurrying to her side, "Look, I just found this," she held it out to him.

The Doctor reached out to take it, eyeing it before he looked back up to her, only to pause, his eyes moving to rest on something over her shoulder, "Joe?" he said, making her blink and turn to see Joe kneeling on the floor a short distance away from them, propped up against the wall, facing away from them, "Jo!" he repeated, louder as they moved towards him, reaching out to touch his shoulder, "Joe," he crouched down beside him, grabbing his face and turning it towards him, "Joe, what happened?"

"Doctor…." The Hatter swallowed, staring at Joe's pale face, his expression completely blank and his eyes unblinking. She knelt beside the Doctor, resting her hand on his arm as she looked sadly back to Joe, "We're too late. He's gone".

Joe was dead.

…

Joe's body had been moved to rest on the stage in the dining room, half covered by a white sheet while all the dummies had been removed from around the room, no longer laughing, and placed in two neat rows beside his body. The Doctor stood above his body, scanning it with his sonic screwdriver as the Hatter watched with a sad expression on her face from beside him. She sighed and shook her head, glancing back over her shoulder to the rest of the room, her eyes lingering on where Amy was sitting on the bar, rather quiet since they had all gathered in the room, while Rita stepped back into the room from a side room, carrying a tray that was covered with tea cups and a teapot. The Tivolian was sitting at a table near Amy, staring at the table top and Rory was helping Howie move tables and chairs around the room, the two seeming to have become quite close.

"If we can wedge a chair under the door handles, that should stop anything from getting in," Howie was saying to Rory as they wheeled a round table top across the floor, passing by the front of the stage, heading across the room to one of the doorways.

"Help yourself to tea," Rita told Amy as she walked by her, but Amy simply smiled polity and made no move to take a cup, toying with her fingers in her lap. The Hatter eyed her in concern, knowing that she was likely dwelling on the idea of a room being out there for her, she understood how she felt. She was quite uneasy about it herself. Rita moved passed her, heading over to where the boys were busy trying to block off one of the doors, "Guys, tea over here," she announced to the rest of the room, placing the tray on one of the tables.

The Hatter pulled her eyes off Amy, who was now looking at the Tivolian, and glanced at the Doctor, "I'll be right back, sweetheart," she said quietly, reaching out to lightly touch his arm as he nodded slightly distractedly, looking down at Joe's body. She stepped down off the stage and made her way over towards Amy and the Tivolian, pausing a short distance away from them to pretend to be looking at a small menus that had been left lying on one of the tables. Out of the corner of her eyes, she observed Amy and the Tivolian. She was a little curious to see what Amy might do or say and, well, if need be she could step in and try and comfort them both, since they were both clearly quite shaken by everything. Still, she was interested to see what Amy might have learnt after all this time travelling the Universe with her and the Doctor, comforting someone when you yourself were in distress was very, very hard thing to do.

"If it's any consolation," Amy began after a moment, looking over to the Tivolian, "I've met the Weeping Angel's, so I know how…" she trailed off, looking down at her hands briefly before looking back across to him, "In fact, I thought that room was for me".

"Joe was right," the Tivolian muttered, shifting in his chair, not looking back to Amy. He took a deep breath, "Whatever it is here, it actually wants to kill us. Not oppress us or enslave us, kill us!"

The Hatter winced slightly, feeling quite sorry for him, when Amy slipped off the bar and moved towards his table, "Okay, listen…" she sat down in the chair beside him, "The Doctor and the Hatter's been part of my life for so long now, and they've never let me down. Even when I thought they had, when I was a kid and they left me, they came back. They…saved me…" she laughed slightly embarrassedly, her eyes flickering up to meet the Hatter's and a blush creeping across her face, realising that she had heard her. The Hatter gave her a gentle smile, making her return her smile and turn back to the alien, her expression growing even more confident, "And now they're going to save you," she looked away again, frowning slightly as something occurred to her, "But don't tell the Doctor I said that, because the smugness would be terrifying".

"She's not kidding, either," the Hatter added, her smile widening slightly as she noticed the Tivolian jump and his head snap around to look at her, clearly having not realised she was standing right there. She leaned closer towards them, lowering her voice, as if she was about to tell them a big secret, "Between you and me, he has enough trouble finding a hat to fit his big head already, there's no need to inflate it even more. For my sake, if not anyone else's, please".

Amy laughed, holding up her hand to high five her, which the Time Lady was more than happy to do as she grinned and shot the Doctor a quick look over her shoulder, finding him still standing on the stage, his eyes narrowed suspiciously at her. She winked and playfully blew him a little kiss, earning a fond eye roll before he turned away. What he didn't know really wouldn't hurt him.

"Of course," the Tivolian remarked casually, just as Amy stood from her chair. He turned slightly in his chair to look directly at her, "If the Weeping Angel's were meant for me, then your room is still out there…somewhere," he gave her a chilling little smirk.

The Hatter frowned at him, seeing straight through him as Amy tensed, looking quite uncomfortable, "Well, I suppose we'll just have to find t together," she said calmly, not taking her eyes off the alien before she suddenly broke into a wide smile, glancing at Amy, "After all, my room's also out there. We'll just have to stick together, like always".

Amy relaxed slightly, giving her a slightly grateful smile as the Hatter nodded to her, before turning on her heel and heading back over to the Doctor, her smile fading as she turned her back, leaving Amy in Rory's hands. Yes, she was going to keep an eye on that Tivolian, he seemed to enjoy trying to upset Amy like that. It really didn't bode well with her. She stepped back up onto the stage beside the Doctor, who was sitting on a small speaker unit, giving him a reassuring smile as he raised his eyebrows up at her, but she decided not to bother telling him about her concerns for the time being. They had more pressing concerns, she supposed, poor Joe was proof of how serious this whole thing was. People were dying; they needed to focus on that right now.

Joe's body had been covered completely by the sheet now, much to her relief, the Doctor looking down at it grimly, just as Rita approached them the tea tray, "Tea?" she asked them, offering the tray out towards them.

The Hatter's eyes brightened, "Ooh, lovely," she said happily, eagerly taking one of the cups and lightly moving to gently blow on the surface of the hot liquid, "Thank you, Rita".

"Thank you," the Doctor nodded to her, giving her a small smile as he reached out to take the second cup, not bothering to try and cool it before taking a sip. He pulled a face and stuck his tongue out, "Ouch, hot".

"He does this every single time," the Time Lady shook her head, rolling her eyes as she glanced back up to Rita, who was watching with faint amusement, "Honestly, it's amazing he can taste anything the amount of times he burns his tongue simply due to having the patients of a three year old".

"I am a very patient person!"

"In what Universe? This one, or the one in which you're a tango dancer?"

"A tango dancer?" he blinked, staring at her, highly amused, "Where did you get that from?"

She shrugged, trying to act indifferent, but the blush crossing her cheeks ruined the effect, "It just…popped into my head".

"Ah. Yes, that would explain it…ow!" he yelped, grabbing at his arm and the spot she had just whacked, rubbing it, very nearly dropping his cup in the process.

"That'll teach you," she sniffed haughtily, taking a sip from her teacup.

Rita cleared her throat slightly awkwardly, though she did look faintly amused by their antics. Her amusement faded, however, as her eyes landed on the covered body sitting before them, "What exactly happened to him?" she asked, gesturing down to Joe's body.

Instantly, the Time Lords lost their smiles and grew serious, any trace of humour from before disappearing. The Hatter winced very slightly, casting the covered body a slightly apologetic look. It really wasn't the time to be bantering with one another, nor the place.

"He died," the Doctor told her grimly.

Rita eyed him closely, "You are a medical doctor, aren't you?" she said, raising her eyebrows at him, "You haven't just got a degree in cheese-making or something".

"No!"

"Well…" the Hatter said slowly, making his head snap back around to her. She smiled faintly, focusing on Rita, "Technically, I'm the one with the proper medical degree".

"I have a medical degree!" he insisted quickly, before pausing, ducking his head. He might not have gotten his degree on Gallifrey, but he had later on, "And, well, yes, one in cheese-making too…" he cleared his throat and glanced back to the body, "But what I mean is, there is no cause. All his vital organs simply stopped, as if the simple spark of life, his loves and hates, his faiths and fears were just…" he lifted his teacup back up towards his mouth, sniffing it, "Taken…and this is a cup of tea".

The Time Lady sighed, rolling her eyes at him, "See what I mean about his taste?" she shook her head, taking a small sip from her own cup.

Rita smiled slightly, turning back to the Doctor, "Of course, I'm British, it's how we cope with trauma," her smile widened, "That and tutting".

The Hatter laughed, lowering her cup, "And you managed to find everything to make tea here?" she said curiously.

"All hotels should have a well stocked kitchen, even alien fake ones," the Doctor's eyebrows rose, surprised, "I heard you talking when you arrived. Look, it's no more ridiculous than Howie's CIA theory, or mi…mine".

"Which is?" the Doctor questioned, looking at her expectantly.

"This is Jahannam".

"You're a Muslim!" he realised, his eyes lighting up as the Hatter broke into wide smile.

"Don't be frightened," she joked a little awkwardly.

"Of course not," the Hatter shook her head, her smile not dimming in the slightest. She cast her eyes around the room thoughtfully, considering her theory. It was an interesting one, certainly, but she didn't think that this was completely correct, "So you think that we're in Hell?" she looked back to Rita.

"The whole '80s hotel thing took me by surprise, though," Rita admitted, gesturing around the room.

The Doctor stood from the speaker, looking out over the rest of the room, "And all those fears and phobias wandering about, most are completely unconnected to us, so why are they still here?" he wondered, holding up a finger as he looked between Rita and the Hatter.

Rita looked thoughtful for a moment, "Maybe the cleaners have gone on strike".

"Ha!" he laughed, exchanging an amused look with the Time Lady, who was struggling to hold back a grin. He glanced back to Rita, "I like you, you're a right clever clogs".

"Not to mention your sense of humour," the Hatter added, lightly nudging Rita's side with an approving expression crossing her face, "Being able to find humour, even in the unknown, is a very good ability to have, but this isn't Hell, Rita," she sighed slightly, looking back over the room with a small frown, "We're not entirely sure what it is yet, but I assure you that it's not Hell…well, perhaps not in the traditional sense".

"You don't understand," Rita shook her head, "I say that without fear. Jahannam will play its tricks, and there'll be times when I want to run and scream, but I've tried to live a good life, and that knowledge keeps me sane, despite the monsters and the bonkers rooms," the Hatter raised her eyebrows, eyeing her closely. She was very calm about the whole thing, perhaps a little worryingly so, "Gibbis…" she began, her eyes resting on the Tivolian, glancing at the Doctor as he began gargling his tea, quickly swallowing at the scolding look the Time Lady shot him and giving Rita a slightly sheepish smile, "Is…is an alien, isn't he?" she went on, ignoring his antics.

"Yeah," the Doctor nodded, following her gaze over to the alien, "Sorry".

"Okay…" she said slowly, still looking very calm, all things considered. The Hatter frowned very slightly, eyeing her carefully, "I'm going to file that under 'Freak Out About Later'".

"Probably wise," the Hatter commented lightly, still watching her out of the corner of her eye.

"Doctor, Hatter," Amy called, walking across the room towards them, frowning down at her hands that were holding a couple of pieces of paper, "Look at this," she looked up to them as the Time Lords stepped down from the stage, approaching her, "I found it in a corridor, I completely forgot I had it".

The Doctor reached out to take the pieces of paper as she held them out to them, giving her a mock angry look and lightly smacking her forehead with the paper. She smiled slightly, knowing that it was all done in jest, moving to lean her back against a nearby table to watch as he unfolded the paper between himself the Hatter.

"Er…" he cleared his throat, preparing to read aloud to the rest of the room, reaching up to scratch the top of his head, "'My name is Lucy Hayward and I'm the last one left. It took Luke first. Got him on his first day, almost as soon as we arrived,'" the Hatter frowned slightly, wondering if there was any reason for why some people were taken sooner than others. There surely had to be one, these things were never just random, "'It's funny. You don't know what's going to be in your room until you see it, then you realise it could never have been anything else. I saw mine. It was a gorilla from a book I'd read as a kid. My God, that thing used to terrify me,'" he frowned as he flipped over to the next piece of paper, while Amy and Rory listened closely, "'The gaps between my worship are getting shorter, like contractions. This is what happened to the others…and how lucky they were. It's all so clear now. I'm so happy. Praise him,'" he looked up from the paper, his eyes meeting the Hatter's eyes, "'Praise him'".

"Praise him," Howie said casually, so much so that for a moment no one even reacted, until it hit them just what he had said, everyone turning in his direction as he sat at one of the tables, straightening the silver wear. He froze, too, feeling everyone's eyes on him.

The Hatter took a small step towards him, feeling her hearts beat a bit faster, but she tried very hard to keep the concern she was feeling from appearing on her face, "I'm sorry, but what was that, Howie?" she asked, trying to seem polity interested.

Howie's head snapped around to them, his eyes wide, "Nothing," he told them quickly before he closed his mouth, looking as if he was struggling with something for a moment, almost as if it pained him, when…, "Praise him!" he suddenly burst out, clapping his hands over his mouth.

"This is what happened to Joe!" the Tivolian cried fearfully, leaping out of his chair and moving to hide behind Rita.

Howie clumsily climbed onto his feet as everyone began talking at once, "God, it's going to come for me now!" he gasped, panicking.

"You'll lead him right here," Gibbis called over the others, waving his white handkerchief around.

"We won't leave you," the Doctor assured Howie as he and the Hatter moved towards him, speaking over everyone else, "We…I promise you. You have my word".

"And mine," the Hatter said firmly, shooting the Doctor a quick, grateful look. She was pleased to see that he had learnt his lesson and wasn't just assuming that she would agree with giving away her word, even if she would never think not to in a situation like this. She reached out her hand to grasp Howie's arm, giving him a comforting look, "We promise you, Howie, you won't be alone and we'll do everything we possibly can to help you, and I always keep my promises".

"I don't want to get eaten!"

"Calm down," Amy told him, seeing Howie getting worked up, while the Time Lords tried soothing him.

"He's going to lead the creature right here!" Gibbis exclaimed again, pointing down at the floor, looking almost beside himself with fear. He seemed to be handling everything even worse than poor Howie was.

"Yes, thank you," the Hatter sighed heavily, throwing the alien a sharp look over her shoulder, not in the slightest bit impressed. She understood that they were all under a great deal of stress and that it was very easily to fall into the trap of panicking right now, but adding to that panic was only going to make things worse. Plus, all the shouting was giving her a headache and making it hard to try and focus on Howie, which, at this point, was who they really ought to be focusing on.

The Doctor grimaced as all the shouting continued, seeming to only be rising as the panic and hysteria grew, so he quickly reached into his pocket and pulled out his sonic screwdriver, raising it above his head, activating it. A horrible, high-pitched squeal sounded through the speakers around the room, making everyone stop shouting and cover their ears, cringing. The Hatter, her eyes narrowed and her hands covering her ears, lightly kicked his shoe with pained grimace on her face after a moment, making him quickly stop, lowering the sonic as relieved silence filling the room.

"Thank you," he nodded to them all, tucking the sonic back inside his blazer pocket as the Hatter, still wincing slightly, rubbed at her left ear, "Sorry, dear," he flashed her an apologetic smile and reached out to take her free hand, knowing that given Time Lords more sensitive hearing, they both would be feeling the after effects much worse than the humans or even Gibbis would be. His ears were still ringing painfully, but he tried hard to ignore it, needing to focus.

"Don't you see?" Gibbis started again almost at once, still looking quite panicked, "He'll lead it right here!"

"What do you suggest?" Rita asked, turning on him.

Gibbis sighed, looking resigned, but the Hatter couldn't help narrowing her eyes suspiciously, "Look, whatever it is out there, it's obviously chosen Howard as its next course," he said, holding out a hand towards Howie, "Now, tragic though that is, this is no time for sentiment…" the Doctor and the Hatter exchanged a sharp look, "I'm saying, if it were…find him, it may be satisfied and let the rest of us go," he caught sight of the Doctor and the Hatter's frowns, groaning, "All I want to do is go home and be conquered and oppressed. Is that too much to ask?" he huffed, moving to sit back down in his seat.

"It's okay, I'll stay with Howie," Rita spoke up, looking at the Time Lords, seeming to be very calm about the whole thing, "You two take the others and go".

"No," the Hatter shook her head, her voice firm, "The only way we will ever have any chance at getting out of this, will be to stick together," her eyes landed on Gibbis, her expression growing harder, "All of us".

The Doctor nodded along with her and let go of her hand, walking over towards Gibbis, leaning down towards the alien as he placed a hand on his shoulder, "Your civilisation is one of the oldest in the galaxy," he said quietly to him, so softly that only the Hatter was able to just pick it up, "Now I see why. Your cowardice isn't quaint, it's sly, aggressive. It's how that gene of gutlessness has survived while so many others have perished. Well, not today," he tightened his grip on Gibbis shoulder, giving it a little shake, his expression growing determined, "No one else dies today. Right?"

Gibbis stared back at him, his eyes widening slightly as he opened and closed his mouth, seeming to be having trouble getting the words out, before he nodded and whispered, "Yes".

He broke into a wide smile, instantly transforming him back to his usually happy, warm self, "Brilliant," he released his shoulder with a quick clap on his back and straightened, turning around to catch the Hatter's eye.

The Hatter gave him a small nod, giving him a small smile before turning back to Howie, her expression softening, "Okay, Howie," she began gently, guiding him over towards one of the tables, "Now, you just take a seat and remember, we're all here for you," she kept her hand on his shoulder as Howie sat down, clutching his hands nervously in his lap, "I don't wish to scare you, but very soon whatever this is will posses you again and when that happens, we are going to ask you some questions that we would very much like you to try and answer. Understand?"

Howie swallowed and jerked his head in a sharp nod, quickly stopping as he looked as if he might be sick. She squeezed his shoulder comfortingly and moved to take a seat across the table from him, next to the Doctor, while the others all moved to sit around the table too, watching him as they waited.

"I hope my mum's alright," he said after a brief moment, looking nervously up at them, "She's going to be w-worried…" he paused, his eyes widening before they grew glassy and his whole body just seemed to relax, all traces of nervousness or fear fading in an instant.

"Howie?" the Doctor called, watching his face carefully, "Howie?" Howie slowly looked back up to them, breaking into a slightly manic smile. He exchanged a quick look with the Hatter, both knowing that it had possessed him again, before they turned back to Howie, fixing bright grins onto their faces, "Howie, you're next. We're all dead jealous," he glanced back at Amy and Rory, giving them a little look to make them play along, making them both smile awkwardly, watching as he leaned secretly across the table towards Howie, "So, tell us…how do we get a piece of the action? Why isn't he possessing all of us?"

Howie laughed; looking almost as if he was drunk, "You guys have got all these distractions…" he reached up to tap his temple, "All these obstacles. It'd be so much easier if you just let it go, you know?" he threw his hands up in the air, before crossing his arms across his chest, "Clear the path".

"You want him to find you even though you know what it's going to do?" Amy asked, leaning towards him, keeping her smile fixed in place, while the Doctor and the Hatter sat back in their chairs with thoughtful expression.

"Are you kidding? He's going to kill us all. How cool is that?"

"Great," the Hatter agreed with a slightly strained grin, feeling slightly ill seeing Howie possessed like this, knowing how terrified he had been mere moments before. He had been more worried about his mother then himself and here he was, trapped and possessed by an unknown force that they didn't have a clue how to try and stop right now. He was so young and it broke her hearts to see him like this, regardless of whether or not she knew him. He was someone's child, that was more than enough to make her hearts go out to him and she was going to do everything she possibly could do to ensure that his mother never felt the same grief and pain that she felt every single day. No mother should ever experience that. Not ever. And they wouldn't if she could do anything about it. She swallowed, glancing at the Doctor with a pointed look.

The Doctor nodded and reached out to take her hand, both standing from their chairs as they moved across the room. The others quickly stood and joined them, gathering around in a small semicircle, still making sure to keep Howie in sight, "It's as we thought," he sighed, keeping his voice low, "It feeds on fear. Everything, the rooms, Lucy's note, even the pictures in reception, has been put here to frighten us".

"Which means that we have to be strong," the Hatter continued quietly, glancing over towards Howie, who was happily cleaning his glasses with the edge of his shirt, looking as if he didn't have a care in the Universe. It was quite unnerving, actually, knowing what was really happening to him, "We have to resist that temptation to give into our own fear, no matter how impossible that might seem to be," she looked around at each person, deadly serious, "Do whatever it is that you must in order to keep that fear at bay, whether it be thinking happy thoughts about puppies or praying, it doesn't matter as long as you keep fighting against that fear".

"Okay," Amy said slowly, eyeing the Time Lords, "But what are we actually going to do?"

The Doctor looked at the Hatter, breaking into a small smile as he turned back to the humans and Gibbis, "We're going to catch ourselves a monster".

And I've finally finished, I do apologise for the wait, my school holiday's ended sooner than I had expected and before I knew it, I had school to keep me busy. But how things have changed! We've got a new Doctor and she's a woman! More about that in the guest reviews, but I am very excited to see how that will play out, though I will admit to have a few concerns, but more about that below. I would love to hear what you guys think about it. Tell me what you thought, I hope you liked it. Please review :)

Guest reviews (Thank you so much for all the reviews, it truly made my days!):

Guest (1): Oh, I know, I was actually thinking about that while I was writing that episode. The main issue that the Hatter had wasn't so much the fact that they were lying to Older Amy, though she may not have been pleased about it, her problem was that the Doctor did so without speaking to her first and then placed her into a position in which she might have to then make a false promise to them. But yeah, there may be a bit of conflict that will arise due to the Doctor possibly placing her in a similar situation's in the future, but I suppose it will just depend on her next regenerations personality and flexibility towards deception on such a level, but the Hatter will have a few moments of being uncomfortable with his plans.

Guest (2): I'm afraid I can't say anything more about what the Hatter's biggest fear may be, but I will say that at one point it may have been the Valeyard, but things are different now and she has other things that she feels even more worried about. You'll just have to wait and see in the next chapter :)

Guest (3): I actually had an amusing time picturing Missy and a human Hatter being best friends. I can imagine human Hatter having to be very careful about accepting any food or drink from Missy and having to constantly remind Missy that no, human's can't drink bleach or whatever other poisonous substance Missy tried to give her. I could see the two of them travelling together, Missy because she's trying to figure out why on Earth the Doctor would ever bother travelling with humans and human Hatter simply because she was kidnapped and isn't able to escape, but in the end they form a strange kind of friendship together in which human Hatter grows quite fond of Missy, despite her evilness and disregard for her own safety/health/human needs. I actually kind of want to write an AU series about those two now, it would be great fun. As for Dark Water and Death and Heaven, I think that human Hatter would probably try to talk the Doctor around, but I'm not sure if she would actually knowingly try to help Missy. Best friend or not, the Hatter would still be human and have a heart, she wouldn't willing go along with half the stuff that Missy would.

Guest (4): Oh, the Doctor is without a doubt eaten up by guilt, how could he possibly not be after everything he went through? Like I said, the Hatter's time during the Time War was very different from his, but she does still feel a great deal of guilt, the Moment and what she did to the Doctor by not going with him at the end of the War are the two biggest things to her, and they will play a large role during the Fiftieth special. That's really when I imagine that a lot of that guilt will come out and she will come to a decision about something that will play a very big role during that episode and the following stories after that. The Hatter, I also think, like's to try and focus on helping the Doctor deal with his own guilt and so she pushes away a lot of her own guilt when she's with him because of the fact that she didn't leave with him when he begged her to, which is due to guilt itself. She feels like she doesn't deserve to feel guilty when the Doctor went through so much more pain and heartache then she did by using the Moment. It's not true, of course, but that's how she feels, I think, in a lot of cases. Maybe not all, but most of the time.

Guest (5): I was shocked at first, mind you I had woken up at three AM in the morning and was half asleep when I checked by phone and saw the news, which then took me another hour to fall back asleep again. At first, I will admit, I wasn't happy about the idea of a woman taking over the role due to the tradition of it being a male, but I've had plenty of time to think about it since then I feel quite proud to be able to say that I witnessed the day when we got our first female Doctor and I am very much looking forward to seeing how it will all play out on screen, but until we actually see her have a full episode, I will be holding off on my full judgment. I've never seen Jodie Wittaker on screen before, so I have no idea what type of actress she is, so I'm just going to wait. I wasn't happy about Peter taking over the role from Matt at first, so this time I refuse to let myself get upset, but just wait and see what she'll be like first.

I am a little worried about how this might change the whole dynamic of the show and I know that a lot of fans are quite upset about a female Doctor, but, yeah. I don't think anyone can really pass judgment until we've actually seen her on screen, so that's exactly what I'm going to do. Wait and see and very much hope that it works out wonderfully, just as it has every other time a new Doctor has stepped onto our screens.

Guest (6): I actually don't know yet, probably. I mean, we now know for certain that gender means nothing to Time Lords, so I don't think there would be any difference for the Doctor and the Hatter if the Doctor became a female and the Hatter remained female, too. I do have a few actors in mind, though, but I would be kind of nervous about trying to write for a male Hatter, mainly because I've never really had to write for a male character like that, but I guess we'll have to see. I think it would be a good change for the story to do a male Hatter and it would be interesting to see them both try and get used to being different genders. I think it would be rather amusing :)

Guest (7): Well, the thing about the Gifted One is that isn't not a generational thing. There can only be one Gifted One, so while the Hatter is alive there can only be one. I think I might have been watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer while I first began writing these stories, so I probably got the idea from that. And that's the thing, I wrote the whole Gifted One story line so long ago now when I was just starting to get serious about writing and never imagined that these stories would still be going, nor did I truly consider all the loopholes involved in it. I really do wish I could take the whole Gifted One plot out of it, it's a little too close to a Mary Sue thing for my taste, but because it is such an important part of the Hatter story, it has to stay. Sadly.

The other thing is that it can't be revoked, the Hatter will forever be considered to be the Gifted One for as long as she lives, by the Time Lords, anyway. It's tradition and I kind of think that, given the Time Lords love for their laws and codes, that they wouldn't be keen to disregard an age old tradition like the Gifted One, regardless of whether or not the Hatter was clearly unsuited to the role and disrespected the title, as many Time Lords felt. Also, I should mention, that the Gifted One can't hold any seat of power on the High Council because they already hold a seat that only they can hold, so they can never be President of Gallifrey or anything else. They're not even meant to be married, but once again, due to my poor judgment at the time, I thought it would be a great idea to make a loophole about that so that the Hatter was able to be married off. My fault and yet another reason I wish I could take the whole thing out because it doesn't even follow the made up rules that I created myself. I was fourteen when I made these stories, I really wish I could go back and in time and tell my fourteen year old self not to do it. But I thank you for the suggestion and it really does make me smile that you like the stories, despite some of the awful plot choices of the past.

Guest (8): Hmm, if the Hatter was in the episode, 'Dalek,' she probably would have had quite a similar reaction as the Doctor did. She would have been horrified to learn that a Dalek had escaped the Time War and probably stunned that the Dalek destroyed itself at the end. I think she probably would have had her own concerns about Adam, (which reminds me, do you think the Doctor would have told the Hatter about him? I kind of think he might have tried to forget all about it and wouldn't have told her out of fear of being scolded). But she and Rose would have had a much better relationship together, no jealous or tension between them or one sided in Rose's case. I have to confess, it's been a while since I last watched the episode, so I apologise if my response isn't very detailed.

Guest (9): It depends on if the Hatter regenerates and if she also regenerate into a man. Either way, I don't think she would be overly surprised that the Doctor became a women, she'll probably laugh, if she doesn't regenerates, and make a joke about doubling their wardrobe or something. But I think that she'll mainly view it as a new chapter of their lives together, as she does with all of his regenerations and she'll probably just be happy to see him go through with the regeneration at long last, since he is fighting it off, last we saw of him.

Guest (10): If the Doctor had never found the human Hatter, then Emily Smith, as she was known then, would have gone on to marry her human boyfriend and probably would have had two kids together, blissfully unaware of her true nature tucked away in her funny little fob watch. They probably would have moved to the country and she would have continued working as a doctor, eventually retiring. I'm not sure if the marriage would have lasted, I feel like Emily would have eventually have wanted more excitement then just country life and even motherhood would have been able to provide, a little bit of the Hatter peeking through there, so they might have broken up and she would have gone on to travel, once her children were grown and off at University/living on their own. Off to see the world, maybe help a few people along the way, before dying at the age of ninety with no idea of the life or love she could have had. But I do think that it would have been a happy life, just not nearly as happy as the one she would have had with the Doctor.

Guest (11): She would have been miserable, without a doubt. I kind of see her maybe moving on from engineering and maybe becoming a full time professor at the Academy and teaching engineering science instead. She probably would have grown closer to her children and grandchildren again if she hadn't left, however, which I think would have helped her feel a great deal happier, but she would still feel a sense of boredom and life would be quite lacking for her if she had stayed on Gallifrey. She probably would have become more politically involved, too, as a way to try and get more excitement and probably would have companied a great deal to try and help the Gallifreyan's, and other outsiders. It would have been still quite a full life, but she would still have felt like it was lacking and always searching for something new, something challenging and exacting, and I just don't really think that Gallifrey would have been able to give that to her.

Guest (12): Hmm, something I want to add…maybe more involvement from the Hatter's children? We haven't had a chance to see them even appear yet, which if I ever get around to writing more Classic Who we will. I kind of wish I hadn't killed them all of, I wish I had kept her youngest daughter alive or her youngest son, so that they could be involved later on in the stories and we could see how they might have felt about the Doctor marrying their mother. Maybe more snippets from the Doctor and the Hatter's childhood/past? I'm not sure, maybe in flashbacks or something like that, but I don't really like to write flashbacks very much in stories if I can avoid it. I feel like it might take away from the narrative of the story, depending on what type of story it is, (I say this while considering writing a flashback for another story). I think I would have also liked to have added more original scenes into the stories, also try and maybe step out a bit more from the episodes, but I'm not sure if I really feel like I'm confident enough as a writer to be able to come up with an adventure like that and be able to then write it, but I would like to try it one day.

Guest (13): I'm not sure if I have a favourite, I do have episode that have stood out, like writing 'Human Nature' and 'Family of Blood'. Even now I still remember writing those chapters and having so much fun doing so. Same with 'The Doctor's wife,' 'Amy's Choice,' 'The Eleventh Hour,' 'The Logers,' The Next Doctor,' 'The Doctor's Daughter,' 'The Unicorn and The Wasp,' and I'm sure I'm probably forgotten a few more, but I think you probably get the idea. I suppose, if I had to pick out of the few I have mentioned here, I would maybe say 'the Doctor's Daughter,' because I had so much fun writing the Hatter as a mother properly for the first time and I just love her and Jenny together.

Guest (14): Well, if the Hatter had ended up in Pete's world rather than Rose, I'm not sure if there really would have been a story. The Hatter wouldn't have done what Rose did and broken down the walls to get back to the Doctor at the end of season four, she wouldn't never have risked it, but she probably would have used Donna as a way to warn the Doctor about the Dalek's. The Hatter would have been stuck in that other world, probably going on to work with that worlds version of UNIT or Torchwood, trying to help that Universe recover from the Cybermen while desperately trying hard not to think about the Doctor and how much she missed him. I'm not sure how well she would have managed in that other world, I think she would have eventually have had enough and when it came time to regenerate, she probably would have refused to, once she felt that she had done all that she could. It wasn't her Universe and she would never have felt like she belonged there, not really.

Guest (15): I'll have to put it on the list, (I probably should start making one, having said that), and I'll be more than happy to try and write an AU one-shot about the Hatter in Pete's world. Thank you for the suggestion.

Guest (16): I have considered it, for instance I thought about writing one in which the Hatter spoke to someone that I can't mention right now about the Doctor being blind, because she feels like she needs to tell that person about it. But, yeah, I sadly can't. It would give too much away right now and while I don't know what will happen in the meantime as I write, I don't really feel comfortable to write too much about the future when the future tends to change so much while I write. So, while I will never say never, it is highly, highly unlikely that I will ever write a one-shot and post it when it goes beyond where we are in the main story.