Fears and Worries
The Doctor just finished one of his many decorative spins as he piloted the TARDIS when he winced, pulling his psychic paper from his pocket and tossing it to Adelaide to see, letting her read it first as he nursed his chest.
She raised her eyebrows as she read it. "'Please save me from the monsters'."
He grinned. "Haven't done this in a while."
Adelaide laughed. "I should have invested in a psychic paper."
"Haven't done what?" Amy called since she and Rory had been standing off to the side. "What are you doing?"
"Making a house call!"
Once the TARDIS landed, Adelaide and Rory stepped out of the TARDIS first, the other two a few steps behind. It appeared that they had landed in an alley across from a collection of flats. "No offense," Rory said to Adelaide.
"Meaning the opposite."
"But we could get a bus somewhere like this."
The Doctor sighed, shutting the door. "The exact opposite."
Amy laughed. "Well, I suppose it can't all be planets and history and stuff, Rory."
"Yes, it can!" the Doctor moved in front of them all. "Course it can. Planets and history and stuff. That's what we do!" he led the way forwards the small courtyard, scanning the area. "But not today. No, today, we're answering a cry for help from the scariest place in the Universe. A child's bedroom."
Adelaide opened the psychic paper, reading the message again. Rory looked over her shoulder. "'Please save me from the monsters'," he read. "Who sent that?"
"Think, Rory." Adelaide flicked it closed, tossing it back to the Doctor.
Amy shrugged. "Sounds like something a kid would say."
The Doctor pointed at her. "Exactly. A scared kid. A very scared kid. So scared that somehow, its cry for help got through to us in the TARDIS."
"Yeah, but you've traced it here?"
"Exactly." The lift arrived with a ding.
"Correction," Adelaide said. "We traced it somewhere up there."
|C-S|
The group split up to begin asking the various people who lived in the flats, and Adelaide wasn't happy about the fact the Doctor had run off on his own before she could stop him. She hated that it was all she could think about because this wasn't her.
True, in the past she hadn't really had a chance to work with anyone for extended periods of time since she'd preferred to be on her own, but in those instances where she was dealing with someone else, she didn't tend to be that focused on keeping them from accidentally offending anyone. So maybe it was just the fact that the Doctor was the first person she'd ever had with her for such a continuous length of time or that the Doctor offended almost everyone without realizing it.
But it didn't help that Adelaide was already feeling uncertain about this regeneration.
However, the Doctor ran away before she could say anything - just to keep her from keeping him by her side - and then 'hid' around a corner. She just sighed and let him do what he wanted, though she did stay on his floor in case anything disastrous happened.
She wished she didn't spend the majority of her time worrying about him, but Adelaide was fairly certain it was the influence of her time as a human that kept her from just leaving the Doctor behind.
Which she hated.
The Doctor practically ran into Adelaide as they both headed towards the stairs, both having finished their half of the floor. He stumbled, grabbing her arm and spinning her around in some futile attempt to stay standing as he just fell to the ground and pulled her on top of him.
There was a moment where Adelaide was lying on top of him, the fact she had one of her arms on the ground the only thing keeping their faces from touching, before she jumped up, breathing hard. The Doctor scrambled up and they stood a few feet from each other, both uncertain.
"Sorry," he said quickly, his face red.
"You are extremely clumsy." Adelaide pulled a hand through her hair, and they turned in unison to look across the flats so that they didn't have to actually look at each other.
And then they were thankful they did because they both saw a young boy looking through his window at the floor below, no doubt looking at Amy and Rory, before ducking out of sight, only to return a few seconds later.
They didn't need to speak before turning and heading for the stairs, where the Doctor let Adelaide go first. Amy and Rory walked up just as they arrived. "Hey. Any luck?"
The Doctor shrugged. "Three old ladies, a traffic warden from Croatia, and a man with ten cats."
Rory shook his head. "What are we actually looking for?"
"Ten cats!" the Doctor reminded them.
"A scared child," Adelaide said.
"I found scary kids," Amy offered. "Does that count?"
The Doctor thought on it. "Er…try the next floor down. Catch you later." He gave the humans a wave, stepping back.
"Treat everyone politely," Adelaide reminded them, following the Doctor. She knew what he was doing and she agreed; as they head into the unknown, taking the humans with them would have been far too dangerous.
|C-S|
They knocked on the door they assumed led to the flat the child lived in and the door opened almost instantly. The Doctor flashed his psychic paper to the man who had opened it. "Oh, right. That was quick."
"Was it?" the Doctor turned the paper around so that they could see what the man thought they were.
"Claire said she'd phone someone. Social Services."
The Doctor's eyes widened. "Yes. Yes."
"It's not easy, you know, admitting your kid's got a problem," the man shrugged, looking between them.
"You've got a problem. We've got a problem. I bet they're connected."
Adelaide smiled. "Just call me Adelaide," the psychic paper had claimed she was Ms. Adelaide Attwater, "and he's just the Doctor. Your name is?"
"Alex."
"Hello, Alex. Pleasure to meet you." The Time Lords stepped inside the home, looking around.
"So, tell us about George." The Doctor nodded towards a hand-drawn sign on a door.
|C-S|
The Time Lords sat on the sofa, looking at a photo album that they supported between themselves while Alex spoke. "Ever since he was born he's been a funny kid."
"Funny's good." The Doctor grinned. "We like funny, don't we?"
"He never cries. Bottles it all up, I suppose. Tell him off, he just looks at you."
Adelaide nodded. "How old is he?"
"He was eight in January. I mean, he should be growing out of stuff like this, shouldn't he?"
"Perhaps," she shrugged. "But I take it that he's gotten worse recently?"
Alex nodded. "Yeah. We talked about getting help. You know, maybe sending him somewhere. He started getting these nervous tics. You know, funny little cough, blinking all the time. But now it's got completely out of hand. I mean, he's scared to death of everything."
"Pantophobia."
He frowned at her. "What?"
"The fear of everything."
"Not a fear of pants, though, if that's what you're thinking…though everything includes pants, I suppose." The Doctor looked to Adelaide, who had raised her eyebrows. "Sorry. Continue."
"He hates clowns."
"Understandable."
"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, sitting on the edge of the coffee table. "Look, I don't know. I'm not an expert. Maybe you can get through to him."
The Doctor smiled. "We'll do our best."
Alex nodded and stood, bringing them to George's room, but the Doctor touched Adelaide's arm before they went too far. "Did you ever study children?"
"I was a professor for quite a while." Adelaide shrugged. "I'm not an expert, but…"
"I'll try not to offend him."
"Good start."
There was a crash from George's room and Alex ran in, the Time Lords moving to stand in the doorway. "George? You okay? What's the matter?" he saw the lamp that had fallen to the ground. "Oh, never mind. Were you having a nightmare, son?"
George shook his head. "Wasn't a nightmare. I wasn't asleep." He looked to the doorway, frowning at the Time Lords. "Who are you?"
"I'm Adelaide, and he's the Doctor."
"A doctor?" George gasped. "Have you come to take me away?"
"No, George," the Doctor said. "We just want to talk to you."
"About what?"
"About the monsters."
|C-S|
The Doctor took a seat on the foot of George's bed, messing with a Rubik's Cube, while Adelaide still stood at the doorway, watching the entire group, and Alex paced. "Maybe it was things on the telly, you know?"
"Right." The Doctor clearly wasn't paying attention, but Alex didn't seem to have noticed.
"Scary stuff, getting under his skin, frightening him."
"Mmm-hmm."
"We stopped letting him watch TV."
The Doctor smiled at George. "Oh, you don't want to do that."
"Then Claire thought it might have been something he was reading…"
"Great! Reading's great. You like stories, George?" George nodded. "Yeah? Me, too. When I was your age about, oh, 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', eh? All the classics." He threw the Rubik's Cube over his shoulder. "Rubbish. Must be broken. I hate those things."
"Still, better put it away," Adelaide said, stepping forwards and taking the cube from Alex, who had picked it up. "Why not in there…" she walked towards the cupboard, frowning when George gasped, even more scared. "Why not, George?"
"It's a…thing," Alex explained for his son. "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."
Adelaide moved towards the cupboard, running a hand against the wood. The Doctor turned to George. "There's nothing to be scared off, George." Her hand had just reached the door when a loud knocking sound interrupted them.
"Front door," Alex said, leaving to answer it, though he left the door open enough that the Time Lords could still hear what was being said between Alex and the landlord, even if that meant that George could also hear.
The boy regarded the door with fear clear on his face. The Doctor, wanting to distract George, pulled out his sonic and turned it on. Thankfully, it did as he wanted, and George looked over with interest. "Is that a torch?"
"Screwdriver," he corrected, pointing it towards Adelaide, who had moved to the middle of the room. "She's got a pen. Sonic ones, too. And other stuff."
"Please may I see the other stuff?"
Adelaide smiled at the boy. "You may."
The Doctor soniced some of the tows and all of the powered ones lit up. "Ah, pretty cool, eh?" he grinned, and George focused on the toys with wide eyes. "That's better. No tears from George, that's what we've heard. Go on, give us a smile, there's a brave little soldier. Bit rusty at this." He stood, walking over to Adelaide's side. "Anyway, let's open this cupboard, eh? There's nothing to be…" she directed the sonic towards the cupboard before he could move and the pitch got even louder. Their eyes widened. "Off the scale…" he breathed, falling back. "Off the scale!" he touched Adelaide's arm, looking at her.
Alex stepped back into the room, rubbing his hands together. "Right, sorry about that. So, have we got this thing open yet?" he reached for the latch to the cupboard.
"No!" the Doctor said, Adelaide grabbing Alex's shoulder and pulling him back. "No, no, no, no, no. You don't want to do that!"
Alex frowned at both of them. "Why?"
"Because George's monsters are real."
|C-S|
Despite Adelaide's complaints, the Doctor searched through the kitchenette. Alex glared at him with Adelaide beside him, though she wasn't really doing anything to stop him. "You're supposed to be professionals! I'll never get him to sleep now. It's so irresponsible."
"No, Alex," the Doctor spun to Alex before Adelaide could speak. "Responsible. Very. Cupboard bad. Cupboard not bare. Stay away from cupboard. And there's something else. Something I've missed…something staring me in the face."
Adelaide stepped forward, tapping either side of the Doctor's face. "Focus."
Alex shook his head. "Look, I'd like you both to leave, please. You're just making things worse." The Doctor turned away from Adelaide, grabbing the cups he'd found. "Will you stop making tea!" Alex grabbed them back. "I want you to leave."
"No." The Doctor took them back, passing them to Adelaide as he went to open the refrigerator door.
"What? What do you mean, 'no'?" Alex shut the door. "Leave! Get out!" He opened the door again, making Alex close it. "Now, please. Look, maybe this was a bad idea. We should sort out George ourselves."
"You can't," Adelaide informed him, giving the Doctor the cups again.
"No one's going to 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." He gestured towards Adelaide with his cup. "She might be a professional, though I'm not quite certain how it translates on this planet." She sighed.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Alex shook his head.
"It means we've come a long way to get here, Alex," the Doctor said. "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 if amplified the fears of an ordinary little boy across all the barriers of time and space. 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."
Adelaide turned to look at the Doctor with her mouth slightly open.
Alex had quite a similar expression on his face. "You're not from Social Services, are you?"
The Doctor grinned. "First things first. You got any Jammie Dodgers?" he glanced at Adelaide. "Please?"
A/N: Forced teamwork with the Time Lords fun :) And a bit more of Adelaide thinking about this regeneration...
Notes on reviews:
Starangel5593: This review was one of the main reasons I made an effort to get this chapter up today even though I have a midterm tomorrow, so congrats :)