The alien has her cornered, tentacles schwlopping disconcertingly across the floor and sharp teeth bared threateningly as it stalks forward.
Panic constricts her chest, wraps around her heart and squeezes it tight, making her pulse race. She can't see the Doctor anywhere and she's really worried now, because he'd told her it was dangerous, travelling in the TARDIS, but she hadn't really believed him until now. And wasn't that a mistake, because maybe if she hadn't been so complacent she wouldn't have wandered off and found herself trapped in the secret lair where these monsters have been running freaky illegal experiments on the general populace.
"Doctor!" she screams, but he doesn't come rushing in to her aid, and she starts to despair.
The purple alien in front of her just laughs and continues its menacing advance.
She's absolutely trapped now, no way out, and the alien starts rubbing its two vaguely humanoid hands together. They begin to spark and charge, bolts of deadly electricity arcing between them.
Just as the alien gets within hands reach she remembers the contents of her left jacket pocket and she feels a glimmer of hope. As fast as she can, she reaches into her pocket and pulls out the dinglehooper – fork, it's a fork – and stabs the alien. She's not even sure where she stabs, because as soon as she feels the prongs pierce through flesh she ducks past it and runs for the door.
She collides with a breathless Doctor in the doorway and his arms fold around her instantaneously.
"Run!" he shouts, and she does as he says, legs propelling her down the hall and back to the TARDIS.
The Doctor is flat on her heels, and just before they get inside the doors there's an explosion from the building they just left.
"What was that?" she calls.
"Later!" he calls back, pushing her into the console room.
And he does tell her later, when they're floating safely in deep space, far, far away from the white dwarf star that had become a colony for the tentacled aliens.
He blew up the lab, using an explosive chemical reaction that, while disastrous for the facilities, was actually harmless for the gelatinous aliens themselves. He'd alerted the local authorities and was sure that the criminals ("Villains," she corrected) were currently being arrested.
Once he's finished telling his story, he asks her, "How did you get out? It looked like she had you cornered."
She chews her bottom lip and admits, "I stabbed her with a fork."
"You – you stabbed her. With a fork," he repeats, absolutely dumbfounded. She nods, and then he picks her up and swings her around. "That's brilliant! Brilliant use of a – what did you call it? – dinglehopper!" She laughs and hugs him tighter, only letting go when he places her back on her feet and says, "You know, that wouldn't have really hurt her… What with being all… fleshy like that."
"I think it was just a surprise," she says. "A big enough surprise to give me time to get out of there."
He smiles at her proudly, and twirls off around the console. "So, where do you wanna go next?"
"Somewhere without aliens with gooey tentacles," she suggests, leaning against the railing.
"I'm pretty sure I can do that," he says, flicking a lever and beaming at her. "Just try not to stab the locals this time."
a.n. thank you so much for all your reviews and such, I love hearing what you guys think of the story and the interactions!