Disclaimer: I don't own Doctor Who that goes to the BBC
"Why aren't there any lights?" Rory asked as he and Amy continued to wander through the halls, "I miss lights. You don't really miss things till they're gone, do you? That's what my nan used to say, 'You'll never miss the water till the well runs dry.'"
"Rory," Amy muttered.
"Except light I mean, not water," Rory went on, "Lights are great, aren't they? I mean if this place was all lit up, we wouldn't even be worried at all."
"Rory! Panicking. A bit," Amy told him.
"Yeah, yeah. Sorry," he muttered when Purcell, who seemed to have been transported to wherever they were, came running down the hall towards them.
"Help me! Please! Keep them away from me! Keep them away!" Purcell pleaded with them when suddenly one of the life-sized wooden dolls grabbed Purcell around the neck with one arm forcing him to the floor, causing him to scream as he slowly turned into one of them, horrifying Amy and Rory as the dolls began giggling.
"I take it all back. Panic now," Amy told Rory, who nodded before they ran away screaming as the dolls followed them, stiffly.
"Don't run away. We want to play," the dolls told them as Amy and Rory entered a library and shut the door in the dolls' faces as Amy and Rory leaned against the door and looked at each other as the laughter continued as Rory looked at the crack under the door and saw the shadows move away before they lean back with a sigh.
The Doctor, Rose and Alex woke up on the floor as the Time Lord jumped up and runs to the door, "George! Don't do this! We want to help you, George!"
Inside his bedroom, George was still sitting on the bed, arms around his legs and wais breathing heavily.
Alex leaned on the table to get up as Rose slowly stood up.
"We went...We went into the cupboard! We went into the cupboard! How can it be bigger in here?" Alex asked with confusion.
"It's kind of like Dimensional transcendentalism," Rose explained.
"Yeah, like what Rose said, but it's more common than you'd think, actually," the Doctor said after sniffing the chicken on the table, "You're OK?"
"Where are we?" Alex asked him.
"Obvious, isn't it?" The Doctor countered.
"No!" Alex answered.
"We're inside of the dolls' house, Alex," Rose explained.
"The dolls' house?!" Alex said with shock.
"In the cupboard. In your flat," the Doctor added, agreeing with Rose, "The dolls' house!"
"No, no, just slow down, Doctor, would you?" Alex asked him.
"Look! Wooden chicken! Cups, saucers, plates, (throws plate and cup) knives, forks, fruit, chickens! Wood! So... we're either inside the dolls' house or this a refuge for dirty posh people who eat wooden food," the Doctor explained as he threw the objects that he listed at Alex, who caught them with his arms, "Or termites! Giant termites trying to get on the property ladder." He then picked up a melon that was on the table and thrust it at Alex, "No, that's possible. Is that possible?" He then left the room with Rose before Alex dropped the items and followed both Gallifreyans.
"Look, will you two stop?" Alex asked the Doctor and Rose as the Doctor strided down the hallway and grabbed the Doctor's lapels as he trailed after them, "What is he? What is George? And how could I forget that Claire can't have kids? How?"
"Perception filter," the Doctor explained as he clapped Alex's arms before continuing on, "Some kind of hugely powerful perception filter. Convinced you and Claire. Everyone. Made you change your memories." He then stopped in front of a mirror and made a face.
"Something like this has a very powerful perception filter," Rose said as she took out a fob watch from one of her pockets.
"What is that?" Alex asked the Time Lady.
"It's a fob watch," Rose explained, "What'd you expect it was? It's mine, but it's not a normal fob watch. It's a bio module, which would contain the essence and biology of a Time Lord or Time Lady. When it's filled, a Time Lord or Time Lady would be disguised as a human with no other memory than being human after using a device called a Chameleon-arch."
"What does that have to do with George?" Alex asked her.
"I'm getting to it, Alex," she assured him, "If a Time Lord or Time Lady was disguised as a human baby, like I was at one point, the parents that adopted them would believe they were their biological parents, which is what Pete and Jackie Tyler thought till I opened my watch when I was 220 years old about 20 years after Pete Tyler was killed in a car accident in November of 1986, leaving Jackie a widow for 20 years till she met an alternate universe counterpart of her husband, who's Jackie died as well. Anyway, whatever George is, he would not have the same type of perception filter as it's more powerful than a fob watch's perception filter."
"She's right, it's a different type of perception filter," the Doctor said, agreeing with her, "Now, what could do that?" He and Rose then walked on as she put her fob watch back in her pocket.
"Just a mirror," Alex said as he looked in the mirror before following both Gallifreyans, but unbeknownst to them a doll was reflected in the mirror after they left.
The dolls that were chasing Amy and Rory returned to the door outside the library banged on the door again.
"Lock it!" Amy ordered.
"There isn't a lock!" Rory told her before she groaned as she pushed back on the door as the dolls got the door open a crack but Amy and Rory pushed it closed as Rory noticed a barrel and began moving it, "Move, move, move," he then placed the barrel in front of the door as the dolls stopped banging on the door.
"So, Claire can't have kids and something responded to that," the Doctor said as he, Rose and Alex entered the front room, "Responded to that need. What could do that?"
"I thought you and Rose were the experts, fighting monsters all day long. You both tell me!" Alex told them.
"Oi, listen, mush. Old eyes, remember?" The Doctor reminded him, "We've been around the block a few times. More than a few. They've knocked down the blocks We've been round and re-built them as bigger blocks. Super blocks! We've been round them as well. I can't remember everything, not sure about you, Rose."
"Sometimes I feel the same, Doctor," Rose told her husband.
"Doctor… Rose…" Alex called out to both Gallifreyans as he heard the estate's lift chime.
"It's like trying to remember the name of someone you met at a party when you were two," the Doctor went on.
"Doctor, Rose, the lift," Alex called out to them again.
"And I can't just plump for 'Brian' like I normally do," the Doctor went on.
"Doctor, Rose, listen!" Alex told them.
"Shh. What's that?" The Doctor asked him as he heard the lift as well.
"Yeah, what's that sound?" Rose asked him, "It sounds like a lift."
"It's the estate's lift," Alex said, confirming Rose's suspicions, "It's the sound that the lift makes. George is scared stiff of it." Alex then saw the electric candles switch off one by one.
"We can't stay in here. We've got to get out!" Amy said, pacing around the library for another door out.
"Uh, how?" Rory asked her.
"Take control, Rory," she explained as she grabbed him by the lapels, "Take control of the only thing we can. Letting them in!"
"Letting them in?" He asked with surprise in his voice.
"And then we surprise them," she explained, "We open the door and we push past them. Kick them. Punch them. Anything. OK?"
"Time to play!" They heard one of the dolls say through the door with its voice being muffled.
"OK," he relented as they went back to the door as Rory grabbed a mop to use as a weapon as Amy moved the barrel away from the door.
"Go on!" Amy ordered her husband as one of the dolls fell to the floor as Rory pushed past the other with the mop.
"Amy, come on!" Rory urged his wife as Amy began to follow but was caught by one of the dolls.
"Rory!" Amy called out to her husband, who turned to go back but can only watch, horrified, as Amy was turned into a wooden doll with red hair before the dolls began to go after him as he used the mop to keep them back.
"Five times," Alex said as he watched the candles' light switch off one at a time before shutting off completely.
"What?" The Doctor and Rose both asked at the same time with confusion.
"The lights. It's happening five times. It's like one of George's habits," Alex explained as the Doctor and Rose both kneeled beside him, "We have to switch the light on and off five times."
"Now you're getting it," the Doctor told him.
"Yeah, now you're getting it, Alex," Rose said, agreeing with her husband.
"What d'you both mean?" Alex asked them.
"What do you tell George to do, Alex, with everything that scares him?" The Doctor asked him.
"Well, put it in the... cupboard," Alex answered.
"Exactly. And George isn't just an ordinary little boy. So, anything scary he puts in here. Scary toys, like the dolls' house. Scary noises, like, like the lift. Even his little rituals have become part of it," the Doctor explained, "A psychic repository for all his fears, but what is he?"
"Has to be a creature with strong psychic abilities?" Rose surmised.
"I was thinking the same thing, Rose," the Doctor said, agreeing with Rose when suddenly a doll entered the room behind them, causing them to turn around at the sound of the doll's laugh and see it before looking at it again.
"Oh, my God!" Alex muttered as the three of them stood up as both the Doctor and Rose took out their screwdrivers and used them on the doll, only for the screwdrivers not to affect the doll as it began to advance on the three of them, "Guns? You both got guns?!"
"They're not guns," the Doctor told him.
"They're sonic screwdrivers," Rose explained, "We would never use guns unless it's the last resort."
"Wood!" The Doctor stated, "We've got to invent a setting for wood for our screwdrivers. It's embarrassing." The three of them then ran for the opposite door as they found a large pair of purple children's safety scissors, "Come on!" The Doctor pushed the doll away as the three of them made their escape.
"Don't run away. We just just want to play," the doll told them.
"Massive psychic field, perfect perception filter and that need," the Doctor said as he, Rose and Alex entered the room with the main staircase, holding the children's safety scissors as he thought out loud as he handed the safety scissors to Alex, who used it against the doll that was following them, "That need of Claire's to, to... Stupid Doctor!" He then slapped his forehead as he realized what George was, "Ow! George is a Tenza. Of course he is."
"I was beginning to suspect as much," Rose muttered.
"He's a what?!" Alex asked them.
"A cuckoo. A cuckoo in the nest. A Tenza. He's a Tenza," the Doctor explained before opening a door and quickly shut the door as they saw another doll on the other side of the door, "Millions of them hatch in space and then whoomph!" He then tried a third door, "Off they drift, looking for a nest. The Tenza young can sense exactly what their foster parents want and then they assimilate. Perfectly."
"George is an... alien?" Alex said with surprise as he pushed back two of the dolls.
"Yep," the Doctor confirmed.
"But a different species of an alien than we are," Rose added.
"But he's... he's our child!" Alex told them.
"Of course he is. The child you always wanted. He sensed that instinctively and sought you out," the Doctor explained as he and Rose ran up the stairs, "But something scared him. Started this cycle of fear." Alex then joined them on the stairs as the three dolls continued to advance on them, "It's all completely instinctive. Subconscious. George isn't even aware that he's controlling it." He then scratched his head, "So we have to make him aware," He and Rose then ran up the next flight of stairs, "George! You're the only one who can stop this, but you have to believe! You have to believe, you have to know you're safe!"
"Me and the Doctor can't save you from the monsters," Rose said, agreeing with her husband,
"Only you can! George, Listen to me and the Doctor!"
"George! Listen to us!" The Doctor told George.
Rory was working his way down the stairs, still fending off the dolls with a mop, while the Doctor, Rose and Alex were working their way up the stairs.
"Rory!" The Doctor and Rose both said as they noticed the nurse.
"Doctor! Rose!" Rory called out to them.
"Where's Amy?" The Doctor asked him before Rory pointed at the red haired doll before speaking to George again, "George! George, you have to face your fears. You have to face them now! You have to open the cupboard or we'll all be trapped here forever in a living death! George!"
George, listen to the Doctor!" Rose told George, "George! George, listen to him!"
"George!" Both Gallifreyans called out to George as the dolls began to surround the four of them, "Please! George, you have to end this! End this end this. End this now!"
The dolls soon stopped before the Doctor saw George standing in the center of the room below them.
"George! George! You did it! You did it! It's OK, it's all OK now. Everything's going to be fine," the Doctor told the Tenza when suddenly the dolls started moving again and walked down the stairs to where George was standing, "No. No. No, no, no, no, no!" He then leaned over the bannister, "George, you created this whole world. This whole thing, you can smash it! You can destroy it!"
George then shook his head, "Something's holding him back. Something's holding him back. Something…" He then recall what George asked him when he met him and Rose before looking at Alex, "That's what did it. That's what the trigger was. He thought you were rejecting him. He thought he wasn't wanted. That someone was going to come and take him away."
"Well, we... we talked about it," Alex said as the dolls moved closer to George, who was shaking in fear.
"Yeah, and he heard you, Alex. A Tenza's sole function is to fit in, to be wanted, and you were rejecting him," Rose explained.
"We just couldn't cope," Alex told her, "We needed help!"
"Yes, but George didn't know that," the Doctor stated as Rory pushed the dolls with the mop, "He thought you were rejecting him. He still thinks it."
"But how can we keep him?" Alex asked him, "How can we? He's not…"
"Human," Alex answered as he looked down at George as the dolls began to surround him.
"No," the Doctor muttered.
"Dad!" George yelled out to Alex, who pushed the scissors at the Doctor and ran down the stairs, pushing past the dolls. Just as the dolls were about to completely hide George, Alex grabbed him and took him in a huge hug, causing the dolls to stop moving as George began to cry.
"Whatever you are, whatever you do, you're my son," Alex told George, "And I will never, ever send you away. Oh, George. Oh, my little boy."
"Dad," George muttered as the cupboard door flew open and light from inside poured out as bright light filtered through the windows.
"My little boy," Alex added.
"Dad," George muttered again.
Outside the estate, it was now day time as Mrs Rossiter, who was among garbage bags, woke up among the garbage bags by the bins.
"Oh, dear. Must be them tablets. Oh. Oh, dear," Mrs Rossiter muttered as she placed one of her fingers next to her eyes on her head.
The lift that Amy and Rory were inside before they appeared in the dolls' house opened up with Amy and Rory inside.
"Was I...?" Amy began to ask as they stepped out of the lift.
"Yeah," Rory answered as he knew what she was about to ask him.
"All right, stay still. Or I'll come and get you," Alex told George, playfully from the flat's kitchen when suddenly the front door opened as Claire entered the flat.
"Hi!" Claire said, greeting them before she looked into the kitchen and saw George holding one of his toys and laughing at the Doctor, Rose and Alex before Alex placed George on the counter.
"Hello! You're Claire, I expect. Claire…" the Doctor said, greeting Claire as he shook her hand as she entered the kitchen, "how'd you feel about kippers?"
"Nice to meet you as well, Claire," Rose said as she shook Claire's hand as the Doctor walked over to the stove before she followed her husband.
"Uh..." Claire began to ask.
"They sent two people. About George. It's all sorted," Alex explained as Claire went over to George and rubbed his back as he ate a slice of bread.
"Yeah, we had a great time, didn't we?" the Doctor asked George.
"Yeah!" George answered.
"See, he's fine," the Doctor assured Claire.
"What? Just like that?" Claire said with surprise.
"Yeah. Trust us," Rose told her as Claire smiled before Alex kissed her on the cheek, while George sat on the counter smiling and swinging his legs.
"Doctor, Rose, wait!" Alex called out to both Gallifreyans as he followed them out the flat
"Sorry, yes. Bye," the Doctor said, shaking Alex's hand.
"Yeah, nice meeting you, Alex," Rose said as she shook his hand as well.
"You both can't just... I mean…" Alex began to say.
"It's sorted. You sorted it. Good man, Alex. Proud of you," the Doctor explained before he and Rose turned away as they continued to leave.
"What, that's it?" Alex asked them.
"Well, apart from making sure he eats his greens and getting him into a good school, yes," the Doctor answered.
"But is he going to...I don't know, sprout another head or three eyes or something?" ALex asked them.
"He's one of the Tenza, remember?" Rose reminded him, "He'll adapt perfectly now."
"Hey! Be whatever you want him to be," the Doctor added as George stepped out of the flat before he and Rose continued to walk away before stopping "We might pop back around puberty, mind you. Always a funny time."
"First, I'll need your phone number to warn you about us coming back," Rose said as he handed her his phone as she copied his phone number into her phone's contacts list, "But be aware when we do, I might look different as what our species do when we are fatally injured."
"Kippers are getting cold!" Claire told Alex and George from inside the flat as both the Doctor and Rose left as Alex and George went back inside their flat.
"Come on, you two. Things to do, people to see, whole civilisations to save," the Doctor said as he and Rose found Amy and Rory sitting on a low brick wall and sat next to them.
"Are you feeling Okay, Amy?" Rose asked Amy.
"Um, I think so," Amy answered as he put a hand around Rose's back.
"Well, it's good to be all back together again. In the flesh. Come on," the Doctor told them as he and Rose stood up and left the estate.
"Now did someone mention something about planets and history and stuff?" The Doctor recalled as he and Rose walked up the steps to the console inside the TARDIS with Amy and Rory following them.
"Yeah, Doctor, that was Rory," Rose told her husband.
"Where do you want to go?" The Doctor asked Amy and Rory.
"Um…" Amy muttered.
"Mind's gone blank," the Doctor told her.
"Well, I have just been turned into a wooden dolly," Amy explained.
"Excuses, excuses," he muttered.
"It's tough though," Rory told both Gallifreyans, "It's like being given three wishes."
"The whole universe? Or universes. Ooh, three wishes like Ali Baba. How about that?" He asked them as they began to decide where to go next.
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