"So where are we going now?" Jessie asked anxiously, pulling on her denim jacket.

The Doctor landed the TARDIS and held up a finger. "You'll see." He walked over to the door and opened it, then blinked. "Ah."

Jessie giggled when she realized he'd parked the TARDIS the wrong way. "Nice going."

The Doctor flipped a few switches, and waited for the TARDIS to readjust. He walked back to the door and opened it, then brightened. "Ah!" he exclaimed, sounding happier.

Jessie walked out behind him, grinning. "So is this the near future or the near past?" she asked, seeing that they were in what appeared to be modern-day London.

"Near past."

"Why are we here?" she asked, surprised.

"Well . . . " He scratched his head. "Pulled in a few calls to the SHIELD team while you were asleep after the Hoix, and decided to take a trip." Jessie's eyes widened when she saw the banner they were approaching as they walked. "Thirtieth Olympiad!"

"No way!" Jessie gasped, grinning widely. "The one Olympics I missed, London 2012!" She grabbed the Doctor's arm. "Oh my God, you are incredible!"

"Only seems like yesterday a few naked Greek blokes were tossing a discus about, wrestling each other in the sand with crowds stood around baying. No." He narrowed his eyes. "Wait a minute. That was Club Med." Jessie snorted loudly, and he smirked at her. "Just in time for the opening doo dah, ceremony, tonight. I thought you'd like that. Last one they had in London was dynamite. Wembley, 1948. I loved it so much, I went back and watched it all over again! Fella carrying the torch. Lovely chap, what was his . . . ?" Jessie's attention was drawn to a lamppost, where there were two different "Missing" posters. "Mark? John? Mark?" the Doctor continued, oblivious to her. "Legs like pipe cleaners, but strong as a whippet."

"Doctor," she said slowly, reading the papers.

"And in those days, everybody had a party to go to."

"Doctor!" she insisted.

"Did you ever have one of those little cakes with the crunchy ball bearings on top?"

"You should really look at this," she told him, turning to him.

He finally began to walk over to her. "Do you know those things? Nobody else in this entire galaxy's ever even bothered to make edible ball bearings. Genius!" He stopped by her and took a look at the posters. "What's taking them, do you think?" he asked. "Snatching children from a thoroughly ordinary street like this." He looked around. "Why's it so cold? Is someone reducing the temperature?"

"It says they all went missing this week," Jessie said, checking the dates. "Why would a person do something like this?"

"What makes you think it's a person?"

Jessie watched a woman quickly put out her trash, then make a beeline back to the house. "Well, whatever it is, it's got the whole street scared to death." She looked around when the Doctor ran off. "Doctor, what - ?" She huffed, ready to go after him when she heard a minivan's engine sputter and give out. She turned to see one of the roadworkers in the street go over to help the driver push. She walked over in time to hear something about all of the cars doing it. "Do you want a hand?" she asked.

"No, we're all right, love," the worker replied.

Jessie shook her head. "You're not." She joined him, pushing the back end. "I'm tougher than I look. Honest."

The engine roared to life suddenly and jumped forward. Jessie stumbled as the driver got back into the car and drove off. "So does this happen a lot?"

"Been doing it all week," the worker replied.

Jessie read his stitching: Kel. "Since those children started going missing?"

"Yeah. I suppose so. Every car cuts out. The council are going nuts. I mean, they've given this street the works. Renamed it. I've been tramacking every pot hole." He led her over to the hole he'd been working on. "Look at that. Beauty, innit?" She just simply nodded, chewing on the inside of her cheek as she thought. "Yeah! And all that is because that Olympic Torch comes right by the end of this close. Just down there. Everything's got to be perfect, ain't it? Only it ain't."

"It takes them when they're playing."

Jessie turned as an old woman hobbled up to them. "What takes them?" she asked.

"Danny. Jane. Dale." She shook her head. "Snatched in the blink of an eye."

"I'm a police officer! That's what I am!" Jessie rolled her eyes when she heard the Doctor, and she turned to see a man backing him towards the center of the street. "I've got a badge and a police car. You don't have to get - I can! I can prove it! Just hold on!"

"We've had plenty of coppers poking around here, and you don't look or sound like any of them," the man accused.

"See! Look!" Jessie jumped when the Doctor clapped her on the shoulder. "I've got a colleague: Lewis!"

"Well, she looks less like a copper than you do."

"Hey!" Jessie whined.

"Training," the Doctor bluffed. "New recruit. It was either that or the hairdressing, so - " He whipped a hand out, showing off the psychic paper. "Voila!"

A dark-skinned woman joined them, looking wary. "What are you going to do?" she asked.

"The police have knocked on every door," the old woman added. "No clues. No leads. Nothing."

"Look, kids run off sometimes, all right?" the man said angrily. "That's what they do."

"Saw it with me own eyes," she retorted. "Dale Hicks in your garden, playing with your Tommy, and then pfft!" She held up her hands. "Right in front of me, like he was never there. There's no need to look any further than this street. It's right here amongst us."

"Why don't we - " the Doctor began.

"Why don't we start with him?" another woman asked as she joined the group, pointing to Kel. "There's been all sorts like him in this street, day and night!"

"Fixing things up for the Olympics!" Kel protested.

"Yeah, and taking an awful long time about it," Tommy's dad pointed out.

The Doctor shook his head. "I'm of the opinion that all we've got to do is just - "

"You don't," Kel snapped. "What you just said, that's slander!"

"I don't care what it is!" the woman snapped.

"I think we need to just - " the Doctor tried again.

"I want an apology off her!" Kel demanded.

"Stop picking on him," the old woman demanded.

"Yeah, stop picking on me!"

"And stop pretending to be blind. It's evil!"

Jessie looked back and forth like she was at a tennis match as many more protests started being brought up.

"I don't believe in evil."

"Oh, no, you just believe in tarmackers with sack loads of kidnapped kiddies in their van!"

"Here, here, that's not what she's saying."

"Would you stop ganging up on me?"

"Feeling guilty, are we?"

The Doctor finally did something. "Fingers on lips!" he demanded, holding up a finger to his.

Everyone looked at him in surprise, then hesitantly did so. Jessie smirked, but when the Doctor threw her a pointed look, she hurriedly held up her own finger, trying hard not to smile more. "In the last six days," he began, "three of your children have been stolen. Snatched out of thin air, right?"

The old woman held up her finger. "Er . . . can I?" The Doctor nodded, and she took her finger away. "Look around you. This was a safe street till it came. It's not a person. I'll say it if no one else will. Maybe you're coppers. Maybe you're not. I don't care who you are. Can you please help us?"

Jessie lifted her gaze impatiently, then blinked when she saw a young dark-skinned girl peeking out of her curtains. She raised an eyebrow, and the girl quickly disappeared. The dark-skinned woman with them left as well. Well, isn't that curious? she wondered.

***

The Doctor poked his head around the back of Tom's house. Jessie raised an eyebrow when he began sniffing. "Need a tissue?" she joked.

"Can you smell it?" the Doctor asked, and Jessie inhaled, then made a face at the stench. "What does it remind you of."

"Metal."

"Mmhmm. Danny Edwards recycled in one end, but never came out the other." He kept walking, then blinked and jerked back. "Whoa, there it goes again!" He held up his hand. "Look at the hairs on the back of my manly hairy hand."

Jessie blinked at him. "I can't believe you just said that."

He looked at her. "What?"

She shook her head, sighing as she sniffed. "And there's that smell, too. It's like a, er . . . " She snapped her fingers, thinking. "A burnt fuse plug, or something."

"There's a residual energy in the pots where the kids vanished," the Doctor explained as they kept walking. "Whatever it was, it used an awful lot of power to do this."

Jessie smiled when she saw a ginger cat curled up at the end of a driveway. "Aren't you a beautiful boy?" she cooed, crouching down to pet it.

"Thanks!" the Doctor commented behind her. "I'm experimenting with back combing." He turned to see her with the cat, and he raised an eyebrow. "Oh," he said with much less enthusiasm.

She raised an eyebrow, still running her hand down the cat's back. "What?" she teased. "Sad I wasn't commenting about you?"

"No, I'm not really a cat person," the Doctor sighed, putting his hands in his pockets. "Once you've been threatened by one in a nun's wimple, it kind of takes the joy out of it."

The cat stood and went inside of a large cardboard box at the end of the drive. "Come here, kitty," Jessie said, going after it. "What do you want to go in there for?" She peered inside the box, and her jaw dropped. "Doctor!" she said, turning when she saw nothing there. She peered further inside, and she instantly recoiled. "Holy Mother of Odin!" she sputtered, holding a hand over her nose. "God!"

"Whoa!" the Doctor commented as well as he picked up the box, wrinkling his nose in disgust as he waved another hand over it. "Hoo hoo hoo hoo! Ion residue. Blimey, that takes some doing! Just to snatch a living organism out of space time. This baby is just like, I'm having some of that." He grinned at her. "I'm impressed."

"So the cat was transported?"

"It can harness huge reserves of ionic power. We need to find the source of that power. Find the source, and you will find whatever has taken to stealing children and fluffy animals." He pointed to her eyes. "See what you can see. Keep them peeled, Lewis."

She saluted sarcastically and walked down the road to investigate more. She passed a garage when she heard a noise inside. "Kitty?" she asked, walking up to the door. "Are you trapped?" There was more noises and thumping, and Jessie closed her eyes. "Not going to open it, not going to open it, not going to open it . . . " she muttered.

She finally gave in and opened the door. She screamed when a huge ball of . . . something flew out and knocked her down. She vaguely heard a shout behind her, and as the ball flew into the air, it rapidly began to shrink. Jessie instinctively held up a hand and caught the ball when it fell down towards her. The Doctor ran up to her, sonic screwdriver in his hand. "Okey dokey?" he asked.

"Yeah," she replied breathlessly, staring at what was in her hand as he helped her up. "Cheers to that."

"No probs." Jessie threw him a look when he said that as he took the ball. "Now, I'll give you a fiver if you can tell me what the hell it is, because I haven't got the foggiest."

"There's a first." She giggled at the look he gave her. "Well, I can tell you that you've just killed it."

"It was never living," he told her, heading back to the TARDIS. "It's animated by energy, same energy that's snatching people. That is so dinky! The go anywhere creature! Fits in your pocket, makes friends, impresses the boss, breaks the ice at parties."

"Sounds nice," she commented.

***

About an hour later, Jessie looked up from her phone, hearing a beep from the scanner. "Oh, hi ho, here we go!" the Doctor commented, turning the screen towards him. "Let's have a look!" Jessie blinked when she saw the circular writing, and somewhere in the back of her head, she could've sworn that it was starting to form letters, but she couldn't quite tell what was going on. "Get out of here!" the Doctor exclaimed in shock.

"What's it say?" she asked.

The Doctor took a pencil from somewhere and rubbed the eraser end on the ball. Jessie's jaw dropped when part of the ball came out. "It is!" The Doctor stared at it in shock. "It's graphite. Basically the same material as an HB pencil."

"I was attacked by a pencil scribble?" Jessie asked incredulously.

"Scribble creature, brought into being with ionic energy," the Doctor confirmed, grinning at the ball. "Whatever we're dealing with, it can create things as well as take them. But why make a scribble creature?"

Jessie began to think. "Maybe it was a mistake," she suggested, pacing. "You scribble over something when you want to get rid of it, like a . . . " She stopped, a lightbulb going off. "Like a drawing." The street. The girl! "Like a child's drawing! You said it was in the street."

"Probably."

Jessie grinned, turning and pointing at him. "The girl! The girl from that house! Something about her gave me the creeps. Even her own mother looked scared of her when she went back inside?"

The Doctor's eyebrows rose. "Are you deducting?" he asked.

She grinned, leaning forward. "I think I am."

"Copper's hunch?"

She straightened. "Permission to follow up, Sarge?" she joked.

His grin was her answer.

***

The Doctor rang the doorbell on the house Jessie had seen the girl look out of, and the same dark-skinned woman from before answered the door. "Hello!" the Doctor said brightly. "I'm the Doctor, and this is the Bad Wolf. Can we see your daughter?"

"No, you can't," she replied bluntly.

The Doctor shrugged. "OK. Bye!"

Jessie blinked, but followed the Doctor when he started to walk off. "Why?" the woman demanded. "Why do you want to see Chloe?"

"Well," the Doctor began, turning back. "There's some interesting stuff going on in this street, and I just thought . . . well, we thought that she might like to give us a hand."

"Sorry to bother you," Jessie put in quickly.

"Yeah, sorry," the Doctor agreed. "We'll let you get on with things. On your own." He waved. "Bye again!"

"Wait!" They stopped again. The woman looked hesitant, then asked, "Can you help her?"

The Doctor looked back at her, then nodded. "Yes. I can."

***

"She stays in her room most of the time," the woman who introduced herself a Trish told them as they sat in the living room. "I try talking to her, but it's like trying to speak to a brick wall. She gives me nothing, just asks to be left alone."

"What about her father?" Jessie asked.

"Chloe's dad died a year ago," Trish replied.

Jessie sat back. "I'm sorry."

"You wouldn't be if you'd know him."

Jessie involuntarily shuddered, and she felt the Doctor turn to her worriedly. "Well, let's go and say hi!" he said, but he was still looking at Jessie.

"I should check on her first," Trish said hurriedly, standing. "She might be asleep."

"Why are you afraid of her, Trish?" the Doctor finally asked.

Trish stopped, then turned to them. "I want you to know before you see her that she's really a great kid."

"I'm sure she is."

"She's never been in trouble at school. You should see her report from last year." Trish smiled. "As and Bs."

Jessie decided they weren't going to get anywhere soon and leaned forward. "Can I use the bathroom?"

Trish nodded, and Jessie walked out of the living room. She waited until Trish started talking again, then went up the stairs. She headed towards a door that had Chloe's name on it, then ducked into an airing closet when the door opened. The girl from the window, Chloe, stepped out and headed for the staircase. When Chloe went down it, Jessie stepped out and entered Chloe's room.

The first thing she noticed was the drawing-covered walls. Paper of every color was taped on, and her jaw dropped as she took a look at how well drawn they all were. "Wow," she whispered. She walked over to Chloe's desk, and she saw the taped picture on the wall that had a boy in a Union Flag shirt - and the cat they'd seen. It's definitely her.

A noise came from the closet, and Jessie spun, turning to face it. She knocked over a jar of colored pencils, and she slowly knelt down to pick them up. She placed the jar back on the desk and walked over to the closet and saw the door handles rattle. She opened the doors, and she jerked backwards when wind blew in her face. She parted the clothes, and her eyes widened when she saw the drawing of a bearded, yellow-eyed man glaring at her. "I'm coming," he snarled.

"Doctor!" she screamed in terror.

***

The Doctor entered the kitchen behind Trish, and he nodded when he saw the girl getting a glass of milk from the fridge. "All right, then?" he asked brightly. "I'm the Doctor."

"I'm Chloe Webber," she replied.

"How're you doing, Chloe Webber?"

"I'm busy. I'm making something." She turned to Trish. "Aren't I, Mum?"

"And like I said, she's not been sleeping," Trish put in.

"But you've been drawing, though," the Doctor pointed out. "I'm rubbish. Stick men about my limit. Can do this, though." He held up the Vulcan salute from Star Trek, raising an eyebrow. "Can you do that?"

"They don't stop moaning," Chloe said.

Trish stepped forward. "Chloe . . . "

"I try to help them, but they don't stop moaning."

The Doctor leaned forward. This is definitely who we're looking for. "Who don't?" he asked.

"We can be together."

The Doctor raised an eyebrow. "Sweetheart," Trish said, stepping foward to try and hug her.

"Don't touch me, Mum!" Chloe snapped, and Trish stepped back. Chloe took a deep breath and turned to the Doctor. "I'm busy, Doctor."

"Come on, Chloe, don't be a spoil sport," the Doctor whined. "What's the big project? I'm dying to know. What're you making up there?"

"Doctor!"

His blood froze when he heard the scream. "Jessie!" he blurted out, jumping up from his chair and running for the stairs.

***

"I'm coming to hurt you," the drawing of the man sneered to Jessie.

She whimpered, unable to turn away but desperately trying to. The Doctor burst into the room and slammed the doors closed. "Look at it!" she whispered.

"No," the Doctor replied, turning to her and taking her arms. "I don't think either of us need that. Are you OK?"

"Yeah," she whispered in reply, sinking onto the bed. "Yeah. I think so."

"What the hell was that?" Trish demanded as she and Chloe came into the room.

"A drawing," Jessie replied shakily. "The face of a man."

"What face?"

"You don't want to know."

Trish turned to her daughter. "What've you been drawing?" she asked.

"I drew him yesterday," Chloe relied.

"Who?"

"Dad."

"Your dad?" Trish asked in surprise. "But he's long gone. Chloe, with all the lovely things in the world, why him?"

"I dream about him, staring at me."

"I thought we were putting him behind us! What's the matter with you?"

Jessie winced about how that sounded. "We need to stay together," Chloe replied.

"Yes. We do."

"No. Not you. Us. We need to stay together, and then it'll be right."

Jessie finally spoke up. "Trish, the drawings. Have you seen what Chloe's drawings can do?"

"Who gave you permission to come into her room?" Trish spat, coming towards her. "Get out of my house!"

"Tell us about the drawings, Chloe," the Doctor said.

"I don't want to hear any more of this!" Trish told them.

"But that drawing of her dad," Jessie spoke up again. "I heard a voice. He spoke."

"He's dead," Trish said shortly. "And these . . . they're kid's pictures. Now get out!"

"Chloe has a power," Jessie interrupted, looking at her. "And I don't know how, but she used it to take Danny Edwards and Dale Hicks. She's using it to snatch the kids."

"Get out!"

"Have you seen those drawings move?"

Trish finally faltered. "I haven't seen anything."

"Yes, you have," the Doctor interrupted. "Out of the corner of your eye."

"No," Trish denied.

"And you dismissed it, because what choice do you have when you see something you can't possibly explain?" the Doctor continued. "You dismiss it, right? And if anyone mentions it, you get angry, so it's never spoken of ever again."

"She's a child," Trish insisted.

"You're terrified of her," the Doctor countered. "But there's nowhere to turn to, because who's going to believe the things you see out of the corner of your eye? No one." He nodded to Jessie. "Except the two of us."

"Who are you?" Trish asked.

"We're help," the Doctor replied simply.

***

Jessie took a drink from the glass of milk she had when she saw the Doctor using his fingers to eat marmalade from a jar. It was like he didn't even realize what he was doing. She coughed meaningfully, and his eyes widened. He looked down at what he was doing, then had the grace to look a little embarrassed as he put the marmalade away. She turned to Trish, trying her hardest not to grin at his actions. "Those pictures. They're alive. She's drawing people and they end up in her pictures."

"Ionic energy," the Doctor explained. "Chloe's harnessing it to steal those kids and place them in some kind of holding pen made up of ionic power."

"And what about the dad from hell in her wardrobe?"

"How many times do I have to tell you?" Trish asked in exasperation. "He's dead!"

"Loud voice for a dead guy," Jessie snorted.

"If living things can become drawings, then maybe drawings can become living things," the Doctor suggested.

Jessie's eyes brightened. "Scribble creature!"

He pointed at her. "Exactly! Chloe's real dad is dead, but not the one who visits her in her nightmares. That dad seems very real. That's the dad she's drawn, and he's a heartbeat away from crashing into this world."

"She always got the worst of it when he was alive," Trish whispered.

Jessie closed her eyes against the onslaught of memories, and she shook herself out of it and turned to the Doctor. "Doctor, how can a twelve year old girl be doing any of this?"

The Doctor raised an eyebrow. "Let's find out."

***

The first thing Jessie saw when she followed the Doctor into Chloe's bedroom was that the girl gave the Doctor the Vulcan salute from Star Trek. She raised an eyebrow, but the Doctor just nodded. "Nice one," he complimented before placing his fingers on her temples.

Instantly, Chloe's eyes rolled up into her head. The Doctor caught her as she fell back, and he laid her back on her bed. "There we go!"

Trish started to move forward. "I can't let him do this!"

"Shh," Jessie replied, holding out an arm to stop Trish. "It's OK. You can trust him."

"Now we can talk," the Doctor said, looking down at Chloe.

Her eyes shot open. "I want Chloe," whatever was inside of her announced. "Wake her up! I want Chloe!"

"Who are you?" the Doctor asked.

"I want Chloe Webber!"

"What've you done to my little girl?" Trish demanded.

"Doctor, what is it?" Jessie asked.

"I'm speaking to you, the entity that is using this human child," the Doctor said formally. "I request parley in compliance with the Shadow Proclamation."

"I don't care about shadows or parleys," the alien in Chloe spat.

"So what do you care about?"

"I want my friends."

"You're lonely. I know. Identify yourself."

"I am one of many. I travel with my brothers and sisters. We take an endless journey. A thousand of your lifetimes. But now I am alone. I hate it. It's not fair, and I hate it!"

"Name yourself!"

"Isolus."

The Doctor made a noise of understanding. "You're Isolus," he breathed. "Of course!"

"Our journey began in the Deep Realms where we were a family."

Jessie looked down as the Isolus began to draw something. "What's that?" Trish asked.

"The Isolus Mother, drifting in deep space," the Doctor replied. "See, she jettisons millions of fledgling spores. Her children. The Isolus are empathic beings of intense emotions, but when they're cast off from their mother, their empathic link, their need for each other, is what sustains them. They need to be together. They cannot be alone."

"Our journeys is long," the Isolus whispered.

"The Isolus children travel, each inside a pod," the Doctor continued. "They ride the heat and energy of solar tides. It takes thousands and thousands of years for them to grow up."

"Thousands of years of just floating through space," Jessie whispered. "Poor things. Don't they go mad with boredom?"

"We play," the Isolus stated.

"You play?" Jessie repeated.

"While they travel, they play games," the Doctor explained. "They use their ionic power to literally create make believe worlds in which to play."

"In flight entertainment," Jessie guessed.

"Helps keep them happy. While they're happy, they can feed off each other's love. Without it, they're lost." He turned to the Isolus. "Why did you come to Earth?"

"We were too close," it answered.

The Doctor closed his eyes, his fingers still at Chloe's temples. "That's a solar flare from your sun. Would have made a tidal wave of solar energy that scattered the Isolus pods."

"Only I fell to Earth," the Isolus said. "My brothers and sisters are left up there, and I cannot reach them. So alone."

"Your pod crashed. Where is it?"

"My pod was drawn to heat, and I was drawn to Chloe Webber. She was like me. Alone. She needed me, and I her."

"You empathized with her. You wanted to be with her because she was alone like you."

"I want my family," the Isolus whispered. "It's not fair!"

"I understand," the Doctor said. "You want to make a family. But you can't stay in this child. It's wrong. You can't steal any more friends for yourself."

"I am alone."

There was a giant crash from the closet, and Jessie whipped around as red light burst through the cracks, and the doors began to crash. "I'm coming to hurt you," the voice of Chloe's dad growled. "I'm coming!"

"Trish!" Jessie turned to see Chloe shaking in the bed. The Doctor looked at Trish. "How do you calm her?"

"What?" Trish asked, startled.

"When she has nightmares, what do you do?"

"I . . . I . . . "

"What do you do?"

"I sing to her."

"Then start singing."

"Chloe!" Chloe's dad growled out. "I'm coming!"

Trish swallowed and kneeled by Chloe, stroking her hair. "Kookaburra sits in the old gum tree," she began, and Jessie smiled when she knew the words. "Merry, merry king of the bush is he - "

"Chloe!" her dad barked. "Chloe!"

Jessie kneeled down on the other side and began to help sing. "Laugh, Kookaburra, laugh," she sang softly, smiling at Trish when the other woman stared at her in shock. "Kookaburra, gay your life must be."

"Laugh, Kookaburra, laugh," they both sang. "Kookaburra, gay your life must be."

Chloe relaxed into sleep, and the light and sound from the closet stopped. "He came to her because she was lonely," Trish whispered, sounding heartbroken. "Chloe, I'm sorry."

***

"Chloe usually got the brunt of his temper when he'd had a drink," Trish said as they collected pencils around the house. "The day he crashed the car, I thought we were free. I thought it was over."

"Did you talk to her about it?" Jessie asked.

Trish shook her head. "I didn't want to."

Jessie looked at her. "Maybe that's why Chloe feels so alone. Because she has all these terrible dreams about her dad, but she can't talk to you about them."

"Her and the Isolus," the Doctor murmured. "Two lonely kids who need each other."

"And it won't stop, will it, Doctor?" Jessie asked, turning to her. "It'll just keep pulling kids in."

"It's desperate to be loved," the Doctor confirmed, nodding. "It's used to a pretty big family."

Jessie steeled herself. "How big?" she asked tentatively.

The Doctor tilted his head. "Say around . . . " His eyes widened slightly. "Four billion?"

Jessie nearly dropped her pencils.

***

"We need that pod," the Doctor said later as they walked down the street back towards the TARDIS.

"It crashed," Jessie pointed out. "Won't it be destroyed?"

"Well, it's been sucking in all the heat it can. Hopefully that should keep it in a fit state to launch. It must be close. It should have a weak energy signature that the TARDIS can trace. Once we find it, then we can stop the Isolus." As the TARDIS came into sight, he continued. "We can scan for the same trace that I picked up from the scribble creature. We'd need to widen the field a bit."

Jessie put a foot inside of the TARDIS, then felt a tingle go down her spine. She turned, scanning the field. She could've sworn she saw someone duck behind a trash bin. She narrowed her eyes, but closed the TARDIS door behind her.

***

A few minutes later, she was chewing gum while the Doctor built some kind of gizmo that would be able to track the Isolus's signal. "You knew the Isolus was lonely before it told you," she said as she leaned against the console, looking at the two things she had in her hands. "How?"

"I know what it's like to travel a long way on your own," the Doctor said, holding out his hand. "Give me the styner-magnetic." She raised an eyebrow, and he quickly corrected. "The thing in your left hand."

She rolled her eyes, giving it to him. "Sounds like you're on its side."

"I sympathize, that's all," he said as he kept working."

"The Isolus has caused a lot of pain for these people."

"It's a child. That's why it went to Chloe. Two lonely mixed up kids."

"Feels to me like a temper tantrum because it can't get its own way," Jessie said bluntly.

The Doctor looked up, raising an eyebrow. "It's scared," he told her. "Come on, you were a kid once. Binary dot."

She rolled her eyes and held out her hand for him to take it. "Yeah. I know what kids can be like. Right little terrors," she snorted.

He held out the other hand. "Gum."

She raised an eyebrow and spat it into his hand. He wrinkled his nose, but used it to fit something in place. "I had cousins," she told him. "Kids can't have it all their own way. That's part of being a family."

"What about trying to understand them?" the Doctor asked.

"Easy for you to say," she snorted. "You don't have kids."

The Doctor looked down and muttered something, and she leaned further forward. "What did you say?"

The Doctor abruptly finished with what he was doing and straightened. "I think we're there! Fear, loneliness . . . they're the big ones, Jess. Some of the most terrible acts ever committed have been inspired by them. We're not dealing with something that wants to conquer or destroy. There's a lot of things you need to get across this universe. Warp drive, wormhole refractors . . . you know the thing you need most of all?" Jessie squinted when Gallifreyan popped up on the screen, followed by a reading. "You need a hand to hold."

She pointed towards the screen, and the Doctor raised an eyebrow, but took her hand. She threw him a look, but couldn't help but grin. "I'm pointing."

The Doctor turned towards the screen, and his face lit up. "It's the pod!" he said gleefully. "It's in the street! Everything's coming up!"

He took the gizmo and walked out of the TARDIS. "OK," he told Jessie as she followed behind him. "It's about two inches across. Dull grey, like a gull's egg. Very light."

"So these pods . . . " Jessie folded her arms, looking around. "They travel from sun to sun using heat, right? So it's not all about love and stuff. Doesn't the pod just n - "

She cut off suddenly when she felt a tug in her gut and felt like her airway was cut off. She screamed mentally as white surrounded her.

And then she had no idea where she was. All she saw was everything white, and when she looked down at herself, she seemed to be . . . to be . . .

She choked on her next breath and turned behind her to see the TARDIS behind her as well, just the same as she was.

They were stuck in a drawing. By the Isolus.

And the Doctor was nowhere to be seen.

***

The Doctor frowned when Jessie was cut off. "Jess?" he asked, turning. He froze when he saw that both Jessie and the TARDIS were gone. "Jessie!" he shouted out, and he growled when he smelled a faint stench of burning metal.

He abandoned his gizmo and took off running back down the street. When he arrived at the Webber house, he began hammering on the door. "Trish!" he barked, his anger boiling. "Trish! Open up!"

A few seconds later, Trish opened the door. She opened her mouth to say something, but the Doctor pushed past her. "It's OK! I've taken all the pencils off her."

"Not all of them," he growled, running up the stairs and opening Chloe's door. He was just in time to see her try and push a piece of paper off to the side, and he snatched it from her hand, his eyes widening when he saw the drawing of Jessie and the TARDIS. "Leave me alone!" she snarled at him. "I want to be with Chloe Webber! I love Chloe Webber!"

"Bring her back," he ordered, looking at her angrily. "Now!"

"No!"

"She was only trying to help you, and now you've stopped her from doing it!" he snarled back at her. "Now bring her back!"

"Leave me alone!" the Isolus shouted. "I love Chloe Webber!"

The Doctor closed his eyes and sighed. He knew the Isolus was lonely without its family, and he could practically see Jessie trying to shut him up. "I know," he said in defeat. "I know." He looked back down at the drawing and sat down on the bed. "Jessie, if you can hear me, I'm going to get you out of there. I'll find the pod." He left the drawing and pointed at Trish. "Don't leave her alone, no matter what," he ordered before storming out of the room.

When he made it outside, he began to think furiously. "Heat," he muttered, looking around. "Heat . . . " His gaze flew past the yards, past the houses, past Kel laying tar, past mailboxes -

He abruptly turned back to Kel. "They travel on heat!"

He ran over to Kel, who grinned at him. "Look at this finish!" Kel stated as the Doctor crouched down next to him. "Smooth as a baby's bottom. Not a bump or a lump!"

"Kel, is it?" The Doctor didn't let him answer. "Think back six days. What were you doing six days ago?"

"That's when I filled in this pothole for the first time."

The Doctor looked down at the pothole. "Six days ago," he repeated.

"Yeah."

"Hot fresh tar."

"Blended to a secret council recipe," Kel confirmed.

The Doctor pulled out his sonic screwdriver and aimed it down at the pothole. He ignored Kel's questions, and he grinned when he got an alien signal. "Brilliant!" he exclaimed, jumping up and looking around. "And now . . . " He saw the van Kel used, and he grinned. "Oh, Jess, you would love this."

He looked around in the back of the van and grinned again when he found a pickaxe. He tuned Kel out as he started digging up the pothole, even though the man was definitely very loud. His eyes brightened when he saw the tiny spaceship, and he crouched down and held it up. "There we go!" he exclaimed, grinning at Kel. "It went for the hottest thing in the street. Your tar."

"What is it?" Kel sputtered.

"It's a spaceship," he replied simply before running back to the Webber house. "I found it!" he called, but he skidded to a halt when he saw Trish in the living room. "Hang on. I told you not to leave her!"

"My God!" The Doctor slowly turned to the TV, his eyes widening in shock when he saw the empty stadium. "Er . . . what's going on here?"

"I don't care if you've got Snow White and the Seven dwarves buried under there!" Kel snapped as he stepped inside. "You don't go digging up - "

"Shut up!" the Doctor snapped.

"The crowd has vanished!" the announcer continued. "Er . . . they're gone! Everyone has gone. Thousands of people have just gone. Right in front of my eyes! It's impossible! Bob, can we join you in the box?" The Doctor shook his head when the box announcers were revealed to be gone as well. "Bob? Not you, too, Bob!"

"That won't be enough," the Doctor spat. "The Isolus has four billion brothers and sisters."

***

Jessie leaned against the drawn TARDIS and shook her head. "Why did it want me?" she thought out loud. "I wasn't the one trying to help it get home! All I did was . . . " Her eyes slowly widened. "I sang to it," she whispered. "I showed it love."

As if the TARDIS understood, she hummed behind her. "That's it!" she shouted, standing up and pacing back and forth. "Love! The Isolus needs love, so she got me! And the pod goes to heat, which means . . . " She stopped, then grinned. "Doctor, I'm going to help!"

***

"Chloe?" the Doctor asked, banging on the door. "It's the Doctor! Open the door!"

"Chloe?" Trish asked as well.

The Doctor tried the handle, then shook his head when it wouldn't open. "Stand back," he warned Trish, then threw his elbow at the door. It splintered, and the Doctor found the chair on the other side blocking the door and pushed it away, then opened the door from the inside. His eyes widened when he saw Chloe drawing the Earth on her wall. "Chloe!" he shouted.

"I'm coming to hurt you," a voice growled from the wardrobe, and he turned to it, seeing the red light shining through. "I'm coming!"

"I've got to stop her!" the Doctor told it.

"If you stop Chloe Webber, I will let him out," the Isolus threatened. "We will let him out together. I cannot be alone. It's not fair!"

"Look, I've got your pod," the Doctor told her, holding it out.

"The pod is dead," the Isolus stated. "And it needs more than heat."

"I'm not being funny or anything," Kel said nervously from behind them. "But that picture just moved. And that one!"

The Doctor frowned, seeing him point to a drawing on the bed. His eyes widened, and he picked up the picture. "She didn't draw that," he whispered when he saw Jessie pointing to an Olympic torch. "Jessie did." He narrowed his eyes as he thought. "Torch . . . " He brightened suddenly, and he grinned. "Oh, you are brilliant!" he shouted loudly, and Trish and Kel jumped. He grinned at them. "Back in a few ticks!"

He ran back down the stairs and out the door, running down to the end of the street. Sure enough, the Torchbearer was running down the way. He smiled when he felt the pod vibrate. "You feel it, don't you?" he whispered to it. He smiled. "Feel the love." He brought his arm back and threw the pod through the air. He saw it land in the Torch flame, and he grinned. "Yes!" he shouted out.

***

Jessie felt another pull in her gut, and she stumbled a little when she found herself back in the street. She grinned. "He did it!" she whooped, jumping up and down. "He did it!" She watched other kids appear, then frowned. "Wait a minute . . . all the drawings have come to life. All of them." She turned towards the Webber house. "Oh, no."

She ran towards the house and began trying the handle. "Trish! Get out!" she shouted.

"I can't!" Trish called back, her voice muffled by the wood. "The door's stuck!"

"Where's the Doctor?" she demanded.

"He said he'd be back!"

"Mummy!" Chloe whimpered.

"Chloe!" Jessie froze when she heard the voice of Chloe's dad. "I'm coming to hurt you."

"Please, Dad," Chloe sobbed. "No more!"

"Chloe!"

Jessie put her face to the crack in the door. "Chloe, listen to me," she ordered. "It isn't real like the others. It's just energy left over by the Isolus, but you can get rid of it."

"Help us!" Trish sobbed.

"It's because you're so scared that he's real," Jessie told them, trying to keep them talking. "You can get rid of him, come on!" After a few moments of hearing Chloe sob, she swallowed and started to sing. "Kookaburra sits in the old gum tree," she began. "Merry merry king of the bush is he. Kookaburra sits in the old gum tree - "

Trish and Chloe began to join in. "Merry merry king of the bush is he. Laugh, Kookaburra, laugh, Kookaburra, gay your life must be! Laugh, Kookaburra, laugh, Kookaburra, gay your life must be."

Jessie smiled when the red glow began to fade, but then she sat down and slumped. "Doctor," she whispered. "Where are you?"

***

After making sure that the Olympic Torch was properly lighted and that the Isolus pod was on his way, the Doctor walked down the street, looking for a certain violet and bronze Asgardian. He considered going to the Webber house when -

"Cake?"

He stopped mid stride and turned, and his face split in a grin when Jessie held up a cupcake in her hand, an eyebrow raised. He especially loved the sugar ball decorations on top of it. "Top banana!" he complimented, walking over to her and taking the cake and popping it right in his mouth. She giggled at him, and he couldn't help but grin back at her. "Mmm! I can't stress this enough. Ball bearings you can eat. Masterpiece!"

She jumped at him, hugging him tightly, and he hugged her back. She buried his face into his shoulder, and he rubbed her back comfortingly. "I thought I'd lost you," he admitted.

"So did I," she said, her voice muffled.

"But not on a night like this." He pulled back, grinning at her. "This is a night for lost things being found. So, are you ready to see the Games? It's what we came here for."

"I don't really remember much of it at all," she said as they walked down the street, hand in hand. "What events did the USA do well in?"

"Well, I will tell you this." He stopped and grinned at her. "Papa New Guinea surprises everyone in the shot put."

Her jaw dropped. "You're joking."

He winked. "Wait and see."

***

Jessie still couldn't believe the man when fireworks began going off overhead. She laughed out loud, grinning at the cheers around them. "You know what?" she said, tilting her head to watch. "They keep trying to split us up. They never will."

The Doctor seemed to stiffen next to her. "Never say never, ever," he told her.

"We'll always be OK," she told him, looking up at him. "You and me. Right, Doctor?"

He looked up at the sky. "There's something in the air," he murmured. "Something coming."

"What?" she asked, looking at him.

He swallowed. "A storm's approaching."

Jessie swallowed as well, looking back up at the fireworks. As she did, the Beast's words came back to her.

"Your doomsday approaches."

Not now, she thought desperately. Any time but now.

***

So it was Jessie taken by the Isolus this time. Whaddya think of that? Like it or not?

So . . . next up is the finale. I'll finish Doomsday and the interludes and epilogue, and then it's . . . done. Poof. And then I'll probably be on hiatus for the summer on this series.

And I still want guesses on what's going to happen to Jessie during Doomsday. I bet none of you are going to see it coming. :P