HOWLING HALLOW

Chapter Fourteen

When they emerged from the room, the TARDIS supplied them with clothes. The Doctor looked at the clothes the TARDIS had for Shen. There was a white t-shirt, blue jean overalls, underwear, socks and black trainers. While he was sorting through them, he felt a hand on his bare back. He looked over his shoulder and saw Shen was behind him, thumb in her mouth while she watched what he was doing.

"Thumb sucker, eh?" I used to suck my thumb when I was small," he said to her.

"You did?" Rose said, coming up to him. "When was that?"

"When I was a day old, then I stopped when common sense kicked in," he said.

He snickered when Rose swatted his head.

"This is Rose," the Doctor said as Rose knelt down beside Shen.

"Hi, sweetie," Rose said, holding out her hand.

Shen stared at it for a second and then took it. She sucked on her thumb while Rose guided her to her body.

"Let's get you dressed and let the Doctor get dressed, okay?" Rose said to her.

Shen nodded and the Doctor dressed while Rose helped Shen get into her clothes. Rose could tell by the way she squirmed and frowned that it wasn't something her people normally wore. Once she helped get the shoes on and tied them, Shen sucked her thumb and pulled at her clothes while she examined them. The Doctor smiled and knelt down beside her.

"Hey, Thumb Sucker," he said, giving her a poke on the stomach, "are you hungry?"

Shen nodded.

"Have you ever had ice cream?" the Doctor said.

He could tell from the confused look on her face that she hadn't. Shen shook her head.

"No?" the Doctor said. "Four years old and never had a drop of ice cream? That's a crime. Come on, let's get you some and perhaps some biscuits. We'll leave Snape wandering the corridors for a bit, let him tire himself out. Come with us and we'll get you something for your tummy."

He stood up and held out his hand. Shen sucked her thumb and gave him his free hand. He smiled tenderly at her and everyone followed him as they headed towards the kitchen.

"Max," the Doctor said as they walked.

"Yes?" Max said.

"Is thumb sucking normal at this age?" the Doctor said to him while they walked.

"It's not normal for lycan at any age. She's been traumatized and seeking comfort in the absence of her parents," Max said angrily.

"Then we need to get her back to her family before that git traumatizes her even more," the Doctor said.

They went into the kitchen and the Doctor let go of Shen's hand to go get the ice cream but Shen followed behind him. The others giggled when the Doctor looked behind him with mock surprise.

"I have a new shadow," he said as he opened the freezer door, "you Vashta Nerada? If I feed you, you won't eat me, right?"

"Poor thing," Rose said when Shen grabbed onto the Doctor's trouser leg while he pulled out a box of chocolate ice cream. "I'll be glad when we get her back to her family."

"I know, the poor thing's so scared," Rachel said. "She needs her mum and dad badly."

The Doctor turned around with the box of ice cream. He bent over and looked at Shen.

"Wotcha?" he said to her. "Got ice cream for my little Vashta Nerada."

"What's Vashta Nerada?" Rose said.

The Doctor explained what it was while he walked over to the kitchen counter. Shen followed him and when he stopped, she grabbed his trouser leg again. The Doctor scooped some ice cream into a bowl and then reached into the cabinet for some chocolate chip biscuits. He put those on a tiny plate, put a spoon in the bowl and then smiled at Shen before he walked over to the kitchen table. He pulled back a chair and pointed to it when Shen walked up. They chuckled when Shen grabbed his trouser leg and the Doctor took the bowl and showed it to her. Shen stared at the bowl and then let go of his trouser leg. The Doctor put the bowl on the table and she sat in the chair. The Doctor pushed the chair up to the table and Shen took her thumb out of her mouth and began to eat. The Doctor smiled when Shen kept his eyes on him while she ate.

"So, you're going to lead this guy to Howling Hallow?" John said.

"Yes. Perhaps the lycan there can show him some form of justice," the Doctor said.

"More than likely they'll rip him to shreds," Max said. "I would."

"But then the lycans would be the beasts everyone makes them out to be. I think they'd be a bit more civilized than that. You said yourself that people get it wrong when they said that werewolves are mindless killers."

"Yes, that's true, but we also have our forms of justice and ripping apart a child abusing slave owning git wouldn't be seen as a mindless beast action," Max said. "Children are protected and loved in lycan society and abuse is taken very seriously and the penalties are severe. I'd think long and hard before you handed him over to these lycans at Howling Hallow, especially if you don't want him torn limb from limb."

"I'll keep that in mind and..."

The Doctor trailed off and bent over when he felt a tug on his trouser leg. He smiled at Shen who had finished eating and was back beside him with thumb in mouth. The Doctor leaned back up, held out his arms and Shen took her thumb out and held out hers. The Doctor picked her up and held her close while she rested her head on his shoulder and put her thumb back in her mouth.

"So...should we get Snape out of the maze?" the Doctor said to everyone.

"Are you sure he won't try to take her back?" Victoria said.

"He does and I'll be the one pulling him limb from limb," the Doctor said.

They walked back to the console room and when they got there, the Doctor set Shen down on the floor and instructed the TARDIS to bring Brat back to the console room. Shen put her thumb back in her mouth and held onto his trouser leg. But the moment Brat emerged from the corridor, dazed and confused, Shen shrank back behind the Doctor and all of them gasped when they heard a tinkling sound and saw urine coming out of her trouser leg. The Doctor was livid with rage when he saw the terrified look on Shen's face and he knew she'd urinated from fear at the sight of her captor. Everyone gathered around her while he knelt down.

"You're safe, Shen, no one will let him touch you, yeah?" he said to Shen who was staring at him with thumb in mouth and wide eyes.

Rose and Rachel comforted her while the Doctor stomped towards Brat.

"Hey, where'd you go? I lost you and walked around these hallways and..."

He gasped when the Doctor seized his shirt and brought him close to his enraged face.

"She just urinated on herself at the sight at you!" the Doctor snarled at the startled man. "What have you been doing to her to make her fearful enough to wet herself? Because she is just a child, werewolf or not! And if you've harmed her mentally, I'll harm you physically, is that understood?"

Brat looked at his enraged face and dark eyes and nodded dumbly. The Doctor let go of his shirt and glowered at him before he walked back to Shen. Brat found he was actually shaking a bit from fear and he began to wonder who this man was that could fill him with that much fear just by yelling at him. He knew he'd have to be cautious around him because he really didn't know what the man was capable of.

"Shen, it's alright," the Doctor said when he knelt down beside her. "We're gonna get you a change of clothes and you stay by us, yeah? He won't hurt you."

Shen nodded. Thumb in mouth, he reached out for the Doctor and he picked her up. Brat stepped back away from him when he gave him the Doctor gave him a look of death and he took Shen out of the room.

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