paranoidangel42

Rating: PG
Beta: hhertzof
Pairing: Ian/Barbara
Summary: There's a Dalek in Johnny's wardrobe.

Ian opened his eyes and frowned in the dark as he wondered what had woken him up. After a moment he became aware of being watched. When he turned over he found his son standing by the bed.

"Daddy," Johnny whispered, "there's a Dalek in my wardrobe."

According to Johnny there were all manner of monsters hiding in his room just waiting to ambush him. Ian regularly had to make his bedroom safe, but this was the first time the monster was something real. As he struggled to wake up properly he briefly wondered if there really was a Dalek in the house. But he was sure he'd know if the Daleks had invaded two hundred years early.

"All right," he said and stumbled out of bed. As he found his dressing gown and slippers in the dark, he thought about how to deal with this particular monster so Johnny would feel safe enough to go back to sleep.

Johnny followed Ian to his room, but stayed in the doorway. Ian yawned and opened the wardrobe, making sure he was between it and Johnny. He didn't feel up to searching the room for Daleks in the middle of the night. Having established there was nothing living in there, he shut the door and turned to his son. "There is a Dalek in there," he said. "But I think it's just exploring."

"But it wants to kill me," Johnny said, loud enough to wake Barbara up.

Ian shushed him. So much for that idea. "I won't let it," he promised. He looked around the room and spotted the cheap radio they'd bought Johnny for his birthday. "Do you remember I told you that Daleks use static electricity to get around?"

Johnny nodded.

"If we disrupt that, the Dalek will be paralysed and it won't be able to do anything." He hoped that would be good enough and he wouldn't need to prove it had gone.

Johnny thought about that for a minute before saying, "How do we do that?"

"We can use the wires in this plug." He picked the radio up. "Can you get me a screwdriver?"

Johnny ran off downstairs sounding like a herd of elephants. If Barbara wasn't already awake, she would be by now. Ian was just glad that although Johnny was scared of imaginary monsters in his bedroom, he would happily go downstairs in the dark on his own without a second thought. Now was not the time to wonder why.

While Johnny was downstairs Ian put a toy dinosaur in the wardrobe. He'd never described a Dalek in much detail and with the lights off, odd shapes could become anything. Even a Dalek.

Once Johnny came back and handed Ian the screwdriver from his toolbox, Ian set to work dismantling the plug on the radio. Johnny's curiosity overcame his fear and he peered over his father's shoulder as he worked. Fortunately, Ian had wired plugs a few times before and the half-light in Johnny's room was just enough to see by. On their own the wires inside the plug wouldn't do much, but Johnny didn't know that. By the time Johnny learnt more about how electricity worked there wouldn't be any more imaginary monsters in his bedroom to dispose of. "You should stand back," he said to Johnny, once he had the plug off.

Johnny went back to the doorway, wide-eyed.

Ian opened the wardrobe door and thrust the wires in. Since it had no real effect, he had to make the crackling noises himself. After a few seconds he stopped and said, "It's dead. Come and see."

Johnny peered around his father to look at the dinosaur half-hidden by clothes.

Ian held his breath while he waited for Johnny to agree that a non-moving dinosaur was a dead Dalek. At last Johnny said, "Thank you, Daddy."

Ian smiled at him. "Now you should go back to bed." At least Johnny didn't require disposal of dead monsters.

Johnny went to bed willingly, and Ian tucked him in before going back to his own bed. He left the screwdriver on the bedside table - he could put that away in the morning once he'd put the plug back on Johnny's radio. He discovered Barbara wasn't asleep when she moved closer to him and he put an arm around her, glad of her warmth.

"What was it this time?" she whispered.

"A Dalek in the wardrobe."

Barbara stiffened. "I told you not to tell him scary stories."

When Johnny asked for a story at bedtime they'd taken turns telling him tales of their adventures with the Doctor, but had left out the parts where it all looked hopeless and they nearly died. There was no need to scare him that much. "He likes scary stories. And I leave out the worst parts. Can we please have this argument in the morning?" Ian yawned again.

She pulled away from him, back to her side of the bed. "And you indulge him far too much. What were you doing in there tonight?"

He sighed. Apparently, they were going to have this argument now, in whispers, in bed in the middle of the night. "Electrocuting the Dalek. And I've tried just telling him it's not there. It doesn't work and he just ends up in our bed. Would you rather he did that?"

"No," she admitted, sounding begrudging about it.

"I'm just doing the best thing for you and Johnny." He reached out to take her hand and she let him.

"I know. But you could still tell him stories that aren't going to end up with him getting you up in the night."

She did have a point there. "I will," he promised and leaned over to kiss her forehead. "Oh, and there's a dinosaur in his wardrobe you'll have to take out in the morning."