The Child Companion Christmas

   "You're not going to do it again, are you?" Clara Oswald leaned on the TARDIS console and grinned, her right brow arched. She couldn't sleep again, and she remembered what had taken place a little while ago. Loads and loads of her timey-wimey copies... "Don't pretend that you can't hear me. I know there's something in your mind, I do!"
   "It's not me! Simmy always causes trouble!"
   Clara started. She had expected to see an image, or to hear beeping and chirping, or else, but a little voice too close to her wasn't waited for. It sounded from under the console, so she crouched and looked underneath.
   A little boy of about four or five was sitting, hugging his knees and staring at her with huge blue eyes. He had a thick black fringe which reached his eyebrows, and his clothing included short pants with really silly suspenders (red with yellow patterns), white shirt and - oh please - blue polka-dotted bowtie.
   "How did you get here?" Clara asked in a quiet even voice.
   "Dunno..." The kid's eyes widened. "Miss Clara! You're Miss Clara!"
   "Y-yes, I am..."
   "Where are we, Miss Clara? Are Matt and Peter here?" The kid uncurled from the ball of fear and now was staring at her.
   "Matt and Peter? Sorry, kid, but I think you confused me with someone else. I don't know anybody with these names... By the way, about them. What's your name? You've guessed mine, but I cannot guess yours".
   "Patrick", the kid replied, his sparkle of enthusiasm gone as quickly as it had appeared.
   "Maybe you should get from under there, or you won't see much".
   Patrick, hardly even blinking, crawled from under the console and turned around, not knowing what to say. At last all his feelings fitted into one little "wow". But this was the last quiet thing for today, because there was a bang, boom, and then a pitter-patter of little feet against the metal floor, followed by childish voices:
   "Jamie, block the way for him! Come on!"
   "I'm trying, I'm trying!"
   "That's not Jamie", Patrick suddenly said. "Jamie is older".
   "Who told you so?.. Ah..."
   First of all a blond scruffy kid dressed in well-worn black clothes darted out of the door which joined the inside world of the TARDIS with the console room, closely followed by a dark-topped boy in a checkered shirt and a girl with loose ginger hair flying behind her. The chase was suddenly finished by the Doctor, who abruptly walked from the closest door and grabbed the escapee by his hoodie.
   "Let me go! Let meee goooo!" the kid squeaked, attempting to wiggle free. "Or I..."
   "Or you what?" the Doctor calmly asked, ironically smiling at him. "Clara, I think I'll have to explain something to you before this little tricky kid does anything wrong".
   "You'd better did it", Clara replied. "I don't think that you ever had children here in the TARDIS".
   "Ooooh, Clara, you hardly know anything about me!" the Doctor grinned, and his eyes focused on Patrick who was attempting to hide behind Clara's legs. Perhaps those three kids running around was a signal for a huger group, because all of a sudden the TARDIS console room filled with children of all kinds - it was even surprising that there could be so many of them in such comparatively small space.
   Clara blinked in confusion - at least now it was safe to blink. The Doctor went on, hardly paying any attention to awed whispering of the kids turning around and not daring to walk down the stairs:
   "Hmm... If I'm right, your name is Patrick von Wer, isn't it?" The kid nodded, and the Doctor rubbed his chin, glancing at the rest of the kids. "Heee! Jamie McCrimmon and Amy Pond! Two Scots after little Master!" He said it, gazing at the kids who had chased the blond kid (who now was sulking, not knowing what was worse: keeping close to the Doctor or being chased). "Oooooh! We've got everybody here! Even... Who-ho-hoa, and who might you be?"
   To his astonishment, all the kids' faces were familiar to him, and not just so. Each of the kids was a mini version of his certain companion - or himself, like Patrick, who was a proper little Second Doctor (who nevertheless had no idea about the TARDIS). Okay, almost each - one face in this bunch of about thirty kids (maybe more or less) was that of a little stranger. It was a little boy with full head of small tight curls of odd greyish shade and bulging watery blue eyes. But then the Doctor saw that this kid was keeping close to a boy in red braces and bowtie, who had a ridiculous floppy hairstyle, and smirked to himself.
   "I'm Peter", the boy announced.
   "And I thought you knew everybody here", Clara noticed.
   "Mostly", the Doctor confessed. "Okay, calm down everybody. For those who don't know, this place is the TARDIS".
   "Like our school". This was said by a dark-topped girl in violet stripy shirt - doubtlessly little Susan. "It's called Tardis Boarding School".
   "Of course, Captain Obvious!"
   This time even the Doctor was taken aback: none of the kids said it. The speaker appeared to sit in the bag of the tiny copy of Clara (and probably full namesake as well): it was a doll made out of wire and cloth, describing a grey-haired man with huge eyebrows.
   "What? I suppose I have a right to speak here", the doll stated.
   "Now the toys..." "big" Clara muttered.
   "Calm down, please! You see, I received a signal. Of course, you all know that there's an infinity or Universes. And each of them has its own version of reality. For example, there's me in one of them, and in another one there could be my little human copies instead! Versions of all me and all Masters!.. though I see only you here... what's your name?"
   "John Simm", the blond kid murmured. "Could be Simmy".
   "That's logical", the Doctor assumed. "And in other Universe there could be children versions of my companions! And toy versions of me!"
   "But why did we all come here after all?" asked the ginger boy - the only ginger boy here. Sneaky, tricky, cheeky Vislor Turlough - that's who it was, no way!
   "Because, Turlough..." the Doctor paused, taking the full advantage of "guessing effect", "...because of wishes. They were signals I received. I guess it's Christmas time, and it's a family holiday. But some of you..." the Doctor gazed at first at Amy, then at little Adric, Victoria and several more kids (Clara didn't follow his look), "...are in danger to be left alone while the rest will be celebrating. So the TARDIS decided to bring you all here, so we all could have a proper holiday! And, perhaps, granted the figures of me a bit of life while they're here!"
   The kids turned their heads at each other.
   "I believe him", little Susan at last admitted.
   "That would be cool", nodded the kid in multi-colored clothing - totally wee Sixth Doctor.
   "If Johnny and Harold don't spoil everything". Little Rose - blond hair and Union Jack tee - nodded at two more copies of Simmy, one of which was blond as well, and the other dark-haired.
   "Don't forget about Simmy", Patrick reminded.

   The kids are such kids, Clara thought. They left every doubt as soon as the TARDIS was abuzz with action: the kids were divided in two groups, one of which was helping the Doctor with setting the Christmas tree in the console room, and the other was with her in the trickiest kitchen possible. The children were running around, each and every one having his or her hand occupied, and their voices and laughing weren't stopping. Even half of the Doctor dolls of different kinds and made out of different materials (which included wood, paper, porcelain, plastic, threads, beads, leather... what else?) found things to do.
   Clara was on top of making the dinner. While the huge turkey was getting roasted in the oven, the kids (mostly girls: Susan, Rose, Leela, little copy of herself - now that was awkward - Peri, Tegan, Victoria, Mel, Grace, Martha, Jo and Sarah Jane; from boys here were the identical twins David and John - diminished Ten and Ten-Too, haha - a small copy of Fifth Doctor nicknamed Davey, actually Peter, but this was not to confuse them, and the copy of the current Doctor - a kid named Matt) were each occupied with a very own deed, from peeling vegetables to mixing dough.
   "Is it going to be tasty?" Victoria asked, having finished pounding walnuts in a mortar. "I've never tried to cook anything".
   "You know what my mother used to say? Souffle is not a dish, it's a recipe", Clara replied, having made her little doppelganger giggle:
   "My mama says the same!"
   Meanwhile Matt and John turned into ghosts (one green-eyed, the other brown-eyed), having clumsily shaken too much flour out of the pack. Clara hurried to help them: of course, mistakes were to be corrected.
   While the kitchen was filled with the sounds of squashing, pounding, chopping, washing, cutting and breaking, the rest of the kids were running back and forward, carrying what looked like pine-tree branches.
   "This is the best version for both ecology supporters and those who want a real and true Christmas tree", the Doctor had explained. "A tree which turns alive when being put together!"
   But this appeared to be not too easy. At first, there was a huge amount of branches, and most of them were so long that two kids were needed to carry them from both ends. Fortunately, they were not too heavy. And, of course, the process didn't go on as smoothly as boring adults would like it to be (and the Doctor was not a boring adult).
   "Hurry up, Sylv!" This was the voice of Billy - all very very fair hair (almost white, to be honest) combed back and sneaky brown eyes. Tiny First Doctor, oh gods! "I'm not going to pull you!"
   "I cannot walk as fast as you!" Sylvester, probably the chubbiest of the Doctor versions (the Seventh), was indeed almost pulled forward, carrying the rear end of the branch. "Slow down, Billy!"
   Luckily Tom in his favourite striped scarf was there to help them both.

   The Doctor fixed the tree's trunk in the console room and looked at the kids who had brought all the branches there.
   "Now we gotta put them all together!" he announced. The doll versions of himself bounced - they had been told that they would help as well. "Now, Not Just Numbers, climb on the top. I will give you the top branches, they're the smallest, and you will fix them there".
   "No problem!" Two, the ragdoll mended many times, replied.
   "If you don't get torn again", Six, the patchwork one, snickered.
   "Whoa, whoa, guys, slow down!" the Doctor exclaimed. "C'mon! We've promised that everybody will decorate the tree, and Clara's going to finish soon, so hurry up!"
   The top was put together without any trouble (yes, when you're thirty centimeters tall - that was the height of the tallest doll, Five, which was made out of porcelain - you can easily see tiny nuances), but then the fun began. At first the branches didn't want to get into the sockets prepared for them, but when they did it, it came out that they were the wrong branches, so the gang had to pull them out and find the needed level. But the kids didn't feel tired - the sparkle of awaiting for wonders infected all of them, even Johnny and Harold Magisters, and even Simmy.
   "Told you it's lower!" Ace exclaimed - she had refused to help Clara with cooking and had her own plans.
   "You shouldn't be slower in future!" Simmy parried and lolled his tongue at her.
   Immediately both forgot about this, because there were more elements to be set.
   But finally the grandiose pine tree (which wasn't different from the real one from the forest by any criteria) was set, and the kids, panting and rubbing sweat off their foreheads, walked back to get a good sight of it. Its top almost reached the ceiling, and this was worth all the input power.
   "Now let's decorate!" Turlough exclaimed, but the Doctor raised his hand:
   "Wait, gingersnap! It's not going to be fair if we do it on our own. And I haven't brought the decorations yet. Wait here, but don't break anything".
   He ran to the boxroom to search for the mentioned item, but stopped next to the kitchen. All the kids, covered in cream, dirt, vegetable peels and flour head-to-toe, couldn't wait till Jo and Clara finished the final task. Jo's hands were occupied with a large pastry bag, and she was diligently writing letters with blue icing on the tops of smore cupcakes they had cooked. Right at this moment Clara asked her:
   "Who's next, Jo?"
   "Jack", the little one replied.
   "Hee-yow, Captain Jack!" the Doctor yelped, having not coped with the temptation to do that. Jo bounced with surprise, but didn't fall from the stool on which she was standing. "We're going to get to decorating soon, so tidy yourselves up, and I'll get the needed stuff!"
   The kids didn't make anybody wait. In some time they all were unpacking the boxes full of all kinds of glass balls and figures, some well-known to certain of them: for instance, there was a blue star, a toy copy of fob watch, a tiny TARDIS, firecrackers (Ace yelped with delight at their sight), and there were all colors, including some non-existent. The Doctor dolls were busy decorating the upper branches again, while the Doctor placed a ladder next to the tree, and some especially crafty kids, like Leela and Chris - black buzzcut and worn leather coat - climbed up it and helped them. Nyssa and Sarah Jane untangled the line of colorful lights, which was then fixed around.
   Finally, when the work was done, the Doctor examined the result... and facepalmed:
   "Stupid old Doctor! We've forgotten the most important!"
   "What is it?" Zoe asked.
   "Can't you see? The star!" The top of the tree was indeed left without attention. "Gotcha! I didn't forget it, I just wanted to give this honour to the very special one of you".
   The kids burst out shouting "me, me, me!", but got silent when the Doctor scooped little Peter up.
   "I solemnly swear that..." The Doctor sighed. "I hope you will not make me disappointed".

   The result of the kids' and Clara's activity at the kitchen was approved: the dinner was if not the best ever, then a candidate for this title. The cupcakes receives special attention: Jo had written the initials of each one present on them with blue icing (that's what she had been doing when the Doctor had glanced into the kitchen!), so searching for the "personal" one turned into quite a game.
   But the main event took place after the dinner. The Doctor brought another box and opened it, not showing the contents and grinning in a mischievous way.
   "I know that when you wake up next time, you'll be in your beds and ready to give each other the presents you prepared, but I'm the host here, and I'll be the gifting one today", he announced, and his hand dived into the box. "Oh! What do we have here? Patrick, it seems like you wanted to get something like this..."
   Patrick beamed with all of his tiny-toothed mouth, having seen the recorder painted in blue swirls. He immediately brought it to his lips and blew a sound like an owl's hooting out of it.
   "Next... Who we gonna call?"
   "Ghostbusters!" Rose shouted, impatient till her turn.
   "I ain't afraid of no ghosts!"
   Both Rose and Jack managed to catch two water guns meant for them. Clara rolled her eyes: it was a bit unfair, of course, but it didn't matter as far as the kids were happy.
   "Next... I don't think you're going to be a hero and a sidekick. You could be partners... and better not in crime". Small copy of Third Doctor named Jon ("no-H-Jon", as Mels loved calling him) and Peter got two magician-like coats, which immediately were put on, making them similar to two childish Batmen.
   Simmy received a thick red collar (which took its proper place around his neck as well), while his "doppelgangers" - Johnny and Harold Magisters - got two sets of drums and were Cld9 after this.
   "I told you he knows it all", Eight - the bead doll - told his owner Grace when she accepted the classic music disc. "He does".
   "Yes? Then..."
   The alive mini counterpart of Eighth Doctor, the kid named Paul, blushed like a rosebud, having seen a huge music notebook.
   "I know that you want to play the violin, and I think you'll eventually learn how to do it. This is for your success", the Doctor nodded.
   Clara noted to herself that this was a bit unexpected - she had thought that he's get a pocket watch or something. But this was the final "not-such-an-obviosity"... or no.
   "I haven't forgotten about you", the Doctor announced, having turned to her when the rest of the presents were given (they included advanced firecrackers, hula-hoop, hand mirror, history book, plush panda and such-like simple, but cheering things for those who waited for them). "I know that you girls often complain about bags, and so..." he produced a small "clutch" bag of crimson color from his box. "It's bigger on the inside, and perfect for every occasion".
   "Why thank you", Clara smiled and hugged him, having raised a collective "Ewwwww!" - mostly from Simmy and his pals.
   "Wonder if you'll be so noisy when I tell ya a story", the Doctor replied, having winked at them. "About... the man who nearly killed Christmas!"