Chapter 12

In another room, the Doctor and Nancy had heard every moment of Tonya's psychic torment, thanks to a hidden microphone. Nancy looked at him, confused, wondering what had happened.

"It's quite simple, actually," he said, "From what I can tell, she had a nightmare that she was in a lab with some rats, and they forced themselves on her, and you had something to do with it; like you were doing the experiment, or something."

"Why would she think that?", Nancy asked, confused, "Wouldn't she think that you were the one doing it?"

"No," he replied, "Remember, Tonya has a deep emotional bond with you as a result of everything that happened between you before the Olympics."

"You mean she LOVES me?", Nancy asked, even more confused now.

"Oh, no, no, no!", the Doctor laughed, "Not at all; it's kind of like the way a detective and a criminal will form a bond between themselves without realizing it, or even having met each other."

"I don't get it."

"When a detective spends a lot of time on a case," he said, "Say, a serial killer, he starts 'getting a feel' for the criminal's modus operandi, then starts understanding the way he thinks, what he likes, and so on. Very often, the criminal will see the detective on the TV news, or see him quoted in the newspaper, and start getting a very similar 'feel' for the detective. It turns into a cat-and-mouse game between them, with each of them knowing and understanding what the other is thinking."

"So Tonya understands what I'm thinking?"

"No, between you and Tonya, it's different;" he explained, "Remember, she had the thought in mind that SHE would have been the 'golden girl', except that YOU were standing in her way."

"But that wasn't MY fault!"

"Of course not; but in Tonya's mind, she couldn't get what was rightfully HERS because the Skating Association liked YOU better. In other words, THEY were keeping her down because she wasn't 'as good' as you are. Even more accurately, they refused to see that SHE was a better skater, because they snubbed her as a PERSON."

"Why would they do that?"

"A perception of politics, mostly; keep in mind that Tonya had a lower-class upbringing. To her, she was snubbed in favor of you because she wasn't the 'high-class' type that made them look 'good', and you WERE. So, in Tonya's mind, if YOU couldn't skate for them, they COULDN'T refuse HER any more."

"And that's why she had the guy attack me?"

"Precisely!", he exclaimed, "Tonya was obsessed with the idea; more than anything else, though, it was really a matter of her own insecurities. Her relationship with Jeff was highly dysfunctional as well, so Jeff appealed to that insecurity by masterminding the whole scheme."

"Then it wasn't really her fault?"

"Yes and no," he answered, carefully choosing his words, "She was in a situation where she couldn't say 'no', but the situation existed because of her obsession with proving that she was 'good enough'."

"So why are we doing all these things to her?"

"She's been in a state of denial about this, simply because of the guilt she feels from this; that's why I brought you in. The fact that YOU are the one who's administering the 'punishments', as it were, helps her to resolve the guilt. It might even let YOU resolve your own feelings towards Tonya.", he said, grinning, "You HAVE been enjoying this, if I'm not mistaken..."

"Well... yes...", Nancy grinned sheepishly, knowing she'd been caught.

"Don't worry about it, Nancy," the Doctor laughed, "It's not an unusual reaction." He smiled, absentmindedly pulling his beard, "But now, I have to go talk with Tonya."

"OK...", Nancy said, still somewhat confused, as the Doctor walked out of the room...