Chapter Text
The TARDIS arrived back in Torchwood as promised the very next day. The Doctor and Rose emerged with the kids in tow, Rose holding Kiana. They all looked a lot happier and brighter than when they had left.
“Thete!” Brax greeted immediately, striding up to him.
Leah immediately tore over to Brax, throwing her arms around his leg. “Uncle Brax!”
He dropped down to hug her. “Eon'shikla?”
“Fia!” she responded happily.
“How's your first night in Cardiff been?” Rose asked with a bright smile.
“It's been ... interesting,” Braxiatel replied vaguely, glancing at Jack as he came bounding up the steps to greet them.
“We had fun,” Jack assured Rose, grinning. “3am Weevil hunt, 4am Mickey kidnapped, 4:30am Mickey rescued and 5am pizza delivery.”
“Apparently this happens frequently,” Braxiatel finished, shrugging a little.
Rose laughed, linking her hand in her husband's. “Worse things happen here.”
“Much worse,” Jack agreed, raising his eyebrows suggestively.
“Anyway!” the Doctor interrupted in a high-pitched voice. “Let's do my scan.”
Brax nodded, straightening up and followed the crowd back into the TARDIS.
“Go prep yourself,” Brax said when they got into the console room.
The Doctor nodded and disappeared into the corridor with two children clinging onto his legs.
Brax turned to Rose. “How long did you stay away?”
“We took a week,” Rose answered. “We needed it.”
“Good,” Brax replied, nodding.
“You are okay with him, aren't you?” Rose wondered. “I mean, I won't tell him anythin' you don't want him to hear.”
Brax nodded. “He's my brother. He doesn't seem like my brother, but I know it's him.”
Rose frowned. “What d'you mean?”
He sighed slightly, averting his gaze from her. “I didn't have to be told something terrible had happened to him, Rose,” he told her seriously. “He's not the Thete I knew. There's a darkness in his scent now that I never smelt before. A really sharp smell. The way he holds himself too, his eyes as well. The little things. I knew that all meant something. Of course, I am aggrieved, confused and surprised at what he did in the Time War, but I wasn't there. I do not have the right to judge, and neither does Koschei. Tell Thete that.”
She nodded.
“However, there's another scent too,” Brax added. “Smell of human, all on him.”
“And that's bad?” Rose asked seriously.
“No, no, it's very good,” Brax assured her. “It's what makes him yours. The fact he learns from you and this world. He's far more human than Time Lord, now, but to be honest I think he prefers it that way.”
Rose giggled. “He'd never admit that. He's a Time Lord and don't I know it.”
Brax chuckled. “Sounds like him.”
She stopped laughing, and suddenly just stared at the floor. “... Can I be honest with you?”
“Of course.”
“... Please don't tell him.”
“I never tell him anything,” Brax insisted, smiling. “What's on your mind?”
“... He scares me sometimes, Brax.”
Brax frowned at her words. “Thete? How?”
“Every now and then when somethin' bad happens to me or any of the kids, he gets this look in his eyes ... He turns into this person I don't recognise.”
“Who's that?”
“He's like ...” she paused, trying to find the right word. “... A predator.”
“Does he get very focused and self-contained?” Brax wondered.
“Yeah ...”
Brax took a sharp intake of breath as he realised, his eyes widening slightly. “I heard of them doing it, I never believed it.”
“Believed what?”
“Assassin mode,” Brax muttered. “The rumours say that all soldiers in the Time War had to go through assassin programming.”
“What does that mean?”
“Teach them how to attain a higher level of consciousness. Teach them to hear every sound, interpret it, be aware of their surroundings and become part of them. How to kill in stealth, and then completely forget ever being in that mode. It may be emotionally controlled. If you or any of the tots are in danger he might get so panicked that it switches on to keep you all safe. It's originally designed for protecting the Lord President. When has it happened before?”
“I was kidnapped once,” she muttered, brushing back her hair from her face. “I was ... sold into the slave trade. He found me pretty quick, but when we were escapin' I was shot ... All I remember is lookin' up at him from the ground, seein' his face just turn into ... Into somethin' I didn't recognise. Then he walks off to the guy that shot me. I don't know what he did for sure, but his clothes from that day disappeared. I think he killed him, Brax.”
Brax gazed at her. “Has he forgotten about it?”
“I dunno. He's never mentioned it since.”
“Yes, that's assassin mode,” Brax said gravely.
Rose swallowed nervously. “Can he get rid of it?”
“I don't know,” Braxiatel confessed. “But he's on your side, I'd be glad of that. As long as you're bonded then he will never harm you. Like I said, he's protecting the Lord President, except now it's not a Lord President – it's you. Every time you or the tots are in mortal danger he enters his own personal war to protect you.”
“I don't like it.”
“I know. But we can't do anything about it. I'm sorry. He's a soldier, Rose, you know that. He's marred so badly. I hate to see him like this; believe me, this isn't the Thete I knew before the War. But please don't be scared of him. He's just been messed with a little bit - he's got a good head and warm hearts and he's probably perfectly capable of getting through the other side if only he could forgive himself. But you seem to be the key in that. He loves you a lot, Rose, and I expect he's told you how odd that is.”
She nodded. “Me, a little human, yeah?”
“Yes. I don't mean to offend you.”
“I know, it's okay,” Rose assured him.
“Besides, I expect it's equally as odd for you to fall in love with an alien when it's still called science-fiction here.”
“Took Mum a while to come around,” Rose joked half-heartedly.
Brax smiled at that, but didn't comment.
“He goes on and on about how I fixed him, but I've told him so many times that it works both ways,” she said quietly. “I know my problems aren't anythin' like his but he treats them like they are. Then he fixes me too. We need each other, I think.”
“Sounds like it,” Brax replied. “I'm glad he's got someone like you to help him. He is an emotional mess, but he's also my little brother, who's grown into someone I can only aspire to be. He's brave, smart beyond belief and morally better than I will ever be. And don't tell him I said that – I would never live that down.”
She giggled, and nodded. “Swear.”
“I'd better go and scan him,” he said, but for a moment he just stood there, looking around. He suddenly nodded, and then stepped forward to her to maintain a confidential air. “If you ever get so scared you think he, you or the tots are in danger, there's something you can do.” He pointed to the middle of his own left shoulder. “There's a cluster of nerves there on a Time Lord. Give it the hardest punch you can. One hard blow there disables us. He'll be down like a sack of bricks.”
Rose took a very careful note of where he was pointing, but sincerely hoped she would never have to recall it. “Okay. Thank you.”
“You're welcome,” Brax replied. “Are you coming?”
“Gotta get the kids fed,” Rose responded, smiling. “Lemme know how it goes.”
He nodded, and left to the infirmary.
Rose had sent the kids off to play whilst she waited for the results to come, sitting in the leisure room watching the Doctor's favourite alien quiz show. He had mentioned to her on more than several occasions how much he'd like to go on it. Frankly she was surprised he hadn't already.
Brax arrived just as the quiz show finished, giving her a smile.
“All right?” Rose asked, feeling a good vibe from him.
“Yes, he's terminal.”
Rose blinked, stunned like a blow between the eyes at how casually Brax had said that. In fact, he said it so casually, she was for a moment convinced she had misheard. “What ... What did you say?”
“He's terminally ill,” Brax repeated.
There was a slight pause.
“... He can't be,” was all she was able to get out.
Brax remained outrageously nonchalant. “There's too much damage. He's terminally ill, it's just a matter of time.”
“But ...” Rose gabbled, still in shock as she got to her feet. “We've got to do somethin'!”
Brax shrugged. “Only regeneration will fix this.”
Rose's hand flew to her mouth in horror. “Oh god!”
“Problem?” Brax wondered seriously.
She didn't even know how to begin answering that.
“Would you like to talk to him?” Brax asked, tilting his head.
Rose just nodded.
The Doctor was lying on an infirmary bed, staring at his scans ranged across his lap with an extremely haunted look on his face. Rose ran to him immediately, throwing her arms around him. He responded in kind, but didn't say a word.
“Is it ...” Rose began, but halfway through had to stop and swallow, hard. “... You know,” she eventually ended up saying, finishing on a deflated note.
“Yes,” the Doctor croaked as she pulled away to gaze at him sitting there as still as a rock, half man, half wires.
“I ...”
She stopped, not knowing what on Earth to put in the rest of that sentence. So she just stared at him, a hand cupping his cheek as she gazed into his eyes: the eyes of a dying man.
“Don't look at me like that,” the Doctor muttered, no trace of humour in his voice whatsoever.
“I'm sorry,” she murmured back, kissing him again. “But this is ...”
“I know.”
“What's the problem?” Braxiatel suddenly asked from the end of bed, frowning.
“You wouldn't understand,” the Doctor replied abruptly.
“Okay,” Brax answered, taken aback slightly.
The Doctor quickly realised what had just erupted out of his mouth, and looked up at Brax apologetically. “Sorry,” he said, running a hand through his hair. “It's just ...”
“Hard,” Rose completed quietly.
“Yeah ...”
“How is this hard?” Brax asked, genuinely confused.
The Doctor looked at Rose, offering a smile. “Can you get me a drink?”
“What? Oh,” she realised quickly, glancing at Brax. “Okay.”
Brax watched her go, looking even more confused than before. “Thete?” he asked, looking back at his brother. “What's going on?”
“It's just ... It's this body,” the Doctor muttered. “It's important to me.”
“Why?” Brax wondered.
“Because it's Rose's body.”
“Does she not know about regeneration?”
“She's seen me do it before, but I didn't really have time to explain. She thought I'd replaced the Doctor or something. It took her ages to accept me, it really hurt her.” The Doctor closed his eyes, swallowing, before opening them again. “I just ... don't want to make her go through that again. I don't want Leah, Alex or Kiana to have to try and understand that.”
“But biological chance dictates they may be able to regenerate too,” Brax pointed out, leaning on the scanner bed to look at the Doctor seriously. “And they most likely will not be able to do it without seeing someone else go through the process.”
“I know,” the Doctor muttered, sighing. “It's not the regeneration itself that's the problem ... It's this.” He pointed at his own face.
Brax continued to gaze at him for a moment. “You know,” he began. “There is a way you can regenerate while keeping your form and personality.”
“I don't have that control,” the Doctor countered.
“Oh, I know you don't. But you don't need it. You're bonded to Rose, are you not?”
“Yes ...” the Doctor replied quickly, his eyes widening.
“Is it a true bond? Do you have the point of exchange?”
“Yes ...” the Doctor repeated.
“Then just do a template regeneration.”
“A what?”
Brax chuckled slightly. “Oh, Thete, I knew you truanted but I didn't think it was this serious. A template regeneration. No?”
“No?”
“Hmm,” Brax mused, stroking his chin. “Do you still have your library?”
“Yes ...” the Doctor replied lowly, wide-eyed. “What's a template regeneration?”
“Give me twenty minutes in your library and I'll have an answer for you.”
Brax returned twenty minutes later with an old, large, dusty book in his hands. He sat down next to the bed and opened the book on his lap – the entire thing creaking.
“What's that?” the Doctor asked.
“It's a book on regeneration. You should look into possibly reading it sometime,” Brax said, smiling. “Oh, here it is.”
He lifted the book to his eyes, and began to read out loud.
“For the naturally unskilled Gallifreyan, selective regeneration is a near impossibility. They regenerate with little or no control over physical, mental and emotional aspects and responses. However, a technique has been devised so that an unskilled Gallifreyan might regenerate into a previously worn body; often referred to as a 'Template Regeneration' or 'The Romulo Technique'...”
Brax skipped the page, scanning down.
“Ah. By utilising a pair bond, the Gallifreyan may use the imprint of the body as given by their bonded partner. A forced regeneration coupled with a telepathic connection of the bonded partner's subconscious can allow the Gallifreyan to access the visual memories from their bonded partner, and take the 'template' through the point of no return. Once achieved, the regeneration process continues as normal. Warning: Template Regeneration can be tenuous and any attempt should be done in monitored circumstances, as it may carry a significant risk.”
“What does that mean?” Rose asked seriously. “How would I fit in?”
“When you regenerate ... It's sort of like walking down a long tunnel with these imaginary gates at the end,” the Doctor began to explain. “Well, not really, but that's the easiest way to explain it. One gate's death and the other's regeneration. Most Time Lords can focus on their new form, pick what they like, take it through the regeneration gate and that's what they end up with. Someone I knew used to just change bodies even after regeneration until she found one she really liked. I can't really do that.”
“He'd get his ready-made template from you,” Brax continued, nodding at his brother. “By using a telepathic connection. He'd regenerate according to how you see him.”
Rose frowned, looking at the Doctor. “So, it'll take what I see him like now and use that?
Brax nodded. “During the process you focus the image of him in your head and he can use that.”
Rose frowned a little. “What if I don't focus hard enough or somethin'? Is this dangerous?”
“Thete can withdraw if he doesn't feel comfortable enough with your template. Then it's up to me to keep him alive.”
“Keep him alive?” she echoed dryly.
“We do actually have to kill him to start this,” Brax told her gently. “Thete can't selectively regenerate. He has to be killed.”
“Oh,” Rose muttered, feeling a bit stupid for not realising that. “But ... how would we kill him?”
Brax looked at his brother, who just grinned. Brax shrugged, indifferent. “Stab him? Shoot him? Drown him? Suffocation? I like suffocation.”
“You could beat me to death,” the Doctor suggested, still grinning.
“I think I'd enjoy that too much,” Brax admitted ruefully.
“Be serious!” Rose implored, getting annoyed.
“Sorry!” the two Time Lords chorused, hands in the air.
“We'll probably use a poison,” the Doctor told her. “So we've got the antidote on hand. If it doesn't work I'll get shot of the antidote then zapped on the chest and various other pleasant things to kick me back into life. It should be fine.”
“Should be?” Rose asked seriously.
“Nothing's set in stone, you know that,” the Doctor told her, taking her hand. “So what do you think?”
“I think this is a big risk,” she said straight.
“It is,” the Doctor replied honestly. “But I'm dying anyway. It is probably better we sort this now.”
She fell silent, looking down at his hand in hers. She held it up and looked at it for a moment, feeling his fingers. She stopped on his little finger, the one she knew he had no feeling in. She then thought about that some more, and then suddenly looked up at him wide-eyed. “Hold on, that means your ... You know. Your thing. It'll heal.”
“I know,” the Doctor murmured, glancing at Brax.
“Your what?” Brax wondered.
“The thing that isn't any of your business ...?” the Doctor ventured.
“Oh, that thing,” Brax realised dimly.
Rose couldn't help snorting with laughter as Brax tried to avert his gaze to the sky.
The Doctor rolled his eyes and looked back at Rose. “We'll just have sort that out when it comes,” he said, shrugging slightly. “Are you ready for this?”
She swallowed. “... Yeah.”
“You don't look ready,” he commented seriously.
“No, I'm fine,” she insisted, forcing a genuine-looking smile. “Besides, we don't have much of a choice.”
He gazed at her some more, before finally nodding. “Okay.” He looked at Brax. “Ready.”
“Well, go and pick your poison.”
The Doctor nodded and disappeared into a side room.
“You know, you might want to take this as an opportunity,” Brax muttered in an undertone to Rose. “You've got the control to make him look how you'd like.”
Rose looked at him. “You serious?”
“Yes,” he said, nodding. “Of course, you can't change his whole body, but a few improvements here and there. Tweaks, shall we say.”
Rose's eyes widened as a large smile spread on her face.
“Oh, so you're enjoying this now,” Brax commented.
“No,” Rose insisted innocently.
Brax just rolled his eyes as the Doctor returned and jumped back onto the bed, handing Brax the needle gun loaded with some kind of strange silver liquid. Brax considered it for a moment.
“Interesting choice,” he said.
“Least painful,” the Doctor commented as Rose took his hand. “Kind of enjoyed it last time, actually.”
“Ah,” Brax said, and for a moment looked between him and Rose. “The bond's strength is only determined by how much the person on the end is willing to receive it. If you do this, then you must be absolutely one hundred percent sure that when you placed that bond you really, really, really wanted it.”
“I did,” Rose told him.
“It has to be as strong now as it was when it was placed.”
“It's stronger,” Rose insisted, squeezing the Doctor's hand.
“No doubts about the bond? Not even a tiny one?”
Rose looked at the Doctor and smiled. “No. Never.”
He just grinned back, and held up his arm to be administered the poison. Brax raised the needle gun and held it in the centre of a vein.
“Remember, if you feel anything wrong, anything at all, get out,” Brax said seriously. “I'll keep you going.”
“I'm reassured,” the Doctor said, slightly brazenly.
Brax rolled his eyes, and pulled the trigger. The Doctor immediately took a sharp intake of air. Rose squeezed his hand tighter and he squeezed back, keeping it tight until it began to loosen...
“It's fast acting, and he's shut off his protection,” Brax said to Rose. “This will be quick.”
She could only nod, her mouth feeling a little dry as his eyes closed, his entire face draining to white.
“He's dyin', he's actually dyin',” Rose realised, about ready to throw up. “Oh god ...”
She had been expecting it. Of course she had. But it was so strange as something that had seemed so normal, almost jovial two minutes ago was now actually happening, and it was disturbing. He was actually dying.
The Doctor began to gasp as Brax checked his eyes.
“Pupils dilated,” Brax said.
He then began to shake, still gasping for air.
“Oh god, this was a bad idea ...” Rose realised, her eyes widening.
“Focus, Rose,” Brax urged, watching his brother carefully with a hand on his temple. “He'll be fine.”
The monitor with his heartsrate was getting slower and slower, and his skin was becoming more and more blue.
“Doctor,” she whined, squeezing his hand again. She got nothing back.
“His cerebral activity's nearly gone, he's almost completely brain-dead,” Brax muttered.
“Stop talkin',” Rose pleaded. “I can't do this.”
“Yes, you can,” Brax said urgently, grabbing her shoulders and turning her to face him, gazing into her eyes. “This is normal; this is fine. Dying is just part of the life of a Time Lord. We agreed to this. Thete wouldn't risk himself like this for something so dangerous, not with you and the tots. You just need to do your part and ...”
The heartsrate monitor flat-lined. Brax exclaimed a Gallifreyan word that sounded like he was swearing and dived to his brother.
“Rose, squeeze his hand with both of yours, tight as you can, think of how his body is!” he ordered.
She did as she was told, trying desperately not to cry. He was lying there dead in front of her...
She focused on the image of him, imagining his face, his hair, his build, his smile, his laugh, his personality, his everything. She kept going, kept gripping his hand and desperately pushing her image to him...
“It's not happening,” Brax said urgently from beside her. “Thete! Hurry up!”
Suddenly she felt his hand begin to shake in hers and she opened her eyes to find him shaking violently on the bed.
“What's happening!?” she gasped.
“He's withdrawn,” Brax realised, his eyes wide. He dived for the antidote and shot it as fast as he could into the Doctor's jerking arm, but shortly afterwards he fell completely still, still flat-lining. Rose looked at Brax in horror.
“Stand back!” Brax ordered, bursting into action.
She obediently got out of the way, her face in her hands as she stared at her now clinically dead husband through the gaps in her fingers.
She watched as Brax grabbed some alien version of defibrillators and shocked his brother over both hearts. The Doctor's body jumped in the air, but still didn't register on the monitor.
“Come on, Thete, you little plungboll,” Brax urged, pushing back the hair that had fallen in his eyes to deliver another shock.
He jerked again, but still didn't register.
“Ce'celerial-ia’afa reb ferai, Theta,” Brax urged, and shocked him for the third time. He jerked once more, and suddenly his hearts began to beat again.
Rose sagged immediately with relief, all of the muscles in her body she didn't even know had tensed relaxing so abruptly she nearly fainted. She was crying, moving forward again as Brax pulled down an oxygen mask and pulled it over Thete's face.
“He's all right,” Brax told Rose, placing his fingers on Thete's temple. “Brain activity normal.”
“I'm so sorry, I freaked out,” she sobbed, clutching the Doctor's limp hand tightly.
“It's fine,” Brax assured her.
“God that was me, wasn't it?” she whined.
“Not necessarily.”
The Doctor suddenly gasped, his eyes snapping open as he began to pant.
“Doctor,” Rose said quickly, squeezing his hand a little more. “I'm so sorry.”
“Same face?” he croaked, out of breath.
She nodded. “It's my fault ...”
“It might not have been your template,” Brax insisted. “Besides, it was our fault if it was. We didn't prepare you enough for this. Thete, what happened?”
“Something wasn't right,” the Doctor gasped, a hand on his left heart. “It didn't feel safe.”
“How so?” Brax asked.
“It's going to sound insane.”
Brax chuckled. “Insane? You? Don't be ridiculous,” he said sardonically. “What did you see?”
“It's not what I saw, it's what I didn't see,” the Doctor breathed, still holding his chest. “I could see our life together, from Henrik's to now, every detail, but there was ... I dunno,” he breathed, closing his eyes again. “It was so quick .”
“Anything is important,” Brax said seriously.
“... It was blurry. There was a blurred bit, in front of me, like something I didn't want to see. I couldn't make it out. Then there was ... It was like someone standing behind us. I could feel breath on the back of my neck.” He shuddered slightly. “I had to stop the process.”
Brax frowned, reaching for the book.
“Many colourful, well-defined images are attributed to a positive, healthy connection. Dull, uncoloured images usually indicate an unclear template. Scattered images usually indicate a weak telepathic connection. Shaking images usually indicate an illness affecting the technique. Blurry images usually indicate a hidden feeling or information, or an unclear memory. Feelings of 'another' entity usually indicate interference from a previous body or an outside presence – the most common side effect.
“Damaged images of any kind in the crossover can be caused by an instability in the bond. If any of these damages appear, the regenerating Gallifreyan must immediately withdraw. On a new attempt, uncoloured images/scattered images/feeling of 'another entity' can usually be corrected by isolating both participants together free from outside interruption to allow for a higher level of concentration. Shaking images can be corrected if the symptoms of illness are suppressed with treatment.
“Blurry images come in two forms – general blurriness or localised blurriness. General blurriness of most images cannot be corrected and may result in a partially inaccurate template. Localised blurriness indicates one specific joint memory that is unclear, and without correcting this, a safe template regeneration is not possible.”
“What does that mean?” Rose asked, frowning.
“It means we've forgotten something really important,” the Doctor muttered, glancing at Brax.
“What d’you mean?”
“There’s a shared memory we have which we’ve both forgotten.”
“Can we fix it?” she asked quickly.
“You can if you can get back this memory that's causing the blurriness,” Brax explained.
Rose nodded slowly. “How long have we got?”
“Three months at a maximum. He'll slowly started to lose his neural and motor functions, his internal organs will start to die, his muscles will start to waste and then he'll only have enough energy to breathe. He has to regenerate then, template or not, or he never will.”
Rose looked at the Doctor and swallowed, before finally nodding. “Okay. We'll find the memory.”
Brax looked between them. “I'll get you something to drink, Thete.”
“Why would we forget somethin'?” Rose asked as Brax left, genuinely confused.
“The UNIT hospital.”
“What?”
“When Leah was ill.”
“Oh ...” Rose realised. “When we woke up in the infirmary.”
The Doctor nodded sombrely. “Something terrible happened there, Rose.”
“We need to find out what it was, then.”
“Are you sure?” the Doctor wondered, concerned.
She frowned. “Why wouldn't I be?”
“We erased our own memories, Rose. To do that we must have thought that whatever happened was so awful we couldn't live with it.”
“Whatever it is, we'll cope,” Rose stated positively.
“Rose?” Jackie came into the room. “Why's he all wired up again? What's he gone and done now?”
Rose resisted the urge to laugh as she looked at the Doctor, who rolled his eyes. “Brax just checked him over.”
“Oh,” Jackie replied, blushing slightly. “Everythin' all right?”
She paused for a moment, before nodding and smiling. “Everything's fine.”
“Good,” she said. “Now come on, get up, we're goin' out.”
“Um, what?”
“Lunch of course!” she said, hands on hips.
Rose side-glanced at the Doctor still on the bed with an oxygen mask, and he nodded to confirm he was able to join.
“Where's Brax-y-thingy?” Jackie asked.
“Me?” Braxiatel asked, walking back into the room.
“Everyone's going for lunch,” Rose told him.
“Oh, have fun.”
“ Everyone,” Rose emphasised.
“... Oh,” Braxiatel realised. He and Rose both heard the Doctor's snigger. “... Why?”
“I haven't seen them for months!” Jackie said haughtily.
“... But why me?”
“You're part of the family, now!”
“Oh,” Brax said for the third time in realisation. “I suppose I am.”
He looked at the abnormally quiet Doctor, who seemed to just be enjoying his brother's awkwardness.
“Where's Tony?” Rose asked, looking around her mum.
“Got a babysitter, fifth one,” Jackie replied, sighing. “Can't take him anywhere. Now you comin' or what? I don't have any money neither so you'd better bring some.”
Rose looked at the two alien men, both clueless on matters of money. “Think we'll need to borrow off of Jack ...” she muttered. “I'll get the kids.”
“This is so human,” Braxiatel moaned as mother and daughter left.
“Did I say? Welcome to Earth,” the Doctor replied, pulling off the mask and sitting upright. “You're gonna love it.”
Brax smiled as the Doctor stood up, stumbling slightly. Brax quickly steadied him, handing him the glass of water and a purple pill.
“Extra strong painkiller,” he said quietly.
“You read my mind,” the Doctor murmured, taking the pill and downing the glass of water in one.
Brax looked at him sadly. “I'll help you find your memory.”
The Doctor shook his head, pulling on his shirt. “Thank you, but this is mine and Rose's problem.”
“I think it's everyone's problem,” Braxiatel pointed out. “Including mine. You're all I've got, Thete. I don't even have a Tardis.”
“Are you staying?”
Brax nodded. “I'm stuck here now, aren't I? I haven't got anywhere else to go. And your family is brilliant. Rose is something else. How on Gallifrey did you manage that?”
The Doctor rolled his eyes with a smirk. “I keep getting flirted with by human women. And a few human men, actually.”
“Oh?”
“William Shakespeare, you know, people like that,” he replied casually.
“I didn't know he was blind.”
The Doctor dug him in the ribs.
“Ow,” Brax said redundantly, smiling. “Thete, I'm sure you're beautiful. Now let's go and have lunch. What's lunch, anyway?”
“Oh, you've got a lot to learn,” the Doctor said, patting him on the shoulder. “This way.”
The Master was back in Daufor, sitting on his sofa staring out of the window when the doorbell rang.
He frowned a little, looking around for a moment and wondering who in the Universe would want to do that. He decided not to get up, and just continued staring out of the window.
It rang again, more insistent this time. He ignored it again.
They didn't ring again and for a moment he'd thought they'd left, until suddenly a head popped up at the window – a redheaded young man with blue eyes, waving at him. Even through a window he could smell pungent human.
The Master sighed, got up, and opened the door.
“Sorry, I'm not interested in encyclopedias, I don't want solar panels and I don't want to give you any sugar.”
He made to close the door, but the redhead held it.
“Wait,” the young man said.
“I'm very busy, if you don't mind,” the Master replied tersely, and tried to close the door again. The redhead stopped it once more.
“I'm here to help you,” the man said.
“Help?” the Master scoffed. “Oh, you're religious, aren't you?”
“No,” the redhead replied, perfectly calm. “Koschei.”
This made the Master freeze. “... How do you know that name?”
“Come with me.”
“How do you know that name?”
“You want the Doctor dead, don't you?”
The Master raised an eyebrow. “You can't be serious.”
“Deadly.”
The Master laughed. “You're dreaming, human.”
“I have a plan,” the young man said. “It would be easier if you helped me.”
The Master directed his eyes to the sky, pondering it for a moment. He clicked his tongue and bobbed his head in contemplation before he finally answered, “no.”
The redhead sighed. “I was hoping I wouldn't need to change your mind for you.”
The Master stared at him. “Is that a threat?” he asked incredulously.
“Okay, I don't have the time, I need you to work with me,” the redhead said, drew out a stun gun, and fired it straight at the Master before he had time to blink.
The Master hit the floor, unconscious. The redhead looked around the countryside of Daufor, then grabbed the Master's arm and pulled him into the house.
He shut the door behind him.