Romana looked at Braxiatel solemnly who held his wriggling daughter in his arms. Romana had noticed that Thyra liked to wriggle around a lot, not liking to stay put for longer than necessary and she walked over to the TARDIS consoles, setting the TARDIS into flight. She wondered if it was because of the state she had found her in that caused to her to wriggle for Romana remembered finding her covered in the remaining limbs of her dead sisters and shattering glass.
"Doctor." Thyra grinned mischievously, snuggling Mr Snuffles tightly as she curled into her father's chest. She liked it when her father or mother held her. It made her feel safe and warm, loved and protected. Auntie Martha and Uncle Jack would hold her but they weren't there now which made Thyra very sad. But she could sense someone coming into the room. Could sense a Doctor appearing soon and she grinned. Auntie TARDIS was doing one of her clever tricks again. Thyra noticed that the TARDIS liked to show off it's special powers to her such as making her ceiling covered in stars and soothing noises. She would laugh in delight every time she did that.
"What?" Braxiatel blinked in surprise, looking at his daughter. Did she really just say what he thought he heard? Doctor?
"Doctor!"
Suddenly, as Romana pulled the handbrake on the console, the TARDIS began to spin out of control. Braxiatel lurched forwards, keeping tight hold of Thyra and Romana fell to the floor, looking flabbergasted at the TARDIS console room as alarms blared out.
"Auntie TARDIS is not happy." Thyra chirped, squirming slightly.
"No she's not." Romana frowned in agreement as she pulled herself upwards. "Hey now, what's the matter with you old girl? Are you still recovering from the paradox machine?" She asked, trying to soothe the TARDIS when suddenly she bumped into a man with brown curly hair and a very long multi-coloured scarf. "Sorry." Romana commented, thinking it was Braxiatel.
"So sorry." The man replied in agreement and Braxiatel almost dropped Thyra for he couldn't believe who it was. It couldn't be him. But yet, there he was. Alive and well way before the Time War even happened. They stepped around each other, continuing fiddling with the TARDIS console with Thyra giggling at their obliviousness when they suddenly stopped and took a look at each other, Romana and the Doctor both stared at each other with wide eyes. "What?!"
"It can't be." Romana breathed in awe. It was the Doctor. Her doctor with the curly hair, the scarf and the battered hat. The one with the toothy grin. The one with the cheeky attitude. The one that she used to have feelings for all those centuries ago. The one she knew best. It was her Doctor but how was that possible? "It's you. It's really you!"
"It really is him." Braxiatel commented, walking over to Romana with Thyra. "Though I have to say, if we don't sort this problem out soon the universe might explode in five minutes." He glanced at his watch.
"Who are you three?" The fourth Doctor asked, eyeing them before offering Thyra a bag of jelly babies which she accepted, helping herself and Braxiatel shook his head fondly. The Doctor did have a craving for jelly babies in his fourth body. "Did the Council send you? What for this time? If you must know, I am travelling with Romana so she's keeping me in check."
"Doctor, it's us!" Romana exclaimed desperatly, wondering where about this Doctor came from in their time line. But he mentioned her. So he must be travelling with either her first or second incarnation. Not too long before she left him to help out on E-Space. "Don't you see? It's me!"
"Is there something wrong with you?" The Doctor asked rudely, before he walked around the console fiddling with the buttons. He knew who they were. He knew exactly which Time-Lord's that were in his TARDIS but not the young time-tot that looked like she recently had finished looming but he wanted nothing to do with them. He had to get out of here. He didn't want to speak to his brother otherwise what would have been the point of the whole running away from home? "What have you done to my TARDIS?! You've changed the desktop theme to coral haven't you? I don't like it." He pointed his index finger at them accusingly and Thyra giggled, finding him very funny.
Romana looked affronted. She swore an oath to the Doctor that she'll protect the TARDIS and now he was complaining about her choice in desktop theme? The nerve of the man! "I have you know that I let the TARDIS chose the desktop theme herself thank you very much!"
"Doctor, you idiotic fool." Braxiatel growled and he walked closer to the Doctor, feeling slightly frustrated at his younger brother. Rassilon, he forgot how annoying he could be at times and how he could press all of his buttons just to annoy him. "Just stop for one nanosecond and look at us!" He snapped.
The fourth Doctor actually listened to him and he stopped fiddling with the consoles and looked at them properly. Studying both of their faces and his eyes widened as he realized who they were. "Oh no." He breathed.
"Yes." Braxiatel smirked.
"But we're breaking the laws of time here! Romana-well, my Romana will surely send me into my next regeneration and-" The Doctor babbled when suddenly an alarm sounded. "That's an alert. Level-"
"Level Five. Which means it indicates a temporal collision." Braxiatel handed Thyra to Romana and began to help his brother. He wanted to spend as much time as he could around him, knowing he might fade away any second. "Our two TARDISes have merged."
"Could blow a hole in the space time continuum the size of-" The Doctor babbled and Braxiatel nonchalantly pushed the monitor on the console around for his brother to have a look at. His brother made disgruntled noises and removed his hat, scratching at his hair. "The size of Belgium. Well, that's not very exciting isn't it?!"
"Need this?" Braxiatel offered him his sonic pen.
The Doctor briefly looked up before raising an eyebrow. He always knew his brother had a weakness for fine objects and this sonic pen was certainly one of them. "A sonic pen? Really dear brother? Nothing can beat my sonic screwdriver I assure you." The Doctor told him before returning to his TARDIS console room, flipping his long scarf to the side.
"Men and their toys." Romana shook her head amusedly at them before looking at her daughter who she rested on her hip. "What do you think Thyra?"
"Father can stop anything." Thyra smiled widely.
Braxiatel couldn't help but feel smugged about that comment. Already in the short amount of time since Thyra had finished looming, his daughter already had faith in him. "That I can."
"Oh little one, you do not know your father as well as I do!" The Doctor called as he soniced the controls, typing in some codes as Braxiatel helped him. "He's the most annoying older brother in the entire universe!"
"I am not!" Braxiatel looked affronted, glaring at his younger brother. "You're the most annoying little brother in the universe. The amount of times I caught you in trouble at our House with you trying to screw me up! All those experiments you did that caused our father to be angry. You were the one to destroy my notes when I was at home! The amount of times I have to cover your petty trails-" He was about to rant on angrily but the Cloister bell sounded throughout the TARDIS, silencing him and the brothers gazed around.
"The Clositer Bell." Romana breathed before glaring at the men. "Now you better do something about this. Two of the same TARDISes in the same place is breaking one of the major laws of time. If we do not stop this now, we are going to be creating a black hole that is strong enough to swallow the entire universe and Gallifrey forbid, I will throw you two in there if you do not do something quickly to resolve this!"
Braxiatel looked sheepish this time. "I do not normally admit that's it's my fault but this time I will." He wanted to set a good example for Thyra, admitting it was his fault rather than lie about it. He did not want Thyra to become a liar. Not like him. "We were rebuilding the TARDIS before you arrived and I forgot to put the shields back up because we were saying goodbye to a dear friend-"
"Auntie Martha!" Thyra corrected him and Romana smiled brightly at the comment.
Braxiatel chuckled. "All right, Auntie Martha. But we know how to reverse this don't we my dear?" He asked Romana. He wanted to prove to not only Thyra, but to his brother that he could resolve this. That he had changed since his Collection. That he can be a hero if he chose to be and that he wasn't always the cold and manipulative man that the Doctor knew.
Romana was about to reply but the Doctor cut her off. Romana forgotten how her Doctor would often do that. He could be incredibly rude at times. "No we'll do it my way. I know the exact way to deal with this and it's rather more exciting! We're going to vent the thermal buffer, flooring the helmic regulator and just to finish off, let's fry those Zeiton crystals!" He grinned madly at them, a wicked gleam in his eyes.
Romana hugged Thyra closer to her. That was an extremely dangerous plan! She couldn't do that and put her daughter's life on the line The Doctor's plan was incredibly dangerous for it meant the TARDIS exploding. She didn't want that. Her daughter was still so young! She didn't want her daughter to feel her first explosion at the age of two days old! "Doctor! How can you be so selfish?! My daughter is only two days old! I can't risk loosing her like this!"
"Please brother, think about this clearly." Braxiatel tried to reason with his brother, pinching the bridge of his nose. His brother could be very trying at times. "Think of our daughter safety!"
But the Doctor wasn't listening and he pulled a lever and Romana and Braxiatel looked at each other, the colour on drained from their faces and Thyra whimpered as there was a bright white light surrounding the room with a loud bang before the TARDIS began to fly normally once more. The Doctor gave a low whistle of approval, raising his hat towards Thyra's direction. "Supernova and black hole at the exact same instant. Cancels out implosion-" He was about to continue but Romana stormed her way over to him and slapped him around the cheek with her spare hand, looking furious at him. Braxiatel smirked as the Doctor looked at her with a stunned expression on his face, rubbing his sore cheek. "Ow! Romana!"
"That was for putting my daughter's life at risk!" She seethed and she slapped him once more, this time on the opposite cheek. "And this is for the future!" She slapped him the second time for the fact he tricked her to leaving her people behind. But in a way, she understood now. Understood why the Doctor tricked her because if he didn't, Thyra wouldn't have been born. She wouldn't have rescued Braxiatel. She wouldn't have met Martha but it still hurt her for having to leave her people behind and watch them burn before her eyes and she could do nothing about it. She would always be loyal to her people. Always.
The Doctor blinked before wincing slightly. It must be bad for what he has done in the future to make Romana slap him twice. He was not looking forward to whatever he did to wrong Romana. "For the future? Okay, I take it something that I haven't done yet. I'm not looking forward to that."
"You shouldn't." Romana commented bitterly before resting her head against his, closing her eyes softly. "You shouldn't."
Despite the Doctor being an annoying brother and nearly putting their daughter's life at risk, Braxiatel walked up to them and rested a hand on his shoulder. The Doctor couldn't help but feel something terribly wrong about this whole ordeal. "If you're both in my TARDIS... then where am I then?" The Doctor asked softly. He had noticed that but didn't want to say anything. This was his TARDIS even if Romana had let the TARDIS change it's own desktop theme. But this was in his TARDIS future! Shouldn't he be here as well at least? Not just Romana, his terrible older brother and their daughter. Wait, daughter?! He was an uncle now?!
Braxiatel shook his head. "Please brother, do not ask us for you know we cannot tell you. We've been through so much already. Too much." He sighed. "Too much."
Thyra snuggled deeper into her mother's chest, liking the the feel of the family embrace. "Mother, I want my hug!" She pouted.
Romana laughed softly and let go of the Doctor before hugging her daughter and kissing her cheek. "More hugs all ready Thyra? What am I to do with you?"
"Thyra? What a beautiful name." The Doctor told her approvingly and began routing his pockets for another bag of jelly babies when an another alarm sound. The four Time-Lord's looked around the TARDIS before looking at each other sadly once more, knowing that it was their time to say goodbye. The Doctor handed Thyra another bag of jelly babies which made Romana roll her eyes fondly as Thyra began to help herself once more. Thyra stated that the red ones were her favourite.
"It's time for you to go dear brother." Braxiatel commented softly, knowing Romana and the Doctor were both avoiding the statement for neither of them wanted to say goodbye. "Where are you now?"
"Yes, where about are you? Have you found all the Keys to Time yet or have we done Paris?" Romana asked, remembering all her adventures from long ago with the Doctor. She was so young then.
"Well we've just come back from Skaro. You're first trip in your second body." The fourth Doctor told her and Romana winced, remembering how the Daleks nearly made her a slave then. Again. "How about you two? Where are you from?"
Romana and Braxiatel glanced at one another. "Well we've just spent a hellish year with the Master." She pointed to her face and Thyra before covering her daughter's ears. One day Romana would tell her the full story but right now she was too young to hear it. "He captured us and made us prisoners and forced myself and Braxiatel to loom. Thyra was the only survivor of his massacre."
The Doctor growled angrily, now understanding why she had the scar upon her head. He thought there was something strange about Romana's hair but he didn't want to say anything for fear of being slapped again. He noticed the scar upon the top of her head and the scar across Thyra's left eye. The Master. The amount of times that the Doctor has stopped him, he was always going to come back more insane and evil than before wasn't he? Didn't he ever stop even with the drumming noise inside his head? "How many did you loom?"
"100 in total. 99 all dead." Braxiatel replied quietly, his eyes downcast.
The fourth Doctor squeezed his brother hands gently, feeling remorse for his brother. "I'm sorry brother." And he was. He was truly sorry for what the Master had done to them. Whilst the Doctor may never liked his people, Braxiatel and Romana were family to him, the only family he could ever truly get along decently with. He was about to stroke Thyra's head when he felt himself fading completely but Braxiatel quickly flipped a switch and brought him back.
"I can't let you leave without saying goodbye." Braxiatel commented and he couldn't. This was his only chance and he wasn't about to let it go to waste. "Never had the chance to say it in my past and your future but now this is only chance I will get. But now I will. I will say it when I have the chance. Whilst we'll all have the chance." He embraced his brother once more and his brother held him tightly, not wanting to let go. "Goodbye brother."
"Goodbye brother dear." The Doctor replied, before letting go of Braxiatel and he looked over towards Romana and Thyra. The Doctor lifted up his hat and whistled at them, making Thyra giggle and she cuddle Mr Snuffles as he funny faces. "Keep tight hold of that daughter of yours. I think she's something really special."
"You think?" Romana beamed with pride.
"I don't think. I know." He tapped his finger on the nose, a knowing look in his eyes.
Romana held Braxiatel's hand. "Give all our love to long ago." She told him, meaning Gallifrey. Braxiatel was saying goodbye to his brother; Romana was saying goodbye to Gallifrey for the final time.
The Doctor nodded in understanding before lifting his hat off his head once more with a solemn look on his face as he fades away completely. "Oh and brother of mine, do remember to put the shields up will you this time will you? I would hate for something terrible to happen to my dear TARDIS." The Doctor shouted before his voice faded away completely.
Romana put Thrya in her crib, letting her play with Mr Snuffles whilst eating the jelly babies that the Doctor gave her happily as Braxiatel made his way to the console to put the shields back up and he pressed a button when all three Time-Lord's heard a loud blast of a ships horn and Braxiatel was sent flying, Romana quickly shielding Thyra from the shredded bits of wood when they turned around to see a ship stuck between the TARDIS.
"Romana! Thyra! Are you two all right?" Braxiatel coughed, clearing away the dust before scrambling back up to his feet and making his way over to them, worrying over their safety.
Thyra began to cry, not liking the sudden loud explosion or the loud blast of horn coming from the ship and Romana quickly picked her up, trying to calm down her daughter. "We're fine. Unhurt but Thyra's just in shock." Thyra cried even more, wriggling around in her mother's arm and her left eye went slightly wild, looking frightened.
Braxiatel cleared up most of the smoke with the TARDIS's fan before he made his way over to a life preserver and turned it over, his eyes widening as he realized which ship crashed into the TARDIS. The Titanic. How was that possible? How could the Titanic crash into their ship? "But that's impossible." He breathed.
"Brax?" Romana asked cautiously and she carefully made her way over to Braxiatel who was too busy staring at the name of the ship. "Brax, what-oh." Her eyes widening as she realized what he was staring at. "Oh."
"Oh indeed." He nodded in agreement.
They had crashed into the Titanic and there was nothing they could do about it.