A little story that goes between chapter 29 and 30 of Help! form Jeremy's POV. A little chat between him and Francine about the Doctor and the Master and the conversation between the Doctor and Francine in chpter 29 of Help!

After Thoughts

He wasn't expecting a call, so was surprised when the phone rang. Thankfully, he wasn't busy right then, so he answered it, curious as always as to whom it was on the other line.

He was even more surprised when he found it to be Francine. Francine hadn't called him on his mobile in months.

"Francine. How are you?"

"Hello, Jeremy. I'm...a bit confused."

He sat down on his chair, got comfortable, and poured himself a glass of water. "Oh? Confused about what?"

"I just left the TARDIS not long ago, after finding the Doctor. We talked a bit about the Master and who was to blame for it."

Jeremy closed his eyes and sighed. He had gone through this with her quite a few times, but the Doctor didn't know that. He hoped that this slip wasn't too bad. "Who did he say was to blame?"

"He said that if I was to blame, then so was he, Martha, Jack and the TARDIS. That if I was, then we all were. I asked him if I should blame him for it. He shook his head and said that no one was at fault, that it would have happened regardless of the information I gave the Master. He has every right to blame me for it, or himself. And he doesn't blame anyone. How can he not blame anyone?"

Jeremy couldn't help but smile at that bit of information. He knew the Doctor could be forgiving, that the Doctor was loving by nature, even if he showed that in different ways during different incarnations and sometimes not very well. He hadn't fully blamed anyone for what happened to him on Midnight, and he didn't blame anyone for what happened with the Master. Yet he blames himself for smaller things. Like Martha and her feelings towards him.

He probably blamed himself for the Time War he brings up all the time, but refuses to talk about. It would make a lot of sense if he did. It was going to take a lot to get that story out of him.

"That's good, Francine. It sounds like he was trying to tell you that there is no one to blame. And if there is someone to blame, it would be more than one person, and you all were to blame. It sounds like he knew what he was talking about."

"I asked him why he forgave the Master and didn't want him dead like the rest of us did," she blurted out after he had finished his last sentence and he was momentarily taken aback. She had asked him that? It was not only very personal to the Doctor, but a subject that probably hurt him like hell. Losing the only other of his kind like that must have been just as hard as the War itself.

"Did he give you a reply?"

Francine was quiet for a few moments, before sighing. "Yes. In short, he said it was because he loved the Master."

"In short?"

He heard her sigh loudly. "He gave me an example I might understand as to how he felt about the whole thing...involving Martha."

Jeremy sunk further into his chair, and frowned. "That example he gave you, it upset you."

"Yes it did. I don't even want to imagine something like that actually happening."

Rubbing his forehead, he bit back a sigh of his own. "What did he say?"

She was quiet for a few more seconds before asking in a quiet voice "Am I allowed to tell you that? Isn't it breaking his privacy or something?"

"This isn't him on the phone right now, it is you, and your feelings are what matters to me at the moment. I'll tell him you told me if you want me to, and I'll deal with how he handles that if it happens. I'll keep this as open and as non hurtful to the both of you as I can. Now, what did he say?"

He was being a bit pushy, but sometimes it was the only way he got an answer from this particular woman. She could be very stubborn when it came to certain things, especially if it involved any of her three children.

"He told me to imagine Martha going down to Earth not to help and talk to people, but to kill them instead. If I could have been able to point that gun at her when she got back on board and kill her in cold blood. That if there was a place she'd be able to be kept safe and out of harm's way, and I'd be able to visit her every day would I prefer that."

Jeremy closed his eyes and let his breath out slowly, and silently cursed the Doctor for that. "Did you answer?"

"I said I would have preferred to have kept her somewhere safe, because regardless I wouldn't be able to kill her. She's my daughter! Why did he ask me that?!"

Sipping his water, Jeremy thought about that for a few minutes, making sure that Francine knew he was still on the line every now and then to let her know he was thinking that over from what he knew of the Doctor.

"Francine, are you still there?"

"Yes."

"Well, from what I know of the man I'd say that the answer is a bit more complex than it seems. The Doctor and the Master had been enemies for quite a while. But, at the same time, they were friends. Or at least used to be. Best friends, I'd say. And, as such, like he told you, he loved the Master. I don't think either of them would have had many friends, not of their own kind anyway. When you only have a small group of friends, you tend to cling sometimes. The Doctor probably never quite knew why they were enemies, though it seems that they were always getting on each other's nerves."

"But why did he ask me? He knows I wouldn't do anything to hurt my children!"

Jeremy nodded at that, even though she couldn't see the gesture. "And I think that's the reason why. I don't think he could have killed the Master, not even after all he had done, because he still remembers him as a good friend. He hasn't ever wanted him dead. A way to stop him from being the way he was, but never to kill him. He wanted to keep him safe and secure and in a place he could talk to him. Just like you would want to do if, hypothetically, what the Master did, Martha had done instead. He was trying to get you to understand how he felt."

There was silence for a few seconds while Francine processed that. He heard her as she sighed loudly once again. "Do you think it's wrong that I wanted him dead? The Master I mean, not the Doctor."

"I think that you went through an extremely stressful year, along with the rest of your family, and as a result, you wanted to harm the one that had put you through that pain. It's a normal reaction, Francine."

She sighed again, this time softly, so he almost didn't hear. This was a topic of discussion they'd been through quite a bit, about whether she was wrong or not for wanting the Master dead. That she hadn't pulled the trigger on the gun herself showed that she wasn't a bad person, but she still had a bit of a hard time understanding that.

"Do you think it was right that the Doctor told me that stuff?" she asked, being a bit more informal than she normally was.

"I think it's important that you understand how he feels as well. Perhaps you should invite him to one of your family sessions. It might help him a bit as well. And he was part of events, and he can understand along with the rest of you."

She was silent for a while, before she answered with a short "Yes...maybe."

Jeremy nodded even though he knew she wouldn't be able to see and smiled. If anything, though the Doctor probably had confused her more than anything to start off with, it's possible what he had said would help Francine with recovering a bit more from what had happened to her and her family on the Valiant.

The Doctor was doing what his name suggested, trying to help someone.

Jeremy put his mobile down when the phone on the other end was hung up (no goodbye, though he doubted it was Francine being rude) and finished off his water. If there was one thing he needed to get the Doctor to understand, it was that he couldn't help in every situation. And he wasn't always there.

Francine knew that. She had to live with it and the consequences for the rest of her life.

He'd do his best to help the both of them.