"Would you like some more juice, sweetie?" asked the waitress in that high voice Tegan was starting to loathe. She refused to answer and looked down at her plate instead.
"She's shy," explained the Doctor, handing over the cup. It was plastic and colourful, with a tight lid and a bendy straw.
I'll show you shy, thought Tegan. Beside her, Nyssa passed her own cup over with a soft "Yes, please." The relentlessly smiling woman took both cups away to be refilled. As soon as she was out of earshot, Tegan asked, "Are you sure there's nothing you can do, Doctor?"
"No. At least, I haven't been able to figure anything out yet."
"I don't suppose we could re-create the thircum...circumta...circumstances...that caused this in the first place?" asked Nyssa, stumbling over her words.
The Doctor shook his head. "It's too dangerous."
"You could try growing up," said Turlough, idly jabbing at his spaghetti with a fork.
"Shut up," said Tegan. She bit the head off of a dinosaur-shaped chicken nugget. Chomp-o-Saurus Bites, the menu had called them. She'd only pointed when it was her turn to order; it was much too whimsical.
"Well," began the Doctor, "that is a possibility."
"Are you serious?!"
Their problems had started when they'd tried to leave the warp ellipse and had started rapidly ageing. Whatever malady had infected Mawdryn had infected them as well. They had no choice but to return to the space station, or else Nyssa and Tegan would age right out of existence in one direction or another.
They'd aged the other direction when they landed again. When the Brigadier encountered his younger self, it had released a massive discharge of energy. Thanks to that, that they could now leave in the TARDIS without any problems.
Unfortunately, it left Nyssa and Tegan stuck somewhere around the age of three.
"Ah..." The Doctor tried to phrase his next statement carefully. Tegan could look oddly intimidating even in a booster seat. "The thing is, you're both technically cured. You're not in any sort of stasis, so...there's nothing to prevent you both from simply...growing up the usual way."
He was spared the outburst when the waitress came back with the drinks. Tegan looked down and pretended to be interested in colouring her place mat so she wouldn't have to talk to the other woman. (In an effort to be inclusive, the Doctor had asked for crayons for four, but he was the only one who bothered colouring anything.)
"Doctor, are you sure there's no way to accelerate the process?" asked Nyssa once the waitress had fluttered off.
"I've tried everything I can think of that won't kill you horribly. We'll just have to be patient-"
"Patient?!" exclaimed Tegan. "For how long? Twenty years?"
"But you'd be out of childhood well before that."
"She's right, Doctor," said Nyssa, "It's just too long to wait! Even after a decade, we won't have reached our full heights and we'd still be considered children."
"Bad enough you made us hold your hands on the walk here," Tegan muttered.
The Doctor sat up. "That was for your own safety. You might have gotten lost in a crowd like that."
"Exactly," said Nyssa. "and that was just walking down the street. What are we going to do when it really gets dangerous?"
"Well...we could always stay in the TARDIS."
His suggestion was met with vocal displeasure from the girls. "No, you don't want to do that," said Turlough. "You don't want to stay cooped up in the ship for years. It'll be bad enough when they hit puberty again." Tegan gave him a Look, but quietly admitted that he had a point. Some things just weren't worth experiencing twice.
"Look on the bright side, then," continued the Doctor. "Some people would kill for a second childhood. Think of it as an opportunity."
"Doctor, my shoes have got Velcro on," Tegan said peevishly.
There hadn't been much for them to choose from in the TARDIS wardrobe, as the Doctor didn't normally travel with such small companions. All they'd been able to find was a pair of purple coveralls for Nyssa, and a green jumper and leggings for Tegan. The coveralls had a friendly yellow duck on the front. Tegan's jumper had a kitty.
"Tegan..."
"Now Doctor," began Turlough, "she probably just cranky because it's past her bedtime."
"That's enough out of you!" she snapped.
He laughed, and may or may not have made one more remark which may or may not have resulted in a crayon fight. While it made Tegan feel better, it didn't endear themselves to the other diners and after the owner of the restaurant had a word with the Doctor, they decided it was time to go.
"Doctor," asked Nyssa as she picked a crayon out of her hair, "are you sure there's no way to accelerate the process?"