Author's Note: Here's chapter 2. I'm still recovering from yesterday's episode so I'll only be posting one of the five or six chapters I've written. This was finished before the Christmas episode, which I recommend everyone watches if they haven't. Happy Christmas!


"So…" the Master attempted to make conversation. "…who's gonna kill me then? Or are you just gonna have a firing squad, and whoever's unlucky today gets the kill shot in."

"I think you mean 'lucky'," Sarah Jane pointed out.

"Nah. Whoever kills me will have hell unleashed upon them."

"What do you mean?" The Brigadier stepped forward, watching warily as the Master pulled himself up from where he'd been lying on the bed in his cell.

"You don't know Time Lords very well, do you?"

The Brigadier frowned. "What are Time Lords?"

"Time Lords is the name of the race the Doctor and he come from," Sarah Jane answered.

The Master clapped his hands together, mocking her. "Well, well, well. Points go to Miss Smith in the front row. Though I presume it's Mrs Smith now, looking at young Luke." A flash of warning shot through Sarah Jane's eyes. "Though with young people nowadays…" the Master rolled his eyes at the Brigadier. "…you never really know, do you?"

"What do you mean 'hell'?" the Brigadier asked.

The Master paused, feigning shock. "Wow, don't bother to chip in about what we're discussing at the moment."

"What. Do. You. Mean?"

"Is that meant to be scary?"

The Brigadier took and step forward, trying his best to look menacing. The effect was rather spoilt, however, by the lack of hair. "I can easily have your execution moved forward."

"How would that help anyone?" The Master seemed genuinely nonplussed. "Time Lords have time machines, as you well know."

"Who's going to rescue you?"

The Master decided that his time would be better spent arguing the point, so ignored the scathing use of the word 'you'. "Has he told you?" He glanced back and forth between Sarah Jane and the Brigadier.

"Has he told us what?"

"Hmm." The Master seemed to consider something. "I wonder whether I should reveal his most important secret now or…" he returned his attention back to them. "…would you prefer an email?"

Sarah Jane opened her mouth to reply, but just before she could, a thunder clap rang out through the room. Sarah Jane leaped to her feet. "What's that?"

"I don't know." The Brigadier spoke hurriedly into his radio. After a moment, "Miss Smith, I suggest you evacuate yourself from the premises."

"Hah! Not likely!"

"Miss Smith, you have a child to think of!"

For a moment, Sarah Jane looked as if she would continue to argue, but then she turned and ran from the room. The Master called after her. "Take good care of your hybrid freak, won't you?"

The Brigadier stepped forward, rapping his baton against the bars. "Quiet!"

The Master shrugged. "Not that I really care about you, but he would… be unhappy if you died, and I hate it when he pouts." The Master grinned. "I suggest moving to your left slightly. Otherwise you might become force shield gloop."

The Brigadierfrowned, retort ready, when the unmistakable rasp of the TARDIS cut through the air. He moved automatically away from the noise, in the same direction the Master had suggested.

A few seconds later a large blue police box solidified in the space between the end cells. The Brigadier turned away briefly to assure the two guards that had rushed in that everything was all right, and to wait outside. When he turned back, he found the TARDIS door open, and the Doctor standing in front of him. Of course, he presumed it was the Doctor, as he hadn't seen him in this regeneration before.

"Brigadier." The Doctor inclined his head.

"Doctor." He was already running through sets of possibilities that would allow him not to piss off the Doctor, but still execute the Master like the common criminal he was.

"I, um…" the Doctor waved a hand at the Master. "I would like to take that, if you please."

"Ahem!" The Master coughed loudly. The Brigadier turned towards him automatically. The Doctor ignored him. "I am not a 'that'… if you please!"

The Doctor gave a sigh, pulled his sonic screwdriver from the depths of his coat, and began to wave it at the lock of the cell door the Master was in.

"Doctor." The Brigadier reached out a hand to stop him, then thought better of it. "I must protest. This man is a criminal, and should be treated as such."

"Oh, he will," the Doctor assured him. "Only on my terms. He's my responsibility."

"He wasn't before, if I remember rightly. You allowed us to lock him up once."

"One…" The Doctor turned to the Brigadier, abandoning the door. "…don't try to make me feel guilty. I get enough of that from him." He jabbed a thumb in the Master's direction, which was met with a "yup", before the Doctor continued. "Two: yeah, I let you lock him up, but this time you want to kill him, and he's already wasted one set of regenerations because of my mistakes, and he's not about to waste another. Three: he'll be better contained with me, anyway." He turned back to the door lock. "But please, feel free to make counter points."

The Brigadier shifted uncomfortably. He didn't like the way this was going, or the way the Doctor was acting.

"Why don't you just let us kill him?" he offered weakly. He saw the Doctor's eyes darken.

"Because he's my responsibility. He's not a human, and shouldn't be treated as such."

"Are you too good for us?" The question was half meant as a joke, but the Brigadier was unprepared for the Doctor's reply.

"Yeah, we are."

"Hah!" The Master waved a finger at the Brigadier. "That showed you!"

The lock clicked open, and the Master bounded out. "Arh! Freedom! Taste that fresh air!" He took an exaggerated sniff. "Oh yeah!"

"In." The Doctor jabbed a finger towards the TARDIS. The Master went without complaint. "And don't think you can fly off," the Doctor called after him. "I've locked all the controls to isomorphic settings."

"Doctor." The Brigadier shook his head. "Why?"

"Because he's my own." The Doctor was suddenly serious. "I forgot that once. But never again. We're the only two left, and he's my only tie to Home. I won't allow him to be killed."

The Brigadier was too angry to take in the significance of these comments. "You're letting a mass murderer loose!"

"No." The Doctor looked back at the TARDIS. "I'll make sure he never kills again." He turned back to the Brigadier. "I promise. But I couldn't let you kill him, or lock him up. I know what it's like to be caged, and I wouldn't wish that on anyone."

He turned slowly, clapping a hand on the Brigadier's shoulder. "I might not be around for a while, all right, old chap. But I won't forget this planet."

"Aren't you going to help us?" the Brigadier asked, as the Doctor turned away. "After everything that's happened, who do we trust?"

"Jack and Martha," the Doctor called over his shoulder.

"Doctor, wait." The Brigadier tried to take a step forward, to the place he'd been standing before he'd heard the TARDIS, but something forced him back. He looked up to see the Doctor looking at him from the TARDIS doorway.

"Sorry," the Doctor said. "Force shield. Should dissipate in an hour or two, but I couldn't risk it." He smiled slightly. "As I said, Jack and Martha. They've been through a lot, but they remember the year, and know what to do. Also… Torchwood, but always go though Jack when it comes to them."

"What about our government? The world's in chaos."

"The world'll sort itself out. Always does." The Doctor grinned. "You should return to UNIT for a bit. Make sure everything's running smoothly. Martha's one hell of a doctor herself, so it can't hurt to hire her." He shrugged. "And…" He bit his lip. "You know your grandchildren?"

"Ben and Rachael?"

"Yeah," the Doctor nodded. "Next month, take them out of town. That old cabin down by the moors is nice this time of year. Take them on a holiday. Make them feel loved. It'd do you good to be cut off from the world after all that's gonna come your way soon."

The Brigadier nodded dumbly, watching as the Doctor smiled one final time, before disappearing inside the TARDIS, which itself soon faded from view.


As the Doctor came through the TARDIS doors, the Master grinned at him. "Thanks for the save." He clapped the Doctor on the shoulder, who offered a small smile in return, before moving around the console. "So…" The Master bounced on the balls of his feet. "Where do you drop me off?"

The Doctor looked up, a sad expression on his face. "I'm sorry, Koschei. But I don't."

The silence in the control room lasted just under a week.