The Doctor looked at the object in front of him and let out a snort. "You called me here for this...trinket?"

He turned to Jack who had that smile on his face and he narrowed his eyes. "You didn't call me here to look at a jewellery box, did you?"

Jack held up his hands. "You got me, I was getting worried. You've been away too long."

"Wasn't any reason for being here, things have been pretty quiet. Nothing you or UNIT can't handle...so if there's nothing seriously wrong I'll be going."

He moved towards the lift but Jack stopped him. "Whoa there, at least stay overnight and let me try and buy you that drink," he said and grinned wolfishly.

The Doctor rolled his eyes as they went through the familiar routine of 'let's flirt with the Time Lord till he gives up and I get him in my bed naked'. He rather enjoyed it; not that he would ever tell Jack.

Jack grinned at his victory. "I know exactly the place...Gwen, Ianto, drinks...one hour, I'm buying!"


Several hour later one 'I'm not drunk' Time Lord supported by Jack aimed for the sofa and missed, landing on his bum and giggling at his mishap.

"You are so drunk," Jack said as he hauled the Doctor up.

"I am not drunk...fizzy...no...physically impossible for me to get drunk...Time Lords...ooh," the Doctor said as he slipped off the sofa. "I'll just sleep here."

"Don't think so, "Jack said and hauled him up again. "You can sleep in my bed."

"Oi, it wasn't that kind of drink!" the Doctor said in an indignant tone.

"To sleep it off, Doc," Jack said and had to virtually carry the Doctor down the ladder and onto his bed.

He covered him with a blanket and settled himself in the chair.

He sat and watched the Doctor and another wave of guilt washed over him. If it had been up to him he wouldn't have called, but Gwen had badgered him, saying that she felt something was wrong.

So, here he was, watching the Doctor sleep, hoping that bringing him back to Earth wouldn't be the fuse that lit the bomb and it all exploded into bloody violence.

His thoughts turned to those babies...well not babies anymore.

His spies kept him informed of their progress...they were very bright for three-year olds. Well they would be; their parents were Time Lords and two of the smartest from that race.

The girl Ashena was a talented artist and her brother Tejhan was studious and smart beyond his years and they were getting noticed.

And that worried him.

They were in danger of no longer being anonymous and that opened a new and very dangerous can of worms. If the world noticed, then the Shadow Proclamation would notice and if they noticed then the Doctor might just notice.

His head began to ache with it and he closed his eyes and fell into an uneasy sleep.


The strains of an ancient lullaby ran through his head as he walked towards the large doors.

He would sing it to his children and show then the colours that the words created in his mind.

He smiled as he opened the doors and saw the two small figures on the floor, crayons and paper scattered around them.

They both turned at his entrance and abandoned their play and ran towards him.

"Mummy!" they cried as he scooped them up.

But as he wrapped his arms around them they winked out of existence and the room turned from a beautiful nursery draped in silk to one that was mildewed and as devoid of life as a graveyard.

"No!" he screamed.


Jack fell out of the chair at the scream that came from the bed and he heard the thud of the Doctor as he fell off the bed.

It took a few seconds for Jack to come to his senses and go to the Doctor, who was on his knees and looking as startled as himself.

"Doctor?" he said, kneeling down in front of him.

The Doctor blinked and looked at Jack and said slowly. "That was...intense."

A few minute later they were in the small kitchen and Jack placed a cup of tea in front of the Doctor.

"So, bad dream, care to share?"

The Doctor let out a long breath and rubbed his eyes with his palms. "I dreamt about children, my children."

Jack tensed his pulse quickening as he waited for the Doctor to speak again.

"Thing is, it didn't look like the nursery at my home, but that's dreams for you."

The Doctor shuddered. "I haven't dreamt about my children since...well since I met Rose."

Jack sighed inwardly; old memories, he hoped.

"I've been dreaming about children for a while now," he said, shattering Jack's hopes that this was just a one-off.

"Old memories do that. Sneak up on you and bam, smack you upside the head," Jack answered, hoping to deflect the Doctor attention, but it failed.

The Doctor leant back. "They don't seem old...they seem more recent." He shook his head. "Dreams are weird like that."

Jack felt tense again and a frisson of worry crept into his mind. Was the Doctor's brain reconnecting the synapse's that had been broken by the machine? He had to suppress a shudder at the idea of those memories flooding back. If they ever did, it would mean a death sentence for everyone, even him; because he knew that the Doctor would find some way of killing him.

The Doctor changed the subject suddenly. "So Jack, since I'm here, I might as well make myself useful. That Rift Manipulator could do with a retune."


The pre-school was like any pre-school and like any place where children gathered they played and made friends that could last a lifetime.

Except for two, who kept themselves apart from the others.

The Head of the school looked out the window at the twins who were sitting on one of the benches.

"I wish they would interact with the others."

"I don't suppose it helps that they're more advanced than the other children."

The Head turned away from the window and looked at the other person. "That's why I've invited you here. I would like your professional opinion on whether they need more than we can offer here."

"Of course, have you informed their parents about you concerns?"

"I called them last night and they agree."

"Good, I've looked at their records, I see they have some sort of genetic defect...they have extra hearts?"

"Yes, but it doesn't seem to affect them."

"Do their parents suffer with the same defect?"

"No, they were adopted as babies. I can only assume it was inherited from their natural parents."

"Are they still alive?"

"No, from what I've been told, the mother died in an accident when they were only months old."

"And the father?"

"I assume he wasn't in the picture, but the records are sealed, so who knows."

"Oh well, I'll talk to them after lunch."

The twins sat facing the man as he finished his paperwork. He looked up and smiled, but they didn't smile back.

"So, Tejhan, Ashena, unusual names."

"Mummy named us," the boy said.

"Our really mummy, not the T'ara that looks after us," the girl said.

The man frowned, that was a language he'd never heard before. Perhaps it was one they'd made up...like twins sometimes did.

"Do you remember your mummy?"

"Of course and he's here, but he has to find us."

The man blinked, did the boy just say he. "You mean your father?"

The look the twins gave him made him feel like an ant under a magnifying glass.

"No, we mean our mother," they said together.


The prison held the worst offenders from over a dozen star-systems and within the prison was a section that held those that even the inmates of this prison were afraid of.

This section had been ruled by a particularly nasty piece of work...that was until he had arrived and killed him in a fair fight and then he'd taken the rest of the prison as well.

Now it was his own little world, but to his frustration he was still a prisoner...but that was about to change and he was going to get back what had been stolen from him and he would destroy anyone and anything that got in his way.

T'ara- human