AN: Hi, sorry for not updating for so long, and I know this chapter's a bit short, but i have had literally tons of homework at the moment, and unfortunately fanfiction has had to take a back seat :(
Thankfully, school breaks up in three and a half school days (not that that I'm counting or anything) so the next chapter should be up some time soon. Until then, enjoy!
It's not easy, being a father again after all these years, the Master mused. As far as I'm concerned, Thief's still a child, but she's been fending for herself for years, she's not a child anymore. Then something rather strange occurred to him. He went looking for the Doctor.
The Doctor was in the library, chatting with Clara. "Where's Thief?" the Master asked. The Doctor shrugged.
"In the kitchen, trying to work the toaster," Clara informed him. He nodded.
"I've been thinking..." he began.
"Tell me something I don't already know," the Doctor muttered. After glaring at him to make him shut up, the Master continued.
"As I was saying... I've been thinking. Thief's been living on her own for a while. Right?" They both nodded. "With little previous knowledge of the planet she was living on. Right?"
"Right."
"And no prior knowledge of any allergies, or anything poisonous that would force her to regenerate, right?" The Doctor's eyes widened, he'd seen where this was going.
"Right."
"So, how come she's still wearing the same body?"
"She's never regenerated."
"I think I'm missing something," Clara confessed.
"What they're getting at," Thief said from the doorway. "Is that when most young Time Lords are forced to live on a planet they don't know anything about they manage to poison themselves in the first five minutes and then they're forced to regenerate." She munched on an apple.
"So why didn't it happen to you?" Clara asked. Thief shrugged.
"Just lucky, I guess." She looked at the Doctor. "You're toaster's useless. There's nowhere to put the bread."
The Master was in the garden, standing on a balcony and looking out at the exotic plants when the Doctor found him. "Clara and Thief are cooking dinner."
"Not hungry."
"You ought to eat something, Koschei. Not even Time Lords can go forever without eating."
"Still not hungry." The Doctor sighed and leant against the railing. The Master continued to look out at the garden and he occasionally tapped his fingers in a pattern of four.
"What's wrong, Master?" The Doctor asked finally.
"Thief."
"Uh... come again?"
"How am I supposed to be a father again after all this time? And I wish the drums would make up their mind!"
"What do you mean?"
"Well they're loud and then soft and then loud again. It doesn't make sense."
"Of course it does. It responds to your emotions, Koschei. When you're angry or sad or depressed they get louder and when you're happy they get softer." The Master was silent for a moment.
"Huh. I never thought of it like that." The Doctor rolled his eyes.
"You wouldn't. Come on. I'm starving."
When they got to the kitchen, Clara was chatting quite happily to Thief. "Why do they call you Thief?" she asked.
"When we're initiated to go into the academy, we have to look into the untempered schism. Some go mad." She points to the Master. "Some run away." She points to the Doctor. "And some get inspired." She points to herself. "When I looked into the schism, I could see time. How it moved and flowed. I could see how to step out of time, how to bend it to my will. That's why Father sent me away from Gallifrey at the beginning of the Time War, he was afraid they would use me as a weapon against the Daleks."
"Why?" Thief grinned and twirled the Doctor's sonic screwdriver between her fingers.
"It makes me an excellent Thief, because even the most sophisticated equipment can't detect me."
The oven beeped. "Dinner's ready!" Clara called.
"No it isn't," Thief said, frowning. "That was the TARDIS." No sooner had the words left her mouth then they were flung across the room.
Dinner forgotten, the four of them raced to the console room. The Doctor grabbed the scanner.
"What's going on?" Clara yelled over the noise of the TARDIS.
"Someone's after us!" The Doctor cried. "I think it's the Rani!"
The Master scowled. "You should have let me finish her when I had the chance. I knew she would try something like this!"
"If we can get far enough into the Time Vortex we should be safe," Thief shouted. "Her ship isn't a TARDIS, it won't be able to follow us."
"Right!" The Doctor clapped his hands together. "Master, Thief, give me a hand, between us we should be able to pilot her properly."
Thief frowned. "Don't you normally need six pilots to fly a TARDIS?"
The Master snorted. "Since when has that stopped him? You may want to hang onto something, Clara," he added. "If I know the Doctor, this ride's about to get bumpy!"
