AN: So, here's the next chapter! This one is just to kind of fill in background information, why the Rani's chasing them, how the Master and Thief got separated, etc. Thanks to everyone who left a review, especially rocketshipsandrayguns as one of your reviews gave me an idea for why the Rani's chasing them... but shush, spoilers! Hope you enjoy it.

The TARDIS was silent at last, floating aimlessly in the Time Vortex. Almost all of her passengers were asleep, the Time Lord's worn out from trying to pilot her away from the Rani's ship and Clara was sleeping simply because humans needed to sleep so much more than Time Lord's. The TARDIS was thinking about redesigning her interior (again) because she was bored when she heard a mind reaching for help. It was the little Time Lord, the one they called Thief. She was dreaming. A nightmare. The TARDIS wanted to help, but she couldn't, the little one wouldn't let her into her mind. So instead she reached for the mind of the other Time Lord, the one who was friends with her thief. Someone had to help the little one with her nightmares.

Father looks down at me and I can tell that he's scared. Not for himself, he has a plan for getting away from the other's, but he's worried for me. "You'll be alright with Theta, yeah?" he asks. I nod, trying to smile. Theta is Father's friend's nickname. His name in the Academy was Theta Sigma, but Father says that I should call him Doctor as that's the name he chose.

"What about you?" I ask.

"Don't worry about me," he says. "I'll be fine."

"Promise?"

"I promise." He leads me over to where the Doctor is waiting. The Doctor is planning to run away with his granddaughter, who I'm supposed to call Susan. He says something I can't hear to the Doctor, and then he looks at me. "You be good for the Doctor, yeah? And I'll join you when I can."

"Okay."

"See you later, Thief."

"See you later Father." I follow the Doctor and Susan, and we're almost at their TARDIS when it happens. Three other TARDISes appear, and I wince when I hear their songs in my head. They're not nice. All they sing about is death and destruction and war, not the joys of the universe like the Doctor's TARDIS does. I don't think it will be a good idea for Father to go inside one of them. I start to head back towards Father, to warn him, because he can't hear the TARDISes sing, but Susan grabs my hand.

"No Thief, you have to come with us." I turn to argue with her, but then I feel it. Someone's in Father's mind! They're changing him, turning him bad. In my mind's eye, I see what Father will do now they've changed him, I see all the people who will die, all the time's he'll have to fight the Doctor.

And then I see him die.

"No! Father!" I don't even realise I'm screaming until Susan asks me what's wrong. I ignore her and turn to run to Father, but then the Doctor takes my other hand.

"Come along Thief," he says sadly. "There's nothing we can do for your Father now." I stare at him, and I realise that he saw it to, what they did to Father, and I know, I just know that they'll pay for it, one day. So I follow the Doctor and Susan into the TARDIS, not looking back because I don't want to see what they've done to him. But in my mind, I still cry for my Father. Father, please Father, come back to me. Come find me. As the TARDIS de-materialises, I can hear in my head the songs of the wrong TARDISes, and then Father's TARDIS joins in, and I cry as I realise they've torn my family apart.

The Master woke with a start when he felt the TARDIS in his head. It was something about Thief, but it was hard to comprehend, as no four dimensional creature can ever really understand an eleven dimensional one. He wandered down the hallways looking for Thief's bedroom, when he bumped into Clara. "Sorry," he said, steadying her. "I should watch where I'm walking."

"That's all right," Clara said. "I was walking too fast."

"What are you doing up anyway?" the Master asked. "I thought humans had to sleep more than Time Lords."

"We do, but I was woken up by the TARDIS. Something about Thief. She seemed to think I could help."

"Me too." He would've asked her if she knew where Thief's room was when he heard the screams. The drums in his head roared, and all he could think of was that the Rani had somehow found a way onto the TARDIS. He raced through the corridor's, Clara behind him, and when he reached Thief's room he flung the door open, a bad habit he'd picked up from the Doctor as he never bothered to knock. He paused, confused. He'd been expecting to find the Rani, but no. Thief seemed to be asleep, her eyes screwed up and tears leaking down her cheeks. A nightmare, the Master realised. She screamed again and the Master moved forwards to try and wake her up, it broke his hearts to see her like that.

"Thief," he said. "Thief it's okay, I'm here. It's just a dream, Thief, wake up." She woke with a start, and then threw her arms around his neck, hugging him.

"I was so scared, Father," she said, speaking in Gallifreyan automatically. "You were gone and I was so scared."

"It was just a dream Thief." An idea struck him and he stood up. Awkwardly, as Thief was still hanging on round his neck, but he stood up. "Come on, let's go to the kitchen and have a midnight snack, that'll make you feel better."

The three of them were walking down the corridor's, Thief running ahead to see if she could find the kitchen. "She seems so much younger now," Clara said, watching her.

"She is. On Gallifrey she'd be little more than a child, and every so often it shows. She grew up in your world, so she thinks of herself as almost an adult, but on the TARDIS she can become a child again."

"I've found the kitchen!" Thief cried, poking her head back round the corner. "One of them anyway."

They were sat at the kitchen table when Thief asked a question that had been bugging her for a while. "Father?"

"Yes Thief?"

"Why does the Rani hate me so much? Whenever she spoke to me, she seemed to really really hate me."

"Ah," the Master said. "That would be my fault." Clara and Thief looked at him expectantly and he sighed. "When we were younger, the Doctor, the Rani and I were great friends, but the Doctor had this habit of wandering off, so quite often it was just the Rani and I. She loved me, and made no effort to hide her affection. I didn't really know what to do, so I just ignored it and tried to continue being her friend. When we left the Academy, we lost touch, and I eventually married another woman. I had completely forgotten the Rani's affection for me, so I was surprised when I got a very nasty letter on my wedding day. She'd always been very possessive of me, and she got very jealous if I showed an interest in other girls, so when I got married to a different woman it turned her love to hatred. Then you were loomed, Thief, and it was even worse. That's why she was calling for my execution, because she hated me so much."

"She's pursuing us all over time and space because she loved you and you didn't love her back and married someone else?" Clara asked sceptically.

"Yeah."

"Talk about jealous." A slight snore interrupted them, and they turned to see Thief asleep with her head on the table. The Master grinned.

"Hot milk and cookies, works a charm." He stood and picked Thief up easily. He headed to the door and then paused. "Uh, Clara, could you open the door for me please?" She laughed and got up.

"How did you know that the milk and cookies would send her back off to sleep?" Clara asked as they walked down the corridor.

"It always has," the Master said. "When she was little and didn't want to go to bed, I'd give her some milk and cookies and she'd be asleep in seconds. It's a weakness of that body, so I'm glad she hasn't regenerated yet, or it wouldn't work."

When they got to Thief's bedroom, the Master laid her back down on the bed and tucked her in. "Sweet dreams Thief," he said softly.