The Doctor followed Crusher into her office about six hours later. Crusher went behind her desk, the Doctor in front, and both collapsed into a chair and sighed.

"I haven't been that busy since I saved the Titanic," the Doctor remarked.

"You saved the lives of so many people today, Doctor," Crusher said, not hearing his comment. "You have skills I have never seen and worked like someone…" She giggled tiredly. "Like someone not of our universe." She closed her eyes and relaxed. Then her brows furrowed. "Did you say you saved the Titanic? The actual Titanic?"

"Depends on how you define 'actual' I suppose. I saved an intergalactic cruise ship named Titanic."

And with that they both started laughing like morons, exhausted, sweaty morons.

"Aw, isn't that precious?"

The Doctor grimaced. "Please, Q, can we deal with this tomorrow?"

Q flashed into the corner of the office. "You did remarkable work, Doctor, I'll give you that. My, you have learned a thing or two across the universe. And now it sounds like the little boy needs a nappy-wappy."

"A what?" the Doctor asked.

"A nappy-wappy. Isn't that how you put things, Doctor? 'Wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey stuff' and all that?"

"That was another life."

"But my observation remains." With a snap of his fingers, Q turned the Doctor back into a child. "You need a nap. Good night, Doctors."

"When are you going to stop?"

"Just as soon as I get my payment or you figure out the answer to this puzzle or you decide to age naturally like the rest of us. Ta-ta."

For a moment, the Doctor and Crusher were left in total silence. Then Crusher sighed and sat up to her console, rubbing her eyes. "He's a real pain, that one, and a good enough reason to get going on your little dilemma."

"It can wait until morning," the Doctor told her, trying to reach her before she reached the files. He was unsuccessful and Crusher pulled up all his work.

"You were working on this, weren't you?" Crusher guessed.

"Yeah, just a bit." The Doctor stood. "I think it's time we both took a nappy-wappy."

Crusher grinned. "I think so too."

Amy was waiting for the Doctor just outside sick bay. She had been used initially as more of an errand girl, but sent away toward the end when everything was getting wrapped up. "So, how did- oh."

"Come along, Pond," the Doctor sighed. "Time to get you to bed."

After seeing Amy to her quarters, the Doctor found his way back to Ten-Forward. It was deserted now except for Guinan who was cleaning up.

"Hello, Doctor," she greeted softly. "Can I get you something?"

The Doctor clambered onto a stool. "Yes, I'd like Q's head on a platter."

Guinan smiled as she got him a drink. "Has he been bothering you again?"

"He seems to delight in turning me back and forth between child and adult. He says he won't stop until either I let him inside the TARDIS or age naturally or find a scientific solution."

"And what are you thinking?"

"I would never let that scoundrel into my beloved TARDIS, you can count on that. But it would take years for me to reach the Age of Regeneration."

"And the scientific solution?"

The Doctor took a drink and shook his head. "Too complicated to explain, but it couldn't be done either without fixing a point or person in time here to carry over…" He sighed. "Something will turn up, I know it."

"Why not give Q a ride, even a brief jump?"

"Our species may be family, Guinan, but even families keep secrets from each other. Sometimes they have to. Now, you, I would let you inside. I don't have to worry about you doing anything stupid. But him? I wouldn't turn my back on him."

"That seems to be the mutual sentiment."

The Doctor grinned and took another drink.

Guinan frowned and shifted her weight. "So then, why would you want to age again so quickly? You know, I was one of those who got turned back into a child when it happened here."

"Oh-ho! I bet that was a shock. How long has it been since you were a child?"

"How long for you?"

The Doctor nearly choked on his drink. "Excuse me?"

"How long has it been since you were a child, Doctor? Seven hundred years? Eight hundred?"

"Nine hundred."

"Why would you pass this up?"

He bit his lip and refused to meet her eye, instead taking another drink. "Because childhood is no longer a safe place to visit."

"I don't believe that."

"I'm sorry, but do you know what happened?"

"Your childhood is a wonderful place to visit, Doctor," Guinan went on. "The real fear you feel comes from knowing you cannot physically go back there."

The Doctor now turned hostile, not caring if he looked like a tantrum child rather than a serious-minded adult. "My home burned, Guinan. I watched it burn, and I ran."

"And you haven't stopped running. And every regeneration is like a chance to escape further and further away from what you witnessed, a new filler to stuff into the space between then and now. Except now you are a child with the mind and memories of an adult. You had a wonderful childhood, but can't face up to the memories."

Enraged, the Doctor snarled and got off the stool. Halfway to the door, Guinan spoke again. "My home was destroyed, too, Doctor."

He stopped and turned. "Come again?"

"My home was destroyed as well, by a race known as the Borg."

"So then you know how I feel."

"No. I won't pretend to know how you feel. I'm not the last of my kind. But when I was turned into a child, I was not bitter. I was a child in a different environment, unable to return to my childhood home. And still I was happy just because I was a child again."

"Unfortunately, Guinan," the Doctor said, "Time Lords are not so emotionally balanced."

"No, you're not. And look where you are."

The expression on the child-Doctor's face was in fact quite comical, the face of a child about ready to scream and stamp his foot and cause a commotion in a busy market much to his mother's embarrassment and dismay. But the emotions unfolding within him, could they be properly expressed, would have wielded enough power to destroy a star from within. He turned and started once again to leave.

"You have the gift of regeneration, Doctor, the gift of the Time Lords," Guinan said calmly. "And now you've been given another gift, a second chance at childhood. Would you regenerate into an adult only to be trapped there forever?"

The doors slid open, but he faced her again. "Yes. And the other gift I will wield against Q if ever I catch him will be a little something I've developed over the years called the wrath of the Time Lord."

"Main engineering!" the Doctor announced the following morning. He and Amy had shared a quick breakfast and then gone off exploring at the Doctor's behest. Naturally his first stop would be engineering. He made a beeline for a dark-skinned man wearing an odd visor over his eyes. He stood beside a man of sickly skin color. "And I presume one of you is the Chief Engineer?"

The men glanced at him, then at Amy.

"You must be Miss Amy Pond," the dark man observed. "And you must be the Time Lord."

"That I am, sir," the Doctor said. "And you are?"

"Lieutenant Commander Geordi la Forge, Chief Engineer. And this is Lieutenant Commander Data."

"Data." The Doctor whipped out his sonic and waved it at Data. "Not a robot, not a cyborg…" He read the results. "An android, truly? An android complete with artificial intelligence including reasoning, thinking, and creativity."

"That is correct, sir," the android replied, his expression resembling impression.

"But no emotion," the Doctor went on.

"Also correct, though I do have an emotion chip which allows me to process emotional responses for short periods of time."

"Fascinating to be sure, though I am interested more in your engines."

Data nodded once and took the child-Doctor away, leaving Amy alone with la Forge.

"I don't understand," Amy said after a moment. "You all have heard about Time Lords and…follow him."

"Of course," la Forge told her. "Most of us have grown up at least hearing about the demise of Gallifrey. Most of the legends say all the Time Lords were killed, but a few tell of a small number getting away."

"Well, it's kind of in between; he's the last."

"Yeah. And for him to show up here…it's a little bit of hero worship, Miss Pond."

"Amy. Call me Amy."

"All right, then, Amy. But my point remains. It's like…what if you could visit your favorite legend? What's your favorite story?"

She thought a moment. "Pandora's Box."

"Right. If you could see, feel, hold the actual Pandora's Box, would you?"

"Of course."

"It's something like that for us with the Time Lord. What does he call himself?"

"The Doctor."

La Forge nodded once and returned to his work.

"How long have you been around, Data? I mean, what's your lifespan?" the Doctor inquired as he followed the android around Engineering.

"I have been operational for seventeen years," Data reported formally. "My 'lifespan' has not been revealed to me, but it stands to reason that after a time, I will, in effect, die."

"And between the beginning then and the future then, will you ever change? Will you…grow up, grow old? Were you ever young?"

"I have been built according to very specific-"

"Yes, yes, you're physical shape won't change. But what about your…mental state?"

Data considered this. "When I was first activated, my knowledge and experiences were quite limited. You could say I 'grew up' when I was rescued and integrated into society and began my quest for self-betterment."

"An android with ambition," the Doctor chuckled. "I like that. And what about later in life? Will you ever look back and wish you could change things? Have you ever had regrets?"

"I am incapable of feeling remorse of any kind."

"Of course you are. But do you ever wish you could go back and redo something even if you knew it was impossible?"

Data studied him. "Are you referring to the fact that you cannot regenerate into a child, and this is a 'second chance' for you? Do you have regrets from your childhood?"

"No, of course not. Don't be stupid. Your reasoning circuits must be malfunctioning."

"My reasoning skills are functioning normally."

The Doctor sighed and rolled his eyes. "Of course they are. Mine must be the ones malfunctioning, asking an android for emotional advice."

"If you seek emotional advice, Counselor Troi might be better suited to the task."

"You know, I think you're right, Mr. Data. Thank you."

"Do you ever have any regrets from childhood, Counselor?" the Doctor asked. "Things that, even years later, you wish you could go back and change?"

"You are referring to the fact that you cannot naturally regenerate into a child, correct?" Troi inquired.

"My goodness, does everyone know about that?"

"Once word got around about your arrival, everyone brushed up on their Time Lord legends."

"Oh, lovely."

"But in answer to your question, yes, I do have some regrets I still carry."

"Like what? Name one."

"Well, when I was nine, I got into an argument with my best friend. It turned so bad, that we stopped being friends. Forever. I never spoke to her again after she turned ten and didn't invite me to her birthday party."

"What was the argument about?"

Troi barked a laugh. "We were arguing about flowers if you can believe it. I don't remember the details, but it started over a flower."

"If you had the chance to go back and change it, would you?"

"I suppose."

"Why?"

"Well, we were inseparable until that day. Looking back, we had the best friendship anyone had ever had, and it was stupid to throw it away." She frowned. "But why do you ask?"

The Doctor studied his feet like a child caught with his hand in the cookie jar. "Because I have some regrets. Actually, I have quite a few regrets from childhood."

"And now you're a child again."

"Yes, and I can't change anything. I have the chance, but not the opportunity."

"Why do you feel the need to change anything? You have the body of a child, but the mind of an adult, and the wisdom of over nine hundred years. You can do anything you want to."

The Doctor considered this. Then he found himself smiling. "You know, Counselor, you're right. I don't have to try to escape this. I do have an opportunity, a chance to be a child again. What's another four years, three months, and seventeen days compared to nine hundred years?"

The Counselor grinned. "Glad I could help, Doctor."

He laughed for the sheer joy of it and ran out of the room. He nearly collided with Amy as she was coming out of her quarters.

"Doctor," she said in surprise. "What's the rush?"

"Come on, Amy!" he said excitedly. "We're going to have fun!"