It had been a couple of days since the greeting of harkness and master.
So far the Doctor had welcome the captain back on board the TARDIS in order to make his help more easy. He left Gwen and Ianto a note, saying he wont be long. Well to them he wont be long.
The master had grown attached to his suit. When asked if he was ever going to change it he would simply bring up how the doctor wears a suit, so it is no different for him to wear one. He would sing to himself when alone. Only once was he caught by the doctor. He asked him what he was singing as he only caught him on at the end of his tune. He would take it as a part of his recently discovered illness.
One afternoon as the Doctor and the master took a walk through the TARDIS gardens, they had a quite unusual conversation about the master's invisible pet. He described him as small and playful. He had a brown coat of fur with a big black spot on his back and pointy ears. From his short and simple description, the doctor guessed his friend to be close enough to a young German Sheppard puppy.
"So. Have you given him a name yet?" The doctor asked, as they rested on one of the benches.
"N-no, I can't think of one. It's too hard." The master lifted both his legs and crossed them over each in a meditation position beside the doctor.
"Don't worry I'm sure you'll think of one."
From time to time the Doctor would teach the master simple school work. Just as he told Jack he decided to start of at primitive nursery school work. He began to teach the master his alphabet and counting. So far the master can count to fifty without any help. But has trouble on his letter's
"How have you been doing" Asked the doctor, as they sat in the console room floor facing each other with multiple amounts of paper jumbled up in the middle of them. They had begun using the TARDIS computer as a sub for a white board.
"I keep getting stuck after Q-Q" The master replied
"Well why don't you try and we'll see how far you can go"
"Ok. A b c d e f g….." The doctor had taught him the tune in order to make it easy for him since he seems to like humming to himself. " h I j k…" Only when the doctor had taught him the tune did he notice that it was in fact the same tune to twinkle twinkle little star, huh you learn something everyday. " l m n o p q….ummm? "
The master paused and flickered his eyes all over the grill of the floor, as if hoping the next letter was hiding some where in the room.
"Come on, remember, I'm sure it's in there somewhere" The doctor's voice was calm, knowing to be gentle to his student. The master flung his arms up in defeat "I can't remember"
"Would you like a clue?"
"Ok"
"Well, it's the first letter in Rose's name"
The master stared at the doctor in thought before widening his eyes and mouth and realisation. He opened his arms out wide getting ready to announced the answer "R!"
"Yes! Told you you'd remember"
Of course after this I'm sure you'd figure that the doctor had also taken the liberty of teaching the master his spellings. Starting off with names of everyone onboard.
Martha decided to teach him some simple safety rules, she had came to think that she didn't really want to be treating the master in bed or the med bay any time soon. She guided him through every danger in the kitchen and told him how some things worked and warned him that the other kitchen supplies were only to be used when someone else was with him. After his short lesson, as a reward she had decided to teach him how to make a cup of tea, which he had come very found of.
Jack had been helping alot. Some days he would be in a good enough mood to sit the master down and teach him a few lessons and tricks. He would even tell him stories if he couldn't think of anything special to teach him. He would tell him past adventures on earth and through time and space. Other days Jack would intend on having a quick word with the master, but when he looked at his face, to many memories had came back. So instead The master would find some fun elsewhere.
The master enjoyed his stories. So far he would prefer if someone would either read to him or make up their own as he was struggling with reading in the library, but the doctor did his best and told him that eventually he would get there. He told the master that soon, one day, he would be able to read so good that he won't be able to stop until he read every book in the library. The doctor loved to hear the master's imagination, it was like listening to a story himself, only the master was the narrator.
Nights became a routine. Everyone would eventually leave for their chambers and doze off to dream land. The master would make himself comfy, readying himself for the soothing lullaby he would look forward to. When it would come, he would simply listen until his dreams took him away. Some disappointing nights, it would never show. He would lie awake until the power of tiredness would take over him.
One night, he was startled awake by a not so nice dream. A memory of his past in the hospital. His eyes refused to shut again. He grew ever more tired but didn't want to leave his room in case he broke any imaginary rules that he had set for himself and make the doctor angry. But maybe some company would do him good. The doctor was ever so kind and down to earth, he decided to take his chances. Pulling the covers back he leapt out of bed and tip toed to the door. He creaked the door open slightly and looked through the tiny gap, only to see darkness. He stepped back to let the door open more and reveal the empty, cold darkness of the the TARDIS corridors.
The doctor awoke to his floor creaking behind were he lay. He opened his eyes and listened closely and confirmed he could hear footsteps getting ever so close to his bed. He sat up and faced the dark silhouette. Unable to see because of the darkness and the fact of only being awake. He turned back to his bedside table and flicked on the lamp. The room lit up in an orange glow enabling him to see his intruder. When he turned back he discovered the Master now standing at the side off his double bed.
"Master, what's wrong?"
"I-I c-cant sleep" He began to rub his arm in discomfort
The doctor smiled in pity before reaching over and grabbing the edge of the bed cover. He pulled them back as far as he could until he now had a double layer of covers on him. The master watched him as the doctor patted his hand down on the mattress indicating his welcome to him. The master grinned and climbed on the bed and lay down on the pillow. The doctor again grabbed the cover and flung it back over, covering the master's skinny frame and only exposing his tiny face and snow white hair.
The doctor stared at him, take notice how the light from his lamp makes his face look pretty. "So whats the matter?"
"I had a bad dream"
"Oh well that's ok, everyone has a bad dream from time to time, even me. You want to talk about it"
The master nodded "Well I was back at the hospital, and I was in the room were you found me. The men kept forcing me into the water. Only. Every time I was brought up, I looked around to find you but you never came. I remember that you came in and stopped them from hurting me. But In the dream, you'd vanished. I kept looking over toward the door, but no-one ever came through. I was taken back to by room, and I sat there, thinking that it was so real. That all this was just a dream instead. I believed that you never saved me, and that I was to spend the rest of my life in hell."
The doctor listened to the master's dream waiting until he finished for to speak. But when he had stopped talking the doctor looked to him and saw that he was crying. He sat up on the bed and pulled the master over to him. The master's head now rested on the doctor's chest as tears began to fall at a more frequent pace. The doctor hushed him ever so silently, he rubbed the master's back in a circular motion.
"Ssh it's ok, it's ok. You here with me. You never going back there you hear. This is your life now, to be happy, to travel with me and Jack, Martha , Rose and Donna. I'll never let you down, and I will always come for you."
The master began to sniff as the tears stopped falling. He sat up to look at the doctor and smiled. The doctor smiled back before raising his hand and using his thumb to wipe away the tear tracks on the master's damp face.
"Better?"
The master nodded and lay back against his pillow. The doctor copied and rested his head against his. The two men faced each other, staring into each others eyes for a moment. A thought had came into the master's head. A question that he had been wanting to ask the doctor for a while now.
"Will you tell be about Gallifrey? The red planet"
The doctor looked at the master and saw the desperate look in his eyes. He sighed before he began his own story.
"It had red grass that covered our entire home. It had two suns, and every time that second sun would rise the light would hit the silver leaves on the trees, it would look like a forest on fire. The suns would rise and the mountains would shine. The citadel over looked us all, watching us as it stood mighty and tall"
The master listened in fascination, he tried his best to imagine the planet, just how the doctor described it. The doctor continued, he talked about their village, Rassilon, the academy and sometimes when he would mention something, he would recall a memory or two, sometimes they contained the master himself, most of the time it being when they were kids. Running around, playing on the mountain.
The master's eyes grew tired and soon enough he was forcing himself to stay awake. His eyes became drowsy, they would begin to fall ever so slowly and he would force them open. When the doctor had stopped talking he looked over to find the master fast asleep. The doctor smiled and made him self comfy for the rest of the night, but not before leaning over and placing a hand on the side of the master's face as he kissed him on top of the head. The doctor rested his head down and shut his eyes, hoping to dream of a memory that had long since past.
