I am enjoying long weekend, but wish I could spend it with my friends. Everyone has plans and I am very much asking last minute.

This works out for my readers as now I spend the scorching afternoon adding to the story!

I do not own anything of Babylon 5 or Doctor Who, but I would not say no to a visit in this heat!

The Doctor and Romana have avoided a temporal crisis so far and overcome the obstacles of the Psi Cop Bester and the interference of the Shadows. There are still issues to resolve, the critical analysis of the timelines to avoid the dead time continues.

Babylon 5, however, does not peacefully wait for the Timelords to sort things out.

Babylon 5 - Med Lab

The Doctor looked darkly at the reports. He was not a source of energy or consternation now. It had been a rough couple of weeks since things had settled on his end of the problems, but now he saw the end of another race.

The Markab were now a dead race. He and Franklin had worked so hard with his staff to find both a cause and a cure. Now, because of heir beliefs that 'the Pure' would survive, all of them were dead.

Worse, the entire world was dead. He had seen far too many of these tragedies to lose control, but his hearts hurt that for all his knowledge as a Timelord, he was powerless in front of such a thing as disease.

He had been on this station longer than most places save Earth. He badly missed Sarah Jane and Brigadier right now. Even Harry would have been a help somehow to distract him. He felt all his 750+ years right now looking at the numbers of the dead.

Franklin had collapsed now, exhausting himself with stims and little to no sleep. He had lost a friend and many patients because of this.

Romana was with Lennier as Delenn was with Sheridan. The 2 Minbari had gone to comfort the Markab in their self imposed isolation and were the sole witnesses to their last moments. He admired the mettle it took to do that and not be destroyed by it.

He put his hat on his head and headed to the TARDIS. He needed to finish the analysis of all possible events to avoid the dead time. He failed a race of people, he could at least make sure the rest survived to remember them.

Zocalo

Talia was never more glad for her new shields than now. She had been officially meeting with Kosh and learning amazing things about what she could do, now that the Psi Corp was not going to be ripping her apart or making her spy on everyone.

It had been a joyous exploration of her gifts and Romana with Susan seemed to relish her stories. She could share everything but Kosh was equally finding her perspective helpful. He was seeing things from a new perspective.

It is a new mirror turned slightly. It was very hard to understand him sometimes but she was getting better at things like that.

Anytime he was not with Captain Sheridan, she was able to see him. Now she was just finishing another job as the resident telepath of B5. She still held the job, but the Corp had hinted it would be willing to do more if she would share information with them.

It was a tightrope, but it also kept her safe. She loathed dealing with them, but knew there were telepaths just like her, that had been lied to and used by the Corp. She knew there still others that really believed in what they were doing and loved their job.

Nothing in the Corp nor Kosh's meetings could prepare her for the death of a race. It was both horrifying by itself and the reactions were just awful. Garibaldi had already had to arrest a few people and Susan had basically become disgusted with a lot of the human reactions.

She just wished the weight of her secrets could be lifted soon. It was killing her to see questions in Susan's and Garibaldi's eyes. They did not ask out of respect, but they were her closest friends.

The wall between her and Susan was because of these secrets as well, because until she could tell all, she knew she could not explore her heart completely. It was heavy, but the Doctor and Romana always listened. They made it bearable. They were quite strange and not ever truly intimate as a friend, but they were true.

This had to end though, the sooner the better.

The TARDIS

Romana and K-9 looked at the timelines for the millionth time. Every ounce of her training said they had made this mess, but it was compounded by the paradox, the circular events of this place.

They had acted in accordance with the laws of Gallifrey, but it had resulted in the very thing they wanted to avoid. Of all the people to be touched by the Timelords, Talia Winters was apparently one of the worst they could have changed.

The Doctor was far more experience, but even he knew they were trying to operate the finest of filaments of events through the equivalent of a black hole. Every step brought them closer if they tried to move things, but if they left them alone, it ended anyway. The inevitable pull of the most destructive force in the universe seemed appropriate.

The fact it hadn't happened meant there must still be a way out, but they were stuck. They needed something new to happen. They needed someone or some event to occur to show them the way through.

Mars

A man desperately runs down a tunnel beneath the domes. He has to warn them. They were in danger. The entire movement would be exposed if they fell!

He was injured and he knew hope was fading. It was when the darkness was closing that he found his contact.

"What happened?!" The shock was warming but he was running out of time.

"They are coming, no time! You have to go, and get this information to them. You have to warn them. Babylon 5 is in danger!" Death was coming but he saw the data crystal get deposited and the nod.

He felt a pat on the back and then darkness closed in. He smiled as it happened. They could scan him if he was dead. Babylon 5 needed to be saved, they had to be warned.

The Tardis - 3 weeks later

"Mistress, the analysis has changed." K-9 brought Romana out of the lab and back into the control room. There was nothing else she and the Doctor could do, but they had been meeting interesting people. An Ambassador G'Kar was currently stressing a lot of people out, but Londo was not much better.

Romana sympathized the war footing causing issues across the galaxy. She and the Doctor both knew the Shadows were egging this on, but the question she had was why would anyone do that?

The thoughts faded as she saw the scanner.

For a solid month it had remained unchanged. The intersecting wave and the blue continued to a point then became dead time suddenly. Nothing they did could change anything but the date that dead line started.

Now, it blinked off. It came back but was not as strong as before. She began to move around the console and confirming when it began.

"K-9, what has happened in the last 3 standard hours?" She never stopped moving but had confirmed that the moment they had been seeking had arrived. There was a way out of the problem at last!

"Mistress, an unidentified human female has been taken to Med Lab 1. She is not registered as coming to the station and is unconscious." He wagged his tail at the blatant hacking of the Bab-Com system. Garibaldi would be sighing somewhere if he knew she was sure.

"Tell the Doctor to get there now, I am going to Captain Sheridan." She flipped the lever for the door and headed to Babylon 5 Captain's Office.

Med Lab 1

Franklin had been in the middle of analyzing his newest patient when she had leapt up off the bed and held a laser scalpel up as a weapon.

"I want to see the command staff, all of you! I do not want to be alone with any of you!" Her red hair was a mess and she had bruises and contusions, but nothing to stop her from being a threat.

Franklin was about to call security when the storm arrived.

"My dear woman! I have never been so happy to see trouble on two legs in my all my lives. Would you like a jelly baby?" The Doctor was in full coat, scarf and hat, smiling wildly as he held out the wrinkled bag of sweets. No one knew where he got them from and Franklin had not been able to find out anything from the one Garibaldi gave him.

The target of his questions actually stood open mouthed, and he could appreciate the confusion coming over her.

Franklin blinked and suddenly she was disarmed and holding the bag of sweets.

"Ah good, now that is better. Why don't you start at the beginning, I am the Doctor and would be very happy to hear it all!" The Doctor himself held the scalpel now as he popped one of his own sweets into his mouth.

Franklin did not bother calling security. With the Doctor there was rarely a point anymore.

Sheridan's Office

"You are saying she is a telepath Micheal?" Sheridan was looking at the rundown of one Lyta Alexander. She was a registered P5 that had briefly served as the resident telepath on Babylon 5.

"Yep, she was here when we had the attempt on Kosh's life. Hell of a first day for all concerned." The chief was standing loose with his hands in his pockets. He had smelled this trouble out, but now it seemed it was more.

"And you are saying she is what you have been waiting for all this time?" Sheridan turned to the other person in the room. Romana was wearing some kind of old dress today. He thought it might be from 20th century Earth, but he was hard pressed to keep up on any fashion these days.

"This has been a delicate thing for us Captain. We have affected a lethal change to the timelines and not been able to avoid it. Now that this woman arrived, it seems we have a way out if we can approach it delicately." Romana brushed a strand of hair behind her ears as she spoke.

Of the 2, Sheridan would have accepted Romana as the delicate one, but the Doctor was a close second to Londo for causing a ruckus just by opening his mouth.

Of the nearly 3 months they had been on the station, for all the amazing work and help they had been, the Doctor had been at the center of at least 3 near riots and accused of cheating at card games in Down Below. He always seemed innocent, but that smile made Sheridan think of a child caught with their hand in the cookie jar every time.

Garibaldi had tried to tail the man, but he had seemed to learn the ins and outs of the station so well it was impossible. Also, he could be just standing there and trouble seemed to find him. Oddly, crime had plummeted of the more nefarious variety and Garibaldi had even had mysterious informants send evidence of serious nature on dust trade and other issues.

K-9 always came to mind on that, but no one asked.

Just as we was about to call Franklin, in walked the Doctor with Lyta.

"Ah good we are all here. Captain Sheridan this young lady is Lyta Alexander and she brings dire news about a threat to your resistance movement." Shock flooded Sheridan at this open declaration, but the Doctor just stood there smiling and offering jelly babies to Romana.

"Doctor, just once you could try to quietly enter the room." Romana admonished him but took the sweet.

"You need to feel the fun in the moment, besides, I think you will find what Ms Alexander has to say just fascinating. I know I did." For a moment the tone changed. Up to that point it had been irreverent and authoritative. He was in command of the room. The last words though were hard edged with anger. It was something Garibaldi had mentioned but had been hard pressed to convey.

He had said, 'I would not like to get the Doctor angry, I like the station where it is.'

Sheridan had not understood, but just now he felt a chill like he had not felt since facing the Black Star in the war. He has just seen an implacable enemy and tenacious being show his anger.

He knew he had to get the rest of his staff here now too it seemed as the Doctor looked expectantly at him. He tapped the back of his hand.

"Commander, grab Franklin and Talia and meet me in my office. Make it quick please." Sheridan then put his hands behind his back and looked at his guests. "I don't suppose I can get a quick run down of what to expect."

"Oh not much Captain, just further proof that if I were to ever visit the Psi Corp, you would not have a Psi Corp anymore." The room froze as the Doctor spoke. All could see it now. He was angry and clearly agitated. Lyta was holding her head in a bit of pain but clearly they had not lowered their shields.

This was not the friendly man they had come to know, this was why Kosh had told him over and over again they offered the protection for the Timelords to help the station. Clearly, the Vorlons had met them before and knew this feeling.

It passed and the Doctor seemed ashamed.

"Apologies, it is best to wait for all the staff Captain. I am hopeful we will soon be out of your hair but that is yet to be determined." He took his hat off and put it in a pocket as he practically fell onto the couch.

It was if a spell was broken and Sheridan could not even be sure it had happened. He knew though, that if the Doctor had told him to do something in that moment he would have done it.

What was it that Lyta Alexander had told him, and what was she here to tell them that his little cell of resistance was exposed?