Crystal Bay

The following morning found the Tyler-Gallifrey clan having their usual lingering Sunday brunch feast, their favorite part of any week. (Pete – sensing that things weren't quite finished the night before after Rose had brushed by him, following his silent finger pointing upstairs after Corin – had invited the travelers from the future to spend the night. John had been ensconced in the guest bedroom, while Jenny and the Doctor elected to stay in the TARDIS – first moving it back outside to the beech copse and out of the hall.) In deference to the expanded numbers, the brunch had been moved to the larger dining room, but the kids still reigned supreme, deciding that morning on their favorite: dinner plate-sized flat dutch pancakes with apples, blueberries and bacon cooked right in, smothered in molasses treacle.

Shortly before, as Corin and Rose made their way down the stairs with their two, they had run into the Doctor skulking in the hall, gazing at their portrait again, obviously waiting for them. He came to the bottom of the steps, watching Rose descend, then gave her a slight but courtly bow. Rising again, he said, simply, "Thank you." Her "cure" had worked. She gave him a soft, compassionate smile in return, and he turned to Corin, meeting his eyes fully for the first time since he'd burst out of the mirrors.

"I owe you an apology," he said bluntly. "For what I did before."

Corin was surprised. "What, did you think you forced me to stay here? I saw what was coming, and I grabbed my chance!" bobbing his head towards Rose, beside him. "You didn't have to raise the gangplank, I was jumping ship anyway!"

"Still. I was rude and demanding, and I apologize."

"So what else is new?" Corin said wryly, one eyebrow raised, but he was smiling as he said it. "OK, apology accepted. Forget it. Besides, I wouldn't trade my life now for anything." He grinned further, nodding to the boy he was carrying, changing the subject. "This is Tyler, and that," nodding towards the baby in her mother's arms "is Donna."

"Hello, Tyler." The Doctor smiled at the serious-looking four-year-old, whose eyes grew even rounder, and he turned and buried his head in his father's neck, suddenly shy.

"All right," Corin laughed. He set the boy down on the floor and swatted his behind towards the kitchen. "Go find Tony." And off Tyler sped to find his best friend.

The Doctor smiled after him, then turned back to Corin, full of memories. "You know, I had more fun being you – being the me that you came from – than I think I'd ever had before. And maybe since. I didn't want to go."

"What happened?" He meant more than just the regeneration, and the Doctor knew it. He opened his mouth to say it didn't matter, then realized that in a way, it did – that Corin deserved to know how "his" life had ended.

He took a breath – and then released it, not sure where to begin, how far to condense it. Finally, he began. "The Master came back again. I don't know how. And somehow he broke the time lock, and brought out the Council. And they were actually still going to go through with it."

Corin's eyes were huge. "The End of Time?" he whispered, aghast.

The Doctor nodded. "I had to send them back. I had to send them all back," he added significantly. He looked at Corin, remembered pain etched in his eyes, and saw that Corin understood who he meant, and gasped. Corin reached out his hand, then, and put it on the Doctor's shoulder, aware that, barring the handclasp that pulled him from the mirrors, this was the first time either one of them had actually touched the other.

"And then?" he asked.

The Doctor shrugged. "A lethal dose of radiation." No need for any details. He didn't say how he'd railed against taking the radiation to save Donna's grandfather, because he'd known the whole time that he was going to do it anyway.

"How long after we parted?"

"Not long." He grimaced, ruefully. "It figures. The most fun I had was packed into the shortest life." Wanting to veer away from the memories – still uncomfortable, even though Rose had freed him from the worst heartache the night before – he turned back to Rose and gave her a slow, conspiratorial smile. "And you know, you had a whole lot to do with that. I don't just mean that we had a lot of fun traveling. I don't know if he," jabbing a thumb at Corin, "ever explained it to you, but when a Time Lord regenerates, the person he becomes is greatly influenced by what he's just been through. And I'd just been traveling with you, when I regenerated into the face he wears. In a very real way, Rose Tyler, I was – he is – what you made me."

"Really?" Rose raised her eyebrows high, and looked sideways at her husband, who grinned and nodded, confirming it. She turned back to the Doctor and grinned proudly. "Damn, I do good work."

Both men laughed. "Yeah, you do," they said together.

^..^

A short time later, when they were all seated around the dining table, the Doctor turned to Corin again. "I have a confession. I did a small act of vandalism this morning. I hope you can forgive me." But he was grinning as he said it. Corin simply raised his eyebrows. "I dug up the TARDIS coral. Jenny told me you said it wasn't growing. She figured it out, actually – she's not just a Time Lord, she's turning into a Coral Singer. Turns out what you need is some gallinium for the internal structure."

Corin grimaced. "I don't suppose you happen to have some on the TARDIS?"

Jenny put in, "Only my little coin, sorry. That's not enough."

"Well, then. So much for that."

The Doctor smiled. "Not necessarily. It just so happens that I think I may know where we might be able to get our hands on some."

Now Corin was really puzzled. "But it only occurs on Gallifrey!"

The Doctor's smile got broader. "Exactly."

Corin's jaw dropped, as did several others around the table. "Does it even exist in this universe?" he asked, a little breathlessly.

"I don't know, it's too far away for the TARDIS sensors to pick up the planet. The constellation does, though – and it won't be locked here. And even... even if all we do is hang in space for a few minutes and see the twin suns again, it would be worth the trip." He paused, and then said quietly, "I want to go home."

Rose asked, "Is that an invitation?"

"Yes – to all of you. Everyone." He turned to Pete and Jackie. "I promise, no matter how long we're actually gone, we'll have you back here ten minutes after we leave." He bobbed his head towards Jenny, and grinned directly at Jackie. "She really is that good – much better than I ever was." He raised his eyebrows, looking around the table. "Well?"

"Turn down a trip to space, maybe even another planet?" Pete laughed. "When do we leave?"

"Hold on," said Rose. "Is it safe to bring the kids – and the baby – on the TARDIS? I remember how bumpy those rides were! I think I still have bruises!"

"With seven people flying, the ride will be much smoother. Remember the last time? And we won't be towing a planet, either. And for the baby – do you have one of those seats for the car? We can tie that down securely." And it was settled.

^..^

An hour or two later the ten intrepid astronauts piled into the TARDIS. Jackie and Rose brought in not only Donna's infant seat, but the booster seats for the boys, as well, and watched the men secure them to the grating against the wall opposite the Captain's chair.

Jackie fixed the Doctor with a stare. "You going to let me help, this time?" He laughed and pointed her to one of the six sides (with only a single control to worry about), saying "just keep that level!" He waved Corin and Jenny to the even sides around from the main screen, distributing the expertise, and when Rose just smiled and sat in the Captain's chair, put Pete and John in the two remaining spaces.

The Doctor grinned at everyone. "We're taking this in two jumps. First stop is in space, just outside the constellation, to take final readings. Ready?" He threw the switch and worked a lever, and they took off. The flight was indeed infinitely smoother this time without a planet in tow. Only a few moments passed before the Doctor announced breathlessly, "We're there!" and nodded to the Corin.

As Jenny took his place at the screen, the Doctor took a deep breath and walked slowly to the door, Corin a pace behind. He placed his palm lightly on the door for a moment, almost afraid to open it, then swiftly snatched it wide. Corin opened the other door beside him, and they both gasped at the achingly familiar sight.

Stretched across the space before them lay the awe-inspiring swirls and eddies of the Porterion Nebula, the dust and plasma cloud glowing in all the mind-bending hues of the rainbow, from purple to red and back again. Within the swirls were handfuls of stars already formed, flung across the sky like a giant's marbles, teasing the proto-stars still to be born with their dancing rays. And there, dead center, were the Twin Suns of Galloran and Gallissa, endlessly circling each other in their cosmic dance. Corin and the Doctor stared wide-eyed, drinking in the sight they thought they'd never see again save in dreams.

They would have stood gazing forever, but Jenny's voice came triumphantly from behind. "It's there!" They didn't have to ask what. With one reverent, long, last look, the two men silently closed the doors and returned to the console, nodding at the pilot to proceed. A few sways and bumps later, she looked up again and smiled, waving them back to the door.

The Doctor's hands were visibly shaking this time, as he slowly reached for the latch. Again, he hesitated, then swung the door wide. Fresh air flooded the console room as a prying wind swept inside, bringing tantalizing odors of woody, growing things, overlaid with a salty, metallic tang that spoke of a nearby sea.

Eyes huge, tears already starting, the Doctor and Corin silently stepped out onto the soil of Gallifrey.

Of Home.

As the others filed out behind them, the two Time Lords walked into the knee-high red grass and found themselves standing atop a rocky cliff, overlooking a large inlet. Distantly, beyond the tumbled teeth guarding the entrance to the bay, huge waves could be heard crashing against the rugged shore, while beneath their feet the tamed remains of those same waves lapped gently over blue diamond sands. Overhead, the sky arched tawny gold from horizon to horizon, cloud-free.

"Oh. My. God." whispered Jackie. "We're actually on another planet. I'm standing on another planet!"

Corin turned to grin at her, then his jaw dropped as he saw what was behind the TARDIS. His eyes traveled up, and UP, and he almost fell over backwards as he laughed with incredulous delight. "Rose!" he cried, pointed back and UP. "THAT... is a corin tree!"

The others spun to see, and gasped in unison. The corin climbed skyward, reaching over three hundred feet in the air, and then gracefully poured its long leafy vines down again to the ground. The flashing leaves flung silver and gold lights in every direction, as the breeze tossed them around, reflecting sun and sky to the watchers below.

"That's not just a corin," came the Doctor's reverential voice. "That's a great-great-grandfather corin." He walked over to where the vines were just brushing the grass, silver amid the red, and reached out, gently grasping handfuls of vines and letting them trail through his fingers. He walked further in towards the massive trunk, gazing up into the canopy.

Corin, a step behind, spied something else: a different vine growing up the trunk and spreading through the branches, one with small pink trumpet-shaped flowers. He reached up and grabbed a long switch, pulling and pinching it free. With three quick twists, he'd looped it around, and secured the ends, then he turned and placed it almost reverently on Rose's head. "I told you they looked like bougainvillea," he said, reminding her of her bridal garland five years before.

She gave him her supernova smile, and reached for a corin vine to make his garland. Then, nothing would do but for the boys to each have one, and soon the entire company was crowned in Gallifreyan finery, Corin imperiously declaring it to be a planetary holiday. Tony and Tyler had been briefly awed into silence by the topsy-turvy colors of the world around them – they didn't quite grasp the idea of another planet, especially Tyler, but something was certainly different, and their elders' reactions rubbed off, and soon they were chasing each other through the grass, playing tag and chasing the flutterwings.

John was staring around him in delight, eyes wide with wonder. "I'm actually on another planet!" he echoed Jackie. "Amazing! But where are the people?" he continued.

Jenny shook her head. "None in this universe. Eons ago, when the Time Lords had the ability to hop universes, they discovered that the planet didn't even exist in many of them, and in the ones where it did, it was uninhabited. No, the Time Lords only arose once, in all of creation."

Corin stepped towards the cliff again. "Where are we, anyway?"

The Doctor shrugged. "I don't know. Jenny, where did you put us down?"

"Um... it was the western edge of the largest continent, I think, about halfway up the side."

The Doctor raised his eyebrows. "Wild Endeavor?" he said, naming the continent. He looked east. "OK, then those are the Mountains of Solace and Solitude, and that," pointing to the highest peak, "is Mount Hope."

Corin was looking the other way. "Those look like the Singing Rocks, though I can't hear anything," he commented, pointing to the pieces of cliff broken away at the mouth of the bay.

"Too far away," answered the Doctor. "You're right, though. Which means that this..." sweeping his arm across the inlet, "is Crystal Bay!" They finished the sentence together, grinning.

The Doctor pointed down at the cliffs beneath their feet. "And there's your gallinium!" Sure enough, there was a large, visible vein of blue rock running parallel to the sand, a few feet above it. He nipped inside the TARDIS in search of some containers, while Corin and the boys climbed down to the sand, the others following. While Corin and John gathered up the blue rocks that had fallen free of the cliff, piling them in a clearing, the others went exploring along the shoreline. "Watch out for toepinchers!" Corin called after them.

"Whaaaaat?" came the reply.

"Just think of bright blue lobsters, about that long," holding his fingers up about 4 inches apart. "Holler if you find some, though – they're good eating!"

The Doctor came back with a rope bucket, tossing it down and pulling it up filled about thirty times before declaring it enough. Then he whistled down to Corin. "Fishnet! F or N?"

"N."

"N it is." and he went to empty out the N compartment under the control room deck. Coming back with a throw-net and several baskets, he slipped off his overcoat, then climbed down the cliff and out onto the rocks in the water, and set about catching dinner, throwing the net out in a wide, graceful sweep and reeling it in, again and again. Corin remembered, then, where the net had come from; the months spent in Java after Krakatoa had exploded (despite his attempts to cap it), living with the fishermen and trying to recapture some of the simple pleasures of life again. This Doctor seemed to be better built for the task of casting the net; his graceful, muscular body seemed more at home on the rocks – or perhaps a playing field – than Corin's own still-skinny frame.

Rather than joining in any of the various activities, he decided to simply sit on the rocks and live in the moment, watching everyone else and breathing the air of home. He turned his face to the sun for a few minutes and let it warm his soul, trying to store enough to last a lifetime.

The boys' shouts caught his attention, and he opened his eyes again to watch them clamber out onto the rocks to the Doctor, Pete coming along behind to keep them safe. The Doctor turned and grinned at them, reaching out to help them up. He let them "help" him with the net, letting seven-year-old Tony try to toss it (he was way too small, and gratefully gave it back after just one go). Then he returned to his rhythm of casting and retrieving, bringing the net up and letting the boys discover each catch, teaching them about the plants and animals they found.

Corin blinked, struck suddenly by the metaphor before him for the Doctor's entire life. Casting his net into the flow of time, again and again, seeing what he could catch, fixing what needed fixing and tossing it back, saving the best, sharing his discoveries and adventures with whomever happened to be alongside. The only thing missing is the running.

He smiled to himself, and went back to simply watching.

Again and again, the Doctor cast his net into the crystal blue waters of the bay.

Again and again, pulling it back in to discover what it held.

Again and again, turning to the boys with that delighted, infectious grin.

Again and again, throughout the long Gallifreyan afternoon.

Again and again, under the tawny sky.