AN: This first part is mostly directed to secooper87, because you mentioned the narrative switch in one of the earlier chapters and wondered if that was intentional. But it applies to everyone else, too. One of the things you'll notice about this chapter is the way I move in and out of the characters' minds, in varying degrees of closeness. Basically, I decided to make it intentional. :)

I did a few more things in this chapter differently in terms of how I show shifting emotions (the hint's in the title of the chapter), and that was intentional as well. Feel free to analyze. And as always, tell me what you think of the plot, the writing, the OCs (two of 'em, now!), what you think might happen, or whatever else strikes your fancy. Enjoy the chapter!

The Doctor found himself looking down from a ledge at the console room of the Maven's TARDIS, where the theme was chrome. He felt exactly like he'd stepped into the middle of an Apple product. The smooth, reflective console was all fluorescent touch-screen buttons - to the Doctor's mild horror, not a switch or a lever or any other kind of protrusion could be found. Where the tall blue column was in the Type 40, here there was simply light: insubstantial, glowing fibrils of energy.

The Doctor saw the figure of the Maven first through this screen. Then the other Time Lord shifted and came into full view. Still watching the smooth surface of his console, the Maven said, "If you would, Doctor, an alpha resistor from the supply cabinet to your right? The reduction coils are collecting static again."

Warily, the Doctor pulled back a panel to reveal what seemed to be an ordinary filing cabinet. He leafed through the folders and saw that all of them were filled with thin, transparent, cel sheets of magnonic circuit boards. The idea of Time Lords (besides himself) using technology you could actually see was so foreign.

He held up a leaf of electronics. "Static, you said?"

The Maven consulted the screen on his arm. "Static. Exactly. In fact, there was a discharge not too long ago in the..." he blinked. "In the decontamination room..." The Maven pivoted sharply. "You didn't notice anything, did you?"

Like a chess player reaching for a piece, the Doctor put his hand out for the door and carefully pushed it open. "Xan?" he called.

"Yeah?"

Very cautiously, he beckoned to the girl. "Come on," the Doctor said. "Never mind the plan. You'll miss everything."

Xan had been nervously waiting outside, flattened against the wall. Carefully she took a survey of the Doctor's body language. He had a very distinct way of showing his emotions, one you had to learn. And it was definitely non-human. It was like his mouth spoke English (as she heard it), but the rest of him spoke Doctor, and if you couldn't learn how to read Doctor then you were probably going to die.

Right now his shoulders were back but his head was tilted slightly down, and that mean he was uneasy. You could almost see the tension in his throat. And he was thinking in the present, not following through the steps of an already-laid-out plan, because of the way his gaze stayed on things longer than normal. Every time he moved his eyes there was a pause where you could imagine a little progress bar filling in and then, scan complete.

It was like watching the mood of a horse or a wolf or a cat, instead of a creature that wore clothes and stood upright and talked. And Xan began to realize how it was that the Doctor could read her so easily. She was human and he was Time Lord, and they couldn't help but notice everything that was different about the two. And so they instinctively paid more attention to what the other did, because they were always on the verge of a miscommunication. They unnerved each other.

But why was it that the Doctor was unnerved by the Maven more than he was by Xan? Because she knew that was true; she could tell. Even with Galag the Doctor hadn't been this... distant.

The Doctor stepped down the rungs of the short ladder from the ledge as Xan walked into the console room. "The alpha resistor," he said, handing the Maven the sheet. "Xan, come on down."

Xan was admiring the design of the console room, and no doubt working it into some theory about the TARDIS. "I like this," she said in a friendly way, smoothly sliding down the ladder's handrails and hopping to the floor. "It's so different... is that a circuit board? Floppy circuit board?"

"Magnonic graphene polymer," explained the Doctor instinctively. "Call it a floppy disc if you like. Semiconductive film. Stack them up and you have a computer." He pointed at the Maven, who had taken the little sheet and pasted it over the surface of the console like it was papier-mâché. It glowed, and then became seamless screen once again. The film had simply melted into the console.

Xan's eyes lit up. "I get it!" she said happily. "Clever idea. I read about that back on Earth. They were thinking about using that, but they went with spintronics instead..."

"Did they really?" asked the Maven, interested. "I didn't know humans had such technology."

"Oh, they don't. I mean, they might have had. We might have had. They always... I mean, we always have so many ideas, but money doesn't always back progress. Or they go with some other idea... sometimes I think we found the solution to our problems a long time ago and forgot it because it didn't sell."

"I've never... I've never been to Earth," admitted the Maven. "They said if you wanted to travel, get used to meeting aliens on planets like your own, and then go to the wilder ones. And only if you can stomach that should you ever go to Earth."

Every so often, under the right circumstances, Xan allowed herself to enjoy company. Her ears went way up as she grinned proudly. "Do they really say that?"

"Well, they told me."

"I love it!" she laughed. "Ought to put that on a fridge magnet or something, right Doctor? Earth: for experienced travelers only."

The Doctor sighed. So much for caution. Xan would befriend anyone who showed her something new. It was the archeologist in her. To her, if you were from any period time other than the present (in fact, the farther from the present you were, the more so this was), you were of incredible value, and what you knew should be preserved at all costs. A Time Lord from an older version of Gallifrey? A veritable artifact! Didn't matter if you were nice or not, you were a specimen to be cherished. The Doctor knew that his friend would be pleased as punch to get a chance at archeologizing his species, and he did his best to protect the memory of Gallifrey from terrible things like Xan Russell. But he couldn't really hold her off forever.

Sometimes he felt (with a hint of anger) like that was the only reason why she bothered with him at all...

"Doctor?" Xan asked quietly.

He jumped and then located where her voice was coming from. "I... I... Oh, sorry. Mind got floating off somewhere. What was it, again..?"

"No, I hadn't said anything. I just thought... for a second..." The Doctor could tell that she nearly hadn't said anything. Her voice always lilted when she was unsure of herself, and it was doing that now. "You looked like something upset you, that's all."

The Doctor looked down. "No, not really."

"It just seemed like..." The way shadows filled his eyes, and for once his eyebrows met on the same axis. "You okay?" He saw how she'd moved, angled her body just a bit so that she was coming closer to facing the same way as him. It was a little thing, but it had a lot of meaning, when you thought about it the right way. "Yeah," he said. "I'm okay."

"Doctor," interrupted the Maven, as if slightly displeased. "Your coat..."

Startled by the change of topic, the Doctor drew back. "What's wrong with the coat?"

"I didn't think you'd keep it on... Are you sure it's a good idea...?" There was a bizarre level of discomfort in the Maven's voice.

"What? Why not? It's mine, and I keep stuff in it. Keeps me warm. Janis Joplin gave it to me... not that you'd know who-"

"And the shoes-"

"Oi!" said the Doctor sharply. "Not my shoes. That's going too far."

"You couldn't have cleaned them, first?" said the Maven, and it sounded as though he'd spoken without thinking.

Xan and the Doctor turned and looked at each other.

"Well, I understand not wanting your floors dirty, but still..."

"Unimportant," said the Maven quickly. "Don't worry about it. I'm not accustomed to visitors, you see. I imagine I've become a bit eccentric from all this time out here alone. I'm forgetting myself... sit down, please. Make yourselves comfortable."

"About that, yes," said the Doctor, perching on the arm of the chair Xan chose. "How long have you been here?"

The Maven clasped his hands together and looked at the ceiling. "Two hundred and forty-eight point seven days," he answered unemotionally, then looked at the Doctor. "Are you impressed? Frightened, perhaps?"

"All that time and you haven't found a way out... yes, I'd say a little frightened. But then, I spent a year as a small wrinkly creature in a cage so I'm not too impressed."

"When did you...?" Xan began, incredulous.

"Later," he murmured.

"Promise?"

He thought about it. "No," he decided, and readdressed the Maven. "But believe me, it wasn't anything like therapeutic."

"And how long have you been here, Doctor, in your TARDIS?"

"An hour," he said frankly. "At most. And I don't want it to be much longer than that, honestly. I mean, there's a lovely view, but in terms of the amenities of civilization I'd say it comes in about... one star? I mean, how do you handle the plumbing? Can't get rid of it, in case that starts an expansion... and wouldn't that be awful? A whole universe created from- oh, that's bloomin' embarrassing, is what it is."

"Ah, yes, I see where that might be distasteful. Well, it's lucky that I've got plenty of space in the TARDIS left for all that."

"I wouldn't think that a TARDIS could exist that long in a self-contained environment, feeding back on itself the whole time..."

"It doesn't, normally."

Hearing this, the Doctor shifted, and Xan knew that the next question he asked was going to be far more important than any of the others. "So why does it now?"

"Nothing dramatic. What else would you expect? Reusing materials, shutting off unnecessary functions..." "And that can create a system that's entirely closed, within your TARDIS, for all of two hundred and forty-eight point seven days? Nothing in or out?"

Aloof, the Maven answered, "I would think that should be self-evident."

The Doctor half-raised his hand like he was expecting to be called on. "Right, but there's just one little thing that's bothering me there, about that. Because if nothing enters and nothing leaves your TARDIS - no matter, no energy, no information - then how did you detect us?" The question was posed very innocently, but Xan, tracking the conversation closely, had a feeling that it wasn't as open-ended as it seemed at first. It forced you into doubling back on your words. Xan was especially competent at answering questions, and this one would have stumped her. She was curious to see how the Maven would respond.

The tall man shut his eyes and briefly pressed his hand to his forehead. It looked like he was thinking, but really it hadn't been a difficult question, in that it had an answer that you either knew or didn't. It looked like he was struggling for words, in a deliberate, refined way, but that shouldn't have to be the case. And it was odd, but it also looked like discomfort.

"It's not... entirely..." the Maven tried to say, and then he halted. Suddenly his voice changed, becoming much colder and without variation. "All matter from the universe interacts with itself. Nothing from within the Before that does not exist beyond it can come in contact with the impure states of existence."

From the sound of it, he hadn't been breathing during that entire sentence, because it ended with a tiny gasp. The Maven exuded relief, as though what he'd done had been physically taxing. "Except on command," he qualified, as a bit of color and emotion returned to his features. "Otherwise, what would be the point of being here? But-" He leapt to his feet. "I'm getting to far ahead of myself. Please, Doctor, before we go any further, tell me what brought you here. I love a good story."

Did the man never stay in one mood? Right now he was so eager and friendly, and seconds earlier he was the opposite. Was that just how Time Lords were? Xan had to suppose so.

The Doctor knew better. "Are you sure that everything's...?"

Lifting his head sharply, the Maven said, "Resonance disrupting cortical connectivity, suppressing neurotransmitters-" He took a breath. "Nothing serious; it comes and goes."

"I thought the suits protected-" Xan began.

The Maven ran his fingers through his dark curls. "For you they should," he told her, and as he said this a mask came over his features, and he didn't meet her gaze. "But I've been here eight months and... I've always been more susceptible to..."

An awkward pause.

Guilt, Xan thought instantly. That's guilt right there... he's trying to conceal it, not just from us but from himself... guilt over something inevitable, something that he thinks is going to happen... to us... "How we got here," she said through her thoughts. "He asked about..."

"Well, it wasn't that complicated," the Doctor said dismissively. "Went through an old man's backyard after a ball, old man doesn't like it, so he tries to blow up my time machine and we end up before the Big Bang. That old story."

"Don't confuse him," Xan chided. "If you won't tell it right, let me."

"Well, go ahead then, if you're such an expert."

"All right, I will, then. So, we were on our way to... what was it, again? A concert? Something dull like that..."

"I thought you wanted to go," the Doctor cut in, looking hurt. "I asked you."

Xan rolled her eyes. "I didn't think we were going for the music," she said, as if this was plain as day to anyone in their right mind. "What would be the point of that?"

The Doctor slid off the arm of the chair and leaned against the railing behind it instead. "I dunno," he finally mumbled. "Listen to music. Eat food, dance, whatever. Maybe just enjoy each other's company for once..."

"For once? We live together, don't we?"

For a moment the Doctor didn't look like he would speak, then he waved a hand and said, "Well, you got what you wanted, didn't you? Nothing dull about any of this."

Xan had the vague feeling that she'd said something wrong, perhaps rude. "What I meant was, being at a concert isn't really that-" "Forget it," the Doctor said fiercely, picking at a lump of threads on his coat. "It's not important."

While she hated to let anything go, Xan also loathed this kind of roundabout, incoherent argument where no one seemed to have a position to defend, or a point to make. People just scowled at one another and disagreed over arbitrary statements. Which was entirely boring. If Xan was going to argue, she wanted to be able to win. So instead she shrugged and resumed the short tale.

Xan was a good storyteller. She was witty, had a talent for suspense and description, and made the Doctor look a lot more heroic than he'd actually been. She told about Galag, about the brief battle, and falling through the singularity, and how it had felt to rematerialize on the other side.

At the end of it all the Maven laughed out loud, having found black humor in some bit of irony only he at that moment understood. "And that's how you ended up here," he exclaimed, "beyond the very edge of reality? Pure accident? It all makes so much sense now! The stars align and a time traveler's ship is amateurishly sabotaged, and the most improbable event in creation comes to pass! Oh, that I have lived so long as to see this!" He was shaking with real mirth but his smile seemed false. "That you would venture here by dint of simple, rotten luck..."

"So then you..." Without warning the Doctor, who had been leaning back on the railing, snapped ramrod straight, hand darting down to his hip where the sonic screwdriver was clipped. "No," he said in disbelief. "I'd heard rumors of this, a kind of banishment for the most dangerous type of... but that wasn't ever proven... They were just conspiracies..."

"What?" Xan whispered. "You mean...?"

"No!" exclaimed the Maven, still laughing. "Oh, I heard those rumors too but... you misunderstand me! You don't realize, do you? Doctor, Doctor, you're more than that! Setting up perception filters on a Type 40, irritating Taglosian royalty, having laws made banning you! I thought you'd know better. And you, Alexandra Russell, you're human. Surely your kind, of all species, the most indomitable, the most irrepressibly curious..."

A tiny light flicked on in her mind.

"You still don't... Oh, I didn't land in the Before by accident, like you... I wasn't forced here, as punishment!" The Maven's clear, sparkling eyes went wide. "You don't understand, Doctor, I wanted to come here, to the beginning of everything, where no one has ever gone before. I came here... by choice!"