Chapter Twenty Five

The Doctor walked up to the Master and looked down at him with disdain while he lay groaning on the floor.

"So once again, Koschei, we've come to this point," the Doctor said to him as the Master coughed.

"My name…is the Master," he growled at him.

The Master gasped when he seized him by the neck.

"You're not a master of anything except your own failures," the Doctor growled. "I thought all this ended when my Koschei died but no, I have to get the Koschei from another universe to come and be a thorn in my side."

"Aw, poor baby," the Master said with a smirk.

"You've done enough damage to last one hundred lives," the Doctor said to him. "And I'm tired of battling you, Koschei, so it ends now. I'm gonna put you somewhere where you can't hurt anyone anymore!"

"Oh and where might that be…DOCTOR?" he said, spatting out his name.

"Doctor-san, allow me," Imiko said, stepping up to the Master's side.

The Master's eyes widened in fear.

"No, not her!" he said. "Stay away from me!"

"What's wrong, Koschei-san, don't you want to see your Hoshi again?" Imiko said, bending down to him.

"Leave me alone! Please, let the Doctor deal with me but not you!" the Master said with wide-eyed fear as Imiko put her hand on his chest. "No, stay away…"

Everyone stepped back as the Master let out a scream while a bright light filled the room. When the light faded, the Master's body was completely healed. Imiko stood back up.

"It is done."

"What is?" the Doctor said.

"This is Cameron again," she said, pointing down to the bewildered man on the floor. "I have expelled the Master from his body and sent him and Hoshi into the void."

Frankie ran over to Cameron who was struggling to sit up.

"Cam?" she asked as she knelt down to him.

"Yeah, lady, you are a miracle worker," Cameron said as Frankie helped him to his feet.

"Thank you," the Doctor said to her.

"Hai, I'm always happy to help, Doctor-san," she said to him. "And now there is something else I must do."

There was a bright flash of light and they were in the med bay. The Valeyard was lying under a blanket on the bed in the corner. He turned his eyes to everyone and gazed at them sorrowfully.

"I truly am sorry for what I've done. I hope you lot can forgive me."

"We've forgiven you…uh…I s'pose we're back to calling you Doctor now," the Doctor said.

"Yeah but if he's gonna be a part of our family, he needs something different so we can differentiate between you and him," Adam said.

The Valeyard stared at him.

"You want me to be a part of your family after what you just did?"

Adam coughed nervously while everyone eyed him.

"It's a long story, mate. My Valeyard captured my daughter, River, when she was two years old and I thought he was gonna kill her and when Theta and I rescued her, I shot and killed him to protect my daughter and brother."

"Well then I understand your hatred of me. I've done so many horrible things, I don't really think any of you should forgive me," he said to them.

"Daddy?"

The Valeyard smiled when Namid walked up to him.

"You sure you wanna be my daughter?" he asked.

"Mm-hmm," she said.

She felt the bed and then crawled in beside him. The Valeyard smiled at her tenderly while she snuggled up beside him.

"You see?" the Doctor said to him, "no one hates your guts, least of all her."

"Yes, she's my little miracle. She helped me find my way back to myself," he said, pouring love into her mind.

He glanced up at Imiko when she came over to the bed.

"Thank you for helping us," he said to her.

"Hai," Imiko said, bowing, "and now, I'm going to help you some more."

Without another word, she lowered her hand to the Valeyard's chest and he was bathed in a bright, glowing light. When she finished, there were no injuries anywhere on his body.

"Thank you," the Valeyard said when he checked himself.

"That's not all," Imiko said. "Not only have I healed you of your psychical injuries but your mental ones as well. I took away the last of the darkness in your mind so no one here has any reason to fear you."

"Thank you," the Valeyard said while the Doctor and his brothers came up beside him.

"There! You're the Doctor again. Now will you please stop the whole pity party I wish I was dead routine?" the Doctor teased. "It's getting on my nerves."

"I just don't want you lot to hate me."

"We don't hate you," Rosie said. "If we hated you, we wouldn't be in here telling you to quit being hard on yourself. We want you in our family, alright?"

The Valeyard smiled at that and held Namid close while she laid her head on his chest. The Doctor watched them for a moment and then pulled Imiko aside.

"What about my daughter? Can you cure her?"

"Hai, but it's not the right time yet for that," Imiko replied.

"What do you mean?" the Doctor said.

"This blindness is beneficial to her. It's helping her develop into a strong, brave woman. Someday, the blindness will end, Doctor-san, but she still needs it right now because she is learning from it. Don't worry, she'll be alright, I promise."

The Doctor nodded.

"As long as my girl grows up to be a capable, young woman, then I'll be willing to wait for awhile for the blindness to end," he replied.

"She will be, Doctor-san, I promise."

"Thank you again for all you've done. I'm so glad not every kitsune is like Hoshi."

Imiko's eyes darkened for a moment.

"It is true there are some kitsune who work against mankind but my sisters and I shun them," she replied. "The kitsune who do harm live in another part of our world. Hoshi was like us once but she was seduced by them and their promises of power. She turned her back on us so I was forced to punish her and contain her in order to keep you safe."

Alan walked up beside the Doctor and Imiko smiled warmly as she gave him a hug.

"I missed you, Alan-san. I miss your sense of humor."

"I missed you as well, Imiko. Wasn't the same after you left us," he said. "You were a great friend to us on our journey, even if we were wondering why you never went on the water rides."

Imiko chuckled.

"Well, now you know the reason Alan-san," she said, giving him another hug.

"Could you do something else for us?" the Doctor said.

"If I can, Doctor-san."

"One of my enemies, the Rani, did something to this TARDIS to turn it evil. Do you think you might be able to undo what she did so my brother over there can fly it without fear of her killing him."

"I'll see what I can do, I'll return in a moment," Imiko said.

There was a flash of light and Imiko disappeared.

"Wow!" Christopher said as he walked up to his dad. "She's magical."

"Yes, she is," Alan said, scooping him up. "She's a very special lady and I need to tell you lot the story of how we met her sometime."

"Well, now that the danger's past, I think we should call our relatives and let them know we're coming home. Besides I'm famished. I need a little nosh so…Doctor, if you wanna rest with our daughter, we'll be back to check on you in awhile."

"Okay," the Valeyard said.

He watched while everyone left the room and then looked at Namid.

"You know, after Dex, I never really considered having any more children but I'm glad your other daddy had you because you're a sweetheart," he said.

"I love you, Daddy," Namid said.

The Valeyard kissed her head.

"And I love you too…Ya'nala," he replied.

"What's that mean?"

"It's Gallifreyan. It means my miracle which is what you are. You're the little miracle that helped save me."

Namid smiled.

"I like that. Could you call me that?" she asked him.

"Sure, Ya'nala, I'd be glad to."

"I gotta think of a name for you then," Namid said.

She fell silent as the Valeyard stroked her back. She then smiled.

"I can call you Dada and my first Daddy, Daddy," she said.

"Dada. Okay, Dada, it is," he said. "But that's just the name you'll use, I need a name that'll help everyone tell me apart. By the way, just how does everyone tell everyone else apart. I mean you have five of me, three of Rose…doesn't it get confusing?"

"I smell people. Everyone has a different smell," Namid said.

"Really? What does Daddy smell like then?"

"Chocolate chip biscuits."

The Valeyard raised his eyebrow.

"Really?" he said. "Okay, what do I smell like then?"

Namid inhaled deeply and smiled.

"Flowers!" she said.

"Flowers?"

She breathed in his scent.

"Yeah, you smell like flowers. You smell really good, Dada."

She giggled when she heard the Valeyard loudly sniffing himself.

"Really?" he said. "You must have a good nose then because I can't smell it. Still, whatever helps you distinguish between me and your other daddy is fine by me. However, I do wanna wear a different suit since I noticed your daddy, John and Theta are all wearing the brown suit and I really would rather wear something different to set myself apart from them. I'll have to look in the wardrobe room in here and see if I can find something."

He thought to himself while Namid snuggled against him.

"I s'pose I can use the nickname my Jack gave me and call myself Doc. It always kinda irritated me but I'll put up with it if it means everyone can tell me apart from the others."

"I like Doc."

"You do? Okay, Ya'nala, then I'll use that then," he said to her.

He let out a contented sigh as he rubbed her back and then he chuckled.

"What you laughin' at, Dada?"

"Just thinking how funny life is sometimes. I thought after my planet was destroyed that I would never know true happiness again and now, here I am, with a daughter and a family and a New Gallifrey. Makes my time in Volag Nok worth it."

"I'm glad you're here, Dada."

"So am I, Ya'nala," he said. "But…for now, let me rest a bit, yeah? I've been through a lot."

"Okay, I'll sleep with you," Namid said.

The Valeyard gazed at her lovingly as she wrapped her arms around him and closed her eyes. He laid his face against the top of her head and with another contented sigh drifted off to sleep.

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(One month later…)

"Come on, Daddy!" Namid said to the Doctor as she ran into the garage.

"Okay, wait a tick, we're still getting ready in here," the Doctor called out.

He looked at his five identical brothers and Jack. All of them were taking their children, young and adult, to Disneyworld for the day. Jack glanced at the five brothers who were in a semicircle as they discussed what they wanted to see and do. Doc was standing on the end beside John. Unlike his closest brother, he was wearing a grey suit that he had found inside the TARDIS. He had chosen the dark grey suit with a white shirt and tie after Imiko finished undoing everything the Rani had done and helped the former Valeyard to completely bond with her so it would work with him instead of against him. The Doctor and Theta also had decided to take a leaf from their brother's book and change their outfits so no one would confuse them. Theta wore his blue suit full time while the Doctor mainly wore the black suit and maroon shirt that Rain had picked out for him. John was left wearing the brown suit while Alan and Adam wore casual clothes.

In the month that Doc had been a part of the family, he and John had chatted at length and had become close. Much to John's delight, Doc did what the Doctor and Theta did and took his personal clone under his wing and they were now just as close as the Doctor was to Alan and Theta was to Adam. Even though they looked alike, in Gallifreyan years the Doctor, Theta and Doc were in early middle age while the three clones were barely out of their teens. So the three clones tended to be a bit more rambustious than the originals, although the three older men were capable of acting just as silly as them. The five of them had also made their sixth brother feel at home and they and the rest of the family accepted him completely. For the moment, he lived with the Doctor and Rain and the triplets while Lee commuted from Sirius, the next city over from them, to head up construction on his new house which would be a few streets behind them. The Doctor also worked with Doc to teach him the parenting skills he had learned over the years and both of them had grown close to each other as well as Doc growing close to Rain and Sokanon and Chaska who thought of him as their long lost uncle. At the moment, Sokanon, Chaska and the other young children were running out the garage door to join Namid at the door to the Doctor's TARDIS. Doc glanced at them and looked at the Doctor.

"So how many times have you taken them to Disneyworld?" he asked the Doctor.

"Several times now. I know there's funfairs and amusement parks here but it's not the same as Disney. Everyone needs to see Disneyworld at least once in their lives."

"Yeah and we fit right in," Jack said. "We're the seven dwarves. Especially since one of us is named Doc now."

"Does that mean Alan is Dopey then?" Rain said, sticking her head out of the kitchen.

"Does that mean Rain is the evil queen?" Alan said loudly as they laughed.

Doc shook his head.

"I still have to get used to the whole hurling insults your wife and brother do," he said to the Doctor.

"Trust me, you'll get used to it. Frankly, I'm worried if they don't hurl insults," the Doctor replied, patting him on the back.

Rain came out of the kitchen holding a large purple tote bag in her hand.

"Okay, I think I've got everything. I've got snacks for everyone and our money, cameras and bathing suits and trunks for Typhoon Lagoon."

They laughed when she shoved it into Alan's hands.

"Thanks ever so much for being a dear and carrying it, dear brother," she said, walking past him.

She ran out the garage door when he tried to swing the bag into her back.

"Just wait to we get to Typhoon Lagoon, all, because Rainy's gonna get an unexpected plunge into the splashdown pool!" he said to everyone as they headed towards the garage.

The brothers let everyone go before them and then with a grin, they all headed into the garage and the Doctor shut the door behind them.

THE END.