Time Fears the Sphinx

by aragonite

Doctors Two and Three are both caught in "halfway" zones of their Timestream due to personal circumstance and bizarre coincidence (or is it?). They have to work together in order to repair the damages seeding the Web of Time throughout the Universe, and most of all, they have to do it without being caught because even their closest friends could ruin everything.

26. Don't Forget

27. A Doctor of...Medicine?

"A rare anomaly, a Time Storm overtook his TARDIS. If you see him, or encounter him in any form, it is your duty to turn your predecessor over to our custody."

"Custody? Turn him over? I really don't understand. I thought he was working well enough for you. Is he on the run?" He scowled. "Is this one of your infernal tests?"

"Your pardon." The Bowler Hat Man apologized. "Doctor, I should translate better. He is not officially on the run, as it were...but he is currently under a term of punishment for a...shall we call it a botched assignment?"

"Oh, that sounds like him." The Doctor muttered under his breath. A second later he felt bad for running off the mouth, but his reaction seemed to reassure his "guest."

"Due to the circumstances, he may not be...stable." Bowler Hat Man shrugged over his umbrella. "He may be delirious and instinctively seeking another Time Lord for assistance."

"I'm not a medical doctor," he protested. Well, not any more...Even the Hobo only claimed it when he actually remembered being a Doctor. Oh, the joys of gaining knowledge when your brain was already deteriorating from age...

---

28. Don't Forget

The good news was, the Doctor's mind began to make genuine progress in recovery.

The bad news was... so did his memory.

He remembered in fits and starts what happened.

And then he remembered himself, calling for Jamie and Zoe.

Oh, that hurt.

The Doctor clenched his teeth and dabbled with the idea of just blanking his own memories to the point where they no longer existed...just give up and be the mindless Auton the CIA wanted him to be...

...but he couldn't at the end. Jamie and Zoe had walked innocently into the SIDRAT, unaware their minds would be erased of him; they'd hoped to remember him. He couldn't betray their own hurt by giving up.

Of all his selves, past and future, he was considered one of the weakest. Which meant he didn't fret about it when the pain made him collapse all over again.

Don't forget, he reminded himself yet again. Don't forget. Of all the things the Time Lords hated about him, they hated his friendship with lower species the most.

And he suspected the reasons for their antipathy for humans. If he was right—and he was rarely wrong—it was reason enough to side with them.