A/N: Oh, I was all set to write the reunion of Ten and Rose ... and then I remembered with a gasp of horror that there was something else that had to get put in there first. Namely the fact that Ten knows Joan is possessed/taken over/whatever it is. He's not going to shove that idea aside and forget about it ... So that said. Had to get some stuff out of the way first before I can do the good stuff ... AGAIN ... Next chapter, I promise...

~~oooOOOooo~~

With his brown pinstripe trousers still undone, but pulled up over his backside, the Doctor Ten walked into the room that had remained untouched since this day almost two hundred and fifty years earlier. His tie hung from his teeth and his blazer hung perilously off his shoulder as he walked and tucked in his Oxford. He noticed his fourth self leaning with his head against the doorframe as he approached the room.

"I see you found it okay," he managed around the tie still in his teeth as he did his final hand sweep down the back of his trousers to ensure his Oxford was smoothly in place. "Still the same as he left it."

"With the book we were reading still open to the chapter we stopped at on the side table," he answered on a quiet voice. He kept his eyes on the open book – a text on the provenance of the Gallifreyan Culture. "This will be the last time I enter this room, won't it?"

Ten fastened his trousers and slipped the loop of his tie over his head. "You know I can't tell you that."

"No," he huffed with frustration. "You can't tell me if I'm going to fulfil the prophesy of whether or not I destroy Gallifrey. You can't tell me if a black hole opens up and swallows half of Kasterborous. You can't tell me something that'll influence me to change my own personal timeline or change a fixed point." He looked toward his Tenth self. "But you can sure as Rassilon tell me if I lose my wife and child tonight and become too much of a coward to bring myself to this door."

Ten slid his arms into the sleeves of his blazer and tightened the knot of his tie into place at his throat before fastening any buttons. He used those long moments of distraction to think back on this night almost two hundred and fifty years ago. He sighed as he slipped the top button of his blazer through its designated hole.

"No," he answered carefully. "You don't come back in here after tonight." He dipped his head. "Well, no. That's not entirely accurate. You do stand in the doorway on the odd occasion throughout the next couple of centuries. Not that it really qualifies as actually entering the room as you won't ever cross the threshold, but. Full disclosure I suppose is only fair."

"So it all ends tonight, then?"

"I guess so."

Four gave Ten a sharp look. "What do you mean by I guess so? That's rather vague, don't you think?"

He rubbed at the back of his neck. "Yeah. It's all kind of vague to me as well. I'm going to guess that I suppressed a lot of what happens tonight. Anything that occurs between leaving the TARDIS tonight and kissing my wife and child goodbye to then hand them over to my older self when all this is over is all gone." He tapped at his temple. "Nothing in there to tell me what to do and where to go from here." He pressed his lips together a moment and let his dimples show as he worked his jaw a little. "Still. I end up with Gal and Rose at the end of it all, so we can safely assume that everything goes well."

"Assumption, of course, being the mother of all disasters."

"Of course," Ten agreed with a firm nod of his head. "But we are the Doctor: The protector against disasters."

Four laughed. "Since when, Doctor? Typically disaster strikes because of our presence."

"Well," he sang with a roll of his eyes. "Not always. Only sometimes, maybe. Some times more often than not, perhaps." He scratched at his sideburn. "Of course location is also key in determining whether or not this disaster-friendly reputation we hold is in any way accurate."

"We can safely agree that it is."

"We can also make sure that the only people who know that we've admitted such is you and I."

"And eleven other men," Four droned sardonically. He looked past Ten and down into the corridor. "where's Gallifrey?"

"10-0-11-00:02 from galactic zero centre…"

"Centre of Kasterborous, yes, Doctor, you are exceedingly clever."

"Exceedingly so, yes. I am, quite." Ten flicked his fingers as he walked into the bedroom and picked a couple of things up off the floor to put on a shelf. "You may we well come on in then. Gal's in the shower."

"Rose is not going to be happy that we've made her wait this long." He grinned a wide smile. "But as you've returned it'll be you who will have to face her wrath more than I."

"Oh," Ten sang with a smile. "If she issues a Tyler slap, it'll be felt across all incarnations, Doctor, so I wouldn't be so smug if I were you." He rubbed at his cheek. "We learn the hard way just how painful that slap can be."

"You upset her?"

"Quite possibly many times throughout our time together." He frowned. "No. Not possibly. I've teetered on the edge of the slap more than once." He let his frown turn to a grimace. "But never enough to actually receive one." He raised his eyes to his younger self. "Her mother on the other hand."

Four looked pained. "Her mother? Dear man, what did we do to earn a mother slap, and do tell me that it is the first and only one we receive from a…" He winced. "A mother?"

"Not quite the only time. It does seem that I'm in at a stage of my lives where mothers don't generally like me too much."

"That could very well have something to do with all the canoodling you seem to be engaging in, no doubt."

"I'm a Time Lord. Time Lords don't canoodle, and I certainly don't canoodle." He then frowned a wince of disgust. "And who says canoodle anyway?"

"I do. And according to your companions – one being your wife – you have done your fair share of it."

"Response pending," Ten growled, "based on your interpretation of the word canoodle. Because if you are in any way suggesting that I've slept my way throughout all time and space when I am a married Lord, then no. Absolutely not."

"Canoodle," Four said through his teeth. "To kiss and cuddle in an amorous fashion."

Ten rolled his eyes. "Okay. I may have kissed a lady or two, maybe three, inside of this regeneration." He frowned. "But never with any amorous intentions."

"I'm of the mind to slap you myself, Doctor," Four muttered with a grunt. "Disgraceful behaviour."

"Anyway," Ten growled in a voice to suggest that the topic of canoodling was well and truly over. He then sighed heavily as he circled his wrist in the air as he walked deeper into the room. "To head back to our original line of conversation regarding the issuance of the Tyler slap, I blame a faulty navigational circuit and my wibbly wobbly time sense going haywire …" He gave him a pained look. "In other words, I might've brought her home a little after curfew."

"How late did you bring her back?"

"Oh, twelve months." He sighed. "I sent her back to her flat to see her mum while I flittered about the TARDIS, then noticed the missing sign on the post." He winced. "And then we had a whole cascade of bad things occur that culminated in disaster for the human race." He grinned. "We ended up on Downing Street locked in the fortified cabinet room." He growled a low chuckle. "Oh, and if I didn't know that I already loved and hungered for that magnificent woman, I would've fallen at her feet and pledged my remaining regenerations to her for her bravery that day." He scratched at his hair and purred out a long groan. "She barely even knew me, yet she trusted me so implicitly. She was ready to give her life for the delusions of a mad Time Lord, before she even knew what I was planning. By Rassilon it was the most immediate and intense bond flaring moment of my lives."

Even Four had to shudder at that thought.

"Needless to say," he admitted with a sheepish rub at the back of his neck. "As soon as I got back to the TARDIS, I immediately sent a message to myself with an urgent request to see her and Gal."

Four's voice was little more than a peep. "And we agreed?"

"I've never been denied."

Four pursed his lips and nodded slowly. "Then do take care to remember the courtesies offered to you when I come calling for time with her."

"Yes, and you'll get your consent, albeit through gritted teeth and with some rather terse territorial warnings."

"And I'll likely ignore the warnings."

Ten had to laugh. "Since when have we ever actually heeded any?"

"What would be the fun in that," Four shot back with a wide grin. "Warnings are invitations, my good man. A gilded invitation to Lords like us who love nothing more than a good romp…"

"Romp? Does anyone even say romp anymore?" Ten rolled his eyes, stepped away from his younger self and pointed his finger toward him. "And definitely don't be using that term when we're talking about spending time my wife and child." He looked disgusted. "I'm not opposed to ignoring summons from my previous selves looking to spend some time with my family."

"Speaking of," Four mused as he looked to the doorway. "Where is the little scamp?"

"The little flubble," Ten corrected, "shouldn't be too far off." He pointed to a watch on his wrist. "I told him no more than fifteen minutes, and we're four minutes and thirty seconds from that cutoff time."

"Good," Four muttered as he rubbed at his chin. "Then that should give us some time to discuss a couple of my concerns with you."

"I imagine you're asking about Bad Wolf," Ten breathed in response. "And the time energy signature she has .. when she shouldn't have one at all."

"What happened to her?" Four's voice was quiet and concerned. "She shouldn't have that much vortex power inside her, not unless she stood in the heart of the vortex itself."

"I can't tell you," Ten answered quietly.

"When we were on Gallifrey, Brax did tests, but the results were inconclusive." He paused to swallow a worried lump. "How did this happen?"

"I really can't say anything," Ten reaffirmed quietly. He inhaled a deep breath and lifted guilty eyes toward his younger self. "But just know this. What she did, she did for us. To save us." He thought about that a moment. "Well. In the physical sense this time around, anyway. She'd already saved my spirit, soul, and shattered hearts before she inhaled the vortex."

Four looked completely aghast. "Rassilon, Doctor. What mess did we get into to have her do something as suicidal as that?"

"I can't tell you, Doctor," he answered firmly. He even held up a hand to prevent him pressing further. "Because I know without a doubt that you will work from here and until that day to stop it happening. I know. I've gone through the equations more than once since that day to see if there was anything else I could've done to prevent it." He winced a look of regret. "I thought I'd taken it all out of her. I did. I guess a Time Lord isn't capable of drawing off that much power." His brows lifted as his eyes widened. "Funny that a human can withstand Time energy better than a Time Lord can."

"If you had pushed yourself to regenerate, man, then no doubt you could've," Four challenged with a growl.

"I did," Ten seethed through his teeth. "I killed my former body and used up a regeneration for her. And on the tomb of Rassilon I swear I give up another one if it meant getting it all out of her."

"And you know that energy terrifies our child?"

"I was you once. I've had these conversations, so yes. I do know. I also know that without that energy, the both of them wouldn't have returned to this universe." He sighed. "There was a high chance that Rose would be dead and our son a tortured guinea pig for whatever scientist of the day wanted a play." He held open his arms. "So if I can deal with the constant fear of Bad Wolf returning and frying her mind completely if it means I have her and Gallifrey with me."

"Gallifrey has it too," Four advised gloomily. "I saw it tonight."

Ten nodded quickly. "Yeah." He continued to nod. "And don't worry. I'll figure out a way to protect them both." His head then shot up. "And speaking of protecting the two people we love most in this universe. Doctor, we've got trouble we should really deal with first.."

Four tilted his head to one side and frowned a light crinkle in the corner of his eyes. "Typically when you think there's trouble, there's a little glimmer of thrill. Right now that's absent, which is worrying."

"Yes. Well," Ten half sang. "We've got a family of aliens looking for a Time Lord meal." He flicked a hand to his Fourth self. "And we've certainly given them a plate full of them, haven't we?" He thrust his hands into his trouser pockets as his shoulders dipped backwards to inhale a deep breath. He continued to speak as he leaned forward into a stoop.. "Oh, no. Even better than that. We've given them a menu, haven't we? A great big old Time Lord menu with Lords, Ladies and Tots."

"Breakfast, lunch and dinner," Four groused with a wince.

"Oh yes," Ten half cheered with a frustrated pitch in his voice. "I know the TARDIS picked up their ship's energy signature a day or so ago. We can be pretty much assured that they're assimilating now to track us down." He pursed his lips and rocked back slightly on his heels. "Well. If my encounter with Joan was anything to go by, then I'm going to suggest that she's been taken over."

Four's attention pricked at that. He thrust his hands into his trouser pockets as closed the distance between he and his older self and stood side on to him with an analytical look in his eyes. "What makes you think that?" His eyes narrowed slightly. "Something about the way she kissed you, Doctor?"

"You're really going to go with that are you," he deadpanned blandly. The disgusted and darkened expression of Ten held a moment, and then melted away completely as his body straightened and he clapped his hands. He took a look around the room. "Right, then. Now that we've determined that we can distinguish between species by their manner of kissing and have therefore also determined that Joan Redfern is no longer human, and is actually a member of the Family of Blood in disguise…"

"There is no need to be facetious," Four chipped with a curl in his lip. "Time Lords do not …"

"Oh don't you dare say that Time Lords aren't facetious," he challenged with a hard laugh. "And don't deny that you were going to go with that, because I was you once, and I stood in that exact same spot, wearing the exact same posture of indignance ready to sprout of the exact same excuse." He snorted with a roll of his eyes. "Please. Time Lords invented facetiousness."

"Tell me how you can be sure," Four growled. "Because I don't want to have to spend all of my focus on one person of interest, when that person is only of interest because you needed an excuse for acting like a cad." He let out a breath. "I don't want to take that chance, especially when my wife and child are involved."

Ten's expression fell into one of worry. "Which does bring up a good point. We've got to get Gallifrey clear of here before they catch onto his scent. If they catch the smell of a Time Tot, they'll stop at nothing to get to him." He lifted his eyes to Four's. "He and Rose. Find a way to get them clear of here and let me deal with what we've got here."

"You've met your wife and son, haven't you?"

"I've met them eight hundred and fourty three times in the last two hundred and fifty years." He pressed his lips together a moment. "Give or take a navigational blunder or two that meant I missed them, of course."

Four seemed quite shocked by that. "That many times?"

"So yes. I happen to know the two of them very well," he snapped.

"Which means you also have to know that there is no way in Arcadia that I will get our son to leave you now that he knows you're back."

"Do what it takes," Ten growled. "Get them clear of this nightmare and let me deal with it, because if they stay here and something happens to either one of them, I will obliterate this planet and everyone on it. I'll then destroy the next one over, and then move on to the next." He inhaled hard. "If I lose them again, then I'll have nothing left to stop me… I won't want to stop."

"I understand, Doctor, but remember this is the son of the Doctor, and he's as pig-headed as we are." He stepped closer. "I don't know about Rose's bull-headedness…"

"Worse," Ten admitted. "Oh. Very much worse." He covered his mouth in his hand and paced the room. "If we try to send her away to keep her safe, she'll neuter us both." He stopped pacing and tapped his shoe on the carpet. "It's not like me sending her away has ever been entirely successful. No. Not Rose. Not Rose Tyler. She always finds her way back to me."

"Pardon me?"

"Never mind. You'll find out in time." He offered a smile. "It's one of the things I love about her – her ability to fight all the odds and come back home to me."

Four scratched at his hair and flopped down onto Gallifrey's bed. "Then save time and the potential ramifications of omitting Rose and Gallifrey from the equation and make a plan with them in it." He pressed his elbows into his knees and let his hands hand between the spread of his knees. "Are you very sure that Joan has been taken over?"

"She kept demanding that I release the Time Lord, so I'd say that's a fairly positive identification." He leaned his back against the wardrobe and crossed his legs at the ankle. His hands remained deep inside his trouser pockets. "The Family typically travels in a pack of four. So. One down. Three more to…" He stiffened. "Gal was in the room with us." He expelled a hard and hoarse groan. "Oh. Oh! She's already onto him. She must've caught onto his scent when he was in the room with us." He pushed off the wardrobe. "She grabbed at him and tried to take him away for punishment." He almost turned green at the thought. "If she'd gotten him…"

"She didn't, so let's not even consider that scenario," Four snapped sharply. "You seem to be the emotional type in this incarnation, and I don't particularly want to deal with a weeping and slobbering mess of Time Lord."

"Give me some credit."

"You haven't given me any cause to want to give you that," Four shot back with a laugh. "Prove yourself to be more than a half wit…"

Singing from down the hallway gave Ten pause and he looked to the doorway. "Oh speak of the little devil." He shot a look back to Four. "Not a word to him. Do you hear me?"

"With this child's penchant for running off to be the hero? I have to agree with you." He couldn't help but smile at the tune carrying in from the hallway. "He does love to sing, doesn't he?"

"And talk," Ten added with a chuckle. "Like his dad he does love the sound of his own voice."

"He wouldn't be a Time Lord if he didn't," Four mused quietly. His quiet expression bloomed to a smile of thrill as Gallifrey entered the room. "Oh for the love of Arcadia…"

He wore nothing but a white fluffy towel around his waist. His hair was wet and fashioned into a fauxhawk that curled like a cresting wave atop his head and dripped small droplets of water onto the apples of his cheeks. The water droplets still beading on his back and shoulders, as well as the hairbrush in his hand being used as a microphone made it obvious that the youngster had chosen song over actually towelling himself off.

He strutted into the room to the sound of his own voice, much to the amusement of both men waiting for him in his room. He pointed toward one and then the other as he sung of having the moves of Jagger, and then turned to a bureau to retrieve pants and an undershirt.

"No looking," he sang with a wriggle of his towel covered hips as he his back toward them and leaned forward to step into a bright red pair of pants with little yellow lightning bolts all over them. "My booty is like the sun; all brilliant power that'll blind you if you look at it."

"Why's that then, Gal?" Ten chuckled. "Is it because It's so brilliantly pasty white it's blinding, perhaps? Really. I'm going to take you to a planet that has an endless summer so we can put some colour into you."

Gallifrey popped his head through the collar of his undershirt and grinned toward Four. "Dad already tried that. On Gallifrey. Didn't really work." He sighed. "Still. Not gonna argue with some Summer. Me and Mum have been in doom and gloom and cold weather for as long as I can remember." He tossed his towel to the floor and danced over to the wardrobe on the other side of the room to the bureau. "Well. We can discount the trip to Gallifrey. Woah, was it kind of warm up there. Is it always that toasty on Gallifrey? Is that why everything's so … red and orange?"

"Red and orange are fine colours," Ten argued with a smile. "They inspire warmth. They are the colours of action, and the thirst for adventure. Passion, Gallifrey! Passion and prestige – the power of a Time Lord's presence."

Gallifrey shrugged. "Just used to green grass and blue sky is all," he countered. "And what, with green symbolizing growth and harmony and the freshness and fertility of life, we can't exactly discount that now, can we?"

"I suppose not, little Lord."

"Not to say I didn't like it," he added. "Gallifrey is awesome, brilliant, molto bene and all that stuff." He winked to his father. "Just like me." He turned back to the wardrobe and opened the door. "And a blue sky overhead. Well that … just … oh … Uh-huh." He frowned as he looked back to his bed, where both Doctors waited for him. He looked first at Four, who was seated on the bed, and then to Ten, who stood with a purse in his lips, a curl in his brow and his hands in his trouser pockets. "Really, dad?"

Ten's brows shot up. "Who. Me? What've I done now? And before you answer, do take into account that I have been a human for the past two months and therefore may be guilty of a human-y act or two before I left the TARDIS." He smirked. "Sleep walking. It's like sleep walking. Chameleon arch puts you into a walking sleep so you can get your act together before you wake up in your new form." He shrugged. "But you don't remember it, really. Though the TARDIS probably made a recording of it. Or it didn't happen at all and poor Martha had to put everything in place all by herself." He exhaled apologetically. "Martha. Oh that brilliant and patient girl. I owe her a spa planet when we're all done here. What'dya think, Gal. Do you think your mum would like…" He paused when he caught sight of a garment hanging off a hanger in Gallifrey's hand and the accusing stare of the young child.

"Dad. Am I blaming you or TARDIS for this?"

Ten couldn't help but grin wildly as a happy little giggle rumbled in the back of his throat. "What? You don't like blue?"