A/N: I don't wanna talk about the finale...

I'll post this instead. Sighhhh...

I hope you enjoy. Only one more chapter left for this one ...

~~oooOOOooo~~

Leela was in wait beside the doorway when the three of them returned to the console room of the TARDIS. Not so much irritated as she was eager to get out there and rescue a few people, she switched up her posture of leaning on the door, and pushing off it almost with every breath that she took. Her head lifted quickly as the sound of their footfalls entered the room.

"Are we ready?" she asked with wide eyes of thrill.

"I believe we are," Eight answered with a smile as he crossed the floor. Shortly behind him, Martha and Ten walked, murmuring quietly to each other as Ten showed off his device to her. He looked over his shoulder at them and noted the affectionate smiles and physical closeness that they shared as his elder self spoke.

Oblivious, Martha has described him as. It certainly seemed that oblivion toward almost flirtation was the mood of the moment when Ten knocked shoulders with her and let out a laugh.

Leela met him halfway across the floor. Her eyes shifted to Martha, who now had her hands on the device while her Doctor poked and pointed out parts of it to her. "Are we going to have a problem with her?" she asked warily.

Eight shook his head. "No, Leela. I think she and I have come to an arrangement and she'll withhold what she's seen and heard."

"For now," she breathed out with distrust. Her eyes shifted up to him. "But when they leave here, what guarantee do we have that she won't?"

"I trust her not to," he said firmly with a hard look into her eyes. "And so I ask that you trust her as well."

"Are you very sure of that?"

"Absolutely, my dear girl." He gave her a wink. "Even if she was so inclined, she's now quite physically unable to do so."

She looked confused and curious. "I don't understand."

He smiled and leaned down to speak in her ear. "I'm a Prydonian Telapathic Master," he reminded her. "All it takes is a small amount of physical contact … a simple hug will do it."

She nodded. Her eyes hardened into warning. "And the two of you embraced?"

"We did."

She turned on her heel to follow as he walked toward the door. She opened her mouth to comment on it, but was cut off by him.

"It was just a hug, Leela. Nothing more. No more threatening to my wife than if I was to hug you."

"Please don't ever do that," she warned him.

Ten appeared at their side. "Don't ever do what?" he asked curiously.

"Hug me," Leela answered simply. She gestured to Eight, who was snickering lightly as he pulled open the TARDIS doors. "He explained to me that he embraced your companion."

His lips pressed together and he gave her a nod. "Yes," he confirmed. "I did see that."

"You're uncomfortable with it?"

He shook his head. "Nope. Humans, well, Earth Humans in their timeline," he gestured toward Martha. "They're enjoy their hugs and personal closeness. Even a kiss isn't always considered to be inappropriate between friends." He puckered his lips and then chuckled as he pointed to his mouth. "This pair have had more than one encounter…"

Martha giggled and leaned in toward Leela. "And he really is quite a good kisser."

"I'd really prefer not to hear either of you say anything like that," Eight called back with dissatisfaction in his tone. He looked to his elder self. "Really? With your companion?"

He scratched at his head, "Well," he drawled. "At that juncture she wasn't my companion. Just happened to end up running at my side when her hospital got transferred to the moon."

"To the moon," Eight breathed out with shake of his head. "Of course. Such a romantic ambiance…"

"Calm down. It was done for genetic transfer," he answered with a shrug. "Necessary in the moment. Judoon. Long story, really."

"And I'm quite sure that there were no other ways to do it."

"You do what you need to," he defended. He thrust his hands into his pockets, his mouth twisted into annoyance. "And if you'd be so kind as to stop judging me, I'd appreciate it."

"I'll do what I can, but it would help me greatly not to do so if you'd stop admitting to things that are judge worthy."

They reached the overlook that Leela and the Eighth Doctor had stood upon earlier. Eight regained his position in a lean against the tree. Leela dropped into her crouch. Ten stood tall with his hands in his trouser pockets and his coat billowed out either side of his parted ankles. Martha stood at his side, the control panel held into her chest with both hands.

Below, the Arks sat silently, three of them, all side by side, each flanked by a large group of Daleks standing still on patrol. Several of the Daleks rode the perimeter in pairs, random electronic mutterings being shared between them.

"Okay," Ten breathed out through a throat constricted because of a lowered head. His eyes were lifted to scan the area. "There are a few more down there than I expected there to be."

"And more than were here when Leela and I were here earlier," Eight added darkly. "Too many for only the four of us to handle."

"We can create a distraction," Leela offered. "Break into our respective parings. Pull them away from the Arks." She looked up to her Doctor. "That should leave only minimal targets for us to deal with."

"I'm worried about their death rays," Eight admitted. "We can create a distraction for sure, however, if we aren't quick enough to evade several shots at one time, then we might not be able to hold them off long enough for the pair who remain at the Arks to get the Askolians clear." He looked back down to her, ad then spared a look toward Martha. "The Doctor and I can regenerate if we're hit. The two of you can't. I'm not risking either of you with a diversion tactic."

"It would be an honourable death," Leela offered softly.

"Not on my watch," Eight assured her firmly. "Your son needs a mother, and I'll make sure he has one when we finish today." He touched his hand to her shoulder, and she looked up with a smile from her crouch. "So please stay with me and don't wander off."

She covered his hand with hers. "As long as you take your own advice. Together, right?"

Martha looked toward her Doctor, wondering when he would make the same heartfelt plea toward her. It didn't surprise her too greatly to see that his eyes were locked on the scene below, following Daleks and scanning the area with a tight focus. Whether or not he heard any of the exchange between Leela and his younger self, she really couldn't tell. She prodded for his attention with a soft call of his name.

He blinked quickly, shaking his head with short rapid movements as he took his focus off the scene below and looked at his companion. "Martha. I'm going to need to you promise me that you aren't going to wander off and get yourself into trouble," he ordered her firmly. "You know what these things are like, and despite being a very clever girl, brains really won't win a battle against a Dalek ray. Stick with me, and I can protect you."

"I'm not a damsel in distress," she argued softly. "I can take care of myself."

"I know," he came back with a wide grin. "It's one of the reasons I like you so much. Don't have to do much on the protection front, really. Well," he sang. "There was that one time on the space ship where I may have had to step in and help. Oh, and on New Earth." His eyes widened. "That. That was a tough rescue…"

She closed her eyes and shook her head.

"But! For the most part, Brilliant!" He repeated that word over and over under his breath as he walked the tree line, his focus now back on the scene below. "Absolutely brilliant…"

Eight stepped to his side. "You're unnerved. And that's never a good thing…"

"It looks like they're readying to transport the arks," he breathed out. He then pointed to another outcropping beyond the arks, where the flickering lights of fire danced briefly across the landscape. "Look over there. Can you smell that?"

Eight inhaled a deep breath. He held it and closed his eyes to analyse just what the scent could tell him. His eyes flashed open quickly. "Artron," he breathed out. "Regeneration wash."

Ten nodded. "There are Time Lords here," he said with hope in his voice. "Survivors."

He looked to his side at his elder self. "Injured survivors."

"Martha's a medical student," Ten blurted out quickly. "She should be able to help them."

Leela lifted herself to a stand. She looked toward her Doctor. "You should go down there," she advised softly. "You've got the expertise in treating injured Time Lords. Take Martha with you for assistance.

Eight nodded and gave her a cheeky salute and smile. "Yes, Commander."

She grinned. "Commander, oh yes, I do like that title." She held her hand out to Martha. "Please give me that device. Your Doctor and I will deal with the Daleks and freeing the prisoners. Go with my Doctor, he's one of Gallifrey's leading surgeons…"

"A what?" Ten barked incredulously watching Martha hand it over. "Since when?"

"Not now," Eight snapped. He walked to Leela and cupped her face in both hands. He leaned in close and looked her in the eyes. "Be careful, Leela. I expect to see you in one piece when this is over."

"And you," she answered with a boop on the tip of his nose with her finger. "I want to see this face when we leave Askola."

Martha slid her arms underneath her Doctor's arms and pulled in against his chest got a tight embrace. Even though his return gesture was no where near as tightly held as hers, she felt his breath across her head and his hearts beat against her chest. "You be careful as well," she demanded. She pulled back only far enough to look up at his surprised expression. "I need someone to take me home, remember."

His surprise softened into a smile. "Remember, he's me. Stay with him, don't wander off, and you'll be safe." His eyes shifted to his Eighth self. "Am I right?"

He nodded and moved forward to take Martha's hand in his. "It would be an honour to protect you Martha Jones. Now without further ado, shall we head down and put our medical training skills to the test?"

She looked down at their joined hands, and then up to his face with a wide smile on her face. "Absolutely."

"Well come on, then," he cheered with a tug on his hand. He looked to the other Doctor and Leela and gave them a tip of his fingers to his head in a mild salute. "Do be careful."

And with that, hand in hand, Martha and Eight took off around the trees and disappeared into the darkness. The Doctor watched with high brows. "A surgeon?"

Leela slapped the back of her hand against his chest. "As the Doctor said: Not now. Come, on, Doctor. We have some work to do."

"Yes," he drawled. "Yes, you're right. Well. Let's go, then. Allonsy!"

Leela and the Doctor fled quickly down the embankment, being careful to stay as well hidden within the trees and bushes as possible. Their run was swift enough, that it was only because of a tree that he didn't slide out into the open and at the base of a Dalek's skirt. Leela's descent was far more controlled, needing only a short hop to come to a complete stop.

"Wait," he hissed out through his teeth as she shifted to lift up from her crouch at his side. His hand was on her shoulder and it took only a flex of muscles to hold her firmly in place. "Wait."

She couldn't see over the thick shrub that scratched angrily at her nose and so she looked up at him in wait. She noticed the dimple in his cheek that deepened with a grit of his teeth and so used the tight set of his jaw to determine when to move. "How many?" she asked him after a moment.

The hand on her shoulder lifted into a stop sign just above her, his silent command to tell her to wait just a moment. That moment seemed to pass quickly.

"The control in your hand, Leela," he began quietly. "As well as being able to remotely control their movements – at least I hope it does, anyway – it can also be used to send out a message to all of them."

"For what purpose?" she asked with a furrow in her brow. "If we can control them, why would we also need to send a message."

He huffed out a breath. "Remote control capabilities really are quite limited," he began quietly. His eyes were still on the scene ahead of them, and didn't yet drop to look at her. "Even with the help of the TARDIS, I don't think our range would be much more than around 500 feet in radius." His lips puckered. "The communication field is much broader of course."

"That's still plenty of range," she ventured.

"Yeah," he drawled with a scratch at his sideburn. "But not nearly enough. Once we get control of their movements, they're libel to send out a distress message to other Daleks in the area. They'll descend on us quicker than we can hijack their programming." He blew out a breath. "So. This means we have to get as many of these out of the area, and out of range of attack, as we can first."

She moaned. "Was this always part of the plan?"

He cleared his throat and tugged at his earbobe. "Well. No. Not exactly. I added it as a just in case option when the upload to Gallifrey was being completed. Which is a good thing, because I wasn't exactly counting on losing half of our team and dealing with triple the amount of Daleks." He looked down at her. "You're more than capable, of course. Not a doubt in my mind about that, but not against an army of them."

"I still think we should try out the distraction technique to break apart the group," she said with a sigh, slowly lifting to a stand now that his hand was no longer holding her down by the shoulder. She looked into the pack of Daleks only feet away from them and winced. "Cancel that suggestion. I can see what you mean by too many."

He held out his hand for the remote control. "I preloaded a communication advising of intruders at the ship. Hopefully this will move enough of them out that we won't overload this thing by trying to connect to too many of them." He flicked a lever, turned a dial, and then pressed a button. His lips turned up in a smile as a small LED light flashed red in the centre. "Message sent, now to hold out breath and…"

There was almost immediate movement among the group of Daleks. A static, robotic command for many of them to return immediately to their ships raked across the field. It made the Doctor smile a wide toothy grin of triumph that this plan had – for the moment – worked. In fact, it seemed to work a lot better than he had originally planned that it would. The mass movement of Daleks had left only three still on patrol – one for each Ark.

"Brilliant," he purred out happily, an almost giggle sound coming from his throat. He held up the remote to Leela. "We might not even need this now."

"Keep it on you, just in case," she warned him.

"Was planning on it," he replied with a shrug as he tucked it into his coat pocket. He held out his hand to her. "Shall we?"

She looked at his hand, then back up at him. There was a shake in her head as she lifted a hand that held a knife within it. "I take that," she said with a look at his hand. "Then I can't carry this."

"Right," he said with a swallow. "Of course."

Leela took the lead walking out from their sanctuary. She kept her posture low and cautious, in a stoop with one knife held ahead of her, held firm in a dagger-hold. She slinked around trees and fence posts, trying to stay as concealed as possible. Her companion, on the other hand, walked tall and unwavered, right out in the open, his hands in his trouser pockets.

"Doctor," she hissed in a whisper after a moment. "around here." Her head tipped in the direction of the rear of an Ark.

He shook his head and continued forward. "Give me a moment."

One of his hands shifted toward his coat pocket, and to the remote control hidden within it. "I'm going to take your advice", he murmured. "Lead the transfer of prisoners from one arc to the other. I want one of them nice and empty."

"And what do you plan to do?" she growled.

"Distraction," he answered with a smirk. He looked to her. "Like you said, distraction." His brows lifted and fell, lifted and then fell again. "I think I want to have a little fun with these."

She rolled her eyes. "Of course you do," she huffed. "Do what you have to. Just don't get killed."

"Oh. I won't."

There was only a small rustle as Leela disappeared around one of the arks. When he was sure she was out of sight, he kicked at the dirt and strode confidently into the clearing, where the remaining three Daleks stood on guard. "Well," he sang out happily. "Hello. Nice day for it today, isn't it?" He looked up into the sky. "Not that there are ever any days that aren't so nice here on Askola. They don't tend to have weather events like most planets."

"Halt," one of the Daleks commanded. It rolled forward out of formation toward him. "Identify yourself."

"Oooh," he sang out with a lift in his eyes and a scrunch in his top lip. "Why don't you take a guess?" He leaned forward, his hands still in his pockets. "Let me give you a little hint." He could see Leela's movements behind the three machines, and see that she was efficiently shifting the small-statured lavender-skinned Askolian people from one Ark into another. He rocked back on his heels as his thumb flicked at a switch on the control inside his pocket. "This isn't the first time I've met any of you lot." He blew out a breath that was hard enough to puff up his cheeks. "Well, it's not really the second or third times, either. At last count, I'd say, oh, about 50 times give or take." He chuckled. "And as I was told today by my much younger self, my metric parameters for give or take might be a little skewed by comparison to other people, so that number might just be more than a little bit off the mark…"

"Enough games," the lead Dalek commanded. "who are you?" It tried to roll forward, but found itself to be stuck in place and unable to move. "Malfunction," it said out loud.

"Oh," the Doctor sang out with mock sympathy as he strode forward and gave it a flick on the eyestalk. "Had a bit of a systems error in your forward propulsion systems?" He shook his head and stepped past the eyestalk to lean his elbow on the side of it's domed head. He looked to where Leela was still successfully coordinating the prisoner transfer between Arks. He turned his head to the side to speak to the lead Dalek, choosing not to engage with the other two, who weren't even talking.

"Well? Have you figured it out yet?" He took the device from his pocket and made a show of looking it over, twisting it left, right, then turning it up and down. "Need another clue?"

:"What trickery is this?" the Dalek cried out. "How have I malfunctioned?"

"Well," the Doctor huffed with a dramatic roll of his jaw and an exaggerated roll in his eye. "If you don't want to play." He sighed dramatically and flipped the device in the air, snatching it on the fall and then waved it in front of the eyestalk of the Dalek. "there are problems with using computerised systems and cloning them across your entire fleet is that it only takes one very clever person with knowledge in basic programming." He paused. "Well, I say basic, but really it was a little more complicated than that. You really do have to be a little more clever than your average I.T. person to be able to pull this off with any real success."

The Dalek seemed to give out a growl, but said nothing further.

"Oh? Lost your ability to communicate as well?" He frowned. "Such a shame. Not hearing one of you call out to exterminate," he made sure to accent that word with an exaggerated attempt at a Dalek voice. "something, well, that just doesn't make this a true Dalek encounter, does it?"

Leela finally weaved through the two Daleks at the back. "If you've quite finished boasting like a peacock,"

"That would be preening," he corrected with a shrug. "You looked like you were doing fine on your own. So? Are we ready now?"

"Quite," she answered with a purr as she walked around one of the Daleks, scraping her knife along the casing. "Still just the three of them?"

"For now," he said with a shrug. "But the device is warning that more are on their way." He thumbed to the Ark. "I'll secure the Arks and set the coordinates for Ferrioum. Should only need a minute to get them set for flight."

"Great," she sang out with honest happiness in her voice. "I'll just keep an eye on these three, make sure they don't move." She tipped her head. "Ever again."

The Doctor actually chuckled as he half stooped, an arch in his back, the bring himself low enough to be able to read and program the small control panel at the side of the Ark. He heard the ping and clink of bolts being popped on at least one of the Daleks, but held off on trying to picture what was happening back there.

He shuddered at an invisible shockwave filled with Artron washed over the area, and looked up with concern about his younger self and his companion.

His worry was quickly overtaken by slight panic when Leela popped her head around the Ark. "You might want to wrap it up, Doctor," she warned. "We've got more Daleks on approach, and I don't know how to use that contraption of yours."

He slapped closed the door that covered the panel, and grabbed her hand to pull her back. He kept his eyes on the Ark. "Stand clear," he warned. "Getting caught up in that blast might be just a little bit uncomfortable."

He turned to run clear and found himself skidding in the dirt and sliding straight into the eyestalk of a grey and orange Dalek. "Doctor," it greeted robotically. "We meet again."

"Oh," He breathed out with discomfort. "Rassilon…"