This story, by its nature, kind of has two climaxes because there were two big problems to solve. This chapter is like the eye of the storm, a calm between two climaxes. It's low-key, somewhat domestic, though it does have elements of ramping up to the story's end...

Enjoy!

EIGHTEEN

Twenty-two hours after Daniel Edge's potentially deadly standoff on the roof, followed by his arrest, Martha's phone rang. It was an unknown number, but when she answered it, Stephanie Havilland was on the other end. She announced that Scotland Yard had requested that she return to London to give a statement, and that Inspector Spoonick had promised that afterward, she would give her all the paperwork and specs needed to build a harassment case. Tim had urged her to call the Doctor, to see if there was a way for him to get her back to London, that wouldn't require her to hire a taxi for the three-hour drive.

And so, at 4:06 p.m. GMT, on that Friday, she had come up to the roof with Tim, he had kissed her restrainedly on the cheek, then she'd stepped into the TARDIS. She spent a few minutes near tears, as she tried to acclimate her mental equilibrium to what she was seeing. Martha gave her a hug, and told her to close her eyes. At 4:12 GMT, the two women stepped out of the box in front of Stephanie's student housing.

"Whoa!" she said, upon realising where she was. "Just like that?"

"Just like that," Martha shrugged.

"Worldview. Shaken."

"I know. You'll get used to it."

Stephanie stared at her shoes in the little grassy patch between the street and the walkway. "I'm going to have to start my life all over again, aren't I?"

"Not necessarily," Martha said. "You don't have to do that get-off-the-grid thing, like the Doctor suggested. You could build your harassment case, get a restraining order and…"

"What? Just hope that Daniel Edge follows the rules after that?" Stephanie scoffed, good-naturedly.

"Well, yeah… I suppose that's a bit of an ask. Well, you could just, you know… move quietly away from London. Give your info to your parents, and let that be that."

"But it can't be Leeds," she sighed.

"Well, just because the Doctor said it can't be Leeds doesn't mean it can't be Leeds."

"But he's right," Stephanie said, meekly. "Once Daniel realises I'm not in London, he'll go to Leeds. Then what?"

Martha sighed. "You don't have easy choices, but you do have choices. In the end, I can't say that Daniel Edge is harmless, but at least he doesn't seem to want to hurt you."

Stephanie nodded. Then, "What if he decides he wants to hurt someone I'm close to? Because, you know, maybe he sees that person as a threat?"

Martha smiled. "You mean Tim."

"Yeah," said Stephanie. "I think I'd like to give that a go."

"Good."

"Don't get me wrong – I slept on his sofa!"

"I didn't even… I don't care where you slept, Stephanie," Martha said, chuckling in the end.

"But what if I start up something with him – whatever city we're in – and Daniel finds me, and realises I'm dating someone? Won't he do anything to get rid of that person? I mean, Curtis might be safe from him, but is Tim? And wouldn't bringing his attention to Tim eventually bring his attention to Curtis?"

"Stephanie…"

Then, Stephanie's face lit up. "Or, if the three of us get a flat together, could I be hidden from Daniel, because Curtis is?"

"I cannot answer any of those questions, Stephanie," Martha said. "Sorry. The Doctor could answer some of them, but… the point is, none of that is particularly your responsibility. You are a good person, a clever person, and you are entitled to happiness. Same could be said of Tim. I could understand self-sacrificing for the good of Curtis, but now that he's safe from Edge, are you really going to let some rich arsehole decide whether you can or cannot date someone you actually like?"

"No," Stephanie whined. Then her voice solidified. "No. Certainly not."

Martha nodded, with some finality. "Again, your choices are not easy, but… there are things that can be done. The Doctor and I will help as much as we can. If you want our help, that is."

Stephanie gave her a hug, thanked her, verified that she had Martha's number in her phone, then went inside the building to shower and change clothes, before reporting to Scotland Yard.

Since they were already in London, Martha took that evening to visit her mum and dad, help them make dinner and break the news gently that she was travelling with the Doctor again… and that they were "together" now.

Her mum had taken her by the jowls and said, "Now you listen to me, Martha Jones…"

Martha was winding up to react with something like, "No, I'm finished listening to you on this matter," but she didn't have to. Her dad had stepped in and removed Francine's hands with both of his.

He said, "Francine, darling, we can accept this, and eat our ziti with some dignity, and send her off with hugs and kisses. Or, we can fight about it, have a bitter dinner, and possibly not see our daughter again for six months. Your choice."

"Well, whatever happens, I promise we won't be gone for six months without at least popping in to say hello," Martha said. "But I still would really rather eat ziti with dignity than without it, given the option."

"Good, it's settled," her father said, gesturing for her to sit at the table. When she did, he pushed her chair under, like a gentleman. He sat down beside her, and began to spoon pasta onto her plate. "So, tell us how it happened. After all this time, what made the Doctor come to his senses?"

Francine still stood, watching in disbelief.

"Well," Martha said, with a giggle. "It's actually a pretty good story. It all started with a dragon on the roof of the Leeds City Museum."

"I heard about that!" Clive laughed. "Thought it was a hoax. Although, I don't know why I would think that, knowing what we know."

"Well, it wasn't a hoax! Weird things were happening, and UNIT got in over its head, so…"

Clive looked up at his wife. "Are you really going to refuse to hear this story? Come on! Dragon! That alone has got to be worth a listen!"

Martha's mother sighed, and sat down. She sipped her wine, and paid attention to the story.

The night in the TARDIS was spent very much the way in which any new couple might spend an unfettered night alone. Except that most couples don't park in deep space.

They were tumbling into and around each other until the wee hours of the morning, absolutely guilt-free. Whatever weird circumstances had pulled them into their first liaison, tonight was all for them. Martha had left her parents more or less at peace with things, Daniel Edge was in jail for a few days, Stephanie and Curtis were safe for the time being...

"...and Tim has a fitting romantic prospect, complicated though it may be," Martha pointed out.

"Does it still matter?" the Doctor asked, cooling down, between bouts of intense heat.

"Yes, because he's our friend, and he needs this," Martha said, her head lying against his shoulder, fingers running lazily through his light smattering of chest hair.

"Ah. Yes. Well maybe they can stay with us for a bit, until things blow over."

"All three of them?"

"Yeah," he sighed. "I suppose they will come as a packaged trio now, won't they?"

"For the foreseeable future, I'm thinking, yes," Martha assented. "Might not be the best idea to drag Curtis into this life."

"On the other hand, he could be the greatest asset we could hope for," the Doctor contemplated. "Something tells me he'd be able to see through bullshit that even I couldn't navigate in a timely manner."

"Could be. I suppose it might depend on what he decides to do, you know… brain-wise."

He sighed heavily, wearily, and placed his free hand on his forehead. "There are beings in the universe who should not exist, yet they do, and it could happen again. The lovely but extremely vulnerable man who created them could come under fire from any other spoiled rich bastard, or the mob, or God forbid, a government! Or aliens! All word has to do is leak out a little bit more, and the very, very wrong people could find out about what he can do, which could put countless others at risk. And whether we can stop it or not all depends upon whether said man, who sees the world vastly differently than we do, decides to trust me against his own better judgement, and submit to experimentation."

"Yes. This is nothing new, unless I'm missing something."

"Meanwhile, a fine, innocent young woman is in danger of stalking, retribution… well, let's just say it: rape, murder, or at least lifetime entanglement, if not some type of enslavement. I mean, look what happened to Sam! And we could help her, but it's possible that she would rather take her chances with a harassment claim and restraining order, which may or may not do any good. And yeah, Edge may be charged with fraud and myriad other things and wind up going to prison, but there is every possibility that his people will get to Professor Dibbins first, and threaten him into silence. And anyone and everyone else who has dirt on him. It could all hinge on people making ridiculously frightening choices – a bunch of people we don't know at all."

A pregnant silence hung in the air between them, as they both contemplated, in different ways, what the Doctor had said.

Finally, Martha said, "Doctor, these might be considerations for another day. Let's work on Curtis for now, yeah?"

He was quiet for another minute. Then, "Sometimes I don't do well with things being left up in the air. Being left to chance."

"I know that about you. I've seen it over and over. But it's not left to chance. It's left to human will. Human intelligence and decision-making."

He clicked his tongue. "I just wish I could count on people making the right decisions."

"You wish you could control things."

"Not necessarily…"

"Doctor, you can save the universe, but you can't save everyone in it. Wait… let me rephrase that…"

"I know what you mean," he said, stroking her arm. "You're telling me to stick to the macro, rather than the micro."

"Well, no. It's just that you can do macro, when no one else can. The micro is all down to individual lives, and, for example, how badly Curtis and Stephanie want to be free of that arsehole. And that's where our intervention gets hairy. They have to want it."

"But what if an individual life affects the macro?"

"Curtis' ability? Yeah, it's tricky. There is a school of thought that says we should just force him."

"Yes, there is."

"The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few, or the one."

"Now you're channeling Captain Kirk," he chuckled, remembering an annoyed comment fired at him by Daniel Edge.

"But you know you can't."

"I know."

"All morality aside, all of the should-we-or-shouldn't-we considerations aside, you would never be able to force a man, to force Curtis, into being blocked by the Axiothe Field's magnetic energy. Not considering what's at stake."

He was quiet for a long moment, then said, "No, I wouldn't."

"Edge was one thing. Curtis is another. Even the Axiothe itself seems to think so."

"Yep."

"It has to be his choice."

"Yep. So what do I do? Just wait around, hoping Curtis decides to do what I think is the right thing?"

"I'm afraid so. Fortunately, I'm here to help you kill some time."

By noon on Saturday, they were parked atop the Estate building in Leeds again, but no-one knocked on the door until teatime.

"Martha?" a voice said, after four sharp raps. "It's Curtis. Er, Curtis Malmay."

"And Tim," a second voice said.

It was the Doctor who opened the door. "My favourite brothers! What brings you to the roof again, this fine Saturday afternoon?"

"I want to do it," Curtis said, quite seriously.

The Doctor studied him with an earnest frown. "Sure?"

"Yes," Curtis said. "I think… I have to."

The Doctor nodded subtly, then stepped aside so that Curtis and Tim could step inside the TARDIS.

Martha was just emerging from the hallway. "Hi, guys."

The three of them looked at her rather gravely, and immediately, she understood.

"Come on through," the Doctor said, gesturing toward the console. "Have a seat, Curtis."

Curtis obeyed, and took the only chair in the room. He sat with his heels on the footrest, his forearms resting on his thighs, and his hands clasped. "Okay. What do I do?"

"Well, the first thing you need to know, Curtis, is that this might take a couple of days to do correctly," the Doctor said, crossing his arms over his chest, and leaning against the controls. "The more we study, the more we refine, the better your chances."

"Okay," Curtis repeated. "What do I do?"

"Mostly nothing," answered the Doctor. "Just follow directions, sit, stand, and let me take readings. Probe a bit. Try not to fight me."

"Doctor, one thing," Tim said. "Could this… you know… kill him? 'Cause giving up his quirky side is one thing, but giving his life is another."

"No, it won't kill him," the Doctor said. "I'm ninety-nine per cent sure of that."

Curtis searched the room, and found Martha, standing slightly behind him, and to his left. He looked askance at her.

"The Doctor knows best about stuff like this," she told him. "I trust him."

"I'm also ninety-nine per cent certain I can sever the connection between you and the Ifasma Galaxy," the Doctor continued. "So, one way or another, you'll be free of your reality-manipulating, conjuring power, or whatever it is. You won't be able to draw things into being even if you want to."

"That'll be a relief," Tim said. "Won't it, Curtis? You said it yourself just an hour ago."

Curtis nodded, remained silent and worried, but did not pull up his hood.

"Maybe following Stephanie to a new town wouldn't be the worst thing," Martha offered. "If no-one knows who you are, no-one can ask for anything."

"But as things stand, I'm only fifty per-cent certain that you will come out of this exactly the way you are now," the Doctor continued. "It's a difficult truth, Curtis."

"I understand," Curtis whispered.

"I'm going try my absolute hardest to dose you with as small and specific a magnetic concoction as I can. The more specific, the smaller the dose that could be effective. Though, either way, it'll be pretty big. But the possibility of relative safety does exist. We would need your DNA. We would measure your brainwaves again. We might even need you to draw something, just to see what occurs in your noggin while you're manipulating reality, and perhaps reverse-engineer it. It may or may not hurt. Are you okay will all of that?"

"I suppose so."

"If at any point you feel you cannot continue, I can stop. But the more rigorous the tests…"

"We get it, Doctor," Tim said. "The more he cooperates, or endures, or submits to, the more specific you can get with targeting him, and this particular neurosis, if that's what we can call it… this weird ability of his."

"Correct," the Doctor confirmed.

"His DNA, specific brainwaves, et cetera will allow you to train the magnetic energy as to what – or who – to look for. It will take time and patience to nail down the particular frequency of his GABA and then figure out precisely how, and how much, to change it," Tim went on.

"Yes, and whether that is all that is needed," the Doctor added. "Because I rather doubt it's as simple as all that."

"Okay. But, without super-specific research into Curtis' minute data, his precise vitals, the magnetic field might change his GABA, but also a bunch of other stuff that doesn't need changing. Have I got it right?"

"You do," the Doctor sighed. "Sorry – I guess I've been assuming that this thing was too abstract for anyone to understand."

Tim shrugged. "We talked about the tests you did on him when we first met you, back when there as a dragon to deal with. That, along with what happened with the magnetic pulse and Edge, kind of helped us delineate it all."

"Well," the Doctor said, pulling one hand down over his face. "The good news is, now that we don't have the threat of Edge, and Stephanie is safe for the time being, we have all the time in the world to get this right. The bad news is, until we 'detonate,' as it were..."

"Detonate?" Tim asked.

"Yes... release the energy, use it on Curtis, use what we have to solve the problem..."

"Sorry, it's just detonating is what you do to a bomb."

"Well, okay... it's not a bomb. It's a refined concoction of energies being channeled," the Doctor sighed. "The point is, we will never know whether we've got it right."

"What? You can't know?" Tim asked. "So we're just taking a run at it, completely in the dark?"

"Sort of. Sorry. There isn't another Curtis Malmay in the universe that we can use as a guinea pig, and no other human will do."

"So we can test and refine until we're all old and grey – well, at least Martha and Curtis and I – but in the end, we'll just have to take the plunge?" Tim asked.

"Yeah. Sort of. Sorry."

Tim and Curtis looked at each other.

"We understand," Curtis said, on behalf of both.

Tim didn't seem so sure, though.

They were all silent for a few moments, then the Doctor said, "Curtis, I know you don't really care what I think or feel…"

"That's not true," Curtis interrupted, meekly. "You're a nice man."

"Well, yeah, sometimes," the Doctor agreed. "But what I think is that you are a very brave soul for agreeing to do this. And what I feel is relief. I know it was a way for you to make some extra cash, but your power is huge, and it comes with a huge liability. I would worry about you all the time if Martha and I walked away today."

"Yes," Curtis said.

"The word you're looking for is thanks," Tim said. "The Doctor paid you a compliment."

"Thanks," Curtis whispered.

"No," the Doctor said. "Thank you."

I'm a bit inesecure about this chapter - I feel that something is missing. Let me know your thoughts! Hearing from you makes my day and the previous chapter rendered everyone silent! Take a minute, leave a review!

Thanks for reading!