The Doctor hated being stuck on this primitive planet. He hated being away from his husband. At that point he would take Arkytior over the intense loneliness of being on this planet. His granddaughter would be there soon. It was odd calling her by her name after what had happened on Gallifrey. He was almost relieved when she decided to be called Susan. It made it easier to bear.
"Hello, my hearts." It was like he had called her in his mind. For all he knew he had. He still didn't know how she kept coming to see him. He kept meaning to ask her, but they got distracted.
"I thought I was quite clear the last time I talked to you." The Doctor knew he couldn't talk about why he left Gallifrey, but he could still let her know that he was cross with her.
"Remind me what that was? It's been a bit for me. I just spent a few months on a planet quite far away from here." Arkytior leaned against the console dressed in an outfit that was clearly from Gallifrey. The Doctor wondered when she had spent time on Gallifrey when he knew that she hadn't been back. He would feel it if Koschei had been with her again. He knew he would. He hoped he would. He missed his husband.
"I told you I never wanted to see you again." He said gravely. Arkytior looked hurt. She moved her hand to her wrist, where a time lord marriage band was recently tied. He felt a shot of hurt shoot through him at the sight of it.
"Well, that isn't going to happen, luv. I am not here to see you anyways. I have a girls day overdue with my favorite granddaughter." Arkytior stood up, checking her watch as Susan ran through the door.
"Grandmother! I got the message that you were coming and I hurried home from school!" Susan threw herself into Arkytior's arms. Arkytior hugged her tightly, spinning her around. Arkytior seemed to wince at the movement which was worrying. Arkytior could always spin Susan around without problem before.
"Are you hurt?" He hated that he still cared for her after she ruined his life. He knew he was being unfair. She had just been saving his life, but his pain wasn't fair.
"Having a baby does that, Doctor." The way she said his name hurt something inside him. He knew he was hurting her. He didn't want to.
"That's why you were on Gallifrey?"
"You didn't want to see me, Theta. I will be going now." Arkytior took Susan's hand and led her out of the TARDIS.
"I have a new family member!" He could hear Susan's voice fading as she talked excitedly to Arkytior. The Doctor suddenly felt colder. He couldn't bear the fact that he had driven Arkytior away. He knew that he was out of line. He missed her. He had gone weeks without feeling anyone but Susan in his head. There was a buzz of the other time lords, but Koschei had completely blocked him out. He knew it was warranted, but it still hurt. His hearts. His Koschei. His husband. He had hurt him so completely that he was willfully going through the pain of a blocked bond to be away from him.
When Susan came back with Arkytior on her arm and what seemed like a whole new wardrobe, The Doctor didn't know what to think. Arkytior had always been good with people. She had managed to charm his family even on the side of it that considered her a lesser species. She had managed to charm Koschei who was, in many ways, distrustful and paranoid. Arkytior had a way about her that fascinated him, but he still had never seen Susan as happy as she was here since she was a child. Arkytior seemed to have brought some light back into her world. The Doctor was immensely grateful.
"Arkytior, may I speak with you for a bit before you leave again?" The Doctor tried to be as polite as possible. It was probable that she had just had a child with a future version of himself and here he was acting like a bullheaded council member. He should not have lashed out like he had.
"Want to talk to me again?" She asked a little harshly. She let out a low sigh. "Sorry, I am being unfair. Arkytior, can you leave your grandfather and me to get a bit domestic for a moment?" Arkytior used Susan's Gallifreyan name so easily. The Doctor wondered how much they interacted in the future. Arkytior seemed to be in his life for so long. He always felt a bit wrong footed around her.
"Of course, grandmother." Susan kissed Arkytior's cheek like it was the most normal thing. She was really beginning to find her way among the humans. Gallifrey didn't seem to make her light up the way that Sol III did. Susan bounced away seemingly on a high.
"The next time she wears one of those outfits you make sure to tell her she looks pretty." Arkytior was looking at The Doctor sternly. He couldn't help the fond warmth that bubbled up in his chest at the look. He still remembered the first time she sent that look at him. Koschei had been listening to her tell a story about a planet she had been to and he had made a remark about the species. The names she had called him would make his teachers flush. Koschei had laughed seemingly endlessly at it. The Doctor had turned an unpleasant shade of red at being scolded like a naughty time tot.
"Of course. I don't know much about raising a young Time Lady, but I will make sure to tell her." The Doctor wished he could connect to Susan the way that Arkytior did. He wished he could find a way to relate to her. Everything she said and did seemed so foreign to him. He never had much contact with her back on Gallifrey, her schooling taking up most of her time.
"I apologize for the way I have been acting. It must have been such a long time for you. I never meant to hurt you." The Doctor chose his words carefully. He didn't want to mess this up. Arkytior was the only one he had left now that he was cut off from Koschei and the rest of Gallifrey. Arkytior softened as she looked at him. She moved to him, easily pressing a soft kiss to his cheek.
"My hearts, this is not the first or the last time you will get snippy with me. I appreciate the apology always, but you don't have to look so scared. I am not going to leave you alone here on an alien planet." The Doctor seemed to relax as the weight of his loneliness seeped away. The touch made their minds brush together affectionately and The Doctor craved more of it.
"Oh. Oh, Theta, why didn't you say something? Come here." She said, linking their fingers together. He felt like he could breathe again as their minds wrapped around each other. Inside her mind was a complex web of gold that was so different and yet so similar to what he remembered. He could feel the buzz of other people there. A young girl with bright blonde hair who ran through the grass on Gallifrey. A man with dark hair and a mischievous smirk that reminded him so much of their beloved Koschei. A woman with a mess of curls sprawled out between Arkytior and a man with graying hair. That man with graying hair seemed to be everywhere.
"Is that me?" He wondered quietly. The man seemed to encompass such a large part of her mind that he could barely believe she was here now with him instead of with the man who clearly meant everything to her.
"No peeking at future versions of you. I am not good at organizing my thoughts yet. My tutor on Gallifrey acts like I am a lost cause." Arkytior smiled as she spoke. A man with long blonde hair and soft blue eyes popped into her mind at the thought. The Doctor had to pull away when he saw the man lean down to press a kiss to Arkytior's lips in her mind. Another version of him, he supposed.
"How many of me do you have up there?" The Doctor couldn't imagine having anyone love him that long. Koschei thought he would, before he broke his hearts. It still hurt as fresh as the day he had to do it.
"As someone from our future would say, spoilers. You don't need to know how many versions of you I know. Just know that I love them all. They are all you." Arkytior smiled up at him and finally pulled away.
"Is it okay if I stay a while? Susan is having some issues fitting in. I want to help her if I can." Arkytior sounded worried which immediately put The Doctor on high alert. If Susan was having issues enough for Arkytior to worry then he should be worried too.
"Of course. She is just a time tot. I don't want her to have any more difficulties than she needs to." The Doctor tilted his head down feeling guilty for pulling her away from everything she knew. She just wasn't safe at the academy.
"She is not a tot anymore, Doctor. You have to remember how awkward you were at her age. You could barely look at Koschei without turning a rather wonderful shade of pink. Everyone goes through awkward stages at this age. You should be more understanding." The Doctor wondered how she always knew just what to say to make him feel guilty for the way he was acting.
"She is still a tot to me. She should be in the academy learning, not here on this planet fitting in with the humans." The Doctor was still cross at her for telling him to leave even if it had been to keep him safe. He needed to protect Susan now.
"I am going to bed if you are just going to pick a fight. Make sure to actually sleep, my hearts. The exhaustion weighs on all of us when you project so loud." Arkytior waved as she walked back into the TARDIS finding a room for the night. The ship liked her better than him anyways. He wondered why he needed to pick this one to begin with. He would have liked to be able to hide out in a more advanced time period.
Arkytior stayed with them longer than she had ever stayed before. She lingered for days helping Susan not mix up the future of Sol III in comparison to where it was now. Susan seemed to slip up less the longer that Arkytior was there and he was immensely grateful for it. She had taken up a parental role without question.
"How old are they? The child you had on Gallifrey?" The Doctor asked one night when Arkytior was making dinner for the three of them without prompting. She hated the supplements they had been eating and demanded that she get actual proper food despite The Doctor being hopeless in the kitchen. Arkytior started to teach him as she made meals for the three of them.
"Just turned eight. My little flower is all grown up and going into the academy. I was rubbish when she went off to school. I needed to go somewhere. I still pop out to see her at night." The Doctor nodded. He remembered how stir crazy he had gone when their first child went to the academy. He had missed the noise in their home. It felt too empty. The Doctor couldn't imagine going through it for the first time all over again.
"Doctor, I forgot the onions. Can you go fetch me some from the shop?" Arkytior looked over at the Doctor who sighed loudly before getting up from the counter to go out, grabbing his coat on the way. Arkytior smiled at him as he left. She heard Susan coming home a bit later. She immediately started helping cut the rest of the vegetables. When Susan heard the Doctor come back she immediately called out to him. Arkytior put a hand on her shoulder, wondering why he didn't come in when his key hit the lock. She gestured for Susan to go to the console room to fetch him, following after her curiously.
"What are you doing out there?" Susan called out as she opened the door, expecting to see her grandfather.
"Susan, close the doors!" The Doctor called back, sighing when in marched a man and a woman, followed by the Gallifreyan in question. Arkytior immediately put herself between Susan and the newcomers.
"Susan! You heard your grandfather. Shut the doors!" Aryktior said sternly. Susan immediately closed the doors behind the trio.
"I believe these people are known to you?" The Doctor looked over at Susan, clearly annoyed. His annoyed look slipped for a second as he saw Susan trying to get around Arkytior, who was still keeping her away from the intruders.
"They are two of my school teachers. What are you doing here?" Susan looked upset at being kept away like an unruly time tot. The Doctor thought back to what Arkytior said about her not being a tot anymore, but he didn't see it.
"Where are we?" The woman asked, looking around. Arkytior seemed to relax at the fact the woman didn't know what the TARDIS was. The Doctor suddenly understood her protectiveness. She was protecting them from Gallifrey.
"They must have followed you. That ridiculous school. I knew something like this would happen if we stayed in one place too long." The Doctor was not as relaxed at the thought of these people being human. Human's had a way of poking their noses into things that weren't their business.
"I would watch yourself, luv." Arkytior warned The Doctor that he was treading a thin line with her. He didn't want her cross with him. If he was honest with himself, he would hate the inevitable avoidance if he did annoy her enough.
"Why should they follow me?" Susan broke off the look that Arkytior was sending him by speaking up and walking towards the intruders.
"Is this really where you live, Susan?" The woman asked, looking around the TARDIS. Arkytior did not look pleased by the comment.
"Best home in the universe." The blonde grumbled lowly as she moved to tangle her fingers with The Doctor's so they could talk without the humans hearing.
"Yes." Susan answered sheepishly, as if she knew she was being judged by this woman. Arkytior took a step to her, squeezing her hand lightly.
"But it was just a telephone box." The man did not seem to be taking it well.
"Perhaps." The Doctor was intentionally cagey about his response. He didn't want to answer to these humans. He winced at the sharp thought that Arkytior sent his way at his condescending thoughts about humans.
"And this is your grandfather?" The woman seemed to be trying to keep the conversation on track despite the hostility of the other people in the room. Arkytior shook her head at Susan, trying to get her to not put out the fact that she was her grandmother. It wouldn't be understood by the humans. They wouldn't understand that Arkytior was the older one in their relationship.
"Yes." Susan gratefully didn't mention Arkytior, who seemed to relax.
"Well, why didn't you tell us that?" The woman sounded accusatory as she focused back on the Doctor. The Doctor did not like her tone. He didn't like what she was implying.
"I don't discuss my private life with strangers." Arkytior rolled her eyes at him, grabbing the onions out of his pockets so she could get back to cooking dinner while they argued. The TARDIS dutifully moved the galley closer so that she could still listen.
"But it was a police telephone box. I walked all round it. Barbara, you saw me." The man seemed to still not be able to comprehend the bigger on the inside thing. It was starting to frustrate the Doctor.
"You don't deserve any explanations, you pushed your way in here uninvited and unwelcome." Arkytior sent a reassuring wave of emotion through the mental connection they had left open.
"I think we ought to leave." The woman said softly. She could sense the hostility coming off the Doctor and now that she knew that this was Susan's family she was less concerned for her welfare.
"Just a minute. I know this is absurd but…" The man started up again. He had seemingly forgotten about why he was here in the first place in the attempt to understand the TARDIS.
"Oh, dear, dear." The Doctor started pacing. He could feel Arkytior trying to keep him calm but his annoyance was rising. His temper was not good since he had been cut off from Koschei's mind.
"I walked all around it." The man continued to question the Doctor, not picking up on his attitude.
"It's stopped again, you know, and I tried … Hm?" The Doctor said part of his conversation with Arkytior out loud, not able to balance the verbal conversation and the mental one for long.
"Oh, you wouldn't understand." He said when he finally caught what was being said to him.
"But I want to understand!" The man practically demanded.
"Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. By the way Susan, I managed to find a replacement for that faulty filament. Bit of an amateur job, but I think it'll serve." The Doctor kept talking as if the humans were gone.
"You have done more with less, Doctor. I told you that you would find something to help here, even if you didn't agree." Arkytior's voice called out from the kitchen. Susan smiled at the two of them bickering. The Doctor couldn't for the life of him figure out why she found it so amusing when they bickered.
"It's an illusion, it must be." The man said, looking around again.
"What is he talking about now?" The Doctor pointedly spoke to Susan instead of the man who was giving him a headache with his disbelief.
"What are you doing here?" Susan demanded of the intruders, not answering his question.
"They are worried about you, my flower." Arkytior popped out of the kitchen again wiping her hands on her jeans.
"You don't understand so you find excuses. Illusions, indeed? You say you can't fit an enormous building into one of your smaller sitting rooms." The Doctor asked, trying to explain the concept to the humans who hadn't even developed the cell phone yet.
"No," The man said as if it were obvious.
"But you have discovered television, haven't you?" He continued trying to explain it slowly.
"Yes." The man replied, still not getting it.
"Then by showing an enormous building on your television screen you can do what seemed impossible, couldn't you?" Arkytior snorted at his explanation, moving to finish tugging off his cold weather clothes so he would be comfortable for dinner.
"Well, yes, but I still don't know…" The Doctor said as he was still being stripped down like a toddler.
"Not quite clear, is it? I can see by your face that you're not certain. You don't understand. And I knew you wouldn't. Never mind. Now, which switch was it? No. No, No." The Doctor looked over the console, still not used to the layout.
"This one, dear." Arkytior pointed out, caressing The Doctor's hand lightly before pulling away.
"Ah, yes. That is it. The point is not whether you understand. What is going to happen to you? Hm? They'll tell everybody about the ship now." The Doctor turned around still not opening the door for them to leave.
"We aren't erasing their memories, Doctor." Arkytior sounded like she had some experience with this and the Doctor was almost curious enough to ask in front of the strangers.
"Ship?" The man asked, looking around.
"Yes, yes. Ship. This doesn't roll along on wheels, you know." The Doctor was being pointedly antagonist now. Arkytior poked his side sharply to try and curve his attitude.
"You mean it moves?" The man asked, confused.
"The TARDIS can go anywhere." Susan blurted out trying to get a handle on the situation.
"TARDIS? I don't understand you, Susan." The woman sounded disbelieving in a way that Arkytior couldn't understand. How could this woman look at the TARDIS and still not believe?
"Well, I made up the name TARDIS from the initials. Time and Relative Dimension in Space. I thought you'd both understand when you saw the different dimensions inside from those outside." Susan looked so proud of the name that Arkytior couldn't help but smile and nod to her from across the console. Susan was brilliant just like her grandfathers, but like her grandfathers she didn't belong on Gallifrey.
"Let me get this straight. A thing that looks like a police box, standing in a junkyard - it can move anywhere in time and space?" The man sounded condescending and Arkytior was deeply offended. The TARDIS was more than a thing.
"Don't call her a thing." Arkytior growled out dangerously, making the man take a step back from her.
"Yes." Susan ignored Arkytior's anger to explain it better. Susan knew that Arkytior had bonded to their TARDIS. She could see the way that Arkytior communicated with her.
"Quite so." The Doctor said, looking at Arkytior curiously.
"But that's ridiculous!" The man said, turning away from them in disbelief.
"Why won't they believe us?" Susan asked clearly distraught at the fact her teachers couldn't understand their life. Arkytior moved to wrap an arm around her shoulder.
"How can we?" The woman asked derisively.
"Now, now, don't get exasperated, Susan. Remember the Red Indian. When he saw the first steam train, his savage mind thought it an illusion, too." The Doctor tried to explain to Susan the lesser species' ignorance, but the mental shove that he got from Arkytior was not pleasant.
"Keep that up, Doctor, and I will give you a right smack." Arkytior defended angrily. She still loved earth. She knew that he would too if he would stop acting so superior.
"You are treating us like children." The man accused.
"Am I? Children of my civilization would be insulted." The Doctor said condescendingly.
"Well, an adult from this one is insulted. Doctor, you are being an arse." Arkytior snapped moving to the Doctor. The Doctor looked at her in surprise. She had never said she was born here.
"Your civilization?" The man asked.
"Yes, my civilization. I tolerate this century, but I don't enjoy it. Have you ever thought about what it's like to be wanderers in the fourth dimension? Have you? Susan and I are cut off from our own planet without friends or protection other than a woman from your own civilization. But one day we shall get back. Yes, one day. One day." Arkytior looked at The Doctor sadly knowing he never fully went home after this.
"It's true. Every word of it is true. You don't know what you have done coming here. Grandfather, let them go now. Please. Grandmother, tell him! Look if they don't understand they can't hurt us at all. I understand these people better than you. Their minds reject things they don't understand." Susan begged, wanting to ensure that everything went back to the way it was. She didn't want things to change.
"Yes, they can Susan. I may be human, but that is one thing we quite excel at." Arkytior said gently to Susan, her hand moving out to squeeze Susan's.
"No." The Doctor said decisively.
"He can't keep us here." The man hissed at the woman.
"Susan, listen to me. Can't you see that all this is an illusion? It's a game that you and your grandfather are playing, if you like. But you can't expect us to believe it." The woman said, trying to force Susan to agree with her.
"Don't you dare talk to her like that! She is just showing you what you can already see right in front of you. Don't you dare blame her for your own inability to comprehend it!" Arkytior was immediately up in arms at the audacity of this woman. That was her granddaughter and no one would make her feel stupid.
"It's not a game!" Susan yelled.
"But Susan…" The woman started again.
"It's not! Look, I love your school. I love England in the 20th century. The last five months have been the happiest of my life." Susan began looking sadly at the Doctor who had taken that like a blow to the gut.
"But you are one of us. You look like us, you sound like us." The woman explained as if she were talking to a child.
"She's not even speaking English. Susan, they aren't going to listen." Arkytior said gently, trying to lessen the inevitable pain.
"I was born in another time. Another world." Susan said, looking away, remembering Gallifrey and her family.
"Now look here, Susan…" The woman started.
"Oh, come on Barbara, let's get out of here." The man said, trying to usher the woman out.
"Oh, no you can't get out he won't let you go." Susan warned.
"He closed the door from over there. I saw him. Now, which is it? Which is it? Which control operates the door?" The man said, looking over the controls. The TARDIS was being pointedly testy since her Wolf was angry.
"You still think it's all an illusion?" The Doctor asked, amused by the man.
"I know that free movement in time and space is a scientific dream I don't expect to find solved in a junkyard." The man was getting hostile.
"I know you are a superior arse just like the Time Lords." Arkytior spoke up. Susan had to cover a small laugh at the jab to their home planet.
"Your arrogance is nearly as great as your ignorance." The Doctor said glaring at Arkytior.
"Just like yours is just as large as your ego." Arkytior shot back.
"Will you open the door? Open the door!" The man yelled at the Doctor.
"Susan, will you help us?" The woman asked.
"I mustn't." Susan said knowing that her grandparents were right.
"Very well, then. I'll have to risk it myself." The man said, walking to the console.
"I can't stop you." The Doctor said.
"You're just going to let him?" Arkytior asked.
"Don't touch it! It's live!" Susan suddenly yelled out.
"Doctor!" Arkytior yelled at the fact the Doctor had let a man get himself injured.
"Ian! What on earth do you think you're doing?" The woman yelled at the Doctor.
"Grandfather, let them go now, please." Susan begged.
"Doctor, listen to her." Arkytior warned.
"And by tomorrow we shall be a public spectacle. A subject for news and idle gossip." The Doctor said not allowing the women to change his mind.
"But they won't say anything." Susan tried again.
"My dear child, of course they will. Put yourself in their place. They are bound to make some sort of complaint to the authorities. Or at the very least talk to their friends. If I do let them go, Susan, you realise, of course, we must go too." The Doctor warned.
"No, Grandfather, we've had all this..." Susan looked shattered at the ultimatum. She wanted to stay. She had made friends. She had enjoyed the culture.
"There's no alternative, child." The Doctor said sharply, not willing to leave their safety at the hands of two humans.
"I want to stay! But they are both kind people. Why won't you trust them? All you've got to do is ask them to promise to keep our secret." Susan tried again.
"It's out of the question." The Doctor said firmly and Arkytior moved to rub his hand gently soothing his anger.
"I won't go, Grandfather. I won't leave the 20th century. I'd rather leave the TARDIS and you." Susan yelled out and she felt the Doctor mentally crumple under the weight of her words. The Doctor was losing everyone. Susan was his only family left.
"Now you're being sentimental and childish." The Doctor tried, still hurt by her words.
"Susan! You do not know what he has done to keep you safe!" Arkytior said angry at Susan for being so ready to abandon her family.
"No, I mean it!" Susan yelled at them, angry that Arkytior was taking his side.
"Very well. Then you must go with them. I'll open the door." The Doctor said coldly, moving around the console.
"Are you coming, Susan?" The woman asked ready to get Susan away from these people.
"Oh, no, Grandfather! No! No!" Susan suddenly yelled as she felt the take off sequence starting.
"Let me go!" The Doctor yelled, shaking Susan off.
"No!" Susan yelled not wanting to leave her school.
"Get back to the ship, child. Hold it!" The take off was not smooth. Everything shifted around and the intruders passed out. Susan fell over, but was caught by Arkytior who hung onto the Doctor. Arkytior turned around to the Doctor.
"I hope you are happy with yourself. You can't just kidnap people! Susan deserves to have her opinions heard! You can't just make decisions for people because they hurt your feelings!" Arkytior yelled before turning around and disappearing in a swirl of gold.