Maturity is a process not an endpoint. Every individual in every species travels their own road to their own end.

- Fifth Doctor's diary, 950 years.

Tegan ran at the head of the crowd, leading two children by the hand. The Doctor was close behind her flock, carrying a young boy and shepherding several others. Turlough brought up the rear with two of the gun toting guards. The sound of blaster fire was drawing closer and to Tegan, it was like an approaching horde of the hounds of hell. The child that the Doctor held was crying and the rest were obviously too scared to make a sound.

The TARDIS loomed large in front of her in the dark of the station's wing. It was obvious that the battle had waged here; the sides of the familiar blue box wore new scars, burns and dents. With a shout to the others to hurry, she reached its front and released one of the girls. As the young one whimpered and buried her face in Tegan's legs, the woman struggled with her extra key and slipped it into the door. It opened inward and she, not too kindly, but with gentleness, ushered her brood inside. The Doctor reached the door after her, handing his crying child to her and turned to yell to the others to hurry.

"Get the children inside, Tegan and away from the console. We'll have to leave quickly, I'm afraid."

She nodded and disappeared back inside. The Doctor threw back his head to stare at his other companion and the straggling children and guards that were bearing down on the TARDIS. "Time to leave!" he shouted.

Turlough and the last two guards turned, obviously abandoning the tact of fighting off the advancing war faction, and ran for the TARDIS. The Doctor stepped to the side, allowing those running toward him to hurtle into its strange vast dark. As Turlough pressed past him, he saw a lone boy of maybe five running at full speed, slow in comparison to the adults, towards the TARDIS. He wordlessly held out his hand and the boy slid into and against his tall stature. Laser fire whizzed past him as the Time Lord turned and all but threw the young boy into the TARDIS and followed him in.

The door slammed shut and was soon followed by the wheezing, groaning sound of a TARDIS slipping back into its temporal vortex existence

Just as the advancing guard arrived on its spot.

**

Inside the TARDIS, the situation was a little calmer. The adults were leaning on various pieces of furniture and consoles, regaining their breath; the children were spread throughout the room, but mostly were clinging to Tegan. They sniffled, whimpered and moaned. The only being not noticeably winded by the situation that the small band had just experienced was the Doctor. He leaned into the console and was delicately adjusting the instrumentation.

"These short jumps are harder to accurately accomplish than going thousands of hundreds of light years," he mumbled. "But, with a little luck and a lot of skill, we should end up just where we want to be."

The only thing that seemed out of place was the small boy that clung to the Doctor's leg. The lad had his face pressed into the side of the Doctor's hip, occasionally drying his tears on the linen fabric. The Doctor moved slowly about the console, doing his tasks without disturbing the boy. As the final adjustments were made, the Doctor nodded and stood tall.

Tegan called over to her friend and his new little shadow. "Doctor? I could take the children to the bathroom and get them something to eat."

"A splendid idea, Tegan," he answered, slipping his hands, gently into his pockets and dislodging the young lad's face from his hip. "Turlough, Jones, Trenton? I'll maintain the TARDIS in stasis to give us time to recover and eat and materialize almost immediately after the time that we left in the other part of the station. It'll give the children some time to calm; they've been through a tremendous amount and their parents shouldn't see them as disheveled as they are. Pleaseaccompany Tegan and get some food."

The men nodded and left, Turlough lastly, following the girls and young boys as they filed behind the guards, into the corridor. As the door slid shut, Turlough was seen running to the front to act as guide to the mentioned rooms.

When it seemed that the boy holding the Doctor's leg would not let go or open his eyes, which had been shut since he entered the TARDIS, Tegan walked over slowly to kneel by the console and her friend.

"Don't be afraid," she cooed, her voice quiet and her accent weak. "We've some cordial and sorbet here in the TARDIS and fruit and bread and meat. You must be starvingwhy don't you come with me and the others."

The child's eyes opened at the sound of her voice and he appeared in shock. His breathing was slow and his brown eyes were wide as saucers. Suddenly he released the Doctor's pants leg and turned like a whirlwind to face the kneeling woman. The tears on his face went unnoticed for the moment and his light child voice was loud as he shouted: "Momma!" and hurtled himself at Tegan. "Momma!"

Tegan's mouth fell open and she, in shock, reached out to enfold the now openly crying boy in her arms. She blinked several times and then lifted her eyes to gaze at her friend. The Doctor returned her shocked gaze with an equally shocked one of his own.