"Why do we do it?"

Peri's question made Tegan remove the glasses from her eyes. She put them down and turned her head sideways on the lounge to look at her friend. They were both stretched out on chairs wearing bikinis. What seemed like bright sunlight flooded the room and there was a rather large sized swimming pool at their side. Occasionally the call of a sea bird would be heard.

"What?"

With a sigh, Peri took off her glasses. "Why do we attract hell the way we do?"

"This time wasn't as bad as a few others...remember Sarn? Karn? And what about that time with the Cybermen?"

Her friend nodded. "True, but this time we weren't adventuring, we were...relaxing."

"True."

"Had I known there was a pool in the TARDIS, I would have never moved from here," Peri said.

Tegan gave a wide smile. "You and me, both, kiddo."

Peri laid back on the chase lounge and replaced her glasses. "Ancient Babylonia...good grief, Tegan. Is the Doc really saying that that Gatherer thing was the main cause of civilization on Earth when it happened?"

"He hasn't said much."

Tegan lay back on her chair and shrugged. "It's only been two days, Peri. And the Doc doesn't answer questions without...prodding."

"Well, you should see him...see how his wounds are..."

"I've been doing that daily..."

"You two aren't talking-"

"Well-"

Peri shook her head with a laugh. "And for the two of you to not even be arguing...something desperately must be wrong."

"Hell's teeth," Tegan muttered as she walked down the hall. She had taken Peri's urging to heart and was going in search of the Doctor. He wasn't in the cloisters, nor was he in the study, the console room or the workshop. That, in her mind, meant that he was either aimlessly wandering the corridors or was in the library.

She pushed open the door to the room. It always felt like she was pushing into a wall of silence when she entered that room. The entirety of the immense room was filled with shelves of books from floor to ceiling. There were dark wood tables with lamps on them; books piled high on their surfaces. And for some reason, there was no dust anywhere. She was pretty damn sure the Doctor didn't dust that much.

With a sigh, she moved into the room, her footsteps echoing in the stillness.

"Tegan."

Startled, she turned to see the Doctor. He stood framed between two vertical shelves. He wore his old question mark shirt with the sleeves rolled to his elbows and his striped trousers. He looked like his regular self, pressed and proper. "There you are."

"Yes, well...I haven't moved all day, Tegan," he explained. With a wince, he hefted the thick book he was carrying for her to see. It was old, probably ancient. "Have been doing a spot of research."

"On those scripts."

"Yes..." He appeared a little uneasy.

"Have you figured out how and why they were so close to Gallifreyan?"

With a sigh, he finally continued forward and put the book down on the surface of the table.

She shook her head, crossing her arms over her chest. "And how were they in Babylon, Doc? How could they speak your language?"

"How they were in Babylon seems to be the easiest part, Tegan. My guess was that it was put there shortly after the Earth was cool enough after formation. The Federation had to evolve quickly...forcefully evolve is my guess, to remain in the Second Expanse. They were weak and had to put the Gatherer somewhere. It traveled through the cosmos through the Eye to Earth."

"But you said that the time differential between the Eye and Earth-"

"The classical period on the Eye lasted for thousands of years, Tegan," he said, leaning heavily on the table. "The civilization there was quickly formed from virtually nothing. The scripts there and on Earth were similar because there were those familiar with the Federation and the Eye and Earth that were observing all three..."

"Observing..." she said quietly. "Time Lords?"

With a slow nod, he agreed. "It's quite possible, Tegan. Our time on the Eye coincides with a period in Gallifreyan history when we were gaining our footholds as Time travelers, realizing what great ability we had..."

"Wait, wait..." she shook her head and joined him at the table, leaning over the other side. "You told me that Gallifrey was in a time bubble of sorts, outside of time...a time barrier..."

"Yes, well, we have our history, Tegan. It's just that when you come back to Gallifrey, you can go neither into the past nor its future. We are locked into our time firmly by the transduction barrier."

He continued as he turned a page in the book. "We were once meddlers, Tegan."

"That doesn't surprise me," she sighed.

With a frown, he shook his head. "The archeologist that studied Earth from the Eye, I have no doubt was Gallifreyan. They were trying to draw conclusions about the Federation and..."

"And the Time Lords relationship to them?"

"Possibly. But what I have found is that there is no mention of this incident in our history, Tegan. Any relationship between the Federation and Gallifrey has not been mentioned, but I don't think I could be that wrong in my assumptions."

She shook her head firmly. "You always told me history is written by the winners..."

"Ah, and the destruction of what remains of the Federation on the Eye of Orion means that any mention of our-"

"Of your somewhat strange family members..."

"Yes, well..." he cleared his throat. "That any mention of the Federation's relationship to us is buried. Quite possibly, Tegan; I do believe that is the case. Ancient Gallifreyan was used as it was the language of the time and apparently a close fit to the Federation language. The civilization builder might have been put there by the Time Lords or by the Federation...that I haven't quite figured out. But if it had remained there, later on the results would have been disastrous for Earth."

She sat down and looked at him across the table. "It was disastrous for the Eye."

"Quite."

"But why the explanation of how that thing got to Earth...put up like an advert on the obelisks?"

The Doctor gave a small, tight shrug. "That was purely Babylonian...the hieroglyphs and the need to have several languages on the surfaces...the mathematical representation was probably Gallifreyan in origin. The final language as you know was Federation/Early Gallifreyan...and the fact that the language was spoken on Earth means that someone arrived there to hide the item stayed and created a slight religious taboo around it...incorporating it into lore, most probably. And the language became...sacred."

"And the fact that I've never heard of any of this?" Tegan asked quietly. "Does that mean that history's been changed?"

"It means it was engineered that way," the Doctor sighed as he closed the book gently. "One of the many reasons that Time Lords in general voted for non-interference in their dealings with other civilizations."

She shook her head. "I don't think I like your lot."

"We're in agreement on that, Tegan..." He sat down in the other chair slowly.

"That's how the ruins came to be on the Eye."

He nodded quickly. "Yes, well..."

She held up a hand to stop him from talking. "Did you do what you did...walked out there to stop them from taking the Gatherer because you wanted to stop them to stop them or because you had figured out that they were...your ancestors?"

He wearily rubbed at the back of his neck. The movement was slow and pained. "You always do ask the hard questions, Tegan."

"You don't know?"

"I can't say with surety what my driving sense was beyond saving Peri and not allowing the Gatherer to be used...at the heart of that...I can't tell you." He met her stare with a cool one of his own. "It wasn't to wipe them out, though, Tegan. That much I can reassure you of..."

"I know."

She shook her head when he opened his mouth. "I think I understand you a little better now...I might not always understand or agree with your methods, but I know that you are a good man, Doc. What bothered me more was the beating...you took it..."

"Yes, well..." he said as he rose and grabbed the book. "The idea of you in the service of the temple, Tegan, was not...palatable."

She stared at his back as he walked down the aisle to replace the book on the shelf. When he seemed to stare at the titles for longer than necessary, she rose and walked to him. He stuffed his hands in his pockets as she neared; a reaction to her approach, she supposed. "You're not used to it."

"To...us..." he agreed hoarsely. "To my reaction to being faced with that situation was not...what I..."

"You've always been protective of all of us," Tegan reassured.

"I wasn't protective," he rumbled, reaching up to run his fingers over the spine of a book. "I was...angered and...I suppose...a tad bit...possessive..." he turned to look at her before he shoved his hands into his pockets again. Then with a small sigh that she knew led to him changing the topic, he turned and started down the aisle towards the tables.

"I wasn't prepared for the strength of that...reaction."

Tegan's eyebrows crept up into her hairline as she watched him turn away from her to walk down the aisle.

"And well..." he continued, his voice still hoarse but growing in volume as he moved away from her. He stopped at the table and pulled the string for the light. That sector of the library was plunged into soft darkness. "I suppose it was for the same reason that you remained in the courtyard, Tegan. I don't entirely know. I haven't quite...explored my reasoning. I know I've said what...I've said...but I do believe the words aren't enough. It compounds on the feeling I had when you and Peri were separated from me on Karn..."

"But...I know...why I stayed..." she said. "Hell's teeth, Doc...it was because..."

"Of what you said to me on the ship a week or so ago, I know," he said quickly.

There was no further discourse from the Doctor and Tegan bit her lip. He turned and glanced at her. "I do believe you and Peri have been lounging by the pool. Would you two like to see where I've taken us?"

He wanted to change the subject. A large part of her didn't want it changed. He was avoiding discussion of a topic that she felt close to her. She neared him, watching as his gaze turned from inquisitive to wary and the color of his eyes from light summer blue to storm tossed sea gray. "Doc..."

She could see a change in his face, in his stance, in the tilt of his mouth that let her know he was sure of what he felt but that saying it would be a reality he couldn't handle. When she reached him, she gently eased her hands around his body, touching gently at his back. His arms gratefully enclosed her in an embrace. They stood there, quietly holding each other until he pressed a light kiss to her brow.

With a sigh, she said: "I don't think we'll ever get it right, will we?"

He chuckled lowly. "I didn't realize we were going against the rules."

As she eased back, she opted for humor. "Where have you taken us this time?"

"Somewhere absolutely splendid," he rumbled back.

Her hand found his as they ambled out of the library.

I love you too, Doc. She thought warmly as she hurried to keep up with him. The library plunged into darkness behind them as the door slid shut.