The Doctor blinked his eyes open. He felt heavy as if he had fallen to the ground under gravity far beyond his ability to handle. He couldn't move his arms and couldn't feel his hands. But then there was a tickling at his cheek.

Dark hair moved against his cheek like curls of night. Then it struck him that the hair was moving because the person who owned it was moving.

Tegan was awake.

The Tsektsek stood over the two of them with a smile on his face.

"It is done, Time Lord. Your friend has been returned to you." With those words and a slight nod, the spirit man walked from the dome and left them in peace and solitude.

"Please tell me," came Tegan's raspy, almost painfully tight voice. "That everything was just a bad dream."

The Doctor tightened his arm around his friend and began to laugh almost helplessly. He had never felt such a need to release emotion before in his life. Thankful, he allowed the laughing until it hurt.

Peri frowned as she contemplated the gathering of the soldiers outside her door. They were beginning to watch her closely. She had noticed that that morning. Thalia seemed to change her view of her as well.

She was becoming a threat to her. Call it woman's intuition, Peri thought, but she could sense that Thalia perceived her differently. She was becoming less of a child and more of a possible spanner in the works. The thought made her smile.

But then there was the flip side of the coin. If they were watching her closely, it meant that they expected the Doctor back soon. She didn't know Gallifrey; she didn't know how long it took to travel to the Wilds or to come back. They did know those things. So that meant that the Doctor was done with helping Tegan.

That meant it had worked, or it hadn't.

With a sigh, Peri turned and sat in the chair and waved to the Capitan of the Guard with a large smile on her face. They were getting prepared and so would she.

"I'm starved."

The simple words made the Doctor smile widely. He passed Tegan the meat and watched as she pulled several pieces onto her plate. She took a bite and continued her conversation. "Are we really on Gallifrey?"

"Ah, yes..." the Doctor responded as he leaned back on his arms and watched his companion eat. "Yes. You became unresponsive approximately two weeks ago. This was our last chance and indeed, our last choice to get you help." He looked and widened his smile as he saw Devon observing them. "Of course, we had come here for help in the medical centers of Gallifrey. I hadn't considered the Wilds..." he sighed as he glanced back at Tegan. "But I am glad I did."

"Where's Peri?"

The Doctor cleared his throat. "Well, on Gallifrey, it's considered treason to wander into the Wilds. She stayed behind as a...well..." he intoned and waved his hand. "A bargaining chip for my return."

Tegan winced. "Cripes, Doc..."

"There was no choice in the manner," he defended. "When we arrived here, you were near..."

"I wasn't going to come back," Tegan said. "Rabbits, I didn't realize that it was that close..."

"Yes, well...we'll go back for her, Tegan. She's in no physical danger and they won't prosecute her or question her until I'm back within the confines of the Capital City."

She opened her mouth to speak, but yawned instead. The Doctor reached out with one hand to rub at her shoulder and then to brush back her hair. "We won't be heading back for a day, Tegan. You'll need strength..."

"Hell's teeth, Doc...Peri..."

"We'll have to work around guards. I can guarantee there will be a great deal of running and a great deal of rushing about, Tegan. If you aren't rested, you'll be a liability," he commented. "And you did just come back to your body..."

"And that spirit person said I'll need a day or so to completely rest within myself, I remember," Tegan grumbled. "I feel like I've been asleep for a month and yet I'm tired as hell."

"Then let's find you a place to sleep," the Doctor responded. He adjusted his weight on his elbow and gave her a wide smile. "They have very interesting ideas of beds out here. I think you'll enjoy it. It's rather like a nest for two."

Tegan frowned. "You're going to share with me? Doc, I don't quite feel up to that..."

"I'm not letting you out of my sight," the Doctor said gallantly.

With a tired yawn, she nodded slowly. He could tell she was too tired to think. He simply wanted to find her a place to rest and have her in one piece before he moved her. In the past, he had always felt protective in as much as the logic of who better to protect than a Time Lord. But this time, he wanted what was best for her simply because he cared. It was a new take on the situation.

He smiled for her and rose, rubbing her shoulder as he did so.

"You're Tegan."

She was weak and walked with the man she had been introduced to by the name of Devon. He had offered his arm and as the Doctor had trusted him to take her where the Doctor was, she trusted him too. She was too tired to argue much. "Yes, I'm Tegan and a friend of the Doctor. I know you're Devon, but what are you?"

"Thete had said you were rather straightforward in manner."

"He was being kind," Tegan admitted with a weary, sad smile. "I'm a mouth on legs."

Devon smiled and patted her hand as they walked. They passed a series of dome shaped houses. There was smoke coming out of the tops of them and it appeared that although it had been dark for hours, most of the inhabitants were just beginning to bed down. "This is...very different from the Gallifrey I know. The Doc has never really showed me this part. I mean I saw the Zone..."

"Ah, yes, I had heard that," Devon responded. "The Doctor, or Theta as I know him, used to come out here to visit occasionally."

"Well, you're certainly not like the Time Lords I've met."

"Ah, my dear, that's simply because I'm not a Time Lord."

"But you're Gallifreyan," Tegan argued.

"Why the Doctor travels with Terrans as often as he has, but hasn't shared any of  our history is beyond me, I'm afraid. Yes, Tegan, I'm a Gallifreyan. I attended Academy with the Doctor. To be a Time Lord, you must have the gift of Rassilon bestowed on you at graduation from the Academy. I'm afraid, I never attained that level of education as the Doctor has."

"An old school chum, then?"

"Exactly, Tegan," he stated. "A little before graduation, I left the cities for the Wilds. The Doctor graduated from the Academy and left soon after."

Tegan nodded wearily.

Devon nodded to the dome where he was leading her. "Theta is rather emotional at the moment, my dear. He has had his emotional detachment removed. I say this to prepare you. He might have small emotional swings, but nothing to alarm you."

Tegan gaped at him, but the Gallifreyan patted her hand again and waved his hand towards the dome. "Let him tell you about the situation, Tegan. We shall see you in the morning. It's rather a long night here on the Gallifrey. He has called a village meeting for tomorrow morning with the elders. I shall see you there."

The Doctor greeted her at the door and slipped his arm around her waist to escort her inside. There was an exchange between Devon and the Doctor, but Tegan barely paid it any attention. She ached, especially in her chest over her breast bone. She rubbed at the area as the Doctor led her to a little nest of furs.

"Tegan?"

The Doctor's voice was gentle with a catch in it. "It's my chest, Doc, it aches. Are you sure that your people didn't attempt something like open heart surgery or anything?"

He chuckled. "No, I assure you they didn't." He gently touched the center of her chest. "The Tsektsek reattached your soul at your Chakra, one of which is your chest, your breastbone. The pain isn't too bad, is it?"

"Just like having a chest cold, Doc," Tegan groused.

"Ah well," he began as he rose to turn down the lights. "I wish it had been just a cold."

She watched him as he moved about the dome. He looked at home in the felt like trousers and cool cotton shirt. She got a glimpse of the subtle shadows in the white of the cotton before he doused the light.

"Devon says that you've had your emotional detachment removed."

"Ah..."

Tegan rubbed at her chest and watched as he turned in front of the one remaining light. It lit him from behind and made a silhouette of soft gold around his body. "What did he mean, Doc? Emotional detachment, you said, was there because you were a Time Lord. Because you couldn't travel in time without it, right? I'm sure I didn't make up most of that..."

"He means that I've, ah, had my emotional detachment removed-"

"Like flipping on and off a light switch; just like that, Doc?"

"No, Tegan. It wasn't like just flipping on and off a switch. Emotional detachment is a part of the education of a Time Lord, akin to, for lack of a kinder and gentler term, brain washing. Emotional detachment is an erection of a block in the mind of the Time Lord to help hide and submerge emotions. I went through the training and erected my barrier with a few of my emotions intact."

Tegan opened her mouth, but the Doctor approached and sank down on the other side of the nest. In the blink of her eye, he laid his finger on her lips to quiet her. "It is necessary for time travel. Trust me, I've know that it is. And its removal was necessary to get you back, Tegan. That light you saw in the landscape was me. It was created by my emotions."

"But does that make you not a Time Lord any more?" she asked.

He smiled. She could see that much in the dim light from the moon. It struck her suddenly that she knew nothing about the environment of Gallifrey. Did it even have a moon? "No, I'm still a Time Lord. Time Lord is a level of educational attainment and the bestowing of Rassilon's gift. I'm a Time Lord because I regenerate."

"And Devon?"

"Devon is a Gallifreyan and a very old friend of mine," the Doctor clarified. "He decided on a very different path in life and I respect his decision. We attended Academy together."

Tegan blinked. "Cripes, I think I'm a little slow on the uptake right now. Doc...this means you're going to have problems traveling. Can you travel at all?"

"Once back in the TARDIS I can undergo the proper 'programming' and reassert my emotional control. I assure you: I'll be quite as I was."

"You're very calm about it," she whispered. "You always told me it was what..."

"Kept me apart and able to function, yes, Tegan. I would appreciate it if we wouldn't dwell on this..."

She shook her head. "Angry?"

"What the blast do you think I'd be feeling?"

Tegan reached out to touch at his shoulder. "Easy, Doc..."

He picked up her hand and pressed her palm against his cheek. "I'm sorry, Tegan. I'm not used to these fluctuations. I can see where it would affect my upper thought processes."

"Rabbits, now you know how I feel a lot of the time," she commented, tiredly.

He nodded. "I think I understand your reasons for the way you act, now, Tegan. I think I understand your emotions too."

The words were said quietly with a sense of privacy about the conversation. There was a tender undertone to his words, a breathy quality to his voice which made her toes curl, even as tired as she was. In the dark, she could see his eyes twinkling. And the touch of his hand on her neck was a welcome and warmer than the surrounding air. Passion, she thought in the cloudy haze that sleep and familiarity spun; that's what I hear in his voice.

She didn't expect, but she welcomed the touch of his lips against hers. There was the easy pressure he had always used, but now there was the thumb under her chin and the nudging of her nose with his. There was gentle pressure to open her lips and the tender offering of his tongue.

It was several minutes before he drew away slowly and his thumb rubbed gently at the skin under her lip.

"Open your eyes, Tegan," he said hoarsely.

She hadn't realized that she had closed her eyes. As she blinked them open, she saw his eyes kindly gazing into hers. A small smile tilted his lips. Just the look on his face let her know there was a discussion brewing between them. Tired as she was, she still attempted to start the conversation. "Doc..."

"You're tired, Tegan, and deservedly so," he replied as his hand slipped under her hair.

"Doc..."

"Ah, well, there's always tomorrow," he said tenderly. "We will talk tomorrow, after you've slept."

Tegan sighed agitatedly. "I wish you weren't always right. I am tired, but..."

"I'll be here in the morning, Tegan," the Doctor reassured. "And I'm going to be right here all night. Sleep. Let your soul completely heal. Brave heart, don't worry."

Tegan frowned and gave into his lead weakly. She was too physically tired to do much and she still ached. But her mouth still worked and she used it. As he laid her down and covered her with the skins, she commented. "Rabbits, Doc..." She could hear the usual uptight tone in her voice, but she was too tired to fight.

She fell asleep under the warm furs with the Doctor sitting along side her, strong in his silence.

Peri lifted her chin tiredly as Thalia entered the common room in the suite.

The Time Lady stopped short and contemplated the woman who sat at the table. Peri knew that Thalia considered her a child, much like the Doctor did. Although from the Doctor it was sort of an acceptance of their age difference and not anything derogatory. Though the look from the Lady President was not one of acceptance; it was more of a look that a parent would give a child who was misbehaving. She didn't like it.

The apple and biscuit of some sort lay untouched in front of her as the Time Lady sat across from her.

"Is the food not to your liking?" Thalia asked conversationally as she picked up the napkin to lay it across her lap. "I was told that your food was a Terran delicacy."

"The food is just fine, thanks," Peri said as she pushed plate away. "I just don't have an appetite."

"Hmm," Thalia hummed. And then she began to eat. After a moment, the Lady looked at Peri and shook her head. "You read more last night, child. The book was gone this morning."

"Yeah, I did."

"And?"

"That's why I'm not eating."

Thalia took another bite. "What facts do you need clarification about, dear?"

"The Doctor left Gallifrey?"

"A very long time ago, Peri. Reasons for why he did are his alone."

"But he's still a Time Lord?"

"Of course, he is, child," Thalia smiled.

"And he's your President?"

"Yes," Thalia drew out the word with a hint of interest. Peri noted that it was the first interest she had shown in the conversation yet. "Why do you ask?"

"Well, if he left this planet and it had anything to do with figuring out all that stuff and then he came back and became President?"

Thalia set down her fork and leveled a stare at Peri. "And this bothers your appetite?"

"Of course it does," Peri nearly cried. "That's like finding out that Superman is a wanted criminal. How could he come back here?"

"Peri, he was gone for hundreds of years..."

Peri rose and looked around at the glitter and pomp and circumstance around her. She looked down the shiny table where crystal and metal melded in an almost sensual art form. She looked at the pretty, brilliant fruit with the aromatic meat.

"Beauty is only skin deep," she whispered. "I don't understand why he came back at all..." Peri said louder as she walked towards the door. "I'll be in the room. Please have my meals sent there. I would prefer to eat alone."

And the Doctor, quietly sitting in the night, his arms around his knees, staring out at the wilderness through the window, wondered the same thing. He wondered why he had never tested the boundaries of his emotional detachment before; part of him regretted having to possibly reinstate it in his psyche. It was probably the last part of his training that he still accepted and embraced because it suited his purpose. It made it easy for him to move through his life, to cut ties without being crippled by pain. He could say goodbye to places, people, situations and work his way through Time and Space while telling himself all the while that he was not truly interfering because he wasn't personally involved.

Could he honestly say that?

He glanced at Tegan who slept peacefully by his leg. He knew what he felt now, had felt it, when he had been told that she may or may not recover. Could he say that simply because he repressed the emotion, had hidden it behind his erected barrier, that they didn't exist? If what he felt for Tegan, for any of his companions, was only an inkling of what lurked beyond his own barrier, then how could he say he wasn't involved? Could he deny their existence? Was he a contradiction walking?

He leaned his head back against the side of the dome. Could he bury not only the feelings he had for Peri and Tegan now, back behind a barrier, but behave as he had before? He could almost taste the protection and the anger at Peri's treatment and could physically feel the powerful emotion of having Tegan back with him. And he could understand a great many things about what Tegan had said to him about her own emotions.

He looked at his hands and let the cool air of a Gallifreyan night flow over his face.