Chapter Four

We Need A Favor

"I can not believe I'm back here again," Jason remarked as the Doctor pulled up to the front of Castle Gloria in the North Downs.

Despite the fact that it had been nearly three years for those on Earth, for the Doctor and Jason it had been only a day. Their last adventure had involved having to steal some alien artefacts resembling simple, Earth objects. They had been assisted in this by Eroica, an international art thief whom many considered the best in the world. He also happened to be the Earl of Gloria, was openly homosexual and quite possibly the most outrageous personality Jason had ever encountered.

The adventure had not only been nearly fatal to Major Eberbach, it had come very close to costing Eroica his life as well. It was only due of Jason's incredible skill as a surgeon that either man survived at all. The event had been very traumatic emotionally for the Alterran, and the Doctor had indulged his desire to remain on Earth long enough to take in some sites and center himself again. After nearly a month, Jason had announced that he was sufficiently recovered to continue traveling in time and space—only to have to turn around and return to the scene of the crime, as it were.

"Look on the bright side, Jason. You know what to expect this time."

"That's what's worrying me."

The Doctor laughed. "Jason, Dorian may not even remember us. It has been three years, you know." He went straight to the door and rang the bell.

Jason actually laughed at this. "Doctor, you are as unforgettable as Dorian."

A servant came to the door and looked the pair up and down with a distinct air of distaste. "May I help you?"

"Then again, I could be wrong," Jason said under his breath.

"Is Lord Gloria in residence?" the Doctor asked politely.

"His lordship is not receiving visitors," the servant replied and started to shut the door.

"Oh, he'll see us," the Doctor said happily and pushed passed the astonished servant, striding into the foyer, his apologetic companion following behind him.

"Sir, I must protest!"

"Oh, must you?"

The servant blinked, uncertain how to respond to this.

"Now, just be a good chap and tell Lord Gloria that the Doctor and Jason are here to see him," the Doctor ordered.

By this time the servant had recovered himself and was trying unsuccessfully to steer the Time Lord back to the door. "Sir, I've already told you, his lordship is not receiving visitors."

The Doctor neatly extracted himself from the servant and turned to his companion. "You aristocrats are a touchy lot."

"Don't look at me. Our agreement notwithstanding, I rarely use my title," the Alterran replied. He looked around the large open space. "I'll bet sound carries well in here," he observed mischievously.

A smile started to blossom on the Doctor's face. "Just call out, you think?"

"Why not? We'll take a page out of Dorian's book and go for broke," Jason said, looking the Doctor in the eye.

The smile on the Time Lord's face widened. "A deep breath and on the count of three…"

Eroica was in an office on the second floor listening to his accountant, James, who was happily extolling the windfall profit that had been made after his last thief. Apparently, a painting that Eroica had removed from the home of some minor peer of the realm had another hidden inside that was worth more than the work he had stolen.

Eroica had heard the car pull up, giving it only enough notice to glance toward the window. Then he became aware of a disturbance going on downstairs and went to the door, hearing voices from the entryway. Before he could get annoyed that the orders he had given not to be disturbed had been ignored, he heard two voices calling out, "Dorian!"

"What was that?" James demanded. He was a nervous individual as it was, and the unexpected voices severely rattled him.

"I appear to have visitors," Eroica replied, pulling the door open.

"What if it's that dreadful Major again?"

"I doubt he would be singing my name at the top of his voice," Eroica observed aridly. "More like he'd be screaming my name between obscenities."

The voices called a second time just as he appeared at the top of the stairs. "What is all this—?" His visitors turned to face him, and Eroica felt his heart miss a beat.

Once the Earl had gotten over his shock of seeing two ghosts suddenly appear at his front door after nearly three years, he ordered tea on the veranda and had his unexpected guests join him.

The Doctor laid out exactly why they were there and what they needed him to do. He then asked pointblank if he would help.

Eroica sat back in his chair, idly twirling one of his long blond curls around a finger.

As the thief thought things over, Jason reflected that he had not changed at all in the three years that had passed in a blink. He was still the young, well-build man he had seen descending the main staircase in his outrageous persona of the Earl of Gloria. He also still had the most amazing mop of long blond hair that the Alterran had ever seen. The only thing that he had not done since their arrival was make any kind of overt sexual advances, and Jason wondered if this was because the Iron Major was not around to be appalled by it.

"Well?" Jason said finally. "We're asking nicely this time."

Eroica's face lit up with a bright smile. "Yes, you are, you—"

"—you dear sweet boy," Jason said at the same time. "I wondered how long you could go without saying that at least once."

Eroica could not help but laugh at this.

"How much?" a voice suddenly whispered from the bushes.

Jason blinked and looked over at the Doctor. "Do I want to know?" he asked before turning to look at the talking bush behind him. "What are you doing in there?" he asked the bush.

"Negotiating."

Eroica gave an irritated sigh. "James, come out of there and stop annoying my guests."

"They're not guests. They're employers," James retorted as he came out from the shrubbery.

The Doctor sat back and laughed. "Yes, I suppose we are at that."

James puffed out his chest proudly. "How much?" he asked again.

Jason had recognized the small, dark haired man from his last visit and gave a small sigh. James was quite possible the most irritating skin-flint he had ever encountered. A mischievous look came to the Alterran's eye and a wry smile to his face as he asked evenly, "How much do you want?"

James gave him a dark look. "I am trying to have a serious negotiation here, young man. Kindly do not make jokes."

Jason sat back in his chair, his amusement clearly visible. "I am serious. I happen to be very wealthy."

The accountant's eyes narrowed suspiciously. "How wealthy is very wealthy?"

The Doctor laughed. "There's a good question. I supposed it depends how valuable you consider a diamond that's been pulled out of thin air."

"Not quite thin air," his companion retorted. As an Alterran, Jason was a silicon-based life form and creating a diamond, another crystalline structure, was as simple as changing his clothes. He held out one hand, closed it into a fist and then opened it again, revealing an enormous, multifaceted diamond in the center of his palm. "It's easy, really."

James looked at the diamond in Jason's hand, his eyes goggling. He turned to Eroica, stammered out several unintelligible things and then fainted dead away.

The Doctor gave the inert form a steady look before turning his gaze to Eroica. "It seems negotiations are concluded," he observed aridly.