oOo
"Have you seen the Doctor?"
Ace looked up, startled; she hadn't heard Noni enter the room. "Outside, talking to your mum, I think." The two of them had disappeared after dinner. "Did you need to ask him something?"
Noni smiled. "I think we asked him enough questions over dinner. At least, I believe he thinks so."
Ace returned the younger girl's smile. "I think they're having a private chat about old times, something like that. Anything I can help you with?"
Noni studied her a moment, then came fully into the room and folded herself easily on the low chair by the door, pulling her knees up and locking her hands together around them. "What's it like?"
Ace settled onto the edge of the bed and set to work brushing and rebraiding her hair. She'd been folding clothes, reluctantly putting them into the drawers provided while Andred and Kyris fetched the rest of her things from the TARDIS. She'd resisted that as well, until Kyris brought a set of his own clothes from his father's ship and dumped them wordlessly into the bottom drawer. To remind her that he would be back. "What? Traveling on the TARDIS?"
Noni nodded. "My mother said we might be able to take a trip after the Doctor and Kyris have killed the Master."
That brought Ace up short; she stared in astonishment, not only a the words but the off-hand way in which they were spoken. "Was I really that bloodthirsty when I was your age?" she murmured, conveniently forgetting her own recent attempt on the Master's life. "I think the plan is to fetch him back here to face justice."
Noni shrugged. "Killing him would be quicker. He is a threat that has long needed eliminating, that's what the Doctor said at dinner. Is it true he's killed many people? The Master, I mean. He is not an enemy my parents have discussed."
"Whole bloody worlds," Ace confirmed bleakly. "Still, the Doctor's not really a taking vengeance into his own hands kind of guy."
"My mother said he was too soft," Noni agreed matter-of-factly. "But he has managed to survive, so I think she might have been too hard on him. I think she was angry at him," she added.
"Angry? Why?" Ace was confused; was Noni changing the subject? It seemed like she might be, but it was hard to tell. Noni, unlike her younger siblings, was miserly with her words. Terse. But the ones she did let out seemed carefully chosen; it seemed unlikely, Ace thought, that anything she said now was off the subject, no matter how random it might appear at first.
Noni favored her with an unblinking stare. "Because he let her leave him and stay here on Gallifrey. She was in love with him, you know." There it was, another off-the-cuff bombshell that caught Ace by surprise.
She flopped backwards onto the bed with a groan. "I don't think I needed to have this dropped on my lap, thank you," she grumbled, overwhelmed. She propped herself up on her elbows and stared at Noni. "How do you know all this?" Leela didn't seem the type to confide such a thing to anyone, let alone her teenage daughter.
Another shrug. "I listen when my mother talks. I can hear it in her voice. It used to trouble my father, when I was younger. When it was just the three of us. They used to fight sometimes, not often but when they did I made sure to keep out of sight." But not earshot, Ace reckoned shrewdly.
"Fight about what?" she asked, reluctant and guilty. But she asked.
"The Doctor. Whether my mother wanted to go back to him." Noni's eyes turned thoughtful. "It stopped right before Ari was born, she seemed happier then." She rose to her feet with fluid grace. "I thought you should know these things, since you'll be living with us. The Doctor's return could bring back the fighting." She paused in the doorway. "I don't think it will, since the Doctor has regenerated so many times since my mother first knew him, but I can't be sure. It's almost like he's a different person."
"We all change," was all Ace could think to say as Noni drifted out of the room as silently as she'd entered. "Looking for the Doctor my ass," she muttered under her breath. "She came in here just to tell me that." She grabbed a pillow without looking and threw it across her face. "Just what I bloody need, palace intrigues." Her voice was muffled by the soft, cottony material, as was her hearing.
"What's that about palace intrigues?" Ace yelped as the pillow was pulled from her face. She hadn't heard Kyris enter the room and put the last of her belongings on the low bench at the foot of the bed. "Been listening to Gallifreyan gossip, have you?"
"I'm beginning to think I'd be better off taking my chances with the Master," Ace replied as she sat up. Unconsciously mimicking Noni's position, she wrapped her arms around her knees as she relayed all the information she'd just received to an openly stunned Kyris.
"I never thought of my father as leaving a trail of broken hearts behind him, but this puts an interesting light on his past, wouldn't you say?"
Ace shook her head emphatically. "No, I wouldn't. And neither will you, if you know what's good for you. You and your father will be spending a lot of time together, if the Master's as hard to find as I think he will be. No sense stirring up trouble."
Kyris shook his head as he sank onto the bed next to her, feigning a concerned look and placing a hand to her forehead. "Something must be wrong; I could swear you just told me to proceed cautiously. Since when does Ace back off from a challenge?"
Ace swatted his hand away. "Since now. Since this." She pointed to her stomach. "Since the Master drop-kicked me into remembering what I have to lose. Leela called us a family, and I don't want my family members fighting. Especially not over...gossip." She almost said ancient history.
"It isn't really gossip," Kyris argued, his face and voice sobered in light of Ace's fierce protectiveness. "Noni doesn't strike me as the gossipy type, especially not about her mother. If she shared that little tid-bit with you, it was for a reason."
"Yeah, but not so you could accuse your father of romancing his old companions," Ace shot back.
Kyris stiffened. "She said her mother was in love with him. She never said he returned the feelings, or did anything to encourage them. If he had, she probably wouldn't have stayed on Gallifrey with Andred," he said quietly.
Ace leaned forward and kissed him. "I'm sorry," she whispered as he relaxed and hauled her onto his lap for a hug. "I didn't mean to bring up bad memories."
"However my father felt about Leela or she about him, it's long in the past," Kyris replied. "Noni probably thought she was doing you a favor, letting you know what you're getting into. I don't think that information has to go any father than it already has. I promise not to ask my father how many of his past companions he slept with if you promise to not worry about us while we're gone."
Just like that, he'd got to the heart of her fretting. To show her annoyance, Ace punched him lightly on the arm. "No fair reading my mind," she grumbled, then paused, searching his face, distracted by her own words. "You can't, actually, can you? Read my mind?" He shook his head, and she mimed a relieved "whew" by drawing her hand across her brow. "You two are going off tomorrow without me, for who knows how long, chasing the Master while I have nothing better to do than settle in and wait."
"And learn to throw knives," Kyris reminded her.
Ace laughed. "Yeah. That too. Should be interesting right along the ninth month."
"Interesting, and probably not too much harder than shoes," Kyris agreed gravely.
Tension diffused, Ace hopped up to her feet, pulling on his hand until he joined her. "Let's go for a walk, check out a Gallifreyan night before bed, eh?"
Smiling, Kyris let himself be pulled along. But there was a chill in his hearts. They both knew there was a very real chance that neither he nor his father would return. Or what might be worse; their search could end in failure, the Master still free and still doing his level best to destroy them. But for tonight, he would put such fears aside, determined not to let them spoil what might be his last night with Ace.
After all, he knew she was thinking the very same things.
oOo
Leela and the Doctor, meanwhile, had already strolled around the garden once and were making a second--or was it a third?--circuit.. The younger children were in bed, Andred and Kyris had gone to retrieve Ace's belongings, and Ace was supposedly resting in the bedroom that had been given to her for the duration of her stay.
The talk stayed neutral, reminiscent, until the Doctor inadvertently mentioned Rassilon.
Leela came to a dead stop; it took a second for the Doctor to realize he'd left her. When he looked back, confused, she was standing on the path, unmoving. He walked back to her. "You did not seek me out when you were taken into the Death Zone," she said reproachfully.
"Yes, well, there really wasn't a great deal of time for looking up old friends," the Doctor returned lightly. "And when it was over I had to leave rather suddenly."
Leela frowned, unmollified. "I would have aided you--"
"I know." They stared at each other for a moment before the Doctor spoke again. "I know. You're helping me now, and I am truly grateful."
"It is not the same," Leela said flatly. "I still think I should be going with you."
"What, abandon your family to go gadding about the universe with me on what could very well end up being a wild goose chase?" The Doctor shook his head. "I doubt that would sit well with your children--or with Andred." She was silent in the face of the truth. He continued in a gentler tone: "Leela, what you're doing for me is just as important as chasing down the Master. Ace and her baby need protection, and I need to know that they're being watched by someone who will keep them safe."
Leela's chin jerked up. "Ace and her baby will be safe with us. I have given you my word."
The Doctor smiled. "I would take your word above almost anyone's. Thank you, Leela." He took her hand and kissed it gallantly.
She jerked the hand away as if burned. "Do not do such things, Doctor." Her voice was sharp, angry.
He looked genuinely confused. "I'm sorry, have I offended you?"
Unconsciously, she rubbed the hand he'd kissed, holding it close to her heart. "I have found happiness here, more than I expected when I remained behind and watched you leave. I do not wish to be reminded of the life--and the man-- I chose to abandon."
The Doctor had gone very still. "Leela, we were both very different people then, in my case quite literally."
Leela shook her head. "In some ways, yes. You are more dangerous than the Doctor I knew." He seemed about to protest this comparison, but subsided as she continued: "But in many ways, you have not changed. Nor have I. I love my husband, but there are other feelings that have never left my heart. Feelings for you." The naked honesty in her voice was painful to hear. "I will do anything you ask of me, Doctor, but in return I would ask that you not do anything to encourage those feelings, or it will cause a great deal of trouble for me." She looked up at the stars, then turned her head toward the house. When she spoke again, it was in an abrupt change of subject. "You and Kyris will leave in the morning, and there are things Andred and I must do to prepare for Ace's stay. We will see you tomorrow." We. Not I. She headed for the house at a steady pace, leaving the Doctor to the night breezes--and his thoughts.
oOo
Breakfast was a quiet affair, or would have been if the younger children hadn't kept up a lively chatter that easily covered the adults' silence. Apparently, Ace decided, she wasn't the only one with things to mull over.
The Doctor and Kyris slipped away without fanfare during the clatter and confusion of cleaning up, of getting the children ready for their lessons, of Leela and Andred preparing for their duties as Chancellory Guards. This time, Ace noticed, Leela wore regulation boots and only carried one visible dagger.
Ace was the only one who watched as they left, the Doctor and his son. She slipped out the door behind them, catching Kyris by the arm and stopping him for one last, desperate kiss. "I love you, Kyris," she whispered fiercely. "I'm bloody well not letting you go without saying the words."
"I love you too, Ace," he whispered back. "And for the record, it's Kyristralawnian." He smiled at her confused look. "My full name. A mouthful, I know. I wrote it down for you. It's in with your things." He hugged her, then stepped away. "Time to go. See you soon."
"Soon,"she echoed. "And if you really want to, you can call me Dorothy. Just not in front of the Professor."
He smiled, then turned and walked after his father.
Just like that, they were gone.