oOo

"Where are you taking her?" Noni's voice was distraught as she trotted after the Doctor. They were in the garden; he'd moved his TARDIS closer in order to bring Ace and the baby's belongings on board. Noni had assisted, reluctantly, arguing with the Doctor the entire time. Trying to get him to change his mind. Her mother knew better; she recognized the stubborn glint in his eye, the set of his chin, and wisely kept her opinion to herself. She did not, however, stop her daughter from making her own opinion quite clear.

The Doctor held Patience, Susan, protectively, but moved with grim purpose. "I'm taking her where I took her before. To my first self. As I recall, I did an adequate job of raising her."

"Why can't she stay here, with us?" Noni persisted. "I'll watch her, I'll keep her safe, I promise, Doctor, please!" Her voice was desperate now. "I know I let you down but it won't happen again, not now that the Master's dead!"

The Doctor stopped, but didn't look back. "You didn't let me down, Noni. The only one to blame for this mess is me." He started walking again.

"The Doctor is doing as he feels is best," Andred said gently, taking his daughter's hand.

"But I'll never see her again!" she wailed.

"Noni, enough!" Leela's voice was sharp enough to cut through steel. "The decision has been made. You will honor it!"

Noni stopped pushing at her father's hand and bowed her head. But they all heard the muffled sobs, and her parents exchanged uncertain looks over her head. Suddenly she pulled away and ran into the house. Leela and Andred let her go, then hastened to catch up to the Doctor. Noni would have to wait until they could give her their undivided attention. Until she calmed down enough to listen to reason.

"Are you sure this is the right thing to do?" Leela asked, contradicting herself now that her daughter was out of earshot. "Noni is right; we would be honored to protect your granddaughter. Keep her here, with us, until you return." Andred nodded.

The Doctor shook his head. "No." His voice was bitter. "I must have brought her to my first self to raise before, and so I shall do again. Everything I've done, everything that has happened since I met my son has driven us closer to that point in time. Nothing we've tried has changed anything. I am therefore bowing to the inevitable."

"It is not like you to simply give up." Leela's voice was as sharp as it had been with her daughter.

The Doctor turned to face them, stopping abruptly and cradling Susan against his shoulder, where she mouthed his jacket fabric contentedly. "I'm not giving up," he retorted. "I'm doing what I think is best for Susan. If I left her here with you, something else would happen to force me to take her to my first self. I'm convinced of that. Some old enemy would threaten her, the Rani, perhaps? Or another invasion of Gallifrey would take place, we've made enough enemies through the millennia for that possibility to occur ten times over." He took a shaky breath. "Susan belongs with my first self, and I can sense the cosmic forces gathering against me the longer I delay that inevitability."

"You were never humble about your place in the universe, Doctor. It is good to see that some things have not changed," Leela noted dryly, while Andred coughed into one hand to hide a smile at his wife's usual forthrightness.

The Doctor shook his head, his own smile fighting to make itself seen before faltering under the weight of his grim mood. "I don't believe the universe is conspiring against me, not like a sentient enemy, Leela. I simply believe that sometimes, what has happened in the past is what is meant to happen, even if it is caused by events in the present. This is one of those times. I will be free to search for Kyris and Ace once I know Susan is where she belongs. I know she will be safe because she was."

"But are you sure?" Andred put in. He'd been content to let his wife make the arguments, as the one who knew the Doctor best, but she wasn't making any headway. "Ace named this little one 'Patience,' not Susan. Perhaps--"

The Doctor stopped again, leaning his head just enough to kiss the fuzzy curls. "There's no 'perhaps,' Andred. This is Susan. I remember how she looked, the first time I handed her to myself."

"I thought your memories of those times were gone!" Leela protested. "What if you are seeing what you wish to see?"

The Doctor shook his head. "No. When the Master died, I was as staggered by the return of my memories as I was by his death. Now I understand that my desire in suppressing those memories was as much to keep myself from knowing how he died as it was to protect Susan from him. To keep me from trying to change things about the life I would lead after I was given Susan to raise. To bring me exactly to this point."

He stopped, and Andred realized with a start that they were in front of the TARDIS. The Doctor gave the machine a fond pat as he pushed the door open. "This is where Susan was meant to be raised, to live her life until it was time for her to find one that suited her better. She's happy, she's safe, and this is the only way I can ensure that she reaches that happiness and safety. She was conceived on the TARDIS, which afforded her a type of protection I called Temporal Grace, for lack of a better way to phrase it. Spending as much time on the TARDIS as she will keeps that protection strong."

Leela and Andred favored him with identical uncomprehending stares, and he sighed. "This is how it is meant to be, and how I intend it to be. Please, just accept that."

Slowly, they nodded, and Leela stepped forward for a tender embrace, kissing Susan on her head before stepping back to her husband's side. "Thank you, my friends," the Doctor said softly. "I'll return when I've found Kyris and Ace, you have my word on that." He stepped into the TARDIS, closing the door softly behind him.

They watched as the TARDIS faded from view. When the clamor of dematerialization faded, Leela spoke, her eyes still fixed on the spot where the TARDIS had just stood. "He will not find them as quickly as he pretends to believe."

Andred shook his head. "No. But he won't give up, either." He tried an encouraging smile. "Plus he has his, er 'tracking device,'" he added, unwilling even now to mention Romana's invention by name. Not out of superstition, but because one never knew when one was being eavesdropped on. Outside of one's home, of course.

Leela turned to him with a frown. "He did not mention using it to search for them."

Andred's expression became uncertain. "Perhaps he was just being cautious."

Leela shook her head. "No. It is more than that. He told Noni he had run into a 'dead end' in his research. And he told Kyris he was searching for someone to assist him in modifying the device to find the Master. What," she asked slowly, "if something has happened to it?"

Before Andred could answer, Anji ran up to them. "Mother! Father!" She was waving a piece of paper, an anachronism Leela insisted the children use when first working out their lessons. "Noni left this note, it says she's gone!"

Andred plucked the note out of Anji's hand before his wife could. Their second oldest stood, gasping for breath and staring at them wide-eyed with a mixture of fear and excitement. "Is it true? Did she go with the Doctor?"

Her mother stared at the note, then over at the spot the TARDIS had so recently occupied. Had the door been open, or had the Doctor opened it? She couldn't remember. "If that is what the note says, then that is where she is," she finally replied while Andred cursed and muttered threats about contacting the Council and demanding the Doctor's return. Leela knew, however, that he would do no such thing. And neither would she. "She will help him," was all she did say, catching Andred's hand in her own, calming him with a single touch, as she'd always been able to do. She held her free hand out to Anji, who clung to it ferociously.

Eyes skyward, Anji's wistful tone spoke for all of them: "I wish I could have gone, too."

Epilogue

The Doctor lay on the floor of the TARDIS, head under the console, sonic screwdriver in hand as he dismantled the tracking device he'd cobbled together. It had been built in haste, modified in even more haste, and only led them where the Master wanted them to be. Taking it apart would help pass the time until they arrived at their destination: his past, and Susan's future.

He spared a moment to glance over at her, to reassure himself of her presence. She lay sleeping in a small cradle near the interior door, within easy reach if necessary. He found it impossible to let her out of his sight. Soon enough she would be gone, but for now, he wanted her nearby. "You've got a few years on you before you can help out by handing me tools," he murmured, smiling fondly before returning to his work.

No, the tracking device was no longer of any use, if it ever had been. There was still a feeling of urgency, but he recognized its falseness. He had no illusions as to how long it would take him to find Kyris and Ace. And that knowledge meant he also knew he had more than enough time to build an improved version of his tinkered-together contraption. "Two minds are better than one," he murmured to himself as another component clattered to the floor. "Especially when they're both mine."

He raised himself on one elbow, listening with a faint smile as Susan continued to sleep, undisturbed by his noisy actions. "You can come out now," he called out in a normal tone of voice, settling back onto his side to get at a particularly tricky connection. "If I was going to send you home, young lady, believe me, you'd be there already."

The interior door opened slowly, and Noni poked her head around the corner. "How did you know I was there?" she asked as she stepped into the Console Room. She glanced down at Susan and allowed a brief, satisfied smile to cross her face.

"I didn't leave the door unlocked, and the only way anyone could open it was if they had a key. Ace's key was with her belongings when I packed them, and it was missing when I put them in her room on the TARDIS," the Doctor replied. Which he'd done soon after finding the cradle for Susan.

"You're not angry?" Noni ventured, squatting down next to the Doctor's tool kit.

He shook his head and grunted as the bolt he was attempting to remove stuck fast. "Could you hand me that?" He pointed without looking, and Noni picked up the exotic-looking tool he'd requested, placing it delicately in his hand. He grunted again, this time in appreciation, then returned to work. "Your parents know where you are, I presume?"

"I left them a note," Noni hastened to assure him. He glanced over at her, suppressing a smile. She was wearing an outfit similar to the ones her mother had worn on the TARDIS, but with a more practical--or modest--turn. Her sturdy leather trousers were tucked into equally sturdy-looking leather boots, both a deep brown. The matching vest boasted a similar neckline to the ones her mother had always favored, toned down by the fact that it was worn over a blouse with long sleeves. There were daggers tucked into both boot-tops and one on her hip as well.

The Doctor nodded at the largest dagger. "Can you throw those as well as your mother?"

"Better," she boasted, then blushed.

The Doctor felt another smile tugging at his lips. "Of course," he murmured. Then, in a louder voice: "After you're done helping me, you can take care of Susan. I'm sure it'll be a comfort to her to have a familiar face around, at least until we take her to my first self."

Noni smiled in relief. "Yes, Doctor."

He returned to work, the smile fading as he struggled anew with the recalcitrant bolt. A frown dug furrows between his eyebrows. It wouldn't hurt to take Noni to see his first self; he didn't specifically remember anyone else being there, but all the memories hadn't fully returned just yet, so he refused to worry about it. After everything was settled with Susan, he'd take Noni back home again. After all, she'd gone to a lot of trouble to sneak herself on board.

The frown deepened. Dropping Noni back on Gallifrey would be the easy part. Not only was he going to be asking his first self to take on an enormous responsibility, but he was going to ask him to help figure out another way to locate Ace and Kyris. He'd need all the help he could get.

Especially since he'd managed to destroy the data retriever Romana had so painstakingly built for him.

oOo

Ace's eyes fluttered open. Blearily, she saw the base of a TARDIS console, with Kyris lying motionless next to it. Motionless, but still breathing, she noted, her thoughts fuzzy, unfocused. What had happened to her, to them? She struggled up on one elbow, stretching her hand toward the Doctor's son, then collapsed back to the floor as a wave of dizziness surged over her. Her head ached, she realized dimly. Someone must have hit her.

A sharp tapping sound caught her attention, the rat-a-tat-tat of heels against a floor. The sound came closer, closer, until it stopped, and she realized hazily that the feet were right in front of her. A woman's feet, in black heels. Then a woman's voice, nasal Australian tones hammering Ace's ears almost as sharply as the shoes had: "Who the bloody hell are you? And what did you do with the Master?"

Then, mercifully, darkness.

The End

(For Now)