Chapter Eighteen

Am I Back?

Ace's Doctor had no sooner spoken than his unconscious other self took a deep breath and moaned softly, struggling to return to his senses.

"Turlough!" Jason snapped suddenly, pointing to the chair at the bedside. "The rest of you, out!"

Taking up his position, Turlough smiled relievedly when his Doctor's eyes fluttered open. With difficulty they focused on the young man's face. "Turlough...?" the Time Lord said weakly. "I made it back."

His companion feigned surprise. "Back? You haven't been anywhere."

"Of course I have."

Turlough smiled inwardly before saying, "Doctor, you haven't been out of bed for days. You've been ill. Don't you remember?"

"Have I?" The Time Lord tried to sit up only to find he had almost no strength. "I believe you," he muttered darkly.

After being shooed from the room, the others stood listening to this exchange in the doorway to the adjoining room. Taking his cue, King Jason gave Ace's Doctor a knowing look and then transmuted into the Crown Prince he had once been. Despite the fact that she had been warned about this, Ace let out a squeak of surprise before whispering her approval to the disguised monarch.

Drawing a deep breath, Jason straightened and strode through the door. "How's he doing today, Tur—?" Stopping in mid-stride, he broke into a delighted smile. "Well, good morning, Doctor!" he chirped brightly. "Welcome back to the land of the living. You had me worried there for a while."

"Jason?" the Time Lord said in bewilderment. "How did you get here?"

"Me?" the Alterran exclaimed, throwing a disgusted look in Turlough direction. "Well, I like that. You're not gone but two months, and then out of the blue you turn up on my doorstep practically at death's door."

"Two months? Are you sure?"

"Am I sure? Oh, really, Doctor. I may not be a Time Lord, but I can read a calendar," Jason chided mildly.

The Doctor blinked up at his old friend. "At death's door?"

"Close enough to ring the bell," the Alterran replied soberly. "You had poor Turlough scared half to death, getting sick so fast. You were delirious by the time I got to you. You kept going on about not being safe outside the TARDIS. I was afraid to even move you out of this room."

"Are we on Tel-Shye, then?"

Turlough felt it was his turn to assist in the cover up and said, "You gave me the coordinates yourself, Doctor, don't you remember?"

The Doctor scowled, shaking his head. "No, I don't. Not any of it."

"I'm not surprised," Jason said mildly. "You've been pretty out of it the last few days."

The Doctor looked from one to the other, struggling to reconcile what he was being told with what he felt had been a real experience. He was absolutely certain he had been abducted and decided that his friends' ignorance was due solely to the intervention of the smoky friend from the future.

"Was I really as bad as all that?" he asked innocently.

Jason smiled broadly. "Well, at least you didn't turn green and destroy the room the way I did when I had Draconian Flu."

The Doctor groaned at this memory, as did his other self in the next room.

"Anyway, the important thing is, you're out of danger now. In fact, I was only waiting for you to wake up properly before I left you in Turlough's excellent care. I've made up the medication you'll need. Now all you have to do is take it and rest. You'll be back on your feet in no time."

"You're leaving?" the Doctor asked, a disappointed tone creeping into his voice.

"Doctor, I've already been here longer than I'd intended. And that's only because it was you. I still have a wedding to plan."

The Time Lord moaned again. "Oh, yes. I'd forgotten about that, too."

Turlough sat watching the Alterran's performance in awe, amazed not only at how much Jason remembered of their last encounter, but also at the difference between the carefree Prince of the past and the serious King of the present.

"Well, I'd better go before I get all worked up over nothing again," the Prince of the past was saying.

"I really had intended on coming back, Jason," the Doctor admitted somewhat guiltily. "Just…not quite this soon."

"I'll look for you in my future, then," Jason said with a bittersweet smile, adding, "Surprise me. Show up when I actually expect you, like, at my wedding, for example."

The Doctor smiled weakly. Recalling Asta's words, he said, "I'm never more than a thought away." Then he closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep.

The Alterran looked thoughtfully down at his sleeping friend, a knowing smile coming to his face. Once he was certain the Time Lord was fully asleep, he injected him with a mild sedative. "That should keep him asleep and stable until we can get him back where he belongs," he said to the visibly relieved Turlough.

"Isn't it strange?" Ace's Doctor said as he came in from the next room. "A moment ago, I remembered your being here. And just now, I remembered the dream."

"The dream that wasn't," Jason stated firmly, throwing a meaningful glance in Turlough's direction.

The Doctor nodded absently as the memories unfolded in his mind like the pedals of a flower. "The irony in all this is that I always thought you and Turlough didn't realize that I'd been kidnapped."

"You always thought…" the monarch's voice trailed off and he laughed, returning to his older self at the same time. "You always said time would tell, Doctor, and now it finally has."

"Ye-es, it has, hasn't it?"

It wasn't so much the words as the tone that caught everyone's attention.

"What is it?" Turlough asked, being surprised when the response was for him to disconnect Kamelion. Gesturing toward the next room, he was about to point out that Lady Asta had yet to return.

"Don't worry, it's only temporary," the Doctor explained. A knowing smile came to his face as Asta's words, the very words his other self had just repeated, echoed through his mind. Turn ing to the equally perplexed Jason, he informed mysteriously, "I've just remembered something else, but I can't explain until I'm sure you-know-who can't hear us."