oOo
The Doctor could feel, almost physically,the heat of Noni's glare on his back as they walked to the TARDIS. He steadfastly refused to look back, not only because he didn't want to see the no doubt murderous expression on her face, but also because he knew it would be his undoing. Leaving Susan with his first self, Noni's beliefs to the contrary, was the second hardest thing he'd ever done, in any of his lives.
Maybe even the first.
He stopped himself from shaking his head; any such movement on his part would be interpreted by Noni as a sign of hesitation, and she'd be off like a shot, back to the house and no doubt demanding Susan at the top of her lungs. "Focus, Doctor," he muttered, sotto voce. Risky, but safer than actual movement.
Noni dragged her feet, looking over her shoulder every few steps, then returning her resentful gaze to the exact middle of the Doctor's neck. It should be itching like mad by now, but he showed no signs that he even noticed. Or cared. She glanced back yet again, then turned and yelped with surprise and outrage as she nearly slammed into the Doctor, who'd stopped and was staring straight ahead, mumbling something that sounded like equations. "Doctor!"
It took a determined tug on his shoulder before his gaze returned from the middle distance, snapping onto her as if he'd suddenly remembered her presence only after deep reflection. "Noni? Yes? What is it?"
"You stopped, and now you're talking to yourself. Have you changed your mind?" She stepped away from him, backwards a step or two. Toward Susan.
The Doctor reached out and snagged her wrist. "No. I haven't. I've just been trying to work some things out. Calculations."
"To help us find Ace and Kyris?" He nodded, and Noni shook her hand loose from his grasp, falling into step beside him as he began walking again, more rapidly this time. "Is it something I could help you with? I want to, you know. Help." Her voice turned, not pleading exactly, but there was a catch in it, and the Doctor recognized it as a sign of how deeply leaving Susan had affected her.
He glanced at her sideways. "How can you help when I'm about to bring you home, hmm?" Before she could answer or object, he sighed. "Well, that was the original plan. However." He cleared his throat, and Noni's heart leapt with hope as he turned his head and looked her in the eyes. "I realize that, short of physically wrestling you off the TARDIS and into your parent's arms, I am unlikely to be able to do so. Don't think I don't realize why you let Susan go to my first self without a struggle." He wagged a finger under her nose, and her earlier glare returned.
"What do you mean, without a struggle?" she demanded, catching his arm and forcing him to stop. "I've been arguing with you about this since we landed. Since before we landed."
The Doctor gave a sardonic laugh and gazed up at the tree-tops. "Yes, arguing. When I fully expected you to take Susan and hide in the depths of the TARDIS, from which I would be forced to extract you, kicking and screaming." He looked down sharply. "No, I can tell when someone is merely biding their time. You hope we'll be able to find Kyris and Ace quickly, and be able to take Susan back to them. And you intend to help me in that endeavor, whether I want you to or not. To which end you will do anything. Up to and including, if I'm not mistaken, stealing another TARDIS and looking for them on your own if I did leave you on Gallifrey."
Noni's silence was more eloquent than protests of innocence he never would have believed anyway. "Therefore, I will, reluctantly, allow you to remain with me. So I can at least monitor your activities. It is not a solution I feel your parents would approve of, at least not your father, but under the circumstances, it would appear to be the best compromise." He looked at her again, directly. "I presume hypnotism will not work on you, hmm?" She shook her head. Her cheeks were pink, but she refused to lower her gaze. "Very well then." He started walking again, setting a brisk pace and jiggling the TARDIS key in his hand.
Noni stuck her tongue out at him, then increased her own speed as the TARDIS came into view. She was grateful that he was willing to keep her on, and she certainly wasn't about to tell him that stealing a TARDIS of her own had never occurred to her; she'd simply intended to use Kyris' key and sneak back aboard, after recruiting her younger siblings into creating a distraction for her. But it was something to keep in the back of her mind, should the need ever arise in the future.
The door closed behind them, and Noni found her gaze immediately drawn to the now-empty cradle, still sitting by the interior door. The Doctor was ignoring it as he moved straight to the console and began entering a sequence of numbers into one of the memory ports. He scowled, gazed ceilingward, then made an "ah-ha!" noise and went back to entering the numbers.
Eventually Noni couldn't take it any longer. She moved forward and snatched up the cradle, holding it awkwardly in her arms. "I'm putting this back in Susan's room," she announced, her tone brooking no argument. "She'll need it later." Then she disappeared through the door, slamming it behind her.
The Doctor sighed. This was not going to be easy; Noni had no intention of making it easy. His goal was to find Kyris and Ace, although he suspected it was a lost cause. Nothing short of permanently being lost on the Master's TARDIS could keep his son and Ace from their daughter. His lips thinned. He refused to believe the alternative, that they were dead or would be before he found them. Instead, he returned his attention to the console. There was a great deal of work to do.