A/N: In case I've managed to confuse anyone, I've combined previous chapters 14 and 15. A new chapter 15 will make its appearance soon, promise!

Part 3: Setting Time Right

The time is out of joint; O cursed spite,

That ever I was born to set it right!

William Shakespeare, Hamlet

The Doctor waited until after they'd taken care of Peri before confronting his future self. Neither of them wanted Ace to know what they were up to, although he suspected his later self had different reasons for his discretion. She had disappeared into the TARDIS interior as requested, but there was something about the anticipatory look on her face that made him suspect that there was more to this trip than just getting Peri safely on board.

That had been a tricky moment to navigate; sliding into the place occupied a split second sooner by an earlier version of his current self had been disorienting, to say the least, but it had gone smoothly. It had been even more disorienting watching the self that had been existing in that particular moment evaporate like a soap bubble, but he'd seen more disturbing things in his many lives; besides, his continued existence presupposed that versions' continued existence.

It had taken very little subjective time for him to do as his later self wanted him to do, welcoming Peri aboard after she made some comment about having three months of vacation left. In this timeline, he ignored the blinking light indicating an incoming communication; he already knew who that was. K-9, passing on an invitation from Lavinia Smith to come round for a visit. He remembered things quite differently; being distracted by the light once aboard the TARDIS, listening to it before gently telling Peri it wasn't a good time for him to take on a new traveling companion. "Especially after the bad end Kamelion's just come to," he remembered saying.

Now, none of that had happened, never mind his memories that told him it bloody well had, thank you. Instead, he'd said the magic words, his future self had waved the proverbial magic wand, and Peri appeared to have vanished, at least to the naked eye. To an eye used to examining things in a less linear manner, she remained visible, at least while squinting and concentrating, as a faint shimmer just to the left of the door. He'd avoided that spot, even while knowing that he couldn't affect her, nor she him, not until she was released and brought back fully into the timestream. "Three months indeed," had been his ironic comment. Ironic and guilt-laden. "Are you sure about this?" He didn't bother turning to look as the interior door to the Console Room opened, knowing who it would be.

His later self peered critically at the barely-visible shimmer. "As certain as I've been about anything in any of my lives. She'll be fine." He felt a twinge of the same guilt and swatted it away; in light of the bigger picture, not to mention her ultimate fate, Peri was better off like this, frozen as a potential in a not-instant of time, until she needed to come back into existence. In ten years, and not a second, not a nano-second, sooner.

He watched in silence as his earlier self dematerialized the TARDIS. Just as he opened his mouth to speak, his other self preempted him with an entirely unexpected question. "By the way, do you happen to know if my daughter is Susan?"

"What makes you think she might be?" he asked, stalling. Damn it, his earlier self wasn't supposed to ask about that! Another memory he would have to deal with...

"Because it can't be a coincidence that Susan arrived into our first self's life at the age of 10, and that I will have 10 years before being pulled back into my 'real' timeline--by what?" he asked, distracting himself for a second. "By the pull of history or by the interference of the Guardians?"

Ace walked into the Console Room as he began speaking, and he didn't bother to wait for her to leave, knowing full well that if he did, the momentum would be lost and his future self would have time to think of some way to avoid answering him. They both ignored her startled gasp, the way she screeched to a halt and stood between them, staring from one to the other.

"Is that what you meant by future tragedy?" he continued softly. "Something will happen to cause Lanie to live with our first self. Is it because I'll be forced to return to my 'true' timeline at that point?" That was as far as he could take it; he couldn't bring himself to ask about Tegan.

"Ace, if you wouldn't mind…"

"No way, Professor!" Ace glared at him. She'd allowed herself to be put off once, it wasn't happening again. Not if she had anything to say about it. "I already knew Lanie was your daughter, K-9 told me when I asked. I'm not going anywhere!" She refrained from mentioning that she had also been brought up to speed about who Susan was, at least as far as K-9 knew.

"She can stay," his fifth self put in quietly. "I'm not worried about an audience. Besides, she's already from my future, so it can hardly matter if she knows something that only exists in your past." Ah, sarcasm, defense mechanism of choice for more than one of the Doctor's selves.

"It matters a great deal if she knows," his future self disagreed, shooting an angry glance Ace's way. "She already knows far more about my past than I wanted her to. Not because it's none of her business, although it is," he shot her another glare. "But because it isn't safe for her to become too involved."

"If it wasn't safe then why didn't you leave me on Earth?" Ace traded him glare for glare. "I already know it's because you need me to do something. What?"

Her question hung challengingly in the air. She and the Doctor's fifth self looked at him expectantly. After a moment, his shoulders slumped and he sighed. "I wasn't quite ready to get into this just yet."

"Get into what?" That was his fifth self, looking seriously annoyed. "I thought we were finished. Time's been put to rights, hasn't it?" Mockery had supplanted sarcasm, and knowing that he deserved it for things already and not yet done didn't keep it from stinging.

He straightened his shoulders, reaching up to adjust his hat. "There is just one other thing…"

"I knew it." The words were quietly spoken, resigned. "I knew there had to be more to it. What?"

"Not what, who," his later self corrected. "The Master. In order for you to remain inactive for the next ten years, so must he."

"So much for telling me everything," his fifth self muttered angrily. "I suppose you have another plan?" He spat the word out distastefully.

He could be as angry as he wanted; at least he was distracted from his uncomfortable questions about Susan. For the moment; once this little situation was resolved, he knew his past self would once again bring up the subject. And he already had so much to deal with... "Of course," he replied. "I always have a plan."

South Croydon

"I've always been terrible at planning." Harry sounded apologetic, but Tegan only smiled.

"It's all right; so have I," she admitted. "Look, here comes the living proof!" Lanie crawled into the parlor, hard on K-9's metallic tail.

Harry laughed, and Tegan couldn't help but think how far along their friendship had come; when she first arrived on Earth and announced her status as unwed mother-to-be, he'd been disapproving, to say the least. Things had started to turn around, she reflected, about the time she asked him to stand as Lanie's godfather. And he'd become positively mellow since marrying Sarah Jane.

Not that he'd ever treated her poorly or been rude; he'd just had very old-fashioned ideas when it came to pregnancy outside of marriage. Not too different than Tegan's own family, back in Australia. The only one who she was willing to risk telling about Lanie was her grandfather, the historian Andrew Verney, and she'd finally worked up the courage to call him only after the Doctor embarked on his latest mission to fix things up.

He'd been thrilled, only mildly rebuking her for waiting so long, and eager to hear the rest of the story: "For, my dear, I'm sure there's more to the story, isn't there? Does it involve that handsome doctor friend of yours, perhaps?" Tegan had blushed, even over the phone; her grandfather had been more observant than she'd given him credit for.

That was the reason for Harry's apology. He'd offered to pick her grandfather up at the airport, only to discover that he'd already scheduled a surgery that same afternoon. Tegan was unwilling to leave the house, at least until the Doctor returned, and so Lavinia had volunteered to go in Harry's stead. "I shall hold up a great sign that says 'Lanie's Great-Grandfather'," she'd replied when Harry innocently asked her how she intended to catch his attention. Then she'd relented and reminded him that Tegan had given her a photograph, and out the door she marched.

Now Tegan was a nervous wreck. What if she'd made a mistake, what if her grandfather didn't understand as well as she thought he did? They'd never told him the Doctor was an alien, she realized. Only a time traveler. Or had they? She couldn't remember. Her last visit to Little Hodcomb had been chaotic, to say the least, but once the craziness was over they'd spent a marvelous afternoon together. Even Turlough had mellowed enough to be almost likable as they chatted with her grandfather.

"This is a big step," she admitted to Harry as they continued watching Lanie chase after K-9. Who appeared to be going deliberately slower than usual, even as he kept his tail carefully out of her reach. "How do you go about telling your family that your baby's father is an alien, and has the double circulatory system to prove it?"

"The same way you told your friends." That was Sarah Jane, just coming down the front stairs. She stepped carefully around Lanie and smiled at her patient chase of K-9. "You just do it. I'm glad you've finally made up your mind about it!"

"Well, about telling my grandfather," Tegan reminded her as she settled onto the sofa. Harry kissed his wife, waved good-bye to Tegan, edged past K-9 and stooped down to plant a fatherly kiss on Lanie's head. Lanie grunted but didn't look up; K-9 was so close…He scuttled behind the ottoman, once again eluding her. She sat back with a "thump," wailing her frustration.

"I don't see why that should be a problem." It was an old argument, one the two women had been sharing since Lanie's birth. "Just look at her, acting like any other baby that's had its candy taken!" She knelt down next to her goddaughter, trying to get her to calm down while Tegan watched in amused silence. Lanie's tantrums about K-9 usually passed on their own, but neither Lavinia nor Sarah Jane seemed capable of just letting the baby cry, as Harry generally advised her to do under these circumstances.

When Sarah Jane finally joined her on the sofa, Lanie was smiling and getting back on her knees. Her eyes had changed from blue to brown, but it was their size as much as their color that gave her what Lavinia pronounced "character," and if K-9 could see the way those eyes fixated on him, he might have reconsidered his decision to remain in place. His antennae rotated once, making a whirring sound, and Tegan received the distinct impression that he was being deliberately provocative. "I wonder if he's trying to teach her how to stalk him," she murmured.

"Affirmative." K-9 was moving as Lanie rounded the ottoman, crowing in triumph as she just touched the tip of his tail. "Mistress Lanie's motor skills have shown a .759 percent improvement since I began this course of training. I predict she will be walking within one terrestrial week." He moved slowly out of the room, Lanie following.

"Cheeky little bugger," was all Tegan said, to mask her sudden unease. Walking within a week? Lanie was only seven months old, after all! Still, K-9 was right; she was definitely moving better on her own than she had been even a few days earlier... "Maybe I'd better start letting her hold my fingers and walk more, she does seem to like it, even if she can't get where she wants to go as quickly."

Sarah Jane was staring after K-9 in bemusement. "Maybe you should," she agreed, looking back at Tegan. "Did K-9 just say he was training Lanie?"

"I've been relying on him as a babysitter an awful lot lately," Tegan admitted, her own eyes troubled. "But he's so good with her, and she adores him. But I thought he was just, well, keeping her out of trouble; I never realized he was taking a more active role!"

"Well, she could certainly do worse," Sarah Jane replied. "After all, her father is from an advanced alien race; it makes sense, if you look at it that way."

Tegan collapsed against the back of the sofa, groaning and covering her eyes with her hands. "Hell's teeth, what have I gotten myself into?"

"Motherhood," Sarah Jane replied firmly. "Never forget that. You fell in love, you had a baby, you're trying to deal with your relationship with your baby's father. Those are the parts that matter."

Tegan removed her hands and sat back up. "You're right. And my grandfather, God bless him, managed to take my traveling through space and time in stride, although you should have seen his face when the Doctor showed him the inside of the TARDIS!" She conveniently forgot her own terror upon first entering the Doctor's time machine as she jumped to her feet. "I'd better make sure the study is ready." That had been the only room available for a guest to sleep in, and Lavinia and Tegan had spent a few hours that morning rearranging the furniture. Or at least directing Harry in doing so while Sarah Jane had been out on another reporting assignment.

Sarah Jane also rose to her feet. "The study is fine," she said firmly, taking Tegan by the wrist and pulling her toward the kitchen. "Aunt Lavinia will be back with your grandfather in a few hours, Lanie is having fun being 'trained' by K-9, and you and I are due for a nice cuppa about now." She grinned. "Besides, I want to pick your brains; I'm thinking about doing an article on your grandfather's work as an historian and I want some background information. What on earth is he doing living in Little Hodcombe, anyway? Why did he leave Australia?" She continued to ply Tegan with questions as they entered the kitchen.

In the front hall, Lanie chuckled happily as she finally managed to grab K-9's tail and hold it with both hands. "Good doggie!"