Stepping out of his bedroom, a wide smile on his face with twinkles in his icy blue eyes, elevated emotions that if he was able to, he would've been floating out of the bedroom, a hand running through his matted wild hair, before tying his silk blue robe tightly around his waist, his patterned lounge pants dripping over his bear slippers, he gently closes the door to his bedroom, barely a noise.

Theodore then walked out of the hallway towards his kitchen, the clock above the sink showed that he only had a few hours' time before he leaves with the others.

After he spent what potentially could've been his last night with Lila, Theodore has a few short hours until morning, before he's expected to leave, meet with the others, and as he opted to mentally prepare for the grueling task.

While the coffee brewed, Theodore went through his fridge, grabbing everything he wanted to make one last sandwich, didn't matter if it became taller than him or not, if this was to be his last, he's going out with a full stomach and a caffeinated mind.

There's a chance for power outages due to the Daleks attacking any sort of electrical sources to disrupt efforts, however the Cybermen have begun arriving in droves as UNIT reconvened with the Brigadier, the war's beginning.

Unusual comrades in arms, Cybermen and UNIT, what were the chances of that happening, Theodore didn't know, but the fact this's happening, at all, and all he's doing's stacking pastrami like a sculptor stacking granite.

However, even though the fears are still with him, Theodore won't let the Master win, and his face will be one of the last faces the Master sees before his ultimate demise, a reminder of the betrayal he committed.

"Father, will I be strong enough?" Theodore scoffs as he sat at his kitchen, wandering if he's even capable of facing down the Master himself, when he heard the voice ring out, he nearly jumped up, his icy blue eyes swiftly moving towards…

Uncle?

He's standing in the threshold between the kitchen and the den, a look in his face, his favourite hat missing from his head, exposing his curly brown hair.

"Your father would believe in you, nephew," his dark eyes fell to his nephew as he sat at the table while he finished making a tall pastrami sandwich.

His icy blue eyes didn't move to look up at his uncle, Theodore then asked with a twinge of resentment in his voice, "Why are you here?"

Mindful of the sleeping Lila, he didn't raise his voice, but his eyes did more than enough to convey his displeasure at his uncle's presence.

"I want to talk to you, nephew, if you don't mind," Hamon says to him, still in the doorway looking into the kitchen.

Staring at him, Theodore huffed, "About what, that I'm suddenly capable of dealing with the madman that killed my friend and almost took Lila from me?"

His uncle didn't get angry at him over it, instead he hung his head low, a simple nod, an acknowledgement that it's deserved for his choices.

"Nephew, I don't deserve your forgiveness," Hamon acknowledged his wrongs and Theodore huffed that he isn't likely getting an ounce of forgiveness from him. "However, I want to say my piece. Today's the day, nephew, we've got to spend the last of our time wisely."

Lifting his pastrami sandwich, the mustard slightly oozing from the sides of the bread, Theodore pondered this, before biting his tongue, thinking of his father, before allowing his uncle to say his piece.

Joining him at the table while he began eating his sandwich, one last meal, Theodore listened to his uncle, in between bites of his sandwich.

"In my hearts, nephew, I am a general. Centuries later, I'm still in the mindset. When I found out that he had survived, all I could do's think one. Doing everything I could to keep you and the others safe from him," Hamon began as he looked at his nephew, quietly leering at him as he munched on his sandwich.

Dabbing his mouth with a dish towel, Theodore carefully chewed, before swallowing, when he finished, he cleared his throat and responded with, "You're my uncle, too!"

Restraining himself, Theodore pointed out that his uncle remained as such, not just the general, and while Hamon acknowledged Theodore's point, he admitted, "What I did's kept him from you this long, nephew. I did it for yours and theirs safety. Had I told you sooner, he would've discovered your existence."

It wasn't easy, Hamon had to use his knowledge to force people's hands into helping him preventing the Master from learning of Theodore's existence, to be sure these weren't average people, they were horrible people who followed the Master in hopes of becoming powerful or rich, both, but at the end they paid for their mistakes in trusting the Master.

Tossed aside, like rubbish, no longer useful in the Master's eyes, like the professor, they thought they were chosen, indeed they were, to be eradicated, so they wouldn't be a danger to the Master's rise.

"So, when you weren't with us, you've been forcing people to die?" Theodore summed his uncle's choices and he affirmed that they made their choices serving the Master, that he attempted multiple times to get them to see the truth, but they were power hungry individuals.

Had he pushed them, they might've alerted the Master of his presence, risking everything.

"And when you stole from me?" Theodore questioned his uncle's choices in stealing the coin, but not the medical journal, his uncle telling him that had he stolen both, Theodore would've grown suspicious.

As he says, stealing a coin's easier, but stealing a whole journal, well, that's harder to hand wave away.

Shaking his head, Theodore snorts at his uncle's unethical choices, before stating, "She could've died, too, uncle!"

His uncle's gambit went too far, but Hamon pointed out that even if they weren't together, the Master would've gone after her anyway, as she was his companion.

Them melding was the only way Lila survived.

"He was careful after the last time, you wouldn't know it was his doing until it was too late," Hamon explained to Theodore while he continued to eat his pastrami sandwich.

Biting into his pastrami sandwich again, the mustard hitting the roof of his mouth as he chewed, Theodore slowly chewed as he processed this, before finally swallowing, sipping on his cooling coffee as it helped.

When he rested his mug, Theodore then asked, "Did he kill him, uncle?"

Did the Master kill his father, same way he killed those women, and Bill?

Hamon replied that his father wasn't killed, the stress of it all finally got to him.

"Time comes for us all, nephew, though the Council and the Master see differently," Hamon exhaled sharply as he explained to his nephew that despite their unique genetics, they're still subjugated to the whims of time, itself.

Though the Council and the Master saw themselves above it.

Clearing his throat, Theodore calmly asked, "And if he did, what then?"

Without trying to bargain, Hamon surmised, "Then our conversation would've been different."

Acknowledging that had it gone differently, the conversation, or the lack of thereof, well, it'd be a different story.

Polishing off his pastrami sandwich with the rest of the coffee, Theodore stood up from his spot, collecting his plate and mug, he went over to the sink, and began hand washing them.

"Anything more, uncle?" Theodore then asked him, rinsing the dishes.

A frown on his usually impish face, Hamon shook his head, telling his nephew that he had one final thing to tell him.

"Know I did it for you all, nephew," he softly tells his nephew.

When Theodore turned around, his uncle disappeared through a rift he made, not a word more.

Drying his hands with the dish towel, Theodore exhaled sharply, closing his eyes briefly, before hearing his bedroom door opening, footsteps echoing through the hallway.

Wearing one of his other robes, Lila blinks as she looked around, smelling the coffee, the mustard, the pastrami, when her eyes crossed Theodore's, she says, "I thought I heard Hamon."

Stirring from her slumber, Lila swore hearing Hamon through the closed door, looking around, he's nowhere to be found, but her connection with Theodore, she's correct in her assumption.

"We tried keeping it civil," Theodore tells her that he didn't get into a shouting match with his uncle, not wanting to awaken Lila.

Tugging the robe as she walked towards her, her bare feet pattering against the laminated floor, Lila pulls her chestnut hair away from her face, as she stares at Theodore, seeing him worked up like this, it made her sigh.

"What happened, happened, Teddi, you can't change that. Maybe he's right, hadn't we melded, the bastard would've gotten me, too. If this cat's sick as Hamon says he is… if he didn't kill Bill, he would've killed someone else, and I don't want to begin imagining who else he had in mind," Lila felt his warmth, their arms wrapping around each other.

A look on his face, Theodore shook his head gently, before resting his head on the top of hers, holding her close to him, feeling her warmth, Lila resting her head on his chest.

"I miss her," Lila bitterly tells him.

Holding Lila close, Theodore frowns as he says, "As do I, my dear Watson."

Holding him close, Lila closes her eyes, listening to his heartbeats, when she opened her eyes, she sees the time on the clock above the sink.

"Almost time," she murmurs.

A frown, Theodore slowly nodded, as he affirmed that it'll be time for him and the others to go after the Master.

Gripping him, Lila wanted him to stay with her, not go, but she knew in her heart he didn't have a choice, he had to fight the Master.

"Kick his ass, spaceman. Kick it straight to hell," Lila implores her love to finish what his father started decades ago.

THE END