"I can't believe you did that," the Doctor complained as he looked over to where Josh was watching him. At least with the painkillers a lot of the heat had gone out of it, but it felt tight already, and the dressings were bulky and were going to make him look like a hunchback when he put his T-shirt back over the top of them.

"Does it feel any better?" Josh asked him. He'd watched the way he'd been stitched. It had taken ages.

"Maybe," the Doctor accepted.

"That doctor woman that came in here? She knows you right?" Josh checked with him. "Do you think it's like with my mum? She knows you but you've not met her yet?"

"I think so," the Doctor confirmed. "She knows a lot more about me and my biology than I would have disclosed to a regular UNIT medic. It seems that I've got a lot of people to meet," the Doctor suggested. "It's not normally quite this backward. I try to avoid near future events that might impact on my own personal time line, but here I am, right bang in the middle of 2026." He rubbed his face and sighed. The shifting potentials in his time line were giving him a headache. He definitely wasn't going to be retaining many if any of these memories when he went back to Rose. In the meantime the more complicated it got the more vaguely unwell it was going to make him feel. There was nothing he could put his finger on. He couldn't go to Doctor Jones-Smith and tell her that he had a headache and a stomach ache or that his skin itched or that he was experiencing anything that was actually tangible. He just felt off. His head was probably aching that bit more than it would have been. His back was probably hurting him just that little bit more than it would have been. He sighed.

"Is your ankle okay?" the Doctor asked him. "You didn't stand on it at all did you?"

"No, I was really careful," Josh assured him. "It's no worse. I didn't even put it down on the floor. It did hurt a bit more when it was down and I was standing up than it does when I'm lying like this, but its calmed back down again. You needed them to look at your back," Josh reminded the Doctor.

"Yeah, I suppose," the Doctor agreed. "Thank you. I'm going to just go and find out where they are with their plan, but we should be able to leave them to it for the most part. UNIT are very good. I'll only be a couple of minutes and then I can make us something to eat. I don't know about you but I'm feeling pretty hungry now."

The Doctor left the TARDIS and walked across toward the main centre of operations that had been set up in tents positioned just along the clearing by the stream. He was surprised when he saw the man standing next to Martha. There was no denying who it was. He was twenty years older and he looked mature, in control, like he was effectively discussing tactics, and he was being trusted with a side arm. He was wearing a UNIT uniform with captain's stripes. "You?" the Doctor called out to him and grinned happy to see a face he recognised in the sea of strangers who all knew him. "Now you I do know. Mickey Smith!" He grinned and went to shake his hand.

"Hello Doctor," Mickey gripped his hand tightly. "I heard you got stitched up?"

"I did, yes," the Doctor confirmed.

"I just came to let you know about the beacon. I need to show someone where it is and check the power supply. I cobbled it together from scraps in the workshop. It might need recharging, and, since I put it up a tree, I think considering I did get stitched up that someone else might have to go up…" the Doctor started babbling to Mickey. He cast a glance toward Martha as he mentioned climbing on a tree and caught sight of the screen on Major Magumbo's military laptop. He took a couple of steps toward it just to be sure. It wasn't a recent picture. "What are you doing with that?" The Doctor challenge the Major directly. There was a picture of Josh up on her screen.

"I recognised him, Doctor," Major Magumbo confirmed. "He went missing almost seven months ago. We've not been able to track him down and we were concerned. If he was with you then that explains why we've not been able to find him."

"Do you know who he is, Doctor?" Martha asked him.

"He is Donna Noble's son," the Doctor informed her in response. He didn't tell them that he didn't have a clue what that really meant, but it clearly meant something to UNIT. What could UNIT possibly want with a 14 year old boy? Why were they even looking for him? If he'd evaded UNIT for seven months though? He felt a strange sense of pride when he heard that he'd had UNIT looking for him and had still managed to stay hidden. Maybe taking the battery out of his phone, not getting cash from the bank, and taping his bag shut was not as paranoid as it had seemed. "He's not been with me for seven months. If you've not been able to find him then that is because he's smart and he doesn't want to be found. What does UNIT want with a 14 year old orphaned boy?"

"He is Donna Noble's son," Martha repeated what the Doctor had informed her.

"He's still just a boy," the Doctor argued.

"But with the metacrisis?" Mickey prompted not noticing the look that he received from both Martha and Major Magumbo. "No one knows how that is going to affect him. UNIT had been keeping an eye on him to make sure that he was okay. When his great grandfather died it was UNIT arranged his foster care."

"UNIT arranged his foster care?" the Doctor clarified. "The foster care that he hated so much he ran away to live in the woods thinking that no one wants him and no one cares about him. Is that the foster care you arranged for him?! You should all be ashamed of yourselves."

"He was safe," Major Magumbo informed him.

"He's safe with me."

"He's injured and you've brought him into this situation. How safe do you think he is, Doctor?" Major Magumbo asked him directly.

"You think I brought him here?" the Doctor scoffed. "I didn't bring him here injured. I found him here injured."

"You only met him last night?" Martha confirmed and the Doctor nodded. "I can see that you're angry. We've had no intention of deceiving you Doctor, and we have no intention of causing Joshua any harm. At this point in your timeline you can't possibly be in a position to understand the significance of what is going on here. You've never met his mother have you?"

"No," the Doctor admitted. "And you have?"

"Mickey and I both have," Martha confirmed. "Twenty years have passed, Doctor, and a lot has happened in that time. I expect you can already feel the potential of the million paradoxes this could generate can't you?" she asked him sympathetically. "Especially with that clumsy oaf here," she commented and indicated to Mickey. The Doctor didn't smile. "You shouldn't stay in embedded in this time line for long, Doctor, it will make you feel unwell. If it isn't already?"

"A little," the Doctor softened slightly as he regarded the medic.

"Has Joshua told you what happened to his family?" Martha checked.

"A plane crash."

"You know that we can't tell you what is going to happen in your personal time line, but, I think we're safe enough to tell you that it was you that asked UNIT and asked me to look out for Donna. When Joshua and Sylvie were born we extended that remote guardianship to them. It was a terrible shock for all of us when Donna, Shaun, and Sylvie died. It was UNIT who recovered the plane when the Brazilian authorities gave up the search after ten days. We determined that it was just a tragic accident caused by an electrical fault. There was nothing untoward about it. Joshua's great grandfather knew UNIT were looking out for Josh. He knew that Joshua is special. He is only 14 and he is still developing and we don't quite know how special he is going to be. When Wilfred passed it was only the second time that UNIT had any direct contact with Joshua or his family and they arranged for a foster family to take him in so he didn't end up in the local authority care system. I don't know why he ran and why he is under the impression that no one cares. That is far from the truth UNIT have been looking for him since he ran. We only want to ensure his safety. For Donna, and Doctor, for you. I'm just at a loss as to how you have come to be here with him now at this point in your time line because you can't possibly know what happened. How did you know Joshua was even here?" Martha asked him.

"I felt it."

"I don't understand," Martha admitted.

"I was in the vortex and I felt it. I don't know how or why but he reached out to me in the vortex. He was so scared. We are connected somehow. It is the only explanation for how he was able to do that. I've promised him he can stay with me while he heals. I am not going to break that promise," the Doctor warned her. "I'm not going to let you take him against his will."

"We have no intention of taking him," Martha assured the time lord.

"Doctor Jones-Smith?" Major Magumbo interjected.

"The boy is safer with the Doctor in the TARDIS than he is anywhere else," Martha informed the Major. "If the Doctor hadn't rescued him yesterday he would be dead."

"He doesn't know what he is dealing with."

"Neither do we; none of us do," Martha commented. "If anyone can support and guide Joshua then it is the Doctor. I believe that whether he has met his mother yet or not. The added complication in the matter being that Joshua is injured. What is his injury?" she asked the Doctor.

"He has a distal spiral tibia fracture and distal fibula fractures which were associated with a complete ankle dislocation."

"And you were able to reduce that for casting?" Martha checked and the Doctor nodded. "And when the swelling goes down you will use conservative techniques to fix and set his ankle for healing?" Martha checked and the Doctor nodded. Martha turned to the Major. "The Doctor is describing a significant ankle injury which would have the potential to cause long term chronic issues. He is able to provide him with more sophisticated treatment than I would be able to provide him within UNIT or if we were to transfer his care to a hospital setting. He will recover more quickly, with less risk, and achieve a more satisfactory recovery if the Doctor continues to treat him in the TARDIS," Martha informed the Major. "It is my medical opinion that Joshua should be permitted to remain with the Doctor pending the resolution of his injury as the Doctor currently intends."

"And when he is healed?" Major Magumbo asked. "The TARDIS is no place for a 14 year old boy."

"I disagree." Mickey subconsciously shifted to stand with the Doctor rather than simply between them.

"Thank you," the Doctor acknowledged that in their way both Martha and Mickey were showing him their support. "But, frankly, whether any of you agree or disagree? He's staying with me, and, if your UNIT based foster care is what led him to run then what makes you think he should ever be with any of you? He is a fourteen year old boy living in the woods and you all let that happen. Now, if you'll excuse me? My back is beginning to hurt and I am going back inside."

"Go and rest, Doctor," Martha suggested just in case Major Magumbo wanted to continue the debate. "I will check in on you later if you will allow it?" she asked him and he nodded.

"But, you all stay away from Josh," the Doctor warned as he headed back to the TARDIS.