Rather than go straight through to the sickbay the Doctor went into the galley. He made himself a cup of tea and carefully moved to sit at the small table in there. His head was spinning. He was beginning to realise just how out of synch he was with his own time line, he was surrounded by UNIT soldiers, there were genetically engineered monsters trapped only by a sonic beacon in the cave system below them, his back had been slashed open and was hurting, and there was a fourteen year old boy with a shattered ankle lying in his sickbay who was the son of a woman he had not met yet and was only just coming to terms with the idea that he was not just a story. Maybe it would have been better if he was just a story. For seven months that boy had evaded detection from the might of UNIT and within a day he'd brought UNIT to the door he had promised would keep Josh safe. He didn't quite feel ready to face him and let him know that he'd let him down like that already.

The Doctor sat in the galley with his head in his hands, staring into his cup of tea, for several minutes as he tried to figure out what was going on. He knew that he was going to travel with Josh's mother at some point in the next twenty years. Josh had said it was before he was born — limiting himself to a linear time line, that put it in the next six years. If she was married after travelling with him and then pregnant with Josh, then perhaps that put it in the next five years. At some point in the next five years he was going to meet and travel with a woman called Donna Noble. That he thought was reasonably certain.

Something was going to happen while he was travelling with Donna Noble that meant she wasn't able to remember. He wasn't entirely sure if it meant she couldn't remember travelling, couldn't remember him and what they did together, or if she couldn't remember anything at all, but, it sounded like she'd experienced some kind of head injury or a mind wipe - with either full or selective memory loss. Josh had said his great grandfather had said that it wasn't his fault — that usually meant that everyone knew that it was his fault and were just saying it wasn't to try to make him feel better, so, if it wasn't something he did directly to Donna Noble, it was something that happened while they were travelling. That he thought was another reasonable assumption.

He was undeniably linked with Josh. Josh had called out to him while he had been in the vortex and when he'd touched him in the tunnel it had hit him. The more time he spent with the boy the stronger that link seemed to be getting. In the few moments when he thought Josh had come out of the TARDIS because he wanted to go with UNIT he feared his hearts were going to break, and, he'd essentially declared war on the whole of UNIT if they thought they were going to take him. It wasn't a paternal bond, but it was the closest thing he could think of - maybe, but he couldn't actually be biologically related to him? Both Josh and UNIT had implied that something had passed from Donna Noble into her children. Did that mean that whatever happened that meant she couldn't remember also had a physical change on her that could be passed on and that it had come from him? And then there was loose lipped Mickey. He'd said there had been a metacrisis. What did that even mean? It sounded like the kind of word he'd just make up because there wasn't a real word for what happened. Had he somehow been linked with Donna? Had their DNA merged somehow in such a way that something could be passed on to her children even if she couldn't remember? How could that even happen? Zim had tried to do something like that, but that was lifetimes ago, and, it had failed. The only thing he could possibly think of with enough raw biological energy and power to do to cause something even close to a DNA merge was regeneration.

The Doctor blew out heavily and rubbed his face. He downed his tea. He couldn't make head nor tails of what had happened. He crossed the corridor from the galley and looked into the sickbay. Josh was just sitting on the bed as if waiting for him to return. He needed to fill in the gaps to make sense of everything and there were two people outside who clearly knew what had happened. He wanted to flick the lock and deny them access at the same time as he wanted to know what had happened — he doubted they were going to tell him. His head ached and it had been long enough since Martha had stitched him that the local pain relief she'd given him had worn off leaving his back on fire.

"Is it going well out there?" Josh asked the Doctor.

"Sorry?" the Doctor blinked his focus back from being deep in unfathomable thoughts.

"Out there, is it going well?"

"There are a lot of busy people out there," the Doctor confirmed. "They'll have everything under control."

"Then what's wrong?" Josh asked him. "Are you mad at me for telling them about your back?"

"No, I'm not mad with you," the Doctor assured him. "I probably should have done that myself."

"Then what is it?"

"You shouldn't have gone to the door," the Doctor commented but without any accusation.

"You said I could come and go as I please?"

"You can, you're not a prisoner, but the reason why you wanted to stay here was because you didn't want anyone to know where you are. I have a close link with UNIT and apparently it's going to get closer in the coming years. There is the Dr Jones-Smith that I've not met yet and there is Mickey Smith and I've met him already and he's now somehow a UNIT captain, which is good for him, it really is good for him, but the problem is Josh that I didn't know that in my future I asked Dr Jones-Smith and UNIT to make sure that your mother was all right after she lost her memories. UNIT had been doing that for me, but, they have also been trying to look out for you too. When you came to the door Major Magumbo and Dr Jones-Smith both recognised you."

"Oh," Josh commented.

"They've been looking for you for the last seven months," the Doctor informed him. "And, I must say, I am impressed. For you to evade them for seven months is pretty incredible."

"I only turned my phone off and moved to Yorkshire to live in the woods," Josh informed him. "They couldn't really have been that bothered and looked that hard."

"They don't have to look at all any more," the Doctor commented. "I brought them here and you... I'm sorry; this is why being out of time is so…" the Doctor ran his hands through his hair and paced a little in the sickbay. "I can't think!"

"Do I have to go with them now?"

"No," the Doctor assured him and approached his bedside.. "I've made it clear to them if it's your wish that you'll stay here until you're healed."

"Thank you." Josh reached across and hugged the Doctor. The Doctor didn't care that it hurt his back as he hugged Josh in return.

"I needed to tell you that they know who you are, but they can't make you go against your will. UNIT aren't a bad lot really. Mickey certainly isn't or at least he wasn't, I can only assume he still isn't. They're good and they have at least been trying to look out for you. They don't always get it and they have a lot of idiotic rules and stuff, but they are good people on the whole. If you ever did find yourself in trouble and for any reason I'm not around, they'd be there to help," the Doctor suggested to Josh.

"I'm not sure about the soldier vibe," Josh commented making the Doctor smile. "UNIT this and Greyhound that? Greyhounds are hunting dogs."

"Or buses."

"I bet they always come three at a time," Josh stated and they both laughed.

"Now UNIT know you're here, maybe I can find out a bit more about what happened to your mum too. Even if they weren't directly involved they are likely to have files on it. I shouldn't really know about it, but when it's something directly affecting my time line, I'm not allowed to remember it later. I think it's going to be important to know what happened with your mum in order to make her so special so we can figure out if your great grandfather was right and that it's passed on to you. I can't deny that there is a link between us. If that is because of what happened to your mum then I need to find out what that was. I'd like to discuss what makes you special with you as well to see if it will help me figure it all out. You might realise more than you know, like only having to read things once and being able to remember it, and, letting me know you were scared and needed help while I was in the vortex."

"I didn't know I had done that."

"I know," the Doctor offered. "I'm glad that you did."

"I'd have been eaten otherwise."

"There may be other times when you've had feelings or strange dreams or thoughts you don't understand. If something is affecting you it is possible that as you continue to mature it will develop. You need to know what it is and how to experience the things that make you special so that they don't become isolating or frightening."

"There are some things I don't know about. Gramps said I was special, but that just means weird."

"It shouldn't do," the Doctor offered. "But if you don't understand something then it can seem weird. I'd like to talk to you more about that when we're both feeling a bit better, if that will be okay?"

"Yeah."

"The other thing is, Josh, you asked me what your mum was like when she was travelling with me and before she met your dad?" the Doctor reminded him.

"I get that it's not happened to you yet and you don't know."

"There are two people outside who have met your mother," the Doctor commented. "They knew her during that time. I don't know how well they knew her or for how long, but do want me to invite them in so you can ask them?" he suggested. "I'm not going to let them take you out of here unless you decide you want to leave. As long as you tell me this is where you want to be while you continue to recover from your injury, this is where you will be."

"What if they try to make me leave?" Josh asked the Doctor. "What if they want to fight you to take me?"

"UNIT are very well equipped and it looks like in this time period they have good resources and plenty of men and women available to them, but there is one thing they know that they should never do in any time line, and that is start a fight with me," the Doctor commented. "I doubt they would, and, if they did it wouldn't last long, so don't worry. But, would you like me to ask Dr Jones-Smith and Mickey to come in and talk to you?" the Doctor asked him.

"Not the Major — she's too soldiery," Josh stated and the Doctor chuckled. "If Mickey is a Captain is he soldiery as well?"

"Mickey Smith?" The Doctor laughed and shook his head. "I can't imagine Mickey being overly soldiery. How about I see if they are free?" he offered.

"Is all of this really strange for you?" Josh asked the Doctor.

"It is a bit," the Doctor confirmed. "But, life in the TARDIS? Strange is kind of normal. It's just a bit more personal than usual as it's my own time line getting all tangled up. It's nothing for you to worry about. Let me go and see if Dr Jones-Smith and Mickey are available."