For a while, no one had said anything. Then the boy's face had slowly broken into a big grin, Kerry had laughed out loud with delight and amusement, and the Doctor had gathered Kerry into an enormous bear-hug – squeezing her so hard that her ribs still ached – before engaging the poor lad into a kind of mad dance. Old Marc, Valstrem, Flayden, Borusa and even the President had watched the Doctor's mania with amusement and laughing heartily at the children's bemused expressions. The boy had been delighted to discover that he did get his TARDIS in the end ("You do steal it," the Doctor had told him, "but nobody catches you."), and was now sitting on the grass a little distance away, playing 'Fetch' with Old Marc's inkwell and its marble.
But it was the Doctor's turn to be puzzled. He and Old Marc had retreated to the shelter of the little platform where the speeches had been delivered; Marc in his still-dozing armchair and the Doctor in Valstrem's cosy chair (the Chancellor had already granted him this privilege). The Doctor was frowning, trying to get his brain to focus. Marc, who was watching him with interest, finally broke the silence.
"What is troubling you?" he asked.
The Doctor didn't answer immediately as he tried to compose a rational sentence that the old man would be able to understand. (Not because the Doctor thought that Marc might be slow on the uptake –he thought no such thing –but because his thoughts were whirling helter-skelter around his head and he was finding it hard focus.) Finally, he said "If Kerry really did rescue me from the Forbidden Caves when I was eight, then why can't I remember it? Surely I couldn't forget something so dramatic?"
"Ah," said Marc, and gave a small, sheepish chuckle. "I was hoping that would cross your mind," he admitted, "as I have been longing to indulge my desire to show off my considerably knowledge on such matters, and the answer is a complicated one; however, I think you are almost certainly capable of understanding what I tell you.
"You cannot remember this event because it did not happen to you, exactly. It was not you whom your young friend rescued, so to speak, but your earlier self. I know that, strictly speaking, you are both the same person, but you see, before Kerry could travel back in Time to rescue your younger self, and thus fulfil the Prophesy, you first had to make it possible for her to travel back in Time in the first place. You have a Time Machine; Kerry does not. And no child, not even a Gallifreyan one, would be able to steal and successfully pilot a Type 40 TARDIS – or indeed any kind of Space/Time Machine (except perhaps toy ones, but they are not relevant) – on their own! So before you could bring Kerry back here, you yourself needed to be mature enough to be able to know how to get her here.
Besides, if you as your current self, had not gone to Earth to befriend young Kerry, then what incentive would she have had to try to get to a planet she would not otherwise have heard of –and without any form of transport –in order to rescue a young man she would not have even known existed?" He looked sideways at the Doctor. "Do you follow me?"
"I think so," said the Doctor thoughtfully. "You're saying that my younger self could only be rescued – or would only need rescuing – once I, as my older self, had A: become mature enough to make my own decisions, B: learnt how to fly the TARDIS properly, C: found and befriended Kerry, taking her on as a companion, so that I could D: bring her back here to save me as a boy. But if I – as my younger self – had been trapped in the Caves before I had gone to Earth and met Kerry, to bring her back to rescue me as a boy – well, I wouldn't be here now."
"Yes. That's about it. Confusing, isn't it? That you as an adult had to effectively travel into the future in order to meet the girl who would one day save your life, and to transport her back to Gallifrey to do just that by saving your childhood self!"
"So that's how I managed to save you before I had officially been born!" cried a voice behind them. The Doctor started and whirled round to find Kerry standing a few paces behind him. "I because it didn't happen before I was born; it couldn't happen before I was born, because I'd have to be old enough to be able to rescue the Doctor first!
"Quite right, Kerry, quite right," said Old Marc, impressed by the girl's quick wit. "I think your friend is a very clever young lady," he added to the Doctor, causing Kerry to blush. She fell into step beside the Doctor as he and Old Marc started back to rejoin the little party of Gallifreyans.
"Well, I suppose we'd best be getting off soon," said the Doctor as he sat down amongst the party once again. "We don't want to alter History too much!"
"Weell…" said Kerry in a shy, awkward voice, glancing across at the boy, who was sitting next to her with his face flushed bright pink with embarrassment. "I – we – were wondering if…"
"…If I could come too," the boy finished nervously. "After all, Kerry's the only real friend I've ever had – or am going to have – and even though I might change History a tiny bit, if I end up as this man and travel with Kerry, well - then I'll get there anyway, won't I?" This last bit came out in a rush, and it took the gathering a few moments to find their tongues.
"That's as maybe," said Valstrem, soft but stern, "but…"
The boy interrupted. "If I grow up to be the Doctor, it doesn't really matter where in my life I choose to adopt my future life, does it?"
"Now then…" began Flayden, but he too was interrupted, by Old Marc this time.
"The boy has a point." he said simply. So the Gallifreyans (except the two Doctors and Kerry) leant in to have a brief discussion, and the two children sat stock still, feeling very tense. A few moments later (though it seemed like a lifetime to the two youngsters), the men turned back to them.
"Very well; we have made our decision," said Valstrem, solemnly. He looked directly at the boy and said, "You may go with The Doctor and Kerry, as much for their benefit as yours."
"Hooray!" whooped the boy, hurling himself at Valstrem and giving the poor man a hearty hug. Valstrem blushed, embarrassed; he couldn't remember the last time someone had hugged him, let alone a child! He grinned weakly, not knowing what else to do. Old Marc noticed and came to his rescue.
"But…" he said softly, but with enough authority to gain everyone's attention. "But," he repeated, looking directly at the boy, "there is one condition on your going. You must return to Gallifrey at least a year before your future self – that is, your older self – reaches the age when he first left Gallifrey in his TARDIS. Otherwise, History will be rewritten – very probably with devastating consequences – and both you and he (he indicated the Doctor) will cease to exist; indeed, it will be as if he has never existed. Do you understand?"
"Yes," said the boy. "When I get to one year younger than I am when I leave Gallifrey, I must return to Gallifrey so that I can learn what I need to so that I can leave Gallifrey on my adventures at the right time in History, therefore safeguarding my timeline and ensuring that History is left intact."
"Correct," murmured Marc appreciatively, glad that the boy had fully understood. "Then go and see the Universe!"
Immediately, the lad rushed to Kerry and threw himself at her so hard that her chair toppled over and the two children fell in a heap on the grass.
"I shall call you 'Denny'," Kerry told him as they picked themselves up, grinning wildly, "to avoid confusion. After all," she laughed, "I can hardly call you both 'Doctor'! It would be too muddling."
"Denny. I like it!" remarked the boy happily.
"Well if that's all settled, we'd better be on our way," said the Doctor, rising – somewhat reluctantly – to his feet. There was a swishing sound of many fine robes as all the assembled Gallifreyans also stood to bid the visitors farewell. The Doctor shook each of the elders politely by the hand while the two children bowed their heads respectfully. Even Old Marc's little inkwell joined in by scurrying up the children's arms and nuzzling their necks.
Finally, the last goodbye was said, and the Doctor, Kerry and Denny headed back towards the TARDIS, escorted by Old Marc, Valstrem and Flayden. And as they topped the hill, there she was, sitting bluely where they'd left her. Denny giggled with excitement as the Doctor stepped up and unlocked the door with a flourish. Denny hopped inside at once, but Kerry and the Doctor paused to look one last time at the beautiful Gallifreyan landscape.
"It's such a pity it all has to end," murmured the Doctor regretfully. Kerry glanced sideways at him and realised that her young friend would some day grow up into the man beside her; a man whose eyes betrayed centuries of loss, sacrifice and sorrow, almost outweighing the happy times.
"It may have to end," she said softly, "but it will never go away. Remember the good times."
The Doctor looked down at her and grinned, just as Denny reappeared at the TARDIS door to wave goodbye to his former life. All three exchanged a final farewell with Valstrem, Flayden and Old Marc (and, of course the inkwell, which was hopping up and down on Old Marc's shoulder in a mixture of dismayed agitation and excitement. Then they turned and disappeared into the TARDIS, closing the door on the Doctor's beautiful home planet. A few moments later, the familiar grating noise of the TARDIS' engines started up once again, and then the Doctor, Kerry, Denny and the TARDIS were gone.
"And this girl, Kerry-Anne, came to fulfil and ancient prophesy foreseen by Old Marcarstam the Old Foreseer who once lived deep under Gallifrey." The young Gallifreyan teacher had her audience of pupils enthralled; they gazed at her in wonder.
"She came to complete the task set, the Prophesy that one day, the 'young lonely traveller would disappear and be in grave danger, but a young girl by the name of Kerry-Anne would rescue him from harm'." She paused to show her satisfaction. "And rescue him she did."
The End