Author's Note: As all of the people who have reviewed, favourited, or alerted my story know, I like to reply to all these things with a little thank you as a show of appreciation. I've always thought that if you could take the time to read and do whatever to my story, then I could damn well find the time to say thanks.

So thank you to bowfin, who put this story on alert, and Tigress, who reviewed my other story, "Insurance Policy". I couldn't thank them through a PM because they have the feature turned off, so I thank them here. Thanks!

Happy New Year, everyone. Hope you like this chapter, and the episode that's going to rip our worlds apart this evening. :)

The Doctor's POV:

The three week mark arrives and I decide that ignoring the Master might help matters. He's moved on from goading me about freedom and lying to him because, as I thought, that isn't what's really bothering him. His remarks have got more and more cutting, so I ignore him now.

I know it's stupid, but, I wonder… does he blame me for what happened to Gallifrey? Does he know what happened to our golden planet? Or is he running just as fast as we always used to?

Four weeks have passed since the day I rescued/imprisoned him and I finally get the answer to my question. I've pushed him far enough simply with my silence for him to shout at me.

"Why the hell won't you answer me? Why are you doing this?"

I answer calmly. "I'm doing this for your own good."

"My own good?" He's screaming now. His hands are bunched into fists, and I know he's using all his will power to stop himself from hitting me. "There's nothing for me here! Don't you get it? I can't be around you! You killed everyone! You blew Gallifrey out of the sky! You killed them!"

I rise slowly, letting my book fall onto the table next to me. I can see him pulling his courage together, so when I leave he can stop me. But I'm not going to leave. I'm not going to run this time.

I pluck my glasses off, folding them calmly and pushing them into one of my pockets. I cross the room… and punch him.

"I did what I had to." He's looking at me from the floor. I can see the fear in his eyes, but also the excitement. He thinks he's pushed me far enough.

I crouch down, checking his face is undamaged without touching him. I shake my head, smiling. "Not even close, Master."

I practically barricade myself into my bedroom for the next two days. I don't want to come out until the bruise that has formed on my knuckles is gone. Then I can pretend nothing happened. And we can continue.

When I next see the Master, he's lounging in the pilot's chair in the control room. He grins at me when I walk in, turning his face towards me, showing me the bruise. I can see he's done nothing to hide it, and he's wearing it almost like a trophy.

"Do you want anything for that?"

"Nah." He smiles, lifting a hand to his face. "It's a way of keeping score."

I begin to flick switches and levers, all the while trying my best not to look at the blossoming bruise on the Master's face. I won't give him the satisfaction.

"I know what you are, Doctor."

I was so preoccupied with keeping my eyes off him, I didn't even realized he'd moved, until he spoke from behind me. I hide my jump and don't turn.

"I know who you are."

I reply, because if we're here to stay for all eternity, not speaking to the only other being in existence is something of a waste. "What am I?"

"You…" He pressed himself against me. I tense, anticipating a strike, but none comes, and he continues. "… are the man who defeated the Time Lords."

I whirl round, anger falling from the edge of my tongue. Doesn't he understand that the pain he inflicts on me with talk of Home isn't the pain that we both enjoy? This pain is worse, and he just doesn't stop.

But as I see his eyes I realize he knows far too well how much he's hurting me. His head is tilted back, slightly to the right. A gentle smile is flying across his lips, and my breath catches when I realize what he's expecting: another blow.

"You think that'll work?" My voice is shaky, but my inner resolve is firm, at least until his next words.

"What'll work? I'm not trying to make you guilty, Doctor. I'll save that for another time."

I was confused, but tried not to show it. "What are you doing then?"

He smiled again, showing his teeth. "Killer."

Anger caught me again, but I finally get what he's trying to do.

"Why?" I ask.

His eyes narrow fractionally. "Because of what you've done, and what you're doing."

I nod, inclining my head, but never taking my eyes off the man in front of me. "And if I asked you to stop?"

He laughed. "Stop? You should know by now that I'll never stop."

I throw myself away from console, driving him back into one of the corral struts. "You want my anger? You want me to feel guilty? Make up your mind!"

The excitement is back in his eyes. His hands have fused themselves to my upper arms, not pushing away or pulling to, just holding. My hands have bunched themselves into his shirt, almost lifting him off of the floor.

I'm struggling, searching for control but not finding it. All I can see is the Master in front of me, hurting me for his own amusement.

"What's the matter? Lost more of that prided control of yours?"

I swallow, shaking my head. "Stop."

"You're a killer! Always have been, and always will be."

"Stop."

"You're just like me. You need death to make you feel alive."

"Master, stop."

"Everything around you dies. Everyone leaves you. Look at Adric, look at Rose, look at Martha, at Jack. Look at the hundreds of companions you've had and the years you've spent alone! Look at everything you've put the Universe through, and how you kill more people every day! Look--"

The fist across his face stops him mid-sentence. I look down at the hand that struck him. It doesn't even look like mine. When I raise my eyes to his he's smiling triumphantly. He relaxes in my grip. He expects me to run, I realize.

"You know what?" I growl out. The pain is so bad that I can hardly think straight. "You…" I press my face forward, so we're only inches apart. "...have no idea how bad this can get for you."

He chuckles. "Show me then. Let that side of the great, important Doctor that no one ever sees, but I know exists, out. I've seen him. I know he's there. And you're caging him, just like you're doing to me."

"Why do you hate me?"

The change in conversation throws him, but only for a second. "You destroyed Gallifrey."

"Oh," I laugh, turning away from him. I can sense his annoyance at being dismissed. "You've used that one. Pick another." I lean against the console, facing him again. "What have I done so wrong to you that you keep bringing up the one thing that I can never change?"

He shakes his head. "You killed them."

"I did what no one else could. And you ran," I sneer at him, watching his own anger cross his face. "We were the only two Time Lords who could handle killing everyone else, because we were the only two who'd been to the stars and had seen death. And you ran." I take a step forward. "You left me with one choice, and I took it. I killed everything in my path. You ran from your post… and I became you."

A stunned silence meets my words. I wait, because he isn't getting out of this, and finally he speaks. "I… I was scared. You weren't."

"How the hell do you know?"

"Because!" he shouts. "You're never scared. You just lock it all up inside of you, and throw it at your humans. THEY were more important to me."

I growl. "I loved THEM too."

"But you have people. I don't. All I had was flesh and blood… and you!"

"So why are you unhappy at this arrangement? You've got me."

"I need freedom! Freedom is pointless if you can't say no."

I feel every feeling in my body drain away. Even now, amongst all this, he's still trying to hurt me. "Stop." I shake my head.

He glares at me. "Fine."

I know he only means he would stop goading me about Gallifrey, but it was as near to an apology as I was ever going to get, so I nod. "You need my anger?" I spread my arms. "Make me angry. We're the only two here. There are no innocents that can get caught in the cross-fire."

He mumbles something.

"What?" I question.

"I said, 'no one's innocent'."

I smile sadly. "We used to be."