I'd just like to say again, because it can't be said enough, thanks for all the kind reviews. I deeply appreciate them.

Keludar was so tall that she missed his mouth and found herself kissing his chin. He had fast reactions, correcting the angle and kissing her with undisguised hunger. Tegan whispered, "Please," against his mouth, trying to convey the rest of the message with her eyes. She didn't pull free. They were being watched.

Suddenly the air was full of heavy mist. The temperature plummeted.

He broke the kiss but didn't let go of her. "This is madness."

Tegan hoped his grave expression meant he had got her message. "I'm only doing what I think is right, Keludar. What is this muck?" She shivered.

"Fire suppression system. Perhaps they triggered an emergency response trying to get through the door."

The lights went out. The glow of emergency lighting came on in flickers at the edge of the ceiling and floor. Then even that firefly glow died. The door panel slid open. "Hurry," said the Professor. He was holding some tool that made enough light for them to move towards him. Keludar lagged behind, though he released Tegan.

"Please, Kel, you've got to come. The Professor thinks they mean to kill you and blame the Doctor."

"Ah," said Keludar gloomily, as one who has foreseen the worst happening. He followed her closely.

The Professor handed him the tool. "That has a direction indicator. Follow the beam. You'll be going down almost right away. Tegan, activate the lift belt."

She'd taken it off and put it on again under her robe. Now she reached in, fumbled at the controls, and felt the weight of the world drop away. The effect was more noticeable in the darkness. Keludar followed the beam. It led towards an opening that hadn't been in this small passage when she'd gone through the first time. "You're a genius, Professor," she said fondly.

"Quite right, though this was easy."

Keludar had to duck slightly to get through the hatch. There was an edge all the way around the opening. Tegan hopped over it and felt herself briefly hanging in the air, a delicious feeling that made her laugh softly.

A shove in the back sent her smack into Keludar. When they'd sorted themselves out, she turned to look. The hatch had closed with the Professor on the other side.

The emergency lighting came on again. A grate covered a floor hatch nearby, and this passage ended a short distance past it in a tangle of pipes.

"He did that on purpose." Keludar knelt down to lift the hatch cover.

"We can't leave him!"

A computer voice announced, "Warning. This area will be pumped full of inert gas in 10 seconds." It echoed from all around.

Using only her fingernails, Tegan was prying at the hatch between her and the Professor. "I should have brought Leela's knife," she moaned. She could not find where the hatch unsealed.

"It's a magnetic bond," Keludar said from behind her. "Tegan, we can't get through. He planned this."

"Inert gas injection in five seconds."

"Professor! Don't do this!"

There was a slight vibration in the floor. "The hatch!" Keludar exclaimed. He grabbed her around the waist and leapt towards the opening. They fell through. It was tight for two, even as tightly as Keludar was holding her. They kept scraping against the walls of the shaft. She couldn't tell how fast or far they fell.

Tegan had stopped struggling after the first protest. "Kel, all Time Lords have that respiratory bypass, don't they?"

"Yes, the Professor will be fine. They might even let him go once he wakes up. Time Lords who have passed through their last regeneration have many privileges."

They reached bottom. "Turn off the lift belt. The two of us using it at once is a strain on the power pack. We may need it again."

Tegan turned it off. Keludar consulted their guide while she looked up the way they came. He put a hand on her shoulder. "We had to go. The floor hatch was about to be sealed to keep in the gas."

"I know." She turned and his hand fell away. "So where do we go now? Maybe somewhere with a little more light?"

"Professor Omicron didn't give you any more instructions?"

"There wasn't time. He had to coach my 'Lady Tegan' act. I… I had to be convincing."

The tiny scatter of light showed her his tall form, but very little detail. She thought she could make out the glint of his eyes. "Yes, I know you kissed me to make me stay near the door. It was very effective."

Tegan had had her mind read before, and not liked it, but it was worse having the thought plucked out of her head before she'd thought it. "Pardon me for trying to save your life!"

"And the Doctor's political reputation." Keludar didn't have to say it in any particular way for it to sound nasty, not in the dark.

Tegan fumed. "He'd put your life before his reputation, and so do I. I've had enough of your jealousy, Keludar."

"I'm sick of it, myself. Tegan, I'm going to determine our route. While I'm doing that, you could help by turning your back on me, opening your robe, and retying those knots." Keludar turned his back on her and moved the guide tool in a slow arc.

She wasn't sure what he was doing, but the air and darkness were thick around her. The brush of her fingertips on cloth sounded like a rasping file.

"I said, turn your back." The tension in his voice reminded her of how alone they were.

Tegan turned quickly. She fumbled blindly over the ribbons, not entirely sure if she was pairing them correctly. Cool darkness seeped through the openings of the gown and across her exposed skin. She tied her robe as tightly as it would close.

"I can barely see anything, and it must be worse for you. We ought to come into an area with more light eventually, but for now, stay close, and I'll warn you of any obstructions. We've lingered too long. This is a maintenance junction. There should be light here, even if it's only accessed once a century."

"Get a move on, then."

- o - O - o -

She followed him through the darkness. When she'd traveled like this with the Professor, Tegan had felt confident in her guide. The Professor was like a wise old wizard in a fairy tale. If you trusted him, it would all come right. Keludar was the wizard's scapegrace apprentice.

The blue guide light began pulsing. "Hurry," Keludar called to her, and jogged ahead. The passage floor clattered under her boot heels as she tried to keep up with him.

Blue light flared. Keludar skidded to a stop and ran the tool up and down the wall. A panel slid aside.

The lights came on. Tegan blinked. Keludar took her hand and tugged her after him into the opening. "It won't stay open long." It was dark again in this new passage after the panel slid shut.

"Where the hell are we?"

"Under the Capitol. This area seems to have been sealed off. I think the emergency conditions must have made it accessible to us and that's why we were signaled to hurry. The sensors in the guide must have picked up that they were returning the environmental systems to normal status." He started walking again, picking his way carefully.

Part of the journey was a long flight of stairs going up. After a while, Tegan's knees started to ache. "Have you any idea where we're going, yet? I've never seen stairs like this anywhere in the Citadel so far."

"Nor have I. It must be part of an obsolete disaster management plan. I think we're headed towards a residential area." Keludar wasn't even breathing hard.

"Maybe we could use the lift belt?"

He stopped and she bumped into him.

"Why did you stop?"

"You're tired, aren't you? Do you want to rest?"

Tegan's pride was stung. "I can keep going a while yet. Let's not stop, all right?" She started to move around him.

He put an arm out to bar her. "Use the lift belt. I'm not sure how much farther we have to go, and it will conserve your strength."

A couple of dozen levels later, Tegan was glad of the lift belt. As long as she kept her steps light, she gently bounced from step to step. The only downside was a feeling of minor nausea.

Keludar moved off the stairs onto a landing. Tegan leaned heavily against the wall. "Are we there yet?" she cracked.

"We're not going any farther up. Take a moment to stretch your legs. There should be a door here."

Holding the light in front of him haloed his outline so that Tegan could watch him moving along the landing. She was tired enough that it took her awhile to realize he was having some sort of difficulty. "What's wrong?"

"I found the door, but the light isn't pointing towards it. If it's not the right path, and I open it, there could be some sort of alarm set off."

"Professor Omicron's not much for normal doors."

"Quite so." He retreated to her side, held out the light again from that position, and then from a few steps away. "Ah. That explains it. It's down low. You'll have to crouch."

"Bloody marvelous."

In fact, Keludar stopped halfway through, and said something muffled but irate before moving forwards. He turned in the darkness and called back to her, "It's a double opening. You'll need to go over two curbs."

Tegan banged herself through the darkness, swearing under her breath. She should be in bed right now, snuggled up next to the Doctor. Of course, knowing the Doctor, he'd rather be here in the dark. He'd probably enjoy it immensely. She scraped her ear on the edge of the second opening. "Gallifreyans," Tegan said, finding it the vilest oath available.

"You can stand up, but there's not much room. There's another door here… oh." The door opened into light and he walked out of the small dark room. Tegan followed him. She recognized the style. It resembled the antechamber to her apartment.

Keludar was looking at the tool. "The light's gone out. This must be it." He moved past her and checked back the way they had crawled. "The panels closed after us." He shrugged and closed the door. "Shall we explore?"

Tegan moved on without him. She had a hunch about where they were. "I think this is the Professor's apartment. He said he had one under his real name, whatever that is."

"Really? With an active household account, this makes an excellent hideout."

"Dibs on the hygiene chamber."

"Go right ahead. We're both rather dusty." He grinned at her, touched his cheek, and went to the front door of the apartment and activated the door monitor.

Tegan stuck her tongue out at his back and went looking for the hygiene chamber. She rubbed at her cheek and her fingers came away stained.

A blinking message light drew her attention to the contact point. Tegan pushed the activator, wondering if the Professor had left them an explanation. That would be a rare gift from a Time Lord.

"If you are listening to this message, then you have reached safety without me. This is a dangerous game, and the odds are that I am detained or dead. In either event, I wish to tender you an apology. I know you have been aware of some of my manipulations, but perhaps you do not yet comprehend the scope of my research. I fear Gallifrey will stagnate into a dead world if some action isn't taken to revitalize her people. The Web of Time may be of paramount importance, but I say to you that change is part of time and therefore it must be part of us, who guard the Web.

"This does not touch on my apology. You were one of my prime targets to be an agent of change. Irreverence has a value the comfortable do not appreciate, for the irreverent see through false pride, and perceive uncomfortable truths. One such truth is that I encouraged you to pursue the Lady Tegan. Andred is a fine Guard commander, but he will never shake Gallifrey. Such potential lies in you, and in the Doctor as well. He seemed neglectful of his companion, and I failed to understand the bonds that connect them. In one hour, I learned more from of friendship from a barely grown girl than I have known for several thousand years. Perhaps in my youth I was not so hard hearted, but emotions are of the moment. I do not remember how it feels to be young. Outside the Citadel, the seasons change, but it has been winter inside for a long time."

Tegan became aware that Keludar was standing behind her, but she paid him no more attention than that.

The message continued. "I have sent word to Lady Tegan asking her to intervene on your behalf with the Lord President. Do not leave this apartment before morning at the earliest. If I do not return, you will have to manage as best you may. Keludar, Gallifrey may discount you because of your genetic heritage, but I say to you that you are very much needed here. Do not despair of your future."

That was the end of the message. Tegan didn't know whether to curse or cry. Perhaps an ancient Time Lord couldn't help but be manipulative. "That… sly old fox," she said with infuriated affection.

"He didn't plan for you to hear that message. I wonder what other plots of his have gone wrong." Keludar contemplated the blank message panel, his handsome face set in a grave expression.

Tegan availed herself of the privacy of the hygiene chamber. Now they'd have to wait. She hated that part.

tbc