oOo
Tegan looks down at her baby; even the slamming doors and rushing feet do not wake her sleeping son. He falls asleep quickly and wakens quietly, a very Trakenish trait, Nyssa assures her whenever she frets over it. He cries very little as well, which Tegan also finds time to worry about.
She finds time to worry about a lot of things, most of which she has learnt to keep to herself. She buttons up those fears inside, knowing that her son can sense her emotions, or will be able to one day; he has enough Trakenite anatomy for Nyssa to be fairly sure of that. His mother looks down at him and melts into a smile. "Well, so much for mommy's day off," she says.
Her son's eyes pop open at the sound of her voice, and he coos inquisitively. Tegan's smile broadens, her heart melting as it always does at the sight of her little miracle. He is her miracle because he is alive and healthy, and because she loves him in spite of the Master's participation in his conception.
In spite of the Master's thwarted plans for her son's future.
She shies away from thoughts of her child's father, concentrating instead on her son.
She loves him, unconditionally and quite fiercely; she will protect him with her life if necessary, and she finds that frightens her as well, but not in the same way she fears for her son's future, for his health, for his safety. It is a fear she can, and does, live with.
"Let's go to lunch, John," she finally says, shaking herself from her thoughts.
That is his name, John Tremas Jovanka. Tremas for Nyssa's father, John for the Doctor. She refuses to explain to anyone, especially herself, why she felt compelled to name her son for the Doctor. Nyssa speculates that it's because he convinced her to take a chance on loving her child, or out of gratitude for everything he's ever done for her.
Neither of those reasons are true, of course. Tegan named her son after the Doctor's Earth alias because she loved him while she traveled with him and continued to love him even five years after returning to Earth. She loves him still, even knowing he has regenerated, even knowing it is an impossible love.
Which is why she chooses to ignore it, the emotion that lies at the heart of her existence.
Which is possibly why she chooses instead to lavish so much love on a son she should by all means resent. Whatever the reason, love him she does, and has from the moment he'd been laid in her arms, messy and red and squalling angrily. "Never mind who your father is, little man," she murmurs as she scoops him up in her arms, automatically sniffing to make sure his diaper didn't need changing. "We'll be more than fine without him in our lives." She shivers lightly. "Especially you." She shakes off the cloud thoughts of the Master always bring, focusing instead on the here and now. "Well, John Tremas Jovanka, time for walkies. Looks like it's just the two of us for lunch; how does the Arboretum sound?"
One of Nyssa's first acts as official Administrator had been to install the Arboretum inside a large area that had once been filled with trash and cast-off furnishings. She'd missed the lush greenery of Traken, and had set about to recreate it as best she could, soliciting cuttings and seedlings from visiting families and captains of transports every opportunity she got. Now, five years later, with an official gardening staff and new plants arriving with almost every ship, Tegan knows her friend is considering enlarging the space. They both find a great deal of solace in it, and Tegan enjoys quiet meals there as often as she can.
Today, however, she will not be going to the Arboretum. For when she opens the door, a man is standing there, a man she doesn't recognize, a man with a device in one hand that looks suspiciously like a gun, which he points directly at the baby. "Hello, Tegan," he says, a manic gleam in his eyes matching the threatening smile on his face. "Did you and our son miss me?"
Terminus Medical Station – Six Weeks Later
A wheezing, groaning sound echoed through the halls of an unused section of Terminus, one of the few left after the growth and development instigated by Administrator Nyssa. A whoosh of displaced air, the sound of something heavy settling onto the decking, and the TARDIS completed its materialization. The door opened briefly, the Doctor's head popped out, and seeing no welcoming party, a satisfied smile split his face. "Good, just time to work on that nagging little problem," he said aloud, to no one or to the TARDIS, then vanished back inside, leaving the door slightly ajar. After all, this was friendly territory. Sooner or later Nyssa would find him, or he would finish his work and find her.
oOo
Nyssa came down the corridor at a dead run. Routine scanning had noted an anomalous object in Corridor C-23. Borean, Nyssa's assistant, had routed the findings directly to her computer terminal, knowing that she would recognize the object that puzzled the techs that had spotted it. Borean had, himself, seen it only once before, but knew its significance immediately. When the Administrator had bolted out of her office seconds after he routed the image to her screen, he knew he'd done the right thing. This was what she'd been waiting for. As per standing orders, the sent an urgent message to the Administrator's husband, directing him to the relevant location, then sat back and waited.
With any luck, the Doctor would be able to help them locate Tegan and her son, missing now for six weeks.
oOo
Nyssa raced to a stop, panting, trying to present a calmer façade. It wouldn't do to rush into the TARDIS in a panic; there was only so much the Doctor could do until she gave him a clear, concise report on the situation. And she could only do that if she had the breath to spare. So she waited, counted to fifty slowly, then pushed open the door and stepped back into the familiar
console room.
Extremely familiar; it looked exactly the same as when she'd last seen it, five years ago. Apparently the Doctor wasn't much for redecorating, at least in this incarnation. She saw the bottoms of his feet as he crouched beneath the console, some kind of cloth draped over half of it and a great deal of smoke coming out of the base. She heard him cursing in a language the TARDIS apparently refused to translate, his voice muffled, and surmised his head was currently inside the base. A spate of coughing, and the smoke slowed, almost clearing.
"Doctor?" Nyssa took a step forward, hesitating to enter that noxious cloud, eyes stinging even from her position near the door. "Doctor, it's Nyssa, I'm so glad you're back!" The Doctor's coughing eased, and a hand appeared, pointer finger raised in the universal "wait a minute" motion. Nyssa plunged on, ignoring it. If she had to talk to the hand, then fine, she would, but her patience had come to an end. "Doctor, it's the Master; he's taken Tegan and her baby! He says he won't release them unless you get his TARDIS back. He says," she choked back a sudden tear, "he says even then he might keep his son, if you don't hurry. He's given me a code to enter--"
She fell silent as the Doctor slowly stood up. His hair (blonde) was in wild disarray, his face (youngish, handsome) marred with soot, his eyes (blue) widened with shock, his clothes (Cricketer's jacket and striped pants) also covered in smudges. At the same moment, the interior door to the TARDIS opened and a young woman in shorts and tank top entered the room, short dark hair, inquisitive eyes, engaging smile on her face. "Hi, I'm Peri!" she said, walking up with her hand outstretched. "You must be Nyssa, the Doctor's told me all about you!"
Her smile faded as she belatedly noticed Nyssa's white face and strained expression. She turned uncertainly to face the Doctor, only to be further confused by the equally serious expression on his face. "Nyssa," he said gently, "you'd better tell me exactly what's going on. Especially," he added, "since Tegan went back to Earth some months ago by my reckoning."
"You're the wrong Doctor," Nyssa whispered, dropping her head into her hands.
"Doctor! Did Nyssa tell you what—who are you?" A man burst into the TARDIS, skidding to a stop and staring at the newcomers before turning to look at Nyssa. "Nyssa? What's going on?"
The Doctor studied the newcomer. "I'm the Doctor," he said slowly, as the other man took Nyssa in his arms, stroking the back of her head and staring at the other two. "But I'm obviously not the Doctor either of you was expecting." He wiped his hands absently on the fabric draped over the TARDIS console, then indicated the interior door, to which Peri had retreated in uncertainty. She fumbled it open and stepped aside as first the Doctor, then the other two, Nyssa still held protectively by the tall, dark haired man, filed past. "Please join us, Peri," the Doctor said gently as she hesitated in the Console Room. "That is, if you don't mind, Nyssa."
Nyssa shook her head and wiped a tear from one eye. "Of course, if we've got to fill you in on part of your future there's no sense in keeping it from your current companion." She managed a small smile and eased out of the other man's hold. "Honestly, I'm quite pleased to meet you. And this is my husband, Tyrel," she added. Peri noted the rings now that she was looking for them, matching silver bands. "I'm so sorry, Doctor," she added, craning her head to look at him as he indicated a side corridor, the one Peri knew led to the nearest kitchen. The cozy one with the teakettle that never seemed to need filling or heating, that always seemed to be ready when she entered the room.
"Don't apologize, Nyssa," the Doctor replied soothingly. "I can tell when I've been a shock. It happens more frequently than I care to remember," he added in a joking tone.
"And I know when I've given a shock," Nyssa replied as they entered the kitchen. She took a seat in the nook while the Doctor busied himself with cups and sugar and all the other accoutrements of a nice cuppa. "If I'd known it was you, I'd never have blurted it out like that, it's just that I've been so worried, and I just assumed…" Her voice trailed off and she raised a shaky hand to her hair, pushing the few strands that had broken free from her severe bun away from her eyes.
Peri looked from Nyssa to the Doctor. "Blurted what out?"
"The fact that the Master has apparently fathered a child…with my former companion, Tegan." The Doctor's voice was low, calm, but all three of the others could sense the conflicting emotions behind that calm, held forcibly at bay by the Doctor's need to know all the facts before visibly reacting. "So. Tell me about it."
oOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo
Author's Note: The next chapter will probably go up tomorrow or Friday. Thanks for reading!