Elsewhere

Tegan is facing the sea. She has been on this island an additional two weeks, bringing her time here to exactly two months. Her hair is growing quite long, brushing her shoulders and getting in her eyes, but she is allowed access to no knives or scissors and so cannot cut it short. Her skin is a healthy tan from so much exposure to this world's tropical sun, and she has freckles, which she hates, idly, when she thinks of them. She is sitting on the cliff's edge, knees drawn up under the sarong she has finally adopted, a colorful fabric a shade darker than the purple cocoanuts. Her own clothing is becoming worn out, ragged, from continual use, but it took her this long to finally submit to the inevitable. She burned those garments only two days ago, staring into the flames and wishing the Master were burning there instead.

John has passed his sixth month; she knows he is starting to crawl and that he has teeth only because he is the correct age for those landmarks. She supposes he is as tan as she is, and wonders if he has freckles, and frets about his health. She has not seen him in so long that she knows he will not recognize her if she is ever allowed to hold him again. She is not sure she would recognize him, if not for the fact that he is so physically different from the natives the two of them live amongst.

It has been nearly a week since the Master's last visit. She is facing the sea, waiting for him, almost with a sense of anticipation. She has a belt holding her sarong closed, since she has been unable to figure out the natives' trick of wrapping the fabric so it stays on without outside support. The belt is simple, braided together from strips of extra cloth from the three outfits she has been given, and quite strong. Tegan knows, because she has tested it by hanging it over one of the chair hooks on the wall and hanging from it.

She needs it to be strong. When the Master arrives, she plans to use it to strangle him. She knows she will probably be killed by his guards for doing so, but hopes to at least see her son one last time before this happens.

She goes over the plan in her mind. The only stumbling block is the fact that she has no idea what will happen to John if she is killed. She knows there is the faintest possibility that she will be allowed to live, but it is only a glimmer at best. Because of this uncertainty, she is not sure if she will actually go through with her plan. Perhaps she will merely hold the Master prisoner after strangling him into unconsciousness rather than killing him, although she is unsure of her ability to tell when to stop. In anticipation of this moment, she has been spending time lifting cocoanuts as if they are hand weights, to build up her arm strength. She takes long walks to keep herself in shape. Her diet is quite healthy and boring, and the few extra pounds she retained after her son's birth have vanished. She is thinner than she has ever been, and truthfully feels better physically than she has since she ran track as a pre-teen.

She hopes it is enough, because she is tired of waiting for things to change. She is tired of becoming used to the routine her life has become, tired of aching for her son.

Tired of allowing the Master to use her body without so much as a fight while he whispers lies into her ears.

Tired of the nightmares she suspects prove those lies to be truth.

Terminus Station - Two Weeks Ago

When the Doctor did not reemerge after nearly an hour, Tyrel and Nyssa reluctantly decided to leave the TARDIS. The Doctor would find them, they concluded, when he was ready. Peri came with them, to take a tour and stretch her legs. "And to keep me from bugging the heck out of the Doc before he's ready," she admitted as she ran to her room for some less casual clothing.

She changed quickly into a skirt and blouse that more closely mimicked Nyssa's off-white medical uniform, wrestled herself into pantyhose and low heels, ran a comb over her hair and anxiously headed back to the Console room. She wanted to make a good impression on the Doctor's old friends, even if Tyrel was newer to her Doctor than she was. She shook her head. It was confusing, the concept of regeneration and meeting people who'd met you in the future but whom you hadn't met yet. She supposed she'd get used to it after a while. The benefits of traveling with the Doctor certainly outweighed the confusing parts. And the dangerous parts.

She was still digesting the facts of Tegan's story as she joined Tyrel and Nyssa. She scribbled a quick note for the Doctor, left it on the Console, and closed the door behind them after making sure she had her key. "The Master killed a bunch of the Doctor's companions just to try and get his attention?" she asked abruptly as she walked next to Nyssa. Tyrel remained discreetly behind them, allowing his wife some time with what he privately thought of as her replacement.

Nyssa nodded. "Then he tried to kidnap Susan to raise her as his own daughter, but Leela killed him. He was threatening Noni as well," she explained at Peri's startled look. "Threatening her with, well, with what he did to Tegan. That pushed Leela over the edge, and I can't blame her."

"Then the Master had some alien computer program wired into his TARDIS to find him a new body if he was killed," Peri finished, shaking her head. "He always has a backup plan. Just once I'd like to catch him with his pants down….damn, sorry, poor choice of words," she muttered, reddening.

Nyssa patted her arm. "It's all right," she murmured, but Peri heard the strain in her voice. The Master with his pants down had started all this. Peri hastily tried to change the subject. "So, you're in charge of this place? What's it like, running a medical space station?"

Nyssa gladly followed the conversation in this new direction, and Tyrel joined in as they headed for the Administration offices.

The Doctor heard them leave. He entered the Console room just as the door closed behind them, but made no move to join or stop them.

Things had occurred in his future, things he was not destined to stop. People had died, and Tegan had been raped, impregnated and held captive by his oldest enemy.

It still seemed incredible to him. Not that the Master had targeted and murdered former (and future) companions; murder was something the renegade Time Lord practiced with a regularity that was almost commonplace at this point. No, it was what he'd done to Tegan that was the hardest to understand.

"What's happened to you? Why the sudden change in tactics? You've never been the type to dirty yourself personally, not like this," he murmured to himself as he stared down at the message pad. He depressed the button, squealed it backward a bit and listened again: "If you want Tegan and our son returned to you, which I am confident you do, then you will notify me upon the Doctor's arrival by activating this code." The code appeared, right on cue, and the Doctor absently memorized it. "At that time, I will continue this conversation, such as it is, with him. Oh, and one more thing; if he takes too long, let's say longer than a year, shall we? I'll assume there will be no deal and will cut my losses by taking my son with me." Pause. " Without his mother."

Without his mother. That could mean anything. The Doctor heard a crunching noise; startled, he looked down. He had crushed the message pad. He dropped the pieces to the floor, walked over to the Console, and punched in the code. Before depressing the button to send it, he hesitated, then stabbed his finger down.

Without his mother. Those words continued to ring through his head as he paced the Console room. There was certainly no way he was going to allow the Master to keep either Tegan or her baby, nor was he willing to give up his TARDIS. The Master had lost his, yet managed to continue to wreak havoc.

There had to be a way out of this impasse.

oOo

"Where are we?" Ace peered into the view screen, seeing only a nondescript corridor leading into the distance. "On a planet? A space station?"

"Space station, I think," Kyris replied, frowning at the controls. He'd thought he'd got them back in line... "Let me check…yep, definitely a space station." He paused, and Ace turned inquisitively. "Not just any space station, we're on Terminus."

It was Ace's turn to frown. "Terminus? The place where Tegan went? Why are we here?"

Kyris fiddled a few controls and looked more closely at one of the readouts. "I think it's because there's another TARDIS here," he said with a note of surprise.

Ace rolled her eyes. "Great. So we were sidetracked here because this TARDIS wants a visit with your father's TARDIS? That isn't getting us any closer to finding that bastard." She meant the Master, not the Doctor, of course. "That bastard" was one of the nicer ways she had of referring to their nemesis. Not that Kyris could fault her; his private names for the Master were just as spectacularly crude. The renegade had robbed them not only of a future with their daughter, but had also destroyed Kyris' healing abilities, apparently permanently.

"I'm sure there's more to it than just the TARDIS being lonely," was all he said. "Besides, I didn't say it was my father's TARDIS."

"Yeah, cause we've run into so many other Time Lords flitting about," Ace replied sarcastically.

"Let's just go and see what's going on, all right?" was Kyris' patient reply. "And if everything here is OK, then we'll just take off again."

"Fine," Ace grumbled. "I guess we should see how things turned out for Tegan." She paused. "We are in the right time frame, right?"

Kyris nodded. "Looks like it's been a few months, but yeah, we're in the right time frame."

"Then let's do it." Ace suited actions to words as she marched toward the exterior TARDIS door. Kyris opened it, automatically checked that he had his key, and followed, careful to close and lock the door behind them. Leaving it open was never an option, no matter how friendly the territory appeared. The Master had taught them about the dangers of unlocked doors, and neither Kyris nor Ace was the type to have to learn a lesson twice.

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A/N: Merry Christmas to my loyal (and patient) readers! I hope to have another chapter up soon, but it will probably after Christmas. Happy holidays!