Disclaimer: This story is not bigger on the inside. Any attempts at making it bigger on the inside without proper Time Lord supervision will result in a catastrophic implosion destroying the majority of the solar system.

Chapter 5

"Oh my..." said the Doctor at seeing all the familiar faces. "This is brilliant!" He looked around the room.

"Steven... Jo... Tegan!"

"Hello, Doctor," said Tegan to the Doctor, also giving an acknowledging smile to Susan, whom she knew wouldn't remember meeting her, though. Only herself, Turlough, and her Doctor (the young-looking, cricket- loving one) would remember since they didn't leave by Time Scoop like the others. She remembered that whole adventure- and not just that... Everything. "I'm sorry how we left things off."

"No worries," he said. "All water under the bridge."

"But Doctor..."

"Brave heart, Tegan."

"I've missed that," she said.

"And I've missed you... All of you!" he said, taking a quick glance across the room.

"So... Doctor," approached Ian.

"Chatterton, is that you?" said the Doctor, shaking his hand.

"No," said Ian, sighing. "It's Chesterton. It's astonishing how after all these years you still can't get my name straight."

"Well," said the Doctor. "If it were worth remembering, I might remember it."

Ian turned to Romana. "You better keep an eye on this one- not all right in the head, you know." The Doctor snorted. "And I see you've been partaking in more cocoa," said Ian, grinning.

The Doctor's eyes bulged as he whispered loudly through clenched teeth, "Ix-nay of the ocoa-cay!"

"What was that about cocoa?" asked Romana, intrigued.

"What? He hasn't mentioned Cameca?" said Ian, in mock surprise.

"Whose Cameca?" Romana asked.

"His former fiancée," said Ian.

"I'm going to kill you," said the Doctor in a steady, serious voice. Too bad he opposed violence.

"Your former what!" said Romana, her tone not exactly very friendly at that moment.

"I was unaware of the local customs of Aztec society," the Doctor said, turning to a very angry Romana. He had told her about Rose, River, and even Reinette (what was with him and R-named women, anyway?), but he had failed to mention one woman, and now he's suddenly in the dog-house. "Besides, I don't even think you were born yet when it happened; you can't possibly be upset at me for that."

"No," said Romana, with a resound sigh. "I suppose I can't."

The Doctor made his rounds throughout the room. He received hugs and kisses from the women, hand shakes from the men. Except Jack. He planted one right straight on the Doctor's lips. To which, the Doctor yelped, pushed Jack away, and grabbed the closest person to him (Martha) as a human shield.

"You know he doesn't like it when you do that," Martha said to Jack.

"Can't blame a guy for trying," Jack chuckled. He turned to his side, saw Susan and flashed a smile. He grabbed her hand and kissed it. "Captain Jack Harkness," he introduced himself, causing Susan to blush.

"Jack," said the Doctor, emerging from behind Martha. "Don't you dare, or I'll kill you for the rest of eternity!"

Jack took a step back, and said, "I was only saying hello."

"I know what you were doing!" said the Doctor, giving him the evil eye.

"Grandfather," said Susan. "Is there something wrong with him?" The Doctor burst out laughing, and Jack frowned. "No. I mean... There's something about him. His aura. Oh, I don't know. I apologize."

"What you're sensing is that he's a fixed point in time," explained the Doctor.

"What did you do to this poor man, Doctor?" said Romana.

"Me?" he protested, his voice getting noticeably squeakier. "I didn't do anything!"

"Ha!" snorted Jack.

"Still managing to get yourself into trouble, aye Doctor?" mused the Brigadier.

"Brigadier Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart!" said the Doctor, his face beaming with excitement.

"Yes, hello Doctor," said the Brigadier in a cool manner. "Changed again, I see."

"Oh that's right!" said the Doctor. "You haven't seen this one yet. Strange, since you've met like every other me. Some at the same time... Well, what do you think?" The Doctor stood upright and posed.

"Alright, Doctor. Very fetching." The Brigadier couldn't really care less after all this time; but he'd had to put up with a lot worse from the Doctor, so he just decided to amuse the poor fellow.

"Have you met Romana?" the Doctor asked, waving a hand in her direction.

"Actually, yes," said the Brigadier. "Don't you remember?" He noticed the Doctor's quizzical expression. "No, I suppose not; isn't that a switch? This was back when you still had the curly hair and that ridiculously long scarf. She looked different as well. You popped in for a visit, and told me all about this ordeal you just had in France. And that since your plan of revealing all of Earth's perks to Romana had failed, you decided to stop in and pay me a quick visit."

"And you should consider yourself honored, Brigadier," said Romana. "He bypassed the Randomizer special for that trip, much to my protest."

"Well, it didn't make much of a difference, did it?" said the Doctor defensively, shoving his hands into his pockets.

"But you went to all that trouble to install it!" said Romana. "What was the point of it?"

"Well," said the Doctor. "If I hadn't, the Time Lords would have tracked us down a lot quicker."

"Oh," said Romana, in a kinder tone. "So maybe it wasn't that pointless after all."

"Gotten yourself out of another one, aye Doctor?" the Brigadier whispered in his ear.