A/N

Disclaimer: The only thing I own here is the idea for this story. And I'm not paid to do this, so get over it.

Longer chapter this time! Yes!

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Yep. Another smooth landing. Rose straightened, knowing that they had returned to Earth- or the parallel Earth, to be more precise. She looked at the Master. "How long has it been since I left?"

"On Earth?" the Master guessed. "Only two days."

Rose nodded to herself. Her mother would be worried, as would Pete, and Mickey. But they'd be fine. At least, Rose hoped they would be fine when they found out that she was trying, again, to reunite with the Doctor. She walked out of the TARDIS, breathing in the fresh air- moist, fresh air- it must have rained.

Hearing the Master get out behind her, she walked forward, knowing exactly where she was going. The Master had parked the TARDIS on the corner of her street, and she could already see the mansion in which she now lived.

Her pace quickened, and by the time she was just outside the house, she was running. "Mum!" she called, both happily and apprehensively.

The door opened with a bang, and Jackie, blonde hair splayed all over her face and makeup smudged, wrapped Rose up in what could be considered the biggest hug in the world. "Rose!"

Rose fell into the embrace, her eyes watering, though she didn't know why. The last few hours had been such a surprise, such a shock. Maybe that was why.

Jackie was the first to break the embrace. "Where have you been?!" she stared accusingly at Rose. "You've been gone over a day! Not at work, not at Mickey's, not even a phone call! What have you been doing?"

Rose sighed, grinned, and pointed to the shape running towards them.

Jackie stared at the shape, and when it appeared next to them, breathing heavily, Jackie groaned. "You! You've changed your body again!" she gave the Master a hard slap. "What took you so long?"

The Master groaned, and stared in confusion at Rose. "So long… for what?"

"So long to get here, you idiot!" Jackie yelled. "Poor Rose has been pining for you, not that I understand why. You're just a bad influence! And you decide to just dandy along, not a care in the world, till you realise 'Oh, wait! Where is my little Rosy-posy? I know! I should go and find her!'" Jackie hit the Master again. "What took you so bloody long?"

Rose, alarmed, stepped in front of the Master, blocking him from her mother's view. "Mum…" she started, "He isn't the Doctor."

Rose almost laughed at her Mum's reaction. Jackie had frozen, eyes wide, before she lowered her hand, looking for all the world like a deer caught in the headlights.

"Oh," was Jackie's reply. But then she glared at Rose. "Who is he, then?"

The Master, slightly nervous, stood straight and held out his hand. "The Master, at your service."

"The Master?" Jackie frowned.

"Yeah, Mum. The Master. He's a Time Lord," Rose said to her.

"What kind of name is the Master?" Jackie griped. Then, Rose's last sentence dawned on her. "A Time Lord?" Jackie said incredulously. "Another one? Rose, what have I told you about bringing home strays?!"

"Mum!" Rose protested.

Jackie inspected the Master. "Eyes- pretty, I'll give you that. Don't like the hair. Body- s'pose it's okay, for a century-old being. I don't like you."

"Mum!" Rose complained.

"Hey!" the Master grumbled.

Jackie directed her attention back to Rose. "You ditched the Doctor for this sloppy-haired weirdo?!"

"No!" Rose objected. "I didn't ditch the Doctor!"

Jackie heaved a sigh of relief. "Thank God. The Doctor has better hair."

Rose looked down and grinned. As much as her mother said that she hated the Doctor, Rose could tell it was all a ploy. Living with her Mum for around twenty years, it was no wonder that Rose could tell the difference between a hating hate and a loving hate.

"I don't have sloppy hair," the Master said, almost to himself. He then looked at Rose. "Do I?"

"Nah, my Mum just says the opposite of what she means," Rose replied back.

The Master grinned, and turned to face Jackie. "I'm going to help Rose here get back to the Doctor."

Jackie frowned again, eyes narrowing in thought. "How much will we have to pay you?"

Rose decided that this was a good time to change the subject. "Could he come in?" she asked her Mum.

"Right, yeah, whatever," Jackie replied. "As long as he doesn't mess anything up."

They walked inside, and Rose was immediately swamped by Pete. "Hey, you're back!" Pete exclaimed happily. "We were worried."

"Not worried sick?" Rose teased.

"Nah. Too many times saving the world will do that to you," was her father's reply.

Rose smiled into his shoulder, relaxing naturally into his embrace. Even though Pete wasn't her real father, she loved him like he was. And he treated her like a daughter, like his daughter, his first daughter.

And that reminded Rose of the other member of the household. "How's Heather?"

Heather, her little sister, was the first real daughter of the living Pete and Jackie. She had been born on June 1st, and one week ago had been her half-birthday. She was now six months old. And she was adorable. Rose had fallen in love with the little bundle as soon as she had been introduced, although she wasn't excellent at handling babies.

Pete, however, had taken it all in stride. His first baby and Rose reckoned he was doing an incredible job.

"Heather's great!" Pete exclaimed.

The Master made an appearance then, and Rose introduced them. "Master, this is Pete, my father. Dad, this is the Master."

"He's got a funny name," Pete stated, much to Rose's embarrassment.

"He's like the Doctor," Rose explained.

"Oh." Pete offered his hand to the Master, who shook it. "Then you're welcome here."

"Thanks," the Master grinned.

Jackie popped her head through the door. "I'll get us all tea, then, shall I?"

"That'd be great, Mum," Rose said, nodding at Jackie.

"Thanks, Jackie," was Pete's response.

The Master shook his head. "Not for me, thanks."

"Anything for you?" Jackie directed at the Time Lord.

"Nah."

Jackie left, to go to the kitchen. Even though there were maids, Jackie preferred doing things for herself- after all, she always had.

As the three made themselves comfortable, Pete began to speak. "So, Master, are you from this universe?"

The Master nodded affirmative. "Yeah, I am."

"Do you know the Doctor in this universe?" Pete asked.

The Master looked down. "I did."

Catching on quickly, Pete responded, "I'm sorry."

"Yeah, so am I," the Master said softly.

"How did he die?" Pete continued.

Rose glanced at the Master. Would he talk?

He did. "The Doctor died… well, he saved my life. A lot of lives. And he died."

Rose smiled ruefully. "That's the Doctor."

"Yeah…" the Master faded off.

An awkward silence was maintained until Jackie came back with the tea. While handing it out, she asked, "So, why are you helping my daughter?"

The Master, obviously expecting this question, said, "Because I owe it to the Doctor."

Jackie sat next to Pete, who promptly put his arm over her shoulder. "Why?" she questioned.

Rose was about to tell her Mum to stop, but the Master put a hand on her shoulder, placating her.

"Because he saved my life," the Master told her. "And so I'm trying to return the debt."

"Oh," Jackie said, "Okay, then."

Another awkward silence, before the sound of crying brought Jackie to her feet. "I'll see to Heather," she said.

Pete looked up at her. "Could you bring her down?"

"If she's not tired," Jackie called over her shoulder as she left the room.

Rose turned to the Master, taking advantage of his open nature at the current time. "What was the Doctor like? You're Doctor?"

The Master stared at the wall wistfully. "He… he was great. The last regeneration of his was extremely athletic, and he loved to come up with complicated escape plans, even when they weren't needed," the Master chuckled, "He was incredibly daft, though, for a genius Time Lord."

"Weren't all Time Lords geniuses?" Pete looked at the Master.

"Yeah, but the Doctor? He was the youngest Time Lord ever to map the entire universe in an obligatory project."

"He mapped the entire universe as an assignment?" Rose was amazed.

"Just the parts we'd known about. It turned out really spectacular, too- he had used a 3D generator to allow zooming up of a star system, with a modified shield generator to represent the gravity force that each star had. He even had a summary of each planet. When he displayed it… the look on his face…"

"Yeah," Rose stated softly, "I can imagine."

And she could. The Doctor, a young Doctor, showing off an assignment of the universe. Probably with one of his universe-wide grins. She wondered if the Doctor of her universe had the same achievements.

"He got no praise for it, though," the Master told them, grinning. "The real project was to write a theorem of how to create a wormhole vortex while using only two objects- those things were your choice, and a shield modulator."

Rose gaped, uncomprehending, and realised just how simple school was on Earth in comparison. "Did you do the right project?"

"Yeah, I got top of our class," the Master said to her, "But that's only 'cos the professor had to fail the Doctor."

"He failed?!" Rose burst out laughing. "That's so typical!"

The Master laughed along with her, his eyes dancing. "Yeah, Doc's like that."

Rose smiled, relaxing, taking a sip of her tea. But once again, she was thinking only of the Doctor in her universe. "Do…do you reckon the Doctor of my universe did that?"

The Master, knowing that Rose needed comfort, nodded. "Yeah, I'm pretty sure he did. I don't think our universes are that different. But who knows? They might be different, although I doubt they will be extremely different. Maybe just some small changes."

Rose bobbed her head, accepting that answer, and smiled. Before she could say anything, Jackie appeared, this time carrying something in her hands.

"Heather," Rose exclaimed, rising up from the couch to hold her sister. Jackie handed the form to Rose, who cradled Heather close to her chest, sitting back down, next to the Master.

"Meet my little sis, Heather," Rose said to the Master.

"Hi, little puffball," the Master said, putting his face directly in front of the baby's. Rose laughed at Jackie's look of indignation.

Heather gurgled.

The Master raised an eyebrow, dabbing Heather's nose with his finger. "Don't gurgle at me!"

Heather made a weird laughing sound and grabbed the Master's finger.

"Hey!"

Heather put his finger in her mouth.

"Are you going to slobber all over my finger, now?" the Master sighed, all suffering, though his eyes were gleaming.

Heather nodded, blonde hair bobbing, sucking on his finger, before letting it go. Covered in saliva, the Master wiped his finger on Heather's shirt, making Heather giggle happily.

"No more fingers for you!" the Master told Heather.

Rose laughed. "You're great with kids," she observed.

"I had a lot of practice," was the Master's reply.

"How? Kids of your own?"

"No," the Master said, and then chuckled grimly. "I had to take time to look after kids so I didn't…" he broke off abruptly, looking embarrassed.

"Didn't?" Rose encouraged him, handing Heather back to her Mum.

"Everyone thought I was insane when I was younger."

Rose frowned. "Why?"

The Master snorted. "Probably because I was."

Rose looked confused. "Why?"

The Master sighed. "It's a long story, really."

Rose made a point of getting comfortable. "So, let's hear it," she said.

Grinning ruefully, the Master leant back into the soft furniture. "Well, I'm not sure if you know this, but when a Time Lord reaches eight years old, they are made to look into something called the 'untempered schism', or 'pure time' as we used to call it. Anyway, the sight usually gave people different reactions. The Doctor ran away from it, but ran back, pointed and started laughing. I, on the other hand, started wishing for power over this."

Rose nodded, willing him to continue.

"I was still friends with the Doctor, but I had this eccentric thirst for dominance. The Doctor told me to help the kids going through the ceremony get prepared for it, and so I did. For five years. I looked after children, some younger than two, telling them stories of how powerful they were going to become, and how powerful I was going to be. The kids rubbed off on me- their innocence, and blind love. But one of them, after looking into the schism, tried to kill her only friend because she wanted it all to herself. So, I stopped talking to the kids about the schism, but I kept talking to them, kept helping out."

"Did that help at all?" Rose whispered, "With your hunger for power?"

"No…" the Master said grimly. "The Doctor taught me that lesson. Doc taught me that no one could control that schism."

"How?" Rose asked.

The Master didn't reply, and silence entered the room, giving Rose time to sort her battered thoughts.

The Master had, at one point, been psychotic. But the Doctor had changed that, because a power-hungry man wouldn't help her out, right? And a power-hungry man wouldn't feel guilt. But how did someone reverse insanity?

How did the Doctor reverse insanity? The Master had said it was to do with the tempered schism… but what could the Doctor have done so profound to break the Master out of the spell of time?

Trying to imagine what the schism was like, she could picture something similar to a wormhole, just so powerful it left you breathless. It left Rose breathless, and she was only attempting to comprehend it. She looked at the Master in a wide-eyed awe.

"Was the schism really that powerful?" she asked him.

The Master nodded, and his eyes returned to the past, obviously remembering it. "The schism… it was the most incredible thing I have ever seen. Pure time, pure, pure time. A blue vortex, rippling with power, unable to be destroyed. Unable to be controlled."

"And you tried to control it," Rose stated.

"Believe me," the Master told her, "I regret it. I wasted half my life looking for something I couldn't have."

Rose tensed at that statement. Wasn't she doing the exact same thing, searching for the Doctor? Would she really waste her life away just looking for someone a whole universe away? Could she? Would she regret the decision to return to the Doctor, when she was older?

"No," the Master interrupted, sensing her thoughts, and trying to remedy them. "That statement was for me, not for you."

"But…" Rose glanced down. "I'm doing exactly the same thing."

"Look at me," the Master told her.

Rose raised her head to meet the Master's.

"You're searching for someone you care about. I, on the other hand, was searching for conquest and power. I was searching for control. You're searching for someone you love." The Master stopped at Rose's gasp. "I know you love him. It's not that hard to tell," he said to her. "Only something like love would allow you to trust someone like me."

"Someone like you?" Rose denied. "You aren't bad. You've just had a bad past. That doesn't make you a bad person."

"Doesn't stop me regretting it," the Master quietly stated.

Yet another silence echoed around the room.

Jackie was the one that stopped it, Heather asleep in her lap. "Rose?"

Rose gazed at her Mum. "Yeah?"

"Why didn't you answer your phone?" Jackie questioned.

"I… I sorta lost it," Rose answered.

"You lost it?!" Jackie almost screeched, but remembered to keep her voice low when she saw Heather's sleeping face.

"Yeah, I lost it."

"And are you leaving soon?" Jackie asked.

Rose looked at the Master, who nodded. "Yep. We're leaving soon."

Jackie stood, handing the baby to Pete. She rummaged around in her jacket, and pulled out her mobile. "Take this," Jackie told Rose.

Rose stared at her mother in surprise. "But…" she protested.

"I need to stay in contact with you, right? So take it. I'll call using Pete's number."

Rose nodded, taking the phone, and felt herself tearing up. "Mum," she choked.

Jackie smiled weakly, and reached out to give Rose a hug. "I know," Jackie whispered.

"I'll miss you," Rose mumbled, tears falling into her mother's favourite jacket. "Say bye to everyone for me."

One tear fell down Jackie's cheek. "I will."

They stayed in that position for a long time. Rose, still crying, broke it off, and stood. "Who knows, Mum?" she said, "Maybe I'll be able to visit."

"Yeah," her Mum replied, "Maybe you will."

The Master stood, preparing to leave. Pete stood, and walked over to the Master, sharing a couple of muffled words.

Rose walked over to the Master. Hugging Pete, she whispered, "Thanks, Dad."

As the Master and Rose started to make their way out of the house, Rose turned around, glancing at her mother.

"I love you, Mum," Rose softly spoke.

Jackie, her face now filled with tears, like Rose's, responded by clutching at Pete's arm, and whispering, "I love you too, Rose."

Rose left.

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Walking out of the TARDIS, Rose sighed. She had spent ages in the TARDIS, refusing to go out until she had calmed down. But she had calmed now, and so was walking out, with the Master, who had chosen not to leave her side.

"Sorry 'bout before," Rose said to him, slightly embarrassed.

"Don't need to apologise," the Master replied, smiling at her gently.

They were both quiet as they continued walking to the old, battered house. Rose, still deep in her thoughts, clutched her mother's phone to her as if it was a lifeline. Still, she walked without a tremor in her step.

When they reached the house, Rose gasped. The house looked horrible. Where once the house had just looked old, this version of the house looked like it had existed for centuries after it's time. "Is this the same house?" she asked the Master.

"Yes, it is," another voice responded, flowing in the air.

Rose glanced around quickly. An old woman, extremely old, had made her way to the two of them, and was now watching them with something close to envy mixed with compassion. "Who are you?" Rose questioned her, looking confused.

"Look closer," the woman whispered, beckoning Rose closer.

She walked closer. The woman was wearing a kimono-like dress that swayed gently as the wind brushed it. Hazel eyes stared intensely at Rose.

Rose gasped.

"Loranos?!"

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TBC…

A/N

Hi all! Again!

A quick update, I know. My friend (talia-taylor) wanted me to post as often as I could.

So there I was, slaving at the computer for hours, eyes going bloodshot, but writing. And writing fast. And enjoying it. I love writing. And… hey presto! This chapter was finally finished!

Okay, I've got a lot of people to thank this chapter, so bear with me:

First, thanks to all that reviewed the previous chapter: Talia-taylor, Hitomi, Tigris T Draconis, QuiteRightToo, LittleMatilda, CSITribe, laal ratty, x-EmilyTennant-x, SiriusDoctorWhoHoney329 and I'mTheMasterOfWhatever.

Second, a huge thanks to all that put this story on their favourites: I'mTheMasterOfWhatever, Queen of the Jelly Babies, QuiteRightToo, Rosie-Jess, Talia-Taylor andVampMistress

Third, enormous thanks to VampMistress,I'mTheMasterOfWhatever and Mara Jade Snape for putting me as a favourite author.

Thanks to those that put me on their author alerts list (you know) and to those that put this story on their story alert list. I'm glad people are enjoying my story.

Thankyou to Talia-taylor and Tigris T Draconis for the excellent reviews. I love long reviews. So, thankyou!

So, until next time,

SnowFox3