She is standing on the precipice of something at once terrifying and wonderful.

There are rules about touch telepathy. It is a thousand times more powerful than any other sort and so there are rules. To use it on an alien, not even a person (though she is not certain she believes that anymore), not a member of her House, not a political ally, not a life partner, and not as a method of interrogation –

It's the scariest thing she's ever done, even more so than leaving the Citadel. Even at that point, she could still turn back, still return to her previous life. But once inside Leela's mind, she will have broken a thousand taboos. This is something even most criminals don't do and the punishments are as horrible as they are legendary.

Leaving one hand on Leela's cheek, she brings the other up to match it. "Contact."

She falls off the precipice into Leela's mind and doesn't regret it for an instant.


They are one.

They are one and they are together and nothing else matters.

One is in the other's mind but which is which is irrelevant.

They are bound to each other, trapped in a circle of sensations. They neither know how to escape nor want to.

They have been separate all their lives, a warrior too independent to serve and a technician too intelligent to obey. Now they are together.

They complement and reflect each other in ways neither had previously considered possible.

They are one.


Rodan pulls back first.

Their minds peel apart. It feels disorienting for a moment, and then her world rights itself.

Leela's smile has the force of both the suns. "Is it always like that?"

No, she wants to say. No, it's usually painful and horrible, the only form of rape the courts acknowledge, the worst thing that can happen to a Gallifreyan because it leaves someone else walking around knowing everything about your mind. No, it's usually performed by Time Lords on members of lower castes because laws don't apply to Time Lords. Instead she looks into Leela's bright blue eyes and thinks that she could happily spend the rest of both their lives with this alien. "Yes. I think – it could be."

Leela makes a small, pleased noise. "I can stay, then?"

She stares at the alien for a moment, beyond confused and slightly overwhelmed. To stay, without a hope of rescue, on a planet whose inhabitants were notoriously xenophobic, in the belief that one of those same inhabitants would take her under their protection, the sheer amount of trust one would have to have, in her, someone she has known for not even a span –

The thought staggers her. "The Time Lords," she says, scrambling for a verbal footing. "They will not like it. You are an alien and there are no aliens on Gallifrey. They'll make you leave."

Leela smiles, and draws her knife. The light in her quarters glints strangely off the blade, and Rodan thinks oddly that this must be the first time the light has seen a blade. "Then I shall leave them hip deep in blood," Leela says proudly, and Rodan almost believes it.

But she knows too well the power of the Time Lords, how often she ran into, again and again and again, a glass ceiling that said, "Must have an Imprimatur to take this position," watching the jobs she wanted to to those more qualified only by dint of being Time Lords and under qualified in all other ways, being interrogated over and over for the crime of asking for a higher position. It has taken her years to accept that she will never be given the full range of her capabilities, years longer to realize that maybe the Time Lords don't deserve all of her.

She's not sure they deserve all of Leela either. "You should go," she says, and watches her own hearts break in two.

Rodan pulls back first, to protect Leela over her own safety, and it is in that moment that she knows herself lost.


"Do you want me to?"

"No. "

Such a simple word, to change two lives.


In the end, it's easier than it has any right to be.

The Time Lords aren't happy that she now needs supplies for two and are displeased that the second one is an alien, but Rodan has more friends than she realized, and Andred turns out to be very good at inserting the Doctor's name at opportune moments.

Two members of the High Council outright support them, for reasons of their own, and the rest are neutral, bar one (and Vansellostophossius opposes the majority often just to oppose the majority). Her new room – their new room is further away from Space Traffic Control, but it is large enough for both of them and K-9. Rodan isn't paid any more than before, but somehow it buys more. They are comfortably forgotten by the Time Lords and Rodan prefers it that way.

Leela, however, is bored, stuck in the Citadel without a job, and as Rodan very quickly learns, a bored Leela is a destructive Leela.

She doesn't talk to Leela about it, though she probably should.

It is easier than it has any right to be, but that does not mean it is easy.


They are, however, blissfully happy.

It confuses her, at first, that Leela calls everyone a Time Lord. She wastes three decispans trying to explain the castes to her before realizing that Leela knows all of the distinctions between the castes, she just doesn't care. After further discussion, Leela agrees to use correct castes – except for Rodan, who is always and forever a Time Lady.

This makes her far happier than it has any right to.

Some days Leela, with K-9 in attendance, follows her to work. Those days are the best. Leela talks with everyone, and easily befriends those who will acknowledge her. The Time Lord in charge (one Lord Kabranossavortisan) ignores her, with eir lofty arrogance, and Leela mocks eim for it, but other than that, most of the technicians at worst view her as a pet.

Damon, to Rodan's surprise, does not. He is a Prydonian technician on his third body, and she has always seen him as quiet and rather stuffy. But the arrival of Leela made his mind light up, and her knowledge of the Doctor transforms him into a rebel waiting for an opportunity.

Some days even Andred comes down, ignoring Lord Kabranossavortisan's protestations that the Prydonian Guard Commander need not bother himself with Space Traffic Control. He gets along well with Leela, and eventually with Rodan, and even befriends Damon, to mutual surprise. Rodan finds them one day standing in a disused corridor, gloves off, hands touching. They spring apart rapidly, but Damon's grin tells her all she needs to know. Intercaste partnerships are banned, but Rodan shares her quarters with an alien and can hardly quibble about these things.

She tells Leela about it, that night. Leela laughs, head thrown back, eyes sparkling happily. Rodan wants to see that expression more often.

Other days are harder. Then they have several large fleets to get through and even Rodan has no time for Leela's questions. Leela doesn't talk much about what she does on those days, but the APC Net has a list of locations she has been banned from, and every time it grows longer.

Rodan and Damon rework the schedule as much as they can to keep Leela with them as many days as possible.

Their evenings are less consistent, although both of them find them more fun. There is one brief experiment early on, with both naked in bed that ends with them mutually disavowing sex. It was fun, but not engrossing, and there are better ways to spend the short Gallifreyan nights. They spend a lot of time lying in front of a simulated fire, for example, exchanging stories until Leela, human with a human's needs, falls asleep in her lap. Eventually Rodan will gather her up and take her to their bedroom, where they sleep curled around each other for the few hours remaining till sunsrise.

She takes Leela to see the Looms the day after their experiment. Leela comments that only Time Lords could replace a simple act with a complex one, and the outing devolves into a tickling match that gets them kicked out.

On some evenings, Rodan hooks up K-9 to the Net and then to the viewscreen, and projects entertainment vids from both on and off world. On others, Leela teaches her to knife fight, Rodan accepts because it makes Leela happy, and surprises them both with her quick reflexes. Occasionally, they have friends over, but too many gawk at the "tame alien" for it to be a frequent occurrence.

Mostly though, they explore, Leea in front, Rodan making excuses to anyone they encounter. They find hidden corridors and boltholes, at least one forgotten exit from the Citadel, an illegal entrance to the Matrix (the only product of their adventures she ever bothers reporting), and countless abandoned monitors, some so old even Leela can use them without help.

They are blissfully happy, wandering through dusty hallways, and Rodan wishes this could last forever.


Their first fight is liveschanging.

She returns from work, tired and upset that she had to let a Sontaran fleet though (she has not forgiven them, even though it seems the Time Lords have) to find that Leela has broken the third viewscreen in three centispans. They haven't the credit to replace it, and Leela knows that – or ought to.

It starts with yelling and goes downhill from there. Rodan is tired of cleaning up after Leela, is tired of making excuses for her, is tired of trying again and again to explain concepts that are mind-numbingly simple. Leela, meanwhile, is angry: angry at Gallifreyans of all castes for looking down at her, angry at the life she has chosen for not being perfect, angry at Rodan for being unable to help.

In the end, it is Rodan who takes it a step too far. "I never should have let you stay, mindlessbeast," she spits, and knows it to be too far. 'Savage' Leela accepts with a smirk, but 'beast' is a verbal attack.

Leela has her knife in her hand and is moving forward before Rodan can begin to grasp the volume of her blunder. "You have lost my respect, Technician," she says tightly. She sheaths the knife and leaves at a run, K-9 trailing forlornly after her.

Rodan watches her go, wondering if it's possible to heal heartsbreak.

Her lives lie in ruins, and she can only hope that Leela's don't as well.


If their first fight is liveschanging, it is nothing to their first make-up.

Rodan is midway through a fleet transition when it happens. Damon has been missing the past few days, and she has been working overtime to cover for him. It leaves her exhausted and prone to mistakes, but she sees no other option.

The transition is long and complex, and she is at a particularly delicate point when a noise surprises her. The transduction barrier rises and cuts the Mondan fleet in two, but Rodan does not care.

Leela is in her office, wonderful perfect Leela, wearing her skins and a smile that could light the skies on fire.

Rodan had expected never to see her again. She thought that Leela surely must have left the Citadel and joined the Outsiders, but it appears not.

Leela gives her a bright-eyed excited look that she hasn't seen in ages. "It is good that you are here. Follow me." With that, she turns and runs down the corridor.

She wastes a moment's thought for the Mondans, and then leaves a notice for Lord Kabranossavortisan about the problem before taking off after Leela, robes flapping.

Leela hasn't gone far, and is waiting for her the next corridor down, hand outstretched. "I have a surprise for you," she says bluntly.

Rodan frowns. She doesn't normally like surprises, but as this seems to be Leela's way of asking forgiveness and granting it at the same time – she takes her partner's hand. "Where? And where's K-9?" Even touching, Leela's mind is silent to her unless she makes an effort, and that she will not do until Leela says she may.

"This way. With the surprise. Come on!" Leela drags at her hand, eager as Rodan has never seen her.

Rodan laughs, and lets herself be drug down the corridor.

They are headed for the TARDIS bays, though why, Rodan cannot fathom, and Leela refuses to answer any of her questions. When they reach the bay doors, they are waved through by a Arcalian guard, who has a sneer for Rodan's Patrex robes and a wink for Leela. This fails to clear anything up.

Finally they half-walk, half-jog down one of the many lines of unmarked TARDISes. Leela drops her hand midway down only to leap into Andred's waiting arms, laughing. Andred looks unfazed by Leela's touch and is grinning broadly, as is Damon, also there and leaning against one of the TARDISes. K-9 sits beside him, tail cranking back and forth.

Everyone is grinning, in fact, except for Rodan, who is still confused – and very shaken, once she sees the key dangling innocently from Damon's hand. "No," she stammers. "No, no, no."

"Yes," Leela says delightedly. "We got you a TARDIS."

Damon grins wider. "She got you a TARDIS. We just offered assistance here and there."

Rodan shakes her head, unable to take her eyes off the damning key. "No, no, I – I can't, I'm not a Time Lord, how am I supposed to fly her?"

"The same way as everyone else," Damon says patiently, a kind touch against her mind. "Telepathy. This one's male, anyway. Or has been since he got into storage."

She barely blinks at that. All TARDISes are created female, but they don't all stay that way. "How'd you get the key? How'd you do – any of this?"

Andred says, "Damon used to work here. Apparently they have not changed the access codes since then."

Damon shrugs. "He's a Type 51. Nobody cares about them at this point. One more or less here or there won't set off any alarms."

"Don't lie," Rodan snaps, worried as much for his safety as her own. "The Time Lords track all of the TARDISes. They'll know."

He laughs. "But that's why I chose this one. He doesn't like being monitored. Refuses to show up on any of their scanners."

Hope bubbles in Rodan's gut. "They can do that?" she whispers.

"If they want to." Damon smiles gently. "It's safe. You can leave, and they won't find you."

Rodan swallows, looking between the three conspirators. "Why?"

The three exchange glances. Andred nudges Leela, who sticks out her tongue at him, but steps towards Rodan regardless. "Gallifrey is a prison," she says bluntly. "I fight with you because I am trapped. If we leave, there will be less fighting." She sounds only half certain.

"But why – why take me?" This is directed solely at Leela, and the others remain quiet.

Leela smiles, rushing up and hugging her. "Silly Time Lady," she says softly. "You think I would leave you just because we fought? You cannot be rid of me that easily."

She freezes at the touch (nine days, seventeen hours, thirty-seven minutes, 19.3 seconds since she was last hugged) but eventually wraps her arms around Leela. "I think I might love you," she whispers in Leela's ear, in slow halting English because there is no word in Gallifreyan for that feeling.

Leela pulls back and smiles gently. "You are slow to recognize the truth." She pauses for a moment, eyes fixed on her. "Come in."

Rodan hesitates before placing one hand on Leela's face. "Contact." The moment she falls into Leela's mind, she is met by emotions – love, hope, glee, adoration – all directed at her. She's drowning in it and it's wonderful. She's missed this more than she has the words for, although that's half the point: telepathy this intense is used for situations when words are useless.

Why? Rodan sends through their minds. That's not precisely how it works, of course: it's more fluid, with emotions and senses and memories all merging to form the idea of the word 'why'.

Leela sends a jumble back: you care for me here I am alien you still care why would I not return that you are home Gallifrey is not home Gallifrey is strange you are my home I will not leave you ever.

It's completely Leela and bewilderingly adorable. Rodan pulls away to find the key in the TARDIS lock already and Andred and Damon gone.

Leela gives her a soft grin. "We should go."

It's impossibly hard for Rodan to hold back an answering smile. "You first."

Looking at her like she's stupid, Leela unlocks the door blindly. "It is wide enough for us both."

Rodan laughs and takes her hand. Stepping into their TARDIS with her partner/friend/roommate/co-pilot/lover in every important sense of the word, she thinks that the world could not get any better.