Hi there guys! It's Wednesday and we all know what that means!
Here you have the longest chapter I've ever written, as I wrote this I found out just how much I love to write the Master.
I tried my best to keep him in character, even after he lost the drums, I hope you like it.
Enjoy!
The whole earth and universe trembled. Small tears appeared across it, everywhere there appeared tears.
One of them appeared on the outsides of San Francisco, far away near any urban areas.
Nobody was near to witness how a man stumbled out of the tear and fell down on the ground with a loud thump as the tear behind him closed.
The man that had stumbled out of the tear was no other than a Time Lord known as the Master. The Master had been one of the most terrible beings that had ever existed in the whole universe, he had killed, robbed, possessed, maimed, tortured and destroyed countless of people and he had tried to take over and destroy earth multiple times, not to mention other planets where he had done the same.
But all this madness had begun when he was but a small child of eight when the Time Lords implanted a beat of four in his head. That beat of four had driven him completely mad ever since.
The Master breathed deeply and tried to hoist himself up with his arms, but failed as his arms gave in from exhaustion and he collapsed back into the ground.
He gave up and let himself fall into slumber. He slept for long and for the first time in a very long time, as he would note later, peacefully.
Hours later, the sun was about to set, he began to stir. His eyes fluttered open, but he closed them quickly since the setting sun shone into his eyes. He groaned and opened them again; he tried to raise himself into a sitting position and after a while was able to do so.
He sat and watched the sun set; never before had he noticed how beautiful it was.
And never before, not in a really long time, had he lived without the drums.
He sat there and finished watching the sun set and then stood up and began to walk toward the city. Fortunately for him it was late spring, if his Time Sense was right, so it wasn't cold and his ragged hoody was enough.
The Master was rather irked, he knew he was on earth, somewhere in North America in the 21st century, but he wasn't sure where or when specifically. His Time Sense had been affected after his violent toss through the tear and before that he hadn't been treated all too kindly by the Time Lords.
He walked for a really long while before he came near the urban area. He suddenly stopped when he saw his reflection in the window of a store.
It was still his old face, he hadn't regenerated, he looked ragged and filthy, almost as if he had been in a war with these clothes and had just come back.
He quickly walked into the alley at the side of the store and leaned against the wall.
He closed his eyes and breathed deeply.
He really was happy to conserve this face, he actually liked the face he had now, but everybody knew this face as the one that had killed the president of the country he was currently in.
'Damn', he cursed.
This meant that he couldn't show his face in crowded places, what was he meant to do now?
He kicked the trash can angrily, he walked in circles fuming furiously for hours.
After cooling down he went back to the streets and walked for a long time, evading any crowded places.
The sun was coming up, people were coming into street and the small shops selling breakfast for the early workers had already opened. The Master stood watching them, he was already feeling hungry, not as much as when his life force was being used up, problem which had been solved by the Time Lords, but it was still hunger-and he didn't have a cent with him.
He kept walking on without direction till he felt that he couldn't go on any longer. He sat down and leaned against a fence of a small baseball camp where children were playing a game.
He sat silent, with his eyes closed, listening to the children play behind him, for some reason their noise didn't bother him as much as it had always used to.
Suddenly there were extra loud exclamations from the game.
'They must be winning', he thought and heard a thump in front of him.
He opened his eyes and saw a ball in front of him, he stretched his arm and picked it up.
"Mr.", he heard behind him the voice of a child, he turned around and saw a small boy of about five years old.
"Mr. could you give me back the ball?", he asked.
The Master glanced from the small child to the other children playing; they looked much more bigger than this little one.
"You're smaller than the other ones", he noted.
"Yeah, I'm only getting the ball, my big brother plays in the game", he said proudly and pointed at another boy looked quite a lot like him.
"Oh", he commented.
"Do you like baseball Mr.?", he asked, completely forgetting about the boys waiting behind him, "I love to play baseball and my big brother teaches me everyday to play better, he is the best player in the whole san Francisco!", he stretched his hands out wide to make emphasis.
The Master was only giving him a half ear till he heard the part of San Francisco.
'San Francisco, eh?', so that was where he was.
"Danny", said another boy that had come behind the boy, "Is he bothering you?", he asked glancing at the Master.
"The Mr. here likes to watch baseball", said the boy happily.
The Master just stared at the boy and his vivid imagination, when had he said that?
"Oh", said the boy and changed his face, "Then come and sit here inside and watch the game then!", he said excitedly.
"Can he Tom?!", asked Danny happily.
"Yes he can Danny", said Tom importantly.
"Yaaaay!", yelled Danny happily as he ran down the fence and through the gate to the Master.
"Come on Mr.", he said as he grabbed the Master's hand and began to drag him along.
"Wait", he tried to argue but Danny dragged him all the way through the gate and to the sitting places.
Tom came to the Master, "The ball", he said as he held out his hand.
"What?"
"The ball in your hand Mr.", said Danny as he pointed to the ball that was still in the Master's hand.
"Oh", he said and gave it back to Tom.
The game resumed immediately and Danny began to rant again, "Do like basketball as well Mr.?", he ranted, "I really like it, I also like soccer and football and you Mr.?"
He continued to rant about his favorite and not too favorite and least favorite sports without pausing but to breathe sometimes.
'This boy is worse than the Doctor', thought the Master as the boy was describing vividly a tennis match he had watched that morning on the TV. So far the Master had found out that it was Saturday and Danny and his brother came here to play every Saturday, the names of all the owners of shops down the street, the names of all the players of the baseball game and the mayor sports events of the last month.
"Could you keep quiet?!", he snapped at the boy.
Danny looked at him with his wide, big blue eyes that made the Master feel a sudden twinge in his chest.
He had forgotten this emotion; he was feeling guilty for snapping at the boy.
He sighed and rubbed his face with his hands, "Look", he tried to speak with the boy who was still staring at him with those big blue eyes, what was he doing?
"When you speak with people, you have to take some pauses and not ramble aimlessly; it tends to tire people a bit, okay?", the boy nodded, "Do you understand what I'm saying?"
The boy shook his head and the Master rolled his eyes, "Look, I'm sorry, continue with what you were saying", but the boy kept quiet.
He took a deep breath, 'Why am I doing this?', he asked himself.
"I promise I won't be angry at you again", he said softly at the boy.
Honestly he didn't know where this willingness to be kind had come from, but he couldn't bare looking into those eyes with that hurt look in them.
"Promise?", asked the boy.
He rolled his eyes again, wondering why he was being kind to this child, "Yes, I promise."
The boy's face changed immediately into that of total happiness and he began to ramble again, "Have you seen the local soccer team play?", he ranted, "I have watched them train every Monday morning and I have also gone to six", he held up his fingers counting six, "Of their games this season and I think they are really good, but my brother says they are only having luck and-"
The Master tried to block out the rest of ramble, he really didn't know where the patience had come from for him to endure this boy's rant, but he had to admit to himself that seeing the happy face of the boy made him - happy?
The Master was still fighting an inner turmoil when Tom came back.
"Did you like the game Mr.-er, what's your name Mr.?", he asked.
'When did they finish?', he suddenly wondered as he looked around and saw all the boys walking home.
"Oh-fine, really good", he lied
"Thought so", said Tom smugly.
"But Mr., you didn't say what's your name", said Danny.
"I-", the Master paused, he couldn't say his name was the Master, that would only confuse the children, especially Danny. So he decided to take a page from the Doctor's book.
"Harold", he told them.
"And where do you live Mr. Harold?", asked Danny.
"He surely doesn't live far from here Danny, I'm sure I've seen his face somewhere", said Tom to Danny.
The Master's eyebrows rose, could this boy have seen him kill the president those years ago?
"I don't think so, I don't live here", he said
"Then where do you live Mr. Harold?", asked Danny.
"I-", how was he going to explain this, "Don't live anywhere", he improvised.
'Damn', he cursed, I'm worse than the Doctor in this.
"You don't have a house?", asked Danny almost tearfully.
"Sorry Harold, didn't mean to offend you", said Tom, "Do you have a place to stay the night?"
"Uh, no", said the Master nervously, why were these children being so kind with him?
"Then you can come to our house!", exclaimed Danny happily as he jumped from his seat.
"Yeah, mom works the whole night and sleep during the day, she won't notice a thing", said Tom happily.
The Master stared at the two children, he couldn't remember the last time somebody had been so unselfishly kind with him.
"Come on Mr. Harold", said Danny and grabbed his hand and began to pull him along, "We will go to my house and I will show you my room where I have a tennis racket and a soccer ball", he began to rant as he pulled aimlessly without making the Master move, "and I will show you the living room that is in the diner room where the TV is and we will watch the hockey match while we eat sandwiches and-", he continued to rant.
Sandwiches? That was more than enough for him, he was really hungry and he was willing to listen to the boy's rant in order to get something to eat, but-.
"What about your father?", he had noted that they had not mentioned him so far.
"Dad left a few years ago", said Tom as lowered his head.
"Mom says he went to heaven", supplied Danny, "Come on Mr. Harold or we will miss the hockey match!", he began to pull him along and this time the Master went along.
The walk was short; Danny and Tom lived in an apartment building really close to the baseball camp on the seventh floor. Their apartment was small and not too well kept, just as Danny had said the living room, diner and kitchen were one room, he and Tom shared one room and their mother was fast asleep on the room beside theirs.
He sat at the small dining table eating his sandwich as Danny told him every small detail of the hockey game that was currently showing on the TV.
The Master stared at the window, there barely was a sight to be seen, only the brick wall of the adjacent apartment building.
He glanced at Danny, he was still ranting as if his life depended on it, but he seemed to be really happy doing it. His memories went back to when he had snapped at the boy, feeling guilty; he hadn't felt that emotion since he was eight and had had a fight with the Doctor over something stupid.
He remembered how he had felt better when he had forgiven him and went back to ranting just like he had been before he had snapped at him.
Had the drums caused him not to note how horrible guilt felt?
'Oh, the drums', he thought, he wasn't sure how he had lived with them all the years, his whole life. Right now, even with Danny's constant ranting he felt at peace and everything felt so silent.
He felt an overwhelming wave of horrible guilt hit him as he thought of the horrible and terrible things he had done through the years when he was driven by madness.
Tom came to sit at the table, his hair was wet from the shower he had taken, he placed his books and homework that had been left for the weekend on the table and began working on it.
The Master's thoughts went back to his last encounter with the Doctor, how he had chosen a third option and saved his live, even after he had menaced the life of his companion and that of her grandfather.
He felt another pang of guilt when he thought of what he had done against the Doctor that day, turning every human being into a copy of himself.
He only felt worse when he began to remember the Year That Never Was, how he had tortured the Doctor, his friends and his companion's family.
"Harold", said Tom and the Master's thoughts were interrupted.
"What?", he said.
"Can you give me a hand with the Maths?", he asked.
"Fine", he said and grabbed Tom's book.
He frowned as he looked at the book.
"Is something wrong?", asked Tom.
"What grade are you in?", he asked.
"Fifth", he said proudly.
His frown deepened, were these simple maths the norm for a fifth grader of the 21st century?
No wonder the planet was so behind the rest of the universe.
"What don't you understand?", he asked.
The Master and Tom spend the next hour or going through all the homework, when they arrived at the history homework about Isaac Newton was when the Master captured both their attention.
"Yeah, Isaac, he thought he was so clever the idiot", he began telling them about him, they listened intently as he told them how life was at that time and how he had outwitted Isaac Newton in more than one ways, only to annoy somebody he kept referring to as 'The Doctor', "You should have seen his face, he was so annoyed", he told them with a broad grin on his face.
"That is awesome Mr. Harold!", exclaimed Danny.
"Shhhh", silenced Tom, "Remember mom is still sleeping."
"But it's awesome", said Danny in a lower voice.
"Of course it is, annoying the Doctor is always awesome", he said matter-of-factly.
"Mom is about to wake up", said Tom as he looked at the clock on the wall, "Could you hide in the cleaning room till she goes to work, Harold?"
"She makes the best dinner in San Francisco", whispered Danny to the Master.
He sighed deeply, he needed a place to stay for the night and if he could get dinner then it would be even more convenient to stay.
"Fine", he said and stood up, "Lead the way", he said to Tom.
Tom led him to a small room with an old wash machine and drier beside the bathroom, which was beside their room.
"Danny and I can make you up a bed for you when mom goes to work", said Tom and Danny came running into the little room with a thick bedspread in his arms which he dropped at the Master's feet, "Here is a bedspread for you so you don't feel any cold while you wait", he said happily.
"Danny, it's almost summer", said Tom pointedly.
"But it might get cold", argued Danny.
"Danny-", began Tom.
"Leave it", interrupted the Master, he didn't feel like listening to their petty discussion.
"Fine", said Tom and left, "Come Danny, we have to clear the table and then set it for dinner."
"Good-bye Mr. Harold, see you later", he waved and closed the door.
He spread out the bedspread and laid down on it, he listened how the mother stood up, began dinner in the kitchen, take her shower and Danny yell happily as one of his favorite soccer teams who's match was currently been shown on TV won a game. The smell of the chicken in the oven filled the room eventually and after moments he could hear them crowd around the kitchen for dinner.
Not long after that the mother went to work and the children came to open his door.
"Dinner time Mr. Harold!", yelled Danny happily, took his hand and began to drag him to the table were a small plate with some leftovers was waiting for him.
He sat down and ate his chicken, which was, admittedly very tasty.
Tom sat down at the table, "Do you have a work Harold?", he asked the Master.
"I just arrived today", he said and went on with his food.
"So you don't have one?", he began, "What did you work in before, were you a teacher?"
"Of course not Tom!", said Danny from the couch in front of the TV, "He is a soldier and has just come back from war, don't you see?"
"It's not that", denied the Master quickly, "I just had a though ride here", he explained.
"What did you work in then?", asked Tom.
The Master hesitated for a moment, "Scientist", he said, he couldn't tell them he had been a politician, which had been his last job so he went with the job he had had in his previous incarnation.
"Awesome", said Danny bright eyed, "Did you invent something?"
"No", deadpanned the Master.
"Is that why you lost your job?", asked Tom.
"No", he repeated.
Danny gasped, "Did you invent a super weapon and they didn't need you any more so you had to run for your life?!", he asked wide eyed.
"No", he said again impatiently, 'Do children always ask this many questions?'
"Then what?", asked Tom.
The Master hesitated again before answering, "I-", he paused, "Had a fight with somebody I shouldn't have fought with", he made up, although it technically was true, "With a friend", he added softly.
"You fought with your friend and lost your job?", asked Tom perplexed.
"No", he said softly again, "I left because I fought with him", his gaze was blank and distant.
"Didn't you say sorry?", asked Danny, "Mom say we should always say sorry", he said importantly.
The Master just stared at the boy, 'How could I ever just say sorry after what I did?', he thought, how could that ever fix what he had done?
Tom stood up, "Come on Danny, its past nine and you should be asleep by now."
"Mr. Harold tell me a bedtime story please", he asked the Master.
"Uh", he began, unsure what to do.
"Tell another one of Mr. Newman!", he said happily.
"Isaac Newton", corrected the Master.
"That one!", he affirmed.
The Master sighed, what was he going to do with this boy?
Danny ran quickly to change and Tom stayed behind with the Master.
"Do you know many stories like the one you told a while ago?", he asked
"It wasn't just a story, it was true", he told the boy.
"Sure", said Tom and also went to change.
Moments later Danny came running towards him and grabbed his and dragged him to his room.
He jumped into his bed and covered himself with his bed sheet and began to stare at him with big, wide, expectant eyes.
The Master took a deep breath and sat on the boy's bed, "Have you ever heard of the Planet Mars?"
Danny nodded, "Once I saw a model Tom made for school with the polar system", he told the Master.
"Solar system", corrected the Master, "Did you know there are pyramids on Mars?", began the Master, Tom came and climbed into the bed on the other side of the small room and also listened to the Master's story.
Danny fell asleep before he could hear the end of the story of how his good friend Mr. Harold had encountered Martians, fought them and had managed to escape alive before they caught him. He also told them about the pyramids, the force of the Martian soldiers and the vast Martian deserts.
Both of them were fast asleep by the time he finished, he had been so engrossed in his reliving of his voyage to Mars that he didn't notice that they were asleep till he had finished.
He stood up as silently as he could, turned off the light and went to sleep in the small washing room.
He closed his eyes as he lay on the bedspread and fell asleep immediately.
He was back on the Valiant.
The Jones family stood there, they all were staring at him accusingly, suddenly all of them had guns in their hand and they were pointing them at him.
"Wait", he stumbled back, "I'm sorry", he tried but they weren't there anymore.
He turned around and stood Jack, chains still hanging loosely from his arms.
He was angry, he was beyond furious; he lifted up his gun that had suddenly appeared in his hand.
"No!", he exclaimed, but Jack wasn't there anymore.
The Doctor was now there.
"I'm sorry", he said softly, heard a loud bang and the Doctor fell down on the floor.
"NO!", he screamed and turned around to Lucy standing there with her red dress and the gun in her hand.
"Die", she said emotionlessly and another loud bang was heard.
The Master sat up suddenly, breathing in deep gasps, he was back in Danny and Tom's washing room.
He stood up, unable to sleep anymore and went to the kitchen; the clock read two a.m. in the morning.
He sighed, what was he going to do now?
He looked around the place, there wasn't even a book for him to read. Maybe he should take a page from Danny's book and watch the TV, but he didn't know when did the mother came back and he didn't want to be caught watching the TV when she came back. Not only would she think of him as a burglar, but as a mad one too.
He sat down and tried to calm himself, he was still quite shaken from his nightmare.
What was he going to do if he ever found the Doctor again somewhere or sometime, he wondered. How could he explain that his madness had been caused by the drums, nobody would believe that.
He sat and listened to the traffic outside, oh how he wished he had his own transport.
'My own TARDIS', he thought.
If he had his own TARDIS he could get away from this planet where they still could relate him to Harold Saxton and go to literary any place in the whole universe.
Nobody out there had yet seen this face, not even the enemies he had made across the years.
But he didn't have one, he didn't have anything here.
Should he get a job, but as what?
He couldn't get any well paid job without documents or being recognized.
"What will I do now", he wondered aloud.
"Mr. Harold?", he heard a drowsy voice behind him.
He turned around and saw little Danny standing at the door of his room.
"You should be sleeping", he said and turned back to look at the turned off TV.
Danny came running and sat at his side on the couch.
"You too", he said.
"I don't need that much sleep", answered the Master.
"Why not?", asked Danny.
"Just because", he answered the boy.
"I know!", exclaimed the boy suddenly, almost making the Master jump.
"Wha-", he began but Danny interrupted him, "We forgot to make you bed Mr. Harold!", he said gravely.
"You did?", he said, he hadn't even noticed that.
"What is it?", said Tom as he came near still rubbing his eyes, clearly having been woken up by Danny's outburst.
"We forgot to make Mr. Harold's bed Tom!", said Danny gravely.
"Sorry Harold, we forgot", said Tom as he began to turn around to go fetch things for the Master's bed.
"I don't need it anymore", he stopped the boy.
"Really?", asked Tom perplexed.
"I don't sleep as much as - other people", he made up.
"Really?", asked Danny, impressed and the Master nodded.
"Why?", asked Tom as he also came to sit next to him.
"Ah-", he began nervously, not sure if he liked sitting in between two children, "It's complicated", he improvised.
"Tell us", said Danny excitedly.
"It's a long story", he tried to evade.
"We have time", said Tom happily.
"What about your mother, when will she be home?", he said.
"Mom doesn't come back till eleven a.m.", said Tom.
'Wait, what?', he thought.
"She works till eleven a.m.?", he said incredulously.
"No", said Tom as he rolled his eyes.
"She spends the morning at grandma's downstairs", said Danny happily.
"Then she comes back and prepares lunch, sleeps, prepares dinner and goes to work", explained Tom.
"You're alone the whole day?", asked the Master surprised, he didn't know why, but for some reason he didn't like the idea of these two children being all day alone.
"Of course not", said Tom with a laugh, "I have Danny the whole day."
"And I have Tom the whole day", said Danny happily, "And now you're also here Mr. Harold!", he exclaimed and hugged the Master.
The Master felt rather uncomfortable, except for the boy's clinging hug he had had just assumed that he was going to stay with them permanently.
"Danny", began Tom, seeing the Master's face, "I don't think Harold is going to stay ", then seeing the stricken face of Danny he added, "Not forever."
"Where are you going Mr. Harold?", asked Danny almost crying.
"Right now, nowhere", said the Master, which as true.
"And later?", he asked, still clinging at the Master.
"I don't know", he said, which was also true.
"But Danny, you know that Harold needs a house of his own, he can't live forever in the washing room", Tom explained.
"I know", said Danny.
"Have you looked for a job yet Harold?", asked Tom.
"I just got here", said the Master as he tried to loose Danny's hands from his hoodie, to no avail.
"Then we'll buy the newspaper Monday morning and help you find a job", said Tom affirmatively.
"Don't you go to school?", asked the Master, still busy with one of Danny's hands.
"Uhm", he said nervously, "Danny will help you then, I'll tell the daycare that Danny went visiting grandma or something", he said with a smile, proud of himself that he had fixed the predicament.
The Master sighed, he knew it was no use to argue with that, Danny would glue himself to him if necessary to be able to accompany him.
"Fine", he said not too happily.
For the next few hours of the early morning the Master managed to loose himself from Danny, watched a golf match that was going on on the other side of the world with Danny, who again told him every small detail of the game as Tom tried to make him go back to sleep but to no avail.
Finally Danny fell asleep on the couch while clinging yet again on the Master's hoodie, Tom had also fallen asleep on the couch so the Master was unable to move.
He sat there till six a.m. wondering why he didn't just yell at the children and send them running away to their rooms. He was about to do it several times but found that he was unable to do so each time he tried, so he just remained unmoving and tried to meditate, he had never before been able to with the drums and he had absolutely nothing to do so he figured he might as well try.
After the children woke up Tom convinced him to give his clothes so they could wash it in the wash machine and was given some old clothes, which he assumed had been from their father, for while he waited for his clothes to wash and dry.
They gave him a colorful cereal for breakfast, which he only ate because Danny began to rant about how his mother had told him how important the first meal of the day was.
He was asked for more stories, he ended up talking for hours about all the planets he had traveled to and some of the adventures he had been to till he went to take his shower and was given his clean clothes and had to hide again in the washroom because the mother had come back home.
When she went to sleep he went to eat again with them and after that Danny sat in front of the TV and again told him every smallest and little detail of the hockey, soccer, football and basketball matches till he fell asleep, exhausted from talking the whole afternoon.
Tom then got out all his books for the Master to read that night when he finished sleeping early and got to hear the whole story about the day he met Galileo, Danny got to hear the end.
The rest of the night pretty much the same as the previous one, he had to go hide again in the washing room when the mother woke up and came back out when she left to eat the dinner leftovers. Then he had to tell another bedtime story for the children who seemed to found it fascinating that he never ran out of stories to tell.
Of course he wouldn't run out of stories, what kind of Time Lord that had been traveling through time and space for hundreds of years would run out of stories in a day's time? He had enough to tell them for the rest of their short human lives.
He stayed for weeks at the two children's home; he got a job at the newspaper booth, much to his chagrin, for the morning turn during the week days, the job wasn't that good but it was still better than nothing when he thought about it.
His only problem was on Fridays when the mother of the two children had her free night, he spend his Fridays walking outside aimlessly till early Saturday mornings and got to know San Francisco really well.
At his third Friday without a house he went to walk on the other side of San Francisco, near all those grant houses.
As the afternoon came and he walked through the streets he remembered when he had been there at the change of the millennium. He remembered that that doctor that had treated the Doctor had lived near the place he was now.
'She probably changed houses ages ago', he thought, 'Oh, and that Chinese boy', he remembered Chang, 'He might still be here in San Francisco, although he might also have moved', he thought as he wondered if he would one day perhaps see them again. But even if he did see them again only he would recognize him, they would never know him in this face.
He was walking by the small stores of the area when he heard a woman scream; he looked around and saw a woman wrestling with a man that was trying to take her bag in front of a store he had just walked by.
"Leave it!", screamed the woman.
The Master launched himself immediately on the burglar and punched him right on the nose, the man staggered back and fell on the ground.
The man swore loudly, stood up and tried to punch the Master back, but he dodged it easily and punched him right in the stomach.
The burglar gasped and wheezed, trying to breath.
"You'll pay for this", he said between gasps and wheezes and ran away.
"Sure", said the Master as he rolled his eyes and turned around when he felt a hand on his shoulder.
"Thank you", said the woman.
"It was nothing", he said, "Just an idiot", he looked at the woman, 'Wait', he thought and gave the woman a second look.
'Damn.'
He knew her, she was the doctor that had treated the Doctor all those years ago.
"No, really thank you", she insisted, "Is there anything I can do for you?", she asked.
"No, I'm fine", he insisted, trying desperately to get away as fast as he could.
She tried to step on her left feet and winced.
"What?", he asked, before he could stop himself.
"I think I sprained my left ankle", she said as she held it with her hand, "Oh, the Doctor is waiting for me, I better leave", she tried to step again on her left foot and winced again.
The Master froze, the Doctor, here?
He swallowed a lump in his throat, "The Doctor?", he tried to ask casually.
"Oh, a friend of mine, I-I always call him the Doctor", she explained nervously.
'It's him', the Master knew immediately.
"And what is your friend waiting for, I'm sure he can wait for a moment", he said, trying subtly to find out what was going on.
"He-", she hesitated, "He was injured quite gravely a while ago and I'm in charge of him", she explained, "I'm a doctor, you see", she added.
'Gravely injured?', he thought seriously.
The Master made up his mind quickly and placed in motion his plan.
"But how are you going to tend him with that foot?", he asked her, faking concern.
"I-", she began unsure as she rubbed her ankle with her free hand as the other hand still held the bag.
"I could help", he offered, "I'm a nurse", he lied.
"You are?", she asked brightly.
"Yes!", he lied assuringly, "My name is Harold", he lied again.
"I'm Grace Holloway", she shook his hand, "Just Harold?", she asked with a laugh.
"Harold Freeman", he used Danny and Tom's surname.
"Harold I-", she began.
"I know I'm only a stranger and I would understand if you wouldn't want me in your home", he said smoothly, feigning understanding.
She gave a faint smile when he said that and he immediately knew that his act had worked.
She sighed, "You know", she began, "I have quite good experience in admitting strangers into my house", she smiled.
He smiled, more to himself than to her, his plan had succeeded.
He helped her walk to her home and listened patiently to her as she talked about the growing insecurity of the area, patiently, because after all he had experience now with it. Although he found that he didn't have as much patience with her as with the two children.
She opened the door of the house and allowed him to step in and she walked to the kitchen.
When he stepped in he immediately felt something he had come to terms with he would never feel again - the presence of another Time Lord.
The Master frowned, the Doctor's mind was fairly open, he shouldn't be able to feel him this strongly from this distance.
"Let me introduce him to you", Grace came back into the room limping, she showed him to the Doctor's room.
"Doctor?", she said as she opened the door, "Let me introduce you to somebody I met a moment ago."
The Master stepped in and he saw a man lying on a bed, he looked bruised and his right arm was in a sling.
'He regenerated', noted the Master.
The Doctor's eyes widened when he saw the Master.
"This is Harold Freeman, he helped me with-", she stopped when she heard the phone ring, "I'll be right back, Harold, this is my friend the Doctor", she said and left the room.
The Master stood there silent for a moment, "Hello Doctor", he said.
"Master", the Doctor greeted, his eyes pleading for an explanation.
"How?", he rasped.
"You tell me", he said, perhaps he could get some answers, although he doubted it, "The Time Lock opened for a few seconds and I managed to escape."
The Doctor frowned "That's not why you're here", he said matter-of-factly.
"What happened?", asked the Master after a moment.
The Doctor refused to answer, he just kept staring at the Master.
The Master rolled his eyes, "Do I need to place the whole universe in danger for you to speak with me?", he said sarcastically.
"Why are you here?", dead panned the Doctor.
The Master sighed exasperated, the Doctor was pushing for answers.
He closed his eyes and breathed deeply, "It stopped", he said simply.
"What stopped?", he asked perplexed.
"This regeneration is quite dense isn't it?", said the Master seriously.
The Doctor was about to retort when he suddenly paused, seemingly finally understanding what the Master said.
"I knew I was missing something", he said quietly.
"Slow", said the Master with fake seriousness as he nodded with his arms crossed.
"Oi!", said the Doctor with fake indignancy.
Grace came back into the room, "Doctor, did Harold tell you how he helped when they tried to rob me?", she said as she sat on the arm chair in the room.
"Did he now?", said the Doctor interestingly, "Why don't you tell us what happened - Harold?"
"It was nothing", he said forcedly, trying to control himself.
Grace stayed for a while with them, forcing the Master to talk. The Doctor seemed to be enjoying himself greatly at the Master's expenses, he kept making sarcastic remarks while calling the Master, 'Harold', all the time.
"Harold, do you want to stay for dinner?", she asked him.
"Yes, Harold, stay for dinner", said the Doctor with a grin.
"Fine", said the Master forcedly and Grace left them alone.
As soon as she left the Doctor began to chuckle and the Master gave him his best glare.
"How do you sit up with that woman whole day long only you would know", he said angrily.
The Doctor chuckled even louder and then the chuckles morphed into coughs. His whole body got racked by the violent coughs, he wheezed as he breathed deeply trying to get back his air.
The Master stood watching the Doctor as he breathed painfully while clutching his chest with his left arm.
"What happened?", he asked when he finished.
"My luck ran a bit thin", he said with a wince.
The Master just stared at him.
"I'm surprised that you haven't tried to choke Grace or pounce on her yet", said the Doctor trying to change the subject.
"What, pounce?", he said perplexed, "Since when-", he paused, "Stop trying to change the subject", he said angrily.
"I wasn't trying to change anything", said the Doctor with a smile.
"You-", began the Master but got interrupted by Grace coming in with a tray of food for them all.
"Doctor, did Harold tell you he's a nurse?"", she asked as she placed down the tray.
"No you didn't, right Harold?", said the Doctor with a grin, "At what hospital do you work Harold?"
The Master gave the Doctor a look that don't you call me again 'Harold'.
"I'm new here in San Francisco, I don't work in any hospital - yet", he lied.
"Is it your first time in San Francisco?", asked Grace casually.
"Yeah - well, no - I was here before - decades ago", he said and Grace laughed a bit.
The rest of the meal went by normally, as normal as any meal with the Doctor and the Master throwing snide remarks at each other now and then could go.
Even with all their differences both the Doctor and the Master were glad to see each other again, although they would never admit it, never ever.
So I tried my best to describe a Master without the drums and not to make his change all of the sudden, you know, more bits by bits.
How do you think it worked? Love it? Hate it?
Please review!