All Together Then (DW fanfic)
Title: All Together Then
Fandom: Dr. Who
Rating: PG
Length: 2,849 words
Disclaimer: Don't own Dr. Who
From the Best_Enemies kinkmeme prompt. After a particularly bad day/week/month, the Master kidnaps the Doctor to cheer himself up. No nefarious purposes in mind; just a bit of gloating (and/or snark-flirting) and the intent to let him go a few days later none the worse for wear. Preferably Delgado!Master or Ainley!Master, and preferably at least semi fluff.
This takes place after Mark of the Rani in the classic series and somewhere in season 2 of New Who. It mostly/sort of fits the original idea.
The Master was a little upset that the dinosaur had ripped his sleeve in its attempt to eat him. Obviously the fault lay with the Rani as it had been her idea to use him as bait while she stood by and waited until he had lured it into one of the bedrooms so she could shut and lock the door. Simple and effective. He had protested at first and outlined an elaborate plan which required such items as nylon netting, three Sea Devil laser guns, a twenty-third century propulsion unit, twenty five rolls of duct tape, some burnt toast. ......And which ended with the dinosaur electrocuted in the swimming pool.
Unfortunately before there was time to assemble the necessary equipment the dinosaur had discovered their hiding place behind the pile of hat boxes in the wardrobe. Much to the Master’s disappointment they had to default to the Rani’s plan, as it was far simpler and much more sensible.
The Rani was herself pleased with the results and with the continued lively existence of her dinosaur. Drowning it would have been a colossal waste of both saurus and swimming pool. With one crisis averted they set to work on repairing the TARDIS from the Doctor’s sabotage. The Master was brilliant and quite mechanically minded, but he really only had the ability to focus on one thing for long periods of time. And TARDIS repair was not it. If he mentioned the Doctor one more time the Rani vowed to throw him in with the dinosaur so she could fix her ship in peace.
“The first thing we need to do is go back and get your TARDIS,” the Rani interrupted the Master in mid-rant. She couldn’t wait to pack him off into his own ship. “I think we should get you back out there and annoying the Doctor as soon as possible.”
“But I don’t want to keep the dinosaur. You probably wouldn’t let me anyway.”
The Rani gave him a blank look. She sighed and looked up from the wires she was reconfiguring. The seemingly random workings of his brain never ceased to amaze her. “What are you on about now?”
“My plan. To annoy the Doctor,” the Master paused as if waiting for the Rani to get the joke. Then he smirked. “You weren’t even listening.”
“No,” the Rani snapped, “I was a bit busy trying to get us out of this godforsaken little desert of a galaxy. And I’m sure the work would go much faster if YOU actually deigned to help.”
“The plan,” the Master continued, completely ignoring her outburst and becoming fixated on his newest idea, “Is to find the Doctor and set the dinosaur on him.”
“And do we have any details included in this plan?”
“We’ll just pull his TARDIS into yours. When he comes out we’ll shove him in the locked bedroom.”
“That’s it? That’s the plan?”
“It also includes us watching, gloating, and laughing of course.”
The Rani put down her soldering iron and looked up. The Master seemed normal enough, but he was obviously in the middle of some sort of breakdown. That was the simplest, most direct plan that he had ever come up with. Not like him at all. Maybe he was feverish. She didn’t really care to check.
“You’re right. I won’t let you keep the dinosaur. And I’m really not interested in your inane plans. I’ll just drop you off at your TARDIS.”
“But we need the dinosaur!” The Master crouched down under the console with the Rani and his eyes were a little overly wide and bright as he thought of all the things the monster could do to the Doctor. Oh yes, definitely a case of brain fever here. He was also doing that odd gasping breathing thing, as if he was trying to contain the urge to jump around in gleefully hysterical laughter.
Mad wasn’t strong enough a word at times. Crazy and insane didn’t quite fit the bill right now either. Still with that heavy breathing and a newly added maniacal glint to his eye the Master grabbed the wires the Rani had just repaired and made a motion as if to pull them completely out of the console.
“What in Rassilon are you doing?” the Rani yelled. She tried to shoulder him away but he refused to budge.
“I’ll pull it all out,” he threatened. “The whole thing. And then I’ll fry the circuits in the time sensors. It’ll take years to find the necessary parts to fix it out here.”
“You’re a fool!”
“We’re finding the Doctor,” the Master stated calmly. “And we’re using your TARDIS and the dinosaur.”
The Rani had no interest in running a charity for fellow exiled TimeLords, but if she had, here was a prime candidate for help. This obsessive/complusive thing he had for the Doctor was really quite pitiful. Someone really had to save him from himself and today it looked as if it would be her. She should really bash him in the head and drop him off with a nice therapist. But there it was in his eyes, not only the madness or the eagerness, but the desperation. He needed the Doctor’s attention. Needed. That little escapade with the Luddites had not been enough to settle his addiction for the time being.
The Rani sighed and dropped her forehead to the console. Curse her for being a softy. She stopped fixing her ship and began helping with the creation of a ‘TARDIS Tracker.’ (The Master’s own invention, of course.)
Hours later they stood in the hall outside the dinosaur’s bedroom. After a few false starts they had managed to track down the correct TARDIS and pull it out of the void.
The Master, he of the normally calm and cool exterior, twitched almost imperceptibly as they waited for the Doctor to step out of his blue box. The Rani couldn’t believe he could be THAT excited to see the Doctor, the man who had just ruined all their plans and been oh-so-sanctimonious about it and then sent them off into the far reaches of space. The Doctor was the last person in the universe she wanted to see unless of course the version she saw was dead.
The doors of the police box creaked open and there was another twitch. The Master was preparing his evil smirk and getting ready to pitch his voice into its most devious tone to greet the Doctor properly, when something caused him to falter.
The head the peeked out of the TARDIS doors was not blond and curly. The hair was dark and stood at least two feet off it’s owner’s head. Well, maybe not two feet, but it was close. The stranger looked around a moment before his eyes widened in shock. He sprang out of his TARDIS and spun in a full circle. When he caught sight of the Master and the Rani he stopped and stilled. They stared at each other for a long moment.
“It’s you!” the Doctor suddenly cried. He gave them the biggest ear to ear smile either Timelord had ever seen. “It’s really you! You’re here and looking... oh, look at you! You both look great! Although there’s a bit of a tear in your sleeve there, Master. But other than that...”
The Doctor opened his arms and stepped forward as if about to hug them. The Master backed away and the Rani put a hand to her head in exasperation.
“Oh, just wonderful,” the Rani muttered. “As if you weren’t bad enough before.”
She grimaced as she was joyfully embraced.
“Two hearts,” the Doctor was babbling. “Good old two hearts. I miss that. It’s just not the same with only one. Humans are just so different to hug.”
He bounded forward and caught the Master in a bear hug, almost knocking him off his feet. When the Doctor let go he held the Master at arms’ length, shook his head and grinned at him.
“Trakenite body. One heart. But never mind. It’s just so good to see you again!”
Then with another happy cry the Doctor was hugging him again. The Master wiggled away and stepped to the Rani, positioning himself just slightly behind her, sacrificing her to the Doctor’s next hugging impulses.
“Goodness, I am completely in the wrong timeline. Isn’t it wonderful?! I haven’t seen you both together since.... oh, when was it? That time with the Luddites wasn’t it? You two teaming up against me. Brilliant. And then me sabotaging your TARDIS. Now that was brilliant. How did it go by the way? I sent you way out there. Must’ve been an awful inconvenience.”
“In fact, Doctor,” the Rani spoke up. “It was.”
The Doctor gave them a wide-eyed smile and nodded encouragingly. Though still a little unsure of this version of his favorite enemy, the Master recovered himself and defaulted back to devious.
“And we seem to have encountered an interesting little side effect from the journey,” he purred. “We thought that maybe you would like to take a look. It was your handiwork after all.”
“Oh,” the Doctor stuck his hands in his pockets and rocked back on his heels, “still working as a team. Trying to get the best of me. I can’t wait to see what you’ve cooked up this time.” He grinned and shook his head fondly. “Just like old times. Brilliant. Brilliant.”
The Rani and the Master exchanged a glance.
“Of course,” the Doctor continued, “ it never quite works out with you two does it? What with that constant bickering and sabatoging of each other’s ideas. You’re just both always convinced that you’re right and the other is wrong and really that’s not how teamwork works. You’ve got to compromise. Don’t be afraid to listen. I find that having someone else around to ask me questions is a really good way to problem solve. Although, most of the time-- well, no, I’d say that all of the time when I think I’m right I end up being right so-”
“Let’s just throw him in,” the Rani said. The Doctor was interrupted mid sentence by two pairs of Timelord hands grabbing his arms and dragging him to the door.
“See,” the Doctor exclaimed. “Now this is what I mean about working together. Right now you are both perfectly in sync. And by the way, where are we going?”
“We are staying right here,” the Rani said as they stopped and held the Doctor between them. She motioned to the door they stood in front of. “You, Doctor, are going in there.”
“Oh. What’s in there? Should I be worried? I have a feeling that I should be worried.”
“Yes, Doctor,” the Master purred into his ear. “You should be very worried.”
The Master tightened his grip on the Doctor’s upper arms and the Rani let him go. With a nod at her colleague she flung open the door. The Master hurled the Doctor into the room and took a quick step back as the Rani slammed the door shut.
“Oh!” they heard the Doctor exclaim from beyond the door. “Dinosaur! Very big dinosaur.”
They shared a brief smile at the sound of giant nostrils snuffling out prey. There was a bit of crashing about as the Doctor called out to them, “Not to worry! I’ve dealt with dinosaurs before. I’ll have this one sorted out for you in no time.”
There was another series of bumps and crashes. They strained to hear the glorious sounds of screaming, terror, and/or possible death. It was a disappointment when no such sounds were emitted.
“I don’t think this is going to plan,” the Rani stated. The noise in the room faded off. They waited a moment more for the snap an crunch of TimeLord bones. Instead they heard the low but distinct humming of a sonic screwdriver.
“Oh, he’s not...” the Rani sighed. She rubbed her her temples where she felt a migraine beginning as the Doctor stepped out of the room looking quite chipper. Behind him they could see the dinosaur securely tied down with an assortment of blankets and hawaiian shirts from the closet.
“There, all sorted,” the Doctor grinned as he put his sonic screwdriver back into his jacket pocket. He dusted himself off with the air of a man very pleased with himself.
“He is,” the Master’s shoulders drooped in disappointment. He frowned. “I thought your sonic screwdriver broke.”
“Ah, right. I went without for a number of years, didn’t I? Very silly of me. Made things so much harder. I made a new one. So!” the Doctor clapped his hands together in anticipation. “What’s next?”
“You can take this one with you.”
A push from the Rani had the Master stumbling into the Doctor, who caught him by the shoulder to steady him.
“Take him back to his TARDIS or your TARDIS or Gallifrey or Raxacoricofallapatorius for all I care. Both of you just go away. I’ll be able to fix my ship faster without the two of you bumbling about like the fools you are!”
The Doctor and the Master took a step back as the Rani jabbed a finger in their direction. Without waiting for an answer she turned on her heel and stalked back to the console room. They stood for a moment watching her retreating form and then glanced at each other.
“The Rani appears to be a little on edge today,” the Doctor observed.
“She’s always a spoilsport.”
The Doctor had not removed his hand from the Master’s shoulder and the Master was starting to notice.
“Well,” began the Doctor with a shrug, “I suppose I can take you back to your Tardis. Just a quick drop off. But you had better behave.” The Doctor stuck a finger up to emphasize his point.
The Master smirked. “Always.”
The Doctor muttered something under his breath as he opened the Police box door and motioned the Master through first. Before the Master had the chance to touch anything the Doctor whipped out his screwdriver and set the console controls to isomorphic. Just in case. The Master was looking around disdainfully at the TARDIS’s new look.
“No companion, Doctor?” he asked with a sneer. “No little humans running around to boost your ego with their constant stupidity?”
“I dropped Rose off to visit her mum,” the Doctor replied distractedly. He set in the coordinates and ran around the console pressing buttons. The Master rolled his eyes.
“Still making it into a big production, I see. Driving a TARDIS is not as complicated as you make it out to be.”
The Doctor ignored him and wiggled a few more knobs just to be annoying.
“Would you just engage the time capacitor and hit the accelerator already!”
The Doctor shot him a look. “No one likes a back seat driver.” He engaged the time capacitor and hit accelerate. As the TARDIS took off he turned to face the Master. “And as for big productions, I believe that you, my friend, make everything more complicated than it is.”
The TARDIS landed with it’s usual noise and the Doctor looked disappointed. He didn’t move from his spot at the console. He seemed reluctant that the Master leave. The Master stood awkwardly for a moment as he was stared at. Finally he flicked some invisible lint off his velvet and stepped toward the door.
“Well, Doctor. I fear I must go conquer some worlds. Have fun trying to save them.”
The Doctor sprang into motion as the Master strode down the ramp to the door. He caught up with his fellow TimeLord and grabbed him by the sleeve.
“Wait!”
The Master was startled into stillness. He regarded the Doctor curiously. The Doctor ran his hand up and down the velvet, petting it to sooth his nerves. A touch of concern crept into the Master’s expression.
“Doctor?”
“Oh!” the Doctor removed his hand and stepped back quickly. He schooled his expression into one of neutrality and failed. There was a sadness in his eyes that the Master could not fathom. The Doctor stayed silent and the Master reached out to open the door. He was tackled from behind as the Doctor brought him into a tight hug once again.
“Take care of yourself,” the Doctor pleaded. He rubbed his hands up and down the Master’s back vigorously and then added in a couple of pats. Finally, when he had no more excuses to keep holding on, he took a deep breath and reluctantly pulled himself away. “Not two hearts,” he said sadly. “But you’re so very you, it’s just as good.”
“Right, Doctor,” the Master said uncomfortably. He wondered how he dealt with this Doctor on a regular basis in the future. Maybe they both ended up mad in the end and this was the result. Well, anyway, “I’ll see you soon, I’m sure,” the Master gave his trademark evil smirk.
“Yeah, of course,” the Doctor gave a small wistful smile. “See you soon.”
Fandom: Dr. Who
Rating: PG
Length: 2,849 words
Disclaimer: Don't own Dr. Who
From the Best_Enemies kinkmeme prompt. After a particularly bad day/week/month, the Master kidnaps the Doctor to cheer himself up. No nefarious purposes in mind; just a bit of gloating (and/or snark-flirting) and the intent to let him go a few days later none the worse for wear. Preferably Delgado!Master or Ainley!Master, and preferably at least semi fluff.
This takes place after Mark of the Rani in the classic series and somewhere in season 2 of New Who. It mostly/sort of fits the original idea.
The Master was a little upset that the dinosaur had ripped his sleeve in its attempt to eat him. Obviously the fault lay with the Rani as it had been her idea to use him as bait while she stood by and waited until he had lured it into one of the bedrooms so she could shut and lock the door. Simple and effective. He had protested at first and outlined an elaborate plan which required such items as nylon netting, three Sea Devil laser guns, a twenty-third century propulsion unit, twenty five rolls of duct tape, some burnt toast. ......And which ended with the dinosaur electrocuted in the swimming pool.
Unfortunately before there was time to assemble the necessary equipment the dinosaur had discovered their hiding place behind the pile of hat boxes in the wardrobe. Much to the Master’s disappointment they had to default to the Rani’s plan, as it was far simpler and much more sensible.
The Rani was herself pleased with the results and with the continued lively existence of her dinosaur. Drowning it would have been a colossal waste of both saurus and swimming pool. With one crisis averted they set to work on repairing the TARDIS from the Doctor’s sabotage. The Master was brilliant and quite mechanically minded, but he really only had the ability to focus on one thing for long periods of time. And TARDIS repair was not it. If he mentioned the Doctor one more time the Rani vowed to throw him in with the dinosaur so she could fix her ship in peace.
“The first thing we need to do is go back and get your TARDIS,” the Rani interrupted the Master in mid-rant. She couldn’t wait to pack him off into his own ship. “I think we should get you back out there and annoying the Doctor as soon as possible.”
“But I don’t want to keep the dinosaur. You probably wouldn’t let me anyway.”
The Rani gave him a blank look. She sighed and looked up from the wires she was reconfiguring. The seemingly random workings of his brain never ceased to amaze her. “What are you on about now?”
“My plan. To annoy the Doctor,” the Master paused as if waiting for the Rani to get the joke. Then he smirked. “You weren’t even listening.”
“No,” the Rani snapped, “I was a bit busy trying to get us out of this godforsaken little desert of a galaxy. And I’m sure the work would go much faster if YOU actually deigned to help.”
“The plan,” the Master continued, completely ignoring her outburst and becoming fixated on his newest idea, “Is to find the Doctor and set the dinosaur on him.”
“And do we have any details included in this plan?”
“We’ll just pull his TARDIS into yours. When he comes out we’ll shove him in the locked bedroom.”
“That’s it? That’s the plan?”
“It also includes us watching, gloating, and laughing of course.”
The Rani put down her soldering iron and looked up. The Master seemed normal enough, but he was obviously in the middle of some sort of breakdown. That was the simplest, most direct plan that he had ever come up with. Not like him at all. Maybe he was feverish. She didn’t really care to check.
“You’re right. I won’t let you keep the dinosaur. And I’m really not interested in your inane plans. I’ll just drop you off at your TARDIS.”
“But we need the dinosaur!” The Master crouched down under the console with the Rani and his eyes were a little overly wide and bright as he thought of all the things the monster could do to the Doctor. Oh yes, definitely a case of brain fever here. He was also doing that odd gasping breathing thing, as if he was trying to contain the urge to jump around in gleefully hysterical laughter.
Mad wasn’t strong enough a word at times. Crazy and insane didn’t quite fit the bill right now either. Still with that heavy breathing and a newly added maniacal glint to his eye the Master grabbed the wires the Rani had just repaired and made a motion as if to pull them completely out of the console.
“What in Rassilon are you doing?” the Rani yelled. She tried to shoulder him away but he refused to budge.
“I’ll pull it all out,” he threatened. “The whole thing. And then I’ll fry the circuits in the time sensors. It’ll take years to find the necessary parts to fix it out here.”
“You’re a fool!”
“We’re finding the Doctor,” the Master stated calmly. “And we’re using your TARDIS and the dinosaur.”
The Rani had no interest in running a charity for fellow exiled TimeLords, but if she had, here was a prime candidate for help. This obsessive/complusive thing he had for the Doctor was really quite pitiful. Someone really had to save him from himself and today it looked as if it would be her. She should really bash him in the head and drop him off with a nice therapist. But there it was in his eyes, not only the madness or the eagerness, but the desperation. He needed the Doctor’s attention. Needed. That little escapade with the Luddites had not been enough to settle his addiction for the time being.
The Rani sighed and dropped her forehead to the console. Curse her for being a softy. She stopped fixing her ship and began helping with the creation of a ‘TARDIS Tracker.’ (The Master’s own invention, of course.)
Hours later they stood in the hall outside the dinosaur’s bedroom. After a few false starts they had managed to track down the correct TARDIS and pull it out of the void.
The Master, he of the normally calm and cool exterior, twitched almost imperceptibly as they waited for the Doctor to step out of his blue box. The Rani couldn’t believe he could be THAT excited to see the Doctor, the man who had just ruined all their plans and been oh-so-sanctimonious about it and then sent them off into the far reaches of space. The Doctor was the last person in the universe she wanted to see unless of course the version she saw was dead.
The doors of the police box creaked open and there was another twitch. The Master was preparing his evil smirk and getting ready to pitch his voice into its most devious tone to greet the Doctor properly, when something caused him to falter.
The head the peeked out of the TARDIS doors was not blond and curly. The hair was dark and stood at least two feet off it’s owner’s head. Well, maybe not two feet, but it was close. The stranger looked around a moment before his eyes widened in shock. He sprang out of his TARDIS and spun in a full circle. When he caught sight of the Master and the Rani he stopped and stilled. They stared at each other for a long moment.
“It’s you!” the Doctor suddenly cried. He gave them the biggest ear to ear smile either Timelord had ever seen. “It’s really you! You’re here and looking... oh, look at you! You both look great! Although there’s a bit of a tear in your sleeve there, Master. But other than that...”
The Doctor opened his arms and stepped forward as if about to hug them. The Master backed away and the Rani put a hand to her head in exasperation.
“Oh, just wonderful,” the Rani muttered. “As if you weren’t bad enough before.”
She grimaced as she was joyfully embraced.
“Two hearts,” the Doctor was babbling. “Good old two hearts. I miss that. It’s just not the same with only one. Humans are just so different to hug.”
He bounded forward and caught the Master in a bear hug, almost knocking him off his feet. When the Doctor let go he held the Master at arms’ length, shook his head and grinned at him.
“Trakenite body. One heart. But never mind. It’s just so good to see you again!”
Then with another happy cry the Doctor was hugging him again. The Master wiggled away and stepped to the Rani, positioning himself just slightly behind her, sacrificing her to the Doctor’s next hugging impulses.
“Goodness, I am completely in the wrong timeline. Isn’t it wonderful?! I haven’t seen you both together since.... oh, when was it? That time with the Luddites wasn’t it? You two teaming up against me. Brilliant. And then me sabotaging your TARDIS. Now that was brilliant. How did it go by the way? I sent you way out there. Must’ve been an awful inconvenience.”
“In fact, Doctor,” the Rani spoke up. “It was.”
The Doctor gave them a wide-eyed smile and nodded encouragingly. Though still a little unsure of this version of his favorite enemy, the Master recovered himself and defaulted back to devious.
“And we seem to have encountered an interesting little side effect from the journey,” he purred. “We thought that maybe you would like to take a look. It was your handiwork after all.”
“Oh,” the Doctor stuck his hands in his pockets and rocked back on his heels, “still working as a team. Trying to get the best of me. I can’t wait to see what you’ve cooked up this time.” He grinned and shook his head fondly. “Just like old times. Brilliant. Brilliant.”
The Rani and the Master exchanged a glance.
“Of course,” the Doctor continued, “ it never quite works out with you two does it? What with that constant bickering and sabatoging of each other’s ideas. You’re just both always convinced that you’re right and the other is wrong and really that’s not how teamwork works. You’ve got to compromise. Don’t be afraid to listen. I find that having someone else around to ask me questions is a really good way to problem solve. Although, most of the time-- well, no, I’d say that all of the time when I think I’m right I end up being right so-”
“Let’s just throw him in,” the Rani said. The Doctor was interrupted mid sentence by two pairs of Timelord hands grabbing his arms and dragging him to the door.
“See,” the Doctor exclaimed. “Now this is what I mean about working together. Right now you are both perfectly in sync. And by the way, where are we going?”
“We are staying right here,” the Rani said as they stopped and held the Doctor between them. She motioned to the door they stood in front of. “You, Doctor, are going in there.”
“Oh. What’s in there? Should I be worried? I have a feeling that I should be worried.”
“Yes, Doctor,” the Master purred into his ear. “You should be very worried.”
The Master tightened his grip on the Doctor’s upper arms and the Rani let him go. With a nod at her colleague she flung open the door. The Master hurled the Doctor into the room and took a quick step back as the Rani slammed the door shut.
“Oh!” they heard the Doctor exclaim from beyond the door. “Dinosaur! Very big dinosaur.”
They shared a brief smile at the sound of giant nostrils snuffling out prey. There was a bit of crashing about as the Doctor called out to them, “Not to worry! I’ve dealt with dinosaurs before. I’ll have this one sorted out for you in no time.”
There was another series of bumps and crashes. They strained to hear the glorious sounds of screaming, terror, and/or possible death. It was a disappointment when no such sounds were emitted.
“I don’t think this is going to plan,” the Rani stated. The noise in the room faded off. They waited a moment more for the snap an crunch of TimeLord bones. Instead they heard the low but distinct humming of a sonic screwdriver.
“Oh, he’s not...” the Rani sighed. She rubbed her her temples where she felt a migraine beginning as the Doctor stepped out of the room looking quite chipper. Behind him they could see the dinosaur securely tied down with an assortment of blankets and hawaiian shirts from the closet.
“There, all sorted,” the Doctor grinned as he put his sonic screwdriver back into his jacket pocket. He dusted himself off with the air of a man very pleased with himself.
“He is,” the Master’s shoulders drooped in disappointment. He frowned. “I thought your sonic screwdriver broke.”
“Ah, right. I went without for a number of years, didn’t I? Very silly of me. Made things so much harder. I made a new one. So!” the Doctor clapped his hands together in anticipation. “What’s next?”
“You can take this one with you.”
A push from the Rani had the Master stumbling into the Doctor, who caught him by the shoulder to steady him.
“Take him back to his TARDIS or your TARDIS or Gallifrey or Raxacoricofallapatorius for all I care. Both of you just go away. I’ll be able to fix my ship faster without the two of you bumbling about like the fools you are!”
The Doctor and the Master took a step back as the Rani jabbed a finger in their direction. Without waiting for an answer she turned on her heel and stalked back to the console room. They stood for a moment watching her retreating form and then glanced at each other.
“The Rani appears to be a little on edge today,” the Doctor observed.
“She’s always a spoilsport.”
The Doctor had not removed his hand from the Master’s shoulder and the Master was starting to notice.
“Well,” began the Doctor with a shrug, “I suppose I can take you back to your Tardis. Just a quick drop off. But you had better behave.” The Doctor stuck a finger up to emphasize his point.
The Master smirked. “Always.”
The Doctor muttered something under his breath as he opened the Police box door and motioned the Master through first. Before the Master had the chance to touch anything the Doctor whipped out his screwdriver and set the console controls to isomorphic. Just in case. The Master was looking around disdainfully at the TARDIS’s new look.
“No companion, Doctor?” he asked with a sneer. “No little humans running around to boost your ego with their constant stupidity?”
“I dropped Rose off to visit her mum,” the Doctor replied distractedly. He set in the coordinates and ran around the console pressing buttons. The Master rolled his eyes.
“Still making it into a big production, I see. Driving a TARDIS is not as complicated as you make it out to be.”
The Doctor ignored him and wiggled a few more knobs just to be annoying.
“Would you just engage the time capacitor and hit the accelerator already!”
The Doctor shot him a look. “No one likes a back seat driver.” He engaged the time capacitor and hit accelerate. As the TARDIS took off he turned to face the Master. “And as for big productions, I believe that you, my friend, make everything more complicated than it is.”
The TARDIS landed with it’s usual noise and the Doctor looked disappointed. He didn’t move from his spot at the console. He seemed reluctant that the Master leave. The Master stood awkwardly for a moment as he was stared at. Finally he flicked some invisible lint off his velvet and stepped toward the door.
“Well, Doctor. I fear I must go conquer some worlds. Have fun trying to save them.”
The Doctor sprang into motion as the Master strode down the ramp to the door. He caught up with his fellow TimeLord and grabbed him by the sleeve.
“Wait!”
The Master was startled into stillness. He regarded the Doctor curiously. The Doctor ran his hand up and down the velvet, petting it to sooth his nerves. A touch of concern crept into the Master’s expression.
“Doctor?”
“Oh!” the Doctor removed his hand and stepped back quickly. He schooled his expression into one of neutrality and failed. There was a sadness in his eyes that the Master could not fathom. The Doctor stayed silent and the Master reached out to open the door. He was tackled from behind as the Doctor brought him into a tight hug once again.
“Take care of yourself,” the Doctor pleaded. He rubbed his hands up and down the Master’s back vigorously and then added in a couple of pats. Finally, when he had no more excuses to keep holding on, he took a deep breath and reluctantly pulled himself away. “Not two hearts,” he said sadly. “But you’re so very you, it’s just as good.”
“Right, Doctor,” the Master said uncomfortably. He wondered how he dealt with this Doctor on a regular basis in the future. Maybe they both ended up mad in the end and this was the result. Well, anyway, “I’ll see you soon, I’m sure,” the Master gave his trademark evil smirk.
“Yeah, of course,” the Doctor gave a small wistful smile. “See you soon.”