"You don't have to shout," the Doctor said. "I'm sitting right here. I'm not some random extra in the drama of our lives, you don't have to prove to me how dangerous you are."

His statement threw the Master, who sat quietly for a moment, thinking about everything he'd learned.

The Doctor welcomed the quiet. He needed time to think about what to do here. He was glad that DR hadn't killed the Master, and not just because he didn't want his son to be a murderer, justified or not. The truth was that history showed pretty clearly that killing the Master just made him angry. Eventually, he'd be back. Just look at now, after all. Of course, he realized, the Master might not have actually died in their last confrontation. He'd passed out before seeing Rassilon actually kill the Master; the energy of the Immortality Gate, or perhaps the energy of the link to Gallifrey, one of them had apparently repaired the damage caused by his interrupted resurrection.

But it didn't change the fact that nothing seemed to stop him, death included.

The Master interrupted his reverie. "How did you do it, Theta?"

"How did I do what?" the Doctor asked. "Have children? Honestly, I'm not entirely sure. Well, aside from the obvious."

"Where did you get a loom? They were so tightly controlled even I couldn't get near one."

The Doctor considered how much to tell him. He stared into the Master's face. Twelve regenerations, a stolen body or two, and who knew how many resurrections, and he could still see Koschei's face there, still see the little boys they once were. Part of him screamed at him to run, to get as far away from the Master as possible, but there was a little part of him that had to believe this wasn't all there was. "No loom, Kosch. Those children are a new kind of Time Lord. Not like us. Not like ... them."

"New? In what way? Why aren't they like us? What's so different about them?" The Master looked into the Doctor's face closely and then turned away, unable to look face to face with him for very long without feeling pain and regret, two emotions he couldn't deal with. In truth, there were very few feelings he could handle. The result was that he'd learn to regard those feelings as weaknesses in others and to take advantage of them at every opportunity presented to him.

The Doctor knew what was going through the Master's head, and didn't push him. "They're not afraid, and they don't feel the need to make other people afraid."

The Master stopped grinning in his usual mocking way. He paused to try and absorb what he had just heard. "I find that difficult to fathom Theta. In fact I can't. Tell me, what is a life without fear like?" The Doctor smiled. "I have no idea. But you can't argue with Wonder Man."

The Master snorted at the thought of the Doctor's four year old child thinking he could defeat him. "Actually, he reminded me quite a bit of you when we were younger. Absolutely no sense of the danger he was in."

"None whatsoever." But the Doctor hadn't covered one very important topic. "And speaking of David, you were going to strangle a four year old child. What is WRONG with you?"

The Master realized that he had let his guard down. How did Theta always seem to find that one spot in his hearts that he couldn't erase no matter how hard he tried? 'Damn him,' he thought. The moment was gone now, and the childhood bond between them was broken once more. "Oh come on," he sneered. "I was only threatening to strangle the little monster. After all, look what they did to me. I had to stop them somehow didn't I? You know, if you and that woman are going to raise those little demons, you should really teach them some manners."

The Doctor realized sadly that the moment was gone, that the Master was once more the psychopath he had always been. "You were hardly setting a good example."

"All I did was lock you two up. They started everything else. Look at my hair! How am I ever going to get out all this grease and oil? And my tooth and my nose," he whined, but not very convincingly.

"You can always go into professional hockey," the Doctor said warily, waiting for the shoe to drop.

"Oh, you're very funny aren't you," the Master growled. "You make jokes about my suffering. You have actually become quite cynical, you know that? I really am quite worried about you. If you keep going like this, you're going to end up competing with me." He may have momentarily let his guard down, but he had still managed to take advantage of the Doctor's sentimental weakness towards him., and had worked his hands free while they were talking. Suddenly, he tackled the Doctor, grabbing at his laser screwdriver as he sprang at him. He smiled with satisfaction as he felt the cold metal in his hand. He quickly aimed it at the Doctor. "Release me, or I promise you you're going to lose your head, Theta."

The Doctor had known this moment would come; he couldn't kill the Master, and he couldn't hold him. But there was no reason for the Master's demand; he had the upper hand and didn't need to be released - at least, not physically. The Doctor could feel his hesitation; the Master didn't want to kill him, he just wanted a way out. "Swear to me," he said, "on the friendship we once had, that you'll leave my family alone."

"Do you mean to tell me that you're willing to turn me loose on an innocent universe just to save your family?" The Master laughed. "Maybe there's hope for you after all. Alright then, I'll spare your family, for now." He backed out of the room, still aiming the weapon at the Doctor. In seconds, he was out of sight.

The Doctor let out the breath he'd been holding and made his way over to one of the dynamic coupler outlets. Finding the Master's lockout, he pointed the sonic at it and finally, finally, the cloister bells stopped ringing. "Thank you," he told the TARDIS. "They were driving me mad."

Sarah and their children came running out of the safe room as soon as the bells stopped ringing. "What happened?" she asked as she put her arms around the Doctor's waist and her head on his shoulder.

"I'll tell you later," he told her quickly, as David threw his arms around one of his legs, and Elisabeth grabbed the other one. The rest of the children swarmed around him and started to tell him what had happened to them.

The Doctor bent down and picked David up to make sure he was alright as he listened to the tales of their adventures. He was pretty sure they were embellishing somewhat, but then he thought, 'why not?'

"I was the hero, Daddy," David finally said as they got to the end of the story. "I flashed my super ray at him so you could tie him up," he beamed proudly.

"Yes, you were the hero, and I'm very proud of you." He kissed him on the forehead, then looked at the other children. "I'm very proud of all of you." He winked at Sarah's disapproving look, mentally telling her that they could address the children's leaving the saferoom later.

Elisabeth tugged at his leg. "He was a very bad man, Daddy," she said in her best tattle voice. "He took you and Mummy away, he tried to choke Davy and twisted his arm, and he chased us too!"

Suddenly Sarah Jane, who was laughing now with relief, looked down to see Norman sitting next to her. She bent down, then reached over and stroked him under the chin. "Well done Norman, you're a hero too." Norman began to make a satisfied little gurgling sort of sound as he held his chin higher for Sarah.

"Hooray for Norman, " said Elisabeth. "Three cheers for Norman!"

Everyone began to cheer, finally safe and happy.

Sarah smiled warmly as she looked around at her amazing family. She knew that she and the Doctor would have to sit down with their children and have a long talk with them about all the dangers life could hold. But the Doctor was right. That could wait for now. This was a time for rejoicing and to appreciate being a family.

---

Two months later, the Doctor sat out on the porch watching the simulated Gallifreyan sunset, letting his mind wander. He hadn't seen hide nor hair of the Master, and a little part of him hoped that their encounter had had some kind of positive effect on him. There was no way to know, of course - well, no good way, anyway - but some part of him felt better somehow believing it. Sarah hadn't been thrilled when he'd explained that the Master had disappeared as mysteriously as he'd arrived, but she accepted his explanation that letting him go with a promise, no matter how dubious, was their best chance of having some peace, at least for now.

And gradually, the children had come down from their adventure and things had gone back to normal. Still, they'd spent the past two months letting the TARDIS recover in the vortex, and the Doctor knew that it was time to consider venturing back out into the universe. But when Sarah came out onto the porch and sat down next to him, he kept it to himself.

Sarah smiled at her husband as she leaned back against him and his arms enfolded her. "Lost in thought, my love?"

"Just a little." He kissed the top of her head. "I checked on the TARDIS. The last of the damage from our excavations has healed up."

"I'm so glad to hear that. I really felt terrible about having to do that to her." She ran her fingers over his arm. "It's more than that though, isn't it? You seemed so wistful just now."

He smiled. How well she knew him. "I was just thinking about ... oh, all sorts of things." He took a deep breath, dispelling his pensiveness. "Like the fact that I think it's time we ventured back out of the vortex."

She looked up and gave him a playful smile. "Are you absolutely sure about that?"

He turned her to face him. He suspected he knew the answer, but he asked anyway. "What do you mean?"

Her eyes were twinkling now, as she shrugged at him. "Oh, I don't know, only, maybe it's a little too soon to leave just yet."

Now his eyes were twinkling too. "Lucky number seven?"

She bit her lip and shook her head. "I'm afraid not."

The Doctor tried not to look as disappointed as he felt. "I don't understand. What is it, then?"

Sarah couldn't hold it in any longer. She started laughing with joy. "It's actually lucky numbers seven and eight! The TARDIS just confirmed it a few minutes before I came outside, we're having twins!"

It took a moment for the news to settle in. "Twins? As in ... two? At the same time?"

She nodded, grinning widely at him. "Twins as in two, but they'll be born one right after the other. Too soon to tell yet if it's boys, girls, or one of each."

"Eight!" he shouted, laughing raucously. "Let the Master swing by now!"

"Oh no thank you," laughed Sarah. "He better stay gone for a long time, and now that she's healed, first thing tomorrow, you're going to see to it that we can't get locked in any room of the TARDIS. Got that, Daddy?" she said as she poked at his chest playfully.

"Absolutely, Mummy," he said, then stood, swooped her up in his arms and carried her back into the house.