[voice]

You.

[Someone is not happy to see his face. But she hasn't stabbed the screen with a knife, so maybe it could be worse.]

Leela.

[There are a lot of things he could say. And a lot he probably should, too. But for a moment he's honestly just surprised - and a little relieved - that she's shown up at all.]

Why is it you?

[She glares at Andred, and the screen generally.]

Narvin spoke of 'time disruptions'. He did not say this could be a consequence.

Is that what this seems to be?

[There's honest curiosity, under the general layer of almost-sarcasm that seems to have all but grafted itself to his voice.]

How would I know? Do you believe that Time Lords have gained some new love for explaining anything in words that a person can comprehend while you have been dead? I can tell you they have not. It is much too common.

[She has her own degree of sarcasm, it seems that her husband is still on the list of people who can bring it out with just a few words. She hadn't been in a great mood before he'd popped up.]

If I must see the face of my dead husband, of course it could not be the one I liked.

I can't change who I am. Not this time.

[He is who he is, for better or worse, and even if he wanted to go back to his previous self, it's not something he's capable of. Not short of the Barge's interference anyway, and he isn't sure bringing that up is really going to help any. Instead, there's a pause and then he continues on.]

And it's not that kind of temporal distortion. It's more like... two different realities intersecting?

So you said. Do you have an answer to who you are this time?

[She sounds more tired than angry. Gallifrey has kept her ageless, but it's been a long time. She can't summon the same anger, isn't sure if she wants to. There is no space to hold on to ghosts of the dead in a war. Not when she must fight.

Oh, another word she recognizes, more or less.]

Different realities... [She narrows her eyes at him.] Are you married to Romana?

[He's about to answer the question about whether or not he knows who he is this time, when Leela asks her question about different realities.]

Romana isn't even here. And why would I have wanted to marry her?

[ She knows the Barge's network is glitching, now, but she still freezes when she hears his voice, caught in a maelstrom of furious frustration, helpless protectiveness. ]

Andred?

For better or worse, yes.

[He's still on the Barge, after all. But on the bright side he hasn't gotten misplaced the way some inmates do, which is... a start.]

You haven't disappeared. [ She just...closes her eyes, for a moment, lets herself feel the visceral relief of that.

Then she opens her eyes, and smiles. ] How much better and how much worse?

Where would I vanish to?

[The question is rhetorical: he knows very well - or as well as anyone, anyway - what would happen were he to up and vanish from the Barge. Still, rather than dwell on it, he turns instead to the question she's asked.]

We're in a stolen Barge because the old one needed repairs. Which someone managed to turn inside out, for a while.

[Sure, the latter might not be something that's easily repeatable, but it still happened.]

...And I've been paired again.

[On a more permanent basis, that is.]

[ She does not allow herself to flinch. He knows, she knows, she won't make them feel it too much. ]

...What, again? [ To both of those! Lord. ] Can't leave the Admiral alone for five seconds, can I. [ Her presence probably would not have changed things, and the knowledge is there in the wryness of her smile.

It broadens, then, though there's a certain possessive wariness in it. ]

How are they?

[ He tends to make good choices, when it comes to permanent pairings, but...well, she can't help but worry. She hates so, so much that she isn't there. ]

I'm not sure the Admiral should be left alone.

[Given the sheer amount of completely ridiculous things that happen on a regular basis as it is, and never mind the part where it's entirely possible the Admiral's boss(es) might be hunting them down.]

It's... different? [Not that Andred hadn't been aware that it would be, even if he's not entirely sold on the idea of the Admiral getting things right all the time.] But he's not bad. It's just... harder, this time.

[Not just because he misses Jean, but also because Marty's not psychic, which means he can't just resort to that shortcut, when words don't seem to be quite up to the task.]

I'm glad. That it's not bad, that you're both trying. [ She resents, of course, that it's necessary, but if she can't be there, the Andred damn well deserves someone else who's committed. ]

...You know I'm not overly impressed with the Admiral. In general. But when it comes to pairing people, he seems to know what he's doing.

[There's a non-committal shrug at the first comment. He's trying, and that's something, when he hadn't wanted to before, but he doesn't really like that it's been necessary any more than she does.]

I should hope so.

[It is, after all, one of the things that the Barge seems to be built on.]

Even if it is the only thing he can do right.

Oh, you're being snarky, that's a good sign. [ Gentle teasing, but there's a weight to it. She misses him; she misses the Barge, for all its flaws.

The smile fades, then. She doesn't know how much time she has, and she needs to say this, to make damn sure he knows. ]

I didn't want to leave you, Andred. To come home before we were done. Not just because of D'Bari, either.

I didn't know I'd stopped.

[But he knows what she means, and how she means it. It's comforting, too, in a sense. For all that he's managed to get along well enough on the Barge, there's still a part of him that that misses her in turn.]

But the Admiral had other ideas?

[It's a reasonable assumption, given that he doesn't really know much about how wardens tend to leave the Barge.]

[ After a moment, she shakes her head. ] It's easy to be angry at him, but...I don't think he has that much control over it. I'm...he knows how much I love the Barge, how powerfully I'd defend it. Sending me home doesn't make sense, from that angle.

Iris always thought the ship just lost her grip on people, inmates or wardens. ...Ford and I - have you ever talked to Ford? He's trying to figure out how more of it works. Find ways to help people that don't backfire on everyone.

A bit? But I don't think he's making a lot of progress.

[Some, yes. But it's not solved by a long shot, either.]

He's not, because the Barge doesn't make any sense and it isn't built to be altered. But...I think it's still worth trying. Even if it's just small discoveries, small changes. [ Scraps of comfort and stability still mean something. ]

We were discussing the possibility that there's some kind of...intermediary, who anchors us to the Barge. He thought it was a matter of payment, and it running dry when people disappear; I thought maybe...it's just that they couldn't sustain us. So it wouldn't be the Admiral taking advantage, being callously selfish; it just...meant there was a limit to what he, and they, could achieve. Like anyone else.

Why would someone pay to keep anyone here?

[And he's not sure he really likes some of the implications, either. It might not be impossible, sure, but given that he's already stuck on the Barge as it is, it's not really a comfortable thought.]

Either entertainment [ and her lips scowl disdainfully around that possibility ] or...the closest thing to altruism that's available. [ That, she can sympathise with. ]

I don't think I want to be someone's entertainment.

[Altruism is... better, although even then he's far more used to the self-serving sort of altruism that had been entirely too common on Gallifrey than anything more genuinely meant.]

I don't want that for any of you. [ But him especially. Even if she's not technically his Warden anymore. ]

If I knew that was going on, Phoenix and the Admiral would be having some words. [ She'd risk pushing, for that. ]

But we don't. All we really know is that people are taken away, even when...when we aren't finished.

I've noticed.

[He's not annoyed at her, though. Just annoyed that it's a thing that happens.]

And of course the Admiral isn't exactly going to tell us why.

[Or do anything to change it, he suspects.]

Definitely not in all the years I was there. [ So she doesn't take the annoyance personally. She's been annoyed, and worse, for such a long time.

She hesitates, for a moment. ] I know I can't - help, anymore. And I don't know how long it'll be before we can talk again, if we even do, but.

If you do graduate - and you will, if you don't disappear, I know you will - then...you're very welcome to come visit. Iris knows how. [ Suddenly, her eyes widen, brighten, both hopeful and mischievous. ] Heck, I bet she could show you how. Maybe help you steal a TARDIS...

[ guess who gives zero fucks about Gallifrey's legal system it's her ]

It probably depends on the Admiral.

[When they'll next be able to talk to each other that is, not whether or not he'll graduate. Admittedly, he has his doubts about the latter, but even without that the Barge is... not the worst place to be, for all that he still chafes at not being able to go where he wants. Or when he wants, although that is somewhat less important in his mind, just at the moment. True, it would be nice. But it also rather involves being able to go anywhere at all, which is something he still has yet to manage.]

I did ask Romana why I couldn't just take one and leave.

[And given that he's also absolutely Done with pretty much every aspect of Gallifrey, he doesn't have any objections to the idea of just stealing one. Even if the Doctor did do it first.]

I'll be periodically annoyed in his general direction until it happens again. ...Moreso. [ She's smiling, but it's a very stubborn smile. You can damn well bet she'll set aside half an hour of meditation for this. ]

And Romana doesn't have to know about it. [ There's no venom in her voice; she doesn't have anything against Romana specifically. (Pandora, that's another matter.) There's no hint of reluctance either, though. ]

Probably easier to grab one of the old, abandoned ones...[ And now her tone is both disdainful and wistful. No, she does not approve of that practice at all, Gallifrey. ]

That might be a while.

[Not that he doubts Jean's willingness to do so, of course. But even so, it's not like the Admiral seems to be inclined to keep to anything even remotely like a schedule.]

And... that would be easier?

[Finding one that's still functional, or mostly so, might be trickier, but until he actually graduates the point is largely moot.]

I can keep up a routine for a very long time. [ Phoenix is immortal too, Admiral, and don't you forget it. ]

I bet we could buy you time to look around, find the right one. If that's what you decide. ...I think - having something to look forward to will help, Andred. Knowing you've got a future, one full of wonder, and possibilities, and - people who will love you. [ Like I do, is what she isn't saying.

It doesn't matter that the Admiral severed the official connection; he's one of hers, now, always will be. ]

You might have to.

[Still, there's the idea of a smile, at the idea of the Admiral having possibly met his match when it comes to being willing to wait forever.]

And... I wouldn't mind?

[If he's going to be traveling across all of time and space, best to do it in a TARDIS he gets along with.]

Torv--

Andred?

[He knew that face as Torvald for longer than he knew it as Andred, and in his surprise at seeing him alive he slips.]

Surprised to see me again, Coordinator?

[For now, he's not addressing the question of how he's alive again. If Narvin doesn't know about the Barge already, he doesn't see any reason he has to immediately jump to the relevant explanations]

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