But you were history with the slamming of the door 
And I made myself so strong again somehow 
And I never wasted any of my time on you since then...


But if I touch you like this and if you kiss me like that 
It was so long ago but it's all coming back to me 
If you touch me like this and if I kiss you like that 
It was gone wth the wind but it's all coming back to me...
          --Celine Dion



Chapter 12:  COMING BACK



          Theo stood her ground, looking distinctly unimpressed with Seth's
roaring charge.  She extended an arm towards him and he checked up short,
hanging in midair with a stunned expression on his face.  Theo curled her
fingers into a fist and Ace stared, amazed, as the front of Seth's tunic
bunched up as if she were physically grasping it in her fingers.  Theo
whipped her arm around and Seth followed it like a rag doll in a dog's
mouth.  She flung him to the floor and pinned him there.
          "That's enough, Seth," she said calmly, leaning over him.
          He was still trying to get his wind back from being slammed to
the ground.  "It'll never be enough," he gasped, coughing.
          Her face darkened.  "I've stood by as long as I could stand to
but I won't let you interfere with these people any longer!"
          Seth's lips curled into a sarcastic smirk.  "Get over yourself. 
You couldn't *wait* for an excuse to come down here in your best 'protector
of the realm' attitude and pick a fight with me."
          She drew back a bit.  "That is ridiculous to the point of lunacy."
          "Is it?"  With a grunt he pushed her off and scrambled to his
feet.  Theo lost her footing and went sprawling.  "Maybe it is, but it
doesn't matter anyway.  We're too far gone to worry about reasons."
          Theo looked up at him from the floor.  Ace cast a worried glance
at the Doctor, who returned it.  The usual confidence was gone from Theo's
face and she looked unguarded and confused.  "Are we, Seth?  Is it too late
to take it back?"
          An unidentifiable expression flickered across his angry face and
was gone.  "It would seem to be," he said tightly, and then rushed at her.
          What followed defies verbal description, in point of fact it
almost defied perception by mortal eyes.  Ace's impression was that of a
great deal of motion and energy being expended.  For a time the two
champions of opposing forces stood far apart, fighting each other using
only the energy of the powers they represented.  The resulting display was
almost blinding and one couldn't watch for too long.  For a time they
fought hand-to-hand as mortals would, but moving much more quickly.
          Ace couldn't take her eyes off it.  She could feel the Doctor's
hand on her shoulder, and that he was equally transfixed, and she was
peripherally aware of Romana on the Doctor's other side and Byron on *her*
other side, holding the unconscious Garner in his arms...but all her
attention was focused into the center of the lab.  
          "This has been a long time coming," the Doctor whispered into her
ear.  She nodded numbly, watching as Theo knocked Seth onto the floor and
he, without missing a beat, swept her legs out from beneath her with an
arm...and the fight continued.
          Minutes passed.  The roar of energy discharges and the smell of
ozone hung in the air...and Ace couldn't shake the feeling that the fight
did not go well for Theo.  Both of them appeared to be tiring, but it
seemed to Ace that Theo was not only tiring, but losing heart.
          "Shouldn't we help her?" she whispered to the Doctor.  He started
to answer but was cut off.
          "No," said a new voice.  They all turned quickly, startled, to
see Angel crouched behind them.  Ace wondered how long he'd been there. 
"This is their fight.  Whatever conflicts they've had in the past since his
conversion, they've all been building to this.  Never have they faced each
other directly, one to one.  We must not interfere."
          "But what if she loses?" Ace hissed.
          "She is aware of the risks.  It is not our place to tell her
whether she should continue."
          Ace glared at him.  "If I didn't know better, Angel, I might
think you wanted her to lose!"  The Doctor cast an alarmed look at her.
          Angel held up a hand.  "It's all right, Doctor.  I take it, Ace,
that you're implying I might be after her job?  Trust me, I wouldn't want
it...nor would I be suited to it.  Theo is just as precious to me as she is
to you, at least."  He watched as the fight continued, his expression far
away.  "And don't worry, she won't lose."
          "How can you be sure of that?" the Doctor asked.
          "Because she is stronger.  And because she isn't trying to win." 
The other three observers stared at him, puzzled, but the Doctor seemed to
understand.  "The fight serves another purpose."
          "What?" Ace asked, frustrated by confusion.
          "If she's able to wear him down enough..."  the Doctor began,
then looked up at Angel.  "He won't be able to resist, will he?"
          Angel shrugged.  "If I know Theo, and I know her well, she can't
ignore the opportunity."
          Ace opened her mouth to ask what the hell they were talking about
when they all jumped at the sound of a loud cry and turned back to the
unfolding scene.  The sight that met their eyes was alarming.  Theo was in
a half-kneeling, half-crouching position with Seth standing over her.  He
had her head between his hands, one on top and one underneath her jawline. 
His fingers sizzled with plasma energy and Theo's face was contorted into a
fearful grimace of pain and struggle.  Her hands reached blindly forward
and somehow she got one around his neck, but she couldn't seem to muster
enough energy to affect him.  Another strangled cry escaped her lips as
Seth forced her onto the floor.
          Ace wheeled on Angel.  "Do something!"
          He shook his head.  "I can't."
          "Then I will!" she cried and started forward.  Angel reached
forward and pulled her back.  "Dammit Angel, lemme go!"
          "I will not.  This is not your fight, or mine, or anyone else's."
          "Precious comfort that'll be to the universe if he kills her!"
          "I'm telling you:  she won't die."
          Ace watched the ongoing struggle, desperate to do something,
anything, to help but aware that there was little she could contribute.
          Theo looked up into Seth's face through a haze of pain and
plasma.  His features were contorted in rage and effort, and she saw
nothing there of the man she'd loved.  That, more than anything, gave her
the strength to do what she'd really come here to do.
          She drew one hand back and shut her eyes, praying she still had
enough left to manage it.  To shake him she needed a burst of the purest
energy she could muster, and it had to be stronger than anything she'd ever
managed before.  Her hand flickered once, weakly.  A sob tore out of her
throat...that wasn't even close.
          Seth's hands were pressing on her head, painful jolts coursing
through her body.  I can't do it, her little voice whispered.  I have
to...I have to be able to reach him.  Her eyes opened slightly and locked
with Angel's.  I don't know if I can do it, she whispered to his mind.  I'm
too spent.  He has taken too much from me, I've waited too long.
          You *can* do it, she heard him reply inside her head.
          I've got nothing left.
          You can ask for help.  It doesn't mean you're weak to admit you
need it.
          No one can help me.  I am the one who helps...I cannot be helped.
          Angel closed his eyes for a moment, the split second decision an
easy one.  *I* can help you, he said.
          Theo's back bowed further under Seth's assault.  His eyes filled
with cautious triumph as he felt her weakening.  She pushed the struggle
away with an effort.  How can *you* help me, Angel?  Your power comes from
me!
          You're wrong, he said.  I can help you...if you need me to.
          Theo gave up arguing.  I need you, she whispered to him.  She
turned her face towards him in time to see an extraordinary thing happen.
          He rose to his feet and raised his arms.  An eerie blue light
began to shine from his eyes and soon enveloped his whole body, which grew
translucent and elongated and only barely recognizable as humanoid...except
for the eyes.  Angel's eyes.  Theo understood that she was the only one
seeing this...and that she was looking at an Eternal.  *The* Eternal. 
Universe.  The one no one was sure existed...except here he was.  The
ephemeral form floated forward and extended what had been Angel's arm to
touch her forehead.  It was like being touched by warm fog.  Theo felt a
strange sensation...she'd expected to be re-energized but that wasn't what
happened.  Instead it was as if Universe extended a bit of his impartiality
to her.  Nothing physical could affect Universe, and for a moment neither
could it affect her.  Seth's attack did not cease, but it did cease to
matter.  In that moment she was untouchable, and she could reach her own
strength.  Her right hand glowed a blinding white, the energy coming
straight from her soul, and with a cry she swung it forward and thrust it
directly into Seth's chest.
          He went completely rigid, his hands flying away from Theo's head. 
She got to her feet and backed away, white light still pouring from her
hand into Seth's chest.  She spared a glance over at Angel...he was still
crouched behind Ace just where he'd been, no indication that he'd assisted
her in any way.  She released Seth and he slumped to the floor.
          Silence fell, and it was deafening.  No one seemed to even be
breathing.  Theo stood watching him, crouched there on the floor.  It was
now or never.
          "Seth?"
          He raised his head slowly to look at her.  Even from twenty feet
away, they could see him shaking.  She came forward and knelt next to him. 
Carefully, deliberately, she picked up one of his hands and pressed it to
her heart.  He didn't resist.
          "Can you hear me?"
          "Of course I can hear you," he said hoarsely.
          "Not you," she said.  "I am speaking now to Seth, the real Seth. 
I know you exist.  I know you are there and I know you can hear me."  Her
words fell in a slow cadence, no malice evident.
          He snatched his hand away and scooted away a few feet.  "What
are...what do you...are you afraid to fight me?!?" he finally cried.
          "I'm not afraid," she said calmly.  "I don't wish to fight you,
I'm trying to save you.  Please, before it's too late."  She leaned forward
and extended a hand, at the same time fixing his eyes with a powerful gaze. 
She began probing his mind as forcefully as she dared, moving slightly
towards him.  "I feel you, Seth.  I feel you in there.  You've been locked
away for so long.  It's time to come home..."
          Seth clenched both hands at the sides of his head.  "You tricked
me," he managed through clenched teeth.  "Get out of my head!"
          "No tricks.  No plans, no strategies.  I've come for you."  She
extended her other hand as well.  "Please," she said, a note of pleading
entering her voice.  She intensified the mental pressure.  He squinched his
eyes tightly shut and moaned.  "Let me in...let me back in."
          "No...your Seth is dead!" he shrieked, a clear note of panic in
the cry.
          "He can't be.  I know he is not."  She spoke in a low voice, the
tone one might use to calm a frightened child.  "Seth...I know you've been
waiting a long time, wondering why I didn't come for you..."  Her voice
cracked a bit but she recovered quickly.  "Well, I'm here now.  I told you
I would never leave you, and I won't."
          Seth's eyes, wide as saucers, stared sightlessly through her.  He
was quaking like a leaf and his chest heaved in and out, rasping sobs
tearing out of his throat with each breath.
          Theo lowered her head, her eyes widening as she locked eyes with
him.  The muscles in her jaw worked as she hit Seth with everything she
had.  He stiffened and his limbs began to spasm.  It was difficult to
watch.  Ace stared at Theo, awestruck.  Her cape and her clothing billowed
around her though the room was still, an unearthly light suffusing her
features.  This was the being of power who existed inside the body of a
human woman and who rarely showed her real face.  
          "Now!" Theo cried, her voice booming.  She thrust both arms
forward, palms facing each other, and...something...passed out of her, or
perhaps through her.  It was invisible yet sensible, like a pressure wave
of sheer energy.  It struck Seth and he snapped up to a kneeling position,
his arms thrown wide and his head flung back, and let loose a deafening
roar that didn't sound like anything a human could produce, and indeed it
was not.  It was the voice of Legion, the dark power that had swallowed a
good man whole, and hearing it carried a chilly, oily feeling of palpable
evil.  Theo shivered at the sound of it but didn't let up.  Her head began
to throb like a rotted tooth...even she had her limits, especially when it
came to mental exertion, and she was nearing them now.  She was marginally
aware that the dozen-odd onlookers were covering their ears in a vain
attempt to shut out Seth's cry, but they could hear it in their minds and
souls as well as with their ears.
          Theo's eyes widened...Seth's features were shifting.  Melting and
reforming like warm wax, flowing into something whose form was yet
unidentified.  The roar continued far longer than any mortal lungs could
have sustained it, and without warning hit a crescendo as a huge shock wave
suddenly emanated from Seth's body.  It knocked Theo clear off her feet. 
She heard an ear-splitting crash and realized that the dome over the lab
had shattered.  Everyone ducked and covered their heads as huge shards of
clear polymer rained down on the laboratory floor.  The planet's winds
raced across the now-exposed top floor of the Science Complex, whipped into
a frenzy by the forces being expended there.  Theo cast a cautious glance
skyward.  The twin suns were blotted out by a large black stormcloud
swirling directly overhead.  Seth lay in a crumpled heap some yards away,
but it was not he who captured her attention.  Hanging in the air above her
head was an energy field, self-contained and glowing a vile deep wine red.
          "What's that?" Romana asked, shouting to be heard over the
howling of the fierce winds.
          "That's what used to be Seth.  What's been speaking for him and
wearing his face," the Doctor shouted back.  Ace was helping Byron shield
Garner...the winds were tearing all kinds of equipment and loose items free
from them moorings and sending them flying around the lab, or what was left
of it.
          Lightning crackled within the energy field and between it and the
stormcloud.  Theo stared up into it, wondering what the hell to do next. 
She lifted off the ground and hovered at eye level with the field.  To
Ace's relief she didn't look frightened or unsure...just pissed off.  "Who
are you?"
          The energy field answered her.  "Many have asked that of me."
          "And how did you answer them?"
          "Most are not worthy to hear the answer."
          "Am I?"
          The field seemed to consider.  "Yes."
          "Then tell me!"
          "My name is Legion...for we are many."
          Theo felt the hairs rise along the back of her neck.  "You have
no place among the living!" she shouted.
          Amazingly, the energy field laughed...a low, malevolent chuckle. 
Its voice seemed to come from all around them and sounded like nothing that
should ever have seen the light of day.  "No place?  I was created *by* the
living, Guardian!  I AM the living!  You can never defeat me, for I am
woven through the tapestry of all life!"
          "You may be...but so am I," Theo said, and then she vanished in a
flash of light, leaving behind an identical white energy field which
immediately merged with the red one.  More lightning crackled all through
the combined fields as they moved upwards away from the building.
          Angel stood and ran to the center of the room, staring upward. 
The Doctor and Ace joined him.  "Have you ever seen anything like this
before?" the Doctor asked quietly, for the winds had died down, seeming to
follow the energy fields as they rose into the sky.
          Angel shook his head.  "No."
          "What the hell's going on?" Ace demanded.  "Where's Theo?"
          "She's there," Angel said, pointing upwards.  "She's still
fighting him.  She won't give up, even though she must know that the only
possible outcome is stalemate."
          "Why stalemate?" Romana asked, coming to stand beside them.
          Angel sighed.  "What is good without evil?  Where is morality
without free will?  Ours is a universe of balances:  energy and mass, light
and darkness...yin and yang, if you will.  One cannot exist without the
other."
          Ace felt her gaze drawn to her husband's face.  He was looking
back at her, her very thoughts echoed in his eyes.  She looked away
quickly.  The Doctor glanced briefly over at the Master, still sitting
handcuffed near the Captain's TARDIS under guard.  He only scowled back.  
          "Will she come back?" Ace asked softly.
          Angel smiled down at her.  "I hope so."
          As if on cue, a huge thunderclap and blast of plasma energy
exploded far overhead, making them all jump.  They stared skyward,
searching for some sign of what might have happened.  "There!" Romana said,
pointing.  They followed her finger to see the white energy field, far off
and descending.  Within a minute it had reached the lab and hovered there
for a brief moment before collapsing in a bright white flash.  From out of
the air where the field had been, Theo appeared to crash to the floor in a
heap.  She sat up, rubbing her hip.  "Damn, that smarts," she muttered. 
Angel rushed to her side.
          "Are you all right?" he asked.  She brushed him aside.
          "Yeah, yeah, I'll live."  She pushed away and moved towards Seth,
whom they had all forgotten...he was stirring now.  He shifted and got an
arm underneath him to push himself into a sitting position.  He rubbed a
hand over his face and then turned towards them.  It was Seth's real face,
the original one, the one they'd not seen since he had vacated his body and
jumped his consciousness into Tegan some fourteen months earlier.  Theo
took a cautious step forward.  "Seth?" she said tentatively.  He looked up
at her, his face confused but aware.  There was no trace of the earlier
malevolence or of Seth's familiar contempt.
          He stood with some effort.  "Theo?" he said, his voice shaky but
human-sounding.  Ace swallowed past a lump in her throat as she watched
Theo's lower lip begin to tremble.  Seth looked down at himself.  "I'm
here," he said, sounding surprised to find himself in his own body.  He
raised his eyes to scan the heavens, then looked back at Theo.  "Is he
gone?" he asked.
          Theo nodded.  "Yes.  He's gone."  
          Seth tried on a smile, then it widened.  With a half-sob, Theo
rushed forward and threw her arms around him.  Seth immediately returned
the embrace, clinging to her gratefully.  The others turned away politely
as they kissed and greeted each other for the first time in over four
years.
          "Will he be all right?" the Doctor asked, low.
          Angel shrugged.  "I honestly don't know.  No one has ever been
recovered after that long and extensive a conversion.  He'll have to be
carefully monitored.  I really hope I'm wrong, but I'm not optimistic."
          "It'd be very easy for him to get re-taken, wouldn't it?" Ace asked.
          Angel nodded slightly.  "But we'll take every precaution to make
sure that doesn't happen," he said.  Theo was leading Seth over to the
group.
          "Angel, Doctor, everyone...I'd like you to meet Seth.  The real Seth."
          He smiled at everyone and shook their hands.  Ace grinned warmly
at him, glad for Theo that he was back...but when he looked at her and
spoke to her, her smile faltered.  She stepped back quickly.  No one
noticed, there were now about three conversations going on at once...the
Doctor talking to Theo, Romana barking orders at the Captain, Angel talking
to Seth.  Ace moved away to the old collector control platform where Byron
was examining Garner.  "He okay?" she asked, still looking back to where
Seth was smiling and talking with the others.
          "For now," Byron answered.  "We can take him out of stasis back
at the Gardens once we've neutralized the toxin."  He continued his
examination.  "What's wrong?"
          Ace looked at him.  "What makes you think something is?"
          He shot her a glance.  "I saw the way you reacted to him.  What
did you see?"
          "Nothing...more what I sensed."  He looked puzzled.  "I've got
something in my head," she said.  "Leftover from an earlier incident. 
Makes me able to sense Legion pretty well."
          "And you sense it in him."
          She sighed.  It was all the confirmation Byron needed.
          "But...Theo should know, shouldn't she?" he asked.
          Ace shifted her gaze to Theo, her face aglow with happiness. 
"She does know," she said softly.
          "Oh, come on."
          "Come on yourself!  If *I* can sense it, you think she can't? 
She knows he's going to revert...probably very soon.  Perhaps any moment."
          Byron thought for a moment.  "And she'd like to be with him for
as long as she can while he's still here."
          Ace nodded.  "I sympathize," was all she said.  It was all she
had time to say, for at that moment a buzzer on the control panel went off. 
Everyone looked around as Byron jumped to the readouts.
          "There's a ship entering orbit," he called back.
          "A ship?" the Doctor said.  He whirled on the Master.  "Expecting
company?"
          The Master was staring skyward, a look of dread on his face. 
"They can't have found me already..." he said hoarsely. 
          "Who?" Romana demanded.
          "Garner told me that for the last year the Master's been
terrified of being found," Byron said.  "He installed all these warning
systems to alert him to any incoming vessels but would never say who he was
afraid of."
          "Could it just be a supply ship or a passing transport?" Ace asked.
          Byron snorted.  "You're in the ass-end of the sector, Ace.  No
one ever comes here...either on purpose or by accident."  He bent over the
readouts again.  "The ship is entering the atmosphere directly above the
city," he said and cast his own eyes upward.  A few beats of silence passed
as they all scanned the heavens, then the faint sound of rockets came to
their ears.  The sound grew louder and louder, and a vague shape appeared
through the clouds and grew more distinct.  The rocket noise became a
deafening roar as the ship broke through the clouds. 
          "Who are they?" Byron yelled.
          "Bloody Daleks!" Ace yelled back.  The console beeped again.
          "Receiving transmission," Byron shouted.  "It says:  We come for
the Time Lord known as the Master.  He is to stand trial for crimes against
the Dalek race.  Surrender the Time Lord or be exterminated.  End message."
          "Talk about a deus ex machina," Ace muttered.
          The Master stood ramrod stiff, his face an expressionless mask. 
"Well, Doctor?  Are you going to give me to them?"
          A transmat beam's soft glow enveloped the Master's form.  "It
doesn't appear I have any choice," the Doctor replied as his nemesis
vanished.  The Dalek ship, having gotten what it came for, immediately rose
into the clouds and was gone just as quickly as it had come.
          For a few moments they all stood around looking at each other,
scarcely able to believe this strange and unbelievably timed turn of
events.
          Theo broke the silence.  "Well...it seems things are wrapping up. 
As for me, my job here is finished I must move along.  I'll just collect my
troops and we'll be off.  Give me a hand, Seth?"
          They all looked towards Seth, standing a few feet away with his
back to them.  He turned, his eyebrow cocked in a familiar smirk of playful
malice.  "Haven't I made your job easy enough for one day, my dear?  My
troops have no doubt already made short work of yours."
          They all saw Theo's shoulders sag in dejection, but no surprise
was evident on her face.  Ace's heart went out to her friend, who'd been
given such a brief moment of happiness only to have it yanked away.  In
truth, no one looked really surprised, just sad.  "Couldn't stay away,
could you?" Theo said.
          He walked up to her, and spoke in an uncharacteristically gentle
tone.  "I really am sorry, Theo.  I know you loved me..."  Here he
hesitated.  "...and I you.  But surely now you must realize that I can no
longer be recovered."
          She nodded.  "Yes, I realize that."  She lowered her head and
swiped the back of her hand across her eyes.  "I don't think I ever really
thought you could be recovered...but I had to try."
          "And a valiant effort it was, I appreciated it."
          She frowned.  "You did?"
          He sighed.  "I remember what it was like to be good.  I remember
that it *felt* good, and I was sorry to lose it, and to lose you.  Of
course those feelings no longer have any relevance for me, but I am
grateful that you tried to save me, misguided though the attempt might have
been."
          "Misguided?  What about your attempt to help that lunatic Time Lord?"
          They began walking back towards the doors.  "All right, granted,
that wasn't too smart.  But hey, no harm done!"
          "No harm done?  How can even you say that?  Look around at this
planet!"
          "Seems like a lovely vacation spot to me..."  Their voices and
their forms, still arguing, gradually faded away to nothing and were gone. 
Angel turned to the remaining mortals with a shrug.
          "Unfortunately, it seems some things will never change.  Till
next time!"  Then he too vanished.  A great silence fell over the Science
Complex.  The sounds of fighting that had greeted them when they arrived
had ceased.  The Doctor wandered to the edge of the laboratory floor and
stared out at the city below.
          "So what happens now?" Ace mused to herself.
          "Well, the Master's gone, the Legion are gone, no one's being
held prisoner against their will...I'd say nothing happens now," Romana
replied.
          Byron had returned Garner's side.  "We need to get him back to
the Gardens," he said.  Romana knelt and put her hand on Garner's cheek.  
          "Poor Garner.  He missed all of this."
          "I'm sure he'll enjoy hearing about it," Byron said, lifting his
commander in his arms.  "When he wakes up he'll know what to do about the
colony.  He's been planning for such an eventuality for years."
          Romana led Byron to the Captain and gave him orders to escort the
freedom fighters back to the Gardens, along with Felix and his soldiers who
were presumably still in the basement with the remains of the Master's
would-be biomatrix.  In a few minutes they were gone.
          The Doctor and Ace were left standing awkwardly in the middle of
the floor together, scarcely able to meet each other's eyes.
          "You risked your life to save me," he said, low.  She did not
reply.  "Was that wise?"
          She sighed and shook her head.  "Now that's gratitude.  I save
your arse and all you can do is question my intelligence?"
          The Doctor stammered a bit, unsure what to say.  "That's not what
I meant...I don't know what..."
          "It's all right, I know what you meant," she said with a lopsided
smile.   A more companionable silence fell between them.  He looked up at
her, his hearts in his eyes.  Ace took a step back, a door slamming down
over her face.
          He started to speak but she held up a hand.  "Not now, Doctor."
          "That's what you said before.  If not now, when?  Will there ever
be a *perfect* moment?"
          "I don't know, all I know is that right now I simply can't think
about it.  Too much has just happened.  Let's just get back to the Gardens
and catch our breath...and you still need medical attention."
          "I'm fine, I just..."
          "Doctor, please!"  She sighed.  "Gimme a break, will you?"  She
started to walk towards the double doors beyond which lay Romana's TARDIS.
          "Just tell me one thing," he called after her.  She stopped and
turned.
          "What?"
          He came forward and hesitated before speaking.  "Is it over?  Are
we over?"
          Her throat worked.  "I don't know," she said flatly, her eyes
downcast.
          He nodded sadly and walked past her.  Romana, who'd been hanging
considerately back after the Captain left, joined him at the door.
          Ace pressed a hand to her forehead for a moment, collecting
herself, then started after them.  She'd gone a few steps when a strange
feeling rippled across her.  She stopped and cocked her head, waiting. 
Nothing.  She took a few more steps and then an agonizing pain ripped
across her abdomen.  She doubled over with a cry. 
          The Doctor and Romana turned in alarm to see her struggling
forward...with blood running down her legs.
          No, no, no...a voice inside Ace's head screamed.  She
instinctively knew what was happening.  No, Kathleen!  No!  Another cramp
wracked her stomach and this time she screamed.  She looked up and met the
Doctor's staring, shocked eyes...the moment, though surely no more than a
fraction of a second, seemed to stretch out to infinity.  As she saw in his
eyes comprehension of what was happening to her and all the implications
therein, a thousand emotions flew past his gaze.  In that moment, he knew
everything.
          The Doctor and Romana both reached out to her, saying
simultaneously "Ace!  Let me help you!"  Hearing each other, they both
froze, looking first at each other then at Ace.
          In between cramps, Ace looked helplessly from one to the other,
her hand reaching out for assistance but undecided who would render it. 
Romana would never hurt her.  Romana could be trusted with whatever needed
to be done.  Romana would stick by her no matter what.
          Another wave of pain washed over her and she realized that there
had never been a real question in her heart and mind as to whom she needed
most in such a dire momemt.  She collapsed forward, reaching out to the
Doctor, who stepped forward and caught her.  He swept her up into his arms
and carried her quickly into the TARDIS while Romana followed behind.