Imaginary Worlds

"My day? I finished paperwork, conducted interviews, forgot to eat lunch, fired an idiot losing me money, held a few meetings, and made a business deal I think I screwed myself over in." the Doctor recited.

All in all? A busy day. But what more could be expected of him?

"Why don't you ever ask me to attend these meetings? I'm good at this sort of thing," the Master complained because he wanted to be able to stop the man from being ripped off.

"Next time call me, I can help," the Master insisted because it just seemed like something he could help with.

"You were watching Marnal for me. I wasn't about to ask for you to attend the meeting with me instead, It was only a few hundred." he mumbled. Well...Hundred thousand, but those extra zeroes could be ignored as it was based upon a long term gain.

"It doesn't matter. Promise. What matters is that I was able to come home and actually see you and have a chance to relax." the Doctor assured.

"Well fine but in future," the Master warned because he wanted to do something to help the man avoid being conned, it wasn't something that he enjoyed happening.

"When do you get a day off? I mean, I may not be around for a while with Koschei so I can have Marnal around but I think he wants your company," the Master pointed out to him.

"I'm going to take one soon." the Doctor assured softly, shrugging. And he would leave it at that. Because he knew Marnal wanted time with him, even after their impromptu vacation.

It was enough to bother him a bit. Alright. It bothered him a lot, but the only options to fixing it really were either finding a different job or not working, and he really hated being idle.

"Don't worry about it, you spent two weeks with him," the Master pointed out, it was needless to overly worry about such a trivial matter as a few days.

Parents had to work, a sad but true fact of life. "I need an early night tonight so if you want to sit up, don't let me bore you."

"Don't worry about it. I just have a few things to do." he assured softly. The Doctor would go to bed then. "Starting with taking care of my son." he murmured, heading to locate the lad.

"Hey. It's time for a bath and bed." the Doctor informed lightly. He was being pleasant and nice. That was all that really mattered, right?

Marnal looked up and nodded, putting his dinosaurs into his toybox before getting to his feet. He wasn't going to argue, it was getting late and he was pretty tired.

"Can I have a story?" Marnal asked with a frown, not sure if his father was busy or not.

The Doctor smiled softly and shook his head. "Don't worry. You're getting a story. And you can't tell anybody, even Mr. Saxon, but I'm going to try and get a job teaching again for you." he murmured.

He'd already hired a few people that would help him run the lab. The catch was getting a position at the local public school. He could do it.

"You said you didn't like teaching?" Marnal pointed out because he did listen to his dad, course he'd love him to get a job at a school again but the Doctor didn't like the idea before.

"Do you like teaching again? Cause you're good at it," Marnal insisted, he sat in on a lot of the classes and he liked his dads teaching.

"It isn't my favorite. But I want you to be happy this time. If that means that I need to teach for a few more years, then so be it." the Doctor assured firmly.

And that's all it would be. A few more years teaching until Marnal was able to handle him working a different schedule. The Doctor could deal with that.

"So you can spend more time with me?" Marnal couldn't help but grin at that because as selfish as it was, kids didn't really think like that, they wanted to be happy as much as anyone.

And yes, that did include things like them spending time together, even if the Doctor had to do something he didn't like. Marnal reasoned he couldn't hate it that much if he was willing to do it again.

The Doctor sighed softly and shook his head a bit. Right. Marnal wouldn't get it. That wasn't the point.

"Come on. I ran you a bath. Take your clothes and go get clean. Then we can share a story and the like." the Doctor assured. And it was that simple.

Marnal took a bath quickly and once he was out, the Master headed inside to use the shower right away. Marnal was soon dressed and ready for bed, waiting for his dad to join him.

"Can you read the one about spacemen tonight?" Marnal asked with a curious expression, it had nice pictures of the stars and he always liked looking at them.

The Doctor nodded softly and grabbed the proper book. It wasn't his favorite. Something about it bothered him and rubbed him the wrong way.

He read it anyway, tucking Marnal in afterward and slipping out to let his son sleep. He just had to make a phone call, setting up the sitter before heading to his room to settle in.

The Master lay on his bed, reading the book on memory to try and lull himself to sleep. Course it wasn't working but it was worth a shot, he was never good at early nights.

"Back are we?" the Master remarked as he dropped the book and smiled. "He asleep then?"

"Asleep and happy. Not much else I can ask for. I have to leave early again, but I have a sitter coming about." he assured. In other words? Don't flip out if some stranger is in the house upon the Master waking.

There wasn't much else that the Doctor could go with. He didn't want the Master stuck dealing with Marnal or waiting for a sitter to come about.

"I have to be up at 7am to get ready to fetch Kosch, I'm sure I'll be gone about the same time as you," the Master pointed out, either way, he wouldn't have much chance to say bye to Marnal.

"Set the alarm for 6 and we can have breakfast together," the Master more joked than anything, doubting either of them would have time to actually make a proper breakfast.

"I'm set to be up at five actually." the Doctor murmured softly. He didn't think that would be a time his boyfriend wanted to be up and about.

"Don't worry. I'll be gone at six and I'll see you again...Well, either at work or next weekend, I suppose." the Doctor murmured. That was sort of how it worked.

"What business opens at five? Seriously, John, your employees must hate you. And if it's just you going in? Waste of time," the Master mocked because 5am was a stupid time to go to work.

Few services opened until 7am so ruining a business at that time was rather awkward, the Master didn't get it. "A little advise... learn to take your work home and juggling time with your soon will be easier."

"I have a lot to do over the next couple of months and I'm working with the astronomy department. They're already there." the Doctor pointed out idly.

If only because that was something Master should probably know. "And I have an appointment at two, so I need to be ready to go then." he added simply.

"I know, because they need a clear view of the sky with expires passed dawn, making working that early pointless. I specified that in an email," the Master remarked with a bored sigh.

Peek hours for astronomers was not dawn. Things could be done, yes, but mostly it was theory. And theory could be done at home. "My men are fine, I'm sure they don't need you, you're physics, not astronomy, why burn yourself out on something not to do with you?"

"Because I'm fascinated by it and I need to review their work from the prior night to get an idea on approving an odd budget request that came from somebody who apparently decided not to ask you." the Doctor half teased.

He had to admit that he was curious about it. "It's fine. I'm going in early, going to my appointment, and I should be home at a decent hour for Marnal." the Doctor assured.

"Tell those morons that if they try something like that, they'll be out of a job. All requests must be sent to me," the Master insisted with a small frown on his face because he wasn't sure he liked that.

"After I get Koschei home, I am going to head back in," most of his work was done at home but he was still the boss. He still did the budgets, approved projects and distributed the research.

"I can pass that on. But I'm still heading in early morning. It'll be fine. Trust me. I use to be up at five and out the door by five thirty or six when I was teaching." the Doctor pointed out.

Alright. So he was sort of trying to get back onto the schedule he use to have. And really? Not much else could be said on the matter.