Imaginary Worlds

"A bit, yes, here." the Doctor murmured, passing over some hand held game for the lad. "You can play and go on slides with water. Some are shallow, so it's not a problem. I'll be with you and we'll have a lot of fun." he assured.

Hopefully Marnal would take to water better than Koschei had. Hopefully the Master didn't kill him. He was honestly going to do this. Period. He was determined. The Doctor was honestly curious how long it would take for the Master to get home and call him.

Marnal was a very human child but he did have his own Time Lord side to him, mostly his ability, even as a young lad, to have a sort of contemplative manner to him. He didn't need the hand held game, he seemed happy and almost in awe at the sights outside.

Marnal had not been many places in his young life and this was all so fantastic to him. "Why couldn't the Master come? Is he going to play with Koschei?" What? It was how it always worked. The Master took Koschei on trips, maybe it was his turn now.

((Off to bed))

{Night~!}

The Doctor sighed softly and shrugged. "I just wanted some time with you alone. That's all." he assured. He wanted to get away from the Master and that disapproval. He wanted to get away and just...Relax.

Consequences be damned. He would deal with the Master when the time came and not a moment sooner. He couldn't. It wasn't rational or logical. But, then again, the Doctor wasn't either at the moment.

Marnal seemed content enough with that answer. He sat rather still and comfortable, just looking around outside with a small smile. When they finally pulled up outside the water park.

It was such an odd thing to Marnal but it was also lovely and bright, the blue was lovely and he couldn't help but grin at the sight of the park. "Is it like a big bath? Does it have bubbles?"

"Sort of and no. The water will be cool and it's meant to be played in. We'll be staying at their hotel, actually. But that's just next door. So. How about we get settled in our room, take a nap, and then look about? And tomorrow will be for play?" the Doctor offered as he got out.

Lifting the lad and grabbing their things, he started for the resort they'd be staying in. They had a nice two bedroom suite that was rather cozy. One positive was that it wasn't as cold here as it was at home. Then again, it was a good twelve hour drive away.

Marnal dropped everything on the floor and donned a T-shirt so he could keep nice and cool. Scrambling after the Doctor into his own room, Marnal tugged his fathers sleeve to get his attention because iy had been a long drive.

"I'm hungry. Can we get something to eat?" the boy asked with a baffled look of confusion because get usually had dinner now and while it was a trip, he hadn't eaten all day and the Doctor hadn't either. "Food the nap?"

"Way ahead of you." the Doctor assured as he picked up the phone and ordered room service for the two of them. Just something light that they could pick through and whatnot. He saw no reason to go all out.

"It'll be here soon. Relax and enjoy." the Doctor said lightly, flicking on some cartoons for the lad. This was pleasant enough. Just him and his kid enjoying cartoons and one another's company while waiting on their meal.

Marnal settled against the Doctor till food came and he did indeed idly snack his way through dinner before falling asleep on the Doctor. It was only just the afternoon but it was time enough that the Master had seen the note.

Course he wrongfully assumed from the note that the Doctor and Marnal had gone to the park. He was in for a hell of a surprise. Marnal rubbed at his eyes and wriggled closer in his sleep, oblivious to everything.

The Doctor was at least nice enough to get Marnal settled in bed before checking the actual time. Right. The Master would be home by now. Which meant he should probably get this over with early. At least that way he wouldn't need to worry so much.

He stepped into his own room and pulled out his cell, calling the house so that he could talk to the Master. He wasn't stupid. The Doctor figured that if he didn't call now, then the conversation would be taking place at a much more inconvenient time.

The Master didn't answer the phone in a polite manner because he was still waiting for the Doctor and it was getting pretty damn late and now he was worrying. "Doctor? Where the hell are you? You need to get back now."

The Doctor wasn't very stable and he couldn't trust him alone with Marnal. What if he hurt the boy or left him behind somewhere. It was sheer madness, the whole thing. "Where did you go? Just tell me."

Well. That answered his question. "Didn't you read my note?" he asked softly, mindful to keep his voice down so as not to disturb Marnal. "We're fine. We'll be home on Sunday. But it's a 12 hour drive and I'm not taking Marnal home early when he's excited." be asserted firmly.

He'd planned this on a whim. But it had been planned. He wasn't going to sit back and pretend otherwise. "I brought Marnal to the water park. He can play and take some swimming lessons. We'll be back Sunday afternoon." the Doctor assured.

"Sunday?! So, let me get this straight, you snuck out the house this morning with your son, didn't tell me at all, left a note and went to a water park 12 hours away? Oh yes, my apologises, I was so out of line yesterday saying you'd lost it," the Master snarked, the moron thought the Master was going to be fine with this.

"Doctor, I trusted you. You shattered that trust. I can't believe you've done this, how can I ever trust you with Marnal again?" How did he know that a month from now he wouldn't come home to his son missing. "Rassilon, you idiot!"

"I'm not all gone. You see? I know better. You wouldn't have agreed to this. Period. So I did it without you. I'm not backing down. You know you can trust me. What's wrong with a small weekend trip with my son?" the Doctor asked dully.

Really. How did the man not get this? Everything was perfectly fine. He wasn't making a fool of himself. He was just..."Relax. I called to clear things up when you didn't. It's fine. Marnal is fine." he assured. How was this an issue?

"You didn't tell me, I don't trust you at all and I don't trust you with Marnal. If anything goes wrong, its all on you," And with that, the Master hung up on him because he wasn't having this argument. The bastard stole their son and ran off without tell him, they could of gone anywhere and anything could happen.

The Master didn't see the point of keeping at this because the Doctor never listened to him. Never. He told him he wanted to be there when he altered Koschei, he told him not to do anything crazy and just stay at home, he told him so many things but the Doctor always just assumed he knew better... it pissed him off.

The Doctor stared at the phone before sighing. The Master wanted to be like that? Fine. He could deal with the sulk that would result. He moved into the other room and frowned, gently lifting Marnal up and shaking his head. "Sorry kiddo, but the Master is angry with me." he murmured, carefully lifting their bags up as well.

It was going to be a long night. "So we need to head back. I'll show you the water park another time." the Doctor promised. Doubtful. He had a feeling that he wasn't going to be around Marnal all too much in the upcoming days. Hopefully that was just his paranoia acting up. But either way, he was heading home.

Marnal didn't like this change of events either. What five year old would like this? He'd been brought all the way on a trip to not get to go? It was dangling millions of money in front of someone then just taking it all away. Even not going was better than going all the way there just to go back... it was cruel really.

It wasn't much of a wonder why Marnal teared up instantly. Rubbing his eyes, he sniffled and tried his hardest to keep it all in because that wasn't fair. "Why? I didn't do anything wrong. I wanna swim. You said we would."

Yeah. He knew that was going to happen. "Sorry. But you did nothing wrong, I did. I shouldn't have brought you like this. I'll take you later. Or the Master will take you later. Just not this weekend." the Doctor murmured softly, heading back out so that they could go. He didn't think this would end well.

"I'm sorry. I'll make it up to you later. Promise. Just relax. You can sleep on the way home if you'd like." the Doctor murmured softly, gettig the boy settled into the car before he got in himself and started back home. He already knew it wouldn't be pleasant.

Marnal cried all the way down to the car, which never looked good, and when the Doctor put him in the front seat, he moved himself to the back seat just to avoid sitting near the Doctor. Pulling his head up, he covered his eyes and refused to make any noise.

Except, of course, for the noises of his crying. No child wanted something like this dangled then taken away. No one could expect him to be happy. Hell, even the Master wouldn't be happy over this.

The Doctor wasn't exactly happy either. He didn't get home until close to seven in the morning, Marnal eventually falling asleep inthe back seat. Luckily. But what child wouldn't exhaust themselves crying during a twelve hour car ride? He had a feeling he'd officially screwed up with the kid.

But he had already screwed up with the Master as well, so what the hell. Might as well make it complete. The Doctor carefully moved Marnal from the car to bed before he settled in on the couch, making sure to keep quiet. Was he sulking? A bit. He just didn't care.

The Master didn't get up initially, he just heard the Doctor moving around and he had to cover his eyes with his hand. Fantastic. He brought the kid home? Rassilon, if he was going to do something like that then did he really had to quit halfway.

Heading downstairs, he looked at the Doctor and sighed. He knew the man was awake, just knew it. "You brought him home? You shouldn't of taken him but you did... so you should of stayed it out. The damage was done with me, now you've probably damaged your son... I told you, didn't I? This is why you're meant to listen to me!"

And now he was being lectured. "Shut. Up. I don't need to hear it. Period. I get I screwed up. Having you snap at me and hearing my son cry almost the entire way home has been enough for me. Period." the Doctor asserted firmly.

Didn't he suffer enough for what he'd done? He screwed up. He got that he screwed up. "I promised him that he could go properly another time. More than likey with you. Don't worry. If you decide against that, you won't be the one dealing with the fall out." the Doctor assured as he pointedly rolled over, turbot his back upon the other.

"No. I'm not taking that kid anywhere. You promised, you're bloody well taking him. You started all this mess," the Master asserted because it was just insane really. He was not sorting this.

"But we don't have to discuss it. You can solve all of this and I'm going to go to bed," the Master was washing his hands of this whole ordeal. It was just a bit too insane for him and he was done chasing after the Doctor.

"I was just trying to do something nice. You wouldn't have agreed to letting me take him. But...You and Koschei go places together and Marnal has been put through a lot recently. I thought it would be nice if just him and I went somewhere." the Doctor admitted softly.

He'd been trying to be a good dad and he'd screwed up another kid in the process. "Goodnight." the Doctor mumbled, already figuring he wasn't taking Marnal at a later date. He settled pointedly to sleep, not too sure how well things would be when the kid awoke.

"I never said it was a bad idea... but you can't not tell me because I'm his dad too. I may take Koschei on trips but I never once took him 12 hours away without saying, did I?" the Master snapped because it was actually rather stressful, all of this was, and part of him just wanted to lash out and another part of him understood.

"Fine, night," the Master said and headed back upstairs to try and sleep. He got a few hours in before Marnal came in and clambered towards him, clearly still upset by the look of the red rings under his eyes. Oh the Doctor tries so hard and made so many mistakes.

Except that he knew what would happen if he had said something. He was trying to do something fun and nice. And look where it got him. Every damn time, look where he ended up. Somebody got hurt and he was usually on the wrong end of things.

It was absolutely horrid for moral, only teaching him to stop trying. He got up long enough to cook breakfast, keeping it covered to stay warm, before he simply retreated back to the couch with absolutely no intention of getting up. The Doctor saw no point to it. Didn't help he was pretty sure he'd screwed up breakfast as well.