Forêt again, and this story was actually written before the previous two and didn’t have Ric in it. So a simple bit of weather sorts out his confinement to the TARDIS.

“Master-Doctor,” Ric replied. “I think the moisture in the air here is not good for my solenoids. I will return to the TARDIS and download some more literature.”

“Good boy,” The Doctor answered. Susan held the door open for him and he disappeared inside. The Doctor looked a little sad. “Hate to just leave him there. It used to be the same with K9. But really he’s out of place here anyway. They don’t have anything like him in their technology. And there are bound to be lots of planets like it. We really ought to find a god home for him where his talents can be put to use and somebody will give him a loving home.” 

So that’s him out of the way. Meanwhile, the last time we left Dominic and Dominique the boy didn’t know who is father was. In the very first scenes between them we find that he does now. And he is developing his telepathy. AND he has a sweetheart. The Doctor feels the missing years keenly. He is aware, also, that it is time he made an honest woman of Dominique. A lot of the early part of the story covers his thoughts about that. He admits to Susan it would be unacceptable on Gallifrey. He knows it isn’t quite right even on Forêt and thinks she deserves better.

So The Doctor gets married! An unusual step. The closest he ever came to it in the TV series was in The Aztecs, when the lady Cameca formed an attachment to him. In his pre-history it has always been assumed that he DID get married once since he started with a granddaughter. In Unfinished Business I created a family background for The Doctor, his first wife being called Julia and his son, Christopher, father of Susan. In the Ten stories I have not referred to that background as often, but I have given the impression that he is of that same heritage. As obviously he MUST be. So essentially this is his second marriage of his life, again to a Human woman of Earth ancestry, so he KNOWS he must face heartbreak eventually.

This story was posted a week before the broadcast of the 2007 series, which we had HEARD was going to involve a story in which The Doctor got married, and ALSO a scene in which he revealed more about having a son in his past. Since these stories are set in an alternative universe where none or the 2007 series happened to The Doctor, that didn’t matter, but I was interested to see how the issues I have covered here in the Dominique stories would be handed on TV. As it happened, the marriage and children were a dream sequence not for The Doctor, but his alter ego, John Smith, and the ‘son’ story proved to be a tabloid rumour. Feedback from these stories showed that a lot of people LIKED the idea of The Doctor having  a wife and a little normality in his life, and a planet he could call home.

Meanwhile, Susan was getting friendly with Miche!