As usually, coming aboard the plane which was to cover the way from Berlin to New York was stressful for both passengers and stewards, though the latter were doing their best to seem friendly. Naturally, it was their job, despite there were lots of factors that would have broken them down, like people who would not obey the simple rules like listening to instructions before the flight or fastening the seat belts. But today seemingly everyone was quite normal.

Or not.

While examining the rows of seats with her look, the head stewardess unwillingly watched one of the passengers for a second longer than the rest. Why? There was nothing special about him. It was a small tramp of a man, dressed in shabby clothes which managed to be both too large and a bit short at the same time (apart from his coat's sleeves, which were ready to envelop his hands as well). But it was not about what he was wearing, it was about what was occupying his attention. He was holding two sleeping babies in his arms, which for now were curled up against him, their little fists clutching the folds of his light blue shirt with enormous collar (and a tiny polka-dotted bowtie hidden under it). Those were a boy and a girl, both with full heads of dark hair (the boy's was reaching his chin, while the girl's was longer, almost till her shoulder-blades), and this strange little man seemed not to be bothered with their presence. The stewards knew how annoyed the passengers with children could be, and here it was not about annoyance.

When the plane began gaining speed to take off, the little man's charges (or children - they could be as well) woke up immediately and began softly whimpering.

"Hush, hush, it's all right, I'm here", the little man said, holding them closer. The children sniffed two or three times, their chubby hands raising to their ears.

"Ah, yes, almost forgot. It's for just a time. Come here, Jamie". He put his fingers over the boy's nose. "Blow now. No, not through the mouth, through the nose". The boy obeyed. "Better? Yes? Now you, Victoria..."

After the procedure the babies stopped whining, but still clung to their guardian, not caring about being nearly tied to him with additional safety belts.

"My goodness, it must be hard to look after two of them on your own", the little man's neighbour, a quite young woman with a five-year-old girl by her side, stated. "Is this their first flight?"

"Yes, their first plane flight", the little man replied.

"Weren't you worried about taking them with you?"

"It was inevitable. Basically, I'm the only one who can take care of them".

"They're absolutely sweet, your children", the passenger from the side row mentioned. The little man wanted to reply, but then changed his mind.

A while later there was a new reason for stress, but nothing seemed to bother the little man. Now it was about fighting hunger - the usual plane food did not contain anything required for small children; what to say, it all was hardly acceptable even for a grown-up. Hah! The little man didn't even touch his portion of rice and beef - he preferred feeding a bun and banana rusks (the pack of latter was taken out of his pocket, and it didn't bother him that it wouldn't fit back) to his little charges. The babies appeared to be calm in this questions: they did not play up or anything, they just accepted what was given to them. The only breaking of the rules was committed by the boy: when he was done with his half of the bun, he stuffed his fingers covered in crumbs into the little man's thick black hair.

"Now that's no good, Jamie", the little man tutted, shaking the crumbs out of his mop. "I told you to behave nicely. Did I? Yes, I did. Now would you please obey?"

The boy blinked at his guardian and pushed his fist into his own mouth.

"I just don't understand how you're able to talk so calmly to them", one of the women from the side row noticed. "Usually children understand things only when you give them a good slap".

"Not always", the little man objected.

"You either have no experience of treating children or your head is in the clouds", the woman went on in the intonation of a lecturer. But that didn't bother the little man at all.

"Both", he replied in a casual tone, having pulled his cock-eyed bowtie out of his girl's grasp - she had begun yanking at it. "For me, everybody is children in some way".

"Why couldn't she land at the airport?.." the Doctor muttered to himself, but then recalled the events which had taken place after Jamie's yelp "Aye, it's a flying beastie!" and collected himself again. Jamie and Victoria were obediently toddling after him through the control bases, though their feet were tangling and their eyes threatened to overflow any moment. No wonder, nine hours of plane flight had been not a joke, especially for their present condition.

Thank goodness the psychic paper worked perfectly for Earth, without any complications... Having reached the hall of waiting, the Doctor flopped onto the free seat (which was the only free here: most of the future passengers were lying on the seats, asleep), and the kids climbed onto his lap. Yes, sometimes even such a cosmic hobo like him would dream of having a little child around, but he hadn't been expecting this to come true. And all due to too persuasive workers of beauty industry... obviously there had been an addition in the massage oil used on Victoria (she had asked the Doctor to introduce her to all those procedures), and the "skin youth" effect had appeared to be too strong and effective and infectious - for humans at least. Anyway, it had shown itself at the least appropriate moment - when the TARDIS had decided to use the HADS and was gone, having left the Doctor with two weeping toddlers. Thankfully his pockets which held everything had appeared to contain a dress, a pair of jeans and a shirt as well - all just for babies. I need to check them more often, the Doctor had thought.

He tapped on the homing device fixed on his wrist. The TARDIS should've been somewhere around, at least that was clear... but now it was about finding the needed time, because diminished Jamie and Victoria had no intention of being separated from their guardian, especially after the unpleasant experience of flying on board a plane.

"Twinkle, twinkle, little Who,
Something special we're to do.
Up above the world we fly,
Like our TARDIS in the sky".

The Doctor hummed it because his hands were too occupied to get his recorder and operate it as required. Now the only possibility was waiting. Oh gods.