"You sure this is going to work?"

"Of course it will work. All the ground floor doors are guarded. No one is expecting us to get out this way." This way, was an eight foot tall glass panel, one in a series that made up this office wall looking out on a veranda and park. There was a plunger stuck to the middle of it, that the Doctor had nicked from a janitor's closet. He was running the sonic screwdriver along the edge of the glass, around the frame.

"What about alarms?"

"I disconnected them. Here we go." He gently kicked the glass panel loose with the toe of one trainer, grabbed the plunger like a handle and walked the glass open like a door. Donna ducked out behind him onto the veranda, he continued turning, sliding the glass panel sideways and replacing it perfectly in its frame, backward. He unsealed the plunger and tossed it into a garbage bin.

"They'll never figure it out." He grinned. "Now we've got to get that thing back to the temple." He grabbed her hand and ran.

They emerged onto the street in front of the building and sauntered across casually, as if they were just a family on an outing. Donna cradled the egg, zipped into a pastel spandex egg cover they'd found in the lab, to block its glow. The Doctor walked alongside her with one arm behind her back, keeping an eye out for trouble.

They crossed the grassed street toward the sports stadium/amphitheater.

"Sir, ma'am. May I see your egg, please." An orange robed priest stopped them in the street.

Donna started to hand over the egg but the Doctor's touch on her arm stopped her. "What's this about?" the Doctor asked, playacting the concerned father. Donna looked up at him, weren't the priests their allies? He gave her the tiniest little headshake.

"Since the God Egg was stolen the Temple is conducting a search, we are checking all eggs past the third trimester."

He reached out toward the egg cover and Donna twisted the egg aside, shielding it with her body. "Watch it, you. She's already overdue. We don't need you jostling her!" she yelled, staying in character.

The Doctor was sidling them all toward the stadium entrance. "You'll have to forgive my wife. She tends to get a little tetchy at time's like this." he said, giving the guard a look implying it was a "pregnant wifey" thing.

"I really must insist, sir." The priest whipped out an evil looking needle. It was eight inches long. He lunged toward the egg.

"Run!" The Doctor and Donna ran, the guard's fingers scrabbled for the egg and snagged the zipper. It pulled open as Donna jerked away. Golden light beamed out of the egg cover.

The Doctor and Donna heard him calling for backup as they sprinted through the stadium corridor.

"What's with that needle?" Donna said in horror.

"Sampling needle. They're determined not to lose this chance."

They burst out of the corridor into the light of the stadium field. A shout. "There!" Six more geneticists, also robed as priests, came bursting out of adjacent corridors, two more running up from behind. They all bore the large, wicked looking needles.

"I thought the priests were on our side?"

"Camouflage. Who better to ask about the egg? Run!"

They sprinted out onto the field, but the priests were gaining on them. The Doctor's long legs carried him out in front of Donna as he desperately looked for a way out. Behind him, two more guards burst unexpectedly out of a corridor on their right. They tackled Donna and she went down, clutching the egg. The egg popped out of its cover and rolled away, glinting brightly. The guards all scrambled for the egg. "Oh no you don't!" Donna clambered up and ran, ramming them aside with her shoulder.

The Doctor noticed and started to turn back. "Keep going!" Donna yelled as she scooped up the egg. The guards were right on her tail, almost within arms reach. She glanced at them out of the corner of her eye. "Go long!"

"What? Donna, no!" The Doctor started running, eyes wide, as Donna threw the egg. A classic American football throw. The egg glinted and shone, flying through the air. The Doctor ran forward arms outstretched, and caught it.

He hugged the egg to his stomach and stumbled, but kept running to maintain his balance.

Behind him Donna cried out as one of the guards grabbed her by the hair. She fell and he pinned her to the ground with one knee in her back and covered her with his sampling needle. "Go!" she yelled as she saw the Doctor hesitate.

The other seven guards rushed forward, needles glinting in the sun. Regretfully the Doctor turned, and ran.

CRACK!

The guards were yelling behind him, their footfalls sounding in his ears as he ran across the grass toward the goal posts and the exit corridor beyond. But all that faded into the background as he looked down and saw the shining crack that had appeared in the side of the egg. Another crack appeared and he stumbled to a halt, awed. He watched in disbelief as it shattered and the pieces fell away.

A shining golden baby looked up from his hands. A metallic golden cherub. The baby floated up out of the crystal shards. It hugged the Doctor around the neck in delight, then saw the geneticists charging forward behind him. It frowned a stern little, newborn baby god frown, and waved a pudgy little hand. The geneticists all suddenly stumbled and ran right out of their shoes. Their feet had turned into knobs. They couldn't stand up.

The baby grinned. The Doctor grinned back. Donna stared in amazement from where the geneticist had pushed her down. The baby kissed the Doctor's head in benediction and floated up, becoming less metallic gold, and more ephemeral, gold light. The "clouds" parted and revealed a mature golden father god, massive in the sky over the stadium. It smiled at the Doctor and Donna and opened its arms to its "child." The last thing they saw was the baby god, in its new father's arms, one arm around daddy's neck, waving cheerfully to them. The Father god bowed in thanks. And the clouds closed over them. The clouds glowed a golden glow for a minute then it faded to normal sunlight.

The temple guards arrived and rounded up the geneticists. And their shoes.

—

The Doctor and Donna walked back through Padir's neighborhood, hands in pockets, studying the sky.

"Well, that's all taken care of. The High Priest has the geneticists and the evidence, the gods are in their heaven, and all's right with the world." He turned a circle holding his arms out to the world in question.

Donna noticed they were passing Padir's house. "Don't you want to stay and see Pedir's daughter born?"

"Nah. I don't think anything can beat the birth we've already seen today. Can you?"

She smiled at his smug delight. "No." She locked her hands behind her back and looked up at him slyly. "So," she drawled and gave him a big grin. "How does it feel to be a godfather?"

THE END

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