White
Title: White
Characters: Donna, Lance, Wilf, Sylvia, Geoff, and the Doctor
Setting: goes from a while before Runaway Bride to sometime shortly after that, so no real spoilers
Rating: Depends. PG if you don't figure out what's going on. PG-13 if you do. Please don't hate me?
Notes: written for 13th drabble challenge at doctor_donna for the prompt 'white'. Thanks to loves_glamour for looking it over a bit, and for putting up with the shoddy interwebs.
More Notes/Requests: I'm considering doing a continuation of this (sort of) for this week's challenge of 'lost'. If you have an opinion about that let me know, as I'm not sure what I'm doing with it yet. Other than that, enjoy!
The walls in her bedroom at her house had always been white. As a child she'd drawn on the walls nearly every day but her mum never got the message and just kept painting them over again. Now, very much not a child, she felt like she was stuck in an asylum.
She went out to a shop and bought light blue paint, then when her mother was out for the weekend she, her dad, and Wilf had a time moving out the furniture and redecorating.
“What did you do that for, Miss?” Sylvia asked when she returned, and Donna should have seen her question coming. “You're not....you're not pregnant, are you? If you are I'll kill you....”
After assuring her mother that children had nothing to do with the change, she grinned conspiratorially at Wilf and decided that their idea to paint Sylvia and Geoff's room pink as a joke probably wouldn't be a good idea. Maybe for her dad's birthday.
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The curtains in her and Lance's apartment were white. Well, not truly white, more of an eggshell or a cream, but a form of white nonetheless. It was completely different from home, though; for one thing she had Lance, and that was all that mattered. They were in love and they had their own place. Life couldn't be any better.
She wasn't all that upset that he hadn't proclaimed his love back yet. After two weeks of living together she was sure he'd have said it by now, but the best she could get was 'yeah, I know you do, Donna' when she told him she loved him. It was a start though, and after all, he was a man.
“Lance, how much do you love me?” she asked one night when they'd just returned from work. He stared at her for a moment, then shrugged and repeated the question to her. She grinned proudly, kissed him on the cheek, and said, “More than you could ever know, I suppose.”
“Exactly,” he replied smugly, and unbuttoned the collar of his white dress shirt. “Good answer.”
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Donna stepped out of the bedroom wearing a short, white dress she'd gotten last week. It wasn't the nicest thing she owned but she'd bought it because it made her look....well, if her mother ever asked, she would just say it made her look thin. Lance, on the other hand....
When she walked into the front room she saw Lance gathering up some papers, busying himself to leave for a late meeting with his boss. He'd been having a lot of those lately, but he said he'd get a promotion for it, and she certainly wasn't going to complain about having more money. As she walked up to him he quickly turned away, not even noticing her new outfit.
“I'll be out late, so I'll just see you at the office tomorrow. And don't forget to have your coffee before you come in. You know how you are without your caffeine. So I'll see you-”
“Lance?” She leaned against his shoulder, wrapping an arm around his waist. “I was thinking. You've been really busy lately, and I know you've been going a bit mad with all these meetings. I can tell you've missed me,” she said quietly, “and I've missed you too. I thought maybe....well, you know.” She tugged on the hem of her dress and smiled at him. “You don't really have to go out so soon, do you?”
Lance stared at her and for a moment she thought he was going to laugh, but he just sighed and nodded. “Oh, all right. I suppose I've got twenty minutes.”
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“Okay, don't panic,” she said to herself, walking into the front room. “It's just a bit of white plastic, it's not the end of the world.” She sat down and nervously waited, shifting awkwardly until she looked at her watch. “Okay, here we go. Not the end of the world,” she repeated.
Just as she started for the other room the door opened to reveal Lance, late home from work again. He stared at her for a moment then silently walked into the bedroom and shut the door. Donna sagged in relief and continued on her way, grabbing the skinny piece of plastic and staring at it hopefully. It wasn't just white anymore. “You've got to be kidding me.”
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Her white shoes were scuffed from her jump into the stupid blue box, and she was constantly looking her dress over to make sure she hadn't ripped it. And the skinny alien was shoving his blinking pen thing in her face again. This time he had a little glass jar of liquid and as he held it up to her she and the jar started to shimmer. She looked down in shock and put a hand over her now glowing stomach, trying to figure out what was going on. Lance looked disinterested with the whole affair and she could hardly blame him; he didn't know what she knew.
“Doctor, am I safe?” The Doctor didn't answer and when she turned around Lance was gone. She didn't know what to do, but for some reason she believed the Doctor when he said he would take care of her so she decided not to go after her fiancé.
In retrospect it may have had something to do with Lance calling her a fat cow twenty minutes later, or his accusation that she was thick in more ways than one. She tried to pretend that he was just joking, but having an affair with a giant spider really didn't help his case, and in the end she was more than happy to go with the Doctor. If he asked she would tell him it was just to get away from Lance, but really she rather wanted to keep a doctor around.
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It was snowing! Real, proper snow for the first time in....well, actually it usually snowed at Christmas but she always insisted on going on a trip around the holiday. She stared at the white flakes falling from the sky then at the Doctor, his bright grin more than a bit infectious.
“You could....come with me,” he offered suddenly. Donna considered taking his offer for a moment then shook her head, saying that it was too dangerous for her. It wasn't exactly a lie, but it wasn't the truth either. She tried not to feel guilty at his obvious disappointment and told him to find someone else to help him. As he flew away she sighed and hoped he would take her advice. If he did live his life like that every day....well, then it was a good thing she didn't go along. “Goodbye, Doctor,” she said to the night sky. “And good luck to both of us.”
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She'd been home an entire month, she mused as she cradled a white ceramic mug full of tea. A month without a job, without Lance, without anything but her mother's nagging. It hadn't been her first choice to move back in with her mum but since she had no income there wasn't really any other option. Sylvia hadn't been too happy about it either, but at least her dad was excited to have her around again. To be honest, she'd rather be with her family at the moment, though she'd never admit to it if anyone asked. She rubbed her hand over her stomach and wished she could get rid of this flu or whatever it was. Ever since that giant spider had drained those particles from her she'd felt off, or at least more off than usual. It really wasn't helping with-
“Donna!” Sylvia entered in her curlers and white bath robe and cast a suspicious glance at her daughter. “Is there anything I should know, Madam?” she asked sharply, and Donna shook her head. “All right then, off with you. Make yourself useful and find another job.”
“Yes, Mum,” was Donna's lame reply, and she looked down and bit her lip nervously. Where was she supposed to get work now? And how long could she stay? She tipped the tea mug toward her mouth, draining its contents, then stuck it in the sink and walked toward the door.
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“If something's wrong you've got to tell us, sweetheart,” Geoff said at dinner. “You've been acting strangely for weeks now, ever since Lance left. Are you sure everything's all right?” Sylvia nodded in agreement and Wilf stared at his granddaughter in concern, but Donna just shrugged and assured them she was fine. “Just a stomachache,” she promised. “I....well, I have something to tell you, but I'd rather wait until later, okay?” Her family agreed to drop the subject for the moment and she smiled appreciatively, staring at her spaghetti. She wasn't hungry, and she certainly wasn't going to tell her family that Lance had been poisoning her.
Finally she stood, straightening the pale blue skirt she'd worn to her interview that afternoon. Another job she'd been turned down for, and she was rather running out of places she could apply at that didn't know about the whole H.C. Clements fiasco. “Bloody Lance,” she mumbled under her breath, and tugged at one of the bulky sweaters she'd taken to wearing lately.
“Mum, Dad, Gramps, I think I'll just....What? What's wrong?” Realizing everyone was staring at her in horror, she looked down and saw a dark stain on her skirt. “Oh, don't worry about that. You know how clumsy I am when I eat, so there's nothing-”
Her eyes widened as she glanced at her full plate and she heard her family shouting for her, but before she could respond she felt a sharp pain and her vision went completely white.
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Donna woke up to find herself laying under an itchy white blanket. Wilf was dozing in the corner of her room but apart from that the room was empty. She knew her dad hadn't been well since New Year's, so her parents had probably gone out for a while and told her grandfather to keep an eye on her. She stared at Wilf for a moment and smiled sadly. He looked exhausted but, knowing him, he'd been trying to stay awake until she came round.
After a cursory glance around the room she sighed and settled back in bed, staring at the little gold ring on her finger, which for some reason she'd never wanted to take off. The white plastic bracelet hanging around her wrist caught her eye, and she let out a shaky breath as she grabbed for the newspaper on her side table and started skimming through it.
The Doctor had to be out there somewhere and she knew she could find him. There was nothing to stop her from leaving now and she was going to find him because he needed someone and, right now, she needed someone too.