Doctor Who: On the Run (6/?)

[deathnomiko]

Who: the Doctor, Donna Noble
What: Post Journey's End and after The Next Doctor, the Doctor finds out he's somehow become a universal outlaw. He doesn't know how, he doesn't know why, but he knows he can't figure this out alone and the only person he can trust to help him is Donna.
Rating: PG-13/Teen
Notes: This is written by two authors:  deathnomiko and darkranger, and is actually an adapted fanfiction out a RP verse. I thought it was too good to not share. I didn't want to change much of the written content as possible, so that explains why the POVs change slightly between Doctor/Donna. Thoughts, comments, and suggestions are always welcomed.

Chapter Summary: The Doctor and Donna are caught and the TARDIS destroyed as tensions run high with the mystery becoming far more complicated than anyone could've expected.

Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5



Waiting in the darkness for the Doctor to come back felt like waiting an eternity. Donna had no idea how long it had been. Minutes? Hours? Days? It was impossible to tell in the endless darkness. She'd tried counting in her head, but she hadn't got much beyond a few minutes before losing count.

When he returned, he was pretty battered. Luckily the cell was so dark that Donna couldn't see how badly bruised he was, but she could probably tell anyway, given how he winced when she grabbed him, and he was a little delayed to sit up (but for what it was worth she more or less rushed over to him the minute he was back).

"I'm fine. It's ok..." He grimaced when she accidentally grazed a particular sore spot on the side of his leg. "How do you feel?" He was concerned with how much of the particles she had being pumped into her. The Racnoss was one thing to poison her over the course of 6 months, but in a matter of hours?

"What did they do to you? Are you hurt?" There's pained noises. She wasn't stupid. Oh, if she got her hands on them, there would be trouble! Even in the dark she tried to check him over for injuries. Mother hen mode? Activated.

"I'm fine. Bit nauseous but fine." That could be the Huon, or the nerves. It was hard to tell.

"Stop touching..." He whined like a child and pulled away. "Besides, I don't want you vomiting on me." A failed attempt at humor.

"I got a little carried away, but I was able to do some well-needed surveying. Are they going to take you away again? Do you know?" Honestly at this point he just wanted to close his eyes for a hour or two.

Carried away? Donna was pretty sure that was Time Lord for 'did something stupid'. Not that she could talk. She sighed and sat back against the cold wall.

"Dunno. They didn't say." She paused, letting out another sigh, a heavier one. "So... can you do it? Reverse the whatsits, I mean. Like before?"

"I'll try." He muttered softly as he drifted off to sleep.

It was an unfitful sleep that lasted about 90 minutes as he startled awake. Groaning as he turned onto his back, "Donna?" He paused for a moment, then heard her breathing and sighed out of relief.

He was tired of this darkness and deprivation, but the next time they opened his doors, he'll set his plan into action. This might actually cost him a regeneration...

The sound of his voice cut through her uneasy sleep. She shuffled over to him, reaching for his arm in the darkness, resting her hand on it.

"You okay? Still alive then...?" She tried to laugh, but her humour died a few hours ago. Her drip was empty and at some point she'd ripped the needle out.

"Still alive." He sat up and ran a hand through his hair. He definitely could appreciate a shower and a shave right about now as he noticed a faint beard coming in as well.

"When they come for us again, I want to try and fight them off and run. Do you think you can do that? Down the hall and to the left is one of their command rooms." He didn't have a definitive plan, but as always he made it up as he went along.

Run? Could she run? How long had they been locked in the darkness? Hours? Days? She couldn't tell any more. Still, she had faith in him and if he said run, she'd run.

Her voice was a little shaky with nerves. "Yeah, course. Love the running..."

"Liar." He glanced back towards her, despite realizing she couldn't see his expression. Pulling out his sonic, he wiggled it, the blue light glowing brightly in the dark. "Oh Time Lord with your sonic so bright, won't you guide my escape tonight?" One knows they lost their mind when Christmas song parodies were being sung.

They were both in no shape to pull this off and it'll boil down to sheer luck if they do.

Oh yep. The Doctor had finally gone round the bend. It had been a long time coming but it had finally happened. Donna gave him a nudge, trying to be careful of his injuries.

"So. Next time the door opens we leg it? You sure?"

"I have a plan. It might not work but at least I'll die trying it." He did have a vague idea. There was a chance it'll work and a chance it'll fail.

"You die and I'll bloody kill you!" And if she died. She'd haunt him forever.

Lucky for them it didn't take long before that time did come. He could hear the arriving footsteps. "Donna!" He nudged her to gain her attention as there wasn't anything to do and their own energy was running low due to the lack of food. "It's time."

God. She was nervous... no, not nervous... scared. Yes, scared. She pulled herself to her feet. Deep calming breaths. Deep calming breaths. "Ready?"

He got up to his feet, "As ready as I'll ever be. Now listen, try and keep up with me. We'll be going down the first left corridor... They have a decent-sized fleet here, so we're quite out numbered. I want you to try and stay next to me or infront of me; I can protect you better that way."

"Give over. We protect each other, we always do." The footsteps were getting closer. No backing out now. Sod it, deep calming breaths were so not working.

The footsteps stopped and the door slid open. Showtime.

The Doctor aimed his sonic at the cuffs in the hands of their captor that had opened the door, causing it to spark and be dropped. "Run, Donna!"

He did the same thing to the second guard behind the first as they ran past. The left turn down the corridor came abruptly as the Doctor grabbed Donna's hand and with a forward momentum, pulled her to be slightly more forward than him. He turned and did his best to divert their shooting with his sonic as they ran. "The elevator, get inside!"

But when it opened there were more guards.

Donna skidded to a stop, letting out a shocked squeak. Really, she should've expected it. She took a step back, pressing herself against the Doctor. Oh great, trapped like mice with nowhere to run. "That plan of yours? Have a plan B?" She hissed under her voice to him.

And they had guns. Why did everyone have guns? There should be intergalactic gun bans. Death by being shot. Lovely. She held up her hands a little. "Wait, wait, wait. Just, before you shoot us. Just think about it. If you shoot us then you'll be killing the last Time Lord and the only human/Time Lord metacrisis in existence. Only people who'll buy us from you then is museums... Come on~ You know endangered species fetch much higher prices than extinct..."

He placed his hands comfortably on her shoulders and quietly whispered, "Use the particle energy... It should react with their particle guns." Or so he hoped. Really he just needed to get them out of the elevator.

"What? I... Doctor.... I don't know how... What if I get it wrong?" She was trembling. Not that she would ever admit to it. Oh God. They were going to die and it'd all be her fault for being so stupid to think that she could actually help. Stupid, thick Donna.

"Donna! Tap into the energy....now!" The guns were raised and were charging. "Donna, any time now....!" A bit panicked, yessiree!

Yelling at her won't make it any better, Doctor. Yelling will just upset her and fluster her more. She could do this! She could! Positive thinking. Calming breaths. And look, Doctor! She's doing it! No need to yell. Pft, what were you even worrying about?

The huon particle wave blasted just at the same time as they fired, causing everything to backfire on the guards.

She was a walking weapon... That was kind of worrying. And yet, even though those guards would've killed them without a second thought, Donna isn't as military minded. "Are they dead?"

"Oh, brilliant!" The Doctor cheered and pulled Donna along and managed to pull the bodies out of elevator. "Going down!" The elevator started its descent and after about a floor passed, the Doctor paused the elevator and aimed his sonic at the top of the ceiling. Good to know some things were universal as he managed to hoist himself up on the roof of the elevator and extended his hand down to Donna. "C'mon!"

The safety of the elevator! Hooray! Why were they stopping? Oh God... why was nothing ever simple? Donna stared at his hand like he was absolutely bonkers. "What?! Up there?!"

Now looking bewildered at her comment, "Yes, Donna, up here!" Now was so not the time to put up a fuss with him. "I can help you up, now come on!"

Ugh. Fine. He better have a damn good plan up his sleeve. After all, if they climb up there and another wave of guards come and send the elevator up and smush them to death? She will never forgive him.

Besides, climbing up things was easy for a skinny streak of nothing like him. Not so easy for her. She batted his hand away and hoisted herself up.

Although she shot him a glare of death, he still helped her. Luckily it happened quickly enough that as soon she got to her feet, they started moving again. Watching intently at the still visible control panel "Going to the third level..."

He hand his sonic out and aimed at the doors of the 4th floor and opened them up. "Get off now. No arguments." When the elevator ringed at its stop, guards entered and immediately noticed the hatch open.

"Hello! Going down?" He peeked over the edge and quickly pulled back as they foolishly open fired, connecting with the cables. A snap was heard as the Doctor leaped and his fingers caught the ledge of the fourth floor as the elevator made its drop. "Donna! Quickly!" The pulley weight or pulley itself with it was making its own fall.

Did she look like James Bond to you, Doctor? She was getting far too old for jumping off elevators. Even though under all that fear and panic and exhaustion there was a teeny bit of excitement too.

Climbing to safety, she barrelled into him and clung. "Have I ever told you how much I hate you!?"

He sat with his back against the wall, taking a rest. He knew now wasn't the best time to do so, but he was still injured from his previous encounter. "I know you're tired, but you have to trust me." After another minute, he hopped back to his feet and lead her down the corridor.

Luckily, the adrenaline had kicked in to counter the exhaustion. "I do. I do trust you, Doctor. Of course I do..." And off they went again.

"Just around the bend..." At a door, he unlocked it with his screwdriver and stepped in with Donna close by. "They'll know we're here..." He didn't have to finish the sentence.

His eyes scanned the room, and when he turned the light on, there were pieces of what looked simply like junk scattered about, but it was pieces of the TARDIS. The Shadow Hunters rummaged through the wreck and pulled pieces that could be valuable.

"If they have all of this, the heart of the TARDIS has to be somewhere too." It was too valuable to just leave it floating in space.

Slowly, he walked around, touching pieces fondly almost as if he were in mourning.

It turned her stomach seeing pieces of the TARDIS scattered. Stripped apart like pieces of scrap and old cars. The poor Old Girl. She moved over to the Doctor and rested a hand on his arm.

"But we can fix it. You can fix it, right? Doctor? That's what you do... fix things. If we can find the heart then it'll all be okay... right?"

He didn't reply as he continued looking around and finally came upon a control console. Pressing a few buttons, "I'm just lookin'..." He muttered to himself as the display screen popped up and he started skimming through the data, continuing to press buttons in certain patterns and more data was displayed.

His ears perked up and he spun around, "Donna, get down!" Just as he spoke the final syllable, the door slid open and shots were fired. They scrambled behind rubble and other consoles as the guards chased after them. Taking what looked like an exterior piece of the TARDIS, the Doctor threw it at a guard, causing him to startle, shoot upwards where more pieces were strung up, and rubble came crashing down on them.

Jesus, the reject power rangers weren't planning on giving up easily, were they? And they meant business. Donna was sure their luck couldn't hold out forever. Especially since they were all but trapped like rats.

They couldn't hide behind the consoles forever. Even if the buried guards were dead or gravely wounded then more would come and tunnel through the rubble easy enough.

"Probably not the best time to ask... but, please tell me you have a plan?"

"Never do!" The Doctor took Donna's hand as they tried to find their way out of the room, as some of the guards pulled their way out of the rubble. "Out... We got to get out!"

They might have stepped on one or two guards as they tried to make their way down the hall. "It's somewhere! The heart has to be somewhere...!" The Doctor pulled Donna with him as echoes behind them indicated more guards were coming. As they slid around the corner, the Doctor paused, closing his eyes. "No, wait, the other way." And they were off in the opposite direction. His fingers grazed the wall as they moved. "I think two doors down..."

"You think or you know!? Doctor! They're getting closer... Just pick a bloody door!" She doesn't mean to yell, really she doesn't but fear does funny things to a girl, especially when her heart is beating so hard her head hurts from it.

She stopped running long enough to block off one of the doors they'd come through. It wouldn't hold the guards for long, but every second counted.

He stops at that point, as if listening. "She's in here." She being the heart of the TARDIS, of course, as they quickly stepped in.

The room was pulsing a bright gold glow and the Doctor felt a tad light-headed. "Oh... my TARDIS...." There was pieces of the console dissected and he can tell numerous tests had been in progress.

Donna let out a gasp at the sight of the mangled TARDIS. Seeing bits of exterior and such had been bad enough but to see her like this... Donna thought her heart was going to break.

She reached out to put a consoling hand on the Doctor's shoulder. "So much for calling her to pick us up..."

He rubbed his nose before hesitantly walking over to read through the data display, reading through the notes and projections quietly, ignoring Donna's anxious pacing behind him. Yes, he knew they were in trouble, yes, he knew some sort of a miracle needed to be pulled off.

Yes, he had an idea, but it was just that - an idea. He didn't have a clue if it were to work or not. He hummed to himself in slight dissatisfaction.

Donna managed to stop herself pacing to lean against the door. Things looked bleak... no, things looked more than bleak. She let out a heavy sigh. "Well, trapped in a room with a broken TARDIS and a Time Lord... Suppose it's a better way to go than being run over or growing old and losing my marbles..." Donna Noble. Citizen of Earth. Stubborn as they come. She was giving up.

Turning around at her comment, "You shouldn't be standing that close to the door." True, she had blocked off a door and it'd make them work a little harder to get them, but it wasn't comforting to him.

Very faintly the floor started vibrating, which caused the Doctor to reinforce the idea of her to move away from the door.

Oh heck. That couldn't be good! It got her away from the door though. Away from the door and smushed up against the Doctor. She wasn't clinging, no, not at all. Never. She was... protecting him, like a human shield... Yes, that's the one.

"Stupid question, but what the flippin' heck was that?!"

"They broke through the barricade." He spoke softly, listening, and placed a hand on her shoulder. "Other than that, I don't know." He pulled her backwards with him, looking around for cover. An uneasiness was quickly settling in the pit of his stomach.

Donna was trembling under the Doctor's hand. Her knees felt like jelly. "Doctor..." She was trying to stay positive, but really, any positive thinking she had had gone right out the proverbial window.

"Breath, Donna. You're letting your anxiety get the best of you." But truthfully he wasn't feeling too confident himself, as he continued to listen.

His eyes widened as he spun and pulled Donna down, him on her as the walls blasted apart. They must've realized the doors were too limiting and this would keep them from running.

Coughing as the cloud of debris cleared, the Doctor looked up to see if his TARDIS heart was safe, then down to Donna, "Ok?"

Jesus Christ. Flamin' power rangers with their wall blasting. That did wondrous things for calming Donna down. Really. Thanks for that, power rangers. Her heart was pounding, her ears were ringing from the blast. "Yeah..." She reached for his arm. "Doctor? You okay??"

He barely heard her reply as he turned his head, raising his sonic in defense, only to realize his perceptions were off.

His ears were ringing too and he shook his head as he tried to correct his vision. "Donna," he spoke rapidly, "I need you to access those particles again. The TARDIS's heart; listen to her and rebuild the TARDIS. They don't know that I've already manipulated their timeframe. We're traveling through a time vortex right now, if we can rebuild..."

Rebuild the... WHAT? Oh no. Nonononono. He couldn't ask that of her. He couldn't expect her to do something like that. She couldn't even change a plug. How was she supposed to rebuild ancient Time Lord technology?

"Doctor... I can't." She was just a human. Not even a special human. Just a temp. And it was going to be all her fault that they ended up dead.

And harshly he knew she couldn't do it right now, she was too afraid and was too dependant on him to do as he told. Standing to his feet, he moved towards the soldiers slowly, managing to disarm two. "Donna you can do this! She'll guide you as she did Rose!" The particles would react with the ones left over in the heart of the TARDIS...

Seeing something out the corner of his eye, seeing a gun aimed at Donna, he screamed and ran over in time to save her. Warm heat rushed throughout his body and his eyes widened. He was a bit surprised as there was no pain, at least not initially as he looked to her before collapsing.

Her mind barely had time to process what was happening. It was all a bit of a blur as the Doctor rushed in to protect her. Oh God. Oh God. No! Nooooo! Not this. Anything but this! "DOCTOR?!" She was frantic. If those Huon particles needed an emotional whirlwind to trigger, then they just got smacked in the face with emotion.

And just as the Doctor had thought, the particles inside Donna began to react with those of the TARDIS heart, filling the room with a bright glow.

He was so tired and the concrete floor brought no comfort to him either. Struggling to push himself up, he finally had to stop. He didn't even have energy to open his eyes let alone stand up.

He could sense a bright glow and warmth overcoming him and vaguely he thought to himself, "If I'm regenerating, I hope I'm ginger this time."

Donna couldn't stop the process even if she wanted to. She was frozen to the spot as the energy burst from her, reacting with the TARDIS heart. It also meant she couldn't get to the Doctor no matter how hard she tried.

That affected her emotions further, which in turn caused the Huon particles to react more. She didn't know if he was dead or not, but a deep feeling in her gut said it was likely, and that was breaking her heart.

Her breaking heart was mending the TARDIS.

It was truly strange to lie there and hear everything around you, but unable to see any of it. The air in the room changed pressure, noises made as wood creaked and objects pressed together. Shots were fired, but it was unknown if anything connected.

The Doctor was in and out of consciousness, and always struggling to open his eyes the entire time. He could tell every cell in his being screaming out to regenerate, but somehow they were being held back.

The process continued until finally, finally they were surrounded by an all too familiar coral. As the last of the Huon particles were purged from Donna's body to merge with the TARDIS heart she dropped to her knees. Every muscle ached, every nerve was on fire. She felt as though she had ran a hundred marathons while being shocked with a million volts of electricity.

The glow began to fade, but continued to surround the Doctor. Oh no. Nononono. Donna dragged her exhausted body over to him. It took every inch of her willpower, each step seeming to take a lifetime. She cradled his head in her lap. "Doctor... Doctor? Don't you dare.... Don't you dare, not now..."

Cell regeneration reversed and as if being punched in the gut, the Doctor jolted forward, eyes wide and gasping for breath.

Just as the Huon particles were used to merge with the time loop and rebuild the TARDIS, it also exploded from Donna's release, knocking out, if not killing, the guards. Then with the TARDIS's own help, managed to merge with the time drifts and forced the Doctor to absorb a small amount of its power.

"Are you crying...?" He teased weakly as he raised a hand to wipe away an escaped tear.

His teasing should've earned him a slap. A hard, sharp, leaves a mark for at least five minutes slap, but instead Donna threw her arms around the Doctor and clung to him like her life depended on it.

"You're alive!!" She didn't want to ever let go. "You're still you!" She'd long accepted that he was Time Lord and part of being Time Lord meant regeneration, but she wasn't ready face it yet. She liked him just the way he was. She'd be able to handle his face changing, after all, it's just a face - a pretty face that she doesn't mind seeing every day, but a face nonetheless, no, it was the fact that his whole personality could change. What if they didn't get on? That was what scared her the most.

"You're alright? You're not going to change, right? You're okay?!"

He looked at his hands as if seeing them for the first time, then touched his face. "I could use a shave... But yes, I'm still me."

Awkwardly looking upside-down behind him at the guards, "Dead?" He didn't exactly want to find out as he rolled over to his knees and then to his feet, eyes growing wide in wonderment. "Ohhhh she's beautiful!" He touched the familiar blue wood exterior in appreciation and adoration. "My TARDIS... I knew it'd work!" He smiled widely to Donna. "I knew if I just provoked you enough to use the particles, my TARDIS would come back."

Donna nudged one of the guards with her foot. No sign of life. Oh God... did this make them murderers? Well that was going to do their 'we didn't break any laws' speech the world of good.

She arched an eyebrow at his smile and at his words. "Hang on. You knew this would happen? You threw yourself in front of danger on purpose?" That slap she'd held back on giving because you were near-death, Doctor? You can have it now.

His cheek was bright red. He didn't touch it, knowing it was deserved. "I didn't mean to scare you, and honestly I wasn't sure it'd work myself..." He paused for a second, "Even if I did have that plan in mind, you were directly in that line of fire. I wasn't going to let you be killed or hurt."

He opened the door to the TARDIS and smiled softly as he held out his hand to Donna. "Forgive me. But I have to point out the plan worked. Well, at least this far."

She frowned and took hold of his hand. It was a reassuring thing, made her feel a whole lot safer than she had done lately. "All right, all right, Mr Smartypants, don't get cocky." After all. Which one of them got themselves dosed up with Huon particles in the first place?

Donna sighed. "Is she... the TARDIS... I mean, is she really okay? She was completely torn apart..."

"The Shadow Hunters' ship is stuck in a time vortex. I did that before we found the TARDIS. I knew they'd be so focused on getting us they wouldn't realize it. That, mixed with the Huon particles, I knew it'd recall the TARDIS.... She should be alright." He paused for a moment, "But we need a lot of power to break free."

The Doctor started cutting off the power to the additional rooms and hallways, even shutting them down and being reabsorbed into the TARDIS. Fingers flying furiously across the controls, he was determined to lead them away from this.

"What do you need me to do?" She felt rather helpless just standing idly by and watching while he was working so hard to get them out of there.

These were the times when she hated that she was a mere human without a superduper brain.

"I can't fly this by myself. I'll navigate if you'll fly..." And really, it just dawned on him that now with the Shadow Hunters after them, there really was nowhere safe for them. Not anymore.

But they didn't have time to dwell on that as the Doctor pulled Donna to the controls and scrambled around her.

Time and Space fugitives. That's what they were. Donna stared wide-eyed at the controls for a moment. She wanted to say she couldn't do it and run and hide. But instead she took a calming breath and reached out to take hold of a lever here, and a dial there. She could do this. She had flown the TARDIS a bunch of times before.

Always running. Never stopping. Always looking over their shoulders. She sighed. At least he wasn't running alone.

The familiar sounds and whirling began. Slowly and softly, but they were there. "C'moooon! C'moooon!" The Doctor hissed as he scrambled around the console, making adjustments.

The TARDIS was shaking and there was banging on the front doors from attempts of breaking in by the bounty hunters, but that didn't stop the Doctor in his thoughts.

Louder, faster... and the TARDIS was flying. "We need to get out of this time rift... It's going to get pretty bumpy!"

Donna tried to lighten the mood. "Just like your usual driving then!" She offered him a smile, keeping her hands on the controls. Focus on flying and not on dying. Focus on flying not on dying. And when she was sure she wasn't being watched she planted a great big kiss on the console. She's over the moon the Old Girl is back in one piece.

He did catch the kiss, but only grinned, as he was quite relieved too. For both the TARDIS and his escaping regeneration once again.

The TARDIS rattled, causing both him and Donna to be thrown around a bit as they feebly clung to the console. Finally, after some tense concentration, things began to stabilize and quiet down.

"Oh, lovely!" He was over the moon at their escape.

Once things were calm enough to let go of the console, Donna turned, leaning back against it, offering the Doctor a soft smile. "Onwards?"

Somehow, some way they had managed to escape death. It felt pretty amazing.

He locked in the coordinates somewhere randomly placed in space and he released a sigh before flopping down in his pilot's chair. "That was.... quite close." He stared up at the ceiling for a moment before turning his head to Donna with a subtle smile.

“Quite close?!" She shot him an incredulous look. "If I was a cat, I would've just used eight of my nine lives!" At least her heart had just about settled back to it's normal pace. "Are you okay though? I mean... really? You're not going to, I dunno, regenerate in the night or sommat?"

He shook his head. "I was actually regenerating back there, but before all that happened, at that one control console, I made sure to stick us in a continuous time loop. That, and the interaction between the Huon particles and the TARDIS heart, it reversed everything."

He blinked and looked closer at her, noticing that she looked quite worn down, as he probably did. "So with the rebuild of the TARDIS and all that happening, the TARDIS reversed me as well."

"And that's safe? Nothing's going to happen to you?" She moved closer to him and reached out tentatively, resting her palms on his chest to feel for his hearts.

She was exhausted mentally and psychically. She had no idea how long they'd been stuck in that horrible, dark place. She wanted a hot bath, a cup of tea and the longest snooze known to man.

"I should be fine!" He touched her hand with his own briefly.

"Go on, I'll take it from here." He popped out of the chair and brought back some of the rooms and hallways, most notably their rooms, kitchen, and library. He'll bring the rest at a later point. "Really, Donna, go on." He gently pushed her in the right direction.

"You sure?" She was dragging her feet, making the pushing a whole lot harder. She turned to face him again, and after a brief pause leaned in to kiss his cheek.

"You make sure you rest. It's been hard on you too. Don't lie and say you're fine, because I know you're not. Your hearts broke when we lost the TARDIS, so don't you pretend you're fine."

He sat there silently as she walked off. Finally he got up to his feet checking the navigation and trying to figure out where to go. Fondly, he stroked the console with a soft smile as in to thank her for saving them and coming back.

Another 30 minutes passed and the Doctor was flopped on his back in his chair, long legs hanging off, and an arm flopped over as well. His eyes were closed and he was fast asleep. There were many worries and concerns rapidly racing through his mind, but he didn't have time to dwell on it. Not when he was exhausted and relieved to gain some sort of normalcy back.

After Donna had had her bath she poked her head in to check on the Doctor. She had expected to find him tinkering with something or doing whatever it was he did when he was alone in the console room. She smiled soft, it was nice to see him relaxed enough to sleep.

She found a blanket and draped it over him, kissed his forehead and slipped out quietly to go get some sleep of her own.

At some point in the night, the Doctor woke up and managed to find his way into Donna's room, nudging her awake. "We have two choices: Either we go and confront the Shadow Proclamation head on, or return back to the soothsayer." He lacked infliction in his voice and he clearly was still not fully awake.

"Someone's ruining our timeline, and I need to get to the bottom of this before I go mental." He stood there awkwardly, half awake, as if this idea had come to him in his sleep.

Donna groaned. She'd just gotten into that lovely place of deep sleep. Stupid, nudging alien. She yawned and shifted a little, blinking her eyes open to look at him. At least she hadn't slapped him. But only because it would require too much effort.

Another yawn. "You saw how those bounty hunters ripped the TARDIS to shreds, if the Shadow Proclamation have that kind of power at their fingertips there's no way we could take them on."

She pulled back the blanket and patted the space beside her on the bed. He looked so awkward standing there.

"They don't have that kind of power. Not by themselves. That's why they hire so many to do their dirty work." He sat down, staring at her wall and kicked off his shoes. "I want to confront them, or find the soothsayer again and see what it has to add."

He sighed heavily as he finally flopped on his side, facing away from Donna. "I'm tired of running." He mumbled as he rubbed his face into the pillow.

Donna shuffled closer and wrapped an arm around him, tugging the blanket over them both. "That soothsayer was freaky, but if you think it'll help..."

She sighed, resting her chin on his shoulder. "I trust you completely, Doctor. You know that, I'll follow you to the end of time and back again. Whatever you think's best, then that's what we'll do." Another sigh, "Will they listen to reason? The Shadow Proclamation, I mean, or is it a losing battle from the start?"

"...From the start...?" It was a vague reply as the Doctor was quickly drifting back to sleep, feeling content about the warmth surrounding him.

From there he slept with dreams of doubt, uncertainty, but never fear. There was broken conversations and memories tossed about, and at one point he went back to standing on the beach on that bleak day, forlornly looking at Rose.

...What was the last thing you said to me? Go on, say it... The familiar quotes only it wasn't Rose's voice saying it but his own, ...and? How was that sentence gonna end?

His eyes flew open and he sat up. "The soothsayer. We're going to it." Somehow he knew the soothsayer would have his answers.