FIC: Flipped, Book 3 (8/12)
Title: Flipped, Book 3
Rating: heavy T, with some M/MA
Author: tkel_paris
Summary: David Noble thought he had come to terms with the strange feelings the female Doctor inspired, and it seemed to be helped by Martha Jones joining them. But when the Aubertide threaten the Doctor, protecting her requires a cover that will test his sanity and his ability to find the right thing to do. Written for tardis_mole.
Required Disclaimer: The summary should be enough to tell you I own nothing.
Dedications: My good friend tardis_mole, for helping me discover my talent at editing and for being an inspiration. You've challenged me to go beyond what I previously thought I would like, and so this is the farthest I've gone from my comfort zone so far. Who knows where I'll go next?
And another important shout-out: sykira, whose LJ post about John Barrowman's comments about how Doctor Who could eventually go was the ultimate spark for this idea. So I suppose that means the ultimate blame for this lies with the Barrowman. I can only imagine what he would think, although I suspect he would heartily approve. :P
Author's Note: Originally spawned from a different idea that split into three, this is a new version of one of those ideas revived as a birthday present. And it's spawned a slightly AU version as a Christmas present. The original prompt from TM boiled down to this: “The Doctor and Donna in a situation that's never been done before.” Ask and ye shall receive, my friend. Enjoy the second sequel. :D A VERY Belated Happy Birthday, TM! :DDD
Special Disclaimer: I refuse to be held responsible for any $2000/₤2000 lattes, spit-takes, fainting spells, workplace/school gaffes, or falling against/from things that might happen if you're not careful while reading this story. Especially in certain chapters. Read at your own risk. (I put this in because I was warned by one of my betas, cassikat, that my emails should come with a spit-take warning. So I'm looking out for y'all. ;D)
And TM, be careful that you don't hyperventilate from reading some of the sections. I know you. :P And so sorry for the delay. At least I have a legitimate excuse for not working on it last year; we had our balrog to work on. :D
Thanks to cassikat and bas_math_girl for betaing. Couldn't have done it without y'all.
Chapter One / Chapter Two / Chapter Three / Chapter Four / Chapter Five / Chapter Six / Chapter Seven
Flipped, Book 3
Started July 14, 2013
Finished December 31, 2015
CHAPTER EIGHT: MEET THE PARENTS AND A JOB INTERVIEW GOES PEAR-SHAPED
The two occupants of the car were silent for a long while, each focused on their own thoughts. Donna broke the moment as a thought hit her. “What might be for dinner tonight?”
David cleared his throat. “Well, I'm assuming something with beef since this is a special occasion. Mum and Gran know that you're coming, so we'll see what they want to make enough for twenty of.”
“Why for twenty?”
He had to resist frowning. He had had this conversation with the Doctor once, and it felt strange to have to have it again. Even if the last time the Doctor had been a man and they had been visiting so his family would be more comfortable with his own choices. “Mum was influenced by Gran, and Gran by her mum. They make a lot and then freeze whatever is left to use for another meal. Remember, Gran's family grew up during the 1930s, when times were much harder. Wasting food is not an option, although they've tried to not let that turn into weight gain as time marches on.”
Donna giggled. “No one could ever accuse you of having troubles in that direction.”
He rolled his eyes, hiding how familiar this teasing was. Two different Doctors had given him playful grief over his seeming inability to gain weight. “Oi! Are you saying I'm too skinny?”
“Eh, you wear the wrong thing and you look like you could give someone a papercut if they hugged you. Lucky for me, they don't realize that you have lovely muscles under those clothes. Not to mention very touchable skin.”
He cleared his throat, trying to calm his body. “Please don't distract me.”
“We don't live that far away. And aren't we almost there?”
“Yeah, but not getting into an accident will go over much better with my mother.”
She nodded, and remained quiet - looking around at the buildings and homes they passed - until he parked them in the space he always used whenever he had to use his car to visit. He also hurried out to open her door for her, which made her blush. “You're treating me like a Queen.”
“And you have a problem with it?”
“I'm not really complaining. Just not used to it.”
He smiled smugly. “Get used to it.” He only hoped he didn't before things changed back. Yet one more thing he was fighting to not think at all about.
She giggled again as she took his proffered arm and let him lead her inside. He used his own key, which had been his since his teen years.
David was far more nervous about this than he had let on. Far more than he could let on. He had had to detour last night to his parents to explain enough to give them a warning to not dare mention the Doctor or the TARDIS or anything about aliens to Donna. But according to the story he had carefully extracted from her, his family had barely heard of her before. So he had to not completely tell them what was going on just to ensure that their reactions didn't give her a clue that something was off. If he had come completely clean then, his family might've shown too much recognition of her and that wasn't okay.
But if he had not said enough, then tonight would be a total disaster for certain. He had to play it safe, which was always a dangerous thing to try when you had Sylvia Noble as a mother. Oh, he loved her and would not have her be any other way (he would not be who he was without her, after all), but this was not something he would willingly go into under any other circumstances.
The first person who saw them was Wilfred, which was a relief. The tension was palpable to David, although Donna seemed ignorant - which he decided he should be grateful for. The longer she didn't notice the not quite right reactions, the more time his family and friends in the know about the Doctor would have to train themselves to not give off any clues that they did recognize her from somewhere else.
He knew he would not have to worry about his granddad, who loved gingers and had married one. Never mind that he had welcomed the Doctor whom David had first met eagerly, he seemed almost besotted with this one. And Donna got along wonderfully with him, an almost mutual admiration society.
His gran he wondered about. Especially since she seemed to notice that the Doctor's feelings existed long ago. But she was nothing if not polite and welcoming. Donna, rather like the Doctor, was entranced with her - although it took a lot less time to happen. So two down.
His dad also was fine. He was fond of the Doctor, and had liked the newer one as much as the other. The courtesy he greeted Donna with was welcoming, and he seemed perfectly pleased with her. Although David overheard his father later on muttering, making sure he was out of earshot of Donna, “If only she was real.”
David didn't know how to react to that. Although his insides felt weighted by that.
As soon as Donna was introduced to his mother, he knew trouble was brewing. Sylvia kept her face in a tight mask from the moment she and Donna laid eyes on each other, and Donna tensed as though she remembered others reacting similarly to her.
“What, do I have something on my face or something?!” Donna asked, trying to keep her tone even.
Sylvia's eyes narrowed. “Just a little mole. I'll assume it's benign.”
So the tension was more than thick enough to cut with a knife. The words exchanged were tight, making the two women's words seem like a sparring match. The other four people in the room tried to defuse things, but it kept going no matter what they tried to get into the conversation. Sylvia asked a slew of questions designed as an interrogation into the past Donna believed happened and into what she intended to do.
Donna finally had enough as the plates were put away. “What is your problem with me? Are you so determined to dislike me just because I married your son without you being present?”
“That's one point against you. Another is I'm not sure you're good enough for him.”
David dropped his fork in shock, mortified. “Mum!”
“Mrs. Noble, I've been hearing people mock me for all my life. I'm going to assume for once it's not about my hair. Is it because of my personality, or because you think I'm not smart enough for him?”
“I'm questioning whether you two will work out.”
David shot to his feet, but Donna grabbed his arm.
“Mrs. Noble, I am only going to say this once. I love your son. He gave me a place to call home, a feeling of belonging. I intend to give him a family. For his sake and for the children I hope we're blessed with, I would like us to be able to get along well enough to not alarm them. But I will not stand being insulted as some floozy who you think trapped your son!”
Sylvia scowled. “That's what they always say to make it seem otherwise.”
“That's enough!” snapped David. He turned his eyes on his mother. “Mum, I love you, but this is not acceptable to me. You will treat Donna with respect, or I'm not going to be around until you do. Dad, Gran, Gramps, love you all. Good night.” He led Donna out, not that she resisted.
It broke his heart to have to do that, but he would've done it as Donna's husband for real. So he had to.
“I'm sorry,” Donna whispered once they were on the way home. “I wish I'd handled that better.”
He took a deep breath. “Not your fault. Mum can be difficult, and she doesn't like it when I surprise her over things she thought she'd be the first to know about. Give it time.”
He felt lucky that Donna decided to instead ask about their plans for the rest of the week he had off from work. Even though it reminded him that there would soon not be one place in his house that had not been 'christened' by the time the week was over, let alone three months.
/=/=/=/
“Run!”
Donna's voice woke David from a sound sleep. He was lying in bed, next to her and just as naked, when he heard her whispered blurting. He blinked and lifted his head.
“They're plastic. Living plastic,” Donna muttered, shifting in her sleep.
His eyes widened. How could anything from the Doctor's past be leaking through? She should not be able to remember any of it! He grabbed her arm and gently shook her. “Donna,” he hissed.
She startled awake, panting and sweating. “What?”
“You're home, in bed. I think you had a nightmare.”
She exhaled loudly, shaking her head as she rubbed away the sweat from her face. “It was so weird. I saw you and some girl fleeing from these... mannequins that were moving. On their own! And I told you to run, but... I was a man! A man with short hair, curt manners, and ears that could've picked up telly signals from Peru!”
He thought quickly, trying to come up with anything that would distract her from realizing anything was off. “Sounds like you saw some strange things recently. Maybe your brain is just processing them. Dreams don't have to mean anything.”
“But why would I dream that I was a man? And what would I be doing with something that exploded? I was telling you two to get out so I could blow some building up.”
He hugged her tightly. “I don't know. Don't think about it much.”
She grimaced. “I can't let it go. It was too strange, too weird.”
“Why not?” He had inspiration that he felt proved to him that he would be in loads of trouble when the Doctor was back. Yet she couldn't remember, not when she couldn't learn what she really was. “Need a distraction?”
Donna looked at him in confusion. Then she saw the glint in his eyes and a slow smile crossed her lips. “Well, I might be easily persuaded. Especially if you give me the puppy eyes.”
He grinned and kissed her, making her entire attention focus entirely on him.
Before he lost his own ability to focus on anything other than her, he wondered if this was the result of her being triggered by running into his mother's disdain. That was enough to make a saint have nightmares, when she was on the warpath.
He also hoped that this would be a one-time thing. That there would not be any more hints about the Doctor's memories seeping into Donna's dreams.
/=/=/=/
Donna felt much better emotionally five mornings later, despite her strange dreams. She had been so puzzled that she could not completely forget about them no matter what David did to distract her. (Or what she did to him to distract them both.) The images were strange, things that she knew she had never seen in any movie or show. Where could they be coming from?!
Her only recourse to let them go had been to start a journal about them, document every last thing she could remember. Even sketching the ones that were so vivid that she woke David if he was by her side.
Come to think of it, he had looked pretty concerned each time she admitted to what she saw in her dreams from bedtime or naps. So she was becoming tempted to not mention any details ever again. Even the tiniest ones were making him look like a deer in the headlamps.
She looked at the weird things that she had documented so far, and she noted the weirdest so far:
The living plastic from the first night, which had threatened Earth and run by a blob creature that could talk. Although the words made no sense: Time Lord. No more than the sense of the body she had recalled being in, that of the big-eared bloke. Although it somehow made more sense than that girl who needed to dye her eyebrows to match her hair seemed to have. Aside from that she found she did not care to think about her.
Hunting through the sewers of London and firing some unreliable weapon at a giant rodent. Saving a companion who hated being so helpless because she was from a warrior culture and had lacked the means to kill the creature herself. The hair that the man she had dreamed she was then was the detail that stuck out. That and the impression that he had changed out of an outfit that was capped with a scarf that he should have tripped over more than once, if not been strangled by. And there was some Asian magician they were following, someone who followed some deranged master who sought immortality. Nearly killed that man with the wild curls.
Facing off as herself against a giant spider, having to save David from being eaten. His saving her from drowning. His being poisoned with something that she did not understand. She had been so panicked over his safety, especially when he was nabbed right from under her nose.
Having amnesia and facing off against someone who was an old enemy in a new body. That time she had been a man who liked a Victorian style costume. A rather good-looking bloke who relied on the woman doctor who had accidentally killed his previous self, and later on also on the young Asian man who had been deceived by the old enemy. And how she knew all that she did not understand.
Being an old man and following two teachers of the teenager he was looking after into this utterly strange ship. It looked like a police call box, but it was so much bigger on the inside. He was angry that they had been found, and took them all on a wild journey to the stone age past of Earth.
Sitting with Sarah Jane Smith as an older man who wore a cape, with a bit of James Bond flair. There were dinosaurs in London, and they had to answer to who they were. The man had said something like, “John Smith, no relation.” And been very amused at the reactions he got even though he hid it well.
As a youngish-looking blonde man who wore a celery stick in his coat pocket! Battling that same old villain who somehow kept escaping death and being helped - and sometimes hindered - by Harry Houdini! There were three people with him: a math genius boy, a telepathic girl who was hiding from that villain, and a flight attendant who wanted to be able to go back to her job.
As a clownish man captured by some people who called themselves the Time Lords. That phrase from that first night's dream! Forced to watch as two dear friends lost their memories of him, were sent back to their respective original places, and then forced to change into that man who wore the cape. Changed! From one man to another!
And so many more events. She had dreamed of being nine different people. No, ten, she recalled. The images of the tenth, a very exhausted man who was battling someone who was trying to beguile him into using her to cause destruction untold against his own people, were fainter than any of the others, but the emotions seemed the rawest. And the memory of that someone, however faint, was bringing that girl from Hendrick's to mind.
It was all so strange. Donna wondered if she should tell David more about them. He had been woken at least once a night by her dreams, and although he could exhaust her back to sleep the dreams kept returning. With new details each time or something entirely different.
Sighing she put her journal away in the drawer that they had selected for her office work. Space for her own things that he did not have to know about. She had a big day today, and she had to get ready for her job interview.
About two hours later she was in a building waiting for her interview with UNIT to begin as she signed the Official Secrets Acts. She wondered how Sarah Jane Smith got mixed up with a military organization that apparently dealt with alien threats, which sounded rather extreme and fantastical, but the woman would not speak of her past. Not that it bothered her. There was probably some signing of the Official Secrets Act involved, too.
That was fine with her. It sounded rather posh and a good fit for her skills. A lead secretary who had to type fast and be good at shorthand. She could do both without thinking about it, so she was certain she would give a good impression. She had confidence in that, if nothing else.
It was lovely being respected for her skills. The interviewers were a Captain Price, a serious and attractive soldier representing someone who might be needing Donna's skills; the head of the secretary pool, Andrea Benson; and Kate Lethbridge-Stewart, who seemed to hold some senior position as a civilian. “My father worked for UNIT for years,” she had explained as they sat down for the interview. “He was a friend of Sarah Jane's and the one who asked her if she knew anyone for the position. He's retired Army, so you may imagine what sort of a man he is.”
Donna nodded. “Ah, that explains how comfortable you are with giving orders and the military aspects of the place.”
Kate smiled. “Oh, I'm going to guess that you have no problem ordering people about when called for.”
“Yes. And it has little to do with being a ginger.”
“But it doesn't hurt, does it?”
Donna shrugged. “Sometimes. So, when do we begin, if I may ask?”
Kate Lethbridge-Stewart had known the Doctor for years, as he had been around a bit while she was younger and when he had popped in at her father's request. Although those times were few and far between. So she was familiar with the knowledge of regeneration. Although she had not been so shocked to learn the Doctor's gender change. If the alien could change age and appearance so much, why not gender-flipping?
Andrea Benson began with simple questions to expand on the answers given in the application that Sarah Jane Smith had given Donna Noble to fill out. She had handed it in personally to Kate since this was too sensitive to be allowed to be handled by someone junior. Andrea was one of the few people who remembered the Doctor who had been exiled and became an employee of UNIT, being also the wife of the then Sgt. Mike Benson who also knew the Doctor well, and so she was trusted to carry out this interview that the interviewers all knew was a mere formality.
Although it did mean that the income might have to be shifted slightly, all of it from the income the Doctor was still drawing from UNIT. No sense in adding to their expences when they could do otherwise, right?
Donna answered confidently and promptly, filling them in on the training she thought she had received and the experiences she thought she had experienced.
They inquired about her employment history, which made her grateful for the CV in her hands. Somehow it made giving the answers easier. If she didn't hold it, it felt like she had more difficulty remembering where she was and when while talking about any particular incident.
Kate noticed that while this human version of the Doctor was excellent at coming up with answers for the skills related questions, the details of what happened at her previous jobs - the ones that had apparently been created for her - were a bit sparse. And yet Donna did not seem to notice. Or if she did she was concealing it well. The Doctor had always been an expert in lying or simply evading giving the truth.
So Kate chose to not attract any attention to it. She had to hope that Andrea would make sure the other more senior people would spread the word to not ask too many questions about Mrs. Noble's past.
The odd detail Donna noted during the interview was how tired she felt. It wasn't like she wasn't getting enough sleep, even factoring in the number of bedroom parties she had happily held with her husband. And not all of them in the bedroom, either.
But she shocked the interviewers when, just after she signed the papers to accept the job, she collapsed.
/=/=/=/=/
Jack Harkness happened to be visiting UNIT when Donna's interview was scheduled. It was an information exchange between the medical wings of UNIT and Torchwood, so he had Owen Harper with him. While Owen was busy talking with the lead UNIT doctor, Jack was filling someone very important in on some recent developments. While Alister Lethbridge-Stewart was retired, he still consulted on a regular basis, and he knew more than one of the Doctors. His was the shock that was best contained upon learning that the Doctor was now a woman.
Suddenly they were summoned to another part of the medical wing. They heard something about the new interviewee fainting unexpectedly. Jack would have wondered what they were so concerned about when he saw Donna Noble being wheeled into the infirmary.
That made him hurry. He saw Owen and immediately ordered him about. “Whip out the Beccaran scanner and check her!”
Owen did, running it very slowly over her unconscious form. He blinked after a long moment. “She just scanned as a human, one heart,” he whispered.
Jack exhaled slowly. “Which means that the Doctor is still safe,” he murmured. “So why did she faint?”
Donna groaned, making the whole room stiffen. Had she heard any of that?
Kate stepped forward and into the line of sight once the prone woman opened her eyes. “Donna Noble, can you hear me?”
“Of course I can hear you, I'm not stupid!” she snapped, although not with the full force she was normally capable of. She rubbed her forehead. “Did anyone get the licence of that lorry that got me?”
Jack smiled. “You fainted, Donna.”
She blushed. “Oh, how shaming.”
Owen stepped into her line of sight. “Have you been sleeping well? Eating enough?”
“Yes, I am. Might be a little tired, but... the reason is none of your business, put it that way.”
Any other time Jack would have laughed. But this was no laughing matter. He had to let Owen carry out his job without interference. “Well, Owen, anything that explains it?”
“Um... Yes, the scanner uncovered a surprise, and the origin of the fainting spell.”
Jack noticed the hesitation on his colleague's face, and he paled. “What is it?”
“Nothing... nothing bad,” Owen insisted.
Donna tried to sit up, but was stopped by Jack and Owen. “Oi! Hands!”
Owen met her gaze. “I don't know if you were planning anything, but congratulations, Donna. You're pregnant.”
Her eyes watered. She did not notice the others paling.
CHAPTER NINE: FUTURE COMPLICATED BEYOND RECOGNITION
Rating: heavy T, with some M/MA
Author: tkel_paris
Summary: David Noble thought he had come to terms with the strange feelings the female Doctor inspired, and it seemed to be helped by Martha Jones joining them. But when the Aubertide threaten the Doctor, protecting her requires a cover that will test his sanity and his ability to find the right thing to do. Written for tardis_mole.
Required Disclaimer: The summary should be enough to tell you I own nothing.
Dedications: My good friend tardis_mole, for helping me discover my talent at editing and for being an inspiration. You've challenged me to go beyond what I previously thought I would like, and so this is the farthest I've gone from my comfort zone so far. Who knows where I'll go next?
And another important shout-out: sykira, whose LJ post about John Barrowman's comments about how Doctor Who could eventually go was the ultimate spark for this idea. So I suppose that means the ultimate blame for this lies with the Barrowman. I can only imagine what he would think, although I suspect he would heartily approve. :P
Author's Note: Originally spawned from a different idea that split into three, this is a new version of one of those ideas revived as a birthday present. And it's spawned a slightly AU version as a Christmas present. The original prompt from TM boiled down to this: “The Doctor and Donna in a situation that's never been done before.” Ask and ye shall receive, my friend. Enjoy the second sequel. :D A VERY Belated Happy Birthday, TM! :DDD
Special Disclaimer: I refuse to be held responsible for any $2000/₤2000 lattes, spit-takes, fainting spells, workplace/school gaffes, or falling against/from things that might happen if you're not careful while reading this story. Especially in certain chapters. Read at your own risk. (I put this in because I was warned by one of my betas, cassikat, that my emails should come with a spit-take warning. So I'm looking out for y'all. ;D)
And TM, be careful that you don't hyperventilate from reading some of the sections. I know you. :P And so sorry for the delay. At least I have a legitimate excuse for not working on it last year; we had our balrog to work on. :D
Thanks to cassikat and bas_math_girl for betaing. Couldn't have done it without y'all.
Chapter One / Chapter Two / Chapter Three / Chapter Four / Chapter Five / Chapter Six / Chapter Seven
Flipped, Book 3
Started July 14, 2013
Finished December 31, 2015
CHAPTER EIGHT: MEET THE PARENTS AND A JOB INTERVIEW GOES PEAR-SHAPED
The two occupants of the car were silent for a long while, each focused on their own thoughts. Donna broke the moment as a thought hit her. “What might be for dinner tonight?”
David cleared his throat. “Well, I'm assuming something with beef since this is a special occasion. Mum and Gran know that you're coming, so we'll see what they want to make enough for twenty of.”
“Why for twenty?”
He had to resist frowning. He had had this conversation with the Doctor once, and it felt strange to have to have it again. Even if the last time the Doctor had been a man and they had been visiting so his family would be more comfortable with his own choices. “Mum was influenced by Gran, and Gran by her mum. They make a lot and then freeze whatever is left to use for another meal. Remember, Gran's family grew up during the 1930s, when times were much harder. Wasting food is not an option, although they've tried to not let that turn into weight gain as time marches on.”
Donna giggled. “No one could ever accuse you of having troubles in that direction.”
He rolled his eyes, hiding how familiar this teasing was. Two different Doctors had given him playful grief over his seeming inability to gain weight. “Oi! Are you saying I'm too skinny?”
“Eh, you wear the wrong thing and you look like you could give someone a papercut if they hugged you. Lucky for me, they don't realize that you have lovely muscles under those clothes. Not to mention very touchable skin.”
He cleared his throat, trying to calm his body. “Please don't distract me.”
“We don't live that far away. And aren't we almost there?”
“Yeah, but not getting into an accident will go over much better with my mother.”
She nodded, and remained quiet - looking around at the buildings and homes they passed - until he parked them in the space he always used whenever he had to use his car to visit. He also hurried out to open her door for her, which made her blush. “You're treating me like a Queen.”
“And you have a problem with it?”
“I'm not really complaining. Just not used to it.”
He smiled smugly. “Get used to it.” He only hoped he didn't before things changed back. Yet one more thing he was fighting to not think at all about.
She giggled again as she took his proffered arm and let him lead her inside. He used his own key, which had been his since his teen years.
David was far more nervous about this than he had let on. Far more than he could let on. He had had to detour last night to his parents to explain enough to give them a warning to not dare mention the Doctor or the TARDIS or anything about aliens to Donna. But according to the story he had carefully extracted from her, his family had barely heard of her before. So he had to not completely tell them what was going on just to ensure that their reactions didn't give her a clue that something was off. If he had come completely clean then, his family might've shown too much recognition of her and that wasn't okay.
But if he had not said enough, then tonight would be a total disaster for certain. He had to play it safe, which was always a dangerous thing to try when you had Sylvia Noble as a mother. Oh, he loved her and would not have her be any other way (he would not be who he was without her, after all), but this was not something he would willingly go into under any other circumstances.
The first person who saw them was Wilfred, which was a relief. The tension was palpable to David, although Donna seemed ignorant - which he decided he should be grateful for. The longer she didn't notice the not quite right reactions, the more time his family and friends in the know about the Doctor would have to train themselves to not give off any clues that they did recognize her from somewhere else.
He knew he would not have to worry about his granddad, who loved gingers and had married one. Never mind that he had welcomed the Doctor whom David had first met eagerly, he seemed almost besotted with this one. And Donna got along wonderfully with him, an almost mutual admiration society.
His gran he wondered about. Especially since she seemed to notice that the Doctor's feelings existed long ago. But she was nothing if not polite and welcoming. Donna, rather like the Doctor, was entranced with her - although it took a lot less time to happen. So two down.
His dad also was fine. He was fond of the Doctor, and had liked the newer one as much as the other. The courtesy he greeted Donna with was welcoming, and he seemed perfectly pleased with her. Although David overheard his father later on muttering, making sure he was out of earshot of Donna, “If only she was real.”
David didn't know how to react to that. Although his insides felt weighted by that.
As soon as Donna was introduced to his mother, he knew trouble was brewing. Sylvia kept her face in a tight mask from the moment she and Donna laid eyes on each other, and Donna tensed as though she remembered others reacting similarly to her.
“What, do I have something on my face or something?!” Donna asked, trying to keep her tone even.
Sylvia's eyes narrowed. “Just a little mole. I'll assume it's benign.”
So the tension was more than thick enough to cut with a knife. The words exchanged were tight, making the two women's words seem like a sparring match. The other four people in the room tried to defuse things, but it kept going no matter what they tried to get into the conversation. Sylvia asked a slew of questions designed as an interrogation into the past Donna believed happened and into what she intended to do.
Donna finally had enough as the plates were put away. “What is your problem with me? Are you so determined to dislike me just because I married your son without you being present?”
“That's one point against you. Another is I'm not sure you're good enough for him.”
David dropped his fork in shock, mortified. “Mum!”
“Mrs. Noble, I've been hearing people mock me for all my life. I'm going to assume for once it's not about my hair. Is it because of my personality, or because you think I'm not smart enough for him?”
“I'm questioning whether you two will work out.”
David shot to his feet, but Donna grabbed his arm.
“Mrs. Noble, I am only going to say this once. I love your son. He gave me a place to call home, a feeling of belonging. I intend to give him a family. For his sake and for the children I hope we're blessed with, I would like us to be able to get along well enough to not alarm them. But I will not stand being insulted as some floozy who you think trapped your son!”
Sylvia scowled. “That's what they always say to make it seem otherwise.”
“That's enough!” snapped David. He turned his eyes on his mother. “Mum, I love you, but this is not acceptable to me. You will treat Donna with respect, or I'm not going to be around until you do. Dad, Gran, Gramps, love you all. Good night.” He led Donna out, not that she resisted.
It broke his heart to have to do that, but he would've done it as Donna's husband for real. So he had to.
“I'm sorry,” Donna whispered once they were on the way home. “I wish I'd handled that better.”
He took a deep breath. “Not your fault. Mum can be difficult, and she doesn't like it when I surprise her over things she thought she'd be the first to know about. Give it time.”
He felt lucky that Donna decided to instead ask about their plans for the rest of the week he had off from work. Even though it reminded him that there would soon not be one place in his house that had not been 'christened' by the time the week was over, let alone three months.
/=/=/=/
“Run!”
Donna's voice woke David from a sound sleep. He was lying in bed, next to her and just as naked, when he heard her whispered blurting. He blinked and lifted his head.
“They're plastic. Living plastic,” Donna muttered, shifting in her sleep.
His eyes widened. How could anything from the Doctor's past be leaking through? She should not be able to remember any of it! He grabbed her arm and gently shook her. “Donna,” he hissed.
She startled awake, panting and sweating. “What?”
“You're home, in bed. I think you had a nightmare.”
She exhaled loudly, shaking her head as she rubbed away the sweat from her face. “It was so weird. I saw you and some girl fleeing from these... mannequins that were moving. On their own! And I told you to run, but... I was a man! A man with short hair, curt manners, and ears that could've picked up telly signals from Peru!”
He thought quickly, trying to come up with anything that would distract her from realizing anything was off. “Sounds like you saw some strange things recently. Maybe your brain is just processing them. Dreams don't have to mean anything.”
“But why would I dream that I was a man? And what would I be doing with something that exploded? I was telling you two to get out so I could blow some building up.”
He hugged her tightly. “I don't know. Don't think about it much.”
She grimaced. “I can't let it go. It was too strange, too weird.”
“Why not?” He had inspiration that he felt proved to him that he would be in loads of trouble when the Doctor was back. Yet she couldn't remember, not when she couldn't learn what she really was. “Need a distraction?”
Donna looked at him in confusion. Then she saw the glint in his eyes and a slow smile crossed her lips. “Well, I might be easily persuaded. Especially if you give me the puppy eyes.”
He grinned and kissed her, making her entire attention focus entirely on him.
Before he lost his own ability to focus on anything other than her, he wondered if this was the result of her being triggered by running into his mother's disdain. That was enough to make a saint have nightmares, when she was on the warpath.
He also hoped that this would be a one-time thing. That there would not be any more hints about the Doctor's memories seeping into Donna's dreams.
/=/=/=/
Donna felt much better emotionally five mornings later, despite her strange dreams. She had been so puzzled that she could not completely forget about them no matter what David did to distract her. (Or what she did to him to distract them both.) The images were strange, things that she knew she had never seen in any movie or show. Where could they be coming from?!
Her only recourse to let them go had been to start a journal about them, document every last thing she could remember. Even sketching the ones that were so vivid that she woke David if he was by her side.
Come to think of it, he had looked pretty concerned each time she admitted to what she saw in her dreams from bedtime or naps. So she was becoming tempted to not mention any details ever again. Even the tiniest ones were making him look like a deer in the headlamps.
She looked at the weird things that she had documented so far, and she noted the weirdest so far:
The living plastic from the first night, which had threatened Earth and run by a blob creature that could talk. Although the words made no sense: Time Lord. No more than the sense of the body she had recalled being in, that of the big-eared bloke. Although it somehow made more sense than that girl who needed to dye her eyebrows to match her hair seemed to have. Aside from that she found she did not care to think about her.
Hunting through the sewers of London and firing some unreliable weapon at a giant rodent. Saving a companion who hated being so helpless because she was from a warrior culture and had lacked the means to kill the creature herself. The hair that the man she had dreamed she was then was the detail that stuck out. That and the impression that he had changed out of an outfit that was capped with a scarf that he should have tripped over more than once, if not been strangled by. And there was some Asian magician they were following, someone who followed some deranged master who sought immortality. Nearly killed that man with the wild curls.
Facing off as herself against a giant spider, having to save David from being eaten. His saving her from drowning. His being poisoned with something that she did not understand. She had been so panicked over his safety, especially when he was nabbed right from under her nose.
Having amnesia and facing off against someone who was an old enemy in a new body. That time she had been a man who liked a Victorian style costume. A rather good-looking bloke who relied on the woman doctor who had accidentally killed his previous self, and later on also on the young Asian man who had been deceived by the old enemy. And how she knew all that she did not understand.
Being an old man and following two teachers of the teenager he was looking after into this utterly strange ship. It looked like a police call box, but it was so much bigger on the inside. He was angry that they had been found, and took them all on a wild journey to the stone age past of Earth.
Sitting with Sarah Jane Smith as an older man who wore a cape, with a bit of James Bond flair. There were dinosaurs in London, and they had to answer to who they were. The man had said something like, “John Smith, no relation.” And been very amused at the reactions he got even though he hid it well.
As a youngish-looking blonde man who wore a celery stick in his coat pocket! Battling that same old villain who somehow kept escaping death and being helped - and sometimes hindered - by Harry Houdini! There were three people with him: a math genius boy, a telepathic girl who was hiding from that villain, and a flight attendant who wanted to be able to go back to her job.
As a clownish man captured by some people who called themselves the Time Lords. That phrase from that first night's dream! Forced to watch as two dear friends lost their memories of him, were sent back to their respective original places, and then forced to change into that man who wore the cape. Changed! From one man to another!
And so many more events. She had dreamed of being nine different people. No, ten, she recalled. The images of the tenth, a very exhausted man who was battling someone who was trying to beguile him into using her to cause destruction untold against his own people, were fainter than any of the others, but the emotions seemed the rawest. And the memory of that someone, however faint, was bringing that girl from Hendrick's to mind.
It was all so strange. Donna wondered if she should tell David more about them. He had been woken at least once a night by her dreams, and although he could exhaust her back to sleep the dreams kept returning. With new details each time or something entirely different.
Sighing she put her journal away in the drawer that they had selected for her office work. Space for her own things that he did not have to know about. She had a big day today, and she had to get ready for her job interview.
About two hours later she was in a building waiting for her interview with UNIT to begin as she signed the Official Secrets Acts. She wondered how Sarah Jane Smith got mixed up with a military organization that apparently dealt with alien threats, which sounded rather extreme and fantastical, but the woman would not speak of her past. Not that it bothered her. There was probably some signing of the Official Secrets Act involved, too.
That was fine with her. It sounded rather posh and a good fit for her skills. A lead secretary who had to type fast and be good at shorthand. She could do both without thinking about it, so she was certain she would give a good impression. She had confidence in that, if nothing else.
It was lovely being respected for her skills. The interviewers were a Captain Price, a serious and attractive soldier representing someone who might be needing Donna's skills; the head of the secretary pool, Andrea Benson; and Kate Lethbridge-Stewart, who seemed to hold some senior position as a civilian. “My father worked for UNIT for years,” she had explained as they sat down for the interview. “He was a friend of Sarah Jane's and the one who asked her if she knew anyone for the position. He's retired Army, so you may imagine what sort of a man he is.”
Donna nodded. “Ah, that explains how comfortable you are with giving orders and the military aspects of the place.”
Kate smiled. “Oh, I'm going to guess that you have no problem ordering people about when called for.”
“Yes. And it has little to do with being a ginger.”
“But it doesn't hurt, does it?”
Donna shrugged. “Sometimes. So, when do we begin, if I may ask?”
Kate Lethbridge-Stewart had known the Doctor for years, as he had been around a bit while she was younger and when he had popped in at her father's request. Although those times were few and far between. So she was familiar with the knowledge of regeneration. Although she had not been so shocked to learn the Doctor's gender change. If the alien could change age and appearance so much, why not gender-flipping?
Andrea Benson began with simple questions to expand on the answers given in the application that Sarah Jane Smith had given Donna Noble to fill out. She had handed it in personally to Kate since this was too sensitive to be allowed to be handled by someone junior. Andrea was one of the few people who remembered the Doctor who had been exiled and became an employee of UNIT, being also the wife of the then Sgt. Mike Benson who also knew the Doctor well, and so she was trusted to carry out this interview that the interviewers all knew was a mere formality.
Although it did mean that the income might have to be shifted slightly, all of it from the income the Doctor was still drawing from UNIT. No sense in adding to their expences when they could do otherwise, right?
Donna answered confidently and promptly, filling them in on the training she thought she had received and the experiences she thought she had experienced.
They inquired about her employment history, which made her grateful for the CV in her hands. Somehow it made giving the answers easier. If she didn't hold it, it felt like she had more difficulty remembering where she was and when while talking about any particular incident.
Kate noticed that while this human version of the Doctor was excellent at coming up with answers for the skills related questions, the details of what happened at her previous jobs - the ones that had apparently been created for her - were a bit sparse. And yet Donna did not seem to notice. Or if she did she was concealing it well. The Doctor had always been an expert in lying or simply evading giving the truth.
So Kate chose to not attract any attention to it. She had to hope that Andrea would make sure the other more senior people would spread the word to not ask too many questions about Mrs. Noble's past.
The odd detail Donna noted during the interview was how tired she felt. It wasn't like she wasn't getting enough sleep, even factoring in the number of bedroom parties she had happily held with her husband. And not all of them in the bedroom, either.
But she shocked the interviewers when, just after she signed the papers to accept the job, she collapsed.
/=/=/=/=/
Jack Harkness happened to be visiting UNIT when Donna's interview was scheduled. It was an information exchange between the medical wings of UNIT and Torchwood, so he had Owen Harper with him. While Owen was busy talking with the lead UNIT doctor, Jack was filling someone very important in on some recent developments. While Alister Lethbridge-Stewart was retired, he still consulted on a regular basis, and he knew more than one of the Doctors. His was the shock that was best contained upon learning that the Doctor was now a woman.
Suddenly they were summoned to another part of the medical wing. They heard something about the new interviewee fainting unexpectedly. Jack would have wondered what they were so concerned about when he saw Donna Noble being wheeled into the infirmary.
That made him hurry. He saw Owen and immediately ordered him about. “Whip out the Beccaran scanner and check her!”
Owen did, running it very slowly over her unconscious form. He blinked after a long moment. “She just scanned as a human, one heart,” he whispered.
Jack exhaled slowly. “Which means that the Doctor is still safe,” he murmured. “So why did she faint?”
Donna groaned, making the whole room stiffen. Had she heard any of that?
Kate stepped forward and into the line of sight once the prone woman opened her eyes. “Donna Noble, can you hear me?”
“Of course I can hear you, I'm not stupid!” she snapped, although not with the full force she was normally capable of. She rubbed her forehead. “Did anyone get the licence of that lorry that got me?”
Jack smiled. “You fainted, Donna.”
She blushed. “Oh, how shaming.”
Owen stepped into her line of sight. “Have you been sleeping well? Eating enough?”
“Yes, I am. Might be a little tired, but... the reason is none of your business, put it that way.”
Any other time Jack would have laughed. But this was no laughing matter. He had to let Owen carry out his job without interference. “Well, Owen, anything that explains it?”
“Um... Yes, the scanner uncovered a surprise, and the origin of the fainting spell.”
Jack noticed the hesitation on his colleague's face, and he paled. “What is it?”
“Nothing... nothing bad,” Owen insisted.
Donna tried to sit up, but was stopped by Jack and Owen. “Oi! Hands!”
Owen met her gaze. “I don't know if you were planning anything, but congratulations, Donna. You're pregnant.”
Her eyes watered. She did not notice the others paling.
CHAPTER NINE: FUTURE COMPLICATED BEYOND RECOGNITION