You Cover Darkness with a Thousand Secret Flames
So, here is the second part of the wedding oneshot. There is a small part of this referencing Charlotte's Web. It comes from this conversation with hubby:
Hubby: Whoa...it's like a horror version of Charlotte's Web, and poor Donna's the 'some pig'.
Me: How so? And did you just call Donna a pig?
Hubby: No. She's the writing in the web. Means to an end.
Me: Huh?
Hubby: The writing in the web saves Wilbur's life. Donna is meant to be what this Arachnaqueen
needs to feed her progeny of eight legged freaks. Similar? Not really but there's spiders and
webs and everything comes down to a means to an end.
I still don't really get it, but I'm using it because in a very very odd way, it makes sense. O_o
This, like the first one was one that ended up being me staring at the word document demanding it be written and the fic declining to want to be written. But it got written, I like it, and hopefully you do too. =)
The fic title is lyrics from the The Young Prince and Young Princess as told by Scheherazade, from the Song of Scheherazade, by Renaissance. The lyrics at the end is the entire verse from that part of the Song of Scheherazade. I don't own them.
The wedding outfits are based off of a wedding Selena Gomez was a part of (I'm a sucker for wedding pics, celebs or otherwise). They were all barefoot, the women had on long blue dresses, and the men wore loose blue button downs, and khaki shorts. They were on a beach in Mexico. I loved that idea, but I changed the colors, put the men in trousers and used Hawaii for this.
I don't own Charlotte's Web by E.B. White.
I don't know when more oneshots will be posted. This coming week we have more meetings with DHS concerning the fostering and adoption of our great niece, and my father in law has moved into an assisted living facility, so we are in the process of packing up and cleaning out his trailer.
As always, I don't own Ten, Donna, or Doctor Who. Don't own Mickey, Martha, Wilf, Sylvia, Jack or Ianto either. The BBC does Please read and enjoy...
“Because you’re mine!” The Doctor’s sudden words stopped Donna in her tracks, and she whirled to stare at him. The Doctor looked shocked himself.
The TARDIS doors slammed shut.
~*~*~*~*~
The guests and the bridal party involuntarily took several steps back following the slam. “Well,” Captain Jack began, clapping his hands together. “Apparently we’re not going anywhere or doing anything until the Old Girl is satisfied. Or you know…until the Doc and Donna are…satisfied,” he finished with a leer.
“Jaaack,” Mr. Ianto muttered, while others rolled their eyes at the innuendo. Most found their way back to the chairs and tables choosing to sit patiently and wait for whatever was going on inside the TARDIS to finish. Belle however was curious. Who was this “Old Girl”? She thought maybe it meant Miss Tardis, but she hadn’t heard her referred to as “Old Girl”. And secondly, what did Captain Jack mean by satisfied? Judging from Mr. Ianto’s tone of voice just now it probably wasn’t good.
She let Miss Sylvia take her over to a table, and inwardly cheered as she smelled Captain Jack’s cologne and heard his voice. She’d wait a little while until he was done talking and ask him. He’s the one who said those things, therefore he should have her answers.
~*~*~*~*~
The slamming of the doors didn’t seem to be heard by either the Doctor or Donna. They remained frozen in place, letting the words the Doctor had spoken hang in the air. After what seems like hours, but in reality is only a few minutes, Donna went toward the doors again, and tried to open them. They didn’t budge. She tried again, and again, now not ready for this coming conversation. She wanted to know his reason for being upset about who she danced with, and now that she somewhat does, she’s scared, and doesn’t want to deal with it.
“They won’t open,” the Doctor said after she tried for a fourth time. “The Old Girl wants us to talk apparently, so she’s locked the doors.”
“What about the others, out there?” Donna talked to both the Doctor and the TARDIS. “What about their needs?”
“I wouldn’t worry about them, and clearly the TARDIS isn’t, what with the amount of food and beverages you, Sylvia, and Francine put out there,” he moved towards her, reaching his hand out to her.
“What?” she asked, though she let him take her hand. He just shook his head, led her over to the jump seat, and sat next to her. They sat there in silence, only the background hum of the TARDIS was heard. They didn’t look at each other, or touch each other, they just sat there. It seemed that neither knew what to say, or if they did, how to say it.
Donna watched as the Doctor lounged back on the jump seat, and put his feet up on the console. He shifted as though uncomfortable and perhaps he was, since he wasn’t in his customary pinstriped suit and Converse. He was in a loose lavender (Martha would say wisteria) short sleeved button down, loose black linen trousers, and bare feet. The same outfit as the men in the wedding party were wearing. She herself was in a long lavender (again wisteria according to Martha) dress similar to Belle’s, and identical to Tish’s, and she was also barefoot. Though her toenails were painted a brilliant silver. She put her feet up on the console, and wiggled her toes, admiring the silver sparkling. She did not miss the Doctor looking over and watching.
The Doctor shifted on the jump seat, the outfit he was in for the wedding irking him. He liked his suits and Converse. They were comfortable, and comforting. He still remembered Martha’s scowl when he suggested he wear a suit and Converse anyhow. He’d even offered to have the suit in their wedding colors, same with the Converse. Martha had almost achieved bridezilla status when he’d deigned to argue. Thus his current attire. He had been looking or rather staring aimlessly at the time rotor when a silver sparkle flashed in the corner of his eye. He watched Donna wiggle her toes. Such lovely toes. Lovely toes, on an equally lovely woman.
“I’m not a possession,” Donna’s voice interrupted his thoughts.
“I’m sorry, what?” he asked confused.
“I’m not a possession.”
“I know you’re not. Why would you say that?”
“You said I was yours. You said ‘because you’re mine’. That denotes you think you possess me.”
“Oh. Well, I didn’t mean it that way. I meant it like…like…” he scrunched his face trying to think of a good way to explain.
“Of course I’ve never been much of anything to anyone at all really,” she went on appearing to not have heard him. “Oh, I’ve been some things, like a disappointment and annoyance to my mum. Someone to tease for this,” she picked at her ginger hair. “Or my weight. But my personal favorite was being the ‘some pig’ in Freaky Charlotte’s web, courtesy of Lance.”
“Charlotte’s Web? I read that years ago. The writing in the web was done to save the pig’s life though. Freaky Charlotte wasn’t doing that.”
“True. But they were both means to an end. Wilbur’s life needed saving, and the Racnoss Empress needed to free and feed her babies. The writing in the web saves Wilbur, and had you not been there, I would have been Christmas dinner for Freaky Charlotte’s freakettes. Means to an end. Odd comparison, I realize, but then again…it’s me. Daft old useless me.”
“Oh, stop it,” the Doctor narrowed his eyes at her. “You’re not daft, you’re not useless, you’re definitely not a disappointment or annoying. And if you don’t believe me, then just take a look outside at the stars one night. Look up at all of them, and remember that you helped save all that. You did save all that. You’re the most important woman in the whole wide universe. You’re the most important person in your grandfather’s universe. You were in your father’s too, I can tell. You’re certainly the most important in my universe.”
“Your universe?” she dropped her feet from the console and stared at him. “What about River Song then? In the Library. She knew your name. She said she was from your personal future. She didn’t tell me where I was in that future, if I was even there, though she did seem to know me.”
“River Song, Shmiver Song. She’s an archeologist. And as much as that branch of science makes me laugh, it does have its merits I suppose.”
“Meaning?”
“Meaning, part of being an archeologist is knowing a bit about history. And the stolen planets as well as their return and who was a part of that would be history to her. An event that large can’t be overlooked. Of course she’d know the name of the most important woman in the universe.”
“Alright, that explains that part, but what about what she said about your personal future? You can’t explain that away with history books.”
“Honestly?” he ran his hand over his face. “I can’t. I really have no idea. Perhaps in the future I do have a personal relationship with her. Or perhaps I don’t.”
“What does that even mean?”
“It means it’s in the future, sometime down the road, but I don’t know. And since she’s apparently from the 50 or 51st century, I don’t think it has any bearing on us. That’s three thousand years from now.”
“And you’re a time traveler. The Library was in the 51st century. We were in the 51st century. The fact that she’s from the 51st century, you’ll find does have bearing on us.”
“Wibbly wobbly, timey wimey.”
“…What?”
“Time. That’s what I told Sally Sparrow time was. A big ball of wibbly wobbly timey wimey stuff. That description is living up to itself quite nicely right now.”
“Sally Sparrow?”
“Yep. A girl from 2007. She helped Martha and I when we were stuck in 1969. Long story really. Angels trying to take the TARDIS.”
“Angels taking the TARDIS…? And trapped in 1969?”
“Yeah. Weeping Angels. Lonely assassins. They send a person back in time and feed off the energy of the future they would have had if they’d not been sent back. They sent Martha and I back to 1969 and we were stuck there. I made a timey wimey detector. It was brilliant. It went ding when there was stuff,” he had a wide grin on his face.
“Nine hundred plus years old, all of space and time, and the best you can come up with is that it went ding when there was stuff?” she rolled her eyes at his raised eyebrows. “How did this Sally Sparrow help?”
“Oh, there were other people who helped as well. Did things like put “easter eggs” on several DVDs. But in the end, it was Sally who worked out the easter eggs and got the TARDIS to Martha and I. She had a friend, Larry I think, that was going to make a T-shirt that said “The Angels Have the Phone Box. Wonder if he ever did?”
“Oh! There is this little shop in London. It’s just a tiny shop, but it had T-shirts that said that for sale. I bought one as a gag gift for Gramps. He wears it sometimes, mostly to rile up Mum.”
“Really?” the Doctor’s grin was huge, and he went on to say more, but both of them were blasted with cold air, and the background hum of the TARDIS got louder, making them both jump. “Ah. We’re straying from the topic it seems,” he was answered with a puff of warm air.
“She’s listening?” Donna squeaked, looking at the ceiling, then to him.
“You’ve known she gets in your head. Shouldn’t be too much of a surprise.”
Donna sighed. “No. It’s not really.”
“So…,” he tapped his hands on his knees.
“So…,” she answered back. They both leaned back against the jump seat, in silence once more.
~*~*~*~*~
“Captain Jack?” Belle asked when there was a lull in conversation.
“Yeah?”
“Who is the “Old Girl”?
“Oh, that’s a name we call the TARDIS sometimes.”
“But her name is Miss Tardis. Why would you call her Old Girl? Isn’t calling someone or something old rude?”
“Normally, yes, but it’s the TARDIS, so it’s not really rude.”
“But it is. Mr. Doctor says Miss Tardis is sen…sent…alive. She has feelings. If I were her, I wouldn’t want to be called old. You shouldn’t call her that. It’s mean,” she faced the shimmer she thought Captain Jack’s voice was coming from, and arranged her face in what she hoped was a glare. She’d felt Miss Donna’s face when she tried to “show” her facial expressions. Eyebrows wrinkled, and mouth turned down or in a straight line indicated irritation. And she was irritated by Captain Jack calling Miss Tardis “old”.
“That’s you told,” Mr. Wilf snickered and she could hear laughter coming from the rest of the table.
There was silence at the table before conversation started up again, and Belle bided her time. She still wanted to know what Captain Jack meant by Mr. Doctor and Miss Donna being satisfied. She assumed Miss Tardis wanted them to talk, hopefully about them being together like Miss Martha and Mr. Mickey. Maybe they would have a wedding too.
~*~*~*~*~
“You never answered my question,” Donna spoke into the silence.
“What question was that?”
“Your universe. You said I was the most important thing in your universe.”
“And you brought up River Song.”
“Because as I said, she knew you. She knew your name. And don’t just say she’s from the 51st century, and I’m not so it has no bearing. It does. If she knows you in your personal future, and she knows your name, then how am I the most important thing in your universe?”
“Donna, I can’t see my own future. I don’t know when I’m going to meet her, I don’t know if I’m going to meet her. Though it does look like I will. And since she pointed out that I looked the youngest she’d seen me, it stands to reason I don’t even meet her in this incarnation. For all I know, I meet her after I lose you to old age, which is another thing I don’t want to dwell on right now, no matter how inevitable it may be. I thought I lost you twice now, once in the Library, and once by the metacrisis. I really don’t want to think of being without you anymore right now, and discussing whether or not I know River Song in the future is making me think about that. So can we just move on from that?” he gave her a somewhat pleading look.
Donna placed her hand on his arm. “I don’t want to think about when or if I leave you either. I want to stay with you forever. I know that one day old age will have its way, and I’ll leave. I just want to understand how I am the most important thing in your universe? You said I was yours. How am I yours?”
The Doctor wondered how he could get his point across, as he knew he was absolutely rubbish with discussing his feelings. “Oh for the sake of Rassilon,” he muttered under his breath. “Think, you daft idiot.” But then a metaphorical light bulb went off above his head. If he couldn’t quite say it, perhaps he could show it.
“Doctor?” Donna asked, watching his facial expressions change and hearing him mutter to himself. When he lifted his face to look into her eyes, she was startled by the emotions she saw there. When he took her face in his hands, and placed a soft and tender kiss on her lips, she melted against him. And returned the kiss wholeheartedly.
Pulling back, the Doctor kept one hand on her cheek, and took hold of one of her hands with his other hand. “Don’t you see?” he whispered softly. “You chase away the darkness in me with your light. As the stars light the universe, so you light me. You are my universe.”
And Donna did see in the way his eyes were shining. Giving him a small smile, she leaned in and kissed him again.
~*~*~*~*~
“What did you mean by satisfied, Captain Jack?” Belle’s question broke the lull in conversation.
“What do you mean?”
“You said Miss Tardis wasn’t going to let us in, or Mr. Doctor and Miss Donna out, until they were satisfied. What did you mean?” she heard a spluttering, and coughing coming from the shimmer she identified as Captain Jack.
“I…well…that is…I…” Captain Jack tried to string together a sentence.
“Come on, Jack,” Mr. Mickey’s voice was heard. “Tell her. Tell the Doctor and Donna’s daughter what you mean by ‘satisfied’.” Belle heard a snort from another side of the table.
“Oh for heaven’s sake,” Miss Sylvia said. Belle heard the movement of a chair and saw Miss Sylvia’s shimmer stand up. “Come along, Belle. No need for you to have that kind of conversation with that man.”
Belle stood and followed Miss Sylvia. “But I want to know,” she attempted to argue.
“I think you’d better let the Doctor and Donna answer that. It’s better if they did. Who knows what Jack would tell you.”
“Hey!” Captain Jack protested.
“Oh, hush you,” Miss Sylvia told him. “Now then Belle, let’s go help Francine clean some of this mess up.”
“I’ll help as well,” Mr. Ianto joined them.
And so for the next couple of hours, as Francine, Sylvia, Belle, and Ianto cleaned up some of the tables, and straightened a few things up, and others sat at tables talking or walking down near the ocean, inside the TARDIS, the Doctor and Donna had moved from the console room to the library, where they sank down onto the large overstuffed couch near the fireplace. Donna lay on her back, while the Doctor hovered over her, the two of them sharing gentle kisses, soft caresses, and tender words of endearment, neither one intending to stop anytime soon.
And you would cause the sun to see your light, and then be shamed
You cover darkness with a thousand secret flames
With your love, oh my love, oh my love, my love
And I would cause the winds to blow a hundred different days
And bring the perfumes of the gardens of the ways
Of your love, oh my love, oh my love, my love
Hubby: Whoa...it's like a horror version of Charlotte's Web, and poor Donna's the 'some pig'.
Me: How so? And did you just call Donna a pig?
Hubby: No. She's the writing in the web. Means to an end.
Me: Huh?
Hubby: The writing in the web saves Wilbur's life. Donna is meant to be what this Arachnaqueen
needs to feed her progeny of eight legged freaks. Similar? Not really but there's spiders and
webs and everything comes down to a means to an end.
I still don't really get it, but I'm using it because in a very very odd way, it makes sense. O_o
This, like the first one was one that ended up being me staring at the word document demanding it be written and the fic declining to want to be written. But it got written, I like it, and hopefully you do too. =)
The fic title is lyrics from the The Young Prince and Young Princess as told by Scheherazade, from the Song of Scheherazade, by Renaissance. The lyrics at the end is the entire verse from that part of the Song of Scheherazade. I don't own them.
The wedding outfits are based off of a wedding Selena Gomez was a part of (I'm a sucker for wedding pics, celebs or otherwise). They were all barefoot, the women had on long blue dresses, and the men wore loose blue button downs, and khaki shorts. They were on a beach in Mexico. I loved that idea, but I changed the colors, put the men in trousers and used Hawaii for this.
I don't own Charlotte's Web by E.B. White.
I don't know when more oneshots will be posted. This coming week we have more meetings with DHS concerning the fostering and adoption of our great niece, and my father in law has moved into an assisted living facility, so we are in the process of packing up and cleaning out his trailer.
As always, I don't own Ten, Donna, or Doctor Who. Don't own Mickey, Martha, Wilf, Sylvia, Jack or Ianto either. The BBC does Please read and enjoy...
“Because you’re mine!” The Doctor’s sudden words stopped Donna in her tracks, and she whirled to stare at him. The Doctor looked shocked himself.
The TARDIS doors slammed shut.
~*~*~*~*~
The guests and the bridal party involuntarily took several steps back following the slam. “Well,” Captain Jack began, clapping his hands together. “Apparently we’re not going anywhere or doing anything until the Old Girl is satisfied. Or you know…until the Doc and Donna are…satisfied,” he finished with a leer.
“Jaaack,” Mr. Ianto muttered, while others rolled their eyes at the innuendo. Most found their way back to the chairs and tables choosing to sit patiently and wait for whatever was going on inside the TARDIS to finish. Belle however was curious. Who was this “Old Girl”? She thought maybe it meant Miss Tardis, but she hadn’t heard her referred to as “Old Girl”. And secondly, what did Captain Jack mean by satisfied? Judging from Mr. Ianto’s tone of voice just now it probably wasn’t good.
She let Miss Sylvia take her over to a table, and inwardly cheered as she smelled Captain Jack’s cologne and heard his voice. She’d wait a little while until he was done talking and ask him. He’s the one who said those things, therefore he should have her answers.
~*~*~*~*~
The slamming of the doors didn’t seem to be heard by either the Doctor or Donna. They remained frozen in place, letting the words the Doctor had spoken hang in the air. After what seems like hours, but in reality is only a few minutes, Donna went toward the doors again, and tried to open them. They didn’t budge. She tried again, and again, now not ready for this coming conversation. She wanted to know his reason for being upset about who she danced with, and now that she somewhat does, she’s scared, and doesn’t want to deal with it.
“They won’t open,” the Doctor said after she tried for a fourth time. “The Old Girl wants us to talk apparently, so she’s locked the doors.”
“What about the others, out there?” Donna talked to both the Doctor and the TARDIS. “What about their needs?”
“I wouldn’t worry about them, and clearly the TARDIS isn’t, what with the amount of food and beverages you, Sylvia, and Francine put out there,” he moved towards her, reaching his hand out to her.
“What?” she asked, though she let him take her hand. He just shook his head, led her over to the jump seat, and sat next to her. They sat there in silence, only the background hum of the TARDIS was heard. They didn’t look at each other, or touch each other, they just sat there. It seemed that neither knew what to say, or if they did, how to say it.
Donna watched as the Doctor lounged back on the jump seat, and put his feet up on the console. He shifted as though uncomfortable and perhaps he was, since he wasn’t in his customary pinstriped suit and Converse. He was in a loose lavender (Martha would say wisteria) short sleeved button down, loose black linen trousers, and bare feet. The same outfit as the men in the wedding party were wearing. She herself was in a long lavender (again wisteria according to Martha) dress similar to Belle’s, and identical to Tish’s, and she was also barefoot. Though her toenails were painted a brilliant silver. She put her feet up on the console, and wiggled her toes, admiring the silver sparkling. She did not miss the Doctor looking over and watching.
The Doctor shifted on the jump seat, the outfit he was in for the wedding irking him. He liked his suits and Converse. They were comfortable, and comforting. He still remembered Martha’s scowl when he suggested he wear a suit and Converse anyhow. He’d even offered to have the suit in their wedding colors, same with the Converse. Martha had almost achieved bridezilla status when he’d deigned to argue. Thus his current attire. He had been looking or rather staring aimlessly at the time rotor when a silver sparkle flashed in the corner of his eye. He watched Donna wiggle her toes. Such lovely toes. Lovely toes, on an equally lovely woman.
“I’m not a possession,” Donna’s voice interrupted his thoughts.
“I’m sorry, what?” he asked confused.
“I’m not a possession.”
“I know you’re not. Why would you say that?”
“You said I was yours. You said ‘because you’re mine’. That denotes you think you possess me.”
“Oh. Well, I didn’t mean it that way. I meant it like…like…” he scrunched his face trying to think of a good way to explain.
“Of course I’ve never been much of anything to anyone at all really,” she went on appearing to not have heard him. “Oh, I’ve been some things, like a disappointment and annoyance to my mum. Someone to tease for this,” she picked at her ginger hair. “Or my weight. But my personal favorite was being the ‘some pig’ in Freaky Charlotte’s web, courtesy of Lance.”
“Charlotte’s Web? I read that years ago. The writing in the web was done to save the pig’s life though. Freaky Charlotte wasn’t doing that.”
“True. But they were both means to an end. Wilbur’s life needed saving, and the Racnoss Empress needed to free and feed her babies. The writing in the web saves Wilbur, and had you not been there, I would have been Christmas dinner for Freaky Charlotte’s freakettes. Means to an end. Odd comparison, I realize, but then again…it’s me. Daft old useless me.”
“Oh, stop it,” the Doctor narrowed his eyes at her. “You’re not daft, you’re not useless, you’re definitely not a disappointment or annoying. And if you don’t believe me, then just take a look outside at the stars one night. Look up at all of them, and remember that you helped save all that. You did save all that. You’re the most important woman in the whole wide universe. You’re the most important person in your grandfather’s universe. You were in your father’s too, I can tell. You’re certainly the most important in my universe.”
“Your universe?” she dropped her feet from the console and stared at him. “What about River Song then? In the Library. She knew your name. She said she was from your personal future. She didn’t tell me where I was in that future, if I was even there, though she did seem to know me.”
“River Song, Shmiver Song. She’s an archeologist. And as much as that branch of science makes me laugh, it does have its merits I suppose.”
“Meaning?”
“Meaning, part of being an archeologist is knowing a bit about history. And the stolen planets as well as their return and who was a part of that would be history to her. An event that large can’t be overlooked. Of course she’d know the name of the most important woman in the universe.”
“Alright, that explains that part, but what about what she said about your personal future? You can’t explain that away with history books.”
“Honestly?” he ran his hand over his face. “I can’t. I really have no idea. Perhaps in the future I do have a personal relationship with her. Or perhaps I don’t.”
“What does that even mean?”
“It means it’s in the future, sometime down the road, but I don’t know. And since she’s apparently from the 50 or 51st century, I don’t think it has any bearing on us. That’s three thousand years from now.”
“And you’re a time traveler. The Library was in the 51st century. We were in the 51st century. The fact that she’s from the 51st century, you’ll find does have bearing on us.”
“Wibbly wobbly, timey wimey.”
“…What?”
“Time. That’s what I told Sally Sparrow time was. A big ball of wibbly wobbly timey wimey stuff. That description is living up to itself quite nicely right now.”
“Sally Sparrow?”
“Yep. A girl from 2007. She helped Martha and I when we were stuck in 1969. Long story really. Angels trying to take the TARDIS.”
“Angels taking the TARDIS…? And trapped in 1969?”
“Yeah. Weeping Angels. Lonely assassins. They send a person back in time and feed off the energy of the future they would have had if they’d not been sent back. They sent Martha and I back to 1969 and we were stuck there. I made a timey wimey detector. It was brilliant. It went ding when there was stuff,” he had a wide grin on his face.
“Nine hundred plus years old, all of space and time, and the best you can come up with is that it went ding when there was stuff?” she rolled her eyes at his raised eyebrows. “How did this Sally Sparrow help?”
“Oh, there were other people who helped as well. Did things like put “easter eggs” on several DVDs. But in the end, it was Sally who worked out the easter eggs and got the TARDIS to Martha and I. She had a friend, Larry I think, that was going to make a T-shirt that said “The Angels Have the Phone Box. Wonder if he ever did?”
“Oh! There is this little shop in London. It’s just a tiny shop, but it had T-shirts that said that for sale. I bought one as a gag gift for Gramps. He wears it sometimes, mostly to rile up Mum.”
“Really?” the Doctor’s grin was huge, and he went on to say more, but both of them were blasted with cold air, and the background hum of the TARDIS got louder, making them both jump. “Ah. We’re straying from the topic it seems,” he was answered with a puff of warm air.
“She’s listening?” Donna squeaked, looking at the ceiling, then to him.
“You’ve known she gets in your head. Shouldn’t be too much of a surprise.”
Donna sighed. “No. It’s not really.”
“So…,” he tapped his hands on his knees.
“So…,” she answered back. They both leaned back against the jump seat, in silence once more.
~*~*~*~*~
“Captain Jack?” Belle asked when there was a lull in conversation.
“Yeah?”
“Who is the “Old Girl”?
“Oh, that’s a name we call the TARDIS sometimes.”
“But her name is Miss Tardis. Why would you call her Old Girl? Isn’t calling someone or something old rude?”
“Normally, yes, but it’s the TARDIS, so it’s not really rude.”
“But it is. Mr. Doctor says Miss Tardis is sen…sent…alive. She has feelings. If I were her, I wouldn’t want to be called old. You shouldn’t call her that. It’s mean,” she faced the shimmer she thought Captain Jack’s voice was coming from, and arranged her face in what she hoped was a glare. She’d felt Miss Donna’s face when she tried to “show” her facial expressions. Eyebrows wrinkled, and mouth turned down or in a straight line indicated irritation. And she was irritated by Captain Jack calling Miss Tardis “old”.
“That’s you told,” Mr. Wilf snickered and she could hear laughter coming from the rest of the table.
There was silence at the table before conversation started up again, and Belle bided her time. She still wanted to know what Captain Jack meant by Mr. Doctor and Miss Donna being satisfied. She assumed Miss Tardis wanted them to talk, hopefully about them being together like Miss Martha and Mr. Mickey. Maybe they would have a wedding too.
~*~*~*~*~
“You never answered my question,” Donna spoke into the silence.
“What question was that?”
“Your universe. You said I was the most important thing in your universe.”
“And you brought up River Song.”
“Because as I said, she knew you. She knew your name. And don’t just say she’s from the 51st century, and I’m not so it has no bearing. It does. If she knows you in your personal future, and she knows your name, then how am I the most important thing in your universe?”
“Donna, I can’t see my own future. I don’t know when I’m going to meet her, I don’t know if I’m going to meet her. Though it does look like I will. And since she pointed out that I looked the youngest she’d seen me, it stands to reason I don’t even meet her in this incarnation. For all I know, I meet her after I lose you to old age, which is another thing I don’t want to dwell on right now, no matter how inevitable it may be. I thought I lost you twice now, once in the Library, and once by the metacrisis. I really don’t want to think of being without you anymore right now, and discussing whether or not I know River Song in the future is making me think about that. So can we just move on from that?” he gave her a somewhat pleading look.
Donna placed her hand on his arm. “I don’t want to think about when or if I leave you either. I want to stay with you forever. I know that one day old age will have its way, and I’ll leave. I just want to understand how I am the most important thing in your universe? You said I was yours. How am I yours?”
The Doctor wondered how he could get his point across, as he knew he was absolutely rubbish with discussing his feelings. “Oh for the sake of Rassilon,” he muttered under his breath. “Think, you daft idiot.” But then a metaphorical light bulb went off above his head. If he couldn’t quite say it, perhaps he could show it.
“Doctor?” Donna asked, watching his facial expressions change and hearing him mutter to himself. When he lifted his face to look into her eyes, she was startled by the emotions she saw there. When he took her face in his hands, and placed a soft and tender kiss on her lips, she melted against him. And returned the kiss wholeheartedly.
Pulling back, the Doctor kept one hand on her cheek, and took hold of one of her hands with his other hand. “Don’t you see?” he whispered softly. “You chase away the darkness in me with your light. As the stars light the universe, so you light me. You are my universe.”
And Donna did see in the way his eyes were shining. Giving him a small smile, she leaned in and kissed him again.
~*~*~*~*~
“What did you mean by satisfied, Captain Jack?” Belle’s question broke the lull in conversation.
“What do you mean?”
“You said Miss Tardis wasn’t going to let us in, or Mr. Doctor and Miss Donna out, until they were satisfied. What did you mean?” she heard a spluttering, and coughing coming from the shimmer she identified as Captain Jack.
“I…well…that is…I…” Captain Jack tried to string together a sentence.
“Come on, Jack,” Mr. Mickey’s voice was heard. “Tell her. Tell the Doctor and Donna’s daughter what you mean by ‘satisfied’.” Belle heard a snort from another side of the table.
“Oh for heaven’s sake,” Miss Sylvia said. Belle heard the movement of a chair and saw Miss Sylvia’s shimmer stand up. “Come along, Belle. No need for you to have that kind of conversation with that man.”
Belle stood and followed Miss Sylvia. “But I want to know,” she attempted to argue.
“I think you’d better let the Doctor and Donna answer that. It’s better if they did. Who knows what Jack would tell you.”
“Hey!” Captain Jack protested.
“Oh, hush you,” Miss Sylvia told him. “Now then Belle, let’s go help Francine clean some of this mess up.”
“I’ll help as well,” Mr. Ianto joined them.
And so for the next couple of hours, as Francine, Sylvia, Belle, and Ianto cleaned up some of the tables, and straightened a few things up, and others sat at tables talking or walking down near the ocean, inside the TARDIS, the Doctor and Donna had moved from the console room to the library, where they sank down onto the large overstuffed couch near the fireplace. Donna lay on her back, while the Doctor hovered over her, the two of them sharing gentle kisses, soft caresses, and tender words of endearment, neither one intending to stop anytime soon.
And you would cause the sun to see your light, and then be shamed
You cover darkness with a thousand secret flames
With your love, oh my love, oh my love, my love
And I would cause the winds to blow a hundred different days
And bring the perfumes of the gardens of the ways
Of your love, oh my love, oh my love, my love