An Officer and the Noble Woman, Part 26

[dtstrainers]

Title: An Officer and the Noble Woman, Part 25  (It'll be done when I stop hearing voices.)

Author: dtstrainers
Paring: Donna Noble/Peter Carlisle
Co-Captain of this Ship: WhosInTheAttic, but all errors are mine alone.
Rating: PG- Plot Galore
Word Count: 3,559
Summary: On the trail of an unusual intruder, Peter and Ian try and make sense of what's

Comments

[saaammie]

Oh what a heartbreaking reveal from the Doctor! It is something he would think though, very true to character and especially true for the WoM/Journey's End/EoT-Doctor....
(Yes I know this is Eleven but I really think he gets thrown back into that mindset when seeing and thinking about Donna so much. Eleven, even more so than 10 or 9, is a master of self-deception.)

[dtstrainers]

Eleven can be so much darker than he's given credit for, given his generally goofy demeanor. I see him as see-sawing between extremes, a being with near god-like powers, yet sometimes barely in control. He realizes he needs someone to be his moral compass and rein him in when he starts to stray. Amy was good for that, brilliant in fact, but she had Rory and a life of her own. Clara is closer to what he needs to keep him in line, but she's still just along for the ride. She doesn't intend to give him her forever, and that's what he really wants. He needs emotional stability

[saaammie]

Oh absolutely, Eleven is without doubt the most dangerous of the lot (with maybe the exception of Seven).

And yes, Donna was a stable point. It reminds me of the start of a poem in my favorite Dorothy Sayers book, Gaudy Night,

"Here, then, at home, by no more storms distrest,
Folding laborious hands we sit, wings furled;
Here in close perfume lies the rose-leaf curled,
Here the sun stands and knows not east nor west,
Here no tide runs; we have come, last and best,
From the wide zone through dizzying circles hurled,
To that still centre where the spinning world
Sleeps on its axis, to the heart of rest"

[dtstrainers]

The poem is beautiful and I'm envious that you understand it and have internalized it sufficiently to apply it to other situations. That's a talent I have yet to develop. I hear the cadence of the language when I read it silently, but until I hear it read aloud, it doesn't work for me. So whenever I read poetry, I tend to do it when I'm alone, which I rarely am

[tkel_paris]

As much as I want to feel sorry for the Doctor... I don't. He put Donna into this situation, and he's now trying to break up attachments all in the name of snatching victory from the jaws of defeat. But he doesn't know he's sown the seeds of the collapse of his plans. Oh, I don't doubt he'll find a way to save Donna because is even crazier about finding solutions at times. But when he goes to hug Donna, she either drops her arms or doesn't hug him at all. She'll wait for him to drop his guard, which the Doctor will, and then comes first the physical and then the emotional pain she'll cause him. The biggest what-for of his lifetimes is coming his way, and then he'll learn that she'll never trust him or any promises again. And then she'll go back to Peter, ordering the Doctor to leave her alone COMPLETELY.

At least that's my fantasy of what happens in the end. There are any number of things Donna could harp on the Doctor over, and I hope she hits every last one.

So glad to see more, especially before work. :D

[dtstrainers]

Don't feel sorry for him. I'm absolutely convinced all that big Outer Space Dumbo had to do was induce a healing coma and chuck her in the Zero Room for a bit. I have to admit in my dark heart of hearts, I'd love for her to punch him sometimes, but Donna always could see past his bluster and suss out his motivations. It's one of the reasons he wants her back so desperately. And he's right- the longer she stays with Peter, the less likely it is that she'd ever want to travel the stars with him again.

Thanks so much for the comments. Life has sort of spiraled out of control and I'd feared that since I hadn't posted for awhile, people might have lost interest in Peter and Donna. I'm ahead in some of my real life responsibilities, though, so I hope to get back on track and have the next part ready for next weekend.

[tkel_paris]

Also, if he'd kept the Duplicate, that would've been three minds to work on the problem. And if the poor Duplicate had to pay a price, he might've gladly given his life to save Donna's, thereby fulfilling Caan's prophecy. But I think my point is that Donna's trust was betrayed... and she knew him well enough to know that he would do it and she couldn't stop him. If she remembers that moment, there's no way she'll ever return to him - especially if he successfully ruins what she has with Peter. In the end, the only way he'll ever have her back is to let her go into Peter's arms. He has to prove that he'll make himself into a better person without her, because change isn't lasting if you don't do it for yourself in the end. That was part of the point of my favorite Jane Austen novel, the least popular Mansfield Park.

I haven't forgotten. Not at all. Life has been busy for me, too. *hugs*

[dm12]

Believe it or not, I am feeling a bit sorry for the Doctor. It does seem that every time he's granted a little happiness, the Universe seems bent on snatching it away. That said, he has done this to himself. Donna begged, pleaded, cried, screamed at him not to do this to her, that she would rather have died than left his side, and he did it anyway. He didn't give her the choice or the chance to figure out another solution, so the current situation is of his own doing. My heart breaks only because he felt at the time he had no choice, he panicked, and he was doing what he thought was best. There were many casualties of his actions

[dtstrainers]

Yes, yes, and yes. But -and I feel honor-bound to point this out, since I'm the one doing this to him - Eleven would have been happy for her if it had been any other man she'd fallen for. This situation, while of his making, took a turn he could never have anticipated. He was willing to stay out of Donna's life to protect her, but to see the mirror image of his former self with her is too much to ask. He's realized that if she can be with Peter, then maybe if he'd found a way to stabilize her Time Lord consciousness, he'd still have his best friend. It's a tragedy of his own making, but a tragedy nonetheless.

Thanks again for continuing to read and to comment.

[dm12]

Yes... that's it exactly, and probably why I do feel a bit heartbroken over this. It was absolutely something he would never ever have expected, and to see her develop such a blatantly romantic sexual relationship with a man who looks exactly like his Tenth incarnation really adds insult to injury, especially after her initial comments about not mating with him, he's a long streak of alien nothing, and all the denials of them being a couple, etc. It has to bother him!

Still, he can't force her hand on this one, he must give her the choice if he ever does manage to physically repair what he had done to her.

[tkel_paris]

And I wonder if the specter of Rose is part of the problem. He made such a big deal over her that maybe her ghost ensured that there couldn't be a romantic relationship between Donna and the Doctor. If the series 4 end hadn't happened then perhaps they would've moved past that point, but it should suggest that maybe the Duplicate could've been charged with looking after her. One of his root sources, after all. I hope that someone, maybe Martha or even Mickey, gets to point out to him that he treats his enemies better than he treats the people he claims to care about. He doesn't give his friends choices where it counts, but he gives his enemies a chance to kill others before he has to stop them. *sighs* And I'll stop my rant right there...