Fic: Borrowed Time (2/11)
Title: Borrowed Time (Part 2 of 11)
Author: lemon_pencil
Rating: G
Characters/Pairings: Ten, Donna
Disclaimer: Rusty is fail, so I'm taking over. But they're not mine, I'm afraid.
Warnings/Spoilers: Series 4; Planet of the Dead.
Word Count: About 1,300
Summary: Donna wants to go on one last adventure before it's too late...
Part 1
He was standing in front of her house by precisely twenty-one minutes past ten. Twenty-one minutes and sixteen seconds, to be exact. Seventeen. Eighteen. He could have stood there all day counting exactly how much time had passed - in fact, it seemed like quite an appealing option compared with actually going into the house. Any excitement at seeing her again was completely overridden by fear. Twenty-three. Twenty-four. Twenty-fi -
“Doctor!”
Wilf had opened the front door and was looking at him. The Doctor was painfully reminded of one of the last times he’d seen Wilf at that door, when he’d been clutching Donna to him and not wanting to let go even though the damage had already been done. He was gripped by a strong urge to repeat the words he’d uttered then, in the hope that someone, anyone, would tell him what to do. Help me.
“Wilfred,” he said. “How is she?”
“Not good,” said Wilf, his voice trembling a little. “You’d better come in. She’s asleep at the moment, upstairs.”
“Good,” replied the Doctor. “I can sonic her before she sees me so that when she wakes, remembering won’t make her burn up. Suspending the overexcitement of the neural relays should work - she’ll have the memories back, but not the Time Lord consciousness yet.”
Wilf nodded, distressed. “But it’s not permanent?”
“No, the process can only hold back all that knowledge for a little while. Then -” He let out a deep, shuddering sigh. “I’d better come in.”
He stepped through the doorway, and allowed Wilf to lead him up to his granddaughter’s room. He pushed open the door - and there she was. Just like when he’d brought her back before, and the two men had laid her down on the bed like she was made of china. This time, of course, Donna was in pyjamas instead of fully clothed, and she looked so peaceful that it was hard to believe everything wasn’t going to be okay. He caught his breath at the sight of her, and how much he’d missed her suddenly washed over him.
He remembered what he had to do, and quickly pulled out the sonic screwdriver. He held his breath as it let out its quiet whirring noise lest she should awake, but she slept on, her face bathed in the blue light. After he had completed his task, and she was safe for now, he’d been intending to wake her up. But he couldn’t do it, not when she was sleeping so serenely. So he rose silently, and left the room.
He couldn’t have been standing on the landing outside for more than three minutes before he heard the noise of the door opening behind him. Turning round, he couldn’t quite believe that he was face to face at last with the woman who’d been haunting his dreams incessantly. Donna stared at him for about five seconds. Then -
“Oh!”
Who could believe that one breathed syllable could contain so much emotion? All at once she was in his arms, quietly sobbing and clinging onto him so tightly he could hardly breathe. Or maybe that was the effort of not completely breaking down himself.
“Your tears are making my head soggy, spaceman,” came her muffled voice at last from where she had her head buried in his shoulder, accompanied by a small laugh.
The joy of hearing her call him spaceman again, after aching to hear her voice for so long, was almost overwhelming. “Look who’s talking, Donna Noble,” he replied shakily. “Yours are making my coat soggy.”
She drew back, sniffed and smiled at him. That was when it hit him. She didn’t know. She thought she was out of danger - and he’d have to be the one to break it to her. Effectively, what he’d done was parallel to offering a rope to somebody drowning, only to reveal that it isn’t long enough to reach them.
“What?” she said, as she saw his face turn suddenly serious. “Doctor, you’re scaring me! What is it?”
He took her hands in his, stroking his thumbs over her palms and desperately wishing he didn’t have to tell her. She solved the problem for him while he agonized over what to say by guessing the truth.
“Oh my God,” she said, her mouth dropping open and horror dawning on her face. “You… you haven’t fixed anything, have you? I’m going to… to burn up! Aren’t I? Doctor?”
His face told her everything she needed to know. Her hand flew to her mouth and fresh tears sprang to her eyes.
“How long have I got?” she asked, her lower lip trembling and her face even paler than usual.
He wrapped his arms around her once more, knowing that he couldn’t lie to her. “About twenty-four hours at most, I’d say. Donna, I’m so, so sorry. I don’t have a solution, and having all the time in the world wouldn’t help me to find one because it’s all I’ve thought about this past year and I don’t know what I can do.”
She looked into his eyes, and he could see in the blue depths of hers how terrified she was.
“I don’t want to die,” she whispered.
His hearts almost broke.
They held each other for what seemed like a very long time. Eventually, the Doctor broke the silence.
“So…” he ventured tentatively. “I suppose you want to spend this time with your family?”
Donna turned away and looked out of the window on the landing, staring at the street below. “Do you know how I’ve been feeling all year?” she asked him quietly.
“Tell me.”
She continued to gaze out. “Lost. And empty. And confused. I felt like I was missing somebody, and it was such a strong feeling that it totally baffled me because I didn’t know why I felt like that. Now I do. And just because I didn’t know you all that time, it doesn’t mean that I didn’t miss you, every day - I just didn’t know that’s what it was until now. So I want to spend this time… with you. Mum and Gramps have been great over the last twelve months; they’ve helped me and given me faith in myself and we’ve grown so much closer - course, I didn’t know why they were being so nice. But that’s the thing. They’ve been here and you haven’t. Please. Take me with you.”
“You sure?”
“Yes. I’m sure. What were you going to do before you came here?” said Donna.
“Well, actually, I was going to check out what’s been going on here with all these people acting weirdly. Mind control is my guess - right up my street,” he declared, feeling a lot more enthusiastic about the matter than he had previously. “But that can wait, if you wanted to go see new worlds or visit ages of the past…? If you’d prefer something a bit more tranquil than danger and running? It’s entirely up to you. Whatever you like.”
She grinned. “Wouldn’t be the same without trouble. Mind control investigation it is then. Besides, I don’t want to go too far away from here. I want to be able to come home when it… when it happens.” She swallowed, and then smiled bravely. “Let’s go, alien boy.”
He returned the smile, and for a moment he forgot what was hanging over their time together, and that things weren’t just like old times again.
“Alright, but we’re not going just yet,” he said, smirking at her.
“Why not?” she frowned.
“Because you’re still wearing your pyjamas.”
The blush that spread over her face made him snigger childishly, and the whack round the shoulder that he suffered because of it reminded him that she still had a few good slaps left in her yet.
Next part
Author: lemon_pencil
Rating: G
Characters/Pairings: Ten, Donna
Disclaimer: Rusty is fail, so I'm taking over. But they're not mine, I'm afraid.
Warnings/Spoilers: Series 4; Planet of the Dead.
Word Count: About 1,300
Summary: Donna wants to go on one last adventure before it's too late...
Part 1
He was standing in front of her house by precisely twenty-one minutes past ten. Twenty-one minutes and sixteen seconds, to be exact. Seventeen. Eighteen. He could have stood there all day counting exactly how much time had passed - in fact, it seemed like quite an appealing option compared with actually going into the house. Any excitement at seeing her again was completely overridden by fear. Twenty-three. Twenty-four. Twenty-fi -
“Doctor!”
Wilf had opened the front door and was looking at him. The Doctor was painfully reminded of one of the last times he’d seen Wilf at that door, when he’d been clutching Donna to him and not wanting to let go even though the damage had already been done. He was gripped by a strong urge to repeat the words he’d uttered then, in the hope that someone, anyone, would tell him what to do. Help me.
“Wilfred,” he said. “How is she?”
“Not good,” said Wilf, his voice trembling a little. “You’d better come in. She’s asleep at the moment, upstairs.”
“Good,” replied the Doctor. “I can sonic her before she sees me so that when she wakes, remembering won’t make her burn up. Suspending the overexcitement of the neural relays should work - she’ll have the memories back, but not the Time Lord consciousness yet.”
Wilf nodded, distressed. “But it’s not permanent?”
“No, the process can only hold back all that knowledge for a little while. Then -” He let out a deep, shuddering sigh. “I’d better come in.”
He stepped through the doorway, and allowed Wilf to lead him up to his granddaughter’s room. He pushed open the door - and there she was. Just like when he’d brought her back before, and the two men had laid her down on the bed like she was made of china. This time, of course, Donna was in pyjamas instead of fully clothed, and she looked so peaceful that it was hard to believe everything wasn’t going to be okay. He caught his breath at the sight of her, and how much he’d missed her suddenly washed over him.
He remembered what he had to do, and quickly pulled out the sonic screwdriver. He held his breath as it let out its quiet whirring noise lest she should awake, but she slept on, her face bathed in the blue light. After he had completed his task, and she was safe for now, he’d been intending to wake her up. But he couldn’t do it, not when she was sleeping so serenely. So he rose silently, and left the room.
He couldn’t have been standing on the landing outside for more than three minutes before he heard the noise of the door opening behind him. Turning round, he couldn’t quite believe that he was face to face at last with the woman who’d been haunting his dreams incessantly. Donna stared at him for about five seconds. Then -
“Oh!”
Who could believe that one breathed syllable could contain so much emotion? All at once she was in his arms, quietly sobbing and clinging onto him so tightly he could hardly breathe. Or maybe that was the effort of not completely breaking down himself.
“Your tears are making my head soggy, spaceman,” came her muffled voice at last from where she had her head buried in his shoulder, accompanied by a small laugh.
The joy of hearing her call him spaceman again, after aching to hear her voice for so long, was almost overwhelming. “Look who’s talking, Donna Noble,” he replied shakily. “Yours are making my coat soggy.”
She drew back, sniffed and smiled at him. That was when it hit him. She didn’t know. She thought she was out of danger - and he’d have to be the one to break it to her. Effectively, what he’d done was parallel to offering a rope to somebody drowning, only to reveal that it isn’t long enough to reach them.
“What?” she said, as she saw his face turn suddenly serious. “Doctor, you’re scaring me! What is it?”
He took her hands in his, stroking his thumbs over her palms and desperately wishing he didn’t have to tell her. She solved the problem for him while he agonized over what to say by guessing the truth.
“Oh my God,” she said, her mouth dropping open and horror dawning on her face. “You… you haven’t fixed anything, have you? I’m going to… to burn up! Aren’t I? Doctor?”
His face told her everything she needed to know. Her hand flew to her mouth and fresh tears sprang to her eyes.
“How long have I got?” she asked, her lower lip trembling and her face even paler than usual.
He wrapped his arms around her once more, knowing that he couldn’t lie to her. “About twenty-four hours at most, I’d say. Donna, I’m so, so sorry. I don’t have a solution, and having all the time in the world wouldn’t help me to find one because it’s all I’ve thought about this past year and I don’t know what I can do.”
She looked into his eyes, and he could see in the blue depths of hers how terrified she was.
“I don’t want to die,” she whispered.
His hearts almost broke.
They held each other for what seemed like a very long time. Eventually, the Doctor broke the silence.
“So…” he ventured tentatively. “I suppose you want to spend this time with your family?”
Donna turned away and looked out of the window on the landing, staring at the street below. “Do you know how I’ve been feeling all year?” she asked him quietly.
“Tell me.”
She continued to gaze out. “Lost. And empty. And confused. I felt like I was missing somebody, and it was such a strong feeling that it totally baffled me because I didn’t know why I felt like that. Now I do. And just because I didn’t know you all that time, it doesn’t mean that I didn’t miss you, every day - I just didn’t know that’s what it was until now. So I want to spend this time… with you. Mum and Gramps have been great over the last twelve months; they’ve helped me and given me faith in myself and we’ve grown so much closer - course, I didn’t know why they were being so nice. But that’s the thing. They’ve been here and you haven’t. Please. Take me with you.”
“You sure?”
“Yes. I’m sure. What were you going to do before you came here?” said Donna.
“Well, actually, I was going to check out what’s been going on here with all these people acting weirdly. Mind control is my guess - right up my street,” he declared, feeling a lot more enthusiastic about the matter than he had previously. “But that can wait, if you wanted to go see new worlds or visit ages of the past…? If you’d prefer something a bit more tranquil than danger and running? It’s entirely up to you. Whatever you like.”
She grinned. “Wouldn’t be the same without trouble. Mind control investigation it is then. Besides, I don’t want to go too far away from here. I want to be able to come home when it… when it happens.” She swallowed, and then smiled bravely. “Let’s go, alien boy.”
He returned the smile, and for a moment he forgot what was hanging over their time together, and that things weren’t just like old times again.
“Alright, but we’re not going just yet,” he said, smirking at her.
“Why not?” she frowned.
“Because you’re still wearing your pyjamas.”
The blush that spread over her face made him snigger childishly, and the whack round the shoulder that he suffered because of it reminded him that she still had a few good slaps left in her yet.
Next part