Fic: Hypothetically Speaking (4/9)
Title: Hypothetically Speaking (4/9)
Author: shining_moment
Characters/Pairing: Doctor/Donna
Rating: G
Spoilers: None
Summary: She sees a brief flash of dread cross his face than can only come from his fear of all things domestic combined with the additional horror that is her mother.
Word Count: 2300
Disclaimer: Not mine. Boo Hoo.
Playing catch-up? Chapter One, Chapter Two, Chapter Three
She opens her eyes because she feels what she thinks is someone breathing on her and she‘s confused initially. The first thing she sees are his brown eyes, so close to her that she knows it was someone breathing on her, rather than some kind of strange dream. Relieved, she closes her eyes again,
“Donna, you awake?”
“Hmmm, just about. What‘s wrong?”
“Oh nothing, I just couldn’t sleep.”
“So you thought you’d come in here and make sure I couldn’t either?”
“Yep, that about covers it! Guess what?”
“What’s that?”
“We’re having a baby.”
“Funnily enough, I noticed that.”
She manages to drag her eyes open properly and is greeted with the sight of him grinning at her, something she’s got used to seeing a lot lately. He’s always been a grinner but since they found out they have a mini-Time Lord on the way, he never seems to stop. She realises there’s no way he’s going to let her go back to sleep so she may as well remove that grin off his face, at least for now.
“You know we’ll have to make a trip home at some point soon to tell Mum and Gramps? I don’t think it‘ll go down too well if we leave it so late that I just waddle in and we don’t actually have to announce it.”
As predicted, the grin disappears. Donna knows that the Doctor is fond of Wilf but she also knows he’s pretty much terrified of her mum, understandably really since their meetings so far have never exactly been under the smoothest of circumstances.
“I did think about that but, if I’m honest, I was hoping if I stopped thinking about it, it might go away.”
“Ah, the classic head-in-sand tactic. Yeah, just to let you know, that one never works when my mother is involved. You probably should get used to that.”
“Right then. Noted. Donna?”
“Mm-hm?”
“We couldn’t just wait and show up with the baby? You know, melt her heart with her no doubt incredibly cute grandchild.”
“Oh nice try but she would kill you and I don’t want to have to try and fly the TARDIS, save the world and bring up a baby all on my own. So I think we should just go tomorrow and get it out of the way.”
“Tomorrow as in tomorrow?! The day after today?!”
“Ah yes, this is the heightened intelligence our child can look forward to.”
She grins as he scoots lower down the bed and she hears his great big loud whisper, which reminds her she really must explain the concept of whispering to him before the baby comes or the poor child will never get any sleep,
“Hey you in there…don’t listen to your mother. She’s brilliant but she’s a little bit of a nutter.”
“Takes one to know one, Spaceman.”
#
“Mum-”
“But where are you going to live? What about work? What does he even do?”
“Mum-”
“Surely you don’t think you can bring up a child while you’re running off all over the place or whatever the two of you insist on doing. I mean, what about schools-”
“Mum-”
“Not to mention that fact that you’re not even married. Actually, not only are you not married, you‘re having a baby with someone we‘ve only met a handful of times-”
“Mum!”
“What?”
“Please stop it. This is good news, really good news. It wasn’t a silly accident, we’re not teenagers, we’ve thought about it all and we’re happy. Don’t you want me to be happy?”
Oh he’s proud of her for that one. Actually, he was proud of her for even managing to get a word in during her mother’s tirade but that one just iced the cake for him. He’s feeling brave suddenly and reaches over for her hand, ignoring the glare Sylvia shoots in his direction. They obviously did more than hand holding to get into this situation so why something so simple would bother her is beyond him. He’s just about starting to think he might understand Donna at least some of the time but he is under no illusions that he will ever understand any other woman, human or otherwise.
Sylvia doesn’t say anything in response and the Doctor knows Donna will be hurt by that, even though she’ll do her best not to show it. She deflects her mum’s disapproval really well but deep down she wants her to be proud, wants her to say she’s happy for them. When she gets up and says she’s going to put the kettle on, he hears Donna sigh next to him and he wants to follow Sylvia into the kitchen and yell at her, demand that she sees how wonderful Donna is, what a great mum she’ll be, how proud she should be of her.
He doesn’t though, instead he tugs on Donna’s hand until she turns to look at him and when she does he leans over and kisses her softly, feeling her smiling gratefully against him before she kisses him back.
“Aye aye, enough of that smooching, you two!”
Wilf has reappeared and, from the look he gives Donna, the Doctor is pretty sure he’s been in the kitchen having a word with Sylvia. He assumes it won’t have been quite as harsh as his words would have been but it will probably be a million times more effective.
Wilf leans down and kisses the top of Donna’s head before he sits down opposite the Doctor,
“Go and talk to your mum, sweetheart.”
“Gramps…”
“Just go on, darlin’.”
Donna’s far from stupid, she knows he’s probably just had a word with her mum and she also has a fair idea that he intends to talk to the Doctor about his intentions, even if that seems like a clear case of locking the stable door after the horse has bolted or, in their case, turning off the gas when the bun’s already in the oven. She gets up anyway and heads for the kitchen.
The Doctor doesn’t miss the smirk Donna gives him as she stands up and he assumes he’s in for a barrage of questions from Wilf so is surprised when the only thing Wilf says is,
“I’ve never seen my girl this happy, you know. It’s down to you that, Doctor. I knew it from the start when she said she’d wait a hundred years for you if she had to, I just knew if she found you, it would be the best thing that could ever happen to her. Don’t worry, I’m not going to chew your ear off, I know you take care of her so I just wanted to, well-”
He stops talking and simply sticks out his hand in the Doctor’s direction. The Doctor shakes it and as he does he feels like he’s just gained himself a grandfather and if that’s the case, he’s glad it’s Wilf- he’s a good man and he adores Donna.
“I’ll always take care of her Wilfred, you don’t ever need to doubt that.”
“I know that son, I know.”
#
“Pass me the milk would you, Donna?”
Donna goes to the fridge and hands the milk to her mother, wondering if they’re actually going to talk or just busy themselves making tea and ignoring the situation. She can’t help thinking the Doctor is probably having an easier time of it in the living room with Gramps.
She decides she can’t do the silent thing anymore. Hell, if she and the Doctor can talk about pretty much anything these days, surely she can have a conversation with her own mother.
“Mum…can you really not be happy for me?”
“Oh Donna,“ she sighs, “of course I’m happy for you if this is what you want, but can you really blame me for being worried? You live with a man we barely know, God only knows what you do for a living these days, we hardly ever see you and now you breeze in and announce that you and that man are having a baby together?”
“That man is my best friend and I have never been happier. I know we’re hardly doing things the traditional way but look what happened last time I tried to go down that route, didn’t exactly go according to plan, did it?! I just wish that once, just once, you could say you’re happy for me, instead of finding fault in every bloody thing I do.”
She stops because she’s getting worked up- stupid sodding hormones, she used to be much tougher than this, she’s bloody sure she did. Anyway, she’s not sure there’s anything else she can say that will convince her mum of just how much it would mean to not feel that, whatever she does, she‘ll always be a disappointment.
“Now don’t go getting yourself in a flap missy, and watch your language. Alright, maybe your granddad and I should get to know that young man of yours a bit better before my grandchild arrives. Of course that will mean you’ll need to visit a bit more often, if it isn’t too much trouble for the pair of you.”
“Of course it isn’t too much trouble Mum,” Donna sighs wearily.
“Right then, that’s all sorted. You can come over for lunch next weekend. Sunday.”
“Ah, Sunday. Well, we don’t usually land, I mean, go anywhere on a Sund- no, no, Sunday would be fine, great. Please just promise me you’ll be nice?”
“Donna!”
“I’m serious. I know you’ve only ever met him before when we’ve been in the middle of some giant crisis but still, you haven’t even give him a chance. I promise when you get to know him, you’ll love him because he’s- oh, he’s just wonderful.”
She hears a familiar voice behind her,
“Who’s wonderful?”
“Who do you think, dumbo? Barry Manilow.”
“Yeah, thought as much.”
“Mum thought we might like to come for lunch next Sunday.”
She sees a brief flash of dread cross his face than can only come from his fear of all things domestic combined with the additional horror that is her mother. She’s impressed though by how quickly he covers it and musters up his sweetest smile,
“Well, I’m sure that will be lovely.”
Sylvia nods and, as she turns her attention back to the tea, Donna catches the Doctor’s eye and mouths ‘thank you’.
After a remarkably civilised half an hour drinking tea and talking, Donna starts to cautiously hope that maybe her mum really has paid some attention to what she said and as they go to leave, Sylvia hugs her daughter before holding her out at arms length and taking a long look.
“You look good, Donna. Healthy. Happy.”
Turning to the Doctor she narrows her eyes slightly but he doesn’t think he imagines the tiny glimmer of warmth he hears in her voice,
“You’ll make sure you take good care of her and that grandchild of mine, won’t you?”
He looks at Donna and smiles, looking slightly like the cat that got the cream, before he answers,
“Always.”
Oh how she loves him right now. He couldn’t have played that better if she’d given him written instructions and she knows she’s right, her mum will love him too once she gets to know him.
#
“I’m sorry, you know, about the whole lunch thing. It’s just that I can’t really have a go at Mum for not being happy for me, for us, and then say no when she makes an effort. I know it’s probably your worst nightmare, lunch with my mother and fair enough and I promise we don’t have to stay all that long but-”
He cuts her off, partly because he wants to speak but mostly because he is slightly worried about how she can still be talking when she doesn’t appear to have taken a breath since she started.
“It’s fine, really. It’ll be fine. You’re her only daughter, of course she’s worried, of course she’s going to want to be sure you’re not living with some serial killer or crazy alien or something.”
“Yeah, we might need to keep that serial killing thing quiet for a while,” she smiles at him, “So, what did Gramps have to say then?”
“Actually not much, told me he wasn’t going to bother chewing my ear off because he’s never seen you happier and then he just shook my hand and that was it.”
“You’re kidding me?”
“Nope. What can I say? Your granddad knows a good catch for his girl when he sees one.”
She can’t resist a light smack on the arm for that even if it does fail to wipe the smug grin off his face completely,
“That’s sorted then, next Sunday I get first dibs on Gramps and you’re on your own with my bloody mother!”
Now she’s the one wearing the smug grin as his changes into something more fitting for a man who is no doubt about to find himself at the mercy of one of her mother’s endless interrogations. She can’t help but take pity on him though at the sight of the terror creeping across his face, as she does a lot these days now that her hormones seem to have more of a say in things than her brain. Getting up to head to the bathroom, she ruffles his hair as she passes,
“I’m kidding. I wouldn’t do that to my worst enemy so I’m definitely not going to do it to you. Well, probably not…find me some chocolate in the next five minutes and you can consider yourself safe.”
She laughs as he leaps up from where he was sitting and launches himself in the direction of the bathroom, a determined expression on his face,
“Done!”
Author: shining_moment
Characters/Pairing: Doctor/Donna
Rating: G
Spoilers: None
Summary: She sees a brief flash of dread cross his face than can only come from his fear of all things domestic combined with the additional horror that is her mother.
Word Count: 2300
Disclaimer: Not mine. Boo Hoo.
Playing catch-up? Chapter One, Chapter Two, Chapter Three
She opens her eyes because she feels what she thinks is someone breathing on her and she‘s confused initially. The first thing she sees are his brown eyes, so close to her that she knows it was someone breathing on her, rather than some kind of strange dream. Relieved, she closes her eyes again,
“Donna, you awake?”
“Hmmm, just about. What‘s wrong?”
“Oh nothing, I just couldn’t sleep.”
“So you thought you’d come in here and make sure I couldn’t either?”
“Yep, that about covers it! Guess what?”
“What’s that?”
“We’re having a baby.”
“Funnily enough, I noticed that.”
She manages to drag her eyes open properly and is greeted with the sight of him grinning at her, something she’s got used to seeing a lot lately. He’s always been a grinner but since they found out they have a mini-Time Lord on the way, he never seems to stop. She realises there’s no way he’s going to let her go back to sleep so she may as well remove that grin off his face, at least for now.
“You know we’ll have to make a trip home at some point soon to tell Mum and Gramps? I don’t think it‘ll go down too well if we leave it so late that I just waddle in and we don’t actually have to announce it.”
As predicted, the grin disappears. Donna knows that the Doctor is fond of Wilf but she also knows he’s pretty much terrified of her mum, understandably really since their meetings so far have never exactly been under the smoothest of circumstances.
“I did think about that but, if I’m honest, I was hoping if I stopped thinking about it, it might go away.”
“Ah, the classic head-in-sand tactic. Yeah, just to let you know, that one never works when my mother is involved. You probably should get used to that.”
“Right then. Noted. Donna?”
“Mm-hm?”
“We couldn’t just wait and show up with the baby? You know, melt her heart with her no doubt incredibly cute grandchild.”
“Oh nice try but she would kill you and I don’t want to have to try and fly the TARDIS, save the world and bring up a baby all on my own. So I think we should just go tomorrow and get it out of the way.”
“Tomorrow as in tomorrow?! The day after today?!”
“Ah yes, this is the heightened intelligence our child can look forward to.”
She grins as he scoots lower down the bed and she hears his great big loud whisper, which reminds her she really must explain the concept of whispering to him before the baby comes or the poor child will never get any sleep,
“Hey you in there…don’t listen to your mother. She’s brilliant but she’s a little bit of a nutter.”
“Takes one to know one, Spaceman.”
#
“Mum-”
“But where are you going to live? What about work? What does he even do?”
“Mum-”
“Surely you don’t think you can bring up a child while you’re running off all over the place or whatever the two of you insist on doing. I mean, what about schools-”
“Mum-”
“Not to mention that fact that you’re not even married. Actually, not only are you not married, you‘re having a baby with someone we‘ve only met a handful of times-”
“Mum!”
“What?”
“Please stop it. This is good news, really good news. It wasn’t a silly accident, we’re not teenagers, we’ve thought about it all and we’re happy. Don’t you want me to be happy?”
Oh he’s proud of her for that one. Actually, he was proud of her for even managing to get a word in during her mother’s tirade but that one just iced the cake for him. He’s feeling brave suddenly and reaches over for her hand, ignoring the glare Sylvia shoots in his direction. They obviously did more than hand holding to get into this situation so why something so simple would bother her is beyond him. He’s just about starting to think he might understand Donna at least some of the time but he is under no illusions that he will ever understand any other woman, human or otherwise.
Sylvia doesn’t say anything in response and the Doctor knows Donna will be hurt by that, even though she’ll do her best not to show it. She deflects her mum’s disapproval really well but deep down she wants her to be proud, wants her to say she’s happy for them. When she gets up and says she’s going to put the kettle on, he hears Donna sigh next to him and he wants to follow Sylvia into the kitchen and yell at her, demand that she sees how wonderful Donna is, what a great mum she’ll be, how proud she should be of her.
He doesn’t though, instead he tugs on Donna’s hand until she turns to look at him and when she does he leans over and kisses her softly, feeling her smiling gratefully against him before she kisses him back.
“Aye aye, enough of that smooching, you two!”
Wilf has reappeared and, from the look he gives Donna, the Doctor is pretty sure he’s been in the kitchen having a word with Sylvia. He assumes it won’t have been quite as harsh as his words would have been but it will probably be a million times more effective.
Wilf leans down and kisses the top of Donna’s head before he sits down opposite the Doctor,
“Go and talk to your mum, sweetheart.”
“Gramps…”
“Just go on, darlin’.”
Donna’s far from stupid, she knows he’s probably just had a word with her mum and she also has a fair idea that he intends to talk to the Doctor about his intentions, even if that seems like a clear case of locking the stable door after the horse has bolted or, in their case, turning off the gas when the bun’s already in the oven. She gets up anyway and heads for the kitchen.
The Doctor doesn’t miss the smirk Donna gives him as she stands up and he assumes he’s in for a barrage of questions from Wilf so is surprised when the only thing Wilf says is,
“I’ve never seen my girl this happy, you know. It’s down to you that, Doctor. I knew it from the start when she said she’d wait a hundred years for you if she had to, I just knew if she found you, it would be the best thing that could ever happen to her. Don’t worry, I’m not going to chew your ear off, I know you take care of her so I just wanted to, well-”
He stops talking and simply sticks out his hand in the Doctor’s direction. The Doctor shakes it and as he does he feels like he’s just gained himself a grandfather and if that’s the case, he’s glad it’s Wilf- he’s a good man and he adores Donna.
“I’ll always take care of her Wilfred, you don’t ever need to doubt that.”
“I know that son, I know.”
#
“Pass me the milk would you, Donna?”
Donna goes to the fridge and hands the milk to her mother, wondering if they’re actually going to talk or just busy themselves making tea and ignoring the situation. She can’t help thinking the Doctor is probably having an easier time of it in the living room with Gramps.
She decides she can’t do the silent thing anymore. Hell, if she and the Doctor can talk about pretty much anything these days, surely she can have a conversation with her own mother.
“Mum…can you really not be happy for me?”
“Oh Donna,“ she sighs, “of course I’m happy for you if this is what you want, but can you really blame me for being worried? You live with a man we barely know, God only knows what you do for a living these days, we hardly ever see you and now you breeze in and announce that you and that man are having a baby together?”
“That man is my best friend and I have never been happier. I know we’re hardly doing things the traditional way but look what happened last time I tried to go down that route, didn’t exactly go according to plan, did it?! I just wish that once, just once, you could say you’re happy for me, instead of finding fault in every bloody thing I do.”
She stops because she’s getting worked up- stupid sodding hormones, she used to be much tougher than this, she’s bloody sure she did. Anyway, she’s not sure there’s anything else she can say that will convince her mum of just how much it would mean to not feel that, whatever she does, she‘ll always be a disappointment.
“Now don’t go getting yourself in a flap missy, and watch your language. Alright, maybe your granddad and I should get to know that young man of yours a bit better before my grandchild arrives. Of course that will mean you’ll need to visit a bit more often, if it isn’t too much trouble for the pair of you.”
“Of course it isn’t too much trouble Mum,” Donna sighs wearily.
“Right then, that’s all sorted. You can come over for lunch next weekend. Sunday.”
“Ah, Sunday. Well, we don’t usually land, I mean, go anywhere on a Sund- no, no, Sunday would be fine, great. Please just promise me you’ll be nice?”
“Donna!”
“I’m serious. I know you’ve only ever met him before when we’ve been in the middle of some giant crisis but still, you haven’t even give him a chance. I promise when you get to know him, you’ll love him because he’s- oh, he’s just wonderful.”
She hears a familiar voice behind her,
“Who’s wonderful?”
“Who do you think, dumbo? Barry Manilow.”
“Yeah, thought as much.”
“Mum thought we might like to come for lunch next Sunday.”
She sees a brief flash of dread cross his face than can only come from his fear of all things domestic combined with the additional horror that is her mother. She’s impressed though by how quickly he covers it and musters up his sweetest smile,
“Well, I’m sure that will be lovely.”
Sylvia nods and, as she turns her attention back to the tea, Donna catches the Doctor’s eye and mouths ‘thank you’.
After a remarkably civilised half an hour drinking tea and talking, Donna starts to cautiously hope that maybe her mum really has paid some attention to what she said and as they go to leave, Sylvia hugs her daughter before holding her out at arms length and taking a long look.
“You look good, Donna. Healthy. Happy.”
Turning to the Doctor she narrows her eyes slightly but he doesn’t think he imagines the tiny glimmer of warmth he hears in her voice,
“You’ll make sure you take good care of her and that grandchild of mine, won’t you?”
He looks at Donna and smiles, looking slightly like the cat that got the cream, before he answers,
“Always.”
Oh how she loves him right now. He couldn’t have played that better if she’d given him written instructions and she knows she’s right, her mum will love him too once she gets to know him.
#
“I’m sorry, you know, about the whole lunch thing. It’s just that I can’t really have a go at Mum for not being happy for me, for us, and then say no when she makes an effort. I know it’s probably your worst nightmare, lunch with my mother and fair enough and I promise we don’t have to stay all that long but-”
He cuts her off, partly because he wants to speak but mostly because he is slightly worried about how she can still be talking when she doesn’t appear to have taken a breath since she started.
“It’s fine, really. It’ll be fine. You’re her only daughter, of course she’s worried, of course she’s going to want to be sure you’re not living with some serial killer or crazy alien or something.”
“Yeah, we might need to keep that serial killing thing quiet for a while,” she smiles at him, “So, what did Gramps have to say then?”
“Actually not much, told me he wasn’t going to bother chewing my ear off because he’s never seen you happier and then he just shook my hand and that was it.”
“You’re kidding me?”
“Nope. What can I say? Your granddad knows a good catch for his girl when he sees one.”
She can’t resist a light smack on the arm for that even if it does fail to wipe the smug grin off his face completely,
“That’s sorted then, next Sunday I get first dibs on Gramps and you’re on your own with my bloody mother!”
Now she’s the one wearing the smug grin as his changes into something more fitting for a man who is no doubt about to find himself at the mercy of one of her mother’s endless interrogations. She can’t help but take pity on him though at the sight of the terror creeping across his face, as she does a lot these days now that her hormones seem to have more of a say in things than her brain. Getting up to head to the bathroom, she ruffles his hair as she passes,
“I’m kidding. I wouldn’t do that to my worst enemy so I’m definitely not going to do it to you. Well, probably not…find me some chocolate in the next five minutes and you can consider yourself safe.”
She laughs as he leaps up from where he was sitting and launches himself in the direction of the bathroom, a determined expression on his face,
“Done!”