DISCLAIMER: All rights to Doctor Who belong to the BBC, wish they belonged to me.

SUMMARY: Several times the Doctor hugged Donna and the one time she didn't hug back.

A/N: Contains slight spoilers for near enough all of series 4 and you need to have seen some of the episodes to understand a couple of chapters. Also contains a few references to the last episode of series 3.

TITLE: Hugs

Reunion

The Doctor had been stupid not to see what had been clearly staring him in the face. It couldn't have been coincidence which had brought them back together again; her parking her car right next to the TARDIS, him finding her in the most unexpected place…suddenly it all added up. They were destined to travel together.

He couldn't believe his luck when he saw her standing there behind that door. Although she had annoyed him to no end when they had first met, he had to admit that he had missed her.

The TARDIS had been awfully quiet since Martha had left and he was beginning to think that Donna had been right when she had said that he needed someone. Martha had filled that gap, she had helped him to start getting over Rose and although he missed her everyday, the pain had started to ease. The problem was that she had fallen in love with him and no matter how hard he had tried; he couldn't feel the same way about her. He loved her as a friend; she had given everything for him. She had travelled the world night and day to save not just him but the whole planet. Then her family had needed her and although he knew the day would come, he still wasn't prepared and couldn't stop the pain at hearing her say she was 'getting out'. Every day after Martha had gone he had silently prayed that she would call, say that she had changed her mind but she never did and then he had lost Astrid.

Astrid had been a new beginning; when she had told him that she had no family and that she wanted to travel the stars with him, he had been overjoyed. He would once again have a companion to explore new worlds with, to talk to around the TARDIS but most importantly…someone to look out for again. Then she had given her life for his, like so many before her she had given up her own future to save his. Astrid had represented freedom and adventure, wonder and awe then eventually sacrifice.

Once again he had found himself on his own but then he had been drawn back to earth, to Adipose Industries, to Donna Noble. The minute he laid eyes on her he just knew he had been drawn there for a reason other than to stop Miss Foster. It was like he was meant to find her again because he knew that people spent years looking for him and still never saw him again but meeting Donna twice, both times by chance, was more than coincidence.

He had hugged her four times that day. The first one was on the stairs; she had hugged him tightly and asked him if he ever changed due to the fact he had the same suit on. Trust Donna to turn to his fashion sense in a crisis. He had told her that they didn't have time to discuss that and then pulled her up the stairs, grinning manically and telling her that it was just like old times. He hadn't felt that rush of excitement since he had lost Rose, since he had seen Martha walk away, since he had seen Astrid give her life…it had been too long. All the way up the stairs and onto the roof she never once shut up, never stopped talking and the Doctor had found himself wondering how she was managing to breathe as she had never once stopped for breath. When they had reached the roof and pushed the door open he had had to smile as she said to him, "And I thought, I have to find the Doctor and then I thought look for trouble and he'll turn up." He'd really felt like he had a reason to carry on at those words. Wherever there was trouble, he was there to stop it and maybe, just maybe that was reason enough for him to carry on.

The second hug came when they were stood on top of the building as Miss Foster plummeted towards the ground. The Doctor had instinctively wrapped an arm around her shoulders and pulled her to him as she had wrapped her arms around his middle; one arm around his waist and one hand resting on his chest. He had seen the fall coming but poor Donna had believed that Miss Foster could be saved from harm. He had sighed to himself, if Donna wanted to come with him then she would have to get used to the fact that they couldn't save everyone and he didn't know if she could…he didn't know if he wanted her to. "What's wrong?" She had whispered to him as she had heard the sigh.

"Nothing Donna…nothing at all." The whisper had fallen into her hair as he had placed a gentle kiss to the top of her head.

The third hug came once she was safely aboard the TARDIS. He had smiled at her as she had closed the door behind her. "So, you really wanna do this?"

"Oi, you better watch the way you word things spaceman." He had turned and started to babble about how he didn't mean anything by it but had stopped mid sentence and smiled at the teasing smirk on her face.

"So, where to first?" Raising an eyebrow, he had folded his arms and waited for her to answer.

Naturally she had told him that she wanted to pass by her grandfather's allotment and naturally he had agreed and taken her. When they had closed the doors after seeing Wilfred Mott, she had pulled him into a tight hug, arms anchored around his waist as he had wrapped his around her shoulders. "Thank you." He had simply smiled and held her slightly tighter, not yet willing to admit that he should be the one thanking her.

The final hug of the day had come just before bed. The Doctor had shown Donna to her room, pushing open the dark oak door and smiling when she let out a happy gasp. "It's not as fancy as some of the other rooms but I thought you might like this one."

She had walked further into the room, looking around in awe. The walls were cream and gold and a double bed lay in the middle of the room with a gold coloured duvet. There was an antique style wardrobe opposite the bed and two matching side tables at either side of the bed. On one of the side tables there was a picture frame with nothing in it and Donna had looked up at the Doctor through confusion-filled eyes. "Doctor?"

"I umm, I thought that maybe we could make memories together, you can pick one to put in the frame." He had scratched his head nervously and she had smiled before softly shaking her head.

"I'd love to." He had smiled at that and she had swiftly crossed the room to pull him into yet another hug. Smiling up at him, she had told him, "Tomorrow spaceman, tomorrow we start making memories."

He had simply nodded and smiled back before saying, "Tomorrow earth girl."

A/N: Well there you have it the first chapter up. Please review and let me know what you think and hopefully I'll have an update for you soon.

XxxoxxX