Space Man and Earth Girl
by mspolapotter
She remembers.
The Doctor clutched his chest. He'd let go of the phone in shock and it was hanging limp. Hello? Hello? Martha called. But there was no reply.
His hearts were beating twice as fast. How? How could she have remembered without having her brain fried?
He couldn't believe it. All his years of running. Of avoiding that one place. All those years were over.
How he missed her. He missed her quick wit. He missed her nonchalance. He missed her outgoing personality. He missed how she was the only one who could shut him up when needed. He missed the way she talked. He missed his Earth Girl.
The last time he saw her she was enjoying blissful ignorance. She had just gotten married and was about to start her new life. A life without him. A life away from all the danger that tagged along. It was better for her, yes. But now that she remembers, is it still?
With a mix of guilt, excitement, hesitance, and jumpiness, he began twisting knobs, flipping levers, and pressing buttons. His machine made a whooshing sound.
There was no stopping him from going to Chiswick.
She remembers.
The Adipose. The Ood. The Vashta Nerada. Jenny. She remembers everything. She remembers Rose, Jackie, Peter. She remembers Martha, sweet Martha. She remembers Jack and Mickey and Sarah Jane. She remembers K9! She remembers hearing the heartbeat in her head, and she remembers reaching out for the Doctor's severed hand. She remembers seeing the Doctor, and not-the-Doctor.
She remembers having all that Time Lord knowledge in her brain. She remembers how much it hurt. She remembers the blank slate. Being normal again, seeing the Doctor in her house, on the last time they met.
She remembers the big blue box. She remembers flying that big blue box.
She steadies herself as the memories flood back. She was alone with her mum in the house. Her husband was at work and the kids were at school. And she had the unnerving urge to run outside.
I have to see him.
She wished at this point that her grandfather was still alive, but it has been nearly a year since he passed. They'd thought he'd become senile. The doctor's thought it was dementia. Only now did she realize that her grandfather died with a broken heart, after having been left by his best friend for her sake.
Instead she goes to her mother. Her mother used to be so feisty, but age has simmered her down.
"I remember," she confessed, tears streaming down her face. They embraced for a long time, remembering their grandfather and father, and how happy he would have been to know this.
"I need to see him," she says.
"How?" Her mother contradicts her, the fire lighting her eyes for a moment.
"I'm not sure," Donna replied. "But I'll find a way."
He hesitantly opened the TARDIS door. Nothing much has changed this side of Chiswick. The houses were still kind of the same. The lawns were still perfectly landscaped. Children still played outside.
But there was nothing the same about him. The Doctor that Donna knows wears a blue suit and converse. He had quite a head of hair and a flair for drama. How will she recognize him, with his suspenders and bowtie? Will she see through the clumsiness and the lankiness of him?
At this point, he didn't care. He had to see if she was okay.
One by one he passed the houses. It was all new, and at the same time, old. The street held many memories, both good and bad. Just as he was about to knock on a familiar door, he heard a voice.
She went to the first place she knew he would be. Her old house.
They moved out of there years ago, but decided they wanted to stay in Chiswick. With the money she won from the lotto, they acquired a property and a new house, definitely much bigger and brighter than the last. It was only two blocks from her childhood home.
She ran as fast as her legs would take her, and she made it in record time to that old street on which she grew up.
There it was.
She teared up at the mere sight of the enigmatic blue box. She waited intently for its owner to come out. She then realized that the door was ajar. He was already outside.
She scanned the streets for a man in a suit and Converse, but he was nowhere to be found. Instead, she saw a different man at their doorstep. The man was wearing suspenders, a tweed jacket and a bowtie. Who wears a bowtie these days?!
It was definitely him.
Donna Noble wiped her face and choked her sobs. She wanted him to hear her loud and clear.
"Oi, Doctor!"