Sure as the Stars

by stardust and pinstripebowties

Big Ears never told her he bloody regenerates? Great. Now, Donna Noble deals with this new Doctor. New Earths and alien attacks and girls in flippin' fireplaces and alternative universes and - oh, he takes her to the craziest places and she has to do the most ridiculous things! Donna is traveling with The Doctor through the stars. (Basically, what if Donna was in series two?)

1. The Christmas Invasion

author's note/disclaimer: I've been wanting to so this for a while, actually. Because I'm a huggeee DoctorDonna shipper and no one has done this yet. At least from what I've seen. If someone else wrote Donna in series 2, send me it, I would love to read it!

This is all of series 2, with Donna. Obviously. No Rose. She will however be mentioned in the first chapter. Maybe some later ones. So no Rose angst or anything.

So, I hope you all enjoy!

---

Sure as the Stars
Chapter One
The Christmas Invasion

---

"What happened?" Donna groans, lifting her head up.

"Don't you remember?" he immediately asks, glancing over at her.

She glares up at The Doctor, who's standing by the console, "Obviously not. You couldn't even bovver to place me in my bed? Just let me rest on the bleedin' floor?" she starts to get up when he just grins at her, no reply, "...Rose said there was a singing. My head hurt."

"Yeah, that's right. I sang a song and the Daleks ran away. And you just happened to have a headache," he replies cheerfully.

Donna glares, "Oi, watch it," she shakes her head, trying to make sense, "I was at home. Wait, no, I wasn't. I was in the TARDIS. No, but then Rose - my head really hurt. Why the hell can't I remember anything else?"

"Don't know," he responds, a bit slower than the last time.

And she knows he's not listening, and she knows he knows why she can't remember anything else. She just sighs lightly, "And where's Rose? Did you ever get a good kiss from her?"

He beams at her with a big grin at her with a bright smile and his big ears perk up, and she gets her answer from the last question. Good for him.

"She saved us. Looked into the heart of the TARDIS. She's alright, now. She's home. Oh, isn't she fantastic?"

Donna smiles, "Yeah, she is."

He pauses for a moment, before saying, "Donna Noble," he gives a small chuckle and she shuts her mouth and narrows her eyes, "I was gonna take you to so many places. Barcelona. Not the city Barcelona, the planet Barcelona. You'd love it, fantastic place! They got dogs with no noses!" he laughs at himself and she can't help but crack her own smile, "Imagine how many times a day you end up telling that joke and it's still funny!" he lets out a laugh again.

She smiles a little, but narrows her eyes, "You're ramblin', sunshine. Why can't we just go?"

"Maybe you will. Maybe I will. But not like this," he gives her a smile and turns back to the screen on the console, with a little hum.

"Huh? You're not makin' sense!" she glares, getting annoyed, "And that's saying a lot!"

"I might never make sense again. I might have two heads! Or no head!" he lets out a laugh again, apparently finding himself so amusing, "Imagine me with no head!"

"Well, it's an im - "

"And don't say that's an improvement," he smiles at her again. She can't get rid of the feeling her stomach, like something bad is going to happen, "It's a bit dodgy, this process. You never know what you'll end up with."

"What pr - "

She's interrupted by The Doctor. He glows gold for a moment, a buzzing sound rings out and he's pushed back by some kind of force that seems so strong and painful, he has to hold his stomach.

As soon as it happens she immediately goes to run by his side, "Doctor!"

"Stay away!" he orders, holding a hand out.

"Yeah, right!" she goes to march up (because she is not going to leave this edit alone while he's in pain) but he flinches away in pain and commands her to stay away from her. As if she's some pet, "Doctor, tell me what's going on!"

He's still holding his stomach, "I absorbed all the energy in the Time Vortex for Rose," he grimaces in pain and gives her a smile, "No one's meant to do that," then he clinches his teeth in pain, "Every cell in my body's dying."

"No!" she shakes her head, she doesn't want to believe it, "Do something! Why can't you do something?"

"Yeah, doing it now," he remarks, "Time Lords have this little trick. It's..." he sucks in a sharp breath, "it's sort of a way of cheatin' death."

"So don't scare me like that, you're not dying!"

"Except this body is, you know that. Just don't wanna believe it. It means I'm gonna change," he shakes his head sadly, "And I'm not gonna see you again. Not with this daft old face," he gives her another smile and she realizes he gave her a lot of those since she woke up, "And before I go - "

"Don't you go sayin' that!" she warns. She's shaking a little, she realizes.

"Donna," he looks up at her, "...before I go I just wanna tell you...you were fantastic. Absolutely fantastic!" she feels tears burn her vision. He tilts his head, and sends that great big, brilliant smile of his, "And d'you know what? So was I."

She nods her head, giving him a little smile. And he smiles back. And she likes to think for a moment it is all going to be okay.

But then in a second he jerks back, head back and arms thrown out and he's doing that glowing again. It's sparking out of him. His hands and face. She covers her face at first, shocked by the amount of brightness. But then she lowers her arm, staring at him. Missing him already.

Her eyes narrow, she's noticing something. She can't see much with his head thrown back but is his face changing? No, it can't be!

And then, when it all stops, the man in front of her is not The Doctor.

He has puppy-dog brown eyes and he's got so much bloody hair. He's too skinny. He's a random man! And he's just standing in the TARDIS.

"OH. MY. GOD!" she shrieks.

He looks at her with these stupid brown eyes, "Hello!" He's bloody British too! He looks away, narrows his stupid face and purses his stupid lips together, "New teeth. That's weird. So where was I?" he looks back at her, as if he was surprised she was actually speechless. He smirks, and he looks so bloody proud of himself, "Oh, that's right! Barcelona!" and he pronounces it likes its something so new and grand, popping the B.

He gives her a stupid, goofy smile too.

.~.

"Six P.M. Tuesday. October. Five thousand and six..." this stranger is playing with the buttons on the TARDIS console. As if he knows what he's doing, "On our way to Barcelona," he turns to her, smiling. As if he knows her.

"Uh-huh."

She's not listening, though. Too busy staring. Staring at this new man who's pressing buttons and pushing levers. The outfit looks too big on his stick body.

"Now then, what do I look like?" he smiles wide, turning to her, "No, no, no, no, no. No, no. Don't tell me. Now, let's see. Two legs. Two arms. Two hands. Slight weakness in the dorsal tubical," he runs his hands though that thick hair of his and gasps in delight, "Hair! I'm not bald! Ooh, big hair," he traces his sideburns and ears, "Sideburns, I've got sideburns!" he nearly squeals, "Or really bad skin," he pats his stomach, "Little bit thinner, that's weird. Give me time I'll get used to it," he stops rambling for a moment and she opens her mouth but then he straightens his shoulders, "I...have got...a mole. I can feel it, between my shoulder blades. That's alright, love the mole!" he smiles at her, "Go on then, tell me. Whatdaya think? Ooh - "

God, is he still talking?

She reaches out and slaps him across the face so hard he almost falls over.

"STOP YAPPING!" she screams.

"OW!" he shrieks, "What was that for, Donna?! My new face, too! Oh, ow! Blimey, you can slap!" he shuts his eyes tightly, groaning. She sees a red mark start to flush the cheek she slapped.

"WHAT THE HELL JUST HAPPENED? Who the hell are you?!" she questions, her voice raising, and she feels her face flush as she curls her hands together.

He hisses in pain before squeaking out, "I'm The Doctor!"

She curls her lip, "If you don't give me an honest answer I will slap you so hard you'll fly out of this TARDIS! Where is he? Where is The Doctor? What have you done to him, you...you skinny twig!"

"You saw me!" he insists, his voice high and squeaky, "I - I changed! Right in front of you!"

And God help her he sounds so honest and small and nervous and innocent. He looks it, too.

She shakes, "I saw him sort of, oh, I dunno! Burst? Explode? And then you, sunshine, just replaced him! Is this some kind of teleport thing? Or a transmit? Body swap?" she rambles on, "And you suddenly show up, thinking you know me, the adventures we were on? I saw Charles Dickens on Christmas with ghosts! And Slitheen," she lets out a loud, long gasp, "Oh my God. Are you a Slitheen?"

He shakes his head, softly, "I am not a Slitheen," she hates how soft his voice is now, "...And they technically weren't ghosts."

Donna glares, "Send him back. I'm warning you, mate. Send The Doctor back RIGHT NOW!"

"Donna! It's me. It's honestly me!" Even through her slap and yelling he doesn't snap at her, let's her rage and wonder, "I was dying. To save my own life, I changed my body, every single cell, but it's still me."

"Bollocks. You can't be!"

"But how can I remember this?" he moves towards her, and she hates it. Hates how close he is and how familiar he feels, "The first time I met you it was Christmas. 2005. You almost turned me down," he looks down at her hand and slowly takes it. She tenses. He holds on a little tighter, "You said I needed someone. And you were right. You. I needed you. I still need you."

He meets her eyes and she searches them, she feels her eyes well with tears.

"Oh my God," she snatches her hand away, his hand suddenly felt like fire, "Doctor?"

He smiles at her, "Hello."

"How is this possible? You just grow body?" she slaps his arm, and shrieks again, "WHY WASN'T I TOLD THIS?! HOW DOES THIS EVEN HAPPEN?! This doesn't make sense!"

He cries out, "Donna I told you - "

But she keeps going on, asking questions. Eventually, he explains everything. Or tries to, anyways.

After he's done speaking to her, The Doctor runs to the console. Donna leans against a piece of the TARDIS, seething because this isn't possible, this can't be her Doctor and her Doctor changes and he never thought to mention it to her during all the time they spent together.

"We never stop, do we?" he beams, too loud and too full of sudden adrenaline, "All across the universe! Running, running! And that one time we had to hop? Do you remember? You kept screaming at me. Hopping, hopping, hopping!" he hops on a foot, "Hopping for our lives! Yeah? Remember hopping for our lives? Hop, with the..." but she's not smiling or laughing. He stops, "No?"

She shakes her head a little and mutters, "No."

He frowns at her, looking down at his console.

"Can you change back?"

"Do you want me to?"

"Yup."

"Oh."

"Can you?"

"No. 'Course you being brilliant, you already knew that."

She doesn't smirk or tell him to stop sucking up or tell him he's just a daft spaceman. Just stares at him.

"Do you want to leave?"

"Do you want me to?"

"No!" came out a bit quick, if you ask her, "...but, your choice if you wanna go home."

She purses her lips, averting her gaze on him. When she looks up back up, he looks so so sad and so disappointed and so heartbroken. Or heartsbroken.

He pauses, "Cancel Barcelona," he starts changing the settings. His voice is soft and slow, "Change to London, Chiswick. Ah, let's say 24th December. Consider it a Christmas present, Donna Noble."

"I'm going home?" she almost gasps, stunned.

His folds his arms across his chest, "Up to you. Back to granddad. And your mum. All waiting."

"Yeah, I know," she actually doesn't mean to sound so cold and harsh.

He doesn't take notice of her snap, "Fish and chips, sausage on mash, beans and toast. No, Christmas!" he exclaims and she jumps, "Turkey! Your mother will make so much food! Enough for twenty!"

Donna shakes her head, feeling her lips twitch upwards a bit.

"...Was that a smile, Donna Noble?"

Her gaze falls to the floor, "Nope."

He grins, "That was a smile."

"Oh, shut up."

"I've always loved your smile."

When she goes to argue. His knuckles are on his chin, staring at her with this really stupid smile. And he stares at her like he's in some type of trance.

"Wot?" she blinks rapidly.

"Never told you that before, have I? That I love your smile."

"Stop it."

"Stop what?"

"That. Telling me this. Trying to make me - "

"Make you?"

"Stop flattering me, nothing's gonna work on me, sunshine."

He narrows his eyes, "Oh, Donna - " he suddenly lets out a pained noise.

Donna's eyes widen, "Wot?"

He coughs and lets out various, 'aghs' and 'ughs'.

"Uh-oh."

"'Uh-oh'? Why're you sayin' uh-oh, you're not gonna burst again, are you?"

He backs away, staring at nothing and lets out a breath, a trail of gold air leaving his mouth. It looks like the stuff that changed him, "The change is going about wrong - " he lets out something between a cough and a gag and a breath leaving his lungs. He lands on his knees.

"Oh, you have got to be kiddin' me. Great. Just what we need. Maybe we can go back. Go find Captain Jack, maybe he'll know what to do?"

"Gah!" he shakes his head, "He's busy!"

She glares, "Doing wot?"

"He's got plenty to do rebuilding the Earth!"

"Oh!" she suddenly remembers and huffs, "You ditched him back there! Left him all alone!"

"We did!"

"No, I was unconscious! You decided to just leave him!"

"Is this really the time to talk about this?!" he groans.

"Fine!" she huffs, "What do we do?"

He suddenly flicks a switch that sends them both hitting the console.

"Oi!" she moves her hair from her face, "What are you doing?!"

"Giving us a bit of speed! That's it!" he's pulling levers and pushing stuff, "Oh, my beautiful ship! Come on, faster there girl!"

"KNOCK IT OFF."

He looks at Donna and she wishes he'd just pass out the moment. He looks so so so hyper, "Ready to go faster? Wanna break the time limit?"

"No!"

And then they're flying faster.

"STOP IT!" she yells.

"Oh, don't be so dull, let's have a bit of fun!"

"DULL?!"

"Let's rip through that Vortex!" his eyes go wide, "Regeneration is going on," he groans, "Ah! My head!" he places his head down and then he jolts up, eyes wide and crazy and he's taking like a madman, "Faster!"

"WOT?!"

And he yells something so fast she can't understand it. And then a bell rings. She hates bells, "What's that?!" He just laughs and moves back to his position, "What is it?!" And he yells something that she doesn't hear, "Are you trying to kill us?!"

"Ooh, here we go!" he grins at her and she feels absolutely terrified, "Merry Christmas Eve!"

.~.

---

.~.

"Donna doesn't like Christmas, you know," Wilfred mumbles to Sylvia, watching her place some more ornaments on the tree they had just brought.

"She's probably not even going to show up!" Sylvia whips around, annoyed, "She's been gone so bloody long! And if she does show up, she'll just happen to arrive on the day she hates!"

Wilf sighs, looking at his hands. He misses his Donna. Misses her everyday. But she's happy. She's seeing the stars and planets and space and time and she's happy.

Sylvia keeps going on. This and that. Doctor this. Donna that.

But then he hears it.

"Wait, wait, shush!" he holds out his hand and they both listen carefully.

And there's that sound, oh, that sound!

"Donna?" Sylvia mutters, eyes going wide.

"Donna!" Wilf laughs and they're both up, running outside, holding each other's arms, looking in the sky for that blue box.

"She's alive!" Sylvia exclaims in shock.

"I knew it!" Wilf beams, "Our Donna! She's coming back!"

Sylvia looks around, "Where is it, then? Where's the - the..."

"TARDIS," Wilf reminds, the sound is still ringing out, but no TARDIS.

And then it's there, zooms out of the sky. But then it's mad, flinging side by side and bumping into everything that's sold. It zooms over them and they duck, Sylvia lets out a scream. It spins and bumps some more, letting out a sound like a hot kettle. It lets out that sound again after it lands. Then the door opens, and a man comes out. He's young, too. He's wearing a black shirt and a black leather jacket. Like The Doctor would.

"...Does she have a type or something?" Sylvia mumbles, staring at the man.

He leans against the door, out of breath, staring all around.

But where's Donna?

"Here we are then! London, Earth! Solar system! We did it!" he announces. He stumbles out of the TARDIS, spinning around and staring. He faces them and they stare at him with wide eyes. He does the same and gasps, "Wilf. Sylvia. Blimey!" he stumbles back, pointing, "No, no, hold on. What was I gonna say?" he walks around them, and they follow his movements, speechless, "There's something I had to tell you. Something important, what was it?" he grips their shoulders, thinking, "No, no. Hold on, hold on! Shh, shh, shh. OH!" at that shout, Wilf jumps, "I know!" he looks at them both, breathing heavily. He shoots Wilf a big, goofy grin, "Merry Christmas!"

And he collapses.

Wilf tries to catch him but he can't, so he drops to the floor, on his back. They both kneel to him, checking to see if he's alright.

"Oh, finally!"

They look up and see Donna, leaning by the TARDIS. Safe and sound. Her face is flushed bright red and she looks absolutely exhausted.

"Donna!"

She looks up from the strange man and she smiles so wide and tears well up, "Gramps!" she runs to him, arms open and hugs him tightly.

She's back! He has his Donna back! They break apart and she hugs her mum, who's still stunned.

"Donna, sweetheart, who is he?" Wilf frowns down at the man, "Where's The Doctor?"

Donna looks down at the man, her face suddenly grim, "That's him. That's The Doctor," she looks at their faces, "Yeah. I know."

Sylvia narrows her eyes, "What do you mean that's The Doctor? Doctor who?"

.~.

"Regeneration?" Wilf repeats, he and Donna are carrying The Doctor back home. His arms are draped over their shoulders. Sylvia is leading the way, talking to herself.

Donna nods, "Mhmm. Thought it was some sick joke. But no Gramps, it's him."

"I hope he'll be okay. I've got so questions for him!" Wilf smiles, very happy when she chuckles, "He can borrow some of my clothes if you want."

"Yeah," she looks down at The Doctor and back at him, "I missed you. Sorry I didn't call in a while."

"It's alright, darling. You were happy."

.~.

---

.~.

"Get some water, maybe tea. Blankets and all. And there's a pair of stethoscopes around here, right? I need to undress him. Leather's not good, he's gonna burn up," Donna says as soon as she enters the room where The Doctor needs to rest. Her mum and granddad leave to get everything. Donna sighs loudly and shuts the door, rolling her eyes at the alien in her arms, "Can't believe you just collapsed," she mumbles, "And now I've got to undress you. Don't be getting any ideas, Spaceman."

She leans him up against the bed and stares at him for a moment. Still processing that this apparently is The Doctor. She sighs, strips off his leather jacket, and tosses it onto a chair. She takes off his shirt, and doesn't stare. Not much to stare at, really.

But of course, he ends up leaning forward somehow, pressing his limp body up against hers, his face pressed in her hair.

"I said no ideas," she rolls her eyes, gently pushing him back. She fumbles him into the jammies with lots of cursing, huffing, and averting her eyes. It's such a bloody pain, God, he's even infuriating even when he's unconscious. After all his old clothes are off, she stands up, tossing her hair over her shoulder and rubs her face.

Gramps comes back, with a black dressing robe. He glances at them both and Donna narrows her eyes. He better not be implying something. He tosses the robe against a chair. She's still putting the jammies on him, grumbling to herself.

"Were you two ever together?"

Donna whips around, "Oh God no, me and Dumbo Ears?" she turns back around, "He fancied this girl named Rose we met. Now, those two were gonna be together."

"You were good together," he nudges his head to this new Doctor, "Maybe you and him will - "

"Gramps!" Donna gapes at him, "Not gonna happen. I don't fancy aliens. Nor aliens who go changing themselves either."

When Gramps leaves, Sylvia comes back with a stethoscope and hands it to Donna, and places two mugs of tea on the desk, "I still say we should take him to hospital."

"We can't," Donna sighs, putting the buds of the stethoscope in her ears, "They'd lock him up. Dissect him. One bottle of his blood could change the future of the human race," her mum went to argue, "No! Zip it!" Carefully, Donna leans over The Doctor and listens to his heart. Satisfied, she slides the stethoscope over to the other side of his chest and listens to the other one. She sighs in relief, "They're both working."

Sylvia stares at her daughter, "What do you mean, both?"

"He's got two hearts."

"Oh, don't be so stupid!" Sylvia scowls.

Donna pulls a face, "Why would I lie, exactly? He has!"

She remembers when he first told her, just out of the blue. Oh, Donna. Look at that! Two hearts. Did I ever tell you? Two hearts, pretty cool, right?

"He hasn't got two of - "

"Oi, leave him alone," Donna quickly warns, her mum interrupting her muses. Donna stands up and grabs her cuppa. She and her mum walk out, leaving him be.

As soon as they leave, The Doctor unconsciously exhales another cloud of golden vapor. It goes through the glass window, wandering, but then soon enough, its roaming deeply through dark space.

.~.

"How can he just go changing his face? Is that a different face or is he a different person?" Sylvia questions, "Does he just take a face and go with it? Just picks it out?"

"How should I know?" Donna snaps and angrily takes a sip of her tea, glaring at nothing, "It's so alien! He's not human! Not that hard to forget. Can't believe he does this to me. Wanker," she storms into the living room where Gramps is. She goes to relax but her eyes widen at the telly, "Wait, hold on, is that Harriet Jones? Why's she on the telly?"

"She's Prime Minister now," Wilf informs her, "They're calling it 'Britain's Golden Age'. I keep on saying my Donna has met her."

"Did more than just meet her," Donna remarks, "Stopped World War Three with her!"

Harriet is standing behind a podium addressing a packed press conference. Two large Union Flags are placed at each side of her. There's journalists and reporters, each one is raising his or her hand feverishly to ponder her with questions.

"Prime Minister, what about those calling the Guinevere One space probe a waste of money?" one man asks.

"Now, that's where you're wrong. I completely disagree if you don't mind," Donna grins, "The Guinevere One space probe represents this country's limitless ambition. British workmanship sailing up there among the stars."

The image cuts to footage of the press conference when the project's leader, Daniel Llewellyn starts speaking. He's a thin man, small and timid, with a completely bald head and a contrastingly bushy dark brown beard, "This is the spirit of Christmas, birth and rejoicing, and the dawn of a new age, and that is what we're achieving fifteen million miles away. Our very own miracle!"

The news report cuts to a graphical representation of Guinevere One's intended flight path as the news reporter explains what is happening.

"The unmanned probe Guinevere One is about to make it's final descent. Photographs of the Martian Landscape should be received by midnight tonight."

.~.

---

.~.

In the darkness of space, the real Guinevere One travels along its specially programmed flight path.

Then, a colossal chunk of rock drifts into its way. The probe bounces off the vast structure and begins drift away. A hatch opens up close to the bottom of the rock face, a warm orange glow emitting from its core.

Guinevere One gets sucked inside.

.~.

---

.~.

Donna and Wilf walk around the market, Wilf had insisted. Donna agreed, she wanted to leave the house, even if it was for Christmas. Being with Gramps was always great, too. She's dressed in a new pair of black boots, some dark jeans, a red long sleeved shirt, and a coat, zipped up, over it. She glances over at a brass band dressed in Santa robes. They're playing 'God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen' around the large Christmas tree that had been erected in the centre of the market.

People are smiling and laughing, enjoying Christmas shopping and the festive atmosphere.

She rolls her eyes, the songs, the people, the lights, everything. How could anyone stand this holiday?

"So what do you need? Want to buy anything for yourself?" Wilf asks, pulling out some money.

Donna shakes her head, "No. That's yours. Buy whatever you want, I have some money. I just need to find something for Mum," she looks around, "You just forget about Christmas and things in the TARDIS. Traveling and all. Forgetting Christmas is good though," she ends up talking about the TARDIS and The Doctor. Of gas creatures and galaxies that he took her. When she realizes she was going on she sighs, "Why didn't you stop me?"

Wilf smiles, shaking his head, "I don't mind. Love seeing you happy."

Donna shakes her head. As she does, her attention turns to the brass band. Wait, they're wearing full face Santa masks? Well, isn't that wizard. How were they even able to play their instruments? She can't see mouth or eye holes. Is this something normal?

No, it's just a normal brass band. In a normal market.

Just.

Everyone around her has logic and reason. But to her, nothing is never just anything anymore.

The brass band stops playing. Each of them stands in line with one another, their instruments held at chest height. Donna stops and stares at them. Something's definitely wrong.

Fire suddenly erupts from the trombone. Terrified shoppers flee in all directions, Donna grips onto Wilf and they find shelter behind a stall.

"It's us! They're after us!" Donna huffs, "Great!"

The trombonist finds them again and they flee as fire and shots from the smaller instruments follows after them, one of the stalls exploding in a shower of sparks as it takes a direct hit. God, when she thought she couldn't hate Christmas more! Bloody masked Santas attacking her with flippin' instruments!

"What's going on?" Wilf panics as they run, "What've we done? Why are they after us?"

"OI, TAXI!" Donna shouts, not answering him. They scramble in, Donna turns to him, gathering her breath, "You alright, Gramps? You're not hurt?"

He shakes his head, "No. You alright?"

"Yeah. They're after The Doctor, obviously. I can't even go shopping with you and we get attacked by a brass band. Great," she scoffs.

"You gonna phone Sylvia?" Wilf asks when he sees Donna pull out her mobile.

Donna nods, dialing the number and puts the phone to her ear, but all she gets is an engaged dial up tone and that bloody stupid annoying voice message telling her that the line's busy.

.~.

---

.~.

"She turns up, no warning. I've got nothing in. I cannot believe her!" Sylvia natters, bringing a cuppa for the Doctor, "Oh, no. Don't come round, No, the house's all messy. Yeah, because of Donna, she just barges in and litters the place. Yeah. No, I'll come round soon."

Sylvia leaves the room, and doesn't see The Doctor exhale another cloud of golden vapor.

.~.

---

.~.

"Oh, get off the bloody phone!" Donna shouts, beyond pissed.

"Who were those Santa things?" Wilf eyes her with wide eyes.

"Don't know why you think I know," she shrugs, letting out a breath.

"What's important about us?"

Donna shrugs, "Well, nothing, except we have The Doctor, last of his kind, great bloody Time Lord. Unconscious in jammies in bed at home."

They burst into the house as soon as they arrive, Donna groans when she sees her mum is still on the phone, "Get off the phone!" she runs into the living room.

"It's only Tracy! She says hi," Sylvia scowls, tutting when Donna snatches the phone off her.

"Tracy? Yeah, bye," Donna hangs the phone before turning back to Wilf and Sylvia, "It's not safe here. We've got to get out. Where can we go?"

Wilf names a good flat they can rent and Donna agrees.

Sylvia snaps, rounding on them, "No, it's Christmas Eve! We're not going anywhere! What're you babbling about?"

"Look, I'll explain - " Donna stops talking when she gets a glimpse of a tree. A Christmas tree. A new one. Now, she's not a fan of Christmas, but she knows that they always use that 'big, grand, marvelous' (as Gramp's describes it) tree with the largest ornaments and gold lights and silver strings of tinsel and large, golden bells. Gramps is always so crazy for this holiday, "Mum. Where'd you get that tree?"she glares at it, it stands innocently in the corner of the living room, "That's a new tree. Where'd you get it?"

"I thought it was you," Sylvia admits.

Donna narrows her eyes, "How can it possibly be me?"

"Well, you went shopping! There was a ring at the door, and there it was!"

"Noooo, that wasn't me."

"Then who was it?"

All three of them are staring at the tree now.

And then, completely on their own, the tree's lights light up, as 'Jingle Bells' begins playing from somewhere inside it.

"Oh, you've got to be kiddin' me," Donna breathes out.

Sections of the tree rotate in different directions, creating a strong gust of wind as it picks up speed. It separates itself from the wire tethering it to the plug socket, and it begins to advance towards them. There is an ear splitting splintering sound as it slices through the coffee table.

"Get out! Go, go! Get out!" Wilf shouts, pushing Sylvia and Donna out of the living room and picking up one of the dining chairs to fend off the tree.

Donna dives into the bedroom where The Doctor is and makes a frustrated noise. Why hasn't he woken yet?! "We've got to save The Doctor!"

"What're you doing?" her mother shouts from the doorway.

Donna shakes him, trying to be gentle, "Did you not just hear me? We can't just leave him!"

"Dad!" Sylvia yells, looking back towards the living room. The tree is shredding the chair legs and Wilf is struggling to keep hold as it jerks and jolts, "Leave it! Get out! Get out!"

Wilf rushes back into the bedroom. With a sudden scream, Sylvia shuts the door just as the tree smashes through the living room. Wilf and Sylvia pull a wardrobe across the door. They back away and Donna looks back down towards The Doctor.

"Oi, Doctor, wake up!" she roars.

Running over to the Doctor's jacket that had been slung over the edge of the bed, Donna rummages through the pockets, cursing, until she finds the sonic screwdriver. She places it in his hand, waiting for something to happen.

Nothing. No reaction at all.

Of course not. It's her lucky day!

With a loud crash! the tree smashes straight through the door and the wardrobe and into the room.

"I'm going to get killed by a Christmas tree!" Sylvia cries, cowering in the far corner as the Christmas tree advances towards her.

Desperate, Donna rests her hand on top of The Doctor's that holds the screwdriver, panicking, "Oh come on, help me, Spaceman!"

The Doctor sits up immediately and aims the sonic screwdriver at the tree. Donna is, too. Since he jolted up so quickly she barely had any time to react, their hands are both on the sonic, pointing at the tree. She feels quite awesome with the sonic in her hand if she's being honest.

Then the tree explodes. Donna sighs in relief.

"Remote control," The Doctor states quietly, "But who's controlling it?"

His brown eyes widen when he feels a weight on his hand. He gazes down at Donna's hand on his and snaps up, meeting her eyes. They both look at their hands again and flush, pulling back. The Doctor quickly springs out of bed, snatching the dressing gown on his way out of the room.

.~.

Dressing gown now on, he leads Donna, Wilf, and Sylvia outside. In front of them, but far away enough, three of the Santas from the market gaze at them. One is holding a radio controller.

"That's them," Wilf nods, glancing back at The Doctor and the Santas.

"What are they?" Sylvia demands, a little too loudly.

The Doctor aims his sonic screwdriver at them and the Santas take a step back. They're enveloped in a bright blue light, all three transport away as the light shoots up into the sky.

"They've just gone," Donna scoffs, "What kind of rubbish were they? They're not much if a screwdriver's gonna scare them off. Just came to give us a scare, that it? Dressed as Santas?"

"Pilot fish," is all The Doctor says.

"Wot?"

"They were just pilot fish."

Suddenly his face contorts in pain. He doubles over and grips a part of the porch. Sitting down on the ground with his back to it, the others all crouch down besides him.

Donna scans his face, her eyes wide in worriment, "What is it? What's wrong?"

"You woke me up too soon," he pauses, grimacing.

Donna retorts, "Oh, so it's my fault?"

The Doctor slowly shakes his head, letting out an annoyed breath, "I'm still regenerating. I'm bursting with energy," to prove his point he lets a cloud of golden vapor, "You see? The pilot fish could smell it, a million miles away. So they eliminate the defense, that's you lot, and they carry me off. They could run their batteries on me for a couple of yea - ow!"

"Oh!" Sylvia gasps when The Doctor clings to her arm, his grip surprisingly strong and tight.

"My head!" he hisses, "I'm having a neuron implosion. I need - "

Donna cuts in, "What, what is it?"

"Say it. Tell her, tell her. Go on, Doctor," Sylvia adds on quickly.

"I need - "

The Doctor's trying to tell, but its impossible to get a word out when both of the Nobles are going back and forth. He goes to point to his head instead.

"Painkillers? Asprin?" Donna guesses.

He shakes his head at her, "I need - "

"Codeine? Paracetamol? I think we have some, Pepto-Bismol?"

He shakes his furiously at the last one, "I need - "

"Liquid paraffin!" Sylvia pips in.

Donna raises her eye brows, "Vitamin C? Vitamin D? Vitamin E? What, Doctor?"

"I need - "

"Is it food?" Sylvia tries, "Bowl of soup? Soup and a sandwich? I'm making dinner for Christmas, what else do you need?"

"I need you to shut up," The Doctor finally tells them, shakily regaining his speech.

"He hasn't changed that much, has he?" Sylvia snaps, insulted.

"We haven't got much time. If there's pilot fish, then - " The Doctor stops and jerks and doubles over again, falling against the wall of the house and slides down to the ground, "Argh! Brain collapsing," he reaches for Donna'a arm and intertwines his hand through hers. She flinches at his surprisingly strong grip. He pulls her in close, looking her in the eye, and he's doing this stupid thing where his shaky fingers are tracing her hand, as if to calm himself down. 'Cos she's great at calming people down, "The pilot fish. The pilot fish mean that something..." he's struggling to get something out, "...something...something is coming."

Then he passes out.

.~.

Donna brings the suffering Doctor to bed, lays the blanket at his waist and tries to calm his fever with a damp cloth. He's sweating and shaking and absolutely awful.

"It's midnight. Christmas day," Sylvia says to Wilf, just as Donna comes into the living room.

Wilf turns to Donna, "Any change?"

Donna shakes her head, sighing, "He's just gotten worse, Gramps. Only one heart beatin'."

They whirl over to the telly, where the news is covering Guinevere One's landing.

"Scientists in charge of Britain's mission to Mars have re-established contact with the Guinevere One space probe. They're expecting the first transmission from the planet's surface in the next few minutes," a news reporter announces.

The image cuts to the live press conference where Llewellyn is answering questions, "Yes, we are," he answers, sounding very flustered, "We're back on schedule. We've received the signal from Guinevere One. The Mars landing would seem to be an unqualified success."

One reporter chimes in, "But is it true that you completely lost contact earlier tonight?"

"Yes, we had a bit of a scare. Guinevere seemed to fall off the scope, but it - it was just a blip. Only disappeared for a few seconds," Llewellyn insists, "She is fine now, absolutely fine. We're getting the first pictures transmitted live any minute now. I'd better get back to it, thanks."

Wilf shakes his head, with a 'tsk', "Iit's probably them aliens!" he turns to Donna, "What now, sweetheart?"

Donna unzips her coat, "The Doctor said pilot fish. I've seen something like this! The Doctor told me. As we ran. Away from the pilot fish. Pilot fish are kind of like little scavengers. Harmless. They're tiny."

"So that's good, right?" Sylvia calls over her shoulder.

"No. My point is the little fish swim alongside the big fish."

Wilf pauses for a moment, "You mean like sharks?"

"Sort of, yeah. Basically, we had them, now we get the shark...I guess."

"Funny sort of rocks," Sylvia comments, still facing the telly.

Donna glances over at her, "Mum. Is it really the time to - "

The telly suddenly statics and cuts to the live pictures of the Martian landscape. The image was at first nothing but static.

"They're not rocks?" Wilf guesses, seeing the look of realization on Donna's face. She has seen too much, knew too much to know the difference between rocks and a face.

A news reporter cuts in, "This image is being transmitted via mission control, coming live from the depths of space on Christmas morning."

As the image cleared properly, a red-eyed, alien, with a head like a cow's skull, lunged towards the camera with a threatening growl.

At the action, all three of them jump back, startled.

As soon as the footage ends, reporters and news channels start discussing the alien face.

"Oh my God!" Sylvia gasps, "That was an alien! Another real alien!"

Of course she immediately dashes to grab the phone, going on to her friends about what she had just encountered on the telly.

.~.

---

.~.

Major Richard Blake and Llewellyn enter a building that extends further underground than where any tourist would ever visit. They enter Unified Intelligence Task Force''s UK operation. Llewellyn can't help but stop and stare at the operation around him, the focus of which looked to be surrounding the image on the large screen, which is showing Earth with something registering not to far away from it. A signal? A satellite? Guinevere one?

He follows Major Blake towards the offices and quieter rooms at the opposite end of the basement.

A young man with dark hair, dressed in a sharp black suit has a handsfree device attached to his left ear, emitting a small, soft blue pulse of light every few seconds.

Beside him, with her back to him, is Harriet Jones.

As she turns around, she shows her ID card and flashes it at Llewellyn, "Harriet Jones, Prime Minister."

"Yes," Llewellyn replies, with a shift, "I know who you are. I suppose I've ruined your Christmas."

"Never off duty," she swiftly tells him, "Now, we've put out a cover story. Alex has been handling it," she indicates to the young man beside her.

"We've said it was a hoax. Some sort of mask or prosthetics. Students hijacking the signal, that sort of thing," Alex explains.

"Alex is my right hand man. I'm not used to having a right hand man. I quite like it though," Harriet adds, flashing Alex a smile.

Alex returns the smile, "I quite like it myself."

"I don't suppose there's any chance it was a hoax?" Llewellyn asks, half-heartedly.

"That would be nice, then we could all go home. I don't suppose anyone's offered you a coffee?" Harriet asks, going over to the coffee machine to make him one.

"No," Llewellyn begins.

"But no, the transmission was genuine," she continues, handing him a cup of coffee, "And this seems to be a new species of alien. At least, not one we've encountered before."

Llewellyn scrunches his eyebrows, confused, "You seem to be talking about aliens as a matter of fact."

"There's an Act of Parliament banning my autobiography."

"Prime Minister," Major Blake returns, standing outside the door, indicating to be followed.

Harriet nods, "I'm with you," she follows him out with Alex and Llewellyn following her.

Major Blake walks over to a blonde woman sitting by a computer, "Miss Jacobs will explain," the woman stands up as soon as she sees Harriet.

Harriet stands tall, "I don't think we've been introduced. Harriet Jones, Prime Minister."

"Yes, ma'am. I know who you are," Miss Jacobs smiles politely, "The transmission didn't come from the surface of Mars. Guinevere One was broadcasting from a point five thousand miles above the planet," she explains to everyone.

"In other words, they've got a ship and the probe is on board," Major Blake adds.

"But if they're not from the surface, then they might not be from Mars itself. Maybe they're not actual Martians," Llewellyn adds on.

"Of course not. Martians look completely different," Major Blake says dryly, "We think the ship was in flight when they just came across the probe."

Miss Jacobs turns to her computer, "And they're moving. The ship's still in flight now. We've got it on the Hubble array."

"Moving in which direction?" Harriet asks, now watching the signal of the probe on huge the screen intently, but deep down she knows the answer.

"Towards us."

"How fast?"

"Very fast."

"What was your name again?" Harriet asks, still not taking her eyes off the screen.

"Sally," she answers.

"Thank you, Sally."

Guinevere One is returning to Earth. Harriet's worried about who and what it's going to bring with it.

.~.

Only a few minutes later, the image on the screen scatters and becomes static.

Then, four of the aliens appear. Same kind. Horned skull, glowing red eyes, dressed in red robes and various pieces of what looks like bones and hair hanging down from their leather guards. The leader of the alien holds a large staff in one hand and a whip in the other. There is a compact crossbow hanging from his belt. He begins speaking, the language low and guttural with numerous growls and hisses that they can't understand.

Everyone watches intently.

Major Blake turns to Alex, "Translation software," he orders.

"Yes, sir," Alex leaves at once.

Behind him, the aliens let out a battle cry before the transmission cuts out.

.~.

"We're getting demands from Washington," Major Blake tells Harriet from the broad-room, "The President is insisting that he take control of the situation."

"You can tell the President, and please use these exact words," Harriet stiffly orders, "He's not my boss, and he's certainly not turning this into a war," she walks away to where Alex is, and lays a hand on the chair he's sitting at. She looks at his screen, "What have we got?"

"Nothing yet," he informs, "Translating an alien language is going to take time."

"How far off is the ship?" Major Blake cuts in.

"About five hours."

.~.

---

.~.

Hours after the broadcast should have finished, the news reports are still running. Running over every scrap of detail they had again and again, speculating and spreading rumors right across the globe.

Donna's quit fed up with it to be honest, going over every little thing over and over.

Not that she's paying much attention to the news anymore.

The Doctor, feverish and still unconscious, needs her attention, "Oh, come on Spaceman," she mumbles him from his bedside, "What do you need? What is it you need? C'mon, tell me."

All she can do is keep him tucked in, damp his forehead with a cloth, and hold his hand. Yet, she still feels like her actions are doing nothing.

.~.

---

.~.

Harriet walks to where Major Blake is. He stands up immediately.

She places her hands on her hips, "I don't suppose we've had a code nine? No sign of The Doctor?"

"No. Nothing yet," she runs a hand over her face, "You've met him, haven't you? More like the stuff of legend."

"He is that. Failing him, what about Torchwood?"

His eyes slightly widen, "I -"

Harriet nods quickly, "I know I'm not supposed to know about it, I realize that. Not even the United Nations knows. But if ever there was a need for Torchwood, it's now."

"I can't take responsibility."

"I can," she reminds him, "See to it. Get them ready."

He nods, walking off.

Harriet sighs and turns around where Alex is, walking to her with a laptop, "Prime Minister."

"Has it worked?"

"Just about," Alex sets the laptop down on a vacant workstation, Llewellyn and Sally join them. Alex begins to read out loud the translated transcript of the alien's earlier broadcast, "People. That could be cattle. You belong to us. To the Sycorax. They seem to be called Sycorax, not Martians. We own you. We now possess your land, your minerals, your precious stones. You will surrender or they will die. Sycorax strong, Sycorax mighty, Sycorax rock, as in the modern sense, they rock."

Llewellyn looks over at Alex, "They will die? Not you will die, they will die? Who's they?"

"I don't know, but it is the right personal pronoun. It's they."

"Send them a reply," Harriet orders. Alex gets out an electronic organizer, ready to write, "Tell them, this is a day of peace on planet Earth. Tell them, we extend that peace to the Sycorax. And then tell them, this planet is armed and we do not surrender."

.~.

---

.~.

"The Doctor wouldn't do this," Donna says to herself, she hears Wilf and Sylvia enter the room, standing by the doorway. She looks up at them, "The old Doctor, the proper Doctor. Good old Big Ears. He'd wake up. He'd save us."

Sylvia nods, but walks away, not knowing what else to say.

Wilf looks at his granddaughter. He believes this Doctor and the old Doctor are the same. He just wishes Donna would see it too, "Get some sleep, sweetheart," she scoffs at his request, "Just for a little while?"

Oh, she can never say no to Gramps. After standing up for giving Gramps a kiss on the cheek, she kicks her boots off, grabs a blanket, and snuggles in a chair, falling fast asleep.

.~.

---

.~.

It's Dawn now. Christmas Day.

"They got the message," Sally informs Harriet and Major Blake, "Here comes the response."

They all turn to the screen, where the leader Sycorax steps up, and with a long hiss he holds out his hand, moving it, as blue light forms around it. Just as soon as it happens, it ends.

"What was that?" Harriet inquires, marching up to Llewellyn, who's seated at a computer, "Was that a reply?"

"I don't know," he answers, punching buttons on the keyboard.

"Like some sort of energy or static," Alex suggests.

"Almost like someone casting a spell," Llewellyn muses, "Maybe it's a different form of language, some sort of ideogram or pictogram?" he trials off as soon as a blue light pulses around Sally's and other worker's heads. They all turn around, walking away from their stations, "What the hell?" Llewellyn stands up, looking at all the workers, more blue lights pulsing, "It's the light. It's the same light," he realizes and walks up to Sally, "Sally? Sally, what are you doing?"

But it's like she can't even hear him, she just keeps walking. It's like she's under some kind of hypnosis. He grabs her arm, trying to get her to stop, but she's not.

Harriet reaches out out the action, "No, leave her, you'll hurt her," she calls out, worried.

Two armed guards raise their weapons at the workers that have been gotten by the blue light.

"Let them pass!" Major Blake orders firmly.

Obeying their orders, the two guards lower their weapons.

"Where are they going?" Llewellyn wonders, watching them all leave the basement.

.~.

---

.~.

Donna opens the door of her house, hearing her neighbors shout at each other. More worried and tearful shouts than angry ones. She sees a woman with short brown hair in a pink rob trying to get to a man, who looks like he's not even hearing her.

"What is wrong with you?" she cries, "Jason? Jason!" she watches the blue light pulse around his head.

Sylvia comes out of the house, looking over at her friend, "Sandra! What's going on?"

Her eyes well with tears, "He won't listen! He's walking. He won't stop walking!" she turns back around, following him, "There's this sort of light thing," she sniffs, "Jason?" she runs to him, "Stop it! Right now!"

Donna looks around her whole neighborhood, families and friends following their loved ones who just won't stop walking.

She pauses for a moment before mumbling to herself, "They're all walkin' in the same direction."

.~.

---

.~.

Reaching the Level Two corridor - a cold, concrete passageway that linked the base together - Harriet, Alex, and Llewellyn continue to follow the line of affected UNIT personnel.

"They're all heading in the same direction," Harriet realizes.

"It's only certain people," Llewellyn nods, "Why isn't it affecting us?"

Alex looks up in shock after a communication over his device, "Prime Minister," Harriet turns to him, "It's happening all over the country."

.~.

---

.~.

Donna and Sylvia quickly run out of the house, following everyone and trying to get them to stop, because they are Donna and Sylvia Noble, maybe their shouts and orders will make them stop. But they don't, they don't even blink at them, they just keep going.

Donna looks over at a woman, Susan, who is following her husband and two young children, pleading desperately with all three of them.

"Alan, come on, now stop this. It's not funny anymore," she watches Susan tug on her husband's dressing gown sleeve, "Come on, Alan, come back inside the house."

Again, she gets no response. She turns to her daughter and son, hoping she can get through to them, "Katherine. Katherine, listen to mummy. You come back inside now. And you, Jonathan," she takes each of her children by the hand, "You come back in with mummy. Jonathon, come back in with mummy. You're scaring me now!"

Neither respond.

On the verge of tears, Susan looks back to her husband, "Come on! Alan, help me out here, please."

Donna tries to help, but even as she does, she knows it's not going to do any good.

.~.

---

.~.

Llewellyn runs ahead to see for himself what is going on and comes racing back down the staircase, stopping when he sees Major Blake.

"They're going all the way up," he swallows, catching his breath, "They're going to the roof. Just making their way up to the highest building."

He runs off to the roof where the others are, looking for a woman with blonde hair. He quickens his pace when he sees Sally, he walks in front of her, trying to get through to her, "Sally, stop. It's Danny Llewellyn. Daniel Llewellyn. Sally, just concentrate. Just listen to me. You need to take control," he almost slips on the roof but catches himself, "We need you! Sally, stop!" Major Blake walks up to Llewellyn just as Sally passes him. Llewellyn looks up at the Major, "'Surrender or they will die'," he quotes the Sycorax.

.~.

---

.~.

Everyone in Donna's neighborhood and others stop at the edge of the building. As she runs up, she can still hear Sandra cry to Jason, "Jason? Jason, I'm talking to you! Just stop!" she goes to his side and presses her hands to his chest, tears running down her cheeks.

Donna finally comes beside her, and her mum is behind her, looking at everyone.

"What's going on with them all?" Sylvia cries out, holding onto her Donna's arm.

She wishes she knew, but she doesn't. She wants to help them, but she can't. She's not The Doctor.

.~.

---

.~.

Alex quickly walks up to Harriet, "It's not just the whole country. It's the whole world," Harriet's stomach sinks as Alex gets informs that they've all stopped, they're just standing on the edge of a building, "According to reports, it's like a third. One third of the world's population. That's two billion people ready to jump."

They all head back to headquarters, researching why this is happening, "There is a pattern," Alex fortunately finds out, "All these people tend to be father and son, mother and daughter, brothers and sisters. Family groups, but not husbands and wives."

"Oh my God," Llewellyn gasps in realization, "It's Guinevere One. Have you got medical records on file for all your staff?"

Alex nods, "Of course we have, yes."

As Llewellyn sits down at the workstation's computer and begins to type furiously, Harriet takes the opportunity to pull Major Blake aside, "What about Torchwood?" she asks.

"Still working on it," he answers, "Bear in mind they have just lost a third of their staff."

"But do they have what we need?"

"Yes, ma'am."

"Well, tell them to hurry up," she orders, returning to the workstation just as Llewellyn finds what he's looking for.

"Here it is. Sally Jacobs, blood group A Positive," he reads, looking at her medical file, "Who else walked out?"

"Luke Parsons," Alex answers.

"Luke Parsons," Llewellyn mutters, typing at the keyboard, "A Positive."

"Jeffery Baxter."

"Baxter, A Positive. That's it. They're all A Positive."

Major Blake joins them, "How many people in the world are A Positive?" he asks.

"No idea, but I bet it's one third."

"What's so special about that blood group?"

"Nothing, but it's my fault," Llewellyn admits, "Guinevere One. It's got one of those plaques identifying the human race. A message to the stars. I mean, you don't expect anything to come of it, but I put on maps and music and samples. There's wheat seeds, and water, and - and blood. A Positive. The Sycorax have got a vial of A Positive. And, well, I don't know how, but through that - "

"They control the blood," Harriet finishes.

Llewellyn gasps again, "Oh my God."

Harriet turns to Major Blake, "There's only more thing I can try. Major, with me."

.~.

---

.~.

With two Union flags draped at either side of her, Harriet Jones, sits in the finest office. It's dark wood paneled room, with a mahogany desk that took up most of the available space, "Ladies and gentlemen," Harriet begins addressing the camera that is transmitting her live to every news channel in the world, "If I may take a moment during this terrible time. It's hardly the Queen's speech. I'm afraid that's been cancelled," Pausing, she glances at Major Blake, "Did we ask about the royal family? Harriet's heart sinks a little further when she gets her response, "Oh. They're on the roof."

Donna, Wilf, and Sylvia watch as Harriet continues her address.

"But, ladies and gentlemen, this crisis is unique, and I'm afraid to say, it might get much worse. I would ask you all to remain calm...but I have one request. Doctor, if you're out there, we need you. I don't know what to do. If you can hear me, Doctor. If anyone knows the Doctor, if anyone can find him, the situation has never been more desperate. Help us. Please, Doctor. Help us."

Donna rushes away from the television and to The Doctor's side, glaring at his sleeping form. How could he do this? How could he just leave all these people to die? "Oh, wake up! You have to save them! Please! They're innocent people! You're the only one who can help them!" she pleads and then gasps when Wilf's hand reaches for her shoulder. She shifts to him, "How could he do this, Gramps? How could he just leave them?" How could he have just left her? She knows it sounds selfish, but why would he do this?

They both scramble away and dive to the floor when their house's windows are suddenly blown apart, the whole house shaking.

The sudden tremor is all across London, and anything glass shattered, entire slabs of concrete, multiple slate tiles, or anything else that can be dislodged, break off their buildings and crash to the ground.

A shadow falls across London.

The ship of the Sycorax.

Sylvia quickly scrambles inside the room where The Doctor is, and Donna wastes no time, "I'm gonna carry him," she yanks the bedcovers and terribly dresses The Doctor in the dressing gown. How was he still even sleeping?! Sylvia has her arm draped around Wilf, the two linger at the doorway, "Mum, get your stuff, and get some food. We're going."

"Going?" Wilf echos, "Where?"

"The TARDIS. It's the only safe place on Earth," Donna replies matter-of-factly.

Sylvia shakes her head, "What're we going to do in there?"

"Hide."

"Is that it?" Sylvia scoffs, as if she's just looking for an argument.

Donna clenches her teeth because she is not in an arguing mood and points out of the windowless window frame, "Look in the sky. There is a great big flippin' alien invasion and I don't know what to do, alright? I've traveled with him, and I've seen all that stuff, but when I'm stuck at home, I'm useless in most ways. Now, all we can do is run and hide, and I'm sorry. I want to help. But I can't. Now move."

As Sylvia disappears to collect food, Donna took the strain of The Doctor's surprisingly (or, more annoyingly) heavy weight and begins to carry him towards the front door, Wilf helping her.

.~.

---

.~.

The image on the large screen in Basement Eleven fades in a burst of static as the Sycorax begin another broadcast.

"They're transmitting. Onscreen," Llewellyn announces.

The leader speaks in his strange language, as Alex translates, "Will the leader of this world stand forward,"

Harriet steps forward without any hesitation, "I'm proud to represent this planet," she tells the Sycorax leader.

"Come aboard."

Harriet turns to Alex, wondering if he translated correctly. She looks back at the Sycorax leader, "Well, how do I do that?"

He doesn't give her an answer, except a bright blue light envelopes the four of them, "What's happening?" Llewellyn asks.

"I would imagine it's called a teleport," Harriet manages to reply before they all vanish, the light left shoots up and disappears through the ceiling.

.~.

---

.~.

It is massive.

No, no, it's colossal.

The Sycorax's ship is more like a massive cavern. The floor's covered in a sandy dust, rocky spikes as big as houses hanging from it. Around the walls, galleries had been carved into the rock face, rising up at least thirty stories. Crammed in on every level, the hundreds of Sycorax fix their glowing red eyes on the four new arrivals. The Sycroax leader is the most distinguishable out of them all. He's the biggest and meanest looking one of them all, slamming the end of his large wooden staff down onto the ground with every stride he takes towards them, his whip held coiled in one hand and his compact crossbow bouncing around his waist.

He stops just short of them, his clawed and bony hands reached up to his cow skull head. Slowly, he begins to pull it off, allowing the real face of the Sycorax to be revealed.

"It's a helmet," Llewellyn whispers, "They might be like us."

It wasn't even close to resembling a human's. Wasn't as bad as they thought is would be though, either.

The bone are still there, running across his forehead, around the eyes and down the side of his head to the chin. The mouth and eye areas were skinless, exposing the red muscle. His teeth are razored. He has no lips or eyelids, nor was there any hair or sign of anything comparable to a human.

Llewellyn swallows hard, "Or not."

The Sycorax leader begins to speak.

.~.

---

.~.

Donna carries The Doctor, cursing and groaning as Wilf holds his feet. Sylvia comes out with bags and other supplies, "Mum, leave the food and help us!" Donna demands, suddenly moody. Well, the world's ending and The Doctor is unconscious and she can't save anyone. So, she has every right to be a bit moody.

"But you said we need food!"

"Just LEAVE it and help us!" she snaps. Her mum slams the bags down, just as moody, stomps up, and helps them.

While arguing with her daughter the whole way.

.~.

---

.~.

"You will surrender," Alex translates, "Or I will release the final curse and your people will jump."

"If I can speak," Llewellyn speaks up, stepping towards the Sycorax leader.

Major Blake grabs hold of his arm, "Mister Llewellyn, you're a civilian," he hisses.

"No, I sent out the probe," he shakes himself free, "I started it. I made contact with these people. This whole thing s my responsibility," The Sycorax leader cocks his head in curiosity as Llewellyn steps forward to address him, "With respect, sir," he begins, his voice shaking, "The human race is taking it's first step towards the stars, but we are like children compared to you. Children who need help. Children who need compassion. I beg of you now, show that compassion."

There's a pause, a moment of consideration.

But then again, it's only for a moment.

The Sycorax leader's whip crackles into life, an electrical charge coursing down its length. A war cry bellows out by the alien as he throws it out towards Llewellyn. It catches Llewellyn around his neck and he screams once before his flesh disintegrates, leaving only his charred bones in a smouldering pile on the ground.

"That man was your prisoner!" Major Blake shouts, furious, striding towards the Sycroax leader, "Even your species must have articles of war, forbidding - "

He suffers the same fate before he could finish what he's saying.

Alex takes a step forward, but Harriet puts out her arm in front of him, before slowly walking forwards herself, her ID card already in her hand, "Harriet Jones, Prime Minister," she introduces, trying not to sound as terrified as she feels.

"...Yes, we know who you are," Alex translates as the Sycorax leader replies, "Surrender or they will die."

"If I do surrender, how would that be better?" Harriet questions.

The leader walks over, his hand hovering over a large, red, button.

"Half is sold into slavery or one third dies. Your choice."

.~.

---

.~.

Donna stops when they reach the TARDIS. She turns her attention to her mum and granddad, "Now it's bigger on the inside. Gape and gasp and wonder all you want. Just don't scream," they both nod and she opens the TARDIS door with a huff, and walks inside, Wilf and Sylvia following.

They both gasp in shock, eyes wide as they look around the darkened TARDIS.

"Blimey!" Wilf gasps again, "It's - it's huge!"

Donna rests The Doctor on the floor of the TARDIS. She's grateful when she feels a whoosh of cool hair run down her spine, she looks up at the ceiling, her anger and annoyance calming down and mouths a 'thank you' to the TARIDS.

Sylvia drops the bags, "Oh my God!" she looks over her shoulder, outside and back inside, "How is it - oh my God!"

"Shh!" Donna warns.

Her mum nods, still shaken up in wonder.

Wilf looks around the TARDIS in wonder, "There's no chance you can fly this thing?"

"Nope," Donna pops the 'p', "Big Ears never taught me."

Sylvia scoffs, "All the time you spent together and he never bothered to teach you to fly this thing?"

"Maybe he was gonna show me, but instead he had to go and change himself," Donna mutters to herself.

"Maybe he'll teach you when this is all over," Wilf suggests hopefully.

Donna stops her annoyed thoughts from running through her head at her granddad's suggestion. She never considered on what she's going to do. If she was going to stay or leave. She scrunches her nose and sighs.

"So what do we do, just sit here?" Sylvia places her hands on her hips.

Donna leans against the console, "That's as good as it gets."

Sylvia holds out a cup of tea, "Here we are, a nice cuppa tea."

Donna rolls her eyes, "The solution to everything."

Sylvia glares, "Stop your moaning, Donna! And drop the attitude!"

"I'm not twelve!" Donna argues.

Her mum ignores her, "I'm gonna go get the rest of the stuff."

Wilf looks at Donna, seeing her stare down at The Doctor, biting her lip, "Look at us, Donna. Tea. Like we're having a picnic while the world comes to an end. Very British,"he laughs, trying to lighten the mood. When she doesn't reply, the screen attached to the console catches his eye. Frowning, he wonders over to it, "How does this thing work? If it picks up TV, maybe we could see what's going on out there. Maybe we've surrendered. What do you do to it?"

"Gramps, you can't even use a computer. How would we know how to use it?" she looks at the strange, untranslatable Gallifreyan symbols that only the Doctor can read, Donna doesn't have a clue how to work the screen, let alone get it to show her television channels, "I don't know how it works. It sort of tunes itself," she taps the screen randomly.

In doing so, she triggers something as a small, soft but persistent. A rapid beeping noise begins to come from the console.

.~.

---

.~.

"The noise. The bleeping," Alex translates as the red light pulses suddenly and the Sycorax leader growls and stomps around, "They say it s machinery. Foreign machinery. They're accusing us of hiding it. Conspiring," he looks up at Harriet, eyes wide, "Bring it on board."

.~.

---

.~.

Leaving the house with the last of the food, Sylvia begins walking back to the TARDIS.

She stops dead when she sees a blue light envelope the blue box. Are they taking off?! Leaving her?

But then she remembers the three Santas from the previous night. They disappeared right in front of her eyes, in the same blue light.

The TARDIS vanishes in the exact same way.

"Donna!" she cries, bags dropping, "Dad!"

But it's too late, the TARDIS containing her daughter and father is already gone.

.~.

---

.~.

The screen is still emitting the beeping noise, it only becomes even more difficult to make sense of than before.

"Maybe it's a distress signal," Wilf guesses as he and Donna watch it, both of them growing bored of waiting around for something to happen.

"A fat lot of good that's gonna do," Donna mutters, giving up on the screen. She walks around to the other side of the console.

Wilf pauses for a moment, "Are you going to be a misery all the time?"

"I'm not!" she protests, "I'm just annoyed."

Wilf grins, "You should look at it from my point of view, stuck in here with your mum's cooking."

This makes Donna stop. Her mum has been gone for a while now, "Where is she? Exactly how long did it take to go and retrieve a few bags of supplies?"

"Knowing her mother, it's not just a few bags so it might be taking a while," Wilf assures her.

"Still, I don't like the idea of Mum outside of the relatively safe walls of this TARDIS, not when an alien invasion was taking place, I'd better give her a hand. It might start raining missiles out there," she says, heading towards the door.

"Tell her anything from a tin, that's fine," Wilf says.

"Why don't you tell her yourself?" she muses, pausing with the door half opened.

"Yeah, alright," he smiles, lifting himself off of the console.

Donna smirks, opening the door.

Wilf nearly slips on the console in surprise when Donna's sudden shriek travels back a moment later, "Donna?!" he shouts, immediately dropping the flask of tea that's in his hands and rushes towards the door when he hears more shouts.

He gawks when he sees where he is.

Somehow they're in a huge cavern, one hundreds of feet high with colossal spikes hanging down from its dome shaped roof.

"Get off! GET OFF ME!"

Wilf looks back down at the sound of his Donna shouting. He sees her being dragged off by one of the skull headed aliens he d seen on the television. He also sees that the cavern was filled with thousands of them.

They're slap bang in the middle of the alien ship.

Donna looks back over her shoulder at her granddad, managing to point towards the TARDIS, "The door! Close the door!"

Dashing back towards the ship, Wilf is luckily just quick enough to beat the Sycorax that makes a grab for him. Seizing the handle and pulling the door shut, he feels the lock securely click before he's roughly hauled over to where Donna is also being taken.

"Don't you hurt him!" she struggles, seething when she sees the ugly alien take hold of Gramps.

The Sycorax cheer.

YOU CHEER, Donna thinks loudly to herself. Their cheers are so bloody loud it nearly makes the ground tremble.

Donna and Wilf both realize that they aren't the only prisoners when Donna's name is being called out as the cheering dies down. Her eyes widen when she sees Harriet Jones. What the hell is she doing here? The Prime Minister stands with a man. He has dark hair, and he's dressed in a black suit, "Donna. Donna!" Harriet cries again as Donna and Wilf are pushed over to where she and Alex are standing. She runs forward and embraces the ginger woman, holding onto her tightly, who is shocked at the contact, she hugs her back anyways, "My Lord," she pulls away, "The Doctor, is he with you?"

"No," Donna whispers, staring at the red eyed aliens over Harriet's shoulder, "We're on our own."

.~.

When Wilf had dropped the flask of tea, it had landed on its side and come to rest not far from The Doctor's head. Most of its contents spilled when it had first hit the floor but slowly, the still steaming liquid continues to dribble out of the flask and down onto the machinery and wirings below.

Long vapor begins to rise. As it grows in volume and as the rate of condensation rises, the vapor finds its way towards The Doctor.

Still unconscious, he breathes in deeply as it swirls around his sinuses and exhales another cloud of golden vapor.

.~.

The Sycorax leader growls and stomps around again, this time pointing at Donna.

"The red woman," Alex reads off, "She has the clever blue box."

"'The red woman'?" Donna repeats, pulling a face.

"...Therefore, she speaks for your planet."

"But she can't!" Wilf protests, eyes wide.

"Yeah, I can," Donna counters quickly, taking a few steps forward.

"Don't you dare!" Wilf warns, his voice shaking.

"Someone's got to be the Doctor," she turns to the leader, "Don't call me The Doctor. The Doctor Donna will do just fine though."

"They'll kill you!" Harriet cries, not finding her comment amusing.

"Donna!" Wilf pleads, "Stop, don't do this! They will kill you, sweetheart!"

"Never stopped him," Donna replies as she steps forward a little more to address the thousands of aliens before her, "I, uh, I address the Sycorax according to...Article Four - no, Fifteen of the Shadow Proclamation," she says clear and confident. Well, she tries to. As she speaks, the Sycorax leader begins to walk towards her. As he did, Donna carries on, trying not to tremble and show the fear that was clawing at her insides, "I command you to leave this world with all the authority of the Slitheen Parliament of Raxacodopelor - " she takes a deep breath, "Raxacoricafallpadarius?" Oh, close enough for her, " - and uh, the Gelth Confederacy as uh, sanctioned by the Mighty Jagrafess and, oh, the Daleks!" How could she forget Daleks? "Now, leave this planet in peace!"

There's a pause and everyone looks towards the Sycorax leader to see what he will do.

His fanged teeth bare. He's staring at Donna with curiosity. Then he begins laughing, a raw, guttural cackle that's mimicked by the rest of the Sycorax.

Were they laughing at her?! How dare they!

The Sycorax leader silences the others with a wave of his arm before he rounds on Donna, grinning menacingly at her, "You are very, very funny," Alex translates, gulping, "And now you're going to die, Doctor Donna."

"Leave her alone!" Harriet shouts at once, moving to lunge forwards.

"Don't touch her!" Wilf yells at the same time, both of the moving forward.

The leader growls at her angrily, "Did you think you were clever?" Alex continues, his voice shaking a bit, "With your stolen words?"

The leader starts talking passionately, walking around Donna, who's trying not to flinch because he's getting too close to her, invading her personal space and she does not want ugly alien breath in her face.

"We are the Sycorax. We astride the darkness."

The Sycorax Leader hisses at Donna who gasps, pulling away from him.

Alex continues speaking as the leader does, "Next to us you are but a wailing child. If you are the best your planet can offer as a champion..."

"...Then your world will be gutted," The Sycorax leader growls.

"...then your world will be gutted."

Wait, did she hear that right? Donna stares, blue eyes wide.

"...and your people enslaved," the leader continues.

"...and your people enslaved."

"Mate, I think you can stop now," Donna shifts, glancing over at Alex.

Alex does, he stares at the Sycorax leader in shock, "Hold on, that's English."

"He's talking English," Harriet says.

"You're talkin' English," Donna continues.

The Sycorax leader glares at her, "I would never dirty my tongue with your primitive bile!"

Donna points at him, not feeling as scared, "That's English," she turns to Harriet, Wilf, and Alex, "Can you hear English?" she asks them as the leader continues to speak. They all nod.

"Yeah, that's English," Wilf nods.

So does Alex, "Definitely English."

"I speak only Sycoraxic!" The leader yells at them angrily.

"If I can hear English then it's being translated," Donna mumbles to herself, completely ignoring the leader, "Which means it's workin'. Which means..." she slowly turns around to look at the TARDIS. Wilfred and Harriet follow suit. The doors open.

And there, standing and smiling stupidity in his stripy pyjamas and dressing gown, is The Doctor.

"Did you miss me?" he smiles.

She's gonna kill him when this is all over.

The Sycorax Leader roars in fury and lashes his whip at The Doctor, who simply catches the end and pulls it away from him. He discards it, "You could have someone's eye out with that!" he playfully scolds.

"How dare you!" The Sycorax leader begins.

The Doctor just strides up to him (with possibly the cutest angriest face Donna has ever seen but no, she did not just think that, no way.) and snatches his staff out of his hands, breaking it across his knee and tossing it aside, "You just can't get the staff," he shakes his head before rounding on the stunned Sycorax leader, pointing a finger at him,"Now, you, just wait. I'm busy," The Doctor returns to where Wilf, Harriet, and Alex are standing, "Wilfred, hello!" he greets warmly, "And Harriet Jones MP for Flydale North. Blimey, it's like 'This Is Your Life'," he wanders over to Donna, smiling brightly, "Tea! That's all I needed, a good cup of tea! Superheated infusion of free radicals and tannin. Just the thing for healing the synapses," he lowers his voice, looking seriously at her, "Now, first thing's first. Be honest, how do I look?"

And she honestly thought he was gonna ask a serious question.

For a moment, she doesn't quite know how to respond. Because they might die and he wants to ask how he looks.

Bloody hell, she misses Big Ears.

"Different,"she eventually replies.

The Doctor frowns, "Good different or bad different?"

Well, how would she know how to reply to that? "Just different."

"Tell me, Donna," The Doctor starts, his face falling into grim seriousness, "Am I..."

Donna looks up at him, eyebrows raised, "Are you what?"

"Ginger."

For God's sake, she stays silent.

"Am I?"

"No. You're just brown," she answers glancing at that hair of his.

Disappointed, The Doctor spins on the spot and walks away from her, pacing up and down, "Aw, I wanted to be ginger! I've never been ginger!" he whines.

"It's not fun, Spaceman."

He suddenly turns back to face her, pointing a finger at her, "And you, Donna Noble, fat lot of good you were!"

She pulls a face, "Oi!"

"You gave up on me!" he says accusingly and then gasps, "Oh, that's rude. That's the sort of man I am now, am I? Rude. Rude and not ginger."

"Well, I'm rude and ginger," she huffs, folding her arms over her chest.

He gives a 'hmm' before breaking into a soft smile, "You look lovely in red by the way," he gestures to her red shirt.

Donna manages, "Wot?"

"Is that always gonna be your response to when I compliment you?" he wails, and then pulls a face, "Wot?" he does a very, very terrible impression of her.

It still makes her annoyed, "Watch it!"

Harriet has been staring at The Doctor as though he'd grown an extra head, "I'm sorry, who is this?" she gawks.

"I'm The Doctor," The Doctor replies, as though it were obvious.

"He's The Doctor," Donna repeats, "Apparently."

"But what happened to my Doctor, the one I met? Or is it just a title that's just passed on?"

"I'm him. I'm literally him. Same man, new face. Well, new everything," The Doctor reassures, walking over to her.

"But you can't be," Harriet whispers.

"Harriet Jones, we were trapped in Downing Street and the one thing that scared you wasn't the aliens, it wasn't the war," he tells her quietly, "It was the thought of your mother being on her own."

"Oh my God!" Harriet exclaims.

He smiles at her, all beaming and giddy, "Did you win the election?"

She smiles widely, "Landslide majority."

"If I might interrupt," The Sycroax leader growls from the opposite side of the ship.

"Yes, sorry," The Doctor says turning to face him with a big (cutest) smile on his face, "Hello, big fella."

"Who exactly are you?"

"Well, that's the question," he cocks his head and laughs.

"I DEMAND TO KNOW WHO YOU ARE!" The Sycorax leader roars.

"I DON'T KNOW!" The Doctor roars back in an imitating manner, "See, that's the thing. I'm The Doctor, but beyond that, I - I just don't know. I literally do not know who I am. It's all untested," he paces around the ship, "Am I...funny? Am I sarcastic? Sexy?" he shoots a wink at Donna who's face flushes just the slightest, "Right old misery? Life and soul? Right handed? Left handed? A gambler? A fighter? A coward? A traitor? A liar? A nervous wreck? I mean, judging by the evidence, I've certainly got a gob," the pulsing red button catches The Doctor's attention. He laughs and points at it, "And how am I going to react when I see this, a great big threatening button," he runs up to it, everyone following his movements, "A great big threatening button which must not be pressed under any circumstances, am I right?" Donna notices he's doing that thing where he pops the 'B'. He clicks his tongue, "Let me guess. It's some sort of control matrix, hmm? Hold on, what's feeding it?" he goes down to see what is it, "What've we got here?" he dips his finger and holds it up, examining it, "Blood?" he tastes some off his finger and nods to himself, "Yeah, definitely blood. Human Blood. With just a dash of iron," he waggles his tongue around at the nasty taste and wipes his finger on his dressing gown. Donna snorts, she will admit this Doctor is very...amusing, "Ahh. But that means blood control," he looks up, positively delighted, "Blood control! Oh! I haven't seen blood control for years! You're controlling all the A Positives!"

The Sycorax's grimace falters slightly, and he hisses.

"Which leaves us with a great big stinking problem," The Doctor continues, "'Cos I really don't know who I am. I don't know when to stop. So if I see a great big threatening button which should never ever, ever ever be pressed then I just wanna do this!" he whacks the button hard.

"No!" Harriet and Donna shout at the same time.

Doesn't he know what he just did?!

.~.

---

.~.

The A Positives who are still on the roof tops take a step forward and then they get released from the hypnosis. They all look extremely confused.

"What the hell am I doing up here?" Jason asks.

"Get away from the edge!" Sandra gaps, relieved.

Everyone hastily retreat from the edge, staring at the spaceship above their heads.

.~.

---

.~.

"You killed them!" Alex cries.

The Doctor looks at the Sycorax leader, "What do you think, big fella? Are they dead?"

"We allow them to live."

"Allow?"

"Allow?!" Donna echoes off.

"You've no choice!" The Doctor continues, "I mean, that's all blood control is. Cheap bit of voodoo. Scares the pants off you, but that's as far as it goes. It's like hypnosis. You can hypnotize someone to walk like a chicken or sing like Elvis, you can't hypnotize them to death. Survival instinct's too strong."

Donna lets out the breath that she had been holding in. This new Doctor is so jumpy and loud and exhilarating. She kind of enjoys it.

"Blood control was just one form of conquest," the leader growls, "I can summon the armada and take this world by force."

Donna rolls her eyes at that.

The Doctor nods, "Well, yeah, you could, yeah, you could do that, of course you could. But why? Look at these people," he gestures towards Donna and the others, beginning to speak passionately, "These human beings. Consider their potential. From the day they arrive on the planet and blinking step into the sun. There is more to see than can ever be seen. More to do than no, hold on - " he pauses, "Sorry, that's The Lion King. But the point still stands. Leave them alone!"

"Or what?" The Sycorax leader challenges.

"Or..." The Doctor grabs a sword from one of the Sycorax guarding Donna and the others, runs down the steps into the empty floor space in front of the TARDIS and raises it into the air, "I challenge you!"

Donna rolls her eyes, "Oh my God."

She thinks he's having too much fun.

The Sycorax leader and the other Sycorax burst out laughing.

"Ooh that struck a chord," The Doctor hums, amused, "Am I right that the sanctified rules of combat still apply?"

The Sycorax leader comes down the steps and unsheathes his own sword, "You stand as this world's champion."

The Doctor shrugs off his dressing gown, "Thank you. I've no idea who I am, but you just summed me up," he tosses the dressing gown to Donna, who catches it with a glare, "So you accept my challenge? Or are you just a cranak pel casacree salvak?"

She has no idea what he just called the bur apparently it was really offense.

The Sycorax leader hisses and he and the other Sycorax raise their weapons. The others lower their weapons down as The Doctor and the leader kneel by their swords.

"For the planet?"

"For the planet," The Doctor agrees.

They stand up and face each other, holding their swords at ready. The Doctor swings first, and their swords clash together. After a few seconds, the Doctor is thrown aside, and the Sycorax leader laughs. The Doctor, however, straightens himself up, giving a quick look at Donna.

With wide eyes she gives a really stupid thumbs up.

The Doctor looks back, a smile on his face and they begin to fight again. The Sycorax leader swings his sword at the Doctor. The Doctor dodges and ducks. The Sycorax leader swings again, almost hitting The Doctor s foot.

"Look out!" Donna cries out as the leader did so.

"Oh, yeah, that helped," The Doctor gets to his feet, "Wouldn't have thought of that otherwise, thanks."

"What, you're sassing me now, too?" she growls.

Wilf holds her arm, shaking his head, "It's probably not the best time to argue, darling."

She nods and faces the fight again, slightly terrified. The Doctor swings and the leader hits him, knocking some wind out of him. She watches The Doctor lead the fight up the stairs, "Bit of fresh air?" he remarks and hits a button. A door opens, leading to a platform on the outside of the spaceship. They continue their fight. Donna, Wilf, Harriet, Alex and a few of the Sycorax follow them.

The swash-buckling continues. The Sycorax leader manages to catch the Doctor slightly on his nose, and he groans.

Donna begins to run forward, but The Doctor raises a hand to stop her, "Stay back! Invalidate the challenge and he wins the planet," he wipes his nose, and he and the Sycorax leader run towards each other, clashing swords. They both grimace with the effort, and The Doctor is knocked backwards to the ground. Taking advantage, the Sycorax leader slashes at the Doctor's wrist, succeeding in chopping his hand off, up to the elbow. It falls off the side of the spaceship, sword and all.

Donna lets out a shriek. His hand!

The Doctor watches it drop, and looks back at the Sycorax leader, looking rather stunned and annoyed, "You cut my hand off."

"Yah! Sycorax!" the leader yells triumphantly.

The Doctor gets to his feet, "And now I know what sort of man I am. I'm lucky. 'Cos quite by chance I'm still within the first fifteen hours of my regeneration cycle. Which means I've got just enough residual cellular energy to do this," he holds up his stump of an arm, and before everyone's eyes, it grows right back.

Donna blinks, It grew right back.

Wait, why is she even surprised?

"Witchcraft," the leader breathes out in shock.

"Time Lord," The Doctor corrects.

Donna takes one of the Sycorax's swords out of its sheath, "Now or never, Doctor!"

The Doctor turns and she tosses it to him. He catches it by the handle and spins it around, "Oh, so I'm still the Doctor, then?"

"What would I have yelled? First thing that popped into my head!"

"Could've yelled any nickname!" he smirks, "But first thing that came to your head, that's fine too!" he turns the Sycorax leader, "Wanna know the best bit? This new hand," he puts on a Texan accent, "It's a fightin' hand!

Donna snorts (totally not amused) at that.

The Doctor runs at the Sycorax leader, and the fight commences once more. They clash swords for a few more moments, then The Doctor jabs him hard in stomach with the handle of the sword. The other Sycorax wince, and the Sycorax leaders groans. The Doctor does the same twice more, causing the Sycorax leader to fall to the ground. The Doctor points his sword at his throat, "I win."

"Then kill me," he manages, having trouble speaking.

"I'll spare your life if you'll take this champion's command. Leave this planet, and never return," he demands, "What do you say?"

"Yes."

The Doctor, as angry and serious as they've have yet seen him, jabs the sword closer, "Swear on the blood of your species," he orders through gritted teeth.

"I swear," he agrees, voice labored.

"There we are, then!" The Doctor smiles lightly, "Thanks for that! Cheers, big fella!" he jabs the sword into the ground.

"Bravo!" Harriet cheers, clapping.

Wilf pumps a fist in the air, "Woohoo!"

"That says it all," Donna smirks at The Doctor, "Bravo indeed, Spaceman."

"Yeah!" he smirks back, "Not bad for a man in his jim-jams!" Donna puts the dressing gown back on the Doctor, "Very Arthur Dent. Now, there was a nice man," they walk back to the door, The Doctor going on about Arthur Dent. He stops and pulls out something from his dressing gown, "A bell?" he asks pulling out a round golden bell, "That's what was jingling inside my gown!"

Donna shrugs, "Gramps does love Christmas."

From behind them, the Sycorax leader roars, standing up, getting ready to charge at them.

The Doctor lobs the bell at a switch on the side of the ship, a deep, threatening look on his face, his smile gone. The Sycorax leader falls off the platform that dropped because of The Doctor, screaming as he fell down to Earth.

"No second chances," is all The Doctor says, "I'm that sort of a man."

.~.

In the Sycorax ship, The Doctor stands in front of the TARDIS with Donna and the others.

"By the ancient rites of combat, I forbid you to scavenge here for the rest of time. And when go you back to the stars and tell others of this planet when you tell them of its riches, its people, its potential. When you talk of the Earth, then make sure that you tell them this: It. is. Defended," he addresses the rest of the Sycorax.

The TARDIS, The Doctor, Donna, Harriet, Wilf, and Alex are all teleported away.

.~.

"Where are we?" Donna asks, swaying a little. She never likes being transported, all body and all.

"We're just around the corner of home!" Wilf smiles, "We did it!" he laughs, hugging Donna.

The Doctor holds his hand out as the spaceships engines start up, "Wait a minute wait a minute," the ship takes flight, "...back to the skies," he grins.

"Go on, my son! Oh, yeah!" Wilf cheers, "Yeah! Don't come back! It is defended!"

Donna laughs happily, giving Wilf a hug. They laugh happily. Alex joins them as well.

The Doctor and Harriet face each other. She raises her arms, grinning, "My Doctor."

The Doctor smiles back, "Prime Minister," they happily embrace each other.

She pulls back, "Absolutely the same man."

The Doctor smiles.

Then they both turn to look up at they sky.

"Are there many more out there?" she asks.

"Oh, not just Sycorax. Hundreds of species. Thousands of them. And the human race is drawing attention to itself. Every day you're sending out probes and messages and signals, this planet's so noisy. You're getting noticed more and more," he looks at her, "You'd better get used to it."

"Donna! Dad!"

Donna and Wilf turn to see Sylvia, they run up to her, all three of them embracing.

"Oh! Talking of trouble!" The Doctor comments.

"Oh my God! You did it!" she gushes, "Oh!" Sylvia looks up and meets The Doctor's gaze, he smiles at her.

"I can't believe this, but it was you! You woke The Doctor! With tea!" Donna praises.

Sylvia raises her eye brows, "Tea?"

"Fixed his head!" Wilf brightens up.

Meanwhile, Alex's communication device bleeps.

"That was all I needed, cup of tea," The Doctor joins in.

"I said so!" Sylvia looks back at Donna, "Is it him, though? Is it really the Doctor?" then she notices Harriet, "Oh my God! It's the bleeding Prime Minister!"

The Doctor grins, "Come here, you."

He holds out his arms to Sylvia, who snorts, "I'm not hugging you!"

His smile drops. Oh.

Wilf grins, "Yes you are!" he pulls his girls and The Doctor in a group hug.

The four of them chat happily amongst themselves while Alex approaches Harriet referring to the message on his communication device, "It's a message from Torchwood. They say they're ready."

Harriet closes her eyes briefly, then opens them again, watching the happy group standing a short way away.

"You two left me! I thought you were dead!" Sylvia scolds the two.

"Sorry, Sylvia! We didn't even know until Donna stepped out of the TARDIS!"

"I had all the bloody food!"

The Doctor turns and gives Harriet a brief smile, which she feebly tries to return.

"Tell them to fire," she says quietly to Alex.

"Fire at will," he says into his earpiece.

And they wait.

The Doctor, Donna, Sylvia, and Wilf jump as a beam of green light shoots loudly up from the ground nearby. The same green light beams up from another four points, and the five points meet in the middle. The energy shoots up into space and hits the spaceship, destroying it.

Donna gasps, "What is that? What's happening?"

Sylvia puts her hand over her mouth.

The Doctor looks unsmilingly from the sky to Harriet. He storms toward her slowly, "That was murder," he growls angrily.

Harriet imagines her Doctor, the old Doctor telling her the same thing, with a northern accent and sad eyes.

"That was defense," she swiftly corrects, "It's adapted from alien technology. A ship that fell to Earth ten years ago."

"But they were leaving," he hisses angrily.

"You said yourself, Doctor. They'd go back to the stars and tell others about the Earth. I'm sorry, Doctor, but you're not here all the time. You come and go. It happened today, Mister Llewellyn and the Major. They were murdered. They died right in front of me while you were sleeping. In which case, we have to defend ourselves."

"'Britain's Golden Age'," he mutters disdainfully.

"It comes with a price."

"I gave them the wrong warning. I should've told them to run, as fast as they can, run and hide because the monsters are coming: the human race."

"Those are the people I represent. I did it on their behalf," she defends.

"Then I should've stopped you."

"What does that make you, Doctor? Another alien threat?"

He takes a menacing step towards her, "Don't challenge me, Harriet Jones. 'Cos I am a completely new man. I could bring down your government with a single word."

"You're the most remarkable man I've ever met," she says softly, "But I don't think you're quite capable of that."

"No, you're right," he agrees, and she won't admit that she's nervous or intimidated, not the slightest, "Not a single word," he looks down down at her silently for a few seconds, "Just six."

"I don't think so."

"Six words."

"Stop it!"

"Six."

They stare at each other for a few more seconds, a battle of wills. Then The Doctor walks around her and approaches Alex. He takes off his earpiece and speaks to him quietly, so Harriet can't hear, "Don't you think she looks tired?" he mumbles and walks off again, leaving Alex looking rather confused, and Harriet plain alarmed. He joins Donna, Slyvia, and Wilf again, and the four of them walk off down the street.

Harriet rushes up to Alex, "What did he say?" she asks urgently.

"Oh, uh nothing, really," he stutters.

"What did he say?!"

"I - nothing! I don't know!"

"Doctor! Doctor, what did you what was what did he say?! What did you say, Doctor? Doctor?!" she yells after The Doctor's retreating back. The Doctor completely ignores her, as do the other three. She calms down slightly, "I'm sorry," she whispers.

Alex begins to walk away, leaving Harriet standing alone.

.~.

---

.~.

Inside the TARDIS wardrobe The Doctor is rifling through the clothes and looking for something to wear. He's in some new clothes and a bright pink scarf is draped around his neck. Oh, if Donna could see him now! She'd pee herself at how he looks! He picks up what looks like a soldier costume and holds it up to himself. The Doctor shuffles through the clothes rack with no luck. A brown pinstripe suit catches his eye.

He holds it up and grabs a lighter brown coat and smiles with delight and dashes off.

He walks slowly up to the mirror, hands in his pockets, newly clad in his brown suit and long coat. He turns around, looking at his reflection. He leans towards the mirror, running a hand over his face, examining it. He runs his tongue over his teeth, then turns his head to different angles as if to admire the effect. He raises his eyebrows, sniffs, and nods.

He leaves the enormous wardrobe and mumbles to himself, "When I woke up today and the world seemed a restless place, it could have been that way for me then...I wandered around and I thought of your face that Christmas looking back at me...I wish today was just like every other day. 'Cos today has been the best day everything I ever dreamed. Then I started to walk pretty soon I will run then I'll be running back to you. 'Cos I followed my star, and that's what you are I've had a merry time with you. I wish today was just like every other day. 'Cos today has been the best day, everything I ever dreamed..."

"What are you mumbling, Time boy?" Donna pokes her head from outside the TARDIS.

The Doctor turns around, feeling his face flush in embarrassment.

"Oh, wow. You changed."

He spins around, "Well, whatdaya think, Donna Noble?"

Donna smirks, "It suits you, actually. In strange way."

The Doctor smiles brightly at her, "So, why are you poking into my TARIDS?" he wonders if she's going to ask if she can join him.

"Mum's makin' Christmas dinner. Do you want some? I'll bring a plate for you if you want."

He frowns, "She doesn't do a big Christmas dinner?"

"Oh, she does. Crackers and songs and everything. I usually just sit on the armchair and watch telly."

His brown eyes go wide, "Why would you ever do that?"

She blinks slowly at his question. He sounded absolutely disgusted that she would do such a thing, "Oh. I never told you, did I?" he narrows his brows, "I don't like Christmas."

He lets out the most dramatic gasp she's ever heard.

"You don't like Christmas?" he stands taller, "Donna Noble, you and I are going to join that Christmas dinner and you will have the best Christmas dinner ever!"

She raises an eyebrow, "Is that so?"

"If - if you want," he squeaks.

She thinks for a moment. Oh, what the hell? The world is saved and this Doctor has never had a Christmas and yeah, she deserves a little fun on this holiday for once, "Yeah, alright."

He smiles so brightly she wonders if it makes his cheeks hurt, he bounces up to her and takes her hand in his and drags her off to her house.

.~.

Donna yelps as the Christmas cracker she pulls with the Doctor bangs. The Doctor wins but he gives it to Donna anyways, plus, he's already wearing a red one.

(She thinks he secretly cheated.)

"Oh, that's yours..."

Donna takes a pink paper party hat out of the cracker, "It's pink!"

"I'll take it! Love pink!" Sylvia plucks the hat from Donna's hands and all four giggle at the action.

"Aww!" Wilf smiles, "Beautiful!"

"Pink! Lovely!" The Doctor smiles as he Sylvia puts the hat on, and The Doctor watches her, smiling. He quickly looks around and hums happily when he spots another party hat, red like his. He plucks it from the ground and quickly places it on Donna's head. She gasps in surprise and immediately reaches for the hat, but then she sees The Doctor's look of awe and she can't bring herself to take it off, no matter how hideous she thinks she looks with it on.

Donna points to the telly, "Look, it's Harriet Jones!"

They all turn to look at the television. The Doctor takes out a pair of glasses from his pocket.

"Prime Minister, is it true you are no longer fit to be in position?" a man asks her.

"No. Now, can we talk about other things?" she quickly says.

The Doctor stands up and putting a pair of thick rimmed, geeky glasses on, looks sternly at the television.

"Is it true you're unfit for office?"

"Look, there is nothing wrong with my health! I don't know where these stories are coming from! And a vote of no confidence is completely unjustified."

The phone rings and Sylvia goes into the kitchen to answer it.

"Are you going to resign?"

"On today of all days, I'm fine. Look at me, I'm fine. I look fine, I feel fine," she answers, clearly frustrated.

"It's Sandra," Sylvia calls, "She says go and look outside."

The Doctor takes his glasses off and turns back to the others.

"Why? It's not some more aliens, is it?" Donna sighs.

"I dunno, just go outside and look," they don't budge quickly enough for her, "Come on, shift!"

They all get up and head outside. There are lots of others outside too because it's snowing. They all laugh in delight. It looks as though there are meteors in the sky. The Doctor and Donna stand beside each other, Wilf and Sylvia behind them.

"Oh, that's gorgeous! What are they, meteors?"

"It's the spaceship breaking up in the atmosphere," he acknowledges her, "This isn't snow, it's ash."

"...Okay, not so beautiful," she pouts, "Way to ruin the moment."

"This is a brand new planet Earth," he continues, "No denying the existence of aliens now, everyone saw it. Everything's new."

Donna avoids his gaze as she asks, "And what about you? What are you gonna do next?"

"Well back to the TARDIS, same old life," she feels his eyes on her.

"On your own?"

"Why, don't you wanna come?" she looks up and his face looks so full of anxiety and fear.

She looks up at him, "Well, duh."

"Do you, though?"

"Yeah!"

"I just thought 'cos I changed - "

Donna nods, "Yeah, I thought, 'cos you changed I thought I didn't want to see you anymore. Or that you wouldn't want me anymore."

"Oh, I'd love you to come," he says softly. Donna smiles, to her, he sounds so sincere and happy.

Wilf comes behind Donna, "You're never gonna stay, are you?"

The Doctor and Donna both look at him, "There's just so much out there. So much to see I've got to," Donna tells him.

Wilf grins, "I'm not mad. I'm so happy for you," he kisses her head.

"Well, I reckon you're mad. The pair of you. It's like you go looking for trouble," Sylvia joins in.

"Well, he does," Donna remarks, elbowing The Doctor.

"Trouble's just the bits in-between," The Doctor puts an arm around Sylvia, looking up at the sky, "It's all waiting out there, Sylvia. It's brand new to me," Donna smiles, "All those planets, creatures, and horizons. I haven't seem them yet! Not with these eyes," he goes to stand beside Donna, "And it is gonna be fantastic."

Donna feels her eyes well up and her smile soften at the use of his old catchphrase.

He grins back and holds hand out to her, she points at it, "That hand of yours still gives me the creeps."

The Doctor grins and wiggles his fingers persistently.

She takes his hand with a playful roll of her eyes and they look up at they sky for a few moments. She feels The Doctor step closer to her and brush the snow off her arm, "So, where're we gonna go first?"

"Um, that way," he points deliberately at a point in the night sky. She reminds him a kid, "No, hold on that way," he points a smidgen to the right of his first point.

Donna points in the same direction, "That way?"

The Doctor looks down at her, she meets his gaze when she feels him watching her. He has that look on his face. As if she's the only thing with him. As he's in a trance, just staring at her. As if he's seeing her for the first time, "Hmm?"

"That way?" she nudges him, smiling.

"Oh, yeah. Mhmm."

They smile at each other for a few seconds and then gaze up at the night-sky, hand in hand.

.~.

---

.~.

Donna steps into the TARDIS, not meaning to slam the door so bloody loud. The Doctor jumps from the console when he sees her. She's dressed in some pastel jammies and a dressing gown, "Are you ready to go, Donna Noble?"

Donna scoffs, "I'm in my jammies, genius. Tomorrow. Or later today, or whatever," he nods, looking back down at his console. Donna hums to herself before piping up, "How come you do that, anyways?"

"Do what?" had he done something wrong? She didn't seem angry or annoyed or scared.

"Say my full name."

The Doctor feels his face flush, "Oh, that."

"You've said it like six times in total since you've..." she waves her hands, "regenerated."

Oh Rasslion, she was counting?

"I just love the way your name sounds," he admits. She makes a face and he stumbles over his words, "New voice and all. And it is a lovely name. I absolutely adore your name! Love it!"

Donna laughs, "Yeah, alright."

He grins at her, "You were wonderful today. All brave and pretty and rude. And ginger!"

"You can stop sucking up now," she quite likes it, though. Makes her feel all nice and warm.

"I'm not sucking up!" he frowns.

"Oh, that's another thing," she muses. The Doctor's frown deepens, what had he done this time? "Since when do you have this fetish with gingers?"

"It is not a fetish!"

"Uh-huh."

"I've always liked gingers. Now it's more of a really huge appreciation," he defends.

She smiles softly, listening to him ramble about gingers, "So basically a fetish."

He stuffs his hands in the pockets of his coat, "So you're alright now? This being the new me and all?"

"Yeah, I'm alright with it," she nods, "On one condition. We're just mates. That's it. Like I said the first time I met you."

He nods furiously. He wouldn't lose Donna to a little fancy.

"You're still the same man, though. But also a different man. Still strange. But, all in all still my Doctor."

His lips twitch upwards, "Your Doctor?" he quite likes the sound of that. Her Doctor. She's his Donna! His lovely Donna Noble.

"Oh, get off," she lets out a yawn, "Alright then. See you tomorrow. Brand new day."

---

ending author's note: Here's some other notes that I never explained in my story:

1. Donna and Nine were not a couple. I see them as best mates. But Ten and Donna on the other hand, *wink*

2. About Rose: They met her in "The Long Game" or something like that. Nine absolutely adored her. Donna shipped them as well. Rose came along for a while. I added her in because I didn't want Donna to have the Bad Wolf arc.

3. I don't fully have an idea about what happened with Donna about her head hurting in the beginning. It's just something I wrote. Foreshadowing for her ending, though. Agghhh ;-;

4. In the next chapters I will be going through The Doctor's thoughts because I love writing in his POV. He's obviously gonna fall in love Donna Noble.

5. Nine also met Donna on a different Christmas, there was no Lance yet.

Wilf totally ships The Doctor and Donna.

Sorry there wasn't as much Doctor/Donna moments because it focused mainly on the aliens/Harriet Jones and The Doctor was unconscious for the most parts. There was a lot of mentions in stars in this episode, that's kinda what gave me the idea to name this story 'Sure as the Stars' oh, I had so much fun writing this, Donna and The Doctor are so fun to write! I hope I do them justice.

The next chapter is New Earth! I'm so excited cause there is gonna be lots of DoctorDonna moments, hehe.

Stay tuned for more!