Donna's Awakening
Donna Noble…there you are, I knew you'd come. Who am I? Oh…well…you know
Come on! The Cybermen are attacking, we need to stop them.
Dalek Kon...Davros…The Tardis…
Donna awoke with a start, the voice ringing in her head for what seemed to be the umpteenth night in a row. "Who are you…dream boy…just…FEGH"
She put her feet on the floor and pushed up, a twinge of dizziness about her, and she stumbled down the hall to the bathroom.
"Who are you?" She said to the mirror, looking deeply into her own eyes as if the answers were there. The clock on the wall read two thirty in the morning. She shuffled into the kitchen and began to make tea. Looking out of the window and up the hill she saw her Grandfather star gazing.
Taking her steaming tea she put on her over coat and boots, and walked up the hill to greet him.
"Up late again I see?"
"Oh yer know us old folk can' live forever…got to take the time we have."
"Seen anything int'resting? That blue box yo off talking about, ya?"
"Er…no, not tonight, but Venus is well on the horizon. Maybe she'lla bring me a good loving…"
"Oh stop it…yo'r too old"
"I'm as spry as I ever was, you'd be best ta remember tha'."
"I've been having those dreams again…they're like almost real. I can feel him nagging, granddad…who is he?"
Donna's grandfather looked at her sourly, almost repulsed, yet his eyes looked dark, almost loping. The sullen expression, sudden as it was, disappeared as he turned away.
"Just a figment of your imagination…best not to think of it love, it will only darken your life…don't get carried away with it, it's just a dream." He sat back down at his telescope and groped for his canister full of tea. Donna stood for a moment, before setting the cuppa down beside him and walked down the hill.
Who are you? So you're Donna, nice to finally meet you…This is a warpstar…
Haustenhaugen key will blow up the Earth, it was only meant be used in the most dire of situations, if Mankind was suffering so much…No…Don't…What's a Haustenhagen Key, obviously something named after a person named Haustenhagen…
Doctor Donna…Doctor Donna…The loss that is yet to come…I'm So sorry…
Donna awoke again, the sound of her seven am alarm buzzing loudly. She slapped her hand out knocking the clock to the floor and rose sullenly. "Damned Space Man…."
The Shower was warm and the fresh snow outside glistened through the window. It was two days from Christmas and she was unfortunately signed up to work the holiday rush as a temp at Dorothy Perkins. It was more or less a mad dash this time of year, with the preChristmas sales.
She dried her self off and put on her robe. Looking in the mirror she smiled at her self before pulling out her toothbrush. The radio was on in the kitchen and she could hear it through the air vent "hurry, hurry, hurry, the big end of the year sale Burton's menswear whrrerrwhrrer…" It's a sonic screwdriver… Donna blinked as the sound vanished…"Sonic screwdriver…what are you thinking…"
It was a quarter past eight when she finally arrived at the store, it opened at nine and the mad dash would be on. This was the worst day other than Boxing Day. All the sale signs were blue Christmas boxes wrapped in gold ribbon and the banner across the door read "Blue Box Sale"
It's a Blue Box, sailing through the sky, Granddad, if you see it, tell me…
The day went steadily on, people whining and complaining, asking questions about products that she didn't know a thing about. It was just after one pm, her boss had voided all lunches for yet another mad rush of costumers, and she was feeling light headed. A young man came up to her holding two different braziers, "Sorry, miss, you're about my girlfriends size could you hold these up, I'm not sure if they'd fit."
"Do I look like model to you? What if your girlfriend was here right now, saw you asking me to pose…would she like that?" She waved him off and turned to her adviser who was just sitting there jabbering on his keypad texting away. "Look, I'm hungry, I'm tired, I'm getting lunch and taking a break! You can do some of the work around here…" The adviser looked up, his twenty something face surprised by the out burst. Before he could say one word she was out from behind the counter and nearly out of ear shot amidst the streaming throng of people.
By the time she had reached the back of the store where the worker's break room was located she had been bustled, beaten, ravaged or felt up she wasn't sure which, and was more or less out of breath. Leaning against the wall, breathing hard, she noticed two of her fellow workers struggling with a carrier of boxes.
"Hey you, help us would you…"
"Do I look like I'm working right now?"
"Get over here, that box is about to fall."
"Fine…" Donna pushed off the wall and strode over to carrier, and in a blink of an eye slipped in a puddle of water where a sign should have been cracking her head on the floor. The room swam before her eyes, as a box tumbled to the ground and the two workers that had been pushing the carrier hurried to her side.
"Are you ok…uh…Donna?"
"Ged off…ged off…ow my wip….my head…"
"You shouldn't move, you might have a concussion…call nine nine nine, get a medic would you…" The other man quickly walked into the break room to retrieve his cell and began to call for an ambulance.
"Look, how many fingers am…we don't have time, its either the world, or Pompeii…
'is this what you do, make decisions like this', 'it's the burden of a Timelord to see what was, what is, what will be, and what should not, and would never be…'
are you there, hello how many fingers am I holding up?"
"How should I bloody know, it's your hand…"
"The doctors are on their way…"
"Doctor…doctor, doctor, doctor…"
"What's wrong with her…"
"Concussion I'm sure of it…"
The paramedics arrived and bundled her up on a gurney. It was not long before she was out of the department store and on her way to the hospital. In the ambulance Donna's head filled with images, hundreds of them, recapping all that she knew of the Doctor.
"Doctor…Doctor…Doctor…Doctor…"
"She has a concussion from a blow to the head, slipped. We're going to need an open bay…no repetition, keeps saying Doctor." The Paramedic radio went silent and the sirens continued to whir.
"Doctor…Doctor…Doctor…Oh My GOD….DOCTOR!" Donna started to thrash, trying to get off the gurney.
"Calm down miss, what's your name, can you tell me where you are, your age?" The second paramedic tried to hold Donna's arms down as she thrashed even harder…
"No…no no…I don't have time for this, LET…ME…GO…"
"Just calm down, we'll be to the hospital soon…"
"I can't go to the hospital…I need to go to Torchwood…"
It was an instance of anger that flared and Paramedic was pushed up against the side of the ambulance, terrified.
"Release me…" Donna said forcibly. The paramedic responded by releasing her from the gurney. "Now, take me to Cardiff." The driver's eyes glazed over as he took the next exit, which headed North West, and towards Cardiff.
It was hours before they reached Cardiff and Donna was feeling weak from the unintended control she had pushed on the two paramedics. When the reached the Millennium Hall, she release the two and they fell limp. The ambulance stopped short of empty and she got out. The scrape on the back of her head which had been bleeding was raked with scabs that itched which distracted her briefly as she realized the number of people staring at her. With out much more than a moment's hesitation she bolted, running towards the one entrance she knew of.
****
Jack Harkness scanned the monitors. He was the last one in Torchwood for the weekend, all the others had gone to be with loved ones, save for Ianto who was sleeping soundly after a brief romp in the medical bay. Jack smiled for a moment then turned his attention to the screen again. "What the…who is…no…Donna?"
He clasped his hands for a moment, sighed, and then pressed the button to lower the elevator.
With out even trying, only hoping, Donna thought she had made the elevator move. No one seemed to notice as she descended into the sidewalk. The room was like the memory she had, only less alive. The smell of weevil and warped time filled her nostrils.
"If it isn't Donna Noble…but aren't you supposed to be, you know, not aware of us?"
"I…Jack…I need your help, not enough time to explain…the memories came back. I was dreaming, the Doctor, he was there in my head. Then I fell at work, temping down at the women's outlet store in London, hit my head. And here I am, all Doctor Donna again. But there's a problem…"
"Yes, the metacrisis, it shouldn't exist with a human, you're going to die, unless we can remove the memories again."
"No…no no no, I'm not losing them again. But don't you remember, human imagination with Timelord know how…I got the idea…I can fix the problem, but I need the laser screwdriver the Master had."
"Yeah…so you can use it to what, it only ages people…or deages…"
"It's a genetic manipulator…with the right programming…"
"It can make you into a full Timelord...right I'm on it…" Jack rushed into his office and opened the hidden door that held his temporal stasis vault. Clicking through the options he picked a slot and poked his hand inside. Rummaging about briefly he pulled out the laser screwdriver.
"Alright Donna, here…but what if it doesn't work?"
"It has too."
Donna set the laser screwdriver down on the desk and ran several wires to it from the super computer. Setting her self down she began to type, faster than she could remember
Best temp in London, did you know I could type two hundred words a minute…
A few minutes later a streaming program was running, sluggishly, on the computer.
"Now we wait, the program has to upload to the screwdriver to reconfigure it to change my DNA."
Five hours later, Donna was feeling the effects; every other word was a repeat. She could hardly speak by the time the upload was complete.
"Jack Jack Jack Jack….You…You…got to….to…Do it…it…it…quick…quick…quickly…"
"Ok…hold on…" Jack pointed the screwdriver at her and squeezed the trigger hard, a greenish light shot out just as Ianto came into the room, shirtless and drowsy, "What the bloody hell is going on?" In the span of his sentence the process was complete.
"Stay back, Ianto, I don't know what the effects of this will be."
"Who is that?"
"Donna Noble…"
Donna looked up, for a moment breathless, then she looked at Jack, "It didn't work…I…I…I…feel strange…GUH!" She buckled over and squirmed on the floor as the sound of her hearts thudded loudly in her ears. A Timelord Human metacrisis has never been before today, because it can't be…
Gold light shot from her eyes and mouth, from her hands and feet and in a few mere moments she regenerated. The red hair was now blue black, the Cockney Irish round face was replaced by a younger narrower one.
"Did I regenerate? That's odd, my voice is different…Nooo…really, look at me I'm a Timelord…Timelordess…right…" Donna twirled about for a moment her old clothes hanging loosely off of her.
"Donna…let me check something…" Jack came up to her and placed his ear to her chest…
"What is it pretty boy, going to hug me?"
"Two hearts…there is really two hearts…that's…impossible…"
Part II-Donna is a Nuisance
"So, what do you think? It's been awhile since I fit into a size six…well I've never fit into a size six…I wonder if they have negative numbers on Roxicoricofallapatorius, have you seen them, hu-uge…."
Jack starred wide eyed as Donna murmured on…
"Do you mind if I keep the laser screwdriver, I mean honestly a Time Lord without a screwdriver or a TARDIS isn't a Time Lord at all. Wait does that mean I get my own TARDIS …I bet I can show him a thing or two…"
"Donna, he's not here…"
Jack stood up and walked over to the computer console,
"…besides even if we wanted to track him we couldn't. His hand is gone and the rift has been closed."
"Nah, what are you whining about, bullocks that's all. You have the rift manipulator; we can jump around as we want. Or we could accelerate the TARDIS you're growing."
Donna touched the rift generator, the new set of clothes she had borrowed from Gwen's emergency stash fit well.
"You mean funnel the Rift energy into the TARDIS?"
Ianto looked back and forth from Donna and Jack, as Jack shook his head.
"No, we can't do that; we'd be risking opening another rift in time and space which could release untold havoc. Last time the Earth was almost destroyed and we don't need that again."
"Ah but last time you didn't have me…"
She came up to Jack and pushed up close to him. Ianto flushed with a brief moment of jealousy as she brushed her hands through Jack's hair.
"Come on wonder boy, give it a try, you might like it…"
Her lips pursed for a moment before walking past him to the computer bay and started up a different program.
"Not to put a spike in this entire 'accelerate the growth of the TARDIS' idea, but how are you going to do that with the rift?"
Jack stepped back, not sure what she was doing as she typed quickly on the keyboard.
Ianto puzzled for a moment looked at Jack,
"She said you're growing a TARDIS …she didn't mean the Doctor's TARDIS …Jack, when were you going to tell us?"
"It wasn't you're concern, you'd be all long dead by the time it was finished."
Jack didn't look to Ianto, but instead concentrated harder on the computer screen.
"Aren't you forgetting something, Donna, the Doctor has that mobile phone, you could just call him."
"I thought of that, no guarantee he still has it. He doesn't like to get calls out of the blue…and the psychic paper. Hmmm…."
Donna stopped typing for a moment, and then began again. It wasn't long before the computer was digesting the input that Donna had rapidly dispensed to it.
"I can use the rift manipulator to extend my psychic thoughts to his paper, much easier than getting your TARDIS to grow…"
"And you can get him back here?"
Ianto fiddled for a moment with a few things on the desk, placing used cups on to a tray.
"…tea?"
"Yeah that'd be lovely, don't just stand there skinny boy…" Donna smirked.
Jack looked at Ianto with a slightly amused expression on his face. "Come on skinny boy," he said, "the Time Lord-ess is waiting…"
Ianto walked off to clean the mugs. Jack looked on briefly before tuning back to Donna,
"So what exactly are you doing?"
"Come on Jackie...Jack… Jack…it's not that hard. I use the rift manipulator to send a psychic message to the Doctor's psychic paper where ever he is in time or space. Simple, yah?"
"Right well, have at it…"
Jack stood back against his better judgment as Donna clicked the 'ok' button on the screen. The rift manipulator whirred for a moment as Donna grabbed a hold of a handle Jack had never seen before. Seconds later the generator ended its cycle and Donna blinked in amusement.
"Time vortex energy gives such a rush doesn't it…"
Jack said bemused at the look on Donna's face.
"Woo…like having sex but even better…I really hope this time lord stuff doesn't go to my head…"
Donna started to jump up and down shaking off the feeling of tingles running up and down her spine. With a convulsion she lurched forward and was on her hands and knees.
Jack ran to her just as Ianto entered the room with a tray of tea.
"Help me with her!"
"What…wait…" Ianto placed the tray on the desk and ran to Jack's side.
"Grab her left arm I've got the right…"
The two of them walked her over to a chair and sat her up right. Her head lulled back and her eyes went up into their sockets.
"Bio-scanner! Call Martha…"
Jack bellowed as Ianto was already heading to the autopsy room for the scanner.
Moments later Jack was scanning Donna as Ianto was on direct line to Martha Jones at Unit.
Minutes later the rift activity monitor sounds an alarm as a spot of rift energy blooms on the screen. "Ianto…what is it?!"
"Its some sort of activity we haven't seen before…huge, it's right on top of us…"
Ianto was interrupted by the familiar whir of the TARDIS. Jack stood and walked over to it, mouth slightly agape.
"It worked…he got the message." Ianto turned to Jack, "I guess what ever Donna did to the computer system allowed it to detect the TARDIS."
Several more warnings appeared now popping all over the screen and in different colors.
"It looks like its tracking him everywhere in time…when and where ever he was ever here it's on the screen…" Ianto blinked in astonishment.
"It's a clever bit of programming…" said a voice not too unfamiliar to Jack.
Jack looked around the corner of the TARDIS where a young, brooding, Doctor now stood.
"Where's Donna, I got the message"
The Doctor held up the psychic paper.
"She's over there," Jack said, pointing to the autopsy table,
"I think something went wrong with the regeneration after she made herself into a full Time Lord…"
The Doctor took a cup of the now cooled tea and brought it over to Donna.
"Come on Donna, we both know you're a fighter, drink it up."
The Doctor held her head up and cradled it, slowly letting the tea touch her lips.
After a few sips her eyes fluttered open to meet the Doctor's gaze straight on.
"You came…You Left Me!"
Donna sat bolt up and slapped him across the face.
"You Left Me…wiped my memories and LEFT ME…"
"I know Donna…there was no other way…well obviously there was but I didn't know at the time. But look at you, that Time Lord Human mind of yours, it figured it out."
Donna blushed for a moment before she realized he had regenerated himself.
"You're young…like Nicholas Hoult young…what happened, how'd you regenerate, why? I thought you didn't want to change…"
"It's a long story, Donna. But for now you need to rest, your regeneration hasn't finished yet and the genetic change is wreaking havoc with your body, your second heart isn't even fully grown yet."
Donna nodded at his instructions, and lay back down on the table and closed her eyes.
The Doctor came out of the little pit to find Jack staring.
"Wa'ell look at you, you've gotten cute in your old age…go on twirl around." Jack smiled chuckling slightly.
The Doctor gave him the evil eye before blushing,
"Oh yes, well at least you don't know what you look like in fourteen billion years."
The Doctor winked as Ianto came around the hub.
"Jack…Martha won't be able to get here any time soon, Unit says she is somewhere in South America investigating the disappearance of a….who's that?"
"Ianto Jones, meet the Doctor."
Jack said as he crossed his arms and bounced on the balls of his feet.