Author's Note: I own nothing.
This came about because of something I read off Tumblr- "Do you think Donna ever cries without knowing why, the same way Amy did when she forgot Rory?" I knew I had to write something about that. So here it is. Please review. :)
Donna Noble never knew why she cried, only that she would find herself doing so at the oddest moments. Once it was during a diet commercial. Another time it was while destroying a wasp's nest. A single tear had found its way out while she was looking at a pair of diamond earrings. More would fall whenever she heard the word "doctor". If she wasn't quick, the tears that would form in the corner of her eyes would leak down her cheeks, leading to hard questions and concerned looks. A quick brush and a mental pep talk would bring her back to rights but the tears that came for unknown reasons disconcerted her a little.
Her husband once caught her crying over a rose. A single beautiful red rose that had bloomed unexpectedly the night before. She hadn't even realized the tears were falling down her cheeks until he said something.
"Sweetheart, whatever is the matter? Did you prick your thumb on a thorn?" Donna had started, almost dropping the pair of sheers in her hands. What had she been doing? Oh, yes. Pruning her rose bushes. The red rose lay in her hand, one of her tears dripping down a petal.
"I'm quite all right." She reassured him, dropping the rose in her haste to brush the remaining tears from her cheeks.
"You were crying." Donna shrugged it off.
"Was I? Must be the pollen. You know how it is when it is all flying about. Makes my eyes water right up." Donna always brushed it off but there was no denying the fact that she cried over the oddest things.
What was funny was that she never felt sad in the moments leading up to those tears. She would be laughing, enjoying herself, maybe contemplating what to make for dinner, but never sad or depressed. And then the tears would come from out of nowhere. She never knew what would trigger them. Only that when they came, the sadness would descend. It felt like she was missing something but she couldn't quite place what that something or someone was. Her tears were truly for an unknown.
Donna never realized that someone was watching her tears. Her grandfather saw them. He saw them the first time they came when they were watching a diet commercial. They broke his heart. He knew why his lovely, special, wonderful granddaughter cried. And he knew for whom. And there was nothing he could do to help her.
The Christmas holiday was upon them and they were decorating the tree. Donna's husband brought out a beautiful Christmas star to place on the top.
"Oh, a Christmas star! How lovely." Donna exclaimed, gently holding the star. A single tear fell from her eye. Wilf excused himself for a moment and walked to the kitchen. Tears of his own fell from his eyes and he tried to wipe them away as he remembered Donna's first adventure with the Doctor and the deadly Christmas star.
"Oh, Doctor." He whispered, heartbroken for the women who could never remember. "She cries for you, Doctor. She cries for you and she doesn't even know it."