"So what's this Donna like?" Rose looked at this new Doctor with a canny expression. They were at the Tyler Estate. And it was no tower block. The Doctor had been grappling with trying to avoid being eaten by the couch. Such a thing was not unprecedented. "Really. I mean if you re going to be her, I mean, you know what I mean, are we, you and me, going to get along?"
The Doctor didn't know whether to be pleased or not at the question. Better get used to that feeling. Being human was weird. "Well, uh, you re going to have a some kind of a phone bill! Uh Donna was brilliant. A little scary, but, uh. Brilliant. She was... "
"Was?"
He swallowed and looked her in the eye. "Never been a human-Timelord meta crisis," he whispered. "Because there can t be."
Rose edged forward. "Can't be?" she echoed his tone.
"I'm ok," he reassured her quickly. "Because I've been 'built from scratch' so to speak, but Donna... her head's too full. Timelord mind in a human brain. Doesn't fit. So... she'll burn up."
"What's going to happen?"
He tried to sit back, but thought better of it when the thing tried to consume him again. Irrestible, he was. He refocused on Rose's question. "Well, if I'm me, I'd have to wipe her memory. Of me. Of the TARDIS. Everything we did." He clenched his fists and gave a mirthless laugh. "Just a temp!" He stood up and walked to the window with a view. Very impressive view.
Rose stood and followed him. She stepped behind him. She hesitated for a second, before wrapping her arms around him. "Hey, hey. It s ok."
In her arms, the Doctor calmed slightly, but he shook his head. "No, it's not," he replied hoarsely. He leant into her. "Least I got you," he smiled at her reflection in the glass.
"Yeah, you got me," she pulled him from the window. "Tell me how you met this Donna then, all the gory details!"
He smiled at her smile. "Well, I had to turn left," he frowned. "I mean, Donna had to turn left... this may take a while."
"All the time in the world, Doctor Donna. Ooh! We could call you Dr D! Or DD, what do you think?"
"Oh, shut up!"