Song by Lady Antebellum, Doctor Who property of the BBC. I write only because of love. I love writing, I love Doctor Who, I love Donna Noble, and I love her friendship with the Doctor. Not intended as a ship fic, although since it feels so shippy and the song is a love song, I guess you could say that it is.
Reviews adored. They're better than cake, though if you have cake I'll accept that, too.
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It's a quarter after one, I'm all alone and I need you now.
Donna Noble turned over in her sleep, a soft gasp escaping her lips. She could see a face above her, in her dreams, a face with such power, and such eyes. Such…deep, impossible eyes, like they could almost see into her. Like they knew her—and something about them was so familiar she was ready to believe they did know her. So beautifully familiar...
And I said I wouldn't come, but I'm a little drunk and I need you now.
The Doctor curled his fingers about the empty bottle in his lap, tilting his head back against the TARDIS console tiredly. There was no laughter ringing through the room, no sharp, witty comebacks, not even the scathing sarcasm he had adored so much. Not even the alcohol could addle his mind enough to make him hear her voice again, though he wished he could, if only once. Once more. He needed her laugh again, he needed her to slap him and exclaim how Martian he was being. He needed to scoop her into a bear hug and let her remember him, no matter the cost...
And I don't know how I can do without.
As Donna slipped from under her cottony covers into the still night air, there was a low, screeching pulse on the street below. She swept down the staircase, a sense of urgency creeping into the back of her mind as the door to a strange wooden box sitting just on other side of the street swung wide and out stumbled a man with the desperation of his hearts spilling out through his eyes. He bolted across the silent Chiswick street, picturing all the things he could say to her, imagining the softness of her fiery red hair in his fingers. As Donna took the doorknob in her hand, he pressed his forehead to the door gently. Then, with the grace of a shadow, he recoiled, sinking into the shadows just as Donna pulled open the door.
I just need you now.
The woman stared out into the empty night, the chill in the air lost on her as the tempest in her mind burned and swirled like fire. The Doctor could see her heart break before his eyes; she had been so certain that she was about to find what she had lost, that she could return to whatever she couldn't remember being, that she could be happy again…the Doctor's heart broke with hers. He had made a mistake; he had been selfish and had been that close to losing everything. He couldn't make that mistake again. He needed her, but he needed more her safety.
As the door closed behind Donna Noble on the night she'd surely forget, the Doctor walked back into the TARDIS. Back into his lonely home.