'Donna!' the Doctor called. 'Are you ready?'
There was silence.
'Donna?'
The Doctor walked down the corridor to Donna's room. He knocked on the door. 'Donna?'
'I'm reading!' she replied.
'Well, can it wait? I thought we were going to see the Scarlet Nebula of the Dopii system?'
'But we can see it any day. And this is sooooo exciting!'
The Doctor sighed. 'What are you reading?'
There was a shuffling sound and then Donna opened the door. She stood in the doorway, waving a thick paperback with an enthusiastic grin on her face.
'It's a contemporary fantasy adolescence romance set to a dramatic backdrop – and oh my God...!' Donna gabbled.
The Doctor shook his head. 'Just give me the basics. What's it about?'
Donna shook her head wildly. 'Where do I start? It depends if you bring in...'
'Just be quick. I don't want a full synopsis,' interrupted the Doctor, keen to get this over with as soon as possible.
Donna sighed, waving the book about. 'Well, there's this human girl, she's just a teenager and she's kind of ordinary. She's really pretty but she thinks she's not and then she meets this guy. He's really old but he doesn't look it and he's strong and – oh my God! – he is SO hot! Ahem. Well, they fall in love but he's really dangerous. He says she should stay away from him because he's so dangerous but she won't listen because she loves him so much. Because he's a...'
Donna continued, but the Doctor wasn't listening. He was tuned out, swallowing hard, trying to tell himself it was nothing, just a coincidence.
Donna stopped, realising she was being ignored. She stared at the Doctor as he looked right through her, mouthing silent words to himself. Donna wasn't an expert at lip-reading, but she could have sworn that he was saying 'Rose', amongst other things.
The Doctor snapped out of it suddenly and gave Donna a shaky grin that didn't fool her. 'Keep going.'
'Right.' Donna got ready for another rant on her favourite book. 'Well, there's another character. He's in love with the human girl – he's human too – but she doesn't love him. At least, not as much as she loves the other guy. They're more like friends once he gets over that. He's a bit of an underdog – dog being the operative word! Hardly anyone wants him to get with the girl because they're all supporting the first guy!'
'Oh,' was all the Doctor could say. He was thinking of another time and another place, where there was a blonde girl with sparkling eyes and a love of adventure and her hopeless, tin-dog boyfriend...
'...He's a werewolf,' Donna finished triumphantly, then noticed the Doctor had stopped listening again.
Her last remark made the Doctor look up. 'What?'
'The other guy – Jacob, is a werewolf. And Edward is a vampire! Bella chooses the vampire. Who wouldn't?'
The Doctor was now seriously confused. 'What's the book called?'
Donna grinned. 'Twilight! Well, this one is iBreaking Dawn/i and it's a very exciting scene, so excuse me, this nebula will have to wait another day. Byeee!'
She swept back into her room, shutting the door in a stunned and utterly confused Time Lord's face.