What Could Possibly Go Wrong?
Summary – Donna's thought during the episode 'Midnight'. How would she have reacted to what happened to the Doctor in the transport ship?
AN – This idea just wouldn't leave me alone. Donna certainly isn't my favourite of characters (though she is growing on me), but I felt I had to write this. Who knows, maybe I'll decide to write others like this for other episodes.
"What could possibly go wrong?"
Deep down, I had known that everything would go wrong as soon as he said that. It was just so cliché, and knowing him, it would end up happening. But I was determined to spend the day resting and relaxing. So many things had happened recently, and I badly needed time to unwind. The Doctor, just this once, was on his own.
This planet really was incredible. A leisure planet, he had called it, and it certainly was. The staff waited on me hand and foot. All I had to do was raise my hand and someone would be at my side, asking if everything was alright, or if they could get me anything. It seemed so strange that they were so concerned. No wonder there wasn't anything like this place on earth.
After a couple of hours of sunbathing, I really did start to miss him. Well, sort of. But no, this really wouldn't have suited him, would it? He could barely stay still for a moment. No, he was off on some trip, exploring a planet he couldn't even touch. Didn't matter to him that if he did somehow end up outside the transport ship he would be dead in a split-second.
No matter what the Doctor or everyone else here said, I couldn't really believe that a planet this beautiful could be so deadly. A diamond planet...what better place could there be! All the women I knew back home would give their right hands to visit a place like this!
But then, nothing was perfect, was it? Even lying by the pool in this pleasure palace, I was only safe behind 15 feet of glass, protecting me from the glare of...what sort of sun was it? X-donic...? X-tonic...? It didn't matter much to me anyway.
Nah, I couldn't believe there was anything that deadly here. That is, until one of the staff came over to me, apologised profusely for disturbing me, and told me about the distress call from Crusader 50.
Typical, that was my first thought. It was just typical that the Doctor managed to get into trouble even sealed inside a box, with only about half a dozen other people, in the middle of nowhere. That man couldn't be trusted anywhere.
And I was worried like hell.
They assured me that a rescue ship was being sent, and it would get to their position in just under an hour. A lot could happen in 60 minutes, I thought. It also meant that I had at least another couple of hours before he came back and tried to convince me that he was alright, even when he obviously wasn't.
Might as well enjoy the time I have alone while it lasts.
As soon as he did get back, I knew I shouldn't have just been lying there, relaxing. One look at his almost haunted eyes and I could tell that it had been bad. Very bad. And he clung to me in that hug as if his life depended on it.
I knew he wasn't going to be able to pretend he was alright this time. And so, for once, I had to be the Doctor, and help him. I led him to a small table, and slowly, he told me what happened.
I wish I could say that I would have acted differently to those other people on the transport. Kept my head about me. Not made the Doctor out to be the villain just because he was different. But somehow I doubted it. When I first met the Doctor, he scared me to death. I understand what he is and what he has to do now, but sometimes, I still feel like that. I'm only human.
I mentally kicked myself when I repeated the Doctor's "Molto Bene". After everything he had just told me, I go and do just what the alien on that ship did. How the Doctor manages to stand being around stupid humans all the time is beyond me.
He won't mention this again; it's how he deals with things. Even if the worst really did happen, he'll just sweep it away and move on.
As we head back to the TARDIS, I can't help thinking about it. It's like that old game you play as kids, repeating what other people say just to annoy them. That an alien could have so much power to be able to steal people's words and voices...and you could do nothing to stop it... It doesn't bear thinking about.
The Doctor was always in control when it came to talking with enemies, his words were always his greatest weapon. Yet he wasn't, not this time. He was just stuck there, helplessly repeating the alien as it convinced the humans to kill him. Downright freaky.
No, I had to stop thinking about it. I needed to put it behind me, like he seemed to have done. Think about something else. Where did he say we were going next again? Some old-fashioned market on a planet similar to China. Shan-Shen, I think he said. Surely nothing can possibly go wrong there...
Let me know what you think, and if you have any ideas of other hidden thoughts stories, I'd be happy to hear them!