"You are a wise man, professor, for someone who has not yet lived a single lifetime." Bram Stoker's Dracula

Donna stretched out on the grass, pillowing her head on her arms as she looked up at the trees towering overhead. The Doctor sat beside her, arms resting on his bent knees.

"What did I tell you? Now this is a forest," he said, his arm sweeping out to encompass the view.

"So it is. Beautiful," Donna sighed. "How tall d'you think they are?"

"Hundreds of feet. This forest has been here for a thousand years. Untouched, just like this."

"How is it no one has come to cut it all down?" Donna asked, squinting up at him.

"Just lucky, I think. The right people in the right places wanted to protect it."

Donna closed her eyes, listening to the breeze and the birds, feeling the sunlight on her eyes, filtered as it was by the leaves overhead. She breathed in the smell of the grass and the pine needles, enjoying the moment of peace.

"Now aren't you glad you stayed?" he asked.

"You couldn't get rid of me if you tried," she answered.

"You turned me down the first time I asked," he said. She remembered the hurt look on his face at the time, that he had quickly hidden from her.

"Yeah, well, you didn't tell me about places like this." She opened her eyes to find him looking at her. "That first day…was all running and robots and spiders. Losing the man I thought was the love of my life. And there you were, with your time machine and magic. It was just too much in one day." She looked up at the trees again. That one day had seemed to last a year.

"What changed your mind, later? When you started looking for me?"

"The trip to Egypt. I was all ready to just lose myself in the culture, really experience it, you know? But then it was just a bus trip, with a bunch of people I didn't know, all of them complaining about how weird everything was. And I knew it didn't have to be like that." She shook her head. "I'm not explaining it right."

"You wanted to be part of it, not just observing," he said.

"Yes. And I knew travelling with you would be like that."

He looked down at her. "Knowing what you know now, would you still go looking for me?"

" 'Course I would," she replied quickly. Yes, even with all the terrible things, she wouldn't give it up for a second. Not when there were places like this still to see. "Why, do you wish I hadn't?"

"No, no. I meant it when I said you saved me," he said, looking off into the distance. "You're teaching me about being part of the forest, not just a tree."

"And I'm learning to be a tree, not just part of the forest. Pretty good deal, I'd say."

He stretched out beside her, following her gaze up into the trees above them. "You are a wise woman, Donna Noble."