Title: Nothing Sacred
Author: Mindy
Rating: K
Disclaimer: Characters aren't mine.
Spoilers: Nope.
Summary: Ten/Donna. Whatever Donna believes in now, she believes in the Doctor.
-x-
She supposes she's a little in love with him. If it's possible to be only a little in love with someone, as opposed to completely and utterly. And if it's possible to be in love with someone you also consider your best friend in the entire universe.
And who you know is an alien. And unmistakably bonkers to boot.
If all that is possible, then perhaps it might explain some of what Donna feels when she's with the Doctor. For the most part however, the pace of the life he leads, with her in constant tow, prevents her really thinking about it. Even when she finds a moment of peace for herself, she tries not to analyse her feelings or worry about possible outcomes.
After all, there's very little she knows for certain any more. Since she met the Doctor all former beliefs and hopes which she used to hold sacred, have, one by one, been unceremoniously and irrevocably dashed.
The one constant seems to be him. Whatever she believes in now, she believes in him. In his goodness and his strength. In his mind and his heart. And in the fact that he never lets a day go by without letting her know in the minutest of ways that he utterly adores her.
If she's honest with herself, none of her relationships thus far, romantic or otherwise, have been as effortless. Or as joyful. Perhaps that's what real love is. She doesn't know. She's hardly an expert on the subject. She's not sure she's ever experienced Love before. Not truly.
But, if this is it, if this is her one chance to know it, then the last thing she intends to do is ruin the experience with second-guessing what she knows in her heart. For there's no denying that, wherever she ends up, whatever the future holds for them, the tall man from Gallifrey, with the wild hair and brash smile, will forever be the most important man in her life.
Perhaps if she were a different woman, she might acknowledge how easy it would be, falling for the Doctor. From what she's witnessed, any woman would find it difficult to resist. And maybe that's why she ran when she'd first had the chance. Becoming one more in a disturbingly long line is simply not her style.
But Donna never expected any profound feeling from the Doctor -- nothing serious, nothing sacred. She'd only ever sought his friendship, never his love.
From the very beginning, she'd known the deal. She'd accepted the risks – even the one to her heart. She knew just what she was doing when she traded a mediocre career, numbing nights at the pub and the perpetual search for domestic bliss for the freedom and excitement of trekking with the Doctor.
And never in a million years would she wish to alter that decision. Nor will she do anything to jeopardise the bond they've swiftly developed. Life in the TARDIS is what she was meant for and what was meant for her. She will never give it up – not without a hell of a fight.
This is her life now, the life she chose, and he is her life partner. She will follow him to the ends of the earth, or any other planet he choses. She will perish at his side, probably without ever admitting that he is the only hero she's ever known and the absolute centre of her world. From now until that end, she will keep her heart to herself. And she will count on the fact that he will do the same.
If it is possible to be only a little in love, with a friend, a lunatic, an anomaly from another world, then she supposes that's what she is. For if there's one thing Donna's learnt since the fateful day they collided, it's that when it comes to the Doctor, absolutely anything is possible.
END.