LAST WARNING!! Contains
SPOILERS!!
This takes place over sixty years after Journey's End (in regular Earth time)
Title: Donna's Gift
Genre: Friendship/angst (Bittersweet)
Rating: PG/K
Warning: Character Death
Characters: Doctor, Donna, OC.
Summary: He's got one last thing for her.
Donna's Gift
The house of Mr and Mrs. Grayle was an old villa within view of the great Mt. Vesuvius. The couple, though British, had settled in the warm Italian countryside near Pompeii because of Mrs. Grayle's unusual love of the ruins of the old city, and Mr. Grayle soon found himself enjoying the rich history as much as his wife.
Locals could remember the day Mrs. Grayle first explored the ruins, sometimes stopping to wipe away a tear she had no idea why she shed or to smile softly, as if lost in memory, her red hair blowing in her face in the breeze.
That had been more than sixty years ago.
Now it was dark, the new moon barely giving any light to the land below as the old woman lay in what she felt deep in her bones to be her death bed, calmly enjoying her last evening. Her husband had died seven years before, peacefully in the very same bed, and now Mrs. Grayle welcomed the end of a life she hoped was a full one.
Her children were near her, sleeping in their own bedrooms with their spouses and children. Only her daughter, the eldest of the four, was awake and sitting beside her mother reading.
"Rose." Mrs. Grayle said, turning on her side to look into the younger woman's face,"what are you reading?"
"The Mystery of Edwin Drood, mom."
Mrs. Grayle frowned, "That was never finished."
"I know. But this one has notes in the back. Ideas for how he was going to finish it."
"Oh?" said Mrs. Grayle, eyes lighting up. Something about Charles Dickens had always made her smile, even though she had hated reading in her youth.
"Yeah, would you believe it was going to be called 'The Mytery of Edwin Drood and the Blue Elementals? Funny thing for a Dickens novel!" Rose grins, shaking her head.
"Ha...Charles Dickens have a run in with ghosts then?" her Mother laughs, before the laugh turns into a cough. Rose helps her sit up and hands her a glass of water, which Mrs. Grayle sips gratefully.
"Thank you, sunshine."
"You're welcome, mum." Rose said dutifully.
"Such a good girl."
"Thank you, mum." Rose replied. For a moment, it seemed she was going to say something else, but at that moment the door chime rang.
"Who could be coming at this hour?" Rose said, frowning,"I'll go get it, mum. You be here when I get back, understand?"
Mrs. Grayle chuckled softly, this time avoiding a coughing fit. Rose nodded and left the bedroom, walking down the long hallway to the foyer. She opened the heavy wooden door. Light spilled out over the form of a man in his thirties, wearing a brown pinstripe suit and red Chucks. His brown hair looked unkempt,but his eyes were bright and kindly as he beamed at her.
"Can I help you?" Rose asked.
"I'm here to see Mrs. Grayle. Am I speaking to Mrs. Siffoni?" Rose blinked, recognizing the accent. South London, but who did her mother know from London this age?
"Yes. I'm Rose Siffoni." The stranger smiled at her first name, cocking his head just so as he gave her a tender look.
"Yeah. Good namer, your mum. Called me a space dunce once, and sadly I now agree with her."
"Who are you?"
"John Tyler. I met your mother when I was a bit down on my luck. Great lady, she was, fized me right up. Can I...can I see her?"
"I suppose so. Be quiet though, my brothers and sister are sleeping." Rose said, letting John into the foyer before shutting the door and leading him to her mother's room.
"I should warn you, her memory is a bit dodgy nowadays."
"Oh, thats fine." John said as the pair entered her mother's room.
"Mum, theres a man here to see you.."
"Oh good, I could use a bit of nice." Is the reply. Rose looked scanadalized, throwing an apologetic look to her guest.
But he laughed, a big grin splitting his face.
"Oh you haven't changed a bit, have you?"
"Who is it?" Mrs. Grayle said, blinking in the dull light from the hall.
"An old friend. Could you," he said, looking at Rose," give us a moment?"
Rose looked at her mother, who nodded her consent before smiling and excusing herself to go make them some tea.
Her guest smiled as he sat and took her hand.
"Hello, Donna." He whispered, such love in his voice that something clicks in Donna Noble-Grayle's head in that second. She knew this man, from oh so long ago...how she did was beyond her, but she did.
"I'm sorry, young man, but this is a bit late for me to recall you. I'm going to pass on tonight."
"I know, thats why I'm here. Not long now, Donna."
Donna smiled weakly at him. She liked this man.
The man leaned forward, putting her frail hand between two of his and lent his forehead against hers.
"I have a gift for you, Donna Noble."
"what..."
She looked up into his eyes, trusting him for no other reason than she knew she always had (but she couldn't recall him still...)," whats that?"
"Remember." She gasped, sucking in air as memory after memory flew before her mind's eye. Her aborted wedding to Lance, the Tardis, the sad man who was the first she called sunshine, Pompeii, the Library, Agatha Christie, Martha Jones, UNIT,Jack, Sarah, Rose. Rose...her joy! And Davros, the planets, his other self. Her, Donna the Time Lady. Forgetting..
"Oh Doctor, the world will--"
"--Be safe. You don't have much time, Donna. It won't be enough to hurt."
"But why?"
The Doctor smiled at her, a tear running down his cheek. She'd never seen him cry like that, and the sight awed her into silence.
"Because you, Donna, are brilliant."
He beamed at her then, and she smiled back.
"I'm not. I'm just a temp," Her eyes danced as she spoke, "from Chiswick! I--" Donna gasped, feeling something tugging at her, weighing her body down.
"ROSE! Mrs. Siffoni!!" He called. Rose's footsteps, along with those of her siblings, pounded down the hall. Rose came in first, followed by two red haired men and a dark haired woman.
"Mum? Mum?!" Rose cried, throwing herself down beside her mother as the Doctor moved away. But Donna said nothing, just smiled with tears in her eyes at the Doctor.
"Thank you. Thank you so much, sunshine." She breathed before her eyes fell shut. She took a breath, then another, and then lay still upon the bed, Rose crying into the sheets by her hand.
As the Doctor slipped out of the room, the wives and husbands of the Grayle siblings awake and coming to see what the matter way, he took a last look at Donna and bowed his head.
"Nothing less for you, Donna Noble. Nothing less."