Last Updated: 1/17/13
"Mum!" she suddenly exclaimed, waking rapidly from her nap.
Donna sat up in her bed, her heart pounding. She had just awaken from a dream that made her realize something very important was missing from her wedding day, and it had to be taken care of. Now.
"Mum-"
"Oh, Donna," Sylvia said, walking into her room, chowing down on a bowl of stew, "you've just missed it, Sarah stopped by with the baby, and you wouldn't believe it, he started walking! I'm surprised we didn't wake you, all the racket we were making!"
Donna's mood switched drastically.
"He started to walk? Well could no one bloody wake me up?!" Donna spat. "He's my godson, how is it nobody could think to come in here and wake me?"
"Well, Donna, sweetheart, you've been so tired, worryin' ova the weddin', we thought you would be needin' the rest."
"Ugh! My whole life, I keep on missin' everythin'! I'm trying here, but it's no help to me when nobody bothers to come get me!" Donna exclaimed. She swung her feet over the bed and rested her hands in her head.
Quickly, her mother took a deep breath, trying to remain patient with her daughter. She set down her bowl on Donna's dresser, and put her arm awkwardly around her daughter. "Well sweetheart, what is it you need?" she cooed.
Donna shot a look at her mother. "What are you on about," she murmured, shrugging her mother's arm off her shoulder, and going to fetch her West Ham sweatshirt. She was still in her head with all her frustration at herself.
As her ginger hair disappeared behind the hoodie, her mother snapped, "Well, you were goin' on, shoutin' for me in here, and I come beckoning to your call, like I have for the past several months, and I don't need any more of this from you-"
"Any more a' wha'!?"
"Any more of this, 'Oh, mum, I was wonderin', could do this for me? I have work. Mum! My dress tore, help me mend it? Mum-'"
"Well, I was only thinkin' that this should be a time a daughter spends with her mother, and considering that you only ever seem to want ta 'help' me with the things I don't want help on, you should be happy I ask you for anything at all!" Donna ranted.
"Fine! What eva' you want your highness, I'll stay out of your way from now on," Sylvia said, getting up to leave the room. She stopped herself at the door.
"Donna," she uttered. There was no response. She turned to see her daughter's back sitting on her vanity chair, facing her wardrobe where her wedding gown was slightly visible through the unzipped part of her garment bag. Through the mirror, Sylvia could see her daughter's face growing closer to the shade of her hair.
"You know mum… you're right, I'm sorry," Donna croaked.
"Oh, now none of that." Sylvia gathered her daughter's hands in her own, taking a spot on the bed opposite her chair. "We both know I'm just, you know… trying to get my way," she concluded. "Where do you think you get it from?"
Donna chuckled through her tears.
"Ya know mum- things have… just changed between us, I guess. It's him-"
Suddenly, getting worried- "It's who, sweetheart?"
"Shaun, who'd ya think?" Donna asserted, giving her mother another classic, Noble look.
"Right, right- what about him?"
"He's changed me. Ya know, I'm better because of him, mum! It's the best bloody thing to happen to me in me whole life, and still-"
She stopped abruptly. She had had this knot inside of the center of her body for a year now. Whenever she spent her nights alone, she tried to talk herself into understanding what it was, why it was she felt this way, but it always felt so trite and lame. But then, Donna had never felt that her feelings were valid.
"Donna- still…what?"
"Oh." She hadn't realized how long she had been in her thoughts. She looked at her mother, but cast her eyes away.
"Donna, whatever it is, you can talk to me about it."
All of the feeling inside Donna grew gradually stronger, until finally they overflowed out onto her face.
"I just still feel… lost. Empty! There's this part of me, inside of me, in my core, it feels like this chunk of me is just- missing. And I don't know what it is, and it feels like it's killin' me, mum!"
Panicking, Sylvia searched for something to calm her daughter down. "Well, it's only been a short while since your father passed, and I'm sure with the weddin'-"
"No, no, it's not dad. Don't get me wrong," Donna said, stopping herself, "I do miss him, I do, but that's not what it is. I just feel so wrong. Shaun has been the best thing that has happened to my life. He is the only person who makes me feel right when I'm with him. But the closer I get to the wedding, the more I feel that something or someone is missing."
"Well, honey, it's probably just, pre-wedding jitters," Sylvia said, trying to hide her nervous laughter, "that's all! Nothin' at all to worry about. It didn't happen the last time you walked down the aisle, so it's just catching up to you now, that's all," she affirmed, beaming at her daughter, rubbing her shoulders. She could feel the muscles in her cheeks working extra hard, so as not to give away what she was actually thinking. So as not to let the pain in her own chest reveal itself to her daughter.
"Yeah…right. Just, jitters, that's all…" Donna stated, wiping away her tears, still seeming quite unconvinced, but wanting to drop it altogether.
"So!" Sylvia exclaimed, trying to move away from the subject. "Is that what you called me in here to talk about?"
"No!" Donna blurted, snapping out of her deep thought. "My dress! Oh, GOD," she groaned dramatically, as if she had never seen an uglier dress in her life.
Sylvia scowled.
"If you make me go out with you and find a new dress, a day before your wedding, I swear to you-"
"No!" Donna laughed, gazing at her dress. "No, not a new dress. I just need to fix this one."
"Fix it?" her mother asked.
"Yeah, I'm just now realizing. It's… missing something I need."
"And what's that?" her mother sighed. She already knew that somehow, she would be spending a majority of her day working on whatever it was that needed fixing.
Donna slid the dress out of the garment bag, and held it in her hands. Admiring the material, she simply said, "I need pockets."
Donna stepped into the church. Immediately, everything began to hit her like a ton of bricks. The little stone building was dressed from top to bottom with the most beautiful shade of blue Donna had ever seen. The whitest, freshest spring flowers were brought indoors, and Donna's senses flared. The light was beaming in through the little church's stain glass windows, providing the room with comfortable warmth. Everything was in Technicolor, and everything was perfect.
She spotted the photographer, who was waiting for her to take photos of the bride before the ceremony, leaning up against the flowers on the end of the pew.
"Oi!"
The man jumped up, hastily tried to fluff the flowers up again, only causing the petals to fall off onto the floor. Donna decided to not let these minor issues get on with the photo shoot.
Donna returned to the side building where she was getting ready. Her mother and grandfather were waiting for her when she arrived. They abruptly stopped talking the moment she walked in.
"WHY are you two always doin' that when I walk in a room?"
"Doin' what?" Sylvia asked.
"Donna," Wilfred interjected, "I've got somethin' for you."
"Oh, no, please, you've already done too much for us, I couldn't want anything else from you-" Donna continued to blabber on.
"This," he said, ignoring every word coming out of her mouth, "was your grandmother's. She wore it the day we got married. And you're mother wore it the day she got married. Felt bad, I had misplaced it the last time around. Couldn't help but blame myself for your bad luck, but this time is different, I can feel it."
He pulled out a simple chain with a single pearl on it. Donna's eyes began to swell.
"Oh, thank you. Now I have something old, how wonderful."
She scooped him into her arms, and held him for what seemed like forever. Her mother gathered the chain in her hands and put it around her neck. Donna kissed her mother, and held her in her arms.
"Thank you for fixing my dress, it's perfect."
"What did you need to put in there?" she asked.
"Oh, nothin', I just needed pockets." Donna said simply, turning around to admire her necklace. Why wouldn't you need to have pockets in your wedding dress?
Somehow, Sylvia knew it had to do with that man, and she didn't even get upset with her daughter. Kissing Donna, she said, "Well, I'm off. Are you two ready?"
Donna sighed, and looked at her face in the mirror.
"Oh, not now after I've been blubbering on! You two go, I'll only be a minute!"
Wilfred pushed Sylvia out of the room while she called out to her daughter that she can't be late for her own wedding. Wilfred simply laughed and told Donna to be quick about it.
Donna looked at herself in the mirror, and took a deep breath.
"I don't think I've ever been so terrified in my life, " she murmured to herself, half laughing.
She began reapplying her makeup when suddenly the door flew open and shut before she could even blink. A tall, gangly man in a suit, bow tie, and a fez stood there looking flummoxed about the room around him, when his eyes settled at last on Donna.
"Oi!" Donna screamed.
"Oh!" the man exclaimed, removing his fez from his head. "Well, hello there!"
"Whadda you think you're doin' in here, it says private there on the door, can't you read?!"
"Oh, dear," the man said, opening the door and closing it again without bothering to look at it, "I must have missed that," he said, keeping his shining eyes on Donna.
"Alright, why you lookin' at me like that?!"
"Like what?" the man said, beaming at her.
"Like that," Donna said, mocking the man's head over heels look. He laughed.
"Listen, this is not funny!" Donna taunted. She picked up the closest object that was within her arms reach, her curling iron, and held it in her hand like a weapon. "In case you have not realized, I am expected somewhere rather soon, so you picked the wrong day to want to mess with me, buddy!"
"Oh, yes, I know, about to attend your wedding, have the greatest day of your life and all that, I know, I just had to pop by right quick-"
"Oh, really? Wonderful. Perfect. Day of my wedding, and all the madmen feel there's something they need to stop by my room and say-"
"No, no, you misunderstand, I'm... a friend of Wilf's."
Donna was taken aback. "Oh. He didn't tell me he invited anyone else to the ceremony. What's your name?"
"John Smith," he said.
"Right- John Smith. And why'd you have to come find me now, what could be so important that now is the perfect moment to interrupt my wedding day?"
"See, the thing is I actually can't stay, I'm late for…something."
"For what?"
"Well, a date, but-"
"Oh! Well, by all means, please, don't let me hold you up-"
"Well, you see, I just wanted to give you your present."
Donna stopped. She had a slight moment of panic and tightened her hand around her iron when the man reached inside his pocket, only to pull out an envelope. He handed it to Donna, and she took it carefully.
"Well… thank you," she said, putting down the curling iron.
"Are you going to open it?" he asked eagerly, pushing the envelope deeper into her hand.
"I mean, I really need to be going-"
"Oh! All right, yes, yes, of course, well- I'll be seeing you Donna Noble. Today is going to be brilliant. I know it."
And, checking himself in the mirror, fixing his bow tie, and returning his fez to his head, he hurried out the door, and was gone.
Donna froze. She continued to stare at the door. The man had left so quickly, it had almost been as though he hadn't been there at all. She had no idea what just happened, but suddenly, she felt different. She felt a warmth inside of herself she couldn't remember feeling before. Without looking in the mirror, Donna walked out the door. Slipping the envelope into her pocket, she giggled, happy that she did actually need the pockets after all.
Her grandfather was waiting for her by the entrance. He had his neck as far back as it could go, and he was gazing up at the sky, as if he was waiting for something to drop down.
Donna stopped halfway down the walk. She reached into her pocket, and pulled out the envelope. She could feel something else besides a card inside.
"Ugh, probably a single note folded up to get me all excited," she thought to herself. She opened the envelope, and pulled out the letter:
Donna,
This is for you. I found it, a thought you'd like to have it for safe keeping.
-D
"'D'?" Donna whispered to herself.
Carefully, delicately, she emptied the content on the envelope into her hand. Out dropped a single key, with a lovely blue ribbon tied around it, the same blue as her wedding colors.
She remained silent for a moment.
"A key?!" Donna blurted out loud. "A ruddy key, what the hell good is that gonna do me?!" Rolling her eyes, Donna stuffed everything into her pockets, and walked towards her grandfather.
"What was all that about?" Wilfred asked, breaking his eyes from the sky as his granddaughter approached.
"Some friend of yours decided to shock me to death while I was getting ready, just so he could give me my wedding present before his date." Donna scoffed and pinched her checks with her fingers to make them blush. She took a deep breath.
"A friend?" said Wilf. "I don't remember inviting anybody."
"Well, he knew my name. And all he left was some ruddy card with a key inside!"
Suddenly, Wilfred eyes snapped up to meet hers. They were bright and wide. He smiled. Swiftly, Wilfred took Donna's arm in his.
"Well, don't fret. Today is your day."
"Yeah, I won't let some nutter ruin my weddin'. My weddin'! HA!"
And with that, the two of them approached the Church doors, and went inside.
During the ceremony, Donna found herself clutching onto the key in her pocket. It felt like it was vibrating in her hand, and somehow, made her feel stronger than ever before.
When the time came to recite their vows, Shaun announced that he had decided to write his own vows. Donna was taken aback.
"Donna," he began-
"From the day I met you, I knew there was something more special about you than any other woman in this world. You were made out of something different. You never let anyone tie you down, and your compassion and zeal inspires me everyday to be a man who deserves you. To me, you are the most important woman in the universe. And I can't wait to be with you forever."
Donna's eyes filled with tears. They flickered out the window past Shaun's shoulders, and she could see the man who had given her the key, leaning against a tree, and beaming at her from across the lawn. After a moment, he turned and was out of her sight. Donna's gaze shifted back to her perfect husband. And in that moment, she felt complete.