I know it's pathetic, but to see Catherine Tate leave was too much. I just had to do it.

A oneshot to show that not all hope is lost for Donna Noble when the Doctor is forced to erase her memory.

BTW- in case you forgot, Lee is the guy Donna married in the virtual world in 'Silence in the library/Forest of the dead'

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The Noble Epilogue

The mind wiping hadn't been perfect. The Doctor's reluctance to lose his most faithful companion was too much. Even with all his infamous willpower, it had broken his hearts to let her go. Without his full consent in wiping Donna Noble's mind, some of the Doctor/Donna's thoughts had leaked through the block. Not enough to harm her, but enough that it's influence could be seen.

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Donna stared up at the stars, lovingly cradling the lid of the thermal flask that she'd fill tea. She didn't really notice the cold; the makeshift mug was something she did out of habit. Countless nights with her granddad on the allotment, gazing at the heavens had long since made resistant against the chilly autumn nights.

She'd had to go home soon. It was a shame she couldn't stay out as long as she used to, but it was worth it for the reason she had to get home.

Lee.

A small smile played across her face as she ran her thumb over the beautiful engagement ring. For the millionth time she pondered over the bizarre circumstances in which she'd come across the man who she could only describe as her 'soul mate'.

He'd just arrived on the doorstep one day, babbling and stuttering about how he'd researched and gone through the black market so he could find a way to travel and find her.

Originally, Donna and her family had thought he was some madman, and had called the police. A few weeks later though, the police had been in contact again.

Apparently, some expert doctor had assessed the confused young man and announced that he was not insane but was simply lacking in social skills. Donna wasn't told the full story, but it seemed that Lee had somehow never been in contact with society properly, possibly being the orphaned child of illegal immigrants or parents who had some wild religious belief that made them keep him hidden from the world as they knew it. This would certainly account for the fact that he had no official identity. According to the police, the doctor who assessed him had guaranteed that he wasn't dangerous and had already rehabilitated him to fit state to be accepted into society, but had insisted that a special request was made for Donna meet with him while under psychological review, in order to make sure he would no longer mistakenly think he knew her.

Normally, Donna would have told the police officer what to do with his request, but in the last three years a peculiar change had come over her, and she was a lot more open minded and compassionate that she'd ever been in her life, so much so that she agreed to the request.

Within just two months, Donna had found that Lee was anything but insane, and had fallen head over heels in love with him.

At first she'd found his stuttering irritating, but with willpower she hadn't known she possessed, she forced herself to be patient and understanding with him. After that, Lee assured her that the doctor he'd spoken with when he'd first been interviewed had explained everything to him and he was fine now. He'd then gone on to prove that he was a very charming and sensitive young man. Donna didn't stand a chance.

With her expecting their first child he didn't like her to be out late, but considering she was going to be virtually housebound once pregnancy set in with vengeance she was going to get in as much stargazing in as possible while she could (her brutal determination was something that hadn't changed). He argued briefly but had quickly given in; he was too soft hearted to disagree with her for long. Having a husband who she could easily boss around had always been Donna's dream, but strangely enough she found herself doing her best to compromise by coming home earlier than she'd like, and Lee accepted that without a fight.

Donna still could barely believe her luck in coming across such a wonderful man, and that he was capable of tolerating her. Sadly, the changes to her personality had done nothing to liberate her of her paranoia. She still saw herself as an unimportant and unnoticeable individual; one of life's spectators, who have to fight to get the chance to join in.

If only she could see herself from the outside.

It had started in the year two thousand and eight. Everyone, even Donna's easily distracted friends were going on about the madness of planets in the sky and the invasion of the 'Exterminators' or 'Daleks' or whatever the heck people were calling them now. To this day Donna was convinced someone must have spiked her drink that night. She couldn't remember the incident at all, and whenever she tried to think about it too hard she had a blinding headache. Nevertheless, with all the talk going on she decided she was fed up with missing out on anything important and was going to do something with her life, starting with a decent job.

A permanent admin job instead of a temp admin job hadn't exactly been a massive leap, but Donna was seeking to better her position by taking up a correspondence course in media studies. She honestly couldn't say why she'd chosen that of all subjects, but she felt a part of it was the idea of looking into things deeper and thinking about them more, the very thing she was trying to achieve. She wasn't entirely sure what she'd like to be. She'd considered being some sort of reporter. She'd been inspired after she joined a website called 'LINDA' that specialised in investigating unexplained rumours and strange stories in London. The site owner, who went by the user name 'John', had posted several articles about supposed alien encounters and unnatural phenomena, including an investigators tutorial section which gave in depth information on becoming an undercover reporter. She was already a member of the site and found the articles quite appealing, but she wasn't sure if that's what she really wanted to do with her life. The only other career she had considered was that of a teacher (she had no idea where that idea had come from, except perhaps from a desire to make a difference to others).

Still, there was still plenty of time to decide. For the moment, and for a long time after, her concerns were for her new family.

Speaking of family, Donna supposed she should find out her mum's opinion on all this. She glanced at the sleeping man next to her. Her granddad was brilliant, but his opinion was rarely anything more complex than 'If that's what you want to do then do. I know you've got it in you, and whatever happens you know I'm on your side'. Nice, but not exactly words of wisdom. Of course, there was a time when she wouldn't have dreamed of asking her mum's opinion on anything important. She seemed far too interested in pointing out Donna's shortcomings than her strengths. However, Sylvia Noble had also changed a lot in the last three years. Although she claimed, like her father, that she hadn't seen or heard anything about planets in the sky and an alien invasion, Donna's mother had become drastically different in the way she treated her daughter. Donna could barely remember the last time she'd made some negative comment about her; if anything she'd become the complete opposite. She treated Donna with an affectionate manner that was both surprising, but at the same time very pleasant. She'd also become extremely protective, going out of her way to make sure nothing was bothering her daughter. Of course, the old Donna would have loved this sort of treatment, but the more sensitive and mature Donna was interested in knowing why her mum was putting herself out in order to be nice. So far, however, she hadn't been able to get anything out of her.

Donna huffed to herself. Some reporter she'd make.

She looked at her granddad again as he snorted in his sleep. She'd better wake him up and take him home soon. He was too old to be out at that time of night in October, but like his granddaughter, he was far too stubborn to be deterred so easily.

"So, you still come out here?"

Donna jumped sharply, then scrambled out of the chair and turned to face the voice.

The man was standing just a few feet away from where she and Wilf were seated. He was dressed in a black suit with white pinstripes, a long brown coat and white trainers. The whole assembly appeared to be too big for him. The coat seemed to almost engulf his entire frame, while suit hung too loosely from his body to be considered smart. The trainers, apart from vastly contrasting with the rest of his entire, were obviously too big on his feet and the laces were trailing along the ground uselessly. His face was young and handsome, with soft black hair and a playful glint in his eye.

Donna looked him over curiously. She had a strange feeling she'd seen the man before.

"Sorry, have we met?" she asked.

"We met a long time ago. The name's John Smith."

Again, Donna had the irritating feeling that there was something about the name she just couldn't quite remember. Still, no need to sound unnecessarily forgetful. She opened her mouth to say 'Of course, I remember you now.' but he cut her off.

"No need to pretend to remember me. It was quite a while ago, and only briefly."

Donna did a slight double take. They must have known each other fairly well if he could anticipate her that easily. For a horrible moment she wondered if he was an old boyfriend hoping to see if she was still available, but she was sure she'd remember that.

He didn't seem dangerous or malicious in any way. On the contrary, he smiling as though standing in the middle of an allotment on a cold autumn night was a dream come true for him. Nevertheless, Donna felt comfortable in his presence, and replied "I gotta admit, I don't remember very well. Where exactly did we meet?"

"It was while you were temping at H.C. Clements. We bumped into each other on Christmas day."

Donna inwardly blanched. She'd done her best to forget about her time at that company; ever since that jerk, Lance, had taken off with another woman on their wedding day. However, she did suddenly have a memory of a man she'd met that day, though it was very hazy.

"I think I do remember you now." she said uncertainly. "You're a doctor aren't you?"

His smile faltered for a moment.

"I didn't expect you to remember that well." he said. She had a feeling there was a slight note of concern, or even panic in his voice, but she couldn't be sure, on account of the fact that a slight headache had come over her.

"What exactly is that supposed to mean?" she challenged, sitting down again and hoping that this 'sort of' stranger didn't guess she was in pain. If he was going to start implying she was too thick to remember him, she wanted to be able to lose her temper properly, without him offering to treat her or something.

"Nothing! Nothing at all!" he said quickly; too quickly in Donna's opinion (he must remember her well).

"I was just in the neighbourhood and I thought I'd just come and see how things were going."

She looked at him curiously.

"Who told you I'd be here?"

"You did. Well, years ago you said you came out here with your granddad. I thought I'd try here first."

'If I knew him well enough to tell him about that, then why can I barely remember him?' she queried herself. Most of her closest friends didn't know that one of her favourite pastimes was to hang out with her granddad, so why'd she tell him?

"So, why haven't I seen you for so long then?" she asked.

"Well, my work takes me far and wide. I've been out the country for a while; a whole world away in fact," he laughed gently "but what about you? What have you been getting yourself into?" he crouched down next to Donna and pointed at the engagement ring on her finger.

In a matter of minutes, Donna Noble and John Smith were talking enthusiastically about everything that had happened to themselves over the years. Donna couldn't help but notice a strange thing about John, though. Firstly, he seemed remarkably evasive and vague about anything to do with himself, although when discussing Donna's life he seemed in his element. Secondly, even though they apparently hadn't seen each other since H.C. Clements, their conversation seemed to focus exclusively on the time between now and the 'Planets in the sky' event. Donna gave an internal shrug at the suspicious thoughts.

'So what? It's not like that means anything, does it?'

"So," she said after nearly forty minutes of talking about herself "what about you? What's your work like? You have a family?"

John's smile became slightly fixed for the moment. He looked blankly ahead of himself and said "Same old. Travelling, studying. Can't complain about the job. No family, but that's fine. I'm not the sort of person for settling down and doing...domestic things"

The discussion stopped for a moment, and turned into an awkward silence. Donna looked at the young man's face while he stared up into the sky. She found herself thinking 'How lonely he is.'

That was ridiculous, of course. She didn't know about him, or his lifestyle, yet Donna had a funny feeling about him. For some reason she felt sorry for this man she could barely remember; felt that she wanted to offer him some comfort, even though he claimed he was used to being a loner. As she watched him stare determinedly at the stars she reached out to take his hand in hers...

And then John Smith turned to face her again.

Donna's hand snaked back, hoping he hadn't seen. What had possessed her to do that?

"Well, I just wanted to pop by and see how you were doing. I'd best be on my way."

He smiled again. For a moment he looked like he might say more, but instead he rose to his feet and began to walk away.

Donna stayed quiet for a moment. For a moment she too was unsure what to say. Then she stood up and called after him.

"Oi, John."

Wilf groaned and tossed in his sleep, but slumbered on.

"My wedding's on going to be in St Mary's Church, on Christmas day. D'you wanna come?"

Donna felt almost surprised to hear the hopefulness in her voice. John Smith looked back at her. Another amused smile was playing around his lips, but Donna noticed there was something that looked like sadness in his eyes.

"Maybe. I might be outta town by then. But I'll come by if I get the chance."

Another silence followed.

"Well," John said eventually "goodbye Donna."

With one last smile, he turned and walked away into the darkness.

"Goodbye..." Donna said gently.

She watched until John Smith was no longer in sight. She hoped that he would come to see her on her wedding day.

But deep down, she knew he wouldn't.