A/N: did you know that EastEnders is a London-based British soap opera? Hopefully you did.

A/N2: thank you sweetpea blue and KLR!


Part 2

.

Jenny felt utterly exhausted. It didn't take long to fall asleep in the machine thing called a car, and Donna had to partially rouse her in order to get her out of it. Feeling rather blurry, she was aware of being taken inside a building, of walking up some steps, and then laying down on something that was extremely soft and comfortable. Much else beyond that evaded her as a welcoming blackness overtook her, and she entered a healing sleep for the second time in her young life.

"Hello sleepyhead," a friendly voice greeted Jenny as she snuffled awake and rolled over experimentally. "How do you feel?"

Jenny stretched out her arms, and grinned joyously back at Donna. "I feel fine. How are you, Mum?"

Donna smiled fondly at the continuing use of that title. "I'm okay. You took quite a blow for me back there; I'd have been dead if you hadn't. Thank you."

"You're welcome," she answered back. Jenny then sat up and pushed her hands down onto the mattress below her to test its solidity. "What is this? And what do you call this?" she asked as she swept her gaze around the room.

"Oh, I'm loving this!" Donna squealed with delight. "I get to help you learn all sorts of new things for yourself." She walked nearer to the bed and put a hand on it. "This is a bed, and the room is called a bedroom."

Jenny frowned. "Is everything always so literal?"

"Yeah, it tends to be," Donna confirmed, surprised by that herself. "I'll show you the bathroom in a moment where you bathe, and… Oh!... what phrase do you usually use to urinate? Anyway, I'll show you all of the facilities we have."

"This is so exciting!" Jenny enthused. "I finally get to explore planet Earth."

"About that, Jenny. It's best not to mention you've only just got here," Donna advised cautiously. "Instead, say you are new to London. We'll work out a proper cover story for you later."

There were sounds of movement outside the room, and Jenny instantly went on alert. "What's that? How much of a danger is it?" she asked, crouching low just in case.

It was hard for Donna not to chuckle at the action. "Well, you're in danger of getting an ear battering or being fed to within an inch of your life," Donna flippantly remarked. "There isn't much danger, in other words. Once you've washed I'll introduce you to the family."

"I get to have a family?!" Jenny cried.

Donna quickly shushed her. "Yes, if you are presentable. Most people have a family of some sort. Even your father." That thought sobered her for a second. "I wonder if Jack knows where he is right now. I'll contact him as soon as you've eaten. You look as though you could do with a good meal inside you."


"Donna, who were you talking to?" Sylvia asked as soon as Donna appeared in the kitchen doorway. She became even more suspicious when Donna didn't instantly answer.

"Mum, I've got someone for you to meet," she began nervously, "and I get the feeling that you're not going to like it very much."

"You'll soon find out if you actually tell me," Sylvia snapped.

In answer, Donna looked behind her and then tugged on the pyjama-clad arm of a blonde young girl, bringing her into full view. "This is Jenny, mum," she announced. "My Jenny."

Sylvia alternated her gaze from the smiling girl to Donna and back. "Are you a lesbian now?" she eventually asked Donna.

"Oh no! No no no! It isn't like that," Donna insisted, waving her hands about desperately.

"What's a lesbian, Mum?" Jenny innocently asked.

Donna glared at Sylvia in response, and Sylvia gasped in shock. "What's going on? And why is she calling you 'Mum'?"

"Look, that's not important for a minute," Donna tried to counter, wanting to explain other, more important things.

But Jenny was full of curiosity, and touched Donna's arm to attract her attention. "Does she not know about Dad?"

"Who?!" Sylvia near shrieked. "Who's the father?"

Taking a deep, calming breath, Donna started to explain. "That was the part I didn't think you'd like." Trying not to look at Jenny's hurt and puzzled expression, she continued, "Jenny's dad is the Doctor… Now don't start! Hear me out."

"Her father?! But he… And you…? But you shouldn't…" Sylvia stalled as question upon question fought to be shouted out.

"Right, let's go through those one at a time. Yes, he is her father. Yes, he probably told you not to mention him ever again to me. No, I am not her biological mother unless something strayed at the time which I'm inclined to think could have happened, but that's by the by; and I'm definitely not her stepmother, unless you count…? No, I'll stick with the fact I'm probably not, but she is my daughter nevertheless. And no, I shouldn't remember any of this, but thanks to Jenny I can; quite safely. She saved me, Mum," Donna replied, hoping her mother would now show the girl some much needed love. "Why don't you say hello to your granddaughter?"

Sylvia's hand had gone from fluttering over her throat to cover her mouth. "My granddaughter," she faintly repeated. "I have a granddaughter?"

"Thanks to the Doctor, yes." Donna took hold of Jenny's hand and guided her over to where Sylvia stood by the sink. "This is Jenny."

"Hello," Jenny nervously greeted her, and smiled her brightest smile.

Sylvia tearfully waved her hand about for a few seconds and then softly said, "Come here." She instantly wrapped Jenny up in a warm hug that she eagerly returned.

"There you go," Donna sighed in relief. "What did you want Jenny to call you?"

"Oh, I erm… I suppose being called Gran would be lovely," Sylvia decided as she pulled slightly away.

"Hello Gran," Jenny beamed, and was hugged once again.


It didn't take long for Sylvia to phone her father and blurt out her good news. "You've got to come home, Dad, and meet her. She's such a lovely girl."

Overhearing the exchange, Donna could not have been more pleased with her mother's reaction if she tried.

In fact, Wilf came racing in through the door within ten minutes, eager to embrace his brand new great-granddaughter. For Jenny it was as if all her Christmases had come at once. There was only one way it could get better.

Wilf was so pleased to meet Jenny that he kept a tight hold of her hand even when his mug of tea was placed in front of him as they sat at the kitchen table.

"And you're definitely alright now?" he cautiously asked Donna as he peered intensely at her for any signs of trouble.

"Definitely!" she happily confirmed, having already told him the tale of how she had ceased being on the brink of death.

"So you'll now be looking for his Lordship," he remarked to Jenny. "He didn't look too well the last time I saw him."

"What do you mean 'the last time'?" Donna instantly demanded to know. "Have you seen him since I came back? When did you see him?"

"Well…" Wilf and Sylvia both looked pretty sheepish for a moment. "I was with him at Christmas," he continued, "when the big red planet appeared in the sky."

"You what?!" Donna near shrieked. "When did that happen? I don't remember that at all!"

"It was when you had that funny turn, and Shaun found you in the alleyway with those three dead people," Sylvia added.

"Who's Shaun?" Jenny piped up. "Is he another member of the family?"

"Not yet," Sylvia answered. "Donna is marrying him in a fortnight's time."

As Jenny threw Donna an accusational, worried and questioning glance, Donna paled and shook her head. "I'm not marrying him," she declared.

"What do you mean you're not marrying him?" Sylvia cried out. "The wedding is booked and everything!"

"Then I'll have to unbook it," Donna replied tersely.

"Mum, you can't marry someone else," Jenny tensely stated.

Donna reached out to place a consoling hand over Jenny's; and she gave it a squeeze. "I know, love. Don't you worry; I'll sort it all out."

"Sort what out?" Wilf queried. "Why can't you marry Shaun? He not good enough anymore now that Jenny is around?"

Donna blushed. "It isn't that, Gramps. The fact is, I erm…" She swept her gaze between her seated companions and winced guiltily. "I'm sort of married already."

Both Sylvia and Wilf gasped in shock.

"What do you mean?" Sylvia looked both puzzled and angry.

"Just tell her, Mum," Jenny gently encouraged.

Donna nervously licked her lips. "You see, when the metacrisis happened, I got all of the Doctor's knowledge, including stuff I should definitely have not known. And for Gallifreyans that means marriage; proper, eternal marriage."

"But you said…," Sylvia murmured and pointed towards Jenny faintly.

"When Jenny emerged I was just some friend…"

"You were never just a friend, Mum," Jenny blurted out.

Donna patted her hand in thanks. "Okay, I wasn't a love interest in the Doctor's life. It sort of happened, like everything else seems to sort of happen when you're with him." She then thoughtfully added, "I dread to think what kind of effect this had on him. He would have gone completely barmy."

"Cos he missed you," Wilf pondered.

"No, because the whole marriage thing is linked to a Time Lord's sanity, so if I wasn't able to return the link, for want of a better phrase, then he would lose it big time," Donna explained. "He probably had a breakdown."

"Dad could be ill?" Jenny anxiously asked.

Donna slowly nodded. "I didn't want to say, but things could be fatal by now. We need to find him, Jenny. And we need to find him fast."

"I did tell him when your wedding was," Wilf admitted. "Do you think he'd turn up to see you off?"

"Oh!" Donna immediately clamped her hands over her mouth. "That's the sort of stupid sentimental thing he might do."

"Does this mean we wait for him at the church?" Jenny eagerly asked. "If we don't find him beforehand."

"I think this does," Donna happily answered. "Come on. We have some planning to do."

"Is this wedding on or off? I'm getting confused here," confessed Sylvia as she watched Donna and Jenny almost jump up out of their seats.

"The wedding is off. All hail the wedding!" Donna cheekily threw at them as she and Jenny left the kitchen.

"Don't ask me," Wilf answered Sylvia's unasked question when she looked at him, and resignedly quickly sipped his tea.


"Shaun, you know how in things like EastEnders they always have some long lost teenager turn up out of the blue and declare they are someone's son or daughter? Well, I've just had that happen." Donna then sat back and waited for the fireworks, having lit the blue touch paper.

Shaun sat stunned for several seconds, until finally a few words managed to make it out. "You have a long lost child?"

"Yes," she readily answered. "I have a daughter, called Jenny."

"Okay," Shaun slowly muttered. "I have the feeling that's not all."

"Well," Donna began, knowing the next part would affect him the most, "coming back to EastEnders, you know how when a couple on there go to get married and then somebody suddenly turns up at the church and says that they are already married, to them? Well, that's about to happen to me as well."

Shaun drew in a sharp breath. "And you have a secret husband somewhere?!"

"Yes, sort of. He's Jenny's dad," she admitted.

He stayed stunned at this news. "And you didn't know where they were for years and years?"

"I know this sounds completely weird, but yes, I didn't know where they were. In fact I thought Jenny was… dead." She nervously wrung her hands. "I knew I'd lost him forever, in a way. I felt his loss but I couldn't explain it."

"Why don't you try explaining it to me now?!" Shaun cried out. "How can you not know you had a husband and daughter, for goodness sake? Tell me how, Donna!"

She sighed, trying to think how to word her reply properly. "You already know about my memory loss. There was a terrible accident during that time all the planets were in the sky and Daleks were killing people. I gained a husband and then instantly lost everything that was good in my life."

"I don't understand," Shaun declared.

Okay, it was time to go for broke. "I also lost a son that day. I found him and I lost him! If I had been right in the head I would never have let that happen. But I wasn't. I was shot by this Dalek… thing! And somehow I lived; but I also died, Shaun. Are you getting the picture yet?!"

"Not really. But… your mum and Gramps never said you had children from a previous marriage. Why didn't they tell me?" he whined.

"I don't know! I was too busy trying to avoid dropping down dead to notice," she answered harshly, and instantly regretted it. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."

The gears were whirling in his brain now. "At Christmas, you went all weird, and your grandfather was sneaking about with some bloke. They looked awfully pally. And he was stalking you; I saw him. He was watching you from the café down Richmond Road."

"He might have; he was here at Christmas," she reluctantly admitted. "There was a problem with his home, that he had to sort out, and he needed…"

"What did he need, Donna? Did he need you by any chance?" he sarkily wondered.

"As a matter of fact he did! Don't you dare talk about him like that. He's wonderful and dazzling. You don't understand how awful it's been for him. And I can give him something precious back. I can give him some of his family."

"Where do I fit into all this? Is there room for me as you all play happy families?!" Shaun almost spat at her.

She sadly shook her head, and told him calmly, "I'm sorry that I led you up the garden path, but my memory was shot to pieces and then I met you. I wish it meant I could stay with you but I have a daughter and a husband who need me. I can't go against that, I just can't. There is no way I can give him up."

"Then there's nothing left for me to say, is there?" he thrusted at her as he stood up to leave. "I suppose this is it. Goodbye, Donna."

"Goodbye, Shaun," she automatically responded. His anger was entirely understandable, and she should have been comforting him more; but her heart told her that the Doctor needed her far more, and always would.