Okay then, chapter deux, as promised. Just to say a quick thankyou for all the positive feedback I've had so far, it really means a lot to me so Keep it up!! Also, a couple of of people have mentioned, but if you are reading my Donna/Jack fic Simple Love then I promise it will get finished at some point, I haven't given up on it but it is on a bit of a break while I write this story. Deeyent fret! many thanks to mein gorgeous Beta See You On Broadway, and... well, I'll shut up! Enjoy
Donna x
PS I'm going on holiday tomorra for two weeks, so the next update won't be for a while - make the most of this! :P xx
Chapter Two - The Things That Really Matter
Harry Saxon. Of course he was, how had she not recognised him straight away? The ex bloody Prime Minister had walked up and hugged her, claiming she should know him in some way, know him well... This was ridiculous. Completely ridiculous.
She hadn't known what to say, what do do, and had therefore dumbly agreed with him when he suggested they go somewhere to talk. She had followed him straight to a nearby cafe seemingly without any other choice, too shocked and confused to do anything other than sit down and quietly ask for a cup of tea. Now here Donna sat, opposite he who had previously been the most powerful man in the country, with absolutely no inclination of what she should do next.
Luckily, she didn't have to do anything as he made the first move.
"So tell me, Donna," he said kindly, "Exactly what you know about me, however much or little that may be."
"Ah..." She found it hard to form words, clearing her throat, wracking her brains and trying to regain some confidence, "I know that you were Prime Minister, which is hardly what I'd call a little detail, but... Anyway. You, er... Went to Cambridge, I remember, played... rugby, was it? You wrote a book - never did get around to reading that, but I was going to, honest. You're married to that Lucy-"
"Was." he interrupted her firmly, taking Donna quite by surprise, "I, er... was married to Lucy, not any more. Anyway," Saxon sighed, a sad look on his face, "The things you rattled off to me then were just the facts, the quick biography type thing you could read anywhere. It seems I was right in thinking- in fearing that you've forgotten everything you know about me as a person, all of the little things you used to take for granted..."
"I..." She stuttered, not understanding in the least what he was saying and starting to get a bit scared, "Mr Saxon, I'm not sure what you-"
"Harry. Now can you remember, Donna sweetheart, how long I held the title of Prime Minister for?"
Of course she did, how could she forget that story? "Three days, wasn't it?"
"Two and a half." he corrected her sadly, "Not a very long time, that, eh? But do you know why, Donna?"
This was possibly one of the strangest conversation she had ever had. Still, she thought back to the countless articles and gossip columns she had read related to the matter, "They said... It was reported that after seeing the president assassinated, the stress got too much for you, that you had, well... a bit of a breakdown and you couldn't cope. They said you resigned."
"They were wrong." he said bluntly, taking her slightly by surprise, "Everything they wrote, none of it was in the least bit true. No, there was one very simple reason I lost the title, in fact it was one person. Have you ever heard of a man named the Doctor?"
"No." Donna shook her head, "But it sounds a bit pretentious, calling yourself something like that."
He smiled, and however inappropriate it was, she remembered just how much of a crush she'd had on him when he'd been in the media spotlight.
"Exactly what I thought. But more importantly, this man deliberately had me removed from the job. You remember the day it happened, we humans were supposed to make first contact with an alien race called the Toclafane?"
"Yeah, I do." She replied, "I remember how dissapointed I was, actually - I always thought the idea of aliens was quite fascinating."
"I know you did." Saxon said quietly, the sad, almost mournful look returning to his face, "You always were one for adventure, Donna Noble... You see, this man, this pretentious Doctor, has a real vendetta against me, a hatred that I can't even begin to explain. He did all this, had me removed from office just to thwart my plans to further the human race and to get to me."
"That's all very well," Donna started, and he raised his eyebrows, "I mean, it's not very well, he does sound like an awful person, but... I still don't understand what this has got to do with me - why are you here?"
"Like I said, the Doctor hates me. He would go to any lengths to hurt me, and I mean any lengths." He leaned in closer to her, sending shivers down Donna's spine as he continued heartfeltedly, "Like, for example... Wiping the memories of the woman I love so she has no recollection of us ever meeting."
Her eyes widened and she sat back in her seat, only managing an astounded whisper: "What?"
"I know how strange this must sound to you," He assured her hurriedly, "But Donna, you have to believe me when I tell you that we met, very shortly after I lost my job, and we were together from that time onwards. You changed my world completely, helped me pick up the pieces after I lost everything. I proposed to you, Donna, and you don't know how happy I was when you said yes... And then just two weeks ago, the Doctor found me again. Like I said, I can't begin to tell you how much he hates me... And for that reason, he did this to you. He took away your memories of me, all the time we've had together, and it's broken my heart."
She had no idea what to say, how to respond to what he had said. This was just so ridiculous, and so she remained frozen in her seat. Surely it was impossible that Saxon could be telling the truth, anyone with common sense could see that... But then, there was the tiny part of her, the part at the back of her mind that was creeping into prominence, the voice that asked herself what exactly had happened to her during the past year of her life. And the terrifying thing was, she couldn't answer that question.
"I need you to believe me." Saxon said in response to her stunned silence, his voice serious and intense, "You know yourself that you're missing a year's worth of memories, Donna, that you've spent hours wracking your brains, trying desperately to figure out what happened to you in those missing months. Well I'm the answer to that. I am what happened to you, Donna, I was your life, and the Doctor is the man responsible for taking all of that away."
He had been looking into her eyes this entire time, his deep gaze almost hypnotising, it was so powerful. But suddenly, it all became too much for her, the confusion took over and Donna could bear it no longer. She wrenched her gaze from his, leaping out of her seat suddenly as though it was burning hot.
"You're wrong." She told him, feeling sick and so disorientated, "You're wrong and you're mad." And then, in a matter of seconds, she hastily threw a few coins down onto the table for the tea she hadn't touched and stumbled blindly out of the cafe, simply needing to get as far away from him as possible as soon as she could.
And it was all because, as much as she wanted to pass him off as insane, Harry Saxon's story made more sense to her than anything she'd heard in a long time.
42p. She had left forty two pence on the table, possibly using the strangest combination of coins he had ever seen, to pay for a two pound drink. Cheeky cow. But god, the Master thought, was she an easy cow to lie to. To his surprise, she had been easier to convince than he thought - even if she didn't entirely believe him yet, he had planted the seed now, and knew that before long he would have her completely fooled.
Grinning at his success, he yawned, stretching his arms out before he noticed a waitress watching him with an odd expression on her face. Quickly, he turned on the charming smile like a switch, stood up, gestured to the change Donna had left on the table, mouthed "Vote Saxon" at her across the room, winked, and then hurriedly walked out of the cafe despite the fact that he had paid not nearly enough. Ah well, so he wouldn't be going back there in a hurry.
Like it mattered anyway. The Master had far more pressing things to do... Tracking down ex-boyfriends of one Donna Noble, for example - it wouldn't take much threatening before they'd be spilling their beans about her private life and all the tiny details about her that he knew would be essential in convincing her they were a couple.
This was just too easy.
That night, Donna didn't sleep a wink. How could she, when Saxon's words were still ringing in her ears, when her mind was still refusing to drop it? Over and over again, she told herself not to be ridiculous, that of course he was lying to her - but over and over again, she couldn't help but counteract that. What had happened to her in the last year then, if his claims were untrue? How else could twelve months have been completely erased from her mind?
She had no idea. All she knew was that she had to try and forget this, had to continue on with her life as normal, otherwise she would go completely insane. And so, the next morning, she got out of bed as usual for work, got ready and left the house promptly at 8:15 - only to find none other than Harold Saxon waiting just across the road.
Immediately, he darted across, a pleading look on his face, and Donna ignored him.
"Please, Donna," He began straight away, "Please, I know how ridiculous I sound but you have to believe me. I need you back, sweetheeart, I can't live without you!"
She had kept a straight face, just kept on walking, but at this point she snapped, stopping dead and turning to face him.
"You never had me!" She hissed, her eyes blazing, "How can you say you want me back when I don't knowyou? Is someone paying you to do this to me? Is it that bloody Nerys, 'cos I swear to god if you are doing this for her then I am gonna rip your-"
"I'm not working for anyone!" He insisted, a slight smile playing on his lips, "I wouldn't dare do that to you, Donna, not when I know what a temper you've got."
"But how do you know about my temper?" She shrieked in exasperation, "I. Don't. Know. You."
"But you do!"
"Right then." She said, straight laced, standing completely still in front of him and crossing her arms, "Prove it. You prove that you know so much about me."
"I know that your birthday is on May the 14th."
"Is that the best you've got?" Donna almost laughed, "Hell, anyone could find that out, surely you don't really expect-"
"Your birthday is May 14th, but usually you don't like to make a big deal out of it. One of the worst years was when your ex-boyfriend Alex threw you a massive surprise party even though you'd told him you really didn't want it, you got the shock of your life and didn't enjoy it at all. You'd always much rather just stay in and have a nice quiet evening, with the people you love, have a laugh and talk about the things that really matter to you. Which is exactly what the two of us did, on your 36th last year."
That shut her up, her mouth now completely dry. All she could manage was a tart: "Go on."
"Like I said, we stayed in, had a nice meal and watched Back To The Future, because that's your real favourite film even if you always insist that it's Titanic to everyone else. You find it fascinating, even if you won't admit it. And it's the same with music, you may memorise the Top 20 every week for show, but secretly it's the '80s classics you love - Simple Minds, Duran Duran and A-Ha. The first album you ever bought was Now That's What I Call Music when you were eleven years old, your very first word was "Oi!" and you've certainly used it a lot ever since. You have one cup of coffee when you first wake up in the morning, other than that you prefer tea during the day with milk and one sugar."
Donna was completely stunned, her eyes filling up and her hands beginning to shake as he came out with more and more, and when finally Harry stopped, there were two things that she desperately wanted to do next. One was to burst into tears. And the other was to throw her arms around him and never let go.
Wisely, she did neither, instead just looking pleadingly into his eyes and asking:
"How... How can you...?"
"Because, Donna," he spoke quietly and honestly, taking hold of both her hands gently. And she didn't pull them away.
"Because I know you... I love you. And all I ask is that you give me the chance to prove it. One evening, one date. And if you still don't believe me, then I promise you'll never have to see me again."
There were a few seconds silence, where she thought long and hard about this, so many thoughts swirling around her brain... And then, probably against her better judgement, she nodded.
"One date." Harry said with a smile, gently squeezing her hands, "And I promise it'll be a night to remember." She nodded again, managing a tiny smile this time.
"I'll ring you." He said, and left it at that. He let go, and her hands felt strangely empty and cold...
"Wait!" She called desperately as he walked away from her, "I haven't given you my-"
"Donna." Harry said smoothly, "I've been engaged to be married to you for six months. Believe me, I have your telephone number."
And then he was gone.