Disclaimer: Nothing belongs to me, especially the Doctor – He just pops in for tea sometimes.

A/N: This is my first multi-chapter story (gasp!). I hope to have the succeeding chapters up soon.

Another Closing Time

Chapter 2

Closing time: Open all the doors and let you out into the world…

Closing time: Time for your to go out to the places you will be from.

I know who I want to take me home.

("Closing Time" – Semisonic)

"Donna," the Doctor called out. When there was no immediate response, he called out again, a little more stridently, "Donna!" Still receiving no answer, he shouted urgently, "DON-NA!"

Donna Noble emerged from the hallway into the control room, wiping her hands on the tea towel she had been using in the kitchen. The sound of the Doctor's voice calling out to her like this used to send her into a panic, and she would drop everything and race to him, expecting to see him trapped beneath the console, bleeding from an injury he'd done himself, or grappling with an alien on the TARDIS floor.

She soon learned.

Usually, it just meant he was bored and wanted her attention. Sometimes, he did need assistance, but generally it was neither life-threatening nor seriously time-sensitive. So, in response to his bellow, Donna merely finished washing up, put the dishes back in the cupboard, and then went to answer the call of the Wild Time Lord.

She found him standing in his shirtsleeves waist high in one of the maintenance bays under the console. He had tools and bits of machinery scattered around him, and was holding a contraption that looked like the offspring of a video game controller and a weather satellite, with a small keyboard attached to it. Wires of various colours were wrapped around him and his sonic screwdriver was held tightly in his teeth. How he managed to call out her name so clearly while his mouth was thusly occupied was a marvel to her.

She walked over to him and said, sweetly, "Did you call me?"

He looked up at her, relieved that she had finally answered his desperate summons. "Donna!" She reached out and removed the sonic from his mouth. "Thank goodness. Yes! I need your help."

"I assumed that. I actually had that figured out the first two times you called. The third bellow was completely unnecessary." She squatted down next to him, so that they were at eye level. "What do you need this time?"

The Doctor wasn't quite sure, but had a sneaking suspicion that he was being patronised. He thought about for a second or two, but then just shook his head and let it go. Twisting around so that he was facing her squarely, he said to her, "I need you to go over to the monitor and read me the initialization sequence."

Standing up, Donna walked over to the console and peered at the blinking readout. She looked at the screen, and then back at the Doctor. Sitting down on the pilot's seat, she crossed her arms and said to him, "Sorry. I can't do that."

The Doctor was stunned. He stared at his companion, his eyes wide and a little hurt. "Donna?" he asked. "Is something wrong? Are you mad at me again? What did I do this time? Whatever it is, I am really, really sorry." He implored her. "I need that sequence. If I let go of these wires, I'll have to rebuild the whole thing. Please?"

Donna let him ramble on a bit. It didn't do to give in to him too easily. Having him a little off balance sometimes kept things on a more equal footing between the two of them. Besides, she had a very good reason for not supplying him with the information he asked for.

"Doctor," she began slowly. "You haven't done anything wrong. I am not angry with you. I just can't do what you want me to, that's all."

"But why not? Why won't you help me?" he pouted.

She walked over to him, bent down and said sweetly, "I didn't say I wouldn't give you the information, Sunshine."

"What? Then, why? What?" he sputtered.

"What I said was, I can't give it to you. Do you want to know why?" He nodded, really apprehensive by this cool, calm Donna." "I'll tell you why. Because it's in bloody Gallifreyan! That's why, you prawn!"she barked at him. "And as pretty as the circles, squiggles, swooshes and dots are, I have no bloody idea what they say!" She swatted his arm with the wet tea towel for good measure.

He looked quite sheepish at this revelation. "Oops," he said quietly. "I forgot. I think better in Gallifreyan. It's easier than trying to translate everything into English in my head when I'm doing calculations and the lot." He looked at her with what he hoped was a sufficiently apologetic expression. "I'm really sorry, Donna. If you press the Atl, Shift, and E keys together, that should run the auto-translation protocol and re-send the information in English."

She glared at him for a few seconds. But she never could resist what she called the Time Puppy look. So she patted him lightly on the head, walked over to the console and tapped the keys as he had instructed. The screen flashed green and then, gradually, the colour faded and a sequence of letters, numbers and symbols appeared.

"Okay, Doctor," she said. "Are you ready?"

The Doctor adjusted his hold on the object, holding the wires with one hand and typing with the other, and said, "Go ahead. Read it to me slowly."

Donna peered at the screen and began, "2. 7. Q. N. 19. 37. 42. Zed." She stopped and looked over at him. "I can't make out these last two."

"What do they look like? Are they numbers or letters?"

"Letters, I think. But not English. One is an capital O with a bar in the middle of it. The other is kind of a wonky E."

The Doctor laughed. "Those are indeed letters, Donna. Greek alphabet. They're not part of the sequence, actually." He frowned.

"They're not?" she asked. "Then why are they there?"

"Those are the Greek letters Theta and Sigma," he replied as if that explained everything.

"Well, what do they mean?"

He didn't answer right away. When he finally spoke, he was subdued. "That's my name."

"What?" She stared at him, startled.

"Well, not exactly my name. I mean, not my real, Gallifreyan name." He sighed. "That was the name I used at the Academy." He frowned again. "I must have 'signed' those calculations when I was preparing the sequence. I used to do that back then, to safeguard my work. Cadets were always stealing each other's homework and taking credit. They were a devious lot," he said, a troubled, faraway look in his eye.

Donna knew the Doctor well enough by this time to know that this was a subject that he was not at all comfortable talking about. He had a lot of secrets, and lifetimes full of memories and experiences than he could not or would not share. She respected his privacy and just hoped that, some day, their friendship would grow to a point where he no longer felt he had to hide anything from her.

Purposefully changing the subject, she asked, "So. Time Boy. Did you get what you needed? Are you finished with ... What is that thing anyway?"

Climbing out of the hole in the TARDIS floor, he detached the keyboard from the device he held, carefully removing the wires leading from it and disentangling himself. "This, my dear Donna, is a biothermal multiwave resonance inhibitor," he said proudly.

"Nice," she said, unimpressed. "What's it do?"

"Well, the biothermal regulators produce a damping field by manipulating the frequency of the modulator brackets in the …. Donna, you've got that face again," he said, worry colouring his voice.

She looked at him, her lips drawn tightly together. "And just what face might that be?"

Taking a step away from her, he answered, "The one that tells me that I'm babbling on and if I don't get to the point, you're going to smack me again. And by the way, that tea towel hurt!" He rubbed his upper arm for emphasis.

Donna couldn't help but laugh at his pained expression. Walking over to him, she put her hand on his shoulder and said, "I'm sorry, Doctor. So, what's this biothermal multiwhatsits for?"

He grinned back at her. He never could stay mad at his Donna for long. Taking her hand and leading her over to the console, he swung the monitor around. "Hold this," he said, handing her the inhibitor. Pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose, his long fingers flew over the keyboard. After a few seconds, he shouted, "Aha! There ! You see?"

Donna looked at the monitor and then at the Doctor. "What are those?" she asked. "They kinda look like the Cornish pixies from that Harry Potter movie!"

"Chamber of Secrets! Yeah! Oh, I loved Gilderoy Lockhart. He was such a balmy git. You know, I've often thought that old J. K. might have been bit more familiar with alien life forms than she let on." Donna just stared at him, her fingers tapping impatiently on the console.

"Right. Anyway," he continued, looking back at the monitor. "Those are actually a species called the Ondouri. Their home planet of Ondo is in the Ring Nebula in the constellation of Lyra. The Ondouri are generally a peaceful species but they have one rather dangerous and distasteful trait." He pointed to the image on the screen. "See there? What looks like little pinpoints on their necks?"

Donna strained her eyes, peering at the monitor. "I think so. What are they?"

"Salivary glands. Twelve of them."

"So?"

"Well," the Doctor began, rubbing the back of his neck, as he did when he was wasn't sure what to say. "The Ondo, um, well, secrete a thick gelatinous, um, substance through these, er, glands, that, well…"

"Oh, just spit it out!" she cried, exasperated.

"Exactly! Only, their chemistry is such that the fluid is highly corrosive."

Donna glared at him and was about to smack him for talking balmy again, when what he said fully registered, and she started to laugh. "Spit? You're telling me they have acid spit?"

"Yep," he replied, popping the "p". It'll eat through most any organic matter. So you can see how truly dangerous it could be to a populated planet. Not to mention, disgusting."

"And we're worried about them, why?"

"Well," he said. "The TARDIS noticed an Ondouri spacecraft a few days ago and I have been monitoring them, hoping they were just taking a joyride through the galaxy." He shook his head. "Nothing's ever that easy. Earlier, I plotted their trajectory and realized…."

"They're headed for Earth," Donna finished his thought for him.

He grinned at her. "Got it in one. London, in fact."

"What are they doing here?"

"I'm not really sure. I've sent a signal to the Ondouri High Council."

"So? What're you waiting for? Get us back to Earth and let's get those little blighters! Nobody spits acid on my planet!"

"Oh, Donna!" he exclaimed, hugging her tightly. "You are brilliant, you are!" He spun dials and flipped switches, and instructed her on which levers to pull, and they were soon on their way. In no time, the TARDIS made its usual grinding noises and they landed, on a back street somewhere in London.

Putting on his suit jacket, the Doctor shoved various items in his deceptively spacious pockets. Donna held the inhibitor and ran her finger over its buttons, lost in thought. Noticing how quiet she was, he picked up his long brown coat and walked over to her.

"Donna?" he asked. "Is everything okay?"

She just kept looking at the device in her hand. "I'm fine," she said. "Just thinking." She handed him the inhibitor and they walked over to the door. Stopping him before he could open it, she put her hand on his arm and said, "Doctor, I think it's time you teach me Gallifreyan."

This caught him completely off guard. "Donna," he began slowly, "what brought this on?"

"I just think I ought to know."

He sighed. "I've told you. It's almost impossible for humans to learn."

" 'The human larynx isn't built for some Gallifreyan inflections'. Yes, I know all that. But can you at least teach me to read it? Even if I can't speak it well, or at all, at least I could be more helpful with your work. Not to mention, being able to read the bloody labels in the med-bay. Need I remind you of the iodine incident?"

The Doctor shuddered. "I see your point. And actually, that really is a good idea." The room was suddenly filled with a beautiful melody. He grinned. "Looks like the old girl agrees with you." He stroked the console lightly. "Okay, once we get these pesky Ondouri sorted, we'll start your lessons." Handing Donna a butterfly net, he threw open the TARDIS doors, grabbed her hand and shouted, "Allons-y!"

Later that night, the two were running down an alley in pursuit of the remaining two Ondouri. The Doctor held the butterfly net out in front of him like a lance, and the pack on his back was full of squirming lumps. Donna gripped the inhibitor with both hands and shouted at him, "I really think you ought to be doing this!"

He called back to her over his shoulder, "You're doing fine. Just hold it steady. I think I have them cornered over behind that rubbish bin. Which way is the biothermal grid pointing?"

Holding out the device, she answered, "About a half a metre to your left. Wait. It's moving. Back to the right. Blimey, this thing is bouncing back and forth."

"I was afraid of that," the Doctor grumbled. "I think they've split up. Okay, here's what we're going to have to do. You stand over at the right side of the bin and I'll flush one of them out. When I do, you use the inhibitor. Press the red button as quickly as you can. Hopefully, that'll slow down its forward motion long enough for you to grab it and hold it. I'll try to catch the other one in the net. Oh, and here," he said, rummaging around in his coat pocket and producing a heavy chain mail glove. "Can't have you getting spit on, now can we?" He grinned at her.

Donna snatched the glove out of his hand and put it on, balancing the inhibitor in the other hand. The Doctor approached the bin and began to sweep the net behind, under and around the container. Skittering noises could be heard along with a guttural muttering.

Suddenly, from the right side of the bin, a creature about a metre tall came darting out and scuttling along the alley wall. The Doctor raced to the left side of the bin and shouted at Donna, "The red button! Point at it and hit the red button!"

Her hands shaking a bit, she did as she was instructed. The creature's movement slowed almost to a crawl, and she reached out with the gloved hand and caught it by the scruff of its neck, not unlike the way one catches a kitten. The Doctor, meanwhile, had cornered the other Ondouri and was trying to scoop it up with his net, but without much success.

"Blimey, this bugger's quick!" he exclaimed, and he danced from side to side.

Donna walked over, still holding the now squealing Ondouri, and stood behind the Doctor. As soon as the creature ventured out in the open, she pressed the red button firmly, immediately arresting its escape. The Doctor's head whipped around, saw Donna with the inhibitor, and grinned from ear to ear.

He ran over and grabbed the creature. Taking the pack from his back, he stuffed the semi-immobile Ondouri inside, and motioned to her to do the same. When all of the creatures were secured in the pack, Donna handed him back the device and the glove, and leaned against the alley wall.

"So, now what?" she asked. "What do we do with them?"

The Doctor put the pack down and reached again into his voluminous coat pocket. Pulling out a small disc, he looked over at Donna and explained, "I've already contacted the Ondouri High Council. Turns out I was right. These little guys are just a group of rebellious teenagers riding around in a "borrowed" shuttle! The Council was very apologetic and assured me that they would be by very shortly to pick them up. This," he said, holding up the disc, "is a homing beacon programmed for the teleportation device on the Ondouri ship. They'll be able to transport the blighters, pack and all, from space. I told them to come in around 3 am Earth time. Attract less attention that way."

He attached the disc to the outside of the pack and walked back to the bin, shoving the pack behind it. "Oi!" Donna exclaimed. "You can't just leave them there. What's to stop someone from just nicking the bag?"

"Ah," the Doctor said, with a grin. "Built in perception filter. Won't even notice it's there. Now, come on. We've done a good bit of work tonight. Should be proud of ourselves." He looked up at the sky, which had become increasingly overcast as the evening progressed. "I don't like the look of those clouds. Better head back to the TARDIS."

They walked out of the alley and down another side street. Suddenly, the Doctor stopped, raised his head, and looked around manically. "Do you smell that?" he asked.

"What?" she sighed. "I don't smell anything."

"Superior Time Lord olfactory receptors," he replied, touching the side of his nose.

"Crikey. I just want to go home. Is it more aliens?"

He sniffed again. "No. Chips! I smell chips!" He giggled and turned to her. "I'm hungry! Are you hungry? Chasing aliens is hungry work, don't you agree? I'd really like some chips!"

Donna couldn't help it. She laughed out loud. He really was such a child sometimes. "Sure," she replied. "Why not?"

His face broke out in the widest grin and he threw his arm across her shoulder, pulling her to him. "That's what I like about you, Donna Noble. You understand priorities."

At that moment, the first raindrops began to fall. Hand in hand, they hurried down the street, guided by the Doctor's superior receptors, and turned onto another, smaller side street. The rain began to fall in earnest. Dragging Donna with him, he raced down the street and threw open the door of a small pub. Laughing, they shook the water from their hair and looked around.

It wasn't very crowded, so the Doctor motioned to Donna to go sit at one of the open booths, while he went to the bar to place their order. She took off her jacket and hung it over the back of the booth. A few minutes later, the Doctor returned, a pint of brown ale in one hand and a frothy, fruity concoction in the other. Setting the glasses down, he took off his coat and slide into the booth across from her.

"Can you believe it?" he exclaimed, his eyes sparkling. "They make banana daiquiris! A tiny place like this!" Donna reached out and picked up the pint, watching with amusement as the Doctor raised the other glass to his lips and sipped. The look on his face was priceless, his eyes closed, his lips turned up in a euphoric grin. Donna stifled the urge to laugh and took a sip of her ale.

He put his glass down carefully, as if it were a precious object. Donna," he said solemnly. "That is, without a doubt, the most amazing thing I have ever tasted. You have to try one."

"I'll just stick to good old-fashioned ale, thank you very much. Never been much for drinks with fruit in them."

"You don't know what you're missing. Did you know? I invented the banana daiquiri in the 18th Century! At a party with Madame de Pompadour," he said proudly, continuing to sip his drink.

"Of course you did," Donna replied, clearly humouring him. At that moment, the barman came over with a large plate of chips. Donna looked up as he set them down on the table, and stared. "You're...Donny, right?"

The barman looked over at her and smiled. "Hiya, Miss. Good to see ya again."

"You too," she said, smiling.

"I haven't seen John here in a long while. You?"

"No, not since that night."

"Well, if ya do, tell 'im the old gang was askin' about 'im."

"I will," she promised.

The barman went back to the bar and Donna took a long sip of her ale, her brow knotted.

The Doctor looked at her closely. "Is something wrong?" he asked, reaching out and placing his hand on hers.

The touch of his hand brought her back to the present and out of her thoughts. She squeezed his hand and said, "Oh, it's nothing. I just ... well, I've been here before."

"Really? Here? When?" he asked, interested and a little concerned.

Donna pulled her hand back and picked up a chip. "Oh, it was not too long after I first met you. You know, the wedding?" She bit into the chip and chewed a few seconds. "It's funny. It was raining that night too," she said thoughtfully.

Helping himself, he said, between bites, "How did you end up in here? Doesn't seem like the kind of place you'd go to."

"Oh, it wasn't intentional. I got lost coming back from a job interview. The weather was beastly, so I just popped into the closest open door." She ate another chip and continued. "I met the most interesting bloke that night. He bought me some really good Scotch and I beat him at pool. Ended up telling him all about Lance and the Racnoss, and getting kidnapped, and the particles."

The Doctor almost choked on his daiquiri. Taking a deep breath, he said quietly, "You told a total stranger about the Racnoss? Donna, what were you thinking? What did he say?"

"Oh, don't get all Time Lord huffy at me," she snapped. "It was perfectly fine. I told him about you too. How you saved me and destroyed the Empress." She sipped some more of her ale.

The Doctor, at this point, was practically apoplectic. "You told him about me?"

She stared at him like he had grown a second head. "What are you going on about? John would never say anything. He was nice to me. Said he believed me, and didn't make me feel like I was a nutter. When I told him how daft I'd been, not coming with you the first time, he told me to find you and make you take me back." She laughed at the memory. "He said, if you gave me any grief, I was to tell you that John Smith said to stop being a stupid prat! Luckily, I didn't have to; you let me come all on your own." She took his hand back and rubbed her thumb across his knuckles.

Something in Donna's story struck a chord with the Doctor. Slowly putting down the chips in his hand, he sat back and breathed deeply. "Tell me about this John Smith," he asked.

Donna stared at him, intending to make a crack about nosy spacemen, but his expression stopped that thought in its tracks. "Well," she began. "He was tall, about your height. Not so skinny," she smirked. "Let's see. He had really nice blue eyes, but the biggest ears I've seen. He said he was a troubleshooter. Oh, and he sounded like he was from the North somewhere. A working class kinda bloke. Had this great leather jacket."

She watched the Doctor's reaction, and was becoming uneasy at his silence. "Doctor? I know this is going to sound balmy, but there was something in his eyes. I just felt that I could trust him. That it was safe to tell him." She turned away from him and said, very quietly, looking down at her hands, "His eyes. They reminded me of you."

Seeing how upset Donna was becoming, the Doctor shook himself mentally and decided to let it go for the moment. Picking up his chips again, he smiled at her and said, "Sounds like a fine chap. Doesn't seem to have caused any disturbance in the time-space continuum. Just, be careful who you pick up in a pub next time!"

He ducked as Donna threw a chip at his head, and missed. The awkward moment passed, and they sat in the booth eating chips, drinking their drinks, and talking about nothing important, until the barman announced "last call". They walked out of the pub and the Doctor noticed, for the first time, the sign. Something stirred in his memory but he put it aside for later.

Walking arm in arm back to the TARDIS, he unlocked the door and they entered the control room. By habit, Donna ran her hand over one of the coral struts in a gesture of greeting. The ship crooned her "welcome home" to the pair. Throwing his coat in its usual place, the Doctor went over to the console and set about putting the ship into the Vortex to drift for a while.

Donna walked over to the Doctor and, putting her hand on his arm, said, "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have run my mouth like that. I'm so stupid sometimes.."

He pulled her into a tight hug and said, "No, you're not. You're brilliant. How many times to I have to say that? Besides, you have nothing to apologize for. I shouldn't have questioned your judgment. Good work today, by the way," he praised her, because she deserved it, but also to divert them from the former train of thought.

Donna blushed at his words and hugged him back. "Thank you." She stepped out of his arms and sighed. "Crikey, but I am knackered. I think I'll go to bed. Good night, Doctor."

"Sweet dreams, Donna."

As soon as he was sure she was out of voice range, he turned back to the console and demanded, "Okay. What do you know about Donna meeting a John Smith?" The ship responded with an indistinct sound. "Oh, come on. Don't give me that. I know you keep excellent records. I want to know."

He paced around the control room. "Why didn't I remember meeting her before? I definitely would have remembered 'The Weeping Angel'! Think. Think!" he growled, pounding the heel of his hands on his forehead. The TARDIS sang a soft melody. The Doctor looked up, startled.

"Of course," he said softly. "He knew I shouldn't remember meeting her. He had you erase the memory. Smart man." The ship sang again. "No, I'm sure he didn't want to. Who would? Losing the memory of our Donna? A tragedy for sure. And to do it voluntarily? I'm not sureI could." He felt a pang of sorrow for the man he used to be.

A third time the TARDIS sang to the Doctor. He stopped pacing and gaped. Putting his hand on a strut, he smiled and cried, "You did what? You brilliant, brilliant girl!" He kissed the coral. She crooned again softly. His eyes misted and he whispered, "Yes. Of course I want it!" He ran to his bedroom and threw himself on the bed. Smiling at the ceiling, awash with the stars of Gallifrey, he murmured to his ship, "Go on, old girl. Bring her back to me."

He closed his eyes, and the TARDIS sang, returning the memory of Donna to her Doctor.