Chapter 3: What I Always Wanted


Jack looked as though he'd been slapped. "What?"

The Doctor gasped loudly and surged forward several steps.

"I'm sorry." She tilted her head, looking at Jack apologetically.

"But..." He seemed at a loss for words. "You told me... Why..." His eyes began to water. "Why would you lie to me about something like this? Did our night of lovemaking mean nothing to you?"

"Of course it did, Jack. You know that night was one of the most magical nights of my life."

The Doctor made a strangled noise that might have been a sob.

"Then why?" Jack asked, his voice choked with emotion.

"I never said it was your baby. The Doctor told you it was." She gestured up at the Time Lord, who was doing a good impersonation of a fish. "I never told you it was yours."

The Doctor recovered enough to stammer, "But—But you told me..."

She sighed. "No, I didn't. You assumed it was Jack's all on your own, and then stormed off to call him before I could say anything."

The Doctor bounded forward eagerly, falling to his knees beside her. "So it is mine, then?" the Doctor asked, hope shining in his eyes.

She shook her head sadly. "I'm sorry."

The Doctor looked crushed. "Well... Whose is it, then? If it's not mine, and it's not Jack's?"

Donna sighed. "This grating's hurting my knees," she said, looking down at the floor and shifting to push herself up. The Doctor leapt up and beat her to it, holding out his hands and pulling her carefully to her feet.

"Thanks," she said, moving across to the jump seat and sinking gratefully into it. The Doctor followed her over, sitting down beside her. Jack sat on her other side.

After a moment of silence the Doctor prompted, "So..."

Donna looked up at him with slightly widened eyes. " 'So', what?"

"So, who's the father, then?" The Doctor asked, peering at her intently.

She turned to find Jack peering back at her just as intently. Sighing, she looked down, rubbing a hand over her belly.

"It's not..." The Doctor trailed off, looking almost horrified at the idea. "It's not... the Master, is it?"

Donna looked back up at him, opening her mouth to reply, but he cut her off with:

"Oh God, it's the Master! I knew it!" He leapt up, running his hands frantically through his hair. "I knew it! I thought it was strange that he called to talk to you last week!"

"He's obsessed with me, I told him to sod off! He's always calling here, begging me to come see his new spaceship or something. I've told him that I'm not interested, but he keeps calling!"

Jack bounded up and moved across to the other side of the TARDIS, programming something into his wrist strap. "I'll get him here, he'll leave you alone by the time I'm through with him!"

Donna heaved herself off the seat after him. "No, don't get him here, don't—"

But it was too late, as the Master had just materialized in the console room, holding a spatula. He was wearing a very confused expression and an apron that said 'Kiss the Chef'. He blinked hard, looking around his surroundings and trying to adjust to the fact that he was now aboard the TARDIS despite having been making eggs four seconds ago.

"Hey!" Jack shouted at him. "You've been harassing Donna! Leave her alone, Pal!"

The Master's head snapped round at the sound of his voice. "What? Donna... What?"

Jack strode up to him and poked him forcefully in the chest. "You've been calling and harassing Donna. You're going to stop. Or else I'm going to put my foot so far up your ass that—"

"Donna!" the Master exclaimed as he caught sight of her standing by the console, his face lighting up. He rushed forward a step but stopped abruptly in surprise, his mouth falling open. "Donna... You're pregnant!"

She made a face at him. "Thanks for that. I hadn't noticed."

His face shone with joy as he rushed forward the rest of the way to her. "This is wonderful!"

"Excuse me?"

"I'm going to be a father!" he exclaimed with a wide grin. He moved to hug her and she didn't quite step back fast enough to avoid it.

"Oi, that's enough!" she said irritably, trying to push him off her.

Jack stepped forward and grabbed the Master by the arms, pulling him away from her. "The lady said that's enough!"

She straightened her shirt with a huff.

The Master seemed oblivious to Donna's irritation. "Donna, this is so wonderful! This is just what I always wanted!"

She sighed, putting a hand to her face. "Why does everyone keep doing this? Look," she said clearly, "it's not your baby."

The Master's face fell.

The Doctor and Jack both grinned hugely.

"But... But that beautiful night we spent together! The most wonderful night of my life! Six months, eight days, and fourteen hours ago!" He looked down at her stomach. "And you're..."

"Six months. Give or take. Yeah."

"...Are you sure it's not—"

"It's not."

"That night meant everything to me! Are you telling me it meant nothing to you? Nothing at all?"

"That's exactly what I'm telling you."

"But I'll never love anyone else the way I love you! What I feel for you is like nothing I've ever felt before! You make me whole, Donna! You fill that little hole in my heart that has always been there, and now that I've found you I'm never letting you go again!"

"I don't know what to tell you. I don't love you. You're all right in bed, yeah. It's still not your baby."

"Then... Then you made love to someone else?"

"Yeah. I wouldn't exactly call it 'making love' though."

The Doctor cut in. "What about all those times we made love?"

Donna looked over at him. "Yeah, all right, we made love plenty of times. I'm just saying, it's not always 'making love'. Sometimes it's just 'fucking'."

"Amen," Jack added.

"Whose is it? Is it his? Did you make fucking with him?" the Master gestured wildly at Jack.

"No, it's not his."

"Is it the Doctor's?" the Master cried, nearing tears as he imagined his wonderful Donna, the only woman he had ever truly loved, being pregnant with his arch-nemesis's child.

"It's not his either. Look, I don't have to have this conversation with you. It's not your baby, that's where your involvement ends, and the rest of this is none of your business."

"But... But I love you! I love you more than any of these clowns ever will!"

"I don't care!"

"Donna," the Master pleaded, "I don't care that it's not mine. That doesn't matter to me. I love you so much. You're all that matters to me in the world. I would do anything for you, Donna. Anything. I could be a good father to your baby, and I could give you everything you've ever wanted. Please, say you'll give me a chance to be the man I know I can be. This is what I want for us, truly, deep in my hearts."

"Are you serious?" she asked, incredulous at his determination.

"I have never been more serious about anything in my life." He got down on one knee and took her hand. "Donna Noble, will you marry me?"