[ O3 / ? ] prompt: stars

hahalookit'sanotheroneIhate. my friend just got admitted to the hospital so look at me being distracted and actually not wanting to write. orz ; could do better than 1k, I guess, but at least it's something should I not manage to get in more today.
if someone could get some enjoyment out of this one at all, that would be fab, because I really can't. ; n;

NORTH STAR
[ tenth / donna / very vague mentions of rose ]

It's clear out, and it's cold. You'd think it's nothing grand when there's cat people and talking rhinos and all sorts of beeping robots and a floating head or two out there, but maybe it's exactly that sheer amount of ordinary that makes him love this place so much.

The TARDIS stands upon a hill, and she frowns a little, arms clasped around herself. " Doctor, where is this? "
He smiles – perhaps a little too satisfied, because it doesn't get her to do the same back. " Home. "
A short pause.
" Well, home for you. "
Same short pause.
" Well, same planet. "
Slightly more pensive pause.
" … Well, might actually not even be the same time of the year or the Earth or the time … didn't really check that. " He notices her glower, and bashfully thumbs over his shoulder. " You … want me to go check? "
" Why are we here?! " That tone means she's not happy. " We only ever drop off here if there's some huge calamity or when I've been away for long, and I've visited my place just the other day so does this mean we're going to have to beat your little outer space friends again in the middle of the night because I can tell you mister I am not - "
" No, we're n - "
" Then what?! " This is escalating in the sort of look that makes him wish he was indeed facing half an army of Cybermen instead. Right when when he's about to try and temper her levels of anger to semi – acceptable again, however, she suddenly goes quiet. " Is this - … Can I … not come after all? … If it's something I did, Doctor, then I - ! "
" Oh, no, no no no! " The speed he had intended to dart off with is now used to quickly and reassuringly take her by the shoulders, almost complete with little wake – up shake. " No, Donna. Not that. I wouldn't do that. Don't worry. Ever. "
" … Then what? " She is now all non-comprehending wide eyes with crinkled brows above them.
He smiles again, still without return, then turns her and looks up. " Donna Noble, do you know which ones you've already been to? "

She then spends literally minutes pattering across the grass they've parked on, head back and occasionally laughing.
" I don't know! " She finally gives in, a very un – Donna – like thing to do, as she comes breezing back to him. " I don't know, there are so many! … And you? "
" Me? " He cants his head, hands in his pockets.
" Where have you been? " She joins his side. " All of them? "
He laughs a little. " Not all of them. Lots, though. "
His answer is momentarily satisfactory, as she says nothing – but then she points. " Spaceman. The little one. The cozy one. Between the two biggers. Can we go there? "

It's the first time he himself frowns since looking up at all the stars.
" … It's gone. " He first mentally offers apologies to the far – off dead galaxy, and then to her. " I'm sorry, Donna. "
She does that little thing she always does when she is very shocked or scared: lightly grabbing at his sleeve. " … But you have a time travel box. Couldn't we? … "
" Fixed point. " They have been at Pompeii already. There is no further explanation needed.
Heavy quiet also isn't needed – in fact, it is entirely unwanted – but it ensues anyway. He hears the universe louder than he ever does, and he hears most of it cry, yet even closer, next to him, he hears her kind soul mourn the long dead she just discovered.
" … Why is it still there? "
There's no real time for scientific explanations, or there is, but it is not the time. " It's far away. The light sometimes doesn't reach you until billions of years later. It's like one big, burning memory. "
" That's what memories look like? "

It's not what he meant. In fact, it's something he hasn't even considered before. They are both in wonder: she again at the sky above her as she lets go and steps away, he at her and her compassion, her refusal to watch the nanny fall, her pleads to save one family at least, her entire understanding of the Ood within just seconds – half of everything she said, and now this, here, too.
" Doctor. " She returns to him. " … I know it hurt, losing her. But look at it. Isn't she still pretty, too? "

There was no specific star that needed any pointing at. They were all brilliant and shining, even amidst the unfortunate dark circling around them.
Perhaps, in the end, he figures, it's the hurt that makes her gleam so brightly.

Or it did, at least.

" Donna. " He mirrors her addressing him, but he is so much more demure, so much less reassuring, so many times more scared. " … What if they start to flicker? What if they're not going out, but they still flicker and fade because some other one is growing and outshining them? "
It is normally his job to grin at the silliness of people, but now she is the one smiling, hands a little below his shoulders. " What are you even talking about, Martian? That can't happen in a brain that big. Don't worry. It can't. You save the worlds, not lose them. Not with you around. " In a zip, she's fixed his tie, and steps back. " Just light them up a bit again. You can do that. Don't you always? " He doesn't know why she wanders back, but before he can say something, she's halfway into the TARDIS again. " Just do me a bit of a favor. I'm not your Ursa Major, but don't let me go out. "

There are things he wants to tell her, but she already shuts the door, and he's robbed of the vision of Aurora Borealis at Heath Mynd.