A/N: bits of this actually happened in the episode but obviously other bits certainly didn't. Shame, really...

Part 3

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"Wow!" Donna cheered as she recognised the inside of the TARDIS and felt her welcoming presence.

"Wow indeed," the Doctor agreed. "Now let's get out of here." With a flick of a switch, they moved further away to get their breath back.

"Are we back in outer space?" she wondered. "Shame you can't take a photo for my granddad."

"How about I show you something spectacular?" he offered, excitedly turning a dial on the console.

"Had a drunk bloke say that to me once from a dark alley."

He frowned. "Really?" Perhaps he would go back in her timeline and deal with that drunk once they'd finished solving the problem of the Racnoss, he decided. "No, I mean something that is genuinely worth looking at."

"He seemed to think so too," she stated. "Come on then, I'll risk it. What do you want to show me? You're being very secretive about it."

Dashing across to the TARDIS doors, he threw them open with a flourish. "That."

Around them were numerous meteorites floating in space in a beautiful swirling mist.

"Oh!" she gasped in awe. "This is amazing. Where are we?"

"Shouldn't the question be: when are we?" he gloated. This, he considered, should be worth the pain of suppressing this information from her being able to detect it. "My spaceship is also a time machine. We've come back to the moment before the Earth was formed. So what do you think, Donna Noble?"

"If this is where you take a woman on a date that's not a date, you must be amazing to go out with. Look at that! There goes the Isle of Wight," she joked as a huge rock drifted by.

"Fancy seeing what comes next?" he proffered. "I can put it on fast forward," he continued when she agreed.

A few twiddles and prods of various things on the console soon had the outside universe moving like a coloured silent film. As they watched, a spaceship looking like a demented Christmas tree star came into view; and it progressed to act like a magnet for all the floating debris around them.

"Whose ship is that?" she asked.

"That is a Racnoss ship. It is literally the centre of the Earth," the Doctor reasoned. "No doubt the Empress has hid in it all these years."

"All that time waiting," Donna thought. "Puts waiting for the right man into perspective."

Hearing the tiredness in her voice, he slowly closed the doors. "Why don't you have a rest for a while, Donna?"

"Okay," she agreed on a reluctant sniff. "I'll stop bothering you for a while."

"No no no no! That's not what I'm saying," he clarified. "I'm tired too. It's been an emotional day. We can go lie down for a while and then start solving your problem when we're more refreshed."

She took that at face value. After all, what else could she do? It's not every day that you find out your fiancé has been planning on feeding you to an alien race because he thinks you are thicker than two short planks.

"You'd better not try anything," she warned him as he started to undress in his bedroom.

"Donna, how would I do that? There's only me here in person," he pointed out. "Not that I'm saying I would have such intentions, or anything. I offered to sleep with you, as your friend. Nothing else."

"Good. Glad we got that cleared up."

"But for the record," he continued, "if you were here, I would be holding your hand right now. We might even be acquainted enough by now for a hug."

She laughed, as he had hoped she would do. "I bet you say that to all the girls."

"Only to you," he schmoozed. "So come on," he encouraged as he plopped down onto the bed, resting his head back against the pillows, "tell me about yourself."

"Not much to tell," she dismissed. "What sort of thing do you want to know?"

"It would help if I knew what you look like," he reasoned.

"You mean the wedding dress won't be a dead giveaway, daft Martian," she teased. She could feel his response to deny being a Martian, so she continued, "Just look for an overweight ginger spinster."

"Ginger?" he queried, perking up. "I've always wanted to be ginger."

"You're weird," she muttered again. "I'll tell you what, if I get back into my body, I'll help you dye your hair totally ginger or add in some ginger highlights. How's that?"

"That could work," he agreed, with a nod of his head. "Even more reason to get you whole again."

"You're all heart," she scoffed.

"Two hearts, actually."

"Really?" She mentally shifted about a bit. "Oh yeah. I can hear them. I'd wondered what that was. Thought you had a bit of trouble with your plumbing."

Affronted, he remarked, "There is nothing wrong with my plumbing."

She knew he had been holding off using the bathroom, for her sake, so she suggested, "Let's not go there. Although… would my body be having problems like that?"

"Blimey! You like the hard questions, don't you? It's probably in stasis."

"I've asked the TARDIS if she knows where it is," she quietly confessed, "but all she said was that it was obvious." She then asked, "What are you doing?"

"I'm holding your hand," he sleepily answered, clasping his hands together. "Assuming, of course, you can feel it."

"I can," she mumbled. "Thanks." Then she allowed her mind to rest for a few moments; feeling contented.

~O~O~

When he woke up the Doctor realised that Donna was still resting, so he quickly used the bathroom facilities while he had the chance. Unfortunately, he wasn't quite fast enough.

"Oh my God!" she gasped in his head.

"It's just nature, Donna," he griped. "Look the other way for a second."

"But I can feel it," she whispered. "Sorry. I should know better but we're not even dating."

"Would it help matters if you pretended we are?" he wondered.

"And actually touch you like that? Not on the first date it wouldn't," she commented, aghast. "I've hardly known you five minutes."

"And yet you've already slept with me," he teased.

She immediately sagged her side of his body in punishment.

"Donna! Do you have to?" He rubbed his cheek despite narrowly missing the shower door this time. "I'm sorry. I know you aren't like that, even if Nerys hinted to me that you were."

"Yeah. The cow!" Donna exclaimed in anger. "Anyway, enough about her. Are we going body hunting?"

"Once I've washed and shaved first. Now please let me do that without any unnecessary violence and we can be even quicker about it."

"Alright," she agreed. "I've never shaved a man before. This'll be interesting."

He remained amused with her reactions, while he shaved, washed and preened; right up until he attempted to style his hair. "Donna, do you think you could stop playing with my fringe?"

"But it's so soft and sticky-uppy. Look! I can make it do this."

He glared at her via the mirror. "When you have stopped making me into a unicorn I would appreciate the ability to go and get dressed."

"Oh yeah," she meekly answered. "I'd forgotten about that it. Well, what are you waiting for? Get on with it."

There was a dramatic sigh from him in reply. One day he would understand human women, but apparently not today.

Once dressed and heading out into the main corridor, he proclaimed, "Right. Monitor." He hurriedly pressed buttons on the console. "We should be able to pinpoint anything with a single heartbeat."

"Wouldn't that show where all the rats and spiders are?" She mentally grimaced. "And I don't want to think about all the insects in here."

"No such creatures inside the TARDIS," he assured her, "she won't let them in. Nope, no sign of any parasites."

"Ooh, I am loving her more and more."

"Careful Donna. You're beginning to sound as though you want to stay."

There was no immediate comment to that. As much as she loved the TARDIS, she didn't want to dwell on the possibility of that being a necessity rather than a choice.

"A hah! There you are," he declared with glee. "I'll set my sonic to the correct signal and we'll find you in a jiffy.

"This is like being in the Marauders Map, and a bit awkward if I'm actually IN a jiffy bag," she joshed. "But at least it'd make cleaning up the murder scene easier."

"You've cheered up," he noted as he walked, sonic screwdriver held out in front of him like a beacon in the long corridor they were now in.

"No offence but living inside your head is a bit chaotic," she confessed. "Not that I'm not having fun being with you. But I just want to go home to my own body."

"I know," he agreed. "The signal seems to be in the next room along. I wonder what it is."

"Don't you know your own rooms?"

"No. Fun not knowing, isn't it?" He grinned broadly.

"Or completely bonkers," she mumbled. "The door is purple. I love that colour."

"Do you?" he queried, and turned the door handle. Inside, the light gradually came on.

"Oh, that sort of obvious. I can see what the TARDIS meant now," she noted, taking in the room.

It was filled with muted tones of purple, white and grey that matched each other perfectly. Donna had to admit that, given unlimited funds to furnish and decorate a bedroom, this was exactly what she would have chosen.

"Nice choice," she complimented the TARDIS, and gained a chime of gratitude in reply.

The Doctor's attention was evidently elsewhere. "Is that you?"

Before she could answer, he was moving towards the prone woman in a long white dress on the bed.

"Got many brides in here, have you?"

"No, one is enough." He then gasped, "Oh Donna!"

"I knew you would be more than stunned by the sight of me," she remarked when he stayed quiet. "I dunno. Lying there like a cheap version of Sleeping Beauty. Or in this case, more of a Zonked Out Bint."

He slowly reached out a hand to reverently touch her face and hair. "You're putting yourself down again. You look lovely."

"You're just saying that because I'm here in person, as it were. And don't look down my wedding dress at my enormous boobs. Bit hard to miss, I'm afraid. If I had the money, I'd get them reduced."

"Why?" he squeaked in shock. "There is nothing wrong with you as you are. Nothing at all."

"Says you," she disparaged. "I remember that teeny tiny top laying over the strut in the console room. Don't think I don't. The girl who wore that was much skinnier than I am, so your tastes follow the norm."

"The norm?" He scrunched his face up in disgust at the thought.

"Yeah," she sighed. "Men don't want fat birds like me. I thought I'd struck gold when Lance was interested in me. Seems I thought wrong."

"I can see I'm going to have to get stern with you," he stated. "Lance was wrong about you. Take no notice of him. He's been seduced by the idea of alien power. Although I'm still not quite sure why they needed you to be dosed with Huon particles."

She sighed in dejection. "Does it matter now?"

"Yes, it does. You are still in danger."

"That's comforting," she said to herself.

From his pocket he produced a small item and held it carefully between his fingers. "I'd better put this on your body before anyone else tries to steal you. Then again, the Empress of the Racnoss might also try to get you back."

"Can she do that?" she wondered. "What is it you're holding?"

"Yes, she can," he answered, lifting up her left hand. "This is a biodamp ring."

"Rub it in, why don't you," she griped. "And will it work?"

"We shall soon find out." He then placed it onto her wedding finger whilst cheekily stating the words, "With this ring I thee biodamp."

"For better for worse," she finished. "I think you're enjoying this far too much."

"I'm not….," he began to defend himself, but her body started to glow. "Oh hell! It hasn't worked. They've discovered us."

"I don't feel well at all," Donna faintly voiced. "All sort of…"

"Donna! Hold on, Donna!" he called out, grasping her limp body as she disappeared from his mind.

The whole of the TARDIS suddenly juddered around them.

~O~O~