A/N: the song mentioned can be found on youtube with the end bit /watch?v=av0QpbAXHq8

Part 3

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Things hadn't too badly for a first day, Donna considered. So far, she had unpacked, sorted out a few things in her work space, and had just considered nipping up to her room to collect a magazine to read before returning to her office to finish for the evening. There was a deckchair out on the patio with her name on it, waiting for her to go and relax in the last dregs of the late afternoon sunshine.

Halfway up to her room, she peeped out of the large window that overlooked the turn in an impressive set of stairs that led towards the back of the house. Movement by the garage area caught her attention, so she leaned against the balustrade and unashamedly looked through the ancient stained-glass patterning full of heraldic shields. Down below on the driveway, Rose stepped gracefully out of an expensive car, to be met by Dr Smith, who greeted her with a sweet kiss. Watching them, Donna scowled in disgust.

"Not his girlfriend," she sneered as anger swelled within. "In a pig's eye she isn't, the lying toad! Oh well," she sighed, turning from the window in order to return to her work area; all hope of relaxing now dashed. "At least he is just like every other bloke I've ever known. He'd lie through his back teeth if he thought it'd gain some sympathy from me. Luckily, he's just helped me pull myself together and see his intentions for what they really are. We all need being distracted from loneliness."

"Did you say something, Miss Noble?" the housekeeper asked as she passed by on the stairs.

"No, Mrs Kendal." Donna squirmed in embarrassment for a second. The housekeeper held a pile of clean bedlinen in her arms, and Donna gained the distinct impression that she was rather miffed at being interrupted from her duties. "Just talking to myself out loud, like you do."

Give her her due, Mrs Kendal managed to not roll her eyes in dismay, before giving Donna a nod of acknowledgement then carrying on as usual.

Now heading back to the office, Donna mentally told herself off for causing an unnecessary scene. Typical of her, really. Her mother would have found plenty to moan about.

From far off she could hear Rose's excited voice in the hallway, and envied the younger woman for actually having such a relationship in her life. Not everyone could be as lucky. Hadn't her own love life gone pear-shaped in next to no time? Still deep in her thoughts, she almost walked straight into a blonde middle-aged woman.

"Who are you?" she blurted out in surprise at the stranger.

The woman carefully looked Donna up and down, taking in every aspect of her tailored appearance. "I'm Jackie Tyler, Rose's mother. You must be the new PA."

Recognising the name, Donna immediately offered a hand to shake. "That's me. Guilty as charged. Hello, I'm Donna Noble."

"You sound like just what he needed," Jackie remarked as she let go of the proffered handshake. "My Rose has been having a terrible job keeping him in hand."

'Nope, not going to make the obvious joke,' Donna warned herself. "Has she?" she sympathetically wondered. "Well, I'm here now to get him in order. It's what I'm best at."

"So I hear," Jackie agreed. "Why don't we let them have a little alone time together, and you and me can compare notes?"

A possible friend and ally? This might be exactly what she needed. "I'd love to," Donna warmly replied.

She followed Jackie into a small parlour and sat down on a sofa in front of a coffee table when invited to.

"This used to be the morning room," Jackie supplied, looking round at the antique décor. "It's all rather posh for my tastes but they seem to like it."

"Do you live here too?" Donna queried. For all she knew the Moscow State Circus might live in the cellar as well. Nobody had informed her of any other inhabitants.

"No," Jackie drawled in disbelief. "They like to keep themselves to themselves. Like little lovebirds they are. Can't normally wait to get rid of me."

"Surely not," Donna readily sympathised. "If you don't mind me saying so, you don't look old enough to have a daughter Rose's age."

Jackie laughed with delight. "Thanks. I'll have to tell my Pete that. We recently celebrated my fortieth birthday, our twenty-second anniversary, and Rose turned twenty. It's all been happening lately."

'Twenty!' Donna shrieked in her mind. But Jackie soon pulled her from that horrified thought.

"It's nice having someone else my age being around for a change," Jackie remarked.

"Almost. I'm thirty-five," Donna informed her, trying to not bite back with the information. "Blimey, you married young!"

Jackie shrugged in explanation. "As I told my Rose, when you know someone's right for you, you know. Of course, I wasn't pleased about her going off with a man almost old enough to be her father but she don't see it that way. Pete and me were separated for a long time when she was growing up."

'Obviously,' Donna wanted to agree, since Jackie's accent didn't fit such a stately home for a start; but she kept wisely schtum on the subject. "Must be nice to have him back," she commented instead.

There was a nod. "What about you? Haven't you got someone?" Jackie asked, and leaned forward to hear the gossip.

"No, not anymore," Donna gladly supplied; reminding herself to go gender neutral. "Got rid of them as soon as I could. It all started out well, and then things began to go a bit violent. Suddenly it was all 'where have you been?', 'who did you talk to?', and accusations about cheating. I have never cheated on anyone in my life and don't intend to. If I have a problem in a relationship, I'm the type to air it long before it can slip into 'comfort from other people' territory; if you see what I mean." Jackie was nodding along compassionately, so Donna felt able to confess a great deal more. "It was airing my views that got me my first black eye; complaining about that, my split lip, and soon I had plenty more to moan about."

"I'm so sorry," Jackie comforted her with a brief touch on the hand. "At least you've got out."

"Yeah. That took a moonlight flit after a quashed police intervention, following a knife attack. After that I made sure I took some self-defence classes, I can tell you." She managed a half laugh but she was sure Jackie saw through it. "Never want to go back to that sort of relationship. Love is for other people. I used to be so strong, but they broke me for a long time. For that, I'll never forgive them."

"You've got the chance of a fresh start now," Jackie encouraged her. "Who knows, maybe on your travels with the Doctor you'll find a good-looking foreigner."

"I'm almost depending on it," Donna jokingly remarked. "Doesn't it worry you that he travels about so much?"

"Not really," Jackie admitted. "Rose needs to form a life that isn't dependent on him and have the chance to grow up a bit more without him and adult responsibilities breathing down her neck. I don't want her to go through being married with a kid by the age of twenty-one like I did. I'm not saying I didn't want her, or anything like that. She's my world. But if I could spare her that sort of hardship of being a single parent, I would."

Donna smiled at this wonderful, soft spoken, probably underrated woman. Why couldn't her own mother have been as supportive at that age? "And I'm sure you shall."

./-\.

Rose leaned towards the Doctor over the crisp white linen tablecloth of the dining room. She had considered taking him to a restaurant, but she wanted some alone time instead. She was eager to discuss her new acquisition for him before getting down to other matters. Hopefully, he would want to reward her in kind. "So, what did you think of your new assistant today? Will you be able to get on with her?"

"You mean Donna? Yes, we got on fine," he quickly confirmed. "She certainly knows her way around an office. In ten minutes flat, she started to reorganise me and had the printer working. First time that thing has worked for me in months."

Breathing a sigh of relief, Rose enthused, "Good. I'm glad it's going well. It's about time someone sorted you out. And at least we won't have her setting her cap at you like Martha did."

He raised a quizzical eyebrow. "Why are you so sure she won't fall for my charms?" he risked asking.

"Because she bats for the other side," Rose explained. "I'm more likely to catch her eye. Unless you can suddenly turn into a woman, of course." She smiled coquettishly.

"Oh." For some strange reason he felt his heart drop in disappointment. It wasn't as though he had formed an attachment yet or anything. Hadn't even had a chance to.

Wanting to tease him further, Rose commented, "I'm sure you can cope with not having someone fall all over you for a change."

"It'll be different," he answered before rational thought took over. "I mean... She is nothing like you." Nope, not at all.

"Good. Because that means I can get you all to myself," Rose schmoozed, tiptoeing her fingers across the tablecloth towards him.

He captured her hand within his, enjoying the warmth of her touch; needing the contact like a plant needs the sun. "Yes," he faintly agreed.

./-\.

Donna huddled further into her coat and gazed enviously towards the cars driving along the nearby A303. "It's a bit cold here," she commented.

"But totally worth it," the Doctor enthused, bending to look closer at a rock; and flashing her a broad grin. "Where else could you get such a sense of history?"

"From a book, in a nice warm library," she tartly replied as an icy gust of wind tried to invade her lower portions.

"Now where's the fun in that?" he wondered, standing up straight. "You were extremely keen to come to Stonehenge when we were in the car."

"That's before I knew it would be the equivalent of standing in a wind tunnel," she grumbled. "Seriously, why would a mythical creature want to hang about here for long? Within half an hour it'd decide it was better off at home, eating a Pot Noodle in front of Strictly."

"Donna! Oh ye of little faith," he admonished. "Can't you feel it? All the wonder and intrigue of this ancient place. For all we know, King Arthur and his knights sleep beneath these stones."

"Then let's leave them to finish their sleep in peace." She pressed a button on the headset they'd been given. "According to this, Arthur was never here," she commented, pointing to the recorded tour guide she'd been listening to. "And I still think that rock looks like a moray eel."

"Well…," he drawled, "I'll give you that. It does make you wonder if it was deliberate."

"That's not all I'm wondering," she muttered to herself as she bounced on the spot to keep warm.

A small group of children were lead pass them. As they politely apologised for being in the group's way, two stragglers at the back eyed them with wary interest. One was a boy aged about nine and next to him, grasping his hand, was a girl, aged about seven.

"It's a bit nippy here, isn't it," Donna remarked to them. "I hope you are dressed up all nice and warm."

The boy and girl both slightly shook their heads in answer, as though afraid to give voice to their feelings; and then started to run the few paces to catch up with their group. Almost immediately the girl tripped over her own feet and fell, heavily, onto the tarmac pathway.

"Jenny!" the boy cried in horror as a thin wail rose up from the girl's lips. "Are you alright?"

Jenny sniffed in a sob, trying to be brave, but her knee hurt like crazy and no doubt she would be later told off for delaying the others. "No," she despondently answered. "It's bleeding."

"Here, let me have a look," the Doctor offered, squatting down to both children sitting on the path.

"He's a doctor," Donna helpfully added when the two children looked to her for confirmation it was okay to let him look, "so he knows all about these things." She knelt too and offered Jenny a tissue to wipe her nose. "You'll soon feel better."

"Nothing's broken, it's just a graze that's bled a bit," the Doctor cheerily assured Jenny. "Do you have a plaster on you, Donna?"

"Yeah. Hang on a tick." Donna quickly rifled through the contents of her handbag and soon found a useful Band-Aid. "Here you go," she said as she placed it onto his palm. "Your knee will be as good as new in next to no time," she comforted Jenny, "especially as you've got your little friend here to help you."

"I'm her brother," the boy huffed impatiently. "Why does no one think I am?"

"Perhaps the fact you aren't blonde but she is, and you look nothing alike," the Doctor commented, finishing off his task with a flourish. "All done!" He then looked up at Donna's disgruntled face, and asked, "What?"

"A bit rude," she stage-whispered. "Apologise to him."

Astonished, he immediately complied. "Oh. Sorry, Jenny's brother."

"His name is Ben," Jenny petulantly pointed out.

"Okay. Sorry, Ben," the Doctor amended. "Did you hurt yourself? You've got a bit of a bruise there." He pointed towards the boy's neck.

Ben instantly pulled his coat tighter to hide it. "No, I haven't," he denied. "We'd better catch the others up, Jenny." He helped her onto her feet and then grasped her hand firmly. "Thank you, Mr and Mrs erm... We have to go."

A glazed expression appeared on their young faces.

"I'm not a 'Mrs'," Donna retorted, but the pair weren't listening any more. They were too busy hurrying away.

"They seem to think we're married," the Doctor quietly noted. "Never had that happen before."

"Me neither," she agreed. "That was all a bit weird at the end there," Donna commented to the Doctor in an equally low voice.

"Very," he agreed, keeping the two children in sight. "Rather unearthly. Come on. Let's follow them."

She placed a hand on his forearm to halt his movements. "You can't do that!" she hissed. "They'd have us up for being paedophiles, or child harassment at the very least."

He gazed back at her thoughtfully. "You're concerned. I'm concerned. When you think about it, we're standing in the middle of all the lay lines you could possibly shake a stick at in this country. That is more than a mere coincidence. So, we are going to investigate it."

"If you say so," she mumbled, following him towards the buildings that flanked the entranceway to the stones. In many ways she was quite relieved he was insisting they took this seriously. That is, she did, until he reached back to take her hand in his. "You're holding my hand," she felt the need to point out.

"Yes, I often do this with my companions," he replied without shame. He then turned to ask, "Is this a problem?" He didn't want to let go but if she disapproved he would do so immediately.

"Only if you get ideas," she blustered. Not that he was likely to. Instead, it suddenly felt closer to the relationship young Jenny and Ben had displayed. It was an act of comfort and unity rather than one seeking romance. "No, it's fine. I was just a bit surprised, that's all. I haven't held someone's hand like this since I was a kid."

"Surely you held your ex's hand?" he queried.

To his surprise she side-stepped his question with a shake of her head. "This is a bit like that film," she commented instead.

He frowned. "What film?"

"The Snowman," she answered, and gained the laugh she'd been hoping for.

She could have done without him breaking into " We're walking in the air! " but it was inevitable really; and irresistible to join in with as they giggled together.

They soon spied Jenny and her brother in the museum shop, along with the gaggle of children they had been with. All the others were excitedly chatting away, showing possible purchases to each other to consider; all of them except Jenny and Ben. Instead, they stood apart from the other children as though they were waiting for a bus. But Donna did notice Jenny glancing longingly towards a postcard display by the side of her. As Donna watched her, she realised that it was one particular picturesque postcard that caught the girl's attention, and she assumed the child could not afford it.

Walking boldly over to Jenny's side, Donna commented, "It's nice that one, isn't it. Do you think I should buy it?"

Jenny lifted her gaze. "Yes, Miss. It's very pretty."

A retort about looking single stayed on Donna's lips, but it propelled her towards the queue. "I think I'll get it then." She smiled when the Doctor approached her with some other items to add to her purchases, nodding in unspoken agreement. "Was there anything you wanted for yourself?" she asked him as she neared the till.

Moments later they were leaving the shop with a bag of goodies, and passed the forlorn pair from earlier.

"Here you go, Sweetheart," Donna said to them, pushing the carrier bag into Jenny's hands. "You forgot these."

Both children peered into the bag with glee. "Thank you, Miss!" Ben called after her. A broad smile lit up his pallid face.

The sight of his car sitting in the car park lifted his spirits even further as they walked through warmer air. "I'd call that a good day's work," the Doctor stated.

"You do realise that you passed up on two bars of chocolate and a matchbox model of Stonehenge, don't you?" Donna teased.

"Maybe," he agreed, "but.." He took hold of her hand again. "…I seem to have discovered other treasures."

"If you think my purse is a bottomless pit of goodies, you've got another think coming," she joked.

"Then we will stop off somewhere and I'll treat us to dinner. How does that sound?" he enticed her, pushing his tongue behind his top teeth.

"It'll do," she pretended to allow; but she could feel herself gradually falling under his spell.

./-\.