Disclaimer: I do not own Doctor Who, but I do own Scarlett Noble and any other characters I make up!
Author's Note: Now up to 16 reviews! Keep them coming! :D
Scar's outfit for this episode is on my polyvore :)
The rest of the ride was silent except for the tapping of one of my feet. Finally we got down and the doors opened. We stepped and I looked around. We were standing in a long, dark, dank corridor, dimly lit with an eerie green light. I shivered and I crossed my arms over my chest as Donna spoke up, looking around too.
"Where are we?" Not getting a response, she continued as she looked over at the Doctor, "Well, what goes on down here?"
"Let's find out…"
"Do you think Mr. Clements knows about this place?"
"The mysterious HC Clements?"
"No, the other one," I said sarcastically.
He ignored my sarcasm, "I think he's part of it." He glanced away, "Oh, look – transport."
Seconds later, all of us were trundling down the corridor on electric scooters. There had been three of them so I had to hitch a ride with the Doctor. I insisted on going with Donna, but she insisted on me going with him for whatever reason.
This whole thing was comical. I shared a look with Donna, who seemed to be thinking as me because she started laughing loud and I joined her. The Doctor joined too after seeing how funny this was while Lance didn't get it and stared at us oddly. We ended up coming to a door and I read it out loud,
"Torchwood – authorized personnel only."
This was it so we all got off of the scooters and I brushed my dress off as the Doctor turned the wheel that would open the door. Once it opened, he pulled on the door to reveal a ladder and he peered up it.
"Wait here," he said, turning to us. "Just need to get my bearings. Don't…" He pointed at each of us sternly, "Don't do anything." He started going up the ladder.
"You'd better come back," Donna called after him.
He stopped and looked at her teasingly, "I couldn't get rid of you if I tried."
Donna smiled and we watched as he started to climb up the ladder again.
"Donna…" Lance started, "Have you thought about this? Properly? I mean, this is serious! What the hell are we going to do?"
"Oh, I thought July," she said, not really listening as she smiled brightly at Lance before turning her attention back to the Doctor.
I held back a laugh at the look on Lance's face. We didn't have to wait all that long for the Doctor to return. He jumped off the last rung of the ladders.
"Thames Flood barrier! Right on top of us," he told us. "Torchwood snuck in and build this place underneath."
"See just like a spy movie," I said enthusiastically.
"So, there's like a secret base hidden underneath a major London landmark?"
"I know! Unheard of," he said to Donna sarcastically. I giggled. Well, what do you know, he did know what sarcasm was?
We entered some kind of laboratory, full of massive test tubes bubbling away and chemistry equipment. Not only did they have a secret floor, they had a secret laboratory! Oh, I'm loving this! I took a look around in amazement, eyes trailing over everything in the room.
"Oh look at this!" The Doctor said, looking around at everything too. "Stunning! Particle extrusion!"
"What does it do?" Donna asked.
"Particle extrusion. Hold on…" The Doctor darted over to one of the bubbling tubes and tapped it, "Brilliant. They've been manufacturing Huon particles. In case my people got rid of Huon particles, they unravelled the atomic structure."
"Your people?" Lance asked. "Who are they? What company do you represent?"
"Oh, I'm a freelancer," The Doctor answered offhandedly as he continued to look around at the tubes. "But this lot are rebuilding them. They've been using the river! Extruding them through a flat hydrogen base so they've got the end result – Huon particles in liquid form." He picked up a small test tube filled with what I guessed was the 'Huon particles,' and showed it to us.
"And that's what's inside me?" Donna questioned, nodding at it.
The Doctor gently turned a knob at the top of the test tube, making the contents inside glow gold. I watched as the same thing happened to Donna. It was identical to what happened to her at the wedding.
"Oh, my God!" Donna exclaimed, looking down at herself.
The Doctor stopped turning the knob and my sister went back to normal. I couldn't help but grip her hand, suddenly scared for her. If this was inside her, what was going to happen to her? The Doctor did say that his people got rid of these Huon particles, but the question…why? Was in the air. I snapped out of my thoughts at the sound of the Doctor's voice.
"Because the particles are insert – they need something to catalyse inside and that's you. Saturate the body and then… HA!" Donna and I jumped at his sudden burst of enthusiasm. I glared at him. He seriously needed to stop doing that or else he'll get smacked again and besides what so exciting about this… oh that's right, NOTHING! "The wedding! Yes, you're getting married, that's it! Best day of your lift, walking down the aisle – oh, your body's a battleground!" He excitedly gestured to her, "There's a chemical war inside! Adrenaline, acetylcholine, WHAM go the endorphins, oh you're cooking! Yeah, you're like the walking oven! A pressure cooker, a microwave, all churning away, the particles reach boiling point, SHAZAM!"
I would have smacked him myself, but I was too busy staring at him in disbelief, having no idea what he was rambling about. So Donna did it instead.
She smacked him hard.
"What did I do this time?" The Doctor demanded indignantly.
Donna glared at him, "Are you enjoying this?!"
Instantly, he relaxed, now looking ashamed instead of excited. I couldn't help but wince as my sister walked towards him, her breathing heavy in her distress that was clearly seen on her face.
"Right, just tell me – these particles, are they dangerous? Am I safe?"
"Yes!" The Doctor said unconvincingly.
I knew he was lying. I took a step forward so that I was standing next to Donna and I gripped my sister's hand as I spoke to the Doctor, meeting him in the eye.
"Doctor, please?" I said softly. "If your people got rid of these particles… why did they?" He hesitated, "Why?"
"Because they were deadly," The Doctor finally said gently and my grip on Donna's hand tightened.
"Oh, my God…" my sister breathed out.
"I'll sort it out, Donna," he told her seriously. "Whatever's been done to you, I'll reverse it."
"Promise?" I whispered, tears in my eyes. The thought of losing my sister brought a feeling of dread inside me.
The Doctor looked at me in the eye with those brown eyes on his, "I promise. I'm not about to lose anyone else."
Before I could ask who the other person he lost was, a series of crashes and bangs interrupted me. It seemed to come from all around us. Then all of the sudden, there was a voice that filled the air along with the bangs and crashes.
"Oh, she is long since lost."
One of the walls slid upwards to reveal a secret chamber with an enormous round hole in the floor.
My eyes widened at the sight of it, "Whoa."
"I have waited so long, hibernating at the edge of the universe…"
Because we were too distracted by the voice, we didn't see Lance retreat through the door.
"…Until the secret heart was uncovered and called out to wake!"
All around us, of the walls of the chamber, was lined with armed robots wearing black hoods.
The Doctor walked towards the hole and I grabbed his arm.
"What the heck are you doing?" I questioned, eyes wide.
"Just having a look." He pulled my hand away from his arm and went over to the hole, peering down it, "Someone's been digging…oh, very Torchwood. Drilled by lasers. How far does it go down?"
"Down and down, all the way to the centre of the Earth!"
"Really? Seriously?" He asked in disbelief. "What for?"
Donna shuffled forwards while I stayed where I was, watching. "Dinosaurs," she said.
The Doctor turned to her, eyebrows furrowed, "What?"
"Dinosaurs?"
His furrowed brows deepened, "What are you on about, dinosaurs?"
"The film, Under The Earth, with the dinosaurs. Trying to help!"
"That's not helping."
"Such a sweet couple."
"Couple?!" I snorted as I exclaimed this. The Doctor and Donna turned to me, "Like my sister would be interested in a skinny boy in a suit. He's so not her type." Then I added at the look on the Doctor's face as I crossed my arms, "No offense there Doc. But it's true."
Instead of him responding to me, he went back to the voice, "Only a madman talks to thin air, and trust me, you don't want to make me mad. Where are you?"
"High in the sky, floating so high on Christmas night."
The Doctor looked annoyed as he began to move about. "I didn't come all this way to talk on the intercom!" he exclaimed. "Come on, let's have a look at you!"
"Who are you with such command?" The voice demanded.
"I'm the Doctor!"
"Prepare your best medicines, doctor-man." Wow how original. "For you will be sick at heart." With that, a huge freaking spider appeared in the chamber, snarling and growling.
I whimpered slightly, gripping onto Donna's hand. Oh, I hated spiders!
"The Racnoss…" The Doctor said in awe. "But that's impossible, you're one of the Racnoss!"
"Emperss of the Racnoss."
"If you're the Emperss, where's the rest of the Racnoss?"
"There's more of them?!" I squeaked. I turned to the Doctor, "Please tell me you're joking!"
But he wasn't looking at me. He was looking at the Racnoss.
"Or… are you the only one?" The Doctor asked slowly.
"Such a sharp mind," The Emperss hissed.
I breathed out a sigh of relief. Thank God. Well… it sucked that she was the last of her kind but at least they weren't coming here.
"That's it, the last of your kind." The Doctor, eyes still on the Racnoss, told us, "The Racnoss come from the Dark Times, billions of years ago, billions. They were carnivores, omnivores, they devoured whole planets."
I gasped, "That's so mean!"
"Racnoss are born starving, is that our fault?" The Empress growled out her question.
"They eat people?" Donna asked, looking at the Doctor.
"HC Clements, did he wear those – those, erm, black and white shoes?"
"Yeah he does." I was the one who answered. I had only met HC Clements once. "Donna, what was that name you called him?"
My sister grinned, "The fat cat in Spats."
"Yeah that was it!" I laughed. I remember laughing my butt off when Donna told me this. "But what does that have to do with anything?" I asked the Doctor.
In reply, he pointed upwards. Donna and I looked only to gap at the sight of black and white poking out of the web that was there.
"Oh, my God!" We both exclaimed at the same time.
"Mm, my Christmas dinner." The Empress crackled.
"You shouldn't even exist!" The Doctor said and I bite back a sassy reply. "Way back in history, the Fledging Empires went to war against the Racnoss – they were wiped out."
I took notice to Lance standing on the balcony above the Racnoss, unseen by her. When he did get up there? I wasn't the only one to notice him there. Donna did too and he signaled for the both of us to be quiet.
"Except for me."
In a bid to distract the Emperss from Lance, Donna spoke up, "But that's what I've got inside me, that Huon energy thing." The Empress wasn't paying attention to her, "Oi! Look at me, lady, I'm talking! Where do I fit in? How come I get all sacked up with these Huon particles?"
Lance descended the stairs, axe at the ready.
"Look at me, you! Look me in the eye and tell me."
"The bride is so feisty," The Empress said to her.
"Yes, I am! And I don't know what you are, you big…thing." I snorted to myself at that amused, "But a spider's just a spider and an axe is an axe! Now, do it!"
Lance swung at the Empress, who turned and hissed at the last moment. What happened next was something I didn't expect. Lance stopped, glanced around at Donna, and started to laugh along with Empress.
Clearly 'what the fuck.' would be an understatement to what I was feeling at the moment.
"That was a good one." Lance laughed, "Your face!"
"Lance is funny." The Empress cracked along.
"What?" Donna blinked at her fiancé confused.
"Will someone please tell me what the fuck is going on?" I asked exasperated.
"I'm sorry," The Doctor said quietly to Donna, who turned to him.
"Sorry for what?" She whirled back around to look at Lance and demanded, "Lance, don't be so stupid! Get her!"
He looked at her with pity in his eyes, but not a concerned pity but a cruel one that made me clench my hands into fists. "God, she's thick," he sneered at her.
Donna stared at him so confused. While she was confused, I was angry. No one talked to my sister like that! Unless they had a death wish. I was confused as well. It was never a good thing for me to be confused or angry. I wasn't a red head for nothing.
"Months I had to put up with her," Lance continued, still practically sneering, "Months. A woman who can't even point to Germany on a map."
"I don't understand," Donna said slowly, uncomprehending.
"How did you meet him?" The Doctor asked her, still quietly.
"In the office."
"He made you coffee."
"What?"
"Doctor, will you please just get it out already?!" I said angrily. "What does that even mean?"
He stared at me. I stared right back. Finally he spoke.
"It means … Donna had to be dosed with liquid particles for over six months for them to work…"
"So, he was poisoning her." His silence was answer enough and I growled, eyes flashing as I turned my head towards Lance so fast that I almost got whiplash, "You bastard! You stupid, fucking, bastard!" I was practically ready to jump him where he stood and beat the crap out of him and it didn't help that he was smirking at me. I almost would have if it wasn't for the Doctor holding me back. I smacked his arms away and glared at him but he wasn't paying attention to me now, but to Lance. A dark look crossed his features as he looked at him.
"It was all there in the job title – the Head of Human Resources."
"This time, it's personnel." Lance and the Racnoss laughed.
"But … we were getting married," Donna whispered quietly, heartbroken and my heart clenched for her.
"Well, I couldn't risk you running off. I had to say yes. And then I was stuck with a woman who thinks the height of excitement is a new flavour Pringle." Lance rolled his eyes, "Oh, I had to sit there and listen to all that yap, yap, yap – "oh, Brad and Angelina?" X Factor, Atkins Diet, Feng Shui, split ends, text me, text me, text me, dear God, the never ending fountain of fat, stupid trivia."
Donna looked so hurt and my heart broke for her again. I knew that Lance was bad news. I should have told her that there was something about this guy that I didn't like then maybe she wouldn't have to deal with this abuse. Then again if she was so in love with Lance, she might not have believed me.
"I deserve a metal."
"Oh, is that what she offered you? The Empress of the Racnoss? What are you? Her consort?"
Ew. My nose wrinkled. Being married to a bug. Talk about a fetish. However, Lance shrugged.
"It's better than a night with her." He pointed towards Donna.
"But I love you," she said, and I could see the tears building in her eyes. But because she was Donna, she kept them in, but I knew that she would break at any moment.
"That's what made it easy," Lance sneered at her nastily. He looked at the Doctor, who stared at him. I couldn't read the Doctor's expression. "It's like you said, Doctor – the big picture – what's the point of it all if the Human race is nothing? That's what the Empress can give me. The chance to … go out there. To see it. The size of it all." He stared at the Doctor right in the eye, "I think you understand that, don't you, Doctor?"
From the look on the Doctor's face, he did understand. Remember what I said about him having those kind of eyes that have seen too much? Well that look on his face only confirmed it.
"Who is this little physician?" The Empress asked Lance.
"What she said – Martian."
"Oh, I'm sort of … homeless." The Doctor changed the subject, taking a step forward, "But the point is, what's down there?" Speaking on the hole in the floor, "The Racnoss are extinct. What's gonna help you down there? That's just the molten core of the Earth, isn't it?"
"I think he wants us to talk," Lance said.
"I think so too."
"Really?" I put a hand to my cheek in fake shock, "What gave you that idea?"
Lance flashed me an annoyed look but I just smiled at him, really big and really fake.
"Well tough!" he exclaimed. "All we need is Donna!"
I stepped in front of my sister, glaring at Lance, "Well, you can go hell. You're not touching my sister."
But I was ignored as the Empress yelled,
"Kill this chattering little-doctor man!"
Donna instantly stood in front of the Doctor, despite the fact that she was scared. "Don't you hurt him!"
"No, no, it's all right," The Doctor told her.
She shook her head frantically, still looking frightened, "No, I won't let them!"
"I won't either," I agreed, standing in front of him beside Donna as I gripped my sister's hand and she gripped my hand back.
"At arms!" The Empress ordered.
The robots pointed their guns at the Doctor.
"Ah, now," The Doctor said. "Except."
"Take aim!"
"Well, I just want to point out the obvious—"
"They won't hit the bride," The Empress said and her eyes turned to me. "Or the little one. They're very good shots."
"Oi! Who are you calling little?!" I exclaimed, but this was igored as the Doctor continued to try and distract the Empress.
"Just – just – just – hold on, just a tick, just a tick – just a little – tick," he said, holding up a finger. "If you think about it, the particles activated in Donna and drew her inside my spaceship. So, reverse it … the spaceship comes to her." He pulled out the tube of Huon particles and tweaked the top of it causing the particles and Donna to glow.
I started to look around frantically with wide eyes as something started to appear around us. "What the hell?" I muttered as the Empress told her robots,
"Fire!"
They fired their guns and I closed my eyes tightly, waiting for the impact but it never came.
My eyes flew open and I found myself in a spacious area. It was huge! But it was amazing. I didn't really have time to process everything because suddenly the Doctor exclaimed,
"Off we go!"
My eyes turned to him to see him running over to something in the middle of the room.
"What is this place?" I questioned as he ran around the thing, touching and pressing the buttons around so then I knew that those were controls.
"TARDIS. Time And Relative Dimension In Space. Oh, and Donna… you know what I said before about time machines? Well, I lied. And now we're going to use it."
I was in a time machine! This wasn't as shocking as it should be though. After today, I don't think anything could shock me at this point.
Donna wasn't saying anything. I looked towards my sister to see that her shoulders were shaking. Instantly, I knew she was crying and I rushed over to her, giving her a hug.
She hugged me back and cried into my shoulder. The Doctor hadn't noticed this and he kept on babbling.
"We need to find out what the Empress of the Racnoss is digging up. If something's buried at the planet core, it must've been there since the beginning. That's just brilliant. Moto bene! I've always wanted to see this. Donna, Scarlett – we're going further back than I've ever been before."
His talking stopped and I continued rubbing my sister's back as she cried, looking up at him.
"She'll be okay," I mouthed to him before returning my attention back to my sister.
A little while later, Donna had stopped crying and we weren't moving around so wherever the Doctor took us, we had landed.
"Donna, what Lance said… none of it is true," I told her softly, putting an arm around her shoulders.
She sniffed, but didn't reply.
I sighed.
"We're arrived…"
I looked at the Doctor to see him looking at my sister and me.
"Want to see?" There was a spark in his eyes. I couldn't help but be excited for what he was going to show us.
"Sure," I agreed.
"I s'pose," Donna said unenthusiastically.
The Doctor swung the monitor that he was by around. I went over there and looked at the screen. It was too small. I couldn't see much of anything. Seeing my disappointment, he said,
"Oh, that's scanners a bit small. Maybe your sister's way is best."
"What's that?"
He grinned. "This." He went over to the doors and looked at me and Donna, "Come on."
I was the first one there while Donna headed over slowly. When she was at the door with us, the Doctor spoke.
"No human's ever seen this. You two will be the first."
"All I want to see is my bed." Donna sighed.
"Open the doors!" I said excitedly.
The Doctor didn't need to be told twice, "Donna and Scarlett Noble –welcome to the creation of the Earth." He opened the doors and I gasped at the spectacular sight while my sister's mouth dropped. The sun was shining through beautiful colored dust and gas clouds and enormous rocks floated around.
"Wow!" I said memorized. "This is so beautiful. Isn't it Donna?"
She nodded, just as memorized as I was.
"We've gone back 4.6 billion years," The Doctor told us softly as he gazed outside along with us. "There's no solar system, not yet." He pointed and I followed his finger, titling my head to the side.
"What is it?" I asked, glancing over at the Doctor. "It looks like the sun."
"It is. Brand new. Just beginning to burn."
"This is amazing," I mumbled. "We really did travel in time."
"Yeah, isn't it brilliant?" The Doctor grinned at me.
I laughed, grinning back, "Very brilliant." We stood there, grinning at each other.
Donna spoke up, breaking the moment. Not that it was a moment.
"But where's the Earth?" she asked.
"All around us … in the dust."
"Puts the wedding in perspective." Donna sighed, "Lance was right. We're … tiny."
"No, but that's what you do," The Doctor said. "The human race." He grinned, "Makes sense out of chaos. Marking it out with weddings and Christmas and calendars. This whole process is beautiful, only if it's being observed."
Looking back out, I couldn't agree more.
"So, we came out of all this?"
"Of course we did, we're amazing." I winked, effectively getting a small laugh out of Donna. The first one since finding out about Lance.
After she stopped laughing, my sister smiled at me, squeezing my hand. "Thanks for that."
"No problem, sis," I said, smiling back at her softly.
The Doctor watched us with a soft smile. Suddenly, a massive chuck of rock floated lazily by.
"I think that's the Isle of Wight," Donna joked and we all laughed together.
"Eventually, gravity takes hold. Say, one big rock, heavier than the others, starts to pull other rocks towards it. All the dust and gas and elements get pulled in, everything, piling in until you get…"
"The Earth," Donna and I finished together, looking at each other then laughing.
"But the question is … what was that first rock?"
We didn't have to wait that long to find out the answer to that question. A star shaped rock emerged through the clouds.
"Look," Donna said, pointing at it.
"The Racnoss," The Doctor whispered. Then all of the sudden, he was running back over to the console and started spinning around a wheel frantically.
"What are you doing?" I blinked at him turning that wheel, one that I never noticed till just now.
He didn't answer my question as he said loudly, "Hold on – the Racnoss are hiding from the war. What are they doing?"
Donna, who was still looking outside, was the one who answered. "Exactly what you said."
He ran back over to the door to look himself. "Oh, they didn't bury something at the centre of the Earth… they became the Earth. The first rock."
Suddenly, the TARDIS shuddered violently and we were nearly thrown off our feet with Donna's arms wrapping immediately around me protectively.
"What was that?" my sister demanded.
"Trouble," The Doctor said seriously as he slammed the doors shut.
"Really thanks for pointing that … AHH!" I cried out the last thing as the TARDIS shuddered and tipped and again I was caught by arms, but this time it was the Doctor's. I let him keep a firm grip on me as we struggled to keep our balance as the TARDIS continued to do this.
"What the hell is it doing?!" Donna yelled over the loud noise.
"Remember that little trick I pulled – particles pulling particles. It works in reverse – they're pulling us back!"
"You got to be kidding me," I muttered as the Doctor let go of me to run over to console.
He tried to pilot the TARDIS, but from the look of it, it was beyond his control.
"Well, can't you stop it? Hasn't it go a handbrake? Can't you reverse or wrap or beam or something?" Donna questioned.
"Backseat driver," The Doctor muttered, earning a small smack in the arm from me.
"Geez, are you always this rude?" I asked, crossing my arms over my chest.
"Yes!" I opened my mouth to comment of this when he suddenly cried out making me jump, "Oh! Wait a minute!" He pulled out this strange object from underneath the console, "The extrapolator!"
"The what?" I gave him an odd look.
"The extrapolator!" He repeated, shaking it in front of me. "Can't stop us, but it should give us a good bump!"
The one thing I learned from just knowing this man for a couple hours is that you just nod at the things that he says that makes no sense at all. And that's what I did.
"Now!" The Doctor whacked the extrapolator and the TARDIS jerked and Donna and I had to grip the console to keep ourselves from falling. After it stopped, we all stepped out of the TARDIS and here we were back where we first started.
"Whoa." I looked around, amazed.
"We're about 200 yards to the right," The Doctor said. "Come on!" He and Donna took off running and I snapped out my amazement.
"Oi! Wait for me!" I cried, running to catch up to them.
I caught up to them and we ran all the way to the door that led up to the Thames Flood Barrier.
"But what do we do?" Donna asked, out of breath.
"I don't know!" he answered, listening behind the door with a stethoscope. "I make it up as I go along! But trust me, I've got a history."
"Oh I believe it," I commented.
"But I still don't understand," Donna said. "I'm full of particles – but what for?"
"There's a Racnoss web at the centre of the Earth, but my people unravelled their power source. The Huon particles creased to exist but the Racnoss are stuck."
I was too busy listening to the Doctor that I didn't notice Donna being taken away by a robot. But when I did, it was too late. My eyes widened.
"Doctor."
"They've been in hibernation for billions of years. Frozen. Dead. Kaput! So you're the new key."
"Doctor…"
"Brand new particles, living particles! They need you to open it…"
"DOCTOR!" I shouted and he jumped, looking at me. "Donna! She's gone!"
"What?!" The Doctor whirled around and finally noticed it too. He groaned. Did you see who took her?" He asked me, gripping my shoulders.
"Yeah I totally saw who took her… I DON'T KNOW!" I huffed.
And he groaned again, letting go of my shoulders and turning back to face the door. He used the sonic to open it and he pulled open the doors only to reveal that one of those robots were behind it. We immediately took a step back, the Doctor pushing into me.
"Scar… do … exactly … what … I … say?" he told me quietly as we backed away from the robot, who didn't even attack us, but was slowly going to.
"What?"
"Run… and go home …"
"But Donna—"
"I'll save her. I promised you that I wasn't going to lose someone else… you're going to have to trust me."
Oddly enough, I did trust him despite not knowing him for long so I did what he said.
I ran.
-0-
I stood outside of my house, arms wrapped around myself to keep me warm, waiting for Donna. She still hadn't come back and I was beginning get worried. What if the Doctor didn't keep his promise and my sister was dead. I shook my head out of that thought because I had to believe that she was alright.
Mum and Dad were worried about her too. I didn't tell them about what happened. I didn't want to worry them. They wouldn't believe it anyway. My Gramps should would though.
Despite being worried about Donna, I couldn't help but smile at the thought of him. Suddenly, there was this sound and it snapped me out of my thoughts. Looking on curiously, I watched as a blue box appeared in the middle of the street. The doors of the box opened and out stepped Donna.
"Donna!" I took off running towards my sister, grinning. I threw myself at her and gave her a giant hug.
My sister laughed and hugged me back. I pulled back from the hug, still grinning.
"There we are."
I looked up and noticed the Doctor had stepped outside too. Before I could stop myself, I hugged him. He stiffened, obviously not expecting it, but he relaxed and hugged me back.
"Thank you for saving my sister," I told him after I broke the hug.
"Of course." He smiled at me. "But I still need to scan her to make sure the Huon particles are gone." Without waiting for a response, he pulled out the sonic screwdriver and pressed a button, the top glowing blue as he moved it over Donna and once he finished, he put it up and smiled at Donna, "Nope! They're all gone. No damage, you're fine."
"Yeah, but apart from that … I missed my wedding, lost my job and became a widow on the same day. Sort of."
"Wait, how did you become a widow? What happened to Lance?" I asked, not that I cared what happened to him.
"Got eaten by a spider," Donna said bluntly.
I winced, knowing she was talking about the Racnoss, "Yuck."
"I couldn't save him," The Doctor told my sister softly.
"He deserved it," Donna said in an uncaring tone. He raised his eyebrows at her and her face softened, "No, he didn't." She sighed and looked over at the house, "I'd better get inside. They'll be worried."
"Best Christmas present they could get," The Doctor said as we watched them embrace from the window. "Oh, no, I forgot – you hate Christmas."
"Yes, I do." Donna agreed with a nod, and I couldn't blame her.
"Even if it snowed." The Doctor pressed something on the TARDIS and a ball of light shot out from the top and exploded like a firework in the sky into falling snow. I gasped in amazement while Donna laughed in delight.
"I can't believe you did that!"
The Doctor leaned against the TARDIS and said casually, "Oh, basic atmospheric excitation." He grinned at us and we smiled back.
"Merry Christmas," Donna and I told him.
"And you. So… what will you do with yourself now?" He asked, looking at Donna.
"Not getting married for starters."
"Don't tell Mum that, she'll have a cow," I joked and she laughed before continuing,
"And I'm not gonna be a temp anymore. I dunno … travel … see a bit more of planet Earth…walk in the dust. Just … go out there and do something."
"Well, you could always…" The Doctor hesitated.
"What?"
"… Come with me …" he finally said tentatively and I couldn't help but notice the hope in his eyes which fell at Donna's words,
"No."
"Okay," he said quickly.
"I can't…"
"No, that's fine." The Doctor pretended not to care.
"No, but really … everything we did today… do you live your life like that?"
"… Not all the time," he said unconvincingly.
"I think you do. And I couldn't."
'I could …' I thought to myself, but didn't voice it out loud. Because it would be rude to just invite myself so I kept silent.
"But you've seen it out there, it's beautiful."
Yeah, it was. And Donna did say she wanted to travel so I wondered why she wouldn't want to go with the Doctor.
"And it's terrible. That place was flooding and burning and they were dying and you just stood there like … I don't know … a stranger. And then you made it snow – I mean, you scare me to death!"
I winced. Wow, that was harsh. There was a couple minutes of silence until the Doctor broke it.
"Well then."
"Tell you what I will do though – Christmas dinner." At the look on his face, Donna went on, "Oh come on."
"I don't do that sort of thing."
"You did it last year, you said so. And you might as well because Mum always cooks enough for twenty."
"Yeah, come on, Doc, have dinner with us," I added.
After oo-ing and ahh-ing in his reluctance, the Doctor sighed. "Oh, all right then," he agreed and I beamed. "But you go first, warn them. And … don't say I'm a Martian." He indicated to the blue box, "I just have to park her properly, she might drift off to the Middle Ages. I'll see you two in a minute."
"You do know that's a box, right?" I asked before he could go inside, probably to prolong his leaving because somehow, I knew he wouldn't be back.
"It's the TARDIS."
"It is," I said surprised. We had been traveling in a blue box. "Oh… it's smaller on the outside."
The Doctor looked as if he hadn't heard that before and this was true considering he mused to himself as he went inside the TARDIS, "Never heard that before." He closed the doors and it started to disappear and this was when Donna realized we wouldn't be seeing him again,
"Doctor! Doctor!" she yelled.
The engines stopped and his head popped out of the TARDIS doors. "Blimey, you can shout," he said.
My sister stared at him. "Are we ever going to see you again?"
He smiled at the both of us, "If I'm lucky."
"Just promise me one thing; find someone."
"I don't need anyone."
"Yes you do. Because sometimes, I think you need someone to stop you."
"Yeah," The Doctor said quietly and he glanced over at me. It looked as if he wanted to ask me to come but he didn't say anything. As a feeling of disappointment washed over me, he looked back at Donna, "Thanks then, Donna – good luck – and just … be magnificent."
She smiled and laughed, "I think I will, yeah." He smiled back at her and retreated back into the TARDIS but she called to him again, "Doctor?"
"Oh what is it now?" he asked in mock exasperation and I stifled a giggle.
"That friend of yours … what was her name?"
Sadness filled his eyes. This friend must have been the person he lost.
"Her name was Rose," The Doctor finally answered softly. He went back into the TARDIS and that was the last time we saw him.
As soon as the TARDIS was gone, Donna began walking back home while I stayed where I was, wondering why he didn't ask me to come. Deciding that it must have been because he didn't want to get rejected again, I sighed and started to walk home myself, not knowing that this actually wouldn't be the last time I saw the Doctor.
TBC...
As you can see I didn't put what episode we'll be going into next because I was thinking of her being involved in some of the season three episodes. Like she bumps into the Doctor but she doesn't fully become a companion until season 4. You know how with Donna, he met her for a second time because of what happens later in the season. Well Scarlett becomes a important part to the Doctor's life and it doesn't happen often that he meets a person for a second time but it especially doesn't happen multiple times so I think it would be interesting. Though it would only be the Smith and Jones episode and the Lazarus Experiment. But I'm not sure if I will do it so tell what you think of me doing something that? Tell me that in a review and about what you thought about the last part of the Runaway Bride was :)
