A/N: for those of you who wanted to read more, sorry for the long delay in adding a few sentences.

Part 3

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"Did you manage to find him something to wear?" Sylvia asked her father when he appeared back downstairs.

He chuckled. "We might have to invest in a new pair of trousers for him tomorrow but I've sorted some bits out for the time being. Give him his due; he didn't moan much when I offered him my old pair of jeans to wear. I've given him that fancy dressing grown Minnie insisted on giving me for Christmas."

"What, that black silk one with the embroidery," Sylvia wondered. "He'll look a right 'nana in it."

"Beggars can't be choosers," Wilf reminded her. "It was that or him walk about half dressed when he comes out of the shower."

Sylvia had to agree that it was better to be covered up then not. "Did you show him where the shampoo and deodorant stuff are, as well as the good towels?"

"Yes," Wilf answered with concealed exasperation. "Of course I did. And me best after shaves." He then looked around to double check whether Donna was near enough to overhear. Once he was satisfied she wasn't, he risked inquiring, "What are we going to do about him and her?"

"In what sense do you mean?" she wondered.

"Well, not wanting to sound too indelicate," he cautiously began, "are you going to allow them to sleep together?"

"Why ever would I do that?" she hissed

"Because," he stressed, "when Donna finds out they're married, she will want to."

"Not under my roof, they ain't," she sternly retorted. "We've only got his word for it for now, and there'll be none of that sort of nonsense, not if I can help."

Wanting to play devil's advocate, he pondered, "You won't be helping them give you them grandchildren you go on about if you stop them sharing a room."

"Dad!" Sylvia exclaimed in shock. "Don't be disgusting."

"It's only human nature," he argued. "They all do it these days, married or not. You'll be forcing them out to live somewhere else if you don't let them."

She huffed in annoyance. "We'll cross that bridge when we come to it. IF we come it. For all we know she might never remember."

"John seemed quite adamant that she would eventually," Wilf supplied. "He says it's much safer with him being here."

"We'll see," she maintained. "If the other one turns up there'll be hell to pay."

"Something'll happen, that's for sure," Wilf noted to himself as Sylvia fussed about with pots and pans for a while. "The Doctor will certainly have something to say about it all."

~O~O~

There was enough time before eating for a quick spruce up, so Donna had decided to go into her bedroom to brush her hair and touch up her makeup. She may not be chasing after their new houseguest but she didn't have to act like a philistine, she told herself.

It was as she finished applying some lip gloss with a last look in her mirror that she noticed the wet figure clad in towels that silently stood on the landing and watching her through the open bedroom door. "Hello John. What are you looking at me like that for?"

Caught out, he gained time to think by rearranging the towel tied at his waist. "It's just that…," he stammered. "It's so good to see you again."

"Keep looking at me like that and I'll knock you into next week," she threatened.

This time he rubbed his head with the towel wrapped around his neck, leaving his hair sticking up in every possible direction. "How am I looking at you?"

"Like a dog that's only just seen its owner after they've been away on holiday," she explained, taking in his shaggy appearance. "All sort of gooey and excited."

"Perhaps that's exactly how I feel," he reasoned. "Is it wrong of me to be pleased you are alive and well?"

"Seeing as you rescued me, I suppose not." You could probably count the number of men who'd be prepared to do that for her on the fingers of one hand. She then huffed self-consciously. "Get a move on or you'll freeze to death out there on the landing. Our dinner should be ready by now, and Mum did us some extra veg."

"Donna," he soft uttered as she passed him on the way to the stairs. "It really is good to see you. I'm probably describing it all wrong, but for quite a while I thought I would never see you again. And yet, here you are, standing in front of me; like a miracle has happened."

"That's a bit rich," she blustered in embarrassment. "Geroff!"

"I'll see you downstairs in a mo'," he murmured, letting her escape from him. "Once I've thrown some clothes on."

"Good job and all," she called back. "All that pale flesh is blinding me."

"That's typical of my Donna," he gleefully muttered to himself as he headed for his assigned bedroom. Not that he would ever have allowed her to hear him talk about her like that. He feared for his life far too much to let that happen.

~O~O~

"There he is," Sylvia happily announced when a dressed John appeared a few minutes later. "Don't you look different now that you've been cleaned up. We'll have to buy you a new shaver to get rid of that stubble."

John happily beamed under her pleased greeting, and ran a hand thoughtfully over his chin. "I'm thinking of keeping it; perhaps grow a beard."

"You'll be scratchy to kiss for a while," Donna commented.

"Oh... I..." He immediately blushed. "There's no one who'll want to kiss me so that shouldn't be a problem."

She smirked at his bashfulness. "Just give me the nod and I'll take you down The Feathers. We could find you a new girlfriend in no time."

This could work, his mind told him. It'd ease their relationship gently into her mind, keeping things nice and calm. "I'd be up for that, if you're willing to take me out."

"It's a date... that's not a date." She then frowned at him. "Why does that sound familiar?"

Goody! She remembered something. "Perhaps you heard it on the telly," he suggested.

"Yeah," she murmured. "Is dinner ready yet, Mum? We're starving, and John here needs extra helpings."

"Good job I've done plenty of veg," Sylvia answered, carrying two plates over to the kitchen table, "because he can help himself to as much as he likes."

"Thank you!" he chimed as he eagerly sat down and grasped his assigned cutlery. "It looks delicious."

"Hollow legs. You've got hollow legs," Donna later commented when he wolfed down two portions. "It hardly touched the sides as it went down."

But he was too happy to pretend to be offended.

His mood crashed when Donna queried, "So, John, what sort of work are you going to look for now that you've been fed and watered?"

He hadn't thought of that. Of course, he couldn't do what he used to do and didn't even have a National Insurance number or provable qualifications. That meant he would have to get help from somewhere, either UNIT or Torchwood; and he wasn't keen to allow Donna anywhere near Jack again. Not after she had made a grab for him in the way she had in the TARDIS, although part of him was willing to consider she'd done that to spite the Doctor being so distracted by Rose hanging on his every action and word.

"Earth to John!" Donna brought him out of his thoughts by exclaiming. "I asked about you getting a new job."

"Ah yes," he blustered. "Sorry. I was a million miles away then. Just thinking about my old bank account and wondering if I can gain access to it without the original paperwork."

"If it contains thousands of pounds or even a few quid it'll be worth the effort to gain back what's yours," she commented.

Her insides did a flip when he looked right at her and said, "Getting back everything that is mine is my main priority." Realising the intensity of his words, he quickly tacked on flippantly, "There's also the money I've inherited over the years."

"Got secret hordes of gold, have you," she teased.

"Actually, now that I think about it, I might," he noted. "There could even be a property I'm entitled to."

"I could help you look, if you like," she offered.

There was something about him that she liked a great deal, but it was best that she didn't push it too far. Knowing her luck, once he gained some money, and if he was stinking rich, he'd be gone so fast you wouldn't see him for dust, and all she'd be left with was images of him and his new blonde trophy wife.

Her heart melted when he beamed a huge grin of delight in her direction. "I'd like that very much. I think we'd make a very good team together."

All she could risk in answer was smugly sipping her mug of tea.

~O~O~