Everything felt strange. Everything had that weird vibe to it. Like you just experienced something, but couldn't name or describe it. It was still there, scratching and breaking at every little wall to make itself known, but you still could not remember it. A fading memory, perhaps. Like you were in the middle of something. Middle of a world full of fantasies and reality. Yes, that was what was weird. Everyone was feeling it. It wasn't normal. Nobody would snap out of it because they chose not to. They chose to linger around and try to put the pieces together. Only to fail. Yet, they kept trying.

Donna Noble was not one of these people. She had abandoned the feeling that something was strange, something was inhuman. She couldn't point it out. She never had the time to try to work it out. She was never given the chance to. Donna was busy. She recently got married and was trying to settle down with her new husband, Shaun Temple. All those little things that accompanied with being married. Fun.

They had their own house, of course. Though, it was tiny. The home was one story tall, painted beige. Donna didn't like the original color so she told Shaun to paint it a different color. It was simple. A garage, a front yard, a couple bathrooms, a bedroom, a kitchen, the living room, and everything else. It certainly wasn't the best house in London, but it was sufficient.

One day, Shaun had gone to work, leaving Donna behind to clean up the place. They had been in the home for about two weeks now, but they still had a lot of unpacking and moving things around to do. The kitchen was done and so was the living room. One of the bathrooms was partially made to fit both their tastes and the bedroom was still being decided upon. The other bathroom was still dull and empty.

There were boxes in the living room. Some were large, others were small. The empty ones had been ripped apart and tossed aside at one of the corners. Donna dragged a half empty box to the center of the room, setting the items from the box into the tiled floor. She had her hair tied up in a messy bun and she was wearing a green long-sleeved shirt. She wore a pair of pajamas, suggesting that she had just gotten out of bed and never bothered to change. Donna sat down by the box and continued to take the materials out. The box had small vases and framed photographs, most of them belonging to her husband.

The silence was irritating her. She leaned over to the couch nearby to grab the television remote, pressing the on button. A newsperson filled the screen and she surfed through the other channels until Donna was satisfied with a reality show. Donna got into it and started laughing, making fun of the people at their decisions or outbursts. She always loved these kinds of shows. It was entertaining.

The phone rang and she ignored the first few rings. Then, after the fifth ring, Donna got up from the floor and picked up the phone. "Hullo? Who's this?"

"Richard Brook." A male voice from the other end replied to her, a small titter escaping after he introduced himself. "Hi, Donna Noble. Oh, congratulations on getting married! I'm so proud of you!"

Donna didn't recognize the name. She didn't even familiarize herself with the man's voice. She had never met him or heard of him. And she certainly didn't invite a Richard Brook to her wedding. Still, she blocked out all her eager questions. "Thank you. Why are you calling?" Donna circled around the box she was emptying while looking at the television screen.

A pause. On the other end, he took a sharp inhale and breathed out a sigh. "I want to tell you a story. I'm sure you'll like it."

This got her. Donna loved stories. Or well, gossip. She would always be the one that would know what was going on with another person, perhaps a friend, perhaps a stranger, but she loved hearing stories of other people. A spark of curiosity flickered in her eyes and she made a tight smile. "All right."

"Good. Once upon a time," the other person started, "there was a girl. Let's name her Alice. She was sitting by a riverbank with her sister. Everything was so boring! The book that her sister possessed had no pictures! Just words! That wouldn't catch Alice's attention. Then, she saw a rabbit. Fully-clothed. Was that natural back then? Oh, I've no clue." He made a laugh, mumbling something about a clothed rabbit and saying how ridiculous it was. Though, the man on the other line finally got back to the story. "The rabbit took a look at a watch! A watch! Now that's remarkable!" His voice grew high and giddy. "The rabbit hurried off and Alice followed, leaving her sister behind. Where could they be going? Why was the rabbit in such a hurry? You'll find out. You'll find out soon, Donna."

"What is this? Some kind of fairy tale? I don't want to listen to this nonsense!" Donna went red, half-embarrassed at hearing Moriarty's storytelling persona, Richard, go on with the story, half-upset that it wasn't something that she had expected. Before she could hang up, she was interrupted by a scream on the other end. It startled her and she dropped the phone. Donna, after recovering, picked up the phone and placed it to her ear. "Hullo? Are you all right?"

Another laugh from her partner. "Yes, yes. I'm fine. I'd love it if you were to continue hearing this. It's fun! Really! Please don't hang up!" His voice had a pathetic and a bit of a whiny tone to it.

Donna couldn't hang up on him. She just couldn't. "Fine." A heavy sigh pushed out of her mouth as she trailed over to a couch, flopping on it. "Continue."

"All right! Thank you, thank you. Anywho, Alice found the rabbit. Found the rabbit go through a hole! A rabbit hole under the hedge! So what does Alice do? You guessed it." When he said that last sentence, it had a bit of an eerie pitch to it. One that could make someone shudder. It was a bit sly, like he was playing a game with Donna. And he was. Only Donna didn't know. Not yet, anyway. "She followed the rabbit into the hole! And… hole was actually a well. A well with cups and books and all those other treats! Down and down and down. Miles long, perhaps. When she reached the bottom, Alice saw the rabbit. Fleeing from her! The chase went on for a while until the rabbit was out of her sight. She lost the rabbit! Oh, no!" He took a pause before starting again. "Alice ventured around. After a few… heh, incidents, Alice grew unhappy and cried. She found the rabbit again, only this time, he was dressed differently. She called out to him, but the rabbit dropped his things and fled. Again with the running! Well, I'd be frightened too, if I were to meet a giant girl. Oh, and yes, she grew. Very tall. That was one of the incidents."

The redhead simply rolled her eyes. She knew the story. It was Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. But she never interrupted. All Donna did was nod and let out soft 'mhmm's, suggesting that she was keeping track of the story.

A soft scoffing laugh broke through in one of Donna's mhmm's. "Am I boring you, Donna?"

"Oh, never!" She lied. And she knew that he knew this. Donna gave up on the act immediately and admitted, "yeah. It's getting boring. I already know the story so why bother telling me?"

"Fine, fine. I'll shorten it. How's that? Besides, I've got things to do. I just really want to tell you this story." The noise of him clearing his throat was made and he began again, "Alice's tears had made a huge mess. A river. She swam around and eventually found a mouse. A cute mouse. Bit chubby for its size, though. Alice, thinking that the mouse was some kind of French mouse, talked to it by asking a question. A whole fuss broke out between the two for the question had something concerning about cats. Still, they found their way to the bank and assembled there, along with a group of other animals. Alice did something stupid and made all the other animals run away. Stupid Alice. Stupid girl." His voice went bitter, as if he was disappointed and was scolding a child.

It made Donna laugh. She couldn't help it. She loved Moriarty's various pitches. She loved how he would comment on the story while he was telling it. Loved absolutely everything.

"The rabbit came by again in search for something. Alice, being the little twat that she is, joined in. The rabbit mistook her for someone by the name of Mary Ann. And to be quite honest with you, dear Donna, I prefer the name Mary Ann to Alice. So, the rabbit got fussy and yelled at her in his meanest tone, 'Mary Ann! What are you doing out here? Run home now and fetch me a pair of gloves and a fan! Quick, go now!'" His voice turned bitter as he spoke out the rabbit's dialogue and also tried to suppress his giggles. Certainly, Moriarty was having too much fun with telling the story. "Alice took off and sheltered herself into a home that belonged to the real Mary Ann. The little girl found a drink, and for some stupid reason, she drank it! It didn't have a warning! But you never, and I mean never, ever drink something that doesn't have a label on it! Only this time, unlike her previous predicament, dumb old Alice knew something would happen to her. Her logic… I do-don't understand it!"

He went on ranting about how dumb and reckless Alice was until Donna said something that made him stop. Moriarty went on with the story. "Er. My apologies with that. It won't happen again." A pause of uncertainty. "Okay, maybe. Well, as you would know, poor dumb Alice grew to the size of the house. She tried to escape, but oh no! The other animals were shocked to find her arm sticking out of the window! So what did the animals do? They threw rocks at Alice! Rocks! Oh my, maybe this story isn't fit for kids. That's abuse, isn't it?"

Donna didn't answer. All she had was a big grin on her face. She absolutely loved Moriarty's version of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. Plus, she also knew that it was rhetorical, so he didn't really need an answer.

"They turned into little cakes. I don't know how, but I suppose crazy things do happen in Wonderland! Alice, oh that silly Alice, she ate the cakes. Thankfully, it helped her! She was reverted back to her tiny, squish-able, self again. So-"

The redhead got him off. "Wait. Hold on." Donna got up from the couch and walked toward one of the windows. She peeked out and found Shaun's car pulling up to the garage. "My husband's home. I think he's here for a break, maybe he left something. But it was nice listening to you. I'd love to hear you finish this story again." Donna was being generous now. Yes, she wanted to hear Moriarty tell the story to her, but she also didn't want a stranger calling her up. She didn't recognize him. Not by his voice, not by his name. "If he walks in through this door and sees me not doing anything, he'll have a fit! Now, I've really got to go. Really. Sorry, Richard." Moving away from the window, Donna shifted the phone away from her ear. Just before she was about to end the call, another scream from the other end shocked her. Only this time, she didn't drop the phone. "Richard? Richard?" Her voice went urgent, pressing the phone to her ear for some kind of response.

"Yes, yes. Sorry about that. Something fell, you see. Scared the bloody hell out of me." A nervous laugh broke out. "I don't want to bore you with what you've heard before. But I do have something to ask of you."

"Yeah? What is it?"

Moriarty's voice lowered, as if he was whispering a secret to someone, "I've got-zzt!-thing to tell-bzz!-a man, in a-zzt!" Something was strange. An interference. Moriarty didn't seem to notice as he continued on with his message, "He's got a-brmm!-you should never speak to hi-bzz!-otherwise, you'll have the ride for your life. It's not-zzt!-you'll get yourself killed-" Again, Moriarty was cut off by Donna.

"Hold it, speedy! What are you saying? I can't hear you!" Her voice, still urgent, grew louder. Donna moved over to the window again and saw that Shaun was grabbing something from inside his vehicle. She gave out a sigh of relief. "Richard, I can't hear you!"

"You'll get yourself killed, Donna. If you ever meet him again. He'll make it sound like Wonderland! And you're going to be the dumb girl that'll try new things when you should know better!" The noises stopped and his voice was clear, now in a begging pitch. "Just don't go near him! Don't speak to him, don't even ask about him! Forget it, forget it like some half-remembered dream. Please, please… Donna Noble, please don't go looking for the Doct-"

The call abruptly ended, leaving Donna with questions. She heard the dead tone of the other end and sighed, tossing the phone onto the couch. She didn't want to call Moriarty back. The frustrated woman settled down and sat by the box again, just before she received her call from Richard Brook. Who was he talking about? What did he mean by again? Did I meet this other guy before? I don't remember… who was he? Questions circled around her head and after a while of trying to answer them, it gave her a headache. With a groan, Donna attempted to busy herself with the items inside the box, placing them on the floor. Her head turned to the door when she heard it open. A half-hearted smile made its way on her face as she saw Shaun. "Hey. Why are you here?"

"Forgot something. Told my boss I'd get it." He explained briefly, rushing into the bedroom. After seven minutes, he came back from the room with a folder tucked under his arm. "Found it." Shaun pointed at the folder and walked over to Donna, giving her a quick peck to the forehead. "Got to run. See you in a few hours!" In a rush, Shaun hurried out the home, slamming the door shut.

The loud sound of the door made Donna cringe a little. Again, she was alone. Alone to fix up the house. Alone to question what Moriarty was advising her to do - or what not to do. There may have been some things that Donna inquired, but this was something absolutely new. There was something - or in this case, someone - that Moriarty knew. Someone that Donna interacted with before. But she would never know. Donna would never know that the person she was searching for was the Doctor, the man that changed her and vouched for her safety. Donna was his mate. She wouldn't know. She would never know. After all, everything was stuck in the middle.

Everyone kept on wondering and yearning. They questioned if something was real or fake. And that feeling had returned to Donna. She scanned around the depths of her mind for something she wasn't suppose to remember. Something she experienced. Something forbidden. But again, she would never know. Donna would be stuck in the middle, always asking if something was real or not. 'Was it a dream? Was it all in my head? It certainly didn't feel like a dream, so maybe it was real?' Those were the questions that haunted her.