Donna Noble was not looking forward to having to carry her groceries out in the pouring rain.
This wouldn't have even happened if her husband, Shaun, wasn't such a dimwit and insisted on working late nights to earn extra income, she thought to herself. They could have went out, like a normal couple, or at the least they could have gone to the store together so they wouldn't have to eat that cheap frozen pizza in the fridge. So she wouldn't have to be alone.
Donna hated being alone.
But beggars can't be choosers, she reasoned, and with that thought she sighed, popped open her umbrella, and picked up the grocery bags to go out into the storm that slowly began to look worse and worse. It almost seemed as if the clouds themselves were crying.
Donna was about two streets away from the bus ride home when she noticed the woman.
The woman looked fairly normal. She was black, probably in her late twenties. Her hair, pulled back into a bun, and her clothes, made her look like some sort of professional, but at what, Donna didn't know.
She had never seen this woman before in her life.
So why did she look so weirdly familiar?
But even though the nagging sense of déjà vu scared her, the real thing that was bothering Donna Noble was the fact that this woman seemed to be following her.
It happened on every corner as Donna hastened to catch her ride. The woman was always behind her, in the shadows at the corner of her eye.
The last thing she needed in this downpour was a bloody stalker.
Later, she ended up on the corner of Smithington, when, as she looked around the area to make sure the mysterious woman wasn't there, she lost her footing over a particular large crack on the walkway and fell down. Sopping wet vegetables and bread lay scattered around her. Was it possible for such an already horrid day to go from bad to worse?
"Would you like a hand with that?" Donna heard a voice ask.
Turning around, she saw that it was the strange black woman from earlier who'd been following her around. Though every muscle of her body screamed at her not to, Donna nodded. "Thanks," she added. Great, now she was helping out a potential stalker. How daft could she be?
But it was in looking up into the woman's kind face that the real terror began.
Because Donna suddenly couldn't breathe.
Her mind rushed as somehow, just with this woman's face, a million ideas came to surface in her brain. Soldiers in red boots, poison gas, potato head people, a blonde girl, an endless cavern of caves… aliens?
A time machine…
She travelled the universe with a man called the Doctor.
"Oh my god," Donna cried, clutching at her head like she could remove it. "Oh my god, help me!"
"Donna, stay calm. What's the matter? Tell me, is something wrong?" the woman replied in shock, having immediately dropped the groceries she was helping pick up. She rushed over to the groaning woman in obvious concern, checking her with all the skills of a doctor.
If it had been any other time Donna would have interrogated this woman on how she could have possibly known her name, but there seemed to be no reason for that now. The only thing Donna could concentrate on was the burning, painful burning, inside her head. "I'm dying," she whispered to the woman, weak, as everything slowly seemed to slip from her consciousness…
"No, Donna, Donna, stay with me!" the woman's voice became increasingly more agitated. "Jack! Amy Rory! Rose! Anyone! Please help!"
And with those pleas, Donna passed out, the ground finally slipping from underneath her.
When Donna woke up again, she was immediately blinded by a sheer whiteness that only came from a medical institution. She desperately tried to find something around her familiar and welcoming, but her vision was still hazy. "Where… where am I?" she asked to the white around her.
"You're safe, Donna." she heard a comforting voice say from somewhere above her. "You're just in the TARDIS medbay."
The TARDIS… somehow Donna knew that that was a safe place. More than safe, in fact- the safest place in the universe. Cause that's where he was.
And suddenly a flurry of memories came to her mind. Of a tall, ruffly brown haired spaceman taking her throughout the universe, of friends flying the impossible time machine, laughing… a feeling of dizzy happiness enveloped her as she could remember!
The woman sat up to look even closer at the room around her.
Standing above Donna, monitoring the flood of fluids running into her arm through an IV, was the same black woman who had helped her with her fallen groceries. Joyously, the ginger woman whispered her name. "Martha?"
The female doctor immediately looked her way and sighed in relief. "Oh Donna. You feeling better now? What even happened?" She gestured around the room. "We were all so worried about you."
"It was the Doctor," the woman began, chuckling slightly. "Once I became the metacrisis, my human brain couldn't handle all the information of a Time Lord, so he erased my memories to protect me. And yet… somehow I remember now, and I'm fine." She furrowed her brow. "But how…" Then, whipping her gaze around to Martha again, she sputtered. "Wait! Did you say we?"
Sitting up for the first time, Donna saw the people around her hospital bed. Their names too, much as Martha's had, came back to her, as it seemed they hadn't for a very long while. Mickey. Rose. A World War Two era-esque blue trench coat draped over the side of a chair near her bed that could only belong to Captain Jack Harkness. There were some people however, that she didn't recognise- a young also ginger haired woman, a big-nosed sandy haired man that seemed to be working alongside Martha as a nurse, and a petite brown haired girl. But even though she wasn't quite sure where she was, or why she was here, Donna Noble felt at home with these people.
There was just one person missing.
"Oi, where's spaceman?" she asked. "You'd think he'd be here, what with the party going on."
To her surprise, everyone stayed quiet at her comment. "What?" Donna inquired in her usual loud way, mock frowning. "I was just asking where the Doctor was. I know I'm not a comedic genius, but I didn't think I was that bad." Still seeing downward looks from the group, she softened her tone. "Really though, is he okay?" Donna questioned.
Martha sighed and stepped toward the chair Jack's coat was draped on, ignoring her IV duties for a minute. Sitting down, she looked the ginger in the eyes, the doctor's own, Donna saw worriedly, starting to fill with tears. "Donna," she explained, "The Doctor isn't here." Regaining her composure, Martha continued on. "He's pulled as all," she gestured around to the people standing vigil in the room. "Into his conscience. Somewhere here, the Doctor, in his mind, is trapped."
The loud woman wanted to say something witty, or encouraging- but all Donna could muster was a weak "Oh." She cleared her throat. "Well, at least that explains the reason I can remember- if this isn't really reality, then I guess I'm able to be here without burning up in front of everyone. And that's good at least, isn't it?"
There were a few nods of head, but still, entire medbay was an uneasy silent for a moment- until the petite brunette Donna had noticed earlier broke the tension. "Jack's probably going to be waiting for us soon in the console room," she stated. "So we best be heading down there I think." Mumbling in agreement, the group slowly left, leaving Donna and Martha alone.
The doctor turned to her patient. "You look all right to me, so I'll take your IV out and we'll head downstairs with the others." she started, heading out the door. Then, stopping, Martha turned back around. "Maybe it will help take our minds off of things."
Donna couldn't agree more.
I'm so sorry for the long hiatus, but I had a whole month filled of going to camps and a trip to Canada, so I didn't really have a lot of access to my computer, and therefore, couldn't update. But now, here's the next chapter! Things are about to be getting thicker and thicker, so stay tuned! I hope I can still keep putting these chapters out quickly, I know you guys have been waiting a while. Please be sure to review (PLEASE), favourite, and follow, all of those things help me keep writing, help me know what I'm doing well and what I'm not and generally, just make me happy. Thanks so much for reading everyone!