Chapter 7

As soon as the ship had landed, the Doctor had told Donna he wanted to look outside,because this planet was worth seeing. And so Donna had gone to the door of the Tardis and stepped outside, on to a wide landscape of lush green fields, where in the distance one way, a forest began and in other other, unspoiled, bluest sea calmly reflected sunlight.

Donna had looked about, admiring blossom on the trees that came in many shades of pink.

"Are we the only two people here?" she had wondered.

The Doctor leant against the open doorway of his ship as he looked out and then, feeling increasingly weak, placed his hand against it, borrowing some strength from the physical contact with his Tardis, and he leaned on the doorway heavily as he fought against worsening weakness.

"Yes, we are the only two people here," he told her, "And when I die the Tardis will take you home, I've programmed her for a flight plan to ensure you get back safely in the event of my death. Don't wait for me to regenerate, I don't know how long that will take now...I've forced my ability to regenerate to go into sleeping mode, it needs to wake up now. But with the state of me and all the drugs I've introduced to my system to fight the radiation, it could be delayed. I just hope it wakes up in time, or I've done a terrible thing – I'll die and the line will stop with me, history will be rewritten."

Donna had turned and looked at him, and although he looked pale and so weak it scared her, she tried not to show her fear.

"Don't give up yet," she said again, "They will come back for us."

The Doctor let go of the doorway and stepped out to join her.

He paused to look into her eyes, and then he kissed her.

"I wouldn't have changed anything," he told her, "Everything I did led me to you in the end and I have no regrets for that."

"It's not the end yet," she replied, and then she looked to the landscape.

"We're really the only two people on the whole of this planet?"

"Yes we are...for now. In a couple of years a large corporation buys it and tears everything up and turns it into a giant transport base – one of the biggest airports for shuttle flights in the galaxy."

The wind blew sweet and warm Donna felt sure she had never known such unspoiled, clean air in the whole of her travels with the Doctor. She looked to the horizon and ran her fingers through her flame red hair as the breeze continued to sigh.

"Its so beautiful," she said to him, and sadness shaded her gaze as she looked at him, "Why do such lovely things have be destroyed?"

"I don't know," he replied, "Some things are not meant to last forever."

And she suddenly realised why tears were stinging her eyes as she looked at the man she loved, shot through with radiation and dying because of it.

"But at least it leaves a lovely memory," she replied, and as he reached for her, she grasped his hand tightly.

The wind blew again and she watched as a flock of birds took flight from distant treetops, heading off across a flawless blue sky as they seemed to be heading into a golden sun that shone down and lit up every colour in the world in a deep and beautiful shade.

"At least we got to see it before it's gone," she said, still watching those birds getting smaller as they flew into the distance, "We were there, that's what matters."

"We all need memories like this... Donna, I don't feel too good..."

As she realised the change in his tone, she turned her head, just as he slumped to the ground and his hand slipped from her grip.

She fell to her knees beside him as he weakly clutched at the open doorway, and then she pulled him into her arms, not caring that she would be covered with the blood that had started running from his nose.

"Just hold me..." he murmured, "Hold on to me, Donna..."

He had sounded so peaceful and oblivious to the fact that she was weeping as she knelt on the ground and cradled him in her arms. His eyes closed and his lips parted as his breathing changed to a deep and slow pace.

"Doctor?" she said in panic, gently shaking him, "No, don't do this now...please, we have to wait!"

And he continued to lay in her arms, deeply unconscious, his face and shirt stained crimson as the breeze that sighed over the rolling fields began to dry the blood stains.

Donna sobbed as she held him, and then she called out for help - but then remembered they were the only two people on the whole of the planet and no one could hear her... It was like a knife twisting deep in her heart, that knowledge that he had brought them somewhere so isolated - he had known he was going to die here, and nothing could be done to alter that now...

As the Twelfth Doctor's Tardis landed, the Doctor stepped out first, looked to the other Tardis where the doorway was open, and saw Donna sobbing as she cradled his younger self in her arms.

As he joined her, she looked up at him with tears shining wet on her face.

"He's dying. You're too late."

"And I have no intention of running the risk of dying with him just because he chose to put regeneration on hold," he replied, then he glanced to Clara, who was now by his side, "Let's take him to the med bay – in my Tardis. It's better equipped to deal with this."

As Donna got up and then helped the older Doctor and Clara to carry him into the other Tardis she managed to stop crying, feeling stronger now because nothing had been worse than holding the man she loved in her arms and feeling powerless to help him. At least she wasn't alone any more, and that gave her a spark of hope that was enough to make her feel stronger, certainly strong enough for what ever was to happen next...

"I told you we were coming back," Clara said.

"But what can you do for him now? Look at him, he's dying!"

As Donna spoke, she looked to the Doctor, who was now lying on a bed with sheets up to his chest, his shirt sleeve up and an IV in his arm.

"His vital signs are being monitored, " the Twelfth Doctor told her, "While that machine over there prepares the bone marrow for the transplant."

As he indicated to the machine near the bed, she looked at him in surprise as hope flowed back to her in a wonderful rush.

"Bone marrow?"

"We found a match. And once that machine had finished processing, the match will be one hundred percent instead of ninety eight, giving him an excellent chance of a full recovery."

She stared at him.

"But how...I mean, who agreed to do this?"

The older Doctor exchanged a glance with his girlfriend and they both said nothing, and Donna was quick to pick up on that.

"What's the big secret? If someone has been unselfish enough to save his life, I want to know who they are – and so will the Doctor. He's going to want to thank them."

"There's no need for that," he said quickly, and then as he heard his younger self give a weary sigh, he looked over and saw the fluids that had been fed into his bloodstream had been enough to just about bring him out of unconsciousness, at least for a short time.

"Wait here, Donna," he said, "I need to speak to him."

"So do I!"

"And this is urgent!" he said sharply.

She glared at him.

"And I'm his partner, I've got a right to be with him - he's dying!"

"He won't be once that machine activates and takes the transfusion through the line that links to his IV. I just need to speak to him for a moment, so could you please shut up, Donna?"

Her temper flared.

"What did you say to me? How about YOU shut up -"

"Donna," Clara said, lightly touching her arm as Donna looked sharply at her, "The Doctor knows what he's doing. He just wants to explain to him that he's got the transplant...Come and sit down, come and talk to me, you look like you've been crying..."

"Of course I have, I'm scared!" she said, and then Clara led Donna away to the other side of the room and the Doctor breathed a relieved sigh, thankful he now had time to speak to his other self alone...

"Doctor," he said quietly, and the younger Doctor heard him and opened his eyes and looked up at him.

"There's no point in trying any more...I'm dying."

"No, you're not," his older self told him, "You have a match. As soon as the machine completes perfecting it to one hundred percent we can start the transfusion process."

The Doctor looked up at him, suddenly more alert as he took in the information.

"But how?"

"It doesn't matter how. What matters is you have a chance to live."

His dark eyes clouded with confusion.

"No...it does matter. I want to know who did this for me."

As the older Doctor stood over him, he decided to cautiously see how he would react to a hint of the truth.

"Who knows?" he said in a joking tone, "Maybe it was even the Master -"

"If it came from him, I don't want it!" his younger self exclaimed, becoming slightly breathless as his anger rose, "He did this to me, he's to blame for this...for everything I've been through! I'd rather die than -"

"Okay, you got me," Twelve said as he switched to Plan B, playfully holding his hands up, "It was me. We travelled far and wide and found a distant galaxy where they were able to make my tissue type a complete match for yours. I had the bone marrow extracted, the pain wore off after a couple of hours and we came back here. But don't make a big deal out of it, I'm a modest kind of guy. You don't have to thank me."

The expression in the Tenth Doctor's eyes had changed.

"But I do," he said, and his voice was filled with gratitude.

The older Doctor turned away from his bedside.

"Its ready now," he said, "I'll just get the process started."

And he hit a button on the machine and watched as the transfusion started to take place.

"I am so grateful to you!" his younger self said.

The Twelfth Doctor forced a smile.

"And you can lie back now and relax and wait for it to work. I'm in need of coffee. See you in a bit..."

Then he walked away, leaving his younger self to sleep and rest while the transfusion took place, and joined Donna and Clara, who were sat together in a seating area on the other side of the room.

"Did you tell him?" Clara asked as she looked up at him.

Her hand was linked with Donna's, and Donna had until then, looked on the brink of tears, but again she picked up on some kind of secret between Twelve and Clara...

"Tell him what?" Donna demanded.

The Doctor gave a sigh.

Then he shot a look to Clara, it was one of those brief, glancing looks that said a million words- the kind of secret language that only a lover could understand - and Clara got it at once:

Say nothing about the Master...

Clara got up and so did Donna.

"What's this about?" she asked again.

He turned to Donna and lied very convincingly.

"I just wanted to explain to him that the reason we took so long coming back was because I'd had to get my bone marrow manipulated to be a match for his. It was a complicated process that took some time, we had to wait about for the transfusion to be fixed so that it was a close enough match for him to receive it."

Donna stared at him.

"You're telling me you just saved his life?"

The Doctor saw a look in her eyes and felt awkward, sensing a hug was imminent.

"Yes, but don't make a fuss, please -"

She launched herself at him and threw her arms around him, squeezing him tightly as he froze and then struggled to handle the huge hug that she had just wrapped him in as Donna gave him a big kiss, and then hugged him again as she thanked him over and over.

As he struggled with the discomfort of uninvited closeness, Clara caught the look on his face and she laughed softly and said nothing, watching in amusement as he paid the price for his white lie and Donna Noble hugged him yet again and told him how wonderful he was.

As soon as the transfusion was over, even as he slept, Donna, who had stayed for hours at the Doctor's bedside, started to notice a huge improvement in his condition. His skin lost its pallor and his breathing eased up, his temperature lowered, and suddenly he just looked like he was just sleeping instead of sleeping due to weakness.

The Doctor slept for the rest of the night.

In all that time, the Twelfth Doctor and Clara left them alone together, and they were still alone together when he finally woke up in the morning.

"I really need to thank him," he said as he opened his eyes and looked up at Donna, "He saved my life. I'm okay, I know I am, I can feel it!"

Donna laughed softly, and as she looked into his eyes, it was a relief to see all trace of worry and fear was gone now.

"I think he's hiding," she said, "He's scared of getting more hugs!"

The Doctor laughed too, and as amusement sparkled in his eyes, he reached of Donna's hand and held it tightly.

"I can't wait to get out of this bed!" he said to her, "You and me can pick up where we left off...we can travel, I've got so much more of the universe to show you."

"I wouldn't make those plans just yet."

The Twelfth Doctor walked into the med bay, and as he heard those words spoken, his younger self sat up in bed with ease and paused to remove the IV line from his arm.

"Why not?" he asked, and as the Timelords looked at each other, Donna felt a flicker of worry.

"No," she said fiercely, "I refuse to be given any more bad news! He's been through hell!"

The Doctor gave her hand a squeeze.

"Donna, it's okay...I'm okay now. Let's just hear him out."

And he met with the gaze of his older self.

"What do I need to know?" he asked.

The Twelfth Doctor stood at his bedside and handed him a print out from the machine.

"It's good news. You get at least fifty years of life in your current form before the transplant fails and regeneration takes place. When that starts to happen you must return to the Tardis."

He nodded.

"Of course, to preserve the time line."

"That's not all," Twelve added, "I know you want adventure, but I'm afraid things have changed. The Tardis won't allow the risk of you flying about time and space because that has to stop in alignment with the date of your death in the other timeline. And so to protect the time line, the Tardis has a locked on flight pre planned, the one that you put in for Donna. Once you take that flight, you're grounded."

"Grounded?" he exclaimed.

"Yes, grounded. That's the price you pay for the extra time. So you and Donna get to have a life together on Earth as Mr and Mrs Smith and raise a couple of kids."

"We're going to have kids?" Donna said as joy filled her eyes.

Twelve gave a sigh.

"I wasn't supposed to tell you that part, but it's been a long day and I forgot about holding back... Yes, I looked ahead. It's all going to be fine. But Doctor, you have to stay on Earth. The Tardis will function on half power once you land, enabling you to continue the use of the replicator in the med bay to manufacture the anti rejection drugs you have to take for the rest of your Tenth life. But she won't fly. Not until its time for you to regenerate."

Then he caught the look in the eyes of his younger self, and knew that news would take time to sink in, because in that lifetime, he had so very much loved adventure and the thrill of travel...

Three days passed by.

In that time the Doctor was feeling recovered and looked better and better with each passing day. And the Twelfth Doctor kept busy in his own Tardis out of his way, because he didn't want to be thanked for something he had not done, nor did he want any more hugs unless he could help it, and he guessed with the level of their happiness and gratitude, there would be plenty coming his way from his younger self and Donna if he didn't watch out...

"We should leave soon," he said as Clara walked into the console room.

"I was hoping we could go back and spend some time with them," she replied, "I see no reason why we can't."

The Doctor turned from the console and looked into her eyes.

"I see plenty of reason, Clara. The time line. Enough has been changed, and without causing harm to the galaxy. We need to leave them alone now, we really do."

Sadness reflected in Clara's gaze as she thought of how she had spent much time over the past few days watching Donna's joy at her lover's recovery, and then she recalled how the two of them had walked along those rolling hills together, as they had talked together and a friendship had been forged.

"But I feel really close to both of them, especially Donna," she told him.

The Doctor was unsympathetic.

"I'm serious," he replied, "Enough has been changed. I've gone forward and I've seen their life together. It's set in stone now because its going to happen. I remember every moment of it and it will be great for both of them. Please understand, we have to leave."

"Do we really have to, I mean, right now? Don't you feel closer to them? I do, I don't see how I could feel any less after what they've been through."

"I do feel closer to who I was in that lifetime, yes. And I have memories of a happy and long marriage to Donna in that lifetime too. I also remember our children. But I'm a different man now. And I like the life I have with you and I wouldn't risk more ripples in the time line just for the sake of nostalgia."

"Then we should say goodbye to them," Clara replied.

"Yes, we should," he agreed, "Because they are leaving soon and that last flight in the Tardis will take them home, where they will definitely be happy."

His words brought a smile to her lips.

"As long as they get to be happy," she told him, "Saying goodbye won't be so bad."

And then they left the Tardis, stepping outside to where the Tenth Doctor had now moved his own Tardis a short distance away on the hillside. The door was open, and they began to walk towards it.

When they reached the other Tardis, Donna stepped out of it and joined them.

"We're leaving soon," she said.

"So are we," Clara replied, "And I wish we could stay in touch but -"

"The time line, I know - me and the Doctor have just had that conversation too," she replied, "But I do wish we could have met up again. I think you and me would have been friends for life."

"So do I," Clara told her, and the two women embraced as they said their farewells.

As the Twelfth Doctor waited for Clara to finish talking with Donna, someone tapped him on the shoulder - and he turned to see his former self step out of his Tardis.

"You're looking well," he told him, and the Tenth Doctor smiled.

"I feel absolutely fine," he replied as he stood talking to the older man on the hillside and the breeze whipped at his long coat, "And I've been making plans with Donna. As soon as we get back, we're going to see her family, tell them what's happened and -"

"Wilf will be overjoyed to welcome you to the family. And Donna's mother will be relieved that you're not longer chasing after danger and aliens any more. She's going to be glad to see you settle down with Donna. It's because you tell her about the transplant. She starts seeing you as less the alien trouble maker and more the son in law she wants to welcome into her home. She's going to get all overprotective towards you because of what you've been through. And she's going to love the grand children when they come along."

"You really have looked ahead, you've looked a long way!"

Twelve smiled.

"I don't need to now," and he tapped the side of his head as he looked at him knowingly, "I already have it all up here, I remember the rest of your life time. It's going to be great!"

His younger self smiled back at him brightly.

"I'm thinking maybe three months from now -"

"Two," Twelve corrected him,"You get married to Donna two months from now - as soon as your hair is long enough to spike up and look good for the wedding photos."

And the Doctor looked on as the younger one ran his fingers through his hair and thought about it. His hair was a little longer already, and some of the grey had already started to fade out.

"I'm so grateful I get to stay around," he said to his older self, "And that's thanks to you."

Twelve smiled and looked away, avoiding his gaze for a moment.

"You really don't need to thank me. Anyone would have done the same."

"But they didn't."

He heard emotion in his voice, and as he looked back at him, the Tenth Doctor's eyes lit up with warmth.

"I have to do this. I'm so sorry, I know you don't like it but... don't move, just stay there..."

The Twelfth Doctor froze awkwardly as his Tenth self grabbed hold of him and gave him a tight hug.

"Thank you," he said warmly as he let go again, "Thank you so much for saving my life."

Twelve smiled back at him.

"It really wasn't a big deal for me," he replied, "I'm just glad you get to stay around and have the life you want – with the person you want to be with."

Donna had joined them now.

"Are we off, then?" she asked, and the Doctor nodded.

"It's time to go home," he told her, "You and me – back to Earth," And he couldn't hold back his excitement as he took hold of her hand, "Our future awaits us, Donna Noble!" he said, and they exchanged a kiss and then stepped inside the Tardis.

Donna glanced back over her shoulder as Clara, who had just joined the Twelfth Doctor, gave her a smile. Then the door closed and the Tardis faded in and out of sight and then disappeared from view, off on its journey back to Earth where two people who loved each other would now be able to spend a lifetime together.

A short while later, after the Twelfth Doctor and Clara had left in their own Tardis, as the blue box spun gently through time and space, Clara watched as her lover busied himself checking the controls on the console.

"I'm glad they get to be together," she said.

"What? Oh yes, that... I remember that life," the Doctor replied as he kept his back turned to avoid the awkward subject he felt sure was looming, "Happy times...a life time with her, a good marriage. They are out there living it now, while I'm here, way ahead of them, remembering it all."

"So..."

He tensed.

Here it was, he could feel it coming...

And then she said it.

"I suppose now you're two more lifetimes along and two thousand years old, you're just about ready to think about doing it again."

"Doing what?"

"Getting married again?"

He turned from the console.

She smiled at him hopefully.

"Clara," he said and as she stepped closer, he smiled too. It was that smile, the one that covered so many excuses, and she could tell he was trying really, really hard to sound convincing...

"That was then. I'm a different man now. And I'm not ready to settle down! I like danger, chasing monsters and I play guitar like a rock star. And I really, really love the life we have together – as it is. I wouldn't change it for anything!"

"Neither would I," she replied, and then he smiled again, and this time she could tell he was really happy.

"Let's see what's next!" he said excitedly, and they threw the lever together, laughing as the Tardis prepared to land.

As she looked into his eyes, Clara thought on his reply on the subject of marriage, and decided it hadn't bothered her as much as she thought it would:

It wasn't the reply she wanted, but it was the one she had expected because she knew him so very well - and if that made him happy now he was his quirky, free spirited two thousand year old self, that was just fine by her.

End