A/N: I almost considered not writing the dinner scene; but I'd like to stay alive a bit longer, thanks. ;-)


Part 7

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Sarah Jane immediately stood up to greet them, and there were hugs all round. "How did it go today?" she asked.

"Not bad," Donna answered.

At the same time the Doctor replied, "It was interesting." He then picked up a newspaper off a seat and sat himself down with a weary sigh.

Noticing this, Sarah Jane requested, "Luke, go and make us some tea, please." And then she turned her attention back to her guests. "I hope you don't mind pizza and salad for dinner."

"No, that's fine," Donna reassured her. "I'll come and help," she offered, standing from her own seat.

"No, you're a guest. Just sit yourself down and Luke will help me," Sarah Jane answered. She then took off towards the kitchen.

Gazing around the otherwise empty room, Donna frowned at the Doctor. "Oi, Beaker! John, why aren't you helping?" she hissed across to him as he sat reading a newspaper in the armchair.

He lowered the paper to peer imperiously at her over the top. "Because I don't do domestic," he replied.

Her hand shot out, landing on the top edge of the newspaper, and she had to use all of her control to not shred it to pieces. "You don't do domestic?! How wizard for you! It's a good job food comes ready prepared in little blue capsules…Oh no! It doesn't! Some poor sod has to prepare it all and cook it. Someone like Sarah Jane."

He merely glared back at her, determined not to rise to the bait. "If you can call it cooking," he scoffed. "I've tasted her offerings plenty of times in the past and I'd rather take the blue capsules, thank you very much."

Donna drew in a gasp of shock. How could he say that about his mother's cooking? Throwing a cautious glance towards the kitchen, she started an angry tirade. "I can't believe you just said that!"

He completely lowered the newspaper this time. "Why? Why would I lie about something as serious as food?" he asked incredulously.

"I'm beginning to wonder a lot of things about you," she reluctantly admitted. "Like why Sarah Jane didn't suffocate you at birth."

What? Why was she going on and on about Sarah Jane and her cooking? Good grief, he had suffered weeks of her attempts when they were both younger and travelled together before they had mutually agreed she would never bother creating a meal from scratch for them ever again. Unless this attack from Donna was some sort of deluded action that came from a sense of strong friendship and loyalty? Yes, that would explain it. "It's okay, she knows how I feel about her efforts," he tried to appease her.

Righteous indignation rose up within her. "Ain't you charming," Donna sarcastically commented. "Remind me to never cook for you."

"Okay, if you want me to," he replied; and spent the next ten minutes silently wondering why she was so annoyed with him. Did that mean he was never going to get a decent meal around there? And he'd heard such good things about Donna's cooking as well.


Luke practically pounced on Donna as they entered Sarah Jane's dining room, gleefully showing her to a possible seat at the table. The Doctor felt a bit narked that he hadn't been greeted with the same enthusiasm; he had done the other night before Donna turned up.

"Come and sit next to me, Donna," Luke invited her, and then proceeded to usher her into the seat in the corner, pulling out the chair in an exaggerated declaration of politeness.

Donna wanted to giggle at his inexpert action, but held it in. It wouldn't do to quash such potential gentlemanliness. "Thank you, Luke." She graced him with a beaming smile.

She noted that the Doctor was grinning with amusement as he deliberately sat himself opposite her, and smiled back until she felt his leg wedge itself against hers. The nerve! Wasn't there enough room under the table for his Bambi-like limbs? She shoved his foot and then turned her attention onto the exuberant Luke.

"What's it like having your own TV show?" he asked; although there were obviously lots of questions swirling around in his mind.

"Pretty good, most of the time; the rest of the time it's brilliant," she pleasantly answered, struggling to ignore the power struggle underneath the table. She'd be damned if she moved her foot away and let him intimidate her. "I've had ordinary jobs and this one is by far the best I've ever had."

Excitement came off Luke in waves. "Who would you say has been your best guest so far, and who is the most famous person you have interviewed?" he asked eagerly.

"Oh, that would be telling," Donna teased. "But everyone I've met has been lovely, although a certain Daniel Craig was outstanding."

"You didn't?!" Sarah Jane gasped out as she sat down with them. Her face then took on a dreamy expression.

"Who?" the Doctor demanded to know.

"James Bond, you prawn!" Donna answered his query. "Don't pretend you don't know who I mean." She then continued talking to Sarah Jane. "He's such a gorgeous bloke. If he weren't taken I'd have thrown my cap at him."

The Doctor regarded her head. "I thought only old men or schoolboys wore caps."

"Where have you been living?" she mocked him. "Lots of people wear caps these days; although lots of celebrities wear them in order to hide behind," she added the last part to Luke. "They work almost as well as Batman's mask."

"Have you got a cap then, Donna?" Luke wondered. "It would be a shame to hide your hair."

Donna playfully caressed his arm. "Aw, ain't you sweet saying that!" She then caught the Doctor glaring at her hand as it rested on Luke's arm, and quickly released her hold on him. You don't want a parent suspecting your motives after all. "I haven't got a cap as such; instead I've got this hat I wear at times," she added.

"I've seen photos of you like that, in the paper," Luke offered, and then self-consciously blushed. "Mum sometimes points them out to me."

Ah, here was her chance to find out more information. Donna quickly asked, "Does your mum like me much?"

Luke glanced briefly towards Sarah Jane. "Yes, quite a lot. We love your show."

"Thank you," Donna said with deep sincerity. "I'm not sure if you should watch today's recording or not, but it's lovely to know that you both enjoy the show."

"Can I come with you and see one day? I've never been in a studio," he pleaded.

"Luke, leave Donna alone to eat her meal," Sarah Jane intercepted. "She's hardly had a chance to eat anything."

"That's okay," Donna commented, smiling reassuringly at Sarah Jane. "It's always nice to meet a fan." She then turned her attention back to Luke, having noted the Doctor had already finished his meal. Where did the man put it all? "I don't see why you can't come along to a recording, as long as your mum says it's okay," she hedged her bets. "I have another recording to do the day after tomorrow."

Luke threw an expectant plea in Sarah Jane's direction. She sighed in exasperation. "Have you finished all your homework?"

"Of course," he answered smugly. "All of this term's pre-set stuff, and everything else has been organised into my schedule."

"Do you mind if he comes with us, Butter fingers?" Donna suddenly asked the Doctor across the table. She felt it best that Luke's father rather his grandmother made the decision.

"Butter fingers?" Luke immediately queried.

She giggled. "He has this habit of dropping things," she explained offhandly. "Well? Is he allowed to come?"

The Doctor considered this question carefully. "I think it best that he doesn't until we work out why you have been targeted. And for the record, I don't drop things, I release them. There is a difference."

There was a snort of disagreement. "Depends what side of that 'release' you are, Sunshine. But we won't talk about that here."

"Did something happen today?" Sarah Jane asked, spotting a good story when it was hinted at.

Donna waved her knife about vaguely as she continued to chew. "Yes, but nothing extra-terrestrial."

The Doctor almost voiced his protest that he was extra-terrestrial, but held it in. "All I did was stay by Donna's side and do as she asked," he said with a pout.

"You got told off then," Sarah Jane remarked, knowingly.

"I did not!" he disagreed. "I was… sort of… yes, I got told off."

Luke giggled, clamping his hand over his mouth to hold in his mirth; whilst Donna smirked and carried on eating. When Sarah Jane stood to start collecting the plates, Donna insisted, "Leave them, Sarah Jane. John and I will do the washing up."

"Will we?" He stared at her impudence.

"Yes we will, Bunsen boy. You get off too lightly around here," Donna told him. "You can't leave your mum and son to do everything."

"Whoa! What's this about 'mum and son'?" he quizzed her as Sarah Jane and Luke sat stunned.

Donna rolled her eyes in exasperation. "Your mother…" She pointed to Sarah Jane. "..And your son." Shen then pointed to Luke. Spotting the incredulous look on their faces, she then amended it to, "That's right, isn't it? Or have I misread something?" Obviously someone was on the brink of losing it. Was it her or them?

"He is not my son! Luke is!" Sarah Jane exploded.

The Doctor started laughing softly to her side. "You're going to love this, Sarah Jane. Donna seems to think that I'm your son. And not only that, but my third self is my father!" His laughter then turned more throaty.

"You thought he's my son?!" Sarah Jane queried; gobsmacked that Donna should think such a thing. "My son!"

"It was an honest mistake," Donna tried to defend herself. "You said… and…"

"You think he's my dad?" Luke managed to ask. "Wow!"

"I thought…," Donna stuttered out lamely. "Since you are…"

"My son!" Sarah Jane said yet again. "Why did you think the Doctor was my son?!"

Donna shrugged, in the self-conscious way that teenagers often do. "He's got the same colouring as you, he looked a bit like the old bloke in your photo upstairs, and you said you had a clever son."

"I was talking about Luke. He is my exceptionally clever son! And the man you refer to as 'old bloke' is the Doctor," Sarah Jane replied huffily.

"How…?" Donna swept her gaze between the two of them.

The Doctor reached across and took hold of her hand in his, now no longer just amused but also concerned. "I'm sorry, Donna, but I thought you knew that I travelled with Sarah Jane as my companion many years ago. I don't just investigate aliens and help humans."

The phrasing made her brain whirl. "What? You help humans… You're saying you're an alien too?" When he nodded, she added, "What sort of alien?"

"I'm a Time Lord, from the planet Gallifrey," he supplied.

"So it's not your lot that have been tormenting me?" she wondered.

"No, nothing to do with me," he answered.

"Oh," she merely said, deep in shock and thought. "I've put my foot in it good and proper, haven't I? I'm sorry Sarah Jane. Sorry, Luke. I put two and two together and made five."

"I suppose I can understand how you got this all wrong," admitted Sarah Jane, somewhat reluctantly.

"I think it's cool you think the Doctor is my dad," added Luke. The compliment was all too evident in his expression. "But it's just Mum and me."

"Then who…?" Donna started to ask.

"Luke has no parents, so I adopted him," Sarah Jane explained.

"I'm so sorry. I erm… I think I'd better start on the washing up," Donna announced, and stood up to hide her embarrassment.

"I'll help you," the Doctor stated, much to Sarah Jane's surprise; and he collected plates and dishes to carry to the kitchen.