A/N: Ok so… I'm not adding the M chapters I thought I would… I'm writing them and if you want to see them I'm going to post a companion story that has those in it, and only those chapters. They will have the part of the story they belong in. That'll probably be posting in December just so I can keep this one moving. I'm so sorry this took so long, but I hope it was worth the wait… A bit sad at points, but I like it all in all. Longest chapter yet too! YAYA ^_^
THE COUNTER!
This Chapter count brings the NANOWRIMO count to:
27,251/50,000
ONLY: 22,749 to go!
Chapter 7: If I Die Young
If I die young bury me in satin Lay me down on a bed of roses Sink me in the river at dawn Send me away with the words of a love song
After a few weeks of them simply running around with no danger Donna was starting to believe the doctor was intentionally trying to keep as out of trouble as he could. He was amazingly not attracting it to him and she was getting suspicious that perhaps he was just hiding it from her, which would make no sense. The Doctor was also starting to worry, though his worry was that the universe was planning on hitting him with something big in the next few days that would kill him quite a bit. That didn't stop him from traveling though or Donna from eying him and asking where all the danger had gone.
They landed on a planet that, once again seemed to be very quiet. "I'm starting to think your picking out the most peaceful places in the universe for a reason!" she teased him looking around at the sleepy, crowded street.
"Well, trouble usually finds me I don't usually have to look for it!" He defended holding up his hands in defeat. She smiled at him and grabbed his hand kissing his lips. Every time she did that she started to feel more and more for him, but it wasn't really giving her a reason to stop, it was just making it more worth it to kiss him.
"Aww, it's all alright. At least we're not scared for our lives." She said smiling as he started walking with her.
"Yeah, that's nice." He said as they walked exploring the area. He'd put it on random auto-pilot this time so neither knew where they were. They walked through town until they found some trees. "A Forest." He said slyly. Things always happened in frosts, it was always easy to find excitement there.
She looked excited until there was a scream in it. They looked back at the locals, who all seemed not to notice. They looked at each other and both nodded running though the forest. Donna was increasingly glad with every step that she had not worn the heels she had been thinking of. After a while of running towards the scream they stopped looking around. The Doctor pulled out his sonic and scanned around looking for some sign of what was going on. He motioned Donna to come behind him, which she did, and they started to walk towards where the Sonic was telling him to. After a few more steps they bumped into an invisible wall. The Doctor crinkled his eyebrows. "What?" he said tapping the screwdriver on his hand and turning around before bumping into another wall. "What?" He exclaimed again more confused. He turned to another side and walked into another wall. "What?" He exclaimed again looking at Donna.
"What is it Doctor? What's going on?" She asked looking at him and rolling her eyes.
"We're trapped." He said confused looking at the sonic.
"What do you mean we're trapped?" She asked "How can we be trapped? I thought your sonic thing could detect traps!" She exclaimed before pounding on the sides of the one way force-feild.
"It should be able to, but… but it didn't!" He said looking around confused before hearing voices. He shushed her and her pounding.
"Don't you shush me, Martian boy! You get your skinny little Alien arse and that buzzy sonic….. thing of your working on a way to get us out of this force field right now or I swear I'll…." Donna ranted before being cut off by a high society sounding voice.
"My that is a loud voice you have, my dear." The man said looking Donna over as if she were a piece of meat making the doctor shift in front of her slightly more. It didn't bother Donna though, if anything it made her fight harder that she was being objectified.
"Yeah, and it gets louder! Now GET US OUT!" she yelled at him though the doctor was trying to make her relax. He didn't like the way this man was looking at her or that his sonic hadn't found the trap. Had they found a way to inhibit sonic readings?
"I have every intention to." He said nodding to the soldiers around him who all went around them and walked into the cell grabbing them.
"Don't fight Donna." He said, though he was struggling a little, it wasn't, much in his instincts to go down without a fight. He didn't have much control in the situation and it almost scared him, in fact, it scared him a lot. She looked at him like he was mad but accepted and stopped warring. Once the guards felt they had them in check the man lowered the shields.
"Take them to the facility." The man said and turned away as the guards nodded. "Oh and, don't worry about trying the sonic you have, we've got… precautions in place." He said cryptically before fully walking off and leaving them with the guards.
"Soo, where are we going?" The Doctor asked to a nameless prisoner who just looked at him. "Oh come on, he said facility! What kind of facility?" He asked trying to get information, but the guards said nothing. "You know I can talk all day if I have to, I'm quite good at that." He said more warning than threatening.
"He can too, I'll attest to that." Donna said looking at the men grabbing her. The Doctor was a head of her, but she could tell he really didn't like not knowing what was happening to her. She could see him visibly relax when she talked. When he was relaxed he though better, which made her talking a good thing. "I've traveled with him for a long time now, he never stops talking." She teased trying to lighten the situation for him. It worked a little, knowing that she was ok enough to banter with him. If he couldn't use his sonic, at least he could know she was alright.
"Oh you know you love it!" He teased back ignoring the guards as they walked bound to their guards.
"Oh I never said I didn't like it, just that it happens." She teased until she saw something that silenced her. The Doctor had obviously seen it too from his lack of response. There in front of them was a looming grey building that had almost no windows and a dismal exterior. "Cheery." She muttered as she was pulled up beside the Doctor. He looked over hearing her voice so close and smiled at her.
"The Prisoners will be sedated." One guard said from behind him and he looked panicked. He started to fight again and he could see Donna doing the same.
"No! No. No No No!" He said trying to fight. It wasn't working and soon he felt a small puncture in his shoulder and heard the release of two sedatives, one for him and one for Donna. He fought and tussled frantically trying to get to Donna before they were both knocked out.
A while later, how much longer he couldn't tell, he woke up in a cell. He jumped up and looked frantically around for his best friend. "Donna? Donna?" He pleaded with the cell not seeing her. He'd never been locked up without his companion when they had been computed together before. After a few seconds and some frantic shouts, growing louder with each repetition of her name, he heard a groan. He sprinted to the bars grabbing them and looking out at her. They had changed her cloths, he didn't know why; he was still in his though. She had gone from a pants suit to some kind of thin white dress.
Donna got up groaning again feeling the different cloths. "Doctor where are you?" She asked looking around the room for him. "And why have I changed clothes?" She asked the empty cell looking for him frantically knowing she'd heard his voice.
"I'm over here Donna; they're keeping up across from each other!" He said noticing the large slit in her skirt that went all the way up to her hip and was lined in gold. She would not be happy with that at all. She crawled to the bars and he noticed that her other side was slit the same way and the dress was very low cut leaving little of her bust actually covered.
"Why?" She asked looking at him. "And why do you get to keep your clothes?" She asked looking down at her less than covered body not pleased with the practically transparent dress with little in the way of underwear underneath, and certainly nothing on her bust. He found he was having trouble pulling his eyes away from her well shaped bust, it was quite worth admiring. She noticed and covered it blushing. "Oi, watch it spaceman!" She said making him come back to the world of the waking.
"I don't know, but I'll find out, I promise!" He said just as some guards and the man walked in again. The man motioned that the prisoners be brought and they were both grasped and brought fighting and screaming into a large room. They were handcuffed to two separate wooden boards as the man in charge form the forest stood in front of them. "What do you want with us?" The Doctor asked unhappy seeing the lustful longing look in the man's eyes. It had been enhanced from the forest, probably from the dress they had thrust her in.
"You changed my cloths you little git! If I could move I'd rip you apart limb from limb." The threatened him struggling with the chains on her wrists. The Doctor could once again see the time lady in her, her ginger hair looking like fire as she fought against her bonds. If he hadn't been so petrified about what was going to happen to Donna, he would have been very proud, and more than a little attracted to her, though he wouldn't admit that.
"Oh you can't do that, I have a proposition for you." He said walking far too close to Donna for the Doctor liking.
"You let us go and we don't demolish this place, and whatever it's up to?" she asked again making the doctor smile, or it would have if he hadn't been watching this new man's hands.
"Who are you?" The Doctor asked glaring his Oncoming Storm glare at the man before him. A man that defiantly shrank a little, and got a scared look in his eye, when he saw the oh so powerful glare. That, of course, made the doctor quite happy with himself. He loved it when the bad guys were afraid of him.
"How horrible of me not to introduce myself." The man said trying to go back to his suave overconfident tone, which was hard with the Doctor pulling that look on him. "I Jeshek Ulmuka. I I want you to be my Queen." He said running a hand up the slit in the Dress he'd had put on Donna. The Doctor instantly started to fight for all he was worth against the restraints. No one was to EVER touch Donna like that without her permission. Donna was struck with fear before regaining herself and spitting at him.
"Not a chance!" She growled noticing the Doctor fighting to her to her and gaining strength from her protectiveness of her. She loved him so much at that moment, for wanted to keep her safe. She finally had to admit it to herself. She'd known it was coming, but did it have to be a such a horrible time?
"But you haven't even heard my offer." He said fake pouting and motioning dome guards to go for the Doctor, he was still afraid of the man in chains. "You see, I'll let your friend free and keep you both safe on one condition, you marry me." The man said still running his hand on Donna after her little spit. He didn't mind, he liked women with spirit, it made breaking them that much more fun.
"And how about I say no! What then?" She asked narrowing her eyes at him. He stepped off a little which made the Doctor calm a little though not much, he knew this wasn't going to be a choice, it would be a force.
"Well then you both die." He said. That didn't frighten them too much, he didn't particularly want either of them to regenerate, and he certainly didn't want them to see, but as long as they did it right it would be fine. "No don't worry about yourself flower," the man said brushing a hand against Donna's cheek making both of them growl at Jeshek "For you it'll be quick, instantaneous actually, but your friend will be slow, and painful." He said and the Doctor's heart broke. He'd have to lose her again. If she died with no time for the regeneration process to start, she wouldn't regenerate, she'd just die.
"No!" the Doctor couldn't keep himself from shouting at them making the guards come in closer.
"I-I…Can I think?" She asked realizing she was missing something. "Can I at least talk to him, say goodbye and all?" She asked looking over at the Doctor's frantic face and wanting nothing more than to just hold him and tell him it would all be ok. She could regenerate now, and he always could, where would be the problem. Sure regenerating here wasn't a great idea, but still.
"I'll give you one hour! Then we come for you and you decide!" He said before walking out of the room and into another leaving the guards to take them back to their cells, though this time they were both put into one cell. The instant the guards left they were at each others' sides and he had his hands around her before pulling back and checking her over, trying to do so with a medical eye and not one of lust at the thin clothing.
"Donna, are you alright? Did they hurt you? Is everything ok." He asked her frantically making her smile at him and hold back a laugh.
"Doctor I'm fine." She said "But, I can't marry him." She said honestly looking him in the eyes and hoping he'd see why. It wasn't just Shaun or her love of traveling, it was him.
"No I know that, but Donna we don't have a choice. You'll die." He said trying to think. No sonic, no weapons, no way to talk, what would they do?
"I'll regenerate!" She said as if it were obvious. "Just like you did."
"No you won't." He said shaking his head and looking at the ground.
"Why not! I'm a Time Lord." She said not knowing all the rules.
"If a Time Lord Dies before the regeneration process has a chance to start you don't regenerate, you just die!" He said frightened trying to get her to understand. He didn't want to be alone again, and he couldn't lose her. She was one of his people now, he wasn't alone anymore. Besides all that, he loved her more than he knew what to do with. He didn't know if he knew how to function without her anymore. He certainly hadn't done a very good job when he was traveling alone. She was the only one who knew how to handle him, to keep him in control. She wasn't afraid to smack him when he deserved it and kiss him when he didn't deserve anything. She was his solace and his greatest hope, he couldn't live without her, he didn't know how.
"So, I'll just die?" she said as it set in. He nodded to her not saying a word, not even looking at her. "I can't marry him." She said again more strongly this time. She was coping out. If she had to die, she'd die, but she wouldn't marry him.
"Donna save yourself. They'll let me go and I can bring the TARDIS and…." He started before being cut off by her strong voice.
"We can't know that! That Jeshak or whatever didn't seem much like a man of his word to me." She said and he nodded
"Jeshek." He corrected smirking at her a little before pulling her in to a hug and just holding her against him crying. They both had tears in their eyes. She was resigned to her fate and he was rushing through everything he could to save her, to save them both if he had a chance.
"Doctor, could… could you do me a favor?" she asked still resting her hand against his shoulder and refusing to move from the embrace. He smelled like home, he felt like home, so he was a bit cooler than she was used to, with her new physiology so was she.
"Anything." He whispered to her moving so his mouth and nose were closer to her temple so he could just hold her.
"Can you deliver some messages for me? Tell my mom I'm ok, that I was happier, that I was better here with you. That in the end, I was a better person for it." She said not even seeing the room anymore, just her thoughts. She closed her eyes and thought over who she would talk to. "Tell Shaun, that I did love him, not the way I should have, but I did." She added and all he did was nod. It was her final wishes, he couldn't interrupt that. "Tell Gramps he was brilliant and that I love him. Oh, and tell them to tell Nyres and the girls I had fun when I went." She said thinking of her friends. Her hearts ached as she spoke of all the people she loved most. She realized it wasn't everyone, they were scattered all over time and space, but she couldn't have him go say goodbye to everyone, he hated repeats. He, however would have gone anyone and done anything for her if she asked, he just wanted her to stay. She reached down his arm and he brought his hand to hold hers tightly, he wanted to be sure she was real every second they had together.
"I had so many plans, what we'd do together out here. All your plans." She mused nuzzling closer to his neck. "You know that dress I bought last week on Hexacorp? The white satin one that fades to green at the bottom?" She asked ne only nodded not trusting his mouth as the tears in his eyes threatened to spill over. "Burry me that." She said getting to how she wanted to be buried now. "I don't care about the box, though I'd like a blue lining, TARDIS blue." She said smiling at the impossible box. She wanted it with her, even in death she had to go too long not remembering it, just dreaming of it. Now she wouldn't be without it for a moment if she had a choice. "I love roses; can you put a few in with me?" She requested smiling at the memory of the soft touch of a rose and a smell of it. She'd never fell that again.
"I'll fill it full." He promised weakly to her squeezing her hand tighter and holding her closer as tears ran down his cheeks.
She sniffed as she cried with him. "Thanks." She whispered. "I don't want to be buried, just put me out in the river in my box, and send me off with the words of a love song." She said thinking she was finished, then she remembered these were her list of instructions and she had one more person to leave instructions on how to live for."One last thing." She said finally pulling back to look him in the eyes he turned his gaze to the floor as she looked at him. "Look me in the eye Doctor, this is important!" she insisted to him.
"I… I'm so sorry." He said looking up at her seeing how broken they both were over this. She almost wished she could stop, but this was probably the most important part, so she had to go through with it.
"Doctor, don't stop with me." She said strongly and it surprised him making him look at her confused. She almost had to laugh at that look, she'd miss that look, well she wouldn't really she'd be dead, she hoped there was a heaven though, then she could at least watch over him a little. "Move on, take another girl, travel with her, and show her the wonders. Find a new best mate! Fall in love. Don't dwell on Rose your whole life, but don't forget us either." She said
"I could never forget you." He promised.
"I know, but promise me you'll keep saving us humans, don't give up on us, even in our most stupid of times. She said to him putting a hand up to run it down his cheek. Her thumb stroked his sharp cheekbones and the rest of her cool hand rested over his jaw. He closed his eyes and leaned into her hand. "I'm sorry Doctor, I tried not to, but I… I… you know the truth." She said honestly looking in his eyes she couldn't say those words, it wasn't right, and it didn't need to be said. She was sure he knew. He flashed from looking at her arm to looking right in her eyes. He was elated, he was heartbroken, and he just wanted more time. He could tell their hour was almost up. They didn't have long left and he could hear them coming for her. "You're heart, the way to look at me, the way you love everything. You're intelligence and know it all ways that come with a childish glint. I know this is a bad time to admit it, and I can't say it, but it doesn't need to be said." She finished looking at him with all the love in the world. She knew he didn't do love, he didn't say it. He loved, he'd had a family once after all, but he didn't show it anymore, he was too afraid to. She didn't need to hear it honestly, she was sure he loved her too.
He looked torn; she was giving him an out of saying it. Here was a woman who had wanted to be married forever. She was forceful in love and passionate. She connected and held on when she loved someone. She would pull them into loving her, they would have no choice but to say it and act it. "Yes it does, Donna Noble…. I love you." He said and he kissed her, it was short but full of all the passion he held for this perfect woman.
"Oh Doctor." She said kissing him back and running her hand over his face. Before she could say it back the guards entered and they had Jeshek stood in front of their cell.
"I'll have you choice now, Beauty." He demanded seeing them in an intimate position and not looking pleased.
"I could never marry you, even if I have to die." She said standing up and looking at him defiantly. The Doctor stood behind her trying to find a way to save her. He'd just told her he loved her, he'd admitted it for the first time in nearly 100 years. He couldn't let her die now.
"If you must." He said flippantly as the guards rushed in. Half pulled Donna out and half held the Doctor back. The Doctor was warring against it for all he was worth and some of the guards on Donna had to go to him. The Doctor was ready to fight; Donna was resigned to her fate. It was hard to tell Donna to fight when the most spirited person in the universe had just resigned to being ended.
Soon it was over and the doctor was left to bang and scream against the doors. He pulled out his sonic out of habit and realized it was useless. He threw it all the wall which hit the button for a second. Suddenly the door budged. "No." he said narrowing his eyes. They knew he had a sonic, they had told him it was useless. They had left it with him, they had bluffed, and he had been too distracted to call it. He rushed to the sonic and pointed it at the door sonicing it and it popped right open. "Oh you brilliant thing!" HE exclaimed kissing the sonic. He could save his Donna. He rushed through the cell bars and down to the door separating him from the rest of the area and the place they'd taken them when they had had their first official meeting with Jeshek. He soniced that one too and once again it flew open to him. That meant they hadn't invented the sonic resistant technology. They were just scavengers. He smirked, they had read him wrong, and worse than that, they had made him angry and threatened his Donna, they were very, very dead.
In minutes he was to the room where they were planning on carrying out the execution. Jeshek was in his last attempts to pursued Donna to change her mind when the Doctor threw open the door. "How… How did you?" He stuttered "Guards!" he ordered.
"Oh, I wouldn't do that." The doctor said holding up the sonic and noticing the way they'd been planning on hurting Donna. It was a simple high powered laser, but it would be strong enough to slice through her in one shot. The way to aim It was very easy to control though, and he knew how. He pressed the button again and the laser swung to point at Jeshek. "You see, they move and I shoot." He threatened. He hated guns, but for Donna he'd make an exception. The truth was though he was bluffing just like they had been, he could work the aiming system easy, but he couldn't make it fire, that was impossible. He saw her looking confused and he made a note to explain it to her later.
"Stand down!" Jeshek yelled frantically to the guards, who all followed orders.
"Now, I'm just going to get Donna out of these bonds and walk out. All right." He said narrowing his eyes and chasseing over to Donna before the man could answer.
Jeshek looked over at the gun and nodded. "Yeah, ok!" He said as the Doctor unlatched Donna and helped her down. They walked out the door not looking back and once outside ran through the halls and out of the building. They heard the guards behind them and ran faster. He reached over and grabbed her hand smiling at her.
"How did you do it?" Donna asked looking over at him incredulous.
"Run now, talk later." He said though he had his eyes on her adoringly. She was back with him, he was whole again.
"Right." She said nodding and smiling at him feeling much more complete again as well. After a bit of searching they found the door. The guards were still chasing them when they ran out the door and through the forest. "Doctor what about the traps?" She asked.
He looked was looking down at the ground and looked up at her for a fraction of a second. "If you look, there's a disruption of the ground where the felid is, it's impossible to make fully invisible. He said pointing to some ground where there was a difference. Minutes later, two exhausted people ran out into the street and caught their breath. The guards had stopped, though neither could remember when they stopped hearing the boots fallowing them.
"What was the place? How did you get out? What about the scream?" she asked some of the millions of questions that were zooming though her head.
"We can't stop yet." He said lacing arms with her and starting back to the TARDIS. "That place was a scavenger set up; the forest had a perception filter around it, that's why we only heard the scream after we walked in." He explained connecting the dots as they walked. "It's a bit like Torchwood, gathering and studying alien technology." He explained.
"That explains why they had anti-sonic technology without having cars." She said nodding.
"Well, cars are a very human technology." He said but put his hand up in the air at her glare and finished with "I see your point." He said and she swatted him anyways, lightly though and more lovingly. She laced her arm through his again and they started back to their walk to the TARDIS trying not to draw attention.
"That doesn't explain how you got out. Or why we're not going back to figure out who screamed." She said looking at him and waiting for an explanation.
"They didn't have anti sonic technology everywhere, just the force-fields. The doors and locks, they were all basic and not advanced at all. They were simple, like a normal door. As was the aiming system on the laser." He explained and she nodded.
"So you could have shot the laser then?" She asked him curiously as they spotted the TARDIS.
"No, that was a bluff, but they weren't advanced enough to know that." He said as they both looked longingly at the TARDIS. They just wanted to get into the vortex and go sit in the library. Talk and hold each other. She laughed at him as he unlocked the doors. She went over and sat on the jump seat. She'd just had the most emotionally draining experience since her memories were drained; she needed to relax a bit. "As for the scream!" He said before she could ask making her smirk at how well he knew her. He went to a storage case and pulled out a big instrument. "Ta Da!" He said turning it on. And it elicited a scream identical to the one they had heard, only louder as it was closer.
"Oi, turn it off!" she yelled overtop and he relented. "So that's it then?" She asked looking at the thing in his hands.
"As soon as I knew what they were, I knew what had happened. The very first radar used to detect new alien tech made the strangest noise. It sounded like a human scream, but because of the way the parts worked, they had to keep the noise. Oh, it's all fixed now, but since they are scavengers they only got the discarded version. He put it away and walked over to the panel. There was silence between them and the TARIDs shook at take off and entry into the vortex. Then he walked over and sat next to her on the seat pulling her against him and practically into her lap.
"You know, you're strong for a skinny piece of Alien nothing." She exclaimed as she was pulled onto his lap.
"Blame it on the running." He said joking and kissing her temple, holding her.
She laughed for a moment but she still felt the strain of losing him. She still felt like she was about to die. "So, there was nothing there."
"Nope, just a scanner." He said looking in her face drowning in the emeralds that were the doors to her soul. He needed that. He needed to know she was real.
"I almost died." She said still stunned. "You just barely managed to save me." She said looking into his eyes desperately.
"Does that mean you want to leave?" He asked petrified she would say yes. He didn't get an answer to that though, not in words at least. Instead she put her hands on either side of his face and pulled him to her meeting his lips strongly. They were both opened mouthed and he instantly wrapped his arms around her middle and kissed her back snaking a tongue into her mouth. She responded with her tongue and they dances around each other exploring everything trying. It was as if they were trying to be sure every part of the other was still real, still there. After a few moment she slid one hand down from his cheek and trailed her nails over the fabric of his suit reaching to unbutton his jacked. She succeeded quickly and slipped the other hand down to help her first push it off his shoulders. He trailed his hands to her weist and played with the slits in her dress and she un-tucked his shirt running a nail over the skin she found underneath. He pulled back and gasped at the sharp, tickling scrape of her nail. It was intoxicating him. "I love you." He said breathlessly looking at her, though lust was flavoring his voice completely.
"I love you too, Doctor!" she said kissing him again just as passionately, but much shorter so that they could take a second to look at each other. The Donna stood up and changed position so that she was straddling the Doctor. He held her hips so she didn't lose balance on him. The stress she was wearing let her legs poke out and her skin was showing pale in the TARDIS. The Cheeky TARDIS dimmed the lights for them and they doth shot a look at the consol, but were amused. "I think she wants a show." Donna said kissing the Doctor and pulling at his tie.
"I agree. You're room or mine?" He asked with dark eyes and one hand slipped down the run over the exposed skin of her leg.
"Oh definitely mine." She said standing and pulling him up. "It's much closer." She said as he crashed their lips together again and walked her off to her room. No sleeping was had that night.
The ballad of a dove Go with peace and love Gather up your tears, keep 'em in your pocket Save them for a time when your really gonna need 'em oh
Reviews are nice! I have a few! Thank You!
woolSmynx: Thank you for the review! I'm glad you loved the Witched chap! I'm Obesessed! I will be Elphaba some day LOL. Yeah with as often as he mentions Barcelona I'm amazed more people haven't!
drwhofangirl591: Yeah the food fight was fun. Shaun is... well anythign I say would be a Spoiler so I'm pulling a River and just saying "Spoilers" ;-P Glad you enjoy it!
