"Rose River" AU
'Shattered'
Chapter Ten
- Well, Hello There -
Donna was frantic. Gramps was telling her to run, but run where? This bloke and bird were bloody everywhere! Their faces, so familiar it burned! Oh, how they burned! She was babbling now, going on about how hot her head, her brain, or something was getting.
The ones that noticed her kept coming closer and were either grinning that same maniacal grin, or glaring at her; cornering her in the alley. Images of insane things were going through her mind, and suddenly she saw the face that was in her dreams every night in her mind's eye, forgotten. Now, like a sudden thunderclap in her brain she could see him plainly. "Doctor!" she yelled.
Her arms flung themselves wide as she looked up with a high pitched shriek. A micro-burst of golden energy belted out of her, knocking every Master and Rani copy for a half-mile radius unconscious.
The explosion rocked her to the core. Moreover, as she stumbled in confusion, she noticed her hands oddly glowing and trailing golden light, like smoke. She blinked her eyes a few times, and just squinted at them as they glowed brighter and brighter. "But what did I?" Looking up, she realized. "Oh, I'm gonna bloody kill him!" she shouted with a growl to her voice.
She screamed loudly as her back arched painfully backwards again. The energy expanded until her face and hands were completely obscured. Her piercing wail echoed and became lower in pitch; hair curled and grew darker; she was shrinking in some places while growing in others; all the while, her mind expanded exponentially. The past... The future... All that was... All that could be... IT BURNED!
Donna barely registered the uncomfortable feeling of her bra slipping and pinching while her leggings and knickers drooped, and didn't even notice her feet sliding inside her pumps. The only thing she could focus on was that she was on fire.
The Master looked at the Doctor with wide eyes when the mobile disconnected abruptly. The Doctor was grinning at him through his gag and winked. Wilf was shouting for Donna before he noticed the Doctor's expression.
The energy blew away and it was over. Quivering from the ungodly painful experience, Donna's mouth was open with shuddering breaths, completely stunned from the experience. All of the memories that the Doctor tried to bury were back at once. What surprised her the most was that it didn't hurt any more. Well, not in her head at least. Everything else was a completely different issue.
She wiped the tears from her face and was distracted by her shaking hands. Panting huge gulps of air, she noticed her ring sliding around. Why is it too big? Looking at that, she found that her acrylic nails were gone. Noticing her mobile, she dropped it when she saw that it was somewhat scorched. Wincing now, she grabbed at her hair like she used to do to get rid of a sinus headache, and was shocked to find that her hair was permed?
No... That's not right. She couldn't feel or smell the slight twang of chemicals. It was naturally curly? Pulling a lock down in front of her eyes, she saw that it was a deep chocolatey brown now. Curly and not ginger, she didn't like that one damned bit. She loved her hair! What the hell happened to my hair?
Stumbling over to a small car, Donna looked into the glass window of the door and gasped loudly. "Doctor, what have you done to me?" She grabbed her mouth and throat at the new voice, and gaped at the face that broke the Doctor's hearts at The Library... staring back at her.
"Oh. My. God!" She rasped, "River?" she distressingly asked her reflection, horrified. Tears welled up again and she felt her heart hammering oddly. Clutching at her chest with both hands, she felt the twin thumping of hearts and a smile slowly spread across her face in realization. "Ohhh B-r-i-l-l-i-a-n-t."
Jack looked around the time rotor to see John and Jenny staring at each other. John was pulling at his hair in complete dumbfounded shock, while Jenny had huge knowing smirk on her face. "What's the matter?" he asked them.
John's open mouth slowly changed to a beaming smile when he turned to Jack. "Of course! I'm a total DUNCE! It's complete!" he shouted and pulled Jenny into a bear hug, bouncing on his toes. "Oh my God! The Pattern's Complete! She's Donna! She Was Always Donna!" He shrieked, before running around the console to crush Jack in a hug of his own. He ended up laughing and sobbing like a maniac.
Jack accepted the hug with a perplexed grin, completely lost. Grunting through the unbelievably tight hug John was giving him, he asked the obvious. "Who's Donna?" he managed to get out.
John let go only to firmly plant a kiss on Jack's lips, stunning the man. "RIVER!" he shouted. "Donna Bloody Noble is River Bleeding Song!"
Jack's mouth hung open. "You're kidding!"
"BRILLIANT!" John shrieked.
Jenny simply could not hold it in any more, and started laughing her arse off. The look on her uncle's face was a near match of when her mother blurted out Donna's name back when they rescued her from The Library.
'Who are you?' a voice ripped through Donna's skull, making her cringe. That voice... that face on almost every person. The Master, she realized. Oh, that's bad, very bad. Ohhh, yes.
'What are you?' a female voice countered the question, making Donna frown. That's Lucy, isn't it? No! It can't be! Ushas? Ohhh, this just got ten times worse!
She felt both of the Doctors and… It Can't Be! Jenny? Feeling Jenny's mind filled her with ungodly amounts triumphant courage, and she could not help the wild beam that spread over her face.
Something that had to be mental screens came around her mind, and one of the Doctors shouted in her head. 'I found you! Oh My God, It's You! BOUT. BLOODY. TIME. WOMAN!' It had to be the new Doctor, because the old one was never like that. That almost felt... lustful?
Standing upright with a hand on the bonnet of the car, she smiled at the sky and flexed her neck back and forth. "Someone's feeling naughty," she chuckled, marvelling at her voice. 'I'm River Song,' she said both aloud and in her head, broadcasting for all to hear, 'and Your Worst Nightmare, Koschei. Analyse that one, Ushas.' She heard the Doctor – the one that sat up in front of her, buck naked, all that time ago - shout a resounding 'Hah!' at that proclamation.
Her smile grew wider when she felt him caress her mind from a distance. Setting up a matching mental screen of her own, she thought back. 'What's all this rubbish you're sending me?' she giggled, completely amused and somewhat turned on all at the same time. 'Oh yes. You're going to get thoroughly snogged when I see you. Don't you worry, this body has all sorts of wonderful ideas.' She blanched. Oh god, did I really just say that? Personality traits? Oh, that's right. Donna grinned sheepishly as she realized that she liked this new one that bubbled out.
Taking a step forward, Donna looked down at her chest and legs, frowning. "Oh my, that's one way to diet." Putting an arm over her chest, she kicked her loose pumps off, bent to grab her leggings up, and then made a beeline for Nerys' flat around the corner. Would it disappear? No, that's silly. The bees disappeared. Well, not disappear so much as went home. And what's with this brain going off on tangents? Ugh. Anyway, fighting's one thing, but holding your girls in check is something completely different altogether. "Best make it quick before they bloody wake up," she muttered.
She came up short when she heard the tell tale whooshing thump of the TARDIS behind her. The door opened and she turned to see a grey suited Doctor reaching for her left handed. With a manic smile, he shouted. "Get in! Double quick!"
Donna matched the wild look in his eyes and ran inside, where she was caught up and nearly crushed in a skinny hug. 'Go Jenny!' he shouted. Looking from John's shoulder, Donna saw that bloody gorgeous Harkness grinning at them from the console. Next to him was the lovely girl who could not possibly be alive, pulling the dematerialization lever and grinning her face off.
She couldn't let go of him even if she wanted to, but Donna eased her head back to stare into the face that had haunted her dreams. All she could think about was that half-life she lived; missing something; missing everything. Understanding washed over her, and she realized that she missed him and didn't even know how or why.
An overwhelming sense of calm that he never felt before settled around John. It had been only some six months, but that time was spent in a near state of crazed mania, depression, and flippancy. Seeing the future version of her those few times simply did not compare to the reality that was in front of him at that moment. He swallowed and brushed a stray lock of hair out of her face. "Are you really here?" he whispered.
Nodding, Donna whispered back. "Is this really happening?"
Standing in each others arms, they both realized at that moment that they were finally home.
Overwhelmed by everything, Jenny slid next to Jack and hugged him from the side. 'There aren't enough words to say how beautiful that is.' Jack could only nod in agreement, and smiled when her next thought came out. 'I love you Jack.'
After a few moments simply staring in each others eyes, Donna broke the silence. "Wh- Where are the Doctor and Rose?" she asked with a shaky voice.
"Koschei and Ushas has them," John whispered, equally shaken. Honestly, it felt like his hearts were going to fly apart in opposite directions, he was so damned happy.
Donna swallowed. "H- How is Jenny alive?" Her hands began unconsciously clutching the fabric of John's blazer. The world was starting to spin, and the only thing she could think of to stop it was busy holding onto her as much as she was him.
"Sh- she either regenerated, o-or had a healing coma. We really don't know," he said quietly. "You should p-probably get to the wardrobe and find something that fits-mmmph!"
Unable to control herself any more, Donna shushed the ramble that was starting by making good on her claim scant minutes ago. It was fierce, and she wasn't surprised when this Doctor started kissing her back with an equal sense of hunger about him. She broke the kiss rather breathlessly, and her eyes were partially rolled back. "Go-o-o-o-d, I wanted to do that ever since I saw you sit up in the buff!" she confessed rather loudly.
"Johnathon! Time and place!" Jack scolded, completely and thoroughly amused. Still though, it felt remarkable to see them together, no matter what they looked like. He had no idea what this feeling was, but it was damned wonderful. Jenny giggled at the irony, and slapped his stomach.
John spun on him, and Donna hurried through while she could. "You can talk, Captain Tight-Pants!" He didn't notice she was missing from the console room until they heard her cackling from down the corridor at their antics.
"Boys," Jenny quietly clucked. Shaking her head, she let go of Jack and went around the console to the keyboard. She ignored the pair of them as she started a program she set up a while ago. The ship rumbled slightly, and a door appeared along the wall underneath the upper access walkway.
John noticed the shimmer immediately, and he looked at the new door with a bit of shock. "Why's that there?"
Jenny swallowed nervously. "Worry about that in an hour, Uncle John."
Jack stared at her. 'What's wrong? You're excited and worried all at the same time.'
She glanced at him and bit her lip. 'Regeneration sickness,' she lied. 'She's not done cooking yet, but don't worry them with it until it hits her. When it happens, we need to get her in that room. Okay? Help if you can, but IGNORE what you see, yeah?'
Jack gave her a look. 'All right, but I don't like you lying to me.'
'I'm sorry. Knowing will only make it difficult,' she replied.
The Master stomped over to the Doctor and ripped the gag off his face.
The Doctor flexed his mouth. "Oh, that's better. Hello!"
"Who is River Song?" the Master demanded with a glare. The mere fact that a Time Lord other than the three of them existing was simply astonishing.
The Doctor grinned, and was completely ecstatic over everything. "Ooh, that would be telling, now wouldn't it?" he said rather cheekily. He got a slap for his trouble.
The Master looked over the Doctor's head to the guard at the wall, and pointed at Wilf. "Kill him," he ordered.
The Doctor watched the guard walk over to Wilf to point a rifle at his head. He arched his brow, realizing that the Master hadn't the faintest clue. "You know, for a totally brilliant individual, sometimes you can be bone dead stupid."
The Master rolled his head with a crackling of neck bones and glared at the Doctor. "I will kill him if you don't tell me who that woman is!"
"No, seriously. Brilliant ideas bouncing all over the place, literal billions of eyes everywhere between the two of you, and the blatantly obvious slips by you without a second glance," the Doctor said with a grin and a sniff.
The Master's face twisted up in confusion, and looked at him as if he was crazy. And isn't that ironic? the Doctor thought. "That guard with all the lovely whirly timelines? She's a bit too curvy, don't you think?" he winked at him.
All of a sudden, the presence of a full fledged Time Lord popped into existence behind him. This wasn't the feeling of the invaded humans, which was all right considering, but an actual Presence, and another unknown one at that. Spinning around with his mouth hanging open in shock, the Master was hit in the head with a rifle butt. He fell to the ground, knocked cold.
The 'guard' lifted the helmet's visor, revealing Rose's nearly trademarked tongue in between the teeth smile. "Been waitin' ages for that," she said as she yanked her helmet off. Her hair spilling out, she got her sonic from her pocket and popped the Doctor's restraints off - before doing the same for Wilfred. "C'mon, husband, let's get the hell outta here."
They paused for a quick kiss, before they took a confused Wilf out the back door to the lawn. 'John, you got her?' the Doctor asked.
Donna shouted, 'I'm here!' at the same time John said, 'Hell YES! You lot ready?'
Rose and the Doctor smiled wide. 'Ready and waiting!' they both answered. The Doctor said aloud, "Okay Wilf, this will be a little different. You trust me?"
Wilf grinned through his confusion. "Always, Doctor."
Smiling, the two of them pulled Wilf close. Wind swirled around them and Rose began to softly sing a ridiculous tune. "Perfumery, stationary, and leather goods, wigs and haberdashery. Going up!" she wiggled her eyebrows. The Doctor cackled at the theme tune from one of his favourite shows.
Wilf looked about with wide eyes as the TARDIS materialized around them. After it landed, it started up again and vanished, taking them with it. When it was back at the original spot behind the mansion, Rose summed up everything with, "He's been served!"
Gaping at his surroundings, Wilf was flabbergasted. "How did you do that?" he whispered.
John and Donna hugged him from either side. "Magic and a touch of insanity, Gramps," John said.
"God, I'm glad you're safe!" Donna shouted.
Startled, Wilf pulled back from them both. "Who're you?" he asked her.
She looked hurt and sounded almost like a little girl. "Don-na." She swallowed and bit her lip when he just stared at her, disbelievingly. "It's me, Gramps," she shook her head. "Oh I'm still me, I promise. I'm still the little general that loves you... if a bit less ginger." Her expression was tearful and panicked.
Wilf glanced at the Doctor, who was nodding and looking more than a little smug. Rose was smiling from ear to ear right next to him, bobbing her head right along with him. Then he noticed John nodding with a huge smile on his face as well.
Turning back to Donna with a critical eye, Wilf challenged, "Prove it."
Hopeful now that he was open to the idea, a slight grin grew. Donna tilted her head. "Are you still sneaking food in the car, watching the stars, and dodging mum's tirades?"
Wilf didn't say anything, so she stepped closer and took his hand to try again. She talked quietly, fighting the urge to cry. "When I was nine years old, you told me that if I ever touched your gun again, you'd rip my hide with Boxer's leash in front of the entire neighbourhood."
Wilf's mouth dropped open in wide-eyed shock. "Donna!" He snatched her up in a hug and felt her kiss his cheek. Pulling away enough to look at her, he said, "You've changed." Everyone chuckled. "How'd that happen?"
John placed an arm around her. "Remember when we brought her back after the planets in the sky, and the Doctor explained what happened to her as well as how I was born?"
"Yeah," he said with a frown, "worst day of my life." Rose gave him a pained look, knowing full well how that felt. Wilf looked at John. "Yours too, if I remember right."
The Doctor cringed and spoke up. "Well… I was wrong. Not the first time, mind, but never spectacularly so." He rubbed the back of his neck, fully embarrassed over it.
Wilf looked at him, completely confused. "How so?"
"Uhm… We thought she'd burn up and die if she remembered." Rose said, biting her lip and blushing.
"Well, she did… sort of." John tacked on lamely.
Wilf looked frustrated and shook his hands in front of him. "Would somebody please spit it out?" he snapped.
Donna took both of his hands to get his attention. "I did burn up, Gramps. What they didn't know was that I picked up a touch more than the Doctor's knowledge and memories." She swallowed nervously. "When I burned up, I changed like they would if they were about to die." Pausing to lick her lips, she ended up whispering. "I'm not human any more, Gramps. I'm… I'm a Time Lady. Well… mostly, I think. It's all rather confusing to be perfectly honest."
Wilf's mouth dropped open. "Sylvia's gonna flippin' explode," he whispered, causing John and the Doctor to groan. "What about Shawn? The wedding?" John's eyes popped wide, and his mouth nearly hit the floor, realizing he had forgotten all about that particular problem.
Seeing John's distress from how he flinched – not to mention the draft of air from the huge lungful he just inhaled – Donna let go of one of her grandfather's hands to put her arm around him. "Gramps, Shawn's sweet, and I do have affection for him, but I don't think he'll be able to handle this well at all. Not to mention that I know for a fact that I'm in love with someone else." She squeezed John's side and looked up into his eyes.
John let out that huge breath and bent a bit to look at his trainers. "Oh, thank God." Rose giggled in sympathy.
Jack came around the console. "Do you want us to tell him?"
Turning her head to look at Jack, Donna thought about it a moment, then shook her head. "No. I'll tell them both at the same time when this mess is sorted. I think that would be best, even though mum will probably hit the stratosphere." She sniffed as the full realization of what happened to her finally hit home, and put a hand over her mouth and nose, shuddering.
John pulled her into a full hug and rubbed her back. "It'll be okay. I promise," he murmured into her ear.
"So, any ideas on what to do now?" Rose asked.
The Doctor looked them all over. "Now, we rest up and clean our wounds." He smiled at the time rotor. "TARDIS, could you set up a room for Wilf please?" The ship chimed and he turned his attention to Wilfred. "I think out of everyone here, you need a bit of a kip and some fresh clothes, eh?" he smiled.
Wilf nodded. "Yeah, thanks. But only after I hit the loo and get something to eat. Dunno bout anyone else, but I'm famished after all that."
"Not a bad idea. Bit hungry myself." Jack agreed. "So… galley?" Everyone nodded at that suggestion.
As they headed off, John pulled Donna up short. "We'll catch up," he called after them. Seeing her questioning look, he grinned and waited till the others left the console room. Frowning, he hit the button that closed the door on Jack's wicked smile.
He gave Donna's burgundy leather jacket, tan button up blouse, denim trousers, and purple trainers a once over. "Love the look," he said quietly. "Don't believe I've ever mentioned it before, but you're stunning no matter what face you've got on, painted up or not Earth-Girl."
"Thanks, Time-Boy." Donna bit her lip and blushed. "And what's all this?" she asked with a grin. The look he was giving her made her feel remarkably warm.
John's voice was gravely. "Oh, I think you know." He pulled her close for a violent snog. Teeth were gnashing, hands were gripping, and they couldn't pull each other closer if they tried… and they did try. Setting up a private telepathic screen, he thought to her while their mouths were otherwise occupied. 'Do you have any idea how much I've MISSED you?' he nearly shouted in her head.
She moaned into his mouth while dragging her fingers through his hair. 'How much, paper cut?' she teased.
His answer was a flood of emotions that made her swoon. Something shattered in her mind, and she felt him all around and through her. Knowing exactly what this was, she surrendered willingly with a single drawn out thought: "Miiiine!"
The group had just filed into the kitchen, when the Doctor buckled with a gasp. Alarmed, Jenny and Rose caught him with a matching 'Whoa!' before he hit the floor. Jack hurried through the door and helped hold him up. "What's the matter?"
"Not me, not me, not me!" The Doctor hissed, "That's not me!" he shook his head rapidly, not realizing that his brother did much the same not too long ago. Rose's eyebrows went up, feeling a bit flushed herself. It was all she could do to simply not rip his clothes off and have her way with him, everyone else be damned.
"Doctor, what's wrong?" Wilf asked, worried. "That Saxon prat do something to you?"
Jenny felt something but did not understand any of it, since Jack wasn't being particularly raunchy at the moment. Seeing her father appear to be in pain alarmed her though. "Dad?"
Panting as they sat him in a chair at the table, the Doctor looked at Wilf. "You just got a grandson-in-law," he rasped.
Wilf reared his head back, confused. Rose squealed in delight and hugged the Doctor, planting her lips on his. Jack laughed and patted Wilf on the back. Jenny remembered what the TARDIS told her a while back and grinned. Right on schedule, she thought.
The Doctor groaned into Rose's mouth, then broke away with a gasp. "TARDIS, lock me out," he begged in a whimper, looking pained and vibrating in his chair. "Please lock me out before I ravage my wife in front of everyone, including our daughter!" he whined.
A low hum filled the room, and he felt pressure in his head. His tense muscles relaxed all at once, and he let out a breath that sounded remarkably like 'guh'. His head fell forward to rest on the table with a loud thud. "Thank you," he mumbled.
"Damn," Jack only half joked.
Jenny slapped his arm and gave him a look of fire. "Don't be disgusting!" she chastised. He raised his hands in defence, but couldn't help his snickering.
Wilf asked, "What do you mean, grandson-in-law?"
Rose leaned on the table to rub her husband's back. "John just asked Donna to marry him; she said yes; and they bonded right this very second."
"Bonded? What's that?" he asked, even more confused.
"It's how Time Lords get married, Wilfred," Jack explained with a smile. "It's just as legal as saying vows in front of a Vicar, but even more so."
"Why's that, then?" Wilf asked.
The Doctor lifted his head up, breathing through his mouth. "Think of it as a mixing of minds or souls, Wilf. They'll feel what each other feels, and will know exactly how to take care of each other like an instinct."
"Just like that? That was awful quick," Wilf said, looking even more confused.
Rose gave him a look of understanding. "If you knew just how long we've been trying to find her, you'd think otherwise."
Wilf was confounded now. "But she was right here!"
"They didn't know that, Wilf," Jack explained. "They knew Donna was here, but they were looking for what she looks like now. We all thought she was a completely different person."
Wilf sat down at the table, completely and totally flummoxed. "Still don't get it, and how can she change like that?"
"We'll explain it over dinner," The Doctor grinned. "If they're anything like us," he took Rose's hand. "Well, they'll be a while." Rose giggled and bit her lip while running her hand through his hair, remembering.
He looked up at her and whispered. "Keep that up and we'll miss dinner too."
She kissed his temple and breathed in his ear, "Promises, promises." That made him growl softly, and she lightly patted the back of his head. "Down boy," she teased.
Shaking his head, the Doctor sat back in his chair with a thoughtful look. "Hmm. You know, considering the whole metacrisis thing," he looked up at his wife, "Maybe that's why he's been so…"
"Angry and lonely?" Jenny interrupted, crossing her arms. "Dad, I love you to pieces, but you are the most remarkably dense person I've ever met." She turned to Wilfred. "How has Donna been since they left her with you?"
"Sad," Wilf blurted. "Oh, she'll play up a good face for everybody, but I'd catch her every now and again. She'd just sit there at night and stare out the window, looking at the stars. She'd deny it of course, but I know my Donna. Don't think she ever knew why either."
Jenny turned to her father. "And how has Uncle John been since that time?" Her foot started tapping, and her annoyance was fully felt by everyone from the expression she gave him.
Guilt flooded the Doctor, and he put his head on the table again with a groan. Rose patted his back. "This is why you need us, husband. Brilliant at everything, except details and family." She looked to the ceiling and sent their ship a silent request. Dinner of various sorts appeared on the table. 'Thank you, dear heart.'
"Not my fault," the Doctor muttered into the table. "It's not like I ever really had one before."
Wilf was eyeing the food that appeared with raised eyebrows, but what the Doctor said shocked him. "You had to have someone. Mother and a father, yeah?"
Rose looked pensive, but her husband surprised her by actually answering that. "Not so much, no," he said quietly, looking up. "Well, my mother adored me, but my father couldn't stand to even be in the same room."
Realization went over Wilf's face, and he got up to go around the table. "Stand up," he demanded.
The Doctor looked confused, but did as asked. "What?" Wilf then surprised him by hugging him tightly. He returned it with a perplexed smile.
Pulling back, Wilf looked up into his face. "Your father's a bloody idiot," he said bluntly with a scowl. I don't know of anyone I'd rather call son than you, Doctor. The things you do, the people you help… You're wonderful, and I'd be proud if you were my boy!"
The Doctor was at a loss of words. He blinked rapidly and swallowed. Rose put her hands to her mouth and blinked back the tears that were threatening her. Jack had a half smile on his face over it, and Jenny bit her lip at the scene, completely won over by him with that statement.
"I… I don't know what to say," the Doctor said. People usually adopted him as a father figure, not the other way around. The concept was completely foreign, and touched him deeply.
"Don't you dare think I don't mean that, Doctor," Wilf said. "Now quit on all that, and let's eat. How'd all this food get here anyway?"
Smiling, the Doctor sat back down while shaking his head. The others followed suit, and they started passing various food out. Looking up, the Doctor asked their ship to let everyone else know that dinner was on.
Sometime later, the console room looked like a disaster area. Clothes were scattered everywhere. John and Donna were lying in each others arms, on a duvet that the TARDIS put over the grating to spare their skin.
John ran a finger down her back. "I love you," he sighed in complete contentment.
Donna smiled into his chest. "Love you too, even though you swear like a bloody sailor on a binge."
That got him in a snorting fit of giggles, which got her started with her own. They ended up laughing and tickling each other in a playful wrestle. John wound up on top of her, and he grinned. "Care for round two?"
Donna's eyes got big. "Bloody hell time-boy, but you're randy."
"And you're not?" he countered, knowing better. The grin on his face was a complete leer at her.
She smirked at him and traced a finger down the side of his temple. "Ow," she said abruptly, and her face was a wash of confusion. Her left hand dug nails in John's shoulder, and she started to wail in pain. "Joooohn!"
John was starting to panic, feeling her distress and agony. "Donna? Donna!"
A/N: Was half tempted to label this chapter "Hello Sweetie" but chickened out at the last minute.