Author's Notes: I do not own Doctor Who, which is a shame. So, I was reading a review of another story, a rewrite of Series 4 with Rose where somebody described it as the Doctor travelling with both the bane and love of his life. Yes. Although, I'm pretty sure they don't agree with me on which is which. Sorry, I was dying to share that. Anyway, thank you for the reads and the reviews and favorites and follows. So, please let me know what you think and happy reading!

It was what Rose had been waiting for.

Well, maybe not exactly, but it was a step. The TARDIS had landed while she was asleep. The front door was cracked open and through it she saw a flat. She caught a glimpse of a window that showed London.

Donna's flat. This was Donna's flat. It had to be. The Doctor must have been giving her the boot! He was dropping her off! Things would go back to the way they were! Well, hopefully better than that. Without Donna around, the Doctor could stop hiding from his feelings for Rose, which she was sure had been misplaced towards Donna. Yes, that must have been it. Rose sat on the jump seat and tried to plan what she was going to say. "Oh, no, Donna's gone? Well, 'spose some people just can't handle it."

Rose waited. Then waited some more. The funniest thing happened: the Doctor never came back in.

Then finally she heard laughter. The both of them mixed together.

This thing had not gone according to plan.

The Doctor sat happily on Donna's sofa as he sipped the tea she had made him.

"Look at you!," he said beaming at the old photos of Donna.

Donna groaned. "I'm sure you've seen more interesting things than me in primary school."

"I have not," he seen in a mock stern voice. "Oh! Baby pictures!"

"Oh, please don't," she said.

"Look at the frosting all over your face!"

Just then, the Doctor looked up and saw Rose. He held up the photo. "Rose! Look at the frosting on Donna's face!"

"That explains some things, I 'spose," Rose said, casting a glance at Donna in the kitchen.

The Doctor missed the jibe. Rose crossed her arms and fumed.

"Doctor, what are we doing here?"

He looked up, none the wiser at her irritation. "We're looking at Donna's baby pictures."

"Why?"

Saving the Doctor, the phone rang. He looked over at Donna.

"Aren't you going to get that?"

"Nine in the morning? It's either American Express or my mum asking if I have a husband yet."

The Doctor laughed. The answering machine picked up.

"Donna, it's your mother."

The Doctor grinned at Donna as she came out of the kitchen.

"I know you're there. God knows you have nowhere to go."

Donna shrugged at the Doctor as she sipped her tea.

"I don't see why you can't get a regular job like your mate, Nerys! She's on the telly! BBC News!"

"Nerys!," spat Donna.

She hurried to find the remote, searching through the couch cushions. She stopped and looked at the Doctor.

"Bum up," she said.

"What?," he asked.

"You're sitting on the remote!"

"Oh." The Doctor lifted his bum off the sofa and Donna reached under him to pull out the remote. Rose stared incredulous at what had just happened. Donna turned and flipped on the television.

Sure enough it was Nerys standing behind an old man, identified on the bottom of the screen as Professor Richard Lazarus.

"Oh, right! Nerys!," said the Doctor.

The old man spoke. "Tonight with the push of a button, that will change what it means to be human."

"This is just bloody great, Nerys on the news. Oh, she'll just have this over my head forever! And my mum! 'Why can't you be more like Nerys, Donna?' 'Doesn't Nerys look thin?' 'Why can't you stick to a diet like Nerys?' It's how mean she is keeping her that thin," said Donna. "If I was a total bitch, I'm sure I could be skinny, too!"

The Doctor looked Donna up and down. "You don't need a diet." He paused. "Wait, did he just say he was going to change what it meant to be human?"

Donna paused and thought on it. "Yeah, I think so. Why does this stuff always happen when you're around?"

The phone rang.

Rose grimaced. "American Express is calling. Want to get it?"

"Hi, Donna, it's Nerys. I know you're there, what with your being unemployed and all."

Donna flinched and walked over to the phone. "Hello, Nerys."

"Oh! Donna! I'm surprised you're even up at all!"

"Well, I'm up. I've been busy."

Nerys snorted. "Doing what?"

"Did you ring for a reason, Nerys?"

"Look, I don't know if you saw me on the news, my new job at Lazarus Labs, I'm Head of the PR Department."

"You're head of PR?"

"Yeah, anyway, big do tonight at the laboratory, black tie, I need to round out the numbers. It's too late to ask anyone else, they might have plans, what do you say?"

"You think I have nothing to do? That I can just drop what I'm doing and come down to some fancy lab at a moment's notice?" Donna looked at the Doctor. He was enthusiastically nodding at her, one step away from jumping up and down. She sighed. "Yeah, I'll be there. Plus one."

"Oh, Donna, nobody expects you to find a date!"

"I do have one, though. I've got a date."

Rose scowled. The Doctor was beaming.

"You? A date? With a man?"

"Yes, a man!," said Donna. Well, mostly, but why tell Nerys? "I'll be there."

"Eight o'clock," said Nerys. "Ta!"

"Ta!," said Donna. She hung up the phone. "God, I hate her!"

"So?," asked the Doctor.

"We're in. Big party apparently," said Donna.

"Oh, Donna, you're brilliant."

Rose frowned. "Plus one. You need plus two."

"Well, I said plus one," said Donna.

"Well, ring her back!," said Rose.

"I'm not ringing her back," said Donna. "Why don't I just dig out my own eyeball with a spoon?"

Rose turned to the Doctor. "Use the psychic paper and get me in!"

"Why don't you just do something else?," asked Donna.

"What?," asked Rose.

"Go to a pub. See a film. Just do something else," said Donna.

"I don't want to do something else, I'm not like you," said Rose.

"Thank God," said Donna. "Nerys says black tie. Do you have a tux or is it just some sort of Martian tuxedo from the seventies with a funny hat or something?"

"Well, yes, on both. I'll wear the non-Martian one if that's alright."

Hours later Rose still couldn't believe it. The Doctor had gone back to the TARDIS to get dressed and she would have sworn that he was primping as he wore the tux. He was looking at his hair in a shiny patch of the console.

"Doctor, what am I supposed to do?"

The Doctor looked at her and shrugged. "I don't know. How do I know what humans do when I'm not around? Go do human things."

"Human things?," she spat.

The Doctor was about to answer, but he stopped, jaw frozen open. Rose turned to realize that Donna had entered.

"Is it awful?," she asked looking at the Doctor.

The dress was knee length and black, clinging tightly to Donna's curves. Rose had to acknowledge she looked good in it and that made her even more angry. The trouble was the top half of the dress, it was sleeveless with a plunging v neckline and it along with whatever super powered bra Donna was wearing were pushing up her considerable cleavage onto full display.

The Doctor's eyes were wide as saucers. "You look wonderful," he managed to stammer out.

"Really?," asked Donna. "I thought it might have been too tight."

"No," the Doctor said quickly, "fits fine."

"Well, we should get going," said Donna.

"Yes, let's get going," said the Doctor, taking Donna's arm.

"Doctor!," Rose whined as they left.

"Bye, Rose! Have fun!," said the Doctor, not acknowledging her distress.

The Doctor and Donna were still walking hand in hand when they arrived at Professor Lazarus' laboratory. There were waiters going around with trays of champagne and nibbles. The crowd looked to be a who's who of London society and government.

In the center of the room was some sort of big white box, surrounded by more white pillars. Donna didn't have a clue what it was, but the Doctor hummed over it curiously.

"You know, something bad happens every time I wear this tux," the Doctor said once he was done with his inspection.

Donna snorted. "That's just you."

"Maybe," he said. He paused. "I heard you tell Nerys I was your date."

Donna shook her head. "Sorry about that, I just hate when she tries to one-up me."

"No, it's fine. What is it with you two?," he asked.

"Oh, you know, the usual. We hate each other's guts, but pretend to like each other. Typical frenemy stuff."

"Frenemy?"

"You know, we're friends, we're enemies."

"Yes, I actually know a bit about that." He nodded as he saw Nerys approaching. "Here she comes."

Donna straightened up. "Oh, God! She'll remember you from Christmas!" She shook her head. "Just pretend you're madly in love with me."

"Okay," the Doctor said quickly.

"Donna!," exclaimed Nerys.

"Nerys, you're looking well," said Donna.

"Oh, thanks, it's this new tapeworm diet. You should try it."

The Doctor shook his head. "Sorry, tapeworms?"

"Oh, is this your man?," Nerys asked saucily. "The one from Christmas?"

"Yes, hello, I'm the Doctor."

Nerys looked back at Donna. "You didn't take long to get over Lance, did you?"

"Well, if he was going to run off with another woman, I say let him," said Donna.

"Oh, good for you," said Nerys. "That's the spirit. Especially if you're going to be on your own so much."

"She's not on her own, though," said the Doctor. "She's with me now."

"Oh, well, hope you can handle our Donna," said Nerys. "She's a bit of a handful."

"I like a handful," said the Doctor.

Donna froze, not knowing if that was a compliment or a pun or... what was that? Was this how they flirted on Mars? Or fake flirting because they certainly were not flirting. They were not on a date. Well, he wouldn't be interested anyway. As she thought that, she noticed the Doctor taking a glance at her chest. She wondered if that was a real look or if it was for Nerys' benefit. It seemed real...

"That over there," said the Doctor, motioning at the giant device in the center of the room, "do you know what the professor's going to be doing tonight? That looks like it might be a sonic microfield manipulator."

"Oh, a science geek," said Nerys. "Too bad, really. What will you two talk about? I must be going. The demonstration's about to start."

Nerys walked off.

Donna turned to the Doctor. "'I like a handful?'"

They heard a glass being tapped and edged their way to the front of the crowd. Professor Lazarus stepped forward.

"Ladies and gentlemen, I am Professor Richard Lazarus and tonight I'm going to perform a miracle. It is, I believe, the most important advance since Rutherford split the atom, the biggest leap since Armstrong stood on the moon. Tonight, you will watch and wonder. Tomorrow, you'll awake to a world which will be changed forever."

The professor turned and stepped inside the device. Two female technicians started working at the bank of controls. The machine began to whir and the electricity flickered. There was a high pitched noise as the four pillars around the box began to spin inividually. A warning siren went off.

"Something's wrong," said the Doctor.

He leapt up over the controls as sparks began to fly and pieces of the console blew off. He took out the sonic screwdriver and did something and the whirring of the box slowed down until it finally stopped.

"Stop it! Someone get him away from those controls!," shouted an old woman.

"Oi, lady! Leave him alone!," shouted Donna.

"If this thing goes off, it'll take the whole building with it. Is that what you want?"

"Get him out!," shouted the Doctor.

Donna ran to the door. She opened it and was surprised to see a blond man come staggering out. The people gasped. Donna was in shock and looked at the Doctor. From his facial expression, this looked to be a very bad thing.

"Ladies and gentlemen, I am Richard Lazarus. I am 76 years old and I am reborn!," he said.

The audience applauded as Donna got a sinking feeling in her stomach. She turned to the Doctor.

"Did you at least get the tuxedo dry cleaned?," she asked.