A/N: my migraines let me stay awake enough today in order to write this and post it to celebrate develish1's birthday. Happy birthday, love!
A/N2: I should have the final part posted tomorrow.


Part 7

.

"About that blood sample," the Doctor quickly proposed to change the subject away from Jack's curiosity. "Shall we?" The last thing he wanted to do was discuss his personal and intimate life with Jack in public; and Donna seemed very aware of that, bless her.

He smiled in relief when she readily took his hand as Jack led the way to the Hub medical facility.

"No Martha?" she asked on entering the room.

"We're working on that," Jack confessed. "Could do with a little help around here."

"Donna, I need the loo," the Doctor hastily whispered to her some minutes later.

"How desperate are you?" she quietly asked in return.

"Pretty desperate. Like in really really have to go!" he answered.

"Okay, we'll deal with this. Don't worry." Donna turned to ask Gwen, "Where's the toilet?"

"It's down there, second on the right," Gwen responded, pointing along the corridor. Then she noticed Donna leading the Doctor away. "But you both can't go in there."

"Why not? Try stopping us," Donna bit back, and ignored the look of disgust on Gwen's face.

"They've gone to the toilet together," Gwen informed Jack some moments later.

"Good. That means we'll get the urine samples we wanted," Jack replied.

"But they are going into the same toilet," she emphasised.

Jack merely raised his eyebrows in interest. "Could lead to some unanswered questions."

Shrugging her shoulders, Gwen had to admit to herself that meeting new aliens was never boring, and brought up all sorts of interesting events.

Fortunately, the toilet facility was almost as large as one a disabled user would expect. Plenty of room for two people to deal with each other without getting trapped inside a cubicle.

The Doctor was frowning heavily, and Donna was having trouble understanding what the problem was. She had him half hovering over the toilet seat while she held the sample bottle in place. "What's wrong? I've done this loads of times. Just wee like normal and I'll catch some, then you can sit down and carry on."

"It isn't that," he gritted out through his teeth. "My stomach hits."

"Hopefully it isn't an infection," she said. "We'll have to get you drinking plenty of water, and some cranberry juice if we can lay our hands on it."

"That doesn't help me right this second," he snapped.

"What is your problem?" she griped back; and had a sudden thought. Standing up to replace the sample bottle lid, she asked, "This might sound daft but are my.. I mean your breasts a bit tender?"

"A bit," he admitted, bring up his hands to cup them. "Why? Is this some new way to torture me?"

"It might seem that way," she admitted. "Rattiness, abdominal pain, and tender breasts. All that happens to me when my period is about to start."

"What," he gasped. "That is…" He scrunched his face up into a grimace.

"Yeah, it is," she agreed, and then she noticed the tears in his eyes. "And there's the feeling down bit. I am so sorry, Doctor. This is going to get messy in a couple of hours. Really messy."

"There'll be blood?" he sought to confirm.

"Lots of it," she agreed. "I'd better go and get some supplies if we're going to be stuck here for a while. Explains the horniness this morning though, I suppose."

"You mean all that is normal?" he wondered, partly in fascination.

"All part of the process. Let me clean you up and then I'll go to the nearest pharmacy as soon as possible."

"What about your sample?" he pointed out.

"Alright, let's get that done, if you would do the honours, and then I'll be on my way."

"Please don't tell Jack," he pleaded. "All this is shaming."

"I won't," she readily promised. "Us women are good at keeping quiet about this."

The grateful hug from him when they finished was all she wanted.


With the helpful suggestions from Gwen, Donna soon found a place that sold sanitary items, and was able to buy sufficient stuff for a period newbie like the Doctor. She arrived back in the Hub holding a carrier bag of goods.

"Where have you been?" whined the Doctor, trying to subtly clutch his stomach.

"Just out," she nonchalantly replied. But she moved close to whisper, "I got everything you need plus some chocolate treats for later."

He smiled in relief. "Thanks, Donna."

"We have your test results, if you're interested," Jack called across to them.

The TARDIS duo quickly followed, keen to find out.

Jack carefully laid out the papers holding the relevant figures on a desktop. "As you can see, all your vital signs are within normal parameters. The only difference has been in the blood."

"I'm supposed to be different," the Doctor commented.

"Does this mean I'm now a vampire?" Donna joked.

"No," Jack answered on a laugh. "You are both showing the same blood type."

"Aw gawd, I've become you," Donna told the Doctor.

"And I've become you. What a surprise," he sarcastically replied.

"The thing is, we need to reverse that," Jack tried to continue. "And discover what steps you took before you changed."

"Reverse our steps," the Doctor echoed.

"Isn't there some dimensional thing you could reverse?" Jack wondered. "Or the polarity?"

"Or we could just go backwards," Donna added.

"You know that could work," the Doctor slowly reasoned out. "If I could get this old head of mine to think," he lamented, "we'd soon be fixed."

"Don't be so hard on yourself," she sympathised, laying a hand on his arm. "You're in no fit state to think properly. Get some sleep and you'll feel loads better."

"Aren't you feeling well, Doctor?" Jack wondered in concern.

"Just a spot of…," he vaguely answered, waving at his head. "Easily fixed."

"Why don't I take you home," Donna suggested. "Have a lie down for a while and we can come back here if we don't manage to get things back to normal. How does that sound?"

"Splendid!" the Doctor enthused. "Thank you for your team's help, Jack."

"Yes, thank you for everything," Donna told Jack.

"You're welcome," Jack schmoozed. "Come and see your Uncle Jack if resetting the dimensional button doesn't work. I'm sure we can provide some entertainment."

Donna snorted her scorn. "I'm sure you could. For yourself. Whether we'd find it entertaining is a different matter entirely."

"I'll do my best," he promised.

One round of brief hugs later, the TARDIS dematerialised from the Hub, leaving Jack bemused about what had just happened. And wondering if he'd ever hear from the Time Lord again.


"Donna!" the Doctor protested, stringing out the two syllables.

"Stop whinging, will you?!" she huffed; and readied herself to stand back up. "There. Finished. You're all padded up, every trace of blood has been dealt with, you've got clean knickers on, and your pillows are all plumped up. All you've got to do now is lie down and take the tablets I bought you earlier."

"You promise this pain will go away?" he meekly asked.

"Yes. Those ones normally do the trick. You'll need a hot water bottle too to cuddle against your stomach." She then did her best to smile brightly. "When you gain a new experience, you certainly go all the way."

"Sounds very me," he agreed. "Can you help me walk?"

Sighing, she had to admit to herself that if you had a sudden onslaught of period pain, you would have trouble coping with it. Typical man. Most women just got on with it, because you have to and get mocked by men when you don't.

"Come on then. But don't expect this sort of special treatment all the time," she declared, taking hold of his arm.

"Aren't I special to you?" he asked, obviously seeking some consolation.

"Aw Doctor, you're special in all sorts of ways," she deliberately crooned to mock him.

A cheeky grin broke out on his face. "I knew you loved me."

"Too true," she muttered. "Anything else, before I leave you?"

"Well…" He eyed the bed cautiously. "Do you have to leave? You could stay here the night. If you want to."

He brightened considerably when she replied, "Give me a chance to make sure everything is switched where it should be, and I'll be back."

Luckily for him, she was feeling sleepy too. All this body swapping malarkey made you feel tired, even without the stress of dealing with an alien.

Falling asleep in the same bed hadn't been part of the plan, but it was cosy, and having someone there made their strange situation feel miles better.

Her ending up cuddling him wasn't the deal they'd struck, but it happened anyway; and they slept a healing sleep more solidly as a consequence.