A/N: the ending is also being posted today in order to wish develish1 a happy birthday!


Part 8

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When she woke up, hours later, their positions had reversed. she was being cuddled by him, with her head upon his chest.

"Ah, you're awake," he noted. "It worked! Retracing our flight path and resetting the dimensional button worked. We're back to normal."

"Yay," she happily yawned. "It's all a bit hazy, to be honest."

"Do you remember the bumpy ride we had the day before yesterday?" he began to explain; and waited for her nod of acknowledgement in order to continue. "We hit a pocket in space. A bit like turbulence but in fact it turned out to be a trans-dimensional pocket."

"Literally," she needlessly commented. And then the pain kicked in as if to punish her. Ow! "How's the pain?" she asked, waving a finger at his torso.

"All gone," he delighted in saying. "Thankfully I'm completely me. What about you?"

"No longer you but me too," she retorted. "In all its glory."

Oh. he now understood what that meant. "Sorry," he contritely offered.

"Thanks." She shifted a bit to stop her arm going limp beneath him and stretched her body. "Just think. At least we didn't have sex yesterday when I was possibly ovulating. How embarrassing could that have gone, eh? All sorts of unnecessary stuff."

"It had been close," he admitted, speaking into her hair. "The temptation to take things further had been quite strong."

All the aroused thoughts he'd had in his head suddenly reappeared, to his dismay, and he sighed loudly.

Smiling to herself, she felt him squeeze her closer and kiss the top of her head. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine."

"Are you sure?" She deliberately glanced at his crotch for a moment. "You might need some alone time."

It caused his cheeks to immediately flush bright red. "I'm… I'm not…"

Stopping his mood from spiralling downwards, she raised a hand to gently touch his cheek. "I'm teasing you, you prawn," she reassured him with a fond caress. "Friends who know each intimately well can do that sort of thing."

"Especially when they are best friends," he agreed, and took hold of her hand in order to plant a tender kiss on her palm. "The intimacy just adds to it."

"It doesn't get more intimate than us," she added and briefly kissed his jaw. "You need a shave," she immediately noted.

"And you need to rest, while I get you a fresh hot water bottle," he insisted.

"It isn't so bad today," she said, reluctant to let her Time Lord body pillow disappear. "First days are always worse. Sorry you had to go through that."

"Sorry you always have to suffer it."

"Yeah, well," she dismissed. "Knowing it's all for nothing doesn't help either. But I don't have to worry about periods while I'm in the TARDIS."

"Normally," he tacked on in agreement. "About the 'for nothing' thing…"

She lifted her head to gauge his reason for bringing the topic up. "What about it?"

"Well…" He nervously rubbed the back of his neck before tugging thoughtfully on his left ear. "Would it be stupid to change that?"

"Are you suggesting I get sterilised?" she wondered.

"No!" he quickly denied. "Instead, I was thinking… if you agree with it… but you might not necessarily want… although you did tell Martha you intend to stay… it could take a long time though…"

She halted his nervous babbling with a well-placed hand over his mouth. "You know, Doctor, that we'd get to my answer a lot quicker if you actually ask me the question. Like, before the end of the century. Or any other century." She then released her hand.

"Yes. Well. That is very true." He nodded his agreement with himself. "The question is… well… my proposal is: would you like me to help you become… err…."

His eyes flashed his inability to actually form the words, so she quirked a disbelieving eyebrow. "Become what? If this is your way of asking me if I want to transform myself into some Beyoncé wannabe tribute act, I won't be impressed. It'd take months of dieting for a start. Don't even mention the music lessons I'd have to fork out for. Just spit it out, will you?"

"Donna," he whined. "I am trying to ask a very serious question and you are going on about things that are totally unrelated."

"Until you tell me the question, I won't know what's relevant. Will I."

"Okay." He steeled himself to make his offer. "Since we know each other so well now after this experience, I would like to help you become a mother."

Stunned, she gawped at him. "A mother? As in, a real live baby mother? Or were you planning on taking me back to…" Oh how she hated mentioning the planet that had caused him in particular so much pain, but she had to know. "…to Messaline's birthing booths?" she asked in a whisper, shocked she'd even said it.

His eager expression fell. He hadn't even considered going back there as a possibility; but he was sure Donna understood that, judging by the compassion in her eyes. Forcing a tiny smile, he answered, "As in you being pregnant and me being the donor."

"Oh Doctor. I don't know what to say," she admitted, "this is too much to take in." And then she threw herself onto him, to hug him tight. "Whatever you do would be perfect." She then pulled back to amend her statement. "Well, when I say 'perfect', I mean it'd be pretty brilliant. You know what I mean."

Indeed, he did. "So the answer is 'yes'?"

"Really 'yes'!" she happily confirmed. "It's so yes, I want to…" Her words faded away as she lost control of the ability to express herself beyond fisting her hands up like she had before they'd visit the Ood planet.

"That much, eh?" he teased. "Then we need to plan this carefully for the next time you ovulate. Might mean living away from the TARDIS for a week or two to help your body clock adjust."

"As long as we don't go back through that dimension hole thing again, that's fine with me," she brightly stated. "Unless you're planning on staying with my family, of course."

"Why are you suddenly reluctant to spend the time with your family?"

"Mum," she succinctly answered. "She would disapprove of us cuddling in bed like this, let alone having a baby together."

"Ah," he sighed. He'd hoped things would be a little bit different with this companion's mother. "I see."

"But Gramps will be delighted," she quickly assured him. "Mum will just take a bit of time to get used to the idea. Okay, a heck of a lot of time. It could take months."

"We could try turning up beforehand with presents," he suggested. "What sort of things does she like?"

"A married daughter, for starters," she mumbled.

"I could say we're engaged. Would that work?"

"Are you mad?" she scoffed. "You'd be putting yourself in a domestic situation you'd absolutely hate. And with totally the wrong person."

"Donna," he murmured, clasping her chin to tilt her face towards him. "As you said, our level of intimacy goes beyond all that. We practically live as man and wife; and have been mistaken for being so many times."

"Yes, but you'd be living a lie. You don't want me. Not like that."

"I cannot think of anyone who would be better as the mother of my child. In fact, I've had proof you are wonderful in the role," he insisted. "We may have had that whipped away before but now we have a second chance to be parents. And I'd like that, with my best friend to share it with."

"Smooth talker," she disparaged, eager to avoid the sentimentality of the situation. "Alright, I'll give it a go."

"Donna Noble, you are brilliant!"

"Yeah, yeah, I'll remind you of that when I'm up the duff and grumbling about every mortal thing." She then thought to add, "You'd better be there at the birth."

"Try stopping me," he promised, hugging her close again. "It'll be amazing. Just you wait and see."

"What's the plan, Spaceman?"

"Ooh, you rhymed. You're a poet and you didn't know it," he enthused.

"Less of the blarney and more of the information, thank you very much."

"That period testiness is showing through again," he noted to himself. "Anyway. We will wait for the symptoms to go away and then we'll go visit an exotic market. Have ourselves some fun buying gifts for your family before spending a length of time with them on Earth."

"Shopping. You are actually suggesting we go shopping. Now I know you are serious about this," she commented. "Where were you thinking of going?"

"Ah ah ah, that'll be my little surprise," he enticed her, pulling away to leave the bed. "I'll do us some breakfast; get you settled with some medication and have a think while I do all that. If you're lucky I'll take you some really special."

"How special?" she wondered.

"Erm," he considered. "I'm thinking possibly Shan Shen."

"No idea where that is, but bring it on," she eagerly replied.

Settling back into her pillow, all she could think about was what a sweetheart the Doctor was; and the happy prospect of a future family with her best friend in the whole wide universe.

~~o~~