A/N: Yeah, at the beginning, this might seem like a rewrite, but it's not. Oh not at all...
Credit to RTD for his wonderful writing for anything here that seems familiar.
I will not be revisiting every single episode of Donna's run in the TARDIS ... I've selected a few that I want to snaffle, but not all of them.
Thrilled to hear from a lot of you about how you enjoy Rose and the in-Laws... awwwwww! thanks! We visit them next chapter. It's Easter weekend, so not much might get done in terms of writing. But I'll see if the fam will let me hide in the corner and write.
Hope you enjoy!
~~oooOOOooo~~
The Doctor pushed open the door to his TARDIS, ready and raring to show his new companion the sights and sounds of Ancient Rome. His tongue was pressed into the roof of his mouth, his jaw open with expectation as he took the lead and stepped out onto the street. The TARDIS had materialised behind a curtained alcove, and the Doctor was slowly cautious as he swept it to one side with his arm. His face broke out into a smile as he looked down along a street not so unsimilar to a marketplace back home on Gallifrey…
…Oh, how he loved those old marketplaces.
Proud of himself and the belief that he'd landed them precisely where he wanted to go, the Doctor put his hands into his trouser pockets and walked with a sway in his stride. "Ancient Rome," he said happily. "Well, not for them, obviously. To all intents and purposes, right now, this is brand new Rome."
Donna stepped up to his side. Thrill was evident on her face as she twirled to take in the sights. "Oh, my God. It's, it's so Roman. This is fantastic." At her side the Doctor gave a somewhat facetious laugh. Donna ignored him in favour of continuing to express her glee. "I'm here. In Rome. Donna Noble in Rome." She stopped short, her eyes wide. "This is just weird. I mean, everyone here's dead."
"Don't tell them that," he said into her ear as he walked by her. He let out a long breath. "Been a while since I was here."
"You've been here before?"
"Of course I have," he half snapped in reply. "Been everywhere, me."
"I've heard that song," she said with a laugh. "When was the last time you were here?"
"With Rose," he said with a dip in his happiness. "In the year 120." His voice became almost breathy, distracted as he looked around with one brow raised curiously. "She became a goddess to them actually. Well. Not so much the Goddess herself, but had one created in her image at any rate." His voice quietened even further and he looked upward with a stretch in his neck that made his voice come out almost strangled. "Only time I kissed her in this body was here. In Rome."
"Yeah? Which one then?" she asked with a grin, not quite as distracted as he was.
"What, the kiss?" He looked a bit off put by that question. "Oh, well. It was short, more of an I'm so happy you saved me closed-mouth peck than anything more salacious or tongue-filled." He scratched his sideburn. "Although she gasped when I kissed her, which did provide the opening for a small taste of her, which meant it was more than just a dry set of lips against lips. Passion, there was definitely passion. From my end anyway, not so much hers. Much more surprised…" He stopped when he realised that Donna had stopped walking and was now about three paces behind him. He turned to face her. "Donna?"
She looked both amused and disgusted at the same time. "What are you on about?"
"You asked me about the kiss," he answered back. "I was just answering you."
"Why would you think I wanted to know about how you kiss?" she shot out with incredulity. "I asked you about the Goddess and which one Rose was." She walked up to him again and eyed him up and down with deliberate arrogant scrutiny. "Whatever you want to get up to with those lips and tongue of yours, I'd much rather not know about, thanks." She slapped her tongue to the roof of her mouth to accent her distaste for it.
He watched her walk by, his eyes on her with the mildest amount of offence. "Yes. Well. Moving on, then." He stopped when her hand flicked up to hit him in the chest. So as not to actually hit his chest against her hand, his stop had him rolling up onto his toes and curling backward. "What?"
"You're havin' me on, aren't you, Spaceman?"
He looked around, a curl in his lip. "What do you mean?"
She pointed ahead of them. "That sign over there. It's in English." She spun to him. "Are you having me on? Are we in Epcot?"
He looked at the sign with his eyes wide and curious. When he saw the sign, his expression fell to amusement. "Oh no. No, no, no. That's the TARDIS Translation Circuits. Just makes it look like English. Speech as well." He grinned and walked around her, talking in her ear as he passed. "You're talking Latin right now."
She gasped. "Seriously?"
He hummed with a smile.
"I just said seriously in Latin."
"You've said a lot in Latin since we go there," he corrected her. He dipped into a small cheeky bow with his hands inside his trouser pockets, and a smile on his face as a woman with a white painted face and a red robe walked by. "Hello."
She looked him up and down, then looked at Donna, but continued walking.
Donna looked down at her clothes and then shot a look back to him. "Don't our clothes look a bit odd to them? Or is this where you tell me that the TARDIS also has a wardrobe circuit."
He scratched at the back of his head and actually thought about that one. "I don't know. Maybe she does. There are probably a couple of things about the old girl I haven't discovered yet."
"Doctor," she huffed with a tug at her skirt. "Enough babble. Are we okay like this?"
"Oh yeah," he chirped with a light frown in his brow. "No need to worry about that. This is Ancient Rome, anything goes. Bit like Soho, only bigger." He looked around, his tongue once again finding the back of his teeth. "And far less of those hipster types." He hummed. "You'd expect them to be looming by now. Where is everything?" He flicked his hand to her to ask to follow him. "Let's try this way."
They both jogged to the end of a street, both skidding to a stop at the sight of a single large bare-headed mountain at the end of the street.
"Now I'm no expert," Donna ventured. "But there's seven hills of Rome, aren't there? How come they've got only one?" she gasped as the ground started to shake beneath her feet. "What? Wait a minute," she looked at the Doctor with worry. "One mountain, with smoke. Which makes this…"
"Pompeii," he finished for her, confirming her sudden suspicion. "We're in Pompeii, and it's volcano day."
Together they ran, his hand finding hers in the hope that it would pull her with him faster. Hi voice was a low growl of urgency. "Come on, Donna."
He threw open the curtain expecting to see his beloved blue ship but was horrified to find it gone. He huffed out with confusion, his hand flying up along his brow into his hair. He said nothing. Instead, Donna spoke ahead of him.
"You're kidding. Don't tell me the TARDIS is gone."
"Okay," he answered dutifully.
She gave him a glare. "Where is it, then?"
"You told me not to tell you," he answered with a shrug.
"Oi," she growled out. "Don't you get clever in Latin."
"Why not Latin?" he shot back as he looked around at the people milling around. "I'm clever in 8 billion other languages. Why should Latin be left out?" He didn't wait for her to comment. "Hold on."
The Doctor ran toward a street vendor, a man selling fruit. "Excuse me. Excuse me. There was a box, a big blue box. Big blue wooden box." He gestured behind him with both hands. "Just over there. Where's it gone?"
The man smirked an expression of pride. "Sold it, didn't I?"
A crease formed in his brow and his lips curled upward. "But it wasn't yours to sell."
He shrugged. "It was on my patch, weren't it? "
"Who'd you sell it to?"
He jutted his chin upward and down the alley. "Old Caecilius." He looked back at the Doctor. "Look. If you want to argue, why don't you take it out with him? He's on Foss Street. Big Villa. Can't miss it."
"Right," the Doctor said with a nod. "Thanks." He walked away, but then paused and walked back. "Why'd he want to buy a big wooden box for?"
~~oooOOOooo~~
"Oh, look at you," Caecilius purred out thankfully as the delivery men walked away from the big blue box. He watched as the deliverers left his villa and clapped his hands together. "I have missed you."
He reached into the folds of his brown and golden robe and pulled free a key. "Right. Got you back, let's get inside and take a quick look…" He stabbed his key at the lock and frowned when it wouldn't insert. He tried again, then lifted it to look at the end of his key. He closed one eye, managing to lift his lip at the same time, and leaned down to take a look at the small slot on the door. "Wonder why you won't fit?"
"Oh thank God you found it," a woman chirped behind him, and it made him cringe. Her voice wasn't so unpleasant by itself, but when it was combined with the smug irritation of a woman who really found nothing in life to make her in any way pleasant, it grated on him.
"It certainly appears so," he gruffed in reply as he lifted his hand to wipe his thumb along the small gold disk that surrounded the lock. "Though it seems that our time away from her might have caused some rusting in the lock." He straightened. "I'll have to see what I can do to clear it out."
"You'll make it quick, yeah?" she asked hotly. "I'll make sure that the kids are ready to leave."
"Yeah," he breathed out. "Sure." He watched in his peripheral as she walked through a corridor toward the bed quarters and then stood up straight. He scrubbed his nails through closely cropped, thick curly hair as he stalked a pacing circle in front of the time ship. Oh, what a hellish four years this had been. Stuck outside his time. Stuck without his TARDIS. Stuck with a companion and her pair of young adult children who absolutely despised him…
...Stuck in a city that was about a day away from being obliterated completely.
How did he get himself stuck in a mess like this? Trapped with a trio of thieving stowaways in Pompeii, more than two millennia away from being able to even send out a call for help?
Well. There was a very simple answer to that question: He was the Doctor.
~~oooOOOooo~~
The Doctor in pinstripes ran from the vendor toward his companion. He didn't even bother pausing his jog to snatch her hand and drag her into a run at his side – well, behind him if her stumble and the tug of his arm in its socket was anything to go by. He tugged back, hoping to pull her to stability and into an actual run rather than a flopping stagger. "Come on, Donna. I've got location. Foss Street's this way."
She got her bearings and her stability, but kept her stride deliberately slower than his to pull him back. "Wait, Doctor."
He let out a huff and stopped running. His hand still clutched at hers, and he jumped impatiently on the spot. "What?"
Her head bounced with each one of his full body bounces. "You're a right little Tigger, aren't you?"
"Get on with it," he huffed.
She pushed her hair from her face and looked back over her shoulder. "I found this big sort of amphitheatre thing. We can start there, you know."
"But I already know where to find the TARDIS." He tugged on her hand, hoping it might pull her into running with him. "This way."
She pulled her hand from his and shook it in front of her to take out the kinks. "Yeah. The TARDIS can wait. We need to get everyone together, in the amphitheatre." Her eyes widened and her lips puckered. "Oh! Maybe they've got a great big bell or something we can ring."
He stopped bouncing and tipped his head to one side. His eyes narrowed with question. "What do you want a bell for?"
"To warn everyone," she shot back urgently. "Start the evacuation." She looked off to one side in thought. Her voice lessened somewhat. "What time does Vesuvius erupt?" She looked at him again. "When's it due?"
He slipped his hands into his trouser pockets and looked up at the sky. His eyes closed briefly as though getting his bearings, and then he looked back to her. "It's 79AD, Twenty third of August, which makes volcano day tomorrow."
She actually looked relieved. "That gives us plenty of time. We could get everyone out."
"Yeah," he drawled. "Except we're not going to."
"But that's what you do," she corrected him. "You're the Doctor. You save people."
He shook his head. "No," he said sharply. "Not this time. Pompeii is a fixed point in history. What happens, happens. There's no stopping it."
"Says who?" she growled petulantly in reply.
"Says me."
She huffed. "What, and you're in charge?"
His eyes rolled and he tipped his head side to side. "TARDIS. Time Lord. Yeah."
Her eyes hardened into challenge. "Donna. Human. No, I don't need your permission." She lifted her nose. "I'll tell them myself."
He threw up his hands. "Fine. Stand in the middle of the market place and announce the end of the world." He gestured to the street with a flick of his hand. "Go on, then. Be just like one of those sign-wearing doomsday people back in London crying out the same thing." He leaned into her. "Tell me just how seriously you take them when they start yelling into your face about doom and gloom and the end of the Earth. Hmm?"
"The difference between me and them, Spaceman, is that I actually know for a fact it's gonna happen."
He hummed again. "Then go right ahead. In the meantime, I'm going to find my TARDIS." He turned and started to walk away, then paused and turned around. He thumbed at his nose. "Oh, and just so you know. Romans aren't particularly opposed to public stoning of people they consider mad." He looked her up and down. "A strange woman, wearing strange clothing, crying the end of the earth and death to all…" He smirked and turned back around. "Good luck on that."
She walked up to his side, an unimpressed curl in her lip. "This isn't over, you know that, right?"
"I had a feeling you'd say that."
~~oooOOOooo~~
Caecilius looked up from the TARDIS with a huff as the ground shook beneath his feet. The tremors from Vesuvius were coming harder and with much more frequency than had been the pattern over the past few weeks. And of course they were. That big mountain was about to blow – in 23 hours and 13 minutes time if his time sense was functioning correctly.
Caecilius rushed through his living room, skidding his leather sandal soles along the marble floor, as the ground shook beneath them once again. Pointless though it was given that this place would be buried under tonnes of molten magna, he felt it somewhat prudent to at least try to save some of the artwork he'd collected over the few years he'd been here. Give those archaeologists something to find when they dug them all out in two millennia.
A man in a long coat and a head of hair artfully tousled into a wild spike on top let out a sound of surprise as he caught the marble bust he'd been heading for. He spun to face Caecilius with a grin on his face.
"Woah." He held out the bust at the same moment he was admiring it. "There you go."
Caecilius stilled in place, his eyes wide and his expression somewhat shocked. Oh, no wonder he wouldn't get into the TARDIS. It wasn't his. He hid his disappointment in that fact, and then had to also quell the shock of seeing this man. This very specific version of him at least.
…Had he come to Pompeii with the intent to perform his rescue? Could he actually be that lucky?
He opened his mouth to exclaim his thrill at seeing him, but swallowed it when he saw Donna walk in behind him.
Oh, Rassilon, no. So much for rescue … That hadn't been part of this adventure.
The Doctor pushed the bust toward him with a little more urging than he had originally. "Well? Do you want it?"
Caecilius shook himself of his thoughts and quickly took the bust from the Doctor. "Oh yes. Yes, indeed. Thank you for rescuing it for me. I'm afraid I just wasn't quick enough this time, and it would be a shame to see it shattered into nothing."
"Quite," the Doctor answered as he took a look around. Toward the wall he could see his time ship, and he let out a smile. Rather than launch into an immediate haggle to reclaim the TARDIS, he made an effort to look around. He hummed with appreciation. "Very nice place you have here." He looked at him. "Caecilius, is it?"
"I'm afraid you have me at a disadvantage," Caecilius countered. Oh, he'd always wanted to say that. "You know who I am, but I don't know you."
"Spartacus," the Doctor answered without falter. "I am Spartacus."
Donna waved with her fingers. "So am I?"
Oh, but this could be fun, Caecilius thought to himself. He smiled a cheeky smile and looked between them. "Mr. and Mrs. Spartacus?"
The look of horror that crossed not only the Doctor's face, but Donna's was worth it.
"Oh no, no, no," the Doctor said quickly. He flicked his hand between he and Donna. "We're not." He cleared his throat. "We're not married."
Donna shook her head. "We're not together. At least not like that." The vehemence in her voice as to there being no chance of togetherness between the two of them actually had the Doctor appear to be slightly offended.
"Ahh," Caecilius drawled through an open mouth. "Brother and sister, then." He narrowed his eyes in scrutiny. "Yes. Yes, of course. I can see the resemblance."
The Doctor and Donna looked at each other, both of their expressions a mirror of each others. They looked to Caecilius with puzzlement. "Really?"
He tipped his shoulders up into a shrug. "Close enough at any rate." He let out a breath as he saw his wife and children walk into the room. "Metella," he called out with an uncharacteristic chirp of happiness to see her. He spun to look at the three of them, warning in his eyes. "Look! We have visitors."
The young man, a pretty boy with dark hair and eyes, but lacking any form of warmth at all, looked around Caecilius shoulder toward the pair. "Shop's closed," he drawled out. "Come back later."
Caecilius clapped his hands together, and held them together as he turned. He gave both of them a look of apology. "I'm afraid Quintus is correct. We aren't open for business right now." He dropped his hands and tipped his head to one side, his eyes not on either of his visitors. "Perhaps if you come back tomorrow?"
"If there is one," Quintus muttered. He huffed at a small tremor under their feet. "That volcano's set to blow, I just know it."
The Doctor took a step forward. "I'm sorry," he drawled with a narrowing of his eyes. "What did you say?"
"Nothing," Caecilius answered quickly. Panic in his voice. "He said nothing of concern. You shouldn't worry about what my son says. He's hungover. Too much wine last evening."
"Hungover," the Doctor repeated slowly with an equally slow nod of his head. "I see."
"Yes," he confirmed. "He is. Quite. Seems to be a default condition of late with my beloved son." He turned back to the small family. "Doesn't it, Son? Now if you wouldn't mind, dear family, would you give me a moment to speak with our visitors?"
"Whatever," Quintus said with a mutter and a rub at his brow. He walked slowly in a circle to depart before his mother and sister. He stopped just short of leaving and looked toward them. "Well? You heard him. Let's leave the old man to his business."
Metella walked up to Caecilius, leaning up onto her toes to talk into his face. Her eyes were an expression of warning. "Get rid of them. We need you to get into that box and get us back home."
"Yes," he replied softly. "I know. Just give me a few minutes, okay?"
"Five," she growled.
He looked upward to the ceiling and counted as he let out a breath. He waited for her to leave and lowered his head to look upon the Doctor and Donna with a half smile on his face. "Do excuse my wife's apparent disdain toward visitors. I had promised her a day without commerce…"
"I see," the Doctor replied suspiciously. His suspicion seemed to quickly shift toward joviality. "So where were we, then? Ahh yes. I was remarking on the loveliness of your home."
"There is a reason for your visit, I expect," Caecilius cut in quickly. There was no sense in playing the idle chatter game. Really, it quite annoyed him to talk about weather and the beauty our someone's home. He expected that the man in front of him held the same kind of regard for such things…
Well, not expected. He knew it to be fact.
"So what can I do for you?"
The Doctor's jaw dropped just slightly and he exhaled through his mouth. "Inspector," he answered as he held up his small leather wallet to display his psychic paper. "Of Marble."
"I see," Caecilius remarked softly. "I wasn't aware that there were marble inspectors outside of Rome."
"Auditing the outlaying lands, he answered with a walk around the room. He paused in front of the TARDIS, a light smile tugging at his lips.
"That's not marble," Caecilius cautioned him.
"No it's not," he agreed as he pressed his hand against it. "It's wood."
Caecilius stepped up beside him. He leaned his forearm high at his head on the doors of the TARDIS. "You're not a marble inspector, are you?"
"And you're not an ancient Pompeiian," he answered back without looking at him. His eyes were on the window ledge of his ship.
"And how'd you come to that conclusion?"
"Not hard to work out, really." He drawled out, finally turning to lean his shoulder against the door. He crossed his legs at the ankle, pressing the toe of his Converse into the floor. His arms shifted to fold across his chest. "The first clue was your son referring to the mountain outside as being a volcano. This is 79AD. To the people here Vesuvius is a mountain. They don't even have a word for volcano yet…"
"Not until tomorrow at any rate," Caecilius said with a nod. "When the top blows off it."
"And then you used the term hungover to describe your son's current condition." His lip turned. "That word doesn't quite crop until the turn of the twentieth century … in reference to alcohol, that is."
"1904 to be specific," Caecilius agreed with a nod.
"Who are you?" the Doctor asked with a narrowing of his eyes.
Caecilius smirked and waggled his brows. "Guess."
The Doctor shifted his weight and tightened the fold of his arms across his chest. "I would have suggested you were a Time Lord, but I'd have been able to sense your presence the moment I materialised here. So you're not one of them." He looked upward at the movement of Caecilius' hand next to his head. He twirled a golden band around his ring finger. "Ahh," he drawled. "Bio-dampener."
Caecilius drew his hand down and looked at the ring he'd worn as both a symbol to signify the marriage he had with his wife. He let out a sigh. "It is. Both a device to hide my true biological nature, and a prisoner's cuff to bind me to a woman and her children."
"I take it she's neither your wife, nor are her children yours?"
"By Rassilon, no." He pressed his lips together and shook his head. "Unfortunate incident on Earth during the 21st century. Family of degenerate thieves broke into my Capsule and managed to get lost on their search for things to steal. I was in flight when they appeared on the command deck, all indignant and threatening to have me arrested for kidnap. I tried to head back with the fast-return switch, but my capsule crash-landed outside of town. We went looking for help, ended up quite lost, and so I haven't been able to return to her to get that lot home." He looked at the band. "In order to forge any kind of believable existence here, marriage was the only option available to us."
The Doctor leaned into him, his eyes narrowed to slits. "Are you me, then?"
"No," he answered shortly. "I'm not." His own eyes relaxed in their steeled expression. "I know your next question: No. I'm not one of the bad ones." He smiled. "But I am one of the good ones. One you get to know quite well in your future."
"But I don't know you now?"
His eyes flicked up to Donna, who was quietly watching them with a sense of both wonder and fear. He looked back to the Doctor. "No. Not really. Not just yet. Not this you, anyway. We've more met in passing in your current timeline."
Realisation crossed the Doctor's features. "Ahh. The Cerulean. Tom, isn't it?" He shrugged and looked him over. "Can't say that the regenerations have been too kind on you." He preened and adjusted his tie with both hands. "We're supposed to get better looking as we burn through our regenerations. Or is that just me?"
"Just a little bit rude," he remarked. "And no. I'm not a Cerulean."
"Who are you?"
"A friend," he said with a smile as he walked toward Donna. He took her hand in both of his. "Donna, it's been a long while since I've seen you. I hope that you're keeping the old man in line."
Donna tilted her head at him. "Do I know you?" She looked at the Doctor. "Do I know him?"
"Not yet," the Doctor answered with a shrug. He walked over and forcibly removed her hand from Caecilius'. "Hands off the redhead," he growled and poked a finger at him. "I'm tiring of you prowling Gallifreyan males taking my companions from me. Stay away from her."
"Oi!" she snapped at him. "I don't need you tellin' me who I can and can't talk to, you know, Doctor. I'm perfectly capable of telling him to sod off myself."
"I bet you are," he growled in reply. "But blokes like him…" he thumbed a gesture toward Caecilius. "Oh, I don't trust them. Not at all. All sneaky when it comes to using their wiles to woo a female." He pointed to Caecilius and then pointed to his eyes. "Watching you."
He looked amused and bit a smile. "Yeah. Right. Course you are."
"I mean it," the doctor snarled as he turned to walk toward the TARDIS. "I'd better check on the old girl." He looked over her shoulder at the pair of them. "Not canoodling or making kissing plans while I'm inside, am I making myself clear?"
Caecilius chuckled as the Doctor turned back toward the TARDIS and pulled open the door. "Yes, Dad. Perfectly clear."
Donna's face stretched out in surprise. "Hang about. You're his…?"
His hand shot up to his mouth. He winked as he pressed a finger against his lips and hushed out a playful sound. "You can't tell him."
"Bollocks I can't,' she snapped in reply. "And I'm getting pretty tired of being told what I can and can't tell people today."
"He can't know," Caecilius warned her. "It could disrupt timelines if you do."
"And what, I'm supposed to just ignore the fact that while he's spent the last year looking for you and your mum, you're right here?" She stepped into him. "You can tell him where to find you. End his pain."
"It's not that simple," he lectured with a wince at himself for adopting his father's method for explanation. "Me, Mum, and Dad. Well, it's complicated."
"Then uncomplicate it," she demanded. "That Dumbo in the TARDIS. He needs his family. His heart is broken, and I know from what I've see myself that it makes him dangerous."
"Hearts," Caecilius corrected.
"I'm sorry?"
"Hearts," he repeated. "He's got two of them. Two big strong hearts hammering away in there." His brows pinched. "That's probably an important thing for you to know, really. Just in case he gets into trouble and you need to give him CPR or something. Might be best you have him show you how to do that … bit different for Time Lords than for humans." His lips pursed and he tilted his head to one side in thought. "Mouth to mouth is the same, of course."
"Yeah, don't need him showin' me that," she gruffed.
"But in all seriousness, Donna." He huffed out. "You can't tell him. If he finds out who I am, he'll be at me like a damn Trunkike. All peck, peck, peck, scratch, scratch, scratch looking for information he's not allowed to have just yet."
"But…"
"Soon," he assured her, placing his hands on her shoulders. He looked into her face, projecting as much assurance and honesty as he could. "Trust me, Donna. It's not too long from now. Dad's just got a few things he has to do first before he's ready to be with Mum again."
Her eyes were wide, and he head low, her expression begging him. "Than you promise me that. Promise me he finds you all."
He snapped her in for a hug, holding her face in his shoulder. "I promise you." He sighed when her arms came up to hold at his back. "And it's going to be brilliant when he does." He loosened his hold and looked down into her face with a smile. "But right now you and him, you've got quite an adventure ahead of you."
The Doctor's voice boomed angrily from the doors of the TARDIS. "I thought I told you to stay away from my companion!"
~~oooOOOooo~~
The sky overhead darkened with horrific speed as the Doctor and Donna ran hand in hand along the street. Both of them ran with one arm held over their foreheads as a shield from the falling ash and rock from the volcano erupting behind them.
"Come on, Donna," he growled with warning as he tugged for her to run faster. "We've got to get out of here."
"So do they!" she called back, at least a full two strides behind him and struggling with the pull of her arm ahead of her. She jerked her hand from his and twirled to run a backward stride to yell to the people fleeing the town behind her. "No! Don't go to the beach! Go to the hills!" She staggered to a stop. "Don't g to the beach! It's not safe. Listen to me."
The Doctor snatched her hand and pulled her toward him. His eyes gave her warning before he spoke. "Donna. They're not going to listen to you. Take it from me…" He tugged her hand and started them running again. "Noone listens to me."
Together they ran into Caecilius' villa, in through the entrance, through the living room, and to the TARDIS that sat in the corner of the room. The Doctor dropped Donna's hand as he dug in his pocket for the keys, he didn't notice Caecilius seated by himself against the wall in a slouch, while his family huddled together near to the other side of it.
Donna did and skidded to a fast stop. "Doctor. Wait!"
"Come on, Donna," he called as he weaved around the doorway of the TARDIS, which slammed shut behind him.
"No!" she cried out. "Doctor, you can't. Doctor!"
The sound of the engines started to howl and whine throughout the room.
"Donna," Caecilius said firmly. "Go. Don't you worry about us."
"How can I not?" she yelled as she dropped to a crouch in front of him. There was terror in her eyes as fat tears rolled down her cheeks. "He can't just leave you here like this."
"I've lived a pretty good life," he said with a wink and a smile. "made it to fifteen hundred, I did." He looked up. "Not sure if I can regenerate in lava." He let out a humph. "Guess I'll find out." He looked to his family at the other end of the wall. "Just wish they didn't have to suffer this."
"He's not leaving you here," she growled. She turned back to the TARDIS, whose engines were now roaring loudly in warning. She looked back to him. "Be right back."
"Don't, Donna." He held up his hand. "You can't tell him, Donna. You can't!"
She leapt to her feet and rushed into the TARDIS, the Doctor's name belching loudly out of his mouth.
Caecilius huffed and pulled himself to his feet as the blue ship disappeared from view. He walked to the three people who had the unfortunate luck to have broken into his TARDIS and got stuck with him. He lowered himself to his knees and wrapped his arms around the group. "I'm sorry," he said sadly. "I'm so sorry."
~~oooOOOooo~~
Donna exploded onto the ramp, and marched upward with all the might of a super tornado.
"Go back," she demanded angrily. "Now, Doctor. Go back and save them."
"Don't you think I've done enough?" He snarled without looking at her. He was rough with the levers on the console. "History is back in place, and everyone dies."
"I'm telling you," she near sobbed. "You've got to go back. Doctor, I'm telling you, take this thing back. You have to!" She panted a second as she thought of everyone left back in the path of the volcano, and to one man specifically who would rather sacrifice himself than damage whatever these timeline things were. "It's not fair."
"No," he agreed. "It's not."
She looked to him, her eyes sodden and swollen. "How can you just sit back and let that happen to them. To all of them. Doctor, your own planet burned…"
"That's just it!" he interrupted her sharply. There was fury, regret, and sadness in his voice. "Don't yu see, Donna? Can't you understand? If I could go back and save them, then I would." He drew in a pair of hard breaths. "But I can't. I can never go back." His head dropped. "I can't. I just can't. I can't."
"You have to," she pleaded. "If only just Caecilius and his family. Doctor. He's a Time Lord…"
The Doctor's eyes closed as he repeated the title. "I can't."
Oh fuck the Timelines. Donna wasn't going to let anyone sacrifice anything – not if she had anything to do with it. "Doctor. You have to go back and get him." His head flicked to her ready to argue. "Doctor," she pleaded. "Please don't leave him there. Don't leave your son there to die."
Utter devastation crossed his face. "What?"
"He's your son, Doctor." She pleaded. "Caecilius is your son. Please don't leave him there to die. Save him."
~~oooOOOooo~~
His hearts sank in his chest when he heard the whine and wheeze of the TARDIS rematerializing in place. Immediately he knew that Donna had let slip the secret he'd told her to keep. He closed his eyes, testing the timelines to see just how much of a disruption was enroute and what level of damage control he was going to have to work at to stabilise it.
For now, they seemed stable enough, and he looked back as the door opened. With the rather over dramatic effect of the bright lights of the interior of the ship making him look more a God than a man, his father stood at the doorway, his hand extended to him.
"Come with me."
~~oooOOOooo~~
Two identical TARDISes stood side by side atop a green hillside, watching as fire an ask fell onto the streets of Pompei below them. The two men stood apart from the rest of the group, the members of their respective parties understanding that now would be a good time to leave them to talk.
"I wish they knew they are never forgotten," the Doctor breathed out sadly. "That in time Pompeii will be found again and their stories become legends."
"Legends that will make them so much than any of them ever were," Caecilius agreed.
"Is it true what Donna told me," the Doctor managed with a measure of hope in his voice. "Are you my son."
One side of his mouth lifted into a smile. "I told her not to tell you that." He nodded and turned his head to look at his father. "But yeah. Hi Dad. Long time no see."
"Mark?" he asked gently.
He looked down at his hand and used his fingers to remove the ring from his finger. "Guess I don't need this anymore," he said softly as he popped it into his belt. "Uncomfortable sodding thing it is."
Almost immediately, the Doctor's entire demeanour shifted as he inhaled a deep breath and took in the telepathic signature of his eldest child. His exhale shook and shuddered. "You didn't need to hide from me," he said after a moment.
"Yeah, I did," he drawled. "Your timelines aren't yet stable." He inhaled. "I didn't know if it would be safe or not."
The Doctor turned sharply toward him. "And so you'd let yourself die. You'd let your companions die? Because you were worried about timelines?"
Mark slumped. "Well what other choice did I have? This is big, Dad. Big."
"Nothing's too big for us to handle," he corrected him. "At least not big enough that you should be willing to die for it. Not without giving me a chance to make it right first."
"Yeah," he drawled with is eyes to the blackened sky in the distance. "I'll keep that in mind for next time, all right?"
The Doctor cleared his throat and looked down to the grass at his feet. "So…?"
"I'm not telling you anything, so don't bother asking," he interrupted sharply. "Timelines, remember. Yours aren't stable yet." He lowered his head. "I'm not telling you how to find us."
"But you can tell me if I do find you," he corrected shortly.
"Yeah," Mark answered, saying nothing further.
"Yeah to what?" the Doctor shot in sharply. "Feel like expanding on that a little so I know what you were actually responding to?"
"Not really," he replied with a shrug. He turned to his father and offered him a one-sided grin. "Though I reckon if you're a smart lad you can work it out for yourself." He flicked his head toward his TARDIS, tall and blue, and wearing the POLICE BOX decals and signage that were synonymous with the Time Lord Doctor.
Both men turned to gaze upon the twin TARDISes.
"There's only one of them in the entire universe," Mark said with a smile across his face. "Our beautiful ship."
"How long?" he asked.
"I can't tell you that."
"You can tell me though, if you're all safe where you are right now?" He looked to his son, now an adult that looked much older than he was right now. "That you're not fending for yourselves lost and alone."
His head shook and he wore a smile on his face. "Honestly, Dad. There's no one safer and more well protected and taken care of than Mum, Me, and Aly."
"Aly?"
"That's enough poking and prodding from you," he warned. He moved forward and wrapped his arms around his father's shoulders in a hug that was awkward for the both of them. "You're in my hearts, Dad. Remember that, yeah?" He shifted to separate and found himself caught. His father wasn't letting him go just yet. "Ehm. Dad. Just a warning, that I'm really not a hugger this time around."
"Well I am," he answered back. "So deal with it. Because I'm not letting you go until you give me something, anything, to give me hope that this doesn't last too much longer."
"hmmmm," he hummed. "How cryptic can I make this?"
"Just tell me," he huffed as he let him go.
"You're still you," he answered with a wink. "So with your recent track record, that should be easy enough to work out, yeah?" He walked toward his TARDIS and scratched at his head. There was a smirk on his face. "Course, you've been you now for more than a millennia in my timeline, so who knows?" He turned and walked backward, flicking at his temples. "Gettin' a bit grey around here, too, finally."
"That's not very much help," he called back.
He opened the door of his TARDIS and let his trio of reluctant companions onboard. "In my hearts, Dad. Remember that."
"And you," he called back as the doors to the TARDIS closed. "Always, my son." He watched as the ship disappeared from view with a howl and a whine and let out a huff. He felt Donna's presence at his side. "Thank you," he said to her with genuine gratitude in his voice. "If you'd kept your promise to him, I would have lost my son."
"Nah," she drawled. "Never let that happen."
He scratched at his sideburn and began a slow walk toward his own TARDIS. "So? This was a bit of a tough one for you, Donna. Do you still want to stay with me?"
She chuckled at his side. "Course I do, Dumbo," she answered with a nudge at his shoulder with hers. "Said it before, you need someone, Doctor."
"Yeah," he agreed as he pushed open the door and let her step in ahead of him. "You're right, Donna. I do need someone."
~~oooOOOooo~~
