I wrote this unbearable cheese just to finish this story.
"You didn't even stay to watch?"
Donna rolls her eyes at the disbelief in Terry's voice as she lets the door close behind them. Terry and Amelia are sitting in the jump-seat, while Jenny and Martha are looking at them from the console. Martha is starting to resemble herself a bit more. Donna isn't entirely sure if she should be referring to her by the Time Lord name that she's chosen, given that the chameleon circuit makes the whole thing temporary.
"Should I call you The Surgeon until we can get you back to your human self?"
There is a noticeable pause in Martha's movements, her eyes going distant and fixed for a millisecond, before she looks up to meet Donna's eyes. Something is clearly on her mind, but she smiles a smile that Donna hasn't seen since their first meeting. It settles some of the worry that has been churning in her mind, to see that smile again.
"About that."
Even her voice is starting to sound human again. The warmth and presence that had embodied her as a human starting to seep back in, even as her mental presence is starting to be familiar. That might just be Donna getting used to it, she acknowledges.
Donna tilts her head, trying not to make assumptions about whatever will come out of the newly minted Time Lord's mouth.
"About that...?" she prompts, when Martha visibly hesitates and looks to The Doctor. Martha's eyes snap back to meet Donna's own, ans she visibly steels herself.
"About returning me to my previous human self." She says with rising confidence. "I'd rather not."
Donna can feel her eyebrows raising and her mouth dropping open in surprise, though a small part of her is more resigned than anything.
"It isn't that I never want to return to humanity, but now," she pauses, leaning her hip against the console and looking from Donna to The Doctor and back.
"Now I have uncounted opportunities that my human self would never have. I can walk the stars as a Time Lord and learn so much more than I could as a human. Think of the lives I can save like this." Martha says, her voice rising as she sweeps her hand in an encompassing gesture.
"Martha, are you..." The Doctor starts, arms crossed and eyes wide. "You can't just... that isn't..." He stops, at a loss and turns to Donna for help.
She sighs and crosses her own arms, meeting Martha's eyes and trying to think the situation through.
"The Chameleon Arches aren't really designed for that, you know?" she asks, already knowing how this will. She has already started considering how best to minimise what dangers she can imagine for this situation, but she isn't a Doctor or Surgeon. She is an Engineer, and all she can really comment on is the technical aspects of the situation.
"Has anyone even tested this situation in particular?" Martha asks, firm in her convictions.
"Has anyone ever been made a Gallifreyan, and then gone through with facing the Untempered Schism?"
Donna shrugs and turns to her husband, The Doctor still staring at Martha in befuddlement. She feels the moment The Doctor latches on to the idea, mind spinning out into the possibilities, excitement building, before suddenly stalling.
"No, but Martha," he starts, in a tone of voice that Donna always finds a bit irritating, too gentle and certain of his rightness.
"You are a Time Lord right now, and given the fullness of your transformation," he gestures to her in that way of his that is a bit childish and floppy.
"Given your transformation, if you die now, you will Regenerate." He says it softly, hands coming down and into his pockets, his face awash with regret and concern.
"If you regenerate, I've no guarantee that you will ever be able to return permanently to your human self, even with the use of another Chameleon Arch. You wouldn't even look like yourself anymore."
Donna looks to see how Martha is taking this, and is somewhat unsurprised to see the determination on her face.
"You'd have no way to prove to you family who you are, even if you don't regenerate. Currently, you are an alien that looks like Dr Martha Jones, but you have no way of proving to your government that you aren't just a shape shifter or other impostor. You risk loosing everything, and take it from someone who knows, that isn't something you want."
It isn't hard to tell that The Doctor's words aren't having the effect that he intends. Donna almost cringes at the hard look that creeps across Martha's face as her husband keeps talking.
"Don't tell me what I want, Doctor."
At least she doesn't sound angry, Donna thinks to herself. The Doctor pulls himself up to his full height, and Donna decides to stop him before he says something he would regret.
"We will respect whatever choice you make, Martha. Spaceman is just worried."
The Doctor whirls to face her, his face contorted as if meaning to say something, but not knowing what, eyebrows scrunched together and mouth half open.
"It's her choice." Donna says firmly, her eyes meeting her husband's. She lets the words hand between them, echoing that long ago moment. "It was my choice, and now it is her choice." She repeats when he opens his mouth to protest.
She feels the hurt across the short distance, feels his indignation at the comparison, his righteous anger boiling up around the fear that is choking him.
"Don't. Don't use that here." His voice is quiet and hard, and it takes her a not inconsequential amount of restraint to quell her answering fury.
"I will damn well remind you when you need it." Donna bites out between clenched teeth.
"If she wants to risk her life, it is her life to risk. You and your fear do not get to dictate how we choose to live, Doctor, no matter how much you love us or how we love you." Her voice softens, her mind shoving as much affection she can muster at him across their bond, but also showing him the resolve behind her words.
She sees the fight go out of him, his anger snuffed out in a torrent of cold fear. She realises that he knows she's right, and it scares him. The Doctor turns and walks out of the control room without another word.
Martha meets her eyes, brown eyes conflicted but grateful.
"Thank you, Donna."
She nods, unable to really find the words to express the strange mix of affection, respect, and maternal pride she feels for the younger woman.
"Wow, awkward."
Donna sighs, and turns to the grouping of children awkwardly standing around the console.
"Don't worry, kids. Your dad just a bit of time to himself, I'll go check on him in a bit, now buzz off and entertain yourselves for an evening, yeah?"
Terry gamely picks up Amelia with one arm and grabs Jenny with the other, dragging them towards the corridor.
"Sure, mum. We'll be catching up on... the new season of The Bachelor, toodles!" he calls as they go, though clearly neither of the girls are particularly interested in his suggestion, if the looks on their faces are anything to judge by.
Martha awkwardly tilts from foot to foot, her earlier confidence dimmed down in the face of her friends disapproval.
"I'm going to run some tests," she mutters before nodding her thanks and hurrying off towards the medbay, leaving Donna alone by the console.
Donna takes a deep breath and tries to centre herself. They need to take Amelia home, though she decides that it can wait until tomorrow. A time machine is a time machine, after all, and everyone needs to cool down a bit on top of everything that has happened. The TARDIS helpfully brings up the results of the scans she has been running, tracing the strange ripples in space-time that have resulted from their trip across universes.
A pop-up of various CCTV cameras, prints of various legal documents, and even a few photos, show her that at least one of the issues has been resolved. Amelia's parents are back, never been gone really, and as long as they manage to return her within a few moments of taking her, no one but Amelia will ever know she's been on an adventure. Donna makes a mental note to pack the girl a care-package with instructions on how to contact them if she ever needs to, before closing down the results and walking off to talk to her husband.
She finds him in the pool, of all places. He hasn't changed, just sitting on the edge of the water, shoes off and feet dangling.
"Odd time for a swim." She comments as she slips off her boots and plops down beside him. He has that faraway look on his face, but when he meets her eyes it lightens a bit. Donna smiles her best comforting smile at him and bumps his shoulders with hers.
He smiles back at her, not as brightly as he probably intends, before looking down at where their thighs rest against each other.
"I know," he starts, then carefully takes a hold of her hand, eyes still low. "I know I'll never make up for what I did to you. I let my fear of loosing you overtake my respect for you, and I am so so sorry for that."
There is an intense swirl of emotions churning through him and bleeding all over their bond, so strong she almost pulls away, though only almost. There is so much fear and anguish, old grief mixed with new, and an overwhelming sense of love beneath it all.
"Spaceman," she pauses and tries to get him to meet her eyes, "Theta." She feels her own eyes spill over as he finally looks at her, vulnerable and terribly afraid, but still so full of love.
"Theta, I am sorry that I said it like that."
"But not that you said it," he interrupts, a strain of deep hurt flowing through them.
Donne shakes her head. "No, not that I said it." She pulls him in, resting her mouth against his temple and feels him relax against her.
"Remember when we first met, how I said that you need someone?"
"Someone to stop me, yeah," he whispers, voice rough, but accepting.
"Sometimes you get lost in that big head of yours, Spaceman, and forget that the rest of us have just as much right to make our own choices as you do."
The Doctor nods against her, then shifts, throwing one arm around her shoulders and balancing their position out a bit.
"Time Lord Victorious, yeah," he says quietly. She tilts her head, confused by the unfamiliar reference, and he smiles wetly at her.
"It's nothing. I know I lack perspective sometimes, Donna. It's one of the reasons I need you." The Doctor says, his voice breaking slightly, before continuing,
"I know you are right, Shani," he says, stumbling slightly over the name, "I know, in my head, that you had every right to make that choice, that Martha has every right to choose this life for herself. I know it, but ..." he trails off for a moment, looking into her eyes. "I'm afraid."
She pulls him in tightly before loosening her arms and bringing her hands to his shoulders. "I know. It's okay to be afraid. You aren't alone anymore. You have us now, you have me and you can't get rid of me." Tink says with a wobbly smile, before pulling him back in and kissing him. They aren't alone anymore.