Part 4
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"I wish we had something else to do rather than read books," Donna remarked to Martha that evening. "I never thought I'd long for more modern technology after being in the TARDIS, but needs must, and all that. Is there any chance of you looking for something to play music on when you come home tomorrow?"
Martha put down the medical textbook she had been studying and considered the request. "I can do that," she agreed. "Although I won't be able to bring a DVD player."
"Shame," Donna remarked. "But just find me whatever you can, will you? Jenny is desperate to dance to some real music, and my singing isn't all that great. The poor child needs variety, as well as proper talent, in her life."
Laughing, Martha readily agreed. "I'm sure the TARDIS will rustle up a few things for Jenny." She picked up her book again and asked, "What have you got planned for tomorrow?"
"I don't know yet," Donna admitted. "I'm playing it by ear, if you'll pardon the pun. Although John suggested we meet him at the nursing home building in the afternoon instead of lunchtime. It'll do Jenny good to meet some older people."
"They'll probably adore her," Martha predicted. "All those adopted grannies will want to knit her stuff if you're not careful."
"Then she'd be the luckiest girl in the world, if she isn't already," Donna commented. "I'm just hoping for a nice chat over a cup of tea with a biscuit, if I'm honest. I miss my granddad."
"We all miss our family," Martha sympathised, giving Donna's arm a friendly touch. "At least we have each other."
"That's true. Just think how awful this would be if you had to do it on your own."
"I know all too well," Martha noted, and accepted the squeeze of her hand from her friend as the bad memories of being in 1969 swelled up.
This time around it was much better, she thought. Having a friend who understood, and you could talk to about things was worth its weight in gold.
"Can we go yet?" Jenny asked once again, when she finished the last mouthful of her sandwich. They could visit the hospital nursing home after they had finished lunch, so swallowing down the bite of her sandwich meant that they had definitely finished eating, as far she was concerned.
"We have to clean up our mess first," Donna insisted, trying to stay patient. "You have to wash your face and hands, because everyone will know what you just ate if you don't, and then I have to pop to the loo."
"Aw," Jenny grumbled, "that'll take ages!"
"Depends how long you decide to waffle about, surely," Donna reasoned. "Come on!" she chivvied. "Go find some soap and water to apply to your face while I clean our plates. And you need to find the picture you drew your dad if you're going to give it to him this afternoon."
"Oh yes," Jenny remembered, now determined to carry out her tasks. "Can I take Wuffy with me?"
Wuffy was the new fuchsia coloured teddy bear John had bought her in the hospital shop the day before. An off the cuff comment from Donna about the bear looking like it was the same colour as a pink wafer had somehow spawned the name, when Jenny couldn't pronounce the word 'wafer'. The bear was suddenly her best friend, and it had shared every waking moment with her.
"Yes, as long as he is clean too," Donna replied. "I'm not taking any little girl or bear with me who hasn't brushed their teeth. The ladies in the nursing home will think very bad things about your dad if I do."
"I promise," Jenny readily vowed, picking up Wuffy from his seat next to her, tucking him safely under her arm as she walked. "He'll behave; just like a good boy."
She then toddled off, giving Wuffy careful instructions about what he was allowed to do in the next hour or so, causing Donna to stifle a laugh. Did she really sound like that when she got Jenny to carry out various tasks? Oh dear. Hopefully, she didn't come across as being like that to everybody.
"Ready!" Jenny announced minutes later, looking clean and bright. She grabbed Donna's hand and pulled. "Hurry. Daddy is waiting for us."
Are you sure of that? Donna wanted to ask, but she kept schtum. Instead, she let the excited little girl lead the way with the odd skip and a jump along the way.
As expected, all eyes had been drawn to them as they entered the hospital nursing home. A bevvy of cooing old ladies had reached out to touch Jenny, but her instant shyness meant that she stayed firmly behind Donna's legs for a little while. The only thing that had managed to coax her out was the appearance of John, who almost got a round of applause for the achievement.
"Have you gone shy?" he teased Jenny. "That's not like you. I bet I can get you to talk if I offer you a biscuit."
"Please give her a biscuit, doctor," one woman pleaded.
"That will have to wait until tea is served," he decided. "In the meantime, young lady," he said, addressing Jenny personally, "you have to help me greet every patient to see if they are happy."
Jenny ducked her head down, hiding her face against his chest. "What about Donna?" she whispered.
"Ooh, I'm sure Donna will come too, if we ask her nicely," he jovially replied. "What about a trip around the ward, Donna?"
From beside him, Donna smiled at Jenny, hoping to bolster her confidence. "Come and press the flesh, as it were? I'd love to." She reached out to take one of Jenny's hands. "Where shall we start?"
"I was thinking we'd begin up here and work our way down to common room," John answered, leading the way. "The view of the squirrels is particularly good from this window…"
All they walked around the ward, Jenny's shyness wore away, and she became her bright, playful self, enjoying the attention of doting pensioners. She liked all the promises of future treats, but her favourite part was probably when they sat down in the communal area and a nurse brought out a trolley laden with tea and biscuits.
"No Joan today?" Donna nonchalantly asked John when she didn't see the woman in question.
"It's her day off," he supplied, busying himself with opening the wrapper of a Penguin bar for Jenny to consume. "Why?" he wondered, lifting his head to tease Donna. "Missing your new best friend?"
"There might be a vacancy very soon for that position, if you're not careful," she lightly warned. Well, she had to keep him on his toes, didn't she? "But for now, I'm alright for best friends, thanks."
He visibly preened himself, and she chided herself for making it too easy for him to win her favour.
"You are cruising on your looks, mate," she mouthed at him, and stood up to join Jenny, who was begging for her attention.
There was nothing he could say to that, he decided, so he sat back and watched the two of them demonstrating the latest nursery rhyme Jenny had learnt, mainly for the benefit of a rather sweet old man called Frederick.
One of the more mobile ladies, a feisty pensioner by the name of Lydia, suddenly leaned into John's personal space in order to comment, "Your little girl is absolutely gorgeous, Dr Smith. You and your wife must be very proud of her."
Stunned, he echoed, "My wife?"
"Yes, her," Lydia stated, pointing at Donna, who happened to be busy spinning Jenny around on the spot to entertain two fans. "Who did you think I meant? Tsk! You're getting forgetful in your old age," she added with a cheeky wink.
"Ah. You see…" Oh dear, he would have to explain his widowed status and he still wasn't sure he could yet. He gulped nervously. "The thing is, Donna isn't my wife."
"Wife. Girlfriend. Living together as partners. It's all the same thing these days, isn't it," Lydia continued conversationally. "I won't judge you."
"Thanks," he automatically responded, wondering what the hell was going on, "but we're merely friends. Nothing more."
"Are you sure?"
"Quite sure," he insisted. "Donna is currently doing me a favour, looking after my daughter Jenny while we all share one of the hospital's new accommodations."
"Could have fooled me," Lydia declared. "Sounds like you've got a little family set up with her."
"Oh no, you've got it totally wrong," he corrected. He gave his neck a nervous rub as he continued, "Donna shares a bedroom with Martha Jones, the new nurse, not me. We're flatmates, and good friends."
"I know her. Nurse Jones is the really pretty one," the lady sitting to Lydia's side interrupted. "She gave me an injection yesterday. Blimey, your dreams must have come true, doctor, if you're living with two women under the same roof as you."
"Yes, well," he blustered, trying to hide his crimson cheeks. "They won't be there for long, and things aren't like that."
Lydia glared at her friend for upsetting the new handsome doctor in their midst and was determined to bring the conversation back to her. "Anyway, she looks after your littlun a treat," she commented, vaguely pointing a finger at Donna, and then patted his hand. "You're lucky to have someone ready to babysit. Perhaps you ought to consider getting yourself a wife. It'll be best for your daughter in the long run."
"I'll think about it," he faintly replied, and planned his exit at the first possible moment.
After greeting the squirming package that was Jenny when she returned home to the flat that evening, Martha asked John and Donna, "How did the hospital nursing home visit go today?"
Donna gave a noncommittal, "Not bad."
"I met lots o' old ladies," Jenny enthused, "with crinkles on their faces."
"They certainly made a friend or two, enthralling the inhabitants with Jenny's charms," John added proudly. "Although Donna seemed to miss her new friend Joan being there."
"What can I say?" Donna deadpanned, giving a shrug. "The woman just draws me to her."
"Like a wasp?" Martha proposed, and they laughed together.
"She is a very able and experienced nurse," John defended Joan.
"Experienced at turning her nose up at people who aren't called John Smith," Donna retorted.
"What do you mean?" he gasped, affronted.
"I mean, my lovely friend who is going to make us all a nice cup, is that Joan gives you very special attention."
"She fancies you like crazy," Martha commented, having plonked herself down onto a seat. "You must have noticed."
"I… erm…," he floundered for a second. "Does she? Surely not."
"I'd take that answer as a 'no'," Donna said to Martha; causing his blush to deepen. "Look at him. Completely oblivious of his charms. He even had old ladies mauling him earlier."
"That was…," he began to protest, and then narrowed his eyes at Donna. "Why do I let you get to me like this?"
"I dunno, but it's fun," she retorted with a flick of her hair.
"And you can keep quiet too," he threw at Martha's giggling form, getting up to move away them. "I don't know why I put up with the pair of you. Especially when you demand tea."
Martha watched him walk away and then leaned towards Donna to quietly say, "Look what I found for you." From out of her jacket pocket, she brought out a small object.
"What's that?" Jenny wondered, keen to get a look.
"Martha, you angel!" Donna near squealed when she saw the item brought secretly back from the TARDIS. "It's called a radio, Jenny. I'll show you how to find radio stations on it that play music or broadcast voices from all over the world in a moment." She let Jenny hold the radio to examine it and then turned her eager gaze back on to Martha. "You have no idea how much I've missed being able to listen to some music, any music. And why do I suddenly feel as though you are bribing me?"
"Well…" Martha tried her hardest to look innocent. "I won't be in this evening. Sorry. The girls on the ward have asked me out to have some welcome drinks down in the village pub. Do you mind?"
"Mind? Of course, I don't mind. I'm sure we can entertain ourselves listening to something this evening on the radio. You go and enjoy yourself."
"But you'll be left all on your own with John when Jenny falls asleep," Martha stressed through clenched teeth.
"I can cope," Donna maintained. "You deserve to go find some proper friends, and anyway, it'd only be a couple of hours. Unless you get blind drunk, and don't make it home."
"I work tomorrow, so there's no way I'd be that careless," Martha stated. "Although if a handsome man wants to sweep me away, I won't stop him."
"Martha!" Donna pretended to gasp. "Anyone would think you aren't already engaged to a handsome man. While the cat's away, and all that…" She mischievously grinned. "I won't blame you."
"Somehow, I don't think you would," Martha countered with relief. "I'll do my best to enjoy myself, just for you."