Part 14

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Frantically blinking against the visual assault, John and Donna broke abruptly apart, to see an irate Martha, stood with her arms firmly crossed, in the doorway a few feet away.

"Well?!" she berated them. "I suppose you're going to try to tell me I'm imagining this. That it isn't what it looks like. That you aren't carrying on right under my nose."

It was John who recovered from the shock first. He stammered, "Martha. Hello. We weren't expecting to see you at this late hour. We erm…"

He happened to glance at Donna at this point, and could see her mentally shutting down, waiting for him to deny the relationship he had just begged for. The coward in him wanted to deny what had happened, to save Martha from any pain. Yet that denial would cause even greater trauma to the woman he loved.

Oh.

Donna was the woman he loved. He could finally admit that fact to himself, and it felt wonderful.

Giving a slight cough to clear his throat, he beamed a triumphant smile at Martha. "Sorry. You see, we've just had a life changing moment between us, that I am making a pig's ear of adjusting to. Anyway, you are the first to know about Donna and I."

Martha flicked her gaze temporarily to Donna, trying to properly assess the situation. Was this good or bad or even mutual consent? "What about you two?'" she heard her strained question.

Yes, what about us, Donna wanted to know too.

"We're official," John announced. "As in, officially a couple. Isn't that utterly brilliant?!"

"Yeah, great. Congratulations," Martha mumbled in defeat. "Can we go back to bed now? Our own beds, I mean."

"Certainly. It's a long day tomorrow. Lots to do," he enthused. "You can go," he dismissed Martha. "I promise to have Donna safely in her own bed in a few minutes. Just need to say good night properly."

"Right. Yes. Well then," Martha blustered. "Good night John. And I'll see you in a minute, Donna."

"Won't be long," Donna promised, still somewhat in a daze.

Had all that really happened? To her and not someone else? This must be a dream. One of those realistic and really good dreams where you get exactly what you crave.

"Are you going to kiss me again or do I have to place a complaint with the management?" a testy voice suddenly brought her out of her stunned thoughts.

"Sorry John. I just… actually, I don't know what I was doing."

"Then come here and let me remind you," he schmoozed, wrapping her up in his loving embrace before applying those lips of his in ways she was growing to love.

Despite her fairly quick return to the bedroom, and the heat of the night, the atmosphere was decidedly frosty. Martha was obviously still seething.

"Sorry," Donna murmured apologetically as she climbed into bed. "That was unexpected. Really sorry."

"Am I supposed to believe all that was unexpected?"

"Since I'm telling you the truth, yes," Donna defended herself. "And I really am sorry."

"Did you have sex with him?" Martha shocked her by asking.

Donna's eyes went wide. "What! No, of course not. What do you take me for? I don't know if I've given that impression but I'm not on the hunt for sex with a man."

"Sorry," Martha muttered, suitably chastised. "It's just that, he looked as though he wanted to, quite desperately."

Yep, 'desperate' was definitely the word of the day. The bloke had almost spontaneously combusted due to his desperateness.

"Maybe," Donna allowed, since in a previous life she would have taken pity on him. Enough to offer some relief, probably. But it had been the Doctor John she had been kissing, not some normal, randy bloke, and that brought its own rules. "But some of us aren't like that." And don't need to be like that anymore, she realised. "Why do you ask?"

"Nothing."

"Yeah, 'nothing' as in there is something but you're worried about telling me," Donna countered. Realising their friendship needed some serious damage repairs, Donna got up and went over to sit on Martha's bed, next to her, to offer some physical comfort. "Something that upsets you personally. I hope you know you can tell me anything. And I'll badger you until you do, so you might as well tell me why you asked."

Now calmer, Martha allowed a smile. "I bet you would too."

"Honestly, I'm really sorry about the whole kissing John business. I never intended it to happen, but I was daft enough to want to feel what it's like to have someone actually want me for a change. Even if it will be for only a short time. And as you know, once he kisses you, it's pretty difficult to think of anything else."

"I do," Martha agreed, thinking back to that moment; and wishing she hadn't fallen under his spell. "Is this likely to be a big thing between you?"

"Who knows," Donna admitted with a self-deprecating shrug. "Probably not. Whatever happens next, it'll have an awfully short shelf life. Let's face it, he'll want to forget it happened once we go home next month."

"But you like him like that."

"Do I? I suppose I do," Donna reluctantly said. "After all, I did spend the best part of a year trying to find him. Which makes me rather delusional, now that I come to think about it."

"We're a rare club," Martha jested. "At least you've got further with him than Rose did. Oops! I shouldn't have mentioned that."

"Oops, you should have done," Donna goaded her. "Go on, tell me. You might as well spill the beans now that you've hinted at it. If I'm going to be royally dumped because of Rose, I need to know what is so brilliant about her. What do you know, and how do you know it?"

"Well, I suppose I could tell you," Martha cautiously began. She hated to be a gossip, since she'd been the subject of it herself, but she needed to share this information with someone else who'd understand. "Jack once told me, in secret so don't mention it, that Rose had tried to entice the Doctor into having sex. She'd complained to Jack that he wasn't interested in that sort of thing and had said Time Lords did not undertake such activities. Which rather miffed her, to say the least."

"It would, I suppose, judging by what I've heard about her. Love's young dream in space failed to launch," Donna joked. "What else did you discover in your investigations about her? And don't lie or try telling me you never deliberately found out stuff, because I won't believe you. Jack must have revealed something."

"Alright," Martha huffed. Should she tell all the other gossip she had heard? Yeah, why not. She could trust Donna and gain a listening ear at the same time. "There isn't a great deal to tell. I mean, I only found out she was blonde when we met up with Jack."

"But you heard stuff for us to gripe about, yes?"

"I did. I found out she had started the Sixth Form to do A levels but annoyed her mum by leaving really early in order to move in with a rock musician. She lived with him for a few months before returning to her boyfriend, Mickey. Now, Jack said poor Mickey was lured down to Cardiff, to see if he'd follow her with her passport, and she had sex him in the TARDIS. She made sure the Doctor knew what they were up to."

"No!" Donna gasped, thinking of how heartbroken the Doctor would have been. "She'd only just left the Sixth Form. Blimey, she was young. Not even twenty. Old enough to know better though."

"Oh yes. Jack found out through Mickey that Rose had caused these creatures called the Reapers to appear who killed his parents when he was quite small. Mickey was brought up by his grandmother instead. Rose had stopped her dad getting killed by being hit by a car, when she shouldn't have done, so these Reaper creatures appeared to seek revenge on time, by killing people, and her dad had to commit suicide in order to reset things."

"That is awful! When was that?"

"In late 1987, when Rose was still a young baby."

"1987? Then Rose doesn't technically exist yet beyond a twinkle in her dad's eye," Donna reasoned.

"Apparently, her birthday is in April," Martha supplied, "which means we're almost nine months before that."

"We're just in time for her conception. Yay," Donna sarcastically remarked. "It would be completely ironic if I end up being her biological mother."

"Don't say that," Martha begged, falling sideways as she giggled. "The thought of the Doctor being her father is too funny for words. Stop it. That's horrible."

"And not just for him either," Donna laughed with her, glad to have their friendship re-established.

Jenny looked around the room, wondering what else she could do to ease the boredom before everyone else bothered to wake up.

She had woken in her own bed to find her father was still sound asleep, and nowhere near to even offering to do her some breakfast. It had been drummed into her that every day should start with a decent breakfast, so she had attempted to pour herself out a bowl of cereal. One large mess on the table and floor later had highlighted the insufficient strength in her young body. Lifting up the almost full cereal box had been quite a feat. Not as much as the cleaning of the floor that had immediately been a priority, but she had managed to do that, to a certain extent. Probably quite noticeably so, but what did they expect a little girl to achieve? They should have been awake to help her, and that would be her main argument later.

Oh well. Wandering into Martha and Donna's bedroom afterwards had shown they were not about to rise yet. Jenny considered her options. Putting on her fancy-dress costume would need a helping hand or two, so it was pointless to attempt that until someone was awake.

On the bedside table next to Martha's bed, Jenny noticed the watch she had brought in from the TARDIS. Now curious, Jenny took her opportunity to examine it more closely, turning it over in her hands to view the engraved symbols on it more clearly. She hadn't had the chance to learn Gallifreyan yet, time with her father had been too short to do much beyond die and regenerate, so that was a joy to contemplate for when they returned to their real home.

Her thumb caught a bit sticking out of the side of the watch, and she experimentally pushed it, to see what happened. The lid slightly opened, letting out a golden light she recognised from when she'd died, and revealing a watch face covered with numbers.

Close the watch! a disembodied voice demanded in her head, and she quickly obeyed, slamming the lid shut.

It was a voice she knew. Daddy, is that you? she mentally asked it.

Hello Jenny. It's me. Oh, I've really missed you, he fondly replied.

I've missed you too, she answered in kind. When will I see you again?

Not too long now, Sweetheart. Be a good girl and wait for me.

I will, she vowed.

Put this watch down and leave it in the care of Martha. She knows what to do with it.

What about Donna? Jenny wondered.

What about her? a confused Doctor asked. Has she been looking after you alright?

Jenny sniffed back a tear. Don't you know? I thought you'd be watching over me.

I am, in my own way, but I can't be there properly yet, he explained. Now put the watch back, I don't want it tampered with too much, otherwise we'll be detected.

Okay. She held her hand over the watch where it now lay, back by Martha's bedside. Bye bye Daddy.

She waited for his reply before snatching her hand away. Goodbye Jenny.

The tears threatened to overwhelm her as the pain in her chest swelled. It wasn't that she didn't like John Smith, because she did. In fact, she loved him, but he wasn't her real father, no matter how much he showered her with love and affection.

As she turned away from Martha's sleeping form, her gaze fell on Donna, and she realised she wasn't the only one John Smith had shown love and affection. He'd also been rather keen to love Donna. Would all that disappear once they were allowed to return to the TARDIS? If it did, then her dream of claiming Donna as a parent would disappear too.

That thought both angered and frightened her. What should she do to stop that happening? Martha was determined to return to her former life, and Donna might be leaving with her. No, she wasn't going to let that happen. She liked being her little girl and had had loads of fun learning about this part of planet Earth.

With a new plan in her head, Jenny approached the other bed in the room and leapt. "Come on! Wake up!"

"What? What!" Donna mumbled; and wasn't exactly surprised to see a four-year-old bouncing on top of her prone form. "Jenny, can you get off me, please. Otherwise, I might be forced to wallop you one."

"Sorry," Jenny giggled and clambered off. "But I want to put my costume on. It's almost time for the fête."

"No it isn't," Donna started to deny. She turned to peer at the time on the bedside clock and gasped in shock. "It's almost ten o'clock! Move your bum. And I'll get dressed. Go ask your dad to put the kettle on. I'll need some decent caffeine to wake me up properly."