A/N: the 'good news' is that part 6 is almost finished too. And you'll probably guess that Magnus Pike was a famous TV scientist in the UK.
Part 5
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The next few days were an exhausting whirl as Donna got used to her new job and her living conditions. A large room with her own bathroom, and a luxurious double bed wasn't to be sniffed at. The only downside was all the dated frills and ruffles on the satin coverings, but she easily live with that. A magnificent view of the gardens outside just added to the experience.
Being in the room next to Dr Smith wasn't so bad either. He was a quiet neighbour. No loud music or angry rows to mar things. And he was sweet enough to escort her to her bedroom each night. Such gentlemen had never existed in her life before, if you didn't count family. Her dad and Gramps in particular.
Soon after she started working for the House of Gallifrey she got to meet Dorothy, better known as Ace, so whatever you do, don't call her Dorothy, under pain of death unless you're her mother. Anyway, she was a star for helping find everything Dr Smith hadn't considered. Dr McCoy was full of praise for his assistant in this respect. Then again, he tended to offer praise where it was due to everybody.
As for Dr Smith, he was a lot cooler with Donna than he had initially been. Obviously, the scene with his colleagues had rather put him off, which was a crying shame, she thought. Their friendship had been warming up a treat before that day. Even their lovely picnic by the lake hadn't saved it. Or perhaps the picnic had made him realise that she wasn't worth the effort. Who knows?
Not that he had treated her with any deliberate meanness. Far from it. His manners were most attentive. It's just that something had died within him. He still invited her to have lunch with him, but any possible offer of hot chocolate in the midnight hours had immediately ceased, despite her strongly suspecting that he secretly crept down to the kitchen during the night to continue helping himself to the stuff. It was the act of sharing the treat with her that horrified him. And if he needed that quiet time alone, who was she to deny him that? She certainly understood the compulsion; especially in a house full of other people.
In order to try and understand him better, she had sneaked a peek at him whilst he was delivering a lecture. It had been one of his last proper ones of the academic year so she reasoned that he would be fully in his comfort zone, but it would not matter a great deal if she accidentally distracted him mid flow.
What she saw surprised her more than she had expected. He hadn't been as boring as ditch water, nor had he been eccentric like some modern-day Magnus Pike, with flailing arms and bulging eyes. No, what she'd seen was a confident man talking with oodles of knowledge about a subject he was passionate about. She could have listened to him for hours; but something else happened while she continued to watch him.
Something in his demeanour caught her interest in other ways, made her focus on the way his lips moved when he spoke, the long length of his throat as his Adam's apple bobbed up and down that made her yearn to touch his neck, the dark brooding intensity of his eyes that drew her like a moth to a flame; but most of all, that tightly packed bottom of his that challenged all and sundry to give his flesh a squeeze.
That thought made her immediately gasp out, "No!" and clamp a hand over her mouth.
She couldn't have a crush on him, she just couldn't! No one in their right mind over the age of thirty has sudden fancies about men they know. Do they? Surely not. And certainly not her. He wasn't her teacher or lecturer, after all, so there was no reason to fantasise about him in any shape or form. He was admittedly nice and safe, but he would never be interested in her like that in a million years, if alcohol was kept well out of the equation. Hadn't Lance proven that she wasn't attractive to men her own age? She'd be lucky to catch the eye of a pensioner who was seeking a trophy wife but wasn't all that fussy. The Dr Bakers and McCoy were only nice to her because she was comparatively young, and it paid to be civil when you shared the same living space. They'd have been that way with any woman who showed up. Same applied to Dr Smith, when you thought about it. He was lumbered with her as his administration assistant for the foreseeable future. There was no logical reason for him to push it any further.
Oh well, she thought as she gazed out of the window and saw new life budding in the college gardens. There was no time to be upset by it all. Plus, she was a past master at hiding her true feelings. There was no reason to upset him too with her sudden new desires. Work called, she reminded herself, and a mental kick up the bum was what she needed to carry on until she could totally repress her unwelcome feelings.
-0-
Life was hectic in the coming days, sorting out any last-minute essays, reports and exam revision notes. Soon, a week had gone by, followed by another week. In next to no time, a month had passed, and the last written exam was looming. Once that was over, the lecturers were officially free from the timetable and marking papers happened in earnest before the end of term in June; or semester, as the student body now insisted it was called, thanks to an engulfing American influence
Donna had almost finished supplying the exam notifications to be listed and was popping back into the house for a quick snack break when her mobile phone rang. Oh dear. The caller ID instantly had her on the defensive.
"Hello. Mum, I told you not to call me unless it's an emergency... Pardon, what's the matter? No, she didn't tell me she was planning to visit anyone... Have you checked all her friends?" She listened carefully to the panicky voice of her mother. "I've only just got in, so I haven't looked at my messages yet," she explained as she stepped into the common room and hoped that a cup of tea lay in wait for her somewhere. "I honestly wasn't avoiding you. Let me know if… Oh!" At that point she caught sight of a young blonde girl sitting in one of the armchairs, glancing over her shoulder while the television in the room droned quietly on. "Don't worry Mum, she's here. Looking rather pleased with herself but safe and sound…. I'll phone you back later. Bye!" she quickly ended the call before her mother could rant any further.
The girl in the chair wanly grimaced a guilty smile. "Hello Donna. How are you? It feels like ages since I last saw you."
Carefully plonking herself down onto the chair beside her, Donna replied, "Hello Jenny. I'm fine, thanks. You look well. Wasn't expecting to see you in the flesh, as it were. What are you doing here? And more to the point, how on earth did you get this address?!"
"Ah." Jenny dipped her head in guilt to avert her gaze. "I might have accidentally logged into your emails."
"Accidentally," Donna sneered. "Like in 'accidentally on purpose' poked your nose where it shouldn't go, you mean."
Jenny looked even more sheepish. "Yes. Sorry. But I had to know where you were," she implored. "It was important."
"Why?"
"Because…," Jenny visibly floundered to find the right words, "Mum is doing my head in. If I hadn't got away, I'd have stabbed her with one of those posh new knives she keeps bleating on about."
"I can understand that," Donna admitted. "How long were you thinking of staying with me?"
"I dunno." Jenny shrugged in that annoying way teenagers often do. Obviously, she hadn't thought further than getting there.
Possible plans whirred around Donna's head. "I'll have to ask if it's okay for you to stay the night, and then we'll find somewhere else for you to sleep for a couple of days. Give Mum the chance to calm down a bit."
"Do you think she will? Calm down, that is," Jenny pensively wondered. "Because she was going mental before I left."
"We can live in hope," Donna commented, and then gently smiled in encouragement. "Now come here you soppy bugger and give me a hug."
Jenny readily complied. One thing she'd learnt was that older sisters were excellent at lightening the burden of guilt and making you feel less worried.
-0-
John was sauntering through the main hallway, having picked up his post and was deciding which envelope needed opening first, when he caught sight of Donna desperately gesturing at him from a bottom step of the staircase. They'd had problems in the office earlier when he had left her to go do his late afternoon tutorial, but he knew she could easily sort it out, so he instantly frowned in confusion. "Is something the matter?"
"More like a 'who' rather than a 'what'," she whispered; causing him to get closer still. "Can we go upstairs for a moment. I've something to show you"
His thoughts, unfortunately, went skipping in a completely unwanted direction, and he blushed in embarrassment. "I don't think that is wise, considering what happened last time. With the hot chocolate and everything."
Why was he thinking about that?! "If you're going to worry about possible gossip every single time I need to talk to you, this little relationship ain't going to work and I'd better pack this job in pretty sharpish."
"Oh no, no we can't have that. Not at all," he blustered. "My colleagues might disapprove of certain things, but there's no need to be that drastic. I'd miss... they'd miss you terribly."
"Good to know but I wasn't after an ego boost," she dismissed the compliment. "The only way I can explain this properly is to show you, so if you're willing to risk me suddenly jumping you, because we all know how much of a sex god hunk you are in your spare time, I'm sure you can escape my clutches and get back to your colleagues in next to no time."
Despite being slightly miffed with her dismissal of his concerns, he followed her obediently up the stairs, towards her bedroom. "I did not suggest I'm sexy or a hunk," he muttered as he walked.
"No, but there was definite whingeing going on," she retorted playfully when she saw his pout. What a big kid. It was a good job he had her to knock such behaviour out of him. "Right. This is the bit where I need you to pay attention," she announced as she grasped the door handle to her room, "because you get to decide what happens next." When his eyes went wide, she emphasised, "In a completely nonsexual way," thus dashing his secret hopes.
And then the door opened to reveal a pretty blonde teenage girl sitting on Donna's bed. Was this a friend, a relative, or something else entirely, he wondered as he approached her. "Hello. I'm Dr Smith. And you are?"
The girl quickly stood to attention. "Hello. I'm Jenny."
None the wiser, he turned to Donna to explain.
"This is my sister Jenny. I told you she fancies going to university," she supplied.
"Oh yes, you mentioned a little sister," he murmured in both remembrance and relief. "You want to be an astronomer," he aimed at Jenny.
"She's only just arrived to visit me. We were hoping you'd let her gain a taster of what it's like to study here," Donna added. "Would that be okay for a while?" She knew she was exploiting his passion for a topic close to his heart, but when needs must and all that…
To their relief, he nodded after some seconds. "Yes, we should be able to arrange that. When were you thinking of starting this trial period?"
"Erm…," Jenny faltered.
"Would right away be too soon?" Donna requested. "She could sleep in here for now."
"Naturally, I will have to discuss this with the rest of the House of Gallifrey, but I don't see why we can't accommodate you."
Jenny squealed with delight and leapt on him, to declare, "You are bloody brilliant."
"See, I promised that it wouldn't be me that jumped you," Donna teased when he silently appealed to her to rescue him from the embrace.
-0-