~revised~

Chapter XLV

Mira

They were back in the TARDIS. She couldn't really remember how they had gotten here, or how long they had stayed in the Sphere Chamber. She vaguely remembered the Doctor saying something about leaving before the people at Torchwood found time to regroup, but that was all. She still felt separated and somehow dead. Separated from this world, this universe, and even herself. As if everything around her was happening to someone else. Not quite as she was observing it, but she definitely felt strangely detached. Not even the comforting presence of the TARDIS in her mind could change that.

She stood in the console room and watched the Doctor starting the TARDIS engines. Just as he had turned his back to her, she headed – or rather, fled – to her room. She wanted to be alone now, or at least as alone as she could be on board of this living ship.

Once in her room, she coiled up on her bed. She didn't even bother to take a shower or change her clothes. She just wanted to sleep now. Or do something, anything to replace the emptiness inside her head, to make her feel anything but the dark and empty pain that had taken over her.

She had never felt that useless before in her live. She had things to do in her universe, people waiting for her. But here, there was nothing. No duties, no tasks, nothing.

Some time later, she had no idea how much, there was a knocking on her door. Just go away, she thought.

But instead of doing so, or knocking again, he opened the door, walked over the the bed and sat down. She knew without looking that it was him. Who else could it be? It was only him and her now. And the TARDIS.

"How are you?" she heard him ask.

Stupid question, wasn't it? How should she be? But strangely, she couldn't think about what to answer. Or bring herself to answer anything at all. She knew she had to say something eventually. Or stand up again. She couldn't stay here on this bed and remain silent forever.

Suddenly, she felt a hand on her shoulder. The touch somehow woke her up, and almost involuntarily she sat up and got out of his reach. She just couldn't stand being touched right now.

"Fine," she said, stood up and walked to the bathroom.

"Fine?" he asked behind her. He had stood up as well, she could see it in the mirror over the bathroom sink through the open bathroom door.

"Yeah, fine. That's a polite way of saying I don't want to talk right now," she replied harshly and immediately felt sorry. It wasn't his fault after all.

"You don't have to talk," he said, ignoring the offence. Or maybe he really was oblivious to it, who could tell that with aliens. At least he didn't look offended.

She turned her eyes to her own reflection in the mirror. It was as if someone else was staring back at her. Someone so much younger. Younger and incredibly sad. Did she really look that miserably? She couldn't stand looking at herself in the mirror any longer, so she turned on the cold water and washed her face. As she looked up again and grabbed for a towel, she could see that the Doctor was now leaning in the door frame, watching her with sorrow on his face.

"So, where to next?"she asked. She had tried to make it sound casually, but it turned out more absent-mindedly.

"Don't you want to sleep first?" he asked quietly.

"No, not tired," she replied and grabbed the comb, opened the knot in her neck and started combed her hair. She hoped that it didn't look as mechanical as it felt, but then again she didn't really care.

"Sure?"

"Yes," she said and started to braid her hair after she had put the comb aside.

"Mira, please. Don't you want to rest for a while? Maybe you want to talk later, or-"

"Talk? What for?" she finally turned around and faced him. "It won't change a thing, will it? So no, I don't want to talk. Not now nor later." She turned around again, carefully avoiding his eyes and continued to tuck her hair into a knot. She couldn't stand to see the hurt and disappointed look in his eyes, even more so that it wasn't him who was the problem. She just couldn't think or talk about it. She had to find a distraction, something to focus on.

"You're in shock," he finally said.

"Oh no, it's not shock," she replied, walked past him and opened the door to the corridor. "It's repression."

A few moments later, they had reached the console room.

"So, where do you want to go?" he asked. At least he seemingly had accepted that she wasn't feeling like talking right now.

"Don't know. Somewhere. Not Earth. Some other planet. With an atmosphere," she said and pushed a button as she waited for an answer. She actually had memorised some of the controls.

"What!?" was all he said, sounding completely aghast and looked past her, his face an expression of utter confusion.

For a short moment she was as confused as he looked. She couldn't explain what she had said to provoke such a reaction, but then the presence of someone standing behind her hit her. She spun around and saw it with her own eyes. There was a woman. A woman with red hair in a wedding dress.

"Who are you?" the woman demanded to know instantly.

Instead of answering, the Doctor looked around, completely dumbfounded. "But-"

"Where am I?" she tried it again.

"What?!" the Doctor repeated himself.

"What the hell is this place?" the woman yelled. It was more than obvious that she was losing her patience.

"What?!"

Mira looked over to the Doctor, who was still stunned.

"You can't do that, I wasn't... we're in flight! That is- that is physically impossible! How did-?" he continued.

"Tell me where I am. I demand you tell me right now - where am I?" the woman said.

"On a space ship," Mira said eventually. That piece of information couldn't hurt, could it?

"Yeah, inside the TARDIS," the Doctor added.

"The what?" the red haired woman asked.

"The TARDIS," the Doctor repeated it.

"The what?"

"The TARDIS!"

"The what?"

For a moment Mira thought this would go on forever.

"It's called the TARDIS," the Doctor said, again.

"That's not even a proper word. You're just saying things," the woman yelled at him angrily.

"No, it's actually an acronym," she tried to explain.

"A what?" the woman turned on her now. "Oh, you think you're so clever, don't ya?"

Better not get in the line of fire, Mira thought.

"How did you get in here?" the Doctor asked.

"Well, obviously, when you kidnapped me. Who was it? Who's paying you? Is it Nerys? Oh, my God, she's finally got me back. This has got Nerys written all over it," she yelled at him.

He just stood and watched her up and down, confusion growing on his face. Well, not that she herself was any less confused. Just as the woman in the wedding dress. Was she a teleporter? No, she would have felt if she had teleported into the TARDIS.

"Who the hell is Nerys?" the Doctor asked eventually.

"Your best friend."

"Hold on, wait a minute - what're you dressed like that for?" the Doctor asked.

"I'm going ten pin bowling," the woman said, and then started to yell again, "Why do you think, Dumbo? I was halfway up the aisle!"

The Doctor didn't answer but fiddled with the controls.

The woman was walking through the console room and continued with her rant, "I've been waiting all my life for this. I was just seconds away! And then you- I dunno, you drugged me or something!"

She couldn't help herself, but she immediately liked that woman. Instead of crouching frightened in a corner, she was at least trying to make sense out of everything. And she definitely was resolute.

"I haven't done anything!" the Doctor defended himself.

"We're having the police on you! Me and my husband - as soon as he is my husband - we're gonna sue the living backside off ya!"

"We haven't kidnapped you, it's-" Mira tried to explain but right at this moment the woman had spotted the door and rushed over it. "No!" she yelled and ran after her. She had no idea what would happen if someone opened the door whilst in flight.

"No, wait a minute! Wait a minute! Don't-!" the Doctor fell in and went after her as well, but they were both too late.

The woman had already opened the door and was looking now completely stunned at the star and a super nova. The Doctor went to stand next to her, and so did Mira.

"You're in space. Outer Space. This is my... space-ship. It's called the 'TARDIS'," he explained quietly.

"How am I breathing?" the woman asked, making Mira's head turn. Not the stupidest of all questions.

"The TARDIS is protecting us," the Doctor replied.

"Who are you?"

"I'm the Doctor. That's Mira. You?"

"Donna."

"Human?" the Doctor asked as he had looked her up and down.

"Yeah. Is that optional?" Donna asked, without looking at the Doctor.

"Well, it is for me."

Donna looked at him for a moment, "You're an alien." Then her eyes fell on Mira, a silent question in them.

"For me not so much. Human," Mira said. She was standing on the other side of the door frame, so that the Doctor was in the middle of them.

Donna stared outside for a moment longer, then said, "It's freezing with these doors open."

As if he had only waited for something like that, the Doctor slammed the door shut and darted back to the console. "But I don't understand it and I understand everything! This- this can't happen! There is no way a Human Being can lock itself onto the TARDIS and transport itself inside. It must be...," he said, suddenly all energy. He grabbed something that looked like an ophthalmoscope and looked into Donna's eyes with it, muttering an endless flow of techno-babble. She herself understood barely half of it, Donna on the other hand obviously nothing at all.

"Impossible. Some sort of subatomic connection? Something in the temporal field? Maybe something pulling you into alignment with the Chronon shell. Maybe something macro mining your DNA within the interior matrix. Maybe a genetic-"

He didn't get further, because Donna slapped him right in the face. Even Mira was a bit surprised by it, Donna seemed to be really spontaneous from time to time.

"What was that for?" the Doctor asked indignantly, holding his cheek. Mira almost felt sorry for him, but he had it coming somehow.

"Get me to the church!" Donna shouted at him.

"Right! Fine! I don't want you here anyway! Where is this wedding?" the Doctor asked after he had dropped his instruments.

"Saint Mary's, Hayden Road, Chiswick, London, England, Earth, the Solar System," Donna yelled back.

"Uhm. Couldn't we just stop yelling at and slapping each other?" she tried to mediate. "There's obviously something going on and-"

Before she could continue, Donna had spotted a blouse that was hanging over one of the railings. It was one of Rose's.

"Donna, put that back," she said to her, but Donna didn't care.

"I knew it. Acting all innocent," she said and strode over to the Doctor, showing him the blouse. "I'm not the first, am I? How many women have you abducted?"

The Doctor looked up from the controls and saw the blouse in Donna's hands. Mira only wondered why this thing was still in the TARDIS, and of all places in the console room. Hadn't Rose packed her things?

"That's my friend's," the Doctor said quietly and thankfully not as upset as she had feared.

"Where is she, then? Popped out for a space walk?" Donna said sarcastically.

"She's gone."

"Gone where?" Donna wanted to know.

"Home."

"Well, you can hurry up and get me home," Donna said furiously. Then she watched him for a moment, turned her head to Mira and then back to the Doctor. "How do you mean, 'Gone home'?"

Instead of answering, the Doctor only snatched the blouse from her.

"Right! Chiswick," he said.

...

A few moments later they had landed and Donna made it towards the door and out of the TARDIS, Mira and the Doctor following her.

"I said 'Saint Mary's'. What sort of Martian are you? Where's this?" Donna said.

Mira looked around herself. She had no idea, but it could be London.

"Something's wrong with her...," the Doctor said quietly as he stroke the TARDIS. "It's like she's... recalibrating!"

"Recalibrating what?" Mira asked, but instead of answering he rushed back into the TARDIS. She followed him, not without having a last look at Donna, who was watching the outside of the TARDIS in amazement.

"She's digesting," the Doctor said as they were both back at the console. "What have you eaten? What's wrong?" Then he yelled, obviously talking to Donna, "Donna? You've really gotta think. Is there anything that might've caused this? Anything you might've done? Any sort of alien contacts? I can't let you go wandering off in case you're dangerous. I mean, have you... have you seen lights in the sky? Or... did you touch something? Something- something different? Something strange? Something made out of a sort of metal or... who're you getting married to?"

Mira looked to the door as Donna didn't answer. Donna looked through the door back at her, apparently confused. Suddenly, she could feel that Donna was about to do something. Maybe not slap the Doctor again, but...

"Are you sure he's human? He's not a bit overweight with a zip around his forehead, is he?" the Doctor continued obliviously.

"Donna, wait!" she yelled just as Donna had decided to run away. She ran out of the TARDIS, the Doctor following her. They soon fell into step beside Donna.

"Donna," the Doctor said, his hands in his pocket.

"Leave me alone. I just want to get married."

"Come back to the TARDIS."

"No way. That box is too... weird."

"It's... bigger on the inside, that's all."

"Oh! That's all?"

"Donna, it's really no big deal. Just- just try to accept it," Mira said.

Donna just sighed and checked her watch. "Ten past three. I'm gonna miss it," she said, close to tears now.

"You can phone them. Tell them where you are," the Doctor suggested.

"How do I do that?"

"Haven't you got a mobile?"

Donna suddenly stopped and stared at him. Mira lowered her head in expectation of what was about to come.

"I'm in my wedding dress. It doesn't have pockets. Who has pockets? Have you ever seen a bride with pockets? When I went to my fitting, do you think I said "Alison, the one thing I forgot to say is give me pockets"?!" Donna yelled, and didn't disappoint Mira's expectations at all.

" ... This man you're marrying - what's his name?" the Doctor asked seemingly out of nowhere.

"Lance," Donna said with a sheepish smile on her face.

"Gotta like Lance," the Doctor replied thoughtfully.

"Oi! No stupid Martian is gonna stop me from getting married. To hell with you!" Donna yelled and ran off.

Mira nudged the Doctor, who was staring after Donna, in the side, smiled at him and said, "Martian, hm?"

"I'm- I'm not... I'm not... I'm not from Mars," he said feebly and then they ran after her.

As they reached her, she was shouting for a taxi, but the driver ignored her and just drove by.

"Why's his light on?" Donna complained.

"There's another one!" the Doctor said and immediately started to wave for it.

"Taxi!" Donna yelled and all three of them stumbled into the road, trying to stop it. But again, it just drove by.

"Oi!"

"There's one!" The Doctor had spotted another one. He ran and waved, but again, to no avail. "Do you have this effect on everyone? Why aren't they stopping?" he asked Donna.

"They think I'm in fancy dress," she said and tugged at her dress.

Another taxi drove by, the driver horning and yelling out of the window, "Stay off the scotch darlin'!"

"They think I'm drunk."

Right now, two guys were yelling out of the window of their car, "You're fooling no-one, mate!"

"They think I'm in drag!"

"They're idiots," Mira said. "You're a beautiful bride." Oh, humans could be so nasty.

"Hold on, hold on," the Doctor said. He put his fingers between his lips and whistled. It was so loud that Mira and Donna winced and covered their ears. But it worked. A taxi stopped before them, and they clamped in the back seat.

"Saint Mary's in Chiswick, just off Hayden Road. It's an emergency, I'm getting married! Just... hurry up!" Donna said to the driver.

"You know it'll cost you, sweetheart? Double rates today."

"Oh, my God!" Donna said as if suddenly remembering something. "Have you got any money?"

"Um... no. And you?" the Doctor said and Mira only shook her head. Where should she have money from?

"Pockets!" Donna said and gestured at her dress.

The taxi driver finally had enough and threw them all out.

"And that goes double for your mother!" Donna yelled after him as he drove away. "I'll have him. I've got his number. I'll have him. Talk about the Christmas Spirit."

"Is it Christmas?" the Doctor asked.

"Well, duh. Maybe not on Mars, but here it's Christmas Eve," Donna replied, visibly annoyed now. Then she slapped him and pointed at something in the distance. "Phone box!" she said and rushed over to it, the Doctor following her.

Mira sighed and ran after them as well.

"We can reverse the charges!" Donna exclaimed as soon as they had reached it.

"How come you're getting married on Christmas Eve?" the Doctor asked.

"Can't bear it. I hate Christmas. Honeymoon in Morocco. Sunshine – lovely," Donna replied.

"Yeah, Christmas is totally overrated," Mira said. She didn't like it very much herself.

"What's the operator? I've not done this in years. What do you dial? 100?" Donna asked after the Doctor had opened the door to the phone box.

The Doctor just took his Sonic from his pocket and aimed it at the phone. "Just- just call the direct," he said.

But instead of doing so, Donna looked at him and asked, "What did you do?"

"Oh come on Donna, asking questions is fine, really, but sometimes you should just do what your told, don't you think?" Mira said in an attempt to speed things up.

"No, I want to know what he did!"

"Something- Martian. Now, phone. I'll get money!" he said and off he was – leaving Mira behind with Donna.

Donna had actually dialled a number and was now speaking into the phone, "Ohh, answer the phone!"

Mira decided to leave the phone box to give her some privacy, but stayed outside to watch her closely. She hadn't forgotten what the Doctor had said about her being dangerous. At least she had managed to get into the TARDIS somehow. A few moments later – the Doctor was still nowhere to be seen – Donna left the phone box and stormed right past her.

"Donna, wait!" she yelled and followed her. She caught up with Donna as she had just managed to get some money from a woman.

"Donna, wait, there's no-" she tried to convince Donna to stop, but she didn't even listen.

"Taxi!" she yelled instead and this time it worked. A taxi stopped next to her, just as the Doctor came around a corner.

"Thanks for nothing, spaceman! I'll see you in Court," she shouted at him and then jumped into the taxi.

It didn't even take a second for Mira to make a decision. The Doctor was still too far away, and the taxi would most certainly not wait for him. She ran around the car, opened the door and jumped in, just as the taxi started to move. Donna stared at her in shock, speechless for once.

"I think I'll come with you," she said to her. Well, he really had no idea how the Doctor would be able to find her – and Donna – again, but she was sure he would manage somehow. Apart from that, she would have an eye on Donna now.

"I promise you, mate - I'll give you the rest when we get there. Oh, I look a mess," Donna said. She obviously had found some words again. But, on the other hand, the driver not so much. She turned his attention to him – something was weird about him. She hadn't noticed it in the first place, because she was used to gliders driven by robots.

"Donna?" she asked quietly.

"What?"

"Is it common that taxis are driven by robots here?"

"What!?"

"Shush! Not so loud," she said, just as the driver obviously went into the wrong direction.

"Hold on a minute, I said 'Chiswick'. You've missed the turning," Donna said to the driver. But there was no response. "'Scuse me? We should've turned off back there. We're going the wrong way!"

"Donna, we have to get out of here!" Mira said quietly to her, and then addressed the driver, louder this time, "Who are you? What do you want?" But he didn't answer. "Fine. Who's your master? What's your mission?" Still no response. "Do you not have a speech-protocol or have you just been ordered to be silent?" she asked, but it was – of course – more of a rhetorical question.

Instead of showing any reaction to her questions, the robot just started to cut across the lanes, increasing speed and causing the other drivers to beep their horns. Mira grabbed for the handles on the door to not fall all over Donna. Great. And all this on the wrong side of the road, she thought.

In her universe, right hand traffic had came out on top everywhere on Earth and the former Solar Empire.

"What the hell are you doing? I'm late for the wedding. My own wedding. Do you get that?" Donna yelled at the driver.

"Donna, stop it! I've told you-"

"Turn around! Turn this cab around right now! Are you deaf or what?"

She lunged forward and pulled the Santa hood off the driver. But not only the hood, but also his mask came off, and now it was plain for her to see that the driver was indeed a robot.

"Oh, my God," Donna whispered.

"I've told you! Now we have to get out of here!"

Donna started to push the door and the window, but everything was locked. Mira tried it on her side as well, but with the same result.

"Help me! Help me! Help me!" Donna yelled at the other drivers, knocking on the glass. "Help me! Help me!"

Nice try, Mira thought, but right here on the motorway was nothing to do for the other drivers.

"Help me! Help me! Get me out! Help me! Help me! I'm being driven by a robot!" Donna continued in her efforts.

She just looked around for something – anything - that could be of help, as a familiar blue box literally fell out of the sky, spinning through the air.

She's actually flying, she thought. She had never seen the TARDIS actually flying before. She normally did just materialise, didn't she? At least on a planet, within an atmosphere. At least that was what he had told her.

" ... you are kidding me," Donna said. She had seen it as well.

"Nah, he does things like that...," Mira replied dryly.

The TARDIS approached the taxi and was finally hovering next to it on the left side where Mira was sitting, the Doctor leaning out of the door, holding a string between his teeth.

"Open the door!" he yelled.

"It's looked!" Mira yelled back.

"He wants what? We're not opening the door!" Donna complained.

But it was too late, he had pulled out his Sonic and unlocked the door and the window. Mira pushed it down, but before she could say anything, Donna was literally on her lap and said, "Santa's a robot!"

"Mira, open the door," he just said.

"What for?" Donna yelled.

Mira tried to shove her away a bit, if only for the sake of her ears. "We have to get out of here, Donna!" she said to her.

"Yes, you've got to jump!" the Doctor confirmed.

"I'm not bleedin' flip jumping, I'm supposed to be getting married!" Donna screamed in a voice so shrill that Mira had to cover her ears.

Just at this moment, the robot put his foot down and the taxi overtook the TARDIS. A few moments later, not without almost touching down on the roof of another car, he had caught up with the taxi again. He soniced the robot and disabled him. Mira wasn't sure she liked that any better, because now the steering wheel was locked as well.

"Listen to me - you've got to jump," the Doctor tried to convince her. Well, at least Donna. She didn't need to be convinced. It wasn't that far from the taxi into the TARDIS, so if everything stayed as it was now, it would only be a rather small jump.

"I'm not jumping on a motorway," Donna said.

"Donna, it's not that far, really. Look!" Mira tried it and gestured at the gap between taxi and TARDIS.

"Whatever that thing is, it needs you. And whatever it needs you for, it's not good. Now, come on!" the Doctor said.

"You go first!" Donna said to her.

Reasonable plan, as there was no way Donna could get past her to jump first.

"Fine!" she said and stood up, as far as it was possible within the door frame.

"Come on Mira, I'll catch you!" he yelled, stretching out his arm.

"Just step aside, it's not that far," she replied and made the mistake to look down at the motorway. She looked up again, aimed for the door, took a deep breath – and jumped.

She landed safely inside the TARDIS, not without grabbing the Doctor's extended hand. Well, that hadn't been to hard – but on the other hand, she was used doing things like that and rather athletic. And wasn't wearing a long dress.

"Now you, Donna!" he said to her.

"I'm in my wedding dress!" she yelled back.

"Yes! You look lovely! Come on!" he said and hold out his hand again.

Donna straightened herself, looking back and forth between the motorway and the TARDIS.

"I can't do it," she finally said with fear in her voice.

"It's not that hard Donna, believe me!" Mira yelled to her. "Just do like I did!"

"No, I-"

"Trust me," the Doctor said calmly.

"What about you?" Donna addressed her. "Do you trust him?"

For a moment, Mira was stunned. Perfect moment for such a question, wasn't it? What should she answer? Did she trust him? She looked at him, and their eyes met for the fraction of a second, before he looked back at Donna. Great. He was obviously waiting for an answer as well.

"When it comes to things like jumping across motorways and such, yes, I do trust him! Now jump!"

Donna looked at her for a long moment, but she seemed to be satisfied by her answer.

With a scream, she finally jumped and landed on the top of the Doctor, who landed on her, because she had been standing halfway behind him.


AxidentlGoddess, Ronin Kenshin, Falling Right Side-Up, 10th Squad 3rd Seat, bored411, time-twilight, Godric'sGrl01, Lucifae: Thanks for reading and leaving a review :-)

Quasi-Stellar: Sure there is one ;D Just a bit delayed.