"You had the reception without me?" Donna hissed angrily.

It turned out, that none of her guests, nor her family it seemed, had seen fit to cancel the reception after the bride's disappearance. The second they'd walked in, a fuming expression had overtaken the ginger woman's face and she's folded her arms over her chest, glaring.

"Donna..." a black man, one they assumed must have been Lance based on his neat and rather expensive-looking suit, approached them, "what happened to ya??"

"You had the reception without me??"

An awkward pause ensued, until the Doctor grinned cheerfully, "Hello! I'm the Doctor, and this is Cass."

"They had the reception without me!" Donna turned to them.

"Yeah, we can see that..." the other redhead breathed lightly, flinching in mild pity.

"Well, it was all paid for, why not?" A blonde woman, with a very punchable face according to Cass' standards scoffed.

"Thank you, Nerys."

Another blonde woman, this one older and judging by the resemblance, Donna's mother, added, "Well, what were we supposed to do? I got your silly little message in the end: 'I'm on Earth'? Very funny. What the hell happened? How did you do it? I mean, what's the trick because I'd love to know..."

Suddenly, the whole room began talking at the same time until all the three could hear was an incomprehensible babble of voices. At least, that was until Donna bursts into tears, which melted their anger straight into pity. Lance pulled her into his arms tightly, and she cried into his shoulder, before raising her head slightly and winking at the tethered couple.

Cass chuckled, leaning close to the Doctor and whispering with slight admiration, "Oh, I love her!"

———————

The reception party continued as before, except now Donna had joined in with the dancing.

The Doctor was leaning against the bar, Cass held tightly in his arms, her back to his chest as usual. She was swaying softly against him, body moving to the music playing, and he couldn't help but groan when she inadvertently brushed against him in the most...distracting ways.

Tugging her closer, he lowered his hands to her hips, stilling her movements before growling low in her ear, "Love, you may want to stop, before I lose whatever control I have left."

She smirked deviously, looking over her shoulder at him with tempting, hooded eyes, before whispering, "when have I ever wanted you to keep your control around me, Time Lord?"

He groaned, tugging her back against him, letting her feel exactly the effect she had on him, allowing his desire to course through her veins as surely as it did his own. Cass sighed softly, biting into her lip at the feeling, the electricity coursing through her before swallowing harshly, and murmuring, "Doc...unless you want me to drag you to the nearest bathroom and have my wicked way with you, and trust me..." she turned her head, allowing their noses to nudge gently against one another's, letting him see the slight tinge of gold circling her irises, "I'm very wicked." His inhaled sharply, his hands tightening their hold on her hips, fingers digging into the bone, "We should stop, soon."

"But I don't want to," he murmured softly in her ear, letting his lips stroke the skin of her earlobe, knowing it typically drove her wild.

And it did, since he could physically feel her shudder in his arms, before she detached herself, moving to a man with his cellphone out, smirking lightly at her tether as she asked gently...nearly flirtatiously, really.

"Hi, sorry. My phone's out of charge, and I really need to look something up. Could I borrow your for just a sec?"

Cass could see the man's eyes narrow, and sensing an opportunity to somewhat tease her tether, she smiled, big and wide, the kind of grin that usually got her whatever she wanted. Twirling a strand of hair softly between her fingers, she bit her lip, pleading lightly, "Please? Promise I won't look through your browser history or anything."

The man's eyes glazed over lightly, shooting up to her own from where they'd been firmly placed on her lips, before he nodded, silently handing her his phone, not doing anything as she moved back to her, now aggravated, tether's side, giving it to him.

The Doc narrowed his eyes at her, grabbing the mobile from her hands, before hooking his finger under her chin and tilting her lips up to his own, kissing her roughly. When she gasped in surprise, he took advantage of it, slipping his tongue past her lips, as the hand around her waist slipped under her shirt, stroking the ridges of her spine lightly.

Mine, he nearly growled into her mind when he finally pulled away, relishing in the glaze that overtook her eyes, in how she'd subconsciously swayed into him, seeking more.

Cass shook her head, biting into her lower lip, as she replied, jealous, possessive Time Lord. MY jealous, possessive Time Lord.

He nodded firmly, puling her deeper into his chest, shooting the owner of the phone a light glare over her shoulder, before glancing down at the screen, and typing 'H.C Clemens' into the search engine.

He scrolled through the results, until one in particular caught Cass' eye, and she clicked it, body tensing when it read, "Sole Prop. TORCHWOOD".

Both Time Lords shared an angry look, memories of the damage the institute had done flooding them, before Cass noticed a cameraman standing off to the side. Plucking the phone from her tether's hand, she slid it back to its owner with a distracted smile, before tugging the Doctor behind her, intent of finding out more.

———————

"I taped the whole thing," the man was telling them as he switched tapes in the camera, "they've all had a look. They said: 'sell it to You've Been Framed'. I said: 'more like the News'. Here we are..."

He pressed play, and the camera is zoomed in on Donna's face as she seemingly disintegrated into golden particles with a scream.

Cass hissed out an angry breath, as the Doc mumbled, "Can't be! Play it again?"

"Clever, mind! Good trick, I'll give her that. I was clapping." The camera man grinned as he complied, playing the tape again.

As it ended, the Time Lord gasped in shock, "But that looks like...

"Huon Particles." Cass finished, nodding grimly, "I should have remembered, but I didn't. Fuck's sake..."

He grabbed her hand, squeezing it lightly when he felt her guilt, her self-reprimand and loathing flood her. It seemed her true self, her Time Lady self that is, was a lot more...damaged than her human one.

This one, she was quicker to take on the blame, and he could feel it, deep in her core, how much she truly hated herself. Like a dark cloud.

But that simply wouldn't do. His tether was incredible, and he'd make sure she knew it too.

"What's that?" The cameraman's voice drew his attention back to the situation at hand, but before her could answer, the redhead did, "It's old, old enough to be impossible. Huon energy hasn't existed for eons..."

"It's so old that..." he continued, only to stop, eyes growing as they fell on the golden ring he'd placed on Donna's finger, Cass finishing for him sombrely, "That a bio-damper isn't gonna do a damn thing!"

He ran as fast as he could to a window, tugging Cass behind him, and sure enough, there were the Santas, making their way slowly to the house.

Quickly, the two rushed back to Donna, the redhead explaining quickly, "Donna! Donna, they've found you."

The bride's eyes grew in size, "But you said I was safe."

"The bio-damper doesn't work. We've got to get everyone out." He quickly added.

"Oh, my God, it's all my family..."

Cass grabbed her hand, pulling her behind as she ran to the back-door, only to stop before opening it, and run back, this time towards the window.

"What is it?" Her tether asked in confusion, when she stopped again in the middle of the room, brows furrowed in concentration.

She was in pain, a headache. He could feel it, beating lightly against his own temples, but he knew it had to have been much worse for her. Reaching her side, he gently cupped her face, repeating, "What is it, love?"

"We're trapped," she whispered, shaking her head, "We're trapped and my memories haven't fully settled yet, so I can't...I can't distinguish between the order of events...I can't tell anything..."

He pressed a quick kiss to her forehead, looking out the window to notice that two Santas were holding some kind of remote control, which they raised. His eyes then moved to the Christmas tree in the middle of the room, understanding dawning on him.

"Christmas trees..." he whispered, looking down at his tether when he felt her tense, as Donna asked, "What about them?"

"They kill," the redhead stated, before running into the crowd, both the aliens and Donna yelling,

"Get away from the tree!"

"Don't touch the trees!"

"Get away from the Christmas trees, everyone get away from them!"

"Out! Lance, tell them!"

"Stay away from the tree!"

"Stay away from the tree!"

"Oh, for God's sakes, they're idiots!" Donna's mom piped up, muttering distastefully, "Why? What's a Christmas tree gonna... oh!" She trailed off as she observed the baubles float away from the tree in some kind of weird dance. The Doctor and Cass watched them mistrustfully as they hover above everyone's heads.

The humans began gasping excitedly until they started dive-bombing around the room and causing small explosions, at which point, they all started screaming and running for cover. Donna pulled Lance down to hide under a table with her.

Cass huffed, reaching into her pocket for her sonic, before running up to the DJ stand, grabbing the mic, and yelling into it, "Hey, Santas! Word of advice: if you're attacking a woman with a sonic screwdriver... don't let her near the sound system."

Looking at her tether, she warned quickly, cover your ears, before holding her screwdriver next to the amplifiers and pressing the button, flinching lightly when it made a high-pitched screeching sound. Around her, everyone covered their ears and the Santas began vibrating violently until they fell to pieces.

She left the stage, joining the Doctor as he kneeled over one of the robots, examining it curiously. Looking around, she noticed the control they'd been using on the ground and picked it up, looking at it.

"Look at that," she commented lightly, waving it around for both her tether and Donna to see, "remote control for the decorations."

"And a second remote control for the robots." He informed her, nodding towards the one at his feet, before rising and walking to her, frowning in concern, "They're not scavengers anymore. I think someone's taken possession."

Donna shook her head, "Never mind all that, you're a doctor, people have been hurt."

"Nah, they wanted you alive, look," he tossed her a bauble, "they're not active now."

"All I'm saying, you could help."

Cass leaned by the head, putting her ear to it, before gasping, "Hon, there's still a signal!"

He ran to her, checking for himself, before they both took off, Donna running after them.

"There's someone behind this, directing the robo-force." Cass was telling him softy, as they stood still, the man using his sonic to scan a helmet.

"But why is it me?" Donna huffed, joining them, "What have I done?"

Cass reached over, grabbing onto her hand reassuringly with one hand, using the other to raise her tether's sonic up, winking when he gasped in slight joy, "It's up there. Something in the sky."

Looking at Donna, she explained reassuringly, "We find the person controlling them, we figure out why."

"I've lost the signal." The Doc breathed in frustration, before turning to the bride, "Donna, we've got to get to your office, H C Clements. I think that's where it all started." His eyes moved over the women's shoulder, noticing the groom walking over, "Lance, is it Lance? Can you give us a lift?"

When all the man could do was stare at them with flabbergasted eyes, Cass rolled her own, adding, "Pretty please with a cherry on top?"

———————

The Doctor, Cass, Donna and Lance arrived at H C Clements. They ran into the building and then into Donna's office, the Doctor heading straight to her computer.

"This might just be a locksmiths, but H C Clements was brought up twenty three years ago by the Torchwood Institute." He explained quickly.

"Who are they?" The bride asked.

Cass turned to her, "They were behind the battle of Canary Wharf."

When she got nothing but silence back, she tried again, a small smile twisting on her lips, "Cyberman invasion? Skies over London full of Daleks?"

"Oh," Donna nodded quickly, waving her hands in understanding, "I was in Spain."

The Doctor raised his head, staring at her incredulously, "They had Cybermen in Spain."

"Scuba diving."

The Time Lady chuckled, shaking her head, "You keep missing the big picture, Donna." Noticing her tether glaring at a computer, she headed his way, continuing, "Torchwood was destroyed, but H C Clements stayed in business." She grabbed his hand before he could smack the monitor, pressing a couple of commands on the keyboard instead, grinning smugly as the screen lit up.

He huffed, murmuring, show off, jokingly in her head, before finishing for her out loud, "we think... someone else came in and took over the operation."

"But what do they want with me?" Donna asked softly.

The redhead turned to her, explaining gently, "Somehow you've been dosed with Huon energy. And that's a problem because Huon energy hasn't existed since the Dark times. The only place you'd find a Huon particle now is a remnant in the heart of the TARDIS."

Beside her, the Doctor nodded, eyes growing with a mixture of excitement and exuberance, "That's what happened. Say... that's the TARDIS," he picked up a mug, waving it around, "And that's you." He showed her a pencil, "The particles inside you activated. The two sets of particles magnetised and whap!" He threw the pencil into the mug, finishing smugly, "You were pulled inside the TARDIS."

"I'm a pencil inside a mug?" Donna murmured weakly.

"Yes, you are. 4H. Sums you up." He replied, before flinching when a decisive smack landed on the back on his head, his tether's warning voice intoning, "Doc...behave."

Rubbing the tender area softly, he couldn't help but smile when she reached up and rubbed it apologetically, and he turned to Lance, "Lance? What was H C Clements working on? Anything top secret? Special operations? Do not enter?"

"I don't know!" The man said defensively, "I'm in charge of personnel. I wasn't project manager."

Cass rolled her eyes, pointing her sonic at the computer screen, muttering, "You're rather useless, aren't you, Lance? Regardless, it's not like we need you, here we go..."

"Why am I even explaining myself??" The groom muttered angrily, glaring at her, "What the hell are we talking about?"

The Doctor shot him a glare at his tone, before leaning over Cass' shoulder, smiling happily when he noticed exactly what she'd pulled up, "You're a bloody genius, love." He pressed a kiss to the corner of her mouth, smirking when her cheeks flushed and she muttered, "Yeah well...we already knew that. Anyway," she raised her voice, clearing her throat lightly before turning to the humans and continuing, trying to ignore the pleased smugness she could feel thrumming through her tether, "They make keys, that's the point. And look at this..." she gestured towards the screen, where a 3D plan of the building was displayed, "... we're on the third floor."

———————

They stood before the lift, waiting for it to arrive.

"Underneath reception, there's a basement, yes?" The Doc asked them, as the elevator pinged, announcing its arrival.

The tethered couple rushed inside the second the doors opened, looking at the control buttons, Cass adding, "Then how come when you look on the lift, there's a button marked 'lower basement'? There's a whole floor which doesn't exist on the official plans. So what's down there, then?"

"Are you telling me this building's got a secret floor?" Lance raised a skeptical brow.

The redhead rolled her eyes at him, as the Doctor said, "No, we're showing you this building's got a secret floor."

"It needs a key." Donna pointed out.

Cass grinned at her, waving her sonic around, "We don't." Turning around, she pressed it to the control centre, activating the locked button.

"Right then," The Doc smiled politely, looking at the couple, "thanks you two, we can handle this. See you later."

"No chance, Martian." Donna scoffed lightly, joining them in the lift "You're the ones who keeps saving my life, I ain't letting you out of my sight."

"Going down." He grinned, as Donna turned to looking pointedly at her fiancee, "Lance?"

"Maybe I should go to the police..." he began hesitantly, only two stop when she nearly barked, "inside."

He joined them meekly.

"To honour and obey?" The Doc smirked at him.

"Tell me about it, mate." He groaned.

"Oi!" Donna glared at the two, before smiling softly when she heard Cass' giggles, the redhead having shoved her head into her tether's shoulder to muffle them.

The lift pinged when it reached the lower basement and the two couples stepped out into a long, dark, dank corridor, dimly lit with an eerie green light.

"Where are we?" Donna asked, looking around hesitantly, "Well, what goes on down here?"

"Let's find out..." the Doctor breathed, as he weaved his fingers through Cass' and began tugging her down the corridor, walking.

"Do you think Mr. Clements knows about this place?"

Cass nodded, "The mysterious H C Clements? I think he's part of it." Glancing around, she grinned, pointing happily, "Oh, look, transport!"

——————

The Doctor, Donna and Lance trundled down the corridor, each standing on their own electric scooters, all looking extremely comical. Cass was behind her tether, since there hadn't been an extra scooter for her, with her arms wrapped tightly around his waist, her chin on his shoulder. Donna looked at the Doctor and Lance and burst out laughing, Cass and the Time Lord soon joining it, the redhead burying her face in her tether's neck happily, leaving Lance to look at them in confusion, clearly not understanding the humour of the situation.

They soon came to a door which said, "Torchwood - authorised personnel only", so naturally they abandoned their scooters to investigate, the Doctor turning the wheel that locked it to reveal a ladder, both he and his tether peering upwards.

"Wait here." He looked back at the humans, "Just need to get our bearings. Don't..." he pointed at them both sternly, "do anything."

"You'd better come back." The bride informed him seriously.

"I couldn't get rid of you if I tried." The Doc he grinned, Cass adding happily, "Not that I'd let him regardless, I like you too much, Donna Noble."

And with that, he followed behind his tether, a slightly smug smirk growing on his face when he realised just how great of a view he had, seeing as her arse was directly above him.

"Behave, Time Lord," she told him warningly, seeing though his mind the lewd direction his thoughts had taken, though even she could hear the laughter in her voice.

"Can't help it," he replied casually, "You're too tempting, love."

"Well, try. We've got bigger fish to fry at the moment," she huffed back jokingly, yelping lightly when he grabbed her butt with one hand, squeezing softly.

"I don't. You're always my first and most important priority." He whispered back, once he'd put his hand back on the ladder.

Cass was about to reply, but her attention was drawn to the manhole that signified the end of their climb. Huffing, she grunted lightly as she pushed it away, climbing out, only to lean down and help her tether out as well.

Both of them looked around, noting that they were overlooking the Thames Flood barrier, daylight shining on them.

She nodded softly, turning around to climb down again, but before she could, a hand grabbed her hip, spinning her back into her tether's chest, not giving her a second's warning before his lips were on hers, kissing her deeply, both of his hands holding onto her ass, pulling her into him tightly with a moan.

When he finally pulled back, she was breathing harshly, her forehead planted against his, green eyes peering into brown, and he chuckled, pecking her quickly once more, before whispering teasingly, "Now I can focus again,"

As he began descending the ladder, Cass laughed, shaking her head at his antics, her voice floating through his head, You're insatiable, Theta.

Always. He replied, jumping off the last rung, his hands wrapping around her hips to help her down, letting her slide down his body slowly until her feet touched the ground.

Cass swallowed heavily, voice catching under the thrum of her arousal, but the teasing man simply smirked at her, turning to Donna and Lance and announcing jovially, in an entirely unaffected tone, "Thames flood barrier! Right on top of us. Torchwood snuck in and built this place underneath."

"Wait," Donna gaped, "there's like a secret base hidden underneath a major London landmark??"

"I know," Cass smirked at her, thankful for the darkness that hid how fucking red her face was, "I can't believe it!" Turning to her tether, she nudged him teasingly, "Can you?"

"Oh no," he shook his head, joining her little joke, "It's absolutely unheard of."

They continued down the corridor, until they reached some kind of laboratory, full of massive test tubes bubbling away and chemistry equipment.

Cass gasped, running to one of the tables, looking at the tubes happily, "Oh, look at this! Stunning! Particle extrusion!"

Warmth flooded her back as the Doc joined her, puling her back against him as usual, as Donna questioned, "What does it do?"

"Particle extrusion." He breathed excitedly, "Hold on..." He leaned over to one of the bubbling tubes and tapped it. "Brilliant. They've been manufacturing Huon particles. In case our people got rid of Huons, they unravelled the atomic structure."

"Your people? Who are they? What company do you represent?" Lance asked.

"We're freelancers," the redhead quickly replied, smirking at him, "But this lot are rebuilding them. They've been using the river! Extruding them through a flat hydrogen base so they've got the end result, Huon particles in liquid form." She picked one of the tubes up, showing them the liquid inside.

Donna's eyes widened, "And that's what's inside me?"

Cass gently turned the knob at the top of the test tube, making the contents glow gold, and Donna along with it.

"Oh, my God!" The bride gaped in horror, looking down at her self, and the golden hue that had engulfed her.

"Because the particles are inert," the Doctor began explaining softly, "they need something living to catalyse inside and that's you. Saturate the body and then... Ha!" They all jumped, as his voice grew quicker, more frantic with excitement, "The wedding! Yes, you're getting married, that's it! Best day of your life, walking down the aisle, oh, your body's a battleground! There's a chemical war inside! Adrenaline, acetylcholine, wham go the endorphins, oh you're cooking! Yeah, you're like a walking oven! A pressure cooker, a microwave, all churning away, the particles reach boiling point, SHAZAM!"

A loud ringing slap quieted him down, and he looked at Donna indignantly, holding onto his cheek, "What did I do this time??"

Cass shook her head, glaring lightly at him, her own hand rubbing at her cheek, "Let's see, within the last minute alone, you've called her an oven, a microwave and a pressure cooker, not to mention the speed-science talk and your overall excitement in the face of her clearly distressing situation. To be completely honest, if she hadn't slapped you, I would have."

He bit his lip, before turning to Donna and whispering apologetically, clearly ashamed of his behaviour, "Yeah...sorry."

"Are you enjoying this??" The bride asked him angrily, breathing hard and very clearly afraid, before adding, "Right, just tell me, these particles, are they dangerous? Am I safe?"

Both Time Lords just stared at her hesitantly, and she swallowed, looking at Cass hopefully, "Cass... if your lot got rid of Huon particles... why did they do that?"

The redhead walked to her, placing a gentle hand on her arm, "Because they were deadly."

"Oh, my god..."

"We'll sort it out, Donna." She reassured her quickly, looking into her eyes, so the woman understood how serious she was, "Whatever's been done to you, we'll reverse it."

"Yes," the Doctor added, joining them, "We are not about to lose someone else."

Suddenly, they were all distracted by the series of crashes and bangs that seemed to come from all around them.

"Oh, she is long since lost." A menacing voice hissed.

One of the walls slid upwards to reveal a secret chamber with an enormous round hole in the floor. "I have waited so long, hibernating at the edge of the universe..." the voice continued, as Lance, eyes widened in horror, hurriedly retreated through the door. "until the secret heart was uncovered and called out to waken!"

The walls of the chamber were lined with the armed robots wearing black hoods, but neither the Doctor nor Cass seemed perturbed by that fact, as they both peered curiously down into the hole, the redhead huffing in frustration, "very Torchwood. They drilled with lasers, because common sense apparently ain't all that common."

"How far down does it go?" The Doctor questioned curiously.

"Down and down, all the way to the centre of the Earth!" The voice hissed once more.

Cass rolled her eyes at the dramatics, as the Doctor tilted his, "Really? Seriously? What for?"

"Dinosaurs." Donna supplied.

He turned to her, confused, "What?"

"Dinosaurs?"

"What are you on about, dinosaurs?"

"That film, Under the Earth, with dinosaurs. Trying to help!"

"That's not helping!" he hissed, only to quiet when his tether shook her head, mumbling, "She's not wrong. There are definitely prehistoric fossils down there, only...they're not from human history."

Sensing her mounting worry, he cupped her cheeks, bringing her eyes back to his own, "What is it? What's down there, love?"

"History," was all she said back, biting into her lip.

"Such a sweet couple." The voice whispered menacingly, and he tensed, sensing a threat against his tether.

Pulling his Luna behind him, he glared down at the hole, yelling warningly, "Only a madman talks to thin air and trust me, you don't want to make me mad. Where are you?"

"High in the sky, floating so high on Christmas Night."

"I didn't come all this way to talk on the intercom! Come on, let's have a look at you!"

"Who are you with such command?"

"I'm the Doctor!"

"Prepare your best medicines, doctor-man, for you will be sick at heart." The creature threatened finally, before appearing before them, a large, red, hissing spider, with the face of a woman.

The Doctor took a step back in shock, his hand immediately reaching for Cass' ready to pull her away within a second's time, "Impossible..." he whispered, "The Racnoss."

He looked back as his tether's earlier words registered in his mind. Prehistoric fossils, just not from human history...

"Empress of the Racnoss." The spider replied, dignified.

"If you're the Empress, where's the rest of the Racnoss? Or... are you the only one?"

The Empress didn't reply, and his attention shifted to Cass, who was explaining to Donna, "The Racnoss come from the Dark Times, billions of years ago, billions. They were carnivores, omnivores, they devoured whole planets."

"Racnoss are born starving, is that our fault?" The Empress interjected.

"They eat people?" Donna asked in horror.

The redhead nodded slowly, as in front of her, the Doctor turned to look at them, asking, "H C Clements, did he wear those... those erm, black and white shoes?"

"He did," Donna nodded, "We used to laugh, we used to call him the fat cat in spats."

He nodded slowly and pointed to a web on the ceiling, where pair of black and white shoes still attached to the unfortunate H C Clements could just be seen poking out.

"Oh, my God!"

The Empress cackled, "Mm, my Christmas dinner."

Cass narrowed her eyes menacingly, moving from behind the Doctor, ignoring his attempts to pull her back as she hissed at the creature, "You shouldn't even exist! Way back in history, the Fledgling Empires went to war against the Racnoss, they were wiped out."

"Except for me," the Empress snarled, finishing the story.

"But that's what I've got inside me, that Huon energy thing." Donna began loudly, clearly aiming to distract the spider, "Oi! Look at me, lady, I'm talking. Where do I fit in? How comes I get all stacked up with these Huon particles?"

"The bride is so feisty!"

"Yes, I am! And I don't know what you are, you big... thing. But a spider's just a spider and an axe is an axe! Now, do it!"

Both the Doc and Cass swung their eyes up, finally noticing Lance as he swung the axe down. The Empress turned around and hissed at the last moment, and he stopped, glancing around at Donna and starting to laugh, the Empress joining him.

"That was a good one." He chuckled, looking at the Empress, "Your face!"

"Lance is funny." The spider cackled.

"What??" Donna gaped, Cass reaching out and grabbing her hand tightly, pity in her eyes for the woman as she whispered, "I'm so sorry, Donna."

"Sorry for what?" Donna shook her head, still not understanding, "Lance, don't be so stupid! Get her!"

The man looked at her in repulsed pity, "God, she's thick."

Donna looked right back at him, so confused, as he continued, "Months I had to put up with her. Months. A woman who can't even point to Germany on a map."

"I don't understand."

Cass sighed softly, looking at her, "How did you meet him, Donna?"

"At...at the office," she whispered.

"He made you coffee," the Doctor added sadly, understanding and pity for the woman wafting in his tone.

"What??"

From above the Empress, Lance rolled his eyes, repeating slowly, as though he was addressing an idiot, "Every day, I made you coffee."

Cass turned to him, glaring fiercely, aware based on his flinch back in fear that her eyes had begun glowing a vivid gold, as the Doctor put his hand on the small of her back, calming her downs he told Donna, "You had to be dosed with liquid particles over six months."

The bride blinked quickly, tears gathering in her eyes as she whimpered, "He was poisoning me?"