The Dread of Tomorrow and Yesterday – Chapter 9
Disclaimer: I don't own Doctor Who, if I did, Donna Noble would be my best friend.
A/N: Well, here's the promised episode from Season 4…The Sontaran Stratagem! I thought it would be a good place to introduce Martha and Donna to Rhea and see her interactions with the Sontarans, especially since she has a brand new shiny gun!
Notes on Reviews:
IKhandoZatman: Sorry, as you can see, it's not Silence in the Library. I will be doing Time of the Angels/Flesh and Stone before Silence in the Library, because I wanted Rhea to meet River first, but there are quite a few episodes before that.
YingWhiteyWolf – What do you mean by more interesting things? If you can be more specific, I can see if I can slip those in. Thanks again for the review!
Queenylime2 – Thank you so much! I know, I really liked writing Rhea's feelings about Donna, but it'll be so much better after The Poison Sky and when Donna goes on the Sontaran spaceship. She is mine too, she's the only companion in the New Series that didn't have a thing for the Doctor and that's great in my books.
Tooclosefortety: Thank you so much! And I'll answer everything you said, I promise. 1. I love River too! I love how she is with a gun and with the Doctor and I can't wait to write her with Rhea as well. Rose and Rhea will have a troubled relationship, but only in specific chapters. My Time Lady OC one will have a jealous Rose and a take-no-prisoners Time Lady. 2. Yeah, the ageing part put me off that idea and the fact that Jack will most likely live so much longer than the Doctor and I don't really like that idea. 3. With the exception of The Doctor's Daughter, The Stolen Earth/Journey's End, The Lodger, The Pandorica Opens/The Big Bang, The Impossible Astronaut/The Day of the Moon and Dinosaurs on a Spaceship, all the others are definitely in the near future. Those ones, I want to make sure that I've fleshed out Rhea's place in the backstory first, before I write those.
Kristina'sMyName: Thanks! I agree with you about the companions, they're my favourites too, except I did have a problem with Amy in the first half of season 5, but she did get better. I like Martha and Jack as well, and Rose in only specific episodes.
Italics – Rhea's thoughts
The Sontaran Stratagem: ATMOS
Donna was at the controls while the Doctor watched on nervously and Rhea just stood there smiling. She had convinced the Doctor to teach Donna how to fly the TARDIS. He had put up a big fight but she had managed to wear him down. And it was worth it just to see Donna's face like this. She looked over the moon.
"I can't believe I'm doing this!" Donna said, excitedly.
"No, neither can I." The Doctor said warily and jumped when Rhea elbowed him in the side.
They continued to watch on as Donna activated some controls on the console.
"Whoa, careful!" The Doctor said, nudging Donna aside and banging the console with a mallet before lifting one of the levers, watching the scanner of the Vortex eagerly.
Rhea pulled the mallet out of his hands. "Cool it! She doesn't like it when you use a mallet, you know." She said, wagging her finger and throwing the mallet aside.
"Left hand down! Left hand down!" The Doctor shouted at Donna, ignoring Rhea, and the ship lurched when Donna pulled down a lever. Rhea grabbed a coral strut for balance as she was rocked around the console room. "Getting a bit too close to the 1980s."
"What am I gonna do, put a dent in 'em?" Donna asked, sarcastically, and Rhea snorted, appreciating the girl's humour.
"Well, someone did." The Doctor remarked.
A mobile phone rang and Donna looked shocked, looking around the TARDIS, Rhea looked bemused. The phone box has a mobile phone. The Doctor looked concerned as he moved around the two women to the source of the ringing.
"Hold on…" Donna started slowly. "That's a phone!"
The Doctor pulled a mobile phone from a holder in the console. He looked at it and then at Rhea.
"You've got a mobile? Since when?" Donna asked.
"It's not mine." The Doctor said, lowly. He opened it and leaned on the captain's chair. "Hello?"
"Doctor, it's Martha… and I'm bringing the two of you back to Earth."
The TARDIS materialised between two buildings and behind Martha without much cause for alarm since Rhea had pressed a few buttons without the Doctor's notice, but he really didn't need to know that. She turned at the sound. The Doctor opened the door and stepped out. He stood in front of the open door and Rhea ran away from the console and walked out, looking at both sides and seeing Martha. She pushed him in that direction. She cocked her head, staring at Martha. She was a pretty dark-skinned woman in her early twenties, wearing a black leather jacket and black pants and a badge pinned on her chest.
"Martha Jones." The Doctor said, no emotion showing on his face.
"Doctor. Rhea." Martha said, nodding at them both.
The Doctor took a few steps and Martha matched them. Rhea stood a few steps back, unsure of how to proceed. Martha held out her arms and the Doctor picked her up in a great hug, his mouth spreading out in a grin.
"Ah, yeah!" The Doctor said, releasing her. "You haven't changed a bit!"
"Neither have you!"
"How's the family?" The Doctor asked, slowly.
"You know. Not so bad. Recovering." Martha said, shrugging, and looked over at Rhea and grinned. "What, don't I get a hug?"
Rhea looked at the Doctor, helplessly, hoping that he would intervene on her behalf. Thankfully, he did.
"Martha, this is the first time that she's met you." The Doctor said, slowly.
Rhea looked at Martha apologetically. She could tell this woman cared for her a lot.
"Oh." Martha faltered. She walked over to Rhea and held her hand out. "Martha. Martha Jones."
Rhea shook her hand. "Rhea Adwani."
Martha smiled. "I know."
Rhea smothered a laugh, feeling a sense of déjà vu coming upon her. She looked at Martha, whose face changed into an expression she couldn't figure out. She saw Martha's gaze move from her to behind her. She looked behind and saw Donna coming out of the TARDIS slowly. Two women, one the current companion of the Doctor and the other, the past, she wondered how this would turn out.
"What about you?" The Doctor asked, not seeing Donna yet.
"Right. I should have known. Didn't take you long to replace me." Martha said, nodding in a way that seemed like she was trying to convince herself of something.
"Now, don't start a fight. Martha, Donna. Donna, Martha. Please don't fight. I can't bear fighting." The Doctor pleaded, as if he expected something in particular, standing to the side and holding up his hands in a surrender position. Rhea joined him, looking between the two women, wondering what would happen now.
"You wish." Donna said, rolling her eyes, and walked up to shake Martha's hand. "I've heard all about you. They talk about you all the time."
"I dread to think." Martha said, giving an embarrassed laugh, the same kind of laugh that someone gave when they've done something embarrassing and everyone knows about it.
"No, no, no. He says nice things. Good things. Nice things. Really good things." Donna tried to cover up.
"Oh, my God, he's told you everything." Martha said, grimacing.
Donna and Rhea laughed and Rhea noticed something glinting on Martha's hand. "Who's the lucky guy?" Rhea asked, looking noticeably at the engagement ring on Martha's finger.
"What guy? Lucky what?" The Doctor asked, oblivious as usual, and frowned.
Donna rolled her eyes, having noticed the ring as well. "She's engaged, you prawn."
Martha smiled and wiggled the fingers on her left hand, showing the Doctor her engagement ring.
"Really?" The Doctor asked, his eyes widening. "Who to?"
"Tom. That Tom Milligan. He's in paediatrics working out in Africa right now. And yes, I know, I've got a doctor who disappears off to distant places - tell me about it." Martha said, flushing a little.
"Is he skinny?" Donna asked.
"No, he's sort of…strong." Martha said, blushing a bit.
"He is too skinny for words. You give him a hug, you get a paper cut." Donna said, pointing at the Doctor.
Rhea started laughing madly, holding onto the wall behind her for support, as she threatened to fall down from the force of her shaking. "Oh, that's a good one." Rhea said, in between her laughs. "I'm so using that again."
Martha chuckled.
The Doctor grimaced. "Oh, I'd rather you were fighting."
Rhea nudged him in the side with her elbow. "Get over yourself, honey, that is never gonna happen."
"Oh, you are so wrong." The Doctor said, smirking.
"Speaking of 'fighting'…" Martha started, before speaking into her walkie-talkie. "This is Dr Jones. Operation Blue Sky is go, go, go." She turned around and walked away. "I repeat, this is a go."
As the Doctor, Rhea and Donna followed her, soldiers, jeeps and a large lorry rolled down the road that was just outside the alley.
"Unified Intelligence Taskforce, raise that barrier now!" One of the soldiers shouted and more soldiers and vehicles entered a large industrial factory. "Leave your safeties on, lads, it's non-hostiles!"
"All workers lay down your tools and surrender!" Another soldier shouted over a bullhorn.
"Greyhound Six to Trap One. B Section, go, go, go! Search the ground floor, grid pattern Delta." Martha ordered.
"What are you searching for?" The Doctor asked her.
"Illegal aliens."
"When you say aliens, do you mean immigrants or like him?" She asked, pointing to the Doctor.
"This is a UNIT operation! All workers lay down your tools and surrender immediately!" The soldier on the bullhorn shouted.
The UNIT soldiers grasped workers in blue and pointed guns at their heads, forcing them to their knees, hands over their heads.
"B Section mobilized! E Section, F Section, on my command!" Martha shouted before running off, commanding the action.
"Is that what you did to her, turned her into a soldier?" Donna asked the Doctor and Rhea, the latter not having an answer for her, just staring at the uneasy look on the Doctor's face.
Martha strode up to where the three of them were standing. The Doctor noticed the name on her badge.
"You're qualified now? You're a proper doctor." The Doctor asked Martha, shocked just a little bit.
"UNIT rushed it through, given my experience in the field." She gestured for the three to follow her. "Here we go." She led them across the grounds to huge long truck. "We're establishing a field base on site. They're dying to meet you."
"Wish I could say the same." Rhea smiled when she heard the Doctor mumble.
They entered the lorry through the rear. The inside looked like the control room of a secret military agency, computers, monitors and communications, everything top of the range and like something out of The Avengers, Rhea thought.
Martha walked up to a senior officer, and older man in uniform. "Operation Blue Sky complete, sir. Thanks for letting me take the lead. And, this…this is the Doctor and Dr. Adwani. Doctor, Rhea, Colonel Mace."
"Sir! Ma'am!" The colonel saluted.
Rhea slightly recoiled, shocked at the salute, she had never been saluted before, and the Doctor grimaced as well. "Oh, don't salute." The Doctor grumbled.
"But it's an honour, sir. I've read all the files on the two of you. And UNIT took it upon ourselves to look into your history on Earth, Dr. Adwani."
"My history?" Rhea asked, her eyes widening.
"Sunehri Seraphina Adwani, born May 2, 1986 to parents Nikhil and Seraphina Adwani. Graduated from Stanford University with a PhD in Psychology. Marr-"
"Okay, you can stop there." Rhea cut in, holding a hand out to stop him before he could go any further with the information they had retrieved. There were a few things she didn't need to get into right now. Rhea didn't notice the dark look that graced the Doctor's face as her attention was still drawn to Colonel Mace.
"Technically speaking, you're still on staff. You never resigned." Mace told them both.
Rhea's eyes narrowed. "Spoilers?" She asked the Doctor, crossing her arms. The Doctor's look was all she needed. "Friggin' time travel." Rhea muttered under her breath.
"What, you used to work for them?" Donna asked, her eyes moving between the two of them.
Rhea shrugged. "Don't ask me! I haven't done it yet." And isn't that just wonderful.
"Yeah, long time ago. Back in the 70s. Or was it the 80s? But it was all a bit more homespun back then." The Doctor murmured, standing on his toes and looking around at the makeshift office.
"Times have changed, sir."
"Yeah, that's enough of the 'sir'." The Doctor said, wagging his finger.
"Yeah, and no more 'ma'am'. I'm twenty-seven, not fifty-seven." Rhea snorted, snapping her fingers in front of the colonel's face.
"Come on, now Doctor, you've seen it. You've been on board the Valiant." Rhea looked confused. "We've got massive funding from the United Nations. All in the name of home world security." Martha said, walking around so that they could get a better look at the massive monitor at the front of the room.
"A modern UNIT for the modern world." The colonel agreed.
"What, and that means arresting ordinary workers? In the streets? In broad daylight?" The Doctor took off his long brown trench coat and threw it over one of the computers. "It's more like Guantanamo Bay out there." Donna scoffed, pointing outside the truck. "Donna, by the way. Donna Noble, since you didn't ask. I'll have a salute." She said, putting all the sass she could muster into one look at the colonel and placed her hands on her hips.
Rhea grinned and looked down. "Oh, she's good. Really good." She whispered to the Doctor. "I can see why you like her."
The colonel looked at the Doctor and Rhea. The Doctor gave the colonel a nod and Rhea gave the man an expectant look.
"Ma'am." The colonel saluted Donna.
"Thank you." Donna smiled, pleased.
"Tell me what's going on in that factory." The Doctor said to the colonel, moving over to one of the computers and sat down, looking at the monitor with his head in one of his hands.
"Yesterday, fifty-two people died in identical circumstances right across the world, in 11 different time zones. 5am in the UK, 6am in France, 8am in Moscow, 1pm in China-"
Rhea interrupted him. "You mean simultaneously." She deduced, quickly working out the time zones in her head.
The colonel nodded. "Exactly. 52 deaths at the exact same moment worldwide."
"How did they die?" The Doctor asked, turning to the colonel.
"They were all inside their cars." The colonel said.
"They were poisoned." The Doctor and Rhea turned to Martha when she started speaking. "I checked the biopsies. No toxins. Whatever it is, left the system immediately."
Rhea frowned, pursing her lips. "What do the cars have in common?"
"Completely different makes but all fitted with ATMOS. And that is the ATMOS factory." Martha said, pointing outside.
"What's ATMOS?" The Doctor asked, turning and looking at Martha.
"Oh come on, even I know that. Everyone's got ATMOS." Donna added.
"See, that might just be a problem." Rhea whispered to the Doctor.
Martha walked the Doctor, Rhea and Donna along a catwalk that overlooked the factory floor, the colonel behind them, as she explained to the Doctor and Rhea what ATMOS was.
"Stands for "Atmospheric Emission System". The ATMOS in your car reduces CO2 emissions to zero." Martha summarised as she strode forwards, confident in her movements.
"Zero? No carbon? None at all?" The Doctor said, incredulously.
"And you get sat-nav thrown in, plus 20 quid in shopping vouchers if you introduce a friend. Bargain." Donna gave the two further details.
Colonel Mace came up to them.
"And this is where they make it, Doctor, shipping worldwide. Seventeen factories across the globe but this is the central depot, sending ATMOS to every country on Earth."
"Why does everything happen in London?" Rhea asked, looking extremely annoyed, barely stopping herself from throwing her hands in the air.
Everyone ignored her outburst. "And you think ATMOS is alien?" The Doctor asked the colonel.
"It's our job to investigate that possibility. Doctor? Dr. Adwani?" Mace said, motioning for them to follow him.
The colonel walked off and the Doctor and Rhea followed. They passed by the area where the UNIT soldiers were still gathering together and investigating the workers.
"Come on, everybody, up the pace. We haven't got all day now." One of the soldiers told the workers.
The colonel, Rhea, the Doctor, Martha and Donna walked into a small office at the end of the catwalk.
"And here it is, laid bare. ATMOS can be threaded through any and every make of car." The colonel said.
"You must have checked the product before it went on sale." Rhea said, confused, looking at Martha and the colonel.
"We did." Martha looked at Rhea. "We found nothing. That's why I thought we needed experts."
"Really, who'd you get?" The Doctor asked, not looking at any of them and putting his glasses on and examining some of the equipment at the side of the office. He turned around and saw everyone fixing him with a meaningful look. "Oh, right! Us! Yes! Good!"
Rhea and Martha rolled their eyes at his obliviousness and shared a conspiratorial look between them. Martha and the colonel left the office, letting the Doctor do what he did best.
Donna walked up to them. "Okay, so why would aliens be so keen on cleaning up our atmosphere?"
"Very good question." The Doctor commented.
"Maybe they want to help - get rid of pollution and stuff." Donna offered.
"Do you know how many cars there are on planet Earth?" The Doctor asked and Donna shook her head. "Eight hundred million. Imagine that."
Rhea realised where he was going with this. "Imagine what you could do if you controlled eight hundred million cars. Eight hundred million weapons." She murmured, her eyes wide.
The Doctor and Rhea examined the ATMOS device.
"Ionising nano-membrane carbon dioxide converter…which means that ATMOS works. Filters the CO2 at a molecular level." The Doctor said, peering at the ATMOS device.
"We know about that. What's its origin? Is it alien?" The colonel asked, leaning closer to the Doctor and bending over the ATMOS device.
"No, but it's decades ahead of its time." The Doctor grimaced and looked at the colonel. "Look, do you mind? Could you stand back a bit?"
The colonel withdrew and looked confused. "Sorry, have I done something wrong?"
"You're carrying a gun. I don't like people with guns hanging around me, all right?" The Doctor growled.
"If you insist." The colonel said, uncomfortable and offended, and walked away.
"Tetchy." Martha commented.
"Well, it's true." The Doctor defended himself, not looking up from the device.
"He's a good man." Martha insisted and then gestured at Rhea. "And anyway, she carries a gun."
The Doctor glared at her. "Rhea's different."
"Of course she is." Martha scoffed, knowing that the Doctor would jump to her defence immediately.
Rhea glared at her. "Okay, first of all," She parted her blazer to reveal the blaster she had gotten from the platoon fighting the Cybermen. "I haven't actually used it yet. And second of all, I'd only use the gun as a last resort. I can do plenty of damage without it. Got that, Dr. Quinn?" Rhea said, putting her hands on her hips and fixing Martha with a look. Martha didn't falter and Rhea smiled. She could tell she was going to like this one.
"People with guns are usually the enemy in my books. You seem quite at home." The Doctor commented to Martha, scanning the ATMOS device with his sonic, which he had pulled out of his pocket. Rhea was almost shocked when she saw the thin metal rod with the blue light. She had gotten so used to the eleventh version of him using his bulky version with the green light.
"If anyone got me used to fighting, it's you." Martha said, her eyes narrowing.
"Oh right, so it's my fault." The Doctor said, rolling his eyes and still not looking her in the eye.
"Well, you got me the job. Besides, look at me." The Doctor turned off the sonic screwdriver and looked at her. "Am I carrying a gun?"
"Suppose not." He mumbled.
"It's all right for you. You two can just come and go, but some of us have got to stay behind. So I've got to work from the inside and by staying inside, maybe I stand a chance of making them better." Martha explained, the sincerity obvious in her voice.
"Yeah?" The Doctor smiled. "That's more like Martha Jones."
"I learnt from the best."
"Well…" The Doctor drawled, a smug look plastered across his face.
"I meant Rhea." Martha said, smirking.
Rhea grinned at the girl and rejoiced in the insulted look on the Doctor's face. "Thank you, Martha, I appreciate the compliment." She paused. "Even though I haven't actually done anything yet. Please keep going, by the way, his head needs to shrink often."
Donna appeared in the doorway, pushed herself through the plastic flaps and re-entered the room.
"Oi, you lot! All your storm troopers and your blasters and your sonics - rubbish! Shoulda come with me." She said, a pleased smile playing on her lips, the same kind of smile as someone who knew something they shouldn't and was dying to share it with others.
"Where have you been?" The Doctor asked, frowning.
The colonel rejoined them.
"Personnel. That's where the weird stuff's happening - in the paperwork. 'Cause I spent years working as a temp, I can find my way around an office blindfolded, and the first thing I noticed is an empty file." She said the last few words slowly, drawing out the suspense.
"Why, what's inside it? Or what's not inside it?" The Doctor asked, straightening.
"Sick days." She opened the binder to reveal the empty file. "There aren't any. Hundreds of people working here and no one's sick. Not one hangover, man flu, sneaky little shopping trip, nothing. Not ever! They don't get ill."
"That can't be right." The colonel said, walking over and taking the folder from Donna.
"You've been checking out the buildings, should've been checking out the workforce." Donna said.
Martha gave a small smile and looked at the Doctor and Rhea. "I can see why they like you."
"Hmm." Donna made a noise of agreement.
"You are good."
"Super Temp." Rhea purred, her smile was wide and her teeth were showing, her tongue peeking out in between the front teeth. Donna grinned back at her and three women shared a look.
"Doctor Jones, set up a medical post, start examining the workers. I'll get them sent through." The colonel ordered Martha and walked off.
"Come on, Donna, give me a hand." Martha told Donna and the Doctor and Rhea ran out of the office, following Colonel Mace.
They walked with Mace along an open corridor parallel to the work area.
"So this, this ATMOS thing? Where did it come from?" The Doctor asked the colonel.
"Luke Rattigan himself."
"And 'himself' would be?" Rhea asked, slowly.
They went over to a computer and the colonel brought up Luke Rattigan's profile on the monitor. "Child genius. Invented the Fountain 6 search engine when he was 12 years old. Millionaire overnight. Now runs the Rattigan Academy. A private school, educating students, handpicked from all over the world."
"A hothouse for geniuses, wouldn't mind going there." The Doctor remarked.
The colonel looked confused, a puzzled look on his face.
"I get lonely." The Doctor explained and then winced when Rhea elbowed him in the stomach.
"And what exactly am I? Chopped liver?" Rhea asked him, crossing her arms and fixing him with a look that told him to explain quickly and correctly what he meant.
"I mean 'we'." The Doctor said, weakly, hoping that was the correct answer.
"You were implying that I'm stupid." Rhea growled.
"I mean human geniuses." The Doctor quickly tried to explain.
Rhea raised an eyebrow. "And what am I, if not human?"
"Um…well…the thing is…" The Doctor scratched the back of his head. "What I meant to say…"
The colonel was stunned to see the Doctor, the great Time Lord himself, stammering when faced with a tiny force of nature like Sunehri Adwani.
"Do you think I should call my mum? About the ATMOS in her car?" Donna asked Martha while they were in the personnel office of the ATMOS factory. Donna picked up a chair and sat it down next to Martha.
"Better safe than sorry." Martha told Donna, sitting at the desk and looking through the binders.
"I'll give her a call." Donna decided and started to leave when Martha stopped her.
"Donna…do they know where you are? Your family… I mean, that you're travelling with the Doctor and Rhea." Martha asked, feeling the need to ask a question that had plagued her ever since she had started travelling with the two of them.
Donna swallowed and stepped closer to Martha. "Not really. Although... my granddad sorta waved us off. I didn't have time to explain."
"You just left him behind?" Martha said, with all the sympathy of someone who had made the exact same choice just over a year ago.
"Yeah."
Martha nodded. "I didn't tell my family. Kept it all so secret and it almost destroyed them." Martha said, thinking about the Year-That-Never-Was and everything her parents and sister had gone through at the hands of the Master.
"In what way?" Donna asked, tentatively.
"They ended up imprisoned. They were tortured - my mum, my dad, my sister... It wasn't the Doctor's or Rhea's fault, but you need to be careful. 'Cause you know the Doctor and Rhea, he's wonderful, he's brilliant, and she's amazing and beautiful, but they're like fire - stand to close and people get burned."
The colonel led them both to the docking bay and they walked across the area.
"You are not coming with us." The Doctor warned the colonel. "I want to talk to this Luke Rattigan, not point a gun at him." Then, he looked at Rhea. "And that goes for you too, don't get trigger happy, even if he makes you angry."
Rhea glared at him. "I'm shocked you think so little of my self control."
The Doctor snorted. "I know enough about your self control to know you can't resist pulling the gun on him to at least scare him if he makes you angry."
Rhea rolled her eyes and decided to disregard his comment and they strode down the bay.
"It's ten miles outside London. How are you going to get there?" The colonel asked them, confused about their plan, especially if he wasn't going to go with them.
"Then get us a Jeep." The Doctor suggested, his voice rising slightly, his hands firmly shoved in his suit pockets.
"According to the records, you travel by TARDIS." The colonel commented.
"Yeah, but, if there is a danger of hostile aliens, I think it best to keep a super-duper time travel machine away from the front lines." The Doctor said, quickly.
"I see. Then you do have weapons but you choose to keep them hidden. Jenkins?" The colonel yelled, turning away from the two time-travellers and addressing a young man in a UNIT uniform.
"Yes, sir!" Jenkins answered.
"You will accompany the Doctor and Dr. Adwani and take orders from them." The colonel orders.
"Yeah, I don't do orders." The Doctor said, looking at Jenkins.
"Any sign of trouble, get Jenkins to declare a Code Red. And good luck, sir, ma'am." The colonel informed the Doctor and Rhea and saluted them both once more.
"I thought we said no salutes." Rhea said, raising an eyebrow.
"Now you're giving orders." The colonel said, looking away from them and striding away.
"Oh, you're getting a bit cheeky, you are." The Doctor murmured at the colonel's back.
"Doctor…" They heard Donna's voice as she came down the ramp of the docking bay.
"Oh, just in time! Come on! Come on, we're going to the country. Fresh air and geniuses, what more could you ask?" The Doctor said, the excitement clear on his face, running up to her, grabbing her hand and dragging her along towards the Jeep.
Donna pulled him back and made him stop. "I'm not coming with you." She said softly.
The Doctor and Rhea just stared at her. Rhea cocked her head, looking at Donna. Could all of this, especially with Martha, make Donna want to leave the Doctor? No, when she looked at Donna, she saw a woman who was aching for the chance for an adventure. This wasn't the sort of woman who would only travel with the Doctor a few times and then ditch him. She was in for the long haul.
"I've been thinking. I'm sorry, I'm going home." Donna said, seriously.
The Doctor's face faltered. "Really?" He asked, quietly.
"I've got to."
The Doctor nodded, the disappointment stamped across his face. "Well, if that's what you want." He said, his eyebrows furrowing. "I mean it's a bit soon... I had so many places I had wanted to take you. The Fifteenth Broken Moon of the Medusa Cascade, the Lightning Skies of Cotter Palluni's World, Diamond Coral Reefs of Kataa Flo Ko..." His voice dropped into the lower registers as disappointment and desire warred. "Thank you. Thank you, Donna Noble. It's been brilliant. You-you've saved my life in so many ways." The smirk on Donna's face became pronounced and comprehension dawned on his face. "You're... You're-you're just popping home for a visit. That's what you mean."
"You dumbo." Donna whispered.
"And then you're coming back."
"Know what you are? A great big outer-space dunce." Donna said, barely holding back her grin.
"Yeah." The Doctor agreed, rubbing his face with his palm.
Rhea rolled her eyes and smiled at Donna. "You know, for a time-travelling alien with two hearts and an incredibly massive and egotistical brain, you sure are stupid." Rhea said, reaching up and tapping the Doctor lightly on the cheek with her palm.
"Ready when you are, sir, ma'am." Jenkins said from the Jeep.
"What's more you can give me a lift. Come on!" Donna said, rushing over to the Jeep and they all climbed in.
"Broken moon of what?" Rhea asked, looking back at the Doctor as she climbed in.
"I know, I know." He grumbled as they drove away.
A/N: I hope you all liked my rendition of the first part of The Sontaran Stratagem. I really liked writing Rhea uncomfortable when she first met Martha, she's going to have a tough time of it, not meeting people in the right order. And I liked writing the Rhea's rebuttal towards Martha, it was fun and interesting trying to come up with a nickname for Martha that would suit Rhea's personality. Tell me if you agree that Dr. Quinn's a good nickname for her. And I hope you liked the little snippet I gave you about Rhea's home life, at least before she cut the Colonel off. I will be going into her history a bit more soon.