The Dread of Tomorrow and Yesterday – Chapter 17
Disclaimer: I don't own Doctor Who, if I did, River would never have died in the Library.
A/N: And here's the final chapter for The Runaway Bride! That's two Christmas specials finished! And this one showed the start of Donna and Rhea's relationship, at least for Donna. This chapter should be interesting, it has a few snippets into Rhea's past, bonding between Donna and Rhea and some fluffy moments between the Doctor and Rhea. Hope you enjoy!
Notes on Reviews:
Mionerocks: Welcome to the story and I do hope you review more, I love "talking" to my readers! I'm glad you like the story so far! I agree with you about Rose, I used to love her at the beginning but when I started rewatching Season 1 and 2, I started to point out her flaws. Season 4 does give me a bit of chill, though, the Doctor did tell her the universes would start collapsing, but she started building the dimension cannon BEFORE the stars were falling out. People keep denying that but Rose said that "it started to work" which means they had to be trying it out before that. She never gave Donna the full story in 'Turn Left', she was always very closed off about alternate!Donna's fate and I thought that was really unfair. I have a feeling that being trapped in the parallel universe did worse to Rose's character rather than better. I do have a problem in School Reunion as well, most people keep saying that Sarah Jane started it, but Rose was the one that asked "Who's she?" is a very defensive and rude tone when the two crashed into each other. And don't worry, I love long reviews, it gives me something to talk about!
Nami: Her treatment of Jackie and Mickey was one of my problems with her at the beginning, I understand her not knowing that she wouldn't be back for a year, that wasn't her fault, it was the Doctor's, but to keep running off with him after she knew how much her disappearance had hurt her mother, especially at the end of World War Three, how was she to know that the Doctor wouldn't get the date wrong again? I also thought it was entirely irresponsible for her to run off with the Doctor in the first place, she didn't really know him in Rose (to be honest, I have a problem with Martha and Amy for that reason as well). I actually had a conversation with my mother after we watched Rise of the Cybermen/Age of Steel, I asked would she think of me from an alternate universe as her daughter and she said no. I was a little hurt, but my mother explained to me that the alternate!me would be someone else's daughter, that someone else might look my mother but she would be a different person. Pete from Pete's World had a different life to Rose's father, he had twenty something years without Rose and a different Jackie, he's a completely different person to her father. I don't blame Rose for wanting Pete to think of her as his daughter but I thought it was wishful thinking on her behalf. She did flirt with Adam and Jack in season 1, and the psychic paper told Jack that she considered herself to be 'available', yet she got so angry when she thought Mickey was seeing someone else. I think her jealousy is shown in Season 2 a lot more, she was jealous of Sarah Jane, Reinette (though, Reinette was a bit of a snob to her), Lucy from Pete's World and Martha in The Stolen Earth. I'm not actually sure about being in love with the adventure that the Doctor gave her, a part of me feels like she definitely thought she was in love with him, but she never would have fallen in love with him without the adventure.
Beulah2013: I'm glad you liked the way I had Rhea's confrontation with Lance in the chapter. She was incredibly tempted to actually hit Lance but the Doctor stopped her. I think it was because it wasn't the right time to get into a fight. She will be meeting Jack…and soon, I promise! Army of Ghosts/Doomsday is going to be hard one, Rhea will know the Cybermen because she's met them in Nightmare in Silver, but I don't plan on doing that finale for awhile. That episode will be hard, because Rhea pretty much knows that something's going to happen to Rose at Canary Wharf, will she tell the Doctor that? As for the Daleks, see the problem is I keep changing the order I want to do the episodes in, so I can't really tell you anything about Rhea's interactions with the Daleks yet.
Warnings: Swearing, sexual innuendo.
Italics – Rhea's thoughts/The Doctor's thoughts
The Runaway Bride: Drowning
"Just, just, just, hold on, just a tick, just a tiny, just a little, tick. If you think about it, the particles activated in Donna and drew her inside my spaceship. So, reverse it..." He pulled out the tiny test tube that held the liquid Huon energy and twisted the knob at the top, causing both the particles in the tube and in Donna to glow. "The spaceship comes to her."
"Fire!" The Empress screeched.
The robots fired their guns, but it was too late, the TARDIS had already materialised around them and the Doctor, Rhea and Donna were safe from the assault inside.
"Off we go!" The Doctor shouted, darting off to the console, yanking down a lever.
"My key! My key!" They heard the Empress screech from outside, incensed.
The TARDIS dematerialised, impervious to the bullets hitting it, leaving the Empress of the Racnoss alone with Lance.
"Oh, you know what I said before about time machines? Well, I lied. And now we're gonna use it." The Doctor told Donna as he raced around the console, pressing random buttons and yanking down random levers.
Rhea led Donna over to the captain's chair, making her sit down.
"We need to find out what the Empress of the Racnoss is digging up. If something's buried at the planet core, it must've been there since the beginning. That's just brilliant. Molto bene! I've always wanted to see this. Rhea, Donna, we're going further back than I've ever been before."
"Doctor." Rhea hissed at the Doctor, drawing his attention.
The Doctor paused, looking around the console at the two women, only then noticing that Donna's shoulders were shuddering with the silent tears that poured down her face. He looked at Rhea, helplessly, not sure what to do with a crying woman. It wasn't like he had much experience with it, Rhea wasn't really much of a crier and she was really the only woman he had the most experience with. Rhea sent him a look, silently telling him that she'd deal with Donna.
Rhea reached over and wrapped an arm around the sobbing woman. Donna rested her head into Rhea's shoulder, weeping uncontrollably. Rhea just rubbed her back as the woman let out all the pain and heartbreak, not caring whether her skin got wet.
"It's okay, Donna." Rhea said, quietly.
"No." Donna shook her head. "No, it's not. I don't understand why he…"
"It's because men suck." Rhea said, bluntly.
"Oi!" The Doctor exclaimed from across the console, listening into their conversation.
Rhea rolled her eyes. "I didn't mean you. You're an exception." Rhea said, smiling when she saw her pleased look, and terror rose in her as she realised how true that statement was. She looked back over at Donna, who had started crying all over again.
"Okay, that's all you get." Rhea pushed Donna away and looked her in the eye. "I'm not going to let you feel sorry for yourself, got that?"
"But-" Donna began to protest.
"No, Donna." Rhea refused to allow Donna to wallow. It wouldn't do her any good, all it would do was allow Donna to start believing all the crap that Lance had said. "I know how you feel, Donna." Rhea murmured.
"You've had your heart ripped out of your chest and shredded right in front of you by the man you love?" Donna asked, sarcastically.
"Yes." Rhea smiled, wryly. "Many, many times, actually." Rhea, not noticing the sad look the Doctor gave her at those words, frowned for a moment, lost in her memories, then she recovered. "But, Donna, you gotta know, everything he said was a lie."
"He-" Donna started to protest again.
"Donna, you should be with someone who loves you for exactly what you are." Rhea said, softly and earnestly. "And Lance wasn't that. I meant everything I said in that chamber, Donna. You are an amazing woman." Rhea said, taking a hold of Donna's hands and thinking about the strong woman who had knocked out a Sontaran with a mallet.
Donna shook her head. "No, I'm not."
"Yes, you are." Rhea objected. "And I'm sure you were slumming it. I bet you though you couldn't do better, right?" Donna hesitated and gave a slow nod. "Yeah, see, we accept the love we think we deserve. But…sometimes…we're not the right person to judge what we deserve." Rhea smiled wryly. "I bet your mother pressured you, too, right? Helped you come to that conclusion as well." Donna nodded again. "For me, it was my cousin." Rhea told her. "No matter what you are, good, evil, ugly, pretty, handsome, crazy, loud, beautiful," Rhea winked at Donna, who gave her a watery smile. "Whatever you are, the right person is going to think that you're the greatest thing since sliced bread for all of those reasons." Rhea's smile fell, but her eyes remained honest and sincere. "That's the person who's worth falling in love with."
The tears still dripped down Donna's face. Rhea smiled, softly, and enveloped the woman in one of her very rare hugs.
The TARDIS, having arrived at her destination, clicked quietly as it cooled down. The Doctor peered around the console at Rhea and the miserable Donna, who still had her head resting on Rhea's shoulder, sitting on the jump seat together.
"We've arrived... want to see?" The Doctor asked, encouragingly.
Rhea nodded and stood up, walking over to the Doctor, who wrapped an arm around her shoulders.
"Have I ever told you how amazing you are?" The Doctor whispered into Rhea's ear.
Rhea smirked up at him. "You could say it more often, I think."
"Why not?" Donna muttered, just a little unenthusiastically, standing up as well and brushing off imaginary dust off her wedding dress. She was still upset at the fact that the man she had planned to spend the rest of her life with had actually been poisoning her ever since he had met her, said man might actually have cheated on her with a big red spider and had ripped through her with a whole lot of insults, but after speaking with Rhea and the good cry on her shoulder had definitely helped. She couldn't help but think of what she could have been like if Rhea hadn't defended her and given her that advice. She resolved to take Rhea's advice to heart as much as she possibly could, just to thank the woman who had given her self-confidence back.
"I think the scanner's too small." Rhea told the Doctor.
The Doctor nodded in agreement. "Maybe Donna's way's best." He and Rhea went over to the door and waited for Donna to join them. "Come on."
Donna walked over resignedly.
"No human's ever seen this. You'll be the first." The Doctor told the redhead.
"What is it?" Donna asked, looking between the two and gripping Rhea's hand tightly.
"Rhea Adwani, Donna Noble, welcome to the creation of the Earth." The Doctor threw open the doors onto a spectacular sight. Rhea's and Donna's mouths fell open. The sun shined through beautiful coloured dust and gas clouds, enormous rocks floating around the space.
"It's gorgeous!" Rhea whispered, in a breathy voice.
"We've gone back 4.6 billion years. There's no solar system, not yet." The Doctor explained, leaning against the doorframe. "Only dust and rocks and gas." He pointed in the direction of the glow. "That's the Sun over there, brand new. Just beginning to burn."
Rhea just stared at the millions of little rocks that would one day form into the Earth of all planets, unable to even process the though properly.
Donna looked around. "Where's the Earth?"
"All around us…in the dust." The Doctor explained.
"Puts the wedding in perspective. Lance was right. We're just... tiny." Donna whispered, in awe of the sight before her.
"No, but that's what you do." The Doctor protested. "The human race. Making sense out of chaos. Marking it out with weddings and Christmas and calendars. This whole process is beautiful, but only if it's being observed."
"So, I came out of all of this?" Donna asked, turning to the Doctor and the back at the sight before her, all stunning and impossible.
"Isn't that brilliant?" The Doctor asked, a smile forming on his face.
A massive slab of rock floated past the open doors of the TARDIS.
"I think that's the Isle of Wight." Donna joked, her voice still hoarse, and all three of them laughed.
"Eventually, gravity takes hold. Say, one big rock, heavier than the others, starts to pull other rocks towards it. All the dust and gas and elements get pulled in, everything, piling in until you get the..." He couldn't even continue.
"The Earth." Rhea breathed, finishing the sentence and leaning back against him, allowing him to wrap an arm around her waist.
"But the question is... what was that first rock?"
There was a sound and a spiky, star-shaped rock emerged through the clouds of gas and smoke.
"Look." Donna said, pointing at that specific rock.
"The Racnoss…" The Doctor whispered.
The Doctor rushed back to the console and turned a wheel, frantically.
"Hold on…the Racnoss are hiding from the war! What's it doing?" The Doctor asked, shouting at Donna and Rhea.
The rocks, the particles of dust and gas, everything around them, they were all zooming towards the Racnoss as if pulled by a powerful magnetic force.
"Exactly what you said. They're all coming together." Rhea called out.
The Doctor ran back to the doors to lock them. "Oh, they didn't just bury something at the centre of the Earth... they became the centre of the Earth." The Doctor growled.
Rhea's eyes dawned with realisation. "Their ship became the first rock." Rhea said, looking at the Doctor with wide eyes.
The TARDIS suddenly shuddered violently and they were nearly knocking the Doctor off his feet and the women as well, if Rhea and Donna had not grabbed the railings at their sides.
"What was that?" Rhea asked.
"Trouble." The Doctor said, grimly, and slammed the doors shut.
The three of them struggled to keep their balance as the TARDIS shuddered and tipped sideways.
"What the hell's it doing?" Donna yelled over the noise.
"The TARDIS is a 'she'!" Rhea corrected. She looked at the Doctor. "What did you do?" Rhea shrieked.
"Why do you assume it was me?" The Doctor shouted back.
"Because it's always you!" Rhea argued, as she was almost thrown against the doors. "You're like a nine-year-old taking the car out for a joyride!"
The Doctor ignored Rhea. "Remember that little trick I pulled…particles pulling particles? It works in reverse…they're pulling us back!" He turned to Rhea, with a smug look on his face. "See, this time, it wasn't me."
"Key words, honey, this time." Rhea pointed out.
She stumbled up to the controls, trying to help the Doctor, who was desperately trying to pilot the TARDIS, but it was beyond their control as they whirled through the vortex back to the destination they were trying to avoid.
"Well, can't you stop it? Hasn't it got a handbrake? Can't you reverse or warp or beam or something?"
"Backseat driver." The Doctor muttered to Rhea. "Oh! Wait a minute!" He pulled out the extrapolator from underneath the console. "The extrapolator! Can't stop us, but it should give us a good bump!"
The TARDIS materialised in the chamber with the Empress of the Racnoss.
"Now!" The Doctor shouted as he whacked the extrapolator with a mallet, despite Rhea's protests.
The TARDIS disappeared and reappeared back in the dingy corridor. The Doctor, Rhea and Donna emerged from the spaceship.
"We're about 200 yards to the right. Come on!" The Doctor shouted, leading Rhea and Donna down the corridor in a run.
The Doctor, Rhea and Donna arrived at the doorway leading up to the Thames Flood barrier.
"But what do we do?" Donna asked them, out of breath and scared. She didn't relish the idea of the Empress getting her claws on her.
"I don't know! I make it up as I go along!" The Doctor said, listening to whatever was behind the door with a stethoscope. He paused and looked back at Donna. "But trust me, I've got a history."
"Trust me, you actually don't want to know the history." Rhea told Donna. However, despite her sarcasm, Rhea did trust the Doctor, which was a scary thing, considering the fact that she had only known him for a week or two.
"But I still don't understand. I'm full of particles…but what for?" Donna asked, looking between the two.
"There's a Racnoss web at the centre of the Earth, but my people unraveled their power source. The Huon particles ceased to exist but the Racnoss are stuck." The Doctor explained.
A robot grabbed Donna from behind, covering her mouth so that she couldn't scream and dragged her away. Rhea looked back behind her to find Donna missing and then back at the Doctor, rolling her eyes at his obliviousness, deciding to follow the robot back to the chamber where it had most likely taken Donna.
"They've just been in hibernation for billions of years. Frozen. Dead. Kaput! So you're the new key. Brand new particles, living particles! They need you to open it and the two of you have never been so quiet." The Doctor finished, looking behind him and noticing that the two of them were gone. So, either both of them were taken by the robots or Donna was taken and Rhea went to go and find her. Brilliant, just brilliant. The Doctor groaned and looked up and down the empty corridor, hoping to find some sign of which way either woman had gone. He opened the door with his sonic screwdriver, only to be confronted with one of the armed robots.
This is so not cool. Rhea thought as the strands of the web on the ceiling tightened around her limbs and torso. She was in the middle of Lance and Donna, while the Empress of the Racnoss stared up at them with a triumphant smile on a red, scaly face. She was ashamed to say that her worry for Donna and her curiosity had gotten the better of her and she had neglected to make sure no one was behind her, allowing one of the robots to trap her arms by her side, so that she couldn't fight back. See if I ever care about anyone else ever again. She grumbled in her head.
"I hate you." Donna hissed at Lance, anger etched in every single word.
"You tell him, Red." Rhea encouraged, glaring at the man herself.
"Yeah, I think we've gone a bit beyond that now, sweetheart." Lance said, mockingly, hating the situation he was currently in. It was supposed to be Donna, and Donna only. Not him.
"My golden couple. Together at last…your awful wedded life. Tell me, do you want to be released?" The Empress hissed.
"Yes!" Donna, Lance and Rhea shouted at the top of their lungs.
"You're supposed to say "I do"." The Empress reminded them, completely ignoring Rhea, who growled.
"Ha. No chance." Lance snorted.
"Say it!" The Empress ordered.
Lance looked at Donna. "I do." Lance said, reluctantly.
"I do." Donna repeated, grimacing as she did so. The hurt at Lance's betrayal was there, not as much as she had when she first found out he was poisoning her, especially after her talk with Rhea, but it was still there. She had forced herself to fall in love with him, it was bound to hurt.
"I don't." The Empress said, cackling.
"Really, wow! I wasn't expecting that at all." Rhea said, sarcastically, struggling in the web just in case she could get out.
"Activate the particles. Purge every last one!" The Empress ordered.
"Crap." Rhea hissed, worried about what the particles were going to be used for.
Donna and Lance began to glow gold.
"And release!" The Empress shouted.
It looked as if the particles were dripping out of Donna and Lance and down into the hole in the ground.
"The secret heart unlocks. And they will awaken from their sleep of Ages." The Empress snarled.
Rhea's eyes widened as she realised what the Empress was using the Huon particles for. She would use the particles to revive the rest of species that were stuck in the centre of the Earth.
"Who will?" Donna shouted, becoming scared. "What's down there?"
"How thick are you?" Lance scoffed.
"If I hear one more word out of you…" Rhea let the threat hang. She turned to Donna. "The Empress' children are down there, Donna, that's why she needed the Huon particles."
"My children, the long lost Racnoss." The Empress agreed. "Now will be born to feast on flesh!"
They could hear the chirping of the spiders and the pattering of feet from down in the cavern. Oh wonderful, it's a remake of The Great Spider Invasion.
"The web-star shall come to me." The Empress said. "My babies will be hungry. They need sustenance. Perish the web."
Lance's eyes widened in horror. "Use them! Not me! Use them!" He begged.
"Oh, my funny little Lance!" The Empress cackled. "But you are quite impolite to your lady-friends. The Empress does not approve."
The webbing that trapped Lance loosened and gave away and he tumbled down the hole, screaming.
"Lance!" Donna shouted, still feeling a shred of pain for the man she had convinced herself that she was in love with.
"Harvest the humans! Reduce them to meat." The Empress ordered.
Rhea looked around and saw a lone robot ascending the stairs that ran up the side of the chamber. She looked suspiciously at the robot. That better be you, matchstick man.
"My children are climbing towards me and none shall stop them!" The Empress hissed and turned in the same direction that Rhea was currently facing. "So you might as well unmask, my clever little doctor-man."
The Doctor removed the mask and the cloak. "Oh well. Nice try. You okay, Rhea?" The Doctor asked, not taking his eyes off the Empress.
"Yeah, I'm fine, just hanging." Rhea joked, weakly.
"I'm going to get you out of the web. I've got you, Rhea!" He aimed the sonic screwdriver up at her and the web loosened.
"Are you freaking kidding me? I'll fall!" Rhea shrieked at him.
"You're gonna swing!" The Doctor told her.
Rhea reached up and grabbed one of the strands of the web, holding onto it for dear life, and she swung straight over the hole and towards the Doctor.
"I've got ya!" The Doctor reassured, his arms outstretched.
And sure enough, she swung straight into his arms, which came around her body tightly as she stumbled on her dismount. She latched onto him, resting her head on his chest, as he steadied her, still keeping an arm around her waist.
"There we go." The Doctor murmured, into her ear, sending little shivers down her spine. "All right?"
"Yeah." Rhea whispered, not really willing to move from her very nice position but knowing that Donna needed their help. She turned around in his embrace, her back pressed against his chest, facing Donna, who was still stuck in the web.
The Doctor reached up and pointed the screwdriver at the web surrounding Donna all over again.
"We'll catch you, I promise!" Rhea shouted and Donna's web loosened.
Donna swung right over the hole on one of the strands of web and towards the Doctor. Donna screamed and swung right underneath the Doctor and smashed into the wall with a dull bang. Rhea winced and the Empress smirked.
"Donna, you okay?" Rhea shouted over the railing.
"…oh. Sorry." The Doctor managed to say.
Rhea saw that Donna was sprawled on her back below them.
"Thanks for nothing." Donna growled.
"The doctor-man and his mate amuse me." The Empress cackled.
Rhea ignored the 'mate' comment.
"Empress of the Racnoss, I give you one last chance. I can find you a planet. I can find you a place in the universe to coexist. Take that offer and end this now." The Doctor offered, lowly.
"These men are so funny." The Empress hissed.
The Doctor raised his head, looking the Empress right in the eye. "What's your answer?"
"Oh, I'm afraid I have to decline." The Empress laughed.
The Doctor sighed. "What happens next is your own doing."
The Empress bristled with anger. "I'll show you what happens next." She hissed. "At arms!" She ordered and the robots raised their guns.
"Take aim!"
The robots aimed their guns at the Doctor and Rhea.
"And-"
"Relax." The Doctor finished, quietly, but still a command. Rhea looked up at him in shock when she saw that the robots went limp.
"What did you do?" Donna asked, voicing Rhea's question.
"Guess what I've got, Donna?" The Doctor asked, looking down at the redhead. He produced the remote control from one of the pockets in his suit jacket. "Pockets."
Donna's eyebrows furrowed. "How did that fit in there?"
The Doctor looked smug. "They're bigger on the inside."
"Robo-forms are not necessary. My children may feast on Martian flesh." The Empress hissed.
"Oh, but I'm not from Mars." The Doctor said.
"Then where?"
"My home planet is far away and long-since gone." Rhea reached behind her and gripped the Doctor's hand. "But it's name lives on." The Doctor paused. "Gallifrey."
The Empress hissed louder than usual, suddenly full of anger. "They murdered the Racnoss!" She screeched.
"I warned you." The Doctor reminded the Empress. "You did this."
He pulled out a handful of the baubles.
"No! No! Don't! No!" The Empress screamed, panicking as she realised what he was about to do.
The Doctor threw several of the Christmas baubles into the air. A few of them surrounded the Empress and some of them smashed into the walls of the corridor, breaking the Flood barrier by destroying them and allowing the water from the Thames rush through the chamber in torrents. Another bauble exploded, causing a fire at the Empress' feet. She wailed in horror and pain as water flooded the chamber and rushed down the hole.
"My children!" The Empress screamed, grief-stricken.
The Doctor just stood there, watching in silence, his face hard and cold, surrounded by fire as water poured down from everywhere, drenching their hair and clothes, while the river swirled the hole as if it were a plughole.
"No! My children! My children!" The Empress shouted, hysterically and in torturous pain as she was consumed by flame.
"Doctor! You can stop now!" Donna shouted at the Doctor from her position below them.
Rhea looked up at the Doctor's face. He couldn't stop and she paused, a part of her not really wanting to stop him either. Both of them watched the Racnoss writhe and wail in agony, the Doctor with dark eyes, full of some secret pain and then-
Rhea swallowed hard and cupped his face in her hand and turned him to face her. "Please stop." She murmured.
He looked down immediately and swallowed hard himself, nodding once and resting his cheek briefly on her damp hair. He looked down at Donna, tightening his hold around Rhea.
"Come on! Time I got you out!" The Doctor shouted.
The Doctor, Rhea and Donna ran up the stairs, soaking wet.
"Transport me!" They heard the Empress screech.
Donna, Rhea and the Doctor climbed the ladder up to the top of the flood barrier.
"But what about the Empress?" Donna asked the Doctor and Rhea, looking down.
"She's used up all her Huon energy, she's defenceless!" The Doctor told her.
The Doctor, Rhea and Donna reached the top of the ladder and they clambered out into the night, the three of them whooping and cheering in delight, their arms wrapped around each other, as they realised that the Racnoss had been vanquished.
"Just... there's one problem." Donna managed to say, after she had caught her breath.
"What's that?" Rhea asked, looking at her.
"We've drained the Thames."
Rhea looked down and sure enough, the Thames was completely emptied of water. The Doctor, Rhea and Donna collapsed into laughter once more.
The TARDIS materialised across the road from Donna's house and she, Rhea and the Doctor stepped outside.
"There we go. Told you she'd be all right. She can survive anything." The Doctor said, patting the TARDIS fondly.
"More than I've done." Donna remarked.
The Doctor ran his sonic screwdriver over Donna, scanning her one last time just to be sure. "Nope! All the Huon particles have gone. No damage, you're fine." The Doctor said, with a smile.
"Yeah, but apart from that... I missed my wedding, lost my job and became a widow on the same day." She looked thoughtful. "Sort of."
The Doctor paused. "I couldn't save him." The Doctor said, regretfully.
"He deserved it." Donna said, unfeelingly.
Rhea and the Doctor raised an eyebrow and Donna's face softened in response.
"No, he didn't." Donna whispered. She looked around at the house. "I'd better get inside. They'll be worried."
"Best Christmas present they could have." The Doctor said.
They watched as Sylvia and Geoff embraced each other through the window, comforting each other.
"Oh, no, I forgot, you hate Christmas." The Doctor remembered, saying that just a bit teasingly.
"Yes, I do." Donna said, not sure anymore.
"Even if it snows?" The Doctor asked, smiling to himself. He tweaked a hidden switch on the side of the TARDIS and a ball of light shot up from the light bulb on the top and exploded in the sky, like a firework, into softly falling snow. Donna laughed with delight, clapping her hands, while Rhea just stared at the snowflakes that had fallen onto her hands with awe.
"Oh, that's just lovely." Rhea breathed, her face radiant.
"I can't believe you just did that!" Donna crowed.
"Oh, basic atmospheric excitation." The Doctor said, casually, grinning at her.
"Merry Christmas." Donna said to them both.
"So, what are you going to do now?" Rhea asked, shoving her hands in her pockets.
"Not getting married for starters. And I'm not gonna temp anymore. I dunno... travel... see a bit more of planet Earth... walk in the dust. Just... go out there and do something." Donna murmured.
"Well, you could always…" The Doctor began.
"What?" Donna asked, frowning.
"Come with us." Rhea said, smiling tentatively at Donna.
Donna smiled back. "No." She answered.
"Okay." The Doctor said, quickly, as if he were trying to escape embarrassment.
"I can't…" Donna tried to explain.
"No, that's fine." The Doctor waved off with false indifference.
"No, but really... everything we did today... do you two really live your life like that?" Donna asked, overwhelmed by the events of her day.
"…not all the time." The Doctor said, unconvincingly.
"Hardly ever." Rhea lied.
Donna saw through the ruse. "I think you do. And I couldn't."
"But you've seen it out there. It's beautiful." Rhea said, trying to convince Donna to come along with them.
"And it's terrible. That place was flooding and burning and they were dying and you both just stood there like... I don't know... strangers. And then you made it snow, I mean, you scare me to death!" Donna said, with a laugh.
There was a short silence. "Well, then." The Doctor said.
"Tell you what I will do though, Christmas dinner. Oh, come on." Donna said, gesturing behind her to her house.
The Doctor shook his head. "We don't do that sort of thing."
"You did it last year, you said so. And you might as well because Mum always cooks enough for twenty." Donna commented.
The Doctor ooh-ed and ahh-ed in his reluctance, but then grudgingly agreed. "Oh, all right then. But you go first, better warn them. And... don't say I'm a Martian." He pointed back to the TARDIS. "I just have to park her properly, she might drift off to the Middle Ages. I'll see you in a minute."
Rhea looked back over to him and realised that they weren't actually coming back. She hesitated for a moment before wrapping Donna in another hug. "Don't you ever let anyone tell you who you are or make you feel less than they are. They're not worth it." Donna clutched onto her, nodding into her shoulder.
When they pulled back from each other, Donna looked at Rhea with a frown. "Why are you telling me this now?"
Rhea gave a sad smile to Donna and disappeared into the TARDIS along with the Doctor. When it began to dematerialise, Donna realised that she was never going to see the two again.
"Doctor! Rhea! Doctor! Rhea!" She shouted.
The whirring of the time machine stopped and the Doctor popped his head outside the door.
"Blimey, you can shout." The Doctor said.
"Am I ever gonna see you again?" Donna asked in a whisper.
The Doctor smiled at her. "If we're lucky."
"Just... promise me one thing, find someone." Donna told him.
The Doctor frowned. "I don't need anyone. I've got Rhea."
Donna shook her head. "I know you do. But sometimes, I think you need someone to stop you, because I don't think Rhea wants to all the time."
"Yeah." The Doctor said, quietly. He paused. "Thanks then, Donna, good luck, and just... be magnificent." The Doctor told the redheaded bride as parting words.
Donna smiled and then laughed. "I think I will, yeah."
The Doctor smiled at her again and retreated back again into the TARDIS.
"Doctor?" Donna called out again.
The Doctor opened the door with mock exasperation. "Oh, what is it now?"
"That friend of yours... what was her name?"
The Doctor swallowed hard. "Her name was Rose." He said, with a lump in his throat.
The Doctor closed the door for the final time, and instead of its usual dematerialisation, the TARDIS shot up into the night sky. Donna watched the time machine leave with a sad smile and then walked back home to her family.
Rhea, who had stayed in the TARDIS throughout that last exchange between the Doctor and Donna, had heard every word, and the last sentence that the Doctor had told Donna had sent her heart beat skyrocketing.
Now that's all over..."Doctor?" He turned to face her. "What happened to Rose?" She rasped, her hands fidgeting.
Something changed in his eyes and he pulled her closer to him so that she was a hair's breadth away from him.
"See, this is why I hate our situation." The Doctor groaned out and he hugged her tightly to him. "You don't even know what happened. I can't tell you what happened because you haven't lived it yet. It is incredibly frustrating." His voice was a low growl by the end of his confession
"I'm sorry." Rhea whispered, making sure not to look him in the eye when they pulled back from their hug, not exactly sure of what to say in this sort of situation.
He kissed her hair and pulled back to look her in the eye, earnestly. "Oh, Rhea, I'm not blaming you. I'd never blame you. This isn't your fault. It will never be your fault. I'm just… angry." He paused. "Did I scare you today? With the Racnoss, I mean?" The Doctor asked in a way that suggested that he was afraid of what her answer would be.
Rhea frowned and looked up at him, cocking her head. "Should I be afraid of you?" Rhea asked, carefully, needing to know the truth.
The Doctor shook his head, frantically. "No, never, you're the last person in the universe I would ever hurt."
Rhea smiled softly, touched by his words. She punched him playfully in the arm. "Well, you have your answer, don't you?" She grew serious. "I've seen you angry before, Doctor." She thought about the way he had acted towards Max Capricorn on the Titanic and how he had dealt with Cassandra on Platform One. "And, while it is a shock, it doesn't make me scared of you. I've seen you do so many amazing things, those kind of outweigh the shock at seeing you angry." Rhea had the urge to touch his hair and her hand reached, cupping his face in her hand, her nails scratching through his sideburn. Fuck-me hair, indeed. She hummed.
She reached down, making a decision, and gripped his hands tightly in her own and pushed past him, leading him into the TARDIS, past the console room and towards her bedroom. He pulled back when they came to the door, his hands leaving hers, momentarily.
"Rhea, I know this is early in your timeline, we can't-" The Doctor blustered, not wanting to take advantage of her.
Rhea decided to ignore the "early in your timeline" bit, which provoked a lot of questions best left for later.
She rolled her eyes. "Typical. A woman leads a guy to her bedroom and he automatically thinks they're going to screw. Honey, I am not going to have sex with you as a Christmas present." She said, laughing and pulling him into the room. She paused and turned back to look at him, giving him a flirtatious smile. "Maybe another time, handsome." She purred, and then laughed at his blush.
"So, what are we doing, then?" The Doctor asked, confused.
"We're going to sleep." Rhea said, simply. "I'm tired, I haven't actually gotten proper sleep in awhile and I'd like to get a couple of hours before I re-enact Back to the Future."
"I'm still confused."
Rhea rolled her eyes. It was becoming a force of habit for her. "Just come inside." She walked into the room and threw herself onto the bed, chucking her heels off and untying her hair, letting it fall around her face like a halo and act as a barrier between her head and the pillow. She closed her eyes, shifting slightly. Since she had thrown herself onto the bed haphazardly, her skirt had ridden up, exposing the smooth caramel skin of her thighs to his gaze. And since her eyes were closed, she couldn't see the Doctor eyeing the newly exposed skin with predatory eyes.
"Shoes and jacket off, and come lie down next to me." She ordered.
"Yes, ma'am." She heard his cheeky reply and smirked, her eyes still closed.
She felt the bed sink down as his weight joined hers and she felt a cool presence a few inches away from her. She turned on her side so that she was facing him, inevitably pulling her closer to him, and held out her hand, silently asking him to take it. He squeezed her hand and she felt the fingers on his other hand thread through her hair.
"You have a thing for my hair, don't you?" Rhea asked, teasingly, opening her eyes.
"Just a little." The Doctor confessed, sheepishly.
"I'd say more than a little." Rhea said, stifling a yawn.
There was a few minutes of silence. "Rhea, have you met Donna before?" The Doctor asked, suddenly.
Rhea smirked, still not opening her eyes. "Spoilers." Rhea purred, surprised at how she loved the way the word felt on her tongue. Now she knew why the Doctor used the word to throw her off her game all the time. It was all manners of sexy and empowering.
The Doctor groaned. "Now you get to start using the word, don't you?"
Rhea laughed. "You had your turn, honey. Now, it's mine."
They smiled at each other, snuggling closer to each other, an inch away from each other but still not touching, Rhea resting her head next to where the Doctor had rested his elbow. This was the closest Rhea could allow herself to get to him without having to revisit the way she felt about him.
They closed their eyes and let themselves fall asleep.
A/N: Well, there was the end of The Runaway Bride! And there was a nice fluffy Rhea/Doctor moment at end! They flirted and slept together! In a totally platonic way, of course! And the whole out-of-order thing does get to the Doctor as well. Poor Doctor. And the whole Rhea being scared of the Doctor is a really important thing for the Doctor. He needs to know that she isn't scared of him and the reason why will be explained in the future, when I hash out more about Rhea's back-story. And there was a nice bonding moment between Rhea and Donna. Some nice pieces of advice from Rhea, now you can tell why Donna cared a lot about Rhea in The Sontaran Stratagem/The Poison Sky. Rhea understands Donna's situation, I wonder how? She said she's had her heart broken many times, I wonder by who? And Rhea's dark side reared its ugly head as well, she didn't necessarily want to stop the Doctor in the chamber, did she? I know I keep hammering the point that Rhea doesn't want to get close to the Doctor, but I kind of feel that's what her state of mind is like at this point. Every time she considers getting closer to the Doctor, she reminds herself that she can't.