This chapter finally lives up the the Mature rating.
Enjoy!
~RainingCoffee
Once the light fades, I realize that I'm in an office. With gorgeous red walls and wooden paneling. The desk is covered in papers and there are books scattered around in random places. I notice the Tardis is parked in the corner of the room, she has an out of order sign on the front. There's a desk in the middle of the room, and I head over to snoop. There's a cup full of what looks to be sonic screwdrivers? Is this the Doctor's office?
There are several pictures on the desk, I recognize my face in one of them. Two of them have people I've never seen before. Hmm, I hope I meet them. The Doctor doesn't seem like one to normally keep pictures around, I know it hurts him when his companions leave. The fact that he has pictures of these two must mean they are special.
The door suddenly squeaks open and a bald man walks in. "Mabel!" He says in surprise, pausing at the doorway. Someone grumbles from behind him, sounding very Scottish.
I awkwardly raise a hand, waving a little. "Hello!"
The Scottish voice raises from muttering to full blown annoyance. "Nardole, stop blocking the door!" Nardole moves aside and a grumpy looking man walks in.
Our connection resonates, and I instantly know that this is the Doctor. A smile pulls at my lips. He's tall, just like he normally is. With grey hair and attack eyebrows.
He walks over, and I notice a flash of silver on his hand. A ring? I bite my lip and smile nervously up at him.
His eyebrows twitch, confusion spreading over his face. "What are you so nervous about?"
Oh. Heat spreads across my face as I flush. "Nothing." I tell him decisively.
"No." He points a finger at me. "That's not nothing, that's something. Your face is doing the thing."
"The thing?" I ask, nose scrunching up in confusion. My flush fades as my mind starts thinking about something else. "What's that?"
The Doctor smiles, the whole room seeming lighter in response. "There we go. No more nervousness, okay Mabel."
Oh, this man. He knew I was feeling nervous so he distracted me. I look up at him, affection seeping from my very being. He shifts, but looks pleased.
I clear my throat. "Hello Doctor, this is my first time meeting this you and I'm very glad to do so."
His face twitches and he looks a little sad for a moment, before it clears. He reaches out and grabs my hand, bringing it up to his mouth and placing a kiss on it. "Hello Mabel, I've known you for a very long time now, but I'm always pleased to see you again."
Someone clears their throat from behind us. I look over and it's the man who first walked into the office. Nardole? I think I heard the Doctor say. Nardole looks uncomfortable.
Before any of us can say anything, I feel the heat crawl up my torso again. "What?" I say, disappointed. "I can't even stay for an hour?"
The Doctor squeezes my hand. "Where you came from, you haven't jumped in a very long time right?" I nod at him. "Braveheart Mabel, you are going to have to be brave." The Doctor says more, but I can't hear him over the roar of the flames. The pressure of his hand disappears from mine, and my vision whites out.
Arms catch me, and I reach out through the connection, hoping it's the Doctor. It is, and I relax. "Hello Doctor." I tell him, blinking furiously to try and clear my vision.
"Hello Mabel!" I hear him say back, but his voice is different. I turn around to take him in. It's a different face again! He has pin striped pants on. There are question marks on his collar and a stick of celery on his jacket.
His absolute joy at seeing me is bouncing along our connection. I can't help but smile at him. I reach out, cupping his face. He leans into the touch, beaming down at me.
"What brings you here today Mabel?" He asks me.
My brow furrows. "I'm not quite sure, I was with a future you and then I just jumped. It didn't even let me stay for ten minutes."
The Doctor's face turns worried. Leading me over to a chair, he makes me sit down.
"Mabel, you were in one place for a long time without jumping yes?" I nod, the second time I've answered this question in under five minutes. "Your body, it isn't meant to hold on to the energy you use to jump for long periods of time. Now that you can jump, your body is trying to expel as much of the energy as possible. It's why you're jumping so rapidly."
"I don't understand." I tell him. "I was stuck in a place, but I wouldn't jump no matter what I tried. And yet I jump when I don't want to jump. I just don't get it."
His face falls, becoming sad. "I'm sorry Mabel. I haven't figured out a way to stop it from happening yet. I'm trying, I promise."
I try to smile at him, but I'm not sure how well I do. I can feel the fire starting to burn again. "It's okay Doctor, one day you'll find it." And I'm whisked away again.
This time my arrival is punctured by my descent to the floor. Note to self, always stand up when I'm jumping. I curse, rubbing my back. A woman laughs, and I scowl in the direction I heard it come from. I still can't see anything properly.
The person walks closer, I can hear their footsteps. The connection I share with the Doctor is bubbling with nervousness.
I reach an arm out, and the Doctor reaches back helping me to my feet. He covers my eyes with his hands, nerves hitting a fever pitch. "Doctor?" I ask, concerned. "What's wrong hun?"
He doesn't say anything, and I reach up to grab his wrists. They are skinner than I expected. I pull them away from my eyes, and come face to face with a woman. She has shoulder length blonde hair, and a furrow in her brow.
My mouth drops open in shock. It's the Doctor! She starts to look uncomfortable, shifting in my grip. "This is new." I say, still stunned.
The Doctor laughs. "Yeah, I was surprised too." She relaxes in my grip as it becomes clear that I'm not upset.
Hmm. Maybe she thought I wouldn't like her now? Silly Doctor.
I shift my hands from holding her wrists to holding her hands. Wait a minute. I tilt my head to the side in contemplation. "Do you still want me to use male pronouns, or do you want to use female pronouns?"
The Doctor looks surprised. "I haven't really thought about it. But, now that I'm a woman I may as well use female pronouns."
I nod to myself. "Okay then, now let's address the nervousness that I felt from you when I first got here." She looks away from me. "Hey now, I want you to know that you being a woman doesn't change anything for me. It's just a new body to get used to like any other incarnation."
She frowns. "I've always been a man. I was surprised when I regenerated into a woman." The Doctor looks over to me with a rueful expression. "Though I suppose I shouldn't be surprised in the end. I've had a lot of positive female influences in my life."
I smile up at her, pleased. "Y'know I've been here for over two minutes and I haven't gotten a hello kiss yet."
"A hello kiss?" The Doctor asks, mouth twitching. I can feel her amusement bubble up.
"Yeah." I say, tongue coming out to moisten my lips. Her eyes are drawn to the movement. I reach up and fix her collar, fingers accidently, on purpose, brushing against the skin at her throat.
The Doctor leans in, hooked. She brings her hands up to cup my jaw, angling my head so she can kiss me. Our lips touch and her thumb digs in at the sensitive spot at the hollow of my throat. Gasping, my mouth falls open giving her access to dip her tongue in. It's hot and wet and perfect.
The kiss ends and I look up at her, feeling high on life. She smirks at the look on my face, brushing my hair back behind my ear.
Suddenly a thought hits me. "You regenerate into a woman and somehow you're still taller than me!" My face is full of indignation.
The Doctor snorts inelegantly, smothering her laugh in my shoulder. The nervousness and fear that I felt in her earlier is gone. Just humor and happiness is left. I smile into her hair. Mission accomplished.
My legs choose that moment to give out. The Doctor shouts in alarm, but I can barely hear her. My head is spinning. "I don't feel so well." I tell her.
I can feel the fire crawling around me, sluggish now. I'm jumping again, but I don't think I'm supposed to be jumping like this. So soon after one another.
I feel her pull me into her arms. She presses a kiss to the side of my head. "Braveheart Mabel." I hear her say as my vision is overwhelmed with white.
I feel my body crash to the floor, but I'm so exhausted that I can't even cry out. My body is tight and hot. It feels like I've been stretched out. There are raised voices, I can't make out what they are saying. The world shifts and twists around me.
Suddenly, I'm dumped in what feels like ice water. I finally find my voice to cry out in protest. "Shh, Shh." Someone says to me. But I can't, it feels like tiny knives are digging into me. I lash out, managing to connect with something before my arms are grabbed and restrained.
Minutes, hours, days. Time stretches and passes in waves. I have no idea how long I've been held in this torture. Every time I seem to get used to it, the water seems to get colder.
Reality reasserts itself. I'm reclined on someone, I can feel myself move with the fall and rise of their body. We seem to be in a tub of water. I can feel a ball of emotions churning just behind my eyes. Concern. Worry. Determination. I shiver pitifully. "Do-Doctor, w-why am I in ice w-water?"
He speaks, and I finally know what Doctor I am with. It's the one with the great hair. "When you arrived, your body was in the process of shutting down. You were in the vortex for too long. The strain caused your body to overheat and your organs were in the process of boiling. I had to get your core temperature down. I'm sorry, but this was the fastest way." He shifts, keeping his arms around me, and pressing his chin against my forehead. "Still too hot." He mutters.
I laugh, voice still weak. "We-Well I do my b-best."
The Doctor doesn't respond, just shifts and the water suddenly starts moving, colder water being pumped in.
"No." I whine, trying to shift away. His arms tighten, like steel bands I can't get away from. "Please Doctor, it's freezing. Please." I plead with him.
"I'm sorry Mabel. I have to drop your core temperature." There are tears in his voice, but resolve flowing through the connection.
He refills the tub twice more before he lets me get out. I am so weak I can barely move. He strips my wet clothes off and dries my body, dresses me in a pair of flannel pajamas. After making sure I have everything on, the Doctor sets me down on the counter for a brief moment. Striping his own clothes off and putting dry clothes on. Then he picks me back up and walks out into a room I had never seen before. I have time to take in a large bed with a dark orange comforter before I was being placed in it.
The Doctor goes out of my view for a second, fiddling with the lights and turning them off, then climbs in the bed next to me. Forgoing the blankets, he pulls me over to lay on his chest. I lean into him, seeking the warmth. "You're so warm." I whisper, the highest I can make my voice come out.
He hums. "I'm really not. A balmy 60 degrees Fahrenheit, that's me."
"You made me too cold." I say to him, still shivering. 60 degrees shouldn't feel warm to me.
He shifts, shaking his head. "No," He tells me. "I had to drop it this low for a reason. Your system should start regulating it properly now."
I shake my head in response. "No. I'm not supposed to be this cold. I'm human Doctor."
He winces, I feel a spike of alarm which is quickly smothered. "Today is not the day for that conversation." He grumbles.
"Wait, what?" I raise my head to look at him.
The Doctor brushes the hair from my face. "Nothing sweetheart, why don't you get some sleep. I can feel how exhausted you are."
And I am, the more he talks the more I can feel my exhaustion dragging me down. "No fair." I mumble, almost asleep. "Putting me asleep..that's cheating."
His soft laughter follows me into my dreams.
The next time I'm aware, instead of slowly floating awake like I'm used to, my body snaps awake. I blink, noticing the chest hair right in front of my face. Hmm. I bring a hand up and start twisting some between my fingers.
The Doctor grumbles, his hand coming up to smack at my hand. "I was actually asleep." He tells me, grouchy.
I hum, projecting my humor. "Think of it as payback for putting me to sleep in the first place."
I feel much warmer now. And clearer. Like I had been living with wool over my eyes and it had just been pulled off.
I sit up, frowning. Something is different. "What else did you do to me yesterday?" I ask him, alarmed.
He winces, rubbing a hand through his hair. "Yeah, I didn't do anything to you that hadn't already been there."
I scoot off the side of the bed, turning around and staring at him. "What exactly is that supposed to mean?"
"Mabel." He hesitates. "You've asked questions before. Questions about how long you could possibly stay with me if you were aging like a normal human. About how you are telepathic to such a degree that we could form a connection." He nods at me. "This is the answer to that question."
"But I don't understand." Biting my cheek, I stop myself from continuing.
The Doctor sits up and grabs my hands. Pulling me back into the bed. He adjusts so we are sitting cross-legged in front of each other, hands still linked. "Braveheart Mabel." He says to me, squeezing my hands. "You're not human."
Time stops, or at least that's what it feels like. My head reels. "What? Is this some sort of joke?" I ask him, tone chilly. "Cause it isn't a very funny one."
He grimaces, but continues. "Think about it Mabel. There is a disconnect in your childhood, where you changed. And other things as well. Like your take on intimacy vs other humans."
I gape at him. "So I have weird intimacy issues, that doesn't mean I'm an alien."
He frowns at me. "You don't have weird intimacy issues. They are perfectly normal if you consider what species you are."
"And what species am I then, since you seem to know all about it." I stare at him, so far beyond unamused I've traveled into glacial.
The Doctor purses his lips. "Gallifreyan."
"How convenient." I tilt my head, cold anger filling my insides. "The species you say I am is the very same species you seem to be."
Ridiculous, completely ridiculous. "I mean, weird space/time jumping aside, I appear human. I grew up on earth, living a normal life Doctor." I raise a hand to stop him from interrupting. "You are generally cooler than a human, than me. I don't have two hearts like you do. There are several marks against this theory of yours."
The Doctor raises an eyebrow at me. "From what we could piece together, you were left here as a young child. Children are impressionable. You could tell that you weren't the same as others, and that you were making your parents worried. Gallifreyans can manually control different body functions. Regulating body heat is literally child's play. You raised your body temperature to be closer to a human's natural temperature. Even though it wasn't perfect. You always ran a few degrees cooler than normal." I hate how he has a rational argument for this. "And yes, you do have one heart right now. Most Gallifreyans aren't born with two hearts. That's something that is fixed the first time you regenerate. I wasn't born with two hearts."
I try to pull my hands from his, and he lets me. The Doctor seems to know that I need some time to process this, and gets up to put a shirt on. Leaving the room and shutting the door behind him.
Against my will, I start to think back. I used to pick up things easy as a child. So very easy. But children are cruel and social contact is important. I started dumbing myself down intentionally, pretending that I was like them, until suddenly I was performing at that level without pretending anymore.
My body temperature had always been a few degrees cooler than normal, he was right. But that's not out of the realm of possibility, some humans do have a lower body temperature. But y'know what? I had woken up on top of the Doctor and he felt warm. The Doctor had told me that what he did last night had reset my system. If he was right. If I had been unconsciously adjusting my temperature already, then of course he had to drop my temperature far below what should have normally been possible. The Doctor said he ran around 60 degree F.
Shaking my head harshly, I try and remove the thoughts. But my mind ticks on. The way I've felt since I woke up. Clearer. The fact that I am now noticing things I never would have known before. For example, I know that the Doctor had left the room 3 minutes and 29 seconds ago.
"UGGHHH." I flop down on the bed, letting my breath out in a rush. I can't believe I was actually fitting my life into his theory. Fuck.
The door creaks open and the Doctor walks in, it's been 6 minutes and 41 seconds since he left the room in the first place. "I hate you." I mutter.
"No you don't." He says to me, a smile in his voice. He comes over to the bed, flopping his body on top of mine.
I ooph, but don't move otherwise. "I can't believe I'm actually considering what you are saying."
He hums, chest rumbling against mine.
"You realize how crazy this sounds to me." His body raises and falls to my breaths.
"It might sound crazy but that doesn't mean it's not real." The Doctor shifts, hands coming up to brace my shoulders. He starts to roll over, and his hands ensure I roll with him. Now I'm on top of him, instead of him being on top of me.
The Doctor reaches up with his left hand and starts massaging my neck. Something inside me shifts. My lower body clenches, liquid heat pooling. "Oh my god." I breath out.
I hear the Doctor inhale. His voice drops a register, a rumbling growl. "And you don't have weird intimacy issues. Those boys just didn't know how to properly stimulate you." He continues his massage, paying close attention to the hollows under my ears. Each slide of his fingers send a bolt of heat directly to the building ache between my legs.
"Doctor." My voice is high and breathy, unlike anything I've heard from myself before.
He shifts, his head leaning towards mine. I can feel his breath feather over my ear. "There is a mental component for Gallifreyan intercourse as well." The connection we share gets thrown wide open. My pleasure is sucked into it. I feel the echo of his pleasure in response. Both of ours feeding into each other, making it spiral higher.
A whine spills from my throat. I brush his hand off my neck, sitting up and throwing my leg over his waist to straddle him. Grinding against the bulge in his pajama bottoms makes him throw his head back. I reach into our connection, instinctively plucking the strings of his pleasure, making it soar. He curses, leaning up to kiss me harshly.
We start rocking together, the harsh drag of our clothing creating delicious friction. The Doctor pulls his lips away from mine, making his way down my neck. He nips and sucks along the skin his mouth touches before stopping at the junction of my neck and shoulder. There he focusses his attention, sucking harshly. Each pull of his mouth causes my hips to jerk into his.
My hands had not been idle either. One was on the back of his neck, caressing the same pleasure points that the Doctor had manipulated on me earlier. The other had tugged his shirt up, running my hand along the planes of his stomach.
Our shared pleasure rises higher, spiraling faster and faster until it implodes. It feels like whole universes are born and destroyed. The world spins on and we are just one point in it. I collapse down onto the Doctor. His arms come to cradle me. Our breathing is rough. The connection is still thrown open. We are so deeply intertwined with each other I can hardly tell where I stop and he begins.
I hadn't known it could be like that. In the past, I had never been able to get off with a partner. It was always about their pleasure, not mine. Having sex was something I did for them, because I knew they liked it. This was an entirely different experience.
The Doctor tightens his arms around me, his forehead pressing into mine. "Not the best thing to do, thinking about previous partners while in bed with your present one."
I flush lightly. "Sorry." Biting my lip, I hesitate. "It's just that I've never experienced anything like that before."
The Doctor kisses me, a soft press of lips. "I know." He says, sounding sad.
We stay in bed for a bit, but eventually the drying mess in our pants convince us to go clean up. The Doctor leads me back into the bathroom that had been my torture chamber twelve hours previously. Thankfully we by-pass the large tub and head for the walk in shower instead.
He fiddles with a pad on the wall, causing water to fall from the ceiling. Stripping his clothes off, he drops them on the floor and steps into the shower.
I hesitate. Looking down at my flannel pajamas, I tug lightly at the hem of my shirt. I know the Doctor had dressed me last night, but I had been so exhausted that if left to my own devices I would have just stayed naked. My mouth twists. I'm not as nice to look at as I had been when I was in college. Time had softened my stomach and thighs.
Eugh, whatever. I really need to get clean. The slickness between my thighs was starting to get uncomfortable. I strip quickly and efficiently before stepping under the stream of water.
The water is perfect. Hot enough to feel good, but not hot enough to scald. I close my eyes, enjoying the feeling.
Hands start running through my hair, wetting the strands. I peek out of one eye to see the Doctor, a look of intense concentration on his face. Laughing, I flick my water logged fingers at him. He sputters at me, flailing. "Oi! Keep your water over there!" He teases me, playful.
We take turns helping the other get clean. The connection has started to close a bit. I no longer feel as though we have crawled inside each other, but the connection is still deeper and more intense than I'm used to. I'm starting to think that this is the new normal.
The Doctor and I finish up in the shower, I step out and find fresh towels hanging up where I don't remember any being before. "Thanks dear!" I direct to the ceiling. Ohh, the towels are heated, like they've just been pulled from the dryer.
The Doctor sends a wave of fondness towards me. I look up, surprised, to find him with his own towel around his neck. He stands there, confident in his own body. I flush, trying to keep my eyes above his neck.
Laughing, the Doctor grabs my towel and vigorously rubs it through my hair. I pout up at him, and he swoops down and kisses me. He pulls back, tapping me on the nose with his finger. He goes back into the bedroom, opening the door on the other wall. It reveals a walk in closet.
Wrapping my towel around me, I take the opportunity to look around the room we are in. The bed is pressed up against the back wall. There are two large desks next to the door that leads to the Tardis corridor. One desk is tidy, there are a couple of books, some paper. The other desk is full of all sorts of bits and bobs. What looks like half finished projects. It very obviously belongs to the Doctor. A crumpled long coat rests over the back of the chair. There is a bra, half hidden, lying under the bed.
This is our room. The room we share together. I walk into the closet, where I find the Doctor pulling on a pair of underwear. The closet is divided. There are clothes for men, his. And there are clothes for women, most probably mine. I go over to the Doctor, wrapping my arms around his chest from behind.
He hums, hands coming up to cover mine.
"This is our room." I say. "Isn't that supposed to be spoilers?"
He laughs, twisting in my arms to face me. "Maybe this was how you were supposed to find out about it."
I'm incredibly aware of all his skin that has yet to be covered up. Pulling my hand from his back, I bring it up to cup his jaw. I lean in and press my lips against his softly. The hand I have at his jaw tilts his head to a better angle. He responds to the kiss enthusiastically, but allows me to control it. I experiment. Finding which spots feel the best for him.
Pulling back, I nip at his bottom lip. The jolt of pleasure that zings through him tells me that one day I'll have to explore that more.
He leans his head against mine, affection seeping through the contact.
I smile up at him, then I pull away to look at the clothing. Future me has good taste. A pair of leggings, a bra, and button down shirt later, I'm almost ready to go. The Doctor is almost finished dressing too. His tie is hanging around his neck, untied.
I walk over and start tying it. Looping it around in the style he normally wears. Once finished, I gesture into the specific shelf I'm at. "I can't decide, which one should I wear."
He hums, fingering the scarfs. "This one." He says, lingering on a bright yellow one. He picks it up, looping it around my neck. There is a smug smirk on his face as he takes in the reason for the scarf in the first place. "You know, you could just forgo the scarf. I wouldn't mind."
I swat at him, adjusting the scarf so it covers the hickey on my neck. "I'm sure you wouldn't. But I don't want to traumatize your poor companions."
The Doctor laughs, grabbing his coat from over his desk chair and putting it on. I roll my eyes at him. He places his hand in the small of my back and starts leading me down the corridor.
"I don't know if you've met Donna before, but she's brilliant." The Doctor tells me.
I pause, thinking. "Hmm. No, I don't think I've met a person named Donna before."
From a room farther down the corridor, I hear things banging around. The Doctor's face lights up. "Well you're in luck, she's in the kitchen already." He pauses, grimacing. "Though, maybe you should let her finish her tea before introducing yourself. She gets kind of cranky in the mornings." The Doctor had started off talking normally, but had finished at a whisper. His eyes were darting around like he thought Donna was going to pop out and yell at him.
Now I was really interested. Anyone who could make the Doctor act like a child who didn't want to piss off his mom was someone I wanted to meet.
We walked in the doorway and Donna caught sight of us. She shot up from her slump over the tea cup in front of her. "Mabel!" She shouts, rushing forward and pulling me into a big hug.
"Oofh." The air was knocked out of me. I patted her on the back softly. Her shoulders shook. "It's okay Donna."
She sniffles. "When you first got here, you just collapsed. Even the Doctor looked upset. I was worried."
My patting turned to holding, as I understood the reason for her concern. "Oh Donna. I'm okay now. He reset my system." I pull back from her, smiling up at her teary face. "See, good as new!"
Her answering laughter is a little wet, but at least I got her to laugh. I shoo her back to the table to finish her tea. The Doctor shoos me over as well, so I sit down next to her while I wait for him to make it for me.
He finishes the tea, bringing my cup over to the table, keeping ahold of his. "Y'know Donna, This is a rather interesting day-" I cut him off, kicking him hard under the table. Sending him vibes of NO.
The poor girl was worried about me all night. There is no need to tell her that the person she was worried about had no idea who she was till this morning.
The Doctor's mouth flaps up and down for a second before snapping closed. Donna looks over to him, suspicious. "What?" She ask, voice flat.
Clearing my throat, I interject. "He was just about to tell you about where we are going next."
"I was?" The Doctor asks. Amusement trickles to me from his end of the connection.
"Yes, you were." I say, glaring at him.
Donna snorts, startling us. Both of our heads snap in her direction. This just causes her to break out into laughter. "What?" We both ask at the same time.
She flaps her hand at us, wiping tears from the side of her eyes.
The Doctor rolls his eyes. "Anyways! I suppose since I was about to tell you where we are going, I might as well start on that." He sends a slight glare to me, which I ignore. "Shan Shen! Its markets are full of different things. Any kind of food you can imagine, and a large variety of knick knacks too. You'll love it Donna!"
Donna raises an eyebrow at him. "So essentially, you're taking me shopping."
The Doctor beams at her. "And I'll even give you an unlimited credit chip."
Donna perks up, draining the rest of her tea. "I'll go get ready then, I'll meet you two in the console room!"
"Donna!" The Doctor calls after her, voice slightly pleading. "Don't take two hours this time okay? Donna!"
I avert my face from him, trying my best not to laugh. It's a lost cause though, I know he can feel my amusement. He pouts at me, placing his elbow on the table and propping up his head. "It was horrible Mabel. I went to go look for her after an hour and she threw her shoe at my head."
"I think I like Donna already." I tell him, smile pulling at the edges of my mouth.
He grumbles a bit, but he isn't really upset. "Yeah, tell me something I don't already know."
We finish our tea and head out to the console room. The sight of it makes me sort of sad. The last time I saw this room, this Doctor had regenerated.
The Doctor reaches out and grabs my hand, silently asking me what was wrong. I shake my head, but lean into the warmth of his body. "Just a memory."
He squeezes my hand and then heads over to the console to start putting in coordinates. By the time Donna gets to the console room, we have already starting heading in the direction of Shan Shen.
She looks in the Doctor's direction with a smug look. "See spaceman, I didn't take two hours."
The Doctor rolls his eyes at her, careful to be facing away from her when he does it. A couple more buttons and a lever pulled sees us successfully landed. "Here you go Donna. Unlimited credit chip." He hands over a thin flash drive looking object. "Don't spend it all in one place."
Taking my arm, he directs me out of the Tardis and into the bustle of the market. I turn my head to watch Donna walk off. She looks unconcerned. "Are you sure she'll be okay by herself?" I ask the Doctor.
"Yeah, she'll be fine." The Doctor states. He's not concerned either.
Biting my lip, I hesitate. "But-"
The Doctor yanks on my arm where he's linked with me. "You worry to much. Just enjoy yourself."
I scowl at him. "You don't worry enough."
He laughs at me and drags me deeper into the crowd. He buys us this foaming beverage. It tastes like liquid pistachios. Delicious. We make our way down the street, sampling different cuisine. Man, food is still the best.
The Doctor is in the process of handing me a glowing blue cupcake when it happens. Like a shiver down my spine. The whole world just tilted to the left. My eyes focus on the Doctor. The laugher is fading from his face, a serious look replacing it. "Did you feel that?" I ask him.
He shakes his head. "No, but I could feel what you felt."
"We need to find Donna." I tell him urgently. Already scanning the crown for a familiar flash of red.
He nods, his greater height allowing him to see over most people. "I don't see her out here. Maybe she stepped into a shop?" He pulls me down the market, we split up and take both sides of the street. Poking our heads into shops and checking for her.
I see a person run out of the front of a shop, she looks panicked. Mentally nudging the Doctor, I run in the same place I just saw a woman run out of. I catch site of Donna through a door made of beads. "Donna!" I call out.
Her head jerks in my direction. Panic on her face for a second before she runs over and give me a hug. "Oh, God." She exclaims.
The Doctor runs in, concern on his face. "Are you okay?" He asks her.
"Yeah." Donna says, face confused. "I don't know what that was about."
I frown up at her. "I felt something happen, don't know what. We were worried about you."
The Doctor walks around us, kneeling next to something on the ground. "I think this is what you felt Mabel. Well, not specifically this. But what this caused."
"What is it?" I ask, pulling back from the hug.
The Doctor picks up a piece of straw from the ground and pokes at it. "It's one of the Trickster's Brigade. Changes a life in tiny little ways. Most times the universe just compensates around it, but with Donna? Great big parallel world." He looks over to me. "That's why you felt it, we are more sensitive to changes in timelines."
"But that doesn't make sense. Why did I feel it and you didn't?" I ask him.
"I don't know." He says, tone grave. "I should have."
Directing my attention to Donna, I look up at her. "Do you remember anything? Anything at all."
She frowns. "I don't know. It's all kind of slipping away. You know like when you try and think of a dream and it sort of goes?" Donna squints for a moment before rounding on the Doctor. "Hold on. You said parallel worlds are sealed off."
"They are." He confirms. "But you had one created around you. Funny thing is, seems to be happening a lot to you."
Donna's forehead furrows in confusion. "What do you mean?"
The Doctor tilts his head to the side. "Well, The Library and then this."
"Just goes with the job, I suppose." Donna says, obviously trying to brush it off.
"Sometimes I think there's way too much coincidence around you, Donna." He looks at her in speculation. "I met you once, then I met your grandfather, then I met you again. In the whole wide universe, I met you for a second time. It's like something's binding us together."
Scoffing, Donna waves a hand at him. "Don't be so daft. I'm nothing special."
I smack her on the arm, scowling at her. "Of course you are."
The Doctor agrees with me. "Yes, you are. You're brilliant."
Donna's eyes go unfocussed. "She said that." She murmurs.
"Who did?" I ask her.
"That woman. I can't remember." Donna says, shaking her head.
Shrugging, the Doctor brushes her off. "Well, she never existed now." I direct a sharp look at him. This was important and he was acting like it didn't matter. He grimaces at me.
Donna insists. "No, but she said the stars. She said the stars are going out."
Gently now, the Doctor nods. "Yeah, but that world's gone."
Donna shakes her head again. "No, but she said it was all worlds. Every world. She said the darkness is coming, even here."
Concerned, I share a look with the Doctor. "Who was she?"
"I don't know." Her eyes are still unfocussed. She's trying her hardest to remember.
"What did she look like?" The Doctor asks.
Hesitantly, Donna answers. "She was blonde."
I reach over, resting my hand on hers, giving it a comforting squeeze. "What was her name?"
"I don't know." She repeats, frustrated.
Voice sharpening, the Doctor continues his questions. "Donna, what was her name?"
It's like she doesn't even hear him. She's lost in her own memories. "But she told me to warn you. She said two words."
At the mention of two words, a bolt of shock resounds through the connection from the Doctor. "What two words? What were they? What did she say?" He fires off, voice almost scared.
"Bad Wolf." Donna murmurs. "Well, what does it mean?"
The Doctor's face drains of color. Shock is clear on his features. He bolts towards the door, running out into the market.
I share a look with Donna and we both take off after the Doctor.
He's spinning around, looking at everything. I don't understand at first, but then I see it. Every sign, every flag. Anything that has words on it, even the Tardis. All of it has been changed. It all says the same two words. The two words that Donna has just said. 'Bad Wolf'
The Doctor opens the door to the Tardis and sprints in. We follow, but all of us slow down once we see the interior. All the lights have gone red. It's eerie. The Cloister bell sounds from deep within the ship.
Donna looks alarmed. "What is it? What's Bad Wolf?"
Chest heaving, his voice comes out sounding strangled. "It's the end of the universe."
"What?" I ask, voice unnaturally high.
He doesn't answer, instead going over and frantically pressing at things on the console. We take off, shaking and jolting through the time vortex.
"Where are we going?" I yell over at him.
"I need to see for myself!" He yells back at me.
The Tardis lands and he is the first one out of the doors. Donna and I follow him, we come face to face with a normal suburban street.
The Doctor looks perplexed. "It's fine. Everything's fine. Nothing's wrong., all fine." He raises his voice to the milkman on the corner can hear him. "Excuse me. What day is it?"
"Saturday!" The milkman calls back.
Nodding the Doctor takes a deep breath to calm down. "Saturday. Good. Good, I like Saturdays."
"So I just met Rose Tyler?" Donna asks.
Wait what?
"Yeah." The Doctor confirms.
"But she's locked away in a parallel world." Donna insists.
"Wait, what!" I exclaim. What the hell are they talking about.
The Doctor sends a hard look at Donna, causing her mouth to close with a click of her teeth. "Spoilers." He says to me.
"No, you can't just say spoilers!" I say to him, upset. His jaw clenches. Grabbing my arm, he drags me back into the Tardis.
"I literally can't tell you anything Mabel. You have to live it, it hasn't happened for you yet." He looks sad, but resolute. I shake my head, still upset. But I know he can't tell me anything.
Donna breaks the tension. "The thing is, Doctor, no matter what's happening, and I'm sure it's bad. I get that, but Rose is coming back. Isn't that good?"
The Doctor averts his eyes, looking at the ground. "I don't know."
The Tardis shakes, shuddering around us. "What the hell was that?" I ask from my position on the ground.
The Doctor shakes his head from beside me. "Don't know. It came from outside."
Jumping up, he goes over to the doors and opens them. We seem to be in space, there are even pieces of rock floating by.
"But we're in space. How'd that happen? What did you do?" Donna asks us, voice sharp.
The Doctor rushes over to the console and checks the monitor. "We haven't moved. We're fixed. It can't have. No." He rushes back over to the open doors. "The Tardis is still in the same place, but the Earth has gone. The entire planet. It's gone."