After the two were dressed and of sound mind again, the Doctor leaned against the TARDIS' control console. He studied the buttons and levers, trying to trigger any memories he could. Earthest's voice drew his attention away from the controls.

"What's this thing?" She was holding up what seemed to be some sort of strange pen, though they both knew that it was likely much more than that.

The Doctor walked over to her and took the object. As soon as his fingers gripped the sonic screwdriver's cool form, a rush went through his head. He stumbled backwards, fingers unable to uncurl from around the device. "I remember..." he murmured.

"Remember?" Earthest approached him. "Really?"

The Doctor nodded and closed his eyes, the first vivid memory coursing through his brain.

Flashback

"We don't have time for this, Donna, come on!" A slightly (very slightly) younger and much more insensitive Doctor shouted, finger jabbing toward the TARDIS.

"She's still trapped!" the redhead yelled back, eyes glistening with determination. All around them, fires were burning and boulders were crashing to the ground. Cries of help could still be heard deeper in the cave, but Donna pushed those people out of her mind-- she couldn't help them now. She could, however, help the girl pinned beneath a fallen support beam.

The world they had discovered and explored by complete accident held a race of interesting creatures, half-human and half-animal. This particular girl looked to be part dog, or perhaps wolf, and her tail had become a deadly accessory. It was crushed under a heavy, metal beam and kept her trapped in place, so close to freedom from the attack an opposing force had unleashed.

The Doctor sighed to himself-- this woman would get him killed one day. Begrudgingly, he ran back to the trapped alien, bending down by the beam and, in a rather surprising burst of strength, lifted it just enough for her to escape. With no time to tend to her injured tail, the Doctor hurried her and Donna back to the TARDIS.

Once inside, the Doctor made sure they were secure and headed far away from the damage that had been left in the departed aliens' wake. Turning his attention to the stranger, he nodded to her. "Are you alright?"

Earthest studied her tail as it flicked limply and she winced. "Just that."

"I'm Donna," the redhead introduced herself with a smile.

"Earthest," the brunette replied with an identical friendly look. She turned to the Doctor. "Thank you for savi-"

Cutting her off, the male held up a hand, then motioned to Donna. "It was her idea."

"Well," the human said, settling her hands on her hips. "I guess we have a new companion."

End Flashback

The Doctor remembered shortly after Donna's decision how much he fought it, saying that it was bad enough dealing with one woman. The pair of females quickly changed his mind, though, and it had been since then that Earthest traveled with them, exploring the universe and coming to the aid of others.

"So," the female alien spoke, drawing the Doctor's attention from his memories. "Were we...?"

Chuckling slightly, he nodded. "We were."

Earthest let out a sigh of relief. "Oh, good. That would have been very awkward if we...weren't."

"Indeed," he agreed. "Now, come here."

"What are you doing?" she asked as he placed a hand on either side of her head.

"Shh," was his only response as he closed his eyes once more. He was quiet for a few moments, his forehead wrinkling in concentration.

Gasping softly, the female raised a hand to her forehead, stumbling away from the Time Lord slightly. She blinked a few times and gave a small, weary smile. The Doctor's telepathy had come in handy more than once, and it seemed this was another instance. She let her eyes flutter shut as the memories of her life filled her brain. She could remember growing up, then the attack on her planet, and then meeting the Doctor, and even falling for him.

"You're probably tired," the Doctor said. He was a bit tired himself from the strain of taking in a lifetime of memories in a matter of minutes, so he knew a being with less endurance than he would have a harder time absorbing so much information at once. "I'll go find Donna, get some rest."

"Alright," Earthest agreed, smirking faintly as she headed deeper into the ship toward their bedroom, "Moxx."

Home. It was closer than Donna had expected-- perhaps whoever the Time Lord was had planned on taking her there? Whatever the case may be, she was happy to be back in her bed. She didn't know how long she had been gone, but it was long enough to find solace in her blankets.

Sighing softly, the redhead stared up at her ceiling. The room was completely dark, other than the streetlight filtering in through the window, and the quiet calm soon lulled Donna into a light slumber.

It was a place she was unfamiliar with, yet it felt like home. The sleek design of a technology she would never understand, the forbidding yet tempting allure of undiscovered hallways, or perhaps hallways too well-known. Her fingers ran lightly over the lit buttons and levers, knowing that any particular one could hurtle her into another world, another solar system, another dimension. Of course, she didn't know which particular ones, but she trusted that her escort through space and time knew his way around well enough.

He didn't have a name, so everyone called him the Doctor, but Donna had never really liked calling him that. She had, at one time, been desperate to know his true name. He told her even he himself didn't know it, and that he thought perhaps he didn't have a real name at all. She asked how he could have gotten through school without a name and he suggested that he never went to school at all. After all, she didn't know what the life of a Time Lord was like.

And suddenly, there he was. The object of her most unconscious thoughts standing in the entrance of the control room. Dressed in his strange combination of suit and converse sneakers, his hair gelled to oblivion and the usual excited and inquisitive look molded onto his face, the Doctor was both a curious and reassuring sight.

Donna couldn't help but smile a little as he paced past her, rambling on about something to do with some part of the ship she had never seen before. Not that he could really expect her to follow, but she was sure he was thinking out loud. She was content to simply watch as he tinkered with a few things, muttering some comments to himself.

In her own room, Donna tossed and turned in her bed, memories flooding through her head. Meeting the Doctor, then promptly leaving his side, regretting her decision and finally joining him. Then meeting Earthest, rescuing her and befriending her, even having a few fights of jealousy over if she was allowed to be with the Doctor because of Donna's seniority as his companion. A small smile covered her lips as she distinctly remembered the alien's reminder of her denial of her real feelings for the scientist, therefore winning the rights to date him.

A tall, lanky man hovered over the sleeping woman, his eternally surprised expression watching with amusement. The Doctor removed his hands from his companion's temples, patting her softly on the head before standing. He turned to leave Donna to sleep out the rest of her night when a soft voice paused his step.

"Doctor?" Bleary-eyed and disoriented, not to mention exhausted from the recovery of her memory, the redhead squinted through the darkness.

A faint smirk crept across the man's lips. "Go back to sleep," he whispered. "We can leave in the morning." Upon his words, Donna's head fell back to her pillows and he left the room, shutting the door quietly behind him. As he headed back to Earthest and the TARDIS, he couldn't help but think how strange humans were at times.

Aren't we, though? I've been hooked on watching The Big Bang Theory and listening to Clay Aiken. Does that tell you anything about me? WELL FOR ONE I NEVER HAD A SINGLE DATE IN HIGH SCHOOL. It's very late at night and I'm hungry. Ah well, the mad ramblings of an absent-minded and... very hungry girl. Read on while I go get some food~