A/N: he finally meets up with Donna!
It was all arranged; Sylvia had been on the phone with Suzette organising Half Ten a bed for the night whilst Wilf plied him with fresh coffee. Jenny sat next to her father, holding his hand the whole time as she anxiously waited for this 'illness' to abate. They'd tried to tell her that drunkenness wasn't normally seen as being ill, but she insisted that their metabolism was completely different and it might be poisoning him.
The whole time Half Ten had sat giggling at inane thoughts and enjoying the feel of Jenny's hand in his. It was nice to have that sort of comfort again. He was almost with it again; well, as with it as he was currently going to get; when they heard the sound of a key in the front door lock.
"Dad! It's Donna!" Sylvia shrieked out in shock.
"Wait there," Wilf commanded, putting down the pot of coffee he was holding, and rushed to the inner door to press it shut.
There was the muffled sound of Donna's protest from outside in the hallway. "Gramps? What's going on?!"
"Nothing, Sweetheart. Just a little surprise that we don't want you to see," he reluctantly supplied.
"What do you mean 'a surprise'? It isn't my birthday yet, and we're miles away from Christmas," she argued.
Wilf held the door fast. "It's just… You can't come in yet, alright?!"
There was an angry huff. "You'd better not be setting me up with some bloke in there! Because if you are I shall kill you!"
"How did she know a man was involved?" Jenny whispered in awe.
"Who's that? Let me in!" Donna yelled, and Wilf was shoved out of the way.
Donna forced her way through the door, and found herself staring at Half Ten. He meekly smiled back. "Hello," he said, and waved his fingers daintily.
"Hello, I'm Donna. But I have the feeling you already know that. Aren't you John Smith?" she queried, peering into his face suspiciously.
"I erm… I have been known by that name," he cautiously answered. "It's as good a name as any."
Donna glared in disbelief. "Mum! Gramps! Out! Me and him need to have words."
"But…," Sylvia tried to delay her, to no effect.
"I said out, the pair of you!" Donna stressed through gritted teeth.
Sylvia grabbed Jenny's hand to guide her out. "Come on, love. I'll show you your room."
Jenny meekly followed, shooting Donna an expression of regret as she passed by.
"That's odd. I know her," Donna said to herself as she watched them go. She then turned to Half Ten, who had stood to join her; and started when she realised how near he was. "That girl; I've seen her before. Somewhere with you, and I… I was being… we were…"
"Yes, Donna," he soothed her, reaching out to touch her arms. "Can you feel it too?"
"I can feel something; like I should be with you, that you mean something important in my life," she confessed in a small voice, unable to comprehend what she was saying.
They were drawn to embrace, and gazed deeply into each other's eyes.
"What's happening?" Sylvia whispered from outside the door.
"Shush! I'm listening," Wilf admonished her.
Jenny clamped a hand over her mouth to stop her giggles escaping. Being part of a family was proving to be highly amusing despite the drama happening nearby.
"Donna, it's me," Half Ten informed her.
She gasped, and then simply said, "Doctor."
The eavesdroppers had to look away at that point because a brilliant light burst out from the couple standing in the room; a bright golden light that lasted merely a few seconds.
"Something's happened to them," Jenny commented. "They feel different to me." She clutched her head. "I can feel and hear them. I can… Oh!" And a beautiful smile lit up her face.
"What is it, Sweetheart?" Wilf asked with deep concern, placing a hand on her shoulder.
"My parents are whole again," she happily declared to her confused grandparents.
As black became gold which in turn became everyday life, Donna found herself looking into the golden brown eyes of her Spaceman. "YOU!" she gasped out in surprise, and hugged him. "How did you get back here?"
He shook his head as once missing thoughts easily danced around his mind; and grinned manically in delight. "I stole Jack's vortex manipulator," he boasted proudly. "At least I think it was his. I found it lying about on the table in the TARDIS not long before I left and stepped on to that god forsaken beach." He gave a small shrug. "I took it just in case."
"In case of what? Marauding zombies?" she queried. "You really didn't expect things to work out from the word go, did you."
"I erm…" He shot her a sheepish smile. "I suspected that I was being tested, that no matter how much I loved Rose, I wasn't and would never be the one she wanted."
"Don't give me that!" she protested. "If you truly loved her you would have stayed, no questions asked. You'd have been prepared to spend your whole life trying to convince her you loved her enough."
"Or I would have seen that she needed to be freed from her obsession," he argued. "I wanted her to be happy, not constantly reminded of what she couldn't have."
"Okay, I'll give you that one," Donna conceded. "How long did you last?"
He pinked up as he remembered that long forgotten event. "Not long after you both left. She went from kissing me desperately to running after him. I tried to be strong, to hold her hand for her, but she sobbed so much, I…" His eyes glazed over with unshed tears. "I couldn't stick around, knowing I was second best and some horrible consolation prize. I wanted her to love me back for being me; not some shadow."
"Half Ten," she said quietly, placing a hand on his cheek. "You are not, and have never been a shadow. What about the other business?"
"That was almost instantaneous too," he replied, enjoying being petted with such adoration. "I could feel the cognitive processes slowing down just before certain memories started whizzing by. I knew my only hope was to find you if I didn't want to burden Rose with a gibbering wreck."
"Ah, at last the real true comes out instead of all those excuses you told yourself. There's nothing like becoming a full-time carer to kill any love you have for someone," she noted.
He shook his head. "I couldn't do that to her, Donna," he confessed in a guilty whisper. "She wanted a man to love her, not a man-child to look after every second of the day who would have trouble remembering who she was and what we had done together."
"You did the right thing, for both of you," she agreed. "Come here, you prawn!" And she threw her arms around his shoulders to hug him deeply. "I'm so proud of you," she murmured, acknowledging his sacrifice.
By the time they let go of each other they had to hastily wipe away tell-tale tears. Neither of them handled showing their emotions or vulnerability very well.
"Look what you've done to me," he mocked. "Five minutes together and you've got me melting."
She smiled in relief. "Me? You're the one causing all the wetness. I ought to rename you 'marsh' or 'foggy'."
"Ha ha. But talking of names; I need a new name. One that is mine and mine alone," he pointed out.
"Half Ten not good enough for you any longer?" she teased.
"We've been through this before. I am not going to go around calling myself by a time," he pretended to huff.
They continued to argue the toss as they made their way into the kitchen and during making a pot of tea.
"By the way, that was our Jenny with me when you walked in," he casually remarked as he handed her a cup.
"Our Jenny?!" Donna squealed. "Where is she?" In her excitement the cup of tea was forgotten as she ran to find Jenny, and have a joyous but tearful reunion.
Much later, Half Ten grabbed a moment to talk alone with Donna. Having regained his mind, he was eager to keep a hold on other things; namely his best friend and his newly found daughter.
"Donna, we can be her parents. You and me together again, just like old times," he declared.
"In case it has escaped your notice, Sunshine, we aren't really her parents," Donna scoffed in disbelief; just as he had expected her to.
He pouted. "I know that! Okay, perhaps she doesn't, but does it really matter? As I said, we can be together."
Donna sighed in exasperation. "But she might expect us to get married, the poor wee thing. We'd be nothing but a bitter disappointment."
"I don't see why we would be," he argued. "We'll just let everyone assume we are married, like we always did."
"The perfect marriage. Living together but having no sex life," she sarcastically remarked.
"I really don't see what your problem is!" He glared at her. "Such a plan is the perfect solution for now. Aside from all the possible incest vibes, you don't fancy me and I certainly don't fancy you. It's a match made in heaven."
"You don't have to sound so bloody pleased about it," she practically spat at him. "You really haven't thought this through properly. What happens when you meet up with the next skinny blonde you'll fall in love with? What will I do then? Do I become the Wicked Witch of the West in your life, or just some gullible woman you can easily abandon with Jenny?"
"Where do you get these ideas from? I came all this way to rescue us, so why would I abandon you, no matter who I meet?" He panted with indignation. "I gave up Rose for you."
"Then more fool you!" she shouted back. "You could have had the one person you were made for, literally in your sense, and you blew it. Why? Why bother coming back to me? I don't understand it, I really don't. It's not even as if I had asked you to come back across the void, so I won't let you use that one against me."
"Oh!" Now he understood what the problem was. It was the same as that moment soon after he was formed, again. "You think I'm doing this out of some misguided loyalty, that I'll leave you at the drop of a hat; but I promise I won't, Donna." Stepping forward, he grasped her hands. "Even if you weren't related to me I'd still think you are a beautiful, wonderful person. My life needs you in it. Please be there. I can't cope if you're not. And when you run off to marry some fella, I'll be there, supporting you."
"Give over!" she admonished him. "As if that could ever happen."
"I know so," he insisted. "I briefly saw it in the time lines when I still had some time sense."
"You did?" she asked hopefully. "An actual bloke, and not some fake set up?"
"Yes!" he readily answered, drawing out the syllable. "I know better by now then to lie to you."
"Well, I don't know what to say," she admitted, overcome by this news.
"How about 'be my housemate and my friend'?" he suggested.
She smiled softly at him. "Yeah, why not. How long were you thinking of?"
He sucked in his teeth while he thought about that. "Until we need other people, I suppose."
She nodded in agreement. "Seems fair."
"So… do we go and tell Jenny about our plans and the truth?" he asked.
"Yes," she answered firmly in return, and took hold of his arm. "Let's go be a proper family."
From her little spot where she had been spying on them, Jenny had questions of her own that she wanted to ask them. Little things, like what should she do next, what happens if her real dad turned up, what happens to them if he turned up, and could she live with them? But all of those were pushed aside by her delight when they hugged each other and held on tight. Who needed to question that?