Chapter Three

Suddenly, the Doctor's eyes lit up and he smiled broadly as she looked up at him in shock.

"Oi, try to keep the excitement down, Doctor. I am dying here!" Her statement returned his face to a look of concern and grief, and she suddenly wished she hadn't said anything. "It's all right Doctor, everybody dies." There. She'd said it, acknowledged it. "It's not your fault, none of it. You can't blame it all on yourse...." She trailed off as she began to lose consciousness, but the Doctor seemed even more motivated by this and stood up, dragging her along with him.

"Donna Noble, you're brilliant! Even when your brain is in shutdown, you're brilliant." He looked around the TARDIS, still holding her close and stroking her hair, which had become damp with sweat. "Donna, pay attention. Where's my sonic screwdriver?"

"A time....like this....and you're worried....about a screwdriver?" Donna wondered which one of them was losing their mind when a sharp pain in her skull reminded her.

"My sonic screwdriver....it's-"

"-Sonic," they said together, although her voice was barely above a whisper. "I know. Absent-minded alien, that's what you are. It's by the monitor."

The Doctor walked as quickly as possible, careful to keep Donna propped up against him, flipping switches, turning knobs, and pushing buttons while he made his way over to the screwdriver. The screwdriver he had given River in the future.

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The TARDIS lurched several times, knowing it was imperative that they reach their destination quickly. They sat on the floor of the ship with his arms wrapped protectively around her, comforting despite her high fever.

The Doctor had done his best to explain but given the time left it was hard for Donna to understand completely. "It'll still wipe your memory, Donna. You understand that."

"Get on with it already," she managed, her words coming slower as her mind cycled down.

He couldn't put it off any longer or it would be moot. "Donna, I can't lie to you. I don't....I don't know if it will work. There's too many variables involved, too much I can't predict." She barely nodded at the information, her grasp on his hand loosening, but she was still listening, he could tell. "In case it doesn't work, I want you to know that you were...." he paused, watching her eyes slide closed, and hugged her tighter for a moment. "You are fantastic, Donna."

"You too, Spaceman," she breathed. Donna smiled, then her head slumped sideways onto the Doctor's chest. He could feel her heart, slowing down but still beating.

"Hold on, Donna, we're almost there."

The TARDIS stopped and the Doctor pulled her up, making their way to where Charlotte was waiting to save Donna's life. The Doctor was carrying Donna by this point, making sure her feet didn't cross into the darkness. He knew she'd lost consciousness a few minutes before and was no longer aware of whether or not she was even breathing, but he would never forgive himself if he didn't try. He laid Donna on one of the platforms as gently as he could and used the screwdriver to hack into the controls. "Goodbye, Donna."

Donna opened her eyes one more time and saw the Doctor activate the teleport. He watched her disappear and waited for several minutes, hoping his plan would work. Please let it work. If not, it was all for nothing and Donna had still died, without him even beside her.

The minutes passed, seeming like hours, and finally something popped up on the computer. The Doctor's eyes went wide, his mouth dropping open. "No....way...."

DONNA NOBLE HAS LEFT THE LIBRARY. DONNA NOBLE HAS BEEN SAVED.

He waited another moment or two, just to be safe, then opened the necessary files and used the teleport again, pointing the screwdriver behind his back at the platform. He didn't dare to look for a moment, too scared that he'd failed and would see Donna's body lying by the console. He heard a voice behind him and jumped. "Miss me, Time Boy?"

Not impossible, just a bit unlikely. The Doctor spun around and saw Donna, looking as wonderful and healthy (and ready to slap someone) as usual. She tripped off the platform, a bit dizzy from the teleport, and he caught her one-handed, both of them smiling. "So then, I suppose you'll be wanting an explanation for this?" Donna smacked him on the arm. "Ow!"

"You know what, Doctor?" she replied. "I don't even want to know. Odds are I won't understand it anyway. Never been good with all this technical rubbish." She paused, typing away at the computer for a moment to close everything down, then gave him a good laugh trying to work the teleport with all its complicated buttons and controls. "Fine then, you do it."

He relocked the controls, then they made their way back to the TARDIS. On the way there, he told her everything she'd forgotten, from Midnight to the Crucible; the last thing she knew he had tricked her into teleporting away and she'd gotten trapped in CAL. "So let me get this straight," Donna said, "you....rebooted my brain? Are you having me on, Martian? You're telling me you stuck me in some flipping computer and it made me better? Pull the other one!"

He laughed, but assured her he wasn't joking. It was just like he'd told her the last time he thought she was leaving; she'd saved his life in so many ways, and he was more than happy to return the favor. Though the Time Lord part of her was gone and she didn't remember their last few trips, she was safe. Besides, she'd saved the universe -twice, if you counted the parallel world- and that had to count for something. "You were absolutely brilliant, Donna. I'm sorry you don't remember it, but you were...."

"Fantastic?" she guessed, and he froze. "I prefer supertemp, thanks." She gave him a smile as she closed the TARDIS doors behind them. "Now then, you said something about Charlie Chaplin. Quite a nice chap, that Charlie Chaplin. I think I'd still like to see him."

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The End