"Donna! Are you coming?" The Doctor looked at his watch uncomfortably. "Come on! I want to get going!"
Donna shot him a snaky reply, and he couldn't help grinning. When finally he walked through her bedroom door, he laughed openly, not minding her scowl.
"Oh-oooooh, they are gonna laugh, I mean you're huge!"
"Oi, spaceman!" Donna snapped. "Even if they're your skinny alien babies, two of them still take up some space!"
The Doctor rolled his eyes. "You're like Klom!" he exclaimed, a planet Donna had only heard in reference, though from his snort she suspected it was a big one.
"Oi! You still haven't told me where we're going!"
At this the Doctor's smile wavered. "Yeah, well…I'm just hoping we get a good reception. Not sure how she'll react…"
"She?" Donna exclaimed, laughing at last. "Of course it's a girl, what's new with you? Why can't we visit Captain Jack-"
"Trust me on this, Donna-just trust me-" He took her shoulders and grimaced. "-Captain Jack does not age well."
Donna rolled her eyes. "Whatever, at least he's human. Alright, let's meet this girl."
"You're gonna be surprised!"
"Nothing can surprise me now," Donna assured him. The Doctor just grabbed her hand and pulled her to the door.
"Surprise!"
As they stepped from the TARDIS, Donna was indeed surprised-astonished. Her hands flew to her mouth, and she managed despite her increased girth to be at the door in moments. As she began knocking hurriedly, the Doctor pushed his hands into his pockets and walked up beside her.
"I can't wait to see the look on your mother's face-"
The door opened, and Donna squealed with delight as she was pulled into the arms of her grandfather. Their embrace lasted for nearly a minute before Wilf released her to pull the Doctor into a hug. This was briefer, as he seemed to realize somewhat belatedly how difficult it was to get Donna into a full hug.
"Donna-you-your-"
"Merry Christmas, Wilfred," the Doctor grinned, and Donna looked at him in horror.
"Christmas? You know how I feel about Christmas, Doctor."
Wilf just looked between them in amazement. "You-and you?"
"No! No, no, no, no," Donna and the Doctor exclaimed in unison. When Wilfred furrowed his brow, the Doctor attempted to explain further, but all he managed to get out were the words, "There was a thing-" before, from the kitchen, a voice called out.
"Who is it, Dad? Not some beggar looking for money?"
The Doctor grimaced; no matter how open-minded he tried to be, Sylvia Noble simply was not his favorite person. Not even in his top 10998435037. Well-10998435037.2. She was right after that. Of course, that made her 324 from the bottom.
Donna, however, had grown callously immune to her mother's scathing words over the years. All the more power to her, Donna.
"Mum!" she exclaimed, throwing herself past Wilf (who had to press himself against the wall to let her through) to reach her.
"What happened?" Wilf asked under his breath.
"Something alien," the Doctor said. "I'll explain later, to you and Sylvia. She's having twins!" he added, something akin to excitement creeping into his voice.
He heard Donna's mum from the kitchen as she shouted, "He put a baby in you!" Grimacing, he pressed his thumb and forefinger into his forehead. It was going to be a long night.
"So, let me get this straight, Doctor," Sylvia said. "Donna got pregnant because she absorbed some sort of regurgitation energy from that mega-crisis?"
The Doctor allowed for her mistakes and nodded. "Something like that, yeah-regeneration energy from the meta-crisis."
"And you're gonna raise the child?" Wilf asked concernedly. The Doctor smiled.
"Children," he corrected. "Come off it, you didn't think Donna got so big from one kid?"
Before Donna could say "Spaceman!" her mother reached an arm out quickly to them.
"You've got to stay with us!" she exclaimed. "You said she's eight months along-why haven't you shown your face until now? I'm not having her off in some Martian hospital having her child, and she's certainly not staying in that blue box. It's too tiny for one person, let alone four."
"It's bigger on the inside," Donna explained.
"And anyway, I hear babies are notoriously tiny," the Doctor pointed out. Sylvia rolled her eyes.
"Oh, come on, Doctor. Babies need many things! Do you have strollers, cribs, toys, diapers, baby food?"
The Doctor opened his mouth to reply but found no sound. He looked to Donna, sputtering for words, while she snorted.
"That's the second time in your life you've been speechless, I think, time boy," she laughed.
"I-I figured we'd cross the bridge when we came to it!"
Sylvia smirked, proud to throw the Doctor from his pedestal. "Well. You've still got one question to answer, why haven't you come so far? We've got a right to know about this." Wilf nodded in agreement, and the Doctor looked at Donna furtively.
"Trust me, in a few days, you'll know," he murmured. "That is, if you're certain you want us to stay." Seeing no objections from Wilf or Sylvia, he went on. "Since Donna still has a bit of Time Lord in her, her pregnancy's been sort of like a Time Lady's. Like a human pregnancy, but…take the mood swings times eleven, add the fact that it is Donna, and also, cravings for every flavor in the universe. I had to scour three galaxies to find the right kind of chocolate cake for her."
Donna hit his arm. "I think I know why Time Ladies get so cranky during pregnancy," she scowled. "Time Lords. This arse has woken me up every five hours during the night every night since we found out, asking if I'm okay, if I need anything, if I had any bad dreams."
"Isn't that what you're supposed to do?" he asked. "It's not my fault I'm out of practice. See-cranky, right here. This is the reason most children of Gallifrey are grown in test tubes. Test tubes don't get on my nerves. Hundred words a minute? Try a hundred moods."
Donna frowned, while Sylvia looked at her sympathetically and Wilf smiled.
"Donna can stay in her old room," Sylvia said. "I'm sure you don't mind sleeping on the couch…?" she added with a venomous stare. The Doctor nodded easily.
"I'll just sit the TARDIS in the back-you've looked for spaceships on your hill, Wilf," he added, "want to go in one?"
He immediately saw the delight in the man's eyes, which made him smile all the more brightly. "I can?"
"I'd be proud to have you in!" he grinned happily, standing and walking to the front door. Wilf followed him, and they walked out to the TARDIS, where the Doctor opened the door and waved him in. "You're gonna love it, trust me."
Wilf stared at the box tentatively before stepping inside and back out.
"You're kidding me!" he exclaimed, eyes wide as he looked on either side of the box. "Just-wow!"
"Go on in! I don't mean to brag, but I'm a terrific decorator. Twelve master bedrooms, each with luxury bath, walk-in closet, canopy bed, the works. Fully stocked kitchen, when I just feel like hanging out in the TARDIS all summer. Pool, library-pool in the library-gym, three science labs, and a few doors I've never opened-I love a mystery."
"It's magnificent," Wilf breathed, stepping inside and spinning about in wonder. "This is your home?"
"Well-yeah," the Doctor answered honestly. "Come on, don't like just leaving her in the street. She gets antsy, I get antsy-and I'm no fun at all when I'm antsy. At least, that's what Martha Washington said. Frankly, who's not a little antsy when you're surrounded on all sides by robot ninjas wielding machine guns?"
Wilfred laughed, but the look in the Doctor's eye told him it was no joke. Shaking his head, he changed the subject.
"So…how've you and Donna been?" he asked. The Doctor marveled at Wilfred Mott: the only human in the world who could stand inside what he'd dreamt of his entire life and still care about his granddaughter more than anything.
"Brilliant," the Doctor answered. "She's still the little general, in case you're wondering. I'd been afraid…it…would slow her down, but she fought off an entire platoon of Cybermen with only a sonic screwdriver last month while I disabled their bomb."
Wilf grinned. "That's Donna. First day of school, it was, and they sent her home for biting!"
The Doctor laughed. "Wouldn't want her on my bad side, let me tell you. All right, we've landed!"
"This is a miracle, Doctor," Wilf said, waving his arms about the TARDIS. "This, and Donna. I mean, I'm sure there's no one safer she and her kids can be with."
At that, the Doctor faltered. "Sometimes I don't think so," he murmured, looking away from Wilfred tiredly.