So I've decided that this story is going to have 25 chapters, possibly more. Longish chapters too; I hate reading a story that is barely a regular web page long. So if you like this story just know that its not going to be short nor is it just going to end. I like my stories nice and tidy thank you. Just wanted to throw that out there. Again, comments are always appreciated, whether good or bad.
The light by then had faded away and as The Doctor scooped Renee into his arms. "They're all unconscious even the beings inside. It may be only for a few moments. Donna, we have to get her to the TARDIS and quickly. I don't know how long they will stay this way." he said and started for the stairs.
Donna nodded and grabbed a torch quickly following him. "How are we going to get back? That place is a maze to get through and I don't know about you mate but I didn't pay attention to where we were going." Donna said as they climbed the stairs
"Its three lefts and a right. Or in our case three rights and a left." The Doctor said.
"Is that just runnin' in circles?"
"Nope. Not with this kind of archive. Its actually moving constantly and the only way through it is to follow a certain pattern. Its made to discourage thieves."
"Oh well just great I didn't even feel it movin'. Well at least we're not being chased by something for once!"
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Minutes later they were back in the TARDIS. Kicking the door shut behind him, The Doctor ran up the ramp and placed Renee onto the platform floor. "Doctor what are you thinking?" Donna asked, slumping into the captain's seat in front of the massive console that made up the central part of the control room of the TARDIS.
"Doesn't Renee look a little older to you?" The Doctor said, brushing strands of white blond hair out of her face and ignoring Donna's question.
Donna got up from the chair and came over. "I don't think so. And you didn't answer my question." she said, a little irritated.
"I could of swore this girl was barely eighteen years old when we met her this morning. Now she looks more in her mid twenties." The Doctor said and pulled out his sonic screwdriver.
Turning it to a setting, he quickly scanned Renee's unconscious form. "I thought so. This girl has aged six years in the past hour."
"What?! How can that be? Unless," she paused, thinking. "Immortals dell'età!"
"What?!" the Doctor said, looking at Donna in surprise.
Donna grinned. "Did you think I wouldn't remember any of that knowledge you zonked outta my head? Some of its still there ya know." she said. "Immortals dell'età. Beings of spectral energy who sustain themselves by feeding off the life force of beings. In others words, they age you to death to keep alive."
The Doctor grinned. "Brilliant Donna. Full of surprises you are."
Donna beamed. She wouldn't have it any other way, traveling with the Doctor. It had almost stopped; She'd metcrisised with the Doctor's severed hand to create another Doctor who was TimeLord with a human body. He'd ended up with Rose in the other universe. After that happened, she'd become the DoctorDonna. Human, but with a TimeLord mind. It had been to much for her to handle; her mind started to burn with all the knowledge. The Doctor had taken that all away along with her memories of the times she'd been with him. It was a hearts wrenching decision she knew but the only way to save her life. She'd spent almost two years without those memories, then the Doctor came flying back in the TARDIS with a cure. She still wasn't sure how he'd managed it; one minute she was Donna Noble, a temp who lived in Chiswick with her Mum and her Granddad. Next, She was Donna Noble, companion and traveler but without she thought all of the knowledge she'd gained as the DoctorDonna. In a matter of moments she'd gotten all of her memories back and started traveling once more. She'd realized over the first few days of traveling again that some of the knowledge she'd gotten had remained.
"Doctor we've got to figure out how to get them to release her. Why were they imprisoned in the first place?" Donna asked.
"Because they moved from planet to planet devouring the people there. They were gluttonous, gorging themselves. Then one day they just vanished. I'm assuming that the people here on this planet found a way to contain them." The Doctor said, his voice hard. "There's got to be some sort of record of these events. This place is an absolute well of knowledge. That's it!"
The Doctor got up from the floor and raced towards the console monitor. "If I can tap into the archival catalog I can cross reference Immortals dell'età with the earlier records its possible I can find the archive room containing what the ancient people did here!" he said quickly as he was pressing buttons and pulling levers. "Then we can pull them out of her and seal them back again!"
"Doctor that's bloody brilliant!"
The Doctor grinned and pulled another lever. "Oh yes! I've found the archive, hang on Donna!" he shouted as the TARDIS roared into life.
They landed a few moments later. "Donna I need you to stay here and look after her until I get back." the Doctor said as he headed for the door.
"Shouldn't I be helping you look for that record or whatever it is?" Donna asked.
"I need you to stay here and tend to Renee. I'm not leaving her alone in the TARDIS. I'll be right back!"
The door slammed shut behind him as he finished his sentence. "But what am I to do if she wakes up? Doctor!" Donna called after him.
She sighed and stood up, going towards the console monitor with the intent of trying to get it to give her a view of the outside. The TARDIS hummed seemingly glad to see Donna back. Donna was so absorbed in trying to get the monitor to work she didn't hear Renee moan softly.
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Renee sat up with a start. Her head hurt; she could still hear the singing, though it was faint and in the back of her mind. Glancing around, she realized she wasn't in the seal chamber anymore. It was a strange place. It looked like someone had taken a coral theme to where ever she was. "Doctor? Donna?" she said, looking around for the two companions.
Donna peaked around a pillar-like structure, a concerned look on her face. "Renee is that you?" she asked warily.
"Yeah. Where am I?" Renee asked.
"Um, you're in the TARDIS. It's a kind of spaceship." Donna said, coming around the structure to crouch down next to Renee. "How are you feeling?"
"My head hurts."
Donna winced in sympathy. "Do you remember anything?"
Renee shook her head no. "Its all sort of vague. I remember cutting my finger and the seal. And the Doctor. But not much else. Where is the Doctor?"
"He's outside, looking for a way to-" But before Donna could finish her sentence the door of the TARDIS flew open.
"Donna I found it now all we need to do is-oh you're awake." the Doctor said as he came back inside. "Its just you isn't it?"
Renee smiled softly and nodded. "Well then, we should get to work. We need to get back down to that chamber, I know how to help."
"Well give us a moment Doctor she just woke back up." Donna said.
The Doctor looked at her with a slightly desperate look on his face. "We don't have time," he said flatly. "At any moment those beings could wake back up and take control of her again and then we won't be able to do this. Now come on!"
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Back down in the chamber, the Doctor gave instructions to both Renee and Donna as he read from a scoll he'd taken from the archive. Renee had protested at first back in the TARDIS at the gall of him to take it from the archives without the proper protocols. He'd just ignored her. Renee then followed him out glowering. Vessel or not, the librarian in her bristled at the thought of it.
Renee was told to stand in the middle again; Donna was to stand outside of the seal's perimeter so as not to get taken in when they resealed everything. The Doctor explained that they had to bring the Immortals dell'età back from their sleep so they could then send them out of Renee and back into the seal. That meant Renee had to give blood. "I'm so sorry," the Doctor said with a sad look on his face. "But its the only way to bring them out. It won't have to be much."
Renee nodded. "Oh by the way Doctor," she said. "If anything happens to that scroll, something happens to you. That is a piece of history you have in your hands. My history."
The Doctor smiled slightly. "Donna, you got those crystals in place?" he asked.
"Yea and they weren't where you said they were. Took me a right minute to find them." Donna said as she placed the last crystal on the seal floor. "You should catalog the entire TARDIS. It might help a bit."
"I'll get to it eventually." the Doctor said absently.
Renee grinned. Maybe after this was over, she could help the Doctor catalog everything as a way of thanks. She was after all a librarian. And she could sense that the Doctor would be very uncomfortable with any outright notion of thanks. She could tell that just wasn't the way he worked.
"Are you ready?" The Doctor asked her, Donna coming to stand beside him.
Renee took a deep breath. "Yes, I'm ready." she said, clutching the small pocketknife in her right hand.
"Good luck then." Donna said.
The Doctor just nodded. Renee took the pocketknife and sliced open her finger.
The affect was instantaneous. Light burst from the seal and filled the room; Donna and the Doctor had to cover their faces to shield their eyes. Renee was gone they knew and in her place was the creatures that inhabited her. As the light faded to a dim twilight, the Doctor straightened himself and took his sonic screwdriver out of his pocket. "Have you reached a decision?" the Doctor asked gripping the screwdriver tightly in his hand.
Renee's body turned slightly once again aglow. "We know you Doctor, and we know what will happen if we refuse you. We are not amused by this, being brought so low as have offered help from a rouge TimeLord." she said, the voices echoing.
"Well then what did you decide?"
"We do not need your help Doctor. We will one day be free; but we will not harm the vessel if it means saving ourselves from your wrath. We will wait until a day that you are long gone from here and another vessel comes to this place. We can be patient if necessary. It does not matter who opens the door for us, only that it opens. These beings are nothing but a means to an end. Then we will walk again in the light and devour those who have placed us here! "
Donna glanced at the Doctor as she felt the instantaneous heat of his rage roll off of him in waves. She knew what he was like; when she'd first met him he had been this way. All anger, resentment, loneliness and pain. He'd been in control of it until now. What the Immortals dell'età had said broke his hold on the control. It hadn't been enough time from losing Rose again. Not enough time for the TimeLord; if there even was enough time to have the memory fade. The memory of watching his Rose kiss another man with his face, his memories. And just as before, the loss had rocked him to his core even if he would never admit it. Donna, having shared his mind as no one ever had, understood. She understood so well that she knew that all those feelings that he had she had to stop from consuming him. If she wasn't careful, he could very well become the man she feared when first meeting him.
"Doctor, its just their nature. They can't help being this way. Don't do something you're going to regret later." she whispered urgently in his ear, trying to calm him. "We can't change who they are. But you and I, and Renee too, can make sure they never harm anyone ever again. Doctor, lets put them back where they belong."
The Doctor looked at her, mild surprise capturing his features. Then he smiled that million watt smile that cheered Donna's soul. That smile meant everything was going to be alright. Turning back to Renee, the smiled changed to a all knowing smirk. "Just the same," the Doctor said. "I just can't let you sit here waiting for someone else to finish what Renee has accidentally started. You could all just slip out one by one from the crack that's been made. So I'm here to make sure that does not happen."
He pointed his sonic screwdriver at the nearest crystal and turned it on. The crystals became all aglow as they magnified the sonic vibration by a thousand and surrounded Renee and the seal she stood upon with the light and sound. The entities in Renee screamed with her mouth and tried desperately to cover Renee's ears with her hands to block out the piercing sound. They collapsed on the floor, making Renee's body writhe in pain as the sonic vibration and light was forcing them to vacate her body. Renee's body went limp; the entities burst forth from her in a dazzle of crystallized light that hovered above her. In one moment, the cloud of light broke apart and sank back into seal beneath Renee's unconscious form. Then all the light was sucked from the room, enveloping them all in darkness.
The Doctor struggled in the dark to get a gravity globe out of his never ending pockets since the torches and lamps didn't seem to be working. It was an idea he'd picked up on when down in that pit with Ida Scott. Figured it might come in handy someday. Retrieving it from his pocket, the Doctor threw it up in the air and once again the room was bathed in light. "Oh my god did you do it?" Donna asked, inching towards the seal and where Renee lay.
The Doctor grabbed Donna's arm and pulled her away from the edge of the seal. "Not quite yet. We have to seal them back; this time for good." he said.
"How you gonna manage that then?"
"I'm going to seal it with my own blood."The Doctor said. "Crude but effective. I'm the last of my kind; no one else is going to come in here and reawaken the DNA lock if I'm the one who locks it."
Donna stepped back away from him, knowing that as always he was right. The Doctor smiled at her then walked over to Renee and retrieved the pocketknife which had fallen to the floor beside her. "Oh this is gonna hurt." he said and wiped the blade on his pants leg before slicing his own hand.
It took several minutes to completely seal the room again. The Doctor had to trace his blood on every line of the seal to ensure its effectiveness. Donna watched him do this, wincing every now and then in sympathy. She knew he had to be in pain what with sliding his opened wound along a dusty and dirty floor.
Renee had not awakened during the entire time that the Doctor was resealing the floor and that had Donna worried. But she wasn't to go anywhere near her until the Doctor was finished. So Donna stood there impatiently tapping her foot on the floor, arms crossed. When the Doctor finally stood up and let her know he was done, Donna quickly crossed the threshold to Renee. "Oh no I'm quite alright thanks," the Doctor said a little irritated. "Its not like my hands bleedin' or anything."
Donna shot him a look while she checked on Renee. "I know you're going to be alright Doctor and I 'll tend to you in a bit I just want to make sure she's alright. Renee? Renee can you hear me?" she said, gently shaking Renee.
The Doctor muttered something about stupid apes, sounding more like his ninth self than he had in a while and stalked off back to the TARDIS.
Renee was floating, the wonderful singing surrounding her entire being. She lay contently, just letting her mind go where it willed. The singing was surrounding her with pleasant images of her childhood and young adulthood. Walking into the Library for the first time at the age of ten. Getting to become an assistant librarian two years later. Getting her first kiss. Driving her first vehicle. Graduation to First Assistant Librarian. As she floated through her memories, Renee heard voices conversing so softly that at first she thought she was just hearing things and turned her attention back to the sweet singing. But the voices grew louder as the singing grew softer. Then in one moment the images were torn away and acute pain engulfed her whole body. Renee screamed, but no sound came forth. Instead the singing around her became screeching then screaming. It felt as though her whole body was being ripped apart in different directions then reassembled. It was pain beyond pain but did not last long. Thankfully the pain ebbed away and Renee sank gratefully into darkness.
She awoke back on the metal platform of the TARDIS, her head throbbing with pain but this time no singing. Blinking slowly to let her eyes adjust, she glanced around. She could hear Donna and the Doctor talking softly somewhere behind the pillar but could not see them. Renee decided just to lay on the cool metal platform until they noticed her. "She's awake." she heard the Doctor say and saw Donna peek around the pillar.
"How's your head?" Donna asked coming over to help her to her feet
"It hurts but I think they're gone."Renee said as she grabbed onto Donna's arm for support. "I don't hear any more singing-"
Crying out, Renee collapsed to her knees as images, smells and sounds swam across her senses.
"Doctor you can stop now!" hearing Donna cry out.
Looking through Donna's eyes up at the Doctor on the stairwell and seeing an angry god with pain in his eyes.
Feeling Donna's delight at finally finding the Doctor at the Adipose offices.
Watching Pompeii burn.
The Ood's song....
"Oh that's too salty!"
Renee let got of Donna's arm and looked at her in amazement. "Agatha Christie? Really?" she said without thinking as everything started to fade away and her senses returned to normal.
Donna took a step away from Renee, shock etched on her face. "How do you know that?" Donna said. "How could you possibly know?"
Renee looked shocked herself. "I-I don't know." she slumped even further to the floor saying absentmindedly.
The Doctor came around the TARDIS' console and ran the sonic screwdriver over her, careful not to get to close. Renee watched him with searching eyes. "Such pain and loneliness. The angry god.." she whispered, still seeing the edges of her visions.
The Doctor looked at her but said nothing towards her comment. "I thought so. I'm so sorry." he said.
"What is it, what's happened to her?" Donna asked.
" Low level telepathy. Most humans are born with the capability in their head but never use it. The Immortals dell'età must have switched it on somehow while taking control of her. They didn't just age her; they rewired her brain as well."
Renee looked at him blankly, not really registering what he'd said. "Aged me? What?" she said, trying to focus.
"How old are you exactly Renee?" the Doctor asked.
"Eighteen."
"Well you don't look it. Not anymore."
Renee furrowed her brow in frustration. "What are you talking about?" she snapped. "What do you mean I don't look eighteen."
Donna came back around from behind the console where she was looking for something. She handed Renee the hand mirror she'd found. "Sweetie, you look more like you're twenty six-twenty seven." she said as Renee looked in the mirror.
Renee's eyes widened in horror and she let out a yelp of surprise. Gone was the residual baby fat that had made her face slightly round. Her features were sharp now; high cheekbones and a slim nose. Her freckles had faded almost completely away. Her eyes thankfully were the same liquid butterscotch color they'd always been but had slight lines around their edges. She put the mirror down and studied her body. Slim now and where had those long legs come from? Renee started hyperventilating. "What-What-"
Donna crouched down beside her. "Just breathe, it'll all be alright." she said soothingly.
"You're now biologically twenty six years of age. Thats how the Immortals dell'età live. They leech on like parasites and suck literally the life out of you till your nothing but a husk. But you only had a few controlling you and their power was not a full strength so you in a sense are lucky if you think about it."
"Doctor!" Donna said shocked. "Must you be so cold about it?"
"Sorry."
"Can you fix it then? Can you change me back, take this away?"
The Doctor shook his head no. "Its rewritten your DNA. The changes are permanent."
Renee just stared at him. She felt tears come to her eyes as the realization hit her and looked away. "No," she said trying to deny it. "No, this can't be. I'm a Librarian. A simple, normal Librarian. That's all I want to be."
She looked back up at the Doctor. "I want to go home."she said and stood up shakily.
Donna stepped in front of her to block her off from the exit. "I don't think that's a good idea at the moment-"
"I'm going home." was all Renee said as she pushed past her.
The Doctor did nothing as Renee stepped out of the TARDIS. "Doctor, why didn't you stop her? Do you really think she needs to be by herself right now?"
"She won't be." the Doctor said. "Come on."
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Renee staggered into the lounge and collapsed into a chair. Marge arched her eyebrow but said nothing. Then she really looked at her. "Oh my God what happened to you Renee?!" She said and struggled to get out of her chair. "You look so much older! What happened down there?"
"I was possessed by beings who age you to death and they rewired my brain to give me freaky powers. Oh and they also aged me by about six years. Or so the Doctor says." Renee said, her voice filling with emotion. "Please sit down Marge, you're going to hurt yourself. You need to rest."
"What? You're not making any sense." Marge said. "Explain everything."
So Renee did to the best of her ability. She didn't remember much, but what she did she told Marge. "So how does it work then? This, new ability of yours." Marge asked gesturing to Renee's hands.
Renee looked at them. "I don't really know exactly," she said. "I just grabbed Donna's arm and then I saw things in my head. The Doctor, some beings called The Ood. I saw Pompeii burning."She shuddered at the images. "All kinds of strange things. Its almost like I was in Donna's head, picking through her memories."
Marge looked thoughtfully at Renee. "Maybe its only skin to skin? I did notice Donna was wearing a quarter length sleeve shirt. Speaking of which, where are her and the Doctor? I do need to speak to him."
Renee shrugged. "I left them in his TARDIS. You're taking this awfully well." she pointed out.
"My dear, when you know a man like the Doctor, such things as this hardly surprise you anymore. Though to tell you the truth, this is the most excitement I've had in a long time." Marge said, sighing. "I'm sorry that this has happened to you my dear, but maybe its for the best. I've always known that you'd have a better destiny that just being a Librarian."
Renee groaned. "But that's all I want to be! I don't this, this ability. How am I supposed to interact with people now? I can't very well touch them accidentally and see all sorts of things I'm not meant to! And what if its just not people? What if its objects too? Am I supposed to just sit in a padded cell somewhere so I don't discover some awful history some object has when I brush my hand on it? What if it affects my whole body? What if I can't ever be touched by another human being ever again in order to stay sane? How am I supposed to live?" she shot the questions out in rapid fire hardly taking a breath in between.
Marge just said in her chair until Renee's tirade was over. "We'll lets try some experiments hm? Why don't you just try to touch that book over there and see what you get. Then put on some gloves and then try it." Marge pointed at a book one of the other assistants had left on the coffee table.
Renee rolled her eyes but did as told. She brushed her fingertips along the books spine and saw images of people handling the book and surprisingly, the books contents as well. "Its not as strong as when I touched Donna, but I did see something. And I know what's in the book too."
Marge handed her a pair of handling gloves, the kind that was used when going to the Archives. "Now try it again with these." she said.
Renee did and got nothing. "Just as I thought, it must be skin to whatever it is you are touching." Marge said, a smug sound in her voice. "Well that problem's solved. You can just wear gloves. It won't look so unnatural since you're a librarian. Now lets continue on."
They tried may different things until they found the extent of Renee's new ability. It was only contained in her hands, thankfully, and any type of cloth or material that protected an object from Renee's touch nullified the ability. Many weeks passed since the fateful incident, and those weeks slowly started to turn into months. Renee began to accept what had happened, though truth be told it was hard explaining the age different to her peers. But Marge helped with that, and life continued on almost normally. They didn't hear from the Doctor or Donna, and after Marge had explained how she knew the Doctor and what he did, Renee imagined them off on some grand adventure across the galaxies. Though Renee wouldn't admit it, a tiny part of her wished to be with them. To see everything that she read in her books and things that weren't in her books. But she was sure she wouldn't see them again, and even if she did she hardly thought they'd invite her to come along.
Almost two years had passed and by now Renee had stopped looking around for that blue box that the two companions traveled in and just focused on her everyday life. She was still the First Assistant Librarian but she was taking on more and more of the Head Librarian's duties because Marge's health was slowly declining. Ever since that fateful day, Marge became more and more exhausted when going about her everyday tasks. One day an Assistant Librarian found her collapsed on the marble floor. Renee rushed her to the local hospital, where the doctor there quietly explained that Marge's heart was failing and had been for a while. To Renee's shocked ears, the doctor quietly explained that Marge was dying and there wasn't anything that could be done. The doctor recommended that she rest as much as possible and be made comfortable. The next day Renee took her mentor and friend home. Marge was determined to go about life as normal and made it for about a week. When she ended up in the hospital the second time she grudgingly admitted the truth. It was inevitable but it was hard for Renee to accept that her only friend was going to be leaving her soon. But for Marge's sake, she gritted her teeth and held back her tears. She put on a brave face for everyone and went about everything as if it was normal.
She'd used her ability to find out if there wasn't really anything that could be done; and after weeks of searching gave up. The doctor had been right there was nothing. So she slowly watched Marge decline and helped her make arrangements for when after she was gone. "So I certainly think that everyone knows that you'll be taking my place soon." Marge commented while Renee was tending to her one day from her chair on the balcony attached to her bedroom. "So why don't we just make it official?"
Renee looked at her and sighed. "I really don't think that's a good idea Marge, Elphie is ahead of me by two years and I think she'd be more deserving of the position than me." she said and fluffed the pillows on Marge's bed and straighted the covers. "And more appreciative too."
"But don't you want it?" Marge asked. "I thought it was your lifelong ambition to run the University's Library."
Renee shook her head. "Of course when I was younger yes; but things are different now. You know that. I could never fully dedicate myself to it. I'll have to be on constant watch for everything. I wouldn't want to accidentally discover something I wasn't supposed to know. That's an added stress I don't need for when-for when you're gone." The last words were hard to get out.
Renee turned away for a moment to stop the seeming never ending tears from spilling over. "Well then, if that's your choice. Have Elphie come in after my rest and we'll get it settled." Marge said as she got up from the chair and when to lay on the bed. "Don't let me sleep to long dear. Its seems to be all I do nowadays and its getting old."
Renee gave a small chuckle despite herself. Marge was fighting so hard to keep her life normal as possible and her irritation at Renee for some reason made Renee laugh. She didn't know why. It was possible it was just a reaction of denial. Renee left the room quietly and went back to her own quarters to pick up her satchel. Today was one of the Farmer's Market days, and there was a few things Marge and herself had been craving that until now had been out of season.
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Wandering through the Farmer's Market was one of the few luxuries Renee enjoyed. It was time just for herself. She didn't have to worry about deadlines, if books were placed in the right sections, redistribute workloads when one or two librarians couldn't come into work. It was just time for her to browse, to not think about anything for a while. She stopped at a stall that contained Bleaches and examined the fruit. It was one of her favorites, a cross breed between peaches and blueberries. Had the texture and look of a blueberry, but the size and taste of a peach. Of course the after taste of blueberry was nice. Selecting a few, Renee paid the farmer and continued on. A few of the stall owners greeted her and she waived back at them. "Renee, how are you my darling? Come see what I've created lately!" A man called from a corner stall at an intersection of roads.
"Oh hello Edwin, what in the world have you combined now?" Renee called to the farmer as she started over to his stall.
Edwin was a bit of a portly man. Renee had known him for years ever since she was old enough to come to the Market alone. He was a breeder by trade, and sold what ever he'd managed to cultivate at the Market and had manged to even sell some of his more popular crossbreeds to the government for mass production. That of course made the man rich, but he'd never abandoned his stall and the Market. "Its wonderful, take a look at this! Its a cross between a janock cherry and a Medusa orange. I call it a Jantorrus fruit. What do you think?" Edwin said and produced a small orange colored cherry for her to try.
Noting the name was the same as Marge's surname, she took the fruit. Renee popped in into her mouth and received an explosion of citrus and cherry flavor. "Oh Edwin that's absolutely marvelous! Its so juicy and the flavor just pops in your mouth." Renee said.
"I've had more of those government boys about but I haven't shown them that one yet. You think they'll go for it?" Edwin asked as he started to fill a small bag with Renee's usual purchases.
"If they don't I'll at least by a tree off you. I'm assuming they're tree grown?"
"Yes they are, found that way easier to harvest. I'll put a bag in for Marge to taste. I know she likes the fruits that they're made of. I actually was inspired by her. When you told me what'd happened, I instantly thought of the combination. I've named it after her of course." Edwin said, a slight blush appearing on his face. "The wife thought it would be a nice gesture for such a wonderful lady."
Renee fought back tears as she took the bags from him. "Thank you Edwin, from both of us. Thank Marie for us too." she said quietly.
"How's she doing, if you don't mind my asking? I know its hard." Edwin said.
"She's alright, given everything. It won't be much longer though I think. She's sleeping more and more." Renee said, her voice cracking.
"If you need someone to be there, you know, when it happens, the wife and I will certainly come for you. Just you give us a call eh?"
Renee nodded unable to speak. Suddenly she was shoved forward into the stall. "Hey buddy watch where you're walking!" Edwin shouted.
"Oh sorry didn't see you there was trying to out the way of a cart must have mis-stepped." said the man who'd bumped into her.
Renee froze at the voice. It was the Doctor! A wave of emotions hit her strongly and without thinking she turned around and slapped him hard.
"Oh my god what have you done now? I swear we can't go anywhere without you getting into some sort of trouble-" Donna started to say then realized who it was. "Renee!"
She shoved the Doctor. "I told you this place looked familiar!"
The Doctor said nothing and just stood there, rubbing the place where Renee slapped him. Finally he said, "What bloody hell was that for?"
"For leaving me on my own to deal with this!" Renee said and held up her free hand, the other still clutching the bag of fruits.
"What gloves?" the Doctor asked, confused.
"No you idiot, don't you remember?" Renee said glaring at him.
"Renee, is everything alright? Do I need to summon the police?" Edwin asked warily.
"No Edwin everything's fine. Just old acquaintances." Renee said turning back around to smile at him. "Don't worry and thanks again for the fruit. I'll see you later."
She stalked off away from the stall, hoping the Doctor and Donna would follow.
Thankfully they did, and Renee led them out of the Farmer's Market so they could talk more privately. Ducking into a resturant that she knew well, Renee asked the hostess for a corner booth farthest from the door. Renee motioned for the Doctor and Donna to join her.
She was still angry, hurt, and confused but didn't let her emotions show for fear of them running off. After the sever took their orders she turned to the Doctor who was seated to her left. "I'm sorry I slapped you," she said. "It was a gut reaction. I didn't even think."
"Well don't make a habit of it. I don't need another Jackie Tyler." the Doctor said.
Donna rolled her eyes at him. "I'm sorry we went off and left you Renee."
"Why did you?"
The Doctor answered that. "We had a distress signal come through and had to take care of a few things." he said vaguely.
"But how long exactly did that take you? I've been looking for you! I'd almost given up!" Renee said.
"Its only been a few days." Donna said. "What do you mean?"
"Exactly how long has it been?" The Doctor asked with a quizzical look.
Renee sighed, frustrated. "It's been almost two years. Its been almost two years since you left the Library! I looked for you almost every day until Marge got sick then I didn't have as much time to look-"
The Doctor held up his hand. "She's sick?"
Renee swallowed hard. "Yeah, really sick. She has a heart condition that wasn't caught until a year ago and basically her heart is slowly wearing down. I actually need to get back and check on her." she said and stood up to go.
Donna caught her arm as she started to leave. "Isn't there anything that can be done?" she asked quietly.
Renee shook her head no.
The Doctor stood up. "We're going with you. Maybe there is something I can do."
"I doubt you'd be able to do anything Doctor. Aside from Marge getting a new heart, there isn't anything anyone can do."
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Marge was delighted to see the Doctor again when the arrived back to the apartments and Renee woke her up. They sat in her bedroom just talking, while Renee and Donna fixed dinner. They had their own discussions as well. Renee filled her in on everything that had happened since they'd left. Donna apologized again for leaving but did not elaborate on where they'd gone. Renee didn't push the issue; secretly she was happy they were here. If anyone could do anything, by Donna's and Marge's standards it was the Doctor. She'd give the irritating man a shot.
"Dinner's ready! Marge would you like to come into the dining room or eat on the balcony?" Renee called towards the bedroom.
When there wasn't an answer she walked down the hall. "Hey Marge did you hear me? Oh by the way I called Elphie and she'll be here really soon-" she stopped short when she opened the bedroom door and found the Doctor leaning over Marge's bed. "Oh no!"
"Shh! She's just sleeping." The Doctor said straighting. "Didn't mean to scare you."
Renee's heart fluttered as her panic died down. "I'm sorry I got so startled. Its just, the doctor told me she's very close and I just thought-"
The Doctor interrupted her. "I know what you thought. And you were right; I hate admitting it but there is nothing I can do. Her heart is simply giving out. I can't fight the wearing of the body. Everything has a time." he looked very sad as he spoke those words. "I've learned that lesson enough."
Renee felt awkward. "Would you like something to eat? Donna and I made dinner."
The Doctor nodded and followed her out.