Fandom: Doctor Who/Broadchurch

Characters: Donna/Alec Hardy, OCs

Warning: this might be slightly AU after this week's episode, but I'm saying it's what will happen.

Summary: In a sequel to The Second Cut Is Slower, Donna decides to help her new friend gain something precious back.

Disclaimer: nope, not mine. I'm just having fun here.

A/N: I had no idea of Hardy's daughter's name when I wrote this. And I still don't!

The Third Cut Is Okay

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It was as she was falling asleep in her hotel bed, with Hardy's arm wrapped possessively around her waist and his body snuggled up behind hers, that Donna finally thought of a nickname for him.

"Oh for goodness sake!" she suddenly exclaimed. "Why didn't I think of that before?"

"Think of what?" he mumbled, and rubbed his chin against her temple.

She winced at the pain caused by his stubble and tried to move away, but he wasn't going to let that happen fast. "A name for you," she grouchily told him.

"Go on then, give it your best shot," he murmured. "And then we can go to bloody sleep."

"It's simple. I should have called you 'Thomas'," she proposed.

"Thomas? Oh, you mean Thomas Hardy. Very funny, Donna," he sarcastically commented, and didn't chuckle.

"Please yourself," she huffed, and thumped her pillow to make it softer.

"I'd appreciate it more if I wasn't shagged out and could actually sleep," he grumbled.

"Watch it! Or you won't get to wake up in the morning," she threatened him, and deliberately turned over to stop him sleeping by kissing him.

He opened his mouth to let her kiss him deeply. "What are you up to?"

"I'm not up to anything," she insisted as she tried to sound innocent. "Nothing at all," she continued as she kissed him again. "I'm only doing this so that I don't have to rely on dragging you back into my bed at another time."

"Are you?" he queried with interest as he returned the kisses. "Did you have to drag me in this time?"

"It was more like a trail of breadcrumbs, to be honest," she admitted as she broke from his lips and began to suckle on his throat, licking her way down to the base of his neck. "Food was definitely involved."

He laughed, glorifying in the moment as he let her start to have her wicked way with him. In fact he was rather enjoying the sensation of a naked woman wriggling on his body; the push of her breasts as they swung onto his chest, the soft feel of her skin, her hot tongue creating a path of arousal as he became increasingly aware of intimate flesh. A groan broke out of him.

Donna giggled at him. "You are so easy!"

"No, it's what you've reduced me to," he argued as his body decided to undulate in order to rise and meet her. "You're just too bloody sexy."

She snorted her scorn at that. "As I said, you are easy, Thomas; because if I do this…"

For a second he wondered what she was about to do; and then she placed her hands on his shoulders to push herself up off him. He went to complain that she was taking her body away from him, but then he realised exactly what she was doing. "Arhh harrr!" he gasped out at the delicious sensation; unable to think of the right words to describe his delight.

"I thought you'd like that," she smirked as she momentarily shut her eyes to absorb the sweet result.

His hands went to his hips.

"You're beautiful," he whispered. "So beautiful."

She was in two minds to completely contradict him.

"What the…?!" she squealed as she found herself being suddenly forced backwards; and she landed on the soft covers.

Hardy followed her down and he instantly returned to her mouth to take possession of it. That talented tongue of his glided over hers, enticing her ever onwards. He was suddenly over, on, and was her as a wave of desire and completion built to a crescendo.

She couldn't cry out because he was taking her air; and if she wasn't careful she was going to lose control at any second.

Hardy knew he was being greedy but she was driving him wild with desire. Baby or not, he had to make her body his. "Oh Donna!" he panted out; trying desperately to catch his breath before calming down. "I'm not used to this."

He allowed himself to collapse onto her as she tenderly rubbed his back, unwilling to pull instantly away.

"You okay?" she asked as she kissed his face.

"I'm okay," he confirmed as he gratefully kissed her back. Then with another groan, he rolled to the side and off her. "Now I'm definitely knackered!"

Aw, he looked so adorable to her eyes as he lay sated on the bed beside her. Donna couldn't resist reaching out a hand to rub his torso like a beloved pet. "I think you just paid for your part of the meal," she commented; and gained a laugh from him.

"Donna," he started to say, as he took hold of her hand and brought it up to his lips, "I would love to come up to London to visit you. Don't let this dwindle away."

"I won't," she promised. "But you have to play your part too."

"I will," he vowed. "It's been a long time since I was a boyfriend, but I think I can remember how these things go."

"Does that include all the normal skulking about, lying and cheating?" she wondered.

He shook his head. "I was a bloody brilliant boyfriend; always punctual, courteous, bought presents. I even proposed once," he boasted.

It was on the tip of her tongue to point out how well all that went. But that wasn't true; he had ended up married with a child after all. "Just keep that in mind where we're concerned, please," she begged. "Not the proposing!" she quickly amended. "Just the being a decent boyfriend…" Phew! She saved it; and then blushed, spoiling the effect.

That gained her a radiant smile. She loved to see him smile; his was a face that was designed for it.

"How could it be anything else but wonderful when I have you?" he schmoozed her as he lovingly caressed her cheek.

"You don't half talk shite, Thomas," she scoffed at him.

He shrugged his shoulders. "It was worth a try, wasn't it?" he said cheekily.

"Oh yes; anything's worth a try with you," she readily agreed.

The grin stayed on his face. "Can I ask something else? Can we now try sleeping? I really am knackered; I wasn't kidding."

For once she didn't swat him; she merely laughed in agreement.

The following morning Donna and Hardy parted company with many promises to meet up during the weekend. It had been tempting for her to stay on in the hotel just outside Broadchurch, but her mind was already plotting things out; and she had instantly got one of her assistants, George, to make a very special arrangement for the next day.

Hmm. The school didn't look too bad as Donna stepped out of her car. Of course George had to complain, didn't he?

"We're back at a school?! I thought we were doing a talk," George grumbled as he pushed open the car door and climbed out.

"We are, you numpty!" Donna bit back. "Not every client is a corporation; other things do exist in the world."

She breathed out a sigh of exasperation. Why had she thought it would be a good idea to bring him with her to this place? Apart from his good looks she sometimes wondered if he was worth the hassle of keeping him around. George was one of those young twenty somethings who was sure that they were entitled to far more than they deserved; and made certain that everybody around them was aware of their opinion with this. Most of the time she was able to slap him down about it immediately, but she was unaccountably nervous about turning up at this particular secondary school; the outcome was too important.

George made a noise of disapproval. "But a school!" he griped.

"What's the matter? Frightened they'll steal your dinner money?" she mocked him. "You're a big boy now, so get your arse in gear and get out our projector."

"Yes, Donna," he huffed in annoyance and went to collect their stuff from the boot. "If I get surrounded by snotty-nosed kids, I want you to know that I'm holding you responsible."

"Oh I'm relying on that, Georgie boy," she muttered to herself; and squared back her shoulders to walk into the main school building.

"Welcome to our school, Mrs Temple-Noble!" the headmaster boomed out as soon as he saw her; and attempted to shake her hand off her wrist.

She wrenched it back out of his grasp. "Thank you for being able to fit us in at such short notice. I know your requested our presence, but I bet you weren't expecting such a fast response."

The headmaster had beamed back at her. "I'm sure our pupils won't mind a little diversion to fill up their Friday," he assured her. "Is there anything you need before we begin?"

"Yes, I'm glad you asked me that," she told him confidentially. "Do you have some photos and a list of the pupils I will be meeting today?"

"Certainly," he replied; and led her into his office to examine a particular file.

After a quick cup of coffee, Donna and George were being shown to their perspective audience.

"…And here we have our potential sixth formers," the headmaster boasted as he led the two of them down a brightly lit corridor and opened a door.

The assembled pupils within immediately stood up obediently and gave them curious looks.

Donna eyed the specially invited pupils and spotted her straight away; she had his colouring and his eyes. Already Donna was half in love with the girl. "Hello. You might have heard of me, although I go by the name 'Donna Noble' now and this is my assistant George," she began as she introduced her talk about the good work her charity did; and George smiled back at her reassuringly.

It went quite well, the projector didn't play up, there were a few laughs, a few sniffs as she related real case studies, and there were pleased faces before she finished her well-rehearsed spiel.

"I'll get straight to the questions part since you've heard the speech," Donna told them with a smile. "Anyone have something they want to ask me?" She gazed around and the boy she had expected to do so put up his hand.

When she pointed at him, he burst out with, "Is it true that you've got a magic memory?"

There was a nervous laugh from the audience. This was a topic that often came up in newspaper articles whenever they wrote about her. "Hmm. Where should I start…" Donna paced up and down a little as she tried to decide where to go with this one. "Before I came into the hall today I was given a list of all the pupils with small thumbnails of you. So, from that I know you are Jake Hemmings."

Jake didn't not look completely convinced. "You might have been given the names of all the troublemakers," he reasoned.

"Then you choose for me, Jake. Pick someone out that you think I wouldn't know," Donna challenged him.

"Go on Jake!" a friend encouraged him and he sought out a possible candidate.

"Her!" he finally decided; pointing to a small mousey girl five chairs away.

The girl in question immediately blushed a deep crimson red as all eyes turned to look at her.

"Aw, poor Lorraine Adams. That was not very nice of you, Jake," Donna admonished him. It pleased her immensely that he looked so impressed. "You picked a very impressive young lady who will go far with her music interests. Do we have any other questions?"

There was a show of hands, and the talk was off. Good! She wanted to send up prayers that Jake had helped her cause so much.

Almost an hour later, Donna was politely helping herself to some nibbles when two girls crept nearer, obviously longing to ask her something. Ah, just the people she wanted to see. She turned and gave them an encouraging smile. "What can I do for you two ladies?"

"We were wondering; do you ever take school-leavers in your charity?" the more forward girl asked.

"I have done," Donna cautiously replied, "but I don't tend to. I like people to have some experience of life first. Most of our employees ideally come from the police, if we can get them, or several others places."

"I wouldn't want to join the police!" the other girl blurted out.

"Why's that?" Donna queried as she took the chance to study her. After all, she had been waiting for this girl to come and talk to her of her own freewill; infinitely pleased that she had. "I'd have thought you'd be ideal."

"What do you know about me?" the girl protested in the way teenagers often do. "You know nothing about me at all!"

'Oh, here comes the true challenge,' Donna thought to herself. "I know that you are Bethany Hardy; that you are a very intelligent girl who seems very quiet but really you are intensely focused on your studies. You have ideals that adults don't always live up to, but you are a loving, thoughtful girl."

Bethany gasped. "How did you know that?" she inevitably asked.

"Because I've read the basic details about you, and you are perfectly normal for a teenager," Donna explained kindly. "I can sense someone with rebellious tendencies when I see them." Here was her chance to make the necessary connection. "I also don't meet many people with the surname Hardy. Do you have any family living near Broadchurch?"

"No!" Bethany quickly responded while her friend looked stunned. "I know no-one there."

"That's a shame," Donna sympathised. "Anyway, I have to go and collect George from his fan club over there and get back to London."

On the other side of the room, George was surrounded by several schoolgirls all vying for his attention; just as Donna had hoped they would. Her gamble had paid off so far.

It was as they were about to leave the school building that Bethany rushed up to catch Donna on her own, and whispered, "I do know someone in Broadchurch, Ms Noble."

"Do you? And call me Donna, please." She then waited patiently for the expected question.

"Did you by any chance meet my dad?" Bethany wondered.

Donna tried not to smile in triumph too much. "If you mean Inspector Alec Hardy, then yes, I did meet him." She waited for a small sign of recognition at the name before she continued, "I must say that I was very taken with him, you'll be pleased to know. He's a dad to be proud of."

Bethany made no attempt to hide her sneer contempt. "Do you really think so?"

With a deliberate action of stopping her progress towards the car in order to pay attention, Donna assured her, "I know so. You see, my mum has often been a right cow to me all my life; but my dad…" She gave a happy sigh. "Dad was always there, offering support, helping me build my dreams. And I see exactly the same qualities in your dad."

A suspicious expression appeared on Bethany's face. "Did you send you here to say this to me?"

"What?! You think your dad has the power to make me, the Donna Temple-Noble, take time out of her busy schedule to do all this just to talk to you? If that was so, you've got some dad!" she openly teased her. "I met him, I spoke to him to give him some information about a case, and then we had a meal." She then changed her tone to a much softer one, and offered, "I have his contact details if you're interested."

"I don't know," Bethany admitted, with a coy shake of her head.

"I'll tell you what," Donna began. "You go home tonight, give it a think, and if you want to say a simple 'hello' to him, contact me here…" She drew out a business card from her pocket and handed it over. "This will allow you to get through to me directly, so spread it around; but I promise you won't regret it."

Bethany fingered the embossed card now within her hands and regarded it attentively; so Donna took the opportunity to walk away and leave the girl with her thoughts.

"Ms Noble! I mean, Donna!" Bethany called out, halting Donna in her tracks. She waited until Donna had turned around before she said, "Thank you for this." She held up the card as if something else was in question.

"You're very welcome, Ms Hardy. You are worth the effort. And contact me when you choose which university to go to; I'd love to know. You've got the potential to go far." With a final smile, Donna continued on her way, more than a little bit sure she'd be hearing from Bethany very soon.

In fact, as Donna turned to gaze briefly at Bethany Hardy before dipping down to get into her car, she could see definite connections grow between them. It was faint to her sight, as such things normally were, but it was there. Not that anyone knew this happened since her head injury. Like everything else that was different now, nobody needed to know.

With a satisfied sniff, she drove away and resolved to phone Alec Hardy at the first opportunity.

A/N2: you can find the full adult version of this on AO3.