Characters: Donna/Alec Hardy, OCs

Summary: In a sequel to The Sixth Cut Brings Joy, Donna manages to give her new friend everything he ever wanted.

Disclaimer: when they shared out the ownership honours I didn't get a look in.

A/N: numerous migraines halted me finishing this, otherwise it would have been posted long ago.

The Seventh Cut Ends Things

.

Hardy's offer to go somewhere more private seemed to stun Bethany into confused silence. "In that case, you can help me get all this into the car," Donna suggested as she tackled dismantling her display boards. She started handing items to Bethany and Chloe, her friend, before they could argue too much.

Hardy seemed amused by this, and quickly found the larger boards being pushed into his hands.

"Well don't stand there gawping! Get going" Donna ordered him, and strode off in the direction of the car. Bethany and Chloe followed obediently behind without a backward glance towards him.

In next to no time they were standing next to Donna's car she opened the boot and loaded in the display. "Where do you want us…?" Hardy began to ask her as he wondered why she was acting so annoyed with them all. No doubt he'd find out in time, he decided.

"Chloe, you sit in the front with me; Hardy in the back with your daughter," Donna commanded as she pointed to each door, and then climbed in to the driver's seat as she waited for them to get in. "How were you going to get home?" she asked Chloe.

"Oh! We erm… we were going to get the bus," Chloe shyly answered, suddenly surprised to find herself in the limelight after playing second fiddle to her friend.

Donna was closely watching Hardy and Bethany adjust themselves on the back seat via the rear-view mirror. "And then back to your house or Bethany's?"

"Mine; we're having tea at my house," Chloe replied. "Why?"

"Because that's where I'll take you," Donna informed her as she started up the car. "Is that okay with everyone?"

Bethany merely turned away to look out the window, leaving it to Hardy agree for them all. He then went silent, unsure what you say to an unresponsive adolescent that you don't want to upset.

"What if that's not what I want?" Bethany tersely asked after some seconds of staring at the outside landscape.

Donna briefly peered at her through the reflective glass, determined to be unfazed by the stroppy behaviour. "Then I stop the car and you can walk home from here. I'm still taking Chloe home, once she tells me exactly where she lives."

Chloe cast a cautious glance at Bethany and then gave Donna the information, who carried on driving. Obviously she didn't want to walk all the way home and dreaded Bethany forcing her into it.

"Why don't you tell me what you really want to say, Bethany," Donna suggested to the sulking teenager on her backseat.

"What good would it do? You'd only lie to me again." Bethany then pouted.

There was a gasp of exasperation. "I've had enough of this!" Donna remarked and pulled into the nearest layby. Having parked the car, she switched off the engine and turned to face Bethany. "I had my reasons for not confessing all. Why don't you try asking some questions about that or anything else that takes your fancy?"

"Alright!" Bethany huffed in return. "Why were you kissing my dad?"

"Because I wanted to. I actually like your dad, rather a lot, strangely enough." Donna glared back at her. "Next question."

It soon came. "Did you arrange today on purpose?"

"Of course I did!" Donna tried not to gripe. "I not only put myself out to contact your mum to get special permission, I had to deal with local bureaucracy, the bods that run the shopping centre, Wessex Police to allow me to kidnap your dad for the day, my charity offices, and the company that supplies those display boards."

"But why?" Bethany almost pleaded to know.

Ah, at last; a positive emotion to respond to. "I thought you and your dad deserved to get to know each other again after all you've been through," Donna honestly answered. "You need your dad. Believe this or not, but I actually like you, rather a lot too as it happens."

"Did Dad leave Mum for you? Is that really why he went?" Bethany blurted out; a trace of hurt in her voice.

"Now we get to a real question," Donna muttered. "Hardy, I think this is your one," she said more loudly.

"I didn't know Donna at all when I left. We didn't meet until recently," he began to explain. "I left because your mum doesn't love me anymore, and living in a loveless marriage is sheer hell. I never stopped loving you; and I know you were angry I left, but I wanted to save you from… all the arguments."

Bethany blinked back tears. "Mum said you made her hate you."

Donna reached out around her car seat and took Hardy's hand in consolation, knowing this was the hardest part for him as he negotiated this personal minefield. He gratefully squeezed back.

"Perhaps I did. It wasn't intentional. Walking away meant I lost my job, my reputation, my marriage, my home, but most of all I lost you," he told Bethany sincerely. "I have regretted that every single day."

"Then you didn't run off with someone?" Bethany tried to clarify.

"No," he stated. "All I did was take a job elsewhere."

"And the dying?" she asked in a small voice.

He sighed. "Just a technicality."

"No, Hardy! Tell her the truth," Donna insisted as she urged Chloe to take Bethany's hand after giving her a tissue to wipe away the tears.

At first he glared angrily back at Donna. "It was close," he admitted reluctantly. "I was talked into having the pacemaker fitted despite the odds of survival being low."

Tears dripped down the girl's face. "Oh Dad!" Bethany sobbed; and he quickly took her within his embrace.

"It's okay, sweetheart. I'm still here," he whispered into her hair.

That only made her wail more.

"Thank goodness for second chances," Donna remarked as she added in a caress to Bethany's cheek. She then forced her herself to look away from the scene and started up the car. She struck up some small talk with Chloe to break the silence as they drove along, and in next to no time they were pulling up outside her house.

Both girls thanked her politely for the ride.

"Can I phone you again?" she quietly asked Bethany as she climbed out of the car.

Bethany nodded her permission, obviously frightened to voice her answer.

"Bye darling. See you soon," Hardy told her as he kissed her cheek.

"Bye Dad," she brokenly replied, and followed Chloe indoors.

Donna and Hardy wrapped an arm around each other as they made sure the girls got in safely; and were about to get back in the car when an irate woman came running out of the house. Another woman stood nervously by the front door watching the scene.

"Who said you could bring them home?!" the first woman demanded to know.

"I made sure our daughter and her friend returned safely," Hardy sternly replied.

"But did you have to bring her?" the woman continued to berate him.

Donna immediately greeted her with, "Hello, I'm Donna. I believe we've spoken on the phone." What a cheek ignoring her like that!

The woman seemed to rein in her rudeness at that point. "I do believe we have. I hadn't expected you to bring our Bethany back here."

"She was upset; it was the least I could do for the poor girl. She's had a lot to cope with lately," Donna explained.

The woman was obviously fighting with her anger. "What have you told her?!"

"I told her the truth about me. What you choose to tell her about you is completely your choice," Hardy replied. "But I will be using it as grounds for divorce."

Donna waited for him to walk around to the side of the car before she commented to his ex, "You really should tell her, you know; because if you don't, I will the next time she asks me." She turned to grab her door handle.

The woman leaned in close and spat at her, "You can't go around telling me what to tell my daughter! Just who do you think you are?!"

Donna smiled her sweetest smile as she surreptitiously spotted Bethany peeking anxiously out an upstairs window in the house. "I'm Donna Temple-Noble, trying to save another teenage runaway from happening," she confidently replied. "Bye then, until next time we pick Bethany up." She then opened her door and got in.

Hardy had climbed into the passenger seat next to Donna and flashed her a watery smile as he gripped her left hand tight. "Thanks," he murmured.

She smiled reassuringly back at him. "Let's get you home, Thomas. We have some more arranging of our own to do."

As she drove towards home the most wonderful, golden moment filled her mind and body, and she looked excitedly across at him. This was it; she knew deep within her that this was finally going to be it.

Hardy was naked as he crawled across the bedcovers towards an equally naked Donna, slowly taking his time as he carefully considered her. There was almost something emanating from her body, weaving a siren's song upon his senses, tickling his palate and caressing his body. Never had he felt so entranced by somebody; it was as if she had been forged from his very soul, for him and him alone.

She smiled at him, welcoming him and daring him to get closer. A warm sunny grin spread across his face as he realised this. Everything with her was a delicious dare somehow, and he wanted so much to take part and win.

"You look pleased to see me," she purred at him.

Not once had her gaze dipped down lower than his shoulders, but he knew she was referring to his obvious physical response to seeing her laid out on the duvet like a tasty meal. Merriment twinkled in his eyes. "As do you to see me," he countered. The faint blush upon her lips and cheeks told him that alone.

"I might be," she admitted, trying to sound vague; but her wandering hands reached out to caress his torso, smoothing their way over his skin.

Moving to hover over the bed with her below him, he momentarily closed his eyes in pleasure. Her touch was always so gentle, warm and inviting. "You only want me for my body," he pretended to complain.

"Yeah," she agreed as he bent low to capture her lips and kiss them sweetly. "What was I thinking?"

"No doubt how handsome and virile I am," he suggested as he kissed her again.

"Is that viral like the flu'?" she wondered.

He chuckled at the bad pun. "You could say that since I'm all over you like a rash…," he whispered as he eased himself down onto her and resumed their kiss.

She pressed him closer, longing to mesh their naked bodies as perfectly as their mouths locked together in their sensual dance. His tongue and lips flared her passion as open-mouthed kisses turned her into wantonness. A clear thought bubbled up from her unconsciousness, and she wanted to laugh with glee as it surfaced. The fact was… she loved him. And it hadn't taken a guide dog and white stick to find this out; merely the longed for press of his lips as he offered himself. Then along with the burst of joy came an unbidden sob.

"What is it, my love?" he immediately stopped to ask with such gentleness. "Tell me," he encouraged her, adding in a kiss to her fingertips when her hand came up wipe away a tear.

"I'm just being silly; take no notice," she tried to insist.

"Is it this whole business with Bethany? Don't let it get you down. We can get through it."

"It isn't that, honest it isn't," she said with a shake of her head. "I just want you to know that if we don't manage to have this baby, I'm not making do with you, not like I treated Shaun."

"Oh Donna!" he gasped out, overcome with emotion and not daring himself to speak. Instead he crushed his mouth down onto hers, hungrily expressing his love.

His hand trailed down to, and she squirmed with anticipation as his fingers played their own particular tune. The soft moans she let out complemented the song; until she could bear its sweetness no longer. "I want you," she gasped out.

It was exquisite, he thought, as he basked in her warmth. "Oh Donna!" he groaned out loudly as he did so. "You feel wonderful!"

Kissing became secondary to this wonderful feeling; this need to stamp him as hers. "Yes!"

"Love you…," he eventually forced out.

They shared several more kisses as their bodies calmed down, and then he rolled to her side. He blew out his cheeks. "That went well," he commented.

"Is that with or without the declaration?" she teased.

Oh! He hadn't, had he? "Did I say something?" he nonchalantly asked.

She smirked at his attempted cover up. "Just carry on telling yourself that, Thomas."

To avoid any further queries, Hardy forced himself to get up off the bed. "I'll go and wash," he informed her.

She laughed as she followed him into the bathroom. Men, eh? They never change.

Hardy's soft velvety tones soothed her through the slightly open bathroom door as she anxiously clutched a small device in one hand and balanced herself over the toilet seat with the other.

"Go on, love. Pee on the stick. I'm here with you," he crooned from his position crouched and leaning against the door frame outside.

She sought reassurance from him. "You promise not to bugger off?"

"I promise. Now do it!" he urged. After some moments, he asked, "So… did you see EastEnders the other night?"

Donna immediately burst into giggles. "Don't you dare compare me to Bianca," she warned him.

"Nah! I'd never do that. She may be ginger, but you are far more beautiful," he complimented.

"I'm beautiful, am I?" Donna snorted in disbelief.

"It's a well-known fact," he insisted. "It said so in the Daily Telegraph the other day."

She still wasn't convinced. "You saw that piece, did you? I thought they did a good job with the charity."

"I was only looking for you. In fact I said to Miller…" His voice suddenly petered out.

"You, mentioning me to your Detective Sergeant! Whatever came over you?" she teased.

"Well… I…" He could feel the blush creep over his face. "I might have said…"

"Come on, out with it. What did you say?"

"Nothing beyond it was you," he admitted. Although he wasn't owning up to the knowing look Miller had given him as he evaded her questions either.

"You can come in now," she told him as she washed her hands and tried to sound confident.

He appeared like a shot. "Well?"

"Can you look because I can't"

"Donna!" he scolded her and shift closer. "What am I looking for again?"

"A little plus sign, you div," she grumbled as she accidentally glanced at the test stick. "Just like… that!"

"Like that?" he double checked.

She fervently nodded. "Exactly like that! Oh Thomas, we're having a baby!"

He had expected the screech, but he hadn't expected her to then immediately burst into tears as she stood with her hands clasped over her mouth to keep in the loud sobs. However, he did know to pull her into his tender embrace, and shush her with loving noises as he stroked her hair. "Poor little sod with us for parents," he commiserated.

Inevitably she swatted at his arm. "We'll be brilliant parents."

"Too right we will," he agreed. "Donna," he started to say as he caressed her cheek with the back of his fingertips, "don't you think it's time you let me make an honest woman of you? Marry me."

"I don't…"

He growled in anger. "I'm not giving you the choice; you will marry me."

"But what about Bethany and your wife?" she countered.

"Bethany will come round, and as for her… why should I care about her feelings? She made it very clear she hates me, and I have grounds for a divorce. So problem solved!"

She added, "And your career?"

"No problem," he trilled. "I'll be sponging off you for the rest of my life."

Inevitably she hit him again. And then gleefully snogged him for all that she was worth. "What do we do now?" she asked.

"Isn't it obvious?" he asked in return. "We go and look at cots."

A/N2: as before, the unedited adult version can be found on AO3.