So empty, so alone, and so afraid that it was always how it had to be. He was in a dark pit of despair from where he could never release himself. He had come so close with Rose, and yet he had given her away. That helplessness of being the very last of his kind, it overwhelmed him.

It still frightened Donna, remembering those images, that last moment with the time lord when he had pressed his fingers against her face and she had experienced what he felt all the time. It still felt odd, having so many of his memories in her mind, they were distant in a way she couldn't explain, and there were far too many to go investigating what they were. It was a lot to try to witness nine hundred years of history at once. But that last moment alone, truly seeing him, seeing into his very being, it was terrifying and heart wrenching at the same time. But then he had plucked it all away, wiped away both his and her experiences, ripping away her memories and leaving her just as he had found her, useless.

But it had been worse than that, he had left her with a void, she couldn't really forget it all, there had been so many, she had grown too much to just resume her old life. And that's what had been missing, that's what had sent her into her depression. The emptiness she had felt, but couldn't explain, because it had been wiped away. She tried not to let it upset her, now that she understood, she also remembered how it had tore him up inside to do it. Knowing she would have died had he waited made it easier, but there was still part of her that felt betrayed. But she could see that he regretted it, almost as much as he regretted walking away from Rose on that beach. Leaving her with a man who he hoped could bring her happiness, but none for himself.

He was always pushing them away in the end, his companions, hoping that by cutting them off he was saving himself the pain of watching them wither and die. She could see it though, she saw that he didn't understand, by the time he pushed them away, it was already too late. He had given those people a bit of himself, and when he left them behind, they took it with them. It didn't matter if he watched them die, or they lived long happy lives. The hole was still there, just as her missing memories had been a gaping wound; it still festered and bothered him. He didn't understand that the loss was a part of life, human or time lord, it didn't matter. He seemed to think it was the universe with a personal vendetta. Men were so silly sometimes, everything always hat to be about them.

She couldn't fix Rose; he had already made his choice there. She saw how he had defiantly refused to say those three words that could have tied Rose to him forever. She saw the look the two men had exchanged; the clone had been as surprised as Donna had been. He had been given the chance to live his life with Rose, and if he loved her just as much as the Doctor did, she knew it had been the chance of a lifetime. And yet for the Doctor, it had probably been his most bittersweet. She couldn't fix that moment, though it killed her to admit it. She blamed the inflated ego on the time lord part of herself; though somewhere she knew that was genuine Donna. Still, she couldn't fix that moment without bringing a whole mess of trouble down on everyone, the Doctor included.

No, he was on his own with Rose. Hopefully it was better that she was in another universe, out of sight, out of mind. But his fear of being alone, of being the last of his kind; that she could fix. For starters, there was herself; a second heart suggested that perhaps she had gotten more than just the brain of a time lord. She had seemingly mutated to adjust to her human body, she didn't know yet to what extent, she had regenerated on that hill, she knew that. But had she died? Or just changed? That she wasn't sure of. She was still trying to get used to the extended limbs and the black as ebony hair that was now rather curly on the top of her head. She avoided mirrors a lot lately, the change was just a little too much for her to take in.

But she did exist, and that was something. And if she had anything to say about it, shortly, there would be many more like her. She could see why he refused to do anything for his people now, it was his own time line, and that was a very definite point within it. Time lords and dalek's must be destroyed together and in doing so, he had destroyed any chance of going back to save them. He was a part of it, and he couldn't fix that without destroying the very fabric of time.

But she was special; even he had told her that. 'Impossible' was probably how he would put it now. She was, in fact, an impossible thing. An anomaly in the universe and time itself, but more important to her plans, was that she had nothing to do with the time war. She could change it, it would be so simple, well, maybe not simple, but not impossible either. She would do it for the Doctor, because he was her best friend. And if there was one thing she wanted for the champion of the earth, the savior of the universe, and the man who was most importantly, her friend, it was happiness. She wanted the Doctor to feel the same kind of joy she had had on her travels with him, without the painful reminder that he would one day have to experience it alone.

Cardiff was where she found herself now, Torchwood was where she needed help, and if she could convince them, the rest was going to be easy. She strode into a pub near the opera house and scanned through those inside. It hadn't cost much to have the man she needed tracked down, and she had no shortage of cash. Though the whole endeavor would go smoother if she could find someone she knew who'd be willing to grease the wheels a little.

"Handsome Captain Jack, I presume?" She leaned against the bar next to him, looking quite pleased with herself. "Don't suppose you'd buy a drink for an old friend?" He had been sitting on a stool on his own, staring into his half empty glass of lager, not the first one of the night, she thought, as he looked up to her groggily.

"I'll certainly buy a drink for the lady who calls me handsome, but I'm not sure we've met," He flashed her a charming grin and grazed the back of her hand with his lips. She laughed as though he had made a joke but he seemed so sincere.

"Go on, get off it. You know me." She pulled her hand out of his and used it to wave down the bartender. "I'll have a martini, and put it on the funny mans tab." She jerked her thumb at Jack.

"Jack Harkness, at your service." He offered his hand to shake.

"Are you serious?" She found herself growing annoyed at the man, insulted that he had forgotten her so casually. "Are you being serious, right now?" She scowled and drank half the martini before catching her eye in the mirror behind the liquor bottles. "Oh." She said coughing on the bite of the drink.

"Look, I'm sorry if I've said something to make you angry…" Jack looked like he wanted to make a quick exit.

"I…" She turned back to him, a little flustered. "It's Donna."

"Your name?" He asked, a mild smile crossing his lips, thinking he had won her over.

"No! Well, yes." She threw up her hands in disgust. "Donna Noble. Jack, it's me. Donna." The smile stopped on his face and he said nothing for a long moment, but it looked like gears were slowly turning in his mind.

"So…the meta-crisis…" He started.

"Yes."

"And you're a time lord."

"Yes." She nodded again.

"And you've regenerated."

"Yes. Glad to see we're all caught up." She gave him a small round of applause.

"You're Donna Noble!" He grinned and stood from his stool; capturing Donna in a bear hug and for the first time, she didn't feel completely irritated with him. "You look great!" He held her at arm's length. "Not that you didn't…before…" He fumbled over his words briefly. "It's great to see you!" He recovered and hugged her once more. "Is the Doctor here?" He asked, searching the bar for her companion.

"Naw, just me here. He left a while back. Hoped I'd lead a normal, happy life, I'm sure." She rolled her eyes at the thought. "Daft, that one." Jack laughed along with her.

"Still, I thought you two would still be traveling together." He shrugged. That comment stung a bit, as that was exactly what she had thought, after their last adventure.

"Well, I was human, till about two weeks ago. Now I'm not so sure. Bit of a complicated story, and rather why I'm here. I'm looking for help." She pressed on bravely, smiling as though she didn't feel hurt by being left behind.

"Are you now?" He raised his eyebrows and downed half of his remaining drink with a smug grin.

"Yeah, of the dimensional space travel sort. And I'm a bit flush with liquid assets just now, looking for somewhere to invest it." She sipped causally at the rest of her drink. "Let me know if you find anyone who might be able to handle that sort of thing." She smiled over her glass at Jack who now had a calculating grin on his face.

"Miss Noble, I think we might have just the thing." He raised his own glass and they clinked them together with a laugh. "Cheers."