12 Years later
"Dr. Jones this is the man who found the victim." two women, one wearing a lab cot with the name tag Martha Jones Student approached the Doctor. She was surprised to see blood, in the amount that it was, on his shirt. "We're trying to get him a change of clothing."
"I already told you, I don't need a change of clothing; I have many changes in my..." the Doctor paused. "Look I don't know why your keeping me here, I did nothing wrong."
"You killed a man." Martha's eyes narrowed.
"Excuse me? I killed a man?" the Doctor's eyes widened with anger. "That thing who I did your human race a favor by taking him out of, he wasn't a man he was a monster."
"And okay, I wonder if were calling psych in on the right one..." Martha didn't answer the woman with her, she just made sure it was known that her comment was not appreciated then waited till she left.
"Look sir..."
"Smith; John Smith." the Doctor looked down at his shirt disgusted with himself. "Oh; she's right. Will someone please get me a clean shirt. Clean shirt... Amelia can't see me like this."
"Amelia?"
"Amelia Pond; short Scottish girl with red hair. I promised I would be back in five minutes." the Doctor paused. "Has it been five minutes? Of course it has; first I left, then I spoke to the woman, then I left again; came back saved woman from attacker. Must be what an hour and forty-five minutes?"
"I have no idea what your talking about..."
"No you wouldn't; you're human." The Doctor moved closer to Martha and stared into her eyes. "You're all human; pesky little rats that... And never mind back to my shirt, do you have a clean one?"
"Were working on it." Martha answered then thought about calling in a second psych consult for this one. "Mr. Smith..."
"John please..."
"John." Martha corrected herself. "I was wondering if you could tell me what happened; what you saw when you found Ms. Noble."
"Why, you into that sadomasochistic stuff?" the Doctor moved closer to Martha. "You get off on other peoples pain? Because if you do, you my dear are in the wrong profession. And... And... What do you think I saw when I found her?"
"I don't know; I need you to tell me."
"I was in my Tar... My car pacing." the Doctor began to explain himself, stopping when what he
said made no sense; which was quite often until he clarified he was not in a Tar, but a Car and sitting. After all one would have to have a very large car to be pacing in it. "She'd gotten on my nerves, all going on about my dumbo ears. Do you think I have dumbo ears?"
"No I don't think you have ears." Martha answered with a raise of her brow. "But um; can we move on."
"Yeah right; moving on. So I was on my way back to Amelia and she runs square into my Tar.. car..." the Doctor paused. "Bam; didn't even stop. So I get out and ask her if she was alright, conversation lasted about five minutes before the engines began to fade... Stutter.. Um.. Never mind."
"Did you recognize this man? Her attacker?"
"No I didn't." the Doctor took a breath. "Look I left, I came back and she was on the ground."
"So he was in the process of attacking her when you arrived?"
"Yes; no he wasn't in the process of attacking her so much as being in the process of finishing attacking her." the Doctor felt his skin crawl; the image of Donna and that thing. How helpless she was when he carried her into the Tardis; begging for him not to hurt her. He'd almost thought about taking care of her himself, but then there was Amelia. Amelia the seven year old Scottish girl he'd promised to come back for.
"I'm just confused..." Martha took a breath. "You say you saw her and she was fine; walked into your car but when you came back she was being attacked in an ally way. But she was fine the first time?"
"Yes."
"Are you sure? She wasn't maybe trying to hide something?" Martha thought about that, then the case. Donna Noble went missing in the year nineteen ninety-six, and now twelve years later she was being returned by this very odd man with a very odd story.
"Yes, no: I don't know, maybe she was hiding something." the Doctor became annoyed. "Why are you asking me this?"
"I'm asking you this because the woman you saved; the woman you brought in here." Martha took a breath; even she knew what she was about to say sounded as insane as this John Smith was acting. "Donna went missing twelve years ago."
14 years later...
"Were not supposed to be here..." fourteen years after meeting Amelia Pond, and two years after dropping Donna Noble off at the near by emergency room; the Doctor, late in getting things had that hand to head moment where everything became clear.
"Excuse me?" Amy who'd been staring at her painting turned to the Doctor, who as usual was now much to serious for her to like. "Hey what happened? We were just smiling and going on about how we'd helped Vincent Van Gough."
"Yes I know, but it wasn't..." the Doctor smacked his hand to his forehead again, this time getting looks from all around them and not just Amy. "Damn it, Amy why does this always happen?"
"What? You going all manic depressive on me?" Amy asked then jumped when her mobile phone rang. "It's my Aunt Sharon; what should I do?"
"Answer that it might be important..."
"It's my Aunt Sharon; I don't think it can be that important..."
"Amy just answer it..."
"Fine..." Amy raised a brow, then answered the phone as they exited the museum. "Aunt Sharon, yeah it's me... who else would it be. No I'm not being sarcastic, but really who else would be answering my phone other then me?"
the Doctor paused giving Amy space to speak to her aunt, which mostly consisted of her apologizing, and they words yes and I remember. Eventually the phone call came to an end, as well as Amy's good mood.
"So that was your Aunt Sharon?' the Doctor asked with a light tone, trying to get her to smile. It didn't work, so he asked. "What did she want?"
"I um; she wants me to come home." Amy stood there. "My cousin died."
"Oh Amy, I'm sorry." the Doctor walked closer to Amy. "What happened? Was she sick?"
"No; not psychically." Amy placed her phone back in her pocket. "She um.. She killed herself. My ant wants me to go to the funeral; she's almost insistent on it. I've never met this woman before."
"Are you going to go?'
"I don't know; I guess." Amy paused. "Maybe; I don't know, I just.. Maybe if I stop by the house. They usually have those things. Right? When the family gets together afterward."
"I guess. I don't really know; timelord here, we don't die." the Doctor shrugged. "But if you want to go, I'll go with you; if you want me to that is."
"Hell yeah. I'm not going on my own. I don't even know these people." Amy slapped the Doctor on the arm. "Just be on your best behaviour."
Amelia Pond's Aunt's House
"This is the address my Aunt Sharon gave me." Amy pointed to the house. "She should be inside."
"Did your aunt tell you why your cousin did this?" the Doctor asked as they walked up to the house. "Was she mentally ill for long?"
"No, that's the thing." Amy knocked on the door. "Although she did say we had a lot in common when it came to imaginations."
"Amelia?" Sylvia Noble answered the door. "Hi, I'm your Aunt; please come inside."
"Hi." Amy looked around the room of strangers dressed in black then introduced the Doctor to Sylvia. "Aunt Sylvia this is my friend the do... Um John Smith."
"Hello Mr. Smith." Sylvia shook the Doctor's hand. "I'm sorry we have to meet like this; Amelia Aunt Sharon is in the living room. She want's to see you."
"Okay." Amy grabbed on to the Doctor's and and tugged him through to the living room, where a picture of Donna was displayed on an easel. "Aunt Sharon..."
"I thought I asked you to come to the wake and the funeral Amelia..." Aunt Sharon pulled her aside, as the Doctor's eyes settled on Donna's picture. Totally oblivious to the conversation between Amy and her aunt the Doctor walked over to the picture.
"Did you know Donna?" the voice of an older man startled the Doctor. "I'm sorry I didn't mean to startle you; but I was wondering if you knew my Donna?"
"Um no I didn't." the Doctor lied. He had known her; once in a time he didn't remember and then in a time he wished he could forget. "I'm with her cousin Amelia. What happened?"
"Oh a lot happened." Wilf stared at the picture, and then went onto say... "She was such a special girl too; good heart." before pointing to a two year old little boy sitting on the couch near a female friend of Sylvia's. "That's her son over there. Andrew; Andy we call him, lovely little boy, looks just like her. He misses his mother so."
"I'm sure he does." the Doctor paused. "And you are?"
"I'm Donna's grandfather; Wilfred Mott, I'm Sylvia and Sharon's dad." Wilf introduced himself. "Are you my granddaughter's boyfriend?"
"No, were just friends that's all.. Your granddaughter and I; nothing more" the Doctor stared at the picture of Donna, she was wearing something simple unlike the outfit she had on the night they first met. It suit her. "It's a shame; she was such a pretty young woman."
"Yes, yes she was." Wilf answered the doctor with a little pride. "That was my girl; her mother didn't see much in her, but I knew different. I knew right; Donna was meant to go places, to be someone but then this happened. In a blink of an eye, one minute she was leaving to go to a party and then she was gone."
"And how long was she gone?"
"Twelve years. We all saw it coming, but none of us wanted to face the truth of it." Wilf paused, then picked up Andrew when he came running over to him. "Donna couldn't accept what had happened to her. The attack, and the missing time. We still don't know what he did to her while he had her, but the way she was found in that ally."
"Ally?"
"Donna was; she was, well this man did this horrible thing to her..." Wilf paused. "There was this nice man, I never met him but he helped her. He helped Donna. He made sure the man who hurt he paid for what he'd done."
"Sounds like an all around hero."
"He is in my book." Wilf switched his great grandson from one side to the other. "But still Donna, even with.. She never was the same after that; then she found out about Andrew here, not that she didn't love him but it wasn't like if she'd planned to have him and all."
"It's hard when conception takes place during such a violent act..."
"We don't like to talk about it, because we love Andy." Wilf nodded. The Doctor was glad Amy wasn't there to hear this, although he was sure eventually she would find out. "He's all we have left of Donna, even if it came from... If only we could have found the man who saved her. You know she would still be here if we had? Oh I'm telling you; for two years we tried to help her but nothing worked, she kept going on about the man who saved her."
"What do you mean?"
"She kept telling us that we had to find him, that he would clear things up." He paused. "Said he had this magic blue box, that it could disappear and all that. If we could have just found him then he could tell everyone she wasn't crazy."
"And you never found him?" Wilf paused then kissed Andrew on the forehead before the Doctor called out to Amy... "Amy I have to go now." before joining her. "Amy I have to go now okay..."
"Amy whose your friend?" Sharon asked with a face. "And why is he dancing around like a five year old in need of going to the bathroom?"
"Amy now, please. I need to go."
"Doctor we just got here..." Amy made a slip to which Wilf picked up on, even though he was across the room and no one knew he heard them. "I can't just leave."
"Well I have to; I can't be here Amy." the Doctor could see the stares around the room, all on him; but he didn't give Amy a chance to say anything before he hurried out of the house.
"Usually he's not like that." Amy tried to make excuses for the Doctor unaware of the fact that Wilf was on his way out, and oly after handing Andrew over to her; after th Doctor.
"No, no... No.. No.. No!" the Doctor paced around the outside of the Tardis. This wasn't happening; he saved her. He brought her to the hospital, he left her there but he made sure she was taken care of. It was Amy he was twelve years late for.
"No this isn't happening. I didn't do this." the Doctor hit a nearby tree, then screamed. "Why? Why do I always do this? Why can't I just for once get it right? Why can't I just for once not hurt someone?"
"Doctor?"
"No not now; I can't deal with this right now." The Doctor didn't turn, he already knew the voice. "Please just go back to the house; please I can't do this."
"So you are real?"
"Please, please please go back to the house Mr. Mott." the doctor refused to look at Wilf, just at the Tardis. "I didn't mean for her; I tried to save her. I thought I saved her."
"So this box it is real; Donna wasn't crazy..."
"No.. No she wasn't." the doctor paused then turned to Wilf. "Your Donna, your granddaughter, she wasn't crazy. She was right; the box is real and I'm real."
"But where were you then?" Wilf paused. "Where were you when Donna needed you? The nights she would lie awake crying, staring out the window hoping you would come. She tried to make us believe her, but.. Where were you?
"I was with Amy; Amelia." the Doctor leaned against the Tardis. "I left her, Donna, at the hospital that night. I thought it was just down the street; five minutes not twelve years. Why didn't I know that? Why?"
"She slit her wrists you know." Wilf wanted to make sure he; the doctor knew what kind of pain he has caused Donna so that he may suffer as she did. "One night, she'd gotten into it with her mother. Told her she wasn't going to take them pills they gave her down at the hospital. Said she didn't need them; she wasn't crazy."
"I am so sorry..."
"It was while we were sleeping, we didn't hear a thing." Wilf paused. "We got up the next morning, and I hear a scream from upstairs. I run up, and there she is my Donna lying in the tub."
"Oh I don't want to hear this." the Doctor plugged his ears with his fingers and began to run around like a three year old; humming over Wilf's words.
"Most victims who go that way, they're wearing nothing when you find them." Wilf paused then spoke louder. "Doctor's down at the psychiatric hospital said Donna didn't want anyone seeing her; said since the baby she was having these issues with how she looked. Made her sound vain right till the end they did, and it was all because of you."
"La la la... I'm not listening..."
"Doctor what the hell happened to you in there?" Amy joined the two men. She still had Andy in her arms but by now the boy was asleep. "And why are you running around like a three year old?
"I'm not listening.."
"I can see that..." Amy paused then as if seeing her grandfather for the first time asked. "Gran-dad what are you doing out here?"
"Why don't you ask your three year old friend?" Wilf waited for Amy to speak, then the Doctor to stop his fit, but when neither happened he gently took Andy from Amy and walked back to the house.
"Okay Doctor do you want to tell me what's going on here, or am I going to have to guess..." Amy paused. "And would you please stop doing that; you're making me dizzy."
"This was not my fault. I didn't know." the Doctor's anger flared to the point where Amy became just a little frightened of him. "I didn't know Amy, if I knew I never.. I would have gone back, I would have made sure she was okay. I never would have left her!"
"What isn't your fault? Gone back for who?" Amy paused. "Doctor you're not making any sense; slow down and start from the beginning."
"I'm so sorry."
"Sorry for what?" Amy followed the Doctor into the Tardis. "Doctor please; tell me what's going on."
"You shouldn't be around me; you need to leave now.. Go back to your family." the Doctor started move buttons and levers. "Go Amy before you end up like your cousin."
"Pardon?"
"Your cousin Amy; Donna, Donna Noble, the pretty ginger haired lady in the picture." the Doctor paused. "I know her, I knew her; for a brief moment in time. I met her when you were seven. When I jumped ahead in time, I met her for a moment then the Tardis she was; and I had to leave but I came back. I don't know why but I did and when I did this man was..."
"So your the one who saved her?" Amy paused. "My Aunt Sharon told me a little about what had happened. Donna had gone out, got drunk and this man assaulted her in an ally. She left out the missing for twelve years part, but... So you were the man who found her?"
"Yes Amy, but when I found her it was twelve years before the time I dropped her off at the hospital." the Doctor paused. "Same with you, five minutes turned into twelve years. Your cousin wasn't insane she was; I don't know Amy, every-time I try to help someone..."
"You end up hurting them, and this time someone; no not just someone, this time my cousin paid with her life."
"It's not just that I messed up; it's you and her and here..." the Doctor looked at the Tardis console. "Twelve years; we met on the same night in a distorted time-line and something's deeper here. Deeper and darker and I'm afraid once I start looking for the truth. The answeres it's; all hell's going to break lose."
"And?"
"And you're going to be right in the middle of it."