He took her hand but nothing came out of his mouth; all he could do with it was grin at her like a fool. He was sure he was making her uncomfortable but he couldn't seem to stop himself. When she began to look properly freaked out he finally found his voice.

"John Smith. I'm a friend of you granddad's," he announced as Wilf appeared with an armful of groceries from the shop.

Donna laughed, "John Smith? Gramps, only you could know not one, but two John Smith's."

The Doctor's grin dropped and he remembered that Sylvia had said Donna had asked where "John Smith" was after her wedding and he knew he had to come up with a good lie and fast.

"Oh," the Doctor began, his voice a tad faulty, "you must mean my nephew, John Smith? Wild looking hair, tall and thin?"

Donna snapped her finger and pointed at him, "That's the one! What ever happened to the poor man? I met him once and then he showed up mysteriously at my wedding; never heard from him again after that."

"Sweetheart, why don't you help your granddad unload those bags and John and I will take this tray out to Jenny and Clara?" Sylvia jumped in. She ushered Donna in the direction of Wilf and shoved the tray into the Doctor's hands. He could see Donna suspiciously eyeing her mother, but only for a moment because he was now the one being ushered.

He felt relieved when he was back outside in the fresh air and away from Sylvia but his relief was short lived when he saw a look of panic on Clara's face. He raised an eyebrow and cocked his head to the side in a questioning way. He could hear Clara excuse herself from the picnic table to make a beeline in his direction.

"John, I left my mobile in the car. Could you go with me to go and get it?" she asked loudly.

"But your mobile is in your skirt pocket. I saw you put it in there when we left the-" he was cut off as she took hold of his arm and gave him a serious look.

"No, I didn't." She said through gritted teeth, flashing a smile Jenny's way. She quickly took his hand and dragged him towards the street, barely giving him time to set down the tray of sandwiches Sylvia entrusted him to deliver to the table.

"Clara, I'm telling you, if you look in your pocket you'll see that your mobile is in there," he told her, confused by her actions.

"Yes, I know that Doctor. I needed to get you alone."

A knowing smile spread across his face, "Ah, are we feeling a bit jealous of the past companions, Clara?"

She rolled her eyes and shook her head, "No, nothing like that," she looked around to make sure they weren't being eavesdropped on, "Jenny knows about you; about us."

Panic struck him, "No, she can't possibly."

"Oh yes she can. She's been dropping hints since the moment you left us."

"Wilf must have told her; how could he? Doesn't he know that if she slipped up she could accidentally cause her mother's mind to burn?"

"I guess he wanted her to know who her mum really was," Clara suggested, her earlier panicked look seemed to ease. "It's quite sweet once you take a step back and look at it; to want her to know all of the amazing things Donna saw when she was with you."

"John! Clara!" Wilf's voice interjected, "Come join us. We're ready to eat."

"Ready?" Clara asked hopefully.

"Ready," he confirmed.

DWDWDWDWDW

The Doctor took a seat next to Jenny and made Clara sit next to Sylvia since he felt he had suffered enough of her wrath for the day. Donna's place across from him was vacant.

"Where's Donna?" he asked; trying not to sound too eager.

"Oh, she's on the phone with Shaun," Sylvia answered, "he's always working. They have plenty of money but he's not the type to sit around all day so he decided to look into being a copper. He's been working at the police station for a few years now."

The Doctor nodded, "So, he's a good man then?"

"Oh yes, he takes good care of our Donna. He takes good care of our Jenny as well," Wilf said, affectionately ruffling Jenny's hair.

"Gramps, you're messing up my braid," Jenny complained but the sparkle in her eye made it clear she wasn't actually upset.

"Jenny here is a lover of astronomy, John. She joins me most nights on the hill." Wilf had a look of pride on his face.

"Is that right?" the Doctor asked, "Well, so am I. But I believe you already know that, Jenny. In fact, I think you know a lot of things."

Her expression was nonchalant, "Oh yes, I'm quite aware that you are a doctor," she paused to take a drink of tea, "a doctor of astronomy, that is." She gave him a smug look and took another sip of her tea. She was a bit cheeky; he liked that. She was definitely Donna's child, even if they didn't share any actual genetics.

"I'm sorry everyone, Shaun rang," Donna explained, taking her seat next to her mother.

"No problem, we were just telling John and Clara about Shaun's work," Sylvia said, nodding towards Clara, "Donna, this is Clara, I'm sorry I didn't catch your last name?"

Noticing she was now the centre of attention Clara sat straight up, "Oswald. I'm Clara Oswald," she reached across the table to take Donna's hand, "it's nice to meet you, Donna."

"Clara works with John," Wilf added.

"Oh, lovely, what sort of work do you do?"

"She's my assistant," the Doctor said.

"I'm his carer," Clara said; simultaneously with the Doctor. She blushed at their slip up, "I assist Dr. Smith with his work and he often forgets the little things: eating, sleeping, what have you, so I often have to remind him that he needs to take better care of himself."

"He's a doctor of astronomy, mum," Jenny informed her; Donna's face lit up.

"Oh, that's wonderful. Gramps and Jenny are amateur astronomers. Which you're friends with Gramps so you probably already knew that."

"Do you not dabble in astronomy, Donna?"

She shook her head slightly, "Oh, I love to look up there but I haven't the patience most of the time. But, I join Jenny and Gramps on the hill every now and again. If I stare too much at the night sky I get headaches. Well, actually, I get headaches fairly often."

The Doctor pretended to pick lint off of his button up but really he couldn't look her in the eye. His memory swipe was the culprit of her constant, painful headaches. Every time she had a headache she was fighting off a memory of him.

He knew Clara was picking up on his discomfort because she quickly changed the subject, "What do you do for a living, Donna?"

"Well, after we won the lottery I quit temping and was a stay at home mum to Jenny. She was about six and a half when we adopted her but I wanted to be home with her as much as possible since I had missed out on six and a half years of bonding. But, when she got about nine I decided I was bored being at home all the time so I went with a friend of mine to volunteer at the local nursing home. I volunteered for a few years and was offered a job as entertainment and activities advisor last year."

"I still think you should've went back to school and made something of yourself," Sylvia added.

The Doctor could see that the comment hurt Donna but she let it roll off her back. "Right then, I'll just gather up the plates."

The Doctor shot up, "I'll help you," he took his and Jenny's plate and followed her into the kitchen. Donna was already scrubbing some of the plates and had her back to him.

"She's never satisfied," Donna said sadly. He wasn't sure if she was actually talking to him or just thinking out loud.

"Don't listen to her. I think what you're doing it brilliant," and he believed it. Though he was a bit biased; he thought everything she did was brilliant.

She craned her head to look at him and he could see her sad eyes, "Yeah?"

"Yeah," he confirmed.

"So, John Smith, you never told me where your nephew went. Mum rudely interrupted our conversation."

"Ah yes," he gulped, "John, unfortunately passed away some years ago." He didn't miss the crestfallen look on her face.

"Oh, I'm so sorry. Gramps never mentioned it. He was so young though, what happened?"

"His heart just gave out on him, it was a faulty thing."

"He showed up at my wedding and he just looked so sad; so defeated. I didn't really remember who he was until later that evening. But, something about the way he was looking at me made me feel haunted. I even have dreams about the man and I barely knew him."

"Dreams? What sort of dreams?" This could be dangerous territory. If she remembered too much through her dreams it could be enough to kill her.

"Just bits and pieces, really. He'll reach for my hand and then everything will fade to black. Everything always fades away. Sometimes he cries and I can't get to him."

"Donna," the Doctor could feel his hearts breaking, "you're crying."

She touches her face in disbelief and dabs her fingers on the apples of her cheeks, "So I am. You must think I'm daft."

"I don't think you're daft," he reassures her.

"I know about Gramps," she whispers. "I found the test results. He's lying to make it better for me."

"He wanted a little longer at normalcy."

"And I'm going to give it to him. He deserves it."

"That he does."

"That smile hasn't left his face all day. He's really glad you're here, I can tell. He's missed you."

The Doctor felt touched, "And I, him. Everyday."

"That's why I would love it if you could come back a few more times before, well, you know. You make him happy."

"You make him happier. But, I'd be honored to."

"Good," that put a smile back on her face, "now, would you like to help me serve dessert? I hope you like banana cause it looks like Gramps picked up some banana nut bread at the shop."

"Banana, now that's something I haven't had in a very long time, Donna."