The Doctor had Donna and Anna sorted easily, and Anna was looking down at her arm touching it softly with her fingertips. The Doctor had encouraged them all to go to the kitchen, and Donna was making tea for them all.

"Okay," The Doctor sat in the chair opposite of Anna. "I'm the Doctor, that's Jack, and you met Donna already."

She nodded. "I'm Anna."

"Well, Anna," the Doctor's tone was so soft Donna almost didn't recognize it. "This is called a TARDIS, and it travels in space and time."

Anna bit her lip and Donna brought the tea over to the table, she sat the cups before them, guessing how Anna would like hers. She was delighted when Anna took a drink and smiled.

"Thanks," she looked at Donna.

Donna just nodded. Jack sat down and Donna sat beside Anna.

"You okay?" The Doctor asked her eyes never leaving her face.

Anna nodded. "Sure. So TARDIS…does it mean something."

The Doctor smiled. "Time And Relative Dimension In Space."

Anna nodded again. "Right."

"So you said you weren't supposed to be there," Jack jumped in trying to move the conversation forward.

"No," Anna agreed, her face suddenly more animated. "I wasn't. See I worked there until about a week ago, and then I found something I shouldn't have. They fired me."

"What did you find out?" Jack looked very interested but Donna didn't think he was trying to flirt.

"That the new owners were slugs…I wasn't looking for it or anything. I just came across the wrong file."

"The Langin aren't known for their mercy," the Doctor told her. "They could have killed you."

Anna shrugged. "Not really." She gave a half smile. "I wrote an email with the file attached. If I didn't stop it every hour then it would be sent about a dozen places."

"So they couldn't kill you," Jack agreed. "Why were you in the building tonight though?"

"I was trying to figure out how to stop them," Anna told them. "I had something made, but I needed to check something from the file."

"What kind of something," the Doctor asked.

"It was a salt mixture," Anna told him softly, like she was embarrassed. "Probably wouldn't have worked, but I had to try."

He shook his head, "No… you didn't. But you did and that's great. For the record, it would have slowed them at least."

She smiled at him. "Anyway. You all stopped it so I guess that's it. Time to find a new job."

"What did you do for them?" Donna asked.

"I wrote their computer programs."

"Beautiful and good with computers," Jack told her with a smile.

She blushed and looked down. Donna looked at Jack who winked at her. She didn't know what to think. She wasn't jealous but lately she and Jack had become much closer. And she was starting to think maybe he was interested in her.

But you could never tell with him.

"I suppose we should get you home," the Doctor told her, his tone sad, but Donna doubted the others noticed. She had been with him so long, had for a short time shared his mind and she knew what it sounded like. So if he didn't want her to go, why wasn't he asking her to stay?"

Anna looked up and nodded. "Yeah, sure."

They rose and Donna left the dishes for later. She wanted to see what the Doctor was doing, and be there to smack some sense into him if need be. She watched him set the coordinates and they arrived and he walked her to the door.

"Thank you for saving Donna," he told her.

Donna and Jack walked over. If this was really going to be goodbye, they were going to say it too.

"My pleasure, thanks for fixing my arm."

"You take care of yourself, okay. Be brilliant."

"You guys take care of yourselves too. She hugged Donna and Jack but the Doctor had already moved back to the console. She gave a small wave and then the door closed behind her.

Donna spun but before she could say anything Jack spoke. "You're really going to just let her walk away?"

The Doctor looked up. "Yes."

"Why?"

The Doctor was moving around the console and it took a moment before he answered. "I almost killed her before I met her, she doesn't need this."

"That's kind of how things go, Doctor," Jack told him walking up to meet him. He put his hand on his arm and Donna just watched.

"What is it really," Jack asked him.

"That's what it really is," he tried, his voice tight, suggesting the conversation was over. Jack sighed and took a step back but Donna wasn't having it.

"You like her," she challenged.

"I like both of you," he avoided.

"You have never looked at us like that Doctor."

"I don't know what you mean," he lied. "Where do you want to go? Or are we going to chat all night?"

"So this is what…a self imposed punishment? You don't think you deserve to be happy." Donna wasn't letting this go.

"I am happy," he gave her a hard look, and she knew it wasn't a complete lie. After Donna survived the meta-crisis and Jack rejoined the group, they had a lot of fun. But just because he wasn't alone didn't mean he wasn't lonely. Donna knew that.

"Doctor," she moved close to him, so close Jack couldn't hear. "If you don't go back, you will never know."

He looked her over, his eyes dark, before they seemed to calm. "She probably wouldn't want to come anyway."

"Ask her," Jack told him.

He sighed. "Fine, but if she doesn't we drop this."

"Agreed," they spoke together.

The Doctor brought them back, just a second after they had left. He walked to the doors, and they waited until he was outside before they snuck to the doors and peeked out.

The voices were low, as he reached her side, but Donna could still hear.

"So, I was thinking…we have loads of room. And well…I thought maybe…if you want… you could come with us."

Anna was biting her lip. "I don't want to be a bother."

"No," there was that soft tone again. It reminded Donna of fingertips stroking something fragile or precious. "You wouldn't be. We would love it…I would love it."

Donna saw her smile.

"Okay," she agreed, after a pause in which Donna was fairly sure the three of them had been holding their breaths. "Let's go."