Donna awoke with a grumpy sigh, and she looked to the clock. She had forced the Doctor to stop saying there was no time in the TARDIS and program a clock that gave her a semblance of day and night. It was six thirty in the morning. She had gone to bed at four.
But as much as she closed her eyes, and even with the beautiful old girl trying to hum her back to rest she couldn't. She finally climbed out of bed and made her way to the shower, she wondered how Anna's first night went.
The Doctor had said he would explain but he was the Doctor and though she loved him, sometimes when he explained things you were worse of then before he began. But she wouldn't trade this life or his rambles for anything she had ever had in the years before him.
She wondered if maybe she should have checked on Anna and made a vow to try to help her get better adjusted if she needed it today. Probably after a trip because they 'hadn't really had one' yesterday the Doctor had told them.
It was only after her shower that she began to wake but she still needed a good cup of coffee and she hoped the kitchen would be empty. The TARDIS would have the coffee ready and they would have a comfortable silence. Until Mr. Babble arrived.
But when she stepped into the kitchen the man himself was at the stove, flour all over his body, and dusting his hair. He grinned at her, looking for all the world like he had slept if it wasn't for the circles under his eyes.
He didn't speak, he knew better, and she poured her coffee and moved to the table. She was surprised to see him making breakfast; he usually managed to weasel his way out with fake repairs. But here he was, looking pleased with himself, and she smiled into her cup. If he was any other man she would think he was doing this to impress Anna but she wasn't sure.
She hadn't seen him really interested in a woman before, a reflection…an echo of love maybe but nothing like this. And she just couldn't be sure.
Anna came in next, hair still damp, dressed in a t-shirt and jeans. Her hair that had looked so dark was really a light brown, and curly.
She didn't speak, and Donna thought they might get along just fine in the mornings. The Doctor looked at her, his face tender but surprised. She was guessing that Anna hadn't slept for long, as he had given her that look before when he thought she should be sleeping. Actually he had given it to her as she walked in, she just ignored it.
The Doctor reached over to his far side and grabbed a glass that was filled with orange juice. He handed it to Anna and she smiled at him. Okay, Donna decided, he was defiantly trying to impress her and he was cheating. The TARDIS was helping.
Jack came in next, bright as he always was and completely unwilling to obey the no talking rule. Donna was thankful that she had half a cup in her and was feeling more awake.
He kissed Anna's cheek and then Donna's and then the Doctors though he had to wipe the flour from his lips.
"Good morning," he announced excitedly, like it was Christmas and he was waiting on his presents.
No…he was worse on Christmas.
"Good morning," Anna answered and returned to her juice, sipping slowly and she wore a thoughtful look. Donna remembered her vow.
"How was your first night? Did the spaceman get you sorted?"
The Doctor looked at her quickly and she grinned. She hadn't meant anything by it but she thought maybe he wondered if she did.
"Sure," she agreed. "I love my room, when I woke up the ceiling was full of stars. Um, spaceman means that your alien, right Doctor?"
The Doctor laid a plate in front of the two ladies first and then in front of Jack and his empty chair. He looked at Anna, his eyes soft and possible worried. "Yes, I am. Is that okay?"
"Sure," Anna agreed with a shrug but nothing further.
Donna waited on them to make conversation but Jack was stuffing the fluffy pancakes in his mouth, and she was fairly sure he was part snake, and the Doctor was studying his plate trying not to look at anyone.
That wouldn't do.
"The TARDIS sort of knows what you like and she tries to provide it, I mean the stars in your room."
"I get that she sort of is in my mind, but it's not thoughts right?"
"Not exactly," Donna provided remembering this conversation with her and the Doctor. "It's not that clear, just sort of an impression of what you need or want but not exactly what you are thinking."
"That's good," Anna nodded though her face didn't display any indication she had any juicy thoughts.
The Doctor had at least begun to eat now but he was still silent. Jack stood to refill his plate and seemed to realize how quite the Doctor was actually being. And Jack being a man didn't filter the thoughts first to see if there was a reason.
"All right, Doc?"
The Doctor looked up now, with a smile he had an excuse for. "You call me Doc and I'm going to leave you on an empty planet."
"So you say," Jack agreed. "But you love me, and you couldn't do it really."
The Doctor shook his head but he was still smiling. Jack did it to annoy him and the Doctor rose to it every time, though she sometimes wondered if he was just playing his part.
He was very good at being what he was supposed to be even if it was just an act. He might have come a long way in the years they had spent together but there was still an empty that she and Jack couldn't ever fill.
He had lost something so great that their love couldn't mend the wound. Ease the pain, she was certain, but it was just a cover. It was still there, in the storm he still carried in his eyes. Not all the time now but too often.
In the way he had nightmares and Donna had held him till they left.
"So where to then today?" The Doctor asked, a smile on his face that she thought suited him. He didn't look like he was playing the game today, he seemed present.
"We should let Anna pick," Jack suggested, finishing his second helping of food and leaning back.
Donna smiled at him and he winked.
Anna looked up at them, "I wouldn't have a clue, someone else should pick."
They all seemed to think, all knew how important the first few days were to the likely hood someone stayed. The Doctor had taken her to a water world her first trip and it was on the only dry spot that they had sat and talked.
Of course things went crazy the next trip, and she had seen the burden he carried as they took out Pompeii but he tried so hard to make them happy in the bits in between.
"I know," the Doctor spoke up enthusiastically.
"Where," Anna asked, with a smile.
"It's a surprise," he beamed at her and then them. "It'll be warm…if I get the seasons right."
"And safe?" Donna asked
The Doctor's eyes flicked to Anna and then back. "Should be."