Epilogue
"You realise what you've done?" the Doctor asked, his voice hard. Through the million things she was trying not blurt out, Jenny had a fleeting realisation that she tended to think of him as the Doctor when things were going wrong between them.
"Told you we were going to get a bollocking," Jack whispered to her, raising an eyebrow. She knew he was trying to make them both feel better but it wasn't working. It wasn't working because his attempt at a smile looked like anything but and because deep down she knew, they both knew, how stupid they'd been.
"Jack?"
The Doctor walked slowly around the console and faced them. Jack looked defiant but Jenny could tell by his sharp intake of breath that he was as uncomfortable as she was.
"Yes?"
"You're not exactly lily-white yourself, are you?"
"Am I ever?"
The Doctor didn't dignify this with an answer.
"Yeah, ok." Jack took a deep breath. "It was a week ago, alright? Ianto and I...there was this restaurant I wanted to take him to and it's kind of complicated but we'd had a bad week and I just thought what harm could it do? Just this once..."
The Doctor gave a short, mirthless laugh.
Before he turned back to Jenny, she stepped forward, anticipating him.
"I know what I've done," she said, "I know what you said and I know I should have listened but when you hear the whole story, you'll know I wasn't just being impulsive. There was a split second and I really had to act or someone would've..."
The Doctor held up a hand.
"Enough...I've heard enough." The anger in his expression was now replaced by a curious mixture of compassion and irritation.
His eyes were so sad when he spoke again.
"Somewhere along the lines, we've all contributed to this."
"You haven't," Jenny said, trying hard to keep her voice calm.
"Yes. I have. I've obviously not explained to you how important...how..." His voice rose on each syllable and he trailed off as if there were no words to emphasise his point properly.
"Maybe I've even forgotten." He sighed and looked away from them, back to the console and beyond.
"If I hadn't been so blatant about the photograph, we could have handled it more discreetly. But she's Donna's friend and she deserved to be taken seriously. I thought she needed to know that someone believed her."
Jenny couldn't decide if he was talking to them or to himself.
"She did," Jack replied quietly.
"Most of all," he continued talking as if he hadn't heard him, "if I'd been honest with you, if I'd told you from the start what we were up against...when Alice told me. But you take these things seriously and you cause disaster. You run from it and it's the first thing you run into. All of our histories are filled with stories of people who tried so hard to escape from....from dreams, prophecies, whatever you want to call them...I was trying to protect Donna."
"We know," Jack said, "Doctor...none of this is your fault."
"Can't we do anything now?" Jenny asked, "can't we go back...?" She trailed off at the expressions on both faces.
"I don't mean...do anything stupid."
The Doctor stared down at the console but when he swung back to regard them again, his face was clear.
"'Course we can!"
"What?"
"Metaphorically, of course! We sit down and we go through everything that's happened since Donna went for that visit. Before then, in fact..." He gave Jenny a stern look.
"Ok," she said quickly.
"Doctor?" Jack was watching the Doctor and there was something in his face that Jenny had never seen before.
"It's not your fault, any of it," Jack repeated, "Donna would be the first person to say that."
Jenny looked away from them and to the couch in the corner with the purple jacket thrown over it. Later on, she thought, she'd get the jacket dry and clean and hang it up nicely.
It was about the only constructive thing she could think of to do.
As she turned from the couch, there was a rustle as Donna stirred and sat up. Despite being asleep for hours, she still looked exhausted.
"Where are we?" she asked.
The Doctor came over and sat beside her.
"The TARDIS is exhausted, Donna. Almost as much as you are. I'm letting her go at her own pace until we find somewhere to land which I reckon won't be too much further. As the song goes, we're "floating in a most peculiar way."
"And the stars look very different today," Jack murmured.
The Doctor turned to him, his face tired and worn.
"The Earth's in a bit of a mess until things settle down again and I can't be there. But what could we do? There's no other way with these creatures. Fighting with them would be like me declaring war on the TARDIS. You can't fight something that's such an integral part of you and your history. Not without complete and utter disaster. You got hurt, the TARDIS is worn out..."
Donna patted his hand absent-mindedly. "We're ok though, right? Did I miss anything?"
"No," Jenny started to say fervently but when the Doctor turned and glared at her.
"Just my attempts to convince these two that their various convictions that they can waltz in and out of any time they fancy and say nothing about it, is sadly mistaken at best! Did you hear what Jack just told me? He fancied a visit to a restaurant!!"
"To be fair, Doctor," Donna shot Jenny a sympathetic glance. "Jenny was scared. We both were. She thought she'd seen her own death or something. She didn't know what to do. We didn't know what we were dealing with." She looked over at Jack.
"Sorry Jack, I don't think there's any excuse for you!"
Jack grinned at her.
"Heard that one before."
"There's none for me either," the Doctor admitted, taking her wrist and feeling for her pulse, "I completely forgot about what you'd been through. You must have been in agony with that shoulder. You could have had serious head injuries after that fall. No wonder you collapsed."
"Didn't feel anything really. Adrenaline of the moment, I suppose. You weren't in great shape yourself, remember?"
"None of us are," the Doctor said tiredly.
"It'll be ok," Jack said, "you said it yourself, Doctor. Everyone's safe. That's the most important thing." He took a deep breath and let it out slowly. For a moment, there, until the Doctor shouted for him to help Donna to the couch, he thought that, despite their efforts, they'd still managed to lose her. Her face had looked ashen as if every little spark of energy had been wiped from it. Even her sleep had looked too unnatural, far too quiet. He really couldn't blame the Doctor for having a rant. After all, the lecture was bound to happen sooner or later.
Donna pushed herself to one side and felt for the floor underneath the couch. She pulled out a paper bag and showed them its contents.
"Remember this, Jenny?"
The Doctor took studied it with a wry smile.
"Where do you humans get your notions of what fairies look like? This looks like a little princess who happens to have a pair of wings! Do people really think...?"
"Yes," Jack cut in as he walked over to take a look at the small, glittering doll, "they do, Doctor. I knew someone once...she believed this was exactly what they were. She loved them. To her, they were little beings of light watching over us, watching over all of nature."
"She wasn't far wrong, in one sense."
"They killed her!"
"And how proud might she have been, Jack, to see you calmly ask them for Jenny's protection out there?"
Jack shrugged as if he didn't trust himself to speak just then.
"Are you going to give it to the baby?" Jenny asked, as if sensing that the subject needed changing.
Donna nodded. "God knows what I'll say if she ever asks me to tell her a story about them!"
"Lots of fairytales are really quite horrendous underneath," the Doctor said, "doesn't take away from their charm somehow!"
Jack smirked, despite himself. "I'm really, really glad you didn't look at me when you said that, Doctor!"
She was dreaming about a tree falling. Running footsteps. Flashes of lightening. A tree falling. Bitter cold. A tree falling over and over again...
"Donna?"
She opened her eyes to see the Doctor sitting beside her again.
"Didn't look like that was a dream you'd want to stay in," he said, "how are you feeling?"
"Yeah, alright." Donna looked around. "It's gone quiet. Have we landed?"
The Doctor nodded.
"Let's hope it's somewhere suitable for our...exile."
At his words, Jenny jumped up and raced to the door.
"Jenny!" Jack and the Doctor shouted at her in unison.
"What did we agree about not stepping outside until we know what we're stepping outside into?" the Doctor asked. He sounded like he was repeating a much-used instruction. Donna smiled slightly as she remembered the same words being used to her often enough.
"Just wanted to check that it was safe for you," Jenny said but she came back and waited beside him.
Donna watched as the Doctor stared intently into the screen. It didn't look as if he could see much. The TARDIS was definitely in need of a break, she thought. It was a weird thought. No matter how separated they ever got from the ship, normally she knew that its protection was there when they arrived at a new destination.
As if reading her thoughts, the Doctor turned back to her.
"What do you think, Donna? Shall we explore? Or do you want to rest more? Your call."
Donna stared at the three eager faces in front of her.
"Like I have a choice," she muttered, pushing herself upright.
When all was said and done, a new destination was always pretty exciting.
The End (for now)
As it's taken me almost a year to complete this story, I'm really grateful to anyone who is still reading and for the lovely, wonderful, supportive reviews.
Thank you all VERY much xxxx