Author's Note: Congratulations reader! This last chapter is a two-for-one special! It's a songfic and a JE fix it all in one! Can you feel the excitement? So just like in the series, Donna's mind gets wiped and is left to lead a boring and mundane life. The Doctor decides to check up on her one day and makes mind blowing discovery! I had to split it into two acts b/c it was so long. The song is "Not Broken" by the Goo Goo Dolls
Disclaimer: Yeah, yeah, I know the drill! They belong to the BBC.
Chapter 3 Act 2 -Finale
When the world is insane
You get used to the pain,
And you don't even know what you feel
And I am like you
I'm alone and confused
But you know it's not forever
Exhausted, the Doctor sat on the floor of the consol room. In one hand he held a bundle of wires, in the other his sonic screwdriver. The Time Lord had tried at least twelve variations of the Chameleon Arch's circuits and all of them but one had showed even a glimmer of promise. Must'n give up!
The Time Lord was so enthralled in his tinkering that he almost missed the ringing of the mobile phone sitting on the consol. "What? Oh. That had better not be Jack!"
He really didn't need any distractions right now but when he looked at the caller id, he dropped everything. Pressing the answer button, he let the caller speak first.
"Hello? Doctor? It's Wilf." There was only one reason Wilf would be calling, the Doctor could hear the urgency in his voice.
"What's wrong? Did something happen to Donna?" The all powerful Time Lord felt absolutely helpless as he listened to Wilf explain Donna's situation.
"So Sylvia tried to erase all of Donna's files about me on her computer but Donna found them and…. Hold on. I'm on my way!" The Doctor was about to hang up when he remembered that he needed something. "Wait, Wilf what's the date? …Got it!"
With his experiment forgotten, the Doctor frantically punched in the coordinates. The Doctor came bounding through the ship's door after the TARDIS materialized in the living room of Noble home seconds later. Unsure of where Donna was and seeing no one around, he ran into the hallway.
Sylvia appeared at the top of the staircase scowling. "You could've at least knocked, Doctor." Her voice dripping with contempt. "Not now Sylvia! Where is she?" She saw the pained look on his gaunt face and dropped the subject. Sylvia waved him up the stairs which he took two at a time.
Through the doorway of Donna's bedroom, the Doctor could see Wilf sitting on the floor with Donna's head resting on his lap. The Time Lord's hearts broke at the sight. "Oh, Donna." He breathed as he doubled over to see her.
"Thank god Doctor. Please, can you help her?" At the mention of the Time Lord's name Donna's eyes flew open and widened upon seeing his form filled her visual field. She realized that he was reaching out towards her head.
"Don't you to touch me!" Donna warned as she shrank away from him, her voice full of fear. Donna's words stung and forced the Doctor to fight back tears.
"Donna, please, I have to see what kind of damage has been done. I promise not to touch your memories." The Doctor pleaded with the stubborn ginger haired woman. Donna nodded her consent when she saw how serious he was. The Doctor gently placed his fingertips on the sides of Donna's face; closing his eyes he entered her mind. It took him only a few seconds to assess the damage.
Wilf and Sylvia watched as the Doctor performed his examination. "Well? Can you help her or not Doctor?" Sylvia snapped. The Doctor took no notice of her mocking tone; he didn't have time to argue. But he did notice how worried for Donna Sylvia suddenly was.
"There's not much time left. I could try burying her memories again, but her mind is weaker than before and the block might not last as long…" The Doctor was abruptly cut off.
"Don't you dare!" Donna protested. "I'd rather die than live without knowing you!". Her breathe was becoming more labored and the pain was getting worse. "There has to be another way." Wilf intervened.
Running a hand through his hair, the Doctor answered, "Well there is the Chameleon Arch… It's supposed to turn a Time Lord into a human. But I've been trying to modify it to help Donna, except that it's not quite ready, not to mention it's too dangerous. Only the latest test showed any promise…" The Doctor was again interrupt by Donna who reached over and grabbed his arm.
"Please, Doctor, we have to try." Her blue eyes penetrated his. The determination and fear in them were overwhelming. "Donna, it could kill you!" His voice was forceful as he tried earnestly to make her listen to reason.
"Doctor I'm dying anyway, so please…" The Doctor stared at her, reading her, before turning to Wilf and Sylvia. They both nodded in agreement. "Alright. Help me get her into the TARDIS."
Several agonizing minutes later, the Doctor, Donna, and Wilf were standing inside the TARDIS control room. Sylvia had refused to step foot inside the alien object, so she busied herself cleaning the kitchen and making tea. Wilf promised to notify her the minute something happened.
Inside the Doctor frantically ran about hooking up wires and placing Donna in the contraption's head piece, he pulled a fob watch from his pocket and placed it in the center of the head set. Wilf looked on wishing to help but he knew it would be best to just stay out of the way. "Aren't you going to say it's bigger on the inside? Everyone always say it." The Doctor tried to make conversation with Wilf as he continued his work. "Well, it's rather obvious. I didn't think it needed stating." Wilf answered politely. The Doctor couldn't help but grin at the old soldier's modesty.
"Right! Almost ready, just have to input the data…There we go." He turned to Donna who was sitting on the jump seat. "Donna, are you sure about this. It's going to be very painful and if it doesn't work…" His voice caught in his throat and tears stung his soulful eyes.
"I'm sure. I know the risks. I've seen the possibilities in your mind." Donna reached over and gave his hand a squeeze just before she was assaulted by another wave of pain and heat. "Better do this quick or we'll never know if it works, Spaceman!"
"Be careful sweetheart!" Wilf shouted from his place by the entry ramp, tears streamed down his weathered face.
The Time Lord bowed his head and rested his hand on the power switch. "One more thing. Donna, I have to, no, need to tell you something and this might be my only chance to say it… I love you. "
Against the throbbing of her head, Donna smiled, "Then this better work Timeboy, cuz I love you too."
With a mix of joy and sadness flashing across his face, the Doctor flipped the switch and sent the Chameleon Arch roaring to life. Sparks sprayed in every direction as the machine went to work rewriting Donna's biology. The noise was horrendous inside the ship. A cacophony of whirring, metallic grinding, and Donna's piercing screams filled the air. The cables attached to Arch's headpiece began to thrash about causing Donna to sway violently.
The Doctor manned the controls, keeping the power levels from surging. "Come on!" He yelled over the racket as the power began to fail. "I need more power!" Grabbing a large power cord, the Doctor ran from the room then returned. He checked the power levels, they were returning to normal.
He saw Wilf give him a puzzled look, "I had to get extra power from the second consol room, should be fine now!" The Doctor reassured him over the noise.
One unbearable half hour later, the process was complete and Donna lay unconscious on the floor of the TARDIS. Wilf cautiously approached his granddaughter as the Doctor kneeled to remove the equipment. Please, please, please. He warily pressed two fingers to her neck and checked for a pulse. At first he felt nothing, fearing the worst he checked again.
"Is she… Is my Donna alright?" Wilf asked tentatively. The Doctor concentrated hard on finding Donna's pulse, finally he felt it. "She's alive! But her pulse is faint. We should get her to the infirmary." Wilf nodded and bent down to take hold of Donna's legs while the Doctor grasped her under the arms.
The Doctor and Wilf carefully laid Donna on the bed when they got her in to infirmary. "I'm gonna run a few tests on Donna if that's alright with you. It going to take awhile so you might want to let Sylvia know what's happened, she's probably worried sick out there."
"Yeah, 'course. She's gonna make it though ain't she Doctor?"
"I hope so." Wilf gave him a half-hearted smile and patted him on the shoulder before turning to leave. Before he got to the door, Wilf turned back around, he had one more question. "Doctor, did you really mean it? That you love her."
The Doctor knew he couldn't hide anything Wilf. With tears welling in his dark eyes he gave him the honest truth. "Yes. More than you know." Pleased with the Doctor's answer Wilf left to inform Sylvia.
While Donna slept the Doctor ran tests to ensure that Donna really was okay and the Chameleon Arch hadn't damage anything vital. So far everything looked good, although one of the results showed a strange anomaly with her DNA but the Doctor decided to not think anything of it. The real test of course, would be when and if Donna woke up and what she remembered.
For several days Donna lay unconscious and the entire time the Doctor stayed by her side monitoring her vitals. He had sat up for almost a week, only leaving to make some tea. Today he stood leaning against the counter across from Donna when he decided to "rest his eyes". Not long after that, Donna started to stir. The sound aroused the Time Lord from his nap and seeing her eyes begin to open, he rushed to her side.
"Spaceman?" Donna inquired groggily as her sapphire eyes focused on the Doctor. For the first time in a long while the Doctor felt genuinely happy. "Yes, Earthgirl?"
"Come to bring me home, have you?" Donna reached up and placed her hand on his cheek.
"Something like that, yeah. How do feel?" He gently brushed strands of her hair away from her face.
"I feel like I've just been run over by a lorry, and then put through the spin cycle." The Doctor chuckled, delighted that she hadn't lost her sense of humor after all this. "That probably would have been more fun than what you went through. What do you remember?"
"Um… I remember being in a lot of pain, you putting me in some kind of contraption, more pain, and… You told me you love me." Donna burst into a fit of laughter when she saw the look on the Doctor's face; he had turned a bright red and scratched the back of neck as he sputtered, "Well, I, you know, spur of the moment. I just thought that…"
"So what, you're taking it back now?" Donna asked, half afraid that he might not be kidding.
"What! No! No, I meant it, really!"
"I know that you prawn! Now get over here and kiss me already!" The Doctor flashed her a sheepish grin and gladly obeyed. As they embraced both couldn't help thinking about much they missed each other. When their kiss ended the Doctor was taken by surprise when he received a very painful slap on his arm. "Ah! What was that for?"
"That's for taking away my memories and causing this whole mess!" She glared at him in mock anger. "Couldn't forget that bit, could 'ya." The Doctor mumbled, attempting to soothe his affronted arm.
"What was that?"
"Nothing!"Donna was about to argue but the Doctor halted her rebuttal by leaning over and capturing her lips again. With impeccably bad timing Sylvia and Wilf entered to check on Donna.
Sylvia's shriek of disgust caused the Doctor to jump back and away from the bed. "I think your mother's just arrived."
Donna's family forgot about everything when they saw that Donna was awake. They ran to her bedside and smothered her with hugs and kisses.
Meanwhile the Doctor was standing in the background deep in thought because something had just struck him. He recalled transferring genetic identities with Martha through a kiss so he could hide from the Judoon. Picking up the results from Donna's tests, suddenly that tiny genetic anomaly made sense.
"OH!" Everyone in the room jumped at his unexpected outburst. They all turned their attention to the manic Time Lord who was now pacing the floor, pulling at this spiky hair.
"Is there a problem?" Sylvia asked slightly annoyed but worry creeping into her voice as well.
"Yes! Actually, no. It's not really a problem. It's brilliant, well for Donna anyway, I don't how you'll take it but…"
"Doctor. DOCTOR! Get to the point!"
"Right! Sorry. While Donna was sleeping I did a few a tests, just to check that all her systems were working properly. One of the tests showed a tiny anomaly in Donna's genetic structure. I just thought it was an error but now I don't think it is. When the Arch was rewriting Donna's biology, it took all that Time Lord knowledge and put it in this fob watch…" he produced said watch from his pocket and held it up. "…but it changed her genes just ever so slightly in the process. I only just realized it after we kissed because I could taste it!"
The look on Sylvia's face after his last statement was priceless, a mix of horror, disgust, and anger. Donna and Wilf just stared at him as if he had suddenly sprouted a second head and started specking Martian. Finally, Donna broke the silence. "In English Spaceman!"
"Donna, you're completely human, except now you'll age at a slower rate, like a Time Lord! Isn't that brilliant?"
It took a second for what he said to sink in. "Oh my god!" Donna and Sylvia exclaimed simultaneously. Wilf gave a cry of delight, other than the Doctor, he realized what this meant.
"Wait a minute. Does this mean that I can stay with you …forever?" Donna questioned, finally catching on.
"As I recall that is what you promised me."
The TARDIS was parked across the street from Donna's house, Sylvia refused to have sitting inside her house after Donna was well enough to leave the infirmary. She had recuperated quickly and was now ready to run with the Doctor through time and space.
The Doctor was leaning against the side of his ship waiting for Donna to bring the rest of her luggage down. Moments later Donna emerged from the house carrying a suitcase and bag. "Okay, that's the last of it."
"Did you also pack the kitchen sink while in there?" The Doctor teased. Donna glared icily at him as she set the bags down by the door, "Oi! Watch it Spaceman!"
"It's just that I think you have more stuff than last time! How long were you planning on staying again?"
"Oh, I dunno. Anywhere from a month to eternity, just depends on how you act." To emphasize her point, Donna stepped forward and used his tie to pull the Time Lord closer and placed a quick kiss on his lips.
Sylvia and Wilf appeared in the doorway to wave them off. It had taken a while to convince Sylvia to let Donna travel again. The terms that she forced them to agree to included regular phone calls, frequent visits, and the Doctor swearing an oath that if anything happened to Donna, Sylvia had the right to kill him.
"Have a good time darling! Don't forget to bring back some of those stars for me!"
Donna ran back to hug them both one last time. "Love you." Wiping away the tears in her eyes she went back and stood next to the Time Lord and his time machine.
"Doctor! You take good care of her!" Sylvia shouted across the street as he finished stashing Donna's luggage.
"Don't worry, she takes care of me!" With that the two disappeared through the TARDIS doors. The street filled with the grinding of ancient engines and the blue box vanished.
Inside the ship, Donna meandered about the expansive room, taking everything in, glad to be back in the familiar place. The Doctor stood against the consol watching her.
"Where to?" He asked out of habit.
She made her way over to where he stood and stopped in front of him. "I never thanked you, properly, for coming back for me." Completely ignoring his question.
"Nah, it was nothing really. Couldn't just leave you like that could I? I mean this place just wasn't the same. Had to bring you home, didn't I. That is of course if you consider this a home." The Doctor skillfully avoided meeting Donna's gaze as he gestured about the ship.
"If I didn't I sure wouldn't have as much luggage would I?" Donna closed the gap that separated them and wrapped her arms around his neck.
"No, 'spose, not." Donna laughed at the almost ridiculous look on the Doctor's face as he pondered the revelation. In order to regain his attention, Donna drew the Doctor towards her and slowly kissed him.
The Doctor reciprocated by deepening their embrace, barely able to contain himself as he melted into her.
Finally they parted and the Doctor smiled down at his red headed better half, happy to have Donna back where she belonged, in his arms. "Welcome home Donna Noble."
Time won't ever steal my soul
And we're not broken
So please come home
And if the world has worn you down
I'll be waiting
So please come home
The End
I'd like to thank all those who read and/or commented, and anyone who has written a JE fix-it for inspiration! Dialogue borrowed from Sontaran Stratagem and Journey's End and the song was "Not Broken" by the Goo Goo Dolls. Hope you enjoyed it, sorry it took so long to post. Just wanted to make sure everything was just right! (Blame the perfectionist in me!) Please review.