Partners in Crime
The Doctor and Professor were walking down a crowded street, the Professor eyeing the people that passed, while the Doctor cast a curious look up at a rather large building, Adipose Industries. According to the TARDIS, there was something very alien going on in there. And, as it was the Earth, he decided they had to look into it for any malicious intent.
But, as must be done during any investigation, he had them sneak in the back of the building through the fire exit. A quick flash of the sonic got them through a door and into the basement corridors.
"John Smith, Katherine Stewart, Health and Safety," he flashed a passing security guard the psychic paper. He glanced down at the Professor's blaster still attached to her hip, a bit wary that the perception filter she had rigged up on it wouldn't work…but it was flawless, the guard didn't even glance at it. Then again…he should have expected that sort of craftsmanship from her.
~8~
The duo were hiding out in the projection room of the presentation/lecture hall of Adipose Industries, watching as the head of the company gave a presentation to a small number of press and possible sponsors.
"Adipose Industries," the severe looking blond woman began, "The 21st century way to lose weight. No exercise, no diet, no pain. Just lifelong freedom from fat. The Holy Grail of the modern age. And here it is. You just take one capsule, one capsule, once a day, for three weeks. And the fat, as they say..."
"The fat just walks away," the computer finished.
"Excuse me, Miss Foster, if I could?" a slightly plump black woman called from the crowd, "I'm Penny Carter, science correspondent for The Observer. There are a thousand diet pills on the market, a thousand con men stealing people's money. How do we know the fat isn't going straight into your bank account?"
"Oh Penny," Foster laughed, "If cynicism burnt up calories, we'd all be as thin as rakes. But if you want the science, I oblige."
"Adipose Industries," the computer turned on, displaying a small presentation of the science behind the pills, "The Adipose capsule is composed of a synthesized mobilizing lipase, bound to a large protein molecule. The mobilizing lipase breaks up the triglycerides stored in the adipose cells, which then enter..."
"Fallacious," the Professor remarked, watching the screen carefully, her mind already running through the science.
The Doctor nodded before noticing the projectionist walk in, "Health and Safety," he held up the psychic paper, "Film department."
"100 percent legal, 100 percent effective," Foster finished.
"But, can I just ask, how many people have taken the pills to date?" Penny continued.
"We've already got one million customers within the Greater London area alone. But from next week, we start rolling out nationwide. The future starts here. And Britain will be thin."
~8~
The Doctor and Professor walked through the call center of Adipose Industries, the phones ringing off the hook, "Good morning, I represent Adipose Industries…" various people began their sales pitches.
They stepped over to a young woman on the phone, "We deliver within three working days…"
"John Smith, Katherine Stewart," he whispered, holding up the paper again, "Health and Safety. Don't mind us," she nodded, casting the Professor's rather unprofessional outfit a curious look, "Listen, have you got any samples of anything you send out with the pills?"
She nodded, handing them a small golden capsule on a chain, "It is made of 18 carat gold, and it's yours for free," she explained, both to him and to the person on the line, "No, we don't give away pens, sorry. No, I can't make an exception, no."
The Doctor handed it over to the Professor who eyed it critically, fiddling it around in her hands, scanning it for all sorts of alien tech.
'Alien,' she confirmed, 'Bio-tunes itself upon touch.'
'Bio-tunes?' he wondered, 'What for?'
'Parthenogenesis.'
He nodded and looked at the woman, "Can we have a list of a few of your clients in the area?" the woman nodded and he stood up, "That's the printer there?"
"By the plant, yeah," she replied.
"Brilliant," he sat down, watching her bring up the information when he realized something and stood up again, "Has it got paper?"
"Yeah, Jimbo keeps it stocked."
The Professor yanked him down, growing frustrated with his constant popping up.
"Excuse me, everyone, if I could have your attention!" Miss Foster called as she walked into the room. Everyone, save the Doctor and Professor, stood up to give her their attention, "On average, you're each selling forty Adipose packs per day. It's not enough. I want one hundred sales per person per day. And if not, you'll be replaced. 'Cos if anyone is good in trimming the fat, it's me. Now. Back to it," she nodded and left the room.
"Anyway, if you could print that off," the Doctor smiled at the woman as she sat back down, "Thanks," she hit print and turned to hand him a paper, "Thanks, then. Oh, what's that?"
"My telephone number," she grinned.
The Professor's head snapped to look at her, her stare grew harder.
"What for?"
"Health and Safety. You be health, I'll be safety."
"That contravenes paragraph five, subsection C," the Professor informed her sternly, standing up, "Make a comment like that again and I'll report you."
The woman's eyes widened in shock and she flinched back at her tone. The Doctor seemed a bit stunned at the harshness in the Professor's voice, she had been mostly unemotional and detached since she'd regenerated, this was the first hint of emotion in her voice that he'd heard since.
The Professor, on the other hand, simply grabbed his arm and pulled him out of the cubicle.
He couldn't help but smile a little though, "Bit possessive are you?"
She didn't answer, simply dragged him over to the printer, only to see there was no paper there yet. The Doctor shook his head as her jaw tensed before he walked back over to the cubicle, "Me again," he grinned reassuringly at the woman as she cast a cautious glance at the Professor, "Could you print that again? Thanks."
He turned and moved back to the Professor, noting that the tension in her shoulders relaxed minutely as he walked away from the woman and towards her.
~8~
The Doctor knocked on the door of one Mr. Roger Davey, a customer of Adipose Industries. He'd selected a man as he was not willing to risk the Professor's wrath had they gone with the first person on the list, a Stacey…something…
"Mr. Roger Davey, we're calling on behalf of Adipose Industries," he grinned, flashing the thin man the psychic paper, "Just need to ask you a few questions."
"How long have you been on the pills?" the Professor asked, getting straight to business as Roger stepped back and let them into the house.
"I've been on the pills two weeks now, I've lost fourteen kilos," he replied, leading them to his sitting room.
"That's the same amount every day?" the Doctor wondered.
"One kilo exactly. You wake up, and it's disappeared overnight. Well, technically speaking, it's gone by ten past one in the morning."
"What makes you say that?"
"That's when I get woken up. Might as well weigh myself at the same time," the Doctor looked at him curiously so Roger motioned for them to follow him back outside where he pointed up at a burglar alarm above his door, "It is driving me mad. Ten minutes past one, every night, bang on the dot, without fail, the burglar alarm goes off. I've had experts in, I've had it replaced, I've even phoned Watchdog. But no, ten past one in the morning, off it goes."
"But with no burglars?"
"Nothing. I've given up looking."
"Tell me Roger, have you got a cat flap?"
He nodded and knelt down to show them the small flap on the front door, "It was there when I bought the house. Never bothered with it. I'm not a cat person."
"No, I've met cat people. You are nothing like them."
"It's that what it is then? Cats getting inside the house?"
"Well, thing about cat flaps is that they don't just let things in, they let things out as well."
"Like what?"
"The fat just walks away…" the Doctor muttered before he and the Professor stood up, "Well, thanks for your help. Tell you what, maybe you could lay off the pills for a week or so…" something in his pocket beeped and he pulled out a Y-shaped device that was blinking red, "Ooh, gotta go, sorry!"
He turned and ran off, following the signal with the Professor, running down the street and around a corner. He stopped short, looking at the device before banging it and holding it out again, running off. They ran down another street when the beeping faded. He turned in a circle, trying to pick up on it again, when it dinged and they ran off.
The Doctor ran into the street, the Professor pulling him back as a white van sped past them. The device dinged once more at the car and they ran off after it, but it was too fast, turning a corner and disappearing. The beeping faded until it stopped completely.
A taxi drove past them and they turned to walk back to the TARDIS to try and follow the trace that the device had picked up.
~8~
The Doctor was leaning against a Y-beam, watching the Professor examine the Adipose Industries capsule through a magnifying glass, really taking a close look at the tech within.
"So what's the verdict?" he asked.
"Bio-flip digital stitch," she replied, "Like I said, specifically designed for parthenogenesis. Bio-encodes to the DNA of whoever touches it and when activated…"
"What?"
"Adipose Industries. Adipose technology. A weight loss program. They're using the Earth as a breeding planet, converting the fat of humans into Adipose."
His eyes widened at that. There was no way to be absolutely certain, they hadn't seen any Adipose nor the capsule at work…but her mind worked in a way he couldn't even begin to understand. It took all the information gathered, the highest probability estimations, and formulated a theory based on it. And what always shocked him, to that day, was how close to accurate she was. The Professor he knew, all the Academics really, never stated their theories out loud unless they were almost 100 percent certain of its validity. If she was saying it was the Adipose, then it was probably the Adipose.
"Well then," he nodded, "We should find out why."
She stood up and headed for the door, the Doctor watching her a bit sadly. With her new regeneration came an almost single minded thought process. She treated everything as a mission that needed to be completed, a plan she had to see though to the end. He'd found himself excited by the emergence of her logic during her last body…but this one, this one was purely logic and facts. Just like the war though, thankfully, not as bad. Had she reverted back to that state, Adipose would have found itself answering to her at gunpoint or worse destroyed, quite possibly taking all the human employees with it. For, during the war, there was little questioning toward finding out motives and more finishing the enemy before they could act. This version of her seemed only to pull her blaster in defense, when threatened or in retaliation.
He followed her out, having parked the TARDIS back in the alley behind the building. They headed to the fire exit and soniced the door once more, heading in. Though, unlike last time, they needed to be there that night. They walked along a deserted corridor till they found a small storage cupboard. He opened the door, allowing her in, before closing it behind him and sonicing it shut.
~8~
Nearly 9 hours later the Doctor stepped out of the cupboard with the Professor, a small frown on his face. That had been rather uncomfortable. The Professor had stood in the 'at ease' position the enter time, barely moving, barely talking, as he tried to start up a conversation to pass the time. He had been lucky to get more than a one word answer out of her at times. It was remnants of her training shining through he knew, do nothing to endanger the mission. If it meant standing in one position for hours on end, she would do it. And he didn't want to admit it, but the blank look on her face whenever he tried to get a rise out of her broke his hearts.
But he had little time to think on that as they headed for the roof where he'd spotted a window cleaner's cradle the day before. If they could get that to work, they could look in through some of the offices till they spotted the one they needed. They hopped in and slowly began to descend.
The cradle reached a particular window just as a door opened and they ducked down quickly, peeking over as Penny was hauled into the room by two guards, Foster following, "You've got no right to do this!" she shouted, loud enough for even them to hear her through the glass, as she struggled, "Let me go!"
The Doctor pulled out his stethoscope and moved to put one end on the window, 'Listen in,' he looked at her. She nodded, focusing on hearing what he heard in her mind.
"This is ridiculous!" Penny continued.
"Sit there," Foster ordered.
"I'm phoning my editor."
"I said sit!"
"You can't tie me up. What sort of a country do you think this is?"
"Oh, it's a beautifully fat country. And believe me, I've travelled a long way to find obesity on this scale."
"So come on then, Miss Foster, those pills. What are they?"
"Well, you might just as well have a scoop, since you'll never see it printed. This…is the spark of life."
"And what's that supposed to mean?"
"Officially, the capsule attracts all the fat cells and flushes them away. Well, it certainly attracts them, that part's true. But it binds the fat together and galvanizes it to form a body."
"Well, what d'you mean 'a body?'"
"I am surprised you never asked about my name. I chose it well. Foster, as in foster mother. And these…" they peeked their heads up to see a white blob with a face on the table, "Are my children."
"You're kidding me. What the hell is that?"
"Adipose. It's called an Adipose. Made out of living fat. Stripped from ordinary human..."
'Donna,' the Professor stated.
The Doctor looked at her sharply before following her gaze to see Donna Noble looking at them, shocked, through the small window on Foster's office door.
"Donna?" he mouthed at her.
"DOCTOR!" she mouthed back.
"But...what? Wha...what?"
"OH MY GOD!"
"But...how?"
"It's me!"
"Well, I can see that!"
"Oh this is brilliant!"
"But what are you doing there?"
"I was looking for you!"
"What for?"
"I, came here…" she started to mime as well, "Trouble, read about it, internet, I thought, trouble equals you! And this place is weird! Pills! So I hid. Back there. Crept along. Heard this lot. Looked. You! 'Cos they..."
"Can we stop this child's play before they notice!" the Professor mouthed, frustrated.
They immediately looked over to see if Foster, Penny, or the guards had noticed…they had.
"Are we interrupting you?" Foster asked.
"Run!" the Doctor mouthed to Donna.
"Get her!" Foster ordered.
The Doctor quickly locked the office door with the sonic before using it to elevate the cradle back to the roof. They ran across it, to the door of the stairwell, and back down until they literally ran into Donna who pulled them both into a hug, not noticing the Professor stiffen in her excitement.
"Oh my God!" Donna gasped, "I don't believe it! You've even got the same suit!" she looked at him, aghast, "Don't you ever change?" and then glanced at the Professor, "And who's she?"
"The Professor," he replied.
"She don't look like the Professor…"
"Regeneration. Changed her face."
"What do you mean 'changed her face?'"
"Look Donna, not right now, we don't have the time!"
"Guards," the Professor muttered, looking down at the approaching soldiers.
"Just like old times!" the Doctor grinned, taking off up the stairs. He wanted nothing more than to take the Professor's hand and run, but the hardened warrior in her seemed to see that as a disadvantage, slowing down a run and throwing balance off. She had easily avoided his last few attempts to do so and he'd quickly learned not to try, for now at least.
They ran up stairs and onto the roof, the Doctor and Professor quickly heading for the cradle once more as Donna babbled on excitedly.
"'Cos I thought, how do I find the Doctor and Professor? And then I just thought, look for trouble and then he'll turn up and she won't be far away! So I looked everywhere, you name it, UFOs, sightings, crop circles, sea monsters. I looked, I found them all. Like that stuff about the bees disappearing, I thought, I bet they're connected. 'Cos the thing is, I believe it all now. You opened my eyes. All those amazing things out there, I believe them all. Well, apart from that replica of the Titanic flying over Buckingham Palace on Christmas Day, I mean that's gotta be a hoax! And…"
"Oh, will you shut up and let us work!" the Professor snapped.
Donna's mouth fell open in shock at the woman's tone and words. She had noticed that, if this was the Professor, she was very different. Not just her appearance, but the way she held herself. She hadn't quite thought it was this bad though. It couldn't be her. It just couldn't. Whatever that regeneration thing was had changed her…this person, who had glared at her just then and told her to stuff it, she couldn't be the same person who had comforted her during her almost wedding.
Donna fell silent in shock and hurt. The Professor seemed not to notice as she got back to working on the cradle.
The Doctor winced, shooting Donna an apologetic smile, this version of the Professor seemed to have a short temper and even less patience, at least in terms of distractions to a mission and that's all she was seeing Donna as at that moment, "What d'you mean, the bees are disappearing?" he attempted, trying to lift her spirits just a bit.
"Dunno…" Donna nearly whispered, shaken by the sudden tongue lashing, "That's what it says on the internet. Also talked about Adipose Industries so…thought I'd take a look…"
"In you get!" the Doctor called, snapping her out of her hurt.
"Well in that thing?" she looked up to see him and the Professor standing in the cradle.
"Yes in that thing!"
"But if we go down in that, they'll just call us back up again."
"No, no, no, 'cos I've locked the controls with a sonic cage. I'm the only one who can control it. Not unless she's got a sonic device of her own. Which is very unlikely."
Donna glanced at the roof door before rushing over to the cradle and getting in. The Professor set the controls and down they went. They'd gotten nearly halfway to Foster's office when the cradle started to fall. The Doctor looked up and aimed the sonic, flashing it to make them stop.
Unfortunately the sudden jerk sent them all toppling around. He jumped up, "Hold on. Hold on, we can get in through the window!" he flashed the sonic but it didn't work, "Can't get it open!"
"Deadlocked," the Professor reasoned.
"Well, smash it then!" Donna argued, picking up a large wrench and banging it on the glass to no avail. She quickly grew frustrated and looked up, only to see Foster holding some sort of device at the ropes, one of which was smoking, "Cutting the cable!"
The cable broke a moment later, the Doctor and Professor managed to hold on, but Donna fell out, grabbing onto the broken cable and dangling in the air.
"Donna!" the Doctor shouted.
"Doctor! Professor!"
"Hold on!"
"I AM!" the Doctor tried to pull up the cable but couldn't, "Doctor!"
The Professor looked up to see the second cable sparking and pulled herself up, onto the edge of the cradle, and aimed her blaster. She fired, striking the woman's hand and causing her to drop the sonic device. She reached up and caught it as it fell, turning it on the window and unlocking the building.
"I'm going to fall!" Donna shouted, "This is all your fault. I should've stayed at home!"
"We won't be a minute!" the Doctor called as the Professor nimbly climbed into the window, following her. They quickly ran down stairs and into Foster's office where Penny was still tied.
"Is anyone gonna tell me what's going on?" Penny demanded.
"What, you're a journalist?" he eyed her as the Professor opened the window Donna was dangling before.
"Yes."
"Well, make it up!"
They reached out to grab Donna's legs but she kicked them off, "Get off!"
"We've got you! We've got you. Stop kicking!"
A moment later they managed to get Donna inside and safe, "I was right," she breathed, "It's always like this with you, innit?"
He gave her a huge grin, "Oh yes! And off we go!" they turned and ran out of the room.
"OI!" Penny shouted.
The Doctor popped his head back, "Sorry!" he flashed the sonic and released her bindings, "Now do yourself a favor, get out."
He turned and ran out, catching up with the Professor and Donna in the call center but they stopped short, seeing Foster and her guards standing there.
"Well then," Foster smirked as she took off her glasses, "At last."
"Hello," Donna waved.
"Nice to meet you," the Doctor added, "I'm the Doctor. This is the Professor."
"And I'm Donna."
"Partners in crime," she eyed them, "And evidently off-worlders, judging by your sonic technology."
"Oh yes, we've still got your sonic pen," he looked over at the Professor as she held it, "Nice, I like it. Sleek, it's kinda sleek."
"Oh, it's definitely sleek," Donna agreed.
"Yeah, and if you were to sign your real name that would be..."
"Matron Cofelia of the Five-Straighten Classabindi Nursery Fleet. Intergalactic Class."
"A wet nurse, using humans as surrogates."
"I've been employed by the Adiposian First Family to foster a new generation after their breeding planet was lost."
"What do you mean lost? How do you lose a planet?"
"Oh, politics are none of my concern. I'm just here to take care of the children on behalf of the parents."
"What, like an outer space super-nanny?" Donna frowned.
"Yes, if you like."
"So...so those little things they're...they're made out of fat yeah, but that woman, Stacy Campbell, there was nothing left of her."
"Oh, in a crisis the Adipose can convert bone and hair and internal organs. Makes them a little bit sick, poor things."
"What about poor Stacy?"
"Seeding a level 5 planet is against galactic law," the Professor stated, a hard look in her eyes.
"Are you threatening me?" Foster narrowed her eyes at her.
"Yes."
"No!" the Doctor cut in, shooting the Professor a look, "We're trying to help you, Matron. This is your one chance, 'cos if you don't call this off, then we'll have to stop you."
"I hardly think you can stop bullets," she smirked as the guards took aim.
The Professor, in turn, stepped forward to stand slightly in front of the Doctor and aimed her blaster back.
"No, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on," the Doctor ran next to her, his hands up, "One more thing, before...dying. Do you know what happens if you hold two identical sonic devices against each other?"
"No…" Foster eyed him.
"Nor me, lets find out!" he grabbed the sonic pen from the Professor and smashed it together with his own sonic, creating a horrible high-pitched noise. Foster and her guards covered their ears as the glass around them shattered.
Donna gave him a shove, pushing him, and wondering how the Professor could possibly stand there so unaffected by the noise, even the Doctor was squirming, "Come on!" she turned and ran off, the two Time Lords following after her. The Doctor soon overtook her at the stairwell, leading them down to the deserted basement corridor, right to the cupboard they had hidden in before.
He yanked open the door and started throwing the supplies out to give them room to work, "Well, that's one solution," Donna remarked, "Hide in a cupboard. I like it."
The Professor stepped forward and pressed against the wall, sliding a hidden panel to reveal a green machine behind it, "We need to hack into this."
The Doctor nodded, "'Cos the Matron's got a computer core running through the center of the building."
"Triple deadlocked," the Professor assessed.
"But now we've got this," he held up the sonic pen, handing it to her, "We can get into it."
"She's wired up the whole building," the Professor mumbled, "Secure the perimeter…" she held two sparking plugs together and lightning zapped around the frames of the corridor all the way down to the stairs.
Donna watched, slightly horrified, as two guards ran down the steps only to be shocked unconscious as they stepped into the hall.
"Why's she wired up the tower block?" the Doctor frowned, looking over the Professor's shoulder, "What's it all for?"
"Inducer online," the computer stated.
"You look older," Donna commented, turning to eye them.
"Thanks," he remarked, watching the Professor work.
"Still on your own?"
"Yup. Well no, we had this friend, Martha she was called. Martha Jones. She was brilliant...and we destroyed half her life. But she's fine. She's good. She's gone."
"What about Rose?"
"Still lost," he paused, glancing at her, "I thought you were going to travel the world?"
"Easier said than done. It's like I had that one day with you and I was gonna change. I was gonna do so much. Then I woke up next morning, same old life. It's like you were never there. And I tried. I did try, I went to Egypt. I was gonna go barefoot and everything. And then it's all bus trips and guidebooks and don't drink the water and two weeks later you're back home. It's nothing like being with you. I must have been mad turning down that offer."
"What offer?"
"To come with you."
"You'd come with us?"
"Oh yes, please!"
"Right."
"Inducer activated," the computer stated.
"What's it doing now?" Donna frowned.
"She's started the program," the Doctor replied.
"Inducer transmitting."
"So far they're just losing weight, but the Matron has gone up to emergency pathogenesis."
"That's when they convert..." Donna's mouth dropped open in horror.
"Skeletons, organs, everything. A million people are gonna die!" he moved to the Professor's side, "Gotta cancel the signal!" he pulled out the golden capsule, pulling off one end to reveal a small chip inside, "This contains the primary signal. If we can switch it off the fat goes back to being just fat…" he hooked the capsule into the machine.
"Inducer increasing."
"No, no, no, no, no!" he cried, tense, "She's doubled it, we need...haven't got time! It's too far, we can't override it! They're all gonna die!"
"Is there anything I can do?" Donna asked.
"Sorry, Donna, this is way beyond you! Gotta double the base pulse, we can't..."
"Doctor, tell me what do you need!"
"We need a second capsule to boost the override," the Professor replied.
"But we've only got the one!" the Doctor shook his head, "We can't save them!"
Donna simply held up a gold capsule of her own. The Doctor looked at her in shock before they both burst out laughing.
"Don't waste time grinning like idiots!" the Professor snapped, snatching the second capsule and plugging it in herself, pulling a lever and turning off the lights.
"Right…" the Doctor swallowed, a bit bashful, "Sorry."
Just then a horn sounded above them.
"What the hell was that?" Donna looked up.
"The nursery…" the Doctor looked up as well.
"Fine. When you say nursery you don't mean a crèche in Notting Hill."
"Nursery ship."
The computer unit lit up again, "Incoming signal."
The Professor turned to it as it began to murmur, the Doctor listening intently as well.
"Hadn't we better go and stop them?" Donna asked.
"Hang on, instructions from the Adiposian First Family," the Doctor quieted her, "She's wired up the tower block to convert it into a levitation post…oh. Ooh, we're not the ones in trouble now. SHE is!"
~8~
The Doctor, Professor, and Donna ran up onto the roof to see the Adipose babies levitating up in a blue light, towards the ship.
"What you gonna do then?" Donna asked, "Blow them up?"
"They're just children," the Doctor remarked, "They can't help where they come from."
"Oh, that makes a change from last time. That Martha must've done you good."
"Adipose are a pacifistic society, unlike the Racnoss which are born only to feast on the resources of planets and their people," the Professor declared, "They pose no threat."
Donna frowned and looked at her, "What happened to you?" she asked her quietly, feeling immensely disheartened and sorry for whatever made the compassionate girl she knew before so cold and unfeeling.
"Target located," the Professor said, not answering Donna's question as they headed over to the edge of the roof where Foster was hovering in the air across from them.
"Matron Cofelia, listen to us!" the Doctor shouted.
"Oh, I don't think so, Doctor," she sneered, "And if I never see you again, it will be too soon."
"Oh, why does no one ever listen? I'm trying to help! Just get across to the roof. Can you shift the levitation beam?"
"What, so that you can arrest me?"
"Just listen. We saw the Adiposian instructions, they know it's a crime, breeding on Earth. So what's the one thing they want to get rid of? Their accomplice!"
"I'm far more than that. I'm nanny to all these children."
The Doctor glanced around, seeing only Foster was left in the beam, "Exactly! Mum and dad have got the kids now, they don't need the nanny anymore!"
Suddenly the blue light vanished and Foster fell down to the ground with a scream. Donna hid her face in the Doctor's shoulder as they looked away, the Professor just watching her fall, unaffected.
When Donna peeked out again it was to look up at the ships where the Adipose babies were waving goodbye to them.
~8~
The Doctor tossed the sonic pen into a bin as they stood on the street, watching the ambulance and police walk around outside the building. The Professor stood 'at ease,' watching the proceedings.
"Oi, you three!" Penny shouted, walking over to them, still tied to the chair, "You're just mad. Do you hear me? Mad! And I'm gonna report you...for madness!"
Donna shook her head, watching as she crept away, "You see, some people just can't take it."
"No," the Doctor agreed.
"But some people can. So, then, TARDIS! Come on!" she grabbed the Doctor's arm, pulling him away, the Professor following as Donna pulled him to the alley where the TARDIS was parked before a small blue car, "That's my car! That is like destiny! And I've been ready for this," she turned and opened the boot, pulling out suitcase after suitcase, "I packed ages ago, just in case. 'Cos I thought, hot weather, cold weather, no weather..." she handed them to the Doctor who was still a bit stunned, "...they go anywhere, I've gotta be prepared," she tossed on a stripped hatbox for good measure.
"You've got a...a...hatbox?"
"Planet of the Hats, I'm ready!"
~8~
The Doctor and Professor stood before the TARDIS, surrounded by suitcases, serious, as Donna babbled from the doorway, beaming, "Do I need injections though, do I? Like when you go to Cambodia, is there any of that? 'Cos my friend Veena went to Bahrain, and..." she trailed off, seeing that they didn't look as happy as she felt, "You're not saying much."
"No, it's just..." he swallowed hard, "It's a funny old life, in the TARDIS."
"You don't want me," she breathed, sad.
"I'm not saying that."
"But you asked me…" the Doctor just stared at her sadly, "Would you rather the two of you be on your own?"
"No," he shook his head, "Actually, no," and he really didn't, having another Companion would help the Professor. Having Martha along had done wonders for her and he just knew Donna would be good for her as well, "But..." he put a bag on the ground, "The last time, with Martha, like I said it...it was complicated at first. And that was all my fault. We just want a mate."
"You just want TO MATE?" Donna cried, disgusted, stepping back from him.
"No! A mate!"
"You're not mating with me, sunshine!"
"A mate, a mate!"
"Well just as well, because I'm not having any of that nonsense. I mean you're just a long streak of...nothing. You know, alien nothing."
"There we are, then. OK."
"I can come?"
"Yeah. Course you can, yeah. We'd love it."
"Oh, that's just..." she ran to hug him but stopped short, "Car keys!"
"What?"
"I've still got my mum's car keys! I won't be a minute!"
She turned and ran off, leaving the Doctor and Professor to get the suitcases into the TARDIS. The Professor eyed him a moment before helping, lugging them inside.
Once they were all in she stood by the console as he leaned against it, "So…" he glanced at her, "What do you think?"
"She's irritating," she remarked.
He laughed a bit, "She'll be good for us. I know it," he looked at her, "You said it yourself, she's good."
"Then I was mistaken."
He actually snorted at that, "You?"
The corner of her mouth twitched up for a second and he beamed, it was the first hint of a smile he'd seen from her since she'd regenerated.
"Off we go, then!" Donna shouted as she ran into the TARDIS a few minutes later.
"Here it is, the TARDIS," he grinned, "It's bigger on the inside than it is on the outside..."
"Oh, I know that bit. Although frankly, you could turn the heat up."
"So, whole wide Universe, where do you want to go?"
"Oh, I know exactly the place."
"Which is?"
"Two and a half miles, that way," she jerked her finger. He nodded and went to the console, he and the Professor keying in the coordinates. As soon as they were there, the Doctor nodded to Donna who ran to the door, throwing them open, and waving out into the night.
"That's Donna!" they heard someone shout and went over, vaguely able to see an old man looking up at them, "Yeah, that's Donna! And that's them! That's them! Hey! That's them! Ha ha ha! Go on girl! Go on, get up there! Hey!" he did a little jig as they flew off into the stars.
A/N: So what do you think? Will Donna be good for the Professor? We have all of Series 4 to find out :)
It killed me to write the interactions with Donna and the Professor for this chapter, especially after how understanding and nice the Professor was to her at the almost wedding, but this regeneration has layers of walls to work through, even the Doctor's going to have his fair share of detachment from her (and yes, it really does KILL me to do that to Keta). This will definitely be a rough patch in their relationship so the Doctor/Professor scenes will tend to be subtle at best, but don't worry Keta fans, the Doctor's not one to give up without a fight and this Professor certainly has some fight in her too doesn't she? I don't want to give away too much about what will happen with the Professor and her regeneration, but...I can say that there will be events in certain episodes that will definitely affect her (in fact, there's one in the very next chapter), but whether positively or negatively, you'll have to wait to find out :) -insert evil laugh-
On a slightly different note, one review asked about the transcripts I use, I got most of the transcripts (series 2-4) from who-transcripts(dot)atspace(dot)com but for series 5-6, there is an amazing live journal account (jpgr(dot)livejournal(dot)com) Diary of a Procrastinator, who wrote the transcripts for those series. Props to them!