Turn Left
The Doctor, Professor, and Donna strode through a narrow, crowded oriental alien market, various vendors trying to sell them their wares. The Doctor and Donna laughed while the Professor's gaze kept drifting around, checking out every person in the vicinity, always on the alert for danger or threats against them. It seemed the Doctors attempt at trust building on Midnight had only served to make her more wary of others instead. It hadn't completely set her back, she didn't trust people any less than she had, but she wasn't more trusting of them than he'd hoped she'd be. Still, to have her not move forward in that aspect was the best he could hope for if it meant she hadn't moved backwards either. And something good had come out of it, the humans she did trust, she trusted even more. She'd actually let Donna near her more than she used to, returning hugs of relief, brief as they were, and had taken to trying to explain things in a way the woman could understand rather than rattling off facts on space and time that no one but he could follow. He was rather proud of her.
"You are going to love this!" he called, getting them a small, foamy drink each, "One, two, three…" they took a swig, earning foamy moustaches, "Ah!"
"It's lovely!" Donna laughed.
The Professor gave a small nod and they continued down the alley, browsing.
"You want to buy Shukina?" a stall owner called to Donna as she wandered away. She glanced back at the Doctor, handing the Professor a spiky fruit for her to scan and name, "Or Peshwami? Most beautiful Peshwami in all of Shan Shen."
Donna smiled at her politely, "No thanks."
She walked on a little further when a fortune teller called out, "Tell your fortune, lady?" she turned, "Your future predicted, your life foretold."
"Ah, no thanks," she waved her off.
"Don't you want to know? If you're going to be happy?"
"I'm happy right now, thanks."
"You've got red hair. Reading's free for red hair."
Donna laughed, "Alright, then," and followed the teller into her shop. She took a small seat at a table, holding out her palm for the teller to read.
"You're fascinating," she remarked, "Oh no, but you're good. I can see...a man and a woman...the most remarkable people. How did you meet them?"
"You're supposed to tell me."
"I see the future. Tell me the past. When did your lives cross?"
"It's sort of complicated. I ended up in his spaceship on my wedding day…"
"But what led you to that meeting?"
"All sorts of things," she sighed, thinking, "But my job, I suppose. It was on Earth...this planet called Earth, miles away. But I had this job as a temp. I was a secretary at this place called H.C. Clements…" she gave a lurch, recalling working at that job almost as though she were still back there, "Sorry."
"It's the incense. Just, er, breathe deep…this job of yours…what choices led you there?"
"There was a choice...six months before. The agency offered me this contract with H.C. Clements…" she frowned, recalling her mother and her in the car, arguing over her choice in job.
"Your life could have gone one way or the other. What made you decide?"
"I just did…"
"But when was the moment? When did you choose?" Donna frowned, thinking about the intersection, turn left to her job or right to the job her mother was nagging her about, "You turned left. But what if you turned right? What then?"
"Let go of my hands!" Donna looked up, suspicious, but the teller wouldn't let go.
"What if it changes? What if you go right? What if you could still go right?"
"Stop it…" she breathed, terrified.
And then she felt something crawl onto her back.
"What's that?" she gasped, "What's on my back? What is it? What…what's on my back?"
"Make the choice again, Donna Noble, and change your mind," the teller ordered viciously, "Turn right."
Donna blinked, trying to fight it, but failing, "I'm turning..."
"Turn right. Turn right. Turn right. Turn right and never meet those two. Turn right and change the world!"
And Donna, in her memory, turned right instead.
~8~
Donna made her way through the crowded pub towards her friends, smiling at the various people singing Christmas carols, "Get out of the way. Get out of the way!" she set the tray down, "There we are! Feed at the trough."
"Mooky says let's go to the Boardwalk," her friend Veena laughed, "It's two for the price of one."
"Christmas Eve? It'll be heaving."
"Exactly!" Mooky shouted, "Get in and grab 'em."
They all laughed when Veena noticed something, "Hey, that's the second round of drinks you've bought. It was my turn!"
"I can afford it," Donna grinned smugly, "Promotion. You are talking to Jival Chowdry's personal assistant, I'll have you know. Capital P, capital A, 23,000 pounds per annum, merci beaucoup!"
"Here's to Mr. Chowdry!" Veena raised her glass.
"Mr. Chowdry!" they all toasted, save a young blond woman sitting beside Donna.
"She gets all the luck," Mooky grumbled.
Donna looked over at the blond, her other friend Alice, seeing her not toasting but staring at her shoulder, "What's wrong? What is it?"
"Sorry?" Alice looked up, startled.
"Has someone spilled a drink on me?" she tried to look behind her, "Why do you keep looking at my shoulder? What's wrong?"
"I don't know," she whispered, her eyes wide.
"Oh, don't tell me you're getting all spooky again. It was bad enough when you saw the ghost of Earl Mountbatten at the Boat show. What are you looking at? What is it?"
"It's like...it's like there's something I can't see!"
Just then, a man ran into the pub, "Shut up, all of you! Come and see! Just look at the sky!" everyone turned to him, "It's a star! A Christmas star!"
"Come on, then!" Veena got up and rushed out. Donna followed after them, everyone gathering around to see a large web-like star gliding towards the city.
"What the hell is that?" Mooky frowned.
"Ken Livingston, that's what, spending our money on decorations. I mean, how much did that cost?"
"Don't be so stupid, it's flying! It's really flying!"
"That's not a star," Donna shook her head as they walked closer, trying to keep it in sight, "That's a web. It's heading east...the middle of the City."
The web came to a standstill and electricity fired out from its points, attacking all the people standing nearby, destroying the buildings. Everyone screamed and turned to run when Donna noticed Alice still staring at her shoulder, "Alice. There's a great big web-star thing shooting at people, and you're looking at me?"
"There's something on your back," Alice breathed, terrified, before running off.
Donna turned and ran towards the star.
"Donna!" Veena shouted after her, "Where are you going? You're going to get yourself killed! Donna!" she moved to follow but Mooky pulled her away.
Donna ran down the street, coming to a line of people watching as an army tank came to a stop in the middle of the way.
"FIRE!" a soldier called. The tank and a few others shot at the web-star, it ignited into flames and shattered, "Everyone stay back. The Thames has been closed. Return to your homes. Keep away from the river, and that's an order."
Donna sidled around some cars as the people turned to leave and spotted a UNIT soldier speaking into his radio.
"Trap 1 to Greyhound 15: what is your report?" a voice called over it, "Over."
"From the evidence," the soldier before her replied, "I'd say they managed to stop the creature. Some sort of red spider. Blew up the base underneath the barrier, flooded the whole thing. Over."
"And where are they now? Over."
"We found two bodies, sir. Over."
A body on a stretcher, covered in a red blanket, was moved towards the ambulance behind him.
"Is it them? Over."
"I think so. They just didn't make it out in time…" an arm, clothed in a brown pinstriped suit, fell uselessly over the side of the stretcher, dropping a metal wand-like thing onto the ground, "The Doctor is dead."
"And the Professor?"
As the body was loaded into the vehicle another stretcher came around the corner. The blanket, however, got snagged on the corner of the ambulance and pulled down. Donna squinted, seeing a girl lying there in a gray sort of sweater with brown hair, matted with water. The soldiers pushing her quickly pulled the blanket back up.
"She's dead as well," the soldier reported, "Must have happened too fast for them to regenerate."
"Escort the ambulances back to UNIT base," the voice commanded.
The ambulances were shut and Donna slowly turned to walk away from the scene. She'd only gotten a few feet when a blond girl ran past her, "What happened?" she asked, breathless, "What did they find?" she looked at Donna, "Sorry, did they find someone?"
"I don't know. Um, bloke called the Doctor or something and a girl, a Professor."
"Well, where are they?" she looked around, "Where is he?"
"They took them away. They're dead," the woman stopped and stared at her, "I'm sorry. Did you know them?" she looked away, "I mean...they didn't say their names...it could be any doctor or pro…"
"I came so far..."
She reached out and touched the woman's arm, "It could be anyone."
The blond looked at her, "What's your name?"
"Donna. And you?"
Her gaze shifted to Donna's shoulder, "Oh, I was just...passing by. I shouldn't even be here, this is...wrong. It's wrong. This is so wrong. Sorry, what was it? Donna what?"
"Why do you keep looking at my back?"
"I'm not," she looked up.
Donna glared, "Yes, you are. You keep looking behind me. You're doing it now," she tried to look back as well, "What is it? What's there? Has someone put something on my back?" she faltered a moment because the blond woman was gone.
~8~
Donna walked down the street glumly, so much for that contract. She'd been sacked earlier, business was doing poorly since the Thames drained during Christmas and so…she'd been sacked. Personally, she thought it should have been someone else, half the people at that job didn't do half the work she did. But what was worse was her mother and grandfather. Her gramps hadn't really seemed to care, far more interested in watching something about a hospital that travelled to the moon and some woman named Sarah Jean something who had apparently gotten it back, than her woes. Her mother just resigned herself to the fact that her daughter was a failure.
Today was just not her day.
Suddenly, amidst her musings, a bright light and a hum sounded in the alley before her, and a blond woman ran out of it onto the street.
"Blimey!" she ran over, "Are you alright? What was that, fireworks or..."
"I dunno!" the blond shook her head, "I was just walking along and...that's weird."
"You're the one. Christmas Eve…I met you in town."
"Donna, isn't it?"
"What was your name?"
"How are you doing? You're looking good…" she started to look at Donna's shoulder again, "How've you been doing? What have you been up to?"
"You're doing it again."
"What?"
"Looking behind me. People keep on doing that, looking at my back!"
"What sort of people?"
"People in the street. Strangers. I just catch them, sometimes, staring at me...like they're looking at something," the girl's eyes shifted to her shoulder again, "And then I get home and look and there's nothing there," she swiped her back, "See, look, now I'm doing it!"
"What are you doing for Christmas?"
"What am I what?"
"Next Christmas. Any plans?"
"I don't know, that's ages away! Nothing much I suppose. Why?"
"Just...I think you should get out. You and your family, don't stay in London, just...leave the City."
"What for?"
"A nice hotel...Christmas break?"
"Can't afford it."
"Well, no, you've got that raffle ticket."
"How do you know about that?"
"First prize...luxury weekend break. Use it, Donna Noble."
"Why won't you tell me your name?" Donna glared but the woman didn't say so she just walked past her, "I think you should leave me alone."
And as she walked, she deftly ignored the flash of light and hum behind her.
~8~
If Donna thought losing her job had been bad…it was nothing compared to what came next. She had used the raffle and gotten her family out of London…only for some giant alien replica of the Titanic to fall on it, destroying most of the UK save for the outer edges. She, her mother, and grandfather had been reassigned to Leeds where they'd been forced to live with quite a few other families in a small cramped space. The help they were expecting from America never came as the nation found itself under attack and millions were killed by these small, white, blobbed aliens. On top of that, her mother and her were trying to sleep, only to be kept awake by the families singing some sort of sea chantey in the sitting room. Donna had stormed in there only to see her grandfather there as well and before she knew it, everyone was joining in, even her mum!
"I'm just a poor boy from a poor family," they all sang horribly, "He's just a poor boy from a poor family, spare him his life from this monstrosity…" they laughed, "Doo, doo, doo, doo, doo, easy come, easy go, will you let me go?" gun shots sounded from outside, "Bismillah! No…" they faltered, finally registering the sounds.
"Stay here, everyone, stay!" Rocco, the head of the collective households stood up and walked out, Wilf following him as well. Outside the house there was a UNIT soldier shooting at the exhaust on a car, "Hey-ey-ey! Firing at the car is not so good! You…you crazy or what?"
"It's this ATMOS thing, it won't stop!" the soldier shouted as the family gathered outside, "It's like gas, it's toxic."
"Well, switch it off!" Wilf called.
"I have done, it's still going. It's every car. Every single ATMOS car, they've gone mad," he turned, hearing a clicking noise and pointed his gun at Donna, "You, lady, turn around!"
Wilf and Rocco jumped in front of her, "Are you crazy, boy?" Rocco glared.
"Turn around!"
"Put the gun down!" Wilf shouted.
"Turn around! Turn around!"
"Do what he says!" her mother shouted, "Turn around, now!"
"Turn around, now! Show me your back!" Donna turned and revealed nothing there. He lowered his gun, confused, "Sorry...I thought I saw..."
"Call yourself a soldier?" Wilf stormed over to him, "Pointing guns at innocent women?" Donna paid no attention though, her gaze caught by a flash of light and hum around the corner, "You're a disgrace. In my day, we would've had you court marshaled!"
Donna turned and walked towards the corner.
"Donna?" her mother shouted, "Where are you going? It's not safe at night! Donna! Donna!"
Donna rounded a corner to see the blond woman waiting for her, "Hello."
"Hi," she replied, before nodding and leading her down the street to a small park. They sat there, looking up at the sky, "It's the ATMOS devices. We're lucky it's not so bad here, Britain hasn't got that much petrol. But all over Europe...China, South Africa...they're getting choked by gas."
"Can't anyone stop it?"
"Yeah, they're trying right now, this little band of fighters...on board the Sontaran ship...any second now..." the sky lit on fire for a moment before clearing.
Donna's mouth dropped open, "And that was..."
"That was the Torchwood team. Gwen Cooper, Ianto Jones, they gave their lives. And Captain Jack Harkness has transported to the Sontaran home world. There's no one left."
Donna eyed her closely, "You're always wearing the same clothes. Why won't you tell me your name?"
"None of this was meant to happen. There was a man. This...wonderful man, and he stopped it. The Titanic, the Adipose, the ATMOS, he stopped them all from happening."
"That...Doctor?"
"Yeah."
"What about that girl, the Professor?"
"Her to," she sighed, "You knew them both."
"Did I? When?"
"I think you dream about them, sometimes. It's a girl in a grey sweater? A man in a suit? A tall, thin man, great hair…" she trailed off, remembering him fondly, "Some...really great hair."
"Who are you?"
"I was like you. I used to be you. You've travelled with them, Donna. You've travelled with the Doctor and Professor in a different world."
"I never met them, and they're dead."
"They died underneath the Thames on Christmas Eve, but you were meant to be there. He needed someone to stop him because the Professor wouldn't, she would stand by him, and that was you. You made them leave. You saved their lives."
Donna stared out into space, vaguely recalling a dream of fire and water, a large red spider, her in a wedding dress, a man and woman standing on a balcony overlooking the destruction. She could hear herself calling up to them before the woman pulled the man off and they ran.
She stood up and walked a few feet away, scared, "Stop it. I don't know what you're talking about, leave me alone!"
The woman stood as well, "Something's coming, Donna. Something worse."
"The whole world is stinking. How can anything be worse than this?"
"Trust me. We need the Doctor more than ever. I've…" she swallowed hard and put her hand to her heart, "I've been pulled across from a different Universe, because every single Universe is in danger. It's coming, Donna. It's coming from across the stars and nothing can stop it."
"WHAT is?"
"The darkness."
"Well, what do you keep telling ME for? WHAT am I supposed to do? I'm nothing special. I mean, I'm…I'm not…I'm nothing special, I'm a temp. I'm not even that, I'm NOTHING."
"Donna Noble, you're the most important woman in the whole of creation."
"Oh, don't," she laughed mirthlessly, "Just...don't. I'm tired. I'm so...tired," she turned to leave.
"I need you to come with me."
"Yeah. Well, blonde hair might work on the men, but you ain't shifting me, lady."
She smiled, "That's more like it."
"I've got plenty more."
"I know you'll come with me. Only when you want to."
"You'll have a long wait, then," she walked off.
"Not really, just three weeks. Tell me, does your grandfather still own that telescope?"
Donna turned around, startled, "He never lets go of it."
"Three weeks time. But you've got to be certain. Because, when you come with me, Donna...sorry...so sorry, but...you're going to die."
Donna stared as, right before her eyes, the woman faded away.
~8~
Donna followed the blond woman through an old warehouse that UNIT had set up as their base. She'd been with her grandfather, looking up at the stars, only to see them literally blinking out, just as the woman had predicted. She'd gone to her, ready to do what she could to help.
They stepped in and the woman pushed aside a curtain to allow them into the warehouse. There was a semicircle of alternating mirrors and lights set up, an old blue phone box in the corner, linked to the lights by a series of wires.
"Loadstone testing now at 15.4," came over the loudspeaker, "Repeat: 15.4."
An older woman stepped over to them, saluting, "Ma'am."
"I've told you, don't salute," she muttered irritably before turning to tamper with the computers.
"Well, if you're not going to tell us your name..."
"What, you don't know either?" Donna looked at her.
"There's too many different realities," she remarked, "Trust me, the wrong word in the wrong place can change an entire causal nexus."
"She talks like that," the soldier told Donna, "A lot. And you must be Miss Noble. "
"Donna."
"Captain Erisa Magambo," she shook Donna's hand, "Thank you for this."
"I don't even know what I'm doing."
"Is it awake?" the woman turned to Erisa.
"It seems to be quiet today," she nodded, "Ticking over. Like it's waiting."
She turned and looked at the blue box, contemplating it, "Do you want to see it?"
"What's a police box?" Donna asked.
"They salvaged it from underneath the Thames. Just go inside."
"What for?"
"Just go in!"
Donna stepped inside for a moment, "No. WAY!" she laughed, stepping out and checking to make sure the box was truly that small before heading in again. It was very dark and silent inside, wires sticking out of the main console, nearly everything torn apart.
She stepped out again to see the woman smiling, "What do you think?"
"...can I have a coffee?" she asked.
~8~
The woman and Donna walked around the console of the box, Donna clutching a cup of coffee as she followed.
"Time and Relative Dimension in Space," the woman stated, "This room used to shine with light," she looked at the rotor, "I think it's dying," she reached out and rubbed the console, "It's still trying to help."
"And...and it belonged to the Doctor and Professor?" Donna asked.
"To the Doctor," she corrected, "He was a Time Lord, like the Professor. Last of their kind."
"But if they're so special, what're they doing with me?"
"They thought you were brilliant."
"Don't be stupid."
"Well, you are! It just took the Doctor to show you that, simply by being with him," she looked away, "He did the same to me. To everyone he touches."
Donna watched her a moment, "Were you and him..." she didn't say anything, "Then were he and the Professor…"
She swallowed hard, "I thought I was the first," she admitted after a moment, "But it turned out that the Professor knew him…loved him…far longer than me, before me. And…I had a choice once, to tell him I loved him…or tell him about her loving him. I told him about her."
"And?"
"I regret it everyday of my life," she sighed, "Because I know, I KNOW he loved me too and if I could've just…he would have said it back, I KNOW it. I've been trying to get back to him."
"You want a second chance."
She nodded, "Yeah. 'Cos I know he loves me too, and...I just...I want him back."
Donna frowned, something unsettling in the pit of her stomach, "Even if he's already with her?"
"He's not," she answered quickly.
"How do you know?"
"He may care for her, yeah, but he loves me. He wouldn't just leave me for her no matter what I said. He'd wait. He'd wait for me to come back. He had to have."
Donna was silent, if this woman had told the Doctor that this Professor person loved him…well, she couldn't help but feel like, if there was even a chance he felt the same way, then he would not have waited. Losing someone you love truly puts things in perspective. If he had cared for this woman and lost her, he wouldn't have wanted to risk it with the Professor.
She looked up to see the woman staring at her shoulder again, "Do you want to see it?"
"No," Donna shook her head but the woman stared at her, "Go on, then."
~8~
Donna stood in the center of the mirrors where the woman had positioned her, "We don't know how the TARDIS works, but we've managed to scrape off the surface technology, enough to show you the creature."
"It's a creature?" she gasped, alarmed.
"Just stand here."
"Out of the circle, please!" Erisa called.
"Yes, ma'am," she turned and left the circle.
"Can't you stay with me?" Donna asked, fearful, but the woman kept walking.
"Ready?" Erisa looked around, "And...activate."
The machinery whirred, the lights turning on one by one, and Donna screwed her eyes shut tight.
"Open your eyes, Donna," she called.
"Is it there?"
"Yeah, open your eyes. Look at it."
Donna shook her head, "I can't."
"It's part of you, Donna. Look," slowly Donna opened her eyes and gasped, seeing a massive black beetle on her shoulder. She started to spin around, frantically trying to knock it off her, "It's ok, it's ok, it's ok, calm down. Donna? Donna? Donna!" she stopped spinning, "Ok."
Donna took a few deep breaths, looking at the beetle with trepidation, but it simply nuzzled her hair, "What is it?"
"We don't know."
"Oh. Thanks."
"It feeds off time. By…by changing time, by making someone's life take a different turn, like er...meetings never made...children never born...a life never loved. But with you, it's…" she shook her head.
"But I never did anything important!"
"Yeah, you did. One day, that thing made you turn right instead of left."
"When was that?"
"Oh, you wouldn't remember. It was the most ordinary day in the world, but by turning right, you never met the Doctor or the Professor and the whole world just changed around you."
"Can you get rid of it?"
"I can't even touch it," she peered at it, "It seems to be in a state of flux."
"What does that mean?"
"I don't know. It's the sort of thing the Doctor would say!" she laughed.
"You liar!" Donna snapped, furious, her eyes filling with tears, "You told me I was special! But it's not me! It's this thing! I'm just a host!"
"No, there's more than that. The readings are strange it's...it's like reality's just bending round you."
"Because of this thing!"
"No, no! We're getting separate readings from you. And they've always been there, since the day you were born."
"This is not relevant to the mission," Erisa told the woman quietly.
"I thought it was just the Doctor we needed," the woman continued, "But it's the three of you. The Doctor, the Professor, and Donna Noble. Together. To stop the stars from going out."
"Why? What can I do?" she looked at her, shaking her head, "Turn it off. Please."
"Captain!"
"Power down," Erisa ordered.
"It's…it's still there, though," Donna felt her shoulder, "What can I do...to get rid of it?"
"You're going to travel in time," the woman stated.
~8~
Donna stood, wearing a thick green jacket with wires all over it, as scientists fussed over her, getting her ready.
"The TARDIS has tracked down the moment of intervention," the woman explained, "Monday the 25th, one minute past ten in the morning. Your car was on Little Sutton Street Ealing Road, but you turn right heading for Griffin's Parade. You need to turn left. That's the most important thing. You've got to go back and turn left. Have you got that, Donna? One minute past ten. Make yourself turn left, heading for the Chiswick Highroad."
"Keep the jacket on at all times, it's insulation against temporal feedback," Erisa added, putting a digital watch on Donna's wrist, "This will correspond to local time wherever you land," she held out a glass of water as well, "This is to combat dehydration."
They then led Donna back to the circle of lights and the woman turned to her again, "This is where we leave you."
"I don't want to see that thing on my back," she said quickly.
"No! The mirrors are just incidental. They bounce chronon energy back into the center which we control and decide the destination."
"It's a time machine!"
"It's a time machine," she smiled.
"If you could?" Erisa called. The woman nodded, smiling encouragingly at Donna before stepping out of the circle again, "Powering up."
The machinery whirred and the lights lit up again.
"How do you know it's going to work?" Donna asked.
"Hmm?" the woman looked at her, "Oh...yeah...we…we don't. We're just...we're just guessing."
"Yeah," she laughed, "Oh, brilliant!"
"Just remember, when you get to the junction, change the car's direction by one minute past ten."
"How do I do that?"
"It's up to you."
"Well, I just have to...run up to myself and...have a good argument."
She laughed, "I'd like to see that!"
"Activate loadstone!" Erisa ordered.
A switch was flicked and the lights blinked on, the light on the top of the TARDIS flashing.
"Good luck!" the woman called to Donna.
"I'm ready!" she smiled.
"One minute past ten."
"Because I understand, now," she continued, tearful, but brave, "You said I was going to die, but you mean this whole world is going to blink out of existence. But that's not dying. Because a better world takes its place. The Doctor's world. And I'm still alive!" she smiled but the woman didn't respond, "That's right, isn't it? I don't die? If I change things, I don't die? That's...that's right, isn't it?"
"I'm sorry."
"But I can't die! I've got a future! With the Doctor and Professor…you told me!"
"Activate!" Erisa ordered.
The lights reached a blinding quality and Donna found herself on all fours on pavement, outside a few shops, on an absolutely normal day. She stood up, unable to believe the easy air of the people around her, no suffering, no crammed quarters, normal!
She laughed joyfully before realizing something, "Hold on...but this is...I'm not...this is Sutton Court! I'm half a mile away!" she yelled upwards, "I'm half a mile away!" she checked her clock, 9:57, "Four minutes? Oh, my God…" she took off running, panting but not daring to stop. She paused once by a lamppost to check the time before taking off again, sprinting down the road.
She stopped a moment, gasping for breath, only to see it was 9:59 and she was still too far away, "I'm not going to get there."
She looked around when she recalled what the woman had said, that she was going to die, and spotted the blue lorry driving towards her.
"Please," she breathed before stepping in front of it. The driver hit the brakes but it was too late.
People screamed.
~8~
Donna came around for only a moment, blinking blearily at the blond woman as she knelt beside her.
"Tell him this: two words," she whispered to her.
Donna's eyes closed and her head fell backwards, knowing that, somewhere down the road, she was turning left.
~8~
Donna screamed, jerking back away from the teller as the beetle flailed on her back before falling off it, "What the hell is that?" she demanded, standing as the teller cowered in fear.
"You were so strong!" the teller cried, terrified, "What are you? What will you be?" she scrambled to the exit, "What will you be?"
The beetle gave a click and died.
The beaded door clinked as the Doctor entered, "Everything alright?"
Donna looked at him, at the Professor sliding past him and into the room, and launched herself at them, hugging them tightly, "Oh, God..."
"What was that for?" the Doctor laughed as she hugged the Professor individually, getting a two little pats on the back from her.
"I don't know!" she hugged him as well.
"Doctor," the Professor called, picking up the beetle off the floor.
~8~
They sat at the table, the Doctor poking and prodding the beetle with an incense stick as Donna tried to tell them what happened.
"I can't remember," she sighed, "It's slipping away. You know like when you try and think of a dream and it just sort of...goes."
"It just got lucky, this thing," the Doctor looked down at it.
"It's one of the Trickster's Brigade," the Professor stated, "A being that changes life in tiny ways."
The Doctor nodded absently, "Most times, the Universe just compensates around it, but with you..." he grinned proudly at Donna, "Great big parallel world!"
"Hold on, you said parallel worlds are sealed off," Donna frowned.
"They are. But you had one created around you. Funny thing is, it seems to be happening a lot. To you."
"How do you mean?"
"Well, the Library and then this…"
"Just...goes with the job. I suppose."
"Sometimes I think there's way too much coincidence around you Donna. We met you once. We met your grandfather. Then we met you again. In the whole wide Universe, we met you for a second time. It's like something's binding us together."
"Don't be so daft. I'm nothing special."
"Yes, you are," the Professor stated, so matter-of-factly that Donna almost believed her, "You're brilliant."
The Doctor smiled fondly at her, happy to see that she was finally starting to really open up to Donna as well. She'd never been so outwardly comfortable about the woman, but it seemed like Donna was working her way past her defenses and walls and into the Professor's hearts.
Donna smiled as well…but then recalled another blond woman saying the same thing, "She said that."
"Who did?" the Doctor looked over.
"That woman," she strained, "I can't remember."
"Well, she never existed now."
"No, but she said...the stars...she said the stars are going out."
"Yeah, but that world's gone."
"No, but she said it was all worlds. Every world…she said the darkness is coming, even here."
"Who was she?"
"I don't know."
"What did she look like?" he asked, suspicious.
"She was..." she blinked, "Blonde."
"What was her name?"
"I don't know!"
"Donna, what was her name?"
"But she told me...to warn you. She said...two words."
"What two words? What were they? What did she say?"
"Bad Wolf."
The Doctor's eyes widened as the Professor tensed, recalling why the Doctor had regenerated into his present body.
"Well, what does it mean?" Donna shook her head.
The Doctor just leapt to his feet and ran out the tent, the Professor and Donna after him. He stopped short, seeing posters, banners, flags, everything saying 'Bad Wolf,' and took off towards the TARDIS, only to see even the door read that. He threw them open to see the TARDIS bathed in red light.
"Professor, what is it?" Donna asked, "Doctor what's Bad Wolf?"
"It's the end of the Universe," the Doctor breathed.
To be continued…
A/N: As promised, a bit more about Rose's return and the Professor:
Some background: I'm picturing Rose as having spent the last few years regretting telling the Doctor what she did, using her last words to make something up to the Professor and not what she REALLY wanted to tell him. To her, she spent much of her time travelling with them trying to convince herself that the Doctor didn't love the Professor the way she loved him, despite what she could see between them. She knew he felt SOMETHING for herself and believed it was love, and it very well could have been. Now that she was in the other world, she's spent all that time wanting to get back to him because she never wanted to leave him in the first place. In her mind, if the Doctor didn't love the Professor, he'd wait for her (Rose) to return even knowing the Professor loved him. Remember, when she told him the Professor loved him he didn't seem to react much (he was too shocked, but she didn't know that) so she might be holding onto that as a sign that he doesn't feel the same way for the Professor. And now that she's found a way back, well...we know what she'll probably be trying to do in regards to the Doctor. Unfortunately for her, things will be very different than how she left them...
What's to come: I cannot wait to post the next two chapters. I didn't want the Professor's ice-like persona to melt too much (even though it kills me to strain Keta) because this Professor takes $h!t from no one and we all know Rose dished out more than enough of it at first. It will also be important for her to be something of a soldier because...well, the Doctor may have something to say about certain comments Rose will make about that very fact. We'll see a VERY different side to the Doctor than any we've seen involving how he treats/reacts to Rose (more so in Journey's End). I have to say, I'm honestly not sure if I feel sorry for Rose or not yet...because, believe me, she did more than just build a cannon in this story.
IMPORTANT: Ok, I got a review that brought up the idea of writing an entire wedding chapter for the Doctor and Professor. Originally, it was a passing comment, then a sort of flashback, but now, I'm actually considering writing it out as a chapter. The only thing is, IF I do it as a whole chapter, then that means it will be the update for the day and you'll have to wait till the next day for the next episode, wherever I put it in the specials. If you'd like the wedding chapter, I'm putting a poll on my profile for it which will be open for...let's say...4 days (including today). If you don't have an account or can't vote for some reason, drop a review with what you think.