A/N: okay, this story is already running away from me; with my muse adding in more scenes than I'd anticipated before we even get to the experiment. I hope you don't mind too much.

Part Two

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It was only when someone hastily pulled away their stuff to clear a space that Chris realised he was being invited to sit down next to someone, and that someone was Donna! "Hello!" he eagerly said as he sat himself down next to her. "We meet again."

"Hello!" she responded with a smile. "Are you following me by any chance?"

He laughed. "I could ask the same question."

Her eyes twinkled merrily back at him. "No, but we seem to be thrown together; as if it's fate or something."

"In that case the coffees are on me this time," he half whispered as their teacher, Mrs Delores Carlton, arrived.

She was a diminutive woman with a stern manner and the hint of a Brummy accent. As before, introductions were forced out of them; and as before the assumption that Chris and Donna had gone there together was made. But this time Donna let Chris voice the denial; and he beamed at her, feeling their potential friendship grow.

"So what do you do exactly in Torchwood?" Donna asked him when they grabbed a coffee from the canteen later.

"Erm…," Chris mused as he tried to word it correctly. "I'm in Research, trying to make the company some future millions by coming up with new technology. I've got my own lab, which is pretty cool."

"I work for Mr Tyler's PA," Donna supplied. "I thought your name seemed familiar. I've dealt with some of your reports."

Chris blushed as he found himself unable to look directly at her. "Sorry about that; I hate filling out reports, and you've probably noticed that I leave them until the last minute."

She chuckled knowingly. "Yes, I had noticed. But we'd better stop talking shop. Why are you here? Surely you've cooked before?"

Chris shook his head. "Not really; there's always been someone else to cook meals for me. I've done the odd sandwich, and I'm a dab hand at things on toast, plus nobody can open a tin can like me," he pretended to boast. It got the laugh he wanted.

"I can do basic stuff but I wanted to improve my skills," she told him. "I'm sure there are loads I can learn here."

"Just be prepared to take over when I totally mess it up," he warned her. "I haven't caught the water on fire yet, but there's a first time for everything."

They laughed together at his feeble joke, and for the first time in ages he felt he could properly fit in this alternate universe.

Their friendship gently grew from there. Of course Donna took a sneak peek at Chris's Torchwood file to make sure he was okay first. Well, a woman can never be too careful. Thanks to this she was now certainly aware of his qualifications, his pay, and his potential as a possible husband… should she be only that way inclined, which she wasn't if anyone was asking. She was, however, looking for a friend more than anything else, and valued his company above anything else; she told herself. But the data on Chris made his situation seem really sad since he had no family to speak of at all. Donna resolved to not mention this fact until he volunteered the information.

The first time they met outside the classroom and away from the other students was to give Donna moral support when she tackled putting up a curtain pole in her spare bedroom. Chris had tried to keep well back, adding in little reminders as she fumbled with the cordless hammer drill, holding a masonry bit, she had treated herself to, and then the spirit level; but inevitably he ended up holding the pole in place while she marked out the wall. It really helped to be tall at times.

Donna had wavered dangerously on a footstool, so it was only polite for him to hold her in place while she drilled into the brickwork. Then he handed her a rawlplug to hammer in before screwing the first pole holder loosely in place so that she could work out where to put the second curtain pole holder.

"Hands!" she yelled at him when his protectiveness got far too close for comfort as her thigh was accidentally touched. Chris had fought down his embarrassment in order to stay in place so that she wouldn't fall.

"Sorry," he mumbled. "I was erm… I was only trying to…."

"We'll have less of the trying and more of the helping, if it's all the same to you," she blustered in reply, almost equally mortified at her reaction and for shouting at him.

"Yeah, we can't have you falling for me," he lamely joked. It worked to break the tension between them.

Fortunately they'd had a good giggle as they did all this, and were pleasantly surprised by the end result. "What do you think?" she hesitantly asked when they had finished putting up the curtains and tested their ability to open and close properly.

"I think you can be very proud of your first go at putting up a curtain pole," he enthused. "Alan will be proud of you. Congratulations!"

"Thank you!" she cried as she threw her arms around him for a hug. "I couldn't have done it without you."

"Of course you could. You're brilliant," he told her sincerely as they released each other. "Now what about this cup of tea you were going to bribe me with?"

She swatted playfully at his arm. "Watch it, mister; or you'll only get the Rich Tea biscuits," she threatened. "Now what will you do in order to get a chocolate digestive?"

"I see… bribery and corruption now," he teased. "In that case I'll have to find something for you to help me with."

"Bring it on, techno geek," she challenged him. "I still can't believe you've never put up a shelf."

"I know the theory," he defended himself; perhaps a little too much in the circumstances, because Donna was grinning at him again as if he had his dinner smeared all over his face. "I do!" he insisted. "I just never had to actually do anything like this before."

She laughed loudly at him, but he didn't mind. It didn't seem quite so bad when you are being an idiot with someone else. A little spark of hope began to appear in both of them.

After that it seemed natural to test out their cooking techniques on each other one night at the weekend, since it was midway between their cookery lessons. The first time Donna was invited round Chris's to eat was a Saturday night, and she dropped a hint to her friends that it might be a date. Well, it got them off her back momentarily about the lack of a man in her life; and if she was honest with herself, she sort of hoped her friendship with Chris would lead in that direction. Her hopes, however, were soon dashed.

As she sat in Chris's lounge she noticed some photos sitting on his mantelpiece, and naturally she was curious as to whom they were. So when Chris appeared with a fresh drink for her, she asked about the people in the photos.

"Oh, them!" he exclaimed as he peered at the frames. "That one is Rose and her mother, Jackie; and the other is Rose and her brother, Tony." He then turned and handed her another, smaller frame that contained a picture of him and someone else. "This one is me with Jennifer when we went to Hyde Park."

Donna stood up to get a better look, and was dismayed by what she saw. Rose was young, blonde, petite and beautiful; whereas Jennifer had long chestnut hair, expressive large blue eyes, and looks to die for. Neither of them could have been a day over twenty five. No wonder he had fallen for both of them so hard and missed them so much. "They are both lovely," she said politely, and handed the pictures back. "You are very lucky to have known them."

Chris beamed back at her. "I certainly am! I might get lucky again one day."

"I hope you do," she answered, whilst thinking that comment put her firmly in her place. Part of her was angry that he could have at least pretended she was in with a chance; but obviously he wouldn't. Why should he? He craved somebody young and nubile rather than some cranky old trout. So, like many other times in her life, she put on her brave face and strove to be the best friend she could be until she wasn't needed anymore. "Is dinner ready yet, cos I'm starving?" she asked in order to change the subject and get away from the bitterness in her mind.

For his part, Chris was deflated by her reaction. Why did she answer as though she didn't want to provide him with some luck? Didn't she want to see him like that? Obviously she didn't if she needed to change the subject so dramatically. It wouldn't have been like this if he was a proper, full-blooded Time Lord; they always commanded deep respect.

"I'll start dishing up then," he answered, forcing himself to smile. "Do you want cheese on your spaghetti bolognese?"

"Yes please!" she replied. "Do you want me to grate it?"

There followed a friendly fight over who should deal with the cheese and whether his sauce needed more garlic or not. They called a truce in the end when the garlic bread made their argument null and void. As it was, it was declared an unqualified success.

It was as he tucked into his dessert that Chris came up with his plan. What if he could make himself into a proper Time Lord? Donna was bound to see him differently then. For all he knew she might actually fall in love with him if he was one. And if she didn't, somebody else might. It would possibly take him a while to concoct the right potion in order to change enough, but he had nothing much else to do with his time. Smiling to himself, he began to like the idea more and more.

Life tootled along for them both for several weeks, whilst their friendship gradually gained strength and shared praise from both Alan and Delores. It certainly managed to pass the test set when Donna phoned Chris late one October night.

"Chris?" Donna breathily gasped on the phone. "I've got a desperate problem. Can you come over right away?"

"Calm down, take slow breaths and tell me all about it," he said to both encourage and soothe her.

"There's this noise in my radiator! It's really scary; like an alien is trying to break out," Donna cried.

Chris merely sighed. "It sounds like it's probably an air pocket; you might need to bleed your radiator. I'll bring round a radiator key," he promised. "See you in a few minutes."

He gained an enthusiastic greeting when Donna opened her front door. She quickly grasped his hand and dragged him towards the bedroom; to inspect the radiator. "There! That one there." Donna needlessly pointed to it; as if there was a choice of radiators in the room.

It would have been oh so easy for Chris to take over, but he didn't. Instead he handed Donna the radiator key, and offered moral support as she anxiously considered the task in hand. "Here you go. Just insert it at the top and gently turn," he said; expecting to hear a muted hissing sound at any moment, followed by a glug as it all equalised.

Donna's wide-eyes contemplated him as if he was mad. When he didn't budge, she inserted the key and turned it.

There was a loud scream of pain as the valve and key shot sideways across the bedroom at the speed of sound, a spout of extremely hot water spat out, assaulted Donna as she stood there, and she very hastily jumped out of the way.