Oh Starry, Starry Night
warning for the rest of the story; chapter titles are getting weirder by the chapter.
final installment of the Runaway Bride! next time, Smith and Jones!
Rose was dragged out her stupor by the Doctor shouting at ... well, nothing, really. Just a voice on an intercom. Again, Rose shuddered at the memory of the Doctor arguing about religion with the Devil/Satan/weird creature over intercom. She tuned back into his conversation, squeezing his hand as various memories of terrible emotions she'd experienced on Krop Tor flooded back to her, each more horrible than the last.
"Someone's been digging ... oh, very Torchwood. Drilled by laser. How far down does it go?" the Doctor was asking the voice, peering down the hole. Rose tugged on his hand, not wanting him to fall down the hole, no matter how deep it was.
"Down and down, all the way to the centre of the Earth!" the voice answered, and Rose tightened her grip on his hand. Definitely not wanting him to fall down, then. Might just burn to a crisp.
"Really? Seriously? What for?" the Doctor asked, staying well back now.
A small voice came from their newest friend. "Dinosaurs," Donna said. The Doctor and Rose turned to her, to remind her that now was definitely not the right time for a joke, to find that Donna's face was completely serious.
"What?" Rose said, shocked. The Doctor was speechless, for once.
"Dinosaurs?" Donna repeated.
"What are you on about, dinosaurs?" the Doctor had regained his power of speech.
"That film, Under the Earth, with dinosaurs. Trying to help!" Donna said, arms in the air.
"Not helping," the Doctor said, shaking his head.
"Such a sweet couple," the raspy voice said again, and the Doctor once again turned his attention to it.
"Only a madman talks to thin air and trust me, you don't want to make me mad. Where are you?" He completely ignored the comment the voice had made.
"High in the sky, floating so high on Christmas Night!" the voice rang out, filling the chamber.
"I didn't come all this way to talk on the intercom! Come on, let's have a look at you!"
"And who are you with such command?" the voice said to the Doctor's command.
"I'm the Doctor," he said simply, and Rose beamed at him. Donna looked scared out of her wits.
"Prepare your best medicines, doctor-man, for you will be sick at heart," the voice said again, before a bright light over to the right indicated the voice had teleported from whereever she was in the sky to right here.
A giant, red spider sat in the corner. The Doctor gasped. "The Racnoss ... but that's impossible, you're one of the Racnoss!"
Donna was gasping for breath, nearly crying. "What wrong?" Rose said, kindly.
"I'm ... araconophobic," she managed to splutter, but pulled herself together.
"She's not a spider. She's an alien," Rose said, reassuring her that it was only her shape that was similar. Donna tried to keep her sights away from those pincers.
"Empress of the Racnoss," the Racnoss said, pulling herself up to her full height.
"If you're the Empress, where's the rest of the Racnoss? Or ... are you the only one?" the Doctor said, one eyebrow quirked.
"Such a sharp mind."
"That's it, the last of your kind," the Doctor said, and turned to Rose and Donna. "The Racnoss come from the Dark Times, billions of years ago, billions. They were carnivores, omnivores, they devoured whole planets." He almost spat the words.
The Racnoss seemed offended. "The Racnoss are born starving, is that our fault?" she said, snapping her pincers.
"They eat people?" Donna said, stunned, forgetting all about the spider.
"H.C. Clements, did he wear those - those erm, black and white shoes?" the Doctor asked Donna, who immediately laughed.
"He did! We used to laugh, we used to call him the fat cat in spats," she said, and Rose chuckled, until the Doctor clicked his fingers and inicated to the ceiling, where Rose and Donna could see black-and-white shoes poking out from inside the web.
"Oh, my God!" Donna said, hands covering her mouth in shock.
"Mm. My Christmas dinner," the Racnoss said, licking her lips, as those she was remembering the taste of the unfortunate H.C. Clements.
"You shouldn't even exist! Way back in history, the Fledgling Empires went to war against the Racnoss - they were wiped out!" the Doctor said, in disbelief.
Donna, out of the corner of her eye, spotted Lance. Holding an axe. Containing the urge to jump and sing, Donna nudged Rose discreetly, and nodded to Lance. Rose smiled, but Lance wasn't bothered about Donna two minutes ago, why was he bothered now?
" ... Except for me," the Racnoss was saying, and Donna started speaking in a bid to distract her, despite shaking with fear with every word, she held strong.
"But that's what I've got inside me, that Huon energy thing. Oi! Look at me, lady, I'm talking. Where do I fit in? How comes I get all stacked up with these Huon particles?" she asked, stuttering at a few words but managing to hold her attitude. "Look at me, you! Look me in the eye and tell me."
"The bride is so feisty!" the Racnoss said.
"Yes, I am! And I don't know what you are, you big ... thing. But a spider's just a spider and an axe is an axe! Now, do it!" Donna yelled to Lance, and Rose buried her head in the Doctor's shoulder; she didn't think she could bear the sight of blood (whatever colour it may be) in her nausous state.
The Doctor held onto Rose as Lance swung the axe in the Racnoss's direction; her eyes widened with shock for a second, before a smirk spread over the face. A similar smirk swept across Lance's face, and the Doctor's heart sank. He thought something was up with that guy. Both of them were laughing now, and Donna looked confused. Rose looked up from his shoulder, and sighed as well.
"That was a good one. Your face!" Lance said, lying the axe down on the ground.
"Lance is funny," the Racnoss said to Donna, snapping her pincers.
"What?" Donna said, well and truly confused.
"I'm sorry," Rose said quietly, grabbing Donna's hand.
"Sorry for what?" Donna said, withdrawing her hand from Rose's grip. "Lance, don't be so stupid, get her!"
"God, she's thick!" Lance said, pity evident in his gaze.
Donna just stared back at him.
"Months I had to put up with her. Months. A woman who can't even point to Germany on a map," Lance said tauntingly, and Rose tried to comfort Donna, but she just shrugged the younger woman off.
"I don't understand," Donna wailed.
"How did you meet him?" the Doctor asked, his voice quiet.
"In the office, I've already told you this!"
"He made you coffee," Rose said, as she realised what Lance had done. She glared at Lance, furious at what he'd done to poor Donna.
"What?" Donna still wasn't getting it.
"Everyday, I made you coffee," Lance said, as if he was talking to an idiot or a small child.
"You had to be dosed with liquid particles over six months," the Doctor explained, still holding onto Rose, who looked ready to lunge at Lance any second.
"He was ... poisoning me?" Donna asked the Doctor, the reality sinking in.
"It was all there in the job title - Head of Human Resources."
"This time," Lance said, laughing along with the Racnoss, "It's personnel."
"But ... we were getting married," Donna pleaded with him.
"Well, I couldn't risk you running off. I had to say yes. And then I was stuck with a woman who thinks the height of excitement is a new flavour Pringle," Lance said, and he rolled his eyes, before going on a rant. "Oh, I had to sit there and listen to all that yap yap yap - 'oh, Brad and Angelina - is Posh pregnant?' X Factor, Atkins Diet, Feng Shui, split ends, text me, text me, text me, dear God, the never ending fountain of fat, stupid trivia."
Donna took all this torrent of abuse with a look of hurt and confusion. The Doctor was now severely worried that Rose was going to punch Lance.
"I deserve a medal," Lance said proudly, puffing out his chest as if he really did derserve one.
"Oh, is that what she's offered you? The Empress of the Racnoss? What are you? Her consort?" the Doctor asked, disgusted.
"It's better than a night with her," Lance spat, looking at Donna.
"But I love you," she protested weakly, her hands clasped together.
"That's what made it easy," Lance said nastily. "It's like you said, Doctor -- the big picture -- what's the point of it all if the Human Race is nothing? That's what the Empress can give me. The chance to ... go out there. To see it. The size of it all. I think you understand that, don't you, Doctor?"
"Who is this little physician?" the Racnoss said, before the Doctor could speak. Maybe that was a good thing, as colourful and words he wouldn't normally say were on the agenda.
"Like she," Lance didn't even refer to Donna by name now, just pointed at her, "said - Martain."
"Oh, I'm sort of... homeless. But the point is, what's down here? The Racnoss are extinct. What's gonna help you four thousand miles down? That's just the molten core of the Earth, isn't it?" the Doctor said, pointing down into the pit.
Lance snorted. "I think he wants us to talk," he said, cocking his head to one side.
"I think so too," the Racnoss said, rearing herself up.
"Well, tough! All we need is Donna!" Lance jabbing his finger in Donna's direction.
"Kill this chattering little Doctor man!" the Racnoss bellowed, and Donna snapped.
"Don't you hurt him!" Donna said, more confidently than she looked, and the Dcotor looked at Rose.
"Shouldn't you be the one doing this?" he asked her, as Donna stood in front of him protectively.
"Ah. You can take care of yourself, surely, by now?" Rose said, standing beside him. The Doctor laughed, nodding.
"No, no, it's alright," the Doctor said, trying to push Donna out the way.
"No, I won't let them!" Donna's voice was frightened more than anything.
"At arms!" the Racnoss gave the orders to her robot men, who raised their guns.
"Ah, now, except," the Doctor said, stuttering slightly, thinking of something ingenius to say to stall her.
"Take aim!" The robots snapped into position.
"Now, I just wanna point out the obvious ... " the Doctor said, hands up in front of him.
"They won't hit the Bride," the Racnoss said, "they're such very good shots."
"Just - just - just - hold on, just a tick, just a tiny - just a little - tick," the Doctor called, grabbing Rose's hand and pulling her closer to him. "If you think about it, the particles activated in Donna and drew her inside my spaceship. So, reverse it ... the spaceship comes to her." Instead of turning the knob on the bottle clockwise, he turned it anti-clockwise, and Donna glowed again along with the bottle.
"Fire!" the Racnoss said, and shots fired from the guns; Rose ducked into the Doctor's shoulder as Donna screamed; but there was no need, as the TARDIS materalised around them, the Huon particles in Donna having connected with the TARDIS. Rose could hear the Racnoss shouting, "My key! My key!" loudly, as the TARDIS became a solid structure around them.
"Off we go!" the Doctor called, running up to the console and quickly sending them into the Vortex. Rose was hot on his heels and wasted no time in helping him. Donna, however, slowly made her way up the ramp and collapsed on the Captain's Chair.
"Oh, you know what I said before about time machines? Well, I lied. And now we're gonna use it," the Doctor said, and Rose jumped up and down, spinning levers in all directions. "We need to find out what the Empress of the Racnoss is digging up. If something's buried at the planet core, it must've been there since the beginning. That's just brilliant. Molto bene! I've always wanted to see this. Donna - we're going back in time. Rose, we're going further back than we've ever gone before."
Rose was trying to stop herself squealing with excitment as this new adventure.
It was the Doctor who noticed Donna was crying first. Her shoulders were shaking up and down as silent tears slipped down her cheeks, her mascara become upset at the wetness. Rose felt her heart tug for her - it wasn't everyday you found out your fiancé was in alliance with a giant alien spider - and ran over to her, putting an arm around her shoulders. Donna looked up in thanks and Rose spoke to her quietly. The Doctor couldn't hear what they were saying but no doubt Rose would tell him later.
The TARDIS clicked audibly, and Rose looked up from comforting Donna, knowing that the sound meant they'd arrived.
"We've arrived," the Doctor said quietly, confirming Rose's thoughts. "Do you want to see?" Rose knew he was talking more to Donna than herself.
"I suppose," Donna said unenthusically, heaving herself off her perch.
The Doctor swung the monitor around, before frowning. "Oh, that scanner's a bit small. Maybe your way is best," he said, and beckoned the two women over to the door. "Come on, you're the first humans - and half-humans - to see this," he said, smiling.
"Really," Donna said, sarcastically, although the effect was ruined because of her hiccuping slightly. "AllI wanna see is my bed."
"Rose Tyler, Donna Noble," the Doctor said, ignoring Donna's comment, "welcome to the creation of the Earth." And with that statement he swung the TARDIS doors open to ... nothing. Well, not nothing, but a bunch of rocks floating by and some beautiful coloured dust. It really was a spectacular site, and both Rose and Donna's mouth fell open. Donna was shocked because she never knew something so exquistly gorgeous could exist. Rose, because after everything she'd seen, nothing compared to the beauty of this. She fell in love with it straight away, and ran back to the console, picked up her digital camera (place there for easy grabbing) and took a picture.
"For Mum," she said, when the Doctor looked at her. He sighed, and nodded, taking her hand as she replaced the camera.
"We've gone back 4.6 billion years. There's no solar system, not yet. Only dust and rocks and gas," the Doctor explained. He pointed over to where a faint light was visable against the pinky-purple clouds. "That's the Sun over there, brand new. Just beginning to burn."
"It's ... it's ... " Donna was speechless.
"Beautiful," Rose breathed, as if the silence was something she daren't break.
Everyone stood in silence, just admiring the view.
"Where's the Earth?" Donna asked, watching a floating piece of rock.
"All around us ... in the dust," was the Doctor's answer.
"Puts the wedding in perspective. Lance was right. We're just ... tiny," Donna said, holding her thumb and index finger together so they were less than a millimetre apart. Rose laughed.
"No, but that's what you do. The human race. Making sense out of chaos. Marking it out with weddings and Christmas and calendars. This whole process is beautiful, but only if it's being observed," the Doctor said, squeezing Rose's hand as they looked at each other. Sometimes it was fun having someone else on board with them, even if it was better with two.
"So, I came out of all of this?" Donna's voice was shocked, but also quite humbled.
"Isn't that brilliant?" the Doctor answered her, as a piece of rock floated lazily past the doors of the TARDIS.
"I think that's the Isle of Wight," Donna said, and they all laughed at her joke. She seemed marginally better than when they had entered the TARDIS.
"Eventually, gravity takes hold. Say, one big rock, heavier than the others, starts to pull other rocks towards it," the Doctor explained, hand gestures inculded."All the dust and gas and elements get pulled in, everything, piling in until you get the ... "
" ... Earth," Rose said, as the Doctor nodded and smiled.
"Earth," he repeated, as Donna nodded too. "But the question is ... what was that first rock?" he asked the rhetorical question.
Donna was halfway through shrugging her shoulders when she noticed it. "Look," she said, pointing to a star-shaped rock that was floating through the sky, a red star against the pink sky.
"The Racnoss ... " the Doctor muttered aloud, staring, before running back to the console, still shouting at the two women. "Hold on, the Racnoss are hiding from the war! What's it doing?"
The Racnoss Star seemed to be attracting all the other rocks; the rocks were zooming towards it, colliding with each other on the way. Donna recognised her 'Isle of Wight' rock go flying past her at sixteen times the speed it had floated past the TARDIS at.
"Exactly what you said," Rose said to the Doctor inside the ship, who came running to the doors.
"Oh, they didn't just bury something at the centre of the Earth ... they became the centre of the Earth. The first rock," the Doctor said, before the TARDIS shook violently, and the Doctor had to catch a stumbling Rose before she fell out of the TARDIS and became buried at the centre of the Earth. He doubted Jackie would be pleased about having the dig two thousands miles down to recover Rose (not that she would actually be able to, but he was absolutely sure Jackie would do it).
"What was that?" Donna said, holding onto the railing for dear life.
"Trouble!" the Doctor replied, as he closed the doors on the formation of the Earth.
The TARDIS was in for a bumpy ride, it seemed, as the Doctor, Rose and Donna were struggling told hold on as it made it's way through the Vortex. Rose could tell this wasn't the TARDIS acting up, she never was this bad; this was something else controlling the TARDIS.
"What the hell's it doing?" Donna asked, screaming over the noise.
"Remember that little trick I pulled - particles pulling particles. It works in reverse - they're pulling us back!" he said, as he tried in vain to pilot the TARDIS but to no avail; it was out of his control now.
"Well, can't you stop it? Hasn't it got a handbrake? Can't you reverse or warp or beam or something?" Donna was using every bit of alien-spaceship-lingo she'd learnt from watching Star Trek and Stargate to communication with the Martian, even though he seemed to understand English.
"Honestly, backseat drivers. Usually it's Rose's job. Oh, wait a minute!" he exclaimed, halfway through his sentence. Rose sighed with relief; last time she'd told him what to do with the TARDIS he'd done an hour and forty-five minutes on backseat drivers, during which Rose had had breakfast, got dressed, painted her nails and watched the lastest episode of Gossip Girl. Not bad, considering she'd done all this while he followed her around moaning and groaning about the inconsistancy of backseat drivers and why they contridicted themselves.
"The extrapolator!" Rose said, as if this was some kind of brainwave.
"Can't stop us, but it should give us a good bump!" he said, propping it up against the central column. The TARDIS started to materalise in the chamber - the Racnoss was cackling away on the monitor - but the Doctor whacked the extrapolator and they dematerialised again, much to the Racnoss's dismay - she screamed aloud as they vanished.
The Doctor opened the doors of the TARDIS in a flourish, as if presenting something wonderful. All Rose and Donna got was a eerie green corridor.
"We're about two hundred yards to the right, I think," the Doctor said, walking out into the corridor, surveying his surroundings with a keen eye. "Come on!" he yelled to the two women, running off down the corridor. After about five solid minutes of running full-plet, they reached the Thames Flood Barrier.
"But ... what do ... we do?" Donna asked, out of breath. She had her hands on her knees and was hunched over, panting. Rose was leaning against the wall, taking shallow breaths but luckily three years of running for her life had made her considerably fitter.
The Doctor, meanwhile, was 'listening' at a door with a stethescope. Donna raised her eyebrows at him, as Rose went beside him and put one of the stethescope ears in her own ear, to see if he really did hear anything.
"I don't know! I make it up as I go along! But trust me, I've got a history!"
"He does do that shockingly well," Rose added.
"But I still don't understand. I'm full of particles - but what for?" Donna was getting her breath back.
"There's a Racnoss web at the centre of the Earth, but my people unravelled their power source. The Huon particles ceased to exist but the Racnoss are stuck!" the Doctor said, as Rose 'aah'ed, both of them unaware that behind them, for the second time that day, Donna was being bride-napped by a bad-ass Robot - although not a Santa, this time. Just a normal robot, if you could get a 'normal' robot. Maybe in the 67th Century, but not in the 21st. The Robot had covered Donna's mouth so she couldn't scream, and had silently dragged her away, unbeknown to the Doctor and Rose.
"They've just been in hibernation for billions of years. Frozen. Dead. Kaput! So you're the new key. Brand new particles, living particles! They need you to open it and you have never been so quiet," the Doctor said, turning around to find Donna, dragging Rose with him as he took the stethescope along with him, and Rose's ear was still in one of it's ears.
"Sorry," he said, and Rose shook her head, indicating that it was okay. "And argh!" he groaned, looking up and down the corridor. He soniked the door to the flood barrier open, only for him and Rose to be confronted by an armed robot.
"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" Rose asked, calmly looking in the robot's eyes.
"I think I am, Tyler," the Doctor replied, calm as could be, pointing his sonic screwdriver right between the robot's eyes.
Meanwhile, Donna had been tied up in the Racnoss's web, beside Lance. She sneered at him.
"I hate you," Donna spat, looking at him with a glare that could melt icebergs.
"Yeah, I think we've gone a bit beyond that now, sweetheart," Lance said back, not exactly in the nicest way either. The Racnoss chuckled.
"My golden couple. Together at last - your awful wedded life. Tell me; do you want to be released?" she asked, taunting them.
"Yes!" Donna and Lance chorused, hope spread across both of their faces.
"You're supposed to say 'I do'!" the Racnoss said, clacking her pincers together threateningly.
Lance looked at Donna with an 'I'll do it if you do it' kind of expression. "I do," he said, looking at her.
"I do," Donna said, glaring back at him.
"I don't!" the Racnoss cackled evilly. Donna and Lance glared identical glares at her. "Activate the particles! Purge every last one!" she commanded, and Donna and Lance began to glow.
"What the ... " Lance said, as Donna rolled her eyes in a 'not again' sort of way, as if she glowed on a regular basis.
"And release!" the Racnoss commanded again, and the particles flew from Donna and Lance and into the hole in the ground, the hole glowing gold as they made their journey down to the centre of the Earth. "The secret heart unlocks, and they will awaken from their sleep of ages!" the Racnoss continued.
"Who will? What's down there?" Donna asked, confused.
"God!" Lance said, disbelievingly. "How thick can you be?"
"My children, the long lost Racnoss. Now will be born to feast on flesh!" the Racnoss called, and Donna flinched as she heard the pitter-patter of spider legs as they crawled up the side of the pit. The Racnoss frowned, if spiders could frown. "My babies will be hungry. They need sustenance. Perish the web."
Lance's eyes widened as he realised the implications of her words. "Use her! Not me! Use her!"
The Racnoss, Lance and Donna did not notice a cloaked robot, alone until the rest of them, ascending the stairs behind the Racnoss.
The Racnoss found this hiliarous for some reason. "Oh, my funny little Lance! But you are quite impolite to your lady-friend. The Empress does not approve." She cackled, snapping her pincers, and with that simple statement the bonds keeping Lance in the web loosened, and he fell to this death in the pit.
"Laaaaaance!" Donna screamed, watching her fiance fall. True, she hated him right now for what he put her through, but that didn't mean she wanted him dead.
"My children are climbing towards me and none shall stop them!" the Racnoss said, seemingly unemotional about Lance's death. She turned to the stairway and hissed. "So you might as well unmask, my clever little doctor-man and his little blonde friend."
"Oh, well then," the Doctor said, his voice muffled by the cloak as he swung it off, revealing him in front with a mask covering his face, and Rose crouched behind him.
"Worth a try, though," Rose said, and the Doctor nodded, before pointing it at the web that held Donna.
"I've got you, Donna!" he said, as the web loosened.
"I'm gonna fall!" Donna screeched, holding onto a strand of web as if it was the last Pringle at the office Christmas party.
"No, you're not! You're gonna swing!" the Doctor said, arms outstretched as if he was going to catch her.
"Arrrrgggghh!" Donna screamed, as she flew over the hole.
"I've got ya!" the Doctor said. Donna screamed as she missed his arms and instead collided with the metal wall with a loud bang that made Rose wince. Both her and the Doctor looked over the edge to see Donna sprawled out on the ground, a pissed off expression on her face.
"Oh ... sorry!" the Doctor said, arranging his features into an apologetic half-smile.
Donna just scowled in reponse. "Thanks, for nothing!" she said, getting up slowly, cracking her back.
"The doctor-man amuses me," the Racnoss said - and Rose realised she'd been silent through the whole exchange, which was quite unlike her.
"Empress of the Racnoss," the Doctor said, going into world-saving mode, "I give you one last chance. I can find you a planet. I can find you a place in the universe to coexist. Take that offer and end this now."
"These men are so funny," the Racnoss said.
"What's your answer?" the Doctor said, slightly impatient.
"Oh, I'm afraid I have to decline," the Racnoss said, clacking her pincers together, laughing.
"Then what happens next is your own doing," the Doctor warned.
"I'll show you what happens next," the Racnoss hissed, before turning to her robots. "At arms!"
The robots immediately raised their guns. Rose started smirking; she knew what the Doctor was planning.
"Take aim!"
The robots aimed their guns at the Doctor and Rose.
"And - " the Racnoss started, but was interrupted by the Doctor.
"Relax," he said, and the robots went limp and floppy. Rose had a mega-watt grin on now.
"What did you do?" Donna demanded, looking up.
"Guess what I've got, Donna. Pockets."
He held the remote control up, waving it so both the Racnoss and Donna could see.
"How did that fit in there?"
"Oh, they're bigger on the inside!" the Doctor said, an identical grin to Rose's on his face now.
The Racnoss hissed, bringing the trio's attention back to her. "Robo-forms are not necessary. My children may feast on Martian flesh."
"Oh, but he's ain't from Mars," Rose butted in, smiling.
"Then where?"
The Doctor's face grew slightly darker and more brooding. "My home planet is far away and long-since gone. But its name lives on," he took a breath, as if saying the name took a tremendous amount of energy. "Gallifrey."
The Racnoss went wild before he'd even finished saying the name. Rose unconsciously took a step behind the Doctor, quite shocked by the Racnoss' forceful reaction.
"They murdered the Racnoss!"
Rose suddenly knew why she was angry, but there was no need to take it out on her boyfriend.
"I warned you," the Doctor said, his voice still full of dark. "You did this." He put his hand in his pocket and produced a number of glittering, red baubles.
"No! No! Don't! No!" the Racnoss was panicking.
The Doctor just shot her a look, before throwing the baubles into the air one after the other. Some surrounded the Empress while other destroyed corridors, letting the water from the Thames flood the building. The Racnoss screamed as water swirled down the pit.
"My children!" she screamed, grief-stricken. A fire began to burn at her feet, and soon she wsa consumed by flames. "No! My children! My children!"
The Doctor was standing watching the carnage with a dark look on his face, soaking wet thanks to the water, before turning to Rose.
"Come on, let's get you guys out of here before it collapses!" the Doctor said, as they ran to meet Donna.
"Transport me!" was the last thing they heard from the Racnoss as she teleported back to her ship.
The Doctor, Rose and Donna ran up the stairs, panting and out of breath. They ran up to the Thames Flood Barrier, to get to high ground.
The Racnoss web star was disintergrating before their eyes, and Donna whooped loudly.
Rose and the Doctor smiled at each other, hands clasped together. Another evil alien defeated, all in a day's work.
"There's just one problem," Donna said, panting, a smile on her face as Rose and the Doctor turned their heads towards her.
"What?" the Doctor said, confused.
"We've drained the Thames," Donna said, pointing downwards. Rose and the Doctor followed her finger, and laughed aloud. All there was left was mud, and the boats were honking their horns loudly.
"Ah, all in a day's work, eh?" Rose said through the laughter, and they all collapsed into giggles once more.
The TARDIS materalised right across the road from Donna's house. Rose, the Doctor and Donna all stepped out of the TARDIS, Donna still in her sodden wedding dress. She walked halfway to her house and then turned to face the Doctor and Rose, who were leaning against the TARDIS.
"There we go. Told you she'd be all right. She can survive anything," the Doctor said, stroking the outside of the TARDIS.
"More than I've done," Donna said, and with her words the Doctor scanned her.
"Nope! All the Huon particles have gone. No damage, you're fine."
"Yeah, but apart from that ... I missed my wedding, lost my job and became a widow on the same day. Sort of," Donna said, and a ghost of a smile graced her lips.
"I couldn't save him," the Doctor said apologetically.
"He deserved it," Donna said after a moment, unfeelingly.
"Really?" Rose asked, as her eyebrows collided with her hairline. The Doctor's eyes were identical.
"No, he didn't," Donna revised, and looked towards her house. "I better get going, they'll be getting worried."
"Best Christmas present they could have," Rose chirped.
"No, no, we forgot - Donna hates Christmas," the Doctor said, teasingly.
"Oh yeah, so she does," Rose said, playing along with the Doctor's joke.
"Yes, I do," Donna said, confidently.
"Even if it snows?" the Doctor said, and reaching up he tweaking a secret button on the TARDIS; a ball of light shot up into the sky and seconds later, snow began to fall heavily.
"Oh, my God, I can't believe you just did that!" Donna said, looking up, amazed.
"Humph! He must like you a lot; he never made it snow for me," Rose said, in the huff, but the twinkle in her eyes let them both know she was joking.
"Oi! When I met you it was like, July? August? If I had made it snow, people would have been suspicious," the Doctor said, stage-whispering. Rose whacked him on the arm.
"How did you do that?" Donna asked, still amazed.
"Oh, basic atmospheric excitation," the Doctor smirked.
"Merry Christmas, Donna," Rose said.
"Merry Christmas, Rose," Donna said, smiling brilliantly. "And you too, Doctor."
"And you. So ... what will you do with yourself now?" the Doctor asked her.
"Not getting married for starters. And I'm not gonna temp anymore. I dunno ... travel ... see a bit more of planet Earth ... walk in the dust. Just ... go out there and do something."
"Sounds like a plan to me," Rose said, smiling.
"Well, you could always ... " the Doctor said, and looked at Rose. She nodded in agreement, her smile getting wider.
"What? Levitate? Go shoppoing at Morrisons? Write a book? What?" Donna said, arms in the air.
"Come with us," Rose said, tentatively.
"No," Donna said immediately, and Rose and the Doctor nodded.
"Okay, just thought you might like the adventure," the Doctor said.
"It's a good keep-fit programme," Rose supplied, as the Doctor stuck his tongue out at her.
"No, but really ... everything we did today ... do you live your life like that?" Donna asked, overwhelmed.
"No, no ... yeah, pretty much. Apart from the odd day," the Doctor said, and Rose nodded.
"I couldn't do it," Donna said.
"But it really is beautitful out there," Rose said, tempting Donna.
"And it's terrible. That place was flooding and burning and they were dying and you both were stood there like ... I don't know ... strangers. And then you made it snow -- I mean, you scare me to death! Both of you!" Donna said, nervous laughter breaking through, as the Doctor and Rose joined in with her.
"Well, then ... " the Doctor said, looking at Rose.
"Oh, I'll tell you what I do, though," Donna said, surprising them both, "Christmas dinner. Come on."
"I don't do that sort of thing," the Doctor said immediately, before Rose could even open her mouth to accept.
"You did it last year, you said so. And you might as well because Mum always cooks enough for twenty," Donna said, and Rose smirked.
"Come on, Doctor," she said, and used the 'puppy-dog' eyes on him that always, always worked, the look that made him take her home to see her mother or take her to Far Off Lands, which he would do anyway.
"Oh, all right then," he said, and Rose smirked broadly, "But you go first, better warn them. And ... don't say I'm a Martian, please," the Doctor said, as they laughed. He indicated to the TARDIS, and said, "I just have to park her properly, she might drift off to the Middle Ages. I'll see you in a minute," he said, as he and Rose stepped inside the TARDIS, closing the doors. The dematerialisation sequence had already begun when Donna called out again.
"Doctor, Doctor!" she hollered, and the TARDIS reappeared again, and the Doctor poked his head out, Rose's head coming soon after.
"Blimey, you can shout louder than Rose's mother," the Doctor said, smiling, as Rose elbowed him sharply.
"Am I ever gonna see you two again?" Donna said, biting the bullet.
"If we're lucky," the Doctor said, and glanced at Rose, who was smiling and looking at him.
"Okay," Donna said. "You have my number, Rose."
Rose waved her mobile around as a confirmation.
"Thanks then, Donna - good luck - and just ... be magnificent," the Doctor said, beaming from ear-to-ear.
"Really magnificent," Rose emphasised, and they waved again, shutting the TARDIS door.
"Doctor!" Donna called, and the Doctor huffed in mock exasperation and heaved open the door again.
"What is it now?" he said, but his exasperated tone was overshadowed by his smile.
"You guys better call me next time you're in Chiswick," Donna said, pointing her finger, and the Doctor smiled, whilst Rose laughed.
"I don't think we would have the guts not to," Rose said, and ran out the TARDIS to hug Donna, and then ran back to the TARDIS again, one arm encircling the Doctor's skinny waist.
Donna waved as the two closed the door, for the final time, and instead of dematerialising the TARDIS shot like a bullet into the night sky, and Donna turned towards her house and set of to see her parents, making a vow that she would never forget the mysterious couple.