Through Thick and Thin
Partners in Crime
Doctor Who is copyright to the BBC. I own nothing except my OC Shareen Costello
This story is the second in the Designated Driver series, featuring my OC Shareen Costello. I'd recommend reading the first story in this series, Shareen vs the Universe, first to get an introduction to Shareen. As a refresher, I picture Shareen as looking like Victoria Moroles.
Donna Noble walked purposefully along a busy London street, smartly dressed in a black suit and carrying a red folder in her hand. Her destination: Adipose Industries, a company that had sprung up in the pas few months and sold weight loss pills. There were numerous conspiracy theories about the company on the Internet, and Donna was going to investigate. Ever since her disastrous wedding, she had developed an interest in investigating strange stuff. Little did she know, she wasn't the only person interested in investigating the company.
~8~
The Doctor and Shareen Costello made their way along another London street, with the Doctor dressed in his trademark brown suit and Shareen wearing a smart black trouser suit. They were also heading for Adipose Industries, having heard the rumours and theories too and the Doctor had decided to investigate the company.
~8~
Donna paused outside the Adipose building, an impressive tower block in Gunnersbury, then she made her way through the main entrance, past a receptionist on the phone.
~8~
The Doctor opened a fire exit with his sonic screwdriver then he and Shareen entered the building. "Ya know, we could've just gone in through the front door." Shareen remarked. "You've got the psychic paper, ya could've said we were health & safety or something."
"Nah, back door approach works best." the Doctor replied
~8~
Donna reached a door guarded by a security guard "Donna Noble, health & safety." she said, showing him an ID card. He nodded his consent and let her pass.
~8~
The Doctor and Shareen walked through a deserted corridor in the cellar, past another security guard. "John Smith, Shareen Costello, health & safety." the Doctor said as he flashed his psychic paper at the guard.
Shareen rolled her eyes at the Doctor using her idea of an excuse after previously dismissing it.
~8~
Donna was soon sat in an auditorium with members of the press, listening to the company's head, Miss Foster, a stern-looking blonde woman with glasses, give a speech about the company's product. "Adipose Industries, the 21st century way to lose weight." she announced, sounding like a TV advert. "No exercise, no diet, no pain. Just lifelong freedom from fat. The holy grail of the modern age. And here it is." She held up a white and red capsule. "You just take one capsule. One capsule, once a day for three weeks, and the fat, as they say..."
"The fat just walks away." a male voice on her computer said
A black woman sitting next to Donna held her hand up. "Excuse me, Miss Foster, if I could?" she called. "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, if cynicism burnt off calories, we'd all be thin as rakes." Miss Foster snorted. "But if you want the science, I can oblige."
The screen behind her began playing a presentation. "Adipose Industries." the male computer voice announced. "The Adipose capsule is composed of a synthesised, mobilising lipase, bound to a large protein molecule. The mobilising lipase breaks up the triglycerides stored in the adipose cells, which then enter..."
~8~
The Doctor and Shareen were standing in the projection room above the auditorium watching the presentation. "We've got company." Shareen whispered, and the Doctor turned to see that the projectionist had returned.
"Health and safety." the Doctor said to the man. "Film department."
~8~
"100% legal, 100% effective." Miss Foster said as the presentation finished
"But can I just ask, how many people have taken the pills to date?" Penny asked
"We've already got 1,000,000 customers in the Greater London area alone." Miss Foster answered. "But from next week, we start rolling out nationwide. The future starts here. And Britain will be thin."
~8~
In the call centre of Adipose Industries, the phones were ringing constantly. "Good morning, I represent Adipose Industries..." the employees recited each time.
Donna approached a male worker at his desk. "That's a three-week course of pills for the special price of £45." he said into his earpiece
"Donna Noble from health & safety, don't mind me." Donna whispered as she sat down next to him
~8~
The Doctor and Shareen approached a female worker at her desk. "We deliver within three working days." she said into her earpiece
"John Smith, Shareen Costello, health & safety, don't mind us." the Doctor whispered as they joined her
~8~
"The box comes with 21 days worth of pills, and a full information pack and our special free gift; an Adipose Industries pendant." the male worker said as Donna picked up a box from his desk and looked at the gold capsule-shaped pendant inside it.
~8~
"It's made of 18-carat gold and it's yours for free." the female worker said as the Doctor studied the pendant from her desk. "No, we don't give away pens, sorry. No, I can't make exceptions, no."
~8~
"I'll just need to keep this for testing." Donna said to the male worker, slipping the pendant into her pocket. "An' I just need a list of your customers. Could ya print it off?"
"I suppose so." the man shrugged, no longer on the phone.
"Where's the printer?"
"Over there, by the plant."
Donna stood up and looked over the cubicle walls. "Which plant? That plant?"
"Yeah, that's the one." the worker nodded
"Lovely." Donna sat down again
~8~
The Doctor stood up. "That's the printer there?" he asked the female worker
"By the plant, yeah." the woman nodded
"Brilliant." the Doctor replied, sitting down again.
~8~
Donna stood up again "Does it need a code? Last place I worked, the printer needed a code."
"No, I can do it from here." the man replied
Donna nodded and sat down again.
~8~
Shareen popped up. "Don't need to top up the paper, do we?" she asked
"No, Jimbo keeps it stocked." the woman replied
Shareen promptly ducked as she saw Miss Foster came striding into the room, accompanied by two guards. "Excuse me, everyone." she announced. "If I could have your attention."
The staff all stood while the Doctor and Shareen both kept low behind the dividers to avoid being spotted.
"On average, you're each selling 40 Adipose packs per day. That's not enough." Miss Foster told her staff. "I want 100 sales per person per day. And if not, you'll be replaced. Cos' if anyone's good at trimming the fat, it's me. Now, back to it." And she and her goons strode off.
"Huh, glad I don't work for her." Shareen thought to herself.
"Anyway, if you could print that off, thanks." the Doctor said to the woman.
~8~
"So, if you could just print off that list, I'll get out ya way." Donna said to the man and got up. "Lovely, thanks. See ya." And she walked over to the printer
~8~
"Thanks, then." the Doctor said as he and Shareen got up to leave, when the woman handed him a slip of paper "Oh, what's that?"
"My telephone number." she replied
"What for?" the Doctor frowned
"Health and safety." the woman replied in a flirty tone. "You be health, I'll be safety."
Shareen snickered. "Ah, ya don't wanna waste ya time with this git." she told the woman. "He's not worth it."
"Oi." the Doctor pouted.
"C'mon, Peacock, back to work." Shareen told him, and they both made their way over to the printer moments after Donna had left with the first print out. They grabbed the second print out and left too.
~8~
That evening, Donna knocked on the door of a house and a portly woman answered. "Stacey Campbell?" Donna asked
"Who wants to know?" the woman questioned
"Uh, my name's Donna. I represent Adipose Industries." She flashed Stacey her ID card. "An' you're on the list of our valued customers."
~8~
Meanwhile, the Doctor and Shareen had arrived at the house of another customer on the list. Shareen knocked and a middle-aged man answered. "Mr Roger Davey, we're calling on behalf of Adipose Industries." the Doctor said, showing him his psychic paper. "Just need to ask you a few questions."
~8~
Donna was sat in Stacey's living room while the woman preened herself in the mirror. "It's been fantastic." Stacey gushed. "I started the pills on Thursday. Five days later, I've lost 11 pounds."
"And no side effects or anything?" Donna questioned
"No, I feel fantastic." Stacey replied. "It's a new lease of life."
~8~
"I've been on the pills two weeks now." Roger told the Doctor and Shareen. "I've lost 14 kilos."
"That's the same amount every day?" the Doctor questioned
"One kilo exactly." Roger nodded. "You wake up, and it's disappeared overnight. Well, technically speaking, it's gone by ten past one in the morning."
"What makes ya say that?" Shareen asked. That seemed an unusually specific time.
"That's when I get woken up." Roger replied. "Might as well weigh myself at the same time."
~8~
"You going on a date?" Donna asked, eying Stacey's clothing.
"I'm doing the opposite." Stacey replied. "I'm dumping him. I can do better than him now. Right, I won't be long. If the taxi beeps, give me a shout." And she went upstairs to the loo.
~8~
"It is driving me mad." Roger said to the Doctor and Shareen. "10 minutes past one, every night, band on the dot, without fail, the burglar alarm goes off." He led them outside and showed them the burglar alarm. "I've had experts in, I've had it replaced, I've even phoned Watchdog." Roger explained. "But no, 10 past one in the morning, off it goes."
"But there's no burglars?" Shareen asked
"Nothing, I've given up looking." Roger confirmed
"Tell me Roger, do you have a cat flap?" the Doctor asked
As it turned out, Roger did. They were soon kneeling down by it, with the Doctor propping it open with his sonic screwdriver. "It was here when I bought the house." Roger explained. "I've never bothered with it, really. I'm not a cat person."
"No, we've met cat people, you're nothing like 'em." the Doctor muttered
"Is that what it is, though?" Roger questioned. "Cats getting inside the house?"
"Well, thing about cat flaps is, they don't just let things in, they let things out as well." the Doctor observed
"Like what?" Roger questioned
"The fat just walks away." the Doctor mused, recalling Adipose's tagline. Maybe it was literal.
~8~
"Won't be long." Stacey called from upstairs
"Oh, that's alright." Donna called back. She pulled out the pendant she'd gotten from Adipose Industries and absentmindedly started playing with it.
~8~
The Doctor and Shareen were just leaving Roger's house, having finished there. "Well, thanks for your help." the Doctor said. "Tell ya what, maybe you should lay off the pills for a week or so." At that moment, something started to beep and the Doctor pulled out a Y-shaped electronic gadget from his coat pocket. "Gotta go, sorry!" he said to Roger, then hurried away.
"Emergency meeting." Shareen told Roger, then hurried after the Doctor.
~8~
In Stacey's house, Donna began concerned when she heard groaning from upstairs. "You alright up there?" she called
"Yeah." Stacey called down, but Donna wasn't convinced.
The ginger got up and went to the bottom of the stairs. "I like what ya done with the hall." she called up. "Stacey? You alright?" She received no answer, so she began to make her way upstairs. "Wouldn't mind a little visit myself. Everything alright in there?" She knocked on the bathroom door. "It's only me. D'you mind if I popped to the loo? Stacey?"
Stacey finally answered, "Oh, help me! Oh my God, help me!"
Donna tried the door, but it was locked. "What is it? What's wrong?" she called. Then she heard Stacey scream, followed by a squelching sound. She put her shoulder to the door and burst in to find Stacey's clothes lying on the floor, but no sign of the woman herself. Donna looked around the room and saw a little white creature that appeared to be made of fat standing by the open window. The creature waved at her and jumped out the window. Donna could only stare in disbelief. Turned out she was right to investigate.
~8~
Shareen caught up with the Doctor when he stopped to make some adjustments to the gadget he was holding. "What is it?" Shareen asked
"Dunno, some sorta signal." the Doctor replied as he finished his adjustments. "This way!" And he sped off again.
"I have got to get a bike." Shareen muttered to herself as she ran after him.
They turned onto another street, just as a black van sped down it. The gadget indicated that whatever was causing it to beep was inside the van, so they ran after it, but it was too fast.
"On second thoughts, make it a motorbike." Shareen muttered.
~8~
Donna ran out of Stacy's house just as a black cab pulled up outside "Stacey Campbell?" the driver asked
"No, she's gone." Donna told him
"Gone where?"
"She's just gone."
"Oh great. Thanks for nothing." the driver grumbled and drove away.
~8~
Donna returned to the Noble house in Chiswick. As soon as she got through the front door, she heard Sylvia's voice call out, "And what time's this?!"
Donna rolled her eyes. She'd always had a prickly relationship with her mother which had worsened ever since Geoff had passed away with heart problems last year. "How old am I?" Donna grunted
"Not old enough to use a phone." Sylvia retorted, peeing out from the kitchen.
~8~
Donna was soon sat in the kitchen, drinking a cup of tea and listening to her mother ranting. "I thought you were only moving back for a couple of weeks. Look at you. I mean, you've never gonna find a flat, not while ya on the dole. It's no good sitting there, dressed up, looking like you're job hunting. You've gotta do something. It's not like the 1980's. No one's unemployed these days except you. How long did that job with health & safety last? Two days, an' then you walk out! 'I have other plans' Well, I've not seen 'em! An' it's no good sitting there dreaming. No one's gonna come along with a magic wand an' make ya life all better."
Donna rolled her eyes again. A man with a magic wand had come into her life and offered her a chance to see things beyond her wildest dreams, but she'd turned him down, a decision she'd come to regret. With Sylvia having finished ranting, Donna could get a word in now. "Where's Granddad?" she asked
"Where d'ya think he is?" Sylvia answered. "Up the hill. He's always up the hill."
~8~
Shareen entered her bedroom in the TARDIS. She shrugged her suit jacket off, strode upstairs into the cupola and slunked down on the top step with a heavy puff. It was at this time of day when she began to feel the loneliness of being the only Human on board the TARDIS. She missed Martha and the fun they used to have together in the evenings, watching telly in the lounge and chatting about this and that. Although she frequently spoke to Martha on the phone, it just wasn't the same.
~8~
Donna walked up a hill to an allotment where she reached the top, she saw her grandfather, Wilfred Mott, emerge from a shed. "Aye, aye, here comes trouble." he remarked
"Permission to board ship, sir." Donna answered
"Permission granted." Wilfred replied. "Was she nagging you?"
"Big time!" Donna laughed. She'd always been closer to her dad and granddad then her mother "Brought you a thermos." she handed him a thermos of hot tea.
"Oh, thanks." Wilfred nodded, taking it and sitting down behind a telescope. He'd always had a fascination with the stars and it had been strengthened by all the strange happenings over the past few years. Just last Christmas Eve, he'd been manning his newspaper stall in the town, when he'd seen three people literally vanish before his eyes. One moment they were talking to him, the next, they'd vanished into thin air.
"You seen anything?" Donna asked him, sitting down beside him.
"Yeah, I've got Venus. Yeah, with an apparent magnitude of minus 3.5 at least. That's what it says in my little book. Here, have a see, there ya go." Donna peered through the scope "That's the only planet in the solar system named after a woman."
"Good for her." Donna smiled. "How far away is that?"
"Oh, it's about 26,000,000 miles." Wilfred replied. "But we'll get there, one day. 100 year's time, we'll be striding about amongst the stars, jiggling about with all them aliens, just you wait."
"You really believe in all that stuff, don't you?"
"Oh, they'll over the place these days. If I wait 'ere long enough..."
"I don't suppose you've seen a little blue box?" Donna asked
"Is that slang for something?"
"No, I mean it." Donna replied. "If you ever see a little blue box flying up there in the sky, you shout for me, gramps. Oh, you just shout."
"D'yer know, I don't understand half the things you say these days." Wilfred remarked. He'd noticed a change in his granddaughter over this past year. She was just as loud as ever, but she seemed more thoughtful and sullen these days.
"Nor me." Donna shrugged
"No, fair dues." Wilfred said. "You've had a funny old time of it lately. There was poor old what's his name, Lance, bless him. That barmy old Christmas. I wish you'd tell us what really happened." He'd been bedridden with Spanish flu during Donna's ill-fated wedding, so had missed it.
"I know." Donna sighed. "It's just... The things I've seen, sometimes I think I'm going mad. I mean, even tonight, I was in a... Doesn't matter."
"Well, you're not yourself, I'll give you that." Wilfred observed. "You just... you seem to be drifting, sweetheart."
"I'm not drifting." Donna replied. "I'm waitin'."
"What for?"
"The right man."
"Oh, ho, ho. Same old story, a man!" Wilfred chortled
"No, I don't mean like that." Donna laughed. "But, he's real. I've seen him. I've met him, just once. An' then... I let him fly away."
"Well, there ya are, go and find him."
"I've tried. He's nowhere." Donna had searched high and low over London to try and find the Doctor, but to no avail. She'd had no luck trying to find Shareen either, having not caught the young woman's surname. She vaguely recalled the Doctor mentioning it once, but she'd been too distraught over Lance's betrayal to listen properly.
"Hey, not like you to give up." Wilfred said. "Yer know, I remember when you was about six years old, your mother said no holiday this year. So, off you toddled all on your own and you got on a bus to Strathclyde. Hah! We had the police out and everything! Hah! Where's she gone, then? Where's that girl, eh?"
"You're right." Donna said, her determination renewed. "Cos' he's still out there, somewhere. And I'll find him, Gramps. Even if I have to wait a hundred years, I'll find him."
~8~
The Doctor stood by the TARDIS console, studying the Adipose Industries pendant with a magnifying glass. "Oh, fascinating." he said. "Seems to be a bio-flip digital switch. Specifically for..." He looked up and remembered that he was alone. Shareen had shut herself up in her bedroom, as she'd been doing ever Martha left. The Doctor suspected that Shareen still had PTSD from the ordeal with the Master, only natural from everything she went through, and he knew that he was the last person she wanted to talk to about it. He contemplated the thought of bringing another woman on board who might help Shareen get through her trauma. Unfortunately, none of the women they'd met in the four months since the Titanic had proved suitable companion material.
~8~
Next morning, Donna left her house and approached the Noble's blue car "It's my turn for the car!" Sylvia moaned from the front doorway. "What'd you need it for?"
"A quick getaway." Donna replied, getting into the driver's seat. She started the car up and drove off.
~8~
Shareen sat in the TARDIS' galley, eating a bowl of Weetabix for breakfast. "Ah, morning, Shareen." the Doctor said as he entered the room. "You feeling alright?"
"Yeah, fine, great, yeah." Shareen waved him off.
"No, you're not." the Doctor said knowingly. "Trouble sleeping?"
"No, no, the nightmares stopped ages ago." Shareen replied. "I just miss Martha, that's all."
"Yeah, me too." the Doctor said sympathetically. "You spoken to her lately?"
"Yeah, called her the other week. She's fine. Settling in at U.N.I.T an' her family's doin' fine."
"Hmm, good." the Doctor nodded. "Erm, make sure ya eat up. Long day today."
"Why? What're we doing?" Shareen asked, not liking the sound of that.
"We've gotta go back to Adipose Industries." the Doctor told her. "Got some more snooping to do."
~8~
Donna parked in an alley behind the Adipose building and went the rest of the way on foot. Just after she'd left the alley, the TARDIS materialised a few feet behind the car. The Doctor and Shareen got out and made their way towards the building.
Donna entered the building via the main entrance and made her way through the call centre. "Morning." she said to the man she'd spoken to yesterday as she passed him. She entered the ladies' bathroom and went inside a cubicle, ready to wait out for the day.
~8~
The Doctor and Shareen entered the building through the fire exit they'd used the day before and made their way to the cellar, then the Doctor opened the door to a cleaning cupboard. "You've gotta be kiddin', Peacock." Shareen groaned
"If ya wanna stay out of side, hide in a cupboard." the Doctor said simply. "C'mon!"
"I'm definitely gonna regret this." Shareen muttered as she reluctantly followed the Doctor into the cupboard.
~8~
At 18:10, the offices closed and the staff went home for the night. The cupboard door opened and the Doctor and Shareen exited. "Oh, thank God that's over." Shareen grumbled. "Right, before we do anything else, I need the bog!"
"What, now?" the Doctor huffed
"Oi, you made me sit in there for nearly nine hours!" Shareen retorted. "And I'm a woman; I can't just go in a bucket like you men!"
"Alright. I'll meet you on the roof when ya done." the Doctor conceded.
~8~
In the ladies' bathroom, Donna was just leaving the cubicle when her mobile rang, so she went back inside and answered it. "Not now." she whispered
"I need the car." Sylvia's voice came over the other end. "Where are you?"
"I can't. I'm busy."
"Why're you whispering?" Sylvia asked
"I'm in church." Donna whispered sarcastically.
"What are YOU doing in church?"
"Praying."
"Huh! Bit late for that, madam!"
"What's she in church for?" Donna head Wilfred's voice say
"Hush, you. Go up the hill." Sylvia told him then turned back to Donna. "But I NEED the car. I'm going out with Suzette. She's asked all the Wednesday girls. Apparently, she's been on those Adipose pills. She says she looks marvellous."
At that moment, Donna heard the bathroom door being opened so she promptly hung up. She head someone walk past and enter the cubicle next to hers, followed by several sounds that suggested that whoever it was had desperately needed the toilet. "Ah, that's better." a female voice sighed thankfully.
Donna was sure she recognised that voice from somewhere, but before she could think about it, she heard the bathroom door open again. "We know you're in here." Miss Foster's voice called out. "So why don't you make this nice and easy and show yourself?"
Donna pulled her legs off the floor, hoping they wouldn't find her.
"I'm waiting." Miss Foster said. "I warn you, I'm not a patient woman. Now, out you come."
Donna didn't move.
"Right," Miss Foster said, "we'll do it the hard way. Get her."
Donna heard the sound of doors being forced open, clearly Miss Foster's guards doing that.
Donna could only listen as the sound got closer and closer and closer until Miss Foster said, "There you are." But it wasn't Donna that she'd found.
"I've been through all your records, Foster." Donna heard Penny Carter's voice say. "And all of your results have been faked. There's something about those pills you're not telling us."
"Oh, I think I'll be conducting this interview, Penny." Miss Foster replied nonchalantly
Donna heard footsteps, clearly them leaving the room. She waited a few seconds to make sure the coast was clear, then she left the cubicle and went off to find out what was going on.
Mere seconds after Donna had left, a toilet flushed and Shareen exited the cubicle next to the one Donna had been hiding in. She quickly washed her hands and hurried away.
~8~
The Doctor was waiting on the roof when Shareen joined him. "What took ya so long?" he asked. "I thought you'd fallen in!"
"I had to hide from Foster and Right said Fred." Shareen retorted. "Apparently, we're not the only ones interested in this place; that reporter from yesterday's here and she's just gone an' gotten herself caught."
"Right, we'd better see what's become of her." the Doctor said. "Allons-y!" And he led the way to a window cleaner's cradle.
"Oh, you are kidding." Shareen groaned.
"Best way to get in without getting caught." the Doctor replied, hopping into the cradle.
"If you say so, Peacock." Shareen huffed, reluctantly climbing in after him.
"Going down." the Doctor said, and started the winch.
The Doctor stopped the cradle outside the window to Miss Foster's office and was just about to open the window when he saw Miss Foster and her two goons escorting Penny into the office at gunpoint, so he and Shareen quickly ducked down out of sight below the window. The Doctor then took out his stethoscope and put one end in his ear while Shareen took the other so they could both listen to what was happening inside. "This is ridiculous." they heard Penny grumble
"Sit there." Miss Foster ordered
"I'm phoning my editor."
"I said sit!"
"You can't tie me up!" the time travellers heard Penny protest a moment later. "What sort of a country do you think this is?!"
"Oh, it's a beautifully fat country." was Miss Foster's answer. "And believe me, I've travelled a long way to find obesity on this scale."
"So come on, Miss Foster, those pills. What are they?" Penny demanded
~8~
Donna snuck up to the door of the office and stood up on tiptoe to peer through the window at Miss Foster and Penny.
~8~
"Well, you might as well have a scoop, since you'll never see it printed." Miss Foster said. "This is the spark of life."
"And what's that supposed to mean?"
"Officially, the capsule attracts all the fat cells and flushed them away, Well, it certainly attracts them, that part's true. But it binds the fat together and galvanises it to form a body."
"What d'ya mean, 'a body'?" Penny questioned
"I am surprised you never asked me about my name." Miss Foster said. "I chose it well. Foster, as in foster mother. And these are my children."
The Doctor and Shareen peered up from their hiding place just in time to see Miss Foster place a creature exactly like the one Donna had seen at Stacey's house on the desk.
"You're kidding me. What the hell's that?!" Penny blustered
"Adipose." Miss Foster replied, "It's called an Adipose. Made out of living fat."
"I don't understand."
"Stripped from ordinary Human..."
Shareen suddenly tapped the Doctor on the shoulder and pointed across the room. The Doctor looked to see Donna staring at them through the window in the office door. "Donna?" the Doctor mouthed
"Doctor! Shareen!" Donna mouthed back excitedly
"But... what?" the Doctor blustered, "Wha... what?!"
"Oh, my God!" Donna grinned
"But... how?" the Doctor spluttered
"Doctor, it's me!" Donna mouthed, pointing to herself.
"Well, we can see that." the Doctor mimed back
"Oh, this is BRILLIANT!" Donna grinned.
"What the hell are you doing there?!" Shareen mouthed
"I was looking for you two!" Donna mouthed back
"What for?" the Doctor asked
"I read about this place on the internet." Donna explained, miming to emphasise her actions, "I thought; trouble = you! And this place is weird! So I hid back there. Crept along, heard this lot, looked, you! Cos' they..." She stopped suddenly as she noticed something on her right.
Shareen turned and saw what Donna had seen. "Bollocks!" she mouthed irritably
The Doctor turned too and saw that that Miss Foster had copped them. "Are we interrupting you?" she asked dryly
"Run!" the Doctor mouthed to Donna, who did so.
"Get her!" Miss Foster ordered her goons, who both moved to go after Donna.
The Doctor promptly flashed his sonic screwdriver at the door to lock it and buy the woman some time.
"And them." Miss Foster ordered, before the Doctor used the sonic screwdriver to elevate the cradle back to the roof.
~8~
The Doctor and Shareen ran into Donna halfway down the stairs. "Oh, my God! I don't believe it!" Donna laughed as she hugged the Doctor. "You've even got the same suit! Doesn't he ever change?" she asked Shareen
"He wears blue sometimes." Shareen shrugged, still bewildered as to the fact that Donna was here.
"Talkin' of suits, love yours." Donna said to Shareen. "Lookin' very sharp."
"Oh, thanks." Shareen acknowledged
Suddenly, they all head footsteps downstairs and the Doctor peered down to see the two goons coming. "Just like old times!" he grinned, and the trio legged it upstairs.
They burst out onto the roof and the Doctor used his sonic screwdriver on the cradle controls. "Cos' I thought; how do I find the Doctor?" Donna rambled excitedly. "And then I thought: 'Just look for trouble and then he'll turn up.' So I looked everywhere, you name it: UFOs, sightings, crop circles, sea monsters. I looked, I found 'em all. Like that stuff about bees disappearing, I thought; 'I bet he's connected.' Cos' the thing is Doctor, I believe it all now. You opened my eyes. All those amazing things out there, I believe 'em all. Well, apart from that replica of the Titanic flying over Buckingham Palace on Christmas Day, I mean that's gotta be a hoax!"
"It wasn't. We were there." Shareen told her
"What d'ya mean, the bees are disappearing?" the Doctor questioned
"I dunno. That's what it says on the internet." Donna replied. "But on the same site, there was all these conspiracy theories about Adipose Industries, and I thought: 'let's take a look.'"
The Doctor meanwhile had hopped into the cradle. "In you ladies get." he said, and Shareen climbed in after him.
"What, in that thing?" Donna asked sceptically
"Yes in that thing." the Doctor answered
"But if we go down in that, they'll just call us back up again." Donna pointed out
"No, no, no, cos' I've locked the controls with a sonic cage." the Doctor answered. "I'm the only one who can control it. Not unless she's got a sonic device of her own, which is very unlikely."
"I wish you'd stop saying things like that." Shareen remarked. "You're always jinxing us by doing that."
Donna joined them in the cradle and the Doctor started the winch, so the cradle started it's decent. Suddenly, they all heard the distinctive buzz of a sonic device and the cradle began to plummet. The Doctor quickly aimed his sonic screwdriver at the winch and brought them to a halt at the floor above Miss Foster's office. "Hold on. Hold on, we can get in through the window." the Doctor said, and began to sonic the window. Suddenly, there was a clunk. "Can't get it open." the Doctor groaned. "She's deadlocked the building!"
"Then we'll just have to smash it." Shareen said, and began to to whack the glass with a discarded spanner while the Doctor attempted to crack the glass with sonic vibrations from his screwdriver.
Donna meanwhile heard a fizzling sound and she looked to see one of the cables starting to smoke. "She's cutting the cable!" she cried and sure enough, the cable promptly snapped.
The cradle tilted to one side, knocking it's occupants over. The Doctor and Shareen both managed to grab onto the railings but Donna wasn't so lucky. "Donna!" the Doctor and Shareen yelled as Donna plunged over the side and was left hanging onto the severed cable. "Hold on!" the Doctor yelled
"I am!" Donna yelled back, hanging on for dear life.
Both the Doctor and Shareen tried pulling the cable up, but it had snagged and wouldn't budge. "Grrr! Stupid thing!" Shareen growled, then she saw Miss Foster preparing to cut the other cable. "Sh*t! She's cutting the other cable now!" she warned
Thinking quickly, the Doctor took out his sonic screwdriver and passed it to Shareen. "Use this." he told her. "Just point at hers and switch it on."
Shareen complied and aimed the sonic screwdriver at Miss Foster's sonic device, then she switched the screwdriver on and Miss Foster's device sparked, causing her to drop it. The Doctor expertly caught the device to see that it was a black pen with a blue sonic wave emitter concealed in the end. He climbed up the cable and used the pen to unlock the window.
"I'm gonna fall!" Donna wailed. "This is all your fault!" she yelled at the Doctor. "I should'a stayed at home!"
"Won't be a minute." the Doctor called as he climbed in through the open window. "Shareen, come on." he urged his companion
"What about Donna?!" Shareen hollered
"We can get rescue her from the office." the Doctor told her. "C'mon!"
"Be right with ya, Donna. Just hang on!" Shareen called to Donna, then she climbed up the cable and followed the Doctor through the window.
They raced downstairs into Miss Foster's office, where they could see Donna's legs waving wildly outside the window. "Is anyone gonna tell me what's going on?" Penny demanded from where she was tied to a chair.
"What're you, a journalist?" the Doctor asked her
"Yes."
"Well, make it up!" the Doctor retorted, using the sonic pen to open the window, then he and Shareen both grabbed Donna's legs.
"Get off!" Donna yelled, thinking it was Miss Foster's goons.
"It's us." Shareen reassured her. "We've got ya, we're gonna pull ya in!"
And sure enough, they were able to pull Donna through the window to safety. "I was right." she panted, "It's always like this with you, innit?"
"Oh, yes!" the Doctor grinned, "And off we go!"
He made to run off but Shareen grabbed his arm and stopped him. "What about her?" she asked, gesturing to Penny.
"Oh, yeah." the Doctor nodded and used his sonic screwdriver to release Penny from her bonds. "Now do yourself a favour, get out." he urged her, then he, Shareen and Donna sped away.
~8~
Donna and the time travellers ran across the call centre only to find the exit blocked by Miss Foster and her goons. "Well then, at last." Miss Foster said nonchalantly, taking her glasses off.
"Hello." Donna waved flatly
"Nice to meet you, I'm the Doctor." the Time Lord said
"I'm Donna." Donna added
"And I'm Shareen." Shareen finished. "Hello."
"Partners in crime." Miss Foster commented, "And evidently off-worlders, judging by your sonic technology."
"Oh, yes, I've still got your sonic pen." the Doctor said, taking out the sonic pen and looking at it. "Nice, I like it. Sleek, it's kinda sleek."
"Oh, it's definitely sleek." Donna agreed
"Hmm, I could do with one of those myself." Shareen commented.
"And if you were to sign your real name..." the Doctor said to Miss Foster, "... that would be...?"
"Matron Cofélia of the Five-Straighten Classabindi Nursery Fleet. Intergalactic class."
"A wet nurse, using Humans as surrogates." the Doctor nodded
"Why? What for?" Shareen asked
"I've been employed by the Adiposian First Family to foster a new generation after their breeding planet was lost." Cofélia explained
"What d'ya mean lost?" the Doctor frowned, "How d'ya lose a planet?"
"Oh, politics are none of my concern." Cofélia waved him off. "I'm just here to take care of the children on behalf of their parents."
"What, like an outer-space super-nanny?" Donna asked
"Yes, if you like."
"So... so these 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." Cofélia replied nonchalantly. "Makes them a little bit sick, poor things."
"What about poor Stacey?!" Donna glared
"Seeding a level 5 planet is against galactic law." the Doctor said sternly
"Are you threatening me?" Cofélia narrowed her eyes at the Time Lord
"Never mind him," Shareen scowled, "I'm the one you should be worried about. Stop this or I'll make you stop!"
"I hardly think you can stop bullets." Cofélia scoffed, and her goons took aim at the trio.
"No, hold on, hold on, hold on..." the Doctor said, protectively standing in front of the two women. "One more thing before dying... Do you know what happens if you hold two identical sonic devices against each other?"
"No." Cofélia replied stiffly
"Nor me, let's find out!" the Doctor grinned manically, and aimed the sonic pen and his sonic screwdriver directly at each other, creating an awful high-pitched feedback sound that had Shareen, Donna, Cofélia and her goons all squirming in agony. So bad was the noise that a glass partition wall shattered.
Donna gave the Doctor a shove to make him stop. "Come on!" she said, and she, Shareen and the Doctor all ran off.
~8~
The trio ran through the deserted cellar until they reached the cupboard the Doctor and Shareen had hidden in earlier. "Well, that's one solution, hiding in a cupboard." Donna remarked as the Doctor began tossing things out of the cupboard. "I like it."
"Well, this ain't exactly a cupboard." Shareen told her as the Doctor slid the back wall over to reveal a large green computer core.
"Been hacking into this thing all day." the Doctor explained. "Cos' the matron's got a computer core running through the centre of the building. Triple deadlocked. And now I've got this..." He held up the sonic pen. "... I can get into it." He slipped his glasses on and plugged the pen into the core. "She's wired up the whole building." he noted
Just then, they heard footsteps and Shareen peered out to see Miss Foster's two goons running towards them. "Right Said Fred're coming." she warned
"Right, we need a bit of privacy." the Doctor said and held two wires together, causing a burst of electricity to shoot out of the wall and stun the goons. "Just enough to stop them." the Doctor reassured the women. "Why's she wired up the tower block? What's it all for?" He then started fiddling with the wiring.
"You look older." Donna remarked as she watched him work
"Thanks." the Doctor muttered
Donna then turned to Shareen. "So, you're still travellin' with him?" she asked
"Yeah, since we last met you." Shareen replied. We had someone else travellin' with us until recently: Martha. She was great." she sighed.
"I destroyed half her life." the Doctor sighed. "But she's fine. She's good. She's fine."
"What about Rose?" Donna asked tactfully
"Still gone." Shareen replied. "She's livin' in a parallel world with her mom, her dad, her ex-boyfriend and a parallel version of me, so she's fine. What about you? I thought you were gonna travel the world."
"Easier said than done." Donna sighed, "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, ya back home. It's nothing like being with you. I must've been mad to turn down that offer."
"What offer?" the Doctor asked
"To come with you." Donna replied. "If you don't mind, of course." she added hastily to Shareen.
"Not at all. Heck, I'd love to have ya with us, Donna." Shareen replied. "I've missed having a woman to talk to."
"You'd come with me?" the Doctor asked Donna
"Oh, yes please!" Donna beamed
"Right." the Doctor nodded.
"Inducer activated." the computer announced
"What's it doing?" Shareen asked
"She's started the program." the Doctor realised
"Inducer transmitting." the computer announced
The Doctor checked the screen. "So far they're just losing weight." he told the women. "But the matron's gone up to emergency pathogenesis."
"That's when they convert..." Donna began
"Skeletons, organs, everything." the Doctor confirmed. "A million people are gonna die!"
"Stop it then!" Shareen hollered
The Doctor did some lightning fast thinking. "Gotta cancel out the signal." He took out the Adipose pendant and pulled the capsule open to reveal a chip inside it. "This contains the primary signal." he explained to the women. "If I can switch it off, the fat goes back to being fat." He hooked the capsule into the computer core. For a moment, it seemed to work. Then...
"Inducer increasing." the computer announced
"No, no, no! She's doubled it!" the Doctor cried, looking at the monitor. "I need..." He ran a hand through his hair, trying to think of something they could do. "Haven't got time. It's too far, we can't override it!" he said frantically. "They're all gonna die!"
"Is there anything we can do?" Donna asked
"Sorry, Donna, this is way beyond you." the Doctor waved her off, sounding nearly panicked. "Gotta double the base pulse. I can't..."
"Doctor, tell me what you need." Donna said sternly
"I need a second capsule to boost the override, but I've only got the one we took yesterday." the Doctor replied. "I can't save them!"
Donna promptly reached into her pocket and produced her own Adipose pendant. For a moment, the Doctor looked at her in shock then they both burst out laughing.
"Don't just stand there! Plug it in!" Shareen hollered at them
The Doctor took the pendant, plugged it in and the inducer shut down.
"Well done, Donna." Shareen told the ginger.
There was a brief moment of stark calm, then a loud electronic hum sounded in the air. "What the hell is that?" Donna breathed
"I think it's the nursery." the Doctor replied
"When you say 'nursery', you don't mean a creche in Notting Hill?" Donna asked
"Nursery ship." the Doctor confirmed.
"I'll have a look." Shareen said and rushed off.
~8~
Shareen arrived on the roof just in time to see a huge circular spaceship fly over London. "Bloody hell." she stared. "It's ELO!"
~8~
Wilfred sat at his telescope with headphones on, completely oblivious to the spaceship flying past behind him.
~8~
Shareen watched as the spaceship hovered by Adipose Industries and blue levitation beams reached out towards the thousands of baby Adipose gathered below. The Adipose stepped into the beams and were levitated up to the ship.
~8~
The computer in the cellar lit up. "Incoming signal." it announced and a voice started speaking in Adiposian over the computer.
"Hadn't we better go an' stop 'em?" Donna suggested to the Doctor
"Hang on, instructions from the Adiposian First Family." the Doctor replied and listened carefully to the instructions.
"What's it saying?" Donna asked
"She's wired up the tower block to convert it into a levitation post." the Doctor observed, then he heard another instruction. "Ooh! We're not the ones in trouble now. She is!" And he ran off towards the roof, Donna following him.
~8~
The Doctor and Donna joined Shareen on the roof to watch the Adipose being brought on board the ship. "What're ya gonna do then?" Donna asked the Doctor. "Blow 'em up?"
"There's just children." the Doctor told her. "They can't help where they came from."
"Oh, makes a change from last time." Donna remarked. "You've done him good." she said to Shareen
"Nah, Martha did all the good work." Shareen shrugged. "Mind you, she did fancy him for a bit."
"Mad Martha, that one." Donna smiled. "Blind Martha. Charity Martha."
One of the Adipose waved at the trio and they waved back.
"I'm waving at fat." Donna remarked
"Actually, they're kinda cute." Shareen commented
"Just wait till they grow up." the Doctor said lightly. "Adult Adipose are about eight feet tall." Then he noticed Cofélia in one of the levitation beams. "There she is!" he said and they rushed over to the edge. "Matron Cofélia, listen to me!" the Doctor called urgently
"Oh, I don't think so, Doctor." Cofélia retorted. "And if I never see you again, it'll be too soon."
"Oh, why does no one ever listen?" the Doctor groaned. "I'm trying to help! Just get across to the roof. Can you shift the levitation beam?"
"What, so you can arrest me?" Cofélia scoffed
"Just listen! I saw the Adiposian instructions." the Doctor told her urgently. "They know it's a crime, breeding on Earth. So what's the one thing they wanna get rid of? Their accomplice!"
"I'm far more than that." Cofélia said loftily. "I'm nanny to all these children."
"Exactly!" the Doctor said, noticing that all the baby Adipose were onboard the ship now, leaving just Cofélia in the levitation beam. "Mum and Dad have got the kids now, they don't need the nanny anymore!"
And at that moment, the levitation beam deactivated. The Doctor, Shareen and Donna all wisely turned their heads away as Cofélia fell screaming to her death. When the trio looked up, they saw the Adipose ship ready to leave. The children waved from the portholes as the ship regained height and left Earth.
~8~
When the trio got outside the building, they found police and paramedics arriving on the scene. The Doctor pulled out the sonic pen and studied it for a moment. "Tell ya what, Peacock, I'll have that." Shareen said. "Never know when we might need it."
The Doctor considered this. "Alright, but be careful. No misusing it!" And he gave the pen to Shareen who happily pocketed it.
"Oi, you three!" a voice called, and they turned to see Penny come over, tied to a chair, again."You're just mad, d'ya hear me?" she grumbled. "Mad! And I'm reporting ya all for... madness!"
"Yeah, good luck with that." Shareen said dryly, using the sonic pen to free Penny again.
"Ya see, some people just can't take it." Donna remarked as they watched the reporter fume away.
"No." the Doctor agreed
"But some people can." Donna continued. "So then, TARDIS. Come on!" She linked arms with both time travellers and dragged them away. They reached the alley where Donna's car and the TARDIS were waiting. "That's my car!" Donna squealed. "That is like destiny! An' I've been ready for this. I packed ages ago just in case." She opened the boot and began pulling suitcases out. "Cos' I thought, hot weather, cold weather, no weather." she handed the cases to the Doctor, and some travel bags to Shareen. "You two go anywhere, so I've gotta be prepared."
"You've got a hatbox." the Doctor remarked, eying one of the boxes.
"Planet of the hats, I'm ready." Donna replied
"Yeah, we can see." Shareen laughed
They made their way over to the TARDIS. "I don't need injections, do I?" Donna rambled. "Ya know like when ya go to Cambodia, is there any of that? Cos' my friend Veena went to Bahrain, an' she..." She tailed off when she noticed that the Doctor didn't look happy. "You're not sayin' much."
"No, it's just... It's a funny old life, in the TARDIS." the Doctor said
"You don't want me." Donna frowned
"I'm not sayin' that." the Doctor amended
"You'd better not." Shareen scowled at him
"It's just that... the last time with Martha... it was complicated for a while." the Doctor told Donna. "And that was my fault."
"Too right it was." Shareen chimed in
"I just want a mate." the Doctor told Donna
"You just want to mate?" Donna glared in shock and disgust
"I just want a mate!" the Doctor tried to clarify while Shareen tried her hardest not to laugh.
"You're not matin' with me, sunshine!" Donna spluttered, causing Shareen to lose and burst out laughing.
"A mate, I just a mate!" the Doctor told Donna
"Well, just as well, cos' I'm not havin' any of that nonsense." Donna said in relief. "I mean you're just a long streak of... nothing. Ya know, alien nothing."
"There we are then, ok." the Doctor said
"And what's so funny?" Donna asked Shareen, who was still laughing her head off.
"Sorry, sorry." Shareen said as she managed to stop laughing. "It's just... It's just so funny to see Peacock squirming like that. Oh, it is gonna be such fun with you here, Donna!"
"So I can come?" Donna asked the Doctor
"Yeah. Course you can, yeah." the Doctor replied
"I'd love it." Shareen added
"Ohh, that's just..." Donna began, but then suddenly remembered something. "Car keys! I've still got my mum's car keys. I won't be a minute." She rushed off out of the alley and back onto the main road, where some bystanders were watching the police tend to the scene. "I know, mum, I saw it. Little fat people." Donna said into her phone "Listen, I've gotta go. I'm gonna stay with Veena for a bit."
"But it was in the sky..." Sylvia blustered over the phone
"Yeah, I know. Spaceship." Donna brushed her off. "But I've still got the car keys. Look, there's a bin on Brook Street, about 30 feet from the corner. I'm gonna leave 'em in there." she tossed the keys into the bin
"What? A bin?!" Sylvia protested
"Yes, I said bin." Donna rolled her eyes
"But you can't do that!"
"Look, stop complainin'. The car's just down the road a bit. Gotta go, really gotta go. Bye." She hung off then tapped the shoulder of a blonde woman in a blue bomber jacket. "Listen, there's this woman gonna come along." Donna said to her. "A tall blonde woman called Sylvia. Tell her, that bin there. Alright? It'll make sense, that bin there." And she ran off back towards the alley.
The woman turned to survey the scene again, revealing herself to be Rose Tyler, looking somewhat weary and worried. Rose turned and walked away, vanishing into thin air while doing so.
~8~
Donna ran back into the TARDIS to find that the Doctor and Shareen had brought her luguage inside. "Off we go, then." she said cheerfully
"Here it is, the TARDIS." the Doctor said. "It's bigger on the inside than it is on the outside..."
"Oh, I know all that bit." Donna waved him off. "Although frankly, you could turn the 'eating up a bit."
"Good point, Donna." Shareen said. "It does get a bit nippy in here sometimes."
"So, whole wide universe, where'd ya wanna go?" the Doctor asked Donna
"Oh, I know exactly the place." Donna replied
"And where's that?" Shareen asked.
~8~
Wilfred sat at his telescope on the hill when he noticed a blue police phone box flying through the sky, the very thing Donna had asked him to look out for. "Donna, it's the flying blue box!" he called out, then he saw the door open and a figure appear inside it and wave to him. He looked through his telescope and saw that the figure was Donna herself. "That's Donna!" he laughed, then he saw two other people standing in the box behind her. They were too far away for him to see their faces, but he see that one of them was a man in a brown suit. "And that's him! That's him! Yay! Go on, girl! Go on, get out there!" He did a little dance, delighted that his granddaughter had found the person she was looking for. He then noticed the third person in the box. Again, he couldn't see their face clearly but could make out that it was a young women with medium-length dark brown hair and olive-toned skin. Both she and the man in the brown suit seemed to be lounging at the back of the box watching Donna waving at him. The door then closed and the box zoomed away.
~8~
A little later, the Doctor was roaming through the hallways of the TARDIS when he heard the sound of women laughing. Following the sound, he walked into the lounge where he found Shareen and Donna having a good laugh about something. "What's so funny?" he asked them
"Oh, I just tellin' Donna about the time we met Shakespeare." Shareen replied
"I can't believe ya got Shakespeare to quote Harry Potter!" Donna laughed
"It was Martha's idea." the Doctor said
"And it worked." Shareen added. "Sent all those witches back to hell where they belong. Hey, what did ya do with that crystal ball, Peacock?" she asked the Doctor
"I put it away in my chest of C." he replied
"Anyway, Donna, you should've seen what happened the morning after." Shareen said to Donna. "There we were, chilling out, Shakespeare tryin' to hit on Martha when who should turn up but Elizabeth the First!"
"You're kidding." Donna stared
"Nope. There she was, with the crown and white face paint an' all. And when she saw Peacock here, she hit the roof!"
"What happened?" Donna asked
"She ordered her guards to rip his head off." Shareen replied. "We all had to leg it back to the TARDIS."
"Blimey, what did ya do to p*ss her off, Spaceman?" Donna asked the Doctor
"I dunno." the Doctor replied. "I haven't met her yet. Must be in my future."
"Well, whatever ya did, I can't blame her." Shareen said. "Honestely, Donna, I've been travelling with him for just over a year now and quite why I haven't killed him yet I dunno!"
"I can imagine!" Donna laughed and Shareen joined in.
The Doctor rolled his eyes. Shareen and Donna were clearly cut from the same cloth and with both of them travelling with him, things were certainly going to be interesting from now on.
Author's notes: And so we kick off Shareen's second story. I love series 4 and it's gonna be great to go over it again. Shareen and Donna are gonna be such a fun duo to write as they're both cut from the same cloth. That bit with the toilet stems from a thought that occurred to me when re-watching the episode; the Doctor was hiding in that cupboard for nearly nine hours so any Human OC forced to hide with him would very likely need the bog after that! And it adds to the joke about Donna just missing the Doctor and Shareen. So, hope you like this new story and hope to see you all next time for the trip to Pompeii.