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Donna's first week on the job was filled with excitement as the two of them began experimenting with the various machines that were required for her procedure. The Rani knew how they were made but the technology that they had been based on was far too advanced, forcing her to adjust them to the tech level they had.
"If only I had a TARDIS," she muttered to herself, eyeing the irritatingly primitive machine. Then she paused and began to grin. Donna looked at her and became very nervous.
"What are you thinking about now?" she asked cautiously.
"Well, a time machine is easy to make, more or less," the Rani said and began to drag a box of pieces from under the table. "But you need to have a reference point or you could end up anywhere." She grinned at Donna again.
"So you want me to serve as a reference point?" Donna said more than asked. "Where will you travel to?" She bent down and began removing pieces, her dormant mind telling her where to set up the circuits and arrange the crystalline components.
"I thought I might as well travel to when we've set up the device and copy the designs we've made to speed up things," the Rani said cheerily. "We just need to be sure that we are out of the place at the time I travel to and it'll be easy." Donna looked darkly at her.
"That is violating the rules of time," she said severely and the Rani blinked slightly at the sound of the Doctor's voice. Even knowing what she did, it was still rather odd to hear it from Donna.
"Not that much," she said defensively. "Anyway, that's what you did to ace a test once that you hadn't studied for."
"Point taken," DoctorDonna said and shrugged. It was something that would only get you a telling off for abusing your power on Gallifrey, and the Time Lords were strict about those things. "Don't do more than that," she added pointedly. The Rani adopted an innocent expression
"You have nothing to worry about," she said and looked as though butter wouldn't melt in her mouth. Donna snorted but made no other objections. The time machine was still not an easy thing to make and before they knew it, it was dark.
"I'd best be getting home," Donna said and stood up, wincing in pain at the sudden aches that she had been ignoring until now. The Rani looked at the time and nodded.
"I'd forgotten how quickly time flies," she said and stood up herself. "It'll be done tomorrow and then we'll be home and dry." Donna couldn't help feeling that saying that was unwisely tempting fate, but didn't say anything to try to keep notice being taken of it. She stepped out the door and closed her eyes, letting the 'Donna' personality wrap around her like a cloak. Wilf had been looking worried and so she had become better at acting normal. She took care to pretend to still be irritated by her missing memory and it seemed to be working fairly well.
"You alright miss?" said a voice from behind her. She turned and saw a tall dark-haired man looking curiously at her.
"I'm fine," she said with a smile. "I just wanted to get a breath of air before heading home." She looked thoughtfully at the young man and then frowned inwardly as she saw the outline of a shoulder holster. He looked to be military. "Dr Anne is inside," she added, acting on a hunch. "Got something you need her to do?"
"Yes ma'am," said the surprised young man. "Corporal Winters, UNIT. I take it you are her new assistant?" he added inquiringly.
"That's me," Donna said. "Donna Noble. Excuse me, I'd better get going," she added and walked briskly towards where Wilf had just driven back. She looked back in time to see him give her a grave salute. Wilf saw it too and beckoned hastily to Donna.
"Who was that?" he asked as she sat down in the passenger seat. Donna shrugged.
"Some bloke from UNIT that wanted to see Dr Anne," she said and shook her head. "Wonder what that salute was all about?" she wondered aloud. Wilfred seemed to relax at that.
"Probably nothing," he said and Donna rolled her eyes. Even before she found out what was going on she would have been able to tell he knew more than he was saying.
"How's mum?" she asked instead of pressing the issue.
"Still worrying about you staying so late," Wilf said with a smile. "She still hasn't met Dr Anne."
"Well, I could ask her over for Saturday night," Donna said thoughtfully. "I get the feeling that she doesn't get enough home-cooked meals anyway." Wilf looked at his granddaughter briefly, then back at the road. From the way she had talked, she seemed to be thinking of Dr Anne as more a friend than an employer.
"Your mum will like that," he said and swerved slightly to avoid a stray cat in the road. "I'm not sure Dr Anne will like it though." Donna chuckled at the thought.
"She'll be fine," she replied and leaned back in her seat. "I'm going to be needing a bit of rest. We've been working non-stop and my bones ache. It is fun though," she added hastily. Then she thought about the statement and realized that her granddad might take it an entirely different way. If she really was the Doctor and he knew about it, he might even not be surprised. She decided to play it up, mostly for laughs. "She has some very interesting equipment in her lab," she said in a tone that seemed perfectly ordinary. Wilf blinked at that and she could almost hear his thoughts.
"Really?" he said in a thoughtful tone and she could tell that he was having a moment of dawning realization. Of course, even if she was the Doctor, she didn't feel attracted to the Rani (possibly because she could remember a few nearly deadly encounters with her) but he didn't have any way of knowing.
"Oh yes," Donna said with a faint smile that she knew would fuel his suspicion. "And she lets me use any one of them I want while we have spare time." She wondered if that was a bit over-the-top but it appeared not; Wilf seemed much taken in.
"And she's your employer?" Wilf said cautiously. Donna saw the problem, and moved to forestall it.
"Oh yes, though she says that I'm good enough to get my own degree," Donna said. "She seems a bit shy about things so I'll have to convince her to come on Saturday, but I'm sure she'll like it. She doesn't get out much." That should do it, she thought with an inner grin. Come Saturday, Dr Rachel Anne would be meeting her mum and granddad with a very useful cover story. Donna wondered if she should tell the Rani or not, but decided that it would be loads more fun if she didn't.
Martha picked up the sheet of paper and read it with interest. Since the invasion by the Daleks, she had been one of the ones to put UNIT back together and so she was quite busy with paperwork these days but the report on Dr Rachel Anne and Donna Noble was interesting. Apparently the only odd thing Corporal Winters had noticed about Donna was that she had seen his concealed holster and that was nothing to worry about. Dr Anne was a bit different and the profile gave her an odd feeling. It was remarkably close to the Doctor's but then, so was her own. If this Dr Anne was a former companion of the Doctor than that was hardly something to worry about.
Then she blinked and turned to her computer. A quick scan showed that Dr Anne was an orphan and even the DNA tests had turned up no relatives. If her parents had dropped her here before the Time War, she could easily be a Time Lord, perhaps with a Chameleon Arch used to protect her. If so, she would be someone the Doctor would be very glad to meet, but Martha did not want to get his hopes up, especially after what happened with the Master.
She picked up the report and began to study it carefully. As soon as she was sure, she would call the Doctor and tell him and if this was a Time Lord, he could go meet her. If not, if she was someone like the Master, they could both go meet her.
The Rani tapped the time machine lightly and nodded. It was perfectly ready to go, but she had promised to have Donna with her and she didn't think she'd be impressed by any excuse. Too much like the Doctor, she thought. But she still wasn't sure when to arrive. Finally she nodded and selected the day. Christmas Day, two weeks away, the perfect time, she said to herself. With luck, they would be at a Christmas dinner and not have to stop a project for her.
Soon the Doctor would be restored and then, well then, they'd have to find out where he (or she) had left the TARDIS. Then she'd have to figure out what to do next.
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