Author's Notes: I do not own Doctor Who. Thanks for the reads and reviews! I really appreciate it! Please keep letting me know what you think or do so for the first time and happy reading!
Donna looked at herself in the mirror. She was having her first fitting of a traditional Gallifreyan wedding gown and there was one fact that seemed to stick out at her.
"It's red."
Malyon frowned. "Yes, of course."
"Look, I know you all have this thing with red. You really seem to like it. It's just, ginger?"
Malyon was still puzzled. "Yes?"
"Gingers and red, it's not a great combination."
Oswin entered. "Donna?"
"Yeah, sweetheart?," asked Donna.
"The Chancellor is here."
"The Chancellor?," asked Malyon.
Donna could tell that Malyon was concerned. "Uh, who's that then?"
"He's one of the leaders of the High Council," said Malyon. She turned back to Oswin. "And he wishes to see Donna?"
"Yes. Dad's with him now."
Malyon looked back at Donna. "You should change and come down quickly. No good can come of my brother speaking with the Chancellor for too long."
Donna hurried back to her room and got in her clothes. What could the Chancellor possibly want with her?
She arrived in the front room where the Doctor was droning on with one of his stories he thought fascinating, but was incoherent to everyone else.
"So, that's when I realized that Nero's circuit board had malfunctioned and it was only a matter of time before the Moon would fall and oh, Donna, there you are. Chancellor, this is my intended wife, Donna Noble. Donna, this is Chancellor Salonia."
Donna smiled and shook the older man's hand. "Hello."
"I am told you have experience with child care."
Donna frowned. "Well, I've got two."
"My youngest son has lately had an infant."
"Oh, how nice," said Donna.
"Yes, our family does not have experience with the born."
Donna shook her head.
"Loomed children came out at approximately the age of one," said the Doctor.
Donna nodded. "Well, I guess I do have experience with the born."
"I wonder if you might help he and his wife."
The Doctor went with Donna as Chancellor Salonia led them back to his family's estate. It was similar in size to the House of Lungbarrow, but taller and more gothic seeming. The great hall was devoid of decoration and inside, Donna found two very young appearing Time Lords.
"Is she the one?," asked the young woman. She grabbed Donna's hands. "You have to help me. I have no idea what to do. I can't take it anymore."
"Well, I'll do what I can."
The young woman dragged Donna halfway across the massive house to a nursery which resounded with horrible crying. In the middle was a red-faced baby boy.
"He won't stop," said the woman. "He's been like this for days."
"Oh, that respiratory bypass system coming in handy, is it?," asked Donna, shooting the Doctor a teasing look. She bent down to look at the baby. "Is this your big emergency? Really?"
"We don't know what to do."
"Fed him?"
"Yes."
"Changed him?"
"Yes!"
"Put him down for a nap?"
"Yes!," said the exasperated mother.
"Well, let's give it a go, shall we? What's he called?," asked Donna.
"Froodit."
Donna looked back at the parents. "Froodit? He's called Froodit and you wonder what he's crying about?"
"Donna..." whined the Doctor. He looked up at Salonia and his family. "No, that actually is pretty awful. Sorry."
Donna picked up the screaming Froodit and balanced him on her hip. "There we go, Froodit. It's alright, isn't it? What are you crying for? Eh? What are you crying for? I know, I know, your name is rubbish, but you can pick a new one, can't you?"
"What are you doing?," asked the mother.
"Seriously?," asked Donna.
"I'm afraid they are," said the Doctor.
"Well, when they're like this, you just sort of rock them and make funny faces and talk to them until they stop," said Donna.
"What do you talk to them about?," Salonia asked.
"Well, it doesn't matter," said Donna. "They're like little mad people. You can just talk rubbish to them. You just have to say it nicely. My Josh used to do this all the time."
"And it works?"
"Usually."
"What do you do if it doesn't work?," the mother asked in horror.
Donna thought on this. "Half glass of wine, usually."
They looked at her in horror.
"For me, not the baby!," Donna exclaimed. She looked back at Froodit. "That's all we need a drunky tipsy-wipsy little Froodit."
Froodit finally quieted as his parents and grandfather looked on in glee and shock.
"Please don't tell me that all Time Lord parents are this rubbish," said Donna as they safely left the estate.
"Well..." the Doctor started. "Aw, give them a break. They're only three hundred. If it wasn't for this population crisis, they wouldn't have children yet. Not to mention, they're both from loomed families."
"So, that's common?," asked Donna.
"In the years since the war ended, the Oracle had helped out with that sort of thing. She was always good at that, silly faces, she did that as well. Lullabies, though, that was her staple. Mind you, she hadn't had a decent singing voice since her first incarnation. She could have sung at Albert Hall. Well, she did, just once."
"What about you?," asked Donna.
"What about me?"
"You must have some tricks of your own."
The Doctor shook his head vehemently. "No, no, I was too busy-"
"Well, Oswin and Lydia, yes," said Donna. "You had others, though. Mayantha? The way Ella has you wrapped around her finger-"
"Ella does not have me wrapped-"
"Oh, I think she does. Anyway, you're just a sucker for a cute smile and some eyelash fluttering."
The Doctor groaned.
"Come on, then," said Donna. "Tell me about her. Please. I really want to know."
The Doctor seemed to look at something in the distance, then back at Donna. "Have you got a minute?"
"I just spent an hour getting some stranger's baby to stop crying," said Donna. "I think I have a minute."
"Point taken," said the Doctor. He nodded in one direction and started walking.
He led Donna up what seemed to be an overgrown path up a hill that reminded her a bit of Hampstead Heath, only with red grass. Behind her was the Citadel and in front was a great vista looking out onto the mountains.
"Mayantha was a sweet girl. We don't toss around that word about children like humans do, but she was actually very sweet and when she was a baby, she never cried or fussed, you would just find her sitting up in her cot, like she was just waiting for me. So I would take her for walks and I must have taken her everywhere in the Citadel. She loved to look at everything, anything."
Donna smiled. "I can imagine."
"I'd bring her here and we would stay too long, but I never wanted to take her home and give her up and there... just there."
Donna looked at where the Doctor had motioned. Huge insects flying in the distance, sparkling different colors in the sun. They were oddly beautiful.
"What are they?," asked Donna.
"They're called Flutterwings. They're a kind of butterfly, well... not really. They used to come in the garden, but after the Daleks first invaded, they disappeared, they..."
Donna looked up at the Doctor. She could tell he was holding something back, she took his hand.
"You see, that was when Mayantha died. She loved them, even into adulthood when most of us try to forget the things we loved as children, she never let go of them. She wasn't naive or anything, she just had this capacity for love... I wish I was more like her."
"It sounds like maybe she was a bit like you," said Donna.
The Doctor shook his head. "No, no. She was the best, so, of course she went first. Sometimes I wondered if that wasn't better because some of the things that happened, I think they would have broken her hearts."
Donna looked pitifully at the Doctor. He glanced at her, then back at the display.
"Anyway, I thought they had gone with her. Then someone told me they had seen some deep in the mountains and after we came to Earth, they were back near the Citadel."
"My gran used to tell me that when we lose someone, they're not really gone. We just can't see them right now."
The Doctor smiled. "I think I like that."
Donna and the Doctor walked back to the house. They opened the door to find various parents and their children in the Great Hall.
"Um, yeah, what's going on?," asked the Doctor.
"We heard what you did with Young Froodit," said one mother. "We wondered if you could help us with our twins."
Donna was beyond confused. "What am I? Mary Poppins of the Time Lords?"
"Please," begged the woman.
Donna sighed. "Which ones are yours?"
The woman motioned at a pair of boys who wouldn't stop slapping each other.
"Alright, I've got this one," said Donna. She walked over to the pair and pulled them apart by the backs of their shirts. "You, there. You, there. If anyone moves an inch, you won't get any treats for a month."
"What's a treat?," asked the elder of the boys.
Donna looked back at the Time Lord parents. "Have you not been giving these children any treats? How are you supposed to threaten them if you don't have anything to take away?"
The decidedly superior Time Lords stared at Donna blankly.
"Yeah," said Donna, "this is going to take a while. Did you all bring pen and paper?"