Author's Notes: I do not own Doctor Who. Thanks for the reads and reviews, I do like getting them. Also, hello, lurkers. Please let me know what you think and happy reading!
Donna awoke to the sight of Malyon coming in the master suite.
"Good morning," said Malyon. "How are you feeling?"
Donna nodded. "I'm fine."
"Good. I just thought I'd go over the day with you. You're going to spend most of the day alone until your parents get here. The bride is meant to spend the day alone in quiet contemplation."
"And the groom?"
"The Doctor's quiet contemplation usually ends up with his travelling to another planet so I've told him he has to watch Josh and Ella the rest of the day."
"It gives him something to do," teased Donna.
"I'll leave you to it. The maids are to get you anything you want. I'll bring your family up later."
"Good morning!"
The Doctor awoke in the guest room to find he was joined by Josh and Ella who were standing on either side of his bed.
"Wake up!," Ella shouted, jumping up and down.
"What are you doing?," asked the Doctor.
"Auntie Malyon said we had to watch you!," said Josh.
"No time travelling!," said Ella.
The Doctor was contemplating this turn of events as Esther landed on his chest.
"Okay, everyone, off the bed," said the Doctor, sitting up. "Did you have breakfast?"
"Yes," said Ella. She held up an envelope. "Doesn't this have your name on it?"
The letters were in Gallifreyan. The Doctor took the envelope, it was his name.
And the Oracle's script.
"What is it, Daddy?"
The Doctor stared at the envelope and then realized the children were looking at him with concern.
He pointed to the shelf. "There are games over there. Why don't you find one for us to play?"
Josh and Ella scampered off to the shelves on the far side of the room. The Doctor opened the envelope.
The letter still smelled like the Oracle.
My Dear Doctor,
I hope this letter finds you well and I expect it will if you've bothered listening to my wishes.
I have loved you since before I knew what I was doing and I expect I will continue to do so. We had a very good life together and I don't want you to bother with guilt or might have beens. I would say that I wouldn't change a thing, but you and I both have things we wish could have been different.
You are always and completely forgiven. Forget the man you once were and be the best you can be for Donna, for the children, for me, for Gallifrey. For yourself.
Take care of Donna and the children and whatever you do, don't bollock it up. I'm begging.
Yours Always,
Oracle
"Daddy!," called Ella. "We found a game!"
"Coming," said the Doctor, putting the envelope in his jacket pocket.
Donna wasn't certain of the last time she had a morning to herself, but it had definitely been more than seven years. Single motherhood didn't lend itself to a lot of time for quiet contemplation.
She was beginning to contemplate whether or not they could get a TV on Gallifrey with some sort of satellite dish when she noticed a new door in the bedroom.
Donna followed the door in to the next room. It was bigger than she could have imagined, even by Time Lord standards. On the floor was some of the same statuary found in the main hallway: ancestors of the House of Lungbarrow she presumed. She looked up the walls to see painting after painting, faces she didn't know. She searched up the wall and found Malyon's face among the portraits. She realized it was on the end of a set of four female portraits: three other faces with the same set of Gallifreyan squibbles underneath. The woman in each wore basically the same red robes, a little hem or tuck here or there to make it flattering.
"These are Malyon's other faces," said Donna.
She stepped back from the wall and realized they were in a very particular order: all leading up to the man and woman at the top with regenerations of their own. It was like a Gallifreyan family tree made more complex by the different faces of each individual.
Donna turned to the other wall and spotted other faces she knew. Near the bottom of the wall were portraits of Oswin and Lydia in the red dresses similar to what they would be wearing today.
Donna looked up. This wall led up to portraits of the Doctor and the Oracle. She obviously recognized the last of each. The Doctor had ten portraits. She took them in. There were definitely some goofy looking ones. The Doctor had mentioned something about not being very good at regeneration. He must have gotten lucky this last go. Well, maybe more than a couple times.
The Oracle, though, she seemed to be quite good at regeneration. There was of course the striking woman she had known. She was pleased to see that her predecessor was ginger, maybe not as red as Donna but a certain shade of strawberry blonde with regal features. The woman before her looked Indian, though Malyon had explained regeneration could be a bit random. The Second Oracle looked almost disgustingly flawless reminding Donna of a woman she had taken a spin class with once with hardly any sweat on her at the end. The First Oracle was a lean, elegant brunette. She kept trying to pair up the Oracles with the Doctor's portraits in her mind and was getting nowhere. The Doctor was definitely getting the better end of this bargain.
She stopped on the portrait of a blonde waif with a kind, knowing smile. It was in among the portraits of various men so Donna deduced this must be Mayantha.
She noticed a circular disk on the floor. She waved her hand over it and a hologram of a little blonde girl sprung from the floor. She was skipping in a white dress.
She was suddenly joined by the strawberry blonde. "Mayantha!," the Third Oracle shouted in a voice proving she sounded as posh as she looked. "Mayantha, what are you doing?"
"Can't I see the flutterwings?"
"You can later, but right now you have to work on your quantum mechanics. You know that, poppet." The woman gave her a kiss on the forehead.
The door creaked open. Benu entered.
"Oh, so sorry, mistress. I was only coming in to check that it had been cleaned."
"Yeah, just one thing," said Donna. "Where am I?"
"The Portrait Gallery."
"What? And all the Time Lord houses have a Portrait Gallery?"
"Yes, Mistress."
"And, uh, the thing on the floor what is it? Some kind of hologram?"
"It's Time Lord technology, Mistress. It replays memories."
"Yeah, but these aren't my memories."
"The house's memories, Mistress. Is there anything I can get you?"
"No, thanks."
Benu left. Donna turned back to the disc.
"Okay," she muttered, "how do you turn on something else?"
Two boys appeared out of the hologram, barreling through, startling Donna. The Second Oracle appeared in pursuit, looking angry.
"Boys! Boys, you cannot create holographic projections of yourselves and say they're from an alternate reality and they turned everyone in the Arcalian House blue! You know full well that is not an acceptable science project! And this is no way to behave your first week! Boys!" They ran off ignoring her. She rolled her eyes to no one. "For the love of the Pythia, I hope the Untempered Schism didn't turn them mad."
"What are you doing?"
Donna realized that the Second Oracle had vanished and the First had appeared wearing what she knew to be a wedding gown. A somewhat dishy young man, reminding her of Mayantha and Jenny was sitting on a transluscent chair.
"What?"
She hurried in and sat on the arm of the chair. "You've run away from your own wedding reception. This is a new level of social awkwardness, even for you, Doctor."
Donna glanced back up at the picture of the first old man. He must have grown into that.
"I don't like to bother with all those people," he said.
"You mean your friends and family, some of whom you've invited?," the Oracle asked, running her fingers through his hair. "I certainly didn't invite the Master and definitely not the Rani."
"The Master is harmless."
"He chose the name the Master."
"And the Rani, well, that was a bad month. I've already apologized."
"I still don't know why she had to come."
"You know I'm rubbish at weddings."
"Yes, especially your own. Return to the party or you'll prove my parents right."
He looked up. "Prove your parents right about what?"
"Donna?"
Donna glanced up. It was her grandfather. Wilf looked at the holograms.
"Oh, sorry, I didn't know you were talking to people-"
Donna shushed him.
"Well, if you're going to be like that-"
Donna shushed him again.
"What, Oracle? Prove your parents right about what?"
"I thought she was dead-"
"It's a hologram, Gramps. I live in a weird haunted house that remembers stuff and plays it back now."
The Oracle sighed. "Do you want me to spell it out?"
"When my father went to your parents, was there really a half hour of laughter?"
"No, it was more like ten minutes of laughter, then they composed themselves and your father would try to start up again, then another ten and another ten..."
"Ha ha."
"Yes, that's just what my parents said."
They disappeared. Donna looked at her grandfather. Wilf was staring at the other wall.
"When did you have your portrait done?"
"My what?"
Donna looked over at another wall, not as full as the others. It was the portrait of the Doctor, well, the current one, complete with shoulder hat and she was opposite him in her wedding gown, somehow managing to pull off looking imperious. There were portraits of Josh and Ella beneath them.
She tried to ignore the two empty frames.
"Oh, I didn't," said Donna.
"Well, what's that then?"
"My weird haunted house," said Donna. "Okay, sorry, do these move?"
"How should I know?," asked Wilf. "I would think they would."
"I'm asking the house," said Donna. "It's just Oswin and Lydia shouldn't be over there like they don't belong over here and if you could work something up with Jenny, that would be great. Fake the clothes if you have to."
"Are you giving the house instructions to decorate... itself?," asked Wilf.
"Uh, yeah, guess I am."
"Well, we're all in the next room," said Wilf.
"Right. Coming," said Donna.
The Doctor passed the day with the children. The girls made periodic visits, but his constant, vigilant guards were Josh, Ella and Esther. The Nobles also visited once and the Doctor got that feeling they weren't quite keeping up with his conversation. Still, they seemed happy to see Josh and Ella.
Well, mostly.
Well, Sylvia wasn't, but then again the Doctor had never seen her happy so he wouldn't have known it if she was.
"How are we?," asked Malyon, coming in the guest room carrying a box.
The Doctor looked up from the game he was playing with Josh and Ella. "We are fine."
"No time travel," Ella added proudly.
"Yes, Ella, well done," Malyon commented putting the box down on the bed.
"Also, thanks for sending small children to babysit me," said the Doctor.
"They were the perfect choice," said Malyon. "They're the only ones with the ability to think on your level." She motioned at the box.
"Oh, look here," said the Doctor. "What do we have?"
"Something for Joshua," said Malyon.
The Doctor opened the box revealing a child sized Time Lord robe.
Josh wrinkled his nose. "What is it?"
"It's your robe for the wedding," said the Doctor.
"It's a dressing gown," Josh said derisively.
Ella giggled.
"It is not a dressing gown," said the Doctor. "Come here."
Josh grumbled and walked over to the Doctor. He grudgingly held his arms out as the Doctor put the robe on him.
"I wore this when I was a boy," said Doctor. "So did my father."
"What happened to him?," said Joshua.
"He died," the Doctor said, voice cracking.
"In the war?"
"Yes."
"What was he like?"
"Well..." said the Doctor, dragging it out, realizing Ella was also watching, "...he was my dad. He took me camping in the mountains. He taught me things."
"Like what?"
"Like... cricket. He was good at cricket, but mostly, he taught me about being a dad," said the Doctor. He finished up with the hooks on Josh's robe. He smoothed out a wrinkle in the shoulder as Josh squirmed.
"What about being a daddy?," asked Ella.
"Oh, there's lots of things, Ella. Like being there... Well, never mind that. What do you think, Josh?"
"It's itchy."
"It's old, of course it's itchy."
"You look very nice, Joshua," said Malyon.
The maid helped Donna into her wedding gown. Donna did a little makeup and her hair and overall was feeling pretty pleased with the overall effect. Maybe red wasn't such a horrible color on her after all.
Then she went to show her family.
"What are you wearing?," asked Sylvia.
Donna threw her hands up. "Thanks, Mum."
"Red isn't a good color on you," said Sylvia. "And what's all that gold squiggle? What sort of wedding is this anyway? Did you tell them what red means?"
"Presumably that I'm some sort of married hooker?," asked Donna,
"Sylvia, they must have different customs," said Geoffrey. "You look beautiful."
Donna looked at her father and grandfather. "Did you see Josh and Ella?"
"Happy as clams," said Wilf.
"I'm pleased they're doing so well," said Geoffrey.
Donna nodded.
"Isn't that right, Sylvia?," asked Geoffrey.
"Oh, yes, very pleased."
"Has Malyon told you your parts in the ceremony?," asked Donna. "I wish you would have come and done a rehearsal."
"I had to work," said Sylvia.
"But you haven't visited at all and the Doctor said he would come collect you any time you asked," said Donna.
"We've been busy, sweetheart," said Geoffrey.
"With what?"
"We have lives of our own, you know," Sylvia snapped.
"Well, so do I," said Donna, stiffening. "I've been helping the Time Lords."
"With what?"
"Parenting," said Donna.
Sylvia snorted. "Parenting?"
Donna narrowed her eyes. "Is there something wrong with my parenting?"
"Did I say that?"
"You implied something," said Donna.
Geoffrey and Wilf exchanged glances.
"Anyway, we're going to set up a school as well," said Donna.
"What do you know about setting up a school?," asked Sylvia. "Do you think you're Oprah?"
"Well, I'm not building it or anything," said Donna. "It's not like Nelson Mandela's coming to the opening, though maybe I could get him. Do you think he likes Time Lord children?"
"You sound just as mad as the rest of them," said Sylvia.
"So, who's coming?," asked Donna.
"Well..."
Donna's jaw dropped. "Mum, didn't you deliver the invitations?"
"How was I supposed to deliver them? 'Mister and Mrs Noble request your presence at a wedding on another planet?!' What would people say?!"
"Mum!"
There was a knock at the door. Oswin popped her head in. "Aunt said that we're minutes away and for you to come out."
Donna put her hand to her head. "Yeah."
"Are you alright?," asked Oswin.
"Yeah."
"Give us a minute, sweetheart," said Wilf.
Oswin nodded and left.
Donna looked up at her mother. "So, you didn't invite anyone? Are you that ashamed of me?"
"I wouldn't say that, sweetheart," said Geoffrey.
Donna fumed. "Well, what would you say?"
"I don't like him," said Sylvia.
"You don't..." Donna shook her head. "Never mind. You just have one line. Think you can do that? You must be just dying to be rid of me anyway."
"Donna, you make things so difficult..."
"I consent and gladly give," said Donna, cutting her mother off. "That's all you have to say."
Donna marched out and Wilf followed. Geoffrey sighed.
"We discussed this, Sylvia."
"I'm not going to pretend to be happy about this," said Sylvia.
"Not even for Josh and Ella? And what if they have other children?"
"Why does everyone look at me like I'm the villain? I'm the only one who has stopped to see how complicated this is. He may look normal- well, mostly normal- but he's an alien, Geoffrey. What sort of life is this? What sort of life are Josh and Ella going to have? Are they even accepted here? Because you know as well as I do what people are saying on Earth, all those rumors-"
"Sylvia, you know those are ridiculous!"
"Yes, but suppose other people don't!"
Geoffrey sighed. "Well, I'm happy for her."
Sylvia tsked. "How like a man."