Donna
As they spilled out of the TARDIS into the breezeway, leaving Wilf to rest under the Doctor's watchful eye, Sylvia gathered her grandchildren up close, giving each of them a reassuring hug – though she may have been taking as much comfort as she was giving. "Grandad's going to be just fine; you heard the Doctor. Now, then, what were you lot doing out there on the beach? Flying kites, wasn't it? Can you go back out and gather them up again, if they didn't fly away?"
Jenny overheard and volunteered to take charge of the kite-finding expedition, and Sylvia gratefully accepted, saying she was going to go lie down for a while and rest after all the excitement. Rose and River found themselves trailing each other into the kitchen in search of another cuppa, and sat down at the table to chat; the first opportunity they'd had to get to know each other.
Left all alone with her chaotic thoughts on the breezeway, Donna stared through the window at the Doctor's two women, unable to comprehend how they could be friends. She'd had shock after frozen shock all morning, and no one had noticed. Her head was splitting; she could hear her own heart pounding. The sea breeze ran salty fingers through her hair, and she wondered briefly if it could carry her up to the clouds like the kids' kites – and if it did, if she could manage to cut the string, if it would carry her all the way to San Francisco. Or Mars. Or maybe Pyrovillia. Same thing.
Mike had left her. Again and again her thoughts circled back around to the same stark fact, then skittered sideways from the scorching heat. He'd gone. Without a second thought. Just scooped up Grandad's shirt and grabbed onto River, and poofed out without a word or glance in her direction. How long has he been waiting and wanting to do that? How long were they gone? Months? Years? They certainly seemed like old friends when they came back. He'd not looked at her since then, either.
Of course not. Why would he? I'm nothing. Nobody. Just an uneducated temp from Chiswick. A ghostly recorded voice played through her mind; she thought it was Mike's – but maybe it was the Doctor's. "Shouting at the world 'cause no one's listening. And why should they?"
Right. Why should they? I'm not River. I'm not Rose. I'm not anybody.
Suddenly a new voice answered the first; a voice that came snaking out from deep, deep within her psyche. But I was... I was somebody once. I was special. For one brief day, a few heavenly hours, I was a GOD. I was a Time Lord. The DoctorDonna.
Again, she heard a ghostly recording, one that shocked her (once again) to her core, for she realized instantly this voice was her own... "Cause you were just Time Lords, you dumbos, lacking that little bit of Human, that gut instinct that comes hand-in-hand with Planet Earth – I can think of ideas you two wouldn't dream up in a million years! Oh, the universe has been waiting for me!"
Her hands rose of their own volition, seeming to type in commands into a nonexistent keyboard before her, flying across to throw switches and levers that would... that would... Again, her own voice came floating across the years: "Used the biofeedback shielding to exacerbate the Dalekenium interface, thus inculcating a trip-stick circuit-breaker in the psychokinetic threshold manipulator!"
"Donna? … Donna?" At first, she didn't realize the voice was coming from her immediate surroundings, so lost in memory was she. Then she turned and saw Mike standing between her and the TARDIS, staring at her with concern. "Are you all right?"
She stared back at him in growing anger, as pieces of the puzzle so long and well hidden that she hadn't even known the puzzle existed began falling into place. "You took it from me," she whispered. "I had everything. I was everything. And you took it from me!"
Mike shook his head, bewildered. "What are you talking about?"
"The DoctorDonna. Me. I was everything I ever wanted to be. Everything you want. And it's gone."
"Everything I want? Donna, no..."
"Isn't that what you want? A Time Lord? Or some grand adventuress? You left me today. Just left me behind, without a backward glance. Was it even 'today' for you? How long were you gone? Days? Months? Years? You ran off and got what you wanted, seeing the universe again, with her. You used to see it with me."
Still shaking his head, Mike stepped forward, reaching out towards her shoulder to reassure her – but she stepped back quickly, exclaiming "Don't touch me! You want to take it away again, but I won't let you! I won't! I'm staying this time! DoctorDonna's staying!" A stabbing pain ripped through her temples, and she gasped, both hands flying up to hold her head as she continued. "And then I'll never lose you! You won't have any reason to run off with anybody! 'Cause I'll be everything you could ever want. Best friends and equals, forever!"
Mike was staring openmouthed, horrified at the sight of his wife unraveling before him. Rose and River, hearing the commotion, were clustered in the doorway, unable to help, then Rose slipped around the edge of the breezeway towards the TARDIS to find the Doctor.
Donna suddenly stopped backing away from Mike and clutched at his shirt, desperate. "Don't leave me, Doctor! Don't make me go back!" She clutched at her head again, shredding further at the stabbing burning pain. "We have to save Clom! We have to... Don't leave me! We... We have to follow the bees! The bees..." Suddenly she stopped, instantly, frighteningly calm in the midst of the storm, and smiled at him beatifically. "Doctor! It's Rose! She's coming back!"
And with that, she fainted.
Mike caught her as she collapsed, puddling with her in a heap on the floor against the couch, clutching her limp form close. Sobbing, desperate, he put both hands on either side of her face, moving in to the chaos of her Time Lord-overlaid mind. Her brain was melting, molten hot, torrents of Time Lord knowledge and philosophy flooding through it like boiling water melting away a stick of butter. He tried to catch it, tried to dam it back up, but the hemorrhage was too fast, too white-hot, and his own mind began burning. "I can't... it's too much..." he sobbed, then screamed for his brother.
"Doctooooooor!"
Still he stayed, linked with her, desperately bailing out the Titanic. Suddenly two more hands matching his own appeared, covering his where they held her face, and he was dimly aware of the Doctor crouched beside him, his strong arms reaching around. He asked no questions, but his mind drove into the flood along with Mike's, pushing back against the tide, and Mike threw his effort into backing the Doctor up from behind the Time Lord's mental shield.
An age passed while they battled the flood, then the Doctor found the source, and diverted it into his own mind, and the two of them were able at last to rebuild the barrier that held it from Donna's mind. Suddenly the flood stopped sharply, the tap turned off, and all was quiet again. The Doctor carefully tested the barrier, making sure it was intact once more, and then he backed out of the meld, dropping his hands at last and sitting hard on the floor beside the couple. Mike held on, holding her fragile unconscious mind in his, afraid to put it down, afraid to leave for fear she would fall to pieces, and those bits melt away like sand through a sieve.
"Is she..." he regained enough awareness of the physical to whisper.
"She'll be OK now. We caught it in time," came the Doctor's hoarse reply.
"How much... her memories..."
"She'll remember everything she did before. I only locked up the Time Lord mind and this meltdown. She'll remember up to coming out the TARDIS door a few minutes ago."
Mike took a deep breath, then several, and made himself break the connection, easing out of Donna's mind and back to himself. He moved his hands at last from her face, wrapping his arms around her again and pulling her even closer.
"Let's take her upstairs to rest," the Doctor murmured, and reached out to help Mike pick her up.
Mike reacted without thinking, clutching her even tighter and hissing out between clenched teeth, "Get. Your. Hands. Off. My. Wife." He didn't look up at his twin, who flinched back from his fury and retreated without a word. Mike slid a hand under her knees and struggled to his feet, carrying her all by himself through the doorway and up the stairs, while several wide, sorrowful pairs of eyes watched him go.
^..^
Donna woke up slowly, groaning and putting a hand to her head. The remnants of a headache were slowly leeching away around the edges. That must have been a hell of a party last night. I wish I remembered it.
She opened her eyes, and realized she was lying on their bed in Summerville, fully clothed – and from the looks of the light, it was early afternoon. A slight movement beside her caught her attention; Mike was sitting on the edge of the bed, facing partly away. He was holding something down between his knees, as if he'd been fiddling with it before she woke up.
Suddenly memory flooded back, and she struggled to sit up. "Grandad?"
He turned towards her, reached with the nearer hand and gently pushed her back down. "He's fine, Donna. He's fine. He's still resting in the TARDIS."
"What the hell happened? How did I get up here?"
He gazed at her sorrowfully for several seconds, then took a deep breath before answering. "You collapsed, love." His mouth twitched. "You had a relapse. Hi, I'm Mike Smith."
She gaped at him, then suddenly flashed back to another time she'd woken up in her clothes, and he'd told her the same thing: on the beach at Bad Wolf Bay all those years ago. "That's not very damn funny, Mike. What happened?"
"You had a relapse, like I said. The mental barrier broke, and DoctorDonna tried to come back. You almost died today, Donna. No, it's not funny. I guess... I guess I've gotten so used to you being OK that I forgot to keep watching out for it." He squeezed his eyes shut tight for a moment, and she saw the tears behind them. "I'm sorry," he whispered. "It was my fault. I'm so sorry."
"I... I'm OK though?" Her voice shook.
"Yeah, you're OK now. The Doctor was able to catch it and rebuild the barrier. I tried... I tried to do it, but I couldn't. It was too much for me. I'm sorry, love. I'm so sorry..."
She sat up then and went swiftly and automatically into his arms, and they held on tight, shaking at the close call, and she whispered reassurances that it wasn't his fault. He shook his head, not believing her, but let it go. Finally she pulled back, needing just a bit of distance, and began speaking from her heart.
"Mike... I need to tell you something. I don't know what I said down there, but there's something I need to know you heard. Please listen to me, just for a minute. Please?" She studied his mouth as she spoke, not quite able to meet his eyes.
Flashing back to other recent conversations, he sighed ruefully. "There's a lot of that going around... I'm listening."
Her next words may not have been the last ones he expected, but they were close. "I love Rose. She's like my sister. I couldn't love her more if she were my sister. And nothing could ever happen to change that." She hesitated, then plunged in. "I'd rather share you than lose you. I know she's his, but... if that ever changes... well, it's a big house, that's all I'm saying." She closed her eyes so she wouldn't see his expression, and whispered her plea. "Please don't leave me. I'll... I'll do anything. Anything you want. If you want to start traveling again, fine, we'll go traveling. There's plenty of room in the TARDIS, and he's offered enough times - "
That was as far as she got, as his hand covered her mouth to stop her. She looked at him again, startled, and saw the tears trickle down his cheeks. He shook his head. "Donna, I'm not going anywhere. I was coming to tell you, when you collapsed... I realized while I was gone that this is the only place I want to be. I mean here, on Earth, with you and the kids. I don't want to travel any more. I really don't. Not by TARDIS, anyway, or by Vortex Manipulator. And not with anybody else. Certainly not River... just between you and me, to be perfectly honest... River scares the crap out of me."
His mouth quirked again, and Donna managed a shaky smile for the first time since waking up. "Me, too..." she whispered conspiratorially. Then, "You really don't want to go back to traveling?"
He looked closely at her, then shook his head. Then he brought his other hand out from behind her back where he'd been holding her, showing her what he'd been fiddling with before she woke up. Her old charm bracelet, laden now with dozens of tiny charms from all their years together. Her face crumpled as she took it, letting the charms fall through her fingers like ancient well-worn talismans.
He turned it around in her hands, showing her the one he'd just added while she slept, and she gave a shaky laugh. "Tinkerbell! That's what you were on about yesterday!" She looked up at him, almost shyly. "You haven't bought me a charm in a long time."
"No. We haven't been anywhere or done anything unusual. We've been trapped in routine for far too long. We should change that. Now that the kids are old enough, the only traveling I want to do is show them this world, this time, the one they'll inherit. And do it the old fashioned way: by car. Or train."
"Really?" He nodded, and she smiled softly. "I'd like that." Her fingers were still telling through the charms, and she came then to her lifelong favorite: the silver filigree heart he'd given her on their wedding day. She smiled down at the memory, and he saw.
"Remember the first time I kissed you?" he asked.
She laughed softly. "I'm not likely to forget. That day held a lot of firsts."
He put a finger under her chin, bringing it up again to gaze lovingly into her eyes. "I'm very glad you didn't push me away." And he leaned in, putting his lips softly to hers. As he had done that very first day, all those years ago in another universe, he put both his arms around her, bringing her into his world, and they didn't go back downstairs again until the following day.