Author's Note: And the plan has changed again, there's going to be 2 more chapters after this one. One where we'll follow Rose and her pregnancy and one where we check in on The Doctor once more. I won't give more information about that chapter. Also, I'm sorry for not updating this chapter as soon as I wanted it, not that I've ever given a date or anything.
Disclaimer: I might own Doctor Who in my dreams, but they're just that. Dreams.
5. The Runaway Bride - Part 2
"You had the reception without me?" Donna asked angrily.
The Doctor looked around and felt his hearts drop, just being at a wedding reminded him of...
No!
He shook his head, he really needed to keep himself together, at least for now. He would never be able to find out what's going on with Donna and stop it if he kept thinking about...
Rose.
He swallowed, how was he going to do that if his thoughts kept trailing off?
"Donna... what happened to ya?" A man whom he assumed was Lance asked.
"You had the reception without me!?" Donna repeated evidently angry, almost screaming now. Justified he thought.
He almost felt angry about that fact himself. He wouldn't even consider having the reception if Rose would disappear all of a sudden from their wedding.
Oh...
He shook his head, cursing himself for letting his thoughts trailing off
again!
There was an awkward silence and he decided to break it.
"Hello! I'm The Doctor." He said matter of factly. He was too broken to even try to fake some happiness, but happily, he could keep himself from looking sad. Well, of course, he didn't know how it looked to other people but he thought it was convincing enough to fool the humans.
At least if they didn't know him.
He was certain that someone like Sarah Jane would be able to sense that something was wrong as soon as she laid an eye on him.
But she wasn't here, nor were any of the other people who knew him good enough.
The only person who knew he was sad was Donna and she had fortunately enough dropped the topic, however, he didn't doubt that she would pick it up again sometime, she just didn't strike him as the kind of woman to leave sensitive topics alone, at least not for too long.
Donna turned to him.
"They had the reception without me!"
"Yes, I gathered." He answered with a hint of anger in his voice now. One which didn't go unnoticed by the guests and certainly not by Donna.
She blinked at The Doctor and wondered why he was angry. He had just met her, saved her life even though she had been snapping at him the whole time. Then she remembered the engagement ring she was wearing, the one that was supposed to be for a girl named Rose. And she mentally slapped herself.
Of course!
He had wanted to marry himself. She suspected that he was angry because he probably wouldn't even consider having the reception without his bride if something similar would happen to her. He would probably go searching for her himself, just like he went after her when she got kidnapped by the Santa robot.
In a way that warmed her heart for the girl, but at the same time, it broke her heart. From what she had seen so far this man certainly deserved that woman. Yet, he had lost her.
She really had to find out what happened once this was over, she wasn't going to let him go without telling her. She could just tell that he needed to tell someone but sensed that he wasn't someone who would talk quickly about things. She would push him to tell it, but she vowed to comfort him in the process.
Alien or not, he needed someone to comfort him.
"Well, it was all paid for, why not." a woman said.
The Doctor felt himself getting angrier at that remark, he certainly was going to have words with certain people if they kept hurting Donna like this. He knew he had no reason to care, but despite only knowing her for about 2 hours, he somehow already felt like he had known the woman for years and felt protective. Almost like a brother.
Wait, where did that come from!?
Somehow the thought didn't bother him. He found that he somewhat liked the idea.
Donna who evidently wasn't very happy with that comment either snapped "Thank you, Nerys."
So that's the infamous Nerys.
"Well, what were we supposed to do?" An elder woman said as she started to walk towards them. The Doctor suspected that she was Donna's mother and quickly decided that he didn't like her. "I got your silly little message in the end. I'm on Earth? Very funny. What the hell happened? How did you do it? I mean, what's the trick, because I'd love to know."
What!
The Doctor found himself fuming at that as everyone started talking.
She nearly died! And they think it was a joke! Who in their right mind would pull a prank like this!? On their wedding day!
He was about to take a step forward and stop this when Donna started to cry. Lance quickly hugged her and everyone but Nerys applauded.
The Doctor found himself concerned at that, but she turned to him and winked, making him smile at that.
Blimey, she's a good actress.
A few minutes later the party had fully started again, Donna was happily dancing with her fiancé and The Doctor had found himself at the bar. Considering whether he would get himself a drink, it would probably make his pain go away, at least temporary. But he knew that he shouldn't even be considering this, especially since he needed to find out who was after Donna. That would be a lot harder when he had had a few drinks, even while he could drink more alcohol than a human before being drunk. He knew that Rose wouldn't want him to lose himself because she was gone, but still, she wasn't here! He sighed and ordered a glass of water.
After he got the water, he borrowed the phone of a man and looked up HC Clements. He quickly looked around to see no-one looking at him and soniced the phone to find what he was looking for quickly. He felt his hearts drop as he read the result.
H. C. Clements
Sole Prop.
TORCHWOOD
Brilliant.
He closed the phone and gave it back to its owner.
Donna was dancing with Lance and having fun, the fact that she had missed her wedding and that they had had the reception without her was all but forgotten. She would make a fuss about it later, but for now, she would just enjoy herself. She would worry about whoever was after her when the party was over. Then she would worry about the well being of The Doctor.
Thinking of him she glanced at the man and saw him on the verge of tears again, her heart sank to her stomach at that, he certainly wasn't having such a good time. She was about to stop tell Lance she would take a break and go The Doctor to check on him when she saw the first tear fall, in response to that he started walking towards the restrooms. She sighed internally, feeling sorry for the man. Something must've reminded him of the girl he lost. She was certainly going to worry about the Martian's well-being.
The Doctor quickly walked into the restroom, tears streaming over his face. He walked towards the sink and cupped some water in his hand and then ran his hands over his face, while he tried to regain his composure. He hoped that nobody had seen him. He was glad to notice that the restroom was empty, so he could have a moment to himself.
It had been going just fine until he had seen a man and a blonde woman dancing, it had reminded him of when he had caught Rose on New Earth after Cassandra had left her body. Remembering that had been all that was needed for the tears to start falling again. With him unable to stop them. He looked at himself in the mirror and sighed. He looked horrible, his untameable hair was even worse than normal and you could tell from his red eyes that he had cried. He grabbed a paper towel and dried his face. He took a deep breath and walked back into the party. There he noticed the man who was making the video record of the wedding and went to him to watch the video. Everything went downhill from there.
"You shouldn't even exist. Way back in history, the fledgeling Empires went to war against the Racnoss they were wiped out." The Doctor told the Empress of the Racnoss.
The day had gone from bad to worse, he had discovered that Donna had been poisoned by a deadly dose of Huon particles, which couldn't be hidden by a bio-damper so Donna had given the ring back to him on their way to HC Clements, the guests of Donna's wedding had been attacked by floating and exploding Christmas baubles and now he was talking to the Empress of a presumed extinct species, one that had been purposely wiped out by the fledgling Empires, where the Time Lords were a part of, for a very good reason. Worse was that he suspected that Lance knew more about all this and he had a feeling that Donna would be heartbroken once she learned and he had a dreading feeling that he was going to be the one that would have to bring her the bad news.
Great.
Speaking of Lance The Doctor noticed him on a balcony above the Racnoss, he gestured to them to be silent.
This isn't going to end well.
"Except for me." The Racnoss told him.
"But that's what I've got inside me, that Huon energy thing. Oi! Look at me, lady, I'm talking." Donna tried to keep the Racnoss' attention from Lance. "Where do I fit in? How come I get all stacked up with these Huon particles? Look at me, you! Look me in the eye and tell me."
"The Bride is so feisty." The Racnoss answered.
Lance was sneaking up behind the Empress with a fire axe, The Doctor didn't want to see the ending of this. But couldn't turn away either.
"Yes, I am! And I don't know what you are, you big thing, but a spider's just a spider and an axe is an axe! Now, do it!"
Lance swung the axe. The Empress turned at him and hissed. Lance stopped the axe in mid-air and started laughing, the Empress joined in. The Doctor felt his hearts break for the second time this day, but this time for Donna's sake.
"That was a good one. Your face." Lance said throughout his laughing.
"Lance is funny." The Empress said.
"What?" Donna asked confused.
"I'm sorry." The Doctor said it was the only thing he could say. Donna turned to him with a questioning look.
"Sorry for what?" Then she turned back to Lance. "Lance, don't be so stupid! Get her!"
The Doctor sighed internally she wasn't getting it, so he would probably have to explain it to her. Something he wasn't looking forward to at all.
"Got, she's thick." Lance started mockingly. "Months I've had to put up with her. Months. A woman who can't even point to Germany on a map." The Doctor felt his anger at the man rise, that might be true but she surely was good at something! And it certainly wasn't a reason to be so mean to anyone!
"I don't understand." Donna said, looking very confused.
"How did you meet him?" The Doctor asked her solemnly, having worked it out ages ago. Not being able to believe that the man had done this to Donna. He certainly wouldn't have done something like this to Rose.
He quickly pushed the thoughts of Rose away again and focused on the matter at hand.
Breaking Donna's heart in the most gentle way he could think of.
He had a feeling he would fail at the second part. Being gentle about things like this wasn't exactly one of his stronger points
"In the office."
"He made you coffee."
"What?"
"Every day, I made you coffee." Lance put in, he was not helping with the second part of the plan either.
"You had to be dosed with liquid particles over six months." The Doctor added.
"He was poisoning me." Donna realised.
"It was all there in the job title. The Head of Human resources." The Doctor said, with a hint of anger in his voice.
"This time, it's personnel." Lance added.
"But, we were getting married." Donna stated.
"Well, I couldn't risk you running off. I had to say yes. And then I was stuck with a woman who thinks the height of excitement is a new flavour Pringle. Oh, I had to sit there and listen to all that yap yap yap. Oh, Brad and Angelina. Is Posh pregnant? X Factor, Atkins Diet, Fen Shui, split ends, text me, text me, text me. Dear God, the never ending fountain of fat, stupid trivia. I deserve a medal."
The Doctor was fuming at the end of Lance little speech. Not able to grasp how he could be so heartless! He might be oblivious to the feelings of others himself sometimes, but even he knew that this was just painful to hear for her.
"Oh, is that what she's offered you? The Empress of the Racnoss? What are you, her consort?" The Doctor snapped, barely containing his anger.
Lance was a little put off by the look the angry Time Lord was giving him but quickly regained his composure.
"It's better than a night with her."
"But I love you." Donna said. Her heart broken.
The Doctor's hearts broke even more at that, remembering Rose saying it to him, but him being unable to say it before the connection broke. The only difference was that he actually loved Rose back, well, there were more differences but that was the most important one.
"That's what made it easy." Lance turned towards The Doctor. "It's like you said, Doctor. The big picture. What's the point of it all if the human race is nothing? That's what the Empress can give me. The chance to go out there. To see it. The size of it all. I think you understand that, don't you. Doctor?"
The Doctor hadn't expected it, but somehow Lance had managed to make the Time Lord even more angry at him. At this point, The Doctor would have no problem showing Lance just why he was called the Oncoming Storm. Oh, he vowed to make him sorry for what he had done to Donna. However, his thoughts got interrupted by the Empress.
"Who is this little physician?"
"She said Martian." Lance answered.
"Oh, I'm sort of homeless." The Doctor answered, stepping closer to the pit. "But the point is, what's down here? The Racnoss are extinct. What's going to help you four thousand miles down? That's just the molten core of the Earth, isn't it?"
"I think he wants us to talk." Lance said.
"I think so, too." The Empress responded.
"Well, though! All we need is Donna."
"Kill this chattering little doctor man."
"Don't you hurt him." Donna exclaimed.
"No, no, Donna. It's all right." The Doctor told her.
"No, I won't let them."
"At arms." The Empress said.
The robots pointed their guns at The Doctor.
"Ah, now. Except." he tried to say.
"Take aim!"
"Well, I just want to point out the obvious."
"They won't hit the bride. They're such very good shots."
"Just, just, just, just, just hold on. Hold on just a tick. Just a tiny little tick. If you think about it, the particles activated in Donna and drew her inside my spaceship. So reverse it, and the spaceships comes to her." He turned the knob on the Huon container.
"Fire."
the TARDIS materialised around The Doctor and Donna.
"Off we go!" The Doctor shouted.
"My key! My key!" The Empress screamed as the TARDIS dematerialised.
The Doctor went quickly to the console and put in the coordinates to go back to the beginning of the Earth. He stayed quiet sensing that Donna needed a moment, just like she had been giving him all day long. That and just seeing her heart getting broken like that had reminded him of Rose, he would never have done that! And he couldn't imagine Rose doing it to him, after everything she had done to save him. She was even willing to sacrifice her ability to see her own mother for him!
But it had gotten him to think of Rose again and he really had a feeling that the next time something reminded him of Rose, he would break down properly. And just sob for a very long time. In fact, he was starting to feel so bad that he just wanted to break down as soon as this thing with the Racnoss was solved. Sod finding out whether she's pregnant or not.
He just couldn't take the thought of Rose leaving alone anymore and there was a fair chance that he would just regenerate on the spot if he found out that she was pregnant with his child if he didn't take some time to grieve over her loss first. He didn't care that it might mean that he would break down twice. Just bottling his feelings up for the better part of the day had done that to him, it was getting too much to handle, even for him. He glanced over at Donna and saw that she was shuddering and that there were tears pouring down her cheeks.
He sighed and quickly turned back to work on the controls. Now that wasn't helping his need to break down. At all!
He really needed to figure this out quickly!
Donna sat down on the pilot seat, she felt miserable. She never expected that Lance would do something like that! Chosen a giant spider over her! And all those things he had said about her, was he right? Was she really as annoying as he had said? She wasn't clever at all and... she was ugly and …. she had always been a disappointment to her mother, she always told her so. She suspected that the same went for her father and grandfather, but they had just always hidden it. She was just so worthless, she wasn't good in anything except annoying people and messing things up. Like the time this Martian needed to grieve the loss of the girl he loved.
Wait!
Donna's head snapped up and she looked at said Martian, he was working unenthusiastically on the controls to god knew were. He really looked like he was on the verge of breakdown. He probably was too. If she was being honest with herself he had looked sad almost the whole time she had been with him. She hadn't realised it until they had talked on the roof. Before that, she hadn't paid any attention to him at all, except as an annoying alien thing that kept her from getting married.
She had been too busy with getting back to her wedding to realise that the opposite was true and had really said some hurtful things to him. Yet, he hadn't even hesitated to save her life. Three times! She realised that he felt pretty much the same as she did now. If it felt this bad, how had he managed to keep himself together to some extent the whole time?
She took a deep breath and wiped her tears. It wouldn't be fair for her to cry when he had been fighting against his heartbreak the whole day. She pushed the thoughts of Lance as she made a decision away. She would make sure he was going to be okay after this thing with the giant spider was done. Then she would allow herself to grieve over what Lance had done once she was home again. He arguably deserved to cry more than she did. And she was getting the feeling that he had nobody to turn to for comfort. She might be a disappoint for her grandfather and father but they would always be there when she needed them. After everything the Martian had done and was doing for her, she could at least offer him a shoulder to cry on.
She stood up.
"So where are we going?" She asked him.
The Doctor's head snapped up at that, he had not been expecting her to say something for a while.
"You're okay?" He asked her softly, she sighed.
"No, not really." She admitted and he nodded understanding. "But I will be. And are you going to answer my question?"
"Right." He decided to drop the topic, just like she was. Knowing that it would probably become too much for him. "You know, you." He pointed at her. "Mentioned having a time machine earlier today, I know it was a bit jokingly but!" He spread his arms enthusiastic, in fact, he was the most enthusiastic he had been all day. "Guess what I've got."
"A time machine?" Donna answered in awe.
"Yup, and we're going to use it. We need to find out what the Empress of the Racnoss is digging up, right?" She nodded. "If something's buried at the planet core, it must've been there since the beginning. So..." He left her to figure it out herself, sensing that she needed that, though he didn't exactly know why.
"We're using this Time-Machine of yours to see it?" she guessed.
"Yep, brilliant. Molto Bene!" He sighted, the enthusiasm suddenly gone. "I've always wanted to see this, but..." He let the sentence trail, not trusting himself to finish it without breaking down. He realised there were a lot of things he avoided in the fear of breaking down.
She put her hand on his shoulder in comfort, understanding exactly what he meant.
He shook her hand off his shoulder and went back to the controls, solemnly. As Donna watched him, quite concerned about him.
They were both quiet for the rest of the trip until The Doctor announced.
"We've arrived. Let's have a look."
"Okay."
He swings the monitor round.
"Oh. That scanner's a bit small. Maybe your way's best."
He went towards the door, Donna following him.
"No human's ever seen this. You'll be the first."
"Oh, stop it. I'm not even worth the honour."
"Why not?" He turned to her, surprised.
"I'm worthless, just like Lance said. I can't even point to Germany on a map. I really can't, I've never been good at reading maps." She answered, deflated.
"What? Everyone is not good at something."
"I'm not good at anything."
"Yes, you are."
"I'm sure you can't name anything."
"You're brilliant at yelling? Slapping? Really, you'd give Rose's mother a run for her money." He rubbed his cheek and sighed at the memory of Jackie Tyler.
"I'm sorry."
"For what?"
"For everything." He sighed again.
"So am I, you're a good person Donna. You don't deserve this mess."
"Nor do you."
He hung his head.
"I doubt it. I've done so many things wrong. So many people died, Donna."He looked back up. "Because I wasn't there in time to save them. And …." He took a deep breath, trying to calm his emotions for the umpteenth time that day.
"But you tried, didn't you?"
He looked up at her and nodded. "But I failed."
"But you tried, that's all that counts. I think that as long as you try to help other people, whether you succeed or not, you're a good person."
"Say that to all those people who have died!" He almost screamed that last part, tears were running down his cheeks once more. Though for a different reason this time. Donna sighed internally, realising that this man had been through more than anyone ever should, that the loss of that girl had just been the latest in an awful lot of painful events for him. She also realised that he was broken, or on the brink of breaking and she had the feeling that it was a wonder that it hadn't happened before. He hadn't told her anything about himself but she just knew, she felt like she had known him for years instead of hours.
"If you hadn't been there at all, would those people have died anyway?"
He considered this for a while and nodded.
"Then why do you feel bad about it, if it wasn't your doing that they've died? Right."
He looked at her with a sad face. "I just feel like I could've done more to save them."
"You tried everything you could didn't you?"
He nodded once more.
"Okay, let me rephrase my question. If you hadn't been there at all, how many people who are still alive would've died?"
He looked up at her shocked at that question.
"Err." He knew the answer. The whole universe would've been dead if he hadn't blown up Gallifrey with the Daleks because the war would've extended to the whole universe, but he wouldn't tell her that.
So he just shrugged at her.
"You don't want to say or you've saved so many people that you lost count?"
He stuck op two fingers to indicate that it was the second option, though it was actually both.
"So why do you feel bad, a lot of people, including me would probably want to hug you for saving their life."
"You want to hug me?" He asked her.
"Of all what I said, that's the thing you ask? But yeah I suppose."
He grinned at her and opened his arms, she walked right into them and gave him a huge hug, one he really needed.
They stood like this for a few moments when The Doctor spoke up.
"We should probably find out whatever the Racnoss has buried in the middle of the Earth before they find out how to reverse the trick I just pulled." He moved reluctantly out of the hug and opened the door.
"Donna Noble, welcome to the creation of the Earth."
Donna's mouth dropped open at the spectacular sight. The sun was shining through beautiful coloured dust and gas clouds. Enormous rocks were floating around.
"We've gone back 4.6 billion years. There's no solar system, not yet. Only dust and rocks and gas." He points at the Sun. "That's the Sun over there, brand new. Just beginning to burn."
"Where's the Earth?" Donna asked.
"All around us... in the dust."
"Puts the wedding in perspective. Lance was right. We're just... tiny."
The Doctor resisted the urge to groan at that, Lance had really crushed the little bit of self-esteem she had had. Instead, he tried to make her see it differently.
"No, but that's what you do. The human race. Making sense out of nothing. Marking it out with weddings and Christmas and calendars. This whole process is beautiful, but only if it's being observed."
"So, I came out of all of this?"
"Isn't that brilliant?"
A massive chunk of rock floated lazily.
"I think that's the Isle of Wight."
They laughed.
"Eventually, gravity takes hold. Say, one big rock, heavier than the others, starts to pull other rocks towards it. All the dust and gas and elements get pulled in, everything, piling in until you get the..."
"Earth." She finished
"But the question is … what was that first rock?"
A star shaped rock emerged through the clouds.
"Look." Donna said.
"The Racnoss." The Doctor whispered.
He had figured it out, there was a Racnoss web at the centre of the Earth. And they had needed a key to get them out of hibernation. Which had been in the form of Donna and then Lance filled with Huon particles. He had been too late to save Lance, but he had managed to save Donna. Well, with saved he meant causing her to crash into a wall. Well, he wasn't perfect. Now he had revealed to the Racnoss that he was from Gallifrey and had started to drown the Empress and her children.
He was heartbroken and really angry at the turns of event. It wasn't the Racnoss' fault, but she was the perfect opportunity for him to unleash his anger. He wasn't thinking about the fact it wasn't her fault that she was that way. But he was just a hundred percent done with everything and the Racnoss was a victim of that.
Donna looked up at The Doctor. What was he doing, that spider thing might've been trying to kill her and The Doctor. But this was just cruel. He had given her an opportunity and only given his identity after she declined. And he just stood there, just looking, while she was screaming in pain. It really scared her and she realised that something had snapped inside him, causing his bad side to show and he needed to get pulled out of that. So she yelled at him.
"Doctor! You can stop now!"
He looked at the Racnoss a moment longer but then snapped out of whatever it was and looked down.
"Come on! Time I got you out!"
They ran up the stairs and Donna heard the Empress say.
"Transport me!"
They climbed on a ladder.
"But what about the Empress?" She asked him
"She's used up all her Huon energy, she's defenceless!"
The Doctor climbed out of the hatch and they climbed up the Thames Flood Barrier. They looked at the remains of the star and realised that the Racnoss had been destroyed. However, neither of them cheered at that. The Doctor didn't because he was just too heartbroken for it and Donna didn't because she sensed this. Donna had expected him to give in to his heartbreak the moment they had seen that the ship of the Racnoss had been destroyed. But evidently, that was not the case. They stood there for a few moments when she noticed something
"Just... there's one problem." She knew that his grief could hit him like a wrecking ball at any moment now, but decided to say it anyway.
"What's that?" He looked at her questioningly.
"We've drained the Thames."
He turned to the Thames again and noticed it as well. Rose would've thought that it was hilarious.
Rose.
The fact that he had lost her hit him again, but this time like a freight-train going a good 500 miles an hour. Even if he had wanted to he wouldn't be able to stop himself from breaking down now. He didn't try however as he was tired of it. He let the tears fall.
Donna saw this and pulled him into a hug, he let out a sob and he fully leant to her, she could feel that his knees were failing to support him, so she carefully lowered him to the ground, he was sobbing freely now. It was that she knew better but she just couldn't imagine that this was the same man that had just saved the Earth from being eaten by spiders less than 5 minutes ago.
But he had fully deserved the right to cry now, so she just held him as he grieved the loss of the girl he loved.
The TARDIS materialised across the road from Donna's house. Donna stepped outside as The Doctor emerges in the door-post. She turned to him, he really looked horrible. His hair was just sticking up everywhere and his eyes were red from the tears. His clothing was ruffled. She felt so sorry for him and Rose. He had cried for about 3 hours when she had gotten him to tell what had happened and he told her that Rose got trapped in a different universe and apparently he had just said his last goodbye to her before Donna had arrived inside that box.
He had told her that he hadn't been able to tell her that he loved her before their time ran out. He had also told her that Rose might be pregnant with his child, Rose had told him about a baby but then had said that it was her mother's. But he said to Donna that he suspected that she had lied about it being her mother's. He had told her that he could find out with the TARDIS whether she was pregnant or not before they separated.
She knew that he needed a friend, someone who could just prevent him from doing stupid things and be there to comfort him. She wouldn't be that person. That box was driving her mental. However, there was one last thing that bordered her.
"What about those particles, am I going to die?" She asked him. The Doctor scanned her.
"Nope! All the Huon particles have gone. No damage, you're fine." He managed a small smile at her.
She nodded at that. "Okay." She wasn't feeling very well, she had missed her wedding, lost her job and became a widow on the same day. But she wasn't going to mention that to him, he was still heartbroken and having to hear her problems probably wouldn't help him. She could deal with it on her own, with the comfort of her own family.
"I'd better get inside." He nodded.
"So... what will you do with yourself now?" He asked her, he wanted her with him. She had made him feel better and he wanted her to keep doing that, as a friend. He needed one.
She looked at him, she wanted to start with telling that she wouldn't get married, but that would probably be another arrow to his heart. "I'm not gonna temp anymore. I dunno... travel... see a bit more of planet Earth... walk in the dust. Just... go out there and do something."
"Well, you could always..." He trailed off, afraid of asking it.
"What?"
"...come with me?" He said tentatively.
Donna felt her heart break at that, he wanted her to come with him. Probably to comfort him, she couldn't deny that he needed that. But she just couldn't. Not at this moment. She sighed and took a few steps towards him and pulled him into another hug as she told him.
"I can't. I don't think that I'll be able to handle that, certainly not now."
"Okay." He sounded a bit disappointed.
"I'll tell you what though, I won't forbid you to pop by if you want." She pulled back.
He nodded at that. "Thank you, Donna."
She smiled at him, she would've invited him for Christmas dinner but she knew that he was not in the mood at all. Nor was he looking presentable.
"Just... promise me one thing."
"Yeah?"
"Find someone to be your friend."
He nodded at that.
"Cause I don't think you should be alone, especially not now. But you also need someone to stop you sometimes."
He nodded once more.
"Yeah." He paused. "Thanks then, Donna, good luck, and just... be magnificent."
It was her turn to nod.
He turned back into the TARDIS and closed the door. The TARDIS shot up in the night sky. Donna watched with a sad smile and then walked home.
To Be continued