Series: Dr Who, series 4 Rating: 15 Type: Fanfiction, Angst
Summary: Hmmm… has Rose convinced her Timelord that they are on the same side? Has the human Doctor realised that he's choosing Donna over Rose? Does anyone know what's going on?
Disclaimer: I don't own any of the Dr Who characters or anything from the universe of Dr Who. I am just taking the characters and playing with them a while – promising to restore them whole and unblemished! Thanks to Russell T for creating these toys for me to enjoy. Please don't take any of my playing as having any bearing on the actual franchise. Enjoy.
()
Rose watched the Doctor rush around the console of the TARDIS. He was working to find the source of the Nestine consciousness power.
They hadn't mentioned the passionate kiss of moments ago.
Those wonderful seconds had burned on to Rose pressing him up against the TARDIS doors and kissing him more thoroughly than she ever had in reality or fantasy.
She remembered their first kiss through a haze of golden energy; she had been possessed by the TARDIS life-force at the time. That kiss had been similar to this one, full of electricity and hope for the future.
Once they had come to pause, The Doctor had gazed at her with a look of wonder in his eyes before realisation sparked and he gripped her hand to rush them back to the TRADIS and back to the current, deadly situation.
"So… you trust me now?" She asked, as he worked feverishly.
"You aren't lying," he admitted, not looking at her.
Rose frowned, "And you know this because you're such a good judge of character?"
"That," the Doctor shrugged, "and your chemical readings from the kiss we shared."
A familiar huff of disbelief washed over her as he attempted to nonchalantly brush their shared kiss beneath the carpet. "So you were just scanning me."
He paused a moment, then shrugged again, "Yes."
"Didn't feel like it."
"I'm good at…" he drifted off, "scanning."
"You sure about that?" She heard herself tease.
"Been around a long time, me," he explained, continuing his work, "I think it's safe to assume I have conducted many… scans…"
"Right," Rose nodded, "just let me know if there are any other tests you want to do with me…"
The Doctor blushed slightly and Rose felt her head shaking; she knew the difference between a simple kiss and one loaded with passion and desire. But she also realised that now was not the time to confront him on this matter.
"I know where we need to be," Rose finally announced, to his astonishment.
The Doctor paused and looked up to her.
"The London eye," she felt a self-satisfied warmth spread through her as she continued, "It needs something large and round to transmit to all the plastic in the world."
At once, a broad smile beamed across his crooked face and he said, "Fantastic…"
How she had missed hearing that word; since being abandoned in this world, things had been anything but fantastic.
Rose felt herself swell with happiness as The Doctor flipped buttons and twisted dials before looking up at her, "The London Eye, then."
Rose nodded and reached over to a brass reception bell, dinging it with a resounding note, "Let's go!"
And the TARDIS whirled into motion.
()
The duplicate Doctor took a deep breath before ringing the door bell of Donnas house in Chiswick.
Many things in this universe were the same as the other, but so many other things were subtly different. Sylvia Nobles warm greeting was only one of them as she ushered her daughters date into the living room of the house she shared with her father.
Wilfred smiled as he donned a tatty woollen hat and headed off for a night of star gazing on the local allotment patch.
The Doctor did his best to make small-talk and sipped, nervously at the offered cup of tea and was told how Donna had saved her mother and grandfather from a clutch of cybermen in this universe with nothing but raw words and some electromagnets she had seen on the internet.
Donna had never mentioned this to him and Sylvia told him that her daughter attributed her brilliance to a 'lucky break'. It was a very big change to their family dynamic though, this Sylvia continued to praise and support her daughter through the unemployment that followed, understanding Donnas bravery.
As he listened, the duplicate Doctor secretly wondered if there was any resonance from the original universe that might have transferred some of the original Donnas meta- crisis to this duplicate universe and her alternate self.
This would explain the link between electromagnets and cyber weaponry… it would have been in the Doctors head, and if it was in his head, it would have been in Donnas. And if it was in Donnas, it could have transferred to the alternate…
It was an interesting hypothesis, but he soon found all thought wiped from his mind as Donna entered the room in a Grecian style, blue dress.
"Too much," she asked, noting his slack-jawed response to her entrance.
"No," the Doctor shook his head, "no, you look lovely."
He wanted to say she looked just as beautiful as when she had worn that colour in Pompeii… but the whole point of this new universe was that they were starting a new relationship together. And he would have sounded like a mad-man…
"You're carriage awaits," he grinned.
Donna blinked, "You drive…"
The smile faded slightly, "Well…"
They walked out to the black car waiting for them and Donna squeaked with excitement, "You hired a chauffeur?"
"I know," he said, tenderly wrapping a shrug around her shoulders to protect her from the cold, "It's a shameless attempt to impress you."
"It's worked," Donna smiled, covering his resting hands with her own.
A balloon of pride swelled in his chest and the Doctor led them down the path, opening the car door for her and helping her in.
When he joined her and poured them a glass of champagne, he noticed Donna looking at him with suspicion.
"What is it?"
"I just," he eyes tightened on him, "I just don't think this is really what people do on first dates."
The Doctor paused; she had him there. But it didn't feel like a first date to him, having known and travelled with Donna before…
But Donna took his silence as something else entirely, "Oh my God… this isn't a date, is it?"
The Doctor startled, "Well…"
"It's just you're so nice and caring and you talk to me like I'm somebody important and I feel like I've known you for years…"
"You are important," The Doctor said lamely; to him, she was very important.
Donna eyed him, "So… this is a date?"
"Do you want it to be?" He hedged; looking up at her with wide eyes that he knew always persuaded her to do as he wanted.
Donna bobbed her head in consideration and smiled, "Yeah."
He grinned in relief, "Then it's a date," he said and poured them another drink as he happily considered the future with Donna Noble.
A nagging voice in his head was telling him he should be feeling guilty about betraying his commitment to Rose.
But one look at Donna, smiling happily at him over a bubbling glass of champagne and he knew… this was how it was always meant to be.
()
Sometimes life could be unbelievable.
Donna Noble had felt that way ever since she took the job of PA for the charismatic and charming John Smith of the Torchwood Institute.
And here she was, sat opposite her boss on a first date at one of Londons most noted restaurants overlooking the Thames.
They were laughing about one of the assistants in accounts when Johns head snapped up, "Can you hear that?"
Donna tried to compose herself enough to listen, but there was nothing and she shrugged, "Hear what?"
John shook his head, "Nothing, it must be my imagination."
She thought nothing of it and was about to ask if they should skip the desert in favour of going back to her place… but Johns head snapped to the right again, listening intently.
"Donna, can't you hear that?"
Now that he mentioned it, there was a sound; a wheezing and grinding of metal that sounded far away at first and grew louder.
"What is that?" She asked as John reached across to her…
"The TARDIS," he said, with a manic look in his eye. "Come on!"
And with that, he snatched up Donnas hand, dragged her from the table and threw his card at the hostess as they left the restaurant.
Donna was too confused to ask where they were going as John pulled her behind him, along the waterfront before coming to an abrupt stop, causing Donna to crash into his back.
"It can't be," he was muttering as Donna tried to shove her hair away from her face in the growing breeze. "No… no!"
"What?" She asked impatiently, "What is it?"
"Impossible," he said in a high-pitch exclamation, "And utterly brilliant!"
And then the world went completely up-side-down as the empty square before them was filled with an emerging blue box, whose light read 'Police Public Call Box'.
Donna huffed, "I knew it… I shouldn't have drunk that champagne!"
()