"Donna!"
Crowley's voice resounded through the ravaged cabin.
"What's taking you so long?"
After a long shower, the two had gotten dressed and after a short discussion they had decided that he would take her to the closest city with an airport from where she could take the next flight to London.
Donna had hesitated to travel with Crowley at all, because she feared that she'd get sick again.
Upon her suggestion to just call a cab, Crowley had given her a judging look and told her in a calm yet decisive voice that no taxi would come up here.
After assuring her that their route wouldn't be too long, Donna finally agreed to travel with him demon style.
But instead of getting out of the mountains, the redhead was stumbling through the whole house, declaring that she had forgotten something everytime Crowley thought they were ready to go.
Dishevelled, she came into the living room, were Crowley had made himslef comfortable, sitting on the loveseat, his feet resting on the small table.
She looked around the room before she came closer and scrutinized the table.
"I can't find my phone, have you seen it?"
With one hand she started to lift the pillows of the sofa and shooed the demon away with the other.
"No", he answered, rolling his eyes irritated as he stood up.
"When was the last time you had it?"
She thought for a moment before she answered, while her hand sank in the gaps between the cushions.
"I had it in my pocket when I was at the airport. I stood in line for the security scan and checked my watch to see how much time was left until - oh no!"
She stopped her actions and locked up at Crowley.
"I must have dropped it as that bloddy bastard knocked me over!"
"But you still have your wallet right? Your ID card, your credit ccard?"
She patted her pockets.
"Yeah, I've got that."
"Well then let's go", he urged her. "I can get you a new phone."
"I can get my own phone", she answered sulky, but the demon just crook a smile and reached out his hand. She took it wothout hesitation.
"Ready?"
Her face kept the surley look, but she nodded and the next moment they were gone.
The moment the pressure on Donna's body ceased she took a deep breath of fresh air, then she let her eyes wander over their surroundings and her mouth dropped.
They stood on the verge of a large field of yellow gras swaying in the wind. Around them were still the giant mountain ridge, but instead of the mirror-like lake, a narrow runway lay between them, with a abandoned looking small plane by it's side. In the distance Donna could make out a little village.
"Just great!", she shouted out, slapping Crowley's arm lightly.
"You brought us to the middle of nowhere."
"Stop it! You wanted to get to the closest airport, now don't complain. And by the way this is not 'nowhere', I know people around here." He started walking towards a small building that seemed to be the airport's control tower and Donna followed him with a pout.
He climbed the stairs that led to the entrance and knocked forcefully before he went inside without waiting for an answer.
It was chaotic inside. Empty pizza boxes and beer cans were sscattered around the room and left an unpleasent smell in the air. Piles of paper were thrown careles over a small work desk. An ancient TV stood next to the mess and the snowy picture made it hard to guess what show was running. Infront of it sat two wiry looking men, fully concentrating on the old tv set instead of the monitors of their work equipment.
They turned their head around towards the door as Crowley strutted inside and stood up immidiately, recognition showing in their eyes before they suddenly turned completely black.
Donna clutched Crowley's arm stratled, but he remained calm.
"Good afternoon, gentlemen. My lovely companion needs a flight to Fairbanks."
"We'll get the plane ready", one of the demons said dutiful and they both walked past the pair to go outside.
"You can't expect me to fly with those monsters. The last one I met tried to eat me!", Donna growled at Crowley. She was still clinging on his jacket's arm.
"Not true", he answered in his nonchalant way.
"You slept with the last one."
She slapped his shoulder again, a little harder then before, but he stayied unfazed.
"Those aren't any mindless demons, they're working for me. They're used to transport my more precious cargo in this part of the world."
"This part of the world."
"Yeah, I have an international business to run. Well, had. Since the whole debacle with Lucifer I had to cut it down a bit. Most demons weren't happy when they heard about my big fuss against daddy."
"And you trust those, those employees of yours?"
"They probably think you're a gift to a business partner anyway. They know better then to lay a hand on that."
Donna wasn't fully convinced, but she still followed him outside.
The two demons had pushed the small airplane onto the runway and were now checking the mechanics.
The cockpit was only big enough for two people and those were the only seats on board. The cargo area wasn't much more roomy.
One of the men climbed inside and after a short moment the eninge started with a suspicious roar.
The british woman threw another nervous look towards her friend.
"Relax!", he said. "Fairbanks isn't that far and these guys know what they're doing."
"I can't believe you deported me to Alaska", she answered with a hint of resign in her voice.
"What are you going to do now? Will you rebuild your imperium of crossroad deals now that Lucifer isn't anymore?"
"Perhaps. Maybe I'll even expand."
"Yeah, why don't you just take over the world?", she bantered at him with grand gestures.
"Not the whole world", he told her with a roguish smile. "Hell would be enough."
She stared at him in disbelief before she found her speach again.
"Your kidding right?"
His grin only grew wider.
"Tell me you're kidding!"
"I've been thinking", he started to explain with his hands deep in his pockets. "Demons have been shifting for themself a very long time, some more organized then the others, but all of them actually waiting for someone who'd take over the wheel. Why shouldn't that someone be me?"
She stared at him with big eyes until her bewildered expression faded into one of admiration and affection. A small smile grazed her face as she took his into his hands and shook her head softly.
"You. Are. Bonkers!", she whispered and then shoved him away with a grin. Crowley stumbled two steps backwards chuckling.
"But you know what? I think if anyone could pull this off, then it's you." She looked up at him, her face more serious than before. "Just promise me you'll take care of yourself."
The crossroad demon stretched out his arms, the palms of his hands facing towards the clear blue sky.
"Don't worry, everything's gonna be fine."
"That's what you said the last time and then we met again in a hospital, you telling me it was the apocalypse."
"But I was okay and the world didn't end after all, so basically I was right."
Donna rolled her eyes dramatically, but the surpressed grin on her lips told Crowley that she wasn't really annoyed.
Their eyes remained on each other, so they didn't see the pilot inside the cockpit giving the other man a thumps up. The flight controller jogged over to the waiting pair.
"Sir, the plane is ready for take off."
"In a minute, boy."
Crowley looked at Donna ruefully.
"This new project could take a while, I'll be working a lot the next months."
"Yeah, I-I understand that. I'll be in Chiswick and you'll be in, well, in hell. Could take some time until we met again. Just make sure that we'll met again, okay?"
She gave him a tightlipped smile.
"Well then, I'll see you next time, demon-boy."
She turned around and walked towards the airplane as Crowley loudly barked out her name. Looking back, she saw him coming up to her, a piece of paper in his hand.
"My card", he explained as he held it out towards her. "My number's on the back. Call me if something happens."
"I'll do", she said with a high voice that rang in her own ears. Abashed she took the card and scrutinized it more than actually necessary. She raised an eyebrow at the front print, which simply displayed the words 'King of the crossroads'.
"How modest", she teased, holding it up.
"Yeah, I know. I'll soon need new business cards, but everything in time."
She pocketed the card and with a last wink at Crowley, climbed into the plane.
Inside the cramped cockpit she looked through the small window and saw the demon still standing at the side of the runway. He raised one arm as a goodbye and Donna waved back as the plane started taking off and smoothly went up in the air, until Crowley was only a small black point on the grey field.
Groaning under the weight, Donna heaved her bags out of the cab's trunk. With all her baggage on the sidewalk, she leaned down to the driver's window, her face red from the struggle and her anger.
"Thank's for the help, mate!", she yelled, but the cabbie didn't listen to her and drove off with squealing tires instead.
Fuming she put up her bags and went inside the house.
She threw er stuff on the hallway's floor. All she wanted to do after the long flight back home, was take a long and relaxing bath and the launch infront of the tv and watch mindless reality-shows.
"Surprise", she yelled halfheartly as she bolted into the living room. "I'm back home!"
Taken aback she froze in her tracks.
The room she just walked in was crowded. Family, neighbours and even some friends from her grandpa's old military unit were gathered in the small space.
Everyone fell silent the moment Donna stepped inside, and stared at her.
Donna stared back bewildered. After a few seconds in which she could swear one could hear crickets' clittter, she found her ability to speak again.
"Did Crowley tell you I'd come back today?"
Her question was answered with more silence.
Suddenly her mother came out behind her aunt and her fat cousin Michael. Her eyes were red and teartracks ran down her cheeks.
She launched herself at her daughter and threw her arms around her. Donna could feel her hot tears wet against her face.
"What's wrong? What happened?", she asked concerned as she patted Sylfia's back.
"Father, your grandpa, he's dead."
The last words were lost in a moarnfull sob and fresh tears spilled from the woman's eyes. Donna stared at her in shock, her whole body suddenly feeling numb. She didn't hear her mother's voice talking further, as she looked up at the all black wearing people and finally saw the gathering as what it was.
A funeral.
"He was in the city when the earthquake started. Wanted to get new bullets for his stupid paintball weapon. The building collapsed."
The pressure behind her eyelids rose as the first tears started to dwell in Donna's eyes and a knot formed in her throat. Her skin pricled as she felt all the guests' eyes on her, giving her pitifull looks.
"We tried to call you, but you wouldn't answer your bloody phone!"
Was that anger in her mother's voice? Donna couldn't care less in that situation. The ache in her heart became unbearable and she clutched her chest as it became harder for her to breath. The grief suddenly hit her and left her whole body shivering as if a cold wind had just blown past her.
With the last control she could muster up, she turned around and fleed into the bathroom, while Sylfia called after her and a murmur started to rise behind her and had her walking even faster out of the room.
She slammed the bathroom door shut and turned the key to make sure she was left alone. She couldn't deal with anyone right now.
Stumbling to the bathtub she sat down on it's rim and let her head drop into her hands. That was the moment she let herself go.
A painfull cry wrenched it's way out of her throat and her shoulders shook with the force of each new sob.
Time was lost to Donna as she sat on the edge of the bathtub and let herself swamp by the pain of the sudden loss, but as she finally emerged the bathroom, the house was quite and the congregation of mourners had left.
She sniffed her nose as she walked into the hallway. The pain was still there and the tears hadn't stopped flowing yet, but she felt calm enough to be more in control over her ragging emotions.
Light fell from the living room into the hallway and as Donna went inside, she saw that the TV was tunelessly showing some commercials, while her mother lay on the sofa asleep.
Donna stepped closer to the older woman and took the comforter from the sofa's backrest to lay it across the sleeping figure. Then she took the remote to turn off the TV. It would be the best to let her mother sleep, she thought. She knew about Wilfred's death much longer then Donna did and probably had not gotten much sleep since then.
As she quietly sneaked out of the room, she grabbed the phone and then went into her bedroom, closing the door behind herself.
Someone had already brought all her bags into her room and Donna took her purse from the floor next to her luggage.
After some rumaging through the many pockets, she finally found the card she had searched for.
She hadn't called Crowley since the two had departed in Alaska, she didn't want to come along as the desperate old single who's too eager to get a man into her claws, but right now she needed to talk to him, needed to feel the irrational calm that overwhelmed her whenever she heard his voice.
With slighlty shaking hands, she tipped his number into the phone and listened to the call signal, as at last the demons voice sounded through the device.
Donna took a deep breath, readying herself to say something, until she realized that it was just his mail box.
"The King of the crossroads is busy taking over Hell. Please contact one of my assistents for a demon deal."
The common peep sound ringed in Donna's ear and she ended the call without leaving a message.
Instead she just tried it again, hoping that Crowley just wasn't fast enough to answer the phone.
As the mail box answered again, she threw the phone furiously on the bed. It rebounced and fell clattering to the floor.
She wished there was anyone she could talk to, someone who understood how it felt to loose the only person you always thought would understand you. Someone who knew how it felt when a person you started to trust suddenly left you alone in your misery.
A sudden feeling of being completely alone hit her in the gut and she had to sit down on the bed, as the sobbs claimed her body again and shook her whole being. She cried the whole night and damned the world and it's unfairness and all the bloddy people who lived in it, until the first morning light fell through the curtains and she had finally fallen asleep.
Crowley felt his buzzing phone in his dress pant's backpocket, but he didn't answer. Whoever called would have to wait until he was done here. Maybe even longer.
The demon didn't have a free minute since he had started to work on his new project "Conquest Hell". He had a lot of people to contact, sort out who would be of assistant for him and who could hinder him in his plan. There where a lot of debts to collect now and he needed to cut off any weak point. The last one was his momentary task.
A knock was heard fron the door of his bureau, a small field office in Las Vegas. A lot of deals were made in the city where a poor man could become a billionaire in a heartbeat, but one could loose all of his property just as fast.
"Come in", he told the visitor in his most cheaper voice. "Ah, Lydia. Reliable as ever."
The blonde demon came inside and stopped infront of the big wooden desk that Crowley sat behind.
"You wanted to speak to me, sir?"
"Yes, my dear. Now this is a very important matter and I'm glad you could come this fast."
As he talked, he stood up and walked past the desk to stand close infront of his assistant.
"I was very pleased with your work in the case of Donna Noble."
"I'm sorry that she didn't sell her soul yet", the woman interjected.
"Don't worry about it, that deal's my problem now. It's more important to me to know who you told about Miss Nobles circumstances."
"No one."
"Really? Not even Belphegor?"
"You asked me to tell no one and I didn't."
"You've always been my most loyal worker and the greatest help I could have."
A smile spread across his face that didn't reach his eyes.
He turned back to the desktop, where some letters lay next to a shiny paper knife.
"That makes it all the more tragic."
With one swift motion he had grabbed the letter opener and turned arround to slam it into her body.
Large eyes stared down onto his hands as Lydia realised what just happened. Hastily she threw her head back and opened her mouth wide. She tried to flee from her injured vessel's body in a red cloud, but Crowley pushed the fog back into the mouth and kept it closed with one hand, as the other pulled the sharp knife out of her body and slashed it through her windpipe.
Her eyes lightened up in a piercing red for the last time, before the demon dropped to the ground.
"Sorry, Lydia", he said to the lifeless pile on the ground as he cleaned the bloody blade on a tissue. "But we can't risk anyone else finding out about my little weak spot."
He laid the now again shiny paper knife back on the desktop and left the room through the same door through which just mere minutes before Lydia walked inside.
One of his demons stood guard outside and he approached him.
"Get rid of the mess in there."
The black eyed demon nooded dutifully and before he even stepped into the room, his boss had allready vanished to his next appointment.
Yes, there were a lot of things to do until he could finally take a claim on hell and one important point was just taken care off.