Hiyee! First up: DISCLAIMER! I just realised I completely left it out of all my other chapters. Whoops! Anyway, of course I don't own Doctor Who (though how I'd love to own the actor who plays him!) or any related characters etc. T'is the property of the beeb or possibly Russell T. Davies, I'm not sure.
Secondly OMG! You know what? I was wondering where my Donna/Jack obsession had all come from, and I realised! Read one of the last chapters of With A Little Help and you'll see! It all came from me wondering who Donna could get it on with in the S4 finale. I thought of Captain Jack... and a monster was created. Don't, Just Don't sprung from the idea of them as a couple, and then, of course, this. Chain reaction or what?
Oh yeah, this story. Do tell me if you get sick of my ramblings at the beginnings of chapters, I can't seem to help it. Enjoy, please be reviewin'!
Donna xxx
OMG though, I just have to say one last thing: how amazing were Girls Aloud on X Factor?? And I can't believe Ruth was in the bottom two, she's great! Much better than a group who can't even be bothered to think of a name...
Chapter Three - I Figured
"This one!" Donna exclaimed suddenly, making the Doctor jump. He had been dozing in the captain's chair, waiting for her to choose a planet from a guidebook she'd found, and at her cry he stretched out slowly.
"Finally. Donna, I don't know why you bother reading those inter-galactic tourist books, not when I'm here! I could tell you about all the good planets."
"Good planets." she repeated, "But that, sir, is where you're wrong. I mean yeah, you can recommend the planets that you find interesting. But could you..." she found to a certain page in her booklet, "...have told me..." she turned the book around, her thumb marking a page, "...about this?"
She flipped it open with a flourish, and after a second the Doctor groaned.
"Oh god, no, Donna, please! That place is so touristy, everything's the same. It's like the earth equivalent of..." he ran a hand through his hair, "Oh, I dunno... Tenerife!"
Donna pouted, "Not all of Tenerife is touristy!"
"Okay, the touristy bits of Tenerife."
"No. Look, you owe me a proper holiday, Yoda, after what happened on Midnight. I'm surprised you don't feel like one, we do all this... what?"
"Oh, nothing." he looked down at his feet, hiding his face.
"Seriously, what?"
He didn't speak for a moment, just looked up and looked straight into her eyes, giving her the feeling he was about to give her some awful news.
"Doctor? You're scarin' me."
But then all of a sudden, he smirked.
"Yoda?" he asked quietly, before dodging out of the way to avoid the tremendous smack she had aimed at his arm.
"Oi! I think that's a perfectly good one! For god's sake, there are only so many names to call an alien before you have to start being a little bit inven-"
But she couldn't finish her sentence as the TARDIS gave a tremendous jolt which almost knocked them both to the ground.
"This machine!" Donna shrieked, clinging to the console to stay upright.
"She's just impatient, Donna!" the Doctor cried over the grinding noise of the engines, "She gets bored of us chattering on and maybe sometimes she'll just take us to a place she thinks we'll like. Quite clever, really."
"Clever? Go on then, where're we headed?"
He edged around to the screen, and gave it a tap.
His face scrunched up in confusion, "Well, she didn't get bored, that's for sure. Not this time."
Donna rolled her eyes, "I love it when you're straight with me. Seriously, you couldn't put it any simpler."
"Alright. She's being pulled, and she doesn't like it. Something's looped around us, got a hold of the base code. If I can just tap into the matafretical engines and use the pantheonic detector to... there," he studied the screen for a second, then raised his eyebrows.
"I should have known."
"Why, what is it? Who's pulling us?"
"Well Donna, we're currently on route to sunny Cardiff, so I can only assume that it was-"
"Oh, for Christ's sake!" the Doctor put his hands over his ears at Donna's shriek, one which had a higher volume and pitch than he'd ever thought possible.
"That man has gone too far! I mean, it's one thing to be such a stuck-up bastard on the occasion when we visit by choice, but to physically force us down is another matter! What the hell does he think gives him the right to-"
"Donna, we don't know for sure that it's Jack."
"But hell, I'd be willing to bet my life's savings on it. Only he would have the nerve to be so... URGH! And when we get there he'll just be so smug and unbearable and..."
The Doctor smiled to himself. He wasn't exactly sure where this bitter feud between Donna and Jack had all come from, but if he was quite honest it was very entertaining to see how furious they made each other. They were so alike in character, both fiery, impossibly witty. Both lovely people, as well, but for some reason they just couldn't see it in each other. If they could, he thought, they would have made a decent coup-
CRASH!
The Doctor was thrown from his thoughts and his feet as they suddenly landed with huge force. There was an awful din as Donna's screeches clashed with the sound of them skidding along the ground and the harsh noise coming from the TARDIS' engines... and then there was silence. They came to a standstill, the engines shut off, the light in the central column went out and the Doctor and Donna hushed as they listened for any noise outside. But there was none.
"Blimey." the Doctor said with a groan as he picked himself up off the floor. "That was not pleasant."
Donna considered for a moment, "I've been on worse at Alton Towers. Whatever it is, that Captain Rat or whatever 'is name is must really wanna see us."
He nodded, tapping at the console to no avail, "You've got it. Well, our lovely ship isn't gonna be much use for a week or so, the power's been drained."
"A week? Here? Oh, god. Oh, I'm not gonna survive this. I can't handle an hour in the presence of that man, let a lone a flippin' week!"
"Oh, embrace it, Donna!" the Doctor called playfully over his shoulder on his way out the door, "Perhaps he'll realize you're actually a very nice human being."
She followed him with a trace of a smile on her face, "Was that a compliment? I think that might be a first, Doctor; we might have to write that one down."
She exited behind him into the shadow of the water tower and sighed. This really was the last place she wanted to be. She looked up at the box.
"The TARDIS' light's gone out, Doctor." she said gloomily, "She really has been drained."
There was no reply.
"Doctor. Doctor."
But he quite clearly wasn't listening to a word she was saying. She looked around to see that he had gone as white as a sheet, a look of utter astonishment on his face. Donna, confused, followed his line of vision to see a blonde woman standing quite a way away and looking every bit as shocked as the Time Lord.
He couldn't believe it. He actually, physically could not believe the impossible truth that was Rose Tyler standing at the other end of the court. He wouldn't have thought it to be true, if not for the fact that hers was the face he had been dreaming of for the past three years, the one he could not possibly mistake. His hearts felt as though they were going to burst from his chest at any moment as he looked deep into her eyes, just for a second.
And then it struck him. What the hell was he doing standing so far away when he could be near her as he had wanted to be since the day he had lost her? She seemed to realize this at the same moment, and together they began to run. He couldn't keep the smile from his face as he got nearer, and he saw a look of pure joy spread across hers as well. He got close enough to see the things that made her so undeniably her: The perfect skin; the full mouth; the way her eyes sparkled...
And then they collided at last. Then she was in his arms, a tangle of limbs and blonde hair. He held on for all his might, embracing her so hard he was afraid of hurting her. But he'd hurt her enough already by just losing her - a mistake he sure as hell was never going to make again.
After what seemed like hours but still not long enough, they pulled back, and he saw her face, tear streaked but beaming, looking up at his.
"You..." suddenly he was lost for words, "Rose, how... how did...?"
If possible, her smile got even wider. "Yeah, I figured I'd get that kind of reaction from you!" She laughed, the most beautiful sound in the universe.
Suddenly, to Rose, those three years didn't matter. The devastation she had felt at losing him felt minuscule compared to the sheer delight of seeing him once more. Oh, how she had longed for this moment, and, not in the least bit surprisingly, it was a million times better than she could ever have imagined it.