Hiya! Are you all proud of me for updating so quickly? I know it hasn't happened so fast in a long time, les explanation, c'est parce que I've got a new story idea that I'm itching to get started on, but I want to wait till this is finished first. So you never know, there may be a few more fast updates yet in my effort to get this done asap!

Thanks so much for the lovely positive reviews, rest assured they keep me happy and writing! I do feel a little bad for paying you back with this particular chapter, but ah well. Let me know what you thought :)

Donna xxxx

Chapter Thirteen - Crystal Clear

"Donna?" she heard him mumble sleepily, and silently cursed herself - she obviously hadn't been as quiet when trying to leave the room as she had hoped. In actual fact, she wasn't entirely sure why she felt the need to get out of there so desperately, so muddled up were her feelings and thoughts right now, after everything that had happened the previous day. And then last night...

"It's alright, Jack." she assured him quietly from her position by the door, "It's still dead early, I'm just heading downstairs."

He rubbed his eyes in attempt to wake himself up fully as he sat up in bed, "Um... why?"

She sighed, and made her way over so she could sit on top of the covers and face him, "Well, you know... people are gonna start getting in to work soon, and I don't want to arouse any suspicion."

A cheeky smile spread over his face at that, "Well, I gotta say, last night you managed to arouse a lot more than suspic-"

"Don't, Jack."

He blinked at Donna's blunt tone of voice as she cut him off, "Please, just don't."

"What's the matter?" he asked mildly, his brow furrowing as he studied her face in confusion.

"Nothing." she said seriously, "It's just... Oh, I don't know, Jack! With everything that's happened recently I've just been so confused, my mind's so muddled up and I need some time to think about... about what to do, and the way I feel and..."

She was struggling to find the right words, especially with the look that had come over Jack's face as she spoke.

"I'm just... I'm gonna go downstairs." she finished lamely, and there were a few seconds where he merely regarded her, stony-faced yet ever so slightly hurt looking, before he spoke, his voice straight and to the point.

"Do you regret what happened last night?"

"No!" she couldn't help but blurt out immediately, for if he understood just one thing, she needed to make sure it was how very much last night had meant to her.

"No. Last night was... perfect." Donna's voice was a little softer now, a little more tender, and she placed a gentle hand on his as she assured him, "Just perfect. Now I'm gonna head down to the Hub, but I'll see you in a bit."

"Sure." Jack said, looking a little confused, and leaned in towards her, but before he could kiss her she brought an abrupt finger to his lips, keeping them sealed.

"Best not." she whispered simply, and if Jack had been confused before, he was utterly bewildered as she stood up and walked away from him, out of the room without looking back.

Instantly, he brought a hand to his head and collapsed back onto the mattress, staring blankly up at the ceiling as he tried somehow to understand what had just happened. Did she not care about what had happened between them, did it mean more to him than it had to Donna? Was she ashamed, regretful, scared... or could it possibly be that she just didn't love him?

Because if that was the case, then Jack just hoped she knew how much it would destroy him.

Donna was sat with her head in her hands at a desk, her mind spinning, as the cog door rolled open to reveal Gwen and Rose, the first of whom looked relatively chirpy and the latter as though she hadn't slept in a week.

"Gosh, you're here early!" Gwen smiled, and Donna quickly jumped to her feet, forcing a smile on to her face.

"Well I stayed here, didn't I? What with my bedroom having buggered off when that skinny Spaceman did."

At that, there was a sharp intake of breath from Rose's direction, and Donna hurriedly tried to cover up her mistake:

"Well, er... so anyway, Ianto made me up a spare bed in one of the rooms upstairs. Lovely, fantastic." she garbled, "Was, er, everything alright for you two?"

"Oh yeah, there's plen'y o' room at mine." Gwen replied warmly, obviously trying to brighten the mood, but all the same Donna couldn't help but notice the absent look on Rose's face.

"I'm sure there is, and it's so kind of you, Gwen. What about you, Rose? Did you get a good night's sleep?"

Rose's head suddenly snapped up to look at Donna, her expression dazed as though she'd been in her own little world of thought.

"Oh, you know..." she said, attempting a casual tone... but her madly wavering voice and shining eyes gave away her true emotions.

"Oh, sweetheart," Donna breathed, darting forward suddenly to pull the younger girl into a fierce hug.

"I can't imagine how you must be feelin' right now." she said quietly as Rose embraced her tightly, obviously glad for some sort of comfort, "But I promise you, whatever misunderstandin' there's been, we're gonna sort it out, all of us."

She pulled back, although she kept Rose at arm's length, "We're all here for you, you understand that, right?"

And, through tears that were now falling thick and fast, Rose nodded honestly, "Yeah.".

"Right!" Donna said, more upbeat now and starting to drift in the direction of the kitchen, "Now I don' know about you, but I could murder a coffee."

"Oh, I'd watch out." Rose managed a watery smile, frantically wiping her eyes on her sleeve, "I think you're more likely to be the one 'oo gets murdered if you go near Ianto's kitchen!"

"Too bloody right." came a voice, and sure enough, the man in question walked out of the small room on cue, carrying a tray laden with steaming cups.

"Oh, you 'ave got to be the world's most perfect man!" Donna grinned as she accepted a mug, making sure to throw a playful, meaningful glance in Gwen's direction when his back was turned.

"In many respects, so I've been told." Ianto commented, continuing to distribute cups before setting the empty tray down on Gwen's desk, "But not, apparently, in sticking to my word - I never did get down to making up that spare bed for you before I left last night, it totally slipped my mind. Did you manage okay?"

"Oh really?" Gwen raised her eyebrows questioningly, "Because I could've sworn you told me that Yan-"

"Oh, don't worry!" Donna could feel the blush creeping onto her face and tried desperately to keep it away, "I was fine!"

"Uh huh, uh huh,"

There was a hint of a smirk on Ianto's face, and even Rose was smiling now as Donna felt as though she was being cornered, "I mean, I was hoping Jack would have the common sense and chivalry to, er... do it for you."

"Yep." Donna said with a blasé wave of the hand, her voice raising significantly in pitch, "That was what happened, yeah. Jack made up the bed for me, in the spare room upstairs."

"Oh?" Ianto asked, "Because I couldn't seem to see it in any of the spare rooms..."

"Well, I..." Donna frantically fished for a story, "I put all of the bedding away, didn't I? My mum always taught me to be a good-mannered houseguest..."

"So where did you put the stuff?" Rose asked, an eyebrow raised, "Sheets and a duvet and everything would take up a lot of room, surely...?"

"And I'm having a hard time picturing Jack making you up a spare bed." Gwen interjected, her voice delicate and almost mocking, "It just seems to me like he'd be more likely to want to... share a b-"

"STOP IT!" Donna cried eventually, cutting Gwen off, thankfully, mid-sentence. She had thought she could cope with their teasing, with their knowing about she and Jack, but as it happened, this was all just too much. She needed time, time when everybody thought all to be normal between them, just so she could think, get her head round her own feelings before everybody else knew them too. And there was only one way to ensure that.

"Look!" she said sharply to the stunned trio, "I don't know where you've gotten this nonsense from, but I think I've made it quite clear over the past few years quite how much I despise that man, just how arrogant, cocky and downright irritating I find him, and how quite frankly, I would rather much share a bed with a rabid Ood than with Captain Jack Harkness! And now that I come to think of it, the two experiences would most likely be very similar."

Donna even shocked herself with the vindictiveness that had just come pouring out of her, the sheer spite, none of which she remotely meant, but had just erupted in her anger and the amount of pressure she had felt from all sides. But before either she, Gwen, Ianto or Rose had the chance to react, there came a voice from behind them, a cool, scathing voice belonging to a man who had obviously just entered the room, unseen by all, and heard her entire rant.

"The same could very much be said of you, Ms Noble." Jack said calmly, walking across to them, "Which is precisely why I made up that spare bed for you last night. I do hope you slept well."

All Donna could do was gape at him, open-mouthed with bewilderment at how everything between them had changed so abruptly, but before she could apologize or indeed say a single word, he had moved on.

"Now, Rose." he said warmly, his expression changed to one of concern, "You come here, honey, I imagine you'll be needing a hug."

And as Rose gratefully stepped into his embrace, Jack shot the ashen-faced Donna a single, lingering look over the mass of blonde hair. And it was a look that meant one thing, as crystal clear as though he had announced it over a speaker phone:

If this is the way you want it between us, it said, then this is exactly the way it'll be.