Donna and Sylvia were tucked into their camp beds on the kitchen floor; the entire room was bathed in soft candle light.

"Mary McGinty." Sylvia said suddenly. "Do you remember her?"

"Who was she?" Donna asked.

"Worked in the news agent on a Sunday." She replied. "Little woman. Black hair."

"Never really spoke to her." Donna replied.

"She'll be dead." Sylvia said. "Every day, I think of someone else. All dead."

"Maybe she went away for Christmas." Donna said.

"Maybe." Sylvia agreed.

"I'll go out, tomorrow." Donna said reassuringly. "I'll walk into town. There's got to be work. Everyone needs secretaries. As soon as I'm earning, we'll get a proper place. Just you wait, Mum."

"What if it never gets better?" Sylvia asked.

"Course it will." Donna replied.

"Even the bees are disappearing." Sylvia said. "You don't see bumble-bees anymore."

"They'll sort us out." Donna said. "The emergency government. They'll do something."

"What if they don't?" her mother asked.

"Then…we'll complain." Donna said positively.

"Who's going to listen to us?" Sylvia demanded. "Refugees. We haven't even got a vote. We're just no one, Donna. We don't exist."

As they continued to speak softly, the sound of slurred voices were carried from the living room, filling the house with lyrics from an old drinking song.

"And I spent all my money on whisky and beer…"

"I am going to KILL that man!" Sylvia seethed.

She got up and walked out of the kitchen, leaving Donna to follow after her, before bursting into the sitting room.

"Now, listen, Mussolini!" she began, glaring at the man. "I am telling you for the last time to BUTTON IT! If I hear one more SEA SHANTY…" she trailed off, seeing Wilfred sitting quietly in the corner.

"I always loved a sing-song!" he told her.

Everyone stood around singing, including Donna and Sylvia.

"I'm just a poor boy from a poor family, he's just a poor boy from a poor family, spare him his life from this monstrosity-Doo doo doo doo doo, easy come, easy go, will you let me go?"

There were gunshots outside.

"Bismillah! No-" The group faltered as the gunshots continued outside.

"Stay here." Rocco said, getting up. "Everyone, stay!"

Outside, a soldier was shooting at an army van and the whole street was clouded in smoke.

"Hey-ey-ey!" Rocco shouted. "Firing at the car is not so good! You-you crazy or what?"

"It's this ATMOS thing, it won't stop!" the soldier said. "It's like gas, it's toxic!"

"Well, switch it off!" Wilf said.

"I have done, it's still going." He replied. "It's every car. Every single ATMOS car, they've gone mad."

There was the clicking sound.

The soldier's eyes widened and he pointed his gun straight at Donna.

"You, lady, turn around!" he ordered.

Wilf and Rocco stood in front of her.

"Are you crazy, boy?" Rocco demanded.

"Turn around!" the soldier ordered.

"Put the gun down!" Wilf yelled.

"Turn around!" he ordered. "Turn around!"

"Do what he says!" Sylvia said, distressed. "Turn around, now!"

"Soldier, put your god damn gun down before I paint the street!" Luna snapped, the barrel of her gun pressing against the back of the soldier's neck. The man in front of her stood still, too terrified to move while the red haired woman peeked around him to look at Donna. "You alright, Ms Noble?"

"Y-You remember me?"

"Of course Ma'am. There is something about you, I cannot get it out of my head." She said, her voice soft before grabbing the solider by the collar and throwing him forward so he fell at Donna's feet. "Now soldier, I wish for you to apologise to the woman you were about to shoot… before I shoot you."

"Sorry…" he said shakily. "I thought I saw…"

"Call yourself a soldier?" Wilf said angrily. "Pointing guns at innocent women?"

Donna wasn't angry though because she had an idea of what he had seen.

"You're a disgrace." Wilf continued. "In my day, we would've had you court-martialled!"

"On your feet and down the street soldier. If I see you within a mile of this family again, I will take matters into my own hands."

"B-But…"

A shot rang throughout the street.

"I don't care what you thought you saw," she said, staring down at the soldier who clutched his bleeding hand to his chest. "She is under my protection, do you hear me?"

The man nodded.

"I said, do you hear me?"

"Y-Yes Ma'am," he stuttered before scarping down the street.

"My apologies Sir, Ma'am… It shan't happen again, especially on my watch."

"Thank you darling." Wilfred said, shaking Luna's hand but she merely smiled and gave a small salute.

However, while this was happening, Donna found herself distracted by a familiar flash of light and felt the familiar buzz of electricity. Unable to resist, she silently walked towards it.

"Donna?" Sylvia called, but made no move to follow her. "Where are you going? It's not safe at night! Donna! Donna!"

Unknown to her, Luna was following the woman as she rounded the corner.

The blonde haired woman was stood there, waiting for her.

"Hello Luna." The woman greeted, looking over Donna's shoulder, causing the red-haired woman to turn around.

"Good evening Petal…"

The woman sat next to Donna on a park bench while Luna paced a few meters away from them, her hand permanently resting over her gun as if scared that something was going to jump out of the dark.

"It's the ATMOS devices." The woman told her. "We're lucky it's not so bad here. Britain hasn't got that much petrol. But all over Europe…China, South Africa…they're getting choked by gas."

"Can't anyone stop it?" Donna asked.

"They're trying now." The woman said. "They're on board the Sontaran ship. Any second now…"

The sky turned to fire briefly, and then calm was restored and Donna's mouth fell open.

"That was the Torchwood team," Luna began, staring up at the sky with a sad expression. "Gwen Cooper, Ianto Jones… They gave their lives to save the Earth. Knowing the Sontaran's, they'll have kept Jack as some kind of prize. That's it… There's no one left now."

"You're always wearing the same clothes." Donna stated, staring at the blonde woman. "Why won't you tell me your name?"

"None of this was meant to happen." The woman told her. "There was a man. This…wonderful man and he stopped it. The Titanic, the Adipose, the ATMOS, he stopped them all from happening."

"That…Doctor?" Donna asked. Upon mentioning the name, she saw both of the women flinch.

"You knew him." The woman told her.

"Did I?" Donna asked. "When?"

"I think you dream about him, sometimes." She replied. " A man in a suit? A tall man, great hair."

She stared off into the distance.

"Some...really great hair." She murmured.

"Who are you?" Donna asked with an air of great restraint.

"I was like you." The woman told her. "I used to be you. You've travelled with him, Donna. You've travelled with the Doctor in a different world."

"The Doctor and his flower, saving planets and species…"

"In between the times he was babysitting his little pet," Rose hissed, staring at the alien. "All I ever heard was what you had gotten up to while I was visiting home… Looney this and Looney that…"

"I never met him, and he's dead." Donna replied, interrupting any arguments before they could truly start.

"He died underneath the Thames on Christmas Eve." The woman agreed. "But you were meant to be there. He needed someone to stop them, and that was you. You made him leave. You saved his life."

Donna stared at her.

The Doctor stood amidst a storm of fire and water, staring down at the creature. Donna stood below him in her wedding dress, watching him as he watched impassively the destruction he had cause.

"Doctor!" she called.

The Doctor looked at her as though he had just snapped out of a trance.

"You can stop now!" Donna called.

He watched her for a second before turning to leave.

Donna stood up and walked away, afraid.

"Stop it." She told her. "I don't know what you're talking about. Leave me alone!"

"Something's coming, Donna." The woman said, standing up. "Something worse."

"The whole world is stinking." She told her angrily. "How can anything be worse than this?"

"Trust me." The woman said. "We need the Doctor more than ever. I've been pulled across from two different universes, because every single universe is in danger." She told her. "It's coming, Donna. It's coming from across the stars and nothing can stop it."

"WHAT is?" Donna demanded, tears of frustration in her eyes.

"The darkness." The woman replied.

"Well, what do you keep telling ME for?" Donna demanded angrily. "WHAT am I supposed to do? I'm nothing special. I mean, I'm-I'm not-I'm nothing special, I'm a temp. I'm not even that, I'm NOTHING."

"Donna Noble, you're the most important woman in the whole of creation!" the woman told her, laughing slightly at the idea that Donna was nothing.

Donna gave a short, mirthless laugh.

"Oh, don't. Just…" she shook her head, her smile gone, "don't. I'm tired. I'm so…tired."

She turned to leave.

"We need you to come with us." The woman called.

"Yeah." Donna said, turning back with a derisive laugh. "Well, blonde hair might work on the men, but you ain't shifting me, lady."

"That's more like it." The woman said.

"I've got plenty more." Donna told him.

"I have been told that you will come with us Donna, but only when you want to," Luna began, grabbing Donna's hand pulling her into an awkward hug though the red haired woman melted into it, feeling as though it was familiar in some way.

"I'm sorry but you'll have a long wait, then." Donna said, pulling back.

"Not really, just three weeks." The woman called assuredly. "Tell me, does your grandfather still own that telescope?"

Donna turned to face her, surprised.

"He never lets go of it." She replied.

"Three weeks time." The woman told her. "But you've got to be certain. Because, when you come with us, Donna…sorry…so sorry, but…you're going to die."

Donna stared at her.

Before her eyes, the woman disappeared leaving Donna and Luna behind.

"Does she mean it? Am I going to die?"

"I'm not sure Donna… Petal has told me many things but out of all of it, there is only one thing I can trust."

"And what's that?"

"You're the most important person in the universe. I don't know why but I feel something here," she told her, placing her hand over her heart. "I will protect you as much as possible Donna, know that."

Rocco hugged Donna in farewell, spinning her around, both of them laughing.

"And you!" he said. "I'm going to miss you most of all, all flame and fiery."

"Oh, but why do you have to go?" Donna asked.

"It's the new law!" he told her. "England for the English, et cetera."

Donna didn't see Wilf closes his eyes behind her.

"They can't send us home, the oceans are closed!" Rocco continued. "They build labour camps."

He smiled at her.

"I know, but…labour doing what?" Donna asked. "There aren't any jobs."

"Sewing!" Rocco told her after a second. "Digging! Is good!"

He kissed her cheek.

"Now, stop it before I kiss you too much." He told her, kissing her again.

He turned to face Wilfred.

"Wilfred." He said. "My Captain."

He saluted Wilf.

Wilf stood at attention and saluted back.

All trace of humour was gone from both men as they shared an intense look that Donna didn't understand. The smile was gone from Rocco's face along with the twinkle in his eyes, and Wilfred's eyes were red and moist. Rocco nodded and joined the other foreigners on the van.

"It'll be quiet with him gone." Donna said. "Still, we'll have more room."

"'Labour camps'." Wilf said, his voice shaking. "That's what they called them last time."

"What do you mean?" Donna asked.

She looked at Rocco and his family in the back of the van. He held his sobbing wife in his arms and they all looked terrified.

"It's happening again." Wilf said.

"What is?" Donna demanded.

She looked from Wilf's distraught expression to the van before approaching the soldiers.

"Excuse me?" she called, but they ignored her. "Excuse me, where are you taking them?"

The van pulled out and she ran after it.

"Where are you going?" she called. "Rocco, where are you going? Where are you going?" The van turned the corner.

"Where are you going?" she shouted.

The van was gone.

Wilfred shook his head.

Donna entered the room to find Sylvia sitting there with her back to her, just staring at the wall; she looked so tired and depressed. Sighing, she closed the door softly behind her.

"I asked about jobs, with the army." She said. "They said I wasn't qualified."

Sylvia gave no answer.

"You were right." She continued lightly. "You said I should have worked harder at school."

"I suppose I've always been a disappointment." She said.

"Yeah." Sylvia finally said.

Shocked and saddened by hearing that from her own mother, she paused a moment before leaving.

Wilfred and Donna sat in the back yard, bundled up in winter coats, around a little fire in a bucket. Donna was resting her head against his shoulder, staring into space, while Wilf sipped a cup of tea, considering his telescope which was set up in front of him.

"You know," he said, "we'd get a bit of cash if we sold this thing."

"Don't you dare!" Donna told him. "I always imagined, your old age…I'd have put a bit of money by, make you comfy. Never did. I'm just useless."

Wilfred squinted through the eyepiece of the telescope.

"You're supposed to say 'no, you're not'!" she told him.

"Ah, it must be the alignment." He said, not paying attention.

"What's wrong?" she asked.

"Well, I don't know." He told her. "I mean, it can't be the lens. I was looking at Orion, the constellation of Orion-you take a look."

He shifted to let her look.

"And tell me, what can you see?" he asked.

"Where?" she asked.

"Well, up there in the sky!" he told her.

Donna peered through the telescope.

"Well, I can't see anything." She told him. "It's just…black."

"Well, I mean it's working!" Wilf said, annoyed and confused. "The telescope is working."

"Well…maybe it's the clouds." Donna told him.

"There's not!" Wilf replied. "It was there. An entire constellation." As he pointed, the stars began to blink and flashed like a bulb about to burn out.

"Look…" he said. "Look there…"

The stars disappeared, one constellation at a time.

"They're going out." Wilfred said, horrified. "Oh, my God, Donna! The stars are going out!"

Donna turned around.

"I'm ready." She said.

The woman and Luna were standing there, waiting for her.

They drove down the road in a UNIT van. Never did they say a word.

Luna pushed aside a curtain and allowed the woman and Donna to enter the warehouse before her.

Inside was a large circle of mirrors which had lights between them. Stood a few feet from the circle was a blue telephone box attached to dozens of wires which linked it to the circle.

Luna walked over to the box and stroked it sadly.

"Ma'am." A captain said, saluting them. "Ms."

"I've told you, don't salute." The woman told her as she bent down to mess with the computers.

"Well, if you're not going to tell us your name…" the captain replied.

"What, you don't know either?" Donna asked.

"There's too many different realities." The woman said. "Trust me, the wrong word in the wrong place can change an entire causal nexus."

"And you must be Miss Noble."

"Donna." She replied.

"Captain Erisa Magambo." The captain said, shaking her hand. "Thank you for this."

"I don't even know what I'm doing." Donna said.

"Is it awake?" the woman asked, finishing up with the computers.

"It seems to be quiet today." Magambo replied. "Ticking over. Like it's waiting." The woman contemplated the box, her arms folded.

"Do you want to see it?" she asked Donna.

"What's a police box?" she asked.

"They salvaged her from underneath the Thames." Luna told Donna, smiling sadly at the familiar sight. "Just go inside."

"What for?" Donna asked.

"Just go in!" the woman cried out, exasperated.

Donna did as she was told, still confused. She gave them a strange look before walking in.

"No. WAY." Came Donna's voice from inside followed by her incredulous laughter.

Donna walked out and walked around the box, feeling the sides, her mouth hanging open before she walked back in.

The inside was a giant dark room. She looked around for a moment before walking back out.

"What do you think?" the woman asked, grinning.

"…can I have a coffee?" Donna asked.

The woman and Donna, with a steaming cup of coffee in her hands, walked around the console, while the Luna sat on the jump seat.

"Time and Relative Dimensions in Space," Luna began. "TARDIS for short. Ah, you should've seen her before Donna… The entire console room would be bathed in this gorgeous shade of orange. She'd hum and groan and sing at all hours of the day, just to let us know she was there."

"I think it's dying." The woman said, looking up at the engine column.

"She is.. What use does she have? Her pilot is dead so what's the point of moving on?" Luna asked, reaching a hand out to stroke the console. The column moved a few inches and hummed quietly, as if recognising her before falling silent once more. "She's still trying to help, even now."

"And…and it belonged to the Doctor?" Donna asked.

"He was a Time Lord." The woman told her. "Last of his kind."

"But if he's so special, what are they doing with me?" Donna asked, genuinely puzzled.

"He thought you were brilliant." The woman told her simply.

"Don't be stupid." Donna replied.

"Well, you are!" she told her. "It just took the Doctor to show you that, simply being with him."

She looked away.

"He did the same to me." She told her. "To everyone he touches."

Donna watched her for a moment.

"Were you and him…?" she asked her.

The woman looked at her, but she didn't seem to have an answer.

"He was too busy babysitting," she said bitterly, glaring at Luna who simply sighed.

"Petal, I'm sorry but I was only a child. How was I to know?"

"But it still didn't stop you… All because you're an alien too!"

"His race evolved from mine… Is it my fault he felt a connection?"

"You didn't deter it!"

"I was only a child! I didn't expect to fall in love with him Petal, I swear."

However, before the woman could respond, she was suddenly distracted by the clicking noise.

She reached out and smoothed her hand over Donna's shoulder and back.

"Do you want to see it?" she asked Donna, ignoring Luna completely.

"No." Donna replied immediately.

The woman peered at her back.

"Go on, then." Donna said finally.