CHAPTER 49

I do not own Doctor Who and I am making no profit off of this.

Thank you for all of your favorites, follows, story alerts, and reviews!

THE REBIRTH OF A TEAM

Donna brought the Wolves back to UNIT, and then said her tearful farewells to them. She was about to break down right in front of them and rushed to leave before she did.

She didn't quite make it to the TARDIS though before she was stopped by Amanda.

"Don't do this! Please! I'm the one who screwed up not you. You didn't do anything wrong. Don't go, Donna!" Amanda pleaded.

"I have to. I'm not a leader. I've forgotten the truth about myself. It was something that I should have learned a long time ago. I'm nothing special, Amanda. I'm not even worthy of being a Time Lord. I'm just a temp from Chiswick. Nothing more or less. Good bye, sweetheart," Donna said as she kissed Amanda's forehead.

"No, don't!" Amanda said in a heartbroken voice as Donna went inside the TARDIS and shut the door.

Donna looked at the unconscious dying bodies of Lee and Heather and set the coordinates for Gallifrey before she changed her mind. As she listened to Amanda crying outside the TARDIS, it took all of her willpower to keep herself from going back outside and comforting her. She couldn't do that though. She had to leave. It was for everyone's good.

That way the only person's life that she would screw up would be her own. She could live with that. She was used to it.

She suddenly felt a presence in the TARDIS and looked up to see Rose standing there in the robes of the White Guardian. She was glaring at her in anger, and Donna instantly knew that Rose had been watching her.

"Well, go ahead, Flower Girl. Let me have it. I know you're dying to," Donna said in a sad but still defiant tone.

"How could you do that? How could you leave them when they need you?" Rose asked in a furious voice.

"They need me like a hole in the head, Rose. I almost destroyed a little girl's life. Everyone's leaving anyway. They know when to desert a sinking ship. It's better this way. They'll find a real leader and be better than ever. You'll see," Donna said.

"You are so much like someone else that I knew once. This was someone who thought that they were never good enough for anything or anyone and that they caused more problems than they solved. They thought that the best solution to every problem in their lives was for them to continuously run away from things before they made them worse," Rose said.

"What happened to them?" Donna asked curiously.

"I married him, and I'm still trying to keep his head on straight. There's a full time job in itself. You're just like him, Donna. So much so that you could be his sister," Rose said.

"You're one to talk you know. From what Dorothy told me, you're thinking of giving up being the White Guardian. Aren't you doing the same thing that I'm doing? Running away from your problems?" Donna challenged her.

Rose looked furious for a moment, and then she started laughing. She realized that Donna was right.

"I belong with him, don't I? We're just alike too. Never, ever tell him that I said that though," Rose said.

"Don't worry about it. I would never give him the satisfaction," Donna said with a smile.

"It looks like we're both trying to run away. I don't think that I'm cut out for this job, Donna. I don't want it anymore. I was thinking of maybe giving it to you especially if you were leaving the Wolves," Rose admitted.

"Me?! You want to give the power to affect the entire universe to someone who can't even lead one team without making it fall apart? I don't think so, Flower Girl. Why don't you just suck it up and do it? You're good at it, Rose, and I don't think that it'll take you away from your family any more than being who and what you are already does," Donna said.

Rose looked at her in surprise, and Donna laughed as she said, "Dorothy told me about why you didn't want the job when she told me that you wanted to quit it."

"Dorothy talks too much," Rose grumbled.

"She just told me because she wanted me to talk you out of it I think," Donna said.

The two of them smiled at each other as Rose realized, "So we're both being huge hypocrites, aren't we? I'm trying to talk you out of giving up at the same time that I'm doing the same thing and vice versa."

"Birds of a feather flock together, Flower Girl," Donna said in a melancholy voice.

"Maybe what our little group of universe savers needs the most is a really good self-help program," Rose joked.

"I don't really know what I'm going to do about the Wolves, Rose. All I know is that I need to help Lee and Heather. I'm going to Gallifrey to ask the High Council to save them," Donna said.

"I know. I don't know if they will be able to help or not though. Drax's essence is too far spread among these two, and his consciousness is becoming too intertwined with Heather's. Soon the two of them will be inseparable. If they survive," Rose said sadly.

"You know what's going to happen, don't you? Please tell me how to keep them alive," Donna said in desperation.

"Time is always in flux, Donna. It's always changing so even what's likely to happen isn't necessarily what will finally happen. I can see all of the possible outcomes of any turning point in time and space, but even I don't always know what's going to occur with a hundred percent accuracy," Rose said.

"What's the most likely to happen?" Donna asked.

"Heather is almost certain to die, and Lee will too more than likely. I'm sorry," Rose said.

"You're the White Guardian and the Bad Wolf though. Can't you help me?" Donna asked in an extremely upset voice.

"What's about to happen here involves a fixed point in time. I can't interfere. It's never a good idea to mess around with fixed points," Rose said.

"Well, do it anyway. You did it before when you kept your best friend, Shareen, from dying. I guess I'm just not good enough for you to break your oath, am I?" Donna asked in a hurt voice.

"That's not true, and you know it, Donna. You're one of my closest friends," Rose said.

"Then help me," Donna pleaded.

Rose turned somber for a minute and then said, "What if I said that the only way for you to help them was for you to make an incredible sacrifice? It's one that I'm not sure that I could or even should ever ask you to make."

"I'll do it. Whatever it is, I'll do it," Donna said desperately.

"Go see the High Council first, Donna. Exhaust every other possibility first, and then if you still want to make the sacrifice just call me. I'll come. Just don't ask me to like it, Donna," Rose said.

"What is this sacrifice that you keep going on about anyway?" Donna asked.

"You can take the essence and memories of Drax from both of them into your own mind, Donna. It would mean that your mind would become overburdened though. Not even a Time Lord can contain two separate sets of memories and personalities at once without potentially becoming mentally unstable. You're a special case though. You're the DoctorDonna and were especially created by the universe to serve the distinct function of being two people at once so you might be able to withstand this, but even I'm not sure about that. Doing this could cause you to burn up again just like before when you were still human and had the Doctor's memories destroying your mind because you couldn't handle them," Rose explained.

Donna hesitated now and shuddered as she remembered what had happened to her before. She had become just a ruined, empty shell of who she was for such a long time. She didn't want to ever have to suffer that fate again.

"That's why I didn't want to tell you about it, Donna. Just try the Council first. Maybe they can help," Rose said hopefully.

"I hope so," Donna said unconvinced.

"I'll be back if you need me. I hope that you won't," Rose said with a small smile and then she vanished.

The TARDIS landed then right in the middle of the High Council's meeting chamber. As Donna emerged, the guards quickly surrounded her and looked extremely anxious.

"How dare you come in here without permission?" one of the Council shouted.

"I'm sorry but I don't have time to wait on formalities, Your Highness. Two of my friends are dying because they both opened a fob watch containing the consciousness of a Time Lord at once, and now it's been divided among them. It's killing them both, and I need you to find a way to save them," Donna said.

"I sympathize with your situation, but the Council is simply too busy to deal with this right now. Perhaps you could seek help from K'anpo Rimpoche. He is a master telepath and an expert on the mind," Chancellor Flavia said in a kind voice.

"I already contacted him. He says that I need to have someone consult the Matrix and to get its combined wisdom to help me, and that's you lot. I don't have time to wait on you to get your acts together either. They're both near death," Donna said.

"We simply don't have the time to mess with this. We have issues of great importance to deal with," a member of the Council said.

"Well, they'll just have to wait a while, won't they, because this is more important than any of them," a woman with strawberry blond hair said as she came walking into the chamber.

"President Cliodna, the Council is having a very important meeting, and it has already been interrupted by the unexpected and unauthorized arrival of this person. We don't need to be kept from matters of vital importance any longer than is necessary," another Council member said in an irritated tone.

"This is a matter of vital importance. She's a good friend of the other me so I'm going to help her," the woman with the strawberry blond hair said.

"The other you? Who are you?" Donna asked perplexed.

"Well, my real name is Cliodna, but since I'm a clone of the original Cliodna I call myself Karen Pond instead. They all call me Cliodna anyway since Amy never uses that name, and they think that Karen is too human I think," Karen said with a conspiratorial wink at her.

"So you're a clone of Amy? Good. Finally! There's someone around here who I can talk to. If you're her clone, why don't you look like her though?" Donna asked.

"I regenerated. My life is a long story. It's one that we really don't have time for. Why don't you tell me yours instead?" Karen asked.

Donna quickly explained the whole situation to her, and she said, "You don't need them to access the Matrix for you. You've got me. Wait just a minute."

Karen pulled the Crown of Rassilon out of one of her pockets which was obviously bigger on the inside than on the outside. She placed the crown on her head, and her eyes went blank for a moment.

Donna waited nervously as she searched the Matrix for information on what to do to fix Lee and Heather. Finally the crown floated off of Karen's head by itself and into her hand as she said, "I'm sorry, Donna. There's only one way to fix them now, and you're not going to like it."

"Don't tell me. I have to take the consciousness into my own head in order to save their lives," Donna said with a sigh.

"Yes and then maybe, just maybe, you could transfer it back to the fob watch. I'm not sure if that would work or not though. It might not and then it could wind up overloading your brain and killing you. It's been tried before in the past according to the Matrix, and it's never worked. Not one single time. It's always killed everyone's who tried it. That's the only answer that I can give you I'm afraid. I'm sorry," Karen said.

"It's alright. I guess the C.I.A. finally succeeded then. They made sure that no one could find out what Drax was going to tell you about who their top members were," Donna said.

"What? Why didn't you tell us this before?" a Council member said with renewed interest.

"This knowledge must be retrieved at once. Are you certain that there is no way to restore the mind back to the watch that won't result in death, Lady President?" another Council member said.

"Oh, that got your ears up, didn't it? Now you're all so helpful, aren't you?" Donna said in disgust.

"If you had told us this before, we would have realized the seriousness of the situation much more quickly," Chancellor Flavia said.

"I suppose that my friends' lives aren't important enough by themselves then?" Donna asked in anger.

"Of course they are, but the C.I.A. is a much more serious threat than any of you can even imagine. They actually plan to overthrow the government of Gallifrey at any moment according to all accounts. It has created unseen levels of distrust in the current administration that have never been seen in Gallifreyan history. We think that this is their intention so that we are overthrown by our own people, and they can take over from there," Flavia explained.

"You're not helping your cause any by being so cold and uncaring either," Donna admonished.

"Flavia's not that bad really once you get to know her," Karen said.

"Maybe not, but these others are. They could have cared less until I mentioned that the C.I.A. was involved. I shouldn't have had to say that in order to get their help," Donna complained.

"Can the situation be resolved without further death, Lady President?" a council member asked ignoring Donna.

"No, I'm afraid not. Whatever Drax learned seems about to die with him," Karen said sadly.

"Not if I can help it," Donna said as she ran back to her TARDIS and dematerialized it.

"Rose, come on out here! I'll do it! Do you hear me? I'll do it!" Donna screamed into the empty air around her.

Rose appeared a moment later with a comforting hand on her shoulder as she said, "Are you sure about this? Maybe I should do it."

"Oh, no you don't! The Doctor would be devastated if anything ever happened to you. Just do it, Rose. I can take it," Donna said.

Rose nodded and started the transference with a wave of her hand. Everything that had been in the watch and that had been transferred into Lee and Heather now flowed into Donna's mind and body. Donna began to feel intense and incredible pain. It was just like before when she was burning up with the Doctor's memories only much, much worse than then.

"Donna?" Rose asked in concern as Donna started to scream.

Lee and Heather immediately regained consciousness to find Donna sinking to the floor in agony. "What's wrong with her?" Lee cried out in fear.

"She did it to save you," was all that Rose said.

"Rose, give me the fob watch!" Donna screamed out.

Rose handed her Drax's watch which was sitting on the console, and Donna grabbed onto it like it was a life preserver. She began to concentrate on the watch and willed the mind of Drax back into it.

It didn't work. It was still killing her. She tried harder and harder, but nothing happened. She was going to die.

"Lee, I'm so sorry. I had to do it though. I had to save you. I love you," Donna said in tears as she sank to her knees in agonizing pain.

"Isn't there anything that you can do for her?" Lee asked Rose in despair.

"Transfer it to me. I'll gladly die in her place. He needs her," Heather volunteered.

Rose could see that the fixed point was already in place. Donna's decision, whatever it was, had always been it. Rose was trying to make sure that this didn't happened by having her talk to the Council first, but she had failed. What Donna had just done was always supposed to happen. She could see that now. That didn't mean that she had to die for her selflessness though. Not on her watch!

"No, no one's dying here today. No one," Rose said firmly.

Rose began to glow brighter and brighter as she placed her hands on the sides of Donna's head, and everything that was Drax flowed into her mind now. Now it was Rose's turn to scream in agony as another consciousness invaded her mind and competed with her own for control of it.

"No! Rose!" Donna shouted in concern.

Rose suddenly stiffened and looked at her differently as she said, "She's a little busy right now fighting Drax out of her mind and preparing to send him back into the watch if she can, Donna. I'm afraid you'll have to deal with me at the moment."

"What? Who are you?" Donna asked.

"Arkytior. I am Rose, and yet I'm not. I'm the original Rose you might say. I usually stay in the back of Rose's mind sleeping, but someone needs to run the show while she's otherwise occupied. It's high time that you went back home and helped your Wolves, Donna Noble. They need you. Amanda will soon be in grave danger," Arkytior said.

"What? How could you know that?" Donna asked.

"I am the Bad Wolf. I know. Amanda's in danger once more from a threat that she won't even see coming. One that everyone thinks is dead. Go back and help her. You see, Donna, bad things happen even when you're not there. It wasn't just you. You blame yourself too much for things that aren't your fault," Arkytior said.

"What about Rose?" Donna asked in concern.

"She'll be alright. We're a very tough old girl. Only never call her old if you know what's good for you," Arkytior said with a warm smile.

Then she disappeared as she teleported away leaving Donna worried and upset about her friend.

"Great. That's something else for me to blame myself for. That's all that I needed," Donna muttered.

Donna changed course and returned back to the Wolves' UNIT base to find Katherine searching everywhere with a look of concern on her face. "Don't tell me. Amanda's missing," Donna said as soon as she emerged with Lee and Heather.

"How did you know? Amanda's gone. I think she ran away because you left. She felt terrible about it. She kept saying that she was nothing but trouble, and if she went away that everyone would be better off. I tried to convince her that she was wrong, but she wouldn't listen," Katherine said in despair.

"It seems like everyone in my life, including me, has been trying to run away from our problems lately, and look where it's gotten us. I'm tired of running. It's time that I take a stand. Life's about to find out that Donna Noble is at her scariest when she stands and fights, and so will whoever's about to threaten Amanda," Donna said.

"What? Who's threatening Amanda? How do you know all of this?" Katherine asked in a panic.

"A little wolf told me. I don't know who it is yet but I will. We all will," Donna said as she charged off to find the others.

"Is she always so kick butt and take charge like that?" Heather asked Lee as she watched her in amazement.

"Yes, and she's wonderful. Only she doesn't realize it. She's never figured out just how special that she really is," Lee said with a loving smile on his face.

Heather noticed with a smile that whenever he talked about Donna it was one of the few times that he didn't stutter.

Ileana and the others, who didn't yet know about Amanda's disappearance, looked up with surprise and joy as Donna came charging into the room as she said, "Listen up, Wolf Gals! Amanda's in trouble, and it's up to us to save her. Lilith, you're going to track her down with your super witch powers, and Victoria and the vampires among us are going to use their noses to sniff her out. I know that you all have Amanda's scent practically memorized by now. I'm not losing any more members of this team. Especially not my favorite one. Yeah, that's right. I said favorite. If one of you wants to be my new favorite, then you find her and bring her back here alive. Let's go!"

"She's back!" Michelle said with a smile.

"I never doubted it," Ileana said happily.

"That's enough talking. Go!" Donna shouted as she led the Wolves out onto the streets of London. She only hoped that they weren't already too late.

Amanda was walking around the streets alone with tears in her eyes and had become completely disoriented. She had no idea where she was, and she didn't care. They were all better off without her anyway. She had almost broken up the team. Without her there, maybe they'd all get back together and be much happier.

It was the kind of logic only a child would or could believe.

"What's the matter, little girl? Are you lost?" a voice that Amanda thought was familiar but couldn't quite place said to her.

She looked up to see Sister Pestilence smiling at her with Mother Doomfinger and Mother Bloodtide standing next to her. The Carrionites had all been brought together at last.

Amanda started to run but Sister Pestilence quickly pulled out a voodoo doll and plunged a huge knife into it. Amanda screamed as pain shot through her body, and she felt as though she were going to die at any moment.

"It's lucky for me that I managed to gain a sample of your hair when Xana had possessed you. That just shows that you should never throw anything away. You never do know when it might come in handy," Sister Pestilence said with a cold heartless laugh.

"Let her go! Now!" Donna shouted.

The three Carrionites turned to see Donna and the Bad Wolves standing there behind them. Sister Pestilence smiled as she said, "It seems that our revenge is complete at last, my sisters. Now we will destroy the ones who took Lilith from you, and then we will get her back. Soon we will reunite your family once more."

"I don't think so. Lilith's staying on our side. I like her," Dorothy said with a grin as she suddenly appeared in a burst of golden energy and released Amanda from the Carrionites' spell with a wave of her hand.

Amanda ran to her mother, and Katherine hugged her in relief. "I'm sorry. It seems that I just cause trouble no matter what I do," Amanda said.

Katherine shook her head no at her and kissed her forehead.

"You're back!" Donna said to Dorothy with joy.

"Yeah, someone paid me a visit and told me that I would just get too bored sitting around that house in Perivale forever. You know what? She was right," Dorothy said with a grin.

"Is she alright?" Donna asked in concern.

"I think she will be. At least she was occasionally talking to me as herself anyway. It's very annoying when she keeps shifting back and forth between Mum and Arkytior in the middle of a sentence though," Dorothy said with a trace of hidden worry in her voice.

"Excuse me. We're here to kill you if you don't mind," Sister Pestilence said in annoyance.

"Yeah, would you care to explain that to me? Aren't you dead?" Donna asked.

"Luckily for me, I freed my sisters from UNIT before that creature killed me. They found me and brought me back to life with the right words in the right place. Now we are united at last, and we will claim Lilith back at our own," Sister Pestilence said.

"I'm not coming back. I like who I am now," Lilith said firmly.

"You've been brainwashed by them, Lilith. Don't you see that? We're here to fix you. We'll make you one of us again, and then together the four of us will bring the other Carrionites here to Earth. We will finally claim this place as our home at long last," Sister Pestilence said.

"Oh, come off of it, Witch Gal! You don't really care about her at all. The only reason that you want her is because you need her to open the portal for you, don't you? You're not an original Carrionite. You're only a part of a human being who was turned so it won't work for you, will it? You need Lilith back to complete the spell, and you're using her mothers' affection for her to get them to help you," Donna deduced.

Sister Pestilence snarled, and Donna knew that it was true.

"What does it matter what my reasons are? I'll get their daughter back for them and claim the Earth for me and my kind. Everyone wins. Everyone but you and the human race that is. No one really cares about you though. Trust me. No one will miss humanity once it's gone," Sister Pestilence said.

"That's funny. I was just about to say the same thing about you lot," Ileana said as her fangs extended and she prepared to attack.

"It begins then. Let's celebrate two victories today, sisters. First we'll kill our worst enemies, and then we'll bring back our trapped sisters and start a new age of blood and death on first the Earth and then throughout the entire universe," Sister Pestilence said with an evil cackle.

The other two Carrionites quickly joined her, and the three of them began to laugh together as they prepared to do battle with the Bad Wolves. Lilith meanwhile dreaded what was to come. No matter who won she lost.

Donna, however, was looking forward to it. This was her big chance to prove that she was wrong about herself. She was more than worthy of leading this team. She knew it, and she was going to make sure that the Carrionites knew it too by the time that she was through with them.

Next: We celebrate the 50th chapter of Bad Wolves by coming full circle with a huge showdown between the Bad Wolves and the Carrionites. Also what will happen to Rose? Will Lee ever gain Drax's consciousness and his knowledge of the C.I.A. back? Oh, and shouldn't there be a wedding? This is a 50th chapter after all. I aim to please.