Chapter Two

The Doctor stumbled along the path, scrubbing his hands through his disheveled hair as he rebuilt the walls around his mind once more. Gods, he was mad coming here and torturing himself like this. Knowing that she was wandering aimlessly by his own hand, that she was most likely screaming and not even sure why. Sure Wilf told him that she was getting on, she had a job and was even seeing some nice bloke named Shaun, but that he still caught her looking up at the sky, pausing as if listening for something before shaking her head and moving on.

He knew that it was killing Wilf to see her like this, though Sylvia was happier with him being out of Donna's life and her being firmly back in control, or so she thought. He stumbled as he remembered the unmistakable pride in Wilf's voice as he would regale the tales of the truly epic rows that Donna had with Sylvia now. At least a part of her soul was still burning brilliantly, even if she may not know why it burned so hot.

Sighing as he turned the corner into the alley where he had parked the Tardis, he fumbled with the key in his pocket before sliding it into the lock and slipping back inside. The low hum of the ship greeted him, the gentle touch against his mind a balm even when he felt it was not deserved.

"Well Girl, she's getting on. Wilf even said she was, but I just had to make sure before we were off." The gentle tinkling of bells responded to his words, as well as a soft feeling of reproach as she knew he was trying to put on a brave front. What felt like the mental equivalent of a flick to his ear was what she thought of the show.

Pushing away from the doors and scrubbing his hands over his whisker roughened face, he made his way up to the console and ran his fingers lovingly over the controls before him.

"For the first time in a long time, I don't know what to do, old girl. I'm the one who hurt her and I have no idea how to make that right." Looking up at the time rotor with its gentle pulsing green glow, he sighed as he set the controls to random and gave the ship her head. "Take me someplace that I can just forget girl, if even for a little while." He muttered softly, almost as an afterthought. "As it is, I don't know how much longer I have."

The gentle brush of the Tardis' consciousness was her answer as the whirring sound of dematerialization filled the control room and they faded off into nothing.

Donna looked up as she realized most of the day had gone and she hadn't read a single word more in her book after her massive pity party. "Bugger and this was my only day off too." Creasing the corner of her book to mark her place, smiling softly as the movement for some reason triggered a feeling of rebellion in her. She paused as that had been the first real sensation she could cling to in months as she ran her finger over the sharp crease. Why was that motion so important to her right now when she had done it all her life? It made her want to stick her tongue out in a purely childlike manner as if she could almost imagine someone chastising her for ruining a perfectly good book. Sighing softly, she closed the book and lifted her head to survey the park as evening was fast approaching.

She sat up and stretched the kinks out of her muscles, noticing that the park had only a few people in it now. A couple with a pram, an old man with his dog and a blonde man walking along the path towards where she sat on the park bench.

He was watching her, a smile on his lips that didn't quite reach his eyes, and some deep instinct awoke within her as she hastily packed her book in to her oversized purse and made to put it over her shoulder to get up when he seemed to stumble as he neared her. Catching himself on the bench, he smiled apologetically at her.

"Sorry, bit clumsy of me."

She recoiled from his voice for some reason, her old sass that had been dormant for so long rising quickly to the fore. "Oi, mate you pissed or some such? Bit early for it." She clutched her bag close to her body, as she rose to her feet. "Have a seat then, maybe your head will clear after a bit."

As she turned to go, his eyes followed her and once again that touch brushed against her mind. She batted her hand in her hair, looking about as if a bee were buzzing around her head. That response was all the answer he needed, he stood back up and with a wicked grin sent a wave of telepathic energy blasting straight in to her mind, right along the ridges and seams of those walls that he knew all too well.

The shielding melted beneath his assault and he was met with the bright shining mind of the one being in this universe like himself, only somehow that mind was now partly within the frail human mind before him.

Donna spun about, completely disoriented, her eyes glowing with golden fire as she stared in horror at him, before they rolled back into her head and she collapsed to the ground.

Stepping forward, The Master gathered this intriguing puzzle into his arms and grinned as he fiddled with the vortex manipulator on his Wrist. "Oh Doctor, Doctor, Doctor. What foolish thing have you done now?

His laughter echoed on the breeze long after the bright light of transference faded away.