Author's Note: This is one of my shorter chapters in this story, but this scene needed to be completely on it's own for reasons that will quickly become obvious. Get some tissues ready for the end of the chapter, I was in tears as I wrote it.
I have had this scene planned almost since the beginning of this story, I hope you like it!
Thank you for those who have taken the time to review and message me! Your comments truly do make my week and month!
They stepped out into a sterile corridor that had haunted Donna's nightmares for the many long weeks of her father's illness. She winced at the cold smell of sickness that seemed to hang in the air, the pall of death that lingered like an ever present specter over those who walked the halls.
The Doctor paused next to her, his mind tangled lightly with hers while he felt her struggle with the memories that were suddenly surging within her. Thankfully, her mental barriers were firmly in place and the control that she had learned on Bellatrix Prime was allowing her to move through the world in a silent bubble where the agony of the dying would not be able to destroy her.
He remembered his own escapades in this hospital over the years, especially the one that had led to his meeting with Martha Jones. He hadn't realized it at the time, but she would be the one that would finally remind him that he couldn't go on for all eternity wallowing in the past even as she had walked out of the Tardis doors. He had much to thank Martha for, much that he hadn't ever said and he realized that he most likely would not have been able to let himself fall for Donna if Martha hadn't been willing to walk out of his life.
Donna's hand reaching out to the Doctor startled him out of his thoughts as she made her way down the corridors from memory; her eyes were misting when she saw the nurses that all knew her on a first name basis passing from one to the next without even noticing that she had come for a visit. It looked to be after the normal visitor's hours and with a glance out of one of the windows to show that it was indeed after dark, she knew that she had very little chance of running into her former self at this time.
She would most likely have been gone for a few hours already, off to chase another lead that may or may not lead to the Doctor. Looking back, she regretted that she hadn't spent more time with him then she did in those last few weeks. Yes, she had visited with him every day but her mind had always wandered over the things that she had been researching, wondering which lead might be the most promising to follow.
The Doctor's senses flared as they made their way towards Geoffrey Noble's room; his breath catching every time an orderly or nurse crossed their path before they would move on to some other task. He hadn't thought to grab a perception filter when they had left the Tardis, but for some strange reason it seemed that the hospital staff didn't care that they were there. That, or Donna was such a familiar fixture in this ward that they didn't bother to stop her from visiting her father.
He felt a pang of sadness when he thought of what she had gone through during the year that she had been searching for him. Spending her nights following any lead no matter how crazy just because she had so regretted turning him down that one night, and spending her days at her dying father's bedside. They were finally coming full circle, and the Doctor would be able to right the wrong that he had unwittingly committed by returning Donna to her life and never once bothering to come back to check on her.
He had meant to as the months had passed, but things had just happening and with Martha it had gotten so complicated. He really did deserve to lose her as a companion, especially after the hell that her family had been forced to endure because of her involvement with him. It was specifically because of those events that he had been hesitant to let Donna back into his life when they had found each other at Adipose Industries.
The Doctor had hated the never ending loneliness though, and being with Donna had always been so easy even though they had only spent a single, crazy day together. She didn't adore him or worship the ground he walked on, though she did always hold him in an incredibly high esteem of which he never quite felt worthy. She had been willing to step up beside him, to place her life on the line so that that the rest of the universe could be saved.
He let his gaze rest gently on her face for a moment, his mind slowly shutting off his side of the bond so as not to intrude during her reunion with her father. He had loved her almost from the first day she had come shouting into his life, and now finally he was able to be with her properly in her world.
Donna stopped before a plain white door, her hand was trembling as it rose to grasp the knob. She looked back at the Doctor, her mind too distraught to really notice the sudden quieting of his thoughts as he let her have a moment's peace. Her striking blue eyes were shining with unshed tears when she met his troubled gaze, the burn of tears an ever present threat that she tried to dispel with false bravado. "He was lucky that the only bed they had had available in the oncology ward was a private one. It gave us some privacy, which was just as well since my mum always seemed to think that dad would be on her side when she would let into me." Donna's head fell for a moment, her eyes clenching closed before she whispered. "God, I hated that we fought so much in front of him. Would that I could do it all over again."
She took a deep breath, her eyes locking with his when she saw the pain in his eyes as his hand reached for her and she chose that moment to open the door. If he touched her, she knew that all control she had would be utterly lost.
The room was exactly as she had remembered it, the beeping of the monitors was an incessant sound that had driven her to distraction during her many visits. His chart was clipped to the end of the bed, just as it always had been just in case he had to be moved with a moment's notice. Good old NHS, always ready to move beds around for those with the money to pay for the luxuries in life.
Geoffrey Noble was lying in bed with his dinner tray pushed to the side while he held the television remote in his hand, trying to decide if he wanted to turn on the telly. He was startled when Donna walked into the room, but the smile on his face was genuine as he called out to her. "I thought you'd gone home for the night, Donna."
Donna's hands flew to her mouth when the tears finally burst free, her breath coming in a gasping sob that she was powerless to stop as she flew across the room and took his frail hand into hers. She knew that she was making a spectacle of herself but she couldn't seem to stop herself when she saw the warmth in his eyes transform to sudden concern. He reached up to brush her hair back from her forehead, hair that he noticed for the first time was styled in a completely different way than it had been just a few hours earlier. "Sweetheart, tell me what's wrong?"
The soft clicking of the door closing caused Geoffrey to look up and he could hardly believe it when the man who had come back with Donna to the aborted reception stepped into the glow cast from the light mounted on the wall behind him. "You! What are you doing back here?"
Donna's head jerked up when she heard her dad's question, her gaze flying back to the Doctor to find him standing uncomfortably with his hands shoved into his pockets while he pondered how best to answer her father's question. "I found him again, Dad. That's where I've been every night after I left the hospital, I've been searching for him for months because I couldn't believe I'd been so stupid to turn down his offer to travel with him."
Geoffrey looked from Donna to the man who had called himself the Doctor, his gaze noting subtle differences in the both of them from when he had seen them together last. It was too fantastic to even consider, but then just the previous year he had never expected that robot santas would try to kill them all. "What is this about, Doctor? Is there another disaster that's about to happen? Are you here to warn us or something? Or are you here to take Donna with you again?"
The Doctor smiled softly at the quick wit inherent in Geoff's question, not for the first time realizing that Donna must have gotten much of her intelligence from the ailing man lying before him. He could see the thoughts practically racing through Geoffrey's mind, the connections that were being formed even before the Doctor opened his mouth.
It pained him to see the truncated timelines swirling around the man, all of them were sputtering out and it was obvious that the end was near. He hadn't let himself look at the timelines around Donna's family when he had first met them, and honestly what would he have done if he had? "Mr. Noble. I know we didn't meet on the best terms the first time around, but I wanted to let you know that I regretted not being able to travel with your daughter the first time I met her. I didn't realize how much I had missed her quick wit until she'd turned me down."
Geoffrey was holding tight to Donna's hand, her hot tears scalding the back of his hand in a reminder that she was far more upset then she otherwise should have been. She had only seen him a few hours ago and she had been her usual energetic self, talking about everything and nothing before dashing off on some hare brained escapade once again. "What do you mean when you say travel with you, Doctor? You knew what those robots were and you also knew about the exploding Christmas ornaments. Who are you, Doctor? Grant a dying man's wish and tell me just who my daughter has spent months searching for."
Donna was wiping at her eyes while she listened to her father ask the Doctor the ultimate question and she couldn't help but wonder how he would answer. She knew that he had wanted to come and ask for her father's blessing, but she honestly hadn't even thought how he would go about telling him just WHY it was that he wanted his blessing.
As far as her father was concerned, this man had careened madly through all their lives for a single day before vanishing once again without a trace. She had never been the same after he had left and there had been more than a few comments about the strange behavior that had followed. She just smiled when she felt her father patting her hand like he wanted to soothe her, though he never took his eyes from the Doctor.
The Doctor rocked on the balls of his feet while he thought how best to answer the question. He was usually very cautious on just who he told about his true nature, though he had to admit it did come out more often then he would like to think. This man was from Donna's past, and as such he could have disastrous repercussions if the Doctor didn't handle the events of the next few minutes properly.
Looking from Donna to her father though, he knew that he couldn't hide the truth from him, not when his end was indeed so near. He would just have to trust that Geoffrey would understand the importance of keeping Donna and his secret until he finally breathed his last.
The Doctor was floundering though without Donna's calm anchoring presence after he had gently closed off his side of their bond; he hadn't wanted to intrude on her reunion with her father though he had to admit that he was more worried she would sense how much her father's approval meant to him. He had debated just how much to tell Geoffrey Noble, but when faced with those far too intelligent eyes, he knew that the man would brook no nonsense where his only daughter was concerned.
The thought caused his lips to quirk into a warm smile when he remembered just how protective he had been of his children and that even though he had been absent for much of their lives, he had always wanted what was best for them. He moved closer to the bedside, his steps hesitant as he checked the desire to reach out and run his fingers along Donna's shoulders.
Her joy and grief were plain to see even without the benefit of their bond and he found himself struggling to keep his side of their bond closed until he had finished speaking with her father.
"I know that Donna didn't tell you a lot of what happened on her wedding day, and why she showed up with a virtual stranger after disappearing from the church in such a dramatic fashion. She explained to me that she thought that you all would have most likely had her committed had she told you what had really happened."
Geoffrey was listening with rapt attention as the Doctor began speaking, though he tugged on Donna's hand and urged her up on the bed with him. He wrapped his arms around her shaking shoulders in a tight embrace before looking up and nodding for the Doctor to continue.
The Doctor watched the byplay between Donna and her father, the way she curled up against him as if she was coming home made him happy that he had decided on this final visit. "Donna vanished from the church because she was being dosed with a type of energy particle that had resonated with a similar energy in my ship."
"Your ship? Are you in the military or something?"
"No, Mr. Noble." The Doctor took a deep breath, his eyes darting frantically around the room looking for something to focus on before he blurted out. "I'm actually an alien from a race of beings called the Time Lords. I have a ship that allows me to travel through space and time called a TARDIS and we've come to visit you from the future." He finished the last with a soft, panting gasp; his eyes coming to rest on Geoffrey's face to gauge his reaction to that revelation.
Geoffrey started when he heard the Doctor's words, his first impulse was to guffaw and insist that Donna and the Doctor were pulling his leg, but Donna was far too still against him. He looked down at his daughter and for the first time all the differences that had been niggling at his mind fell into place.
Donna was wearing different clothing which wasn't too much of a surprise, but there were lines around her eyes that hadn't been there earlier in the day. Her hair was cut in a completely different style and there was a gravity in her gaze that he had never before seen.
She was curled up against his side, but he somehow knew that she knew exactly what he was thinking and she was waiting for him to either believe the Doctor or call him a liar. He couldn't explain how he knew that she was aware of his thoughts, but then he also couldn't explain why he wasn't more surprised at the Doctor's revelation.
"Suppose I believe you are who and what you say you are, Doctor. Why did your ship pick Donna for whatever it was that you needed? Do you run around the universe kidnapping women from their weddings for some reason, or was this a first for you?"
"Dad, please, that's not what happened at all."
"I want to hear the Doctor explain it, Donna. Lord knows you never told any of us what really happened."
Donna subsided quietly at his words, viciously chewing her lip as she mentally berated her earlier self's stubbornness to talk about the crazy day she had spent with the Doctor.
The Doctor shook his head in denial of Geoff's words, his hand rising up to rub the back of his neck before he took a deep breath and continued. "I had nothing to do with Donna vanishing, that actually was all down to Lance. I had just happened to be in the vicinity of earth when she suddenly appeared in my ship. I'm sure you can understand that I was just as shocked as Donna was. Boy, did she let me have it! I'd never met a human with such a fiery temper as your daughter."
The Doctor stopped suddenly and blushed when he realized what he had just said, though the smile on Geoffrey's face told him that his words were not completely unexpected. "She always did have a temper on her that's for sure, and I could almost pity you for catching the brunt of it that day."
Donna flushed a deep crimson to hear them discuss her temper in such frank terms, it was a character flaw with which she had always struggled.
The Doctor saw the doubt chasing itself across her features and couldn't stop the sudden impulse to open his mind to hers, her thoughts sliding through the gap to curl up tightly within his mind while he continued. He had been stupid to block their bond. It had put her unnecessarily on edge while he had merely been worried about overwhelming her with his own concerns.
The Doctor let his eyes rest on Donna's tear streaked face for a moment more, his thoughts wrapping tightly around her own before he turned back to her father and continued. "This is where it gets a little bit complicated."
Geoffrey scoffed at that comment, deciding not to comment about how the whole day had been one weird event after another but he had a feeling that for the Doctor, those events were almost normal.
"Lance was actually working with an alien creature known as the Empress of the Racnoss. She was the last of her kind and needed a living key to unlock the capsule that she had buried at the center of the earth when the planet had first formed."
"Okay now you're really trying to pull my leg, Doctor! An alien empress buried a capsule at the center of the earth and what?" His looked up to the Doctor, his mind casting about for the most ludicrous thing he could think of before he muttered. "Let me guess? The Empress wanted the earth to form so they could hide? These aliens were the reason the earth was formed?"
The Doctor thought for a moment about that and then nodded happily that Geoffrey seemed to so quickly grasp the complexities of cause and effect. "Yes, actually. That's exactly what happened! She was trying to hide the last of her children from my people and other fledgling empires that had emerged after the dark times."
Geoffrey blinked as the Doctor just blithely continued as if he hadn't even been interrupted; if it hadn't been for Donna's calm acceptance of this crazy man's words, he would have already have been screaming for security. "I'm sorry, Doctor, but what does all of that have to do with Donna disappearing on her wedding day?"
"Lance was dosing me with something called Huon Particles which the Doctor said was the primary source of the Racnoss' power and had vanished from the universe when his people thought they had destroyed the last of them."
Her father jerked when he heard Donna's soft words, his eyes darting down to see a distant look in her eyes. "What sort of particles? Did you actually see these particles, Donna? Or did you just take the Doctor's word for it?"
She nodded numbly. "When the Doctor first discovered how the Racnoss was distilling the particles, they resonated with the particles already inside of me and made me glow." Donna made a face at that before she muttered. "Well, sort of glow. It's hard to explain. They would have killed me eventually, Dad. If they hadn't done the job, then the Empress was going to feed me to her children when they finally emerged from their capsule."
The Doctor could tell that Donna's father was really struggling to not dismiss everything that they were saying, he was asking well thought out questions and trying to change his entire way of thinking in just a few short moments. The Doctor actually was regretting that he would never have the chance to get to know this remarkable man any better.
"Torchwood had been drilling to the center of the earth trying to tap into an unknown energy source that turned out to be the Racnoss' capsule. Their drilling disturbed the eggs and brought the Empress out of her hibernation at the edge of the universe, she came to earth and enlisted Lance's aid to fashion the key that she needed to release the young."
"You said eggs, Doctor. What manner of creatures were the Racnoss and why did your people try to destroy them?"
The Doctor took a deep breath, unable to help the cold flare of anger that burned through him when he thought of everything that had happened that day below HC Clements. "The Racnoss were born killers. They most closely resembled giant spiders but had an intelligence far beyond many of the fledgling empires. They were born starving and with teleportation technology were able to decimate entire planets without ever having to land their ships. We weren't the only ones to fight against the plague of the Racnoss, we were just the ones that had finished the job. Or so we thought."
Geoffrey's free hand rose to his head as his eyes slid closed, the soft groan bubbling from his lips was so quiet that they both almost missed it. "You're saying that Lance was working with a giant spider in order to free her children so they could devour the planet?"
Donna nodded softly at her father's words, her fingers tightening briefly in his grasp before she whispered. "I didn't realize what was happening until I saw him standing at her side by the edge of that pit. He let me know the real reason why he had chosen me, he felt that I was an easy target."
Geoffrey cast a sad look down at Donna, his heart breaking when he realized just how much his daughter really had lost on that cursed wedding day. "So Lance marrying you was all a ploy?"
A single tear streaked down her cheek while she numbly nodded. "Yeah, he said he had to keep me from running off. He said me falling in love with him made it easy."
"Oh, Donna. Why didn't you ever tell us?" Geoffrey pulled his daughter's trembling body into his arms, his hand rising to pull her close against his chest. He hated that he had monitors and IV's stuck into his arms as they became tangled in Donna's hair and arms as she threw her arms around him, but she didn't seem to care as she finally let herself sob for everything that she had been forced to endure.
"Do you really think she would have said anything with how she was so often belittled and browbeaten at home? If she'd told you what had really happened, can you honestly say that you or Sylvia wouldn't have called her a liar and accused her of making up yet another story to cover up what you perceived as yet another failure?"
Geoffrey stiffened at the Doctor's words, his angry retort dying on his lips when he looked up and saw the look of raw agony on the man's face and the anger drained away leaving him shaken and bereft. "Is this why you've come back, Doctor? To throw in my face how much I've let my daughter down now that there's nothing I can do to change it?"
"No, no, no! That was not my intention at all, Mr. Noble. I wanted to bring her back so that you could see she was finally happy and that she always thought you were the one who gave her the courage to chase her dreams."
Geoffrey was openly crying now as he clutched his daughter to his chest, his hand just holding her against him as he whispered soothing nonsense into her hair and in turn listened to the heart wrenching sobs that she couldn't control. "My poor baby girl. I'm so sorry that you felt you couldn't come to me with this. I'd like to think that I would have believed you in the end, but I don't know if I can honestly say that I would have. I'm going to make it up to you though, I promise!"
Donna looked back up at him and shook her head frantically, her hand rising to swipe angrily at the tears streaming from her eyes while her gaze darted back to the Doctor. "Dad, you can't say or do anything different to me."
"But Donna, why not? I want to make it up to you before it's too late."
The Doctor stepped closer, reaching out to rest his hand on the ailing man's shoulder; letting the touch open his mind briefly so that he could see the amazing heights to which his daughter had risen, all of which was borne of the driving desperation she had felt to be reunited with him. He let Geoffrey Noble see the sacrifices that Donna had made so that all of creation could live and he let her father feel the endless depths of his love for the man's daughter.
"Donna's future is more important than anything in the universe, Mr. Noble. She must be allowed to continue towards that future without any foreknowledge of what will come, because neither of us can be allowed to do anything differently. The very fate of all of creation rests on the future that that Donna still has to live."
Geoffrey blinked as he felt his mind suddenly opened, his consciousness falling into the abyss of the Doctor's suddenly ancient eyes. He could see his daughter standing strong next to the Doctor while the world around them burned. He could feel the wonder that this alien felt when she had decided to help him right a wrong that would ultimately lead to death and destruction for tens of thousands of people. Her hands entwining with the Doctor's in that ancient time to bring events back into line with history.
He gasped when he thought he caught a flash of a mountain exploding and a city being buried beneath tons of ash and rock, the screams of the doomed echoing through the air around them. Donna's tear streaked face as she begged the Doctor to just save someone, save someone from burning even though he hadn't been able to save his own people from the same fate. The rage that had filled the Doctor had been suddenly tempered by Donna's compassionate pleas.
Geoffrey sobbed softly at the terrible aching loneliness that echoed through the brief touch of the Doctor's hand, his mind almost overwhelmed by the feeling of utter devotion and love that he felt for Donna Noble. She was his partner through thick and thin, she was his sanity in a world gone completely mad and she had finally shown him what it meant to not be alone.
The Doctor pulled back with a soft smile, his eyes lingering briefly on Geoffrey's tear streaked face before he whispered. "Do you see now, what she has yet to do? What she will become? Your daughter is the most important woman in the universe."
Geoffrey squeezed Donna tightly once more as he truly let himself see beyond the façade that the Doctor projected, the strange feeling of a being of immense power filling his mind with memories and images was almost more than he could bear. "What are you, Doctor? You've seen so much. So much pain and so much death, is that all traveling with you will ever be?"
A sad smile seemed to flit across the Doctor's features before he shook his head, his gaze once more straying to Donna as she looked up at him with absolute trust in her eyes. "No, it's so much more than that. It's wondrous and beautiful and yes at times it can be terrifying. I won't lie and say it's never dangerous, but I'm the last of my kind and I'm the only one who can make sure that time doesn't fall into complete ashes."
Donna reached up to her father, her hand brushing his cheek lightly before she was able to find her voice once more. "The things I've seen, Dad. I sometimes think I'm going mad, but he really is a protector. I think sometimes he needs someone to remind him of just what he's fighting for, and he's been fighting longer than you could possibly imagine."
The Doctor stood silently while Geoffrey digested everything that he had just seen during that brief contact with the Doctor's mind; he had made sure to keep absolute control of the link so as not to burn his mind to a crisp but he knew that more than he had intended had slipped through that bond.
It only took a few moments for Geoffrey to look down at Donna, her suddenly ageless gaze reminding him that this was no longer the woman who came to visit him every day while running through a life gone mad. She had come into her own and found an inner core of strength that he could see would serve her well through all that was yet to come. "I'm already gone for you, aren't I, Donna?"
Donna sniffled and looked up at the Doctor, breathing deeply when he merely nodded in response to the unspoken question. "Yes, Dad. You've been dead for several years now and not a day goes by that I don't miss you."
"Oh sweetheart, I'm so sorry I won't be there to see you finally embrace the amazing woman that I always knew you would be. But I'm glad that I got to have a glimpse of her before I go."
Donna's chin quivered when she was forcibly reminded that this would be the last time that she ever saw her father and she found herself memorizing every detail of the event. She had thought she had had more time with him in the past and so she had run off without truly taking the time to cherish every moment, never knowing that soon it would be his last. She couldn't thank the Doctor enough for giving her this last chance to say goodbye to her father properly.
The Doctor leaned back, struggling against the burn of his own tears when he felt the sorrow in Donna's mind as she was saying her final goodbye. "Mr. Noble…"
"Please call me Geoff, Doctor. I think the time for formalities has passed."
The Doctor just smiled, tilting his head in acknowledgement of the correction before he continued. "Geoff, I wanted to bring Donna back to say goodbye properly one last time but also because I wanted to ask you a very important question."
Geoffrey looked down at his daughter, his eyes falling unerringly to the thick golden band that was nestled on her ring finger. "I think I know what that question is, Doctor. But answer me this, did you give her a similar ring on the day that you met her?"
The Doctor shifted uncomfortably on the balls of his feet, his expression suddenly turning sheepish when faced with the potential fallout from an angry father. "I did, Geoff. It was a device that I thought would protect her from the machines that were tracking her, but that was before I knew that she'd been dosed with Huon particles."
Geoffrey simply nodded in acceptance of the Doctor's answer. "She still has that ring you know, Doctor. She thinks I don't notice it but I do see it every now and then when she forgets herself and wears her necklace outside her top." He seemed to be mulling something over, his eyes gazing thoughtfully at the Doctor before he continued. "You were going to ask me something, Doctor?"
The Doctor audibly gulped, his mind suddenly freezing now that he was faced with the knowing look in Geoffrey Noble's eyes. He could feel Donna's thoughts whispering soft encouragement to him, her faith in him causing his hearts to lurch painfully in his chest before he found the courage to speak. "Yes, Mr. Noble I have. I've come to ask for your blessing on our union, events have transpired that were out of both of our control but I know that your blessing would mean the world to her. I want her to be my wife and I want more than anything to have the chance to be a good husband for her."
Geoffrey leaned back against the pillows behind him, his eyes narrowed as he studied the strange alien man that had so completely changed his daughter's life. He could tell that the Doctor loved Donna nearly to distraction and that through whatever strange power he possessed, he had brought her back in time to fulfill the one wish that she had thought would never be possible. He could tell that this man would move heaven and earth for his daughter, and that she truly had been better for having met him.
He looked down at his daughter, the soft smile on her lips letting him know how she felt about his question but he had to ask her for his own peace of mind. "And how do you feel about all of this, Donna. Are you truly happy? Do you want to marry the Doctor?"
Donna's lips parted when she heard her father's question, her eyes lighting up when she let her gaze rest on the man standing beside them before she turned those shining eyes back up to him. "Yes, Dad. I want that more than anything in the whole universe. I want to spend every day with him, running through our crazy lives, living life to the fullest and knowing that no matter how hard I may stumble, he'll be there by my side to catch me."
Donna's words settled matters in Geoffrey's heart, he could plainly see how much they loved each other and he knew that she had never been happier. She had changed since the wedding, and obviously had changed even more in the intervening years that she had spent travelling with this man. He was once more reminded forcibly that he wouldn't be able to share in the future with her but it gave him comfort to know that she would finally find what she had so desperately been looking for.
"You promise to take care of my daughter, Doctor? You promise to protect her even from herself when she needs you to."
Donna pulled back with a scowl on her face, her retort silenced by the knowing smile that her father gave her. She supposed he did have a point with his questions, but she didn't even get in to how it was the Doctor that needed protecting from himself more often than she did.
The Doctor just grinned softly when he felt the snap of her thoughts, his eyes turning back to meet her father's with an uncharacteristic gravity. He let his shields drop for just a moment so that Geoff could truly see the manner of being that stood before him, the power of eons of evolution and the iron will that had held to a strict code. He hid nothing from his gaze so that Geoffrey would know that any word that the Doctor uttered could be counted on as being completely truthful.
Geoffrey watched the transformation in the man before him, gone was the lanky nervousness and in its stead was a solemn focus that screamed of utter devotion and heart breaking loss. The Doctor knew what it was to love and lose and he would do everything in his power to make sure that he held to those he loved tightly. Geoffrey nodded almost imperceptibly as his impression of the man had just been confirmed.
"Geoffrey Noble, I swear on every breath that I may take that I will love and protect Donna for all the rest of her days. I will do everything in my power to ensure her happiness even if sometimes I end up getting slapped for my efforts." The Doctor chuckled at the indignant squawk from Donna before he continued. "I promise that I will love her and cherish her for all the rest of our lives together and even beyond, and I promise that I will never set her aside for anything in the universe."
Geoffrey sat up as straight as his weakened body would allow him, his eyes boring into the ancient gaze of the Doctor before he reached out to clasp a surprisingly cool hand in acknowledgement of his promise. "See that you do, Doctor. I won't be there to make sure that you keep that promise, but I know that there are others that will only be too happy to make sure you are a man of your word."
Donna sniffled softly when she saw her father and the Doctor come to a silent understanding; men, no matter the species it seemed, would always confound the living daylights out of her. It was a strange meeting of the minds; the ancient Time Lord had been nearly cowed by a human male many centuries his junior. She couldn't help but whisper. "Gramps loves him, Dad. They've become great friends."
Geoff guffawed at her comment, his strength draining from his body as he settled back against the pillows with a chuckle. "Of course he would. Wilf had always been enamored with those who were a trifle strange."
"Hey, I resent that comment!"
Donna laughed softly, her gaze darting up to his with a wealth of affection. "You mean you resemble that comment, Doctor."
Geoffrey suddenly grimaced as he was forcibly reminded about one person who would not at all be happy with this turn of events. "How is Sylvia taking his reappearance in your life?"
The Doctor groaned softly at the reminder. "We're slowly coming to an understanding, though she doesn't know the truth about the two of us yet."
Geoff shook his head, his gaze drifting over to his bedside cabinet before he leaned up with a soft groan. He slipped his arm from around Donna's shoulder so that he could more easily reach the top drop, his trembling fingers pulling it open so that he could start to look for something within.
Donna sat up when she saw how much he was struggling, she truly had never noticed how fragile he had become in his last weeks as the cancer had quickly destroyed his body but now it was painfully obvious. "Dad, what are you looking for? Can I help at all?"
Geoffrey shook his head with a scowl, his eyes flashing up at his daughter before he muttered. "No, I'll be alright. I'm not completely useless yet you know!"
The Doctor stepped forward towards the bedside cabinet, his hands ready to catch Geoff should he overreach and begin to fall. He hated seeing how frail her father had become even since he had seen him at the wedding. It had only been a few months for him since that crazy day, but he obviously had to have already been terribly sick to have come to this stage so quickly.
He sometimes wished that he didn't care so much about timelines, he knew that he had the technology to save Geoffrey Noble but he knew that he couldn't do that. His death had been a driving force in Donna's life, it had pushed her to reach beyond her comfortable life and search the world for him. So he stood quietly aside as the dying man rummaged about in his bedside drawer, the breath coming in wheezing gasps before he finally located the pad of paper and pen that he had been looking for.
"Oh, don't for a single minute think that she doesn't suspect the truth." Geoffrey said with a worrying shortness of breath, his eyes though were sparkling as he settled back into bed. "I saw it as soon as the both of you walked into the room. She never really got over your appearance at the wedding, Doctor. Trust me, I hear about it all the time when she comes in to complain about something else that Donna has done. You would think your name was 'that man' for how much she goes on about you."
"Trust me, Dad. She hasn't gotten any better."
Geoffrey looked up in time to see the Doctor wince while the fingers of his left hand were tugging nervously at his earlobe. "Yeah, well I imagine it's going to only get worse once we tell her the news."
"That won't do at all." Geoffrey glanced back to Donna, not at all surprised to see the curious look in her eyes.
"Well, I can't exactly tell her that I met up with your future self and gave my blessing to the man that she is still positive is the reason for her daughter's ruined prospects, now can I?"
"Unfortunately, no you can't, Geoff."
He nodded up to the Doctor, the pen tapping for a moment against his lips before he continued. "There you go, messing with time and all that bit I will leave to those more qualified then I. I do, however, want her to know that I have met the both of you, the future you and that I can see how happy he makes you. I don't want her to try to meddle between the two of you too much, because she will if she gets it into her head."
The Doctor just shook his head in denial. "That won't change anything, Geoff. I'm not letting go of Donna no matter what anyone says." He didn't add that he had no desire to ever let her go; that her soul completed him in ways few would ever understand and that they were bound more tightly than any human would ever be able to conceive.
Geoff just grinned impishly at the both of them. "Quite right, Doctor. I can see that and I wholeheartedly approve."
Donna was beaming at her father's acceptance of the Doctor, her heart was fluttering between joy and despair as she could feel the minutes of their visit ticking inexorably away. She knew that she would always hold the memory of this night close, but she suddenly didn't want it to end. She had so much that she wanted to tell him, so much that she wanted him to understand about just who the Doctor was and why she had fallen so madly in love with him. But she could tell when he smiled that wistful smile, that he already knew everything that she couldn't say and that he couldn't have been more proud of her than he was in that moment.
It was with stunning clarity that she realized why her father had been so completely different in his last few weeks of life. Why it was that he had been looking at her with happy speculation and why he had tried to draw her out of the protective shell that she had built around herself after her wedding day. She realized that those weeks of happiness had been her and the Doctor's gift to her earlier self and that only now could she appreciate those memories for how precious they had been.
The Doctor was watching her with a soft smile, his mind listening to the crazed dance of thoughts that raced haphazardly through her mind as she tried to memorize every detail of the next few moments. He hated that they would have to leave soon and he wished that he could suspend time for hours on end so that she could finally have those lost hours with her father where he knew just exactly who she was and got to share in the beautiful life that she had begun to build.
He watched Geoffrey as he was scribbling on the pad of paper, his lip caught between his teeth as he continued to write at a furious pace. The Doctor didn't read what Donna's father was writing as he had a feeling it was a private note, but he also knew that the man wouldn't let this opportunity pass him by.
With a final flourish, Geoffrey signed the bottom of the page and tore it from the pad. He set the pad and pen aside and folded the note into neat quarters before handing it to the Doctor for safekeeping. "I want you to deliver that to Sylvia when you finally do break the news to her, Doctor. It's my way of helping her come to accept the truth of the two of you."
The Doctor took the note with a shaking hand and tucked it into his right breast pocket, his eyes shining with unshed tears as he saw the knowledge suddenly burning in his gaze. The man knew that this was it, and that he would never see this version of his daughter again. "I think it's time you and Donna left, Doctor. The nurses are going to come around on their night rounds soon and it wouldn't do for them to tell Sylvia in the morning that Donna and a strange man were in my room so late at night."
The Doctor swallowed past the painful lump in his throat when he felt the instant shout of denial in his mind, Donna's tear ravaged face was looking up at him begging for just a few moments more. "Quite right, Geoffrey Noble. We've already risked much by coming here as it is, but I couldn't leave this important task undone."
Donna was clutching tightly to her father's hand, heedless of the fact that her grip had to be hurting him as his IV dug into her palm, tears were streaming down her face as she tried desperately to hold on for just a few moments more. "Please, Doctor, not yet. Please, I can't leave him just yet."
The Doctor came around to the other side of her father's bed, his hands reaching out to gently disentangle her grip from her father's hand. "Donna, you know it's time for us to go. No one can ever know that we were here, least of all yourself or your mother."
Donna was nearly inconsolable as the Doctor pulled her to her feet, his own control was cracking dangerously as she sobbed. "I don't want to go yet, Doctor. Please, there's so much more I want to tell him!"
The Doctor held her close against him, his arms holding tightly to her as she clutched desperately at his hands. "He already knows, Donna. Trust me, he already knows."
Geoffrey was looking up at her with tears burning in his eyes, tears that he refused to let fall lest they make it even harder for his daughter to leave and return to her amazing life. He let himself drink in every detail of the amazing woman his daughter would become, her tear ravaged face showing that she did truly love him and that even after he was long gone she would never forget him. "The Doctor's right, Donna. I already know, I've already seen the most important woman in the universe and I'm proud to know that she's my daughter."
The Doctor's eyes locked with his, the respect and sorrow was almost more than Geoffrey could bear. He knew that he would hold the memory of this night close to his chest as he finally breathed his last, and that he would be able to finally find peace in the knowledge that eventually Donna would be loved and cherished in a way that she had always been searching for. "I love you, Donna. I'm so very proud of you and who you've become. Go on now, go with the Doctor and live that amazing life that you finally found. And remember to give your mother my love. Tell her, I'm sorry I couldn't share in this time with her."
Donna burst into fresh tears as she threw her arms around him one last time, turning her face so that she could inhale his beloved scent even though it was tainted with the stench of medicine and death and she gently squeezed him goodbye. "I love you, Dad."
He patted her back while his gaze locked with the Doctor's, his nod almost imperceptible before he pulled back from his distraught daughter. "Thank you, Doctor. Thank you for giving me this brief glimpse of my daughter's happiness. I can finally die with a light heart."
The Doctor's jaw clenched at the man's words, his battle with the tears finally lost as he looked at the man who had been so instrumental in Donna's life. He could see the timelines fading even more rapidly and knew that the man would no longer fight the end that was coming to claim him. It broke his hearts to know that this kind man's beautiful spirit would soon be gone from the universe. He would be gone, but the Doctor vowed that he would never be forgotten.
"Geoffrey Noble, thank you for trusting me with your daughter. Thank you for your blessing on our union. Rest well, Sir and know that she will always be loved."
Geoffrey nodded one last time to the Doctor and Donna, his hands were clenched into fists to fight off the continued tears that he knew would cause his daughter to throw herself back into his arms. He sat there stoically watching the two of them turn to leave the room before he finally fell back against the bed and let the tears fall to scald his cheeks.
His time was coming soon and nothing the doctors could do would stop that now. He hugged the blanket close to his chest, burying his nose in the cloth that still faintly held his daughter's scent.
He had been given a rare and precious gift that night and though it would be extremely difficult keeping this secret from the rest of his family, he could finally accept the reality of his own death with a sense of calm serenity.
His daughter was happy and that was truly the most important gift of all.