The ride wasn't too long, though Rian was somewhat enjoying the nervousness radiating off of the Doctor and Lance, and she had a feeling Donna was too.
When the lift finally stopped, the group was greeted to a dark, eerie hallway that was light dimly in green.
"Where are we? Well, what goes on down here?" Donna asked, glancing around the area.
"Let's find out."
"Do you think Mr. Clements knows about this place?"
"Oh most definitely," Rian nodded, glancing towards the redhead.
"The mysterious H.C. Clements? I think he's part of it," the Doctor agreed, though his attention seemed to be drawn somewhere else. "Look, transport."
Rian felt somewhat ridiculous as she rode in a segway beside the others. That was, of course, until she remembered that Donna was wearing a wedding dress, Lance a tuxedo, and the Doctor a suit.
She nearly jumped when Donna began hysterically laughing. She glanced over at the woman confused, and almost as soon as she did the Doctor joined in with her laughter. Looking past the others, she shared a confused glance with Lance as Donna and the Doctor continued to laugh.
Rian could tell that they were reaching the end of the corridor, as a giant door came into view. 'Torchwood – Authorized Personnel Only' was posted boldly, striking a sense of panic into her.
Of course she couldn't even go one day without a reminder of Rose and Torchwood.
"Just a ladder?" Donna asked as the Doctor peered up.
"Wait here. Just need to get my bearings. Don't do anything," he pointed at Donna and Lance, and shared a look with Rian.
"I'll be right back," he told her, and she nodded slightly.
"Please be safe."
"When aren't I?"
When the Doctor's gaze left Rian, Donna sternly told him to come back.
"I couldn't get rid of you if I tried," he smiled ever so slightly before beginning his journey up the ladder.
With a quick look to Rian, Lance pulled Donna away, unaware that Rian would most likely hear everything he was about to say. Though, she was much more interested in making sure the Doctor didn't fall to his death.
Once he reached the top, it didn't take long for him to come back down. As he jumped off the ladder, he began explaining the situation.
"Thames flood barrier! Right on top of us. Torchwood snuck in and built this place underneath."
"What, there's like a secret base hidden underneath a major London landmark?" Donna questioned.
"I know! Unheard of."
They began walking, and they entered a laboratory, which was lined with bubbling test tubes and colorful experiments in chemistry equipment.
"Oh, look at this! Stunning! Particle extrusion!" the Doctor exclaimed, act like a child in a candy store. He made his way to get a better look as Donna asked what it did.
"They've been manufacturing Huon particles. In case my people got rid of Huons, they unraveled the atomic structure," he explained, which Rian couldn't help but notice seemed to pique Lance's curiosity.
"You're people? What are they? What company do you represent?" he questioned, but the Doctor gave it little notice.
"Oh, I'm a freelancer. But this lot is rebuilding them. They've been using the river! Extruding them through a flat hydrogen base so they've got the end result: Huon particles in liquid form," he picked up a test tube that was full of Huon particles.
"And that's what's inside me?" Donna asked, her voice raising in fear ever so slightly.
The Doctor reached for a knob, causing all the liquid Huon particles to glow.
And Donna.
"Oh, my god!" she cried, and Rian moved forward to calm the woman.
"Because the particles are inert, they need something living to catalyze inside and that's you. Saturate the body and then... HA!" the Doctor exclaimed, causing both Donna and Rian to jump. As he began speaking, Rian was worried that he was about to put his foot in his mouth again.
"The wedding! Yes, you're getting married, that's it! Best day of your life, walking down the aisle - oh, your body's a battleground! There's a chemical war inside! Adrenaline, acetylcholine, WHAM go the endorphins, oh you're cooking! Yeah, you're like a walking oven! A pressure cooker, a microwave, all churning away, the particles reach boiling point, SHAZAM!"
Rian was right, she realized, as Donna walked over to the Doctor and slapped him in the face.
"What did I do this time?" the Doctor cried, rubbing the irritated skin.
"Are you enjoying this?" she snapped, her nerves making her feel jittery. "Right, just tell me, these particles, are they dangerous? Am I safe?"
"Yes!" the Doctor said, but his voice wavered, giving him away.
"Rian," she started, trusting that the woman would answer her. "If your lot got rid of Huon particles, why did they do that?"
"Because they were extremely deadly."
"Oh my god," she whimpered.
"We'll sort it, Donna. Whatever's been done to you, we'll reverse it. I'm not about to lose someone else," the Doctor stressed.
All of a sudden crashing and banging began happening all around them.
"Oh, she is long since lost," an ethereal voice began to speak to the group. "I have waited so long, hibernating at the edge of the universe until the secret heart was uncovered and called out to waken."
Around the group, one of the walls began to shift open, revealing a large hole. "Until the secret heart was uncovered and called out to waken!"
The Doctor hummed as he learned over the hole. "Someone's been digging. Very Torchwood," he threw a cautious look to Rian. "Drilled by a laser. How far does it go?"
"Down and down, all the way to the center of the Earth!" the voice responded, ethereal and haunting all at once.
"Are you being serious?" Rian asked, glancing around as if she were going to see the voice.
"Dinosaurs."
Rian turned around to look at Donna, who was staring down the hole curiously. "What was that?"
"Dinosaurs?" Donna repeated, though this time more hesitant.
"What are you on about, dinosaurs?" the Doctor said, staring at the woman with a look of confusion and disbelief.
"That film, Under the Earth, with dinosaurs," she shrugged. "Just trying to help!"
"Not helping," the Doctor responded, and quickly dodged the swipe at his should from Rian.
"Only a madman talks to thin air and trust me, you don't want to make me mad. Where are you?" the Doctor questioned, standing up straighter.
"High in the sky, floating so high on Christmas Night."
"We didn't come all this way to talk on the intercom! Come on, let's have a look at you!"
"Who are you with such command?" the voice hissed.
"I'm the Doctor," he said.
"Prepare your best medicines, doctor-man, for you will be sick at heart," the voice promised.
The room filled with a bright light, and the sound of growls and snarls echoed.
Rian had to resist the full body flinch at seeing the creature in front of her. She'd never been a huge fan of spiders, and of course she had to be greeted with a giant red-spider like creature.
"The Racnoss," the Doctor said in awe, and horror. "But that's impossible, you're one of the Racnoss!"
"Empress," she stressed. "Of the Racnoss."
"Where are the others?" Rian asked, looking around at the lack of back up the Empress had.
"Such a sharp mind."
"The last of your kind," the Doctor whispered, and then turned to Donna. "The Racnoss come from the Dark Times, billions of years ago, billions. They were carnivores, omnivores, they devoured whole planets."
"Racnoss are born starving, is that our fault?"
"Everyone else is hungry and you don't see us eating people," Rian retorted.
"HC Clemements, dd he were those, um, those black and white shoes?" the Doctor asked, his eyes trailing towards the ceiling.
"He did! We used to call him the fat cat in spats," her face dropping as she followed the Doctor's gaze. Sticking out of a web on the ceiling were a pair of black and white shoes.
"Oh, my god!" Donna exclaimed.
"Mm, my Christmas dinner," the Empress said with a sadistic laugh.
"How are you even alive?" Rian asked, circling the Empress ever so slightly. "Your race went extinct during a war with the Fledgling Empires over 4 billion years ago."
"Except for me."
"But that's what I've got inside me, that Huon energy thing," Donna said, interrupting Rian who was preparing another question. "Oi! Look at me, lady, I'm talking. Where do I fit in? How comes I get all stacked up with these Huon particles? Look at me, you! Look me in the eye and tell me."
"The bride is so feisty," the Empress grinned.
"Yes, I am! And I don't know what you are, you big... thing. But a spider's just a spider and an axe is an axe! Now, do it!"
Rian watched in horror as Lance appeared behind the Empress with an axe. Just as she thought he was about to drive it through the Racnoss, Lance froze.
The horror and concentration that was plastered on his face disappeared into a maniac laugh, with the sound blending with the Empress' laughs.
"That was a good one. Your face!" He turned to the Empress.
"Lance is funny," she responded, and Rian watched with a sinking feeling as Donna stared at Lance.
"What?"
"I'm sorry," the Doctor whispered. Rian reached for Donna's shoulder, but she pulled away.
"Sorry for what? Lance, don't be so stupid! Get her!"
"God, she's thick," Lance stared at her, pity and annoyance dripping from his voice. "Months I had to put up with her. Months. A woman who can't even point to Germany on a map."
"I don't understand," Donna whispered.
"How'd you two meet?" Rian asked gently.
"In the office." "And he made you coffee," the Doctor finished.
"Every day, I made you coffee," Lance reiterated slowly.
"He was giving you liquid particles in your coffee got six months," Rian explained.
"He was poisoning me?" Donna asked, tears welling in her eyes.
"It was all there in the job title - the Head of Human Resources."
"This time, it's personal," Lance laughed alongside the Racnoss.
"But we were getting married," her voice was merely a whisper.
"Well, I couldn't risk you running off. I had to say yes. And then I was stuck with a woman who thinks the height of excitement is a new flavor Pringle. Oh, I had to sit there and listen to all that yap yap yap. 'Oh, Brad and Angelina; is Posh pregnant?' X Factor, Atkins Diet, Feng Shui, split ends, text me, text me, text me, dear God, the never ending fountain of fat, stupid trivia. I deserve a medal for what I went through," Lance was seething by the end.
"Oh, is that what she's offered you? The Empress of the Racnoss? What are you, her consort?"
"It's better than a night with her," he glanced pointedly.
"But I love you."
"'But I love you,'" he mocked. "That's what made it easy. It's like you said, Doctor. The big picture: what's the point of it all if the Human Race is nothing? That's what the Empress can give me. The chance to... go out there. To see it. The size of it all. I think you understand that, don't you, Doctor?"
"Who is this little physician?" the Empress observed him closely.
"What she said: Martian."
"Oh, I'm sort of, um, homeless. But the point is, what's down here? The Racnoss are extinct. What's gonna help you four thousand miles down? That's just molten core of the Earth isn't it?"
"I think he wants us to talk" Lance looked at the Empress as if he'd heard the silliest joke. "I think so too."
"Well tough! All we need is Donna."
"Kill this chattering little doctor-man and his… woman," she said flippantly.
"Don't you hurt them!"
"No, no. It's all right," Rian assured, glancing at the Doctor with a smile as he told her his plan.
"At arms!"
"Look, I just want to point out the obvious-" the Empress cut him off.
"They won't hit the bride. They're such very good shots."
"Just- just- just- hold on, just a tick, just a tiny- just a little- tick. If you think about it, the particles activated in Donna and drew her inside my spaceship. So, reverse it... the spaceship comes to her."
Rian watched as the Doctor pulled out the small tube of Huon particles from his pocket. As he fiddled with the tube, it began to glow and bubble. As the Empress yelled 'Fire!', the Tardis had essentially materialized around the group, thanks to Donna.
Rian was quicker than the Doctor, and was stationed at the central part of the console, pulling handles and pressing buttons. The Doctor joined in, and soon enough the familiar wheezing of the Tardis overpowered the room, drawing them further away from the gun shots from outside.
–Page Break–
"I hate to say it Donna, but we lied," the Doctor told her, looking up from the console screen. "We do have a time machine, and we're gonna use it."
All the while, Rian was slowly making her way beside the woman, trying her best to not spook her. She noticed the tears on her face immediately. Rian stood a foot away from Donna and silently offered her a tissue, waiting to see if she would make a move.
"Theta, you absolute dunce," Rian snapped, looking back at him to see his eyes hadn't left the console once.
"Donna," Rian offered her hand. "I think there's something you should see."
"Why can't you just take me home so I can see my bed?" Donna retorted, but followed Rian nonetheless.
"Donna Noble. Welcome to the creation of Earth," the Doctor said, pushing the doors open for Donna to look out.
"No human's ever seen this," Rian told her. "You're officially the first human to see this view."
"We've gone back 4.6 billion years. There's no solar system, not yet. Only dust and rocks and gas. And look," the Doctor pointed. "That's the Sun over there, brand new. Just beginning to burn."
"Where's the Earth?" Donna asked, looking round.
"All around us, in the dust."
"Puts the wedding in perspective. Lance was right. We're just... tiny."
"But that's the best part of being human,' Rian told her. "Your lot made something out of all this."
"So I came from these little rocks?"
"Isn't it brilliant?" the doctor grinned, and it became bigger as a larger rocker floated in front of them.
"I think that'll be the Isle of Wight," Donna said with a laugh.
"A planet is just a big dense rock pulling tinier rocks in. Over time the pressure combines it together to get…" "The Earth," Donna grinned.
"But the question is, what was the first rock?" the Doctor asked, looking around, though his face already told Rian enough.
"Oh, how dense am I?" she said as a large rock emerged, looking suspiciously like a man made star. And it seemed Donna noticed as well.
"The Racnoss," the Doctor whispered, trying his best to mask the horror. He turned to Rian, but she wasn't there.
Instead, she was standing at the console, punching buttons and preparing for flight. The rotors moved up and down, as if calling out for her to finish the sequence.
"Well, are you two coming?"
The Doctor was the first to move, leaving the doors open as he went. He stood in front of a wheel and spun it frantically.
"The Racnoss are hiding from war. So what's it doing?" the Doctor asked.
"Exactly what you said," Donna responded, the three watching as the ship pulled the rocks and dust towards it.
"The timelines line up, I don't know how I possibly missed it," Rian muttered desperately.
"They didn't just bury something at the center, they are the center," he told Donna, nearly getting knocked over by Rian as the Tardis shuddered.
Once the shaking slowed, Rian ran to the door and closed it, looking to the Doctor for what they'd do next.
"What the hell's it doing,"
"Remember that trick he used to get us into the Tardis earlier? They're pulling us back!" she yelled over mechanical noises.
"Well, can't you stop it? Hasn't it got a handbrake? Can't you reverse or warp or beam or something?" Donna pleaded, watching as the Doctor desperately tried to take control of the ship.
"Backseat driver," he muttered. "Ooh! Wait a minute!" He leaned over the console and grabbed a device, and Rian made a face that wavered between a grimace and shock.
"The extrapolator!" the Doctor exclaimed as he placed the device onto the console. "Can't stop us, but it should give us a good bump!"
"Hammer!" the words barely leaving his mouth as Rian placed it in his hand.
"Hold onto something!" Rian called out to Donna, and waited for her to grip the console tightly. "Now!"
The Tardis's familiar wheeze began and ended almost immediately, but it seemed to be enough. She landed with a heavy thud, throwing everyone off kilter.
"We've moved about 200 yards to the right. Come on!" The Doctor explained as they booked it out of the Tardis. They were in the corridor they'd previously walked down, and they were heading back towards the Thames Flood Barrier.
"What… What do we do?" Donna huffed as she struggled to catch her breath.
The Doctor pulled out his stethoscope and placed it on the door, with little thought behind the action. "I don't know! I make it up as I go along! But trust me, I've got a history."
"But I still don't understand. I'm full of particles. Why?" Donna questioned.
Before Rian could answer, a hand slipped over her mouth. A flash of panic settled through her before the adrenaline kicked in. She threw her elbow back, and immediately regretted it, having connected with the metallic body of a robot.
The hand that covered her mouth slid upward to cover her nose and pushed tightly. Before Rian had a chance to do anything else, dark spots danced around her vision and her body began to feel heavy.
'Theta…' she called out weakly, but blacked out before she could say anything else.
–Page– Break
Donna couldn't tell what the worst part of her day had been. Not getting married, sure that sucked a lot. Her family having the reception without her, oh would they hear about it later. Being poisoned by her fiance with a weirdo particle, now that might be the worst. But being stuck to a gigantic spider web in a wedding dress beside her horrible, lying fiance, yeah, that was the icing on the cake.
As they were dragging her away, Donna noticed Rian being taken as well, though they were dragging her in a different direction. She really didn't want to know what they did to her. Or what the Doctor would do when he found out.
"I hate you," she couldn't help herself from throwing out.
"Yeah I think we've gone a bit beyond that now, sweetheart."
"My golden couple. Together at last: your awful wedded life," she hissed. "Tell me; do you want to be released?"
"Yes!" both parties exclaimed, wriggling in place.
"You're supposed to say 'I do'."
Lance let out a heartless chuckle. "No chance." Much to the chagrin of the Empress.
"Say it!" she exclaimed, baring her teeth at the two.
"I do." "I do."
The Empress began to cackle. "I don't. Activate the particles. Purge every. Last. One!"
Donna felt odd as she began to glow, and looking over at Lance she saw he was as well.
"And release!"
All at once, Donna went from feeling the effects of the adrenaline of the day to feeling as if she'd just legged a whole marathon.
The golden particles moved from the two bodies and flew down the hole in the center of the room.
"The secret heart unlocks. And they will waken from their sleep of Ages."
"Who will?" Donna asked, panicked. Everything she'd heard Rian and the Doctor talk about felt like background noise.
"How thick are you?" Lance sneered, though winced slightly at the glare he received.
"My children, the long lost Racnoss. Now will be born to feast on flesh!"
Donna never considered herself to be afraid of spiders, which often shocked people. But the distant clicks and chirps echoing off the walls of the hole made her heart race/
"The web-star shall come to me," the Empress said before turning back to look at Donna and Lance.
"My babies will be hungry," she moved closer to the two. "They need sustenance. Perish the web."
Lance began to violently struggle against the web, causing Donna to flinch. "Use her! Not me! Use her!"
"Oh, my funny little Lance," the Empress tsked. "But you are quite impolite to your lady-friend. The Empress does not approve."
Donna starred in horror as the webbing that held Lance in place began to loosen. His body slipped through the webs, and plummeted down into the hole.
Something in the air changed, and Donna began to panic. There was no sign of the Doctor, and the sound of the Racnoss ascending grew louder and louder.
"My child are climb towards me and none shall stop me!" the Empress exclaimed, to what Donna thought was out of the blue. The alien hissed, and turned to the side where a masked robot stood. "So you might as well unmask, my clever little doctor-man."
Donna watched in relief as the Doctor took the disguise off, though was worried when she saw the anger on his face. "Oh well. Nice try. I've got you Donna!"
As he raised his sonic towards her, loosening the webbing around her, Donna let out a high pitched scream. "I'm gonna fall!"
"You're gonna swing!" he assured. Her heart was in her throat as she began swinging towards the Doctor who had his arm outstretched. "I've got ya!"
Donna knew almost immediately that he didn't, and braced for the wall that she was quickly approaching. Pain rushed through her as she looked up at the Doctor, who was leaning over the railing.
"Oh… sorry."
"Thanks for nothing," Donna snapped.
"The doctor-man amuses me," the Empress chuckled, which drawled the Doctor's eyes toward her.
"Empress of the Racnoss," he said, his eyes blazing with anger.
"Are you waiting for something?" she responded, her grin wicked.
"The Historian. Where is she?"
"Oh her?" the Empress asked, looking to the other side of the room where two robots were dragging a slumped over Rian. "She was in our way."
They dragged her beside Donna, and dropped her, letting her body hit the ground with a sharp thud. "You can have her back. She's of no importance."
She moved over to Rian, and placed her hand in front of her nose to feel for breathing. Donna tried to think back on her first-aid training from school, and clumsily placed her knuckles on the girl's chest and rubbed.
Rian groaned, and flinched away from Donna's hand. She hated to do it, but Donna gently slapped her face until she opened her eyes in irritation.
Donna offered her a hand, and slowly helped sit her up.
"I'd be very careful with what you say," the Doctor narrowed his eyes, though he seemed to have calmed now that Rian was awake. "I'm giving you one last chance. I can find you a planet. I can find you a place in the universe to coexist. Take that offer and end this now. This is me being nice."
"These men are so funny," she laughed.
"What's your answer?" he asked, though Donna had a feeling he was expecting her next words.
"Oh, I thought it was already clear. I'm afraid I have to decline."
"What happens next is your own doing," he told her evenly.
"I'll show you what happens next," the Empress hissed. "At arms!"
Donna looked around frantically, watching as the robots that lined the walls raised their weapons towards the two.
As she began to brace herself for her inevitable doom, all the robots went limp. She spun around to the Doctor, who was pulling a remote from his pocket. "Guess what I've got, Donna? Pockets."
"How'd that fit in there?" Donna asked, and smiled as Rian said alongside the Doctor: "They're bigger on the inside."
"Robo-forms are not necessary. My children may feast on Martian flesh," the Empress expressed.
"Oh, but, I'm not from Mars," he told her, while his gaze flicked down to Rian, resulting in a look of understanding from her.
"Then where?" the Empress pressed.
"My home planet is far away and long-since gone. But its name lives on."
"Gallifrey." The horror and anger that filled the Empress as the Doctor spoke shocked Donna.
"They murdered the Racnoss!" the Empress hissed.
"I warned you," he told her, not wavering. "You did this."
The Doctor reached into his pocked and produced a handful of the baubles that Donna realized where from the party earlier.
"No! No! Don't! No!" the Empress screamed, flinching as the Doctor threw the baubles into the air.
They flew all around the room, going towards the robots and towards the Empress. As they began exploding, the room began to fill with water.
Rian pulled herself up in time to avoid being pulled down by the current, and fought against the water to get to the stairs.
Donna understood with a start that it was from the Thames. He was draining the Thames just to kill this spider. She watched in horror as a fire started at the Empress' feet and the water went down the hole. Effectively killing the children, she realized.
"My children!" the Empress wailed with grief. Donna stared at the Doctor in horror as he watched the chaos occur throughout the room.
"No! My children! My children!" her screams being swallowed by the flames.
Donna observed Rian and the Doctor, who for a moment seemed to forget she existed. Rian placed her hand on the Doctor's shoulder, and her face screwed up in pain as she spoke to him. The tension that was being held in his body seemed to dissipate, and he practically slumped as if she took away his pain.
"Donna!" Rian called out, and smiled gently when she looked at her. "Let's get you out of here!"
She didn't need to be told twice.
– Page Break –
Rian was resting on the console seat, the Doctor not letting her pilot the Tardis while she was 'injured'. She hated admitting that she was still feeling dizzy after the whole experience, and knew she needed to rest.
But first, it was time to take Donna home.
It didn't take long for the Doctor to get them to the right neighborhood, especially with the help of her backseat driving.
"There we go," he exclaimed as they landed. He helped Rian up and led the group out of the Tardis to a dimly lit neighborhood. "Told you she'd be alright. She can survive anything."
"More than I've done," Donna said off handedly, watching as the Doctor moved his sonic around her body.
"All the Huon particles have gone. No damage, you're fine."
"Yeah, but apart from that… I missed my wedding, lost my job, and became a widow on the same day… Sort of."
"We couldn't save him," Rian told her apologetically.
"He deserved it," Donna told them, speaking as if she'd stepped on a bug.
The Doctor raised his eyebrows, while Rian stared empathetically.
"No he didn't," Donna whispered, while taking in her surroundings. "I'd better get inside. They'll be worried."
"Best Christmas present they could have," he said, glancing into the house to see Donna's parents embracing. "Oh, I forgot. You hate Christmas."
"Yes I do."
"What if it were to snow?" Rian asked with a hopeful grin, leaning against the Tardis as the Doctor filled with a switch on the door.
Almost immediately, a beam of light shot from the top of the Tardis, and quickly followed with an explosion. Just as quickly, snow began to fall gently around them.
A wide smile filled Donna's face as she began to laugh. "I can't believe you did this!"
"Merry Christmas."
"Merry Christmas, Donna," Rian grinned, and stepped forward to give the woman a small hug.
"What will you do with yourself now?" the Doctor asked, an idea forming that Rian seemed to be on board with.
"Not getting married for starters. And I'm not gonna temp anymore. I dunno, travel, see a bit more of planet Earth, walk in the dust. Just… go out there and do something."
"Well, you could always…" the Doctor trailed off, looking towards Rian to confirm she was okay with this decision.
"What?"
"Come with us?" he asked.
"No," Donna told him with a kind smile.
Rian wouldn't say she wasn't disappointed, but she also could see it coming a mile away.
"Okay," he responded quickly.
"I can't," she shook her head.
"No, that's fine," the Doctor tried to reassure, poorly if Rian might add.
"No, but really. Everything we did today, do you live your life like that?" Donna asked.
"Sometimes," Rian answered truthfully. "But not all the time."
"I think you do," Donna told them, but didn't seem bothered. "And I couldn't."
"But you've seen it out there. It's beautiful," the Doctor offered, and Rian placed her hand on his shoulder.
"And it's terrible. That place was flooding and burning and they were dying and you were stood there like... I don't know. A stranger. And then you made it snow! I mean, you scare me to death!"
"We then," the Doctor said, looking anywhere but Donna.
"We understand," Rian told her, though her smile was sad.
"I'll tell you what though. Join me for Christmas dinner. Oh, come on."
"We don't do that sort of thing," he told her with a shake of the head.
"You did it last year, you said so. And you might as well because Mum always cooks enough for twenty," Donna reasoned.
The Doctor made faces, trying his best to convince Donna that he was thinking it over. But Rian knew that all he wanted to do was leave now.
"Oh, all right then. But you go first, better warn them. And... don't say I'm a Martian," he motioned to the Tardis. "I just have to park her properly, she might drift off to the Middle Ages. We'll see you in a minute."
The Doctor pulled her inside before she had a chance to say goodbye to Donna.
And before she had the chance to tell him off for it, he moved to the console to send them off.
And much to his chagrin, and Rian's excitement, Donna screamed out their names.
He sighed and set the lever back to its default place and stopped the motor.
Having been standing beside the door, Rian popped her head out first, leaving room for the Doctor to do the same.
"Blimey, you can shout," the Doctor said with a slight grimace.
"Am I ever gonna see you again? Both of you."
"If we're lucky," Rian told her with a grin.
"Just… promise me one thing. Find someone," Donna said, looking between the two.
"I don't need anyone else," the Doctor said, glancing down at Rian and then back to Donna.
"Yeah, you do. I think you need a voice of reason, and I don't think Rian can always be there one hundred percent of the time."
"Yeah," he said softly. "Thanks then, Donna. Good luck, and just… be magnificent."
I think I will, yeah!" she said with a laugh, watching as the Doctor started to retreat back into the Tardis.
"Doctor!" she called out again, Rian smiling as she heard the quiet curse words coming from his mouth.
"What is it now?" he said with fake exasperation.
"That friend of yours," she looked between the two. "What was her name?"
The Doctor swallowed a lump in his throat, and Rian's eyes water. "Her name was Rose."
He pulled away and walked to the console, while Rian lingered for a moment.
"Goodbye for now, Donna," she said as she went to pull the doors shut.
Rian hesitated before saying one last thing:
"Her name is Rose."
Hi everyone! I hope you enjoyed the second half of The Runaway Bride! I really got into towards the end, and I'm sad to say goodbye to Donna for a while. But we have Martha coming up soon, I'm still deciding if I want to jump straight into Smith & Jones or if I want to give them a bit of a break.
I appreciate you all for taking the time to get to this point! If you're up to it, I'd appreicate any favorite, follow, or comment.
I don't own Doctor Who, just Rian/Victoria.