Stew Ferguson turned up the collar of his coat against the sudden gust of wind that had whipped and surprised him, as he wandered down the street. Him and his girl had had a bit of a tiff, and he'd gone out to clear his head. The night had been a good night for a walk, but as he'd passed Blackcastle Passage just now, the weird thing had happened, with that strange cold wind just popping up out of nowhere. Okay, Camden had never really been the warmest part of London this time of year, but that had been a very sudden blast of chilly air.

Stopping, Stew noticed that just as suddenly as it had appeared, the chill wind had faded away. Tentatively, he pulled down his collar, as he peered up a small walkway which led to the back entrances of the shops that ranged along the main street. What he saw was not what he expected.

First, there was massive blue box in the alley that he was pretty sure hadn't been there the day before. Ordinarily, Stew would have been able to see the back doors of the shops from where he stood, but not tonight. Tonight, that familiar view was blocked by the weird blue box.

Secondly, there was the tall, slender woman in a long orange coat, strolling down the alley, hands in her pockets, humming to herself, seemingly without a care in the world, long red hair blowing slightly in the breeze. Oddly enough, though, it seemed as if she was coming from the direction of that strange blue box.

"That your box, luv?" he found himself saying as the young woman drew near.

"Scuci?," the woman said, seemingly surprised by both Stew and the question. Which struck Stew as peculiar, as did the fact that while she had replied in Italian, her voice indicated origins that were more of the Midlands, possibly Nottingham, than Italy. Just in case, though, Stew carefully repeated the question again. "Box? What box?" The woman glanced around briefly, before focusing on the blue box in the alley behind her. "Oh, that box. Yes, well, sort of, in a kindasortamaybeishy, ownership being nine tenths of the law kinda way. Though, just between you and me, somedays I'm not quite sure who owns who." Noticing Stew gaping at her, she flashed him a warm, friendly smile. "Oh. Right. Sorry about that. Tend to ramble on, every now and then. Okay, I tell a lie, tend to ramble on alot. In fact, I think I'm rambling now. Am I rambling? Think I'm rambling, feels like rambling. Tell me, Do I seem rambly to you?" Stew simply nodded, mildly confused by this strange woman he'd just encountered in an alley. 'What a night this was turning into', he thought to himself. "Look at me, standing here rambling on again. Nasty habit. Well, you look like a busy man. So, am I!" The Doctor saw that Stew was looking rather confused. "What? Have I got something on my face?" Something must have occurred to the woman, because Stew saw her eyes widen as she uttered,"Oh."

"You alright, luv?" asked Stew.

"Getting there." The woman said. "A day or so ago, I was a tall, grey haired Scotsman. Now, I'm a woman. Wasn't expecting that. Then again, who would? Always a bit of a lottery, with these things. Still adjusting. Early days..."

Stew tried to smile reassuringly. "Bit of a rough night, eh? Having one myself. Me and my girl had a row, you see—"

The strange lady didn't seem to be listening, instead she just abruptly interrupted Stew's train of thought. "Well, that's neither here or there. No time to waste then. Things to go, places to do. Stop, flip it round. Start again." Before Stew could even say anything, she'd continued on in her rapid-fire manner. "Speaking of places, where am I anyway?" She then flicked her tongue out a couple of times, rather like a lizard. Stew wasn't sure how to take that: a pretty woman in an alley, flicking her tongue like that while he watched. Oh, if Millie were to see him here now, it would not have been good. Oh, what a strange night this was turning into. "Ahhhh. Tastes like early twenty-first century." The woman flicked out her tongue again. "Hmm, not sure about the vintage, though." She looked over toward a nearby shop. It was all empty and boarded up, but a faded sign above the door could still be seen. Megabyte City.

Noticing where the woman was looking, Stew said to the stranger. "Oh, that went out of business donkey's years ago." Noticing the woman's attention turning his way, Stew carried on. "Right around that time all them planets appeared in the sky." Stew sighed wearily. "Lost my job that day, you know. I was a milkman then—"

"Planets?" the woman asked, an eyebrow raised quizzically. "In the sky?"

Feeling as if the woman was being dismissive, it was Stew's turn to cross his arms and frown. "One of those 'It Never Happened' lot, are you? Well, it did happen," Stew stated angrily. "Cost me everything. Lots of people died and —"

Suddenly, the woman stepped closer and gently touched his arm. Her eyes peering deeply into Stew's, which should have been off-putting, but was actually mesmerizing. "It's alright," she said softly, "It's over now."

As he stared into the stranger's eyes, with her voice so soothingly reassuring, Stew found himself curiously relaxed as his arms uncrossed to fall to his sides. Stew even found himself smiling. "She's waiting, you know." The woman said gently.

"Is she?" said Stew dreamily. Instead of answering, the woman gently let go of Stew's arm, took a step back, and swept her arm out like a game show presenter from the telly toward the entrance to the alley. Stew smiled to himself as he said confidently, "Yeah, yeah she is." He then flashed another smile at the woman, he said, "Right, luv, guess I'll be off now."

With that, Stew stepped back out of the alley. Feeling relaxed…no, really, really relaxed, for what seemed like the first time in, well, as long as he could remember, Stew Ferguson actually felt good. He couldn't even remember what the row with Millie had been about either, didn't matter anyway, he loved her and she him. They could work it out. And, with that thought in mind, Stew wandered off, whistling. He hadn't done that in years…

As the man left, The Doctor shoved her hands back into her coat pockets, and murmured softly to herself, "Where is fancy bred? In the heart or in the head?" Then, with one last wistful glance back toward her Tardis, she stepped out of the alley and made her way down the street herself. The opposite way, of course. Someone might get the wrong idea, otherwise. Cheeky.

Things had been…weird? Curious? Peculiar? Kooky? Oh, like that one. Kooky. Of course, things always felt off after a regeneration. Par for the course. Such a lottery, regenerations. Never quite sure what you'll get. Always a surprise, and The Doctor did love surprises, but this time, it had been quite the surprise. One minute, she'd been a tall, gangly Scotsman, the next, bang, big flash of regeneration energy and she'd become a redheaded woman. Okay, a new body, great, but this time, she'd found herself in a woman's body. Nothing wrong with that. Rather liking it really. New perspectives. It was just, well, rather outside the norm, as it were, and definitely something she hadn't expected at all.

Then, before she had even settled in, whoosh, The Doctor had found herself not only crossing paths with some of her more recent past selves, Sandshoes and Chinny, but they'd also met up with Grandpa Grumps, an incarnation that The Doctors, collectively, had tried to forget about for the longest time. Talk about tense reunions! Well, there'd been the typical squabbling and such. Tends to happen everytime. Once that bit of unpleasantness was done, though, not only had they prevented a rather clever Zygon invasion, but they'd even united all of their incarnations together at once to help save Gallifrey from the Time War. Of course, Gallifrey wound up sealed off from the universe in a pocket dimension. Still, a win was a win. And they'd even helped to redeem their Time War self, restoring him as a proper Doctor. She'd been even gotten some of her memories back, including those of Clara. Ah, Clara, The Impossible Girl. Should reach out for a chat. Maybe, someday. Either way, while it had been quite the rollercoaster, her and her other selves still stuck the landing. Gallifrey was saved, sort of. It was trapped in a pocket dimension and all, but hey, they were safe. Still, a 7 out of 10. Gold stars all around.

But, like she'd told the nice man before he left, that was over now. What did matter, however, was who had sent her a message in the Tardis? Through her psychic paper, no less. Not as easy that. So, who? And why? Why bring her here? She had things to do, people to collect. I mean, there she'd been, trying to get back to Maldiva to pick up Kat and Philsy. Maldiva! Ooo, such a lovely place. They've got bioluminescent beaches, you know? Can you believe it?! Glowing water! Four out of 5, definitely recommend. Wait, hold on, she'd done it again. It wasn't Kat and Philsy. It was Kat and..and…Oh you really are a silly old goat, Doctor. Forgetting a name like that. Wait. goat…goat..Silly goat..Billygoat..Billy Goats Gruff! Ah ha, Gruffy Bill! Scruffy Bill..Billy! That's right. Billy. Kat and Billy. Glad, that was sorted. Now, while she'd meant to go pick them up Billy and Kat, but did that happen? Nope nope noppity nope nope. Nope, she was here instead of there. Always gave been as curious as cat, and look how that had gone for the cat. Then again, satisfaction brought it back! Ha ha..

The Doctor sniffed the air. Ah, she'd guessed right before. This was London. Wan't it? Possibly. She took another tentative sniff of the night air. Yep, definitely London. Ah ha! Spot on! Bingo! She'd been right about the early twenty-first century bit too. Two for two, gold stars, three points to Hufflepuff. The Doctor could tell just by the amount of ozone in the air, the scent of cabbages in her nostrils, the grime on her fingertips—bleh, sticky! Why was London always so sticky? Either way, all of that, gave the game away. So, London in the twenty-first century. Brill, got that sorted. Have the where, but not the why. Why had she been called here, and by who? Ugh, it was all so upsetting, let me tell ya!

Caught up in her perpetually rambling thoughts, the Doctor made her way down the street, and took another turn of a corner, and whoa— People. Lots of people. The Doctor found herself in a crowd of people. Yay, she liked people. People were fun. People were great. Noticing a large sign attached to a tube station, it told her that she was in Camden and that it was 6:30 at night. Oh, Camden. The Doctor liked Camden. Good shopping in Camden, if she remembered correctly. Probably not at 6:30 at night, though. Oh, look at that, it is night time. Explains why it was dark out. Hmm, so, if it was dark at 6:30, then it must be rather late in the year. November, maybe? She could feel a chilly dampness in the air. So likely. The Doctor smiled. She liked Camden in November. She wished it was October, though. She rather liked October. Halloween. Candy. Dressing up. Trick or Treat. Fun. Ah, good ole Londontown. Oh, how she loved London. Loved the people. People were—

Someone knocked into her.

The Doctor smiled and said, "Hello," but the person just carried on, staring at the glowing screen of the smartphone in their hands, thumbs tabbing away. Such silly things, humans. Always obsessing over their toys. Gosh, she liked human people. Human people were—

A young child crashed into The Doctor's side, hurrying on again just as the Doctor had said, "Oh, hope you got a license for that."

"Whoopsie!", she exclaimed when a young man crashed into the back of her legs with a pushcart, nearly knocking her down. "Mind the grease!" But the man, the pushcart and the piles of shopping in said cart had already been swallowed up by the crowd. Human people were also very rude, the Doctor thought to herself.

Must be the season for rudieness. Then again, The Doctor said to herself, judging by the packages in the cart, maybe it was a little too close to Christmas to expect anything resembling decent conversation or manners from random people. Even in Camden.

"Pity," she said to no one in particular.

Out the corner of her eye, the Doctor caught her reflection in a shop window. What she saw was a tall, redheaded woman staring back. Scrunching up her face, The Doctor still found herself surprised by her new appearance. Oh, she was used to regeneration by now. New faces, and such. But this time around was different, very different. In so many ways. How about being a she instead of a he, for starters. Centuries as a man, now this, Not complaining, mind. Just going to take sometime adjusting, then again, doesn't always? So, nothing much changed there, eh? Still it had been quite a shock, really. Not a bad shock, mind, but still shocking. Rather, like getting a really cool gift you weren't expecting. Taking another glance at her reflection, she grinned like a satisfied cat. Still, quite a looker, this time round, though. 'Now, now, Doctor.' She thought to herself, 'Stop overthinking it. New face. New You. Enjoy it. Spice up your life!' Now, The Doctor found herself humming 'Spice Up Your Life' by The Spice Girls.

The Doctor placed her hands to her temples, as she closed her eyes for a second, trying to wrangle her whirling thoughts and get some peace. Definitely not wanting that tune stuck in her head. Too catchy, very distracting. No time for that at the mo, and she was so easily distracted these days. No, She wasn't! Well, maybe. Uuughhhh, ssshhhhhhhhh! Hushityhushhush! Right. Deep breath. Focus. Embrace the Zen. Now, open eyes. Smile.

And - oh, right. Maybe she should focus on that person staggering her way, their arms laden with a rather absurdly high pile of cardboard boxes, before they crashed into her. Wasn't like they could see where they were going, now could they? Pretty silly, really, but also rather endearing too. Honest, endearing. Matching pairs. More fun. Humans could be so..so..hendearing. Hendearing? That doesn't sound right..hendearing, hindering. Bad muju. Really need to work on the whole jumbling words together thingamajiggy. Another bad habit. That makes two! They're multiplying! Oh, No no no, Doctor. Best nip it now before it grows…Shaking her head, she tried to push her rambling thoughts aside.

Refocusing on the now, the Doctor said "Hold on," as she quickly dashed over to help the silly person with their absurd box pile. The packages looked like they were about to take a tumble. "Helping hands!"

Taking a box off the top of the pile, The Doctor placed it on the bonnet of a car that was conveniently parked nearby. "Really, should be careful, you know." As the silly person stopped, The Doctor caught a glimpse of red hair. Hey, a fellow ging!

"You never know, who you'll…" When she took down a second box, The Doctor found that she could see the face now.

It was a woman's face.

A slightly frustrated woman with her face all scrunchy and grouchy. Well, I'd be all scrunchy and grouchy too, carrying all those boxes. Not knowing where I was going.

Hold up, hang the phone..

She knew that face. Wait, did she? Could swear she could? Somewhere in the back of her mind, something was needling her. Trying to get her attention, but every time she tried to focus on it, her mind swallowed it up again. No time for keep away memories! Focus, Doctor, there was definitely something familiar about all that scrunchy grouchiness.

And then the Doctor uttered, "oh", as it finally dawned on her why that face was so familiar, as a stab of fear hit her at the same time. Oh no, oh no. It couldn't be? Could it? No, no..

"Thank you very much," the woman said sarcastically. "Not helping."

The Doctor yelped and quickly replaced the top boxes again, hiding that now familiar face, ensuring that neither of them could see each other. This wasn't good. Oh so not good. Not even in the vicinity of good!

"Oi! D'you mind?"

Oh, did The Doctor ever mind. She minded quite alot actually. This woman had meant the world to her once. Still did. It broke her hearts, again, knowing that she couldn't just sweep her up in the biggest, snuggliest hug. Talk about sticky wickets. Oohhh, how she wished she could tell her who she was. Just to see the surprise on her face! But no, could't do that. Well, she could, but definitely shouldn't. Pity, really, it would have been worth it to see her reaction to the Doctor now being a redhead woman, like herself.

But, surely, it couldn't be who The Doctor thought it was. Could it! It couldn't really be her, right? Honestly, that would be too much of a coincidence, wouldn't it? If so, she soooooo needed a new travel agent. Tentatively, she moved the two boxes away again.

Yup, it was her.

"If you've finished playing games!"

Donna. Donna Noble. Oh, oh just you wait! Once this bit of awkwardness was over, The Tardis and her were going to have words after this! Lots of them! Lots of loud, very shouty ones! Maybe even loud shouty colorful ones! Hmmmpphhh! Just see, if she doesn't?!

The Doctor couldn't believe it. Donna Noble. Donna Noble was here. Donna, who, if she were to ever remember her at all, would die, her mind burnt out like an old toaster oven by the Human/Timelord metacrisis lying dormant within her like a virus. Donna, the most important woman in all of creation.

Emotions welled up as The Doctor remembered the last time they'd seen each other. Oh, from Donna's perspective, fifteen..wait, maybe more, judging by Rose's age, the Doctor thought shamefully. She could still remember that day so vividly, as though hours had passed instead of years. Years, where the Doctor had been it has haunted. Haunted by what she'd had to do. She could still see her, Donna that is. Donna standing there in the Tardis. They'd just defeated the Daleks, preventing them from literally wiping out the entire universe. Had dropped off Rose and a Metacrisis version of the Doctor's Tenth self in another dimension, before returning to the Doctor and Donna's universe. The Doctor could still remember what happened next: Donna's mind starting to break, being overwhelmed by a copy of the Doctor's own. The Curse of the Metacrisis. Donna standing there, helpless, repeating the phrase 'Binary, binary, binary' again and again, unable to break the cycle. The Doctor felt her hearts breaking all over again as she remembered what came next, what she'd been for forced to do to save Donna. Of having to wipe Donna's mind, to take away every moment, all of her memories of their time together. To erase The Doctor from Donna's life. To save her friend, The Doctor had been forced to give her up. She could still see her, Donna standing there, crying, begging the Doctor not to do what the Doctor had no choice, but to do. The Doctor, hearts-broken, knowing there was no other way. Damning themselves for doing it. So, The Doctor had done it. Taken it away, all of it. Every moment shared, every previous little memory of their time together. Kind of ironic, considering her own memories had been jumbled up due to her last regeneration and a retrofitted Gallifreyan memory wipe. She'd recovered them again, of course, after her recent encounter with some of her past selves. But still, memories maybe precious indeed, but if Donna were to ever recover her's, even briefly, talk about bad...

Huh? Hang on a mo'…

Donna hadn't recognized her. At all. The Doctor stared, but no: not even a hint or glimmer of recognition could be seen in Donna's narrowed eyes. Then the Doctor nearly laughed at herself as she realized exactly why: It wasn't just because of regeneration. The Doctor wasn't a he anymore. He was a she. A pretty sheila! Of course, Donna wouldn't recognize her now! Oh, oh this was brill! This was totally brill!

While The Doctor seemed to be amusing herself pondering the situation, Donna had begun the shuffling boxes in her arms, so that some of the smaller boxes dropped into the crooks of her arms to uncover face so she could speak. "These aren't mine," she explained. "It's all hers." She then jerked her head to her left, where someone was noticeably absent. Bewildered, The Doctor leaned towards Donna's left, trying to see if someone was simply hiding behind her. Oi, Could happen. Possibly…

Donna, seeming just realizing she was alone, let out an annoyed sigh. "Right, where is she?" Donna looked right at the Doctor, with that oh so familiar accusatory glare. "I said, where is she?"

The Doctor stuttered, but nothing meaningful came out. Tyrants, power mad dictators, gods, even tyrannical power mad dictators wanting to be gods, she'd faced them all! But, oh Jimminy, that tone. When Donna's voice got that tone, it had always—always—made her feel like a precocious 10-year old caught with her hand in the cookie tin. It still did, even now.

Oh, how she'd missed Donna. But, she really, really really needed to get out of there. Like, now..Stat. Pronto. Rapido.

And then Donna, of course, just had to yell out the one word, just one, that was guaranteed to ensure The Doctor wasn't going anywhere.

"Rose?", she bellowed loudly.

"What?" gasped The Doctor, eyes widening as she quickly looked around, scanning the crowd for a certain blond. Oh, oh no. So not good!

"Rose!"

"What?", The Doctor said again, her voice fractionally louder now. Oh no, oh noppity no no. Surely, Rose Tyler wasn't here, was she? Could she be? Would she be? Why would she be? How could she be? How could she even be here, now, in this universe? The Doctor was so not liking this, not liking it all! Whatever Mystery History Tour she seemed to have found herself on, it was getting off time! Check please!

"ROSE!"

Well, wasn't that great? Brilliant, even! Now, now people were beginning to stare. They were beginning to take notice of the mad woman with the boxes, yelling out a name as loud as she could. Of a shouty mad woman, and her..The Doctor. They must gave noticed her standing there, mind racing..hearts as well..frozen to the spot, when she should running. Yes, running away back to her silly old box, and pound on the flipping doors til the naughty thing let her back in. Oh, that's what she should be doing! Was she doing? No! She was rooted to the spot like a tree, while people stared and gaped. Well, wasn't that brill? Generally, she liked an audience, people to show off to. But not at the mo', oh no. Not right now. Honestly, thought the Doctor, feeling like a captive. Oh wait, was she a captive audience of one now? Oi, you! Stop it, Doctor! Not the time, now is it? Sorry, sorry..too tempting, couldn't help myself! Lol! Smiley face!

Then a new voice caught both the Doctor's and Donna's attention, as it answered her bellowing summons with a sighed, "Cooommming."

And now, joining their little weird little reunion, was a young teenage girl, hurriedly joining Donna, by her side.

"Sorry, Mum," Rose was saying, "but I had to pop back. I needed to buy a bag of eyes."

Mum? Hold on…Did she say Mum? What was going on here? Why would she..oh! Ooooooohhhhhhh!

Then it dinged for the Doctor. Ding ding. Of course, she'd say Mum. Rose was Donna's daughter. Good name. Always been fond of Roses. This particular Rose appeared to be a very nice 15-year-old. Well, suppose, under the circumstances, nice could have been a rather relative term, right? I mean, she wasn't being all scrunchy or grouchy, like someone the Doctor could mention. Then again, better not. Slapping may ensue! Anyway, Rose wasn't even very shouting. Those eyes, though. Those eyes burned with Donna's fierce intelligence. And, although, she was just wearing a simple green t-shirt under a denim jacket and a flowered skirt, it was rather obvious that she hadn't inherited her fashion sense from her mum. Nope, sorry, not sorry, but while she was fond of Donna, the Doctor wasn't really sure the term fashion sense would really apply to one Donna Noble. Not that she'd ever admit aloud! Oh no. Donna could have become as slappy as her own mum. Anyway, Rose must have gotten it from her dad. Now, what was his name again. Hold on, she's got this. Rightie oh, on we go now. What was it? It was on the tip of her mental tongue. Vaughn? Nope. Braun. Nope nope. He was a-bit skinny last time, The Doctor had seen him. Granted it was from afar. Bourne? No no no. Concentrate, Doctor, concentrate. Now, what was that dang blasted name? Now, now Doctor..simmer. Focus. Donna's hubbie. The rather nice fellow she'd said yes to...Okay okay okay, try it again. Name, name..name name..namittynamename..Oh got it! Lost it! Wait! Got it again! Yes, got it, Shaun! Shaun Temple. Husband. Significant other. Rose Daddy. Ugh, not thinking or saying that last one again. Bleh! Anywho, the last time The Doctor had seen them together had been at their wedding. Seemed like a rather nice wedding, well as far as she could tell from a distance—she hadn't dared to go inside. Oh, but she had seen Sylvia—Donna's temperamental mum, now she was definitely a slapper!—and Donna's granddad, Wilf there. Wilf. Oh dear ole amazing, wonderful Wilf. Wilfy! The Doctor smiled fondly to herself at the thought of him. Well, The Doctor had given them a gift to pass on to the happy couple, a lottery ticket. But, oh, this wasn't just any silly old lottery ticket either. Oh no. This was a proverbial golden ticket. Willy Wonka, eat your hat! Ha! This ticket was guaranteed to set Donna and Shaun, and by default, Sylvia and Wilf, up for life. Huh, come to think of it. That had been the only time that Sylvia had actually smiled at The Doctor, rather than being all glarey and slap-happy.

Wait, stop the press. Back to the now.

"A bag of eyes?" the Doctor repeated quizzically.

The girl, Rose, Donna's daughter, offspring, family relation..Yeah, her. She held up a small plastic bag of eyes. Peering closer, the Doctor realized they were Googly Eyes. She loved Googly Eyes. They were so fun, you could stick to anything and the eyes would wobble around if you shook them. Almost as fun as bubblewrap.

Cute.

Donna passed her boxes to The Doctor, who took them as if this was a perfectly ordinary thing to do. "She's got this online business," explained Donna. She then turned to her daughter. "But you should really spend your evenings doing your homework, not fiddling about and posting to Dubai."

Rose's attention, though, was firmly focused on The Doctor, who wasn't exactly sure how to take that. The Doctor generally liked eye contact, but, not right now. Right now, eye contact didn't really seem to be all it was cracked up to be. Rose seem to be staring right at her. No, not at, more like, she was staring right into her…

"Who are you?", asked Rose.

Momentarily flustered, The Doctor replied hurriedly, "Oh, hillo, Rose. It was Rose, right? Of course, it was. Nice name, Rose." The Doctor slowly placed the boxes on the ground. It was sooo time that she was going..time to be going, going gone. Vamoose. Before anything even resembling a proper conversation could start, and things started getting really tricky. Tricky, tricky. Tricky, tricky. Huh! Oh, drat! Now, she had 'It's Tricky' by Run-DMC was playing in her head. Well, wasn't that just fantastic! Oooo, hadn't used that one in ages. Oi, stop it! Right. Song. Well, it had better not get stuck in her head. Last thing she needed was that rattling around up there! Swear if it dies, she was so going to complain to the head office! Oh, she'd made a funny! Head office..head…Ha ha! Focus! Rightie oh! "Nice meeting you, and all. Just passing through, sighting out the checks. I mean checking out the sights, but fun as this has been all, sort of, I really think it were time i was going. Lots of things to do to. Things involving..um other things. Been brill, but…Whoa, Yowza!"

Something had distracted the Doctor, interrupting her response. A very distracting something. A very big distracting something, really, in the form of a massive flash that lit up the night sky, accompanied by a sonic boom. A boom that had not only drawn her attention, but the attention of everyone around them from whatever it was they had been doing, and drawing it upwards. Probably been shopping, texting, or both.

Well, everyone's attention, that was but that of one Donna Noble. Oh no, at that precise moment, she'd chosen to bend down and retrieve her packages. Busying herself emptying them out, transferring the contents evenly into just two boxes. Totally oblvious to the spectacle taking place over good old London. Typical.

Something was rocketing across the evening sky. Behind it, The Doctor saw a nebulous ring of rainbow clouds. 'Jumping piminy,' thought the Doctor. 'Look at that! Oh, I know someone who'd have loved to have seen this. In fact, two someones! Well, kinda..Kitty Kat would for sure, not sure about Billyjoe. Wait, Billyjoe? Was that his really his middle name? Oh, hang on, was she riffing? Oh, she loved riffing, even mental riffing. Best be careful, though, or might become a chronic riffer. Nobody wants that. No, wait, hang on! Wasn't there something major going on? Felt major. Could have been..Oh, right!' With that, the Doctor shook herself from her rambling inner monologue to gaze again at the spectacle above them. Aha, that was a gateway, she realized. A gateway from who knows where that had just opened up above London, with this something hurtling through it, only for it to begin plummeting towards the ground. 'Well, that certainly wasn't good, now was it?' thought the Doctor.

Meanwhile, Donna was busy babbling away as she fussed over the boxes, wholly unaware of the drama going on around her. Nothing changes, does it? Silly Donna. "I said to the man in the shop this was wrong. I mean, I took one look at him and remembered that you should never trust a man with a goatee, and, he was like, 'Oh, I know better' and I said, "Mate", and …"

Rose shook her mum's shoulder. "Mum, there's a plane crashing!"

But Donna was so focused on rearranging and redistributing the contents of the boxes that she didn't seem to have heard her. "Yes, I said to him. But, Rose, watch and learn how to pack correctly."

"Mum," insisted Rose. "The plane! The plane!"

"The plane, boss, the plane.."The Doctor murmured, humming the theme to 'Fantasy Island' to herself as she drew a pair of glasses from her coat. "I don't think that is a plane, though.." They resembled sunglasses in a steampunky way. They were funky John Lennon style glasses with reflective bluish-green, golden lenses, gold-toned frames, and side blockers which gave them a hip retro look. But they were also, so much more. These were the Doctor's 'sci-fi' specs. Discretely slipping them on, The Doctor focused her gaze at the plummeting thing in the skies over their heads, as she tapped the side of her frames. Immediately, a 3-D display popped up, revealing the plummeting something to be a spacecraft in distress. "Well, Cluck a Duck!"

The Doctor tapped at the bottom-right area of the screen and pinched it with her fingers. Immediately, the image shifted to display a close up of the craft. The craft was long and glittering-blue, but was ruptured down the side, smoke billowing out the side.

"What are you doing?", asked Rose. From her perspective, the strange lady they had just met had simply put on a rather stylish pair of sunglasses and then begun gesturing weirdly at thin air, as if she was using a VR set. Yet, strange as that was, oddly enough, it also felt right somehow. It wasn't something she could put into words. It just felt..right.

"Getting persective," said the Doctor. "Here, Give it a go." The Doctor slipped off the glasses and passed them to Rose.

As Rose cautiously slipped on the glasses, The Doctor slipped into lecture mode. "Not exactly sure of the design. Bit retro, but not in a bad way. Seems to have had quite the tussle, though."

Rose gasped and stumbled back abit as the display from the glasses startled her. "That's a spaceship!", gasped Rose.

"Yup, and in trouble too." declared the Doctor.

"Mum!" Rose said to Donna. "It's a spaceship!"

But, Donna was still busy sorting boxes, rearranging everything. "Yes, of course, its a spaceship," she said absent-mindedly. "There's a spaceship crashing on London right now." Donna shook her head sadly. "You're worse than your great-granddad."

Great-granddad? Who would that be? No, it couldn't be…Wilf! Lovely, brilliant Wilf! Oh, she loved Wilf. "Your granddad! is he—?"

But Rose interrupted, still gazing at the sky with the Doctor's 'sci-fi' specs. "It's gonna crash!"

"I know!", exclaimed The Doctor excitedly. "Isn't the suspense terribly tingly? Love tingles. I hope it'll last."

Confused, Rose turned her attention back to the Doctor. Lifting the Doctor's glasses that she still wore on her head, Rose was further confused by what she saw. The Doctor was standing there, staring up at the spectacle overhead with rapt, child-like wonder. That wasn't the weird bit. The weird bit was that somehow she had acquired what looked like sushi or more likely hosomaki, and snacking on it without taking her eyes off of the sky. There wasn't even a sushi place near where they were! So, where had she gotten it?

The Doctor, sensing she was being watched. Again. Offered the sushi dish to Rose with a grin. "T'ankau? It's very good. Care to try?" When all she got was a quizzical look from Rose, the Doctor stated indignantly, "What? Yeah, so I brought snacks. Mark of a pro." She gestured at the crashing spaceship with a chopstick. "You're missing the show, you know?"

While Rose yelped and return her gaze to the spaceship, The Doctor return to munching her T'ankau. She loved T'ankau, it was one of her favorite Fuumoi dishes. While enjoying her little snack, The Doctor pondered the current situation. Rose had been right. The ship was crashing. She'd been right too. It was quite a show, well might as well be as all the people in the street gave a slightly odd, collective 'Oooooh!' as if they were watching a New Year's Eve fireworks display, instead of a crashing alien spacecraft. Actually, it seemed to have crashed surprisingly close to where they were.

Glancing around again, The Doctor realized something was off. Curiouser and curiouser. An awfully big explosion, but no real impact. London still stood. The Doctor found herself wondering what kind of fuel the craft had been using that would have caused so little damage. Hmm, looks like it was time for a quick little scout round. Just to make sure about this and that, that and this.

"Wow! There's even a browser history!" breathed Rose, raising her hand as if to touch a screen only she could see. The Doctor yelped, and plucked the glasses of Rose's face. "No no no! Confidential. Off-limits. Nothing to see here!" She hastily tucked the glasses away again, purposely avoiding Rose's questioning gaze.

Meanwhile, in the middle of all this, Donna stood up with her perfectly rearranged and repackaged boxes, stuffing those she no longer needed into a nearby recycling bin. "There now, that's better. Time we were off."

And, that's my cue, thought the Doctor, her attention focused on the column of smoke billowing up from the crash site.

Rose sighed in frustration. "Mum, How do you do this? How do you always manage to miss everything?"

Donna smiled at her. "Cos I have better things to do." She glanced back at the Doctor. "Nice to meet you." She then gave The Doctor a quick yet critical glance over before adding, "Annie Hall."

Annie Hall?, thought the Doctor. Huh, suppose her new self could be a-bit giddy at times, possibly even flighty. Catching her reflection in a cafe window, The Doctor took time to admire her recent incarnation's sense of style. Although, rather like Annie Hall, being all stylishly idiosyncratic, The Doctor's style had more of a flair. Anyway, while she's always been happy to take a compliment, she wasn't quite sure it had necessarily been meant as one. Still...

Spinning round to thank Donna for the compliment, The Doctor realized that she'd already walked away, still totally unaware who the strange woman she'd just met actually was. But Rose? Rose was staring at her again.

"Where did you get those.." and drew the impression of glasses on her own face.

The Doctor smiled and gave a conspiratorial wink. "Some of us have earned these little privileges."

Rose smiled back, as if they had just shared a companionable secret. Then she too was gone, rushing after Donna.

The Doctor watched them as they walked away, reminiscing to herself about the old days with Donna. Together, against the universe. Remembering how Donna had saved the universe. The Doctor smiled sadly to herself. No would ever know. No one could ever know.

"Rose!"

The Doctor swung round. Oh, come on! Really! Now what?

Facing her was a black London taxi cab. Leaning out of it, a man, probably in his early fifties, a big grin on his face. The Doctor recognized him. And realized why it was perfectly normal to be repeatedly yelling out to a now out-of-earshot Rose.

Oh, oh she knew this cabbie. A familiar cabbie. Shaun Temple, Donna's husband, Rose's Dad, and cabbie extraordinaire. Definitely Brill! thought the Doctor. Shaun with a taxi. The Doctor needed a taxi, places to be, mysteries to unravel. Fun. Well, sometimes. Hopefully this be one of those fun times. Bit of a coincidence, though, wasn't it? Hubbie Shaun popping up like this. First, someone sends the Doctor a message through her psychic paper. Which had drawn her here, where she runs into Donna Noble, of all people! Then a Rose had turned up, well a different Rose, but still…Why did Donna name her daughter Rose? All of this was beginning to get very, very coincidencey. Too many moving pieces, all a mystery. The Doctor felt like she was performing Venusian juggling blindfolded. Oh, look at me with the mutitasking, she thought to herself.

"Taxi!" yelled the Doctor, tossing her unfinished T'ankau in a nearby bin, eager to begin jumping into all these sweetly enticing mysteries. Yummy! As she walked up to the taxi's open window, and was about to speak again, Shaun slammed his hand down hard on the horn, startling the Doctor. "Pretty sure I'm awake now,", murmured the Doctor. Right, well that was unexpected. Been a-lot of that tonight.

"Sorry, luv. Just that's my daughter over there, you see." Shaun said. "And my missus. Hoped I'd be on time to pick them up."

"Oh, look at you, being considerate and all. Definite gold stars." said The Doctor cheerfully. "Speaking of considerations, I happen to have found myself in rather urgent need of a lift. And voilà! Here you are, with a taxi. Handy. Rather nice taxi too. Right distracting myself. Moving on. Right, look, where was I? Ah, got it. As I was saying, I've got an urgent need of a lift in a more or less of a that-a-away sort of direction.." The Doctor spun round to point back in the direction of the explosion. "Something's crashed, you see. Well, I think it crashed. Seemed like it had. Possibly. More unanswered questions. Hate those, they keep me at night. So, seeing as I am in need of transporting, and you happen to have transport, if you could assist with that, it would be rather lovely."

With a sigh at the direction taken by the now out-of-sight Donna and Rose, tapped his mobile in a cradle on the dashboard. "Satnav says they're closing all the roads."

"Are they?" The Doctor leaned in, conspiratorially, "Oh, well, we don't need to worry about that. I know of a few ways to get there, scenic routes that not even taxi drivers may know. Getting somewhere isn't always a straight line, you know. Sometimes, gotta be sneaky." The Doctor reached into her coat and brought out a brown leather wallet. Flapping it open and showing it to Shaun, she said in an authoritative tone, "Grand Mistress of the 'Knowledge'."

Shaun frowned as he glanced at the wallet's contents, "It says Grand Master."

"What?", flipping the wallet towards her, The Doctor glared in annoyance at it. "Honestly?" She then smacked it against the cab's side mirror, muttering, "Catch up!" She tucked it asay as she turned back to smile at Shaun, "Sorry about that. Shall we get a hop on?" She opened the back door and let herself in. "Andiamo!"

The Doctor smiled to herself, giggling when Shaun cheekily retorted back in Italian, "Sì, sì, Signora."

With that, the taxi moved off, with the Doctor giving off a couple of 'left here' and 'If you take a right here, you can cut right through' type instructions that Shaun dutifully followed. Guess her humble brag about the Knowledge, the test all London cabbies had to take to prove they knew the shortest routes to anywhere in London. Which, to be fair, the Doctor knew quite well, those and a few more besides that weren't found on any map. Taking a deep breath, she took a hopefully noticeable glance at Shaun's cab license ID, then spoke, "So, umm, you're Shaun Temple, huh?" Shaun nodded. "So, was the missus's you missed back there, that was…Donna, right?"

"Yup. How'd you know that?"

The Doctor's mind began again racing, quickly scrambling for answers. Couldn't really tell Shaun the truth, now could she? Nope nope. So, what could she say? Should say that wouldn't be too convoluted, or iffy? Then a name popped in her name from her days with Donna. "Oh, well, umm, I know a friend of hers. Nerys."

Shaun laughed. "Oh, that Nerys." Eureka, success! The Doctor had chosen wisely. "How is she?"

Hold on, press the brakes. The Doctor hadn't expected that. Should have done. Hadn't but still..Oi, Doctor stop riffing! Right, responses..inquiries.."Oh, fine. She's fine" The Doctor replied as noncommittally as possible.

"Since the accident," continued Shaun.

"Well, not that fine," replied the Doctor casually.

"Well," said Shaun, taking a right turn at a corner rather sharply. "It was her fault."

"Fined," The Doctor opted for, as clarification. "She's been fined. For the, umm, accident. It was her fault and all.." Shift the scene, Doctor. Flip the script. "Nerys had mentioned, in passing you know, that you and Donna had..Oh, is she Donna Temple now?"

Shaun laughed again. "Nah, luv. She's still Donna Noble. She refused to be called Noble-Temple cos she says it…"

"Sounds like an old ruin," said the Doctor fondly, finishing the sentence. Seems like nothing's changed. Well, beyond the whole lost memory thing.

"That's her," laughed Shaun. He seemed to laugh alot. Shaun Temple seemed like fun, The Doctor liked him. Good on Donna, finding him. "And Rose Noble too. I wasn't going to win that battle, was I? But I don't mind. I've got the best two girls in the world."

The Doctor leaned in a bit closer to Shaun's ear, her arms casually crossed atop the back of the front seats, gripping them firmly as the taxi narrowly avoided clipping a dumpster behind a hairdressers. 'Didn't you..Well, Nerys had said…didn't you win the lottery or something?"

Shaun shook his head. "Oh, Nerys and her big mouth, that was supposed to be a secret. Cos you know what happened, luv? Can you guess?"

"Don't suppose it was all happy ever-afters?", said the Doctor. Glancing around the taxi interior, she murmured, "Then again.."

"No," laughed Shaun. "Donna happened. Gave it all away. To charity."

"All of it?", exclaimed the Doctor incredulously. As the Doctor remembered it, it had been a lot of money. As in lots of lots, lots of lots of lots even.

"Every single penny. Well, we bought a house, that's the one thing we did first." Shaun laughed again. Lots of laughing with him. Must be a coping thing. "And you know what? We can't afford to run it! How mad is that? And do I complain? No, luv, I don't. That's the greatest love story, isn't it?"

"Yeah, possibly," agreed the Doctor. Gosh, Shaun should be knighted. Sainted, even.

"Me, putting up with all of that. I am a saint."

"Couldn't agree more," said the Doctor. "So, she, what..gave it all away?"

"Triple rollover. One hundred and sixty-six million quid."

The Doctor winced at that. While money wasn't exactly that important a thing for her, it most certainly would have been for the Nobles. It was why her Tenth self had gone through the hassle of getting the 1 from Donna's dad, Geoff to buy that lottery ticket in the first place. Would have, should have set them up for quite a happy everafter, but she'd given it away?

"Next left," said the Doctor before slumping back into her seat. "Why did she do that?" she asked herself. She then mouthed 'oh', and grinned. "Of course, because she's Donna flippin' Noble."