Sylvia was right behind Shaun, as the Noble family made their way down the corridor as instructed. Shaun heaved open a metal-meshed door which led to the fire escape and out into the open, and hopefully safety, behind the steelworks. Sylvia was just passing Shaun, who was holding open the door for everyone, when she was startled by a commotion coming from behind her. Turning around, she saw Donna suddenly grab Shaun and kiss him.
"I'm sorry, darling," Donna said. "I love you." She then kissed Rose's forehead, before pushing her and Shaun toward Sylvia.
"Mum, What are you doing?" Asked Rose.
Sylvia had guessed. And so, judging by his reaction, had Shaun.
"Donna, you can't-" he started to say, but Donna had already slammed the door shut on them., pulling the metal bar across the mesh door, trapping them inside.
She stared at them through the mesh, putting her fingers through, so Shaun could touch them.
Sylvia felt sick to her stomach, for this was a moment she had long dreaded, spending over fifteen years wishing it would never come. After all this time, Donna was back to being herself, as she was before the Doctor had been forced to take her memories. That realization frightened her more than anything that had occurred that day.
"Take Rose," Donna told Shaun. "Take her ten miles away, somewhere safe. I love you, Shaun, but if the Doctor can't save the city, we're all going to die."
Shaun opened and closed his mouth, but no words came out while his eyes urgently pleaded silently with Donna.
Donna just smiled. A big smile, that was both sad and determined, a smile Sylvia hadn't seen in ages.
And then, she was gone.
"Donna!" Shaun yelled. He shook the mesh door with all his might, but it was no use.
Sylvia came over slowly and stopped him, sighing sadly. "She called her 'Doctor'." Sylvia knew there was nothing anyone could do now, but follow Donna's instructions and get Rose to safety.
Taking Rose's hand, she began to lead her down the stairs, with an angry Shaun following close behind.
While all that was going on, The Doctor was back in the blast chamber, dashing along gantries and walkways, deftly avoiding obstacles like a gymnast.
Ahead of her, She could see, just like Shirley had said, the huge door in the side of the spaceship, leading into the Engine Control Room.
She quickly soniced the door open as she ran towards it. As it slid upwards to allow entry, the Doctor dashed inside.
Skidding to a halt inside, she shrugged off her coat, and tossed it aside as she took a deep breath. "Right, Engine Control, so many shiny buttons, so little time. Hey, got it right that time. Yay, me,' she said to herself. The room she found herself in was very wide and high. Buttons, switches, dials, screens, and writing so alien even she couldn't read it covered every bit of available space in the chamber.
"Okay okay okay," said the Doctor. "Button, button. Where is the button?" So, where to begin? Sabotage was all very well, but, in the Doctor's experience, it usually helped to at least have an idea of what was sabotageable. For one thing, which button was actually the self-destruct button. Despite what most people might think, much like how on maps x rarely actually marked the spot, there was never really big, shiny buttons marked in large letters SELF-DESTRUCT. Which was really a pity, to be honest, because it would have made things a lot easier. As for now, who knew what would happen if she just began to randomly wreck things in here. Might be alittle fun, might even help, but most likely it would just make things worse. A lot worse.
As she spun round on her heels, trying urgently to work out what her next move was, The Doctor heard puffing and panting behind her that wasn't her own.
"That's enough running," said Donna Noble as she ran in through the entryway. "Blimey," she said again.
"Just out of practice," said the Doctor nonchalantly, still occupied with pondering her next move before yelping and doing a comical double-take. "Whoa, wait, what?" She stammered. "But I told you..why are you..You can't be...You're supposed to be there," The Doctor waved her hand vaguely beyond the entryway, obviously meaning with Shaun and the rest of the Noble clan. "Not here!" The Doctor indicated the inside of the engine room now. "There, not here. No here, there! Here bad! There good!"
The Doctor felt her hearts sinking. Conflicted, the Doctor found herself torn between wanting to hug her and wanting to scream at her. She could do both, but that would be the very definition of mixed signals. She knew that if Donna remembered who she was, of their time together: BANG! BOOM! SPLAT! Literally mental meltdown. Talk about a human bomb...
Just standing inside this spaceship was likely to trigger her more than anything else. Unfortunately, once again, The Doctor found the decision made for her as the entryway door slammed shut with an authoritative thump. The Doctor let out another startled yelp, and she said, "Whoa! No no no no! Don't do that!" She dashed over and tried to pry the door open but it wouldn't give.
"Okay okay okay. Could just sonic the door open," The Doctor muttered to herself, "but what if there's more of those angry googly eyed soldiers with their big, nasty guns? Fine, ixnay that idea. Ugh, okay okay, moving on. Honestly, time is so not on my side, right now. Rather ironic, really." Swiveling around from the door, she ran her hands through her red mane, mussing it up as she tried to convince herself. "Right, focus. Focus. I've got this. I've got this. Do I got this? Hope I got this? I've better got this!" Turning toward Donna, she said, "Uh, right, so stand there. Don't move, I'm going to try to do a thing. Not sure what that thing quite is yet, but it's a start. Oh, and no touching the big blinky buttons, please. Know it's very tempting, but no, k? Right, let's get cracking." With that, the Doctor dashed off, trying to figure out a clever plan to save London.
The Doctor, literally, began to climb the walls, sonicing some of the controls, hoping that even just a little bit of sabotage would slow down the Meep enough to give her more time to find a way to truly stop the egomaniacal fuzzball.
"Whoa! Hot! Hot Zambonis!" The Doctor yelped as she felt her sonic vibrate and let out a puff of smoke. Jumping down, the Doctor waved her sonic and blew on it as if it were a red-hot iron needing to be cooled off. Someone, probably the Meep, had reversed the energy of some of the controls the Doctor had been trying to sonic.
"Naughty!" grumbled the Doctor, glaring up at the ceiling. "Hate deadlocks!" With the controls deadlock sealed, the sonic wasn't going to be of use now. Shoving it away into the pocket of her pants, The Doctor glanced frantically around the room. Trying to figure out her next move.
Standing over by the door, Donna frowned. "What does that mean?"
Hitting every button she could now, the Doctor said, "Right, well, means we're live without a net here, folks. Buckle down and strap up, we're going old school, baby."
Tracing a link between several buttons with her finger, The Doctor was deeply focused when a sound disrupted her rhythm. It wasn't a pleasant sound, either. It was a heavy, whirring.
The Doctor spun around quickly, assessing the situation rapidly. Donna was still standing by the door. The Doctor was across the room from her, at the furthest controls. And sliding down the center of the room was a triangular glass partition, which would separate them from each other.
"No, no, no..." The Doctor threw herself under the descending partition to join Donna on the other side. She began rapidly hitting by Donna's knees.
All the while, the partition kept up with its slow descent.
"Why isn't it working?", grumbled the Doctor. If wasn't those controls, and it wasn't these controls, then had to be some other controls. Controls that had to be over there. Diving back under the partition, she tried a set of controls that she hadn't tried before.
Nothing.
Behind her, the glass partition hit the floor with a heavy thump. "No no no." The Doctor began pacing back forth, talking aloud as she did so. "Ever have one of those days? No? Well, I'm having one of those days now, let me tell ya! Right, okay okay. Half a room. Deadlock sealed controls. Yeah, I got this. I got this." Seeing Donna on the other side of the partition, the Doctor gave her a double thumbs up as she yelled, "I've got this." To herself, she murmured, "I hope." Hurriedly dashing around her side of the partition, The Doctor frantically scanned the controls, trying to find a solution. "Okay, so conversion rate for the standard double-bladed dagger drive is what? Ten minutes, possibly less. Right, about ten minutes, London burns. Unless I can be really, really clever…" Turning back to Donna, she said in an excited voice, "Know that moment when everything clicks, and bam, everything's clear?
"Yeah..", said Donna tentatively.
"Still not happening…" The Doctor replied in a quieter tone.
"Let me help," Donna suggested from her side of the bisected room.
"What? No, I've just got...you can't.." The Doctor stammered, her mind was frantically racing, still trying to find a solution, especially one that didn't risk Donna. "Bratchny!" Exclaimed the Doctor, leaning her head against the cool surface of the glass partition. She had no choice, there probably never was one..it had all lead to this. To this moment. She could let London burn, or take the risk on having Donna remembering everything and dying. The Doctor was furious, frustrated, and saddened. Looking up, she focused her gaze on Donna. It had to be done...
"Those blue switches," she said, slightly more sharply than she intended, as she pointed near Donna's shoulder. "Flick them down."
Donna Noble began flicking switches.
Unfortunately, it didn't seem to be helping. Come on, couldn't they catch a break here, thought the Doctor to herself as she leaned against the partition. It really was coming down to this, wasn't it? Kismet, destiny, what have you...all of it. All of it leading here.
The Doctor pressed her head against the glass. "All out of tricks. Nothing up my sleeves. Tried to be clever..." Looking up, she gazed into Donna's eyes. "If there was any other way, anything else I could do..."
"You would," finished Donna for her. While she still couldn't comprehend who the Doctor was or how she knew him, Donna found it felt right somehow that they should be here together at the end of the world.
"Only one option left, I'm afraid," said the Doctor quietly.
"Then do it," implored Donna.
'Then do it,' she says,' thought the Doctor. As if it were that easy. As the Doctor looked up into Donna's face she found herself overwhelmed by memories. Oh, her amazing, brilliant, wonderful Donna. Donna Noble, at one time the most important person in the universe. Donna, who had always been important to her.
Images swarmed through her head - Donna standing there in her wedding dress, the first time they had met aboard the Tardis, barking at her. That time, at Adipose Industries, when she had pointed at her face in joy at seeing her Tenth self again, miming a catchup in front of aliens. Her fury at not being able to save the people of Pompeii. Sontarans. Hath. Vista Narada. Daleks and their egomaniacal created, Davros. The metacrisis. Davros blasting Donna with his blaster, jolting the metacrisis into Donna's mind. Donna saving all of reality, only to lose her world, becoming someone The Doctor barely knew. Then, the wedding. The Lottery ticket that was meant to set Donna up for life, bought with a pound coin from her late father; the only apology the Doctor could ever give for everything that happened simply because they had met.
Then the binding grip of coincidence surrounding their meeting, then and now. Drawing them together. The lonely TimeLord and the lonely temp.
"Go on," Donna was saying, ruining the Doctor's sadly fond reminisces. "Do it. Hurry up and do it, what are you waiting for?"
The Doctor tried to put her thoughts into words, hoping she understand. "Been thinking, about everything. Leading me.. to here. They say coincidence is what we say when we can't see the levers and pulleys behind the scenes. And I'm all out of leverage." The Doctor felt the burning of unshed tears in her eyes, as she let out a world weary sigh. "Cos we could stop this ship, you and I, together...but it would kill you."
There was a beat of silence as Donna took it all in, digesting it. Then she simply shrugged, the most Donna Noblest thing of all.
"Okay," she said, as if it were the simplest, most normal thing to do.
"You. Would. Die." Emphasized the Doctor, desperate for her to understand what it was she was truly asking.
"My daughter's down there somewhere. And it's not even just Rose. It's nine million people." She shrugged again. "Who cares about me?"
"I do!", declared the Doctor.
"But why?" Donna was genuinely confused, it showed all over her face. "I'm no one."
"No, you are not!" Raged the Doctor. "Not to me. Not to Shaun, Rose, or even that wickity slappity mother of yours!" Slamming her fists against the partition in frustration, she let out a cry of fury. All the pain, all the guilt, the sorrow, the regret, all of it coming out in a scream that felt like it shook the heavens. All of it for naught. This was what had to happen, has always meant to happen. London moments away from burning. Millions of lives at risk. And someone else forced to make the sacrifice, so she could save the bloody day. "Why does it have to be this?"
The Doctor lowered her face, wishing she could let the tears that stung her fall and give into the pain, just this once. But it wasn't meant to be. She was the Doctor. The Oncoming Storm. A path chosen long ago. Taking a deep, bracing breath, she slowly lifted her eyes to stare into Donna's. Making sure her eyes were the only thing she saw in the room, the only things that mattered in this room, in the world. The universe. Donna Noble's eyes.
"Westerly," she said quietly. "Pelican. Dreams."
Donna sighed. "Look, I don't care what it is, all right, just go and do it, will you?"
"Tornado," murmured the Doctor, never taking her eyes off of Donna's. "Clifftops. Andante." Each word, like a chant or incantation being spun. The air in the engine room seemed to literally crackle with energy.
Confused, frustrated, and frightened, Donna said, "Get on with it. Come on."
"Grief. Fingerprint. Susarration."
The Doctor noticed that Donna didn't seem to be flustered anymore. Instead she just murmured back a surprised "Oh", as if something had just occurred to her. As she watched, the Doctor saw a flash of gold in Donna's eyes. Artron energy, the metacrisis had awakened after being dormant for so long."Sparrow," said the Doctor, but this time, Donna did as well. Then in unison, they said,"Dance. Mexico."
When the Doctor went to say the final three words, Donna beat her to it.
"Binary. Binary. Binary."
The Doctor flinched as Donna's head jerked back and she stretched out her arms. Her face, her hands, her entire body engulfed by golden regenerative energy.
Despite her concern for Donna, the Doctor found herself mesmerized. "Huh, so that's what it's like from this end."
Then, the blaze burned out, the energy absorbed by Donna, who fell to her knees, with her head hanging down toward the floor.
"Hey. Hey." Frustrated by the glass between them, the Doctor could only gazed down at her. "Are you alright?" She breathed. "Donna?"
Donna stood up and fixed her with a glare so cross, so furious and livid that the Doctor found herself taking a step back wearily.
"I gave away all my money," she said, each word enunciated sharply and dripping with anger.
"What?"
"I gave away. All. My. Money."
"Rrrrrrrriiigghhhttt..." The Doctor hadn't expected that. "Okay, but-"
Donna, though, was not done and certainly wasn't letting go, as if it had all been bottled up for ages. "I gave away all that lottery money, and d'you know why, Doctor?"
The Doctor simply shook her head.
"I gave it away to be like you! So I could be kind, so I could be nice, so I could be helpful."
The Doctor grimaced. She had a feeling she knew where this was going. Maybe it was a good thing, she was trapped on the other side of the glass.
Then more words began tumbling out of Donna's mouth, words that no one but the reborn DoctorDonna would use. "I had a subconscious infracutaneous retrofold memory loop making me as soft as you and give away one hundred and sixty-six million pounds."
"Uh yeah, well, as knackered as all that was," The Doctor tried to direct her attention to more pressing matters in the here and now, rather than the past. "Power-mad fuzzball. Imminent Destruction. London burning down. Ringing any proverbial bells?"
"Oh, I'll show you destruction. Just you wait."
With that, Donna turned and stormed over to the controls on her side. She then began operating them like it was something she did every day. Just like all those years ago aboard the Daleks' Crucible when Davros had unwittingly activated the DoctorDonna in the first place.
"I will tripledrive the particle manifesto, overstep the umbilical feed, vindicate the cyberlines and roast the hyperfeeds like this…"
"Oh, technobabble! I love technobabble!" Exhilarated, The Doctor dashed to the controls on her side of the room. While she was both overjoyed and terrified, a heady combo for sure, she bolstered by the fact that together, she and Donna could save London again. Just like the old days. Together one more time, for the last time, as this action was going to kill Donna. 'Let's burn that bridge, once we cross it," The Doctor thought to herself.
"Maximizing the stressfold links, " she shouted, attempting her usual carefree buoyancy.
"Channeling up the booster drives." Donna was in full DoctorDonna mode, fully exuberant.
"Right, going to inculcate the plexidrones," yelled back the Doctor.
"And shatterfry the positrons…oh yes!" With a final flourish, Donna flipped the final controls on her side. She turned to the Doctor and smiled, so happy. The Doctor found herself smiling back, overjoyed to have Donna back, back properly. Then Donna asked the one question that ruined the moment, crushing the Doctor's hearts.
"How long have I got to live?"
"Oh well, that's a matter of perspective, really. I mean, under the right circumstances any amount of time could feel like an eternity." The Doctor knew she should tell her the brutal truth, but just couldn't bring herself to it. Selfishly, she wanted to enjoy having her Donna back, even if for just a brief while. Unfortunately, despite her new incarnation, Donna knew her too well.
"Doctor.."
The Doctor continued on, trying to avoid the moment of truth. "Did I ever tell you about the time I was told I had four minutes to live? Felt like ages…"
Donna wasn't having any of it. "Doctor," she said more firmly. "how long?"
The Doctor let out a weary sigh. Suppose there's no point in putting it off any longer, was there. Donna deserved so much, a full life, happiness, a future, but all the Doctor could offer her was harsh honesty.
"Oh, about fifty-five seconds now, I should think."
"Best fifty-five seconds of my life." She grinned back at the Doctor. "Cos I get to do this."
She then casually reached out and pressed one teeny-weeny glowing button.
Around them, all of the controls began shorting out and exploding in a shower of sparks. Surrounding by all the chaos and carnage, the Doctor saw Donna standing there, smiling fully, reveling in the moment.
"Donna Noble is descending."