For a moment, the world was peaceful and quiet. Then, my consciousness drifted forward, alerting me to the fingers carding softly through my hair, the smell of antiseptic, and a melodic humming of some unearthly song I didn't recognize. I let the song roll over my mind, feeling the brush of fabric near my hand and lightly taking hold of it, like a child clinging to her mother's coat. The humming paused briefly before continuing and I lost myself in the deep tones for a while longer before speaking.

" 'm sorry."

It didn't matter what Doctor I was with; I hadn't bothered to open my eyes to see. It was rather obvious I'd done something reckless to end up injured and in the medbay, and it didn't take a genius to know that I could have handled that a million other ways.

Eleven had already begun to scold me in my brief moments of consciousness on the way to the Tardis and despite the quiet excuse of me worrying someone might die because of what I'd changed, he had been right that throwing myself in like that was the worst possible thing I could have done. I could have died and that was a consequence neither he nor I could afford to ignore. It wasn't often I did something so stupid but I wasn't about to brush it off as unimportant. I really need to learn to think before acting.

"Yes, you do."

My eyes snapped open at the sound of the Doctor's voice in my head, drawing my gaze to the slightly upturned lips of the Tenth Doctor. I went to push myself up, questions forming on my lips about how he did that and why I could only now hear him, but a familiar sharp pain rippled over my spine. He hastily reached out and pressed my body back down onto the mattress.

"Sorry. I didn't realize it was so early for you," he apologized. "You need to rest for a bit longer. Your body is still patching things up."

I let out a soft groan, allowing my body to sink back into the sheets. "I'm so tired of you calling me early."

He smiled again, though something about it felt off. "Yes, well, you are new to a lot of things. You're still young. You've got time."

The feeling of wrongness was growing now. There was something off with the Doctor and my brows furrowed as I tried to figure it out. I hadn't meant to tap into my mental abilities in the process, especially given how new some of the tricks I had were. Yet, I couldn't help it when the heavy, oppressive dark cloud hovering over the Doctor was so potent that the air almost shimmered. It's worse than Van Gogh but… but that doesn't make sense. What episode would have the Tenth Doctor so…

The more I thought about it, the more discrepancies I was beginning to find. He hadn't shaved in a bit and his hair—while still a messy, upward-sticking mop of brown—was somehow less styled and more… tired. As though it was barely staying up, and only by the sheer effort of his hands, which were constantly raking through it in frustration. He felt riddled with anxiety and unease and guilt, making my own emotions ripple with similar unease. Then, my eyes caught on his coat, taking in the darker blue fabric that wasn't reminiscent of Ten's usual Janis Joplin coat. Everything about him was wrong and I finally felt that I needed to question him on it before something happened to interrupt.

"Your coat is… new."

It wasn't quite the response I was hoping to say but it wouldn't matter really.

He glanced down, plucking at it between his fingers. "Oh, right! Yeah. Suppose it is new. New coat, new me… Or sort of?" He reached up and rubbed at the stubble on his face. "Old face, actually. Not sure why yet. Why my old face?"

My heart skipped in my chest, jumping up to my throat in concern.

"I'm sorry. Old face? You're not… I mean, can that even…" I shook my head, pushing myself upright despite his protests and my own aching body. "Hold on. I'm very confused. You're not Ten?"

"Ten?" He questioned as I brought a hand to my head.

"Yeah, sorry. Probably the wrong number with all the other regeneration in between. I-I mean you're not… you're not after—" I gestured to my ears. "—big ears?"

"Oh! Oh, you thought I was—Oh, well, actually that makes a lot of sense. I was rather lost too when it happened. No, no. I was a woman. Blonde, bit short, had a gob."

The brief image of Thirteen passed through my mind and my eyes widened.

"No," I breathed, looking him over and seeing the startling differences. "Holy shit. You are brand new, aren't you?"

He hummed, draping an arm over the back of his chair and crossing his leg over his knee. "Yup. New as I can get, though I did get a bit lost before you popped up. You must've settled her down before she could throw a tantrum," he said, talking about the Tardis which groaned in response. "I may have accidentally invented the name for Daleks and replaced one of their guns with a plunger after I broke it, but you didn't hear that from me."

I gaped at him in shock. "You're joking."

"The first sixty minutes can be a bit hectic. You know how regeneration is." He shrugged, scratching at his head and awkwardly looking away as I tried to put everything he said together in my mind.

"So, you were a woman, then you regenerated, accidentally flew to the creation of the Daleks, gave them their name and a plunger as a weapon, then I popped up, and now—"

"Just waiting in the Vortex until you're settled," he explained with a nod. "Didn't expect to run into you this early, much less all tattered. You really shouldn't be so reckless when it comes to just chucking yourself in front of big animals with claws. How many times is that for you now?"

"Twice…" I mumbled, properly chastised. "But I did do it because you couldn't see it. If you'd just stayed quiet—"

He raised a brow and the excuse slowly died on my lips.

A small whine of complaint escaped me as I turned away. "Y-Yeah, alright, fine. It was stupid and dangerous. Not like I had time to think about it."

"Won't be the first time nor the last, unfortunately," he replied, getting up from his chair and checking over a monitor nearby. "Gave it a safe home, if you were wondering. There are a few reserves that pop up when people start realizing what's going on. Gives the abandoned Krafayis a chance to build their own herds without worrying about holding anyone back." He glanced back at me with a small smile, gesturing for me to turn so he could check my back. "I'll take you some time."

I winced and grit my teeth against the sharp pains in my back as he poked and prodded around my injuries. It wasn't as bad as before but still didn't feel great.

"It's not too bad. You should be alright on your feet now, anyway," he declared, tossing a thumb at the door behind him. "You're welcome to get cleaned up. We can drop by someplace quiet, grab a bite to eat or something."

"Oh, yeah, because you figuring out your tongue deserves to be a public spectacle?" I teased, gingerly hopping down from the bed as he frowned lightly.

"Oi. I can behave just fine after a regeneration."

I shot him a look that only made his pout grow.

"I can!"

"Yeah, whatever you say, Spaceman," I replied with a smile of my own, knowing I still had questions but feeling they could wait for a bit longer.

He smiled softly at the old nickname and he waved me off to the shower as he left. I watched the door he walked out of for a moment, eyes growing sad because I was definitely missing something here. Him having his old face was something important. Very important and probably a way of giving himself a lesson much like his Twelfth self having the face of the man he saved in Pompeii. That being said, the depression that clung to him now was something I might have figured out and I took the thought with me to ponder in the shower.

I don't remember much about Thirteen's episodes. Hers were the last I'd watched before I ended up here and they were unfortunately a bit of a mess. I sighed heavily under the spray of the shower, scrubbing shampoo into my hair a bit more vigorously than I probably should have. There was a lot more the writers could have done but that's beside the point. This is reality now. Thirteen is someone I haven't met yet so she could be different than how she was portrayed. What really matters is what she went through. I frowned lightly, pausing as I rinsed myself off and started to step out and grab a fluffy black towel to dry. The Flux.

"The episodes were a mess with all the back and forth but… but what happened was just…"

I groaned, aggressively rubbing the towel over my short hair and not bothering to really dry it properly before I pulled on the clothes the Tardis left for me. God, she—he—must feel like shit. His whole planet was destroyed again by his best friend. Everyone was killed because they'd been lied to their whole lives. The Doctor wasn't who he thought he was. He was an orphan, ripped from his world into this one and picked up by a manic of a scientist who used him to recreate a whole species. He was manipulated, had his memories wiped again and again… I buttoned up the white dress shirt I now wore, turning to look at the door solemnly. It makes sense that this version of him is so upset and guilty about it. That is… I couldn't even begin to understand that sort of pain. That hint of inadequacy rolled in my gut for a moment before I brushed it off and walked out of the medbay, rolling up my sleeves to my elbows and heading toward the console room.

The Doctor was waiting by the controls, idly looking at a monitor before he glanced over and smiled at me; though it seemed all his smiles now were tinted with exhaustion and sadness.

"Ready?"

"Where to?" I asked, hoping to keep a good hold on the worry I was feeling toward him and try to keep everything as normal between us as I could.

He hummed, thinking about it for a moment before adjusting the controls. "How about a market? Little bit of this and that, some options. Less formal sit down and more wandering about."

"Sounds good," I replied, settling on the jumpseat with only the slightest of winces at my still-tender back. "Are we going universal market or someplace more local?"

"Local," he said easily, glancing over at me with another small smile. "Despite how much we pop in and out of England, we rarely get the chance to have a proper look around. You always wanted to visit, didn't you?"

I was a little surprised at that, given it was something I wanted to do before I ended up traveling with him in this universe.

"Something wrong?" He asked, having seen my shock.

"No, just… seems kind of silly now. Wanting to look around London or England or Scotland when we literally bounce around all of time and space."

"Yeah, well…" His smile turned fond as he looked down at the console. "You always did like the simple things."

I felt the urge to approach him and gave in, saddling up beside him and ignoring his curious look as I leaned into his side. I could tell he was silently questioning what was going on but I ignored it and just pushed some feelings of contentment and fondness back at him. He relaxed and looped an arm around my waist, tugging me close and holding me steady as he flipped the dematerialization lever to get us going. Once we landed, he gave me an encouraging nudge and I cracked a smile as I headed for the doors and grabbed a coat from off the rack near the door that was about my size. He watched me open the door and take a peak, before coming up behind me and doing the same over my shoulder.

"Anywhere you recognize?" I asked, stepping out onto the stone path with him closing the doors behind us.

"Hm, believe so. Camden Lock? Busy little marketplace. They've got a canal just over there," he said pointing off to the side as we moved out of the little alleyway we'd landed in and onto the busier road.

People were bustling back and forth despite the evening hour and my gaze shifted to the Cyberdog clothing store across the way with a hint of unease.

"I'm hoping that shop has nothing to do with Cybermen," I muttered, giving him a look as he grinned.

"Nah. They're a clothing shop. Bit of goth, bit of steampunk, some rave music thrown in. That sort of thing."

We ducked past some people wandering around—the Doctor smiling at the bumbling humans as I followed along easily enough—when we heard someone snapping at a woman who was bumping into people. She had boxes piled up far too high to properly see and the Doctor and I exchanged looks before heading over to help.

"Oh, hold on. Hold on," he said, coming up and grabbing the top two boxes. "Let us help."

He passed them to me and went to take more only for us both to freeze. Donna Noble stared back at us with a relieved smile.

"Thank you very much."

I was surprised and more so when the Doctor took the boxes back from me and put them back on top; blocking her view once more. He took my hand and started to tug me away before she complained.

"Oi! Do you mind!"

"But that's—" I started, voice barely a whisper and he closed his eyes, tipping his head back before letting out a sigh and turning us back around to take the boxes again as Donna scowled.

"If you've finished playing games, mister, this stuff's not mine. It's hers. Oh, where's she gone? Rose!" Donna called in exasperation and the Doctor and I only grew more confused.

"What?"

"Rose!" Donna called again, giving us both odd looks. "Rose!"

"Oh, I'm getting the feeling this won't be a fun, relaxing night out," I murmured as the Doctor leaned toward Donna, still questioning her.

"What?"

"Rose!" Donna emphasized as someone approached.

"Coming. Sorry, mum. I had to pop back. I wanted to buy a bagful of eyes," the young woman said, opening her tote bag as the Doctor looked between them.

"Mum?"

"Bagfull of eyes?" I questioned instead, taking the smaller two boxes from the Doctor as he held onto the bigger one.

Rose lifted a bag of googly eyes as Donna explained.

"She's got this business online. You should spend your evenings doing homework, not fiddling about posting things to Dubai," she lightly scolded Rose who finally took notice of us as Donna took our boxes back and placed them on the ground to reorganize.

"Hold on. Who are you?"

"Oh, yeah, sorry. My name's—" The Doctor was cut off before he could shake her hand as there was a loud noise and people called out in shock.

We turned to see a fireball falling through the clouds; Donna rambling behind us, completely oblivious.

"I took one look at him. I said, 'Never trust a man with a goatee.' He looked like he'd been sucking a drainpipe. I said to him—"

"Holy shit," I murmured when the fireball took shape as it grew closer.

"—but he was like, 'I know better.' I said—"

"Mum! There's a plane crashing!" Rose informed her, though she didn't bother to turn around.

"I don't think that's a plane. It's a spaceship in trouble," the Doctor corrected.

"Mum, look. It's a spaceship!" Rose pressed, not even thinking twice about the information the Doctor gave, as Donna scoffed.

"Yes. There's a spaceship crashing over London right now. You are worse than your great-grandad."

"Oh, grandad!" The Doctor chirped, undoubtedly glad Wilfred was still around kicking.

"It's going to crash!"

It did end up crashing in the distance, making the crowd of people around us gasp before trailing off to post their videos of the incident online. Donna had only then turned back around and gotten up with her box.

"There you go. Perfectly stacked. That's better."

"Mum, how do you always manage to miss everything?" Rose complained.

"Because I've got better things to do. Nice to meet you, skinny man," she greeted, giving me a small nod. "You too, whoever you are. Oh, word of advice," she said, leaning toward the Doctor. "You can wear a suit that tight up to the age of 35, and no further. Come on, Rosie."

I snorted at the affronted look on the Doctor's face as they walked off and turned to him. "Yeah, so did I miss something or are you just as lost as I am about all that?"

"Well—"

"Rose!" A man called from a taxi, making him wrinkle his nose and look around in confusion once more.

"What?"

"Rose!"

"Oh, I give up," he grumbled, rushing over and leaning up against the cab, startling the driver who apologized.

"Oh, sorry, mate. That's my daughter over there, and my missus."

"Good, but I need to get north. That explosion just now, something crashed. Can you get us there?"

Shaun—Donna's husband—glanced at his phone as it chimed with alerts. "Oh, sat nav says they're closing all the roads."

"Oh, I know some roads even the taxi drivers don't. Trust me," he said, lifting his psychic paper. "Grand Master of the Knowledge."

"That says Grand Mistress," Shaun pointed out, making me chuckle as the Doctor flicked the paper in annoyance.

"Oh, catch up," he fussed, opening the back door of the cab and waving me in. "Come on, Ash. Allons-y!"

"Oui, monsieur," Shaun replied as we clambered in and he drove off, giving the Doctor a chance to ask some of the many questions on his mind.

"So you're Shaun Temple, which means that woman—Your wife, that's Donna, is that right?"

"Yeah! How did you know that?"

"Oh, I know that friend of yours. Nerys."

"Oh, Nerys! How is she?"

"She's fine."

"After the accident."

"She's not fine."

"It was her fault."

"She's been fined," the Doctor corrected, making me crack a smile as I looked out the windows. "But she was saying… about you and Donna… So, she's Donna Temple now?"

"Huh. No. Still Donna Noble. She refused to be Noble-Temple cos she says—"

"It sounds like an old ruin," they both chimed together.

"That's her! And Rose Noble, too. I was never going to win that battle. What do I care? I've got the best two girls in the world, mate."

"But Nerys said… I thought… I mean, didn't you win the lottery?"

"Nerys and her big mouth. That's supposed to be a secret. You know what happened? Donna gave it all away to charity. Every single penny. Well, we bought the house. That's the one thing we did do. Now we can't afford to run it. Do I complain? No, I do not. That's the great love story, mate. Me putting up with that."

"She gave all her money away?" The Doctor asked.

"Triple rollover, 166 million quid, pop! Gone."

"Why did she do that?" The Doctor questioned as I gave him a look.

"Change of heart?"

"Donna?"

I shrugged, not really sure myself why she would just up and give away all that money. We didn't have long to think about it though before we pulled up as close to the steel mill where the spaceship had crashed as we could. We left Shaun with a generous tip—the Doctor just threw some money at him and didn't bother to check how much, as usual—and we hurried across the parking lot and grass until we came up on the metal fencing that the military had put in place to keep people out. He pulled out his sonic and began to get a panel cut out as I spoke quietly to him.

"Why does this feel like someone is mashing up our adventure with the Sycorax at Christmas with a wild Donna Noble mystery?" I asked as he shrugged.

"Don't know. You think someone is behind it?" He questioned instead as he moved aside the metal fence panel and slipped through.

"Not so much that, but you've gotta admit it's a bit weird. Donna shows up out of nowhere, bumps into us, and a spaceship falls out of the sky? That's a lot of coincidences lining up."

He offered me a hand through and tugged me past a vehicle and into the back door of one of the buildings. He ducked behind a column near where the military were gathered, spraying down the landed spaceship with fire extinguishers. He hauled me up some stairs, pausing to look over at everything when we heard a couple of people talking.

"Now, I think we're making a fundamental mistake, 'cause maybe that spaceship was on a collision course to start with, but look—" It was a blonde woman in a wheelchair who showed the soldier at her side a diagram on her phone. "At the last minute, it pulls up, then settles. What I'm saying is, that ship didn't crash. It parked."

"No signs of life?"

"Not yet. But we don't know what kind of life we're looking for."

The Doctor nudged me back and we moved away from them to a more secluded part of the building. He sat down and propped his feet up on a box, pulling out his sonic once more and working at the settings with a small frown of concentration. I plopped down on a box on his left, leaning back against his arm to silently let him work.

"You're quiet," he commented idly, drawing my gaze toward him as he fiddled with his sonic.

"I'm usually quiet," I countered, curiously eyeing the hologram he drew up with the sonic. "Neat trick."

"New sonic," he hummed, glancing over at me. "There's only a few reasons why you'd be quiet. You're trying to hide something from me or we're surrounded by people you don't know and are trying to stay out of the way. Given we're alone…"

"I'm not—" I stopped myself short, frowning slightly upon seeing he'd caught me by doing that, smirking at me like the know-it-all he was. "I'm not hiding anything."

"Maybe not, but you've got questions, don't you?" He offered and I shifted uncomfortably, folding my arms over my chest and leaning against him once more.

"They're stupid," I muttered.

"No such thing," he replied easily but I scoffed.

"Right, so asking if you're okay isn't a stupid question?"

He paused in adjusting his sonic, sparing me a brief look before continuing. "No. I'm alright."

"You're not," I argued lightly, keeping my gaze on the floor. "I'm not trying to but I can feel it, you know. Like with Van Gogh. There's this… haze that just surrounds you and pulls you down."

I rubbed at my arms a bit, feeling it even now and how it tugged me down slightly as well. He noticed and I felt some of it quickly get pulled back, as though he'd reined it in and I groaned, turning toward him in annoyance.

"Don't do that. Don't hide it like that will somehow help. I already know it's there, how you're feeling or whatever. You hiding it just makes me feel—" Again, I cut myself short, not wanting to explain the inadequacy that churned in my gut more and more lately.

"Ash, I'm not—"

I shook my head, expecting him to make up an excuse. "Just… Just don't. I don't like it."

He sighed lightly, reaching out and pulling my head toward him a little so he could kiss the top of it. "Sorry. I'm not doing it to hide it from you. I just know you're still new to it and I know how intense emotions like mine—especially as a telepath—could influence your mood. It has nothing to do with you. I promise."

I grunted, acknowledging his statement as he lightly clasped his hand against the side of my neck in reassurance before pulling back and nudging my shoulder.

"Come on then. Ask your questions or give me something to chat about. Keep us both from moping."

I turned, adjusting my position so I could lean into his side and watch the hologram image he was bringing up. "Can I help?"

"Hm?" He questioned, putting on his glasses as he eyed the image of the spaceship.

"Stupid question, like I said," I murmured as he adjusted the image to look over the ship at a closer angle. "The answer is probably no but… if there's something I can do to help…"

"You're already helping, Ash," he replied quietly. "You might not think so but just being here, asking about me, that's more than enough."

"Never feels like enough," I breathed, though he obviously heard me with the amount of pride and affection he pushed toward me. "Sorry."

"Nah. None of that. You'll always be more than enough to me, Ash. You might not be a Time Lord or a super genius or the like but you're pretty special in your own way." He offered me a small smile. "I like the simple things too."

Heat rushed up the back of my neck and over my cheeks, as I sheepishly glazed away, earning a small chuckle from him. He went back to reading the display in front of him and I looked over as well, gesturing to the spinning symbols on the screen.

"Will I ever learn Gallifreyan?" I asked, turning us away from how he was handling the Flux and how I felt about it all.

"Dunno," he said with a shrug. "Not through lack of trying but you don't have it all quite figured out as far as I know. I try to help but you always said you work better with books and examples."

"I took a lot of languages," I reminded him as he nodded.

"And you learn about half a dozen more while traveling with me. Still don't like speaking them but that's alright. Tardis does all the hard work anyway so it's fine."

"How does that work?" I asked, brows furrowed as I looked up at him. "If she translates everything, then why learn a new language?"

"She likes you," he said simply enough. "I'm sure if you asked, she'd do just about anything to help you out. You got the itch to learn another language and she held back on translating things unless you didn't know the word. Sort of like… Spanglish. Part English, part Spanish. She does the same thing but with languages like Martian or Palare. I think she was starting to translate Gallifreyan for you at one point but you scolded her for it."

"It's cheating," I grumbled and he nodded with a small smile.

"That's exactly what you said then. She only does it now if there's an emergency."

"You mean when she takes me over," I pointed out, earning a grunt as he frowned lightly at a glowing portion of the ship on display in front of us.

I jumped though when someone spoke up from behind us, feeling the Doctor's light grip on my waist tighten a little in comfort as I wrinkled my nose in distaste for jumping at all.

"Too good for us now?" The woman in the wheelchair asked, coming up beside me as the Doctor greeted her without looking her way.

"Evening."

"Doctor, Asher," she offered in return as the Doctor gestured with his chin at the display of the rocket.

"That's a Double-Bladed Dagger Drive damaged by laser fire, which means we've got two sets of visitors at war with each other," he said, tipping his head back to look at her. "Nice to meet you. Did you get the heat readings and deceleration?"

"Oh, I got everything," she replied as he flicked the display off and shifted us both so he could take her offered phone. "Shirley Anne Bingham, UNIT Scientific Adviser No.56."

"Oh, I was Scientific Adviser No. 1," the Doctor mused.

"Oh, I know. I've read the files. I'm going to get a bonus just for meeting you two."

"Oh."

I stayed quiet, having immediately seen the shift in the Doctor's mood. It wasn't that he didn't like her—he always had his own feelings about places like UNIT—but it was almost like his demeanor changed from how he and I were a moment ago. The teasing tone familiar with his old face of the Tenth Doctor that had carried over into this one was nonexistent and it was all business now. There had been a hint of it when we spoke but it was strange trying to settle the idea in my head that this wasn't the Tenth Doctor even though they were the same man with the same face. This was the Fourteenth Doctor and he was a very different person.

"But why are you hiding away?" Shirley asked him then, drawing my attention after I'd stood to stretch my legs and my sore back. "We're on the same side."

"Er… It's all a bit mad, Shirley. I don't know who I am anymore."

His gaze shifted briefly to me and I held it for a while before awkwardly shifting and looking away.

"Well, you look like the Doctor to me," Shirley offered.

"Well, exactly. The one in the skinny suit. After that, I wear a bow tie. After that, I'm a Scotsman. After that, I'm a woman."

"But… that's your future. You can't know that. It's forbidden," Shirley argued, glancing over at me like I'd been the one to tell him.

"I regenerated and she became me," the Doctor informed her. "This wasn't Ash. She knows better than to spoil the big things." He wrinkled his nose in disgust. "Shame on you for thinking so."

"Still rude… and not ginger," I pointed out with a small teasing smile. "Still got that."

He made a face at the comparison as I looked over at Shirley as she tried to understand what he meant.

"He got one of his old faces back," I informed her, gesturing his way. "To me, he's the Fourteenth Doctor. The regeneration numbers are a bit off, I'm sure but that's beside the point. Him having a familiar face has always been a sort of teaching moment for him."

"How do you mean?"

"When he was the older, Scottish man, that face was someone he had saved from Pompeii. A fixed event in time and his body chose that face to remind him to always save lives even when he might think it's impossible."

"But he always does that."

"Not always," the Doctor said quietly. "Not all the time."

"But that's what he has you for, isn't it?" Shirley added, trying another tactic.

"I'm not always around. I can't always be there or be in the right frame of mind to help people," I said softly. "Thing is, if he's got the same face as before, then there's got to be a reason for it. That, and we sort of… bumped into someone who knows this face. It's a… not so great coincidence."

"Why?"

"We've got this friend called Donna Noble, and she was our best friend in the whole wide universe. I absolutely love her," the Doctor said before humming. "Oh. Mmm. Do I say things like that now?"

"Sounds like a good thing to say," Shirley pointed out as I nodded.

"Honest, open. I like it."

The Doctor continued though, eyes serious. "But Donna took the mind of a Time Lord into her head. I had to wipe her memory to save her life. If she ever remembers us, she will die. So what happens next? I get this face back, Asher pops in, and the Tardis lands right next to her. I turn around, there's her husband, then a spaceship crashes right in front of her. It's like she's drawing us in."

"Again," I tacked on.

"What? She's making it happen?" Shirley asked.

"No, she's got no idea. She's so ordinary, she's brilliant. She's got this beautiful daughter. She's happy. Is she?" He wondered for a moment before tucking the thought away. "And now the universe is turning around her again. I don't believe in destiny, but if destiny exists, then it is heading for Donna Noble right now."

"What for?"

"I don't know."

"Oh."

"But she can't remember. I won't be the one who kills her."

"It wasn't your fault the first time either," I muttered, coming up beside him as he sighed lightly and leaned against me for a moment.

A chime from Shirley's phone went off though, drawing his attention.

"Right, there's no sign of a pilot, but that's not an automatic drive, so look for some sort of—"

"Ma'am?" An approaching soldier called out and the Doctor leaned back, keeping us both out of sight. "We've found the escape pod. No sign of life, but we're moving out to secure the site."

"Good work, soldier. Go get it," Shirley said only to hold out a hand as the Doctor got to his feet. "Yeah, yeah, not you, mate. I've got this. Off you pop. Bye-bye."

"Waited your whole life?" The Doctor asked her as she started to head off.

"You wish," she joked and I glanced at him before he nodded and had us head out.

We popped back outside and the Doctor and I climbed onto the back of a truck, giving Shirley a small wave as we were driven away.

"So? Thoughts?" He asked and I gestured to myself.

"What, me? Thoughts about this mess?"

"Well, you're clever too. Just the right kind of clever."

"You mean the selective kind?" I scoffed. "I only remember random things. Hardly anything useful."

"You remember me," he offered and I rolled my eyes.

"Stop it. She'd be scolding us if she were here, you know."

"What for?"

"Flirting," I said, instantly regretting it and bringing a hand up to my face with a groan. "No. No, shut up. We're not."

He chuckled lightly. "Aren't we?"

"Stop," I urged, giving him a glare from between my fingers.

He bumped me lightly, back to a more easy-going demeanor that had been gone while Shirley was around. "Come on then. What do you think? You don't believe in coincidences."

"Mmm," I hummed, pondering what was happening and lowering my hands from my face as I frowned lightly. "I'm not sure. You've got your old face back, we purposefully run into Donna, aliens are falling out of the sky and if they don't somehow end up in Donna's backyard, I'll be stunned."

"Right?" The Doctor replied, agreeing with me as a thought came to mind.

"What if this is leading up to her getting her memories back?" I asked, seeing his cheery demeanor fall. "N-Not in a bad way! I just mean, like… The last time there were coincidences around her, something impossible happened. The Doctor-Donna. Who's to say the impossible won't happen again and she'll end up… fixed?"

"That's rather optimistic of you," he said as the truck we were in began to slow in a residential neighborhood.

"Hey, you asked me for my thoughts," I argued as he hopped down out of the truck and offered me a hand as well.

"Still. A miracle like that happening a second time?"

There was a familiar shout then, drawing our gaze toward the home it seemed to come from.

"What the hell is it doing in my shed!"

We both looked at one another and I offered the Doctor a shrug, earning a sigh as he nodded.

"Come on."

The Doctor pounded on the front door of Donna's home, shouting for him and Asher to get let in. he spotted someone through the glass just to the side of the door and grinned.

"Silvia! Oh, Silvia. So nice to see you again. Could you let us in?" He asked.

"You said, if she sees you again, she will die," Silvia hissed back.

"Well, no. If she remembers me. That's slightly different," the Doctor corrected as Asher sighed on the other side and ducked in below him.

"If it helps, we've already bumped into her and she didn't remember us."

Donna walked back into the house from the back door, shouting loud enough for even them to hear. "No such thing as spaceships? We've got a bloody Martian in the shed!"

Silvia snapped for them to get out of there, but the Doctor wasn't listening, ducking down to peer through the letterbox as Asher squinted through the stained glass at the white-furred creature now clinging to Donna's legs.

"Get off me you space rat!"

"Oh, wow," the Doctor hummed. "He's so cute!"

"Seriously?" Asher asked him, earning a surprised look from the man. "I dunno. I mean I guess so but it definitely gives me creepy Furby vibes."

Silvia was trying to get Donna to somehow not look at the creature but given she'd walked away from the door, it left it wide open for the Doctor to use the sonic and head in. She heard him coming up behind her and whipped around, slapping him across the face and making him groan as Asher grabbed him to stop him from stumbling.

"Oh, here we go again," he complained as Rose and Donna spotted him.

"It's that couple!" Rose said in surprise as Donna frowned.

"Oh, it's the skinny man and his girlfriend."

"No, it isn't. No, no, he's not there. You can't see them!" Silvia insisted. "And there's no monster. Oh, for the love of God! None of this is real!"

Shaun stepped in then, adding to the chaos. "Hey, hey. Dad's home. Something smells nice."

"Tuna madras," Silvia automatically replied as he eyed the creature in the room and pointedly said nothing about it.

"What's madras?" Asher asked, voice quiet as she leaned toward the Doctor who'd crouched near the creature.

"Uh, it's a uh, hot curry sauce." He looked over at the creature. "Are you alright?"

It let out a little meep and clutched at its hand, drawing his attention to it.

"Are you hurt?"

It held out its hand and he nodded, gesturing to the front room.

"Come on. I'll get you patched up." He looked at the Nobles gathered around. "You have a med kit?"

"In the bathroom, yeah," Rose said. "I'll get it."

They all moved into the front room and the Doctor took off his coat, passing it to Asher who happily took it and folded it over her arm as she watched him bandage up the small injury.

"We should think about infection. I mean, I think this man should deal with this beast, and… and… and we can leave him alone and go back to mine," Silvia suggested to Donna who had other things to focus on.

"Never mind. Never mind about the ferret from Mars. Who the hell are you?"

"I, um…" The Doctor looked at Asher in a panic and she rolled her eyes, turning to Donna.

"We're friends of Nerys."

"Nerys! Well, now it all makes sense. That viper in the nest. I'm not going anywhere. We could sell Mad Paddington for a million quid."

"Mum!"

"No!"

"You fill the fridge!" Donna countered.

"What did happen to all your money?" The Doctor asked, only upsetting her further.

"Why are you so interested in us? Everywhere we go, there you are."

"Yeah, I just… I was wondering," he said, leaning back after finishing up with the creature's injury. "There is one person missing. We used to know your grandad, Wilf."

"He's not with us anymore," Donna said as the Doctor grew solemn.

"Right. Of course. He wasn't young, he was… I loved that man."

Asher lightly nudged him, drawing his sad gaze up to her as she shot him a look. "He's not dead, dumbo."

"What?"

Donna rolled her eyes. "He's in sheltered accommodation. He's 94. He can't manage the stairs."

"We were lucky. We couldn't afford it, but this offer came along," Shaun hummed as Rose grinned.

"It's amazing. He's got this room, like a cottage and a garden, and it's almost free."

"Run by that lot in the middle of town? UNIT? This woman in charge, Kate, she says, he's an old soldier, she'll look after him."

The Doctor and Asher smiled at that.

"Right. I know her. She's looking after Wilf. Brilliant. Brilliant."

"Meep, meep," the creature chimed, turning the conversation back to it.

"Yes. The Meep. I promise I can help him get home and then you'll never see me again."

"You're assuming 'he' as a pronoun?" Rose pointed out as Asher awkwardly rubbed the back of her neck.

"I always go 'they' until I know otherwise really."

"True, yes. Sorry. Good point," the Doctor said, looking over at the creature. "Are you he or she or they?"

"My chosen pronoun is the definite article. I am always 'The Meep.'"

Asher snorted. "Kinda like you, eh, Doc?"

He offered her a small smile for a moment before growing serious again. "But you were shot down. Who wants you dead?"

"The Wrarth Warriors. They cultivate Meepkind for our beautiful fur. But then the galaxy said, 'No more fur. It's wrong.' So the Wrarth Warriors slaughtered their livestock."

"You're a fashion victim—" The others grumbled and he quickly apologized. "Sorry."

"Now they will hunt me down till there are no Meeps left. It breaks both my hearts."

"You've got two hearts? So do I," the Doctor hummed as Donna looked at him in surprise.

"You've got what?"

"No, h-he means it like a metaphor. Like two minds, don't you?" Silvia tried, still doing her best to keep Donna from remembering who they were just as someone pounded on the door.

"What the hell is it now!" Donna complained as the Doctor got back up to his feet and took his coat from Asher.

"Good. The soldiers. They can give us a lift, and me, Ash, and The Meep will be out of your way. This lot are on my side." He hurried to the door as Asher sighed, looking at the people he'd left there with an awkward smile.

"Sorry. He does that. Give us a minute."

She hurried over after him as he opened the door and the soldiers outside barked out their orders.

"We demand to search the house. This has been declared a military zone."

"Sorry, say that again?" The Doctor asked, drawing his sonic to scan them as she came up to his side.

"Trouble?" She asked when the soldier repeated himself; the sonic lifting his visor up briefly to show glowing blue eyes.

"Yeah," he informed her, smiling at the soldier and grabbing the door. "Not today, thanks."

He closed the door on them and had only just mentioned needing to run when the back door to the home was blown open by the Wrarth; tall insect-like creatures demanding the surrender of The Meep. The Doctor grabbed Asher, tucking her behind him and back into the front room as the soldiers broke in and started firing at the Wrarth who fired back. A war was starting smack dab in the middle of Donna Noble's home and Asher let out a heavy sigh.

"I totally jinxed it, didn't I?"