Chapter 38 The One with All the Waving
Right, I was so certain I posted this months ago… and thought 'oh it hasn't been that long this time'... wtf! So enjoy this chapter! And look forward to a NEW one ASAP considering it's pretty much ready to go!
111 reviews! Fortuitous! Thanks so much for all your kind words, I hope you enjoy part two of Partners in Crime!
Natalie Wilson: I reaaaaally enjoyed 15's episodes! I won't lie, there were some moments of 'misses' but mainly hits! 73 Yards was [Chef's Kiss] of that RTD style DW!
I own nothing recognisable x
Florence raised an eyebrow at the cramped conditions of their most recent hiding spot. The Doctor ignored her expression and ushered her in.
"Come on, quickly now."
"Doctor…" She crossed her arms. "Seriously?"
He shot her a grin, before grabbing her arm and pushing her into the broom cupboard, slipping in after and locking the door behind them. As he turned back to look at his companion, he found himself chest to face with the shorter woman, who had refused to budge an inch.
"Sorry." She apologised, straight faced. "Am I in your way? I do apologise." She stepped to the side, back immediately against the cold grey wall as she flung a hand out to gesture the rest of the space. "Please, come in."
The Doctor just grinned cheekily.
"Thank you, ma'am." He winked at her as he picked up a nearby bucket, turning it upside down and patting it. "For you." Florence rolled her eyes but took the seat, watching as he pressed himself against the back wall, ear against it as if listening for something. After a couple of seconds, he ran his screwdriver along the concrete, opening a secret compartment hiding a mechanical green structure, with lights flashing at random intervals.
"What the hell is that?" Florence asked.
"A computer core. Running through the whole building…" The Doctor told her, and Florence raised an eyebrow at his explanation.
"And what are you gonna do with it?"
"I'm going to hack it." He told her smugly, and Florence smiled brightly.
"Oh, cool! You're good at that!" He grinned in response to her compliment, like a bird preening. "How long is it gonna take?"
"Not long, hopefully…" He told her looking back at the machine behind him. "But we have time."
"What do you mean?" Florence asked, already knowing that she likely wouldn't like the answer.
"Well, I'll hack into the computer, see what she's up to, confront her." He explained. "But we can't be doing that until after everyone leaves, can't be putting an office full of people in danger in case she lashes out…"
Florence leaned her head against the wall behind her and sighed deeply.
"And why did we get here at 8am when the building closes at…?" She looked at him to finish her sentence. The Doctor rubbed the back of his neck, before turning to face the computer, beginning to fiddle with wiring.
"We have to wait until security swaps over so there's a gap in-" He cut himself off after turning back briefly and catching sight of her unamused face. "6ish… probably…"
"Ten hours." Florence muttered, shaking her head. "This'll be a good test of our friendship."
"Well…" The Doctor clicked his tongue, focussing once more on the computer. "We've managed longer."
"Pray tell." Florence smiled sweetly when he finally turned and met her eyes. "Just a hint."
The Doctor rolled his eyes.
"'Spoilers' you tell me…" He mocked. "And yet, you're the first to ask all about our future adventures."
"Okay, buuut… what if the future version of me who helps you out of said situation only knows to help you because past you told me what to do?" She crossed her arms smugly, and the Doctor looked at her with an unimpressed expression.
"I'm not falling for that."
"Oh come on…" Florence smiled cheekily at him. "Did I nearly get you?"
"No."
"Fine." Florence shrugged. "Gimme one that I wasn't part of." She crossed one leg over the other. "Go on, Doctor. Entertain me."
The Doctor smiled, huffing as if it was some great chore.
"I guess, to pass the time…" Florence was impressed with his ability to fiddle with the computer while talking to her, hardly breaking his stride. "I could tell you about the time I was exiled to Earth and just so happened to bump into your former rulers…"
"I'm sorry…" Florence choked out a laugh. "'Our former rulers'? What?"
"Well." The Doctor clarified. "Some say former rulers, some say native species. The Silurians." He looked down at Florence, eyes softening as he saw the way she looked back up at him with such a look of wonder. "So there we were, me and Bessie-"
"Bessie?" Florence asked, assuming she was yet another long lost companion of his.
"Bessie." The Doctor sighed fondly, and there was a strange knot in Florence's stomach. "She was the best, I mean, perfect really… I miss her, actually. Maybe I should dig her out soon." Suddenly the knot disappeared.
"What?" Florence grimaced in confusion.
"Canary yellow, state of the art Siva Tourer. My one request from UNIT during my exile." He continued, and Florence nodded slowly.
"A car. Bessie's a car." Florence had been jealous of a car. The room felt very warm all of a sudden.
"I know, weird." The Doctor was oblivious to her internal battle. "Me, driving!" He shook his head. "But, exile and all. TARDIS was out of action, I was UNIT's new scientific advisor, I had to get around somehow!"
Florence smiled at his rambling, shaking all thoughts of jealousy from her head. She hadn't been jealous, she had been intrigued, some might even say concerned. Yes, she had been concerned that the Doctor had lost someone who had clearly been a very good friend of his, concerned that he was missing said dearly departed friend. Concerned. Not at all jealous.
Three hours later, Florence sat on the concrete floor of the cleaning cupboard, resting against the mop bucket she had previously been using as a chair, head thrown back in laughter as she listened to the Doctor's stories.
"You did not!" She squealed, hands in front of her face, picturing the Time Lord in front of her stark naked in the middle of a royal court.
"I did!" He grabbed the leg she kicked out at him in disbelief; he had moved to the floor when Florence had, his body not nearly as restless as hers but wanting to be at eye level nonetheless. He had pulled some wires out to continue his hacking into the computer mainframe. "I told them, 'Shameful? I assure you, this is customary on my planet! Please, my lord, your robe, if you will.'"
Florence giggled again.
"Stop it! Did he actually do it?" She asked, peeking through her fingers.
"No." She screamed in laughter, as the Doctor stumbled over his words, hoping to redeem himself. "But! But! That was all part of… Florence, stop laughing… I swear, it was all part - Flossie, please! I had a plan!"
"Did you bring food?" Florence asked, stomach grumbling once more. "Please, tell me you brought food. I know your super duper alien stomach might not need sustenance, but I for one would kill for a sandwich right now."
"Well, Florence." The Doctor folded his arms in front of him accusingly. "Did you bring food?"
Florence pursed her lips. He had a point.
Actually, no he didn't. Screw his point.
"Um… no." She told him, chin up in defiance. "But, technically, you dragged me here-"
"Technically, you're the one who wanted Cristal Kebab-"
"You dragged me here!" She continued, speaking over him, causing him to smile slightly. "You're the one who said you'd provide food and lodging, and so far, mate, the lodging isn't quite cutting it!"
The Doctor rolled his eyes fondly, before reaching into those never ending deep pockets of his suit jacket and pulling out a tightly wrapped sandwich. Florence smiled brightly when she saw it, her stomach doing somersaults.
"Chicken salad, white bread, rocket instead of lettuce." His silly, super-proud-of-himself-and-his-cleverness face, she could have kissed it.
She bit her lip, shaking those thoughts from her head. It was just the close proximity. Florence settled on ripping open the sandwich instead.
"Florence… Florence… wake up." The woman in question grumbled as her hair was pushed off of her face gently. "Come on, Flossie."
She shifted, trying to regain feeling in her numb lower body, and opened her eyes. The bright, sterile lighting a stark contrast to the warmth of her TARDIS bedroom light that she had become accustomed to. She picked her head up off of her pillow, before frowning when she realised her hands were bracing themselves on two very firm, lanky legs.
She sat up suddenly, she had fallen asleep on the Doctor's lap. How mortifying.
"Sorry." She murmured, voice thick with drowsiness. "What time is it?"
"Little after 6." The Doctor quietly spoke, as if she was still asleep. "We've got to get going."
Florence nodded, suppressing a yawn, and ran her hands through her hair to fix it slightly.
"Sorry." She apologised again. "Didn't mean to fall asleep."
The Doctor smiled, straightening a stray piece of hair.
"Stop apologising." He told her. "You needed it." He stood suddenly, flipping his screwdriver once in his hand before holding his other out to pull her to her feet. "Besides, without you yapping away, I got to finish my gizmo. No luck with the computer though…"
Florence rolled her eyes, releasing his hand and slapping his chest lightly.
"You're the yapper, thanks." She gestured to the locked door. "Come on then, release me from my prison."
The Time Lord huffed out a laugh, unlocking the door, sticking his head out to check for security before opening it enough to allow Florence to slip out under his arm. "Milady."
"Oh, kind sir!"
The trespassers found themselves at the very top of the skyscraper, the bright lights of London shining around them. The Doctor closed the door behind him, pushing Florence forward with a hand to the small of her back.
"Come on." He muttered, leading her in the direction of a steel contraption at the edge of the rooftop.
"Oh, no." Florence told him, realising where he was heading. "No, no, nope!" She glared up at the Doctor, who was looking firmly ahead and continued to push her along.
"Florence…" He warned, and she groaned as he gave her a pat on the back as they got to the bottom of the steps. Cold, metal steps leading up to a small, bathtub-like window cleaning cradle, already wobbling slightly in the wind. She sighed, before grabbing onto the railing and hoisting herself up the stairs slowly.
"Here we go…"
The Doctor joined her quickly, helping her into the cradle before pressing a button, a whirring noise sounding around them as the cradle began to move outwards, over the edge of the roof. She closed her eyes tightly when she saw the Doctor look over the side eagerly.
She grabbed the back of his suit jacket, pulling him back into the centre with her as they were lowered down the side of the building. He acquiesced, turning them both around to face the windows instead.
He halted the cradle about ten floors down, in front of a dark office, the only light came from the bright 'ADIPOSE INDUSTRIES' sign on the far wall. They ducked suddenly when the door to the office opened, the Doctor reaching into his pocket and pulling out his old stethoscope, plugging his ears and pressing the resonator against the side of the cradle.
Florence looked at him suspiciously, curious as to what fancy alien technology was lurking in the stethoscope to suddenly allow him to hear through multiple thick layers.
"What's she saying?" She whispered to him, and he shushed her slightly, wincing. He moved the resonator slowly up to the window, as not to be caught.
"She's talking about the pills." He murmured, focusing intently. "They attract fat cells and flush them away… so they've said…" He frowned suddenly. "It binds them together… and galvanises… what?"
Florence resisted the urge to look through the window.
"'Galvanise?'" She asked. "What does that mean?"
"Miss Foster… is a foster mother…" The Doctor continued, he turned to look at Florence. "They're creating bodies out of the fat." He looked between Florence and the window. "We need to take a look."
The two of them slowly rose, peering through the window of the now brightly lit office, where a woman was tied to a chair and Miss Foster was showing her a small creature, able to fit in the palm of her hand, with eyes, a mouth, even little arms and legs, wobbling around unstably, like a small child.
"Oh, my god." Florence muttered.
"What the hell is that?" The woman tied to the chair asked, her voice carrying.
"Adipose." Miss Foster informed her, and her unknowing audience. "It's called an Adipose. Made out of living fat." The woman shook her head, murmuring something.
However, Florence was distracted. As she ran her eyes across the office she had only been able to glance at before Miss Foster had arrived, she caught sight of a flash of orange hair in the window of the door opposite.
"Doctor…" She gripped his suit jacket in her hand and tugged lightly.
"What?" He whispered, before she felt his whole body tense and she knew he had seen what she had only moments before.
"Donna…" Florence breathed, a wide smile spreading across her face. One that only grew when she realised that the redhead had finally seen them too.
"What?" The Doctor muttered again, in a state of shock, while the two other women beamed at each other.
"Doctor?" Donna mouthed at them across the room. "Florence!"
"But… what? What?" The Doctor gaped next to her like a fish.
"Oh. My. God!" Donna continued to grin.
"How?!" Florence exaggerated her mouth movements for the other woman to see.
"It's me!" She pointed at herself, and the Doctor and Florence nodded.
"Yes, we can see that." The Doctor pointed two fingers at his eyes and then back at Donna, who was still beaming away.
"Oh, this is BRILLIANT!"
"What the hell are you doing there?" The Doctor asked her, still whispering gently for Florence's benefit more than anything.
"I was looking…" Donna mimed as she spoke. "For… you!"
"Why?" Florence whispered.
"I read it… on the internet." Donna mimed tapping a keyboard, Florence nodding along eagerly. "All very weeeeird… so I stayed after dark… crept along… Heard them talking… hid…" She ducked down and popped up just as they had. "Then, you!" She jerked her thumb towards the occupants of the office, about to continue when she stopped suddenly, and Florence turned to see that they had gained their own audience.
"Are we interrupting you?" Miss Foster asked, primly.
"Run!" The Doctor faux-yelled at Donna, whipping out his screwdriver and sealing the door to the office shut while she made her escape. He wrapped an arm around Florence's waist as he aimed his sonic at the machinery at the top of the roof. "Hold on!"
Florence closed her eyes as the cradle flew back up, grabbing on tightly to the rail in front of her. The Doctor hurried her off when they arrived at the roof once more, following behind her and running towards the doors.
They practically jumped down the stairs, the Doctor's long legs aiding him while Florence scurried along behind him, taking two stairs at a time. Suddenly a flash of ginger met them on the stairwell, pulling the Doctor in for a tight hug before moving on to Florence.
"Donna!"
"Oh, my god!" Donna gasped in her ear in disbelief, Florence pulled back and found herself unable to contain her smile. "I don't believe it! You've even got the same suit!" She remarked, looking the Doctor up and down, turning to Florence. "Doesn't he ever change?"
"He does have a lovely blue one…" Florence rubbed his suit covered arm in comfort.
"Yeah, thanks, Florence." The Doctor raised his eyebrows at her comment. "Not right now!" They all looked down over the bannister of the stairs, hearing the noises of the guards only a few floors below them. The Doctor looked up at the woman and grinned, grabbing Florence's hand once more. "Just like old times!"
Florence huffed as they made it up another flight of stairs, realising where they were heading.
"Not the roof!"
"Florence…" The Doctor warned, before opening the door they had left from only moments before.
"I can't believe I actually found you!" Donna told them, following the Doctor and Florence through the door, the Doctor sonicking it shut behind them. "Because I thought, how do you find the Doctor and Florence? And then I just thought, look for trouble and then they'll turn up."
"Hey, I resent that!" Donna gave Florence a look. "Yeah, okay, fair."
"But seriously! I looked everywhere." The redhead continued. "You name it. UFOs, sightings, crop circles, sea monsters. I looked, I found them all." The Doctor led them back to the window cleaning cradle, messing around with the controls. "Like that stuff about the bees disappearing, I thought, I bet they're connected." Florence frowned at that, the bees. "Because the thing is, Doctor, I believe it all now. You opened my eyes. All those amazing things out there, I believe them all. Well, apart from that replica of the Titanic flying over Buckingham Palace on Christmas Day. I mean, that's got to be a hoax."
"Sorry, the Titanic?" Florence asked, looking at the Doctor, knowing that it definitely wasn't a hoax.
"What do you mean, 'the bees are disappearing'?" The Doctor ignored the women's questioning looks, but Donna merely shrugged.
"I don't know. That's what it says on the internet." She told them, while the Doctor hopped back into the cleaning cradle, gesturing to Florence to join him. "Well, on the same site, there was all these conspiracy theories about Adipose Industries and I thought, let's take a look!"
"In you get!" The Doctor called down to the two women, one busy rambling about her findings, while the other one glowered at him in distaste.
"What, in that thing?" Donna asked, and Florence rolled her eyes, before stepping up the first cold metal step.
"Unfortunately, yes."
"Yes, in that thing!" The Doctor called down, grabbing Florence's hand and hoisting her on board once more.
"But if we go down in that, they'll just call us back up again." Donna pointed out.
"No, no, no, because I've locked the controls with a sonic cage. I'm the only one that can control it." That seemed to convince Donna, and she followed Florence up. "Not unless she's got a sonic device of her own, which is very unlikely."
Florence slapped the Doctor's stomach.
"Don't jinx us. Please." The Doctor winked at her and set the cradle off, lowering them slowly down the side of the building.
After a few moments Florence looked up, seeing three small figures at the roof.
"We have company…" As soon as she spoke, sparks flew from the top, and the cradle dropped suddenly. Florence let out a sharp scream and held onto the Doctor's arm as they clutched the railings of the cradle in fear. She felt as if she was going to throw back up the sandwich she had had only hours before.
The Doctor managed to aim his screwdriver at the machinery, stopping them with a jolt. He stood quickly, attempting to open the window in front of them.
"Hold on. Hold on. We can get in through the window." Nothing was happening. "Can't get it open!"
Donna reached down and held up a spanner.
"Well, smash it then!" She exclaimed, banging on the glass in front of them fruitlessly. Florence shook her head and ran her hands through her hair.
"Oh, my god, I'm gonna die in a window cleaner." She looked up at their enemies on the rooftop, seeing a green flame flickering from one of the cables. "Doctorrrrr!"
"She's cutting the cable!" Donna had noticed too, just in time for it to snap, sending one side of the cradle careening to the ground below them, Donna flying from it while the Doctor and Florence held on tightly to the railings, and the Doctor holding the back of Florence's jumper with a vice-like grip. Florence's feet barely touched the bottom of the side of the cradle that was now acting as a floor.
"Donna!" The Doctor yelled down to his old friend, before turning to Florence and clenching his hands over her shaking fists gripped to the cradle. "Florence, you're okay." She nodded shakily. "Two ticks."
Her eyes widened.
"What are you doing?!" He shuffled himself over to the side of the cradle that had been cut loose, Donna dangling precariously from the end of the cable.
"Doctor!" Florence heard her call up, and glanced down momentarily to see the Doctor attempt to pull up the steel cable that Donna was clutching.
"Hold on!"
"I am!" She called back, Florence was sure if she wasn't fearing her life she would have rolled her eyes at the Time-Lord.
Florence looked up to see what looked like Miss Foster holding a device out to the next set of wires.
"She's cutting the next one!" She yelled. The Doctor looked up from where he was trying to help Donna, turning in the cradle and shakily standing to hold on to the remaining cable. He paused for a second, before aiming his screwdriver up at the roof. There was another spark and Florence clenched her eyes tight in anticipation for the fall, but it never came.
The cradle jostled once more and Florence opened her eyes to see the Doctor hanging on with one hand while his other held onto a sleek black pen.
Florence laughed, closed her eyes and leaned her head against the cool metal.
"Good catch." She called up to him, and he looked back at her with a quick wink, before turning to the window a foot or so above them. He ran the pen along the edges of the window, it emitted a blue light at the tip just like his screwdriver and Florence heard a distinct click of the latch.
The Doctor pulled the window up and open, Donna looked up from where she was hanging.
"This is all your fault!" She yelled. "I should have stayed at home!"
"I won't be a minute!" The Doctor called down to her, before reaching a hand out to Florence. "Florence!"
Florence looked up at him, at least two feet higher than where she was still tip toeing the 'floor' of the cradle.
"I… I…" She felt the strain of her biceps from holding on, she couldn't imagine how Donna must have felt. Donna. Florence gulped. The longer she spent being a wimp the longer the Doctor would wait, and the longer he waited for her the longer Donna remained hanging. She looked up at the hand held out to her, unclenching her own from the railings and stepping her right foot up onto a metal ledge opposite her that she could use as a temporary step. She launched herself up and grasped the Doctor's hand, her left foot moving onto the railings to support her. She kept her eyes firmly up at the Doctor, refusing to look down at the harsh pavement below them.
"There you go, I gotcha." The Doctor murmured in her ear as he hoisted her through the window and into the room with him.
Florence smiled shakily, running on adrenaline.
"Piece of piss!" The Doctor laughed before tightening his grip on her hand, pulling her across the office floor and towards the door to the stairwell, descending the stairs two at a time once more. They burst into the office where they had first caught sight of Donna, jumping over the shot down wood that had once been the door and hurrying over to the window, where Donna was still flailing mid-air, her head just cut off by the top of the window..
"Is anyone going to tell me what's going on?" Came a voice to Florence's right, just noticing that the reporter was still tied to the office chair.
"What are you," the Doctor asked, sonicking open the window with Miss Foster's sonic pen, "a journalist?"
"Yes." She confirmed, while the Doctor slid the window pane up.
"Donna!" Florence shouted up. "Try and plant your feet! Grab on to the windowsill!"
"Well," the Doctor tossed a glance over his shoulder at the journalist, "make it up!"
He grabbed Donna's waist, and she flailed more at the contact.
"Gettoff!"
"I've got you!" The Doctor told her. "I've got you! Stop kicking!"
Florence reached out and pulled Donna's legs forward slightly, so her toes could just about reach the edge of the window.
"Donna! Grab the ledge! We've got you!"
A few seconds of careful manoeuvring later, Donna was back on steady ground, straightening her suit jacket with huff and giving the Doctor and Florence a mock glare.
"I was right." She told them, playfully. "It's always like this with you, innit?"
"Oh yes!" The Doctor affirmed, giving her a cheeky grin, which she returned, before grabbing Florence's hand and heading once more for the exit. "And off we go!"
"Oi!" The journalist's voice came from her chair once more.
"Sorry!" The Doctor called, pausing for a moment to aim his screwdriver at her bindings, releasing her in a flash of blue light. "Now, do yourself a favour, get out!"
They ran across the office floor, past the cubicles, before coming face to face with Miss Foster herself and her two bodyguards.
"Well, then." Miss Foster said softly, taking off her glasses. "At last."
"Hello." Donna raised her hand awkwardly in a wave.
"Nice to meet you, I'm the Doctor." The Time Lord greeted, jovially, nudging Florence in the side. "Introduce yourself, dear, don't be rude."
"Florence, a pleasure." Florence copied Donna's awkward wave.
"And I'm Donna."
"Partners in crime…" Miss Foster remarked. "And evidently off-worlders, judging by your sonic technology."
"Oh, yes!" The Doctor patted his pockets quickly, before pulling out her sonic device. "I've still got your sonic pen. Nice. I like it. Sleek." He pulled a face, and Florence could tell he was really turning his nose up at the device. "It's kind of sleek."
"Oh, it's definitely sleek." Donna shrugged as well, while Florence nodded emphatically.
"Perfect for… sonicking…" She added. "And… writing, too… if you're in a hurry!"
"Yeah, and if you were to sign your real name, that would be?" The Doctor asked.
"Matron Cofelia of the Five-Straighten Classabindi Nursery Fleet. Intergalactic Class." Florence frowned at her admission, but the Doctor seemed to understand her perfectly well.
"A wet nurse." Florence thought back to the childishness of the little fat-creature on her desk. "Using humans as surrogates."
Florence shook her head, looking up at the Doctor. "Surely that's… I mean it's not just immoral…"
"I've been employed by the Adiposian First Family to foster a new generation after their breeding planet was lost." Miss Foster explained, piquing the Doctor's interest.
"What do you mean lost?" He asked, catching her last words. "How do you lose a planet?"
Miss Foster waved him off. "Oh, politics are none of my concern." She told them. "I'm just here to take care of the children on behalf of the parents."
"What?" Donna interrupted. "Like an outer space 'Supernanny'?"
"Yes, if you like." Miss Foster agreed, while Florence huffed a laugh at Donna's comparison.
"So. So those little things," Donna continued her line of interrogation, "they're… they're made out of fat, yeah… but that woman, Stacy Campbell, there was nothing left of her."
"Oh," Miss Foster hardly seemed phased, "in a crisis the Adipose can convert bone and hair and internal organs. Makes them a little bit sick, poor things." Florence scowled at the woman in disgust.
"What about poor Stacey?" Donna asked, contempt written all over her face.
"Florence was right." The Doctor told Miss Foster. "This isn't just immoral. It's illegal. Seeding a level five planet is against galactic law."
"Are you threatening me?" Miss Foster raised her eyebrows slightly in challenge.
"I'm trying to help you, Matron." The Doctor spoke softly, but sternly. "This is your one chance, because if you don't call this off, then I'll have to stop you."
"Accept his help, Miss Foster." Florence advised, but the woman merely smirked at the trio.
"I hardly think you can stop bullets…"
Her bodyguards took aim, and Florence hated that she could now count how many times she had had a gun pointed at her on both hands - a feat not many twenty something years olds could boast.
The Doctor moved suddenly, so he was slightly in front of the two women, hands held up in surrender.
"No, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on. One more thing - before dying." He reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out his own sonic screwdriver. "Do you know what happens if you hold two identical sonic devices against each other?"
"No." Miss Foster admitted, after a pause.
"Nor me!" The Doctor told her cheekily. "Let's find out!"
He did as he said, holding the two devices end to end against each other and pressed a button, a loud screeching sound emitting around the room. In fact, loud didn't even cover the noise it was making, Florence hunched over with her hands over her ears while glass shattered around her, the guards bent over in pain, crumbling to the floor.
Donna roughly shoved the Doctor's arm to get him to stop.
"Come on!" She told him, his distraction having worked a treat.
Florence felt a hand lightly push against her back to direct her back down a cold industrial corridor, before she found herself coming to a halt outside a very familiar cupboard. The Doctor ran inside and began throwing out various objects that were getting in his way, a ladder, her trusty bucket-slash-stool, a high vis jacket, causing Donna to laugh slightly.
"Well, that's one solution. Hide in a cupboard. I like it." She told them, while Florence crossed her arms and leaned against the wall, looking on as the Doctor opened up the computer hatch once more.
"Say that after being stuck in there with him for ten hours!" Donna gave her a surprised look, but Florence was busy glaring at the Doctor's back. "Also, why are you chucking out all this shit now? That mop was pressing into my back for at least three of those ten hours!"
"Florence!" The Doctor called, and Florence perked up slightly, stepping into the cupboard to see if he needed help.
"Yeah?"
"Not the time!"
She scoffed and rolled her eyes petulantly. Donna looked up at the red lights flashing up and down the sides of the computer.
"So, what is it?"
"It's our way of stopping her." The Doctor explained, grinning at the two women. "I've been hacking into this thing all day, because the matron's got a computer core running through the centre of the building. Triple deadlocked. But now I've got this…" He held up her sonic pen, looking at them with those mad, wide eyes of his when he has an idea. "I can get into it." He turned back to the machine, pulling out a wire and handing it wordlessly over his shoulder to Florence, who took it carefully. Donna suddenly stopped smiling, poking her head out of the cupboard.
"Uh… Doctor, we have company." She told him, and Florence listened carefully to hear the sound of heavy footsteps heading their way.
"She's got the whole building wired up…" He murmured to himself, before making a 'gimme' motion and Florence handed him back the wire she'd been holding. "Hang on, I'll give us a bit of privacy." He held the wires together, causing a white surge of energy to travel through them. Florence heard a bolt of electricity sound from just outside their hiding spot, overlapped with sounds of two men screaming in pain.
"Oh my god!" She cried, looking at the Doctor questioningly.
"Don't worry." He soothed her. "Just enough to stun them…" He turned back to the computer. "Why's she wired up the tower block? What's it all for?" He handed Donna and Florence a wire each this time, pulling out some of the inner copper wires and twisting them together, sonicking them and reattaching them to the computer.
"Like a beacon maybe?" Florence suggested, looking up at the length of the machine. "Skyscraper in London, pretty tall…" The Doctor nodded, clicking his tongue.
"Could be… ringing the bell, calling mummy and daddy to the playground…"
"You look older." Donna interrupted them, staring at the Doctor.
"Thanks." The Doctor responded, slightly snarkily, making Donna laugh slightly.
"Still just the two of you?" She asked, looking at Florence with a soft look in her eyes.
Florence smiled in return, handing the Doctor a second wire when he reached for it. "For now..."
"Yup." The Doctor answered, either not listening or not hearing Florence's answer, before changing his mind slightly. "Well, no… We had this friend. Martha." Florence smiled at the mention of her first 'TARDIS' friend. "Martha Jones. She was brilliant." Florence's smile faded when the Doctor gave her a minute side-eye. "And I destroyed half her life." Florence clenched her hand around the last wire she was holding, and the Doctor took it from her, squeezing her hand gently as he did. "But she's fine." He told them both, reassuring Florence as well as informing Donna. "She's good. She's gone."
"Gone?" Florence asked, and Donna gave her a sympathetic look, clearly getting the hint that it was something Florence had yet to experience. "Like Rose?"
The Doctor gave her a rare harsh look, and Florence was reminded of their last conversation about their blonde friend's fate.
"No." Florence got the hint, enough. He looked up at Donna. "I thought you were going to travel the world?"
Donna smiled lightly, more than happy to change the subject.
"Easier said than done." She told them, as the Doctor crouched down to continue his fiddling. "It's like I had that one day with you, and I was going to change. I was going to do so much. Then I woke up the next morning, same old life. It's like you were never there." Florence remembered that feeling, the sadness that overtook her when she woke up even after having voluntarily left the Doctor, the excitement of him having invaded her senses without her even realising it. "And I tried. I did try. I went to Egypt. I was going to go barefoot and everything. And then it's all bus trips and guidebooks and don't drink the water, and two weeks later you're back home. It's nothing like being with you. I must have been mad turning down that offer."
"What offer?" The Doctor asked, and Florence rolled her eyes at his obliviousness.
"To come with you." Donna clarified.
"You're coming with me?" The Doctor asked, and Florence grinned at Donna.
"Oh yes, please!"
The Doctor gaped like a fish for a moment, and Florence was certain he had never had a companion as wonderfully demanding as Donna Noble. She was suddenly reminded of his and Martha's awkwardness, skirting around each other, Martha's forcefulness mixed with uncertainty at being allowed to travel with them.
"Right."
Before the trio could celebrate, the computer spoke.
"Inducer activated."
"Inducer?" Florence asked, a confused look on her face. "Like labour?"
"What's it doing now?" Donna asked, and the Doctor looked the computer up and down in shock.
"She's started the program!"
"Inducer transmitting."
Florence looked at the Doctor.
"Doctor, what do we do?"
The Doctor scanned the computer with Miss Foster's sonic pen, looking at the data that came up.
"So far they're just losing weight, but the Matron's gone up to emergency pathogenesis." Florence glanced at her watch.
"It's not even 9pm! In the middle of London! People are gonna see these things!"
"But when they convert…" Donna began, worriedly.
"Skeletons, organs, everything." The Doctor nodded, quickly grabbing switches and wires to try to stop it. "A million people are gonna die!" He reached into his jacket pocket, pulling out the golden pill pendant he had been gifted only a day earlier. He opened it up, revealing a small coiled wire inside. "Gotta cancel the signal…" He fiddled with the pendant, before attaching it to the computer mainframe. "This contains a primary signal. If I can switch it off, the fat goes back to being just fat."
There was a moment, where Florence truly believed that they had done it, the lights flashing brightly and lowering, before suddenly picking up speed once more.
"Doctor, what's happening?" Florence asked, and the computerised voice answered for her.
"Inducer increasing."
"No, no, no, no, no!" The Doctor cried, pulling himself away from the system and running his hands through his messy hair, at a loss. "She's doubled it… I need… Haven't got time." He was talking to himself. "It's too far. I can't override it. They're all gonna die!"
"There must be something!" Florence grabbed the Doctor's arm, but he shook his head.
"There's not enough time!"
"Is there something I can do?" Donna asked quietly.
"Sorry, Donna, this is way beyond you." He began frantically pulling on switches and attempting the impossible. "Got to double the base pulse… I can't."
"Doctor, tell me, what do you need?" Donna asked again, the picture of calm.
"I need a second capsule to boost the override, but I've only got the one!" He told her. "I can't save them!" Donna smirked at Florence, who frowned in confusion, before reaching into her suit jacket and pulling out a second, identical, golden pill pendant.
"Donna Noble." Florence murmured, a grin stretching across her face.
The Doctor turned away from the computer as she spoke, the trio looking wordlessly at the pill dangling in front of them for only a second before springing into action. The Doctor grabbed it, pulling it apart as he had done the first pendant, attaching it quickly to the mainframe with a laugh, pulling back in time for the whole system to shut down, the green light fading to black.
Florence cheered in disbelief, beating the Doctor to it and grabbing Donna into a tight hug.
"Oh, my GOD! Yes, Donna!" She grabbed the Doctor into a hug, bouncing up and down on the spot in excitement.
Their celebrations were cut short by the sound of crashing above them, and a booming whirring noise.
"What the hell was that?" Donna muttered.
"The Adipose nursery…" The Doctor told them.
Florence closed her eyes.
"A mobile nursery… here to collect the kids…" She turned and looked at the Doctor. "Just what we need."
"Right, and when you say 'nursery', you don't mean a creche in Notting Hill…" Donna guessed.
The Doctor shook his head slightly.
"Nursery ship." He clarified, before the small cupboard was once more lit with green light. Florence took a step back as she saw the computer had turned itself back on.
"Woah…"
"Incoming signal." There was the sound of a distorted alien voice travelling through the speaker, falling on deaf ears to the two humans in the room, while the Doctor raised his eyebrows as he began to understand their words.
"Oh…"
"Hadn't we better go and stop them?" Donna asked, and the Doctor raised a finger to stop her.
"Hang on… Instructions from the Adiposian First Family." He explained. "Oh, Florence… It's not a beacon." She looked at him with a questioning frown. "She's wired up the tower block to convert it into a levitation post."
"Right… and?" The Doctor ignored her, pulling back slightly from the computer.
"Oh… ooh. We're not the ones in trouble now… She is!"
The Doctor ran to the cupboard door, swinging it open and sprinting off, the two women following close behind.
Florence braced her hands on her knees, bent over panting as she finally skidded to a stop, back on the roof of the tower. She was annoyed to notice that the Doctor had barely broken a sweat, looking unphased by their journey scaling the entirety of a multi-story building on foot.
She looked up as she heard a quiet 'wow' from Donna, letting out a small laugh of disbelief as she saw hundreds of tiny Adipose babies being levitated in the air, three different beams of blue light lifting them towards a large spaceship hovering in the atmosphere.
"What you gonna do, then?" Donna asked. "Blow 'em up?"
The Doctor gave her a funny look.
"They're just children. They can't help where they come from."
"I wonder what they look like as adults…" Florence murmured, causing the Doctor to laugh slightly, before wrapping his arm around her shoulder.
"Oh, that makes a change from last time." Donna commented. "That Martha must've done you good."
Florence smiled warmly at the thought of her friend.
"Oh, she's fab…" She told Donna. "You'd love her."
"She did, yeah. Yeah. She is." The Doctor agreed, before sniffing slightly and shrugging a shoulder. "She fancied me."
Florence scoffed a laugh, slapping him on the stomach.
"Doctor!"
"Mad Martha, that one!" Donna commented with a smirk on her face. "Blind Martha. Charity Martha!" Florence rolled her eyes from her position tucked under the Doctor's arm. They all looked up and saw one of the little Adipose babies waving at them from its levitation funnel. The trio simultaneously raised their arms and responded in kind. "I'm waving at fat."
"Actually, as a diet plan, it sort of works." The Doctor commented, with an amused tone, before catching sight of a distinctly human shape rising from the side of the building. "There she is!"
The three of them ran to the side of the building, where Miss Foster was amongst the group heading towards the spaceship.
"Matron Cofelia, listen to me." The Doctor called out, but the blonde looked at him as if he had two heads.
"Oh, I don't think so, Doctor." She told him. "And if I never see you again, it'll be too soon."
The Doctor gave Donna and Florence a look, rolling his eyes slightly. "Oh, why does no one ever listen." He groaned before turning back to the wet nurse. "I'm trying to help. Just get across to the roof. Can you shift the levitation beam?"
"What," she asked, with a small laugh, "so that you can arrest me?"
"Just listen." The Doctor was almost begging her. "I saw the Adiposian instructions - they know it's a crime, breeding on Earth. So what's the one thing they want to get rid of? Their accomplice."
Miss Foster still wouldn't listen. "I'm far more than that. I'm 'nanny' to all these children!"
"Exactly!" The Doctor told her. "Mum and Dad have got the kids now. They don't need the nanny anymore." Just as he spoke, the bright blue light of the levitation beam shut off, leaving Miss Foster airborne for less than a second before plummeting to the concrete below. Florence covered her mouth in shock, while Donna buried her head in the Doctor's chest, who in turn looked down in the direction of the woman he failed to save.
Donna Noble couldn't believe it, her luck was finally turning around. After a year of soul searching, putting up with her mother's incessant moaning, bouncing from job to job just to earn enough to do what she really wanted to do, only for travelling to be an absolute let down, she had finally done it.
She'd found them.
You see, Donna Noble has never needed anyone. She never needed a man, she wanted one - by God did she always want one - but she prided herself in not needing them. No, she was self-sufficient, a woman of the world. Unwilling to be tied down to any structure. At least, that's what she tried to tell herself.
In reality, her mother's comments beat her down. Lance's betrayal almost destroyed her. She had no steady group of friends, just old friends who she saw just because ('hey shall we talk about funny memories from school because it's all we have in common?!'); work friends who she knew were temporary (much like the jobs); family friends who she really had absolutely no care in hearing any more about how Justine's niece has finally learned to roll over (whoopee doo, call her when she learns how to contact an out of reach alien and his blue phone box).
Deep down she had never felt good enough, like she had belonged anywhere.
But there they were. The Doctor and Florence. Two random strangers who changed her life. The day she met them was the best day of her life. She saw that now. Of course, she moped about at first, almost getting married but then sort of getting widowed while battling a giant alien spider on the same day would do that to a woman, but she picked herself up, pulled herself together and tried to move on with her life. She had seen so much with them, watching as they held each other's hand tightly as if they would never let go. Florence had looked her in the eye and promised their help without hesitation. Those two nutters had told her to jump and she did. Headfirst into adventure. No turning back.
She was not going to let them go, not this time.
"Oi, you three!" She was thrown from her musings by a shout from behind them. They turned to see the journalist, still tied to the chair, hobbling over to them. "You're just mad. Do you hear me? Mad! And I'm going to report you for madness."
She scuttled off, and Donna shook her head.
"You see, some people just can't take it." She tutted, earning a laugh from Florence.
"Nope!" The small brunette agreed, and Donna flashed her a smile.
"And some people can." Donna grabbed the Doctor's hand in her own. "So, then. TARDIS! Come on!" Florence clapped her hands together.
"Let's go!" She cried, waving Donna to follow, her enthusiasm a welcome relief to the redhead.
Donna's mouth fell open at what lay before her down a dark alley just a few streets away from the Adipose building.
"Oh, my God!" She pointed at her little blue car, parked just diagonally in front of a very familiar blue box that was definitely not there when she had left it that morning. "That's my car! That is like destiny!" She grabbed her keys from her pocket, unlocking it and opening the boot. "And I've been ready for this." She showed them the assortment of bags she had packed, as she had done the day she had decided to start searching for them.
"Donna, what the fuck?" Florence asked her, laughing and helping her grab bags. "This is so freaky!"
"I packed ages ago, just in case." She explained to the brunette, who handed the Doctor another bag wordlessly. "Because I thought, hot weather, cold weather, no weather - he goes anywhere! I've gotta be prepared." She piled a hat box on the Doctor's ever growing pile.
"You've got a… a hat box…" He said plainly, but Donna threw her arms out.
"Planet of the Hats, I'm ready!" She joked, moving towards the TARDIS. Florence manoeuvred the key from the Doctor's hand - still preoccupied with all the boxes - and opened the TARDIS doors for them. "I don't need injections, do I? You know, like when you go to Cambodia. Is there any of that? Because my friend Veena went to Bahrain, and she…" She trailed off slightly, looking between Florence's grinning face versus the Doctor's blank look. "You're not saying much."
"No, it's just. It's a funny old life, in the TARDIS." Donna faltered at his words, the words of her mother coming back to her, the words of Lance. Worthless. Annoying. Useless. Worthless. Annoying. Useless.
"You don't want me." She muttered, and Florence turned her head so suddenly she was surprised she didn't snap it.
"No! Donna! Absolutely not!" She turned quickly again to look at the Doctor. "He's not saying that. He's not."
"I'm not." The Doctor agreed.
"But you asked me." Donna looked between the two of them, sudden realisation hitting her. These two. Of course. Who would want a third wheel? "Oh. Would you rather be on your own? Just the two of you?"
"No!" Florence answered quickly. "No, Donna…" She looked at the Doctor, as if to say 'what are you playing at?'
"No." The Doctor agreed. "I… we love… We want you to come. I want you to come…" He put the bags down, placing his hands in his pockets. "But the last time, with Martha, like I said, it… it got complicated. And that was all my fault." He cast a glance at Florence, who still looked confused. "I just wanna mate."
'To mate'? He was a pig.
Oh. Martha. 'She fancied me'... Yep, definitely a pig.
Oh. Poor Florence. Right in front of her too.
She backed away from him, hiding slightly behind the TARDIS doors.
"You just want 'to mate'?" Her lip curled in disgust.
"A mate!" The Doctor assured her, hands suddenly up in the air. "I just want a mate!"
Donna saw Florence bury her face in her hands, while the Doctor's flushed red with embarrassment. Yeah, at being caught out for his weirdness.
"You're not mating with me, sunshine! Either of you, just so we're clear!" Florence let out a squeal of laughter.
"Donna! No!" She threw her head back, unable to hold it in, while the Doctor still looked frantically around.
"A mate!" He continued to repeat. "I just want a mate! A friend!"
Donna faltered. Hmm. Maybe he was telling the truth, he sure looked awkward enough. Plus, she had seen them. The longing glances, and extra long touches, the squabbles like an old married couple. Maybe he wasn't an alien sex pest. At least, not with Donna.
"Well, just as well, because I'm not having any of that nonsense." She told them both, waggling her finger at them. "I mean, you're just a long streak of nothing. You know, alien nothing."
The Doctor nodded. "There we are, then. Okay." He looked content, ready to start moving again.
"I can come?" Donna suddenly realised what that meant. A year spent dreaming of this moment. She could have done without the awkward mating business, but she would take what she could get.
"Yeah. Course you can, yeah." He grinned at her. "I'd love it."
"Finally!" Florence yelled out, rolling her eyes. "I don't know why you insist on longing it out all the time."
Donna screamed with excitement, running to grab them both in a big hug, before something poked into her hip from inside her jacket. "Oh!" She pulled out her car keys, looking between the Doctor and her car. "Car keys."
"What?" The Doctor asked, arms still slightly open for a hug.
"I've still got my mum's car keys!" A plan suddenly came to mind, and Donna held up a finger to the two of them. "I won't be a minute! Don't go anywhere!"
"We won't! Promise!" She heard Florence call out from behind her as she ran off back down the alleyway.
Oh yes, once she had sorted out these keys, she was not going to be letting them slip away again without her.
Florence shook her head as she watched the redhead run back the way they came.
"She's mad." She muttered fondly, pulling the Doctor's attention back to her, still looking very lost at the last five minutes. "Oh, my God, your face!"
"She's… I said 'a mate'..." Florence smirked, sidling up to him and patting his cheek gently.
"I know, dear, I know. You did." She giggled slightly.
"Don't laugh."
"I'm sorry, but come on…" She leaned her forehead on his chest as she held back giggles. "It was so brilliant." She straightened up and patted his chest lightly, nodding her head to the mountains of bags still on the floor next to them. "Anyway, get a move on. Chop, chop."
The Doctor bent down to grab the lightest one, chucking it into her arms gently.
"Yeah, yeah. Funny."
"I can't believe she found us." Florence shook her head in disbelief. "Go on, Donna Noble." She caught sight of the Doctor's frown. "What?"
"Nothing, I just also can't quite believe it…"
She gave him a firm look.
"Right." She grabbed another bag and flung them both into the TARDIS, just to the left of the doorway, before turning back to him and placing her hands on her hips. "Why you being weird?"
"I'm not!" He argued, and she raised an eyebrow.
"You are! First with this whole 'I'm a tortured loverboy, everyone just falls for me all the time boo hoo'..." She ignored his unimpressed look. "And now you look suspicious… come on, Doctor. It's Donna. Donna's great! So why are you being so… weird?"
The Doctor copied her actions, stepping past her to place Donna's bags on the floor, ushering her inside the TARDIS.
"I'm not suspicious! Or weird! My mind is just constantly running at five hundred miles an hour. Is it awful of me to be just a little perplexed at just how unlikely it was to bump into Donna Noble again? In all of time and space?"
"No!" Florence placed a reassuring hand on his arm. "No, it's not. I get it." She smiled up at him. "You probably thought the same when you saw me for the second time…"
"Well, exactly!" The Doctor ran his hand through his hair. "It's just weird!"
"And I think I worked out pretty well… happy to bump into me again weren't you?"
The Doctor gave her a shy smile.
"Weeeeelll… let's say 'happy' wasn't exactly my first emotion."
Florence raised an eyebrow.
"Excuse me?"
The Doctor looked as though it was another battle he would be losing tonight, sighing and wrapping his arm around her, pulling her with him towards the central column.
"Just… you'll see it for yourself." He flopped himself down on the yellow chair, long legs stretching out in front of him, and tugged on the back of her jumper to get her to sit with him. "Sorry about that, in advance… or, well, I guess more of an overdue apology."
Florence chuckled slightly, leaning her side against his and allowing him to throw his arm over the back of the chair, the mildly intimate position causing her to flush ever so slightly.
"Forgiven. Just."
As she spoke, the TARDIS door was pushed open, and in walked Donna Noble, smiling as if she had just won the jackpot.
"Off we go, then!" Florence sprung to her feet, putting her hand over the Doctor's mouth before he could speak.
"Oh, my turn!" She told them both. "The TARDIS, bigger on the inside than the outside, all of time and space at your fingertips!" Donna rolled her eyes lightly and the younger woman.
"Yes, Florence. I know all that!" She folded her arms over her chest and rubbed her hands up and down. "Although, frankly, you could turn the heating up."
Florence pouted, looking down at the Doctor.
"Do I ever get to do the big reveal properly? Jack's felt too rushed, now this..."
"Spoilers…" The Doctor winked, jumping up and clapping his hands together. "Right, Donna Noble! Whole wide universe… Where do you wanna go?"
"Oh, I know exactly the place." Donna told them.
"Which is?" The Doctor asked.
"Two and a half miles that way." She said simply, angling her head to the door. The Doctor raised his eyebrows in response but nodded nonetheless, moving around the console and beginning their take off.
"What's two miles away?" Florence asked, and Donna smiled fondly.
"My grandad." The Doctor pulled a lever and they were off, only a slight jostle to the inside of the TARDIS. "Avid stargazer, absolute coot, best man I know. I told him about you two…" Florence looked over, eyebrows raised. "Said I was waiting for you both, that he needed to be on the lookout for a blue box… and what do you know it?" Florence grinned.
"Voilà!"
The Doctor flicked a switch, giving the TARDIS a good old lurch, one of Donna's many bags falling over at the movement.
"Right then! Open those doors, Florence!" Florence stuck a thumb up at him, running unsteadily to the door and flinging it open, holding tightly onto the railing behind her and motioning for Donna to go ahead.
The redhead almost threw herself at the door frame, grabbing on and waving frantically, saying a fond goodbye to her grandfather, while the Doctor joined them near the door, sending his own wave.
Florence smiled, content in the moment that lay before her, wind rushing through her hair as the TARDIS continued its flight, whipping across her face.
She flinched slightly, as if she had something in her eye, trying to blink it away quickly. The nuisance wouldn't fade, she winced, rubbing her eyes as the pain continued. She vaguely heard the Doctor calling her name from next to her. She looked up, opening her eyes and realised there wasn't just one, but multiple voices calling her name from across the darkness in front of her.
"Doctor?" She called, before bending over once more as the pain struck again. She groaned, running her hands through her hair and gripping it tightly at the roots.
"Florence!"
She looked up, intense blue eyes staring her down as she straightened.
"What did you do?"
Shit, he was pissed.
WOW, this is a longer chapter than intended… just got away from me a little bit! I hope you enjoyed the little Doctor/Florence moments, and a brief Donna POV!
So, we're on the home stretch, 4 more chapters…
Eek!
See you for chapter 39!x