A/N: Hope you're ready for a new update, because here comes part one! A very warm welcome to Donna Noble! Albeit a very brief visit, but she'll be back very soon!
These upcoming two chapters are based on the Doctor Who episode 'The Runaway Bride'.
Please note that I do not own Doctor Who. All I own is my OC Katy!
Please review and no flaming will be tolerated. Thanking you!
Enjoy xx
BRIDE AND GLOOM
"Oh, it's a nice day to start again.
Come on, nice day for a white wedding day.
Ooh yeah, a nice day to start again."
– Billy Idol: 'White Wedding' (Billy Idol [1982])
St. Mary's Church
Chiswick, London
A few seconds earlier, the same bride who had mysteriously found herself standing on the Tardis in the middle of space, was standing at the beginning of the aisle with her father, with his arm linked through hers instead of the other way round. Rolling her eyes, the bride quickly changes this.
"Sorry…" her father, Geoff, quickly apologised.
The organist strikes up the Wedding March, and the blushing bride and her father begin to process down the aisle. There is a strange noise that makes everyone glance around curiously, searching for the source of the noise, then eyes widen in shock when the bride appears to start glowing gold before she screams and zooms up through the roof and away in a golden sparkle...
"Where'd she go?" One of the female guests questions in confusion.
The Tardis (Recap)
The Doctor pulls away from Katy after kissing the top of her head, and starts slowly walking around the console, setting controls. Then freezes when something white catches his attention from out the corner of his eye, and he looks up frowning cautiously.
"Doctor? What is it?" Katy asked, having noticed his reaction. She moves around the console and stops in her tracks beside him when she sees a figure, dressed in a white dress and veil, standing in front of the Tardis doors with her back to them.
"What?" the Doctor bursts out, in disbelief. The figure turns around, revealing a ginger-haired woman in her mid-30s, staring at them with confusion.
"Oh!" She exclaims when she sees Katy and the Doctor.
"What?" the Doctor repeated.
"Who are you both?" the woman demanded. The Doctor and Katy look at each other in a bewilderment.
"But—" the Doctor stutters.
"Where am I?" the woman was getting increasingly agitated.
"What?" the Doctor was extremely confused, and Katy wasn't feeling much better.
"What the hell is this place?!"
"What?!" both the Doctor and Katy blurted out in unison.
The Doctor and Katy stare in complete and utter astonishment at the bride who glares angrily back at them. The Doctor recovers first and starts forward towards the bride, aiming to get an explanation.
"What? You can't do that. I wasn't. We're in flight." He babbles, looking back at Katy with confusion and she shrugs back. "That is, that is physically impossible! How did—"
"Tell me where I am!" the Bride yells. "I demand you tell me right now where am I?" She demands, and the Doctor reacts like a gaping fish for several seconds before replying.
"Inside the Tardis."
"The what?" the Bride blinks.
"The Tardis," the Doctor repeats, calmly.
"The what?"
"The Tardis!" the Doctor repeats once again, now just a little bit impatient about having to repeat himself. The Bride still doesn't look convinced by what she is hearing and repeats herself once again.
"The what?"
"It's called the Tardis," the Doctor confirms, and the Bride scowls at him.
"That's not even a proper word. You're just saying things!" She accuses, and the Doctor pauses for a moment before he changes the subject.
"How did you get in here?" He questioned her, and the Bride stomps closer to him, looking like she wanted to thump him.
"Well, obviously, when you kidnapped me!" She accused and the Doctor blinks, taken aback. "Who was it? Who's paying you? Is it Nerys?" She babbled, and the Doctor turns and mouths 'Nerys' to Katy who shakes her head, just as confused. "Oh, my God. She's finally got me back. This has got Nerys written all over it."
"Who the hell is Nerys?" the Doctor questioned, baffled.
"Your best friend!" the Bride retorts.
"Hold on, wait a minute," the Doctor tries to take control of the situation at hand, then frowns at the white gown the Bride was wearing. "What are you dressed like that for?" The Bride just looks at him like he's an idiot, while Katy face-palms.
"I'm going ten pin bowling," the Bride responds sarcastically. "Why do you think, dumbo? I was halfway up the aisle! I've been waiting my whole life for this. I was just seconds away…" The Bride rants, and Katy looks sympathetically at her. "… and then you, I don't know, you drugged me or something!"
"I haven't done anything!" the Doctor shouts back defensively.
The Bride starts pacing like a stressed-out tiger in its enclosure at the Zoo. And try as she might, despite how obviously unamusing this entire situation was, Katy was struggling to maintain her composure and was attempting to hide a smirk behind a hand, while the Doctor glowers at her a little. Although, he was secretly relieved that she was at least smiling, even if it was at his expense.
"I'm having the police on you!" the Bride threatened. "Me and my husband, as soon as he is my husband, we're going to sue the living backside off you!" That was when the Bride spots the Tardis's double doors and immediately runs down the ramp towards them, alarming both the Doctor and Katy who charge off after her.
"No, wait a minute. Wait a minute. Don't!" But the Doctor's warning are a little late as the Bride manages to open the doors and freezes when she sees a pretty gaseous nebula. Her eyes widen in shock and pales whiter than her dress. The Doctor pauses behind her and waits to see how she reacts next. When nothing happens, he decides to proceed with caution. "You're in space. Outer space. This is my spaceship. It's called the Tardis." He calmly explains. Katy pauses a little behind him, leaning against the console, watching with mild concern.
"How am I breathing?" the Bride mumbles, still wide-eyed with shock.
"The Tardis is protecting us," the Doctor explains.
"Who are you?"
"I'm the Doctor. You?"
"Donna," the Bride responds, a little reluctantly.
"Human?"
"Yeah? Is that optional?" the Bride questions, a little tartly.
"Well, it is for me," the Doctor acknowledges, and Donna turns her head and looks him up and down, suspiciously.
"You're an alien." She stated, and the Doctor nodded.
"Yeah…" He was starting to get a bit uncomfortable with these statements, and Donna suddenly shivers and wraps her arms around herself, rubbing them for warmth.
"It's freezing with these doors open," she comments, and the Doctor rolls his eyes and slams the doors shut before turning and heading back to the Console, looking at Katy with exasperation, and she winces sympathetically back at him; at a loss about how to help him with this situation.
"I don't understand that and I understand everything," The Doctor starts bitching. "This, this can't happen! There is no way a human being can lock itself onto the Tardis and transport itself inside!" He snatches up an ophthalmoscope and uses it to look into Donna's eyes. Katy's eyes widen when she could see and sense that Donna's growing anger and agitation was rising, and she opens her mouth to warn him.
"Uh, Doctor…."
"Impossible," He ignores her, completely focused on trying to figure out why Donna was here on the Tardis in the first place, that he wasn't seeing the signs. "Some sort of subatomic connection…?"
"Doctor…" Katy tries again.
"…Something in the temporal field?"
"Doctor!"
"Maybe something pulling you into alignment with the Chronon shell. Maybe something macro mining your DNA with the interior matrix. Maybe a genetic—"
"DOCTOR!" Katy warns him. But it was too late, as Donna slaps the Doctor, hard. He jerks back in both pain and shock and glowers at her, defensively.
"What was that for?!" He yells, and Katy lowers her head into her hands and shakes it, exasperatedly.
"Get me to the church!" Donna shouts. The Doctor blinks furiously at her for several more seconds before he does what she says.
"Right! Fine! I don't want you here anyway! Where is this wedding?"
"Saint Mary's, Hayden Road, Chiswick, London, England, Earth, the Solar System…" Donna trails off when she spots Rose's blouse hanging over a nearby railing, and Katy's eyes widen in alarm when she sees it. Donna's anger grows as she goes over and grabs it. "I knew it, acting all innocent. I'm not the first, am I? How many women have you abducted?" She accuses, and Katy immediately pushes off the console, goes over and snatches the blouse from Donna, alarming her a little.
"This was my sister's," Katy mumbles, protectively. Donna recovers a little and sneers at both Katy and the Doctor, who aims a deadly glare at Donna; warning her to be careful with what she said next.
"Where is she, then? Popped out for a spacewalk?" Donna snipes sarcastically, then recoils when she sees the cold fury in Katy's eyes, and takes a small step away from the brunette, who turns and walks over to the jump seat and sits on it, cradling Rose's blouse to her chest, as tears started rolling down her face again.
"She's gone…" the Doctor responds, coldly.
"Gone where?" Donna questions.
There was a pause momentarily, before the Doctor eventually explained, very angry with Donna for upsetting Katy with her callous words … even though it had been spoken out of anxiety, desperation and frustration.
"We lost her," the Doctor responded succinctly, glancing over at Katy with a tender, saddened expression on his face, as he watched her silently crying and wanted to wrap her up in his arms, take away her pain and never let her go.
"Well, you can hurry up and lose me!" Donna snapped, then backtracked, looking at them curiously. "How do you mean, lost?"
The Doctor glanced back at Donna and opened his mouth to give some sort of caustic response but thought the better of it and immediately changes the subject, adopting a very false neutral attitude.
"Right, Chiswick…" He set the coordinates.
Courtyard
The Tardis materialises in a courtyard somewhere in the middle of London, and Donna steps from it looking around. She deflates in disappointment when she realises the Doctor had brought them to the wrong place.
"I said, Saint Mary's!" Donna moaned in frustration. "What sort of Martian are you? Where's this?"
The Doctor and Katy also follow her out, with the Doctor looking over the blue box with concern, and Katy observing Donna with both concern and interest. While she wasn't exactly happy about this strange woman's attitude and random appearance in their lives, she also wasn't going to leave Donna without an emotional support net; especially when the redhead eventually realised that she was traveling around with an alien and his 'teenage' companion, who was in reality a 'sleeping' alien herself, in what looked a like a very cramped blue box.
"Something's wrong with her," the Doctor realised, just as Donna turned back to bitch at him some more, and finally caught sight of the so-called spaceship she had been traveling in. "The Tardis, it's like she's…" Katy's face twisted with sympathy when she sees the horrified expression on Donna's face as she does the traditional circuit of the Tardis that all first timer companions did when they travelled with the Doctor, and watched as her face went paler and paler until finally, she cups her hands over her mouth and stifles a scream.
Naturally, the Doctor was oblivious to this.
"… Recalibrating! She's digesting." The Doctor continued rambling on. "What is it? What have you eaten?" He scolds the Tardis as though it were a naughty child. "What's wrong?"
Katy approaches Donna, who immediately backs away from her.
"Breathe, Donna. Just breathe…" Katy suggests, and Donna shakes her head, obviously in denial with what she was seeing. The Doctor suddenly addresses the redhead, whom Katy was trying to calm down.
"Donna? You've really got to think. Is there anything that might've caused this?" He asks, urgently.
"Please, let us explain…" Katy urges Donna, whom shakes her head and immediately turns and runs off. Katy groans in frustration, and with brief hesitation and looking back at the Doctor, takes off after her; while the Doctor continues rambling to himself.
"… Anything you might've done? Any sort of alien contacts?" the Doctor prattled on. "I can't let you go wondering off…" Oh, if only he knew what had happened while he had been focused on the Tardis. "…What if you're dangerous. I mean, have you, have you seen lights in the sky, or did you touch something like something, something different, something strange? Or something made out of a, box of metal or… who're you getting married to? Are you sure he's human? He's not a bit overweight with a zip around his forehead, is he?"
When no one responds to him, the Doctor pauses and finally turns around; realising that neither Donna nor Katy were there.
His eyes widen in alarm.
"Donna! Katy!" He charges down the alleyway towards the main street, and spots Katy trying to persuade Donna to come back to the Tardis and failing badly. He jogs up to them. "Donna…"
"Leave me alone," Donna insists distractedly as she searches for a taxi. "I just want to get married."
"Come back to the Tardis," the Doctor suggests, and Donna scowls at him.
"Like I already said to your friend…" Donna gestures towards Katy, "No way, that box is too weird."
"It's bigger on the inside, that's all." The Doctor stated, awkwardly.
"Oh! That's all?" Donna retorts sarcastically before consulting her wristwatch. "Ten past three. I'm going to miss it..." She frets, and Katy tries again.
"You can phone them. Tell them where you are." She suggests and Donna just looks at her flatly.
"How do I do that?"
"Haven't you got a mobile?" The Doctor backs Katy up, and Donna glares at him.
"I'm in my wedding dress! It doesn't have pockets," she exclaimed. "Who has pockets? Have you ever seen a bride with pockets? When I went to my fitting at Chez Alison, the one thing I forgot to say is 'give me pockets!'"
"Is this really the time to be sarcastic, especially when we're both trying to help you?" Katy scowls at Donna.
The Doctor seemed to agree with her.
"This man you're marrying. What's his name?" He asks.
"Lance," Donna responds with a smile on her face, and the Doctor nodded.
"Good luck, Lance…" He mumbles underneath his breath, and Katy elbows him in the ribs, giving him a reproachful look as Donna scowled at him, indignantly.
"Oi! No stupid Martian is going to stop me from getting married. To hell with you!" She takes off again, earning an exasperated groan from Katy who frowns at her boyfriend.
"Nice one, Doctor!" She snaps, sarcastically.
"I'm, I'm not, I'm not from Mars…" the Doctor groaned, as he grabs Katy's hand and runs after Donna.
London Street
They find Donna trying to flag down a Black Taxi and isn't having much luck.
"Taxi!" the redhead shouts desperately, but it drives by without stopping. She huffs in frustration. "Why's his light on!?"
"There's another one!" the Doctor points out, trying to be helpful. Donna immediately goes to signal for it.
"Taxi!" Again the taxi drives by, with its 'For Hire' light on. "Oi!" She shouts indignantly.
"There's one!" Katy chimes in, but like the other taxis, they just drive on. It was becoming a bit of a joke actually. The Doctor frowns at Donna with confusion.
"Do you have this effect on everyone?" He questioned. "Why aren't they stopping?"
"They think I'm in fancy dress," Donna realises.
"Stay off the sauce, darling!" A taxi driver shouts at Donna as he drives by and Katy scowls at him, indignant on Donna's behalf.
"Rude!" She shouts at him.
"They think I'm drunk," Donna looked about ready to cry at this point. Another car drives by, this one filled with men who jeer at Donna.
"You're fooling no one, mate!"
"They think I'm in drag!" Donna scoffs and rolls her eyes. The Doctor finally has enough.
"Hold on, hold on…" He puts his fingers to his lips and lets out a very piercing whistle, and a nearby taxi does a quick U turn and drives back to pick them up. All three of them immediately pile into the car, and a grateful Donna gives the driver the address through the partition.
"Saint Mary's in Chiswick, just off Hayden Road." She tells the bemused driver. "It's an emergency. I'm getting married. Just hurry up!" The guy puts the car in gear and drives off.
"You know it'll cost you, sweetheart? Double rates today," the Driver tells them, and Donna flushes; suddenly realising something very important.
"Oh, my God…" she turns and looks sheepishly between the Doctor and Katy in askance. "Have either of you got any money?"
"No, I left my wallet back in the Tardis," Katy admitted apologetically. Donna looks at the Doctor who looks pained.
"Er, no. Haven't you?" He asks Donna who glares at him.
"Pockets!" She reminds him. Unfortunately, the taxi driver had overheard them, and immediately turns around and dumps them on the sidewalk back where he had picked them up from. Donna was not impressed as she slams the door and cusses out the driver. "And that goes double for your mother!"
The driver flips them off and speeds off.
"Absolutely, bloody, charming…" Katy mutters with disgust.
Donna was nearly beside herself.
"I'll have him. I've got his number. I'll have him. Talk about the Christmas Spirit…" She bitches and the Doctor glances at her in surprise.
"Is it Christmas?"
"Well, duh!" Donna rolls her eyes. "Maybe not on Mars, but here it's Christmas Eve," she explains, then brightens when she spots a red phone box nearby. "Phone box! We can reverse the charges!" she exclaims excitedly. However, the Doctor seemed strangely fixated on how bitter Donna seemed to be about Christmas.
"How come you're getting married on Christmas Eve?" he asks, and Donna shudders uncomfortably.
"Can't bear it," she admits. "I hate Christmas. Honeymoon, Morocco. Sunshine, lovely." She brightens a little at the thought of the North African country. The three of them race for the phone box, and Donna immediately pulls open the door and darts inside, while the Doctor and Katy wait impatiently outside. "What's the operator?" Donna babbles, getting flustered. "I've not done this in years. What do you dial? 100?"
"How should I know? I own a phone, I don't need to remember!" Katy retorts, as the Doctor rolls his eyes and impatiently uses his sonic; getting a dial tone almost immediately.
Donna is amazed.
"Just call the direct," the Doctor instructs.
"What did you do?" Donna questions, and the Doctor hesitates.
"Something… Martian. Now phone. I'll get money!" He said and ran off before Katy or Donna could stop him.
"No, Doctor, wait!" Katy calls out to him, and silently swears underneath her breath, as she watches Donna dial a number and mutter impatiently into it, while the Doctor joins a nearby queue for an ATM.
"Oh, answer the phone!" Donna moans, then huffs when she apparently gets voicemail. "Mum, get off the phone and listen. I'm in. Oh, my God, I don't know where I am!" She glances around frantically. "It's a street, and there's WH Smith, but it's definitely Earth…"
Katy raises an eyebrow at the odd conversation she was overhearing, and looks impatiently over at the Doctor, who was just as impatiently waiting for a woman in front of him to finish her transaction and move away from the ATM. He gives it the sonic treatment discreetly, making Katy's mouth fall open when she witnesses this, and goes straight to the 'Please Take Your Cash' slot to grab the money he had acquired somewhat illegally. Katy is nearly knocked over when Donna suddenly bursts out from the phone box and flags down a passing woman.
"Donna, wait!" Katy is quick to follow the redhead, who ignores her in favour of talking to the woman.
"Excuse me, I'm begging you. I'm getting married, I really am and I'm late and I just need to borrow a tenner and I'll pay you back I promise and it's Christmas…" Donna rambles to the poor woman, who nods and forks over the money. Katy was about to intercept Donna and attempt to stop her from leaving, when she spots a nearby trio of Santas playing God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen on some brass instruments.
Some very familiar Santas from last year's Christmas…
"Oh, my God… Doctor!" Katy alerts her boyfriend, who comes racing up, cash in hand, looking questioningly at her. She gestures towards the 'Santas' and the Doctor's eyes widen in horror.
"Taxi!" Both of them turn and see Donna had successfully flagged down another taxi and was getting inside of it. "St. Mary's, Chiswick!" The redhead turns to sneer at them. "Thanks for nothing, spaceman! I'll see you both in Court." Donna then promptly gets into the taxi and slams the passenger door behind her. Both Katy and the Doctor notice that the driver of the taxi was yet another Santa!
"Donna!" they both shout, running after the taxi.
But they backtrack almost immediately when the Santas point their instruments at them. The Doctor frowns and aims his sonic behind him at the ATM, sending money flying across the street. Excited passersby rush to grab the money, and while the Santas were distracted, the Doctor grabs Katy's hand and runs off back to where they had parked the Tardis.
Taxi
As the taxi drives off, Donna relaxes back into her seat; relieved that she was finally on the way back to the church for her wedding.
"I promise you, mate, I'll give you the rest when we get there," She tells the driver, as she reaches for the passenger side mirror and looks into it. Donna grimaces at her reflection. "Oh, I look a mess…" She hastily pulls off her veil, and frowns when she notices that the driver had failed to turn off onto the correct exit ramp. "Hold on a minute. I said Chiswick. You missed the turning!" The driver seemingly ignores her. She knocks on the partition to get the driver's attention, "Excuse me? We should've turned off back there. We're going the wrong way!" Again she is ignored. "What the hell are you doing? I'm late for the wedding. My own wedding. Do you get that?" Donna starts to get annoyed. "Turn around! Turn this cab around right now!" She opens the partition and reaches for the driver to get his attention. "Are you deaf or what?"
Donna tugs on the driver's hood and the mask it is wearing falls off, revealing that the driver is a robot. Her eyes widen in alarm when she realises how much danger she was currently in.
"Oh, my God!" Donna tries to open one of the taxi windows but realises that they have been locked. She bangs on the window trying to attract another driver's attention. "Help me! Help me! Help me! Help me! Help me! Help me! Help me! Get me out! Help me! Help me! I'm being driven by a robot!" She gapes in surprise when she spots the Tardis in the rear window swoop down and bounce off the tarmac. Her mouth falls open. "You are kidding me…"
On board the Tardis, the Doctor and Katy are frantically trying to steer the Tardis and bring her up alongside the Taxi that was carrying Donna. It's not an easy task, as sparks keep shooting out and flying from the console.
Frustrated, the Doctor picks up a nearby hammer and smacks the console with it.
"Behave!" he scolds the Tardis and Katy raises an eyebrow at him.
"You know hitting her doesn't help, right?" Katy points out, and the Doctor just gives her a look.
"Come here!" He instructs Katy, who goes over to where he was standing and points towards a control lever. "Use this to steer her when I say."
"And what are you going to do?" Katy retorts but follows his instructions as the Doctor stumbles his way towards the double doors of the Tardis.
"Help Donna!" He replied simply as he opens the door, revealing that the Tardis was now racing alongside the Taxi with a frightened Donna looking right at them from the backseat. "Open the door!" He shouts at Donna who frowns at him in confusion.
"Do what?" She mouths back.
"Open the door!" the Doctor repeats himself.
"I can't, it's locked!" Donna explains, helplessly. The Doctor wordlessly uses the sonic on the door. Donna manages to get the window open. "Santa's a robot…" She tells the Doctor who nods impatiently.
"Donna, open the door!" the Doctor once again instructs.
"What for?" Donna shouts back.
"You've got to jump!"
"I'm not blinking, flipping jumping!" Donna retorts angrily. "I'm supposed to be getting married!"
The robot driver suddenly accelerates away.
"Turn the lever!" the Doctor yells back to Katy frantically and she obeys him. There are more bangs from the console, which startle her a little. "Be careful!" the Doctor warns Katy who glowers at him.
"I'm doing what you said!" Katy tells him, and the Tardis herself takes the reins a little and gives chase, bouncing off the roof of a car. When she gets close enough to the taxi, the Doctor uses his screwdriver on the robot driver; whose hands clamp onto the steering wheel.
"Listen to me!" the Doctor urges Donna. "You've got to jump!" He insists and Donna looks at him doubtfully.
"I'm not jumping on a motorway!" She argues.
"Whatever that thing is, it needs you. And whatever it needs you for it's not good!" the Doctor insists further and gestures for the redhead to come with his hands. "Now, come on!"
"I'm in my wedding dress!" Donna reminds the Doctor, who rolls his eyes.
"Yes, you look lovely! Come on!" Donna opens the taxi door, as the Doctor reaches out for her. She hesitates, fearfully. "I can't do it!"
"Trust me!" the Doctor urges, and Donna eyes him suspiciously.
"Is that what you said to her? Your friend? The one you lost. Did she trust you?" Donna demanded, and both the Doctor and Katy smile at the thought of Rose.
"Yes, she did. And she is not dead. She is so alive!" The Doctor confirmed, confidently. "Now, jump!" Donna draws in a deep breath before launching herself out of the taxi and takes the Doctor's hand. He pulls her in, causing her to land on top of him as the Tardis doors slam shut. "Press the yellow button, Katy!" The Doctor instructs, and Katy stabs at it, causing the Tardis to zoom upwards and away from the motorway.
Shoe Lane rooftop
It's 3:30pm.
The Doctor had managed to redirect the Tardis towards a nearby rooftop and quickly evacuates both Katy and Donna as the poor spaceship starts catching on fire and smoking badly. Both the redhead and brunette watch the Doctor empty an entire fire extinguisher in through the Tardis doors, coughing and wheezing the entire time. Katy moves to go sit on the edge of the rooftop, and after a while Donna joins her.
"The funny thing is, for a spaceship, she doesn't really do that much flying," the Doctor remarked, taking a seat between the two women. "We'd better give her a couple of hours." He suggests before scrutinising Donna, with concern. "You all right?"
"Doesn't matter," Donna shrugged sighing heavily.
"Did we miss it?" Katy asked, looking sympathetic.
"Yeah," Donna confirmed.
"Well, you can book another date," the Doctor pointed out, and Donna smiled a little.
"Course we can."
"You've still got the honeymoon," Katy points out, and Donna winces at the reminder of the trip to Morocco she had mentioned earlier when she admitted she hated Christmas.
"It's just a holiday now," Donna stated.
"Yeah. Yeah. Sorry," the Doctor looked guilty.
"It's not your fault," Donna reassured him, and both the Doctor and Katy looked amused by Donna's remark, considering she had spent the entire time cussing them out and threatening to sue them if they didn't bring her back to the church on time so she could get married.
"Oh? That's a change," the Doctor commented casually.
"Wish you had a time machine," both Katy and the Doctor stiffened, and looked sheepish. "Then we could go back and get it right."
"Yeah, that is a pity…" Katy stated, slyly.
"But even if I did, I couldn't go back on someone's personal timeline. Apparently…" the Doctor added and Katy just raised an eyebrow at him.
"Smooth," Katy muttered at him, and earned a playful glare from the Doctor who casually takes her hand and links his fingers with hers as Donna looks towards St. Paul's Cathedral and the City beyond that. The Doctor momentarily lets go of Katy's hand to shrug out of his suit jacket and wraps it around Donna's shoulders. She smiles at him gratefully, then makes a face at how small it was.
"God, you're skinny. This wouldn't fit a rat," Donna comments, and Katy smiles in amusement.
"Oh!" The Doctor rummages around in his pocket. "And you'd better put this on…" He pulls out a simple gold ring, and both Katy and Donna groan at him.
"Do you have to rub it in?" Donna complained, half-heartedly.
But the Doctor just looked at her very seriously.
"Those creatures can trace you," the Doctor explained. "This is a bio-damper. Should keep you hidden." He picks up a reluctant Donna's right hand. "With this ring, I thee bio-damp." The Doctor joked with a small grin.
"For better or for worse?" Donna played along, rubbing her thumb against the underside of the ring as the Doctor retakes Katy's hand and all three of them take in the London skyline. Donna then sighed. "So, come on then. Robot Santas, what are they for?" She asked.
"Ah, your basic robo scavenger. The Father Christmas stuff is just a disguise. They're trying to blend in." The Doctor explains, and Katy leans across him to add more.
"We met them last Christmas," She then frowns curiously at the Doctor. "So they're not Pilot Fish, then?"
"No, not this time." The Doctor confirmed. Donna looked at them both with confusion.
"Why, what happened then?"
"Great big spaceship hovering over London? You didn't notice?" Both the Doctor and Katy blink at Donna in astonishment. You'd have to be blind not to have noticed the Sycorax spaceship; it was pretty hard to miss.
"I had a bit of a hangover," Donna admitted. The Doctor nodded, accepting that explanation.
"We spent Christmas Day just over there, the Powell Estate, with Katy's family. Well, Katy and my friend…" He trailed off, looking sad.
Donna looked at them with curiosity.
"Your friend, who was she?"
"My sister," Katy responded, vaguely. The Doctor instantly changed topics.
"Question is, what do camouflaged robot mercenaries want with you?" the Doctor questioned with a frown. "And how did you get inside the Tardis? I don't know." He looks curiously at Donna. "What's your job?"
"I'm a secretary," Donna replied, as the Doctor once again produces his sonic and scans Donna.
"It's weird," the Doctor observes. "I mean, you're not special, you're not powerful, you're not connected, you're not clever, you're not important—"
"Doctor, you're being rude again…" Katy reminded him, as Donna scowls at him with offence.
"Stop bleeping me!" Donna shoves his hand away. As the Doctor looked slightly apologetic.
"What kind of secretary?" the Doctor asked.
"I'm at HC Clements," Donna responded brightly. "It's where I met Lance, I was temping. I mean, it was all a bit posh really. I'd spent the last two years at a double-glazing firm." She explains. "Well, I thought I'm never going to fit in here. And then he made me a coffee. I mean, that just doesn't happen. Nobody gets the secretaries a coffee. And Lance, he's the head of HR! He don't need to bother with me. But he was nice, he was funny…" She trailed off, looking dreamy faced, as the Doctor and Katy exchanged slightly nauseated looks between them.
"And it turns out he thought everyone else was really snotty too. So that's how it started, me and him. One cup of coffee. That was it." Donna concluded.
"When was this?" the Doctor questioned.
"Six months ago," Donna replied, and Katy raised an eyebrow.
"Isn't that a little quick to get married?" She asks, and Donna shrugged a bit nonchalantly.
"Well, he insisted," Donna stated. "And he nagged, and he nagged me…" The Doctor and Katy both looked doubtful that this was the truth. "And he just wore me down. And then finally, I just gave in."
"What does HC Clements do?" the Doctor asked.
"Oh, security systems. You know, entry codes, ID cards, that sort of thing. If you ask me, it's a posh name for locksmiths," Donna scoffed.
"Keys…" the Doctor stated, curiously.
"Anyway, enough of my CV," Donna gets up from the rooftop, followed by the Doctor and Katy, as Donna shrugs off the Doctor's suit jacket and hands it back to him. "Come on, it's time to face the consequences." Donna then makes a face. "Oh, this is going to be so shaming…" She lightly slaps the Doctor on one of his pecks. "You can do the explaining, Martian boy."
"Yeah. I'm not from Mars," the Doctor complained, ignoring the slight smirk from Katy.
"Oh, I had this great big reception all planned. Everyone's going to be heartbroken…"
Reception
Everyone is bopping and dancing around to Slade's Happy X-Mas, underneath a big disco ball, and having a great time as the Doctor, Katy, and Donna walk in.
"Yeah, they look really cut up…" Katy muttered, looking disapprovingly at the wedding guests, who immediately stop when they see Donna. The redhead looked stunned as she glanced around at everyone who was there, and maybe even a bit hurt.
"You had the reception without me?" Donna blurts out, loudly.
A dark-skinned man, roughly in his mid-to-late 30s, who was dancing (a little too close) with a willowy, snooty looking blonde woman, immediately backs off her and awkwardly clears his throat as he comes over to Donna. This guy was very obviously the Groom, Lance, and Katy stared at him like he was a bug somebody needed to swat and kill immediately. So much for supposedly pledging his life to Donna eternally.
"Donna, what happened to you?" Lance demanded, having the cheek to look confused and worried.
"You had the reception without me?" Donna repeated. The Doctor raised a hand and waved awkwardly at the staring group of wedding guests.
"Hello. I'm the Doctor, and this is Katy," He gestures to his girlfriend who was scowling with disgust.
Donna turns and looks at them with incredulity.
"They had the reception without me…"
"We noticed," Katy grumbles, offended on poor Donna's behalf. The snooty blonde woman rolls her eyes.
"Well, it was all paid for. Why not?" She sneers, and Donna glares at her.
"Thank you, Nerys!" She snapped, hotly.
An older blonde woman, presumably in her early 60s, and wearing a scowl on her face, stomps her way over to Donna. Katy's hackles rose and she didn't even know this woman from a bar of soap. Obviously, this woman was Donna's mother, and Katy's instincts were screaming at her that this woman was the type that was too focused on other people's opinions about her and her family's reputation, instead of on her poor daughter's wellbeing, which was paramount at this precise moment.
"Well, what were we supposed to do?" She demanded, a bit snidely. "I got your silly message in the end. I'm on Earth? Very funny. What the hell happened? How did you do it? I mean, what's the trick, because I'd love to know." This instantly triggered questions from everyone in the room, overwhelming poor Donna who looked like a cornered puppy.
"Where were you the whole time?" Lance questioned.
Everyone immediately stops talking when Donna suddenly bursts into tears, confusing both the Doctor and Katy; as they watch Lance immediately pull her into his arms and hug her, earning applause from everyone except Nerys. It wasn't until Donna looks over Lance's shoulder at the Doctor and Katy and gives a sly wink that they both cottoned on to what Donna had done, and they shake their heads in bemusement.
The reception was in full swing again, with Donna dancing happily with Lance, with a scowling Nerys watching off on the sidelines. The Doctor and Katy had retreated towards the bar and were sitting on stools, just observing. Neither of them were in a party mood, mostly because they had just recently lost Rose and were feeling particularly vulnerable and irritable. The Doctor spots a man standing nearby, holding a smartphone and flicking through it looking somewhat bored.
He gets to his feet.
"I'll be right back," the Doctor tells Katy.
"Where you going?" She asks, and the Doctor gestures towards the young man.
"Just asking to borrow his phone for a mo.," He explains, and Katy nods and goes back to minding her own business. The Doctor hadn't been gone for nearly a minute when Katy immediately tenses as Donna's mother spots her sitting alone and marches right up to her.
"How do you both know my daughter exactly?" She demands, giving the brunette an eye flick from head to toe in a way that made Katy feel like she was being judged. She frowns at her; not liking her tone of voice, or in fact, not liking this woman at all. "Did she single you and your friend out, and pay you to pull some silly prank?"
"Not at all. We helped Donna out in her time of need," Katy responded. "She was lost and we attempted to help her find her way back." She gestured towards an oblivious Donna on the dancefloor. "And as you can see, we were successful."
"I see, and why are you still here?"
"Donna gave us permission to be here," Katy acknowledged. "Is that a problem?" Donna's mother narrowed her eyes at Katy and eye swept her again, before letting out an 'exasperated' sigh. To which Katy responded by rolling her eyes and saying: "Look, your daughter was appreciative of our help, and that's all there is to it. She asked us to stay. If you have a problem with this, take it up with her." She suggested.
"Who do you think you are talking to me like this?" The woman snaps, and what was left of Katy's patience and temper snapped. She had more than enough of this.
"Look, lady! I've just had a couple of very, very bad days, and I lost my family because of it! I am tired. I am discouraged. And I don't need your bullshit! Leave me alone!"
"Is there a problem here?" A mild voice interrupts, and both Katy and Donna's mother turned to see the Doctor looking at the both of them with a raised eyebrow and a concerned look on his face. Donna's mother huffs indignantly, glares at them both, turns on her heel and flounces off in the direction of her daughter. "Are you okay?" the Doctor mutters to Katy in low tones as he watches Donna's mother go.
"I will be. Give me time," Katy promises, before changing the subject to what the Doctor had been investigating on the man's phone. "What did you find?"
"Nothing special," the Doctor confirmed, but his tone indicated that there was more to the answer.
"Uh-huh, so why don't I believe you, sweetie?" Katy frowns at him.
"Are you calling me a liar?"
"Rule number one…" Katy smirked and the Doctor rolls his eyes and caves, looking a bit annoyed with her.
"You are really irritating sometimes, you know that?"
"Yeah, but you love me for it…" Katy teased, still smirking.
"Oh, irrevocably and wholeheartedly, love. But that's beside the point…" the Doctor acknowledges before sighing. "Okay… it turns out that the sole proprietor for HC Clements is Torchwood."
The teasing smirk falls from Katy's face almost instantly.
"Of course, they are." She looks away. "Why can't they just leave us alone!" The Doctor immediately pulls Katy into a hug, and she clings to him. He then spots a man standing nearby making a video recording of the 'almost' wedding. "Look over there," the Doctor points towards the man and Katy looks up from the Doctor's chest and follows his pointing finger.
"You don't think he might've gotten footage of what happened to Donna?" She wondered out loud, and the Doctor grinned slightly.
"Smart money would say 'yes', but we won't know until we find out. Let's go have a chat with him, eh?" the Doctor encourages and he takes her hand as they casually wonder over to the man.
Turns out, Lady Luck was definitely smiling down on them.
"Oh, I taped the whole thing," the camera man confirmed. "They've all had a look." He indicates to all the party guests, as the Doctor reaches into his suit jacket and pulls out his glasses and puts them on. "They said sell it to You've Been Framed. I said, more like the News." He rewinds the recording back to the beginning of the wedding when Donna and Geoff were making their way down the aisle. Katy's eyes widened when Donna suddenly starts glowing with the gold energy, screams with fear, and flies off.
"Woah!" Katy exclaims in amazement.
"Can't be," the Doctor looked alarmed and just a bit disturbed. "Play it again?" The camera man complies, and the Doctor's disturbed frown only deepened.
"Clever, mind." The Camera man compliments. "Good trick, I'll give her that. I was clapping..."
"But that looks like Huon Particles!" the Doctor exclaimed in disbelief.
"What's that then?" the Camera man questioned curiously.
"Nothing good," Katy responded instinctively.
"Agreed, and it's impossible." The Doctor confirms. "That's ancient. Huon energy doesn't exist anymore, not for billions of years." Then his eyes widened in horrified realisation. "So old that it can't be hidden by a biodamper!"
"Doctor!" Katy was staring at the main entrance with a look of horror on her face, and the Doctor looks for himself and sees more robot Santas approaching; one armed with what looked like a video game controller in its hands. "Oh, no!"
"Donna!" the Doctor grabs Katy's hand once again and they both run towards Donna, who looks at them with confusion. "Donna, they've found you!" the Doctor tells her, with a grimace, and Donna's eyes widen in fear.
"But you said I was safe…"
"The bio-damper doesn't work. We've got to get everyone out," the Doctor states with urgency. Donna swallows hard and looks about the entire reception hall at the large group of oblivious wedding guests.
"My God, it's all my family!" Donna realises. The Doctor grabs Donna's hand with his other one.
"Out the back door!" The three of them bolt for it, but soon discover more robots waiting for them outside. "Maybe not…" They run back into the main room and see the robots outside the French Windows.
"We're trapped," Donna realises. The robot carrying the 'controller' suddenly presses a few buttons on it.
"What is it doing?" Katy questioned, and the Doctor immediately glances over to a small cluster of evergreen Christmas Trees standing nearby, with some of the children decorating it.
"Christmas trees…" the Doctor mutters and Katy's eyes widen when she remembers the white Christmas tree that tried to kill her, Rose, Jackie, and Mickey last year when they were attempting to protect the Doctor after he had just regenerated.
"What about them?" Donna questioned.
"They kill!" Katy explains darkly, as the Doctor rushes forward in an attempt to save these people.
"Get away from the trees!" He shouts, and everyone looks at him with confusion.
"Don't touch the trees!" Both Katy and Donna back him up.
"Get away from the Christmas Trees! Everyone get away from them! Everyone stay away from the trees! Stay away from the trees!" The Doctor urges, and most of the guests heed his warning, while others look at him like he's insane … Donna's mother in particular.
"Oh, for God's sakes, the man's an idiot!" She exclaimed, harshly. "Why? What harm's a Christmas tree going to…" She trails off, eyes widening in surprise. "Oh!"
The plastic baubles start floating off the trees, which are real. They then start to zoom at the guests and explode when they impact against something. Katy turns and glares at her.
"You were saying?"
"Now's not the right time to start a fight, Katy!" the Doctor scolds his girlfriend, as panic sets in.
"What do you think is happening right now?" Katy retorts, dodging frightened wedding guests, including one man who is thrown through the air and lands in the wedding cake. The Doctor makes a pained expression when he considers what is going on around him.
"Touché. Now take cover!" He urges and Katy nodded and heads for a nearby table and crawls underneath it.
Once 'safe', Katy searches for where the Doctor had disappeared off to and spots him diving behind the DJ station. Satisfied that he was somewhat safe too, Katy regroups and freezes when she spots a lone little boy of approximately two maybe three years old standing out in the open; tears streaming down his cherub-like face as he searched frantically for his mother, and because he was scared of the loud noises and feeling the tension in the room. Katy's eyes widen when she sees a bauble suddenly change course and head straight for the vulnerable little boy.
"Oh, no you don't!" She hisses and gets out from underneath the table, making a desperate dash towards the boy and scooping him up and out of the way into her arms, seconds before the bauble could hit him. The boy's wails grew louder. "Shh! You're okay, sweetheart. I've got you…" Katy soothed, bouncing him lightly in her arms as she looks around for another safe place to hide.
In her search, she spots both Donna and Lance taking shelter underneath another table and looking at her with worry. Katy gives the redhead a thumbs up, and Donna sags with mild relief, then her eyes widen in horror and indicates frantically towards something off to the side, and Katy turns and sees all six Santas lined up next to the bar.
"Oi! Santa!" Katy spins towards the DJ station and sees a fierce looking Doctor standing behind the turntable, talking into a microphone. "Word of advice: If you're attacking a man with a sonic screwdriver, don't let him near the sound system." He jams the sonic into the deck, causing an awful screeching noise to reverberate from the speakers.
Immediately, Katy kneels down on the floor, and cocoons herself around the frightened little boy in her arms, trying to block out the noise with her body, and protect her own ears in the process. The robots eventually fall to pieces, and the Doctor stops the noise and makes a beeline towards Katy and the little boy.
"Are you okay, sweetheart?" Katy murmurs to the boy, pulling a tissue pack from her pocket and using one to wipe away his tears and snotty nose. He looks at her with wide eyes, but nods slowly and Katy grins warmly at him. "That's good. You're very brave!" She praises him, as the Doctor crouches down beside them and looks worriedly at the both of them.
"You okay?" He asks Katy, who nods.
"I'm getting there. And he's fine too, aren't you, love?" Katy addresses the boy again and the little boy gives a shy smile and nods again.
The Doctor smiles briefly, before standing up and taking stock of the damages. Donna and Lance had crawled out from underneath their table and were checking on some nearby children. While Geoff was trying to coax out another man from his hiding spot.
"Charlie!? Charlie?!" A frantic woman, obviously the little boy's mother, comes rushing into the room. She spots Katy and sags with relief before coming over and picking him up. "Thank you!"
"You're welcome," Katy smiles at the woman, before walking over to where the Doctor had spotted and picked up the weird video game controller the Santa robots had been using.
"Look at this," the Doctor points out something interesting about the devices. "Remote control for the decorations, but there's a second remote control for the robots."
"What does that mean?" Katy frowns curiously.
"It means that they're not scavengers anymore," the Doctor explains as Donna comes over to investigate for herself and to get their help. "I think someone's taken possession."
"Never mind all that. You're a doctor, people have been hurt." Donna points out, but the Doctor ignores her request.
"Nah, they wanted you alive. Look!" He picks up a nearby unbroken bauble and tosses it at Donna who catches it and looks down at the decoration with trepidation. "They're not active, now." Donna impatiently tosses the bauble over her shoulder and reiterates her last request.
"All I'm saying is, you could help…" She hints, but once again the Doctor ignores the request, and Katy grimaces apologetically at Donna.
"Got to think of the bigger picture," the Doctor insists as he scans the remote controller and immediately perks up. "There's still a signal!" He grabs Katy's hand and follows the signal, leaving behind a bewildered Donna who watches them go. Donna's mother, whose name is Sylvia, walks up to her daughter, just as perplexed as she was.
"Donna, who is he? Who is that man?" She demands. But Donna doesn't respond, instead choosing to run after the mysterious duo to find out what was going on.
Outside
The Doctor and Katy don't stray very far from the reception hall, but the more the Doctor studies the signal the remote control was emitting, the graver he looked. Donna catches up with them in time to hear the theory that was being discussed between the Doctor and Katy.
"There's someone behind this, directing the roboforms," the Doctor clarifies, and both Katy and Donna react with confusion; especially Donna, who was the unfortunate, reluctant victim in this entire situation and with no plausible explanation as to why this was the case.
"But why target Donna?" Katy questioned.
"Yeah, what have I done?" Donna agreed, looking nervous. The Doctor shrugged, looking just as bemused as they did.
"If we find the controller, we'll find that out." Suddenly, the signal changes direction and the Doctor looks up at the sky. "Ooh! It's coming from up there!"
"What? In the sky?" Donna frowned.
"No, I think he means a little bit further than that," Katy points out. "I think 'space' might be a bit more accurate." The three of them react when sirens announce the arrival of some ambulances, but the Doctor easily dismisses them and returns his attention back to the controller.
"I've lost the signal," the Doctor realised much to his annoyance, before looking at Donna for assistance. "Donna, we've got to get to your office. HC Clements. I think that's where it all started." Donna nodded, just as Lance steps out from the reception hall; obviously searching for where Donna had disappeared off to. The Doctor instantly grabs his attention. "Lance! Is it Lance? Lance, can you give us a lift?" He indicates between himself and Katy and dashes off before he could get an answer out of the bewildered Groom.
A/N: Stay tuned for the next chapter!