Because You're Special - Chapter Ten
Because Your Special
Tweedy Sweep-Over Bangs Time Boy
"Miss Noble?"
Donna pulled her attention from the Doctor, who was laughing at some pudgy pink-fellow's jokes about worm-holes, in between sketching a negativity nebula on a chalkboard and explaining it to Pinky. He was across the room, bouncing about topics and half-insulting the other "meeting members" with his brilliance, like he'd been doing for the last hour. Oh, he'd stayed by her side for a bit, but she wasn't going to keep the great big alien chatting about glassware and the nice flowers on the table when he could be discussing… whatever negativity nebulas were with an attentive audience.
"Yeah?" She glanced at the man to her left, skimming his scarlet bowtie and his tweed colored suit. He looked like the ultimate nerd or like that stupid American character, Pee Wee Herman. He also needed a haircut, badly, and if she'd had scissors, she'd have trimmed his bangs properly. Or a manly hair-clip to pin it out of his eyes…did they make such a thing?
He laughed, a jubilant sound, and pointed a scrawny finger in her face. His eyes, shadowed by his large brow, grew serious as they darted about, scanning her face. "I knew it was you. It hasn't been so long that I've forgotten."
Donna paused, staring at him, and realizing there was only one question to ask. "You're one of those Time Lords, aren't you?"
He drew himself up, sifting his hands through his hair like he was trying to either stall for time, or see how long he had let his hair go. Either were a definite possibility as far as Donna was concerned. He leaned back to observe her, a pale handful of slim fingers twitching in some sort of rhythm not far from his face. As if testing the answer on his tongue before releasing it, he said slowly, "Yes."
"You blokes are everywhere."
"Shouldn't be. Can't be. It's not allowed." He frowned, "I sent Rassilon and his men back to hell. Unless they are escaping through the cracks."
"Time fracturing again, Bow-tie Boy? 'Cause, I've heard all that bit before."
"Really?" He straightened, "From who, exactly."
"Another of you Time Lord things."
"Not things. People. Time Lord are just as important as humans, you know." He nudged her with an elbow, as if sharing a private joke.
"He said that…" she tried to recall the madman's grandiose ramblings, "He said something about temporal manipulation and me being… a fishing lure…"
The new Time Lord, reached into his pocket and withdrew one of those Time Lord universal remote wands like her Doctor had, except this one had a green tip. "Do you mind if I give you an once-over with this thinga-ma-jig? Well, actually, it's a sonic screwdriver. Sonic screwdrivers are cool. If you remember the last one was all silver and blue and this beauty is…" He stopped, pausing and paling, as if he had suddenly remembered something dreadful. "…well…different…How's your head, Miss Noble?"
"If you're worried about me accusing you of being a loon and an invading alien, yeah, I think I've gotten over that for now."
"Right. No big pounding headaches? Inexplicable burning sensations?"
"Is that normally what happens when you show a lady your nifty gadget? Sorry. I don't faint. Not for some stupid pen and a scrawny little bloke like you. What are you, like an eleven-year-old Time Lord?"
"You're like a mean Amy. Somehow, I'd forgotten all the meanness."
"I've had an odd couple hours, mate. I'm not feeling charitable. Actually, you know what, I'm feeling rather stalked."
"No one is stalking you…unless, of course they are, which in that, case would be really really bad. Can I?" He lightly tossed the remote wand in the air, caught it and made faux-scanning motions with it toward Donna's head.
"Fine, but if anything goes wrong…"
"Slapping. Yes, I remember the slaps. Unexpected slaps. Hard slaps. Donna slaps. Compared to yours, Jackie's were like slapper-in-training slaps…" He busied himself with raising and lowering the universal remote-sonic screwdriver-up and down. It made weird whirling sonicky sounds and glowed like a little green wand. Somehow, between the fairy-wand thing and his odd appearance, she was reminded of a nerdy leprechaun. "Oi…well…whoever your Time Lord buddy was, he was obviously quite clever and intuitive. You are," His head bounced up and down, a sort of gangly fidgety movement and his eyes slide over her rapidly, "…in fact," He leaned back, tilted his head and peered at her from the corner of his eyes, "…a victim of temporal manipulation."
"In human terms that means that time is being altered around me, yes?"
"Yes." He tapped the sonic against his chin, beady little eyes staring at the ceiling, "Hush, I'm thinking."
"I didn't say anything-"
"Hush." He clapped a hand over her mouth. "But who is doing the altering…? And why…? Donna has anything odd been happening? Besides meeting Time Lords?"
She slapped his hand away, leaving a satisfying red welt on his wrist. "Watch it, bow-tie boy." She growled, taking a step back. "Everything been just perfectly normal. Except there was the vampire-waiters and the dress-making friar and my friend not looking a day older than when I met him as a kid."
"Friend? Another Time Lord?" His fingers twitched in some spastic pattern as he scanned the room.
"The tall good-looking one in the black jacket." She pointed at the Doctor, still waving his arms wildly at the chalkboard, although he was now holding a champagne flute as he gestured. "We met at a pub last Christmas."
Bow-tie boy paused, tilted his head to the side and after a moment of dully staring at the Doctor, his eyes side-glanced at Donna. "Big-ears… are cool? Speaking of Christmas-time, what time is it exactly?"
"Seven-ish? I'm not sure, exactly but supper was at six."
He turned to face her, hunching his shoulders oddly so he looked scrawnier and more intense than the nerd-Lord usually did. "Yes, yes, but the year, Donna."
"Time Lords who don't know what the year is?"
"I travel a lot, the TARDIS is a bit random and I never look at the sensor readings before leaping into danger-most of the time anyways," his odd face crinkled into a goofy-child like grin, "all in all, I get rather mixed up about petty things like the exact year."
"2006, at least for a few more days. If you think it's so petty to know when you are exactly, than what are you asking me for?"
"Early days for you then."
He twirled his sonic through his fingers before tucking it away in his coat. She'd seen her friend, James Bond/The Doctor, do the same thing. Did they all take lessons in sonic screwdriver spinning before they were allowed to roam through time?
"This is not good. Very bad, not good. You're not supposed to have met me…him. Not yet. Not until after Bad Wolf Bay and all that Huoron particles-blended-with-coffee stuff."
Donna's head was practically pounding with all of the weirdness. Talking with strangers about things like destiny and proper time and Time Lords. If she hadn't seen so much, she would have declared them all bonkers and walked away. But, as it was, for better or for worse, Donna Noble was trapped in this brave new world of aliens and time-travel. Finally sorting through the man's babblings, she managed to offer, "So, what, time is being altered so that I met a man I wasn't supposed to?"
"The Doctor."
"This one anyhow."
"This one…" He began pacing, hunched slightly and staring at the floor, completely oblivious to the stares of the other Explorers at the party. "They've all been the Doctor, haven't they? Yes. Of course, a mutated warped Dalek may gain odd powers falling through the void but he doesn't gain perfect aim. Dalek Caan has been drawing us together, but not precisely. Not just my last incarnation, but all of them future and past. But," he paused, whirling to face her, "why can't I remember?"
"I am not a woman who scares easily, but you are scaring me."
"It comes naturally." He commented and resumed his pacing. Suddenly he slowed, and reached for Donna's shoulders. He seemed a little shorter-but then again, James Bond was taller than an alien sky-scraper-and he stared into her eyes, uncomfortably close, holding her in place. "I remember you on the TARDIS, the angriest bride in the universe, but before that, this year, I was traveling with Rose."
"The Doctor is traveling with Rose." She heard the words: incarnation, I, me, us. But she couldn't see what they meant. It was easy to believe that these strange men were all some intense-gibberish spouting alien Time Lords. But they were all'the Doctor'? What did that mean? The Doctor?
And more importantly, she was going to be a bride. Apparently, an angry one, but the very idea that she was going to be married certainly made the future look a whole lot brighter.
"So why is he traveling with you..?" He stared into her eyes.
"How should I know? I'm just a temp, anyway."
"Oi." A strong hand gripped Bow-tie Boy's shoulder. "Hello. By the way, did I mention? That particular redhead is with me. Why don't you run off and get yourself a nice…"
As Bow-tie Boy straightened, Donna's friend, the Doctor (or one of them), released him, looking a bit pale and a bit confused. Without another word, he reached into his jacket for his universal remote-sonic screwdriver-and skimmed a blue light over Bow-tie Boy. Hiding the tool away, he faced the silent Time Lord.
"Blimey, what a gigantic forehead you have. Not our best look. Do you know what? I saw Six this morning at the airport. That coat looks worse now than it did back then. Is that a bow-tie? Homage to older days, I'd imagine." He placed an arm around Donna's shoulders, half-addressing her like he was an old man reminiscing about growing up on the farm. "Back when I was young, my sense of style was always hit and miss…at least, he…" And The Doctor nodded at Bow-tie Boy, "is color coordinated."
"Lovely." Donna said quietly, not bothering to hide her sarcasm.
The Doctor smiled his grin that would make the Cheshire Cat jealous and turned his attention to Bow-tie Boy. "If a bit boring. You are a bit boring bland, you know, in that tweed."
"Tweed is cool."
"It's really not though." Donna added quickly, hoping to imbue the boy with some genuine truth about what was cool and what was not. He seemed to not have the slightest clue.
"Right then, we'll be off." The Doctor tightened his grip on Donna, and began steering her away. Donna stumbled slightly, feeling like the dumb child in a room full of geniuses or the one sane person in a room full of mental patients. Either way, it wasn't pleasant. Especially, because, some Dalek-whatsa-ma-bob, had targeted her to meet the Doctor. Was that bad? Wasn't it bad to mess up the past?
Bow-tie Boy leapt in front of them, reminding Donna of a lonely puppy desperate to get its master's attention. "Normally, it's advisable to stay out of each other's path. Preserve the Time Line and all. But in this particular case, Doctor, history is not taking its proper course. I'm supposed to know Donna, and you're not supposed to. Not yet anyway."
"Actually, I think it's been established, I've known Donna for years. I just can't remember some of the encounters."
Moving closer, excited with the spastic joy that her friend seemed to experience, Bow-tie Boy gestured like a mad-man. "It's a bit of mystery, but I think if you give me some more time, I can work it out. As I see it, there are two possibilities. A. The universe realizes time is being altered, and is on some small scale, correcting the discrepancies, compensating for the changes by removing our memories. B. There is another force in the universe…"
"Dok-torrr!" A whip-thin redhead in a short tropical patterned skirt, heeled sandals and an unzipped red hoodie raced to Bow-tie Boy's side and latched onto his arm. She started talking in a fast-paced Scottish accent. "You'll never believe this, but there are aliens, dressed like tourists, in the lobby and they are up to something. And before you ask me, how I know they are aliens and how I know they are planning something, let me remind you I have been blue-box traveling for a while now. Can we go now, huh?"
"Amy, I'm in the middle of something… where's Rory?"
"Spying on the tourist's like I told him to. He'd be eating shrimp-cocktail and unaware if it wasn't for me. And until we know what they are up to..." She jabbed a scrawny finger, extending from the long sleeve of her hoodie, into his arm, as if for emphasis. "..We'd better not trust anything, yeah?"
"Off you go then." The Doctor said grandly. "Save the world. I'll be in room 305 if you need me."
"Right…well…" Bow-tie Boy paused, looking again at Donna's Doctor, eyes shifting underneath his heavy brow. He whirled suddenly on his friend, Amy, "Now, were these extraterrestrial tourists a bit round with zippers on their forehead? Or they might be using a shimmer… Pond, remind me to go to room 305, after this is over, I have a dodgy memory…but something important is going on…"
Donna watched him and his stick-thin little friend wander off the lobby. She glanced down at the Doctor's arm on her shoulder and shrugged him off, letting her frustration bleed into her voice. "You can let go of me, you big dunce."
"Kamyssa, the Traken statistician, said there was a lovely view of the stars from the northern balcony. By the way, did I mention that's where Huddle parked his brand-new Vimilintii Star-Charger? That's sort of like a massive SUV or safari vehicle for exploring the stars, supposed to have the most advanced sensor-system of the 61st century…"
"I've just been told that 'your life is being manipulated by Daleks' by one of your rebirth Doctor things and you want to go look at another bloody space-ship?" She stepped backward, squaring her shoulders. "Off you go then. Ogle some flying saucer's sensors. I'll be in my room, alone. Unless, destiny drops another Doctor into my lap."
"You really think-'someone's manipulating the time-stream to bring me and the Doctor together-I'll go wander away like every other daft assistant he's ever had'. That's a fantastic idea. Why let the Dalek's succeed, so we can see what their up to, when you can go have a girly emotional fit in your room."
"You could've told me there was a plan, you selfish big-eared idiot." She slapped him on the arm, hard enough to make her palm sting and leave a hand-shaped impression on his black jacket. But Donna Noble was angry. Angry that someone out there was targeting her, controlling her. Angry that the one person in her life, beyond her family and her friend Alice, that she really liked, that she felt important when she was with him, was only there because some distant Dalek-alien had bent the rules to make him meet her. She prepared another slap, this one aimed for his cheek.
He caught her hand, blue eyes staring down at her. "Plans are like well-thought out strategies. You can't just create a plan based on a sort of queasy feeling that things are in motion that shouldn't be and the random sputterings of an erratic half-mad past-regeneration and a naive-looking half-witted future regeneration."
"Are you telling me there isn't a plan?"
"Didn't I just say that? Humans! Thick-headed stupid apes, the lot of you! If there was a plan, if I had reliable data to base a plan on, do you actually think I'd be suggesting a moonlight stroll?"
"I don't know!"
"I don't know either!" He shouted back. At the disapproving, concerned or annoyed looks from the other space-explorers, he grabbed Donna's arm and jerked her out of the room. "You think I like this? Not knowing what's going on? Having no leads? Having no way of stopping what's happening? Having no way of knowing what will happen? I'm the Doctor. I can escape from anything. But destiny…?"
Donna felt herself soften slightly. If he was feeling as trapped, as clueless, as she was, then at least she could pretend he was sympathizing with her. Quietly guiding him toward the lobby, Donna suggested, "The other Doctor, Tweedy sweep-over bangs Time Boy, he seemed to know something."
"He's just verbalizing theories. Trying to look smart. But, look at him, he can't even cut his hair. Completely useless."
"Doctor, how can you hate…a…a you?"
"Easy. Six hated Five. Three hated Two. And most of the time, I hate them all. Hating is the easy bit."
"Self-hatred isn't healthy. My Gran used to say it's best to think more about other people than how wonderful or awful you are."
"And you bash people over the head with that incoherent advice? No, Donna. The point is, he's not going to be helpful, so we are on our own."
Donna sighed. Sure, she could see that the Doctor, in his smart leather jacket and confident attitude was embarrassed by his nerdy-looking replacement. But Bow-Tie Boy had been harmless and helpful, and mostly rational, unlike the other Doctors she ran into. And his theorizing out-loud was more comforting than the current sullen silence as James Bond thought deep mysterious thoughts about who-knows-what.
They entered the lobby, passing a tall rather-good looking bloke with reddish hair and cupful of half-eaten gritty-looking red-sauce. He was holding a limp shrimp in one hand and dully looking at a group of chattering tourists in horrid tropical shirts. Donna wondered idly if this young man was Amy's minion, and the tourists the "alien invaders". But the Doctor charged up a flight of stairs Donna had not used and she jogged to keep up, lifting her new dress high to keep from tripping on it.
"Oi, James!" She scrambled up the stairs, trying to catch up with his long-stride. "He might be useless, but I want to know what's going on, and he's the only lead we have."
He turned on the stair, somehow continuing to climb them backwards, looking impressive and angry at the same time. "Too much knowledge of the future takes all the adventure out of life. I have a lot of life left. I'd like to enjoy it."
"What do you think I want to do? Live miserably." She hollered up to him. "I don't want to be haunted by all of your crazy rebirths for the rest of time!"
"Trust me," he said, his eyes narrowing suddenly. "I've no wish to be with such a sour-noisy companion for all eternity!"
"I'll show you "sour noisy"…!" Donna shouted and charged at him again. But this time, he'd darted out into a balcony and was out of reach. By the time, she'd exited the hotel, her anger was slightly cooled. The sounding of rushing ocean waves, the chill of the wind, the smell of salt, and the beautiful lights of the city and the distant stars distracted her from her scrawny arrogant target.
It was even more beautiful than the view on Gramp's hill in Chiswick.
"I'd appreciate you not slapping while I'm trying to balance here."
"What?" Donna reluctantly drew her gaze from the splendor around her and focused on the Doctor's tall body, standing on the balcony's edge and waving his sonic-screwdriver in the air. "What are you doing up there? You could fall to your death… and, don't use that excuse that you'll always come back, neither of us wants you to turn into Suspender Sam."
The Doctor smiled sweetly. He jumped off, lightly, unashamedly…and in the wrong direction.
"No way!" Donna shrieked and rushed to the edge.
Next Chapter: {A Lot of Doctors in Space}