A Stitch In Time (1/4)
Title: A Stitch In Time
Rating: G
Characters/Pairing: Ten, Donna
Summary: The Doctor has a crazy idea that might just work. Donna isn't so sure.
Two hours. Two ruddy hours wandering the TARDIS before Donna finally found him. In the conservatoire. She hadn’t even known he had a conservatoire. The Doctor looked up briefly as she entered, but turned away again, moodily plonking random notes on a ridiculously ornate piano.
“You play?” she asked cheerily, ignoring his obvious black mood and gesturing to the seat beside him. “Budge up, Spaceman. Even with your skinny little behind there probably isn’t enough room on this seat for the two of us.”
He managed to crack a wry smile as he shifted. Donna squeezed up next to him.
“So, what is it?” she said, wincing as he hit a particularly splodgy chord.
“What’s what?”
“This.” She waved her hands over his face. “You, being all Mr Gloom.”
He sighed. “It’s nothing.”
“Yeah right. Last time you looked like this … actually, I don’t think I’ve seen you look like this. And that includes the time when the TARDIS locked you out for getting jam in the control circuit.”
The Doctor looked down at Donna. His eyes were so mournful that her first instinct was to hug him tight. So she did. He seemed glad of it, and nestled into her shoulder.
“So, you want to talk, then?” said Donna, her voice muffled in his collar.
There was a pause.
“Maybe,” said an equally muffled voice.
They sat holding each other for a moment longer.
“Now?” suggested Donna.
“In a minute. I just like the smell of your hair,” said the Doctor, showing no signs of moving.
Donna rolled her eyes but permitted herself a grin. “Thanks, Timeboy. I think.”
Eventually he drew back and gave her a sincere but serious smile.
“Thanks. I needed that.”
“No problemo.” She smoothed down his tie. “God, you’re like a puppy, you know?”
He tugged on his ear and looked bashful. “You give good hugs.”
“Is that what this is all about? Look all mopey and hangdog just so I’ll hug you?”
“No!”
“Then what?”
In the moment that followed, it looked like the Doctor was having some sort of internal fight, judging by the grimace on his face. Whether he was fighting to admit something to himself or fighting whether to tell her, Donna wasn’t sure. Finally he looked up.
“Donna, I don’t want to change.”
“Well, I don’t want you to change either.”
“But what if I do?”
“Why would you?” asked Donna, confused.
* * *
“Rightio then,” breathed Donna, slightly slackjawed. “You’re telling me you might EXPLODE and change into SOMEONE ELSE at ANY TIME?”
The Doctor frowned. “Well, I didn’t put it quite like that.”
“So when exactly were you planning on telling me this? Or were you going to waltz into the bathroom like you do - without knocking, I might add - looking like someone completely different and making me clock you over the head with my hairdryer thinking you were an insane alien invader or something?”
“Noooo,” said the Doctor unconvincingly.
Donna took a deep breath. “But you’re saying now you don’t want to … what’s the word? Regenerate? After having already done it how many times?”
“Nine,” said the Doctor without blinking.
“NINE? How old exactly are you?”
“Ninehundredandthree.”
“NINE HUNDRED AND FLIPPING THREE?”
“Stop shouting!”
“I’ll bloody well shout if I want! I think I deserve to be shouting a bit at you right now, quite frankly! ESPECIALLY as you forgot what today is, which is why I was looking for you in the first place! For TWO HOURS!”
“Donna, STOP IT!”
There was a silence, during which a tear ran unchecked down Donna’s nose. The Doctor looked stricken.
“Um … what’s today again? Is it your birthday?”
Donna shook her head.
“Half birthday?” he tried again.
A sniffle.
“Quarter birthday?”
“If your next words are going to be 'eighth birthday', you can stop right there. I’m a human, Doctor, not a bloody ten thousand year old Time Lord.”
She wiped her eyes and looked at him angrily, but he just stared at his hands.
“Oh,” he said. “I do know what today is.”
“Yeah,” said Donna shakily, wiping away a few more tears.
“Come here,” said the Doctor quietly, putting an arm around Donna and pulling her against him until her head was settled on his shoulder. She reached out and plonked his splodgy chord, and felt him trying unsuccessfully not to smile above her. Well, at least she’d cheered him up, even if she felt like complete crap.
“I thought you’d forgotten,” she said. “I don’t even know why I care, really.”
“I’m a Time Lord, Donna,” he said gently. “I do know what day it is. And you’re right. One year since we started travelling together, isn’t it? Properly travelling, I mean.”
“Happy anniversary,” said Donna with a humourless chuckle. There was a pause. “It’s a long time,” she went on. “For me, anyway. I suppose it doesn’t matter all that much if you’re nine hundred.”
His arm tightened around her. “Of course it matters. You … you matter.”
“Yeah, ta.”
“No, I mean it,” he said earnestly. “In fact …”
* * *
“NO! I won’t let you do it,” exclaimed Donna. “Are you crazy? Getting rid of your last regeneration by giving the energy to ME? That’s like … like future Time Lord suicide, isn’t it? And as for doing THAT to me, I can’t even begin to imagine how you got the idea. Or the blinking NERVE to suggest it. And how would you even DO it?”
“Don’t you understand, Donna?” said the Doctor wildly, running his hands through his hair. “I don’t WANT to regenerate again. I like how I am right now. Do you want me to change? I mean, I’m a bit skinny and I know I talk a lot sometimes and …”
“No, of course I don’t want you to change,” conceded Donna, gripping his hands. “I love you just like this.”
They both froze and stared at each other, wide-eyed.
“Um … as … as my best friend, of course,” Donna floundered. “That’s what I mean.”
“Mmph,” agreed the Doctor vaguely, still staring at her. Then he shook his head, as though to clear it. “Even … even so, what if I didn’t end up regenerating, and you just got older?”
“Charmer,” she yelped, hitting him.
“Ow! That’s not what I mean. I don’t want to lose you, Donna. My body doesn’t exactly get older, you know. Not at the same rate as humans, anyway.”
“I don’t want to lose you either, Doctor.”
“You promised me forever, Donna,” he said, taking her by the shoulders.
“Steady on, Spaceman,” said Donna, trying to laugh, though his eyes were too intense for that. “I haven’t even seen a ring and a pumpkin-style coach yet. Immortality seems some steps ahead, doesn’t it?”
But he wasn’t to be deterred. “Did you really mean it? When you said forever. I know what I said just now all sounds completely crazy, but I meant it. I understand if you need time to think about it.”
Donna just stared at him, speechless for once.
“Is that enough time?” said the Doctor, obtuse as always. “So, what do you think?
I'm taking a vote! ;) Does Donna say yay, or nay?
As the vote was an overwhelming yay ... part 2 here!