Something New (4/4)
Title: Something New
Rating: PG
Characters/Pairing: Ten/Donna
Summary: Follows on from When I Was Six, set after some length of time has elapsed. It's another long part. Phew, hope you like!
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
A book landed unceremoniously in the Doctor’s lap.
“Decision day,” said Donna - very large now - as she eased down beside him on the newly seatbelt-fitted jump seat.
“What’s this?” he asked, putting on his glasses and picking up the book of baby names, thumbing through it.
“One of these days I’m going to throw those glasses out. You don’t need them.”
“I like them.” He peered at a marked name. “Linnea?”
“Pretty, isn’t it?”
“Yeah, Donna, and it means lime tree.”
“Weeeeell …”
“You know I hate limes. Do you want me to hate our child?”
Donna sighed dramatically. “Fine, scratch Linnea. You got any ideas? What about something, I dunno, Gallifreyan. Out of curiosity, what’s your name? Not just Doctor. Doctor who? Your proper, real name.”
“Not telling.”
“Why?”
“I don’t want to.” His voice was petulant.
“Tell me right now, or else.”
He gave her a long hard stare, his best one. At the look he got in return, he relented.
It was ten minutes before he could just get Donna to stop hunching over and howling with laughter like a hyena, and even then she was still snorting, tears of mirth streaming down her cheeks.
“You are having me on.”
“This is why I don’t tell people!”
“And there was me thinking it was some grand, mysterious thing, and it’s … it’s …” She broke into a fresh wave of laughter. “I'm beginning to think it's just as well you can't remember your mum. What was wrong with your parents? Did they really, really, really, really hate you? And I mean really?”
He buried his face in his hands. A noise erupted from between them.
“Owies, I have to stop laughing, it hurts,” gasped Donna gleefully. “Fetch me some water, o slave.”
The Doctor slouched off to the kitchen. He sluiced water into a glass and trotted back.
“Here you go,” he said, holding out the glass.
Donna looked up at him. She didn't take the water.
“What?” he said.
“It still hurts,” she said, hands pressed to her abdomen.
She wasn't laughing.
* * *
The Doctor felt like someone was kneeing him in the gut and pulling off his limbs simultaneously. Actually, someone was kneeing him in the gut and if they hadn’t pulled off his limbs yet, they were well on the way to doing so.
He didn’t care though, as he was sure that nothing done to him could compare with what Donna was going through, giving birth to their daughter. He could only hold her as she buried her face in his neck and sobbed, and sobbed, and then sobbed some more, broken only by intermittent pitiful cries of agony.
“Do something!” he yelled at Martha. She'd been very indignant when he'd appeared in her flat, literally dragging her off at racehorse pace; though when he'd gasped out that Donna was in labour, Martha - wearing nothing but slippers, bra, and a pair of stockings - had reached the TARDIS even before him. “It’s been ages! Give her something, anything!”
Donna shook with pain. The Doctor wrapped himself around her. Sylvia bustled into the bedroom with more towels and briskly tucked a cool one against Donna's sweat-soaked neck.
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” repeated the Doctor, hoping that Donna wouldn’t hate him - that she didn’t hate him - for causing her to go through this torture. She clung to him like an anchor, though; even managing between gasps to shake her head into his neck, and he knew that she was telling him not to be sorry. How she could still love him, the Doctor didn’t know, but that was Donna - caring about everyone else even in the middle of such pain.
She suddenly let out a guttural moan. “Oh ... my ... god.”
“I can see the head!” called Sylvia excitedly, jumping up and down a little. “Not much longer, Donna love, hang in there.”
“Nearly there!” said Martha. “You'll have to try a bit harder, Donna. Give it one more good push.”
Donna let out one long last piercing squeal, and then collapsed limply against the Doctor with an enormous sigh.
“You did great!” said Martha. “She’s here and she looks great. Relax now - I’ll just clean her up a bit.”
“I did it?” said Donna, cracking open one eye, hair plastered to her forehead. “You better not be kidding, because I can’t actually push any more. If you make me push any more, I’ll get up and push you myself, all out of the room, and out of the TARDIS into the vortex. Including you, Spaceman.”
The Doctor’s face hurt from grinning.
“Donna, you’re amazing. I love you. Thank you.”
“Yeah, you owe me big time,” retorted Donna, but her eyes were soft as he kissed her.
“How about this to settle the debt?” said Martha with an enormous smile, carefully bearing a small bundle to the bed. Donna swallowed, her eyes widening as the baby was placed into her waiting arms. She gazed down, cradling it to her, and tenderly placed her lips to the tiny forehead with a look that made one of the Doctor’s hearts ache and the other soar. He felt his eyes growing wet.
“She's lovely, you two,” said Sylvia, dabbing a tear from her own eye.
“For an alien?” Donna couldn’t resist saying, and Sylvia gave her a dirty look.
“What are you calling her?” asked Martha curiously.
Donna looked at the Doctor, her mouth twitching. “Oh, now I’m suddenly remembering how all this birth business got started. You know how I said you owe me one? Well, I think I just figured out how you can repay me - go on, tell them what your name …”
The Doctor coughed to interrupt her, hastily reached for the baby name book, and scanned down Donna’s list of names. He snapped the book shut, grinning.
“Oh, it has to be Bella. Got to be.”
Donna nodded, beaming. “She looks like a Bella to me too. Beautiful. Not just a blob any more, are you, darling?”
“Actually, she looks just like you, Donna,” said the Doctor gleefully.
“Just what I was thinking,” said Martha.
“She’s got his hair, though,” pointed out Sylvia.
Donna eyed it. “Hello, I foresee hair product galore.”
“Not ginger …” mused the Doctor, stroking down Bella’s downy brown tuft of hair. Like his own, it refused to stay down, bouncing back up. He chuckled and did the same thing again. And again.
“Stop it,” said Donna, amused. “Well, thank god she’s not ginger. It’ll save me dragging her home from school for beating up all the Marcos.”
She glanced at Sylvia and they shared a guilty smile. The Doctor opened his mouth.
“Yes,” cut in Donna, “and before you say anything, I did look at a few of the prospectuses you so kindly papered my entire wardrobe with. I’ll tell you one thing, she is so not going to that school on Raxelon Nine. Did you know they have these weird snake aliens as teachers?”
“Yeah, snake aliens that happen to be the best scientists in the galaxy, I’ll have you know.”
All three women glared at him. Martha hit him on the arm, and Donna made an approving noise.
“Thanks, Martha.”
“No problem.”
“What was that for?” said the Doctor indignantly, nursing his arm. “And ow! Since when did you start hitting me? Donna, she hits harder than you!”
“Good! I’ll get her to punch you again if you say anything more about that school. My daughter is not going to a school where the teachers are snakes!”
“Fine, no snakes.”
“Hear that, Bella? Mummy won’t let naughty Daddy let you be eaten by a snake, no she won’t.”
“Can I hold her, though?” he asked eagerly. “I’ll be really careful, I promise.”
“Of course you can hold her, you great big plonker. You better get used to holding her, I’m sure as hell not going to be the one changing nappies all night …”
Donna trailed off, watching as the Doctor held the baby close. This was a side of him that she wasn’t used to seeing, and it fascinated her. She smiled to see them eyeing each other's identical shocks of hair.
“Three hearts,” the Doctor told Bella, his finger resting light as a feather on her tiny chest. “That’s how much your Mummy and Daddy love you.” His finger moved over each rapidly beating heart. “This one’s from me, and so’s this one. But this bigger one in the middle is all your Mummy’s - she’s got the biggest, warmest heart of anyone I’ve ever met.” He glanced up guiltily. “Oh, except Martha, of course. And your grandma. Obviously.”
Donna promptly erupted into a flood of tears, Martha snorted, and Sylvia looked around for a tissue.
‘What?” exclaimed the Doctor, staring at Donna in consternation. “I’m sorry!”
“No, you prawn,” she wailed, flapping her hands. “It’s just … I love you.”
He sank down on the bed and kissed her.
Sylvia blew out a sigh. She eyed Martha. “You look dead on your feet, love. Go take a rest.”
“Thanks Martha,” sniffled Donna. “You’ve been a star.”
“Yeah,” said Martha, swaying and yawning. “Doctor, if it’s all right, I’ll just give Tom a call and then go find my old room for a bit of shut-eye …”
“Absolutely,” said the Doctor. “Thanks Martha, you were brilliant. Um, sorry about all the - you know, the shouting.”
“You know it’s okay, Doctor. Believe it or not, you’re not the first worried dad I've encountered. You need me, Donna, yell out.”
She wandered out with a blissful smile.
“What a nice girl,” said Sylvia, plumping up Donna’s pillows. “Now, Donna, do you want to take a bath while I change the bed?”
“Yep,” said Donna, getting up slowly. “Ouch.”
“Careful,” said the Doctor, placing Bella gently in the crib and hastening to support Donna as they made their way slowly to the bathroom. He ran the bath and helped Donna off with her loose nighty.
She got into the warm water gratefully. “That’s nice.”
“Back in a minute,” said the Doctor, disappearing. He came back in, proudly carrying Bella.
“Oh, she’s not asleep?” said Donna, holding her arms out for the baby.
The Doctor shed his clothes in a messy pile and sloshed into the bathtub too, sitting down behind Donna and wrapping his arms around her middle as she leaned wearily against him. He rested his chin on her shoulder, peering over in fascination at Bella, cradled against Donna’s breast.
“For god’s sake, close the door,” said Sylvia, passing from the bedroom with a pile of sheets.
“Sorry,” said the Doctor guiltily, but Sylvia only smiled and drew it shut behind her.
“Her bark’s worse than her bite,” said Donna, smiling sleepily and wiggling her toes against his. He didn't reply, overcome with emotion and slight disbelief at finally being able to hold Donna and his daughter together in his arms.
“Do you want a chocolate biscuit?” he asked Donna suddenly.
“Chocolate biscuit? Yech, no.”
He grinned. Yep, pregnancy definitely all over. He scooped up some water in his palms and gently emptied it over Donna's hair, smoothing out the limp tendrils. He wondered curiously what she would say if he gave her a ring.
Some other time, he thought, utterly contented.
* * *
“So,” mused the Doctor, holding the baby gently against his dressing gown, still a bit damp from the bath. “Bella Noble. Good name, suits you. Your mum wanted to name you after a lime tree. Limes are yucky, though. She doesn’t know what she’s talking about.”
Bella blinked up at him.
“It's all right,” he said guiltily. “I can say that, she’s asleep.” He checked over his shoulder, just in case. Donna was passed out on the bed, mouth open, snoring. The Doctor grinned. “If you do like limes, that’s okay,” he reassured Bella. “It’s just that bananas are better. Tell you what, try both and see what you like, okay?”
He considered her. She didn't look sleepy.
“Want to see the console room?” he asked, wondering if babies were interested in that sort of thing. He guessed probably not, judging by the way he could practically hear Donna laughing at him in his head, but he set off along the corridor anyway.
Bella looked up at him solemnly with big blue eyes. The Doctor loved that his daughter looked so much like Donna, though he felt that it would be some time before he could get used to looking down and seeing a tiny version of something very akin to Donna’s face looking up at him. With his own hair on it, for that matter.
“Anyway, this is the console room,” he told Bella. “See, mats on the floor. They’re for you. For later on, in case you want to crawl.” He looked around. “And I disinfected everything. Really good and proper. Your grandma made me do that. She was standing over me with a mop and bucket making sure it was done properly. I know that part over there is very clean because she made me do it twice.”
Bella continued to look questioningly at him, her hand grasping up towards his chin.
“Not quite sure who I am yet, are you?” he asked her, grinning. “Don’t worry, you’ll get used to me. I have a feeling I’m going to be on nappy duty for some time.”
She yawned and blinked, her eyes moving around the room. They fixed on the central TARDIS column.
“Oh see, you’re smart,” said the Doctor proudly. “That’s the most important bit of the console. It’s going to be a long, long time before I let you drive it, though. Lots of brilliant places I can take you in the meantime.”
He stroked her cheek, marvelling at its softness. “I did make you a little console of your own, to practice on. You’re still a bit small for it though - I’ll have to ask Donna when you can have it. When I asked her about toys she said you might want a doll's house but I thought this was better. I made you a K9 too, just a little one. Donna said you can’t have one that works yet, but you can pull it on a string …”
He broke off and looked curiously at Bella as she continued to gaze at the column.
“Well, the column is interesting,” he said, half to himself. “Sometimes I stare at it too. Of course, then your mother calls me Spaceman. Don’t tell her, but I like it when she calls me Spaceman. She’s Earth Girl, but she doesn’t like it so much when I call her that. You can be … actually, I don’t know what you can be. Have to think about it. We’ll come up with something, won’t we?”
Suddenly he heard a noise and his head snapped up.
The central column was glowing a soft blue, the time rotor firing up.
The Doctor stared frantically at it. “What? What? Stop that! The stabiliser’s on!” He kicked the console, trying not to jar Bella. He glanced quickly down at her, still panicking, then did a double take.
“Bella?”
The baby's eyes reflected the column as she gazed steadily at it. Then she blinked, and the light faded, and the rotor stopped moving.
The Doctor stared, open-mouthed. Bella looked up at him and made a little noise.
“What was that?” he breathed. “Did you do - how did you …”
Wondering, he carried her back to the bedroom and put her in the crib, then stood and looked down at her, puzzled. She gazed up at him. Then she suddenly chuckled, looking remarkably like Donna did whenever she was teasing him.
A grin spread over his face and he poked her tummy gently. “You really are different, aren’t you? Even I don’t know how you did that. Just to be on the safe side, I think we’ll keep you in here for a while so you don't send us all spinning off into goodness knows where.”
“What’s that?” said Donna sleepily, raising her head.
“Your daughter is weird!” proclaimed the Doctor happily.
“Oi!”
“Oh, it’s just that … never mind, I’ll explain later. It’s good weird, I think.”
Bella burst into a fit of yells.
“She sounds like you too, Donna,” said the Doctor perplexedly, and Donna gave him an exasperated look.
“Yeah, well I’m not surprised, if you’re going to go around telling her she’s weird.”
“She’s hungry,” said Sylvia, jerking awake from where she’d fallen asleep on a chair in the corner. “Come on, Donna, time for her first feeding. While you're doing that, I’ll go get your grandfather, he’s probably hopping around outside. Mind you, I think he just wants to see the space ship as much as the baby.”
She patted the Doctor on the shoulder as she went out. He smiled, lifting the crying Bella from the crib and carrying her to Donna before sitting and watching dreamily as Bella began suckling.
“What?” said Donna, looking up with a smile.
“Nothing. Just remembering when I kissed you properly for the first time. After we ran into your younger self. Remember that day?”
“I remember that night,” shot back Donna with a smirk, and the Doctor blushed, but pressed on.
“And the first time we met. Who'd have thought then that we'd end up with a baby?”
“Not me,” said Donna, adjusting her hold on Bella a little. “I was seriously ready to kill you when I was beamed up here in that wedding dress. It would have knocked me for six if I'd known we were going to end up together, let alone have a baby. Actually, I'm still not sure it wasn't all some master plot of yours, Mr 'I Thee Bio-Damp'.” She grinned at him.
“So then,” he said, non-committally. “You completely over the idea of rings, then, after last time?”
“Weeeell, it depends, doesn't it?”
“On what?”
“On whether the Martian who gives it to me is the father of our child, and whether I love him a lot, and if I think we're all going to be very happy together, and whether he indulges my newfound taste for ... um ... hmm ... waffles. Yep. Definitely, waffles.”
“Ah, I see. Having rid the world of chocolate biscuits, Donna Noble is now going to save it from a plague of waffles.”
“What can I say? I just take my cue from you.”
“Donna?”
“Yes?”
“I love you.”
“I love Bella ... and waffles.”
“Okay, okay, one stack of waffles coming right up. I mean, two stacks. Seriously? Three?”
“Love you too, Doctor.”