Reunited
Title: Reunited
Author: sketty24
Characters: Doctor/Donna
Rating: G
Word Count: 2354
Spoilers: End of Forest of the Dead
Summary: A re-write of the ending of Forest of the Dead. The Doctor finds Donna when she returns from CAL.
People were gathering all over the library. They reappeared where they had been taken from, all arriving in their small clusters and amongst people they had been besides before they were taken and ‘saved’. The once silent library was now filled with life and voices, echoing far out along the looming corridors of books and out into the sun-washed walkways. The Doctor pushed by the survivors with quiet apologies and hurried ‘excuse me’s as he made his way into the large foyer. His TARDIS was now surrounded by crowds of black-clothed people, though none were paying attention to the blue box. The Doctor speeded up, slipping around a broadly-built man as he tried to get to the TARDIS door.
He had sent Donna to the TARDIS before she disappeared, therefore, logically, that was where she should reappear. He hoped. His way was blocked by a couple reuniting, and he almost bumped into them in his haste. During this disruption, and out of his sight, the TARDIS door creaked open slowly, and Donna Noble stepped out carefully into the dust-filled shafts of light that gleamed down from the windows. Her eyes stared at the people around her, shocked at the realisation of how many people had actually been taken into CAL’s world.
After losing River, after that sacrifice, the Doctor did not want to learn of another loss. He wasn’t quite sure he could bear two in one day, despite the millions around him who were enthusiastically reuniting. Upon gently nudging the convening couple aside - they had become locked in an embrace and didn’t seem to be coming up for air anytime soon - his view towards the TARDIS was unrestricted, and he saw the back of Donna’s head as she stood just off the threshold, quietly pulling the wooden door closed.
For a few torturous seconds, he stared at her swinging ponytail while mentally begging her to turn around. He was too scared to put all his hopes on the back of her head, and have her turn around and be someone else. That’s what today had done to him, that’s what his life did to him - it made him distrust his faith. She was fiddling with the door, trying to tug it those last few inches. It had been getting stuck lately. He had been meaning to fix the rusty hinge, but his life was one distraction after another.
Barely three seconds had passed, but that felt like an eternity to the Time Lord. He gave up waiting, instead making swift, purposeful strides across the short distance between them. He barely even realised he had started a light jog to get there sooner. A lot of things had slipped from his normally scrutinous attention; like the embracing people around them and the sounds of happy reunion. His attention had remained solely focused on the auburn-haired head, which began to gradually turn, as if in slow-motion. He saw the side of her face, and yes, that was enough for him to accept and finally let his heart swell and that tense breath of air be exhaled heavily in relief. She barely had time to notice that the Doctor was upon her when he gathered her up tightly in his arms. Apologies, explanations and more apologies were rambling at lightning speed, until he realised he wasn’t actually saying a word, and his mental mantra had continued on from his pleading.
He then realised something else; that they were moving. So wrapped up in his gratitude, he hadn’t been aware that when he grabbed her, he’d continued his momentum into a pirouette , lifting his startled companion clean off the floor. The Doctor set her down on her feet a little less gracefully, leaving Donna out of breath and clutching onto his shoulders with a mingle of wild-eyed surprise and building delight.
The internal monologue in his head had subsided, but still his voice didn’t seem fit to work. He was still holding her, aware that he normally let go much sooner unless invited, since Donna had developed a ten second rule when it came to him touching her. However, she hadn’t moved his hands yet, a situation he found had been occurring much more frequently recently.
In retrospect, he still didn’t have an explanation for what happened next. Of course, he had some theories - he was good at those. Perhaps it was the feeling of utter joy in the atmosphere, the countless reunions that surrounded them, and possibly the very long clinch he could see occurring in the corner of his eye from the earlier couple. Donna had opened her mouth to say something, possibly something off-hand and humorous to help them move on from both the events in the library and the hint of awkwardness forming at their own embrace. He never found out what though, for his head had stooped to give her cheek the briefest of kisses. It was a delicately light peck, mixed with a sincere gentleness and a hint of teenaged apprehension.
It certainly put a stop to whatever Donna had been planning on saying. The current events seemed to belatedly play in the Doctor’s mind, as if he wasn’t in control of his own actions. Upon reaching the crescendo of the situation, he sharply pulled back, eyes turning rounder and a tad fearful. He seemed to have stopped Donna’s voice entirely, for she was staring at him, lips formed into a small ‘o’ as if she was on the verge of a stupefied rant, but too stunned to manage it.
Say something, anything, just say something.
“TARDIS?” the Doctor ventured hopefully, intending for them to get inside and leave the library (and the awkward situation) behind.
He knew less than a second later that that had been one of the worst possible ways to fill such an uncomfortable silence. Donna’s small ‘o’ shape was gradually forming into a grim line.
“No! No!” he said suddenly, stepping back and raising a finger like when he often tried to make a valiant point. “No-no-no!”
Whether this appeased Donna or not, he wasn’t sure, for she turned her back on him and strode back into the TARDIS.
Did she open the door more forcefully that she normally does, or am I imagining it?
After taking a sheepish glance at the library around them, the Doctor noticed that no one was paying them any particular attention. Somewhat relieved their awkward show had been relatively private; he meekly stepped on into the TARDIS after Donna. He moved to close the door behind him, taking more time over shutting it. Because of the hinge, he told himself. He turned to walk up the grilled ramp and towards the console, spending more time studying the floor than looking ahead of him. He saw the tip of Donna’s shoes come into view and bumped lightly into her front. His head shot upright, and she was staring up at him.
The Doctor thumbed weakly over his shoulder at the TARDIS door. “You know, I really ought to fix that. I keep forgetting to, don’t I? One of these days, we’ll come legging it to the TARDIS and ‘wham!’, the door won’t open for us. I think some oil might sort it. Unless the wood’s warped, but I don’t think the TARDIS has got wet recently… it was a bit damp when we visited the Mujano Forest though, wasn’t - ?”
“Doctor!”
A ringing silence followed Donna’s thunderous tones. “Yes?” the Doctor then asked helpfully, as if she had requested his attention as timidly as tugging on his coat sleeve.
Donna’s expression melted into a slow smile at his behaviour. “I missed you too,” she said, that small bob of her head making the Doctor smirk sheepishly, like they were sharing a private joke.
“Really?” he wrangled, eyebrows rising in a playful manner, as if he knew what was coming.
Donna whacked him on the arm.
Ow! Well, maybe not exactly…
“What was that for?” he asked indignantly. “You could’ve hugged me instead! I like hugs, hugs are less painful!”
“For an alien, you can be such a bloke, sometimes,” said Donna, a note of scorn in her tone.
The Doctor frowned mildly. “And that’s a bad thing?”
His genuine innocence just then caused Donna to laugh freely. She had found a chance to let some emotion go, and she had never felt so thankful to be laughing again. “Nah,” she eventually answered through a soft heave of air, laughter subsiding to humoured chuckles. “Not all the time,” she conceded, lightly looping her arm through his and walking closer to the console.
“Donna, what happened?” the Doctor then asked her, changing subject at the speed of light, but it was something Donna was used to. Unfortunately, the Doctor noticed the gleam of amusement fade from her eyes and regretted his abrupt question. “It’s just, no one had a real answer. Everyone had a different story,” he explained hurriedly, taking her arm and steering her to face him, boring his eyes into hers to convey his sincerity in his justification.
“It was all in my head,” she said, waving a hand airily in a manner than didn’t suit the gravity of their discussion. “It wasn’t real, let’s not go on about it.”
“But people had lives, didn’t they? You lived,” he told her.
“I lived a fairytale,” she told him with a grim smile. “I lived a perfect life.” There was a pause as her eyes wandered from his. “I bet he’s not even real,” she said through a small sigh.
“Who?” the Doctor questioned with a hint of caution.
Donna’s gaze snapped back to his. “It doesn’t matter. Like I said; fairytale.”
“Still living one, aren’t you?” he said, trying to get a smile back on her face.
“What?” she asked him, brow creasing just lightly in her confusion.
The Doctor gave an airy gesture of his hands. “Whisked away by a man in a blue box?”
“Hardly a knight in shining armour, are you, Spaceman?” she said, smirking faintly as she poked at his ribcage. “Too skinny, for starters.”
“Oi!” he retorted, rubbing at the spot she had prodded.
However, she was smiling again, and it had in it some of the real Donna warmth. “Don’t worry,” she replied. “I’m no damsel in distress either.”
That caused the Doctor to snort ungracefully as he tried to dignify his disguised laughter. “No. Not at all, Donna Noble,” he then said, with a smile that proved his honesty.
“I missed you,” she then said quietly, her tone of bravado softening.
“You already said that,” the Doctor told her in a gentle reminder, voice dropping to match hers.
Donna’s eyes dropped to study the knot in his tie. “I know,” she admitted. “Just wanted to say it again,” she said, tone holding an edge that suggested he shouldn’t question her right now. The Doctor stood silently, deciding to give her chance to speak further if she wished. She didn’t have anything else to say, but she did take a small step forward to wordlessly hug him again.
He could only assume the ‘fake life’ in CAL had affected her harder than he thought, and a small anvil of guilt thudded into the pit of his stomach. His arms slowly wrapped around her again; gathering her up with an almost instinctive protection. “You’re back now,” he assured her softly in her ear, feeling her shoulders tremble very lightly in response. He knew how much Donna reigned in her emotions, but didn’t suggest her to proceed either way with her feelings right now. She knew what was best for her to deal with; he’d allow her to choose her own path of recovery. From experience, he had learned she was a lot like him. She’d be down for a few minutes before slapping on a winning smile and eager bravado.
He was right. Within a few moments, she was looking up at him, a timid sort of smirk on her face as she blinked a little. “I’m alright,” she told him when he watched her. “I’m alright,” she repeated.
“I know,” he replied, feeling as if they were playing along to the same script here. Thoughts of River crossed his mind before his eyes focused on Donna again. “I’m alright too.”
She nodded slowly; as if she could read behind the words he spoke. She probably could. “I’m tired,” she then said quietly, eyes dropping as she eased out of his hold. The Doctor dutifully released her and stepped back, waiting for her to head out of the control room. She didn’t move just yet, eyes studying the grating below her feet before she looked up. She only got as far as the knot on his tie, which had become a new focal point for her today. “Come with me?” she requested in a fainter tone. She then managed to drag her eyes slowly from his tie and to his face. “I don’t want an empty space besides me,” she told him in a hush of exhalation, head shaking slowly as she stared at him. She’d spent so long besides her ‘husband’, the lack of a warm body besides her in the night would only make this harder to deal with. She was grieving for him, it seemed, for a man who didn’t exist.
The Doctor saw the need in her eyes and didn’t question her. She was especially strong, but he would never hold this against her. Everyone had their moments of weakness, and he intended to help her through hers as she had done with him the first time they met. “Donna, for once, allow yourself to be a damsel,” he encouraged her gently, pressing a button on the console as he passed to send the TARDIS in a gentle auto-orbit. He led her across the grated ramp and to the door, entering the corridor and deeper bowels of the TARDIS.
The Doctor was sure that after her sleep, Donna would be feeling better, and most likely reciting her ten-second rule at full volume for him sleeping in her bed.
Author: sketty24
Characters: Doctor/Donna
Rating: G
Word Count: 2354
Spoilers: End of Forest of the Dead
Summary: A re-write of the ending of Forest of the Dead. The Doctor finds Donna when she returns from CAL.
People were gathering all over the library. They reappeared where they had been taken from, all arriving in their small clusters and amongst people they had been besides before they were taken and ‘saved’. The once silent library was now filled with life and voices, echoing far out along the looming corridors of books and out into the sun-washed walkways. The Doctor pushed by the survivors with quiet apologies and hurried ‘excuse me’s as he made his way into the large foyer. His TARDIS was now surrounded by crowds of black-clothed people, though none were paying attention to the blue box. The Doctor speeded up, slipping around a broadly-built man as he tried to get to the TARDIS door.
He had sent Donna to the TARDIS before she disappeared, therefore, logically, that was where she should reappear. He hoped. His way was blocked by a couple reuniting, and he almost bumped into them in his haste. During this disruption, and out of his sight, the TARDIS door creaked open slowly, and Donna Noble stepped out carefully into the dust-filled shafts of light that gleamed down from the windows. Her eyes stared at the people around her, shocked at the realisation of how many people had actually been taken into CAL’s world.
After losing River, after that sacrifice, the Doctor did not want to learn of another loss. He wasn’t quite sure he could bear two in one day, despite the millions around him who were enthusiastically reuniting. Upon gently nudging the convening couple aside - they had become locked in an embrace and didn’t seem to be coming up for air anytime soon - his view towards the TARDIS was unrestricted, and he saw the back of Donna’s head as she stood just off the threshold, quietly pulling the wooden door closed.
For a few torturous seconds, he stared at her swinging ponytail while mentally begging her to turn around. He was too scared to put all his hopes on the back of her head, and have her turn around and be someone else. That’s what today had done to him, that’s what his life did to him - it made him distrust his faith. She was fiddling with the door, trying to tug it those last few inches. It had been getting stuck lately. He had been meaning to fix the rusty hinge, but his life was one distraction after another.
Barely three seconds had passed, but that felt like an eternity to the Time Lord. He gave up waiting, instead making swift, purposeful strides across the short distance between them. He barely even realised he had started a light jog to get there sooner. A lot of things had slipped from his normally scrutinous attention; like the embracing people around them and the sounds of happy reunion. His attention had remained solely focused on the auburn-haired head, which began to gradually turn, as if in slow-motion. He saw the side of her face, and yes, that was enough for him to accept and finally let his heart swell and that tense breath of air be exhaled heavily in relief. She barely had time to notice that the Doctor was upon her when he gathered her up tightly in his arms. Apologies, explanations and more apologies were rambling at lightning speed, until he realised he wasn’t actually saying a word, and his mental mantra had continued on from his pleading.
He then realised something else; that they were moving. So wrapped up in his gratitude, he hadn’t been aware that when he grabbed her, he’d continued his momentum into a pirouette , lifting his startled companion clean off the floor. The Doctor set her down on her feet a little less gracefully, leaving Donna out of breath and clutching onto his shoulders with a mingle of wild-eyed surprise and building delight.
The internal monologue in his head had subsided, but still his voice didn’t seem fit to work. He was still holding her, aware that he normally let go much sooner unless invited, since Donna had developed a ten second rule when it came to him touching her. However, she hadn’t moved his hands yet, a situation he found had been occurring much more frequently recently.
In retrospect, he still didn’t have an explanation for what happened next. Of course, he had some theories - he was good at those. Perhaps it was the feeling of utter joy in the atmosphere, the countless reunions that surrounded them, and possibly the very long clinch he could see occurring in the corner of his eye from the earlier couple. Donna had opened her mouth to say something, possibly something off-hand and humorous to help them move on from both the events in the library and the hint of awkwardness forming at their own embrace. He never found out what though, for his head had stooped to give her cheek the briefest of kisses. It was a delicately light peck, mixed with a sincere gentleness and a hint of teenaged apprehension.
It certainly put a stop to whatever Donna had been planning on saying. The current events seemed to belatedly play in the Doctor’s mind, as if he wasn’t in control of his own actions. Upon reaching the crescendo of the situation, he sharply pulled back, eyes turning rounder and a tad fearful. He seemed to have stopped Donna’s voice entirely, for she was staring at him, lips formed into a small ‘o’ as if she was on the verge of a stupefied rant, but too stunned to manage it.
Say something, anything, just say something.
“TARDIS?” the Doctor ventured hopefully, intending for them to get inside and leave the library (and the awkward situation) behind.
He knew less than a second later that that had been one of the worst possible ways to fill such an uncomfortable silence. Donna’s small ‘o’ shape was gradually forming into a grim line.
“No! No!” he said suddenly, stepping back and raising a finger like when he often tried to make a valiant point. “No-no-no!”
Whether this appeased Donna or not, he wasn’t sure, for she turned her back on him and strode back into the TARDIS.
Did she open the door more forcefully that she normally does, or am I imagining it?
After taking a sheepish glance at the library around them, the Doctor noticed that no one was paying them any particular attention. Somewhat relieved their awkward show had been relatively private; he meekly stepped on into the TARDIS after Donna. He moved to close the door behind him, taking more time over shutting it. Because of the hinge, he told himself. He turned to walk up the grilled ramp and towards the console, spending more time studying the floor than looking ahead of him. He saw the tip of Donna’s shoes come into view and bumped lightly into her front. His head shot upright, and she was staring up at him.
The Doctor thumbed weakly over his shoulder at the TARDIS door. “You know, I really ought to fix that. I keep forgetting to, don’t I? One of these days, we’ll come legging it to the TARDIS and ‘wham!’, the door won’t open for us. I think some oil might sort it. Unless the wood’s warped, but I don’t think the TARDIS has got wet recently… it was a bit damp when we visited the Mujano Forest though, wasn’t - ?”
“Doctor!”
A ringing silence followed Donna’s thunderous tones. “Yes?” the Doctor then asked helpfully, as if she had requested his attention as timidly as tugging on his coat sleeve.
Donna’s expression melted into a slow smile at his behaviour. “I missed you too,” she said, that small bob of her head making the Doctor smirk sheepishly, like they were sharing a private joke.
“Really?” he wrangled, eyebrows rising in a playful manner, as if he knew what was coming.
Donna whacked him on the arm.
Ow! Well, maybe not exactly…
“What was that for?” he asked indignantly. “You could’ve hugged me instead! I like hugs, hugs are less painful!”
“For an alien, you can be such a bloke, sometimes,” said Donna, a note of scorn in her tone.
The Doctor frowned mildly. “And that’s a bad thing?”
His genuine innocence just then caused Donna to laugh freely. She had found a chance to let some emotion go, and she had never felt so thankful to be laughing again. “Nah,” she eventually answered through a soft heave of air, laughter subsiding to humoured chuckles. “Not all the time,” she conceded, lightly looping her arm through his and walking closer to the console.
“Donna, what happened?” the Doctor then asked her, changing subject at the speed of light, but it was something Donna was used to. Unfortunately, the Doctor noticed the gleam of amusement fade from her eyes and regretted his abrupt question. “It’s just, no one had a real answer. Everyone had a different story,” he explained hurriedly, taking her arm and steering her to face him, boring his eyes into hers to convey his sincerity in his justification.
“It was all in my head,” she said, waving a hand airily in a manner than didn’t suit the gravity of their discussion. “It wasn’t real, let’s not go on about it.”
“But people had lives, didn’t they? You lived,” he told her.
“I lived a fairytale,” she told him with a grim smile. “I lived a perfect life.” There was a pause as her eyes wandered from his. “I bet he’s not even real,” she said through a small sigh.
“Who?” the Doctor questioned with a hint of caution.
Donna’s gaze snapped back to his. “It doesn’t matter. Like I said; fairytale.”
“Still living one, aren’t you?” he said, trying to get a smile back on her face.
“What?” she asked him, brow creasing just lightly in her confusion.
The Doctor gave an airy gesture of his hands. “Whisked away by a man in a blue box?”
“Hardly a knight in shining armour, are you, Spaceman?” she said, smirking faintly as she poked at his ribcage. “Too skinny, for starters.”
“Oi!” he retorted, rubbing at the spot she had prodded.
However, she was smiling again, and it had in it some of the real Donna warmth. “Don’t worry,” she replied. “I’m no damsel in distress either.”
That caused the Doctor to snort ungracefully as he tried to dignify his disguised laughter. “No. Not at all, Donna Noble,” he then said, with a smile that proved his honesty.
“I missed you,” she then said quietly, her tone of bravado softening.
“You already said that,” the Doctor told her in a gentle reminder, voice dropping to match hers.
Donna’s eyes dropped to study the knot in his tie. “I know,” she admitted. “Just wanted to say it again,” she said, tone holding an edge that suggested he shouldn’t question her right now. The Doctor stood silently, deciding to give her chance to speak further if she wished. She didn’t have anything else to say, but she did take a small step forward to wordlessly hug him again.
He could only assume the ‘fake life’ in CAL had affected her harder than he thought, and a small anvil of guilt thudded into the pit of his stomach. His arms slowly wrapped around her again; gathering her up with an almost instinctive protection. “You’re back now,” he assured her softly in her ear, feeling her shoulders tremble very lightly in response. He knew how much Donna reigned in her emotions, but didn’t suggest her to proceed either way with her feelings right now. She knew what was best for her to deal with; he’d allow her to choose her own path of recovery. From experience, he had learned she was a lot like him. She’d be down for a few minutes before slapping on a winning smile and eager bravado.
He was right. Within a few moments, she was looking up at him, a timid sort of smirk on her face as she blinked a little. “I’m alright,” she told him when he watched her. “I’m alright,” she repeated.
“I know,” he replied, feeling as if they were playing along to the same script here. Thoughts of River crossed his mind before his eyes focused on Donna again. “I’m alright too.”
She nodded slowly; as if she could read behind the words he spoke. She probably could. “I’m tired,” she then said quietly, eyes dropping as she eased out of his hold. The Doctor dutifully released her and stepped back, waiting for her to head out of the control room. She didn’t move just yet, eyes studying the grating below her feet before she looked up. She only got as far as the knot on his tie, which had become a new focal point for her today. “Come with me?” she requested in a fainter tone. She then managed to drag her eyes slowly from his tie and to his face. “I don’t want an empty space besides me,” she told him in a hush of exhalation, head shaking slowly as she stared at him. She’d spent so long besides her ‘husband’, the lack of a warm body besides her in the night would only make this harder to deal with. She was grieving for him, it seemed, for a man who didn’t exist.
The Doctor saw the need in her eyes and didn’t question her. She was especially strong, but he would never hold this against her. Everyone had their moments of weakness, and he intended to help her through hers as she had done with him the first time they met. “Donna, for once, allow yourself to be a damsel,” he encouraged her gently, pressing a button on the console as he passed to send the TARDIS in a gentle auto-orbit. He led her across the grated ramp and to the door, entering the corridor and deeper bowels of the TARDIS.
The Doctor was sure that after her sleep, Donna would be feeling better, and most likely reciting her ten-second rule at full volume for him sleeping in her bed.