The road less travelled...

So I wasn't going to post this yet because the next chapter isn't finished. However time_converges asked, so here it is!

Title: Second Chances Part II
Author: katherine_b
Rating: G
Characters: Donna and the Doctor
Disclaimer: Still wishing and hoping they might be mine, but to no avail.
Spoilers: Everything up to the end of Season 4.
Summary: Donna's back with the Doctor, but it's never smooth sailing in the TARDIS.

Chapter I

“So you really are okay now, Donna?”

Donna slips her hand into her grandfather's and smiles. They’re being led around the TARDIS on a guided tour by the Doctor – at least, Wilf is, because Donna knows her way around – but Donna is all too aware that Wilf is still very uncertain after what just happened back in the medical bay.

“I promise, Gramps,” she murmurs. “I might have changed a bit, but I’m okay. No burning up.”

He smiles, but she can see the concern lurking in his eyes. They’ve only just got her home after those months of her disappearing off into space and now she’s about to leave again.

And she’s known ever since she woke up that that’s what will happen. It’s not like before, when she promised to travel with the Doctor forever because it’s what she wanted to happen; because, with him, perhaps for the first time in her life, she felt important and valued.

No, now she knows that she’ll travel because it’s what she has to do. Because it’s what Time Lords do – the renegade ones, anyway. And now that she’s a female Time Lord, it’s what she’s going to do.

But that won’t make it any easier on Wilf.

She stifles a sigh and waits for the right moment to say goodbye. And when it comes – almost heartsbreakingly soon – she can see her own conflicting emotions reflected on Wilf’s face.

“You – you’re better with him,” Wilf whispers in her ear. “You belong together.”

“I know,” she murmurs back, but it’s so hard when she can feel tears trickling down onto her shirt from his face.

And over his shoulder, she can see the Doctor leaning against the console, his arms folded over his chest and his ankles crossed.

He’s almost radiating excitement, but doing his best to suppress it so as not to upset Wilf even further. Donna is about to say something when Wilf pulls away and looks into her eyes.

“Don’t you worry about your mother and me. We’ll be fine. Just – maybe come and visit sometime, preferably when the Earth isn’t about to be taken over by aliens, yeah?”

“Yeah.” She nods, but is surprised to find that her eyes are dry. Perhaps not being able to cry is a side-affect of being a Time Lord. “I’ve got my phone here, Gramps. I want you to call me if anything happens to you or Mum. Anything at all. Promise?”

He nods, rubbing at his nose with the palm of his hand, and then turns to the other man.

“Look after her.”

The Doctor stands and steps towards them, his expression serious. “I will, Wilfred. And she’ll look after me.”

They shake hands and then Wilf leaves the TARDIS. They hear his footsteps crunch on the gravel outside and then there’s silence as the door closes.

For a moment they stand there, in silence, looking at each other. Then a broad grin appears on the Doctor’s face and he holds his arms out.

“Donna Noble.”

She grins back and steps into his hold. “Doctor.” She gently digs her chin into his shoulder. “Did you miss me then?”

He squeezes her so hard around the middle that she groans and is briefly grateful for the respiratory bypass system that kicks in after a few seconds.

“So,” she begins conversationally, but with her eyes dancing, “I notice the universe hasn’t ended yet, in spite of the fact that you’ve – what was the phrase again – ‘gone back on someone’s personal timeline. Apparently.’”

The Doctor chuckles in her ear and then pulls away to look down into her face.

“Timegirl,” he teases. “Where to first?”

She grins, crosses her arms over her chest and leans against the console. “Surprise me.”

* * *

“When I said ‘surprise me’,” says Donna, shaking mud out of her hair and spitting some out of her mouth with every word, “this wasn’t quite what I had in mind.”

“Hey, don’t blame me!” the Doctor explodes, shaking his head violently in an attempt, Donna guesses, to get mud out of his ears. “Random co-ordinates. It was the TARDIS. And at least it wasn’t anywhere dangerous,” he adds with a grin.

“No, just really, really messy,” she agrees, looking around at the mud-caked floor and door of the TARDIS. “Still, mud is supposed to be good for the skin.” She smiles and reaches forward to wipe some mud off the Doctor’s nose. “So what was the name of that planet again? ’Cos I want to make a mental note to avoid it in the future.”

The Doctor mutters something about ‘it might just have been the wet season’ as he goes around to look at the TARDIS screen and then his eyes widen in a look that just might be panic.

“Well?” she demands impatiently when his mouth moves for a moment without sound.

“Shower, now,” he snaps. “That stuff has to come off. Everywhere. It’s bad for humans. Well, not bad so much as potentially deadly.”

She crosses her arms and looks smug. “Not human, remember? Time Lord? Nanogenes? Any of this ringing a bell?”

“Your mind might be Time Lord,” he says quickly, crossing to her and placing a hand on the small of her back which directs her down to the hallway that leads to her room. “But we don’t know if the nanogenes changed your body, and I’m not sure this is the best way to find out. I’m not ready to have you regenerate on me just yet. If you wash it off, though, you should be fine.”

“Great!” She snatches her bathrobe off the hook on the back of her door as they go into her bedroom. “Six hours with a new mind and I could be about to lose it already!”

The Doctor manages a faint grin and pushes her more firmly in the direction of the bathroom. “Shower,” he reminds her. “Not bath. If any of the mud stays in the water…”

“Yeah, yeah, could stick on me as I get out. I understand.” She grins at him. “Time Lord mind, remember? I might not know everything you do, but there’s a fair bit of knowledge up there now.”

He chuckles and then closes the bathroom door behind her. She knows he’s going to have a shower as well, because, even if the mud isn’t dangerous to him, with their heightened senses and in the smaller rooms of the TARDIS, it positively stinks.

Hot, pink water gushes out of the showerhead as Donna turns on the taps – it’s faintly scented, which is something she loves the TARDIS for giving her – and she steps under the hot stream fully clothed.

As the water washes off the mud, she hears the faint bubbling sound as it begins to run down the drain and strips off the clothing with rather more urgency. Mud that reacts that way to water can only come from Maronata and the Doctor was right – it could certainly kill a human.

She removes the last of her clothes, kicks them to the side and watches as they vanish down a temporary wormhole in the ship.

“I’d like them back if possible, please,” she tells the TARDIS. “They’re my favourite jeans.”

Then she turns her attention to scrubbing every part of her body with soap, lotion and her loofah. Her skin is raw and stinging by the end, but she doesn’t seem to have died and regenerated, so that’s a bit of a bonus.

Turning off the shower and stepping out, Donna wipes steam off the mirror and peers at her reflection. Definitely no regeneration. She’s about to dry her hair when she thinks of the perfect way to make sure that there’s no mud lingering. Wrapping the bathrobe around her, she goes into her room and crosses to the magnificent walk-in robe thoughtfully provided by the TARDIS.

Five minutes later, she’s wearing her bathing suit under her bathrobe and, with a dry towel tucked under her arm, is making her way to the swimming pool. For once, she finds the way there without getting lost and hangs her towel and robe on a handy hook near the door.

The lilac-coloured water is lapping gently against the yellow tiles – during her previous time on the TARDIS, Donna could never understand how going into the Vortex didn’t cause the water to splash out of the pool – and it’s warm as she dives in.

She’s always loved being underwater, but not having to come up for air – at least, not so soon – means that she can really enjoy it. She lies face-down and stares at the patterns on the tiles as the water moves her gently up and down.

The peace and quiet, however, is shattered by a sudden splash, and then hands grab her shoulders, flipping her onto her back.

“Donna! Are you okay? What happ…? Um…”

The Doctor stops short as he realises that she’s glaring at him, and Donna stands up in the water, which comes to her waist.

“Quite done, are you, Timeboy?” she snaps, her hands on her hips. “All coming back to you now? Respiratory bypass? Nanogenes? Female Time Lord? Ringing any bells?”

“Uh, yeah, maybe a bit…” he admits slowly, rubbing his cheek in a sheepish motion.

“Well?”

“Hey, I’m not going to apologise for trying to save your life!” he tells her indignantly. “I just – forgot. It’s been a long time since I had anyone in the TARDIS who wasn’t human. And the other version of me doesn’t count,” he added, speaking before she could open her mouth.

Donna eyes the Doctor up and down, noticing, for the first time, that he is in fact fully dressed. He’s standing hip-deep in the water, his shirt sticking to his chest, although the soaked brown suit prevents her from seeing much of the shirt itself. Presumably the converse on his feet are also soaking wet. His hair is plastered damply against his forehead. And something blue and soft is trying to escape from his pocket into the pool.

She can’t help it. She bursts out laughing.

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