The road less travelled...

Title: Finding A Way Home – Love Is In The Air
Author: katherine_b
Rating: G
Summary: It’s time for the two Doctors to have another little chat…
Word Count: approx 1,800 words
Characters: Both Doctors
A/N: Written for the forty-fourth weekly drabble challenge which as a Valentine’s Day theme. This is also for ebony_steinbach, who insisted, in response to Finding A Way Home – Not Always Running that ‘you can't not write a sequel about 10.5 talking to jealous!doctor. Pretty please?’
However this is mostly for all of the people on my flist who seem to be having a bad time at the moment. *huggles you all*

“Sit down!”

The Time Lord, about to leave the kitchen after putting his and Donna’s cocoa-stained mugs into the dishwasher, looks up in astonishment at the half-human Doctor who is standing in the doorway, his arms akimbo.

“What am I, a dog?” he demands indignantly. “Why are you ordering me around like this?”

“Because it’s the only way I can get you to listen.” He points at a chair as he crosses the room and takes a seat opposite. “Sit.”

“Donna’s waiting for me,” the man in the tuxedo says uncomfortably, easing a finger under his bowtie to undo it.

“I told her I was going to talk to you, so no, she’s not.”

“I’m tired,” the Doctor says, clearly trying a different tactic. “It’s been a long night, lots of dancing – ”

“You danced twice, both times with Donna, and otherwise you were only sitting in the garden, or strolling around, looking at the stars.”

“What, you were spying on us?” the Time Lord demands indignantly.

The man in the blue suit laughs. “Don’t be daft. I was dancing! All night! The only one of us who should be tired is me.”

“Which is presumably why you went to bed when we got back to the TARDIS.”

“Exactly. Well, that and to give you two the time alone that I usually do. And speaking of the two of…”

“So how did you know what we were doing?” the other man interrupts, and it’s clear to the half-human Doctor that Donna is the subject he’s trying to avoid.

“Albert mentioned that he’d hoped to discuss the stars with you, since I was busy, but he was loathe to interrupt the two of you.”

“Oh, we’re on first name terms with the future Prince Consort, are we?” The Doctor finally drops into the chair opposite, sarcasm edging his tones. “How very grand! Still, I suppose dancing with her Majesty Queen Victoria does have its advantages.”

“As opposed to being expelled by her because of the way you were flirting with Rose,” the other Doctor retorts, watching his double closely.

The Time Lord stops short and stares at the man opposite, a hint of surprise and pain in his eyes. Still, that isn’t too surprising, since it’s the first time they’ve talked about Rose since Donna’s return.

However the wounded expression fades only an instant later, replaced by a look of comprehension.

“That’s what she was really upset about,” the Doctor says softly as he undoes the top button of his crisp, white shirt. “It wasn’t the werewolf at all. It was Donna.”

The man in the blue suit couldn’t want for a better opportunity.

“Speaking of Donna…”

“No!” the other Doctor objects vigorously. “We aren’t going to discuss her. Not now.”

“Yes, we are,” the half-human man continues almost brutally. “Because somehow you’ve got some stupid idea into your thick head that Donna’s going to get the two of us mixed up – and, even more ridiculously, you seem to think I’ll let her!”

For a moment the Time Lord stares at the man opposite him, and for the first time, the man in blue can see the anxiety that has secretly been building in his progenitor.

“You won’t?” he asks in the end, the words coming out hesitantly, as if fearful of the response.

“No!” The reply is indignant, and the man in blue watches as the Time Lord’s shoulders drop as if there’s been a great release of tension.

“Oh,” is all he can manage in response however, and there’s a sheepish look on his face as he studies the table between them.

“If I didn’t know you as well as I do, I’d probably be hurt at the suggestion that I could be trying to make Donna fall in love with me instead,” the Doctor suggests, and the Time Lord gives an uncomfortable shrug. “As it is,” the man in blue goes on, “I can understand why you feel that way – but I wish you trusted me!”

“I do!” The other Doctor shifts uncomfortably in his chair. “I just – I’m worried.”

“About?” the man opposite asks, although he can’t help having a glimmer of an idea.

“It’s all going so well!” The Time Lord slumps back on his chair with a sigh, chewing on his lower lip. “Too well!” he adds almost angrily. “Nothing ever goes this well for me! I mean, last time, with Rose, there was always Mickey in the background, or Jack. I just can’t believe things are going so smoothly this time. And then you’re always here, and you look like me – of course, there are perfectly good reasons for that, but still – and so I started to…”

“…get paranoid,” the man with one heart finishes for him. “She noticed, you know.”

“She didn’t!” The other man looks horrified. “She did,” he adds in glum tones, seeing the answer in the brown eyes opposite.

There’s a long and somewhat painful moment of silence. The single-hearted Doctor is wondering whether to express several of the concerns he’s noticed over the past few weeks, but in the end, he decides that the Doctor deserves to know. After all, it’s not as if the woman has bound him to secrecy about them. She hasn’t even told him about most of them, they’re just things he’s picked up from what she’s said.

“If it’s any comfort,” he tugs at the cuff of his blue jacket, “Donna has her worries, too.”

“About what?” comes the concerned reply.

“Same things she’s always worried about.” He sighs sadly. “She doesn’t feel like she’s good enough for you – and I think she’s really afraid that, if Rose somehow managed to cross over to this universe, Donna wouldn’t see you for dust.”

“But that’s ridiculous!” The Time Lord shoves his chair back, getting to his feet and beginning to pace the length of the room. “I would never do that to her!”

“And she would never cheat on you with anyone else – least of all me,” the other Doctor tells him. “But my assurances aren’t going to convince you, are they? Only Donna herself can do that – and only you can prove to her that she shouldn’t view Rose as a threat.”

“True.” The Time Lord ruffles his hair uneasily. For several minutes, he studies the floor before looking up. “I don’t know what I’d do if Rose came back,” he admits, his voice tight. “If there was a way for her to travel between the universes – a dimension cannon, or something like what you made to get here, or just some sort of disruption that broke down the walls – I really don’t know what I’d do.”

“Rose would expect you to choose her.” The Doctor sighs, feeling an ache in his single heart at the memory of the woman he left behind.

“What would Donna do?” comes the reply in terse tones.

“I think she’d leave,” he’s forced to admit, and sees horror in the Time Lord’s eyes. “Maybe,” he hurries on before the other man can speak, “because she’d think she couldn’t compete, or else because she can’t believe you feel the same way about her as you do about Rose.”

“I have to talk to her,” the other Doctor says firmly. “I never imagined she would feel that way.”

“What about the way you feel?” the man in blue asks. “You still haven’t said who you’d choose if it came down to it.”

“It won’t get to that point! It’s impossible – it can’t happen!”

“You still need to answer the question.” The other man leans back in his chair and links his fingers behind his head. “If you don’t know the answer now, Donna will pick up on that uncertainty when you talk about it with her later. She knows you better than that – so you need to know yourself first.”

A frown creases the familiar features of the man on the far side of the kitchen, and then he turns with an aggravated expression on his face.

“Do you know how annoying it is when you’re right?”

“About as annoying as when you are,” the Doctor shoots back with a grin, his fingers rapping an uneven beat on the table. “So come on then, tell me. Which is it going to be – Rose or Donna?”

Dropping back into the chair with a sigh so huge that it ruffles the other man’s hair, the Time Lord considers for a moment before raising his eyes.

“Donna.”

The word is a simple admission, but it somehow clears the lingering tension in the air between them. It’s only now that the half-human Doctor realises how angry he’s been on Donna’s behalf at the thought that the Time Lord might have chosen Rose after all.

“She’s that important to you?” he pursues, just to make sure.

“Oh, yes.” An expression of longing makes itself obvious in the other man’s brown eyes. “So much. I just wish…”

There’s another moment of silence, but it’s not as uncomfortable as the previous one had been.

“What do you wish?” the man in blue asks at last, curiosity getting the better of him.

“Well, she keeps talking about ‘forever,’” comes the obviously reluctant admission. “And every time she says it, I wish there was a way for her ‘forever’ to be the same as mine.”

“You old romantic,” the other Doctor teases, seeing as colour rushes to the Time Lord’s cheeks and his lips twitch.

“Oh, get off,” he says uncomfortably. “You’re just as bad as me.”

“I’m worse,” comes the obliging omission, “because Donna has fonts of romanticism, the depths of which I doubt you’ve even begun to plumb!”

“Really?” the man opposite him asks in obvious surprise and perhaps just a hint of eagerness.

“Well, I doubt you’d get her to admit it,” he confesses. “But then again, this is Donna we’re talking about here. That tough exterior, but we both know she’s a million miles from that when you dig down a bit.”

“Yeah.” A smile is playing around the Time Lord’s mouth and his eyes are distant. For a moment he sits in silence before blinking and focusing on the man opposite. “I need your help.”

“With what?” the half-human Doctor asks, although he can’t help making an educated guess, which is confirmed when the other man reaches into the pocket of his tuxedo jacket and, after fishing for a moment, produces a small velvet-covered box.

“I was going to ask her tonight, but there wasn’t a right moment,” he admits, opening the box to reveal the glistening piece of jewellery inside and pushing it across the table.

The Doctor in the blue suit picks up the box, admiring the ring that the other man has chosen. It might not be as big and bold as some of the jewellery that Donna wears, but he knows that she will love the way the larger diamond in the centre catches the light. However he knows it’s the amethyst pieces on either side of the diamond that really makes him think of Donna and her love of all things purple.

“Good choice,” he says approvingly.

“All I need now,” the other man tells him, taking back the box and returning it to his pocket, “is the perfect way to ask her.” He arches an eyebrow. “You know what she’d like even better than I would. So - any ideas?”

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