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Well, I got the second chapter done after a busy evening of writing to distract myself from the announcement of Eleven. Worked like a charm! ;-)
Title: Second Chances
Author:![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
katherine_b
Rating: G
Characters: Donna, the Doctor and Wilf
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 II
The Doctor’s eyes widen. “Laugh at me, will you?” he exclaims indignantly and hurls himself in her direction, his arms around her waist as he drags her under the surface.
“Hey,” Donna yelps as she goes under, although it’s more like “Heghow” as the water fills her mouth. Her fingers convulsively clutch for something to hang on to and then find purchase in the Doctor’s jacket lapels as he bobs up beside her.
His hands grasp her shoulders and then he’s pushing them up through the water. As they break the surface, Donna feels her lungs expand and take in a breath of air.
“I thought you didn’t want me regenerating on you yet,” she says, poking him with the point of her index finger as she gets used to breathing again.
“Oh, you wouldn’t have drowned,” the Doctor tells her, wringing some of the water out of his drenched jacket. “Don’t think I’ve drowned any of the times I’ve regenerated.” He hoists himself out of the pool and sits on the side, dripping, as he counts on his fingers. “Old age. Made to by the Time Lords. Radiation poisoning. Merged with the Watcher. Spectrox poisoning. Injured by the Rani. Killed while being operated on. Died during the Time War. Absorbed the Time Vortex.” He grins with a shrug. “See, no drowing.”
“Doesn’t mean it’s not possible.”
Donna is about to get out of the water when she sees several objects floating on the surface of the pool and swims over to get them.
“Come to think of it, I don’t know any Time Lord who’s ever drowned,” the Doctor is still musing when she gets back, shepherding a variety of small objects in a circle that she has made with her arms.
“Oi, Spaceman!” She slaps his leg with a wet ‘splat’. “Since I’m clearly not going to get any peace and quiet around here, I’m going to get dressed and find some way to pass the time. You’d better check that I haven’t left anything on the bottom of the pool.”
And she grabs his arm, dragging him into the water with a satisfying splash, before hoisting herself out. As she takes her towel and wraps herself in the bathrobe, she grins to see him struggling back to the surface, looking around in obvious confusion, as if unable to understand how he got there.
* * *
Fully dressed and curled up in a corner of the couch in the TARDIS library, Donna is fathoms deep in a book and only just manages to hear the Doctor’s footsteps on the thick carpet an instant before he drops onto the seat beside her, almost causing her to drop the book.
“Hello!” he beams. “Finally found you!”
“Oh, really?” Donna arches an eyebrow and closes her book. “How many places had you looked?”
“Er,” the Doctor looks disconcerted for a moment, “well, only one, so far. But I was going to look until I found you,” he assures her with a grin.
Donna forcibly smothers a smile. It’s so hard not to smile back when the Doctor has that look in his eye, but she’s still slightly annoyed about the way her peaceful swim was interrupted.
“What do you want, Doctor?” she demands.
The Doctor draws his knees up and hugs them, resting his head on the back of the couch and looking mournful.
“I was lonely,” he says in a small voice that makes her want to hug him. “I’ve missed you so much, Donna.”
“Oh, get out,” she teases. “You’ve probably had a score of companions since I left.” She stops suddenly, seeing the look on his face. “Or not,” she adds, suddenly contrite.
“Definitely not, ” he says softly. “I -” he hesitates, “I was alone, Donna, and I would have stayed that way if you... if I... ”
“If you hadn't saved my life.” Donna reaches out and places a hand on his, which are fiddling with a button on his jacket. "Twice, as I recall,” she adds with a smile.
“I don't know if you'd call it -”
Donna reaches up and places her finger on his lips, silencing him. “Saved my life,” she says, slowly and deliberately. “And,” she adds, “if I'm being fair, it's what you tried to do before as well. So,” she comes closer and murmurs in his ear, “thank you,” and dots a kiss on his cheek.
When she moves to pull away, however, she finds that the Doctor's arms have suddenly come around her back and are holding her against him.
“Oh, Doctor,” she sighs, suddenly understanding, from the way his arms are shaking with the force of holding her, how lonely he really has been and how much he's hated every moment of it.
“You died, Donna.” His voice is shaking and almost inaudible. “You died, just like Dalek Caan said you would, and I thought I'd lost you forever.”
“But you saved me.” She puts as much passion into her voice as she can, her hearts aching with her desire to persuade him. “If you hadn't taken it all away, I would have died right there, in the middle of the TARDIS console room. And if you hadn't come up with the idea of the nanogenes, I would have died in the TARDIS sick bay. And if you hadn't jumped into the water, you thought I would have drowned in the TARDIS pool.” She turns her mouth so it's even closer to his ear. “You once told me that I'd saved your life. Maybe all you did was square the ledger.”
She waits for a moment, but the Doctor remains silent and motionless in her arms. She has the distinct feeling that he hasn't listened to a single thing she's said.
“Doctor,” she whispers, “you know I couldn't miss you, because I wasn't able to remember you, but no matter how much crap I might talk, I can't even begin to tell you how glad I am to be back with you now. There aren't words in any language I know...”
And she reaches out, places a hand on his cheek and turns his face towards her. Moistening her lips with the tip of her tongue, she looks down to see that the Doctor's eyes are tightly closed as if afraid to look at her. Lowering her head slightly, she touches her lips to his.
The Doctor starts in her arms as if a jolt of electricity has shot through him, but then almost collapses against her, letting out a soft moan. His right hand detaches from around her back and lifts up so that his fingers tangle in her hair. His lips part slightly, deepening the kiss, and Donna finds herself being drawn forward as the Doctor lowers them both back against the arm of the couch.
“Donna,” he murmurs, breaking the contact between them for the briefest possible moment, his hands against her shoulders so that she had no way of getting up.
“Doctor,” she whispers back to him, glad to see that the worst of the shadows have vanished from his eyes.
“Thank you,” he says softly, before claiming her lips again.
* * *
In all of the time she spent with the Doctor, Donna has never imagined them doing the things that happen over the next couple of hours. The rejection of the idea of 'just mates' seems to be a unanimous but unspoken agreement, and Donna had never imagined that any man, Time Lord or not, knew quite how to make her groan or call his name as often as the Doctor did.
Finally, though, they lie beside one another on the floor of the library on a carpet that, to Donna, now that she finds leisure to consider it, seems much thicker than she remembers it being before.
“Oh, Donna.”
The Doctor's voice is hoarse and, as she turns her head to look at him, she's almost overwhelmed by the expression in his dark eyes.
“You know, Doctor,” she begins conversationally, “I don't think you've got any right to complain that I'm not listening the next time you submit me to a spiel of technobabble. I poured my heart out to you back there and you never listened to a word.”
His eyes lighten at her teasing and a smile creeps across his face. “Technobabble?” he complains in a hurt voice.
“Nice try, Timeboy,” she grins, “but I've got your mind in mine now and I know exactly how much of that you make up on the spot.”
The Doctor grins back at her, showing the dimples in his cheeks, and slides his hand on top of hers. She swallows, trying not to show how much his touch is suddenly affecting her.
“So, Spaceman,” she asks, in an attempt to distract him, “are we just going to lie here forever, or is there a planet somewhere in the Universe that needs saving?”
Part II - Epilogue
It’s just like old times when the Doctor feels Donna’s hand in his as they flee in the face of danger. And they slip away before the grateful residents of Paltraxin can thank them for saving the planet from the latest alien menace. As soon as she shuts the TARDIS door behind them, Donna waves a small brown bag in his face.
“I got us a souvenir.”
“Ooh!” The Doctor fishes his glasses out of his pocket and slides them on, peering into the depths of the small bag, but it’s his nose, not his eyes, that tells him what's inside it. “Tea!”
“And I think we both deserve some after that little adventure. You,” she nudges him with her elbow, “get the old girl into the vortex and I’ll make us a cuppa.”
The Doctor watches her vanish down into the bowels of the ship and then dashes to the console, rapidly flipping switches and pressing buttons. He knows that it’s more than his life is worth not to be doing what Donna tells him when she comes back.
He’s never flown the TARDIS so smoothly single-handed before, and he knows that it’s because she – the ship humming around him and in his mind – is just as happy as he is to be travelling like this again. In fact, he’s so happy right now that his cheeks hurt from smiling so much.
And when he looks over his shoulder, he sees Donna holding a tray containing two steaming mugs, and he grins again as she hands a mug to him.
She leans against the jumpseat, sipping the Paltraxinoc tea, a smile curling the corners of her lips. He can almost feel her happiness in his mind and smiles back at her as he takes the first taste of his drink.
“You know,” she begins, taking her place on the other side of the console and twiddling one of the dials, “I was wondering.”
“Hmm?” He raises his eyebrows at her. “What was that brilliant mind of yours wondering about this time?”
Donna smiles – or is she smirking? – as she speaks. “Considering it’s your mind, too, that’s a very twisted compliment, Doctor. Actually, I was wondering - how many rooms does the TARDIS have exactly?”
“Exactly?” He rolls his eyes. “No idea.”
“But there’s lots of space.”
“Time and space, d’you mean, or space on board?”
She reaches around to swat his arm.
“Concentrate, Timeboy.”
She smiles again, and suddenly he realises this conversation is going somewhere important, but for the life of him, he’s got no idea of where.
“Explain,” he orders, before taking another mouthful of Paltraxinocian tea.
“Well, I just wondered,” she says, in that rather vague way that generally drives him to distraction, “if there was space for another room. A nursery.”
And, as she gives a smug smile, he spits the tea all over the console of the TARDIS.
Next Part
Title: Second Chances
Author:
katherine_bRating: G
Characters: Donna, the Doctor and Wilf
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 II
The Doctor’s eyes widen. “Laugh at me, will you?” he exclaims indignantly and hurls himself in her direction, his arms around her waist as he drags her under the surface.
“Hey,” Donna yelps as she goes under, although it’s more like “Heghow” as the water fills her mouth. Her fingers convulsively clutch for something to hang on to and then find purchase in the Doctor’s jacket lapels as he bobs up beside her.
His hands grasp her shoulders and then he’s pushing them up through the water. As they break the surface, Donna feels her lungs expand and take in a breath of air.
“I thought you didn’t want me regenerating on you yet,” she says, poking him with the point of her index finger as she gets used to breathing again.
“Oh, you wouldn’t have drowned,” the Doctor tells her, wringing some of the water out of his drenched jacket. “Don’t think I’ve drowned any of the times I’ve regenerated.” He hoists himself out of the pool and sits on the side, dripping, as he counts on his fingers. “Old age. Made to by the Time Lords. Radiation poisoning. Merged with the Watcher. Spectrox poisoning. Injured by the Rani. Killed while being operated on. Died during the Time War. Absorbed the Time Vortex.” He grins with a shrug. “See, no drowing.”
“Doesn’t mean it’s not possible.”
Donna is about to get out of the water when she sees several objects floating on the surface of the pool and swims over to get them.
“Come to think of it, I don’t know any Time Lord who’s ever drowned,” the Doctor is still musing when she gets back, shepherding a variety of small objects in a circle that she has made with her arms.
“Oi, Spaceman!” She slaps his leg with a wet ‘splat’. “Since I’m clearly not going to get any peace and quiet around here, I’m going to get dressed and find some way to pass the time. You’d better check that I haven’t left anything on the bottom of the pool.”
And she grabs his arm, dragging him into the water with a satisfying splash, before hoisting herself out. As she takes her towel and wraps herself in the bathrobe, she grins to see him struggling back to the surface, looking around in obvious confusion, as if unable to understand how he got there.
Fully dressed and curled up in a corner of the couch in the TARDIS library, Donna is fathoms deep in a book and only just manages to hear the Doctor’s footsteps on the thick carpet an instant before he drops onto the seat beside her, almost causing her to drop the book.
“Hello!” he beams. “Finally found you!”
“Oh, really?” Donna arches an eyebrow and closes her book. “How many places had you looked?”
“Er,” the Doctor looks disconcerted for a moment, “well, only one, so far. But I was going to look until I found you,” he assures her with a grin.
Donna forcibly smothers a smile. It’s so hard not to smile back when the Doctor has that look in his eye, but she’s still slightly annoyed about the way her peaceful swim was interrupted.
“What do you want, Doctor?” she demands.
The Doctor draws his knees up and hugs them, resting his head on the back of the couch and looking mournful.
“I was lonely,” he says in a small voice that makes her want to hug him. “I’ve missed you so much, Donna.”
“Oh, get out,” she teases. “You’ve probably had a score of companions since I left.” She stops suddenly, seeing the look on his face. “Or not,” she adds, suddenly contrite.
“Definitely not, ” he says softly. “I -” he hesitates, “I was alone, Donna, and I would have stayed that way if you... if I... ”
“If you hadn't saved my life.” Donna reaches out and places a hand on his, which are fiddling with a button on his jacket. "Twice, as I recall,” she adds with a smile.
“I don't know if you'd call it -”
Donna reaches up and places her finger on his lips, silencing him. “Saved my life,” she says, slowly and deliberately. “And,” she adds, “if I'm being fair, it's what you tried to do before as well. So,” she comes closer and murmurs in his ear, “thank you,” and dots a kiss on his cheek.
When she moves to pull away, however, she finds that the Doctor's arms have suddenly come around her back and are holding her against him.
“Oh, Doctor,” she sighs, suddenly understanding, from the way his arms are shaking with the force of holding her, how lonely he really has been and how much he's hated every moment of it.
“You died, Donna.” His voice is shaking and almost inaudible. “You died, just like Dalek Caan said you would, and I thought I'd lost you forever.”
“But you saved me.” She puts as much passion into her voice as she can, her hearts aching with her desire to persuade him. “If you hadn't taken it all away, I would have died right there, in the middle of the TARDIS console room. And if you hadn't come up with the idea of the nanogenes, I would have died in the TARDIS sick bay. And if you hadn't jumped into the water, you thought I would have drowned in the TARDIS pool.” She turns her mouth so it's even closer to his ear. “You once told me that I'd saved your life. Maybe all you did was square the ledger.”
She waits for a moment, but the Doctor remains silent and motionless in her arms. She has the distinct feeling that he hasn't listened to a single thing she's said.
“Doctor,” she whispers, “you know I couldn't miss you, because I wasn't able to remember you, but no matter how much crap I might talk, I can't even begin to tell you how glad I am to be back with you now. There aren't words in any language I know...”
And she reaches out, places a hand on his cheek and turns his face towards her. Moistening her lips with the tip of her tongue, she looks down to see that the Doctor's eyes are tightly closed as if afraid to look at her. Lowering her head slightly, she touches her lips to his.
The Doctor starts in her arms as if a jolt of electricity has shot through him, but then almost collapses against her, letting out a soft moan. His right hand detaches from around her back and lifts up so that his fingers tangle in her hair. His lips part slightly, deepening the kiss, and Donna finds herself being drawn forward as the Doctor lowers them both back against the arm of the couch.
“Donna,” he murmurs, breaking the contact between them for the briefest possible moment, his hands against her shoulders so that she had no way of getting up.
“Doctor,” she whispers back to him, glad to see that the worst of the shadows have vanished from his eyes.
“Thank you,” he says softly, before claiming her lips again.
In all of the time she spent with the Doctor, Donna has never imagined them doing the things that happen over the next couple of hours. The rejection of the idea of 'just mates' seems to be a unanimous but unspoken agreement, and Donna had never imagined that any man, Time Lord or not, knew quite how to make her groan or call his name as often as the Doctor did.
Finally, though, they lie beside one another on the floor of the library on a carpet that, to Donna, now that she finds leisure to consider it, seems much thicker than she remembers it being before.
“Oh, Donna.”
The Doctor's voice is hoarse and, as she turns her head to look at him, she's almost overwhelmed by the expression in his dark eyes.
“You know, Doctor,” she begins conversationally, “I don't think you've got any right to complain that I'm not listening the next time you submit me to a spiel of technobabble. I poured my heart out to you back there and you never listened to a word.”
His eyes lighten at her teasing and a smile creeps across his face. “Technobabble?” he complains in a hurt voice.
“Nice try, Timeboy,” she grins, “but I've got your mind in mine now and I know exactly how much of that you make up on the spot.”
The Doctor grins back at her, showing the dimples in his cheeks, and slides his hand on top of hers. She swallows, trying not to show how much his touch is suddenly affecting her.
“So, Spaceman,” she asks, in an attempt to distract him, “are we just going to lie here forever, or is there a planet somewhere in the Universe that needs saving?”
Part II - Epilogue
It’s just like old times when the Doctor feels Donna’s hand in his as they flee in the face of danger. And they slip away before the grateful residents of Paltraxin can thank them for saving the planet from the latest alien menace. As soon as she shuts the TARDIS door behind them, Donna waves a small brown bag in his face.
“I got us a souvenir.”
“Ooh!” The Doctor fishes his glasses out of his pocket and slides them on, peering into the depths of the small bag, but it’s his nose, not his eyes, that tells him what's inside it. “Tea!”
“And I think we both deserve some after that little adventure. You,” she nudges him with her elbow, “get the old girl into the vortex and I’ll make us a cuppa.”
The Doctor watches her vanish down into the bowels of the ship and then dashes to the console, rapidly flipping switches and pressing buttons. He knows that it’s more than his life is worth not to be doing what Donna tells him when she comes back.
He’s never flown the TARDIS so smoothly single-handed before, and he knows that it’s because she – the ship humming around him and in his mind – is just as happy as he is to be travelling like this again. In fact, he’s so happy right now that his cheeks hurt from smiling so much.
And when he looks over his shoulder, he sees Donna holding a tray containing two steaming mugs, and he grins again as she hands a mug to him.
She leans against the jumpseat, sipping the Paltraxinoc tea, a smile curling the corners of her lips. He can almost feel her happiness in his mind and smiles back at her as he takes the first taste of his drink.
“You know,” she begins, taking her place on the other side of the console and twiddling one of the dials, “I was wondering.”
“Hmm?” He raises his eyebrows at her. “What was that brilliant mind of yours wondering about this time?”
Donna smiles – or is she smirking? – as she speaks. “Considering it’s your mind, too, that’s a very twisted compliment, Doctor. Actually, I was wondering - how many rooms does the TARDIS have exactly?”
“Exactly?” He rolls his eyes. “No idea.”
“But there’s lots of space.”
“Time and space, d’you mean, or space on board?”
She reaches around to swat his arm.
“Concentrate, Timeboy.”
She smiles again, and suddenly he realises this conversation is going somewhere important, but for the life of him, he’s got no idea of where.
“Explain,” he orders, before taking another mouthful of Paltraxinocian tea.
“Well, I just wondered,” she says, in that rather vague way that generally drives him to distraction, “if there was space for another room. A nursery.”
And, as she gives a smug smile, he spits the tea all over the console of the TARDIS.
Next Part
determined