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Title: Friends or Strangers 7/12
Author:![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
katherine_b
Rating: PG
Characters: Donna and the Doctor (John Smith)
Disclaimer: If the Doctor and Donna were really mine, this story wouldn’t even need to exist!
Spoilers: Up to and including Planet of the Dead
Summary: Donna’s got a new friend…
Chapter VI
“I believe in giving everyone a chance.”
Donna sips her drink, unable to meet his eye, her gaze fixed on her empty plate. “Is that why you agreed to meet me here?” she asks in the end, when it’s clear that John is waiting for a response.
“Partly.” He sighs. “I don’t like to feel that I’m telling you off, Donna. You don’t deserve that. You’ve got the right to make your own decisions, but I hate to see you being blinded by your own prejudices, or those implanted in you by other people.”
“My mother?”
“And others.” John lifts his hands from his lap up on the table, interlinking his fingers, and the movement draws Donna’s attention. There’s a tiny frown on his face as he watches her, although it smooths out when she meets his gaze. “I’m sure you’ve heard this before, but you really shouldn’t believe everything you read on the ’Net.”
“But if it’s the only place to get information…”
He arches an eyebrow. “You could have asked me.”
“I didn’t know you knew the Doctor.”
“Because you never asked.” One corner of his mouth lifts and a dimple appears in his cheek. “Yes?”
“I suppose so.” Donna sighs.
She’s always hated being wrong, a trait that she knows comes from her mother. But she can’t help respecting the mature approach that John has taken to their argument. It reminds her a lot of her grandfather, and she’s always admired him and the way he’s worked to maintain harmony in their stormy home.
“All right, how do you know the Doctor then?” she asks at last.
“We’ve travelled together,” he tells her. “Saved planets together. Saved them, Donna, not tried to destroy them or take them over. That isn’t what happens. That isn’t what the Doctor does.”
“But people die…?”
“Sometimes.” John sighs again, and his face drops so that he suddenly looks very old. “Sometimes people die. Sometimes there’s no way to avoid that. And sometimes they live.” A joyous light appears in his eyes and his face lights up. “Sometimes everybody lives, and those are the best days you can imagine!”
“Is it dangerous?”
“It can be.” John sips his drink. “You’re facing people who do want to destroy planets. They don’t care if they hurt or kill those who get in their way, as long as they get what they want. And they don’t care if they hurt you. So, sometimes, when you’re trying to stop them, it can be dangerous.”
“Have you ever been threatened?”
“I’ve come close to dying a number of times, yes.”
The sentence is spoken softly, almost reluctantly, but Donna knows from John’s expression that he means it, and she can’t help the way her hand reaches out to touch his, as if to confirm in her own mind that he’s safe and real. A smile forms on his face and he covers her hand with his free one.
“It’s worth it, though, Donna. Never doubt that. It’s worth every moment.”
“There’s so much I don’t know about you,” she murmurs, half to herself, but she’s already learned that John has particularly sensitive hearing, and he smiles.
“What do you want to know?”
“Oh, I don’t know. Friends. Work. That sort of thing.”
His smile is sad again and he stares at the wall above her head for a moment as if remembering before focusing once more on her face.
“I’ve had so many friends, Donna, over the years. Wonderful friends. But they’ve all had to leave me for one reason or another.”
“But surely,” Donna says slowly, anxious not to offend him, “if they were that important, you could have asked them to stay.”
“I could have, and perhaps some of them would have,” he replies. “But in the end, most of them simply weren’t able to. Circumstances conspired to make them leave. They were – taken way from me, by forces beyond my control or theirs.”
“And – the others?” Donna asks hesitantly.
“Which others?”
“You said ‘most of them’ couldn’t stay. What about the others?”
“Ah.” A small smile curls John’s lips, as if these memories are a little happier. “They chose to leave for one reason or another. Other things came into their lives and they decided it was time.”
“They decided? You didn’t?”
A flicker of pain appears in John’s eyes. “Do you think I would willingly send my friends away?”
“I’m sorry.” Donna shakes her head. “Of course you wouldn’t. It was a silly question.”
“No.” John strokes the back of her hand with his thumb. “No, Donna, it wasn’t.”
* * *
“I still think mine’s better.”
“Donna, I’ve got bananas,” John explains in overly patient tones. “Banana split, in fact. So bananas and ice cream. How could what you’ve got possibly be better?”
Donna smirks. “Because I’ve got bananas and chocolate.”
“What?!” John straightens in his seat. “What did I miss?”
The smirk growing wider, Donna points to the specials board on the wall at the far side of the café, seeing the dismay growing in John’s eyes as he reads the words ‘chocolate banana cake’.
“Swap you,” she suggests with another grin.
She watches him consider the offer, his eyes travelling between his plate and hers.
“But I really wanted ice cream,” he whines.
“You really are only five sometimes, aren’t you?” she remarks. “How do you go from all grown-up and mature like you were ten minutes ago to this?”
He chuckles. “It’s because you’re the most awful tease, Donna. Share?”
She breaks off a corner of the cake with her fork and reaches over the table, offering it to him. He chuckles and closes his lips over the treat, his eyes closing in apparent rapture as he eases the piece of cake off the fork.
“Oh, that’s good!”
“Told you so,” she crows. “Better than yours.”
He tastes his dessert with a thoughtful expression on his face, his eyes slowly moving between the two plates.
“You know,” he says slowly, “I’m just not sure. I might have to try more of that,” he points at her plate with his spoon, “before I can decide.”
Donna raises an eyebrow as she breaks off a piece and eats it herself. “And then you’ll be able to make a decision?” she teases.
“Oh, yes!” His expression is completely serious, except for the dancing light in his dark eyes. “I would think so!”
“And do I get a say in this decision-making process?”
John laughs and scoops some of the ice cream onto his spoon, reaching over the table, but as the ice cream has begun to melt as a result of the hot caramel fudge sauce, it slides off the spoon into Donna’s coffee before she can stand up and eat it.
“Oops!” John grins guilty. “Didn’t mean for that to happen. Ooh, hold on, I know!”
He scoots around the bench seat until he’s beside her, reaching a long arm across the table for his dessert and coffee. Spooning a mouthful of banana split between her lips, he takes advantage of her distraction to nick another bite of her dessert.
“Oi!” she gurgles, before swallowing the creamy mixture, protecting her dessert with her arm curled around the plate. “And here I was thinking you were being so generous by moving!” She narrows her eyes at him as his arm comes up to rest along the back of the bench behind her. “I’m onto you, Smith!”
He grins and eats more of his own dessert. “You always have been, Donna,” he tells her, before stealing another mouthful of her cake.
* * *
“You do forgive me?” Donna murmurs as they stand at her doorstep.
John smiles, stroking the back of his fingers down her cheek with his free hand, the other clutched tightly in hers. It’s the most intimate gesture she’s ever received from him, but somehow, here and now, it feels right.
“Of course,” he whispers in her ear, and a delicious frisson shudders itself down her spine at the feeling of his breath on her neck.
He steps closer, so close that it’s impossible for her not to guess his intention. His hand comes up to cup her cheek. His skin is surprisingly cold against hers, but she’s distracted from that thought by the fact that his lips are now only a breath away.
“Donna,” he murmurs questioningly, as if asking permission to take that next step.
“Yes,” she whispers back, her left hand sliding up around behind his neck and feeling as he frees his other hand, slipping it around her back and pulling her against him as their lips touch.
His hand moves from her cheek into her hair, supporting her head as she reaches up to deepen the kiss. This close, she can see the lights in his eyes, like brilliant stars in the dark night sky. Her right hand comes to rest on his chest, and she can feel his heart racing beneath her palm. Her own heart is thudding so loudly in her ears that she wonders if he can hear it.
There are things about this that are strangely familiar, yet there’s no reason why they should be. This moment shouldn’t be so peaceful and gentle. It should be full of panic and stress. She can feel a strange tension in her neck and shoulders that the light touch of John’s hands has no reason to cause.
It’s another of those unexplainable moments that have become only too common over the past few months, and she is easily able to push the thought away so that she can concentrate on what is happening now.
Donna closes her eyes, leaning in further so that she’s pressed against his chest. His heart is beating so hard that it feels as if his entire chest is reverberating with each pulsing throb. The tip of his tongue brushes the outside of her lips and she parts them to let him in.
She can taste the lingering flavour of bananas and chocolate and coffee as his tongue strokes hers. She moans softly against his mouth and lifts her hand to stroke his cheek, feeling the faintest hint of stubble beneath her fingers. Things are getting a little more urgent, slightly rougher, when John breaks the kiss and, although his arms are still around her, he puts a bit of space between them.
“We,” Donna declares breathlessly, “have got to do that more often.”
* * *
Teaser for the next part
He’s just wishing he could have the Doctor here for one single moment to explain what’s going on.
Author:
katherine_b Rating: PG
Characters: Donna and the Doctor (John Smith)
Disclaimer: If the Doctor and Donna were really mine, this story wouldn’t even need to exist!
Spoilers: Up to and including Planet of the Dead
Summary: Donna’s got a new friend…
Chapter VI
“I believe in giving everyone a chance.”
Donna sips her drink, unable to meet his eye, her gaze fixed on her empty plate. “Is that why you agreed to meet me here?” she asks in the end, when it’s clear that John is waiting for a response.
“Partly.” He sighs. “I don’t like to feel that I’m telling you off, Donna. You don’t deserve that. You’ve got the right to make your own decisions, but I hate to see you being blinded by your own prejudices, or those implanted in you by other people.”
“My mother?”
“And others.” John lifts his hands from his lap up on the table, interlinking his fingers, and the movement draws Donna’s attention. There’s a tiny frown on his face as he watches her, although it smooths out when she meets his gaze. “I’m sure you’ve heard this before, but you really shouldn’t believe everything you read on the ’Net.”
“But if it’s the only place to get information…”
He arches an eyebrow. “You could have asked me.”
“I didn’t know you knew the Doctor.”
“Because you never asked.” One corner of his mouth lifts and a dimple appears in his cheek. “Yes?”
“I suppose so.” Donna sighs.
She’s always hated being wrong, a trait that she knows comes from her mother. But she can’t help respecting the mature approach that John has taken to their argument. It reminds her a lot of her grandfather, and she’s always admired him and the way he’s worked to maintain harmony in their stormy home.
“All right, how do you know the Doctor then?” she asks at last.
“We’ve travelled together,” he tells her. “Saved planets together. Saved them, Donna, not tried to destroy them or take them over. That isn’t what happens. That isn’t what the Doctor does.”
“But people die…?”
“Sometimes.” John sighs again, and his face drops so that he suddenly looks very old. “Sometimes people die. Sometimes there’s no way to avoid that. And sometimes they live.” A joyous light appears in his eyes and his face lights up. “Sometimes everybody lives, and those are the best days you can imagine!”
“Is it dangerous?”
“It can be.” John sips his drink. “You’re facing people who do want to destroy planets. They don’t care if they hurt or kill those who get in their way, as long as they get what they want. And they don’t care if they hurt you. So, sometimes, when you’re trying to stop them, it can be dangerous.”
“Have you ever been threatened?”
“I’ve come close to dying a number of times, yes.”
The sentence is spoken softly, almost reluctantly, but Donna knows from John’s expression that he means it, and she can’t help the way her hand reaches out to touch his, as if to confirm in her own mind that he’s safe and real. A smile forms on his face and he covers her hand with his free one.
“It’s worth it, though, Donna. Never doubt that. It’s worth every moment.”
“There’s so much I don’t know about you,” she murmurs, half to herself, but she’s already learned that John has particularly sensitive hearing, and he smiles.
“What do you want to know?”
“Oh, I don’t know. Friends. Work. That sort of thing.”
His smile is sad again and he stares at the wall above her head for a moment as if remembering before focusing once more on her face.
“I’ve had so many friends, Donna, over the years. Wonderful friends. But they’ve all had to leave me for one reason or another.”
“But surely,” Donna says slowly, anxious not to offend him, “if they were that important, you could have asked them to stay.”
“I could have, and perhaps some of them would have,” he replies. “But in the end, most of them simply weren’t able to. Circumstances conspired to make them leave. They were – taken way from me, by forces beyond my control or theirs.”
“And – the others?” Donna asks hesitantly.
“Which others?”
“You said ‘most of them’ couldn’t stay. What about the others?”
“Ah.” A small smile curls John’s lips, as if these memories are a little happier. “They chose to leave for one reason or another. Other things came into their lives and they decided it was time.”
“They decided? You didn’t?”
A flicker of pain appears in John’s eyes. “Do you think I would willingly send my friends away?”
“I’m sorry.” Donna shakes her head. “Of course you wouldn’t. It was a silly question.”
“No.” John strokes the back of her hand with his thumb. “No, Donna, it wasn’t.”
“I still think mine’s better.”
“Donna, I’ve got bananas,” John explains in overly patient tones. “Banana split, in fact. So bananas and ice cream. How could what you’ve got possibly be better?”
Donna smirks. “Because I’ve got bananas and chocolate.”
“What?!” John straightens in his seat. “What did I miss?”
The smirk growing wider, Donna points to the specials board on the wall at the far side of the café, seeing the dismay growing in John’s eyes as he reads the words ‘chocolate banana cake’.
“Swap you,” she suggests with another grin.
She watches him consider the offer, his eyes travelling between his plate and hers.
“But I really wanted ice cream,” he whines.
“You really are only five sometimes, aren’t you?” she remarks. “How do you go from all grown-up and mature like you were ten minutes ago to this?”
He chuckles. “It’s because you’re the most awful tease, Donna. Share?”
She breaks off a corner of the cake with her fork and reaches over the table, offering it to him. He chuckles and closes his lips over the treat, his eyes closing in apparent rapture as he eases the piece of cake off the fork.
“Oh, that’s good!”
“Told you so,” she crows. “Better than yours.”
He tastes his dessert with a thoughtful expression on his face, his eyes slowly moving between the two plates.
“You know,” he says slowly, “I’m just not sure. I might have to try more of that,” he points at her plate with his spoon, “before I can decide.”
Donna raises an eyebrow as she breaks off a piece and eats it herself. “And then you’ll be able to make a decision?” she teases.
“Oh, yes!” His expression is completely serious, except for the dancing light in his dark eyes. “I would think so!”
“And do I get a say in this decision-making process?”
John laughs and scoops some of the ice cream onto his spoon, reaching over the table, but as the ice cream has begun to melt as a result of the hot caramel fudge sauce, it slides off the spoon into Donna’s coffee before she can stand up and eat it.
“Oops!” John grins guilty. “Didn’t mean for that to happen. Ooh, hold on, I know!”
He scoots around the bench seat until he’s beside her, reaching a long arm across the table for his dessert and coffee. Spooning a mouthful of banana split between her lips, he takes advantage of her distraction to nick another bite of her dessert.
“Oi!” she gurgles, before swallowing the creamy mixture, protecting her dessert with her arm curled around the plate. “And here I was thinking you were being so generous by moving!” She narrows her eyes at him as his arm comes up to rest along the back of the bench behind her. “I’m onto you, Smith!”
He grins and eats more of his own dessert. “You always have been, Donna,” he tells her, before stealing another mouthful of her cake.
“You do forgive me?” Donna murmurs as they stand at her doorstep.
John smiles, stroking the back of his fingers down her cheek with his free hand, the other clutched tightly in hers. It’s the most intimate gesture she’s ever received from him, but somehow, here and now, it feels right.
“Of course,” he whispers in her ear, and a delicious frisson shudders itself down her spine at the feeling of his breath on her neck.
He steps closer, so close that it’s impossible for her not to guess his intention. His hand comes up to cup her cheek. His skin is surprisingly cold against hers, but she’s distracted from that thought by the fact that his lips are now only a breath away.
“Donna,” he murmurs questioningly, as if asking permission to take that next step.
“Yes,” she whispers back, her left hand sliding up around behind his neck and feeling as he frees his other hand, slipping it around her back and pulling her against him as their lips touch.
His hand moves from her cheek into her hair, supporting her head as she reaches up to deepen the kiss. This close, she can see the lights in his eyes, like brilliant stars in the dark night sky. Her right hand comes to rest on his chest, and she can feel his heart racing beneath her palm. Her own heart is thudding so loudly in her ears that she wonders if he can hear it.
There are things about this that are strangely familiar, yet there’s no reason why they should be. This moment shouldn’t be so peaceful and gentle. It should be full of panic and stress. She can feel a strange tension in her neck and shoulders that the light touch of John’s hands has no reason to cause.
It’s another of those unexplainable moments that have become only too common over the past few months, and she is easily able to push the thought away so that she can concentrate on what is happening now.
Donna closes her eyes, leaning in further so that she’s pressed against his chest. His heart is beating so hard that it feels as if his entire chest is reverberating with each pulsing throb. The tip of his tongue brushes the outside of her lips and she parts them to let him in.
She can taste the lingering flavour of bananas and chocolate and coffee as his tongue strokes hers. She moans softly against his mouth and lifts her hand to stroke his cheek, feeling the faintest hint of stubble beneath her fingers. Things are getting a little more urgent, slightly rougher, when John breaks the kiss and, although his arms are still around her, he puts a bit of space between them.
“We,” Donna declares breathlessly, “have got to do that more often.”
Teaser for the next part
He’s just wishing he could have the Doctor here for one single moment to explain what’s going on.
relieved