Chapter Text
The Doctor stood at the console staring at nothing. The time rotor smoothly rose and fell in the otherwise silent room.
A noise behind him had the Doctor turn suddenly, a manic grin overtaking his face. “Morning!” he said brightly. “I was thinking—you remember I was saying we should go to Barcelona?” He didn’t let Donna get a word in edgewise as she approached.
She stopped a little closer to him than she usually did. Donna idly brushed her fingers across the console.
Words tumbled from his mouth faster and faster. “We should go—or, I know you love a good resort! There’s this planet, it’s covered in diamonds—”
Donna peeked up at him sideways, a smile playing on her lips.
“—Midnight, it’s called. We could—” He broke off with a squeak as Donna drew him down to kiss him.
“Morning,” she echoed, wrapping her arm around his waist.
The Doctor stiffened slightly. Donna pretended not to notice.
“What was that you were on about?” she prompted. “You want to go to a resort in Spain?”
“Hmm?” He busied himself at the console.
“Spain,” Donna repeated patiently. “Sounds a little domestic—”
His finger slipped and pressed several buttons at once.
“—For you.” She narrowed her eyes. “You okay, Doctor?” she asked.
“Me? Oh, I’m fine—good, I mean.” He smiled tightly. “Really good.”
“Right,” she said. “Good.”
An uncomfortable silence hung between them. Donna pulled away from him.
“Barcelona’s—” the Doctor started.
“Are you sure—” Donna began at the same time.
“Go ahead,” the Doctor said.
“No, you,” Donna said at the same time again.
“Barcelona’s not in Spain. It’s a—it’s a planet,” he finished lamely.
“Ah,” she said.
He let her pause linger before gesturing for her to continue.
“Are you sure you’re okay?” she finally asked.
“I’m—”
“Because if you’re not—” She hesitated. “If you’re not, you’d better tell me now or I’ll—” She paused again. “Just—please tell me now,” she sighed.
The Doctor let out a long breath.
Donna pressed her lips together and waited.
“We didn’t really talk about it much—” he said uncomfortably.
“Trying to now!” she interrupted.
“—Last night, and—it was fantastic—you’re brilliant, you are,” the Doctor said affectionately. “But—”
“Always a ‘but,’” she sighed. Though she occupied the same amount of space, Donna suddenly appeared much smaller.
“No! Not a ‘but’!” the Doctor insisted. “But I’ve said it before. You can spend your whole life with me, but I—”
“Look,” she said, balling her hands into fists. “I haven’t asked you to marry me or anything, have I?”
At that exact moment an elegant figure in a white dress and veil materialised near the doors.
“What?!”
“Donna?” the bride asked incredulously.
“What?” the Doctor asked again.
“Nerys?” Donna looked thunderstruck.
“What?” he asked for the third time.
“Won’t it ever be enough for you, Donna?” Nerys wailed. “Or are you just going to keep piling it on?”
“What?” Donna yelped. “This isn’t my fault!”
“I thought everything was fine! You’ve already gotten me back!” Nerys howled with outrage.
“Who’s this?” the Doctor asked.
“It’s Nerys,” Donna told him.
“I gathered,” he said dryly. “But what’s she doing in the TARDIS? It’s impossible!” The Doctor slowly circled her. Nerys turned to keep a suspicious eye on him as he moved. “Some sort of subatomic connection?” he wondered aloud. “Something in the temporal field? Maybe something pulling her into alignment with the chronon shell...maybe something macro-mining your DNA within the interior matrix? Or maybe a genetic—?”
Donna elbowed him in the ribs.
“Is that helping? Really?” she asked. “Neither of us can tell you anything!”
The Doctor sighed heavily, but he pulled out his sonic screwdriver and started to scan the new arrival.
“What the bloody hell is a TARDIS?” Nerys demanded.
“Since when are you getting married?” Donna sidestepped Nerys’s question.
Nerys snorted. “Wow. Couldn’t even be bothered to read the invitation, could you?” She smoothed her skirt with her free hand before inspecting her bouquet anxiously. “I sent it to you months back! Never got an RSVP, though—dreadfully rude, if you ask me—”
Donna’s hand flew to her forehead and pressed hard.
“Sylvia responded, though. Said you’d run off with some man without a care.” Nerys sneered a more uncertain sneer than usual. “Looks like she was right...”
“Anything yet, Doctor?” Donna asked loudly.
“No,” he said slowly. He furrowed his brow and flicked his eyes between the sonic screwdriver and Nerys.
“So, what’s the punchline?” Nerys asked, edging away from the Doctor and closer to Donna. She perched on the edge of the jumpseat, taking great care that her white skirts didn’t brush the grating. “Have you arranged a little surprise with Lance’s groomsmen or something? Kidnap the bride for a laugh?”
“Nerys, I’ve said this before. And I’ll say it again, I’m sure,” Donna said seriously. “I don’t want you here.” She stepped toward the console with authority.
The Doctor had given up examining the readings he’d gleaned from Nerys in favour of giving Donna an amused look.
“Which church?” Donna asked in her most business-like tone.
“Like you don’t know,” Nerys said acidly.
“Oh, my god.”
“Saint Mary’s,” Nerys spat.
“Finally,” Donna muttered.
“I—this is too weird—Donna, it’s bigger—did you drug me?”
Before Donna could reply, Nerys turned from the smaller-on-the-outside blue box and ran as quickly as she could wearing her massive wedding gown.
“Thought I was a better pilot than this,” Donna mused doubtfully, double-checking the coordinates she’d entered into the console.
“Of course you are, you’re brilliant,” the Doctor said almost reflexively, distracted as he was by examining the TARDIS.
“Not that brilliant, apparently,” Donna muttered derisively. “In any sense.”
“It’s like she’s recalibrating,” the Doctor observed aloud. “She's digesting. What is it? What have you eaten?”
Donna closed her eyes and took a deep sigh. “Doctor.”
He hummed in reply.
“We were in the middle of something.” There was an edge to her voice.
“Right,” he muttered. “Where did Nerys get to?” The Doctor ran out of the TARDIS.
Donna sighed.
“Frankly,” she told herself sternly, “I’m probably better off.”
“Leave me alone!” Nerys growled. She marched away from the Doctor and toward an unloading cab, diving in the instant the backseat was unoccupied. Before she could shut the door, the Doctor wedged his body into the gap and took a seat next to Nerys’ voluminous skirts.
“Do you ever listen?” she demanded.
“How’d you meet your fiancé? He’s not big and tall with a zip round the forehead, is he?” the Doctor asked, clearly not listening.
“Saint Mary’s in Chiswick, off—” she told the driver before groaning in realisation. “Oh, my god—I haven’t any money!”
“You are so lucky I’m here,” Donna panted. She squeezed into the cab.
“Get off!” Nerys squeaked, forcefully shoving Donna away. She fluffed her skirts as best as she could as Donna landed squarely on the Doctor’s lap.
Donna held out a few notes. Nerys snatched them without a word. “You’re welcome,” Donna snapped breathlessly.
Nerys’ sour expression held, though her eyes darted away from Donna’s.
The Doctor’s arms tightened around Donna’s waist as the cab lurched into traffic.
“Just get your ridiculous boyfriend under control!” Nerys finally spat. “I just want to get married! Is that so much to ask?”
An awkward pause stretched longer and longer as Donna’s relaxed posture froze and the Doctor self-consciously adjusted his grip on her waist.
“We’re not a couple,” Donna said stiffly. “And he really doesn’t take direction very well.”
“Excuse me!” Nerys addressed the driver with the barest veneer of politeness. “You’ve missed the turning!”
Donna squinted at the driver more closely for a moment before her voice came out in a panicked yelp. “Oh, my god, Santa’s a robot—again!” She shifted over to let the Doctor clamber over Nerys’ skirts as the sonic screwdriver buzzed and then buzzed again, more aggressively.
Several cars behind them swerved as the Doctor scrambled to switch the hazard lights on. “Either of you know where we can catch a bus?” he ssked.
“I’m so underdressed for this,” Donna muttered as she half-hid behind the Doctor.
It hadn’t taken too long for Lance to pacify Nerys, and by now they were happily dancing with their friends.
“Stop it,” the Doctor said as he glanced about the room with a calculating eye. “You look lovely.”
He spotted the videographer across the hall and stepped toward him when Donna tugged on his sleeve.
“No—god, no—look!” she hissed. Her trembling finger pointed at Sylvia Noble in the crowd nearby.
“Oh.” The Doctor grimaced and settled back against the bar. “We’ll just have to wait over here until she, I don’t know—wanders off, or something...”
Donna snorted. “That’s likely.”
Silence gathered between them.
“Are you alright?” The Doctor asked out of nowhere. “I never asked—sorry about that, by the way.”
Donna inched away from unconsciously leaning into the Doctor’s side. “I’m grand,” she said.
“Good!” he replied hurriedly.
Another silence grew.
“Sorry about what I said earlier, too,” he continued. “I don’t usually do—well, this—or that, rather—not that you—you’re not just a—er—”
Her eyebrows moved higher and higher the longer he went on.“No, I get it,” she said dryly. “I’m not exactly getting ‘suave’.”
He turned pink. “I just meant—”
Donna failed to contain a smirk. The Doctor broke off and put on an affronted look.
“Oi! I can’t be entirely charmless, or you wouldn’t have—”
“Oh, god—” She pulled the Doctor onto the dance floor. “Sorry, Mum’s spotted us.”
The Doctor paled. He swiftly whisked Donna away from Sylvia’s disgusted glare and toward the videographer.
“But that looks like huon particles,” the Doctor marvelled aloud. The videographer looked mildly uncomfortable. “That really isn’t a good sign...”
“Doctor,” Donna said, squinting at her mobile phone’s screen, “It says H. C. Clements is funded by some firm called Naxos—does that mean anything to you?”
“Naxos?” he said. He blinked at Donna blankly. “No, doesn’t ring a bell—”
“Oh, my god!” Donna interrupted. Her eyes were caught on something outside the window. “Bloody Santa—how many times is he going to come after me?!”
“I think it’s time we pay a visit to H. C. Clements,” the Doctor decided, helping Donna to her feet. Broken ornaments and other detritus crunched under their feet.
“Anywhere’s better than here,” Donna muttered under her breath.
Before they could escape the hall, a familiar voice rang out. “You!” Sylvia shouted.
Donna and the Doctor froze.
“Every time I see you it’s a bloody disaster!” She picked her way through the debris with a thunderous countenance.
“We should run,” Donna frantically whispered, but Sylvia was there too quickly.
“I see you haven’t disposed of my daughter’s body yet,” Sylvia hissed under her breath.
“Mum—”
“Can’t you see how dangerous he is?” She addressed Donna without looking directly at her. “Been bloody months since I’ve seen you, and—”
“You told me not to come back!” Donna protested.
“Sylvia,” Geoff said. He came up beside her and put a gentle hand on his wife’s shoulder. “Donna’s been to see me loads of times. Just like he said.” He nodded toward the Doctor.
“Still,” Sylvia sniffed, “Would be nice to—”
“You can’t have it both ways, Mum,” Donna said sharply. “I didn’t make this choice. You did.”
Speechless, Sylvia turned to Geoff, who shook his head.“You go with the Doctor,” he told Donna firmly. “You go and make your Gramps proud, love.”
“Was Dad lying, d’you think?” Donna asked as they slipped out of the reception hall through a side door.
The Doctor took her hand in his and replied firmly, “No. No, I promised I would take you back to see him.”
Donna tugged her hand out of his grasp. “It’s only been a day! I know for a fact—”
“Doesn’t matter. Time machine, you know that.” He looked at her seriously. “I said I’d take you, so I will. And did, in the future-past. Besides—”
“Hey!” Nerys’ sharp voice echoed after them. “Not really the time to sneak off to a cupboard together. Right after an explosion? That’s in poor taste, even for you, Donna.”
“For god’s sake! We’re not a—!” Donna began to shout before snapping her mouth shut. She took a deep breath before trying again. “We’re just going to clear up your mess.”
“My mess?” Nerys asked indignantly. “I haven’t done anything! All this started when you and your—your—you and whoever he is—kidnapped me!”
“We didn’t—!” Donna sighed heavily. She grabbed the Doctor’s elbow and tugged him away. “Never mind. Come on, Doctor, let’s go.”
“Er...” He hesitated.
Donna pressed the fingers of one hand to her temples. “What is it?” she asked resignedly.
“Probably best if you come along, Nerys,” the Doctor said reluctantly.
“What?” Nerys cried. “Why?”
“You won’t be driving my car—I remember your test!”
“I was eighteen!” Donna clenched her fists.
The Doctor took one of Donna’s fists in his, but she immediately pulled away again.
“And that should tell you how awful you were!” Nerys hissed before slamming the driver’s door behind her and her skirts.
“If she’d rather bloody drive barefoot, it’s on her,” Donna muttered. She opened the door to the passenger’s seat before thinking better of it and joining the Doctor in the back.
“Doctor,” Nerys’ voice had turned syrupy. “Don’t you think I’ll be safer if you’re up here with me?”
“Er—” He fidgeted, glancing between Nerys and Donna uncomfortably. “I think you’ll be alright.”
“But you said you were going to protect me!” Nerys aggressively flapped her eyelashes at him.
Donna met his panicked gaze with a roll of her eyes.
“...Wouldn’t want to crease your dress, would you?” he asked faintly.
Nerys’ eyes widened, and she peeled out of the car park with a squeal of tires.
Donna studiously avoided the Doctor’s frequent glances toward her until he murmured her name. “I meant what I said earlier,” he said quietly. “You’re brilliant. And last night was—”
He flushed and cut himself off before continuing in a whisper.
“I just—I’ve been trying to say this all day—”
“Is this really the time?” she hissed, gesturing toward Nerys in the driver’s seat.
“Oh, don’t mind me,” Nerys said helpfully. Her eyes were locked on the pair of them in the rearview mirror. Donna gave her a poisonous smile.
“I—I think it’s important,” he tried. She shushed him with a panicked look but he continued anyway—though he lowered his voice further. “I’ve been trying to take opportunities—or, well, Wilf said, really, that—”
“Oh, I know you’ve taken your opportunity,” she said acidly. “I was there for that bit—”
The Doctor eyed her reproachfully. “That’s not fair! You were the one who—ouch!” She’d elbowed him sharply in the ribs.
When Donna glanced back at the rearview mirror Nerys was still watching avidly, even as she wove expertly through traffic. “Fine,” Donna hissed, though her cheeks coloured suspiciously. “It wasn’t like that. But can we just—god, can we save this for after?”
“So what’s wrong with me?” Nerys demanded.
“Don’t even know where to start answering that one,” Donna muttered. Nerys glared.
The Doctor cleared his throat. “Somehow you've been dosed with Huon energy,” he said uneasily.
“What’s that?”
He tried to ignore Nerys’ plaintive tone. “...And that's a problem, because huon energy hasn't existed since the Dark Times. The only place you'd find a huon particle now is a remnant in the heart of the TARDIS...”
“Your grungy spaceship,” Nerys sniffed, and Donna couldn’t contain a scoff.
The Doctor managed a smile with great effort. “But that's why you appeared there—it’s like magnets. Say this mug is the TARDIS...” He held out a coffee mug. “And this pencil’s you....” He brandished a pencil.
“You’re getting married, all excited, which makes the particles inside you activate, and whap!” The Doctor dropped the pencil into the mug with a flourish. “The two sets of particles magnetised—you, and the only other huon particles in the universe.”
“Nerys?! Nerys, there you are!”
They all jumped as suddenly Lance rushed over to them. “Darling, I was so worried!”
“Lance?”
He gathered Nerys’ hands in his and tenderly kissed her knuckles. “Lucky that Alice overheard you saying where you were going. Why are you here, anyway?”
The Doctor and Donna’s eyes met in synchronised suspicion.
Lance looked between all of them. “Why are you two here?”
“What, there's a secret base hidden underneath a major London landmark?”
“Unheard of, I know,” Donna said, rolling her eyes.
“Lance is funny,” cackled the Empress of the Racnoss.
“Oh, my god,” Nerys breathed. She backed up several steps. Donna paled.
The Doctor dared to touch Nerys’ shoulder. “I'm sorry,” he murmured.
Lance’s cold glare froze Nerys in place. “Months I've had to put up with this poisonous shrew. Months.”
“Lance,” Nerys started, but she couldn’t seem to find any other words.
Donna put an arm around Nerys. “You met him at the office, yeah?” she asked gently.
“Yeah,” Nerys said.
“He made you coffee,” the Doctor said. “Every day—you had to be dosed with liquid particles over six months, remember...”
Her lower lip trembled until Nerys pressed it white. “He was poisoning me,” she said, with no emotion at all.
Then she took a trembling step forward.
“But I loved you!” Nerys roared.
No answering emotion rose on Lance’s face. “That’s what made it easy.”
“If you think about it, the particles activated in Nerys and drew her inside my spaceship. So reverse it...and the spaceship comes to her!”
The Doctor shuffled around the console, silently entering coordinates.
Donna settled Nerys on the jump seat, spreading her skirts around her. “Oh, I’m so sorry, Nerys,” Donna murmured. “He doesn’t deserve you—what an arse.”
“Stop,” Nerys said fiercely, “I know you—you’re laughing at me, aren’t you.”
“What?” Donna squawked. “I’m not!”
“Sure, you’re not.” Nerys’ tone would have been dripping with sarcasm if her expression hadn’t crumpled into tears at that very moment.
Donna pulled Nerys into a tight embrace. “We’ve had our differences,” she began, stroking Nerys’ back. “And yeah, if you were marrying some actually great guy in a beautiful ceremony I’d be hoping for you to trip on your way up the aisle. But I don’t want to see you treated like this.”
Nerys sobbed and finally threw her arms around Donna as the Doctor gave the pair a deeply confused look.
Donna shrugged at him in reply. “The only person who can tell you how awful you are is me,” she finally said.
The Doctor’s expression cleared into understanding.
Nerys pulled Donna closer before letting her go entirely. He approached the pair with a box of tissues, which Nerys snatched from his hand.
He scratched his neck awkwardly. “Er, we’ve arrived,” the Doctor said hesitantly. “Want to see?”
“I don’t want any of this,” Nerys sniffled, wiping her eyes as she crumpled further into herself.
“Donna Noble...” The Doctor glanced back at the collapsed meringue of Nerys before giving it up as a bad job. “Welcome to the creation of the Earth.”
“It’s beautiful,” Donna marvelled.
“It is,” the Doctor agreed. He watched her take in the scale of the stardust that surrounded them. Only their quiet breathing interrupted the silence of the vacuum of space. The Doctor leaned closer to her. “I saw the end of the Earth with Wilf, you know,” he told her quietly. “Our very first trip.”
“Oh—right, I forgot.” She turned to meet his eyes, so close to her own.
“Yeah.” He grinned. “Feels right, to see the beginning with you.”
Donna smiled back and put her arm around his waist. He pulled her closer as they turned back to watch the earliest stirrings of the celestial bodies.
“When does it start?” she asked.
“It’s all around us, in the dust.”
“And I came out of all this."
“After a fashion,” he said wryly. “It’s a long process, but you don’t want to rush it. You humans are always hurrying on to the next thing, quick as you can. You’d be better off enjoying the moment.”
She snorted. “As if you’re one to talk.”
“Well...alright, I suppose that’s fair.”
She rested her head on his shoulder.
“Eventually, gravity takes hold,” he explained, “Say, one big rock, heavier than the others, starts to pull other rocks towards it. All the dust and gas and elements get pulled in. Everything, piling in until you get—”
“The Earth,” Donna finished.
“But what was the first rock?” Nerys asked, directly behind them.
Donna pulled her arm away abruptly and jerked away from the Doctor. He looked after her, conflict clear in his expression.
“Look!” Nerys pointed at a spiky shape emerging from the dust.
“The Racnoss,” the Doctor breathed.
“But I still don't understand. She’s full of particles, but what for?” Donna asked.
“There's a Racnoss web at the centre of the Earth, but my people unravelled their power source,” the Doctor explained. “The huon particles ceased to exist, but the Racnoss were stuck.”
Donna whirled around to see a hooded figure snatch Nerys off the ground and run off with her. A second figure clapped a hand over her mouth before she could scream and started to drag her away.
“They've just been in hibernation for billions of years. Frozen—dead—kaput! So you're the new key. Brand new particles, living particles!” he continued babbling. “They need you to open it and…you two have never been so quiet.”
“Doctor—!” Donna’s muffled cry finally drew the Doctor’s attention. He hurriedly pulled out his sonic screwdriver and zapped the robot before rushing to Donna’s side to get the immobilised robot away from her.
“And what’s that comment supposed to mean?” she demanded.
The groom fell to his doom. The bride swung to freedom, shrieking all the way.
“I warned you,” the Doctor said coolly. “You did this.” He pulled a handful of explosive Christmas ornaments from his pockets.
“No!” the Empress shrieked. “No! Don't! No!”
He tossed them in the air and used the remote control to get them in position.
He hesitated.
The Doctor stared down at the button. His eyes flicked to the terrified Empress, then back to the button again.
A pale hand suddenly covered his. The Doctor’s head snapped up at once.
“You were supposed to stay—” he started, but Donna just looked at him levelly.
“Together,” she said firmly.
He swallowed hard.
Together they let the river in.
Three people and several inches of water boarded the TARDIS a scant two minutes later. They stumbled back outside when the ship landed on a distant London rooftop.
The Empress attacked the city in a fever of rage and grief.
“Orders from Mr. Saxon. Fire at will!”
A missile hit the Web-Star dead on and it exploded into a thousand flaming pieces that rained over London.
“There goes the last of the Racnoss,” the Doctor said quietly, “The very last.”
Donna clutched his hand sympathetically.
“Here you are—back home,” the Doctor said, holding the door for Nerys.
Donna helped Nerys wedge her heavy skirts through the narrow opening as she took her leave of the TARDIS without looking back.
“I never said,” Nerys turned back just before Donna and the Doctor moved to leave. “Thank you, Doctor. I owe you my life.”
The Doctor smiled genuinely. “You’re so welcome.”
Donna muttered something indistinct under her breath, only to be surprised as Nerys swept her up in her arms.
“Thank you, Donna,” she whispered in her ear. “We’re even now, I promise.”
Donna sighed, but returned the embrace as Nerys continued to squeeze her tight.
“And—” Nerys hesitated. “I know he saved my life and all, but honestly, I think you can do better.”
“Donna?”
She stopped in her tracks, caught before she could retreat to her bedroom. “What is it now?” she asked.
The Doctor gave her a funny look. “We never finished our conversation. I’ve been trying to say all day that—”
“Look,” Donna said brusquely, “We gave it a go, it didn’t work out. I get it.” She tried to brush past him, but he grabbed her hand.
“But—Donna—”
Her lower lip was at serious risk of trembling as she snatched her hand out of his grip once more. “I know I asked you this morning to say it, but—” Donna broke off. “I don’t think I can hear it. Not right now.”
“Tough!” he snapped.
She looked at him, speechless.
The Doctor’s expression softened. “It scares me, being with you—being with anybody, really—” he began.
Donna’s face clouded over.
“It’s—I know, I’ll always know, no matter how happy we are—I’ll always know that one day you’ll be gone. You’ll be dead and I’ll have to mourn you.”
“I didn’t ask—” she started weakly.
“I know,” he said. “That’s not—look, Wilf told me—the very last thing he said to me was that I should be happy. And I am! Very happy. But—”
She pasted on a pained smile. “Always with the ‘but’.”
“—I’m worried. I don’t want to ruin what we’ve got,” he said softly.
“Right,” she said, swallowing thickly. “Right.”
He reached out halfway for her hand, but seemed to think better of it. “And I still think—”
The Doctor looked lost for what he wanted to say for a long moment.
Finally he said, “Are you sure about giving up your mum?”
“Are you seriously breaking up with me?” Donna asked incredulously. “We were never even a couple!”
He brought up his hands in a placating motion, taking a step closer, but she gave him no time to say anything.
“You can’t send me home! You can’t just give me the universe and then take it all away!”
The Doctor winced as her voice cracked on the last word. “No!” His own voice cracked on the denial. “No. I don’t want you to go, I—”
The repetition of the previous evening’s conversation hung heavily in the air between them.
“Right,” Donna said, curling into herself as if to deaden a blow. “There it is, then.”
“Right,” he echoed dully.
“Just mates,” she continued. “Well, not mates—oh, you know what I mean.”
“Yeah. Mates,” he repeated listlessly.
“Mates.”