Ten Again

Characters: Donna Noble, Tenth Doctor
~Pairings: None
Word Count: 2,894

For AOTW and The REAL guest who wanted an extended version of the Drabble Ten Again

Donna held onto the Doctor tightly, desperately trying to carry him back into the TARDIS, which was really turning out to be more like dragging him.

With a groan, Donna lifts the body up a set of rocks and towards the spaceship.

"You know, if you could just wake up now that would be lovely," she mutters down at the limp form. "Because I know I've said you're a skinny streak of nothing…which you are by the way, but you're a heavy skinny streak of nothing."

No reply.

"Let's go to this wonderful planet Donna, there's beaches and forests." Her poor imitation of the Doctor floats into the winds. "Oh no sorry, got the time wrong there's a freaking bleeping war on and I'm going to get shot and fall unconscious, because I refuse to leave the freaking war zone!" She screams these last words at him.

No reply.

Gosh, it was times like this when she just wanted to go home, but she knew she wouldn't, she never could. It wouldn't be fair, to leave him, alone and hurt, drowning in the guilt she knew he carries.

Speaking of carries, she had now carried a Time Lord all the way across a town, through a forest and to a bright blue box.

"Finally," she moans and reaches into her pocket for her key, only for her fingers to slide into a hole.

She curses, it must've happened when she was trying to get the useless lump back to his ship.

Of course there was a spare key; it was just in said useless lump's pocket.

She stares down at the Time Lord, "oh I hate this." She mutters.

With a sigh she bent down and glares at his face, "Now listen here Spaceman, I'm about to reach into your pocket and pull out the TARDIS key, but so help me if you somehow remember this and give me a hard time…" She trails off, looking down at his unconscious form, hoping he'll wake up.

He doesn't.

Cursing under her breath she rifles through his pockets, pulling out bits and ends.

A banana, a broken wristwatch, a doll, a yo-yo, three packets of rubberbands, two packets of post-it notes, gum wrappers, she groaned, it was never ending. Every pocket just kept going and going and she couldn't find the bleeping—her hand closed around something metal and jagged, she lifted it out, oh never mind there it was.

Inserting the key into the lock she turns it and hoists the Time Lord into the TARDIS before tossing all his collection of items into the ship after him. He'd get annoyed if she left them, though she hopes that the wrappers were unimportant, because the wind had already claimed those

With that done she shut the door and locked it, staring down at the pale face of her friend.

The adrenaline had worn off and fear was beginning to take its place.

What if he never woke-up? What if he just stayed in this coma like state forever, breathing in and out, in and out? What if he needed medical attention? Where would she even take him?! He was the last of his kind, what kind of hospital could treat a Time Lord?

She felt tears pricking at the edge of her eyes, "alright you can wake-up now you big Dumbo."

Nothing.

"I mean it Spaceman, I know that you just wanted me to do all the work, but enough is enough and I need you to—"

Suddenly he's upright his hands struggling to find purchase on her muddy coat.

"Doctor! You're alive how—"

"They aren't normal guns," he rasps out. "But Donna, things are about to get very, very complicated and I'm not exactly sure what's about to happen, but—"

He gasps, and curls out his face scrunching up in pain.

"Doctor! I don't understand, what's—"

"My biology is being rewritten, sort of, not really, you know what it doesn't matter. The gun I was shot with wasn't deadly. Wars on this planet are different than on Earth. The species,"

"Yes, they had weird tentacles and—"

"Donna's that's not important."

"Right sorry."

"This species, they have a hive mind, so if they were to kill someone everyone would feel it and wars don't last when you feel your enemy's pain, so they solved the problem."

He coughs and his grip on Donna tightens, his eyes screwing shut.

"Deaging technology, it doesn't affect the hive mind, because they're not dead, but it also renders the soldier, young, confused and unable to battle. For them it's harmless, they're DNA is constantly in flux…so is mine in a way, but not enough to make it painless."

"I got that thanks," Donna replied dryly, the Doctor smiles.

"Right. It's funny though cuz I didn't think they'd even be able to do this, just figured that—" He coughs, and shutters. "—you know what that doesn't matter, just keep in mind things are about to get very difficult and I am about to get very young."

"How young are we talking?!" Donna asked shrilly, "Because I'm not changing any nappies!"

The Doctor's face screwed up in disgust, "no, no you shouldn't have to worry about that, thank goodness. No I'll probably land somewhere in my teenage years…at least by human standards, because really when I say teenage years I mean like 50 years old, but hey who's counting. Just remember that I won't—"

He breaks into another coughing fit, his hands sliding from her shoulders as he curles in on himself.

Then he begins to convulse on the floor.

"Doctor!" Donna screams, trying to stop his thrashing limbs. "Doctor! What's happening?! What am I supposed to remember?! Doctor!"

A hand catches her in the stomach and she falls back with an oomph, the breath leaving her, by the time she's sat up the Doctor has stopped moving, she freezes.

No, no, no, no, this wasn't right he couldn't just die. Not while she was stuck on some stupid planet in the middle of nowhere. Donna didn't want the Doctor to die period, that'd be horrible, but if he had to go and do it why did he have to—

Donna jumps as the lump sat up jerkily and stares ahead.

The suit is too large, she notices. Then again if the beam did what the Doctor said it would that wouldn't be a surprise.

The boy stands, shaking his head and looking around.

"Doctor?" She says slowly.

The body tenses and turns to look at her wide eyed.

Donna stands slowly, "Doctor is that you?"

She takes a step towards him and he takes a step back, rambling in some language Donna doesn't know, but it seems to echo through the air as well as her mind and it sounds musical, almost calming.

She shakes her head, "English," she says slowly. "I need English."

He stares at her for a moment, just long enough for her to think that he didn't know the language of such a primitive species when he begins to talk.

"Who are you?" He asks, his accent strange and unfamiliar.

"Doctor?" She asks again, her mind stalling.

"Doctor who? Is there someone else here with you? Actually why are you here? I mean you're not a Time Lord, Lady, whatever, I can tell. You don't sing like she does."

"Sing? She?"

"The TARDIS, in my head, I don't—"His face scrunches up. "I don't hear anyone else? Where's everyone else?"

"What do you mean?"

"The other—oh wait this is new!" He cut himself off, as he reaches a hand up to brush away hair, before pulling it down into his eyes. "Brown…it wasn't brown before." He looks down at himself, eyes widening. "I've regenerated, oh that's brilliant!" He smiles happily at her.

"Regener—what?"

He either didn't hear her or didn't care, probably the later.

"I mean…I guess I would've had to die in order to regenerate which probably wasn't fun, but then again Koschei always did say I'd be the first to go."

Donna blinks, this was a little much, even for her, and the Doctor was still rambling.

"Who's TARDIS is this anyways? Is it this Doctor guy's, you mentioned him before? I mean obviously he'd have to be a Time Lord, but why pick the name the Doctor, how boring his that. The Doc-tor, I mean that's no fun. Why not the Adventurer? Or the Discover? Or the Archeologist?" He scrunched up his nose, "no not the Archeologist, that's stupid, archeologists always get everything wrong."

Picking himself up, he looks down at his sleeves, "Why are my clothes too big? And why are they Earth looking? Are we on Earth? Are you from Earth? Did you give me these clothes? Did you kidnap me? Cuz I'll have you know that my brother is a high member of the Council, well I say high, really he's just kinda into politics, but he likes to pretend he's important! He's boring though, except one time I set his cloak on fire and—"

"Oh will you shut-up!" She shouts loudly. "I'm trying to think!"

The mini-Doctor snorts, "you're human, how much thinking can you—"

SMACK!

"Ow! What was that for?!"

"You're being rude!"

"Really am I?" He actually looks surprised. "Didn't use to be rude, regeneration's weird and everything is all loopy and too long and—"

He looks up at Donna who's towering over him, "you know what I think I may just stop talking now."

Donna sighs, "Thank you." She massagers her temples, "right, so how about this time you ask your questions slower so that I can actually answer."

"And you'll answer truthfully?" He asks skeptically.

"Why wouldn't I?"

"I don't know! Why would you kidnap a Time Lord?"

"I didn't kidnap you!"

"How do I know?! For all I know you and this Doctor guy kidnapped me. Which you won't get away with, because I'm a very important—"

"Oh for crying out loud you are the Doctor you Numbskull."

The Doctor blinks, once, twice and then.

"Are you being serious?" The voice is whiney and disappointed. "The Doctor, what kind of name is that?"

"I don't know you picked, ask yourself when you're older."

"But the Doctor, doctors don't do anything special."

"They save lives," Donna reminds him gently.

"But they also lose lives, what kind of stupid deal is that? I mean why do something when you know you can't win every time?"

Donna opens her mouth, closes it and stares.

"See."

Donna sighed, "Listen Doctor—"

"Theta."

"Excuse me?"

"Theta, my name is Theta. Not the Doctor."

Donna groans and presses a hand to her face, "right, Theta, of course, why not. I'll just add it to the list then. The Oncoming Storm, the Destroyer of Worlds, Theta, the La—are you okay?"

Theta looks confused, and pale, "who are they? Are they other Time Lords you've meant?"

And suddenly it all came crashing down on Donna, he didn't know. That was what the Doctor had been trying to say, the Doctor, Theta, whatever didn't remember anything past this age.

He didn't know.

Gulping Donna forces a smile onto her face, "ya, you got it in one."

"Oh, good, cuz I mean I was worried there for a second."

"Why?"

"I thought you might be talking about me, and those titles don't exactly sound like they belong to a good man. Then again my name is the Doctor…sadly…which means I'm a protector, so I guess destroying things probably isn't really my thing."

Donna stares, as she struggles to keep her face straight, her voice even, "right, course."

Theta stares up at her, brown eyes losing a bit of their skepticism, "so I'm just going to ask you a question, and you'll answer."

"To the best of my knowledge, yes."

"Right…okay how old are you? How much do you weigh? Are you—"

Donna's face turns red, "why you little—!"

Theta snickers and ducks as her hand came flying at him, "I'm kidding, I'm kidding, but you're face! You should've seen it! You looked just like a Zygon!"

She glowers at him, "Real questions, now or the deal is off."

"Right," he frowns. "How about you tell who's TARDIS this is and why I'm on it?"

"It's your TARDIS…and you're on it cuz it's yours."

Theta's eyes sparkle, "mine, really?"

"Well, I mean it's the Doctor's."

"But I am the Doctor."

Donna raises an eyebrow, "I thought you said that name was stupid."

"Not when it comes with a TARDIS!"

Suddenly Theta's bouncing around, examining every dial and lever.

"She's really mine?"

"Yep," Donna smiles, she's never seen the Doctor truly happy before…it's nice.

"But really? All mine? Like every room?"

"I'd assume so, though as of now one of them is mine and you sir are not allowed in it."

He smiles broadly, "so is this what I do now?"

"What?"

"Fly through time and space and pick up stray humans?"

"Oi! I'm no stray! Thank you very much!"

Theta doesn't reply, he's too busy smiling.

"So where are we now?"

"I don't know, some planet or another. There's a war on and—Theta don't!"

Suddenly he's stepping outside and Donna darts after him.

"Oh come on lighten up a little! I just want to—"

He freezes, his shoulders going ridged.

"Theta?" Donna says slowly.

"They're not there."

Donna blinks, "What? Who?"

Theta's eyes are wide and confused, and hurt, "nobody's there…why aren't they there?!" It was like a switch inside Theta went off and suddenly he's yelling, "what aren't you telling me?!"

"I don't understand what you mean?!" Donna yells back, panicking.

"They're not there! Nobody's in my head! What did you do?!"

"I didn't do anything!"

"You must've, because either that or they're all dead."

Donna freezes at those last words, because suddenly she knows what he's talking about.

"Theta, I think we should go back inside the TARDIS."

"Why? So you can lie to me some more?"

"Theta please."

"No! I want to know what is going on right now!"

"Theta, I can't tell you, please just come back inside."

"No! You are going to tell me what you did right now?! Or I'm going to call my dad!"

She stares at him, her eyes sad and her face full of pity.

"Theta you can't. He won't pick-up."

"My brother then, or my mum."

"Theta, please no one's going to pick-up if you call. Now let's just go back in the TARDIS and wait for this to wear off."

She hopes and prays, he won't make the connection, won't realizes what's going on because just seconds ago he was happy.

But he's smart, and his eyes go wide, "No." He stammers, "No, no, no, that's not right! They can't just be dead!"

Donna doesn't answer, and by doing so does just that.

Theta's crying now, "You're lying! You're lying and that can't be true, because, because—"He's sobbing now and Donna pulls him into a tight hug.

"I'm so sorry," she mumbles into his hair as she cradles him. "I really am."

Theta just sobs.

oOo

He falls asleep in her arms, but this time Donna doesn't complain about the unconscious lump in her arms. Instead she just carries him into his ship gently and lays him on the pilot's seat.

Tear tracks still line his face and he's curled in on himself protectively, as if trying to block out everything.

"Oh Doctor," she mutters sadly, her eyes never straying from her friend. "I didn't know."

oOo

It wears off before he wakes-up, and Donna's glad.

She knows it's selfish, but she doesn't know how she would comfort Theta upon his awakening…how do you comfort a teenager who just found out his species, his family, his friends, were all dead?

So instead she watches now as the Doctor sits up, his eyes sad and distant, before he plasters a (fake) smile onto his face.

"Right then!" He says happily, his normal accent is back. "Sorry about that Donna, wasn't exactly part of the plan! Now how about the planet Midnight?"

"Doctor."

"It's made of diamonds; oh it's beautiful you'll love it!"

"Doctor."

"And it has a spa! Perfect after landing on a planet full of war! Nice and peaceful. I'm sure that—"

"Doctor!"

He stops and turns his eyes bearing into hers.

"Are you alright?"

"I'm always alright, you know this."

She stares at him, "so not alright at all then."

He fiddles with a dial, eyes sliding away from hers.

"It's not as bad right now…now that I have all my barriers in place and that my connection to the TARDIS is stronger. It helps fill the empty-ness, and you're here." He smiles at her. "That helps."

She smiles back, softly and takes his hand.

"Are you sure?"

"Ya."

"Because I'm always here if you need me, you know that right?"

He stares at her, his ancient eyes staring at her, he doesn't believe her. She realizes and he's probably right not to, because she's only human…she'll die eventually.

She goes to say something, but the Doctor speaks before she can even open her mouth.

"Right! Midnight! Here we go Allons-y!"

As they fly Donna just hopes that everything will be alright.

And there we have it, hopefully everything here makes sense to a certain degree, because I took a lot of creative liberties in this story...mostly with the deageing and how that came about...

Congrats to anyone who knew that Koschei is (was?) the Master...it's kinda sad what happened between him and the Doctor...as far as I can tell the two used to be friends when they both went to the Academy

Anyways there we have it

Please Review!