He hears her as he's free-falling from the Vinvocci ship, in the split-second after he drops through the hatch, just as he's reconsidering the wisdom of his plan. He had felt her when the defence mechanism saved her, just the briefest of connections in what was left of the link between them. If that had been a spark, what he feels now as the wind cuts through him is a flame, burning through his mind with a single word: "Doctor!"

As the skylight, and then the floor, rush up to meet him, the link between them flares open, her fear and pain flooding into him, mingling with his own. The cuts all over his body sting fiercely, and his bones throb with the impact, but what he hears is her in his mind, calling for him.

"Doctor!" He feels a mixture of relief and fear at the familiar sound, the familiar feel of her in his head. He doesn't understand how she can call for him, what might have caused her such anguish, but he's so glad to hear her he could weep.

"Donna," he calls back, but she can't hear him over the roaring in her mind. The confusion overwhelms even his awareness of the millions of Time Lords, poised to return, now whispering in his head where before there had been only the aching silence. He's only distantly aware of the Master and the Lord President watching him as he struggles to breathe, crouched there on the floor.

"Doctor! Help me!" she calls again, and he reaches for her, seeking out the familiar path of her thoughts, no longer questioning how she's able to call to him. He can feel her healing, changing, becoming stronger, and she finally quiets enough that she can feel him responding.

"I'm coming for you," he says silently, willing her to understand. He feels the relief flood through her at the recognition, and he clings to that link as he focuses again on the mansion, and the task at hand.

He had been prepared to die when he dropped from the ship, when he crashed through the skylight, as the glass shattered around him. He had thought the despair he'd felt since Mars, since the Crucible, since Chiswick, would end at last.

He had thought he was prepared. But as he struggles to his feet and turns to face the Lord President, the gun cold in his hand, he knows he faces something infinitely more difficult. He holds on to the link to Donna and feels it strengthen between them, her mind clear and calm at last. The pain recedes as he turns, his mind racing with possibilities of how to end this, how to save the Universe, Earth, her. He takes a deep breath and realizes he's prepared now to live. For her.