Chapter Nineteen

In The Mind

Donna had been quite upset to see Oscar and Bea go, even if she wouldn't admit it herself. The Doctor knew when she was upset because she puffed up a little and got snappier than usual. This was no exception. You wouldn't see any tears from Donna; she would just shove you and insult you until she felt a little better. Even then she would still keep with the insults.

They had taken the kids back to their home planet. Their grandparents, to be exact. The Doctor and Donna hadn't gone with them, but they had watched the reunion from across the street. Donna hadn't watched for very long. She had stormed back inside the TARDIS stropping and sulking about the state of her clothes. The Doctor watched for a little longer though. Bea turned and waved before disappearing inside the house. The grin on her face told him that she would manage to carry on as normal, which was a comfort.

'You know what I need right now?' the Doctor sighed as he moved to the console.

'An MRI scan?' Donna asked, flapping her jacket and kicking up a cloud of dust.

'Oh no,' the Doctor wrinkled his nose. 'Make my eyebrows itchy those things. No. What I need is a swim.'

Donna cocked an eyebrow at him. 'A swim? You've got to be kidding me.'

'Nothing better for you after some strenuous exercise than a good swim.' He began to turn the dials on the TARDIS, setting co-ordinates. 'Relaxes your muscles, all that kind of stuff.'

'You were bloody lying down half the time,' Donna snapped. 'I did more bloomin' exercise than you and I say it's better to sit down with a cup of tea and your feet up. I'm not going flippin' swimming.'

'Well there's a nice teashop.' The Doctor told her as the TARDIS began to hum. 'Loads of tea. Nice little sofas as well. You can have your tea, and I can have a swim! Everyone's happy.'

Donna snorted. 'I think you're daft.' She told him.

'There's shoe shops there too.'

She glanced up, interested. 'Really?'

'Yup.'

Donna contemplated this new piece of information for a moment, and then nodded once. 'Well what are you waiting for? Hurry up, will you?' She headed away towards the doors leading into the TARDIS and waved a hand. 'I'm off to have a shower and get my shopping gear on. Try not to fly so bloomin' recklessly this time. Last time I was in the shower you bumped us so hard I went sliding across the floor like a bloomin' slippery fish.'

She disappeared, still moaning about something or other. The Doctor looked up at the TARDIS, smile on his face. He hadn't thought he would see the interior again. It was good to be back. Back to normal. Well, whatever was classed as normal in this place anyway.

Something buzzed in his left ear. The Doctor winced, and rubbed it until it disappeared. He frowned vaguely. The buzzing came back, low and quiet. Somewhere at the back of his mind. He clenched his eyes tightly shut and gritted his teeth. Eventually, it went away.

The Doctor opened his eyes again and looked down at his hands.

'Hi daddy.'

He looked around, unsurprised. The little blonde girl was smiling at him, fiddling with the sleeve of her dress. He smiled back, wanly. He blinked, and she was gone. He stared at the empty spot for a moment, and then turned back to the console. The buzzing sounded again in his ears but he ignored it and snapped back a lever. He suddenly found himself believing in a saying that he had spent a long time despising.

Ignorance is bliss.

THE END

A/N: I'm really shocked at the amount of people who were reading this story lol, I wasn't expecting it at all. Thanks to everyone who reviewed and enjoyed it, it really is brilliant when I know people have enjoyed something I've written. I hope the ending hasn't baffled anyone too completely, but I don't want to ruin it by explaining my version of what it means. I'll leave that up to you lol. So again, huge HUGE thanks for all your lovely reviews! You're all wicked, and I'm dancing for you - you just can't see it. It's a little Tom Jones shuffle.

I'm going to do another Doctor/Donna story in the next week or something called 'A Doll's Life' (I don't know what it is with me and dog puns recently...) so keep an eye out for that. It's not going to be as doom and gloomy as this one was, but it's along similar lines. Anyway, watch out for it. And again, thanks a million! xx