Beginning Again

"So," I turned to the Doctor. "Now what? Where do we start?" I stopped to find him looking at me strangely. "What?"

"Hold on, did you say that you saw me and Donna ten years ago?"

"Yes," I said, annoyed. "And...? Why do you keep interrupting me?"

"But Donna and I never went to see you. I've never seen you before in my life! And that's over nine hundred years, mind."

"Well, maybe you forgot."

"No, no, no, no. I never forget!" He started pacing the room again. And tugging on his hair.

"Yeah, like you never forgot that I told you that in the first place," I muttered. He ignored that comment.

"That can only mean one thing: a paradox. But Donna's memory is gone...well, not gone, but blocked, and if she remembers, she dies."

"So how does that work?" I asked. "I mean, she was with you, I remember her!" I insisted.

"And that's where the paradox comes in," he realized as an expression of hoping against hope dawned on his face. "She and I must go back and see you, and since that hasn't happened yet..."

"Then what that means is that Donna Noble comes back," I finished for him.

"Why, that's brilliant!" he grinned. "Jackie, you're a genius!"

"But how?" I smiled back. "How does she come back? Is there a way to bypass the whole memory deal so that she doesn't die?"

"Maybe, there must be!" he exclaimed exuberantly.

"I want to meet her," I said decidedly.

The Doctor stopped pacing and turned to me in confusion. "What?"

"For a Time Lord, you're awfully slow," I said.

"I'm not slow!" He sounded indignant. "You just interrupted my train of thought."

I sighed. "If I'm going to help you find a way to bring her back, then I should meet her. And it won't compromise anything, since she obviously has never met me before in the first place. But it will help me."

He stared at me. "Right, yes. Very good. Off we go, then."

I watched as he raced around the controls in the center, pushing various buttons, pulling different levers, and even banging random objects with a hammer.

"What on earth are you doing?" I askede as the sound of whooshing began. The tubes in the central pipe started moving up and down, and I could feel the TARDIS rocking.

"Taking you to meet Donna! You might want to grab a hold of something."

I noticed that he was onto the control panel and followed suit just in time. The noise increased, and all of a sudden the TARDIS shook violently, nearly throwing both of us off our feet. Another jolt caused me to let go, and I grabbed onto another hand-hold.

"Is it always like this?" I called.

"Oh yes!" he replied. He appeared to be enjoying the ride immensely.

Finally the TARDIS stopped moving and the noise quieted.

"Where are we?" I asked.

"Today, a block away from Donna's house."

"Why a block away?"

"I couldn't risk her hearing the TARDIS and remembering. Just in case," he replied.

Now that I was there, I wasn't quite sure what I was going to do. This definitely wasn't going to be as easy as it sounded.

"Uh, now what?"

"Now we go meet Donna! Well, you go and meet Donna. I've got to stay here."

"In case she remembers, right." I sighed. "But where does she live?"

"Oh, right. Just down that way and take the first right. Don't worry, you'll see either her or her grandfather outside. Probably. Wilf, his name is. Good man, Wilf."

I started down the road while the Doctor disappeared back inside the TARDIS.

"Wait!" I ran back. He poked his head out.

"What?"

"Don't you dare leave without me."

He grinned. "Of course not."

Reassured, I headed in the direction of Donna's house. Presently I saw an old man getting the mail out of his mail box.

"Good morning! Or good afternoon, rather," he said cheerfully.

I smiled. He reminded me of my own grandfather, before he had passed away.

"Good afternoon!" I replied and continued on slowly, not knowing what to say. As Wilf walked back towards the house, a red-haired woman opened the door and stepped out.

Donna.

Suddenly I panicked. What if she had known the Doctor's daughter? The Doctor had said that I looked like her. What if she recognized me? But I needn't have worried. Donna barely even glanced at me. She was closely followed by a woman who I presumed to be her mother.

"It's my turn for the car! What do you need it for?" her mother complained.

"I just need it! Besides, who said it was your turn? Bye, Granddad!" she called as she got into the car and drove off.

Her mother threw up her hands in despair and went back inside. I turned around and walked back to the TARDIS to find the Doctor standing in front of it, waiting for me.

"I didn't get a chance to talk to her," I told him. "But I did see her granddad, though. He seemed nice."

"I told you, good man."

Disappointed, I followed him back inside the TARDIS and sat down on my backpack.

"Well, that was useless."

"Not really," he countered. "While you were away, I did a bit of checking."

"Checking? On what? I wasn't even gone that long."

"I'm quick," he said modestly.

So the question is, what was the Doctor working on? Hmm. Anyways, please please please tell me if the Doctor or Donna or her mother or Wilf is out of character. I'm trying really hard to get them to sound right. But if they are out of character, please explain why so I can fix it. Or not, either way. But I'd like to know. Oh, and does anyone know if I'm spelling "granddad" right? I'm not quite sure. My bad if I'm not. Anyways, thanks for reading! :)