Author's Note: I do not own Doctor Who, Donna, the Doctor, the TARDIS, they all belong to the BBC who clearly didn't know what to do with them. That's why we're here. All respect to Mr. Davies, but I'll be taking over things from here.
Prologue
Donna Noble awoke to smelly breath in her face and a weight on her chest.
She opened her eyes to find Esther, all fours on top of her, wagging her tail. She smiled.
"Excited, eh? Well, me too."
Donna threw on some sweats and took the Jack Russell terrier on a quick walk through the nearby park, she was bursting with excitement, bursting with thought.
This was the day, her first day of work at H.C. Clements. Her mum had insisted to her that city executives just needed the temps to practice on, but she steeled herself to prove that theory wrong as she made her way back to her flat to get ready. She started with her hair, blowing it out just so, then make up and then went through everything in her wardrobe before deciding on a purple dress and raspberry colored cardi.
She went to the kitchen and fixed a cup of coffee as her flatmate slept soundly on the sofa. There were still two hours until she was expected, but she didn't want to take a chance and was too full of anxiety to sit around anyway. She grabbed her bag and looked at Esther, who watched her intently.
"Okay, Mummy will be back at six. You be good. Wish Mummy luck."
With that, Donna left the flat and began the commute to her new job.
Donna arrived at H.C. Clements to find that no one was quite as thrilled to have her there as she was to be there. She got sent to the office of Ms. Sherwood, a humorless woman who warned Donna to just stay out of the way, do the job and be done. Nobody was expecting heroics. She took Donna to a desk in the giant open plan hub of the firm, with a stack of files waiting for her.
"You'll be over here," said Ms. Sherwood, pointing her at a desk. "You can start with those files and come get more when you're ready."
Donna sat down and put her bag away in the filing cabinet. She noticed someone had written in tiny Sharpie on the desk, "Another brick in the wall." Great. This place was going to be fun. Her mum had been right which just irritated Donna more. She would do this job and onto the next one and nothing special was ever going to happen to her. Worst of all her mother would be right. Resigned to her fate, Donna picked up the files and started scanning through them. They truly were in terrible shape. What a bloody wreck this place was.
"Hiya," said the girl next to her. "I'm Sandy."
Donna wished she didn't have to answer, much preferring to stew in her own misery, but it would be a miserable six months if she didn't speak to the girl seated next to her. "Donna."
"First day?"
Donna nodded.
"Permanent or seasonal?", she asked.
"I'm a temp."
Donna looked up.
A rather cute man in a nice suit was at the coffee station, motioning to a cup of coffee. Donna motioned back at herself. He nodded. Donna smiled to herself.
Who is he?", Donna leaned in and asked Sandy.
"Oh, that's Lance. He's the head of Human Resources."
The head of Human Resources? Brought her coffee. On her first day, no less. Donna's mother had definitely been wrong.
Yes, things were looking up for Donna Noble. H.C. Clements was going to be brilliant.
And that's where things got fuzzy. Very fuzzy.