Title: Winter

Disclaimer: I don't own it!

Summary: Donna mentions skiing, so the Doctor takes her to a planet that's perfect for it. Unfortunately, the two of them attract trouble even when they're not trying to... Especially when they're not trying to...

Donna was freezing. The air was frigid and the suns around this planet were starting to go down, which meant that the temperature would drop even further. She growled angrily as she stabbed at the snow with a piece of a broken ski, trying to break some of it away so that she could form some sort of shelter. The wind had started to pick up and the tiny bits of ice caught in the air were rushing past her, stinging at her face and hands.

With the Doctor's long jacket wrapped around her, she piled up the snow that she'd broken loose and packed it into the shape of a low wall. Carefully adding more to the sides, she was able to form a half circle that blocked the wind more fully. Exhausted and very sore, she collapsed against the snow wall and pulled the Doctor's jacket around her to ward off the cold. With a shivering sigh, she thought back to how this mess had began.

She had been wandering around the console room of the TARDIS as the Doctor tinkered with some wiring, and she'd started rambling about family vacations that she used to go on. Donna had just started to describe the trips to the mountains and going skiing and how much she missed it when the Doctor jumped up before her excitedly.

"That's what we'll do, Donna!" he had exclaimed.

"What's that?" she asked, not having a clue as to whether he'd been listening to her or thinking of something completely different. It was usually a pretty good gamble for either option. It turned out he had been listening to her this time, though.

He had graced her with a bemused look and said, "You humans... how is it that you can talk and talk and not even be paying attention to what you're saying..."

She'd merely rolled her eyes and said, "Same way some aliens can talk and talk and yet say absolutely nothing worth listening to."

"Winter! We'll go there!" he had declared, pulling on knobs, levers, and pushing at buttons on the console as the ship's engines came to life.

"Isn't winter a season?" Donna had asked while clinging to the console as they flew through time and space.

When they had landed he'd explained with excitement, "The planet Winter, located in the constellation Canes Venatici, nearly 23 million light-years from your home, Donna! Soon to become one of the universe's most popular ski resorts, though not for a hundred or so years. They put too many restrictions on where you could ski..."

"And everyone knows that safety restrictions are rubbish," she'd added sarcastically.

She had moved to the door but he quickly diverted her to the wardrobe where they grabbed skis, gloves, snow pants, and winter jackets. Following that, she'd nearly run out the doors of the ship in anticipation of an adventure that wouldn't be anymore life-threatening that the ones she'd gone on with her family.

Donna really needed to learn not to even think those kinds of cliched statements.

They had stepped outside, set the skis and warm winter clothes down in the snow, and immediately been awestruck by the view. In each direction, high mountain peaks stretched up so high that they appeared to hang almost directly above them. At the same time, the Doctor and Donna could make out deep valleys reaching away from them below their eyes.

The landscape was covered in snow, but Donna was amazed to see that it didn't appear completely white. The color of the sun – the two suns, she'd soon realized – made the snow sparkle and reflect back slightly different shades depending on what angle they were facing it from. The suns weren't the same color, and therefore cast both a lighter shade in some spots and a darker shade in others.

She had turned to thank the Doctor for bringing her to this gorgeous place when a clump of snow hit her in the face lightly. Donna sputtered and then glared at the alien who was laughing at her indignant look.

"Right. You're a dead martian," she'd declared before chasing him past the TARDIS, their skis, and the warm jackets. She picked up snow to throw at him as they ran. The snowball fight that ensued was a chaotic mess as they both tried valiantly to hit the other. After a few minutes, Donna was able to successfully hit the Doctor in the back of the head with a snowball. He fell over dramatically, laughing, and she moved in closer to finish the job.

Just as she got up next to him, he jumped up and shoved a handful of snow down her shirt. She shrieked loudly and smacked him before jumping in place to get the snow out of her shirt.

"Donna..." she had heard him say distractedly.

"Bugger off," she'd said as she shook bits of snow out of her shirt.

"Donna!" that time his voice was an urgent whisper and he had grabbed her arm to pull her closer to him.

"What!?" she'd shouted, stepping away from him and glaring.

She had barely met his eyes when she felt a steady vibration grow stronger in the snow under her feet. Donna turned and followed the Doctor's gaze to the massive sheet of snow and ice that clung high up the slope near them. It was shifting and the surface looked to be alive as it burst with movement.

The Doctor had quickly tugged on her arm and ordered, "TARDIS! Now!"

With one last glance back at the rapidly approaching cloud of snow and ice, Donna turned and bolted for the blue police box. They'd ran as fast as they could but it wasn't enough. Just twenty feet from the ship, the two were swept off their feet by the avalanche. Donna hadn't know which way was up as they were tossed and turned in every different direction. She had gripped the Doctor's hand in hers as tightly as she could, but after a violent shift in the snow and ice around her, she felt his hand ripped from hers.

She wouldn't be able to recall all that had happened in the next few minutes as she put all her effort into trying to breathe and pulling her arms and legs closer to her body. They didn't get hit with chunks of ice as much that way, though several did collide with her back and head. When the avalanche finally stopped, Donna had let out a shaky breath and kept her eyes closed. She had fully believed that she had been about to die while tumbling about in the cold.

It had only been after she had drawn in several steadying breaths of air that she actually realized that she had air. She'd opened her eyes to see bright blue lines of light peaking through the snow above her. With a great deal of effort, she'd managed to pull her arms up above her face and push against the snow, but she wasn't strong enough to shift it.

Donna had laid in that position for a while, taking careful assessment of her injuries, grateful that nothing seemed horribly wrong yet. She almost didn't hear as her name was called out from above her.

"Doctor!" she had called, though a bit quieter than she'd wanted to. The last time she'd shouted, the side of a mountain had come down on them.

He had called back to her, promising to get her out as soon as he could. She had waited as patiently as she could while he used his hands to lift chunks of snow and ice off her and scoop away the snow around her. When he had finally freed her, she had let him pull her into his arms and hold her for a few minutes. She had thought that she couldn't be happier to see his skinny alien self, despite the bruises and cuts that covered him. She knew that she looked no better.

Together, they had stumbled through the rough terrain of snow and ice until they found a small area that was flatter than the rest. On their way, the Doctor had found a piece of one of the skis that they'd been ready to use earlier and handed it to her.

"I've got to find the TARDIS before nightfall," he'd said, rubbing the back of his neck and looking out over the expanse of turned up snow that the avalanche had left. Donna had been about to make a rude comment about his wonderful tour-guide skills when he pulled off his long brown jacket and handed it to her.

"Try to stay warm," he had said, and she had nodded in response. "I'll come let you know when I find her," he had added, reaching into a pocket for his favorite tool. A moment later the sonic screwdriver was heard as the Doctor wandered back out over the snow in search of it while Donna set to work on building something to protect herself from the wind.

Donna groaned as she considered the day. The Doctor had departed nearly twenty minutes ago and she had gotten cold enough to start work on her miserable little shelter, cursing this planet as she did so. Never again would she desire a ski trip as a form of relaxation or adventure.

The wind picked up even more as she leaned against the wall and she started to wonder just how long it would take the Doctor to find his ship. She didn't want to think about where it could have ended up or what state it was in. The fact that the two of them were relatively alright, aside from the scratches and bruises that littered them, still amazed her.

Donna glanced up at the sky that was thankfully clear of clouds and noticed the elevation of the twin suns. One appeared to be only a couple of hours from the horizon, while the other wasn't far behind it. She looked out at the snow and ice and wondered if she shouldn't have gone to help the Doctor find his ship.

This will be a two-shot, which means the next chapter will be the last one. Review if you want the Doctor and Donna to live... and review if you want them to die!

Review? Please? :) Should I kill everyone?