Much Ado About Who

Chapter 8: A Promise Kept, A Decision Made

Over the next two hours the Doctor went between Malcolm and Donna, trying to assist Malcolm with his tests and measurements. Malcolm had reported his findings to Geoff who was continuing to handle things on his end.

He stepped back out of the trailer after one more visit with Malcolm, leaving him to prepare the compressed burst of feedback on a counter-oscillation that would be needed to close the wormhole when Geoff got the bus back through. When he stepped outside, he found Donna on her knees, head in her hands. He ran to her and slid to his knees in front of her. "Donna! What is it?"

"It's getting worse. It's just getting worse, Doctor. My head, it hurts so much. And I feel like I'm burning inside" She looked up, and he saw tears streaming down her eyes, and then they began to glow. He grabbed her and held her tight. "Just hold on, Donna. Just a few more moments and Geoff will be back."

A flash of light and the bus came barreling back through the wormhole, flying this time, instead of driving.

-*-*-

By the time Geoff disembarked the bus, the Doctor had his coat and jacket off, holding a completely still Donna in his arms. He was rocking her gently in his arms, tears falling down his face.

"Sir, sir!" a soldier called out as he ran up to Geoff. "I'm to escort you directly to the Doctor and his companion, Ms. Noble. Just over here, sir. It's an emergency, sir."

Geoff's face flipped from joy to utter concern in a split second. "What's happened?"

He turned the direction the soldier directed and saw them and immediately broke out in a run, sliding down to his knees opposite the Doctor. "What happened?" he asked again, this time to his brother.

"As soon as the bus disappeared she went into shock and passed out. She woke back up, but had a headache that kept getting worse, and she was burning up. Geoff, her eyes started to glow—it looked just like regeneration, but then she passed out again. I just—I just don't know—I can't—"

"Doctor, the TARDIS has arrived!" Magambo yelled as a large truck pulled up with a large covered box on the back. A soldier hopped onto the back of the truck and pulled away the covering to reveal the TARDIS.

"Finally, help me get her on board, now!" the Doctor yelled as he picked her up and walked towards the truck. Geoff ran ahead of him and pulled himself up onto the flatbed, then held out his arms and lifted her out of the Doctor's arms. The Doctor hopped up and tried to take her away from him.

"No, Doctor. I need to carry her. I need to be close to her now. We'll have to do this together."

The Doctor nodded and moved ahead enough to unlock and open the TARDIS. Geoff followed close behind and they shut the doors behind them. The ship called out its own concern as they approached the console. The Doctor made quick work of putting them into the Vortex before they continued out of the console room.

The Doctor stopped in front of Donna's room, but Geoff tried to continue on. "Doctor, we should get her to the medbay," Geoff said quickly.

"No, I promised her. No scans. I'm not breaking my promise. Not now. Not ever," the Doctor said firmly. "Come on, lay her on her bed."

-*-*-

Six hours later, Donna finally woke up. She found herself lying on her own bed, still fully clothed. She turned her head towards the other side of her bed and found Geoff sitting up, holding the book he read in one hand, his other hand resting on her shoulder. He immediately sensed she had woken and looked down at her with a smile. She felt something against her other side before she looked to find the Doctor, bent over, head resting in his crossed arms that were against her side on the bed.

"Ssshh, he's only just fallen asleep," Geoff whispered. "It's the first he's slept since before the Crucible."

"Daft Spaceman," she whispered, then sighed. "How long was I out that time?"

"Six hours," he answered. "I've maintained contact to try and help your brain regain balance, since obviously my absence is what caused the trauma."

"And what did you two figure out about that?" she asked.

"Figure out? What would we be able to figure out? We've both been right here the entire time, by your side. All we knew to do was stay with you, me to maintain contact, and him because he was too scared to leave you. For fear something might happen, and because he's too honorable to break his promise."

"You mean—after all that—I was out six hours—and he still didn't scan me?" she asked, in awe, as she looked down at the head of the Time Lord she loved. She wanted to move her hand to run through that hair, but her arm was pinned by his pressed against her side.

Geoff shook his head. "Oh no, he wouldn't dare. I tried to get him to let me take you to the medbay. He refused. I tried to give him his sonic back. He refused to even touch it. He kept saying—he promised you and he wasn't breaking that promise. No matter what."

-*-*-

The Doctor awoke to the sound of his sonic screwdriver. His head flew up so fast that for a moment the room felt like it was spinning around him, then his senses recalibrated and he saw Geoff running the sonic screwdriver in the air over Donna's body.

"What are you doing?" he barked in question at his twin before grabbing the sonic from his hands.

"He's doing what I asked him to, Spaceman," Donna replied quietly, placing a hand on his arm.

The Doctor's gaze flew to the redhead. "Donna!?" he gasped out as he collapsed down in a heap, half over the top of her stomach, half off the bed.

It took her a moment to realize his body was shuddering as he wept over her. "Ssshhh, sshhh, Doctor. I'm here. I'm okay now. I'm awake. I'm alive. We're all okay now. You're not rid of me yet." She rubbed his back and finally ran a hand through his hair. Eventually her words and movements seemed to calm him down.

After a few minutes, he lifted himself back up off her lap and looked at her. The mix of emotions in his eyes was evident to her, but his words made sure things were clear. "Donna. My Donna. I don't know how many more times I can do this. First, on the Crucible, you and the TARDIS were gone. Then you were shocked by Davros. Then you passed out when Geoff disappeared. Then you—," he couldn't finish that time. "I just don't know if I can keep going through this—this fear—I don't know how many more times my hearts can break—"

She looked down, and saw there, on her lap, the sonic screwdriver. She picked it up, holding it in her hand a moment before picking his hand up in hers and resting the sonic screwdriver on his palm, wrapping his fingers around it herself. He looked at her questioningly and she nodded.

"Are you sure, Donna?" he asked. "Because if you let me do this—I'm not going to stop till I figure out what's going on."

She took a deep breath as she considered it, then nodded again, unsure of what words to put with her acceptance of what needed to happen. It was all he needed to know, he hopped up off the bed and was waving the sonic over her quickly. He stopped a moment and looked at it, ran it over her again, then held it up to his ear. One last focused scan over her head, another glance, and he was running towards the door.

"I've got to get to the medbay!" he shouted, stopped quickly and turned to call out, "Geoff, get her there, now!" Before either could respond, he was running full speed out the door and down the hall.

"Thank you," Geoff said as he held out his hand to her.

She took his hand and then after slowly getting up off the bed, wrapped her arm around his waist to help her stay balanced as they walked. She still felt a bit weak. "For what?" she asked.

"For letting him do this. Letting him try to fix it. I know it frightens you. But, whatever happens, he needs this," he explained.

"I'm not frightened anymore about what we'll find out. After what happened today—I want—I need to know too."

-*-*-