Much Ado About Who

Chapter 10: The Next Moment of Forever

When the Doctor stepped back out of the TARDIS a few minutes later, with Donna following suit, he was looking a bit like a deer caught in headlights. Donna had a satisfied grin on her face, however, that made Jack chuckle.

The Doctor cleared his throat. 'Yes, well, that's decided then, Donna's made her choice. So—" he cleared his throat again, and instinctively his hand went to wipe at his mouth, though nothing was there—Donna had been sure of that. He then turned to his brother. "What about you, Geoffrey? Any thoughts?"

Geoff smiled at his brother—happy Donna had cleared up the little misunderstanding. Poor Doctor, he never seemed to get over his fear that Donna might decide to run off and leave him. But with this latest revelation in the relationship between his brother and Donna—it cemented further in his mind his decision. "I rather thought I might try the best of both worlds."

The Doctor frowned. "But, Geoff—you can't stay as you are—not unless Donna did as well. One of you without the other would inevitably die sooner than later."

"Oh, I don't mean to stay this way. No, I'd like to be a full Time Lord again, thank you."

"Then what did you mean, Geoff?" Donna asked as she came to stand next to the Doctor, reaching over and taking his hand in hers. The Doctor immediately noticed and looked down at their hands, smiling.

"I mean to spend some time here on Earth. Yes, I'll be a Time Lord, but I do still have many of Donna's own memories of Earth, and as many if not more from you, Doctor. I'd like to do some of my own exploring—and I thought, perhaps, some work too."

"Work? You're going to get a job?" the Doctor said, almost in disgust.

Geoff chuckled. "Yes, but nothing we're not used to. I thought, if it'd be alright with Jack, that I might do a little work for Torchwood. A consultant perhaps."

Jack beamed. "Alright? It's more than alright, it would be outstanding!"

Geoff could tell the Doctor was feeling a bit more apprehension. He stood and approached his brother. "It's a good idea, Doctor. It'll give you and Donna some time to adventure together while she gets used to what it means to be a Time Lady. It'll give me time to explore what it means to be—me, not you, not her—just, me." He placed his hand on the other man's shoulders. "And eventually I'll come back on the TARDIS and travel with you both. Don't think you'll get rid of me so easily," he finished with a smile and pulled the Doctor into a hug.

"So, shall we get started?" Jack asked, picking up the container of nanogenes. "I recommend we do this in the medbay—just in case."

**—**—**

**Two Weeks Later**

"Geoffrey H. Smith reporting for duty!" The Time Lord was just a bit enthusiastic as he bounced through the rotating door of the Torchwood Hub.

Gwen rolled her eyes. "You do know you don't have to say that every time you come in, right?"

"Good morning, Geoff!" Jack said as he came out of his office. Any word from the Doctor and Donna?"

"Oh yes! They sent pictures!" Geoff pulled a phone out of his pocket as Jack came down to stand beside him.

As Geoff flipped through the pictures, Jack smiled. "Looks like quite the honeymoon."

"I'm quite surprised though," Gwen said as she peeked over at the pictures. 'A ship that travels through time and space and they're honeymooning on a beach in Greece?"

"Well," Geoff drawled, "when traveling through time and space is what you do all the rest of the time, time on a beach isn't such a bad idea."

"Not to mention the fact that Donna gave the Doctor a firm reminder that he'd been promising her a nice quiet beach holiday the whole time they were traveling together before."

Geoff grinned. "That too."

**—**—**

"Once I'm done with this magazine, I'm going to go get in my swimsuit and head to the pool."

He waggled his eyebrows. "I could assist with that effort, if needed."

Her right eyebrow raised as she looked at her husband. "That depends."

He frowned. "On what?"

"On if you are nice to the TARDIS while you finish up your work."

He scoffed. "I'm always nice to the TARDIS!"

Her eyebrow rose higher. "Oh really? Are you sure I'm the Time Lady you want to try that one with? I've seen the way you bang about with that hammer, mister."

He sighed and decided to change the subject. "You sent Geoff the pictures?"

"Mm-hmm," Donna said from where she sat in the jump seat, flipping through pages of a fashion magazine.

"You don't feel terribly guilty for having the TARDIS fake those pictures? For lying to him and Jack about where we're spending our honeymoon?" the Doctor said as he slid half way back under the console of the TARDIS.

"Nope," she said as she flipped another page.

The Doctor slid out from under the console again and looked up at his new wife. "And you're sure this is what you want?"

She laid the magazine down, still open to the page she'd been reading, and looked down at him. "I'm spending time with my husband, we're both doing things we enjoy—you tinkering, me reading. Next we're going to go pay a visit to the pool, then spend some time in the library watching movies on the big screen. What's not to love about that?"

"But I really did promise you a nice quiet beach holiday, Donna."

"And there will be plenty of time for that, Doctor." She took a deep breath and thought about everything the past week had held. "It really hasn't been that many days ago since we were fighting the Daleks and saving all of reality, then that whole mess with Geoff disappearing to that desert planet and my brain going all wonky. I wasn't kidding when I said I'm just as content spending time with you on the TARDIS as I would be on a beach right now."

The Doctor rolled to his side and propped his head on his hand as he looked at her. "I love you, Donna Noble."

She grinned and picked her magazine back up. "And I love you, Spaceman. Now, tinker away. I've got a few more pages to finish up. Then it's on to the next moment of forever."

"On to what?"

She peeked up over the top of the magazine. "The next moment of forever, Spaceman. We've got forever now, and we're going to enjoy each moment."

THE END