Facing His Fears: A Doctor Who Fan Fiction

Chapter Four

To Donna's surprise, The Doctor ordered her a fish and chips, but it wasn't any fish she had seen before.

"Any ideas what kind of fish?" she asked, nodding towards her plate.

"it's called a Rhynok" he said with a mouthful of food "one of our delicacies" he continued. She eyed him with content.

"Always the gentleman" she said as she took a bite. Donna's eyes widened and for a moment The Doctor thought that she was going to spit it out but instead his companion took another bite before she finished her first. Realizing his mistake, The Doctor smacked himself on the forehead. He had completely forgotten that she as a human was going to be completely infatuated with the food they served on his home planet, well, parallel home planet.

The two friends ate their food in a calming silence and smiled sweetly at each other signaling that they were simply happy to be in the presence of each other.

"I'm happy that there was at least one thing the same as your own home" Donna said lovingly. The Time Lord nodded in agreement as he swallowed the last bit of food he had in his mouth.

"Now, that was delicious" he said standing up as he put his trench coat back on. He was looking around again deep in thought, Donna thought to herself "Something is off with him, well, everything is off, but something is bothering him" She needed to get to the bottom to why he was looking around so intently.

"Doctor?" She said quietly.

"hm"

"Are you ok? You look worried."

"Remember when I told you about the Gelth?" He said, looking at her. Donna nodded her head. She had no idea what to think, The Doctor never really did go into detail about their last encounter.

"I'm pretty sure that's who's behind this" he said quietly so no one around them could hear. Donna's eyes grew wide in surprise.

"What happened last time?" she asked just as quietly taking his lead. He let out a deep breath that he had no idea that he was holding.

"I took Rose to Cardiff during Christmas, and they were taking over dead bodies from a funeral home, there was this girl, sort of like a medium and she brought them to our world through the rift in the basement." The Doctor looked at her with intent. Continuing he said "I felt bad for them because they said that they lost their physical form because of the time war but instead of peacefully finding a new way and place to live they just wanted to overthrow the earth and I'm very nervous that they brought us, well, me to get revenge and I'm sorry that I put this on you" he finished looking at her with incredibly sad eyes.

"I can send." He started but she cut him off putting her hand up "why would I want to go back and not help you, on top of that you have no idea if you even could send me back" He looked at her deeply, she really was a remarkable woman that he loved deeply. This love, like Donna, was not romantic but strong and deep all the same.

He still had feelings for Rose, his Rose. He thought back to the last time he saw her on the beach and the fact that he never got to say those incredibly special three words. It killed him to his core. The face that she had given him quickly before he disappeared was heart breaking.

"You're thinking about her, aren't you?" Donna questioned wiping a tear away that was traveling down his cheek. Giving her a small smile, he nodded. It was truly clear that no one else was like Rose and that was just that. He loved all his companions, but she had done something to her, showed him it was ok to love and to forgive himself for what he had done. Being in this parallel universe, on his home planet gave him little solace in knowing what he did.

"I don't think that Rose would want you to be acting like this Doctor" Donna said shaking him out of his thoughts. He stayed quiet knowing that she was right but that didn't take the pain away of not being around her and letting her down when she needed him most.

"We have an adventure to go on and Gelth to find" he said straightening himself up. Still visibly upset but he was trying to show that he was going to be ok. Standing up from the table they were sitting at, he put his arm out and indicated for her to loop her arm into his.

"Ever the gentleman" Donna laughed.

As they left, she turned to him "Did you only explain about the Gelth so you could talk about Rose?" she was smiling and at first, he thought she was making fun of him. "No, I just wanted to be completely honest with you" he said dryly There was something in his voice that again put Donna on edge.

Donna stopped and looked at him with concern "You don't remember telling me, do you?"

The Doctor looked at her with surprise "Of course I remember telling you it was merely minutes ago" She stopped and put her hands on her hips "So, you remember telling me both times?" She exaggerated the words she spoke.

"Yes, I do." he said as he pulled her arm to keep them moving. She shrugged it off but still had slight worry in her mind.

"What now?" she said, looping her arm back into his.

"I think we should start at the local funeral home, where everything started back in our universe" he said.

Donna shrugged and allowed herself to be led by The Doctor. She looked at him slightly confused by his attitude; he was calm but there was an edge to his expression that she couldn't put her finger on. There was a hardness to his expression that worried her slightly, what if he got reckless? There was no way that she was going to be able to control "the oncoming storm" as he referred to himself.

"What's bothering you?" She asked briefly looking at him.

"There's something wrong with this entire city" he began "I don't know what it is but there is something strange that I can't put my finger on" he finished.