The Fool On Mott Hill (Doctor Who)

Chapter 6

The Doctor focused on the present when Donna knelt beside him in the grass. She put her hand over his. "I'm so sorry for your losses, Stewart. I lost my dad and grandad. It hurts like fire but we soldier on, don't we? We keep the good times close to our hearts."

"I certainly try." The Doctor heaved a loud sigh. "Donna, I know I lost someone. She's like a story, but I cannae seem to get it straight in my head. I remember our time together, but not her. I must sound like a dafty, right?" A tear escaped his eye and Donna put her arm over him.

"Ya poor man. It's like a huge piece of your life's been torn away from ya. You know it, but ya can't prove it. Wanderin' around like a lost soul, always searchin' but never finding. Believe me, I know the feelin' all too well."

"Yes, I think you rightly do." He mumbled. "And for that, I'm so sorry."

Donna stared at him in awe. "You don't have to apologize." She hunched her shoulders and the Doctor cocked his brow. He knew what was coming next. Donna's self-loathing. She put on a smile that did little to hide the pain in her eyes.

"It was probably my fault anyways. I'm not clever or very bright about things. I mean, blimey, if I'm gonna forget someone like that, maybe I really didn't deserve to know 'em in the first place."

"I imagine I was exactly what my friend deserved. As for you Donna, whoever he is, I'm sure it was his greatest triumph and blessing to have ya in his life. Ya hafta believe it."

She shrugged and couldn't meet his softened glare. "Sometimes I do. It might take a long while, but it's true what they say 'bout time healing all wounds. I don't mean to sound trite."

"If there's one thing I know, Donna. It's time. I believe it too."

"Then maybe your time for healin' already started just by coming here." Donna said gently.

~~Oo~~

The Doctor stole a withering gaze at the TARDIS parked on the next hill. Her top light blinked at him as if to say, "I told you so."

"Sexy" knew he'd stalled coming after losing his wife and she decided he'd moped around long enough. It wasn't all about him. Visiting Donna Noble was one of River's last wishes. Her beloved thief was wasting away, and letting her get run-down in the process. She hadn't looked this worn out since the Time War. In fact, neither had he. The TARDIS' made her concern known. Her thief just stared at the fireplace for hours, or rifled through memorabilia leftover by companions he'd lost. His mind was a slew of bitter memories, replaying like a broken record all the moments he'd thought he failed them.

This was all wrong. He was a Doctor born of hope. She'd even given him a shiny new Sonic Screwdriver. But now he was back to his unruly hair and whiskers, mismatched, depressing clothes (Still better than his glaring 6th regeneration) and strumming melancholic tunes that he wrote for his companions on his guitar. One time he dragged out all their beautiful oil portraits for an audience. He rebuilt his Sonic sunglasses to hide his magnificent eyes, because they were constantly swollen and brimming with tears.

The TARDIS nearly crash landed after tearing out of one of his brooding junkets through deep space. She put a lock-down on the control panel and a shield around the console. He reverted back to Ten's behavior, pulling out her wires, banging her buttons with his hammer, kicking, yanking, tugging. Oh, this Doctor had a mouth on him when he called her a slew of Scottish curses. The TARDIS didn't care, and she flipped and tossed him to and fro until they hurtled to Chiswick, 2016.

She'd made him keep his promise from Donna's dreamscape, and remembered her pleas. The TARDIS took the liberty of playing it for the Doctor as she raced to reunite them.