Ending of the Hours (Book Four of the Bad Wolf Chronicles)

Midnight

For clarification, if anyone's forgotten, if whole quotes are in italics, that's the Doctor and/or Jessie speaking telepathically.

***

"I said no."

Jessie snickered as she held her phone between the Doctor and herself, seeing the Doctor make a face at Donna's response. "Sapphire waterfall," he tried to convinced her. "It's a waterfall made of sapphires! This enormous jewel, the size of a glacier reaches the Cliffs of Oblivion, and then shatters into sapphires at the edge. They fall a hundred thousand feet into a crystal ravine."

"I bet you say that to all the girls," Donna huffed.

"Oh, there's one girl I could only be more descriptive to," the Doctor smirked, seeing Jessie blush beside him. "And she's the one that's glittering more than that waterfall." It was true. After coaxing from Donna, Jessie was stepping outside her comfort zone, wearing a short sparkling silver dress with sparkling sequins, a layered diamond choker necklace, but she had not replaced her bangles or earrings. But she was not happy with the fact that she was wearing high heeled silver sandals, but she was rather pleased that she was wearing the same silver colored leggings. "Really, she's a walking diamond. The only money I'd be willing to give for."

"Stop it," Jessie muttered. "I look terrible."

"You look gorgeous," the Doctor corrected, putting an arm around her. "But really, Donna, they're boarding now. It's no fun if we see it on our own! Four hours. That's all it takes."

"No, that's four hours there, and four hours back," Donna told him. "That's like a school trip. I'd rather go sunbathing."

"You be careful," the Doctor warned. "That's Xtonic sunlight."

"Oh, I'm safe," Donna promised. "It says in the brochure this glass is fifteen feet thick."

"Give it up," Jessie advised. "She's not budging."

The Doctor sighed. "All right. I give up. We'll be back for dinner. We'll try that anti-gravity restaurant. With bibs."

"That's a date." Donna paused. "Well, not a date." She groaned. "Oh, you know what I mean. Oh, get off!"

"See you later, Donna," Jessie laughed.

"Oi!" she barked at them. "And you be careful, all right?"

"Nah," the Doctor laughed. "Taking a big space truck with a bunch of strangers across a diamond planet called Midnight? What could possibly go wrong?"

Jessie looked pointedly at him. "Jinx," she grumbled as she hung up.

***

The two of them sat down in one of the front few rows, Jessie by the window. "Seriously, I look like horrible," Jessie was saying.

"You look gorgeous," the Doctor told her honestly. "Would you have rather Donna convinced you to get into something worse?"

That shut her up. The Doctor chuckled, patting her on the shoulder as a dark-skinned hostess walked through the compartment. "Complimentary juice pack and complimentary peanuts," she told an older woman in front.

"Just the headphones, please," she replied.

"There you go," the hostess replied, handing them over before coming up to the Time Lords. "That's the headphones for channels one to thirty six," she told them, handing them over as Jessie examined them in interest. "Modem link for 3D video games. Complimentary earplugs. Complimentary slippers. Complimentary juice pack, and complimentary peanuts. I must warn you some products may contain nuts."