Eek! It has been too long! :o

I’m sorry – I have been busy :( And somehow my one Donna/Master oneshot managed to become a three-shot and I know for sure there is more in down the pipe line o.O LOL! But, now I feel sufficiently ill enough to lie in bed and type (:

………
You know what only JUST hit me!

I have had this story for over a year. Over a year! Like, 13 months and 12 days!

It has been a busy year though :) but a good one. Filled with good and bad times, quick updates and slo-o-o-o-ow updates, me moving to the back and beyond (Sweden lol) and being fraught with internetlessness, and, perhaps the lowest point for all of us, Donna and Rose being sucked into the black hole of “Written Out Of DW”; predecessors include the likes of the 9th Doctor, Ricky from the Parallel Universe, Davros, the Master and soon the 10th Doctor will follow. *is bitter*

Wow, here is me getting all nostalgic! *sniffs* I’ll be quiet now! *sob*

Disclaimer: IF I OWNED DOCTOR WHO, “HUMAN NATURE” WOULD BE A REALITY AND I WOULD NOT CRY EVERYTIME I WATCH SERIES 4’S FINALE. *growl*

Human Nature

Chapter 17 (a year and I only managed 17? Jeeeeez.. -.-”)

Donna leant her forehead against the damp wooden door of the church, squeezing her eyes shut as she listened to the faint sounds of Jack’s footsteps walking away.

She should of realised. She should of realised that Jack felt for her like…well, like he does. And she shouldn’t have let herself fall as she had. They couldn’t be together; they led conflicting lifestyles and she knew he would run a mile once he found out that she…

“Donna?”

She turned at her name to see John standing up by the altar, Rose sitting in the pew nearest him. She quickly shook of the remaining thoughts of Jack, knowing that now they were alone and safe, she would have questions to answer.

“There must be something we can do,” Rose whispered, drawing her knees up onto the seat with her and wrapping her arms around them.

“You are in no condition to do anything,” John reminded her tactfully.

“But still! We can’t just leave Jack to do everything!” Rose exclaimed, looking up at Donna hopefully, “What if we open that watch, yeah? What’ll happen then?”

Donna sighed and twisted her hands together, looking down at them. John sat down on the pew in front of Rose’s and also looked up at her.

“This watch,” Donna said gently, extracting it from her pocket, “Contains all the Doctor’s Time Lord consciousness; without it, he’s John Smith, a human. As soon as it is opened…the Doctor will come back. And John Smith will be…”

“Gone,” Rose said quietly into her knees, before laughing humourlessly, “S’funny how quickly I’m acceptin’ these ideas.”

“There’s got to be something else!” John cried desperately, “Let me stay me for a bit longer!”

“I’m not opening the watch, John, calm down. As soon as you’re a Time Lord again, they’ll be able to smell you and we’ll be found.”

Rose cringed slightly.

“What else can we do then?” John asked, looking a bit perkier.

“Nothing.” Donna said gently, “There’s nothing we can do.”

The hysterical look came back, “There must be something! Anything! You’re the Doctor’s companion! Can’t you do anything?”

Donna opened her mouth to speak but he cut her off.

“What exactly does he need you for, Donna?”

Her mouth shut quickly and she stared at him, hurt written all across her face.

“What does he need me for?” she asked quietly, angrily, “I could ask you the same. What do you need me for? What do you need Rose for? What do you need anyone for? So you have friends. So you’re not lonely and, God help me, the Doctor is the loneliest person in the whole world!”

“And that’s what you want me to become?” John rebuked.

Donna scowled and held out the watch.

“Hold it.”

“No!”

“Just…hold it.”

“Make me!”

“Don’t try me…”

“John, just do as she says. Donna is the expert here.” Rose coaxed, touching his shoulder.

“See? Listen to your gal-pal, Johnny,” Donna grinned, trying to be slightly more light-hearted, “It…wants to be held,”

“‘Wants’ to be held? Donna. It’s a watch.”

Donna sighed and looked down at the watch, tracing the intricate swirls with one finger.

“It’s not just a watch. It’s got a whole existence in it. And it’s waiting.”

“Waiting?” Rose repeated, her voice trembling.

‘Donna…’ a ghostly voice said; Donna remembered all the times during the night that she had stared down at this small watch and heard the same, strange voice.

“The Doctor…” she continued, still transfixed by the watch, “He’s…like fire and ice and rage. He's like the night and the storm in the heart of the sun.”

“Shut up,” John said, burying his face in his hands.

“He's ancient and forever.” Donna continued as if John hadn’t spoken, “He burns at the centre of time and he can see the turn of the universe.”

“Shut up!” John suddenly exclaimed, leaping to his feet and stepping close to Donna, threateningly. Her head snapped up, and their eyes met as John breathed heavily and Donna sighed shakily.

“And he’s wonderful,” she concluded, so quietly he almost couldn’t hear. John stared at her a moment more before sighing, sitting back down heavily. Rose swallowed and picked up her bag, retracting a familiar small book.

“Your journal,” she said quietly, “I still have it.”

“They’re just stories. Just dreams I had,” John mumbled into his hands. Rose slowly shook her head.

“I think we know now that they’re not,” Rose breathed, opening the journal.

“But they are!” he whined, shaking his hand stubbornly.

Donna sat on the pew behind Rose and peered over her shoulder to the book.

“Oh,” she said fondly, and both John and Rose looked at her. She blinked a moment before tapping the page in Rose’s lap, adorned with a familiar scrawling handwriting and a neatly drawn picture of a strange man in a mask, with light shining from the visor over his eyes.

“That was an adventure we had a couple of months ago – stuck on this ship with 42 minutes to save the crew before we fell into a nearby sun,” she chuckled nostalgically.

Rose smiled sarcastically, “Oh, fun.”

“Well, it wasn’t then, but now I look back…”

Rose swallowed before asking quietly, "Were the two of you...like...?"

Donna gazed at Rose, her eyes wide and face giving nothing away. Rose's face fell.

"Oh...I see."

Donna nodded before suddenly she burst out laughing, "Of course we weren't, you prawn! I can't even imagine why you want to be with him."

Rose laughed along with Donna, clearly relieved.

John eyed Donna curiously before taking the journal, turning back to one of the earlier entries to reveal an almost identical page, except the drawing was of an ancient television with a woman on screen, with coiffed dark hair and a big lipstick-ed smile.

“The Wire,” Donna grinned, “An alien who, like, lived in TVs and somehow stole people’s faces when they watched it. Including mine. Mum always did say watching all that television wasn’t good for me…”

“You sound like you sure have had some adventures,” Rose whispered, all laughter gone.

“I have,” Donna sighed, shifting before looking towards John, “John…I have traveled with the Doctor for a long time now. The best part of four years. I have seen him go through some scary stuff but he’s always come through for me. He’s looked after me and saved me more times than I care to mention, and I like to think I’ve done the same for him. And now, I am the one in charge; he gave me a whole list to follow and I’ve tried to follow it as well as I could. I am the one who’s had to keep him from doing stupid stuff and I miss him so much. Four years I’ve traveled with him and, even though he doesn’t know it, he is all I have! The whole world needs him; I need him. And I know it’s scary to think about but…it’s not just about you, John. It’s about—”

“A list?” John suddenly cut her off, “You say he gave you a list?”

“Yes, a list of things to watch out for,”

“And I take it this list didn’t include the possibility of me falling in love? Cos you’re right, Donna, this isn’t just about me! This is about me, and Rose…and our child. She’s pregnant, Rose! Your Doctor gave you a whole list but he never mentioned this, hmm?”

“No. He didn’t,” Donna admitted, “I guess the possibility never crossed his mind, and I could only stand by – I could hardly stop you,”

“What sort of man doesn’t expect that?” John asked with a humorless laugh, “And you expect me to go back to that?”

“It was always going to end, though! The Doctor said the Family's got a limited lifespan. That's why they need to consume a Time Lord. Otherwise, one year months and they die. And they’ve already gone through nine of them.” Donna told him.

“So your job was just to kill me?” John exclaimed, “Leaving my pregnant girlfriend?”

“Not kill!” Donna snapped, “And don’t keep throwing that pregnancy back in my face – you didn’t even want to believe it when we found the test!”

“You found my test?!” Rose suddenly wailed, making the other two jump in her sudden loudness – since they’d arrived, she’d been quiet as a mouse.

“Yes.” John told her, not looking away from Donna’s face, “We found it in our bathroom,”

“In your…bathroom?” Rose asked, her voice back down to a normal volume. John looked at her, hearing the confusion in her voice. Donna swallowed nervously, feeling her stomach flip over.

“Yes. Why?” John asked.

“It’s just…I never took one in your house. I found out at my doctor’s,” Rose said in a hoarse voice.

“Then who…?” John began, before cutting off. Simultaneously, he and Rose’s heads both turned to look at Donna who couldn’t meet their gaze, instead choosing to stare at her hands.

“Oh. My. God…” John breathed, his hand coming up to rub his eyes.

“It was your test,” Rose said gently, “Donna…”

She was cut off by John.

“You’re pregnant as well!”

………

who saw it coming? Whoever did gets a Chibi!Jack :D

He was the only one who would strip down for cloning *pouts*

Then again, why am I surprised? *face palm*

Review!! :D