Apologies and explanations as to my EXTREME delaying in writing will be at the end of this chapter. For now, read away! Please! Go!

CHAPTER TWO

If there was one thing the Doctor had missed since he had returned Donna to her family roughly two years earlier, it was that look of sheer ginger-fury that took control of her entire face when he did something that was, by her standards, excessively rude or totally unacceptable. He had spent many nights alone on the TARDIS trying to remember the exact way her face would contort when moments like this occurred, how her eyebrows would rise halfway up her forehead as her jaw plunged toward to floor, forming an 'o' that meant he was about to get an earful. Sometimes he wondered how much he would give up just to see Donna Noble shoot him a patented Death Glare; sometimes he thought he'd give anything just to see that one last time.

It was a good thing he hadn't. Looking at her now, with her flashing eyes and angry pursed lips, the Doctor realized he had forgotten one important thing that went hand in hand with this trademarked moment; fear. Donna Noble could be scary.

The Doctor could feel Rory and Amy's eyes boring into his back as he watched his old friend stomp angrily towards them. He knew they had a lot of questions, as did he, but he also knew there was no stopping Donna once she had gotten started which, if the way she aggressively stomped to a stop in front of him was any indication, appeared to be happening right this second.

"Hi, Donna," he offered weakly, knowing his greeting would in no way soften the blow that was coming.

He was right about that. "'Hi Donna'? Are you blinkin' serious?" Donna snapped, eyes blazing like fire. "You think, that after all this time, after all you've done, after all you've put me through, that THAT is an appropriate greeting to give me?" She shook her head. "You're off your head, Spaceman."

"What was I supposed to say, then?" he asked, taking a step forward. "You caught me off guard, Donna! I didn't have time to plan a hearty welcoming message for you or compose a song!"

"A song? Do you not realize how very angry I am with you, and you're telling jokes?"

The Doctor waved his arms in a slightly manic way. "Well, I'm sorry! I have no idea how to even react right now! I never even expected this moment could ever happen!"

"Well," Donna snarled back, "If you hadn't abandoned me back on Earth, it wouldn't have to!"

The pair stopped for a moment, angrily glaring at each other. Amy took this opportunity to voice her confusion as to this entire situation with the strange angry woman. "Doctor?" she asked tentatively. "What's going on here?"

Amy immediately regretted her words; two sharp eyes instantly flew to her face before raking over her body in a calculated way. "This must be your new companion then, is she?" the woman sassed. "Tiny little thing, isn't she? Oh, but look at the hair on her! Red." She raised an eyebrow at the Doctor, deliberately pushing a lock of her own flame hair from her face. "Well. Isn't that wizard." It was then her eyes fell on poor Rory, who was trying to blend in with the TARDIS interior and remain unnoticed. Her gaze made him take another few steps back."And what have we here?" she continued. "Got yourself a man this time, eh, Doctor?" She laughed, a short, hard sound. "I've been inside your head, Doctor and I have to say, I didn't think you swung that way."

"I don't!" the Doctor said defensively. "He's Amy's husband!"

"Oh, right," Donna said sarcastically. "Next you'll be telling me you kept Jack around for Rose's sake!"

The Doctor's expression hardened at the mention of the blonde's name. "This is about you and me, Donna. There's no need to bring her into this," he said, his voice almost a whisper.

"Oh, yes there is!" Donna snapped with a great deal more volume than the Timelord had used. "Because I know you, Doctor. I know how tough you are, how well you handle the devastating situations you 'just happen across'. So I know," she continued, turning her face away from the Doctor's, "that you don't let any of it bother you. You have this uncanny, alien ability to push away all the pain you feel and hide it, as if it's all just a minor inconvenience to you and not life-shattering or even overly upsetting. You could always hide it all from me … except when it came to Rose," she finished bitterly. Donna kept her back turned, hiding her expression from the three faces who were staring at her.

The Doctor blinked. "I'm confused. Where is this going?"

The red-head let out a shaky sigh. "I used to be like you, Doctor," came her reply. "Fearless. Strong. Independent." Another sigh escaped Donna's lips. "I used to be like you … and I still am, now even more than before." Donna turned around, at last meeting the Doctor's eyes again; to his surprise, they were beginning to well with tears. "Because I feel that pain now, Doctor," she said. "I know what it's like to lose the person you care the most about in this entire universe, the one you would do anything for… I feel that," she choked out as she tried to stifle a sob, "because I lost you."

The console fell silent. No one seemed to know what do to next or what move to make. Amy and Rory were especially lost. Having just been bombarded with names of mutual friends the Doctor and this strange Donna woman apparently shared, none of who they had ever heard mentioned, much less this Donna herself, the couple was desperately trying to make some sense of the situation. They were each a little miffed; this frightening older woman had somehow gotten into their TARDIS, verbally attacked them and their best friend and was stomping around like she was the centre of the universe. The anger brought on by these actions, though, also did not entirely deter the feelings of pity Amy and Rory felt for Donna. She had obviously been hurt in some way and was now on the verge of tears. What were they to do? What were they to say? The Ponds' minds whirred as they tried to comprehend what was happening.

The awkward moment's pause finally broke when the Doctor crossed to Donna and slowly moved his hands to grasp the sides of her arms. "Donna Noble," he said softly, causing her eyes to look up to meet his. "I've said it before, far too many times, and I'm sure that one day I'll say it again, but Donna … I am so sorry."

At that Donna succumbed to her tears and she fell into the Doctor's arms, pulling him into a tight hug. Sobs wracked her body as Amy and Rory watched from afar, taking in the drastic mood change this peculiar women had undergone and noting the fresh tears forming in the Doctor's eyes.

"Can I just say," Rory leaned in and whispered to Amy, "that this has been THE strangest day?"

"Agreed," Amy breathed.

"And I don't mean that lightly," he muttered, either to himself or to Amy. "I mean, one morning I woke up and was plastic. That day wasn't exactly a doozy either."

"Shhh," Amy hushed him. The Doctor and Donna had seemingly finished their tender moment and were talking quietly some distance away.

"You've changed, I see. For real this time, I mean," Donna was saying, taking in the bow-tied man's new exterior.

"Well, you know, I only keep so many hands in stock," he joked. Donna laughed. "So," he asked, somewhat skeptically but mostly with excitement, "what do you think?"

Donna circled him with sharp eyes. "It's … different," she said.

The Doctor stiffened, defensive. "Hey! What's that supposed to mean?"

"Nothing, nothing!" Donna said, raising her hands in surrender. "It's just …" she trailed off with a smile. "You're my 'lanky stick of nothing' anymore, I suppose."

"Yes, well, what can you do?" he shrugged. "I do kind of miss the hair, though," he said, raising a hand to touch it. "It was so … edgy."

"Well, this new do's got a nice color to it, I suppose," Donna offered.

The Doctor huffed. "I guess. I was really hoping to be ginger this time. Ooh! he suddenly cried with a flourish of his arms. "New plan! Next time, I'm going to regenerate as you!"

Donna laughed. "Another Doctor-Donna? I don't know how many more of me the planet can stand!"

"Speaking of that," the Doctor suddenly recalled, "is that how you got into my TARDIS? With your knowledge from the meta-crisis?"

Donna tapped on her head, smiling. "It was easy. I just applied a tiny electromagnetic shock to the flip drive which, when paired with the neuron relay I applied to the door using the battery of my car and the slight trace of your DNA my body retained from my transformation, I was able to create a reaction in the – "

"I get it. You unlocked the door. Hooray for you," the Doctor shushed her before she could go any further. "Is that what I sound like when I explain things? Good God, that was boring." He brushed off Donna's eye-roll and continued on. "I guess this means you still have some Timelord smarts kicking around in that pretty little head of yours."

"Most of it, I think," Donna said. "I'm trying to careful, though. It hurts when I try to remember certain things, and I know I should be dead right now …" She met the Doctor's eyes. "Why is it that I'm still alive, Doctor? You said this was impossible."

"It is."

"Then how am I still here?"

"I don't know," he said stiffly.

Donna huffed. "I know that expression, new face or not," she grumbled. "You at least have a theory on why this has happened." The Doctor's mouth twitched. "Oi!" Donna said, cutting him off as he opened his mouth to deny it. "Let's hear it. Now."

The Doctor was silent for a moment. "It's probably nothing, just a coincidence," he finally started, "but …"

"What?"

The Doctor said nothing. His hand pulled a hanky out of his coat pocket, which he wrapped around his hand before pulling the object he had found under a bush mere minutes before. He held it out for Donna to see, watching her expression with a guarded one of his own. Her face fell pale and took on a slight edge of panic as her eyes flew back from the object to meet his as she wordlessly confirmed she had understood what the object's presence had most likely meant.

"Have you told them?" she asked, gesturing to the Ponds, who were too deep in a discussion on Donna's potential back story to notice the shift in her attention.

"No," he said. "I'd rather you didn't either, not until we're sure. I don't want them to panic."

Donna frowned. "Are you sure? These are your friends, Doctor. They have a right to know, especially if they're in danger!" Her eyes narrowed. "Don't you trust them? Don't you care at all?"

The Doctor smiled. "Completely."

Donna took a last glance in the couple's direction before sucking in a breath and nodding. The Doctor returned the object to his pocket and the old friends began to decide what to do next. Things between Donna and Amy and Rory would have to be smoothed over and explained. They would have to figure out why Donna's memory had returned, and how it was possible for her to survive this occurrence.

And, most importantly, they had to discover why the small, golden bulb the Doctor had found under a bush was present, and what the tiny piece of technology meant in terms of the Earth's future.

If there was one thing Donna Noble hadn't missed since her separation of the Doctor, it was the constant threat of the Daleks that, hard as they tried, they could never seem to escape.

*waves frantically like a maniac* HI GUYS! Remember me? I am that AWFUL, AWFUL fanfiction writing who has seriously been negleting all their fanfiction duties! Hi!

I really don't have a GOOD excuse for not updating sooner. Basically, I got thrown back into the hectic 'real world' when summer ended and got so preoccupied I've had zero time to write. Then, when I DID, I could not for the life of me remember what I had inteneded to happen next. It's like the Plot Monster came and ate all my ideas up like Oreos, leaving me with a supreme case of the dreaded Writer's Block. (I've had some fluff peices in mind, but didn't want to write them until I made some progress on my current multi-chaptered fics.)

I had to force myself to sit down and just WRITE to get anywhere with this story. I'm really trying to get back into the groove. Because of this, this is not my best piece of wrting (My first thought afterwards was 'Ohai, dialogue ...') but it has helped me reconfigure and make sense of all my ideas.

I wish I could promise you all a speedy update, but I know I probably can't with my current schedule. To everyone who has asked in your lovely reviews, YES, I AM continuing this story .. Its just taking a long while. (The same goes for my Veronica Mars fic, 'Patient', if anyone is reading that as well.)

Thank you for your support, and I hope you enjoyed this new chapter! You are all fantastic people!

And guess what - fantastic people tend to leave reviews ... *winkwink*

Thanks so much again!

- LifelongObsessor