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“There, didn’t I tell you you’d have fun?”
“Fun? I’ve never been more stressed in my life!”
Donna stormed past the Doctor down the long hall in a huff. Around them the many monitors flashed with the words “Excitement done safely”, the official catchphrase of the Euphoriania business. Personally, the Doctor didn’t see the point in the safety part, but when Donna had expressed her desire for an adventure that wasn’t quite so dangerous this was the place to go. His past companions certainly hadn’t complained.
Euphoriania was an extreme virtual reality experience that offered the latest in immersive adventures. Everything was totally fake and safe, and yet it gave the thrill-seeking experience without the need to put yourself in harms way. It was one of the most popular past times of this time zone. The Doctor could always spot the fakeness, but he enjoyed the way his past companions had squealed at the dragons or gasped when the rope bridge snapped. This time, however, Donna did not seem so impressed.
The Doctor trotted to keep up. “Stressed? But, none of it was real.”
Donna flapped her hands around in frustration. “I know that. I knew it was all fake, but when a tidal pool of lava sweeps over your head, those thoughts tend to leave fairly quickly.”
“The lava wave was one of the best parts.” The Doctor insisted.
“Oh, are you sure it wasn’t the quicksand that homed in on your darkest thoughts and whispered them to you?” Donna snapped.
“Nothing wrong with self-reflection.”
“Or maybe it was that…big…blob thing with the sixteen row of teeth and…what the heck was that thing?”
The Doctor looked up thoughtfully. “Genuinely don’t know. My theory is it was a glitch during early testing that they just kept in. We beat it though, didn’t we?”
“I wanted a RELAXING time.” Donna tugged at her clothing. “And what is with the ridiculous get up?”
The Doctor looked down at his own gear. “What? It’s skin tight projection clothes. It projects the correct clothing at the correct moment.”
“Right, skin tight. That’s what I mean. Skin tight might be all right for you…” Donna struggled to find a new word to describe the Doctors figure. “…match-stick man. But for me…it doesn’t exactly do anything for my ego.”
The Doctor tutted and rolled his eyes. “Donna, don’t let the little things drag you down.”
“I’m not dragged down by the little things. I’m dragged down by one big thing and it’s because I’m dragging it around constantly myself.” Donna slapped her behind, which she immediately regretted.
They came to the main reception and Donna stormed up to the desk. The green lady behind the counter looked extremely nervous as this storm approached her.
“I want my clothes back, please and thank you.”
The green lady pressed a few buttons anxiously. “O..OK. Just Need to scan your data.” The lady stammered as she typed away. “Name please?”
“Donna Noble.” Donna spat.
A light scanned Donna and in a flash of light, the skin-tight gear was gone, and Donna was back in her own clothes. Donna patted herself down to ensure everything was in order. She walked up to the counter and leaned in to whisper to the green lady.
“Sorry love, I’ve worked behind a counter myself, I know it’s not your fault.” She said and gave the lady a reassuring wink.
The lady gave a nervous smile back and turned to the Doctor. “Sir?”
“Ah, the Doctor.” The Doctor grinned widely at the lady. “Returning customer.”
The same light covered the Doctor and as soon as it was gone, the Doctor have the lady a wink, slipped his hands in his jacket pockets and made his way to the exit.
“Listen, Donna. I’m sorry you didn’t enjoy this. Obviously, I read you wrong. I just thought that...”
The Doctor stopped at the doors and turned back to see Donna walking slowly up to him, giving him a peculiar look. A mixture of confusion and humour. The Doctor frowned at her.
“What?”
“Erm, comfortable, are you?” Donna asked with a smile.
The Doctor studied her face. “Yyyyyeeees, thank you?” He said uncertainly.
“Not feeling a little…” Donn stifled a snigger and made jazz hands. “…ta daaa?”
The Doctor was totally lost. He looked down at his clothes, and finally got the joke. His wonderful long, brown coat had seemed to have changed into a grey one, but it was too short on him. His suit was gone and in its place was a red t-shirt with a fabulous rainbow streak across the front and a pair of blue trousers being held up with suspenders, although on the Doctor they were closer to shorts than trousers. The Doctor was sure he could pull of many looks, but this would be a stretch. In this form anyway.
“What?” The Doctor looked around as if the answer was floating somewhere. “What?”
Donna had finally snapped and was clutching her side as the laughter burst forth from her. She tried to compose herself, wiping a tear from her eye. She opened her mouth to say something, but all that came forth was another barrage of laughter.
“Donna, this is not funny.” The Doctor snapped, trying to pull the t-shirt down as he realised his bellybutton was showing.
Donna bit her lip and slowed her laughing down. “No no, absolutely not. This isn’t funny at all.” The laughter burst out again. “It’s hilarious.”
The Doctor scowled at Donna, although honestly it filled him with happiness to see her laughing. Donna was extremely good at holding onto a bad mood, so this distraction was actually very well timed. Still, this didn’t explain what had happened. The Fabricationer was top of the line at clothing storage, and this kind of thing just didn’t happen. Certainly, never to the Doctor all the times he had come here. He had to get to the bottom of this
He rushed past Donna back to the reception desk. Of course, there were other people waiting to get their own clothes back. Typical. The Doctor tapped his foot impatiently as the four took their turns getting changed. Patience was never one of his strengths, and lines were up there with the Daleks as one of his arch enemies.
As the Doctor contemplated the horror of a Dalek invasion plan that involved lots of line waiting, he was almost certain he heard someone calling for him. He turned on the spot. Donna was still by the exit, leaning against the wall laughing at the Doctors misfortune. Strange, he was certain he heard his name. Still, at least the people in front of him had finished changing.
The Doctor brushed past them. “Excuse me, ma’am. As much as I dig the look, I’m certain these clothes aren’t mine.”
The lady looked worried and tapped at her buttons. “That can’t be right. The machines reads every client and logs every name. These are definitely the Doctors clothes.”
“Yes, they certainly are.” A voice came from behind the Doctor.
The Doctor turned to see a blonde lady. She was giving him a big smile that seemed oh so familiar. More importantly, she was wearing a large, brown coat and dashing brown suit and tie that were comically too large for her. She raised her hand and the sleeve slid down her arm as she waved at the Doctor.
“Hello again. Love the jacket.”
The Doctor ran through all the possibilities in his head. One, this woman was a thief. Two, this woman was mad. Three, this woman was a genius. The Doctor settled on four, this woman was…
“Doctor?” He said uncertainly, squinting at his future face.
“Well, that’s a nice surprise. Usually takes us a little longer than that.” The new Doctor said happily.
The Doctor smirked. “Well, the clothes were kind of a give-away.” He motioned to his own clothes she was wearing.
“Doctor? Who’s that?” A young lady moved forward next to the new Doctor, eyeing the man suspiciously.
“Oh Yaz, don’t you know by now?” The new Doctor said. “It’s not like this is the first time this has happened.”
The Doctor tutted. “Making a habit of bursting in on your past selves, are you?”
“Well, why break the habit of a lifetime?” The new Doctor quipped.
“But I thought you said the old, Scottish man was you?” A young man joined the two ladies in eyeing the Doctor.
“Old Scottish man, young skinny man, short wizardly man. A lot of men, now I think about it.” The new Doctor said.
The Doctor eyed his future self. “Don’t recall the Old Scottish one. Guessing I’ve got that to look forward to next?”
The new Doctor thought for a second. “To save confusion…sure, why not.”
“Doctor, what are you doing?”
Donna had managed to compose herself and strolled over to join the confusion. She spotted the new Doctor wearing her Doctors clothes and stared at her blankly. She looked back at the Doctor and then back to the new Doctor.
“Guessing I missed something?”
The Doctor placed his hands on Donnas shoulders and tried to lead her away. “Nope, didn’t miss a thing. Go wait in the TARDIS.”
Before they could leave however, the new Doctor piped up excitedly. “Donna!”
Donna looked at the woman confused. “Do I know you?”
“Yes.” The new Doctor beamed.
“No.” The Doctor snapped.
The new Doctor looked at the Doctor with an angry glare. She soon wiped it off her face though when she saw his expression. He didn’t look angry, he looked nervous. She realised now wasn’t the time for messing around and turned to her own group.
“Guys, head back to the…” She caught herself before she said the word “TARDIS”, and looked over at Donna. “…head back. I’ll meet you there.”
They didn’t argue. With a few confused glances, the three companions headed to the exit. The Doctor was pleasantly surprised. He was so used to his companions arguing with him. He almost looked forward to having the three that did as they were told. He looked over to Donna and gave her the look he saved to let her know he meant business. She gave him the “you better tell me later” look and skulked off to the exit. The Doctor watched her leave, hoping against hope that she would head to the right TARDIS.
“I’m sorry.”
The voice caught him off guard. He turned to see his future self with her hands in his pockets. She looked a little sheepish. He turned to the green lady behind the counter, who at this point was no longer looking nervous, rather totally baffled.
“Listen, we’ve got mixed up. Your system read us both as the Doctor because we are. But these aren’t the right clothes. Just switch them, please.”
The new Doctor stepped forward. “I mean, we could just do it ourselves.”
The Doctor waved an impatient hand. “Too long, let’s do this quickly.”
The green lady looked over at the new Doctor for confirmation. She was staring at her past self, trying to read his face. She turned to the green lady and nodded to her. With a few pressed buttons, a bright light enveloped them both, and just like that they were back in their own clothes.
The Doctor straightened his brown jacket and nodded at the green lady, giving her a smile. “Thanks.” He turned to his future self and his smile faded. “Well then, best be off.”
The Doctor mad his way quickly to the exit. As he reached for the doors, he felt a hand on his shoulder. He spun to see the future Doctor frowning at him.
“Seems like a silly thing to ask myself, but what’s on your mind?” She asked.
The Doctor sighed. “Nothing.”
The new Doctor smiled at him. “Doctor, we both know you can’t lie to yourself.”
The Doctor couldn’t help but smirk. It quickly faded as he realised, she was right. “Not long ago, I went to the library.”
Nothing else needed said, the new Doctor knew what was wrong. The library, Where River Song gave her life. Of course, to this young Doctor, he didn’t quite know what that meant, but he knew it meant something big.
“I’m sorry.” The new Doctor said, looking down at her shoes.
“I know I can’t ask, and I don’t want to know. But…” He faltered. “…she didn’t know Donna. That was a reminder, at some point I will lose her, like I lose all of them. And then I see you. You without her.”
The new Doctor looked up at her past self. He was looking towards the doors, almost as if he could see Donna through them. His eyes were wide and wet, it broke her hearts to see him like that. She wished she could think of something comforting to say.
“Life goes on.” That wasn’t comforting at all, she scolded herself.
“Yes, and don’t get me wrong, they seem lovely.” He was referring to her companions, she knew. “But, the longer I see you, the more I realise that Donna and I are nearing the end. I don’t know how it will happen, but you’re walking proof that it will.”
The two stood in silence. It seemed to cut through to the Doctors core. She tutted, thumped him on the shoulder and gave him a reassuring smile.
“You always were the dramatic one.”
He scowled at her. The scowl quickly turned into a grin. At least his upbeat attitude was still around, he thought. He reached out a hand. The new Doctor took it in hers and shook vigorously.
“It’s a pleasure, Doctor.” He said, nodding to her.
“Always is, Doctor.” The new Doctor nodded back.
The Doctor walked through the doors, leaving his future behind him. Not many people could do that. The thought of Donna waiting for him in the TARDIS filled him with joy, sadness, but most of all, curious about what he was going to say to her when she grilled him.