You Reap What You Sow (42&43 of 45)

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Chapter Forty-two:  Donna's Choice

Donna Noble opened her front door to see the Doctor standing there. She raised her hand threateningly and he took a step back from the door. She promptly shut it in his face. He rang the door bell again, every few seconds until she opened the door. “Git,” she said and slammed it in his face again. This time he leaned on the doorbell, not letting up.

“I can do this all day, Donna!” he shouted through the door.

Donna opened the door, reached out and grabbed him by the tie and forcefully dragged him into her house. “What do you want?” she snapped, folding her arms over her chest.

“To apologize.”

“After two years?” she asked incredulous. “What makes you think I’d accept it after so long?” she demanded.

“It’s been two years? Oh, Donna, I didn’t know. It’s only been a few days for me. I must have been off on the computations,” he told her.

“So what else is new?” she wanted to know. But her angry posture relaxed slightly.

“Rose and I fought. It was really bad, Donna. She thought I was going to leave her the same way I left you,” he said.

“You’d never! Not to Rose,” she said adamantly.

“Well, someone believes in me,” he muttered.

“I believe in your love for Rose,” Donna said. “She never saw what you were like when she was gone. Anyone who had would know. Anyone with half a brain can see it. It’s only love itself that makes her blind.”

“I’ve missed you,” he said. “Rose and I both have.”

“Where is Rose?” Donna asked.

“I dropped her off at Dr. Visily’s office. She said I was a big boy and I could go fix my mess on my own. She also said to tell you that she loves you, you’re part of our family and she wants you to come back,” he explained.

“And what do you want, Doctor?” she asked probingly.

“I want you to come back, too. We need you, Donna. I need you. I…I hate it that you’re not there. And I’m sorry. I am so sorry. Everything you said to me that day was true. All of it. I was reeling from what happened to Cassi. And grieving. I know it’s no excuse, but I was out of my head.”

“Aren’t you usually?” she asked, deadpan.

He cracked a smile. “I’ve lost a lot of people in my life, Donna. People that I cared about a great deal. People that I loved. I don’t want you to be one of them,” the Doctor told her.

“You trying to tell me you love me, Doctor?” Donna asked.

“Told you that when you were unconscious. Told you a lot of things. I always used to talk to you about how Rose saved me after the Time War. How she helped me to be a better man again. The thing is, I almost never talk about how you saved me. When I lost Rose I was crazy, taking all kinds of stupid risks, putting my life in danger. And then you came along. And you told me I needed someone to tell me when to stop. And then later, after Martha left, you came back. You made me laugh and you made me able to carry on, to really start living again and not just existing.”

He smiled gently. “So, yeah, Donna, I do love you for that. So does Rose. And Dare just plain loves you. His mind has been focused on you and he doesn’t understand where you’ve gone.”

“That’s blackmail, that is,” Donna said mutinously. “Tell a girl you love her and then tell her that your baby misses her.”

“I never had a close relationship with anyone in the family I was born into. I finally figured out I could pick my family. I have Rose and Dare and even Jack, but you, you’re like a sister. We fight and we laugh and we tolerate each other’s craziness and we yell and we can sit in silence and not have it be awkward.”

“I suppose,” she said non-commitally.

“I’m so sorry, Donna. I never should have left you behind,” he said. “You didn’t deserve it. And I don’t deserve to have you forgive me or come back and be part of our family again. But I’d like you to. Not just because we need you, but because outside of Rose, you’re the best friend I’ve ever had. And I miss you.”

He laughed without amusement. “You’ve been gone before, a few weeks here or there to visit with your family and friends, but I knew those were limited and that you’d be back. Knowing you might never come back, I hate it. It just feels wrong. It’s like you’re supposed to be with us. Like it’s your destiny.”

“You sound like a girl,” Donna said. “Getting all sappy on me now.” Her words were harsh, but her voice was a bit emotional and he thought he saw a suspicious moisture in her eyes. “Look, I’ve built a life here. I have a nice job, my own house thanks to that account you opened for me in 1970 and all the lovely interest it accrued, and I’ve got a nice circle of friends. Why should I chuck it all to go travelling with you again?” she asked.

“I can’t give you reasons beyond what I’ve already given you. It’s a choice you have to make. But I promise you, Donna, I will never leave you behind somewhere again unless you ask to be left. And not just because Rose was furious with me, either. Because eventually I do learn from the mistakes I make. I’m like the TARDIS. Sometimes you have to hit me over the head with a mallet to drive the point home,” he said.

“Don’t tempt me,” she muttered under her breath. “Look, Doctor, give me a couple of days to think about my decision. Uprooting my whole life again to go off with you and Rose, that’s a huge commitment. And I’m just not sure I can do it again. And don’t give me the puppy dog eyes, either. I have to make this decision based on how I feel, not on how you feel.”

“That’s fair,” the Doctor agreed. “But tell me one thing? Do you forgive me?” he asked.

“I have to think about that, too,” she said. “Now really, I’m going to be late for work if I don’t go. Give me 48 hours,” she said. “And then I’ll let you know what I’ve decided.”

With slumping shoulders the Doctor agreed and slouched to the door. Donna let him out and shut the door. She peeked through the front curtains and watched him walk off down the street. Then pumped one arm back in victory. “Yes!” she said. “I’m back in the game!” Not that there had ever been any doubt in her mind that she would  go with him and Rose and Dare. That didn’t, however, mean that she wasn’t going to make him work for it.


Chapter Forty-three:  Consequences

“So the baby regenerated,” said Rose. “And I’m just really worried it may have done irreparable harm.” She looked up and met Dr. Visily’s soft blue eyes.

“I’ll have to run some tests. But first we will take a holoreading and see what we can see.” Rose lay back on the table and Dr. Visily ran the holoscanner over her abdomen. The small 3-D image of her baby appeared in the air above her.

“How far along did you say you were, Rose?” he asked with a frown.

“Eleven weeks, maybe twelve,” she said. “We get a little timeless in the TARDIS.”

“And when did the baby regenerate?”

“It’s been less than a week. Why? Is something wrong?” Rose asked nervously.

“No, not wrong,” he said biting his lip in concentration. “But this fetus isn’t twelve weeks old. It’s only four weeks old, though the placenta and umbilical cord are twelve weeks old. She’s regressed and I don’t see any cell division occurring so I think she may be in some form of stasis. She’s very clearly alive, don’t worry about that. She’s just…stopped her growth.”

Rose frowned. “What’s going on?”

“I don’t know. When you were pregnant with Dare and he stopped time in his body, how did you get him to start it up again?” Dr. Visily asked.

“We didn’t. Dare did. I mean, his grown up self crossed our time lines and jump started the baby. Are you saying this is something similar?” Rose asked.

“It could be. I don’t know. Do you have any way of getting in touch with a future version of your daughter?” he asked.

“Maybe. I’ll have to ask my husband.”

“You do that. Now, I’m not going to lecture you about getting pregnant too soon, as you said it was an accident, but you are putting a lot of stress on your body much too soon, so it’s very important that you get proper nutrition, take your pre-natal vitamins, exercise to keep your body strong and healthy and sleep as much as you need to, too. Especially since you are still nursing, you need to take extra care,” Dr. Visily said.

He sighed. “Let’s get some blood and I’ll do a workup. It won’t take long.” He had Rose roll up her sleeve and he washed his hands before taking a vial of blood. He ran it down the hall to his little lab and one of his employees started it on the centrifuge.

Dr. Visily went to visit with another patient and Rose thumbed through a well-worn parenting magazine. Several minutes later there was a knock on the door of her exam room and Rose called out, “Come in.”

She smiled warmly when the head of Dr. Kaylee Harkness poked around the door. “Hey, Gran,” said Kaylee warmly. “Didn’t know you’d be here today.”

“Hello, sweetheart,” Rose said to her future great granddaughter. “I don’t suppose you know how to get a hold of your grandmother, do you?”

“Which one? Grandma Kensington or Grandma Harper?” Kaylee asked.

“Cassi. I need to see Cassi.”

Kaylee frowned and then thought hard. “It’s what? 2010. Well, I know she’s at Torchwood in 2010 June through August. She should be there today. Why?” Kaylee asked.

“There’s something wrong with my pregnancy with her. Dr. Visily thinks she might be able to reverse the problem the way Dare did when his unborn self stopped his own personal time line,” Rose explained.

“Could do. She’s pretty young the summer she ends up helping out at Torchwood when Dad and Mum go on their second honeymoon. She was…fifteen, I think. You might want to catch her when she’s older.”

“Don’t really have the time to go hunting for her. This version of her will have to do,” Rose said.

That settled she chatted for a bit with Kaylee until the woman had to go back to see patients. Shortly after that, Dr. Visily returned with her test results.

“Well?” she asked looking at his solemn face.

“It’s going to be a difficult pregnancy, Rose. Based on the shed fetal cells, this baby has more Gallifreyan DNA in it than Vandarian does. Which means a longer pregnancy than you had last time. Problem is, I don’t know how much longer. And with this setback, you’re adding two months to the total whatever it turns out to be.”

The man sighed and met her eyes. “You’ll need to be monitored pretty closely. Those bracelets and the necklace you wore before should be used again to keep an eye on your stats. We particularly will need to keep an eye on your blood pressure. I want you to take it daily. I’ll write you a prescription to get your own machine.”

“Is she going to make it?” Rose asked.

“I think that she will, yes. But it’s going to be very hard on you. I want to see you back in here every 3 weeks without fail. That’s three weeks of pregnancy time not three weeks of my time,” he added sternly.

Rose nodded. “All right. See you then.”

Dr. Visily nodded and said good-bye. She heard the TARDIS materializing as she exited the office. Just in time. Good. The Doctor could take her to Cardiff to talk to Cassi. She picked up Dare’s carrier and made her way out to the parking lot.






When Cassi Tyler heard the TARDIS materializing in the hub of Torchwood 3 she frowned. Her parents had absolutely promised they would not check up on her this summer. She’d gotten the job as a general assistant to Toshiko Sato and Ianto Jones. Ianto had stepped into the leadership role when their big boss, who she’d never met, had gone off on a second honeymoon with his wife for the entire summer. It was a great opportunity for her and she loved working there.

How was she supposed to learn to be self-sufficient enough for her parents to give her a TARDIS of her own come December if they didn’t give her the chance to make her own mistakes, and to learn how to stand on her own two feet against alien threats or friendships?

She glanced across the room to where Dr. Harper was working with his newly arrived son, Daniel. And maybe, just maybe, she didn’t want her parents around to see her painfully obvious crush on the boy. Daniel was seventeen, gorgeous, and the kindest, quietest person she had ever met. Everything about him made her heart ache, from his brilliant green eyes to his shaggy auburn hair. He barely looked like his father at all, about the only thing she could see was the arch of his eyebrows and shape of his ears, but you could see the mannerisms were nearly identical. Odd when he hadn’t even met his dad until a week ago.

Daniel glanced up at the sound of the TARDIS, his eyes widening a bit when the ship materialized in front of them. He shot a quizzical look in her direction but said nothing as she hurried to the door and stuck her key in the lock. She slipped inside, pulled the door closed behind her and turned to confront her parents.

“You said you weren’t going to check up on me this summer!” She had her hands on her hips and put the full power of her genetic relationship to Jackie Tyler into her voice. “What’s this, then?”

“Hello, Cassi,” Rose said softly. “We’re not who you think.”

“I think you’re my parents,” she said, annoyed. “Are you telling me you’re not?” She glared back and forth between them.

“Not yet,” said Rose with a gentle smile, putting her hand over her abdomen. “But we will be. I need to talk to you, sweetheart. Right now, I’m pregnant with you. There was an accident. Do you know…?”

“About the fact that I regenerated before I was born?” she asked a little less grumpily. Rose nodded. “Yes, I do.”

“Well, I’ve just been to Dr. Visily's office. The baby, you, have regressed from being a twelve week old fetus to a four week old embryo. And you’re in some kind of stasis. Your cells have stopped dividing. You’re just frozen in time.”

“Oh,” said Cassi. “Like Dare was. And he went back and fixed himself.”

“Yes. Is that something you can do?” the Doctor asked. “Can you talk to yourself?”

She glanced at him, “No, Dad. I can’t fix myself. But it’ll be alright. It was due to the regeneration. I’ll stay in stasis for four weeks and then I’ll continue growing naturally.” She turned her eyes back on her mother. “Bad news for you, though. Your pregnancy with me is going to last fifteen months. From now. Not counting what you’ve already put in. Sorry. I probably shouldn’t even be telling you that.”

“It’s okay, sweetheart,” the Doctor said.

Cassi turned to him startled. “Sweetheart? Since when do you call me that?”

“Haven’t I always?” he asked surprised.

“Hardly,” she snorted. “Not that I can remember. Just Mum does.”

“I’m sorry,” he said simply.

“Oh, don’t get maudlin on me, Dad.” She rolled her eyes. “Now the two of you should really get gone. Ianto doesn’t like unscheduled visits in his hub.”

“Ianto? Ianto’s in charge?” Rose asked.

“Yeah. For the summer. The big boss is gone on holiday. That’s why I’m working here. To help out with the boring parts so the rest of the team can cover for his absence. Not that any of it’s really boring,” she added.

“All right, honey, we’ll get out of your way,” Rose said. “It was good to see you though.”

“Oh, hey,” she said, noticing the child carrier and moving over to it. “Is this Dare?”

“Yep,” said the Doctor.

“He’s adorable.” She leaned down and gave him a kiss on the head and a little telepathic tickle. The baby giggled. When she stood back up she walked over and gave her mum a hug. “I’ll be fine,” she said. “I’m living proof of that.”

She let go of Rose and when the Doctor stepped up to her she gave him an odd look but allowed him to pull her into his arms for a hug. “You’re beautiful, Cassi,” he said softly in her ear. For a moment she clung to him. She’d never had her father tell her that before. “I’m looking forward to knowing you.”

She pulled away quickly. “I need to get back to work,” she said. “See you in sixteen years.” She hurried out of the TARDIS, the doors banging shut behind her before her father could see the tears that had come into her eyes.

Ch. 44&45:  http://amberfocus.livejournal.com/95395.html