Doctor Who Fan Fiction ❯ Donna and Ten - The Inbetweens and backstories ❯ Epilogue ( Chapter 26 )

Sylvia Noble was in the kitchen, tidying things away after lunch. Her father had gone to the allotment to check on his vegetables, whilst her daughter was upstairs in her room, socialising on the internet. Apparently her friend Susie Mair had set up a blind date with a young chap called Shaun Temple.

 

It had been a month since the Doctor had brought her home. She had been unconscious, and Sylvia had thought the worst, that her daughter had been injured or was in a coma.

 

“Because if she remembers, just for a second, she'll burn up. You can never tell her. You can't mention me or any of it for the rest of her life” the Doctor had told them.

 

Did he know what a burden he had put on her and her father? She still wasn't sure what had gone on . . . couldn't really believe that he was an alien and that her daughter had travelled the stars. This was Chiswick. Things like that didn't happen in Chiswick.

 

“I just want you to know there are worlds out there, safe in the sky because of her. That there are people living in the light, and singing songs of Donna Noble, a thousand million light years away. They will never forget her, while she can never remember. And for one moment, one shining moment, she was the most important woman in the whole wide universe” the Doctor had said with sad pride.

 

Sylvia had reacted out of fear and distress when she said, “She still is. She's my daughter”.

 

“Then maybe you should tell her that once in a while” he had retorted angrily. And he was right. This strange man had shown her daughter that he cared deeply about her, and perhaps now it was time she did the same.

 

“Ding-dong”. The door bell rang, bringing Sylvia out of her reverie.

 

`I wonder who that could be?' she asked herself. Wilf had a key, the postman had already been and Donna hadn't said she was expecting a parcel.

 

She went to the front door, and could see the silhouette of someone through the frosted glass. Opening the door, she was confronted by awkward looking teenager.

 

`Mrs Noble. I don't know if you remember me, but me and my brother helped Donna and the Doctor last month when the aliens took over the computers,' the young man said.

 

Sylvia glanced nervously over her shoulder, hoping Donna hadn't heard what he'd said. `You're one of the Carnes boys from Park Vale aren't you. Joe is it?'

 

`Lukas, Joe's my young brother.'

 

`Oh that's right, Lukas. Sorry,' Sylvia said with an embarrassed smile.

 

`That's all right Mrs Noble, and we live in Reading now. Mum came into some money when someone posted a lottery ticket through our letterbox. A quarter of a million it was, no idea whose ticket it was though.'

 

`How lovely for you,' Sylvia said. `And you've come all this way to let me know.'

 

`What? No, well yes, and no. I came to deliver this.' He held up an envelope with the word “Mum” on the front in Donna's hand writing. `Donna asked me to deliver it today, six weeks ago.'

 

Sylvia felt a shiver run down her spine. This letter was written before Donna had lost her memories of her former life. `Er, thank you Lukas,' she said, taking the letter and then remembered her manners. `Would you like to come in?'

 

`No thank you Mrs Noble, I'm going to the West End to spend some of my birthday money before I head off back home. Say hello to Donna and the Doctor when you see them again.'

 

`Yes, of course,' she lied. `Take care.' Lukas nodded, turned and walked away. Sylvia had another look up the stairs, and listened for any sound of Donna moving about.

 

When she was sure that her daughter was engrossed with her laptop, she went through to the kitchen. She considered switching on the kettle and making a cup of tea, but thought she'd need something a bit stronger to get her through what was coming next.

 

She poured herself a shot of her father's whisky and sat at the kitchen table, sliding her finger under the flap of the envelope and taking out the letter.

 

“Dear Mum,

 

You asked me what I do. What the Doctor and I do. And I lied. I'm sorry. I told you he was a fixer, that we nipped around the country and fixed things. That I was his PA. Not true. Well, of course it isn't and I'm not sure you believed me anyway, you're my old mum, you're sharper than that.”

 

Sylvia smiled at that and took a sip of the whisky. So far, so good.

 

“Remember what Nanna Mott always said? You can't hide secrets, cos there's no such thing. Someone always knows - otherwise who told you the secret in the first place? So true. Well, a couple of years ago, I was drifting. Job to job, place to place - thank God I took that job at H.C. Clements. Thank God I let you nag me into it (even if it wasn't actually the job you wanted me to do) - not that I told you that then of course, oh no. That would've let you off the hook too easily.

 

But I am glad you did, Mum. Cos that's how I met the most fantastic man (and no, not poor Lance. One day, promise, I'll tell you the true story of him). I met the Doctor. He's an alien, Mum. But I think you guessed that. I'm not sure why you don't like him much, but I often wonder if it's cos he took me away, and I think there's part of you that can't accept that he's the one who really changed me. Made me happy. Made me a better person.”

 

Tears started to sting her eyes and blur her vision. She took out a handkerchief and wiped her eyes.

 

“I'm sorry, that came out wrong, I'm not blaming you. You gave me the best life. Really you did. But he shows me there's more. You asked how long I plan on staying with him. For Ever. Which, in his line of work, could mean anything. But I'm not coming home any time soon. I promise I'll visit more and write more cards. I'll try and phone more often, too. You wouldn't believe what he's done to my mobile - makes the rest of them look like tin cans and a bit of string.”

 

Sylvia was openly sobbing now.

 

“No, we're not a “couple” - there's nothing romantic in him. He's my friend. He's my best friend. I hope I'm explaining this to you properly. I couldn't say it to your face, I had to write it down. I was going to do it as a speech but then thought as you like letters, I'd actually write one. First time I've written a letter that didn't end `yours faithfully' since Auntie Maureen's Christmas blouse. What was I, 14? And you know how that turned out - don't think I've written this much since then!”

 

She laughed through the tears.

 

“He looks after me, Mum. You have to trust him. I do. And I hope that if I trust him, you will too. Granddad does. He knows - and please don't yell at him, it was me who made him promise not to tell you what we do. Because you'd worry.

 

Oh Mum - you should see what I see. We've been to places, to worlds, to futures and pasts you could only dream about. I think half of them I dreamed up cos they can't be real. But they are. And everywhere we go, we make a difference. We put things right, we make people happier.

 

That's what the Doctor is all about. He finds a way for the universe to make sense. And I love him for it. Because he's selfless, and I think that's rubbed off on me a bit but clearly not enough because I should've known how much you were hurting. I should've known that just coming home for Dad's anniversary wasn't enough. You need me, but he needs me even more. And that is awful because I love you, Mum, and not being able to be there for you is wrong, but I need you to understand the reason I'm not there more often.

 

I am going to keep travelling with the Doctor to other planets, other worlds, and meet aliens and stuff, good ones and a few bad ones, because I'm finally living my life. All these years, I waited for someone like him and I never realised it. But now I know I'm doing the right thing. I feel alive.

 

And he'll look after me as much as I look after him. Trust me when I say I'm safe and I'll always be safe. And if anything does happen to me (and it better not cos I'll come back and haunt his skinny little life for ever) I know he won't leave you wondering. He'll tell you no matter how hard that would be for him. Because he understands being alone and how wrong that is and I don't think my little spaceman would wish that on anyone.

 

I love you, Mum, and by the time you get this (assuming Lukas does what he's asked) I'll be long gone again. But that's the joy of being with the Doctor. I could be back before you know it. Six weeks might have gone for me, six minutes for you.

 

Take care of Granddad. And that lovely Netty - she's good for him, and I think you know that now. She's not trying to be a replacement for Nanna Eileen, she's an alternative. And it gives him something else to do other than sit in damp allotments all night.

 

I love you so much and I'll see you soon.

 

D xxx”

 

 

 

The End