A Question of Time

(Author's Note: In this version of the Doctor Who Universe, the Doctor never contacted Rose… he was taken right to Harold Saxon’s house, so there was no Bad Wolf Bay conversation.

It was the next morning… or at least it was what passed for morning inside the TARDIS, where time technically didn’t exist.. The Doctor, the Master and Jack were in the main control room, Jack listening as the Doctor described the various repairs he’d made to keep the TARDIS running. While the Doctor and the Master were busy discussing some theory whose name Jack couldn’t even pronounce, Rachel skipped into the room, closely followed by Ianto Jones.

“Morning, Princess,” Jack smiled, sweeping his daughter up into his arms for a good morning hug before sitting down with his daughter in his lap.

“So…” the Doctor leaned forward, supporting himself on the control counsel and smiling at his new traveling companions, his new family. “Where and when should we got to first?”

Before anyone could suggest a destination there was a strange sort of noise, one that even the Doctor couldn’t quite define. The Master stepped forward and looked down at the TARDIS’s controls, as the Doctor did the same… both Time Lords trying to figure out what was happening, while Ianto and Jack watched in confusion and Rachel clung to her “mother”.

The Doctor was the first one to notice what had happened. “What?” he practically whispered, looking over at what had been a black section of the TARDIS only a few seconds before.

Now there was a red headed woman standing there… a red headed woman who was wearing a wedding dress. The only consolation for the TARDIS group was that the woman seemed as confused as they were.

“What?” the woman gasped, turning around the look at the group.

“What?” The Master blinked as he found himself echoing the Doctor.

“Who are you?” the woman asked, anger clear in her voice.

“But…” the Doctor frowned, his face twisting with confusion.

“Where am I?” the woman asked, suddenly seeming incredibly lost.

“What?” Ianto this time asked Jack.

“What the hell is this place?” The woman stepped forward.

“What!” This time it was Rachel, laughing at the look that her one word brought form everyone onboard the TARDIS.

“But you can’t do that!” The Doctor blinked, before looking down at the controls. “We’re in flight!” He looked over at the Master, as if for conformation.

“That’s physically impossible,” the Master added, raising one eyebrow. “How did…” he was cut off by the bride.

“Tell me where I am!” the woman said, her face a mix of anger and well hidden fear as she gestured widly. “I demand you tell me right now, where am I?”

“Inside the TARDIS,” Jack answered, standing up with Rachel still in his arms.

“What?” the Bride blinked at the strange word.

“The TARDIS,” the Master repeated, starting to fiddle with the controls.

“The what?” the woman was clearly angry now.

“It’s called the TARDIS,” Ianto tried to calm the woman down by explaining.

“That’s not even a proper word!” the bride huffed.

“She has a point there,” the Master stage-whispered, drawing a frustrated glare from the Doctor.

“But how did you get in here?” the Doctor asked, leaning over the controls towards the bride.

“Well, obviously, when you kidnapped me!” The woman’s hands were fisted at her side. “Who was it? Who’s paying you? Was it Nerys?” Although no one answered her questions, the redheaded woman kept talking. “Oh, my god… she’s finally got me back.” She turned around to look at the TARDIS, before glaring at the Doctor and the Master again. “This has got Nerys written all over it.”

“Who the hell is Nerys?” the Master asked, looking over at the Doctor.

“Hold on, wait a minute… what are you dressed like that for?” the Doctor asked, suddenly realizing that the woman who’d appeared in his ship was wearing a wedding gown and veil.

“She’s going ten-pen bowling.” Jack smirked at the Master’s comment, but the strange redhead didn’t.

“I was halfway up the aisle!” the woman, while having tears in her eyes, wasn’t crying so much as verbally abusing the Doctor. “I’ve waited all my life for this! I was just seconds away and then you… I don‘t you, you drugged me or something.”

“I haven’t done anything!” the Doctor protested as the woman continued to yell at the Doctor before she saw the doors to the TARDIS.

“No!” the Doctor yelled, running after her. “Wait a minute, wait a minute!”

But it was too late, the Bride had opened the doors of the TARDIS, revealing outer space.

“You’re in space,” Jack explained, walking forward but not approaching the open door.

“Outer space,” the Master added, not moving from his position by the controls.

“This is my…” the Doctor frowned. “…spaceship. It’s called the TARDIS.”

“How am I breathing?” the Bride asked, suddenly deadly calm.

“The TARDIS is protecting us,” The Master called over his shoulder.

“Who are you?” Now she turned to look back at the group.

“I’m the Doctor, this is the Master… then Jack Harkness and Ianto Jones,” the Doctor explained, gesturing to each in turn. “You?”

“Donna.”

“Human?” the Master asked and Donna’s eyebrow raised.

“Yeah… is that optional?”

“It is for me,” the Doctor replied.

“You’re an alien?” Donna was staring at the Doctor now.

“Yes.” The Doctor slowly walked over to the control panel. “He is two,” he added on, gesturing towards the Master who did a sort of sarcastic wave.

Donna closed the doors behind her as the Doctor tilted his head to one side… however, the Master was the first to speak.

“I don’t understand it… and I understand everything,” the Master noted, crossing his arms as he looked at Donna. “This can’t happen.”

Seeing the look of confusion on not only Donna, but Jack and Ianto’s face, the Doctor tried to explain. “There is no way a human being can lock itself onto the TARDIS and transport itself inside.” After saying this, the Doctor reached over for a box of tools and started to root around inside as the Master walked over to Donna.

“Some sort of subatomic connection? Something like a temporal field?” the Master suggested but the Doctor seemed to dismiss these options.

“Maybe something pulling her into alignment with the chronon shell?” the Doctor suggested, peering at Donna through a gadget of his.

“Macrobudding her DNA with the interior matrix?” the Master suggested, keeping a little bit of distance between himself and Donna.

“Maybe a genetic…” the Doctor was cut off from his techno babble by Donna slapping him across the face… which resulted in the Master, Jack and Ianto trying to hide a snicker at the Doctor’s flabbergasted expression. “What was that for?”

“GET ME TO THE CHRUCH!” Donna practically screamed.

“Fine, we don’t want you here anyway,” the Master replied, helping the Doctor to stand as Jack passed Rachel off to Ianto before joining his mates at the controls of the TARDIS.

“Where is this wedding anyway?” Jack asked Donna.

“Saint Mary’s, Haven Road, Chiswick, London, England, Earth, the Solar System!” Donna rambled off at a speed worthy of the Doctor.

Suddenly she caught sight of Rachel. “I knew it! I’m not the first, am I? How many woman and girls have you abducted?!?”

“She’s my daughter,” Jack answered Donna as the ship started to move… and it seemed as though the TARDIS wanted to get going, since they were at their destination in what seemed to be the blink of an eye.

Donna was the first to step out of the ship, followed by the Doctor. The rest of the TARDIS Family stayed inside… thinking they were finished with the ‘runaway bride’.

They were very, very wrong.

Not a minute had passed that the Doctor wasn’t running back into the ship, talking a mile a minute as he made adjustments to the TARDIS. “Donna got kidnapped… Robot Santas from last Christmas, controlled by something different this time.”

“What are we doing?” Jack asked as Ianto and Rachel, at the Doctor’s urging, sat down on the jump seat and grabbed hold of the battered seat.

“Chasing the car,” the Doctor replied and the Master groaned, causing Jack to look at the Time Lords in confusion.

“Is that bad?” Ianto asked, looking at the Time Lords and Jack.

“Technically no, a TARDIS is able to fly normal enough…” the Doctor replied, running a hand through his already wild hair.

“But?” Jack asked as the Doctor and the Master began to manipulate various controls on the TARDIS.

“She hasn’t flown in years!” the Doctor shouted as a cascade of sparks temporarily blinded Ianto and Jack, who hadn’t been expecting it. “Behave!” the Doctor shouted at his ship, thumping it with his fist. “Jack, help the Master… I’ve got a bride to rescue!”

Ianto watched in amazement, clinging on to Rachel and the jump seat, as the Doctor opened the doors to the TARDIS and started shouting at Donna to jump into the TARDIS, while Jack and the Master did their best to keep the TARDIS at the right speed… leaving Rachel clinging to the jump seat with a crazy happy expression on her face, Ianto having sprung up and started trying to keep the TARDIS from bursting into flames… there were so many sparks he was amazed no one’s clothing had caught on fire.

Just when it seemed like it was all going to fail, Donna jumped into the Doctor’s arms, and he pulled her inside the TARDIS, closing the doors behind them as the Master and Jack found somewhere safe to lad…

Despite the best efforts of Ianto, the group had to jump out of the TARDIS as soon as they set her down on a roof top, in order to avoid the smoke and give the time traveling ship and opportunity to rest up a bit.

“Wish you had a time machine,” Donna sighed as they sat on a rooftop, looking down at London. “Then we could go back and get it right.”

Again, the Master and Jack had to hide a giggle or two as the Doctor struggled to give Donna an explanation as to why they couldn’t do that. “Yeah…” the Doctor stammered a little. “But even if I did, I couldn’t go back on someone’s personal timeline… apparently.”

Ianto rolled his eyes and concentrated his energy on making sure that Rachel didn’t wander off and fall off the roof… not that he really thought it would, but one never knew with Time Lords and Time Travelers…

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

It was a couple of hours later, and the TARDIS group was at what would have been the reception of Donna’s wedding… a reception that they were having anyway, despite the fact that, until Donna showed up with the Doctor and company, they hadn’t known what had happened to the bride.

However, a few fake tears from Donna and everything was back to a simi-normal state, Jack dancing with the Master as Ianto danced with Rachel in his arms… and the Doctor did some investigative work.

The Doctor had pulled Jack and the Master off to one side. “I think I know what’s happened to Donna… or at least some of it,” he whispered to his mates. “Huon particles.”

“Huon particles?” The Master blinked in surprise. “But they haven’t existed for billions of years.”

“That’s so old…” the Doctor suddenly realized. “It can’t be hidden by a bio-damper!”

“Doctor!” Ianto raced over to the two Time Lords and Jack. “Rachel was pointing to the doors, so I went to take a look…”

“The Robot Santas?” Jack asked and Ianto nodded.

“Every single door… we’re trapped,” Ianto told the group.

The Doctor’s eyes suddenly focused on the Christmas tree. “Get everyone away from the trees!”

And not a moment too soon. Jack pulled Rachel in, surrounding her with his body as the ornaments on the trees began to explode…the Master lent his body to protecting his daughter while the Doctor tried to help Donna… only to end up next to the DJ’s station.

“Oi! Santas!” The Doctor stood up, a huge grin on his face as the Master started to smile, figuring out what his mate was doing. “Word of advice… if you’re attacking a man with a Sonic Screwdriver…”

“Cover your ears!” the Master whispered to Ianto, Jack and Rachel.

“Don’t let him near the sound system!” the Doctor finished, sticking his screwdriver into the sound system, amplifying the machine so as to destroy the Santas and snatch the controller away from them… just in case.

“There’s still a signal,” the Master realized, picking up what had been the head of a Robot Santa. “Coming from the sky…” He frowned suddenly, before growling slightly at his Laser Screwdriver.

“Lost the signal?” Jack asked and the Master nodded.

“Wait… Donna, you worked at HC Clements, right?” Ianto asked, looking over at Donna.

“Yes…why?” Donna asked.

“About twenty-three years ago, Torchwood bought out HC Clements,” Ianto told the group. “I don’t know why… I came across the papers in the archives before Yvonne re-assigned me to the Ghost Shift.”

“Then that’s where we’re heading!” the Doctor decided.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

It turned out that there was a “secret” basement… and since the TARDIS was still a little cranky, the entire group ended up going down. That meant the Doctor, the Master, Jack, Ianto, Rachel… and Donna and her fiancé, Lance.

“Shouldn’t you take her and go… hide or something?” Donna asked Ianto, who just happened to be carrying Rachel in his arms.

“She’s probably safer with all of us,” Jack replied, as they entered a large room filled with machines to manufacture Huon particles. The Doctor smiled, seizing upon the opportunity to techno babble.

“Particle extrusion!” the Doctor smiled as he and the Master practically danced around the room, looking at all the tech. “They’ve been manufacturing Huon particles!”

“Our people got rid of Huons. They unravel the atomic structure,” the Master explained.

“Your people?” Lance asked. “Who exactly do you represent? Which company?”

“We’re sort of freelance,” Jack replied, a smirk on his face as he watched his Mates.

“This lot are rebuilding them--- extruding them through a flat hydrogen base.” The Master smiled and lovingly ran his hands over the tech.

“So the end result…” The Doctor held up a small glass jar with a clear liquid inside it. “Is Huon particles in liquid form.”

“But why are they inside Donna?” Jack asked.

“The particles are inert. They need something living to catalyze inside of,” the Master explained to his mate.

“Saturate the body and then…” The Doctor blinked, a piece of the puzzle suddenly sliding into place. “The wedding!”

“That’s it!” The Master snapped his fingers, stepping forward to look at the glass jar that the Doctor was holding. “Her body’s a battleground…”

“There’s a chemical war going on inside!” the Doctor added.

“Adrenaline, acetylcholine…” the Master stated.

“Wham go the endorphins!” The Doctor laughed. “Oh, you’re cooking! You‘re like a walking oven, a pressure cooker… a microwave. All churning away.”

Once again the Master seemed to know the Donna was going to slap someone before she did it… so once again the Doctor was left pressing a hand to a stinging cheek.

“What did I do this time?” the Doctor gasped, looking at Donna with a hurt look on his face.

“Are you enjoying this?” Donna frowned before her face softened with worry. “Just tell me… these particles, are they dangerous? Am I safe?”

“Yes,” the Doctor replied.

“Then why did your people get rid of them?” Donna asked.

“They were deadly,” the Master replied.

“We’ll sort it out, Donna,” the Doctor promised… “I promise, you’re not going anywhere.”

“But she is…” a sort of hissing voice sounded form what appeared to be thin air, before an EXTREMELY large door that the group had thought was a wall opened up, revealing a huge hole in the ground and a dozen or more robots.

“I have waited so long… Hibernating at the edge of the universe,” the voice continued. “Until the secret heart was uncovered and called out to waken me!”

The robots turned their guns on the group as the Doctor stepped forward. “Someone’s been digging…”

“Very Torchwood,” the Master smirked. “Drilled by laser… how far down does it go?”

“Down and down… all the way to the center of the Earth,” the strange voice replied.

“Really?” The Doctor blinked.

“Seriously, what for?” The Master looked around.

“Such a sweet couple…” the voice hissed and the Master frowned, before stepping slightly in front of the Doctor.

“Only a mad man talks to thin air…” the Master growled.

“And trust me… you don’t want to make us mad,” the Doctor finished his mate’s sentence.

“Where are you?” the Master asked.

“High in the sky… floating so high.” Then there was a sort of hissing noise as a huge creature that looked like a cross between a spider and a human appeared in front of the group.

“Racnoss,” the Master whispered.

“That’s impossible… you’re one of the Racnoss.” The Doctor stared at the creature.

“Empress of the Raconoss,” the (apparently female) creature replied.

“The Racnoss come from the Dark Times,” the Master explained to Donna, Jack, Ianto and Rachel. “Billions… and I do mean, billions of years ago.”

“They were carnivores… omnivores. They devoured hole planets,” the Doctor added.

“Racnoss are born starving!” the Empress hissed.

“But now you’re the only one left,” Jack guessed, smirking when he realized he was right. “Didn’t the Fledgling Empires go to war against the Racnoss?” he asked the Master and the Doctor.

“They were wiped out,” the Master replied.

“Except for me,” the Empress laughed… as Donna’s fiancé stepped out to stand next to the Empress.

“Oh, Donna… I’m so sorry,” The Doctor whispered.

“What? I don’t understand…”

“He made you coffee,” Ianto whispered, figuring out what had happened.

“You had to be dosed with liquid particles over six months,” the Master explained.

“He was poisoning me.” Donna shivered slightly. “But…” Donna shivered as suddenly Rachel was at her side, hugging her around the legs. Without thinking Donna swept up the little girl. “But Lance… I love you…”

“That’s what made it easy.” Lance sneered as Ianto and Jack stepped to stand on each side of Donna. He and the Empress laughed as they ordered the robots to kill everyone… except for Donna.

“Now…” the Doctor smiled slightly. “I just want to point out the obvious…”

“The particles activated in Donna… and drew her into our ship.” The Master smirked as he crossed his arms.

“So reverse it…” The Doctor pulled out his sonic screwdriver. “And the spaceship comes to her.”

They were inside the ship, the Doctor, Master and Jack getting the ship moving… heading for the distant past to figure out what was at the bottom of the shaft Torchwood had dug.

“After we do this, I’m taking Ianto and Ray and hiding inside the TARDIS,” Jack informed the Doctor and the Master. “Donna, wanna come with?”

“No… I have to finish this,” Donna whispered. “You take care of her.” She smiled down at Rachel, who grinned back at the human woman.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

The Master and the Doctor found themselves running down the corridors, trying to find a way to save Donna from the Racnoss Empress, who had used a robot slave to snatch her from right under the two Time Lords' noses… as Jack had said, he’d taken Ianto and Rachel deep into the TARDIS and there they were staying… just in case.

While the Doctor and the Master were focused on the Racnoss, Jack had been called out into the control room by the TARDIS. It turned out that the Racnoss was using her ‘star’ to destroy London… luckily Ianto still had contacts at Torchwood. A few phone calls and mentions of the Doctor and Torchwood was taking care of the Racnoss ‘star’.

Meanwhile, the Doctor had control of the robots, thanks to the controller that he’d put in his ‘bigger on the inside’ pockets… but the Racnoss was threatening to have her children eat the two “martians”.

“But we’re not from Mars,” the Master smirked, standing tall by the Doctor’s side.

“Our home planet is far away and long since gone… but it’s name lives on,” The Doctor smiled slightly.

“Gallifrey,” The Doctor and the Master said as one, drawing a horrified shriek from the Racnoss Empress.

“They murdered the Racnoss!” she shrieked.

“I warned you…” the Doctor whispered as he tossed some of the Christmas ornaments into the air. “You did this.” The ornaments exploded, destroying the roof and causing water to fall down… all the way to the bottom of the shaft, drowning the Racnoss.

Donna climbed up the stairs to stand next to the Doctor and the Master, watching as the Racnoss drowned. At a sort of invisible signal, both Time Lords turned away and silently lead Donna back to the TARDIS, closing the doors just before the wave of water could touch them.

“What are you three doing in the control room?” the Master asked when he found Jack, Ianto and Rachel sitting in the control room.

“The Empress had her ship attack Earth… Ianto used his contacts at Torchwood to take care of that,” Jack explained.

“There’s just one problem,” Ianto smiled, before he flipped flipping around a monitor which was displaying the news. “You drained the Thames.”

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

A quick jump later and Donna was standing in front of her home, looking at the Doctor and company… she’d offered to invite the group in for dinner, but the Doctor had declined, knowing that Donna’s family would want to be alone with her after the events of the day.

He had, however, excited the atmosphere enough to give her a white Christmas, and even offered Donna a chance to travel with them… after all, with two Time Lords, two humans and a Time Lord/Human onboard, what was one more person?

Donna, however, had declined… at that point in her life she wasn’t ready for nonstop adventure… but something told the Doctor that he’d be seeing Donna Nobel again, in the not to distant future… if he was lucky.

The group filed back into the TARDIS and Donna silently watched as they dematerialized.. Before smiling softly to herself and going inside to calm down her parents.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

“I guess we’ve done enough for one day…” Jack smiled before showing his mates that Rachel was asleep in his arms… “Looks like Rachel’s ‘official’ first journey will have to wait until we’ve rested up a bit…”

TBC