Doctor Who Ficlet: Something Like Grief

[bk_forever]

Title: Something Like Grief

Fandom: Doctor Who

Author: badly_knitted

Characters: Donna Noble

Rating: G

Spoilers: The Runaway Bride, and general spoilers for Donna’s time with the Doctor.

Summary: Donna can’t work out why she’s so overemotional lately

Word Count: 360

Written For: juliet316’s prompt ‘Doctor Who, Donna, One day she comes across a blue suit and for some inexplicable reason, bursts into tears.’ at fic_promptly.

Disclaimer: I don’t own Doctor Who, or the characters. They belong to the BBC.

Donna doesn’t know what’s wrong with her lately; the silliest things are making her emotional. Her mum says she’s being hormonal and should get a grip, but Donna feels like she’s grieving and has no idea why. It’s not like she’s lost anyone lately. There was her fiancé a couple of years ago; oddly she can’t quite remember what happened except that he died. Really she should feel more upset about that, but when she thinks about him she feels nothing more than a vague disappointment.

She heard a weird siren last week and her heart skipped a beat then seemed to plummet into her shoes as overwhelming sorrow gripped her. Then today, going through the clothes donated for the church jumble sale, the sight of a blue suit had reduced her to floods of tears and she’d had to dash to the ladies to compose herself. When she’d gone back into the hall, she’d decided to sort the books instead and coming across something called ‘Easy Travel to Other Planets’ had almost made her break down again.

When one of her friends had commented she should get off down to the doctor’s for some happy pills, she’d said she would think about it. What she’d really wanted to say was that it wouldn’t help; Dr Granger’s the wrong kind of Doctor, and although she has no idea what she means by that, she knows it’s true.

So here she is, lying in bed, feeling like she’s lost everything that ever mattered in her life, even though nothing has changed. It never does. And maybe that’s the problem; she’s stuck in a rut and can’t find her way out. Nothing ever happens around here anyway. Perhaps all she needs is a fresh start, a bit of an adventure.

‘Tomorrow,’ she thinks, ‘I’ll book a holiday, somewhere off the beaten path. None of those tourist trap resorts for me, I’ll see the world. And I’ll look for a new job, something that’ll be more of a challenge. I’m wasting my potential.’ With a plan of action decided upon, she closes her eyes, drifts off to sleep and dreams of the stars.

The End

Comments

[a-phoenixdragon.livejournal.com]

Ohhhhh, DONNA.

Excellent, honey...heart-tugging and melancholy with just the right amount of hope. Thank you for this...

*HUGS*

[bk_forever]

*hugs back* Thank you so much! It was a great prompt and with Donna being rather a favourite of mine, I just had to give it a go. I was really pleased with the way it came out, especially considering how fast I had to write it.

[hab318princess.livejournal.com]

*sniffs* but glad it ends on a positive note for Donna

[bk_forever]

Thank you!

Donna's got so much strength of character, I can't see her wallowing in self pity for long. She'd pick herself up, dust herself off and get on with her life. She's lost so much, even though she really doesn't remember it, but she's still going to be brilliant!

[doctorxdonna.livejournal.com]

Poor Donna. A lovely little ficlet, though. Nicely done.

[bk_forever]

Thank you!

She's had all her achievements torn away and lost so much, even though she doesn't really remember. But this is the point where she starts to turn everything around; she's going to be awesome, she just doesn't know it yet!

[owensheart.livejournal.com]

Beautiful and sad story. I do feel for Donna.

[bk_forever]

So do I, but she's going to do something with her life, you can bet on that!

Thank you!

[milady-dragon.livejournal.com]

Donna got such a raw deal although there really wasn't anything the Doctor could have done. I just feel so bad for her, and this makes me feel worse.

That was excellent.

[bk_forever]

What happened was dreadful, but even though she doesn't remember, she's not going to let her sense of loss drag her down. She's already finding ways to pick herself up and improve her lot in life. I have faith that Donna can overcome anything and show the world just how awesome she can be, so don't feel too bad for her. Someone as brilliant as Donna won't be held back for long.

Thank you!

[timelordshines.livejournal.com]

So sad it had to end that way for Donna.
Good look at her feelings of loss and confusion-without her having the faintest clue why she felt like that.

[bk_forever]

Thank you! It was a really good prompt to work with, I'm finding that I love writing about Donna.

[dm12.livejournal.com]

Oh, Donna...

Somehow, I think she's sensing Ten's coming demise. Not just that she misses him, but that he's truly going to be gone.

There's hope for her at the end, though, she can be brilliant all on her own.

[bk_forever]

I think she can be, the potential is there she just needs to find a way to tap into it on her own.

Yeah, that would fit. On some level, she can feel it.

Thank you!

[dm12.livejournal.com]

She might also be actually feeling Ten's own sense of hopelessness as he becomes increasingly reckless before he regenerated. She always seemed to be very aware of the Doctor's true feelings, knew his code, and didn't let him get away with it. I think I actually read a fic with that idea, that she was feeling his emotions, and just cried uncontrollably.

Still, she always has been pragmatic, so she knew there was no sense in sitting around moping, and she'd better come up with a plan of action. So begins a new life, a brilliant life for her. We hope....

[bk_forever]

She was on his wavelength somehow, so even with her memories obscured (because they're not gone, remembering could still kill her), she could theoretically sense the Doctor's emotions and naturally assume that they're her own. It wouldn't surprise me if Donna was empathic to some degree, if not before the metacrisis then certainly after.

In my head at least, now Donna has decided on a plan of action, she'll go from strength to strength, there'll be no stopping her.

[dm12.livejournal.com]

Right, he didn't wipe them properly, he blocked them, and did it in a hurried panic. Hence the necessity to walk on eggshells around Donna. And if he didn't do a proper job wiping of them, then it's entirely possible some parts remained. Emotions are deep-seated and would have been difficult to wipe or block without totally removing Donna's personality. So it makes sense that she might have access to some of his emotions, especially if she were somewhat empathic to begin with. She'd still have a gut-level attachment. She always had a higher than usual level of compassion for other beings, so maybe that would explain it as well.

Agreed, she would follow through.

[bk_forever]

Yeah, I think that theory would work. Wiping out memories is difficult because they're connected to so much else. Just blocking should leave everything else intact so that Donna doesn't change, which would be important because if people started questioning why she was so different, memories might be triggered. It's a bit of a tightrope walk, getting the balance between protecting her and not altering her.