‘Why not?’ asked Wilf.
‘Oh, you dear, sweet man,’ Netty winked at him. ‘You make me so happy, but I’m not a fool. It’d be good to stay with you while I’m compos mentis. But if… when I slide again, you two aren’t equipped to deal with me. The strain, the pressure, it’s not fair on you. On either of you.’
She scooped up the ripped pamphlets. ‘If it’s all right with you both, though, I could do with a lift to some of these, see if we can’t find one we all like.’
Sylvia touched Netty’s arm. ‘That’s a huge decision,’
she said. ‘Are you sure, because I wasn’t just saying what I said to be nice. I think you should be here, part of the family.’
Netty looked at the Doctor. ‘What do you think, Doctor?’
The Doctor looked at Sylvia, then Donna, then Wilf.
Then finally back at Netty. ‘I think, Henrietta Goodhart, that you are a wise, sensible, strong lady who knows her own mind better than we all realised and will do what’s right.’ He swiped the tea mugs from Donna’s hands. ‘And I’m not family, and I really want to bow out of this conversation gracefully, so I’ll go and put the kettle on.’
He quickly walked back into the house, washed out the mugs and filled the kettle, looking out of the kitchen window at the group in the garden and smiled to himself.
‘Chicken,’ said a quiet voice in the doorway.
‘It’s your mum and granddad’s life, Donna,’ he said.
‘Not anything to do with me. Families. So not my thing.’
Donna joined him by the sink, looking out of the window. ‘She seems so… in control now. So…’
‘Normal?’
‘Well, I might not have used that word exactly, but yeah.’
‘It won’t last.’
Donna didn’t look at him. ‘Why not? Maybe storing all that Mandragora energy cleared her neural wotnots, sorted it all out.’
‘It’s at least second-stage Alzheimer’s, Donna. That’s
decay,’ he replied quietly. ‘It doesn’t get better, it mostly gets worse. There’s no miracle cure, I’m afraid, no magic solution for Netty. Her mind is a bit like a car windscreen.
In some respects, the Mandragora Helix was the carwash, cleaning it up for a while. But it won’t be long before all the dirt and insects and dust and scratches come back. I’m sorry.’
‘It’s so wrong.’
‘Yup, it is. But life is never as convenient as we’d like.
There’s a million ailments, illnesses and diseases in the universe. If I believed something as malign as Mandragora could erase just one of them, I’d let it. I’d have allowed it to remain, doing some good. But there’s never any miracle cures for things like that. Life’s not like that. But it shouldn’t stop people looking because one day, they will find an answer.’
‘And that’d mean you were wrong.’
The Doctor laughed. ‘Yup. It happens sometimes. And sometimes I like it. I wish I could find a way to help her, but I can’t.’
‘What about Granddad?’
‘He’s a grown man. He’s made a rational, adult decision to look after her for as long as he can. That makes Wilfred Mott a Very Good Man in my book.’
‘Mine too.’
‘Perhaps we should stay for a while, help Netty get settled in somewhere. You could spend some quality family time with your mum?’
Donna shook her head. ‘We’re fine at the moment.
Another week, we’d be under each other’s feet, fighting,
yelling, sniping.’
Through the window, out in the garden, they watched Sylvia and Netty going through the brochures.
‘Where’s that tea, then, eh?’ said Wilf from behind the Doctor and Donna.
‘Granddad,’ Donna said suddenly. ‘Maybe I should put you and Mum first. Perhaps I should stick around, help you out with Netty.’ She looked at the Doctor. ‘God knows, I’d miss you and all… that…’ She pointed towards the sky. ‘But maybe it’s time to grow up a bit.’
Wilf hugged Donna. ‘Sweetheart, what makes you happy?’
Without missing a beat, Donna looked at the Doctor.
‘And you think I’d be happy knowing I was responsible for you giving all that up? Think Netty would?’
‘But you and Mum, you need me…’
‘Maybe, but we’ve managed OK for a while now. I’d rather know you were out there with the Doctor, doing to other planets and people what you did for Earth the other day.’
‘And Netty?’
Wilf smiled sadly. ‘She’s ill, and eventually she’ll go.
So will I. And your Mum. And none of us will have seen and done all the marvellous and thrilling things you have.
All them memories you’ll have. Netty’s illness could take her in five years or next Thursday. She could also walk in front of the Number 18 to Kew Gardens. I won’t let her illness, or our sadness at you not being around, stop you living the life you’ve chosen. Out there. With him.’
The Doctor put an arm around Donna. ‘I’ll look after her.’
‘Too right you will, mate, or there’ll be trouble, remember?’ Wilf switched the kettle off as it began to boil. ‘Listen, I promise – me, your mum and Netty – we’ll still be here next time you visit. I’m not letting Netty go anywhere, someone’s gotta keep me on the straight and narrow.’ Wilf began making the tea. ‘You’re a smashing lady, Donna Noble,’ he said. ‘And I’m proud to know you and love you.’ He kissed her cheek. ‘Now, go call a cab, I’m not risking your mum’s driving after she’s had a couple of sherries tonight.’
He passed a mug of tea to them both, and raised his in a toast.
‘To family. And bonds that can never be broken.’
ONE DAY … (Reprise)
It was raining up on the hill, the steady patter-patter-patter hitting the vast golfing umbrella like bullets on tin. Truth be told, it was raining everywhere, but up on the hill, here in the allotment, that was the only place Wilfred Mott really cared about it raining right now.
He stared up at the stars, up at his star, still there, no longer heralding the destruction of Earth, humanity or anybody.
Not even Netty.
‘How was she?’ he said, hearing footsteps trudging through the soggy allotment behind him.
Sylvia sat beside him, gripping his thermos, testing to see how warm the tea inside was. ‘I should’ve brought you up another one,’ she said. ‘We didn’t go to see her.
Donna’s out with Susie Mair, and I couldn’t face it.’
Wilf looked at his daughter. There was something…
She was holding an envelope out to him.
‘Bit late for the post, darlin’,’ he said.
Sylvia didn’t say anything, she just waggled the envelope at him.
Wilf took it. No stamp, hand delivered, addressed to MUM.
‘Lukas Carnes delivered it this afternoon. He said she told him to do it six weeks after he last saw Donna, no matter what.’
‘Did Donna see him?’
Sylvia shook her head. ‘She was upstairs on the net.
Didn’t even hear the bell. Lukas lives in Reading now. I think the Doctor must’ve sorted it for them. Lukas thinks she’s still…’ Sylvia pointed to the stars. ‘He thinks she’s still out there, with him. No reason to spoil his dreams, is there?’
Wilf gave his daughter a hug. ‘We’ll get through all this, love.’
‘We have to, don’t we? For Donna, I mean.’
‘And for the Doctor.’
‘Who looks out for us now, Dad?’ Sylvia suddenly said.
‘I mean, I never liked the man, but even I know when I’m wrong. He saved the world, he made Donna happy. He kept us alive more than once. But if she’s not with him, his link to this planet, what makes him come back here, to care about us?’
‘Because he’s good like that,’ Wilf said. ‘Because he’s the Doctor and when we need him, he’ll be there. It’s what he does.’
‘But what if he is
n’t? I mean, I felt safe before. I didn’t know about Sontarans and Mandragora and Daleks. Not knowing kept us all safe. But now we all know the universe is so much bigger than us. Than you, or me. Or even Donna.’
Wilf looked up at the stars again, just in case that marvellous old TARDIS flew past.
Nothing.
‘Well, there’ll always be someone.’
He opened the letter.
Sylvia stood up. ‘I’ll go get you another thermos, OK.
Back soon.’ And Sylvia reached down to kiss his cheek, but instead gave him a massive, and frankly too tight, hug.
‘I love you, Dad,’ she said quietly.
Then she was gone.
Donna wasn’t the only one the Doctor had changed, Wilf thought a little sadly and, at the same time, a little happily. Sylvia Noble was a more stable person, all told, these days. So what was in this letter that had made her so… touchy-feely tonight, then?
He reached into his bag and got out a little halogen torch he used to read his astrology books by when he was out at night.
He recognised the writing, of course.
Donna’s.
His lovely, clever, brave, beautiful Donna’s.
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. 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.
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.
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!
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
After reading it twice more, Wilf kissed the signature and carefully put the letter back in the envelope.
He thought about the Doctor, what Donna had said about loneliness. And remembered that sad – so, so sad –look on his face in the rain that night.
He had brought her home. He had faced them, just as Donna had known he would.
Sylvia had a point, too, though. Without Donna to bring him back here, what guarantee was there that he would save Earth next time?
It was too easy to just say ‘Oh well, someone’ll do it’.
Maybe someone else had to stand up, and be ready to be counted.
So Wilf stood up and stared into the stars, feeling the rain beat against his face.
He saluted the night sky.
‘Dunno if you’re out there, Doctor, watching over us.
But I reckon you are. Because I reckon that’s what you do for everyone, on every world, everywhere. But I think we also need to learn to stand on our own two feet, too. Not take you for granted.’
He wiped rain from his eyes – at least, he decided to say it was rain. If anyone asked.
And Wilfred Mott glanced back down from the allotment across West London below, lit up at night.
No aliens seemed to be invading, no supercomputers seemed to be destroying lives.
And he just thought about friendship.
‘Come back soon, Doctor,’ he muttered. ‘Not just when we need you. Pop in for a cuppa one day.’
Acknowledgements
This book is only in your hands because Justin Richards and Steve Tribe (editors extraordinaire) worked so hard to get it there. I am very, very grateful to them. More than they realise.
Thanks are due to Russell T Davies, who put me on the right path with Donna and Wilf; to Lee Binding for his inspirational cover; to James North in the Doctor Who Art Department for his research; and the following people who, quite genuinely, kept me sane when I freaked out: John Ainsworth, Edward Russell, Ben Brown, Lindsey Alford, Brian Minchin, Darren Scott and most especially Joe Lidster.
Also available from BBC Books
featuring the Doctor and Rose
a
s played by Christopher Eccleston and Billie Piper:
THE CLOCKWISE MAN
by Justin Richards THE MONSTERS INSIDE
by Stephen Cole WINNER TAKES ALL
by Jacqueline Rayner THE DEVIANT STRAIN
by Justin Richards ONLY HUMAN
by Gareth Roberts THE STEALERS OF DREAMS
by Steve Lyons
Also available from BBC Books
featuring the Doctor and Rose
as played by David Tennant and Billie Piper:
THE STONE ROSE
by Jacqueline Rayner THE FEAST OF THE DROWNED
by Stephen Cole
THE RESURRECTION CASKET
by Justin Richards
THE NIGHTMARE OF BLACK ISLAND
by Mike Tucker
THE ART OF DESTRUCTION
by Stephen Cole
THE PRICE OF PARADISE
by Colin Brake
Also available from BBC Books
featuring the Doctor and Martha
as played by David Tennant and Freema Agyeman:
STING OF THE ZYGONS
by Stephen Cole THE LAST DODO
by Jacqueline Rayner WOODEN HEART
by Martin Day FOREVER AUTUMN
by Mark Morris SICK BUILDING
by Paul Magrs WETWORLD
by Mark Michalowski WISHING WELL
by Mark Morris THE PIRATE LOOP
by Simon Guerrier PEACEMAKER
by James Swallow
Also available from BBC Books:
The Encyclopedia
by Gary Russell
ISBN 978 1 846 07291 8
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