Running her hands over her flabby body uncertainly, Donna sighed sadly. She didn’t appear to be too badly off. After all, she travelled with the Doctor, for crying out loud. The job of being his companion (and she did sometimes consider it a full time job keeping him out of trouble) required a lot of running away from horrible monsters and evil dictators and their brain-dead minions. She shrugged to herself. She could probably shift the weight in no time.
Deciding not to sweat it for now she put on a light jacket to disguise her curves a little bit. The Doctor was never intentionally rude, but he had a tendency to be a bit alien and thus was capable of forgetting that you just don’t tell a woman she’s gained weight. She wandered out of her room and headed for the control room.
When she reached the dome-shaped coral-lined room, she looked around for any sign of the Doctor. She saw his brown suit jacket slung over the back of the jump seat, but she couldn’t see its owner anywhere.
“Doctor?” she called out.
“Donna?” his voice responded.
Donna walked around to the other side of the console and looked down. There was a section of the grilled floor missing, and she could just make out a familiar head of sticky-uppy brown hair poking out of it. She chuckled to herself.
“What the hell are you doing to this poor ship now?” she demanded.
“She was making a strange humming sound. Just trying to determine the source. I think it might be something to do with the thermo couplings and their linkage to the helmic regulator.”
“Oh, simple as that, eh?”
“Incredibly simple,” the Doctor replied with a smile evident in his voice.
“Need any help?”
“No… Well, maybe… Yes. There’s a button on the console. Could you press it for me?”
Donna blinked. She looked at the console. There were about six different panels going all the way around, and each one had several buttons on it. “Which button, genius? There’s about fifty per panel, here.”
The Doctor sighed. “The third on in the sixth row on the first section of the panel directly in line with the doors,” he replied irritably.
Donna’s temp brain memorized the directions exactly, and she set to work on the console. She lined herself up with the doors and found the correct button, stabbing it with her index finger.
There was a brief moment of silence.
“Was that right?” she asked.
“Yeah… This is odd. It doesn’t seem to be working. Try the second button on the third section of that panel.”
Donna did so.
The response was a shower of sparks that erupted from under the floor. Donna wasn’t sure at first, but it seemed to be coming from the Doctor’s section. She knew for certain when he let out a yelp in surprise.
“Ouch! Blimey…!”
“You alright, Spaceman?” she asked, trying not to laugh.
“Yeah, I’m fine. Just burnt,” he replied. “That wasn’t right… Are you sure you pressed the right button?”
“Well, how am I supposed to know if it’s the right button? It’s your time machine, matey!”
She heard a tired sigh. “Fair enough… Okay, change of plans! We’ll swap!”
“…We’ll what?”
“Come on! I know that console like the back of my glasses. You stay down here and just hold the thick black cable in place, and I’ll deal with things up top.”
Donna sighed irritably, but she went with it. “Alright, come on, you,” she said, heading for the open section of the floor.
The Doctor pulled himself out of the hole, and Donna stifled a giggle when she saw that the end of his tie was smoldering. He shot her a warning gaze and headed for the console.
Donna removed the coat she’d put on and set it aside before getting down and slowly lowering herself into the hole. She was halfway down when she realized it was a bit of a squeeze. Granted, she’d never been down in the TARDIS’s inner-workings before, but it had looked like a fairly large hole from above it. Now that she was within it, it was beginning to feel a bit claustrophobic. She closed her eyes and took a big intake of breath as quietly as she could, sucking in her girth. She found herself slotting in almost perfectly.
Sighing with relief, she let out her breath, and she was dismayed by the fact that her stomach had begun to push against the massive amounts of circuitry and wiring. She was pleased to find, however, that the thick black cables were easy to find. She worked around and grabbed hold of them and held them together.
“Okay, I’ve got them in place,” she said. “What’ve I got to do now?”
“I just need to find the right sequence of buttons and switches that will rectify the power fluctuations and redirect the excessive power into the helmic regulator. Won’t take a tic!”
“Just don’t set me on fire.”
“Oh, hush. Just give me a second. And….”
She heard a flurry of clicks as the Time Lord began working the console in madman fashion. She twisted her head round as much as she could to witness his silhouette against the glow of the console practically dancing around the console, flicking switches and pushing buttons with an unbridled glee on his face.
She watched him in amazement. He really was daft sometimes, but then there were times like this when he was absolutely brilliant.
Not that she’d ever tell him that, of course.
She was so mesmerized by this that she was taken by surprise when he suddenly stopped, slammed a lever, and all the lights suddenly came on, and there he was, striking a pose.
And… we’re back to daft, she thought to herself, rolling her eyes.
The Doctor took a bow. “Well done!” he exulted. “Right then, that’s the old girl sorted! Time to have a bit of fun!”
“Fun?” Donna asked. “What’s that include? Running from more of those Sontarans? Fighting some huge green slimy monster that feeds on desire? Fixing some ‘timey-wimey’ thing that endangers all of creation?”
The Doctor blinked. “…Do I detect a hint of sarcasm in your tone, Ms. Noble?” he asked.
She merely smirked in reply.
“Nahh, nothing like that, I assure you,” he continued, working at the console again. “There is a planet that is ninety-nine point nine percent ocean!”
“What about the other point one percent?”
“The dock where tourists can come and board the mini-subs and go exploring its depths,” he replied.
“Sounds incredible,” Donna replied. “Can’t wait.”
The Doctor grinned and started making plans.
Donna shook her head and proceeded to get herself out of the floor. Unfortunately, she found she was stuck. At first, she thought a piece of clothing had caught on something, but to her dismay, she found this wasn’t the case. Her girth had wedged her in tight. She pushed against the floor and tried to lift herself out, but she was stuck fast.
The Doctor was still talking at one hundred miles per hour, so he didn’t seem to notice at first, but after three minutes and no sarcastic quips in his direction, he began to suspect there was a problem, and he turned to look at her. He was confused when he saw her still in the floor.
“What are you doing down there?” he asked.
Donna looked up, shamefaced from having been caught. “Oh! Just…resting,” she said awkwardly. “It’s cozy down here.”
The Doctor raised an eyebrow, but decided it wasn’t right to question whatever it was she was up to. He continued on his merry way.
Donna rolled her eyes and struggled, twisted and turned, holding in her stomach to her best abilities. It took five more tries, but eventually, she was up and out of the hole, and she landed with a thud on the thoroughly uncomfortable floor. She got her legs out and struggled to her feet, rubbing her sore waist. She slid the section of flooring back in place and stood up, relieved that the Doctor didn’t seem to have noticed, and if he had, he wasn’t commenting on it.
“How should I dress for this?” she asked.
“Oh, what you’ve got on is fine,” the Doctor assured her. “Hang on – here we go!”
He slammed the lever into place, and the TARDIS ceased making that funny wheezing noise as it settled into whatever location it had chosen.
“Right then, come on!” he declared, rounding the console and grabbing his trench coat off the piece of coral he always slung it over. “One fish, two fish…?”
Donna smiled. “Red fish, blue fish,” she replied.
And they headed for the doors.
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