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isabrellaChapter: 1/4
Fandom: Doctor Who (2005)
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Donna Noble & Amy Pond
Characters: Thirteenth Doctor, Twelfth Doctor, Eleventh Doctor, Yasmin Khan, Sarah Jane Smith, Bill Potts, Martha Jones, Amy Pond (Doctor Who), Donna Noble
Additional Tags: Humor, Case Fic, Canon Compliant, four times fic, Companions helping other companions, Fandom Trumps Hate 2021
On SqWA / Tumblr.
Chapter summary:
1. Amy and Donna meet each other while addressing a minor alien invasion in London (Eleventh Doctor).
Eleven and Amy go back in time to London to help Donna address a minor alien invasion alone. Set in the middle of season 5 for Amy and the Doctor and middle of season 3 for Donna.
This is technically canon compliant, in the way that most Doctor Who fic is canon compliant if you squint.
It is implied that Yaz is romantically interested in the Doctor but it's unclear if this is reciprocated.
"Where are we going now?" Amy asks, clinging to a handrail as the TARDIS moves the centre of gravity around like there's no tomorrow. She grips tighter as her feet are yanked from under her.
"London. 2007. There's just a little something going on that I don't like the looks of…." With a decided thunk noise and a pull of the bow tie, the TARDIS settles its gravity back into the floor – presumably, they've landed, then. Amy sighs and lets go of the handrail, jumping down into the central cockpit.
"Ta-da!" The Doctor opens the door onto a freezing cold day. Amy raises an eyebrow at him.
"I'm going to get my scarf," she says firmly.
"Suit yourself. Ha-ha! Suit yourself," the Doctor says gleefully.
Amy ignores him.
They exit the TARDIS and find themselves in a back alleyway. There's a hustle and bustle noise ahead of them, like a busy London street. The Doctor is off, entering the flow of pedestrian traffic. Amy grabs his hand so she doesn't lose him. "Where are we going?"
"To find out what's going on!"
Amy sighs. A typically unsatisfying non-answer.
The Doctor catches sight of someone and stops short. Several pedestrians swear at him. Amy slows, turning back to say, "Doctor?"
"I know her," he says.
"Okay," Amy says, tossing her head. "Do you think she has something to do with it?"
"Indubitably," he says, catching up to her. "Donna," he calls out. She doesn't appear to notice him. She's probably used to ignoring people calling her name – there must be plenty of Donnas in London. "Donna," he tries again, louder, garnering some irritated glares from other pedestrians again.
This time, she turns and scans the crowd.
"She doesn't recognise me. What year is it again? We might be too late anyway," he mutters, waving a hand. She sees him, her eyes pop wide, and she turns back to walking, quickly.
"Oh, come on," Amy says, taking his elbow and beginning to duck and weave through the crowd.
She gets them close enough to 'Donna' that the Doctor can say, "It's the Doctor!" to her.
Donna stops short, and they have a repeat of the irritated-pedestrian dance. "Ugh," Amy says, dragging the Doctor into an alleyway. Donna follows them, thankfully.
"Is this an alien thing, then? Are you in some sort of… skin suit? And who's this?"
"It's not an alien thing, Donna; it's just me from the future, obviously. Donna, meet Amy. Amy, meet Donna. I'm sure you two will get on swimmingly. Me, on the other hand, me being here is going to scramble reality in the long-term, so I'm gonna pop off. You guys have fun."
"Uh- what?" Amy holds up a hand. "Uh, no, you don't. What?"
"Donna has a problem; Amy can help solve it," the Doctor says. "You can call the TARDIS if you need anything."
"What are we going to do?" Amy demands.
"What you two… shouty redheads… always do!" The Doctor waves his hands. "Fix it."
Amy puts her hands on her hips, more than a little incensed at being called a shouty redhead. "Doctor-" she shouts. But he's already gone, coat whipping at his ankles as he ducks back into the crowd. Amy's half-tempted to follow him back to the TARDIS and demand answers, but that would be a tad rude.
"Well, that's just like him, innit," Donna says.
Amy snorts out a laugh, shaking her head. "Yeah, it is. Alright. What seems to be the problem?"
"Let's walk and talk," Donna says, gesturing to the sidewalk. "I've found these… well, I think they're aliens. Something's definitely not right about them. They seem to like filing cabinets and the like. I've seen them at three different offices now, and the Doctor – well, my Doctor – had to go and 'run some errands' because it's my Granddad's birthday, and he doesn't do families or something, and he said he won't be bloody back until the eleventh, so I figured I might as well do some temp shifts…."
"But what do they do?" Amy asks, struggling to keep up. Donna is a brisk walker.
"You'll see. I'll show you."
Donna leads Amy back into the office building. "They're weird little things… they seem to feed on printer ink or something. They keep jamming all the bloody printers in the building."
Amy's forehead crinkles. This all seems a bit far-fetched. Maybe the Doctor is taking her on a prank journey. She had complained a lot about their last trip.
"Where are we going?" she asks.
"Office," Donna says shortly. They walk in silence for about five minutes before Donna ushers her up the stairs of a nondescript building, swiping her access card at the door and in the elevator.
On the twentieth floor, Donna opens the door to the "Resource Room" and points at the printer. Spools of black tape hang out of the side, and a stain on the carpet marks where the ink has obviously spilled. Donna pulls open the filing cabinet, gesturing for Amy to look inside.
Amy peers in apprehensively. Neatly shredded paper forms an empty nest. Four empty ink cartridges are lined up along the edge. "You've seen this in multiple places?" she asks, reaching inside to prod the paper.
"Yep," Donna says, popping the 'p' dramatically.
"Hmm." Amy picks up one of the ink cartridges to examine it, and suddenly there's a flurry of activity. About twenty palm-sized creatures scuttle out of the filing cabinet, the printer, and the bookshelf, converging on Amy's lower legs. "Ew, ew, ew! Get them off!" she shrieks, grabbing a book and hitting. They're sort of humanoid, tiny, but with limbs like an ant.
Donna ignores her frantic swats and reaches down, grabbing one and dropping it into her handbag, which she promptly zips shut. The creature – alien, Amy assumes – immediately begins thrashing, but they start to leave her alone and turn their attention to Donna.
"Let's go!" Amy says, pointing at the door. Donna rushes out, and Amy follows, slamming the door. The limbs of at least one alien get crushed, judging by the crunchy noise.
They bolt down the stairs, Donna clutching at her purse. There's a tearing noise from inside, and Donna huffs. "This purse is almost brand-new," she hollers. Amy doesn't respond, concentrating on not tripping down the stairs.
They make it outside with no apparent pursuit, startling some passers-by by bursting out of the office doors all in a tizzy.
"I reckon we take it back to the Doctor so he can tell us what it is," Amy suggests.
"Yep," Donna says. Her purse is still moving of its own accord; she hits it once, then tucks it firmly under her arm and takes off at a snappy pace. "Come on, then!"
Maybe this woman is another Doctor, Amy thinks – she certainly gives bossy instructions like the Doctor.
"What on earth is that?" the Doctor demands, staring in horror as it latches onto the console. It receives a nasty electric shock and falls to the floor, stunned. He seizes the opportunity to pick it up and dump it on a weighing tray.
"Well, we were hoping that you could answer that question," Amy suggests drily.
The Doctor taps around at the console, holding the critter down with one hand when it starts to wriggle.
He ID's it, showing Amy the name on the screen. "Boo-she-fil-ian?" she sounds out.
"Close enough," the Doctor says. "They live on a planet sixty thousand light-years away. They usually consume carbonised liquids."
"Printer ink," Amy says, cottoning on. "Can we send them home? They're not aggressive to humans, just very irritating to office workers."
"I would expect so," the Doctor says brightly, tapping on the screen. "Yes, we can. You'll just need to gather them all up, and I'll set them on a course for their home planet. I've got some, uh, cat carriers somewhere in here. Probably. Should do the job."
"Sounds like a small, manageable job for Donna and me, then." She's not quite sure if she's joking or not until it comes out of her mouth. The Doctor nods absentmindedly.
Not joking, then. Amy exhales deeply.
---
After six hours, they've rounded up all the creatures they can find. Donna rang around the temp agency to see if anyone else had had printers gutted, and they've tracked all the locations down.
Amy stares in slight alarm at the heaving mass of creatures in Donna's car. The creatures, of course, slip in and out of the cat carriers with ease, and a group of them look alarmingly close to figuring out the ignition. Amy double-checks that the key is in her pocket. "I'm going to get the Doctor," she says.
She returns with him in tow, sonic screwdriver in hand. He scans the car up and down, then asks Donna to open the door. "Just a crack," he says.
Donna obliges. A few creatures trickle out. The Doctor points the sonic at it, and it rolls into a little ball, sprouting a hard, shiny shell like an armadillo.
"Travel kit," the Doctor explains. "All right, time to get gone," he adds. With another wave of the sonic, the ball pings into the air at high velocity.
While he's been focussing on the first one, a few more have spilled out of the car. He moves on to them, initiating their protective covers.
One of them makes a run for it, clawing up Donna's leg, sinking its teeth into her thigh.
"Oi! You little shit!" Donna yells at the same time that Amy opens her mouth to scream, "Hey!"
The Doctor intervenes, pointing his sonic at the creature and causing it to retreat into a ball. It zips up into the sky, joining the floating flock above their heads.
Finally, they are all ready to leave, hanging in a cloud big enough to blot the sun out. Amy's grateful for the lack of passers-by in this secluded cul-de-sac. The Doctor waves his sonic one last time, and the cloud disappears into the stratosphere.
"Oh my god," Amy says, exhaling deeply. "That was a nightmare."
"All's well that ends well," Donna says. They look at each other and grin.
"Bloody hell," the Doctor says. "You two really are something."
"No thanks to you," Amy chirps. "Come along, Doctor. I was promised a spa planet," she says to Donna.
Donna winces. "Oi. Better not be planet Midnight. And you tell my Doctor to get back here soon, alright?"
The Doctor looks at Donna, putting his hands on her and squeezing her shoulders. "I know he'll be back soon. It was good to see you, Donna."
"Good to see you too, Doctor."
Full work; chapter 2.
