Rain

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Susan Foreman liked a lot of things. She liked walking in the dark. It was mysterious, although sometimes Ian and Barbara scolded her for being careless. She liked kittens and rabbits, because they were small and cute. Her grandfather didn’t share quite the same sentiment. Once when they had gone to a human festival (a fair? What had the humans called it again?) Susan had won for him a large stuffed panda, a reminder for him to stop being such a grumpy old man. She liked to walk in the rain without an umbrella, and she liked to sometimes go on those walks without the company of her grandfather or Ian and Barbara.

A smile curved on her lips as she continued down the street, looking up at the gray London sky. She adored the rain. Her grandfather had stopped off at London to do some business concerning a ‘future’ matter. Barbara and Ian, after making sure Susan would be okay, set off to explore the future version of the city they hailed from. Susan had told them to be careful not to run into themselves, but she rather suspected the warning had fallen on deaf ears.

She glanced back to where her grandfather had parked the TARDIS – near Totter’s Lane, where Ian and Barbara had first found them. They were supposed to meet back up in a few hours. Her grandfather hadn’t told them when he would be done, just that it may take him a while. She didn’t know how long Ian and Barbara would be gone, or even what they planned on doing, but they had told her to meet them back at the TARDIS later.

Pale brown eyes surveyed her surroundings as she tried to find something to occupy her time with. She was in the midst of a park, but not many humans were outside due to the rain. There were a few walking quickly with an umbrella, not paying her much mind. Susan ran towards a flock of birds, giggling as they flew past her. There was a slight pressure in her head and Susan pressed a finger to her temple, looking around the park curiously. There was an anomaly here, she could sense it. Or, rather, her. Susan tilted her head and began to jog towards the woman.

“Hello!” she chirped brightly, walking in stride beside her. She squinted up at the taller woman, not able to discern why she was an anomaly. “You must be from Gallifrey! My grandfather and I are from there too, but we haven’t been there in such a long time. What are you doing on Earth?” she asked, hopping in front of the woman and walking backwards, staring up at her with childlike wonder and a wide grin.

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“Right then! Let me tell you something, Missy! You can tell Mr. Cobrun that if his tries makin' a pass at me one more time, You can tell him I'll be tying his boy bits in a brownie knot, have you got that? And that's about ALL the action he'll be getting from me!” and with that, she slapped her cell phone shut. Two weeks she'd been filling in for his secretary and this was the third time he had made a slightly more than suggestive comment about the way her hands could fly over a keyboard. The First time, okay yeah, it was kinda cute, and she thought he was just trying to break the ice. But if Donna Noble was nothing else in this world, she was observant. And the way he would hover over the other secretaries in the office, Donna knew a sleezeball when she saw one.

She stuffed her phone into her fake designer purse and went to check the time on her twist watch. Just as took not of the time, a single drop of rain spattered the small clear lens of her watch and Donna turned her face to the sky to glare at the looming clouds. “Oh just Fab!” and before she could utter further complaint, came the torrential down pour. Good ol English weather. The only reliable thing about it was that it was utterly unreliable. Within moments, Donna was soaked to the bone, her hair hanging in scraggly wet ringlets down her back. Her mum had nagged her to bring an umbrella with her.

She stepped up to the curb to try and hail a cabby only to have one speed by, the tires catching a puddle and soaking her further. “Thanks for Nothin!” she shouted as the cabby sped away. And it was just her luck that it was her mum's turn to borrow the car. She was probably with her friends right now having a few late evening drinks. So, Donna was just going to have to muster up what little dignity she had left and trudge her way home.

“Hello!”

Donna stopped in her tracks to glance down at the sprightly young woman. Donna groaned softly. She was probably about to try and sell her something or hand her once of those tacky little fliers for a new church in town. Donna really was not in a sociable mood, but didn't to right out be rude to her either. “Oh, sorry, I really don't have time to-”

“You must be from Gallifrey! My grandfather and I are from there too, but we haven’t been there in such a long time. What are you doing on Earth?”

Donna stared at her for a brief moment. Great.. Not only was she dealing with a complete nutter, now she had a slight throb in the back off her skull. The tell tale sign of an oncoming headache. “Look, miss, whatever you're sellin' I'm really not interested” as she tried to ease around her.. As she took a few steps away, she couldn't help but glance over her shoulder. Her first instincts were to just keep waking but.. something that she couldn't explain was demanding she stop and talk to her. Conflicted, Donna just stood there, staring at the woman from over her shoulder.

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This woman didn’t seem to be at all sociable. Susan remained, the bright grin never fading from her lips. She wasn’t put off at all by the small groan the woman let out. “Don’t really have time for what?” Susan laughed, thinking it funny when Time Lords mentioned they didn’t have time for something. Her grandfather did it quite often when he was trying to hurry up Ian or Barbara, or when they were away from the TARDIS. She tilted her head and frowned. Couldn’t this woman tell that she was a Time Lady, too?

“I’m not selling anything,” Susan said earnestly. The woman brushed by her and Susan stopped walking, staring at her retreating form with furrowed eyebrows. The woman didn’t seem busy – in fact, she’d seemed only to be walking. At a leisurely pace. “Why do you think I’m selling something? You don’t have to lie,” Susan pressed, standing still and watching the woman continue to walk. There wasn’t a way she was wrong – there couldn’t be.

The Time Lady in front of her was most definitely one, and she was most definitely an anomaly. The woman stopped walking and glanced over her shoulder at Susan. Susan walked next to her, peering up at Donna. “Do you not remember? I could talk to my grandfather... maybe you’ve hit your head...” Susan said worriedly. “I could try to help you remember another way, if you wanted.” She tapped her temple. “All I’d have to do is put our heads together. It’d be quite quick...”

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“Do you not remember? I could talk to my grandfather... maybe you’ve hit your head... I could try to help you remember another way, if you wanted.”

Just then, Donna couldn't help but be filled with anxiety. Her fingers curled tightly around the straps of her purse as she fought to think of some excuse why she needed to be somewhere else. Once Donna realized her knuckles had turned white from gripping her purse so tightly, she finally relinquished her grasp. “Remember... what, exactly? I.. I don't think I've forgotten anything.. Have I?” she puzzled, more to herself than to the girl.

“All I’d have to do is put our heads together. It’d be quite quick...”

Donna bit her lip as she took an uncertain step forward. All these years, Donna couldn't deny that something felt like it was missing. That's why she had married Shaun Temple. But it turned out that a husband, no matter how loving and kind, was not what she was missing in her life. Eventually, some years later, they had divorced on more than good terms. After a moment, tiny flickers of her subconscious were urging her to do this.. “Alright.. Real quick.. Just... What are we doing exactly?”

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Susan stared at the woman patiently. “You must have forgotten something,” she pointed out, “or we wouldn’t be having this conversation.” Her eyebrows raised as the woman relinquished the grip on her purse, as she hadn’t even noticed the strangling grip she’d had on it before. Susan offered another smile, trying to be as patient as she could. Her grandfather had reminded her that she could be quite impatient at times.

Finally the woman seemed to make up her mind and took a step closer. Susan shook her head a little as the woman asked what they were doing. “You really have lost your memories if you can’t remember how to do a mind meld,” she said, patting the woman’s arm. “My name is Susan Foreman. My grandfather might be able to help you more than I can. He says that sometimes my telepathy is too much. He’s always right, you know,” Susan nodded. “I once almost harmed Ian because of signals in the TARDIS.”

She slipped her hand in the woman’s and began to tug her in the direction of the TARDIS. “I’m supposed to be going back soon to meet him. He’ll still be gone, but we can go inside and I can get you something to eat and drink. His name is the Doctor, and we’re traveling with two schoolteachers, Ian Chesterton and Barbara Wright,” she told the woman with an informative nod. “So, what’s your name? That is... if you can remember.”