Work Text:
The Doctor was beside himself. Five minutes, he’d been gone five minutes. Eight at most. How did she manage to find so much trouble in five minutes?
“Yeah,” she said, looking up at him with a very sheepish smile. “I may have accidentally sort of adopted five cats.”
“Accidentally?” He echoed. “You can’t ‘sort of’ adopt five cats, Donna!”
“Well, what else was I supposed to do?” She demanded, somehow coming off quite authoritative despite sitting cross-legged on the floor with cats crawling all over her. “Tashreen says the shelter was bombed out by the Rutans, so they need a place to stay. And there’s not enough people here that can take them.”
“Well, we can’t take them. The TARDIS isn’t the place for animals.”
“You said you had a dog.”
“He was a robot capable of human if not greater intelligence!” Two of the smaller cats had wandered from Donna over to him and began pawing at the laces of his trainers. “You’d certainly never find him underfoot.”
“They need a home,” she insisted.
The Doctor shook his head and bent to scoop the two cats up. “Our home isn’t suitable. They’d wander off, get lost. You wouldn’t find them for twenty years.” He eyed the incredibly large, old tabby that had taken up residence in Donna’s lap. “That’s if they’re still around in twenty years.”
The tabby hissed at him.
“Toby, be nice,” Donna chided.
“You named him?” The Doctor asked. “Hold on, you named him Toby? Toby the Tabby?”
“Yeah, see? It’s funny.”
“It’s really not,” he replied, working very hard not to let the corners of his mouth turn up.
“Come on, please! They wouldn’t be a bother. I’ll take care of them,” she promised. “I’ve had pets before! Gave up my dog for Lance, that was the stupidest bloody thing I ever did. I never did get her back.”
The look on her face alone was tearing at his hearts.
“Donna.”
“Please, Spaceman.”
Four of the cats seemed to take the cue from Dona to turn their innocent little faces all on him at once. All except Toby, whose tail twitched as he watched him through narrowed gaze.
“Do we have to take Toby?”
“Yes!” She gathered the old cat up in her arms, and the feline had the gall to nuzzle into her chest. Oh, he thought he belonged there, did he? Not on his watch.
Donna enlisted his help in corralling their new furry guests and transporting them back to the TARDIS. All five headed up the ramp towards the console except Toby, who parted from the others to leap up onto the jump seat which he settled on as if it were his throne.
“Just watch them for a minute. I’m gonna see if the TARDIS has anything like beds for them. Can you stop us at a shop? I’ve got to get food!” Donna said all of this in a rush as she hurried to one of the corridors.
The Doctor waited until her footsteps faded away before crouching down in front of the jump seat. Best to get things straight, make sure he and old Toby were seeing eye-to-eye.
“I’m watching you, alright? She’s got a big heart, my Donna, but there’s only room for one of us at the top. You got that? She’s my Earthgirl. Mine.”
The cat’s mouth opened wide in a yawn.
“Just so we’re clear.”
Then one of the others leapt onto his back, nearly sending him face-planting into Toby’s very pudgy side. The Doctor reached back for that one, but the glance over his shoulder allowed him to spot the smallest cat, the tortoiseshell-and-white he was fairly certain Donna had called Ernie walking along the outer edge of the console.
“No, no, no, no, no!”
It was hard work, but Donna returned to find him with an armful of purring cats, as well as Toby in the jump seat.
“Aww, see? I knew you’d like them!” She rose up on her tiptoes to kiss him, which he would have liked to extend into something further if not for the squirming animals he was still holding.
Donna relieved him of Misty, which was a shame because she was the least squirmy of the lot. “The TARDIS is making up a room for them, I think. I thought maybe we ought to connect it to the kitchen so they’ll be easier to feed.” She started to lead the way back to this room his ship was obligingly creating for whatever reason. “Oh, and maybe the garden! So they can feel like they’re outside sometimes.”
“Mm-hm,” the Doctor replied, recognizing that she was getting lost in her planning and wasn’t looking for much more than simple acknowledgment. Something brushed his pant-leg and he watched Toby make his way to the front of the procession.
Oh, the indignities he suffered for love.
He drew the line at connecting the cats to the bedroom.