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Donna woke up to the strange feeling of something wrapped around her wrists. She tried to pull her arms down and immediately came the rest of the way awake when she realized she couldn’t. “What the―?” She tried to sit up and became aware of three very important things. One― she was lying in a bed she definitely hadn’t gone to sleep in. Two― she was wearing a flimsy little robe that she definitely didn’t own. And three― her hands were tied to the headboard.
“Oh, you’ve got to be flippin’― Doctor!” Donna jerked her head up, looking around. “Doc-tor!”
“…Donna?”
Donna jerked her head over to see him struggling upright on his own bed, just beside hers. For no good reason, she seemed to be the only one tied down. “What the flipping hell did you do?! Why am I tied to a bed!? Get over here and untie me right now!!” She thrashed a bit, remembered the robe, and cut that right off. “Hurry up!”
“Are you in my room?” he asked blearily. “Why are you in my room? You’re not supposed to be in my room…”
“Well it’s a good thing we’re not in your room, then!” Donna kicked one heel over as far as she dared. “Get over here and untie me!” There was an odd, pained sound that pricked her ears, and then she forgot all about that when she saw him struggle upright. “Oh, my God! What happened to you?!”
“My head hurts,” he whined. “Did someone hit me? Donna, did you hit me?” The Doctor squinted blearily in her direction, eyes dark and unfocused. Clearly he didn’t need to be tied down because he could barely sit up. “…Are you all right?”
“Am I all right?!” Donna squawked disbelievingly. “What the hell did they do to you?!” She tugged fruitlessly at her wrists, only succeeding in making her robe ride up. She barely noticed, too busy trying to get a proper look at him. “Did they―? Doctor, did someone hurt you? Are you bleeding? Get over here― Let me see!”
He shook his head slightly like he was trying to rattle something loose, but started to drag himself up. His robe gaped a bit at the top and Donna found herself staring at his exposed clavicle, wondering if she’d ever even seen below his neck before. She took a moment to focus around the unexpected eyeful. There weren’t any obvious injuries― no cuts or bruises. Just more pale skin than she’d ever seen on the skinny thing.
“Where’s your suit?” Donna asked, forcing her eyes away.
“My suit?” the Doctor asked, sounding half asleep. He looked down at himself. “Where’s my suit??”
“Never mind,” Donna said. “Can you untie me? I don’t wanna know what― Oi! Hands!!” She yelped and bucked, but the Doctor didn’t seem to notice, too busy prodding at the fabric of her robe. “This isn’t a touch tank!”
The Doctor was breathing more heavily than usual. Which really just meant Donna could hear him breathing. “I thought you were… fuzzier today,” he said. “Were you wearing this earlier?”
“Yeah, today’s the day I thought ‘Let’s go adventuring in slinky lingerie!’” Donna crowed sarcastically. “Of course not, you numpty!” She tried to play back her own memories, which felt uncomfortably fuzzy and undefined. Had they stumbled into something they shouldn’t have? Or had they come looking for it? She could’ve sworn they came to look at some alien zoo. Hadn’t the Doctor been babbling on about state of the art breeding programs? “Those crazy aliens must’ve― What are you doing?!”
“You’re so warm,” the Doctor said, like that was any reason for his head to be on her chest. “Humans all run a bit warm, but you…” Wiry arms snuck around for as much of a hug as he could manage at the odd angle. “Ah, that’s nice...”
“This is no time for a cuddle, you loon!” Donna tried to shift away, but she was still bound in place. “Just― untie me, yeah? Then I’ll help you.”
“Help me what?” he asked, still more concerned with working out the optimum angle for cuddling. “Mmm, this really is nice…”
“I’m glad one of us is having fun,” Donna grumbled, looking around for something more helpful. The stark room didn’t even have any other furniture besides the beds. She wasn’t really looking forward to finding out what that meant. “Hello?” she called. “Not sure what the plan is here, but― Doctor! No! Stop that!”
“But you’re so warm,” the Doctor groaned and used her indignant wriggling as an opportunity to get his arms fully under. “And soft! You really are my best mate, have I told you?”
“Oh, for― Pay attention! You can get a hug later when I’m not tied up!” She tried to buck him off, but it was like being trapped under a weighted blanket.
“Your heart rate is elevated,” the Doctor mumbled. “Why is your heart rate elevated?”
“It’s a real medical mystery!” Donna snapped. “Would you look at where we are?!”
Miraculously, the Doctor’s head bobbed up, looking around. “It’s just a room. Are you claustrophobic? No, you’ve never shown any signs of claustrophobia before…”
Donna barely registered his rambling, eyes locking on an odd little patch just over his left temple. “What’s that?”
The Doctor looked at her like he was having trouble focusing, but Donna was busy trying to get a look at the disk. “Your―“ she started to gesture, realized that wouldn’t work, and settled for jerking her chin, “The thing on your head. At your temple. You didn’t have that before― what is that?”
“What’s what?” the Doctor asked. He raised a hand toward his head, but stopped before making contact. His expression went even more blank and his hand dropped back down. “Do you hear that ringing?”
“For Chrissake! Focus!” Donna snapped. He just shook his head like he’d gotten water in his ears and only just noticed it. “Oh, for―! Are they on both sides?”
He frowned, too busy tilting his head to listen apparently. “How can you hear anything over that ringing? It’s so loud. Is there something wrong with your ears?”
Donna sighed and rolled her eyes. “Doctor, what’s that? Over there!” She jerked her chin to indicate the far corner and he turned on his weird delay. A matching patch was on his right temple. “…I don’t see anything…?”
“Course you don’t,” Donna groaned. “I know a mind control setup when I see one. So much for all your superior species nonsense! You’ve gotten yourself tagged up like a lost baby seal!”
The Doctor squinted and tilted his head so far to the side it was genuinely surprising he didn’t fall over. “What? Do you really not hear that?”
“You’re being mind controlled, you space moron!” What sort of zoo ran a side business in mind control?! “As soon as I remember how this is your fault, you’re in for such an earful!”
“My fault?” the Doctor echoed. He ducked his head and practically purred when his cheek touched hers. “Oh, that’s better,” he rumbled, and went a bit boneless.
“Never mind,” Donna said. “Just― Try to focus, yes? All I need you to do is untie me. They must’ve tied me up because they knew I’d try to help. And I will! All you have to do is― No! No cuddling! My hands! My hands, Spaceman!!” She tried to worm away but all that did was give him an opportunity to hook a leg around. “No, don’t just get more comfortable!”
By some minor miracle, the Doctor stopped attempting to burrow in. “What’s wrong?”
“What’s wrong?!” Donna barked out a laugh. “What are we even―?!” Their positions suddenly clicked in her brain. “Doctor,” she said slowly. “Did you tell someone at this zoo that you’re the last of your species?” His head bobbled in a strange sort of not-quite-nod, but Donna was already filling in the blanks. “Aw, did you sign us up for some forced breeding program?!”
“Course not,” the Doctor said, apparently just coherent enough to lie. “You know I don’t do that.”
“Do they?!” Donna asked, and shouted toward the door. “Hey, you stupid alien zookeepers! You have to have compatible species for a breeding program! I’m just human!”
“Lots of species can crossbreed, actually. There are several schools of thought on―“
“Not now!” Donna snapped and went back to shouting. “Somebody had better get in here and untie me and get those things off my friend or so help me― Doctor?!” The Doctor jerked up and bent in on himself like he’d been punched in the stomach. “Oi, don’t hurt him!” She tried to get a look at him. “Doctor, what’s wrong?!”
“Ah, that stings.” His voice was choked and his head was so low his hair brushed the sheets. “Don-na…”
“Stop it!” Donna bellowed at the top of her lungs. “Whatever you’re trying to do, it won’t work! You’re just hurting him!”
The Doctor shuddered hard enough for her to feel it. “I have the strangest… feeling…”
“Yeah, I don’t need to hear about that,” Donna said, but eyed him worriedly. “Listen, if you could just focus long enough to get my hands loose― Oh, my God! Spaceman?!” He sucked in air through his teeth and curled himself tighter. “Doctor!!!”
“My head,” he hissed, barely audible.
“Don’t just turn it up!” Donna shouted at the unresponsive walls. “You could kill him!”
She twisted toward him. “Spaceman, come here. Let me see!”
“See what?” he asked, but bent back over. His wrist brushed against her arm and he immediately lost a stone of tension. “Oh, that―“ He pressed his forearm in like he was soothing a burn. “That’s much better…”
“I’ll bet it is,” Donna grumbled. “It’s probably something to do with whatever they’re doing to your head,” she said impatiently. Then something occurred to her. “If you untie my hands, I’ll give you a proper cuddle! As long as you want!”
“Brilliant,” the Doctor said and wrapped around her like a limpet.
“No― first you have to untie my arms. You can’t get a proper hug with my arms tied.” She tugged at her wrists, trying to draw his attention to the movement. “Up here! Up!” His head bobbed up again, looking a bit grumpy, like she’d caught him mid-kip, but he pried one hand off and started to reach up. “Good! Very good! Good boy!”
He frowned, nearly lucid. “I’m a Time Lord, not a greyhound.”
“Don’t start!” Donna laughed too loudly. “Just― focus! Untie my hands, remember?” She felt cool fingers graze the heel of her hand and nearly cried. “Yes! You clever Time Lord, I knew you’d―! Doctor?!” His expression clouded back over and then crumpled in on itself.
“Ah―!” She was close enough to hear the sharp breath between gritted teeth.
“Aw, you were so close!” He ducked down like he was avoiding a blow and his cheek brushed hers on the way and she could feel him lose the thread. “No, don’t―!”
“Oh,” the Doctor breathed, and pressed in more purposefully. “Donna, that’s…” The hand that was so close to her goal dropped right back down to cup the other side of her face and neck. He rubbed a sharp cheekbone against hers and made another one of those rumbling sounds that she could have lived her entire life without hearing. “Donna, that’s brilliant…”
Donna nearly screamed. “You useless, touch-starved pile of sticks with hair! We have to get out of here!”
“Mmhmm,” he gave her a full-body squeeze and nuzzled in, inhaling. “You smell nice.”
“Out-bloody-standing,” Donna groaned and wished she could at least bang her head. “So this is your plan? Just lie here until they get bored and let us out?”
He gave her another big squeeze like she was his own personal teddy bear. “Mmm. Brilliant plan, Donna.”
“It’s not a plan― Never mind!” She tried to take another look around, but now his ridiculous hair was in her face. “At least you’re a friendly drunk.”
“I’m not drunk,” he said, but it was muffled by her shoulder. “Time Lords don’t get drunk.”
“Oh, yeah, brag about how great the Time Lords are,” Donna scoffed. “That’s what got us into this mess, you know!”
“I know all kinds of things,” he said, but his high-and-mighty tone was a bit diminished by the koala impression. “I’ve been around for centuries.”
“Yeah, you’re a real wonder.” She tried to get a leg free, but he seemed to think she was going for some sort of full-body experience and just rolled in closer. “That’s fine, just do what you like,” she grumbled sarcastically.
He took that offer to heart and did his level best to wrap himself around her like a living replacement for her missing jumper. “This is brilliant. Why haven’t we done this before? You’re always coming up with such brilliant plans. You know, you might be one of the cleverest humans I’ve met. And I’ve met all kinds of humans. Past ones. Future ones. Hybrid ones― you’d like those.”
“Yeah, yeah, that’s all great,” Donna sighed and tried to get comfortable at least. The tightly-wound lunatic curled around her like it was all he’d ever wanted to do in his ridiculously long life. He couldn’t seem to settle, reminding her of an overly wiggly puppy trying to get pets it couldn’t sit still for. “You know, if you untied my hands I could actually pet you.”
The Doctor’s head bobbed up on a delay, looking around like he’d forgotten where he was. “Your hands?” He squinted at them and moved to comply. As soon as he reached past her head, he winced, ducking like he’d been cuffed.
“What, we don’t get any privacy?” Donna called out, but she was already wriggling around to get the Doctor’s attention. “Right, don’t worry about the hands.” She ran through and discarded several plans while he just went right back to cuddling, now petting her hair while he was at it.
After several minutes, Donna was beginning to think their overseers had no idea how this should be going― they just didn’t want her getting away.
The Doctor was still babbling random trivia about gingers. When he angled around for a particularly enthusiastic squeeze, her eyes went to the controlling patch on his temple. “Hey, Spaceman.” It took a couple of tries to get his attention. “Spaceman!” She gave a sharp whistle and his head bobbed up. “Remember the Oodsphere?”
He gave her a haughty look that was severely undercut by his hair sticking out like an electrified hedgehog. “Of course I remember the Oodsphere. What sort of question―?”
“Do you remember the thing you did to let me hear the song?” Donna interrupted.
He frowned. “I took it back when you asked!”
“Yeah, I’m not bringing it up to yell at you,” Donna said. “I’m asking… Do you want to do that again? See if you can…” she cast around for a word that wouldn’t give them away and settled on, “Connect?”
The Doctor jerked back to stare at her. “You want me to…?”
“Yes!” Donna said, trying to keep him from giving the game away. If they couldn’t talk then maybe his mind-reading tricks would come in handy. “Let’s do that.”
His face went blank, all power focused on staring. “…You’re sure?”
Donna swallowed an entirely inappropriate laugh. “Yeah, Spaceman!” She gave him a squeeze with her leg, willing him to read between the lines for once, but he shifted up unexpectedly and she nearly lost her grip. “What are you―? Mmph!”
Even flying high on mind control, the loon didn’t go for a proper snog. He just made a pleased little sound like she was the most adorable kitten in the pet shop, and promptly got distracted again, trying to press the entire side of his face against hers.
Donna sputtered and fought down the urge to wipe her mouth on his collar. She also made a mental note to pick up some chapstick later.
The Doctor’s hand came up on the other side, fingers tickling over her temple, and there was a strange, muffled sensation, like something very, very large was looming just behind her. The mattress was solid against the back of her head, but the feeling grew, somehow unmistakable.
“…Doctor?”
The muffled presence pressed in around her, but seemed to be held just short of coming in. The Doctor hadn’t seemed to notice anything amiss earlier, but he seemed very aware of this hindrance. His head shifted restlessly, hair tickling her cheek and Donna realized he was close enough for her to feel the patch at his temple, slightly raised.
She wrenched her head up and to the side and managed to catch the stupid disk between her teeth. The Doctor jerked away, startled, and the controlling patch peeled off as easily as any medical monitor.
Dark eyes locked on her immediately and everything went very still. The Doctor stared back, fully lucid, and Donna couldn’t have been more relieved to see his horrified expression.
She spat the patch off to the side and very clearly mouthed, ‘Untie my hands. Now!’
The Doctor stared at her for three beats and then untied the knots faster than she could follow the movement. As soon as she was free, she ripped the other patch off and yanked her robe as closed as it would go. The Doctor arched out of the way like he’d replaced his spine with cartilage, nearly falling off the side of the bed in his haste.
“I…” There was another long stare, interrupted by the door lock disengaging.
Donna whirled on the aliens, too livid to be concerned with whether they were armed. “We’re leaving right now! And if anyone tries to stop us, you’ll have your own personal reproductive problems to deal with, so help me!” She was off the bed and stomping over before any of them knew what to do about it, dragging the Doctor along by the hand.
The towering aliens stepped back, startled, and Donna just barged through, slamming the door behind them. She spun on the Doctor, whose wide eyes were well on their way to taking over his head. “Tell me you remember where the TARDIS is!”
He opened his mouth, snapped it shut, and took off down the corridor, pulling her along. “Yep!”
Just as things were starting to look familiar, Donna spotted a room with too many monitors. “Hey, this looks like a control room.”
The Doctor didn’t seem to hear her, but he stopped when she refused to be dragged. “What?” He seemed to realize he hadn’t been listening. “What?” He snatched his hand back like she might bite it.
Donna rolled her eyes. “We’ve got to report this place or something. They can’t just run around forcing breeding programs on whoever they want. Shouldn’t even do it to animals, if that’s their method.” She pointed toward the control room. “Go on then!”
He followed her finger, blinking blankly, and then burst into motion so violently it looked like it should’ve made a sound. “Quite right!” He scrambled inside and started tearing out wires.
“You’re going to get shocked,” Donna warned, right before he yelped. “…What was that?”
“Nothing! Don’t come in here, it’s mildly electrified.”
“Was it electrified before you started yanking things?”
“That’s really neither here nor there,” the Doctor scoffed and yelped again, clattering more noisily.
“Last of the Time Lords, cause of death: basic electricity,” she grumbled to herself.
“What was that?”
“Nothing! Hurry up in there!” She looked up and down the corridor. “What are you doing, anyway?”
“Oh, this and that,” the Doctor said, suddenly right back at her side. He snatched her hand up and headed back toward the TARDIS. “Now, quick as you can― we do need to be inside the TARDIS in the next two minutes.”
“If you could set a timer, you could set it for more time!” Donna pointed out, but picked up the pace.
“Bit late to gripe about it now. You could’ve said earlier.”
“Do I have to do everything today?!”
They scrambled into the TARDIS just before a chorus of alarms started up. The Doctor slammed the doors and seemed to think that she’d magically forget about it. “So then. Quick change and then a new destination? Perhaps nowhere known for breeding programs. For variety, you know.”
Something behind the doors sounded like jets flying overhead. Which was a particularly alarming sound to hear in an underground facility. Donna pointed an accusatory finger. “What was that?!”
“Oh, just…” the Doctor waved a hand around vaguely, “something like PETA, you could say. Might’ve sent them a message about a Time Lord breeding program. They… aren’t the biggest fans.”
Donna barked out a laugh. “Seriously, you might need a breeding program. Are Time Lords like space pandas? Just can’t cut it in the wild?”
“I’m ‘cutting it’ just fine!” the Doctor said, but he crossed his arms as he did so and visibly realized he was still wearing the robe. “Aw, my sonic!”
“Yeah, you owe me a new jumper,” Donna said. “Actually, I liked that whole outfit! You owe me a shopping spree!”
“What?! I didn’t take your jumper!”
“Right,” Donna held up two fingers. “You’ve got two options. One― you take me shopping. Two― we have a nice long talk about what just happened.”
The Doctor practically launched himself over to the controls. “Shopping, you said?”
“Yeah, and bring your credit stick. It’s your treat!”