SPACEMAN AND THE MOON ― doctor who

twenty-three ; the runaway bride part three

✰☾✰

chapter twenty-three ; the runaway bride

THE DOCTOR PULLED LUNA INTO A GREEN ROOM RESEMBLING A LABORATORY as Donna and Lance followed quickly behind. Luna glanced back at Donna who's mouth fell open in shock at the sight of it. Shifting her eyes to the Doctor again, his own flickered towards her and he shook his head. Neither of them could believe how obvious Torchwood had been and how much it had taken from them.

"Ooh, look at this!" The Doctor perked up, watching the bubbling tubes around the room. Luna smiled at his excitement, watching with similar interest. "Stunning!"

"What does it do?" Donna asked, glancing back at Lance.

"Particle extrusion. Hold on," the Doctor let go of Luna's hand, rushing towards another tube and tapping on the glass gently. "Brilliant. They've been manufacturing Huon particles. Course, my people got rid of Huons. They unravel the atomic structure," he bragged to the trio and Luna raised her eyebrows.

"'Course they did," she agreed with a small smile.

"You'd know all about it," he winked and her smile fell a bit.

"Oh yeah, how's that then?"

He shrugged, continuing on with his searching of the cubes. "You'll see, love."

"Your people?" Lance spoke up, looking between the two. "Who are they? What company do you represent?"

"Oh, I'm a freelancer," the Doctor explained nonchalantly, turning around and grabbing Luna's hand once more as he pulled her through the lab. "But this lot are rebuilding them. They've been using the river. Extruding them through a flat hydrogen base so they've got the end result," he picked up a small test tube device, holding it up for Donna and Luna to see. "Huon particles in liquid form."

"And that's what's inside me?" Donna asked.

The Doctor didn't answer, instead twisting the cap of the tube slightly, watching with intent as the liquid took on a golden color and Donna began to glow.

"Oh my god!" Donna gasped.

"Genius. Because the particles are inert, they need something living to catalyse inside and that's you. Saturate the body and then..."

Luna gasped as everything clicked together. "The wedding!"

The Doctor beamed down, planting a kiss on her cheek excitedly. "Ha! Yes! The wedding! Yes, you're getting married, that's it! Best day of your life, walking down the aisle. Oh, your body's a battleground! There's a chemical war inside!"

Luna grinned, as Donna grew more and more annoyed with his explanation. "Adrenaline, acetylcholine. Wham! go the endorphins. Oh, you're cooking! Yeah, you're like a walking oven. A pressure cooker, a microwave, all churning away. The particles reach boiling point. Shazam!"

Donna recare up, slapping him across the face and Luna burst into laughter. Donna scowled at her and she dropped her smile.

"What did I do this time?" The Doctor asked flabbergasted.

"Are you enjoying this?"

Luna cleared her throat lightly as she and the Doctor exchanged a guilty look.

"Right, just tell me," Donna stepped closer to them. "These particles, are they dangerous? Am I safe?"

The Doctor nodded immediately, his dimples protruding as he gave Donna a promising smile. "Yes..."

"Doctor, if your lot got rid of Huon particles, why did they do that?"

The Doctor sobered up, taking a deep breath at her question. "Because they were deadly," he answered softly.