Remember

The nurse silently opened the door. The room was bathed in a peacefully dim light, and the lady was still in her bed, the blanket neatly drawn up to her waist, her hands folded at the edge of the blanket's bend. She breathed calmly, and her eyes were shut.
The nurse smiled faintly, and quietly walked towards the window to open up the shutters that had only been closed seven of eight parts just like Madame preferred.
When the nurse turned around, the lady had opened her eyes and was now herself smiling faintly.
"Good morning, ma'am", said the nurse happily. "And happy birthday to you! It's your birthday today!"
"I know, I know, Thelma. I've already been awake for some time. It all came back to me, suddenly."
The nurse cleared the nightstand, picking up a tea cup, half emptied, that had been placed there the night before. Distractedly she wiped with her hand over the doily.
"What came back to you, Ma'am?" she asked.
The old lady shifted under her blanket.
"Me being eighty-five - on the dot. Old hag Donna."
The nurse now smiled brightly and glanced at the window.
"The sun is shining, ma'am. It's gonna be a beautiful morning. What a fine day for your guests."
The lady frowned a little.
"I have guests?"
"Yes, ma'am. Quite a few!" said the nurse, placing the cup on a chest of draws next to the door, in order to take it with her when she was going to leave.
"And do I know these people?" asked the old lady.
"You used to know them once. It will come back to you, too."
The lady shook her head in disbelief.
"Guests! What a day. Isn't that exciting?"
The nurse had returned to the bed and looked at the lady.
"Yes, ma'am. Ever so exciting!"
She blinked a few times, fighting what ever might have touched her, but the old lady did not notice as, with some difficulty, she had thrown the blanket down to her feet and was about to lift herself out of the bed.
"Well then, let's get dressed. Quickly, quickly!"
The nurse made a turn and pointed at a dress hanging over a chair.
"That black robe?"
"Oh, no, no, no", said the Lady Donna. "Not if I have guests. The blue robe! You know, the blue robe! That will be much better. People remember me in blue."
"That's right", said the nurse and opened the wardrobe.

"People remember me in blue", said the lady again and nodded, when she had placed herself on her bed again, sitting upright leaning against a few large lace cushions the nurse had put into position.
"That's right!" said a voice, and the lady turned her head facing the open door the nurse had just left. And now a man walked in, dashing, young, with bright eyes and a long dark blue and grey military coat.
"That's right, Donna!" he said. "People remember you in blue!"
"Who are you, Mister?" asked the lady, all in astonishment.
"My name is Jack", the foreign hero said. "Captain Jack Harkness. At your service, ma'am." And he saluted. The Lady Donna shifted a little.
"Stop saluting, you. And stop this 'ma'am here' and 'ma'am there'. All of you!"
With a wave of her hand she included the nurse that had re-entered the room, occupying one of the wine red velvet chairs now.
"Alright", smiled the Captain. "What would you like me to call you?"
Before the old lady could answer, someone else entered the room, a female someone with shining black hair and a wonderfully dark complexion.
"The Doctor Donna!" said the young woman and smiled showing perfectly aligned and brightly white teeth. She was stunningly beautiful, Donna thought without any grudge. Like a princess, actually.
"Blimey!" she said. "I ain't no doctor. I'm just Donna. And who are you? Is this a foreign invasion?"
"No, dearest Donna. It's just me, Martha!" said the princess.
There was another woman entering the room, while the princess spoke, and she nodded with a heartily smile. She was followed by another man. He smiled as well and looked at Donna with deep affection in his dark brown eyes.
"You're all so young, people", said Donna and had to take a deep breath. "What have you got to do with me old hag?"
"We are your guests for today", said the Captain. "Your day of honour."
He turned around to point out everyone to Donna.
"This", he said, putting his arm around the princess who stood nearest to him, "this is Doctor Martha Jones. The beauty over there is Sarah Jane Smith. And this man here - is the Doctor."
The Lady Donna frowned again and shook her head.
"Doctor who?" she asked distractedly.
Princess Martha was first.
"That's exactly the problem, Donna. And the solution! There is no "who". He's just the Doctor."
"Oh, you've got me here now!" said Donna with a laugh and clapped her hands together. "I know what this is all about. You're playing a practical joke on me! I just wonder who's behind that!"
"This is no joke Donna," said the man with the brown eyes softly whom the Captain had called the Doctor.
"We are all your guests. And you used to know us very well."
"Oh, then I guess, I'm sorry", said Donna apologetically. "It's age, you see! I keep getting slower and slower every day, and sometimes I don't remember at all."
"This is different", said the Doctor. "Oh, Donna!" he said. "My dearest Donna!"
"You're truly a doctor!" Donna said, a little angry now. "Just statements and no explanation! Why is it different then?"
"It's different because we will make you remember", said Princess Martha.
"And how is that gonna happen?" asked Donna. "Martha Smith?"
"Smith, that's me", said the other woman hastily.
"Jones", said the princess. "It's Martha Jones. But I like that other version, too." She laughed and gave that strange doctor person a look. Then she walked to the old lady's bedside and grabbed one of her hands - like a doctor feeling her pulse.
Are you a doctor, too? Donna was about to ask. But she just looked at all her guests, one after the other. She felt so sleepy, and somehow secure.
"Martha!" said the Captain, apparently reminding her of something.
"Yes, alright, Jack!" said Martha. And to Donna she said:
"You see, Donna. You have reached the end of it today. And we've come to keep you company."
"The end of it?" asked Donna, suddenly wide awake again. "You mean my end? Am I finally gonna die? What a relief!"
"Listen Donna!" said the Captain, clearing his throat. " We've come to you right from the past to give you something you lost a long time ago."
"And what would that be?" asked Donna in a whisper.
"A present!" said the man they called the Doctor. "A huge present!"
And there she was again, old hag Donna, shaking her head in disbelief.
"What could be of any use to me, if that is true what you say, that I am about to go. About to leave this world for ever! I won't be able to take anything with me, will I?"
"It will be of use for you!" said the princess softly. And now the other woman, the quiet one whom the Captain had called a beauty, started to move towards Donna.
"You're Sarah, right?" said Donna, proud to remember something.
"Sarah Jane", said the woman, whose fine lines around her eyes proved that she was bound to have a little more experience then the princess, or the hero captain.
"Sarah Jane Smith", she added. "And I'm happy to be with you today!"
"And you're all gonna give me something?"
"Yes, Donna", said the Doctor Brown Eyes. And he was impossible to assess, so young to look at, and such a piercing glance, as if he knew - everything.
"Yes, Donna", he said again. "We've come to bring you music. A choir from far beyond the suns and planets of this galaxy."
"That must be some choir!" Donna said under her breath.
"It definitely is", said the Doctor. "It's the choir of the Ood. And they're singing your song."
"The song of the Doctor Donna!" whispered Martha.
Now Donna laughed. She could not help it.
"Oi!" she said. "What's that supposed to be? Now I'm a Doctor, too? Are we all doctors?"
"You were once the Doctor Donna!" said Brown Eyes. "That's why you had to forget. I made you forget. Otherwise you would have died."
It was very silent and kind of dark in the room now, even though there was no sunset, yet.
"And now", said Donna, breaking the silence, "now, that I'm dying you're gonna make me remember? Is that it? Is that the present you've brought me?"
"Yes. That is it", said the Doctor. "You're still fast and clever. My Donna!"
And he said it was such affection that the old lady felt tears in her eyes.
She knew, didn't she, she knew. Somehow -
"Doctor", she said. "I still don't -"
But he would not leave her in her confusion any second longer.
"It's time!" he said. "We salute you, all of us. May you enjoy the choir, beloved Donna."
That was too much.
"Thank you", said Donna. "But I don't think I deserve -"
"You do!" They all had shouted that. Then they stood with her like guardian angels gathered around her bed.

And then it began, a song so beautiful, so magical, a choir of millions singing across the stars.
"Those voices", said Donna who suddenly cried. "They're so wonderful, wonderfully sad and happy at the same time. I know. I know now. I've heard them before. Yes I have. Oh my God. I know. Doctor! Doctor!! Thank you. I do. I remember -"

© 2009
The Ood: Song of Captivity and Freedom