The Most Important Woman in the Universe 1/1; Wilf, Sylvia, Donna; G

[scarfman]

Title: The Most Important Woman in the Universe 1/1
Author: scarfman
Characters/Pairing: Donna, Sylvia, Wilf
Rating: G
Setting (spoilers through): Journey's End
Disclaimer: This work is derivative of property of the BBC. No profit shall be made and no market of the owner(s) is infringed upon.
Betareader: qtrhorserider
Summary: Donna realizes her potential after all.
(companion piece set immediately previously is here)
crossposted scarfman dwfiction marriedonmars loves_them_all

---

Donna bustled in from her night out just as Wilf was reaching for the back door. "I've had a brilliant idea!"

"Yeah?" said Wilf, with cheer Sylvia could tell was false. Sylvia put her magazine face down on the arm of the sofa, trying to behave as if this wasn't an announcement she'd heard before.

Donna looked from one to the other of them, bursting with whatever she was going to say in a moment, but holding it in just that long to generate a false sense of suspense. "I'm going to have a child!"

Sylvia took several moments to process the concept which that string of words symbolized. "What?!" she said.

"Is ... is there something you're trying to tell us, sweetheart?" Wilf stammered. His thoughts apparently were following the same path as Sylvia's. Had that Doctor got her pregnant? She'd denied all along that it was that sort of relationship, and it wasn't like her to hide it on the rare occasions when she did have a boyfriend. From the Doctor's descriptions of Donna's adventures, related to Sylvia and Wilf in detail while Donna slept before she went out, there hadn't been time. But if any reminder of the Doctor would kill her -

"Well, yeah!" Donna said, still grinning. When she saw how horrified they were she rolled her eyes. "God! No, not that!" She brandished a sheaf of papers she'd had in her hand when she arrived home, then moved to spread them on the kitchen table. "I'm going to adopt a child." Sylvia rose from the sofa and Wilf came back from the door, stepping up to the table as Donna spread the sheets out. They all had web address headers and date footers, identifying them as webpage printouts. "Roxanne is helping," Donna said. Roxanne was the lawyer among Donna's drinking mates. "We bullied Morris into letting us use his PC in the back of the pub to do some research."

Wilf was picking up some of the pages to look them over, but Sylvia was still aghast. "Adopt a child?" she groaned, her hand to her face. "You can't adopt a child! You don't have a husband! You don't even have a job!"

"I'm between assignments," Donna retorted, her stock rebuttal. "And not for long. I ran into Samantha from the agency down the pub, she's itching to have me back, as long as amnesia doesn't affect typing speed, and why should it? I'm in demand! Hundred words a minute, you know!"

Sylvia started to make a reply, but she caught Wilf out of the corner of her eye. He looked more disappointed in her than she had ever seen in her life. She heard again the Doctor's voice, the last thing he'd said to her: Then maybe you should tell her that once in a while.

Sylvia took a few moments to gather herself. Inspiration struck. "On the other hand, there's that journalist in Ealing."

Wilf looked a little panicked now. That woman had come into the Doctor's stories - obviously he wasn't sure she ought to be brought up, even if she had been a subject of discussion in the Noble household previous to Donna's wanderings.

"What's she got to do with it?" Donna asked.

"Woman my age," Sylvia said, "adopting a fourteen-year-old boy, remember? Almost lost him when this couple turned up to claim him, but it was a scam, and she kept him."

"Well, there you are," said Donna.

"Of course, when it was in the news, there were intimations that she has friends in high places." Sylvia waited till only Wilf was looking at her and winked. "If you can pull it off, well, that'll be something."

fin

Comments

[persiflage-1.livejournal.com]

Well we know Donna would be a fantastic mother...

Nice of Wilf to non-verbally nudge Sylvia about being more positive to Donna...

[scarfman]

I'm not certain whether I've painted Sylvia cleverer than she is here. Of course, all we've ever really seen of Sylvia is from Donna's perspective. I think we don't really know how clever she is. And Donna had to get it from somewhere.

[persiflage-1.livejournal.com]

Oh I think Sylvia's quite clever - she just hides it, like a lot of women her age...

[kaffy_r]

I adore Donna, and I think you've provided me with an interesting take on where her energies might go - one I can believe. Really pretty good, particularly the communication between Sylvia and Wilf. And most particularly the point where He looked more disappointed in her than she had ever seen in her life. I wonder where Sylvia learned the unfortunate habit of being disappointed in her child? If not from Wilf, perhaps from her own mother? You've certainly planted the seeds of further meditations for me, and that's one of the things I love fic for. Thanks for writing it!

[shadowturquoise.livejournal.com]

Great stories! Now I'm imagining Wilf and Sarah Jane in cahoots to get Donna an adoption to go through - and Sarah Jane telling Sylvia how awesome Donna is.

[torn-eledhwen.livejournal.com]

I loved both of these little fics - maybe the first one mot. I like that you've drawn Sylvia a little more sympathetically than she often gets credit for; I think she's a tough woman but not emotionless and certainly not stupid.

[scarfman]

I didn't incorporate it here - here's not the kind of piece to highlight it - but I think I saw the defining moment for Sylvia, at least her dark side, in Turn Left: When Donna repeats to Sylvia all Sylvia's complaints, in a transparent bid for parental approval if only in admitting Sylvia was right all along, and Sylvia only offers a monosyllabic agreement. I think what we see in Sylvia that moment is a depression profound enough to indicate the possibility of a clinical condition. If Sylvia is a borderline depressive, that might explain much.

[adroidmortox247.livejournal.com]

Very good- like the idea of Sarah Jane helping out.

[fey-spirit.livejournal.com]

This feels like a really good start, but it leaves me wanting more...

[scarfman]

I don't seem to think in long stories since about 2000. There is a sequel to this brewing, but it's been on the back burner quite awhile and may never ripen.