Donna raced toward the building, searching for any sign of the child who had gone missing. According to his mother he'd been near the east entrance when she lost him, but unfortunately Lance's claims of her not being able to point to Germany on a map weren't the worst of her directional trouble. She had forgotten to ask which way east was, so she just ran in the nearest door, screaming as it collapsed behind her, and went in search of the little boy.

Before long she heard a small noise and whirled around to see a six year old standing in the corner, crying. She knelt in front of him and pulled him into her arms.

“It's all right, sweetheart, I've got you. You're going to be all right.”

The boy looked up at her and despite the dirt and soot on his scared face Donna saw his green eyes staring at her hopefully. She smiled reassuringly and stood back up.

“I'm Donna. What's your name?”

Before he could answer there was a crash down the hall. Donna grabbed the little boy's hand and took off in the other direction, pulling him with her. They ran along the corridor until Donna saw what looked like an exit. She turned, the little boy not far behind her, and skidded to a stop as a large bit of the wall collapsed. As the pieces of wood and plaster rained down she pushed the boy into the opposite side of the hallway, but wasn't quite fast enough to get out of the way herself, and a bit of the structure ran into her arm as it fell.

“Lady, are you okay?”

Donna nodded, wincing as she looked down at her obviously dislocated shoulder, and gestured for the boy to follow her down another path. He obediently walked alongside her and after a minute of searching she saw daylight from down the hall and grinned.

“Now you listen, sweetheart. When we find the door I want you to-”

Her words were cut off as the ceiling caved in above them. A heavy support beam crashed into her back and she fell to the floor. The little boy stared at her expectantly, his eyes wide with fear. He coughed into his dirty little hand and Donna could tell he couldn't breathe properly.

“Honey, I'll be fine. You get out, okay? The door's right over there. Go on, hurry.”

The little boy watched her for a moment, then reached and tried to push the large weight off of her. It was obvious that he was too small to lift the object but he shoved at it with all his might, coughing and gasping slightly. Donna tried to reach up to him but couldn't move most of her body, and she wheezed as she turned her head to look at him.

“Sweetheart, be a big boy and do as you're told. Go find your mum.”

Finally he nodded, looking at her again before he bounded toward the door. As soon as he was gone Donna burst into tears, trying unsuccessfully to shift under the weight of the metal bar.

It was getting hard enough to breathe with the smoke, and the pressure on her chest from the beam was making it nearly impossible. She slumped back to the ground in exhaustion and tried to focus on her breathing, knowing that if she could stay awake long enough the Doctor would eventually try to find her.

“The Doctor's coming, he has to be. I did not live through three galactic wars just to die in the middle of nowhere alone. I can't die. He'll be here soon. It'll be fine.”

Within a few moments she realized that she didn't have time to wait for the Doctor; she could hardly catch her breath and she assumed, based on the increased temperature around her, that the fire was quickly coming closer. She barely noticed when the rest of the ceiling collapsed on top of her and when she heard her friend's voice she was sure she was hallucinating.

“Doctor....”

Her eyes slid closed as she gasped again and she reached out her arm, a bit of the rubble shifting as she tried to feel for the Doctor's hand. When she felt nothing but the hard floor she sobbed and then, just as she realized she was no longer breathing, she lost consciousness.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Come on, Donna, breathe for me. You can do this.”

The little boy sat beside Donna, still clutching her hand as the Doctor desperately continued to press on her chest. He reached down to her face and the boy automatically averted his eyes -he hated it when grown-ups kissed- but he couldn't help looking back as he saw the Doctor pull his mouth from Donna's, placing his hand over her heart again. Finally he stopped his efforts and sighed heavily as he sat back, staring at her as if in shock.

“Mister, why isn't the lady waking up?”

The Doctor silently reached over and carefully removed Donna's hand from the little boy's grasp. He tenderly lifted Donna's head, making sure that his fingers didn't get twisted in her hair, then lifted her into his lap, cradling her body against his own.

“Mister! Hey, Mister, what's going on?”

The little boy scooted over to where Donna lay in her friend's arms and reached out to her, running his hand over her red hair and sending bits of black ash fluttering to the ground.

“It's okay, lady, we're safe. You can wake up now.”

After a moment the little boy's parents walked over to collect their son, but he shook his head.

“I'm not leaving until she wakes up. She's a nice lady, Mummy. I can't leave her again.”

His father mumbled something and picked him up, carrying him away while his mother knelt beside the Doctor and Donna. She gently brushed back Donna's hair and smiled sadly.

“Your friend was very brave, you know. Thank you for saving my son. Thank you so much.”

The Doctor nodded, still holding Donna protectively, and the boy's mother squeezed his arm as she walked off to join her family. Finally the Doctor loosened his grip on his companion and moved one of his hands to support her head. He let her relax against him and stared at her for a moment, seeing a little blood trickle down her cheek from a cut on her forehead.

“Donna, you were fantastic. That little boy's safe, all because of you. You're his hero, you know that? Didn't I always say you were brilliant?”

After a moment he heard the little boy yelling and looked up to see him running back toward them, his parents unsuccessfully trying to keep up.

“Hey, Mister, I'm back. Is the nice lady okay now?”

The Doctor didn't respond, but instead pointed down to where Donna was laying motionless in his arms. They stared at her for a moment then the boy waved at her hopefully and smiled. His grin slowly widened as Donna weakly waved back and she cleared her throat, frowning.

“Oi, what are you doing here, love? Did you run away from your mum again?”