Unrepentant | DOCTOR WHO [ON HOLD UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE]

twenty eight | christmas special 2008: the next doctor

And the apparent anger that she had in regard to Donna being made to forget about her got the Doctor to think about what River Song had told him when they were still in the library and fighting against the Vashta Nerada.

According to River, Annabelle did care about Donna Noble– which would make Donna Noble the first human to ever grow on Annabelle the way that she did.

In her one-thousand and eight years as a vampire, Annabelle had never grown to care about a human like she did about Donna Noble.

Even William Kelly– a man that Annabelle had turned into a vampire in the year 1492– didn't truly grow onto Annabelle and make her realize that she felt something for him until after one-hundred and thirteen years had already gone by since she'd turned him into a vampire and convinced her siblings to let William travel with them before his ultimate demise at the hands of their father, Mikael.

So, the fact that Donna not only grew on Annabelle much sooner than William ever had and was the only person to actually get Annabelle to feel emotions again for the first time in months was enough to get the Doctor to realize that– instead of focusing on how to keep Annabelle from snapping and killing others from the trauma that she received from being tortured by the Master for as long as she was– he should have been paying more attention to the fact that Donna was growing on Annabelle in a way that none had ever done before.

And it was because of this realization that he had made about Annabelle and the care that she had for Donna of all people that the Doctor had let out yet another sigh before he lightly grabbed onto her arm, which got Annabelle to slowly turn her head to look up at him once more with her eyes narrowed.

However, this time there were no veins to be seen just underneath her eyes and there wasn't a scowl on her face like there had been when he grabbed her arm only a moment ago.

After letting out a sigh, the Doctor told her, "I miss her too, you know."

After letting out a sigh of her own, she said to him, "I know."

After letting out yet another sigh, the Doctor turned his attention over towards a nearby group of people that were singing Christmas songs with pamphlets in their hands and stared at them with a grin on his face before he eventually brought himself and Annabelle over towards where a young child was standing before he asked, "You there, boy, what day is this?"

With a nod of his head, the young boy told him, "Christmas Eve, sir!"

With a turn of his head, the Doctor asked him, "In what year?"

In turn, the boy asked him, "Are you thick or something?"

With a quick turn of his head, the Doctor said to him, "Oi! Just answer the question!"

The boy told him, "Year of our Lord, 1851, sir."

With a nod of his head, the Doctor said, "Right. Nice year. A bit dull."

While Annabelle only raised her eyebrows in response to his words, the voice of a woman could be heard yelling, "Doctor!" After the Doctor had quickly turned his head and started to look around himself once he heard his name being yelled, the woman could be heard yelling once more, "Doctor!"

Then the Doctor said, "Who, me?"

With a mere raise of one of her eyebrows, Annabelle asked him, "Do you happen to know anyone else whose name is 'Doctor'?"

After only tilting his head with a mere raise of his eyebrows, the Doctor quickly started to drag Annabelle along with him as he ran in the direction of the yelling woman's voice.

As soon as he reached the woman, he moved her away from the doors that she was standing in front of as he yelled, "Don't worry! Don't worry! Stand back. What have we got here?" While Annabelle silently eyed the doors with her head tilted to the side and listened to the roaring that was taking place on the other side of it, the Doctor turned to the unknown woman and said to her, "Okay, I've got it. And whatever's behind that door, I think you should get out of here."