Author Notes: Huge thanks to lj user=gregorypeck for the beta.
Donna slumped down in the jump seat, dropped her head in her hands, and moaned. What had she been thinking? Never again she promised herself. She jumped as a pair of hands landed on her shoulders. She slowly lifted her face to find herself staring into the wild eyes of a Time Lord.
"Donna? Are you in there? DonnaDonnaDonna! Donna Noble! My noble lady, my beautiful Donna! Come out and play with me!! Where shall we go? The night is young!"
She groaned and passed her hand across her eyes. He released her shoulders and took off across the console room again, rebounding off instruments and muttering gibberish to himself. The TARDIS shuddered as if in complaint and Donna reached for the console to keep from falling off the chair.
"Hey! Spaceboy! You need to calm down, you're gonna hit some lever and send us off into some black hole or something."
"That was such a great night Donna! I love trick or treating! You have the best ideas for our dates, let's go again, we can just whiz to next Halloween…oh, but we'll need different costumes I guess." He looked crestfallen for a moment, regarding his suit and tie, then brightened again. "Never mind, we'll just move across time and space! Then they won't know us! We can get more sweets and candy! And you can still wear your business suit! Time and space! Did I tell you how good you look tonight? Who are we supposed to be again?" he bounced back over to her and wedged himself between the console and the jump seat, his body suddenly very close to hers.
Donna raised her head. She was weary of his antics, but disarmed by his enthusiasm nonetheless. That and she loved it when he noticed what she was wearing.
"I'm Scully. You're Mulder. We investigate paranormal phenomena, like what happens to aliens when they eat waaaay too much sugar apparently."
"Are you sure FBI agents are supposed to look this attractive?" He leaned in toward her and dropped his hand casually on her knee. "I can't imagine how they get any work done." His hand starting moving under her sensible business skirt and Donna jumped a little, suddenly feeling not quite so tired. Her fingers flew to her throat, twisting in the delicate gold chain she wore tonight.
"Oi. Watch the hands, G-man. Partners aren't supposed to fraternize." He grinned, bracing himself with his free hand beside her hip on the seat and dipping his head into her neck. "Is that what we are calling it now?" He nipped her earlobe and she squeaked, scrambling backwards on the jump seat. He pulled back, regarding her with that same irrepressible grin he'd been sporting ever since the first rush of sugar had hit his bloodstream.
"Play with me, Donna."
His eyes, still sparking with barely contained energy, now contained something else, something unmistakably predatory. Her tiredness forgotten, Donna felt something stir in the pit of her stomach. She slid down from the chair and put herself behind it, so now it was between their bodies.
"Doctor?"
He climbed onto the chair and stood on it, balancing precariously as he discarded his jacket and loosened his tie. "Is it hot in here?"
"Hey! Doctor! Focus!"
"Mmmm?"
"Remember when you told me Time Lords can't get drunk?"
"Actually, what I said was, alcohol doesn't affect us" he teetered dangerously on the edge on the chair.
"Cause you're acting kinda drunk right now."
With a sudden clatter the Doctor jumped down from the chair, almost knocking her over. Donna held her ground, still trying to maintain an air of disapproval. After all, one of them needed to be in control.
"It's the sugar. I'm just a little… happy!" He closed the distance between them and reached for the lapels of her suit jacket. "Come get happy with me, Donna!" In one swift movement he pulled her jacket off her shoulders and she yelped in protest. "Be careful! That's my Scully jacket!"
He tossed it unceremoniously back on the jump chair, his eyes roving appreciatively over her blue blouse. Then he leaned in again and wrapped his arms around her, dropping his voice an octave before asking, "are you having fun?" Donna tried to look stern for a moment but then she smiled, despite herself. The truth was, she was loving him like this. And he certainly had mastered puppy dog eyes like a certain Mulder. After all those weeks of dignified courting, respectfully chaste kisses at her bedroom door as they said goodnight, now all his reservations were gone. He was holding her so tight and pressing himself into her, and it felt fantastic.
Seeing her smile the Doctor's grin grew impossibly wider and he started to nuzzle into her neck. Barely suppressing a giggle Donna let her hands tangle his hair, hair that only a few hours ago she had so carefully arranged into a fair impression of Mulder's trademark parenthetical locks. His stubble grazed deliciously along the tender skin of her throat as he trailed kisses down her collarbone. One hand smoothed her skirt down over the rounded curve of her hip and her breath caught in her throat as his hand then continued to travel around behind to push her lower body into his. He mumbled into her neckline.
"Donna."
"Doctor?"
He paused, panting slightly, and lifted his head to look at her. His eyes were still wild from too much sugar, but the emotional intensity within them surprised her. The air between them was charged, and Donna felt a frission of excitement run through her. He just looked at her, his eyes dark, his body trembling. When he still didn't move she tried to find words to spur him on. "I want this," her voice was low, certain.
"I want you," his answer was immediate.
He leaned in and rested his forehead on hers, closing his eyes. "We should stop."
Donna pulled back a little to look at his face. He opened his eyes. She placed her hands on the sides of his face, "I want this."
The Doctor lifted his hands from her body and covered Donna's hands, gently taking them from his face and placing a kiss in her palm as he took a respectful step back.
"No! Doctor! Why are you stopping?" She mentally berated herself for letting her hurt and confusion leak out in her voice.
"It's not right."
He was still holding her hands and she wrenched away from him. She got as far as the corridor before he caught up to her, grabbing her around the waist and pulling her back against him.
"No. Don't run from me, Donna, let me explain."
She wriggled in his embrace and he gasped as she rubbed against him. He growled her name in warning, but he didn't let go. "I can't let you go to your room, you're upset. And if I have to follow you there, Donna, it's too much. We're not ready. But if we're in your bedroom, I'm not sure I can resist."
She stopped struggling and turned around in his arms so she could see his face. Desire was still raging behind his eyes. "Then don't resist."
He swallowed, and she continued, "you're making this more complicated than it needs to be, Doctor."
He shook his head slightly, then dropped his vice grip from her waist, taking her hand instead. "Come with me, let's talk okay?"
He led her into the kitchen. She turned on the kettle from force of habit, and he set out tea cups for them both. The ritual was calming, infuriatingly so. She noticed he didn't put sugar in his tea for once, and caught herself wondering if she should add it for him. Donna didn't want calm. She wanted him wild and wanton again.
Finally he spoke. "Do you remember, when we began courting, and we had a talk about our expectations?"
She nodded, smiling inwardly, there was that word again, courting. So old-fashioned and yet so romantic in such a distinctly Doctor way. "You told me about Gallifreyan ritual and stuff. But you said we didn't have to do those things."
"Right. And we don't. But we both liked the idea of taking it slow."
She nodded again, "You don't think it has been long enough?" She sipped her tea and let her hair fall around her face, feeling slightly embarrassed to be talking so frankly about these things with him.
He paused, looking like he was trying to get the courage to say whatever he was going to bring up next.
"Donna, do you remember what you told me, about the guys you'd been with?"
She looked down at her tea, "uh, no, not really." She shifted uncomfortably under his penetrating gaze, and wondered not for the first time why they were even talking about this now.
He reached for her, taking the teacup from her grasp and stroking his long fingers over her hands. "Don't go away from me, Donna. This is important. I need you to understand why I stopped things between us tonight. It isn't because I don't want to…"
He moved closer, taking one hand from hers to tenderly lift her chin until she couldn't help but meet his eyes. She felt her lower lip start to quiver and bit down on it quickly. "This isn't the part when you tell me Time Lords have two thingies is it?"
Her half-hearted attempt at humor sent his eyebrows into his hairline, and momentarily derailed him from his train of thought. Donna took a breath while he searched around for words.
"Uh, no. Just one. Why is this so hard for you to talk about, Donna?"
She shrugged, looking away from him again. "I just don't want to think about those blokes, it was a long time ago, and it was very different from us."
He nodded. "That's exactly it. You told me those men would get drunk, would try to get you drunk, that things would happen when alcohol was involved."
Donna bit her lip harder, but she thought she was beginning to understand what he was getting at. "A sugar high is not the same. I mean, look at you, you're in control now, completely."
The Doctor stepped back then, his tongue curling against the roof of his mouth for a moment before he took his hands from hers and held his arms out. He was shaking. Actually now that she was looking at him, his whole body was almost shuddering with suppressed energy. Then he took her hands again and laid them over his hearts. They were beating uncontrollably fast.
"You were right about the 'paranormal" effects of sugar on aliens, well, this alien anyway. I'm not in control, Donna. It's taking me all my willpower right now not to climb the walls, or to take you to your bed and ravish you beyond all coherent thought."
Donna felt heat flush her body at his words, and mentally tucked away the images that came unbidden to her mind to explore later. To the Doctor she gave a small chagrinned smile, letting him know she conceded his point. He looked like he was gearing up to say something more, so she waited until he spoke again.
"And there's something else too, since you brought it up."
He sounded hesitant, and she looked at him, confused.
"When we, um," he gestured vaguely with his hand. "There are some… some minor physiological differences. I mean, it's not going to be exactly the same as if you were with a human… We don't have to talk about this now, I'm just letting you know, it may not be as straightforward as it could be. And I know, the fact that I'm an alien, I know that is difficult for you."
He trailed off, looking lost and a little forlorn. Donna set aside just how much this turn in the conversation was freaking her out and reached for him.
"Doctor, I got over the alien thing a long time ago. You're you. That's all that matters to me."
He looked relieved and she hugged him, then mumbled into his chest, "so when you say 'not straightforward' – it is still possible right?"
He nodded rapidly, "I just meant, it's something to consider, I need to be fully cognizant of what is going on, when it happens between us. I need to be careful, Donna, the last thing I want to do is hurt you, he looked at her, his eyes serious. Something in her expression gave him pause. "And now I'm scaring you. Let's change the subject alright?"
She nodded, and ran her hand down his arm, smiling up at him with as much confidence as she could muster. The Doctor let out a breath, and flashed her one of his trademark manic grins, his eyes twinkling.
"Two thingies?"
She blushed, and reached for her teacup again. "I think it might be time for me to go to turn in. And that's not exactly changing the subject, Mister."