Disclaimer: If I owned the Doctor and Donna, the series would've seen WAY more moments like this.
Just sleeping
It had been that very night that they had started sleeping in the same bed.
Just sleeping, nothing more.
Even so, it was a step for them. An inextricable step forward.
They had been – at least, she thought they had been – so careful to mind the proper boundaries, boundaries that she had established, up until now, but after Midnight, and almost losing the Doctor….
She squeezed her eyes shut a fraction of a second, reluctant to go there even now.
They hadn't even really talked about it, it was almost like they both just understood that this was where they had to go next, that it was as natural and necessary as eating and drinking and breathing and….sleeping.
It was just sleeping.
And a little bit of cuddling.
A wry smile crossed her face.
Okay, a lot of cuddling.
But that's just because the Doctor's the kind of bloke that needs a cuddle every now and then.
Maybe a little more now than he did then.
She knew he was still haunted by what had happened on the Crusader 50, he would start to toss and turn in her arms and cry out before waking up with a start.
That was when she would envelop him in her warmth and comfort, shush in his ear, and rub his back, and press soft kisses into his hair.
Invariably, it would have the desired effect and he would fall asleep again, and everything would be peaceful right through to the morning.
It didn't even cross her mind to consider this increased closeness, this intimacy with her best friend as inappropriate or offending her sensibilities, or venturing into some kind of personal danger zone, because, well, this was what best friends did for each other.
Of course this was love.
Of course she loved him.
And she knew without a shadow of a doubt that he loved her.
There was no cognisance that they had, in effect, embarked on a completely new stage of their journey, because the entering had been seamless, invisible, inevitable.
So she felt no compunction, or hesitation, or fear, in being with him, comforting him, loving him like this.
It was like their love hadn't grown (for it had been fully formed from the very beginning) so much as evolved, gaining new facets and colours.
And the most glittering of all, though it was still the smallest….she could somehow sense that it would eventually come to define their entire relationship.
She felt comfortable with it being where it was, with the ever-so-slight sense of trepidation that comes with something fresh but unknown, still too vague and far off to be a undeniable and distracting presence.
She knew that would change in time, but she felt so blissful where she was right now with her best friend that it didn't really worry her.
There had been a time, quite a while ago, when even the slightest hint of that would have terrified her and sent her running as far as possible in the opposite direction.
Now, she just embraced it as readily and confidently as she embraced him, with a peace about what was to come that she couldn't remember ever having before.
Lying here with him, she felt so safe and warm and accepted and so was free to give that back to him, creating an oasis where they could both be refreshed, nourished and fulfilled.
She felt him reflexively squeeze her hand slung low over his hip, and she squeezed back, kissing his bare shoulder softly as she did, feeling gratified to hear his contented murmur in response.
At that moment, she wished they could stay like that forever.
It was how she felt every night these days.
If she never left the TARDIS again but just lay here curled against him, breathing in his scent, feeling his skin on hers, kissing him at will, if that was to be her place for the rest of life, well, it was enough.
Was this how it felt to be best friends with him now? Or had they somehow become something else entirely to each other?
Maybe the answer lay somewhere within their breathy sighs, gentle glances and tentative fingers.
She would wait for it.