Title: Fancy
Pairing: Ten/Donna
Rating: T
Genre: Humor, Romance
Cat: Het
Spoilers: None.
Warnings: None.
Summary: The Doctor takes Donna to a fancy dress ball and has to deal with some fancying of his own.
Author's Note: OMG, I actually finished something. Haha. This came from a prompt I saw on Tumblr of, "Oh, you're still here?" Just pure fluff. Enjoy. :)

It was a bad idea, in retrospect.

The Doctor wasn't sure why he hadn't considered this might happen when he'd taken them to a fancy dress ball. Oh, Donna had been thrilled with the idea, tittering about in excitement as she rushed off to the wardrobe to find an appropriate dress (with the help of the TARDIS, of course – if Donna had attempted to traverse what was essentially a sinkhole full of clothes on her own, she may have missed the ball by an entire week) and the Doctor had changed into his tux and returned to the console room to await her return.

He stood watching the time rotor move up and down in its hypnotic manner when he heard a voice behind him. "Well, Spaceman, how do I look?"

The Doctor turned to face her and once he did, it was as if time itself stopped. He'd always found Donna to be an attractive woman, but this. . . She wore a shimmering emerald green gown with a corset top that only accentuated her voluptuous curves, and her hair was pinned up with ringlets framing her face. His mouth hung open as he gazed at her, and he must have been quiet for longer than he thought because Donna began to fidget uncomfortably.

"I look ridiculous, I knew it," she mumbled, and turned to return to the wardrobe, but the Doctor's voice stopped her.

"No!" he called out, louder than he meant to, and she looked over her shoulder hopefully. He took a couple of careful steps toward her. "No, no need to change." His voice dropped. "You look gorgeous, Donna."

She blushed, the new tint to her cheeks only serving to make her look even prettier, and turned back to him. "Thank you, Doctor," she said, sounding almost timid.

He grinned at her, looking more like his usual manic self, and held out his arm to her. She slid hers around it, her eyes sparkling as she looked up at him, and he gave her a fond look in return. "You'll be fighting men off all evening in that dress," he said, and Donna rolled her eyes.

"Okay, you've convinced me I don't look like a total wreck in this dress, you can stop now," she said, and the Doctor held still, waiting for her to look up at him. When she did, he spoke, his voice warm and his eyes serious.

"I'm just being honest with you, Donna. I've never seen you look more enchanting."

She blushed again and pushed one of her ringlets behind her ear, turning away from his appreciative gaze. "Right. Shall we go?"

He nodded, sensing he'd embarrassed her, and forced himself into a lighter mood. "Allons-y!" he cried as they exited the TARDIS.

Once they arrived at the ball, the Doctor found them a place to sit before heading for the bar to get them some drinks. This ball was somewhat futuristic, but not completely out of Donna's realm – only 50 years in the future, give or take – though the makeup of the guests probably had her eyes popping out of her head.

He returned with a gin and tonic for each of them to find a gray, scaly alien a good foot taller than Donna attempting to get her to dance with him. She looked as if she wasn't sure whether she should be delighted or afraid, but the wariness in her eyes made the Doctor step in, putting a hand protectively on Donna's lower back.

"Hello!" he greeted the alien – a Helioma, if he wasn't mistaken. "I'm the Doctor. I take it you've already made Donna's acquaintance. She's with me, by the way."

"Doctor!" Donna admonished, embarrassed by his possessiveness. She turned back to the alien. "I would love to dance with you, since I'm sure Sunshine here won't."

"Oi!" the Doctor protested, and Donna turned to look at him, giving him a pointed look. He reached up to adjust his bow tie and cleared his throat. "I am not normally a fan of dancing, no, but I would dance with you at least once."

Donna rolled her eyes. "One dance. Sounds delightful. In the meantime, I'd like to dance with. . ." She turned back to the alien stranger. "I'm sorry, I didn't catch your name. If you have one, that is."

The Doctor nudged her in the side. "Of course he has one, Donna. We're not Neanderthals. Though even they had names, believe it or not."

She gave him another dirty look, but didn't say anything, just turned back to her new friend, repeating, "Your name?"

"Fernilm," he grunted, and Donna nodded, taking in the strange name.

"Right. Well, Doctor, I am going to have a dance with Fernilm and you can sit over here and sulk or find some pretty blonde thing to give your attention to." She waved him off as Fernilm wrapped a tentacle around her arm, causing her to let out a little shriek, but she recovered quickly, shooting him a dazzling smile as they headed onto the dance floor.

The Doctor, meanwhile, did just as Donna suggested and sat and sulked, after knocking back his drink in one quick gulp. If she was going to be like this, dancing with every bloke who asked, then tonight was going to be terrible! Well, he'd imagined she might do such a thing when he made the arrangements to come here, but he hadn't been bothered by the idea then. But now, after seeing her in that dress and realizing how very lovely she was, he didn't want her to go off hooking up with some random man, not when there was a perfectly good Time Lord at her disposal.

He pouted at this revelation. He was jealous, and he didn't like it.

At least half an hour passed where Donna found herself switching partners and dancing merrily with various males, alien and human alike. The band stopped to take a break and Donna found herself grateful for the pause, needing to sit for a bit and catch her breath. As she headed back to where she'd left the Doctor, she found her annoyance at him dissipating when she saw the expression on his face and his drooped shoulders.

She approached the table without a sound, only speaking once she was close enough to place a hand on his shoulder. "You know, when I told you to sit here and sulk, I didn't expect you to actually do it, Spaceman." She lifted her hand to his head and ran her fingers through his hair, waiting for him to look up at her. He did after closing his eyes for a moment and luxuriating in the head massage she gave him, and the look he gave her was so pathetic she couldn't help but give a sad laugh. "Come on, Doctor, I'm not mad at you anymore."

He pouted at her words. "That implies that you were mad at me at one point in time."

Donna rolled her eyes. "Yes, well, I can think of a few instances in the recent past, you dumbo. But," she let out a breath, "I'm over it now, so you can stop your pouting. Okay?" She finished by running her fingers over his head again.

The Doctor stared up at her, entranced. "Have I ever told you you're beautiful, Donna?"

She made a noise of disbelief, but he could tell from the slight flush to her upper chest that he'd flustered her. "You're daft, Spaceman," she muttered, and the Doctor regained his normal confident demeanor and bounced to his feet, taking one of Donna's hands in his, then pulling her along with him as he hurried off. Donna spluttered at the sudden change in mood. "Where are we going?"

"You look like you could use another drink after all that dancing," he said, stopping by the bar and signaling for a bartender. He turned back to her after ordering their drinks. "Though I hope you're not done. I haven't had a chance to dance with you yet."

Donna looked surprised. "You really want to dance with me?" He nodded and she made a little noise. "I thought you were just saying that so I wouldn't run off with some alien bloke and leave you on your own in the TARDIS. I know you don't do well on your own."

He didn't respond to her words, just slammed his drink once he got it, and Donna laid a hand on his arm. He looked down at her and she smiled softly as the band started playing again. "Come on," she said, sliding her hand down to rest in his and pulling him to the dance floor.

She wasn't sure what she'd been expecting from his dancing, seeing as he was so against the act, but she was surprised to find he was a rather skillful dancer. But then again, she thought, why wouldn't he be? He was brilliant at everything he did.

The music slowed considerably as the band started on a new piece, and Donna started to back off the floor, knowing dances like this tended to be reserved for proper couples to show their affection for each other. So when the Doctor gently encircled her wrist and drew her back to him, she found herself blushing once more.

"Doctor?" she asked, risking a glance up to his face.

He gazed intently at her. "You are so beautiful, Donna," he said, and she gasped as he wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her close to him.

"Doctor," she breathed, not sure she could articulate anything else. What was he doing? This was certainly going beyond the bounds of 'just mates.' Ever since he'd first seen her in her dress for tonight, he'd been acting like a man besotted, like he actually fancied her. Which she knew was impossible. He was just reacting to the dress and a bit of hair styling and makeup. The thought made her heart ache more than she thought it would.

She felt the Doctor's hands wander down to rest on her hips and sucked in a breath. She should really put a stop to this, before he did something he would later regret.

She opened her mouth to say something, but the Doctor looked down at her right at that moment and she found herself frozen by the look in his eyes. Before she knew what was happening, he had lowered his mouth to hers and was kissing her.

It took Donna a few moments to register that he was actually kissing her, and she found herself responding despite her earlier doubts and fears, because it was something she'd wondered about, and the Doctor was really a rather good kisser.

But as soon as the kiss ended and they met each other's gaze again, Donna realized she'd allowed exactly what she didn't want to happen to happen and her hand flew to her mouth. "I need to. . ." was all she managed before turning and fleeing from the ballroom, the sides of her dress gathered in her hands.

The Doctor just stared after her, looking bewildered, then took off after her, needing to make sure she was okay.

He caught sight of her standing outside the TARDIS, looking impatient and desperate to get inside. His hearts broke a bit at the thought that he'd frightened her – what was he thinking, kissing her like that? She probably thought he'd taken advantage of her, and he supposed in a way he had.

"Let me in right now, you bloody box!" he heard Donna shout, and he held back a grin at the words, moving forward so he could join her.

"She'll never open up with that tone of voice," the Doctor commented as he stepped up behind her. Donna flinched in surprise and he muttered a quiet, "Sorry, I didn't mean to startle you." She didn't turn to look at him and he could feel the tension radiating from her, so he simply reached past her to unlock the door.

Once the door was open, Donna quickly stepped inside, the Doctor following. She was just about out of the console room when the Doctor spoke.

"Donna, I'd like to apologize. . ." he started, and Donna turned halfway, so she wasn't quite facing him, but not turned away, either.

"No, it's alright, I understand," she said, her voice no more than a whisper, then she turned to hurry off, leaving the Doctor staring after her, distressed.

He walked around to the other side of the console, starting things up to put them into the Vortex. Once they were going, he simply rested his hands against the edge of the console, hanging his head.

"What have I done?" he asked himself. "I let my emotions get the better of me and kissed Donna, and now. . ." He ran a hand through his hair, leaving it looking just as unruly as he felt right then. "Now I've likely lost her trust and, and. . ." He let out a groan as he thought back on the evening. "And I attempted to apologize for scaring her and she probably thought I was regretting kissing her. Oh, Rassilon, I have thoroughly made a mess of things, haven't I?"

"Maybe I'm the one who did that," he heard a quiet voice from behind him say, and he spun to see Donna standing shyly in the doorway, having changed into lounge pants and a soft-looking t-shirt. Her hair hung loose about her shoulders and she'd scrubbed the makeup from her face, yet the Doctor still found her as striking as he had earlier.

"Oh, you're still here?" the Doctor said after a moment, finding himself at a bit of a loss for words.

Donna couldn't help but laugh. "Not quite still. I went and changed, obviously." She motioned at her clothes. "But I came back, yeah."

The Doctor realized his was his chance to make things right and went to her, careful that he didn't startle her again. "Donna, when I was trying to apologize earlier, I wasn't apologizing for kissing you."

Donna looked somewhat surprised at that. "Then what?" she asked, too curious to feel anything else.

"I was afraid I'd frightened you, kissing you like that."

Donna snorted. "I've never been scared of snogging, Doctor, I can assure you of that."

He frowned, looking troubled. "No, no, that's not what I meant. It's just that. . . oh, gods, I'm bad at this."

Donna watched him in something akin to amusement. Was he flustered? Because of her? She knew she had a way of putting people off at times, but she had been on her best behavior tonight. "Just say it, Doctor," she sighed, growing tired of watching him fuss about.

He took a deep breath and looked at her. "I'm just worried that I let my emotions take over back there and somehow lost your trust in me. It isn't that I didn't want to kiss you or that I regret it, not at all, but perhaps I should have asked before I did."

"I don't know if you noticed, but it's not like it was a one-sided event," Donna said, her sarcastic words belied by the softness of her voice. She hesitated, then said, "What's really bothering you?"

He shrugged, attempting nonchalance. "Perhaps I realized . . . that I may . . . fancy you. Just a bit."

Donna rolled her eyes. "Way to make a girl feel special," she muttered, though not without a tiny smile.

The Doctor saw her lips quirk up and grinned himself, closing the distance between them in a bounce and generally looking more like his usual hyper self. "Oh, you are special, Donna. You're important and brilliant and," he trailed off, his eyes sparkling as he finished, "lovely."

Donna found herself blushing again. How did he do that? She wasn't the type to blush. Especially not at something he said. He was her best friend, for Pete's sake!

"Oh yes, I'm sure I look so very lovely in my jimjams with no makeup on," she said.

The Doctor reached a tentative hand toward her and Donna held out hers in acceptance. "You do, Donna. I'm daft for not seeing it sooner." He squeezed her hand and she smiled at him.

"So what now?" Donna asked after a few beats of silence.

"That's up to you, Donna Noble," the Doctor said, trying not to smile, but unable to keep the gleam from his eyes.

"Well," Donna said in an imitation of how he usually spoke, "you did say I look lovely even in my pyjamas, and I said I wasn't scared of snogging, so I suppose that's a start."

The Doctor gaped at her, as if he wasn't sure he was hearing her right. "You want to kiss me?" he squeaked, and Donna fought back her amusement to give an exasperated sigh.

"You are entirely insufferable sometimes, Spaceman," she said, her eyes sparkling as she lifted her hands to rest on his chest. "And I wouldn't have you any other way."

He gazed down at her, his eyes dark with lust. "Allons-y, Donna," he murmured, and Donna reached up to pull his head down to meet hers, pressing her lips against his.

Maybe it hadn't been such a bad idea after all.

THE END!