The Doctor awoke from his restful slumber, body curled around the Master's in a tangle of bed sheets. He opened his eyes slightly to the natural-looking light that illuminated the room. That was one of the many things he loved about his ship; she would always awaken him in this manner, since there were no interior windows to cast in any starlight they might pass by. The Master sighed in his arms and shifted slightly, and the Doctor pulled him closer. It reminded him of back home, when little Theta and Koschei would lay a blanket out on the lush, red grass in the boundaries of Koschei's estate, and they would fall asleep in each other's arms, and awaken just the same, as the twin suns began to rise from opposite sides of that beautiful world. Of course, nothing could compare to those nights and mornings, but he enjoyed this all the same. He rested his chin on the Master's shoulder as he heard Donna approaching their room.
"I hope you're both decent because I'm coming in." The door opened and Donna appeared in the doorway. "Come on, get up. I want to go somewhere today."
The Doctor made a face and buried it in the crook of the Master's neck. Donna started walking toward them.
"Come ON, Doctor, we haven't been anywhere in at least a few weeks...right? I'm still not sure how time passes in here." She gently pushed the Doctor but he wouldn't budge.
"It's only been a few days." He grumbled out finally.
"A few days? That's like 10 years in your time." She exclaimed. "You two are acting like newlyweds, still in their honeymoon phase. Get up right now, or I'll pilot the ship without you." She stood up and walked toward the door. The Doctor grumbled and tightened his grip around the Master.
"I'm going...right now...you know, you never properly taught me how to fly the TARDIS, I hope we don't end up in a black hole..." The Doctor continued to ignore her. "Fine." She walked to the console room and made sure to speak and exaggerate her actions just enough so the Doctor would be able to hear.
"Hmm, I wonder what this one does!" She shouted toward his room and flipped a switch on the control panel. The central columns started to rise but stopped short and sputtered. Donna muttered to herself. "Isn't there an alarm or something that would make him come running? Come on, help me out old girl." She whispered to the TARDIS. She twisted one of the knobs counterclockwise and the cloister bell rang out. "There we go...thanks." She smiled, and the TARDIS gave her a light tickling electrical pulse through her hands to acknowledge her. "Oops!" She cried out toward the direction of the Doctor. "In five, four, three, two-"
The Doctor burst through the opening to the console room and circled the console while shouting, panicked. He was naked.
"Donna what did you do tell me I have to fix it we're probably going to go right into a freezing star Donna this is a matter of life or death ...why are you laughing?" He followed her gaze down his body and covered himself once he realized. The cloister bell stopped.
"Imagine if you actually travelled through the universe like that, couldn't really have companions then could you? Oh, go put some clothes on, you look silly." Donna said through her fits of giggles.
The Master walked through the door, fully clothed, yawning. "What's going on in here-" he gasped. "Doctor! At least have some decency...there is a lady present." he walked over toward the console as the Doctor blushed and power-walked away in a huff. The Master chuckled.
Donna spoke up from her laughter. "Has he always been this uptight?"
"Oh you should have seen him years ago. He was much worse, if you can believe it." The Master circled the console, absentmindedly setting coordinates and pushing controls.
"Do you miss it? Your planet." Donna cautiously approached him with the question. The Master stayed silent and slowed his fingers on the control panel. "Sorry to bring it up, just forget I said anything." Donna replied.
The pair stayed silent for a while until the Master spoke up, much to the surprise of Donna.
"The first time we ever took a trip in a TARDIS together was to a planet much similar." Donna looked at him and he had a faraway look in his eyes. "Bright red grass, bright orange sky, twin suns, chrome leaves on the trees...we thought it WAS home until the instructor told us we were in a parallel universe. We were never quite proficient in that class to be quite honest. There were always better things to do." He grinned. "Of course, it was so easy to jump between parallels back then. I suppose now, they're both gone." She noticed his eyes were glinting, as if he were holding back some tears. "As much as we disagreed with the rest of the Time Lords, Gallifrey was always, and will always be, our childhood. Our home." A single tear escaped. "Well, as long as we all have each other, there's no need for much else is there?" He turned to Donna and genuinely smiled as he flipped the last of the switches and the columns started to move.
Donna returned his smile. "So...where are we off to?" The Doctor reentered the room.
"Oh, surely it is more thrilling to be surprised than to know the specifics of everything. It's no fun that way. Good morning." The Doctor cooed to the Master and kissed him.
"Morning." The Master smiled and looked up into the Doctor's eyes. "I see you're presentable now." He grinned. The Doctor broke their gaze to confront Donna.
"How did you even get the cloister bell to sound? That's usually reserved for extreme circumstances."
"The TARDIS helped me out." The Doctor rolled his eyes. "Hey, if you boys get to have fun, we girls want to as well."
The TARDIS lurched forward and made the landing noise. "Let's see our surprise." All three grinned ear to ear and walked through the threshold.
I probably won't continue writing with this story, but there will be plenty more Doctor/Master/Donna goodness in what seems like unrelated events because I don't really have a timeline for these stories but anyway. As always, thank you so much for reading, my lovely readers.