Inspired by a prompt on Tumblr

Imagine Your OTP tied to a tree

Outsmarted

The Doctor thought he heard a little snicker. He craned his neck, but all he could see was a wisp of ginger hair. "What was that?" he asked.

The silence stretched out for 2.24 seconds. It was an eternity.

"Nothing."

He frowned. "I thought I heard…"

There it was again. A tiny sound, somewhat stifled by Donna clearing her throat. The Doctor inhaled, incensed. "Are you laughing at me?"

"No!" Donna answered much too quickly. "Well…yeah," she admitted, and he could practically see her face break out into a wide, mocking smile. He would have found it charming, had she not been making fun of him.

He strained against the ropes around his wrist. "I fail to see what's so funny."

"They outsmarted you!" Donna replied, her voice breaking as she started to laugh again.

"They did not!"

"Yes they did!" she stressed. "You, a five thousand year old alien was outsmarted by twelve year olds!"

"It's nine-hundred, sixty….I-I-I was not outsmarted by twelve year olds!" he said, the pitch in his voice rising in sync with his indignation.

She just laughed again. "Fell right for it too. Did you actually believe they knew anything about that duel capacitor what's-it-called that you were ranting on about?"

The Doctor pouted. "They seemed like they knew exactly what I was talking about."

"No one ever knows what you're talkin' about." The roped pulled as Donna tried to move her arms. "This has been fun and all, but when are we gettin' loose?"

"I'm working on it," the Doctor said.

"Leave it to twelve year olds to tie people to trees," Donna said and glanced around. "And are we really in the middle of nowhere? Not one other person around."

The Doctor glanced around. They were in the middle of a field somewhere in Yorkshire. "Middle of the day….1980s…guess people are at work."

"Let's to go the 1980s! It'll be fun!" Donna grumbled.

"This is fun!"

"It will be after we get out of here and I can relax in the TARDIS. And you finally take me to an uneventful beach."

The Doctor's mouth twisted as he started to rummage through his pockets.

"Did they nick the sonic screwdriver too?" Donna asked.

Squirming, the Doctor clumsily felt around in his bottomless pockets. "Nah, I did distract them by handing them some of those sprockets. They ran off thinking they could get a good price for them."

"Think that's wise, giving kids some alien technology?"

He smiled smugly, quite pleased with himself. "They're Hordosian," he said as if that was the perfect explanation.

Donna snorted, and he could easily envision her eye roll. "Yeah, and?"

"They'll disintegrate within five minutes of contact with human skin. Completely incompatible."

Donna tsk'd. "Great, so they'll come back angry!?"

The Doctor's smugness evaporated. "Oh."

"Yeah, oh!" Donna snapped and tugged harder. "So let's get out of here," she said, urgency replacing her amusement.

Shimmying more, the Doctor leaned forward as his hands strained.

"What are you doing?"

"Trying to get my sonic screwdriver out," the Doctor said and squeezed his eyes shut as he reached further into his pocket, as if that would help.

"Don't be askin' me to reach into those pockets. I don't want to touch any alien…bits."

The Doctor ignored her as the tips of his fingers reached the screwdriver. He scraped his back against the tree and cringed, but was successful as the weighted instrument fell into his hands. "Ha!" he exclaimed in triumph, yanking his hand out.

Then his hand yanked against the rope, and he watched, in slow motion, it seemed, as the screwdriver knocked out of his grasp and rolled away from him.

"Are you having fun?" Donna asked.

"No, this is not fun," the Doctor admitted, frowning as he tried to stretch his leg out at an awkward angle. "I…can…"

Donna sighed. "I may not be the most nimble of companions, but…" The Doctor watched as Donna's leg stretched out before him. She grunted as she pointed her foot, just reaching the misbehaving screwdriver.

"Ow!" Donna snapped.

"What?"

"Cut my hand on a root or something."

"Sorry."

"Not your fault…or maybe it is," Donna replied as she resumed stretching.

"I'll make it up to you," he vowed.

"Damn straight you are," she said and released a triumphant cry when she successfully pulled the sonic closer to her.

The Doctor beamed into the sunlight. "You are brilliant, Donna Noble."

"I know that. But how do we get out here?"

"You know what to do. Just think about what you want to do with the screwdriver."

"You mean beside knock you over the head with it?"

"Before that," he said. "Let's go before the troops come back."

Buzzing filled the open air. The Doctor swore it was the prettiest sound he'd ever heard.

"There!" Donna said as the ropes snapped. Soon, the glorious Donna Noble stood in front of him, eyebrow arched as she waved the sonic screwdriver in front of him.

He grinned. "Well done! Me now?" he asked and shifted.

She waited a beat too long. He gave her a side-long look. "Donna…I promise to take you to a beach."

She smiled and pointed the sonic at him. "And no trouble!"

The Doctor felt a snap. He swooshed his arms forward, feeling loose and ready to run. "Now where would the fun be in that?" he asked and took her hand.

She shook her head, grinning. "It would be something different," she said as they headed back to the TARDIS.