Warning: Contains scenes of a towel nature, and has a slight reference to "Ghosts of India".

Summary: Donna and the Doctor have a d- doing something together moment in the TARDIS.

Disclaimer: I do not own anything from Doctor Who in this story except maybe the towels.

A/N: This was written at the request of sczep84, with TARDIS naughtiness suggested by louiecat68.


Chapter 4 - Doing Nothing Together

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What the heck…? It was as Donna turned off the shower that she heard the strange mechanical musical sound properly, coming from somewhere outside her room. At first she thought it was something the Doctor must be doing, but it sounded too good to be connected to him! Something about it urged her to seek it out, to explore and claim it for herself. She grabbed the nearest towel, wrapped it around her body, and dripped out of her bathroom to the main part of her bedroom. What was she thinking, sploshing water everywhere? The sound still called her from outside, egging her on. She cautiously opened her bedroom door, checked round the corner to see if anyone was there. Good! The coast was clear. She wrapped the towel more tightly around her and then walked out into the cooler corridor. She shivered, but still the sound called her on, pulling her with its chords and alluring rhythms, onwards towards the library. Donna had a moment of panic. What if the Doctor was in there? How would she explain her appearance in just a towel? As she thought this, the sound became more intense, overriding her uncertainties, lulling her into a calm mood, exciting her with unknown possibilities. If it did turn out this had something to do with him, she'd kill him! After she'd got dressed, obviously!

She excitedly pushed on the slightly open door to the library and stepped in, not really knowing what she expected to find in there, but she was certain that she had to look and see where the sound was coming from. Nope, no music source that she could see. She found nothing out of the ordinary except the fire in the grate was alight and the room was much more pleasantly warm than it normally was. Was the TARDIS playing about with her again? Donna hurried over to the fire to warm her cold skin, smiling gladly when the goosebumps on her arm and legs began to disappear. What was the TARDIS playing at? There was obviously some strange reason why the TARDIS wanted her in here, but for the life of her Donna couldn't see it. Perhaps this was some form of bonding between her and the TARDIS? Looking around the room gave her no clue as to where or why the sound was playing. Feeling that its intensity had diminished, Donna was about to leave the comfort of the library fire when the Doctor suddenly appeared in the doorway. Donna immediately felt her heart rate leap, from the shock, obviously, she told herself. He too looked mesmerised by something. What worried Donna even more was that the Doctor was also only clad in a towel, fresh from his morning shower, dripping water all over the carpet. She tried not to stare at his glistening skin, the way his hair laid flat against his head, his long lean legs… 'Stop looking woman!' she told herself.

"Oh! Donna! Sorry, didn't know you were in here," he blushed to the tips of his ears. "Only I heard a sound… sort of musical but…" He seemed to be having trouble gathering his thoughts judging by his expression, as he waved his hands about a bit before settling on scratching the back of his neck.

"I heard it too. Or something similar." She had moved towards him with her hands outstretched, smiling at him in relief. "It sort of… well… called to me is the best description I can come up with." She blushed too, furiously, when she noticed his eyes appraising her. She waved her hand about a bit in front her, pretending she was hot; which in no way covered the fact she had stepped towards him in doing so. Nuh uh.

"So we both heard something that called us here. Something musical, and mechanical?" he looked at Donna to see her nod confirmation of this description, "…that was loud enough to hear in the shower." He tried again not to look at her towel-clad form that also beckoned to him through all of his senses. But he couldn't stop himself from moving towards her, his need to be in close proximity undermining his need to avoid being slapped. "It's almost as if we heard some sort of Siren. But where could that come from? She wouldn't, would she?"

"Siren? As in loud 'get out of here' noises or weird Greek woman" Donna teasingly asked him.

He paused before answering, "Greek… the Greek one. From Homer's Iliad, where…"

Donna was directly in front of him now, easily within touching distance, virtually embracing distance; to the point that her shampoo and body soap fragrance filled his head. Her skin glowed, and he could feel the warmth emanating from her body. It was intoxicating, and he felt himself falling under her spell. If she had told him to die for the Queen he would have done so right there and then. Most of all he was drawn to her beautiful blue eyes that fluttered and shyly looked down, whilst periodically peering at him with such wonder he knew he would never want to look anywhere else again. Okay, curiosity would get the better of him and, of course, he'd have to look elsewhere, but if he could choose not to than he would.

Donna brought him out of his trance by asking, "What wouldn't she do?"

Rational thought had to fight its way to the surface for him to answer. "Who? Oh! The TARDIS… she might have deliberately called us into here using a Siren song."

Donna snorted. "But why would she do that? Why in the shower? And why lure us to the library?" Donna was puzzled and more than a bit cold now, especially since she had moved away from the fire to approach the Doctor. It had seemed a good idea at the time, when she had felt the need to be closer to him, to smell his skin and see the way the hair grew on his chest. For some reason it fascinated her. She couldn't figure out why she felt the need to run her hands over him. Her hands began to reach out towards him.

His eyes darkened as he regarded her. "The TARDIS obviously felt it necessary to bring us here partially covered to a room with a warm fire and leather sofas." He ran his hands over her shoulders to assess her skin temperature, and in readiness to comfort her should the need arise. "Does that worry you, Donna?"

She found herself lost in the depths of his soul as she replied, "I don't think so. No." In fact, she didn't think anything could worry her as long as he held her within his gaze. "But why catch us in our towels?"

The reason hit her as she saw his face blush again. The TARDIS was a minx at times. A matchmaking, and apparently frustrated minx. She felt his hands rub reassuringly on her shoulders, calming away any qualms she might have had. Giving in to temptation, she leant forward and wrapped her arms around his waist, bringing her head onto his chest, enjoying the feel of him beneath her. He ran his hands down her back to her waist and lowered his head to rest on top of hers. He chuckled low in his chest when she added, "Don't expect this sort of treatment everytime you have a shower."

They stayed there for several minutes before he spoke quietly into her hair. "I think we ought to go and get dressed now, don't you?"

Donna reluctantly pulled back from their embrace and said, "Yes, we should." But she was unable to tear her gaze away from his eyes. They seemed to be saying so much to her that she wondered if it were true. Nah, she didn't believe it for one second.

He moved his hand up from her waist to brush through a strand of her hair. "Are you alright?" he asked. She had never heard him speak so gently before.

"I'm always alright when I'm with you," she replied. 'Blimey! I've turned soppy' she thought. "I suppose I'd better… we'd better go and get dressed." This whole situation was beginning to feel surreal. Being nearly naked would do that to you, she supposed.

They smiled at each other and held hands as they left the library, heading towards their rooms, only letting go as they reached their destination.

As they stopped to say goodbye he caressed her cheek, saying, "I'll meet you in the kitchen later, and if you're good I'll bake you something nice." The thought of him managing to pull that little stunt off made them both grin widely.

Later, having got dressed, Donna considered their options now. The beach had turned them green, their shopping trip had given her some competition, the TARDIS had tried to embarrass them and now they were going to try again. She felt that they needed to get this sorted out before they visited her family; she needed certainty when facing her mother.

She sat on her bed and considered the invite in her hand. Her cousin Janice had invited them to a housewarming party. Was it worth the chance to have a proper date? Why not? They couldn't have constant bad luck, could they? Was the universe telling them to get together or separate? She really couldn't tell anymore.

"Donna! What you doing in there?" the Doctor called from outside her bedroom.

"Nothing much!" she shouted back. "You can come in." He appeared in the doorway, wearing his Snoopy apron. It had the slogan 'Kiss the cook' across the front. She smiled at him shyly despite her amusement. "Is that an order or an invitation?" she asked him as she gazed down at his front.

He briefly forgot he was wearing this apron and wondered why she was looking at his stomach, and if he had inadvertently sent her a body language message. "Oh that!" he exclaimed with relief, flapping his hands about with what he hoped was a dismissive air, "I hadn't thought…" He stopped to consider her demeanour. If he was correct, there was a little 'come on' happening here. He slowly walked towards her, his attention caught by her freshly applied lipstick that he'd love to smudge, and the way her eyes sparkled at him. "I'll let you chose shall I?" he offered his hand to her.

"What? You're expecting me to kiss your hand? What are you, the Pope?" she teased him laughingly.

"No, I… did you… the Pope?" he looked at her puzzled for a second, before grinning broadly at her. "Are you avoiding me, Donna Noble?"

"Bit hard to do that when you're standing in front of me flashing your pinny at me!" Donna retorted. "Are you intending to cook me or something?"

"Well, I'd like to make you very hot!" At her shocked expression, he backpedalled a bit. "Sorry! I didn't mean to… I thought we… I suck at this big time, don't I?"

She patted his arm reassuringly, "No, you're not doing too bad. Better than most blokes I know. It was just really surprising to hear you turn into a Carry On film character, that's all." His little grin began to return at her kind words, so she pushed on, "So… um… you suck, eh?" and laughed delightedly at his shocked expression. This turned into a full-blown giggle attack, and she clung helplessly onto his arm as she tried to bring it under control. "It's no good! I can't talk that way with you!" she managed to get out as she wiped away some laughter tears.

"Is there anything you want me to fetch you?" he asked as he helped her sit upright again on the bed.

"How about Brad Pitt or Hugh Jackman?" Donna guffawed before dissolving onto the bed again in a fit of giggles.

He sat next to her hesitantly. "But, I thought… do you really want one of them?"

She gained enough control to look up at him from the bedspread, and saw his forlorn look and dejected posture. "Oh, Doctor! Why would I want them really? They only manage to be heroes in films, whereas you get to be the hero in real life." She squeezed his knee through his pinny and gave him her best smile.

He took hold of the hand resting on his knee, turned the palm upward and ran his fingers around her pulse point, tracing out some symbol probably in Gallifreyan. "Would you choose someone for their film-star looks or for being a hero?" he asked her whilst keeping his eyes on her wrist.

He looked up again at her face when she answered, "What makes you think they are the qualities I'm looking for in a man? I want someone to make me feel special. Someone who'd love me and not who he thought I was." Knowing she had his full attention, Donna edged closer to him, bringing her other hand up to touch his chest. "Someone who has the heart to show love in little things, the important things," she brought her mouth closer to him, feeling his arms move to wrap around her as she cupped his cheek with her released hand.

"Would you like that someone to be me? Can it be me?" his dark eyes drank her in, flickering between her lips and her mesmerising, expressive eyes.

"Are you applying for the position?" she breathed against his ear, rubbing her nose along his jaw line.

"Only if I know I'm in with a chance." He murmured close to her tempting throat.

"You'll have to lose the apron; it's a bit of a passion killer up close." She informed him as she edged ever closer to his lips.

"My apron? Oh. Oh! I forgot!" he jerked back from their embrace looking stricken. "I came in to tell you… it'll be burnt to a cinder if I don't…" His look begged her forgiveness at this interruption. "I'll be back in a minute!" he called back as he raced out of her bedroom in the direction of the kitchen.

"That had better be some banana cake," Donna chuckled to herself.

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