This is one of the first short stories I wrote after I decided to do this Christmas series.

Donna yawned as she leaned back into the Doctor's embrace, letting the warm water that surrounded them help her relax after a hard few days of negotiating with a emperor. Two nights of sleeping on the hard metal floors of the guest suite had her muscles in knots, and she could only imagine how the Doctor must feel without any padding at all to help protect his bony joints. They definitely deserved this bath together. "I'm not hurting you, am I?" she asked, softly, wanting to make sure.

"No, 'course not." He wrapped his arms around her middle, encouraging her to relax fully against him. Her head came to rest on his shoulder with a sigh, and he nuzzled his cheek against the top of her head. "I feel much better already."

"Me too." She closed her eyes for just a moment before she remembered something important. "Oh, I had a voicemail from Mum. She wants me to bake a cake for Christmas dinner, and she made sure to remind me that boxed cake is unacceptable."

The Doctor sighed, his warm breath tickling her ear. "I know this place that does a great spice cake, if you want. Definitely not boxed."

Donna couldn't help but smile at the sheer exhaustion in his voice. Normally, he'd be all over a kitchen experiment and begging her to include banana in whatever capacity she'd allow. "Oh, I don't know. She was so angry the year I did the boxed cake. Said I'd ruined Christmas. What if she finds out that I didn't actually make it?"

"The bakery is on an entirely different planet," he said. "I sincerely doubt that your mum will ever find out."

"No, but it would be too good. She might suspect something." She frowned. "I'm not… You know my cooking isn't very good."

"Donna, your cooking is delicious."

"No, it's not." She really only knew how to make things out of boxes or bags, and from a few familiar recipes. Left on her own, she was hopeless.

"Shh, none of that, love." He stroked his fingers lightly across her stomach as he spoke, gently kneading circles in her skin. It used to make her terribly self-conscious when he did that. She would tense up and instantly become aware of her every lump and bump, wondering if he was disgusted by her or criticizing her body in some way, but she'd soon accepted that he just liked touching her, and it actually felt really nice once she relaxed. "If you want, we can go on a grocery run later and get whatever you need. There's a huge supermarket chain on Glise Globe that I think you'll like. There's an adventure on every aisle, or so the slogan says."

"Mmm, maybe later," she agreed, closing her eyes again. "Much later."

Unfortunately, much later came all too soon, and Donna found herself pushing a shopping trolley and tiredly trotting after a reenergized Doctor as he led the search for cake ingredients.

"Flour's over there," he murmured, consulting his copy of the chocolate cake recipe they'd agreed on. "Icing too, I'm sure."

She followed him and pushed the trolley towards him so that he could toss a few things in.

"Red or green icing?" he asked her. "Or, I dunno, blue? Isn't that sort of a Christmas color too?"

"Yeah." Donna yawned and gave a half hearted shrug. "Blue would look nice with the chocolate, I suppose. And maybe we should get some white so we can try to draw snowflakes."

"Do we need candles?" He pointed to a collection of the wax decorations.

"It's a Christmas cake, Doctor."

He turned to look at her. "So no candles then?"

"No candles."

The Doctor gave the candles a longing glance before he nodded. "I suppose the chocolate chips will be down there… Ooh, do you smell that?" He hurried down the aisle, nose tipped into the air like a dog.

"What is it?" Donna set after him, willing her tired legs to carry her faster. Despite the aching in her calves, she couldn't help but smile at his antics. He could be so incredibly silly sometimes, and she loved him for it.

"Free samples, look!" He pointed and scurried over to the little kiosk where a woman was handing out miniature hamburgers on tiny buns. "Sliders!" he exclaimed, grinning happily at the worker.

The woman smiled back at him and launched into her speech. "Hello sir. Would you care to try one? There's a great sale on the seasoning mix today."

"Oh, is there?" he asked, feigning interest as he reached for one of the little burgers.

"The packets are buy one, get one free. Today only."

The Doctor took a bite and his smile grew even bigger. "Delicious. Don't you want to try one, Donna?"

Donna took the offered burger. The warm melty cheese paired just right with the well-seasoned burger. "It is good," she agreed. She knew better than to ask what kind of animal the meat was from. She'd made that mistake before and she didn't care to repeat it. Insects were a very popular choice in some places.

"Maybe we should bring these to your mum's instead of cake," the Doctor suggested. "What do you think?"

Donna elbowed him. "I think it's Christmas, not a summer barbecue. She would absolutely kill me."

"She'd have to get through me first," he assured her.

"I was just telling your husband that the seasoning mix is on sale today," the worker cheerfully told Donna, ignoring their antics in favor of trying to make a sale. It was what they paid her for, after all. "It's a great deal. Buy one, get one free."

Donna nodded casually, but inside her heart was warmed by the familiar assumption. She slipped her free arm around the Doctor's waist and gave him a little hug. It felt so good not to have to deny it anymore. He was her husband and she was his wife, and they were madly, deeply in love with each other. No more of that just mates nonsense.

The Doctor turned towards her, happily returning her hug. "Maybe we can make sliders for lunch today? What do you think, wife?"

"I think that would be fine, husband," she agreed, and he beamed at her.

Luckily, the cake turned out to be a success. It was just lopsided enough to be obviously homemade, but it was perfectly moist and rich, and it tasted out of this world. Probably because the ingredients actually were.

Sylvia was full of praise for her daughter instead of the usual frustrated anger from previous years. It probably helped that Donna was now happily married and had promised Sylvia that grandchildren were on the agenda for the future. Still, Donna had the best Christmas she'd had in years, and the Doctor enjoyed himself as well.

"Happy Christmas," Donna said, as she clinked her fork against the Doctor's.

"Happy Christmas," he echoed, and they shared a smile as they each ate their last bite of cake.