The Ball Pit || Ten/Donna

The Ball Pit

“Doctor, please, please, come with me,” Donna groaned as she was laid across his lap unorganized and in her usual attire. The ginger woman’s mother had gone on vacation, and because Wilfred would be home on his own, the Doctor (surprisingly to Donna) suggested they take a break and stay with Wilfred. “Granddad wants Earl Grey, and if I go on my own, I’ll buy a million different things! A million things we don’t need.”

“I want to stay here with Wilfred,” the Doctor prodded once more, a strange gleam in his eye, like he was up to something. Donna raised a brow. “What? Is a man-to-man cool time just too much to ask? I’m with you so often.” She wasn’t believing him, and he could tell. “Donna. Go,” he stood up, causing her to slide off of him. The woman sat up and fixed her hair, then grabbed her car keys.

“Fine, Spaceman, but you owe me when I come back home. Do you want something while I’m out or should I just let you breathe in this foreign air as food?”

“All I want is you, dear,” he muttered, scratching the back of his neck.

“Yeah, like I’d come anywhere romantically near your body. I’d break you like a twig,” Donna teased even though they had gone on a few dates here and there, and with that, was gone, the door shutting behind her swiftly. She walked out to the car, and left without a look back, just like the Doctor had thought.

“Hey Wilf? She’s gone,” he called up the stairs, and he heard a few rushes around on the floor above him, then saw Wilfred pattering down the stairs in slippers. “Let’s get started, then, shall we?”

--

Donna pulled into her drive after going from store to store to find her granddad’s tea. It took longer than she’d thought it would, and she had to admit, the tea was a bit… expensive; the only kind she could find was a huge box of it.
The entire time she was away, Donna couldn’t help but think the Doctor was up to something. There was nothing that was called for, and the house was basically as stale as an abandoned loaf of bread that had been sitting out in the cold for three weeks. Her greenish blue hues looked at the house, not really noticing anything different about it. It looked just as it did when she’d gone. Nothing was out of place or damaged, and she thought, surely her granddad and the Doctor together were a disastrous combination. Nearly and believably, something to be firmly feared, those two were.

As soon as she’d come through the door, she was nearly scared stiff and dropped the grocery bags, but somehow refrained from doing so, as the Doctor had popped up from around the corner. “Hello, my love!” She gave him the look. The one that was a mixture of confusion and suspicion. “Let me get those for you, then,” he said, and took the few bags on her arm as Wilfred scrambled in and linked his arm with hers, leading her into the dining room. At this point, she was thoroughly confused. My love? He’d never called her that before. Only darling, dear, dummy, Earthgirl, Donna. She blinked a few times as she was sat down at the table by her grandfather, and he was lighting a few candles that sat between her and the seat across from her. The Doctor’s best tablecloth was set out on the table, straight from the TARDIS’ kitchen drawer. There were no wrinkles in it, and the table looked immaculate as she fully took in the silverware set out beside the lovely plates of food.

The Doctor peeked in from the kitchen just as a sweet smile graced Donna’s lips perfectly, and it warmed his hearts a little to see her so happy since their last travel which, in his opinion, was not very fun. In fact, it was rather sad. This was like some sort of thing to make up for it. He thought he wasn’t very good at this, but apparently nine-hundred years was enough experience to make somebody so beautiful clearly happy. He looked over and saw Wilfred nearly crying in happiness as his eyes met the Doctor, and then he gave him a thumbs up and a nod. The Doctor grinned and ran his nimble fingers through his hair as he walked in, a rather smooth swagger in his steps.