Disclaimer: Because the BBC and not me owns the Doctor and Donna, we never got to see the following totally!canon scene.

Unspoken

"I can't imagine you without a voice"

He smiled, amused, and with the barest hint of smouldering, both at the truth of her words, and the meaning behind them:

I need to hear your voice. I love your voice.

"Molto bene" he said.

"Molto bene" she replied

"No. Don't do that".

She mentally smacked herself for, once again, speaking before thinking.

"Don't," he repeated, the fear flickering again in his eyes, "Really. Don't."

It killed her to see him, her Doctor, usually so brave and sure, like that.

She determined to bring him back to her, to himself. Surely she could do at least that.

So she waited a beat and considered carefully before speaking again, deliberately keeping her tone light.

"I mean, I know I give you a hard time, 'cause you do prattle on sometimes…"

He raised an eyebrow and she suddenly averted her eyes and looked down momentarily as if she felt guilty, or embarrassed, but then she raised her head to look at him again with renewed courage.

"But your voice," she finally started softly, deliberately.

And then, as seemed to happen more and more these days, it was like she was inside his mind and could understand everything and knew exactly what he needed without a word needing to be said.

Yet, even still, he never imagined she would actually come out and say what she did next:

"I adore your voice".

He caught his breath, not only just at the unexpectedness of it, but sensing the incredible importance of what she was trying to say, and even more, what it was deep down inside her that was prompting her to do so.

"Your voice," she continued as she moved to grasp his hand in hers, "is what keeps me calm when everything else is going mad."

He felt the corners of his mouth turn up a little again.

"Your voice is like an anchor that holds me when I'm feeling lost, or alone, or just have no clue what's going on".

He didn't even dare to blink, feeling the tears welling.

She went on, the pride and admiration in her tone unmistakable.

"I have heard that amazing voice of yours show mercy and offer compassion. I've heard it challenge wrong and plead for reason. I've heard it stop wars and save worlds".

She reached out to wipe away an escaped tear.

"But more than anything, I love to listen to that beautiful voice as I go to sleep each night, because it makes me feel safe. Protected."

Sensing she had said her piece, he opened his mouth to speak and ironically, found himself unable to utter a word.

For her words had wrapped around him like a warm blanket and stoked a fire in his heart that both chased away the darkness and stirred something else more primal.

And it was what she hadn't said, but that had hung on every word, that spoke the loudest of all.

So he picked up her hand that was in his and kissed it long and achingly slowly as he unspoke it right back.