Disclaimer: Just one of those little interludes that the Doctor and Donna's owner, the BBC, never showed us.

The Covert Cake Caper Continues

They burst into the TARDIS at full tilt, wild and out of breath. Donna leaned on one of the coral struts, red-faced, chest heaving and unable to speak for a moment, only turning her head slightly as the Doctor slammed the door shut behind.

"Could you perhaps cut things a little closer next time, perhaps?" she grumbled at him "You know, because I really think I would have rather enjoyed getting impaled by a whole tribe of spear-wielding Sydderians with an irrational fear of red-heads..."

"Not completely irrational, actually, they were forced off their original home planet by a rather small, but aggressive band of tall, ginger-haired…."

Donna cut him off. "..and despite you already knowing this you still decided it would be a good idea to go there and 'take a bit of a look around'?" She was growing crosser by the minute.

"I didn't know the TARDIS had landed us there, Sydderia is actually 3.5 planets left of where I thought we were going…"

"How can you have half a planet, anyway?" She looked at him with a mixture of incredulity and annoyance. "You really should pay more attention when you're setting course, honestly, sometimes I think I drive the Old Girl better than you do."

The Doctor said nothing but just quirked one eyebrow very pointedly and a little dismissively at her.

"Alright then, you think you're such a good pilot, YOU can drive her next time, and let's see where we end up, shall we?"

She didn't flinch. "You are ON, Sunshine! You're going to be eating your words, just wait and see. The Old Girl loves me anyway, she'd never steer me wrong, would you now, sweetheart?" She turned to give one of the struts a soothing pat and was rewarded with a gentle, low hum in concurrence.

"Fine" the Doctor said, seemingly a little miffed. "I'm going to go take a wash". He turned to leave then paused, before turning back to her, his expression softening. "Why don't we sit down for tea and biscuits after? I could definitely use the sustenance." He looked at her warmly, the hint of a smile curling his lips. "Not to mention the company."

Donna couldn't help her anger just melting away at his unspoken apology.

"Alright then. I'll meet you in the kitchen in a few hours. I need a nice long soak in the bath"

Two hours later, Donna, thoroughly relaxed from her bath, padded to the kitchen in her bathrobe and slippers. Putting the kettle on, she went to the pantry to get the biscuits, when she spotted her personal treat tin, marked 'Donna's'. Not in its usual position. Suspicious, she pulled it down from the shelf, wrenched of the lid and gasped. The Twinkies were still there, of course, unloved, untouched and intact inside their plastic wrappers. Which was more than she could say for the iced banana cake she had baked only yesterday. It had definitely seen some loving and touching and was now, in contrast to yesterday, only semi-intact.

The cheeky git.

Obviously, the Doctor had somehow caught on to her little ruse, and had decided to help himself from her own, private cake tin. His extremely poor attempt to cover his tracks by replacing the tin on the shelf (not in exactly the same place mind you, and in any case, did he really think she wouldn't notice half the cake missing?) would have been amusing if Donna hadn't been so put out that he had ignored her explicitly-stated instructions not to touch the tin at all.

Well, two can play that game, she thought.

She left the kitchen and walked to the Doctor's room, putting her ear to the door to check he was still in the shower.

Good.

Just enough time for a quick trip to the library before tea-time.

Donna smiled to herself as she arranged the biscuits on a plate and placed them on the table with two steaming mugs of tea.

"Oi, Spaceman, tea's ready!" she called.

"Coming!" She heard his voice echo down the corridors, followed by some possibly over-eager footfalls thudding rapidly in her direction.

His head popped round the doorway, slightly damp hair spiking in all directions and a happy smile on his face. "Right then!" He beamed. "Tea and biscuits! What could be better?"

Donna sipped her tea before fixing him with a long, serious stare and then, with a suddenly nonchalant air, said: "Oh, tea and cake perhaps?"

The Doctor froze for a second, a deer-caught-in-the-headlights look marking his features. A few moments passed before he finally managed to speak, although it came it with a tell-tale-ish squeak. His eyes darted nervously down to his mug.

"Oh yes, tea and cake, of course, love a bit of tea and cake, although biscuits are also good, yes they are, we do enjoy a nice biscuit, goes brilliantly with tea, just as good as cake really, and, depending on the type, sometimes even better…"

If the squeaky voice of guilt hadn't been enough of a give-away the babble of busted-ness certainly was. And he knew that she knew it.

"Donna, I'm so very sorry…." He began.

She moved to cut him off again. "What did I ask you? To stay out of my personal treats tin. Simple instruction, You have a big alien brain. Surely that wasn't too hard to understand."

The Doctor started to get flustered and indignant at the same time, making his face go slightly pink.

"Well, Donna, you haven't been exactly one hundred percent open and honest here either, you know" he remarked. "You led me to believe that tin contained only…only….inedible….treats, and yet I come back from yet another mission to keep the earth safe, suspicious smells of baked goods still lingering in the air…."

Oops. She'd forgotten about his heightened sense of smell. Which came with his heightened senses of other things.

"…and yet when I ask you, you flat out deny that there has been any baking going on." He stopped then, fixed her with the hurt puppy eyes, then continued. "Why don't you bake for me anymore? I thought you liked baking me things."

"I DO like baking you things, but just occasionally, I'd like to share in the eating! But you've usually scoffed the lot before I can get a look in edgeways!" She looked up at him through what she hoped appeared to be calming, alluring eyelashes that would also give him a guilt trip at the same time. "I didn't want to hide cake from you, but a girl gets desperate…" And not just for cake.

She waited a beat.

"You do want to share stuff with me, don't you? You want to share with your best friend don't you?"

His face instantly became on of anxious concern and he reached out to grasp her hands in his, soothing reassuring words pouring from his lips. "Of course, of course, Donna, you ARE my best friend and I DO want to share with you." So much more than you know.

"Well, I'm certainly glad to hear that then," she said with a matter-of-fact tone and rose from her chair, grabbing their now-empty tea mugs and placing them in the sink. "Because I really would like to start baking again for you. For both of us." She smiled warmly at him, cupping his face tenderly with her hand.

Then, dropping her hand, she reached out to grasp his, giving it a little squeeze. "Right, shall we call it a night, then? I think we could both use a long rest after today's athletic endeavours".

"Sounds perfect" the Doctor agreed and they left the kitchen to head towards their bedrooms.

"Goodnight Donna, sleep well."

"Oh, and Donna?"

"What?"

"Thank you for being so understanding. And forgiving."

She leaned forward and gave him a soft kiss on the cheek, causing him to smile shyly.

It wouldn't have been even half an hour later when, just as she was about to put down her book, turn out the light and go to sleep, that she heard a familiar voice call out from….. yes, sounds like he's in the Library.

"Don-nahhhh!"

She felt the smirk spreading instantly even as he called out again, this time with an unmistakeable testiness.

"WHERE are my jellybabies?"