Disclaimer: I don't own anything or anyone. The Doctor and Donna kindly allow me to borrow their likeness for a time.

Summary: The Doctor and Donna attend an intergalactic conference

A/N: The concept of "Aprixian Brandy" belongs to ellyfanfiction's "Don't Ever Let It End" series, which can be found here: . . She has graciously allowed me to use it for my little fic. Do yourself a favour and read the series, if you haven't already done so. It is a delight, and well worth your time.

Chapter 1 – The Preliminaries

"DOOOOOOONNNNNNNNAAAAA!" the Doctor called out, for the third time in as many minutes. He was pacing back and forth in the control room, anxious and agitated. "Come on," he called again. "We're going to be late for Registration! They always have nibbles at Registration."

"That stomach of yours is going to be the death of me," Donna's voice replied from down the hallway.

"But think of it, Donna. Breakfast nibbles. I've never had breakfast nibbles! Ooo, little quiches. Mini bagels with crème cheese and salmon. Maybe," his eyes grew wide, "they'll have tiny little plates of bangers and mash!" He was almost drooling.

Just as he was about to shout again, Donna sauntered into the control room, wheeling a medium-sized suitcase with one hand and carrying a satchel with the other. The Doctor stopped his pacing and stared at her.

"Donna," he groaned. "We're only going to be gone for five days, Do you really need two suitcases?" He rolled his eyes at the thought.

She glared at him a moment, weighing her words carefully. She set the wheeled case upright and walked slowly over to him. "I only have one, Time Boy. This one's yours," she stated as she dropped the satchel at his feet.

He stared at her, a touch confused. "Mine?" he asked. "I didn't pack a bag."

"Oh, I am well aware of that," she replied. "But you did say that this conference centre had a spa, so I figured you would at least need your swimming trunks."

"What?" the Doctor said.

"And, now I know you never change that suit. No. Wait," Donna stopped him before he could reply. "You're right; you sometimes wear the brown one. Regardless," she continued, "it's like you said, five days. Surely you're gonna need a couple of changes of knickers, at least."

The Doctor began to sputter, "W...w…what?" A slow crimson flush crept up his neck and cheeks. "WHAT!" he bellowed. "You went in my room?" he asked, shocked. The full implication of her words hit him, and he could barely speak. "You…you…you got into my underpants?"

She smirked at him and, when he realized what he had inadvertently said, his face turned a delightful shade of puce. She watched for a few seconds before deciding to ease his discomfort. Smacking him lightly on the arm, she said, "Breathe, Doctor. I'm just taking the mick out of you. I didn't pack your bag. She did." She nodded her head toward the TARDIS' wall.

The Doctor stood still, willed his respiratory bypass to kick in, and glared at his companion. Donna held her ground, and his gaze. They continued this stare-down for some time, until he finally started to see the humour in the situation, and he smiled begrudgingly. He picked up the satchel and, looking up at the ceiling, said to his ship, "I'll deal with you later, young lady!" The TARDIS chortled in response.

Turning back to Donna, he tried to put on his stern, 'brooking no nonsense' look, and said, "Think that was funny, did you?"

She could tell he was having a hard time controlling his facial expression and decided to push it one last step. "Now, Doctor," she said sweetly. "You know I would never violate your privacy like that." She grabbed the handle of her suitcase and walked toward the doors. "Although, I have to say. I am curious."

"Curious?" he asked.

"Yeah. You can tell me. Boxers or briefs?" She reached for the satchel.

He batted her hand away. "None of your business!" he replied, with a grin. She was gratified to see a slight touch of pink staining his cheeks. Offering her his arm, he stated, "Now, come on. Nibbles await. Allons-y!"

Donna laughed and put her arm through his and replied, "Molto bene!"

An hour later, the two of them stood in the spacious lobby of the Ganymedean Galactic Conference and Event Centre. Donna sipped from a flute of Buck's Fizz, looking around at the myriad of alien species milling about. Most of them were vaguely humanoid, but there were a few exotic types that she had to ask the Doctor to explain.

"Oh," he began, pointing with one hand while balancing a rather full plate in the other, "the ones in the tanks are a piscine race from a water planet out near the Pleiades. Planet entirely under water. Highly intelligent, but can't communicate very well. No thumbs," he said, demonstrating with his own, "no written language."

"And those?" Donna asked, pointing out a rather large creature that looked like a cross between a human and a rhinoceros. "Is it wearing body armour?"

Looking over, the Doctor frowned. "Judoon. Mercenary police." He popped a crispy bit of deep fried pastry into his mouth and chewed. "What are Judoon doing at an intergalactic conference on technology and multi-species cooperation?"

Donna looked at him and smiled. "For that matter, what are we doing here? I would have thought you knew all this stuff."

"Oh, I don't know everything. Well, I know a lot of things. Well," he said, drawing out the word, "I know most things." He picked up another item from his plate, stared at it intently, shrugged, and bit down. "Sometimes, I just need to talk with people who speak the same language, share the same point of reference."

He continued to nibble, blissfully unaware of the unintentional insult contained in his words. Unfortunately, Donna caught it quite clearly. She tried to shrug it off, as the Doctor being the Doctor, but it had hurt. She left his side, pretending to need a refill on her drink. When he realized, a few minutes later, that she was no longer listening to him ramble on, he looked around, concerned. Finally spotting her standing by herself near a scale model of the conference centre, he put down his almost empty plate and walked over to her.

"Donna?" he asked, putting his hand on her arm to get her attention. "Is there something wrong? Why did you walk away like that?"

She gave him a weak smile and said, "I'm alright. Just needed a refresher," and showed him her glass.

The Doctor did not buy that excuse for a moment. He took the drink from her and handed it to a passing waiter. Taking her hand, he looked down at her and said, with all seriousness, "What did I do? Please tell me."

She tried to pull away, but he held on to her hand and made her face him. Finally, knowing he wouldn't let it be, she shrugged and said, "I just never thought about how hard it is for you, travelling with us small brained, single hearted humans, is all."

At first he was confused, but then the realization hit him and he grimaced. He knew he had hurt her, and that pained him. "Oh, Donna. I am such an idiot. That's not what I meant at all! You are brilliant, you are. You see things in people and situations that go right over my big Time Lord head. And that single human heart of yours is as big as a galaxy!" He took her other hand and pressed them both against his hearts. "You keep me grounded. You make sure I know when I'm about to do something really stupid. I don't know what I'd do without you." He smiled and said with determination, "And I have no intention of ever finding out!" He brought her hands up to his lips and kissed her knuckles lightly.

Pulling her back into the centre of the room, he exclaimed, "Now, come on. They're about to start the opening remarks. I want you with me."

Donna laughed out loud as they headed toward the auditorium. The Doctor found them two seats in the middle of one of the last rows. He refused to relinquish her hand as the speaker began his presentation, welcoming the participants. She let his voice roll over her, not really listening, but thinking over what the Doctor had said. She was touched but, as usual, didn't really believe that she was that important. She was secretly pleased by his praise, nonetheless.

The rest of the day passed slowly for her. The Doctor was determined not to let her out of his sight, and dragged her from lecture to workshop to demonstration. She was happy to go, seeing the immense pleasure he was getting out of it all. He did so much for her, so it was the least she could do. She actually found one lecture on translation techniques fairly interesting and made a mental note to talk to the TARDIS about learning some Gallifreyan.

After the last session, they retrieved their luggage and keys from the front desk, and were shown to their lodgings. Donna was surprised when the bellman (bell-person? - She wasn't exactly sure what species, let alone gender, it was) led them out of the hotel proper and to a wooded area behind the main building where there were a number of small cabins scattered throughout the grounds. They were shown to a much larger one in a more secluded area.

Donna threw the Doctor a questioning look, as he gave the bellman a tip and shut the door. They were standing in the lounge of the cabin. To the right were three doors, one to each of two bedrooms and one to the connecting bath. To the left was a small dining area and kitchenette, which were separated by a serving counter. She looked around the room, her eyes wide. Turning back to him, she said, "This is lovely. But I thought we'd have rooms in the hotel."

He gave her a lopsided smile and said, "I thought you might be more comfortable away from the general population. Having to interact with too many new species all at once can be a bit stressful. So I asked for one of the VIP accommodations."

"VIP?" she smirked. "And just how did you convince them of that?"

He sniffed. "Well, I might have given them the impression that I had some connection to the Shadow Proclamation."

"You cheeky thing!" she chuckled. "But, won't that get you into trouble with them, this 'Shadow Proclamation'?"

"Naw," he grinned. "They get that all the time. As long as I don't try to negotiation a treaty or anything, they probably won't even notice 'Dr. John Smith'."

"Well, then, I guess I'll just have to keep an eye on you. Keep you out of trouble." She thought she heard him mutter under his breath 'Good luck with that.' She turned toward the bedrooms and said, "I'm gonna go have a wash. Is there anything to eat in the kitchen, or do we have to go out?

The Doctor began to open cupboards and poke around inside. Donna, meanwhile, opened the left door and entered a rather spacious bedroom, complete with sitting area and walk-in wardrobe. She set down her suitcase and walked into the bathroom.

She stood and stared in amazement. The en-suite was huge, and opened into either bedroom by means of double locking doors. It was equipped with not only a large footed bath tub, but a separate shower stall with multiple shower heads. There was a makeup table and mirror, and two hand basins. The lighting fixtures gave off a soft amber glow, which was very flattering to Donna's ginger colouring. She washed quickly and exited the bathroom through the door that opened into the lounge.

"You've got to see the loo!" she exclaimed. "It's bigger than my first flat!" She looked over at the Doctor, who had an assortment of items lined up on the counter. He appeared to be waiting for her, and stood there grinning. "What's all this?" she asked, walking over to him.

"Our own private stash of nibbles! Isn't it fantastic?" He was like a child on Christmas morning, grabbing her hand and showing her all the treats he had found in the cupboards and fridge. "Look, look!" he said gleefully. "Four different kinds of cheese. This one's from Aretemis VII, I think. They're famous for their goats. Well, goat-like mammals. And these are from the olive groves of Parnassus."

"There's a planet called Parnassus?" she asked, sceptically.

"No. Well, I don't think so. Hmm," he pondered. "Nope, not that I know of. These are from Mount Parnassus. That's in Greece. On Earth. You remember, Earth, right?" he smirked, and received a sharp smack on the arm for his trouble. He continued to point out the origins of each delicacy and they snacked and chatted about nothing really important.

Donna went to the fridge to get some fruit juice the Doctor had mentioned. While searching for a glass, she came upon a rather dusty, ornate, dark green glass decanter. She lifted it out of the cupboard and asked, "Oi! Spaceman. What's this?"

The Doctor took the decanter from her hand and, removing the stopper, first sniffed deeply, and then dipped his finger into the amber liquid contained inside. Touching his fingertip to his tongue, he licked it and proceeded to analyse the taste. His eyes widened and he quickly re-sealed the bottle.

"Well?" she asked. "Is it drinkable?"

He shook his head slowly. "Aprixian brandy," he answered simply.

"Holding out on me, eh?" She reached for the decanter.

He snatched it out of her hand and put it back on a high shelf. "Donna, listen to me. That stuff is bad news." He rubbed the back of his neck. "It's got a tremendously high alcohol content, and is absorbed very slowly in the bloodstream. Time Lords have a remarkable ability to assimilate alcohol, superior physiology and all that. We simply can't get drunk, but even I would be wary of imbibing that stuff. I can't even imagine what it would do to a human."

Donna narrowed her eyes and glared at him. "Are you having me on? Are you serious, or is this just another knock on us inferior beings?" Looking him in the eye, she recognized the gravity of his expression and backed down immediately. "Okay. Got it. No Aprixian brandy. Pity," she said wistfully, under her breath. "It might have been fun."

After munching to their hearts' content, Donna began to tidy the kitchen, and was pleasantly surprised when the Doctor grabbed a tea towel and helped with the washing up. 'He's being such a dear,' she thought suspiciously. 'I wonder what he wants?' She found out in short order when he began to detail for her his plans for Day Two of the conference. Laughing silently, she decided to indulge him for one more day, and, wishing him good night, retired to her room.