Her Beauty Shone, Like a Flower Grown
Here, finally is the wedding oneshot. Again, I'm not that great with het romance and such, but this is one attempt. Not that there's a lot. It starts in Belle's POV, then goes to Donna's, then Ten's, and finally both Ten and Donna. Page breaks denote POV changes. I didn't focus too much on the wedding itself, since it's Martha and Mickey's but it's more of a backdrop than a plot.
Also, in my world, Ianto Jones didn't die.
The title doesn't really have anything to do with the fic except for the mention of beauty. I chose it because in my imagination, that's some of what Ten sees when he looks at Donna. The title comes from The Song of Scheherazade by Renaissance. I don't own it.
Walking in a circle while blindfolded in the direction of your dominant hand was proven correct on Mythbusters. It was tested again on Dual Survival when Dave and Cody had to walk through the desert at night.
As always, I don't own Ten, Donna or Doctor Who. The BBC does. I also don't own Sylvia, Wilf, Martha, Mickey, Jack, or Ianto. The BBC owns them as well. Please read and enjoy...
Belle sat at the table watching shimmers move about the dance floor under the tent to the music playing nearby. She still could only recognize Miss Donna’s shimmer, Miss Sylvia’s, and Mr. Wilf’s, but in this case it didn’t matter, she thought the shimmers looked pretty as they moved and rotated. There was a breeze and a salty smell that was the ocean, so Mr. Doctor had told her. She was barefoot as were all of the bridal party, and attendees. She ran her fingers over the material that made up her dress, it was soft, a type of silk from sometime in the 25th century, and according to Miss Martha, a lovely wisteria color. Miss Donna had explained that it was actually just a shade of light purple.
She reflected over the events of the past two days, starting with the rehearsal which had been at a local park in London. It had taken only one run through for Miss Martha to agree with Miss Donna’s suggestion that the maid of honor and bridesmaids would be escorted up the aisle by the groomsmen, as it was harder than they thought for Belle to get where she needed to. It was argued that Belle had walked from the Noble house to a church quite some distance down the road. This had led to a long explanation from Mr. Doctor about the sensory web, heat signatures, heat absorbtion of concrete and asphalt versus grassy yards, internal combustion engines and sounds. All of that in comparison to a sandy beach. So they’d been paired up. Belle’s walking partner was a man who had a lovely accent, and spoke softly, by the name of Ianto Jones.
This morning, she’d been woken by Miss Donna early as they had to get up and get ready quickly. They had to go pick up the wedding party, and the few guests that were invited to take them to the location of the wedding, which Miss Martha and Mr. Mickey had chosen the island of Hawaii. They would have to set up the wedding area, and the reception area themselves though, as they may have just been going to Hawaii, but it would be before people had colonized the islands. Before even the Polynesians. There would literally be no other people. As far as a minister, or officiate was concerned, Mr, Doctor would be doing the ceremony.
Belle sat on the jump seat in the console room while Mr, Doctor set about picking up folks, and Miss Donna went about starting the food in the kitchen. There were a few stops, Mr. Wilf and Miss Sylvia first, then Miss Martha, and Mr. Mickey, a man called Captain Jack (who Mr. Doctor sometimes growled at, said “stop it” to several times, and who was Miss Donna’s walking partner for the ceremony which also made Mr. Doctor growl), Mr. Ianto, Miss Martha’s family, and a few other guests.
Once everyone had been brought onto the TARDIS, Mr. Doctor set the coordinates for pre-Polynesian Hawaii, and they were off. The ceremony itself wasn’t something Belle paid a lot of attention to, other than when she walked up the aisle with Mr. Ianto, and back down when it was over. There seemed to be an awful lot of talking from Mr. Doctor, Miss Martha, and Mr. Mickey, and quite a bit of sniffling from Miss Donna, and Miss Martha’s sister, both of whom were in the wedding party with her. The music though was very pretty.
Now the ceremony was over, and she was sitting at a table near the dance floor where she could see the shimmers of people dancing. There had been a pause for toasts (which she didn’t understand the purpose of those really), but the dancing had taken up quite a bit of the time. She was fascinated with the shapes of the shimmers, and spent quite a while trying to guess who was who. When it started to give her a headache, she switched to listening to the music and just watching the shapes move and twirl. There was a slow waltz playing from the TARDIS, when it was suddenly drowned out by the loud voice of Miss Donna, and Belle heard the smack of her bare feet, as she stormed over to the table. “If it bothers you that much, Spaceman, then next time ask me to dance before he does! Don’t just glare and mumble things you think we can’t hear. Oh but that’s right. You don’t dance,” Belle listened as Miss Donna kept walking past the table into the TARDIS.
“Donna…wait…” Mr. Doctor’s voice was quiet and pleading, his footsteps following that of Donna’s. Curiosity overtook the worry at the sound of their voices and she got up, and moved to follow. A hand on her arm made her jump, but she calmed at the smell of Captain Jack’s strong cologne. “You don’t want to follow them,” his voice was low, and she suddenly agreed, sitting back down. She would wait until later. Later came quickly when raised voices came from the TARDIS, and the guests and wedding party moved closer to the open timeship.
~*~*~*~*~
The night of the rehearsal, it had become evident that in order for Belle to make it up the aisle safely, she’d need someone to walk with. So Donna had suggested walking partners which Martha quickly agreed with and paired up the wedding party. No one missed the glare and growl from the Doctor when Donna was paired with Jack Harkness.
During the ceremony, Donna noticed that the Doctor glared slightly as she made her way up the aisle on Jack’s arm. She would swear she heard a growl when they arrived at the end of the aisle, and Jack left a small kiss on her cheek. She decided she had heard things and she stood to one side of the small arbor, behind Martha’s sister Tish, and Jack moved to the other. She watched as Belle made her way up on Ianto’s arm, and guided her to stand behind her.
All eyes looked to Martha as she walked up on her father’s arm, and Donna noticed Mickey’s eyes misting over at the sight of his bride. Her attention drifted a little during the ceremony, only really listening as Martha and Mickey recited the vows they’d written. She felt someone watching her and glanced up to see the Doctor’s eyes firmly on her. He went back to the ceremony once the couple had finished their vows.
After the ceremony, she was heavy into helping Sylvia, Francine, and others to get the food ready and out onto the tables that the men had set up under the same tent the ceremony was held under. The only place there was a sort of real floor was at the front of the tent as a dance floor. Around the dance floor were tables and chairs set up on the sand of the beach. The tent was anchored with some piece of technology of the Doctor’s that Donna had no patience to know what it was. Once the food was done, set out, and folks had eaten, Martha and Mickey had their first dance, they danced with their respective parents, and then everyone else joined them. Donna thought she’d wait for the Doctor to ask her, but when it was clear that he wasn’t going to, she readily accepted the offer of first her grandfather, then Ianto, and finally Jack’s company.
“Does he have to hold her so close?” the Doctor’s voice wafted over as she and Jack twirled near him. “Is it necessary, really?” She rolled her eyes, and subtly moved herself and Jack across the dance floor.
“He’s glaring,” Jack said, a slight mischievous grin on his face. She looked over and saw the dark look on the Doctor’s face.
“He didn’t want to dance,” she muttered. “I’m not going to just sit like a lump because he doesn’t want to dance.”
They ended up near the Doctor, standing next to Ianto who had a look of thinning patience on his face. “That hand of his is going too low,” he muttered referring to Jack’s hand on Donna’s back that was admittedly drifting lower. “Stop it,” he growled in Jack’s direction.
“Well cut in and dance with her then,” Ianto said.
“I don’t dance.”
“Then don’t complain when she does.”
“I don’t care if she dances. I care who it’s with, and Jack is not on my list of people I’d choose,” his voice had risen, and Donna and Jack had stopped dancing, but he didn’t notice. “Anyone else, but Jack. Well maybe not anyone else, but definitely not Jack.”
“Doctor…” Ianto pointed out to the dance floor where Donna was marching over.
She smacked his shoulder, glaring at him. “If it bothers you that much, Spaceman, then next time ask me to dance before he does! Don’t just glare and mumble things you think we can’t hear. Oh, but that’s right. You don’t dance,” she stormed away to the TARDIS to go inside and calm down before the bouquet toss and cake cutting.
“Donna…wait...,” the Doctor followed, quickly. Jack stopped Belle from following, and he and Ianto joined her at the table she had been sitting at. Though they quickly abandoned that plan of action when raised voices came from the still open doors of the TARDIS.
~*~*~*~*~
“But she was able to walk to that church from the Noble house,” Francine was telling Martha after the run through of the wedding during the rehearsal in which Belle veered quite off the path she was supposed to take. “Surely walking up an aisle such a short distance isn’t this big of a problem.”
“It’s all about the heat and sounds,” the Doctor put in. “That’s how she sees.”
“What? What do you mean ‘that’s how she sees’,” Francine was a bit confused. Most of the others knew how Belle’s sensory web worked.
“It’s simple really. She was able to walk to the church because she could see the path she needed to take fairly clearly. She was on a sidewalk. The concrete on a sidewalk absorbs more heat than a grassy yard would, and less heat than the asphalt of the road would. Add to that, the sounds of the internal combustion engines of the cars on the road, and she was able to follow the correct path. It helps that she goes on walks frequently with Donna or myself gaining knowledge about the area.”
“So why can’t she do something similar in this case?”
“Well, this is an open park. We’re in a large area of just grass. There’s no heat differentiation. She can see her goal, which is Donna there,” the Doctor gestured to where Donna was standing just behind Tish. “But getting there is hard, because even though she can see Donna’s heat image, and other heat signatures, there’s no real path to follow. For example, if I were to blindfold you, and ask you to walk in a straight line through this park, you’d not be able to. You would actually walk in a large circle turning in the direction of your dominant hand. If you’re right handed, you’d walk to the right. Vice versa for left handed people. Belle needs a specific path to follow, the concrete and asphalt of cities provide that somewhat. This park, and the beach the wedding is going to be on does not. So you see, walking partners would be ideal.”
Francine had agreed in light of the somewhat long winded explanation, and Martha chose the walking partners. When she paired Donna up with Jack, the Doctor felt a surge of something move through him, and he surprised at the growl he emitted, and from the look of others nearby, he was glaring as well.
During the ceremony itself, when he wasn’t busy speaking his part as the official, his eyes were firmly glued to Donna. He hoped that when the processional started, and the attendants had started up the aisle prior to the bride, he hadn’t looked too goofy upon sight of Donna, but he would admit to really rather appreciating her beauty. He knew he’d smiled though. He’d smiled for Belle as well, but Donna’s smile was different. When Mickey and Martha had finished their vows, he’d quickly turned his attention back to them. But kept giving her surreptitious looks.
After the ceremony, after Martha and Mickey had their first dance and the obligatory father/daughter, mother/son dances, he and Donna had sat at a table, watching the other guests and bridal party move around the floor. The TARDIS doors were open as she was the source of the music, plus Sylvia and Francine would go in and out refreshing food and drink on occasion. Wilf came over and took Donna’s hand to twirl her about the floor, then Ianto cut in. The Doctor was somewhat content with this as he affirmed and re-affirmed with folks that he didn’t dance. Though when Jack asked for Donna’s hand, he felt the contentedness disappear. He moved to stand on the edge of the dance floor, near where Ianto was. He fixed a solid glare on the Captain.
As Jack and Donna twirled close to him, he saw the Captain’s hand drift down Donna’s back in a southerly direction that he was not pleased with. He narrowed his eyes at the distance between their bodies. “Does he have to hold her so close?” he asked Ianto. “Is it necessary really?” He glared more as they moved away.
“That hand of his is going too low,” he muttered referring to Jack’s hand on Donna’s back that was admittedly drifting lower once again, as the two moved back over by him. “Stop it,” he growled.
“Well cut in and dance with her then,” Ianto said.
“I don’t dance.”
“Then don’t complain when she does.”
“I don’t care if she dances. I care who it’s with, and Jack is not on my list of people I’d choose,” his voice had risen, and Donna and Jack had stopped dancing, but he didn’t notice. “Anyone else, but Jack. Well maybe not anyone else, but definitely not Jack.”
“Doctor…” Ianto pointed out to the dance floor where Donna was marching over.
He gulped as she got close and felt her smack his shoulder. “If it bothers you that much, Spaceman, then next time ask me to dance before he does! Don’t just glare and mumble things you think we can’t hear. Oh, but that’s right. You don’t dance,” she stormed away to the TARDIS, throwing a look of pure venom back over her shoulder at him. He sighed and moved to follow her. “Donna…wait…” his voice was quiet and he moved quicker.
~*~*~*~*~
The Doctor entered the TARDIS, and saw her pacing the console room, muttering angrily. Neither one had closed the TARDIS doors, the ship had stopped the music, and unknown to them the guests and bridal party had gathered outside and were listening.
“Donna…?” The Doctor queried, watching her pace. He called her name again, and then a third time.
“WHAT?!” she shouted finally glaring at the Time Lord.
“…You seem upset.”
“Upset? You think I’m just upset?” she threw her hands in the air. “Oh, Time Boy, I’m so far past upset, that it would take 4.6 billion years for the light from upset to reach the bloody Earth!”
“4.6 billion years? That’s…well, that would be near the edge of the universe. Are you sure that’s the length of time you’re thinking of? It’s quite a long time ago. It is around the time of the creation of the Earth, so there is that…”
“OI!” Donna shouted interrupting his little ramble.
“Oh. Right. That’s not really important right now,” he ventured closer to her. “Would you like to tell me why you’re upset? Or rather why you’re 4.6 billion lightyears from upset?” She turned her full glare on him. “Or not…” he mumbled. “I’ll just…I’ll just go then,” he started towards the doors.
“You really don’t know why I’m angry?” She asked as he got close to the doors.
Turning back to her, he raised his hands a little. “It might have to do with Jack, and the comments I made while you were dancing. I know that much. And I am sorry for that. I probably shouldn’t have said those things. Well, really shouldn’t have I guess.”
“No you shouldn’t have,” she said. “You didn’t want to dance. I respected that. I respect that. I however, did want to dance. And I did.”
“I know you did,” the Doctor said unable to keep a sour look off his face. “Believe me I know.”
“See? There you go!” she said. “What is so bad about me dancing with another man? Or is it just Jack? You didn’t seem too upset when I was dancing with Ianto.”
“Oh I was. You just didn’t see that,” he said quickly, not thinking at first, but then his eyes widening when he realized what he said.
“What?” she got in his face. “Why don’t you want me to dance with other men?”
He backed up a little. “I uh…well, you see…that is…um…” he stuttered. He did not want to have this discussion right now.
“Why?” she moved forward, while he kept moving backwards. “You must have some reason you don’t want me with other men. What is it?”
“No I don’t. I don’t care who you dance with,” he lied.
“Yes you do, you liar, otherwise you’d not have said what you did when I was dancing with Jack,” she didn’t miss the slight wince when she mentioned dancing with Jack, and she jumped on it. “If you really don’t have a problem with it, then I’ll just go out there, and dance with Jack some more,” she turned towards the doors.
“NO!” he shouted when she got close.
“No?” she stopped. “Why not?”
“No reason,” he mumbled.
“There is a reason. Tell me.”
“There isn’t.”
“There is.”
“Isn’t.”
“Is.”
“Isn’t.”
“Oh my God, what are we, five? Just tell me the reason!” she shouted. When he didn’t say anything else, she started to walk away. “Fine then. If you can’t or won’t tell me, I can’t do anything, and there’s nothing left to say,” she was almost to the doors.
“Because you’re mine!” The Doctor’s sudden words stopped Donna in her tracks, and she whirled to stare at him. The Doctor looked shocked himself.
The TARDIS doors slammed shut.
Also, in my world, Ianto Jones didn't die.
The title doesn't really have anything to do with the fic except for the mention of beauty. I chose it because in my imagination, that's some of what Ten sees when he looks at Donna. The title comes from The Song of Scheherazade by Renaissance. I don't own it.
Walking in a circle while blindfolded in the direction of your dominant hand was proven correct on Mythbusters. It was tested again on Dual Survival when Dave and Cody had to walk through the desert at night.
As always, I don't own Ten, Donna or Doctor Who. The BBC does. I also don't own Sylvia, Wilf, Martha, Mickey, Jack, or Ianto. The BBC owns them as well. Please read and enjoy...
Belle sat at the table watching shimmers move about the dance floor under the tent to the music playing nearby. She still could only recognize Miss Donna’s shimmer, Miss Sylvia’s, and Mr. Wilf’s, but in this case it didn’t matter, she thought the shimmers looked pretty as they moved and rotated. There was a breeze and a salty smell that was the ocean, so Mr. Doctor had told her. She was barefoot as were all of the bridal party, and attendees. She ran her fingers over the material that made up her dress, it was soft, a type of silk from sometime in the 25th century, and according to Miss Martha, a lovely wisteria color. Miss Donna had explained that it was actually just a shade of light purple.
She reflected over the events of the past two days, starting with the rehearsal which had been at a local park in London. It had taken only one run through for Miss Martha to agree with Miss Donna’s suggestion that the maid of honor and bridesmaids would be escorted up the aisle by the groomsmen, as it was harder than they thought for Belle to get where she needed to. It was argued that Belle had walked from the Noble house to a church quite some distance down the road. This had led to a long explanation from Mr. Doctor about the sensory web, heat signatures, heat absorbtion of concrete and asphalt versus grassy yards, internal combustion engines and sounds. All of that in comparison to a sandy beach. So they’d been paired up. Belle’s walking partner was a man who had a lovely accent, and spoke softly, by the name of Ianto Jones.
This morning, she’d been woken by Miss Donna early as they had to get up and get ready quickly. They had to go pick up the wedding party, and the few guests that were invited to take them to the location of the wedding, which Miss Martha and Mr. Mickey had chosen the island of Hawaii. They would have to set up the wedding area, and the reception area themselves though, as they may have just been going to Hawaii, but it would be before people had colonized the islands. Before even the Polynesians. There would literally be no other people. As far as a minister, or officiate was concerned, Mr, Doctor would be doing the ceremony.
Belle sat on the jump seat in the console room while Mr, Doctor set about picking up folks, and Miss Donna went about starting the food in the kitchen. There were a few stops, Mr. Wilf and Miss Sylvia first, then Miss Martha, and Mr. Mickey, a man called Captain Jack (who Mr. Doctor sometimes growled at, said “stop it” to several times, and who was Miss Donna’s walking partner for the ceremony which also made Mr. Doctor growl), Mr. Ianto, Miss Martha’s family, and a few other guests.
Once everyone had been brought onto the TARDIS, Mr. Doctor set the coordinates for pre-Polynesian Hawaii, and they were off. The ceremony itself wasn’t something Belle paid a lot of attention to, other than when she walked up the aisle with Mr. Ianto, and back down when it was over. There seemed to be an awful lot of talking from Mr. Doctor, Miss Martha, and Mr. Mickey, and quite a bit of sniffling from Miss Donna, and Miss Martha’s sister, both of whom were in the wedding party with her. The music though was very pretty.
Now the ceremony was over, and she was sitting at a table near the dance floor where she could see the shimmers of people dancing. There had been a pause for toasts (which she didn’t understand the purpose of those really), but the dancing had taken up quite a bit of the time. She was fascinated with the shapes of the shimmers, and spent quite a while trying to guess who was who. When it started to give her a headache, she switched to listening to the music and just watching the shapes move and twirl. There was a slow waltz playing from the TARDIS, when it was suddenly drowned out by the loud voice of Miss Donna, and Belle heard the smack of her bare feet, as she stormed over to the table. “If it bothers you that much, Spaceman, then next time ask me to dance before he does! Don’t just glare and mumble things you think we can’t hear. Oh but that’s right. You don’t dance,” Belle listened as Miss Donna kept walking past the table into the TARDIS.
“Donna…wait…” Mr. Doctor’s voice was quiet and pleading, his footsteps following that of Donna’s. Curiosity overtook the worry at the sound of their voices and she got up, and moved to follow. A hand on her arm made her jump, but she calmed at the smell of Captain Jack’s strong cologne. “You don’t want to follow them,” his voice was low, and she suddenly agreed, sitting back down. She would wait until later. Later came quickly when raised voices came from the TARDIS, and the guests and wedding party moved closer to the open timeship.
~*~*~*~*~
The night of the rehearsal, it had become evident that in order for Belle to make it up the aisle safely, she’d need someone to walk with. So Donna had suggested walking partners which Martha quickly agreed with and paired up the wedding party. No one missed the glare and growl from the Doctor when Donna was paired with Jack Harkness.
During the ceremony, Donna noticed that the Doctor glared slightly as she made her way up the aisle on Jack’s arm. She would swear she heard a growl when they arrived at the end of the aisle, and Jack left a small kiss on her cheek. She decided she had heard things and she stood to one side of the small arbor, behind Martha’s sister Tish, and Jack moved to the other. She watched as Belle made her way up on Ianto’s arm, and guided her to stand behind her.
All eyes looked to Martha as she walked up on her father’s arm, and Donna noticed Mickey’s eyes misting over at the sight of his bride. Her attention drifted a little during the ceremony, only really listening as Martha and Mickey recited the vows they’d written. She felt someone watching her and glanced up to see the Doctor’s eyes firmly on her. He went back to the ceremony once the couple had finished their vows.
After the ceremony, she was heavy into helping Sylvia, Francine, and others to get the food ready and out onto the tables that the men had set up under the same tent the ceremony was held under. The only place there was a sort of real floor was at the front of the tent as a dance floor. Around the dance floor were tables and chairs set up on the sand of the beach. The tent was anchored with some piece of technology of the Doctor’s that Donna had no patience to know what it was. Once the food was done, set out, and folks had eaten, Martha and Mickey had their first dance, they danced with their respective parents, and then everyone else joined them. Donna thought she’d wait for the Doctor to ask her, but when it was clear that he wasn’t going to, she readily accepted the offer of first her grandfather, then Ianto, and finally Jack’s company.
“Does he have to hold her so close?” the Doctor’s voice wafted over as she and Jack twirled near him. “Is it necessary, really?” She rolled her eyes, and subtly moved herself and Jack across the dance floor.
“He’s glaring,” Jack said, a slight mischievous grin on his face. She looked over and saw the dark look on the Doctor’s face.
“He didn’t want to dance,” she muttered. “I’m not going to just sit like a lump because he doesn’t want to dance.”
They ended up near the Doctor, standing next to Ianto who had a look of thinning patience on his face. “That hand of his is going too low,” he muttered referring to Jack’s hand on Donna’s back that was admittedly drifting lower. “Stop it,” he growled in Jack’s direction.
“Well cut in and dance with her then,” Ianto said.
“I don’t dance.”
“Then don’t complain when she does.”
“I don’t care if she dances. I care who it’s with, and Jack is not on my list of people I’d choose,” his voice had risen, and Donna and Jack had stopped dancing, but he didn’t notice. “Anyone else, but Jack. Well maybe not anyone else, but definitely not Jack.”
“Doctor…” Ianto pointed out to the dance floor where Donna was marching over.
She smacked his shoulder, glaring at him. “If it bothers you that much, Spaceman, then next time ask me to dance before he does! Don’t just glare and mumble things you think we can’t hear. Oh, but that’s right. You don’t dance,” she stormed away to the TARDIS to go inside and calm down before the bouquet toss and cake cutting.
“Donna…wait...,” the Doctor followed, quickly. Jack stopped Belle from following, and he and Ianto joined her at the table she had been sitting at. Though they quickly abandoned that plan of action when raised voices came from the still open doors of the TARDIS.
~*~*~*~*~
“But she was able to walk to that church from the Noble house,” Francine was telling Martha after the run through of the wedding during the rehearsal in which Belle veered quite off the path she was supposed to take. “Surely walking up an aisle such a short distance isn’t this big of a problem.”
“It’s all about the heat and sounds,” the Doctor put in. “That’s how she sees.”
“What? What do you mean ‘that’s how she sees’,” Francine was a bit confused. Most of the others knew how Belle’s sensory web worked.
“It’s simple really. She was able to walk to the church because she could see the path she needed to take fairly clearly. She was on a sidewalk. The concrete on a sidewalk absorbs more heat than a grassy yard would, and less heat than the asphalt of the road would. Add to that, the sounds of the internal combustion engines of the cars on the road, and she was able to follow the correct path. It helps that she goes on walks frequently with Donna or myself gaining knowledge about the area.”
“So why can’t she do something similar in this case?”
“Well, this is an open park. We’re in a large area of just grass. There’s no heat differentiation. She can see her goal, which is Donna there,” the Doctor gestured to where Donna was standing just behind Tish. “But getting there is hard, because even though she can see Donna’s heat image, and other heat signatures, there’s no real path to follow. For example, if I were to blindfold you, and ask you to walk in a straight line through this park, you’d not be able to. You would actually walk in a large circle turning in the direction of your dominant hand. If you’re right handed, you’d walk to the right. Vice versa for left handed people. Belle needs a specific path to follow, the concrete and asphalt of cities provide that somewhat. This park, and the beach the wedding is going to be on does not. So you see, walking partners would be ideal.”
Francine had agreed in light of the somewhat long winded explanation, and Martha chose the walking partners. When she paired Donna up with Jack, the Doctor felt a surge of something move through him, and he surprised at the growl he emitted, and from the look of others nearby, he was glaring as well.
During the ceremony itself, when he wasn’t busy speaking his part as the official, his eyes were firmly glued to Donna. He hoped that when the processional started, and the attendants had started up the aisle prior to the bride, he hadn’t looked too goofy upon sight of Donna, but he would admit to really rather appreciating her beauty. He knew he’d smiled though. He’d smiled for Belle as well, but Donna’s smile was different. When Mickey and Martha had finished their vows, he’d quickly turned his attention back to them. But kept giving her surreptitious looks.
After the ceremony, after Martha and Mickey had their first dance and the obligatory father/daughter, mother/son dances, he and Donna had sat at a table, watching the other guests and bridal party move around the floor. The TARDIS doors were open as she was the source of the music, plus Sylvia and Francine would go in and out refreshing food and drink on occasion. Wilf came over and took Donna’s hand to twirl her about the floor, then Ianto cut in. The Doctor was somewhat content with this as he affirmed and re-affirmed with folks that he didn’t dance. Though when Jack asked for Donna’s hand, he felt the contentedness disappear. He moved to stand on the edge of the dance floor, near where Ianto was. He fixed a solid glare on the Captain.
As Jack and Donna twirled close to him, he saw the Captain’s hand drift down Donna’s back in a southerly direction that he was not pleased with. He narrowed his eyes at the distance between their bodies. “Does he have to hold her so close?” he asked Ianto. “Is it necessary really?” He glared more as they moved away.
“That hand of his is going too low,” he muttered referring to Jack’s hand on Donna’s back that was admittedly drifting lower once again, as the two moved back over by him. “Stop it,” he growled.
“Well cut in and dance with her then,” Ianto said.
“I don’t dance.”
“Then don’t complain when she does.”
“I don’t care if she dances. I care who it’s with, and Jack is not on my list of people I’d choose,” his voice had risen, and Donna and Jack had stopped dancing, but he didn’t notice. “Anyone else, but Jack. Well maybe not anyone else, but definitely not Jack.”
“Doctor…” Ianto pointed out to the dance floor where Donna was marching over.
He gulped as she got close and felt her smack his shoulder. “If it bothers you that much, Spaceman, then next time ask me to dance before he does! Don’t just glare and mumble things you think we can’t hear. Oh, but that’s right. You don’t dance,” she stormed away to the TARDIS, throwing a look of pure venom back over her shoulder at him. He sighed and moved to follow her. “Donna…wait…” his voice was quiet and he moved quicker.
~*~*~*~*~
The Doctor entered the TARDIS, and saw her pacing the console room, muttering angrily. Neither one had closed the TARDIS doors, the ship had stopped the music, and unknown to them the guests and bridal party had gathered outside and were listening.
“Donna…?” The Doctor queried, watching her pace. He called her name again, and then a third time.
“WHAT?!” she shouted finally glaring at the Time Lord.
“…You seem upset.”
“Upset? You think I’m just upset?” she threw her hands in the air. “Oh, Time Boy, I’m so far past upset, that it would take 4.6 billion years for the light from upset to reach the bloody Earth!”
“4.6 billion years? That’s…well, that would be near the edge of the universe. Are you sure that’s the length of time you’re thinking of? It’s quite a long time ago. It is around the time of the creation of the Earth, so there is that…”
“OI!” Donna shouted interrupting his little ramble.
“Oh. Right. That’s not really important right now,” he ventured closer to her. “Would you like to tell me why you’re upset? Or rather why you’re 4.6 billion lightyears from upset?” She turned her full glare on him. “Or not…” he mumbled. “I’ll just…I’ll just go then,” he started towards the doors.
“You really don’t know why I’m angry?” She asked as he got close to the doors.
Turning back to her, he raised his hands a little. “It might have to do with Jack, and the comments I made while you were dancing. I know that much. And I am sorry for that. I probably shouldn’t have said those things. Well, really shouldn’t have I guess.”
“No you shouldn’t have,” she said. “You didn’t want to dance. I respected that. I respect that. I however, did want to dance. And I did.”
“I know you did,” the Doctor said unable to keep a sour look off his face. “Believe me I know.”
“See? There you go!” she said. “What is so bad about me dancing with another man? Or is it just Jack? You didn’t seem too upset when I was dancing with Ianto.”
“Oh I was. You just didn’t see that,” he said quickly, not thinking at first, but then his eyes widening when he realized what he said.
“What?” she got in his face. “Why don’t you want me to dance with other men?”
He backed up a little. “I uh…well, you see…that is…um…” he stuttered. He did not want to have this discussion right now.
“Why?” she moved forward, while he kept moving backwards. “You must have some reason you don’t want me with other men. What is it?”
“No I don’t. I don’t care who you dance with,” he lied.
“Yes you do, you liar, otherwise you’d not have said what you did when I was dancing with Jack,” she didn’t miss the slight wince when she mentioned dancing with Jack, and she jumped on it. “If you really don’t have a problem with it, then I’ll just go out there, and dance with Jack some more,” she turned towards the doors.
“NO!” he shouted when she got close.
“No?” she stopped. “Why not?”
“No reason,” he mumbled.
“There is a reason. Tell me.”
“There isn’t.”
“There is.”
“Isn’t.”
“Is.”
“Isn’t.”
“Oh my God, what are we, five? Just tell me the reason!” she shouted. When he didn’t say anything else, she started to walk away. “Fine then. If you can’t or won’t tell me, I can’t do anything, and there’s nothing left to say,” she was almost to the doors.
“Because you’re mine!” The Doctor’s sudden words stopped Donna in her tracks, and she whirled to stare at him. The Doctor looked shocked himself.
The TARDIS doors slammed shut.