Bad Habits & Christmas Stories
Bad Habits And Christmas Stories, Ten/Rose, G
Gift for: missnyah
The Doctor was really going to have to make a concerted effort to get his ship to go exactly when he wanted it to go., 3015.
The Doctor was really going to have to make a concerted effort to get his ship to go exactly when he wanted it to go. Yes, they were returning to visit Rose’s mum back at the Powell Estates, but according to how long they’d been gone, it should’ve been August. Maybe September. Instead, the TARDIS had overshot by a couple of months and the Doctor found himself staring at a readout that proclaimed the day they had landed on to be Christmas Eve.
Not that he had a problem with Christmas, of course. Lovely time of year. Pretty lights, carols in the air, everyone in good spirits, and a crispness of promise in the air that sometimes heralded snow, but most of the time just meant that the world seemed to be waiting for something. Something wonderful. Most certainly NOT an alien invasion. That had been last Christmas, and he still felt fairly annoyed about it. Perhaps this year, Rose could have proper, real snow.
He glanced over at his companion, dozing on the jump seat, and couldn’t help smiling.
Rose. His precious Rose. He’d never cared for another companion the way he cares for her - nothing even close. Over two years of travelling with her, though barely one with him in this current incarnation, and he knew that he was in far too deep. One might even call Rose Tyler a bad habit - something he knew would hurt him in the end, but that he couldn’t seem to stop himself from spending as much time with as possible.
Silly Doctor - of all the things to develop as a bad habit, loving a companion… No. It was more than that. He watched her sleeping, taking in the lines of her face and her body, curled up in the jump seat and somehow making the rickety old seat look as comfortable as a plush recliner. He longed to just snuggle up next to her, put his arms around her and close his eyes. Not what he had to do, which was wake her up to let her know they’d landed. He shook his head. Falling in love with a companion… Oh, Doctor… of all the bad habits…
Still, now wasn’t the time to dwell on thoughts of a Rose-less future. He lived in the moment when it came to her - he had to. Living in the future could get depressing very, very quickly.
The Time Lord smiled and gently jostled Rose’s shoulder. “Rose. Rose, we’re here.”
Rose mumbled something unintelligible, though the Doctor thought he caught the word “barium” in there somewhere, which didn’t make much sense. He jostled her shoulder again, softly calling her name, until she opened her eyes. “Mmm?” , came the sleepy response. “Where’re we?”
“Came home to visit your mum, remember?” He sat down beside her now, laying his arm across the back of the seat.
“Oh…” She immediately turned toward him, closed her eyes, wrapped her arm around his waist, and burrowed into his chest.
The Doctor’s arm was around her, holding her to him, before he could even form a conscious thought. Oh yes. This bad habit was firmly entrenched… He cleared his throat. “Rose, ah… Did you hear me?”
In her sleepy voice, the pout was very evident - he didn’t have to see it to know that her lower lip was poking out. “Shh. Nap.”
He was… essentially trapped. She didn’t want to get up… and he didn’t actually WANT her to get up - that would cause his side to be uncomfortably devoid of Rose snuggles. But he’d made a promise, and she’d told Jackie on the phone that they’d be coming soon… And it was Christmas Eve. He shifted until his mouth was as near to her ear as he could get it… and studiously ignored the temptation of kissing, licking, or nibbling said ear in favor of speaking quietly. “Rose Tyler, your mum is NOT going to be thrilled with me if we don’t hold to our promise again… We overshot as it is. It’s Christmas Eve.”
“Merry Christmas,” his sleepy companion mumbled, burrowing closer. Well, that was it… he couldn’t very well try any harder than that to get her to move, after all, now could he? He’d done everything conceivable! If she wasn’t getting up-
Then, very suddenly, without warning, Rose Tyler yelped and shoved away from him, leaping to her feet. He barely had time to register the thought that she might have done that because she didn’t want to be cuddling on him, before the true reason popped out of Rose’s mouth. “CHRISTMAS EVE?! I forgot to get mum a present! I wanted to pick her up something exotic at that bazaar, but I thought I had a couple more months…”
He got up and watched her as she freaked out, half running around the console - much the way he had a tendency to from time to time, actually. “Rose… Rose!” He caught her upper arms and stopped her manic flight around the console, and the TARDIS’ lights flashed in what he knew to be an apologetic pattern. “Stop.”
Her eyes were a little wild with panic, but when they met his, he saw her actively calm herself. “Sorry… Doctor. I just… Christmas Eve…” And now she looked simply upset rather than panicked. Not much better, as far as the Doctor was concerned.
“It’s alright, Rose.” He let go of her arm with one hand and cupped her cheek - he hadn’t made that gesture before in this particular incarnation, but she leaned into his touch in a way that told him she still found it familiar. “Got to be something your mum would like, somewhere in this ship.” He grinned when she brightened at that idea, and his other hand slid down to entwine his fingers with hers. “Let’s go do some ‘shopping’, eh?”
Rose smiled and squeezed his hand. She’d loved the rough feel of his previous self’s hands, but in this body, it just seemed their hands were made to fit each other’s. “Okay.” She giggled at his excited, ‘Come on!’, and let him tug her deep into the ship, hunting for the perfect last minute gift.
The Doctor grinned as they explored areas of the TARDIS he hadn’t even visited in several years. Oh yes, being in love with a companion was a bad habit… but he wasn’t ready to try and break it just yet. Not while her laugh made his hearts beat faster, and her touch could turn his knees to jelly. There would be time. There was always time. Even when you landed two months later than you’d planned.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
When they’d shown up on Jackie’s doorstep, she’d been so delighted to see them (“Best Christmas present I could have gotten!”, she’d said) that she barely even bothered them about the fact that, from her perspective, they were at least two months late.
While Rose caught up with her mum, the Doctor examined the Christmas tree. No alien technology this year - just a beautiful, non-lethal pine with gorgeous lights and tinsel. As he was tucking his sonic back into his pocket, he noticed the stockings hung on one wall of the room. Three stockings. His brow furrowed and he walked over for a closer look. He could understand two stockings, even if Jackie didn’t know that Rose would be home for Christmas, but three?
Upon closer examination, he discovered a single letter, meticulously placed on each stocking through a clever use of glue and glitter. An R, a J… and a D.
“That one’s yours.”
Jackie’s voice startled him and he whirled around, trying at the same time to look as if he hadn’t been startled. “Jackie, ah, I was…” He stopped. Blinked. Registered what was said.“Mine?”
“Yeah, well, I figure…” She shrugged and gave him a little smirk. “You’re travelling with my daughter. You’re here often enough, and last Christmas it was like you were part o’the family. So I figured this year, you should have a proper stocking.”
The Doctor didn’t know what to say. It was one thing to have been invited to Christmas dinner the previous year, after his regeneration and the defeat of the Sycorax, but… To his shock, he found his eyes stinging. He had to blink rapidly to remove the sensation, and clear his throat to remove the strange lump that seemed to have lodged there. “Well…” he started. His voice sounded rather thick, so he tried again after clearing his throat once more. “Well, Jackie, that’s… that’s really…”
“Fantastic?” Rose’s teasing voice came from the doorway, and the Doctor turned to her with a grin and a laugh.
“Sounds good to me,” he said, relieved to find that his voice had returned to its normal timbre.
She walked over and slipped her hand into the Doctor’s. “Mum made hot cocoa. Want some?”
“Was just what I came out to ask him,” Jackie said with a little knowing smirk. When the Doctor nodded, she motioned for he and Rose to take a seat on the couch. “I’ll get the mugs. Don’t bother yourselves. Sit! I imagine you’ve got loads of stories.”
“Oh, if only she knew,” Rose whispered with a little grin, which the Doctor couldn’t help returning. They settled on the couch together and Rose snuggled up to his side comfortably. He found his hand straying up and down her side, affectionately. Yes. Bad habit. Oh, such a bad habit. He’d have to do something about it… Eventually.
“There you are, now. Pipin’ hot and complete with a handful of little marshmallows.” Jackie passed out the mugs before taking a seat in the overstuffed chair in the corner. The Doctor had a flash of his previous self, knocked into the same chair while a plastic arm tried to strangle him… Oh what a difference a little time could make. “Now, how about some of those stories?”
“Actually, mum…” Rose’s voice sounded small, almost embarrassed, and the Doctor noticed that she seemed to be hiding behind her hot cocoa mug. “It IS Christmas Eve… You usually tell me a story on Christmas Eve.”
Jackie beamed at her daughter. “That I do… I suppose I’ll go first, then. Well, let’s see…” Her daughter and her… friend… (though from the way they were cuddled up on the couch, Jackie was very much starting to wonder if “friend” was the right term anymore)… had been to so many exotic and amazing places… she’d have to outdo herself this year. A story no one had EVER heard before. She didn’t fancy herself much of a writer, but her daughter had always enjoyed her Christmas stories. “Once upon a time there was a little white kitten. But she wasn’t a normal little kitty. See, she was special - she’d been made by Santa himself…”
The Doctor was entranced, fascinated, by Jackie’s story. He thought he knew all the Christmas stories in the universe - they pretty much followed the same theme, but he was excited to find one he’d never heard before. It was a fairly simple story, and yet beautiful in it’s simplicity. He found himself committing the details to memory.
One day, in Santa’s Workshop, the jolly old Elf himself was looking to come up with the most beautiful, perfect toy kitty there had ever been. After months of locking himself in his private office, he was finished - and what had resulted was a gorgeous, plush, long-furred, white, fluffy kitten. She was just a toy, of course. However, the magical man thought she was too lovely to exist as a toy, and gave her the gift of life.
The cat became a treasured pet around the workshop. She presided over the Elves as they worked to manufacture toys for the world. She sat upon Santa’s desk as he went over his Naughty And Nice List, and slept in the white softness of his beard whenever he would lean back to consider over one particular person’s fate who teetered on the edge between Naughty and Nice. She had everything any kitty cat could ever want - except one thing.
One day, the day before Christmas Eve, the kitty came to Santa and said (for Santa could understand all animals - especially ones he himself had created), “Santa, I love living here. It’s amazing and every day is full of everything I could ever want… But… I’m not happy.”
Santa was upset. He asked the sweet kitty if there was anything he could do to make her happy. With a swish of her tail, the kitty said, “I want a little girl. Someone to hold me and love me and pet me - I want to sleep on her bed and climb up her couch, and be a normal kitty cat. I want a little girl of my very own.”
Santa couldn’t possibly deny the sweet kitty this one request, so he smiled at her and said, “Come with me tomorrow night, and I’ll see to it that you find your perfect little girl.”
The kitty thanked him excitedly, and went to say goodbye to the elves and the reindeer, to tell them that she would be getting a little girl of her very own.
Of course, the next night was Christmas Eve, and the kitty was ready to go. She climbed into the sleigh and sat proudly with Santa as the reindeer launched into the air and he began to circle the world. But with each stop, the kitty became a little more discouraged - there were little girls everywhere, but Santa still hadn’t told her which one was hers.
As the night wore on, she began to wonder if Santa would break his promise - if perhaps he loved her too much to let her go. She would understand, she decided. And she would go back to the North Pole proudly - after all, if there wasn’t the right little girl in the world for her, then the North Pole had to be where she belonged.
It was almost sunrise when Santa landed the sleigh upon the roof of his last stop for the night. He got out of the sleigh and held out a gloved hand to the kitten. “Well? What are you waiting for?” said Saint Nick. “This is your new home!”
The kitten was thrilled and leaped into her creator’s hand. “Oh thank you!” she said happily. “Finally, a little girl of my own!”
Santa took her down the chimney, whispering to her that she needed to be quiet. She sat by calmly while he put out the rest of the presents, then allowed herself to be picked up again and carried deeper into the house. She didn’t make a sound, and Santa himself seemed to blend in with the shadows in the house as he carried her. Then, suddenly, they stood over the bed of a young girl. She was sound asleep, dreaming of the presents the next morning would bring. Santa gently set the kitten down on the bed and whispered to her, “This is your little girl. Take good care of her.”
The kitten was thrilled, but exhausted as well by the long night of travelling. She thanked Santa and curled up beside the little girl, almost immediately falling asleep. Santa gave one last look at the kitten he’d created, and whispered to the sleeping girl, “Take good care of her.” And then, like the shadows and the mist on Christmas morning, he was gone.
The kitten was where she belonged, and in the morning, the little girl would wake up to find her biggest Christmas wish had come true.
Jackie looked at the two on the couch, who both seemed to be as asleep as the little girl in the story, and smiled a little. That always happened when she told her stories… Oh well. There was the entirety of the next day for her to hear theirs. She got up and quietly collected the empty cocoa mugs from the table in front of the couch, and took them into the kitchen, then returned to the living room to look at the two people sleeping on the couch by the light of the Christmas tree.
Rose was curled up next to the Doctor, her head on his chest and her arm around his stomach. Her hand had found its way between the buttons of his suit jacket and was hidden somewhere inside said jacket, either on his stomach or on his side. The Doctor’s arm was around Rose, holding her against him, and his head was tilted so that his cheek rested against her hair. His legs were up on the table, trainers an interesting sight coming out of the pinstripe suited legs, and there was no doubt in Jackie’s mind that Rose’s other arm had made its way around behind him.
Jackie shook her head slightly as she looked at them. She wondered if they had any idea they were in love… because it was glaringly obvious to anyone who looked at them. He might be a daft alien, he might scare the life out of her half the time… but she’d gotten him a stocking. And she trusted him with her daughter’s life. Because whether he was who she would’ve chosen for Rose or not - he was who Rose had chosen. And that made him family.
Before she went to bed, she took a blanket from the back of the chair she’d been sitting in and spread it over the two sleeping travellers. She started to turn off the lights on the tree, but at the last minute she decided to leave them on. Glancing out the window made her smile, however. In the porch lights outside, she could see that snow had begun to fall. And real, proper snow, this year, too.
She paused in the doorway on her way to bed, and looked back at the couch one last time. “Merry Christmas to all,” she mumbled with a smile on her lips. “And to all, a goodnight.”
Gift for: missnyah
The Doctor was really going to have to make a concerted effort to get his ship to go exactly when he wanted it to go., 3015.
The Doctor was really going to have to make a concerted effort to get his ship to go exactly when he wanted it to go. Yes, they were returning to visit Rose’s mum back at the Powell Estates, but according to how long they’d been gone, it should’ve been August. Maybe September. Instead, the TARDIS had overshot by a couple of months and the Doctor found himself staring at a readout that proclaimed the day they had landed on to be Christmas Eve.
Not that he had a problem with Christmas, of course. Lovely time of year. Pretty lights, carols in the air, everyone in good spirits, and a crispness of promise in the air that sometimes heralded snow, but most of the time just meant that the world seemed to be waiting for something. Something wonderful. Most certainly NOT an alien invasion. That had been last Christmas, and he still felt fairly annoyed about it. Perhaps this year, Rose could have proper, real snow.
He glanced over at his companion, dozing on the jump seat, and couldn’t help smiling.
Rose. His precious Rose. He’d never cared for another companion the way he cares for her - nothing even close. Over two years of travelling with her, though barely one with him in this current incarnation, and he knew that he was in far too deep. One might even call Rose Tyler a bad habit - something he knew would hurt him in the end, but that he couldn’t seem to stop himself from spending as much time with as possible.
Silly Doctor - of all the things to develop as a bad habit, loving a companion… No. It was more than that. He watched her sleeping, taking in the lines of her face and her body, curled up in the jump seat and somehow making the rickety old seat look as comfortable as a plush recliner. He longed to just snuggle up next to her, put his arms around her and close his eyes. Not what he had to do, which was wake her up to let her know they’d landed. He shook his head. Falling in love with a companion… Oh, Doctor… of all the bad habits…
Still, now wasn’t the time to dwell on thoughts of a Rose-less future. He lived in the moment when it came to her - he had to. Living in the future could get depressing very, very quickly.
The Time Lord smiled and gently jostled Rose’s shoulder. “Rose. Rose, we’re here.”
Rose mumbled something unintelligible, though the Doctor thought he caught the word “barium” in there somewhere, which didn’t make much sense. He jostled her shoulder again, softly calling her name, until she opened her eyes. “Mmm?” , came the sleepy response. “Where’re we?”
“Came home to visit your mum, remember?” He sat down beside her now, laying his arm across the back of the seat.
“Oh…” She immediately turned toward him, closed her eyes, wrapped her arm around his waist, and burrowed into his chest.
The Doctor’s arm was around her, holding her to him, before he could even form a conscious thought. Oh yes. This bad habit was firmly entrenched… He cleared his throat. “Rose, ah… Did you hear me?”
In her sleepy voice, the pout was very evident - he didn’t have to see it to know that her lower lip was poking out. “Shh. Nap.”
He was… essentially trapped. She didn’t want to get up… and he didn’t actually WANT her to get up - that would cause his side to be uncomfortably devoid of Rose snuggles. But he’d made a promise, and she’d told Jackie on the phone that they’d be coming soon… And it was Christmas Eve. He shifted until his mouth was as near to her ear as he could get it… and studiously ignored the temptation of kissing, licking, or nibbling said ear in favor of speaking quietly. “Rose Tyler, your mum is NOT going to be thrilled with me if we don’t hold to our promise again… We overshot as it is. It’s Christmas Eve.”
“Merry Christmas,” his sleepy companion mumbled, burrowing closer. Well, that was it… he couldn’t very well try any harder than that to get her to move, after all, now could he? He’d done everything conceivable! If she wasn’t getting up-
Then, very suddenly, without warning, Rose Tyler yelped and shoved away from him, leaping to her feet. He barely had time to register the thought that she might have done that because she didn’t want to be cuddling on him, before the true reason popped out of Rose’s mouth. “CHRISTMAS EVE?! I forgot to get mum a present! I wanted to pick her up something exotic at that bazaar, but I thought I had a couple more months…”
He got up and watched her as she freaked out, half running around the console - much the way he had a tendency to from time to time, actually. “Rose… Rose!” He caught her upper arms and stopped her manic flight around the console, and the TARDIS’ lights flashed in what he knew to be an apologetic pattern. “Stop.”
Her eyes were a little wild with panic, but when they met his, he saw her actively calm herself. “Sorry… Doctor. I just… Christmas Eve…” And now she looked simply upset rather than panicked. Not much better, as far as the Doctor was concerned.
“It’s alright, Rose.” He let go of her arm with one hand and cupped her cheek - he hadn’t made that gesture before in this particular incarnation, but she leaned into his touch in a way that told him she still found it familiar. “Got to be something your mum would like, somewhere in this ship.” He grinned when she brightened at that idea, and his other hand slid down to entwine his fingers with hers. “Let’s go do some ‘shopping’, eh?”
Rose smiled and squeezed his hand. She’d loved the rough feel of his previous self’s hands, but in this body, it just seemed their hands were made to fit each other’s. “Okay.” She giggled at his excited, ‘Come on!’, and let him tug her deep into the ship, hunting for the perfect last minute gift.
The Doctor grinned as they explored areas of the TARDIS he hadn’t even visited in several years. Oh yes, being in love with a companion was a bad habit… but he wasn’t ready to try and break it just yet. Not while her laugh made his hearts beat faster, and her touch could turn his knees to jelly. There would be time. There was always time. Even when you landed two months later than you’d planned.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
When they’d shown up on Jackie’s doorstep, she’d been so delighted to see them (“Best Christmas present I could have gotten!”, she’d said) that she barely even bothered them about the fact that, from her perspective, they were at least two months late.
While Rose caught up with her mum, the Doctor examined the Christmas tree. No alien technology this year - just a beautiful, non-lethal pine with gorgeous lights and tinsel. As he was tucking his sonic back into his pocket, he noticed the stockings hung on one wall of the room. Three stockings. His brow furrowed and he walked over for a closer look. He could understand two stockings, even if Jackie didn’t know that Rose would be home for Christmas, but three?
Upon closer examination, he discovered a single letter, meticulously placed on each stocking through a clever use of glue and glitter. An R, a J… and a D.
“That one’s yours.”
Jackie’s voice startled him and he whirled around, trying at the same time to look as if he hadn’t been startled. “Jackie, ah, I was…” He stopped. Blinked. Registered what was said.“Mine?”
“Yeah, well, I figure…” She shrugged and gave him a little smirk. “You’re travelling with my daughter. You’re here often enough, and last Christmas it was like you were part o’the family. So I figured this year, you should have a proper stocking.”
The Doctor didn’t know what to say. It was one thing to have been invited to Christmas dinner the previous year, after his regeneration and the defeat of the Sycorax, but… To his shock, he found his eyes stinging. He had to blink rapidly to remove the sensation, and clear his throat to remove the strange lump that seemed to have lodged there. “Well…” he started. His voice sounded rather thick, so he tried again after clearing his throat once more. “Well, Jackie, that’s… that’s really…”
“Fantastic?” Rose’s teasing voice came from the doorway, and the Doctor turned to her with a grin and a laugh.
“Sounds good to me,” he said, relieved to find that his voice had returned to its normal timbre.
She walked over and slipped her hand into the Doctor’s. “Mum made hot cocoa. Want some?”
“Was just what I came out to ask him,” Jackie said with a little knowing smirk. When the Doctor nodded, she motioned for he and Rose to take a seat on the couch. “I’ll get the mugs. Don’t bother yourselves. Sit! I imagine you’ve got loads of stories.”
“Oh, if only she knew,” Rose whispered with a little grin, which the Doctor couldn’t help returning. They settled on the couch together and Rose snuggled up to his side comfortably. He found his hand straying up and down her side, affectionately. Yes. Bad habit. Oh, such a bad habit. He’d have to do something about it… Eventually.
“There you are, now. Pipin’ hot and complete with a handful of little marshmallows.” Jackie passed out the mugs before taking a seat in the overstuffed chair in the corner. The Doctor had a flash of his previous self, knocked into the same chair while a plastic arm tried to strangle him… Oh what a difference a little time could make. “Now, how about some of those stories?”
“Actually, mum…” Rose’s voice sounded small, almost embarrassed, and the Doctor noticed that she seemed to be hiding behind her hot cocoa mug. “It IS Christmas Eve… You usually tell me a story on Christmas Eve.”
Jackie beamed at her daughter. “That I do… I suppose I’ll go first, then. Well, let’s see…” Her daughter and her… friend… (though from the way they were cuddled up on the couch, Jackie was very much starting to wonder if “friend” was the right term anymore)… had been to so many exotic and amazing places… she’d have to outdo herself this year. A story no one had EVER heard before. She didn’t fancy herself much of a writer, but her daughter had always enjoyed her Christmas stories. “Once upon a time there was a little white kitten. But she wasn’t a normal little kitty. See, she was special - she’d been made by Santa himself…”
The Doctor was entranced, fascinated, by Jackie’s story. He thought he knew all the Christmas stories in the universe - they pretty much followed the same theme, but he was excited to find one he’d never heard before. It was a fairly simple story, and yet beautiful in it’s simplicity. He found himself committing the details to memory.
One day, in Santa’s Workshop, the jolly old Elf himself was looking to come up with the most beautiful, perfect toy kitty there had ever been. After months of locking himself in his private office, he was finished - and what had resulted was a gorgeous, plush, long-furred, white, fluffy kitten. She was just a toy, of course. However, the magical man thought she was too lovely to exist as a toy, and gave her the gift of life.
The cat became a treasured pet around the workshop. She presided over the Elves as they worked to manufacture toys for the world. She sat upon Santa’s desk as he went over his Naughty And Nice List, and slept in the white softness of his beard whenever he would lean back to consider over one particular person’s fate who teetered on the edge between Naughty and Nice. She had everything any kitty cat could ever want - except one thing.
One day, the day before Christmas Eve, the kitty came to Santa and said (for Santa could understand all animals - especially ones he himself had created), “Santa, I love living here. It’s amazing and every day is full of everything I could ever want… But… I’m not happy.”
Santa was upset. He asked the sweet kitty if there was anything he could do to make her happy. With a swish of her tail, the kitty said, “I want a little girl. Someone to hold me and love me and pet me - I want to sleep on her bed and climb up her couch, and be a normal kitty cat. I want a little girl of my very own.”
Santa couldn’t possibly deny the sweet kitty this one request, so he smiled at her and said, “Come with me tomorrow night, and I’ll see to it that you find your perfect little girl.”
The kitty thanked him excitedly, and went to say goodbye to the elves and the reindeer, to tell them that she would be getting a little girl of her very own.
Of course, the next night was Christmas Eve, and the kitty was ready to go. She climbed into the sleigh and sat proudly with Santa as the reindeer launched into the air and he began to circle the world. But with each stop, the kitty became a little more discouraged - there were little girls everywhere, but Santa still hadn’t told her which one was hers.
As the night wore on, she began to wonder if Santa would break his promise - if perhaps he loved her too much to let her go. She would understand, she decided. And she would go back to the North Pole proudly - after all, if there wasn’t the right little girl in the world for her, then the North Pole had to be where she belonged.
It was almost sunrise when Santa landed the sleigh upon the roof of his last stop for the night. He got out of the sleigh and held out a gloved hand to the kitten. “Well? What are you waiting for?” said Saint Nick. “This is your new home!”
The kitten was thrilled and leaped into her creator’s hand. “Oh thank you!” she said happily. “Finally, a little girl of my own!”
Santa took her down the chimney, whispering to her that she needed to be quiet. She sat by calmly while he put out the rest of the presents, then allowed herself to be picked up again and carried deeper into the house. She didn’t make a sound, and Santa himself seemed to blend in with the shadows in the house as he carried her. Then, suddenly, they stood over the bed of a young girl. She was sound asleep, dreaming of the presents the next morning would bring. Santa gently set the kitten down on the bed and whispered to her, “This is your little girl. Take good care of her.”
The kitten was thrilled, but exhausted as well by the long night of travelling. She thanked Santa and curled up beside the little girl, almost immediately falling asleep. Santa gave one last look at the kitten he’d created, and whispered to the sleeping girl, “Take good care of her.” And then, like the shadows and the mist on Christmas morning, he was gone.
The kitten was where she belonged, and in the morning, the little girl would wake up to find her biggest Christmas wish had come true.
Jackie looked at the two on the couch, who both seemed to be as asleep as the little girl in the story, and smiled a little. That always happened when she told her stories… Oh well. There was the entirety of the next day for her to hear theirs. She got up and quietly collected the empty cocoa mugs from the table in front of the couch, and took them into the kitchen, then returned to the living room to look at the two people sleeping on the couch by the light of the Christmas tree.
Rose was curled up next to the Doctor, her head on his chest and her arm around his stomach. Her hand had found its way between the buttons of his suit jacket and was hidden somewhere inside said jacket, either on his stomach or on his side. The Doctor’s arm was around Rose, holding her against him, and his head was tilted so that his cheek rested against her hair. His legs were up on the table, trainers an interesting sight coming out of the pinstripe suited legs, and there was no doubt in Jackie’s mind that Rose’s other arm had made its way around behind him.
Jackie shook her head slightly as she looked at them. She wondered if they had any idea they were in love… because it was glaringly obvious to anyone who looked at them. He might be a daft alien, he might scare the life out of her half the time… but she’d gotten him a stocking. And she trusted him with her daughter’s life. Because whether he was who she would’ve chosen for Rose or not - he was who Rose had chosen. And that made him family.
Before she went to bed, she took a blanket from the back of the chair she’d been sitting in and spread it over the two sleeping travellers. She started to turn off the lights on the tree, but at the last minute she decided to leave them on. Glancing out the window made her smile, however. In the porch lights outside, she could see that snow had begun to fall. And real, proper snow, this year, too.
She paused in the doorway on her way to bed, and looked back at the couch one last time. “Merry Christmas to all,” she mumbled with a smile on her lips. “And to all, a goodnight.”