I'm in the mood for some holiday cheer (I've been a bit down lately).
Title: Thoughts: Christmas Edition 2009
Author:
jiji_bean Characters: Nine/Rose, Ten/Rose, Jack, Jackie, Mickey, and the Tardis of course!
Rating: PG
Time Line: Every Christmas that could have been (and maybe was...)
Summary: Contains 20 Christmas drabbles that I wrote last year. I plan on writing some for each day next week and wanted to revisit. You will find fluff, fun, humor, and a pinch of angst. Happy Holidays!
Thoughts: Christmas Edition
Candles
The Doctor was busy tinkering with the Tardis one day when he suddenly smelled something burning. His eyes widened and he let go of the sonic screwdriver, causing it to land with a hurtful thump on his nose.
“Ow!” he yelped.
Rubbing at the pain, he slid out from under the console and got to his feet in a flash. He ran toward the smell, his hands digging into never ending pockets for a fire extinguisher. His trainers were landing hard on the Tardis floor. With each step, he kept thinking of Rose and how he had not yet seen or heard her. He refused to think of the worst.
The Doctor rushed into the library, having since deduced that the smell was coming from in there. Finally finding the extinguisher, he aimed it in front of him, ready to save…
“Doctor! What are you doing!?” she yelled. His hearts began to slow in confusion. Lowering the extinguisher, he finally focused on Rose.
“I…I smelled…smoke…”
He turned to look around them and he saw strings of tinsel hanging everywhere, red and white ribbons strewn this way and that, and a small mountain of gifts wrapped in blue and brown wrapping. There were three stockings hung on the mantle above the crackling fireplace, each with a name: one for Rose, one for himself and even one for the Tardis.
Off to the corner, there was a massively gorgeous tree, decorated in gold and reds. The Doctor walked towards it, entranced by its sheer beauty. Placing the fire extinguisher on the nearby table, he stood in front of the tree, drinking it in. He could feel that his mouth was hanging open, but he couldn’t bring himself to do anything about it.
Everything he had seen, worlds and events and people, and this…this was what was amazing him. What this wonderfully simple and fantastic human girl had done was making him react this way.
He spotted a small ornament in a branch closest to him, a replication of the Tardis. His hearts warmed at the detail. He touched it lightly with his fingertips.
Turning to Rose, he saw a bright smile on her face.
He grinned brightly at her in response.
“But…I smelled smoke…”
Rose frowned and then suddenly chuckled, “Oh! That’s just the candles, see?”
She walked over to the mantle to show him the white candles she had lit, their soft smoke wafting in the air around them. Their light was flickering on her skin, causing images to dance into his imagination.
The Doctor laughed suddenly at the impossibility and reached for her, embracing her tightly against him. She returned the pressure, her hands firmly against his back.
“Merry Christmas, Doctor,” she whispered near his ear. It made him shudder, feeling the chills run along his skin.
“Merry Christmas, Rose,” he responded, his smile ringing in every word.
Holiday
“Doctor! No, I won’t do it!” protested Rose.
“But Rose,” whined the Doctor, “you need to! It wouldn’t be Christmas or any other holiday without them!”
Rose rolled her eyes and placed her hand on her hip. She stared at her Time Lord’s puppy dog eyes and his childish pout. He looked so cute.
But no way was she backing down.
“Rosie, what are you doing to the poor man…err…alien?” yelled Jack from the other room.
The Doctor promptly rolled his eyes while Rose attempted to hide her giggle. “He’s trying to make me do something I don’t want to do for Christmas!” she smiled mischievously, knowing Jack would have a field day with that remark. The Doctor rolled his eyes once more, waiting for Jack’s response.
“Oh Rosie, just make him the banana cookies already!” he yelled.
The Doctor smiled rather smugly as Rose sighed in defeat.
“One batch of banana cookies, coming up.”
“Just one?” whined the Doctor, before Rose threw a banana at him.
Scrooge
“You don’t have to be such a Scrooge about it! Leave it!” yelled Rose. Then furious footsteps followed by the slamming of her bedroom door. The Doctor’s chest rose and fell rapidly as he tried to quiet his angry breathing and the beating of his hearts. Eventually they did calm down and he was faced with how he’d acted.
He turned toward the console when he heard a pair of footsteps. The Doctor turned, hoping to find Rose, but found Mickey instead. He frowned and turned back to the console. Mickey stepped next to him.
“Problem with the missus?” he asked, rather sincerely, much to the Doctor’s surprise.
“Something like that,” he answered harshly.
“The thing about Rose, is that she forgives rather easily - which is really great. But, us blokes, Doctor, we gotta make sure we earn it anyway. She’s just too good.”
The Doctor looked at him and smiled half-heartedly.
Mickey patted him once on the back and went back the way he came. Sighing heavily, he began walking down the corridor to Rose’s room. He knocked softly on the large door.
He heard her sniffling and a quiet, “Come in.”
The Doctor opened the door to see Rose hugging her teddy bear. Guilt ran through his veins at the sight of her, so innocent and visibly hurt by his actions and words.
He sat near her on the bed. “I’m sorry Rose,” he whispered to her.
She smiled faintly through her tears, “It’s okay Doctor.”
Remembering what Mickey had said, he continued, “I’m just not used to sharing you Rose. So, when you asked about making Mickey a special dinner….my instinct was to say ‘no.’ I really am sorry for snapping at you.”
Rose nodded, “I’m sorry for calling you a Scrooge.”
She hugged the Doctor and he grinned at his wonderful girl. Then, an idea occurred to him.
“How would you like to go see Dickens read A Christmas Carol for the first time?”
Rose detached herself to look at him. “Is it Christmas?” she asked.
“Somewhere it’s Christmas,” he replied.
They smiled at each other.
“Mickey would love it. We can sit in the back, timelines and all that.”
The Doctor grinned at the memory and her care of it, then, he frowned slightly.
“I guess he can come too.”
He laughed as Rose proceeded to hit him with her pillow.
Party
The Doctor groaned unhappily. He was sitting on Jackie’s couch, surrounded by people of all ages sloshing about, singing carols and dancing with drinks in their hands. Rose had wanted to stop by Jackie’s annual Christmas party and the Doctor was unable to deny her as much. He really needed to stop looking at her when she asked him for things. Those Rose Tyler eyes were worse than any enemy. They crumpled his will each time. Amazing that they hadn’t turned completely domestic with carpets and doors and *shudder* a mortgage.
To be fair, she did tell him he could skip out for a few hours, but he’d chosen to stay with her instead. All this and he still hadn’t seen her yet.
It was while he was trying to remove the sleeping uncle from the top of his coat when he looked up and saw Rose standing in the doorway staring back at him.
He swallowed hard, forgetting his coat altogether. She was wearing a black skirt, black boots (those rough looking ones, sturdy and good for running), a red long sleeved but low-cut shirt and one of the most beautiful smiles he’d ever seen. The outfit accentuated her curves a little too well.
Why did it suddenly get so warm?
“Do I look okay Doctor?” she asked softly, knowing he could hear her amongst the chatter of the people around them.
Instead of answering, he got up from the couch, throwing off the uncle in the process and walked over to her. He stood in front of her and let his hand move to play with strands of her hair. The Doctor heard her swallow hard and he smiled at her response to him.
“You look beautiful,” he whispered, the people around them blurred in the background.
“For a human?” she asked, teasingly.
He shook his head gently, his fingertips grazing her ears, causing her to tremble.
“Just beautiful,” he repeated - his voice low and with a twinge of something Rose had all but dreamed about.
The words rang with a promise and a memory. And there they remained, breathing each other’s breaths, skin lingering on skin and feeling the electricity in the air around them.
Together and content, the way it should be.
Frosty
Rose looked up at the Doctor from her cuddled position on his chest. His eyes were entirely focused on the cartoon on the TV screen, “Frosty the Snowman.” She could see the dancing images of the characters reflected on the lenses of his glasses. He was smiling goofily at the TV, chuckling every now and then.
She smiled. It was heavenly each time the Doctor looked as happy as he did right then.
Suddenly, he looked down at her, startling her in the process. “Hello,” he said, grinning that heart-melting grin of his. Rose could feel the blush blossoming on her cheeks. “Hello,” she whispered.
His grip around her back tightened a bit as he continued staring down at her. It dissolved her insides feeling his warmth against her.
“Something on my face?” he asked, clearly teasing her.
Rose laughed, “No, of course not. Well, not this time,” she chuckled, “just…looking at you.”
“Well, I’m flattered Ms. Tyler, but Frosty is so much more interesting. Look at him, there he goes again…” he chuckled looking back at the screen.
Rose continued smiling up at him.
The Doctor looked back down, his laugh trickling out. He had a look in his eyes that made her breathing quicken. “What’s so interesting Rose Tyler?” he asked, his voice husky and involuntarily seductive.
She attempted to slow her human heart. “Just…you. I like seeing you happy, Doctor.” The blush grew more pronounced on her cheeks.
He smiled broadly, “And I like seeing you happy, Rose.”
They sat there, staring at each other, smiling like two very crazily content people. Which they were.
“Merry Christmas Doctor,” said Rose, cuddling as close as she could to him.
“Merry Christmas Rose,” said the Doctor, his hearts beating rapidly at her proximity, the way they always did.
Part II