"I'm sorry." Rose says, watching the man across her stare sadly at the snowflakes outside.
Neal shook his head in reply.
"I don't even know how I ended up here. I'm supposed to be dead. I guess Papa must have had a hand in all this."
"I don't like Christmas either. The first Christmas, after I met him, he'd turned into a new man. We still fought aliens together, the Doctor and I. Just another day in the TARDIS." She smiles, but her eyes fill with haunting memories.
He laughs.
"Our first Christmas together, we spent holed up in a yellow car, exchanging presents we "borrowed" from a department store."
They sit quietly, haunted by ghosts of the past, until he reaches out his hand to her and she takes it.
"This is our first Christmas, yeah? They're in the past now, just memories to treasure."
"Yeah. We should make this special." He smiles back, leaning down to kiss her.
And so a silent vow is made. A promise to start anew.
Notes:
Let's just assume Tentoo never existed. Or something happened to him. Hope you liked it! I had fun exploring this strange but lovely pairing.