Something I've been looking forward to since… September. Christmas! And with Christmas comes carols and trees and snow and cocoa and… Christmas fan fiction. Although it's really more of a Christmas preparation fan fiction… Since I'm not exactly writing what they did on Christmas…
The shop in this is a real place, if you've been there, you'll automatically know what I'm talking about, if you haven't (which is more likely, considering it's in America) then you may not understand the characters in it. You'll see. Most of it is inside jokes with my family or friends, which will be unseen to most… I have tried my very best to make this Ten/Rose, which will hopefully be obvious toward the ending…
Christmas with the Doctor is never normal. It's never safe, it's never easy, and it's certainly never domestic. Christmas decorations are more trouble then they're worth, snowmen have a dark side, and amidst the chaos there is potential romance… Ten/Rose
Disclaimer- It's the season of giving! Maybe BBC will let me borrow Doctor Who for a while…
"Christmas!"
Rose glanced up from her newly painted toes. "What?"
"Christmas! Twenty fifth of December. Except on that one planet that it's on the ninth of August. Lights and trees and turkey and joy and songs and Father Christmas and…"
"I know what Christmas is. Why the sudden exclamation?"
The Doctor shrugged. "Woke up and felt like it should be Christmas. And I have the power to make it so… Although, if we want a proper Christmas, we can't just go there… We have to prepare for it… Lets see… How about… Fifteenth of December… Earth… 2007..." he hopped around the console of the TARDIS, flicking a switch here, pulling a lever there, and the ship materialized in a cluster of trees.
The time travelers emerged from the police box, Rose bundled up in a fluffy coat and the Doctor wrapped in a mile-long scarf.
"We need a tree," the Time Lord exclaimed. "Large, with lots of branches and without any little birdies nestled in the branches. Something like…"
"This one?" Rose pointed to a beautiful tree, one that matched the Doctor's description perfectly, with a dusting of snow on the branches and plenty of branches.
"Brilliant!" the Doctor knelt in the snow beside the tree and withdrew what appeared to be a butter knife from his pocket.
Rose tilted her head in confusion and jumped back in shock as a red beam of energy exploded from the ending of the blade in a shower of sparkles.
"Lasery sonic tree cutter," the Doctor explained. "It cuts the tree for us to use in the TARDIS, but keeps it alive, so not only can we keep it up for as long as we want to, but when we're done with it, we bring it back here, place it on the stump and TA DA! The tree and the stump fuse together and it's like we never cut it down. Can you catch it?"
Rose scooted behind the tree as the Doctor swung his magical tree cutter. With a squeak, the lovely pine leapt from it's previous location and into her arms. The two companions each took an end of the tree and began to shuffle towards the TARDIS. The pine seemed eager to be in the warmth of the ship, moving almost of it's own accord.
In fact, it wasn't until the tree literally flew into the stand did they began to suspect something slightly more sinister than holiday cheer was at work.
Withdrawing his Sonic Screwdriver, the Doctor ducked under the needles and, with a shout of triumph, hauled a miniature, wriggling snowman from the stand.
"Satanic Snowmen," the Time Lord commented. "Lives predominantly in the upper reaches of the mountains of the planer Kaltarmiko. Delights in stealing Christmas joy, chasing innocent holiday shoppers and er, starting snowball fights."
"Snowball fights?"
The Doctor shrugged. "Few things are as deadly as a perfectly aimed snowball. Right between the eyes- BAM! Next thing you know, you're lying on your back with pneumonia and frostbite- not a great position to be in, especially in northern Canadia…"
"Canadia?"
"Parallel to Canada. It's exactly the same, but underwater."
"How could you get frostbite under the water?" Rose questioned.
"It's possible. Angelfish have a mean streak, and with the proper equipment, they can have the Black Sea frozen in two-point-five seconds…"
"Are you speaking from experience?"
The Doctor mumbled something inaudible to his Converse. Opening the door of the TARDIS with one hand and clutching the snowman in the other, he flung the creature out into the chill.
Turning the Rose, the Doctor offered a brilliant grin. "Ready to decorate?"
Rose glanced dubiously at the tree. "With what?"
The Doctor smacked his head. "Right! Have just the place…" He hopped about the console, setting the coordinates, while Rose hopped from foot to foot in anticipation. The ship materialized with her familiar jolt, and, bundling up once more, the travelers raced to the door.
They found themselves in the parking lot of a ordinary looking store. A bit over-decorated perhaps, with a large Father Christmas in the top window, lights on every tree, and an inflatable snow globe, but perfectly normal. Holding hands like they did when running for their lives, they skipped merrily to the door. With a gentlemanly smile, the Doctor swung the door open for Rose, and followed her into the dim hallway. So joyous were they, neither of them noticed the snowman inside the globe staring at them with unblinking eyes.
"Moo-ey Christmas!"
The corridor exploded with light as a million blinking particles swirled to life, reveling an unusual sight. A make-believe barn housed a held a large make-believe cow, who seemed to be the one speaking to them.
"Welcome to the Christmas Loft!" the bovine exclaimed with joy. "My name is Betsy- what's yours?"
"The Doctor!"
"Rose!"
Betsy mooed again and tilted her head. "This is Stumpy…"
The Doctor and Rose turned their heads with the cow, and saw a plastic tree that reached the ceiling.
"Why hello," was Stumpy's drawn-out greeting.
"Do you recognize the song the birds in Stumpy's branches are singing? Lets sing along!"
The twitching birds began to tweet out a melody, which the Doctor and Rose began to sing along to.
"Jingle bells, the Slitheen smell, a Dalek laid an egg…" the Time Lord cried.
Rose could have sworn the two machines frowned at him, as the audio turned up to drown him out.
"Oh what fun it is to ride in a one-horse open sleigh…"
"HEY!" the Doctor exclaimed. "I was singing that!"
Before he could have the now-demonic cow feel his Sonic wrath, Rose led him away down the hall.
They skipped along the brick path, passing tree after tree. Each one seemed to glow with the power of a tinfoil-wrapped baked potato (most radioactive substance known to man). The lights blinked cheerfully in colors beyond the natural spectrum, some even sparkled to a well-known tune.
"Chestnuts! Get your fresh, hot chestnuts here!"
The Doctor's ears twitched and he licked his lips. "Chestnuts?"
Rose chuckled and followed the hungry Time Lord into the central room. She caught her breath in shock- an entire village was squeezed into the building! The Doctor leaned casually on a button and the frozen citizens crackled to life.
"Twas the night before Christmas…" a loudspeaker boomed, flashing a spotlight on a family inside a cozy house.
The Doctor and Rose strolled along, giggling at an elderly woman chatting with Father Christmas. They passed a boy clutching a newspaper, a barber shop (a quick scan with the Sonic confirmed that the hair on the floor was real), and finally, the bakery. The Doctor's eyes glazed over as he stared at the baked goods hungrily. He was just reaching for a (plastic) muffin when…
"Chestnuts! Get your fresh, hot chestnuts here!"
The Time Lord glanced up sharply. There he was! The chestnut man! He was so close! All the Doctor needed to do was cross the covered bridge!
"Come on Rose!" he exclaimed. Grabbing her hand once more, he raced to the bridge, thinking of chestnuts. Converse tapping, he hopped onto the bridge… Wait a minute! Did the snowman that child was building just move? No, 'course not. Satanic Snowmen didn't live in shops… Or did they? He could never remember.
No time to think about that now! The chestnut man was almost close enough to touch! Just a little further… Hold on… He seemed awfully stiff…
"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" the Doctor howled in sorrow and frustration, falling to his knees. "Why?!"
Rose tentatively approached the angsty Time Lord. She leapt back in fright as he turned furiously to the electrical socket in the wall.
"You! You're the reason I can't have nice things!" he accused. Frowning, he stood up, brushing pretend snow from his trousers.
Rose began to fish in her pockets… Ah ha! Grinning ear to ear, she held out half a peanut to the Doctor.
A familiar, brilliant smile took the place of his scowl, as he inhaled the snack.
"Quite tasty, Rose. Thank you for pulling me from my spiraling descent into terror. Shall we continue?" Offering his arm, he lead her into a room containing seventeen trees and about fifteen million lights.
"Do we need lights?"
The Doctor shook his head. "Sonic Screwdriver can take care of that… Besides, I don't have the patience nor inclination to string lights on a tree."
"I was wondering… Isn't this whole Christmas thing a bit… Domestic?"
The Doctor gave a gasp of mock-horror. "Rose! How dare you say such a thing! I am in no way going domestic. Is that understood? Christmas can be exciting and adventurous! Just you watch me!"
With a twirl, he charged off into the next room, Rose racing behind him.
This room did not have the explosive power of the last, in fact, it was warm and cozy with only four trees and about forty thousand decorations. Rose found the Doctor already up to his knees in boxes. Grinning from ear-to-ear, she joined her friend in his ever-growing stack of joy.
"Look at these Rose!" the Doctor held up a package of Star Wars ornaments. "Yoda and Vader and C3PO, and R2-D2, and a Stormtrooper!"
Rose giggled at his excitement, and held up her own box. Inside were multi-coloured swirls of glass with elegant feathers sprouting from the tips.
"Brilliant!" he exclaimed. "What about these here?" These ornaments were similar, but had a double strand of glass and pebble strings in place of the feathers.
His companion stretched up on her toes to reach one very pretty ornament- a glass heart. Inside were two snowmen holding hands.
The Doctor tilted his head in confusion.
"You're the big snowman and I'm the little snowman- see?" Rose explained.
"No, it's not that… It's just that this one fits us better," the Time Lord picked up another decoration- two angels flying hand in hand.
"Snowmen are a bit too evil," he pointed out.
The Doctor's eyes suddenly grew to the size of dinner-plates. "Look at that!" he gasped. His unblinking gaze was resting on a large red Christmas light.
"This?" Rose picked up the single ornament. "It's kinda tacky…"
"It's beautiful…"
The Doctor was cut off by a terrifying cackle and a shower of snow. He stared in shock as the snowmen of Rose's ornament grew in size and blasted from their glassy prison. Several rooms over, they heard similar sounds as the snowmen sprung into sentience.
"Satanic Snowmen! Run!"
TBC…
Oooh, an attempt at a cliff-hanger. I just noticed that my little Christmas fluff has expanded into a long Christmas epic… And it's not done yet! I hope to get the conclusion up on Christmas Eve, so be sure to tune in…
The tacky red light bulb and the Star Wars ornaments are mine… They are the coolest things ever…
Tis the season of giving… If you gift me with a review I'll gift you with one… This is my hopeful grin, in case you can't see it…
