Title: "Snow in Kelpepi"
Author: Wish Wielder
Fandom: Doctor Who
Pairing / Character Focus: (Tenth) Doctor x Rose Tyler
Challenge: Time & Chips's December 2007 Prompt Table
Theme / Prompt: #15
Word Count: 2,093
Rating: K/G
Summary: It's two in the morning, and he's waking her up for snow – real, proper snow – on a backwater planet in the Kelpepi nebula. And all in the spirit of Christmas.
Notes: Between "The Christmas Invasion" and "New Earth". (Granted, I know that NE presumably happened directly after TCI, with it being their first trip with him as the new Doctor, so this deviates from canon just a tad).
Disclaimer: "Doctor Who" and all respective properties are © the BBC. Megan D. (Wish Wielder) does not, has never, nor will ever own "Doctor Who".
"Snow in Kelpepi"
It's a gentle prodding on her shoulder, missing the warmth of her thick duvet, that first starts to rouse her. A tiny little patch of skin, exposed to the air of the room – which isn't too hot or too cold either way – and something soft that keeps pressing it in in a rhythmic motion. Something soft, but something cool – down-right frigid, really, and it's causing a chill to creep up over her back and down her spine. This is what starts it, disrupting her sleep and dragging her back to the realm of consciousness much too soon for her liking.
Life has been pretty hectic these past few days, after all – what with the Doctor's regeneration and subsequent Sycorax invasion of Earth – and she hasn't really had a chance to just…well, crash. Whatever is trying to get her up is going to get it – even if it is to tell her someone was dead or something equally important.
…well, ok, maybe not – but she wouldn't quite put it past her muddled mind.
The next thing, adding to the gentle pokes, is a voice. A quiet, sing-songed "Roooose..." that's adding a cool breath to her ear. The chill creeps up along her neck, and she wonders briefly why her duvet isn't covering more of her. She remembers snuggling in – would whoever's trying to wake her actually remove her blanket? The thought brings an edge of panic to her groggy mind, heightened by her inability to recognize the voice. It's male, she can tell that much – but who?
Another poke, another whisper.
"Whoever you are," she grounds out, trying to hide the slight panic edging her mind, "you better cut it out before the Doctor or my mum finds you and decides to give you a piece of their minds."
A slight chuckle, one she feels she should know, and the poking finger turns into a brushing hand tucking some hair behind her ear. She tenses, and the hand hesitates. She feels she should know that nervousness, too.
"I'd like to see that," the voice says, and she frowns as it nudges at her mind. She knows it, but who? "Giving myself a piece of my mind – that would be a laugh and a half! Mind, I don't much like the idea of Jackie giving me a piece of her mind – no telling where that's been. Is that a smile? Are you smiling at me, Rose Tyler?"
She cracks open an eye and looks up, suddenly feeling a bit more awake and relaxed as the voice clicks. The Doctor. The new Doctor, the one who talks too much and doesn't have a Northern accent. The one she is starting to relate to an excitable kid on Christmas morning – which, given the circumstances of their past week, doesn't seem too far a stretch.
"You may not fancy it, but she catches you in here and that's exactly what you'll get," she says, and he frowns.
"But how would she do that?" he asks, and it's her turn to frown. "I always…blimey, you wouldn't tell her I've been in here, would you? She'd kill me, again and again right until I run out of regenerations! I won't even get to enjoy being ginger if one turns out that way!"
"Doctor, if you don't want to get caught, I suggest you lower your voice," she says, closing her eyes and snuggling back into her warm bed. Her mind is still hazy, and it doesn't even occur to her to ask why he's there in the first place. "The walls are thin, and she's likely to hear you. End of the hallway, remember? And why aren't you out on the couch?"
"Rose…we're in the TARDIS," he says patiently, and she turns to face him. He's kneeling by her bed, his arms folded on her mattress with his chin propped on his crossing wrists. Those geeky glasses are on, but they can't cover the amused glint in his eyes. She feels like she should be slapping him, but she can't quite figure out why.
"When'd that happen?" she asks, finally noticing the green glow to the room and the coral walls. He grins, looking like he's about to poke her again.
"This morning," he says. "We left happy as clams and you decided you needed a good night's sleep, so here you are – sleeping – and now here you're going – up – so I can show you something truly amazing."
"Bwuh?" she asks, and he laughs and bounces, and again she thinks he's nothing more than an overgrown kid.
So very different from her Doctor…
"Rose Tyler," he says, the very definition of serious, "it's snowing!"
"You're waking me up…for that?" she asks, and he nods, bouncing again. She clenches her fist in her pillow, her mind rambling out a mantra of IwillnotslaphimIwillnotslaphimIwillnotslaphim. He's waking her up for snow, when they're in a time machine. A brilliant time machine that could very well take them back to wherever it is that it's snowing after she's had a few more hours sleep.
IwillnotslaphimIwillnotslaphimIwillnotslaphim.
"Yup!" he says, popping the 'P'. She's still not entirely used to that. "C'mon, Rose – you have to see it! Oh, it's gorgeous – best snow this side of the universe for hundreds of years! We're on a little backwater planet in the Kelpepi nebula, farther from Earth than you've been in ages, and it's right about the middle of the storm. Everything will be buried by the time it stops, but right now it's nearly two in the morning and everything's just…still."
'Something you have yet to master the meaning of,' she thinks disdainfully, but despite her grump at being awake she can't hide the wonder that creeps into her eyes at his description. Snow – real, proper snow, and not spaceship ash – and he's brought her to it. The best snow, by his own words…
"You're waking me up for snow," she says, and he nods.
"Wanna see?" he asks, and she smiles.
"I could kill you for waking me up, but…" she pauses, her tongue poking between her teeth as she grins at him. He returns it in earnest, and she throws back her duvet and sits up. He's leaned back, but still close, and she laughs. "…what are we waiting for?"
"Grab something warm – it's cold out," he says, standing and pausing just long enough to place a chaste kiss on her forehead before turning towards the hall. "Meet me by the door in five."
– W –
He's standing by the door five minutes later, just where he said he'd be. There's an excited bounce in his restless waiting, and it's not the first time she thinks he just can't stay still. The last him, she thinks, wouldn't settle because he didn't like domestics. This one probably just couldn't. Not that she wants him to; after everything they've already been through, she doesn't think she'd be able to, either.
"Rose!" he calls when he spots her, and she returns the smile he gives her as she zips up her coat. He runs over to her and looks her over, nodding approvingly at the winter gear she had changed into. His hand slips into hers, as easily as it always has, and he gives it a slight tug. "Ready, then?"
"Aren't you going to put something warm on, Doctor?" she asks, and he waves her off.
"Time Lord physiology, Rose – I don't get cold!" he says, and she stops before he can drag her out the door. She reaches over to the nearest strut and grabs his coat, where he had tossed it the last time they'd entered the TARDIS. She hands it to him with an expectant look, and he sighs as he releases her hand to shrug it on. "Happy?"
"Happier," she says, and he laughs. He opens the door and they step out, and while she notices the drop in temperature she doesn't see any of the infamous snow he had been telling her about. "Doctor…"
"Huh, must've landed in a shed of some sort," he says, looking around. He spots a door and grabs her hand again, running over to throw it open. He twirls around in front of her, blocking her view, and puts his hands on her shoulders. "Kelpepi nebula. About the year three billion and twelve, just past two in the morning. Rose Tyler, I give you…"
He twirls around her, his hands immediately on her shoulders again to gently nudge her out the door, and her breath catches in her throat. He stops, leaving her in the doorway of the shed, and she feels his mouth by her ear as he whispers, "…snow."
And indeed he has. Real, proper snow, piling on the surrounding field in heaps and mounds. The velvet sky is twinged a deep purple from clouds still releasing draughts of the crystals, but it's peaceful. Calm – still, like he had said before. It's perfect, and despite the child-like impulse to run and play in the field of white she can't. It's too perfect for that; how could she ruin it?
"It's…beautiful," she says, but she doesn't think that quite says it. She doesn't think there's a way to. His hands leave her shoulders, and his arms wrap around her while his head rests on a shoulder next to hers. She glances at him, moving nothing but her eyes, to find he's watching the falling snow with a peaceful look that had been so rare on the last him. She had caught it briefly at her mum's, and she thinks maybe the regeneration has made him…better, in a way. Maybe this him will be able to relax more than her Doctor could.
She frowns, despite the happiness welling inside her, and wonders if she'll ever be able to look at the new him and see him as her Doctor. She hopes one day she can.
"What's wrong? Don't you like it?" he asks, and she realizes he's now looking at her. She smiles and leans her head back on his shoulder, turning slightly to look at him properly.
"I love it," she says, and he gives her a smile. Not one of the manic grins he's taken to the past week – just a smile, and with that smile she again sees in him her Doctor, and she thinks maybe he really hasn't gone anywhere in the first place. Maybe she won't have to get used to him as her Doctor, because maybe he already is. I love you.
"Still mad at me for waking you up?" he asks, shaking her slightly in a teasing manner. She laughs and snuggles closer to him, wondering how he can seem so warm here when anywhere else he's always so cool.
"As long as this surprise can end with cocoa in the library, I was never mad to begin with," she says, and he perks up at that.
"Rose Tyler, it's a promise!" he says, and he starts to take a step back towards the TARDIS. She reaches up, placing her gloved hands on his arms and stopping him. He looks at her just a moment, and she smiles.
"Just a few more minutes?" she asks, and again there's the smile she knows so well. He steps back to her and pulls her close, again offering the warmth he shouldn't be able to provide. His head is back on her shoulder, his eyes looking up at the purple-black sky and the snow softly falling from it.
"Happy Christmas, Rose," he says, and she laughs.
"S'not Christmas anymore, Doctor," she says, and he shrugs.
"Happy late Christmas, then – I never did get you a present," he says, and she squeezes his arms.
"Saving the world doesn't count as a present?" she asks, and she laughs at the look that clearly reads 'Not when we do it every day.' She tilts her head towards him and down, burying it in the crook of his neck. "Just being you, still the same even with a new face, that's enough of a present for me. Still wanting me to come with you is enough for me."
"And here I was thinking that was my present," he says, nudging her again. She smiles, subconsciously kissing his jaw as her mind starts to drift back towards sleep. She doesn't really notice how he tenses, or how he relaxes moments later to hug her in earnest. "Happy Christmas, Rose."
"Happy Christmas," she mumbles, content with the world – whichever one they're on – and the snow and the alien holding her. My Doctor.
A.n.: With all the post-reunion stuff going around these days, I think some good, S2 Christmasish fluff is just what the…ok no, not going with that pun. It was needed, that's all I'll say.