The night was cold, it was the dry, icy cold. There was no snow, but puddles were still frozen and icicles still hung from roof tops. The sky was clear and cloudless. Allowing the stars to shine bright, the full moon illuminated the city below. The city was quiet. Hardly a sound was heard. It was Christmas Eve and the streets were empty, everyone had gone home. They were all sitting around their fires, talking and laughing with family and friends. Singing Christmas carols and drinking eggnog. Some no doubt, where with lovers awake, creating love in the dark. There are children, staying up trying to catch Santa. Or simply sleeping, dreaming of the morning to come. The parents trying to make sure everything would be perfect in the morning, wrapping late gifts and eating the cookies left for Santa.

One lonely girl was walking down the street. Her name as Arianna. Arianna had never really had a family to share this holiday with. No friends to exchange gifts with. No lover to sleep with. No child to tuck into bed. Her loneliness was part of the reason she moved to London in the first place. She hoped that maybe a new beginning would help her with her 'people' skills. But she had been wrong. Even across the ocean nothing changed. She was still alone.

Arianna sighed, watching the puff of air that came out. Arianna decided she was bored, so she did a little twirl, and skipped, dancing in the silent night. After a few moments, she came to a stop. Her cheeks felt colder than before. Arianna reached up to feel her cheeks. She was surprised to feel wetness there. Arianna jumped, not expecting tears. Slowly she stopped walking, coming to a stop in the cold winter night.

Slowly at first, but then faster, all of her inner barriers, her masks and walls came down. She was no longer shielding herself from years of pain. For the first time in years she let herself cry.

She slowly progressed from silent tears to full blow sobs in a matter of seconds. She sank to the ground. Letting her feelings wash over her. She didn't want to be alone any more, She wanted a friend. She wanted somebody to love.

"Why are you crying?" A deep voice cut out of the darkness.

Arianna jumped. She shot to her feet, and wiped around. She crashed in to the speaker of the voice. Sending both of them to the ground. Arianna clutched her head, whoever it was had a hard head. Slowly she looked up at the man, who had gotten up and was holding out a hand to help her up. He was tall, wearing a tweed jacket and was that a bowtie? He had floppy brown hair, and brown eyes. He was looking at her with a look of curiosity.

"Are you alright?" he asked as Arianna took her hand and he pulled her to her feet.

Arianna paused trying to think of a excuse to be crying at night alone in the middle of the street.

"I-I-I wasn't crying." She managed to say defensively.

"You weren"t? He said skeptically.

"No, I wasn't." Ari said. straightening her back.

"So, why are your eyes red and your cheeks wet?" He said. Looking straight in to her eyes, making her uncomfortable. It was like he was looking right in to her soul.

"W-w-well, i j-just.." She stammered. She didn't know what to say. She could feel her self breaking down again. Tears started to flow once more.

"I-im s-s-sorry, its j-just…" She tried to explain mumbling threw her tears. She was quieted by warm, strong arms wrapping themselves around her. For a few moments she was shocked, but slowly she felt herself relaxing into the man's arms. They stood there for along time. The strange man, holding the lonly girl.

Eventually, Arianna felt better, she looked up at the man, who slowly let her go.

"Better?" he asked smiling. Ari smiled.

"Thank you I need that. I can't remember the last time i got a hug."

"Everyone needs hugs sometime, well not Daleks, but they don't count. Well, maybe never tried to give them a hug before. They do have a habit of trying to kill me." He said, with a thoughtful look.

"Who? What?" Ari asked confused.

"Oh, nothing, just thinking out loud." He said smiling at her. "Wanna talk about why you were crying in the middle of the road?" he asked, walking over to a nearby bench and plopping himself down on it. Arianna noded and sat down next to him.

"When I was five, my mom and dad died in a fire. I was taken in by my uncle, but he was an alcoholic, and never liked me. When I was 16 I dropped out of high school and ran way. I lived on the streets, I played my guitar making as much money as I could. when I was 18 I managed to get a job waitressing, by the time I was 20, I had managed to build a stable life for myself. I never had any friends, and no family. When I turned 25, I had saved up enough money to move here, to London. I hoped that here i might get some friends. Maybe it will all start a new. But I was wrong. I'm alone." Ari finished. wondering to herself why was she telling him all this, she didn't even know his name.

"I'm Arianna, by the way." she added.

The man smiled, and shook her hand.

"What beautiful name. I'm the Doctor." He said giving her a huge grin that reminded her of a child.

"Doctor who?" Ari asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Just the doctor." He replied like he had done this before.

"Doctor." Arianna said again, trying out the name.

"Yup, thats me." He smiled at her. She smiled back at him.

"It seems like you have had a hard life." He said looking into her eyes. "And, I know how you feel, Being alone. I was alone, then I found a friend."

Arianna, looked at him, wondering why he was alone.

"Who was it, your friend?" Arianna asked.

"Rose, her name is Rose. Shes gone now." He said wistfully.

"It must have been nice having someone."

"It was, and you know what? I think you need someone to."

Arianna looked at him. He was smiling at her. He stood up and grabbed her hand.

"And I have got amazing things to show you." Arianna smiled, a wide, bright smile. He pulled her down the street. Arianna laughed, she felt more happy than she ever had before.

"Oh, and Arianna?" He asked looking at her.

"What is it doctor?" Arianna looked up in to his eyes.

"Merry Christmas."

"Merry Christmas Doctor."

And the two walked down the street to a big blue box. Hand in hand

The strange man, and the girl who was no longer lonely.

AN/

V: hello! i just wanted to tell you how this little story came about! it was an assignment for my film and lit class. We where supost to write a story about a Christmas that stood out to us, our favorites, the saddest ect. but i hate Christmas with all my heart, all of mine are blugh, so i asked if i could do a fanfiction instead and my teacher said yes, and here it is.

also, if people like it enough, it might, just might be turned in to a legit fanfic.

but any way here it is, enjoy

r&r

-vriska