Disclaimer: Doctor Who and Torchwood belong to the BBC and Russell T. Davies. They are not mine, nor will they ever be.
Spoilers: The Christmas Invasion, Doomsday
Five Times Rose Tyler Celebrated New Year
11:45pm 2006 – Powell Estate, London
Rose smothered a smile as the Doctor helped himself to a fifth mince pie. Jackie had dictated they were going to eat up all the leftovers from Christmas, and the Doctor was certainly doing his bit to help the process along.
Considering the old Doctor had always protested that he didn't do 'domestic', this new Doctor seemed remarkably good at it. Rose was still getting used to the differences between the two incarnations, and it was a bit weird seeing the Time Lord settled in an armchair in front of the TV, watching the BBC's New Year's Eve programming. Eve if he did keep looking around warily every time Jackie wandered through from the kitchen.
On any normal New Year Rose would have been out at a pub or club with Mickey and some of her friends, but this year was a bit different, after all. A quiet night in seemed called for. Mickey had excused himself on the grounds that he had plans he couldn't get out of, but Rose knew it was really because he still wasn't sure about this new Doctor. Although, technically, he hadn't been sure about the old one, either.
As the presenters on the television started the final countdown, the Doctor took another mince pie, and grinned at her around a mouthful of pastry. Rose grinned back. She might not know a lot about this Doctor yet, but she was looking forward to finding out.
11:59pm 2013 – Times Square, New York City
"Only a minute to go!" someone yelled.
"Sixty, fifty-nine, fifty-eight…"
Rose watched critically as the giant glittering ball started to descend its long pole towards the roof of One Times Square. She still couldn't understand what all the fuss was about. Sure, it was big and sparkly, but where was the drama? Where was the excitement? It seemed like New Year in New York was ushered in with a whimper rather than a bang.
"…forty-seven, forty-six…"
"You're not impressed, are you?" the Doctor muttered in her ear.
"I don't get it," Rose admitted. "Isn't there more to it than this? Why a giant ball on a pole, anyway?"
"It's a sailing thing," replied the Doctor. "The ball would drop at a pre-determined time, allowing sailors to accurately set their watches."
"And someone decided that this would be a good way to ring in the New Year?" said Rose sarcastically.
All the same, as the ball neared the bottom of the pole – "…twenty-three, twenty-two…" – she couldn't help feeling a frisson of excitement. It was hard not to be affected by the enthusiasm of the crowd around her.
"…ten, nine, eight…"
The Doctor put an arm around her shoulders.
"…three, two, one!"
The ball reached the roof.
"Happy New Year!"
"Happy New Year, Doctor."
"Happy New Year, Rose."
The Hour of Renewal, 201,549 – Arcturus
"Stop laughing," the Doctor hissed. "You'll offend them."
Trying valiantly to keep a straight face, Rose watched what was occurring in front of her. The Arcturans were staging some kind of ritual that the Doctor had called 'The Dance of Encouragement.' It was supposed to persuade the twin suns to rise at the correct time, heralding the New Year, and involved the Arcturans stripping off their clothes to reveal their faintly violet, androgynous bodies, and performing what was apparently a solemn dance, accompanied by a chant. Unfortunately, to Rose it looked like a lot purple people jumping around and shrieking. Hence the desire to laugh.
Luckily, none of the Arcturans had noticed her amusement, being far too involved in their ritual. They had invited Rose and the Doctor to join in, although both had hastily declined. The Doctor, however, still seemed to think that the dance could be appreciated from a distance, and was frowning at Rose in annoyance.
The chanting was reaching a crescendo, and Rose's hilarity abruptly seemed to die. The sky to the east was lightening rapidly, and finally the suns burst over the horizon in a blaze of orange and red light. The Acturans' chanting was silenced, and they all sank to the ground in reverence. Of her own volition, Rose followed suit, the Doctor kneeling beside her.
There was moment of quiet contemplation, and then the Arcturans rose again, clapping and cheering. Puzzled, Rose looked at the Doctor.
"Now what happens?" she asked.
The Doctor grinned. "Now the fun begins!"
12:05am 57,636 – Londonus, Earth Colony Sigma
As the beat of the music started up again, Rose allowed herself to be drawn back into the ebb and flow of the bodies surrounding her. They weren't dancing, exactly – there were too many people crammed into too small a space for it to be called dancing. But the music was infectious, and it was impossible not to start swaying and bouncing along to it like everyone else.
Now this is my idea of a New Year's party, Rose thought. This was fun, and everybody was having a really good time. Such a good time, in fact, that the actual passing of midnight had seemed like an almost incidental occurrence. People had barely taken any notice of the countdown the DJ had vainly tried to initiate. There had been a few half-hearted cheers to mark the turning of the year, and then the dancing had started again.
The Doctor had vanished some time ago to fetch another round of drinks. Normally he would have been far more wary in a situation such as this, but apparently Earth Colony Sigma was well known for its lack of criminal activities, so he seemed to be taking the opportunity to let his hair down and have some fun, so to speak. Even if his fun did involve the consumption of an inordinate number of banana daiquiris, a drink Rose wouldn't have touched with a ten-foot barge pole.
A hand on Rose's arm made her turn around, and there was the Doctor, back at last and grinning even more like a lunatic than usual. He was drink-less, but Rose didn't really care.
"Fancy a dance?" the Doctor mouthed at her.
Rose grinned and nodded, letting the music take her once again.
11:55pm 1865 – Stow-on-the-Wold, England
The crackling bonfire warmed Rose's cold hands and face, and she shuffled a step or two nearer to take full advantage of the heat. The Doctor was standing beside her, his own face bathed in the golden light of the flames. His eyes held a faraway look, and Rose nudged him with her elbow.
"Earth to Doctor!"
The Doctor blinked and then smiled at her.
"Not bored of celebrating the New Year yet, then?"
"Never!" Rose declared emphatically. "I love it!"
"Even when you're outside in the freezing English countryside with your nose turning red?" the Doctor teased.
"Even then!"
Rose looked at the men and women and children clustered around the bonfire. There was much merriment and high spirits as the children chased each other around and the adult consumed small glasses of mulled wine and handfuls of roasted chestnuts. It was as different a New Year celebration as every other one she had been to, and yet the spirit of it was just the same.
Suddenly a voice was raised above the chatter.
"The New Year approaches. Everyone join hands."
The people, including Rose and the Doctor, formed a circle around the bonfire. There was a few seconds of quiet, and then the voice called out again.
"Happy New Year!"
"Happy New Year!" everyone chorused back, before breaking into song.
"Should old acquaintance be forgot,
And never brought to mind?
Should old acquaintance be forgot,
And auld lang syne?"
The Doctor smiled at Rose again, and she smiled back. She would never get tired of this.
"For auld lang syne, my dear,
For auld lang syne,
We'll take a cup o' kindness yet,
For auld lang syne."
…And One Time She Didn't
12:01am 2007 – London, Parallel Earth
Rose gazed unseeing out of her bedroom window in Pete's – her father's – mansion. On the horizon London was a glittering panorama of lights punctuated by firework displays marking the New Year. Jackie, Pete, and Mickey had gone to one of those displays, but Rose hadn't felt like celebrating and, for once, her mother hadn't pushed her.
It had been months since the Army of Ghosts, since the battle between the Daleks and the Cybermen, since the cracks in the universe had been closed for good.
But it had only been weeks since she had stood on the shores of a Norwegian bay and told the Doctor she loved him. Only weeks since he had been about to tell her…
Nothing. He had told her nothing. He had faded away and left her alone. And would he really have said it anyway? Rose didn't know.
What she did know was that he had left a great gaping hole inside her – one that she wasn't sure would ever be filled.
Celebrating the New Year seemed like a hollow thing now. It was something they had done together, over and over. And now it was something they would never do again.
As the fireworks popped and shimmered in the night sky, Rose Tyler fought back her tears and turned away from the window.