December 24th, 5 minutes to midnight. His third Christmas without Rose. His Rose. Of course, he has Donna. He loves her, like a sister, of course. That woman is brilliant, she is. But not his wonderful, cheeky, lively Rose. The one who always asked the right questions to get them out of a seemingly impossible mess. The one who would listen to him babble on and on and politely nod at the correct places, and maybe even listened once in a while. The one whose room he hadn't touched since she left, just in case she somehow found her way home. Whose room he kept locked so no one would stumble upon it.
Donna sat down next to the Doctor in the console room, bearing Santa hats and a glass of eggnog for the both of them in her half-hearted attempt to bring some Christmas cheer to her sullen friend. He gloomily accepted both and haphazardly placed the hat on his head while simultaneously taking a sip from the strange moose-shaped cup.
"Why is this cup shaped like a moose head?" He asked cautiously, not quite sure he wanted to know.
"It's from this really funny American Christmas Movie, called National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation. I saw it in theatres when it first came out in 1989. Me and my granddad went. Mum didn't want to go. Said it sounded stupid. Shows what she knows." He nodded, not really listening, just trying to engage in conversation.
To lighten the mood, Donna decides to play some Christmas music. Maybe that'd get him a little less…dead looking, she thought. The first song that played was Rocking Around the Christmas Tree and proceeds to dance around the center console as if it were a Christmas tree. She goes all out, doing every dance move she could think of, not caring how much of an idiot she looked like right now. All she cares about is making the Doctor crack the tiniest smile, and slowly bringing him out of his depression. Like that'd ever happen without Rose, she snorted.
He looks up, slightly entertained by Donna's actions, though not willing to show it.
After the song ends, a slower song comes on, one called Christmases When You Were Mine. As Donna moves to change it, the Doctor stops her.
"Leave it on." He says simply. As the song plays, he doesn't tell her that it reminds him of Rose. That'd be insulting. Thinking of one woman while he's with another. Not in that way, of course. The only one he's ever loved is Rose. He also doesn't want to tell her that he's been listening to Taylor Swift. It's okay for a teenage girl, maybe even a grown woman. But a grown, 900 year old time lord? As he listens to the words, he can't help but find almost perfect parallels.
As he wallows in self-pity, losing himself in the music, Donna hears a knock on the door. Who could that be? No one should know that we're here. Cautiously, she opens the door. The Doctor doesn't notice, too engrossed in his eggnog and music to care.
To her surprise, there's no deathly alien trying to kill them. Instead, she finds a young blond woman with a blue leather jacket on and a bit too much eye makeup. The woman holds her finger to her lips, indicating that she remain as silent as possible. She doesn't know why, but she seems to trust this woman. So she does as she's told, and steps closer to her.
"Are you travelling with the Doctor?"
"No, we're playing checkers. Of course I am. Why else would I be inside the TARDIS? And who are you? Knocking on the TARDIS on Christmas Eve. "
"Point taken. And I'm Rose Tyler. Nice to meet you." Rose holds out her hand to shake with Donna, but she's in shock and doesn't register the comment.
"Donna? Why is the door open?" The Doctor hollered from inside. This snapped Donna out of her reverie.
"It was getting a bit stuffy in there. Thought we could both use with a bit of fresh air." She hollered back, never hesitating for a second. Rose looks incredibly disappointed.
"He sounds fine without me. I shouldn't be here." She moved to turn around, when Donna grabbed her arm.
"He sounds fine, but he's not. I may not have been around him as long as you were, but I can tell when he's not all there. And that's been every day since I met him. He's miserable without you, Rose. He's all happy-go-lucky on the outside, but I feel like he's crumbling to pieces on the inside. And he's always talking about you, too. Saying things like, 'If Rose were here…', 'Rose used to do that…'. I don't get jealous. I know that's just his way of coping. He's kept the talking about you to a minimum the past year I've been here, though. I think you going in there would do him a world of good, though. Maybe I'll get to see what he was like when you were around." Rose looks entirely convinced, and motions for Donna to go before her. Donna stands in the doorway with Rose behind her.
"Oi! Spaceman!" The Doctor looked up from a book he had picked up while Donna was out getting some 'fresh air'. "I found someone you might wanna see." The Doctor cocks his head and raises his eyebrow, highly suspicious of Donna's behavior. As Donna steps to the side and Rose came into view, the Doctor's jaw dropped. It takes him about ½ a second to register that she really is here (Donna could see her, after all), shoves his eggnog and book onto the console, and runs full speed at Rose, knocking her into the door. She doesn't care, though. She's in his arms again, and that's all that matters.
She pushes him away, just a little bit, and asks the question that's been burning in her mind for 4 years.
"Doctor, how were you going to finish that sentence on Bad Wolf Bay?"
"Rose Tyler, I love you." He smiled his 100 watt smile, while her face mirrors his. He the proceeds to snog her senseless, something he'd wanted to do since they first spoke. Neither noticed Donna quietly slip away. She'll give them the Spanish Inquisition in the morning, but for now, she'll let them have their fun.
I hope you all enjoyed my little angsty/fluffy/reunion fic. I'm American , so please bear with me on the English terms. Thank you all for reading!