*Standard Disclaimer Applies*
Rose was barely holding herself together. It was just so hard. She was broken, both on the inside and out. The only thing she wanted to do was talk to her mum, but her mum was long gone. That only made the holidays harder. This time of year was meant for family and friends. Rose still had Tony and his kids and their kids, but it wasn't the same. She didn't belong here. In fact, she never belonged here. She belonged with the Doctor.
The Doctor…
The Doctor loves Christmas…
This is when Rose finally broke down.
The TARDIS was going crazy. She was flashing every single light and alarm while she was shaking violently. This could have been considered normal if the Doctor was driving, but the console room was empty.
Amy and Rory reached the room first. It took all their willpower to hang on for their lives.
"We have to do something," Rory screamed over the noise.
"Do what?" Amy screamed back. "We don't know what to do."
"Now is the time to learn."
Meanwhile…
The Doctor was in his room staring at the ceiling when the TARDIS began to pilot herself. He ran to the door and found it locked.
The TARDIS locked him in.
"What are you doing?" he gently asks the walls. "Let me out!" The TARDIS's reply was given in the form of even more shaking. "I thought you were on my side," The Doctor mumbled and he began to pace and think.
What would make the TARDIS pilot herself? It was a Sunday. Nothing good ever happens on a Sunday. The Doctor did not know where or when they were going, but he knew it was going to be bad.
The TARDIS finally landed.
"See Amy," says Rory with a grin, "I told you we could do something."
"Either that or the TARDIS flew herself," Amy comments. She smiles at her husband. "But you did a great job, Mr. Pond."
The Doctor makes his way into the console room and was muttering to himself. "You locked me inside my room. Why? Where are we? What didn't you want me to know?" His companions stare at him as he walks to the console and checks various screens.
"Doctor, where are we?" Amy asks.
"That's a good question, Pond. Where are we?" The Doctor straightens his bowtie and before walking towards the door. "There is only one way to find out."
The three friends walk outside to find a grassy field on a nice summer day. There are a few trees scattered about and a nice little creek flowing nearby. The sky was a clear blue and the sun was out. A large building can be seen in the distance.
The Doctor begins to stick out his tongue.
"I hate it when he does that," Rory whines. Amy laughs softly. The Doctor is oblivious, like usual.
"It tastes like Earth, but it doesn't feel like Earth." Without warning, the Doctor lies down and puts his ear to the ground. "It sounds like Earth." He stands up again and paces. "I don't like this. It's… too weird. We should go."
"Nonsense, Doctor!" Amy exclaims. "The TARDIS brought us here for a reason. Someone needs us."
"But who or what needs us?"
Rory and the Doctor begin to theorize the situation as Amy starts to walk towards the building. She continues walking as she shouts over her shoulder, "Are you coming or what?"
A while later the friends reach the building which was a giant white mansion. Loud music could be heard from outside and people were running in and out. A group of children were playing some sort of tag in the front yard. Naturally, the Doctor investigates.
"Can I play?" he asks. Amy and Rory give him a concerned stare.
"Really, Doctor?" Amy asks.
"I love games!" With an eager look on his face the Doctor asks the children again, "Can I play?"
The kids shrug and some answer with "yes," "sure," and "okay".
"Yes! What are we playing?"
A small ginger child replies with, "We're playing freeze tag. When you're tagged you have to freeze until someone else tags you."
"I love freeze tag. I like you. You're ginger. I've always wanted to be ginger."
The kids look at him like he's crazy as Amy puts her head in her hands and Rory laughs.
One kid shouts, "I'm it!" and the game begins. It doesn't take long before the Doctor gets tagged.
"Oi! That wasn't fair!" he whines. "Blimey these kids are fast."
The Ponds laugh at the Doctor. The game continues and the Doctor gets unfrozen and then refrozen and then unfrozen again. Finally, the game ends when the kid that was it froze the last person.
"That was fun! Now," the Doctor began, "can one of you tell me where we are?"
The kids looked around at each other. The ginger kid was only one to speak. "We're at the Tyler mansion."
The Doctor's face softens as he remembers the past. Quickly, he snaps out of it. "Why are we here?"
"It's Christmas. Every year there's a party."
"Christmas? I love Christmas!" He smiles again. "What year is it?"
"2075."
"Perfect. Now, one last question: Where are we?"
"You already asked that."
"Yes, I know, but where are we? What city? What country?"
"We're on the outskirts of London, England."
"London at Christmas, that's original."
The children go back to playing as the Doctor walks over to Amy and Rory.
"Nice investigation skills you've got there," teases Amy.
"Don't knock it, Pond," the Doctor replies. "It always helps to be a part of the group."
They walked around Tyler mansion before entering it. They didn't find anything out of the ordinary, just a lot of cars and a rather large garden of Roses. Roses… Rose. The Doctor missed Rose.
He's been missing her for a while, well, ever since he left her with his clone in the parallel universe. She's always been a part of him; a part of his life. But lately, he's been missing her more and more. The Doctor often found himself lonely, which made no sense since he had Amy and Rory and even River on occasion.
Every time he allowed himself to sleep the Doctor dreamed of Rose. One time he dreamed of the first time they met. The first time he told her to run. Another time he dreamed of the two of them on Gallifrey enjoying a fun filled day of adventure. His favorite dream was probably the one where the two of them watched the Lion King. He always knew Rose wasn't exactly fond of that movie, but she always insisted on watching it. She did it for him. She did it because it made him happy.
His dreams often turned into nightmares.
Either Rose would die in his arms, or Rose would run off with some random bloke, or Jack. Sometimes she would just cry and it would break his hearts. The worst though was the one that happens the most: The one where he left her with his clone on Bad Wolf Bay.
The Doctor thought about all of this and his hearts just ached. All he could do was stare at the beautiful roses. Tears were forming in his eyes, but he refused to cry. He reaches out and touches the delicate petals.
Amy and Rory swear they heard him say, "Rose, my beautiful, fantastic, wonderful Rose."
Rose Tyler wasn't at the party. Instead she sat in the library hiding from all the people. Once upon a time, Rose loved Christmas. But that was many, many years ago.
She was a different Rose Tyler then.
Rose sat in the library for ages. All she did was sit there and think.
She thought of her mum and all the wonderful things they did together. Then she thought of her friends and the rest of her family. Finally, she let herself think of her Doctor. All her memories came flooding back to her in one painful moment.
She let herself cry.
Amy suggested they investigate the mansion and the Doctor finds himself agreeing, even though he really wanted to dance. He never wanted to dance before, it must be regeneration. The only time he ever really wanted to dance was when he was with Rose. Her eyes would light up and her smile just made him go crazy. He would give anything to see that smile just one more time.
Rory and Amy saw the change in the Doctor. His eyes lit up and he smiled a soft, sad smile. The couple looked at each other in confusion, but let the Doctor have his moment. It seemed like such a nice little private moment that they just couldn't interrupt.
"Right!" the Doctor exclaims. "Time to investigate! Come along, Ponds."
The trio checks everything on the ground floor, which was difficult yet easy because of the party. It was hard to navigate through all the people, but it was easy because no one really cared.
"We should go upstairs," Amy comments calmly. Rory agrees, but the Doctor gives on wistful look to all the people dancing. Amy just laughs. "You can dance later." The Doctor grins and they go up the stairs.
They checked most of the rooms upstairs and found nothing out of the ordinary.
"We've checked almost everything," the Doctor whines. "Can we please go join the party? It's a shame to waste a good party."
With a roll of her eyes, Amy says, "Just one more room." She points to the door to her left. "It's the only room we haven't checked."
"One more room, then we party, then we leave. Okay?"
"Agreed," Amy and Rory say in sync, which leads to a round of laughter.
The Doctor opens the door and the three enter. They find themselves in a cozy library. The sound of someone's soft crying could be heard. With his eyebrows raised, the Doctor goes towards the sound.
He wasn't ready for what he saw.
His eyes went wide as his companions went forward to look at what was wrong.
All they saw was a pretty blonde woman crying.
The Doctor fell to his knees and asks, "Rose?"
A/N I just want to apologize now… I'm sadly not British. I'm probably going to say something wrong. If I do, which I will, I'm sorry. Just let me know and I'll fix it. You guys are the best!