Title: Throw some food on it.
Number of parts: 1/1.
Pairing: Ninth Doctor/Rose Tyler.
Synopsis: "Here we are, Rose. Plymouth. November of the year 1620. Where Thanksgiving has really started."
A/N: The characters and universe don't belong to me. All rights go to Russell T. Davies, Phil Collinson, Susie Liggat, Steven Moffat and to the BBC. Everything else belongs to my imagination.
A/N2: legendslikestardust (abundance, kitchen disaster), timepetalsprompts (sweet potatoes) and doctorroseprompts (Thanksgiving) prompts fulfilment.
"Here we are, Rose. Plymouth. November of the year 1620. Where Thanksgiving has really started."
The Doctor gestured his pink and yellow girl to open the TARDIS' doors and see by herself where and how the so famous celebration had started. Rose had maintained that Thanksgiving was a Christian celebration which officially started in 1789 and that it was only a family tradition to gather everyone around a table and eat turkey until you were stuffed. Certainly! Her knowledge of History wasn't as good as his, that was obvious, but her challenging him on a fixed point? He couldn't let her be wrong, and he was gonna show her how right he was on Thanksgiving.
"You can't help yourself, can you? You always have to be right."
"On History, yes."
"So, if I open that door, what will I see, professor?"
The blonde sat down on the pilot seat and folded her arms on her chest. She waited for the Doctor to give her a full History lesson before she stepped out. She never had been a good student, but the Doctor could make any tale interesting. She wanted to have that lesson and see if he was right. Oh, he most likely was, but the funnier was always when they got out of the TARDIS only to realise she hadn't taken them to the right place. And Rose was really looking forward to that.
The Doctor sighed and leant against the console. The TARDIS seemed in an amused mood today. Thanksgiving was definitely a family and she was the Doctor's only family. With Rose. Since the young woman had first stepped in the TARDIS, the ship had known that she would be a part of the family the Doctor desperately needed after what he had been through, and she wasn't wrong. Now, she wasn't the only one to keep an eye on her beloved thief. Knowing how reckless he could be, it was for the better.
The Doctor wasn't mad at Rose. He knew she had dropped her studies rather quickly because of some rough ordeals in her life. He knew all of her story so far, but never made any comment on it. She knew almost nothing about him and he barely answered the questions she was asking him. It wouldn't be fair of him to reveal that he knew all of her. So, he just adopted the 'professor attitude'.
"What you know of Thanksgiving is the fact that it's a national American celebration happening every fourth Thursday of November, that it's a huge banquet with your whole family which indeed has really started in 1789."
"Ha!"
"But!" He raised a finger. "Thanksgiving has a deeper meaning. Several meanings actually. Some say that it's a Christian celebration to thank God." He kept the adjective fake for himself – religion was not his thing, but humans were so much into religion sometimes. "You celebrate and you pray for all the good that's happened to you during the last year. That Thanksgiving is celebrated in some other countries."
"It had to be religious, heh?"
"The religion rules the human world." But not only, there were plenty of alien worlds spoiled with religion. "Then, you have the Native American meaning. To them, it's just a celebration of the past wars of their people."
"That's a weird tradition."
"And you have the whole American story. Just where I've taken you."
"Tell me everything."
"You know how the humans have that insatiable need to travel and to always extend their territory." The Doctor didn't blame. Himself loved traveling and meeting new people and learning new cultures, but he blamed the humans need for war, for domination, for possession. "Well, the seventeenth century was all about that. You might know about the Mayflower."
"'s a ship."
"Yep. In November 1620, this ship reached the coasts of what would be called North America or the United States of America. The pilgrims were welcomed by the natives who helped them, and prevented them from dying of hunger or cold."
"The natives were the good people and they got invaded by the colonisers who weren't very grateful."
"You could say that."
"The celebration stayed though."
"It took 169 years for the celebration to appear, and it only became an official national celebration in the United States. That's Abraham Lincoln who instituted it in 1863, 74 years after the Americans started celebrating it. He also is the one who set it to the fourth Thursday of November. It's relatively new when you think about it."
The History lesson was over. The Doctor had kept it relatively simple, and she had been truly fascinated by his way of telling things. He was happy that she had been so attentive, so reactive and asking questions to keep the lecture alive, and she was content to have learnt new things, to have been a student of the professor Doctor. They still hadn't stepped out, but Rose wanted to know more.
"What about the meal then? The turkey, sweet potatoes?"
"The colonists found about the turkeys during their journey in America, and it was one of the dishes served at the first Thanksgiving dinner. The pumpkin is an unmissable part of the celebration because it's a vegetable who saved the colonists during their first winter. I guess the cranberries and sweet potatoes were easy to find and they go quite well with the rest."
The lecture was now over, and the Doctor took Rose out of the TARDIS. The ship hadn't messed with the Doctor that time and she had taken them right to the moment the pilgrims had arrived. She was watching History happening before her eyes and she was amazed. That's one of the several things the Doctor loved about her: the sparks in her eyes when she was discovering something new, when he was showing or teaching her something new.
"What about us having our own Thanksgiving dinner, Doctor?" she murmured in his ear.
He turned his head toward her and grinned widely. The idea was pleasing him. He took her hand and they started running back to the TARDIS. At some point of their way back, Rose decided to race him and to be the first to reach the kitchen. He chuckled and ran after her. He let her win, just to be able to hear her laugh and see her smile. But when he found her standing in the kitchen doorway looking completely astonished, he frowned.
"What? You think I can make an appropriate Thanksgiving dinner, you're wrong!"
He had a quick peek in the kitchen and found himself as dumbstruck as she was. While they were away, the TARDIS had decided to be the one making the dinner for them both. Well, the abundance of food she had made was enough to feed the whole African continent for a week. So, that was what she had in mind that morning.
"You've outdone yourself!" he exclaimed for his ship to hear.
The TARDIS let out a hum of contentment as the Doctor tenderly tapped the doorframe to thank her for all she had done. Rose stepped in the kitchen. She was like a kid on a Christmas morning – what would it be on the actual Christmas morning? – and it made the Doctor smile softly. He followed her in the room and they soon sat down at the table. The Doctor didn't believe in any God but he thanked the universe for his TARDIS, and for Rose. Tonight, he had all he needed in life to keep going. Rose thanked whoever was listening to her for her family of course – her mother, her father, Mickey – and for the Doctor, for everything he had given and shown her. And they started eating.
They were only two, but it was enough for the both of them. They were having a great moment, and having fun. And suddenly, some mash crashed on the Doctor's face. He looked up at Rose, surprised. She was giggling, the smoking gun – a teaspoon – still in hand. He raised an eyebrow.
"What are you, three?"
"Oh, come on, Doctor. There's no fun in a family meal if there's no food battle."
"You, Tyler, have weird traditions."
The Doctor grabbed a paper towel and cleaned his face slowly. However, it was useless because Rose sent him another shot of mashed potatoes. She laughed harder, and sent him a third shot. Enough was enough. He put the towel down, and took off his leather jacket. He took his time to roll up the sleeves of his jumper.
"You wanna play, Rose Tyler? Alright. Let's play."
He drew his own spoon and used it as a catapult to throw food at her. It quickly became out of control and the kitchen was now the theatre of a huge food battle. It was a real battlefield filled with laughs and fake threats. Soon enough, the whole room was covered in food and the two fighters were no better. Rose was about to surrender when the Doctor caught her. She squeaked and squirmed to get out of his hold.
"I surrender!"
The Doctor grinned and made her turn around so she was facing him. He wiped away some of the food she had on her face. The blonde felt herself blushing at the move. They were so close of each other, and she would betray herself if he didn't let go of her, if he kept touching her that way.
"Now, we have to clean this mess."
The Doctor let go of her – reluctantly he had to admit – and they both looked at the disaster they had created. It would take a lot of time to clean it all, but it was worth it. They had had a good time, and now their hearts were full of happiness for the rest of the day…