Barbara often found herself secretly wandering the corridors of the TARDIS when everyone was asleep. Well, secretly because no one else knew about it. She wasn't entirely sure she wasn't allowed to but had the feeling their strange alien tour guide would take it badly if he knew what she was doing. He'd probably view it as a breach of privacy or some other such nonsense, even though he was the one who had kidnapped them.
On this night in particular, she found she wasn't alone. After barely ten minutes, she ran into Ian, who looked like he was barely awake.
"Barbara? What are you doing up?"
"Oh, just walking. I do that sometimes."
Ian's eyebrows flew up, "Does he know?"
Barbara laughed, "Of course not. It's just so strange here. I find it hard to sleep so I walk instead."
Ian nodded, "I know what you mean." He glanced up at the harshly bright lighting that seemed to come from nowhere. "There's no comforts. No sense of time even."
"Do you ever wonder how long we've been gone?"
"No, there's not really any point, is there? It's a time machine."
Barbara sighed, "No, I know that. I mean, how long we've been here. Our own personal time, I suppose. I've been trying to keep track and I think it's about a year."
Ian looked at her oddly, "Feels longer."
"It does, doesn't it? There's been no way to mark it, no birthdays, no seasons, no…Christmas!" Barbara burst out.
Ian laughed, "You want to celebrate Christmas?"
"Yes, well, why not?" Barbara asked. "I'm sure we can find some way to do it justice, even if we never find December. Let's suggest it."
"He does owe us," Ian conceded.
"Hmm…Christmas, eh?" The Doctor said the next day when they brought it up. "You want to celebrate Christmas?"
"Oo yes, why not, Grandfather?" Susan asked. "We never got to while we were on Earth and it sounded like so much fun."
They all watched him with bated breath before he finally sighed, "Very well, very well, let's go find what we need for this…Christmas holiday."
"Well, first we need a tree," Barbara said. "A pine tree, a big tall one."
"I know, young lady, I know," the Doctor said irritably, pushing some buttons on the console. The TARDIS evidently didn't, because the first place they arrived at was a tropical island. "No, no, that won't do at all," the Doctor muttered, pushing the buttons again. This time they arrived in a desert. Ian and Barbara exchanged glances, trying not to laugh.
On the fourth or fifth try, they finally arrived on an alien planet with trees similar enough to pine trees on Earth that they stopped, afraid they would never find anything better. "Oh, yes, that'll do," Barbara said as Ian cut one down and brought it inside. "Susan, do you have anything we can use to decorate it?"
"Grandfather, can we use some of the instruments?"
"I suppose so," the Doctor said, in a long-suffering tone. Five minutes later, as they were searching through a box of spare parts, he seemed as happy as could be, comparing the aesthetic qualities of different types of plugs and rushing around to hang them on the tree (which was definitely tall enough even if it was bright orange).
"Very nice, very nice," the Doctor said, stepping back to admire their handiwork. It was certainly a unique tree, orange with different mechanical parts hanging from it, but this was a unique Christmas. "Isn't there some sort of pudding associated with this holiday?" Barbara and Ian exchanged glances. For someone who'd only grudgingly agreed to it, he had become more concerned than any of them about getting it right.
"I knew you knew more than you were letting on," Ian said as the Doctor laughed in that mysterious way he had. Somehow, today, it didn't seem as menacing as usual. Maybe Christmas brought out the best in everyone.
They found themselves on a market planet far in the future where Susan and Barbara were able to find similar enough ingredients to make a passable Christmas pudding, while Ian and the Doctor went off in search of something like a turkey.
"Is this good enough?" Ian asked, struggling through the doors of the TARDIS with a bird three times the size of any Earth turkey.
"Oh, yes, that'll do," Barbara said. "If I can figure out how to cook it!"
"I don't think there'll be any problem with that, my dear," the Doctor said, coming in behind Ian with several vegetables that could serve as side dishes. "The TARDIS kitchen is quite extensive. I don't usually use it, of course, not with the food dispenser right in the control room."
He proved to be right. The kitchen was the largest room Barbara had seen yet; with an oven that would have fit a bird many times larger than the one they had. She and the Doctor set to work, and although he seemed annoyed at first, Barbara was starting to realize how much of that attitude was simply hiding his sense of fun.
"You got flour on me!" Barbara said as the Doctor giggled and stirred the pudding batter innocently.
"Are you ready yet?" Susan asked, coming in.
"Almost, child, now go and get the table set up," the Doctor said. "I must say, Barbara, I think I should cook more often. That was most enjoyable."
"Well, I hope it's as enjoyable to eat," Barbara answered, bringing the huge turkey into the control room, where a table had been set up by their tree.
"That was delicious, Barbara," Ian said when they were finished.
"Yes, it was," Susan said.
"I'm glad. Maybe next time you can come visit us for a real Earth Christmas," Barbara answered. It struck her for the first time that after all this was over she wouldn't mind seeing Susan and the Doctor again, showing them around Earth.
The Doctor got up then and said, "Isn't there a tradition of gift-giving on Christmas?"
"Yes, usually," Ian said. "None of us really have anything though."
"Ahh, that, Chessington, is where you're mistaken," the Doctor answered, gleefully pushing more buttons on the console. Ian sat back, rolling his eyes at yet another variation on his name.
They heard the now-familiar tearing sound that signaled landing and the Doctor gestured them all toward the door. "I managed to regain enough control to land us here. Consider it a gift, from Susan and I."
Barbara and Ian stepped outside onto a small planetoid with a rock surface, protected by the TARDIS's invisible shielding. Looking around, they were surrounded by particles of ice, some as large as boulders, others fine as dust. The ice was swirling around, creating patterns in the dust and sometimes colliding and showering them with snowflakes. It looked like a small-scale image of what happened when two galaxies collided, except much faster and all around them against the inky black of space.
"Oh, Doctor, it's beautiful!" Barbara said.
"Yes, I thought you would like it," the Doctor said. "This asteroid has a small ring system made entirely of ice, due to the distance from its star, you see? The gravitational forces from nearby asteroids cause the rings to be in constant motion."
"It's really something, Doctor," Ian said.
The Doctor smiled, putting an arm around Susan's shoulders. "Merry Christmas, Barbara, Chesterton. I must say, I really have become quite glad you're here."
"Yes, me too," Susan said quickly.
Barbara and Ian couldn't help smiling either. "On days like this, so am I," Barbara said.