A/N Merry Christmas to Whovians everywhere. Please review. I need a Christmas present, no really. everyone stay safe for the Holidays.

The Doctor moved across the street, his long brown overcoat billowing out behind him. It was snowing. He loved snow. It might be due to atmospheric excitation, but it felt so good when it landed on the end of his nose. He loved how his cheeks burned from the cold. It was great fun to gather a handful of the white stuff, form it into a ball, and send it flying into the back of some kid's head. They never suspected an adult would do such a thing. Well almost never. When they did suspect, those times were really the best. That's when the little buggers would throw snowballs back, resulting in full out war. Eventually, both sides would collapse into fits of giggles. Kids would run off for hot chocolate at home, and he would… well he would go home too. Alone…. for tea.

Not tonight though. Tonight with snow crunching under his feet, he headed for the small house at the end of the street. The Christmas tree filled its bay window, its lights twinkling against the dark, acting as a beacon.

His hearts pounded with excitement, knowing that in moments, he would be inside the house. The house where he would get the one thing he always wanted, but never seemed to manage. He would celebrate Christmas with a tree, presents, and peace. There were no aliens, or alien battles tonight, just a lovely roast with Yorkshire pudding, and crackers with presents. And Cassidy.

Weeks before, quite by accident he'd met Cassidy Macmillan. Coming out of a chips shop, his brain focused on a little tiny rip in the fabric of reality, he ran straight into her. Arms filled with packages, she came around a corner straight into the tall skinny stranger knocking each other to the ground. It would have been funny if she had not risen up, and smacked him cross-eyed.

No amount of apologies worked, but God, she was so beautiful. No one, not even Rose had been or ever could be as beautiful as Cassidy. He stood, gathering her packages to hand back to her, again muttered his apologies, and watched her walk away. He watched her go about a block, looked down at his scanner, with its tiny satellite dish spinning, then at her fast disappearing back. Decision made, he turned the scanner off, and ran after one Miss Cassidy McMillan.

For a week, he stalked her. Well if he'd been caught, they would call it stalking. He preferred thinking of it, as tracking a hole in the fabric of his life. First, he discovered she was single. This was extremely important for two reasons. One, he would never, ever dishonour someone's marriage, and two) even if the idea wasn't morally repugnant, you just never knew if someone's cricket bat might not be a bit bigger than your screwdriver.

The second thing he discovered quite by accident. Spotting her while he visited the National Museum, he discovered she was a teacher, at the local secondary school. Her students were year eights, who spent most of their time on the field tour, eyeing each other, instead of the exhibits.

Thus began his plan.

With a little effort, he managed to have the physics teacher win a vacation, and had him self hired as substitute. It was wonderful to discovering she taught history, just down the hall from his classroom. Between classes, he could steal down the hall on pretext of getting a fresh cuppa, while sneaking a peak through the door to see her.

Cassidy was tall, probably about five foot nine in her stocking feet. She had gloriously long red hair pulled up to show off the delicate curve of her jaw and slim neck fitting so nicely into her nicely, balanced shoulders. Her delightful green eyes sparkled with intelligence, and love of life. She was not, what he would consider buxom, but she did fill her jumper out quite nicely. Her waist was small giving way to a nicely rounded bum. Overall, he had to say she was athletic. Her long legs probably covered ground quite nicely during a run. He could imagine those long legs stretching out, one after the other, while making her away around a track or running from an alien. Of all her wonderful attributes, that were simply a joy to behold, her voice topped the list. Her accent soft, cultured, lacked any harshness. Underneath her BBC accent, she had just a touch of a Scottish accent. Her voice sang to his soul

Achieving the first step was easy. Moving on to the second, required the Doctor to be in close proximity on a daily basis. Everyday during lunch, he would invite him self to sit at her table. He took great pains to control his usual manic conversations, and kept manic grinning to a minimum.

When asked about his own teaching experiences, he simply placed them all at a school in China. There were more than enough Americans and British teachers abroad to make that believable. Now, he had come home. It wasn't all that far from the truth, especially if you left out the whole, I travel the universe for fun bit.

Step 3 was a date. A proper date. A date involving something other than take- a- way fish and chips at a café and a late night stroll along the Thames. This required planning. While fulfilling his teaching duties, he would impress her with his calm self-controlled demeanour, and control his need to ramble. Surprisingly, that last part was easier than normal. He found it amazingly difficult to speak around Cassidy, let alone be silly and out of control.

He tried the subtle approach. One day, he simply fell into step beside her, as they walked from the car park to the school building. He talked about a student they both taught, and asked advice to inspire the boy. She smiled, offering to meet during lunch. That smile kept him going through, three tediously, boring hours of students, asking tediously, boring questions.

The Doctor was sure he set a new record getting to the teacher's lounge. He even brought lunch from the TARDIS to avoid the lunch line, thus eliminating a certain amount of time wastage. He pulled a chair, and for some bizarre reason swung his leg over the back of the chair to sit, instead of just doing it properly. He plopped himself down, opened his lunch bag to set out his banana, ham sandwich, and a TARDIS made muffin. He gave a sigh, as he realized he had no tea. Fortunately, the Teachers lounge had a gigantic hot water container. He grabbed a mug and made tea. Over the next twenty minutes, he ate very slowly and waited for Cassidy, who never showed. It seemed step three might take a little longer than planned.

Every day for the next week, the Doctor waited, like a schoolboy in love, for Ms. Cassidy McMillan to join him for lunch. Everyday he would make an excuse to see her, talk to her or just to be in the hallway at dismissal, or class change time. He was very careful to appear nonchalant. He would nod in her direction, occasionally flash a cheeky smile but otherwise, he played it cool.

By the end of his third week teaching, the Doctor was running out of ideas; he couldn't remember having such trouble getting a woman to share tea. Thus began the plan, lunch with the prettiest teacher in the school.

The Doctor decided the best approach would be the direct. Swallowing his nerves, the Doctor stood outside her classroom, and passed a note to one of her students. The Doctor promised failure to deliver the note, would bring dire consequences at exam time.

The note was simple, direct, and from the heart.

Dear Miss McMillan would please do me the honour of sharing lunch with me tomorrow at 11:45. I will be happy to provide fruit with sandwiches. Teas of an assorted nature will also be available. If you could reply by note, it would be greatly appreciated. Thank You

Sincerely

John Smith

Physics Instructor

The rest of the afternoon the Doctor spent grading papers, overseeing lab experiments, while waiting with anxious hearts, and a nervous stomach. The class bell, signalling the end of the day, rang promptly at 3 pm. The Doctor took his assigned hall duty position, hearts broken he'd not heard back from Cassidy. Promptly at 3:01, a gray, uniformed, bespectacled, teenage girl stood in front of him, handing him a note. The girl turned, and disappeared in to the crowd of students headed home. His hands shook as he opened the note.

Dear Mr, Smith, Thank you for your kind invitation to lunch. I will be remaining in my classroom grading mid-term exams. However if you would care to join me, I will look forward to sharing lunch. Thank you for your invitation.

Sincerely,

Cassidy McMillan

Promptly at 11:45 the next day, the Doctor knocked on Cassidy's classroom door. To hide his picnic, He disguised the lunch in a charity box. When his students asked, he smiled, and told them to mind their own business. When Mr. Palmtry, the chemistry teacher inquired, he smiled, and told him it was a history artefact he wanted to show Miss McMillan. The Doctor managed to bring an artefact everyday for the rest of the week. He managed to do the same, the next.

On the Friday of the second week, the Doctor made his move. He sat across her desk, watching her grade papers. Every so often, she would look up, and smile as she took a bite of the ham sandwich he'd brought for lunch. She X'd a maths problem on a student's paper, while swallowing her food. Lord, he thought, she had the cutest swallow. They chatted for another second before he finally took the plunge.

"You know the Lord Mayor's parade is tomorrow."

"Really, tomorrow?" Her voice sounded like music. Sunlight streaming through the classroom window bounced off her red hair highlighting the streaks of gold highlights making it glisten. A natural redhead, her hair was beautiful and so healthy. Her future children would be properly ginger.

"Uh huh. Parade, fireworks tomorrow night. I don't suppose you're going?" He asked, feeling like he was an eighteen year old asking someone to the prom.

"I hadn't thought of it. I've never been to the parade." Cassidy smiled back at him.

"Never, not even once?" It never occurred to him some one living in London had not attended the parade.

"Not once."

"Would you like to go? I thought we might see the sights then go to the fireworks display after. If you wanted…to... do something…different, if you want. Maybe."

"I'd love to go to the parade." She smiled, her teeth sparkled. He wondered if she whitened them."Oh that would be brilliant." The Doctor grinned, and then waggled his eyebrows at her. Cassidy couldn't help laughing.

Saturday dawned clear and cool. Not yet willing to share her address, Cassidy agreed to meet the Doctor promptly at nine in front of the school. The drive to the heart of London was almost impossible, but the Doctor found a place to park, and they made their way to Mansion House. Surprising her with VIP tickets for seating, he gave her a backstage tour of the floats. She loved petting the Irish Brigade's Irish wolfhound. At 10:30 they took their seats at Mansion House along other posh members of London' upper crust, and watched the aircraft fly-past to kick off the parade.

Five hundred thousand people turned out, watching military units of the various divisions of the military on horseback ,and of course, the weapons of floats and characters made everyone laugh. Cassidy and the Doctor enjoyed Magog and Gog, Dick Whittington, and his cat fighting and of course all the marvellous displays, far more than cannons and tanks. Cassidy's favourite was the colourful Dragonish and the Battersea Home for cats and dogs. For the Doctor, the remarkable antique cars tickled his fancy. His favourite, a completely restored 1926 Bugatti sent shivers up his spine. He found him self longing for Bessie.

By one in the afternoon, they were both starving. The Doctor took Cassidy's hand in his, and began their stroll in downtown London. The day clear, it was just cool enough to make wandering through the crowd enjoyable. The Doctor couldn't remember the last time he'd felt do content. Stopping to look in the window of an art gallery, he watched Cassidy's reflection in the window. She's having fun, he thought, as he watched her face. She had not stopped smiling all day. This is what its like to not think about saving the universe, deal with obnoxious events, or stop maniacs out to control the world.

"What's wrong?" Cassidy asked as she noticed a shadow fall across his face. He wasn't the only one studying reflections.

"Absolutely nothing," his voice husky with emotions, he'd not let himself feel since Rose. "Maybe a bit guilty." They stared quietly at their reflections for another second, then she pulled her hand out of his. She could see how much that hurt, but she had not let herself feel about anyone, the way she was beginning to feel about him. She didn't want the pain of discovering he was cheating on a wife. "Why?"

"I've ruined it, haven't I?"

"Depends on why." Cassidy answered softly.

"I haven't. . . been with anyone since I lost my Rose at Canary Wharf. I haven't even thought of being with anyone. I have had friends, but not like this. From the second I saw you, I felt alive again. Cassidy, I think maybe, I can breathe around you. I haven't done that in a long time."

Cassidy watched his reflection. He was afraid to look at her straight on. She watched a tear slide down his face. He was not pretending, or confessing some guilty relationship. Cassidy took a step closer to him taking his hand in hers, "You haven't ruined anything." She answered him.

They stood for several more seconds, before he finally drew a breath, and squeezed her hand gently. "That's bloody brilliant," he grinned.

They spent the rest of the afternoon walking, and talking. As they visited Church of St. Giles, she told him about growing up the daughter of a Scottish minister. As they wandered through Old Library and Print room of Guildhall, he told her about being a travelling teacher. He left out the part about travelling the stars in a time machine.

She told him, about making the decision not to date every bloke that came down the path, who only cared that she was beautiful. She hadn't planned to stay single, but until now, hadn't met any one interesting. He told her about Rose making him laugh again, after loosing his family, and the horror of Canary Wharf. He told her of working with UNIT to solve issues with aliens invading. He left out the part that he was one. She told him, why she wanted to be a history teacher, and why she loved the spark in the occasional student's eye that got it.

By late afternoon, they'd eaten a second lunch, and headed for the Fireworks show. They found their place on the Victoria Embankment, not far from the Temple. He bought a blanket from a vendor selling Spanish ware and spread it on a spot upfront. He'd scoped the area the night before and staked it out with a perception filter. For some reason no one went near the spot. He helped Cassidy get comfortable, then sat down next to her. The sky just started to turn dark. The crush of bodies around them, added to the excitement. One little girl, with just her mum, cried because she couldn't see the river. The Doctor turned to her mother, and pulled them in front to share the blanket. The night sky was perfect, as the first of the fireworks went up. The showers of pinks, blues, red and greens sparkled in the sky, and reflected off the Thames. Each burst brought shouts of approval from the crowd. For almost thirty minutes the crowd oohed and aahed their approval.

It was nine, by the time they found their way back to his car. They were both content, and she was exhausted. They stood, leaning against her car, entwining their fingers, debating whether to kiss goodnight. The Doctor traced circles on the back of her hand, muttering things like, I had a great time, and can we do this again, when Cassidy reached up, gently kissing him. Still holding her hand, he pulled her close kissing her back. They stood there; letting the world with all its woes, fall away from them. For just that one minute, they were the only two people in existence. When they finally said goodnight, he watched her drive away. feeling as if he really were only thirty-five.

Determined not to give in to the urge to put the TARDIS in the vortex, and go forward two days until Monday, he put her in the vortex for a quick bounce around the galaxy to gaze its beauty his way. Someday he would get brave enough to show this to her, but not now. He wanted a relationship based on what they could show each other. He didn't want to be responsible for showing her all of time and space, at least not at first. He wanted to be . . . normal. He wanted to pretend he could have a life, at least for a little while.

Monday came all on its own. They'd talked for two hours on Sunday, and now he waited for her in the teachers' car park. They were careful not to hold hands on the way into the building. No one was fooled or surprised. The stolen glances during hall duty, and teachers meeting spoke volumes. By Friday everyone from the lunch lady to the Headmaster, talked about the shy physics teacher, and the rigid history teacher, fancying each other. By the teachers' Christmas party the second week of December, it was an accepted fact that Mr. John Smith and Miss Cassidy McMillan, were indeed an item.

December 21st dawned clear and a bit cold. The temperature made it perfect for Christmas tree shopping. Taking his car, they drove into the countryside to Chesham to the Christmas Tree Farm. After hiking through the farm, they found a perfect 7-foot tree. Cassidy fell on the ground laughing at his attempts to cut it down with an axe. A worker brought a chainsaw and the two men made quick work of the tree. Securing the tree for its journey home, Cassidy and the Doctor went ornament shopping in the farm's little Shoppe. Singing Christmas songs to the radio made the drive home all the more fun. The only thing he needed now, was snow.

It started Christmas Eve morning. By noon two inches had fallen, by the afternoon three inches lay on the ground. By six in the evening, as he began the walk from the TARDIS to her house, six inches had fallen. Carrying presents for Cassidy and her parents, the Doctor was on his way to his first alien free, battle free, pain free Christmas. He stopped, turned in a little circle and yelled at the top of his lungs, MERRY CHRISTMAS to EVERYONE.