A/N: This was only meant to be a very short drabble, but it got away from me! This is set sometime after Martha has left the TARDIS.
Argh! The summary formatting here is so annoying! The original summary reads:
"Look at you, beaming away like you're Father Christmas!"
"Who says I'm not, red-bicycle-when-you-were-twelve?"
However, I have been forced to change it because the formatting keeps coming out wrong!
Disclaimer: The quotes are from The Doctor Dances, series one.
The Red Bicycle
Lugging a bicycle up three flights of stairs, thought the Doctor, is not as easy as it sounds.
It was Christmas Eve, 1998, and the Doctor had to fulfil a promise. He remembered so clearly the euphoric conversation those many years ago, just after they'd saved the world – again.
"Look at you, beaming away like you're Father Christmas!"
"Who says I'm not, red-bicycle-when-you-were-twelve?"
He'd put it off and put it off for so long, not wanting to go back to the Powell Estate and be hit by memory after memory. But it had to be done, and so here he was with the red bicycle, ready to leave it for Rose to find the following morning.
Finally, he reached the familiar orange door, and set the bicycle down on the path. He used his sonic screwdriver to unlock the door, and then stepped across the threshold, hoping that both Rose and Jackie were fast asleep.
He paused, and listened for any sound of movement. There was nothing, and so he picked up the bicycle and walked further into the flat. Turning off into the living room, he saw an elaborately decorated Christmas tree, and other festive paraphernalia adorning the room.
He leaned the bicycle against the wall, and looked around. It seemed that before he had come into their lives, change was not something that happened very often in the Tyler's flat. Everything looked the same as it had the many times he had been there, and if he closed his eyes he could almost imagine that Rose – his Rose – would come bounding through the door at any moment, Jackie and Mickey on her heels.
The sound of a dog barking outside broke him from his thoughts, and he shook himself. It wouldn't do to linger for too long. God-forbid if Jackie came in now and saw a strange man in her living room; he was risking enough by crossing a timeline he was so deeply ingrained in.
He turned to leave, to head back to the TARDIS, but the temptation was too strong, and he found himself turning and walking down the hallway to Rose's room.
He was really risking it now, but he just wanted to see her, just once more.
The door didn't creak as he opened it, and so he peered into the violent pink of Rose's bedroom. A light, steady breathing filled the room, and a mop of dark hair lay on the pillow of her bed.
He crept a little closer, and stiffened as she shifted in her sleep, but she was just turning and soon her breathing settled back into a regular rhythm.
She looked so peaceful, so serene in sleep that it broke his hearts, all over again. This Rose Tyler didn't know that in eight years, she'd have travelled through time and space countless times with a nine hundred year old alien. This Rose Tyler had no idea of what her future held, and that made him inexplicably sad.
He stood there for who-knows how long, and noted with a wry smile that this Rose was a brunette.
The dog that had disturbed him earlier barked again, and he started, shoving his hands in his pockets.
It was time to go. He walked silently towards the door, and paused.
"Merry Christmas, Rose," he whispered.
And as he shut the door to her room, he knew that he was also shutting the door on the past.
It was time to move on.
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