A/N: A little late for Christmas, but this just came to me. Part 2 will be posted either later tonight or tomorrow morning. Enjoy!

Part 1

Carefully, Rose applied the glittery mascara to her eyelashes. She pulled back to inspect her work, taking in the warm, pink sweater wrapped around her body and her hair falling in soft, blond curls around pointed ears. She smiled at herself, smoothing out the sweater before fixing a pair of reindeer ears on her head.

The workshop was already in full swing when she exited her room. Elves were scurrying and bumping into each other, carrying either boxes filled to the brim with Christmas lights, toys, or brightly wrapped presents. She watched for a moment as lights, wreaths, and sprigs of holly were strung and placed strategically around the room to create a dazzling display of Christmas cheer. Brightly lit trees came to life with decorative ornaments, bows were tied expertly around banisters, and sparkly, paper snowflakes were hung along the top of the wall. Not one inch of the place was spared the onslaught and Rose smiled brightly as she stepped into the hustle and bustle.

She slotted right into the chaos, holding her finger down here in order for a bow to be tied and steadying a ladder there so that lights could be strung. The excited chatter and joyful atmosphere was easy to get lost in and soon Rose was laughing and beaming, her cheeks glowing in happiness.

There was a clunking sound off to her right that proved enough to distract her and she startled slightly from where she was hanging an ornament on the massive tree. She turned, peering through the crowd in order to make out wild brown attached to a tall, lanky frame bent over some strange looking machine.

"Not again," she said, shaking her head. Just at the moment, the Doctor's head poked up and his eyes locked onto hers from across the room. Rose looked around desperately for an escape, but he was already waving her over.

She cringed slightly, but nevertheless started pushing her way through the crowd towards him.

"Doctor," she greeted when she reached him. "What's...this you got here?"

He beamed up at her as if she were the only person in the room. "I'm glad you asked, Rose!"

He banged the thing with a mallet and Rose winced, taking a careful step back, in case it caught fire. Would certainly not be the first time that had happened.

"This," he continued, tweaking knob and buttons on the machine, "is going to enlarge a snowflake, a real snowflake, mind you, to twenty times it's size! Imagine it, Rose. We can hang up real snowflakes all around the room."

"What about, you know, melting?"

"That's what this is for!" the Doctor exclaimed, sticking a hand deep in his pocket and pulling out a canister. "One spray of this and there will be no melting! Here look, I've already tested."

Rose gasped as he shoved a clump of ice cold snow into her mitten-less hands. "'S cold," she protested, pushing it back to him.

"'Course it is!" he crowed, taking it back from her as if it were a treasured child. "It's snow."

"I...I know that, Doctor!" She pulled her sweater down over her red palms. "I meant it's too cold to be holding without gloves!"

"Oh," he said, rubbing the back of his neck. "Sorry."

She waved him off and his face fell a bit.

"Well, are you going to show me this or what?" The sooner this was over, the better.

"Yes, of course! Right, here goes nothing then!" The Doctor grinned at her manically before taking the frozen icy snow and siphoning it into a slot in the machine. As soon as the snow entered, the machine immediately began shaking and rattling. Rose took an instinctive step back.

"Don't worry," the Doctor said. "It's...supposed to do that?"

Rose promptly took another step back. "You don't sound so-"

The machine made another large banging sound, smoke starting to pour out.

"-sure" Rose finished at the exact moment that the machine began spewing shards of frozen ice from the top, angled just high enough that it ricocheted off the walls, tearing through the various decorations and lights that hung around the room.

Chaos ensued as the machine continued spinning and flinging ice, everyone fighting to move and duck out of the way of the deadly pellets.

She could hear the Doctor banging away at the machine, trying to get it under control to no avail. Rose inched her way over, ducking to keep out of the path of the permanently frozen ice. When she reached the edge of the machine, she took off her shoe and promptly jammed it into the small opening at the top, preventing the release of the icy shots.

The machine clunked loudly as ever in response, the trapped ice ricocheting around inside until finally with one last wheeze, it died out with a puff of smoke. Everything was deadly silent for a moment.

Then the clamor broke out full force.

"What the gingerbread was that?"

"The Doctor strikes again!"

"Oh no, the decorations are ruined. Now what will-"

Rose's eyes turned to look around her at the destruction. Broken ornaments, fallen trees, swinging lights. It was all a right mess.

When she turned to give the Doctor a piece of her mind, he wouldn't even meet her gaze. His eyes downcast and obvious disappointment and guilt weighing down his frame.

"Rose, I-"

"Don't," she said softly. "I really don't think there's anything more to say."

Turning on her heel. Rose went to go help begin clearing up the mess with everyone else, leaving a dejected Doctor behind.

It took hours to sort through the chaos. But they worked tirelessly to rebuild the workshop so that it would be ready for the annual celebratory party that would be held tonight. It was always held the night before Christmas Eve and everyone was determined not to have to reschedule.

Rose had been cutting out (completely safe) paper snowflakes when she spied her friend Clara reaching up on the tips of her toes to rehang a wreath. Rose quickly set down her work to go and help her.

"Thank you, Rose," she said, as Rose steadied the cumbersome decoration for her.

"No trouble at all."

When they finally had the heavy thing in place they grinned at one other in triumph. But Rose's eyes widened when she noticed Clara's cheek.

"Clara! Are you alright?" Rose moved closer so she could get a good look at the tiny slice mark that marred her skin.

The younger brunette waved her off immediately. "Oh don't worry I'm fine," she said cheerily. "Just a wayward piece of ice grazed me when, you know..." She tucked a piece of hair behind her ear, shrugging.

Rose saw red. "Oh I could kill him, I could," she said, seething. "All this hard work to ruins and-and just look at you! Bleeding because he had to go try and show off-"

"Rose! Really I'm fine," she said, holding up her hands. "No harm done. And look we've almost got all the decorations back in place."

Clara smiled brightly. Rose kicked at an ice chunk she saw resting by her feet.

"Okay then. Go on and let it out."

"Why is he so immature?" she burst out and then after that she couldn't stop. It all poured out of her in heated syllables and passionate phrases. True to her word, Clara listened, but Rose saw her trying to hide smiles behind her hand as she spoke.

"Clara," she whined. The petite woman just laughed at her.

"Sorry Rose. I've just never really bought into your whole," Clara waved her fingers around, "perpetual annoyance towards him. I happen to think that you fancy him. Just a bit. No one get this worked up over one person unless they feel something towards them."

Rose spluttered. "I feel something for him all right. Anger and never-ending frustration!"

"You're awfully defensive," she crowed.

Rose scowled. "I do not fancy him," she whispered hotly. "He's always getting in the way and causing trouble." She gestured around the room. "I mean look at what happened here. He's trouble, Clara. How could you even think that something was going on there?"

Clara shrugged. "Maybe because he looks at you like you hung the stars. The boy is smitten."

"He is not," she protested weakly, but even as she said it she was thinking back to the completely dejected look he had sent her after the incident. Rose didn't think he could have looked so sad if she had kicked his favorite puppy.

"Is so. You know he's been going on about asking you to the Christmas party tonight? Hasn't shut up about it for weeks really."

Rose felt her mouth go dry at this revelation. "He- what?"

"Although, at this rate I reckon you'll scare him off before he gets the nerve," Clara said with a small smirk. "There's bets going around, in fact."

Rose's face turned red, from embarrassment or anger she wasn't sure. "Bets!"

"Yup. Don't ruin this for me, Rose. I have five quid that he'll do it this year. He seemed awfully determined last I talked with him."

Rose stared at her. "This year. What does that mean?"

"Well," Clara said, twirling a piece of hair. "Just that the poor thing has been trying to get your attention for years now."

"No. That's ridiculous. There's no way."

Clara raised her eyebrow. "Well, what else do you think he's been doing all this time? All those mad ideas he comes up with are to impressyou, Rose. I thought today was proof enough of that, I mean he called you over and everything."

"You're making all this up," she said, promptly ignoring they way her mind was flashing back to all the times the Doctor had sent her looks across the room, all the times his face had looked so put out when she'd rolled her eyes after one his plans had gone awry.

"I'll prove it," Clara countered, waving over Amy Pond, who flicked her ginger locks behind her head as she approached.

"What's up?"

"Just tell me Amy, why do you think the Doctor made that mad contraption that backfired on us today?"

Amy's eyes darted between the two of them, her hands finding her hips. "Who knows why the Doctor does anything that he does."

Rose turned and smirked at Clara. "Ha!"

"But," the red-head continued, grinning. "If I had to take I guess I imagine it was his very romantic lead in towards asking Rose here to attend the party with him tonight. Too bad it ended so disastrously. Still, five more hours to go, huh? I could get my ten quid, yet!"

Rose gaped as she watched the two woman exchange a high five.

"You're in on this too!"

Amy shrugged. "What can I say? You could cut the sexual tension with a knife." She made a little slashing motion for emphasis and Rose blanched.

At seeing Rose's obvious distress, Clara coughed. "Well, thank you Amy for your help. Should probably be getting back to work," she said ushering the other woman off.

Amy willingly obliged, but at the last moment turned back around to call out, "Oh and if you could maybe say yes Rose that would make me an extra-"

"Okay bye now!" Clara interrupted loudly, dragging Rose away before the blonde passed out on her.

"Rose, Rose are you alright?"

"Oh Clara, what am I supposed to do?" Rose moaned, her head finding her hands.

"Well, you could always just, you know, say yes?" her friend supplied helpfully. Rose let out a drawn out groan.

"Don't you think you're being a little dramatic!" Clara said sharply and Rose jolted in surprise at the tone. "C'mon now, Rose. You should give the poor guy a chance! You could do a lot worse than the Doctor."

Rose took in a deep breath and let it out on a sigh. "I-I don't know." She'd spent so much time hating him, after all, that the thought of going on a date with him seemed unthinkable. Still Clara was looking at her with her hands on her hips, and despite her small size Rose knew that the other woman could be absolutely frightening when she wanted to be. "I'll think about it."

"Good. Now come here and give me a hug."

Rose laughed and held out her arms and Clara hugged her tightly before pulling back with a mischievous smile.

"And just imagine it if you took all that energy you waste in being annoyed with him all the time and turned it towards something else-"

"Clara!"

She grinned. "Just think about it, Rose."

Rose was very much determined not to think about it...at all.

She was thinking about it. As much as she tried not to, her traitorous brain was reexamining every encounter between them, every word taking on new life at the revelation that the Doctor had been trying to woo her all this time. It seemed rather silly of her not to notice it now that it was staring her right in the face. Still, she marveled over the fact that everyone seemed to be in support of something happening between the two of them. For some reason, they could all see some kind of potential, some spark between them the she couldn't. Rose shook her head at this. The notion was rather ridiculous to her since she could hardly stand to even be in the same room with him.

Still she couldn't stop obsessing over what they could possibly see that she was missing. And for some reason it sent her heart beating in her chest just thinking about it. Nervousness and perhaps just a touch of excitement bubbling up inside of her.

Rose kneaded the dough in frustration as she tried to banish the strange feelings away. There was no use obsessing over this, especially when she had so many cookies to bake before tonight. Focusing, Rose pushed all thoughts of the Doctor aside.

Outside, the snow swirled in the wind, icy clumps falling in a dazzling display as the low sunlight of the afternoon reflected off them. From the window perched in the kitchen where she worked, Rose could see a few elves now, piling up present after present on the sleek, red sleigh. She managed a smile when she saw the work momentarily pause for a brief snowball fight, elves running around and chasing one another with clumps of frozen snow, laughing merrily with rosy red cheeks and bright smiles. A few of the reindeer who had been using their massive antlers to help load the presents whinnied in protest as a few of the wayward snowballs hit them.

With one last glance Rose turned back to focus on the cookies in the oven, their aroma filling the room with the sweet smell of melting chocolate. She breathed in deeply, letting the mixture of peppermint and eggnog and all the other sweet treats that were being prepared fill her nose. She closed her eyes, the magical atmosphere washing over her. Her mind finally quiet from thoughts of the Doctor, she let herself slump against the counter and watch the snow fall. She was only broken from her reverie when the oven made a small ding.

Donning her oven mitts, Rose pulled out the warm chocolate cookies. They were perfect.

"Rose!"

The gleeful exclamation startled her and the baking sheet slipped from her fingers and clattered to the floor. Rose felt a sigh building up as she saw the freshly baked and warm cookies scatter along the ground.

When she turned to see the very person she was trying her very best not to think about, wearing a sheepish expression, she couldn't help but sigh again.

Bending down, Rose began gathering up the crumpled, sad remains of an hour's work.

"Oh sorry, let me-"

"No, really," she said, waving him off, even as he stepped closer. "I've-"

"Nonsense, it was my - Oh sorry Rose. I'm so sorry." The Doctor held his hands out in front of him while Rose rubbed at the rapidly growing bump on her head, formed by the way he'd just collided with her in his ever so valiant attempt to help her. She couldn't quite hide her scowl, her previously joyful mood quickly slipping away again.

"Can I help you with something, Doctor?" she asked in an exasperated voice as she slowly stood. Her hands found her hips and the Doctor's eyes darted down to the dip in her curve-hugging sweater before finding her eyes again.

"I, umm, well-"

"Because I have a lot of cookies to bake before tonight and I'd really like to get back to work."

"I could help!" he blurted out.

Rose winced and the Doctor's face fell, fringe falling into his eyes as he ducked his head.

"Don't you have some tinkering to do?" she asked, almost desperately. Her thoughts were already jumbled and confusing enough without him actually being in the room with her. "Christmas is tomorrow after all. I thought for sure you lot would be working to the last minute filling all those orders. And things are already behind after what happened this morning."

The Doctor flinched.

"Right about that, I wanted to apologize-"

"It's alright, Doctor," she interrupted quickly, surprising even herself with her sincerity. She thought back to Clara's words and how maybe she'd been just the tiniest bit harsh with him this morning. Perhaps, if nothing else, she could work on being just a bit more amiable with him. That certainly wouldn't hurt anything. Taking in a breath, Rose continued, "It was...an accident after all."

The Doctor looked up at her, his face a mixture of hopeful surprise. "Yeah?"

"Yes," she assured him and he beamed at her. She pretended that it didn't send butterflies racing in her stomach because that would certainly be ridiculous since she still found him to be a nuisance...for the most part.

"So," she said after a moment of silence. "Donna really isn't working you to the bone?"

"No, umm, you know. Fast worker, me. Donna said I should come and help with the baking." He rubbed the back of his neck, a definite tell of his. For a moment Rose pondered how she knew that before shaking it off.

Squinting her eyes at his red cheeks, Rose found herself smirking a little.

"Did you blow something up again, Doctor? Twice in one morning?"

"Pshh, no," he denied quickly. Too quickly.

Rose rolled her eyes, but let it go, instead bending to pick up the cookie sheet to deposit in the sink.

The Doctor cleared his throat. "So what do you say, Rose? Let me make everything up to you. The cookies and, well, the incident from before. Between the two of us we should get enough done in no time." He bounced up on his toes, awaiting her answer.

Biting her lip, Rose studied his hopeful face. As much as she would rather finish up herself and not have to deal with the strange mix of emotions that were rolling around in her stomach, she had promised Clara that she would at least try. "Well, I suppose I could use the help since I'm behind now. As long as you promise not to catch the cookies on fire." She pointed a stern finger at him.

"You have my word," he said solemnly, crossing his heart.

She quickly directed him towards the dirty pans, which he began cleaning without complaint. Rose, meanwhile, began kneading another large batch of dough. They worked in silence for a few moments and Rose had just started to relax again, almost forgetting he was even there when he cleared his throat.

"So," he said, his voice a mixture of forced nonchalance and nerves. "Looking forward to the party tonight?"

"Umm, yeah," she stammered, focusing her eyes on working the dough into round snowman shapes with deft flicks of her wrist. She held her breath.

"Just think about it," he continued on enthusiastically, unaware of her rising distress. "Christmas music, tinsel everywhere, freshly baked cookies, and sparkly Santa hats as far as the eye can see. And dancing! Can't forget the dancing! I've even heard the reindeers are coming again this year!"

Rose couldn't help but snort. "I thought they refused to after what happened last time." She gave him a pointed look.

"That wasn't my fault!" the Doctor grumbled defensively. Rose found herself laughing despite herself and his face morphed into an affronted look.

"Those bells worked perfectly when I tested them, I'll have you know!" he continued, his voice straining.

"You know, Santa can't even get them to wear normal jingle bells now. Not after your electronic ones malfunctioned and about jingled them out of the sky during their performance. They were so disappointed, they'd been working for days to put that on for us."

The Doctor pouted and Rose raised an eyebrow as she stuck the next batch of cookies into the oven. When she looked back over at him he was still sulking, his eyes downcast and lower lip jutting out. It reminded her of the look he had given her this morning and where normally she wouldn't think anything of it, this time she felt her heart constricting.

He just looked so pitiful and Rose found herself taking pity on him. "How did you get them to come then? Go on and tell me." If anything could cheer the Doctor up it was a chance to tell one of his hair-brained schemes.

He sniffed. "Weeelll, I may have shared the location of my banana stash."

Rose put a hand over her heart, gasping dramatically. "I never thought I'd see the day."

The Doctor blushed all the way to his pointed ears. "Well, you know. Just wanted everything to be perfect for tonight."

The unexpected softness in his voice took Rose by surprise. She tucked a piece of hair behind her ear shyly as the Doctor met her eyes with an intensity that left her reeling. Her heart was once more leaping around in her chest, her mouth going dry. She licked her lips.

"W-why's that then?"

But the Doctor didn't answer, instead his hand slowly came up to her face and then his thumb was moving down her cheek in a long sweeping motion. Rose flinched at the unexpected contact and immediately his hand dropped back down as if he'd been burnt. He gave her another sheepish smile.

"Sorry, just a bit of flour, right..." he motioned with his hand at his own cheek and Rose swiped the back of her hand roughly along the spot.

"Gone?" she asked, surprised by the way her voice was squeaking.

"Yep," he said softly. For a moment Rose met his eyes, a warm chocolate brown that reminded her of the melting chocolate chips in her cookies. She watched him lick his lips, watched the nervousness grow in his eyes and it was all too much. She finally identified the feeling growing inside her as the same one she'd been running from ever since she'd met him. Panic took over as the air was wrought with anticipation and she just knew that he was going to ask her...

"Rose, I-"

"C'mon then!" she interrupted quickly, turning away from him. "These cookies won't bake themselves!"

She heard him sigh despondently. "Right."

They worked for the rest of the time in silence and there was no denying that some unnameable tension was sitting between them now. And Rose could honestly say she was relieved when Donna came to fetch the Doctor some time later.

She ignored the look he sent her as he left.

Despite the promise she'd made to Clara, she found herself avoiding the Doctor for the rest of the day. She'd duck behind doorways, avoid his gaze, and circumnavigate the workshop in any way she could to avoid crossing his path. Anything to help her ignore the strange feeling that had taken up resident in her gut.

Currently, she was hiding away in the storage room under the guise of untangling the rest of the Christmas lights. She'd been working for the past few hours now and around her sat row after row of unwound lights. Rose let out a breath and began wrapping the lights around her wrist in loops. There was no doubt that Clara would be down here dragging her out if Rose didn't show her face again soon. Standing, she turned around only to run smack dab into a solid presence.

A hand shot out to steady her and Rose focused her eyes up on the concerned face of none other than the Doctor. Her heart took off in her chest again and she couldn't stop the way her cheeks heated up. Her mouth opened and closed a few times and Rose wondered what in the world had her so damn flustered. This was Clara's fault. The woman had messed with her head and now she was losing it.

"Doctor!" she finally got her uncooperative mouth to say. "What brings you here?"

The Doctor's eyes darted around the room then back to her face. "Donna asked me to grab a few supplies from down here."

Rose nodded. "Ah."

An awkward silence descended and the Doctor rubbed the back of his neck.

"Umm, anyway, you wouldn't happen to know where they keep the extra wrapping paper, do you?"

Rose looked around the room where practically all the boxes were filled to the brim with long cylindrical tubes of wrapping paper in all colors. The Doctor followed her gaze and she watched as realization dawned on features and a blush overtook his face. He coughed. "Oh."

He swiped one of the tubes from the closest box. She raised her eyebrows at this but said nothing. Then he gestured for her to walk through the door first, falling in step behind her. But as she turned to quickly make her way out, she shouldered right into the tube of wrapping paper in his hand knocking it from his grasp. It hit the ground with a soft clunk and rolled out in front of her.

Rose hastily picked it up from the ground and turned, standing up only to come face to face with the Doctor's chest. Her eyes slowly drifted up to meet his, the intensity of his gaze hitting her hard. A tiny, involuntary shudder went through her body.

"Rose?" the Doctor said concernedly, his hands coming up to lightly touch her shoulder. Instinctively, she took a step backwards, now standing perfectly underneath the doorway that led to the storage room. The Doctor took a step forward as well, following her movements.

"Are you-"

"Here," she interrupted quickly, shoving the wrapping paper that she still clutched towards him.

The Doctor took it from her hands. "Oh. Thanks."

"Now I should really be going," Rose stammered, her thumb gesturing behind her. They were still standing much too close and her insides were starting to jump around in a nervous manner.

She took another step out of the small doorway they'd found themselves in only for the Doctor's hand to find her shoulder and turn her back.

"Rose, wait. Have you...been avoiding me?"

"What. Psh no. Why-why would I do that?"

The Doctor shrugged, his eyes moving away from hers. "Well, I was sort of under the impression that you didn't like me very much."

"That's not true," Rose said quickly, surprised to find that she even meant it. The Doctor looked up at her, his eyes brightening.

Her lips quirked up in a soft smile. "Really though, I need to-"

"Wait. Just...one more thing." He looked determined and Rose felt all the breath leave her. Clara's words were still looping in her head to just give him a chance. She wiped sweaty palms against her jeans.

"I was actually wondering, if well..." His cheeks turned pink. "I was wondering if you would want to-"

Oh god. Oh god. No, no she couldn't do this. She just couldn't. It was all too much, too soon. Her body was a fit of nerves and uncertainty and she just, she needed some sort of distraction so she could find her footing again.

"Mistletoe!" she shouted, when she eyed the small plant hanging above them in the doorway. As soon as the word escaped her lips, however, she felt horror spike through her system. Of all the distractions, she'd picked that?

"W-what?"

Rose winced and reluctantly pointed upwards. "Just, just pointing out the mistletoe there. Odd spot for it, don't you think? On the door to the storage room. But, you know, very...festive?"

The Doctor's eyes glanced up, following her hand and she watched as a nervous, but excited smile lit up his face.

"It is rather...festive," he agreed. And was his tone...flirtatious? Rose gulped as she watched him lick his lips. Yup, definitely flirtatious. How the hell had she gotten herself into this? Her insides currently felt like mush and her heart was slamming in her chest so hard she thought it just might escape.

And when Rose's eyes focused back on the Doctor, they immediately widened as she realized how close he had gotten in the last few moments. His eyes were already closed and he was leaning forward and...and...

Panicking, Rose moved fast as lightening in order to place a swift kiss on his cheek. She felt the Doctor stiffen underneath the touch and when she pulled back, there was no mistaking the disappointment in his eyes. He swallowed hard, one hand coming up to rub at the back of his neck.

"Well, I should be-"

"Donna's waiting so-"

After nodding at one another awkwardly, they both turned and fled in opposite directions.