"All set?" the Doctor asked as he glanced up from fiddling with something on the TARDIS console.
"Just about," Rose grinned back before plopping onto the jump seat to finish getting on her hat and gloves.
Before traveling with the Doctor, she had hated getting all dressed up to go outside during the London winter. There was always that inevitable bit of time where she was stifling in all the warm clothes before she stepped outside into the blessedly cool air. When she was waiting for her mum to finish getting ready, she was usually sweating through at least the first layer before they finally got out the door. But here, on the TARDIS, the sentient ship lowered the ambient temperature with each layer she put on so that even now, with her feeling more marshmallow than human, she was quite comfortable.
"What about you though?" Rose asked looking up at the Doctor in his usual leather jacket and jeans. To Rose's immense delight the later article of clothing was on the more fitted side today. If she had just stayed at the doorway to finish putting on her winter things she'd be enjoying a lovely view right now. Ugg Rose, snap out of it! She mentally gave herself a little shake so she could focus on her inquiry, "Won't you be cold? With the clothes the TARDIS picked out for me, you would think we're gong to the arctic or somethin'."
The Doctor grinned, "Naw, superior biology, me. I'll be fine. Besides, it's not like we're going to be out there for that long."
"No?" Rose frowned. It was near Christmas in her timeline and she'd begged the Doctor to stick to strictly chilly destinations so she could get in the proper Christmas spirit before he took her back to visit her Mum for the holiday. Last year they'd come right from a humid, volcanic planet when he took her home for Christmas (a few days late, Jackie would never let them forget) and it had just felt so…wrong. A girl could get used to any number of things - talking cat nuns, farting aliens, and a best mate who she secretly pined for with ever fiber of her being - but certain things, like a wintery Christmas season, she just couldn't let go.
To be honest, she had been surprised when the Doctor had grudgingly agreed to go along with her "Pre-Christmas Tour" when she brought it up last week. Sure, they had the odd adventure in snow capped mountains or a space station with the heating on the fritz, but usually they kept to more temperate locations. She figured that the Doctor just preferred the warmer destinations throughout time and space. But when she'd asked for a week of snow and mittens and hot coco with marshmallows, she'd given him "the look" that he rarely could refuse, and sure enough, he'd agreed with a grumble. His sulking had only lasted until the second day of their winter tour when the two of them showed some local kids of a snowy planet how to build a snowman. Or snow quadruped with wings, as it happened. Rose had to expend more than a little effort to hide the grin that threatened to take over her face as she remembered how his bright blue eyes had sparkled at the children's delighted laughter. Instead, she focused on getting a longer trip out of the Doctor. "And why not? It wouldn't happen to be because it is too cold even for a Great Time Lord and you have a fear of puffy coats…or anything other than leather and jeans?"
The Doctor gave her a withering look and sighed, "Puffy coats? After what we do every day, you really think I'm afraid of puffy coats?"
"Dunno," Rose hoped up from the jump seat to follow him around the console as he set the coordinates, "Who knows what goes on in that head of yours. With all that superior brain power you're always talkin' about, I'm sure there's room for a strange phobia or two." Like any kind of domestics, Rose thought wryly.
The Doctor just glared at her, though he couldn't hide the way his eyes danced from her teasing. "As I was saying…" he started meaningful, "I don't expect to be there long because there's not all that much to do. Planet's been uninhabited for centuries and the chemical makeup of the water vapor makes snow highly unlikely, even at sub-zero temperatures. So no snow-aliens today."
Rose frowned, "Well then why are we going there? Sounds sorta…dunno…boring."
The Doctor mumbled something, but Rose didn't catch it because he'd gone and stuck his head under the console to fiddle with something.
"What's that? Didn't quite hear ya," she bit her tongue and grinned at him once he'd come back up to finish the materialization sequence of the TARDIS.
"Cuz. It's. Pretty," the Doctor over enunciated each word, his ears turning redder with each syllable.
"Oh," was all Rose could think to say. She'd seen all manner of amazing and beautiful things since she'd started traveling with the Doctor, but usually that was more of a side effect of the main event. It was rare he took her someplace simply to admire the view. In fact, the last time he'd done such a thing was Woman Wept. It had been a lovely trip, at least until Jack started mercilessly teasing the two of them about it being a date. Blimey, and that had been months ago! Jack had since taken a sabbatical from traveling with them search for a long lost brother, so there was no threat of his teasing, but still, there hadn't been any more sight seeing trips since. She had rather missed it.
Rose realized the Doctor and she had been staring at each other, heat in their faces and she really had no idea why.
"Right!" she said brightly in an attempt to move on from the awkwardness, "Brilliant! So this will be a quick look and then tea and Christmas movies in the media room? Then all we would have left is a trip involving penguins and that frozen asteroid for gift shopping," she ticked off the Pre-Christmas Tour schedule on her fingers, "and then Christmas at Mum's - don't look so horrified, you can stay in the TARDIS and tinker if you want - and then you're off the hook. Back to business as usual."
"Well thank Rassilon for that!" the Doctor pulled a final lever and they landed with a thud that nearly sent them both sprawling.
Rose pushed off the console and rolled her eyes at the Doctor, "Oh hush, you know you love it. And I'll tell ya what," she winked at him. He just folded his arms and raised his eyebrows. "Last one on alien soil is a Slitheen fart!" Giggling madly she threw herself towards the doors of the TARDIS, tripping the Doctor as he tried to pass her. Still, she could feel him just a step behind her muttering about "cheating apes" so she put on a final burst of speed and used her momentum to launch through the doors and several steps out into the chilly new world.
