The Sideways Man is being worked on, but in the meantime have some Christmas Eleven/Rose fic. Unbeta'd, because this is a present for my beta. Will go home and re-edit when the month is over. xD Enjoy!
The card was very plain. Simple, but lovely, with a sprig of mistletoe bordered in gold printed on cream-colored cardstock. On the inside, someone had scribbled "Happy Christmas!" in messy, girlish handwriting, but it hadn't been signed. There was no envelope, but other than that it was just a Christmas card.
It might have been the most ordinary thing in the world, if Amy Pond hadn't found it taped to the outside of the TARDIS doors while she and her boys were visiting a very hot and ancient Roman summer. Frowning, she studied it as she pushed through to the cool interior of the control room, but unable to find anything significantly interesting or dangerous, she left it sitting on the jump seat as she continued to her room and her original purpose - to find something to pull her hair up with in this heat.
The card remained forgotten, until hours later the Doctor, Amy, and Rory all climbed laughing back into the control room, fresh from their latest adventure.
"You fought bears?" Amy laughed.
"In that arena, just back there! Three great big bears - oh, and a lion!"
Rory, who was just putting away his gladius, looked up, his eyes wide. "They threw you to the lions? What did you do?"
"Only one lion. Tired old dear, just needed a nap really."
Rory continued to follow after the Doctor as he spun eagerly around the console, setting a new course and telling the story of how he'd once stolen a horse from a Roman hostel so he could save a host of people that'd been turned to stone. They made quite a sight, those two - the Doctor was still wearing a toga (though he wore his suitcoat over the top of it), and Rory was still wearing a bronze breastplate and and an expression that only said that the Doctor was talking far faster than he could keep up, but he was going to be polite and listen - at least until his armor started to chafe. It was a look Amy knew well.
It was then that she remembered the mysterious card; she snatched it up and bounded over to the Doctor.
"Christmas!" said the Doctor delightedly, throwing his hands in the air. "I love Christmas. Well, I try to love Christmas. It never does quite love me back."
"It was just," Amy gestured in the general direction of the door. "Up there. When I got back."
But the Doctor had gone very still, and very quiet. He was no longer running his fingers along the embossed mistletoe, but at the plain greeting on the inside.
"It must be Christmas, where-ever River is."
That snapped the Doctor out of his reverie. "River? Why would you think it was River?"
"Well," Rory said plainly. "She has that wrist - thing."
"Vortex manipulator," said the Doctor absently.
"Is there someone else who'd travel across time and space to wish you Happy Christmas?" said Amy. "We should get her something," she said, turning to Rory. "Shouldn't we? Mum and dad, get her something at Christmas?"
But Rory wasn't listening. He was looking at the Doctor like a particularly difficult crossword puzzle, watching as as his long fingers traced over the flowing letters.
"River," he said after a prolonged silence. His fingers still brushed the cardstock. "Doesn't dot her 'i's with hearts."
