Written for the "Writer In A TARDIS" challenge on LiveJournal, from an unusual set of prompts: toy aeroplane, black box and a vegetable used as a weapon.
You'd think it would snow on such a cold night, Rose thought as she walked into the room with two mugs of tea. It would be nice to have a real white Christmas in London for a change.
So far, it looked like it would be a wet Christmas instead. Raindrops beaded on the windowpanes, looking like jewels in the reflected lights from the Christmas tree. The Doctor was sitting on the floor next to the tree, working on the toy aeroplane he'd built for Tony. She smiled at the way his brow furrowed as he adjusted the tiny propeller. She sat next to him on the floor and offered him a mug. "Mum made tea."
"Wouldn't be Christmas without your Mum's tea," he said, taking a sip and then letting out an appreciative sigh. "The tea that saved the world. Makes up for the rest of her cooking."
Rose swatted him on the arm. "Don't be rude!"
"Can't help it!" he protested. "I may be human now, but I'm still rude and still not ginger. I sometimes wish the metacrisis had given me Donna's hair instead of her mouth." He nudged her with his shoulder. "Admit it, Rose. Those brussels sprouts could qualify as a weapon of mass destruction."
She giggled. "That would go for anybody's brussels sprouts. So, how's that coming?" She motioned at the small plane, and he beamed.
"Fantastic! Take a look!" He put down his mug and picked up the black remote control box. "Here we go. Tyler One to tower, requesting permission for takeoff."
"Permission granted!" Rose replied with a smile.
As the Doctor worked the controls, the toy plane taxied and took off. The Doctor guided it around the room and made it circle around the tree. "See! Fantastic! And no other boy will have anything like it, since the aeroplane was never invented here."
"I wonder why?"
"Simple," the Doctor said as he took the plane through a loop-de-loop. "Wilbur Wright went to Yale."
She stared at him. "What?"
"Wilbur Wright went to Yale," the Doctor repeated, not taking his eyes off the plane. "I looked it up. This world's Wilbur Wright went to Yale, and it changed the entire course of his career. He never went into business with Orville, so they never invented three-axis control. Without three-axis control, no one could quite manage fixed-wing flight. That's why you have zeppelins and helicopters here, but not aeroplanes."
"Just an ordinary man, the most important creation in the universe," Rose murmured.
He looked over at her. "In any universe. Now, I think that's enough of a test flight," he said. "Tyler One coming in for a landing."
He brought the little plane back down to the floor and set it next to the tree. Then he pulled Rose into his arms.
It may not be a white Christmas, she thought as he kissed her, but it's perfect anyway.
