Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep!
"ROSE! Rose! Rose Rose Rose! Wake up, wake up! Come on, get up Rose hurry up get up!" The Doctor leaped around her bed, pointing at the alarm clock joyfully.
Her alarm clock roared in her ear like a lion, but it was nothing compared to the Doctor's shouting. "Why do I need to get up... Is there an alien attack?" She mumbled quietly, burying her face back into her pillow.
He pouted not unlike a six year old whose mother refused to buy him cotton candy. "No, there's no alien attack! Please just wake up, don't you know what day it is?!"
"No, I don't know what day it is, you know why?" Rose replied grumpily, propping herself up on her elbows, a habit she had obtained from him.
"Why?"
"Because we're on a bloody time machine," She retorted simply, laying back down and pulling the pink covers over her face.
"Well... Can you guess what day it is?"
"Hannukah?"
"Nope. Think more... Orange."
"Thanksgiving?"
"Nope."
"I don't know, Easter?"
"How is Easter 'orange'?" The Doctor raised an eyebrow at her, yanking the covers off of her face and tugging on her arm. "It's Halloween! The very best holiday! Did I ever tell you that I invented Halloween?"
"You did not invent Halloween," Rose muttered at him, not wanting to admit she was genuinely interested in the story that's coming. He just stared at her. "Alright, tell me how you did it."
SEVERAL WEEKS EARLIER.
The whooshing of the TARDIS rolled over old time Scotland as the Doctor stepped out of the police box doors, taking a nice big gasp of the air that filled his lungs. Sniffing quietly, he tried to figure out what year it was. Somewhere in the nineteenth century, he supposed. It was a bit hard to tell in Scotland. But it didn't really matter at the moment. He stole one last glance into the TARDIS before remembering that Rose was with her mother, shopping. He shivered a little bit at the thought. Late nineteenth century Scotland or shopping with Jackie Tyler? Scotland, any day.
The grass swooshed against his converses as he walked through a large, never-ending field of grass, only able to see a small tiny village to his right. Stone building was next to stone building in the small town that seemed a little less industrious as most of the other places in the world at the time. He entered the little town on a whim, deciding that adventure and danger would find him as it usually did.
"Hello, awrite!" The bartender inside a building said to the Doctor with a heavy Scottish accent.
"Hello!" The Doctor smiled in return. He could do a very good Scottish accent when he tried. But since Rose wasn't here, there wasn't really anyone to impress, so he stuck to his natural British tone. "Can I get a drink?"
"Aye," The man said, waving his hand to a woman behind him who began filling up a glass with beer. "I'm Ainsley. Nice tae meit ye!"
"I'm the Doctor," The Time-Lord replied, gulping down a bit of his beer.
"Whaur ar ye fraem?" Ainsley asked conversationally, sipping a bit of his own beer.
"I'm from very far away... Just came here for a bit of adventure."
"Ye won' find any adventa' 'ere lad. Not 'nless you see tae Ghost o' Underbridge."
"The ghost of Underbridge? What's that?" The Doctor asked, eyebrows peaking with interest. Rose was already missing out.
"Comes to tae bar unce e'ry year. 'At's why it's sa full taday, people are expectin' a ghost," Ainsley shrugged and sipped his beer again, leaning his elbows on the counter and staring at the Doctor.
"Do you think it'll actually come?"
"Most likelay. N'er seen ait mahself. Only worked here fare a month so far. Hope it'll come, though. A' midnigh', they say. She comes a' Midnight."
Glancing up at the clock, the Doctor was purely delighted to see it was already 11:54p.m. The ghost had better show up, he thought. The ghost, or Rose, whoever came first would have to entertain him.
After a few more drinks and discussing the weather with Ainsley for a while, the clock struck midnight and the entire bar went silent, waiting. Sure enough in a manner of seconds, a ghostly blue apparition appeared in front of the door. It was a woman, that was obvious enough, and she seemed to be ducking as if underneath something. Her eyes were wide and definitely terrified. Her arms were above her head, holding up the invisible structure on top of her.
Everyone in the bar froze, obviously not expecting to actually see a ghost tonight. The Doctor set down his glass and stood up, and half the eyes in the bar turned to him while the other half remained focused on the ghost. Ainsley opened his mouth then closed it as the Doctor began creeping towards the apparition.
"I can see why you call her the ghost of Underbridge," The Doctor murmured, examining the ghost's pose.
In one swift move he whipped out his sonic screwdriver and aimed it at the ghost, turning it on. Everyone in the room gasped at the strange technology, and even louder when the ghost gave a small shriek then disappeared. The Doctor turned around and grinned when the ghost was gone, putting his sonic screwdriver back in its spot and bowing a little.
There was an awkward silence that was countless minutes long before one large buff man in the back began to clap slowly. Soon, the entire bar was in applause for the Doctor who simply bowed again and gave a wink to Ainsley.
"Wah was tha' trick'ry?!" One man yelled at the Time-Lord.
"Nah mur ghostly October t'irty firsts then, yah?"
"Happy Halloween!" The Doctor shouted in return before leaving.
"'alloween, he called it?"
"Yeah, must be a new day!"
"Wow, he was really good looking!"
"Did you see his hair?"
BACK TO CURRENT TIME:
"Okay, maybe I made that last bit up. But the rest of it is true! I defeated the Ghost of Underbridge and began Halloween! I still keep in touch with Ainsley to this day."
"That's fantastic and all, but how are we going to celebrate Halloween?" Rose was standing up now, casually walking over to her dresser and pulling out her clothes for the day, seeing as she wasn't going back to bed anytime soon.
"Trick-or-treating, of course! You can't not trick-or-treat on Halloween, you should know that," He ran a hand through his hair and smiled as she began brushing out her hair.
"Doctor, I haven't trick-or-treated on Halloween since I was like, nine. Are you telling me people give you candy even though you're a grown man?" She raised an eyebrow, pulling the brush through a big tangle.
"Earth is a very stuck up planet. Only giving candy to children?! How rubbish is that?!" He defiantly said, tugging on his hair. "I tried to trick-or-treat on Earth one time, but that will never happen again."
She stopped brushing her hair curiously. "What happened?"
"Well..."
ABOUT A HUNDRED YEARS-ISH EARLIER (He's really lost track of his age):
"TRICK-OR-TREAT!" The Doctor said happily in his fourth incarnation with curly black hair. Around his body he wore a metal trash can that was spray painted bronze and had a long eyestalk attached to his head by a band.
"What are you supposed to be, then?" A young blonde teenage woman answered the door, chewing gum loudly and wearing no costume at all. "Some sorta man child?"
"Oi!" He replied indignantly, adjusting his eyestalk, "Any cultured inhabitant of Earth would know that I am a Dalek." The woman simply looked puzzled, so he continued. "You know, Daleks. You will be exterminated!" He said in a spot-on impression. "Tried to conquer the universe a kazillion times? Really, no bells?"
"Just take a Twix bar and go," She pleaded, holding out the candy bar and giving him a fake smile.
"Thanks. Happy Halloween!"
BACK TO CURRENT TIME:
"Definitely never doing that again. Ever. However, I do know one fantastic planet that we can trick-or-treat on!" He said to Rose happily.
"Let me get this straight... You went up to a woman in a Dalek costume?" She laughed hysterically.
"It was a while ago, I was young!" The tips of his ears turned bright pink as he blushed. "Stop laughing!"
"Sorry, sorry." Rose opened her tear-filled eyes and saw him again, making her laugh more. "What are you going to dress up as this year? A Slitheen?"
"Actually, I was thinking a New Earth cat nun," He nudged her side, laughing with her.
"Or the werewolf... Or.. Or.." She began, but was too busy laughing at him meowing to finish her sentence. "Okay, I'll trick-or-treat with you on another planet, only if you promise they won't stare at us like we're crazy."
"I promise, I know just the place!"
Sure enough he had found the perfect planet, the entire world was covered in orange and black lights and pumpkins lined every street. It looked similar to Earth, only the inhabitants had an extra arm and were more technologically advanced than humans. Several adults and children walked around dressed in various costumes, going house to house. Rose bounded back into the TARDIS after seeing the planet and called for the Doctor.
"Can I see your costume, Doctor?!" She called down the hallway, her voice echoing.
"Not until you put yours on! Besides, my costume might scare you," He teased in return.
Rose rolled her eyes to herself and walked into the enormous TARDIS wardrobe, wondering what she could possibly wear. After trying her hardest to send a clear idea to the ship, a few costumes appeared on the rack closest to her. Luckily, they were all aliens she recognized. Soon, she had found the perfect costume.
"Rose? Are you ready?" The Doctor yelled to her.
"Yep, reveal on three?"
"One..."
"Two..." She grinned, ready to leap out of the door.
"Three!"
Rose emerged wearing a gas mask on her head and a small peasant boy's outfit that stopped just above her bellybutton. She wore long black pants and boots, along with a badly drawn red scar on her right hand. "Are you my Mummy?" She asked the Doctor, tilting her head, lifting off the gas mask.
"That's creepy, Rose. Look at mine!" The Doctor had spray painted his entire body gray, and had plastic wings attached to his back. He wore a weird toga type of outfit that was also gray, and posed in a creepy way.
"What are you?"
"I'm a Weeping Angel! Hunters of the galaxy... They're statues and they move when you blink! Pretty scary, right?" He said proudly, putting his hands over his eyes for affect.
"Not bad, but mine's scarier. Then again, will people know what I am?" A sudden wave of fear hit Rose as she realized who she was dressing up as wasn't exactly a species.
"Of course they will! After the experience, Jamie wrote the entire thing down in a book and it got passed down from generation to generation. It's a pretty popular little horror story now, pretty sure it even got made into a movie. Some people may not recognize you, but most people will," The Doctor explained, his voice reassuring her.
"Well, let's go!"
He smiled and grabbed Rose's hand in his gray one, walking out of the police box doors and onto the streets. She followed close behind him shyly as people smiled at them, complimenting their costumes. The Doctor approached the nearest door, his hand still in Rose's, and knocked with a white trash bag in hand. "Trick-or-treat!" The door was opened by an old woman with three arms who made a mock gasp at their costume.
"A Weeping Angel and an Empty Child! My my!" The woman said, grinning and pulling up a big bowl of candy. "You two look very scary!"
"Thank you!" Rose said to her, accepting the candy.
The Doctor had been right, trick-or-treating on that planet (she still didn't know the name, strangely enough) had been much better than Earth. Most houses they visited handed out ten different pieces of space candy, which tasted much better than Earth candy, not that she had stolen any from the Doctor's bag and eaten it. As soon as they got back to the TARDIS, still giggling because of a boy who the Doctor had made giggle by freezing and putting his hands over his eyes, the Doctor dumped the candy on the floor.
"Let's split it evenly!" He suggested, sorting out every piece and handing half to Rose.
"Thanks for taking me, that was really fun," She said with her tongue-out-of-teeth grin, accepting the candy, eager to taste all of it.
"No problem! We may as well celebrate the holiday seeing as I invented it."
"To Ainsley and the other Scottish people!" Rose raised a chocolate bar like a glass.
"To Ainsley and the other Scottish people!" He clinked his candy against hers and agreed.
"This will definitely last us until next year," Rose mumbled as the Doctor emptied the third trash bag full of candy.
A/N: Happy Halloween everyone! I hope you enjoyed this long Halloween one-shot that I genuinely enjoyed writing. Did any of you guys dress up as Ten/Rose or someone else from the Whoniverse? I was debating being Amy Pond, seeing as I have almost her entire outfit from Vampires of Venice.
