Merry Christmas, everyone...or Happy Holidays for you who don't say Merry Christmas. Hope you're all having a very good day indeed. Thought I'd upload this miniepisode that I wrote for today. Probably isn't very good, but I hope you enjoy it. It's set in my Wonderland series and takes place in both the 1st and 2nd story of the series.

So tuck in, and hopefully you'll like it. Me...I'm gearing up to the Christmas Special tonight. Matt Smith's last episode, gonna cry.

Disclaimer: Not Mine...unfortunately.

Christmastide

"How do you celebrate Christmas?" I looked at the Doctor, "I mean...do Time Lords even have Christmas?" he looked up from where he was looking at me, "How would I know? I mean you're all...Time Lord, and Christmas is a celebration of Jesus Christ. Birth of Christianity. Nativity that I never really believed," I cocked my head, "I mean...do you celebrate it? There's the Winter Solstice which happens as well...admittedly it is on the 21st of December but it still happens,"

"What brought this on?" he asked me, "Christmas and all that,"

"Well..." I took out my diary, "It's Christmas according to my diary," I leafed through it, "One hundred and thirty nine days since we left with you in the TARDIS, it's Christmas Day tomorrow," I shrugged, "So I just wondered...it tends to happen when you're in this box. You wonder about the outside world, and what's happening there," I smiled at him, "We could see Christmas in the fifth century and then send the TARDIS to the hundred and fifty second century and see how everything has changed. But today...to me, it's Christmas Eve. Time travel is absolutely amazing in that respect,"

He climbed out of the hole that he had created with removing the grate, "I didn't buy you a present," I pulled out a little wrapped gift, holding it up to him, "You got me something?" he unwrapped it, holding the little police box keyring to the light, "You got this when we landed in the sixties?" he asked and I nodded, "Just perfect,"

I hopped up from the seats next to the console, "Thought it would be good for you," I said to him, "How many times do you lose that key inside that jacket?" he mock glared at me, "You'll need it one day, trust me. One day when you don't know where anything is...you'll find your key because of the keyring," he slid his key onto the ring, "There we go, that's not too bad. Merry Christmas," I looked at my watch, "Actually that would be merry Christmas, two minutes ago. It's Christmas Day,"

"Merry Christmas," he told me and I smiled at him.

"So you didn't answer my question," I pressed him, "Do you celebrate Christmas...or a version of Christmas?"

"Not really," he said, "There was a winter festival but I never really liked to go, it was always too cold and I complained, especially when I was at the Academy," he shrugged, "And it never had a story behind it like yours does. Time Lords were much more logical...magical stars, angels coming down from the sky. Human and their stories,"

"Story that's survived two thousand years," I corrected him.

He looked at me, "You know that time doesn't really work like that," he leant on the TARDIS console, "In a linear line, I mean. I can take you back a million years to a time where Christmas never even existed and then so far into the future to where Christmas has never been heard of," I watched him carefully, "Why do you think it's important to keep the date?"

"Time is personal to us," I explained, "It doesn't matter when or where we are, I like knowing the date for me. We saw Charles Dickens at Christmas, but to me it was August. As you said, time isn't linear, it's all complicated but I don't lose myself when I know the date. Otherwise one day I'll wake up and I'll be grey haired and wrinkled and it will be fifty years in the future but I won't know that. Creating chaos out of nothing really...I like the idea that I can have some kind of control over it. Some sense of order in this mad world. I don't want to forget,"

"And you won't," he went over to the console, pressing several buttons, "Where's your sister?" he called over his shoulder.

I shrugged, "Sleeping I think, she's still not too happy about the whole...Pete issue, I mean it was only two weeks ago. hard to recover after something like that. I think she mostly wants to sleep it off, get back to normal, acclimatise herself to time travel again," I let out a long tired breath, "It's difficult gaining and losing your father in one day...less than a day really," he pulled down a lever, "Why? Where are we going?"

"Well, it's Christmas, isn't it?" he asked and I folded my arms, "I'm going to take you to a very special day indeed," he grinned satisfactorily at me before pulling the handbrake. I held onto the railings as the TARDIS was put into flight and I groaned faintly as she landed roughly on the ground, "When are you going to get over that travel sickness?"

I rubbed my stomach, "Soon, I hope," I muttered, "If your machine was just a little quieter then I wouldn't mind it so much," I let out a sigh, swallowing down my nausea, "I'm getting better at it, though," I added, "I was nearly sick the first time you decided to rattle the TARDIS about with no warning," I looked towards the door, "So we're somewhere then?"

"Definitely somewhere," he agreed with me and I ran towards the door, opening it. I frowned at the sight that greeted me.

"You've brought us to a desert?" I said bluntly, before stepping out into the new world, the sky completely black with a few stars, "Are we on another planet? Or is this an actual desert? On Earth?" I spotted some camels, "Definitely not in the future then," I looked at the Doctor, "Where are we?"

"Little town near Jerusalem," he took my hand, and we walked towards the town in, "Very important town near Jerusalem," I looked at all the bustling people that were swarming through the streets, "And we have a very important job to do, one that we absolutely need to do before anyone else gets there before we do," I frowned, "Come on...run," he grabbed my hand and we legged it down alleys and streets. How we didn't manage to bump into anyone was beyond me, "And here we are,"

I frowned at it, "What's so special about this place?" I questioned him, "I mean...we must have passed a dozen other places that look like this," he only smiled and headed inside, "Enigmatic sod," I muttered before following him into the little house.

"Hello there," the Doctor said to the man, who was standing in the middle of the room, "We would like to rent out a room in your inn, we were told you're the last place which had rooms left to rent out,"

"Ahh, you're rather in luck then," the man answered distractedly, "We've only got the one left," I blinked at that and the Doctor grinned at the man, clearly happy at what the man had just said to us, "We'll fill it for you...do you have any names?"

I cleared my throat, "He's..." I looked at the Doctor, "Smith...Jonathan Smith," the innkeeper only nodded, walking down a corridor. I stared at the Doctor as we followed him, "We're in Bethlehem?" I whispered to him, "We're in Bethlehem, and we've just taken the last room...are you serious?" he didn't answer me, and I just laughed, "Why did I think any different? Of course you would be the one to take the last room in the inn. Who else could have arranged it all?" I linked arms with him, "So does that mean that we might get to have a look at who tries to get a room at the inn and has to go in a stable instead?"

"Could do," he agreed, "Why not?" the man showed us the room before hurrying away, "This is Bethlehem right at the point of practical chaos...census is being taken so everyone flocks to their home town so they can register," he went to the window, "And a couple from so far away travels for so long in order to do it," I joined him and saw a man knock on the door to the inn. A woman was sitting on a donkey behind him, "The woman's pregnant, baby's due any day. Risky for anyone,"

"Yet they make it here," I saw the innkeeper walk out of the house, shaking his head at them, clearly having a rapid conversation with the man, "You're not telling me..." the Doctor only shrugged, "This is amazing..." I watched as the innkeeper sighed, before grabbing a fire torch from the wall before leading the man and the woman around to where I presumed the stable was, "I shouldn't feel so guilty," I whispered to the Doctor, "I mean...we took their room, literally the last room in the inn, but that's the story," he only grinned at me, "Why are you so happy?"

"Because this is where everything begins," he said, "I mean, they don't necessarily get the date right or the time of year but that doesn't matter. Not really," I leaned against the side of the window, watching him talk animatedly, "At this precise point in time there is a baby who is about to be born, and that baby becomes a child who becomes a man, who will start a movement that will encompass the whole Earth, the mother won't know it, her husband won't know it, but it'll happen. It's history as it happens, and we're witnessing it...we're causing it,"

I smiled at him, "Because they wouldn't offer a room at the inn?" I asked him, and he wrapped an arm around me, "Realistically, if we hadn't been here, if we hadn't been here to steal the last room, would the story have changed ever so much?" I shrugged, "I mean, there would have had to be other rooms, other inns. Does the whole thing change if we got the last room?"

"Maybe," he admitted, "Maybe nothing would have changed, maybe everything would have changed, but does it even matter? It's a story that's been told hundred of times...thousands. And it always starts off with a baby being born in a stable under a star," we looked at the sky, "Well...maybe not the part with the star, but then we can't have everything, can we?" he took my hand, leading me away from the window and back down the stairs, "Best not to stick around, just in case someone notices us,"

I laughed, as we headed into the night, "Who's going to notice us two?" I inquired, "Two people walking around the little town of Bethlehem on a warm evening...viewing the locals, seeing the sights. The innkeeper is going to notice us being gone from the room more...he's just made a pregnant woman use his stable instead of a room,"

"This is hardly a spot which is devoid of time travellers," he explained to me, "Who doesn't want to come to this precise period of time? It's a fixed point," he looked into the distance, "You can ask one about it, I'm sure that they know a lot of laws about this date, what you can do, what you can't do. Obviously can't disrupt the journey, can't hurt them, can't do much really...except watch and learn and witness what happens,"

"And steal the last room," I quipped.

"Someone would have got the last room," he dismissed, "We just managed to get the last room before anyone else got there. Details make the story...the story is the most important part. Perhaps not every detail, but everyone likes a story that's faithful to the truth," we saw the TARDIS in the distance, "And the truth is that there is baby about to be born, happiest story in the world. No death...no destruction, just people coming together to celebrate that a baby has been born,"

I only smiled, "I suppose it is some consolation that we were there to take the room," I said, "How many people can say that? No one really, no one that knows what was going to happen or when it happened, or how it happened...Only us and any other time traveller that decides this is the prime travelling spot. But thank you..." I informed him, "You didn't have to do this, you could have carried on with your fixing of the TARDIS like you were doing before I asked you about Christmas, you didn't have to take me here,"

"I sometimes need to be reminded of time," he admitted, "I have travelled in the TARDIS for so long that I've really forgotten how most people see time. The individual days, the festivals, the holidays," he smiled at me, "Celebrating it with you and Rose, when she wakes up, helps me remember that there's more than that. Life isn't just made up of atoms and evolution and creation and everything else. It's people,"

"And memories," I finished for him, "All those memories that make up a person," a camel passed us by but I didn't pay attention to it, "And maybe..." Suddenly a light shone brightly in the sky and I looked up to see a shooting star tumble across the sky, "Maybe there is more to see,"

"A falling star," the Doctor stared in the direction that it had gone, "The story never changes, does it?"

I laughed at that, "I hope you never change, Doctor..."

"What are you thinking about?" the Doctor leaned next to me on the railing, and I could only smile at him, "What?"

"I'm remembering last year's Christmas," I said to him, "It's been a year...almost a year since then," I smiled up at him, "Think of everything that's happened since then," I placed a hand on his face, "We're such different people since then. You're...you. With a different face and a different personality, and I'm different in what I've lived through," I held up my diary, "It's been three hundred and sixty five days since that day. I suppose I should wish you a very Happy Christmas,"

"Merry Christmas," he grinned at me, "That was a good day...evening...trip," he pulled out his key, "Still got the keyring though, I didn't lose that," I nodded, "Over a year that you've been travelling in the TARDIS...seems like just yesterday that I asked you and Rose to come with me in that little backstreet in London. How times flies..."

"Of course it's been more than that if we judge it from Mum's perspective," I added, "Mr it's-been-only-twelve-hours," he blushed a little, "Still can't believe you managed to land us in the wrong year. Do you know how difficult it is trying to construct a back story for a year , saying you've been to various countries when you haven't...I'm surprised more people haven't cottoned on to the fact that I'm completely lying to them. Every time I go to see Mum I still am able to draw the glares from half the estate. They think that we were horribly cruel to just take off like that and not even a single word to Mum,"

He shrugged, "Sort of hard when you're time travelling with a super-duper time machine, and a year goes past without you noticing..." He nudged me, "Talking about last Christmas...did you wish that you spent it with your Mum...have roast turkey and potatoes and everything we did when I changed?"

I looked at him pointedly, "Last year I went back to the year zero, took the last free room at the inn and watched as a very pregnant Mary and Joseph were shown to the stable with their donkey," I informed him, folding my arms, "How many other people can say that? No one...because we took it, and nobody can change that now,"

"You did what?" We both turned to look at Rose and Mickey who were standing by the console. I winced at the look on Rose's face, "You went to Bethlehem and took the last room at the inn?"

"No one else was going to use it," I protested, "Well not in the story...we were sticking to canon. Baby gets born in a stable, not in the last room at the inn. We were only really doing what had already happened, not what hadn't happened yet," Mickey just had a look of complete bewilderment on his face, "It's the Nativity story...everyone knows it,"

"Everyone didn't take the last room," Rose inputted, "Even if the story does say it happened. Where was I in all of this?"

"Sleeping," I told her, "It was about a week after we had left the eighties and you were a bit depressed, and asleep. We were going to tell you, but then all that happened with the gasmask zombies a week after that so there wasn't really any time to tell you. You seemed to be doing fine without it though..." Her expression didn't seem to change, "Obviously we made a mistake,"

"You met baby Jesus?" Mickey only said and I rolled my eyes, and shook my head in exasperation at his comment.

The Doctor walked to the console of the TARDIS, "But seeing as you said that it was Christmas once again..." I nodded in agreement to his statement, "Then I suppose another trip ought to be good enough," he grinned at them, "Can't cross our own timelines again, that would be a little awkward, but maybe I can," he slammed a lever down before rushing over to the doors, "Do this!"

We crowded around the doors watching as the TARDIS suddenly flew sharply over a tiny village way down below us, the bulb on top shining about ten times as it usually does. I craned my neck and saw tiny people milling around, before stopping and staring at us, way up high. Obviously they didn't know that we were inside, or that this was a police box.

"You made us the Christmas star?" Rose looked at the Doctor who beamed broadly, "You actually made us the Christmas star,"

"Well...the star had to come from somewhere," he protested, "Why not us? We saw it happen last year," he wrapped an arm around me and I grinned up at him, "Merry Christmas Everyone,"

Merry Christmas.