Dreams and Nightmares

Christmas Interlude

The fire crackled almost as if in protest of the cold weather outside, warming the area around the hearth. The light from the flame reflected off of the silvery decorations around the fireplace and off of the Christmas tree on the opposite side of the room, making the living room a glittering example of Christmas cheer. It would have been a perfect scene if the man sitting in the couch in front of the fire had a more cheery disposition.

The man in question pulled his legs up onto the couch, wrapping his arms around said legs before resting his chin on his knees. He gazed into the fire as if it had answers for all the questions running through his mind, questions he knew he wouldn't receive answers to for a long time to come. He wondered briefly if it were really possible to die from heartache before dismissing the thought offhand. Yes, he was miserable emotionally but it wasn't the first time and it certainly wouldn't be the last. And at least he had family to go to this time of the year, even if that family didn't really like him all that much. Well, it wasn't as if his brother-in-law hated him. He just didn't like him. That didn't stop them from commiserating together.

A shadow interrupted the flickering light, causing the man to raise his head and look upon said brother-in-law. The latter held out a mug, inviting him to accept it. The man gratefully took the mug, murmuring a thanks before taking a sip.

"Mulled wine," he noted aloud, allowing his feet to drop to the floor.

"It's her favorite," came the answer.

"I know. She must have gone through a whole bottle on her own our first Christmas. First Christmas in a long time that something disastrous didn't happen around me. Well, not directly anyway. The Sycorax were trying to enslave humanity and I was there stopping them. Fortunately, none of your family has type A positive blood or I would have been standing on a high rooftop, waiting to pull your sister from the edge the moment the blood control link was broken."

Andrew Holloway gave a sardonic smile at the Doctor's words. "You make it sound so normal."

The Time Lord took a drink of his wine. "I love Christmas but it doesn't seem to love me. Always finding trouble at Christmas. Gelth, Sycorax, Racnoss, keeping the Titanic from crashing into Buckingham Palace…"

"That replica spaceship was real?" the younger man questioned with incredulity.

"Oh, yes. Very real," the Gallifreyan replied. "Haven't had a Christmas like that the whole time I've been with Grace. It's like… just her presence guards against it." He exhaled slowly. "I don't know. Maybe I'm reading too much into it. But, then again, love will do that to you. Make you see things that aren't there and make you blind to things that are." He exhaled loudly. "I miss her so much." Turning his head, he looked into his wife's brother's eyes. "And I know you miss her too."

Andy swallowed some wine, his eyes dropping at the Doctor's words. "Yeah. She's all I have left now, with Mom and Dad gone." He hesitated before raising his head once more. "She's going to be okay, yeah? I mean, she's going to get better."

"She's being cared for by the best healers in the universe," responded the Time Lord vehemently. "She'll get better."

"Have you seen her? Visited her?"

The alien shook his head. "I'm not allowed. We're telepathically linked and… well, such distractions aren't good for her psyche just yet."

"I don't think I'll ever understand that," the human commented as he slouched further into the couch the two shared.

"Us being telepathically linked?"

"Yeah," Andrew replied quietly. "I mean it's just…" He trailed off, not finishing the sentence.

The two sat in silence for several minutes, both staring into the fire.

"Thank you for allowing me to join you," the Doctor finally said. "Really didn't feel like spending the day alone, Christmas Eve or not."

Andrew gave him a small smile. "Me neither, actually." Taking a slow breath, he held out his glass in a toast. "Merry Christmas, John."

The Doctor returned the smile. "Merry Christmas, Andrew."

Together, they drank to all the people they had lost in the last year and all their hopes for a brighter and better future.