"Oh, no, I forgot you hate Christmas," the Doctor struggled not to smile as he bumped shoulders with Rose.
Donna narrowed her eyes at the pair before brushing at the tattered taffeta shreds of her wedding gown. "That's right, I do."
"Even…" the Doctor whirled, his overcoat hitting Rose and Donna's legs, pointing his sonic screwdriver at the TARDIS. A beam of light shot into the sky from the beacon and then – "if it snows?"
Rose gave a squeal and grabbed the redhead's hands, dancing her in a circle around the Time Lord. Donna tried to protest but Rose ignored her and both ended up with their faces tipped towards the night sky. It was such a simple thing to give her, crystalline frozen water, but it was something pure, not falling ash from a doomed spaceship. Still, it wasn't a perfect Christmas.
"You made it snow?" Donna shouted.
"Oh, just your basic atmospheric excitation."
Rose stopped spinning and stepped in front of him, her cheeks pink and eyes sparkling. Gripping his lapels, she pulled herself up on tiptoe and brushed a soft kiss against his lips. The whole kissing thing was still so new, as was the bond they now shared from their adventure on Ak'kara, but Rose wasn't passing up an opportunity. She felt almost equal parts embarrassment and happiness ripple through her mind.
"'S perfect."
"Oi, lovebirds, enough of that. Come on, Christmas dinner, on me." Donna waved the pair towards the house – lit up with a Christmas tree in the window and the brash and bold Sylvia Noble wearing and apron and oven mitts, moving around in the background.
The Doctor wrapped an arm around Rose's waist and shifted a bit on his feet.
"Oh, now I don't know. I don't really do Christmas – domestics and all – and I don't think your mother really likes me…"
"You said you did it last year. And Rose will be with you. If anyone stands a chance of charming that woman it's Rose. Especially without the killer Santas running about. Plus Granddad is in there. He's mad about the stars. You two will make a right pair." Donna's eyes softened and she reached for Rose's hand.
"I know you told me you just said goodbye to your Mum today and I won't say that I understood half of what you said about what happened to her. But from what I did get, you said she's safe and happy and I think she'd want you to have a bit of happy right now, too. So bring Spaceman here and come on in, Mum always makes enough for twenty." She gave a gentle squeeze. "Please?"
Looking down at Rose, the Doctor gave a small smile.
What do you think? We can make our excuses if you aren't ready for this. Blame me, I'm the rude one.
Noooo, I think, I think this is right. Mum was happy wasn't she?
The Doctor gave a small nod.
I mean, she married Pete and they're expectin' a baby an' all so she wasn't depressed or mopin' the whole time. I miss her, today especially because it ended up being Christmas an' we said goodbye an' all, but I need to try don't I? And Donna's sounds like a fun place to start.
You only like her because she slapped me. Twice.
"You two are doing that mind meld, talky thing again aren't you? Well, I won't have it when we're standing on the street on planet Earth. It's too weird by half." Donna huffed, stamping her foot.
Rose continued to giggle while the Doctor slinked behind her. Finally catching her breath, Rose recaptured Donna's hand.
"Donna, we'd love to have Christmas with you and your family. They won't mind that we don't have anything will they? We could grab some wine from the TARDIS."
"No, no, we don't need any alien wine," she replied, leading them up the walk. Pausing at the door, she turned to the pair. "Let's not forget you offered. Mum should be happy I'm home safe, but she's still mum, and we might need some of that alien wine once Granddad and Spaceman here get together."
As she led them into the ruthlessly neat foyer, the Doctor rubbed at the back of his neck.
"Donna, let's not tell anyone I'm from Mars, okay?"
"Doctor, there's a relationship book called that, "Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus." Donna's Mum will probably think that's what she's talkin' about." Rose's muffled voice drifted up as she struggled to pull off her trainers. The Doctor'd been about to waltz right over the shiny wood floors with his dripping trainers but Rose managed to untie them before he got his coat off. It was the simple domestics he seemed oblivious to. He could sit for hours curled up in the TARDIS library reading Dickens or Harry Potter to her but confront him with a shiny floor and dripping shoes and he reverted back to a five year old.
"Women are not from Venus. Venusians look nothing like Earth women. Venusians are all gassy and hot-tempered like the atmos…" he trailed off at the look Rose was shooting him. "Maybe another time then."
"Oi, you two, come on!"
The dining room was trimmed with evergreens and lights and smelled of turkey and mulled wine. An elderly gentleman sat at the table with a man Rose recognized from the wedding as Donna's Dad. Donna's Mum was busy pulling two more place settings out of a cupboard.
"Mum, Dad, you remember the Doctor and Rose from the reception. They saved my life. Never really did get to introduce them proper like. My parents, Geoff and Sylvia Noble and my Granddad, Wilfred Mott."
Rose smiled and held out her hand to the two at the table. Geoff Noble shook her hand politely but Wilfred engulfed her in a hug. When he was finished with Rose he hugged the Doctor.
"Thank you both for bringing my Donna back safe and sound."
"Really, it was our pleasure. Donna is one of a kind. She's going to do fantastic things."
"Well, those fantastic things should start with changing out of that dripping excuse for a wedding dress before it ruins my floors. Honestly, Donna, was there no way of saving it? How many quid did you waste on that?"
Donna rolled her eyes behind her mother and motioned to Rose to follow her up the steps. Wilf took pity on the Doctor and lead him to where his new telescope was waiting to be taken outside after dinner. The Doctor found himself enchanted by the elderly man and his theories of aliens (several of which were started by him) and his knowledge of the space program up to this point in humans development. He wondered if he could sneak him some star charts from the TARDIS. Just nearby solar systems that would only take a bit of magnification to see on his, frankly magnificent, telescope.
The girls returned in dry clothes, Donna in tan trousers and an eggplant colored blouse and Rose in black leggings that were scrunched up at the ankles and a pink (it had to be a gift, the Doctor thought. Donna was not a pink sort of woman) sweater that fell to mid thigh and covered her hands completely. She blushed when the Doctor raised a brow and Wilf chuckled.
"'M sorry, but Donna's so much taller than me. It was the nicest thing I could find I wasn't completely swimmin' in."
"And she loves that pink sweater Aunt Vera gave me last year. Honestly, that shade of pink with my hair. Who's she kidding!" Donna laughed.
This Christmas dinner for the Doctor was certainly different from the last one. He wasn't recovering from regeneration sickness for one thing, and there was turkey and pudding and Christmas crackers and wine but it wasn't the same without Jackie and Mickey. That year he was with family, even if he did have a different face. He could wear paper crowns and sonic the telly on from a room away and not worry about anything.
This year there was laughter but it was mostly from their end of the table, with Rose and Donna laughing at the wild tales Wilf spun and Sylvia trying desperately to shush them There was family, but it wasn't Rose's and the Doctor's. This family didn't know he was an alien. He couldn't sonic the corks out of the wine and make Sylvia scream or sent the toaster dancing across the countertop just to see Geoff run over to stop it. Still, it was joyful.
He was relieved to see the sparkle back in Rose's eyes. He'd been more than a bit worried when they'd landed and found out it was Christmas, even with the distraction of the Racnoss. When they'd returned from Ak'kara, she'd insisted on going back to the Estate and collecting any valuables like photo albums or homemade knickknacks from the flat. After that her nightmares had returned with a vengeance, keeping both of them up at night for days. She'd dreamed of being trapped in Pete's world without him of her Mum saying that she knew that Rose would choose to leave, it was all part of her becoming more alien than human. He'd finally resorted to using their bond to gently send her into a deeper sleep at night to avoid the nightmares.
Now, she looked almost back to normal. He could still sense her sadness and most likely would for sometime but it was in the background for the moment, overshadowed by joy and laughter of their new friend.
After dessert (and a bottle of wine helpfully provided by the TARDIS) Wilf took the three outside to his hilltop in the back yard and pointed out his favorite stars. The Doctor laid back on the blanket, Rose's head pillowed on his shoulder, Donna on his other side, and just listened as the man told the stories of the constellations passed down by humans throughout the centuries. For once he didn't feel the need to jump in and share his 'superior' knowledge; he just wanted to bask in the moment. Finally, the cold got to the humans and they gathered the blankets and wine to head in for the night but not before the Doctor performed a bit of jiggery-pokery on the telescope, enhancing the magnification by a few million. He'd already snuck the star charts into Wilf's little shed.
Donna saw them out.
"I don't care what you said, Earth marriage or not, you two are more married than I ever would have been. You were feeding him bites of your pie!"
"I did that so he wouldn't eat the whole thing off my plate, not to be romantic!" Rose laughed.
"I am sorry about Lance. I couldn't save him, not and get to you and Rose."
"I'm not. He deserved it."
Rose frowned. "Donna."
She sighed. "Alright, no he didn't. Not really, but he was an arse."
"I won't argue there. What are you gonna do now?"
"Me? Got no job and I won't be temping any time soon, I'll tell you that. See the world a bit, try and look at that big picture you keep telling me I'm missing."
Rose glanced up at the Doctor. She could feel that he was itching to ask Donna to come with them. Actually, she wouldn't mind the woman's company, either. But something was holding him back. It crawled along the edges of their bond like an itch.
Timelines. It's not Donna's time. Not yet.
"Donna Noble, no matter what you do, bus trip across Europe or taking down a covert operation, you will no doubt be brilliant." The Doctor wrapped his arms around her.
Rose stepped up with he let go. "You are special, Donna, believe it. The Doctor only picks the best."
She laughed. "He did pick you, didn't he?"
"Hey, I was just a shop girl two years ago! No A-levels and no future. He believed, so I did."
Stepping into the TARDIS, they waved goodbye.
"Merry Christmas!"
The TARDIS just dematerialized when Donna shouted.
"DOCTOR! ROSE!"
It reappeared with a groan, the Doctor poking his head out the door, making a show of sticking his finger in his ear. Rose popped up right behind him.
"Blimey, you can shout!"
"You promise me something, Spaceman. You make an honest woman out of Rose. Marry her here on Earth."
"You've got yourself a deal."
With that, the ship entered the vortex again. Rose eyed the Doctor from her side of the consol.
"What?"
"You didn't have to promise her that."
"What if I want to?"
Sighing, Rose came round and wrapped her arm around his waist.
"Bond remember? You aren't ready and neither am I. Not yet anyway. But I can promise you right now and I can give you this. Our bond. 'S sort of like being engaged, yeah?"
He chuckled. "A bit more than that, but yeah, I think it would be like that back when Gallifreyans still used a marriage bond."
"Then we say we're engaged and work on how this whole bond will work with my puny human mind and your superior Time Lord one."
"I never called your mind puny!"
A hum came from the TARDIS and when they looked up sprigs of mistletoe hung from the coral struts running along the ceiling.
"I think she went a bit overboard but I get the point. Merry Christmas, Rose."
He leaned down and just before their lips met, Rose grinned and whispered back,
"Merry Christmas, my Doctor."