Author's Note: Absolutely no idea where this came from but it seemed fitting for a christmas fic. Happy xmas ncruuk and thanks for all your support over the last few months, it means a lot to me.

The sound of a dematerialising TARDIS jolted Kate fully awake and alert; from what, she had no idea but she at least had a clue as to the who. She knew she had been at the Tower all morning and had just popped into Osgood's laboratory as part of her usual rounds. She had been interested to see how the younger woman was getting on analysing a device left behind at the end of their last encounter with some not so friendly aliens. Speaking of who…

Osgood hadn't fared quite so well and had landed with her backside in a pile of fresh and unexpected… snow? In the seconds that Osgood's surprised coughing and spluttering could be heard, Kate suddenly noticed the landscape before them. Miles and miles of glistening white snow, so white that it dazzled and shimmered in the full, bright sun. Mountains off into the far distance gave Kate a sense of perspective but otherwise there was nothing to distinguish where on earth they were. Or not as the case may be. Especially if, as she suspected, the Doctor had had a hand in this. Kate remembered herself and offered a helping hand to her friend and second in command. Osgood took it gratefully, with a brief 'thanks' and then dusted herself down, which gave her time to think and eventually speak coherently.

"Wow, this is amazing! Where are we?" The scientist bent slightly at the waist to catch the bottom of her duffle coat and began to do up the toggles. Once finished, she wrapped her scarf a couple more times around her neck, right up to her chin to keep her nice and warm and made sure that the ends were not left too long so she couldn't trip over them; one splat in the snow was enough for her today already! She then reached inside the pockets of her coat and pulled out a pair of multi-coloured, stripey gloves. However they'd ended up here, the instigator had obviously taken care to make sure they were suitably attired because she knew that she had only been wearing her lab coat and jumper back at UNIT HQ.

"No idea, I haven't got my phone with me, although I suspect it probably wouldn't work out here anyway." Kate's clothing had also been well thought out; gone were her orange heels and instead her feet were nice and toasty in a pair of fleece-lined, ankle length boots. She wore a long grey quilted coat with a faux-fur lined trim on the bottom and around the hood. An army-green scarf adorned her neck, which was standard UNIT issue with the logo emblazoned on either end.

"Do you think we're still on earth?" Osgood looked around and took in what she could see, besides snow, the sun and mountains that really was all they had to go on.

"I can't really tell and we've got no equipment with us to at least make an educated guess. It smells… clean? Fresh? I'm not sure." Kate shook her head in frustration and wondered just what in the world the Doctor was up to this time. Osgood took a couple of deep breaths beside her and Kate's concern was immediately for her friend. "Osgood….?"

"You're right, the air is fresher. I can breathe much more easily than in London." To be fair, in most other places in the UK she could breathe better than when she was in London. It still didn't really help them to work it out. Delicate flakes of snow began to gently flutter down from the clear blue sky but the sun was no less bright which prompted Kate into leaning more towards concluding that they were no longer on earth.

Kate suddenly felt something hard hit her between her shoulder blades, which startled her and made her jump. She turned towards the direction from whence it came and found Osgood sniggering but making a half-hearted attempt to look innocent at the same time. For a split second Osgood wondered if it had been a mistake and that Kate hadn't been in the mood for such frivolity. But then a smirk appeared on her friend's face and she bent down to scoop up some snow to mould into a nice cold and wet snowball. Osgood let out a small yelp, suddenly realising she had nowhere to hide and tried to make a half-hearted attempt at a getaway. Kate played fair and aimed at her lower leg instead of anywhere vital to keeping her upright.

The next half an hour descended into much merriment as they chased and threw snowballs at each other as though they were teenagers. Delighted shrieks could be heard for miles around, neither woman usually associated with that kind of behaviour or lightness of spirit in their day jobs. Despite the absurdity of it, in the end, they both lay in the snow, breathing heavily after their exertion. Wide grins and occasional chuckles emanated from them as they calmed themselves. A naked and slightly lopsided snowman stood proudly at their feet, neither woman had been prepared to give up any of their warm clothing to adorn their collaborative piece of art, and there were two lumps of snow about the chest area to indicate they'd in fact built a female snowman.

"That was fun!" Osgood exclaimed, all sense of propriety now fully tossed aside given the situation. Kate turned her head to look at the younger woman and saw the warm flush in her cheeks, delight evident in her face and for the first time since they'd met, she seemed really and truly relaxed.

"Yes, it was wasn't it?" Osgood noticed a matching expression on Kate's face and found her heart clenching a little with that unrequited feeling she constantly carried around with her. It had taken her a long while to work it out but once she had done, it was so glaringly obvious that's how she felt about her friend and boss that she worried it was to other people too.

"I'm getting wet and it's freezing out here. There has to be somewhere we can dry off and warm up?" Kate could suck it up and get on with most situations she found herself in but on this occasion the cold and damp had begun to creep into her bones. She was tired and frustrated so held onto the hope that the Doctor would come back for them, long before either one of them perished anyway.

"There's nothing but snow for miles around and no signs of any sort of life." Osgood needlessly pointed out, stuck for something else to say or suggest.

"I can't believe the Doctor wouldn't have thought of that, he's an idiot at the best of times but he's not that daft." Kate looked directly at the younger woman and a thoughtful look appeared on her face. "Are you amenable to a bit of an explore?"

"Of course, it's not as though we can do much else is there?" They helped pull each other up off the snow-covered ground and dusted themselves off as best they could. "What way?"

"Towards the mountains? It's the only logical option I can think of." Osgood nodded and followed Kate; wherever they would eventually end up, no one knew.

"You see, it's not cruel if they eventually formulate a plan." The grey haired man threw the comment at his companion knowingly as they observed the scene play out inside the snow globe that sat on the TARDIS console before them.

"You mean they're not going to freeze to death?" The young woman with the natural afro hair had been very worried when he'd kidnapped the two UNIT officials earlier that morning and deposited them in the middle of nowhere.

"Of course not, that would be missing the point entirely." The older man said in an exasperated tone of voice. The trouble was, he often assumed his human companions were mind readers and neglected to fill them in on his thought processes.

"I still don't think I understand." Bill pouted at her still relatively new friend. She'd had some thrilling adventures with him so far but did wonder whether she'd ever properly get to know him.

"All in good time my dear, all in good time."