Well Heather and I decided that it was time that we write something again and ladyofgallifrey strongly hinted that we take on this prompt from the December Christmas Carol-a-thon on LJ Though the original title was quite long and ended abbreviated up being ISIDGYAGAYWWTANIFTNTMUFTBDEARODF, the inspiration of this song is the 12 Days of Christmas. Because of this there will be one chapter a day from now until January 6th! Enjoy! And Heather, thanks!
Christmas Morning
All was quiet in the Tyler household on Christmas morning, except for the jiggling of a key in the lock of the front door and mumbled swearing in some distant language by the person doing the jiggling. For about the hundredth time since being left on this parallel Earth two months ago, the Doctor thought to himself that he really needed to make a new sonic screwdriver. Keys are just so… primitive. Jackie enjoys berating him about his inability to cope without his "fancy gadgets", but the Doctor secretly thinks that Jackie purposely gave him a faulty key just because she likes teasing him about his new half-human existence.
With a sigh of relief, he finally got the key to sit right and unlocked the door, slowly pushing it open and stepping into the warm and expansive front hall of the Tyler's home. He quietly set down the large bag he'd been carrying and then took off his heavy winter coat and scarf (this human body just didn't adapt to climate changes the way his fully Time Lord one had, but he'd found he quite liked the puffy warmth of a heavy down coat) and hung them in the front closet. He stood still for a moment to listen for noises from within the large mansion. He was surprised to discover that the house was completely silent. Not even little Tony was awake. It's Christmas morning! What's wrong with these people?
"Rose?" He called, though not very loudly. Hopefully he was being just loud enough to catch her hearing if she was awake, but not loud enough to wake her if she was still sleeping. When he didn't get a response, he went through the rest of the family. When he was greeted only by continued silence, he decided to just go sit in the living room and wait for them. Rose had told him that the family always got up early on Christmas morning and it was already 5:15 am so the Doctor assumed that they had to be getting up soon.
He walked into the living room and flopped down onto the long couch in the room, turning his body so he could stretch his legs out along the length of the furniture. He flung his right arm over the back cushion and leaned his head back on the arm. Turning his head to look at the lights on the Christmas tree, he quickly found himself lost in reflections of the madness that his life had been in the past couple of months.
Adjusting to this human life was turning out to be a much more difficult process than he would have guessed at the outset of this new adventure. He had argued with his original self that day in Norway that he was not the monster his other self made him out to be. But he'd quickly had to admit that, while his actions had saved the universe, he had done a monstrous thing and it was lingering in his soul. He had found himself to be easily frustrated and quick to anger in those first few days after being left here.
And that had turned out to be a Very Bad Thing when Rose was also dealing with her own turmoil of emotions over the events of that day. She loved him for being able to say the words that his original self had never been able to bring himself to speak, he knew she did. But he was also acutely aware of the fact that she'd been left with something less – no, not less, different – than what she'd intended. And despite being even more brilliant and fantastic than she'd been when she'd been taken from him, it was a lot for her to deal with. Combine her turmoil with his short temper and inner demons, and it had been a very rocky road indeed. But they were working at it. Because she loves him, and he loves her. He thought that his saying those words to her every day was sometimes the only thing that kept them from giving up on each other on some of those darkest early days.
And he did love her. He'd loved her for years, even before he'd had this body. He chuckled to himself mirthlessly. His original self had been such an idiot to never tell her, to never let himself have that with her – words spoken and out there for all to know. She'd known it; they both knew it, but it was something entirely different to share the words with each other. And he actually felt a bit sorry for his original self that he never let himself know how amazing that feels.
Things between him and Rose were looking up, though. They'd seemed to cross a bridge in the last couple of weeks. The creation of his fake identity had finally been completed, which had allowed him to finally start working and earning his own living. That alone had gone a long way to curb his frustration and temper. He hadn't liked living on the Tyler's charity during the weeks it had taken to create the necessary history and documentation. He'd decided to take on a teaching profession and was thoroughly enjoying his brand new post as a junior faculty member at London University.
He'd rented his own flat and was finally able to take Rose out on proper dates, where he paid. The positive change in his attitude had resulted in a positive change in their relationship, including talk of their future together, which had motivated the Doctor to make big plans for Rose's Christmas. He'd had to borrow some money from Pete to make it all come together, but now that he was working he'd have that paid back in just a few months' time. He couldn't help smiling as he thought to himself that he was starting to get quite good at this whole mortgage and carpets thing.
He heard a shuffling of feet in the foyer and shot up from his supine position, ready to greet Rose with an enthusiastic hug and Christmas kiss. Instead, he about made poor little Tony jump out of his skin in surprise.
"Doctor!" he squeaked in alarm just as the Doctor said, "Tony!"
"How long have you been down here?" Tony asked, collecting himself and coming to sit by him on the couch.
He glanced at his watch before replying. "About an hour already. Rose told me you all get up early on Christmas morning." Tony quirked an eyebrow at him in a way that uncannily mimicked Jackie's own habit. And just as it did when Jackie looked at him that way, the Doctor felt the need to defend himself. "What? I didn't want to be late. She should have been more specific."
If it was possible, Tony's eyebrow arched even higher. Then he laughed out loud and gave the Doctor a big hug around the legs. He hugged the boy back, feeling a bit confused.
Tony pulled back and grinned at the Doctor. "They'll be down soon. You get Rose a present?"
Now it was the Doctor's turn to grin. "Yes, I did!" He reached into the inside pocket of his suit jacket and pulled out a simple white envelope with Rose's name written across the outside.
Tony's grin fell into a frown. "That's it?"
"Oi!" The Doctor defended. "You don't know what's in here. She's gonna love it. I've put a lot of planning into this.
Tony looked at him dubiously.
"Stop looking at me like that." The Doctor couldn't help reprimanding. He handed the envelope out to him. "Go put this under the tree for me, please."
Tony obliged, all the while looking at the envelope with an expression nearing pity. The Doctor could have sworn he'd heard the boy mutter something about hoping his gift from the Doctor wasn't an envelope too. He'd been about to launch into a story about how great Tony's gift was when Jackie and Pete entered the room, followed closely by Rose.
Everybody was still in their pajamas and dressing gowns, and looking a bit sleepy, but smiling and looking forward to spending Christmas morning together. They all looked quite surprised, just as Tony had, to see the Doctor there already.
"Good morning, Jackie! Pete!" The Doctor said, greeting them each with a hug in turn. "Happy Christmas!"
Without even waiting for a response from them, he continued onto Rose, who was looking at him with suppressed mirth and a laughing twinkle in her eye. He swept her up in a giant hug, lifting her off the ground, before leaning back to give her a thorough kiss that was broken only when Jackie not so subtly cleared her throat. He pulled back and looked Rose in the eyes. "Merry Christmas, Rose."
Rose grinned in that way, with the tip of her tongue peeking from the side of her mouth, that made him weak in the knees. "Merry Christmas, early bird. I didn't expect you here so early."
Tony answered before the Doctor could. "He's been here for over an hour already!"
Rose looked at the Doctor in amusement. The Doctor smiled back a bit sheepishly. "You'd said your family gets up early on Christmas Day. I didn't want to be late."
"Well, since we're all here already," Jackie's voice interrupted, "we may as well get right to the presents."
The Doctor looked back at Rose and flashed his manic grin. "You're gonna love your gift!"
***
Rose had found it unsurprising to learn that the Doctor had rather messy handwriting, but with a bit of effort and study she had learned how to decipher it. Looking at the envelope he'd handed her, she presumed that he had purchased her a gift certificate, and she wouldn't have minded if he had. She was well aware that such human traditions as Christmas gifts were a completely foreign idea to him. When she opened the card and found nothing inside but more messy writing, she started to get a bit confused. She wasn't a materialistic person, but he'd led her to believe that she was getting a gift. Reminding herself that having him here with her and loving her, even without the time travel, was gift enough, she read the note he had written inside.
When the doorbell rings at 2:00 pm tomorrow, be sure that you're the person to answer the door.
Merry Christmas, Rose Tyler.
Love, Your Doctor
Rose paused for only a moment before flipping to the back of the card looking for the rest. The back of the card was blank. She looked over to the Doctor, seeking clarification, but he was engrossed in helping Tony put together his toy zeppelin and airfield.
Deciding that Tony's zeppelin could wait a moment she called to the Doctor and beckoned him over to her.
"What is this?" Rose asked him, trying not to sound disappointed.
The Doctor looked at her blankly. "It's your Christmas card."
"I can see that." Rose said with patience. "But it's empty. I thought you said my gift was in here." She shook the card a little to emphasize its emptiness.
The Doctor grinned at her, but it wasn't the manic grin she'd seen countless times all those years ago. This was a different grin, much more subdued but slightly more dangerous in the way that it indicated that he knew something devastatingly important that she didn't know. Rose supposed this new grin was from Donna. She wasn't exactly sure she liked it.
"No," the Doctor said, lifting his hand to run his fingers gently through Rose's hair, "I said that the instructions for receiving your gift were in there. And they are."
Rose started to ask what this cryptic message was supposed to mean, but the Doctor cut her off.
"Tomorrow. Two o'clock. And that's all I'm saying." He kissed her forehead and then turned his attention back to Tony, diving into an enthusiastic explanation of the design flaws of the most recent economy-class zeppelins.
.