A/N: I was going to try and get this up by Halloween, but I didn't have time… Enjoy a belated Halloween!
The Doctor grinned as he set the coordinates on the TARDIS for Earth. He couldn't wait to see Rose when she found out when they were. What an awkward sentence, "when we were," the Doctor thought momentarily, though at that moment the TARDIS landed, and Rose, having heard the landing, came into the console room wearing jeans and T-shirt and pulling on a sweater.
"All right then, where are we? Rose asked, walking up to the Doctor and trying to read the control screen.
"Oh, no you don't," the Doctor quickly moved in front of the screen so that Rose could not see where the TARDIS had landed. He loved to surprise her, and he thought she needed a little relaxing adventure after all the dangerous action filled ones. "We're on Earth, I'll tell you that," he said with a smug grin. "Come on, why don't we go and see?" He said motioning Rose to the door of the TARDIS and following behind her, pulling on his long brown coat.
Rose stepped out of the TARDIS, looking around. They were in London, that was sure. The sun was going down; sending the city into a gloom, and it was chilly. She crossed her arms and looked around, wondering how the Doctor expected her to guess what the date was by just stopping them randomly in time and space. The Doctor stepped out of the TARDIS behind her, closing the door.
"Any guesses?" he asked with a wide, toothy grin. As he did many times and was doing now, the Doctor reminded Rose of a little kid when he got excited, and she couldn't help but smiling at his behavior. She loved it when he acted like that. "Come on, guess!" So Rose turned back to the London street to try and figure out what the date was.
Several things jumped out at Rose the second time she had checked: pumpkins, cotton webs all around, and a group of children passed by them wearing odd clothing, more like costumes. "Oh!" Rose exclaimed. "It's Halloween!"
"Yes! You get candy on Halloween, if I'm not mistaken. Am I right? What's it called?" the Doctor asked, as if he had already had numerous amounts of candy.
"Yeah, we do. But we need costumes to go trick-or-treating, you know, dressing up…" but the Doctor had already taken her hand and was dragging her up to the first house on their left. He let go of her hand and rang the doorbell, flashing a smile at her before facing the door again.
And elderly lady answered the door, carrying a big bowl of candy. She looked up at them through thick glasses. "Happy Halloween kids, take some candy… And what are you two supposed to be?" she asked, looking them up and down. Rose wandered about her eye sight, for she seemed to think that they were dressed up, though neither of them was in costumes. Rose was wearing normal clothes, though she supposed the Doctor could pass as something, him wearing his usual pinstripe suit. Maybe a magician or something.
"Happy Halloween!" the Doctor said cheerily. "I'm the Doctor. I'm 900 years old and the last of the Time Lords from the distant planet Gallifrey. I have a time machine that is stuck in the shape of a police box because of its faulty chameleon circuit that can travel back and forward in time. I travel across time and space battling evil aliens and saving planets and people from perilous doom. I've met Charles Dickens, Queen Victoria, Madame de Pompadour, and Prime Minister Harriet Jones," he said all that in a span of fifteen seconds, while reaching and taking a couple pieces of candy from the bowl. "Oh! And I have a sonic screwdriver," he added as if it was the most important thing in the world not to forget when introducing yourself to someone. He smiled widely, and then turned to Rose, watching her expectantly.
Rose was a bit shocked, and at a loss for what to say. "I, uh… I help him with all that," she said dumbly, knowing that she would not be able to think of something to say that would top the Doctor's description of himself, or to even say anything that fast. She took some pieces of candy.
"That's nice… Have a nice night," the lady said, and walked back into her house, closing the door. Rose now began to wonder about her hearing. If she had been told that she was talking to some kind of alien, she would have been more interested, or even scared. But then again, it was Halloween. She and the Doctor walked back onto the sidewalk in front of the lady's house.
"I help him with all that?" he asked Rose, looking somewhat bewildered at her lack of response.
Rose punched him lightly in the arm "What was I supposed to say Mr. Speed Talker?"
The Doctor thought for a moment. "Rose Tyler, defender of the Earth," he finally declared with a smile "And now you have something to say. Next house!" He said, taking her hand again and walking with her up to the next house, getting candy, and going on to the next house. This continued for a while, until their pockets were filled with candy and the sky had grown darker. There were fewer children around, but Rose was getting sleepier and less amused by the trick-or-treating. Perhaps the Doctor noticed this, or he himself was getting tired of having to describe himself to every person at each new house, but he took her hand and they began to just walk down the street, not stopping at any houses.
"Where are we going now then?" Rose asked, looking at the Doctor, who looking around at where their feet had taken them. It looked like a long lane, which at the end they could see the familiar glow of the TARDIS. Funny…thought Rose I don't remember the TARDIS being there… Maybe she was more tired then she thought.
The Doctor followed her gaze. "Ah! We could head back to the TARDIS, watch some Halloween type movies… Hmm, she must really like you…" he mumbled that last bit to himself, but Rose caught it as they began to walk towards the TARDIS.
"What do you mean, 'she must like you?'"
"Well, after traveling with the TARDIS for a while, you get sort of… Connected to it. It can understand my thoughts and feelings," he explained. Rose had a sense that it was a lot more complicated than this, but he was giving her the answer she'd understand. "So sometimes, if I want something or wish for something so much, without realizing what I did, the TARDIS will help me on the way to what I want," he continued fondly. "But as I can guess, you're tired of wandering around and want to go back to the TARDIS. So, she must have heard that and complied with your wish. Great old ship she is…" he smiled. Rose couldn't' help but laugh at how devoted the Doctor was to the TARDIS. The Doctor frowned. "What's so funny?" Rose couldn't help but smile. He looked so cute when he was confused.
"Nothing…" she said. They had reached the TARDIS. Opening for her, Rose walked in, letting go of his hand that she had not realized she was even holding. The Doctor closed the door behind him, and threw his brown coat on one of the wavy pillar type things.
"Movies?" He asked, sounding eager again like he had earlier that night. She smiled and nodded, falling in step beside him as they made their way through the twisting and turning corridors of the TARDIS until they came to the movie room.
It was a living room styled room with a long comfy couch and a fairly sized TV in front of the wall. Rose sat down on the couch while the Doctor walked up to the TV and requested a Halloween type movie and then joined her on the couch. That was another feature of the TARDIS—just tell the television what you wanted to see and it would show you. A good way for Rose to keep up with all the shows she used to watch before she met the Doctor.
The Doctor's arms were already stretched out across the back of the couch and Rose snuggled closer to him, resting her head in the crook of his neck to watch the movie.
About 45 minutes into the movie, the hero's enemy ambushed him from jumping out of a bunch of trees. The type of thing that would startle most humans, but the Doctor had been able to work out what would happen and didn't jump (it also helped that he had seen the movie before). What surprised him more was that Rose hadn't jumped at all. Looking down, he saw that she her eyes were closed and she was breathing rhythmically. She had fallen asleep. While leaning on him. His hearts gave a flutter, and he smiled to himself. As if by queue, the lights got dimmer and the volume on the TV lowered. The Doctor shifted slightly, hoping not to wake Rose up. He looked back down at her sleeping form. Leaning forward, he lightly kiss her on the forehead so as not to wake her up, but doing so because he didn't know if he'd have another chance to do it. "Goodnight Rose…" he whispered, before leaning his own head back. What a nice Halloween.
A/N: Sorry it's kind of late. Oh! And could anyone guess the line from Doomsday? I couldn't resist finding a way to work it into this story…
