Rose ran as fast as her feet would take her, still trailing behind the Doctor by a considerable amount. She pushed herself to go faster, ignoring the burn in her legs and the pain of being winded in her sides. While she had gotten considerably better at running (you had to when traveling with the Doctor) she hadn't gotten quite as good at it as he was. She could see him in the distance, black leather contrasting against the red dust of the planet which was quickly covering every inch of Rose's clothes. Running had become a normal part of her everyday life with the Doctor but this time even Rose hadn't understood what had prompted this event. They had been eating a meal with the leaders of the small planet after the Doctor had helped them fix their satellite when they had suddenly become very angry. They had been shouting in a language that even the TARDIS couldn't translate and had very forcibly thrown Rose and the Doctor out. The Doctor, who really just couldn't take a hint sometimes, had tried to be diplomatic and repair the situation, apologizing for whatever it was they had supposedly done. That was when they had begun to chase them, throwing stones at them with weapons that resembled very high powered sling shots. Rose had already taken one to the arm and she had no desire to have another. The huge welt and numbness in her arm were more than enough to convince her to run.

Rose could see the TARDIS, standing at the top of a small hill like a wonderful beacon of hope. She glanced behind her to see their now-enemies closing in on her, ducking to avoid another stone as she tripped slightly and fell into the red dust of the planet. The Doctor, turning and noticing Rose's spill ran back, grabbed her arm and pulled her toward the TARDIS. Rose struggled to keep up with his pace but they soon made it to the TARDIS, bursting into the doors and spilling out onto the floor of the TARDIS. They tumbled next to each other, glancing each other's way before bursting into laughter. Rose closed her eyes as she laughed, rolling slightly as she fought to catch her breath. When the laughing had subsided slightly, Rose opened her eyes and turned to look at the Doctor who was beginning to sit up.

"Well, that was a bit rude" he said as if the incident was a slight manners infraction, looking offended, dusting off his dirt cover jacket.

"Apparently you were the one that was a bit rude" Rose said with a grin, sitting up on the floor beside the Doctor. "Not sure what it was this time but something obviously made them mad"

"Me?" The Doctor asked pulling back a bit. "It could have been you"

Rose rolled her eyes. "I was hardly talking…..you are the one that doesn't know when to stop. Maybe they just got tired of listening to your long technical rant"

The Doctor pretended to look offended but Rose knew it was fake. "That was not a technical rant" he said. "That was helpful advice to keep their satellite from breaking down again. They should be thanking me."

"Well, they obviously didn't think so" Rose said with a grin.

The Doctor folded his arms. "Try to help people…..this is thanks you get. They're worse than humans"

Rose scowled slightly at the Doctor but chose to ignore the humans comment. She pulled back the sleeve of her jumper and examined the spot where the stone had hit her. It had turned from red to dark purple and raised. It had also gone from numb to painfully throbbing. She winced slightly as she tried to put her sleeve down again but the Doctor had seen it and taken her arm.

"Oi, they got you didn't they?" The Doctor asked, taking her arm and examining it.

"Yeah….but it's alright" Rose said even though it hurt pretty badly.

The Doctor took out his sonic screwdriver and turned it on, scanning the bruise. To Rose's surprise, the injury began to heal and the pain subside. When he had finished, Rose rubbed the now pink patch of skin. "Thanks" Rose said, a little stunned that he had been able to heal it that easily.

The Doctor gave her a small smile. "I am a Doctor, you know" he said with a wink before pushing up from the floor and going to the console. "So….where to next?" he asked grandly.

Rose pushed up from the floor and came to lean next to the Doctor on the console. "You know exactly where we are going next" she said, crossing her arms and giving the Doctor a knowing look. "No trying to get out of it"

The Doctor looked away from her eyes. "Rose…do we have to?" he asked, whining like a child.

"Yes, yes we do" Rose insisted. "It's almost Christmas"

"But it's your mum" The Doctor said, slightly pained, as if it was the worst thing in the world.

"Yeah, and spending a day or two with her won't kill you" Rose said, not feeling any sympathy for him.

"Don't be so sure" The Doctor said, giving her a pouty look. Rose just smiled; for someone that was 900 years old, he sure could act like a child sometimes.

The Doctor reluctantly turned on the TARDIS and put it into flight, muttering something along the lines of "Things I do for humans…." under his breath, Rose simply laughing. The Doctor looked up from the console. "London it is…..Powell Estate" the Doctor said like a hesitant tour guide. "You might want to go get cleaned up" he suggested, pointing at Rose. She looked down at her clothes that were covered in red dust.

"Alright…..but I'll be right back" Rose said. "I don't want to find you've changed our destination while I was gone"

"Yes, ma'am" The Doctor said sarcastically before Rose disappeared down the corridor toward her bedroom. She had made the Doctor agree to take her home for Christmas and very reluctantly to stay for a few days himself. Rose thought it should be interesting considering he had never even stayed for tea, insisting that he didn't do domestics.

Rose went to her room and shed her dust covered clothes, stepping into the tub for a very quick shower. She was excited to see her mum again; it had been awhile since she had visited. She smiled when she thought about the Christmas decorations her mum would no doubt have up by now and all the goodies she would be baking for Christmas day. Rose's stomach rumbled, much to her surprise; only few minutes ago her stomach had felt like it was going to burst from the heavy alien food they had had at the banquet.

After showering and changing into fresh clothes, Rose emerged from her bedroom and bounced down the hallway, a broad smile on her face as she came into the console room and found a very brooding time lord sitting in the jump seat. "Bought time you got ready" he said with a slight frown. "Let's get this over with"

"Are you going to be this pouty the entire time?" Rose asked, giving him a sly smile.

"I might be" The Doctor said with folded arms.

"Well" Rose said, biting her lip and putting one hand on the Doctor's chest "I might just have to do something to put a smile on that face"

Rose watched the Doctor's face turn a beet red before she removed her hand and leaned back, taking note of her tone and what she had said. It was almost like…..flirting. She wasn't sure what had gotten into her. Feeling herself grow red she quickly changed the subject. "Let's go" Rose said, walking toward the door, the Doctor trailing behind her.

When Rose stepped out of the TARDIS and looked around at the place that was quickly becoming her second home after the TARDIS, she smiled. Snow was brilliantly pillowed on the ground and still falling as they emerged from the ship and looked around. Rose looked around, tilting her head back and looking up at the hundreds of individual snowflakes that were falling to the ground around her. "Isn't it beautiful?" Rose asked taking in the sight of it all. When she didn't hear the Doctor's response, she turned to look behind her, only to be greeted by a snowball to the face. Its coldness burned her skin and she wiped it off quickly, scowling at the Doctor who was standing several feet away, laughing heartily.

"Yes, it is beautiful" he said with a laugh. Despite the fact that she was not pleased at all to have snow on her face, she was glad to see him not pouting.

Rose grabbed some snow and balled it up tossing it toward the Doctor who ducked just in time. He tossed one her way and though she tried to dodge it, it hit her coldly on the neck. "No fair!" she whined, wiping her neck.

"It's not fault you're such an awful shot" The Doctor said in jest.

"You've had more practice" Rose said, chucking another one his way but missing once more.

The Doctor laughed as he dodged the snowball. "What makes you think that I've had loads of practice throwing snowballs?" he asked innocently.

"Because you're ancient" Rose retorted, kicking snow toward him.

"Ancient?" The Doctor asked, looking offended. "I'll have you know I'm at a perfectly normal time lord age. You probably just think I'm so old because you're just a little tot yourself"

Rose didn't know why but she felt irritation rise up in her; it was surpringly strong and she didn't understand why. She knew that the Doctor was joking but the last thing she wanted to be seen as by the Doctor was a kid "I'm not a little tot" she said, running toward the Doctor. He caught her as she launched herself at him, falling back into the snow. As quickly as the irritation had come, it slid off. Rose laughed as they fell back in the snow, her falling onto the Doctor's chest forcefully. He was laughing as he looked up at her and though she had meant to use this opportunity to stuff snow in the Doctor's face, she found herself simply staring down at the Doctor's face. As he began to calm his laughing he looked up at her seriously, a deep look in his eyes. Rose's eyes fell to his lips, so nicely curved into a small smile, one he only used when looking at her. Her stomach did a little flip flop and suddenly it seemed very warm out in the snow. She realized at the last second, a mere centimeters from the Doctor's lips, that she had been leaning in towards him. Feeling suddenly mortifyingly embarrassed, Rose jumped up from the Doctor, brushing herself off and pretending nothing had happened. Rose didn't understand where all these strange feelings were coming from. It wasn't like she had never thought about kissing the Doctor; she'd certainly given it plenty of thought, more than she cared to admit. But she would never act on it. And that was precisely what she had been about to do, without any thought at all when mere seconds ago she had been strangely angry at him. Rose shook her head; hormones….that's what it had to be…

"Well, mum will be waiting by now" Rose said, trying to brush off the near kiss she had tried to initiate, though still considering that the Doctor hadn't looked like he was going to stop her. "She keeps an ear out for the TARDIS, you know"

The Doctor was standing up from the snow and brushing himself off. He seemed a little at loss for words. "Yeah….alright" he said, his face a little red as he followed Rose into the building.

….

The Doctor squirmed on the couch, feeling more and more uncomfortable by the second. He flipped through the channels on the telly trying to find something non torturous to watch as Rose and Jackie giggled loudly in the kitchen as they prepared dinner but it was no use; alien TV had some half way decent shows but human telly was completely useless. He tossed the remote aside and stared at the blinking lights on the tree as he brooded that he had to be here.

He thought back to the incident in the snow; it had been so strange. If he hadn't known better, he would have been sure that Rose had almost kissed him. Had she done so, he wouldn't have stopped her; he was embarrassed to admit how much he had fantasized about doing just that. But Rose had never shown the slightest interest in doing so and would never be the one to initiate such a thing. It was strange…..he didn't know if he should be excited about it or if he should simply forget it had happened. Rose hadn't gone through with it; she had looked quite embarrassed about it in fact. Maybe he'd imaged the whole thing.

"Dinner's ready" Rose called to the Doctor, suddenly surprising him by being right next to him, making him jump.

"Wow, you're sure jumpy" Rose said with a laugh, noticing his surprise. "Come on, mum's outdone herself this time"

The Doctor put his hand on his stomach, not feeling very hungry. It hadn't been all that long ago that they had eaten at the banquet. And besides, it was Jackie's cooking. "I'm not really that hungry" he said.

"Really? I'm starving" Rose said, putting her hand on her stomach.

"We just ate" the Doctor said.

Rose patted his cheek, none too easily. "Well, you're not getting out of eating with us, so just get your little alien bum in there" she said slyly before walking towards the kitchen again. The Doctor stared back at her in confusion, touching his cheek. Rose was acting weirder by the second; she acted like she was flirting with him. That wasn't like her; yes maybe she had acted that way towards other people when she was with him, but never towards him. Maybe she was hungry; she was acting slightly delirious. Either way, it left the Doctor with an uneasy feeling.