Author's Note: Sorry this one is so late. I thought that I had posted it... guess not. I hope you enjoy any way!
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First Christmas to Third
It's Christmas again. It's been a whole year since she sat quietly with Mickey, cradling the news of their child. It's been eleven months since he'd called to her, since Bad Wolf gave them one last chance to see each other, since she swallowed her words and hid the bitter sweet news that they had conceived a child. It's been four months since she'd finally given birth, a long hard twenty hours of labour, two months later than expected.
Her digital clock is blinding her with the knowledge that it's fast approaching six on Christmas morning. It she were still a little girl, she would already have been jumping on her mum's bed, tormenting her until she woke up and let her open her gifts. But she's older now and she's content to just lie in bed, gently stroking her son's back.
Jonathon Smith Tyler. Her gorgeous little boy with unruly tufts of dark hair and eyes that are quickly darkening into his father's.
It surprised her at first how little he slept, until she remembered that he is an alien, an alien whose father hardly slept at all. She was lucky if he snagged five hours in his first few months, and now he barely bothers with an hour a night. But he's certainly content to lay with her, to stay silently watching his mother sleeping at night.
He's such an easy child. Doesn't cry much, just fusses when he needs something. As long as she's around, he seems content to suck on a toy or let his dark, intelligent eyes roam around the room.
That's another thing about him she loves. He's so inquisitive. Taking in everything, enjoying every new experience he can get his podgy little fingers into. Especially now, with all the decorations out that light up his eyes and the new sweets his gran is constantly giving to him to munch on.
Some mornings she wants to just stay in bed where she can lay on her side, stroking Jon's back and smiling at him as he clutches his favourite blankie and blinks up at her. Because alone with him in bed, she can forget the world around them. She can pretend that a low humming is surrounding her and his father will be coming into the room soon, carrying breakfast or at least a steaming cup of tea. She can pretend that her mum isn't about to fuss over her, asking her thousands of questions about her health and her sleeping habits and her eating habits and the baby. She can pretend.
It's easier though, with Jon out there with her. Because he gives her a reason to smile. Because all she has to do is look at his bright eyes examining everything in his path or his tiny pale face that will one day soon be spotted with freckles or his mop of brown hair that she can tell will one day give her hell. Because his father is a part of Jon's personality already, and that makes it easier to smile.
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It's the first time that she thinks he might understand what's going on around him at one of these family parties. It's his second Christmas and he's just a little over a year old, but already he's so much more advanced than his peers.
She swears he hardly bothered with crawling because it made it too difficult to explore everywhere he wanted to explore; he just skipped right onto walking, surprising Jackie but not Rose at all.
He's even talking. Well, sort of talking. It wasn't long after his first Christmas that the words "dada" and "mummy" graced the Tyler estate. Within months his vocabulary had expanded and he was slowly mastering full sentences. She wasn't surprised, considering his father, that he had become the most talkative one year old she had ever known.
It's Christmas Eve and, as per their Friday tradition, she's taking him for his weekly trek around the city. Usually it's to somewhere historic, something interesting and cultural. She tells him stories of his father and her, their travels to those same places at some point in time. She doesn't always get the history right and she blames it mostly on alternate realities.
But today they're heading out to the Christmas market. She's already bought all the presents she needs, but she thinks he'll like it there.
Of course he does, there are thousands of things to look at and they spend minutes at a time looking over every one of them.
"Wha' this?"
He's got a tacky little figure in his hands and he's twisting his back awkwardly so he can look up at her. Rose just laughs at the Christmas ornament, "That's Father Christmas. He's for the tree, just like the ones we put on ours."
He seems to consider that for a while, running his tiny thumbs over the edges, taking in the scratchy, cheap material and flaking off some of the poorly glued sparkles. That's one thing he luckily didn't inherit from his father- he touches everything rather than licks.
"I like it."
"That's good," she laughs lightly.
"Can gran have it?" He arches his back again to look at her, hopeful brown eyes begging her to say yes. He did inherit that face, though, and she's never been able to say no. She suspects he knows that.
"You want that to be your Christmas present for gran?"
"Yes!"
"Okay. I'm sure she'll love it."
"Can I put paper on it?"
She's used to his odd ways of phrasing things, his thoughts too advanced sometimes for his vocabulary, but she still chuckles and nods, "You want to wrap it?"
"Wrap it."
"I think we can do that."
"Good."
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She can't remember who came up with the idea to do a Secret Santa this year between the family. It's very possible that they were all drunk at the time. It had probably been Jake.
But who thought of what doesn't really matter anymore because, nearly an hour into their week late Christmas party, Rose has decided that it's certainly fun enough to make a go of it every year.
She had picked her father and, despite how well they have begun to act around each other, she still didn't really know much about him. So she bought him a watch to replace the one that he had broken while battling aliens.
Her mother had gotten her name and- surprise, surprise- her mother doesn't really know her very well at all sometimes. Beneath the tissue paper is a deep red lingerie set.
"Mum!"
"What, hun? You haven't exactly been treating yourself lately."
Her mum still insists on seeing a man in her life. She doesn't need one. Not with her little man at her side.
"What did you get, mum?"
"Just some clothes," she hastily slips the top back on and squeezes her son to her side, glaring over his head at her mother. She just shrugs and turns her attention to Mickey.
"I think it's time to see who gets that awkwardly wrapped blue thing over there."
Mickey rolls his eyes at her, but smirks none-the-less. He isn't exactly the king of wrapping presents and he's never lived down the sloppiness of every present he has ever tried to present to the Tyler household. But, he tries to reason with himself, he picked a hard box this year.
"Well this one is for the littlest one here."
"Me!?"
Jon dashes forward, hugging his Uncle Mickey before plopping himself down next to him. Ever the diligent one in the family, the two year old takes his time examining the large box and the unevenly tapped sides. His fingers slip under the paper, ripping each side slowly before his entire hand is used to remove the tape on the back.
"A toolset," he smirks and Rose laughs lightly at the joke. Her boy, ever like his father, is always trying to tinker with things.
She helps her mother to clean up the crumpled wrapping paper once everyone has opened and thoroughly displayed their gifts. Mickey's helping Jon to undo all the twists and ties keeping him from exploring his newest tools and Pete and Jake are busily discussing something Rose assumes is very likely work related.
Rose ignores it all in favour of grabbing a cup of tea and heading back into the living room.
"Mummy! Look!"
Her body doesn't know whether to laugh or cry at the sight: a tiny version of her Doctor, standing proudly with his goofy grin and messy hair, his brand new screwdriver held possessively in his right hand.
"Wonderful," she manages, but the tears have started forming in her eyes and the memories are assaulting her mind. What she wouldn't give for the Doctor to be there with them, to see his son.
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She misses this. Misses the simplicity of Christmas traditions. She misses the days when it was just her and mum, way back when she was just a kid, back before her rowdy, boisterous teenage years.
That's why she's so excited that she finally managed to find a recognizable Christmas movie in this strange universe. Kermit the frog is on the telly, his little frog body clothed as Bob Scratchet in the Muppet's 'A Christmas Carol'.
Jon giggles and she smiles over at him. The Muppets weren't the rage here as they were in her universe, but well known enough to still make her favourite Christmas movie. Jon just thinks they're silly looking.
Rose shifts to readjust the pillow she's laying on so she can reach the mug of steaming hot chocolate in front of her. Best Christmas tradition she and her mother began when she was just a toddler. Absently she pulls out a marshmallow, now soaked with hot chocolate and half dissolved, and pops it into her mouth. Jon's sudden giggling fitdraws her eyes away from the particularly unexciting scene and onto the three year old. He's watching her, not the telly, and that makes her smile. She dips her fingers back into her drink, just long enough to pull out another marshmallow, and brings it to his lips. He laughs even as his tongue darts out and tastes the sugary goodness.
She watches dark eyes as they follow her hand, calculating, dissecting every movement it makes. Her fingers force their way through plastic to find a plump marshmallow. She pops it into her mouth, barely registering the taste as she watches him think his options over. A fraction of a second later, his hand darts in and takes one of his own. He's smirking up at her as if he just accomplished the greatest feat ever.
This is what she's been missing for a long time. This wonderful normalcy that comes with Christmas and family.
She's not quite better, not quite through wishing she was back in her real universe, back with the Doctor. She's not quite ready to call this place home, not yet. But she's getting there. As long as it's her and Jon, she can make it.
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