Chapter Summary: Rose reminisces about her year, including a well-needed vacation with the Doctor and the unexpected outcome of their time spent alone together, changes in their routines, Hope's new interests, and the Doctor's cold-weather outdoor project.

Notes: As always, my eternal gratitude to mrsbertucci and Rose_Nebula, my wonderful, ever-giving betas.

A reminder that I am using the prompts very much out of order, but I intend to use them all. The prompt I used today is Skating.


December 24th, 2014

Dear Father Christmas,

What a year we've had! Such a great year! So much has happened, I don't even know where to begin. I suppose I could start with our romantic vacation to Barcelona (definitely the planet, not the city!) The Doctor surprised me on Valentine's day; said he arranged for a romantic get-away. After all the rowing and bickering over Christmas last year, we both needed a little time for just the two of us. Mum and Pete were over the moon to have a chance to look after Hope for a couple of weeks, so that was one less worry.

Gaudí Province was gorgeous: it was spring, and beautifully warm, such a nice break from the bleak winter weather we left behind in London. There were flowers and blossoms everywhere. And the dogs! The dogs really didn't have noses. It was so weird, but there you have it: life with the Doctor! And of course, he had to make that joke… it just wasn't funny, especially after the hundredth time, and I told him so. He just grinned and told me I had no appreciation for good humour. I showed him I had a great sense of humour: I couldn't stop laughing when the cutest little noseless dog had it off on his leg, right in the middle of the street.

Actually, to tell the truth, spring must definitely have been in the air; the dogs all seemed to be rather randy. They weren't the only ones. Me and the Doctor spent a lot of time in our hotel room on that trip. It was so lovely to be together and share our bond just for the sake of sharing it. Back home and on other trips with the TARDIS, the bond was a really useful tool for communicating and keeping a track of Hope, but we'd got out of the habit of just enjoying it. And when we were angry, we usually avoided using it altogether or shielded ourselves from one another. I hadn't realized until we really let our guards down just how shielded we had been.

We came back from that trip so much more in tune with one another. I, personally, came back well and truly up the duff. And so this year, Santa, you'll get to meet our little Charlie (Charlotte… named after Charles Dickens.) She's a feisty one, she is. She just turned one month old a few days ago and is finally sleeping through the night. (Well for four hours in a row, but I'll take it.) I'd forgotten how knackered you feel, and add a nearly three-year-old into the mix… blimey! Let's just say, me and the Doctor are back to using our bond for almost exclusively utilitarian purposes.

Poor Hope. She's brilliant, she is, but even though she's academically beyond gifted, she's still just a little girl whose life has been turned upside down by the little human larva that takes up so much of her Daddy's and my time. She never wants my attention more than when I'm feeding Charlie. For the first few weeks, I was a right mess every time I looked at her. I couldn't stop crying because I couldn't give her the time I used to. But now things are settling down, and we're finding a rhythm. Still, I'm so thankful it's Mum's turn to do Christmas this year. I think I might have exploded if I'd had to juggle that too.

Over this past year, and after everything that happened last Christmas, me and the Doctor agreed to spend a bit more time Earthbound. We explore strange new worlds in the TARDIS during the week, and on weekends we spend time in our little blue house and take Hope to various activities: dance and gymnastics are her favourites. She loves art too, and likes to spend time painting with me, just as I'd hoped she would. She has a keen eye, but I'm so thankful her skills are pretty much just like that of any other child her age. Her colourful creations are all over the TARDIS, our house, and Gran and Grandad's house, too.

We also decided to spend extended periods on Earth around special Earth holidays. So, Christmas, for example, same as last year, we'll be on Earth for at least a month, and with Charlie here this year, I think we'll stay on a few months more. Hope's enrolled at Torchwood Nursery again and is thriving. And the Doctor seems to be actually happy with the domestics, especially when he sees how much Hope is getting out of it.

Speaking of the Doctor and domestics: the weather this year has been so cold! But the Doctor, in a complete fit of domesticity, has been taking full advantage. He's spent every evening for the last couple of weeks creating our very own skating rink in the back garden. He laid down layers and layers of ice with some gizmo he tinkered together attached to the garden hose, and soniced the surface completely smooth. He and Hope decorated the entire yard with fairy lights. There's a big evergreen right in the centre of the rink that's just covered with lights. It's beautiful. And somehow he's set up big, tall floodlights that light up the whole rink at night.

Last night, we got to go skating for the first time. Mum and Dad and Tony were there and loads of friends from Torchwood, and some of Hope's playmates and their families. We did a potluck, so that was easy. Mum and Dad went and bought loads of pairs of skates in case some folks didn't have their own. It was so much fun! Just what I needed!

You should have seen the Doctor trying to skate. My poor love. The way he'd been talking, he was so excited to be introducing Hope to this great new adventure. He was a brilliant skater when I first met him. Me and Jack and him all went skating once. He was really good, but he'd never tried again since his regeneration. Apparently, the skill didn't stick with his new body. Oh, God, he was all long legs pinwheeling around, and he ended up on his bum more times than I can count. He was miserable, and after I popped inside with Charlie for a nappie change, I came out to find him sulking on one of the benches he'd set up, glowering at Mum skating in pretty circles with Hope hanging onto her hands.

I went over to cheer him up and suggested I could hold his hand. He just grumbled at me, and told me there must be something wrong with the ice. "Too risky, Rose Tyler. In fact, I should bring Hope in right now; she could be in danger, even as we speak." (I said that in his voice. I hope I did it right. I've been getting good at it over the years!) Meanwhile, Hope was twirling all by herself, now, quite in control. No danger whatsoever. Tony was watching out for her, just like a big brother. He loves her so much.

In the end the only way I convinced the Doctor to come skating with me was by going out there myself first (Charlie was bundled in the baby-carrier against my chest) and the Doctor was immediately on his feet, making to follow me, with the notion that he needed to keep me safe. Of all the ridiculous… The big plonker!

Anyway, the first thing he did was fall on his arse and nearly knock me over! So I told him he had to hold my hand from then on. Mum sailed by and offered to bring him a chair to hold onto which wasn't entirely helpful, and called him a duffer. Also not helpful.

I finally passed the baby off to her Grandad, and got the Doctor back on his feet, and convinced him to take my hand. I reminded him that that was all he really needed to get across the universe: a hand to hold. He grabbed my hand and opened his bond fully to me, and I've never felt so loved. His body seemed to relax and we did a few circuits of the rink together. Then he did a few on his own, and spun around me in a slightly wobbly circle while I watched him. Then he grabbed me by the waist and I just flung my arms over his shoulders so he wouldn't overbalance us 'cause my feet were slipping everywhere. Suddenly he's shouting and twirling us around (I'll try to do his voice again) "Rose, I've just remembered! I can skate! I can skate!" And he starts humming Glenn Miller in my ear and dancing with me over the ice!

Now he's talking about getting a skating rink on the TARDIS!

I hope we'll go skating again tonight! Just the two of us, once the little ones are all tucked in and their stockings are hung.

Happy Christmas, Santa! To you and Mrs. Claus, the reindeer, and all the elves,

Love, Rose