Authors Note: this one is two days late, I apologise and hope this offering of two chapters makes up for it, Accident in Paris is the second one. I own none of this, all the wonderful BBC's. Enjoy C x

Third Times a Charm

The Doctor straightened up as he stepped out of the fireplace, banging his head slightly on the mantelpiece. The resulting bang and clattering of candlesticks falling over was loud enough to make the little girl on the settle wake up and rub her eyes before staring at him incredulously.

"Ah, hello." He said, having a flashback to the last time a little girl had woken up when he had entered her room by mistake. That had had interesting consequences. He was brought back to the present by the little girl as she stood up, wrapping the blanket around her shoulders. She peered at him in the light of the fire which had somehow not burned him when he landed in it.

"You're not Father Christmas." She said suddenly.

"Am I not?" he asked, a grin creeping across his face.

"No, you're not, you're that man who gave me the candy cane earlier." A spark of recognition formed in his mind as he looked at the blonde curls of the little girl in front of him. She walked around him slowly. "What I don't understand is what you are doing here, you can't be Father Christmas, but you look too nice to be a crook." She said the word crook in the manner of one who has heard her parents saying it and is using it to sound more grown up.

"I'm neither. I'm just filling in for Father Christmas whilst he has a holiday."

"But, Father Christmas has a holiday for the rest of the year… he can't possibly have a holiday on Christmas Eve. It's not allowed."

"Oh?" the Doctor bent down to look her in the eye. There was a depth of intelligence behind her eyes and he thought hard for a second. "Who says?"

"Everyone knows that Father Christmas only works one night of the year." She said scathingly, "Therefore he can't have a holiday on the one day he works, it's not economically sound."

"Is your Daddy a banker by any chance?" the Doctor asked her, wondering how to get her to go back to sleep.

"Yes, and he says that only people who have done decent work can have a proper Christmas holiday, and not have to work."

"Hmmm," he decided that the little girl was taking the idea a little too seriously, and disapproved of the mildly elitist attitude. He glanced around. "How about we take a little trip? Would you like to meet Father Christmas' reindeer?" She nodded, "Well, lets just pop this into your stocking, no peeking mind, and away we go." He took her hand and led her to the fireplace. As they stood still there for a second she glanced up at him.

"So what are we doing?" she sounded sceptical. Before he had a chance to reply they were heading up the chimney. At the other end she clung tightly to his hand and stared at the TARDIS in front of her.

"What's that? Where's Father Christmas' sleigh? I thought you said you were filling in for him."

"I am." The Doctor replied sounding a little wounded, but then he got onto the subject of his TARDIS and got all giggly and excited in that way he always does when new people see it for the first time. "This is my ship, she's called a TARDIS, that stands for… actually never mind what it stands for, it would only confuse you. Father Christmas' sleigh is inside, because I haven't taken my sleigh driving test yet so Father Christmas wouldn't let me drive it." he put his hand to his mouth and whispered "he was afraid I would crash it. Do you want to come in?"

"It's so small, how does the sleigh fit in there? When I saw them together earlier, the sleigh was much bigger it would never fit in there! And how does that move? Where do the reindeer go?"

"Well, the reindeer are inside having a little break… and it all fits and moves because my ship is a magic ship."

"Even more magic than Father Christmas'?" she asked, wide eyed. The Doctor chuckled at the girl who kept switching from wide eyed little girl to smart girl who seemed to know more than her years would allow.

"Definitely more magic than Father Christmas' sleigh." He replied, ruffling her blond curls before pushing open the door. "Welcome onboard the TARDIS!"

"I'm dreaming of a white Christmas, Just like the ones I used to know."

The Doctor opened the door to the sound of Jack and Bing Crosby crooning together as they gathered around the fireplace and piano on the right hand side of the Console Room.

"Hmmm, don't remember putting that in the sound system either." He said raising an eyebrow as Jack walked towards them. "Always was my favourite though. And that was much better than the abominable Little Drummer Boy with David Bowie."

"Thank you." Jack replied, bowing slightly before continuing "I nabbed Ianto's ipod as I left, uploaded all the Christmas music for you. The TARDIS did it's magical hologram thing for it." he paused as the little girl shyly popped her head around the side of the Doctor. "Now who is this… Doc you know you're not supposed to steal the children right?"

"I'm not the childcatcher in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang you know." The Doctor frowned and glanced down at her. "What is your name, I think I forgot to ask."

"I'm Eliza Banks."

"Well, Eliza Banks, I'm Captain Jack Harkness."

"I brought her here to introduce her to Father Christmas." The Doctor looked at Jack.

"Alright, you have work to do, you go to the next house. Eliza, would you like to accompany me to the living quarters, and then we'll go feed Comet a carrot or two." Jack offered Eliza his hand and the Doctor watched them wander off out of the back door, before he started to get ready for the next stop. He hummed as the TARDIS started to move.