A Christmas to Remember
Day 6 – Saturday, 27 December
The Doctor had been up for three hours by the time Rose Tyler had risen and joined him on the sofa in the salon. But it wasn't because he hadn't tried to wake her that it was close to nine by the time she emerged from his temporary bedroom with mussed hair, blurry eyes, and a sleepy smile, accepting graciously the coffee and croissant that he had waiting for her.
Shortly after he had awoken at six, the Doctor had knocked on the bedroom door to alert Rose that he was about to enter. Then he opened the door slowly to find that his knocking had been a wasted action. Rose was still in a deep sleep. He nudged her gently, speaking her name until she uttered a sleepy response. After asking the time of her flight home and receiving a mumbled answer that sounded something like "afternoon," he asked her okay to obtain his clothes and use his bathroom to shower and dress for the day. She hummed an affirmative, "Hmm hmm," then pulled the duvet back over her head.
Once the Doctor was ready for his day, he sat on the sofa in the stillness of the morning reflecting on the time he had spent with Rose and wondering where their roads would lead next. His well-traveled path after meeting someone was to go back to a life of business and solitude without making an effort to remain in contact. But even before tragedy had struck his life, he had never known anyone outside his family that could touch his soul the way Rose could. He wondered if, like the poem he had quoted the day before, he should take a less-traveled route and tell Rose his ideas on how they could stay together. If he did, she might agree, but the day could also end with a parting of the ways. If her choice ended up being the latter, the Doctor had to at least make sure he set Rose up with the ability to have a fantastic life. As much as she had done to help him, he owed her that much. he opened up his laptop and began to work.
"Thanks for letting me sleep in your bed," Rose said once she had joined him on the couch and had taken a few sips of coffee.
"Seemed nicer than waking you up just to kick you out," the Doctor joked.
"What I meant is that you could've left me on the couch," she said with a laugh.
"No I couldn't," the Doctor said. "Too much of a gentleman, me."
"That's what I mean," Rose said, "You don't find gentlemen very often these days…so thanks." Rose finished her breakfast in silence then set her mug on the coffee table with a sigh. "I better get back to my own suite now and pack," she said. "Can't be late for my flight."
"When do you leave?" the Doctor asked ignoring the sudden tightening in his chest.
"The flight's at four fifty-five," she told him. "I need to leave here right after lunch to allow time for the drive."
As Rose stood to leave, the Doctor stood as well. He opened his mouth to deliver the carefully prepared speech he had rehearsed all morning, but was cut off by Rose.
"Don't go sayin' goodbye just yet," she said. "First I need to pack. Then I'm gonna need some help carrying my stuff downstairs 'cos I have more than I left with. And then we'll have lunch together before I leave, yeah?"
The Doctor snapped his mouth shut and nodded.
"Right," said Rose. "I won't be long. See you later." Her smile was bright as she walked out of his suite with a little wave, and the Doctor wondered if she was avoiding thinking about their farewell the way he was, or if she was less affected by the reality of their separation.
As the Doctor waited for Rose, he started pacing and eventually began packing his own things for his departure the next day to keep his mind focused on something productive. Therefore, he was more than a little relieved when he heard a knock on the door an hour later, and had to hide the eagerness he felt when he answered it and looked upon Rose's face once again.
"So I need a bit of help," Rose said as she walked in. "First," she said handing him a jewelry box containing the choker and earrings she had worn on Christmas night, "I'll need you to return these for me. They're under your name anyway." The Doctor took the box and put them in the safe in the room. "Second," Rose continued, "I don't know how you managed to get it in the room, but that potted Christmas tree that belongs in hallway has to be heavier than I am."
"It took a while," he admitted with a grin. The Doctor followed Rose back to her suite, and together they returned the tree to its intended location. Then the Doctor called a bellhop to retrieve Rose's bags and leave them at the registration desk until her departure.
"Got enough stuff?" the Doctor asked Rose after he had carried her suitcases out to the hallway.
"I only came with the one rolling case and a travel bag for the aeroplane," she said. "Now I'm leaving with a full ski outfit and evening gown I didn't have before. 'S just a good thing I packed another bag inside my suitcase."
After the bellhop had left with her suitcases, Rose walked through her suite once more to ensure she had left nothing behind. "It looks so empty now without the decorations," she said to the Doctor as she walked through the bedroom. "I couldn't save the paper chains, but I packed everything else. I just hope they won't get too smashed in my bag."
The Doctor followed Rose to the exit and stood silently as she took one last look. "Ready?" he asked after she closed the door behind them.
"Ready," she answered solemnly.
The Doctor took her hand and they headed to the lifts, and all too soon, Rose Tyler was officially checked out. The Doctor had not intervened. Something in the timing or the setting had kept him from speaking up. So as he accompanied Rose through the hotel gift shops and she chose souvenirs for her friends and family, he looked for another opportunity to ask her to stay.
There was none. Or else he was fearful of her reply. Therefore their lunch in Restaraunt Nébuleuse felt like a prisoner's last meal to him. As they ate, Rose talked about her New Year's Eve plans, which would be a repeat of celebrations from years past, but the countdown in the Doctor's head did not usher in a new calendar. It kept track of the precious minutes remaining until he and Rose said their final farewells.
The taxi pulled up in front of the Hotel Galaxie prompty at one o'clock, and the Doctor watched as the bellhop loaded Rose's belongings inside. The pair continued the small talk as long as they could until the driver signaled that they needed to leave.
"I had a wonderful holiday because of you," Rose said, giving the Doctor a hug. "Thank you."
"I could say the same," the Doctor said as he returned her embrace.
"Right then," Rose said with a sniff as she pulled away from the Doctor. "I'll be off."
"Unless…" ventured the Doctor.
"Unless?" Rose repeated back with a look of confusion on her face.
"Unless...I don't know," the Doctor said trying to sound more nonchalant than he felt. "You could stay another day and fly back with me, free of charge."
A ghost of a smile flashed on Rose's face and it encouraged the Doctor to continue.
"What do you think?" he asked trying to sell his idea. "You could go back home and fill your days looking for work. Or I could get you a job at Arcadia, and then we could go anywhere."
Though Rose's mouth was still formed in a smile, it did not match the emotion in her eyes. "Yeah, I can't," she said. "I got to come back for my mum. Someone needs to make sure she doesn't overdo it on New Year's Eve. And I couldn't take a job that was just handed to me."
The Doctor nodded. As much as he had hoped for something more, he had prepared for that response. He reached in his pocket, pulled out a small blue metallic stick, and handed it to Rose. "This is for you," he said.
"What is it?" she asked.
"Flash drive," he said. "Took everything you told me about your work history and turned it into a resume. Even included a sample cover letter. You're gonna have to add in details—names and specific dates, but it should highlight your talents better than just your job title and its description."
"But I…"
"It's still all you," the Doctor said. "Most people get help with resumes."
"Thank you." Rose said with a whisper.
"Welcome." He looked in her hazel-brown eyes and suggested one last thing that might mean their goodbye would not have to be permanent. "We could exchange numbers," the Doctor said. "When you find work, we could get dinner to celebrate."
"I could," Rose said. "But holidays aren't real life, are they? We could make it work for a while, yeah, but our different lives would eventually get in the way." Rose's eyes were glossy with tears though none had escaped.
"Okay," the Doctor said in an even tone. He did his best to keep his expression neutral and hide the disappointment and sadness he felt. "See you around."
"Doctor," Rose said with a wavering voice. "Maybe it's not never. Maybe we can come here next Christmas and see where our lives are then."
It wasn't much, but it was something to hold onto. "Next year then," he said, stepping back and allowing her to leave.
"Next year," she repeated with a nod. But instead of turning toward the taxi cab, she stepped closer to him, pulled his head down to her level, and kissed him. Unlike the other kisses they had shared, this one was full of pain, but he gave into it anyway, wishing he could have stayed there forever.
"I'll miss you," Rose whispered as she stepped back and looked one last time into his eyes. The Doctor knew he would be unable to say anything without betraying the emotions within, so he simply nodded and watched as Rose Tyler stepped into the cab and rolled out of his life.
It didn't matter to Rose that she was being driven three-and-a-half hours from Val d'Isere to the airport in Turin by someone she had just met; as soon as the Doctor was no longer in sight, she let fall the tears that she had been holding back since the moment she joined the Doctor on the couch that morning. What the Doctor had not known, however, was that Rose had been awake in his bedroom for at least a half hour before doing a much poorer job of hiding her sadness. She had wanted to believe that they had something that would transcend their social class and age differences. To believe otherwise just meant accepting eventual heartache. But she worried that trying to artificially sustain a holiday romance would only prolong and magnify the pain that would happen when their hearts were inevitably broken. So she had done her best to dry her eyes and act cheerful for her last moments with the most wonderful man she had ever met.
Now that she was in the car and feeling the distance between them growing, she began to question her decision. Would she look back, glad that she had not prolonged her pain, or would it be the biggest regret of her life? It was an answer that she felt would only come with more time and distance.
But even in her misery, Rose did not regret one moment of her holiday. She wouldn't have missed it for the world. She knew she didn't have to accept her life for what it always had been. She put her hand in her pocket and turned the flash drive within around and around in her fingers. And as she did, she dared to dream of a better life.
Including the stopover, it took Rose another four hours before she finally landed at Heathrow. Most of her time in flight, she had felt a sense of dethatched emptiness as if feeling real emotions were too much of a bother. So when her mother met her at the airport and asked her how her flight had been, Rose's response had been, "Boring."
Jackie Tyler, assuming this was the natural let down after an enjoyable holiday and that Rose was tired because of the late hour and almost full day in transit, did not push for more information. Rose was thankful for this. However, she did use the excuse of their extended separation to tightly hug her mother, hoping her mother's embrace still had the power to make everything better like it had when she had been a child. It helped but it wasn't enough.
Rose was equally disappointed by her homecoming. The flat was still decorated for Christmas with presents waiting for her under the tree, but all it did was remind her of homemade snowflakes and a stocking full of gift shop items. And when Rose entered her room, all the problems she had set aside for the week came flooding back. Deciding she had dealt with enough for one day, Rose slipped into her pyjamas, turned off the light, and buried herself under her duvet. Then she let the residual tears fall as she fell asleep, praying that things would seem better in the morning.
Author's Notes: I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. But we all knew this day had to come eventually, right? The good news is that the story is far from over and this is as bad as it gets. So while the next day may not be instant sunshine and rainbows, at least you know it won't get any worse.
Is it any wonder, though, that this chapter took longer to post? I was sick for almost three days, but it's not like I had the prospect of a happy chapter to motivate me to get better sooner!
Also, we are now at the point of the story where the song inspiration has more or less come to an end. I recommend you go to Metro Lyrics or a similar site and search for "A Christmas to Remember" by Dolly Parton. You will find that, other than changing the location of the song from Tahoe to Val d'Isere, I have included all the major points in the lyrics. And the song does end with the lovers excitedly waiting to do it all again in a year. But you will have to wait and see how things pan out for the Doctor and Rose.
Linda Who: I'm glad you enjoy the details. I like details too (obviously), but it would be fun to write a concise short story too. Thanks for reminding me that the deadline is my own. I will try to apologize less! At the same time, I try to keep my word. And one reason for the quick turnaround is to get this story done before Christmas is completely forgotten with some holiday like Valentine's day or something! But I appreciate that people are willing to wait.
As far as that original novel, tell any muse looking for a job that I have an opening.
Guest: I am glad you like it. I do my best to please. (Well this chapter not so much, but bear with me. :) )