Just a little Yuletide Cheer

Featuring: The Fifth Doctor, Fourth Hatter, and companions.

Christmas had always been a holiday that the Hatter had found to be the most fun and exciting of all holidays, be them from Earth, Gallifrey, or any other planet in the Universe that celebrated their own special holiday. She adored the whole idea of people gathering together, friends and family giving each other gifs and enjoying a large meal together, the carols and the decorations…every aspect of the holiday brought a sense of lightness to her hearts and instantly cheered her. Of course, it wasn't really her holiday to celebrate, technically speaking she ought to be celebrating Rassilon's Day back on Gallifrey, which happened to be celebrated around the same time as Christmas was on Earth and was about the closest holiday that the Time Lords had to Christmas, but Christmas was far better in almost every way. You would never see her family back home decorating a tree or singing, not even if their very lives depended upon it.

She almost scoffed at the mere idea of it, bitterness rolling over her as she scowled deeply. Rassilon's Day was a joke in comparison to the humans Christmas, gifts were still exchanged, yes, and a large dinner was held were everyone in the family was expected to attend, but it was always so painfully stuffy and boring. Her father always made a big, grand speech that typically dragged on for what felt like an eternity until they were allowed to eat the food prepared by the household staff. She would then have to sit through fifteen courses, smiling politely and making small talk to cousins who made it no secret that they disproved of her, but had to be nice due to her status. It had always left her with a poor taste in her mouth that no amount of delicious food would wash away. After all, everything family related with her family was all just a pretence of some kind, just another power struggle and she was well and truly over such games. Her only regret was that she would not be there to see her children and grandchildren, but they themselves had made the choice to distance themselves from her, she could only respect their decision, even if it pained her more than words could describe.

The Hatter caught sight of her own reflection in the polished brass of her TARDIS controls, her face etched with sorrow and pain as she regarded her pale features, usually bright blue eyes dulled with sadness and long, waist length, dead straight honey blonde hair falling past her face, almost as a shield. This regeneration truly did have the most expressive eyes, only reviled by her First body. Big and so very blue, even the Doctor had remarked that her eyes were truly quite lovely, though that was typical of him, she thought with a wave of affection for her dearest friend, always finding ways to compliment her, to make her smile, even when embarrassed. Just the thought of him pulled her from her melancholy thoughts and she found herself smiling again, softly humming along with the Christmas carol currently drifting through the air from the old, slightly dusty looking gramophone that she had dragged out of storage and set up on a polished, oak table over by her favourite armchair in the corner of the console room. It was usually surrounded by piles of books, but today it was neat and tidy.

And that was how her companions found her, singing rather loudly and off-key, caring little for how she might sound as she danced around the console of her beloved time machine, twirling herself and holding her hands before her as though she was dancing with a partner in some sort of fast pace waltz. Her bright orange hat had been covered with red and green tinsel, contrasting horribly with the colour, while she had a long rope of green tinsel draped around her neck, like the worst itchy scarf on Earth. The Time Lady didn't even stop upon swirling around to find her three companions standing before the doorway leading to the rest of the time machine, staring at her with matching expression of bafflement, amusement, and pure confusion.

"What the hell happened in here?" Michael was the first to recover from the sight that had met them, though why they still seemed to find anything that the Hatter did as odd was a better question, in the Time Lady's mind. He was staring around the rest of the room with wide eyes, looking at all the tinsel that had been wrapped around every surface, from the console to the bookcases that lined the room, while brightly coloured lights flashed from where they had been randomly draped across the domed ceiling, crisscrossing and tangling up with others, causing a display that was almost seizure inducing. He turned his attention back onto the blonde, who had paused in her dancing to frown faintly and cast her eyes around the room, too, "It looks like a Christmas factory exploded in here, Hat".

The Hatter bristled slightly at his nickname for her, turning to give him a disproving look, "Really, Michael?" she sighed warily, her tone almost sounding motherly, "Again with that nickname. I really see no reason to shorten my name, it's quite short enough, thank you…"

"How much sugar have you had?" Katie cut in with a narrowed eyed look at the Time Lady, moving past Michael to cross the short distance between them, walking up the three steps and up onto the large, circular platform that sat the main console. Her strawberry blonde hair was pulled back in a high ponytail today, while she fixed the Time Lady with a stern look, better suited to one dealing with a misbehaving child, then a century old intergalactic genius.

"None!" she insisted at once, before pausing, looking away from them with a slight cough, "Well, maybe I did have a couple of candy canes and two hot chocolates…"

"Hatter," April, the youngest and most soft spoken human out of the Hatter's current companions, began with a wary sigh, shaking her head. Her black, straight hair swished with the gesture, just as long as the Hatter's current hair was, big blue eyes regarding her with a flicker of amusement, "You know what happens when you have to much sugar," she continued in an almost soothing tone, joining Katie up by the console, "You get all excited and start getting a little carried away with things, so how about you go take a little lie down until it's out of your system, yeah?"

The Hatter regarded all three of them with a flat look, crossing her arms across her bright orange, ruffled blouse, "Are you all quite finished?" she said to them with a hint of coolness in her tone, sky blue eyes narrowed on the three of them as they struggled to fight against smiling. She lifted her chin proudly, "I'm a Time Lady, thank you very much, not a child".

Michael smirked at her, "So why do you act like one?" he asked her innocently.

She levelled him with a glare and pointed a finger at him, though the hint of amusement in her eyes did rather ruin the effect she was trying to give, "Cheeky".

"You love it".

The twitch of her lips gave her away, though she pretended to ignore his comment, "I suggest the three of you dress in something warm," she told them instead, turning on her heel and skipping back over to the controls, grabbing the monitor screen that hung over the top of the controls, turning it so that they couldn't see what was on it, not that they could actually understand the Gallifreyan symbols, anyway. She glanced back over to them, finding them giving her confused looks, "Off you go and change," she made an impatient shooing gesture at them, smiling slightly, "After all, I wouldn't wish for you fragile humans to develop pneumonia, would I?"

Michael and Katie gave her a look that clearly said that they hadn't missed the dig, while April shrugged it off and turned on her heel without complaint, heading off down the hallways to no doubt do just as the Hatter had said. The other two followed her after a moment, leaving the Hatter smiling happily to herself, feeling quite self-satisfied. Of course, that emotion soon waned when it took her companions ten minutes to finally return, dressed in much warmer clothing, scarfs and thick coats included, while April had donned a beanie that the Hatter approved of instantly.

"Where exactly are we going?" Katie asked curiously, trying to catch a glimpse of the monitor screen, but the Hatter was faster, managing to swivel the screen well out of her view.

The Time Lady waggled her finger at her, grinning widely, "It's a surprise, my dear minions".

"Minions?" April repeated with a laugh, exchanging a look with Michael, who stood beside her, leaning back against the brass railing, "That's a new one".

Michael gave her a soft smile, affection in his eyes as he looked at her, "Someone's certainly excited," he commented lightly.

The Hatter laughed, overhearing them, "Of course I'm excited," she said brightly, flicking a switch on the console, the tinsel around her neck swinging, "I love Christmas, best holiday in the Universe…well..." she paused, frowning slightly as she lifted a finger up, spinning around to face the pair, "Close second, actually. The Hat Festival of the Asteroid Sericum is by far the best holiday ever, though I suppose it's technically not actually a holiday, since it is a festival…"

"Wait, wait…" Katie interrupted her, frowning deeply as the Time Lady paused midsentence, lifting an eyebrow at her, "You just said it's Christmas".

"Yes, indeed. Hence the décor…"

"How can it be Christmas?" Michael shook his head, now eyeing her with a confused look, "I thought you said that time is relative when you're time traveller".

"And I am correct; time has a different meaning to one who can pick and choose where you are within it, hence why it can be Christmas".

"Okay, I'm still lost," he sighed, looking between Katie and April, who were both staring at the Time Lady blankly, "Anyone else?"

April moved to stand beside the Hatter, giving her a curious look, "Hatter, how exactly is it Christmas?" she questioned.

The Hatter looked around at the three of them, before heaving a heavy, almost disappointed sigh, as though she had expected so much more from them, "It is Christmas because I can make it so," she explained, speaking more slowly and with a hint of impatience's entering her tone, "Time machine…" she pointed pointedly over her shoulder to the Time Rotor, almost sounding as though she was trying to explain something complicated to a child, "…Time Lady," she placed her hand over her hearts, giving the three of them a pointed look, "…in other words, I can decide when and where we are, so can we please move on and get on with our day? I've got a lot planned, I'll have you know".

"What was the point of making us keep Calenders, then?" Michael groaned, reaching up to rub his forehead, as though this whole conversation pained him, "You said we should try and keep date of how long we've travelled with you, it was your idea…"

"Oh, for Rassilon's sake," she muttered in annoyance, cutting him off by suddenly spinning around to face the controls and pulling the handbrake down, setting them off with far less gentleness or calm than normal.

The three humans gasped in shock, finding themselves being jostled around, while the Hatter began moving around the controls with a grace and ease that none of them could hope to archive with the time machine jolting around. The Hatter merely shot them a grin and continued driving the machine like it was a race car, not bothering to try her best to make it a smooth journey…this would be quicker, anyway, and she was rather eager to get to their destination. Less than a minute passed, the humans clinging onto the railings and keeping their mouths firmly shut; lest the Time Lady decide to make it even worse, before the time machine stopped with a gentle bump that was barely felt throughout the room.

Michael slowly straightened himself and let go of the railing, glancing at the girls, April blowing her hair out of her face, "That's one way to avoid a conversation…" he said quietly to them, pushing his dark brown hair off his face with one hand.

The Hatter heard him, of course, giving him a completely unashamed wink and practically skipping around the console and over to the steps leading down from the platform, and over to the doors, "Come along, children!" she called brightly over her shoulder, "Time to play!"

She reached the door and threw them open, instantly causing a gust of ice cold air to blow into the room. The humans trailed after her, gathering around her as she remained standing in the doorway, their mouths dropping open at the sight before them. They now understood why the Hatter had insisted they change into warmer clothing, because they seemed to have landed upon an ice planet…only the snow covering the ground wasn't pure white, but rather a cool blue tone, the sky above their heads magenta, with a lighter pink clouds drifting lazily across the sky from the faint wind, making them look like cotton candy. There was only one sun, but it looked almost like a light blue colour, while in the distance an ice covered pond seemed to be, edged with random grey rocks, mountains dotting the horizon, trees similar to an Earth pine scattering the area, but where they had landed was mostly clear of them.

"The snow's not really blue, of course," the Hatter told them, her tone light and airy, gazing out with a small upturn to her lips, "It's an optical illusion due to the sunlight breaking through the pink colours, making it look like the snow is blue. Magenta and cyan make blue…"

"Which is about as artistic as the Hatter ever gets," a cheerful, male voice spoke smoothly from somewhere to the left of where they had parked. Instantly, the Hatter broke into a delighted laugh and stepped out into the snow, caring little for her orange Converses getting wet as she rounded the left side of her TARDIS, which now resembled a rather large rock, to find the Doctor standing just three metres away, smiling warmly with his hands in his striped trouser pockets, dressed little differently for the cold weather then she had, "Hatter," he said happily upon seeing her, slipping his hands from his pockets, baby blue eyes quickly taking her in, "You look…"

"Like a Christmas factory exploded on my hat?" she lifted an eyebrow at him, unable to resist the smile from tugging at her lips, pausing by the end of her time machine. The Doctor's companions stood behind him, Nyssa, Tegan, and Turlough, dressed warmly as they lingered by the closed doors of his TARDIS.

He gave her a gentle smile, his eyes sparkling with amusement, "I was going to say that you look lovely, actually," he corrected her lightly.

She grinned, "Oh, I knew there was I reason I liked this version so much," she laughed, and began running towards him, throwing her arms around him in a tight hug at the same time that he wrapped his arms around her, actually picking her up from the ground with his own enthusiasm at seeing her, laughing in her ear.

"I've missed you, Hatter," he told her, holding her all the more tighter, wishing he was brave enough to kiss her cheek right now.

"As I've missed you, my friend," she replied softly, pulling back from him as he settled her back onto her feet. She tugged her denim jacket straighter, feeling her cheeks warming faintly under the affection in his gaze as she stepped away from him to greet his companions with a bright, happy smile, "Hello, you lot. I do hope you've been giving the old boy trouble since we last parted?" she winked cheekily as the Doctor sighed heavily.

"Must you encourage them?" he muttered, giving her a mock disapproving look that only made her laugh again, "You don't hear me attempting to corrupt your companions," he looked over to where her own companions had come to stand a few feet away, giving them a welcoming smile and wave.

She threw him a knowing look, "Only because my companions are already completely corrupted, Doctor dear," she said with little concern, moving closer to his companions, leaving him to say his hellos to hers, "Tegan, you look very snuggled up," she smiled, giving Tegan's fluffy coat a playful tug.

"The Doctor did say that we should dress for the snow," Tegan said with a small shrug, for once actually wearing proper shoes and not heels that she tended to favour, instead she had a pair boots on.

"He didn't mention seeing you, Hatter," Nyssa commented, eyeing the Hatter with a hint of curiosity, "I take it this was all planned, for once?"

"Just this once," the Hatter nodded, lifting her index finger up to lightly tap the side of her nose with a knowing look, before turning to smile at Turlough, who seemed a little less pleased to be standing an inch deep in snow, wearing a black, wool coat and dark blue scarf over the top of his usual suit and tie, "Turlough," she said happily, pretending not to notice the faint scowl on his features, "How have you enjoyed your travels?"

Instantly, any hint of displeasure vanished from his features and Turlough offered her a boyish smile, just perfectly polite and friendly, "Of course, Hatter," he said, sticking his hands in his pockets, looking entirely at ease.

The Time Lady smiled and nodded to him, though she still felt a hint of wariness around him. She was usually very good at reading people, it had always been something she had found easy, but with him it was hard. She almost felt as though he was trying too hard to seem calm and unassuming whenever she interacted with him, though she did remind herself that she had only met him once before, when she and the Doctor had ended up at Brendon Public School. Perhaps he was just simply a little unsure of how to interact with her, she couldn't tell, but something about him still set her a little on edge. Still, he was the Doctor's companion and she trusted the Doctor to be able to handle whatever might be going on, if anything at all.

The Doctor and the Hatter's companions soon joined her, the two parties gathering together to form one large one. Michael and Turlough shook hands after the Hatter introduced her companions to Turlough, since they had yet to meet the young man, before they said their hello's to Nyssa and Tegan. With that over and done with, the Hatter smiled brightly and clapped her hands, earning everyone's attention.

"So…" she let the word drag out, her eyes lit up as she looked at the Doctor, standing right beside her, "Consider this to be a bit of Christmas treat…"

"It was her idea," the Doctor cut in, nodding to the Time Lady.

"…it's been such a long time since we all just had fun together, after all," she went on, ignoring him, though her eyes did flicker back to his with amusement, "So, let the fun and games begin!"

And with that, she brought her hands out from behind her back and suddenly dumped two fistfuls of slightly melted snow right down on top of the Doctor's head, before breaking into giggles and ducking away at the loud yelp that came from him, followed by their companion's laughter. Oh, she was so going to pay for that one, she knew as she took off at top speed, hearing the Doctor shouting after her that she better run, but it had been so worth it.

….

She did end up paying for it in the end when he managed to catch up to her with not just a fistful of snow, but a armload, when he promptly dumped right on top of her head once he had managed to catch up to her enough to grab her arm, pulling her back. She had ended up tripping and tumbling in the soft, powder like snow, laughing breathlessly with red cheeks as he had rained the snow down over her, before flopping on the ground beside her, panting slightly and laughing along with her. It took her a moment to recover enough to wipe the snow off her face to actually see, though it was still melting into her jacket and blouse, chilling her skin. To a human it would have been painful; it was so cold, but for her it was just starting to get uncomfortable.

"You're getting slow, old man," she grinned, turning her head to look over to him. She didn't even mind that he knocked her hat off her head.

The Doctor turned his head to look at her, his nose close to touching hers, if she tilted her head just a little bit up. He pretended not to notice, though it was a challenge, "You're four months younger than me!" he claimed, his voice going slightly squeaky at the end.

The Hatter discreetly grabbed a handful of snow from beside her, lifting an eyebrow at him with amusement, "Four months is a big difference, Doctor," she told him knowingly, before throwing the fistful of snow right at his face and going to roll away from him…sadly, he had anticipated that and before she knew it, he was suddenly above her, straddling her hips and pinning her arms above her head, while she blinked in shock. He grinned broadly down at her, flecks of snow sticking to his floppy, blonde hair, "What…?" she huffed in annoyance at him, her breath blowing his fridge, "That wasn't fair, Doctor".

"Nor was you attempting a sneak snow attack and taking off. Again".

She went to open her mouth to give a cheeky defence to what she had done, but the words died on her lips and her mind almost seemed to short circuit for a brief moment. This version of him really did have rather pretty eyes, very blue and clear, almost grey in certain lights and green in others, but right now they were a vivid blue, almost like the snow currently soaking her back and hair. And they looking right into her eyes…she felt oddly breathless and confused. What was happening right now? They had been close plenty of times, physically, they hugged and there had even been prolonged snuggling, but something about this felt a little different. She thought she saw the moment he realised just how close they were flicker in his eyes, which seemed to widen and drift down to her lips, before moving determinedly back up to her eyes.

"Um…" he began, his voice sounding rather chocked and high pitched, all at once.

"Let go, Michael!" a loud shriek sounded from somewhere not far away from them, and it seemed to break the odd tension that had draped over them, the Hatter feeling both flustered and rather confused still by exactly what was going on as the Doctor quickly moved off her. She sat up and cleared her throat, looking over to where Michael currently had April thrown over his shoulder, running over to a rather large snow drift, obviously with the intention of throwing her into.

She felt a smile move over her face, watching them, Turlough seemed to be taking great delight in darting from tree to tree, throwing snowballs at people when they had their backs turned, while Katie, Tegan, and Nyssa, slightly less confidently then the other two, seemed to be chasing each other, trying to hit one another with snow, Katie laughing loudly as she tripped backwards and hit the snow. The Hatter felt warmed by the sight of them all enjoying themselves, the odd moment that had just happened between herself and the Doctor forgotten. He was her best friend, sometimes when you were that close to the opposite gender little things like that could happen, but it was only awkward if you made it so.

"They're having fun," the Doctor commented beside her, still sitting in the snow, smiling softly as he watched them all, just as she was. His cheeks still looked a little pink, but from cold or embarrassment, it was impossible to say.

"Yes, they do," she agreed, laughing as April lunged at Michael from the snowdrift she had been dumped in and shoved him onto his backside, his own laughter causing him to go straight down without any hope of saving himself. She looked across to him, nudging his arm with her elbow, smiling gently at him, "This was a brilliant idea, wasn't it?"

"Well, considering that it was your idea to begin with, Hatter…"

"Oh, shut up," she rolled her eyes and picked up another handful of snow, chucking it at his face…that, of course, resulted in another bout of snowball fighting, though this time they joined in with the others. It was perhaps safer that way.

….

The snowball felt somehow ended up dissolving into complete madness, the Hatter laughed so hard she was crying, sitting in the snow in totally soaked skinny jeans that were uncomfortable and cold against her legs, and grabbing her sides, while watching as the Doctor tried and failed astonishingly to play snowball cricket. Michael truly had been corrupted by her, since he was there eagerly making snowballs and throwing them at the Doctor, as if they were a cricket ball. The end result was more like a snow explosion upon impact with the bat, but just seeing the Doctor and Michael, to a degree, taking it all so seriously made the Time Lady giggle and almost roll around in the snow. It was a valiant effort on the Doctor's part, but in the end even he had to admit that one simply couldn't play snowball cricket, no matter how much you might want to, which was a great disappointment to the Doctor. But in the end he was cheered up slightly at the suggestion that they all go ice skating…much to the Hatter's reluctance.

"Show off," the Time Lady muttered, looking more like newborn giraffe trying to take its first steps as she slowly moved onto the ice. The Doctor was by far the best skater out of their group, grinning cheekily at her as he zipped around, as though it was nothing at all, while the rest of their friends got their bearings on the ice.

"You alright there, Hatter?" Tegan asked her as she slowly skated by her, looking far from home skating around, but at least she didn't seem to be about to topple over.

"Right at home, thank you," she grimaced, holding her arms out either side of herself, biting her bottom lip worriedly. For a second she thought she was about to fall, her hearts lurched and she felt her feet slid from out beneath her…when a pair of arms grabbed her, steadying her before she could fall completely. Instead, she ended up falling back against the person, who she recognised instantly by the double heartbeat as the Doctor, "Who's stupid idea was this?" she groaned into his chest, her cheeks warming.

"You can blame Katie for this one," the Doctor replied with a small smile, helping her to straighten herself, though he kept his arm around her waist.

"Oh, trust me, I do," she huffed, finding said strawberry blonde and glaring at her from where the girl was currently skating in a small circle with April, holding each other's hands and giggling together, "Will you be a dear, Doctor, and help me mysteriously trip my companion into a very deep snowdrift when the moment presents itself, please?"

"Now, Hatter, let's not get carried away. I'm sure she didn't suggest ice skating because she knows of your…lack of skill, in that department".

The Hatter scoffed, eyes still narrowed on Katie…who happened to glance up and over to them at that moment, flashing her a wicked smile worthy of the Time Lady, "Don't be fooled by her innocent act, Doctor," she told him gravely, "She's my companion, after all".

His lips twitched with amusement, "You do seem rather good at picking cheeky companions".

"I may have a type, yes".

He laughed and suddenly she felt herself being guided across the ice, her eyes widening in shock as he skated them, her head snapping around to him, "Good thing I happen to be good at skating then, isn't it?" he flashed her a bright smile, ignoring the look of panic on her face, before she could fully conceal it.

"Actually, I think I'd prefer to sit this one out, thanks. Ice is mean, very, very mean and…evil, Doctor. I don't like it, I'm not meant to glide across it".

"Don't worry," he said soothingly, though he still seemed far more amused than she liked right now, easily skating them around Michael and Tegan, "I've got you, I'd never let anything bad happen to you, Hatter. Never".

She sighed, forcing herself to relax slightly, "Okay," she muttered, glancing at him, "I trust you, sweetheart. Always".

The Doctor smiled at that, this time it was smaller and softer, but it made his eyes glow with a warmth that his previous grin hadn't.

….

They stayed until night began to fall, bringing with it a significant drop in temperature that even had the Time Lords shivering. The Hatter was pleased to say that the Doctor was true to his word and never once let her fall on the ice, though the same couldn't be said for Nyssa or April, even Turlough had a near miss, though even Michael had seemed to think it wouldn't be wise to tease him about it, so they all pretended not to have noticed. But all good things must end and with the change in weather, the Hatter thought it was time they start to leave, seeing the humans almost turning blue from the cold now, even their thick layers couldn't protect them now.

"Go," the Hatter pointed sternly over to her TARDIS, still disguised as a large rock, giving her shivering, almost frostbitten companions a sharp, mothering glare, "Inside right now and warm up, make yourselves hot chocolate, too. I will not have you getting ill on me".

"Yes, mum," Michael said in amusement, one arm wrapped around April, who was shivering and almost blue from cold.

"I'll have none of your cheek right now, young man. Usually I'd love it, true, but not when April looks like she might be one degree off turning into an iceblock. Inside, now".

Michael glanced at April and winced slightly, exchanging a quick look with Katie as they both quickly hurried inside the TARDIS, both looking rather concerned for the younger girl's health. The Hatter shook her head and turned around, only to find the Doctor watching her with an amused look.

"Once a mum, always a mum," he remarked fondly, regarding her with a soft smile. His own companions had already said their goodbyes, Tegan and Nyssa exchanging hugs with the Time Lady and her companion, while Turlough had settled on a firm handshake and polite smile, before the three of them had slipped into the phone box shaped TARDIS.

"Apparently," the Hatter smiled faintly, glancing back towards her time machine, "I just…sometimes I do find myself treating them as though they were my children. I…love them, very dearly".

The Doctor stepped closer to her, his arm bumping against hers, "It shows," he told her, giving her an understanding look, "They all hold a special place in our hearts, don't they?"

"That they do".

"And they look out for you?" he asked, eyeing her with a hint of concern now.

The Hatter would have rolled her eyes at his protectiveness, but considering how worried he looked, she thought against the urge, "We look out for each other," she corrected lightly, giving him a small smile, "As I'm sure your companions do, Doctor".

He nodded, seeming satisfied with that response, giving her an almost sad smile, "And now we part once more".

"You almost sound poetic".

"A bittersweet poem, perhaps," he smiled at her, reaching out to take her hand, wishing he didn't have to let it go again so soon, "I suppose asking you to join us for a while is off the table?"

"Never off the table, sweetheart, but…not this time. I need to make sure my companions aren't about to die from the common cold first".

He laughed at that and she smiled, moving to pull him into a tight hug, which she instantly returned. They never quite knew if it would be there last, after all. She pulled back and gave him a large, wide smile.

"Merry Christmas, Doctor".

"Merry Christmas, Hatter".

And with that, she turned and walked back to her TARDIS, feeling his eyes on her back all the way.

I've had this one-shot in my head for years now, but every time it would get to Christmas time I'd somehow forget it or run out of time to sit down and write it, so I just said 'Screw it, this year I'm doing it' and here we are. This is set after Mawdryn Undead, obviously, but not long after it, probably after Terminus, but before Enlightenment and I'm afraid that this is one of the last times that the Fourth Hatter is truly happy in this body. This is kind of the high before the great fall and the death of April occurs shortly after this, and after that she kind of shuts down a bit and ends up travelling with the Doctor until she regenerates in the Five Doctors and Hatters. Kind of grim for a Christmas one-shot, but it's an important moment in the Hatter's eyes, plus we got a bit of Classic Who Doctor/Hatter going on. Ah, still so clueless. I hope you guys liked it, let me know what you thought. Please review :)