Old Kazran looked through the old, yellowed polaroids, finding one that had been taken during a trip to New York. He and Abigail stood in front of the Statue of Liberty, smiling. The Doctor had taken them all sorts of places.
Eventually, he found one with writing on the back. California, 1952…
Abigail stood at the edge of the pool, looking out solemnly onto the water. Jazz music played distantly in the background as Kazran hurried up to her.
"Abigail." The young man breathed. "Are you coming back? The Doctor is gonna do a duet with Frank!" His smile slowly dropped, as he saw Abigail's mood. "Abigail? What's wrong?"
The woman wiped her eye. "I have something to tell you."
Kazran swallowed. "A bad thing?"
"…A very bad thing."
"Guys!" The Doctor poked his head around the corner, laying his eyes upon the two kissing each other like tomorrow wouldn't come. "We need to go quite quickly, because I believe I just got engaged to Marilyn Monroe!" The Time Lord spluttered, walking around the two of them, looking. "Wha- B- How do you keep that up? Surely you'd need to come up for air."
"Lemme go!" The drunken woman far across the yard slurred. "Graham, Yaz… the other one… I NEEED TO PHONE A CHAPEL!"
"My god, she's phoning a chapel." The Doctor gulped. "And there's a car outside!? Guys, this is happening NOW!"
"YOO-HOO!" The drunken woman waved to the Doctor, as her companions tried to keep her from making the biggest mistake of her life.
"Yoo-hoo!" The Doctor waved in response, before looking to the other two in frustration. "You know what? Fine! I'll just go and get married then." He tugged his coat, storming around the side of the pool. "Marilyn! Get your coat!"
The Doctor stood down the row of the ice boxes, watching as a tiny fish prodded the broken core of the sonic screwdriver. Kazran shut the door on the pod, so the Doctor put the bit of junk away, walking towards him.
"There we go. Another day, another Christmas Eve. I'll see you in a minute." He tapped Kazran on the shoulder. "I mean a year."
"Doctor?" Kazran called, stopping the Time Lord before he could enter his ship. "Listen, uh… Why don't we leave it?"
The Doctor frowned, tilting his head. "Leave what?"
"You know… this." Kazran gestured to the TARDIS. "Every Christmas Eve is getting a bit old."
"…old?"
"Well, Christmas is for kids. Isn't it?" Kazran evasively shrugged. "I've got some work with my dad now. I'm going to focus on that." He explained, undoing his bow tie.
"Sorry, I-" The Doctor apologized. "Didn't realize I was boring you."
"Not your fault." Kazran swallowed, turning around to exit the room. "Times change."
"Not as much as I hoped… Kazran." The Doctor stopped him, handing him the broken half of the sonic screwdriver. "I'll be needing a new one anyway. What the hell? Merry Christmas." He said as Kazran took it. "And if you ever need me, just activate it, I'll hear you."
"I won't need you."
The Doctor looked upon the young man seriously. "What's happened? What are you not telling me?"
Kazran said nothing, turning to leave.
"What about Abigail?" The Doctor called.
"I know where to find her."
"…nah." The Doctor sighed, as out of the corner of his vision, the little counter, which had been at eight the first time the Doctor had woken Abigail, ticked down to one.
Old Kazran sat in his chair, silently crying, as he turned around.
The picture of his father was back.
The old man got up from his seat and walked to his old bedroom. Opening a drawer covered in dust, he reached inside, and pulled out the broken half of the sonic screwdriver, coated in dust.
A phone rang downstairs.
"Yes, what!?" Kazran snarled. "Oh, Mister President, we've been through this! It's not going to crash on my house so what's it got to do with me? Yes, I know, four-thousand and two. As a very old friend of mine once took a very long time to explain, life isn't fair!" He slammed the phone down on a table, hanging up.
"Hello!" Kazran jumped, as a teenage girl suddenly materialized in front of him, glowing green.
"Who are you!?" Kazran demanded. "What are you doing here!?"
El tilted her head. "Oh, did you think it was over? No… I'm the Ghost of Christmas Present."
"A ghost?" Kazran scoffed. "You look more like a street urchin than a ghost."
Kazran's chair was suddenly knocked over by an invisible force, the man jumping in surprise, before he slowly turned back to the girl.
"See? Ghost." El said. "And, I can also do… this." She vanished.
"Do what!?" Kazran demanded. "What are you talking about!?"
"Silent night… holy night…"
The man turned, following the singing.
"All is calm… all is bright…"
Kazran walked up to the door of the freezer room, looking through the window.
There, on the inside, was a crowd of people, glowing green just like El had been.
"Round yon virgin mother and child…" The people staring blankly sang.
Punching in the code, Kazran turned the wheel, and pulled the door open.
"Holy infant so tender and mild… Christ, the savior is born… Christ, the savior is born…"
"They're holograms." El explained, materializing behind Kazran. "Projections, like me."
Kazran turned to her, "Who are they?"
"The people on the ship." El answered. "The ones you're going to kill if you don't shut off that machine."
"Why are they singing?" Kazran questioned.
"…so they won't die. Which one's Abigail?" She inquired, looking to the pods.
Kazran whipped around.
"The Doctor told me."
"Did he now?"
"You know the Doctor, he doesn't hold back."
"How do I!?" Kazran retorted. "I never met him before tonight! Now I seem to have known him all my life… why?"
"You're the only person who can let the ship land. He was trying to change your mind… and he was trying to be nice about it."
"He's changed my past, my whole life…"
"Time can be… rewritten."
"You tell the Doctor, you tell him from me… People can't!" Kazran stormed down the rows, towards Abigail's pod, the holograms of the people flickering and vanishing as he walked through them.
Kazran came to a stop in front of Abigail's pod, El reappearing next to him.
"That's her?"
"I would've never have known her if the Doctor hadn't altered the course of my life to suit himself."
"Well, that's good right?"
"No!" Kazran replied.
El looked to the ice box. "Why is she still in there? You can let her out whenever you want now that you're in charge."
"Any time at all… any time I choose…"
"Then why not?"
"This is what the Doctor did to me…" Kazran swallowed, touching the glass. "Abigail was ill when she went into the ice. On the brink of death. I suppose resting in the ice helped her… but she's used up her time. All those Christmas Eves with me." Kazran's voice cracked. "I can release her any time I want… but she would only live a single day." He looked to the girl. "So, tell me, Ghost of Christmas Present... How do I choose which day!?"
"…I'm sorry. I really am." El sniffled. "But do you know what, she has more time than I do right now. More than anyone else here."
"Good."
El's eyes narrowed. "Will… widen the beam."
Kazran's surroundings flickered in green, the freezer room suddenly being replaced by the bridge of the Thrasymachus. Alarm klaxons sounded, as the ship rocked, sparks flying.
"Major update on engine one." The Captain ordered.
"How did I get here?" Kazran demanded.
"You didn't." El answered, standing off to the side. "Your turn to be the hologram." She leaned on the bridge railing behind where Will was working, fiddling with the controls in a wall panel. "Since you're going to let all these people die… I thought you'd like to see where it's gonna happen."
Kazran looked around, a distant Christmas carol reaching his ears. "The singing… What is it? I don't understand."
The Captain hit a control on her console, the viewscreen switching on to show a view of one of the ship's dining halls, the people inside stood up, caroling together.
"The Doctor's idea." Will explained, looking to Sardick. "The harmonies are supposed to resonate the ice crystals, stabilize the ship, but it isn't working." He turned back to the panel. "It isn't strong enough."
"Why are they still singing, then?" Kazran questioned.
"Because we haven't told them." The Captain turned around. "Mister Sardick, I understand you have a machine that controls this cloud layer." The ship shook, struck by lightning. "If you release us from it, we still have time to make a landing. Nobody has to die."
"Everybody has to die." Kazran retorted. "It's only a matter of when."
"Not tonight." El stated.
"Tonight's as good as any other night… How do you choose?"
The girl shook her head. "Dad?" She held up an oversized walkie-talkie. "You hearing this?"
"Loud and clear."
"He's here." Kazran looked around. "Where is he!? Doctor?" The bridge vanished, returning to the freezer room. "Doctor!" He snarled, looking at the Time Lord across the way, leaning on one of the chambers.
"…I'm sorry." The Doctor apologized. "I didn't realize."
"All my life, I've been called heartless." Kazran began. "My other life, my real life, the one you rewrote. Now look at me." He looked into Abigail's pod.
"Better a broken heart than no heart at all."
"Try it." Kazran retorted, growling. "You try it. Why are you here?"
"Because I'm not finished with you yet." The Doctor answered, pushing off the pod, walking over slowly. "You've seen the past, the present… now it's time for the future."
"Fine, do it, show me." Kazran sneered. "I'll die cold, alone, and afraid. Of course I will, we all do. What difference does showing me make?"
The Doctor tilted his head, keeping silent.
"Do you know why I'm going to let those people die?" Kazran asked. "Not a plan, I don't get anything out of it, it's just that I. Don't. Care."
The Time Lord crossed his arms.
"I'm not like you, I don't even want to be like you. I don't and never, ever will care!"
The Doctor leaned in by only a hair's length. "And I don't believe that."
"Then show me the future." Kazran replied. "Show me I'm wrong."
"I am showing it to you." The Doctor retorted. "I'm showing it to you right now…" He looked over the old man's shoulders. "So, what do you think, Kazran?"
The old man, shakily, took a few steps around.
There he was, his younger self, standing there… horrified.
"Is this who you want to become?" The Doctor questioned.
The boy looked the old man up and down. "…dad?"
Old Kazran threw his cane to the side, pulling his arm up, snarling. In the flash of an instant, every time his father had done the same to him replayed in his mind.
The boy gasped, flinching in fear as he prepared himself.
The blow never came.
Old Kazran stood, shaking, tears falling from his eyes as he realized just what he had become. The thing he swore he'd never become.
"I'm sorry…" Old Kazran cried. "I'm so sorry… It's okay to be frightened…" He gently placed his hands on his younger self's shoulder.
The Doctor stood there, watching, as the two Kazrans cried.
"I'm sorry…" Kazran wept, embracing his younger self. "I'm so, so sorry…"
The Doctor slowly walked up. "Kazran." He addressed, both looking to him. "We don't have much time."
"Ah!" El fell against the wall as the ship tipped.
"Structural integrity at thirty percent!" The Co-Pilot reported.
"We have five minutes, max!" The Captain yelled over the screeching metal. "We need to land, now!"
"Hello? Hello?" The viewscreen switched on. "Ah! Hello, everyone! Prepare to lock onto my signal!"
"Dad!" El beamed. "What's happening?"
"I just saved Christmas!" The Time Lord replied. "Don't go anywhere!" He ordered, the screen switching off.
"Dad? Dad!" El groaned. "Oh, not again!"
"We good to go?" The Doctor asked, running over to the control alcove.
"The controls!" Old Kazran replied, twisting dials, flicking switches, each and every control remaining unresponsive. "They won't respond!"
"Of course they will, they're isomorphic, they're tuned to your brainwaves!" The Doctor retorted. "They'll only respond to you!"
"They won't respond!" Old Kazran replied.
"That doesn't make sense!" The Doctor pushed his way into the alcove, fiddling with the machine himself. "Oh." He realized with wide eyes. "Oh, of course. Stupid, stupid Doctor…"
"What's wrong?" Old Kazran asked, "Tell me, what is it?"
"It's you." The Doctor replied. "I've changed you too much, the machine doesn't recognize you."
"B-but my father programmed it-"
"Your father would've never programmed it for the man you are now." The Doctor wiped his face.
"Then what do we do?" Old Kazran asked.
"Um… um…" The Doctor stuttered. "I don't know, I don't…"
"There must be something!" Young Kazran piped up.
Old Kazran patted his pockets. "This. You can use this, I kept this, see?"
"What, half a screwdriver?" The Doctor inhaled. "With the other half up in the sky in the shark right in the heart of the cloud layer…" The Time Lord walked back over, taking the broken half. "If we use your aerial to boost the signal and set up a resonation pattern between the two halves-oh! That could work! It could do it!"
"Do what?" Old Kazran inquired.
"While my screwdriver is trying to repair it keeps signaling itself." The Doctor explained. "We use the signal, but we send something else…"
"Send what?" Young Kazran asked.
"What, what, what?" Old Kazran pressed.
The Time Lord slowly turned to the old man. "I'm sorry, Kazran, but… we need her to sing."
"Her voice resonates perfectly with the ice crystals." The Doctor explained, the three of them standing in front of the ice box. "It calmed the shark; it'll calm the sky too."
"Could you do it?" Old Kazran asked. "Could you do this? Think about it, Doctor… one last day with your beloved. Which day would you choose?"
The ice box hissed as the pressure seal released, the door opening.
"Christmas." Abigail said, stepping out, looking at the Old Kazran with a sad smile. "Christmas Day. Look at you…" She placed a hand on the old man's cheek. "You're so old now… I think you waited a bit too long, don't you?"
"I'm sorry." Old Kazran sniffed.
"Hoarding my days like an old miser…"
Old Kazran laughed slightly. "But if you leave the ice now-"
"We've had so many Christmas Eves, Kazran… don't you think it's time for Christmas Day?"
"Dad!" El screamed into the comm over the screaming metal of the warping ship. "Dad!"
"We can't hold it!" The Captain said, grasping the arms of her chair. "Time's up! We're going down!"
"DAD!"
The radios on the bridge crackled.
"Captain, I've got-" The Co-Pilot spoke up. "I don't know what I've got."
"…silence is all…"
"What is that?" The Captain looked to the Co-Pilot. "What are you listening to?"
"This… is coming from outside!" The Co-Pilot reached across the helm console, tapping something in. "It's coming from the clouds!"
"When you're alone… silence is all you know…" Abigail sang into the broken sonic screwdriver like it was a microphone.
"Well?" Old Kazran inquired.
"The singing resonates in the crystals, it's feeding back and forth between the two halves of the screwdriver now." The Doctor explained, attaching a cord to a cord in the bottom of the broken half. "One song," He soniced the cable with the fresh replacement screwdriver from the TARDIS, "Filling the sky. The crystals will align, and I'll feed in a controlled phase loop and the clouds will unlock."
Young Kazran frowned, looking to the Doctor. "Unlock?"
The Time Lord smiled. "Something's going to happen on this planet that hasn't happened for a very, very long time."
Old Kazran looked up, as he felt something tiny and cold land on his head.
The others looked up with matching grins, as snow began to fall.
"When you're alone… silence is all you see…"
"Give me your hand…" Abigail sang, as the ship leveled out, flying along stable. "Oh come to me…"
"We're flying normally…" The Pilot breathed.
The Captain turned to him with a smile. "Can you land?"
"I can even land well."
El shot into Will's arms, repeatedly kissing him on all parts of his face, except the lips. "He did it! HE DID IT!"
Will blinked, face going pink as he realized what had just happened. "Um… did you just kiss me?"
The girl pulled away, crossing her arms, looking at anyone but Will. "Might've done."
"…can you do it again?"
"Oh, shut up." She lightly smacked him on the arm. Nevertheless, her hand wandered down, grasping his.
It was hard not to be happy, surviving for another day.
Old Kazran looked to Abigail, awestruck.
"When you are here…" Abigail sang, looking at him. "Music is all around…"
The Doctor tapped Young Kazran on the shoulder, gesturing to the TARDIS. As they walked, children ran outside to play in the first snow for decades.
Old Kazran looked up, witnessing the shadow of the shark swimming through the clouds. "Hello, my old friend…"
The Doctor looked upon the other two with a smile. "Let's go." He said to Young Kazran, gently guiding him into the TARDIS.
The TARDIS thudded, the engines spinning up as the light on top flashed, blowing the falling snow all around like a blizzard.
Old Kazran waved as the timeship vanished, leaving nothing behind… except an old carriage.
"You know," El called, walking up as the Doctor did a little Eskimo kiss with a snowman, "That almost looks real. Snowman isn't bad either."
"Ah, yes, you two!" He looked upon Will and El. "About time. You're still dressed like that?"
Will crossed his arms, shivering. "Not my fault someone pissed off the TARDIS. Still," He looked at the armor, "Might keep it. Go as the Black Knight next Halloween."
El walked up to the snowman, tilting her head. "They love snowmen here, don't they? I've counted about twenty."
"Yeah," The Doctor turned to it, pointing pridefully. "I've been busy."
The girl smiled, throwing her arms around the Doctor. "Thanks, dad."
"Pleasure!" The Doctor replied with a smile. "Right, come on you two, let's go!" He turned, taking the lead as they walked back to the TARDIS.
"You know," Will tried to warm himself by rubbing the exposed parts of his armor. "I wouldn't say no to a… Christmas tour?" He suggested.
"Christmas?" The Doctor repeated, checking his watch. "Yeah, we can do Christmas. Actually, yes!" The Doctor excitedly bounced, unlocking the TARDIS. "It's just occurred to me that El wasn't with Hopper long enough to celebrate Christmas, and we didn't get around to it before Big Bang Two, so, El, how about it!" He turned to her as he pushed the door open, Will the first one to step into the ship. "Christmas on the TARDIS?"
"Yeah." El smiled, "Great." She waited for the door to shut behind Will, before looking to the Doctor. "This'll be the last day they spend together, won't it?"
"…everything's gotta end sometime." The Doctor sagely responded. "Else, nothing would ever get started."
The TARDIS door was hurriedly pulled open, Will popping his head out. "Doctor, the phone was ringing. Someone named… Graham on behalf of Marilyn? Um… I-I-I didn't really hear, but it sounded like he was implying… that Marilyn."
El looked at the Doctor questioningly. "Dad?"
The Time Lord crossed his arms. "Tell them I'll phone back… and that it was never a real chapel."
El shook her head. "I can't believe you… where are they?" She asked. "Abigail and Kazran?"
"Off on a little trip I should think." The Doctor answered.
"Where?"
The Time Lord smiled. "Christmas."
"Christmas." El smiled, pushing into the TARDIS.
The Doctor's hand rested on the door, as he looked up into the sky. "Halfway out of the dark…" He pushed in, slamming the door, as the ship began to vanish.
Far above the ground, Kazran and Abigail laughed together, riding a carriage pulled along by a flying shark through the sky.
