"Rockin' around, the Christmas tree!" The Doctor sang to himself, dancing around as he hung an ornament on the fir tree picked specifically from the garden. Living on a time machine meant that things like holidays, birthdays, and anniversaries came around whenever you wanted them to. So, once the mood struck, the Doctor found himself, El, and Will prepping the TARDIS for Christmas.
The Byers boy had was beginning to warm up to things on board the TARDIS, and though he couldn't remember the ten years of false memories, was taking a liking to El as well.
It probably had something to do with the fact that El had been responsible for saving his life in the post-Big Bang Two timeline.
But, regardless, the three were here, spending a happy Christmas decorating the TARDIS sitting room, drinking festive beverages, and generally having some laughs.
Until, that is, the Time Lord looked over to El.
The girl's face was locked in a frown, contemplating something.
"You alright over there?" The Doctor asked, worried only just slightly.
"I'm fine." El replied. "I mean…" She glanced at the door, Will having stepped out to go use the restroom. "I feel bad."
"What for?" The Doctor asked, turning back to the trees.
"…I remember both histories." El explained. "The one where you crashed in the woods and I came aboard the TARDIS then, and the other… where Mike found me."
"Okay… and?" The Doctor prompted.
"The current timeline, the one where Will didn't get back until I helped rescue him…" El tapped her hands together. "I stopped the Demogorgon and vanished… but Mike waited for me. 353 days."
"Michael Wheeler…" The Doctor huffed with a smile. "The Boy Who Waited… He must've had quite the crush on you."
"That's the thing…" El awkwardly shifted. "He waited for me all that time, and I was going to go back to him… until I remembered you, remembered how things should be… and then I abandoned Hopper, ran off with you, and we, you know, took Will."
"…you feel guilty." The Doctor guessed.
"I should've given him a proper goodbye." El replied. "It might be too late for that now… but maybe we could make it up to him?"
The Doctor leaned on the wall, raising an eyebrow. "What did you have in mind?"
El walked over to the small bookshelf, pulling out a little book with a train in a snowy field on the front, handing it over to the Doctor.
"The Polar Express…" The Doctor smiled, looking it over. "One of Chris Van Allsburg's greatest, in my opinion."
"No." El shook her head. "Look." She ordered, pointing to the back of the book.
The Doctor's eyebrows shot up. "Mike is the one who writes it in this timeline? …I guess that means not everybody was put back into their proper places by Big Bang Two…" He turned to El expectantly. "But what does this have to do with Mike?"
"I wanted to give him a Christmas present. Something really special… an adventure." El rubbed her hands. "No monsters, no aliens… the only danger is the stuff we make up."
"So it looks thrilling enough for him, but it's completely safe the whole time." The Doctor smiled. "I like it. But there is a problem." The Doctor held up the book. "If we're ripping off a book, it's not too terribly original, is it? Loads of paradox potential too."
"Mike will probably write it when we're done. No paradox." El said. "And besides, you ripped off A Christmas Carol."
"Oh…" The Doctor spluttered. "Be quiet."
"So," El crossed her arms. "Can we do it?"
"I'll need to make some calls," The Doctor said, he, Will, and El striding through the TARDIS corridors with a purpose. "I'll need an engineer and a fireman," He glanced to the two, "That's covered. I can be the Conductor. But I need waiters and chefs… and someone who can convincingly play the part of a hobo."
"Oh, oh!" El snapped her fingers. "Uncle Jack!"
The Doctor looked the girl. "You're calling him Uncle Jack now? Good lord, this really is proof we're living in the worst timeline…" He shook his head. "Anyway, yeah, he works. He's a lot of things, but I can trust him around children if nothing else."
"Are we actually doing this?" Will questioned. "Driving a train to the north pole?"
"I won't be driving anything." The Doctor retorted. "El will."
The boy paled. "What?"
"If I put you in charge of driving the train, you'd derail us almost instantly."
"Hey!"
"But you," The Doctor patted El on the shoulders, "You've driven the TARDIS. Besides, you could use your powers to reach all the levers and things that Will couldn't."
"…okay, good point." The girl conceded. "It'll probably be easier than driving the TARDIS anyway."
"Exactly!" The Doctor pointed.
"Okay." Will conceded. "But where are we going to get a train?"
"Fortunately enough for us, I've been leading us to the exact right place to answer that question." The Doctor said, pressing a button to open a door. "The TARDIS museum of vehicles. I used to have them all separated into categories, but I figured it'd be more ergonomic. That way I could have an extra-large LEGO room."
"You keep trains in here?" Will questioned, looking around.
"Not just any train. Just the train we need." The Doctor came to a stop in front of the locomotive. "Now, just a few little modifications, and we can get this show on the road!"
Mike lay in his bed on the upper level of his house, just across the way from Holly, staring up at the spinning ceiling fan. He breathed slowly and silently; he did not rustle the sheets. He was trying to fall asleep as best as he could, but… Well, you couldn't blame him for being troubled. That… box thing appeared out of nowhere, the man inside claiming he was El's father (poor Hopper, even a blind person could see how much that had torn the man up), before taking off with her, kidnapping Will in the process.
Mike had thought it had hurt when El had 'died…' this was far worse.
He glanced over at the clock. Five minutes to midnight. He'd tried to go to sleep, but the feelings still ate at him, leaving him awake.
His eyes slowly began to drift closed of their own accord.
Something shook, and they snapped back open, Mike shooting up, looking around in confusion.
The lamp vibrated, clunking as something rumbled in the distance. A cup of pencils nearby the pieces of paper that he used to plan out the D&D campaigns tipped off the side of his desk, spilling all over the floor.
Then, the entire room began to shake, like a mighty earthquake was tearing through the house. However, something made it quickly apparent this wasn't an earthquake at all.
A train whistle blared, sounding like it was coming from right outside. Mike could hear the chugging of the engine, as lights spilled into the room from below, a line of train cars moving past.
There weren't supposed to be train tracks outside. Anybody who knew even an iota of where the Wheeler house was located knew that the house was at the bottom of the street, off the cul-de-sac. The only way for a train to approach the house in the direction that it did was if the tracks went past the cul-de-sac, bending left into the woods…
Never mind the fact that train lines didn't run through Hawkins at all.
Mike pushed himself up, head following the beams of light as the source began to slow down.
Mike shot to his feet, jumping off his bed. Getting some slippers and his robe (which caught on one of the posts of his bed, tearing a hole into the pocket), Mike sprinted out of his room, down the stairs. Curiously enough, nobody else seemed to react. Which was typical for his father, but Nancy? His mom? Holly? Something Weird was going on.
Running out the front, the door shut behind him, and the ground underneath Mike's feet rumbled as the train slowed to a crawl before it finally stopped, the metal creaking and popping as it settled.
Golden orange light spilled out from the windows on the cars, and the light on the front, as the train stood there hissing, on a track that was certainly not there a few hours ago, and from a space in the nearby woods that looked like it had been cleared especially for it.
Smoke and steam shrouded the groaning metal behemoth that was the locomotive, snow falling and flash evaporating as it hit the surface of the steam engine.
"What the hell…?" Mike quietly whispered to himself slowly approached.
The snow crunched underneath him as he walked, carefully getting close to the front of the vehicle, treating it like an animal that could snap at any moment.
There, behind the locomotive, on the side of the tender, was the name of the train, 'Polar Express,' apparently. Under the windows on the engine was the number 1225.
"All aboard!" A voice suddenly shouted from some ways behind, causing Mike to whip around.
Mike glanced at the engine and pointed at himself, eyebrows furrowing in confusion as he looked back in the direction of the man holding a lantern.
"All aboard!" The man repeated, and Mike slowly decided to walk down the length of the train, approaching the man.
Mike came to a stop, as the fog cleared around the bow tie clad man holding the lantern. He was wearing a dark purple frock coat with wool lapels, a velvet waistcoat of a similar color, and tan trousers.
Mike blinked, before he slowly began to shake with fury.
"...Well?" The Doctor questioned. "You coming?"
"You…" Mike growled. "You!"
The Doctor blinked. "Not the answer I was expecting."
"It's you!" Mike ran into the Time Lord, hitting the man repeatedly in the chest. "You took her! And Will!"
"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" The Doctor held Mike back slightly. "Mike!"
The boy's repeated punching, almost a year of pent-up grief and a few months of anger found itself being let out, directed into the Time Lord's torso.
"I never thought I'd see them again!" Mike screeched. "We all thought they were gone! Gone!"
"Mike," The Doctor grabbed him, as the punches didn't let up.
"Gone!" Mike's punches lost steam, before he descended into tears. "I thought they were dead…"
"I'm sorry, kid, I'm sorry." The Doctor gently whispered apologetically, as Mike shook, "But I'm here to make it up to you."
"…what?" Mike asked through his tears.
"El had an idea." The Doctor told him, gently pushing him away. "She realized it probably hurt you when she ran off with me and brought Will instead of you, so…" The Doctor gestured to the hissing train. "Would you like to come with us?"
The thirteen-year-old recoiled slightly. "Come where?"
The Time Lord smiled. "Why, to the North Pole, of course!" The Doctor replied. "This," He gestured theatrically to the gold letters emblazoned proudly on the side of the train car, "Is the Polar Express!"
"…The North Pole?" Mike incredulously repeated. "You take my best friend and my girlfriend and then ask me to jump on a train with you!?"
"Well…" The Doctor shrugged slowly. "Yeah? And besides, I don't think she was your girlfriend before we left…" He muttered, "But never mind that. It was El's idea. A peek into how we live our lives. An adventure! Set just around Christmas! Well, on Christmas."
"…El wanted to do this?" Mike repeated. "For me?"
The Doctor nodded. "I'll let you in on a little secret. Once she's adopted someone into her circle of friends… she'd move heaven and earth to make them happy."
"Where is she?" Mike asked.
"Oh, you know," The Doctor gestured up to the engine, Mike turning to move in that direction. "Ah, ah. We've got a long trip ahead of us, and she's got a train she has to focus on driving. So, how about it Mike? The best Christmas gift you'll ever get…"
Mike glanced around, and then back to his house. "How long will this take?"
"Not long. We'll be back before midnight, certainly." The Doctor replied, stepping onto the bottom step of the train. "Well, you coming?"
Mike debated on it for a moment. He had no idea whether or not he could trust the Doctor. Joyce, on some level, seemed to think Will was safe. For whatever reason, the woman had a set of memories belonging to a world where the Doctor had managed to rescue Will from the Upside Down a full four days before he actually returned. She realized Will was probably safe, especially if El trusted the Doctor, but that didn't mean she didn't worry. Everybody else on the other hand had no prior encounters with the mysterious man and couldn't be sure if the two of them were really okay.
But… if the Doctor was the sort of being to kidnap children for nefarious means, he wouldn't come back, and certainly not show his face to one of the friends group unless nothing was wrong. Thus, it seemed to Mike, that Will and El were truly alive, unharmed, probably even with the Doctor willingly.
So, albeit a bit reluctantly, Mike stepped onto the stair next to the Time Lord. The Doctor held the lantern out the door and waved it through the air two times.
El, up at the engine, responded with two quick puffs of the whistle.
The train lurched as the locomotive's wheels began to move, slowly speeding up.
Snow on the ground kicked up, as the chilly wind blew into Mike's face, as the train began to proceed. As he passed back in front of the house, Mike could see the little snowman Holly had built earlier standing there. The wind coming from the train blew up against it, causing one of the mittens to move, making it look like the snowman was waving at Mike as it saw him off.
The Doctor poked Mike in the arm, and gestured for him to follow, leading him up the steps to a green sliding door. Opening the door, the Time Lord gestured for Mike to enter first
The teenager slowly walked up, and peered into the car, as children who all looked significantly younger than him ran around, playing. He blinked, wondering just what the hell was going on here.
"I'm not the only one?" Mike questioned the Time Lord.
"Figured it would just be more disconcerting if you were literally the only one in the train." The Doctor answered, door squeaking as he shut it. "Now, if you could just find a seat, we'll be there in a jiffy."
Mike looked to the Doctor questioningly. "When can I get to see El? And Will?"
"In due time." The Doctor replied. "Now, sit please.
Mike slowly moved to find an empty seat, feeling self-conscious at being the oldest one in the place.
He sat down, and looked around, feeling a set of eyes on him.
Mike looked, at the little girl across the way, awkwardly waving under the scrutiny of such small eyes.
"Hey, hey you!" A kid wearing glasses addressed Mike, looking over the back of his seat. "Yeah, you! Do you know what kind of train this is?"
Mike blinked. "Uh…"
"Train, do you know what kind of train this is?" The kid pressed. "Well, do you?"
"Of course," The girl spoke up for him, speaking in an English accent. "It's a magic train." She glanced back to Mike. "We're going to the North Pole."
Mike frowned.
"Oh, I know that!" Glasses replied. "Actually, it's a Lima 2-8-4 N1-class Berkshire-type steam locomotive. Built in 1941 at the Lima Locomotive Works it weighs 456100 pounds, and has a tractive force…"
Mike let the boy get lost in his own words, as he leaned over to the girl across the way.
"I'm Mike."
The girl smiled. "Clara. Clara Oswald."
"Hey… you can't actually believe we're going to the North Pole, are we?"
"Yep!" The girl vigorously nodding her head. "We're going to meet Santa!"
"Santa." Mike repeated.
This just kept getting wilder and wilder.
