Occasionally time-travel had its downside.
It wasn't as if time didn't pass for them in the TARDIS, because it did. But the familiar oh-so-human markers of time were absent: weekends, bank holidays, seasons...
Keeping track of the days was difficult, the calender on her mobile phone the only constant reminder of how many days she had spent travelling with the Doctor.
Initially she had thought of 'phone time' as 'real time' but her perception of it had changed as the days had faded almost unnoticed into months.
Six months, to be precise.
She'd made a deal with herself that after one year had passed, 'phone time, then she'd go back and see her mum. Ten seconds later, as she'd promised. It made a weird kind of sense, because then she'd actually be as old as she should be.
She hadn't mentioned it to the Doctor yet. She was terrified he might think she wanted to leave, when all she really wanted to do was reassure her mother.
"Are you okay, Rose?"
He dragged her out of her reverie. They were seated at the breakfast table in the kitchen. The Doctor might not do domestic, but Rose still found it necessary to start the day with a steaming mug of tea and some toast. For someone who had professed such a dislike for something so mundane, he had been more than willing to join her in what he termed 'her strange ritual.'
"Yeah... I was just miles away."
"You've been staring at your 'phone for the last five minutes."
Feeling guilty, but not quite sure why, she pushed the machine into her pocket and took a big bite out of her toast. "So what are we doing today then, Doctor?" she asked through a mouthful of warm bread and butter.
He shrugged. "Dunno. What d'you fancy?"
"I'm not fussed."
He frowned. "You sure you're okay?"
She bit her lip as she met his concerned eyes. "Promise you won't take this funny?"
He sat back. "So something is wrong, then?"
She put down her crust. "No. It's just... I just realised what date it would be today. If I was still..."
She couldn't finish the sentence, he was frowning at her.
"You want out?" he asked, and to her relief there was a lurking fear in his eyes.
"No! I knew you'd take this the wrong way..."
"What then?" he asked, relieved.
"If I was still on Earth, today'd be Christmas Eve. I just realised."
"Oh!" he exclaimed, "You want presents."
She flicked a crumb at him. "No. I just realised is all. And..." He was looking at her with laughter in his eyes now and she felt more than a little silly. "And I just felt sad because I 'aven't put up a Christmas tree. Go on, laugh."
He grinned from ear to ear instead. "I thought Christmas was a religious festival?"
"S'pose it is," she conceded, "But for me, Christmas has always been about decorating the tree more than Jesus." For some unfathomable reason she felt rather guilty about her confession. "Guess I'm a product of my time."
"Nah. If you were really a paid up member of the consumer society it'd all be about the presents. Decorating trees is a bit better." He appeared to reach a decision about something. "Right. Let's do Christmas then. You, me, TARDIS and tinsel. Sound good?"
"Sounds fantastic."
