Tasha was able to teleport them down to the mysterious planet below, just as the Doctor had been hoping that she would, but Rose hadn't been prepared for the sudden shock that came from being in a perfectly nice future-church space-chapel one moment to a dark, frozen tundra with nothing but a flimsy hologram between her bare skin and the snow the next.
The Doctor reached for her immediately as Rose gasped and the dry, cold air instantly clawed at her throat. "Cold," she groaned as she hugged her arms tight to her chest and began to violently shiver. She allowed herself to be pulled towards the Doctor's tall, comforting frame as she repeated shakily, "Very cold!"
"There's a heat loss filter in your hologram shell," the Doctor explained as he rubbed his hands roughly up and down her arms in an attempt to spark warmth through friction. "It'll kick in, just give it a moment."
He wrapped his arms around her in a quick, tight hug and pressed a hard kiss into her hair before he spun her around so that he could keep her back to his front and they could survey their new surroundings without having to let go of one another. The sensation was still quite odd when there weren't any actual clothes to separate them, but the heat loss filters were finally beginning to kick in, and Rose decided to focus on breathing normally through the bitter cold air rather than allowing herself to become distracted by the very naked Time Lord at her back.
The Doctor, however, didn't seem to be frazzled in the least, and as soon as he was certain that Rose wasn't going to freeze to death, he was stepping away from her once more, eager to go and investigate the town where the mysterious signal was coming from. Rose moved to follow him, but she froze in place as her attention caught on a pale stone hand reaching up through the snow below.
"Doctor ...?" she called curiously, but she didn't get any other words out before she blinked against the snow in her eyes and suddenly there was an entire arm reaching up through the ground and grasping very tightly around her ankle.
"Clara!" the Doctor shouted in concern as he immediately darted forward and grabbed for her once more, staring over her shoulder in horror at the stone arm that seemed to be capable of movement. She hated that he still had to use her fake name whenever they were outside of the confines of the TARDIS, but having his thoughts in her head whispering her true name helped calm her as Rose stumbled unevenly in an attempt to balance on her one free foot.
"Clara, keep looking at it! Don't look away! Don't even blink!" the Doctor muttered fearfully as he let his arms slide securely around her middle, holding her close to him as though he were afraid that she might slip away at any second. She could feel the quick, panicked rhythm of his hearts against her back and Rose's mind reached out on instinct in an attempt to soothe his racing thoughts. Clearly, he had had run-ins with these statues before, and whatever had happened sill affected him greatly.
"Okay, pull hard," he instructed gently, bracing his own weight more securely between his two feet in an attempt to help her. "One ... two ... three!"
They both yelled as they pulled as hard as they could against the stone's tight grip. As soon as Rose's ankle slipped free, they both tumbled backwards, rolling over one another clumsily as they slid down a steep, snowy bank.
Rose was now naked, cold, and wet, and - they soon discovered - not alone, as stone angels began to emerge from the snow all around them, sneaking in at impossible speeds any time either of them blinked or a snow drift briefly blinded their sight.
"Okay, I just need to bring the TARDIS down ..." the Doctor muttered under his breath as they arranged themselves back-to-back in an attempt to keep their eyes on the statues that only seemed to be able to move when you weren't looking at them.
"But you can't fly it remotely!" Rose reminded him in frustration as she blinked hard once and attempted to count the advancing angels through the misty haze.
"No, but it can home in on the key," the Doctor replied simply.
"But Tasha took your key!" Rose snapped as the angels drew impossibly closer and closer ...
"She took one of them," the Doctor agreed, his voice confident as he spun around and the familiar sound of the TARDIS immediately began to fill Rose's ears.
She whipped her head around in confusion, only to let out a startled scream as she gazed wide-eyed at the Doctor's bald, round head. She was frozen in shock as the old time ship slowly materialized around them, simply staring up at him in horror. Rose began to wonder if maybe one of the angels had gotten her after all and this was just some sort of weird, after-death dream.
"Doctor ..." she breathed as he flashed her a cocky smile and placed the wig that he had been wearing on his empty Cyberman's head, "what ave you done?"
"Old key in the quiff routine. Classic!" he crowed excitedly as he moved forward to begin setting the TARDIS to scan for the source of the mysterious message that they had been chasing all day.
"You ... shaved your head ..." Rose stated slowly, her hands still hovering around her face as though that would help her to contain her openly-horrified expression.
"Yep," the Doctor replied, completely unashamed and unrepentant as he fiddled with the console controls. "Clever plan to get us past the shield."
Rose opened her mouth to ask why, but then thought better of it as she simply sighed and dropped her head wearily into her hands in defeat. "I can't believe this ... You know, you live in a space and time machine. There are lots of other things you could do whenever you get bored!"
"Oi! I seem to remember hearing a lot of complaints about all of the hair not too long ago," the Doctor replied irritatedly as he swept a self-conscious hand over the smooth skin of his head.
Rose opened her mouth to argue, but after a moment's hesitation, she eventually let her lips fall shut and only shook her head in silent defeat once again. She had been with the Doctor through enough decades, now, to recognize when he was simply trying to wind her up.
"Right, well, put it back on. Put it all back on - clothes, too," Rose demanded, grabbing the wig off of the Cyberman head and tossing it towards the Doctor, the odd feel of it between her fingers making her cringe in distaste.
"You really are no fun at all ..." the Doctor groaned under his breath as he caught the fake hair and scowled dejectedly down at the TARDIS controls.
Rose rolled her eyes dramatically and stepped forward, pushing herself to the tips of her toes so that she could wrap her hands around the Doctor's bare neck and bring him in for a hard, frustrated kiss. When she stepped away from him again she leveled her best no-nonsense look on him as she stated, "Just so we're clear - naked romps through the snow while being chased by killer statues is not my idea of fun."
"Well, I had fun," the Doctor insisted, smiling cheekily down at her as he let his arms snake around her waist and pulled her eagerly closer to him.
Rose sighed heavily one last time as she looked up at the Doctor's bald head with a look of utter remorse. "How long is it going to take to grow back?" she asked sadly.
"Oh, not to worry - I've got something for that," he replied with a simple, dismissive shrug.
"Good," Rose declared resolutely. "Your ears are like rocket fins."
The insult did nothing to dampen the Doctor's mood as he smiled widely down at her and replied, "I know!"
The town that they landed in ended up being a rural, quaint little place that seemed to be decorated for the old Earth holiday and completely unaware of the dangerous, mysterious signal that it housed. However, Rose found that she was much more willing and eager to explore the strange new place after they had ditched their hologram projections in favor of real clothes once more. In fact, it was almost like a normal holiday outing in a strange, outer space sort of way.
"Oh, it's good to be wearing clothes again," Rose announced happily as she closed the TARDIS doors behind her and skipped forward to the Doctor's side. "That's so much better, don't you think?"
The Doctor turned his nose up slightly as she slipped her arm through his and he cast a dejected look down at her old jacket. "Liked it better before," he grumbled honestly.
Rose rolled her eyes as she tugged on his arm and urged him further into the town, but she sent him a quick, amused wave of fondness over their bond as she did so.
It didn't take them long before they ran into another couple walking down the street, which was odd considering the fact that no one else seemed to be out. In fact, the whole town was eerily dark and silent, despite the fact that the Doctor had stated that it was two-o'-clock in the afternoon.
"Hello, there!" the Doctor called out to the pair excitedly, instantly lengthening his stride so that he could intercept the two strangers. "Hello, good to meet you. Nice snow."
The man and woman smiled widely and greeted them warmly, instantly welcoming them into their small, strange town, which they dubbed "Christmas".
The Doctor opened his mouth to rattle off his carefully-thought-out cover story, but all that came out was, "I'm the Doctor, I'm a Time Lord from the planet Gallifrey, I stole a time machine and ran away and I've been flouting the principle law of my own people ever since."
He actually had to slap a hand over his own mouth to stop the words that seemed to be flowing from his lips outside of both his will and control. Rose furrowed her brow at him in confusion as she looked from the Doctor's wide, surprised eyes, to the smiling, unaffected couple before them, and back again.
"That wasn't quite what I was meant to say ..." the Doctor muttered through his fingers as he eyed the chuckling couple suspiciously.
Rose opened her mouth next in an attempt to rectify the situation, but she quickly discovered that she seemed to be experiencing the same difficulties as the Doctor as she began to rant absently, "My name is Rose, I'm a human from Earth, and I used to be a shopgirl until I ran off with a man from space and got trapped in a parallel world, until I somehow broke up into atoms and came back to this universe as a twenty-four-year-old nanny."
Rose gasped as she also raised her hand to her mouth and mirrored the Doctor's expression of horrified alarm as she fought back the well of words that seemed to be springing up and overflowing from within her.
"I think, perhaps, you should stop talking until you get used to it," the strange woman before them suggested with a small, amused smile. "What did you say your name was?"
Rose winced as she attempted to reply with her fake name, but all that came out was, "Over a hundred years old and still chasing my teenage crush ..."
"I'm wearing a wig!" the Doctor interrupted her before both of them could slap their hands over their mouths once more in an attempt to silence the uncontrollable words.
"Ah! Yes, I see!" the Doctor continued after a moment, lowering his hand as eager realization suddenly dawned over his features. "It's a truth field! Oh, that is so quaint. I haven't seen a truth field in years!" He grinned at them all proudly as he repeated matter-of-factly, "I'm wearing a wig."
"No one can lie in this town," the strange man informed them with a simple shrug of his shoulders, "especially this close to the tower."
"Doesn't that make life a bit difficult?" the Doctor asked, his brow furrowing as he glanced up at the said tower with a look of wary apprehension.
"Not at all!" the woman replied at the same time that her partner answered eagerly, "Yes!"
The Doctor chuckled quietly as he watched the couple continue on their way down the winding, snow-covered street. "This one is going to be tricky ..." he murmured under his breath as he turned back to gaze at the tower before them, reaching instinctively for Rose's hand before he attempted to venture forth.
"I think I should get one of those truth fields permanently installed in the TARDIS," Rose muttered thoughtfully, flashing the Doctor a teasing smile as she took his hand and allowed him to lead her forward.
"'Over a hundred years old'?" he repeated as an afterthought, flashing Rose a considering look out of the corner of his eye.
"Oi, don't get cheeky with me, Mister-Twelve-Hundred-and-Something," Rose replied sarcastically.
"No, no, I was just going to say that you're looking good on it," he replied, squeezing her fingers in his as he held the door of the tower open for her and ushered her inside before him.
"Well, that's what being married to an ageless alien will do to you," Rose reminded him, flashing the Doctor a pointed look as they began searching for stairs or some other way of getting to the upper levels of the bell tower. "Got to keep up with the young faces you keep changing into."
The Doctor chuckled under his breath once more as his gaze instantly landed on a winding set of stairs towards the back of the room and he wasted no time in pulling her eagerly towards them. "Hey, who knows?" he replied quietly. "Maybe the next time around I'll surprise you and go for something completely different."
Rose laughed as she ran to keep up with his long-legged stride and they quickly ascended the stairs in pursuit of the mysterious signal that they could hear buzzing throughout the entire building in three, measured sonic bursts. She knew that neither of them were particularly concerned with what face he might end up with further on down the road, but Rose couldn't help but hope that it would be a long time off yet before the Doctor regenerated again. More than anything else, she hated how every change felt like a goodbye, and she found that she wasn't exactly eager to let go of the man who she had so recently been reunited with.
Rose tightened her hold on the Doctor's hand and silently willed him to be careful as they delved deeper into the tower and the signal grew steadily louder around them. He easily brushed off her concern with a quick mental touch that didn't go very far in reassuring her.
Rose wanted very much to believe in his confident, cavalier attitude, but there was an odd, silent atmosphere surrounding the sleepy town of Christmas that couldn't be ignored no matter how hard she tried, and Rose couldn't quite shake the odd feeling that this signal that they were searching for was going to turn out to be far more than what the Doctor had accounted for.