The request for parlay ended up being a trap, just as they both had expected it would be, but neither of them had quite been prepared for the great eyestalk that suddenly protruded from Tasha's forehead as the Papal Mainframe was suddenly overrun by daleks.
When the Doctor and Rose finally darted back into the safety of the TARDIS, they knew that their strange routine of life down in the town of Christmas had abruptly come to an end. The forcefield around the planet of Trenzalore was weakening, and soon every single one of the Doctor's enemies were going to be attempting to infiltrate and attack.
"It's done," the Doctor murmured as he stared hard at the readouts on the console screen before him.
"What is?" Rose asked hesitantly, hoping beyond home that he would somehow manage to come up with some sort of genius solution that would save the day against all odds and get them both back home safe in time for the holidays.
"Your turkey," the Doctor replied lightly, flashing her a small, amused smile as he added, "Either that or it's woken up."
Rose laughed breathlessly as the warm, inviting smell suddenly filled her senses. "That's one Christmas saved, then," she muttered as she moved closer to the Doctor and glanced over his shoulder to see that the TARDIS monitor was filled with images of the town that they had come to inhabit recently. "What are we going to do about this one?" she asked pointedly.
"I've got an idea about that," the Doctor replied easily. "But you should really go and take that turkey out of the vortex oven. Don't want it to start growing feathers."
Rose chuckled in amusement as she reached up to place a kiss against the Doctor's cheek, but she paused in thought for a moment as she pulled away and swept another assessing gaze over him. He was acting oddly withdrawn, his presence in her mind barely perceptible, as though he were attempting to shutter her away from whatever it was that he was thinking. When he caught her suspicious gaze, however, the Doctor immediately smiled and filled her head once more with thoughts of heartfelt fondness.
Don't go anywhere, she warned him over their bond as she turned on her heel to head towards the are underneath the console.
Wouldn't dream of it, he replied easily, filling her mind with an overwhelming sense of love and devotion that had Rose growing instantly suspicious again. Once she had retrieved her turkey and ascended the console room stairs once more, she immediately realized why. The main room of the ship was completely empty, and when she stepped outside in search of the Doctor, the TARDIS doors were closed and locked behind her before she even had the chance to recognize the familiar, suburban image of the Maitland house standing before her.
Oh, no, you don't ... Rose growled stubbornly as she turned back towards the doors of the old blue police box, but the ship was already blinking back out of existence, leaving her stranded and completely alone on the cold, empty street. Rose gasped as she felt her telepathic bond with the Doctor disappear along with the ship, his presence in her mind fading into silence and leaving her feeling more abandoned than she had ever felt in her life.
"No ..." she breathed desperately as she stared at the empty space where the TARDIS had stood just moments before. "Come back." She couldn't believe that he was doing this - again. Hadn't he learned his lesson the last time he had tried to send her home against her wishes?
But this time, there was no Bad Wolf, no TARDIS, nothing - just Rose and her perfectly done Christmas turkey standing in the middle of an empty street with no way of getting back to the daft old Time Lord who she loved more than anything in any universe in creation. How was she possibly going to save his life this time?
"Smells amazing, Clara," George called into the kitchen encouragingly as Rose dumped the tray of roast turkey dejectedly onto the counter. The rest of the kitchen was still in complete disarray from her thwarted attempt at cooking earlier, and she glared down at the half-prepared food as angry tears began to blur her vision.
"There's still no way I'm eating a bite of that thing," Angie insisted stubbornly as she popped her head through the doorway behind Rose and turned her nose up at the pan of perfectly-done turkey.
"Probably best," Rose admitted blandly. "It's been cooking in the time winds for a while, now. Who knows what that's done to it ..."
Angie's eyes immediately narrowed as she took another small step into the kitchen and peered closer at Rose's blank, teary-eyed expression. "You're being weird again ..." she mused hesitantly. "Is it ... something to do with the Doctor?"
"No," Rose replied with quiet determination. "Just been a long day. Don't worry, dinner will be ready soon." She turned to flash the young girl her brightest, most convincing smile and then quickly busied herself with the rest of the half-prepared meal lying about on the counters all around her.
Rose knew that she was stuck - truly, properly trapped this time, without any hope of getting back to the Doctor. She decided in that moment that if he and the Bad Wolf were both so determined to force her into this normal, human life, then she might as well start living it. It wasn't the Maitlands's fault, after all, that all of this had happened to her. But she was here, now, and she was going to make the best of Christmas - if not for herself, then certainly for Angie and Artie.
"Now," Rose muttered under her breath as she gazed down at the rest of the holiday meal, which stood in varying stages of completeness all around her, "where was I?"
"You sure we shouldn't wait for the Doctor?" George asked as Rose sat down the last tray of food on the small dining room table before him.
"Nah, he's rubbish at holidays," Rose replied, making her tone as bright and cheerful as possible in an attempt to cover up the gaping hole that she could feel in her chest at the Doctor's absence. "He's rubbish at normal dinners as well. Just ... all around rubbish with showing up, I suppose."
"And you're ... sure you're alright?" George insisted, eyeing Rose warily as she finally settled into her designated seat amongst their small family gathering.
"Great! Yeah, fine!" Rose lied cheerily, flashing each of the Maitlands a forced grin. "Well, go on, then, start eating! Don't want it to get cold!"
They all quietly obeyed, but the awkward silence that fell upon the room was deafening as they all fought and failed to avoid eye-contact with the empty seat at Rose's right side. However, the silent, tense atmosphere made it easy to hear the familiar grinding, whirring noise of engines that suddenly buzzed to life and echoed down the empty street outside.
"What's all that noise?" George asked curiously as he narrowed his eyes on the dining room window.
"Is that ...?" Artie asked quietly, his young voice filled with all of the hope and wonder that Rose could feel blossoming inside of her own chest.
"I thought you said he wasn't coming?" Angie insisted, flashing Rose an annoyed look that did nothing to dim the eager gleam in her dark eyes.
Rose was suddenly finding it very hard to breathe as her heart gave a great, lurching leap inside of her chest and threatened to run off after the noise without her. "I'll ... be right back!" she explained quickly, shooting to her feet and immediately abandoning the half-eaten meal that she had spent so much time working on. "You all just ... stay right here, and I will ... be right back!"
"Clara?" George called after her in concern as she bolted from the room without another word, bursting through the front door and darting across the lawn as fast as her legs would carry her.
The familiar blue box was parked in exactly the same place as it had been when it had dropped her off, though it looked as though it had been through a few trials along the way. The TARDIS's song in Rose's head was a languorous, weary lament.
"What is it this time, Old Girl?" Rose whispered as she immediately stepped up to the ship and laid her palms flat against the worn, blue wood. "Where is he?"
Must hurry, must go back, must help ... the ship insisted desperately.
Rose didn't need to be told twice. She instantly threw open the ship's doors and darted towards the empty console before her. Take me to him, she demanded as she lifted the hand brake and allowed the sentient ship to input their destination as she did what she could to prepare them for departure.
So lost, so alone, so sad ... the ship continued to hum morosely. It has already begun.
What's happened to him? Rose asked, desperate for answers as the TARDIS began to whir to life around her.
Death, dying, so old, so tired - it's time, at last, to sleep.
"Don't talk like that," Rose insisted stubbornly, reaching up to lay a consoling hand against the ship's time rotor, as though that would erase the pained melody of loss echoing in her head. "We'll rescue him, just like we always do. You'll see."
The clock is chiming. It's almost midnight, the TARDIS stated resolutely. It has already begun, my flower. He will rest as all men must.
Rose gritted her teeth in bitter frustration as she held tight to the ship's console and waited for the jolting movements to cease. She knew that the TARDIS existed throughout all of space and time and could see all that is and was and ever could be, but she refused - absolutely refused - to let time get away with this one.
Rose would save the Doctor - it was what she did. She would rescue him even if it meant rescuing him from himself, and she wouldn't ever stop running until she knew that he was safe again. She didn't care what anyone else had to say about the matter - the Doctor would never die, not as long as she had anything to say about it.
Rose could see that Trenzalore was in ruin as soon as she landed and stepped out onto the snowy landscape once more. The air was thick with smoke, making it difficult to see the details of the familiar town of Christmas. There were no more lights or decorations lining the streets and casting a warm, cheery glow on the cold winter snow - there was only fire and the sound of desperate screams filling the air.
However, as Rose gazed around at the eerie scene, she couldn't seem to stop the eager smile that lit up her features as her telepathic bond suddenly bloomed back to life within her mind. The Doctor was still alive, and he was here - somewhere close.
Rose? he called out to her in disbelief as soon as they had been firmly reconnected once more.
I'm coming for you, she replied quickly, her mind leaving no room for any sort of argument as she instantly locked onto the Doctor's presence in the bell tower and began racing towards it, her heart pounding erratically in her chest the entire time.
Thought you would have given up on me by now, the Doctor's thoughts grumbled wearily as Rose dodged the crowds of fleeing townsfolk and peered anxiously through the smoke-filled air ahead.
Are you really so eager to get rid of me? Rose demanded, not even trying to hide her bitter hurt from him as her eyes began to sting from the combination of smoke, cold, and loss. I thought we had agreed on this. I thought you weren't going to try and push me away anymore ...
Rose ... Her name was all that he managed to convey using actual thought. Everything else he projected to her from the wordless depths of his hearts, and it crashed into Rose's mind like a freight train, nearly taking her breath away with it. His longing for her and the pain at being separated was only the underlying basis of his thoughts, almost completely overshadowed by the crushing weight of his duty to protect her at all costs that drowned out all else.
I couldn't watch you wither away and die, he insisted desperately as Rose finally burst through the bell tower doors at the center of the devastated town and began to take the stairs two at a time. I couldn't even take that risk ...
Rose only had enough time to convey a general sense of her confusion in reply as she rounded the final corner and burst into the room where she knew the Doctor was waiting for her. She instantly froze in her tracks, however, as she gazed around in wonder at the surrounding walls, which were completely covered from floor to ceiling in childrens drawings. Rose knew that the Doctor had been collecting the precious souvenirs ever since they had first touched down in the town of Christmas, but the last time that she had seen him, his entire collection could have fit inside of a small book. Now, however, the cherished memories lined the room like wallpaper.
"Oh, Doctor ..." Rose breathed in quiet disbelief as understanding slowly began to dawn on her in waves. Clearly, he had been stuck here on Trenzalore for far longer than she had originally realized - all on his own, for all of that time, just because he wanted to save her.
As she crept slowly forward, Rose could see that the Doctor was sitting in an old wooden chair on the opposite end of the room. His posture was rigid and tense as he slowly turned to face her, the light from the crack in the wall behind him lighting up the cloud of wispy white hair that now donned his head.
"Hello again," he muttered quietly, his voice old and ragged and making Rose's heart weep with love for him.
"Hello, Doctor," she replied thickly as she desperately fought against the tears that were pricking the backs of her eyes.
"It's been a while," he greeted her, his smile looking weary and worn as he dropped his gaze to the carpet between them. Rose could sense that his thoughts had turned wary and self-conscious as he quietly mused, Still as beautiful as ever. Still deserving of so much more than a tired old man like me.
"Looks like you failed again," Rose cut him off, flashing him a small, sad smile as she slowly stepped forward and bent to sit by his side, taking one of his wrinkled, frail hands in both of hers and placing a gentle kiss against his knuckles. "Still can't manage to get rid of me, eh?"
The Doctor chuckled quietly, and Rose felt a wide smile stretch across her face as his old green eyes sparkled with a familiar, fond expression. He slowly extended the fingers of the hand that she was holding onto and let them gently trace the shape of her cheek as he looked down on her in awe. "Out of the many failures that I have had to suffer in this life," he stated firmly, "this, I think, may be the only one that I will gladly accept."