Oh Christmas Tree
I stood there with my mouth opened wide in a state of perpetual surprise as my next-door neighbor carried right on playing his guitar with skill. I was in such a daze that I didn't notice anyone around me, until someone poked me gently in the back. I jumped, dropping all of the newly acquired presents, and spun around to see Olivia laughing at my reaction, before she leaned down and picked up all the parcels that she had caused me to drop.
"No damage done," she grinned and handed me back the two music books. I looked around in panic for the last gift which was a beautiful cheese and crackers board for my parents.
"Maybe no damage, but where's the cheese board!?" I cried out.
"Cheese board?" Olivia asked.
"Yes, I bought my parents a cheese board to go with their wine and now I can't find it," I said, feeling very worried that some unforeseen force had taken away my parents' Christmas present.
"Perhaps I can help?" A gentle, male voice asked. I looked up, just as Olivia gasped out, "Philip!?"
Standing there with a warm smile on his face, his pale blue eyes twinkling, and the missing present in his arms was Philip Dussel, 19 years of age, and my next-door neighbor.
"Hello, Sapphire and Olivia," he smiled again and was about to hand the cheese board back, when he became aware of the books I already held in my arms.
"Hello, Philip," I grinned back. "Thanks for picking that up for me."
"No problem," he said brightly. "Now that I have helped you, can you help me?"
"Yes," I chuckled; that had reminded me of one the lines of Joseph and the Amazing Techni-Colored Dreamcoat.
"First off: Where are we? And secondly: How did we get here?"
"Well," Olivia said, "We're on the RMS Titanic, in a universe where it clearly didn't sink, and to add more joviality to the proceedings, it's the Christmas Season. 22nd of December, to be precise." She gave him a grin that stretched from ear to ear.
"I see," he said. "Very Sci-fi, don't you think?" He asked and we nodded in agreement.
"As for getting here, we were practicing the colors, then heard a Scottish voice singing, went to investigate, and found ourselves well below decks. We got caught by Murdoch and Lightoller, then we discovered that Olivia and I are cousins, and Olivia is Thomas Andrews daughter," I explained.
"Thomas Andrews? That's the guy who was in charge of the building of the ship, right?" Philip asked, and we nodded.
"Very good. Either someone paid close attention to the movie, or paid close attention in History Class," Olivia smiled.
"Well, I don't know how I got here. I was singing, and then found myself here," he said.
"The ship's pretty neat, though. Want to look around?" I offered, and he nodded.
"Sure," he agreed, and we showed him around, occasionally introducing him to someone we knew. When we reached First Class, we were almost at the Christmas Trees when two young children raced past us, yelling something about an angel.
"Alexander! Charlotte! Stop running this instant!" I heard the familiar voice of Sylvia Lightoller order. The two children, who were twins and looked to be around seven, stopped.
"Yes, mummy," they chorused together, grinning at each other with a smile that looked anything but apologetic. In fact, it looked quite mischievous, and I had to smile. At seven, my siblings and I were mostly well-behaved, but on occasion we could be little terrors.
"Leave those trees alone, you two. Some of those decorations were given by your Great-Grandparents and are extremely valuable," she said, before smiling at them fondly.
"You two drive me up the old gumtree, but I love you both dearly," she said, giving each one a kiss. They were actually pretty cute for young children, with their dark brown hair and blue eyes. Alex was wearing a pair of black slacks and a green jumper, and Charlotte was wearing a cute green dress with tights.
"Now, go find something to do that doesn't involve havoc," she said, and the two children raced off.
Sylvia smiled in slight exasperation, before Olivia and I introduced her to Philip.
"I'm very pleased to meet you, Master Dussel," she smiled, before her eyes widened and she gave a sight curtsy, of all things.
The three of us looked at each other confused, and turned around. Standing before us were two teenagers who looked to be around eighteen and they were twins, and beside them were a man and woman who could only have been the twins parents.
We looked at each other for some moments, before the four of them embraced me, and I suddenly realized that they were my parents and siblings. I had an older brother and sister by a few years, rather than a few minutes.
"Mum, Dad," I said happily. "Wie war Deutschland?" I asked.
"Germany was beautiful, and extremely cold," My father, Leon, said with a grin.
Sierra, my beautiful mother, nodded in agreement, as my siblings, Alice and Felix, introduced themselves to Philip, who apparently was not my neighbor in this parallel universe.
After shaking hands with them, we all admired the Christmas trees. There were two beautiful green trees, decorated from top to bottom. Decorations of all colors adorned the branches, and Sapphire noticed that the trees weren't real, but fake.
"Those trees are fake," she observed and Sylvia nodded. "Yes, because all of the passengers come down with hay-fever, and the stewards got sick and tired of cleaning up pine needles, so they switched to fake trees. Still, they are a wonder to behold, don't you think?" She asked.
Sapphire nodded happily, just as the bell for lunch rang.
"Molly's right. It does sound like they're announcing a Calvary charge," she said with a roll of her eyes. The others all laughed in agreement as they went off to eat turkey and ham, with plenty of dressings and salads.
"Philip, pull a cracker with me?" Sapphire asked, holding out a silver cracker towards him.
"Sure," he agreed and gave a sharp tug. Inside was a blue paper hat, a small packet of playing cards, and the standard joke.
"What do you call a group of men standing in line for a haircut?" He asked.
"I don't know. "What do you call a group of men standing in line for a haircut?"" Sapphire shrugged.
"A Barberqueue," he said, and the others chuckled.
"Very good," Olivia smiled, as she picked up the joke in her cracker.
"What's a dog's favorite Christmas Song?" She asked.
"Santa Paws Is Coming To Town?" Sapphire suggested.
"I suppose that could work as well, but the answer here is "Bark, The Herald Angels Sing,"" she said.
They all giggled at that, before deciding to check out the swimming pools and movie theaters on board. All apart from Sapphire, who decided to wrap up her presents first. She headed back to her stateroom, and let out a scream. There was a Christmas tree, it's separate parts twirling towards her.
"HELP! I'm going to get killed by a Christmas Tree!" She screamed as the tree spun towards her, and she fled. As she ran, she could hear the tree whirling along behind her.
HELP!" She yelled again, as she fled down several corridors, before she crashed right into someone coming the other way.
"Get down!" The other person yelled, which was a little pointless as Sapphire was already lying flat on her back.
An odd pulsating noise reached her ears, and Sapphire glanced up to see "Mr. Smith" who she had met the night before pointing a sonic screwdriver at the killer Christmas Tree.
Her mouth fell open, and she grinned. Once the tree stopped wrecking havoc, the man smiled to himself.
"You alright?" He asked.
All Sapphire could do was grin and nod. "Fine, thanks. Who are you?"
"The Doctor," he said. "What about you?"
"Oh, I'm Sapphire Stone," she said happily.
"Pleased to meet you, Sapphire Stone. So, killer Christmas Trees, eh? Not the first time I've seen that before, but there shouldn't be anymore trouble," he smiled at her.
"That would be good," she agreed, thanking him, and then went to wrap up her Christmas Presents. Thankfully, the door wasn't wrecked, which was a very good thing.
AN: Hey! Hope you like this one. Yes, I added the Doctor in, but as a supporting character. He will not be the means of the girls getting home, but the next few stories will be DW ones.