"You know when I suggested that we take a break I said dancing, not shopping." The Doctor protested as they walked around the streets. "Couldn't we have gone to another planet?" He stuffed his hands into his pockets, and kicked something invisible on the floor, looking quite the petulant little boy.
"We travelled through time." Rose pointed out.
"Oh yes, such a giant adventure - a week before Christmas." He whined. "What do you think Jack?" To his complete and utter dismay he found that Jack was excited about going shopping. "Nevermind."
"You know my mother would never forgive us if we didn't buy something for her." The Doctor nodded. He moved towards a nearby cash point. Rose grabbed his arm. "You know we have money."
"I was thinking for Jack." Rose nodded. Theta walked towards the machine, within moments he was back by her side. He held out the money for Jack. "Spend wisely." He sniggered.
"Thanks Doc!" Jack started to walk off.
"And keep in contact!!" Theta yelled. He shook his head. "Sometimes it feels like we have more than one child." Rose sighed as he placed an arm around her waist.
"Have you thought about what you want to give your mum?"
"No. I just haven't got a clue, I thought she might like something Earth based for a change." Theta looked aghast.
"Earth is boring…" He began. "Okay I keep coming here but there's only so much I can take."
"You need to travel." Theta bent down and pressed a gentle kiss to her lips. "But Tala need her first proper Christmas."
"I'm not saying avoid Christmas…just the shopping part." Rose laughed. "So what are you going to get me for Christmas?"
"At the moment it's going to be a slap." She shrugged. "You seem to have everything."
"Only because you gave me everything I could ever want." He told her sincerely. "Rose you're the best present I could ever have, and then you gave me Tala, I had the chance to be a father again, a father who was allowed to watch his children grow up." Rose suddenly stopped. "What's wrong love?"
"Take Tala for a minute." He took over the pram. He hugged her the best he could, holding onto the pram. Rose wiped her eyes. "You always say the right thing at the wrong moment." Theta simply grinned at his wife.
"Right, lets go shopping." He informed her and began marching towards HMV, leaving a confused Rose in his wake.
YEKNODELTTILYEKNODELTTIL
"Can we go yet?" A moan echoed around the shop.
"Nope." Rose sat herself down once more.
"'I don't like shopping.' You said. 'Earth is boring' you said." Rose began. "Yet we stay in Waterstones for an hour." She looked at the book he was reading. "Haven't you got that book on the TARDIS?"
"Not this version!"
"The Moving Finger?! You've got every version ever printed!" Rose stopped and mentally counted to ten. "The TARDIS can give you any book you want so…"
"If I don't go to a shop how do I know what to ask for?" He raised an eyebrow at her.
"Theta…" Rose warned. The Doctor stood up and sighed. He stretched before smoothing out his jacket. "Its not just me, Tala's getting restless."
"Are you okay, you don't look too well?" The Doctor pulled Rose to him and held her tightly.
"I'm just a little tired. I think we do need that break."
"I promise after Christmas, the two of us we'll have a break." Rose sighed. "Not Barcelona though. I'm not going through the arguments we had last time."
"Maybe somewhere peaceful." Rose asked, snuggling into him further.
"Sure. Though I someone wants us out the way." Rose looked at him confused.
"Who?"
"The staff." Rose turned to see the disapproving glares of the shop's staff. Rose stepped away from him, grasping Tala's pram.
"Run?" Rose asked.
"Run!" The pair ran from the shop at top speed, narrowly avoiding objects in the pram's path.
YEKNODELTTILYEKNODELTTIL
As the pair wandered around London they received affectionate glances from other shoppers, they looked the model of happiness. Their happiness was brought to a sudden stop as the looked shocked at the offending item in Woolworths.
"Is that? Is that what I think it is?" The Doctor put his glasses on and leant forward to look at the item in question closer. He pulled Rose down to his level. "No it can't be, can it?"
"Is that a…?" Rose asked trailing off. "It's a good model but why…"
"I'll never understand you humans. You never create toys of harmless aliens such as those off TV; you have to use deadly aliens as toys. Never mind the Dalek's tried to kill you…"
"You're babbling."
"But why would anyone want a remote control Dalek?"
"It's a way to overcome the fear they caused. I mean who's to remember what they did if they're used as toys?" She grinned as an evil look overtook her. "Do you want to get one for your daughter?"
"ROSE!!" His face was the picture of shocked outrage.
"Just kidding." Rose couldn't hold herself together.
"Can you imagine our daughter reaching out to a real Dalek and wanting to play with it? Calling it a name like…Steve? If she does I'll refuse to regenerate!"
"It's just a toy!"
"So were tribbles!"
"You're comparing Daleks to a fictional toy, well pet, from Star Trek?" Rose put her hands on her hips.
"There was a point in there somewhere." The Doctor sighed, conceding to the argument. "No Tala, don't touch." Theta moved the pram pulling Tala away from the remote control Dalek. Rose closed her eyes and winced, sure enough the water works came. As quick as he could the Doctor pulled Tala out of the pram, he gently rocked her as everyone in the shop turned to watch them; tutting and grumbling at the noise. Rose bent down and picked up the toy, as she moved the toy closer to Tala she stopped crying as she pulled it away Tala wailed more. "Please tell me you're joking." Rose bit her lip and shook her head. "Fine. I'll get her the…" He bent down and covered her ears the best he could before cursing in his native language. "Toy." Tala seemed to sense that her father had given into her and stopped crying.
"She's got you wrapped around her little finger."
"She's got her mother as a teacher!" He muttered before Rose gently hit him, as he began to grumble all the way towards the till.
YEKNODELTTILYEKNODELTTIL
"I swear this thing is worse than Tala's crib!" Rose seta cup of tea down next to the Doctor, taking a sip of her own before sitting next to him.
"Let me have a look." She moved to pull the box from him.
"I can do it Rose." She grinned and pulled the box to her.
"You missed a bit of tape here."
"I'm a Time Lord and I can't undo a bit of packaging."
"You've only been undoing it for twenty minutes." A distinctive sound made him look up from the offending item.
"Was that a giggle?"
"No."
"That was a giggle." He leaned in towards his wife.
"No it wasn't." He met her lips gently, before deepening the kiss. He pulled back and glared at the box. Rose sighed and pulled the toy out of the box. "This has to be the worst packaged to ever!"
"Maybe it's an omen. We should take it back to the shop." The TARDIS door suddenly banged open as Jack walked in. Theta suddenly jumped up.
"Did you get everything you…" Jack paused. "What are you hiding?"
"Nothing. I wasn't hiding anything, I was just admiring the TARDIS." Theta might have been quite convincing if he hadn't moved back just that extra inch, knocking the toy against the TARDIS consol.
"YOU ARE AN ENEMY OF THE DALEKS! EX-TER-MIN-ATE!" Filled the room. Jack looked confused but soon had a grin across his face as the Doctor produced a black Dalek from behind his back.
"You bought a…a….Dalek for your daughter!" Jack couldn't help the laughter from growing.
"Have you finished?" The Doctor asked.
"Nearly." Jack wiped his eyes. "I think I've finished."
"It took twenty minutes to get out of the box." Rose told him as Theta pouted. "They must have used miles of tape and wire. It was joined to the box in places you wouldn't expect." (A/N: Those of you who also have a remote control Dalek will know exactly what I mean!)
"Its just a bit of packaging!" Jack cooed. "Let me have a go!" Theta handed over the toy and Jack took it off him eagerly with a smug grin. Five minutes later a string of curses only managed to make a very smug smile appear on the Doctor's face.
"Problem?" He asked slyly.
YEKNODELTTILYEKNODELTTIL
The Doctor inputted the coordinated for Christmas Eve into the TARDIS consol. Within minutes there was pounding at the door.
The Doctor walked over to the door, and cautiously opened it. Immediately Jackie Tyler deposited a large pile of presents into his arms.
"Merry Christmas!" Jackie told him warmly before kissing him on the cheek. The Doctor's jaw dropped and his eyes widened. "Rose!!" Jackie ran to her daughter and hugged her tightly. "Hi Jack!" Jackie called still hugging Rose.
"Hi Jackie." Jack called from the upper levels adding the final touches to the decorations. The Doctor placed the presents on the floor next to the Captains Chair. He turned around the room admiring the decorations. Rose moved towards the Doctor and handed her husband a card, that didn't appear to be a Christmas card. He looked at her confused, as he opened the card before smiling at her widely.
"Happy first birthday as you." He leaned down and pressed a gentle kiss to her lips. "I just couldn't resist." The Doctor took a proper look at his wife now she had changed into something else. She wore a white turtleneck jumper and a pair of jeans; in truth she actually looked quite festive.
"You did tell Jack not to hand mistletoe anywhere?" He pressed desperately.
"I did." She laughed. "But he's a free spirit."
"Unfortunately." He moved towards the consol and sent them into the Vortex.
"What are you doing?" Jackie snapped.
"Mum." Rose began. "We need to be in the vortex to escape a paradox." Jackie looked confused. "We were here already on Christmas day. Totally by accident." Jackie nodded, still confused. Jackie pulled her daughter close to her.
"How did you get him out of a suit?" Rose looked at her husband, dressed in a pair off jeans and an untucked, tieless pale blue shirt.
"I don't know, he just didn't put on a suit this morning." Jackie smiled at her.
"Those jeans are tighter than his suit."
"MUM!"
YEKNODELTTILYEKNODELTTIL
"Jackie you're in this room." Jackie walked into the room she had been allocated to sleep in. She couldn't get over how beautiful it was, an artificial fire burned in a stone fireplace, wooden beams stretched above her, the walls appeared to glow every so slightly and the bed was a large king sized bed. "This used to be Rose's room." The Doctor told her.
"I can see why she never wanted to leave."
"Oh, no, Rose's room didn't always look like this. The TARDIS transforms it into whatever the person wants it to look like."
"I've never been in your ship for so long before." The Doctor smiled and cocked his head slightly. "I really see why Rose likes it so much." Jackie studied him. "You know in the last year I've never seen you so relaxed and happy."
"I think its your daughter and granddaughter that did it."
"Well they are from the Tyler line." He laughed slightly. "You know I was worried about how you'd treat her, whether you'd look after her or not. I'm glad I gave you a chance." With that Jackie turned and walked into her room leaving a bemused Doctor standing there.
YEKNODELTTILYEKNODELTTIL
Rose woke up to find her husband gone from their bed. Normally she'd expect him to be fixing the TARDIS but the ship's low hum told her he wasn't anywhere near her. She climbed out of the bed and quickly dressed.
Rose as just about to enter the kitchen when she heard soft whisperings from the nursery. She gently pushed open the door to see her husband talking to Tala about Christmas, her heart swelled with love. She silently walked behind him and wrapped her arms around him. She pressed a kiss to his cheek.
"Merry Christmas."
"Merry Christmas Rose." They were drawn out of their thoughts by a loud scream.
"JACK!" A voice screamed. The pair looked at each other and sighed, moving out of the room to see the devastation that Jack had caused.
YEKNODELTTILYEKNODELTTIL
"Jack you don't run up behind people and yell 'Merry Christmas', especially when they're carrying cups of tea!" The Doctor and Rose rounded the corner to see Jackie mopping up the mess on the kitchen floor.
"Jack have you had any candy canes?" Rose asked.
"No, can't a guy be happy it's Christmas?" Jackie, Rose and Theta simply looked at each other. "Look I've never celebrated Christmas before either. Is it present time yet?" Rose sighed.
"Okay, we'll open presents." Theta wrapped an arm around Rose's waist.
"Jack take Jackie to the library we'll open the presents there." Rose handed Tala to Jackie. As Jackie and Jack left the room, Theta turned to Rose. "I'm sorry."
"What for?"
"Sometimes I feel I've forced you to become a lot more mature, you're only twenty."
"Theta, children do that to you." She placed a hand on his cheek. "You must have always known that I was older than I seemed at heart, otherwise you wouldn't have brought me through time and space with you. As Sarah Jane said 'Your assistants are getting younger'. I thought she meant that you wanted to have me as long as you could but now I know that you knew I didn't act like a teenager." She saw some doubt in his eyes. "I don't feel any different inside."
"I just feel I rushed you."
"You haven't." She took his hand. "Now lets open some presents before Jack causes anymore damage.
YEKNODLETTILYKNODELTTILf
The Doctor tore off the paper to get to his present. He smiled as he saw what she had bought for him. Rose had bought him a toy plane. His smile grew as he looked at the remote and plane.
"Hopefully you'll leave the TARDIS alone for a while." He looked momentarily wounded but smiled quickly.
He turned and handed her a small box shaped object. Rose tore at the wrapping paper, to reveal a jewellery box. She carefully lifted the lid and looked at the object it contained.
Rose looked at the silver oval shaped locket, a sapphire jewel was encrusted in the front of the locket. Curiously she opened it and smiled, tears began to form. On one side of the locket there was a picture of the Doctor and Tala – the Doctor's cheek rested on Tala's head, Tala seemed to be smiling for the camera as well, on the other side there was a picture of Jackie and Jack. On the back were inscribed the simple words To Rose love Theta.
"I wanted to get you something Earth based." He told her.
"Its beautiful." She whispered still staring at it.
"The only thing that isn't from Earth is that jewel. Its from Barcelona." Rose smirked slightly remembering their time on Barcelona. Rose released the clip and slipped the locket around her neck.
"When did you get chance to buy it?"
"I could ask you the same." He teased.
"I gave Jack the money and a clear description of what I wanted him to get."
"Me too."
Rose gently picked Tala up and sat her in front of herself and the Doctor. In front of her they sat a box and let her unwrap the present. Rose and the Doctor had given Tala a silver charm bracelet; it already had two charms, the first charm was a pram. The second as a small charm representing the TARDIS. The door on the charm opened and an image was projected out of the Doctor holding Rose in his arms.
Next Tala opened what Jack had bought for her, she thought it was beautiful. Jack had brought Tala a musical snow globe that sang Brahms Lullaby.
Jackie had given Rose an old music box that was a family heirloom.
"When you were born my mother gave it to me at Christmas now it's my turn to give it to you."
"Thanks mum."
"You have to give it to your daughter when your first grandchild is born." Jackie chanced a look to the side and saw the Doctor choke, Rose gaped at her mother.
"She's not even a year old yet and you're planning her future…" The Doctor began but trailed off when he realised his mother-in-law was teasing.
"That's the first time I've seen you stun him Jackie. Well done." Jack told her laughing.
For Tala Jackie had bought her a teddy bear, it had a small bell inside that rattled as it was moved.
Rose and Theta handed Jackie her resent together. Jackie opened it and looked at it curiously. They had bought her a photo album and a small rectangular object. Jackie looked confused at the object.
"It's a link device." The Doctor explained. "It's similar to a web cam. Every time Rose will call you her image will appear above that device and yours will appear on the screen. Its so you can keep in touch more."
"Thank you." Jackie told him.
"Mum we want you to be able to see Tala more as well."
"I know." The Doctor looked up.
"Where's Jack gone?" His question was soon answered by a low whirring sound filling the library. "That's it I'm dieing and not regenerating."
"It isn't that bad." Rose soothed.
"OBEY THE DALEKS!…MULTIPLE SPECTRUM SCANNING NOW ENGAGED…"
"JACK!" Theta warned. The black Dalek approached Tala slowly, Tala reached out and touched it and giggled. She grasped the weapon and 'sucker' and played with them. "I have a daughter who loves the Daleks!" Theta groaned, and buried his head and Rose's shoulder.
TBC
A/N: My Dalek is really called Steve. It sounds so much better than Dalek Sec.