Chapter One

Rose smiled as she and the Doctor walked down the streets of London. It had been a year since she had come back and she had quickly adjusted to life back on the TARDIS. Both Donna and Martha had left about a month ago wanting to get on with their lives, but for Rose, the Doctor and the TARDIS were her life and she didn't want any other.

They had decided to come back to Earth a few days before Christmas to do some shopping and take in the sights. Of course, they could celebrate Christmas any time they wanted, but Rose kept a small calendar in her room and when she saw it was nearing Christmas, she asked the Doctor if they could celebrate. The Doctor happily obliged her knowing that would make her happy and that was good enough for him.

The two of them were having a blast walking through the city, doing window shopping and looking at the decorations. There was one problem though. For some reason, the Doctor seemed nervous. He kept glancing around like he was expecting something to jump out and get them. Rose looked around, but could see nothing out of the ordinary. Still, that didn't seem to calm the Doctor. He just looked more and more agitated with each passing moment.

Finally, she could stand it no longer. She had to find out what was going on.

"Doctor, what's wrong?" she asked.

"Robots!" the Doctor said looking over his shoulder.

"Robots?"

"Robots. Where are the robots?" the Doctor muttered.

Rose gave him an odd look.

"Um, I'm not sure I know what you mean." She said.

She gasped when the Doctor seized her arms..

"It never fails, Rose. Every Christmas there's some demented villain and a hoard of gold robot henchmen dressed in Christmas costumes. The first Christmas after I met you, there were the gold robots dressed like Father Christmas. Then, the next year, Donna and I faced more gold robots dressed like Father Christmas. And last year, I was about the spaceship Titanic with Astrid and there were gold angel robots on board. Now, it's Christmastime again, so where are the bleedin' gold Christmas bots at?

Rose stared at him.

"Um…Doctor, you sure you're not overreacting here? I mean, we've been walking for about two hours and I haven't seen any robot let alone gold ones dressed in Christmas costumes."

"That's because they know I'm on to them now so they're not hiding in plain sight. Those Christmas bots are crafty, Rose. They're around here somewhere."

"Sure they are, Doctor." Rose said patting his hand.

The Doctor ignored her as he walked past.

"Come on, you gold sons of bitches, where are you? I know you're here so it's no use hiding from me!"

Rose sighed and followed him as he continued to search everywhere for the phantom robots.

She gasped when the Doctor stopped short and she walked right into him. She gave him an angry look.

"Doctor, will you please warn me before you decide to stop in the middle of the stre---"

"Shhhh!" the Doctor said putting his finger to her lips. "Be quiet, we don't want to alert him."

"Who?" Rose asked as the Doctor took his finger away from her lips.

"The Christmas bot."

Rose sighed.

"Doctor, come on,"

"Shush!" the Doctor said putting his hand over her mouth.

He took his hand away.

"Alright, where is this…Christmas bot?" she asked him.

The Doctor pointed behind her. She turned and saw there was a man dressed as Father Christmas sitting in a high-backed chair with a toddler on his lap. Beside him a queue of kids and their parents stretched back several feet. Rose looked at the Doctor.

"That's…a human." She said.

The Doctor shook his head.

"No, it's one of those Christmas bots. I'm sure of it."

"Doctor…"

"Stay right here, Rose. I'll protect you!"

Rose sighed and threw up her hands as the Doctor hurried towards Father Christmas.

"Alright!" the Doctor said walking up to him. "The jig is up! Tell me who you're working for!"

He snatched the beard off the bot's face. He stopped and stared at the bot that looked remarkably like a human. On closer inspection, the Doctor realized that it was, in fact, a very bewildered human dressed up like Father Christmas. Rose groaned and put her head in her hands as the Doctor gave the beard back to the man.

"Sorry, mate, thought you were someone else." He said to the shocked man.

He looked at the toddler on his knee.

"Um…don't mind me, I'm one of the elves and this is a private joke that I play with my boss. It really is Father Christmas. He…just decided to shave this year."

He patted the child on the head. Ignoring the dirty looks of the parents in the queue, he walked back to Rose.

"Happy now?" she said to him.

"No, I'm still not convinced. The Christmas bots are around here, I'm sure of it."

Rose groaned and fell in behind the Doctor as he went off in search of those annoying golden menaces.

They walked along and after a half hour Rose was convinced the Doctor had finally given up his search. So, it shocked her when the Doctor stopped short again. This time she had the presence of mind to stop before she ran into him.

"Now what, Doctor?" she said sighing.

"I've spotten them this time!" the Doctor said pointing off to his right.

Rose turned and looked in the direction he was pointing. She saw a group of carolers standing on a corner singing. She looked at the Doctor.

"Those carolers." She said gesturing to them.

"Oh yes, those crafty buggers have disguised themselves well, but not well enough."

"Doctor!" Rose said.

But she was too late. She sighed as the Doctor took off towards them.

"Please don't get us arrested, please don't get us arrested, please don't get us arrested." She chanted as she watched him walk up to a male caroler standing on the end of the back row.

"Deck the halls with boughs of holly, fa-la-la-lala-la…"

The male caroler trailed off when he suddenly realized someone was breathing on his cheek. He turned his head and saw a strange, skinny man staring at him intently.

"Um…what are you doing?" the caroler asked him.

The strange, skinny man stared at him for a moment and then cleared his throat.

"Oh, I was just admiring your singing. You're a fantastic tenor. You should sing professionally." He said.

The caroler stared at him.

"Thanks…I think."

The strange man smiled at him, put his hands in his pockets and walked away. The caroler watched as he walked back to a blonde woman who seemed to be extremely embarrassed. Shrugging, he went back to singing.

"I cannot believe you did that." Rose said as she and the Doctor walked off.

"I'm sorry, Rose, I thought for sure that was a Christmas bot in disguise." He said.

"Doctor, there are no bleedin' Christmas bots, okay? Now will you calm down and enjoy the day before you get us arrested?"

The Doctor nodded. Rose let out a sigh of relief and took his hand.

"Now, let's go over here and look at the lights, yeah?" she said to him.

The Doctor smiled and nodded. He and Rose walked off unaware that a gold robot in a Christmas costume was watching them from a nearby alley.