Chapter 9: New York City, NY, 2008

This was bad. This was really bad. Like five Christmases in a row bad (though he certainly wasn't about to do that). As if having her face sucked off wasn't bad enough, they spent their next trip covered in slime and blood sucking insects. Then when he'd promised Rose some rest and relaxation, the Doctor accidentally sold her to a man who wanted to do some most unsavory things to her. Escaped in the nick of time as always, but three bad trips in a row was, well, bad.

"I have got the perfect place!" The Doctor announced, hopping around the console delighted. "Oh, haven't done it for years."

Rose gave a weak smile, his excited energy already getting to her. He finished setting in the coordinates, then ran over and took her hand, pulling her to her feet and spinning her around. In spite of everything she found herself laughing.

"Come on then." The Doctor pulled her to the door excitedly.

Stepping out with a hesitation born of a certain Time Lord's frequent miscalculations, Rose looked around at the rush of people and a sky full of lights. She turned to the Doctor, who gave her a dazzling smile, then spread his arms wide.

"Rose Tyler, I give you Christmas in New York! Rockefeller Center; the Rockettes; snow in Central Park; ice skating!"

Rose giggled. "You skate?"

"Of course. Nothing I can't do. Come on."

He took her hand and they ran gleefully down the streets of Manhattan. Rose marveled at his ability to navigate the busy streets, and was even more impressed when they reached their destination without getting lost once.

"Rockefeller Center Ice Rink. Fabulous ice skating rink. Just look at all those people Rose, happy and having fun. They're not worried about work, or bills or school. It's Christmas and that's all they care about."

He gave her hand a squeeze, then pulled her towards the skate rentals. He pulled a small wad of dollar bills (apparently given to him by William Taft rather reluctantly after losing a bet) and handed them to the attendant. The man handed over two pairs of ice skates and pointed them to where they could sit to put them on.

Once they had their skates laced up, Rose hesitated briefly. "I haven't done this since I was a kid."

"It's like riding a bike. You'll remember." He held her hand and helped keep her upright as she hobbled over and slid shakily onto the ice.

Apparently, if Rose had gotten onto a bike she would have fallen off of it… and probably wrecked the bike somehow. The Doctor watched her flail around, knees bent at odd angels to keep herself upright. The first time she fell, they both laughed. The second time only he did, and he knew better than to laugh again when she fell the third.

"Come here."

He helped her back up off the ice and was only slightly embarrassed by watching her wipe the cold bits from her bum. Then he stood next to her as close as possible, one arm around her waist to support her, and helped pull her along.

Rose smiled despite the aching pain in her backside. As they glided around she caught sight of a pair of older women pointing towards them and realized they must have looked like quite the couple, standing so close. She couldn't help it if that was the only was she was gonna stay off the ground.

As if on cue, the moment she had the thought, she was falling again, this time taking the Doctor down with her. They spun a bit before skidding to a stop, thankfully next to the rail.

"I'm done!" Rose announced, hoisting herself up and clinging to the metal bars. She eased her way towards the exit, the Doctor skating next to her impatiently. For a moment she thought he might pout and ask to stay longer but he followed her silently.

As soon as they were off the ice, she yanked her skates off, then moaned when her feet, covered only in socks, hit the cold wet ground. The Doctor ruffled through his pockets until he found a new pair of socks for her, then returned the skates, bringing her trainers back for her to slip on.

Once they were successfully out of their skates and re-acclimated to walking on their own feet, they made their way to Radio City Music Hall.

"Ah. The Radio City Christmas Spectacular. And if I'm right, there's a show starting in, oh, ten minutes?"

"Uh-huh. And how exactly do you plan to get tickets?" Rose pointed to a sign, clearly indicating that they were sold out. He pulled out a pair of tickets with a flourish, and she just had to ask.

"How long ago did you plan this?"

He scratched the back of his head. "Oh, sixty years, give or take? Bought the tickets and never had the chance to use them, or good reason."

"So I'm good reason then?"

"Of course." They shared a prolonged smile, then made their way inside to be dazzled by sparkling costumes, choreographed numbers, and the largest group of perfect women Rose had ever seen moving in absolutely synchrony.

Immediately after they left the Doctor was pulling her along crowded streets, stopping every once in a while to point out places of historical interest, or just placed he'd been. Rose was so caught up in everything that she didn't even see where he was taking her until they were in the thick of it.

"Central Park," he whispered.

They stood stock still, surrounded by beautifully gnarled trees, the branches of which all seemed highlighted by the covering of snow that seemed spread all around them. Rose reached her hand out blindly and felt the Doctor take it, warming what she suddenly realized was a very chilled extremity.

They started walking, taking in the sights of children playing, couples walking hand in hand, beautiful stone structures and interweaving pathways. A little girl came running by and slid on the ice. Rose stopped to help her up, then continued walking.

"This really is amazing," she commented as she caught back up with the Doctor. "So many people out having fun. All the kids playing in the snow. I remember when it used to snow on the estate, we'd all go running out there to play together. When you're young like that you don't care who the other person it, you just have fun and enjoy it. Although this one time the snow wasn't as thick as I thought. Reached down to make a snow ball and scraped my knuckles up."

She continued to tell him about what Christmas used to be like, and life on the estates in general, amazed by his ability to stay quiet and listen. And that's when she realized he was gone. She was standing alone, talking to herself in the middle of a strange city filled with millions of people. She waited briefly for him to show up, wondering if he'd wandered off or, as was more often the case for them, if something bad had happened. Determined to find out she began retracing their steps as best as she could remember, but the park seemed to go on forever with various forks in the path and she couldn't be certain she was going in the right direction. Each minute that passed added to her frustration.

"Do you need some help?"

Rose looked up at the man who had spoken to her and smiled. Not only was she concerned about what might have happened to the Doctor, but she was beginning to worry about herself. "That'd be great. My friend and I got separated and I've got no idea where I am."

The man grinned. "No problem. Happens to people all the time. What end of the park did you come in?"

"You know, I haven't got a clue. Oh! I do know we came from Radio City Music Hall. Does that help?"

"Somewhat. We'll figure it out, come on." He led her down the path, both walking in a slightly awkward silence until he spoke again.

"Interesting accent by the way. Are you British?"

"From London."

"Ah, here on vacation?"

"Something like that." She smiled as the quiet tension dissipated. It was pretty obvious from his accent that he was from the city, but she asked anyway to keep them talking. "Where're you from then?"

"Brooklyn born, but I've been living in Manhattan for a few years now."

They carried on a rather pleasant conversation after that and Rose was more than grateful for the company. After nearly an hour of walking, a chill ran through her. The sun was starting to set and she was beginning to wish the Doctor had warned her about the weather. "It's cold," she muttered, realizing she was pointing out the obvious.

"How about I get us some nice warm drinks? There's a coffee vendor right up there. Just wait here."

Before she could answer the man, she hadn't even gotten his name now that she thought about it, he took off, leaving her alone again. Then she heard rapid footsteps and a breathless voice.

"There you are!"

She turned to face the Doctor who'd obviously been running around quite a bit, judging by his panting breath. She could admit to loving the look of concern on his face, but after wandering around alone for who knows how long, she was more upset than anything.

"Where the hell have you been?!"

He flinched, and a look of true sadness passed behind his eyes. "I stopped to get some hot chocolate. I told you to wait but you were too busy going on and on to hear me apparently." He smiled, trying desperately to bring back the good mood he'd had going for the beginning of the day.

Rose was about to chew into him, focusing mostly on his being one to talk when it came to rambling on and being distracted, but the man who'd been helping her came back then, holding two steaming cups. He walked up to her, not noticing that she was no longer alone.

"Listen, I don't know where your friend could be, but I'm sure she'll call. They've got horse drawn carriages over there. We could take a ride and you can relax. Hey, who knows? Maybe you'll even see her then."

Rose looked past the man to the Doctor, who looked more than a little bit concerned over this new development. She could go, and really make him stew over getting her lost, but he had that look in his eyes, like a puppy who'd just been scolded for the first time. She looked up at the man and smiled gratefully.

"No thanks. I've got a much better ride. Thank you though."

She moved past him and held her hand out for the Doctor who took it apprehensively. "Come on then." She nudged him forward. "As long as we're in New York, you get to take me shopping."