Disclaimer: I went to the store to buy my own DW rights, but they were out. So I joined the wait list. I'm no. 5…thousand. What what.

A/N: A little late, a little out of season, but it's all good. Anytime during the second season. And I'd like to dedicate this chapter to Jecir and her wonderful, wonderful story "His Best Life." Read it; you will not regret it! And thanks to all my readers and reviewers and alerters and favoriters and candlestick makers. You all deserve a *virtual marshmallow*.

All I Want For Christmas…

"What do you want for Christmas?" The Doctor asked suddenly.

Rose looked up with a start of surprise. He was tinkering with an old-fashioned clock of all things, glasses over his eyes, and tongue between his teeth. She had been painting her big toe on her right foot a bright red. "I-…" She began, then stopped and smiled slyly. "What do you want?"

"No fair," the Doctor complained. "I asked you first."

"Well," she said, sounding as if in deep concentration as she swept the brush over her toe, "if you don't already know, you never will." She finished with a cheeky smile and screwed the lid for the polish back on top.

He stopped, his attention grabbed. "Well- well- what is it?" He fumbled.

"Ah, ah, ah, Doctor. You'll have to figure that out for yourself." And she swept out of the control room to get ready for her mum's annual Christmas party.

"Well, there's never anything I won't ever know," the Doctor reasoned to himself, gesturing emptily at the TARDIS with the screwdriver. "So If I'm going to know it eventually, I have to already know it."

The TARDIS whirred at him in annoyance.

"Well if you already know, then I'm definitely bound to know," he teased. A moment later he fell to the floor as the TARDIS swerved in the Vortex on purpose.

"Ouch."

"Come in, come in. Hello." Jackie giggled when she opened the door and swept her arm back carelessly. The drink in her plastic cup sloshed dangerously. "Hello darling," she kissed Rose sloppily on the cheek.

"And you." She practically growled. The Doctor suddenly found himself being smothered by a tipsy Jackie. He had to admit that the experience was ten times as scary as any Slitheen.

"Alrigh', mum." Rose chuckled. "That's friendly enough now." And she dragged the Doctor away by the arm and into the living room where she greeted Mickey with a chaste kiss on the cheek.

"Mickey Mick Mic-." The Doctor began cheerfully in greeting.

"Just the man I was looking for. Right," Mickey clapped his hands together. "Help me get the tree in from downstairs then."

The Doctor frowned at Rose who laughed and pushed him towards the door after Mickey. Hands in his pockets, he followed dutifully all the way to the ground floor, thinking pensively.

"Mickey," he began as they lifted the tree precariously. The nomad grunted. The Doctor rolled his eyes but continued. "Is there anything in particular…that you know of…that Rose might possibly want…for Christmas?"

Mickey scoffed. "The guy what spends all his time with the girl is askin' what she wants for Christmas from her…ex?" He ended on a bitter tone.

"Humans and their soap operas. You're missing the bigger picture here, Mick." The Doctor grunted now when Mickey (allegedly on accident) pulled the tree forward too hard causing the Doctor to trip on the stairs.

"Hang on…the bigger picture is what you're gonna get Rose for Christmas?"

The Doctor sighed. "Fine, you're missing the point. What do I get her? There isn't anything she seems to want."

Mickey…there was no better word for it…guffawed. "Yeah, there is one thing…"

"What is it?!" The Doctor almost dropped the tree in his excitement.

Mickey rolled his eyes now. "Like you don't know."

"I really don't." The Doctor's eyes widened innocently. "Tell me."

Mickey laughed now. "Well, you'll just have to figure it out yourself, mate." And he would say no more on the subject.

Later, Jackie was forcing the Doctor to help her ice cookies in the kitchen.

"A bracelet?"

"No."

"A kitten?"

"Hardly."

"A bicycle?"

"No, but she did when she was twelve."

"Yeah, I know. A ring?"

Jackie snickered. "Nope, but you're on the right track."

"So it's jewelry." The Doctor smacked his forehead, leaving buttercream frosting there in the process. "A necklace?"

Jackie rolled her eyes now. "You are so daft."

"Why?" The Doctor asked defensively.

"It's not jewelry. It's…" She tsked impatiently at him. "You know what it is, you're just being not clever."

"I'm not the one massacring the English language." And he pushed the icing aside and swept out of the kitchen. He sat and watched TV next to Rose, deliberately keeping the commercials on to see if anything caught her fancy.

"What about one of those?" He asked in sudden delight, pointing at the screen.

Rose snickered. "You still trying to figure that out then?"

The Doctor kept silent but gestured again with his finger.

Rose rolled her eyes and stuck out her tongue. "No, not that."

Later, they'd said their goodbyes and were entering the TARDIS. All the way from the flat to there, he'd been throwing out random guesses.

"A car?"

"Get me a license first."

"A pen?"

"Do you know how many of those we've got lying around?"

"A puppy?"

She paused and he stopped in possible excitement, but his shoulders drooped when she began shaking her head. "That might be second though."

It was days later, and they were on Rexicoricofallapatorius. The Doctor had been sentenced to death for public misconduct, as in trying to start a revolution. Rose thought it sounded like him, but she didn't care. She had to save him. So she did. She didn't let go of his hand until they were safely back in the TARDIS and even then, she hovered near him. He sent his beautiful ship into the Vortex and then collapsed exhaustedly against the seat. She fell into him, just wanting to feel with her own body that he still had his, that he was alive. He held her close.

"It's alright." He whispered.

And it was, but there was something she needed him to know. "Doctor?" She looked up almost shyly.

"What is it?" He asked softly, stroking her hair back.

"All I want…for Christmas…"

She didn't have to finish. "Yeah. I know." He wrapped his arms around her tighter and rested his chin on the top of her head. "Me too."