The Doctor was in a playful mood. Today was Halloween and although they were in the TARDIS, he felt he couldn't pass up the opportunity to give Rose a few harmless scares. They had gone to see Jackie about a week ago and during that time; the Doctor had secretly purchased some items just for this very reason. He walked to his closet and looked in at his Halloween stash.
"Oh yes, Rose Tyler, I am gonna make you scream!" he said to himself.
Grabbing a few of the items, he giggled, as he ran out of the room.
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Rose blinked her eyes when her alarm clock went off. She turned it off and yawned. She lay under the covers for a few minutes enjoying the warmth and then with a sigh, reluctantly pulled them back and sat up.
She checked under the bed. When the Doctor had took her home, she had managed to slip out, buy a large plastic jack-o-lantern, and fill it to the brim with Hershey's kisses, his favorite treat. She couldn't wait to see the look on his face. But, the surprise would come later on tonight when they had supper. For now, she just wanted to get the day started and see where the TARDIS had ended up. Rising, she went over to her dresser to choose her clothes for the day.
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She walked into the console room and stopped when she saw the Doctor sitting in the captain's chair, sobbing quietly.
"Doctor!" she said, alarmed, as she rushed over to him. "Doctor? What's wrong?"
The Doctor turned to her and held up a severed hand.
"I lost another hand!" he sobbed.
Rose stared down at the hand and raised her eyebrow.
"You lost another hand," she said.
"Yes! Some maniac just tried to break in here to kill you, and I fought him, and he chopped off my hand, and I can't grow another one back because I'm past my regeneration cycle!"
He held up his right arm and pointed to the empty space above his shirt cuff.
"See, Rose, its gone!"
Rose stared at the severed hand. She pinched one of the fingers.
"Your hands are made of rubber, are they?" she asked him.
"Well, no, that happens if my hand is severed from my body. It becomes all rubbery and--"
"Nice try, Doctor," Rose said, walking away.
The Doctor watched her leave the console room.
"Fine, I'll try something else then," he said.
He tugged on his shirtsleeve and brought his hand back out. Laying the rubber hand on the chair, he reached under the seat and grabbed a couple more items.
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Rose walked into the kitchen. She walked towards the refrigerator, opened the door, and rummaged around in it. She grabbed the milk, and the carton of eggs. Standing back up, she shut the door and saw the Doctor was on the floor beside the refrigerator. An axe was imbedded in the middle of his forehead and blood ran from the wound down to his neck. He raised his hands and gave her an imploring look.
"Rose," he gasped, "help me!"
Rose stared at him calmly. She sat the milk and carton of eggs on the counter and walked back to him. She stared at him for a moment and then flicked the end of the ax handle with her fingers.
"Love the rubber axe and ketchup, Doctor, it looks very realistic."
She turned back to the eggs, as the Doctor glared at her. Sighing, he rose to his feet and stomped off while Rose giggled to herself.
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Rose finished her breakfast and put the dirty dishes in the sink. Walking out of the kitchen, she headed for the bathroom. She opened the bathroom door and looked up at the Doctor hanging from a noose in front of the door. Calmly, she walked around him, pulled down her trousers and knickers, and sat down on the toilet. She picked up her copy of Cosmo and thumbed through it.
"You know, Doctor," she said, perusing an article while she peed, "I've always thought your respiratory bypass system was so cool. I bet you've gotten out of a lot of sticky spots with it, yeah?"
She finished peeing, laid down the magazine, wiped her butt, pulled up her trousers and knickers, flushed the toilet, washed her hands, and calmly walked past him. The Doctor sighed angrily, pulled on the top of the noose, and dropped to the floor.
"I will scare you, Rose, if it's the last thing I do!" he said, taking the noose off his neck.
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Rose went back to her room, picked up a book and headed towards the den. She reached the den and entered the room.
"BWAH!" the Doctor yelled, jumping out at her.
"Eek," Rose said calmly, as she walked past him and sat down on the couch.
"Bollocks!" the Doctor muttered, stomping out the door.
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Rose read quietly in the den. The Doctor peeked into the room for a moment and then walked over to her.
"Hello, Doctor," Rose said, not taking her eyes off the book.
"I am not the Doctor," he said.
"Oh really, who are ya then?"
"I'm a Slitheen!"
"Uh-huh, that's nice."
"I am, see…"
The Doctor farted.
Rose turned the page.
"Mmm," she said, reading.
"I am."
Rose glanced up at him.
"Okay, if you are Slitheen, then take off the Doctor's skin and show me your true form."
She waited while the Doctor stared at her in silence.
"Well?" Rose asked, when nothing happened.
"Well, I…uh…I don't have to prove anything to you!"
Rose snorted, as the Doctor turned and stomped away.
"Uh-huh, that's what I thought," she said, looking back down at her book.
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Rose turned the page of her book. As she read, she suddenly became aware of something dangling just above her head. She glanced up and saw a fake rubber spider on a string. She stared at it for a moment.
"You're getting desperate now, aren't ya?" she said.
She went back to her book, as the Doctor sighed and walked off.
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Rose sat her book down and looked around the room. She sighed when the Doctor was nowhere in sight.
"Okay, now what does he have planned?" she muttered.
Rising to her feet, she went off to find him.
She found him in the console room, sitting in the captain's chair with his feet propped up on the edge of the console. She walked over to him. He wasn't wearing any makeup or props; there was nothing sinister set up around him. He was just staring off into space. She sat down beside him.
"Run out of ideas?" she asked.
"I've tried everything I can think of to scare ya for Halloween and nothing works," he said.
"Well, yeah, Doctor because I've seen a lot more scarier things in my travels with you. I'm sorry, but after fighting Daleks, and Werewolves, and Krillitaines, a little plastic spider and some fake blood is not gonna make me scream."
"I guess you're right. Still…I thought it would be fun to scare my companion for laughs."
He sighed.
"I guess I wasted my money then," he said, sadly.
Rose's heart ached when he saw the disappointed look in his eyes. She had no idea how much it meant to him to scare her and have a bit of a laugh afterwards. She suddenly regretted being so flippant about it all. At the very least, she could have just played along and screamed at least once. She smiled.
"Try again, Doctor, who knows maybe you'll get lucky next time," she said.
The Doctor looked at her.
"Yeah?" he said.
"Yeah."
Her heart soared when the Doctor grinned, and his eyes lit up with that childlike mischief she loved so much.
"Okay," he said.
He leaped up out of the seat, and Rose watched with love in her eyes, as he hurried out of the room.
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Rose sat in the captain's chair and waited awhile, so the Doctor would have enough time to come up with something. Finally, the anticipation was too much for her, and she walked out of the console room searching for him.
"Doctor?" she said.
She stopped and pretended to think.
"I wonder where the Doctor got to?" she mused, "it's not like him to just vanish like this."
She grinned when she heard a high-pitched, "OOOOOOOOO" coming from a nearby room. She let out a melodramatic gasp.
"Oh my God, what was that?" she said, in a hushed voice. "Doctor? Doctor? Where are you?"
She gasped again when a hand holding a lit jack-o-lantern came out of the room.
"Oooooooo!"
Rose let out a scream.
"No!" she yelled.
She walked backwards, eyes wide with fear, as the sinister figure emerged from the room. A black shroud covered his body, and he was astride a little black hobbyhorse. The man thrust the jack-o-lantern out at Rose.
"I AM THE HEADLESS HORSEMAN, AND I HAVE COME FOR YOUR HEAD!" he bellowed.
"AAAAAAAAAAAH!" Rose screamed, throwing up her arms and running away from the terrifying figure.
"BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAAA!" the headless horseman said, skipping, as he rode his black hobbyhorse of doom and tried to catch his hysterical victim.
"No! Help me, Doctor! Save me!" Rose said, melodramatically.
"THE DOCTOR CANNOT HELP YOU NOW!" the man bellowed. "YOU AND YOUR HEAD BELONG TO ME! YOU CANNOT OUTRUN MY STEED! I SHALL DRAG YOU DOWN TO THE VERY DEPTHS OF HELL ITSELF!"
Aaaaaaaah!" Rose said, half screaming, half laughing, as she ran to the console room.
Reaching the console room, she ran around the console and squatted down, as the headless horseman pursued her mercilessly.
"Help me! Please, won't someone help me?" Rose yelled out.
The TARDIS rumbled out a laugh, and Rose giggled with her.
As the horseman neared her, she raised her hand.
"No, please spare me!" she said, trembling. "I'll do anything, just please let me live."
The horseman thrust his pumpkin out at her.
"Oooooooo!" he said, shaking it.
Rose screamed. Her scream dissolved into a laugh when she heard the Doctor giggling underneath his shroud. He sat the jack-o-lantern down on the captain's chair and pulled the shroud up over his head. Rose smiled when she saw the joyful expression on his face. She giggled when he laid the hobbyhorse on the floor and squatted down beside her.
"Where'd you get that?" Rose asked, pointing to the hobbyhorse.
"Oh, I've had that for as long as I can remember. It used to be my granddaughter's favorite toy when she was little. It's an antique, but for the life of me I can't remember where I got it," he said.
"And your shroud thingy?"
"Ah, this is just an old tablecloth or something," he said, taking it off. "I really have no idea where I got this. It is just one of the many things that end up in my closets over the years. As for the pumpkin, I got it the same place I got all the other Halloween items. It's plastic, and it's lit with a little light. Battery operated I think. Anyway, I thought it would make a great centerpiece for the kitchen table, but I guess it comes in handy when you're playing the Headless Horseman too."
He smiled at her and took her hands.
"Thank you so much for playing along this time," he said.
"You're welcome, Doctor."
He leaned in and kissed her. They looked into each other's eyes for a moment and then Rose smiled.
"I have something for you. I was gonna wait until later, but I just can't wait anymore," she said, "just wait here."
The Doctor nodded. He sat on the floor and watched Rose while she ran out of the console room. She returned a few minutes later with her hand behind her back. She walked up to him.
"Can you guess what I've got behind my back?" she asked.
"Um, a skull?"
"Nope."
"A fake rat?"
"Wrong again."
The Doctor scratched his chin thoughtfully.
"A jack-o-lantern?" he said.
"What's in it?"
The Doctor raised his eyebrows.
"Pumpkin guts?" he said, shrugging.
"Nope."
He threw up his hands.
"I give up, what?" he said.
Rose grinned and brought her hand around. Her grin almost split her face when she saw the mixture of surprise and delight on the Doctor's face.
"Kisses!" he yelled, joyfully, as he took the jack-o-lantern from her.
Rose sat down beside him and smiled when she saw him looking at the candy as if it were a million pounds.
"Oh, Rose, you know just the right thing to get me," he said.
"Hey, if I haven't managed to figure out in two years that you're a severe choc-o-holic, then I'm a lot dimmer than I thought," she said.
Rose watched, as the Doctor picked up a kiss, unwrapped it lovingly, and then popped the confection in his mouth.
"Mmmmm," he sighed, closing his eyes. "Chocolately goodness, nothing like it."
He opened his eyes.
"Well, almost nothing like it," he said, taking Rose's hand.
He leaned in and gave her a tender kiss on the lips. He took the wrapper off another kiss and popped it in her mouth. He watched with a smile, as she ate it. He took her hand, and they leaned in close and enjoyed each other's company, grateful that this time the scares weren't real.
THE END