{ This is my secret santa gift for the-untempered-prism – I really hope you like this and I'm sorry that it took me so long to post. Also, tagging dwsecretsanta and doctorrosepromtps because I used a bunch of the ficmas prompts and legendslikestardust for the winter/holiday theme. }

{Also, there is a mood board that is part of this ficlet which is available on my blog - starsandfairytales tumblr}

Rose isn't looking for the Doctor as she travels on her own. Not really. Not anymore. Rose gave up on that dream a century or two ago. Well, three centuries ago, to be honest, but Rose has given up on counting exactly how many years it has truly been. There is no point. Time no longer matters as it isn't something that can actually touch her. Not since her resurrection at least.

Rose is beginning to wonder if anything will ever be able to touch her again.

She had once promised the only person she had ever truly fallen in love with her forever and she had meant it. Rose finds it oddly amusing, in a universe that thrives on indifference, that since she now seemingly has forever she cannot find the only person that she would wish to spend it with.

Rose has found the Doctor at various points in his life but he never knows her and his eyes are always so much younger, so unburdened, than when she knew him. Sometimes she helps him without him ever knowing. Sometimes she just watches him and his companions save the world. Sometimes she avoids him and leaves the times and planets where she finds him.

No matter where or when she finds him, it always leaves her aching.

It has been a very long time since she has come to London but she was feeling nostalgic and, for once, she decided to indulge herself. So, it is winter, nearly Christmas. Snow is falling and there is something about the city that feels as though it is welcoming her home.

Rose can't help but smile and take a deep breath. She closes her eyes and focuses, realizing that it has only been a few years since she was lost to this universe, as though the last few centuries of her life simply never happened.

She walks past the shops and enjoys the holiday displays in the windows. Watches as children run excitedly past her and enjoys the scents of holiday treats coming from the many restaurants and shops.

Rose has missed all of this more than she allowed herself to realize.

She stops for some hot cocoa and some gingerbread as she sits at a cafe to soak in the atmosphere at a more leisurely pace. She has nowhere to be after all, no one who is anxiously awaiting her arrival.

It is getting darker now and the lights are shining brighter. She can't see the stars but she doesn't mind. The multi-coloured lights more than make up for it and really, she can see the stars up close anytime she desires.

She resumes her walk, listening to some church bells in the distance. It is snowing lightly and Rose feels a sense of peace, of calm, and welcomes it.

Everything is quiet for a moment and she feels as though she is now the only person in London. She is about to head back to the city centre when she hears it. That unmistakable sound of the universe. The sound of home. Rose feels tears well up in her eyes but does not turn. She does not want to shatter the illusion – what must surely be an illusion.

Rose hears the door open and it is followed by a voice that she has only heard in her dreams for centuries.

"What? London? Again?"

Rose watches as the Doctor, her Doctor, stops and turns to continue addressing the TARDIS.

"What did you bring me here for, then? We were headed for the market on Hollix 7. You do want me to replace those burnt out parts, don't you?"

The TARDIS flashes her lights in response and Rose understands that the TARDIS brought him here to find her but still Rose is afraid to believe it.

The Doctor also looks around wondering what the TARDIS wants him to do. Rose watches him and knows the exact moment that he senses her. Well, senses a telepathic being with an extra heart at any rate. The Doctor quickly turns his head, looking for the source of the familiar and not-at-all familiar sensation.

Rose watches as his eyes widen the second her spots her standing still, watching him.

Suddenly he is in motion, running towards her as fast as he can. He abruptly stops in front of her, and almost fearfully he whispers, "Rose?"

She smiles with tears still in her eyes, "Hello."

"How?"

"That is a really long story, Doctor."

The next thing Rose is aware of is being enveloped in the Doctor's scent. His arms wrapped tightly around her and the fabric of his suit and coat brushing against her. All at once it feels as though an eternity has passed and absolutely no time has passed at all.

She returns his hug just as tightly and recognizes that the embrace is tinged with desperation on both of their parts.

The Doctor pulls back slightly and raises his hands to her temple, asking permission, which Rose grants, of course she does, with a slight nod.

For a moment they are both overwhelmed with the feeling of each other and then they are searching, seeking, making sure that this is real. That it is safe. That the timing is right and they aren't about to be torn away from each other again. Never that, not again.

Then the TARDIS is there on the surface as well. Reassuring them that yes, this is real. That this is a beginning and not an end.

Slowly they come back to the physical world that surrounds them, crying and laughing. Then the Doctor's lips are on hers and she is kissing him back with all she has. Rose understands that this is a healing kiss. A balm for the loneliness and grief and heartache and regret that has plagued the two of them for far too long.

They smile again as they separate and their hands find each other, squeezing tightly. Rose gives a tug and the Doctor follows as she leads him back into the city centre. It is the first time in centuries that she has been in London for Christmas and she wants to spend it with the one she loves.

A few hours later they return to the TARDIS, still holding hands. Both the Doctor and Rose have made a silent vow to never let go so easily again. The TARDIS is lightly covered with snow and the Doctor takes out his key and opens the door, leading Rose inside.

The lights in the console room dim briefly and they both look up. Mistletoe. Rose giggles in a way she hasn't since she was nineteen and the Doctor grins at the sound as he turns to her, "Well," he says, "it is tradition."

"Of course."

The Doctor kisses her then and it isn't a kiss that tastes of goodbye or of sacrifice or desperation. It is simply a kiss. A normal kiss, an everyday kind of kiss.

In that moment, Rose Tyler is aware of three things: The first that she is finally, truly home; the second, that she still loves the Doctor more than she had ever thought she could love anyone, and third, that this is her very favourite kind of kiss of all and she will not accept anything less than countless centuries filled with them.

{ Thank you for reading and Happy Holidays everyone }