Christmas with the Doctor

Disclaimer: I do not own Doctor Who

It was the first of December and Rose was going to ask the Doctor if the could celebrate Christmas together. She supposed it would be their first real Christmas together as the last time it'd been Christmas, they had been with the Gelth and Charles Dickens, not much of a Christmas, to be honest.

She was slightly nervous as he had said before he didn't do domestic, but what harm could it do if they did it just this once? Maybe if she was lucky, she could get him to do it again next year. Maybe.

"Doctor?" she said, as she entered the console room. "Where are you?"

"Under here," he said, as he got out from under the controls. "Just had to fix a couple of wires, nothing huge. Something on your mind, Rose?"

"Yes, now that you mention it. Well, uh, today's December first, and I was wondering, would…would you mind if we celebrated Christmas? We don't have to go to my mum's; it could just be the two of us. What say you?" she asked.

The Doctor paused for a moment. He didn't normally do domestic, but even since Rose came with him, he'd changed a bit. He did like Christmas and besides, the holiday would present a perfect time to give her his gift.

"I say, if it's what you really want—"

"It is."

"Then we can do it."

"You mean it?"

"Yep. Besides, I like Christmas. So, how about we put up a tree now, some Christmas shopping on the twentieth and then we decorate the TARDIS on Christmas Eve? We'll celebrate on Christmas Day and have loads of fun. What say you?"

"I say, brilliant!" said Rose.

The Doctor smiled and then punched in some coordinates and they landed on a forest planet. "Dress warmly and then let's go. We've got a tree to pick out."

Rose smiled as she grabbed her coat and gloves and followed him out the door and into the snowy forest. After much deliberation, they picked out a large Christmas tree and then began decorating with blue ribbon and silver baubles to represent the TARIDS's colors while Christmas music played on the TARDIS stereo.

"I think it looks great, don't you?" she said.

"It looks fantastic," said the Doctor.

Before long, it was the twentieth and that meant Christmas shopping.

Christmas shopping was fun, even more so because it was on planets on other planets. Even if the Doctor did tend to grumble about the lines at the stores and how many bags he was carrying for her. Rose searched for hours until she found the right gift for the Doctor and when it was all wrapped up, she was excited to give it to him. As a small treat, they also built a snowman and had a snowball fight.

On the morning of Christmas Eve, Rose found the Doctor eating all the candies from his Christmas Counter—which were all edible ball bearings and banana-cream filled chocolates.

"Morning," said the Doctor, smiling.

"Well, it looks like someone's got the Christmas Spirit. You're supposed to eat one a day to count down Christmas, you know," she reminded him.

"I know," said the Doctor, as he swallowed another piece of candy. "That's why I waited until now to eat them all."

She laughed and shook her head at him. "Stop being silly for a moment and come help me set up. It's Christmas Eve!"

"Coming," he said.

They spent the day decorating the TARDIS console room. When they stopped for the night, it all looked very festive with the baubles, paper chains, and crystal décor. They then had a delicious dinner by the fire with hot chocolate and marshmallows for dessert and Rose went to bed smiling and dreaming of what awaited the next day.

When morning came, Rose found the Doctor driving the TARDIS. "Morning," he said. "Merry Christmas, Rose."

"Merry Christmas," she said. "Where're we going?"

"It's a surprise," said the Doctor. He parked the TARDIS and then held out his arm. "Shall we?"

"We shall," said Rose.

She took his arm and went out the TARDIS to find she was at the door of her mother's flat in London and her mother's annual Christmas party.

"You didn't!" she said.

"I did!" he said.

Rose knocked on the door and was instantly hugged tight by her mother, Jackie. "Merry Christmas, Rose! Oh, Oh, I've missed you, sweetheart!"

"I've missed you too, Mum," said Rose. "It's great to see you."

"Thank him," said Jackie, pointing to the Doctor. "He rang me up the other night, said he was going to bring you home for part of your Christmas present."

Rose hugged the Doctor. "Thanks, Doctor."

"Half the point of Christmas is spending it with one's family, so I thought why not?" he said. In a whispered tone so Jackie wouldn't overhear, he whisper, "But I'm not touching her cooking!"

Rose chuckled as she dragged him into the party where they danced and laughed and watched old Christmas movies with Rose's old friends and extended family members. After a couple of hours, Rose found a couple of girls trying to ask out the Doctor.

"Oi, he's mine, so back off!" she said, as she pulled him away.

"You know, you're cute when you're jealous," chuckled the Doctor.

"You'd have done the same with me," she pointed out. "And besides, you're my Doctor, no one else's."

"Just like you're my Rose," he said, grinning.

She nodded. "Yeah, I am."

"How long are you going to stay traveling with me, just out of curiosity?"

"Forever."

He looked surprised and then happy as he squeezed her hand.

Later, everyone exchanged gifts. Rose got a silver necklace inset with a ruby and dangling silver and ruby earrings from the Doctor.

"Oh, they're lovely. Thank you," said Rose.

"Glad you like them."

"Here's your gift."

He unwrapped the red tissue paper to find a book written in Gallifreyen, full of the legends only Time Lords knew. "Wha-what…how did you find this?" he asked, his voice barely a whisper.

"Shopkeeper knew the author and had a spare copy he was willing to give me when I explained about you," said Rose. "I thought you might like to have it since it came from your old home. Do you like it?"

The Doctor didn't speak, he just hugged her tight and she felt a few tears hit her shoulder. "Thank you," he choked out. "Thank you so much."

She just returned his hug and then wiped away his tears as he smiled and they went back to the party and had a delicious roast beef dinner with wine and sweets. After the party ended, Rose went back to the TARDIS with the Doctor, both chatting about this and that.

"So, did you have a good Christmas?" he asked, as he shut the TARDIS doors.

"It was fantastic," she said. "Thank you."

He smiled. "I'm glad you had fun."

"Did you have fun?" she asked, curiously.

"If you did, then so did I," he said. "Oh, before I forget, I have one last present for you."

"You let me travel with you, you're always there for me, you let me celebrate Christmas, you gave me my necklace and earrings, and you brought me to my mum's for the holidays. What else could you give me?" she asked.

"This," he said, as he pulled out a tiny red velvet box which he opened to reveal a silver diamond ring. "Rose Marion Tyler, I love you with all my hearts. Will you marry me?"

Rose nodded as she smiled. "Yes! Yes, yes!"

The Doctor smiled as he slipped the ring onto her finger and pulled her in for a kiss that she returned.

"I love you so much," she said, when they broke apart.

"I love you too," he said. "Merry Christmas, Rose.

The End