sapphire_child | Aliens Don't Celebrate Christmas 3/3

Title: Aliens Don’t Celebrate Christmas 3/3
Fandom: Doctor Who
Rating/warnings: PG-13
Genre: angst, hurt/comfort
Character/s: Rose/10.5, Jackie, Pete, Tony, a mention of Marion Reed (an OC from Recurrence)
Spoilers: up to JE
Summary: It’s 10.5 and Rose’s first Christmas together in the alt!verse – and what would the festive season be without Ten's unlucky tuxedo and an invasion of rogue aliens at the Torchwood Christmas party?
Disclaimer: Doctor Who and all it’s associated characters/situations etc do not belong to me, I’m just borrowing them.

Part One
Part Two

~*~
Sixteen days after the accident the Doctor is finally bullied into leaving the hospital for the first time since the accident. The Tyler residence is decked out in festive greens and reds – the sparkle of fairy lights and white sprigs of mistletoe all heralding the spirit of Christmas. The Doctor feels remarkably sombre in comparison as he showers and shaves. When he returns to the hospital Rose is wide awake and he has a lumpy parcel under his arm.

“What’s this?” she asks, still teasing him despite her condition. She’s been coming on in leaps and bounds (so to speak) and her spirit is unflagging as always. “You expect me to unwrap something? I’ve only got one working arm!”

Laughing, he unwraps it for her and then sets it down on the tray table in front of her.

“A snow globe?” she says, non-plussed.

“Not just a snow globe – a snow globe with a Christmas tree inside!” he says, very pleased with himself and Rose actually giggles. “Do you like it? I got it from the little shop downstairs. Good hospitals always have a little shop.”

“S’lovely.” she says, smiles as she reaches her good hand for it clumsily. He hands it to her and she shakes it, the synthetic snow fluttering in the water. “What’s it for though?”

“They want to keep you in until Boxing Day at least.” his voice is clipped and Rose is silent. “But I’m sure you knew that already.”

Her face crumples into an expression of anguished pity. “M’sorry.” she whispers. “I know you wanted me to be there. I wanted to be there...”

“I know.” He says shortly, avoiding her gaze, and then jumps when he feels her hand cover his.

“Sorry I didn’t believe you.” Rose says softly.

“About what?”

“About unlucky tuxedos.” a smile softens the worry on her face. “I won’t do it again. Promise.”

A dry sob catching in his throat, the Doctor takes her good hand in both of his and then bends his forehead until it is resting on top. “Oh Rose...”

Rose pulls her hand carefully out of his grasp and lays it on his head, tangling her fingers into his freshly washed hair. He stays quite still as she gently musses his hair and it’s so soothing that he can’t quite bring himself to say any of the myriad of thoughts that are whirling around in his mind.

Instead he sits up a little, her hand stills in his hair but remains, and he places a careful hand on her leg, delicately spreadeagling his fingers like a spider on the thin blanket.

“I thought you were going to die.” he admits to her hip, his fingers smoothing along the grain of the fabric. “I saw you fall and all I could think was that you could be about to die and...”

“Doctor,” Rose interrupts him. “I’m not dead...”

“You nearly were,” he interrupts her right back, his voice sharp. “And I never even...we’re not even...”

“That’s...I mean there’s plenty of time for all of that.” Rose says dismissively but he can still hear the uncertainty in her voice.

“No.” he says, finally looking up and locking his gaze with hers. “There’s not.”

And try as she might, Rose just can’t seem come up with a decent argument against that.

~*~
Tony was attacking a piece of paper with crayons and Jackie was viciously untangling a large bundle of tinsel when the Doctor finally graced the Tyler’s informal lounge on Christmas Eve. He felt strangely detached as he stood in the doorway, fidgeting with the hem of the rather nice tailored waistcoat he’d chosen to don for the occasion. Truthfully he was getting sick of suit jackets and how uncomfortably hot they made him when he had to run anywhere.

Honestly – human bodies. Eurgh.

He hovered a moment longer, watching as Jackie muttered angrily at the tinsel and Tony nodded his spectacularly ginger head in time to the carols that were chiming from the CD player in the corner. The Doctor had grown used to being around Rose’s family from living with them of course, but on a day like Christmas Eve when she should have been there with him...he felt surprisingly lonely, even in company.

He’d been in to see her that morning, watched them take her through her first proper batch of physical therapy and then change the bandages. As far as her shoulder went she seemed to be healing quite well. The problem was that despite several blood transfusions, she was still very weak and prone to become dizzy if she moved about too quickly. As a result, her doctors had decided to keep her in for another few days to let her get her strength up.

All of which left the Doctor at somewhat of a loose end. Jackie had made plans for all of them to visit Rose in hospital first thing on Christmas morning but that still left Christmas Eve to get through without her. After lunch Rose had sheepishly admitted that she was quite tired from his visit and so the Doctor had kissed her softly goodbye on the cheek and ruefully taken his leave.

Upon his return to the Tyler household, he soon discovered that Jackie and Tony were immersed in a whole host of Christmassy traditions that didn’t seem to include his participation. After an awkward half hour of watching them he disappeared upstairs to tinker with his half-finished sonic screwdriver and wondered if he could get away with making some improvements to the decorations – namely the Christmas lights.

After several hours spent trying to distract himself from the inevitable, the Doctor had finally given up and headed downstairs again. The scene was almost unchanged from earlier – Jackie and Tony both too immersed in their Christmas routine to really notice that he was there. Despairing slightly now, the Doctor watched them from the doorway and wondered if the other Tyler’s were only really tolerating him because of Rose.

“Doct-ah!” Tony said gleefully, snatching him out of his funk. The child, having finally noticed him, had leapt to his feet and was now racing over, brandishing his latest creation. “D’you like my drawing? Iss for Rose for Christmas.”

It appeared to be a family portrait, complete with captions that stated the names of each of the pictures occupants. Mummy, Daddy, Rose, Tony and...

“Well.” the Doctor murmured, gazing at the wild brown scribble that was meant to represent his hair. “There goes that theory.”

A peal of bells interrupted Tony’s next question and Jackie huffed irritably.

“Why don’t you make yourself useful and go get the door?” she shot at the Doctor. In true Doctor fashion however (and doubtless with a large serving of Donna as well) he stubbornly put his hands into his trouser pockets and eyed Jackie defiantly.

“Why can’t you get the door? It’s not my house.”

Jackie looked ready to murder him. Or at least stab him in the eye with one of the many plastic icicles that was waiting to decorate the Christmas tree in the corner. So much for their recent hug-based-friendship he thought dryly.

“Oh I’ll tell you exactly why I can’t answer the door!” she said, moving slowly but menacingly towards him in her designer ugg boots. “Some lump didn’t pack the tinsel away properly from last Christmas so now I’ve got to untangle it. So unless you want me to strangle you with it-” she brandished it threateningly in his face and despite himself, the Doctor took a wary step back. “I suggest you get the door!”

“Alright!” he squeaked. Holding up his hands in defence, the Doctor skittered out of the room lest he die a very embarrassing death by tinsel.

The entrance hallway however, had already been breached by their visitors – let in from the cold by a stray maid who had stayed back several hours to help with the final decorations and preparations for Christmas Day in the Tyler mansion.

Pete, looking distinctly pink from the cold, was supporting a slighter figure clad in layers of heavy winter clothing. For one daft moment the Doctor wondered if Pete had gone to pick up somebody’s mother or maybe even an elderly aunt to share in the festivities – the person with him certainly moved like an old woman – but then she tugged her knitted cap off and her long blonde hair fell down onto her shoulders.

She looked slowly over at him and the Doctor caught his breath. For one glorious instant he was back on a deserted street, three in the morning with her beaming at him after so long, so long...and then he took one step forward, then another and before he even needed to run he was in front of her and taking her gingerly by the shoulders and pressing his face into her hair. Rose followed his lead, her good arm coming around his shoulders to complete their careful, joyous embrace.

“Happy Christmas.” Pete said, a wide smile in his voice. “I’ll just leave you two to...well.”

The Doctor vagueley heard footsteps subsiding and then Jackie’s voice ringing out a welcome to her husband from the front room, but he ignored them and breathed Rose in – her scent still distinctive even through the stench of hospital grade disenfectant.

“Hello.” she said, drawing back, eyes bright.

“Hello!” he returned, delighted. She smiled tiredly at him and then dropped her gaze, reaching out a curious hand to finger the hem of his waistcoat.

“I like the waistcoat.” she told him softly before catching his gaze again, still gently fingering the material. “Is this your new thing?”

He shook his head at her, dumbfounded and took her one good hand from the hem of his waistcoat and held it between his. “How?” he said hoarsely.

Rose flushed slightly. “You’re gonna yell at me,” she admitted.

The Doctor grimaced. “Ah. Better get it over with then.”

“Well they didn’t want to let me go at first.” she said, all in a rush. “But when I told them that I’d have a doctor monitoring me...”

“Wait, what? What?!” He gaped at her. “What’d you tell them that for? I’m not anywhere near properly equipped to look after somebody who’s just been shot!”

“Well yeah but they didn’t know that.” Rose said, supremely unconcerned. “’Sides, I’d prefer to have you look after me any day.”

“I-you-but...” his ego swelled at her words but nevertheless... “Are you completely mad?” he spluttered. “Or just partially deranged?”

Rose raised her eyebrows at him. “Being rude.” she advised him.

“Good.” he said flatly. “Because you’re being a complete idiot. Ooh...that was a bit too rude wasn’t it?”

Judging by Rose’s expression, he was right about that at least. “So...what,” she said aggresively, seemingly close to tears. “You’d rather I spend Christmas Eve – our first one together in who knows how many years – in hospital?”

“God no.” the Doctor breathed, tugging her hand gently towards his chest. “Never in a million year but God you are daft sometimes.”

“You know I’d never leave you alone with mum if I could help it.” Rose said softly, tilting her head slightly in that coy way she had. She looked up at him for a long moment and then tugged her hand from his grasp to press it against his cheek. “I guess...well. Happy Christmas Doctor.”

“Yes,” he said. She looked tired up this close. A bit worn out and worse for wear but beautiful all the same. Even better, she was here with him when he had honestly thought she wasn’t going to be – and not just in one way – in so many, many different ways. He thought of his Time Lord self without her even now in a parallel world. And he thought of his own few months with her – the separate rooms, the careful dance they had led around each other. “It is.”

Rose smiled at him again and – oh blimey – he really couldn’t help himself. He bent his head and kissed her.

Oh.

Softly, so softly, their lips parted and then met again like they’d been doing it all this time. His head swirled dizzily for a moment (as it always seemed to do when he kissed Rose) and then finally settled again as her hand lowered from his cheek to curl delicately around the collar of his shirt as they kissed again...

And then a cry of delight interrupted them.

“Rose!”

The pair broke apart in shock. In the doorway stood a pop-eyed Jackie and the human cannonball that was Tony Tyler. Luckily the Doctor managed to scoop the boy up into his arms just before he ran headlong into his older sister and did her any more damage. Rose smiled at her brother and gave him a kiss in greeting before allowing her mother to fuss over her briefly.

The Doctor merely stood in a daze as he watched Rose simultaneously greet her mother and wave off her concerns about her coming out of the hospital too early.

“Like I’m gonna stay in hospital on Christmas Eve!” she scoffed and Jackie grumbled.

“Muuuuuum...mummy – how come they was kissing?” Tony tugged at his mother’s hand. “You can’t kiss without mistletoe.”

“Don’t mind them sweetheart,” Jackie said evenly. “They’re allowed to kiss each other without mistletoe.”

“They are?” Tony said wonderingly.

Ignoring Tony’s question, Jackie swung him up onto her hip, staring pointedly at the two of them as she did so. “You certainly took your time about it didn’t you?” she said airily. “Pete and me, we didn’t waste a second. First week here and I was already pregnant with Tony...”

“Mum!” Rose said, mortified and the Doctor scrunched up his face as he tried to put that mental image out of his mind thank-you-very-much.

“What?” Jackie asked innocently as Pete stepped out of the doorway he had been loitering in and grimly took charge, carefully steering his wife into the lounge. “You two coming or what?” she called back over her shoulder at them.

Rose bit her lip in apology and then carefully reached out her good hand to the Doctor, wiggling her fingers invitingly. He took it without hesitation, their palms gliding smoothly against each other.

“So.” he said. “Christmas Eve?”

Rose smiled and nodded up at him. “Christmas Eve.”

“Reckon we’ll always be chasing aliens around at this time of year?” he wondered out loud.

“I think we will yeah.” Rose grinned slightly as they slowly followed the rest of her family into the lounge. “S’far as I’m concerned it’s not Christmas until there’s some sort of spaceship over London.”

“They are quite a rude lot aren’t they?” the Doctor noted as he helped her to sit down, fussing with cushions until he was certain she was comfortable. “Interrupting Christmas and all. Bit like an uninvited dinner guest really.”

“Well yeah. But sometimes a surprise guest can be a nice thing.” Rose smiled slyly.

The Doctor eyed her arm, heavily strapped and supported by its sling and was on the verge of saying something scathing about uninvited guests bringing guns instead of presents. Instead he merely said, “Merry Christmas Rose.”

Rose furrowed her brow at him but she was still smiling. “I think we already went through this in the hall didn’t we?”

“Well. Yes. But it can’t hurt to do it again can it?”

“Stupid acrylics!” Jackie snapped suddenly and everybody jumped. She had returned to the tinsel once again but was apparently still finding it impossible to disentangle with her festive nailart. “Does anybody else want to have a go at this bleedin’ tinsel?”

Pete looked stricken, Tony was engrossed in his drawing again and Rose certainly wasn’t in a fit state to be detangling tinsel. Which really only left one person up for the job.

“I will.” the Doctor reached out a hand for it and once he had obtained the offending strands from Jackie he began to work the knots out carefully and deftly. “You know,” he offered after a moment of expert detangling. “I could make a setting on my new sonic screwdriver for untangling tinsel. A tinsel untangler setting – ooh I like the sound of that. Tinsel untangler.”

Jackie’s eyebrows lifted in apparent interest. “How long would that take you to make?”

“Oh, well.” he conceded. “Maybe I could have it ready for next year. At the moment I’d probably just melt the tinsel.”

Pete chuckled at this and Tony leapt up to present Rose’s drawing to her. At the same time Jackie decided that since the tinsel problem was being addressed, what they needed now was a pot of tea and some Christmas biscuits. Rose put her good hand on the Doctor’s leg and squeezed gently before turning her attention to her brother and as the Doctor gently eased the tinsel into single strands he wondered briefly if maybe now that he was human he would finally get to enjoy Christmas – preferably without any more alien invasions.

“Shame really that aliens don’t celebrate Christmas,” he decided out loud and everyone stopped and stared at him. “It’d stop the invasions and I think that most species would rather like all the food you lot cook up.”

Rose stared. Pete stared. Even little Tony stared at the Doctor following this most profound pronouncement. Supremely unconcerned with their staring, the human Doctor began to hum along to the latest carol on the CD player and then set to untangling the tinsel again.