He's Fire And Ice And Rage

Continued from here.

• THE DOCTOR LEARNS THE TRUE MEANING OF CHRISTMAS •

~•~

"Plans?" the Doctor called over to her, saying the word as though it were some foreign idea he'd never heard before. He rolled over on the ice and another tentacle smacked down hard, forming another long crack.

"Right now, plan #1: Get away from this thing before it pulls us both under water. All other plans come later. Let's stick with plan #1 for now!"

•deck•the•halls•

• THE DOCTOR LEARNS THE TRUE MEANING OF CHRISTMAS •

~•~


Christmas Eve. 2009.

The Doctor loved Christmas! Back when he was a wee Time Lord, the first place he ever landed was London on Christmas Eve. He promised himself he'd never miss another Christmas ever, but that promise went into the same pile as "Lose weight" and "Regenerate a better hairline" and "Stop leaving companions in other universes". But the Doctor had never quite gotten the hang of New Years'. (He once spent several hours commiserating on the similarity between the confusing nature of New Years and Thursdays with one Arthur Dent, who will sadly not be appearing in this piece of narrative. -editor)

But! Through all his travels in space and time, he still hadn't quite figured out what Christmas was for exactly. Except as a yearly excuse for turkey, too much wine, and plum pudding (all of which the Doctor approved of). This year, though, as he strode the streets on this wonderful Christmas Eve, the Doctor decided he would figure out exactly what Christmas was all about.

This may or may not have included use of a intergalactic manipulative detector and a full pack of radio stellar isotopian crystals. Oh, and a cup of hot chocolate. In a festively-coloured cup.

There was a lovely light snow, and the Doctor grinned madly at the stars. Christmas. This year, he was going to figure out what it was all about.


~•~

OOC: Open thread, feel free to tag in as if your character is a passerby or as if your character is a long-standing companion! I'll be working on this thread up until the New Year, most likely! Everyone from any verse (or no verse!) is welcome, just let me know if you'd prefer it from a community or specific universe! And, for this thread, threadhopping is totally welcome!

Happy Holidays, everyone! &hearts

FOR THE DRABBLE MEME.

• This is the hardest story that I've ever told
No hope, or love, or glory
Happy endings gone forever more
I feel as if I'm wasted
And I'm wastin' every day

This is the way you left me,
I'm not pretending.
No hope, no love, no glory,
No Happy Ending.
This is the way that we love,
Like it's forever.
Then live the rest of our life,
But not together. •

"Who buries him?"

"That's a rather morbid question."

"Think about where we are, Doctor."

It's the Doctor that throws him. Not Stringbean or Sugarpuff or whatever ridiculous nickname she's conjured up. It's not a common thing for her, but today isn't a common day.

"A captain named Jean-Luc Picard. Fairly famous in his own right. It's all written down in the history books, I can find them for you if you want," he says.

"No thank you." She tugs her sweater around her shoulders and looks back to the TARDIS. "Can't we go back? See him again? Just once."

"You know we can't."

"Please, just to see---"

"Dorothy, I'm sorry." He puts a hand to her shoulder. He wants to be comforting but even now, even after he's been with her for over a century, he doesn't know how.

She turns and leans into his chest, but doesn't cry. He wraps his arms around her. Two immortals going through life is one thing, but when they make a mortal friend, it's another. He wanted to go back, of course, back to his own ship. And who wouldn't? The Doctor understood the appeal. And he was a good man.

Was.

Everything is in the past tense in his mind, now. It should be in the present. He should always think of people and things happening at once. He's stopped that, and he can only believe it's because of the people he travels with. They don't think on the same timeline.

They visited.

He aged.

They visited again. And again. Sometimes their meetings were very far apart, sometimes there were only days in between.

They don't feel the years. He does.

And now they're here.

James T. Kirk
2233 – 2293(2371)

It's a plain grave on a small, rocky planet.

"The end of one journey," he says. He breaks away from Dorothy's embrace to place some Xuxxuxian Firelilies next to the plaque. It will take sixty years for the cut flowers to wither. Not unlike Jim.

"I think I'm ready to go home," she says.

He looks up at her. "Home?" he asks.

"Home."

Muse: The Doctor (Ten)
Fandom: Doctor Who
Word Count: 352
Based on RP with galeforcehero and willrevile