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The Doctor shifted his weight as he waited for Rose to look up from her book. He cleared his throat and she jumped.
“Scared me!” she said with a laugh. “I still don’t know how you manage to sneak up on people with that coat.”
He just rolled his eyes, used to her teasing. His hearts were racing in his chest and he spared a moment to wish he wasn’t so damn nervous about this one little thing. It didn’t have to mean a thing, it might not mean a thing to her but… but there were knots in his stomach and he couldn’t deny the fact that it meant something to him.
“Doctor? Did you need me for something?” Rose had closed her book and was watching him, worry in her eyes. He must have gotten lost in his head for a moment too long.
“I um, I got something for you,” he said, puffing out his chest as he tried to appear nonchalant.
“Oh?” Her eyebrows raised and her brown eyes were twinkling as she smiled.
He pulled the wrapped present from his pocket and walked over to sit next to her on the sofa. He held the gift out to her.
Rose’s smile morphed into a full-out grin as she reached for it. “A present?”
“It’s Christmas in your timeline, or thereabouts, so I thought I would get you something.”
“I didn’t know,” Rose said. “Haven’t been keeping track.”
“I’m the one who keeps track of the time around here.”
Rose knocked her shoulder against his. “Dork.”
“Are you going to open it or not?”
Rose slipped a finger under the edge of the wrapping paper and ripped into it. Once the bright paper was on the floor she looked between the small box and the Doctor. He felt his hearts trip over themselves once more.
She opened the box and gasped as she caught sight of the pink stone attached to a fine silver chain. “It’s gorgeous,” she breathed, brushing a finger against the stone.
“It’s from the market on Trivvai,” he explained. “The metal is mined on the southern hemisphere on that planet and is almost unbreakable but still light.”
“And the stone?” she asked, knowing that there had to be a story there too.
“It’s from Graylix,” the Doctor said, naming the first alien planet he’d ever taken her to. “It’s a pink harusilite but the locals call it a heart stone.”
“Yeah?” Her eyes were shining and she sounded breathless and the Doctor felt hope bloom in between his hearts.
“People there give it to others they care about greatly,” he said, hoping that she understood.
“And you’re giving it to me?”
He nodded.
“Help me put it on?” Rose asked. She took the necklace out of the box and handed it to him before turning her head and lifting her hair out of the way.
The Doctor gently looped it around her neck and fastened the tiny clasp, fingers brushing against the sensitive nape of her neck in the process.
She turned back around, fingers already around the small pink stone that lay against her skin. “Thank you, Doctor.”
“You’re quite welcome.”
“I didn’t know it was Christmas so I haven’t done any shopping but I do have something for you.”
“You do?”
Rose nodded. She leaned closer and rested a hand on his cheek and then slowly moved in to kiss him, giving him plenty of time to pull away if he was opposed to her gift.
He had never been less opposed to something in his life and as her lips met his, all soft and warm and achingly gentle, he knew that this was the best present he had ever received.