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Christmas was always a favored holiday of yours. You loved the magic behind it, and all the things that people do to celebrate it. You were on the Tardis with the Doctor; you had joined her on her adventures through time and space for a while now. You loved every adventure, the danger, and the spectacular sights the Doctor showed you. You wouldn’t give it up for anything.
You didn’t know if the Doctor celebrated Christmas with her other companions. Yes, you knew about the others, you were curious and thinking mindlessly about it and the Tardis had shown you when it was just you in the console room by yourself. You had asked the Doctor about it the next day and she had told you about them. You were glad she had other people to befriend and travel with before you, you couldn’t imagine how many years of travelling alone. The more the Doctor talked about the others you could see her eyes get sadder. It broke your heart to see the Doctor sad, it was clear the Doctor missed those people dearly.
The idea to invite the Doctor over to your place for Christmas Eve popped into your head. Decision made you leave your bedroom in search of the Time Lady. She was in the console room, as per usual.
“Hello, Doctor!” you greeted.
The Doctor turned her head towards you. Whatever she had been doing previously was forgotten when she heard you. “Hello, Y/N!”
“What are you up to?” you asked, bounding up the stairs to the console.
“Oh, just simple repairs really,” she replied. The Tardis hummed above you, her tone annoyed. She was clearly telling the Doctor off about her “repairs”. “Shush,” the Doctor told her. “Anyway, what can I do for you?”
“Well,” You started. “I was wondering if we had any trips planned?”
She hummed in thought. “I hadn’t planned anything. Why? Did you have something in mind?”
You nodded. “Well, not something definite really, but I wanted to ask, since it is technically Christmas Eve, if you wanted to spend it together?”
“What?” she had stuttered, clearly not expecting your request.
You repeat yourself with a smile at the Doctor’s flustered face. “I just thought it’d be nice to spend the Holidays together. You know like, put the tree up, decorate, watch movies, just Christmas-y things. I think it’d be nice to relax for the holiday, don’t you think?”
The Doctor paused in her fiddling on the Tardis console. The thought of spending the Holidays with you made her hearts beat so fast she feared that either they’d jump out of her chest, or that you would be able to hear it yourself. She wanted to experience all of those things with you. She had noticed on one of the peaceful adventures you two had taken how the lighting made you the most beautiful person in the whole of time and space, your eyes brightened the more you looked around and you had grabbed the Doctor’s hand to drag to each market stand in the plaza to look excitedly at the contents and the Doctor was more than happy to tell you about them, she never wanted your smile to end.
“Doctor?” You asked again, pulling the time traveller out of her thoughts. Her face flushed pink and you couldn’t help the smile on your face at her adorableness. “Would you like to spend Christmas with me?” you asked again.
The Doctor was quiet for a moment before turning to you with a smile “Yes, I’d love to.”
You watched her toss her tool over her shoulder and winced when it made a loud bang on the metal flooring. The Tardis also gives her own groan in protest at her Thief. You watched as the Doctor moved around the Tardis pulling levers and pushing buttons, and eating her cookie of course. The Tardis gave her usual wheeze and tremble before she settled. You stepped outside the box and couldn’t help the gentle sigh when you saw the inside of your home. Sure, you loved being on the Tardis, sometimes even thinking of it as your second home, but you enjoyed the comfort your own house provided. A call of your name turned your attention back towards the Doctor, who was still inside the Tardis after she had landed it inside your house in the living room. The Tardis had tucked herself away in a corner. “I’ll be back in a bit; I just want to go get some things.”
You nodded. “Okay, I’ll start pulling some decorations out and when you get back, we can do them together.”
The Doctor smiled. “Perfect. I won’t be long.”
You waved to each other and you watched the Tardis fade away with a groan for the Doctor to go do whatever she needed to do. It wasn’t 15 minutes later she had come back. You had finally pulled out the final box, the tree, out from underneath the crawlspace you kept all your decorations out of the way. You were struggling to drag the heavy box across the floor when the Doctor had unexpectedly appeared next to you to help you pull the box easier.
“You’re getting a bell for Christmas,” you grunted as you pulled. After finally pulling the box into the living room you turned your attention fully to the other woman…and noticing her attire. “What are you wearing?”
The Doctor wore a black wool sweater with a Christmas tree on the front, and it was decorated with little light bulbs on it. “It’s a sweater.”
“Well, I can see that it’s a sweater,” you laughed. “Where did you get it?”
“The Tardis.”
You shook your head fondly. You couldn’t deny that the Doctor looked adorable in her Christmas sweater, even more when she showed you that it lit up so it looked like an actual Christmas tree. She then excitedly showed you another sweater that she had brought with her. This one was blue with white patterned reindeer all over it. The Doctor told you that this one was for you and you accepted it gratefully. Now the two of you looked ready for Christmas and started on the decorations. You had to convince the Doctor to not make your tree self building (should’ve picked a wooden one) or futuristic in any way, you told her it takes the fun out of it
“You know,” the Doctor started. The two of you were working on the tree, you were on one side and the Doctor was on the other. The decorations were between the both of you as you made the tree whole. “Your Christmas holiday is odd.”
“How so?” You asked.
The Doctor glanced at you. You thought she looked adorable, her eyes were held with question and curiosity. “The Human Race, at some point in their life, all believe in a fat man dressed in red and rides on a magical sleigh pulled by flying reindeer, who breaks into your homes once a year with gifts made by these little tiny people who work for him and he always knows if your good or bad. It’s just weird.”
You paused, taking in what the Doctor was saying. In a way she wasn’t wrong. “Never thought of it like that,” you hummed. “As a kid I used to own a book about Santa where he wasn’t really fat, he was actually really skinny and it was his red coat that made it seem like he was, or he could deflate himself, and he could slip under the door and under windows if the house he went to didn’t have chimneys he could slip through.”
“That’s even worse!” the Doctor commented, her nose wrinkled up at the thought.
You glared playfully at her, throwing a bauble her way. “And as for the sleigh and reindeer you, dear Doctor, travel in a flying police box that is much bigger on the inside I’m sure one could describe it as magical.”
“Touché,” she replied.
“Are you telling me with all your years of travelling you’ve never seen anything that could say Santa Claus is real?” You asked her.
You watched her face do her signature scronch up as she thought of the dream creatures with Clara where there was a “Santa” so to speak. “Not exactly. It was a...a lot more complicated.”
You had thought about asking her more about it. But decided against it. With the tree done you had decided to relax on the couch. You were having fun with the Doctor with you. You had thought about talking to her about your feelings about her, but couldn’t think of how or when and you were worried she wouldn’t feel the same.
The woman you were thinking about walked back into the living room, coming back from whatever it was she left to go into the Tardis to do, and trying her best to look nonchalant. You were sitting on the couch scrolling through the tv to find something to watch when she walked back in. It was blindingly obvious that the Doctor was trying to hide something. “What are you hiding there, Doctor?” Keyword; she was trying.
It wasn’t working.
“Nothing,” she replied, shrugging her shoulders.
“Uh-huh” you crossed your arms. “What’s behind your back?” You tried approaching her, wanting to circle around her to see what she was hiding. The Doctor was equally determined to hide whatever it was, a playful gleam shone in her eyes as she managed to keep you in front of her, backstepping and turning her body to keep you away from her hands. The game continued for a bit in the middle of your living room for a bit, both of you unable to hold in your laughter until the two of you were breathless and barely able to form words without giggling to each other.
“Okay,” you gave in, panting. “I give in.”
The Doctor laughed breathlessly. “Well, since you gave up so easily,” she held one hand up in front of her to show you the item she was hiding.
Your eyes widened when you finally saw what the Doctor was hiding. It was hard to mistake the plant in her grasp, and if that wasn’t the biggest clue in the world the Doctor came to stand in front of you, toe to toe, and held it up above your heads.
“Mistletoe,” you said to yourself, recognizing the plant she held.
The Doctor nodded. “I noticed you didn’t have one, so I thought why not.”
“You are right,” you smiled at her. “I don’t have one. Never had a reason to go out and buy one.”
The Doctor playfully shook the mistletoe above the two of you, and you could hear the little berry like things brushing against the leaves of the plant. You smirked at her “If you wanted me to kiss you, you could’ve just asked.”
The Doctor's face flushed pink once again. “I-I must admit that this was kind of my plan since you invited me over. Ever since meeting you, Y/N, and you travelling with me, I’ve developed feelings for you. The way you smile, how your eyes brighten when we go somewhere new. Every time I see you it feels like my chest can barely contain the beating of my hearts. Almost like it is trying to escape, like it doesn’t belong to me anymore, because it belongs to you. And if you wanted it, I would want nothing more than just to know you felt the same way too. I have felt this way for a while, but I couldn’t find how to tell you before. This seemed like the best way to do it.”
You were surprised at the Doctor's confession. Surprised and happy that she had felt the same way as you did, and with a whisper of “shut up” you reached out to cup her cheeks in your hands which silenced her very quickly. You leaned in, your nose brushing against the Doctors and lips barely touching. The Doctor was sure that by now you could hear her hearts beating madly. The first touch of your lips sent a spark between the two of you, it wasn't a shocking one like static, but more of a pleasant one that told you this felt right. Mistletoe forgotten and now unneeded, the Doctor dropped the plant and her arms found themselves wrapping around your waist, and your hand caressed her face. Every stroke of your thumb sent goosebumps up the Doctors arm. She honestly couldn’t believe it, you kissed her. Her hands were warm on your waist and you couldn't help the sigh that slipped out, it was like a dream come true. The Doctor was hesitant at first, her hands had trembled slightly when she first went to reach for you, how could she not be? You had felt right against her like you were now, she knew that she wouldn't ever be able to live without you, you were everything she had wanted. She had never kissed in this body before so she was slightly unsure if she would be good at it, but with you she knew she never wanted to end it and that she'd always want to kiss and hold you.
The clock in the hallway suddenly chimed and the sound was so unexpected that it startled the two of you enough that you separated, but were still holding each other. The clock chimed twelve times, it was Christmas Day. Your hands moved from the Doctors jaw to her shoulders, and hers remained where they were. The two of you laughed, slightly embarrassed you had gotten scared by a clock.
You smiled at her, leaning in to give her another peck on the lips. “Merry Christmas, Doctor.”
“Merry Christmas,” she replied.