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“What did I tell you?” the Doctor said, gesturing towards the window. “Back before sunset, as promised.”
River glanced at her vortex manipulator. “Yes, you even got the date right. Well done.”
“Don’t sound so surprised! I’ve been flying this TARDIS for centuries, of course I got the date right. Besides, I checked before we left the TARDIS, just to be sure.”
“The real question is, did he get the year right?” Rose asked.
The Doctor shot her a half-hearted glare and made his way towards the window. “You’re never going to let that go, are you?”
She grinned. “Nope.”
“He did, in fact, get the year right,” River answered.
“I told you.”
Rose rolled her eyes and turned her attention to River. “So, are you doing anything special tonight? Other than the usual candle lighting and blessings, I mean.”
River shook her head. “Just me tonight, unless the two of you would like to stay.”
“You still use candles,” the Doctor said, whirling around from where he’d been inspecting the menorah on her windowsill. “Normal candles, wax candle-y candles.”
“What else would she be using?” Rose asked.
“Well, 52nd century, there’s a lot of options. Traditions change, especially once people leave the planet those traditions started on. Isn’t that right, River?”
River laughed. “I’m not sure you have time for a conversation about that right now.”
“We have a time machine,” Rose pointed out.
“Even then, it gets a bit… complicated. Between preexisting variation, the natural evolution of cultures over time, and the different opinions on how to deal with adapting to leaving Earth, well, it’s enough to write a book on. Or, quite a few books. One of my colleagues wrote three, actually. None of them were specifically about Hanukkah, but I think my point stands. I may have given hir a few hints about customs from the 21st century, so between you and me I take a bit of the credit there.”
“Have you celebrated Hanukkah in my time?” Rose asked.
“I haven’t, actually. A few bigger holidays, but not Hanukkah. I’ve considered it a few times, but I haven’t had the chance yet.”
“We could ask the Ponds to join them, if you want,” the Doctor said. “Amy said we’re welcome to visit any time as long as we don’t bring trouble, and I’m sure Rory wouldn’t mind us joining them.”
~
The door swung open, and they all knew they hadn’t gotten the date quite right before Amy said a word.
“Well, you didn’t miss all of it,” Amy said, leaning against the door frame.
“Is that them?” they heard Rory call from inside the house.
“It’s them, alright!” Amy answered, then turned back to them. “From this point on I am only inviting you three to holidays that are at least a week long.”
“Exactly how late are we?” Rose asked.
“Six days,” she said and stepped away from the door to let them in.
“That could be my fault for once,” River said as they took off their coats.
Amy rolled her eyes. “Please, don’t cover for him. We all know that if any of you know how to drive, it’s you.”
“Oi!” Rose and the Doctor protested in tandem, and River smiled.
“Well, I wasn’t the one piloting this time, but we did just come from the seventh night of Hanukkah in my time. The TARDIS might’ve decided to keep us lined up with my timeline.”
Amy didn’t look entirely convinced, but she didn’t comment as she led them into the kitchen.
“Brian Pond!” the Doctor exclaimed and pulled Rory’s dad into a hug.
“I’m not -” Brian started before seeming to decide that if he hadn’t gotten it the first three times he’d corrected him, a fourth time wouldn’t make it stick.
Rory rolled his eyes. “You know, with the amount of time you spend on Earth, you think you’d figure out how that works by now.”
“Nice to see you, Brian,” Rose said when the Doctor finally let him go. “Have you met River?”
“I haven’t. Rory’s mentioned her a few times, though. You’re the time traveling archaeologist, right?”
“My reputation precedes me, I see,” River said, shaking his offered hand.
“Right, everyone, it’s nearly sunset, if we’re ready,” Rory said. “River, do you - sorry, the Doctor didn’t mention, do you know the words?”
“Well, the words shouldn’t have changed to my knowledge, and I’m sure I’ll manage to pick up the tune,” she answered.
“The Doctor didn’t actually say - are you Jewish?”
“Of course he didn’t. Yes, I am.”
“I was trying to make sure we left on time,” the Doctor protested. “I figured we could fill them in when we got here.”
Rory ignored him. “How differently do you do things for Hanukkah in the future, exactly? I mean, three thousand years or so, a lot changes.”
River laughed. “We very nearly had the same conversation earlier. Candles first, then we’ll get to that. Trust me, if you want to get things done in any sort of timely manner, we should save that for later.”
“Right, yeah, okay, candles first.” He opened a drawer nearby and pulled out a lighter, handing it to his dad, then placed the candles in the menorah.
They recited the blessings - with varying degrees of confidence - and Brian lit the shamash, and then the rest of the candles - eight in total.
After lighting the menorah and having dinner, they made their way to the living room. Brian took one chair, and Rory took the other, with Amy dropping herself in his lap seconds later. Their guests - the not technically family ones (not that any of them cared much about that distinction, not after all this time) - took the couch, with River in the middle. The three of them had come rather close to cuddling before Brian had asked a question that River had particularly strong opinions, the nearly-cuddling ending as quickly as it began as River leaned forward and and began speaking more animatedly than she had since Rose and the Doctor had picked her up something like that morning.
The evening passed in a blur of wine, laughter, and impromptu lectures citing sources written by people whose great great grandparents hadn’t been born yet. Rory’s dad had taken “my son’s friend, born on a different planet over three thousand years in the future” in stride, though they supposed that wasn’t particularly hard to come to terms with after “my daughter-in-law’s alien imaginary friend is real and takes them on trips in his blue box from time to time” and “the imaginary friend’s partner, who was born human but isn’t quite human anymore” and “dinosaurs on a spaceship”. As the evening drifted into night, it came time to part ways.
The Doctor pulled Amy aside as the others exchanged goodbyes. “Just so you know -”
“We can ask you to come get us any time,” she interrupted. “I know. But you better pick up your phone when we call you for that.”
He smiled. “Oh, Rose will make sure of it. Goodbye, Pond.”
Amy pulled him into a hug. “We’ll see you soon, Raggedy Man.”
~
“Thank you,” River said as they made their way back to the TARDIS. “I had a wonderful time.”
“And educational, I hope,” the Doctor said, opening the doors of the TARDIS and allowing the others to walk in before him.
River leaned against the console. “Yes, very educational. Though I think a bit more of that came from me than we’d intended.”
“I love listening to you, for the record,” Rose said and bumped her shoulder against River’s.
“Oh, I’ve got plenty more to say. Hardly scraped the surface really. I could certainly keep talking about it if you two decide that you want to stay with me for the last night.”
The Doctor and Rose looked at each other and grinned. “We’d love to,” the Doctor answered.