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A/N: You were in the shower when the Doctor landed the TARDIS on the Titanic orbiting the Earth. You had been safely inside, completely unaware of the battle raging outside and the fact that the ship had floated away. So this picks up at the end of the episode…
The Titanic. The Titanic in space.
The Doctor never quite understood what went wrong in his travel that caused him to crash into the floating vessel. All he knew was that he saved people, lost others and promised to travel alone to avoid emotional trauma. This meant he had to find a way to send you away. (Y/n) – you were too attached to him and the TARDIS and it wasn’t going to be an easy task for him.
Opening the door to the TARDIS, the Doctor was welcomed to a decorated interior that smelt of hot chocolate and freshly baked cookies. Not the usual scent of electricity and time-travel (yes, that had a special smell of its own). Walking deeper into the core of his machine, Ten found his companion relaxing on a chair that you had dragged up from the vaults with a mug of hot cocoa and a sugar-cookie in your hands.
“Hey, did you know that the TARDIS core makes an excellent oven for baking?” You asked as you took a bite of the biscuit and sipped the drink. Ten was already pretty disoriented from his adventure on the space Titanic and your confession to misusing the core wasn’t doing him any favours.
“What?” He asked and you shook your head.
“Oh, don’t worry. I made heaps.” You said, pointing to the tray sitting stop the console. You turned around to face the man but frowned when you saw that he was bruised and his hair windswept.
“Why do you look like you were in a battle?” You wondered, completely oblivious to the Titanic dilemma. The Doctor made his way over to where you sat and decided to deliver the news straight away. To deal with the pain before it become too serious.
“(Y/n), listen…”
“Is this going to be one of those I have to let you go before you get hurt speeches because I’d rather hear you explain why you look like a mess.” You interrupted with curiosity. Ten had played this line with you a few times before, particularly when he’d seen something tragic or lost people he cared for.
“Something like that.” The Doctor replied gently. It was clear that his heart was holding grief but you knew better than to just give in to his request. You got up from your seat and placed your hot cocoa on an empty spot on the TARDIS console.
“Look, we’ve been here before and I’m not going anywhere.” You told him with a small laugh. It was foolish of him to think otherwise.
“Then I’ll lock you out of the TARDIS.” The Doctor reasoned and started pressing buttons and winding up gears. You retaliated his moves and cancelled the commands he was giving to his ship.
“I can’t let you do that.” You told him. The Doctor was forced to stop, you knew all of his moves and he had to approach this differently. He slammed his palm on the edge of the console unit and looked at you angrily.
“I don’t want you on this ship – I can’t lose… not again.”
You could hear the hurt in his voice. Whatever caused his injuries and disheveled appearance caused some emotional damage too and Ten was trying to prevent it from happening again.
“Fine.” You sighed and tiptoed around the console unit, dragging your hands around the metal controls and blinking lights so as to create sympathy and guilt. “I guess I’ll just give Jack a call and see if he’s got a position open.”
“You go right ahead and – what?!”
The Doctor’s train of thought was thrown into the empty night sky the moment you mentioned Jack Harkness. Yes, he was trying to send you away and yes, the man was a friend but Jack flirted with you constantly and Ten found it most infuriating to watch. You raised an eyebrow at the Time Lord, taking note in the way his interest was sparked.
“Before he left, Jack offered me a place in Torchwood. Something of a second-in-command to him.” You explained.
“No, no.” Ten found himself saying out loud rather than in his head.
“No? Don’t go ‘no’ or don’t call Jack ‘no’?” You tried to clarify. The alien with two-hearts wasn’t making himself very clear and his face only registered shock and remained unchanged.
“No.” The Doctor repeated and you nodded as you slowly stepped towards the door. You had turned your back on him and reached for the handle.
“Well, if that’s your answer then I’ll just –”
“Wait!”
You paused your actions and smirked. You knew that he’d cave eventually. Besides, you weren’t planning on leaving him alone at any cost. Readjusting your face to make it look expressionless, you turned around and folded your arms, watching the man behind the console. You pursed your lips and waited for him to explain himself. Ten looked like was caught red-handed and didn’t have an excuse prepared so he looked at the cookies and warm cocoa on the console counter and pointed to it.
“It’s terribly rude to make me finish all of this on Christmas. I mean, really.” He told you, frowning like a child being told to eat their greens. You took a step forward and ran your fingers through your hair before nodding.
“Yes, that would be rude.” You agreed and squinted at him. “I suppose if I help you out that would mean I can stay?”
The Doctor didn’t say another word.
He merely smiled – a genuine smile that hadn’t graced his face for a long time. It was a good sight and you were delighted that you were able to bear witness to it. You returned a smile of your own and made your way back to him, stealing a cookie from the tray.
“Just so you know, I wasn’t actually going to leave.” You confessed in a mysterious whisper, making the Doctor chuckle. “Well, not until I had lured you under the mistletoe.”
Ten squinted at you, taking note of the mischief in your eyes and slowly looked above his head. Sure enough, there was a small bundle of mistletoe hanging between the pair that he hadn’t noticed before. Looking back at you, he tilted his head to the side quizzically.
“How long have you been waiting for this?” He asked curiously.
“Too damn long.” You replied and grabbed him by the collars of his suit, crashing your lips over his without hesitation. You both stood there for quite some time kissing in the TARDIS, uncaring of how much time had passed and simply enjoyed the presence of one another.
“It’s Christmas and I see mistletoe.” A voice beamed from the doorway. You and Ten were brought back to reality and turned your heads only to see Jack Harkness walk in proudly. His perfect teeth flashing a smile with his dimples on show. “You know what the tradition is, right?”
“Oh no, you can forget it.” Ten told him and pulled you to the side gently so he could take a handful of cookies and throw the sweet goodness at the gorgeous time-traveler. You rolled your eyes, took your mug back from the controls and sat back down on your armchair. You decided to let the pair of them fight it out with your baked goods until someone hit a control unit and sent all three of you on a crash-course in space and time.
Now that was the proper tradition of Christmas on the TARDIS.