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“Rose,” the Doctor whinged. He had made drawing out her name an art form. “Do we have to watch this movie again? We watched it only last week. Oooo, I know…” he grinned and bounded up to the vast shelving system on the far wall where thousands of movie titles were haphazardly arranged according to some extraordinarily complex system that only the Doctor understood. “Why don’t we watch Santa Claus Conquers the Martians? That’s awfully Christmassy and festive.”
“I ain’t sitting through that thing again.”
“I’ve got it! Xanadu! What could be better than Greek mythology and roller disco? Olivia Newton John and Gene Kelly in the same movie!”
Rose sighed. “All right, I’ll go and watch it in my room then. It isn’t Christmas without watching it a least twice.” Rose moved to get off of the couch when the Doctor pulled her back.
“Rose, why do humans like that movie so much? Why do you like it so much?”
“It's just meaningful, you know? How one person’s life touches so many other people. The littlest thing that someone does can make the biggest difference.”
“Every life is significant, Rose Tyler. I don’t need some schmaltzy… Oooo, I like that word. Shhhhmmmmaaaaaaaltzeeee.”
“You’ve changed my life, you know, taught me a new way to live…” Rose put her hand on the Doctor’s cheek, and then kissed the other cheek tenderly.
It wasn’t the first kiss she’d given him, but never before had the kiss been quite so lingering or soft. Outwardly, he simply blushed. Inwardly, his hearts were beating out a samba.
“Watch with me? Please?” Her request was not manipulative. It was earnest.
“Dame Tyler, your wish is my command.” He aimed his sonic at the mid-21st Century AquaRay player, and Rose cuddled into his side.
The Liberty Films bell tolled, heralding the start of the show.
“So, you feelin’ better now?” Rose pulled the Doctor’s hand close to her side while the opening credits played.
“Yep! Right as rain now that the poison has worn off. I can feel my fingers.” He wiggled his free hand and grinned, and then pulled their clasped hands into his lap under the afghan. “I may take a bit of a kip. Metabolizing that particular neurotoxin took it out of me.”
“I’m really sorry…” she winced.
“Nothing to be sorry for, Rose Tyler.”
“Well, ya’ never would’ve been shot with that dart if--"
“Well I very well couldn’t let you get shot by it, now could I? Getting rid of that poison is a piece of cake for me, well not a piece of cake, perhaps more like a six tiered wedding cake. Point is, if you’d been hit by that dart, we wouldn’t be watching this movie right now all snuggly and cozy. You’d be in the infirmary with much more than a numb hand."
“Well I suppose…”
“Not another word about it. I’d take a dart for you every time, Rose. Shhh, there’s Clarence.”
The Doctor stretched out his long body, toed off his trainers and without asking, laid his head in Rose’s lap. By the time George Bailey had rescued his kid brother Harry from the frozen pond, the Doctor was fast asleep, chest rising and falling, hands clasped peacefully in repose.
oOo
“That’s your man right there, John Theta Bailey. Tonight something is going to happen to him, something very, very bad, and you are going to help him get his life back.”
“But Doctor, he’s just kid, and a cute one at that.”
“There is a lot you need to know about him before you begin your mission.”
“Since I’m working on Christmas Eve, will I get time and a half?”
“Yep.”
“I want a good parkin’ space, too. And a stapler that works.”
“Why the hell do you need a stapler?"
“I’m a secretary, you big dumbo!”
“Who you callin’ dumbo?”
“You've got big ears.”
“I like me ears. Now remember, you are a temp, and as such, you will have to prove yourself before you are hired on as permanent companion. I only take the best, you know, and I don’t ask twice… well only did once, but she was an exception. Oh, here we go, Donna. Show’s about to start.”
Adam Wainwright jumped onto his makeshift sled, a garden shovel, and careened down the hill onto the frozen pond with a whoop and a “Hee haw!”
“I’m telling you Jack, the ice is too thin. Don’t do it… It isn’t safe!” John earnestly warned his brother.
“Awww, don’t be such a stick in the mud, Johnny. You take life much too seriously. Live a little! See those girls over there? They’re watching me, and if I don’t go down now, I’ll look like a chump. I have a reputation to keep up!”
John’s kid’s brother, Jack, jumped on his sled made out of a shovel, and he took of. But he veered off in the wrong direction and hit a patch of thin ice. Jack went through the ice in an instant. John ran down the hill as fast as his long, gangly legs could take him.
“John Bailey saved his brother’s life that day. Captain Jack Bailey goes on to become a Torchwood operative and saves the lives of people each and every day.”
“Wait a minute… this script says he’s a Navy fighter pilot and he saves a bunch of people on a troop carrier shootin’ down two Nazi planes.”
“It’s his dream, and I am pretty impulsive in that body, so I have a feeling we’re going to be improvisin’ quite a bit.”
oOo
“Well hello, John Bailey. Where have you been? It seems like it’s been ages since I’ve seen you.” Pretty little Reinette Beck gracefully slid onto the stool as John Bailey wiped down the counter. “Be an angel and buy me some chips?” she flirted, batting her pretty eyelashes and tossing her blonde curls.
He harrumphed and continued his cleaning.
“What are you reading?” she asked coquettishly, determined to gain his attention, noting the book he had stowed behind the counter.
“Oh this ’n that.” He pushed his thick rimmed glasses up his nose.
“What do you want to do when you grow up John? I’m know what I’m going to do. I’m going to be Prince Harry’s girlfriend.”
“I’m gonna travel the world, Reinette. I’m gonna see it all. I wanna swim with the Anacondas in the Amazon, and make friends with a Yeti and… and… jump into the geothermal mud pits of Greenland feet first, meet the Mox of Balhoon and find the lost moon of Poosh.”
“What’s a Poosh?”
At the far end of the counter, sweet little Rosie Hatch quietly observed as she took a sip of her soda and ate her chips. She’d be more than happy to travel with John Bailey – she’d follow him to the end of the universe if he asked.
“I’ll love you forever, John Bailey,” she whispered to herself.
oOo
John Bailey knew there was something wrong with the medicine. He’d tasted it. Mr. Constantine the pharmacist had put poison in little Jamie’s asthma inhaler. John knew he didn’t do it on purpose, he’d received bad news this morning, but he wouldn’t deliver it, no matter how angry Mr. Constantine would be.
“That boy! He would have died! John saved his life."
“That’s right. Jamie is all the family in the world that his Mum Nancy has. Everybody lived that day, Donna. Everybody lived!”
oOo
“Buffalo gals won’tcha com out tonight, come out tonight, come out tonight. Buffalo gals won’tcha come out tonight aaaaaaaand… dance… by… the light… of… the… moooooooon.”
“Who’s that skinny strip o’ nothin’ in the too-big tracksuit and the blonde girl in the dressing gown?”
“The pretty boy is John Bailey and the blonde is Rosie Hatch all grown up. She’s beautiful… for a human. Remember her from the soda fountain? She’s been in love with John Bailey all this time, and John is about to see that maybe he should have been payin’ more attention. Perfectly daft that one is, when it comes to Rose. I know I woulda been payin’ attention… I should thump myself on the head.”
“Rose Hatch, you grew up when I wasn’t looking.”
“You walk by my job almost every day, John.”
“Where do you work?”
“Henrik’s.”
“How old are you anyway?”
“Nineteen.”
“Nineteen!” John exclaimed nervously. “But… but that means that last year you were… only eighteen! And the year before that, seventeen!” John stammered.
“Helluva age gap,” Rose joked.
John worried. He was so much older than her. What would people think? What would her mother think? Besides, he had plans. Big plans. He wanted to travel the world! Build big buildings! Climb tall mountains! He certainly couldn’t let himself be tied down to the prettiest girl in the universe.
Rose picked up a rock, closed her eyes and held it close to her chest before she threw it at the decrepit old Wester Drumlins place.
“What’d you do that for?!” John Bailey shrieked as the window shattered.
“Makin’ a wish.” She smiled mysteriously and looked up at him, poking her tongue out the side of her mouth, causing him to lose his so-sure-of-himself composure.
“So are you going me what you wished for?” he asked with a cheeky grin.
“Nope. Not tellin’,” she sing-songed as she walked away from him, twirling the belt of the far-too-large terrycloth dressing gown she had been forced into after they fell into the gymnasium swimming pool, mid-dance. “Buuuuufallo gals wont’cha come out tonight…” she sang as she sashayed down the pavement, swinging her hips seductively.
“Hey, where ya’ goin’? Night’s still young, Rose Hatch.” He said her name in such a way that caused her to stop mid-stride. Her face was burning with anticipation. Would it finally happen tonight? That kiss she’d been dreaming of since she was a school girl? She decided to play it cool, so she continued her little game: belt twirling, singing, hip swaying.
Quite by accident-on-purpose, John stepped on the far too long sash that was dragging behind. For a fleeting moment, Rose Hatch was starkers, right there on the pavement, until she regained her composure and dove behind a hydrangea.
“This… is a very interesting situation…” John gloated.
“Shut up!” she called from behind the bush.
“Very interesting indeed! Not too often a man finds himself in a situation like this.”
“Shut up or I’ll… I’ll scream!”
He held up the robe with a grin and shook it as he rocked on his feet.
“How about you come on out and get it?” he teased.
She gasped in protest. “You give that back, John Bailey!”
“Aww, come on, Rose. You humans are too worried about nudity. It’s just flesh, after all… albeit, yours is so very soft and curvy.”
Tires screeched as a black London taxi came to an abrupt stop. “John! We’ve been lookin’ all over London for you. There’s been an accident. Your home… there’s been a fire.”
“John! Wait!” Rose called out from the bushes, but John was already in the car.
“What happened to his family? His Mum and Dad?”
“They’re all gone, Donna. Our entire planet. I’m the last one.”
oOo
The lobby of the Bailey Building and Loan was filled with volatile customers. “Fingers! On! Lips!” That shut them up quickly. “Martha Jones, you’re first. How much cash do you need?”
“I want all of it.”
“Aww come on, Martha, you don’t need it all, do you really? What are you gonna do with all of that money before Friday? Hmmm?”
“I have to pay my tuition, John. It’s due tomorrow! So this is me getting my money out.” She held out her hand, firmly resolved, and there was no way John was going to change her mind.
“Keep in touch, won’t you Martha? You’ve been brilliant.”
“This isn’t the last you’ve seen of me Mister.” She had the shadow of sad smile on her face.
“You’re next Mrs. Tyler.”
“How about Twenty two pound. That’ll do…”
“Really? That’s lovely. Thank you Mrs. Tyler.”
“What’s happened Doctor?”
“That, Donna, is what you nervous nelly humans call a run on a bank. A rumor has been circulated that the Building and Loan doesn’t have enough cash on hand to cover the deposits, so these customers are demanding their money right now. And… it’s his wedding day. Right now, his new bride is back at their home, Wester Drumlins, trying to make it ready for their wedding night.”
“So I see John came to his senses and married Rose. About time, Spaceman.”
“He’s been busy, Donna, savin’ the town and all. It’s a big job. Don’t be too hard on him.”
“Uh Doctor, you can stop watching now.”
The fireplace crackled and danced in the grate and the old phonograph played “Buffalo Gals.” Rose held her hand out to her husband and led him into their bedroom.
oOo
“So they fixed up the old Wester Drumlins place, have four kids now. They’ve been busy, haven’t they?”
“Got that right. Not that I blame him. The one adventure I never got to have."
oOo
Over and over, Hark the Herald Angels Sing droned on the piano. Sarah Jane was trying her hardest, but her fingers were too small to hit the notes perfectly and she was nervous about tonight’s performance at the annual Bailey family Christmas party.
“Sarah Jane, do you have to keep playing that song?” John’s testy complaint brought tears to his daughter’s eyes.
“But I have to practice for the party, Daddy. Mummy said we could stay up until midnight and sing Christmas carols. Uncle Jack is comin’ home tonight.”
“Hello,” Rose waved merrily to her haggard husband as she walked out of the kitchen carrying a plate of freshly baked, sliced banana bread, John’s favorite.
“Daddy, where’s the wreath? When are you going to put it up?” Pete asked with a hopeful smile.
“I left it on Bowie Base One.” John nervously ran his hand through his wild hair.
“Daddy, the lights went out on the tree. Can you fix ‘em?”
“Where’s my sonic when I need it,” he grumbled to himself. “Where’s ZoZo?”
“Zoe is sick in bed, John. She won a banana at school, and didn’t want to mush it, so she walked home without her coat.”
“What? What!? It’s freezing outside! It would’ve been perfectly safe in her pocket. I’ve fixed all of the kids’ pockets to be spatially adaptable. Why would her teacher let her do that? I’m going to bring down that Harriet Jones with just seven words, Rose. Just watch me.”
“John!” Rose scowled at John.
“Not now, Rose.” The banister knob came off in John’s hand as he grabbed it out of habit, heading up the stairs. He gritted his teeth angrily, slamming it back into place as he went upstairs to check on ZoZo. “Stupid big old house,” he muttered.
“John, what’s wrong? Tell me, please.” Rose called up the stairwell, but he didn't reply.
“Mommy, what’s wrong with Daddy?”
“I don’t know sweetheart.” Rose hugged Sarah Jane as she watched her angst-ridden husband make his way up the stairs to check on ZoZo.
oOo
“Hi Daddy. Look what I won today.” Zoe held up her banana. “Want some?” She peeled the banana and split it, handing half to her father and shoving the peel into his hand. He pushed it into the pocket of his brown pinstriped suit jacket.
“Thanks ZoZo.” He leaned over and kissed her forehead tenderly, and then left her room feeling the weight of the universe on his shoulders.
oOo
“Well, well, well, if it isn’t John Bailey. What brings you to the Valiant, this scrumptious Christmas Eve? Thought you’d be home with your lovely wifeypoo and pretty little family.” He turned to look at the woman standing behind his back and without a word, she leaned over and gave him a kiss that belonged behind closed doors, not in front of a guest.
“Believe me Saxon, your home is the last place I want to be. Harold, I need money.”
“Why haven’t you called on that filthy rich friend of yours, Adam Wainwright? Didn’t he make an obscene amount of money on that brain implant a while back?”
“He’s on holiday on Satellite Five. I can’t get in touch with him.”
“Instead of a loan, let’s make a deal. How about I buy you? Your family won’t miss you. Much. I'm sure they're tired of hearing you play that emo Snow Patrol album over and over and over. You could finally give your family the life they really deserve.”
“What do you mean, buy me?” John looked at him sideways.
“Simple, John. I will own you. You will be my lapdog. In a proverbial cage. You will be mine to do with whatever I please.”
“So basically, Harry, I would be your slave. Ahhh, no thanks.”
“Don’t call me that. Call me… Master, because that is what I am. Your Master. Look at you. You’ve become a bitter, old man, John. Remember when we were kids? Great times we had. You were so pompous, so sure of yourself. But look at you now. A mere shadow of your former glorious self.”
“Over my dead body.” John gritted his teeth and stormed out of the office.
“That can be arranged."
"Doctor! What’s goin’ on? Why does John need a loan?”
“John’s Uncle Wilfy is a wee bit forgetful, and he left the money at Saxon’s bank today. Saxon was there, or course, saw it, and pocketed it. He’s been trying to take down the Bailey Building & Loan for years. He has most of London under his thumb. Only person who has kept him from completely taking over the entire town is John Bailey.”
oOo
John pulled his brown pinstriped suit coat around his body. And then he started to run. And then he sprinted until he was sucking air. He found himself on Tower Bridge, the Thames far below. He had no clear idea of what the future held.
"I wish I'd never been loomed," he gritted out.
"Oh, I am so going to regret this!"
His head snapped to the right, and a woman in a billowing white gown careened into the frigid river below. Without a second thought, he dove in after her.
oOo
"What'd you do that for?" John squealed at the woman.
“I'm granting your wish, you big Dumbo."
In the blink of an eye, John Bailey was removed from time and space.
oOo
John turned a full circle, taking in the hideous, gaudy and tawdry stores, business establishments, and entertainment providers that made up Piccadilly Circus. He looked up in the sky, and Zeppelins floated lazily above.
“Who are you? Where am I? What the hell is this place?” John asked, dazed and confused.
“Where do you think? Mars?” she answered flippantly. “Those are my lines by the way. And I'm Donna Noble. And we're in London, England, Earth, the solar system.”
“Well I know that,” he rolled his eyes. “Who are you supposed to be in my dream?”
“I’m your guardian angel, Spaceman.”
“Ahhhh. Well, that makes poetic sense, I suppose. You were there during my lowest times, kept me on the straight and narrow for the most part.”
“Hey Doctor." Donna she nudged his arm. “Guess what this place is called in your dream?"
“What?”
She snorted. “Masterland!”
“Noooo!” His eyes bugged.
“God’s honest truth.” She held up her hand as if taking an oath. “Masterland.”
John scowled. “Oh, that's disgusting! Jack is going to run with that one. Oh wait. Better not tell him. That could be… awkward and embarrassing and lead to all sorts of Jack-ishness.”
Across the street, a woman screamed as a clockwork robot raised his hack-saw fashioned arm, ready to strike.
“She is ready.” The robot announced melodramatically.
“Oh not this again. I really hate this bit,” John scrubbed his face rolling his eyes skyward.
Donna elbowed him. “Before we go over there, I have a message for you from my boss.”
“Who’s your boss?” John scowled.
“Nine guesses, first eight down’t count. Here’s the message: ‘You must be feeling guilty if you’re dreamin’ this up, as well you should. You really did cock that one up didn’t ya? Just save that Reinette woman and be done with it. And no snogging! And no ridin’ horses named Arthur through mirrors!’" she said in a familiar northern accent. She slapped him in the back of the head.
“Oi! What was that for?” He rubbed his head dramatically.
“For kissing that slapper Reinette, and leaving Rose and Mickey behind. That was one hundred percent from me, by the way.”
He composed himself and returned to his scripted role. “That’s… that’s Reinette! Why is she dressed like that?”
“You weren’t there to save her reputation, John, and she belongs to the Master now. She’s his mistress.”
“What? What? Reinette was always a flirt. But that woman? She’s a tart. Just look how she’s dressed!”
Reinette’s eyes flashed when she saw John approaching. “Need some company tonight angel? We could curl up in front of my fireplace and I could warm you up.”
“Reinette! It’s me, John. John Bailey. Why you dressed like that? You’ll cause a riot!”
“That was my intention, of course. So what do you say? Take me dancing. I want to make the Master jealous.” Reinette creeped her fingers up his chest, and then grabbed his tie with the intention of pulling John into a kiss, but with firm resolve, he pushed her away.
“Stop it, Reinette. I love Rose!”
“You tell her, Spaceman!” Donna crossed her arms over her chest.
“You don’t look like a happily married man to me. You look like a lonely, lost little boy.” She spoke in a sickly sweet, sympathetic tone, as she cupped his face, attempting to manipulate him to her will.
“Come on John, let’s get out of here. There’s more I have to show you.” Donna put her arm around his shoulders and gently guided him away from the temptress. “Sometimes, Doctor, you just need someone to stop you.”
They walked for a while and then she halted him when they reached a familiar doorway.
“Where’s the Building & Loan? It should be right there!”
“It’s a pawn shop now. Saxon shut it down, foreclosed on all of the past due mortgages, forced the people onto the street or bought out their homes and strong-armed them into renting from him.”
“Donna?” He drew out her name. “Where’s Uncle Wilfy?”
Donna’s face fell.
“Just tell me Donna.”
Donna sighed. “Gramps was committed to a mental institution, John. Went insane after the loss of the family business. Blamed himself.”
“No. That's not possible. He may have been a bit forgetful, but--" John grabbed his hair and pulled it in a million directions.
“You weren’t there to reassure him, John, to comfort him, to forgive him for his mistake.”
A small, huddled figure emerged from the side door of a darkened department store. The small woman had the look of terror on her face as she half walked, half ran, carrying the leg of a shop window dummy.
“Rose! That’s Rose!”
“John! No!” Donna called after him, but he was already in a flat-out run towards his wife.
“You’ve got to get away from here!” John shouted at Rose as he ran towards her, in the sprint of his life, down the darkened street.
“That’s what I’m doin’ mate, and you’d best get away too. The building’s gonna blow. I opened all the gas lines and left a ciggy lighter lit in the basement.”
“Not that way, come with me, this way!” He reached out his hand and she took it. He pulled her along away from the building. With a ground-shattering explosion, the building burst into flames. John threw his body over hers to protect her from the blast. “Rose, are you all right?”
“Who are you? How do you know my name?”
“I’m your husband!”
“But I've never been married. And the only man I ever truly loved -- he died. And you look nothin’ like him neither. He had short hair and beautiful blue eyes. You’re all… all… pretty, and you talk different, too!”
He frowned. “You didn’t think I was pretty then?”
“I don’t know who you are,” she cowered behind a light stand and looked back nervously at the inferno.
“Rose, it’s really me. The very same man. I may not talk like I’m from the north, and I certainly have a better nose, but both of my hearts belong to you. Please come home with me.” He extended his hand, and wiggled his fingers, hoping she would accept it.
“I ain’t going nowhere with you, mate! You’re not him! You’re not my John!” Rose bolted in the opposite direction, faster than he’d ever seen her run.
“Donna! You’ve gotta stop this! Send me back home right now!” Tears threatened to blur his vision as he begged the ginger-haired angel in a wedding gown to restore his life.
“All right then, but before I do, listen to me: you have the biggest family in the world, Doctor, and you have made each and every one of us better, and don’t you forget it. Do you believe me?” Donna’s voice was quiet and kind. Her eyes communicated as much, if not more, than her words.
“Who am I to argue with my best mate, Donna Noble.”
Donna pulled John into a crushing hug, and then an oddly familiar heaving sound met his ears. A blue police box appeared, the door opened, and Donna Noble backed inside the magical box. As quickly as it had appeared, the blue box dissolved into thin air.
John looked skyward. Not a Zeppelin was in sight. He turned to scan the street, and it was filled with bustling shoppers, making last minute preparations for Christmas Eve. The bells of St. Paul’s tolled merrily in the distance.
John reached into the pocket of his brown pinstriped suit coat and fished around the enormous space until he found what he desperately hoped he would.
oOo
“ZoZo’s peel! Ha ha! ZoZo’s peel!” The Doctor shouted joyfully in his sleep. He was smiling widely even in his dream-state. “Hello greasy London chip shops! Hello Henrik’s construction zone! Hello Big Ben! Hello Ten Downing! Hello Chula ambulance crash site! Hello good old Powell Estate! Hello you beautiful blue TARDIS! I’m alive! I’m alive! Ha ha!”
Eyes wide open, but still dreaming, the Doctor threw his arms around Rose’s neck and pulled her down on top of him. “Hello Rose Bailey.” He pulled her down into a searing kiss.
Rose gasped, pulling away. “Rose Bailey? What you goin’ on about?”
The Doctor woke up fully to find Rose Tyler’s face within inches of his own. He sat up abruptly, knocking her onto the floor, and flung himself to the other side of the sofa.
“Did I just kiss you?” he asked sheepishly.
“Yeah." Rose looked up at him from her spot on the floor, laughing. “Well, I really think you kissing Rose Bailey -- as in George Bailey. As in It’s a Wonderful Life. You were George in your dream, weren’t ya?”
“No," he said. “I was John Bailey.”
Rose pulled herself off of the floor and sat next to the Doctor. “So Rose Bailey then. Rose Bailey your wife. Only in your dream, of course.”
“Yep.” He raised his eyebrows and smiled sheepishly.
Rose bit her lip and looked down. Her blonde hair obscured her face for a moment until she straightened back up again. “I told you it was a good movie.” Rose turned to face the Doctor, put her hands on his chest, one over each heart. “Happy Christmas, Doctor.”
The Doctor stroked her cheek with the back of his fingers. “Happy Christmas Rose.”
He wasn’t going to let this opportunity pass. This was a wonderful life after all, more than wonderful, it was molto bene’, and he decided then and there that he wasn’t going to waste one more minute of it.
So he kissed her. And it was wonderful.
The End