It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas

Christmas With The Easticks

The TARDIS materialised in a backyard. It was rather nondescript. It was grassy and had a seldom used brickwork barbeque overgrown with a mulberry bush. There was sea in the air, in fact there was sea over the road. The day was sunny and the whole town, or a good portion of it, had been up since sunrise. The backyard belonged to an old friend of The Doctor. Long retired Sergeant Richard Eastick of The Australian Army and his wife Kate. It was Christmas day 1992. Tegan, Turlough and The Doctor didn't know that yet but they soon would.

Richard Eastick had become a portly man in his old age. He was tall and decently muscled, kind and reliable. He had, upon hearing The TARDIS come out to greet them, leaving his somewhat confused wife in the house with the Christmas preparations. He was pleased to see them, He knew Tegan quite well, though Tegan had not yet met him. Turlough he had heard about from his countryman and The Doctor, well one got used to The Doctor and his changing faces but ever consistent dress sense, or lack thereof. He did not expect but was not surprised by the decorative vegetable.

"Tegan! Doctor! And you must be Turlough." Richard said, then approached the TARDIS and laid a hand on her. "Hello old girl."

"Sorry?" Tegan said, because that is the way one logically reacts when greeted as an old friend by a complete stranger. Admittedly not an uncommon occurrence for a time traveller.

"Oh, right. We haven't actually met yet, in your timeline. Richard, Richard Eastick. Formerly of UNIT."

"Oh, You're Jayne's grandfather. We met her recently. She's quite remarkable."

"Isn't she just. Of course, she's three and a half weeks old at this point. They'll all be here soon, you're welcome to join us For Christmas."

"We'd be delighted," The Doctor answered for all of them.

Turlough was mildly displeased, mostly stemming from the fact that it was hot. Well, hot for a pasty British schoolboy, nobody else present seemed to notice.

"Why's it so hot? I thought you said it was Christmas." Turlough said.

"It is, and this is the proper temperature for Christmas day, thank you very much." Tegan replied.

"On what planet?" Turlough retorted.

Tegan rolled her eyes. "Australia."

"I thought it was a myth that Australia doesn't have a winter."

The Doctor and Richard shared a look but said nothing.

"Yes, we also ride Kangaroos to school and all of our flora and fauna will kill you instantly," Tegan said.

"Really?"

"No, you idiot, we're in the southern hemisphere. Our winter is June to August. It's the middle of summer."

"Oh..." Turlough felt a little stupid. Everyone else present tried, and failed, not to laugh.

It wasn't long until the rest of the Eastick family arrived. Richard and Kate had four children. Ross, Roy, Leanne and Thomas. The eldest of his six grandchildren was Kaye who was nine. The youngest was Jayne who, as previously mentioned, was three and a half weeks old at the time. Between them were Garry, Leanne, Gabrielle and Harry. Both the boys were three years old, though there were several months between them, and the girls were seven and shared a similar age gap. Jayne was adorable, she had big, dark eyes and a mop of jet black hair atop her tiny head. It was surreal, Tegan thought, to hold a baby in your arms who had been a grown woman when they'd met not so long before.

It wasn't long, before the traditional Christmas cricket match was in full swing.

"Cricket is not an Australian Sport. The British invented it, it is a British sport." Turlough objected when Richard referred to the sport as a 'traditional Australian pastime'.

"Yes, but Australians can actually play it. Why do you care anyway? You hate this planet." Tegan, quite rightly, retorted.

"Yes, but I like cricket. It's civilised. It's the one thing about this planet that is."

"Shut up and join us then." She said, tossing him the second bat.