31 days of ficmas

Presents (Twelve/Rose)

The Doctor wasn't feeling very well today. It wasn't physical. It wasn't any kind of disease. Time Lords were immune to most of the virus that were wandering around the universe. His problem was simply mental. Not the type of mental problems he usually had. He had been called crazy, idiot, violent, impetuous, had been told that he was making non-sense, and his only answer to that had been laughing in people's face. He was a genius from space, but he could sometimes be an idiot. Right now, he was an idiot. An idiot who was feeling really bad. In his defence, he was a time traveller. He was always jumping from one era to another and it made him lose his sight of the real time it was. He had forgotten that Christmas time was coming, that it was already there, and that he had promised Rose they would share presents that year like they had done with his previous selves.

However, he wasn't like his other selves. He was worse than any of them. He wasn't as protective as his ninth self, as empathic as his tenth self, as joyful as his eleventh self. He was just a grumpy old grandpa who couldn't do anything right when it came to his feelings for Rose. Emotions, feelings... All that stuff wasn't for him. He had promised himself to make an effort, and he had ruined everything once again, because he had bought no present for his wife when she surely had a whole mountain of them for him. How lame was he as a boyfriend! She never seemed to give any importance to it, but he knew that she missed it in him. He was ruining their small little Christmas because he had been too busy saving the universe to think about the only thing that really mattered to him.

He glanced at the time the scanner screen was displaying. It was too late to run somewhere and get something for her. Not that he couldn't come back right at the moment he had left, but because Rose would notice it. The Bad Wolf had gifted her with the sense of time and immortality for saving the Doctor's life so she could stay with him until the end of times. Of course, it wasn't easy to deal with. She still had the body and brain of a human. She wasn't ageing physically, but her memory was limited, and he had taken that habit of writing their most beautiful moments together in a diary. He was keeping them in a locked drawer in his office. She didn't know he was doing that, and he should really tell her. He hadn't, because he thought she would probably tell him that it was making her sad to have forgotten all of that. And he truly didn't want her to be sad.

"Doctor?"

He pushed the thoughts away when he heard her voice coming from behind him. He turned around to face her. She was coming out of the library where she had settled everything for their little evening together. He was astonished by how beautiful she still looked for him. What had he done to deserve a woman like her?

"You're done preparing everything?"

"Yep. Even the gifts are under our small tree. But I haven't seen yours. Where have you hidden them?"

He didn't know what to answer to that. It was a tough situation. If he admitted that he hadn't bought any gift to her, she would be sad and he didn't want to break her heart. In the other hand, he didn't see how he could do otherwise.

"You've forgotten, haven't you?"

He was surprised that her voice wasn't showing any sadness. She didn't even seem surprised. She was sort of amused. Which wasn't normal. Not for him. Was she mocking him?

"You're not mad at me?"

"Why would I be mad?"

"Because I'm not good enough for you. Not like my other selves were."

Rose walked to him and cupped his cheek. She kissed his lips softly. She knew he was gonna forget. That's just how he was. That's why she had bought her own gifts for him to offer her.

"I don't mind you forgetting it. I knew you would."

"You knew?"

"It doesn't matter, Doctor. You are the only present I need."

She smiled at him and grabbed his hand. They walked together to thelibrary where they would spend the evening having a fun and relaxing moment.Rose showed her Doctor the gifts she had bought for herself in his name. Itmade him laugh. But her words were making him think, because of how right theywere. She was the only present he needed. The other ones were only flourish.Only a way for their forever not to be too monotonous...