A NEW YEAR'S VISIT
"Doctor?" Rose stepped into the console room and looked around. She noticed it was empty and wondered where the Doctor had gone to. Even though it wasn't unusual for him to be somewhere other than the Console Room, this was always the first place she looked whenever she couldn't find him. She had been in her bedroom relaxing when she suddenly felt the TARDIS stop and power down. She thought perhaps the Doctor was planning an adventure so she came up to ask him about it. "TARDIS, where is he?" Rose finally asked the time ship. She heard the front door opening and turned to see it slowly opening by itself. She stared at the open door for a moment before hurrying to it. She looked out and noticed the Doctor was walking away. She slipped outside and closed the door behind her. She looked around and noticed they were in a very nice residential area with very expensive and posh houses on both sides of the street. She wondered where they were while she stayed a discrete distance from the Doctor while she followed him. The Doctor walked to a house halfway up the street, a very nice house with large bay windows. He stopped in front of it and stared up at it. Rose crossed the street and hid behind a tree positioned in front of the pavement. She watched him study the house for a moment and then she saw movement inside. Through the bay window, she saw a red haired woman in her early thirties coming down a flight of stairs into a wide room at the bottom of it. She'd never seen the woman before but she watched while the Doctor walked to the front door. Silently, she hurried to a tree nearer the house so she could see what was going on. XOXOXOXOXOXOXOX Grace Holloway was getting ready to go to a New Year's Eve party with some friends when she heard a knock at her front door. She glanced through the bay window and frowned when she saw an unfamiliar man standing outside her door. The man glanced at the window and they made eye contact. "Hello, Grace," he mouthed to her. Still confused, Grace moved to the door. "Who are you?" she said through the door. "It's me, Grace. It's the Doctor." "Doctor? Doctor who?" Grace said, figuring it was someone from the hospital. Then it hit her and her eyes widened. "Doctor?" she said. "It's the Time Lord Doctor, Grace." Grace gasped and opened the door. "Doctor! Oh my God…" She stepped back when she got a good look at him. "Wow, you look good," she said. "So do you," the Doctor said. "It's been twelve years and you look just as young as you did the last time," Grace said. "Time Lords don't age," the Doctor said. "May I come in for a moment?" "Um…sure. I'm going to a party but they can wait," Grace said, stepping back some more. The Doctor smiled and stepped inside. "So…still working at the hospital?" he said, shutting the door. "Yeah, I'm head surgeon now." "Good." "Of course, I haven't found anyone else with two hearts since then or strange people that can spit acidy goo at people. It's been a fairly normal life." "Nah, no such thing as a normal life," the Doctor said. "What about Lee?" "Well, he's not longer hanging around with the rough crowd," she said. "He went to college and became a physicist. I think you influenced him." "Good," the Doctor said. "What about you? Did you get shot again?" Grace said, gesturing to his body. "Um, no. Radiation overload this time." "Ugh." "Actually this is two bodies on from when I last saw you. The one before that suffered trauma from a battle on Gallifrey." "I see." "Grace, Gallifrey doesn't exist anymore. It burnt." Grace blanched at that. "What? What happened?" she said. "It's complicated but there was a war and I had to destroy it to save the universe." Grace stared at him in open mouth shock. "You have to destroy your own planet?" she said. The Doctor nodded. "What about your father and mother?" she said. "Dead," the Doctor said softly. Grace swallowed hard at the pain on the Doctor's face and embraced him. The Doctor smiled and hugged her tightly. "I'm sorry, Doctor," Grace said, pulling back and cupping his cheeks with her hands. "Thank you," the Doctor said. "And I don't mean to mean to bring you down on New Year's Eve. It's just that considering what happened twelve years ago, I thought I would come and visit you on a better New Year's Eve and see if you were doing well." "Well, you oughta know that, you have knowledge of future events, remember?" Grace teased. The Doctor chuckled. "Not so much anymore," he said, shaking his head. "Each life has had a different talent and my eighth life had a talent for reading the timelines and knowing an individual's future. I'm not as able to do that anymore but I could tell just by looking at you that you would go on to do great things, I don't need an ability to read the timelines to tell you that. Anyway, Happy New Year's, Grace." "And you, Doctor," Grace said, coming close to him and touching his arm. She hesitated for a moment before leaning in and kissing him. The Doctor sighed and deepened the kiss for several seconds before pulling his head back and smiling at her. "Well, I better let you get to your party now," the Doctor said. "You don't want to come?" Grace said. "You're welcome to, you know." The Doctor thought about that. "Come on, Doctor. You come with me, remember?" Grace teased. "Okay, I will. But could you give me a moment? It won't take a tick." "Sure, I'll finish getting ready. Just come back inside when you're through," Grace said, touching his cheek. The Doctor nodded. Grace went back upstairs while the Doctor turned and went out the door. He shut it behind him and walked to the pavement. "Come out, Rose, I know you're there," he said loudly. Rose came out from the tree directly across from the house and the Doctor smirked. "I knew you were following me the whole time. I haven't lived this long without learning how to know when I'm being shadowed," he said, walking towards her. "Who is she?" Rose said. "Her name is Grace Holloway. She helped me during my eighth life and she's a very dear friend." "Really? She looked like more than a friend from the way you were kissing," Rose said. "I kissed her before," the Doctor said. "I hate to tell you this but I've kissed many women in my lifetimes. But she and I remain friends and nothing more. I first met her on New Year's Eve in 1999 and we saved the Earth together. I came back to see how she was doing and she invited me to her party. I was considering inviting you as well and letting you meet her but if you're going to be jealous and antagonistic towards her, you can go back to the TARDIS." "No, I'm sorry," Rose said. "I didn't understand what was going on and I'm sorry I jumped to conclusions. I would love to come with you and meet her. I met Sarah Jane and I would love to meet more people who traveled with you. Please forgive me." The Doctor chuckled and put his arm around her. "She's stellar, Rose. I think you'll like her," he said as they walked towards the house. "Besides, any excuse for a party, eh?" "Yup," Rose said. She smiled when he gave her a quick peck on the cheek and she took his hand and followed him up to the door. THE END.
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