CHRISTMAS TRAIN RIDE
A/N: Bit AU since Wilf is going into the TARDIS before The End of Time. Chapter One The Doctor whistled cheerfully while he finished minor repairs on the TARDIS console. It had been a quiet day inside the time ship and both he and his best friend decided to relax and recoup from their latest adventure. Donna was in her room while the Doctor chose to remain in the Console Room. While he worked, a CD played '80's music and the Doctor hummed along to it while he put his screwdriver back in his jacket pocket. He was about to sit down at his jump seat when his acute hearing picked up a ragged sigh behind him. He turned to see Donna standing near one of the pillars. He smiled warmly but the smile fell off his face when he noticed how angry she looked. "Let me guess, I did something wrong and now you're cross," he said, walking over to her. Donna managed a ghost of a smile at that and shook her head. "Nah, it's not you," she said. "Then what? What's wrong?" Donna let out another world weary sigh as the Doctor came to her side. "Granddad phoned me. He wants me to come home," she said softly. The Doctor was perplexed. "And…this is bad?" he said. "I thought you loved being with Wilf." "I do. That's not the problem. The problem is…it's Christmas. Or…at least it is at the time he rang me." "So?" "I hate Christmas," Donna said sourly. "Yes, but…this is Wilf we're talking about, yeah? I mean, there is your mother to consider and I'm sure she could turn any Christmas into an unpleasant experience but surely seeing your granddad makes up for that, doesn't it?" "It's not just mum and granddad, my relatives will be there and I…hate Christmas," Donna said. "I'd get more enjoyment from being locked in a container with the Ood than I would having to tolerate my family." "So…do you want to decline the invitation then?" the Doctor said. Donna folded her arms over her chest and leaned back against the pillar while she thought that over. The Doctor waited patiently for her response. "I want to say yes but…Granddad would be upset," she finally said. "He asked for me. He misses me a lot." The Doctor nodded. He hated to see his best friend this way, down in the dumps and dreading Christmas. He wanted to do something to cheer her up. Suddenly, there was a flash of inspiration and Donna widened her eyes when he bolted to his console and began typing furiously on his keyboard. "What's going on? What are you doing?" Donna said as she hurried over to the console. "I want to do something for you and Wilf. Have a little time together and perhaps that will make the time with relatives more bearable," the Doctor said as he typed. "What? Take us to an alien planet?" Donna said, coming up beside him. "No, a bit closer to home than that," the Doctor said, finishing up. "I told you the TARDIS was magnificent. My ship is capable of creating rooms and worlds and universes within her. I can request something and she can give it to me." "Like what?" Donna said, suddenly intrigued. The Doctor gave her an enigmatic smile in return before he raced around the console and set the coordinates for Chiswick. "Dad, come away from the window," Sylvia said as she came into the lounge. Wilf was standing at the front window, staring out as he watched for the TARDIS and the return of his granddaughter. It was Christmas Eve and so far he and Sylvia were the only ones in the house. The other family members would come tomorrow afternoon so Wilf asked Donna to come early so they could spend some time together. Sylvia had been in the kitchen cooking dinner for them when she came out to check and see what he was doing. "You might as well sit down. You're not gonna will her to come to you," Sylvia said. "For all we know, she's out partying with her friends and doesn't care about coming home." "She'll be here," Wilf said confidently. "Just leave me be and go do whatever it is you were doing." Sylvia sighed, shook her head and walked out of the room as Wilf turned his attention back to the window. The day was overcast and chilly and the snow was slushy on the ground and on the roads. It was dreary looking and for Wilf, the absence of Donna made it even drearier. When he spoke to her on the phone, she didn't sound thrilled about coming home. Wilf didn't blame her. He knew she hated Christmas and he figured traveling time and space with the Doctor was more enticing than spending the day with her irate mother and drunken relatives. Still, he held out hope she would come and he lingered at the window for a few more minutes before he turned and walked to his recliner. He was about to sit down and turn on the television when he suddenly heard the wheezing sound he'd been hoping for. He sprinted to the door, threw it open and joy radiated from his body as the old blue box materialized and powered down. He looked behind him, closed the door and hurried over the road to the TARDIS. The door opened and he flew into Donna's arms as she embraced him tightly. As he hugged her, he looked over her shoulder and noticed the Doctor was standing by the console, hands in his trouser pockets. He withdrew one and waved to him as Donna let go. "Welcome, Wilfred, to my TARDIS. Come inside, I have a surprise for you and Donna," he said. Donna took his hand and shut the door after they stepped inside and Wilf stared at the interior in wonder while she led him up the ramp towards the console. "He planned something. I don't know what but he's up to something, Granddad," Donna said to Wilf. Wilf stopped at the console and stared down at the doodads in curiosity. The Doctor came around to him and patted him on the shoulder. Wilf looked at him and smiled. "Thank you for bringing her back safe and sound again, Doctor," Wilf said. "Are you kidding me? If she died, she'd find a way to come back from the dead and finish me off," the Doctor said while Donna chuckled. "Besides, she's too stubborn to die." "Too right," Wilf said while Donna laughed and let him wrap his arm around her side. "Well, Donna was a wee bit upset after you rang her and I thought perhaps I could do something special for the two of you to soften the blow of going home for Christmas," the Doctor said. "You mean, take us somewhere?" Wilf said, barely containing his excitement at the thought of traveling in the TARDIS. "Well, I thought perhaps I could show you one of the rooms on my ship. A very special room that I asked the TARDIS to build for you. Would that do?" "It most certainly will do. Lead the way to this special room, sir," Wilf said. "No sirs, please," the Doctor said good-naturedly. "Just The Doctor will suffice. Now…follow me." Donna took Wilf's hand and they followed the Doctor out of the console room. Wilf was enchanted as he looked around at the roundel covered walls and the many closed doors. "Have you been in all of these rooms?" he said to Donna as he gestured to a door with his free hand. "No way, I'm afraid I'd get lost. Bad enough trying to find the toilet when I need to," Donna replied. The Doctor stopped in front of a door and signaled for his friends to stop. The door was metal with a metal doorknob and crisscrossing the front of the door were two big strips of velvet ribbon with a lavish bow in the center of the X. Above the bow was a black plaque with WILF AND DONNA'S ROOM engraved on it with gold lettering. The Doctor put his hand on the doorknob and gave his friends an impish look. "Care to guess what's inside this room?" he said to them. "No. And open the door before I take down that ribbon and wrap up your head with it," Donna said. Wilf chuckled when the Doctor feigned fear at that. He winked and opened the door. Wilf and Donna stepped back when a gust of wind blasted snowflakes out of the room and into the Doctor's face. "Wait, it's snowing in there?" Wilf said in disbelief as he pointed to the doorway. "Yes, it is. My TARDIS can create artificial weather. Now, come inside…" Wilf and Donna shared a gleeful look. Wilf squeezed Donna's hand and they followed the Doctor inside. Wilf looked around when they entered. Inside was several snow covered hills with several pine trees on top of them. Running between two of the hills was a dirt path that was snow free, despite the fact that the wind was blowing the snow around in the air. As they stood there, it took a moment for Wilf to realize that he wasn't cold, even though snow was everywhere. When he told the Doctor that, the Doctor grinned and nodded. "My ship can give you the winter without the cold. That's how brilliant she is," he said. "Now…walk with me along this path and I'll take you to your surprise." Wilf and Donna held hands and walked close together while the Doctor put his hands in his pockets and ambled along the path. The wind was still blowing but so far there were no drifts on the path. Wilf looked around at the snow covered hills and marveled at the perfect white snow, whiter than any snow he'd ever seen before. In fact, everything looked perfect. "Blimey, is this what Heaven's like?" he said. "It's all so beautiful and peaceful here. Like being in a dream." "Now you know why I was so desperate to find the Doctor again," Donna said to him. The Doctor smiled at that but said nothing as he led his friends through the snow laden hills. As they walked, his thoughts drifted back to Rose and a similar scenario where they had visited a room much like this one and ended up roasting marshmallows by a campfire. His eyes misted over for a moment as he thought of being close to his lover and the way her face glowed from the firelight. He swallowed hard and calmed his lurching hearts as he brought himself back to the here and now and put the memories of his beloved back into the deep recesses of his mind where he kept them safe. There was a bend in the path and when they rounded it, the Doctor grinned when he saw the wooden train station at the end of the path. It was about thirty feet long and twenty feet wide, painted white with gold trim with a set of steps that led up to a wooden platform. In the center of the platform was a tiny ticket booth and a robot man dressed as a train conductor stood at attention inside it. The Doctor ran up the steps and as soon as he stepped in front of the robot, it came to life and smiled at him. "Good day, sir," it said in a pleasant tone of voice. "May I help you?" "Three tickets please," the Doctor said while Wilf and Donna walked up behind him and watched. "Of course, sir. Which excursion would you like?" the robot said. "What excursions are there?" the Doctor said. "There are three levels of excursion, Gentle, Moderate and Dangerous," the robot said. "What's the difference?" Wilf said. "Gentle is a lovely steam engine ride through the countryside," the robot said to Wilf. "Moderate is the same but with a few exciting elements thrown in to break up the monotony of viewing snow and trees." "And Dangerous is aliens blasting ray guns at our heads while we go hell for leather through the countryside on ice covered rails," Donna said dryly. "Is it?" Wilf said to the Doctor. "Is it?" the Doctor said to the robot. "It is something similar to what the female has described, yes," the robot said. The Doctor turned to his friends and grinned when he saw the gleam in Wilf's eyes. Donna saw the same gleam and groaned. "No, not Dangerous, Granddad," she said to him. "What? I like a bit of excitement with my engine rides," he said teasingly. "We saw snow and trees while we walked over here." "What is Moderate then? What sort of things do we see with Moderate?" Donna asked the robot, hoping to deter Wilf from choosing Dangerous. "Deer," the robot said. Donna waited for the robot to say something else and the Doctor chuckled at her shocked face when she realized that was it. "Deer? That's all you get with Moderate? A bunch of bleedin' deer?" she said while the Doctor sniggered. "What about rabbits? Or is that too extreme for Moderate?" "No rabbits, Madam, only deer." The Doctor and Wilf turned to Donna and gave her expectant looks. "And I suppose if we choose Dangerous, the deer will be killer vampire deer that will try to beat us into submission with their hooves and suck the life from us," Donna said to them. "And the rabbits will be fiery balls of fur that breathe fire from their fanged mouths." "She has quite an imagination, did anyone ever tell you that?" the Doctor said to Wilf. "Oh, you should have seen the little plays she used to put on for us when she was tiny. She'd go into her mum's cupboard and get her dresses and put them on and…" "Alright, he doesn't need to know the details," Donna said while the men giggled. She sighed when the Doctor and Wilf stared at her silently. "You want me to choose Dangerous, is that it?" she said wearily. Both men nodded. "And is there a chance we might be killed if we choose Dangerous?" Donna said to the Doctor. The Doctor shrugged. "You programmed this whole thing," Donna said in exasperation to the Doctor. "Well, yes, but the TARDIS does have a mind of her own and I can't be held responsible for any ideas she might have gotten into her circuitry since my initial proposal," he said to her. "Now, she is rather fond of us so I'm guessing she won't take it too far and kill us. Then again….sometimes she is temperamental and…" "Never mind. Never mind, I'll choose Dangerous and hope that your ship doesn't have PMT at the moment," Donna said. "That's my girl," Wilf said as the Doctor turned back to the robot and requested Dangerous. "Yeah, well…I just hope I didn't condemn us to an early grave when I said that," she said while the Doctor took the tickets from the robot.
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