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Friday, December 5, 2014

The Real Father Christmas (Doctor Who fanfiction): Chapter 1

Chapters: 1 2 3

One cold night, a little girl prayed to Santa. She got what she thought was a policeman, though she quickly learned that wasn't the case. The strange man, who called himself the Doctor, left, promising to return in five minutes.

The girl, Amelia Pond, sat outside, waiting for the Doctor. Five minutes later, true to his word, he came. "Doctor!" Amelia screamed, running up to hug the man. She pulled away a few seconds later in confusion. "You're not the Doctor!" she said to the old man.
"I am."
"But it's only been five minutes!"
"For you. For me, it's been much longer than that. You'll see your raggedy man later, but for now you have me. And besides, you did pray to Santa."
"How do you know that?" The Doctor smiled. The child gasped.  "You're..."
"Yes, I'm Santa Claus, also known as Father Christmas."
"But how..."
"It's a long story."
"You've got a time machine. You have all the time in the world."
The Doctor sighed and smiled. "Fair point. Let's go into your room, and I'll tuck you into bed and tell you all about it."
Amelia nodded. "I like that idea."

They walked into the house, and the Doctor began making hot chocolate. "I'll have you know, as Santa Claus, I'm excellent at making hot chocolate," he said. "I'm sure you're cold from sitting out there so long."
Amelia nodded and took a sip. "Are you still a picky eater?"
"Hm? Oh, no, that was just because I'd just regenerated. I've regenerated again since I last saw you." The Doctor thought for a moment. "Actually, now that you mention food, I'm getting a bit hungry." He made bacon, toast with butter, and beans. He was still hungry after that, so he had yoghurt and an apple.
"I thought you hated all those things?"
"New body, new mouth, new tastes. Now then, get in your jammies, and then it's story time." Amelia obeyed, and soon she was lying in bed, listening to the Doctor's story.

"It started when I was in my ninth regeneration - I'm in my twelfth now - and I'd just rescued a bunch of elves from their home planet before it blew up.  I couldn't just set them loose in society, but I didn't know of any uninhabited planets for them to go to, either. And besides, they needed cold temperatures to survive.

"Then I remembered a man I'd met, St. Nicholas. Well, he wasn't officially a saint when I met him, but he became one later. Anyway, he threw bags of gold coins into the shoes and stockings of those who left them out for him. It was a great way to help out people in poverty.

"I decided to do what he'd done, only across the whole world, except with toys and other objects. I had the elves set up a workshop at the North Pole, where they could put their superb manufacturing skills to use. They were a highly advanced civilization. But of course, I still had to find out what people wanted. It was then that I came up with the idea of Santa Claus. 'I need a person for this to be about, someone for the people to focus their attention on,' I said one day at the North Pole.
'Why don't you do it yourself?' one of the elves asked.
'I can't have people stopping to get excited about seeing Father Christmas while I'm trying to save the world, can I?' I explained. I mean, can you imagine the chaos? I can't very well save the world if everyone's stopping to take a picture!
'Father Christmas? That sounds like a good name,' the elf said.
'Yes... now who's going to be Father Christmas?' I wondered. Countless elves raised their hands, but I shook my head. 'It can't be an elf,' I told them, 'you all look the same. No offence.'

"So, I went to visit an old friend who owed me one. I got him to be the figurehead. He's the one people know of as Father Christmas or Santa Claus, but I'm the one who does the real work.

"When we arrived at the North Pole, I  explained the setup. For each child, he gets a letter from them, with their name, address, and wish list. He passes it on to me (I stop by periodically), and I use my TARDIS to run background checks to see if he/she is naughty or nice. Naughty children recieve a lump of coal. Nice children recieve at least one of the items on their wish list. If a child is nice, my friend sends the wish list to the elves, who make the gifts. Then, the elves wrap and tag each gift (or lump of coal) with the name and address of the person it belongs to. Every Christmas Eve, I come to take the gifts and deliver them to the right homes. I use the TARDIS to make sure I get everyone in one night."

"That sounds like so much fun!" Amelia said. "Can I come?"
The Doctor sighed and gave a sad smile. "Your future is with your Raggedy Doctor, not with me. You must wait for him."
"But why?" she wailed.
"He needs you. And you need him."
"Please? Just one trip."
The Doctor sighed. He sat in silence for a while, deep in thought. Finally, he spoke. "Some Christmas between now and when your Raggedy Doctor comes for you, I will take you with me to deliver the presents."
The child's face lot up with joy. "Oh, thank you, Santa!" She ran up and hugged him.
"You know, I'm really not a hugging person."
"I don't care," the girl insisted, hugging him tighter. She kissed him lightly on the cheek.
"Until next time, Amelia Pond."
"Goodbye, Doctor!"

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