#magewriter

When the words I can’t believe Dumbledore dies first appeared on his skin, he is less than impressed.

One, his cousin was never going to leave him alone about it.

Two, it meant that there was at minimum an eleven year age gap between him and whichever poor sod fate had decreed was his perfect match.

“What kind of name is Dumbledore anyway?” Donna questioned, poking at his shoulder where the messy script was written.

“How should I know?” He grunted, swatting her hand away. “Hand me the wrench, would you?”

She handed him the requested tool. “At least it’s better than mine.”

“Don’t know about that,” he was referencing the stuttered ‘Hello Donna’ written in painstakingly neat cursive on her forearm. “Seems like you get introduced to yours. Speech impediment aside, could be worse.”

“Does the age thing bother you?” She pushed the box of random bits and bobs towards him. The last time she’d reached into it, her hand had come out covered in grease. It had taken ages to get it all off.

“Why should it?” He absently reached into the box and pulled out what he needed. He was going to get this car working before Grandad got home. Why should he care about some babe in arms that he may never meet?

He wasn’t like Donna, who even at thirteen dreamed of meeting her soulmate and dragging them to the altar. She was also at the other end of the spectrum, having been born with her words already in place. Most people were, or they received their words within a year or so of being born.

Jonathan Noble didn’t rightly care one way or the other. Science and machines were more interesting. So were books and history.

Donna rolled her eyes at him. She despaired at ever getting him to interact with the rest of the human race, the big eared lug. She knew he was a boy and boys were different, but annoying or not her cousin was special.

A spark arched from the part he was working on and he leapt back. Donna shrieked, tumbling off her stool and sending his cobbled together toolbox scattering across the garage floor.

He laughed. “Fantastic!”

“That’s not what mum’s gonna say if you start a fire in the garage again,” Donna dusted herself off once she regained her feet. “If it’s sparking, does that mean it’s working again?”

“Think so, let’s close her up and find out!” He eagerly began putting the casing back around the engine.

Rolling her eyes again, Donna opened the door. She wasn’t going to let the idiot kill them in his excitement.

“Donna, are you and John about done in there?” Wilfred Mott stuck his head out of the back door. He had heard something, but far be it from him to discourage his grandchildren from trying things. If Jon could get the old girl working again, he’d just teach the boy to drive it.

“He thinks so,” Donna grinned. “Jon got his soul mark!”

“Is that so?” Wilfred chuckled. That was good. His grandson needed something good in his life after the loss of his parents and home.

“Yeah-” whatever else she had planned to say was cut off by the loud BANG from the garage.

Jon stumbled out, coughing to clear his lungs of the smoke. “I’m fine!”

Wilfred ran to get the fire extinguisher as Donna dragged the protesting Jon away from the garage. Nothing was actually in flames, but probably only due to the lack of flammable material.

“I think that’s enough tinkering today,” Wilfred patted Jon’s shoulder. “Come on lad, let’s have some tea. I picked you up some new books while I was out.”

It was Donna who discovered it first. She had picked up a slightly tattered copy of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone and opened it to begin reading. At first she didn’t get why the name sounded familiar, but when she did she burst out into laughter before scowling.

“You’re soulmate’s rude,” she proclaimed later on once they were together again.

“How are they rude?” Jon asked calmly, focused more on the manuals Wilfred had found at the second hand shop at the moment.

“Literally the first words they say to you are a freaking spoiler!” She waved her book in his face.  “I know who Dumbledore is!”

He took the book from her, flipping through it to read the first chapter. “So?”

“So?!” Donna scowled at him and took her book back. “So, this is the first book in a series! There’s going to be seven! If his death is major enough to be included in the first words your soulmate says to you, then it means he’s a major character! Even I know that much.” She had looked it up before coming over. It was nice to know things before her too-smart-for-his-own-good sometimes cousin.

Jon blinked at her. Alright, so perhaps she had a bit of a point. What was he to do about it? It wasn’t as if anyone had any control over what their soul-words said. It wasn’t as if he were prone to wearing silly things like sleeveless shirts and jumpers. He wouldn’t be giving away any ‘spoilers’.

Donna threw her hand into the air. “You’re impossible!” She turned to leave, pausing in the doorway. “You can read it after I’m done!”

Despite himself, Jon did read the stack of books Donna eventually left for him. The first three were already out, the characters well established even as fans awaited the release of the fourth book. He found himself fascinated, even if he knew the fate of one of the characters.

Considering he found Dumbledore a bit daft, he found himself able to ignore it. He may or may not have read several pieces of fan work by likeminded individuals, but he admitted to nothing.

As he got older and the series finished, the movies came out and the world was consumed with the universe created by Rowling. He did not get as involved as Donna did (he supposed he was alright in being considered a Ravenclaw to her Gryffindor, although he argued her loyalty and work ethic made her a Hufflepuff), not that he would admit to in any case.

He entered the army in order to assist in paying for University. He blew things up and understood why his grandfather was proud to have never fired a single shot during the Second World War. He completed his degrees in mechanical engineering and history, moving on to working his way up to professor as he tinkered in the garage turned lab during his free time.

Jon inadvertently introduced Lee Williams to his sister. The man stuttering out Donna’s words as, enamored with his face and shy demeanor, she said his without either realizing it until deep into conversation and Donna agreeing to go fishing with him the next weekend. Jon had a good laugh at the both of them, dodging the wrench Donna threw at his head.

Life went on. Donna got her dream wedding (smaller than she originally imagined, but a singularly enjoyable day nonetheless). He somehow ended up running a small bookshop near the university campus, giving history lectures and assisting an ever expanding assortment of people in various endeavors.

It was a day like any other when the blonde wondered in, ratty bag at her side as she perused the shelves. He would have greeted her like he did most customers, but he was busy dealing with a rather rambunctious red-head who had six questions for every answer he gave her. By the time he was finished with her, the blonde was nowhere to be seen.

Donna, who sometimes watched the shop while he was giving lectures, mentioned her once or twice. She called her polite and mentioned that she had found several of his hidey-holes. He never found her in any of them, although he did spot her coming and going several times over the next few months.

It was a bit silly, really, how they met in the end.

The day was overcast and threatening rain, a typical day in London during the fall really. A new semester had begun and he was avoiding a faculty meeting by being in the shop.

He heard the soft sniffles coming from his favorite reading nook on his way back from the storage room. He set the stack of adventure books down and turned the corner to look inside the little nook. It was the quiet blonde that he was always meaning to greet and never had.

“You alright?” He asked gruffly, uncertain what to do with crying women. Kids he could handle, even bothersome cousins who sometimes had more bravery than sense.

She looked up at him. “I can’t believe Dumbledore dies.” She swiped at her eyes. “Sorry, first time readin’ it and it caught me off-guard.”

He blinked at her, taking in the book on her lap opened to a well-known chapter. “It’s you.” Was all that he could think to say.

“What?” She looked up at him in confusion, mascara smeared a bit from her tears.

He chuckled, feeling his ears redden. “Sorry, that part’s always shockin’, even when you know it’s comin’.” He shifted. “Known since I was eleven, and it still gave me a twist when it happened.”

“What?” She frowned at him, even more confused.

“Words,” he blurted. “My words,” he explained further. “Had no clue what they meant till my cousin threw the first book at my head all pleased with herself for figuring it out. Called you rude for spoiling it.”

“Wha-oh!” She reddened this time. “I…wait…” She tugged her shirt sleeve up, revealing You alright? in his messy script. She giggled. “I suppose it is a bit rude, ruining a plot twist like that.” She held out her hand. “Rose Tyler.”

Jon shook the offered hand, the tingling sensation alerting the both of them they had met the right person. “Jon Noble.” Now what was he supposed to do? “Tea?”

She smiled at him. “Sounds lovely.” She held up the book. “Least you didn’t make fun of my reading choice.”

“Harry Potter is a classic,” he defended stanchly. “Fantastic book for any kind of day.”

She laughed. “Yea, it is. Seen any of the movies?”

That sparked a lively conversation that lasted well past tea time and ended with an invitation to join her in seeing it when it premiered later that week.

She stayed in the shop until closing. He offered her a ride home and she accepted.

By that time the rain that had been threatening all day had arrived in a steady downpour. He pointed to the beaten up old blue truck he had eventually gotten and kept working.

He grabbed her hand. “Run!”

Laughing, she did just that.

He didn’t hate Christmas, of that he wanted to be very clear. His dislike was entirely centered on the commercialism of the holiday. He also didn’t understand the obsessive lengths some people went to in order to ‘celebrate’ the holiday.

“Why are the trees every color but green?” James Noble frowned at the display before him. “What’s wrong with green?”

“Nothing’s wrong with green,” Rose assured him, trying and failing to hide the smile on her face as his eyebrows scrunched together. “Some people just like something more unique.” She pointed towards one tree near the center of the display. “I like that one.”

“It’s blue.”

“It’s a pretty blue.”

“Rose Tyler, you really want a blue Christmas tree?”

“Yes, I think I do.” She used their joined hands to tug him towards the tree in question. “I think it’s even the right size for the living room.”

James sighed, knowing he would give in. Eyeing the tree in question, he reconsidered his first thoughts. Up close, it wasn’t nearly as garish as some of the others on display. It would certainly be different, and also less clean-up than the tree he would normally be forced to procure by his cousin.

“I think we might need a size smaller,” he eyed the tree, “or were you…never mind.” His partner would scale the tree in order to decorate it.

“Make you do the top?” She teased him, knowing where his thoughts had gone. “Don’t worry, Mum broke me of scaling Christmas trees when I was six.”

“You mean she stopped catching you,” James teased her back. He had seen her scale a wall in her coffee shop that physics said should have been impossible. He’d witnessed her do the same in their shared apartment. Rose liked climbing and balancing on things, even when said objects weren’t meant to be used in such ways.

Rose hummed, trying to look as innocent as she possibly could. “That or she gave up,” the woman admitted. “So, we’re getting this one?”

James sighed, a small smile playing on his lips. “Yes, we’ll get the blue tree.” Admittedly, the color had grown on him as he observed it. Plus, it made Rose smile. He enjoyed seeing her smile.

They found the location tag on the display and made their way over to the shelves where the boxes were kept. It appeared that blue trees weren’t a very big seller as there was an abundance of them to choose from. Rose located the most beat up box she could find and loaded it into their cart. James frowned at it, but refrained from saying what he wanted.

Knowing Rose, she wanted something she could tailor to them and buying something that might be a little damaged allowed her to do just that.

“Lights or ornaments?”

“Lights,” James quickly claimed. If he chose the ornaments, they would never get to leave the store. Lights were easy. He could do the lights.

Rose left him looking at boxes of lights while she took the cart to wander the aisles dedicated to ornaments. Looking over the selves, he swallowed.

Since when were there so many choices for lights? Looking over the options, he winched at the prices listed. The tree he could understand being pricey, but why did a box of string lights that were only going to be used once a year need to be over ten pounds? And why, he wondered, did they come in so many different sizes? Who needed lights the size of basketballs for their tree? Who could even decide what to get when they had so many displays winking and flashing at them?

Closing his eyes in frustration, he tried his best not to jump when an overly cheerful store clerk appeared at his elbow to ask if he needed assistance. He bit back his first response, remembering Rose’s reaction to anyone treating minimum wage workers as less than human. That included talking down to them as if they didn’t understand basic speech.

“I need lights, for the tree,” he motioned towards the box in his cart. “Where in this hellish mess would I find it?” He was well aware of his sharp tone, but at least he wasn’t yelling.

“I’d go with white, frosted, or clear,” the clerk suggested. “Third bay, second shelf is where the regular sized ones are. Were you going to want any to hang outside?”

He had to give the young woman credit. She toned down her cheeriness and went with a more business-esque cadence to her speech. She walked ahead of him to present him with a box of each of her suggestions, finding them quickly in the chaos.

“Possibly,” he admitted. Rose would most likely want to decorate their small balcony. She hadn’t said anything yet, but perhaps he could surprise her.

“How large an area? Any neighborhood restrictions?” At his confused look, she elaborated. “Some neighborhoods have limits on how many and what kind of decorations can be put out.”

He nodded his understanding. “Just a small balcony, hardly big enough for the table and chairs we have out there.” He thought about the way some of his neighbors had already decorated theirs. “I doubt we have any restrictions so long as we don’t burn the building down.”

The woman nodded. “Right, our outdoor lights are in the last two bays and the aisle in front of them. Any idea how you want it to look?”

“Simple,” he replied. Rose could add in all the tinsel she desired, but he was happy with simple.

“I can work with that. How many of these would you like?”

James picked up three boxes of the frosted lights. Those wouldn’t clash with the tree or whatever ornaments Rose picked out. He followed the clerk to the end of the row and tried not to winch at some of the things available for outdoor decorations.

“Here, these are about as simple as we’ve got.” She held up a box of plain icicle lights. “We’ve also got ones that shift colors that aren’t hideous or ostentatious.” She held up another box.

When he saw the second option, he knew which one Rose would like. Frowning at the box, he realized he would most likely need more than one. Their balcony was small, but it wasn’t that small. Color-shifting icicles would be subtle for his tastes and colorful for Rose’s, so he picked up three boxes of those as well.

“Zip-ties work best,” the clerk told him, “and they’re cheap, so I wouldn’t bother trying to figure out which light clip would work best.”

“Isn’t it part of your job to get me to buy the expensive stuff?”

“Nope,” she grinned at him, “my job is to assist you with your project. Is there anything else I can help you with?”

James shook his head. “No, thank you.” He paused. “Where would I find zip ties?”

“Aisle 39, last bay on your right.”

“Thank you,” he quickly went to fetch them, leaving the now genuinely smiling clerk to her position among the chaotic decorations. At least he hadn’t left anyone crying in his wake this time.

He located Rose debating between several different boxes of ornaments. One was multicolored glass orbs in various shapes while the others were all monochromatic color schemes. He tugged the box from her hand and placed it into the cart.

“Get the ones you like my Dear,” he told her.

Rose smiled at him. “You sure? I’ve seen the pictures you’ve got of past Christmases. Your trees are always neat and precise.”

“Humbug,” he muttered. “This is your tree as well love. We’ll decorate with sugar plums if you wish.”

Rose giggled. “I’m not even sure what sugar plums are supposed to look like, but I don’t think they’d make very good ornaments.” She placed another box of ornaments into the cart to join the first.

Strings of silver beads, packages of white tinsel, a blue and white tree skirt, and several boxes of candy canes soon joined everything else in the cart. That brought them to the final piece: the tree topper.

Rose frowned at the rather obscene amount of choices available, the majority of them some kind of angel. Most of them weren’t even all that appealing to begin with. She had no idea where to even begin.

“Perhaps she could help?” James nodded to the same clerk who had assisted him with the lights. “She looks like she might be in need of a rescue.”

Rose’s focus swung from a particularly gaudy angel to where James was looking. Her frown deepened. As the owner of a café, she abhorred the way people treated customer service people. She had been there, having worked her way up throughout secondary and college. James had heard her rant more than once over the attitude of some people, and she had snapped at him more than once when he forgot politeness in his irritation.

The clerk (Rose noted the name on her vest as ‘Bill’) was trapped between displays as the man she was attempting to assist yelled at her for not having something in stock.

“Not her fault mate,” Rose stepped in, standing at her full height and wearing the same no-nonsense look she always had when at work. “Why not take her suggestion and look online?”

“Do you work here?” The man snapped at Rose. James bristled, but remained with their cart as Rose’s grin turned wolfish.

“No, so I can tell you to your face that you’re being a boorish arse.” Rose, despite being shorter than the man, looked down her nose at him. “Now, you’re going to stop your obscene behavior and ask Miss…” she looked at the clerk.

“Potts, Bill Potts,” she quickly filled in; stunned that someone had come to her aide.

“You’re going to ask Miss Potts politely where else you might be able to find what you’re looking for.” Rose finished.

The man snarled. “You can’t talk to me like that! Stupid bint, ought to mind your own business.”

“And you,” James stepped in now, angry that anyone dared to insult Rose in any manner, “are exactly the reason clerks hide from people actually requiring help. I suggest you take my partner’s advice and move on.”

Faced with uneven odds, the man threatened to report them to a manager before stomping away. James snorted in derision.

“And people complain that I can be unpleasant.” He muttered to Rose, who only shook her head at him.

“Thank you,” Bill told them. “Was there something I can help you with?” She’d much rather help her previous customer and his partner then risk another person ready to take their frustrations out on her.

“Actually, do you have any other toppers?” Rose motioned towards the angels. “These are rather…”

“Grotesque?” Bill suggested. “My girlfriend said the same thing when they were first displayed. Come on, the stars are this way.”

James watched as Rose and Bill chatted away. He had no real opinion about what went on top of their tree. He trusted Rose to pick something to suite them both. When she held up the glittery white star, he nodded his agreement.

“Are we done?”

“Yep, that’s everything.” Rose assured him.

They left Bill helping another couple searching the Christmas displays and made their way towards check out.

XXXXXXX

“No.”

“Come on Doctor,” Rose held up another sweater. “It’s one time a year.”

“Why do people even like these things?” James glared at the growing pile of rejects. Who on Earth had actually thought up the trend of ugly Christmas sweaters? They had been touched in the head, that’s what.

“Because it’s silly and can be fun when you’ve got the right one.”

“The right one isn’t going to be a meme.” He scowled at another rack that had images of Grumpy Cat on them.

Rose held in her giggles. They had actually officially met at an UCS party thrown by a mutual friend. Donna, his cousin, had forced him into one of their Grandfather’s sweaters and dragged him along. Before that, he’d been a near constant customer at her café but aside from some idle chit chat and pleasantries had never had much chance of deeper conversation. Mal Lupo was always busy, and she had purposefully gotten the Latin wrong.

“It’s also our anniversary. You really want to spend it at Jack’s dressed in horrid sweaters?”

Shaking her head, she threw a blue sweater decorated with Santa caps and snowmen at him. “They aren’t all bad, and no. I want to wear them while we decorate our tree.”

“You want to put up the tree on our anniversary?” Typically, James only bothered putting up a tree a few days before Christmas if he even remembered to do so. The only reason he was even putting an effort in was because it made Rose smile.

He liked making Rose smile.

She was smiling at him now.

“Yea, I thought it’d be a nice way to celebrate. A way to start our own traditions.”

James found himself smiling back at her; a small, gentle smile that rarely appeared. Rose liked getting the smile to come out. Small as it was, it always softened his face and there was never any room for guile when he smiled like that. James was so rarely genuinely happy that being able to bring out that emotion in him brought it out in her.

“I think that sounds like a wonderful idea.” He held up a blue sweater covered in fluffy white snowflakes and silver threads. “Even if it means wearing these.”

XXXXXXXXXXX

Rose loved Christmas. The lights, most of the music, the snow, the smells of peppermint and gingerbread; all of it just filled her with a child-like joy. Growing up, it had been one of the few times of the year where her tiny family had indulged themselves. Jackie had always gone all out even if their decorations were nothing more than paper and the lights were a mismatched jumble of strings her mother had gotten second or even third hand.

She had instilled that same love of the holidays into Rose along with the understanding that being together was the important bit and not what was under or even on the tree. Rose tried to carry that into every relationship she had, with mixed success.

James, she knew, acknowledged the holiday mostly for her benefit. It touched her that he was so willing to try, even when it had his cousin laughing at him and his thoughts bent more towards Scrooge than Saint Nick. Right now was a perfect example.

Her partner was currently dressed as a very skinny Santa and seated in a corner of Mal Lupo with a gaggle of children surrounding him. He had a bag containing little treat bags she and her staff had made to hand out. He’d already sat through all of the photos and listening to them tell him what they would like and now had the children completely enraptured as he lectured them on holiday history.

“If anyone else had asked him to dress up he’d have cursed them into forgetting about it,” Donna (the cousin who had mercilessly teased James earlier that day) said to Rose.

“Oh, I know.” Rose replied. “But he’s having fun, and so are the kids.”

Donna just shook her head. When she had dragged James to Jack’s Christmas party last year, she had never expected him to interact with anyone beyond the minimum. It had been to her pleasant (and pleased) surprise to find him utterly enamored with the young woman currently beside her. She and Jack had had to track them down after the party was over to tell them it had actually ended. Donna still had no idea where they’d gone after or what they’d done, but it had resulted in this.

She hadn’t even seen James this pleasant around the holidays. Or any other time of the year. Rose was a good influence on him.

“Yea, although I don’t think any of them are ever going to view Santa the same way.”

Rose giggled. “You can take the Doctor out of the lecture hall, but,” she shrugged. She liked that his brain held so much information. She was always learning something and teaching people was what James was good at. Letting him lecture on whatever came to mind made him happy and this was far from the first time he’d commandeered a corner of her café to do so.

Admittedly, his audience was usually much older but the current crowd certainly wasn’t dampening his spirits.

“…and that’s how one person can deliver gifts in one night.” He finished.

“But Doctor,” one little girl asked, “Why can’t he do that to be at all the malls and Christmas parties?”

“Because it only works one night of the year,” James explained, “that’s why he has people to help him. Even with time travel, there are only so many places a person can be at once.”

The kids were all nodding as if that made perfect sense.

“Plus the reindeer would probably get really sick doing it all the time,” one of the little boys commented, nodding to himself as if he had solved a problem of great importance.

“But how can his bag be bigger on the inside?” A particularly stubborn child asked.

“Magic,” James answered with all the seriousness of it being a perfectly reasonable answer. “Now, who would like a treat bag?”

That got their attention and soon his bag was empty.

Seeing he was done, Rose made her way over to him.

“That was sweet,” she told him, pecking him in his cheek. “Ready to head home?”

“More than,” he replied. “What were you and Donna talking about?”

“You,” Rose answered, “and how adorable you are at playing Santa.”

“Humbug,” he grumbled. He smirked when she laughed at his response.

XXXXXXXXXX

The day of their anniversary dawned dark and cold. James was yanked out of their perfectly warm bed by an exuberant Rose because it was snowing outside. Once he actually managed to pay attention, his grumpiness faded in the wake of his partner’s joy.

“I think now would be a good time to show you your surprise,” he told her.

“Surprise?” Rose turned to look at him. “What, you didn’t make it snow?” A smile teased the edge of her mouth.

He chuckled. “No, sorry my dear, but I think you’ll like it anyway.”

“Do I finally get to see what you were doing on the balcony last night?” Rose had been forbidden to go out there for the last several days. She had set the tree up instead, letting the branches spread out before they tried to decorate it.

“Yes,” he answered, taking her hand and leading her to the large sliding door.

He opened the curtain, letting the dim daylight filter in. Between the storm and early hour it was still dark enough that they would be able to see the lights he had hung up. He reached to the side and flipped the switch that would turn on the balcony outlet.

Rose gasped, covering her mouth as the strings of icicle lights lit up and faded between white, blue, purple, red, and back again. They covered the top and sides of the door, wrapping around the balcony railing to hang down in an array and stately color. It reflected off the already gathering snow and the stick on snowflakes the curtain had been hiding.

“Those I can take credit for,” he told her, pleased at her response.

“I love it,” she told him, kissing him hard. “It’s wonderful, thank you.”

He gave her one of his soft smiles. “I’m glad you like it.” It had taken far longer than he thought it would to get everything hung up the way he wanted it. The current snowfall was a surprise, but perfect.

“Wanna start on the tree?”

He laughed. “Don’t you want breakfast first?” He looked at the clock, but it being just after 5AM didn’t surprise him. Rose was always up first, the hazard of owning a café.

“The eggs!” Rose dashed back into the kitchen just in time to get the pan off the stove before her food could burn.

James followed after, smile still on his lips. He watched as Rose finished breakfast for both of them, including tea, before joining him at the table. He couldn’t help his grin at her exuberance. She was one of the few adults he knew that still held snow in the same regard as most children did.

Soon enough they were done. He was able to convince her that getting dressed before they started anything, but only by virtue of tugging on his new sweater first.

He had gone with the dark blue sweater liberally decorated with fluffy white snowflakes and silver tinsel. Rose’s was the color of warm caramel, a black coffee cup decorated with multi-colored puff balls meant to be lights on the front. There was a small white puppy sitting in the cup, part of the light string in his mouth and paws on the rim. Once sufficiently dressed, they dragged out their newly bought decorations.

James struggled with the lights, winding them around him more than he did the tree.

“Here, Doctor,” Rose took an end and untangled them. “I’ll hold it, you wrap.”

Lights on, Rose did the same with the strings of silver beads and white tinsel. James placed the star on top, connecting it to the end of the light string so that it would glow with the rest.

“Pick a side and see who gets finished first?” Rose held up the two boxes of ornaments they had chosen.

“Alright,” James took one of the boxes. Rose had already made sure all of the hooks were in place.

“Ready? Go!”

Willing to indulge her to a point, James wasn’t going to let her have all the fun. He haphazardly hung up the glass balls as quickly as he could. His boxes of candy canes were next and he was a little neater with those but not by much.

“Done,” he declared.

Rose stuck her tongue out at him. She giggled at the mess, forgoing her own original pattern to join in his chaos. The lights, tinsel, and beads were ordered enough. Finished, she plugged it in and let him drag her onto the couch.

“Perfect,” James declared.

“Not quite,” Rose pulled out a box she had had hidden for just this moment. “I thought of something else we could turn in to a tradition for our holidays.”

Taking the box from her, James smiled widely. “You aren’t the only one my dear. Wait here.” He got up and went to retrieve a similar box. Rose laughed when she saw it.

Opening them, Rose shook her head. “Sugar plums?” She held up the ornament made to look like a pair of plums crystalized with sugar and tied together with a green and white ribbon.

“Well, I did say you could put them on the tree if you wished,” he reminded her.

“You did, open yours.” She pecked his cheek and went to hang her ornament. She smiled softly when she took in the ‘Rose Tyler and James Noble 2018’ written in his neat cursive on the flat back.

“Ha!” James burst out. “I see this is what I get for using that phrase.” He held up the Scrooge McDuck ornament. In Rose’s sharp print was written ‘RT&JN 2018’ on the soles of the character’s feet.

He kissed her cheek after hanging his ornament. “Happy Christmas Rose Tyler.”

She kissed him softly. “Happy Christmas Doctor.”

THE END!

Shapeshifters always had soulmates. It was a universal fact. Admittedly, said soulmate was not always a shifter. Non-shifters had soulmates, but theirs were nowhere near as vitally important to their overall wellbeing as it was for shifters. Humans were seemingly perfectly happy to settle, even as obsessed as they were with soulmates. For them, it was only a matter of a completed image on their skin as a ‘soulmate’ for a normal human was not always a romantic mate. A shifter’s soulmate always was. There could be no other for them, not in that way.

That, however, was not a problem Rose Tyler ever thought she would have to worry about. Her entire family, from both parents as far back as anyone could remember, had always been shifters. It wasn’t an uncommon trait. About a third of the world’s population was of some Shapeshifter lineage. Probably more, but who was or wasn’t a shifter was not always apparent and it was considered rude to ask.

She was musing over those thoughts as she watched the man she thought might just be her soulmate. Rose had come across him nearly two months ago, but had not managed to gather the courage to approach him. Instead, she used her free time in the afternoon to watch him in the park (when he showed up, he didn’t always) and try to understand why else she might be drawn to him if he wasn’t her soulmate.

“Moping again?” Mickey said, sitting beside her on the bench Rose had taken possession of in the small park near the university. He called it ‘moping’ because otherwise he’d have to term it ‘stalking’, and that could very well end up in a fight.

“I’m not moping,” Rose protested. “And aren’t you supposed to be meeting Martha?”

“How’d you think I found you?” He pointed to the nearest tree where a Barn Own sat, glaring at Rose.

Rose waved at the owl. “Couldn’t use your own nose to find me?”

“And nearly get dragged to the pound again?” Mickey shivered in distaste. To get out of that, he’d had to transform, naked, in the tiny little cell the dog catchers had shoved him into.

“Wouldn’t happen if you wore the collar like your Gran said to.” Rose said, getting up. “Give me her clothes so she can shift back.” She snatched the bag he’d been carrying even as he protested the thought of wearing a collar.

A few moments later, both young women returned to the bench. Martha was finger combing her hair back into a pony tail.

“Next time,” she told her boyfriend, “it’s your turn to track her down. I can’t skip hours at the hospital like I can skip out of class.”

“Martha, you didn’t need to do that.” Rose told her. “It isn’t like I was lost or anything. Mickey could have just called my phone.” She held up said object. “Fully charged and everything.”

Mickey blushed. “I forgot mine at home.” He admitted. “And it’s not like you would’ve answered. You’ve been ignoring your phone for the past two weeks, always around now.”

“He has a point,” Martha agreed, perching herself on the back of the bench as she spoke. Rose might have been the gymnast, but she was the one who was part bird. Martha’s whole family could shift into avian form, including her siblings’ mates. Hers was the only owl though, just as Mickey was the only non-avian.

“Yeah, and we’re concerned.”

“Curious ya mean,” Rose corrected him with a role of her eyes.

She adored her friends. She thought they were wonderful for each other. Martha didn’t look down on them for coming from a Council Estate or their lack of higher education. She had been jealous of Rose at first, thinking that she was going to be competition for Mickey’s attention. Rose had solved that quickly, happily shoving her oldest friend into the other woman’s arms with a ‘he is house broken; just don’t leave out any tennis balls’ before she scarpered off to her mother’s for the weekend.

It did not mean that she was going to indulge their curiosity. Not when they had taken it upon themselves to try and help her find her soulmate.

“Can you blame us?” Martha questioned her. “It’s not your usual style Rose, especially when not even Jack can find out where you disappeared off to and he always knows.”

“No, Ianto always knows and just tells him,” Rose corrected, almost absently.

There was a thought. Jack was the one shifter she knew personally that had a soulmate who wasn’t also a shifter. Jack was a literal alley cat; at least he had been until falling into Ianto’s lap. Again, literally as he’d been out roaming when Jackie had scared him off the railing of Rose and Mickey’s shared apartment (another reason Martha had thought she needed to be jealous) and Ianto had caught him.

However, Jack was also her boss along with being her friend so that made it a little awkward. He would also be an even worse meddler than Mickey and Martha. Gods, he’d also be the one to mention it to her mother and then Jackie Tyler would be prowling around the park to sniff out the potential soulmate of her only child.

Rose didn’t need or want that. She wasn’t even sure why she was being so hesitant in approaching the man, other than the fact he was occasionally accompanied by several different women. She also had no desire to be so very wrong about another man ever again, the first one had been more than enough.

“Oh, hey, that’s John!” Martha stood, precariously balanced on the back of the bench now, to wave the man over.

“You mean the bloke who managed to blow up the table in your chemistry class?” Mickey asked, moving just enough so that she was balancing more on his shoulders than the bench.

“The one and only,” she replied with a grin.

Neither one of them noticed that Rose’s faced had paled a little, or that her normal smile had tightened. Then again, it would be her luck that the mystery guy she’d been eyeing for weeks now would be known to her friend.

“Who’s that with him?” Mickey asked as the man bounced over to them, leaving his female companion to trail behind him.

“Oi! Spaceman!” The very loud ginger yelled, “wait up you over-eager puppy!”

“But Donna! It’s Martha!” John answered cheerily. “Hi Martha! Who are your friends?”

Martha grinned. She had had a very brief crush on John Noble when she had first met him, before realizing that he was absolutely insane and she much preferred someone more down to Earth. His sister Donna was fun and understood just how insane and overwhelming her brother could be.

“This is my boyfriend Mickey Smith and our friend Rose Tyler. Hi Donna, what’s he dragged you into this time?”

“He thinks an absolutely enormous wolf has moved into the park. He dragged me along for a second witness.” Donna answered, hugging Martha briefly. They had met before, several times as it was Donna’s ‘job’ to sign her brother out of the infirmary. They had taken to exchanging stories about his antics, as Martha had (during her crush phase) allowed John to drag her around London and occasionally the nearby counties on ‘adventures’.

“An enormous wolf, huh?” Mickey asked, eyeing his oldest friend. The only reason Rose wouldn’t be picked up the dog catchers would be because they’d call out the wild life rescue instead. He really did not want to have to explain to Jackie that they needed to go pick Rose up from whatever sanctuary or woodland animal control dragged her to.

“Yep,” John nodded, grin still plastered to his face. “I’ve only seen it twice so far, so I wonder if it’s more nocturnal or a shifter out for a run, but still!”

Martha looked between the two. John, for all he was talking to them, was looking at Rose as if she was the only person there to speak to. Rose was being quiet, but Martha was certain her friend had just the slightest of blushes beginning to cover her cheeks.

“It is lunch hour, so maybe the shifter idea isn’t so far off.” Martha agreed. So, Rose had been wondering around the park in wolf form, had she? Interesting…as Rose typically didn’t transform within city limits unless she was inside the apartment or at The Playground.

“Lunch! Right! We were supposed to get lunch today!” John looked at his sister, just now remembering why Donna had come to drag him out of his privet lab.

“Now you remember,” Donna rolled her eyes again. She looked at her watch. “Almost too late now.”

“Chips,” Rose suggested, speaking for the first time. “There’s a chippy nearby, we could go there.”

“Great!” John nodded, attention now back on the pretty blonde he’d been seeing for several weeks now. He’d been curious about her ever since he had first seen her, but had never gotten up the courage to actually speak to her.

She had shown up just after the first time he had seen the wolf. He thought it an odd coincidence, but it wasn’t as if he could just ask. That would be rude. He knew he was rude, very rude and very not ginger (no, Donna had all the luck there), but he’d only made that mistake once. He wasn’t that oblivious to make the same mistake twice. Plus, what if he was wrong? Then it would be doubly rude.

“Great,” Rose smiled at him, relaxing a little.

Mickey rolled his eyes this time. “Come on then, Jake’s waiting for me to get back to the shop and Martha’s got to get back to class.”

“Right, and my lunch break’s nearly over. Get a move on it Spaceman.”

“Going Earth Girl,” John retorted, dodging the slap his sister aimed for the back of his head. “Sisters! Really!”

Rose giggled at their antics. “Come on then, I’ll show you the way.”

Almost as if they’d planned it, the other three watched as they clasped hands. Rose tugged, beginning to lead John towards the chippy she’d told them of.

“Ten pounds says they figure it by the weekend,” Mickey said.

Donna snorted. “You’re on, twenty on it taking at least my brother a month before he figures it out.”

Martha shook her head at them. “Two weeks,” she entered her bet. “And I’m not telling Jackie or Jack.”

“I’m not telling them!” Mickey protested. “That’s Rose’s job.”

“Think they noticed if we went elsewhere for lunch?” Donna asked them.

“Nope,” Mickey shrugged. “Babe, you wanna go to that sushi place you keep mentioning?”

“Sure, coming Donna?”

“Might as well, although I think I’ll pass on the sushi. There’s a burger place right next to it.” Donna headed off, the pair following behind her.

XXXXXX

“Um…” John looked sheepishly at his turned out pockets. “I think I left my wallet in my lab.” So much for him buying lunch…or being a gentleman and paying for Rose’s as well.

Rose had to duck her head to keep from laughing at his face. He looked so cute like that!

“I’ll buy, but next time it’s your turn.” She said, handing over the money to the cashier.

“Ok!” John agreed, smile back on his face. “So…Miss Tyler, what do you do all day besides sit in the park?”

“I work,” she commented, grinning.

“What kind of work?”

“Detective work mostly,” she admitted, “My friend Jack, he’s a PI. I help out him and his partner Ianto doing odd bits.”

“Oh, what kind of odd bits?” John took the basket of fish and chips Rose held out for him, following her to a nearby table.

“Sketches, photos, occasionally climbing into dumpsters or over fences,” or following scent trails or chasing down a culprit or a myriad of other things that her wolf form was useful for, not that she was going to tell him that the first time they spoke. “Occasionally I play Girl Friday to his James Bond, Ianto’s a bit too proper for that role although he does look good in a suit.”

John frowned…that sounded…oh! “You wouldn’t happen to mean Jack Harkness would you?”

“I do, you know him?” Rose was curious now. First Martha, now Jack?

John nodded. “We were friends growing up; he flirted a lot with both me and Donna. Had Donna going spare for a bit, leaving black cat hair everywhere and occasionally showing up naked.”

Rose snorted. “Yea, he still does that. Ianto’s got lint rollers hid all over the office, along with spare clothing. First time my Mum met him, she threated to neuter him if he didn’t learn some proper manners. She also scared him off mine and Mickey’s balcony once, landed him right in Ianto’s lap.”

“You live with Mickey?” John was a little confused. Martha had introduced the young man as her boyfriend. Why would he be living with Rose?

“Yeah, we’ve been friends forever and when he was offered an apprenticeship for mechanic at a shop here I came with him to be closer to where I worked at the time. That and he needed a roommate he could trust. Martha lives with us too, now.” Rose explained. “Our apartment is closer to the university than the one she was renting or her mum’s house.”

John nodded, relived although he wasn’t altogether certain why. It made sense, after all. That was why he and Donna had shared an apartment when they had first left Chiswick.

“So what do you do then?” Rose said, changing the subject.

“Oh, I’m a doctor!” He replied. “Not the kind of doctor Martha’s going to be, but astrophysics and astronomy and regular physics and a little bit of chemistry and biology and some other stuff.”

“Wow,” Rose wasn’t really certain how to respond to that. She didn’t even have any A-Levels, never mind a university degree. “I like the stars,” she managed to get out, “couldn’t see them very well on the estate, but that never stopped me from looking up. Drove Mum mad, sneaking up to the roof.”

John’s eyes brightened and he began to babble about his own misadventures of climbing roofs and sending his mother into hysterics. Rose took up the unspoken challenge and responded in kind until it was very clear that they had to be making things up.

“Okay, I give!” Rose finally said with a laugh. “I’ve never set anything on fire, accident or otherwise.”

“Occupational hazard with me,” John told her, basking in the sound of her laughter and enjoying the fact that he had brought it out. “I’m still banned from the kitchen, every kitchen, on campus. The only reason I’m still allowed into the labs is because I’m good with introductory chemistry classes. Teaching them, at least, and I’ve got my own lab.”

“You think you’re so impressive!” Rose said, smiling the tongue touched smile that she was well known for.

“I am so impressive I’ll have you know Rose Tyler!” John said, matching her smile with one of his own.

“Course you are,” she agreed before giggling.

John would have said something, but at that moment he caught sight of the nearest clock. “Blimy, it’s gotten late.”

Rose looked at her watch, blanching. “I was supposed to be back at work hours ago.” She looked at her phone, seeing that she had several missed calls from pretty much everyone in her small social circle.

“Ah, I could walk you back?” It wasn’t as if he had anything pressing at the lab. He was his own boss, aside from when he had classes to teach.

Rose shook her head. As nice as the thought was, it wasn’t needed.

“No, Jack’s already texted me to have fun.” Rose showed him her phone, where Jack had sent a message to that affect. “Besides, they’ve already closed up for the day. It’s date night for them.”

Jack would just grill her tomorrow about this. Rose was both dreading it and looking forward to it. If she was wrong, it would be just another heartbreak. If she were right though…it could still end in heart break. Donna might have been his sister, but what of the other women she had seen him with? Surely one of them was his girlfriend?

John nodded. “Well then Miss Tyler, what would you like to do?” He paused. Well, that was presumptuous of him, wasn’t it? “I mean, unless you want to leave? Or, uh, you’d rather not…” he was terribly bad at this.

“Let’s go Doctor,” Rose stood and took his hand, feeling brave at the moment. “I’ll walk you back to your lab.”

“Ok,” as if he was going to say no to spending more time with her!

XXXXXXXX

Once she arrived back at her apartment, Rose locked herself in her room. Throwing herself on the bed, she hugged one of the pillows to her chest. Of all the blokes in the world, she would find the oddest of the bunch.

John had kept up an ongoing commentary on their walk back to his lab. He could babble like no one she had ever met, and it had been fascinating for all that there were times what he said flew over her head. She was pretty certain he had invited her to go stargazing out in the country, something about shooting stars and how the city had terrible views for anything cosmic.

Rose was just as certain that she had said she would join him amidst her amusement at his energy. She hadn’t been out of the city in over a year. It would be nice to really have the chance to stretch her legs. The Playground and various parks throughout the city were well and good, but were honestly better suited for the more domesticated Shifters like Mickey and her mother.

That brought up an entirely different set of concerns. How would John feel when he found out? She had to tell him, obviously. There wasn’t a thing wrong with being a Shifter or not, and despite what some people would say there was absolutely nothing wrong with being part of a mixed couple.

It wasn’t as if it was some kind of secret thing. It was rude to announce it or ask outright, but there was nothing secret about it.

Rose gave a long sigh, getting up to strip so she could shift. Once in wolf form, she curled back up onto the bed. With a little bit of maneuvering, she had fully covered herself with her blanket and created a nest of pillows. Warm and comfortable, she turned her thoughts to the real reason why she was so reluctant.

Jimmy Stone.

Fifteen years old, she had been an idiot. He had been older, sure of himself, and able to convince her that they were a perfect match. His mark had never been a match for hers, but even though he was also a Shifter he had sounded so certain that it didn’t actually matter. He had made her head spin with dreams of travel and running free in different parts of the world.

As humans, he had been bigger than her. She had been convinced she was in love with him so had until the very end never thought of turning her beast side upon him. The one and only outright beating he had given her (instead of the usual sharp words and occasional slap or kick) had changed that. Jimmy was a canine shifter, but he was nothing more than a yappy mongrel compared to her Red Wolf.

It was after that incident (she hoped he still bore the scars from her claws across his face) that she had made the decision to never enter another committed relationship unless it was her soulmate. Her actual soulmate, the one who bore the mark that matched hers. Rose was never going to let another pretty face and sweet words convince her otherwise.

Now that she had potentially found him, it scared her. Humans didn’t have the same draw and ingrained loyalty to their soulmates that Shifters did. John could leave her and it wouldn’t harm him in the same way it would her.

Rose had seen it before. Her father died when she was a baby and her mother had never completely gotten over it. She had had boyfriends and lovers, but none that had ever stuck around. Other shifters might not mind a lover, but once they inevitable found their other half then they would be gone. Humans just didn’t understand, not really.

Martha’s dad, for instance, wasn’t a Shifter and had left her mother for a time. Aside from when her frustration reached a breaking point, Martha didn’t like to talk about it. Rose always knew when it was bad because those would be the days that the only one Martha wanted to be around was Mickey. There had been a whole week once where she had remained in owl form because she was tired of being in the middle of the fighting. Mickey had carried her around on his shoulder the entire time, curling up in dog form at night to sleep.

Both of a pair being Shifters didn’t always mean happiness and stability either. Again, her mother was a case in point. Rose had lost count of the number of times she had heard someone say that except for Rose, Jackie may very well have pined herself to death after Pete died. Jackie (who took the form of a Scottish Terrier) had always told Rose that losing a soulmate was one of the most difficult things one could go thru, but (and this was a very big ‘but’) it was not the end of all things. Jackie had never been one to simply give up and she had raised Rose to be the same way.

Mickey’s parents had been soulmates, but they hadn’t remained together. Mickey’s gran had taken him in, lambasting both her son and daughter-in-law for being fools. To this day Mickey didn’t speak to his father, and his mother had died when he was a teenager. Probably (as Jackie and Mickey’s gran were certain) of a broken heart, as uselessly romantic as that was (again, according to the two main adult figures in hers and Mickey’s lives).

So with all of that, Rose was apprehensive. She had not given up on finding her soulmate, just as she had never given up her dreams to travel. She was just a little more realistic about it now at nineteen then she had been at fifteen and sixteen.

Even so, she had had a good time today. Holding his hand as they walked, chatting about random topics and simply listening to him babble about whatever caught his fancy. He could talk for England, he could! Still, as long as he did it while holding her hand she was perfectly happy listening to him.

His hand had felt warm in hers. The few times he had dropped her hand in order to use both of his in his excitement over one topic of another her hand had felt cold, almost as if it would never be warm again. She had to imagine how it would feel to have his hands buried in her ruff or scratching her ears.

Rose startled, falling off the bed as it struck her. They had held hands! Skin to skin! Her mark!

Scrambling to her feet, Rose huffed in annoyance as her blanket den tightened around her. Shifting, she managed to escape with an impatient huff.

“Rose?” Martha called thru the door. They had heard her come in, but when she hadn’t said anything to them they had decided to leave it alone. With the noise now coming from the blonde’s room, however, they were concerned.

“Damn mirror!” Rose cursed. “I’m fine!”

Martha heard her muttering about where her mark was and a giggle escaped her. Hers and Mickey’s marks were on their forearms, easily seen. Rose’s, on the other hand, was in the middle of her right shoulder blade and took effort to see.

“Do you want some help?”

Mickey turned around just as Rose opened her door. He yelped and covered his eyes.

“Quite acting as if you’ve never seen me naked before,” Rose scolded at him, yanking a giggling Martha into her room.

“Still doesn’t mean I want to see it!” Mickey called back. They had learned to control their shifting together and had been closer than some siblings growing up. He waited a beat. “So? Is it any different?”

Martha came out of Rose’s room. She had a wide grin on her face.

“Verdict?” Mickey said, lacing his fingers through hers.

“Wolf paw within this spiral of dots,” Martha explained.

“Dots are new, any shape or just the spiral?” Mickey was glad his was so obvious, a wrench. He had always been good with his hands, and it had pleased him that his mark described him so well. It had gotten slightly more complicated when Martha’s quill had joined it, making it appear as if the quill were drawing the wrench.

His mate was a classy lady. He could easily imagine her dressed to the nines in some Victorian get up, writing with the owl feather quill pen in her neat cursive. Or Ravenclaw robes, which was even easier as they had all dressed up as Hogwarts students for Jack’s Halloween party the year before.

Martha shook her head. “No, but then I’ve never studied astronomy.” There was another thump from Rose’s room. “Think we’ll see her anytime tonight?”

“When her stomach reminds her that she needs to eat, or she wants coffee.” Mickey said. “Gonna call Donna?” He’d liked the ginger they’d eaten lunch with. “And does this mean I won the bet?”

XXXXXXX

“Donna! Donna you need to come see this!”

Donna groaned as she rolled over, yanking a pillow over her head to block out her brother’s voice. Maybe if she ignored him, he would give up. Not that that ever worked, but she could hope.

“Donna!” He whined. “This is important!”

“It’s always important with you Spaceman,” she said, sitting up to glare at him. “What time is it? And why are you naked in my doorway?” There were times she regretted agree to share an apartment with him.

“I’m in a towel,” he protested, tightening said towel around his waist. “I was getting out of the shower when I saw it and I –”

She cut him off. “If this is over another stupid spider I am going to hang your skinny arse from the balcony.” She told him as she got out of bed.

“One time Donna, that was one time!” He said, frowning. He dodged out of her way as she headed towards the bathroom.

“A cricket then? A mouse? I swear, if you’ve gone and ‘rescued’ the lab rats again I’m moving back to Mum’s.” Donna looked around the bathroom, not seeing anything out of place.

“I did that in secondary, and I was twelve.” He defended himself. “No, my mark Donna! Look at my mark!”

“Turn on a light then Spaceman,” she blinked in the sudden brightness. The things she did for her brother. “Well, turn around!”

John did, arching his neck as if he could bend it enough to look at his shoulder blade without the aid of a mirror or two. Donna had often teased him for the spiral of dots there with the big empty space in the center. He had always protested that they were stars in the form of a nebula if a person just knew how to look at it.

Now, the empty space was filed with a clawed paw print. It didn’t look like it was from a dog and it was much too large to be a cat. Donna frowned.

It struck her, then, that it had to be from a wolf. That was what her brother had been looking for in the park after all, and that park was a safe spot for Shifters to run around in while transformed. John probably hadn’t even realized it, but he’d been talking about the blonde girl he had seen almost as often as he’d spoken of the wolf. It was not a stretch, to Donna at least, to think they were one and the same.

“Do you see it?” John was beginning to bounce in place.

“I see it, and yes it really is there.” Donna assured him.

John blinked at her. “But I don’t…and usually I…”

Donna grinned at him. “No gloves Thursday, ran off without them when you were dragging me to the park.”

His eyes kept getting bigger as his brain put the pieces together. Damn it, but this meant that Mickey had won the bet. Donna had been certain her brother (who mostly ignored his mark and steadfastly kept himself covered in layers) would take weeks to notice the change.

“But…but Rose!” It had to be her. She had grabbed his hand and he had grabbed hers. Not just grabbed it, but they had held hands for ages Thursday.

“Unless you’ve been getting handsy with anyone else, yes Rose.” Donna told him.

John went between shaking his head and nodding it. How was he supposed to do this? Just walk up and ask her? Ask to see her mark? Didn’t that count as an innuendo in some circles? He knew it was rude, and while he was rude and not ginger (that was Donna) there were some mistakes he only made once…sometimes.

Donna rolled her eyes. “Get dressed Spaceman, we’ll go check the park and see if she’s there.” After coffee…lots and lots of coffee.

XXXXXXXXX

Rose shoved Jack off her desk, scowling at him. “Don’t look at me like that. I’m not showing you. And you’ve got cat hair over my sketches.”

She quickly turned around as he shifted. “Ianto, come and get your cat before I skin him!”

Ianto sighed, finishing the tea as he ignored the antics of his boyfriend and their co-worker. Ever since Mickey had mentioned Rose’s changed mark, Jack had been poking at her to see it. It had been a week now and they were all getting sick of it.

Rose had been steadfastly avoiding the park she’d been frequenting and the man who may or may not even be there. There had been astronomy books littering her desk for that time, along with several pamphlets discussing ‘how to explain being a shifter to a non-shifter’. Those alone had Jack curious, but Rose wasn’t talking.

“Come on Rosie, I’m just curious!” Jack was trying to get her to settle down. He knew from experience that procrastinating talking to your soulmate was hard on a shifter.

“Curiosity killed the cat Jack, do you really want to risk it?” Rose was getting very irritated at him.

A case, any kind of case, would help. It would at least keep him distracted from bothering her. It might also take her mind off John, but she doubted that.

“And satisfaction brought it back,” Jack sing-songed at her. “Besides, even if it did, I have nine lives.”

“Five,” Ianto set a cup of coffee in front of Jack and Rose’s tea in front of her, “and I’m still waiting for the report from the last case.”

“That dog missed, so I have to have at least six left.” Jack teased back, a long running joke between the three of them.

“If you insist,” Ianto replied, going to fix another cup of tea.

They didn’t ask why. Ianto almost always knew when they would be getting someone in with a case. Rose took that as her cue to get some fresh supplies out to take notes with. Jack, deciding to leave it for now, returned to his desk to get out his own things.

The bell above the door chimed, alerting them all that they had a guest. Looking up, Rose squeaked before ducking back down.

“John! Aren’t you a sight for sore eyes!” Jack got up to greet his longtime friend with a hug. “And where is that spitfire of a sister of yours?”

“Donna’s on a date with Lee,” John replied, eyes zeroing in on Rose. His face reddened.

Jack looked between them, confused for a moment before it dawned on him. Rose groaned as she recognized the look that crossed his face.

“So John, what brings you by?” Jack was grinning, which should have been his first warning.

“Oh! Yes!” John jumped, turning his wide gaze to Jack. “I’ve been trying to track a wolf I saw in a park near the campus.” He absently took the tea Ianto handed him. “I was hoping you could help me.”

“Of course we can! Rose is great at tracking.”

Rose was going to kill him. She was certain of that.

John turned back to her. “Really? Um…would you…uh…could you…” he floundered, taking a gulp of tea to give his mouth something to do that wasn’t talking.

“I can meet you at the park in an hour, if that works for you?” Rose was glaring at Jack as she spoke, but he was just grinning back at her.

“Actually,” John coughed, the tea was hot! “Actually, I was thinking about going later tonight, after dark. I haven’t seen it again in the daytime and the first time I saw it was nearly midnight so I thought maybe it was nocturnal and…”

Rose began to smile as he continued to babble. It was cute, especially as he’d put down the tea and was now running his hands thru his hair. It was making it stick up and her hands itched to sooth it back down.

Maybe she wouldn’t kill Jack. She did need to speak to John anyway.

“I’ll meet you at the entrance of the park, yeah?” She got in when he took a pause for breath. “About seven?”

John nodded his head. “Yeah, yeah, that sounds like an idea Rose Tyler.”

Rose shivered. She liked how her name sounded coming from his mouth. “See you then Doctor.”

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

The sky was just beginning to darken when Rose arrived at the entrance to the park. She had her kit with her, just in case. She doubted she would need it, but if working with Jack had taught her anything it was that it was far better to be over prepared than be caught unawares.

John was already waiting for her. She stopped to watch him for a moment, her hearing catching his muttering.

“Hey Doctor, been waiting long?”

John jumped. “Rose! You’re here! I mean, obviously, where else would you be? I mean-”

Rose laughed. “I know what you mean Doctor. Shall we?” She motioned towards the open park gate.

John smiled. “I like when you call me Doctor.” He rolled the name around in his mind. “I might just start using it. Sounds like the name of an adventurer.”

“Is that what we’re doing, going on an adventure?” Rose teased him, barely registering that they had clasped hands.

“We’re looking for a wolf that may or may not be wild. I’d call that an adventure, wouldn’t you?” John asked her. Her hand felt right in his; as if it were the piece he’d been missing his entire life without knowing it.

“I would,” she bit her lip. “Doctor, I was-”

A low growling cut her off. Instinctively, Rose tried to push John behind her. That wasn’t a friendly growl.

“Rose,” John said slowly, “That’s not the wolf I’ve been looking for.”

“I know John.” Rose shifted her stance, readying herself for whatever she would need to do.

The wolf stalking them from the shadows was a deep black. It wasn’t someone she knew, and most of the canines in the area knew each other. It was considered common curtesy for a new shifter to make oneself known to the local community.

A wild wolf wouldn’t be hunting them like this one was. Rose knew what a hunting wolf looked like, what the air felt like during a hunt. This was a hunt and they were the prey.

“Maybe we should-” John started to say but Rose cut him off.

“Stay absolutely still,” she thrust her kit at him. “Don’t make any sudden movements and stay quiet.”

“Okay,” he whispered, eyes on the other wolf and not on her.

The wolf leapt for them. When it did, Rose sprang into action.

John gaped as his companion, the young woman he was fairly certain was his soulmate, turned into a large reddish-brown wolf. The very same wolf he’d been seeing around the park.

She had done it mid leap, slamming into the other wolf in a tangle of ripped clothing and scrambling paws. All he could do was stare as Rose took on the other wolf in a fight unlike any he’d ever seen. John struggled to remain frozen, wanting to help Rose but not knowing how to.

Teeth snapped, sometimes drawing yelps and growls from the one being bitten. Claws flashed, leaving streaks of blood behind when they connected. Often, they were little more than a tumble of fur.

Finally, Rose emerged victorious. She held the other (much larger, John noted absently) wolf down by the throat. The wolf whimpered, splaying out as much as it could in a display of submission. With a final growl, Rose released him. She cuffed him with a paw, bearing her fangs at him.

He scrambled away from them as fast as his legs could carry him.

Rose gave the impression of snorting in dismissal before approaching John and nudging him. Almost on reflex, he began to stroke her head.

“You know,” he finally said, “it’s highly unfair that even you have more ginger than I do.”

Rose collapsed in laughter, shifting as she did so. “T-t-th-that-that’s th-the b-best y-y-ya g-got?” She managed to say through her laughter.

“No, you’re a wolf! The wolf! And you’re naked!” He spun around.

Rose calmed down. “Yes, unless it’s very skin tight clothing doesn’t shift with you. My bag.”

“What?”

“My bag, I’ve got a spare set in it.”

“oh…oh! Right.” He turned around to hand it to her, blushing as he took her in.

Rose took the chance and turned around, baring her back to him. It was now or never, either their marks matched now or they didn’t.

By his intake of breath, they did.

“You’re my soulmate…and you’re a shifter…”

“That a bad thing?” She tried to keep it light, but then this was her fears made manifest. She didn’t know what she would do if he rejected her.

John shook his head, realized she couldn’t see him with her back turned, and spoke. “No, no it’s not.” He paused. “This is so cool! You can turn into a wolf! A really big wolf, and a ginger one, but a wolf!”

She turned, now fully dressed, to face him. He was bouncing in place, hands flexing as if he wanted to touch her.

“Yeah,” Rose had no idea what to say.

“Do you want to go stargazing with me?” John burst out.

“What?” Now she was confused.

“Stargazing…that’s what I normally do in this park. It’s not the best, but there’s a clearing where the trees block out most of the light and we can talk or not talk or whatever really-”

Rose gave in and kissed him to shut him up. “Sounds lovely,” now she was blushing as red as he was, “lead the way.”

“Right,” he took her hand. “Ready Rose Tyler?”

“Always,” she responded.

“Run.”

And they never stopped.

XXXXXXXX

The end!