"What if Christmas," he thought,"doesn't come from a store?"

[Basil Benson]

"We can stop by a Boots and get some of those easily enough.

Do you just want birds, or do you think we should get some other animals too?"

[Colette Rosenhof]

"I zink zese are enough wildlife for now, but we definitely need some more shiny bobbles." Colette took Basil's hand and walked with him along the various booths, browsing curiously until something else caught her eye. A booth that boasted some origami ornaments of various shapes and designs, from snowflakes and trees to geometric shapes. There were even origami cranes and other animals made of colourful patterned paper inside of glass balls, like ships in bottles.

"Ooh, what do you zink of zese Basil?"

[Basil Benson]

"I wonder how they get all the little things in there.

Perhaps your little friend would like one." He stated, thinking of her room mate.

[Colette Rosenhof]

"I zink knowing how would ruin ze magic, would it not?" Colette considered Basil's suggestion for a moment before selecting a large ornament meant more as a table decoration than to actually hang on a tree, a glass ball half-filled with tiny colourful paper stars.

"Zat is an excellent idea Basil. Oh, did you get a gift for your roommate as well?" Colette was fishing some bank notes out of her little purse to pay for her purchase as she spoke.

[Basil Benson]

"Yes. I got him the only thing I figured he would want, considering."

[Colette Rosenhof]

“Allow me to make a guess; your gift to him was your absence?” It seemed like the kind of thing Basil might have said. “Well if so zen zey have poor taste. And I am all ze luckier to have you all to myself.”

Colette picked out a boxed set of ornaments, a mixture of ones in glass balls and standalone paper craft shapes.

[Basil Benson]

"Actually, it's a grow lamp with replacement bulbs." He replied, sounding rather dejected by Colette's assumptive nature again.

[Colette Rosenhof]

"Oh Basil..." Colette wrapped her arms around Basil's neck. "And here I zought zat I was catching onto your sense of humour. I am sorry mon roudoudou." She stood on her toes to give him a tender little kiss.

[Basil Benson]

Basil would allow himself to be missed, but Colette could tell his lips were frowny.

" Yes yes." Basil replied, letting it go, as usual.

"Dis you get some of those? " He replied to distract her.

[Colette Rosenhof]

Colette nodded and gestured to a modest-sized box with a dozen assorted ornaments inside.

"Do you zink zat zese will be Enough? "

[Basil Benson]

"I have no idea." Basil answered honestly. "Did you not have one before? Does it seem like enough?

What about a thing on the top? I feel like it's supposed to have a thing on the top, but I would prefer it if it wasn't a religious symbol."

[Colette Rosenhof]

"Oh I zink zis is enough of ze crafted ornaments. We will have to get some chocolates wrapped in foil or some dried fruit to finish ze job. I brought ribbon wiz me in my suitcase for... wrapping zings at ze last minute, if I had to."

Colette thought about Basil's request. "Would a star be too religious? If so we can always get a... what is ze word for un cimier oriental?" The girl gestured with her gloved hands as if that could help at all. "Ze... ball and cone on top of ze tree, shaped like a Coca Cola bottle almost, yes?"

[Basil Benson]

"I think the star is from the Jesus story." Basil replied. "I can't be certain I guess unless I Googled it, but I think not an angel, and not a star. Anything else should probably be fine.

If we don't see anything here, I suppose we could check Boots for that too."

[Colette Rosenhof]

"Is zat a British tradition, to put a boot upon a tree? We normally leave zem in front of ze fireplace so zat Fazer Christmas can leave presents inside of zem."

[Basil Benson]

"It's a store." Basil replied, trying to hide his amusement and failing.

"Let's get something warm and sugary in you before we go, eh?"

[Colette Rosenhof]

"A shoe store?" Colette hugged herself to Basil's arm as the pair of them carried the day's purchases.

"That does sound lovely Basil. Yes, let us." Colette may have been a sugar fiend but like a lot of mutants she had a rather excited metabolism as well, especially since she ran mostly on sugar. "And perhaps a cuppa to warm you up too, hmm?"

[Basil Benson]

"Mmmno, sort of a chemists with a bunch of random stuff thrown in."

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

After hot drinks and a bit more wandering around, Basil and Colette made said trip to the shops to get anything else they needed to decorate said tree.

While they were finishing up with the tree, Basil ordered them room service again, Indian food this time. After a small feast of Butter Chicken and Spicy Beef Vindaloo, Basil was admiring Colette's handiwork. He mostly allowed her to do the tree stuff since he had no idea what was going on there.

[Colette Rosenhof]

Colette hummed softly as she decorated the tree. Back in her more casual attire, her arms shifted in shape to more easily allow her to place the strings of lights deeper into the branches to help hide the cord but also left the tips of the branches free for decorations. The birds were perched in the branches among the paper ornaments and glass bobbles, accented by foil-wrapped chocolates on little strings they had picked up at Boots. And in an effort to remain religiously neutral and have a little bit of fun at Basil's expense, a small paper Union Jack was stuck at the top of the tree. The yellow-orange hue from the curry was just beginning to fade from her visage when she finished up, stepping back to admire her handiwork. Some trees were absolutely covered in so much tinsel and ornaments that one could barely see any green but Colette prefered to be more selective in her decorations.

"Zere... what do you zink, Basil? From an outsider's perspective of course."

[Basil Benson]

Basil shrugged. " Looks good to me, though I am hardly an expert." He stated. "Are the treats a French thing?"

[Colette Rosenhof]

"I do not know if zey are a particularly French tradition, but I remember zem from my childhood."

Colette stepped back to admire her handiwork before she delicately sat herself in Basil's lap with an arm across his shoulders.

"Do not worry, you are absolutely allowed to eat zem."

[Basil Benson]

Colette in his lap was his favourite place for Colette to be, and he seemed extremely casual about her perching herself there. She felt his right hand wrap around her waist, his left still busy with a tea cup that smelled suspiciously unlike tea.

"Oh good, because if I drink enough throughout the holiday I can't promise you they won't disappear and be replaced with foil wrappers peppered about the room." He laughed.

His watch went off, signalling something.

"Oh! Time for old Doctor Who Christmas specials... Up for it?"

[Colette Rosenhof]

"Well, it is fortunate zat we are not ze ones who have to clean up all zose wrappers, is it not?" Colette twittered and gently rubbed her nose against his before his watch went off.

"Oh, is zat a zing? Sure, why not?"

[Basil Benson]

"Yep! Only Christmas thing I indulged in as a child despite Bubbe's griping." Basil turned on the telly, and let Colette get comfortable and cuddle as much as she likes. He let her 'lead the conversation' on that scenario, not wanting to overstep any of her boundaries.

Basil and Colette watched two different episodes, "The Christmas Invasion", which was the first ever Christmas special, and "The Runaway Bride", Basil's favorite because he loved Donna which he told Colette in passing.

One of the things Colette would notice about Doctor Who is the fact that female side characters did seem to be a consistent theme, and they didn't seem to just be the Doctor's stand in love interest (though Colette would glean through story subtext that the blonde girl from the first episode might have become one for him in the interim time, and that he had somehow lost her shortly before The Runaway Bride, the second episode they watched).

After two hours of watching telly, Basil made a loud yawning sound. "Being lazy is hard." he commented. "What did you think?"

[Colette Rosenhof]

Colette was happy to remain upon Basil's lap for the first special at least, and despite her weight pressing down on him she was surprisingly comfortable; probably due to the lack of bones. By the end of the first special however Colette had managed to coax Basil onto the couch with her, which gave a bit more room for stretching out and even taking turns laying on each other. When the credits were rolling on the second special she was sitting up straight with Basil's head resting on her lap.

"I zink I am beginning to see why everyone over here watches zis show. Also, I zink zat you would make a wonderful doctor." Her pink fingers idly stroked and played through Basil's invisible hair. "Unless you are one already."

[Basil Benson]

Basil had his hands folded onto his chest currently, letting Colette pet his hair.

"Probably not. I've had enough medical tests to know I've only one heart. Gallifreyans have two, unless something bad happens to injure or weaken the second. I definitely don't remember being stabbed in the chest at anytime." He joked, then got quiet for a moment.

"Do you want to hear a silly secret?"

[Colette Rosenhof]

"Maybe it simply has not happened yet? Zat is ze kind of zinking zat makes ze people on Star Trek hate time travel."

Colette looked down at Basil, a soft smile on her lips. "Of course I do."

[Basil Benson]

"When I was young and I couldn't celebrate this holiday, I used to think that it would be alright if the Doctor could come and collect me on Chrimbo. Then it wouldn't really matter because I'd be too busy being awesome and saving the galaxy to care about not getting to write letters to Father Christmas."

[Colette Rosenhof]

Colette let out a sympathetic little tisk, her hand gently stroking Basil's shoulder and upper arm. "Oh Basil, my poor little teddy bear." Part of her could identify with how he felt back then, she too was an outsider looking in. While she got to celebrate the holiday and had the joys of a tree and letters to St. Nicholas, she lost out on other joys like playing in the snow and other little Christmas past times that other children took for granted. But it wasn't a feeling she could put into words, especially not in a second language.

"If you could write a letter to Fazer Christmas now, what would you ask for?"

[Basil Benson]

"I don't know." He answered candidly.

"I'm not even sure I knew back then if we're being perfectly honest, since I knew it was a load of bollocks anyways.

It was more the feeling of exclusion that I hated than anything. Truth be told, I've always felt like an outsider. It's probably why I try so hard to blend in with everyone else. Being part of the herd means you're an insider. Like regular folk.

Christmas was just kind of a reminder that I wasn't like regular folk.

And then this... nonsense came." He replied, waving a hand over himself. "Sooo... that's out the window now. I'll never be normal now..."

[Colette Rosenhof]

Colette's stroking slowed slightly as she listened. "I zink, Basil, zat I can actually say zat I know how you must have felt. I have spent my entire life wishing I could be like everyone else. For different reasons of course."

She let out a little sigh. "Zat is part of ze reason I try so hard to encourage ozers to see ze best in all of zis. I zink I am trying to trick myself into feeling ze same. But even zen, things are not all bad. After all... here we are, right now. And zis is very, very nice."

[Basil Benson]

Basil sighed again, but this time it seemed more relaxed.

"Yes. It is."

[Colette Rosenhof]

Colette hummed a little tune as she continued to gently pet Basil's head. On the television screen the Doctor was trying to prevent the Titanic from colliding with the Earth during a Christmas party.

"I zink someone is up past his bedtime."

[Basil Benson]

"Yes.

I should probably turn off the telly and get ready for bed." He said, reluctantly pulling himself upright after a moment and moving towards the bedroom to get his suitcase and unpack his sleep things.

If she didn't stop him he'd go into the bathroom to change, the door left slightly ajar. His reflection could be seen in the mirror from the right angle.

[Colette Rosenhof]

"I suppose I should get ready as well. Tomorrow is a big day." Of course a glimpse of Basil through the doorway caused Colette to stop and watch for a moment... it was only natural given how seldom she actually got to SEE her boyfriend. But she continued on into the bedroom to change into her own sleeping attire for the night.

"You know, Basil. You don't HAVE to sleep on ze couch tonight...."

[Basil Benson]

Basil emerged from the bathroom in his fancy jim jams and dressing gown with some unsurprising slippers.

"That's up to you, jelly-baby. You make the rules." He commented, perhaps meaning more by that, perhaps not.

"If you want me in here I can stay in here. I just figured since you care about what people think, I should probably not invite myself in and planned accordingly."

[Colette Rosenhof]

Colette had her back to Basil when he emerged from the bathroom, glancing over her shoulder a bit and smiling at his choice of attire. Even in his sleeping wear he was sharply dressed. Well except for the slipper maybe, but one had to have a bit of fun and she couldn't expect him to wear black dress socks and sock garters to bed. She had her suit on, the red latex one she was using to teach herself how to retain her shape at night, though something seemed a little off.

"Well, I zink zat ozers are going to be talking about us no matter ze choices we make tonight. So perhaps we should -" The girl trailed off a bit, muddling up what she had intended to say. Fearing that she might chicken out or blurt out something awkward Colette turned around to face Basil. Ah, so that's what had been different. From behind it looked like she had added some sort of support or shaping straps or garment to the outfit, but from the front it was obviously an attempt at some sort of ribbon shibari, the green fabric starkly contrasting the red of the suit. And it would have been rather striking... had she not been covered from neck to toe in the shiny suit.

[Basil Benson]

This was another one of those moments when it was best that Basil's face couldn't be seen, and he bit into his tongue to prevent a chuckle because this was not the time to laugh.

It was nice that she was trying, but there were other problems here outside of the fact that this wasn't his bag.

Basil approached her and pulled at one of her knots, it giving under the pull relatively easily. As he undid her wrap job he spoke not romantically, but very plainly and casually.

"This isn't how this should go love. Your first time shouldn't be catering to other peoples wants. It starts a precedent.

Your first time should be special, intimate, and most importantly vanilla. If you don't have a reference for what 'normal' is, you could damage yourself irreparably." He wrapped the ribbon around his hand as if he was cleaning something up. "Take that as experienced advice."

[Colette Rosenhof]

Colette's expression of slight embarrassment only deepened as Basil spoke.

"I-I'm sorry. I tried to do my research but... I got a lot of conflicting advice. You've done so much to make today special for me, I wanted to do somezing special for you too."

[Basil Benson]

"I know." Basil replied in a gentle tone. "And I appreciate you trying to take my personal tastes into consideration, but I don't expect compensation in any form for what I do for you. I do it because I like you."

Basil added, moving away from her to throw his dressing gown aside on a chair, kick off his dorky slippers, and lay down on the bed.

"But... I mean... if you're intending to continue for your own reasons, ones that don't stem from pleasing me but satisfying you own needs... I didn't actually say stop." He pointed out, casually folding his hands behind his head. "Just to alter your plans."

[Colette Rosenhof]

"Your personal tastes?" Colette looked a little confused before it dawned on her. "Oh, oh! And here I zought I was just wrapped up like a present." She found herself giggling softly before she approached and sat on the edge of the bed.

"It was never meant as compensation, Basil, but because I like you too. While I may not always show it, I trust you. I cannot zink of anozer I would trust more, and you have only proven me furzer correct in your concern just now. I want us to be togezer. I want us to share zis together; every soft touch, every new discovery, and every giggling fit when somezing becomes a little awkward."

Colette shifted onto the bed, looming over Basil's prostrated form on her hands and knees. "So, what do you zink, monsieur Benson?"