This is Part 13 of First Christmas, the Doctor Who Christmas story I’ve been telling. It’s called The First Noel.
Amy ran for all she was worth. Reaching the inn courtyard, she looked around and finally saw a side door into what appeared to be a sort of barn. Pushing the door open with her shoulder, she was startled to find the man and woman she had met in the street earlier.
“Hi. Remember me?”
“Indeed. Have they put you in the stable as well?”
“Stable?” Amy looked around at the donkey, a goat and a few stray sheep that were bundled into the stable. “Why did they put you in here?”
“They took pity on us. There are no more rooms within, and my wife was with child and about to give birth.”
“Joseph, right?”
“Yes.”
No Woman Wants to Be Treated Like an Animal
A grunt of pain from behind a bundle of hay caused Amy to walk around and see the young girl from before.
“Oh boy. Is there a doctor? Midwife? Anyone?”
“I’m afraid there is no one. I have, of course, delivered many sheep.”
“Have you.” Amy rolled her eyes. “Move off, then. No woman wants to be treated like an animal when she gives birth.”
She shouldered Joseph out of the way and knelt down before the young girl.
“Hi, I’m Amelia. What’s your name?”
“My child comes soon.”
“From the looks, I’d say very soon.”
Amy looked around and found a spare trough in the corner of the stable. Dragging it out, she wiped her hands on her jeans.
“This ought to work for a crib. Hay, and maybe that blanket off the donkey while you’re at it.”
Joseph moved as he was told, and when Amy was finished the trough was converted into a makeshift crib.
“Yeah,” she said with a self-satisfied grin.
The Mob at the Door
That was short-lived, as a commotion from outside startled them. The main doors were suddenly pulled open and the mob that had been chasing Amy appeared. The large, burly innkeeper pointed a sausage-shaped finger at the three of them.
“You!”
“Look, I didn’t mean any harm. I’m helping her give birth to her baby, so why don’t we call it even?”
The innkeeper flexed his arm and moved forward. Amy lifted an arm to shield her face from what she expected to be a hard hit, but instead she heard a thump and then a thud as the innkeeper fell to the ground, unconscious.
“Anyone touches anybody in the stable and they will have to answer to me.”
“Rory!” Amy declared as she rushed the figure in the door, his back to her to face the crowd. Reaching around, she hugged him tightly from behind.
“Amy, I’m in the middle of rescuing you and you’re ruining my street cred.”
The mob seemed to realize they’d been in a frenzy for no apparent reason, because they didn’t stay long.
Three Camels and a Star
“Amelia Pond!”
“Doctor!” Amy shouted and waved.
The Doctor rode up on a camel, followed by two other camels with figures in ornate robes in tow. Hopping off, the three time travelers hugged and greeted one another.
“Amelia Pond, Rory Williams, this is Balthazar and Melchior, priests from the temple of a city to the east. They have come to witness the birth of a king.”
“Doctor, these shepherds I found said they followed a star that marked a special occasion. I didn’t have the heart to tell them that it was just the TARDIS where we…” He stopped when he realized the Doctor was no longer paying attention.
“No need.”
Together, the three of them looked toward the stable as the moon finished setting and only the light from the TARDIS above illuminated the area. Elim, Haran and Themor walked slowly past Rory in awe. Balthazar and Melchior held hands as tears welled up in their eyes.
The Doctor seemed to realize something then and ran to his camel. Reaching into a sack, he removed several wrapped packages and handed one to each of the priests. In his own hands he took one, and together the six men from completely different paths approached the stable.
The First Noel
Joseph looked stunned as, one by one, the men knelt and bowed before him.
“What…”
Amy shushed him and pointed. The girl moved her arm out of the way, which moved her head covering aside and revealed a newborn babe, dirty from being newly born, but she fastidiously wiped the child clean.
The Doctor laid his package at the foot of the trough crib and backed away.
“Doctor, is this Bethlehem?”
“Yeah.”
Amy’s eyes went wide. “And that’s Joseph. And she said her name was Mary.”
“Yeah.”
“Then is that…”
The Doctor was about to burst with how big his grin was. With glassy eyes, he beamed.
“Oh, yeah.”
He put an arm around both Rory and Amelia and hugged them tightly.
“Merry Christmas, Ponds.”
Rory smiled, and Amy put her head on the Doctor’s shoulder.
Merry Christmas, know-it-alls. If you’ve been following First Christmas from the start, tell me the moment that got you. The conversation lives in the comments on the video above.
