The snow had been falling steadily for the last few hours and the Doctor would be glad to get back to the TARDIS.

He had been helping Jack with an invasion of Sulark and had sent them packing with the Shadow Proclamation on their scaly tails.

He had however politely refused an invitation to dinner...what with his history with Christmas and all.

He opened the TARDIS and stepped in, shaking the snow of his coat and sighed...the TARDIS seemed too large with no-one to share its space.

He never noticed the little brown shape scurry inside the door and under the grating.


It was later when he was sitting in the library, nose in a book that he heard it; the scritch-scratching of what sounded like tiny feet.

"Oh no, not in my TARDIS," he said.

He was still searching for the offending owner of the feet hours later and was on the verge of giving up and laying humane traps when he heard it...a squeak.

He quietly and slowly approached the source of the noise, a vent to the lower chambers of the TARDIS.

He got on his hands and knees and carefully removed the grating and there it was...the owner of the squeak.

He scooped it up and moved his hand until it was level with his eyes.

Staring back at him was a mouse and it was trembling.

The Doctor tried not to smile. "No mice in my TARDIS."

He looked closer at the little creature...it was rather small. "You're a little small to be out on your own...where's your family, eh?"

It was then that he saw the scratches on the little creatures back. "Oh...I see, cat go them. Well I can see why you in here, the TARDIS doesn't like cats...but you still can't stay."

The mouse let out a squeak, almost as if it understood him.

"I know it's scary but even little mice have to grow up."


It squeaked again and tried to run up the Doctor's sleeve.

"Oh no, not this suit."

He gently placed the mouse back on his palm and looked at it again and looked into its eyes.

"You miss your family, I know how that feels," he said sadly. "Tell you what, I'll let you stay till you're big enough to be on your own. How does that sound? A nice warm shoe box, plenty of food, but no chewing through wire."

The mouse squeaked again and curled up in his palm and went to sleep.

The Doctor looked at the mouse and suddenly felt very lonely and he thought about family and friends.

He found a shoebox and lined it with old paper and left the mouse to sleep.

He took out his phone and dialled Jack's number.

"Torchwood," Jack's voice answered.

"Hello Jack."

"Doctor, thought you'd be long gone."

"Got delayed."

"Is there something you want, Doctor?"

"Yes, that invitation to Christmas dinner, is it still open?"

"Of course, what changed your mind?"

"Oh, just something that reminded me that there are more important things than fear of something that might not happen."

He looked at the little mouse in the shoebox and smiled...sometimes it was the little things that made the biggest changes in your life.