Roddy and Rita were celebrating Christmas with Rita's entire family.
Since they had saved Ratropolis from the giant wave that could have flushed away every rat from the city, the Malones invited Roddy to their annual Christmas gathering.
They spent the entire holiday evening exchanging gifts, singing carols (even poor Roddy had to sing a Tom Jones version of I'll Be Home for Christmas for Rita's grandma) and they had a huge Christmas dinner that Rita bought from the marketplace the other day.
When darkness came, they lit candles all around the house and sat at the fire, trying to keep warm from the cold of the sewer and drinking hot cocoa with plenty of marshmallows.
There wasn't any snow in the sewer like it does Up Top, but it still had a cold winter breeze.
As Mr. and Mrs. Malone had the younger children settle in for the night, there were rudely awakened by a loud knock at the door.
BANG, BANG, BANG, BANG!
"Who could that be?" asked Mr. Malone.
"I'll answer it, Dad" Rita replied cautiously.
"I'll come with you" said Roddy.
The two rats dashed to the front door.
"If it's anyone serious, get ready" whispered Rita.
Roddy nodded in agreement.
Slowly, they opened the door to find a smaller rat, covered in a hooded cloak, on the ground unconscious.
His entire body was blue from his face to the tip of his tail. The cloak was the only clothing that kept him warm, no hat, no scarf, no mittens and no earmuffs.
Gasping, Roddy and Rita pulled the rat into the house.
"Rita, what-" Mrs. Malone began before she noticed the rat in Roddy and Rita's arms.
"Mum, he's cold as ice" Rita explained.
Worried, Mrs. Malone felt the rat's forehead.
"He's definitely chilled to the bone" she said.
At an instant, three of Rita's sisters helped their mother placed the rat in a small silver tub and removed only his shoes and socks.
The poor rat's teeth started to chatter like crazy.
Mrs. Malone brought over a pot of hot, boiling water from the stove and poured it into the tub, which helped the rat warm up a little bit.
When he started to cough violently, there was something that made Roddy and Rita feel uncomfortable.
"That rat sounds familiar" frowned Roddy.
"Yes, like we've met him somewhere before" agreed Rita.
And then, another knock on the door startled them.
Roddy went to open the door and this time, it was Whitey!
Seeing the large albino rat, Roddy gasped.
Rita ran to Roddy's side, ready to fight.
"Oi, careful. I'm not here to fight. Have you seen Spike?" asked Whitey.
Roddy and Rita were confused.
Spike? Spike who?
"I last saw him, takin' a walk and then he disappeared before me eyes. Now, I can't find him" the large rat continued.
"Haven't seen him" snapped Rita, rudely.
Roddy was a bit worried and then turned to Rita.
"You don't think..." Roddy began.
Their eyes wide, Roddy and Rita both ran back into the house and removed the cloak to reveal the real identity of the rat.
"SPIKE?!"
But Spike was unable to answer them, he was still shivering to death.
Whitey had to explain that he and Spike were simply trying to use the remaining of the Toad's liquid nitrogen to freeze their former lair since it was abandoned when the Toad was arrested. But Spike started to freeze from the cold.
Despite the kind of rat Spike is, Mrs. Malone decided to keep him nice and warm until he was back to health once more.
It wasn't until Spike regained consciousness. He jumped up and started to snap, fighting in thin air.
"Oi! What are you looking at?!" he barked. "Come on, then! You want to go?"
Then he stopped and stared at the confused rats in front of him.
"Brr! Blimey, I feel cold" Spike continued.
"Are you feeling better now, Spike?" asked Whitey.
Spike growled and rolled his eyes, but started to shiver again.
Rita was more annoyed than Spike was.
She didn't want her own worst enemies in her family's house and she couldn't even stand them.
"Mum, you've got to get rid of him" she growled.
"I can't" her mother replied. "He'll freeze to death and it's Christmas."
"I'd rather die in the cold than to stay and celebrate with any of you!" Spike yelled angrily.
You see everybody in the entire city of Ratropolis did not know that Spike hated Christmas. The whole Christmas season.
Why he hated it? Nobody knows. Well... only Whitey and the rest of the henchrats that they worked with knew but they promised not to tell anyone. Not even his own mother knew.
Whitey didn't want to be apart of a huge confrontation, so he respectfully backed away.
In the other room, Liam and some of Rita's little sisters watched to see what's happening.
"What's eating him?" asked one of the sisters.
"He's like Ebenezer Scrooge 36 years younger" sneered Liam.
Spike got up on his feet, only to fall back onto the chair groaning in pain.
"Oh, oh, please don't" begged Rita's mother. "You'll hurt yourself."
Roddy was confused as Spike bundled himself up in the blanket around his body.
"Rita, shouldn't we do something?" he asked.
But Rita didn't say anything, she just watched as her mum gave Spike all the comfort he needed.
Salty tears begin to swell in Spike's eyes despite his attempts to hide them.
Roddy and Rita were surprised to see this side of Spike they have never seen before in their entire lives.
"What's the matter?" asked Mrs. Malone.
It took Spike a while to answer, since he was still shivering.
"Where it's Christmas, I-"
Then, Spike angrily stamp his foot, splashing water all over the place.
"My mum wants nothing to do with me and leaves for the holiday every year!" he began. "And for what?! For some stupid excuse that involved a fight and the following day, a man left his wife and child for being different from him!"
This made the Malones and Roddy react in shock.
Angry, Spike, having regain his strength, got up and walked out the door until he reached the docs staring at the water.
"The poor lad" Mrs. Malone sighed sadly.
And then, something unexpected happened.
Mimi, one of Rita's little sisters walked out of the house and slowly approached Spike at the docs.
Spike and Whitey were confused.
What is this lass doing? they thought.
Mimi slowly touched his hand and then gave him a big hug.
Touched by the child's kindness, Spike felt something that he never felt for the longest time: love.
He then embraces Mimi and slowly gets up on his feet, following her back into the house.
By the time they got back inside, Roddy and Rita gasped in surprise.
"Mimi, what are you doing?" Rita asked. "He's a bad guy."
But Mimi didn't respond and helped Spike sit back down in his seat.
"He's lonely" Mimi finally answered. "Nobody should be alone on Christmas."
Hearing this, Rita softened and realized Mimi was right.
"Aww..." cooed their other siblings from the other room.
"Children, I thought I sent you to bed" warned Mrs. Malone.
Liam and the other kids groaned, disappointed.
Mimi whimpered and followed the others.
"No, no, no, not you, young lass" said Roddy. "You can stay up a little longer."
Squealing happily, Mimi started to dance and ran to Roddy and Rita's side.
"I'm so proud of you, my little sister" smiled Rita.
For the rest of the night, Mimi showed Spike the Christmas decorations and the tree, why the Malones even let him and Whitey have the remaining leftover food.
Roddy and Rita thought Spike and Whitey were their enemies for the rest of their days, but it was Mimi who showed them despite their feud, they should welcome them on the holidays where Spike was at his worst.
Spike, on the other hand, didn't enjoy the Christmas season but he got the respect he wanted from Mimi.
When it was time for bed, Roddy and Rita slept in the living room on the sofa.
Since Spike was staying for the night, Mimi wanted to sleep with him (to make sure he had company even in sleep). Whitey, since he saw how all set Spike was, wished everyone a happy Christmas before he took off and returned to his home.
So, Mrs. Malone had Mimi sleep in a laundry basket while the former henchrat slept on the floor by the fireplace where it was nice and warm.
Everyone slept in their "beds" peacefully and it was a happy Christmas in deed.
THE END