The Doctor sat by the fireplace as he did every year remembering those who had left him. It was Christmas, or at least that's what he liked to call it. It was actually the closest Gallifreyan equivalent to the Earth holiday, both holidays just happened to fall on the 25th day of the 12th month on their respective calendars. However, this was beside the point. As he sat, remembering those who had left him, Susan, Ian, Barbara, Steven, Vicki, Dodo, Ben, Polly, Jamie, Victoria, Zoe, Liz, Jo, Sarah, Harry, and now Leela, there was a thud. A thud that broke his train of thought. The TARDIS had landed, but he could not recall setting any coordinates.
He dashed down the corridor, stopped at the door to the console room, opened the door, carefully picked his way across the floor covered in K-9 Mk II's robotic parts, thought, I really must finish him at some point soon, and stopped at the scanner controls. As the screen fizzed into life, he was met with the image of a cozy little sitting room. A fire was going, a great big Christmas tree was lit up by the most dazzling lights, and sitting on the couch was a young man and a young woman. The Doctor immediately raced out the doors to apologize.
"Terribly sorry about the big blue box in your sitting room," he began. "It must be very inconvenient, I tell you what, I'll just pop back inside and-" he never finished his apology. The Doctor realized that neither the man or the woman had even blinked. He looked at the fire and saw that it was still, the flames were bright and warm, but they weren't dancing. "Frozen in time…" he murmured. "How very interesting." Before another thought crossed his mind, he heard the faint sound of a crying child. The Doctor followed the sound up a large staircase and into a blue bedroom. The room was littered with newly opened toys and their packaging. In the corner, facing away from him, was a small boy, older than a toddler yet not an adolescent, seven or eight by the looks of it. The Doctor moved forward slowly so he wouldn't startle the child. The boy turned towards him.
"Hello there," the Doctor whispered with a friendly smile.
"Who are you?" the boy said, his voice choked by tears.
"I'm the Doctor. I'm here to help," replied the Doctor as he sat down. "Would you like a jelly baby?" The boy nodded. The Doctor searched through his pockets and pulled out the bag. "Do you have a favorite color?"
"Red."
The Doctor gave him the jelly baby and shoved the bag back into his pockets. "Now, why don't you tell me what happened?"
"Well sir," began the boy as he took a bite out of the jelly baby. "This Christmas was probably the best Christmas I had ever had. When it was time for me to go to bed, I looked out my window and wished Christmas would last forever."
"I see," the Doctor said thinking. "Come with me."
The boy was astonished as he walked into the TARDIS, even stating that it was bigger on the inside. The Doctor, however, was clicking away at one of the computers on the console. The boy walked up to him.
"What are you doing?" he asked.
"Shush," the Doctor said rather harshly. Almost immediately he felt bad about his harsh tone and gave him another jelly baby. The boy smiled. "Why don't you go sit in that nice, comfortable red chair for a few moments." The boy did as instructed.
A few minutes passed then the Doctor spun around and shouted, "Aha! I know what's wrong!" The boy leaped to his feet.
"What is it?" he asked.
"During the exact moment you wished Christmas to last forever, a temporal stasis leak from another time ship hit the Earth." The Doctor could see he had lost the boy at "forever." "In other words, a ship that can travel through time and space sprung a leak that caused what we'll just call "ice made out of time" to surround the Earth."
"But Mr. Doctor, why wasn't I frozen with everybody else?" asked the boy.
The Doctor shrugged his shoulders not really knowing the answer himself. "There are a few different explanations, my guess is that you have some sort of natural immunity. How? I have no clue, the only explanation I can think of is one of the other Time Lord rogues settled down here at some point." He had lost the boy again. "Anyway, it's a simple fix all I have to do is dematerialize and rematerialize one second into the future."
Robert Newman had one arm wrapped around his wife, Lilly, they both had their eyes closed, listening to the crackle of the fire. The house was finally peaceful with Edmund sound asleep, they could finally relax. Their peace lasted for no more than a brief moment before a big blue box slowly appeared.
"What the Hell?" Robert said standing up. Edmund stepped out along with another man. The boy ran into his father's arms.
"Terribly sorry about the big blue box in your sitting room," said the odd man. Robert's mouth was gaping. "It must be very inconvenient, I tell you what, I'll just pop back inside and get it out of here for you, but before I go, I must tell you your son..." he trailed off.
"Edmund," said Edmund.
"Yes, your son, Edmund is a lovely fellow, very well behaved, so if you'll allow me, I'd like to give him one last present." Robert just looked at him blankly, Edmund laughed at his father. The man smiled and gave Edmund a crinkled but unopened bag of Jelly Babies. "Merry Christmas Edmund." And without another word, the man went back inside his box. As the box faded away Edmund shouted, "And a very merry Christmas to you too Mr. Doctor!"