Evie had thought it would be harder to convince Wilf that she was telling the truth, but evidently the old man was open-minded – especially when it came to anything to do with the Doctor. He just nodded at her, signalling that they were leaving.

Outside he put an arm around the teenager's shoulders, hugging her tightly. Evie was strangely comforted, the man reminded her of her grandfather. They walked slowly back towards the Nobles' house. Evie was reluctant, but Wilf assured her that Donna was going out.

"It's Christmas Eve. Donna will be with her friends." He said. "And don't you worry about Sylvia… you leave her to me."

As they walked into the house, Wilf sent the teenager into the living room while he went into the kitchen to talk to his daughter. Evie could hear them arguing as she sat awkwardly on the sofa. In an attempt to block out the noise, she walked to the mantelpiece and picked up a photo. Donna, probably not much older than Evie was now, grinned out of it. She was so full of life and fire; Evie was jealous. Whatever the Doctor said, she was dead whether she felt it or not. She was a freak of nature… not even the TARDIS knew who she was.

"Don't get bitter, Jones." She told herself firmly, replacing the photo on the mantelpiece. "It doesn't suit you."

"Evie?" The teenager whirled around and realised that Wilfred and his daughter were standing in the doorway, watching her.

"Oh… I was just… sorry." She said guiltily, moving away from the photo.

"You can stay here." The woman told her grudgingly with a sigh. "It's Christmas Eve… it's the charitable thing to do. But not a single word about him or any of that stuff, understand?"

Evie nodded vehemently, beaming. "I'll be good, I promise."

"Hmph." Sylvia said, settling herself on the sofa. Wilf was already sitting in the armchair, leaving Evie the choice of whether to sit beside the woman or in the corner, almost out of sight. Taking a breath she choice the sociable option. "How old are you, Evie?"

"Eighteen."

"So he's replaced our Donna with someone young enough to be his daughter… typical man." The blonde woman said annoyed. Evie caught Wilf's eye and they both had to look away so that they didn't start laughing.

"He hasn't replaced Donna with me." Evie told her carefully. "I could never do that, no one could. Donna was, is, probably always will be his best mate. He misses her so much, every single day. Whenever he remembers her or talks about her he gets this look in his eyes, so sad."

"Poor man." Wilf said sadly. "He talks about her then?"

The teenager grinned. "Only all the time! I know all about Donna Noble; the Doctor Donna. Like how she's the reason that the Earth came back, you know, when all those planets just appeared in the sky; Donna saved the whole world and everyone on it."

"That's my Donna… a hero and she doesn't even know it." Her grandfather said proudly.

"She's definitely my hero." Evie told him. "I wish I was more like her. The Doctor says I am like her, but she was so… brilliant. She knew what she was supposed to do. I tend to just mess up and then shoot my way out." She sighed deeply, pulling the gun out from behind her and laying it carefully on the coffee table. "The Doctor hates guns; he refused to speak to me for about half an hour when I first fired this one, even though I saved us from being killed by Cybermen."

Sylvia was looking at her, almost softly. She opened her mouth to speak when the door burst open and Donna crashed into the room, excitement threatening to burst out of her. Evie stared at her worriedly. Wilf and Sylvia exchanged a glance before returning their gaze quickly to the red-head.

"You will never guess what hap–" Donna started. Then her gaze fell on the teenager sitting beside her mother on the sofa. "What are you doing here? What's she doing here? What?"

"Donna, love, this is your Cousin Wendy's daughter, Evie. There was a slight mix-up earlier. She'd come to stay with us for a few days but seeing as we haven't seen her in so long and we hadn't got the messages..." Sylvia said, trying to stay calm. Donna looked suspicious.

"Who's Wendy?"

"You know…" Wilf played along with the story. "My brother's granddaughter."

"Right… so she's not my cousin at all."

"Well, not exactly."

"Oh… well, hi. Sorry for earlier and all that." Donna said to Evie, who managed a small smile before Donna returned to her story, leaving the other three to exchange a look and Evie to sneak the laser blaster out of sight.

x-x

"Now then, Ellis," The Doctor said as he and the small boy walked across the yard outside the warehouse. "How did you get here? What happened?"

The boy muttered something, which the Doctor didn't quite catch. He crouched down in front of the child, smiling kindly at him. Ellis stared back uncertainly for a minute or two, before returning the smile. He relaxed visibly and the Doctor straightened up, offering his hand, which Ellis took.

"It was Christmas Eve and Santa came. I was awake and I saw him. He put presents in my little sister's stocking and then… then the elves came."

"The elves?" The Doctor asked his forehead creasing as he thought. "Oh, the Vola. What did they do, Ellis?"

"They said they wanted to play." The little boy told him, tears streaming down his cheeks. "But they grabbed me and put this band thing on my wrist and I ended up in a white box and then in there. There were lots of children."

"Where are they now? Where are the other children?" The Doctor demanded, grabbing the boy's arms and looking into his face. Ellis shook his head.

"I don't know… it was a long time ago. A long, long time."

The Doctor's mouth fell open. "Last Christmas Eve? Oh, Ellis. I'm sorry! You've been here a whole year. How did you eat?"

"I found some houses. I went there at night when everyone was asleep."

The Time Lord felt anger rising up inside him, anger that he had not felt in so long. This was wrong, very wrong and he was determined to find out who'd done it and make them pay. But he didn't even know where they were; what planet they were on or anything. And it was getting dark. On Christmas Eve. It was nearly show time.

"Where are these houses, Ellis?" He asked, taking the little boy's hand. "Show me."