A/N - Well, as the last episode was kind of originally meant to be finished before Christmas, this was meant to serve as a Christmas Day prelude to Part Two, but oh well, have it anyway!

Snow had fallen over Glasgow, covering everything in a white blanket that stole the sound and left the streets quiet and empty. The snowy clouds had faded and left the sky an infinite blue, dotted with tiny white pinpricks of starlight.

Right at this moment, 16 year old Callum Hendrick was gazing up at the stars. He was watching for something in the sky above.

It had been the 8th of July last year – Callum's 15th birthday - that he'd first met the Doctor and Amelia Pond. They'd travelled through time and space together in the Doctor's ship, the TARDIS. Callum had faced killer robots, Weeping Angels, and deadly space pirates, to name a few.

The Doctor had taken Callum and his two friends, Keith and Laura, back to Earth, and they had made him promise that he would come back one day. That had also happened on the 8th of July – making what had been weeks to Callum, really only several hours. The Doctor and Amy had disappeared in the TARDIS, and that was the last he'd seen of them.

Callum's nightmares were becoming stranger and stranger, and he was wondering whether the Doctor would have been of any help to him.

He gazed up into the sky as it was briefly illuminated by a shooting star, and a gentle snowfall began. He felt the familiar surge of adventure run through him. And then he remembered he wasn't Callum Hendrick: Time Traveller and Adventurer anymore. He was Callum Hendrick: Schoolboy.

He gave a sigh and shut his eyes, picturing the star falling in his mind's eye.

"Doctor," he murmured under his breath. "You need to come back. You made a promise, remember?"

If he'd opened his eyes just a second earlier, he may have noticed a little blue box as it zipped between the stars.

Keith and Laura had had a good Christmas. Keith had spent the day with Laura and her family, as his parents had decided to go on holiday to Spain, and he didn't feel up to it.

They'd exchanged presents, and then laid on the floor together watching Christmas movies.

They had spoken to Callum, and they knew that he was wondering when the TARDIS would reappear and whisk them away again. It had been about a year and a half now, and Keith was beginning to wonder if something had happened to the Doctor or Amy, but Laura told him not to dare even mentioning his concerns to Callum in case he upset him. Keith knew that Callum had already thought the same thing, anyway, so he had no reason to voice his opinions.

They were lying on the floor of Laura's conservatory on their backs, gazing up at the stars in the night sky, and they both tilted their heads to look as a shooting star flew by.

"I love you," smiled Keith, planting a kiss on Laura's cheek. She smiled back and flicked his nose, playfully.

"I love you too, silly," she replied, resting her head on his chest and gazing back up at the stars.

"Do you think we'll ever see what it's like up there ever again one day?" Keith asked, taking hold of her hand.

"Of course we will," Laura said, quietly, closing her eyes. "The Doctor promised."

"Yeah," Keith replied, sleepily. "Yeah, he did."

Meanwhile, in a little blue box a couple hundred miles above Glasgow, the Doctor was having some trouble steering.

"Oh, I wish I had a Pond!" he sighed, as he skipped around the console. "Can't seem to land."

A strange trill from the monitor alerted him to some information onscreen and he dived round to get a good look at it.

"Nearest landing date estimated: January 1st? Why? What's wrong with Christm-AAAAAAAAS?!" he cried, as with a lurch, the TARDIS and its sole occupant were sent hurtling to the side.

"Protective shields down. Tractor beam activating," soothed a female, electronic voice.

"Oi, who's that?!" the Doctor cried, zooming back up to the monitor. Giving the information onscreen a quick once over he punched down on the console.

"Alright, Sexy," he said, addressing the TARDIS, "shields up! I'll take January 1st! Then after that, shields back down and we can go have a snoop at that rather interesting looking signal that just tried to get in touch! I've got a promise to keep, and I could do with a little back-up! Call it a late Christmas present!"

He continued rambling away with himself before smashing down on the console again, and with a shower of sparks, the TARDIS blasted away from the mysterious source of the tractor beam.

"See you next year, Callum Hendrick!" the Doctor whooped as the time machine hurtled through the time vortex at breakneck pace.