Author's Note: Thanks to everyone who read, followed, and especially reviewed. I'm glad people are enjoying this story. :)

Oswin Oswald was a genius. It was one of the only reasons that she could still see what was going on inside the digital world in which she was caught. She knew lots of things, That didn't always make decisions easier. Dropping her jacket onto a chair in her flat, turned on Bizet and opened her laptop with a sigh.

Before long she had hacked into a subroutine in the mainframe, and saw Donna in a corner of her screen, pounding away furiously at a librarian's computer. She bit her lip nervously, and hacked the communications with ease, watching the relief on the redhead's face as the screen in front of her flared to life. 'Did something happen?'

Quickly, almost too quickly, a response came. 'Where were you? I nearly got tricked by one of those nodes! It had The Doctor's face on it!'

Oswin didn't need to look at the picture to hear the accusation in that, and it made the knot building in her stomach clench tighter. 'He's integrating faster than I anticipated.' Oswin typed, knowing that it was, in part, her fault. 'We may have to abandon the idea of saving everyone stuck in here and just get him out.'

The next reply appeared slowly, one letter at a time. 'How many people are in there?'

Oswin shook her head violently, despite the fact that the other woman couldn't see it. 'It doesn't matter. If the thing controlling the library integrates him fully far more lives could be lost in the long run.' She paused slightly. 'Head towards The Shop, but find somewhere away from nodes to camp for the night.'

'Camp?!' Came the reply. 'In a library trying to eat me?"

Oswin shrugged. 'Could be worse. Goodnight.' She watched as the redhead read her message and stomped off with a grumble, before closing her laptop. She leaned back into her seat and closed her eyes. Would it be so horrible of her, just to say yes? She knew she shouldn't, it would be another step towards integration, and she was fighting that for both of them...but she knew how this place worked. It was like a dream, and if you wanted something enough, the moment you let your guard down…

She sighed slightly, listening to the aria and translating softly. "And dream away, yes dream in combat,/That a black eye is watching you/And may love await you,/Toreador..."

The anachronistic man was in Doctor Moon's office attempting not to pace and failing, despite his stony demeanour. "I don't like it! I should have just deleted his data the moment he was pulled in!"

Doctor Moon was, as usual, unbothered. "Really, sir. You have gotten hardly any visitors to the library since the last pruning. You've been saying we need more minds, and this is the first time we've had someone who is compatible to Oswin." He inspected his nails, as if bored. "The genius and imagination from those two could feed you for quite awhile."

"Yes!" The man declared angrily. "If he integrates, it would make the victory all the more sweet, but that man has foiled me at every turn. Can you protect me from him?"

Doctor Moon smiled magnanimously. "I can protect the hard drive from anything. It is my job, after all."

"See that you do, or I will blow you out of the sky." The man threatened, leaving the office with a whirl of a cloak.

"Of course sir." Doctor Moon replied, even as the door banged shut. He moved over to a television and sighed. Plans would have to move ahead slightly. He hated to rush integration, data was sometime misplaced, deleted or ignored, but he had no choice. He had to obey his prime directive. He had to protect the hard drive. No matter what.

John Smith opened his eyes to the sound of birdsong mixed with Saint-Saëns, and had to take a moment to figure out where he was. His dream was more vivid than usual, He was fighting some ancient evil with a brash young woman who carried explosives in her backpack. Beyond the vividness of the dream, however, there was a disconcerting feeling that he was not where he had been a few moments ago.

Speaking to himself, he mused slowly, as Professor Moon had always suggested: "I showed Oswin the shop and invited her to stay with me. She said to ask again tomorrow...I did...she moved in after Aubrey died...then after a year I proposed and we got married…" Somehow, the words and memories didn't ring true.

He rolled out of bed, noting that the open closet held clothes that undeniably belonged to a woman, and there was a picture of a couple he didn't recognise on the nightstand to the right side. As he got dressed, he noted the gold ring around his finger and couldn't deny the evidence in front of him. "Well…" he said, drawing out the word, entirely unsure of what to think now."Married, never thought I'd do that again."

Startled by everything else, he never even realised the fact that he had said 'again.' Despite the weekday, he looked down and found himself in a suit, and shrugging, not particularly wanting to change, just threw on a pair of trainers, and decided to see what Oswin was doing.

Oswin had expected some shift when she woke up, but not quite this far. It felt forced, and she suspected Doctor Moon was pushing them, in that strange, controlling way he had. She had avoided his radar by and large, too good at her job, Now, though, especially with what Donna said, it seemed like he was pushing she and John together. Whether she liked it or not, it was time to get him out of here. It wasn't so bad in the computer, after all. There were worse fates.

So, she put on her most flirtatious smile as John came down the stairs, and it wasn't all that hard. "Nice suit, Mr. Smith." She said teasingly, but he should know from her smile and the way she checked him out that it was appreciative none the less.. She looked away slightly, feeling bad for what she was going to do, even if she kept reminding herself that this wasn't real, none of it was real. "I was wondering if you would come to work with me today. One of the kids has lapsed into a coma...I could use the moral support." It was true, of course. She tried to avoid lying to him as much as possible, and if she was honest, she could use the support. That didn't mean she wasn't sharing the burden that only she saw in order to save him, even though saving him meant saying goodbye.

"Well…" John said slowly. "I have a shipment coming to the shop, but it won't hurt to delay it."

"Thank you." Oswin said, handing him some tea and giving him a dimpled smile. "I'd say you're the best, but I don't want it going to your head."