Finished. Red-cheeked and damp with snow, River, Zara and Jamie looked proudly up at their creation, they had brushed off a park bench and were sitting on it. The other children admired it too, but it was now getting to the time where parents were calling their offspring in for lunch. One by one they drifted away until it was just the three of them left. River had never felt so content before, apart from when she was with her husband. But a husband wasn't quite the same as a friend. She laughed at herself, calling two children she had spent only a couple of hours with her friends. They were so sweet, so innocent. They had no idea what she had done, what she had seen. She had to stop herself jumping as the cold little Jamie leaned his head on her shoulder. She looked down at him, and realised he was observing Zara, who was frowning in thought.

"Something up Zara?" asked Jamie,

"Something's missing…" pondered Zara. She put her hand in her pocket, and her face lit up as she jumped to her feet, "Got it!"

She bounded forward and grabbed whatever she had seen from inside her coat. River couldn't quite believe what it was. It looked just like her sonic screwdriver. It was clearly plastic, but still strange to see. Zara used an old hair tie to attach it to the snowman's stick arm.

"Perfect."

"Jamie! Zara!" Amy's voice called as the blizzard started up again, "Come on in before you freeze!"

Jamie perked up immediately and started running over to the house. Zara started to join him, but stopped a few paces away and turned to River, "We can play again after we've eaten, ok?"

River nodded, "It's a deal."

Zara went to join Amy and Jamie, and from a distance there voices became quieter and quieter.

"Zara, where's your scarf?" Amy.

"Lost it."

As the whirlwind of snowflakes picked up again, River watched the two of them go. She had genuinely had a lovely time with them. Then she noticed something a little peculiar. The snowman they had just built was also looking at the Ponds' door. River was convinced it had been facing the other way. Looking around, she noticed every other ice man in the park, no matter where they were, were also staring at that one door. That was…odd. Even more disconcerting though, as the warmth of fear spread through River's body, was when their sculpture, turned its icy gaze towards her. Literally. River sprung off the seat in alarm as the snowman's body shifted to face her, swivelling on its base. Before she really knew what was happening dozens of the things started sliding towards her, closing in.

"Oh you are joking!"

From out of nowhere the snowman developed limbs and claws and they snatched at her as she turned tail and ran. She desperately reached for her holster, only to find out it was empty. Of course, her father didn't approve of guns in the house. Fantastic. She blindly kicked out at one of them and it crumbled. She let out a short victorious laugh, until its neighbours slid over the pile, snapping up extra ammunition and growing in size.

"Damn."

As she wrestled her sonic screwdriver out of her pocket there was a terrific roar behind her. Wondering what on earth was joining in the snowman's foray she spun around and pointed her weapon at a large grey wolf. Much to her astonishment the wolf was bashing away the encroaching icemen and clearing her a path. Without a second thought she ran through it, hot on the wolf's tail. They ran further until River found herself barrelling through the front door of a neat little cottage which she slammed after them.

"What the hell was that?"

"The Guardians."

River had no idea where the voice had come from, the only other living thing in the room was the wolf which she stared at. "What?"

Right before her eyes the wolf started reshaping, into a man, about the same age that she appeared. He was quite thick set, broad shouldered with dark brown hair and pale violet eyes. At at least six and a half feet tall, he completely dwarfed her and she hesitated, wondering whether to step backwards away from him or not.

"My instinct says werewolf, my intellect says not."

"Your intellect would be right."

"What are you, and why are you here?"

"I'll take those as politer questions than they sounded."

"I just got chased by snowmen. I'm hardly in the mood for manners."

"That's a fair point." he offered her his hand, "Anders Conrad."

River took the offered hand, shaking it, "River Song."

"You're frozen. Take a seat, I'll get you some tea."

Anders disappeared through the door at the top of the corridor. River took the chance to finally gather her bearings and look around. The first thing she noticed was how warm the, cottage was. It smelled of old books and wood smoke. The corridor she stood in had solid wooden floors and matching panelling to about waist height. The wallpaper above that was a warm pale orange. By the door she noticed a coat and shoe rack. On it were various garments that clearly belonged to Anders and those of a small girl. No women though. She wandered through the door to her right and found herself in what was clearly the living room. The carpet was thick and soft, a slightly faded dark red. A real fire sat in the hearth with a pile of logs beside it, it was dark grey slate. Above it on the mantelpiece were picture frames of Anders life, going from him as a small child with his parents, and what she assumed were his brother and sister. They ended up at the far right with Anders as he was now and a small girl. River's eyes widened slightly when she realised the small girl was the one she had met earlier. It was then that Anders returned holding two mugs of something that gave off the scent of warm milk and spices.

"Chai," explained Anders as he passed one of the mugs to River. It was pink with a ladybird on it, clearly a child's. "Sorry, that's my girl's. Only warm drink she'll have." he smiled a little, embarrassed. "We normally go out to people instead of them coming here."

River nodded and smiled, "That her?" she blew on her drink and motioned her head to the most recent photo.

Anders nodded, puffing up his chest slightly, a proud grin on his face, "Yes, that's my Zara. My whole world that one."

"I can tell." she was unsure whether or not to admit that she had spent the morning playing with Anders' daughter.

"It's ok. I saw you earlier," he said reassuringly, "She really seems to like you. A nice change."

"Change?" River was confused, "But she was laughing and talking to everybody earlier."

Anders nodded, "She grew up here, knows everybody and their dog. Sometimes literally. She's very protective, especially of her friend Jamie. Normally she'll test newcomers before fully accepting them. But you dodged that bullet."

"Well, lucky me."

Anders laughed, "You have no idea."