Part 3

The pair of them sat down on a red and white sofa that matched the carpet. River sank down into it, unbelievably comfortable. Only now she had stopped using them did she realise that her legs were starting to ache, a mixture of cold and running. As she looked above the fireplace, she felt another sinking thud in her stomach as it knotted up, her good humour vanished. It was a portrait, a typical family portrait. But it starred her parents, sitting down, next to Anders. He held a very young Zara, perhaps two years old, on his lap. Jamie was sitting on her mother's. Anders caught her gaze.

"That's Amy and Rory, they live just the other side of town. When I moved here with Zara when she was a baby, they took us in, showed us around. The two children grew up together and it didn't take long for us to become like a family, strange little mix that we were."

"What a lovely story." River responded blankly.

"Are you alright?" queried Anders, catching her tone.

River nodded, immediately straightening up. "Yes, fine. Just concerned. Tell me about these Guardians?"

A fleeting concern passed over Anders' face. "They've been around for a while."

"Do they attack everyone on sight then or just me?"

Anders shrugged, "It depends."

"On what?"

"What they see as a viable threat to the time-space continuum. They're largely docile, but if something arrives that could mess up the time streams. They were installed just after everything went...wonky."

"What do you mean wonky?"

"It started imploding, everything happened at once."

"You can remember" that?"

"Yes. I'm not exactly your everyday human being."

"Clearly. What are you then?"

"You mean you haven't worked it out yet?"

"I think I have. But my conclusion is unlikely."

"Probably right then. I'm from Theria."

"Theria? But, that place, it's a ghost town. I studied it doing my Doctorate. When The Civil War broke out...it essentially imploded...so how are you, here?"

"That's a story for another time."

River agreed with him. If The Guardians had woken up because they thought time was threatened, what was threatening it? The first thing she knew she had to do was warn Amy and Rory, especially as both children were with them. She wondered why Anders seemed less concerned about their safety, especially as one of the people in question was Zara. He seemed to realise this but was reluctant to comment on it, until River stared at him expectantly.

"The Guardians are no threat to Zara, or Jamie…it's them they're protecting. Though I don't know why."

"But how do you know it's them?"

"Because you were only attacked after they left."

He had a good point there. If they truly were protecting the children from something, surely they would only trigger when they were out of harm's way. But River had made her mind up. If there was something around that was threatening either of them, she would find and stop it, snowmen chasing her or no. Anders saw the look in her eye and knew he could do nothing but perhaps keep her company and take some of the collateral. He was tempted to smile, so much like Viola. He knew they would have gotten on. River sprang up, disturbing his thoughts,

"I have a screwdriver, you're a shape shifter. Let's go."

Go they did. They braced themselves against the cold, stepping outside. Snowflakes were skittering to the ground, covering previously made tracks, but so far they were alone, save a few pedestrians. That was stranger than being chased by snowman. It was far too peaceful, and that was never a good thing. As they trekked the path back towards the Ponds' house, both River and Anders were increasingly on edge. To the point of them jumping in unison when they saw Jamie and Zara quite happily watching the snow fall from the same kitchen window Amy had been watching them from earlier. Though they tried to stay discreet, they soon saw the door to the house open, and the two children waved cheerfully at them, calling across the park,

"River! Daddy!" the girl would have run outside to greet them had Amy not stopped her by pointing out she had no shoes or coat on.

Anders and River exchanged a look. There was heaviness in the air, an expectation of sorts. But for the sake of the children they played it down. The last thing they needed was to alarm two perfectly innocent youngsters. They gradually made their way across the snow-covered ground, and it started. The ground shook violently as hoards of snowmen and women came to life, all rushing towards the exposed pair. There were shouts of alarm from people in the houses, and as they were surrounded by a mass of raging ice, Amy had to physically restrain Zara to give them a chance to fight them off without risking her safety.

"Knock it off, we're not a threat!" River yelled at them.

Between them the newly reformed Anders, now once more a wolf, battled against them. He managed to clear a path to the two children, maybe if The Guardians saw he was not trying to hurt them they would stop chasing him. As he reached his girl he hugged her protectively and they did indeed relent. He called over to River, who was attacking the creatures as soon as she had beaten down one.

"River! Stop fighting them! Get out of there!"

It did no good. The creatures went into a frenzy now she was standing alone. In unison, both Amy and Zara broke away from the house to try and help her, the younger shifting quickly out of her father's grip.

"Leave her alone!" shouted Zara,

"Get your hands off my daughter!" cried Amy in chorus.

It was hard to see what exactly happened next but to Jamie and Anders it looked as though their words got through, for the snowmen stopped as soon as they joined in the foray. Then there was a terrific crack, and all three of them disappeared as the ground went from beneath their feet. They tumbled down into the darkness, a sea of snow following them. Anders and Jamie ran over to where they had been, but there was no sign of anything wrong with the ground.