Wandering around 16th century America wasn't bad.

However the Doctor would have prefered it if he hadn't kept turning to say something interesting to a non-existent (well, not 'non-existent' per se, but at the very least 'not there') Amy every few minutes.

He had done precisely as she had told him to do. He had continued.

He still hadn't found someone to travel with, but that was because there was no one interesting (at least that is what he told himself).

He was in Northern America, in the middle of winter... well the end of winter, but it didn't make it any less cold.

He had been forced into looking for a bigger jacket!

Of course it was tweed, although dark purple, because tweed was cool.

Despite the temperature it was a nice day. People seemed happy. Well the two kids he had run into seemed happy, they were going to skate on the pond...lake! It was technically a lake!

So the Doctor was letting himself enjoy the scenery.

Or trying to anyway.

He was, believe it or not, here for a reason. He was just a little early. There were, or will be, strange readings in the area. He had been able to pinpoint them to the lake, but he still had to wait for them to actually happen. He was only a day early.

Wandering aimlessly through the woods, not straying too far from the lake and avoiding the town, he didn't want to a) get lost or b) have to answer difficult questions, the Doctor heard something that made his hearts stop (or one of them at least, it seemed that the right was far more sensitive than the left).

A little girl screamed.

Out on the iced over lake two siblings stood, frozen in place.

The Doctor being...well, The Doctor, had dashed madly in the direction of the scream. He hadn't been far from the lake when it had reached him.

When he saw them he realised two things:

1) that the ice was thin and cracking under the weight of the little girl.

2) that in this situation he wouldn't be able to help. If the ice was cracking from their slight frames, it would shatter if he tried to walk on it.

The ice was cracking splintering beneath their feet.

Despite this the older of the two, the brother, seemed remarkably together.

"It's all going to be fine...we...we're going to have some fun instead."

The girl was laughing now at her brothers antics, all to stop her from panicking.

The Doctor allowed himself to smile, distracting the girl while he got her off the ice was clever. It showed just how much he loved her.

Watching as the boy, with a hop, skip and a jump, fetched his shepherd's crook to pull his sister away from the thin ice the Doctor sighed. They should be alright.

How wrong he was.

The boy in flicking his sister away from the thin ice, towards the shore, had propelled himself forward, onto the already fragile ice. The impact of his landing sent him crashing through to the cold beneath.

."Jack!"

The girl, panicked as she was, tried making her way back towards the thin ice where her brother had disappeared.

There was nothing the Doctor could do for the boy, not now anyway, but he could stop the girl. He caught up to her and, as gently as he could, led her to the shore. Away from the deceptive ice.

She was screaming and crying. The Doctor did what he could, he hated seeing children cry, until her noise attracted others from the nearby village. The girls parents among them.

The mother took the girl in her arms as the father turned to the Doctor.

"What happened?"

It wasn't an angry accusation, it wasn't a threat. It was the simple question that told the Doctor that these people would believe what he had to say. So he made it count.

"The ice was thin," His throat was closing over, he wanted to cry, just like the little girl. "He saved her." As much as he may have wanted to he couldn't go on.

The father nodded. He had said enough, all that he needed to know.

Many had died that winter, children and adults alike, and his son had died a hero.

The Doctor drifted away then, back into the woods where he had left the TARDIS. Nobody tried to stop him.

He still had to find out what those readings meant, or what they would mean. So he waited until night fell, before going back to the lake.

The full moon rose.

The Doctor looked up and smiled. He knew about MiM, he had helped him. he had been responsible for the title and everything. For once it wasn't a rubbish title.

On the shore of the lake the Doctor noticed a figure that he hadn't expected. Because, you know, the Man in the Moon should really be in the... well, Moon.

MiM acknowledged the Doctor with a wave of his hand and nod of respect. He may technically have been older than the Doctor, but he didn't have the Time Vortex running through his head. He hadn't even done a quarter of what the Last of the Time Lords had.

"So it was you." the Doctor said realising the source of those readings. No less curious though.

The death of the boy earlier today still fresh in his mind.

"Hello Doctor, what have you been up to recently?" It was a casual enquiry, but MiM had trouble keeping track of the Doctor and he was forever curious of his adventures.

"Oh, this and that." the Doctor waved it off, as he always did. "How is your idea for the guardians doing." he wouldn't mind some help looking after the kids.

"They are doing well." the Doctor shot him a significant look, "it's why I'm here, actually." his gaze returned to the lake.

The implication was not lost on the Doctor, who raised his eyebrows.

"The Boy?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

"Pitch is getting ready for war again. The Boy has the right qualities."

"He is very young."

"Yes." MiM hung his head at this. He sounded as if he regretted what he had to do.

"What this time?" The Doctor was referring to the changes that MiM would have to make to the Boy, both physically and mentally for his role as a Guardian.

The Doctor hadn't met the others, they had just been an idea when he last met MiM, but he knew they all had different talents, different cores that helped them connect with children.

"Fun."

The Doctor nodded, an important quality, and not just in children.

"Name?"

MiM frowned slightly.

"He will be born from ice and cold. But he will be the Guardian of Fun...what do you think?"

The Doctor smiled, 'ice and cold', he had an idea.

"His name was Jack...he should keep it. Jack Frost."

MiM nodded, "Why that? His last name was Overland."

The smile widened, "Just stories."

The Doctor may not have entirely approved of MiM's techniques, but it didn't hurt the boy, and it would save lives latter.

They spent much of the night making the required changes to the boy, fueling him with the energy of the ice and cold that surrounded him. Coaxing out the required genetics (the hair and eyes were a mistake, but they couldn't be helped) was difficult and took the most time.

MiM insisted that the boy's memory be wiped, "No one needs to remember dying."

The Doctor still wasn't entirely convinced, MiM rolled his eyes.

"Tooth can help him find them if he needs them."

"Tooth?" the Doctor wished at this point that he could still raise one eyebrow, but that was regenerations ago.

"Toothiana, aka Tooth Fairy. Guardian of Memories." MiM explained.

The Doctor could only nod in reply. So MiM was modeling the Guardians on Fairy Tales... if they had been around long enough, which at this point in the 16th century they could have been, maybe the Fairy Tales were based around them.

The Doctor didn't really want to know who the others were at this point. It might just ruin a few of the images he loved most about the human imagination.

It was after midnight when they finally raised Jack Frost. The thin ice of the lake cracking like an eggshell around his body. With white hair and blue eyes, he came gasping from the lake.

The Man in the Moon told him his name and then left to stand with the Doctor in the trees.

They were silent as they watched Jack Frost learn to fly.