Here's another DW story! This one features a new OC, Melanie Hannigan. Before we begin I'd like to thank frosty600 for giving this chapter a read. Also a big thank you to SaberbladePrime for reading this chapter too and giving me a great title to use for this story.

Leadworth: 1996

Amelia Pond knelt down by her bed, closing her eyes and clasping her hands together in prayer. "Dear Santa. Thank you for the dolls and pencils and the fish. It's Easter now, so I hope I didn't wake you, but honest, it is an emergency. There's a crack in my wall" she opened her eyes and glanced at the W shaped crack on her wall. Amelia looked away, closing her eyes, going back to her prayer "Aunt Sharon says it's just an ordinary crack, but…I know it's not, because at night there's voices, so please, please, could you send someone to fix it? Or a policeman. Or a…" Amelia broke off when she heard a rather strange noise coming from her back garden followed by a crash.

Amelia got up from the floor, grabbed a torch and runs to the window. Flicking the torch on, she pulled back the curtains to find a strange blue box laying on its side where the shed used to be. The ginger haired girl smiled when she saw the word police on it. She looked up at the sky "Thank you, Santa".

~Garden~

Amelia ran over to the box, now dressed in a jacket, red hat and matching wellies. As she grew nearer to the box, the doors were suddenly flung open and a grappling hook was thrown out. Then soaking wet man with floppy brown hair popped up "Could I have an apple?" he asked with a British accent "All I can think about. Apples. I love apples. Maybe I'm having a craving? That's new. Never had cravings before" he partially climbed out of the box, sitting on the edge, looking down "Whoa" he gaped "Look at that".

"Are you okay?" Amelia asked a bit concerned for the man.

"Just had a fall. All the way down there, right to the library. Hell of a climb back up"

"You're soaking wet", Amelia stated.

"I was in the swimming pool"

"You said you were in the library", Amelia said confused.

"So was the swimming pool"

"Are you a policeman?" she asked.

"Why? Did you call a policeman?"

"Did you come about the crack in my wall?" Amelia asked half hoping that was the reason he was here.

"What cra…?" he broke off, falling off the edge of the box, crying out in pain "Argh!"

"Are you all right, mister?" Amelia asked looking at him worriedly.

"No, I'm fine. It's okay. This is all perfectly norm-" he broke off, a wisp of golden light escaping from his mouth.

"Who are you?"

"I don't know yet" the man replied looking at his hands which briefly shimmered with the same golden light "I'm still cooking" he looked up at Amelia "Does it scare you?"

She shook her head "No, it just looks a bit weird", Amelia answered honestly.

"No, no, no. The crack in your wall. Does it scare you?"

"Yes"

The man jumps to his feet "Well then, no time to lose. I'm the Doctor. Do everything I tell you, don't ask stupid questions, and don't wander off" he strode away and promptly walked into a tree.

Amelia resisted the urge to laugh as she looked down at the Doctor "Are you all right?"

"Early days" the Doctor replied lying on the ground looking up at the Scottish girl "Steering's a bit off"

~Kitchen~

"If you're a doctor, why does your box say 'Police'?" Amelia questioned picking up an apple from the fruit bowl. She gave it to the Doctor who took a bite before spitting it out.

"That's disgusting. What is that?" he coughed.

"An apple"

"Apple's rubbish. I hate apples"

"You said you loved them"

"No, no, no. I like yoghurt. Yoghurt's my favourite. Give me yoghurt"

Amelia ran to the fridge, picked up a small yoghurt pot and went back over to the Doctor. He took the pot, opening it and poured the contents into his mouth. That too was spat out.

"I hate yoghurt. It's just stuff with bits in", the Doctor said disgusted.

"You said it was your favourite", Amelia said getting confused by this man. Why would he ask for those things if he was just going to spit it out? Didn't make sense.

"New mouth. New rules" the Doctor explained wiped the back of his hand across his mouth "It's like eating after cleaning your teeth. Everything tastes wro-Argh!" Amelia watched with concern as he twitched violently on the spot, slapping himself on the forehead in the process.

"What is it?" Amelia asked now getting really worried about the man "What's wrong with you?"

The Doctor frowned at her "Wrong with me? It's not my fault. Why can't you give me any decent food? You're Scottish. Fry something"

As Amelia cooked the Doctor some bacon, the man dried his brown hair with a towel. "Ah, bacon!" he said happily, sitting down at the table.

The Doctor only tried a mouthful before spitting that out too "Bacon. That's bacon. Are you trying to poison me?"

So Amelia heated up some beans. Once again the Doctor spat that out, into the sink this time "Beans are evil" he muttered "Bad, bad beans".

Bread and Butter was the next thing the Doctor tried. Which he also didn't like. Amelia watched as he walked to the front door with the plate and tossed it out "And stay out!"

"We've got some carrots", Amelia told him when he came back into the kitchen.

"Carrots? Are you insane?" he asked staring at the girl as if she was crazy. He walked over to the fridge/freezer "No, wait, hang on. I know what I need….I need…I need…I need…" he looked in both, his face lit up when he saw exactly what he needed "fish fingers and custard" Amelia blinks as he took out both items. This man is a little bit on the crazy side she thought. She wasn't scared of him at all, in fact she found him rather amusing.

A little while later the Doctor was sitting at the table eating his fish fingers and custard while Amelia sat across from him eating a tub of ice cream. She watched the Doctor pick up the bowl of custard and drunk the remains of it. When he set the bowl down, Amelia saw the line of custard above his top lip, like a moustache.

"Funny", the ginger remarked as the Doctor wiped away the custard with the back of his hand.

"Am I? Good" the Doctor said pleased about that "Funny's good. What's your name?"

"Amelia Pond"

"Oh, that's a brilliant name. Amelia Pond. Like a name in a fairy tale. Are we in Scotland, Amelia?"

Amelia shook her head "No. We had to move to England. It's rubbish"

"So what about your mum and dad, then?" the Doctor asked "Are they upstairs? Thought we'd have woken them by now"

"I don't have a mum and dad. Just an aunt"

"I don't even have an aunt"

"You're lucky"

"I know. So, your aunt, where is she?"

"She's out", Amelia replied.

The Doctor was very surprised at that. He wouldn't have expected a girl as young as her to be left alone "And she left you all alone?"

"I'm not scared"

"Course, you're not" he agreed "You're not scared of anything! Box falls out of the sky, man falls out of a box, man eats fish custard, and look at you, just sitting there. So you know what I think?"

"What?"

"Must be a hell of a scary crack in your wall"

~Bedroom~

The Doctor crossed Amelia's room to the wall with the crack in it "You've had some cowboys in here" he remarked, examining the crack "Not actual cowboys, though that can happen"

"I used to hate apples, so my mum put faces on them", Amelia explained showing him an apple with a smiley on it.

"She sounds good, your mum" the Doctor took it and put it in her pocket "I'll keep it for later" he turns back to the crack "This wall is solid and the crack doesn't go all the way through it. So here's a thing. Where's the draught coming from?" he takes out his sonic, runs it along the crack and checks the readings "Wibbly-wobbly timey-wimey. You know what the crack is?"

"What?"

"It's a crack" the Doctor ran his fingers over the crack "But I'll tell you something funny. If you knocked this wall down, the crack would stay put, because the crack isn't in the wall".

"Where is it then?"

"Everywhere. In everything. It's a split in the skin of the world. Two parts of space and time that should never have touched, pressed together…right here in the wall of your bedroom" he put his ear against the wall "Sometimes, can you hear…"

"A voice? Yes"

The Doctor grabbed a glass of water from the nightstand, emptied it and went back to the wall. When he pressed it against the wall and put his ear the other end, the voice came through clearer "Prisoner Zero has escaped"

"Prisoner Zero?"

"Prisoner Zero has escaped. That's what I heard. What does it mean?"

"Prisoner Zero has escaped" the voice repeated.

The Doctor stepped back from the wall "It means that on the other side of this wall, there's a prison and they've lost a prisoner. And you know what that means?"

"What?"

"You need a better wall" he moved Amelia's desk out of the way "The only way to close the breach is to open it all the way. The forces will invert and it'll snap itself shut. Or…"

"What?"

"You know when grown-ups tell you everything's going to be fine and you think they're probably lying to make you feel better?"

"Yes"

"Everything's going to be fine". The Doctor held out his hand and Amelia took it. With his other hand, he pointed the sonic at the crack and pressed the button. Amelia peered around him as the crack opened up, flooding the room with bright light.

"Prisoner Zero has escaped" the voice repeated. The Doctor took a step towards the crack, making sure to keep Amelia behind him "Prisoner Zero has escaped"

"Hello?" the Doctor called "Hello?"

A giant blue eye suddenly appeared making them both jump "What's that?" Amelia asked peering out from behind him. Before the Doctor could answer her, a small ball of light shoots out of the crack, striking him, making him fall back onto the bed.

"There, you see?" the Doctor said getting to his feet as the crack sealed itself up "Told you it would close. Good as new"

"What's that thing? Was that Prisoner Zero?"

"No. I think that was Prisoner Zero's guard. Whatever it was, it sent me a message" the Doctor pulled out his psychic paper from his pocket "Psychic paper. Takes a lovely little message. 'Prisoner Zero has escaped'" he read aloud "But why tell us? Unless…"

"Unless what?"

"Unless Prisoner Zero escaped through here" The Doctor looked around the room "But he couldn't have. We'd know". He ran out of the room, looking around the hall confused. "It's difficult. Brand new me. Nothing works yet. But there's something I'm missing…in the corner…of my eye" the Doctor slowly turned towards the door at the end of the hallway.

He just about finished turning when he heard a grinding noise along with a warning bell. "No, no, no, no, no, no!" the Doctor shouted running down the stairs.

~Garden~

"I've got to get back in there", the Doctor said racing towards the box "The engines are phasing. It's going to burn!"

"But…it's just a box! How can a box have engines?"

"It's not a box" the Doctor freed the grappling hook and gathers up the rope "It's a time machine".

"What, a real one?" Amelia asked in disbelief "You've got a real time machine?"

"Not for much longer if I can't get her stabilised. Five minute hop into the future should do it" the Doctor looped the rope though the door handles.

"Can I come?"

"Not safe in here. Not yet. Five minutes. Give me five minutes, I'll be right back" the Doctor hopped up on to the edge of the box and prepared to go inside when Amelia spoke in a sad tone.

"People always say that"

The Doctor jumped down and crouched in front of her so they were almost eye level "Am I people? Do I even look like people? Trust me. I'm the Doctor"

Amelia smiled and the Doctor climbed back onto the police box. He grabbed onto the rope, giving the girl one last look before jumping "Geronimo!" he shouted.

Amelia watched as the doors slam shut and the box disappeared. The moment it was gone, she ran back up to her room. She quickly packed what she wanted to take into a small suitcase and hurried back down to the garden.

There she sat, waiting for the Doctor to come back.

And she waited…

And waited…

12 years later….

"Amy! I'm home!" Melanie called as she opened the front door "Mels has been bailed out" she closed the door, setting her guitar against the wall "I honestly don't know what she was thinking, stealing a bus" there was a set of running footsteps and then Amelia, now known to everyone as Amy, appeared wearing her police uniform "got a party to go to?"

Most people didn't quite approve of Amy's choice of career as a kissogram, least of all her aunt. However, Melanie didn't seem too bothered by the ginger's occupation. She had voiced her opinion that it may not be the best job she could've chosen but she still supported her, defending her against those who didn't approve. Amy was always very grateful for the brunette's support.

She'd first met her on the side of the road, injured and scared. Amy took her home and with Rory's help, they patched her up. She'd wanted to take Melanie to the hospital but the brunette didn't want to. And once she explained why, Amy understood. She allowed Melanie to stay at her home for as long as she needed to in order to heal. But when it came time for Melanie to leave, Amy found that didn't want her to go. She didn't feel right letting her leave not after knowing what had happened to Melanie the night she met her. So Amy tried to get her to stay and much to her relief, Melanie agreed to stay.

When Amy had first met Melanie, she never imagined that she'd become such good friends with her. But here they were, two years on, housemates and the best of friends.

"Not quite. Someone broke into our house"

"Oh god. Are you ok?" Melanie asked checking her over, worried.

"I'm fine. I knocked him out with a cricket bat. He's currently handcuffed to a radiator upstairs", Amy explained "oh and there's another thing. It's the Doctor"

"The Doctor? You mean the guy who crash landed in your garden when you were a kid?" Melanie asked. She found out about the Doctor a few days after arriving at Amy's house. She and Amy had been having a conversation, a rather serious one at that when Mels came into the room remarking that it never would've happened if the Doctor had been around. Of course Amy was then forced to tell Melanie about the Doctor, the raggedy man with the police box time machine.

Amy nodded "The very one".

"And the reason you're wearing your police uniform is…?"

"Well it was this or a french maid. And I don't think I'm going to get any answers out of him as a maid so I went with this" Amy gestured to her outfit "want to help with the questioning?" she asked switching to a British accent.

"Why yes detective Pond I do", Melanie replied trying out a British accent. Amy wrinkled her nose at her horrible attempt.

"Maybe you should stick your American accent Elle", Amy suggested.

"Yeah, you're right. That was bad", Melanie agreed. The pair walked up the stairs to the first floor landing where the Doctor was handcuffed to the radiator. Melanie regarded the unconscious man, he looked exactly as Amy had described. "How long do you recon he'll be out for?"

Amy shrugged "not sure. Could be a while, I did hit him pretty hard with the cricket bat"

"I guess we better make ourselves comfortable", Melanie said leaning against the wall, looking at the unconscious man hoping that they were going to be waiting for ages.