Hello everyone! I'm Lifelong Obsessor, and this is my first Doctor Who fanfic!
The inspiration for this story came to me after watching "A Good Man Goes To War". All I could think was, "For the first time in a while, Amy, Rory and River are without the presence of the Doctor ... What happens now? What do they do?" This is how my mind answer that question. I hope you enjoy!
The first few chapters focus mostly on River, Amy and Rory, but that is going to change as the story proceeds.
ALSO - I don't own Doctor Who, the Doctor or any of the other characters mentioned in this story. If I DID, I'd either be rolling in dough, traveling the whole of time and space or straightening River's curls somewhere for fun. Just sayin'.
CHAPTER ONE
"It's me. *I'm* Melody … I'm your daughter."
Amy had thought she'd reached that point in life where nothing could surprise her; she had traveled through time, met President Nixon and seen hundreds of different alien species; she spent her days in a space ship shaped like a blue police box, had helped save the world more times than she could count and had, somehow, been held captive in a strange military base for months on end without knowing. Surprise, at this point, seemed futile, useless and, frankly, beneath her.
All that aside, here she stood now, frozen with shock and unable to form a coherent sentence. Dazed, to turned to Rory for help; sadly, he seemed to be in the same boat. He kept opening and closing his mouth, as if searching for words but finding none. Amy felt the same but she did momentarily take pride in how she was able to keep her mouth from flapping in a fish-like manner like her husband's.
She turned back to River … or should she call her Melody now? Oi. This was going to be a challenge. What happens now, she wondered? Was River going to start calling her "Mum"? Should she start planning some large mother/daughter excursion to make up for lost years? Were any years actually LOST? How old WAS River now, anyway? Was she older than Amy? What are you supposed to do with a daughter who's lived longer than you have? Amy's eyes combed River's face, looking for an answer.
Her daughter simply gazed back at her, smiling that small grin Amy had grown accustomed to seeing. After a moment of this, her eyes met Amy's. River's smile spread further across her face. She opened her mouth and Amy braced herself for whatever words of comfort or explanation her daughter was about to give her.
What she heard instead was River saying "Alright, enough dawdling everyone. We have a job to do!" before spinning on her heel and tramping to the other side of the room.
Her parents stared after her in shock. It was Rory whose ability to speak returned first. "Job?" he questioned, his voice shaking slightly – this was the first thing he had said to River since finding out they shared DNA. This realization frightened him and he once again slipped into a state of shock.
Rory's speaking helped Amy find her voice, however. "You just drop that bombshell on us and now we already have work ahead of us? I don't think so."
River, who had been fiddling with her wrist-cuff teleport, cast a quick glance over her shoulder. "Oh, I really think it is." She gestured toward where the TARDIS had previously sat. "The Doctor won't be gone long, and we have a LOT of things to accomplish before he gets back – important things, at that. Best we get right to it." She returned to her work.
Amy was not impressed with this reaction. She stormed across the room and yanked the device out of River's hands, despite her protests. "I think whatever it is can wait, honey," she said in a dangerous tone. "It's been a hell of a day and I think your father and I have earned some answers. Don't you?" It was then Amy saw what River had clutched in her hand. "Wait a minute. Is that the Doctor's sonic screwdriver?"
River grinned. "I *may* have taken from his pocket as he hopped aboard the TARDIS." The wrist cuff instantly became the centre of her attention again as she began to sonic the device from assorted angles.
Rory chose this moment to cross the room and take Amy's hand. For the first time in the past few minutes, he smiled and pointed at the sonic device. "Stealing now, are we? Now River, did we raise you like this?"
River looked up and smiled deviously. "Spoilers." This coaxed a laugh out of Rory, who actually seemed to be adapting to the situation now.
Amy, however, was dead set on having her questions answered. "Can we focus on the matter at hand for two seconds?" he practically growled.
River sighed and looked into Amy's face. "There simply isn't time for this – none of this is important right now."
"And what could POSSIBLY be more important than this?" Amy spat, becoming dangerously close to losing control over her temper.
River looked back and forth between Rory and Amy, taking in their identical expressions of confusion, fear and anger before saying the only three words that could possibly capture their attention: "Saving the Doctor."