Author's Note:

Hello all you wonderful people!

I just wanted to take a moment to thank you guys for your great support with me writing the "Just A Couple of Ponds" series. I don't want to get to long-winded and cheesy...but seriously. Every single review means a lot. Please keep them coming! I love hearing from you, whether it's praise or critique.

Sylar1610 gets the credit for this story! The idea was his, I just filled in the details for him. It was such a complicated idea that it's becoming a full story instead of a oneshot! That's kinda cool, right?

Anyway, enjoy! This is pretty much AU, which I don't usually do. As you can see, I do accept AU requests and ideas!

Reviews are love!

"Amelia, do you want to talk to me about it?"

"No."

"I would like you to think about your answer. Are you sure?"

"Yes."

"Let's try this again. Take your time before you answer me..."

"I don't want to bloody talk to you, alright?"

"Alright, I'm going to give you some quiet time. You need to think."

Amelia Pond turned her face away in defiance. She was on the edge of giving up. No matter how many times she argued, it always came to this. Her having nothing but quiet time. It was idiotic.

As far as she was concerned, there was nothing left to say. It was just that no one was listening to her. No one.

So why were they still trying to make her talk? Her answer would never change.

She was so alone. On her birthday.

Today was her birthday.

She'd grown up alone. Sometime around her eighth birthday, her parents had died. Then the baby had died. Then her uncle, then her aunt. Just two years ago, on her eighteenth birthday.

Why was it always on her birthdays?

Today was her birthday.

She wondered who would die today.

The syrupy, sickening voice broke through her thoughts.

"Amelia, I'm going to come back in an hour, okay? You just think about it."

Amelia didn't want to answer; somehow, the same phrase, or idea, or belief, or brainless hope, always escaped her lips.

"He's coming for me."

The woman's back stiffened, then turned to face Amelia. Amelia couldn't remember this woman's name, even after all these years..Price, maybe. Doctor Price.

The woman had pasted on her patronizing smile like she always did. Amelia knew the speech that was coming.

"Amelia, you know where you are, yes?" As always, Doctor Price didn't wait for an answer. "You're in a mental institution. A hospital. Do you know why you're here?"

Amelia spit out the words like she'd rehearsed...she was still hoping that her words could sound bitter enough to poison the woman. Make her keel over dead.

"I am Amelia Pond. I am twenty-one years old. I am a paranoid, disillusioned schizophrenic. I live at Bad Wolf Mental Institution, and I have for three years."

"Good...except you're twenty, not twenty one." the woman purred.

"No, I'm twenty one. Today's my birthday." Amelia tossed her hair.

The doctor was slightly surprised.

"Is it? I...are you sure?"

"Very. Go check my file."

Price, a little speechless, got up. Then she kind of froze...like she'd remembered why she sat down in the first place.

"Amelia, I'm reminding you again..." Price laid her hand on Amelia's shoulder. "The man in the blue box...he's not real. He's in your head."

Amelia was exhausted.

"No, he's not. Quit saying that."

Price just walked out.

"I want a new doctor!" Amelia shouted. "You obviously aren't good at your job!"

The insult had sounded better in her head.

DWDWDWDWDWDWDWDWDW

The humming noise was getting louder. Much louder. Amelia realized that the red fuzz that she was seeing must be the backs of her eyelids. Slowly, painfully, she opened them.

The red didn't go away. She was sitting alone, on the middle of the hard floor, covered in something.

She remembered that she had been eating her lunch. What had happened?

There was blood everywhere. Someone had gotten hurt, maybe.

The knife she'd used to cut up the oven-roasted chicken breast with rosemary was on the floor in front of her. It had blood on it, too.

Squinting, she raised her hands in front of her face. Blood. Lots of it.

Amy wondered if she should tell someone about the blood. But all she wanted to do was sleep.

She pressed the emergency button on the wall, then laid down on the bed and fell asleep.

DWDWDWDWDWDWDWDWDW

"What in Pete's name happened to this one?"

"Self harm. We didn't think she was the kind, but we were wrong."

Doctor Price's voice. And someone else's...a man's voice. She didn't like it.

Amelia tried to open her eyes. She felt like her body was being moved, and there were lots of noises.

She tried to talk, but nothing came out.

"Lie still." The man's voice said harshly.

She didn't like him.

Dr. Price's voice: "You've had an accident, Amelia. Lie still like Doctor James says. You will..."

The last part of Dr. Price's speech faded as Amelia's world fell back into darkness.

DWDWDWDWDWDWDWDWDW

Amelia was sent back to Bad Wolf one week and twenty-seven stitches later. As far as anyone could tell, she had been trying to get out of her room when she'd cut herself. There were knife scratches all around the door, and some of the nurses were making bets on whether it was just an accident or if she had been trying to kill herself.

They didn't think that Amelia could hear them, but she could.

She wasn't trying to kill herself. She knew that much. But she couldn't remember anything else.

Except maybe the dream.

That was one thing that she'd clung to since being institutionalized. She still dreamed every single night. Dreamed about her Doctor in his blue box.

This time had been different though, she had dreamed about a man. A different man.

Suddenly, Amelia jolted in her bed, straining against the soft cloth restraints on her wrists. She knew who the man was.

DWDWDWDWDWDWDWDWDW

"Amelia, calm down. Orderly...a little something for Miss Pond?"

"No! Don't you dare drug me!" Amelia screamed at Doctor Price.

"Doctor James did not try to hurt you, Amelia."

"I dreamed about him!" the red head screamed.

"That's because you're crazy!" Price screamed back.

Amelia just stared. Finally...the woman had totally lost her cool.

The woman ran a hand across her eyes, and turned to the orderly, who was also staring in shock.

"Give her a sedative, will you, Jenna?"

The dark haired woman nodded wordlessly, and the frazzled psychologist fled the room.

"Jenna, you have to get me out of here." Amelia whispered as the orderly held a needle to her arm. "Please. I'm not crazy."

The other girl's lip trembled, but she gave Amelia the sedative and left the room without a word.

DWDWDWDWDWDWDWDWDW

"Please sit still, Miss Pond. A nurse will be in to check your stitches in a moment."

Amelia nodded and rubbed gingerly at her arm. She was back at the hospital two weeks after her "accident" to get her dressing changed. The paper on the bed she was sitting on was scratchy and a funny pink color.

"Sweetie," the receptionist smiled gently and patted Amelia's shoulder. "Don't scratch them."

"Thanks." Amelia mumbled.

The woman smiled again. "Don't worry, sweetie. You're gonna be fine."

Amelia had memorized the dull, green pattern on the wallpaper by the time the door to her room swung open.

"Miss Pond? How are you doing today?"

She looked up and plastered on her look-I'm-smiling-don't-ask-me-any-stupid-questions smile.

The young, tousle-headed nurse flashed a genuine, but very shy smile at her.

"Good. My name's Rory. I'll be your nurse today."

I hope you guys enjoyed chapter one! Chapter two coming soon. Remember to rate and review! Also, spread the series! It would thrill my little heart to get some more readers.