Melody tried to ignore the weakness in her muscles and bones. She felt far too cold and her legs wanted to give out. She heard the sound of the Doctor walking towards her, slowly. Clearly, he'd noticed the falter. The idea that the man she was sent to kill had noticed the chink in her armour caused her to stumble slightly. Or that was what she tried to tell herself.
"You're pushing your body too far." The Doctor told her, "You've only just regenerated."
"So I have a new body." Melody shrugged, "There's nothing wrong with me."
"Well, as I once told Harry Sullivan: a new body's like a new house, it takes a little time to settle in." the Doctor argued, "That bullet went right through your regeneration network. You almost didn't regenerate."
Melody knew who Harry Sullivan was. He was one of the Doctor's early companions: a doctor, himself, that worked for UNIT. But Melody had never heard of the regeneration network.
"What does that…" she began to ask.
She didn't get a chance to finish. Her knees buckled and she fell back. Somehow the Doctor managed to catch her. For some reason, the Doctor's arms made her feel safe. But that didn't stop the crippling pain of Kovarian's punishment. Melody clenched her jaw to stop herself from screaming. The Doctor obviously noticed. He reached over and cupped her cheek, moving her head to his shoulder. Then he touched her temple.
"Doctor, what's wrong with her?" her mother demanded.
"Post-regenerative trauma." The Doctor explained, "It's very normal for this sort of situation, but apparently Madame Kovarian doesn't understand that. She's sending a wave through time and space to torture your daughter. Evidently some sort of punishment for her 'weakness'. If we can get her back into the TARDIS, we can interrupt it."
This was normal? The weakness after regeneration was normal? She'd always been told it was abnormal and unnatural. Then again, the Doctor would know better as a Time Lord himself. He leaned down and kissed her temple, increasing her feelings of safety despite the pain she was in.
"Shh." He hushed her, "You'll be fine soon."
She'd never been comforted before and a lovely warmth spread through her body because of it. The Doctor slid his arm under her legs again and stood, lifting her. She felt him carrying her through the room. It was only when she heard the click of the TARDIS doors closing that the pain faded away. She slumped in the Doctor's arms in relief.
She heard the humming around her change in pitch and a voice of concern was injected into her head.
Just rest, my Child.
The Doctor carried her down some corridors as far as her mind could tell. Then he laid her on the bed. There was a buzzing sound as the Doctor probably scanned her.
"Well?" her mother asked anxiously.
"She'll be fine." The Doctor said, "However, something's trying to kill Hitler and while that sounds good, it could destroy time."
"We'll go out and get started." Her mother said.
Melody listened to her parents leave. She felt herself lifted and her vest was pulled off of her before the Doctor laid her down again. Then he pulled her boots off. If she had more energy, she would have made a crack about him undressing her behind her parents' backs.
Suddenly the Doctor was wrapping a blanket around her. For the first time in her life, Melody felt loved. Someone was caring for her. And that someone was the man she had been raised and conditioned to kill. She felt his hand on her cheek again and she wanted to lean into his touch.
"You and I are the last two Gallifreyans in existence, Melody Pond." He told her, apparently perfectly aware that she could hear him, "Barring, maybe, the Master. And he's nowhere near as beautiful as you are."
Flattery. Or did he really think she was beautiful? She felt his hand move from her cheek and he took her hand. He raised her knuckles to his lips and kissed them, like a lover would. She would've gasped if she could have. He didn't stop talking, though.
"Listen to me." he told her, "I'm not just telling you this to save my own skin. I teach this to everyone I love: just because someone tells you that you have to do something doesn't mean you have to do it."
Was that true? Did he love her? Did she have a choice in this? Because, suddenly, she didn't want to kill him. She wanted to love him. She wanted to devote her soul to him. Thoughts of marrying him, that she'd long ago dismissed, re-entered her head. He laid her hand back down.
"The TARDIS will show you what I mean while I'm gone." He promised, turning and leaving.
Melody started seeing images. The inside of the TARDIS, as it had once been. The girl that Melody recognised as Dani, the Doctor's ward, was sitting there. She looked like an innocent child, staring up with wide dark eyes. Melody watched her. She was born to be a monster, killing every living thing in sight, the way Melody was born to kill the Doctor. But Dani refused that destiny and took one in protecting every living thing instead.
She'd refused her base nature because it was the right thing to do.
Melody could do the same.
Kovarian had never believed the TARDIS was alive, but Melody did. Especially now. So she had a question for the TARDIS.
Why would killing Hitler destroy time?
In response, the TARDIS showed her what happened in 1987 with Peter Allen Tyler.
When the Doctor returned to the medbay. Melody was sitting up, staring into space. She was barely able to believe what she'd seen. The Doctor came over and sat at her bedside and Melody turned her head, looking at him.
"They told me Dani was still committing genocide." She told him.
"Not anymore." The Doctor told her, "Not since she was a child."
When he held his arms out, she hesitated for a minute because she didn't recognise the gesture. Then she realised he was calling her into his arms. She quickly climbed off the bed and into his lap. She tucked her head under his chin. The Doctor rocked her and stroked her hair, soothing her.
"My bespoke psychopath." He whispered.
She knew it was an endearment meant only for her and she felt so happy. She smiled against his neck.
"My madman." She whispered.