Wow, everybody. I'm super sorry it took me so long to finish off this story. Drafts of parts 2 and 3 have actually been sitting on my computer for well over a year, but due to a variety of factors (new job, moving, problems with the story...) I wasn't able to post them until now. As it stands, I'm still a little dissatisfied with part 2, but that's the way it goes. I think it's time to finish this work and move on. Part 3 will also be posted today. Enjoy, and thanks to everyone who kept up hope that this story would be finished!

Part 2: 1991

By the time Anthony Williams met Melody Pond again, he was forty-five years old. In the intervening years, both of his parents had passed away. He lived alone.

Though he knew the general time and location of Melody's imminent arrival, he did not know the exact time or place of it. So in November of 1991, just six months after his mother's death, he traveled to the village where his parents had grown up to look for her.

He stayed in the home of a couple he had been friends with for many years. Blake and Alma Zucker were old work colleagues. The Zuckers wanted children, and had tried for years for a pregnancy without success. Now, they were thinking of adopting. The serendipity of all this made Anthony more than a little uncomfortable.

Every morning, Anthony left the Zucker household before his hosts woke. He walked the circumference of the village, heading in a slightly different direction each day to better facilitate his search. Visiting the village of Leadworth was a surreal experience for Anthony. How many of his parents' childhood stories had been set here? As he passed through the village square each day he almost believed he recognized the houses, paths, and shops. But, though he kept an eye out for the small, long-nosed boy he had seen in pictures, he never did catch a glimpse of his father. Nor, for that matter, did he find Melody.

On his fifth morning in Leadworth, Anthony woke, dressed, and slipped out the back door of the house into a chilly, misty morning. He would go south today, cut across the fields that lay beside the Zucker house and make his way back into the village.

He crossed the muddy grass and made for a large, lone tree off in the distance. When he reached the tree he stopped and gazed up through its leafless branches. The sky was a shade of whitish gray.

He felt stiff and slow in ways he couldn't have imagined all those years ago when he first met Melody. He was slowing down, getting old. He could feel it happening little by little.

But his sister, his parents, for that matter, were just starting their lives. Amelia Pond was born in 1989, just two years ago, but she had also died at a ripe old age in 1990. She was ending and beginning all at once, while Anthony chugged along his linear timeline.

A flash of light tore across his vision. It was accompanied by a rushing noise. Familiar, like something out of a dream. His vision cleared, and a high-pitched voice called out.

"Anthony!"

He looked up just in time to catch Melody as she leapt into his arms. His lower back screamed in protest, but he was too surprised and elated to care.

"Melody!"

"Anthony!" she shouted. "Anthony!"

He set her down. Melody was practically hopping with excitement. A leather briefcase and a stuffed giraffe lay on the grass nearby. Anthony had nearly forgotten they existed.

"I made it, didn't I?" Melody was saying, bobbing up and down on her heels as she spoke. "You look different. Why do you look different?"

"I got old," he said. "But you look just the same."

"Of course I do," she said.

She looked around.

"Where're my parents?" she said. "And the Doctor? When can I see them?"

His insides squirmed a bit.

"You'll meet them soon," he said.

"How soon?"

"Soon."

Melody stuck out her lower lip. Anthony reached for her hand.

"Come meet my friends?" he said. "They live in that big house over there."

"I want to see my parents."

"You have to meet my friends first," he said. "Those are the rules."

She sighed and placed her tiny hand in his.

"Who made these rules, anyway?"

"I wish I knew."

ooo

Anthony opened the back kitchen door and was relieved to see that the Zuckers were not yet awake. He shut the door behind them and let go of Melody's hand.

"Hungry?" he asked.

She shook her head. She was looking around the house curiously.

"Do your friends know my mother and father?"

"Yes, and no," he said. "They haven't met them yet."

"Oh," Melody said, sounding bored. "Time travel, right?"

"Right."

"When can I meet my parents?"

Anthony sighed. He bent down to his sister's level and took both of her hands in his.

"Here's the thing, Melody," he said. "If you want to meet your parents, you're going to have to be patient, all right?"

"But I've already been patient," she said. "I've been waiting my whole life to meet them."

"I know," he said. "And I'm sorry. You're going to have to wait a little longer. But trust me, it will be soon."

Melody pushed his hands away and crossed her arms.

"Come on, Melody," he said.

She tossed her curls and looked away. He sighed.

"Wait here, okay?" he said. "I need to let my friends know you're here."

He moved toward the stairs.

"You'd better be telling the truth," Melody said.

Anthony paused. He looked back.

"I am," he said.

Then, he headed upstairs. Now came the really difficult part: waking his hosts and explaining.

ooo

Explaining was simpler than Anthony had expected. Eerily so.

It was almost the truth. The little girl had been born on the streets, he said, and thus she had no birth certificate or documentation. She claimed her parents were dead, so no one was looking for her or had reported her missing. He had met her in Manhattan several months ago, though only briefly. He'd noticed her on the street and offered her some of his lunch. He'd been planning to report her condition to the police or child services, but hadn't been able to find her again after their first meeting. And now, to his immense surprise, here she was in Leadworth. She had recognized him as the man who'd been kind to her in New York and followed him back to the house. It was an extraordinary coincidence.

To his utter shock, the Zuckers believed every word of it.

It was, if anything, even simpler to get his friends to agree to the idea of taking Melody in, at least on a temporary basis. If he tried to bring her back with him to America, after all, it would end up causing a lot of trouble for both of them. In fact, the most likely outcome would be Melody being taken in by children services and sent to foster care. The least the Zuckers could do would be to let her stay in England.

He thought about the old adage that it was easiest to con those who wanted to be conned. Not that he was conning his friends. Not really. They wanted a child. Melody needed a family. This way, everyone won.

ooo

The Zuckers agreed to wait upstairs while he talked to Melody. He found her in the living room lying on the couch, mesmerized by a Saturday morning kid's show. He sat down next to her.

"Having fun?"

She nodded, tearing her eyes away from the set.

"Yeah," she said. "I like it here."

They sat in silence for a moment, watching a squeaky voiced puppet frolic across the screen, while Anthony considered what to say.

"Would you like to live here?"

Melody looked up.

"My friends don't mind if you stay here," he said. "They've always wanted kids, and they're very nice people."

"What about my parents?"

"Well," Anthony said, "remember how I said your parents would be kids like you if you came here? Well, if you live with my friends, you'll get to see your parents as much as you want, play with them every day, because you'll live in the same town."

Melody stared down at the floor.

"I get that part," she said. "But, I kind of thought, maybe I could live with you?"

Anthony looked down at his own feet.

"I'd like that, Melody," he said. "But it can't happen."

"Why?" she said, a whine creeping in to her voice.

"Because," he said. "Because I live in another country. Because I wouldn't be able to take care of you. There are all sorts of reasons."

"No," she said. "No, there aren't. I want to live with you."

"I'm sorry," he said. "You can't."

She scowled. Tears stood out in her eyes.

"You're just saying that because you don't love me," she said. "You said you like me, but you lied. You're a liar just like everyone else."

"Melody, that's not true."

She turned away from him, arms crossed.

"Just go away," she said. "I never asked for your help."