I'm going to try my best to update this story daily but I am in the middle of sitting my GCSE exams. There might be a few days where I don't post a chapter but I'll do my best.
Chapter 2
The Ponds
"Where have you been?" The Doctor recognised the familiar Scottish accent and smiled as the redhead stopped in front of him.
"Amy!" The Doctor said moving to hug her.
Amy willingly moved into the time lords open arms and puts hers around him.
"Three years Doctor, you've showed up once, Melody's still upset you haven't been back after last week, what have you been doing?" Amy asked.
"Oh this and that," the Doctor only told Amy half the truth he wanted to wait until Rory was around to tell her the truth about River. The Doctor mentally cursed and thanked his TARDIS, cursed for dropping him here unprepared and thanked for dropping him here after last week, "Where's the Roman?" The Doctor asked deflecting the attention away from his own adventures.
"No, no Doctor. Last week. Well?" Amy completely avoided the Doctor's attempt to chance the topic.
"Last week?" The Doctor tried to claim ignorance. Unsuccessfully.
"Yes, last week. When I found you, with Melody, in her bedroom, on her seventeenth birthday," Amy had tried to put the situation delicately incase it hadn't happened for the Doctor yet.
"Oh, that last week," the Doctor blushed profusely. The events of Melody's seventeenth birthday had happened quite some time for him, but only recently for the Ponds. "Does Rory know?" The Doctor asked, looking almost afraid.
"No he doesn't, not yet anyway, he doesn't even know you were here last week. But he's inside getting ready for work, come on we can all have coffee before he leaves." Amy said. Just as they began to walk forward Amy turned to face him and asked "Is River with you?"
Quickly glancing back to the TARDIS the Doctor faced Amy "No not today"
"Ok then, probably best you know timelines, come on" Amy said pulling the Doctor towards the house.
Amy swiftly pushed through the back door of the house and walked into the kitchen with the Doctor at her heels.
"Rory!" Amy called into the house, "the Doctor's here," after a loud bang from upstairs Amy and the Doctor saw Rory running down the stairs.
"Oh my god, where have you been?" Rory said as the Doctor hugged him.
"Oh here and there, look sorry I didn't drop by before I lost track of time." The Doctor lied almost wholly this time.
"That's ok don't worry, River's not with you?" Rory continued.
"No she's not, oh by the way how's Melody?" The Doctor asked, once again deflecting away from himself.
"She's fine yeah, already left for school though you just missed her," it was Amy who answered this time.
'Oh good' the Doctor thought 'that'll make this easier'.
"How old is she now?" The doctor asked trying to not look nervous.
"Seventeen last Saturday," Amy told him, trying to stop Rory mentioning Melody's birthday and save the Doctor from blushing.
"Oh, good, ok" He took a step back so he could look at the couple.
"Ponds, can I talk to you?" The doctor asked.
"Uh aren't you already?" Rory said.
"You know what I mean, a serious topic, you might want to sit down"
"What for Doctor?" Amy asked.
"Just sit, please". The Doctor said, the nervousness in his voice must have been evident.
Amy and Rory at down on one side of the kitchen table and the Doctor sat on the other, making sure he was out of slapping distance in case Amy got angry at him. "
So what's this about Doctor?" Rory asked him.
"River," the Doctor paused trying to put his next word delicately "have I ever told you how I met her?" he didn't wait for a response, no one but himself knew this story now "it was at a place called The Library in the fifty-first century"
The Doctor continued with his story even though he knew the pain it would bring to both himself and his closest friends. "It was a long time ago now, in my previous body before I regenerated. I was there with a friend of mine, Donna. It was a time before I even knew who River was. I'd got a message on the physic paper, that was unsigned, asking me to go to The Library, being curious I went. When I met her she was extraordinary. She called me pretty boy and told me how young I was. She told me my name, my real name just to gain my trust, only two people in the universe know it." He stopped suddenly, memory's of the time he'd told her his name overcame his mind, the Doctor took a deep breath and continued "The Library had been taken over, by a swarm of these things called Vashta Nerada, they're like the piranhas of the air, they swarm and live in the shadows. They can tear flesh from any living thing in seconds and the Library was full of them. The Library computer system was alive, a little girl linked into the mainframe, and when the swarm hatched the computer saved everyone, uploaded them right to the hard drive, and 100 years later they were still there. The Vashta Nerada killed four of the people River was on an expedition with, and I convinced them to let us live. Maybe convinced isn't the right word, we were in a library I told them I was the Doctor and to look me up, and well they ran near enough, but not before I told them that they would let the people leave and then we would let them live in peace, the problem was downloading the saved people. The computer didn't have enough space for the transfer. I was going to hook myself up to the computer, so that it could use my memory space to complete the transfer. I knew I didn't have a high chance of surviving but River, she punched me, knocked me out. She handcuffed me, so I couldn't stop her, and she took my place."
Amy could tell what he was trying to tell them but it was Rory who spoke.
"Doctor, why are you telling us this?"
"Because you deserve to know. Your daughter, Melody Pond, River Song, was the bravest woman I knew. And she died to save me. To save a timeline I had yet to live. If she hadn't done what she did that day and I had been in her place, then I never would have met you, nor would the version of River that we know exist. But my point is that the future River, my wife, the older River we had all those adventures with, she's gone. I'm sorry"
Amy stared at him, tears streaming down her face "You bastard, that's cold" and at that Amy began to sob violently. Instinctively the Doctor reached forward to comfort her but after a glare from Rory he sat back in his chair. "You came all the way to us just to tell me how my daughter dies, even for you that is cold"
Seeing how devastated the Doctor looked Rory knew his wife's words were harsh. Though Rory wasn't grateful that the Doctor had come here to tell them he understood the reasons. Though why now Rory wasn't sure, it made sense from the Doctor's timeline, but why didn't he tell them after their Melody left to travel with him.
"I think you should go Doctor" Rory was surprised at how easy it was to say this to his closest friend.
"But.."
"Now Doctor" Rory was more firm this time still holding his wife in his arms.
Silently the Doctor stood up and walked out into the garden and towards his TARDIS. At least there was some comfort in knowing that the young Melody Pond was still going to get a life with the past Doctor, and that even now he would still see some of the girl before she left to adventure with the young Doctor or go to Luna University. That Melody Pond...
Melody Pond, River Song. The Doctor knew he could be stupid sometimes. He turned and ran back towards the house shouting out to Amy.
