Chapter Two
The Doctor watched the little girl as she slept in the infirmary. She spoke, but in unintelligible mumbles, so he noted that he would have to ask her what she experiencing. There was a pronounced look of fear on her face, that much was obvious. He wondered how he would broach the subject of the Dream Lord, and how to tell her who he was. She was already scared enough as it was without him adding to it. Yes, he could tell she was scared, for all her bravado. She was just a little girl after all, and little girls weren't always equipped to handle strange things invading their world. Girls like Amy, on the other hand, were the exception, but even that didn't stop them from being scared once in a while. It was normal behavior after all. He looked up when Amy appeared in the doorway, bearing a tray with three cups of tea and a plate of Jammie Dodgers.
"Has she woken up yet?" she asked, entering the room gingerly. "Or is she still out like a light?"
"Still out, I'm afraid," the Doctor replied, as Amy set the tray down on the table next to him.
Amy pulled over a chair and sat down. "So have you figured out what's wrong with her yet?" she said, grabbing a Jammie Dodger and taking a bite.
The Doctor shook his head. "No, and I won't know until she wakes up. I already told you that."
Amy sighed. "Yeah, you did, but you also said that wouldn't happen until the man in the bow-tie released her." She frowned. "Who's the man in the bow-tie?"
"It could be anyone," the Doctor replied, fingering his own bow-tie. "Even someone she's just met the once. Children remember the strangest things sometimes."
"Like raggedy Doctors?"
The Doctor smiled despite himself. "Like raggedy Doctors."
Amy looked at Robyn closely. "She looks like you," she said, observing the similarities between the sleeping child and the ancient Time Lord. "Same dark hair, same grey-green eyes... she could easily be mistaken for your daughter."
"What?" The Doctor squeaked. He coughed, then took a deep breath. "No, no, that's just..."
"About right, isn't it?"
The Doctor picked up one of the cups of tea and drank deeply. Amy was right, as much as he hated to admit it. But he wasn't about to admit as much. He'd been a father once, and a grandfather, and yes, he could see how Robyn could be mistaken for his daughter. He could see the similarities, and it scared him. It scared him because that knowledge might give the girl ideas, ones that couldn't be fulfilled. If he let her grow too attached to him, there'd be no stopping her. She'd worm her way into his hearts, and he wouldn't be able to get rid of her.
Wait a second.
If he let her get too attached?
What about him getting too attached to her? It certainly wouldn't be the first time a child fell under his spell, and it wouldn't be the first time he reciprocated. It was how he met Amy, after all. If he hadn't crashed into her life when she was still young and impressionable, then he might not have been sitting here, sharing tea and Jammie Dodgers with her. No, he couldn't let Robyn get too close, and he was out of practice when it came to parenting anyway, if his slip up with Elliot was anything to go by.
Just then, he heard Robyn let out an anguished cry, then shoot up stock straight in the bed. Tears began to stream down her face. The Doctor moved over to the bed, then gathered the child in his arms. "Shh, it's all right now," he said, trying to sound soothing, but failing miserably. Yes, he was definitely out of practice when it came to parenting. "You're awake now, and the man in the bow-tie can't hurt you here." He smoothed the little girl's hair, and wiped the tears from her eyes. "Amy brought some tea, and some Jammie Dodgers. Would you like some?"
Robyn nodded carefully, hiccuping from all the crying she'd done. "Yes, please."
Amy passed the Doctor a cup, and a couple of biscuits, which he gingerly passed on to Robyn. "Are you right to tell me what you saw?" the Doctor asked, once Robyn had drank some of the tea, and eaten one of the biscuits. "Take it slowly, though, and tell me if you're uncomfortable, all right?"
"All right," Robyn replied, sniffling a little. She began to recount what she'd been through while she slept, telling them everything in complete detail. Everything she'd seen and felt, from the presence of her mother, the house she'd lived in, and the man in the bow-tie. But when she got to the monster, she paused, unsure of herself. "I don't know what it is," she said. "But every time the man in the bow-tie sends it after me, that's when I wake up."
The Doctor frowned. At first he thought that Robyn had not the mental prowess to send him the message on the psychic paper, and he still believed that to be true, to a point. But now the possibility occurred to him that the Dream Lord had enhanced latent psychic abilities in the child and sent him the message himself to lure him into a trap. He was just using this girl, and scaring her half to death for the hell of it.
It needed to end.
"What's happening to me, Doctor?" asked Robyn, now biting into the second Jammie Dodger, crumbs landing on the blankets as she spoke. "Have you worked out how to help me now?"
"Not yet," he replied. "I still need more to work with."
Amy looked at him uneasily. "And how do you suggest going about that?" she asked, a bad feeling forming in the pit of her stomach.
"I'll need to get inside your head," said the Doctor, addressing Robyn, but answering Amy's question at the same time. "Then I can see for myself. I mean, I've got a fair idea, but having more to go on always helps."
Robyn looked at him fearfully. "You want to go inside my head?"
"If you'll let me. Anything you don't want me to see, just imagine a door, locked, I might add, and I won't be able to see anything behind them." He looked at her carefully. "While I'm there I won't let anything hurt you." He smiled slightly. "Trust me, I'm the Doctor, remember?"
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Robyn stared at the Doctor thoughtfully, taking her time to decide if she should allow him to do as he asked. She was frightened, but if it was the only way he could help her, then letting him inside her head was what she needed to do."Would it hurt?" she asked hesitantly, quickly adding, "When you go inside my head, I mean." A sudden thought struck her, and she frowned. "How would you do it, anyway?" she continued, pulling away from him slightly. "Can you do some weird mind tricks which could do something funny to my brain?" She made an odd gesture with her hands to prove her point, which made Amy burst out laughing and almost drop her cup of tea in the process.
The Doctor grinned, pleased that the child managed to make a joke despite her predicament. "Something like that," he replied. "But I won't do anything funny to your brain." He saluted irreverently. "Time Lord's honour."
"That's good," Robyn said with relief. "I wouldn't want to let you into my head, then find I've forgotten how to walk once you're out."
"You won't forget how to walk," the Doctor reassured her. "Unless you want to?" he added, the expression of his face turning to one of mock seriousness.
Robyn laughed, but it was more like a giggle; the sort of high pitched giggle little girls let out when they found something, or someone, incredibly amusing. "No, I like knowing how to walk, and I like knowing how to run too, so I don't want anything to happen that makes me forget."
The Doctor nodded, then looked at Amy and smiled sadly... an action that was not lost on her, even though she couldn't understand why.
"So, how are you going to get inside my head?" Robyn continued, missing Amy's bewildered look as she addressed the Doctor. "I know I have to imagine doors if there's anything I don't want you to see, but what do I have to do if there's something I do want you to see?"
"You won't need to worry about that," said the Doctor. "Everything you see, I'll see too."
Robyn nodded, accepting this explanation with no complaints. She finished off the tea, then clambered out of the Doctor's lap and got out of bed. "What do I have to do then?" she asked, looking at Amy, then back at the Doctor. "I don't have to do anything special, do I?"
"No, you won't have to do anything, just leave it all to me."
The expression on Robyn's face turned to one almost like disappointment. She thought that there might be something she could do, because she wanted to feel useful, since nobody let her do anything anyway. It was a side-effect of being left on her own all the time. No one wanted anything to do with her, so nobody let her do anything with them.
Amy noticed this, and then looked at the Doctor pointedly. "You sure there isn't something she could do?" she said, emphasising her point by glancing at Robyn. "There's nothing you need to know before you go inside her head?"
"No," the Doctor replied, not getting the hint. "I'm right, you're right, Robyn's right..." He paused when Amy raised her eyebrows, and then glanced at Robyn again, indicating the look of disappointment on the little girl's face. "Although," he continued, finally getting the hint, "there's one thing that she could do."
Robyn looked at him in amazement. "There is?"
"There is," the Doctor echoed. He stood from the bed. "If I'm going to go inside your head, I'm going to need to know when you're going to fall asleep, won't I?"
"Oh yeah," said Robyn, smiling sheepishly. "I forgot about that."
The Doctor clapped his hands together. "In the meantime though, I think we should take you exploring," he declared. "Anywhere on this ship, anything you can think of, is here. There's the library, the swimming pool, though occasionally the two of them like to band together, and there's the gardens, and the observatory -"
"There's an observatory?" asked Amy, surprised that this was the first time she was hearing any of this. "And gardens?"
"Of course there is," the Doctor replied, looking at her in confusion. "Hasn't she shown you where they are?"
"No, she hasn't."
The Doctor looked at Amy in confusion once again, then realised why she didn't remember the gardens, or the observatory. He winced.
She didn't remember them because she'd been to them with Rory.
Which subsequently meant she didn't remember seeing them because she'd been to them with Rory.
"Then we'll go look for them together," the Doctor continued, feelings of guilt bubbling up inside despite how much he tried to suppress them. He held out his hand to Robyn, who gripped it firmly, then held out the other to Amy. "Coming, Pond?"
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"Wow," was the first and only thing Robyn could say upon seeing the gardens for the first time. At least, the first time she saw them in the waking world. The sights were amazingly beautiful, and the smells were overpowering, almost sickeningly sweet, but she didn't care. She was grateful to be able to experience it for real, instead of just as a dream. The man in the bow-tie had told her all about the gardens, but what he had told her was nothing compared to the real thing. The Doctor eagerly pointed out which were the best flowers, and told where they came from, and how he got them, and a couple of times he even had to pull Robyn out of the way before some particularly carnivorous plants decided to make her their lunch.
"Why on earth would you have something like thatlurking in the TARDIS?" asked Amy, after the third time they had to rescue Robyn from the maw of one of the aforementioned carnivorous plants. "Do you keep them around to get rid of unwanted TARDIS guests or something?"
"Uh, yes," the Doctor replied, a little too quickly for Amy's liking. "Not originally, of course, but they proved a little too effective when keeping unwanted guests out."
Amy didn't look impressed, nor did she believe him. "So, what did you originally keep them for, Doctor?"
The Doctor mumbled something unintelligible underneath his breath.
"I'm sorry, what was that?"
The Doctor snorted. "Keeping out unwanted TARDIS guests," he repeated, a little more louder this time, so Amy could understand him. "I had a problem with some... intruders, about five... or was it six... bodies ago. They must've found their way here, and... well... you can probably guess the rest."
Amy's face turned pale. "Oh."
Robyn winced. "Ew. That's not good."
"No, it isn't," the Doctor agreed, leading them away from the the carnivorous plants, and towards a section of flowerbeds overflowing with different types of roses. "Now, these are much better," he said, showing off the blooms with a sweeping gesture. "Kithalian Moon Roses," he announced, drawing Robyn close to the flowers so she could smell them. "The most fragrant flowers in the universe, and completely unmatched by anything else, no matter how hard seasoned botanists try to replicate them."
And the Doctor was right, Robyn realised, for the scent of the roses was absolutely heavenly, if not a little too sweet for her tastes, but wonderful all the same. "Can I..." She bit her lip, unable to visualise the Doctor's reaction to her question. "Can I touch them?"
The Doctor grinned. "I don't see why not," he replied, lifting Robyn up to the tallest blooms. "But be careful," he warned, "just because these aren't Earth roses doesn't mean there aren't thorns."
Robyn looked back at him, giggling slightly. "What are you, my Dad?" she asked flippantly, then she blushed, realising what she was saying. "Actually, don't answer that. I'll be careful, honest." Reaching out, she let the petals of the roses brush against her fingertips, and her eyes widened in amazement by how soft they were. It was almost like touching air, if air was tangible enough to be touched. "Wow," she murmured for the second time that night. The thought of walking out of the TARDIS, and away from the Doctor and Amy just became a whole lot harder to comprehend. There was no way she would want to give them, and the beautiful garden, up now. They were the best friends she'd ever had, considering that she a) hadn't known them very long, and b) never had any friends before.
She didn't want to give them up... ever.
"So," said the Doctor, depositing her back on the floor... ground... or whatever the substance beneath their feet decided to call itself. "What do you think?"
"It's fantastic," Robyn replied, even though she desperately wanted to tell him that she wanted to stay there forever. "I've never seen anything like this before!"
The Doctor nodded. "Good, I'm glad you like it!" He turned to Amy, who was now staring into space, unable to comprehend why she had a strange feeling of deja vu. "Amy?" He waved a hand in front of his companion's face, but she didn't make a move. "Amy."
Amy shook her head, and finally noticed that the Doctor was trying to get her attention. "Yes? What?"
"Are you all right?" the Doctor asked, although he suspected he already knew what she was thinking about. Or rather, who she was thinking about, even though she didn't know who he was.
"Yeah, I'm fine," Amy replied noncommittally. "I just have this weird feeling... like there's something missing, but I can't remember what it is, or like I've been here before, but I don't remember being here in the first place." She looked at the Doctor strangely. "Does that sound weird to you?"
The Doctor went quiet, knowing if he spoke too quickly he might arouse her suspicions, and he didn't want that at all. It was hard enough hiding the engagement ring from her, considering how much a painful reminder it was for himself. In all honesty, he wasn't sure which was more painful, Rory's death, or the fact that Amy had forgotten about him so quickly, despite his best efforts. And on top of that were the cracks and finding the source. Amy was part of it, but how big a part he couldn't work out yet. That was one puzzle that preyed on his infallible Time Lord mind. "No, it's not weird," he said carefully. "Do you think it's weird?"
Amy looked at him with uncertainty in her eyes, but said nothing, which to the Doctor said everything. Yes, she did think it was weird, and it worried her greatly, so to just dismiss it would be wrong. Yet, dismissing it was the only option, at least until he could figure out a way to get her memories back. He stood abruptly, then took Robyn by the hand. "Come on, let's go find the observatory. I promised you an observatory, and I'm going to keep my promise... for once."
Robyn held onto the Doctor's hand tightly, but the whole exchange between her new friend and his companion worried her. There was something else going on, not just what was happening to her. She wasn't the Doctor's only problem at that point in time. She knew that she wasn't the first, and she was sure that she wouldn't be the last.
Then, for the second time that evening, she heard the birds.
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