A/N: Time for Chapter 4! Get ready for some PLOT!
Adyson lay in her bed one morning after waking up but before the overly impatient alien bust into her bedroom. She marveled in her new life—the adventures she shared with the Doctor and River. She smiled and sighed. For the past couple of years, she hadn't been exactly the most sensitive, touchy-feely person, but here on the TARDIS, Ady truly felt like she had a home and a family. And she wasn't afraid to admit it.
With the smell of coffee wafting into her room (the Doctor had finally learned how to correctly use the coffee maker), Adyson swung her legs over the side of her bed and stood up.
She promptly fell right back down onto her bed.
"Shit!" Adyson hissed. Her stomach churned and her head spun. "What the-"
Adyson groaned. Getting sick was not exactly what she wanted to do at the moment. Sickness tended to interfere with adventure.
She stumbled down the hallway and into the kitchen.
"Morning!" said the Doctor cheerfully. His face fell as he saw her. "Are you okay?"
"Yep, I'm perfectly fine," Adyson said, accepting the coffee from him and taking a careful sip.
"Liar. You look horrible."
"I'm fine!" said Adyson. One of the things she hated the most was people fussing over her for one reason or another. If she was going to be sick, she was going to deal with it by herself. The Doctor had enough to worry about; one human being sick was not going to be his main priority.
"Alright," said the Doctor warily. "If you start to feel sick, let me know."
"Got it," she said.
At that, River walked through the TARDIS doors.
"Hello, sweeties! Adyson, are you okay? You look dead on your feet."
"Ugh! I'll be fine! Quit fussing over me. I'm going to go get dressed." Adyson twirled and left the kitchen, leaving the Doctor stunned.
"She's doing that thing you do," he said.
"What?" asked River as she waltzed over to hug the Doctor.
"You know, whenever you're sick or hurt. You always pretend everything is okay. Even if you feel awful," said the Doctor with a sly smile.
"I have absolutely no clue what you're talking about," River responded with a similar smirk.
"You know… I've been thinking," the Doctor said contemplatively.
"You tend to do that."
"What do you think of having Ady on the TARDIS?"
River was slightly taken aback.
"Why are you asking my opinion?"
"Because your opinion matters to me."
"I… I love the fact that she travels with you." River smiled. "She keeps you in line when I can't. Now, why are you really asking me this?"
The Doctor shrugged.
"I don't know. I love having her here, too. Something just… something just feels…" The Doctor paused, searching for the word.
"Right?"
"Yes. Something just feels right with her here. Like she was born to do this or something." The Doctor smiled and reached out to River.
River walked into his hug.
"I'm going to go check on her," said the Doctor, releasing River. "Born to do this or not, something could really be wrong with her and I seriously doubt she would tell me unless she was dying."
River chuckled.
"Alright, go force an answer out of her."
The Doctor left the room, walked the short distance down the TARDIS corridor and warily approached Adyson's room. He knocked lightly on the door. When there was no response, he carefully pushed it open and poked his head inside.
"Ady? You okay?"
He found her lying on her bed curled into a ball.
"Yeah… yeah I'm fine," she responded weakly.
"You most certainly are not fine," said the Doctor. "I'm taking you to the medical bay."
"No, no I'm fine," she started to protest. But the Doctor would hear nothing of it. He scooped her up in his arms easily. Adyson groaned as he carried her out of the room and down the hallway. River, who had followed the Doctor, pushed open the door to the medical bay for them.
The Doctor sat Adyson down on a cot, where she promptly flopped down on her side.
"Now, I'm going to run some simple tests just to see what's wrong," the Doctor said as he prepared some equipment. Ady was too sick to notice or care what he was doing, and complied finally with his requests.
The Doctor took her temperature, took a blood sample, examined her heartbeat, and ran probably more tests than was actually necessary for the situation.
"It looks like you have a normal… a normal stomach bug…" the Doctor said quite distractedly. He was staring at a monitor as if it had just turned into a chicken. The look of utter confusion the Doctor wore was enough to pull Adyson out of her sick stupor for a moment.
"If I'm not dying, why are you staring at that screen like it just sprouted a head?"
The comment attracted River, who rested her chin on the Doctor's shoulder and took a look at the screen. Her face soon matched the Doctor's.
"Hey! Sick human over here wants to know what the hell is wrong!" Adyson was beginning to get annoyed.
"Like he said, you've just got a stomach bug. Nothing life-threatening, sweetie," said River.
"Then what the HELL is going on?" Ady raised her voice impatiently and jumped up. She immediately regretted this rash decision. Her stomach churned again and her head spun.
The Doctor spun around to her, lifting her and placing her back on the cot.
"Ady, I'm about to ask you a very important question. A very important question indeed. And, I need you to answer this question to the absolute best of your ability. I need you to think very hard."
"Doctor, you're scaring me."
"I'm sorry. But please answer me this."
Adyson nodded.
"What orphanage did you grow up in, and do you know what year it was when you arrived?"
Adyson was shocked.
"What does this even have to do-"
"Please, sweetie, just answer his question," River said with a surprisingly calm tone. She placed her hand on Adyson's shoulder in support.
"It was… 1990. That's the year I was born, too. I was about six months old. And it was the Springdale Children's Home in New York City."
The Doctor closed his eyes. His face fell in his hands.
"So, can you tell me why this is relevant-" Ady began.
River's grip on Adyson's shoulder tightened slightly, as if the news that the Doctor was about to give would shatter her.
"Because, Ady, there is a very good chance that you are River's and my daughter."
A/N: Hooray! Trust me, more will be explained!
Thank you SO MUCH for reading.
