A/N Hi! Sorry I haven't updated in a while, but I've had a massive case of writers block and been really busy. This chapter takes place just before chapter one, before Melody runs away. Aside from her obviously not being 13 yet, I feel like this is a much younger Melody, more carefree. I have no idea whether you'll like this, but I'd love feedback. (Please...)
Also, please, please review! Please! (getting on my knees and begging with my hands clasped..)
"Melody!"
Twelve year old Melody Pond (junior, if you're feeling all technical about it) looked up from the book she was reading, emitting a noise that could be considered one of acknowledgement. She grinned as she saw the Doctor's head poking out of the doorway of the TARDIS, donning his familiar mischievous, slightly manic smile. Melody realized that she hadn't seen the TARDIS materialize, which either meant that she had been so engrossed in her reading that he'd managed to land it under her nose, or he had had the sense to turn on the stabilizers. Since she had been thoroughly uninterested in the literature her mum had left her, she was betting on the latter, which consequently meant that mum must be with him, because the Doctor would positively never using the blue 'boringers' if he were by himself. It was good, Melody thought, that mum was with him. Of course, she wasn't really all that worried. She had only woken up to find her mother gone that morning, and she didn't even attempt to call her until a full 48 hours had passed. Her mum liked to pop out to run some errands frequently, if only to escape the confines of their shared cell.
Melody was not, by any stretch of the imagination, a normal child.
For one thing, she had grown up in Stormcage Containment Facility, the most heavily guarded prison in all of time and space. Not, of course, for any fault of her own, but because it was where her mum, River Song lived as she served time for the 'murder' of the doctor. When she was first born, her mum had told her, her parents had debated over whether it was the right course of action to send her to Stormcage. If seemed like a horrible place to bring up a young girl. However, as her mum had pointed out, it was possibly the safest place for her, hidden from the prying eyes of those who would do anything to get their hands on a timelord baby. And her father was free to come see them and take them out for a spin in the TARDIS any time he felt like it.
Yeah. Her father was the Doctor. Her mum was River Song. Or, Melody Pond, though she never went by her given name any more. She was a timelord. Or timelady, though Melody personally prefered the latter. She was brilliant, good at shooting things, and had a fondness for hats. Occasionally, a fondness for shooting hats, though she rather enjoyed wearing them too. She had dark, unruly curly hair, pale skin, and the Doctor's intelligent eyes. She had a tendency to ramble (could you tell?) and a gently Scottish accent (blame her grandmum) and at the moment, she was very pleased to see the TARDIS.
"I've been locked up here for ages! You take mum places all the time! Can't I at least come on the TARDIS every now and then?"
She was feeling a bit cross at the moment. She had spent the last few torturous hours growing more and more claustrophobic in her cell, wishing desperately for some intelligent company.
She ran up to the bars of the cell as the Doctor waltzed out of the TARDIS and soniced open the door with a faint buzz. She ran out, squealing and hugging the Doctor. Squealing and hugging wasn't really her style, but it achieved the desired effect, leaving the Doctor looking incredibly flustered.
"We haven't been too long, have we?" He asked sounding concerned? "I would have taken you with us last night, but it was a party for adults, and there's only a certain percentage of the population who are going to believe that you're really 18, just short. I thought I timed it correctly, though."
"First of all, you and River sneak out at night to attend that sort of party? And no, it hasn't been all that long since I've seen you, but I've been so bored! You have no idea!"
"Oh, honestly, Melody, we've only been gone six hours!"
River Song stood in the doorway of the TARDIS, still wearing an extravagant TARDIS blue evening gown and rolling her eyes.
"And no, Melody, it wasn't that sort of party."
"But you've got the Victorian dress on! It must have been fun!"
"Fun is possibly the wrong word for it, sweetie, but it doesn't really matter. Now, stop whining and get on the TARDIS."
Melody pushed the Doctor aside and skipped up to the big blue box, laughing.
"Hello, TARDIS!" She said. "How've they been treating you?"
River nudged the Doctor, who had come to join her in the doorframe.
"She's as bad as you, eh? I remember when I borrowed the TARDIS for a weekend while you were ill, and all you cared about when I got back was how I'd been treating your precious TARDIS."
The Doctor gave her a pleased look.
"I suppose she is a bit like me. That's definetly a compliment, right?"
