Hey, so here's the next chapter. I hope you guys like it, because Melody is about to make a new friend. I enjoyed writing this chapter, and you'll see why. :)
And thanks to everyone who reviewed and followed this story. Anyway, I don't own anything that you recognize it.
I was almost thirty-one when I made it to Cardiff, Wales in nineteen-ninety-four. I had said my goodbyes to Anthony and told him that I would come visit him when I had the money, or he could come visit me at some point. Sadly, that was the last time I saw him as Melody Pond.
When I arrived in Cardiff, I immediately checked into a motel where I figured I would stay until I could find something to do. I had filled out the appropriate documents to work and go to school in Great Britain, figuring I would be here for a while. But what was a girl to do with a history degree and no doctorate. I considered trying to get my doctorate a few times while in New York, but family was more important. Here though, there was nothing to stop me.
Again, though, fate had a different plan for me. I was walking to the university one late afternoon using a shortcut someone had told me about at the front desk of my motel. It was eerie how isolated the route was, because I was halfway there and had not seen another soul. I was in the process of walking down an alley that was particularly dark when I saw something that should have scared me more than it did. It had brownish grey skin and looked completely bald. It's eyes were very sunken into and all four of its canine teeth were long and sharp. It was dressed as any person would be though, despite the unusual face. When it saw me though, it got this look of a hunter and I swear it smiled, or at least it's equivalent. It began to run towards me and out of instinct, I began to run. I tried to run into a populated area, but I was so lost in this dark back alleys, I only knew the way I was told. I kept trying to run towards sounds of Cardiff streets, but the thing continued to follow me. Finally I made a turn that should have been deadly. It was a dead end that I thought connected to the other side of the block. When I turned around to get out, it had cornered me in. I thought through what I might have on me, but a wallet and keys was not going to be very helpful.
Then a black SVU pulled up at the open end of the alley. A man, maybe thirty-five or forty jumped out of the driver's seat. He was fairly tall with dark hair. He had a pretty face, and as long as he wasn't an idiot, I could probably get us both out of this alive. I have to admit, though, I thought the long coat was a bit much. He had something in his hand, but I couldn't see what it was.
"Careful," I shouted. "He's not human."
The man looked up and gave a brilliant smile. "An American, huh?" he laughed, his own accent his own also from the US. "Nice to know the colonies still visit."
"Yeah, I guess. I don't think that's the most important thing to be talking about right now," I told him sharply. The beast had stopped its advance towards me and was now looking back and forth between the two of us.
"Right, sorry. Hey, ugly, why don't you come after me instead?" he taunted the thing.
The thing made some type of growling noise before he rushed over to the man. I took it as a chance to get out of the alley. I saw I giant piece of plywood as I was escaping and felt the need to this man who had probably saved me; well, at least from changing my face again. I snuck up behind the alien and hit it over the head with the plywood. It just turned around and looked at me, and I was suddenly the primary target again.
"You shouldn't have done that," the man told me. He seemed to rush around the thing to join me. I finally say he had a spray can in his hand, and when the creature got too close to us, he began to spray whatever was in the can on it. The creature began to back away, but the man followed it with the spray. After about fifteen seconds of this, the alien just ran out of the alley way.
"Well, that was interesting," I said after a minute. "Thanks for coming when you did. I'm not sure if I would have made it otherwise."
"Sorry, I wasn't here sooner. Are you okay?" he asked. He was just as attractive up close as he was at a distance.
"Yeah I'm fine. What was that thing?" I knew it was an alien, but I knew it was not a Time Lord like the Doctor or part of the Silence. And those were the only other species I knew.
"Don't worry about it-"
"Oh, that's not going to happen," I told him immediately. "You had the spray that affected it, so I'm betting this wasn't the first time you've face them which means you have a name for it."
"Weevil. I'm Jack, by the way, Jack Harkness," he told me while sticking out his hand. Somehow he had managed to introduce himself in a straightforward manner, but still flirty with me.
"Melody Pond," I told him shaking his hand.
"Well, Melody, what would you say to having dinner with me tonight?"
"I barely know you. You could be a murderer for all I know," I pointed out.
"If I was a murderer, wouldn't I have just let the Weevil kill you?"
"Not if you're a psychopath," I told him. I doubted he was, considering I was good at spotting them. After all, it takes one to know one. Whenever I thought of the Doctor, I began planning more and more ways to kill. I knew in the end, it would depend more on when I saw him than anything. I had always put on the innocent face for my family, since I knew my mother and father had at least travelled with him and still cared for him, I never truly let them know how much I disliked the Doctor. It didn't come up much, though, so we never talked about it. I actually didn't think about it much over the past twenty-five years; I had still been trying to prepare myself for what would eventually need to happen. But as I was getting older, I was realizing the time was approaching.
"I'm not a psychopath," Jack promised. "Come on, one drink. I promise to behave myself."
I smiled, and agreed, deciding to just go to the university the next day. Jack drove me to a nice Italian restaurant, since it was getting late enough for dinner. It was odd how quickly the time passed by us, and I could not tell anyone how many drinks I had that night. We arrived a little after five, and we finished dinner by seven. Jack then took me to a nearby bar.
I was amazed by Jack. He was smart, funny, kind, and the man could flirt. Within those first few hours, I swear I must have heard a couple hundred innuendos, and they were definitely not all directed towards me, just about three-fourths. Our male waiter, the female bartender, the couple sitting behind me, everyone he talked to were all victims to his flirting too. It was almost funny.
Jack asked me a lot of questions about me, and about nine o'clock, I realized I had basically told him my life story, excluding the regeneration and the Doctor, and still knew next to nothing about him. So, as I finished a story about me in college. "So, now you've heard about me, where did you grow up Jack?"
"No place you've ever heard," he assured me.
"Try me. I told you travelled after I graduated from college," I pushed.
"Boeshane Peninsula." He was right I had never heard of it.
"Where's that?"
"It's hard to explain. You know, you never told me why you were in Cardiff," he said, trying to change the subject.
"I'm going to do something for my mother. It was a dying wish. But I want to know more about," I yawned before I finished, "you."
"You're getting tired, Melody. Why don't you let me take you back to your house and we can finish this conversation tomorrow?" he offered.
Normally, I would have protested, but I was suddenly exhausted and felt like I could barely move. "Let's go."
On the way back to his car, he asked me how good I was at remembering numbers. When I admitted I was pretty good, he told me his. "Call me tomorrow if you want to see me again."
"I will," I promised.
I don't remember much until the next morning. When I woke up it was about three hours later than when I usually did. I got ready for the day, and remembered Jack wanted me to call him if I wanted to see him again. Since his number was still in my head, I figured I would go ahead and do it. The phone rang a few times before he answered.
"Yeah?"
"Jack? It's Melody Pond." There was a silence, and I could tell he was not really expecting me to call him. Well, that was awkward. I decided to take the hint and put the ball in his court. "Look, if this is a bad time, I can give you my number and you can call me back when you have time."
"No, uh, it's fine. I just wasn't expecting… I'm sorry, Melody. Um, can we meet for lunch?" he asked, still clearly confused and hiding something.
"Sure."
That afternoon we met again. He beat me to the small pizza place by the pier. It was a little hole in the wall restaurant with red walls and green cushioned seats. When I entered his eyes were not warm like the night before, but calculating. It concerned me, because I thought we would at least be friends; and judging by the look on his face, that currently wasn't going to happen.
"Good afternoon, Jack," I greeted.
"Melody," he answered.
I sat down across from him, waiting for some explanation of his cold demeanor, but there was more awkward silence. Finally, my impatience got the best of me, and I demanded, "What's wrong?"
"You were born in Florida?" he asked in response.
The question startled me. I had not actually said I was born there, just that I remembered the orphanage because I was taken from my parents who I was later reunited with in New York City. But it was easier going with his story than explain about being kidnapped and born in a different solar system in the future. "Yes. You decided that you have a problem with Florida girls?"
"And you're sure that your parents are really your parents?"
"Yes, I'm sure," I answered, suddenly very annoyed. He was suddenly questioning my story, and I had been almost completely honest with him. "Why? What aren't you telling me?"
"How did we meet?"
"What? I'm answering your questions, Jack. I think you should be answering mine."
"You don't remember."
I glared at him. I was, and still am, proud of my abilities, and I had always had an extraordinary memory and mind. I was not going to let Jack think any less of me in that aspect. "I was walking to the university when I was attacked by a creature you called a weevil. You showed up and saved fought him with my attempt to help. You proceeded to ask me to dinner, and we went to a small Italian restaurant, and then we headed to a small bar, until I almost fell asleep. You took me home and gave me your number. Now, why are you asking me all of these ridiculous questions?"
"Did you finish your last drink last night?"
I sat there for a minute, really starting to want to slap Jack. "I'm not answering anymore of your questions until you start answering mine," I told him, crossing my arms.
We sat there glaring at each other. The waiters must have realized that we were not ready to eat, but I saw several of them watching us. I think they were waiting to see if they would need to separate us. Jack did something that none of us expected though.
"Melody Pond, I'm arresting you for trespassing." He pulled out handcuffs and arrested me.
"What?" I could not believe what he was doing. Honestly, I had not done anything or even gone somewhere I wasn't supposed to. "Where on earth have I gone that I trespassed?"
Jack of course continued with his vow of silence, which pissed me off to no end. He dragged me out of the restaurant, but instead of taking back towards town, he started directing me towards the pier. We passed several people, but whenever someone gave us a second look, Jack would flash some official looking badge. At one point, I thought he was going to push me into the water handcuffed. Then again, I knew I could easily break the handcuffs, but I did not want to bring more attention to myself than already done.
We entered a small building that was marked a tourist information shop by the pier. It opened to a small room with a single desk and the most modern computer I had seen at the time, then again, it was July of nineteen-ninety-three. Jack went behind the desk and did something, revealing a passage into another room. When we entered, I was astonished to see an incredibly large room with many machines about. There were several halls that shot off from the main room.
There was a man sitting at a computer. He was probably around thirty-five with shorter blond hair. He saw Jack enter with me, and immediately stood up. "What the hell, Jack? No one is supposed to know about us!"
"I know, Alex. I have been here a bit longer than you, remember? She's a prisoner."
"One that wants to know what's going on," I demanded.
"Torchwood doesn't take human prisoners!" Jack scoffed at his colleagues words. Alex glanced at me, and then back at Jack before asking, "What's going on?"
"Remember the girl I told you about yesterday with the weevil?"
"This is her?" Alex guessed.
"Yes, I am. And I do have a name," I reminded them. "It's Melody."
The two men continued to be infuriating, and ignoring me however. "You didn't give her a Retcon pill?"
"Of course I did, but it clearly didn't take."
"I'm sorry, you gave me what?" I interrupted. I had taken unknown substances from strangers before, but I liked to be aware when I was taking them.
Jack finally decided to answer my question, "It's a pill that causes amnesia."
"We can't have half the city knowing about weevils, now can we?" Alex added.
"But I remember."
"Exactly why you're here," Jack informed me. "That pill can alter any human mind."
"You think I'm an alien? Like an outer space alien?" I was completely shocked. I mean yes, I was not born on earth, but they did not need to know that. Both of my parents were human, and I was just a special human. "That's ridiculous! I'm human. Do you need to take my DNA?" I knew it was a newer process and was not sure if they would be able to, but I thought I would at least jerk their chains a little.
"We've got a machine that does it in the other room," Alex said, as if it were nothing.
I spent the next few hours allowing them to take DNA samples and stuck in a cell. I spent a good part of that time wondering more about what this Torchwood place was. Clearly, they did something with hunting aliens. Maybe once they realized I was human they would be able to help me track down the Doctor. He was an alien after all.
Finally, Jack came and opened my cell without a word. I immediately reacted and slapped him across the face.
"I guess I deserve that."
"Yes, you do," I agreed. "I take it that I am human after all."
"Yes. I'm sorry," he said. He was about to continue, but I cut him off.
"Don't even try, Jack. You had no right to arrest me under false pretenses. I'm just as human as you!"
"I'm sor-"
"Oh, trust me, you're not sorry yet. Wait until I tell someone at the UN that the British police arrested me for being an alien. You won't-"
"Jack," another voice entered. I recognized it as the other man, Alex. "You were supposed to be offering her a job here. Not pissing her off more."
I froze. I needed a job, but I'm not sure if working with Jack would be in his best interest, because I had no problem pointing a gun at him right now. But on the other hand, I could wait to get my doctorate in archeology until after I killed the Doctor. And this way, I would not have to inform anyone else on the team about the menace who had been travelling earth for God knows how long. I could actually find him and kill him under the protection of my job. I could figure out what to do in a year and a half when I needed to be in Leadworth, but otherwise, this job seemed perfect for me.
"What do you say, Melody?" Jack asked softly.
"Why do you want to give me a job?" I questioned. I had no training, but something had caused them to think I would be a good member of the team.
"Two things," Alex started. "One, we've never had someone's memory survive the Retcon pill, so you're obviously gifted intellectually."
"4.0 from Stanford isn't shabby," Jack commented.
"And the second reason?" I prodded.
"You bent my handcuffs." I couldn't help but smile. I might have been pulling on them a little, but I was only trying to make them more comfortable.
"You got some muscle, Melody Pond. Torchwood is always looking for smart, strong people. Heaven help us in why we hired Jack," Alex said, and I smiled.
Jack turned to him. "You know why."
"Yeah, yeah. But what do you say? Wanna fight aliens with us?"
I smiled, again thinking of the Doctor. "I'm in."
What do you guys think?
