Thanks to my beautiful beta, Charina :) x
Chapter 10
Having Amy and Rory on the TARDIS changed the way the Doctor behaved around her and Mels found she rather missed how it used to be. All the flirting and teasing, his hand holding her own, or cupping her cheek, smoothing back her hair, resting on her knee or the small of her back. The stolen kisses they never spoke about. It was like it was all forgotten somehow. Even when Amy and Rory slept and she was alone with the Doctor it wasn't the same.
They still spent the time together, Mels wrote in her diary, curled up on one of the armchairs in the library while the Doctor read, or on the stairs under the console as he tinkered with the TARDIS. Sometimes they went out on their own, he took her to parties, planets, spaceships. With him she met historical figures of past, present and future. They saved kingdoms and families and it was still all so amazing to her, but she missed the way he would kiss her after a close brush with danger and hold her hand when she was unsure or angry.
It was strange how accustomed she had become to those small touches, she had barely even noticed them before but now they were gone she missed them terribly. Needed them almost. Mels had never needed anything before, not of that nature.
Rory asked her a few days after he and Amy joined the TARDIS if Mels would call him Dad when they were aboard the TARDIS or alone and in return he and the Doctor both started referring to her solely as Melody. Amy however insisted on calling her Mels and her jaw would clench every time it someone referred to either Rory or herself as Mels' parents. Melody didn't mind too much that her mother still thought of her as a childhood friend rather than her daughter, but once, she accidentally called her Mum and Amy froze, dropping a glass that shattered across the kitchen floor. That stung.
"She'll come around," the Doctor kept telling her, "She's your mother, Melody. She loves you."
He said it so often it rather lost meaning. But Mels never told him that, because whenever he did he'd reach out and brush back her hair, or squeeze her shoulder. Something. It made her bite her lip and hold back a smile, even blush. She sort of hated that; she was above such feelings, or at least she used to be. She should not be brought to such girlish, such human (she thought almost gleefully), actions from a simple brush of his fingers or that stupid smile he always had plastered across his face. Sometimes she wanted nothing more than to slap that grin from him.
Mostly it just made her want to snog him.
She never did, and neither did he, though she knew he wanted to; he often stared at her lips when he thought no-one would notice. He was often wrong about that though, because not only had she noticed, but Rory had dragged her aside one day and asked if she and the Doctor were sleeping together.
"Does it matter?" she had asked with raised eyebrows,
"You're my daughter," he said, "and you know what happened between him and A- and your mother."
Mels laughed, "You mean him rejecting her because she's Amy and human and will always be seven in his eyes?"
Rory groaned, "I know... I know you're old enough to make these choices on your own and you know to be careful and how to take care of yourself. But you're my daughter Melody, my little girl and I don't want you getting hurt."
Mels smiled, "You know me Dad. I'm not a relationship kind of girl."
"Yes, I know a little too much, if I think about it. You told Amy and I every detail about that first time."
"You asked for them," Mels shrugged, "If it makes you feel better, I wasn't fifteen like you and Amy were at the time. I was-"
"Forty-two." Rory finished, frowning a bit, "I suppose that does make me feel a bit better." He smiled.
Mels smiled back at him, Rory was an amazing Dad. She loved him terribly but just couldn't bring herself to show it like she used to, because if she didn't say it and didn't show it, she could convince herself she didn't feel it at all if ever she was separated from him again. Briefly she wondered if Amy thought the same about her, but she pushed the thought away whenever it came.
Rory never brought up her relationship with the Doctor again after their talk, but Mels caught him sometimes smiling at the way the Doctor smiled at her, like it was special or different but she didn't fool herself into thinking it was. That man was hundreds of years old, so many people would have touched his hearts in that time, she was surely nothing more than a blip on his radar in comparison.
Today he had taken them to a market place on Shan Shen, warning them of the Trickster Brigade and sharing the seemingly Chinese culture with the fascinated Ponds. He let them wander off to investigate the many stalls as he haggled over the price of various gadgets he could use when rewiring bits and pieces of the TARDIS. After walking all day and visiting every stall Amy announced her feet were sore, and Rory, who had been bundled with all their purchases, was quick to suggest they head back to the ship and rest their legs.
They turned back and made the long walk along to the TARDIS, which, once in sight, Rory rushed to, dropping the many bags and packages in the door way before turning back to see where his wife and daughter had gotten too. He closed the blue doors behind him and strolled back down the busy market place, stepping in line with his wife and paying no notice to the Crespallion man arguing ahead with a stall owner who seemed to be accusing the blue man of thievery.
The Crespallion, far from his own land, lost, poor, and most likely starving, pulled a gun on the angry stall owner. Mels noticed the blue being was unfamiliar with the weapon, uncomfortable with it in his grasp, something the stall owner seemed to notice too. Within a second the two men were fighting, the gun high in the air as the stall owner forced the blue man's arm up. They struggled and fell into the stall, strange fruits and foods spilling to the ground and the gun swinging through the air, both men's hands grasping it as it came to point at Amy.
Mels knew what was going to happen two seconds before it did. Vaguely, she heard her own yell of her mother's name as she jumped in front of the Scottish woman and felt the bullet hit her flesh with an explosion of sound.
In the struggle the gun had fired and Mels fell into her mother's arms, white hot pain burning in her chest as blood rushed down her front. Everyone froze, the two fighting men staring, terrified at what they'd done. Rory rushed to help Amy pull Mels along the market place, the short distance to the TARDIS and lay her gently on the floor, her head settling in her mother's lap.
"We've got to stop the bleeding," he said, pulling off his coat and pressing it against her chest, "Keep her conscious,"
Mels swore at the pain, only worsened by the pressure Rory was applying to her wound, "Sorry, sorry," he told her, "Stay with us Melody,"
She could feel Amy's hands running through her hair, her gaze moved from Rory to her mother and Mels saw Amy had tears in her eyes. She smiled hesitantly up at her, "Alright, Amy?" she asked, her voice weak from the strain of breathing,
"You shouldn't have done that," Amy told her,
"And lose you?" Mels asked, "Not doing that again." She gasped in pain, her eyes squeezing shut, "Where is he?" she asked, "I need to..."
"Who?"
Rory looked wide eyed at his daughter, and then turned to the door yelling out, "Doctor!"
"Yes Mr Pond?" The Doctor exclaimed, coming in the door wearing a multi-coloured hat decorated with bells, and a rather intricate something with flashing lights and many tangled wires in his hands.
He stopped mid bounding step and stared at the sight before him, all the happy smiles and rosy cheeks slipping from his face before he jumped into action and threw the hat and unnamed device to the floor, running up the steps, sonic in hand, "What happened?" he demanded of them, scanning over Mels with the sonic and dropping to his knees at her side, she reached out and grabbed his hand in a shockingly tight grip,
Mels didn't listen as Amy and Rory told him, speaking over each other in panicked voices, how she had been injured, "I used to dream about you," she told him, her breathing uneven and shallow, "All my life, they would fight over it... And all those stories Amy used to tell me, when we were... little," she smiled through the pain, "I was going to marry you,"
"Good idea," The Doctor told her, a smile on his face but his eyes alight with panic and worry, "Let's get married; you get better and I'll marry you, deal?"
She smiled sadly at him, her hand leaving his and reaching heavily for his neck, "Not going to happen," she murmured softly, pulling him down and kissing him softly, her eyes falling closed as she felt her skin dancing, like she had pins and needles all across her body.
"What the hell's going on?" demanded Rory, and when the Doctor pulled back from Mels' kiss she saw her hands were glowing gold,
"Back, back, back, get back!" Yelled the Doctor, standing and pulling Rory with him,
Mels stood, all the pain from her chest had gone and she looked down at her hands, "Last time I did this I had no idea what it meant," she murmured, her breathing even again, "It was fantastic,"
"Okay Doctor, explain what is happening, now!" Amy demanded, still sat on the floor and staring at Mels,
"Oh shut up, Mum," Mels told her, "I'm focusing on a dress size," and her body exploded in pain, the fire burning so brightly and she yelled, unable to laugh like she had as a child in the face of this unbearable pain, her eyes scrunched shut, her head thrown back, her arms wide.
It was over with a gasp and she felt her head fly forward at the sudden loss of energy, "Oh!" she breathed, "phew," she shivered a bit, stretching her new neck before speaking in her new voice, "Right. Let's see then,"
tbc...