Thank you, guys! I'm glad you all are enjoying this story so much! I apologize for my chronic lateness. I definitely need to add a warning label about my always ending up months behind, to my profile. But I do get back to things eventually.
Please take the time to leave a review. :)
The Doctor stepped off the landing and took in the current state of the area. Nothing seemed urgent enough to warrant his rushing back down to the console room.
Amy was present. She and Rory were standing next to the railing and talking in quiet whispers.
Something else was different. Peering down, he observed two figures under the glass floor.
The girl and...
The Doctor squinted, as if he couldn't make out who was with her. He very well could. He just wasn't quite willing to believe his own eyes.
River Song.
"Is there anywhere you're not?" He exclaimed. River gazed up and flashed an enchanting smile, but returned her attention to the girl beside her. Her arm was around the girl in a consoling gesture.
The Doctor was less surprised this time, but more relieved that River was there. He wasn't feeling too confident in himself about dealing with the girl.
With that seemingly squared away, he moved to the console and quickly set coordinates. Amy needed her memories and he would let Rory give her those. He respected Rory, even though he didn't always like to show it. He was proud of the boy who waited and the man he had become.
"Are you sure about this?" Amy's eyes were fixed on Rory's. She leaned in close, expecting some assurances that he knew exactly what the Doctor was up to.
Rory took her hand in his. "We are getting memories with our daughter, Melody Williams." He stubbornly insisted.
"Pond." Amy corrected. Rory didn't argue the point. Legally, Melody was a Pond and a Williams, depending on where and when in the Universe one went to check her records.
He wasn't at all sure about how the Doctor would pull this off. He had his doubts about the problems involved with what he was demanding happen. But stopping his wife's tears had been first and foremost in his plans and those hadn't changed.
From the moment he'd told her they would get to go visit little Melody Pond and make some memories, Amy had gotten a serene look on her face. A calm came over her and the veil of pain lifted away. That's when Rory knew he was making the right choice. He felt hopeful that she would be able to find some peace about losing their daughter after this.
"The Doctor knows what he's doing." Rory saw the look Amy gave him. He didn't care, as long as she was hopeful and not sorrowful, he could deal with just about anything else. "I mean he has-" A plan? Not likely. He settled. "Everything will work out. We're going to see Melody and not have anything deadly, traumatic, or life-altering happen. This time."
Amy knew there was no way she would get her baby back. Their child was gone and anything they might possibly do to get her back would only erase River's life. She would never feel good about it, but the thought of being able to hold her child again and give her the love she deserved, did help place, an albeit blistering, scab over the fresh wounds of her heart.
Not a thing of any in this was Rory's fault. Amy tried to lighten the mood. "With an attitude like that, it makes me glad I didn't take Vincent up on his offer."
"What offer?" And who was this Vincent, Rory wondered.
"He fancied me. Wanted me to marry him, but I turned him down." Amy informed him.
Looking startled, Rory gave Amy's hand a slight shake. He turned more toward her, facing her. "What? But when was this? Which Vincent?"
"Before Stone Hinge. Van Gogh. What other Vincent did you think I meant?"
"Uh, not that one." Hesitantly, he continued. "Vincent Van Gogh? The painter?"
"The one and only."
"But. Why did Vincent Van Gogh want to marry you?" That got him a nice little glare. "I mean, you were engaged. To me. He did know that?"
Suddenly, Amy wasn't looking at him.
"Amy?" Rory frowned. "You did tell him that, right?" It wasn't often that Rory became assertive with Amy. When it came to certain things, he was particularly touchy and his then-fiance being proposed to by a famous dead artist was on that list.
"It couldn't be helped!" Amy protested, pulling her hand free and plucking at her hair.
"But-"
"You didn't exist, Rory." The Doctor spoke up from around the console. Both Amy and Rory turned to stare at him. They hadn't realized it, but their voices had been growing steadily louder.
"You were eaten by the crack in the Universe. Amy couldn't remember you because you technically didn't exist. Therefore, she technically wasn't engaged to you." The Doctor didn't look up while moving around the console. "But you needn't worry. I don't think your wife liked the idea of lots and lots of babies with our dear friend Vincent, even if they would have had the reddest hair there ever was. Imagine how much ginger there would have been!" He paused too look up at Amy and Rory. Both were staring at him with equal amounts of horror.
"And that was probably really very not the right thing to say." He looked from the nose to the legs and back again. He didn't question why his mouth so often spoke ahead of his mind the way humans did. His mind was always far too ahead of his mouth for it to ever catch up. Words were inadequate and impossibly small compared to the formation of thoughts in his head. He never would expect his mouth to catch up. He did, however, occasionally regret the reaction his blurting out one in a thousand thoughts created. Like now.
Rory paled. The Doctor wouldn't have thought such a feat possible of the Roman, but he did just that. His skin turned the color of chalk and his eyes grew large. It didn't take the genius of a Time Lord to figure out that Rory was not entirely thrilled with the image of his wife and Vincent making babies together.
Amy glared at the Doctor. Had he been standing close, she might have smacked him. She'd shared many of her adventures with her husband, but that had been one she preferred he not know about. It was her own fault for blurting it out, but still, the Doctor didn't have to go and add to it.
"Babies." Rory turned to stare at his wife. "With Vincent Van Gogh? Lots of red haired babies with the lunatic painter?"
"I turned him down." She reminded him.
"Did you flirt with him?"
She didn't like where this was going. "You weren't even alive, Rory. You'd just died."
"So you didn't wait? You couldn't even wait a few months out of respect for me?"
"She didn't remember you, Rory." The Doctor reminded him. "You didn't just die, you were erased. You ceased existence. She thought she was single, and for all intents and purposes, she was."
Rory turned his attention to the Doctor. "You could have said something or stopped it."
"You wanted me to tell Amy she had a dead fiance who no longer existed so she couldn't remember him and therefore should act as if she were engaged even though you didn't exist and had, in fact, died?"
Rory shrugged. "Well..." The Doctor had a point. He thought about it. Still, why not? It wouldn't have been any stranger than any other thing where the Doctor was concerned. But he let it go. While silently deciding that he never wanted to meet Mr. Van Gogh and he wanted to keep Amy as far away from him as possible. He may have been an exceptional artist, but he could never have loved Amy the way Rory did.
Feeling that problem was dealt with, the Doctor turned his attentions back toward the console. Until River and the girl came up the stairs. He watched them. River moved with her usual confidence. The girl trailed behind her, hanging her head.
"Hello Sweetie." River wasn't smiling, but that didn't faze the Doctor. Her mouth hadn't moved. Now that did faze him.
"How did you do that?" The Doctor was brimming with excitement as he gestured toward her. "You spoke without opening your mouth! Did you learn to throw your voice? Take a class in ventriloquism? Or perhaps it's a form of telepathy?"
Raising an eyebrow, River nodded in a direction slightly behind where the Doctor was standing.
He turned around.
Another River.
He spun around, then back again. Eyes enormous. Mouth fully hanging open. He looked completely thrown.
Identical River Songs. The only difference came in the form of their clothing. The River with the girl wore a more formal dress.
Five River Songs in one day. One giving birth. One snogging him and placing him in charge of a baby. Another confronting him about an event that had yet to take place. And now two in the same room with him. Who knew what they would need from him.
There was only so much even a great legend and Time Lord could handle.
The Doctor finally broke.
"Hang on, wait! Nobody move!" He boomed.
The five other occupants of the room froze in their places and stared at him after this unexpected outburst. He pointed to the newest River.
"You!"
She pointed to herself questioningly.
"Yes, you! Stay there!"
She obliged even though the Doctor rapidly descended upon her in what could be described as a threatening manner.
Much to the surprise of River, Rory, Amy, Jessica, and possibly the other River, the Doctor accosted River.
His hands were suddenly coming at her. Both of them glided their way swiftly through her golden hair, digging deeply in, and making the already wild curls, even messier. She stood still, baffled, staring at him inquisitively. But she allowed him to do this with full trust, if not full understanding.
"Lose something, dear?" She questioned, unable to tear her eyes from his currently intense looking, yet enraptured face.
Amy giggled. Jessica giggled.
"Doctor, what are you doing?" Amy asked, laughing full out. She didn't really expect an answer, and she didn't get one.
Jessica wasn't happy with what was to come, but even she couldn't help giggling at her father attacking her mother's hair. He'd never done that before! At least, she'd never seen him do so. Although, she knew that he did seem to love curly, bouncy hair. The only thing he could possibly have loved more, was if it had been ginger.
How to explain his growing desire to feel those fluffy, bouncy curls of hers! It was unavoidable as far as the Doctor was concerned. What with her constantly showing up today and making the itch he had to touch them, irresistible. How could he have possibly denied himself this any longer?
Slowly, he stopped. He gave her a placid grin. He unhurriedly disentangled his fingers from her thick locks. She blinked at him, her ruffled hair sticking up more so than usual.
He looked entirely unapologetic about the whole thing. And oddly satisfied. It had been even softer and far more silky than he imagined it could possibly have been!
"I need to speak with you, Doctor." The now disheveled looking River requested, after collecting herself. Her expression was serious and her hands were slightly trembling. She was nervous. Possibly even scared.
"What's wrong?" The Doctor frowned.
"That will have to wait, I'm afraid." The other River piped up from behind him. He whirled around to face her and the girl. The girl wasn't giggling any longer.
"Why?"
"Because right now..." She reached over and pulled the girl up beside her by the hand, giving her hand a comforting squeeze. "She has something important she needs to speak with you about."
"It can't be more urgent then what I've got to talk to him about." The River with the tousled hair protested.
"Oh, I think it can be. It is."
The Rivers stared at one another. The nervous looking River's eyes flickered to the girl, then back to the other River. A slightly surprised, but understanding look crossed her features. She gave her an almost imperceptible nod.
Looking from one River to the other, the Doctor was puzzled. "But one of you has to be further along on your time stream than the other. One of you remembers being in the other's place and would know which is the more important, or which came first."
The River standing by the girl, addressed the issue. "Of course! But you can't expect us to ignore established events. Your rules, remember? I have to argue with myself if that's what I remember happening." Also, in her opinion, what Jessica had to talk to the Doctor about was more important.
Not because it was more important than what the other River, her younger self, had to say, but because her daughter was in pain and needed to get it out. Her daughter came before herself. Simple as that.
She looked at her former self and thought her hair was ridiculously out of place. Why had the Doctor done that? Even having remembered the Doctor attacking her hair like that before, it still surprised her to see it happening and she never had gotten an explanation for that behavior, come to think of it!
"And right now you need to talk to her." She pointed to the girl. "I," She pointed to the other River. "Can wait."
She turned to the girl and whispered something in her ear. The girl nodded, looking miserable.
River pulled away and spoke louder. "Time for me to go now." Without even bothering to flirt with the Doctor first, she tweaked her vortex manipulator and left.
The River with the mussed up hair stood in place, several feet from her parents, still looking entirely too nervous for the Doctor's liking. But she would have to wait. Apparently.
"Okay," The Doctor clapped his hands together with a big intake of breath. "I guess you're supposed to tell me something now?" The Doctor asked the girl as he walked over to stand before her.
She wouldn't look at him. "Can it be alone? Just us?" She asked him in a subdued tone.
"Sure, why not." He flapped a hand toward the stairs and followed her down. Voices from above told him that Amy, Rory, and River were now chatting.
There was that, at least. Amy seemed more at ease talking with her adult, regenerated daughter than she was in the beginning.
He wasn't sure about the girl now. She wasn't River, even as Melody. Yet River seemed to have taken to her quite well. Much as Amy had taken to River upon first meeting her without even knowing their connection.
Did this teenager have some connection to River that he hadn't yet sussed out? There were infinite possibilities there, but he settled on leaning toward her simply having seen the girl crying and talked to her, finding out she had something to tell him.
He stood, facing the girl, his hands clasped loosely in front of him. She stood, her arms folded, staring at his bow tie. She not quite able to make eye contact as yet.
"I have a confession." She blurted out, then bit her lip.
"Confession?" He carefully questioned.
This girl, she knew too much about the TARDIS. She was far too comfortable being in here. He knew he was missing something, but he'd been patient about it. Things like this tended to come out in their own time. He wasn't one to push them out, unless absolutely necessary.
"Yeah." She slowly raised her eyes to his. Hers were full of fresh tears. "I did something horrible."
New tears wove their way down her cheeks.
The Doctor cringed. He didn't do well with crying people. Had she done something more to the TARDIS than he previously thought? He shouldn't have snapped at her. He often tampered with things he knew he ought not to, so how could he fault her on it? He hadn't even been angry with her. He'd been upset with himself about allowing baby Jessica to die. But she had lived! He didn't know how that had happened, but since her mother was a child of the TARDIS, it didn't seem entirely improbable to him.
"Did you do something to the TARDIS?" He asked calmly, all traces of accusation now gone from his face and demeanor. "It's okay if you did, you can tell me." He assured her.
Jessica could see it in his eyes. Uncertainty about her. He didn't know if he could trust her or not.
Her mother told her she had to tell him her deepest, darkest of secrets. Only because it was somehow time and because it was supposed to be part of her healing process, whatever that meant. She hadn't wanted to. Why her mother decided to heap this onto her now, after she was already upset, was beyond her. But then, her parents did work in mysterious ways.
She was terrified of disappointing him. What if he yelled at her again? What if he looked at her with disgust? Worse, what if he hated and feared her? She didn't think her single heart could take the rejection. He'd always loved her and accepted her. What if that was about to change?
Her father meant the world to her. He may not have been as gentle as her grandfather, but he'd always looked at her with pride and love. But even though this was his past from her perspective, what if it had taken him a long time to get to the point of loving her? What if for the rest of her life, she only met versions of him that wanted nothing to do with her?
Plus, she knew time could be re-written. What if she did something different this time that made him never want anything more to do with her, even in her own past? Would all of those beloved childhood memories evaporate as if they never existed? Would she be left remembering dual time lines, one in which her father loved and cherished her, and another in which he looked at her with hatred and anger? She had to force herself to stop thinking of the what ifs. What ifs would never allow her to get the words out that needed to be said.
She swallowed and forced her eyes to stay on his. He didn't know her yet. He knew nothing about her. But there was some compassion there in his eyes. She could see it. Just a hint of it there, for her.
She clung to it.
"No, that was...The psychic matrix was overloading and that thing, um, with the wrong numbers kept happening so I was just trying to stabilize her." She fidgeted, one hand weaving around the other as she brought them down in front of her. They landed before her much the same way the Doctor's did, clasped.
"Overloading?" The Doctor frowned. Something about that wasn't right.
Jessica nodded, distracted. "Yes, but that doesn't matter now. Not after what I've done!" Her tears fell in earnest now. "I'm sorry, I'm really sorry!" She cried.
The Doctor's instincts took over. Much to his own bemusement, he found himself reaching out and hugging the girl. "Hey." He patted her back before stepping back and giving her a comforting smile. "Whatever it is you've done, it can't be all that bad. Well, I suppose it could be, but I'm sure I can fix it." He told her confidently.
Jessica wasn't comforted. After what she did, or rather by his perspective, will do, she believed she didn't deserve the Doctor's comfort and reassurances.
He watched her, wondering what it was she had done that could possibly make her feel so guilt-ridden. She didn't seem the sort to do bad things, but then he'd only just met her.
"No. You can't fix it. I..." Her voice wavered as she wiped at her tears, forcing herself to calm down. She met his eyes again.
"I hurt you. I tried to kill you."
"Oh, lots of people try to do that." The Doctor waved a dismissive hand, having immediately and lightly responded to her confession.
"But..." How could he take such a thing so calmly, Jessica wondered. "I actually tried, or will try, to kill you! And I'll really hurt you bad." Her last few words came out shaky.
The Doctor scowled. "Why would you do something like that?" He asked without anger.
"I..." Jessica felt an enormous amount of pressure from all of this. She hadn't expected to have to be the one to tell him, but her mother insisted it was good for her psychologically. But she was at a loss to explain herself. "I-I don't know! I just...Did it. Will do it." She corrected herself. "I did it in my past, your future."
"Well." The Doctor processed this easily enough. "Thanks for the warning." It wouldn't be the first time someone tried to kill him and it wouldn't be the last. Unless she succeeded. Since she said she tried to kill him and had hurt him, it suggested to him that he had survived whatever it was she did. The why was more important to him than the how. She didn't know why she'd tried to kill him. That didn't happen quite as often as people who had an actual motive.
"I didn't mean to do it!" She burst into more tears and covered her face with her hands.
The Doctor reached out to touch her arm. "There, there." He was rubbish at this comforting stuff! "I believe you." He was very good at reading people and even if he wasn't too sure about her, his instincts told him she was sincere and truly hurting over her actions. "Plus, you warned me which is more than I normally get from my would-be killers. That's something, isn't it?"
She just continued crying.
The Doctor decided he had to do something. "I don't know who you are or what you will do, have done, or anything, but I forgive you."
If only someone could forgive him for his deeds.
"How?" Her muffled voice answered from behind her hands. "H-How can you forgive something like that?"
"Are you sorry for it?" He asked lightly.
She looked up. "Yes, of course I am! I wish I'd never done it. I wish I could have stopped it." She agonized.
"Then I see no reason why I shouldn't forgive you completely." He smiled at her. This girl, whoever she was, and why ever she would try to kill him, was no killer. She was not some evil person bent on destroying others. He was positive of it. He could sense the goodness in her.
Jessica didn't know what to say. She was overcome by his kindness and compassion. How could she have ever doubted his love for her? Even when she had tried to kill him, he'd been there for her.
He may have snapped earlier, but he didn't know her yet and obviously had things on his mind. She couldn't believe how relieved she felt!
She hugged him again, laughing and crying at the same time. "Thank you! Thank you so much!" He didn't hate her! And it had gone a lot better than she ever imagined. Maybe she wouldn't have to live with the crushing guilt forever. Maybe her mum had been right, after all.
The Doctor laughed along with her, hugging her back. "You're very welcome." What was it about this girl that made him feel as if he knew her even though he knew he'd never met her before in his life?
Letting go of her, he started up the stairs. "Now that we've settled that, let's get you home."
He jumped up off the top step only to have the nervous, messy haired River Song grab his arm and pull him up some stairs and into a corridor.
"I need to take that girl home, and I have other things to do. Plans for your parents." He protested, tugging his arm free.
She turned to face him.
"If one more of you Rivers pops up today, I'll-" He stopped at the look on her face.
Her eyes were dry, she didn't look distraught, but something was definitely wrong. She was shaking and kept biting her lip nervously. She shifted from one foot to the other. He'd never see her like this before.
"River, what's the matter?" His concern weighed his words down with an edge to his voice.
This day had been particularly long and merciless. What other horrors could possibly be awaiting him?
There certainly must have been a matter to cause River to be so agitated.
"I need to tell you something." She looked almost as nervous as the girl had, except River was making eye contact without a problem.
"Today is a day for telling me lots of somethings." The Doctor observed. "Go on then." He encouraged, steeling himself for whatever was to come.
With River, he pretty much expected anything. Especially today.
"What is it this time? Another monster ripping a building apart?" He rattled on. "Need a sitter? An obstetrician? Or perhaps you'd like your house blown up again? Do you need to tell me you plan on killing me, too? Again?"
"It's not as simple as that." As if anything was ever simple with him.
"You see, it's..." River trailed off and shook her head. The Doctor waited ever patiently, albeit anxiously. He didn't like a nervous River. He liked even less that she had yet another surprise for him today. While ordinarily he loved surprises, he'd had his fair share. At least for a good twenty-four hours.
River took his hand and tugged him back out of the corridor.
"You're being indecisive, River. Is that a good thing? No, it probably isn't, is it." He mused while being lead back toward the stairs. Amy and Rory were chatting quietly to themselves. The girl was standing in front of the console, looking at this and that, but carefully avoiding touching anything now. Her face was stained with dry tears, but she looked relatively relieved and calm.
The Doctor stopped at the upper railing and rested his hands atop it with a quiet sigh.
"Do you see her?" River spoke up gently from beside the Doctor.
"She's not invisible, so yes."
"Isn't she beautiful?"
The Doctor took his eyes off the girl to take in River. That wasn't a River-like statement to make about some random girl.
"Is she you?" He asked bluntly. Even though the girl had said she wasn't, he wasn't completely convinced.
"No." River was smiling with the softest of smiles. It piqued the Doctor's curiosity all the more. She knew something about the girl. She had to.
"Who is she?"
"Look at her." River persisted.
The Doctor humored her even though he knew well enough what the girl looked like.
"I'm looking. Who or what am I looking at, exactly?"
Both were watching the girl. She slid into a chair and brushed her curly dark ponytail back over a shoulder. She pulled a foot up so that her knee rested against her chest, her other foot still on the floor. Locking her fingers around her leg, she resumed her watchful eye on the TARDIS' console.
She seemed ever alert to the TARDIS and what the ship's systems were doing.
She also looked more relaxed now that she'd gotten that whole killing the Doctor thing off her chest.
"Well?" The Doctor prompted. The quiet from beside him was a little unsettling. It was taking River a while to answer him.
"Who is she?" He repeated his question, his eyes still on the girl. He felt River's hand slide atop of his. He didn't move.
River took her eyes from Jessica, to the Doctor's face. "A daughter."
A look of mild confusion crossed the Doctor's face. "A daughter?" He repeated haltingly, as though the words were foreign to him. "Whose daughter?"
River's hand was trembling now on top of his as it rested on the railing. She wasn't answering him. His other hand covered hers, settling it between both of his to try to offer some comfort, and still her tremor.
River was trembling, nervous, pale, had a connection with a strange girl who appeared on his TARDIS with a burning vortex manipulator. Not to mention a confession about killing him. River was a mum. Her daughter died. Yet, her daughter lived. The pieces were finally sliding themselves into place together in his mind. It was all making sense now.
"River?" He found his mouth suddenly quite dry. "Whose daughter?"
The answer wasn't the one he was expecting.
River's gaze followed his to the young girl below. A tender smile found it's way onto her lips before the most heartfelt of words escaped.
"Yours."
I know what you're thinking. How could she leave it there? Not to worry. This time I truly won't leave you waiting on edge forever. I'll have a new chapter up before you know it. Well, not before you know it but certainly in a much more timely fashion for a change!