Chapter 11 – Christmas With Melody Pond
"Mother?"
Both Amy and the blonde looked up to see Sherlock at the top of the stairs, both giving him matching flirty grins.
"Hullo Sherlock." The blonde said pleasantly, her voice smoky, and Amelia just laughed.
"Melody, you haven't met yet."
The blonde just lifted a brow before giving another disgraceful smile.
"Oops. Spoilers." she said with a full-bodied laugh, and Amelia rolled her eyes before tugging the other woman upstairs.
"I bought champagne. Just in case." Amy was saying, stepping past a stunned Sherlock as the two women moved through to the kitchen.
"I haven't missed a Christmas yet, have I?" the blonde asked, and Amy shook her head.
"Course not." there was a pause as she popped the cork on the champagne, pouring it into the flutes the blonde had gotten without even having to search around. "Have you visited your father yet?"
"Saw him this afternoon. He had a lady friend over." the blonde said with that same suggestive tone, and Amy gave a relieved smile.
"Good, I'm glad."
It was then that River looked up to see Sherlock standing in the kitchen doorway, openly staring.
"Mother, looks like we have some explaining to do." At the familial term, Sherlock's eyes narrowed in on the buxom blonde.
"Who are you?" he demanded, not believing what he'd previously heard, and River stepped forward to offer her hand and a mischievous smile.
"Professor River Song, but you've probably heard of me by a different name." Amy gave a bark of laughter that had River's smile widening a fraction as Sherlock accepted the offered hand. "I'm Melody Pond."
Sherlock froze, looking between Amelia and this new woman in absolute disbelief.
"That's not possible." he informed her, but River just laughed.
"Oh we really haven't met yet." River said, turning back to her mother and accepting a flute of the bubbly drink. "Does that mean the Doctor hasn't been by yet?" River asked, a slight frown marring her features.
"Not yet." Amy said with a shrug, that only had River's frown deepening.
"How long have you been here? In London?" River was sounding almost angry now, and it was Sherlock who answered.
"Three months and eight days."
River could only gape.
"That stupid, stupid man." Without a word she was pulling out a small, strange looking device out of her purse, appearing to be a bracelet with a touch screen where a watch face might go. She seemed to type in numbers before shoving it back into her purse, the scowl becoming a smile. "There. We'll see if he can miss that."
"What did you do?" Sherlock demanded, still not understanding what could possibly be going on, and River just gave him that same sinful smile.
"Texted a boy."
Sherlock just stared, eyes flicking between River and Amelia, clearly lost.
"It might help if you actually ask the questions so that we can give you the answers you're looking for." River prompted after a prolonged silence, and Sherlock just scowled at her, causing another smile to spread across her features. On cue, John appeared, yawning as he headed for the kettle.
"Morning Sherlock, Amy." Then he paused, doing a double take at River who was smiling at him as she sipped at her champagne. "Um, hello." he looked between a grinning Amy and a scowling Sherlock before looking back at River. "And um, who are you?"
"Professor River Song." she introduced, and John nodded a greeting, still not completely understanding what was going on. "But just to clear the air, I'm also Amy's daughter, Melody." John did another double take, nearly scalding himself with water from the kettle.
"Excuse me?"
"Oh really John, it's not that complicated." Sherlock was suddenly saying. "This Doctor Amelia has been waiting for, he travels through time. How else would Amy have a daughter who appears older than herself with technology far to evolved to have been created in our lifetime?" River laughed, and though Amelia was smiling, there was worry in her eyes.
"On the mark as usual Sherlock." River complimented, and Sherlock just scowled, looking past her to Amelia. This was the part of her past he'd been missing, and he didn't know whether he was happy to know, or discomforted. Time travel was impossible, and yet he'd just witnessed the numbers River had typed into her device; it had been coordinates, a star date. How could he have missed that all this time? That Amelia's mystery was based on something beyond his scope of reality? And he knew why. Because no man who entrenched himself so deeply in science wanted to admit something he couldn't prove could exist. Even as he focused back in on the other people in the room, River was handing John a flute of champagne.
"Here John, it'll soften the nerves a bit. Really, I can't believe the Doctor has taken this long to find you. Did he forget where he dropped you off?"
"That's part of the problem, Melody." Amy told her, even as the other two men seemed shocked into silence. "He didn't drop me off here in London, I was literally pulled out of the TARDIS."
"That's not possible." River murmured, staring at her mother, and she just shrugged.
"Quite true though. One second I was on the TARDIS, the next I was falling, quite literally, into the streets of London."
"But how?" River demanded, rushing over to her mother, another device coming out of her purse as she used it to scan Amelia over.
"Dunno really. But it wasn't all bad. I met these two blockheads." on cue, John blinked out of his shock, draining his glass.
"Time travel." he muttered, before giving a shrug. "Well can't say it's easy to grasp, but I won't deny you both standing here." he paused, giving another frown. "What's a TARDIS?"
"An acronym." Came Sherlock's soft reply. "Time and Relative Dimension in Space, correct?" Noticing the blank look on Sherlock's face, River didn't reply this time, just watched as Amelia moved closer to the man she'd been living with.
"Alright?" she asked quietly, though her usual grin was on her face. It only took one look into her green eyes though for Sherlock to see the nerves there.
"Fine." her smile dimmed and so he reached out, sighing as he tried to wrap his head around all this new information, brushing the back of his hand against her cheek. "Really, fine." Her smile brightened and she took his hand, turning back to River.
"Well then, tell me what brilliant adventures you've been having, professor."
John left around noon to visit Mary, but River stayed for the whole day, claiming she wasn't leaving until the Doctor arrived, but in the meantime she answered any and all questions Sherlock tossed her way as if she enjoyed answering every single one of them, though she didn't always give the answer he wanted.
"So we've met already then, since you knew who I was when we arrived."
"Yes. Though the first time I met you, I had no clue who you were, and you knew everything about me. Now I understand why."
"So you never meet anyone in the right order?" he asked, and Amelia laughed beside him, head resting on his shoulder as she answered.
"Seems to be the way. First time I met her, I had no idea who she was, other than that she was the mysterious woman the Doctor would marry. You were only a doctor then." she reminisced happily.
At that, Sherlock was confused all over again.
"So you're the Doctor's wife then?" and River just nodded.
"And I'm his mother-in-law." Amelia muttered, though it was with false discomfort that brought a shared smile between mother and daughter.
"What happens in the future then? Why do you visit in the future when you don't know who I am?"
"Because it isn't my future, it's my past. It's your future. And I was visiting my mother of course."
"When does that visit occur?" Sherlock asked, exited now. Did this mean he won? That he caught Moriarty and everyone stayed safe? But her answer just came with a laugh.
"Spoilers."
Sherlock scowled.
"What's the use of time travel if you can't at least tell us what happens at a certain date? Surely telling us the date on which you visited doesn't ruin much of anything."
"Because I know you Sherlock, and if I give you so much as a date you'll deduce all the things that could lead to that event on that day which that could disrupt the line of events. Create monumental change."
"And if you don't tell me, even more horrible things could happen." River frowned then, looking from Sherlock to her mother.
"Tell me about what's been happening here. What's so important that you so desperately want to know the future?"
"Moriarty is back." Amy said when it was clear Sherlock wasn't going to say anything, "And Sherlock's afraid that everyone is a target and so on. He's becoming a bit over protective. Little does he know that I've faced worse." Amy said easily, but even as she spoke, Sherlock watched as River's face paled.
"You know something." he stated, and Amy broke off to look between the two. "Something bad is going to happen, and you know what it is." Before he could continue, a sound started, one that started quietly but grew louder by the second, as if air was being sucked in and out fast enough to make an actual sound.
"He's here." Amy was on her feet in an instant, and though both River and Sherlock stood, neither followed. Instead, River stepped closer to Sherlock, expression serious.
"You're going to hate him." she said, and neither had to specify that she meant the Doctor. "He is going to say and do things that infuriate you, but no matter what you need to trust him." Sherlock could only frown, never having seen this sort of intensity from River in everything he'd seen of her that day.
"Why?" he asked, and she just gave a strained smile.
"Because no matter what, he'll do everything he can to save her."
The idea that Amelia would indeed be in danger sparked fear in him, but River was laying a comforting hand on his arm.
"Isn't telling me this breaking your spoiler rule?" he asked, but she shook her head.
"No, because I know both of you, and I know sometimes both you and him need a push in the right direction." Though he wanted to argue her on it, this mysterious time travelling River Song, he just nodded, knowing from their short counter that this woman would protect her mother at all costs. "Just trust him, and when you can't do that, trust her."
Sherlock just nodded, even as he heard the jubilant voices outside.
"Amy!"
"Doctor!"
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