School days for the Pond women were never easy. For Amy it had been her stories about the Raggedy Doctor that caused her the most problems. For River, it had been all the trouble she'd gotten in to as Mels. For Mia it was all the stuff she knew to be true but everyone else was clueless about. She knew that Henry VIII had an unknown secret wife because that wife was her Nan. The reason why Elizabeth I was the Virgin Queen, was because she was waiting on the Doctor to marry her, and because of the patricidal definition of virginity. She knew who inspired Vincent Van Gogh's sunflower paintings, that the figure in the Scream was a real life monster, that a Dalak served tea to Winton Churchill, and that Cybermen lurked in the cellars of department stores. It was a lot for a kid to keep bottled up and sometimes things slipped through, and sometimes that led to Mia being scolded for her imagination.

"Amelia." Ms. Collins said gently but firmly. "Though I'm impressed that a child of your age was able to write about a book as complex as The Time Machine, you can't make things up about the author."

Mia looked insulted as she sat in front of the Head Teacher's desk. "I didn't make anything up."

"Amelia." The teacher said with a look that said she was disappointed. "H.G. Wells is not a woman. He was a man." She showed Mia a picture. "That's him."

"That's not H.G." Mia sighed. "That's her brother Charlie."

Ms. Clark shook her head. "H.G. Wells is not a woman."

"Yes she is." Mia argued. "She's a woman and she's living in America with her wife and two children."

Needless to say Mia brought a letter home to her mother that day. River felt bad for her little girl when stuff like this happened but she was also very proud. Mia wouldn't let people berate her into going against what she believed, what she knew was the truth. She did have to talk to Mia again about what she could and couldn't say to people, but she wasn't going to scold her for what happened. How could she? Especially after reading the book report and seeing the pride in which Mia spoke of Helena. Mia got her first diary that day, a place where she could let out all of the stuff in her life that the outside world wouldn't, couldn't understand.

As much as Mia was like her mother and grandmother she was also very much like her father. She loved getting lost in the vastness of the universe, exploring, learning, showing all of time and space to someone special, and finding every little bit of trouble the universe had to offer. She was also the kind of person, like her father, who didn't take to being bored.

River had been working in the study the Tardis had created for her while the Doctor tinkered under the control room. Mia was bored, she hated being bored, and when she was bored she didn't always have the best of ideas.

"Doctor!" River's voice rang out. It reverberated off the walls in that way that made the Doctor want to run for his life. This woman did know how to properly kill him after all. When she burst into the room he could almost see the steam coming out of her ears.

"River, dear, you roared?" He said as he looked up at her nervously. Why was he so nervous? He hadn't done anything, lately, had he?

"Where is your daughter?" River asked as she came down the stairs.

The Doctor blinked and pulled at his collar. The only time Mia was his daughter was when she'd done something to royally tick her mother off. "Isn't she in the library?"

River shook her head as she continued to glare at her husband. "No, she isn't. I've checked everywhere. She isn't here."

"River." The Doctor said softly. "She has to be. I would have noticed if she'd left the Tardis."

"Not if she used my vortex manipulator." River tossed the open wooden box with the picked lock that she normally kept the device in on the console, and then grabbed the monitor and turned it on. The Tardis was too big to check on foot so she used internal sensors to scan for Mia.

"She wouldn't." The Doctor said, looking a little insulted that River would even suggest it. His little girl would never steal her mother's vortex manipulator and use it. She wouldn't even think of doing that. She was a good girl. He stared at the empty box on the console and sighed softly. Well, maybe she would. "Oh."

"Yes, oh." River said with annoyance. Most of her annoyance came from River's over protectiveness and she knew that. With the kind of childhood she'd had, and knowing all the dangers that lurked out there for the child of the Doctor, the child of River Song, how could she not be over protective? Mia could be anywhere. She could be hurt or in danger or in over her head and River had no idea where to find her. She did however have a pretty good idea as to where to start.

Amy was surprised to find her daughter and the Doctor when she opened her front door. They'd just come for a visit the weekend prior and she wasn't expecting them back so soon. "River, Doctor…"

"Have you seen Mia?" River asked her mother as they were ushered inside.

"No." Amy said with a look of sudden worry and a little fear. "Mia's missing?"

River sighed. She hadn't meant to scare her mother like that. She hadn't been thinking. When it came to her little girl keeping her cool wasn't as easy as it normally was. "She took my vortex manipulator. Apparently she's decided to take her very first solo adventure without telling us. The Tardis traced her jump here."

That's all Amy needed to hear before she turned and yelled up the stairs, "Vincent! Vincent, is Mia up there with you!?"

It was Rory who replied as he appeared at the top of the stairs "He isn't here. Mia's missing?"

The Doctor was smirking.

"What are you smiling about?" Amy asked her best friend slash son-in-law.

"Mia has her first companion." The Doctor said proudly before sniffling softly. "They grow up so quickly."

When the Tardis materialized River, the Doctor, Amy and Rory stepped out only to find themselves in what appeared to be some kind of music venue. They looked a little confused as they made their way into the crowds. There were an awful lot of kids around with less than thrilled to be there looking parents. "When and where are we?" Rory asked.

The Doctor stuck his tongue out, smacked his lips, and then announced they were in London circa 1998. Wembley Arena 14th of April 1998 to be precise.

Amy got this odd look on her face after hearing the date and place. Why did it seem so familiar? Then the music started and it all came rushing back. She knew where and when they were and why it felt so memorable. So did River. Amy nearly died laughing when the music registered with her daughter. The look of utter horror on her daughter's face at the possibility of discovery was too much and despite the glare River shot her she gave in and laughed.

"Is that…" The curly haired woman said with a mix of surprise and disgust. "Oh no."

"Spice Girls!" Amy said a little to brightly.

"She has all of time and space, all of reality, and she chooses to go to a Spice Girls concert?" River gave her husband a death glare. "I blame you for this."

"Me?" The Doctor squeaked. "Why me?"

"She gets all her bad taste from you." River replied as they moved through the crowds.

"Oi!" Amy said sharply as she gave her daughter the same glare River had been giving the Doctor. "You can't blame him for this one, Melody!"

"Why not?" The Doctor asked while giving Amy a grateful look for reining River in.

Before Amy could answer another voice rang out. "Oi! Mels! Wait up!"

"Come on!" Mels yelled back. "I don't want to miss a minute!"

The four adults all stopped; frozen to the spot, just as three younger versions of Amy, Rory and River when she was still Mels ran past them on their way to get to their seats. Little Amy had on a Spice World t-shirt while Mels was completely decked out in leopard print and platform shoes. Little Rory was as always just along for the ride.

Grown up Rory was smirking. "Oh I remember this! You had it bad." He teased River. "You thought Scary was the best, even had the dolls and stuff, and you must have watched the movie at least a thousand times."

"Dad," River said with a dangerous look. "Shut up."

Amy pointed a warning finger at her daughter, a rather cross look on her face, as she said, "Don't tell your Dad to shut up Melody that's rude."

"She's the one with the hair, right?" The Doctor asked with a knowing smirk. He looked over at his wife, pointedly checking out her hair, and nodded. "Yeah, I can see why."

River thumped her husband in the chest with the back of her hand. "I didn't have this hair back then." Then she grabbed his sonic screwdriver from the inside pocket of his jacket and walked off in search of her daughter. It was odd seeing her old self, laughing and enjoying things with younger versions of her parents. That was literary a different life, and yet the memories were so clear in River's mind. As they made their way through the sea of never ending preteens and young teens and miserable looking parents, River did her best to keep them away from where their younger selves were sitting. She just hoped Mia and Mels didn't run into each other. That would be far more than just awkward.

"Found them." Rory said suddenly.

"Where?" River asked as she looked through the sea of young faces.

Rory pointed to the stage. The music cues for Mama were just starting and the Girls had pulled some kids onto the stage for the song. There was Mia smiling and swaying beside Ginger Spice while Vincent looked love sick as he sat between Sporty and Posh.

Amy laughed. "Looks like Mia's found Granddad's favorite."

Rory blushed and then said, "Leave it to Vince to cozy up to the two linked to football."

When the music suddenly shifted to Spice Up Your Life the kids danced and sang along. This was the end of the first act. River and the others made their way towards the backstage area using a psychic paper backstage pass. When the kids came off stage their parents were waiting there to greet them. "Uhoh." Mia said with a sheepish grin when she saw her mother standing there with arms crossed and a rather unhappy look on her face. "Hi."

"Don't hi me." River said but that was as far as she got.

Behind them the Spice Girls had noticed the Doctor and five different voices called out, "Doctor!"

The Doctor blushed as every set of eyes belonging to his family turned to look at him. River shifted her weight to one foot and crossed her arms again as five different women hugged and kissed her husband. It was a clamor of Doctor this and Doctor that as the women gushed over him. It was more then evident that the Doctor had had past encounters with the women, which really shouldn't have surprised anyone. Where else would they have gotten the idea for a bigger on the inside tour bus in the movie?

"Daddy!" Mia said in awe. "You know the Spice Girls?"

Of course once they heard that Mia was the Doctor's daughter the girl got the royal treatment. Before River even had a chance to scold her Mia was whisked off to VIP seats with Vincent, taken to the dressing room after the show, and even got to ride on the bus with them back to their hotel. When they did finally make it back to the Tardis Mia was to hyper to pay attention to a proper scolding from her mother so River put it off until the next day. She made it absolutely clear to Mia that taking her vortex manipulator and taking off the way she did was unacceptable and Mia was punished accordingly.

Of course Mia being who she was took to heart the part about using her mother's vortex manipulator without permission. She totally missed that her mother's over all rule was not to go off on her own period. When Mia was thirteen she decided that best sixteenth birthday present she could give her football loving uncle-slash-best-friend-slash-companion was every single FA Cup match in history. In the early morning hours of Vincent's birthday while their parents were asleep Mia knocked on his door before slipping inside. It took a little convincing but honestly how could he pass this up? The two teens snuck out of the house and into the Tardis, which was parked in the back garden. First stop, 16th March 1872 Kennington Oval, the Royal Engineers verses the Wanderers.

When the Doctor woke up to find his Tardis and his daughter missing he was both displeased and very impressed. Once all four adults were awake it wasn't hard to figure out that this little trip was because of Vincent's birthday and if Vincent could go anywhere, any time, it would somehow involve football. It was Rory's idea to use Google. They humored him until he came across a picture from 15th April 1989, a semi-final match between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest. It was a picture from the riot that had taken place and he would have missed the two kids if not for the big blue box.

"Oh that child of mine is heading right into a properly sore bottom." River fumed as she looked at the picture and shook her head. With a list of follow up matches River used her vortex manipulator to pop off to Wembley Stadium, finally catching the two hooligans at the Manchester United/Liverpool match in 1996.

"Before you start telling us off, Melody." Vincent said as River escorted them back to where they'd left the Tardis. "This was all my idea."

"Vinny!" Mia said in shock and annoyance. "Rude!" She scolded. "You can't take credit for your own birthday present! That's not nice!"

River had to fight to keep a smile off her face while she swallowed a chuckle at the look on her brother's face. He'd been trying to cover for Mia but it had gone over the girl's head. "I am fully aware of who the mastermind behind this little outing was, Vincent. Some of these matches are known to have gotten very violent. The two of you could have been seriously hurt."

"I wanted to do something special for him, Mum." Mia said as she stepped into the Tardis.

"I know that my love." River replied. "And it was a brilliant idea, the perfect trip for our Vincent, but you went about it all wrong. Stealing the Tardis and going off without telling us where you were. You know better. Don't you?"

Mia sighed softly. "Yes."

River nodded. She told her brother to call their parents while she dealt with Mia in private. Once all the unpleasantness was done and over both kids were more then shocked when River landed the Tardis at the next match. When she turned to them and saw the looks on their faces she smiled, "I said it was a brilliant idea didn't I?"

That was the thing about River, and in all honestly it surprised her. River Song was a good mother. She could be the over protective strict Mum when she needed to be, because lord knew her husband was wrapped around Mia's little finger and hardly pull off strict, but she could also be the fun, incredible comforting Mum too. More often than not it was the latter role River fulfilled most.

They were curled into the corner of the huge leather couch in study of their country estate house, Mia cuddled as close to her Mum as she could get since she was much to old for laps. River had her arm around Mia, Mia's head rested on River's chest, while the elder Song read from her diary. "Demon's Run, when a good man goes to war. Night will fall and drown the sun, when a good man goes to war. Friendship dies and true love lies, night will fall and the dark will rise, when a good man goes to war. Demon's Run, but count the cost. The battle's won but the child is lost. When a good man goes to war."

"The good man is Daddy isn't it?" Mia asked through a soft yawn.

River smiled softly and nodded. "Best man I've ever known."

"Which one of you lied?" The sleepy girl asked.

"What do you mean my love?" River asked in reply.

Mia's eyes were as bright as ever even with sleep just moments away. "You said true love lies. You're Daddy's true love and he's yours. Which one of you lied?"

"Rule One, the Doctor lies and so do I." River answered. "We have too. Spoilers."

Mia thought about that and nodded. As she got older she understood more and more about things like keeping a timeline clean. "You weren't really lost, Mummy."

"I wasn't?" River asked with a curious look.

"Nope, cause you can't be lost when Daddy will always find you." Mia replied as she finally let her eyes close. "He'll always be there to save you."

River smiled and ducked her head so she could place a kiss on Mia's.

"Mummy?" Mia said softly.

"Yes my love?" River replied.

"Tell me about the Library."