"RUN!"
I tore through the dense forest after Dad, who was a couple of paces in front of me with the little girl. She was clutching his hand desperately, glancing over her shoulder every so often with terrified eyes, and trying to keep up with the pace we were running at. The boy was just behind me. I kept checking to make sure he was still there. The creature always was, and the boy… almost every time. I skidded to a halt, grabbing Dad's sleeve before he and the little girl obliviously continued sprinting through the dark trees.
"Stephen!" The girl shrieked. I watched during the two seconds in which the scaly creature, which looked a bit like a Krafayis but without a horn, crept closer to the boy and lifted a claw, ready to swipe. As its roar mixed with the boy's scream, I darted forwards and grabbed his shoulders. I heard Dad's panicked shouts somewhere in the background as I wrenched the boy from underneath the creature's sharp talons before it struck, and his feet grazed the ground as I lifted him to standing position.
"Fast as you can, eh?" I winked just before pulling him back into our sprint, grabbing Dad and the girl as we passed.
"Lorna!" A woman screamed as we trudged into the village, the boy and girl still with us alive and well.
"Mum!" The girl smiled, letting go of Dad's hand. We watched from the edge of the trees as she hurried to her mother, who gathered her into a huge relieved hug and didn't appear to be letting go any time soon. As Dad chuckled lightly at the sight, I glanced down at the boy still stood by my side.
"Aren't you going too, Stephen?" I whispered. He turned to me wide-eyed.
"I-" He stammered.
"Stephen!" A man shouted from across the street. "Stephen!"
"Sounds like someone is happy to see you." I grinned, and ruffled his hair. "Go on." He stared at me for a second before a small smile approached his lips, and he skipped away to whoever was calling.
"Dad!" I heard him mutter in the distance, just as they reached each other. My own father stepped closer to me and held out his arm. I giggled as I slipped mine through his, and we started forwards with friendly smiles.
"Hello!" We called to the people in the village.
"Who are you?" Stephen's Dad snarled, stepping in front of his son protectively. "What did you do with them?"
"I'm the Doctor, and this is Jenny-" Dad replied merrily.
"What did you do with our children?" The man repeated.
"We didn't do anything with them." I frowned.
"You're not from the Gamma forests." The girl's mother stated.
"Correct," Dad nodded. "And my sister is right. We found your children wandering in the forest-"
"There was a monster, mummy!" The little girl exclaimed, her eyes bright as she swung from her mother's arm. "The Doctor saved us!"
"A monster?" The woman questioned.
"Well, a creature," I reasoned, scratching my neck. "It looks like it crashed here, but don't worry. It's gone now, and your children are completely unharmed."
"Yes, we sent it back to its own planet. Perfectly safe." Dad finished.
"Stephen," the man said, turning to his son after a couple of seconds. "Is this true?"
"Yes, Dad." He nodded sheepishly.
"Yes, completely true." Dad interrupted happily.
"Oh, absolutely," I agreed. "Hundred percent." The two parents looked at us for a second.
"Thank you." The girl's mother muttered, and hurriedly turned away. "Come on, Lorna."
"But mum!"
"No, Lorna."
"But I wanna say goodbye!"
"Goodbye!" Dad called, lifting a hand into the air as the girl, Lorna, glanced back at us.
"See you later, Lorna!" I grinned. And then it clicked. "Lorna…"
"What?" Dad mumbled under his breath.
"Lorna… Bucket?" He looked at me wide-eyed.
"Lorna Bucket." He nodded, and I smiled. We knew what she would become, and her mother would be proud. And we knew how brave she was going to be.
"Thanks." Stephen's dad mumbled awkwardly, not meeting our eyes, and went to follow the Bucket's.
"Sorry," Dad disrupted. "We came here looking for someone. A baby, or a little girl. Or, quite possibly, a woman."
"Excuse me?" The man snapped.
"What my brother means is that we have the name of someone we need to find," I said, cutting across Dad as he opened his mouth again. "You don't happen to know a Melody Pond, do you?"
"No." The man replied after a couple of seconds.
"Melody Williams?" He shook his head. "River Song, even?" He frowned.
"There's no Pond, Williams or Song here," he said gruffly. "And everyone knows everyone in the Gamma forest."
"OK," I nodded, slightly disappointed. "Thank you."
"Yes, thank you very much for your help." Dad smiled, and pulled me back into the trees.
"OK, where now?" I asked, skipping to the console. Dad followed me sombrely, not replying. "Dad," I whispered, reaching for his hand as he placed it on a control. "We will find her. We promised Amy, and we don't break a promise." He paused, then looked at me.
"Jen," he sighed. "It's not that."
"What, then?" I questioned. He paused.
"You… scare me."
"I scare you?" I repeated.
"Yes," he nodded quietly. "I'm scared, more scared than I can describe, every time you're in danger."
"But I'm not going anywhere, am I?" I smiled, leaning towards him. "I don't ever die. I'll be fine."
"And the fact that I can't explain it terrifies me," he continued. "I can figure out anything, usually. I'm the cleverest voice in the room. But I don't understand you," he paused, looking guiltier than I'd ever seen him. "I can't work out my own daughter."
"That's OK, Dad," I replied. "Really, it's fine."
"No, it's not."
"It is."
"Every time you're killed, you could be getting into more danger. Or being weakened, or…" he stared at a spot on the console. "I don't know what happens to you, and if I don't know that, I don't know how you're being affected. I can't think of anything."
"We don't have to know everything," I smiled. "If we did, we may as well stop." Dad's face shot up abruptly, his eyes just a little too wide, like when we watched the TARDIS scan Amy. I waited a second, anxious for his next emotion, which turned out to be apparent contention.
"I said that to Rose once." He mumbled, smiling gently.
"Well, then," I giggled. "It must be true."
"Yes." He nodded.
"And!" I continued, leaping up and around the console, my voice regaining our usual excitable Time Lord volume. "You never know, Dad. One day we might figure it all out. Patience is a virtue, as they say on Earth." He smiled that knowing smile, the one that made him look every bit the 900 plus years that he was, before regaining all the vigour and fluidity of a young man as he swung the monitor around to face him.
"Patience!" He laughed loudly, now grinning across at me. "I'm sure I can do that. 900 years of time and space, Jen. Always running. I've never had to wait before, not really," he lowered his voice, leaning in next to me as we rejoined by the final lever. "There's always something else to learn. I suppose that's why I keep going."
"Exactly, Dad," I replied. "There's something new around every corner," I paused. "I reckon Rory could teach you a thing or two with patience, though."
"You're not wrong, Jen," he nodded. "In fact, I think it's about time we checked in with the Ponds. No doubt Amy will have tried to get in touch already."
"Well, you can't blame her," I shrugged. "It's her baby, after all." There was a moment of silence.
"Yes," Dad agreed, then turned to me. "You must be tired. We haven't slept since Barcelona-"
"How long ago was that? Three, four weeks?" I yawned.
"Three weeks and two days," he grinned, tapping my nose. "Off you pop to bed. You've got three hours, then we'll make a pitstop in Leadworth."
"Oh, alright," I sighed, dawdling towards the corridors. "If you insist. Don't you go getting into trouble!" I heard a chuckle echo behind me as I skipped along to my bedroom, which the TARDIS had moved closer to the console room since I started travelling with Dad again. Kind of her, really. She didn't seem to do it for anyone else... Amy and Rory's room was quite a way from mine. They hadn't been in the TARDIS for a while, though. Not their fault, it's just that Dad and me had been searching for their little girl while they recovered from Demon's Run. Perhaps that was why their room had drifted deeper into the ship's memory banks. It did seem that way when I explored the corridors; River's and Jack's and Martha's were usually situated much closer to the console room than Sarah Jane's or Ian's or Barbara's. I made a mental note to ask Dad about it as I opened the deep green door to my bedroom.
Not many people had entered my room before. Dad had a few times (mainly to get me to come and see where we'd mistakenly landed or something exciting he'd found in the TARDIS). Amy did once when we went to the Ritz, just because she was curious... She seemed to be a little awestruck by it, though. I supposed the person who'd been inside the most, other than me, was Charlie. I smiled to myself as I thought of him, swinging the door closed, and meandered over to what was probably the focal point of the room. I often ended up stood in front of it when I thought about all the friends I'd met. It was how I remembered them. When Charlie was still with us in the TARDIS, we spent a whole day making the mural-type display in my room. It began as a small board with a few photos pinned to it, but by that point it had grown across the entire wall to look like a splatter of Nestene Consciousness at first glance. It wasn't me who added anything, though. I had a sneaking suspicion that Dad and the TARDIS worked together to build the collage up, in preparation for my more permanent return.
At the centre, right where it all started, were photos of number ten and Donna and me, of Jack and Gwen and Ianto, of Martha and Mickey, Sarah Jane, and tonnes with Charlie. The new ones featured number eleven and Amy and Rory and River, as well as more of Jack and Gwen, this time with Rex and Esther, too.
I sighed, turning away from my favourite wall in my room. I didn't want to admit it, but Dad got it right when he said I must have been tired, and I only had a couple of hours to catch up on a bit of sleep before we were going to visit the Ponds. As I flopped onto the bed, the covers a dark blue silk that we once found at a market on New Earth, I wondered whether Dad was resting, too. He had been running around for the same length of time as me, at least, but there wasn't anything that indicated he was planning on napping. Sometimes, lost in a galaxy of my own thoughts, I questioned how much I really knew my father. He was always talking - you could hardly get him to stop for breath - but he never really said anything. Not about himself, anyway. Getting the Doctor to open his hearts to you was like trying to set up a Dalek with a Cyberman. It was still rare to hear him speak openly about his genuine feelings for others, which was why our previous conversation in the console room was to be considered with care. For my Dad to tell me he was scared, he must have been truly, properly terrified. Verging on desperate, even. And that, in turn, shook my very being to the core; Dad was hardly ever left in the dark, but when he was, he always knew how to reach the light. Amy's ganger pregnancy, for example. Despite the complete mystery, Dad still conjured up theories and found leads to follow. But in my case, in my circumstances... He said himself he was clueless.
I shook my head and rolled on to my back, so that I could gaze up at the deep and infinite ceiling. The TARDIS had given me a window to the solar system above my bed, where galaxies and planets roamed through the universe. There were suns shining and stars burning, moons revolving constantly like the hands on a clock, all set deep in the endlessness existence and near blackness. I often caught myself drifting into the abyss of the universe's image above me. It was what hypnotised Amy when she stepped inside my room.
Amy. Amy and Rory; they were the reason for Dad and me travelling where we'd travelled. We'd followed a trail across the galaxy, trying to locate their daughter and stop Madame Kovarian brainwashing her into a murderous psychopath. Our first stop, as soon as we left Demon's Run, was the Stormcage. We knew that we were searching for the youngest possible version of Melody Pond, and River was a registered prisoner there. Stormcage must have held some kind of record of her, which possibly included childhood residency...
"OK Jen. It's going to be difficult to get information, even with a psychic paper."
"I know, Dad. Stormcage is one of the most secure places for that in the universe. That's why they hold such dangerous prisoners like River." I replied with a wink.
"Yes, precisely," Dad agreed as the TARDIS landed, jolting just slightly. "Incredibly tight security. So!" He twirled exaggeratedly, flicking on the handbrake, and planted a peck on my head. "Just follow my lead, Jen. I'll do the talking."
We managed to get through the guards at the front of the facility with the psychic paper, despite Dad accidentally flourishing a library card at them first. To his credit, though, he did salvage the situation somehow by convincing the suspicious guards that we were Lord and Lady Williams, brother and sister and owners of an important computer system corporation on Earth, who had an organised meeting with someone high up at Stormcage. After a few awkward seconds, during which the guards scrutinised us with more mistrust than I'd ever been scrutinised with before, we were apprehensively allowed inside.
"Continue, Lady Williams." Dad muttered with a grin as we strolled down the long stone corridor.
"We're very lucky to be continuing, I think, brother dearest." I whispered back.
"I had everything perfectly under control."
"Where's the fun in that?" We grinned at each other just as we reached the front desk.
"Hello!" Dad smiled at the stern woman sat behind it.
"Names." She stated after a pause.
"This is Lady Annie Williams, my honourable sister, and I am Craig Williams," Dad introduced, holding out the psychic paper. "Lord Craig Williams." He added as an afterthought.
"Intention." The woman said flatly, not even looking up.
"We are here on some very important business," Dad explained, drawing himself up to maximum height. "Very very important. We represent Pond Enterprises Inc. from the planet Earth."
"There is information we need from the Stormcage, about one of your inhabitants-" I said.
"Prisoners." The woman snapped.
"Prisoners," I continued. "Yes. We have been sent here on behalf of the corporation. We were told that you knew we were coming."
"Fine." The woman sighed, got up from her chair and sauntered into the corridor behind.
"Well she seems... Nice." I whispered.
"Yes, well. At least we're getting somewhere." Dad replied under his breath, just as the woman returned with a tall, even sterner looking man dressed in a grey suit.
"Yes." He said shortly, staring at us. Maybe it was a requirement to work at the Stormcage, to be rude and dull sounding...
"Hello!" Dad smiled. "We're here on behalf of Pond Enterprises-"
"I know," The man interrupted. "Identification required."
"Oh, of course..." Dad nodded, rummaging in his jacket for the psychic paper. "Ah, here we are. As you can see, Lord and Lady Williams of Pond Enterprises Inc."
"We had no prior notice." The man said, apparently satisfied with our ID.
"Oh, really?" I replied. "That's odd. Perhaps the message didn't come through in time for our arrival? You see, we need information on a prisoner-"
"I know," he nodded sharply. "Prisoner?"
"Doctor River Song." Dad answered happily. "If you don't mind, my good man."
"Doctor Song is one of our most dangerous criminals," the man began. "Regular escapes. Unknown methods or reasons. Imprisoned for murder."
"Yes." We nodded simultaneously.
"The information we need is about her childhood," I explained. "Where she grew up."
"Doctor Song was born on Demon's Run, graduated the Luna University, captured on Earth," the man said, not bothering to look anything up. "Other whereabouts unknown."
OK, so Stormcage knew nothing. We should have known, really. Madame Kovarian was clever; she would've wiped or hidden any records of Melody Pond's residencies, which made our task incredibly difficult. We decided to begin on Earth, though, as we knew the little girl was taken there at some point... We might've been able to trace back to earlier times in her life. But I knew that really, we couldn't save her. I knew that we didn't find her as a child. She was going to grow up to be River Song, and she was going to kill Dad by Lake Silencio. We couldn't change history by slipping her out of her timeline. Who knows what could have happened. However, we could and were still searching for Melody Pond. As long as we could track her, make sure we knew where she was, it could be good reassurance for Amy and Rory... If only we could locate her.
After Earth, we followed a paper trail across the galaxy: Kantra, Santiny, Abydos, Dioscuros, Jalion 17, Morok, Felspoon, Zazz, Reja Magnum, Gidu, Merpesia, Shan Shen, Poosh, Centauri Seven, and finally, the Gamma Forests where we kind of crash-landed. It was lucky, really, because Rassion knows what would've happened to Stephen and little Lorna Bucket if they were alone in those trees.
I kicked off my muddy Converse and wriggled underneath the duvet, realising how long I'd spent amongst my thoughts when I should have been catching up on sleep. We were meeting Amy and Rory in an hour. I smiled to myself as I relaxed into the pillows... I had missed the Ponds.
LunaRoseDiCaprio: That was a longggggg gap.. Not even going to make excuses.. I'm off for Easter now for 4 weeks so will try to write as many chapters as possible so that i can upload content for you all even when I'm on placement :) hope that impromptu hiatus hasn't put you off this story.. Enjoy the chapter! Xx