Discovery

by LizzeXX

11/OC -Time Lady- The Doctor has lost all his people again after his confrontation with House...or has he? When a mysterious contact appears that leads to an old friend, the Doctor might just find himself with more than he bargained for. A dear friend who went Mad at the Untempered Schism, a friend of his AND the Master's. What will happen? First in the Mysteries of Space and Time.

5. Let's Kill Hitler

Let's Kill Hitler

"Really?" the Detective scoffed, holding up a newspaper as she gave Amy and Rory, who had slammed on the brakes of the small car they'd been driving around a corn field, a disbelieving look, "Have I taught you NOTHING about clever messages? Of all the things you could do, you make a crop circle?"

And, indeed, right on the front of the newspaper was a picture of 'DOCTOR' written in the cornfield, with a headline for 'Leadworth's Crop Circle' just to get the Time Lord's attention. The last O of the word was a large circle, for the TARDIS had set down in the middle of it, the force of it creating its own circle in the corn.

"Seriously?" the Doctor, too, had to give them a look even as he moved an arm around the Detective's shoulder, his hand squeezing the top of her arm in comfort. It was partly in annoyance at them, and partly in concern for the Detective. The Ponds likely had no idea what they'd done by choosing to go this route to contact them.

Amy and Rory barely spared a glance at the new, long green coat he was wearing or the sunglasses on the Detective's head, as they scrambled out of the car to face them.

"You never answer your phone," Rory defended.

"WHY do you think I had to send him a cryptic message to meet me through Pythagoras?" the Detective deadpanned, balling up the newspaper to toss over to Rory with a bit more force than was probably necessary.

It wasn't just that, not really. She leaned back into the Doctor, her back to his chest, feeling the comforting thump of his hearts against her, reaching up a hand to tangle her fingers with his on her shoulder, a move to offer comfort right back to him. Sometimes it was just because he was terrible at answering the phone, other times...other times it was exactly what they had both been doing to try and help the Ponds.

If he answered the phone, then he was establishing a timeline to the Ponds, he was setting a mark, a stopping point, one he wouldn't be able to go back further along. They called, he answered, it was established and he wouldn't be able to just appear months before that point in time, it would be set. It had been the entire reason she had been so angry when the TARDIS picked up their call via crop circle. Because it was only the first, she knew, they wouldn't stop trying to contact the Doctor and get him to stop in and soon others would notice. Whenever she left her notes for him, it was always a calling card, a time and place in space and time, a way for HIM to meet her. A one time thing for him to decide when to pop in, the Ponds would just keep going.

They stopped in now, and because they had...when they eventually found Melody Pond, they wouldn't be able to go back in time to five minutes after River got the Ponds back to their home and give them their child back. And that was precious time they couldn't give to them now.

"Ok," Amy shook her head, "You've had all summer. Have you found her? Have you found Melody?"

"Did we bring you back your baby?" the Detective asked her bluntly, "Do you see her in our arms, anywhere? What do you think the answer is, Thing 2?"

The Doctor gave a small wince at her words, shifting to put his other hand on her other shoulder, moving his first closer to her neck to squeeze it a bit like a massage to help, knowing it was her own frustration talking. She could get a bit harsh with others when she was being harsh with herself first. Unlike him and the Master, she so rarely got truly angry, harsh things and bitter words and insults rolled off her in a way he still couldn't describe. Half the time he wondered if she even realized another person was trying to be mean to her or hurt her in some way. She got frustrated, sometimes, when others were just too slow to keep up with what she was trying to explain, or them being obtuse when something was obvious, but she was never actually cruel, as far as he would call it. Mostly she'd veer more towards sarcasm to express herself. In all the time he'd known her, the only time she'd ever gotten truly harsh or blunt with him or the Master was when she was frustrated herself, when she felt like she had failed in some way to do something. It always had the effect, not just with him but the Master too, where their anger would just dissolve and they'd focus on helping her through her frustrations first. Her thoughts could spiral heavily and quickly if someone didn't take the time and care to help her through it. Neither of them had ever wanted her to fall into that.

He was honestly a bit surprised she hadn't nose dived into that after failing to find the Master after searching 100 years, but he liked to think he'd gotten there in time.

Right now, it wasn't meant to be an insult to Amy or to make her feel worse, it was more that, saying it out loud, was her way of scolding herself. Because she had promised them they would find Melody as a baby and bring her back to her parents, and they hadn't. With time, they could, he didn't doubt that, not with the Detective on the case, but now they wouldn't be able to do it right when they promised they could. They were being called in mid-investigation instead of when it was completed. If the Ponds had just kept in their anxiety longer, they could have rewritten the time and gone back to before it even built up, but it existed now, it was a timeline he wouldn't cross.

He sighed, leaning in to press a kiss to the back of the Detective's head, struggling for just a moment, torn over whether to keep contact with the Detective, physical touch always helped her recover more, or to offer Amy some sort of apology for what she likely saw as harsh words. As though sensing his turmoil, the Detective wiggled somewhat so she was almost beside him and bumped her hip with his in a sign that it was ok to step away. He let out a breath and looked to Rory, "Permission?" he asked the man.

"Granted," Rory sighed.

The Doctor quickly moved to hug Amy, "You know who she grows up to be, so you know Sigma and I WILL find her."

"We did, actually," the Detective told her, not wanting Amy to doubt their abilities. She crossed her arms and leaned more heavily against the corner of the TARDIS for grounding, closing her eyes as she replayed the list of all they'd done over the time they'd been gone searching for Melody, a tactic the Master had come up with to help keep her thoughts spiraling. Lists and data and information were easier for her to bring to mind when her other thoughts were jumbled. Trying to ground herself with what she felt or smelled was too much stimuli for her, lists were easier, "Just…at a number of points in her timeline, as River," she nodded to herself, recounting each of them.

"Then you haven't found Melody yet," Amy sighed, pulling back from her hug with the Doctor to look at the Detective.

"Not yet," the Detective took a breath and opened her eyes only when she felt something brush along her ear and looked up to see the Doctor had curled his finger around a strand of her hair and moved it for her, before sliding his hand to the base of her neck and giving it a gentle squeeze in reassurance. The small smile on his face, the way it quirked in just one corner, it was telling to her, that he was there and on her side and felt the same. It wasn't just her who 'failed' in this, it was him.

The small wink he gave her also told her that he didn't think it was failure. They HAD found Melody, they would have been able to go back further along her timeline, he was sure, and find Melody, but the Ponds had interfered with that. It wasn't their fault, they could have done it. They WOULD have done it, if not for this pitstop.

"Hang on," Rory frowned, pulling their attention away to see he had unballed the newspaper and was squinting at something on it, "What's this bit?"

The Detective pulled out her magnifying glass and held it up to the paper as she and the Doctor moved over to see what he was pointing at, enlarging the image of a line shooting straight through the 'DOCTOR' in the field, heading for the last O.

"That wasn't us…" Amy realized.

The Detective examined it closely, before looking up, still with the magnifying glass over her eye, stepping in the right direction for where the line would be coming from once it reached the O, just as an engine sound grew louder. She stood there even as a corvette burst through the corn, heading right for her, the Doctor yanking her back at the last minute when the car screeched to a halt.

"Oi!" she huffed, "What was that for?"

"It nearly hit you!" he defended.

"It would not," she rolled her eyes, "It's this small," she held her forefinger and thumb out before her, "The glass just makes it look bigger, that's why it's called a magnifying glass."

The Doctor rolled his eyes and reached out, pushing down the glass she still held in front of her and pointed at the car, which was, in fact, very large and very close to her.

"Oh."

He shook his head at her, turning to face the woman who got out of the car, a young, black woman about Amy and Rory's age, in a short dress with a black leather vest, "Who the hell are you?" he demanded, his hearts racing at the thought of the Detective nearly being hit by the woman. Yes, regeneration would happen, but that didn't mean he wanted to see her die for it to happen...

Though he was sure she would say being hit by a sportscar in the middle of a cornfield was probably 'cooler' than her other deaths.

The woman merely crossed her arms and looked him up and down, "You said he was funny," she remarked, "You never said he was hot."

"Mels?" Rory gaped at her.

"What are you doing here?" Amy demanded.

The Detective looked between the two humans and 'Mels,' the former two clearly knowing the woman…but also clearly NOT knowing exactly who and what she truly was either.

'Please tell me you're getting this?' the Detective called in the Doctor's mind, tapping her temple when he gave her a confused look, only to close his eyes and breathe deep as they were taught to do as children when first learning how to sense other Time Lord minds around them. They naturally had a barrier around their minds, which developed in childhood while around family. They were taught later on how to lower it in order to work together or sense others around them with the exception of their triumvirate, as they were introduced so young that their minds would absorb that connection easily. The Doctor hadn't been sensing for another Time Lord in a very long while, except for her. And, being part of his triumvirate, it would take a bit more for him to push past sensing her to sense others.

The Doctor frowned, his eyes snapping open moments later as he pointed at Mels and then to her. She nodded, reaching out to pat his shoulder as he could only stare at Mels, realizing that the Time Lady he was sensing nearby wasn't just the Detective. He'd made that mistake once before with River.

"Following you, what do you think?" Mels answered Amy's question.

"Um, where did you get the car?" Rory eyed it.

"It's mine..." Mels shrugged…and police sirens began to wail in the distance, "Ish."

"Oh, Mels, not again?" Amy groaned.

"You can't keep doing this," Rory chastised, "You'll end up in prison."

"I'll break you out," the Detective offered, throwing her one arm up in the air even as the other came to rest on the Doctor's shoulders, his one arm winding around her waist automatically, "Girl after my own hearts."

Mels eyed her, "And who are you?"

"Sigma," she introduced, "Or the Detective," she offered, "This is Theta or…"

"The Doctor," Mels finished, "Yeah, heard a lot about him. Not so much you."

"I am deeply offended Amy," the Detective shot the woman a look.

"I didn't know you!" Amy defended with a huff, crossing her arms.

"Sorry," the Doctor cut in, coming out of his shock, "Hello. Doctor not following this. Doctor very lost. You never said I was hot?!"

"Is that the phone box!?" Mels cheered, cutting off any of Amy's response as she rushed over to the TARDIS, "The bigger-on-the-inside phone box?" she reached out to touch the corner of it, "Time travel, that's just brilliant."

"Ok, clearly knows Thing 2," the Detective murmured, trying to work out exactly who Mels was to Amy and Rory, from their perspective at least.

Mels snorted, turning to lean on the box, "I'm their best mate."

"Then why don't I know you?" the Doctor asked, curious to see how long it would be before Mels revealed herself, allowing himself to play dumb for the moment, not sure about her just yet. If this was who they both thought it was, there was no telling what the Silence had done, the less she knew that they knew, the better, "I danced with everyone at the wedding. The women were all brilliant, the men were a bit shy," he turned suddenly, his hand hooked into the Detective's arm to tug her with him, into his arms into a semi-mock waltz, "None of them as fun as you," he winked at the Detective.

"Yeah, thanks for the invite," the Detective grumbled to Amy, though she was smiling as the Doctor twirled her around and pulled her back, "The ONE time he'd let me eat cake..." she added, looking at Amy upside down from where the Doctor dipped her.

"I didn't know you!" Amy repeated, moving her hands to her hips, at the same time the Doctor said, "Good thing then."

The Detective shot him a glare for his words as he tugged her back up to a standing position.

But he just stuck his tongue out at her. It was true, cake was to be avoided at all costs when it came to the Detective. It wasn't as dangerous to the health and safety of others as when she was eating crisps. But whenever she got cake in her it had the same effect as eating a wheelbarrow of sugar for some reason he had yet to work out. She'd be bouncing off the walls and even HE didn't have enough energy to deal with that on a good day let alone every day. He AND the Master had had to sit her down and limit her cake intake to when they deemed appropriate.

That had been a hell of a time.

He was fairly certain he still had the bite mark on his ear despite his many regenerations, he just couldn't SEE his own ear very well...

"I don't do weddings," Mels remarked offhandedly.

'That or it was just a paradox waiting to happen,' the Detective commented to him.

Mels sighed, hearing the sirens growing louder, "And that's me out of time," before she turned and pulled a gun out of her pocket, aiming it at the Doctor.

"Mels!" Amy gasped.

"For God's sake!" Rory, though, sounded more like he was exasperated that this kept happening.

The Detective glanced at the Doctor with a look. Really, with tendencies like this, how did those two NOT realize something was wrong with their 'friend?' Was this normal behavior on Earth? She didn't think it was because the last time SHE had stolen a car and held someone at gunpoint she'd ended up surrounded by a group of police and tazed before being dragged to jail to wait for the Doctor to break her out and restart her left heart.

But that WAS two years go, in terms of Earth time, so maybe it changed since then?

She should test that out.

"What are you doing?" Amy hissed in a demand.

"I need out of here, now!" Mels cocked the gun at the Doctor.

"Anywhere in particular?" he asked, tense, his gaze flickering to the Detective, more concerned with how she would react to this. If Mels was who they thought, then she'd been programmed to do this, brainwashed, likely tortured and manipulated, it wasn't her fault and he didn't want the Detective to lash out at her for threatening him. She didn't have the best track record when people tried to hurt him or the Master.

"Well, let's see, you've got a time machine, I've got a gun. What the hell," she shrugged, "Let's kill Hitler."

"Oh, are we doing guns now?" the Detective asked, looking at the Doctor with his hands held in surrender, giving him a look that had him letting out a breath that she wasn't about to take Mels out and was going to see how it played out first.

It wasn't like she was an animal!

She wasn't going to just react and hurt the woman, she hadn't done that for centuries, had worked very hard to overcome that unfortunate quirk of lashing out on instinct and instead had gotten to a point where her mind got better at processing information and realizing what was an actual threat and what wasn't. She knew who River was, she knew what the Silence had likely done to her, she knew that any programming could be undone, she wasn't going to just attack the woman! It wasn't like when Buzzer was going to hit the Doctor and she'd hit him first, he'd made that choice on his own and she had seen him intending to do it, readying to, about to do it and decided to get him first.

...but that also didn't mean she wasn't going to have some fun too, and so her gaze turned a bit pleading as she continued to look at him and pay Mels no mind.

He looked cross for a moment, before huffing, "Oh, go on."

She beamed and, out of nowhere, aimed a very, very large gun right back at Mels.

"Where the hell did you get that from?" Mels demanded, slowly lowering her puny weapon at the sight of it.

The Detective sighed, rolling her eyes, "Honestly, are pockets a foreign concept to humans?" she turned to the Doctor for an answer.

He gave her a small smile, lowering his hands, now that he was safe, "Bigger on the inside ones are."

"Well, that's rubbish," she muttered, before nodding to the box, "Alright, in, all of you. Go on, Melody, welcome aboard."

~8~

Honestly, it wasn't her fault.

The Detective was about 63 percent sure of that.

It was NOT her fault that there was now a gunshot hole in the rotor of the console which was causing the box to crash and spin around them in anger while she and the Doctor did their best to pilot said box, all the while trying not to breathe the gasses now flooding out of the hole.

Really, telling someone that guns didn't work somewhere should not prompt them to fire a gun just to try it out.

…ok, so maybe that's exactly what she would have done in the same situation.

So she couldn't really blame Mels for shooting her gun, and she couldn't blame herself for saying what she had that had led to Mels shooting her gun, so that meant…

It was all the Doctor's fault.

Yup, that sounded about right.

"You've shot it!" the Doctor cried out, glaring at Mels after examining the bullet hole, "You shot my TARDIS! You shot the console!"

"It's your fault!" the Detective told him.

"What?" he demanded, rounding on her, "How's it MY fault?!"

HE hadn't been the one with a gun, nor had he been the one to challenge Mels to a duel with one!

"Isn't it always?" the Detective reasoned, her mind racing to come up with a better defense, "YOU were the one who decided on lying about this being a state of temporal grace where guns don't work! It's not MY fault your lie was discovered."

The Doctor rolled his eyes at her, the two of them focusing on trying to get the box to just land safely. It could repair itself in a situation like this, but not with people inside her and not with it being in flight. The Detective reached out and yanked a lever down, jolting them, the sound of glass shattering somewhere echoing in the room, before the box rocked harshly, coming to a standstill.

They hurried for the doors, the Time Lords fairing better with the gas than the humans but needing to get them out all the same.

The Doctor pulled the doors open, ushering everyone else out as they covered their mouths and coughed, "Out, out, out! Everybody out. Don't breathe the smoke, just get out!"

"Where are we?" Amy gasped once they were clear, the Doctor grabbing the Detective's massive gun as she passed to throw it back into the box.

"A room," the Detective answered, pouting at the loss of her toy, but the Doctor pointed a warning finger at her that she playfully snapped at.

"What room?" Rory asked.

She rolled her eyes, spinning on her heel, and pulled out her magnifying glass to look around, "Well, given the swastikas everywhere," she reasoned, "And the state of décor, militant minimalist, urg," she grimaced at the state of it, the room was a mess, with a shattered window and two men on the ground, "And that one over there with the toothbrush stache," she nodded at one of the men ducking down behind a desk, turning to face the humans again, lowering her glass, "I'd say Berlin, 1938."

"Oi, don't go in there!" the Doctor hurried back to Mels, who was looking into the TARDIS. He grabbed her gun as he pushed her back, shutting the doors, "Bad smoke! Don't breathe the bad, bad, smoke. Bad, deadly smoke, because somebody shot my TARDIS!"

Rory looked around, seeing someone lying on the ground nearby and hurried over, worried they'd knocked into him on their abrupt landing, "Doctor, this guy, I think he's hurt!" he called over, turning back to the man to see him starting to come around, "No, hang on. No, he's...he's fine."

The Detective held out a hand to the Doctor for the gun he was holding, he looked like he had no idea what to do with it, but instead he turned and put it in a fruit bowl on the desk, hesitating when he saw the man the Detective had noticed before slowly rise from behind it, "Ooh, hello! Sorry, is this your office? Had a sort of collision with my vehicle. Faults on both sides, let's say no more about..." he trailed off, realizing exactly who the man before him was, "It…"

"Well, coming face-to-face with Hitler," the Detective murmured beside him, absently linking her arm through his, "Not something you see every day."

"That's not…" Amy shook her head, her and Rory moving to their sides as Mels looked around the room, "It can't be…"

"Thank you," Hitler spoke, "Whoever you are, I think you have just saved my life."

"Believe me...it was an accident," the Doctor swallowed.

The Detective just reached out to grab an apple out of the fruit bowl before the man, munching on it and turning to sit on the edge of the desk, looking around. There wasn't any point to comment or react, in her opinion. It was 1938, the man didn't die yet no matter how much even she wished he would. And even if she tried to kill him now, the Doctor would stop her, stupid timelines.

"What is this thing?" Hitler asked, spotting the TARDIS in the middle of his office and moved over to it.

"What did he mean we saved his life?" Amy hissed to the Time Lords, "We could not have saved Hitler."

"You see?" the Doctor huffed, "You see, time travel, it never goes to plan."

"1938," the Detective reminded them after swallowing her bite, "He won't die till 1945, so we didn't save anyone from anything…unless…" she turned to the Doctor with wide eyes and a pout on her lips.

"No."

"Spoilsport," she muttered.

"You are not killing Hitler 7 years early!"

"Excuse you, who said anything about killing him?" she gave him an almost offended look that was more of an act than an entire vaudeville show, "I was going to just torture him a bit. Maybe maim him a little…"

"What is wrong with you?" Rory shook his head at her, at how casually she spoke of such things and how the Doctor hardly batted an eye.

"What's wrong with ME? What's wrong with you two?" she looked between him and Amy, "Your 'best mate' randomly shows up and threatens the Doctor with a gun and you hardly blink. I threaten to maim Hitler and it's all 'you're crazy!'"

Rory's mouth snapped shut at that…on some level, both the Detective and Mels were similar in that. Clearly both of them had done some mad things in their past, enough where some rather ridiculous things in the present just slid right off the radar and didn't even register for their own close friends. And...she was technically right about their reaction to Mels because of it. They had reacted more like 'oh not again' instead of expected genuine horror at what she was doing so...he really wasn't one to talk about her own eccentricities.

The Detective smirked, seeing she'd caught him, and tossed the remnants of her apple into the nearby bin.

"This box, what is it?" Hitler called over to them.

"It's a police telephone box from London, England," the Doctor told the man, striding over to him with the Detective close behind, honestly not sure if he'd locked the TARDIS and not wanting to risk Hitler getting inside, "That's right, Adolf, the British are coming!"

"No!" Hitler suddenly shouted, backing away and lifting his arms to protect himself, "Stop him!" he cried, pulling his gun out and firing at the other man in the room who had only just started to get to his feet behind the Doctor's back.

Not a moment later something swung down on the man's arm, causing him to drop his gun and then swung across his face, knocking him out cold.

"Seriously?" the Doctor turned to the Detective, "A baseball bat?!"

"What?" she demanded, resting the metal rod over her shoulder, "You said the shovel was too much last time!"

"Put it away, Sigma," he huffed, and she rolled her eyes but slid it back into her pocket before kneeling to tie her shoe, glancing down at Hitler's gun on the floor.

"Are you ok?" Amy's voice carried over from where she was helping the other man to his feet where he'd ducked down, checking he hadn't been hurt by the gunfire.

"Yes, yes," he said, "Yes. I'm fine. I think he missed."

But there was something off in the man's voice, an unaffected quality that didn't sound like shock to the Time Lords, and so the Doctor moved over, eyeing him closely, "Are you ok?"

"Oh, I..." the man began, before keeling over backwards in a dead faint.

"I think he just fainted," Rory commented.

"Really?" the Detective gave him a look as she joined them, "I thought he was eating a sandwich, of course he fainted."

"Yes, that was a faint," the Doctor murmured, "A perfect feint."

"Better question: why are we all so focused on a grown man fainting and not the fact that Mels has been shot?"

"What!?" Amy spun around at the Detective's words to see Mels was, indeed, standing there, looking pale and pained, her hands pressed to her stomach.

Mels gave them a grimaced look, "Lousy shot, him," she spoke, before collapsing to the ground as Amy and Rory ran over to her, trying to catch her.

The Doctor looked at the Detective as the Time Lady stood a few feet away, her arms crossed, actually grim and serious for a moment. It was never fun, what would come next. The survival was great, waking up to see you still drew breath, still had hearts beating, was a relief, but everything beforehand was just awful. To literally experience death…even she wouldn't joke about pre-regeneration moments.

"Mels!" Amy called, "Mels!"

"No, no, no!" Rory scrambled to try and help her, trying to move her hands from the wound but Mels wouldn't budge, "I've got to stop the bleeding!"

"How bad is it?" Amy looked at Rory, "Rory, what can we do?"

"Just keep her conscious! Stay with us, Mels!"

The Doctor swallowed hard, taking the Detective's hand as they walked over and looked down at Mels, "It'll be alright," he reassured her.

Mels smiled blearily up at him, "I used to dream about you. All those stories Amy told me…" she snorted, "Almost wish she knew about you," she lolled her head to look at the Detective, "You seem much more fun."

The Detective gave her a small smile, "Stick around and I'll show you fun."

"What sorta fun?"

"Ooh…the sort where your parents will definitely kill you if they find out, best kind there is."

Mels snorted again, "Probably shouldn't have said that," she looked at Amy and Rory, "Since they're both right here," she nearly laughed as something in their expressions hit her, "And you knew already."

The Time Lords didn't have a chance to answer as Mels began to glow with the all too familiar gold of regeneration energy.

"What the hell's going on?" Rory gaped at the sight.

The Time Lords hurried forward and pulled the two away, the Doctor calling, "Back! Back! Back! Get back!"

Mels pushed herself to her feet, smirking at the Time Lords, "Last time I did this, I ended up a toddler in the middle of New York."

"Explain what is happening!" Amy demanded once they were far enough away, nearly to the desk, "Please!"

"She's regenerating," the Detective said, though there was a small frown on her face as she observed Mels, something the woman said drawing her attention, "Obviously."

"They haven't seen regeneration before, Sigma," the Doctor reminded her.

"Ok, she's regenerating. That's what it looks like."

"But HOW?" Rory shook his head.

"Well, if only Time Lords can do it…"

"Mels is a Time Lady?" Amy stared at the Detective, looking back and forth between her and Mels, "No, no she's not. She's my best mate!"

"Oh, she's more than that."

"Mels," the Doctor began, trying to find a way to explain it to the two frantic humans, "Short for…"

"Melody," Mels and the Detective replied.

"Yeah, I named my daughter after her," Amy shrugged, lots of people did that.

"You named your daughter...after your daughter," the Doctor pointed out, seeing the dawning realization growing across their faces.

"Gotta admit, as far as paradoxes go, that's a pretty cool one," the Detective remarked…and the Ponds could only stare at how she was now literally eating popcorn out of small bag, watching Mels continue to regenerate before their eyes.

"Took me years to find you two," Mels called over to them, pulling their attention back, "I'm so glad I did. And, you see, it all worked out in the end, didn't it? You got to raise me after all."

Amy stared, "You're Melody?"

Rory, though was focused on something else, "But if she's Melody, that means she's also..."

"Oh, shut up, Dad!" Mels huffed, "I'm focusing on a dress size!"

And with one final gasp, Mels threw her arms and head back, the energy streaming out of her as she screamed, the humans watching in shock as her features began to change, morphing into someone entirely too familiar when she fell out of it.

River Song stood before them, in Mels' old clothes.

She panted a moment, getting her breath back from her yelling, her eyes wide as she began to pat herself down, curious to what she looked like, "Right, let's see, then. Ooh, it's all going on down there, isn't it? The hair!" she ran over to a nearby mirror, feeling her hair a little more fluffy than normal, "Oh! The hair, it just doesn't stop, does it? Look at that! Everything changes! Oh, but I love it, I love it!" she spun around to face them, giggling a little as she noticed she now appeared a fair bit older than her own parents, "I'm all sort of...mature!" she put her foot up on a piece of furniture, posing slightly, "Hello, Benjamin!"

"Who's Benjamin?" the Detective had to ask, looking at the Ponds, ignoring the Doctor who was covering his eyes.

"The teeth!" River suddenly gasped, spinning back to the mirror, "The teeth, the teeth!" she ran right back to the small group, "Oh, look at them!" and got so close to the Doctor's personal space that he was nearly forced back onto the desk behind him to keep away, "Watch out! That bow tie! Excuse me, you lot, I need to weigh myself!" and ran out the door, looking for a restroom.

"I am…LOVING this!" the Detective cheered, though the others appeared quite stunned. She slid her bag of popcorn back into her pocket and crossed her arms, though one hand came up to tap her chin, in thought, "You know...she reminds me of someone, I just can't put my finger on it…"

They just looked at her pointedly, but she seemed to miss the comparison between River's newfound energy and her own unexhaustive supply.

"That's Melody?" Amy had to ask once more, still not quite sure she believed it.

Rory could only shake his head, "That's River Song," he said instead, because…because, really, it was the only way he was going to get through this without completely breaking down. They wanted their daughter back, their baby daughter, to raise and bond with. Seeing River at Demons Run, he felt nothing, no paternal bond and he knew Amy was in just as much shock as him.

They hadn't known they were pregnant, they hadn't had those 9 months to bond and prepare and get the connection to being parents that they should have. It was just like one day there was a baby and then it was gone. It was traumatic, how it happened, there was no denying it, but…in another sense, it wasn't as devastating as he was sure it could have been. Because they hadn't had that time. They wanted it, yes, they wanted it back, wanted the opportunity.

And even with Mels, with apparently 'raising' her, it wasn't the same, because they never looked at her as their child but a friend, it wasn't the same bond.

And now that River was here…he had to think of her as River, not Mels, not Melody, because…because she wasn't Melody, she wasn't their little baby. She was a different person, a grown woman, and to think of her as Melody meant that they had lost all that time and would literally never get it back now.

He couldn't think of her as Melody or he wouldn't be able to function right till he could process it all.

She was River, not his baby daughter.

"Who's River Song?" River asked from the doorway, having popped back in when she heard Amy say her name.

"Spoilers," the Doctor offered.

"Spoilers? What's spoilers?" she moved to put her hands on her hips, her eyes widening as she felt part of her backside, "Hang on, just something I have to check!" and fled the room again.

"Is anybody else finding today just a bit difficult?" Rory asked, "I'm getting a sort of banging in my head."

The Detective turned to him with a frown, "I didn't hit you with the baseball bat too, did I?"

"No."

"Right, then it's just you."

"Look," the Doctor cut in, "We have to be very careful," he warned the others, getting off the desk and walking across the room.

"Oh, come on, Theta," the Detective groaned, "You won't let me kill Hitler, you wouldn't let me show Mels my gun, and now I can't have any fun with River? Are you sure you're not MY dad?"

The Doctor gave her an unamused look, "No," he huffed, "The last thing I would ever want to be is your dad."

Her eyes narrowed dangerously, "What's wrong with my dad?" she demanded, crossing her arms.

And he realized the trap he'd just walked into, because the man was an absolute saint and a phenomenal father to the Detective and if he insulted the man's memory he was quite sure he'd end up with another arch-nemesis on his hands. And it wasn't like he could say why he really did NOT want to be seen as a father figure in her eyes. He couldn't handle either of that right now.

Instead, he just spun on his heel and continued to speak, "This isn't the River Song we know yet. This is her right at the start. Doesn't even know her name."

"Ah, that's magnificent!" River's voice drifted over to them, and they turned to see her leaning against the doorframe, "I'm going to wear LOTS of jumpers! Well, now, enough of all that!" she pulled a gun from behind her and aimed it at the Doctor, "Down to business."

"Oh, hello," the Doctor remarked, not seeming at all disturbed by the weapon aimed at him.

The Detective could only let out a sigh, why did people think a simple gun would be enough to put down a Time Lord? He had JUST faced down an entire army base of people aiming guns at him and even that didn't work.

"Doctor, what's she doing?" Rory asked quietly as River stepped nearer to them.

"She was raised by the Silence, Thing 1," the Detective pointed out, "They want him dead, don't they? What do you think she's trying to do? Marry him?"

"Where'd she get the gun?"

The Detective turned to the Ponds, "You're really unobservant, aren't you?"

"Sigma, play nice," the Doctor called, his eyes on River while the Detective focused on the humans.

"Major Mustachio over there dropped his gun," the Detective sighed, "She picked it up when we were distracted."

"You noticed!" River eyed her.

"I AM a Detective," she huffed, "It wasn't just some name I picked out because I like to read mysteries novels or work on puzzles," she rolled her eyes, "That was my JOB."

And it had been her job on Gallifrey. She had been a Detective. It was quite fun really. Near the end of her time, before the war, for about two hundred years she had been of a branch that the High Council would send out to investigate disturbances in the timelines. Usually when someone tried to alter a point in time to a different one, or when a minor timeline changed to see what changed it, whether it was interference of another time traveler or naturally occurring. Before that, when she was just starting off and staying on-world, she would assist in any investigations that needed to be done for crimes going to trial. She would review the evidence, the scene, whether things had been tampered with, eventually working up to being the one first called in when a crime was committed and needed to be solved. While time travel was available, the threat of a paradox occurring if someone went back to witness the crime, or stop it happening, was too great so they had to solve those mysteries the same way as other species did.

She could still remember a time the Doctor had been put on trial for some ridiculous reason, she hadn't been allowed to take part in it, conflict of interest and all that. Because the Doctor was part of her triumvirate, and she didn't have a record of opposing him the way the Master had, she was forbidden to be involved. Probably for the best though, by not being involved with that, it kept the Council from noticing when she would go off-world to investigate the 'disturbances' and found out they were the Doctor getting involved or the Master causing trouble. She would cover for them, of course, come back with some explanation for what happened that would keep them out of the Council's sights. It wasn't something that always worked, sometimes other Detectives got assigned to their cases and were truthful about it but she at least kept a good number of their deeds hidden from the Council.

She shook herself from her thoughts, now wasn't the best time to get lost in them, "It's sort of a requirement to be observant."

River shrugged a nod, and tried to fire at the Doctor, only for a clicking noise to sound, no bullets.

"You really think either of us would just leave a gun lying around in Nazi Germany while Major Mustachio..."

"Hitler," the Doctor huffed.

She ignored him, "Is lying on the floor unconscious? I took the bullets out."

River gave her an almost impressed look, tossing the gun away, to pull something from her vest and aim it at the Doctor instead.

"Awww, bless, she's worried you're not getting enough potassium," the Detective put a mocking hand on the center of her chest, because River was standing there with a banana in hand, aimed like it was a gun.

The Doctor smirked, he'd spun the fruit bowl around when River tried to get too close to him, he could feel her reaching PAST him and knew what she was going for, every available weapon in the room.

River huffed, "Goodness, is killing you going to take all day?"

"Better question," the Detective cut in, stepping over to River, "Can I have that?" she nodded at the banana, "I'm hungry, and bananas are good."

River gave her an odd, amused look, but tossed her the banana, actually a little surprised when the woman began eating it instead of trying another trick on her.

"Why?" the Doctor answered River's question, "Are you busy?"

"Oh, I'm not complaining," River shrugged, absently making her way to Hitler's desk, and grabbing a letter opener from it, turning like she was going to try and slash at the Doctor with it, but he had the sonic in hand and flicked it, causing a spark to force her to drop it.

"If you were in a hurry, you could've killed me in the cornfield," the Doctor remarked.

"We'd only just met. I'm a psychopath. I'm not rude."

The Detective snorted, "Worst mistake anyone ever makes, not killing him the second he encounters them," she remarked, the longer someone waited, the better the Doctor got at working out the plan and stopping it, "Second worst mistake, not killing him while he's in the middle of jabbering on."

"Oi!" the Doctor frowned at her.

"What?" she shrugged, "It's not like she's actually gonna do that. I told the Master at least a dozen times to stop with the clever plans, but he never listened."

"Hold on," Amy cut in, Rory keeping an eye on River for them, "YOU were helping someone try to kill the Doctor?" she looked at him, "And you're still friends with her?"

"I never helped anyone try to kill him, thank you very much," the Detective turned up her nose slightly, "I'll have you know, I am Switzerland when those two get started."

This time the Doctor snorted, "Yeah, she just complained to both of us how wrong we were in our approaches. Wouldn't try it!" he called out to River as she tried to take the gun from the fruit bowl and fire at him, but he just held up the clip.

That seemed to get Amy back on the right track, forget the one who might have tried to kill the Doctor in the past and focus on the one who was actively trying to kill him now, "You were not a psychopath!" she called to River, "Why would she be a psychopath?"

"Oh, Mummy, Mummy, pay attention," River sighed as she approached the Doctor, starting to circle him, though he did the same, "I was trained and conditioned for one purpose. I was born to kill the Doctor."

"Demons Run, remember?" the Doctor remarked, "This is what they were building, my bespoke psychopath."

"I'm all yours, sweetie," River smirked, leaning in to kiss him quickly.

He stepped back, shaking his head, "Only River Song gets to call me that, and she promised to stop doing that too," he pointed at River's mouth.

"And who is River Song?"

"An old friend of mine."

"Stupid name."

"Have to agree there," the Detective remarked, tossing the banana peel off to the side, "Bit obvious, all of it really," she glanced at the Ponds, who seemed a little confused, "They targeted YOUR child because HE," she nodded a the Doctor, "Would never be able to harm her, because of that. Ooohhh…" she dragged out the 'oh' as though something had just hit her, "So that's why you and the Master left me out of it," she turned to the Doctor, "You could hurt each other, I could hurt you both."

Now it made sense why even the Master had let her be and hadn't tried to urge her to pick a side in their 'war' between themselves. If he hurt HER just to get to the Doctor, he would still be hurting her and so he would never do that, same with the Doctor. They would fight each other, and leave her out of it, leave her to have to wait out their battle to slap them both on the head and tell them to 'quit it already', not that they ever listened.

"Oh, look at that!" River murmured, coming to the smashed in wall, looking out at the city below, "Berlin on the eve of war. A whole world about to tear itself apart," she smirked, turning to look at them over her shoulder, "Now that's my kind of town. You're welcome to join, Detective…" she offered, seeing something as off in her as it was in herself.

"Oh, Sigma, please," the Detective returned.

"Mum, Dad, don't follow me. And, yes, that is a warning."

"No warning for me, then?" the Doctor asked, though he didn't sound angry or disappointed, in fact, he was even a little pleased she'd offered the Detective to go with her, at least one of them would be there.

"No need," she smirked, "The deed is done and so are you."

Not a moment later, the Doctor collapsed to the ground, gripping his chest in pain as the Ponds ran to his side.

"Doctor, what's wrong?" Amy gasped.

"Interesting," the Detective eyed him, crouching before him and pulling her magnifying glass out, before looking at River over her shoulder, "Poison?" she guessed, eyeing her closely as she recalled every instance where River would have been close enough to administer it, "Positioned lipstick?"

River laughed, "You are clever, aren't you? It was never going to be a gun for him," she confirmed, "The man of peace who understands every kind of warfare, except, perhaps, the cruelest," she eyed him a moment, "Kiss, kiss," before blowing him a kiss and jumping out the window.

"What's wrong with you?" Rory tried to help, "What's she done to you?"

"Poisoned him," the Detective said, reaching out to touch his lips and lift it to her nose, examining her fingers with her magnifying glass, "Poison of the Judas Tree, I'd imagine. Not many poisons safe to be worn on the lips of the administrator…"

"But I'm fine," the Doctor insisted to the Ponds, "Well, no, I'm dying..."

"No, you're not," the Detective stated easily.

"But I've got a plan."

"What plan?" Amy shook her head.

"Not dying," he pushed himself up, the Ponds helping him while the Detective wiped her hand off on her hoodie.

"Ok, what do we do?" Rory asked, "How do we help you?"

"Take this!" the Doctor held up the sonic, Amy taking it, "The TARDIS can home in on it, now go, get after her!" he tried to push them away, but they wouldn't budge.

He groaned and pushed off the TARDIS, moving to open the doors when Amy tried to stop him, "You said the smoke was deadly!"

"The smoke's fine," he huffed, weakly batting her hands away, "The poison will kill me first. Now, get after River!"

"I can go!" the Detective volunteered, her hand shooting into the air, "I should go. Can I go?" she turned to the Doctor, reaching out to take one of his hands in both of hers, "Will you be alright Theta?" she asked, eyeing him as he sagged against the TARDIS, "I can stay if you want, but laying siege to Berlin sounds exciting!"

The Doctor somehow managed a weak laugh and a smile, waving her off towards the window with his other hand, "You go," he nodded, letting out a small sigh when she cheered and jumped forward to press a kiss to his cheek in thanks, "Keep River out of trouble!"

Amy gave him a look for that, "You're sending HER to keep River OUT of trouble?"

Truly, River would end up in less trouble if the Doctor went with her.

But the Detective was already off, hurrying for the window.

"I don't understand, ok," Amy turned to the Doctor, "My daughter is trying to kill you…"

"Ah, well, she's been brainwashed, it makes sense to her," the Doctor struggled to get the key in the lock, "Plus, she is a woman. Oh, shut up, I'm dying."

"No, you're not!" the Detective called, giving him a salute before she, too, jumped out the window after River.

He gave a weak salute back in her direction before he managed to fall through the crack in the door, shoving it shut behind him with his foot to keep Amy and Rory out.

The gas wasn't deadly to Time Lords but it was to humans and even though he had a plan to deal with it, he couldn't be 100 percent sure it would even work. Better safe than sorry, he couldn't risk having to deal with sick humans while he was also dying.

'Not-dying!' the Detective's voice echoed in his mind.

He chuckled, though it morphed into a wheeze at the gas around him, and called out, "Extractor fans on!" sagging in relief when the gas began to be sucked up into the fans, "Oh! That works!" he took a moment to appreciate that, before he pushed himself up and staggered to the console.

~8~

"What are you doing here?" one of the soldiers River had come across demanded.

"Well," she began, "I was off to this gay Gypsy bar mitzvah for the disabled, when I thought, 'Gosh, the Third Reich's a bit rubbish, I think I'll kill the Fuhrer.' Who's with me?"

The man glared at her, "Shoot her!" he ordered, moving behind a row of soldiers as they opened fire on River, the woman ducking slightly and hugging herself for protection.

"Oh, you NEVER want to do that," a voice spoke behind her and River looked back to see the Detective ambling over, completely at ease even as the soldiers tuned their weapons on her, "Shooting a girl while she's regenerating? Rubbish!"

River smirked and straightened quickly, throwing her arms out and using the remaining regeneration energy to throw the soldiers backwards, knocking them out while healing any damage their bullets might have caused.

"Ah!" she laughed, "Now, that hit the spot."

"Nice one!" the Detective cheered, holding up a hand to her.

River eyed it for a moment before snorting and high-fiving her as the woman seemed to be requesting. She shook her head at the Detective's antics and turned to hurry over to the fallen men, reaching down to grab two of their machine guns with a call of, "Thanks, boys!"

"Good start," the Detective remarked, eyeing her, "But you need a cool ride to go with the equally cool weaponry," she looked around and grinned, spotting a motorbike nearby, "Come on!" she called, moving over to it and getting on, nodding for River to join her.

The woman hesitated for only a moment, knowing the Detective was an associate of the Doctor's, there hadn't been much information to be gathered about the sudden appearance of a new Time Lady, Kovarian and her sect hadn't known about her until Demons Run. But she'd seen the footage and the woman was completely off her rocker.

Just her kind of person.

It was really only the fact that the woman claimed to be a friend of the Master's also that kept her from the Silence's plots, they were of the thought that they could lure her to their side once the Doctor and his influence was out of the picture. If she was friends with his archenemy then there was a chance of turning her against him too. She wasn't a main priority though, the Doctor was, it was HIM who they were targeting for some reason or another, the Detective would either be collateral or a resource to be acquired. She didn't care much, her orders were just to kill the Doctor and she'd done it and the Detective didn't seem like she was going to attack or kill her for it, so perhaps the Silence were right. The lack of information about the woman seemed to make them think she wasn't as important or travelled or infamous as the Doctor was, just a regular old Time Lord.

SHE was starting to think they had been very wrong to assume that.

"New body, new town, care to going shopping?" the Detective added, which made River grin and hop on, the two taking off a moment before Amy and Rory caught up to them.

~8~

The Doctor tried to keep his grip on the controls, but the cramping in his legs and the pain in his gut was too much, sending him to the floor, panting, "I'm shutting down," he moved, turning over and reaching out to the railing around the console, using it to help him sit up, propped against it, "Going to need an interface. Voice interface. Come on, emergency."

Instantly a hologram of himself appeared before him, "Voice interface enabled."

"Oh, no, no, no, no! Give me someone I like!" then Rose appeared, "Oh, thanks! Give me guilt!" then Martha, "Also guilt!" and Donna, "More guilt!" he groaned, "Come on, there must be someone left in the universe I haven't screwed up yet," he winced when the interface turned into Amelia Pond, and shook his head, "No. No, show me someone I'd want to see before I die."

It wasn't that he didn't want to see Amy, it was just…he HAD screwed up her life, her daughter had been taken because of him, mutated because of him, talk about guilt.

"Voice interface enabled," another voice spoke.

He cracked an eye open, not even having realized he'd closed them, to see a hologram of the Detective standing there. He smiled at the sight, "Sigma."

At last, the interface got something right.

"I am not Sigma," the hologram stated, "I am a voice interface."

He nodded, taking a breath, it was easy to know this wasn't her, there was no way she'd be standing so still and impassive, "How am I doing?"

"Your system has been contaminated by the poison of the Judas Tree. You will be dead in 32 minutes."

"Ok," he nodded, the Detective's guess proven, "So, basically better regenerate, that's what you're saying?"

"Regeneration disabled. You will be dead in 32 minutes."

"Unless I'm cured, yeah?"

"There is no cure. You will be dead in 32 minutes."

"Why do you keep saying that?"

"Because you will be dead in 32 minutes."

"You see, there you go again. Basically skipping 31 whole minutes when I'm absolutely fine. Oh, you always did like to annoy me! You and the Master, taking turns doing my head in."

"You will be fine for 31 minutes. You will be dead in 32 minutes."

"Look," he groaned, "River needs us. You and me. She's only just beginning, I can't let you corrupt her so soon! See, I can't die now."

"You will not die now. You will die in 32 minutes."

"I'm going out in the first round. Ringing any bells?" he let out a cry of pain, flailing until he was face down on the floor, "Ok," he groaned, "Need something for the pain now. Come on, Sigma. It's me. Please. You could never let anyone kill me, not even the Master. Help me now."

"I am not Sigma. I am a voice interface."

He swallowed hard, "I can be brave," he murmured, opening his eyes to look at her hologram, "For you but you have got to tell me how."

And he could be. There had been so many things over his long life he hadn't been able to face without the Detective beside him, even some he would never have done without the Master there to goad him on. There was one thing, one thing only, that the Detective was afraid of, she could face anything else. She made him brave, he needed to be brave now.

"I am not Sigma. I am a voice interface."

He had to close his eyes at that, thinking back to the real Detective, to how she faced the world. He thought back to where she was now, with River, doing her best (probably worst) to keep River out of trouble. She had looked at him, while he'd been in pain, while he'd been dying, and volunteered to leave, to go after River, as though nothing was wrong.

He was sure the Ponds would see her actions as callous, cold, uncaring.

But he knew better.

It was faith, it was hope, and it was her belief in HIM. She was not afraid of his death, because she did not believe he would die. She acted as though nothing was wrong because, in her mind, nothing WAS, because he would survive this, he would beat it, he would live. He would not die, not on her, and so there was no reason to treat him as though he would.

It killed him to know it was the result of her psychosis, of what the Schism had done to her, her warped view of reality. It broke his hearts to know that it was her mind's way of protecting her, blocking off the reality of the situation, what it did to keep the last frail scraps of her remaining sanity in place. He truly believed if he ever died for good, as with the Master, she would fracture into a million pieces and nothing would piece her back together again. THIS was her mind protecting her, it wouldn't even entertain the thought of him dying for real.

But it didn't erase the fact that the Detective truly and fully believed, with everything she had, that he would be ok in the end.

He smiled at that thought, she believed he wouldn't die.

He wouldn't let her down now.

He nodded, opening his eyes and pushing himself off the console floor, he would not die, he would not let her down, he never would. He reached out, grabbing the console and hauling himself up, pulling up a lever to send the box off, homing in on her sonic magnifying glass, very glad she'd lost it in the TARDIS the last time she'd been in the box before the War.

~8~

The doors to a restaurant burst open, disturbing the string quartet playing Pachelbel's 'Canon in D' and the men and women sitting about eating their very fine food and wine. They all looked over, gunfire set off by the woman in the doorway, wielding two machine guns, causing them all to duck behind tables and chairs.

River smirked as she looked around the room at the frightened humans, "Ladies and gentleman..." she began, "I don't have a thing to wear," she lowered the guns from where they were aimed at the ceiling, to point at them, "Take off your clothes."

"Oh, really?" the Detective huffed beside her, moving to lean on the open doorway, a hand over her eyes, "I don't want to SEE that, River!"

River gave her an odd look, keeping the humans in sight in the corner of her eye as they scrambled to undress to their undergarments, "My name's Melody," she reminded her.

The Detective just shrugged, "Yeah. But I'm gonna call you River, for short."

She lifted an eyebrow at that, "Oh, are you?"

She snorted, "Your parents are Thing 1 and Thing 2," she brought up, "What makes you think I'm gonna get your name right?"

River had to nod at that, "Alright, then I'm calling you Sigma."

"Well, that IS my name," she laughed, lowering her hand to give River a playful look, only for a stampede of nearly naked humans to run past her, heading for the exits, trying to escape, "Oi, really!" she huffed, quickly moving her hand back to her eyes as River cackled at the grimace on her face.

River shook her head, stepping into the room now that it was empty, calling back to the Detective, "You can look now!"

The Detective cracked her fingers apart and squinted through two of them, not fully believing it was safe, but sighed when she saw the coast was clear. She stepped into the room to see River holding up some of the leftover clothing before herself.

"What do you think?" River called over, posing with some clothing in front of her.

The Detective opened her mouth to suggest that orange was never anyone's color, before she caught sight of something, "Ooh, nibbles!" she cheered, hurrying over to a forgotten hors d'oeuvres tray and popping one of the tiny treats into her mouth.

River rolled her eyes but shook her head, smiling, and got to work picking a new outfit.

~8~

River turned this way and that in front of a large mirror she'd dragged over from the corner of the room, looking at herself in her new outfit, a mix and match of the guests' clothing with an officer's jacket over it, "Now, look at that!" she cheered, "Now that's fun...from EVERY angle!"

"Looks good," the Detective called, sitting on a chair, her feet up on another chair, bobbing them to keep herself awake, sipping some bubbly and munching on some tiny, fruit desserts.

They both glanced over when Amy burst into the room. River ignored the ginger woman, but the Detective lowered her feet, frowning at 'Amy' for she was quite certain it was not actually Amy standing before them. For one thing, Rory was nowhere to be seen, for the second thing, Amy was too stoic and stiff, and for the third thing, it was making a bit of a heavier footfall than Amy when it walked towards River.

Her money was on robot.

She was also curious who would win, River or Robot-Amy…and why did anyone who wasn't Rory need a robot of Amy?

"I might take the age down a little," River remarked absently as she returned to her reflection, "Just gradually, to freak people out."

"You killed the Doctor," the robot stated.

"Oh, yes, I know, dear. I hope you're not going to keep on about it," River reached out to put on the matching officer cap, "Oh, regeneration, it's a whole new coloring to work with," before deciding no to the cap and tossing it.

The robot moved around to the side of the mirror to face her, not seeing the Detective get up from where she'd been sitting and slowly make her way over, "You killed the Doctor on the orders of the movement known as the Silence and Academy of the Question. You accept and know this to be true?"

Interesting, the Detective mused. She knew about the Silence, the Doctor told her about them, but apparently there was also an Academy of the Question to deal with now too.

"Quite honestly, I don't really remember," River shrugged, unperturbed, "It was all a bit of jumble."

The robot suddenly shoved the mirror away and opened its mouth, a beam of energy firing out of it and surrounding River, trapping her.

"No!" River cried out, "No! Get off me!"

A very loud thud rang out, the robot easing the energy blast, letting River fall to her knees, as it turned its head to look at the Detective, looking at the bat in her hands, now dented from where she'd swung it onto the thing's shoulder.

She glanced at it and nodded, "Ok, definitely robot," she murmured, tossing the bat aside and pulling her magnifying glass out, examining the robot's face closely, not even contemplating if it would retaliate from her attack, "High quality, too."

"You are interfering in an investigation," the robot stated.

"What investigation?" the Detective frowned, "You claim she killed the Doctor, doesn't sound much like your investigating anything, you've already reached the guilty and punishment end of it."

"Sorry," another voice called out, and they looked over to see the Doctor had set the TARDIS down on silent, and was leaning against the corner of it…dressed in his most formal wear, complete with a top hat and cane, "Did you say she killed the Doctor? The Doctor? Doctor who?"

River pushed herself back to her feet, gaping at him, "You're dying and you stopped to change?"

"Always waste time when you haven't got any," the Detective spoke, moving her magnifying glass closer to the robot's face and back from it over and over, enjoying how it went cross-eyed each time it got near.

"Time is not the boss of you," the Doctor agreed, twirling his cane as he made his way further into the room, "Rule 408."

"I thought it was rule 412," the Detective glanced over as he joined her beside the robot.

"That's always make sure your shoes are tied," he reminded her, tapping her on the nose with his right hand as his left arm slid around her shoulders.

"Oh, right, yes," she nodded, "Alright there?" she eyed him.

"Been better," he shrugged, "You? How was laying siege to Berlin?"

She grinned, "Sorry Doctor," she apologized, "But I've decided. River is my new best friend now."

He chuckled weakly, "Figures, you could never pick between me or the Master."

"Exactly, instead of picking one of you, I've picked neither," she gave him a teasing look, before before jerking her head at the robot, "What do you think of this?"

"Amelia Pond, judgment death machine. Why am I not surprised?" he held up the cane, getting a reading of his own from the robot, "Sonic cane!"

"Are you serious?" River huffed.

"Never knowingly. Never knowingly be serious. Rule 27."

"Alright, you need to write these down," the Detective muttered, winding her right arm around his waist when he leaned a bit more against her, "I thought that was 29."

"No, no, that one was always have a good laugh in the face of ultimate destruction."

She frowned, thinking about that, "That one was the Master's bit, wasn't it?" they had each helped him make these 'rules,' ones they all tried to live by as a little pact, though each of them took some rules more seriously and further than others.

"Yup."

"Right then, robot," she lowered the magnifying glass, "Got 423 life signs inside, Thing 1 and Thing 2 included. Isn't that wizard?" she beamed, "A robot, worked by tiny people!"

He chuckled at her enthusiasm, appreciating how she wasn't constantly bringing up the state he was in, it helped him forget, even for a moment, push past the pain and focus on her. Which, if he was being honest, was an easy thing to do, she always had a way of pulling his attention in, not just with her quirks, but her very being, helping him forget things going wrong in his life, "Love it! But how do you all get in there, though?" he looked intently at its eyes, "Bigger on the inside?"

"Nah, humans could never begin to understand that, miniaturization ray sustained by a compression field. Sort of obvious."

The Doctor winced at the thought of it though, compression fields could wreak havoc on a human body if anything put pressure on it, like gaining even the tiniest of weight, "Oh, watch what you eat, it'll get you every time. Amy, if you and Rory are ok, signal me," he looked at his cane when another sonic device within the robot activated, nodding, "Thanking you."

The Detective jumped forward to grab hold of him as he let out a startled cry of pain, his leg giving out, managing to get her other arm around him enough to keep him from toppling over.

"Leg went to sleep did it?" the Detective shook her head at him, "This is what you get for all your running! You stand still too long, your legs think it's nap time."

"Oh, is that why you fall asleep if you sit down?" the Doctor jabbed right back as she helped him over to the dais steps to sit on.

While they were distracted, River made a break for the door, only for the robot to fire the energy at her once more, trapping her.

"Don't you touch her!" the Doctor snapped at it, "Do not harm her in any way."

The robot closed its mouth and turned to them, though River remained trapped in a containment field, holding her in place, "Why would you care? She is the women who kills you."

"He's not dead yet," the Detective rolled her eyes, taking his top hat off his head, noticing beads of sweat breaking out across his very large forehead…

'Thanks for that,' he huffed in her head, whether her remark about 'yet' or the forehead bit she wasn't sure.

"You're dying," the robot confirmed.

"Well, at least I'm not a time-travelling shape-shifting robot operated by miniaturized cross people," he called right back over to them, "Which, I have got to admit, I didn't see coming."

"Right," the Detective moved to sit beside him once he was settled, turning to look at the robot, "So you're after her because she's someone who kills the Doctor."

"Yes," it replied.

"Have you gone after the other 10 or so people who have done him in, too?"

"What?"

"We regenerate," she spoke slowly, "It's what Time Lords do. In order to do that, we have to die first. He's 11," she pointed out, "The 11th Doctor," she added, knowing he hated to associate his war self with the term Doctor, "So he's died 10 other times before now. You going after them too?"

She didn't point out that some of them were dead or the same person or his own self, but they didn't need to know that.

"That's a bit hypocritical of you," she added, "...can robots BE hypocrites?" she asked the Doctor, who shrugged.

"You're not building one just to find out," he cut off her next train of thought.

"It won't happen again!" she promised him, knowing where his own mind had gone.

"The last time you built a robot, to help keep your room clean, it went on a rampage and blew up the east side of the Academy!" he huffed, though he was smiling at the memory. For all those people who thought HE was trouble...oh, boy, watch out.

"I was able to stop it though!" she pointed out.

He scoffed, "Yes, by creating a second robot to take the first one out."

"Well, it worked didn't it?"

"Yes," he nodded, "After it decided it wanted to free itself from it's 'Time Lord oppressors' and shot you first."

"...that is a terrible thing to say."

"Why's that?"

"Because it ruins my argument."

He could only chuckle at that. She had been on her second incarnation at the time, one of the few Time Lords he'd ever encountered who had actually died and regenerated while still in the Academy, more than once even. At least she'd managed to make her third incarnation last till graduation.

The robot was silent through this exchange, before speaking, "She's Melody Pond. She will kill the Doctor, permanently."

The Detective eyed the robot as though it had the capacity to be ridiculous, "If the Master couldn't do it, what makes you think SHE will?"

"And even if she does," the Doctor cut in, both of them aware that it was likely the captain of the robot speaking to them through its mouth, "I'M the Doctor, what's it to YOU?"

"Throughout history," the robot began to speak, "Many criminals have gone unpunished in their lifetimes. Time travel has...responsibilities."

The Detective burst out laughing at that, "Are you seriously talking about responsibility in relation to time travel to HIM?" she nodded her head at the Doctor, reaching out to put her right hand on his left shoulder, wiping a tear from her eye with her other hand, "Honestly, he's almost worse than I am and I'm already halfway to going back in time to take out your gran so you don't happen. Try again."

The Doctor, too, seemed to not think much of the statement either, "You got yourselves time travel, so you decided to punish dead people?"

"Please," the Detective scoffed, "IF River actually killed the Doctor for good, right here and right now, she wouldn't exist in the future for us to meet. I would have killed her myself with my bare hands first."

And she would have, she felt it in her bones that she would. IF it was permanent. So much of her sanity was tied to her triumvirate, their support, their efforts, the bond she shared with them. If someone ever really killed the Doctor for good in front of her, she knew she would snap and that person would not be standing for long.

Until that happened, until the Doctor literally drew his last breath, River would be safe, because her mind wouldn't accept his death until he was well and truly gone. So long as he breathed, as his hearts beat, River was safe.

"Ergo," she continued, "He doesn't die now, she doesn't kill him, so you can't kill her."

"We don't kill them," the robot countered, "We extract them near the end of their established timelines."

"And then what?" the Doctor frowned.

"Give them hell."

"I'll show you hell," the Detective muttered beside him, and the Doctor reached out to put his hand on hers, keeping her from doing something that would make all this worse than it already was, tugging her back down to sit beside him when she'd stood to go after the robot.

"I'd ask you who you think you are," he spoke, absently fiddling with her hand in his own, "But I think the answer is pretty obvious. So, who do you think I am?" he pointed his cane at River, "'The woman who killed the Doctor permanently.' It sounds like you've got my biography in there. I'd love a peek."

"Me too," the Detective added, "I want to know how much of my work you took credit for," she shot him a playful look, which made him roll his eyes. He hadn't been the only Time Lord travelling the universe, the Master had followed often or went ahead to lay traps for him. The Detective had always been nearby, either keeping neutral till one side was 'defeated' or trying to make sure neither of them blew a hole in the universe or each other in any way that would stick or off investigating some temporal anomaly or something.

"Our records office is sealed to the public," the robot denied, "Foreknowledge is dangerous."

"Yes, well, I'll be dead in three minutes," the Doctor argued, "There isn't much foreknowledge left."

"Sorry, can't do that."

The Detective gave the robot an odd look and then turned to the Doctor, "It completely missed the part where we have a time machine too, didn't it? I mean, foreknowledge to a time traveler is like the ending of a book to an author, you know it."

"Records available," the robot spoke, startling them both into looking over at it for its change in tune.

The Doctor squeezed the Detective's hand tightly, a sign of needing help to rise, and so she helped him up to his feet and over to the robot, "Question," he began, "I'm dying...who wants me dead?"

"The Silence."

"And the Academy of the Question," the Detective added, "Can't forget them."

"And who are they?" he asked, "Why is it called that? What does it mean?"

"The Silence is not a species," the robot stated, "It is a religious order, or movement. The Academy of the Question is their sect. Their core belief is that silence will fall when the question is asked."

"What question is that?" the Detective asked.

The Doctor could only shake his head at how excited she sounded at the prospect that there was one question in all of the universe that could apparently destroy everything.

He really should have taken her travelling with him instead of agreeing with her thought to stay with the Master. He'd thought, in the end, she might help him be a bit less murderous…now it just appeared the Master had made her a bit more unstable. Really what HAD he been thinking to leave two people who had both gone mad at the Schism around each other and expect them to not become more unbalanced?

"The first question. The oldest question in the universe, hidden in plain sight."

"Yes, but what is the question?" the Doctor asked.

"Unknown."

"Well that's helpful," the Detective deadpanned, before looking at the Doctor, smirking, "Good thing I love a challenge, eh, Theta? I bet it's something stupid like, what came first the chicken or the egg?"

He smiled, about to reply, when he was struck by a surge of pain that had him doubling over on the ground, "Kidneys are always the first to quit," he muttered under his breath as the Detective crouched before him, helping to steady him, "I've had better, you know."

River let out a scream of her own, the containment field turning read, clearly hurting her. The Detective turned, moving over to her fallen bat and grabbed it, done with this, and swung it at the robot once more, managing to knock its head to the side so it was bent at an awkward angle.

She let out a laugh as the pain to River was cut off, smiling down at the Doctor, "You were saying about my bat?"

But before he could remark on how 'utterly clever' she was, the robot turned on her instead.

"You have interfered enough," it stated, "If you are aiding the woman who killed the Doctor, then you are an accomplice. You are guilty."

"Oh, rubbish!" she huffed, ducking down as it began to fire blasts of energy at her. Though she would rather it focus on her than River or the Doctor anyway so it wasn't anything alarming.

"Amy!" the Doctor shouted out, his eyes wide in fear as the robot attacked the Detective, knowing it wouldn't care if it hurt her, it had already identified her as guilty, it wouldn't stop till it got her and then River, and he was in no position to help either of them, "Rory! Amy, can you hear me?"

"What do we do?" the robot spoke, even as it continued on after the Detective, the note and inflection and accent telling him it was Amy and not one of the robot's pilots, "This is me. This is me actually talking. What do we do?"

"Just stop them!" he begged, "Please, please don't let them hurt her!" he moved right into pleading. He would have done the same for River, but she was safe for now, the Detective was not and he truly didn't think he could bear it if she died in front of him, not now, "Just stop them."

"How? How? How?"

"Just do it!" he snapped, the Detective gasping as the robot fired at her arm, singing the side of her sleeve, clearly catching a bit of skin along with it.

The Detective looked down at her sleeve, her hand coming up to the hole now in it, and back to the robot, "That was my favorite hoodie!" she snapped at it, for it was a burnt orange color, the same as the skies of Gallifrey, like a little bit of home she could wear, and so she gripped the bat tighter and launched herself at the robot, swinging and ducking and whacking it where she could.

Until, moments later, it froze in place and the field around River disappeared.

"Oh, come on!" she huffed, "You couldn't have waited a few more seconds? I wanted to knock its head off first!" she groaned, turning to the Doctor, moving over to him as she tossed the now-severely dented bat away, "That would have been a way cooler way to stop it."

"Sorry, Sigma," the Doctor chuckled weakly, panting as he looked at her, reaching out a hand for her to take as she plopped down beside him.

She let out a long-suffering sigh, letting her head drop onto his shoulder, "I suppose I'll let it go this time."

He smiled, tugging her hand over to kiss the back of it, before turning to face River, not noticing the look that crossed the Detective's face for his actions, "Please," he spoke to River, "Now we have to save your parents. Don't run. Now, I know you're scared, but never run when you're scared."

"Rule 10."

"Rule 7," he corrected.

"Oh for god's sake," she muttered, straightening up more. She actually knew it was Rule 7 this time, she'd been hoping to trick him into thinking it was Rule 10, because Rule 10 was 'Unless previously decided: no cake for Sigma. Never. Under any circumstances.'

She loathed that rule.

"Please…" the Doctor tried to get through to the woman.

"Doctor," the robot spoke before River could say a word, "Can you help us? Doctor? Doctor, help us! Doctor, help us! Detective? You there? Either of you, please, help us! Doctor! Help! Doctor! Help! Doctor, help us! Please help us. Detective!"

The Detective sighed, gesturing back to the TARDIS, "River, you should go get them."

"Why should I?" River rolled her eyes, looking away from the robot and the sounds of her parents pleading for their lives, "The longer I stay here, the more likely their backup will arrive to take me away."

"If you won't do it because they're your parents, do it because they were your friends," the Detective looked at her a moment, before turning her attention back to the Doctor, the man now nearly slumped against her, his head on her shoulder, moving her other hand to rest on his, holding it with both her hands as his eyes closed and he struggled to keep breathing.

"I can't do it alone," River pointed out, hesitating to accept it. For as much as she was loathe to admit it, even if Amy and Rory hadn't been parents to her, even if they hadn't ever treated her like their child, loved her like one, they HAD been friends to her, been there for her, supported her and cared for her. She owed them this at least for all the trouble they got her out of.

"You won't be," the Detective looked up at her, "You were conceived in the TARDIS, that makes you a child of the TARDIS. She'll help you, she'll show you how."

River glanced back between them, before nodding and heading for the box. The Detective snapped her fingers and the doors opened for her, letting River in.

She could have gone with the woman, it was true, she could have piloted the box to save Amy and Rory easy…but that would mean leaving the Doctor. They had always tried, to be there for each other when regeneration occurred. It didn't always happen, and sometimes the Master or the Doctor was so cross with each other that they'd walk away from that promise. But she tried to keep it up. She hadn't managed it well, not at all, but she was here now and if he regenerated, she wouldn't leave his side.

(The part of her mind that tried to whisper that regeneration was impossible with this poison was quickly snuffed out.)

So lost was she in memories of the Master and the Doctor, and herself even, regenerating, she hadn't noticed the TARDIS disappear or even reappear. It wasn't till Amy and Rory had dropped down on the other side of the Doctor with a shout of, "Doctor!" that she looked away from him.

"Oh, look, you're alive."

Amy rolled her eyes at that, though the Detective's words seemed to get through to the Doctor as he blearily blinked his eyes open to look at his companions as he was guided to lie down, "You can't die now," Amy told him, "I know you don't die now."

"You die at my hands or not at all, remember?" the Detective teased him, making him laugh weakly. It had been a joke, when they were younger, especially when he would annoy the Master so much the man would threaten to kill him. Became one even more when he actually HAD tried to kill the Doctor a few times, that the Master would never succeed because if anyone was going to kill him it would be HER.

"Looks like she beat you to it," the Doctor remarked.

"Alright, reconsidering her being my new best mate."

He chuckled again at that.

"But it doesn't make any sense," Amy murmured beside them.

Rory though, cut her off, focusing on what did make sense and what they could do, "Doctor, what do we do? Come on. How do we help you?"

"No, sorry, Rory," he sighed, "You can't."

"Well…" the Detective began.

"Nobody can," he insisted.

"Except…"

"Ponds," he cut in again, waving a weak arm at the Detective, like he was trying to find her mouth to cover it with his hand, but couldn't muster the coordination, "Listen to me, I need to talk to your daughter."

River looked between the group, slowly making her way over when Amy and Rory stood and backed away, allowing her to take their spot as the Detective clearly wasn't going to move.

"Find her," the Doctor looked at her, "Find River Song and tell her something from me."

"Tell her what?" River asked, glancing at the Detective, a sinking feeling growing in her. It had been fun and teasing when the Detective had called her 'River for short,' she thought it was a joke because of how the Doctor kept bringing up some River woman…now she wasn't so sure and it was putting her on edge.

"I forgive her," he spoke, "Everything."

"Well, I'm sure she knows…" River tried to say, for the woman must have done something to wrong him but he didn't seem to hold a grudge or have a bad relationship if he could bring her up and not seem cross about her earlier. But the Doctor drifted into unconsciousness before she could finish. She swallowed hard and looked at the Detective, "Who's River Song?"

"You are," she answered bluntly.

"No, no, I'm not," she insisted, not finding it funny anymore, "I'm Melody. Melody Pond."

"Williams..." they heard Rory mutter off to the side.

But it was Amy who spoke next, walking over to her robotic form, "Are you still working because I'm still a relative? Access files on River Song."

"Records available," it stated.

"Show me her. Show me River Song."

River couldn't deny the truth of it any longer, not when the robot transformed into a version of herself just in different clothing. She looked over at the Detective, tears in her eyes, eyes that were filled with determination, "How do I save him?" she asked.

Because even if the Doctor tried stopping her from saying it, the Detective clearly knew a way to help. And right now she wanted to help this man. He'd been in such pain, literally dying, and he'd still done all he could to make sure she wasn't hurt. It wasn't right that she let him die when he had tried to save her. It wasn't right to let him die now that she had a CHOICE in the matter.

"Regeneration energy can burn off the poison," the Detective told her, "I would do it, but I don't have enough regenerations left. I would need…at least 8 regenerations worth. I'm already on my 10th body, I only have 3 left."

It was, in part, another reason she hadn't believed for a moment that the Doctor would actually die permanently in this situation. She knew what the Judas Tree poison affected, she knew what it disabled, and she knew what energy could burn it off. River had what was needed to save him and if she had to, she would knock the woman out and force the energy transfer herself if it came down to it. It didn't seem like it would be necessary though, River seemed willing to help, she just needed to know how.

She really cursed herself now though, because if only she'd been more careful with herself, maybe SHE could have saved the Doctor instead of River. But she was on her 10th body, as she'd said, she'd already regenerated 9 times to get there. It was ironic in a way, she was older than the Doctor, not by much but still older than him, and he'd gone through more bodies than she had. Even then, she didn't have enough firepower to help him now.

"But I have 10," River realized, looking down at her hands as she willed them to glow, still enough within her regeneration cycle to bring it to the surface. She smiled when the golden energy began to surround them. She looked at the Detective, at her hand gripping the Doctor's, and down to the man himself, before taking a breath and reaching down to place her hands on his chest, closing her eyes and letting the energy flow into him…

~8~

River slowly came to, unaware she had even blacked out, to find herself lying in a hospital room, stark white everywhere, with her parents, the Doctor, and the Detective gathered around her bedside. She felt awful, like death hadn't just warmed over but run her over with a hearse then backed up over her.

"Hey," Amy greeted.

"Hey," she murmured, blinking as she tried to focus her eyes more, but she was so tired, "Where am I?"

"You're safe now. Apparently, you used all your remaining regenerations in one go. You shouldn't have done that."

"Mother, I had to try," she said weakly. The Detective had said at least 8 regenerations worth were needed, but the Doctor had been so far gone by the poison she had just poured all of it, all 10 into him, to be safe. It seemed it worked.

"I know."

"He said no one could save him but they both knew I could."

"Rule one," the Doctor called quietly, "The Doctor lies."

"Rule two," the Detective spoke, just as serious if absently as she flipped through a small blue notebook in her hand, "Never go in against a Sicilian when death is on the line."

The Doctor let out a light scoffing, laugh, elbowing her in the side for her remark, earning a quiet 'what?' from her as she snapped the book shut, sticking a bookmark in it.

"She just needs to rest," one of the hospital's nurses spoke as she entered, a small tray of food in her hands that she set down just beside River's bed, the woman already drifting back to sleep, "She'll be absolutely fine."

"No, she won't," the Doctor murmured, moving to take the TARDIS shaped journal from the Detective's hands and set it down beside the tray, a red bow on top of it, "She will be…amazing."

"Of course she'll be," the Detective stated, "They've got pudding cups here!" she pointed out, snagging it off River's tray, about to pull the metal covering off to snack on it when the Doctor plucked it out of her hands and set it back down, "Fine," she huffed, turning to head for the door.

"Um, where're you going?" Rory called out.

"I'm going to go throw myself down a stairwell," she called back, "Hopefully break my leg," before grumbling to herself, "Then I can have all the pudding cups I want."

The Doctor sighed, his face falling into his palm as he shook his head at her antics, "I should go stop her," he commented to the Ponds, rushing out.

It was only then that they realized…he really believed she would do such a thing…

It was then, too, that they realized, they believed she would also, and moved to hurry after them incase the Detective took him with her in her tumble down the stairs.

~8~

"So that's it?" Amy asked as they all stepped into the TARDIS, the Detective beaming as she ate the pudding cup the Doctor had nicked from the hospital kitchen for her, "We leave her there?"

"Sisters of the Infinite Schism," the Doctor moved to the console, "Greatest hospital in the universe," he reached out and slapped the Detective's hand as she moved to help him put in coordinates, giving her a look that had her rolling her eyes and moving over to the captain's chair to finish her food. He got very firm about keeping food away from the console.

Honestly, you get biscuit crumbs in the console ONE time and he never let you forget it.

"Yeah, but she's our daughter," Amy continued, "Doctor, she's River and she's our daughter."

"And I'm Sigma and the Detective," the Time Lady spoke, "I'm a woman and I'm a Time Lady. I'm his friend and the Master's friend. I'm not sure where you're going with this, Thing 2."

Amy shook her head at the comment, turning to the Doctor, knowing he would understand, having travelled with her longer.

"Amy, I know," the Doctor remarked, "But we have to let her make her own way now. We have too much foreknowledge," he glanced at the monitor where the TARDIS had managed to hack the robot enough to display the time and place of his apparent death, "Dangerous thing, foreknowledge."

"What's that?" Amy moved around, seeing him getting distracted.

But he flicked it off before she could see it, "Nothing. Just some data from the Teselecta. Very boring."

"Doctor, River was brainwashed to kill you?" Rory began.

"Which she did, technically," the Detective nodded, finishing her cup and standing, moving to the console and pushing it into a tiny rubbish slot.

"Has that always been there?" Rory frowned at the slot, never having noticed there was a rubbish bin there.

The Detective continued on with her initial remark though, "And then she saved him. Programming was complete. She can go on and do whatever she wants now without that built in."

"So…that stuff that they put in her head, it's gone now? The River that we know in the future, she is in prison for murder."

"Doesn't have to be the Doctor's," the Detective shrugged, "Maybe one day she really does kill Major Mustachio too early and the Time Agency comes after her," she moved around the console, to help the Doctor.

Amy sighed, getting the feeling they weren't going to get any more answers about that, "Will we see her again?"

The Detective eyed her, "I DID mention that we ran into her through her timeline as River, right?" she looked at the Doctor, "I did say it…"

"Yes," the Doctor chuckled, "She'll come looking for us all," he agreed.

"Yeah, but how?" Amy asked, "How do people even look for you?"

"Oh, Pond! Haven't you figured that one out yet?"

The Detective gave a long sigh, "Alright, to the drawing board, both of you," she began to usher Amy and Rory to the halls, "We're going to have 'Contacting the Doctor 101' now, off, off, go!"

She paused in the doorway, glancing back at the Doctor observing the hacked data once more, and caught his eye. She gave him a look that had him smiling and nodding, before she winked and turned to push the Ponds on.

He had to chuckle and shake his head. She was doing this to distract the Ponds so he could sort through the rest of the hacked data, looking for any other clues about that date and location. She'd seen it though, in his mind, and she reminded him, with just a look, that she was on the case.

There was no one he trusted more to help him work it out.

~8~

The Doctor was still standing there, staring at the information from the Teselecta, now converted into Gallifreyan in case the humans stumbled across it, when the Detective returned to the console room hours later, sure that the Ponds would either find a much cooler way of getting the Doctor's attention next time or need new shirts. Really, did humans just always look like they dribbled on their shirts or was it only when people were trying to teach them things?

"Well, this was a hell of a day," she remarked, moving over to him and resting her arms around his shoulders from behind so they were draped over his front, resting her chin on his shoulder as she looked at the data over it.

He reached up absently with one hand, squeezing her arm before letting his hand stay there, his thumb stroking on her arm, "But we all came out of it alive," he murmured, "I call it a win."

She nodded, then rolled her head to the side, her chin more towards the junction of his neck and shoulder with her ear on his shoulder to try and look at the side of his face, "And we learned something new today."

"Yes," he remarked, "You can literally cook yourself up a new Time Lord."

"Well, more like human-plus-Time Lord," the Detective countered.

He frowned, twisting his head to look at her, "What?"

She glanced at him, "River, she said she regenerated last time and became a toddler in the middle of New York."

"Yes?"

"I'm pretty sure Thing 1 and Thing 2 grew up with her, literally grew up with her, from a child to adult."

The Doctor fell silent, starting to nod at what she meant, "So not a full Time Lord, not really."

"No," the Detective sighed, shrugging more to work her arms forward more, "Mentally she has the potential, her mind operates on the same wavelength as ours. Physically, close. I doubt she has two hearts," she added, "That would be a huge red flag to the others, no way they wouldn't have noticed, especially not with Thing 1 being a nurse. She CAN regenerate..."

"But she ages," the Doctor finished for her, nodding along.

Their first bodies grew, usually stopping around mid-age and remaining that way until regeneration, at which point it was a lottery for how they'd appear, what gender, what age. For River to have grown to any point and regenerated, then be a toddler and grow AGAIN meant she didn't have that trait. She would regenerate again and again, 12 times in total, but she would age each time. She wasn't immortal like they were, barring accidents, she would have kept aging until she died of old age and then regenerated again. At most she could probably live to be a bit over a thousand years old, if all went well.

That wouldn't happen now.

"I'm sorry about that," the Detective said.

The Doctor frowned and turned around to lean against the console to face her, snorting a bit when he saw she was standing on a small stool to be tall enough to wind her arms around him like she had been, but focused on her, "For what?"

"Your first body," she shrugged, looking around the room and not at him as she was prone to do when she was genuinely apologizing, "Your first death. If it hadn't been for me..."

"I took that punishment willingly," he reached out to touch her cheek gently, guiding her face and her eyes to him. He offered her a smile, "Besides, I had to catch up," he teased.

She reached up to curl her hand around his wrist gently, trying to smile but it still hurt to think on, how and why he'd grown so old in his first body when he biologically shouldn't have. She had done something, let the Master rope her into doing it, and it was a very big no-no. Punishable by the suspension of their biological clock's function. Basically, the punishment was to live to and die of old age, to not remain youthful or live as long as one could in their first body before an accident happened.

The Doctor had taken the fall for her, had turned himself in and claimed he had done what she had instead.

He'd grown old for her.

His wife had been furious with him for doing that. In a way, she didn't think the two of them had ever really recovered their relationship from that choice he'd made. His wife...she wasn't sure even to this day if the woman knew he hadn't done what he was being punished for or if she genuinely believed he had.

On one hand, she'd have a right to be furious if she thought her husband broke the law that badly, because her husband would be a criminal. (Though SHE would be right pissed with the woman if she had THAT little faith in the Doctor to think he actually would, at least in his early days.)

On the other hand, if the woman knew he'd taken the fall for someone else, for HER especially, well...it was another sort of slight against her, because her husband would have done that, made that great a sacrifice, for a woman who wasn't his wife. (And that also would right piss her off if the woman thought that little of his triumvirate that she couldn't imagine he'd care enough to go that far for her or the Master.)

Either way, he'd done it and he'd gone through with it, for her. He'd said, at the time, she'd already burned through too many bodies, he wasn't even 600 yet and only on his first, it would be ok if he did this, he had more to spare.

The Master had raged about it to her after the fact, that the Doctor had stolen his thunder, that HE was going to turn himself in to save her, that it was just a ploy to make her want to take the Doctor's side more than his and other nonsense.

"How the tables have turned, huh?" she tried to joke back.

He chuckled, "Now I'M ahead," he agreed.

"So next time," she reached out with her free hand to poke him on the nose, "Next time, I'M the one to take a bullet or a poisoned kiss, ok?"

He shook his head, "You know it doesn't work like that, Sigma. I'd jump in front of you, I wouldn't be able to help it," he smiled at her softly, "You're too important to me to lose."

"Likewise," she reminded him, "I'd jump in front for you as well."

"So what do we do?"

She shrugged, "Invest in bulletproof vests?"

He laughed at that, "Nothing will happen to me," he promised her, glancing back at the monitor, the information displaying his death date, time, and location.

"Of course it won't," the Detective scoffed, "I'M on the case, Theta. I'll have it cracked before then AND have at least two dozen plans in mind to thwart it."

He couldn't help smiling at her for that, "Preferably without destroying the timelines," he warned her.

She narrowed her eyes at him, "Fine, half a dozen plans then."

He shook his head at her, moving to put his arm over her shoulder as they turned to head out of the room to sleep, it really had been a very exhaustive day.

A/N: Ok, a lot to touch on here:

To start, don't forget to drop a review for a pairing name for the Doctor/Detective/Theta/Sigma if you have one. We have about 2 more chapters before the poll will be going up ;)

Onto this chapter...I know it may seem unexpected that Sigma isn't like going off the deep end on River for her attack on the Doctor and chooses to go with her instead of stay with the Doctor as he's dying. There are 3 very important things happening at the same time that led to that.

1. Regeneration doesn't scare her. She's regenerated, she's seen him after he's regenerated, it's normal to her. She'd rather him live on after than die and stay dead so regeneration is great in her book. She's seen her one best friend create situations that killed her other best friend so River causing this isn't that much different, her being the child of HIS human best friend.

2. Yes, she knows the Doctor is at the end of his regenerations and 'can't' regenerate, but this is the Doctor. In her mind, the way it's hardwired due to the Schism, it will not allow even a thought of 'he's really going to die' to connect in her head because of that. The Doctor finds a way, the Doctor won't leave her like that. To her, it is set in stone that the Master always comes back, it's just a matter of where and when. It's set in stone that the Doctor survives, he always finds a way out. It is fact to her, unshakable fact, an effect of her psychosis preventing her from accepting the reality that, one day, they won't. IF that day ever came where the Master or the Doctor were gone for good, she would snap. As she says here, if the Doctor died permanently in front of her eyes, River would be dead before she could move and no one would be safe from her. She's in such a deep state of denial that only that event literally happening in front of her will penetrate her mind, until then it's just another near-regeneration to escape or survive.

3. The moment River regenerated and Sigma saw it, and then the Doctor gets poisoned, she KNOWS how he can be saved by using River's regeneration energy to burn it off. It will either be that she manipulates River into doing it, River willingly offers, or she ties her down and forces the transfer. But she KNOWS how the Doctor can survive this, so, back to point 2, she knows he will survive, it's just a matter of getting the energy needed for him to do it. So she knows River won't succeed, even if she has to forcibly extract those regenerations from her, she WILL do it, for the Doctor. If she had to choose him or River, it will be him each time.

So I hope that sort of cleared up why she was so 'ok' with the Doctor 'dying' in front of her eyes. She will NOT like people attacking him or putting him in danger and, in most cases, she would react a bit more (like hitting them with a shovel lol), but River is a unique case. As a Detective, and as someone who suffered with her own madness, she recognizes that River is being manipulated into this, brainwashed, programmed, and the woman they meet later would sooner give her life to keep him alive than kill him so it was never her CHOICE to kill the Doctor. She goes a bit easier on River than she would others.

...does not mean she'll go easy on Kovarian though }:)

AND, now we've gotten a glimpse into how she died the 2nd time, to get to her 3rd incarnation :) A robot she created to destroy another robot she created attacked her instead and caused her to regenerate :) We'll find out how she died the first time next chapter, and about 2 more past regenerations in the chapter after that ;)

We've also found out who River is to Sigma! :D Lol, she's 'her new best friend' in this story ;) Which brings up a question of just what the Wedding episode will turn into }:)

I added in a bit of a twist with River and her 'Time Lord side' in this story. I feel like, here, no matter how advanced Kovarian is or how much of a head start River's conception gave her, it would be really impossible to create a full 100 percent real Time Lord from two human parents. Some things might change, like her brain's wavelength, maybe the radiation gives her regenerative abilities. But there had to be a limit to that, because she is still biologically and physically human, like when they found the astronaut suit, it was identified as for a human. She has one heart, here, because really how would RORY not notice? With how wild and crazy Mels was, she had to have gotten hurt or injured or passed out in some way that had Rory checking her over and he would have noticed two hearts and made a connection with two hearted races like Time Lords. There's also a limit on her regenerative abilities, because we never really saw the other Doctors aging, even after decades and centuries, but yet River DID, twice from a child up, and then again as an adult and 'taking her age down a bit gradually.' So she can age, so I took that as she's not FULLY Time Lord in this series ;)

In terms of last chapter, I feel like we got a bit of a lull with Sigma there and now she's back to her full on hyper and chaotic self lol :) There's a reason for that. It probably won't be as obvious a thing, since we only had 1 adventure with her before Demons Run and we'll see more instances of it as the story goes where it'll probably become more clear in the contrast between types of adventures, but that was actually her really, REALLY trying to be serious and on point, for the Doctor. Most times adventures are adventures to her, they're fun, even when they're dangerous or 'serious,' and mysteries are fun puzzles to solve. She doesn't really notice much past that, even about the people involved in them.

But Demons Run wasn't just an adventure, it wasn't just a fun mystery, this time it WAS serious because it directly affected the Doctor through his companions. Sigma, for all that she's a bit lacking in that ability to connect with others, deeply cares for the Doctor. That was a direct attack on him and so she was more serious and focused than she usually would be on just any old adventure. This wasn't a fun mystery, this was one she had to work out to help him and people he cares about. This wasn't an adventure, it was a planned attack. She was a bit more subdued, focused, and driven to do right by the Doctor because it was so important to him. Any other time and she'd probably have gone skipping off on her own and blown up the base and had Kovarian begging for her life before the Doctor even made it to his speech, but this was too important and personal to him for her to do that. It's sort of like she thought about children, her madness is something that takes a lot of active focus to work past, and it required even more of her to be that focused with their plan.

To hint at the quotes in this chapter: there are 3 quotes sprinkled in.

I will say that 2 of the quotes are a bit tricky, one is probably a common saying but it does appear in a book/movie series so I did include it, and the other is more from a youtube video clip of what I think is a TV series and from like 15 years ago lol so it's very ok if no one spots it. I'm not even sure if it would technically count as a pop culture quote, but since I was inspired from that clip I included it here ;)

Quotes from the last chapter:

Thank you for your cooperation - The Avengers (though it technically appears in quite a few other movies ;))

References:

Room of Requirement - The Harry Potter series

Congrats to anyone who spotted them :D

Some notes on reviews...

Lol, very close ;) They're besties for this series ;) Series 7, oh boy, hmm...I can say we may see a bit of an oddly subdued Sigma in one episode, for reasons, which will relate to some things she may reveal in the next chapter. She's going to be quite a fan of Clara and probably a terrible influence in the 'don't wander off into danger' department ;) And I'm very much looking forward to how three different Doctors react to the Detective being around ;)

I wish that too :( I really tried to get her to be more over the top and just mad, to really show Kovarian that she made a mistake in thinking the Doctor was the dangerous one to raise an army against, but she fought me on it. She just kept going, 'no, no this is Theta's plan, I'm not going to ruin something this important to him. HE's the one who knows this enemy, I won't make a mistake that hurts him.' And it killed me to have to pull her back a little, but she was very adamant that she help and not hinder or distract the Doctor in that situation :( Which may actually turn out to be a more terrible thing for Kovarian to realize later when she does get that opportunity to terrify the woman, to realize at her end that all her efforts were wasted on the wrong person ;) If she revealed too much then, Kovarian could have adapted River's training to kill the Detective too, but being sort of on the sidelines means she was overlooked, something Kovarian will come to regret }:)

I think, when it comes to Amy and her jealousy, for this point in her story/timeline, it might take a bit longer for her to actually show it or for it to even register with her that she's 'being replaced.' If that makes sense, lol. I mean it as, the Doctor only JUST found Sigma, so Amy could write off any over the top focus on her as being his relief and excitement at having his people back, his friend back, she wouldn't begrudge him that attention, especially not after House and him having that hope and losing it :( Then Demons Run happens and she only really had about 2 scenes with him, and that's after her shock of being swapped with a Ganger and held hostage and then reunited with the baby she didn't know she was carrying the entire time. I think the last thing she'd be focused on, with her daughter in her arms and knowing Kovarian wanted to separate them, is if the Doctor's paying enough attention to her ;) I think, in the Dinosaurs episode, a lot of Amy's initial jealousy was the fact that the Doctor HAD been pulling away for a long while before that point, and then she sees two other humans and thinks those are their replacements, because it makes sense if he's around them less he'll be around others more. With Sigma, they sort of can't be replaced because Sigma's not human, and, technically, she was there first. If anything AMY was the replacement for friendship he lost on his planet. That's not to say Amy won't feel some worry about Sigma being around and the Doctor's shifting attention, we'll actually get a glimpse into her thoughts for that in the next chapter since she's now had time to process what's happened and time to realize that it has been a long while for the Doctor to get over his initial touchy feely bout but it's STILL happening ;) She may take it to more of a teasing sort of conversation, but there will be a bit of concern underlying it :) As a whole, though, once Amy has time to talk to him and think on it more, ultimately, I think she'd be a bit more relieved Sigma is there. SHE has Rory, her love, her husband, with her at all times, she's never alone because he's with her. The Doctor hasn't had that and he would never ever expect Amy to pick him over Rory. Amy will, I think, one day come to the realization that Sigma is that for the Doctor, the one to be with him, stand by him, be the one to pick HIM over her or Rory and she wants him to have that sort of affection and bond and love, to not be lonely. It may just take the Time Lords a while to realize they have that ;)

Oh, gotcha ;) Sadly Missy won't be cameoing in the story :( I have an end in mind for Kovarian that will sort of relate to the Master though ;) I actually have a one-shot crossover I plan to write where we will see Kona and Athena meet ;) Along with Steve and Bucky's OCs from their series once I complete them :)

It may be a while before we see something like that from the Detective, as the Doctor notes here, she's not one to get angry in that way but more internally frustrated with herself. HE hasn't even seen her that angry which sort of plays into her comments about how she's never faced him herself so he doesn't know what she's capable of }:) I can say we may see Sigma poking some fun at the War Doctor for not being all that much of a warrior despite regenerating into one literally for the purpose of being a warrior ;)

Lol, we may find out just how much of an influence Sigma has had on River and her personality before the story is over ;) I like to think they both see a kindredness in each other, both not quite there sanity wise, both ending up who they are as the result of an outside influence (the Schism vs the Silence), both seen as being unpredictable and dangerous by others. I like that they get along even when they should be 'enemies' they're more like 'nope, let's go cause some chaos!' :)

Sigma's darkness is interesting to me, how far she'll go, it's almost worse just in the sense that she doesn't get angry or dark. The things that the Fury brings out or that Time Lord Victorious might do, are things she would do just for fun or just for the hell of it or just because it gets the job done. She has no rules at all, except maybe a general one not to bring harm to the Doctor or Master, but beyond that, she's willing and able and ready to do anything at all. We'll see an example of that before the story is over, something very dark and very mad, but done in such a simple and nonchalant way, like it's just a normal thing to do that, I think, makes people realize how dangerous she actually is. Like River mused last chapter, people write Sigma off as being just a load of nonsense, and it makes them let their guard down, they don't consider her a threat and so they never see that threat actually coming till it's too late }:)