Poisons
Rory jammed on the brakes at the edge of a crop circle, Amy beside him giving instructions from a design in her hands. The TARDIS sat before them, at the center, with the Doctor standing before it. He wore quite a large green coat which anyone who had known him then would have said would have suited his previous regeneration better. Adelaide, leaning against the TARDIS, looked as she always did, though the Time Lords were still standing quite far apart.
The human companions stepped out of the car and the Doctor held out the newspaper, showing them the image of the word 'DOCTOR' written in a field. "Seriously? I had to stop Adelaide from slapping you for ruining the corn."
Adelaide sighed. "I wasn't going to slap them…"
Rory shrugged. "Well, neither of you answered your phone."
"She dropped her's…"
"You dropped it."
"…into the console."
Amy crossed her arms, hurrying over to them. "Okay, you've had all summer. Have you found her? Have you found Melody?"
"Technically," Adelaide said, "you've had all summer. It could only have been a day for us." Amy raised her eyebrows at Adelaide and the Time Lady shrugged.
"Permission?" the Doctor looked at Rory.
"Granted." He took the newspaper from the Doctor as he hugged Amy.
"You know who she grows up to be, so you know we will find her."
Amy stepped back. "But you haven't yet."
Rory frowned, pointing at something in the newspaper. "Hang on. What's this bit?"
Amy shook her head, spotting the straight line through the middle of the writing. "That wasn't us."
The Doctor snatched the paper back, holding it up and moving it around the circle in an attempt to find where the line would come through. Adelaide just stayed at the TARDIS, watching him as he went, though Amy and Rory gathered around the Doctor once he reached the edge of the circle. They all heard the sound of an engine getting closer and, when the Doctor lowered the paper, they saw a bright red car heading directly towards them.
The trio screamed, making Adelaide sigh, and jumped out of the way as the car burst through the corn and skid to a stop just a few inches from the TARDIS, meaning Adelaide did have to take a step to the side to avoid getting hit. A woman, a bit younger than Amy and Rory, stepped out and eyed the Time Lords.
"You said he was funny," she said, looking at the Doctor. "You never said he was hot." She looked at Adelaide. "But you got her to a tee."
"Mels!" Rory groaned, helping Amy stand.
"What are you doing here?"
Mels shrugged. "Following you. What'd you think?"
"Er…where did you get the car?"
"It's mine…" they could hear sirens in the distance. "Ish."
Amy sighed. "Oh, Mels, not again."
"You can't keep doing this. You're going to end up in prison."
The Doctor stepped forward, cutting in. "Sorry, hello. Doctor not following this. Doctor very lost. You never said I was hot? And what did you say about her?" he pointed towards Adelaide.
Mels, ignoring him, turned to the TARDIS. "Is that the phone box? The bigger on the inside phone box? Oh, time travel." She leaned against the TARDIS next to Adelaide. "That's just brilliant. Yeah, I've heard a lot about you. I'm their best mate."
"Then why have we never met you?" Adelaide raised her eyebrows. "I saw everyone at the wedding."
The Doctor nodded. "The women were all brilliant. The men were a bit shy."
Mels walked away from the TARDIS. "I don't do weddings." The sirens started getting louder. "And that's me, out of time." She spun, pulling out a gun as she went. Since the Doctor was standing away from the TARDIS, he was the one she currently aimed at.
"Mels!"
"For God's sake!"
"What are you doing?"
She shrugged. "I need out of here, now."
Adelaide leaned slightly around the Doctor so that Mels could see her. "Anywhere in particular?"
"Well, let's see…you've got a time machine, I've got a gun." She grinned. "What the hell. Let's kill Hitler."
|C-S|
Quite a long time ago in Leadworth, a young Amelia Pond pulled her Raggedy Doctor and Addy toys from a box. "Is he hot?" Mels asked her.
"No, he's funny."
"Is she hot?"
"She's annoyed, at him."
Mels pulled one of the Doctor dolls out, falling onto the bed. "But how can they travel in time?"
"Because they've got a time machine, stupid."
The door opened and a young Rory Williams ran in. "I thought we were playing hide and seek. I've been hiding for hours."
Amelia shrugged. "Well, we just haven't found you yet."
"Okay." He moved to leave. "Hi, Mels."
"Hi, Rory."
|C-S|
A few years later, a slightly older Mels stood before her teacher, information about the Titanic written on the board. "Mels, did you not understand the question? I am asking you why the Titanic sank?"
"Because the Doctor didn't save it. Except you don't know about the Doctor because you're stupid." Mels crossed her arms.
|C-S|
A different teacher shook his head as he regarded a teenager Mels. "Mels…"
"A significant factor in Hitler's rise to power was the fact that Adelaide didn't stop him." She smirked.
|C-S|
The TARDIS was in haywire. The lights were red, some alarm was blaring, and steam was bursting from the hole that Mels had just shot in the rotor. "You've shot it!" the Doctor shouted. "You shot my TARDIS! You shot the console!"
"It's your fault!"
"How's it my fault?"
"You said guns didn't work in this place. You said we're in a state of temporal grace!"
He rolled his eyes. "That was a clever lie, you idiot! Anyone could tell that was a clever lie."
"We're crashing!" Adelaide called, barely able to pilot the TARDIS on her own. The Doctor spun, trying to help, but they couldn't do much to stop the TARDIS from crashing through a wall. Once it came to a halt, with a loud crash, the Doctor pushed the companions closest to him towards the door.
"Out, out, out! Everybody out!"
"Don't breathe the smoke, just get out!"
The entire group ran from the TARDIS, coming to a stop in whatever room they had landed in. Amy looked around, coughing. "Where are we?"
"A room."
"What room?"
The Doctor rolled his eyes. "I don't know what room. I haven't memorized every room in the universe yet. I had yesterday off."
"Don't go in there," Adelaide said, walking over to Mels and shutting the door to the TARDIS. She also managed to take Mels' gun, making Mels glare at her.
"Bad smoke. Don't breathe the bad, bad smoke. Bad, deadly smoke because somebody shot my TARDIS!" Mels rolled her eyes at the Doctor.
"Doctor," Rory called, and they turned to see he was kneeling by a man who was lying on the floor. "This guy, I think he's hurt. No, hang on." He leaned forward. "He's fine."
Adelaide placed Mels' gun in the fruit bowl on the desk, eyeing the man who was standing up. Given what was on the walls… "Sorry about your wall."
The Doctor walked up behind her, not seeming to have noticed anything yet. "Had a sort of collision with my vehicle. Faults on both sides, let's say no more about…" the man turned and they found that it was, indeed, Adolf Hitler "…it."
Amy and Rory came up on either side of the Time Lords, their eyes wide. "Is that? No, it can't be…Doctor?"
"Thank you, whoever you are," Hitler said. "I think you have just saved my life."
"…believe me, it was an accident."
Hitler turned to the TARDIS, walking towards it. "What is this thing?"
Amy leaned towards the Time Lords, not wanting the man to hear it. "What did he mean, we saved his life? We could not have just saved Hitler."
Adelaide frowned. "We're only in 1938. He has seven years." She looked to Mels. "Time travel never goes to plan, remember that." Mels rolled her eyes again. "And stop doing that; it's extremely annoying. And not polite."
"This box, what is it?"
"It's a police telephone box from London, England." The Doctor walked forward. "That's right, Adolf. The British are coming."
Hitler's eyes widened, pointing towards the man Rory had gone to earlier. "No, stop him!" He grabbed his gun, shooting the man and giving the Doctor about a second to pull Adelaide out of the way, though he managed.
Rory ran forwards, punching Hitler and grabbing the gun. "Sit still," he aimed the weapon at Hitler, "shut up."
Amy hurried to the man's side. "Are you okay?"
"Yes, yes, yes, I'm fine." The man nodded. "I think he missed." The Time Lords exchanged a look.
"He was going to kill me!"
"Shut up, Hitler!" Rory snapped.
"Put Hitler in that cupboard," Adelaide told Rory without looking at him. "Now."
"Right…putting Hitler in the cupboard." Rory grabbed Hitler and pulled him to the small cupboard. "Cupboard, Hitler. Hitler, cupboard."
"But I am the Fuhrer!"
"Right, in you go!" Rory shoved Hitler in and shut the door.
The Doctor walked over to the other man. "Are you okay?"
"Oh, I…" the man fell backward, fainting.
Rory raised his eyebrows. "I think he just fainted."
Adelaide eyed the man. "A perfect faint."
Amy sighed, shaking her head, and saw Mels clutching her side. "Mels?"
"Hitler…"
"What about him?"
"Lousy shot." She collapsed.
"Mels!" Amy ran to her friend. "Mels!"
"Rory!"
Rory pressed on the wound. "No, no, no, no! I've got to stop the bleeding."
"How bad is it? Rory, what can we do?"
"Just keep her conscious. Stay with us, Mels."
The Doctor leaned over. "Hey, look at me. Just hold on."
Mels had a small smile on her face. "I used to dream about you. All those stories Amy used to tell me."
"What stories? Tell us what stories. Vampires in Venice. That's better."
"When I was little…I was going to marry you." She managed to shrug. "Either of you, really, I wasn't picky."
The Doctor laughed. "Good idea. Why don't we get married?" he gestured between himself and Mels, knowing he couldn't speak for Adelaide. "You stay alive and I'll marry you, deal? Deal? Might even be able to convince Adelaide, if you're nice about it."
"Shouldn't you ask my parents' permission?"
He nodded. "As soon as you're well, I'll get on the phone."
"Might as well do it now, since they're both right here." Mels grinned as all of their eyes widened, realization dawning on them and, for once, it was happening for Adelaide the same time it was for everyone else. "Penny in the air." Her hands began to glow. "Penny drops."
The Doctor and Adelaide stood, backing away. "What the hell's going on?" Rory asked, shaking his head.
"Get back!" Adelaide moved forward, pulling Amy and Rory back.
Mels stood up, looking down at her hands. "Last time I did this, I ended up a toddler in the middle of New York." She moved back to stand in the middle of the room.
Amy shook her head. "Okay, explain what is happening, please."
"Mels," he breathed. "Short for…"
Mels nodded. "Melody."
"Yeah, I named my daughter after her."
"You named your daughter…after your daughter."
Mels smiled at Amy and Rory. "It took me years to find you two. 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."
"You're Melody?"
"But if she's Melody, that means that she's also…"
"Shut up, Dad. I'm focusing on a dress size." She threw out her arms with a scream, regenerating with such force that all of them had to duck behind the desk, though the Doctor had time for a quick trip to a chair.
River Song, or the woman who would become her, gasped once her appearance settled. "Oh! Whoa! Right, let's see, then…" she looked down at herself. "Ooo, it's all going on down there, isn't it? The hair!" she felt her hair, running to a nearby mirror. "Oh, the hair! It just doesn't stop, does it? Look at that. Everything changes! Oh, but I love it." She spun to face them. "I'm all sort of…mature." She put her leg on a fallen chair, striking a pose. "Hello, Benjamin."
The Doctor frowned. "Who's Benjamin?"
"The teeth!" she clicked her teeth, spinning. "The teeth, the teeth! Oh, look at them." She ran forwards and forced the Doctor back against the desk. "Watch out that bowtie!" She tweaked the tie before spinning to her parents. "Excuse me, you lot. I need to weigh myself!" And then she ran out of the room.
Amy shook her head, seeming to be in shock. "That's Melody."
"That's River Song…"
"Who's River Song?" Melody looked out from the room she'd run into.
"Spoilers," Adelaide called.
"Spoilers? What's spoilers?" she put a hand on her hip, but then seemed to realize something. "Hang on, just something I have to check." And she was gone again.
Rory rubbed his forehead. "Is anybody else finding today just a bit difficult? I'm getting a sort of banging in my head."
"Yeah, I think that's Hitler in the cupboard."
He sighed. "That's not helping."
"This isn't the River Song we know yet." The Doctor walked more towards the middle of the room, close to where Melody had regenerated, with Amy and Rory following. "This is her right at the start. Doesn't even know her own name."
"Oh, that's magnificent!" Melody cried, appearing in the doorway again. "I'm going to wear lots of jodhpurs." She smirked. "Well, now, enough of all that. Down to business." She pulled out Hitler's gun, aiming it at Adelaide since she was standing off to the side.
"How rude to bring a gun on the day you're getting married," she said, backing up towards the Doctor.
Melody shrugged, following her. "I told you I'm not a wedding person."
"What's she doing?" Rory asked them.
"What she's programmed to."
"Where'd she get the gun?"
The Doctor nodded towards a chair before the fireplace. "Hello, Benjamin."
"You noticed." She tried to fire the gun, but nothing happened. The Doctor grinned, but Adelaide didn't as she moved to stand closer to him.
"Of course I noticed. As soon as I knew you were coming, I tidied up a bit."
Melody dropped the gun. "I know you did." She moved to pull out another one.
"I know you know."
She pulled out a banana, instead of the gun she'd been aiming for earlier. Melody sighed. "Goodness, is killing one of you going to take all day?"
"Terribly sorry," Adelaide said.
"Oh, I'm not complaining." Melody grabbed a letter opener from the desk, moving to slash them, but the Doctor soniced it from her hand.
"You could have easily killed us in the cornfield," Adelaide pointed out.
"We'd only just met. I'm a psychopath. I'm not rude." She grabbed the gun from the fruit bowl, firing, but Adelaide just grabbed the clip from her hand.
"Never put down a loaded gun."
Amy shook her head. "You are not a psychopath. Why would she be a psychopath?"
"Oh, mummy, mummy, pay attention." Melody began to circle the Doctor and Adelaide. The Doctor was still grinning, but Adelaide was still as emotionless as she always was. It made her wonder if River had been trained to be a combination of the pair; as cocky as the Doctor, but as logical as her. "I was trained and conditioned for one purpose. I was born to kill a Time Lord."
The Doctor looked to Amy. "Demons Run, remember? This is what they were building. Our bespoke psychopath." Melody stepped closer to the Doctor, making Adelaide tense.
"I'm all yours, sweetie," she gave him a quick peck on the lips and immediately his face reddened.
"Only River Song gets to call me that."
Melody raised her eyebrows. "And who's River Song?"
"An old friend of ours."
"Stupid name." She walked towards the window. "Oh, look at that. Berlin on the eve of war. A whole world about to tear itself apart. Now that's my kind of town." She turned back to the entire group. "Mum, Dad, don't follow me. And, yes, that is a warning."
"No warning for us then?"
Melody smirked at them. "No need, my loves. The deed is done and so are you."
The Doctor took a step forwards but staggered, falling into Adelaide's arms when she ran forwards. "Doctor," she said sharply, trying to hide the terror in her voice. She looked to Melody. "What have you done?"
"River," the Doctor managed to get out, sounding like he couldn't breathe, and Adelaide began to run through any reason he could be like he was now.
"Oh, River, River, River. More than a friend, I think."
"What have you done?" Adelaide asked again.
"It was never going to be a gun for you, Doctor, and I wanted to try you first. The man of peace who understands every kind of warfare except, perhaps, the cruelest." He rubbed his lips frantically, but Melody just smirked, blowing a kiss. "Kiss, kiss." She turned and dropped out of the window.
Rory and Amy, who'd run to the Time Lords' side, knelt on either side. "What's wrong with you?" Rory asked. "What's she done to you?"
"Poisoned," Adelaide breathed.
"But I'm fine. Well, no, I'm dying, but I've got a plan."
"What plan?"
"Not dying." He grinned. "See? Fine." Using Adelaide, he pulled himself up a bit more.
"Okay, what do we do? How can we help you?"
Adelaide tossed Rory the Doctor's sonic, which he'd still been holding. "The TARDIS will be able to home in on this. You need to go after her." She helped the Doctor stand, both of them limping to the TARDIS.
She recognized these symptoms, but if it was…she would curse herself.
A/N: I wonder why Adelaide might be cursing herself...have to wait till next chapter to find out! :)