Chapter Three

River Song first saw the girl lying on the ground, in a park in early 21st century London, completely unconscious. Normally she wouldn't pay attention to this sort of thing, she could tell that the girl had at least a bit of Time Lord DNA. She simply couldn't fight the curiosity, so she investigated.

"Hmm..." she said, peering at this newfound discovery. She seemed absolutely fine. No trauma to the head; no appearance of injury. She paled, realising that this mystery girl must have time traveled or something of the sort without any assistance. Either that, or she had decided to fall asleep on the ground in a random park in London.

Checking the girl's vitals, River called the Doctor.

"Hello, sweetie. Track this call and come find me. There's something you'd probably like to see."

OoOoO

The first thing Callie remembered was a pounding headache. It was so bad that she couldn't even open her eyes. So she just laid there, wherever "there" was, until it got better. This must be what a hangover is like, she thought.

"Oh, sweetie. You've had quite a trip, haven't you?" Came a soothing voice. It didn't sound like her mother's, but that was the only logical person it could be, so she blamed her lack of perception on whatever had just happened.

"Mum?" She asked blearily, trying to sit up. She slumped back down, fully regaining consciousness, then sat back up. "Mum, what happ - uhh..."

This woman was definitely not her mother. This woman had the curliest, craziest blondy-brown hair Callie had ever seen, wearing a vortex manipulator like Jack's on her wrist. There were trees all around, and she realised she was sitting on grass.

"Sorry, hon, but last time I checked, I wasn't your mum." The woman chuckled. "Time travel without a capsule is killer, I admit, even though I do it all the time. I'm Professor River Song. What's your name?"

Callie rubbed her head. "Callie Tyler." She said. "Sorry, I was...in my room, and...there was this crack, and I stepped through it, and..." Suddenly, realisation hit her like a ton of bricks, and she grinned. "It worked! It must have worked!" She scrambled to her feet, and started walking around. "Dad!" She shouted. "Dad, are you there? Doctor?"

River followed the girl curiously. "I called the Doctor," she said carefully. "If that's who you're looking for. But somehow, I don't feel we're talking about the same man."

Callie stared at her. "You called the Doctor?" She asked. "You mean...the Doctor, not my mom's Doctor?"

Suddenly, chills went up River's spine. "Callie, was it? Callie Tyler?"

Callie nodded. "Why do you ask?"

River's greenish-hazel eyes bore into Callie's brown ones. "Callie, are you by any chance related to Rose Tyler?"

Callie was about to reply when a whooshing, vworping sound filled the air, and a blue police box suddenly appeared on the ground.

Callie covered her mouth with her hands. This was the TARDIS, she was sure of it. She had seen hand-drawn pictures of it by her mother in Rose's room.

The door opened, and a tall man with green eyes wearing a bow tie stepped out.

"Oi, you! Don't take this the wrong way, I'm delighted to see you and all, but how'd you manage to get out of prison, Miss Melody Pond?" Came a voice that most definitely did not sound like he could ever be related to Callie.

River walked up to him. He failed to notice Callie. "That's Mrs. The Doctor to you, sweetie," she said flirtatiously. "Spoilers."

Callie tuned out this conversation, staring in shock at the bow-tie man who still did not notice her. This was the Doctor? He didn't look like the pictures her mum had shown her. They were exactly the same person, she'd said, right down to the tiny birth mark on the inside of his left arm. All the same memories and feelings.

"Like I said, I found something you'd probably like to see."

The eleventh Doctor raised an eyebrow. "Oh, yeah? And what's that?"

River stepped aside, gesturing towards the young girl who looked absolutely flabbergasted and about to cry at the same time.

The Doctor stared at her, mouth wide open.

Callie stared at him right back, awkward and unsure of what to say.

"I must congratulate you, Miss Tyler," River said, smirking. "Not many can render him speechless."

"Rose?" He whispered hoarsely. "No..."

"Not Rose," she whispered back. "but close. I'm Callie Tyler -"

She didn't get to finish the sentence, due to the huge hug that was now being enveloped around her.

"Callie Tyler," he grinned, holding her at arm's length. "I met you once. Once, a very long time ago. You couldn't have been more than a few months old at the time. Basically, I thought I was going to die, so I went on a few social calls. The rift in the universe was still there so I went through it, hoping to see your mum but I saw you and gave you this whole motivational speech about being brilliant and so forth."

Callie opened her mouth to say something, but he carried on talking at top speed. "But how did you get here, to this universe? The TARDIS I gave to your parents surely isn't fully grown yet, and nobody can single-handedly pass through a rift in the universe. It would probably kill you instantly."

Callie tried to reply, but what came out of her mouth was, "You don't look like the pictures of my dad."

The Doctor looked surprised at this. "No," he said. "I died and changed my face. Time Lord-y thing." He coughed. "Wait - pictures? Did he leave?" He suddenly looked angry.

Callie shook her head. "No, he didn't leave intentionally. He fell into a crack three months before I was born. And I fell into one on my sixteenth birthday, ending up here."

"A crack." It was a statement, not a question.

"Yes. A large, wiggly, glowy crack thingy."

"Oh, yeah. She's definitely got your DNA in there somewhere, Doctor," River rolled her eyes.

Paying no attention to River, the Doctor paled. "Oh, no..."

"What?"

"River," he said. "The crack. The crack in Amy's wall. It appeared in the other universe, and he must have touched it." He wrinkled his eyebrows together. "But that doesn't make any sense... You're sure it was before you were born?"

She nodded, confused. "Why? And wait, you know what this crack is? Could you help me?"

He looked extremely confused for a second, then straightened his black bow-tie. "Come with me."

He held his hand out to her, and she took it carefully. Walking to the blue box, the Doctor unlocked it and led her in.

Callie gasped. Her mother said it was bigger on the inside, but this was... wow.

"Callie Tyler," the Doctor said, smirking, "welcome to the TARDIS."