Melody laid perfectly still on the scanner in the TARDIS medbay, Amy having managed to get her to sleep before placing her down gently. And as the scanner passed over her tiny body, The Doctor, Rose, Amy, and Rory all stood as close together as possible staring at the computer screen as readings and calculations began to form.
No one said a word, and Rose was certain the parents were hardly able to breathe while they waited for the results.
"Oh," The Doctor uttered the first word in quite sometime, and Rose and the Ponds turned to him expectantly. His eyebrows were high, eyes wide, surprise on his face. "Well, that's certainly better news than her being stunted."
"Explain, Raggedy Man." Amy snapped, and he looked at her like a deer caught in headlights.
"Right, yes. Well, you see, a long time ago when we found out Rose had huons in her system, I did scans."
"Scans?" Amy repeated.
"Yes, scans, just like I've done with Melody. And those scans read the same way your little girl's does." He said.
"Meaning?" Rory asked, and the Doctor whipped around to look at the man standing to the other side.
"Meaning she's growing slower. About a third of the rate of a normal human child, but that's because she's going to live about three times as long."
Silence, and Rose chanced a look at their friends to see how it would affect them.
Rory and Amy stared at each other over the Doctor's head.
"How is that possible?" Rory finally asked. "I remember you saying huons were deadly."
"They are, they can be, but the way they did this, the way they injected her, was smart. Small amounts over time, almost like a vaccine, causing her body to build up a tolerance to them. And she was developing, just a tiny thing, and the huons were becoming a part of her. It mixed in and bonded with her molecular structure, causing her to be this. Oh the amount of time and research and … experiments," The Doctor sneered at the last word. "How many people, children, really, had to suffer for Her to have figure out how to do this properly."
"Oh, I'd say about eighteen." Rory replied off handedly.
Rose frowned as the Doctor looked up at him in confusion. "Why do you say that?"
"Lucky hunch." Rory said with a bit of sarcasm, exchanging a loaded look with Amy before turning his gaze toward his daughter.
"Okay, so, Melody is all loaded up with this huon thing, and they're making her age slower. But it's not hurting her, either. Experiments aside, how would they know that's what needed to be done?" Amy asked.
"Because a very long time ago, She trapped Rose, Tim, Donna, and I on a space station. She knocked us all out and all but dissected Rose to understand her abilities. She would have found the trace huon particles in her DNA."
"Not sure I understand how it could happen, though," Rose said.
The TARDIS hummed an almost guilty tune, and the Doctor's eyes widened in understanding. "Oh." He said.
"Oh?" Amy repeated. "What the hell do you mean 'Oh'? What's Oh?" She punctuated with a slap on his arm.
The Doctor swallowed. "Well, you see, had the worst happened and Melody was still in her possession, nothing would have happened. Huons are particles in the heart of the TARDIS, part of the time vortex, and while little jumps here and there with a time capsule or vortex manipulator may have given her brief exposure, she was here, with us, in the TARDIS. And we spent quite a lot of time in the Vortex while everyone changed and slept and such after getting you two back." He said, hands flying about.
"So you're saying she was, what, activated while we were back on the TARDIS?" Rose asked, starting to understand but not sure she could trust her reasoning.
"Remember how Donna was pulled on board?" He asked, and she nodded. "The heart of the TARDIS recognized the huon signature and drew her in, activated them, if you will. Melody was already on board, so when we entered the Vortex, the results She tried to mimic were … activated as well." The Doctor looked to Melody. "You still had huons in you, but they were part of the TARDIS. She had no affect on them. But if I had lost you to the void, they'd have never been activated in the Torchwood lab where the Racnoss had developed their own. Melody, well, hers would have been dormant if we didn't save her."
"So if we had taken the Flesh Avatar like Psycho Smith expected us to, Melody would have been normal." Rory asked.
"Normal, but not with us." Amy reminded him just as it seemed Rory might actually get angry. "I'd rather have a little girl who's been altered by fluke and with us, than one who was normal but lost to a mad woman."
"But how didn't we notice them activating?" Rose asked. "Donna and me, we glowed when they were activated. Why didn't Melody?"
"Maybe she did," The Doctor shrugged. "Did you two notice anything, first time we took off when we all were on board the TARDIS?"
Amy and Rory looked at each other, contemplating.
"I was … talking to Mickey." Rory said thoughtfully. "He peeked at her before we took off."
"I think I had my eyes closed." Amy admitted. "I don't remember Mickey or the lizard lady and potato leaving."
The Doctor looked to Rose. "Was helping you pilot." She reminded him.
"None of us were looking." He said with amusement. "A great moment in Melody's life and we all missed it."
"So … she's like Rose, but Rose is immortal." Amy pointed out.
"Rose was also a goddess of time for a few moments and did unspeakable things." The Doctor countered.
"I tied myself to the Doctor, but it was also entirely dependent on a time line falling into place." She added.
"So is it possible you did the same for Melody?" Rory asked.
Something tickled at Rose's mind, an echo of a memory just out of reach. "Maybe." Rose said. "I brought you back to life because …."
"Time lines." She and the Doctor said at once.
"Melody." He said with understanding, rising from his seat and making to clutch at his head but stopping. "She was what was always meant to happen, it's why it was imperative you two got married. She had to be born, but why?"
"Don't need to figure that out just yet, yeah?" Rose said, reaching out and easing his arms down. "But we know she's important. So it's possible that when I was Bad Wolf at the Pandorica I did make that adjustment. That Melody wouldn't gain that sort of … power, or something, unless we saved her."
"But that doesn't help the fact that now she's going to look six at her High School graduation." Rory pointed out. "And will she even have that kind of intelligence at eighteen, or will she still be learning to write her own name?"
"Rory," Amy tried to ease.
"No, you said yourself we'll never see our little girl grow up, and you were right." He insisted, his voice getting louder with each word, arms going higher and gesturing more wildly. "At this rate we'll never see her reach adulthood, not in time to enjoy any of it. We can never send her to school, she'll never have friends her own age, she is stunted for life in ways we never even imagined."
At the last, harshly snapped word, Melody woke up crying.
Rory dropped his hands to his side as guilt came over him. Amy glared at him, gesturing to Melody in frustration before going over and picking up her daughter.
"Here, Pond, let me." The Doctor offered gently, arms outstretched. "You and Rory can go hash it out in your room."
Amy nodded, handing Melody over to the Doctor before looking expectantly at her husband.
Rory nodded, not meeting the gaze of anyone in the room as he followed Amy outside.
"Why don't you hold her?" The Doctor encouraged Rose once they were along.
"Was never very good with babies," She winced, chewing her lip as Melody squirmed in the Doctor's hold.
"Try it," He encouraged.
Nervously, Rose opened her arms. The Doctor beamed, his excitement suspiciously strong as he set Melody in Rose's arms. She didn't calm instantly, but her cries did slow before Rose even began to bounce her gently.
"Look at that," The Doctor cooed. "You're a natural."
"Oi, hush you." Rose said, unable to resist smiling at him with her tongue between her teeth as Melody's cried changed to coos.
"Oh yes, she does smell nice. I know that for absolute certainty." The Doctor said to Melody. When she cooed again he made a disgusted face. "I smell nice too. Not at all like fish."
"A bit like fish," Rose sided with Melody, and the baby smiled a bit brighter.
"Right, of course, side against me." The Doctor said as he fussed with his bow tie. "And I can't help if fish fingers just happened to be what I had for lunch."
Rose laughed, adjusting Melody so she was resting against her shoulder. "Coulda helped it, but you didn't." She reminded him.
The Doctor seemed to relent to that, moving his head side to side in reluctant agreement as he looked about the room. "Should move somewhere else. The Old Girl will show Amy and Rory where we are, won't you?" He said, and the TARDIS hummed in confirmation.
Rose carried Melody out the medbay with the Doctor guiding her to the console room with his arm around her waist. She moved to one of the jumpseats, tilting back and resting with her feet on the edge of the console.
The Doctor ducked down underneath, and Rose shut her eyes as she cuddled the little one.
She might have fallen asleep, because it didn't seem like too long after that that Rory and Amy entered the room.
She cleared her throat, "So Rory and I were talking, and while we know the circumstances aren't great, we get that they are what they are. And what's more, they're the way they are because you did what you could to save her. But we do want to see her grow up, at least as much as we can, so we think we worked out a compromise."
"A way for you to sort of make it up to us." Rory added, not exactly bitter but certainly allowing his feelings on the matter to show.
"Excellent. Anything you need, Ponds, and we will do it."
Amy and Rory exchanged a quick glance and nod before she said, "We want you to help us raise Melody."
"What?" Rose said, sitting up straight while doing her best not to stir the baby.
"Well, if you guys take her for a while, like a few months or something, then bring her back to us for a week or two, it won't seem like a lot of time has passed, you know? Not for us."
"We know it may mean missing out on some firsts, like words or steps, but Amy and I agreed that while those milestones are special, her aging appropriately in time with us seems like the better deal." Rory added, calmer and less accusing than before.
"We know you two didn't want kids, and is a lot to ask, but it was the only way we could figure out how to maintain a balance." Amy finished.
Rose looked to the Doctor.
"We can do this." He said confidently, pairing his mental encouragement with a physical grin.
"Wasn't so sure I wanted Jenny, and now I'm raising a baby that isn't ours?" Rose countered, keeping her expression neutral.
"You're a natural," He subtly gestured to the way Rose continued to cuddle Melody. "And it's not like you'll have to lose sleep. Time Lord husband, I don't need to sleep like you do. I'd be on permanent night duty."
"Nappies. Potty training. Baby puke. Not just lack of sleep I'm worried about."
"I speak baby. She cries, I'll know what she wants."
"We know you're talking over your bond thingy." Amy teased. "Do that around Melody, she may never learn to speak."
The Doctor glanced at Amy with smile then turned to Rose. "For them. And there's nothing to say we can't wander off for years in between drop offs." He reminded.
Rose took a deep breath. "Yeah," She said, making the Doctor break out into a wide, stupid grin that had her fighting the urge to copy him. "But she has a lot of catching up to do, year one and all."
"So, let's … let's do this." Amy said with a quiver to her voice. Rory gripped her hand, and she shrugged. "It's fine. Really. Better than missing it all, yeah?"
"Okay," The Doctor said. "Step on out the TARDIS. We'll be back in a few minutes."
~DWDWDW~
"Melody, get back here!" Rose called as the little one darted down the corridors, the never ending maze of corridors that even she got lost in after a hundred years. It was a crawl, but it didn't matter, little legs scooting with arms and fueled by giggles and human plus speed led the little one around the corner and Rose didn't see which one.
The TARDIS hummed, showed Rose where Melody had gone, and tried not to laugh at her Wolf when she huffed and rolled her eyes.
When Rose entered the console room, the Doctor was already sitting Melody on his chest, cooing and laughing with her and abandoning any and all work he was doing on the Time Ship.
"Of course I would find you two in cahoots." Rose said as sternly as she could. Hands on her hips, eyes narrowed, but a smile threatened to break out as she couldn't decide who looked more adorable: the Time Lord acting like an idiot or the curly haired little one who found it hysterical. "Ya quite done? 'Cause it's been about three months and she's about ready to be returned home to Mom and Dad for a week so they can see how much she's grown, yeah?"
"Right, yes." The Doctor said, nearly giving Rose a heart attack as he jumped to his feet while still holding on to Melody and inevitably stumbled. She was certain the TARDIS extended the edge of the console just enough to prevent the Doctor from falling backward, though she would never ask and she was sure the time ship would never tell. "Well, Melody was telling me all about the bath she just finished. Which, by the way, she said was perfection, you finally got it right. But by routine standards I would say that means a bottle and then bed time."
"Yes, thank god." Rose sighed, and at the Doctor's amused glance she blushed.
"By the time you girls are up and ready, I should be done." He finished, bringing Melody over to Rose.
"You'd better be," Rose half scolded. With Melody on her hip, she brought her down to the nursery the TARDIS conveniently set up right next to their room. The door was that wonderful shade of TARDIS blue that seemed to signify a person of importance. Even the Ponds themselves didn't get the honor, so it was a partial surprise to Rose when she discovered this one, and illustrations of a pond with music notes above it (and what she thought might be a river connecting to it).
The room itself was a simple, sensible nursery with a cot, and a chair for rocking where Rose went to feed Melody the TARDIS provided bottle. There was a change table and a pail for the used nappies, and all the toys Melody could ever want. The room was basic white with linens in ultra pale blues, yellows, and pinks. It was comfortable, yet common to the naked eye.
Rose set Melody down in the cot where she grabbed her blankie and began to chew on it. "Goodnight, Sweet girl." Rose whispered. "And in the morning, you'll see your Mummy and Daddy again. She moved to the door, turned out the light, and looked to the ceiling.
The one thing that made Melody's room so distinct: the projection on the ceiling copying what was just outside the TARDIS. Sometimes it was the night sky of the planet they were one, sometimes it was the wondrous swirl and dance of the colors of the Vortex, but mostly it was as it was now: the stars in the Universe as they floated in space.
Melody cooed in wonder, and not for the first time did Rose want to know what she thought.
But as it was, she was too knackered for such contemplation, and headed to her own bed to sleep as well.
~DWDWDW~
He heard her stir long before Rose ever would, and the Doctor eagerly closed his book and set in on the bed side table. He left the bed he shared with his wife and darted into the nursery, allowing Rose to not lose any of the sleep she still cherished after all these years. Not that there hadn't been a few times he found her already going to Melody's side when he heard the little one stir while he was in the console room. He knew she'd never admit it, but there was a slight sparkle to Rose's eye that he'd catch now and again that told him that despite her reservations (and frequent grumbles and complaints), she had fallen just as much in love with Melody as he had. And that there was a part of her that truly loved playing Mum.
The TARDIS had Melody's bottle set on the table beside the rocking chair, and with a grin, the Doctor scooped up the little one and brought her over.
"Here we go, Melody," he said gently as he settled her in his arms, reaching for the bottle that she took eagerly despite being half asleep. "Not fish custard, but Rose has told me you can't have that for a bit yet. But soon," he said conspiratorially, leaning in to whisper it. Melody grunted. "Is so good." He frowned, laughing a moment later as she sleepily opened her eyes to show the glint of amusement.
His hearts swelled, and he couldn't help but lightly kiss her head just beneath a strawberry blonde curl. "Would you like to know a secret, Melody?" He asked in a whisper against her skin. "Bit of a dream come true for me, this. I know you're not ours, and pretty soon you'll see your Mum and Dad again, but these last few months have been what I used to imagine our future to be, when I allowed myself to dream what I thought was an impossible dream: Me and Rose, raising a little one."
Melody made a light, sleepy coo as her eyes started to fall shut.
"I think we're doing alright, too." He whispered even softer as he watched her drift back off to sleep.
~DWDWDW~
"She looks the same." Amy said, the relief palatable in her voice. The second they stepped out of the TARDIS, Melody's little arms outstretched, her fists making grabbing motions, until she was back in Amy's arms.
"She crawls, have fun with that," Rose said, stuffing her hands in her pockets and no longer sure what to do with them now that Melody didn't occupy them.
"We baby proofed the house months ago thinking maybe she was just small and would surprise us by crawling any day." Rory said, offering a finger to Melody's grabby little fists.
"Dada," She said as her fingers wrapped around it. Everyone stilled and stared at her. A proud little smile formed as she repeated, "Dada."
"Please tell me she hasn't spoken before now?" Amy asked, her eyes watering as she craned her head to have her daughter look at her.
"First word." The Doctor beamed. "All here for that one!"
"Mum mum." Melody said as she looked at Amy.
"We'll leave you two to get used to her again." Rose said, taking a step back into the TARDIS. "Be back for her at the end of the month?"
"Really? That long?" Amy asked, a bit panicked.
"Stages, Pond." The Doctor said. "Melody seems to be developing mentally at the normal rate for a human, but physically she is limited to her size. Lots can happen in a month, and you'll want to get in as many firsts as you can. We'll be back, and then, like before five minutes gone, and you'll have a bigger Melody to hold on to."
"We still need to quit our jobs." Rory pointed out. "Or at least me mine."
"Yes, well … end of the month?" The Doctor asked, pulling Rose inside the TARDIS and shutting the doors.
He ran up the console, through the switch to put them in the Vortex, and returned to Rose. Before she could ask what he was up to, he pulled her toward him and kissed her deeply and fiercely. Thoughts flew through his mind and mixed with emotions that were both strange and familiar.
"Love seeing you with her. Glad she's gone so I get you back. Amazing woman." His words in Rose's mind, mixed with love and desire, made her high. Tingles moved along her spin as a smile threatened to break their kiss apart. It was contagious, and soon the were grinning between kisses.
"Where we off to now, then?" She asked, pushing him back enough to let her breath and speak.
"Anywhere you want to go, Ms Tyler, and any when. But only after we make one, very important stop."
"Where's that then?" She asked.
He twitched his eyebrows before surprising her by suddenly scooping her up and bringing her to their bedroom.
~DWDWDW~
Months turned to years in between visits. As Melody's growth started to slow, Rose and the Doctor kept her longer.
"Potty training," He said as they handed her back. "She's about ten now, so you should probably get on that!"
"Ten? She's not supposed to be three until next week! She shouldn't be double digits for her proper age for a while!" Amy exclaimed, hair pulled back and flour on her face from what ever she was making in the two hour gap Rose and the Doctor gave her and Rory before returning their daughter.
"Yes, well, when we picked her up it was a year and a half ago for us. Quite frankly she's ready, but refuses to try until she's with her Mummy and Daddy." He said with a shrug. "Anyway, we'll be off now." He said, turning and heading into the TARDIS.
When the doors closed, Rose turned to the bewildered Amy. "Don't mind him," She waved off the Doctor's actions. "We were in a park on some planet and happened to run into his old self. Got a tongue lashing for having such a young companion because of all the danger."
"Danger?" Amy asked worriedly, clutching Melody close. "You two aren't up to your normal antics with her on board, are you?"
"Course not." Rose said, and she hoped beyond all hope that Amy did not catch the little wink Melody gave. Amy didn't need to know that just before the park incident they were on a planet where the flowers were as big as trees and Melody was almost carried off by an ant the size of a horse.
She darted back on to the TARDIS after saying a quick goodbye.
"Chips." She said simply as she found her husband collapsed on a jumpseat, limbs spread out as much as he could make them. She stared, waiting for him to respond. "Could go see Sarah Jane. Been a bit. Last we saw her, Luke was heading off to college." Still nothing. She rolled her eyes. "Impressive Time Lord falls asleep because a little girl tuckers him out."
"I'm not sleeping, I'm resting. In trance-like state. Chips and Sarah Jane, I heard."
"And?"
"And I want to make sure the people of Florensia are alright after our ten year old nearly burnt down the biggest city on the planet." He said as he finally peeled himself off the jumpseat.
"She's not ours," Rose reminded him, though the words stung.
"She's ours as much as she's Amy and Rory's at this point." He countered. "Out of ten years, she'd had them in her life for about three of them. She calls us Mum and Dad, we are raising her and often claiming her as our own. She's our little girl, too, and she nearly caused thousands of blue and green, peaceful aliens to be homeless. We should check it out." He said with a fond smile. "Maybe go back just before we left and make sure we can't help with the mess. You know how toddlers can be."
~DWDWDW~
"She's sixteen years old?" Donna asked Rose as they sat on a park bench, sipping coffee from a takeaway cup and watching their kids play on the jungle gym not far away.
Rose shrugged. "I'm nearly two hundred now. After a bit you just sorta, I dunno, go with it, I guess."
"So explain to me again how you two came about this little bundle of sugar and spice? 'Cause she bloody well don't look like either of you, unless it's from a different him." Donna said with a grin. "He have a love child you didn't know about?"
Rose laughed, and Donna did as well. "She's adopted." Rose replied. "And you know bloody well I can't explain how we came across her or you'll get a migraine." She made sure to point out, much to the disappointment of her friend.
Donna's lips curled as she tilted her head in reluctant compliance.
It was hard to remember what Donna did and didn't know before the meta crisis, and a lot of the alien things she did know had gone fuzzy. She recalled Rose was going to live so long as the Doctor did without problem, of how Jenny was created, and that Donna herself had been to alien planets. But she couldn't recall the very aliens she'd met, or why everyone took the ATMOS devices out of their cars when it was so good for the environment.
"So you all had a sweet sixteen then? And how's she going to handle school?" Donna asked, gesturing about and nearly sloshing her coffee all over the place.
"She's not going to school," The Doctor said as he came up behind them, startling Donna as he stuck his head between them. "No need, really. She'll learn everything she'd ever need to know out in the Universe, traveling with us."
"Oh yeah? Spelling? Arithmetic? Gonna squeeze that in somehow?" Donna challenged.
"Yes, I think I can squeeze in basics she was learning ages ago." He replied with a mix of sarcasm and annoyance.
"Driver's Ed?" Donna teased, mimicking his expression and making Rose laugh.
"She's got you there." Rose grinned.
"Oi, I'm a brilliant driver." He countered straightening his bow tie as he stood to come around and properly sat beside Rose.
"These days, maybe." Rose retorted.
"Well," Donna said, dropping a hand on Rose's knee. "Been fun, but me and Joshua need to be heading home. Shawn's meeting us and we're heading out to Mum's for tea. Yay." She added with an eye roll.
"Say hi to your Granddad for us, will ya?" Rose asked as she and Donna stood for a hug.
"He'll be seeing you next week when you come around for supper." Donna reminded. "Been eager to meet your newest little one."
"Take care, Donna." The Doctor said as he gave her a hug.
"You, too, Space man."
She left, shouting at her boy to come along, and Rose and the Doctor stood at the edge of the park and waited.
"What does she see you doin' when you straighten your bow tie?" She asked without looking back at him.
"Probably fiddle with my collar." He replied. "Best she see me as my last self as a precaution. Hasn't noticed the different in speech patterns, so that's good. Don't know what she could handle."
Melody skipped up to them, causing them to cease the conversation as they smiled down at her.
She paused, frowning at the Doctor. "I don't like it when I can't see you right." She noted in her small, five year old sounding voice to go with her five year old looking body.
"We head back to the TARDIS, I'll turn of the perception filter." He said, putting his arm around her shoulders as they headed to the TARDIS. "School? What in the universe is Donna thinking?"
~DWDWDW~
"We're enrolling Melody in school." Amy said in way of conversation as the blended family sat around the dinner table, a spread of everyone's favorites laid out as they did every time the Doctor and Rose came to drop off Melody.
"School?" The Doctor frowned, back to his old self now that he no longer had to disguise himself. He stopped with a fish finger covered in custard nearly to his mouth, feature screwing up in disgust at Amy's statement.
"Yes, Doctor, school." Amy said in a slightly condescending tone.
"What are you sending her to school for? There's nothing she can learn in schools here. Believe me, I know, it will only confuse her. Might even lead to teachers following her home and suddenly finding themselves on an alien world." He grimaced. "Never ends well."
"Oh, come off it, Doctor." Amy waved away his worries. "Not like they'd follow her to the TARDIS, and if they do show up on our door, well, we'll figure it out."
"And we are trying to raise her as normal as possible while she's with us." Rory reminded. "Just like she has friends and goes to day care, come fall she will be enrolled in school. She looks like the right age, we have been acting like she is the right age, so we will continue on as if she isn't technically old enough for a driver's permit."
"Fine." The Doctor rolled his eyes. "If you must make her life boring and normal."
Rose glanced at Rory, subtly shrugged and rolled her eyes. He smirked, glanced at the Doctor, then shook a bit with quiet laughter.
"Can I drive a car?" Melody asked thoughtfully when the silence continued.
"No!" All for adults replied resoundingly.
~DWDWDW~
"Do I have to go to Earth?" Melody asked as Rose walked into her room to round her up.
She frowned, "Why don't you want to go see your Mum and Dad, sweetheart?" She asked, crossing her arms and leaning back against the bedroom wall.
Melody, age twenty-four in reality, eight in the eyes of her parents, didn't seem to be able to look Rose in the eye. "You guys are Mum and Dad, they're Mummy and Daddy." Melody replied.
"Yes, but you don't call them that." Rose reminded her. "They're still Mum and Dad, because they're your proper parents and you're a bit old for the other names. And you love them, and usually you're jumping at the chance to go see 'em as soon as you can, so why don't you want to this time?"
Melody shifted on the bed, wringing her fingers and looking at everything but Rose. "They're fighting all the time."
"Doctor and me fight. Married people do that, yeah?"
"Yeah, well, you two don't fight like this. I mean, he gets fish custard on the good couch in the library, and you yell, but it's forgotten 'cause TARDIS cleans it up. He gets upset when you put yourself in danger for us, but the results mean we're all safe so he can't begrudge you that. We all head to some planet or time, have a laugh, and it's forgotten. Mum and Dad, proper Mum and Dad, they argue about things that can't be fixed."
"Like?" Rose asked.
"Me." Melody replied. "How they're losing time with me, and I have too much of a life without them. And the fight about having more kids. Dad wants another, Mum is terrified what happened to me would happen to the next, and …."
"Melody, Melody, Melody," Rose said moving swiftly to her side and pulling her down to lean on her shoulder. Melody's curls tickled her face, and she reached up and smoothed them down. "Those things? You can't worry about those, Sweetheart. Your Mum and Dad love you, and it killed them to know they would miss out on so much of your life. What happened to you is not your fault."
"Really?" Melody asked.
"Really," The Doctor's voice came from the doorway. He came in and knelt in front of her. "Melody, you are brilliant, and special, and impossible. But in no way is what you are or how your parents are handling it your fault. They're human, Melody, purely human, and they're properly frightened. It happens."
"Alright." She agreed.
Rose looked to the Doctor, waiting for him to catch her eye. "You know what I think?" She said. "Think they need a trip. Been a bit since they came along."
"I think you're right." The Doctor said. "What do you say, Melody? Shall we pick up your parents instead? Travel about?"
~DWDWDW~
"You will never believe who I just saw at the Canary Wharf memorial," Rory said as he came up to where they were all eating chips, the TARDIS across the block still grumbling about having landed here.
"Who?" Rose asked as she popped a chip in her mouth, enjoying the hit of vinegar.
"You." Rory replied with a laugh as he sat down on the opposite side of Melody, sandwiching her between he and Rose. "Must have been ages ago for you 'cause you referred to this one as your boyfriend. And you've been married, what now? Two hundred years?"
"Bout two twenty-nine." The Doctor replied, sipping a banana milkshake as he leaned back against Amy's arm. "Spent the two hundredth anniversary on Woman Wept. Picnic on the snow, watching the stars, spying on our younger selves when we first went."
"Wait." Rose said thoughtfully. "Said you saw me at the memorial?" She asked, and Rory nodded. "Only been once. It was ages ago now, like you said. I was running from …. Doctor, what year is this?"
"Two thousand eight, I believe." He replied.
"Alright, everyone, taking these to go." Rose said as she grabbed her container of chips and stood up.
"Why?" Amy asked. "What's so big about two thousand …." She stopped, eyes going wide.
"ATMOS!" The Doctor said with sudden recollection, apparently causing Rory to remember as well.
"What's that?" Melody asked.
"Something involving Strax's people, just move." The Doctor said as he got them inside the TARDIS with a snap of his fingers. Safe inside, he put them in the Vortex before they could choose their next destination.
"Wait, how does Melody know about Strax? What have you told her?" Amy asked after they settled.
Rose looked to the Doctor, his guilt as strong as hers.
"There are stories?" Melody asked, turning an accusing look on her guardians. "What are the stories? Do they involve Jenny and Vastra?"
"She knows Jenny and Vastra?" Rory asked, pointing at Melody but looking at the Doctor. "Where have you been taking her?"
"We're time travelers, Rory. We have lots of friends all over time and space, and we pay them a visit quite often. Jenny, our Jenny, has even tagged along here and there. Family outings, or whatever you humans call it." The Doctor replied.
"And Jenny's boyfriend." Melody added. "You forgot to mention Tim."
"Yes," The Doctor growled. "Him."
"Oh, there's a story there." Amy smirked,
"You remember how we had to explain to Melody what, umm …."
"Yes," Rory cut her off. "I remember my eight year old telling me she knew about the birds and the bees." He groaned.
"I'm twenty four!" Melody argued.
"You're eight to me," Rory retorted before turning to Rose. "What does that have to do with anything?"
"She walked into Jenny's room without knocking." Rose replied, feeling the rage bubble on the Doctor's side while she tried not to smile. "Was a bit of a compromising situation."
"Not that compromising, though. Just that there was some nakedness, mostly on Jenny's end, she saw no male anatomy. If she had, there'd have been no male anatomy left to look at." The Doctor was quick to reassure.
"Well, seems about right. Walking in on the sorta big sister with her boyfriend." Amy smiled, but it was pained. She glanced to Rory but he wouldn't look at her.
"Anyway," The Doctor said, clapping his hands and putting on a smile in hopes to change the mood. "How about a simple stop over to a later date? Who wants to see the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo?"
~DWDWDW~
"Come on, Jenny, we have a family trip to attend to." The Doctor greeted their daughter after opening the doors to the TARDIS in her dorm room at school. They had slacked at picking her up when the Ponds first came aboard, having run into future versions of her making it hard to remember there were still younger years left to fill."
"Oh? Where's this one? Paris, the planet, not the city?" River asked, turning and looking at Rose and the Doctor intensely while Jenny gathered her stuff. "Or is this the amusement park planet?"
Rose studied the woman in the chair, then looked over her shoulder at Melody sitting on the jumpseat, her little legs swinging about. Their hair was done the same way: a puffy ponytail of curls near the top of their head. Melody smiled, blue eyes brightening, and Rose turned back to River to see the same smile and bright eyes in an older setting.
"Shoulda known." Rose smirked, crossing her arms and shaking her head.
"Should've known what?" The Doctor looked at her confused.
"Should I tell him or do you want to?" Rose asked.
"Let him figure it out, Mum." River shrugged, adding a wink.
"Alright, ready to go!" Jenny said as she came toward them with her backpack. "Just the four of us?"
"Yes," The Doctor grumbled darkly. "Don't think we'll be bringing Timothy along on any trips anytime soon." His jaw jutted out, and the Oncoming Storm made a brief appearance before his gaze drifted to inside the TARDIS. His green eyes went wide, and he whirled around to look at River. "Oh!" He said, and she nodded. "You're?" He asked, and she nodded again. "Blimey, now I see it! She's the perfect blend of Amy and Rory!"
"Enjoy your trip, I know I did." She said before turning back to her school work.
Rose ushered her flabbergasted husband back inside and closed the doors.
"But Amy and Rory, they were so worried about not seeing her grow up. That means they have! They've seen her." He rambled, and Rose quickly looked about the console to make sure the girls weren't within hearing distance.
Jenny must have taken Melody with her deeper inside, because neither were in the room.
"We can't," Rose replied quickly. "River is mixed up in a lot of the most dangerous experiences with them, where She, the woman who made her what she is, was involved. We can't, for their sanity and for Melody's protection, let it be known they are one in the same. If She is out there, and if She is waiting to for a sign or something or anything to get Melody back and try and turn her or use her against you, then we can't let Her know that she was and will likely be at her fingertips again. We don't know why or when Melody decided to go by River, but it might be important, yeah?"
The Doctor nodded. "So we pretend we don't know."
"We'll have to." Rose nodded.
He smiled, looking at her mischievously. "Know what that means?" He asked, and she shook her head. "Means we've raised one hell of a woman, Rose Tyler."
"Not all on us, you know." She reminded him, adjusting his bow tie. "And that reminds me. Maybe it should be the six of us?"
"The six of us. Brilliant." He agreed, and the two went about the controls, landing them in the Pond's back garden.
~DWDWDW~
It continued, for years, for decades, at least for the Doctor and Rose. Months with Melody, then a drop off to her parents. Years more would pass, and they would come back for her. They attempted to save their most dangerous trips for when Melody was safe with her parents, but sometimes danger found them.
"Don't tell your parents." Became a frequent first phrase spoken upon returning to the TARDIS.
"It's starting to be harder not to say anything," Melody remarked as they returned from one of those many travels. She, Rose, and the Doctor took their places around the console, getting them off the alien planet in which Melody had been kidnapped and held for ransom because of her curls. "I don't say what we've properly been up to, sounds like we've spent the last few years sitting in the vortex."
"Well, best not to give your parents a heart attack, yeah?" Rose said as she worked the last of her controls. "Besides, 's why we gave you that journal, yeah? So when you're not so young in their eyes you can share with them all the tales you never told them."
"So when do you think that will be? When I'm sixty?" Melody asked.
"Well," the Doctor said, turning to their foster daughter. "They say you're, what? Eleven now? Yet your real age is twenty-nine. So about sixty would be good, though you might be able to get away with it as early as fifty." He said, turning to Rose. "I think Puberty might be a doozy." He said privately before they landed.
"Well," Melody said with a sigh, walking down the ramp and picking up the bag the TARDIS placed by the door for her. "We should probably go see dear ol' Mummy and Daddy now, huh? Been a few months."
"To them you went on an overnight." The Doctor commented as he and Rose moved to join Melody.
Melody opened the door, the TARDIS humming a farewell for now. So in tune with the ship from being mostly raised on it, Melody smiled and rubbed the door frame before stepping outside.
"Hate to see her go." The Doctor said, taking Rose's hand.
"Me too," She readily admitted.
A beat later, Melody popped her head in, blue eyes wide and curls bouncing. "Mum, Dad," She said, "You might want to come out and have a look at … stuff."
"Oh, he didn't land on your Grandpa's car again, did he?" Rose asked with a groan before going to see what Melody was worried about.
"Oi! Happened once, and Brian should know by now that it's our spot." The Doctor called after them, catching up in a few quick steps.
Rose, however, hardly noticed him.
Because outside the Ponds' home, and all around the neighborhood for as far as Rose could see, were tiny cubes.
A/N: Thank you to all the readers, favoriters, followers, and reviewers
Eagle Hawke, Darkelvoriplorellion Tyler, annabethfan15, debygobel (Ponds will find out soon), BadwWolfGirl, Dreamcatcher56, Keegangeek, jackjenfan, Wazup (I won't write a Doctor I'm not familiar with, and sadly my classic knowledge as of now is limited to 1 and 8. But maybe in the future), greeneyescutie, and Loca8892.
Thank you all for leaving word! I seem to have surprise a lot of you. I make no apologies, mwa hahaha.
So, like I said, sorta fluffy. Lots of emotions, but not a lot of action. I will admit that's essentially what the next chapter is, too.
5 more. Will announce the title of the 12/Rose short soonish.
Until next post.