"Melody is not my name," she said sulkily.

"River then!" he exclaimed.

"That's not my name either!" She stomped a foot on the ground in sudden anger.

The Doctor rolled his eyes and threw his long arms into the air in exasperation. She was already so much trouble! "Then what is your name?"

"Donna," she snipped, attitude rolling off her tongue. "Donna Noble."

xxxxxxxxxx

In that moment, all logical thought fell away from the Doctor, leaving him completely and utterly dumbfounded. He stared at the child before him, uncomprehending. "You're... But... You can't be."

"I can't be what?" Donna asked, eyeing him strangely. "You really are weird, you know."

"But... You're Melody Pond!" he said softly, staring at her face intently. Donna's sparkling eyes sat on the little girl's face, somewhere they shouldn't be. His brain suddenly kicked back into its normal routine, remembering the first thing she had said to him. "Wait a second, you asked me what I was doing here. How do you know who I am?"

"You took me to the orphanage," she explained, swinging her arms from side to side. "That was a long time ago, though. I'm eight now. And I have a new mum and dad."

The Doctor took a step back and looked the girl over. She had the attitude to be Donna, that was certain. The hair and eyes were the proper color, but the age... Well, Time Lords never looked their age, did they? He stared. "So... You're Donna."

"Yes, that's what I said!"

He swallowed nervously. "I have to go." He turned and ran as fast as his gangly legs could carry him back to the TARDIS, Donna yelling angrily after him the entire way.

xxxxxxxxxx

As soon as the TARDIS door shut behind him, the shocked Time Lord set the time machine off into the vortex at record speed, then leaned heavily against the console. Melody was Donna? How was that possible? It meant so many things, it meant...

Amy... Rory...

No, now wasn't the time to get distracted. Before anything else, he had to go back to when the little girl regenerated and take her to the orphanage. That would give him more answers than anything else. He set the TARDIS to scan for regeneration energy this time and picked her up in Florida almost immediately.

Touching down in a rather dirty alley, he slowly crept out of his blue box, looking around. The stars in the sky above were masked by the bright lights of a city, one he didn't recognise. He was surrounded by brick buildings and trash bins of every size, almost tripping over one of them. He normally had little trouble seeing in semi-darkness, but it took him several moments to realise that there was a figure lying on the ground several meters away from him.

He quickly ran over to the form, finding the exact little girl he had been hoping to find. She had passed out after the regeneration, likely from the stress on her half human body. He was pleased in the sense that she figured out how to regenerate all on her own. That prospect terrified some Time Lords and she was only half; he was glad that her instincts kicked in and she was able to stay alive. He briefly wondered if she had ever regenerated before this.

He checked her vital signs and decided that they were acceptable. He gently lifted her from the cold ground, noting that her clothes were slightly damp. The girl stirred slightly in his arms and opened her eyes for a moment. He hushed her and told her to go back to sleep and she happily complied. She seemed exhausted, which gave the Doctor time to do what he had been hoping to do for a long time: check her memories.

The Doctor awkwardly made his way back into the TARDIS, setting it into the vortex for safety with his foot. He gently set the girl down on the glass floor, taking off his coat and lending it to her as a bunched up pillow. "Okay... Here we go."

He set a hand on either side of her face and felt his mind delve into her memories. Her mind was fairly clear, even while asleep. She possessed genuine memories of the Silence, something that truly surprised him. He decided that the suit really had allowed her to remember seeing them. How else would she carry out whatever they had kidnapped her to do?

Through the girl's eyes he could see the day that Amy dreaded, the day that she killed him. He swallowed. Seeing it through the eyes of another made it surreal, but it would happen some day. He pressed on, seeing the several years that the Silence had kept her prisoner, noting that the spacesuit itself had helped keep her alive, but his theory about the Silence's method of stabilising her was correct. They had taken her many places in their Proto-TARDIS, but always brought her back here. He saw her escape, something that they had definitely not counted on. He saw that she had been on the run for six months and that she remembered nothing before the Silence took her.

He pulled away from her mind and slumped against the railing. She didn't remember her parents or anything about who she was. She had no real name during the period either. The Silence always called her "child" or referred to her as "the girl". And now... He had to take her to London, to become Donna Noble. If he didn't...

He sighed and ran a hand down his face. All of his adventures with Donna would never have happened. She would have never met him or travelled with him, lost her memories, everything. But she was the one who saved 27 planets. She helped him free the Ood. And Pompeii...

He stared down at the girl's peaceful face. If he didn't take her to London, the Silence would capture her again. She wouldn't be safe anywhere in America, regardless of where he happened to take her. She looked different now, but no seven year old could take care of themselves on the streets, half Time Lord or not.

He silently gathered his precious Donna in his arms and set the TARDIS for whichever orphanage she decided was best. The time rotor rose and fell and he watched little Donna's face change ever so slightly at the sound. The thought crossed his mind that he had basically imprinted himself on the girl for the rest of her life. He smiled sadly and kissed her on the brow. "I'm so sorry, Donna."

He rested his forehead against hers for just a moment, but it was long enough to wipe her mind of everything but the most basic information, language and factual things that would not impact the person she would become. He felt quite a bit of regret about having to do such a thing, but the memories of the Silence would haunt her in her new life if he didn't. He could have no links back, no reasons for them to come after her. Now that they were being killed by humans all over the world, they had more to worry about than a little girl and Donna could escape.

The TARDIS touched down on a rainy night in the western London suburbs. The Doctor snatched his coat from the floor of the time machine and used it to shield Donna's face while she slept. He poked his head out the door briefly and spotted the orphanage that the TARDIS had chosen. It looked like a nice place; the TARDIS must like Donna a lot more than he originally thought.

He quickly bounded across the rain soaked street and up the short set of stairs. It was raining far too hard for his liking; his shirt and hair were already soaked through. He awkwardly knocked on the door as best he could and waited for someone to appear.

Exactly fifty three seconds later, a motherly looking woman with graying hair in rollers and a pink nightgown answered the door. "Goodness, sir, it's past midnight! What are you doing here?"

"Ah, mum, if I may come in?" he gestured indoors and she quickly moved away to let him in. As soon as the door shut behind him, he shook his head from side to side like a dog, spraying the woman unintentionally.

She recovered somewhat and eyed the girl in his arms nervously. He pulled his coat off of her. "I found her," he said by way of explanation. "I was driving home in the rain and I saw her on the side of the road. I asked her where she lived and she said nowhere because her mum and dad were gone. I didn't know where else to bring her and then she fell asleep in the back seat of my... car."

The matron motioned for the Doctor to bring the girl into the sitting room, where he carefully set her on the couch. She eyed him suspiciously. Children of this age were rarely brought here, except by parents who no longer wanted them. "Are you sure you don't know who she is?"

"Oh yes, mum." He reached into his wet jacket pocket and procured the psychic paper for her. "No funny business here, I'm a doctor." He almost grinned. How often did he get to use that explanation? "I'm not entirely certain about her, I wasn't on duty you understand, but I have a theory at least. At the hospital, we had a terrible car accident today. Both parents died and the child survived, but she ran away before we could contact any family. We haven't been able to find her since. I don't know if she is that child, but I didn't think it was proper to just take her with me. I don't have the facilities to search for her parents, nor the room to keep her in my home."

"Of course, Doctor...?"

"Smith!" he said quickly, clasping his hands behind his back. "Doctor John Smith."

The matron sighed, looking down at Donna asleep on the couch. The girl looked so peaceful. "Did she say what her name was?"

"She said it was Donna, but she never said a surname, which adds to the confusion." The Doctor paused. "I'm... Well I must admit, I'm rather worried about her welfare, in the rain as she was. She may catch a fever."

"I'll look after her," the matron responded. "She isn't the first child to be dropped on my doorstep and she likely won't be the last."

"But you'll search for her parents?" the Doctor inquired casually. Any search would come up moot and Donna's "amnesia" would do the rest.

"Of course, sir. I shall contact the authorities in the morning." She suddenly noted that the Doctor was sopping wet from head to toe. "Oh, my manners! Let me put the kettle on, you look like you could use a hot cuppa before heading back out in that wretched storm."

"Thank you ma'am, that would be most appreciated," he said amicably.

The matron returned three minutes later to Donna's soft breathing and a sitting room devoid of all doctors.