The Doctor couldn't help but smile. "Vincent would have appreciated the gesture," he said to Amy, who nodded in response. The Time Lord swallowed nervously. "I found Melody."

Amy suddenly let go of the breath she was holding and wrapped the Doctor in a fierce hug. Rory's face was painted with relief until the Doctor spoke again. "But she's not here, with me."

Amy immediately pulled back, staring at him with accusing eyes. "Why not?"

He sighed softly. "Can we go inside? I'll explain everything."

xxxxxxxxxx

After arranging themselves comfortably at the kitchen table, the Doctor nervously began to speak. Instead of talking about their daughter, however, he began a story about a previous companion of his, a woman named Donna Noble who had saved the universe at the cost of her memories. Amy and Rory listened silently, keeping their son entertained with toys. As he concluded the story of his best friend, he launched into the tale of Melody Pond. He told them about searching for her seven-year-old self and finding Donna instead. He told them why he couldn't bring her back after that and why he had to erase her mind to keep her safe. He told them of the amazing woman Donna Noble had become and the things she had sacrificed. He spoke of her love for her adoptive grandfather, who happened to be very much like her biological father in many ways. Finally, he told them about Madame Kovarian's plot, Donna's regeneration into River Song, and Wilfred's death.

At the conclusion of his very long tale, almost an hour had passed, even with his characteristic fast talking. He folding his hands nervously on the table. "Any questions?"

"River is with you now, right?" Amy asked. At this point, she was desperate to salvage any relationship with her daughter and she knew that Rory felt the same way.

"Yes, but she's asleep-"

"Ha, asleep."

They all turned to see River standing in the doorway to the kitchen, wearing an outfit that she had definitely not been wearing when the Doctor left her in the TARDIS. "Did you raid my closet for clothes?" he asked indignantly.

"The TARDIS did it for me!" River replied sweetly. "She has excellent style." The woman took a few steps into the kitchen. "I heard everything that you all said." She looked at the Doctor with a curious gaze. "Would it be possible to retrieve my memories?"

The Doctor looked at her curiously. "No! No, I don't think so." He scratched his head. "Certainly none of the memories you had when you... were Donna." The past tense sounded so strange in this context.

"The Silence took me when I was very young. They erased those memories, but could you bring them back?" She watched him carefully, noting his every movement and reaction.

He thought for a moment. "Well, I could try..."

"Please," she answered quickly. "Not having a past is..."

"Difficult," he finished for her, understanding what she meant. It wasn't so much that she wanted a past, but she wanted a past with her real family. Her mind was full of so much information now that she didn't know where to begin. Giving her something like a family was a good place to start.

The Doctor nodded and stood from the table. Amy and Rory watched carefully as he approached their daughter, placing a hand on each side of her face and closing his eyes.

What he saw when he looked into her mind was nothing less than himself, but behind all of that, there was something else. He gently wormed his way into those memories and found Donna. Donna Noble, in all of her splendor. Her core was still there, holding onto memories that were the most precious to her. He saw the moment that she became the DoctorDonna, from both his and her perspective, almost laughing aloud at what he realised.

"How come you can fly the TARDIS?"

"Oh, I had lessons from the very best!"

"Well, yeah..."

"It's a shame you were busy that day."

He had been busy that day, trying to save the universe from Davros and the Daleks. Technically, the metacrisis had been the one to teach her, not him. He continued his trip through her mind, catching more glimpses of things he should have seen, but didn't. In The Library, Donna asked River - asked herself - why River didn't know her. He surmised it was a combination of River's old memories and the legends of Donna Noble. The legends of herself.

"Donna... This is her diary. My future. I could look you up. What do you think? Shall we peek at the end?"

"Spoilers, right?"

"Right."

She had gotten that word from him. And there was so much more, even things that he had not been present for. He saw Rose after Donna didn't turn left, telling her that she had always been different, even before she met the Doctor. People had always mistaken them for a married couple, the universe's funny way of foreshadowing events; he had sort-of maybe asked River to marry him on the eve of her parents' wedding. And of course, she knew his name.

"Her memories of Donna are beginning to fade," he said suddenly, after several moments of quiet. "I can save some of them, the ones that haven't disappeared already. Is that okay, River?" She nodded. He carefully preserved the important memories that would shape her future, making sure to erase the memory of her own death. "I might be able to retrieve the memories she had while the Silence had her, since I got rid of those myself..." River immediately shook her head no. She didn't know what these Silence things were, but she wanted no memories of them, especially since they had kidnapped her. Who knows what things she had done during that time. The Doctor frowned, then delved deeper into her thoughts. "Ah ha!"

"What?" Amy and Rory looked at him expectantly.

"They suppressed her memories from birth to kidnap by hypnotising her. I can bring those memories back, but no others." River nodded her consent and closed her eyes in preparation.

Slowly and carefully, the Doctor peeled away the layers of post-hypnotic suggestion to reveal Melody's early childhood. Her memories of her mother and father came flooding back and she gasped. Time Lords had the capacity for a very good memory and there was so much in those first two years. Two birthdays, a purple bedroom, daddy telling her a story every night before bed about a man called the Lone Centurion. Mommy always let her eat her favorite foods whenever she wanted and they sang songs together in the garden. She remembered the day that they told her she would be getting a little brother. She remembered the day that the monsters had taken her, then no more.

The Doctor removed his hands from her face to find that River was crying. She lifted a hand to her mouth, tears falling from her eyes. She turned to look at Amy and Rory, who were watching with intent gazes and held breaths. Amy carefully stood from her chair. "River?"

The blond woman only nodded and Amy rushed forward, gathering her daughter in a fierce hug. River returned it enthusiastically, then reached for her father, who had followed his wife's lead. He wrapped her in a loving embrace, then finally presented her with her little brother. She smiled and carefully took him. "Hello, little one. What did you name him?"

"Vincent," Rory responded. He secretly loved the name, though he wasn't entirely okay with the fact that Amy had named their son after a famous painter that had fancied her.

"Melody and Vincent..." The Doctor said, watching the family's reunion. "Vincent and Melody. They go together, sort of."

"Sort of?" Amy asked indignantly, then wrapped the Time Lord up in a hug of his own. The Doctor returned it then moved to the Centurion, who could properly hug someone now that he wasn't holding a baby. River seemed quite enamored with her little brother, who was currently fascinated with her hair.

"Mum, Dad?" River asked suddenly, causing both her parents and the Doctor to gaze at her questioningly. "Can I... Stay with you a while?"

Rory blinked. "No, we were going to kick you out and never- Ow!"

Amy elbowed him in the side. "Shut up idiot. Of course you can stay, River."

"Sarcasm!" Rory declared indignantly, holding a hand to his side. "It's called sarcasm!"

"And Doctor?" River said, untangling Vincent from her curls.

"Yes River?" he asked expectantly, while trying to sneak away from the domestics. He had two funerals to attend, despite the happy times here. Amy sent him an irritated glare as soon as she realised that's what he had been trying to do. Rory, at a gesture from his wife, obediently walked over, grabbed the Doctor by his tweed coat, and pulled him back into the group.

"Two months." She smirked as his expression turned to one of confusion.

"Two months until...?" he asked, confused.

"Until you come back for me, of course," she replied, bouncing Vincent on her hip, much to the baby's delight.

"Until I- Do I look like a taxi service, River Song?" he asked indignantly, waving a finger in her face. "You are not the boss of me!"

"Alright then, three months," she conceded. "If it's in your head it's in mine, Doctor. I have no intention of letting all of that knowledge and spacetime go to waste."

He puffed out his cheeks, then said, "Fine, three months. But don't expect me to come at a decent time!"

"I'm sure you'll manage," she replied cheekily, stepping forward to press a kiss to his cheek. "Thank you. You've taken care of me for most of my life. I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for you."

The Doctor looked exceedingly pleased with her display of affection, a silly grin planting itself on his lips. "Yes, well... Your parents would have killed me."

"You would have done it anyway," Rory said, taking his son from River. "You felt guilty." The Doctor frowned. The human always had an accurate, insightful comment to share, whether said comment was polite or not.

"Right then!" The Time Lord said, eager to extract himself from the fluffy domestics. "Amy, Rory, Vincent-" He paused to ruffle Vincent's dark hair, which made the baby squeal in glee. "It is not! It's cool!" He huffed and turned away, marching off to the TARDIS as quickly as he could. "Bowties are cool!"


Almost done! Just the epilogue to go.

For those of you wondering just how River could be Donna, there is actually a LOT of proof for it. I have a forum in which I have posted a list of all the information that has been gathered up, showing that River could very well be Donna. Please keep in mind that this thread was posted back in March 2011 and this story is officially AU as of "Let's Kill Hitler". (But personally, I think this is cooler.)

It is located here: http: / / forum . fanfiction . net/topic/88918/40052397/1/

For shameless plugging: That particular forum has a place for you to pick your own Time Lord name here: http: / / forum . fanfiction . net/topic/88918/