The Doctor:

Donna was gone, but Jace, she, she came back. Thing is, she was different, more than the regeneration, when I first saw her, so was so much darker, her long blonde curls had been shaved along one side of her head, her eyes were rimmed in thick black make up. If I hadn't have known better, I'd have said that it was Jackie, not Jace, well, she'd dropped her human name now, either being called Callie, and CJ, Calliope Jace. Made me think Calamity Jane.

She was asleep now, curled up on the jump seat just like her first night on the TARDIS, her now dark brown hair over her face. Callie looked so young now, and the fact she died, she was prepared to die, just to come back home. Brushing her hair off her face, I kissed her cheek softly, pulling a blanket over her.

I lost two children in the last 2 years. Callie, and then Jenny this year. I thought I'd lost everything in such a short time, but here she was. Calliope. She stirred a little, before her brighter, bluer eyes opened, pausing for a moment before focussing on me. "Hey, dad." Callie muttered, sitting up slowly. "How long was I asleep for?"

"About 15 hours, which asks a question, when did you last sleep, Love?" I asked her softly, kneeling down next to her again. "You never slept that long before, and a regeneration never changes your sleep patterns."

That made her look down, hiding behind her soft hair. "Dad, I'm fine, OK? 4 years, no anti dream pills, so I created anti sleep pills instead. I haven't needed to sleep in 3 and a half years."

Wait, what? Did she know how dangerous that was?! "Jacyln! The fact that this even came into your head is horrifying. Sleep, sleep is sacred, and that was the only thing you had to recover, and you chose to give it up?"

"Yeah, I did. Because I started sleepwalking, and I attacked someone. I attacked a lot of someones. Which meant that I was a liability, and if I didn't want to be locked in an asylum until they borderline exorcised me, then I had to get an alternative." Callie told me, completely straight faced, and I hugged my little girl tight. "OK, can't breathe..."

That made me laugh a little, and I let go, but kept hold of her arms. "You, need, to, sleep. Those pills are here now, but you just slept that entire time without a bad dream. So, lets try without them for a while, and if you need then, we'll make them up."

She nodded a little, brushing her hair out of the way again. "So much hair... But its nice than last time. Smoother."

"OK, stop being vain over your hair, and come get dressed. We do have things to do, so maybe we should hurry up and do them." So then I picked up my 17 year old, ish, daughter,and swung her over my shoulder in a firemans lift.

Which made her squeal, hitting at my back. "DAD! Come on!" But she was laughing, so it was fine, and I threw her down onto the sofa in the wardrobe. "Why are we in here, I have clothes in my own room, a room I have not seen in 4 years. I have my guitar in there."

"And? You've barely been in here, you got a load of Rose's cast offs. The best part of regenerating is finding out the best type of clothes that work with your new body, love." I told her, sitting down in the chair next to her. The wardrobe was like a shopping centre now, seeing as the TARDIS got bored rather a lot, and the coral had gone in here.

It was also full of mostly teenage girl things, and Jace, well, CJ, was now already on her feet, looking through the racks, pulling out a few things to start trying on. I found myself dozing through a lot of it, and begrudgingly said my opinion on something. She needed a mother, someone who actually knew about some of these things, because I had no idea how to be a dad to a teenage girl on my own.

I had Esina, my wife last time. She was the perfect mother to my other daughter, Alyce who was one of the first to die in the war, and my only son, Caleb, who went missing during the Fall of Arcadia. Esina had long, long chocolate brown hair, the colour of Lindt melted over the back of a spoon, and eyes like pools of honey you could swim in, and skin like olives, an Amazonian Warrior.

"Dad?" CJ asked me, coming out of the changing room in a plan black strappy dress with some black heels. "This is seriously comfy, these shoes make me tall for once."

Oh, I was far too much of an old fashioned dad for this. "Wow, um, yeah... Looks good."

Her eyes rolled back into her head. "I so knew you were going to say that. I was lying, these shoes pinch like mad. I could probably deal with them for a party, but I'm sticking to the combat boots." And with that, Callie went back into the room after kicking off the heels.

"So, your name. Are you going to stick to Callie, go back to Jace, or what?" I asked her, sitting forward to put them together and back onto the rack. "Because Time Lords do change their names, not often, mostly if they just change gender, but if you suddenly feel more attached to a different name, then it should be fine."

There was a pause before she replied, sounding like she was struggling to get the tight dress off. Practicality was a key thing to think about in our line of work, and she would not have been able to run in that dress. "Callie. It's short for my real name, the one that you found. Calliope. I mean, I don't look like Jace anymore, she was like Jackie. Callie Smith, your daughter."

And then she came back out, sticking to the black straps with the black camisole, but there was also a red crop top over the top with plain black leggings, my old leather jacket, still as crumpled and faded as when I used to wear it, but it looked a lot better on her. "My daughter who looks pretty bad ass right now. Right, how old are you again? I look at you and still see a 14 year old."

That made her laugh, brushing out her long chestnut hair before starting on her make up. She never used to wear that, but oh well. "I'm 51, dad. Don't look, or feel, it, but I'm older than Jackie. Not older than you though."

"Well, you're old enough to at least go to the pub. We could use a night off, there's nice quiet place in the Jackroth region, the Singing Nun of all things. Great karaoke." Callie grinned at me through the mirror. "Yeah, yeah, I knew you'd like that, love. You're going to be a hit, just try not to fry the electronics."

"Meh, meh, meh. Dad, remember that I've managed that a lot of times. I know what to do to turn off my sonic voice. You get us going, come on, mush." She was definitely sassy right now. My daughter sass mistress. Perfect.

But I lead the way back to the console room, again, and set us off to the Singing Nun. I managed to park safely, hard when there were so many vehicles around. "Huh, it's normally a quiet one, because Space Vegas is only a light year away."

Callie didn't look amused. "So you're taking me to a pub where barely anyone will hear me? Well, you were, but there's already someone singing. Sounds weird, like there's something else in there." And with that, she started off into the pub, her red Docs crunching in all the gravel on the ground.

I followed, mostly because I didn't know what she was actually on about, but also because I couldn't really leave my daughter in the bar on her own. If there were this many people, there were bound to be some less than savoury specimens in there, maybe some people that had been kicked out of Space Vegas. "Cal, wait up, will you?"

"No, you hurry up." This was not helping, but she had just regenerated. She wasn't used to having to think so much about what she said. "That was rude, wasn't it? Sorry, I didn't meant to be rude, dad."

Smiling, I patted her shoulder as we walked in. "This is going to be an interesting experience. What do you want to drink, I'll get you one alcoholic one."

"Amaretto and Coke, definitely." Callie laughed, playing with her newly dark hair. She loved this, having darker hair, but her curls were still there. Curly Haired Song, could that have stayed with her? Her mothers curls? River Song, the woman who died to save me, and so many other people in the Library. Could that be her mother, and if so, did that mean we grew incredibly close? "Dad? Hello, Earth to dad?"

Wait, she'd been talking? "Right, yes, sorry." I went to the bar as she sat down, taking off her jacket. "Hey, one amaretto and coke, and a lemonade please."

"We don't do lemonade, only alcohol."

"Really? Oh, right then, I'll have a shandy." Which included lemonade for crying out loud. But I paid with the sonic, as I didn't carry money, before carrying them both to the table as Calliope watched the woman on the stage, having a sing off with someone who looked Uninan. They were performers by nature, and this woman was obliterating him. I found myself compelled to watch her, like all the men were, even the guy on the stage was watching her, his voice wavering. I didn't even think she was that good, she was just, I dunno, compelling? No, I'd used that word, maybe, betwitching?

"Dad, you're staring at the woman."

I didn't even looked away to look at my daughter. "Hmm?" It wasn't until she'd finished singing I managed to look away. "Sorry, CJ, what were you saying?"

Except she wasn't there, she was now climbing onto the stage as the other man got off. "When did she even get up?" I asked myself as she was introduced as Calliope, and that she'd be singing against the reining champion. "Callie, what are you doing?"

So then the Champion, Annetta, started, and everyone in the room, well, the men, were transfixed by her, and I found myself staring again, even though I was rooting for Callie. And the she butted in through the waxing, sad song of Annetta, breaking out in Misery Business by Paramore, and I managed to break free from whatever had me looking at her to smile at my daughter, her powerful voice making the glasses on the table rattle slightly. "I'm in the business of misery, lets take it from the top, she's got a body like an hour glass its ticking like a clock-"

But for some reason a lot of the other guys started booing her, just wanting to hear Annetta sing, and the woman interrupted her with her moaning, soft voice, like water down... Like water down a stream! Callie was still on the stage by this point, but I ran back to the bartender, who was the only one not watching her sing. "How long have most of these men been here?"

"Well, it's a toss up. There are a few who are locals, come every night, and others stay here. Annetta's good for business, though your one's got a good voice."

"The best voice, because your Annetta isn't that good, the only reason she's still here is because she's feeding off the attention and minds of all these men. I was wondering why you were so busy, must be perfect having people stay here all the time, buying things, filling up the carpark."

The man stared at me. "What do you think you know, little man?"

Little? This was the second tallest I'd ever been thank you very much. "Siren. She's a Siren from the Water World of Messaline 6, a world where most of the females were taken and sold as slaves when it was found they were linked to the living ice at the core of the planet, and could be controlled through it. I don't want to know how you got hold of her, only who, and that you give me the control you have over her before I call the Shadow Proclamation to come and have your little bar closed."

That made him smile slightly, taking out a small pendant of ice from her home world, never melting. "You mean like this? And you know that her voice can also control them, the men. If I think what I want her to do..." Like a demonstration, at once all of the men got to their feet, booing my daughter and throwing things. "You've been warned."

"No, you have." I told him darkly, moving away, and going right into a wall of men, one of them holding Jace, er, Callie. "Let her go. Trust me, she won't take you threatening her lightly, if my daughter gets hurt..."

"No, you're going to leave. Your little girl can be a good addition to my waiting staff. Throw him into the car park, take Miss Calliope to the kitchens." No matter how hard either of us fought, even with her voice making the electrics quiver before she was gagged. And I was thrown down in front of the TARDIS.

I scrambled inside, reaching out to Callie with my mind. Callie, Calliope!

Dad? W, what the hell happened, they all just went for me!

My fault. I forgot how valuable Siren's were, of course he wasn't just going to let me take her home and link her back to the main Ice. Where are you, love?

I'm, I'm in the kitchens, I'm tied to the radiator with my mouth gagged, and it's just cloth, not something I can get rid of.

Cal, you can put things on fire, remember?

Good point.There was a pause as I started to do a tip for the Shadow Proclamation, before I heard her in my mind again. I'm free, and the fires out. Annetta's singing again, so all the men are entranced. That was a good word, entranced. What do I do, you said the woman could be freed?

Perfect, she always knew what I was thinking. There's a pendant, made of Ice, you shatter that, or just get hold of it, you control her, and you can get her into the TARDIS without others stopping you. But be careful, she aims it hard enough at you, and she might be able to control you too. Block your ears so you can't hear her song.

Makes sense. I'll use some of this goose fat, that should insulate my ears. What happened to being vegetarian? Well, you just regenerated, and it would make food shopping considerably easier. I'll still be able to hear you, so it's like the Phoenix thing again. That went so well last time. Hey, we found out you were my daughter.

Tell me what you're doing. Keep in full contact, Callie.

Yeah, I will. I'm just sneaking out the kitchen, I'm snuffing out the creaky floorboards, he really needs to fix that.That was really the important thing there, Cal. Right, I'm behind the bar, and I can see the guy who controls Annetta.

Calliope, please. Be careful, I only just got you back, I'm not losing you again.

There was a moment of silence, before I heard my daughter's voice, her proper voice coming through as I ran to the doors, making it back into the room as the ice around his neck shattered. "Callie!"

"Dad!" She cried after finishing, running back to me. "I shattered it, singing Evanescence. Kinda cool considering my voice used to be Katherine Jenkins and now it's Hayley Williams."

"You stupid idiots! You set her free!" The bartend shouted, going for her, but she just dodged easily, before grabbing his hand and flipping him over and in one movement, tied his hands together with her hair tie. My daughter is nothing if not resourceful. "I was going to lose this place, I had to buy her to save it!"

Callie folded her arms a little, her dark blue eyes hardening. "So buying a slave who is suffering every moment that she's away from her own kind is a way to save a bar that people didn't want to go to because you bought an asteroid too close to Space Vegas? No, just no."

"Couldn't put it better myself." I smiled at her, then headed out to where Annetta was still stood on the stage, looking in confusion at all the unconscious men around her. "Hey, it's OK, this wasn't you. I'm the Doctor, what's your real name?"

"Aliyanna." She said hesitantly. "I, I'm Aliya. W, where am I? I remember, people coming to my house, when I was a kid, and everything since then... It's like it was a dream..."

Oh God, they took her as a child and made her sing. "Yeah. Right. OK. Aliya, we're going to take you home, but you're not a kid, you're about 27 I'd say. This is my daughter, Callie. She's the one who unlinked you from the Ice Shard." I told her as Jace got closer. "Her voice can break hypersonic barriers."

"Um, sure..." She breathed. "I, I'm so scared, please... please, can you take me home please?"

We nodded, taking her to the TARDIS and then to her planet. They were still recovering from everything by this point, and we left her with refugees, before checking that the bar, my old favourite, had been shut down for good.

Funny how things changed in such a short time. Only 4 years ago Calliope was a little human girl on Earth, in my time line, and now? She was an amazing Time Lord, who transitioned her first regeneration better than anyone I knew. Let's just hoped it would be a while before her next one.