One more chapter after this one.

"Penny for your thoughts?" the Doctor asked, coming up behind Rose and wrapping his arms around her. They were standing next to the TARDIS, outside the hospital, three days after the events of Berlin. Amy and Rory had, understandably, not been ready to leave Mels yet. Jack had surprisingly been a big help in helping with aftermath. But he was still tight lipped as to why Melody was raised in foster care, telling them that everything would be clear in a few days' time.

Finally, Rory knew he had to pull Amy away from Mels in this time period. They still had Jenny bringing Melody home from the orphanage and while they did travel in time, Rory, Rose and the Doctor could feel those events pulling at them. It was time to go and face yet another bit of reality.

"Am I adding that penny to your tab, love?" Rose turned around and gave him a small smile. "Because with all those bets you keep losing to me, I'm not sure there would even be enough in your UNIT account to pay what you owe me."

"What's mine is yours, Rose." He tightened his arms around her and dropped a light kiss on her lips. "What's on your mind?"

A soft sigh escaped her lips as she watched Rory and Amy take turns embracing Mels. She and the Doctor had already said their farewells. "How many more times are we going to have to say goodbye before things settle down? First it was River, now it's Mels and I just know it's going to be little Melody next. When did she regenerate? How did she end up in Leadworth?"

He tensed. "I don't know, but I know someone who would have those answers."

A minute later Rory and Amy came walking up. She was keeping her distance from her husband. "Let's go, yeah," Amy said, wiping a tear from her eye. "We need to get back to Melody. She needs us."

"Of course," Rose replied, opening the door to the TARDIS.

Amy walked straight through the console room. "You three fly us to the right place this time. I'm just gonna freshen up."

Once Amy was out of earshot, Rose turned to her son. "How's she doing?"

"How the hell do you think she's doing, Mum?" Rory slammed a fist into the console. "She's devastated already. And who the hell knows what's coming next." He ran his fingers roughly through his hair and let out a long slow breath. "Let's just get back to Tony's, get back to Melody and go from there."

"Rory..." Rose started but he stopped her.

"Not now, Mum." He threw levers and spun dials and the time rotor began to slowly move up and down. "I just don't want to talk right now."

The console room fell into an eerie silence; even the hum of the TARDIS sounded muted. When then they came to a stop with a soft thump, Rory turned and went down the corridor presumably to find Amy. It was hard for Rose not to follow after them, not to try and fix things for them. They were her children, and they were hurting very badly.

"I wish I could fix this," Rose said as she bit her lip. "We can travel all of time and space. I can build a dimension cannon, destroy Daleks and the 456 but with this… I just feel so useless here."

The Doctor came up beside her and took her hand. "I know, my love. I know. But we can't play god and go back and change things, not without causing irreparable damage. There is something we can do though, warn the rest of the family."

He pulled her towards the doors of the TARDIS and out into the unfurnished spare room at Tony and Trisha's house. The other time and space ship was parked there as well, but since Jenny had taken her Vortex Manipulator that was no indication that she was back with Melody.

The Doctor continued to lead Rose out the door and into the kitchen. Tony, Trisha and Sabrina were sitting around the table, probably anxiously awaiting the expected family reunion. When they saw the Rose and the Doctor enter the room they were on their feet and hugged their parents.

"Blimey," Tony said, hugging his mum. "You must have come in on silent. We didn't hear a thing."

"Good thing too, Dad, because the kids are down for a nap and if you would have woken them…" Trisha joked, hugging the Doctor.

Sabrina studied both of them; they looked tense. "Jenny's not back yet, should be any minute though. But there's something else, isn't there?"

"Yes, there is." The Doctor kissed Sabrina's forehead. "You might want to sit down. It's a bit complicated."

Rose made another pot of tea while the Doctor explained the events of the last few days. There were questions etched into the faces of all three of the children, but they held off until the Doctor had finished.

"So, all the stuff that they did to Melody, to her head? Was Rory able to fix it?" Tony asked.

"He says that he did," Rose replied, leaning back onto the counter top. "He also says that he bolstered her mental shielding so they won't be able to do it again."

"And Mels, I mean River." Sabrina looked confused as to what to call her. "She has the Bad Wolf thing too?"

"Apparently. It's passed down to the first born child. So from Rose to Rory, Rory to Melody and if Melody were to have a child then that child would be a part of the Bad Wolf as well," the Doctor answered.

"But how?" Trisha looked between Rose and the Doctor. "How did Melody regenerate into Mels and end up in foster care in Leadworth?"

"That's what we don't know yet," Amy said from the doorway. She was standing next to Rory but they still weren't touching. "And for some of those answers, I think we need to talk to your mother, Trisha."

"My mum?" Trisha asked, confused.

Rory nodded. "We think she's the key to knowing what happens."

"Amy, Rory?" Jenny's voice called out from the lounge. "I think there's someone in here who wants to meet you."

Hurriedly, Amy and Rory went to see their daughter and Trisha excused herself to ring Hannah.

Amy felt her heart clutch when she got her first look at Melody. This was in fact the girl in the space suit that she had seen in the orphanage. "Melody?"

The little girl had tears pooling in her eyes. "Mummy?" She turned her head towards Rory. "Daddy?"

Amy dropped to her knees and embraced the little girl. "Oh my love, it's us. We're here. You're safe."

"Thank you," Rory said, catching Jenny's hand just before she left the room. "Can you get Tony for me, please?"

"Yeah, anything you want," his sister replied before leaving the new family alone.

Rory knelt down next to his wife and daughter. No matter how much Amy blamed him for this, when they were with Melody, they would be a united front. Because she mattered so much more than their problems.

Wrapping his long arms around both Amy and Melody, he began to cry. It seemed par for the course these days to be crying. But right now in this moment all the hurt they had been through in the past few weeks and all the pain they were inevitably going to go through didn't matter. These tears were tears of joy at holding his little girl in his arms.

Several minutes later Amy pulled away, cupping Melody's cheeks and studying the little girl's face. "Are you alright? Did they hurt you?"

She nodded in response and looked terrified. "Mummy, they made me… at the lake. They made me. I didn't want to hurt him. I never…."

"Shhh." Rory gathered her in his lap and stroked his hand up and down her back. "You didn't do anything wrong. It's all right, love. I promise it's alright."

"I killed Granddad," Melody sobbed. "I'm sorry, Daddy. I'm sorry."

"He's fine, Melody. Your grandfather is fine. I promise you that he didn't die at the lake. Daddy fixed it, don't you worry." He kissed her hair. "Daddy fixed everything. Don't you worry."

Amy rejoined in the cuddling, and the three of them sat there silently rocking and soothing for a long while. It had been over an hour according to Rory's internal clock. When Rory looked up he saw Tony waiting patiently in the entryway. Rory nodded to his brother and shifted.

"Melody, love, are you hungry? Tired?" he asked, stroking her hair.

"Both." Melody snuggled into his chest.

"Mum's in the kitchen; she made soup," Tony said with a shy smile. "And Dad took everyone else out for chips. We didn't want to overwhelm you, Melody."

Amy wiped a tear from her face. "Yes, come on, Melody. Let's go and meet your gran."

Rory hung back while Amy took their daughter's hand and led her out of the room. He scrubbed a hand down his face and leaned heavily against the nearest wall.

Uncomfortably, Tony shifted from one foot to another. "I know this is a crap question, but I'm going to ask anyway." He moved closer to his brother. "How are you holding up?"

A short laugh escaped from Rory's throat. "Ask me that in about a week, after I've had to, yet again, say goodbye to my daughter."

"You don't know how long you'll have before you have to give her up. She could be here for months or years," Tony replied, clasping his brother's shoulder.

Rory snorted. "Like that would make it any easier. Today, tomorrow, a year from now, it'll end the same. With us having to hand our daughter over to foster care, handing her over to a stranger."

"Can't you, I don't know, change it? You are a Time Lord. Aren't you able to change things like this, yeah?"

"I haven't had the opportunity to track the time lines, but Dad and I can do that later." Rory took a deep breath. "Look, that's not why I wanted to talk to you; I need you to examine Melody. I'm afraid that they hurt her when they forced her into that space suit and god only knows what kind of experiments they ran on her." His fists clenched.

"Yeah, I can do that." Tony pulled his little brother into a tight hug. "She'll be okay. Melody is strong, she's a fighter. She'd have to be. She's your daughter. She's Amy's daughter. That's some tuff stuff there."

"Yeah, but at some point she regenerates." Rory held back a sob. "And we don't know why."

The brothers stood there in a tight embrace for several minutes before Tony asked another question. "What did Melody mean? About them making her hurt her granddad at the lake."

"It's a long story," Rory let out a long breath. "I'll explain everything later when Hannah's here. I really don't want to waste more time than I have to."

"Come on," Tony said, shifting so his arm was still around Rory. "Let's go and see your daughter."

Forty-five minutes later, Tony was finishing up his examination of his niece. They had moved her to a bedroom on the family TARDIS. There was no doubt that she was exhausted and not in the best of health. After much debate, Rose stayed by her bedside while everyone else including the newly arrived Hannah adjourned to the library. Amy had fought to stay at with Melody, but the Doctor had insisted that she needed to hear this too.

Tony stopped Amy and Rory in the hallway. "I don't really know how to say this... But Melody isn't doing well. Both of her hearts seem to be failing as well as several other major internal organs. If she were fully human I would give her hours at best. With her unique biology, I'd be guessing, but I still would give her less than a week, maybe, before she starts to regenerate."

"There's nothing you can do? No medicine or treatment from some planet a million years in the future that you can use?" Amy asked desperately.

"We can give her something to keep her comfortable but the damage is extensive, and we haven't even done a neurological assessment yet." Tony rubbed the back of his neck. "I'm sorry, Amy."

"They took my baby, and they hurt her," Amy spat. "They took my little girl and experimented on her and now she's going to die. If I ever get my hands on them..." Rory tried to wrap an arm around her, but she quickly moved away. "I can't, Rory, not right now. I know it's not your fault, not really but you still could have…" Grinding her teeth, she didn't finish the thought, instead she turned and stomped into the library. She strode right up to where Sabrina was standing and sobbed on the younger girl's shoulder.

"I'm sorry, Rory," Tony said, making a move to comfort his brother.

Rory held up a hand to stop him. "Don't." He balled his fist and punched the nearest wall in frustration.

"Did that hurt?" the Doctor asked, coming out of the library.

"Yes," Rory hissed rubbing his bruised knuckles. "And before you ask, yes, it was worth it."

The Doctor nodded and turned to Tony. "Can you give us a minute please?"

"Of course," Tony replied, slipping through the door and shutting it behind him.

"I don't want to hear your empty platitudes right now, Dad. Not when my wife will barely talk to me and my daughter is dying." Rory felt like the wind had been knocked out of him. "My daughter is dying, and I could lose the two most important people in my life."

The TARDIS groaned as his fist made contact with the wall again. "Do you have any idea how much this hurts?"

"Yes," the Doctor whispered and Rory whipped around to face him, wide eyed.

The younger man shook his head. "I don't think I can handle this. With everything that's happened, I can't walk in there and face what I know is about to happen. What has to happen."

The Doctor wrung his hands and looked everywhere but in his son's eyes for a few moments. "You take it one moment at a time." He forced himself to meet Rory's eyes now. "Because we have a responsibility to preserve timelines and we bear the burden of the Universe. And sometimes we push forward without stopping because if we slow down and look at what's really going on around us, we'd never be able to do what we need to do."

"Maybe it's time to slow down. Not to stop entirely but be less visible." Rory frowned. "Because look where the running has gotten us."

The Doctor nodded and clasped his hands behind his back. "I think you're right. The running that we do isn't always safe. Especially not when there are children involved."

"We don't have to stop exploring," Rory said quickly. "But we've gotten careless since Dad… since Dad died."

In three steps the Doctor crossed to where Rory stood. He hugged his son. "This isn't your fault. You didn't wish for this to happen, and there is nothing that you could have done to prevent it."

"I know that… But Amy…"

"Amy is stronger than you think. She's hurting right now, rightfully so." The Doctor pulled out of the hug. "Right now she's grieving the loss of her child, but the two of you will heal. It may never be the same between you, but it could be better."

"Yeah." Rory rubbed his knuckles and tilted his head towards the door. "We should get on with it. Amy and I need to get back to our daughter."

The TARDIS had rearranged the room so that everyone was sitting in a circle with EJ and Jamie playing quietly in the middle. It was a tense twenty minutes while Rory explained the events that Melody was responsible for at Lake Silencio. He didn't go into details about how the Doctor would be saved but assured everyone that he wasn't killed that day.

The Doctor's jaw clenched as Rory finished his explanation. "They used her as a weapon against her family. She thinks that she killed me." His voice echoed angrily in Rory's head. The Oncoming Storm was brewing in his eyes. Plans for revenge flashed through both of their minds and Rory, feeling overwhelmed, looked away first. This wasn't the time to entertain those thoughts.

He turned to Hannah. "What I don't understand is where you fit into all of this," Rory said, shifting in his seat on the sofa. His knee bumped Amy's and she moved closer to Sabrina.

Taking a deep breath, Hannah pulled back her shoulders. "In 1993 along with my duties as UNIT liaison with Torchwood Three, I was made personal assistant to Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart. Growing up around the organization I had heard all of the stories about the Doctor."

Her eyes met the Doctor's and she pursed her lips. "I never actually expected to meet you. People spend their entire careers at UNIT hoping for a glimpse of our most notorious scientific advisor. One day when the Brigadier was away the TARDIS appeared in his office. At first, I thought it was a mistake, that you had gotten the date wrong and had meant to meet Alistair.

"But out you came, telling me that you needed my help. You needed me to help protect your granddaughter." Hannah took a deep breath and handed a file she'd been holding over to the Doctor. "You gave me this. Well, you gave me two files, one for me and one to give Melody when she was old enough. You explained how she needed to be kept safe and how I needed to arrange for her to be in specific foster care at specific times.

"And that it was vital that I thwart any and all attempts for James and Rose Williams to adopt Melody. Lastly, I was sworn to secrecy. To not tell a single person of Melody's true identity until today." Hannah turned to her daughter. "And I kept that promise, even if it made our relationship suffer. I'm sorry."

Trisha smiled at her mother. "I just… I can't believe that you knew this whole time. I mean, thank you for protecting her, but wow…. Did you know? Back then that they would adopt Sabrina and I would marry Tony?"

Hannah shook her head. "I was only told information pertinent to Melody. I wasn't even told Amy's maiden name and the file listed Melody's last name simply as Tyler. I figured everything out in the end, but I didn't know."

"Why, though?" Amy asked, biting her lip. "Why do we have to send Melody back? She's here with us now. We can raise her in a safe, loving environment. Why can't she just stay?"

"From birth to death her entire life is a paradox. One great big circular paradox," the Doctor replied softly. "I've studied the possibilities and if we keep her with us, Melody's timelines showed that they would never lead her to the Library. If we tug on the thread that River sewed through all of our timelines, it would cause everything to unravel. In the end it is River who bound us all together."

He stood up and came to kneel in front of Amy. "If she doesn't tell me my name in the Library, I would never have forced myself to give up Rose. Then Rory would never be born and even if he was, Mels and River wouldn't be there, pushing the two of you together. The family would have never moved to Leadworth." He reached up and cupped her face. "Rose never would have cracked the Universe to bring everyone back here, and we never would have met you."

Amy took a shaky breath. "I would have been all alone. No one… No family, no Mels… No Rory at all. Dad, I can't… please tell me there's another way."

He shook his head. "I wish there was. But that's the choice, Amy. That is the decision that needs to be made. Either you keep her with us and reality as we know it unravels, or you give her up and we get to have her in our lives. Just not in the capacity that we'd hoped. Amelia Tyler, the choice is yours."