"WHAT?!" screeched River. She was at Jack's throat, trying all her might to strangle the living daylights out of him.

"Jeez, River. Take it easy." Jack complained. "I was only doing what I was ordered to do: protect Amelia at all costs. When I heard that her adoptive parents had died, I sent Owen to Australia to comfort her. She didn't even know that she was adopted. Just look at her face!" River stopped and turned to look at me dead in the eye. I must have been looking pretty awful for the silence to last as long as it did.

"Then who's her mother, then?" She asked without breaking eye contact with me. I was starting to feel slightly uncomfortable, being stared at by all the three of them: River, Owen and Jack.

"You are." Jack replied, quite bluntly.

"Well, how come I don't remember the pregnancy, Jack?" River said through clenched teeth. "You don't forget an experience like that. That is unless you're my mother. But that's not the point." Jack spun around, hands in the air as though he had lost something and sprinted out of the room. I looked to Owen, who was standing there gobsmacked. He didn't know where to go or what had just happened. Owen eyes met mine, and I looked at shoes. Jack's entrance was hard to miss as he slammed the door shut. In his hands was a small wooden box. It had been interestingly carved and polished quite well. He placed the box onto the table and slowly opened the lid to reveal that the box was full of pills.

"YOU DRUGGED ME?" screamed River. Tears streamed down her rosy cheeks. They weren't tears of sadness, they were tears of anger. A hot, red anger that didn't look like it would calm down any time soon. River started grabbing whatever her hands could lay on and threw it at Jack.

"Let's get out of here!" I whispered to Owen. He looked into my eyes and could see instantly why I wanted to leave.

"Okay. Come with me." Owen grabbed my hand and led me away from the commotion. A man and two women were standing around a computer in the next room. The man looked around to Owen.

"River found out, didn't she?" he asked Owen.

"Yep. Amelia wanted out. So I'm taking her away until everything cools down." Owen casually replied, "Ianto, call me when River stops killing Jack."

"No problems." Ianto replied. One of the women asked in a heavy Welsh accent, "How many times will she kill him before calming down?" I looked at Owen confused.

"I'll explain later… Gwen, honestly River could be a while. She is that angry, and to be honest I don't blame her. I would be doing the exact same thing as what she's doing right now. Killing Jack!" Owen sighed, "Anyway, if you can't get me on the mobile, I'll be at the usual spot."

"What about Amelia?" The other woman interjected; her Japanese accent not quite as strong as what Gwen's Welsh accent had been.

"Tosh, Eli will be fine. She's eighteen for Christ's Sake." Owen led me towards the exit as he rolled his eyes. "Thanks for your concern, but I think a drink is in order to help calm her down a bit." To be honest, drinking was really the last thing on my mind. I had so many questions that I wanted to ask, but I didn't know how to approach it. My parents… My dead parents… weren't my parents at all? When were they going to tell me that? I had been with them all my life and there wasn't the slightest suggestion to say that I wasn't their child. I was always told I was a miracle baby for them, as they were told they couldn't have children themselves. But apparently not, according to them. I had taken on my adoptive mother's maiden name. Adoptive sounds like a dirty word in my mouth but was true. Little things didn't add up though. Like the fact my adoptive grandmother and I look like fraternal twins, similar in so many ways but so different in others. I hate the word adoptive in my mind; it repeats over and over again. No, I won't accept that I was adopted just yet, well not until River calms down anyway.

Owen and I were walking down a dimly lighted path through a parkway. The haunting trees towered over us; the branches like millions of fingers outstretched to pluck the stars from the black night sky. A street loomed in front; the flashing light from a nightclub ahead made my senses overload. Owen didn't hold up as he crossed the road and entered into the club. The stench of cigarettes burned my nostrils as I entered the door. Two bar stools were unoccupied, which made me think that Owen had rung ahead to get seats at the bar. He gestured to the bartender, to which the man produced a bottle of Scotch and two glasses. Owen offered one of the stools to me and I quite happily took advantage of this. As he started to pour the Scotch into the first glass, he made another gesture to the tender. He quickly produced a can of Coke, which Owen open and added to the first Scotch. The glass was soon in my hand. I looked at it for a while before Owen started to talk.

"I can see that this adoptive business is bugging you." He began, "So drink and talk."

I didn't know where to start. Not only was this all new to me, but I couldn't help but sense that there was something not quite right about the situation. I took my first slip of the liquor. It burned the back of my throat; however the Coke cooled the sensation after a few seconds.

"Okay. Who's The Doctor?" I asked, satisfied that the alcohol was starting to loosen me up.

"Well, that's a mystery in itself." Owen thoughtfully replied, "I have only heard of the stories from Jack and that's it. I don't even know how River comes into all of this."

"That's helpful. Next question: What does Torchwood do?" I questioned hoping that this time there would be a better explanation.

"Torchwood is a secret organisation that works above the law and the government. We investigate alien sightings and monitor a rip in space and time known as the Rift. Where we work, it is known as The Hub or Torchwood Three. Torchwood One was in London at Canary Wharf but it was destroyed." Owen explained. I must have understood it well enough of it for Owen not to continue; or maybe he didn't want the entire world to know. My mind slipped away from the dreary nightclub as I thought about my life to this point. I had killed myself, almost died and yet this whole attitude towards not dying was starting to really annoy me. How the hell was it possible for me not to die? I looked deep into the glass and thought to the time dad talked of his parents.

I was ten. I had ransacked dad's office for photos of Grandma and Grandpa Williams. I could vividly hear the heavy footsteps of dad walking down the hallway towards the study. I quickly ran around the room looking for a hiding place as I was forbidden to enter the study without mum or dad. I madly dived behind the curtain as the door was flung open.

"AMELIA! I KNOW YOU'RE IN HERE." Dad roared. I shook in fright as the curtain was ripped back. Dad's face was red with anger, his forehead had his greying, parting hair clinging to the beads of sweat, but his face looked so ridiculous I burst into ripples of high pitch laughter. "What's so funny?" He asked in a stern but comical voice. "Your face!" I continued to laugh harder.

"Okay then," He replied, this time in his normal casual tone, "Why are you in my office? You know the rules."

"I know dad, but I have to get my family tree project finished tonight. It's due tomorrow and I don't want to get on the wrong side of the teacher." I innocently remarked.

"What do you need then? I've got time to help you." He hugged me and sat me down in his big leather desk chair. "Right-o boss," he saluted and I giggled, "Where do you want to start?"

"Well…" I pondered "Tell me everything of Grandma and Grandpa, please." I grabbed a pen and piece of paper, eagerly awaiting dad's response…

"Amelia?" Owen sounded worried.

"Sorry." I muttered, "Occupied mind that's all." I washed down the last of the drink and looked around. The nightclub was now starting to pump the music as more party-goers streamed into the place. Owen smiled, grabbed my hand and dragged me from the bar to the dance floor.

"I can't dance!" I cried, trying to pull away from him.

"Yes you can." Owen laughed, "I've seen the videos." I groaned. Damn those people who were my friends. I knew they were up to something when we were at a party last year.

The DJ put the first song on as Owen spun me around the dance floor. "Hey, don't write yourself off yet. It's only in your head you feel left out or looked down on." My mind blurred with the events of the last hour or so. "Just try your best, try everything you can. And don't you worry what they tell themselves when you're away." Waking from my death, seeing Owen and River's faces of shock and disbelief. "Hey, you know they're all the same. You know you're doing better on your own, so don't buy in. Live right now. Yeah, just be yourself. It doesn't matter if it's good enough for someone else." Finding out that I was adopted, River my mother? How is this even conceivable? Doctor River Song, my mother? "Just do your best, do everything you can. And don't you worry what the bitter hearts are gonna say." Owen brought me in closer, his breath swept down the back of my neck like the breeze of a hot summer's evening. My eyes met his amazing brown ones. This is wrong! I can't fall in love with Owen! It's not right, is it? Lips closing in, this has got to be a dream. "It just takes some time, little girl you're in the middle of the ride. Everything will be just fine, everything will be alright." We separate quickly before we kiss as Owen pulls his phone out of his pocket. He answered briefly to the caller, "Okay, we're on our way." and headed towards the exit with me in tow.


The lyrics are from "The Middle" by Jimmy Eat World.

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