-Chapter 8-
"Not," the Doctor began, after a considerable silence but before the dust had cleared, "the way I would have handled it." He looked down at Canton, but Canton was busy being awestruck. Humans tended to waste a lot of time on that, the Doctor thought to himself. But Canton was a good sort. A little trigger happy, but really, if the Doctor routinely turned down companions based on that tendency he would have missed out on at least half of the good ones.
"She's," Canton began. He appeared to have trouble finding the words.
"Going to be fine," the Doctor finished for him, "Better than fine in fact. She's going to be -"
"I'm colored!" a voice shouted from the cloud of dust where Melody and Agent Lee had been standing.
"Well, we'll work on her racial vernacular," the Doctor turned to Canton, a bit embarrassed, "raised in the 1960s, Florida, not by a particularly nice sort at that. Not her fault. But otherwise completely fine."
Melody stepped out of the dust. Alone. She was smiling down at her hands.
"I quite like this," Melody said, walking up to the Doctor and Canton, "it's interesting. Much preferable to boy-hair."
"Yes, well the two aren't mutually exclusive," the Doctor said as he crouched down and examined Melody closely. Without allowing argument, he pulled at her ears, checked under her eyelids, made her open her mouth, stick out her tongue and say 'aahhhh'. Then he sat cross legged and looked pensively at Melody.
"I die sometimes," Melody said, a sounding a little embarrassed, "but I always come back. Different. It's because I broke the suit."
"No," the Doctor said, "it's because you're a Time Lord. The first new one in a very long while." A spark of recognition came into Melody's face at that. Suddenly her smile was gone. She punched the Doctor in the shoulder, causing him to roll backwards from his sitting position onto his back. Melody sat on his stomach and kept hitting him.
"Take it back!" she yelled, suddenly frantic, "I am not a Time Lord! I would never-"
"Never what?" the Doctor was unfazed by the girl using him as a chair and punching bag, "What did they tell you?"
"I," Melody started and then stopped, unsure, "I don't know." She got off the Doctor and sat beside him, hugging her knees to her chest. "Are my parents Time Lords?"
The Doctor didn't respond at first. What was he going to do about Amy and Rory? Hand them their Time Lord daughter, thirteen, a trained killer – he'd recognized the traces of Venusian Aikaido in the way she'd rushed toward Lee – regenerating twice in a day without warning, displaying physical abilities far beyond the limits of peak human – or Time Lord – condition?
How would that conversation go? Here's your daughter; strange powers, mental scars, and all. Sorry I couldn't get her in baby-form. Think of all the pounds you'll save on diapers.
"It's more complicated than that, I'm afraid," the Doctor said at last, "But, really, when is it not?"
Canton had been quiet through this whole exchange but he seemed to be coming round. He got up and walked over to where Melody had regenerated, still shrouded in a clouds of dust. He made a gagging noise at whatever it was he found there and came back out more quickly than he had entered.
"Lee's dead," Canton said.
"Good," Melody sniffed. Ah, River, the Doctor thought to himself. There you are.
"Not good," the Doctor corrected, annoyed, "never 'good'." Melody fixed him a hard stare. The Doctor rolled his eyes.
"Convenient, perhaps," he relented.
"So this is Amy and Rory's daughter?" Canton tried, as if broaching an uncomfortable subject.
"Yes," the Doctor said, and then, not wanting Canton to keep thinking out loud, "who you've never met." Canton frowned as if he was going to argue. Then took a deep breath and shrugged. They'd talk later.
"Does he know my mom and dad too?" Melody asked, brightening suddenly.
"I met them once", Canton sat down beside Melody and the Doctor. Then laid on his back and looked up at the considerable lack of stars in the light-polluted sky. "Good people. Far as I could tell, at any rate. Mind you, less exploding."
"Dying," Melody corrected him, herself laying down.
"Regenerating," the Doctor corrected both of them, remaining sitting up. Melody turned to him, interested. It must have been the first time she'd heard the word for her condition.
"And it's not dying," the Doctor went on, "quite the opposite, in fact, it's living. Living and burning bright. For as long as you can." There was quiet as Melody took this in and Canton pretended not to listen.
"I suppose I could try that," Melody said finally. Then she closed her eyes and went to sleep.
-Epilogue-
The Doctor was alone at the Tardis console as they entered the time-stream, bound for Leadworth. Amy's time. Melody's new home.
Canton had picked up the sleeping Melody, brought her into the Tardis, and put her to bed. The Doctor had told Canton to pick a room for Melody and one for himself. And to rest up for what was ahead of them. There would be more days like today to come.
Maybe trigger-happy wasn't the worst trait in light of what may be coming. Soon Rory would be there to help, full weight of a thousand years of patience come to bare. He smiled and wondered if he actually had to worry. Amy's earth-shattering stubbornness would be more than enough to keep Melody safe. He chuckled at the pretty thought.
But that wasn't true, was it? Amy, Rory, the Doctor; none of them had been able to protect Melody. They had all failed her. And Melody had been one to pay the price. The Doctor put his head down, barely bothering to caress the dials and switches of the Tardis. There was a flash of light.
"Hello, sweetie," said a voice from behind the Doctor. He didn't have to turn to know who it belonged to.
"River," the Doctor replied, distant, not bothering to tell her that it was impossible to materialize into the Tardis via a Vortex Manipulator.
"This is the day you found me," River said. Sounding nostalgic and just a bit sad. "I don't think I ever felt safer than I did tonight, sleeping in the Tardis."
"For that," the Doctor turned, "I'm so very, very sorry." River smiled sadly, then closed the distance between them.
"Do you ever forgive me?" the Doctor asked, quietly, "when you find out why you grew up how you did. How it was because of my failure to protect you."
"Oh, Doctor," River smiled, "you'll do so much more than protect me in the days to come. How could I not?" She paused, "You won't be able to protect me from myself. There's one for free."
"And it all turns out alright?" the Doctor asked, looking at a woman who he had seen die before his eyes twice now. As if she was a puzzle through which he could solve everything. It did him no good.
"Spoilers," River said, and kissed him. Lightly. She pulled back.
"What was that for?" the Doctor, asked. Cheering up, swinging a bit at the hip. River's eyes didn't smile back.
"For forgiving me," River said. She touched her wrist and, without another word, she was gone. The world around the Doctor snapped back into chaotic focus. Bells rang. Buzzers buzzed. The automated singer sang a song of warning. Something was wrong.
The Tardis quaked.
The Doctor yelped and turned to a red light, flashing panickedly and far, far too late.
The Tardis shattered.
-End of Doctor Who and The Earthly Child-
Look out for more of the Doctor, Melody, Canton, and the Master in Part Two: Doctor Who and The Esurient Host.
Coming Soon.