A/N: Kudos and comments are greatly appreciated and will also keep me motivated to post more. Even if you don't have anything to say about it besides "great story," I'm totally okay with that. It'd at least let me know you're enjoying the story.

Chapter 3: Questions and Confessions

Shortly after the lockdown drill was lifted, classes resumed as normal; however, all of the teachers were told to keep their doors locked and to never let their students leave for any reasons, especially without being escorted by a teacher. Much to all the students' disappointment and to the teachers' expectations, recess was cancelled for the day, despite the perfect weather, and lunch was to be spent in the classrooms, so literally everyone was not allowed to leave their classrooms at all. According to the principal, this was the only way to ensure that everyone would be safe from the crazy man, should he attempt a return to terrorize the school again.

We resumed the video we were watching before the lockdown, but it was, of course, impossible to focus on it. Everyone in the class couldn't stop talking about the intruder, and I couldn't stop thinking about what all he said in the hallway—about the 'Time Lord' he was after, Nova Susan Song, who I seemed to have loads in common with. I always thought I was the only one in the entire world who had two hearts and could make my body glow gold at will, but apparently, I wasn't the only one. This other mystery girl, Nova, could regenerate, and possibly had two hearts as well. I couldn't stop thinking about her and what other qualities we could've possibly shared; maybe we looked a lot alike too…or, at least, our original bodies looked alike. If that was true, maybe that was why the crazy man came to my school. Maybe he was hunting me, because for the longest time he thought I was Nova, because we looked so much alike in our first bodies…like we were sisters—twins.

I also couldn't stop thinking about what the man said about my parents—how the parents I currently lived with were not my real parents, that they had adopted me after my real parents gave me up to them. For as long as I could remember, even in my previous body, people said I didn't look—and presently still didn't look—anything like my parents and thought they adopted me, but I always shrugged the idea off. So what if I looked nothing like my parents? I thought. That shouldn't stop them from loving me, and I would always and forever love them. Still, after everything, I couldn't help but think they were right, that the man was right… What if I was adopted?

The phone ringing from the teacher's desk interrupted my thoughts in that moment. As the teacher went to answer it, Hazel leaned over to me, "Are you okay, Syd? You've been real quiet ever since the lockdown ended. You're not scared the man will come back, are you?"

I shook my head. "No, of course not. I just…" I couldn't decide whether to tell my best friend about what was going through my head, and how all of this pertained to my secret that I may or may not be human. "I just can't stop thinking about everything he said. It was all so strange."

"What, about the girl he was after, Nova?" Hazel clarified. "Far as I know, there's no one in the school named Nova. Maybe the guy was just confused…or just totally crazy. Or maybe Nova was someone he used to know, and he believed she went to school here, so he came here looking for her."

"Maybe," I said a little doubtfully. Or maybe the guy was after me, because he thought I was Nova, I thought.

"You?" Hazel exclaimed, and that was when I realized I'd said what I thought I said in my head out loud again; though I'm pretty sure my mouth wasn't moving when I said it, which was even stranger. "Why would you think the guy was after you? You and Nova have completely different names. Unless he thought you looked like the Nova he used to know."

"Maybe," I said again. "Or, like you said, maybe he was just—"

"Sydney?" I heard the teacher call my name from her desk.

"Uh, yeah, Mrs. Besel?" I said a little hesitantly, feeling my stomach twist in a tight knot at the thought that I may have gotten caught doing something wrong; we were supposed to be paying attention to the video, after all.

"Will you come see me, please? I need to talk to you," she said calmly, though there was a hint of worry in her voice as well.

As I awkwardly rose up from my seat, I heard one of the boys say with a snigger, "Ooh, someone's in trouble," which made me all the more anxious to approach my teacher's desk; for all I knew, the kid could very well be right.

"Um, did I do something wrong, Mrs. Besel?" I asked after I approached her desk.

"No, Sydney, you didn't do anything wrong," my teacher said, and I felt my anxiety subside a little. "I need you to pack all of your things and head to the Front Office. Your parents have called and are coming to pick you up."

"Why?" I felt the need to ask. I also couldn't help but wonder which parents were coming for me—the people who raised me, or my (evil?) biological parents. I sincerely hoped for the former.

"Probably because they want you home safe after the intruder incident earlier," she clarified. "Hurry now, the security guard is coming to escort you, and you need to be ready when he arrives."

After I nodded, I anxiously returned to my desk and started gathering up my school supplies. While I was packing, Hazel asked, "What's going on? Why are you packing?"

"My parents called," I replied, "they're coming to pick me up."

"Why?" she asked, seeming just as puzzled as I was when I asked my teacher the same question.

"I don't know," I shrugged, "probably because they're worried about me after what happened earlier. They have been a little overprotective lately." Especially since my regeneration, I thought but didn't say out loud. "I'll talk to you about it tomorrow, or whenever I get back," I promised her before I swung my backpack over my shoulder and waited by the classroom door for the security guard to escort me to the office. The guard arrived a minute later, and we walked down the hallway together in silence.

On the way to the office, I couldn't stop glancing over my shoulder, fearing that the man could be anywhere, that he possibly never left the school and was still lurking around somewhere. If the man really was after me, he probably wouldn't be too far away. His last few words echoed in my mind: "She will be ours! One day!" I wondered what he meant by that, what sick plans he had for me…for Nova. Perhaps he would come back to try again…one day.

"Don't worry," I heard the security guard murmur to me, as if he read my mind. "He should be gone. The police made sure of it. If he's still around, they'll catch him." I could only nod in response, feeling too paranoid to speak words out loud. "As for the woman…" he continued with a huff, "well, let's hope she doesn't come back either, if she knows what's good for her."

"Why?" I finally brought up the courage to ask. "She saved us, didn't she? She scared the man off with her gun." I remembered her threatening to burn a hole through the man's chest if he didn't step away from our classroom door, and that she would've done something much worse to him if he'd signaled to his 'other friends,' indicating that he may not have been working alone, even though he may have been physically alone at the school. I even remembered hearing the sound of a gunshot shortly after, hinting that the woman may have actually shot him, maybe even killed him. Either way, the woman seemed to have stopped the guy from causing further harm, and that was, in my opinion, a good thing. Because of her, we were all still living and breathing, for who knew what would've happened if she hadn't shown up when she did; the timing was unbelievably fortunate.

"That may be so," the guard continued huffing, "and she may have a pretty face, but she obviously has no problem shooting people if she doesn't get her way. Seems highly suspicious, if you ask me. She'd best stay away from this school if she doesn't want the authorities poking in her business." He then took a sideways glance toward me. "She looked a bit like you actually."

"Really?" I subconsciously asked. It probably sounded stupid to him, but I was genuinely curious when I heard this.

The guard nodded. "Yeah, you share the same facial features as her."

"Are you saying you think I'm related to this woman?" I felt the need to ask. Many people in the past have said I looked nothing like my parents, but now, I was believed to look much like the mysterious woman that saved us from the intruder. If that was true, could I actually be related to this woman? Could she possibly be my biological mother? She did seem to come here to stop the guy from taking her daughter away to who knows where. Was she referring to me?

My mind suddenly thought back to the strange curly-haired woman that appeared—at least to my own eyes—on the night I regenerated, the night my entire life changed forever, and I couldn't help but think that woman and the woman that scared the intruder away were the same woman. It would've been a strange coincidence if this were the case. I mean, I did get the same vibe from both women—that they were at both places for protection. The woman that saved us from the intruder made it clear that she was here to protect her daughter, who she believed went to school here; although, I never saw her face. At the time of my regeneration, the curly-haired woman was also there to protect me while I was going through the process, but she also seemed worried for me, exactly like a mother would for her sick child. Both times, the women seemed to act like an anxious mother toward me, and I couldn't help but think that was exactly what I was to them…that I was their—her—daughter.

This also made me all the more confused about the identity of this mysterious Nova Song. The intruder identified the woman as River Song, so obviously Nova and River were related, since they shared the same surname. I, on the other hand, had no relation to these people whatsoever; only that Nova and I shared the same regeneration ability, but this didn't prove that we were related, certainly not by blood.

The more I thought about it, the more painful my migraine became.

"No, I'm just saying you look a lot alike." The guard then shook his head. "Never mind. Anyway, we're here," he said as we arrived outside the main office door. "Go in and do whatever you need to do before your parents get here. I'll be keeping watch outside." He walked to the other side of the hallway without another word, and I entered the office in my own silence.

As I sat in the office, waiting for my parents to arrive, I glanced around the room. The secretary was seen typing furiously away on her computer, probably sending word out to students' parents about the intruder incident that went down just minutes ago. A little further down the hall, and I saw that there was a pair of policemen talking to the principal. I overheard a few words and phrases, but not much was understood to my seven-year-old mind, besides how the man will be caught and brought to justice, and how he would be made sure to never cause harm to the school again. After a few moments, they left the office, not even stopping to give me a second glance; honestly, I didn't expect them to.

Shortly after the police left, the principal, Dr. Demoss—or 'Dr. D,' as the students preferred to call her—appeared from her back office. "Ah, Sydney!" she exclaimed upon seeing me. "It's so good to see your face, and to see you unharmed in general. Do you mind if we have a little chat before your parents get here?"

"Sure," I nodded, although in my head I felt like it wasn't optional. Maybe she wanted to talk to me because the police had asked about me, because they believed the man was truly after me…

Or maybe I was just overthinking things and was being paranoid for no reason. Who was to say the intruder was even after me? Literally anyone in this school could've been the mysterious Nova Song, even if she wasn't actually going by that name.

"How are you, Sydney?" Dr. D asked in a calm voice as she returned to her desk.

"A bit shaken," I answered honestly. I could feel my hearts still pounding in my chest out of anxiousness.

The principal nodded. "I understand. That was a pretty scary experience. I can't imagine how all the students are feeling. You must feel the same way." After I nodded again, she continued, "Anyway, as you know, your parents are on their way to pick you up, and I suspect many more parents will be requesting the same for their children very shortly. You'll be spending the rest of the week at home. Although, personally, seeing as it's only Monday, I find that a bit unwise, as you would miss an entire week of lessons." She then smiled. "But, I hear you're a very smart young lady; top of your class, I might add. So I'm sure you'll catch up just fine. We'll have your school things ready for your parents to collect and bring home to you each day so you can stay caught up."

"Thank you," I said. I then asked a bit nervously, "Um, if you don't mind my asking, who was that man that broke into the school? Did the police say anything?"

Dr. D shook her head. "No, only a theory that he was a possible wanted kidnapper. He broke into the school looking for a girl—most likely a student—named Nova Susan Song. Although, there's no record of a 'Nova Susan Song' ever attending this school, not even currently."

"Do you have any idea what the man wanted her for?" I asked curiously. I thought about telling her about what I heard the man say about Nova's possibly evil father—the one that committed genocide to his own people in a mass war, and was rumored to escape an inescapable prison—but I decided not to, since I was still highly confused about that.

"I don't know, Sydney," she replied with a slight grimace in her voice, "but probably not for something good. That's all I can really say, considering your age."

"What about my age?" I asked, feeling slightly offended. I was very familiar with the feeling of annoyance when having to wait to become a certain age before discovering a certain type of knowledge.

The principal smiled. "Let's just say there are things in this world that children of your age shouldn't need to know just yet." Typical, I thought. "I understand life can be hard when you have to wait to become a certain age before you can learn something, but that's just the way it is, and unfortunately we can't do anything about it except to wait. Anyway, don't worry about Nova or the man; the police will take care of them. Hopefully they'll arrest the man before he catches Nova and does who-knows-what to her. Bless her heart."

Or hearts, I couldn't help but think in my head. If Nova and I were really that much alike, then maybe that wouldn't be much of a surprise.

The principal spoke up again, glancing behind me. "Ah, it looks like your parents are here." She suddenly frowned. "It's strange…you don't look anything like your parents."

"I know," I nodded, "I get that a lot. In fact, most of our neighbors and friends think they adopted me."

"Do you believe them?" Dr. D asked curiously.

"I don't know," I shook my head. "I never really thought about it." This was a half-lie. This was true in the past, but up until now, I wasn't so sure anymore. My parents couldn't regenerate like I could, so I must have gotten this ability from someone else. It also explained why I didn't look anything like them. If they weren't my real parents, then who were? What if 'Sydney' wasn't my birth name and was just a cover-up in place of my true name? What if 'Nova' was, in fact, my true name? To be honest, I didn't think the name 'Sydney' really fit me, but 'Nova' did. I knew I would ask them when we got home.

"Hmmm…" the principal regarded my statement. "Maybe it's time you asked about your family history. Perhaps your parents may have secrets of their own. Anyway, you should go to them. I would hate for that man or mysterious curly-haired woman to come back while you're still here."

I tried asking about the curly-haired woman, thinking she was the same woman that appeared to me during my regeneration, but the principal was insistent and ushered me to my parents, who immediately took me into their arms. While my dad was finalizing the permissions for me to stay home for the rest of the week, my mom fretted over me, continuously asking me if I was hurt. I kept telling her I was fine and just shaken, but that didn't seem to ease her worries. Once my parents were given the 'okay' for me to be sent home, they took me to their car in a rush, as if in fear that the intruder was still close by, waiting for another attempted kidnapping.

As I was being ushered quickly into the car, I saw someone standing on the other side of the corner at the side of the school. At first, I thought it was the man again, but then I saw the familiar large curls from the woman I had seen during my regeneration, and I felt a slight pang of relief flood through my hearts. The woman wasn't doing anything in particular, except just standing there, watching my parents load me into their car to be taken to a much safer place that was our house. I couldn't help but watch her as my father pulled out of the school parking lot and onto the main road, the entire time my eyes locked with the woman's—those sharp green eyes that were similar to mine. The woman and I remained like that until we were far enough away from the school, and I could no longer see her anymore.

That look in the woman's eyes was very strange, like she was wordlessly saying through her eyes, "You're welcome;" as in, "You're welcome for saving your life, as well as everyone else's." I couldn't help but think she was the mysterious woman that saved the school from the intruder; the principal did say that the woman was curly-haired. Even though I didn't see her face then, I could tell now that she looked exactly like the woman from that night I regenerated, and I somehow knew they had to be the same person.

However, I remained quiet during the rest of the trip home, too afraid to share anything about the day's events with my parents, who, unlike me, were still fretting about the situation—how the school could've found out about my secret, how I could've been killed, etcetera. They argued that having me go to school instead of being homeschooled was a bad idea, and how I would've been much safer from things like this happening if I stayed at home. A part of me agreed with this, but at the same time I believed they were just overreacting, as every parent would over their child that had gone through a traumatic experience without their protection. If I had been homeschooled, there would've been a lesser chance of me experiencing something like this, but I would never have met my best friend, Hazel. Also, who knew what would've happened to the students, including Hazel and staff, if no one was there to stop the intruder from doing whatever he was planning of doing that morning. Would things have been different if I never applied to attend school there? Would the attack have still happened, or would the school have been much safer if I hadn't attended, even on that day? There were so many 'what ifs' running through all of our heads, but neither of us seemed eager to share them with one another, at least until we got home, but even then I wasn't willing to share mine. The more I thought about them, the more fearful I felt for everyone, including my parents, my teachers, Hazel, and even myself.

Later that night, I was hardly able to touch my food. The whole rest of the day, I was unable to think about anything else that didn't relate to the intruder incident at the school. The more I thought about it, the more confused I felt about the reason for everything happening the way that they did, and also the more I started questioning my own origins and identity. It was uncanny how similar I was to the mysterious Nova Song, and how similar the woman I saw outside the school looked to the woman I saw on the night of my regeneration. I couldn't help but think that I was somehow connected to these people, that these were people I may have known in a past life, which should be impossible, since I've only lived one life prior to my regeneration. I was starting to question where I truly came from, and for some reason I didn't think I had physically come from the couple I was currently sitting at the dinner table with—the people who couldn't regenerate at all, and also the people I physically looked nothing like.

"What's wrong, sweetie?" my mom—or who I believed to be my mom—asked to break the long silence between the three of us. "You haven't touched your food. Most nights you eat like a horse."

"She's probably still traumatized by what happened at school today," her spouse replied indignantly with a mouthful of steak. "Just leave her alone."

A part of me was still traumatized, but at this point I was more concerned about my true identity and whose parents I truly belonged to.

My guardian shook her head. "No, there's obviously something bothering her." She then turned to me with a kind expression on her face, the face I loved my whole life but was now starting to question whether that love was genuine. "Sweetie, it's okay, you can tell us. What's on your mind?"

I couldn't stop the words from tumbling out of my mouth. "Am I really your daughter?"

"What? Of course you are! Why would you say something like that?" my guardian said as if it would be insane to think I wasn't, which, for all I knew, wasn't insane and was, in fact, actually true.

I sighed. "It's just…I get the feeling I'm not."

"Why?" my other guardian said in a suspicious tone. "Did the man say that you weren't?"

"Kind of," I replied timidly. "I mean, I'm not sure if the guy was really after me; he said he was after some girl named Nova Song. Do you guys know anyone with that name?"

I glanced between my guardians and noticed the anxious looks on their faces, like they were quite familiar with the name but didn't want to admit that they were. My whole life, I had the sense that they knew things about my true origins, and they always seemed to feel uncomfortable and immediately changed the subject whenever I asked. At this point in my life, I was tired of the secrets being kept from me.

"Please!" I begged. "I need to know! Is she, like, my sister, or something?"

"W-Why do you say that?" the woman who raised me stuttered softly, almost at a volume I couldn't hear.

"Because the guy said she could regenerate…just like me," I explained, my voice becoming more and more desperate, even to my own ears. "He said she was a 'Time Lord,' whatever that is. He also said that the parents she currently lived with were not her real parents, that she was actually adopted, and I'm honestly getting the sense that I am the same way…that you guys are not my real parents. I mean, think about it. All my life, people have said I don't look anything like you guys, and honestly I don't. I never looked anything like you guys before I regenerated, and I still don't look anything like you guys now. Not only that, I am the only one in the entire family that can regenerate. This could only mean one thing… I am not your real daughter. You're not my real family. You had to have adopted me."

After I finished speaking, I felt my hearts pounding rapidly in my chest out of anxiousness, and from the shocked looks on my guardians' faces, I figured their single hearts must have been pounding just as fast. "I'm right…aren't I?" I found myself asking after not receiving an immediate response from either of them.

My mother-guardian sighed. "You were always too clever for your age, Sydney." She then glanced at my father-guardian, who nodded his approval, but approval of what, I had no idea. She then left the dinner table and walked heavily into their bedroom.

When my mother-guardian didn't immediately come back out, I asked my father-guardian, "What's she doing?"

"She's going to get the adoption papers," he replied with a heavy sigh, but also one that sounded like he was having trouble fighting back tears.

"Adoption papers?" I exclaimed incredulously. "So it's true? I am adopted?"

He shushed me. "Just wait until she gets back. She'll explain everything to you."

My mother-guardian came back two minutes later with a small folder in her hand. "It's time we showed you the truth," she said as she sat back down at her place at the table and set the folder next to my untouched dinner plate. "These are your adoption papers. Go on and look through them."

I did as she requested and opened the folder that was filled with several sheets of paper. One of the papers included my birth certificate. The date of birth read 'February 11, 1997,' but when I glanced at the date of my adoption, it read 'February 15, 1997,' which was four days after my birth; although I wasn't sure if this was accurate. When I asked about my birth date, my guardians said it was an estimated birth date and not my official birth date, because they didn't truly know when exactly I was born. I skimmed through the other information listed in the papers, and everything seemed to check out…all except one thing: any and all information about my biological parents.

"In the section about my biological parents," I said as I pointed through the section on the paper, "pretty much all of the things there are listed as 'Unknown' or 'Not available.' Why is that?"

"They…didn't want to be identified," my mother-guardian replied. "It's for your own safety."

"My safety?" I asked, puzzled. "What do you mean?" I then paused. How could they know that was what my bio-parents wanted to be listed as? That wouldn't have made any sense for them to know such things… Unless… "Wait! If you know they didn't want to be identified, you must've met them in person. How could they have physically given me to you guys if you hadn't?"

My mother-guardian nodded with a heavy sigh. "You're right, we did meet your biological parents in person…or, at least, we got to properly meet one of them."

"Which one?" I asked curiously. "My father?"

My mother-guardian shook her head. "No. Your father decided to watch from afar. It was your mother that handed you over to us."

"She was a beautiful woman," my father-guardian explained. "Smart, had a British accent, and massively curly hair. I swear, I've never seen so much hair on a woman's head before."

Curly hair, I thought, just like the two women from the school earlier today and from the night of my regeneration. And now this big revelation that my biological mother had massively curly hair as well. All of this seemed like more proof that the two curly-haired women from my past were my biological mother both times.

But I still wanted to know about my other side…my father's side. "And…what about my father?" I asked.

"Oh, he was quite the looker too," my mother-guardian said "at least what we saw of him. He didn't stick around long, probably because he couldn't bear to see his daughter go."

That last statement didn't make much sense to me. If my biological parents didn't want to see me go, then why did they give me up?

"Are you sure he didn't stick around because he was relieved to get rid of me?" I asked, thinking this would've made more sense. When most biological parents gave their children up for adoption, as horrible as it sounded, they wanted to wipe their children out of their family for good, and only once in a blue moon would they have given their children up to be protected from someone dangerous. This thought made me wonder why I was truly given up for adoption not long after my birth.

"No, of course not!" my mother-guardian shook her head. "He loved you dearly. In fact, he never wanted to give you up, nor your mother…but they had to."

"Why?" I asked, puzzled.

"Again, it was for your own safety," my father-guardian answered in an apologetic tone, "to protect you."

"From what?" I asked. In that moment, I felt like that so-called 'blue moon' had risen over my head.

My mother-guardian glanced at my father-guardian and released a heavy sigh from her lungs. "You know those bad guys you see in movies and read in your favorite comics, the ones that get defeated by the superhero or crime-fighter in the story?" After I nodded, she continued, "Well, your biological parents were kind of like those crime-fighters in your favorite stories. They spent their entire lives fighting the bad guys…or, in this case, the aliens that invade our planet, especially in the big cities, like London and New York City. After your parents had you, the bad guys somehow found out about your birth and started fighting with double force; in other words, they started using enough force to try to kill your parents, including you. Your parents couldn't bear to lose you to their enemies, so they were forced to give you up for adoption. They contacted us, knowing we were looking to adopt a baby girl, so they trusted you to us. It was the only way to protect you." She sighed as though fighting back tears. "Also, you never knew this, but I can't have kids. We tried everything we could. That was why we were looking to adopt a child."

"So…my parents gave me up to protect me from their enemies, who were trying to kill me?" I asked for clarification, although I couldn't figure out how to believe any of this. I mean, who in their right mind would want to kill me? As far as I knew, I wasn't anyone special, like a well-known celebrity, or the President of the United States, or whatever. I may have had supernatural abilities that seemed literally out of this world, but despite all of that, I felt like I was just like everybody else, that I was just as human as everybody else. It seemed impossible to think of myself as anything that wasn't human.

"Yes," my father-guardian nodded, "but not every enemy wanted you dead. Some wanted to kill you, but others wanted you for other reasons. Others wanted to kidnap you and use you for your powers against your own parents."

"So they wanted to turn me into some sort of assassin to kill my own parents?" I asked incredulously. Why would I want to kill anyone, let alone my own parents? I never viewed myself as a fighter, and I had never planned to become one in the future either.

"Yes," my father-guardian nodded again, "and use your powers to do it."

"That's crazy!" I exclaimed. "I don't even know my bio-parents, let alone their names or even what they look like."

My father-guardian glanced to his wife as if looking for permission to say the next thing on his mind. "Should we tell her about them, at least their names?" he asked her.

"Go ahead," she nodded her approval.

My father-guardian turned to me and said, "We can tell you this much… Your mother's name was River."

River, I thought. That's the same name as the woman that saved the school from the crazy man. Thinking of her, I asked curiously but also timidly, as I had no idea how my guardians would react, "Was her last name 'Song,' by any chance?"

My father-guardian paused as if in shock. "Um…yes, I believe it was, now that I remember it! How did you know?"

Feeling a bit scared to tell them about my theory of the connection between the woman that saved the school and the woman that appeared on the night of my regeneration, I said instead, "I just wondered. There was a woman that saved us from the man at the school. He knew her and identified her as River Song. Also, the girl the man was after, Nova—her last name was 'Song' as well. I wondered if Nova and River were related, that Nova was River's daughter. But you just now said my bio-mother's name was also River Song. Could they be the same woman, since they share the same name?"

At this point, my guardians glanced at each other strangely, like I was some kind of detective, and they were criminals that had been caught and were now obligated to confess all of their actions and secrets to me. I honestly found this a little unsettling, as it may have been true that they had many more secrets that they had yet to share with me that were not included in the folder.

Instead of spilling, my mother-guardian abruptly shook her head and said, "We don't know."

I, however, refused to continue my life of not knowing the truth of where I truly came from. "Because if so," I continued, "maybe Nova is my sister…or was. What about my father? Who was he?"

My mother-guardian shook her head. "We don't know who Nova might be." Liar, I couldn't help thinking in my head. "As for your father, he only said he was a 'Doctor,' nothing more." She then corrected herself. "Or rather, your mother said so, as your father had slipped away before he had the opportunity to introduce himself."

A doctor? I thought. Anyone could be a doctor. Although, I couldn't help but notice that my mother-guardian said the title with a capital 'D,' like it was more than just a title, like it was a name as well. "He didn't—I mean, my mother didn't—give a name, or anything, with it?" I asked.

"Nope," she shook her head, "she said that was it—just 'The Doctor.'"

"He was strange," my father-guardian said with a frown, like he was remembering what the man looked like. "He didn't look like a doctor. He looked more like a history professor to me, with his old-fashioned tweed jacket, bow tie, and floppy hair. Strangely enough, he looked twenty years younger than your mother—River."

My mother-guardian nodded in agreement. "Yeah, she reminded me of that woman from that old movie; what was her name—Mrs. Robinson?"

My father-guardian laughed, then said, "One thing I found the strangest about your father was his eyes—those deep green eyes, like emeralds in a storm. They looked so much older, like they'd seen a thousand years' worth of life, despite his youthful face. Your eyes, Sydney, are just like his."

I was in disbelief at this. "Really?" I said in amazement. "That's funny, because people have said the exact same thing about my eyes, how they look so much older than the rest of me. I must get that from my father."

"You get your pretty looks from your mother," my mother-guardian said with a smile.

"From you?" I felt the need to ask. Or was she talking about…?

She shook her head. "No. From your real mother, River."

"Don't call her that," I demanded, suddenly feeling a surge of anger flood both hearts in unison without really knowing why.

"What?" my mother-guardian asked, puzzled.

"Don't call my biological parents my 'real' parents," I clarified. "They're not. They may be my parents by blood, but they're not my real parents. You guys are my real parents. You've loved and raised me as your own, and I've always felt that love. And from the stories you told me, it sounds like my blood-parents didn't get to love me properly like they'd wanted to because of their dangerous lives, so I never felt real love from them…or at least not enough love. As far as I'm concerned, they never truly loved me, because they were spending too much time worrying about getting killed by their enemies. I never had real proof that they loved me, and not just because I was too young to understand such things; I mean, I was just a newborn at the time. You guys have always been my true parents and have shown me true love, and I will never stop loving you, no matter where I truly come from."

I truly meant what I said, every word. I couldn't help but think that was the real reason why my biological parents, this 'Doctor' and River Song, gave me up—that they didn't have time to even love me because they were too busy worrying about getting wiped out by their enemies, whoever they were. Who knew where I would be if they had not decided to give me up? Would I even be happy with them? Honestly, I didn't think I would be happy having to spend my whole life on the run from people who wanted me dead.

Then again, if it was true my biological parents didn't truly want to give me up in the first place, wherever they were right now—here's assuming they were even still alive—did they even miss me? Were they even thinking about me at all? If they had even an ounce of love toward me, would they think to call and check up on me, if they could? Would they eventually come back for me so I could meet them properly?

To be honest, I didn't know what I wanted them to do—to come back for me, or stay away. I didn't like the idea of being constantly hunted by people who wanted to kill me, but a part of me found the idea exhilarating, like it would be a glorious adventure. On one hand, if I was truly to be protected from dangerous people like the crazy man in the school, it would be better for my biological parents to stay away from me, especially if they tended to attract those dangers. On the other hand, if I were to actually meet my bio-parents, it could be the start of a grand adventure, which was something I longed for. I often dreamed about travelling around the world and discovering new and impossible things, and if this was something my bio-parents did on a daily basis, I wanted to be a part of it—at least, I wanted it for myself.

Near tears, my mother-guardian—no, my mother—gathered me in her arms. "Aw, Sydney. You will always be our baby girl."

"And we will never stop loving you," my father added as he wrapped his own arms around us both.

After a few minutes, I suddenly realized something. "So, this was why you wanted me to keep my powers hidden?" I asked. "So none of my bio-parents' enemies would come after them? So they wouldn't come after me?"

My mother nodded. "Yes. We figured that was why that intruder came to your school. He must've somehow sensed your energy from your regeneration when you were four and had come after it like a moth to a flame."

"Or he must've sensed the energy much more recently," my father added, "because there is no way the sense would've lasted three years, and he'd chased after it nonstop for that long." He glanced suspiciously at me. "Did you use your powers at any time after your regeneration, Sydney?"

I suddenly remembered a few days ago, when I was in my room doing my homework, and I had suddenly given myself a paper cut and drawn blood. I remembered how freaked out I was when I'd noticed that my blood color was a bright orange color instead of the typical dark red color of human blood. In any case, I felt too lazy to get up and properly wash the wound in the sink, so instead, I decided it wouldn't hurt to sacrifice a bit of regeneration energy to heal the cut, despite knowing I wasn't supposed to use my abilities (I always thought it was unfair to have these supernatural abilities and never be allowed to use them). I concentrated on the wound and made the cut glow gold for a few seconds. Once the glow faded, the cut was completely gone; it didn't even leave behind a scar. Now, from the story my (foster) parents just told me, I felt a surge of guilt rush through me, realizing that sacrificing my energy like that was a mistake, as it may have somehow attracted the crazy man to our town, and then our school. This realization made me think that the crazy man was possibly one of my biological parents' enemies sent out to kidnap me or kill me.

She will be ours! One day!

Oops.

Not wanting my parents to see my guilt, I lied, saying, "I don't think so. I mean, I would know if I did, right?"

"I suppose," my father said in a somewhat doubtful tone, which increased my guilt a bit more. "Perhaps your regeneration isn't something you can control, and it only appears if you're sick, gravely injured, or dying. But you've never been sick over the past few years, and you've been very careful not to injure yourself, so perhaps we're just overthinking things."

This wasn't true. I had full control of my regeneration energy, hence why I used it to heal the paper cut that day. I felt bad for lying to my parents, the people who raised me and said they would never stop loving me, even if I were not entirely human. I now understood the dangers of using my abilities, but I didn't understand how these dangers could be attracted to my energy every time I used it. It was like my parents were saying that these 'enemies' weren't human, that they were from a world outside our atmosphere, and some of them had a strong sense of smell, like a predator sniffing out its prey. Just this thought sent a shiver up my spine, knowing I was the 'prey' in this scenario.

"You probably are," I said with a sigh, still feeling my guilt clinging tightly to me.

"Perhaps the man was simply crazy and just felt the need to terrorize the school, but he was never intending to harm or kidnap anyone, especially you," my father continued, this time in a no-big-deal tone, like he truly was just overthinking things, and there was really nothing to worry about; but I knew better, and I learned a valuable lesson from this: I should never use my abilities unless I absolutely have to.

"Yeah, probably," I agreed with a sigh. Maybe that was all that it really came down to: that they were just being overprotective without meaning to be. None of this had anything to do with my 'non-humanness;' they were just afraid for the safety of their adopted daughter. That crazy man was simply that—just crazy. He broke into the school with the delusion that some girl he used to know (or possibly never existed at all) attended the school, and he just wanted to see her. He was never intending to harm anyone, certainly not me. Although, none of this explained how this other girl the man was after, Nova—if she even existed—had the same regeneration ability as me; but then again, maybe I was just overthinking things as well, or I had just imagined the whole thing.

Either way, I guessed my parents couldn't change their minds to have me go back to school for the rest of the week, no matter how anxious they were to having me safe in their arms. In any case, despite the terrifying experience that I had that day, there were two good things that came out of it. The first was that despite being adopted, I lived with people that actually cared for me and were happy to call me their daughter, even when I wasn't their daughter by blood. Even if my blood-parents didn't truly love me, I was perfectly happy with what I got here with my foster parents, who I would always call my 'real' parents.

The second was that I would have a six-day weekend away from school.

A/N: TO BE CONTINUED!