A/N: WARNING: spoilers for 'Star Wars' franchise, as well as DW episodes that include and/or mention the Silence (it's a long list, so I'm not going to list them).

Chapter 13: That 'Star Wars' Moment

"Right, shall we go and meet your father now?" She then starts wandering down the alleyway at a brisk pace, seemingly anxious to escape the insanity of what happened just seconds ago. I know I am.

Though, at the same time, I can't help but feel like I've been left on tenterhooks. Really? I think as I just stare, flabbergasted, at her. You just shared a big reveal that I don't even know how to trust, and now you want to switch topics to my father? Not to mention that we barely survived an onslaught of eye-patched maniacs that almost beat us senseless—well, me, anyway.

Also, now that she has finally given me this big reveal, I can't help but think of the scene in Star Wars where Darth Vader revealed to Luke Skywalker that he was his father. Not that this woman—River—was evil like Darth Vader; although I don't actually know that, seeing as we've only just met…properly now. Despite everything, now I know how Luke felt when he discovered the truth about his arch-nemesis.

After finally managing to find my voice, I say uncertainly as I rush after her, leaving the body behind, which I'm still not comfortable with, "Um…sure, but shouldn't we talk about you first?"

"What's there to talk about me?" she says with a shrug. "My life is boring compared to your father's."

I continue staring at her, completely astounded. 'Boring?' You shot down twelve people in under five freaking seconds! Okay, so I wasn't actually keeping count of how many people she shot, but it was pretty darn close to that amount. "Um…okay," I say out loud, still feeling a bit of mistrust toward her, "but I still need to know—"

"Know what?" River says in an offended tone. "Whether or not you can trust me? Sweetie, I'm your mother; of course, you can trust me. I saved your life, didn't I?"

I am taken a bit back by her words. "Well…yeah, but…" Not knowing what to say to ease the tension between us, I say with a sigh, "I'm sorry. My trust in people is very low nowadays. Then again, you probably know that, if you truly have been 'watching over me' for as long as you say. Several times in my life, I was almost killed, and what happened just now took the cake." Seriously, it's the truth! I thought the school intruder and Sontaran incidents were terrifying, but the time of when I was being attacked in the alleyway was the most scared I've ever been in my entire life. If the woman hadn't shown up when she did…

"I know," she says sympathetically. "Again, I'm sorry. We will get your friend back, I promise." She then smiles. "So, what is it you want to know about me, while we're taking this nice stroll?"

"Well, everything, honestly," I shrug. How that's not obvious to you, I have no idea. "What is your name? Where are you from? How did you meet my father? Granted, those are only a handful of questions, but I have loads more." Hoards more. I've known this woman's name for a while, but a small part of me tells me not to let her know that I already know her name (I'm not sure why), so I decide to ask her anyway.

River sighs. "Well, most of them are complicated to answer, but for now I'll tell you who I am and where I'm from. My name is River Song, but my birth name is Melody Pond. I am a doctor, and now professor, of archaeology. I was not born on Earth. I was actually born on an asteroid in the far future called Demons Run; though that particular story is one that should be saved for another time, perhaps one that should be shared with your father. Speaking of which, we're almost there." She starts picking up the pace after she says that last phrase.

"And then you were trained as an assassin to kill my father?" I ask as I struggle to keep up with her speed. A small part of me doesn't want to believe that that is the case, but I want to confirm it anyway.

"How did you know that?" she turns back to me with a frown.

"He told me in a letter he sent me," I say with a shrug; although, I'm shocked that she didn't know that. I would've thought my father had gotten permission from her before he told me her story, as disturbing as it was when I first read it. "He said you killed him with some poison that could disable a Time Lord's ability to regenerate, but then you saved him by giving up your abilities. To be honest, I didn't really understand why you suddenly decided to save him immediately after killing him. What happened back then?" I then think about asking her how she gave up her abilities, but something in the back of my mind tells me to ask about that later. I then look around and notice that she seems to know exactly where she's going, turning toward specific directions like there are signs on the walls that only she can see (which would be strange, because seeing as we're both Time Lords, I should be able to see them too, right?). I then ask, "Also, you seem to know exactly where you're going. How? This place is like a maze!"

River's expression seems to change. When I asked about her story, she seemed hesitant to tell it the more I asked; now she seems relieved that I have changed the subject…though not entirely, to be honest. "The story about how I gave up my Time Lord abilities is another story to be saved for another time," she says. "As for how I seem to know exactly where I'm going, I have a very keen sense of direction. In fact, if I'm correct, the TARDIS should be just around this corner. Ah, there she is!"

I am about to ask what a TARDIS is when I am suddenly rendered speechless after I turn around the corner and see a large blue box—the blue box—standing casually on the other side. I suddenly find myself pausing in my tracks and just staring at the box in awe. Is this really here? I ponder, my body suddenly becoming a lifeless statue. Or am I just imagining it? Am I going mad?

"Well come on then!" the woman who claimed to be my mother calls to me from the side of the box, having already walked all the way there without me. "We shan't keep your father waiting. He's been dying to meet you properly for a very long time."

In that moment, I am able to snap myself out of the trance I unknowingly got myself into. "But…it's a box," I say as I cautiously approach it, like it is a monster that is going to eat me if I come too close. "No way more than two people would be able to fit in there… Right?" I slowly reach out and touch the wooden bordering, and when my hand comes in contact with the smooth surface, I am hit with a strong sense of familiarity, like I've returned to an old friend whom I haven't seen in years.

"You'd be surprised," River smirks at me from off to the side. "Never judge a book by its cover."

"What, you're saying it's bigger on the inside, or something?" I chuckle jokingly, although I can't help but feel like it's not a joke. A strange memory of a massive room with bright lights and unearthly droning noises floods my mind, and I get the sense that that very room is somehow on the other side of this door.

But that's silly, I chuckle to myself. Nothing can be bigger than its exterior. That's impossible…right?

"Snap your fingers and find out," River says, her smirk never faltering from her face.

"Snap my fingers?" I frown, puzzled at the unusual request. "Why?"

"Just do it," she urges me, and I feel no choice but to do what she says.

Instinctively, I snap my fingers, expecting nothing to happen, but I am proven wrong when the doors of the blue box, which River had dubbed 'the TARDIS,' open, revealing an impossible room within. "Whoa…" I exclaim in shock. "That…that's not real." This has to be an illusion; I think to myself. It has to be. I peek around the back of the box, expecting it to be connected to the wall, but there is a narrow gap between the wall and the back, proving there to be no connection at all. "What the heck? How is it doing that? No way can this be real! This can't be possible! Not on this planet, anyway." The only way for something like this to be possible is for it to be from some other world; that's the only logical explanation.

"You're absolutely right," River nods, confirming my theory. "It's Time Lord technology; it's often used to make things bigger on the inside, amongst other uses. Go on, make yourself at home. This is your home, after all."

I frown. What? Is she for real? "This box is my home?" I then look at the impossible interior, that strange sense of familiarity seemingly growing stronger. "I mean…it does look familiar," I admit before I instinctively step inside.

The room is massive, with bright lights and that familiar droning sound, only this time it sounds like breathing, like the place is alive. Various sets of stairs seem to go in different directions, making the room look as if an Escher painting threw up in here, and then went steampunk shortly after. One set of stairs leads up to an octagonal glass platform with a large column suspended in the center, and other sets of stairs lead in other directions, seemingly right through the walls, leading to…somewhere—somewhere that shouldn't exist beyond the room's exterior's dimensions. Admittedly, it's the most magnificent room I have ever seen, like something right out of a Sci-Fi movie.

"Wow!" I exclaim in awe as I wander further into the room, much further than where the rest of the box is supposed to end, which should've been at least three feet past the doors. "This place is amazing! It's beautiful! Impossible, but beautiful!" I then turn back to River, who had entered shortly after me, closing the doors behind her. "Although, I get the feeling like I've just stepped inside a Sci-Fi movie, 'cause if I didn't know better, I'd say this was a—"

"A spaceship?" a deep male voice says from behind, finishing my sentence at the same time. Startled, I turn to see a tall floppy-haired man, dressed in a striped tweed jacket over a checkered white dress shirt, black jeans, and a bow tie, step out from behind the other side of the strange column at the center of the elevated platform. "You'd be absolutely right if you did know better. Actually, you'd be half-right, 'cause this place is actually a spaceship as well as a time-machine. I'll explain later." He then smiles down at me from the top of the stairs. "Hello, Nova. It's nice to finally meet you properly, and all grown up, I might add. You've become quite the beautiful young woman, just like your mother. Although, I must say, you took a tremendous risk leaving home."

"Um…thanks," I say awkwardly. "Uh, not about me leaving home, but about…the other thing." Obviously, I know leaving home was a huge mistake, considering what happened in the alleyway. I don't care much for the reminder. I then shake my head from the embarrassment and shamefulness. "I'm sorry, do I know you? 'Cause I feel like I should."

So much for putting on a good first impression, I think sarcastically, but I also can't help but feel like I'm having another 'Star Wars' moment, feeling like I know exactly what this mysterious man is going to say next.

His smile seems to falter a bit when he says sadly, "Yes, you should; however, it's not your fault that you don't." He doesn't say whose fault it actually is; not that he has to, because we all know the answer to that. Instead, he introduces himself, saying, "I'm the Doctor. I am also your father."

I knew it, I think to myself. As he starts walking slowly down the stairs to greet me properly, I can tell that we also look a lot alike. We share the same chin—the same chin that has given me much ridicule over the years—and the same eyes. I can now understand why people in the past have said that my eyes appear to be much older than the rest of me, because this man's—the Doctor's, my father's—eyes make him appear the same way. Looking into his eyes, I can see his true age through them—twelve-hundred years old, like he said his age was in his letter. His eyes briefly make me wonder what he has seen in all those years, what horrors he has had to witness, what he has lost…

What I will witness and lose as I come to that age…if I come to that age.

Suddenly feeling awkward, I shake my head again and say, "Wow. Now I know how Luke Skywalker felt."

"Luke Skywalker?" the Doctor asks, puzzled.

"You know, the main protagonist in the Star Wars films?" I explain. "His arch-nemesis is Darth Vader, who is also his dad?" I pause, noticing the Doctor's puzzled expression doesn't falter; in fact, he seems to look even more puzzled the more I talk about it. "Seriously, how can you not know Star Wars? Anyway, the moment when Luke found out Vader was his father was one of the biggest reveals in Sci-Fi history. I'm just saying, now I understand how Luke felt." I pause again, feeling more awkward. "Uh, not that you're evil, or anything; I'm sure you're a very nice guy." I then shake my head again and sigh. God, I am seriously botching things up right now. "Sorry for my awkward rambling. It's a bad habit, I know. Also, sorry if I spoiled the franchise for you. I tend to have a habit of spoiling things as well."

After mentioning the scene from the franchise, I instantly think back to the memory of when I first showed Hazel the Star Wars films, and I had accidentally let slip that Darth Vader was Luke Skywalker's father, as well as Princess Leia being Luke's twin sister, and Hazel was appalled that I had spoiled the plot for her. As humorous as her reaction was, I also felt angry with myself for revealing those things so early, and therefore ruining the excitement of the scene once it appeared onscreen. Admittedly, I still feel guilty about it to this day.

"Actually, I beg to differ on the 'rambling' habit," my father says honestly. "I find that it's quite useful for a number of different reasons. As for your 'spoiling' habit, we'll soon fix that." He then glances to my mother. "Won't we, River?"

"Of course, we will, my love," she nods with a smile. "After all, the concealment of spoilers is crucial in the world of time-travel."

"Quite right," the Doctor agrees. "Couldn't have phrased it better myself."

I am suddenly dumbfounded. What are these people talking about? "'We?'" I ask, puzzled. "Also, 'time-travel?' I mean, I know you said this place was a time-machine as well as a spaceship, but I thought you just said that to pull my leg." I am still struggling to understand how all of this can be possible. Then again, I've dealt with the impossible my whole life, but this—this takes the cake.

"No, I was being completely serious," he says, shaking his head. "This place, it's called the TARDIS. It's an acronym that stands for 'Time and Relative Dimension in Space.' Your namesake actually came up with the name 'TARDIS,' and it has stuck ever since."

"My namesake?" I ask. "That being Nova or Susan?"

"Susan," he confirms. "She was my granddaughter. Of course, that was a long time ago, long before I met your mother. Many centuries before."

I raise my eyebrows in amazement. "Wow. And you haven't had a child since then?" I can't imagine not being a mother for several centuries on end. I don't think I could bear it.

"Well, not in the 'traditional' sense," the Doctor explains. "I did have another daughter that was a generated anomaly from a cell scrape on the back of my hand. We—me and Donna, who was my friend at the time—named her Jenny as a result."

I nod in understanding. "Ah! 'Jenny,' 'generated!' I get it!" Also, the thought of having a sister somewhere out there greatly excites me. Perhaps she's gone through the same situations as me, struggling to understand who and what she is. Perhaps she has been hunted by the Silence as well.

His expression then morphs back to sadness when he says, "Unfortunately, Jenny was killed, and she couldn't be saved."

Those words felt like a stab to one of my hearts, the hope that there was someone else out there in the universe whom I could've shared my experiences and complications with now gone. "Aw, I'm sorry to hear that," I say sympathetically. "That must've been really hard for you."

"It was," he says with tears in his eyes, which he tries to hide by wiping them away with his jacket sleeve.

Before he goes into a full emotional breakdown, I say, changing the subject, "Speaking of 'killed,' you said in your letter that River—uh, Mom—once killed you, but she brought you back to life by giving up all her Time Lord abilities. But the one thing I didn't understand was why she decided to save your life immediately after killing you." I then turn to River and ask again, "What exactly happened back then? Why did you want to kill him in the first place, and then suddenly want to save him the next? You said earlier that you'd explain." She said that this was a topic that should be shared with my father, and now that I am with both of my parents, it seems like the time for her to explain; although, she seems hesitant again, like it's a very disturbing story that she doesn't want me to know, knowing it would upset me or lose my trust in her. She glances uneasily to her husband as a way of pleading with him not to force her to reveal her story.

But the Doctor isn't so merciful to her. "Tell her, River," he says calmly with a small nod. "She has a right to know. In fact, she needs to know what we've been up against. It's why we had to do what we did."

Those words instantly make me have the sense that I know what he's talking about. "What?" I ask nervously, glancing between them with a frown. "Is this about the Silence? Is this why you gave me up, that being the 'thing' that you did?"

With a heavy sigh, River approaches me and wraps her arm around me. "We'll explain, but first let's sit down." She then leads me up the stairs to the elevated platform and past the strange column, that I can now tell is a control console, likely used to fly the spacecraft to different places in the universe, as well as times. She seats me down on the bottom step leading up to another hallway and takes a seat next to me, still keeping her arm around me, like she's using me as a crutch to keep her from falling over. The Doctor sits on the chair next to us, a grave expression on his face, like he doesn't want to share the story either but doesn't have a choice. Their expressions increase my anxiety and fear of finding out just what my parents are truly like.

"First of all, let me tell you the story of how I came to know your father," River says before telling her story. "After I was born, I was forcibly taken from my parents to be raised as a trained killer against the Doctor. For the majority of my childhood, I was raised to believe that the Doctor was the enemy, and one that should be eliminated, although I never knew why at the time. My 'mother' at the time, Madame Kovarian, as well as some of her followers and a race of aliens known as the Silence, put me through a series of exercises to turn me into the perfect weapon against the Doctor. Of course, I had no choice but to do the exercises, though I never knew why, except that I was told that I would be severely punished if I refused to do as I was told."

Geez, I say in my head, feeling disturbed. It sounds like Kovarian was a terrible mother if you can even call her that. To be forced into doing something you don't want to do, become something you don't want to become, believe something that is actually false—how cruel is that?

"One day, when I was in 1969 Florida, they forced me into an astronaut suit, which they upgraded with alien tech to move autonomously and to control my every movement," she continues. "At the time, they were testing it to make sure it would work for my time to kill the Doctor, but I managed to break out of it and flee to a small town in England, where I met my parents as kids, but not before I regenerated into my next body from living homeless on the streets of New York City for several months."

"Whoa, wait!" I interrupt, feeling greatly confused at her words. "How could you have met your parents as kids?"

"It's complicated," River smiles. "Even though I was their daughter, they couldn't know that, so I grew up alongside them as their best friend." She then glances up at her husband. "And then, finally, I met the Doctor. He was my parents' best friend, but I still believed him to be the enemy, despite my parents' stories. We all took a trip to Berlin in 1938 where I revealed who I was to my parents, and where I ultimately killed the Doctor with poisonous lipstick."

"From the Judas Tree, which disables a Time Lord's ability to regenerate," I say in confirmation, remembering that being mentioned in my father's letter.

"Correct," River nods. "The Doctor ended up dying, but my parents showed me who I truly was—how I was this enigmatic woman who deeply loved the Doctor and would do anything for him. They told me that the Doctor was always worth it, and I realized that everything Kovarian told me about him was a lie. Once I knew, I used up my remaining regenerations to resurrect him, and I gradually came to love him for who he truly was and still is to this day—a good man."

At this point, I glance to my father and see him shed a small tear at my mother's words. He swiftly wipes it away, but I smile at him and pat him gently on the knee as a way of telling him that it's okay. He smiles appreciatively in return.

"I then pursued my archaeology degree," River continues, "but I was captured again and replaced in the astronaut suit to be later dumped into a lake in Utah to wait out the years to kill the Doctor again on 22 April 2011 at 5:02pm, which was considered a fixed point in Time and was something that couldn't be prevented." She then smirks. "But I was able to drain my weapons systems and change the fixed point where the Doctor wouldn't die, but it caused all of Time to happen at once, and the only way to fix it was for the Doctor and I to make physical contact and return to the lake where I would shoot and kill him. Luckily, the Doctor came up with a genius way to survive, the nostalgic idiot that he is." At these words, I see the Doctor smirk and snigger under his breath. "He used a robot, operated my miniature time-traveling people, to disguise as him to take his place at the lake; in fact, in the alternate timeline, he was the robot the entire time."

"So, the robot was always the one that would 'die' instead?" I ask to better understand her story. "You shooting the robot was always the fixed point? Not that you can kill a robot."

"Precisely," the Doctor nods. "Time said I had to be there, but it didn't say which version of me would have to be there. So, I got creative."

I chuckle. "That's awesome. You sure fooled them, huh?" I can imagine the looks on the Silence's faces when they found out that he didn't actually die. Priceless! Though the initial shock didn't last long, as they likely went back to their plotting shortly after; and now that they found out the Doctor and River had a child—me—they have now decided to include me in their sinister plots…or rather they tried to, if it weren't for River saving me earlier. Even then, I'm pretty sure they're not going to stop until they get their hands on me, and apparently, they're using Hazel and my guardians as bait to get to me, which angers me to my core.

"Maybe," River says, glaring at the Doctor, "but I still haven't forgiven him for it."

"Why?" I ask, puzzled. After all, he survived in a very clever way. If he hadn't, I obviously wouldn't be here.

"He made me witness it a second time," she explains with a hint of anger in her tone.

"What?" I say incredulously, turning to my father. "Why would you do that?"

Of course, when it's the end, you call your friends, family, people you trust, knowing it's far better to die among those you care about. At the time, my father must've thought that and invited his friends, including my mother, to be with him when the time came. Though, apparently, according to her story, my mother was there twice, being at the lakeside witnessing from afar, as well as being the astronaut that was about to take the deadly shot and supposedly 'end' his life. Anybody else that was there, most likely my mother's parents—my grandparents—would not have known that this 'death' was a fake, but my mother couldn't tell them, knowing that their reactions had to be believable in order to trick the Silence, who may have also been watching at the time. Also, having to witness herself murdering her lover, despite the murder being fake, is still a disturbing sight to see. Knowing this, I would understand why she would be angry for having to witness it a second time.

"Because she needed to know that it was inevitable and was something that could never be prevented," he confesses calmly. "Of course, I forgave her for everything that happened between us, for all the times she tried to kill me under the Silence's influence."

"Well, you got over all that stuff, right?" I ask, turning back to River. "Whatever they put into your head to make you view him as the enemy, it has no control over you anymore, right? Like, you're not going to randomly feel the need to kill him again?" Or me? I think but do not say.

"No," she says, shaking her head honestly. She then glances to the Doctor, seemingly thinking better. "Although, if he does anything stupid, I might." Her words instantly make me feel a slight fear for my father's safety, as does he, though I'm ninety percent sure she is joking…I think. She is armed with a gun, after all.

"So, what about the Silence?" I ask, knowing they are the ones responsible for everything my parents, as well as my grandparents, have gone through all these years, and who are also responsible for everything I've been through, being separated from my true family, because of their constant hunt for me. "They're obviously your greatest enemies right now. Our greatest enemies," I correct myself. "Who exactly are they?"

"Like I said, the Silence—rather 'Silents,' spelt with a 'T-S' rather than 'C-E'—is an alien species that could delete themselves from your memory," River explains, "as well as put commands into your head, but you forget who gave you the command after you've looked away from them, but you retain memory of the command. Like Post-Hypnotic Suggestion."

"They control people with Post-Hypnotic Suggestion?" I say, feeling highly disturbed at the thought. "That's twisted. Who knows how long they've done that to you while you were growing up with them."

"Several times, from what I can gather," she admits, seeming just as disturbed, if not more so, since she has experienced it herself.

"But you don't remember what they look like?" I point out.

River shakes her head. "No. Even after looking at a photograph, once you look away, you forget everything about them, except any commands they may have given you before you looked away."

"God, that's so creepy," I say, feeling a slight chill run down my spine. "I would imagine they look very ugly. If that's the case, maybe it's a good thing we can't remember what they look like." I suddenly have a disturbing thought of the possibility of running into one of these creatures in the past, but I obviously don't remember the encounter. Who knows what it had done to me during that time—what twisted thoughts it may have put into my mind—if that had actually happened.

"Maybe," River says with a slight chuckle.

"And what about those eye-patched freaks?" I say, suddenly thinking about them. "Who were they, the Silence's followers?"

River nods. "Yes. I mentioned before that my former guardian has a large group of followers, the Silence species being among them. Those with the eye-patch are servants of the Silence."

"And I take it that those aren't actual eye-patches?" I say knowingly. "They're not wearing them because they lost an eye?"

River shakes her head. "No. It's called an iDrive. It connects with the memory centers of the brain to allow you to remember what the Silence look like. It's the only thing that works on them."

"They called themselves something…" I say, suddenly remembering the strange name they used. "'Vodka,' or 'Valkyrie,' or something."

"Vokanari," my father chimes in. "That's what they call themselves now. It's another name for their group. They used to be called 'The Kovarian Chapter', or simply 'The Silence.' Now they call themselves 'The Vokanari,' which, we found out recently, is an anagram of 'Kovarian.'"

"So, if you rearrange the letters, you get 'Vokanari?'" I ask to confirm his statement.

"Correct," he nods.

I frown, feeling disturbed. "Wow, that's…I want to say 'clever,' but that's actually creepier than anything else." Of course, to better hide their identity, they took the name of their leader and simply rearranged the letters to turn it into a seemingly completely different name for their group, even though it's actually the same name. This seems to show just how sinister the group really is.

"Yes, quite," the Doctor agrees.

"And apparently these guys want you dead," I say knowingly. "In fact, they want me to 'be the face of their cause,' whatever that means."

"It means they want you to be their new weapon against me," the Doctor confirms, "to take your mother's place since she obviously failed to kill me." He then turns to my mother with a grave look, which she returns. "And that's what worries us."

"But why?" I ask, in total disbelief that this is what's been going on in our lives. "Why do they hate you so much to want you dead? Not that you have to worry about me, because I want absolutely nothing to do with them, nor wanting to kill you guys." Yes, they're my parents, but they're also still complete strangers to me. Even I wouldn't want to kill a complete stranger, unless said complete stranger actually has bad intentions, unlike my bio-parents, who have proven from their stories that they would do anything to protect me.

"They don't 'hate' me, per se," the Doctor says with a slight shrug. "They just don't want me to remain alive to reveal a secret that may put the entire universe at risk."

Same thing, isn't it? I think but do not say. "What secret?" I ask out loud.

"The answer to a question," he answers. "'The oldest question in the universe, hidden in plain sight.'" He said that last statement like he was quoting something, like a prophecy.

"What's the question?" I ask curiously.

"'Doctor who?'" River replies with a slight murmur to her voice, as if there is someone else in this room who might be listening.

Ignoring the weird feeling, I say, "Oh, I get it! The question is literally 'hidden in plain sight,' in this case, your name—rather, your title. You call yourself 'the Doctor,' and of course the one question people would immediately ask is 'Doctor who?' That makes total sense!"

"Exactly," the Doctor nods, "but there's more, a whole prophecy. 'On the Fields of Trenzalore, at the Fall of the Eleventh, where no living creature can speak falsely or fail to answer, a question will be asked; a question that must never be answered.' Or, to put it more simply, 'Silence will fall when the Question is asked.'"

"'Silence will fall?'" I ask, puzzled. "What does that mean? Also, why are the Silence so scared to know your name, which, I'm assuming, is your big secret? I mean, it can't be bad, like 'Voldemort,' can it? What even is your name? Am I allowed to know it?"

Instead of answering, my father says, "Let me ask you this: Suppose you knew someone who knew a secret, a terrible, dangerous secret that must never be told. How would you erase that secret—destroy it forever—before it can be spoken? Be honest."

I take a few seconds to mull over the question. I know that the best way to destroy a secret entirely is to destroy the very thing that the secret lies within—its owner. "Well…" I say after a while, "depending on the secret, if I had to…I'd destroy the person who owns it."

"And then silence would fall," he nods, confirming my answer to be correct. "You destroy the person, the person's secret dies with him."

"I mean…that does make sense," I say, feeling highly disturbed at the idea of having to kill my own father because of a secret, no matter how terrible that secret may be. "So that's why the Silence—Vokanari—want you dead? They don't want your big secret—your name—to be revealed?"

He nods with River. "We believe so, yes. That's what they planned to do in Utah, but obviously that didn't work."

"Am I allowed to know your name?" I ask curiously, although I'm not sure if I want to know it or not. "I promise I won't tell." If it comes down to it, would I have to be destroyed, too, if that's truly the secret that shouldn't be told?

My father chuckles. "Perhaps one day…but not today."

"Why not?" I say a little disappointedly. "Mom told me hers; why can't you?" For a nanosecond, I pause, realizing that I'd just called River 'Mom,' despite her still being a complete stranger to me. I swiftly cough it up to it just being an instinctive response, though I don't know why.

He then reaches out and ruffles my hair as he says, "Like you said, spoiling things is a bad habit for you. We need to fix that before I tell you any more secrets, especially that one."

I sigh. "Well, if there's one secret I should be allowed to know, it's the location of where those sickos took Hazel. It's my fault they took her. Splitting up was the worst idea, same for leaving my guardians without saying goodbye. Now they've been taken as well." I then pause, suddenly realizing something. "Wait! This is a time-machine, right? Couldn't we just travel to my guardians' house from before the sickos arrived and save them?" This way, I can make up for my mistakes, and therefore they wouldn't have gotten hurt because of me.

The Doctor shakes his head, and my hope of saving them diminishes. "Unfortunately, no can do," he says apologetically. "Rule One of time-travel: never go back on your own timeline and change something that's already happened."

"Says the guy who goes back on his own timeline all the time," River scoffs, like that is something he has done before, apparently a lot.

My father rolls his eyes. "Okay, fair point. I'll admit, it's a bad habit, but I don't want it to be a bad habit for Nova as well."

"It's not like I'll be running into myself," I say with a shrug, recalling some moments in other Sci-Fi movies I've seen, where a character crosses paths with himself from the future or past, resulting in something terrible happening. "It'll be at a time shortly after I left."

"It doesn't matter," he insists, shaking his head. "There'd still be two of you at the same time, and for you, that could be catastrophic."

"Why?" I ask. What's wrong with having two of me in one time, being in two completely different places?

"By now, you're probably aware that Time Lords can attract a lot of… 'unwanted beings' to your location," the Doctor explains with a sigh. "Beings that can sense your Time Energy. That's why we can't stay in one place for long. That's also probably why so many beings have tried to kill you in the past."

I nod with a raised eyebrow. "Yeah, I often wondered that."

"You're much more powerful than you think, Nova," he admits honestly. "Because your energy is so powerful, you attract all kinds of danger to yourself, but obviously it's not by choice, because it's the energy inside you that's making you appear so powerful to them."

"Is there a way of getting rid of it?" I ask, already well aware of what he is talking about. Suddenly thinking better, remembering what my mother told me of what she did for my father many years ago, I turn to her and say, "I mean, of course there's a way. You did it."

"I did," she nods, "but that was a long time ago. My memory of how I did it is a little fuzzy."

"Well, maybe if I helped you jog your memory, you could teach me," I suggest, my anxiety increasing. "I could give up my powers, and then I'd be human. I'd be normal." Of course, this was the main reason why I wanted to find my bio-parents—so they could help me do this very thing; so I can have a normal life, so I would never have to be hunted for my powers ever again.

But my father seems to strongly disagree with me because he says sadly, "Sorry, Nova. I'm afraid you can't do that. Simply giving up your powers won't turn you human; you'd still be Time Lord either way, especially since you were born from two Time Lords—well, a Time Lord and a half. As long as you're outside the TARDIS, you would be in danger at all times, whether you have powers or not. That's why you can never settle anywhere for very long."

His words hit me like a stab to both hearts simultaneously, and I suddenly feel as if I can never catch my breath again because of the imaginary blades stuck in my hearts. I look up at him, frowning, feeling angered, "So you're saying that, because I'm Time Lord—because I'm not human—I can't ever have a normal life again? I can't ever go home again?" How could he say that to me? What kind of a father does that to his child?

He shakes his head, suddenly feeling flustered. "No, I'm not saying that. Although…maybe I am saying that."

Suddenly feeling angrier than before, I rise up from the step and pace toward the door, my head spinning and my hearts pounding. He totally is saying that! How could he? How could anyone, especially my own father? How can anyone live like this?

"Nova…" he says my name in a concerned tone, rising up from his seat, but I walk away from him. I don't want him anywhere near me!

Breathless, I say, "This is…this is too much. I…I can't do this! I don't want this life!" I then rush to the door and open it, preparing to leave the Doctor and River Song—who are not my true parents, but are monsters, especially the Doctor—behind forever.

"Nova, wait!" the Doctor calls after me, but I don't want to hear any more of what he has to say…not ever again.

"Leave me alone!" I scream at him. "Get away from me!" I then run away from the impossible blue box and flee back to the hotel, never looking back.

A/N: TO BE CONTINUED!

Don't worry, she will be back, after some persuasion from River (slight spoilers for next chapter).