Doctor Who Fic: In Our Youth Time: Part One: Child of the Tardis

[jesterladyfic]

Part One: Child of the Tardis



Melody’s life was, in one single word, perfect. She was healthy and smart and she lived in a space ship; one that could travel in time and was bigger than some planets. On the inside that is. There was a wardrobe the size of a small country and a swimming pool and Melody had been getting lost in the enormous library since she was old enough to walk. She had two parents, a kickass mother who taught her all about standing up for herself and a patient father who taught her all about standing up for other people. They loved her and she loved them more than anything.

And she had the Doctor. The Doctor was an alien, a Timelord from the planet Gallifrey. He was tall and funny and smart and silly and had a bowtie and was always wearing different hats and fixing things with his sonic screwdriver. He could do anything. Absolutely anything.

Melody was only eight years old but she knew that her life was a lot different than other kids, other human kids. Sometimes she wondered why they didn’t live on Earth in a house and why she didn’t have other kids to play with like in the films they watched in the big cinema with just the right amount of butter on the popcorn, but it didn’t bother her too much because who needed other kids when you had the Doctor to play with? Besides, Melody had been to other planets and she’d gotten to meet John Wayne before, so she definitely wasn’t complaining.

Besides, sometimes they went to Earth and Melody got to see her grandparents. It was always a bit strenuous though because whenever they did Melody wasn’t allowed anywhere alone and she had to stay with the Doctor or her mom or dad the whole time, wearing a perception filter every single second, and the Doctor was always scanning everything with the sonic screwdriver and her parents were really jumpy. Plus, she wasn’t allowed to talk about the Tardis or anything exciting like that. Melody loved to tell stories so that definitely put a crimp in her style.

But she liked seeing Earth and hearing about Leadworth where her parents grew up and the house where the Doctor had fixed the crack in her mother’s wall when she was just a girl. Also her grandparents were really nice. Grandpa Gus was jolly and absentminded and Gramma Tabby was always trying to give Melody more cookies than she could eat. And then her other Grandpa, her dad’s father, was really smart and always teaching Melody about how to fix things and about gardening and the proper use of trowels.

They thought Melody was adopted and she often wondered why, but she had a deal with her parents. They always told her that their lives were different and sometimes she couldn’t know things, but that when she needed to, they would tell her; she would always know what she needed to. And they kept their promises. She learned more every day and a lot of what she learned was really cool.

When they weren’t on Earth they were on the Tardis. The Doctor and one of her parents had a lot of adventures on other planets and sometimes she got to come, but only sometimes, and always with the same security procedures as when they were on Earth. It was hard but she bucked herself up with the thought that she’d get to do more when she was older. One of her parents always stayed behind with her and sometimes even just her and the Doctor were left together on the Tardis and she’d spent hours watching him try to fix her (Melody instinctively felt that the Tardis was a she) or listen to him tell her stories or he’d put on costumes and play pirate or Silurian or Jaheifev or cowboy with her.

But she liked best the times when they were all on the Tardis and in the morning she’d wake up in her room because the Tardis would tell her it was time to get up and there’d be something new all laid out for her to wear. They’d eat breakfast and then Melody would go to school in the library with all of them teaching her different things like math and science and English and history (all worlds) until lunch and then in the afternoon she’d get to pick whatever thing she wanted to learn best and the Doctor would tell her absolutely everything about it while her parents had what they called ‘alone time.’ And they’d all have dinner together and then watch a movie or go exploring in the Tardis or play games or she’d curl up on the couch in her dad’s arms and listen to them tell stories about the adventures they’d had. Sometimes the adventures would change but Melody didn’t tell them the stories had changed. Maybe they already knew.

When she went to bed at night one of her parents always tucked her in. If it was her mother, her mother would kiss her forehead and say,

“Goodnight, Melody Pond, my little rock star.”

Melody would grin and nod and go to sleep planning on saving the universe just like the Doctor and her parents.

If it was her father, her father would kiss her cheek and say,

“Good night, Melody Pond, my little girl.”

Melody would huff dramatically and say,

“I’m Melody Williams,” and listen to her dad chuckle and tell her not to tell her mom that.

Then Melody would go to sleep and think about how very nice their family was.

If the Doctor put her to bed he said goodnight in a funny voice and tickled her and told her not to mind the Velusian bedbugs.

Then Melody went to sleep thinking about how she was going to grow up and be just like the Doctor.

So, Melody’s life was perfect and she didn’t want it to be any other way. She didn’t know any other way for it to be. The things she saw on other worlds or with her grandparents or in films paled in comparison to the fun she had on the Tardis and the life she shared with her parents and the Doctor.


***


When Melody was twelve years old her parents went on vacation. Personally Melody thought this was a silly idea because every day of their life was like a vacation but her dad said something about needing a break, though not from her, and she believed him because her dad never lied about anything. They sat her down in the console room and told her that they were going to be at a leisure hotel on the Planet Montifev and would have their cells if anything went wrong and to be a good girl for the Doctor.

Melody laughed because after they talked to her they turned to the Doctor and gave him a much longer list of instructions and warnings including watching out for silence, (whatever that meant), not letting her stay up all night, no world saving, calling them every day, no regenerating, no this and that and too many other things for Melody to remember other than that they made the Doctor squirm under her mom’s biting voice and her dad’s stern look.

“Who’s the Timelord here?” the Doctor protested and started to fiddle with his bow tie. “I’ve been saving the universe before either of you were born a hundred times over. A little respect might be in order.”

“Respect has to be earned, Doctor,” her mom said teasingly and patted his cheek.

The Doctor sputtered and then grew very serious.

“You two are vulnerable too, you know,” he said. “This is an experiment, so be prepared for it to blow up.”

“We’re doing it to make sure, to see what they’ll do,” her dad whispered, looking closely at Melody.

“I won’t be there to protect you,” the Doctor said.

“You’ll be protecting her,” her mom said. “That’s more important than anything. We’ll be okay. I’m not letting them take me again.”

“I’m bringing my sword,” her dad said and Melody’s ears perked up at that since her dad was amazing with a sword and only brought it out on very special or dangerous occasions.

The whole conversation was incredibly interesting actually. They were letting drop a whole lot of information her curiosity had never been able to uncover before. Perhaps they thought she couldn’t hear but Melody had discovered from a very young age that it didn’t matter where she was in the Tardis she could hear very low conversations but only if the Tardis seemed to think she needed to know the information. Apparently, this was one of those times.

“Goodbye, Melody,” her mom said, hugging and kissing her. “We love you very much.”

“More than anything,” her dad agreed. “Be good and try not to give your Uncle Doctor a heart attack while we’re gone, eh?”

“I can’t promise anything,” she said solemnly causing all three of them to laugh.

“That’s my girl,” her mom said and then exited the door.

The Doctor rubbed his hands together.

“Right, we got rid of them, didn’t we? What shall we do? I’ve got some things working in one of the labs that your father would have a fit if I showed you.”

“Uncle Doctor,” Melody said carefully, wanting to phrase the question in the best way possible, “what did my mother mean about watching out for silence? Isn’t that a contradiction?”

The Doctor’s mouth dropped open and he glanced around as if looking for an escape route. Usually when he did that one of her parents would be there, but now there was just him.

“I have to dematerialize,” he said, running to the console and flipping the switches necessary to put them into the Vortex.

Melody had always known what each of the switches did almost instinctively but she’d never told anyone before.

“That’s not an answer,” she said, once they were safely away.

The Doctor’s face got a closed look that was always harder to break than any look of panic or affability.

“Melody, I’ve made some promises. One of them includes not telling you things before your parents think you’re ready. Now, you already know that there were some people who wanted to do bad things to your parents before you were born and that’s why they had to keep on traveling with me, even with a baby. That’s all I can say right now. Do you want some ice cream?”

“No, thank you,” she said politely, inwardly frustrated, then smiled rather evilly. “Actually, yes.”

“Right, right!” the Doctor said, spinning. “The Planet of Ice Cream, wait, no, can’t go there, not in any time, not just because of…well, got banned. So, the kitchen it is and the Tardis has everything we need.”

He led the way to the kitchen and Melody followed, but not before carefully typing a query into the Tardis console and tucking the printout into her pocket.

A short while later the kitchen was covered in whipped cream and Melody had almost entirely forgotten about her questions from laughing too much, especially at the Doctor’s face while he charged her with a can of whipped cream ready to spray.

Later that night she’d cleaned up and the Doctor was saying good night to her.

“Uncle Doctor,” she said sleepily, “if I needed to know something you’d tell me, right?”

“If and yes,” he said, a note of caution appearing in his voice.

“I love you,” she said, getting into bed.

“Uh, thank you, yeah, me too,” the Doctor said.

Melody was used to the Doctor not really being able to say those three words directly and she didn’t mind. He wouldn’t be the Doctor otherwise and her mother had told her once that they must always tell him they loved him anyway even if he couldn’t say it back.

Melody pulled out the printout as soon as he’d closed the door and read it in her bed.

What is the silence? she’d typed.

The Silence is a religious organization whose chief query and concern is the Question. They do not want it ever to be asked and answered. Their motives for such concerns is unknown. The Question is unknown. They have declared war on the Timelord known as the Doctor and two of his human companions and their daughter who they claim to be their property. It is unknown when or how the Silence was formed or who the members are.

Melody was pretty sure her whole life had just changed.

She didn’t know what to think. After all, it wasn’t every day you found out that you were wanted by a mysterious organization. Lots of little things started to make sense to her. Why her parents never let her go anywhere alone and barely let her leave the Tardis, why she couldn’t tell anyone about their life. Little comments heard over the years were understood in a way she hadn’t before.

It scared her. It made her a little bit angry. She wanted her parents to come back so she’d know they were okay, so she could yell at them, so she could see them. She suddenly didn’t feel safe, even on the Tardis, the Tardis who must have decided it was okay for Melody to know now, or she never would’ve let Melody have the information.

“Can you protect me?” she whispered into the air. “Will the Doctor keep me safe?”

A reassuring hum filled the air and Melody quieted, the feeling of being held in someone’s arms overwhelming her senses. She suddenly felt sleepy and she drifted off to sleep, determined to find out more answers now that she knew some of the truth. If the Doctor wouldn’t tell her, she’d wait for her parents and if they didn’t, the Tardis would help her find out, she was sure of it.

Melody was nothing if not a determined person.

***

When Melody woke up in the morning she’d quite recovered from her scare of the night before. But she was still resolved on finding answers to suit her questions. Why was she wanted by the Silence? How could they possibly think she was their property? She trusted her parents and she knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that they were her true parents. Maybe the Doctor had done something to anger the Silence and her parents had just got caught up in the middle. The three of them seemed very happy with each other and neither of her parents seemed resentful, not even her dad. It was definitely puzzling.

She went for breakfast and grinned when her mother’s voice filled the Tardis with her usual voice alarm whenever she was absent.

“Doctor, get your raggedy self to the kitchen and make sure Melody doesn’t eat a breakfast consisting entirely of leftover ice cream.”

The Doctor soon stumbled in, muttering words under his breath, but grinned when he saw her.

“Nice sleep then? Right, what shall we do today? Better play some squash on the courts. Oh, the garden needs work. Clean the pool, fix the console, excursion to the Other Side of the Tardis?”

He waggled his eyebrows at her and Melody laughed.

“I want to go to the library,” she said.

He sighed.

“Not again. Books are good, books are wonderful, but don’t you find them just a little bit…dull?”

“No,” she said. “It’s not my fault you have the attention span of a goldfish.”

“I do not,” he protested.

“Pretty near,” she said. “I know your brain works faster than ours, but that’s still no reason not to enjoy things.”

“You’ve been talking to your father about me again, haven’t you?” he asked suspiciously.

Melody simply lifted her eyebrow at him.

“The things I do for you humans,” he said and sighed, taking her by the hand and leading her toward the library.

Melody wasn’t surprised to find a relatively healthy breakfast waiting for them.

Melody spent her morning surreptitiously looking for books on the Silence while the Doctor took down three shelves and rearranged everything on them, then disappeared, yelling over his shoulder that he’d be in the console room if she needed him and not to wander off.

Which is what she’d been waiting for and she smiled to herself. It was very easy to get around the Doctor sometimes; you just had to know where to push. It would have been a lot harder if her parents had been there.

The Tardis had given her a list of books to choose from and Melody chose one entitled the History of Demon’s Run, which was really boring for the most part until she came to a section entitled the Battle of Demon’s Run.

Fascinated, she read all about old earth planes in space, lizard people like the Doctor’s friend Madame Vastra, and Headless Monks all fighting for or against the Doctor for…her.

There was a poem and it frightened her.

Demons run when a good man goes to war
Night will fall and drown the sun
When a good man goes to war
Friendship dies and true love lies
Night will fall and the dark will rise
When a good man goes to war
Demons run, but count the cost
The battle is won but the future is lost

Melody shut the book and cried for a little while. She still didn’t know anything about why, just how, and she was confused and mad. Why didn’t her parents tell her these things? What else weren’t they telling her? Why was she so important?

The Tardis was being stubbornly blank and all Melody was left with was the thought that she needed to ask her parents.

Just then the Tardis shook violently and Melody dashed for the console room, suddenly much closer to the library than it had been previously.

“What’s happening?” she asked.

The Doctor was running around like a madman.

“Someone’s trying to force us out of the Vortex,” the Doctor yelled. “Not your parents. Wrong signal.”

“Will it work?” she asked, her mind already assessing the damage without any conscious command to on her part.

“Not if- I could use some help,” the Doctor admitted, waving her over. “That lever there-"

“The decompression,” Melody said promptly, already working at it.

Then she moved onto the next step, seeing what the Doctor was doing and calculating how to work in tandem with him.

He stared at her, a little nonplussed before his jaw snapped shut and he grinned madly, and then continued his own share.

The Tardis began shaking less and Melody found it easier to work. Some of the instruments were hard for her to handle, so she let the Doctor do those bits.

“We’re cooking now,” the Doctor said, swooping around the console with his long limbs, reaching around Melody or pulling on her hair, lifting her to grasp a high lever or ringing the bell seemingly just because he felt like it

Melody started to smile too, this was fun, it felt…right to her, and she was almost glad somebody had been trying to get at the Tardis.

The Tardis finally slowed and the Doctor looked at the monitors.

“Are we safe?” she asked.

“Safe? No one’s ever safe,” he said, glancing sideways at her. “You’ve been hiding secrets of your own, Pond Jr.”

She hated it when he called her that.

“What do you mean?” she asked.

“I’ve been flying the Tardis for a millennia and even I don’t know how to fly her that well. I mean, that instinctively. Not that well. I fly her that well. Better. Yes.”

She rolled her eyes.

“I just thought…I don’t know,” she said.

The Doctor smiled.

“Child of the Tardis, Melody Pond. Now, let’s call your parents.”

“But…”

“They’d kill me if I didn’t and then you’d have to get used to a whole new me and so would I and it would just be really awkward.”

The Doctor typed into the keyboard and then a ringing sounded through the air.

“Doctor? Is she okay?” her mom’s voice echoed in the room.

“Fine and better,” the Doctor said, winking at Melody. “With tricks all her own. You two okay?”

“Being followed,” came the reluctant answer. “Time for Plan B, I think.”

“Say no more,” the Doctor said. “Be at B in two jiffs.”

“Five for us.”

“Right.”

The Doctor hung up and Melody hadn’t understood one word in five that they said, but she did understand that her parents were in danger, probably because of her, and that she and the Doctor had to save them.

“What can I do?” she asked calmly though she was panicking on the inside.

“Can’t replace me just yet,” he told her, sticking his tongue out. “Have to keep a few of my secrets.” He landed them somewhere and cautiously viewed the screens, then started pushing a lot of buttons. “We’ll smokescreen them,” he said.

A rattling, banging sound started from outside and then a key clicked in the lock and her mother stumbled in, limping, a gun in her hands. Her father was right behind her, twirling his sword and using it forcefully against something Melody couldn’t see. Both of them had strange hashtags drawn on their arms and faces. Her dad slammed the door behind them.

“Go!” he yelled.

The Doctor spun the dials and they were away. Melody ran to her mother, her father was carrying her now, the sword dropped on the floor.

“What happened?” Melody gasped.

Her parents had gotten hurt on adventures before, so had the Doctor, but it had never been like this.

“Grab the sword, Melody, there’s a good girl,” her dad said, giving her a strained smile. “Carefully now. Don’t hurt yourself. Come along to the infirmary. Doctor, we safe?”

Melody felt the warm, homey atmosphere she associated with the Vortex and nodded amidst the Doctor’s assurances they were fine.

It was a bustle of activity after that with the Doctor and her dad hovering over her mom who kept protesting that she was fine and was the Doctor really sure they hadn’t been followed?

Melody sat quietly in the corner, watching, waiting.

After awhile, her mom’s leg had been bandaged and her dad’s various cuts and bruises and they all stood upright, sharing some sort of collective ‘after the danger ends’ sigh. Then she rushed to her parents and hugged them tightly.

They hugged her back and then she backed away and spoke loudly.

“I’m ready to be told about the Silence.”

***

The three of them stared at her like she’d suddenly grown another head. She could say that with authority because she’d seen them look at someone who’d done just that once.

“Melody, what do you know about the Silence?” her mother asked in a strangled voice.

“Not much, which is why I’m asking,” Melody said firmly. “I’m old enough to know.”

They looked at each other using their silent communication method that the Tardis had never yet bothered to clue her into.

“Sit down,” her dad said, wincing as he moved, gathering her toward the comfy chairs in the mock waiting room.

She sat down primly, curled up against her dad’s side, but not enough so that she couldn’t see all of their faces.

“Melody, we’ve always said we’d tell you the truth when you needed to know it,” her mom said. “You’re still young and we want you to be able to grow up without fear but there are some things we should probably tell you based on today’s events.”

“I’ll say,” she said impertinently and warmed to see the Doctor’s ducked grin. “The Tardis told me about the Silence and about Demon’s Run. I think she did it because…”

“Because she knew how you two would be returning today,” the Doctor said to his companions. “That’s my girl.”

“I’m her mother,” her mom said, scowling at the ceiling. “I don’t care how much you had to do with it, let me do the parenting.”

Melody could sense something like a loud sigh but she thought it better not to mention it.

“Melody,” her dad said, “why don’t you tell us everything you learned and we’ll fill in the blanks we feel comfortable telling you about.”

So she did, resenting slightly how her dad had arranged it so she’d tell all first and they wouldn’t be tripped up into revealing more than they wanted to. But she trusted him. He’d tell her what she needed to know. When she finished they looked simultaneously horrified and relieved.

“Well,” her mom said.

“Yeah,” her dad replied.

“Indeed,” said the Doctor.

They were so infuriating.

“Your turn,” she said pointedly.

“Melody, are you okay?” her dad asked, squeezing her a little tighter.

Suddenly she felt about five years old, wanting to curl up with her daddy while he kept everything bad away from her. But she wasn’t five anymore and even when she had been five her brain had been much older, she was convinced of it.

“I’m okay,” she said. “But I need to know. Please.”

Her mom leaned forward and took Melody’s hands.

“Sweetie, none of this is your fault. The Silence are bad people and you’re not responsible for anything they do. I don’t care what the books that you read say. They weren’t there, I was, and I’m telling you that you’re not to blame.”

Melody nodded tightly but didn’t trust herself to say anything. She was afraid she would cry.

The Doctor was looking at her with a strange look on his face.

“If anything it’s my fault,” he told her, leaning against the wall. “I’m a menace to the order of the universe, you know. This version of me, the one you know, the man I’ve been for twelve years, he’s pretty tame actually. Some think I’m too dangerous to let live, but I’m very difficult to kill. So they thought they needed someone as special as me, someone like me. But I’m the last of my kind so how was that gonna happen?”

“They wanted to use me to kill you?” Melody asked, confused. “But I’m just a human.”

“Are you?” he asked.

“Shush, Doctor,” her mom said fiercely. “Don’t go giving her ideas. Melody, you are human, but you were conceived in the Tardis, a very special place, and that made the Silence think they could use you against the Doctor.”

“So when your mom was pregnant with you, they stole her away from us,” her dad said sadly. “They sent a copy to take her place. A copy with her actual mind inside. The Doctor figured it out and we went to rescue her. That’s the battle of Demon’s Run. At the end though, we had your mom back, but not you. They’d replaced you with a copy too. So we went to find you. We did and made sure it was really you and we brought you to the safest place we could think of, the Tardis, to protect you.”

“But…” she said trailing off. “But they’re still trying to find me?”

“Yes,” the Doctor said, “which is why we live the way we do. All cooped up and human-y.”

“Doctor!” her mother said warningly. “Melody, we’re so sorry we have to bring you up this way, but it’s for your own protection. It doesn’t matter what we do, the Silence thinks you’re their weapon to kill the Doctor.”

“But I don’t want to,” she said in a small voice.

“We know,” they all three said.

“Do I look frightened?” the Doctor said cheerily. “Kill me? You? Don’t be ridiculous. More likely to make me live to two thousand.”

Melody smiled a little.

“I’m sorry I’m so much trouble.”

“You’re not any trouble,” her dad said. “Frankly, I’m surprised at how little trouble you are. Any child of Amy’s should be-"

He cut off when her mom elbowed him hard in the ribs and Melody giggled.

“So, what happened today?” she asked.

“I imagine Madame Kovarian has been tearing her hair out trying to find us the past twelve years,” the Doctor said. “There were a couple of times when you were smaller that trips to Earth were a bit dicey. I’ve used a lot of tricks keeping them from finding us there or figuring out your grandparents.”

“Are they safe?” Melody asked, suddenly worried that their attempt to give her some normalcy had put the people she loved in danger, even while mentally making a note to find out more about Madame Kovarian.

“That’s why the visits have been very few and even less as you got older,” her mom said. “They are safe, don't worry. We wouldn’t let anything happen to them.”

“So today…”

“Well, we were trying to draw them out a bit,” her dad admitted. “We need to know what we’re up against. So we thought we’d see if they could track us. They did.”

“Which we were aware of immediately,” her mom said loftily.

“I think they must have known that and decided to get at the Doctor and you while we were playing the distraction,” her dad said. “So…they tried to get you out of the Tardis. Pretty serious actually.”

“Almost impossible,” the Doctor said, starting to pace while he thought. “They must have used a…”

Melody tuned him out as he would be sure to go on for a while in the same drift and turned back to her parents.

“Once they failed with you, they tried us,” her mom said. “And failed, as per usual. So, now we know.”

“You’re still not telling me everything,” Melody said, studying their faces.

“Nope,” her dad said. “Trust us. It’s better this way.”

“I’m scared,” she admitted.

“Oh, sweetie,” her mom said, leaning forward and hugging her. “I’m so sorry. Be a brave girl. It’s hard, I know. But the older you get the better chance we have of them failing. Now that you know, you can help us by being careful.”

“Very careful,” her dad added.

“I promise,” Melody said and snuggled further into their arms.

“We love you, Melody Pond,” her mom said. “And we’ll never let anything happen to you if we can help it.”

Melody noticed her mom didn’t make a promise she couldn’t realistically keep and she appreciated that. Nothing was certain, she knew that, she lived in a time machine and the Doctor always said time could be rewritten. But she had her parents and they were all safe in the Vortex for right now. And at least she knew a bit more.

“Now can you tell me why you guys drew all over yourselves?” she asked.