Melody's POV
It was raining as I ran through the streets of London. My hair was plastered to my back with the pouring rain as I leaped over puddles and avoided trashcans; I was in an alleyway, a shortcut to the cemetery. I was splashed with dirty rain water as my bare feet found a puddle much too large to jump.
Dad had dropped Emily and I off yesterday, three days after the sleep spell. It had been raining ever since. And for some odd reason, Liliana and I had arranged to have the meeting today instead of four weeks from now. It wasn't my idea.
I reached the cemetery and climbed the metal fence. The cemetery was extremely muddy from all the rain, so I was splattered with smelly brown gunk as I searched for Liliana Potts. I found her grave and knelt down. Liliana's wispy body appeared. "You came."
"You thought I wouldn't," I murmured. She ignored me. "Have you told him yet?"
"I wouldn't be here if I had," I said. "But I will, soon. You can't hurt me. I told Ella, when I was ten, and you tried to hurt me then, but she stopped you, didn't she?"
"She won't be there forever. She's growing weaker, protecting you."
"She'll protect me 'til the last minute!" I defended. "She'll keep you from hurting me. She did it the first time you tried to hurt me!"
"Then she killed your best friend, then tried to kill you," Liliana mused.
"She saved me, then."
"You cannot defend her forever," Liliana said.
"You were never much help. Can we not talk about her? She hears every word we say," I pointed out. Liliana sneered. "What do you mean, I was not much help? Who taught you to shut them out? Who helped you understand the voices?"
"You didn't help me understand the voices. She did," I said. "All you did was help me keep them out. Then you try to kill me. You're not going to succeed, unfortunately."
"Melody, I will succeed, even if it means destroying this universe while at it," Liliana said.
"Oh, yeah?" I pulled out the lighter. "The ground's soft. That means it'll be easy digging up your grave."
"You've used that threat one too many times," Liliana laughed. "Besides, how are you going to do that with rain?"
"I'll manage," I said, and turned on my heel and ran. Liliana called after me, "You will fight one last time, Melody, with her help, but she won't be there any longer after it! Be warned!"
I ignored her as I climbed the fence and ran home.
Once at the apartment building, I pressed the up for the lift. I jammed in my floor number and the lift brought me to our apartment. I didn't care if I was dripping mud everywhere. The lift's doors opened, and I ran across the hall to my apartment. I unlocked the door and went inside.
And who do I find reading a magazine in our living room but Dad. "Hello, Melody," he said, barely looking up as I walked into the living room.
"Why are you here?"
"Well, to see you, of course." He turned a page in his magazine. "Now for my question: what the hell are you doing up at two in the morning?"
"Couldn't sleep," I lied. He raised an eyebrow. "Couldn't sleep?"
"I just thought I'd go out and get something from the convenience store a couple blocks away," I said. God, I hated lying to my father.
"And you couldn't have gotten something from the kitchen?" he asked.
"No chocolate bars."
He could tell I was lying, so I said, "Why are you here at two in the morning?"
"I saw you running. I was going to wait in the TARDIS until the morning, but I decided to wait in the apartment for you," Dad put down the magazine. "Why don't you take a shower and get into something not pajamas?"
"You taking me?" I asked. He nodded. "Oh, yeah, River's there, too."
I grinned and ran down the hall to my bedroom. "Now I understand why you dropped us off- you wanted some alone time with River, didn't ya?"
"No, that's not it-" Dad mumbled, but I had already left my room and was in the bathroom.
When I left the bathroom, dressed in grey skinny jeans and a red shirt, he wasn't there. I went into my room and stuffed my laptop into my laptop bag, along with a notebook and a pack of pens. I grabbed my keys, phone charger, phone, and left for the TARDIS.
As promised, River was in the TARDIS as I walked in. Or tripped in, I should say. I unlocked the door and my stupid foot caught on the bottom of the TARDIS. I fell sprawling into the TARDIS. Dad took one look at me, then continued talking to River.
"Hello, River!" I said brightly, walking up to the console and sitting down on the jump seat. "Hi. Do you always trip on the TARDIS?" River asked. I nodded. "It's sort of become natural for that to happen."
"Okay, then," River said, then turned. I stifled a yawn and said, "I'm gonna go back to sleep, if that's alright."
"Now you can sleep?" Dad asked with a small smile. I ignored him and went up the stairs to my room, tripping on the first step as I went. I sprung back up, saying, "I'm alive!"
"We know," Dad called after me. I went to my room, collapsed onto the bed, and was out in a minute.
Doctor's POV
"She's annoying," I said as she left.
"She's your daughter," River reminded me.
"I disowned her a long time ago."
"So then why do you return to her?" River asked with a smile. I glared at her. Her grin widened.
"Does she seem a little moody to you lately?" I asked, changing the subject.
"No."
"She seems really moody lately."
"Gee, Doctor, I didn't think that she seemed moody to you," River replied sarcastically. I ignored her. "I suppose it could be worse. After her mother died, she wouldn't talk for five years."
"That must've been miserable. Why'd she start talking again?"
"No idea. I wasn't there. She took off. Ran away."
"I don't know who to feel bad for- you, because your daughter ran away after not talking for five years, or Melody, because her mother died and she ran away."
"And she suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder. Actually, she still does, despite the fact that she tries to hide it," I said.
"Poor kid," River looked at the direction Melody had left. "Pretty miserable childhood. Oh, I'm not saying you were a bad parent," she added, "but her mother died and she had to suffer with post-tramatic stress disorder, and then running away..."
"I didn't see her until she was twelve, almost thirteen. That would be-" I counted on my fingers- "ten and a half years that I never heard Melody talk."
"And Kat died, then Melody ran away, so you lost two people-important to you-in five years. You and Melody both had it rough, didn't you?" It was more of a statement than a question. I nodded. River put her head on my shoulder, and I rested my head on top of hers. "Are we just gonna relive the past until Melody wakes up? Because I hate repeats."
"I know, my love," River said. We stayed that way for a while, then River asked me about a matter that I hadn't considered. "Won't Ella and Stella noticed that Melody's gone?"
"Oops. Um, maybe I should leave a note or something," I said, reaching in my tweed jacket for a pen and paper. I found them and scribbled on a piece of paper, Melody's with me. Don't worry, don't call. Doctor. I folded the piece of paper and stuck it in my pocket. "You don't mind if I leave for a couple minutes?"
"Of course not," River said. I kissed her on the cheek and left to leave the note.
River's POV
After five minutes, the Doctor came back, dripping wet. "It's raining harder than before," he said, shaking his head. I felt some droplets of water hit me and I fought the urge to flinch. "That stinks."
"It does," the Doctor agreed. "So, when Melody wakes, where are we gonna go?"
"Somewhere. What time does Melody normally wake up?"
"Seven, eight-she's not the kind of person to sleep in," he said, checking his watch.
"So that'll be five-six hours from now."
"Yep," the Doctor said cheerfully. He grabbed a book off the jumpseat and sat down next to Melody's bag. I put the bag down on the ground and sat down next to him. "Yes?" he asked.
"Nothing-just-just got tired of standing," I muttered. "What're you reading?"
"Gone With the Wind. It's a good book," the Doctor said, showing me the cover. I nodded. "So as long as you don't read out loud."
"Meh," he said, and returned to his book.