Simultaneously, Amy and Rory took sharp intakes of breath. They shared a look with each other before both turning to the Doctor. "Come again?" Rory asked, voice raised an octave or two.
"Well...apparently River and I...have a daughter..." the Doctor said slowly, avoiding their eyes.
"If it's worth anything, I only found out about three days ago," I piped up. The Doctor gave me a look that said 'you're not helping at all'.
Amy abandoned Rory's side, walking straight up to the Doctor and slapping him across the face. Hard. His head turned in the other direction, hands rubbing the red mark now forming on his face. "Okay, probably deserved that..." he muttered.
He faced Amy again, only to be met with another slap to the other side of his face. Rory stepped in, gently pulling her out of reach from the Doctor.
"That was for making me a grandmother at only thirty-one," she said, whisper-shouting so that Brian wouldn't hear. "And the other was for not telling us sooner!"
"I only just found out myself!" the Doctor whispered back.
"Is that why you were scared of the picture?" I asked, recalling him cowering away from the thick piece of paper like it would bite him if he got too close.
"Not scared, shocked. There's a difference," he answered, sounding like a child angry over a toy.
"She does look like you, Doctor," Rory said, looking between the Doctor and I. "And just a bit like River."
"Rory, you're supposed to be on my side. And mad at him," Amy corrected him. She mimicked Rory's actions. "But you're right."
"Oh, Annabelle, if I'd known you'd get me out of things like this, I'd have picked you up ages ago," the Doctor said, making his way over to me. "Huh. I never realized how short you were. Must be from Amy's side."
"Oi!" Amy yelled. "Not my fault my dad's all stumpy."
"What? Nothing's wrong with short. Short gets you into places." He stuck his hand over my head, measuring me up to himself. I didn't even reach his shoulder. "Short is useful."
"Wait, wait. Doctor, what about Kovarian? And the Silence? They...wanted Melody, didn't they? And Annabelle's Time Lord, too, yeah?" Amy asked, looking at me worriedly.
"I'm nearly positive they never got to her. Seeing as she hasn't tried to kill me yet. And she's three-quarters Time Lord."
"Yes, still in the room, y'know," I said, crossing my arms. "How come you keep saying 'Melody' and River? And why would I try to kill you?"
"That's a story for another day," the Doctor insisted, flashing half a smile. He started tinkering with the TARDIS controls as Brian stood up, packing away the thermos and little lunch box he'd had.
"Oh, come on. Don't I have the right to know?" I asked, helping him flip switches. He responded with a warning look, this one saying 'don't do this in front of our guest, he's only just come to terms with the time travel'. "Fine. As long as you tell me eventually."
The Doctor grinned, pulling down one last lever. The TARDIS shook, sending the stepladder from the materializing-around-the-Ponds incident toppling. "Okay, 2012. The day I picked you up from." I noticed the sadness in his voice.
"Doctor, just come back soon, okay? Not ten more months later," Amy warned. Brian stepped outside, Rory helping him carry the fallen stepladder. When the door opened, I shivered; it felt like the temperature in the TARDIS had dropped significantly.
"Okay...maybe a couple weeks I'll come back. It'll be sooner this time. There's a couple planets I'd like to show Annabelle anyway," the Doctor insisted, covering the previous disappointment in his voice. Rory stepped back inside.
"Where did you go last? Nothing dangerous, I hope?" Rory asked.
"Oh, just a routine mini-invasion. Underground. With Cybermen," the Doctor muttered the name 'Cybermen'.
Rory puffed out a sigh. "Doctor, don't forget that I do have a sword, and know how to use it."
"Of course, Rory. Rory the Roman, never gets old!" The Doctor waved at Amy and Rory. "Now, two and a half weeks at the most. Three if I'm not paying attention."
I shivered again as the trio said their goodbyes. It felt like the temperature had continued to drop in the past few minutes. Soon enough, we were off. The Doctor pulled the 'go' lever; the TARDIS parked quicker than usual, like he'd stopped us in the galaxy again while he decided where to go.
I let out a small cry when I felt something burn me. I nearly ripped off my sleeve in the process of exposing the bandages covering the injury from the stupid Cyberman arm. I put my free hand around it, trying to stop the pain. It felt like I was being burned all over again.
"Annabelle? You okay?" the Doctor asked from the other side of the console room. I shook my head, nodding towards the burn. He came over immediately. "Let me see..." he said gently, crouching down in front of me. He carefully pulled my hand away, then carefully peeled away the bandages. The burn still looked like I'd just gotten it a minute ago, and not about six hours ago.
"That should've healed," the Doctor said, standing up and guiding me towards the console. He stopped, his jaw hanging open. "Oh, no. Please no."
"What?" I whispered, tempted to hold something to the burn. It continued to shoot pain up my arm.
"I didn't think...no. This cannot happen now!" He pulled down the scanner and flicked a few switches. I looked down, hearing a loud buzz and felt a light sweep over me. "Full-body scan. More useful than short is." I stepped next to the monitor, staring at the x-ray figure, including a twin set of hearts. "There, see that?" the Doctor said after a moment.
He pointed to both of the hearts on the screen with two fingers. On each heart was a small dot, a little circle of red around each one. "What's that?" I asked.
"The Cybermen were developing a new way of upgrading," the Doctor said, starting to twist and turn his sonic in his hands. He began testing frequencies with it. "I didn't think of it at first, because there were no signs. But they were weakened at the time, so it just took longer."
I shivered again, not only because I was cold, but at the thought of becoming like one of the Cybermen. The Doctor saw this. "Don't worry, I'm going to stop it. It's going to be fine, Annabelle."
"Is that a lie to keep me calm?" I asked through gritted teeth, trying not to focus on the continuous burning.
"Yes. No! I mean no! No, no, no!...Okay, maybe..." He pressed the button on his sonic. "Almost there."
I winced at a sharp pain in my head. I held my head in hands when the pain went off a few more times. I could barely take it anymore when it suddenly stopped, as well as the burning on my arm. I straightened up, about to say something, only to find I couldn't. I didn't even feel in control of my own body.
+++++
***The Doctor's POV***
I continued to fiddle with the sonic, working as fast as I could. I looked at Annabelle, preparing a short list of questions, knowing I worked more efficiently when multitasking. She held a hard glare on her face, staring directly at me.
"Annabelle? What's wron--"
"You will be silenced," she said. I could hear the Cyberman-sounding twinge in her voice. This wasn't Annabelle--it was a Cyberman controlling her. "You are the Doctor. You are the enemy. You will be deleted if you do not comply."
"Comply to what?" I asked, stalling. I continued to work with the sonic under the console, out of Cyber-Annabelle's gaze. I could see small tears forming in her eyes; Annabelle was still fighting the Cybermen.
"To the Cybermen's wishes. You will join us, Doctor. You will join us in effort to use our power."
"Yeah? You and what army?" I scoffed. "Are you proud of yourselves? You've got a little girl who's not completed an upgrade yet."
On cue, the TARDIS jolted to the side. I hurriedly checked the scanners. Something had taken the TARDIS in some sort of control beam, leaving me with no power to move or dematerialize the ship. I study it; a league Cyber ships, of course, but a very specific league of ships.
The Twelfth Cyber Legion. Which just so happened to be the same few ships Rory and I blew up before going to Demon's Run.
I hide a smirk. "Oh, that army. Well, guess I have no choice but to comply. Under one condition." I point the sonic at Cyber-Annabelle. "Let her go."
"Upgrade already in progress. Progress cannot be reversed. Prepare to be upgraded, Doctor."
"Oh, please, have you met me?"
With that, I sonic Cyber-Annabelle, wincing at the high pitch of the buzzt! Annabelle blinks a few times before starting to fall. I catch her before she hits the floor, sweeping her up and into my arms. I kissed the top of her head and checked her pulse, hoping that the sonic didn't end up stopping one or both of her hearts; luckily, both are working, slowly beating, but still working.
I place her gently in a jump seat, making sure she won't fall from it in her unconscious state. I check the scanner, twisted the dial back to her body scan. The two bits of Cybernetics are still attached to her hearts, but now disabled. Turning the dial again, I see that the TARDIS is still trapped in the Cyber ship's control beam.
"C'mon, c'mon...go boom already..." I mutter, testing a few switches. Nothing I do makes the TARDIS move. The second after I speak, loud explosions sound from outside. I grin, quickly working the controls, turning the blue stabilizers on as I go. Despite the stabilizers, one or two exploded ship pieces knock against the TARDIS, making it rock slightly. I send the TARDIS a few hundred years ahead, long after the Cyber ships are gone.
I pick up Annabelle again, carrying her down the hall and into her room. It had edited itself since I last saw it, including a new collection of books and the returned picture. I set Annabelle on her bed, putting a few blankets over her when I notice how cold she feels. I lift up the picture from her nightstand in its new frame, inspecting it all over again.
I wonder how good of a job River did of hiding Annabelle from all those races against me. I wonder if Kovarian and her Silence minions ever did get to Annabelle--how else could she remember the Silence themselves? I wonder if she was made a weapon like Kovarian did to River; maybe she was waiting. Or they were waiting. Maybe they had a way of activating her like the Cybermen sort of did. Using my own child against me would only be seen as brilliant to Madame Kovarian's standards.
I set the picture down as Annabelle begins to stir. She slowly sits up, leaning forward to hold her head in her hands. "Dad? What happened to...the Cybers?" she mumbles.
"They're gone," I replied, sliding onto the bed next to her. I put one of the blankets around her shoulders, noticing her shiver again. "And you're okay. No more Cybermen."
"How long was I out?"
"Uh...a few--" I check my watch. "Well, about an hour and a half. Time really does fly, huh?"
Annabelle nodded. She turned to me. "Can you...explain it now? How there's a chance I could be an assassin?"
I chuckle at her remark. "Well...okay. Since we're here." She crosses her legs; I lean back on the bed, propped up by an elbow. "A long time ago, Amy, Rory and I discovered this little island base, with loads of these things called Gangers. Same personality as the person they were mirroring, same memories, basically a clone. Except they could die and get injured, leaving the original person unharmed. And on that island they started a small rebellion--Gangers versus humans. It all got resolved, of course, after a bit.
"But then, I realized that the Amy with us was really a ganger. Then Rory and I went around, gathering information. Turns out there was a few Cyber ships outside that we blew up an hour ago, actually. But we had gathered up a proper gang this time--we had a Silurian army on our side, even. After a sort of battle, we found that this woman, Madame Kovarian, had taken Amy and Rory's baby, Melody, away and replaced her with another ganger. Kovarian basically raised Melody--or Mels, or River, depends how you're looking at it--to be the perfect weapon. Against me."
Annabelle was quiet for a minute or two. "But...why? She was...human, wasn't she?"
"Well, she had Time Lord DNA in her from being exposed to the Time Vortex before she was born. So Kovarian and her minions figured why not? A Time Lord, the perfect weapon in their 'war' against me."
"Oh," Annabelle said quietly, fidgeting with the ends of one of the blankets. "Can...can we go somewhere, please?"
"Already? You just nearly got upgraded," I replied, standing up again.
"Yeah, to take my mind off that. I just want to do something."
"Okay, let's go somewhere," I grin. "I'll pick up the Ponds, and you get ready for somewhere warm. How about Mexico? Day of the Dead festival--it's quite cheery despite the name."