The Littlest Timelord: The Death of the Doctor

Chapter 23

"Oh! Oh! Oh! Whoa! Right, let's see, then." Melody, River, looked down at her body. "Ooo, it's all going on down there, isn't it?" She reached up and felt her hair. "The hair! Oh, the hair." She ran over to a mirror and looked at herself. "It just doesn't stop, does it? Look at that. Everything changes. Oh, but I love it. I love it! I'm all sort of...mature."

Okay, this was weird. This was not the River they all knew.

She struck a pose and said, "Hello, Benjamin."

The Doctor put a hand over his eyes and then turned to Amy. "Who's Benjamin?" he whispered.

Elise shrugged. It was probably a pop-culture reference. Elise really only understood those from the 70's.

Melody, Elise couldn't call her River yet, clicked her teeth together. "The teeth. The teeth, the teeth!" She spun around to look in the mirror again. "Oh, look at them." Melody turned back to them and pinned the Doctor against Hitler's desk.

Elise hid a laugh. Her father looked so uncomfortable with Melody pressed up against him.

"Watch out, that bow tie. Excuse me, you lot. I need to weigh myself," she said, before running off into a side room.

Amy and Rory leaned up against Hitler's desk. Rory patted the Doctor on the shoulder.

"That's Melody," Amy said.

"It's River Song," Rory corrected her.

"She is not River Song!" Elise snapped, "She is not my River."

Melody popped her head out of the room. "Who's River Song?"

"Spoilers," the Doctor told her.

"Spoilers? What's spoilers? Hang on, just something I have to check." She ran back into the side room.

"Is anybody else finding today just a bit difficult?" Rory asked, "I'm getting a sort of banging in my head."

"Yeah, I think that's Hitler in the cupboard," Amy told him.

"That's not helping."

The Doctor stood up and started to pace, Amy and Rory following. "This isn't the River Song we know yet. This is her right at the start. Doesn't even know her own name."

"Oh, that's magnificent!" Came Melody's voice. She rejoined them. "I'm going to wear lots of jodhpurs. Well, now, enough of all that. Down to business." She pulled out Hitler's gun.

Elise started to move in front of her father, but he stopped her. "Oh, hello. I thought we were getting married," he said.

Melody walked towards them, the gun trained on the Doctor. "I told you I'm not a wedding person."

"Doctor, what's she doing?" Rory asked.

"What she's programmed to."

"Where'd she get the gun?"

"Hello, Benjamin."

Melody cocked an eyebrow at him, a trait Elise had obviously picked up from her now that the Doctor thought about it. "You noticed." She tried to fire, but all it did was click. The chambers were empty.

"Of course I noticed. As soon as I knew you were coming, I tidied up a bit."

Melody may not have been River yet, but Elise still loved seeing them go at it. It's what made them so perfect for each other. They were constantly locked in a battle of wits. Melody dropped the gun. "I know you did."