"Melody Pond, make sure you're back in time for dinner!" Amy Pond called out to her eight year old daughter who was skipping happily to the lake in the outskirts of town.

"Yes Mummy!" She giggled and waved at her mother who sadly looked on. Her wild curly hair was held back and her sea green eyes whizzed around in every direction. She waved at her neighbours who grinned at the lively child. She reached the entrance of the woodland that lead to her favourite place and walked along the path she and her father Rory Williams had walked along so many times before. The path lead to a clearing at it was the most beautiful place on earth. The pond sat at the bottom of a hill where there was the most miniature waterfall in the world. The water in the pond slowly became a river and would pass through the trees that she had just walked through. The trees above would let fragments of sunlight in and flowers of all shapes, colours and sizes would grow next to the river bed. She walked to the edge of the pond and pulled out some bread that she had snuck away from home. She began to tear it into little pieces and began to throw them into the deep green water. They bobbed at the surface before an army of ducks began to battle for a piece. Melody laughed and began to throw more. She saved the last piece to try and tempt the duck to eat it straight out of her hand. She had tried this once before but her Mummy wouldn't let her because she said that the ducks were dirty. Melody didn't think so. She thought they were funny, especially on land. A single duck turned its head towards her and began to wade slowly towards her. Melody kept still and bit her lip to try and stop her outstretched arm from shaking too much. The duck left the water and cautiously waddled towards her. Melody stifled a giggle before watching the bird intently. The duck's beak got so close to the bread that she could have tapped it on the bottom part of its beak. It opened it mouth and was about to snap at the crumbs before it waddled away with a sharp 'quack'. Melody sighed and threw the piece in the water, her perfect aim making it land right in front of the duck she was so close to feeding. Suddenly she heard the noise that had surely been the sound that had scared the duck away. She turned around and the grass started to twitch. Her hair was blown back as she watched something blue appear before her. Her father had taught her to read early so she called make out the words on the strange blue box before her.

"Police Box," she said out loud. She stumbled back as the door opened and a strange man appeared.

"Careful Miss Pond, you could fall into that…pond," he said with a small smile.

"How do you know my name?" Melody said, trying to sound unafraid although she was frozen in fear.

"I just wanted to see you one last time," he said.

"Who are you," the young Pond said, her confidence coming back.

"This is horrible. I had no idea how hard it was for me not to know who you are but now...I take it all back. I'm sorry," he said as he strode out of the box and offered her hand. She took it because she was afraid of what he would do if she didn't and was pulled up off the ground. She had to crane her neck so far back to see his face because he was so tall and the man realized this, crouching to her height.

"How did you get here?"

"You will understand one day. One day you will become an amazing woman who will do amazing things. Sometimes they're good, sometimes they're not but amazing all the same."

"Who are you?" She asked again.

"A man you will come to trust. Someone you will trust the most. He'll take you away and show you the wonders of the universe. Show you the stars and planets that very few humans have ever seen."

"Do you have a name?"

"Yes, but you can call me the Doctor."

"You're a Doctor?"

"Sort of."

"Okay…what are you doing here? This is my special place."

"I know, you took me here once," the Doctor replied.

"No I didn't," she replied.

"You will one day," he said.

"You're a strange person," she told him.

"I'll take that as a compliment.

"Mummy and Daddy tell me not to talk to strangers," Melody said.

"Yes, good ol' Amy and Rory. How are your parents?"

"How do you know them?"

"We've met, a long time ago when you were only a baby," he said.

"Did you take them away to see the universe?"

"You bet. It seems to be something that runs in the Pond family doesn't it?"

"I don't think I should be running away with strangers," Melody replied.

"That's a good answer. But soon, I won't be a stranger any more. I'm not a stranger now am I?"

"Yes you are. You are a stranger who came here and scared away my ducks," she pouted slightly.

"You're ducks? Oh your ducks, yes. I am so sorry about that, bread isn't it?" The Doctor reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a slice.

"How did you know about the bread?"

"You told me to bring some last time I saw you," the Doctor said, completely oblivious to the fact that he was confusing the child.

"I told you, I've never seen you before." The Doctor winked and then tore the bread in half.

"Why don't we try to feed your ducks again?"

The Doctor moved to the edge of the pond and laid flat on his stomach. He had a massive chunk and threw it into the water. The ducks almost magically reappeared and began to attack the strip. Melody sighed and sat next to him, her bread in smaller portions and were thrown as close to the water's edge as possible.

"You've got to keep very still or the ducks won't come," she told him strictly.

"Yes Maam," the Doctor said and took a couple of crumbs from her hand and held it out as far as he could without falling into the water. Two ducks were brave enough to approach the child and the alien and gently nabbed the piece of bread from each of their hands before returning to the other ducks.

"We did it," Melody said excitedly.

"Yeah we did didn't we?" He offered her a hi-five which she accepted.

"So we're not strangers anymore?"

"I think so," the Doctor said.

"Are you going to show me what's inside?"

"You'll have plenty of time to see what's inside later. Have you ever skipped rocks?"

"Yeah, Daddy and I do it all the time!" She said excitedly.

"Let's see who can do it the furthest then!"

"I'll win, I always beat Daddy!"

And despite being a timelord for so many hundreds of years, The Doctor was beaten by an 8 year old in a rock skipping contest. He knew that her skills in weaponry had to have come from somewhere and that somewhere happened to be her ability to aim perfectly while throwing rocks at the right angle.

"Fine, you win. I give up," the Doctor said and Melody grinned proudly.

"Told you!"

"So you did," he said, happy to see that the woman he knew was still there in the child before him.

"So you met me as a baby?"

"Yes, you were only a couple of days old and I had to help your mother with things." The Doctor said, trying to avoid as much truth as he could because the reality was all too much for a child this age.

"Wait, are you the raggedy Doctor? The one mother has toys of in my room?"

"She still has the toys. Oh Amelia," the Doctor said fondly.

"Mummy say's that she went on great adventures with her Doctor and that he showed her everything. I thought they were all stories," Melody said.

"They're always stories, it's just if those stories were true or not," the Doctor said smiling.

"So what are you doing here?"

"I came to see you of course!"

"But Why?"

"You will understand this one day but it's my time to go. I've seen enough of this universe and I think it's seen enough of me," the Doctor said almost sadly. For the first time in a long while, he let the tears run freely down his face. He looked at the little girl like he was the child away from home and kneeled on the ground. Melody went up to him and gave him the only thing she could. She hugged him tightly and fell into his lap.

"You don't have to go, you don't look sick at all," she said truthfully.

"I don't have to be sick to leave, it's just how things work when it involves me," he almost laughed at the irony. How many times death had almost taken it but he had cheated it by coming back with a new face. But now the joke was on him and his chances had run out.

"I'm going to go home now, I hope you get better Mr. Doctor," Melody said as she took a step back away from him, not a hint of recognition in her eyes before walking away into the forest.

"Goodbye, My Love." He said as he felt his energy slowly drain away from him. He crawled towards the Pond and looked at his reflection. His face was ghostly white and his hair was unhealthy and dark. He smiled one last time and then fell into the pond. The water glowed a brilliant yellow gold and the ducks, startled, left and waddled into the weeds. He felt his soul leave his body as it went over the edge and began to drift down stream.

His body died in the pond and his soul was forever in the river. Every year, those who were close to the Doctor would gather around those waters and pay their respects to the man who changed their lives, for better and for worse.

He awoke and he was standing under a brilliant blue sky. His clothes were pristine white and he had never felt more fantastic. The ground beneath him was covered in light green grass and he could see a playground in the distance.

"You took your time," a familiar voice said from behind him.

"Time and I had never been on the best terms," he replied cheekily. He ran towards her and she met him half way, picking her up and twirling her like teenage lovers. He hugged her and placed a kiss on her lips, the kiss that meant they could start over.

"You spent your last day with me," River said after she broke away from the embrace.

"Who else would I want to spend it with?"

"Sexy was there, all I needed was you," he replied.

"What happens to the TARDIS now?"

"She'll keep an eye on that duck pond of yours."

"Speaking of duck ponds," River said as she reached into her satchel and brought out two slices of bread.

"Shall we?" He said, offering his arm.

"Lead the way my love," she said as she took it and they slowly made their way to the water's edge.

I've never been a oneshot-y person but I really needed to get this one out of my system. I know that by the 13th Doctor, he is supposed to die but you can just assume it is the 11th because that's where we are up to. The last scene takes place in the 'Library' Database if you didn't catch it.