- c h a p t e r   t w e n t y   s e v e n -

Connor and Melody were very obviously in love. Even though they weren't having any physical contact at the moment, their gazes were connected in such a way that couldn't be faked. She had the softest hint of a smile on her face. Soon his face reflected hers in that way.

But Melody had made it clear that she wasn't going to fully forgive Connor for what he had done to her. While she was willing to push it aside and not allow it to control their relationship, she wasn't going to simply forget it ever happened. The fact of the matter was, he had abandoned her.

Today they had decided they would start working on baby names. With the days ticking away until Melody's due date, they had realised that there were no names set out for what the little boy would be called. All the inhabitants of the TARDIS were on edge as they waited for the events to slowly roll out.

The Doctor felt as if it was worst of all for him - he had lived for so many years, but with a time machine in his hands he hardly ever had to take place within real-time events. With Melody traveling around with him, he had watched her go through the entire experience of her pregnancy.

Clara had been along with the two of them during much of this process, but she was human. She didn't share the Doctor's feeling for the entire ordeal. Connor was similar in this way, except he had spent almost the entire period sitting within a prison of sorts.

Now all four of these people were together with one another, and things seemed to be going far better. Melody had tried to spend most of her life alone, but now that she was with all of these others she had all but forgotten her antisocial tendencies.

Melody's eyes glistened as she looked over to Connor. It was so strange to have him be back in the TARDIS beside her. Stranger still, she was carrying his child. Strangest of all, she was going to be having that very child any day now.

It was taking every bit of her energy (and more) to attempt to prepare for this experience as much as she could. Melody was aware that she'd be getting a little break after she had the baby, but after that, her life was set.

She would watch her baby grow into a toddler, then to a child, then - no. She couldn't let herself get distracted from the real matter at hand, and that was giving birth. All of the growing up would come later, and at the very least she would have Connor beside her. Just a week ago, she didn't have him there at all.

There was a lot to get used to, but she was rushing to the finish. It was almost like she was cramming for an exam back in school - but this was far more than just a test. This was a child, a little boy on his way.

"Just a few more days," Melody said, putting on a shaky smile. "Just a few more days, and then this boy will be born."

She couldn't tell them the truth of the matter - she was frightened of going through this experience. She wasn't ready. Maybe she could pull off raising a baby and being a mother, but she had heard all sorts of horror stories about actually having a child. No one could really help her through that - not Connor or the Doctor or Clara.

"Our little boy," Connor said, starting to beam. "I can't believe it."

"I would say it's going to get crowded in the TARDIS, but it's too big for that," Clara replied with a laugh.

"That might change when we have a baby boy around," the Doctor repled. "I mean, think about it - he'll learn to crawl, then walk, then run, then-"

"Stop!" Melody called out. Connor immediately moved towards her, worried that something was wrong.

"My baby isn't even born yet - I don't want to think about him growing up so quickly."

"Then we won't think about it," Connor replied soothingly. "We can do something to get off your mind."

"Like traveling somewhere here in the TARDIS," Clara added in, looking over to the Doctor. "I certainly wouldn't mind doing that."

"Where do you want to go today?" the Doctor asked, slapping his hands together and rubbing them excitedly.

"Nowhere," Melody immediately answered. "I'm exhausted. I don't think I can do anything..."

"You and Clara can go out and do something," Connor said, going over to Melody. "I'll stay here with Melody. I - how can I get your attention if anything happens?"

"Maybe this isn't such a good idea," Clara sighed, rethinking her previous thoughts. "We might want to just take a day off, Doctor."

"How many days off have we had already?" the Doctor asked. "Unless you want to start venturing through the TARDIS, I don't think we can do much of anything staying in here."

"We can work on baby names," Melody suggested. "I personally think it's very fun, whether you enjoy it or not. This boy is coming any day, and he's still just a boy. We need a name for him!"

"I agree," Connor said, immediately latching to her point of view. "Now, where are we going to begin?"

"I know," Melody said. She started walking away into the hallway. While this behavior perplexed everyone, no one made a move to follow her or stop her from going any further. She soon returned with a piece of paper in her hands and a large smile spread across her lips.

"I have a list of possible baby names," Melody announced to Connor. "I have one name in mind, particularly."

"Which is?" Connor prompted.

"Well, I want you to read through it yourself and see if anything sticks out to you. Then we can compare."

"Thanks for all of the pressure, now I feel like I need to choose the same name as you."

Putting on a smile, Melody replied, "You're very welcome. Now, figure it out. I want to have something chosen before he comes along." She put a hand on her stomach and was reminded of just how soon the baby was going to be coming along.

"Er ..." Connor took the list from her, glancing over it. He tried to make eye contact with Clara and the Doctor in an effort to get some support, but Melody noticed what he was doing before he could get much further.

"No, no help. You're the baby's father, after all."

"I dunno, Robert is kind of nice. Robert Dale. Maybe even George, or Ian. I could see an Ian Dale." Connor looked up for a moment. "But I don't love any of those names, not really. Oliver is sticking out to me, something about that just sounds right."

"You read my mind," Melody said, an enormous smile on her face. "You absolutely read my mind."

"Oliver Dale, then," Clara said. "Has a nice ring to it, doesn't it?"

"Indeed it does!" the Doctor exclaimed. "Melody Birch, Connor Dale, and Oliver Dale all in the TARDIS. Sounds like a wonderful family to me!"

Connor and Melody shared a look with one another for a moment. Both of them had upturned lips, but it was their eyes that told the real stories about what they were feeling inside. There was certainly happiness there, but there were also gleams of sadness and fear. Those seemed to be emotions that were stuck within their pupils and irises forever.

In that moment, it felt as if everything else were melting away into a watercolor painting around them. The only thing that was clear was the other person there. Of course, this made it somewhat awkward for the Doctor and Clara, but at least it was sweet and intimate.

"We're a family now, Connor," Melody said, her voice somewhat frighteningly soft. Out of nowhere, she had become extremely quiet, and that was never a very good sign for anything. While her words were sweet, there seemed to be something more to them than what she was saying.

"We're a family now, which means you shouldn't leave me. But it's just shouldn't," she continued, her voice beginning to increase in volume. "It doesn't mean you can't - you or Oliver. Maybe one day I'll look up and I just won't have a family."

"Melody," Connor said, trying to comfort her. But it was useless.

"You abandoned me!" she shrieked. "You got me pregnant and then you abandoned me!" Tears rushed to her eyes and she welcomed them. Anything for her to just release the pressure, that was what she needed.

"Melody, I - I'm sorry! I didn't know what had happened! You can't blame me for this! I know I made some horrible, horrible choices ... but you can't blame me."

"Yes, yes I can!" she screamed back at him. He started breathing heavily, extremely concerned for her. He had sincerely never seen Melody like this before, and he didn't know how to react. As her body began to turn on alert mode, his seemed to be shutting down as he didn't know what else to do.

"Melody," he said, his voice turning to a whimper for a moment. He immediately shot his gaze over to the Doctor and Clara in an attempt to find some source of support. Luckily, they seemed to know precisely what was going on - and better yet, they seemed to know precisely how to fix it all up.

The two immediately darted over to Melody, both trying to figure out what exactly they could do in this situation. One of the most pressing issues was the fact that Connor was absolutely clueless about what was going on.

"What's going on?" Connor said.

"She's having a panic attack," Clara explained. "There's not much of anything you can really do at the moment except for stay calm."

Connor opened his mouth to protest and then thought better of it. Inwardly, however, he felt his chest dropping as if he had jumped off a building and was falling with nothing to slow him down. This was the woman he loved. Even if the Doctor and Clara had claimed her as their extraordinary woman, she was still so much more to him.

"Can I try to help?" he asked. "Or is that only going to make things worse?"

"I don't think there's much more room for it to get any worse," the Doctor said grimly.

Connor nodded dutifully at this and made his way back to Melody, crouching down beside her.

"Melody, I'm here," he said, gently placing a hand on top of hers. Even though he was terrified that even the slightest contact might up ended making her jump and force her condition into a worse place, he tightened his grip. "Melody, I'm right here."

"You say that now," she replied. "But one day you won't be, because you weren't. You weren't!" Her voice erupted into another cry. He tried to meet her eyes but then realised that they were too fogged up with tears for her to recognise him. Now he wasn't sure he could keep going. After being away from her for so many months, he thought it would be complete bliss being back with her.

This was something he never expected to happen. No, there were far different things in his mind when he thought about being reunited with Melody. Connor could deal with Oliver - it was his child, and he was preparing himself to be a father.

He thought some days in the prison he might forget her face. Connor knew he was forgetful, but there were those horrifying moments when he'd try to recall her face and found that he couldn't quite remember. He had loathed that moment with every cell in his body. Now she was back in front of him, but she was just as fuzzy.

It was like he was choking on the words he had in his throat. Maybe he'd never truly be able to get them out and have Melody hear them. At the moment, all seemed to be done in vain. He hated to make it all go to waste.

This was too difficult for anyone at the moment to just simply disperse. Connor was near to just giving up, but then he was stopped.

"No, that's good," the Doctor said as he began to get up. "She was replying to you in actual words that make sense. That means that she can hear you - usually she just sort of blocks everything else around her."

"I should keep going, then," Connor said, half to himself as he crouched down once again. "I'll keep going."

Whatever words came to his head ended up spilling out of his mouth in a pianissimo tone. It was just loud enough for Melody to hear and be comforted. Sometimes Connor was unsure if she truly could hear him between her massive sobs, but he continued anyways as the Doctor had urged him.

The seconds seemed to last forever, but Melody's cries began to subside. Soon there were only silent streams of tears coming from her eyes. Her heart, which had been palpitating, began to slow. All the while, Connor's voice acted as a rope that tethered her to reality and happiness.

"Connor?" Melody said, sounding somewhat confused on top of all of her other emotions.

"Yes, yes, it's me," he said. She started reaching out her hand to touch his face, so he caught it and pressed it up against his cheek himself. This was enough to make a slight smile enter her face. "I'm right here for you, always."

"Connor," she repeated, this time sounding more sure of the words coming from her lips. It was almost like she could say no other word. Maybe she couldn't, maybe she didn't want to - he had a beautiful name in her mind, a name that meant love and safety. At the moment, all of her bad memories concerning him seemed to be melting away.

As she sat there staring at him in a sort of awe, her breathing began to slow and tears dried into small patches on her face. Her heart rate went back to a normal steady pace. Her body was reverting itself to its typical state.

"She's out of it," Clara said, her jaw dropping open. "That was all it took. Now she's fine. Absolutely fine."

"I'm not sure I would say absolutely," the Doctor began. "But she's certainly not in the middle of a panic attack. How long was that?" He checked his wrist as if there were an actual watch there (there wasn't) and then looked up to say, "It couldn't have been more than five minutes."

Melody and Connor had met in a deep embrace and weren't exactly in the best position to start answering questions.

"Well, I think we might have found a cure to Melody's problem," said Clara. "Now it's just up to you to prescribe it, Doctor."

A/N And there you have it. I rather like this chapter...but then again, I really like the whole drama with the panic attacks. Then of course, we have Connor back...and the baby...and yes. I think it comes together nicely. But never mind that! I just hope that the lot of you enjoyed it. So go ahead and tell me.