- c h a p t e r   t w e n t y   n i n e -

"Little Ollie," Melody cooed at her baby with Connor to the side. "Can you imagine? We've got our little Ollie now, our beautiful little boy."

"Little Ollie," Melody cooed at her baby with Connor to the side. "Can you imagine? We've got our little Ollie now, our beautiful little boy."

"Do we have to call him Ollie?" Connor asked, grimacing slightly.

"Is there something wrong with the name Ollie?" she said, turning around to face him. Now the baby voice she had been using was completely gone, and she was just speaking normally.

"No, no, nothing wrong," Connor said, seeing that he had backed himself into a less-than-desirable situation. Luckily, he didn't have to deal with any effects of it.

"It's been a while since I got to see a baby grow up in real time," the Doctor said, rubbing his hands together excitedly. "Usually I just see it as a baby, and then grown up - or one time, I saw them all grown up and then as a baby and then as a young adult. That was River, actually ...."

"Doctor, stop," Melody said, shaking her head. "I don't know if you're actually going to see Oliver grow up in real time."

"What do you mean?"

"I'm not sure ..." she began. She forced herself to take a deep breath and continue. "I'm not sure that I want to stay in the TARDIS with Oliver. There's too much danger wherever we go, not to mention that there's always a possibility that I won't be able to find what I need for him ...."

Connor nodded gently as the Doctor turned his gaze over to him, showing that he and Melody had indeed discussed this before.

"Let's not deal with this now," Melody said softly. While others were about to protest, she just looked down at her baby.

"You're going to be very handsome, Oliver," she cooed, "just like your father." Then she turned around to look at Connor himself.

"He's going to be a wonderful boy," the Doctor agreed, looking over from the side.

"Because of his parents, of course," Clara chipped in.

Connor seemed to have a moment of realisation as he stood there, listening to the others. He walked over to Melody, immediately snagging her attention.

"Melody, can you come with me?" Connor asked. "And, er, leave Oliver behind for a few minutes."

Melody's face immediately creased in confusion as she looked over to Connor. Her baby was hardly more than a week old, she wasn't going to just simply leave him behind!

"What do you want?" she asked, feeling suspicious. "Is there really something you can't do here, with Oliver?"

"It'll take just a few minutes. I think, anyways - er ..." Connor said. "Just come on. Come with me."

"I'll take Oliver," Clara volunteered. "I've been a nanny for long enough to handle a baby, I think."

Melody looked over at Clara for a few moments. She had hardly taken her arms away from Oliver for more than a few seconds unless she absolutely had to. But Connor was adamant on taking her away, at least for a minute. She wasn't willing to fight this battle, yet.

"Here," Melody said reluctantly, gently holding out Oliver so that Clara could take him. Unlike what she had expected, he did not burst into messy tears or start to fidget. He was completely calm and almost entirely still. Of course, this only gave her more reason to worry - maybe something was wrong.

"No, no, I need him," she began to say.

"Melody, Melody, please," Connor said, taking her shoulder. Their eyes met as she turned around, and both of them had a moment where they realised just how young they were. Each were hardly into their twenties, just barely grasping what it was like to be a grown-up.

And yet, there they were, having gone through more life within than the past year than many would experience in eighty. There was their child Oliver, curled up safely in Clara's arms. They had been throughout time and space and been separated from one another out of nowhere in order for a sacrifice.

Neither one had to say a word to know that they were both thinking and feeling the exact same thing.

"Come on," Connor finally said. "The sooner we go ahead with this, the sooner you can get back to Oliver."

Melody nodded and took his hand as soon as he stretched it out. With just a glance behind her, she went off with him into the halls of the TARDIS.

"Do you know what's going on?" the Doctor asked, his eyebrows furrowing. "This all just came out of nowhere, really - not that I mind, it's just that I can't help but me curious about all of this, mostly because it seems like there's something you're not telling me."

"Maybe it's because there's something I'm not telling you," Clara said, laughing slightly as she rocked Oliver back and forth in her arms.

"Secrets never end well," the Doctor said, ignoring the fact that he tended to keep lots of secrets for himself. "You might as well just go ahead and tell me now to avoid all of that pain."

"I think you'll find out exactly what's going on soon enough," Clara said, smirking slightly. She enjoyed this feeling of having something to hide. It certainly wasn't anything harmful, and that made it all the more fun.

The TARDIS control room was buzzing with the air of anticipation, including more curiosity from the Doctor's side. Even though Clara knew what was coming, she was still very excited.

"I told you it'd just be a few minutes," Connor's voice said as the couple began to turn around the corner. Melody didn't make a response as she moved forwards. As they entered the control room once again, it became clear that they were holding hands with one another.

Glimmering on Melody's left hand was a diamond ring. She was twiddling her fingers as if she were playing a piano against her leg, trying to get used to the feeling of a new object being placed there. But she certainly wasn't unhappy about it - there was more of a shine in her eyes then there was in the ring that had brought it there.

"I guess we're really going to be the Dale family soon," she said. Connor just simply allowed her to move onwards with her explanation. He was beaming just as much as she was. This was the moment he had been waiting for this entire time.

"Melody Dale," she said, trying out the name on her tongue for the first time.

"You're not Melody Dale quite yet," Connor replied. "But soon, very soon, you will be."

"True," she replied. "But I'm still Oliver Dale's mother, and I need him back in my arms."

Melody walked over to Clara, finally separating her hands from Connor's. All the while, Clara had been continuing to rock Oliver into his slumber. She became interested to see the new engagement ring - she had always liked rings, after all, but this was different. Melody sensed this and put out her hand so that Clara could see better.

"It's lovely," Clara said, unable to keep a smile off of her lips. "Congratulations to both of you."

"And to Oliver," Melody said, nodding down towards her son. "He's going to benefit from this as well."

Melody took Oliver back into her arms with a large grin right as a thought popped into her mind.

"Connor," she said, still looking down at Oliver. "When, exactly, did you get the time to buy me this ring?"

"Easy," he replied. "When you were resting in the hospital after having Oliver. Your brother and Clara helped, as well."

"That was where you all disappeared to," the Doctor said, heaving a sigh. "You know, you could've included me."

"We were going to, but you were too busy trying to explain dimensional transcendence to Mr. Birch," Clara laughed. "The three of us decided that we'd be better off just leaving you behind. You didn't seem to notice when we first left."ty

"Ah, you young people, going off and doing all of your ... young people things," the Doctor said. But as these words were coming out of a man that looked to be barely in his thirties, it only succeeded in bringing out another round of giggles in the room.

"Yes, I guess you could call it that," Clara squeezed out between several laughs.

"But all that really matters is that they were very successful in going out and getting an engagement ring," Melody said. "Now there's going to be a wedding. I just hope that'll be as successful as the whole engagement was."

"Oh, weddings, yes!" the Doctor said. "I love weddings!"

"You do?" Connor asked.

"Don't sound so surprised, you've never seen me at a wedding before," he said, becoming mockingly serious. "Just you wait. You'll see."

"Now I have to do wedding planning for this on top of caring for Oliver, oh- " Melody began, closing her eyes as she heaved out a sigh.

"Don't forget that you're in a time machine," the Doctor called out. "You have all the time in the universe to get this wedding together."

"But ..." Melody began to protest. Her mind was beginning to spin with all of the different thoughts. One started to surface, making her face drop.

"There's something I need to tell you," Melody said quietly. "I guess that now we're engaged it's the right time for you to hear it."

"Oh, God," Connor said, his face dropping. Although this was a one-on-one conversation, the Doctor and Clara soon noticed the change of tone in the room and became intrigued. Both of them were eavesdropping, whether they would admit it or not.

"Oh, no, it's not bad ..." Melody assured, squeezing her eyes shut. "I mean, I don't think it's bad, not really ...."

"Melody, just - just go ahead and tell me, okay?" Connor said, reaching out a hand to touch her upper arm gently. She refused to look at him for the moment, embarrassed by how she had caused everything to get tense. Instead she stared down adoringly at Oliver, watching as her baby gently fell asleep.

"Oliver here isn't human," she said. "He was never human, not from the moment he was conceived. At least ... that's what I think is the case. I'm not fully sure."

"What?" Connor said, letting out a laugh as if he were unsure whether this were a joke or not. "What do you mean, Melody?"

"He's a Child of the TARDIS."

"A - what?"

"A Child of the TARDIS!" Melody repeated, still staring down at Oliver. "I'm not using any sort of pretentious wording, you can understand exactly what I'm saying."

"Pretentious wording, I - Melody, I don't understand. Last time I checked, we were both fully human. Are you, er, not human? Are you actually the TARDIS? How could Oliver be the child of the TARDIS?"

"The parents don't matter, I don't think ... I mean, we're both human. You're right."

"I don't understand," Connor just kept saying. "He doesn't look alien to me, he looks -"

"He looks like you," Melody said with a weak smile. "Yes, I know."

"And like you," he replied. "But ... how ..."

The Doctor, although he knew that he shouldn't have been listening in to what they were saying, raised his hand and called out an answer. "Think of it this way, Connor! I'm alien, but I still look what you consider human. Or rather, you humans all look like Time Lords."

Connor looked down at Oliver, avoiding everything else in the room in the same way Melody did. She was doing the exact same thing as she brought up her subject matter again.

"I don't think it's a bad thing. I don't think it's a bad thing at all, really. I've met a Child of the TARDIS before, and she was wonderful. Maybe ... maybe there were a few things off, but it had nothing to do with her. Trust me here, Connor."

"It's all just ... I don't ... I wasn't expecting any of this."

"None of us were," Melody said, shaking her head. At the exact same moment, both of them looked up and met eyes, causing them to smile. The TARDIS control room became nearly silent for several moments as they stared at once another. While it was beautiful for them, the Doctor and Clara were excessively awkward. Clara ended up letting out a cough in order to break the silence.

"Connor, let's not argue or anything already, please?" Melody asked, saying the first word. "We just got engaged. We should leave all the arguing for when we're properly married."

"Or maybe we could ... er ... not argue at all," Connor suggested.

"That would be nice," Melody admitted, "but think about it. Is that really a possibility?"

"Please don't tell me we're about to argue about whether we're going to argue or not," Connor groaned.

"Not if you don't want to," she replied, leaning over to peck a quick kiss on his cheek. "He'll grow up, and it'll all be wonderful."

"When do you think Oliver will be old enough to walk? Or, better yet, when do you think Oliver will be old enough to run?" the Doctor asked excitedly, trying to lighten the mood.

"It's going to be a while," Clara said.

"A while?"

"Months and months. It takes time for a baby to grow, you know!" Melody said, jumping in. "I've been looking at more books in the library, but I can't quite remember how long they say."

"Does it really matter all that much?" Connor asked. "I mean, he's going to grow up one way or another. It doesn't matter how soon he'll walk, or talk, or anything."

"I agree with my new fiance," Melody said, smiling over towards him.

Oliver started squirming around in Melody's arms, causing her to let out an "oh". She adjusted him for a moment, and then she started to to walk away from the group.

"Time for Oliver to take a nap," she said when she received strange looks from the rest of the people in the room.

"I'm coming with you," Connor said.

"Oh, you don't need to do that," Melody said with a slight walk, shaking her head.

"We're engaged now," he replied. "You better get used to doing things along with me, because that's what it's going to be like once we're married."

"It's already like that," Melody laughed. The soon-to-be Dale family then left the TARDIS control room where the Doctor and Clara began to discuss them.

"I can't believe they're getting married," Clara said, crossing her arms. "I mean, I've known that it was coming for a long time, but it's still so strange."

"Stranger than them already having a baby?" the Doctor asked.

"You've got a point there," Clara admitted. "They're already a family, I guess. The marriage is just a way to make it all official, yeah?"

"That would make the most sense," the Doctor said. "That, and they've been in love for quite a while despite the fact they weren't near one another for so long."

"What they have is very special, that's for sure," Clara said. "But it seems like they might want to leave the TARDIS."

"They can't," the Doctor said, even though he didn't sound sure. "They're part of this family."

A/N Surely I can't be the only one who finds the relationship between Connor and Melody to be absolutely adorable. Surely this cannot be. But whatever...because this is the penultimate chapter of this story! Can you believe it? I can't. But who cares. I'm so happy about it anyways.