Amelia Pond spent every recess sitting under the slide by the jungle gym frantically coloring a bright blue box on a piece of yellow construction paper. She was an odd girl who spent a great deal of time alone. She didn't want to be a loner but she spoke about her imaginary friend a bit too often and the other kids called her crazy. Amy's fascination with her imaginary friend made the adults uncomfortable too. She school suggested she see a psychiatrist but no one could get through to her.

Rory was a loner too but not in the same way Amy was. Amy was talkative and definitely not shy. She intimidated others so she found herself alone a lot of the time. Rory was quite the opposite. He had this overwhelming need to be needed. He craved companionship but he wasn't very good at starting conversation with people. He was very quiet and shy around strangers but he desperately wanted to make friends.

"Hi" Rory whispered as he sat under the slide with Amy. It was hot out and boys were chasing him with a big red rubber ball. They decided he was the target for the day. "Mind if I sit here?"

"Yeah, whatever" Amy continued to color.

"Umm... what are you making?" Rory wanted to be friendly but feared bothering her with his questions.

"The Tardis." Amy put the picture right up to his face. "It's a spaceship!" She suddenly got excited. "It looks like a box and it says police but he's not a police man!" She pointed at the man she'd drawn beside the blue box. "He's The Doctor" Amy whispered the last bit with dramatic emphasis.

"What kind of doctor?" Rory was quite taken by Amy's story telling.

"The Raggedy Doctor." Amy handed Rory the picture. "You can have this one. I have a million pictures of The Doctor at home"

"Wow, thanks" Rory smiled and felt quite happy with himself for having a successful interaction with someone for once.

Amy was also happy she had someone listening to her. She hated being alone but she didn't show it. Amelia Pond wasn't afraid of anything; or so she lead others to believe.

"FIGHT!" They heard kids in the playground screaming. Amy and Rory came out from under the slide to see a girl punch another kid square in the jaw. "Mommy!" He screamed as he ran away.

Mels stopped when she saw Amy and Rory watching her dust herself off. "Who are you?" She shot them a look.

"I'm Amy! This is Rory" Amy pointed to her new friend.

"A boyfriend" Melody Zucker smiled mischievously.

"A friend friend" Amy replied quickly as Rory stood by trying not to be embarrassed.

"Ok sure" Melody winked. They weren't ready yet, of course. They were only children. Melody looked just like any other 7 year old but she'd been around a lot longer than that. She had a little bit of trouble keeping track but she remembered it was about 25-ish years ago when she found herself in a New York alleyway regenerating. She'd done it once before but she couldn't remember how long ago it was. Mels had nearly 40 years of experience but she looked like a child.

Melody knew who Amy and Rory were. She'd heard the legends and made her way to Leadworth to find them. She adopted the surname Zucker and was given a place to stay in a nearby children's home but it was her parents she wished she could be home with.

Melody was sent to the principal's office for the fight in the playground. She had a real talent for causing trouble. Mels sat as she looked longingly out the office door to see Amy and Rory's eyes peeking through the crack of the slightly open door.

She walked out slowly with a smile on her face. Melody was so happy to have found her parents even if they were looking at her with a mixture of awe and disapproval.

"Are you alright?" Rory asked a little worried for her yet slightly frightened by her. "Are you in trouble?" He didn't want her to be in trouble but Rory was pretty sure she was. He had an overwhelming urge to make sure she was safe although they'd only just met. Rory was always the empathetic sort but this was different somehow.

"I can get a bit crazy sometimes." Mels shrugged with a smirk on her face. "But I don't know why everyone's on my back all the time."

"You punched Jeff in the face. He went to the nurse's office with a loose tooth. You literally knocked his teeth out." Rory explained. "It's no surprise you've made the principal's most wanted list." Rory noticed Melody was looking a bit down on herself. "But I know Jeff and..sometimes I kind of want to punch him in the face too." He smiled when he saw his words made her feel better. "But I'm not agreeing with it either." He felt the need to add.

"Yeah, like he said." Amelia added as she crossed her arms in disapproval.

"Yeah, yeah. Whatever. I was never very good at self-control." Melody rolled her eyes. She couldn't show it but deep down she was so overjoyed to have her parents back. Even if they were trying to scold her. "Thanks for checking on me though.. I mean, no one ever cares if I get in trouble"

"Do you not have any friends?" Amy asked.

"No" Melody crossed her arms.

"I don't really have any friends either." Rory looked down at the ground as he spoke.

"Not true because I'm your friend now." Amelia corrected him very matter of factly. Rory's face lit up at the realization that Amy had officially considered him a friend.

Amy went into her backpack and found a drawing she'd made and handed it to Melody. "This is me and this is the doctor. We're holding hands because we're going on an adventure together. Now that you're my friend too I'll add you to the picture so you can travel with us. I'll draw you right here." Amy pointed to the blank stop to the left of the paper.

"What about me?" Rory felt left out suddenly.

"Um.. There's no room left. But why don't you guys come over for a sleepover party and Rory, you can be The Doctor and we'll be your companions? I'll dress you up like him so we can play." Amy was getting very excited about her new friends.

Never could they have imagined just how important their friendship could be.