Just watched/rewatched the Matt Smith & Peter Capaldi seasons of Doctor Who. This is only meant as a one-shot, apologies if there are some inconsistencies. Takes place after 'Let's Kill Hitler' but before 'The Wedding of River Song'. BBC owns characters.

Enjoy x

Amy tosses and turns on the bed next to an obliviously sleeping Rory, struggling to find sleep with the thoughts swirling around her head.

It's been three weeks since they've left River in the care of the sisters of the infinite schism and despite the Doctor's constant reassurances, Amy is still uncertain about just leaving her there.

Realistically, a part of her knows it's the right thing to do; she doesn't know much about being a parent, let alone being one to a part time-lady who's years, probably decades, older than her. Did Melody, the one recovering in a hospital bed, really need her parent's troubles on top of her own right now?

She'd grown up with River, with Mels, who had so endearingly called Amy and Rory 'Mummy' and 'Daddy' during her little attempted murder of the Doctor. But did River actually think of them as her parents? Was there a part of her that wanted to call them 'Mum' and 'Dad'? …Would she ever call them that?

River hasn't called her 'Mother' before, not really, not properly. Even when she dropped them home after Demon's Run, she stuck to 'Amy' and 'Rory', possibly to give them time to process everything. And then Berlin had happened, and they'd watched as Mels regenerated into River before their eyes. Mels, who'd called them 'Amy' and 'Rory' for so long.

If she's being honest with herself, Amy isn't sure if she's ready for River bloody Song, the enigmatic woman with wild hair who jumps out of spaceships, winks at security cameras and keeps outrageously flirting with the Doctor, to call her 'Mum'.

Just thinking about it makes her head spin.

She sighs and rubs a hand over her tired eyes; it looks like sleep won't be coming to her anytime soon. She turns and looks at her husband's sleeping form before carefully slipping out of bed and heading towards the kitchen.

She plans on taking advantage of the empty Tardis and making herself a cup of tea, perhaps she'll venture to the library and find a book to read; the Doctor was bound to have one boring enough to send her to sleep.

They'd landed on some strange alien scavenger planet earlier that evening and she'd only listened to half the Doctor's muttered ramblings about new parts for the Tardis before she'd realised he was likely to be gone all night searching for things. Hopefully he'd stay out of trouble this time and not accidentally sell himself as a slave like he'd inadvertently done last week. Running from angry slave traders was not an experience she wanted to repeat anytime soon.

Either way, the Doctor was likely to be sufficiently occupied for the rest of the night so it was the perfect opportunity to peruse the shelves of that massive library.

Turning the corner, she freezes when she hears low voices coming from the control room. The rational side of her mind tells her it's most likely the Doctor rambling to himself again, after all, he is the only one with a key, but the more paranoid side is convincing her to sneak a peek, just to be sure.

Steeling her resolve, she edges quietly down the corridor and creeps closer to the top of the stairs. There's no voices anymore but she can still hear someone moving about downstairs. She really, really hopes it's the Doctor, and not some weird scavenger aliens out to steal the Tardis.

Blinking into the brighter lights of the control room, it quickly becomes apparent that one of the voices did belong to the Doctor, and the other to her complicated, curly-haired daughter/best friend – Melody Pond. The lack of talking easily explained by the fact they're both currently preoccupied…with each other.

River is perched on the main console with her legs wrapped around the Doctor who is stood in front of her, his legs positioned either side of her. Her hands are grasping the lapels of his jacket, and he has one hand tangled in her hair whilst the other is gripping her waist possessively as they kiss rather enthusiastically for such a public setting.

The words tumble out of her mouth before she can stop them.

"MELODY POND! What do you think you're doing?"

They both startle at her voice and the Doctor awkwardly scrambles away from River, turning swiftly on his heel and almost losing his balance, grabbing at the control panel to stop himself from face-planting the shiny glass floor.

River snorts in amusement before fluffing her hair and turning to face Amy.

"Mother!" She exclaims, with a wide smile and slightly hazy eyes "I didn't know you and Dad were on board!" she says before turning and smacking the Doctor across his arm.

"Ow! River! What was that for!" He whines, pouting at River and rubbing his arm.

"You didn't tell me my parents were with you!" River scolds, frowning at the Doctor in annoyance.

He scratches the side of his face sheepishly and grins at her. "Er…I guess I forgot…I got a bit distracted" he mumbles.

River rolls her eyes in exasperation but the slight quirk of her lips portrays her amusement.

"Hopeless" She sighs, turning to Amy. "Couldn't you just knock some sense into him sometimes?" She asks with a mischievous grin.

Amy gives a small smile in response, not entirely processing the conversation around her.

She hasn't been called that before. This is clearly an older River. One who is familiar with her and Rory knowing who she is. One who is also clearly rather familiar with the Doctor too.

Amy's lack of response goes unnoticed by River, as she's currently wrapped up in the Doctor's arms again and they're laughing and whispering between themselves.

Amy smiles at the sweet moment between the two time-travellers, it's good to see them both being so light-hearted.

It's then that the Doctor's voice carries across the room louder than she thinks he probably intended and in a tone that she really, really doesn't want to hear directed at her daughter. "Oh, you bad, bad girl, whatever shall I do with you...hmm?"

Amy clears her throat and raises an eyebrow at the Doctor, who doesn't look the slightest bit ashamed at being caught out and River doesn't seem to mind, if the look on her face is anything to go by.

Instead, he swings one arm out and rather jubilantly shouts "AMELIA POND! The girl with the fairytaleish name! THANK YOU for this amazing timey-wimey daughter of yours!"

Amy frowns at that, it's a rather odd announcement, even for him, and is it her imagination or do his words have a slight slur to them?

He approaches the bottom of the stairs, as if to climb up to pull her down, but barely makes it past the first step before he's flailing around and grabbing onto the railings.

Amy's eyebrows climb in surprise. He isn't always the most co-ordinated person in the room, but he's not normally that clumsy.

"Doctor, are you drunk?" She asks incredulously. She has never seen the Doctor drunk, not even at her and Rory's wedding. Then again, she muses, it had mainly been wine, something she knew the Doctor didn't particularly have a taste for.

River is now laughing from her position on the main console, making no move to get down and help her…boyfriend? Lover? Just what was going on between the Doctor and River anyway? She frowns inwardly, after all the flirting and innuendos she's witnessed flying between them, she isn't sure she wants to know.

The Doctor, who is now lying casually at the bottom of the stairs, tilts his head back and grins up at her rather boyishly. Sometimes she has trouble remembering just how old he is.

"D'you know, Pond, that you are stood on the ceiling. I think you're the one who's drunk" He proclaims. Amy rolls her eyes, well, that answers that question.

River slides off the console and makes her way over to where the Doctor is lying. She grabs his hand and hauls him to his feet with a surprising amount of strength, pulling him up the stairs behind her. "Time for bed, I think" she announces with a smirk.

It's only when River reaches Amy and plants a kiss on her cheek with an obnoxiously loud "Night, Mother" does she realise that River is rather inebriated herself. Otherwise, she might have noticed her slight flinch when River calls her that for the second time in a matter of minutes.

Suddenly feeling rather exhausted, Amy sighs and heads back to her and Rory's room, trying not to think about the fact that River has unknowingly answered some of her questions but also left her with a few more. Or that River and the Doctor have gone off in the same direction, probably to the same room.

She carefully climbs back into bed, trying not to disturb Rory. Falling asleep almost as soon as her head hits the pillow, her last remaining thought that she hopes time-lords still get hangovers.

The next morning, her and Rory are sat at the kitchen table when the two time-travellers amble in.

Fresh-faced and dressed in a white shirt and jeans, River looks no worse for wear; almost as if she hadn't spent the night drinking copious amounts of alien alcohol and propositioning the Doctor on top of the Tardis controls.

In fact, if Amy didn't know better, she'd have assumed River had simply boarded the ship that morning. Her lack of interest in the food that she and Rory have spread over the table, however is rather telling.

The Doctor refuses to meet her eye and instead heads straight for the fridge.

"Morning Ponds" he mumbles, his voice slightly muffled whilst he stuffs his head in the fridge and roots around for something, probably custard Amy thinks. Or perhaps he's trying to calm the blush that sprung up on his cheeks as soon as he entered the Kitchen.

She turns back to River who is still leaning against the doorway and it's then that she realises River's shirt is rather oversized and looks suspiciously like the one the Doctor wore in Berlin. Amy's eyes narrow.

"Morning…Mum…Dad" River greets, causing Rory to splutter in surprise, almost choking on his coffee.

River blinks slowly and smiles at them, appearing to assess their reactions. Clearly her and the Doctor had done their diary exchange at some point and she's now aware just where they are in the timeline. Berlin had only been a few weeks ago for them. Her confident smile dips for a second. "Is it ok? If I call you that?" she asks tentatively.

Amy feels a grin stretching across her face as she beams at River, "Yeah, I'd like that."

Beside her, Rory, having recovered from the initial shock, smiles up at their daughter "Yeah, me too" He goes to take a sip from his coffee before a thought occurs to him "Did you just stop by for breakfast then, do you do that a lot, I mean?"

The Doctor's head snaps up in alarm and he finally meets Amy's eyes, a frantic expression on his face.

River nods as she moves to take a seat at the table, brushing her fingers against the Doctor's arm as she moves past him. "Well, I was in the area, so I thought I'd drop in, and yes it's sort of a…habit I suppose." She says, smirking in the Doctor's direction. "You'll be seeing a lot more of me"

Rory, seemingly oblivious to the Doctor's discomfort and the fact that his daughter is currently wearing a man's shirt, accepts River's answer at face value.

Amy, however, raises an eyebrow at River with a look that clearly says, 'we'll talk about this later' and to her surprise, the audacious River Song blushes under her Mother's gaze.

Amy takes a sip from her tea to hide her smile. Perhaps she's rather good at this parenting thing after all.

hope you all enjoyed, I may continue with a few more of these when/where inspiration strikes. Would have liked to have seen more Pond family interactions on the show

any feedback is welcome

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