Melody Malone and the Invisible Wife

[songofsong]

PROLOGUE

It was another dark and dangerous night on the streets of New York. Well, it was always one of those. And that was just the way I liked it.

After all, that was my profession. As a detective, those streets were what kept me alive, and for as long as the people of New York kept giving into their paranoia and fear, I would be in business. It seemed people would pay a high price to feel safe in their beds at night, and I too slept a little easier, knowing I had the villains caught and money in my pocket.

And what villains they were indeed. For I didn't deal with wanted criminals or the occasional ruffian the police failed to catch; my customers were of a more particular variety, and too were their problems. I could say it was because these particular clients paid me rather handsomely, or that I felt some kind of noble responsibility to keep New York safe - but none of that was true.

The reason I did it, was because I loved it.

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[songofsong]

His confusion causes her to regard him sharply, half annoyed, half concerned he'd had another bout of amnesia. She needs him to work with her on this, she needs to know what he knows. Trust the only person who might have any answers be one who's liable to forget them at any moment.

"That's where the car was last sighted. Doctor, are you taking any of this in?" She can't help but be exasperated. Her entire life is in this folder, and she can't move on until this case is closed. She rubs at her forehead with a hand, sitting back and deciding this called for cigarette. Well, any moment seemed to call for a cigarette.

[bowtimeandspace]

"Car... yes, yes of course." But really, no, not of course. He's confused, and he frowns, unable to make sense of it at all. What's happened here? How can he have just forgotten hours?

"The car..."

Another beat.

"Actually no, sorry, what? A minute ago, I was going to sleep, and then now..." he glances down, nice new set of clothing, apparently it's daytime, none of this he recalls.

[songofsong]

Melody nods slowly as he begins talking again, assuming he was getting himself back on track. She busies herself with lighting meanwhile, shaking out the match before she propped her elbows on the desk, slipping another countless cigarette between her lips.

But when he starts again, she quickly looks over, confused, before her eyes roll and she realises its happened again.

Pushing away from her desk, she sinks back in her seat, folding one arm and giving him a levelled look. “Doctor, you’ve been in my office for the past hour, and getting nowhere fast,” she tells him, pointing at him with her smoking cigarette.

“And now you’re telling me you’ve suddenly forgotten all of that?” she asks, waving that hand aside, wanting an explanation.

[bowtimeandspace]

"No. No I'm telling you none of that happened. I'm telling you I was there and now I'm here. I don't know what's going on here, but I didn't black out. I didn't pass out. You'd know if I had, wouldn't you? But there was nothing, was there, nothing at all."

He pauses then, takes a deep breath as he looks around the room in the light of day. There's something still a little off about it; something he can't quite put his finger on.

Well, apart from the whole sitting chatting with a fictional character bit.

Maybe he finally is just going mad.

[songofsong]

Something Melody seems to be thinking along the same lines of, judging by the way her eyebrows raise and she looks aside, concentrating on a well needed drag of her cigarette before she speaks

A puff of smoke joins the steadily building smog about them before she considers herself calm enough to reply. She takes a small breath before she sits forward, lowering her voice and speaking in a sure tone.

"I can assure you, you've been here all morning. Nothing happened to you while you've been with me."

[bowtimeandspace]

The Doctor coughs a little pointedly and waves his hand in front of him to disperse a little of the smog.

He leans forward, just as she does, his face close to hers.

"Then that's exactly my point, isn't it? Nothing happened to me. So what's going on here?"

Almost like punctuation, he reaches out and grabs her cigarette from her hand, stubbing it out on her desk.

[songofsong]

Melody opens her mouth to respond when he grabs for her cigarette and puts it out. She stares, for a moment too stunned to really comprehend his actions before her expression sets in annoyance.

Without remarking upon it, she slowly sits back in her seat, as though that makes her point enough, folding her arms.

"Ok, let's go back to the beginning. What's the last thing you remember?"

[bowtimeandspace]

He huffs out a long breath. This is just ridiculous, isn't it? He half wonders if he's about to wake up out of it.

If only he'd pay attention to that a little more.

"I remember last night. Or at least I assume it's last night," he's ever so slightly flippant about the matter. "I was on your couch. And now I'm here."

[songofsong]

Melody considers him thoughtfully, trying to make sense of this. She's come across some strange things in her time, but never a man who kept forgetting. She'd wave it off as something medical, but it seems to be something more. Something she can't quite figure out.

"You don't remember anything from this morning?" she tries, tilting her head as she studies his face. "What about if I told you we had eggs for breakfast, does that trigger anything?"

[bowtimeandspace]

He pauses a moment, as if to think about it, but nothing comes back.

"No," he tells her. "It doesn't. Nor do these clothes I'm wearing, or the fact my hair is like this. I'm assuming I did it at some point, unless you got me dressed. But then that really is the sort of thing I think I'd remember, Melody."

[songofsong]

An eyebrow raises that immediately shuts that idea down. As the night before, it seems she's not quite as receptive to his suggestions as River would've been.

"I'm sure it is, honey," she says dryly, before she shakes her head. "I really don't know, Doctor. I can't see any reason why you'd be forgetting things like this. It's like you weren't even here."

[bowtimeandspace]

"Exactly, it's like I wasn't even here." He reaches up, pinches his brow and takes a long breath. It's frustrating, and makes no sense. Perhaps the only thing he can do to try and work it out is simply carry on.

"Fine," he says, "Fine. What were you trying to show me?"