Jack's POV

 "Don't you dare dissect that hot dog," the Doctor threatened Melody as we walked away from the hot dog stand. She rolled her eyes. "Dad, removing the bun of a hot dog is not dissecting it."

"I don't care. Don't do it. It annoys me. And you're dripping mustard on your shirt."

"Give the kid a break," I said. Melody glared at me. "Stay out of this, Jack."

"Ooooh, I'm scared," I teased. Melody turned to her dad. "Permission to slap?"

"Aww, come on, I was just joking," I muttered.

The Doctor didn't give me a second glance. "Permission granted, Melody."

I wore the imprint of her hand on my face for the rest of the day.

Melody's POV

That felt good. It did. I wiped the ketchup off my face and slam dunked it into a waste basket. I ran to catch up with Dad. "So, Dad, what'll we do?"

"What do you mean? With Jack or with the fact we can't go anywhere?"

"Both. What are we gonna do?"

"With Jack, I'd like to ditch him(again) and with the fact we can't go anywhere, well, trouble tends to find me. So yeah."

"You ditched him once?! High-five me, Dad!"

"I don't do high-fives-" he began, but Jack jumped in. "Whatcha talkin' about?"

"Is it true Dad ditched you once?" I asked eagerly.

 "Yeah, and he knew I was alive. Not very nice."

"Dad, I love you! You're the coolest living thing alive!"

He smiled and held up his hands. "Thank you, Melody."

"Wait, you're happy your daddy ditched me? Doctor, you're daughter's the devil!" Jack exclaimed. I rolled my eyes. "Yeah, I'm happy!"

"Why? You've got a problem with me?"

"No she doesn't," said Dad quickly, giving me a warning look. I nodded. "Yeah, I don't have anything against you."

I didn't say I didn't have a problem. It's just... he was so annoying, so...flirty. I couldn't stand it. I really couldn't.

"Good. I'm glad and happy," said Jack.

"Glad and happy are the same thing," I muttered.

"What?"

"Nothing," I said quickly. He raised his eyebrows but kept his silence. I turned to Dad. "What do you think is going to happen?"

"Honestly? No clue. We can't go anywhere, we can't ditch Jack because even though he's rather annoying, he'd still find me," then he added under his breath, "again."

"Again?"

He nodded. I thought it over. Captain Jack Harkness. Ditched by the Doctor, found the Doctor twice or more times, and on top of it all, super annoying. And a flirt. He sickened me. In my eyes, he looked like a punching bag. I smiled. The thought of beating Jack up was a little amusing. Dad looked at me. "What's the joke?"

I realized I had been giggling softly. "Just a thought I had."

"Really? If it's so funny, can you tell me?"

"Nah, I'd like to keep it to myself."

He raised his eyebrows but said nothing. People had been raising their eyebrows at me a lot. I began to ignore it.

We reached the TARDIS. Dad unlocked the door, looked inside, and grimaced. I looked over his shoulder and saw why.

The fungus had grown through the holes and was spreading it across the top of the floor.