Tough day, wasn't it? John Smith asked Rose once she'd been lying in bed restless for nearly an hour that night. Learning about what happened to Hannah along how Truman had kicked Laura Benton and Victoria Harris out of Northern Horizons had troubled both Rose and Jackie throughout the whole day, and even though Jackie had been able to sleep as soon as she went to bed after her full hour of writing (which she'd managed to do every day throughout their stay at Northern Horizons so far without failure), she was now endlessly mumbling while tossing and turning, a clear sign that she was having a troubling sleep, and Rose feared that it be the same for her if she fell asleep.

It sure was, John Smith Rose answered sadly. But why didn't you tell me everything that I forgot about the vision, and why did you tell me that none of it would matter when it turned out to be completely real? You're supposed to tell me the truth about everything, so why did you have to start telling lies now?

Now Rose, I never told you that it wouldn't matter, just that nothing in the vision could hurt you, John Smith explained in a patient tone. Also, the reason you forgot it all is similar to why the night terrors children your age sometimes get forgotten: because remembering such frightening images would cause fear to the point of craziness due to not being able to understand how such bad things can be so real in the mind, so your mind erases all memory of these images upon waking up in order to protect you from further harm. Since this is the worst vision you've had so far, your mind reacted similarly as if you'd had a night terror for these exact reasons. Do you understand what I mean?

I think so, Rose said, even though she was a little confused by parts of this explanation. Now what about Victoria Harris? Why did she have a dream that was a lot like my vision even though I couldn't see her in it?

Much to Rose's surprise, John Smith reacted to this by laughing. Rose Tyler, I thought you'd become very good at recognizing my former friends at this point! Do you really mean to say that you spend all this time around Victoria and not once were you able to catch a thought on my second self?

No, Rose responded, a lot more confused than she'd been before. But why was that, John Smith? If I was able to tell really quickly that Harry Sullivan was your companion, then why couldn't I do the same with Victoria?

My guess is that it was for reasons similar to why you couldn't do the same with Sarah Jane, John Smith started explaining once again. You see, Victoria Waterfield was one of the youngest friends I ever had travelling with me. The only others I had who were as close to her age were either from other planets, from the future, or somewhat accustomed to modern technology already. Victoria, however, came from 1866 and had very little experience with modern technology apart from what her inventor father, who managed to invent an early version of the time machine, had shown her. As a result, her body wasn't able to fully absorb some of the radiation and other chemicals which time travels get exposed to in large, and often dangerous, amounts. With some of my friends, this has resulted in serious sickness after travelling with me, but with Victoria, the combination of being both young and inexperienced with modern technology resulted in her no longer being able to age after a certain point. Based on what I managed to see of her today, she probably stopped aging when she was about eighteen, which is probably the best case scenario. This means that part of the time traveling energy from the TARDIS remained a permanent part of her, which meant having some sort of connection to my power, and therefore, an ability to connect mentally with someone like you.

I see, Rose said. And was there something going on with Laura, too?

Not really, besides the fact that she's the niece of Sergeant John Benton, whom I knew from my years UNIT back in the seventies or eighties; I never can seem to remember when it was anymore. That, and also witnessing the death of poor Hannah Lewis. It's traumatized her quite a lot, even though she tried so hard not to show it. However, I'm very glad that you, your mum, and now Victoria have her by your side. She's every bit as resourceful and warm as her uncle is, and I believe she'll be willing to protect others just as much as he did.

That sounds good, Rose said. But is it bad to stop aging, John Smith?

Not completely. People who go through this are more likely to avoid many of the diseases and mental digression which come along with old age. However, some of the more difficult things about being a teenagers, like having many strong feelings and acting impulsively, still remain in place, which often make it difficult for these people to become socially and emotionally grown up. From what I was able to detect in Victoria, she seems to have doing quite well in many ways. She now speaks five languages, has had jobs in many different fields of work, has travelled to many countries, and has even read almost as many books as I have, which has probably helped her a lot as an English teacher. Now there's a friend who's certainly made progress since leaving me, and given how vulnerable and scared she was back when she traveled with me and Jamie McCrimmon, I couldn't be more proud of her.

But it hasn't been very easy for her either, Rose added in, not believing that Victoria had seemed that happy despite what she'd been able to accomplish.

That's right, John Smith said empathetically. Victoria started traveling with me because her father had been killed by the Deleks, so things had been difficult for her from the start. And from what I detected today, the struggles didn't end after she found a home and got adopted. The family that took her in ended up rejecting her later on because they were convinced that she was ungrateful for all they'd done for her, when they actually refused to believe her when she shared her story with them. Once Victoria was on her own, although she sometimes managed to find friends or groups that made her feel welcomed and accepted, she almost always came home to an empty place, having to end most of her days coping with being alone, depressed, and having no one with whom she could share her biggest fears and sorrows. Add that with the fact that she's lost two close friends: one when she was a fisherwoman in Sweden after he drowned in a river while fishing, and then another during her days as a disk jockey in Brooklyn when he contacted the AIDS virus, and you can see that she's still had to deal with a handful of tragedies.

Poor Victoria, Rose said sympathetically. Did you ever try finding her again later on?

I did, actually, at the time when I was travelling with Nyssa around the early eighties, if I remember correctly. Like Victoria, Nyssa had also lost her family at the hands of one of my worst enemies, and from what I told her, she thought that Victoria was probably having a difficult life on account of having to transition to a completely different time period after having dealt with a serious loss, and suggested that meeting her would benefit us both after the death of Adric. As a result, we went to Brooklyn, ending up in the Golden Eagle night club where Victoria worked. Unfortunately, she only worked there during the weekends, so the disk jockey we ended up meeting that Wednesday evening was none other than the Looming Cloud, a dark being which targets night time hangouts, so that turned out becoming another confrontation with a monster rather than the happy reunion I was expecting, as is often my luck.

And is there anything you can do to help her now? Rose wanted to know.

I think there is, Rose, John Smith answered. As a matter of fact, seeing how much I was able to figure about Victoria despite being confined to your mind, I might be able to take a couple risks and see how far I can go with my current communication methods, because I think there's someone who might be able to help you all if I can reach her in some way.

And who is that?

You'll have to wait and see, John Smith said in a mischievous voice.

To say that Michael Truman had been deeply upset by the conduct of Laura Benton and Victoria Harris would have been an understatement. Not only had they made him angrier than he could ever recall being in his eleven years as the owner of Northern Horizons, but he felt as if they'd also downright insulted him, mocking the authority which had managed to keep both the staff and the hotel running smoothly and which allowed business to steadily increase over the years.

His mood must have been obvious through his appearance, since Nancy, a brunette who worked at the front desk accepting visitors and accepting fees, immediately looked worried upon seeing him enter. "Mr. Truman, is something wrong?" she asked with concern.

"Something is indeed very wrong," Truman replied firmly. "Yesterday, two visitors, both young women who happened to be part of the teachers' group which will coming in on Christmas Eve, caused chaos by informing Jackie about the tragic death of a friend during a very inappropriate time, and even assaulting Elaine by pushing her onto the floor so that they could get into the office more easily."

"Oh, God," Nancy said, shaking her head in disgust over what she'd just heard. "And you just let them get away with it?"

"I kicked them out, telling them that I'd be speaking with all of you to determine the past course of action," Truman explained.

"If I were you, Mr. Truman, I would have called the police!" Nancy exclaimed. "Allowing them to just go home without any consequences will convince them that they can easily return and cause even more trouble for you if they so choose. I saw how upset Jackie was yesterday as well, and I kept asking her if there was anything that I could do for her, and she responded by saying that perhaps I should speak with you since you were the one that caused her distress. Just imagine how manipulative those women must be if they convinced Jackie that you were the one intending to upset her, since we all know that everything you do for us is in our best interests; it even said so in our contracts."

"But the situation is tricky because at first, I was only having issues with one of the two women: Laura Benton, who is a Sergeant Lieutenant for the British Army. She'd apparently noticed that the friend who'd been murdered had been having emotional difficulties for weeks prior to her death. She kept insisting that she have a word with Jackie about it. Of course, I constantly reminded her of Northern Horizon's policy of noninterference in the personal affairs of employees from isn't a part of the staff, making it clear that it was in the best interest of everyone involved that we had such a policy in place. However, she kept bringing it up all the time, stubbornly insisting that I change my mind about it just because it all seemed so urgent to her.

"With Victoria Harris, on the other hand, I was indeed shocked to hear about her conduct. During my first meetings with her, she always gave off the impression of being a very polite and cooperative young lady, even a little old-fashioned, which always strikes me well. She never failed to give me a warm welcome or to apologize for her occasional mishaps, and always seemed to have something thoughtful to say; I was thinking that this was another Jackie Tyler for a while. There were times, however, when she did appear to be a little suspicious of what my intentions were. The first day, she probably asked me a dozen questions about my experience running the hotel and how I'd gotten along with my workers in the past. It had me a little worried for a while, but I didn't see anything harmful about wanting to know about these sorts of things: it's something every sensible visitor anywhere should do."

"Well, everything you said about Laura Benton appeared to be true to me. I've probably never encountered a more bothersome woman in my life. The fact that she's in the military is probably a big factor behind this," Nancy said. "However, I seemed to have gotten the complete opposite impression of Victoria Harris. The way I saw, everything about her appeared to be part of an act; from her ridiculously old-fashioned clothes that made her look like some lady in one of those old black and white pictures you have hanging in the hallways, to her overly polite attitude, as if she was trying a little too hard not to get on our bad side rather than just wanting to be courteous. And yes, she did ask a lot of questions, first among them being how old the hotel was, since she thought the furniture and decorations were too outdated. Of course, I told her that the hotel was probably as old as those ridiculously long gloves she was wearing, which managed to get her insulted enough to ask me why I was mocking her when all she wanted to know was…"

"Now, Nancy, you should know better than to insult a visitor, even if you did find her mannerisms to be a little too suspicious," Truman told her.

"I know, but I just couldn't help it," Nancy said with an unapologetic sneer. "That woman appeared to be nothing but a con artist to me. She doesn't even look like she's old enough to be a teacher."

'I wouldn't go so far as to believe that, although I do agree with you that Victoria may not be who she seems," Truman responded. "So, what do you really believe to be the best course of action?"

"If you think calling the police is taking it too far, then you may as well just ban them from the hotel for a good and make them have their party elsewhere," Nancy suggested. "I mean, how can you seriously considered having two women who assaulted one of our workers and traumatized another to…"

"Actually, Nancy, that suggestion sounds about as far -fetched as your last one," Allison chimed in, finally stepping into the conversation after having listened in for a while. "The way I see it, those two young ladies were very concerned over what happened to Jackie's friend and wanted her to hear about it from someone who understood what was going on, rather than being told by someone who was simply delivering news about something they'd only just heard about. If anything should be excepted from your strict rules, Truman, it should be situations like this."

"Allison, I have not asked for your opinion yet," Truman told her sternly. It always annoyed him when Allison acted as if she knew better on what he should do as owner just because she'd been working at Northern Horizons longer than he'd been. "When I'm finished speaking with Nancy, then you may tell me what you think."

"No, Truman. I already started, so now I'm going to finish," Allison responded firmly. "Haven't either of you taken into consideration what Laura and Victoria may have been thinking about all this? That maybe they thought Jackie was more likely to get upset if Elaine gave her news, seeing how she already appears to lack concern for the emotions of anyone other than you, Truman? She didn't even get that upset when she heard her cousin had died, so what makes you think she would have been more sympathetic towards Jackie?"

"In case you forgot the rules, Allison, our job isn't to be counselors for one another, but rather to keep each other informed on anything which might be a source of personal trouble," Nancy said, reminding Allison of part of their employment contracts. "If anything, we should avoid taking such manners too personally when we are required to take them; our purpose is to maintain as much order in Northern Horizons as possible, which isn't easy to do when you're allowing a fellow employee to cry on your shoulder instead of requiring them to get back to work immediately."

"Well, Nancy," Truman said, jumping the conversation once again, "While you're on the right track on everything you've been telling Allison so far, she does have a point when she says that Elaine often fails to show empathy for others. I spend full nights comforting my poor girlfriend after her sister died, and all Elaine could do was tell her to start putting on makeup because she was developing creases all around her face and that it was making her grief too obvious to other people. With that in consideration, the best course of action on Elaine's part would be to no longer put her in charge of delivering bad news to employees. As a matter of fact, I might leave such tasks to you in the future, Allison, seeing as how you seem to be much more understanding on such matters. How does that sound?"

"Mr. Truman, you can't be serious!" Nancy exclaimed. "Allison shows about as much empathy as…"

"I was not talking to you, Nancy," Truman told her with a frown. "I was speaking to Allison." Then, turning to Allison with a softer expression on his face, he said, "Now, Allison, does this sound like a good deal to you?"

"Seems like a descent plan, Truman," Allison responded with a nod. "However, it doesn't solve this whole situation. What are you intending to do to Laura and Victoria?"

"That's what I'm asking everyone else. Would you like to share your suggestion right now?" Truman asked, smiling.

"Of course. What I suggest is to just let those women be. If one of them really shoved Elaine, give them a small talk on not using physical force towards employees and make them promise not to it again, but also thank them for talking to Jackie about what happened to her friend, telling them that while it is usually against the rules for visitors to do this, that you still understand why they had to do it. The party can then go on as planned and everyone will be happy. Is that fair enough for you?"

"Sounds good, but first, I must see if the others feel the same as you do," Truman responded. However, for some reason, he was a lot more comfortable hearing Allison's response than he'd been when hearing Nancy's.

Many of the other responses Truman got from his other employees clearly showed that the majority of them didn't share similar views as Allison:

"If one of them shoved Elaine, then they shouldn't be allowed anywhere near Northern Horizons again!" Abby Bush, who was a maid, said indignantly. "And for that matter, you should probably have a word with that teacher's group they're a part of. I'm familiar with them because my nephew attends a private secondary school on a scholarship sponsored by that group, and as a group that values compromise, they're not going to be very happy that one of their own took part in a fight with someone they were supposed to be working with."

"They weren't supposed to be working with Elaine though, but with me. Doesn't that change your opinion at all, Abby?" Truman said, deciding to challenge everyone else he spoke with to see if it

would cause them to see the situation differently.

"No; we all work with visitors in one way or another, so they should be able to get along with anyone, and a fight is a fight no matter who's involved," Abby responded.

Ruth Carlson, who was also a maid but closer to Elaine and Sandy's age, was more concerned over how they were interfering with Jackie's personal affairs. "I saw how upset Mrs. Tyler got yesterday, and how her poor little girl had gotten so scared as well. It's completely appalling that someone who doesn't even know them would cause them so much distress!" Yet, when suggesting what course of action Truman should take, she was less extreme in her thinking, saying, "The best thing you could do is either not allow them to come to the party or have them pay back Mrs. Tyler and Rose in some way."

"And how would you suggest they do this?" Truman asked, truly interested in how Laura and Victoria could still play some role in helping Jackie and Rose.

"They should apologize to them and offer to do something to ease their pain, like taking them out for tea or attending the funeral of her friend along with her. That's probably the best they could do for her if they must return here," Ruth responded.

Paul Islington, an old man who was the janitor, showed little interest in the situation, saying in thick cockney accent, "Just put an end to this whole party business once and for all. It's all a waste of time and money, if you ask me. That way you won't have to deal with anymore meddling from nosy women any longer."

"Do you see anything specific that was wrong about what Laura Benton and Victoria Harris were doing?" Truman asked him.

"That's just what all workers for those bleeding government programs like doing whenever they get the chance," Paul said dismissively. "I'm just surprised you didn't see any of this coming the moment you let the group use the hotel for their pathetic little party."

As a matter of fact, the only other employee who shared Allison's opinion was James Winters, a black man born in the Caribbean islands who was the hotel's cook. When Truman had started describing the situation to him, James told him that he was already aware of it because he'd been speaking with both Jackie and Rose about it not long after he'd left them alone the day before.

"And did they express any hard feelings towards either Laura Benton or Victoria Harris?" Truman asked him.

"None at all; if anything, they seemed grateful to have heard from them about the whole incident," James responded. "In fact, I believe I've seen both of these women myself, and I didn't see anything unlikeable. Victoria Harris appeared to have a very kind and polite personality, saying hello to me and asking me if I had planned the meals for the party yet. And Laura Harris is probably one of the friendliest military personal I've ever met, joking around and treating me more fairly than I've ever thought a former soldier was capable of doing.

"So, what's your suggestion for what I should do with them?" Truman asked with somewhat less urgency than he'd had towards the others. He liked and respected James a lot, perhaps because he was both loyal to him but still seemed to think more broadly on manners, something which many of his other employees failed to do.

"For one thing, don't be too hard on them," James said with a friendly smile. "I don't think these two young ladies should be punished for what they believed was the right thing to do in this particular situation, even if what Victoria did to Elaine was going a little overboard. You should just have them apologize to Elaine and give them a small talk on what's usually expected from visitors here at Northern Horizons. Afterwards, you could bring up how Jackie appreciates what they did for her and Rose and then thank them for having decided to take action in what was obviously a difficult situation."

"That sounds like a reasonable plan to me, James, but let me just tell you that your views aren't shared by the majority of the Northern Horizons staff," Truman told him.

"Are you serious?" James asked with a laugh. "Are Nancy and all the others having a bad day or something, because I never thought they'd be supportive of taking such drastic measures against Laura and Victoria."

"I think they're being their usual loyal selves, which both impresses and scares me," Truman said honestly.

After talking with James, Truman walked around the hotel lobby by himself, taking everything into consideration. Upon thinking closely about the situation, he didn't really know the best course of action. For one thing, seeing how Elaine had been so upset over what Victoria had done to her had infuriated him, and seeing Jackie crying in the office with Laura by her side had made it worse. At that time, the disorder Laura and Victoria had caused amongst his employees had seemed so terrible that Truman could think of nothing more reasonable to do than to kick the two of them out. It was best to take drastic measures in order to put a stop to disorder than to take no action and let it get worse, as Truman liked thinking over such matters.

But then again, it almost as if he wasn't the one taking action in that situation. As superstitious as it may sound, Truman honestly recalled feeling as if someone or something were constantly nudging him on the shoulder, urging him to throw the ladies out before their interference caused some form of unspeakable chaos. He'd felt something similar when he'd interacted with that nice doctor who came in with his young patients, but at the time, he'd been able to resist this force, thinking that as suspicious as it may seem for a doctor coming into a hotel with young girls, that there was most likely nothing bad going on between them. However, with Laura and Victoria, the warnings he got from this force felt stronger, and he actually felt as if he might be pushed onto the floor like Elaine was if he didn't get out there and put a stop it all as soon as possible…

"Excuse me?" he heard someone whispering over his shoulder. It was a young woman with short dark hair wearing a dark jumpsuit which looked like something someone would wear in a sci-fi movie.

"Yes? Could I help you in some way?" Truman asked, going into business mode once again.

"I'm planning on spending the night here, and I'd like someone to escort me to my room," the woman said politely.

"Well, you've come to the right person," Truman said with a smile, turning around to face her. "As the owner of Northern Horizons, I know this place almost as well as…"

Just then, he felt some form of powder being dropped around his face, causing the place to go completely blurry within seconds. And almost as quickly, he found himself getting so dizzy that he fell onto the floor with a thud, asking himself what was going on before losing all consciousness.