A/N: Oh, veeeery late! But it is 5k words so it's quite a long one.

This is honestly your last chapter full of pure and fluffy funtimes before things get super dark and angsty, so enjoy the moment :P

Additional credit for this chapter (particularly the games) goes to the incomparable the-writer1988, who is a shiny star in an abyss, and never fails to encompass everything that is right with this world.

Chapter 5: The Pleaneas Games

Two hours later the Doctor stepped into a lift, feeling significantly more energetic than just four hours ago. He didn't need his crutch anymore, and all his examinations had revealed everything was healing correctly. Even with a walking boot his ankle still didn't like pressure very much, but it was improving every second. His lungs were also finally allowed to expand freely, enabling him to take in more breath than he had done since he'd been shot.

His various array of scars and nicks he'd picked up were also gone, including the deep scar on his wrist where the poison had been injected and the incision where Martha's team had performed surgery. The arm itself was still very pale, but his general complexion was certainly more colourful. When he'd caught himself in a mirror he looked much less like the walking dead.

'Hello, Doctor, I'm glad the treatment went well,' Panacea greeted as he stepped in. 'Where would you like to go?'

'My room, thanks.'

'Certainly.'

The doors began to close.

'Please hold the lift!' someone cried. The Doctor stuck his foot out to trigger the door sensors, allowing a jarginian woman to reach him. He recognised her as the one he'd briefly talked to at the induction.

'Thank you,' she said breathlessly as she entered with her gills flapping appreciatively.

'Where are you headed?' the Doctor asked.

'Living quarters section Red 45,' she replied.

'Same here,' the Doctor replied with a smile as the lift doors closed and they began to move.

She smiled in return. 'We must be on the same corridor! You were at the induction, weren't you?'

'Yep,' the Doctor confirmed. 'I'm the Doctor, what's your name?'

'Jinu,' she answered.

'Don't suppose I have to ask what you're here for?' the Doctor joked, looking at her swollen fins on her arms to indicate she was near spawning her young. 'Congratulations.'

She laughed. 'You guessed it. Thank you.'

'When's spawning day?'

'Three weeks ago,' she replied, winded.

'Oh. Any signs yet?'

She shook her head and took a deep breath from her waterbreath device in her hand. 'Nothing. That's why I finally decided to come here, but my spawn partner had to stay at home and look after the fry. We didn't have enough money to bring everyone here.'

'You're on your own?'

'Yes,' she answered.

'Well, if you need anything, I'm happy to help,' the Doctor told her.

Her gills flapped again to show she appreciated that. 'Thank you. What are you here for?'

'Paralysis, among other things,' the Doctor told her, pointing at his bad arm.

'Oh, sorry,' she said, gazing at his arm. 'I hear that's hard to cure.'

'Well, from what I've heard about Panacea, I'm hopeful,' the Doctor replied.

'I know, isn't she great?' Jinu said happily. 'I've never known technology like her. It's amazing what they can do these days, isn't it? I don't know why I've not heard about her until I got here.'

'Me neither,' the Doctor mused.

The lift stopped and the doors opened to the Red 45 section. They stepped out together and headed down the corridor, where Jack was coming the other way.

'Oh, was just about to look for you,' Jack said, and looked at Jinu, spreading a charismatic smile. 'Cap'n Jack Harkness. Can I just say, you've got a beautiful dorsal fin. I've never seen one so big.'

'Stop it,' the Doctor warned. 'This is Jinu.'

Jinu smiled as her gills flapped again. 'Oh, I don't mind! Thank you. It's nice to meet you.'

'Jinu's on her own,' the Doctor told Jack.

'We can't have that,' Jack said, maintaining that pearly white smile. 'We're in number 67. If you need anything, just head on down to us, okay?'

'Oh, you're both so nice,' Jinu said happily. 'Thank you.'

'Anytime. You have a great day.'

'I will,' she said and disappeared into her room.

'Really?' the Doctor asked Jack seriously.

'What?' Jack asked innocently.

The Doctor rolled his eyes. 'Is Leah back yet?'

'Not yet,' Jack answered, and looked at him. 'Wow. You look good. Are you healed?'

'Pretty much,' the Doctor said. 'Just got to wear the ankle boot for two days.'

'What about your chest?'

'Yep, that too,' the Time Lord confirmed, taking in a deep breath to demonstrate, stretching his good arm. 'I can't run a marathon for a week, but besides that, it's cured.'

Jack grinned. 'This place is incredible. Are you booked for surgery, yet?'

'Not yet,' the Doctor replied. 'I've got a consultation tomorrow.'

'All right,' Jack said. 'Let's find out where Leah is and have some fun … if you're happy to do that.'

The Doctor, to Jack's surprise, spread a smile. 'Yeah.'

Jack grinned back. 'She work her magic on you too?'

'I think she did,' the Doctor confessed.

They were suddenly interrupted by Theo toddling with quite a pace into the corridor still dressed in his pyjamas, hugging his dad's leg tightly.

'Hi,' the young gallifreyan mumbled, with his face pressed into his dad's trouser leg.

'Hi,' the older gallifreyan replied. 'Have a good sleep?'

'Dream I'm a big fish.'

'You had a dream you were a big fish?' the Doctor repeated. 'What kind of fish?'

'Yeah. A swimmy swim fish.'

'Yeah, that's a common kind of fish,' the Doctor agreed.

Theo beamed up at him and suddenly started running to the lift. The Doctor just caught him by his shirt collar, stopping him in his tracks.

'Please stop running off,' he begged.

'Sowwee,' the boy said sweetly, though the Doctor knew he wasn't in the least bit sorry.

He sighed. 'Okay. Panacea, where's Leah?'

'Leah is currently in the library,' her voice replied from the infowatch.

'Okay, let's get Theo dressed, round up Leah and explore.'

Leah was sitting in the library in a quiet reading pod, with numerous old dusty tomes stacked around her. She was nose-deep in one particular book which was detailing the case of a man who had been infected by Lanwa's, and had travelled to a holy shrine in the Tuvara System where he'd prayed for three days and nights straight, and had been cured.

While she didn't believe in the power of prayer so much, her logical mind ticked over the thought that maybe there had been something in the air or some other particles of this particular location that had been crucial to expelling the Lanwa's.

However, despite Panacea's helpful assistance, Leah hadn't yet been able to find any details on anything useful - not even the name of the planet that the shrine was on. All she had was a very old photo print of a shrine and a vague star system reference point for its location.

She knew her dad would probably know, but she wasn't sure if she should tell him before she knew all the information. She didn't want to get his hopes up.

'Leah, your father, your uncle and your brother are headed towards you. They will be here in one minute,' Panacea suddenly said.

Leah panicked and slammed the book shut, a plume of dust exploding out of the ancient pages and nearly choking her.

'Would you like me to put the books back?' Panacea asked.

'Yes, please,' Leah said keenly after she'd managed to stop coughing, checking over her shoulder.

In a small beep and a whoosh, all of the books were gone. Leah jumped up and ran out of the reading pod, winding her way through the thousands of shelves to the entrance, just in time for them to arrive.

'Hi!' she said quickly, out of breath.

'Find anything good?' her daddy asked.

She shrugged, tugging awkwardly on her earlobe. 'Nothing!' she blasted loudly, and rapidly changed the subject. 'So what are we doing?'

Her daddy looked at her strangely, but continued regardless, 'thought we'd explore. Sound good?'

She nodded quickly.

It quickly became evident that some big event was happening - as soon as they'd stepped into the park, they were utterly bombarded by lights, music, food, and people chattering excitedly in small clusters throughout the vicinity.

'What's going on?' Leah wondered. 'It wasn't like this yesterday.'

'Hi there, patients and friends!' a happy voice suddenly said, as a small alien attendant in a red cap marked "Fun Facilitator" seemed to pop out of nowhere to greet them on Leah's cue. 'What a beautiful day for the Pleaneas Games, don't you agree?'

The group of time travellers exchanged a look. 'What's that?' Leah asked.

'What's that?' the man said disbelievingly with an ever-present smile plastered on his face. 'You must be new! We have the Pleaneas Games every month! It's a huge, super fun challenge where teams of two people from all areas of Pleaneas play a series of games to earn points. Whoever earns the most points in the games wins a special prize!'

'What sort of games?' Leah asked, quickly interested.

'Well, young lady, we have an array of challenges both mental and physical to suit absolutely everyone!' he replied enthusiastically. 'There are ten games in total scattered throughout the park, which you can visit throughout the day, complete, and who knows, you could win our mystery star prize!'

'What's the prize?'

'Well, it wouldn't be a mystery if you knew, would it?' the man teased. 'Would you like to play?'

Leah's head snapped to look at her father. 'Can we? Daddy? Please?'

'Why not?' the Doctor said, shrugging slightly.

'Excellent!' the man said happily, raising a datapad. 'You can have two to a team. Who'd like to play?'

'Me!' Leah yelled, her hand immediately shooting up. 'I want Uncle Jack on my team.'

'Thanks,' the Doctor said, raising an eyebrow as Jack grinned.

'I think he needs more help than you do,' Leah said, entirely deadpan.

'Thanks,' Jack echoed the Time Lord disgruntledly.

'Looks like it's you and me, Theo,' the Doctor said to his boy, ruffling his hair. Theo beamed up at him.

'Excellent!' the man exclaimed joyously, making a note on his datapad. 'You're now signed in. you'll find a map of the park on your infowatches, and anytime you need directions to the next game, just ask Panacea to show you the way! Have a great day!'

'Will do,' the Doctor assured him, as the man left with a hop and a skip and Leah's attention turned to her infowatch, which was projecting a tiny hologram of a map marking a big red dot.

'What's the first game?' Jack asked.

'Spiral Slider,' Leah read.

'All right, and remember kids, it's just for fun,' Jack said.

All three gallifreyans, young and old, looked at him in a very strange way.

'Oh yeah, forgot who I was with.'

'The rules of this one are simple!' another happy attendant in a red cap was saying. 'As you go down the Spiral Slider, you'll find gold tokens hanging at certain points. Simply touch as many tokens as possible, and the team with the most touches at the end of the slide wins!'

'Do we have to go down the slide together as a team?' Leah wondered.

'You can either go down the slide together or individually, it's all about your technique!' the attendant chimed.

Jack watched as the Doctor leant down to Theo, speaking conspiratorially. He nudged Leah. 'Us versus a guy with one arm and a little kid? It's in the bag.'

She giggled. 'What do we do?'

'Go down separately,' Jack said. 'You think?'

'Okay,' Leah said, as the Doctor finally drew away from Theo, and shot Jack and Leah a smile Jack remembered Rose dubbed his "I've got a plan that's going to ensure you'll never take over this planet" expression. That slightly unnerved Jack, but he just smiled back, trying to look confident.

'Who's first?' the joyful attendant asked, looking between the two teams.

'Oh, be my guest,' the Doctor invited Jack and Leah, gesturing for them to go to the top of the slide first.

'No, after you,' Jack replied.

'No really, I insist,' the Doctor said.

'But I insist,' Jack maintained.

'Oh, come on,' Leah moaned, taking Jack's hand to drag him to the top of the slide as Theo giggled. Leah all-but pushed Jack forwards to step up and be the first.

'Please climb into the Spiral Slider, maintaining a firm grip on the safety rails, and let go whenever you're ready, sir,' the attendant informed him.

Jack obligingly climbed in, shot the rest of them a wink, and let go. Half a second later, he was gone, and he was screaming.

Leah and Theo both simultaneously giggled as the cries of Uncle Jack reverberated away down the slide. The observation monitor was showing his point of view, slipping round and round in a dizzying descent. Everyone in the vicinity was watching and cheering the screen, with the attendant giving a running commentary as Jack just managed to scrape the stars with the very tips of his fingers, lurching around wildly with his score whooshing up.

After ninety seconds, it was over. He plopped out of the bottom of the tunnel as a newborn, jumped up, and waved at the others now looking out the window at him far down below.

'Forty-five points, what a great score!' the attendant chimed happily into a microphone that boomed around the room. 'Let's give him a cheer, folks!'

Everyone did, waving their hands in the air as the screen graphics and music reached a tremendous crescendo.

'My turn!' Leah insisted, jumping into the slide. Almost immediately she let go of the safety rails and whizzed off down with a yelp of joy. The Doctor watched, only somewhat tense, as his little girl disappeared and the camera showed her careering down the slide at quite a pace, hitting stars left, right, and centre and racking up dozens of points as she flew by.

By the time she came out at the end, she had 121 points and the biggest smile on her face.

'Wow!' the attendant yelled with delight. 'That's a new high score! I've never seen anything like that, folks! Let's give her the biggest cheer of the day!'

The noise was deafening as the crowd roared, and Leah bowed in all directions. The Doctor kept an eye on Theo, who thankfully didn't seem to be scared.

Then, it was their turn.

'Right, so I've only got one arm and you're not even three feet tall so this'll be a challenge,' the Doctor admitted. 'But we can do it, just like we planned, all right?'

'Yeah,' Theo said.

The Doctor clambered into the tube, and Theo scrambled to sit in his lap, held secure by his dad's arm sling.

'Ready?' the Doctor asked.

'Yeah!' Theo cried.

'Go!'

They reached the end with a highly respectable 120 tokens, but it wasn't enough to beat Jack and Leah's combined score. Jack and Leah took the win for 1-0.

The Doctor was grinning at Jack and Leah as they reached the next event - Pirate Beard's Treasure - an obstacle course to reach some glowing treasure on top of an elevated platform, set behind a wide array of climbing frames, slides, pits, ropes, and various other challenges.

They had to nominate one person for the obstacle course as they all queued on the start line.

'Why's Daddy grinning?' Leah asked seriously in a murmur to her teammate.

Jack sighed. 'Because he's got the most hyperactive kid that's ever been produced anywhere by anyone in the whole of time and space.'

'Oh,' Leah realised, looking at her little brother across the start line, who was getting a pep talk from his father while jumping up and down like an impatient spring.

'I'll go,' Jack offered. 'There's some seriously tall stuff here, he can't get up that quick.'

'Okay.'

Jack and Theo stood poised on the start line, waiting for the cue to go as the spectators gathered in anticipation to watch the group who seemed to be smashing course records.

'Three … two … one … GO!'

And they were off, with Theo, despite only having just mastered the art of running without falling over, immediately leaving his uncle behind. Jack hadn't even reached the first five-foot-high obstacle before the little boy was over the top and gone in a plume of dust.

Somehow, Jack already knew he'd lost. This was confirmed ninety seconds later when the 14-month-old had obviously already finished and broken the course record and was now heading back to the start line over the obstacles completely unnecessarily.

Jack sighed as he fell over into some mud for the fifth time.

1-1.

The next game was dubbed "Super Brain", a quiz with quickfire questions. As soon as it had started, it quickly became apparent that although there were supposed to be four players, there were only two - Leah and the Doctor, locked into a battle of wits against each other.

'Who is the current monarch of Greebius 9?' the quizmaster asked.

Ding! 'Queen Altrueia,' the Doctor answered.

'Correct. If I had a frik'shun, what would I do with it?'

Buzz! 'Wear it!' Leah yelled.

'Correct. At the battle of Entin Fa Quor, who was fighting who?'

Ding! ' 'The Republic versus the Front of Entin Fa Quor.'

'Correct! Name one of the fundamental principles of Eishaw physics.'

Buzz! 'Duo particle acceleration!'

'Correct!'

As the quiz continued, Theo and Jack found themselves playing eye tennis as the Doctor and Leah batted backwards and forwards with no assistance from their teammates. Finally, after five minutes of intense intellectual battle, it all came down to a final question:

'How many squilunkles are in a plantoon?'

Ding! 'Forty-five,' the Doctor answered.

The quizmaster paused for a moment as the crowd watched, silent with anticipation. '... Correct!'

'Yay!' Theo cried as the crowd cheered and applauded.

Jack consoled Leah. 'Tough gig, kid,' he said as she harrumphed.

2-1.

The following event, Moneybags, was about finding tokens in random pools of soups and goo. The Doctor nominated the hyperactive Theo to take on the challenge, while Jack opted for a methodical Leah, hoping that her logic could beat Theo's speed.

The kids went head to head, scrambling to find the tokens as the clock counted down and the spectators cheered them on. Leah managed to complete it three seconds before the timer ran out, but Theo had already won a minute earlier with another course record and had turned his attention to throwing goo at the bystanders with plenty of giggles.

3-1.

Next up was "Monster Hunt", a game to find a token in a large, confusing maze.

Jack fancied their chances. While he and Leah worked flawlessly together to navigate the maze with reasoning and Leah's gallifreyan sensory edge, the Doctor found the event somewhat difficult. Theo kept trying to climb the walls and very quickly got them both disqualified.

3-2.

The next game, "Sky Drops" was about falling in low gravity while speeding through glowing suspended hoops in the fastest time.

Jack didn't feel very positive, as Theo's clear advantage of being quite small and light proved fatal to his and Leah's chances as the little boy whizzed through every hoop in another record-breaking run.

4-2.

'This is our game,' Jack decided as they stepped up to "Laser Boats", a game where they had to shoot targets on each other's boats with laser fire, with one driving and one shooting.

He'd been right. With Theo unable to drive, the Doctor's sharpshooter aim wouldn't be a danger, and Jack had clocked up a lot of hours of target practice. As Theo decided to shoot in completely random directions much to the Doctor's chagrin, Jack took their targets out with ex-Time Agent precision with plenty of time to spare.

4-3.

"Maths Guru" ensured Jack and Leah were the ones smiling, with both of them knowing full well that the Doctor - although very good at maths - wasn't as gifted as his daughter. Once again it was a father and daughter face-off, and their assumptions proved correct when Leah stormed ahead in the computational exercises and took the win over her father by a fair margin for another record-breaking performance.

Jack watched the Doctor in the aftermath of Leah's win, quickly realising that although the grown-up gallifreyan was extremely competitive, he didn't mind this one. It was the first time has little girl had legitimately beaten him at anything, and he was very happy.

4-4.

They arrived at the final stage, being followed by a rapt crowd who had rapidly become their personal entourage.

'It's been an amazing games with these two very special teams,' the announcer said. 'Between them, they've broken five all-time course records! Let's hear a cheer for them!'

The crowd roared. Leah obligingly bowed to the crowd as Theo was copied his big sister, and the Doctor stood there slightly awkwardly with Jack looking on in amusement.

'However, the scores are tied, so it's all to play for in our final game - the Final Showdown! In this game, the teams each nominate a player to face off in a one-to-one water fight. Each player will receive a water pistol and become a living, breathing target. The first to douse their opponent in enough water will take the win, and overall victory in the entire games!'

The crowd cheered again. Jack and the Doctor connected gazes, just before they were ushered away to separate preparation areas.

'Quick, get on my shoulders to see if you can see who they're putting forward,' Jack said to Leah, who obligingly climbed up onto his shoulders and peeked over the wall. 'See anything?'

'Nope,' Leah whispered back, and he lowered her again.

'Okay, let's think. He's not gonna nominate Theo,' Jack muttered. 'The kid's quick, but he's had a long day and he's not got much power. Your dad'll come out, and he won't wanna touch you. So you should go out.'

'Yeah, but, he'll know that you know that. So he'll send out Theo to surprise us,' Leah pointed out.

'But then he's risking having you two fighting and no one wants that. So he'll come out instead.'

'But what if he knows that we know he'll bluff so then he does a double bluff and he sends out Theo? Cos you wouldn't touch Theo.'

'Yeah, but does he know that we know that he knows that?'

'If he knows that we know that he knows that we know he knows, then he won't know that we know, y'know?'

'Err, say that again?'

Leah sighed. 'Okay, you go out.'

'Sure?'

'Yeah. And if it's Theo you gotta suck it up and take him down, mmkay? He's a baby, not a china teapot.'

Jack grinned at Leah's rather ruthless expression. He could see her mum so clearly in her, like it was a late night in Torchwood and Rose was losing a board game.

He vaguely wondered if that would ever happen again.

'Got it,' he said, just as the announcer called forward the players. He rolled back his shoulders, loosening up, before heading out into the arena. He received a water pistol on the way from an attendant, and quickly found himself face-to-face with the Doctor, who was also wielding a water pistol.

The Doctor gave him a very wide smile that just had a slight edge of sinister to it.

'Fancy yourself, do you?' Jack wondered.

'Summer 2009,' the Doctor replied.

Jack recalled that summer, where Leah had been just nine-months-old. It had been a terrible year for weather, so the Torchwood team had moaned and moaned until Jack had convinced the Doctor to take them to some hot planet for a day out. It had ended up being a trip to a little known planet with three suns and the most stunning beaches. The heat had been extraordinary, and the day out had quickly turned into a free-for-all water fight. The Doctor, teamed up with Rose, had single-handedly annihilated all of Torchwood with trained soldier precision.

'It's cos he's two-dimensional, no one can hit a movin' beanpole,' Rose had joked to them all.

Now the moving beanpole was standing in front of him just like before, only slightly hampered by one dead arm and a healing ankle. Maybe, Jack thought, he had the edge.

'Take your positions!' the announcer cried into his PA system. Both the Doctor and Jack stepped back to the marks indicated in the soil and simultaneously readied their water pistols. The Doctor kicked into the dirt to create a foothold to launch himself, so Jack copied him.

The crowd fell silent as the tension music began.

'Three, two, one … GO!'

The crowd erupted as the horn sounded to signify the start of the game. Jack immediately took a shot, but completely missed the Time Lord as he ducked to his right. The Doctor fired a shot, which only just caught Jack in the arm.

'First hit!' the attendant cried.

Jack responded with a very well-placed shot at the Doctor's trailing leg. The Doctor moved as quick as lightning, dashing to his left and taking another shot at Jack. This time, he hit him in the chest. Jack reacted immediately in kind, dousing the Time Lord in a spray of water to even up the scores.

Jack dived to the ground and did a commando roll, though not quick enough to outsmart the Doctor, who anticipated where he was going and hit his back. Jack propelled himself forward and shot at the Doctor's head, soaking him and his erratic hair.

'Just one more shot wins the game, folks!' the commentator cried as the crowd roared.

Jack did another unnecessary roll and ended up on one knee with his gun pointing straight at the Doctor. This was it. The Time Lord had nowhere to run.

The Doctor suddenly cried out, his gun hand dropping to hold his side as he collapsed to his knees, groaning. The entire crowd suddenly fell quiet as confusion and worry set in. Jack hesitated. The Doctor wasn't getting up, just gasping on the ground in pain.

'Doctor?' he asked, anxious. He got up, moving forward and stooping to his best friend.

As quick as lightning, the Doctor suddenly turned over and shot at Jack's head. He hit it right in the centre, dousing the immortal in a torrent of water. A horn honked, and it was suddenly game over.

Jack very quickly realised what had happened. 'You … you utter ba-'

The crowd's sudden uproar conveniently cut off anything else Jack might've said as the Doctor jumped up, dusting himself off and grinning.

'Sorry,' he said only half-seriously to the ex-Time Agent, utterly soaked.

'No, you're not.'

'Nope, not really,' the Doctor admitted as Theo and Leah ran to them.

'You idiot!' Leah moaned to her teammate. 'You fell for that!'

'I thought he was hurt!' Jack protested.

'It's the oldest trick in the book! What are you, three!?'

'After that amazing showdown and incredible tactical play, we have our tournament winners!' the announcer cried over the crowd's cheers. 'Give it up for the Doctor and Theo!'

The crowd cheered some more and started chanting their names. The Doctor looked at Theo, who was wide-eyed and delighted, if a little nervous, and then at Leah, who was glaring, Tyler-style, at her suckered teammate.

He moved to her. 'Not annoyed, are you?'

'Only at him,' she said, pointing at Jack.

He laughed and dropped to hug her as the fireworks exploded and the crowd roared around them.

They arrived back at their room at 7pm, with an extremely tired Theo and Leah in tow. They both went to bed, and the Doctor and Jack rallied in the eating area.

'What you gonna do with the prize?' Jack wondered, looking at the golden tablet the Doctor had discarded on the table, giving free medical treatment for the duration of a patient's stay.

The Doctor thought for a moment and then raised his wristwatch. 'Panacea?'

'Good evening, Doctor,' her tinny voice said. 'How can I help?'

'Do you know Jinu in Red 45?'

'Yes, I have records on that patient.'

'Can you give her my free medical treatment prize?'

'Of course. Who should I say it's from?'

The Doctor paused, thinking briefly about his answer as Jack gazed at him in anticipation. '... A friend.'

'Of course,' she affirmed, and the golden tablet disappeared.

Jack looked at the Doctor. 'What time's the surgery tomorrow?'

'Consultation at 10, surgery at 1,' he replied.

'You worried?'

The Doctor paused, looking briefly at his paralysed arm, then in the direction his children were sleeping, before looking back up at Jack. '... Yeah.'