"It'll be fun," the Doctor mocked, his arms crossed as Victoria glared at him, wincing slightly as he wrapped a bandage around her arm.

"Come on, Doc. What's wrong with a little running?" One Captain Jack Harkness grinned broadly, standing beside Victoria.

"Nothing," Victoria added, kicking the Doctor's shin lightly as he pouted slightly as the two Harkness teased him.

"I'm never doing anything with you if you consider it fun," the Doctor countered, briefly looking up from Victoria's arm to give Jack a look. It was obvious how grateful he was that this Jack wasn't the Jack from his timeline.

"That's a lie," she whispered to her father, snickering when the Doctor swatted at her head.

"Alright, how was I supposed to know that there would be Saturnynians at the Poseidon Bazaar on Neptune? And how was I supposed to know calling them Neptunynians would be an insult?"

"Dad…" Victoria trailed off, giving him a look before throwing the Doctor an exasperated look. "Just because they have Saturn in their name doesn't mean that they live on Saturn."

"Vie is right," the Doctor said, tossing the leftover wrap on the table beside him. "Saturnyne is similar to Saturn, but it's in a different galaxy. Though its sister planet is Neptunyne, they've never gotten along."

"Sure, take her side," Jack rolled his eyes playfully, throwing his arm around Victoria's shoulder, and pulled her close. He rubbed his knuckles in her hair, messing it up, but she laughed the whole time, weakly trying to push him away.

"Ooh, could we go to Saturnyne?" she asked after a moment, giving the Doctor puppy dog eyes.

"Well…" he drew out. "We could if we went in the summer. They have very nice beaches, comparable to those in Europe, especially the Mediterranean. I can make it work."

"I'll meet you two back in the Tardis. I have to run and get something, but I'll be back in a mo," Jack waved them on, running up the stairs in his apartment.

"Might as well, he could take a while," she smiled wryly.

"Let's go look for some bathing suits real quick," the Doctor shrugged, tugging on Victoria's hand as he went in the Tardis' direction.

- Page Break -

Victoria was loving every second under the sun. She felt warm and cozy, the Doctor having made sure both she and Jack were covered head to toe in the best sunscreen.

"Now this. This is fun," the Doctor grinned over at her, looking over his sunglasses at her. He was sitting to her right, currently reading The Kite Runner at Victoria's persistence, while her dad was on her other side doing paperwork. All Victoria was doing was soaking up the sun and occasionally writing down a thought or two for a story.

"It has been so long since I've been to the beach," Victoria sighed, taking in the smell of the saltwater coming from the ocean.

"I can tell," her dad said, not looking up from his work. "You're as pale as a vampire."

"Rude," she stuck her tongue out at him before turning to look at the Doctor. "Have you ever met a vampire-like alien?"

"Well," he said, thinking about it. "I did meet Count Dracula once, though he turned out to be a robot. I was still in my first body then. When I was in my seventh body, I met Haemovore's, they're vampirish."

"Cool," she grinned, reaching down to grab her space mojito. "I'd rather meet a vampire than a werewolf again."

"Ah, good ole Vicky," Jack smirked, and Victoria fake gagged when she saw the glint in his eyes.

"Gross," she said, pushing him over.

"This is war," was all he said in return. She stared at him for a moment with wide eyes before running off, laughing hysterically as he managed to talk the Doctor into helping.

"No please!" she pleaded as the Doctor grabbed her from behind. The next thing she knew, he was tickling her sides and she crumbled to the ground, still laughing.

She barely noticed her dad watching the two with a smile to the side, too invested in her tickle fight with the Doctor. She suddenly found herself pinned down with the Doctor grinning at her, and she squirmed, sighing with defeat.

"What's the magic word?"

"Bananas?" she guessed with a hopeful smile.

"Nope, it was jelly babies."

"Dang it, that was my second guess," she muttered with a smile, watching as the Doctor grinned fondly at her.

Her smile faded a bit as she noticed with a start how attracted to him she felt at the moment. Of course, he was a handsome man, he had nearly stunned her when they first met. But she felt emotionally and mentally connected to him for a moment, it was almost hard to breathe.

She looked around his face, still as fascinated by his freckles today as she had been when she first noticed them. Just as she realized she had been leaning up towards him, she heard her dad cry "dogpile!".

They both let out a grunt as he landed on top of the Doctor, who then smashed against Victoria. "Dad!"

"What?" he looked towards her with a pleased grin, all while sending her a look that had her feeling startled. He, for the first time that she could remember, looked like an overprotective dad, and she wasn't quite sure why.

- Page Break -

The three of them had laid out in the sun for a little bit longer before heading back inside. Victoria felt like she was about to melt, and quickly decided that she wasn't going out in the heat ever again.

"Oh hey," she nudged the Doctor with her foot. "Rose texted, said her mum was driving her crazy and would highly appreciate it if we got her soon."

He nodded at that, before turning to Jack who was shifting slightly in his spot. This worried Victoria, having rarely ever seen her dad that nervous.

"You okay?" she asked, moving to stand beside him.

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you sooner," he said, reaching into his pocket, pulling out a small pocket watch. "It was tucked in your blanket when I found you as a baby."

She reached forward and grabbed it, but quickly dropped it when a scene filled her head. A young teenage girl was standing in a library beside a little boy, looking over a book filled with circular writing.

The image went away when a hand landed on her shoulder, pulling her out of thought. "Woah, what was that?"

"Victoria?" her dad asked, and she looked at him, feeling slightly out of it all of a sudden. That name felt wrong, she decided. Something felt wrong about it, but she'd figure it out sooner or later.

The watch was placed gently in her hands again, and instead of seeing an image, she heard a voice, but she couldn't understand what it was saying. It sounded ancient and powerful, and oddly familiar.

"Doctor?" she said, turning to look at him, and was quickly shocked at his angered expression towards her dad and the apologetic one that he was receiving.

She reached out and touched his arm, not expecting him to flinch in surprise. "Doctor, what's going on? Why am I hearing this voice in my head?"

He began to speak, but both Harkness realized he wasn't speaking English or anything the Tardis couldn't translate, which meant one thing.

"Wait, that's it! That's the language I was hearing. Why was I hearing Gallifreyan…"

"Did I ever tell you about the chameleon circuit?" he asked in exchange, and she shook her head in response.

He looked around the console, almost lighting up as he found what he was looking for. He turned to her and held out his hand. "Trust me?"

"With my life."

"Look at my hand," he glanced down at his hand. She reached forward, and grabbed the object out of his hand, instantly recognizing how similar they were.

"My people," he started, spinning her watch in his hand, having taken a hold of it. "When we're in danger, we can use a device called the chameleon circuit. It rewrites your DNA to be a different species. I've used it once before, but I avoid it as much as I can. This pocket watch will hold a Time Lord's essence inside until they open it."

She stared at him long and hard before glancing down at the watch in his hand. She grabbed it and compared it with his own watch. They had similar designs on the cover, but she couldn't understand what either said.

"What are you saying, Doctor?" she asked, wanting to make sure she understood her dad correctly.

"That you're a Time Lady."