"Who the hell are you?"

"Victoria Harkness," she answered, fighting the anxiety rising through her body as she said her last name. Who knows how he'd react to hearing this strange girl claim to be his daughter.

"Harkness? Is this some kind of joke?"

"No!" she exclaimed. "Look, my dad gave me these coordinates and I ended up here."

"Why should I believe you?" he asked cooly, pushing the gun harder against her skull.

"He… He told me something and gave me this envelope," she reached for her pocket hesitantly, wanting to make sure she didn't get killed on the spot.

He pulled back from her briefly, and she reached into her pocket slowly and gripped the folded envelope. "Here."

As he took it, he unfolded it with one hand, keeping the gun trained on her. He skimmed the note, growing visibly tense the longer he looked.

"Tell me something only I know," he whispered, and she couldn't help but feel frozen by his look.

"I, uh… You're name's Javic Piotr Thane. You have a younger brother named Gray, but you haven't seen him in a very long time," she responded, equally as quiet. Her voice cracked at one point, and she wished she could close her eyes and be somewhere else.

"I'm sorry, but you're my dad," she tacked on, but almost wished she hadn't. She figured that her dad from her time had written a small explanation, but it didn't really seem like he did.

"I don't have a daughter."

Victoria nodded somewhat resigned. "You're right. You don't now, but you will. But please, put the gun down. I'll explain, just… preferably without the gun."

He glanced between her and the envelope, seeming to contemplate his options, before lowering his gun and placing it in his pocket.

Before she could even speak, he held up a hand to stop her. "If what you're telling me is really true, you have to be as vague as possible. Can't have you messing up my timeline too much."

As Victoria began nodding, he added "Oh, but can you do me a favor and just call me Jack? I'm not your dad."

"You're telling me," she mumbled to herself, wishing that she wasn't stuck in his spaceship. She was beginning to greatly regret leaving the Tardis.

He let out a somewhat humorless laugh as he walked over to the cockpit of the ship. "If you're so adamant that I need help, you can help me with this job I've been working for. You gotta earn your stay," he slightly joked.

Victoria rolled her eyes with a smile, now this seemed more like her dad (towards other people typically).

"What do I have to do?" she humored him.

"I attract time travelers with objects that seem like they have a lot of value, make a deal and collect the money all while the object gets destroyed in the blitz.

"What do you need help with?" she asked, sliding into the co-pilot seat to take a look at the screens and data. She didn't really have much of a choice did she?

"I caught sight of a time traveler, so I baited them with this Chula medical ship. I need you to watch out for any signs of them arriving or anything that seems out of place."

She looked over at him, feeling weariness creep through her. "How long will that take?"

"Hopefully not too long. Maybe a week?"

It was actually a month before anything happened, and Jack made her stay on the ship the whole time. She was this close to punching him, because man was he work young.

One day, Victoria was going through the medical supplies on the ship when she heard a soft ping come from the control panel in the cockpit. As she looked out the window of the ship, she couldn't contain the gasp of horror at the sight.

There, bright as day, was Rose Tyler, hanging onto the rope of a barrage balloon while wearing a Union Jack t-shirt. Victoria reached blindly behind her for the walkie-talkie Jack had left for her and called him back to the ship.

He got to the ship quicker than she anticipated, having already been on his way back when she called him. He rushed over to the captain's seat and got to work.

He flipped some switches and pushed a few buttons, causing a bright blue beam to shoot out from the ship. "Okay, I've got you," he spoke after pushing a knob above his head.

Victoria could hear Rose's response, albeit slightly garbled as it passed through the comm. "Who's got me? Who's got me, and you know, how?"

"I'm just programming your descent pattern. Keep as still as you can and keep your hands and feet inside the light field," Jack instructed calmly.

"Descent pattern?"

Jack didn't answer, too focused on prepping the light field. "Oh, and could you switch off your cellphone?" Victoria snorted, hearing Rose scoff. "No, seriously - it interferes with my instruments."

"You know, no one ever believes that," she grumbled.

Jack watched the small monitor and thanked Rose as soon as he was able to continue working.

"Oh, yeah, that's a real load off, that is. I'm hanging in the sky in the middle of a German air raid with the Union Jack across my chest, but hey! My mobile phone's off!" Rose rambled, obviously becoming hysterical.

"Be with you in a moment," Jack said with a laugh before reaching up and turning off the comm.

Victoria crossed her arms and leaned against the wall, watching him work with a frown.

"The mobile communication device indicates non-contemporaneous life form," the computer spoke after a moment.

"She's not from around here, no," he said, briefly glancing over at her before turning the comm back on.

"Ready for you. Hold tight!" Jack called out, pressing a few buttons.

Victoria laughed at Rose's words. "Fair enough," he laughed as he pushed one more button.

She winced slightly as Rose let out a scream, watching as she flew through the light field. Jack got out of his seat, preparing himself to catch her.

She fell harshly into Jack's arms and began coughing. "You're fine, you're just fine. The tractor beam, it can scramble your head just a little."

"Hi," she whispered, staring into his eyes in awe of how attractive he was.

"Hi," he grinned, obviously enjoying their closeness.

"Hi. Sorry, that was hello twice there. Dull, but you know, thorough," she smiled at him.

"Hello," Victoria waved with a somewhat fake tiny smile, pulling their attention away from each other. When she turned her back to the pair, she scrunched her nose in disgust. No matter what age, nobody wanted to see their dad flirt with their best friend.

"Are you all right?" Jack questioned, looking back at the blonde in her arms.

"Fine," she reassured with a grin as he sat her down gently.

"Why, are you expecting me to faint or something?"

"You're looking a little dizzy," Victoria told her.

"What about you? You two aren't even in focus," she mumbled before passing out into Jack's arms. He lifted her up, about to place her on the cot when he glanced over at Victoria.

"Oh shoot. Sorry," she muttered, hurrying to stuff the medical supplied she had been sorting back into the case.

"Alright, all yours," she nodded towards the cot while she placed the medical kit back where it was supposed to go.

"And now we wait," she grumbled, taking a seat next to Jack as they waited for Rose to wake up.

"This seems normal to you," he spoke after a moment of silence. She turned to him, startled by his voice.

"I've been here for a month, what else is there to get used to?"

"I mean, obviously you're experienced. But seeing a girl being caught in a light field after she fell out of the sky, I could tell that you were worried. But you were able to swallow that fear and work through it," he noted, and I glanced over at Rose with a frown.

"Do you forget that you're my dad," she snapped slightly, not too happy to have him question her about her life in the future. When she first got there, she was happy to tell him anything if it meant getting him to take the gun off of her head. But now that she had been with him for a month, she knew how dangerous it was to tell him anything about herself.

And every few days he'd try to weasel an answer out of her. Oh, how the tables have turned.

Jack raised his hands, mockingly surrendering. "Alright, no more today. I get it."

"Will you ever stop asking?" she responded, and he tilted his head in contemplation.

"Hm… Yeah, no," he smiled at her in a way that made her want to strangle him.

"Look, I have some business to attend to," he said, looking over her shoulder obviously at Rose who sounded like she was waking up. "Important business. So if you wouldn't mind staying down here while I talk to blondie, that'd be greatly appreciated."

Victoria sighed, but took a seat in the co-pilot, grabbing her bag on her way. She lazily waved to him as he walked away, and once she was sure he wasn't watching, pulled out a journal, a pen, and her pocket watch.

She had been writing down her feelings and thought every day when she had the chance, and she silently wondered why she hadn't done it earlier. Mostly likely her stubborn nature she picked up from her dad.

The longer she was away from the TARDIS the antsier she felt. She wasn't going to say that she was codependent on her after traveling for a year, because she wasn't. But that didn't mean she didn't miss them. Being stuck in a tiny spaceship was slowly killing her of boredom.

And the longer she was away from the Doctor, the more she came to terms with the whole Time Lady thing. Being able to think about it on her own was great, and after a few weeks, accepted it. The pros outweighed the cons, not that there were many when she really thought about it.

It was mainly her fear of losing herself when she changed, but the only real-life she had on earth was with her dad, who just so happened to be a bit of a shut-in at this part of his life.

Outside of that, once she became a time lord, she'd be able to connect better with those around her (she just knew), she'd be able to learn more than before (a major plus side), and she'd have a prolonged life span that she could use to see the universe with the Doctor (and Rose).

Victoria was almost 100 percent sure that she was ready. Now all she had to do was get back to her Doctor.

As she wrote in her journal, with her free hand, she squeezed her pocket watch tightly, appreciating the warmth it was giving her.

- Page Break -

"Alright 'Toria!" Jack yelled out as he entered the room. "Time to head out."

She didn't look up from the notebook as she called back. "Where are we going?"

"We need to find a guy named the Doctor," he said, walking up to her. "They're Time Agents," he whispered that part.

She bit her lip in an attempt at hiding her smile at Rose's lie.

"Oh really?" she played along, standing up from her seat and stretching. She walked over to Rose and held out her hand. "Hi, I know we met briefly earlier, but I'm Victoria Jones."

"Nice to meet ya," she smiled, shaking her hand. "Rose Tyler."

Glancing between the two of us, Jack sat down in the captain's seat. "Time to find one Mr. Spock," he said, and Victoria stared at him incredulously. She wanted to give Rose a look for that terrible lie, but knew she'd give herself away for that.

"Looks like he's a local hospital, find the actual hospital name if possible***

Victoria could barely hold back her excitement. Finally, after a month of just sitting in a spaceship with a man that was and wasn't her dad, she'd finally get to see the Doctor.

"Great."

Jack flashed her a grin before turning back to the controls. He worked in silence as he piloted the ship close to where the signal was coming from.

Jack left the ship first, gun in hand, followed by Victoria, then Rose. They were parked a few blocks away from the hospital, so it was a quick walk to the entrance.

Jack blasted the doorknob, his gun whirling slightly, and they were able to sneak into the building.

"So Rose, how'd you get separated from your partner?" Victoria asked quietly, trying to break the silence.

"He had some… business to take care of in another part of town," she answered, glancing over at her briefly.

Victoria opened her mouth to respond but stopped when she heard moaning and groaning coming from the room to her right.

Without thinking, she rushed forward and pushed the door open, calling out "Hello?". Jack and Rose followed suit, and Victoria was moments away from breaking out in a small dance and cheer. She was actually getting to meet his 9th body, one that she'd heard lots of stories about.

"Good evening. Hope I'm not interrupting. Jack Harkness," he introduced, shaking the Doctor's hand. "And this is Victoria Jones. We've been hearing all about you on the way over."

"He knows. I had to tell him about us being Time Agents," Rose explained, and Victoria bit back a small laugh at the look on the Doctor's face.

"And it's a real pleasure to meet you, Mr. Spock," Jack grinned, patting the Doctor's shoulder before walking off.

"Nice to meet you," she smiled, holding out my hand for him to shake.

"Pleasure to meet you," he shook her hand before turning to Rose. Victoria took that as her cue to leave and raced to follow Jack.

What she wasn't expecting was the sight she was about to witness. Rows upon rows of innocent people, lying lifelessly on a cot, all with gas masks on their faces. And the weirdest part, they all had the same y-shaped wound on the back of their hand.

After scanning a few bodies, Jack shook his head. "This just isn't possible. How could this happen?"

"What kind of Chula ship landed here?" the Doctor asked, and Victoria looked over at him in surprise. How'd he know it was a Chula ship?

"What?"

"He said it was a warship. He stole it. Parked it somewhere out there, somewhere a bomb's gonna fall on it, unless we make him an offer," Rose explained to the Doctor, and Victoria couldn't help but feel glad in the moment that she wasn't lumped into that statement.

"So who's she?" he asked, turning towards Victoria with a hard expression.

"Jack's been kind enough to let me stay with him until my ride gets here," she explained, wishing she could say that she had been waiting for him.

He stared at her and nodded slowly. "Okay."

"Jack, what kind of warship?" he asked, his gaze lingering for a moment before turning back to Jack.

Victoria hadn't been expecting Jack getting aggravated by the Doctor's questions. The last time she had seen him this worked up was when she landed inside his ship. "Does it matter? It's got nothing to do with this!"

"This started at the bomb site. It's got everything to do with it. What kind of warship?" the Doctor demanded to know, and Victoria winced at the anger in his voice.

"An ambulance! Look," he said, tapping some buttons on the communicator on his wrist. A holographic diagram of the warship grew from the device. "That's what you chased through the Time Vortex. It's space junk. I wanted to kid you it was valuable. It's empty. I made sure of it. Nothing but a shell. I threw it at you. Saw your time travel vehicle, love the retro look by the way, nice panels, threw you the bait-"

Rose cut him off, asking him what he meant by bait.

"I wanted to sell it to you and then destroy it before you found out it was junk," he explained.

"You said it was a warship," Rose said, hurt from the deception clear in her voice.

"They have ambulances in wars," Jack walked away. "It was a con. I was conning you, that's what I am, I'm a con man. I thought you were Time Agents but you're not, are you?"

"Just a couple more free-lancers," Rose admitted.

"Ahh... should've known. The way you guys are blending in with the local color. I mean, Flag Girl was bad enough, but U-Boat Captain?" Jack asked, looking pointed at Rose and the Doctor.

Victoria was beginning to feel uncomfortable and by the looks of it, so were the Doctor and Rose. She shifted from one foot to the next as tension filled the air.

"Anyway... whatever's happening here has got nothing to do with that ship."

"What is happening here?" Victoria asked, trying to change the subject, reaching out to one of the patients.

"Don't touch it!" the Doctor explained, stopping me. "Human DNA's being rewritten... by an idiot."

"What do you mean?" Rose asked.

"I dunno - some kind of virus. It's converting human beings into these things. But why? What's the point?" the Doctor asked, but more to himself than to any of them.

Victoria glanced over at Rose to see her leaning over a body. Rose let out a scream as it suddenly sat up. All the bodies were moving in sync, each calling out for their mummy.

"Don't let them touch you!" the Doctor said again, and Victoria backed up, having flashbacks to the alternate universe.

"Why not?" Rose asked.

"You're looking at it."

Victoria closed her eyes as the patients got closer, continuously chanting 'Mummy' over and over, though she felt like she could hear 'delete' mixed in.