There were times when Victoria Harris sincerely wished that she could either forget the most haunting moments of her adolescence, or that she would wake up back in her old, beautiful room in London in the year 1866, discovering that everything she'd lived through over the past twenty-three years (and that was just counting the time she'd been living permanently on Earth) had just been a very strange and often frightening dream, with her father still alive and her comfortable, predictable life from before still going on without any interruption.

Instead, here she was, a thirty-eight year old woman who looked as if she were still in her late teens, shuffling around from place to place every two years because she couldn't have people getting to know her long enough to start questioning why it was that she didn't appear to be aging at all. As of now, she'd been able to obtain a good job as a private school teacher here in London (it helped that she managed to complete a university degree in education while she was living in Ontario last year), but her past jobs had ranged from being a fisherwoman while living in a small cottage in Sweden to being a disc jockey at a nightclub in Brooklyn. She often laughed when imagining what Jamie McCrimmon, who'd often teased her about how ladylike she was back when she was traveling with the Doctor, would think upon seeing her stepping into a cold lake in dirty overalls while attempting to catch a large fish through a net which was almost as big as her, assisting with a harvest in the countryside of Japan, or having that ridiculously messy hair they had a couple years back while playing that noisy new wave music to groups of rowdy college students.

However, she wasn't the same scared young lady she'd been when she first set foot in the TARDIS over a century ago. She'd faced dozens of terrifying foes during that time, from the Deleks that had killed her father to the Yeti, which had been lurking about in 1960s London, and there were times when all she could do was scream and await the moment when the Doctor or Jamie would rescue her. Yet, even during those moments when she was too frightened to take action, she was still learning how to adapt to a life of constant danger, where you never knew when you'd be facing your next threat.

And perhaps even more surprising than how much all these events had changed her was how in spite of the constant danger, she, the Doctor, and Jamie had still been able to become in many ways like a very close, and somewhat dysfunctional, family. The Doctor reminded Victoria of an eccentric professor whom despite being very awkward and goofy, was still extremely clever and capable of teaching anyone the most astonishing lessons they'd ever learn. He'd told her that he often thought of his own family, whom she'd always assumed had either died during their adventures with him or had to be left behind because he didn't want to risk losing them, but that despite the pain he went through went through when thinking about them, he'd still managed to move on and remain brave.

And then there was Jamie, who was in every way like the older brother she'd never had. He'd left much behind as well, having been a soldier from the Scottish Highlands in the 1700s (he would often tell her tales of his life during those days when she couldn't sleep, always swearing that none of the things he told her were exaggerated, even though half of them appeared to be so) so he fully understood what it was like to be unfamiliar with all the technology and strange customs which made up a large part of the futuristic worlds they'd visited, and always did his best to make her comfortable with her surroundings. Of course, he'd teased her as much as any other boy would have, always poking fun at her "very Victorian" mannerisms, as the Doctor would sometimes call them (back then, it had been shocking to her to find out how the legacy of Queen Victoria was remembered in such a scornful manner), but he'd also been very protective of her, refusing to rest from any mission if she had in anyway run into trouble along the way, and he was largely the reason why she didn't fall into a permanent state of melancholy during those difficult early days in the TARDIS.

In fact, after she was left behind with the Harris family in 1968, she ended up having a hard time adjusting due to how their earlier impressions of being a warm, loving family weren't completely genuine. Upon falling ill for several weeks, having terrible fevers and stomach aches, they cared for her just as any parents would, but they never wanted to hear the stories of her travels, dismissing them as symptoms of delusion due to her fever and stress related to her father's death. "It's just a little fantasy you created for yourself to adjust to the situation, Victoria," Frank Harris had said dismissively after she went on again with the stories after a slight recovery from her illness. "Many children do that, but they move on once their situation improves, and that's exactly what will happen with you, my dear. All you have to do is decide to move on."

"I'm not a child and I know perfectly well what I'm talking about!" Victoria had protested. "You saw how frightened I got when riding in your car, and how I couldn't stand the sound of rock music when you played it on the radio. What will it take you to believe that I'm not of this time; that all of this is very strange to me?"

"Of course, time got delayed for you, Victoria," Natalie Harris said gently. "When a loved one dies, it's as if time just ceases to move forward. However, claiming you're from 1866 is putting things a little too far. And yes, your friends who left you behind were rather eccentric, but it can't be because they were time travelers. You have a family with us now, so it's best to forget the tales you made up to adjust to the past and focus on what's happening around you right now."

And for a while, this was what Victoria tried to do. However, she never failed to come across as odd to all the people around her, whether it was the kids at school, who teased her for not wanting to go to parties with them and feeling uncomfortable with using slang or dressing in certain clothing, the neighbors, who always felt the need to question her on her past and whether she was adjusting to her new life, or the Harris' themselves, who only seemed to get more frustrated with Victoria's failure to conform as time went on. It even got to the point where they started seeing her sudden moments of illness as an attempt to get their attention, and they sometimes forced her to go to school even when she was feeling sick, resulting in her vomiting in front of the whole class on one occasion, and being send to the emergency room in another.

However, what served as the last straw for the Harrises was what happened when she finally left the small town where they lived in to attend university. Upon visiting her, they noticed that she looked a lot better off than she'd been when she was living with them, being able to eat well without getting sick, actually talking and laughing along with her peers, and even going out on her own without being forced to. Victoria was able to clearly notice how resentful this made them feel, making it seem as if she was more happier on her own than she was as their adopted daughter.

After completing her first year of university, Victoria got a letter from them asking her not to return home, explaining how they were no longer giving her any financial support and would have to find her own place to stay and a job if she wanted to continue on in university. "It's clear that you never appreciated all we did for you when we took you in," they'd written around the end of the letter, "So now you'll be getting what you wanted all along and will never be seeing or hearing from us again. Goodbye and good riddance to us all." Victoria had burst into tears and thrown that letter down the window of her dorm after she finished reading it. She'd then packed up all her things and used what remained of her money to get on a bus to London, where she lived in a small room rented out to her by a retired schoolteacher and made a living as a waitress. Upon noticing how she was no longer aging within two years of being on her own, she moved out of England and lived in four different European countries throughout the rest of the seventies, moving on to other parts of the world when the eighties began and her savings had grown larger.

And now, she was back in the country where she'd grown up all those years ago, finally being able to afford the comfortable lifestyle she'd secretly wish to have once again, and was preparing for a Christmas gathering amongst the members of a private school council which was to take place in what was once a luxurious hotel. She thought of all this as she stepped into the elegant building which was the Northern Horizons Hotel, which she saw as being similar to the TARDIS in how the inside and outside were significantly different from each other. However, while the TARDIS was bigger on the inside, Northern Horizons was older and uglier on the inside, as the cracked old walls and the armless china doll waving her remaining right hand reminded her upon walking through the entrance.

"Why, welcome once again, Victoria Harris!" one of the blonde assistants said upon noticing that she'd just arrived, giving her an overly friendly smile which Victoria had gotten accustomed to seeing over time despite how it made her a little nervous from strange reason. "Would you like some help…"

"No, thank you. I think I've gotten to know this place quite well after a month of coming here, but I still appreciate your efforts to help me, Sandy," Victoria responded, hoping to have gotten the girl's name right for once.

The girl gave her what looked like a forced smile. "Actually, I'm Elaine."

"Sorry," Victoria said nervously.

"No problem; it's just that you've been seeing us for a month, so I'd expect you to have been able to recognize us by now. Mrs. Tyler certainly has, and so has little Rose," Elaine responded, sounding a little too serious regarding Victoria's mistake.

"But you two do look an awful lot alike," Victoria said, wondering if it wasn't already obvious to Elaine.

"Perhaps, but there are some obvious differences. If you're really clever enough to get into a teacher's group, you should be able to do it easily enough," Elaine said with a hint of scorn in her tone. "Now, let's get back to business. You're supposed to be meeting along with Laura Benton, the history correspondent for your group."

"History; now that's a subject I know very well," Victoria said with a small smile. It helped that she was able to live through a lot of it. However, she'd passed off the subject for English because she didn't want to make it too obvious how well she actually knew the material.

"Good for you. Perhaps you'll be able to have nice little discussions over it with Miss Benton then," Elaine said, escorting her through the lobby despite the fact that Victoria could have been able to get there easily on her own. But Victoria didn't say anything about it because the first and only time she'd ever brought it up, Elaine had given her a very mean look, saying that escorting her was her job, and she didn't want to risk losing her job on account of Victoria's stubbornness. What exactly was so stubborn about this was something Victoria couldn't comprehend at all, but Elaine had been so adamant about it that she had no choice but to just let her do what she pleased.

And as they were making their way through, they came across Sandy, who was holding a newspaper in her hand. "Elaine," she said in a bored tone, "Mrs. Tyler hadn't been getting The London Times over the past two days, and she asked that it be given to her today. Since you're the one who's supposed to be by her side every other hour, why not do the courtesy of bringing it over?"

"That would be my pleasure, Sandy," Elaine answered. "Especially since you always make your disdain for our guests a little too apparent."

"You weren't being so nice to Miss Harris just now, so you're certainly not one to speak," Sandy said stoically.

"Just give me the paper, Sandy," Elaine demanded.

"Fine," Sandy said with a sigh, handing Elaine a folded copy of The London Times.

"Thank you for being so courteous for once," Elaine said sarcastically. Then she shook her head and made a gesture with her hand to let Victoria know that they would be moving on.

Victoria gave out a small sigh, wondering if Michael Truman actually required his assistants to treat guests like dogs or if that was just the way Elaine liked handling things. When interacting with Rose, she treated the girl like one of those miniature poodles Victoria sometimes saw on television, and she always felt the need to repeatedly give Jackie orders on things she was already aware of.

"And here we are!" Elaine said in a voice that was a little too cheerful, directing a smile towards Laura Benton, who was seated in a bench and looking through a notebook. "Miss Benton, this is Victoria Harris. And Miss Harris, this is Laura Benton."

Laura smiled at Victoria. "How are you, Victoria?" she asked, shaking her hand.

"I'm doing quite well, thank you very much," Victoria responded, happy to see someone who was naturally nice for once. She hadn't met Laura personally before now, but what she heard about her gave her a somewhat good impression, especially when hearing about how she'd shuffled from home to home as a child and had grown up to become a well-respected female sergeant. And then, of course, she was studying History, so as Elaine had suggested, they'd be able to have some interesting conversations together.

"Now you certainly have the look of a private school teacher," Laura teased in a friendly way, reminding Victoria of how Jamie would do just the same many years before. "When I showed up in my military uniform the first time I went to St. Teresa's for a meeting, I got all these strange looks from the nuns and students."

"Was it really because you weren't dressed properly enough, or could it have been that they don't trust members of the military?" Victoria asked, meaning to take the matter a little too lightly, yet immediately regretted saying this. "I'm sorry," she apologized. "I didn't mean to sound…"

"Don't worry about it," Laura said. "I don't expect people to trust me that much upon first meeting me. These nuns in particular had every right to be, since many of them are self-proclaimed pacifists. The actual history teacher whom I worked with had been involved in the peacekeeping efforts in Northern Ireland, so it wasn't that easy getting her to trust me. However, once they got to know me better, I became a friend to many of them. Of course, it helps that I never kill anyone while I was on active duty." She said that last part with an awkward laugh.

"Well, what are you thinking of doing once you finish your university studies?" Victoria asked, wanting to change the subject.

"I was thinking of either going on to law school or getting some work archiving in a museum if law school didn't work out. I mean, I like the work with students I've done through this program, but directing a group of students in learning just feels so different from leading people in combat for some reason. At least when you're a sergeant, you know your job is to direct your fellow soldiers through whatever situation you may be in, and you've received a lot of training for what you're supposed to do. As a teacher, it may seem easier to people because no one's life is your hands, but you have to know the best way to help young people learn. They don't all love the subject you're teaching, and none of the training teachers get really prepares for how to reach out to those students who may not learn well through lectures and notes."

"I see what you mean," Victoria said. This was something that she had often thought about when she was completing her studies, but which never got enough attention from her professors. How to help your students get good letter grades and test scores seemed to matter more to them than actually getting them to actually learn and enjoy the material. Although Victoria often made an effort to get her students more interested by showing films, talking about how the works they read could relate to contemporary issues of interest, and even having them acting out the plays they read, but somehow, she always felt there was more she could do other than this which she wasn't taking into consideration.

"What made you interested in teaching, Victoria?" Laura asked.

Victoria smiled. "This is probably going to sound very silly to you, but when I was younger, I always thought about the children I'd have someday. By the time I was nine, I had already decided what I'd name them, where I would raise them and send them to school, and how many I would have, which was seven. I even thought I knew what their personalities would be like."

Laura laughed. "You had no idea what you would have been setting yourself up for back then. My father grew up in a family of five boys who moved around a lot more than we did, and he always tells me how much work it was for his parents."

"So anyway, things took a turn for the worse when I was fifteen and my father died," Victoria went on, trying to remain as honest as possible about her past. "After that, all my plans for the future were completely shattered, and I had to think things over. I still loved working for people and taking on more nurturing roles whenever I could, so after facing a couple more struggles, I finally decided to settle on teaching."

"And it's worked out for you so far, hasn't it?"

"Yes. I love it and wouldn't trade it for any other work in the world."

And this was true. Victoria didn't know what really made her decide to stick with the profession for good; whether it was her days as a disc jockey who ended up becoming surprisingly popular among the college students who requested all the music she played, or her brief time in Japan, where she'd looked after nearly all the children of some busy farmers in a small village, or perhaps just her studies in Ontario, where she interacted with many young people on a daily basis. However, she had little regrets in settling in as an English teacher, and many of her students really liked her and her lessons, telling her that she could make something as dull as Shakespeare or Hardy actually seem interesting for once. Of course, it helped that she once had one of the most eccentric and fun teachers any teenager could have, and she even gave small stories about him during her lessons (although she never revealed the truth about who he was and where she'd met him, of course, saying that he was her old sixth form Chemistry teacher).

"Is there a problem?" she heard Laura asking. However, upon regaining her focus, Victoria noticed that she wasn't speaking to her, but to Elaine, who was lingering around the background and listening to their conversation.

"Nothing," Elaine said, sounding as if she were lying. "I was just waiting until you two were ready to step in and meet up with Mrs. Tyler."

"Why are you giving her a newspaper which is two days old? Don't you think she would want the most current edition?" Laura asked, looking over the paper which Elaine was still holding.

"She hasn't gotten one since her first day, so we thought it was best for her to get updated on anything she could have missed," Elaine responded hastily.

Victoria tried to get a glimpse of it, and upon getting a good look at the front cover, she realized why this paper appeared to be so questionable:

Young Woman Found Murdered In Her Flat. Identity of Killer Still Unknown