Veronica was an eight-year-old girl with an active imagination, and there was nothing wrong with that. She would dream about the glittery golden beach and Purple Ocean, and a man with a long brown coat and warm and lonely eyes, standing next to a blue box, waving at her, asking her to go to many fantastic places. His wheezing box that was bigger on the inside, like magic, filled her dreams in so many years to come. Veronica wanted to go back to that…

Sometimes she would open her closet, climbed inside, and wished it were the TARDIS.

She drew the TARDIS and the strange man on papers with crayons and put them on the wall of her bedroom.

Her father once asked who the man was, and she just shrugged, "The Doctor."

"But sweetie… Doctors wear white coats." Keith Mars looked at the drawings. "And they don't have flying… blue telephone boxes?"

"It's not a telephone box." Veronica finished her drawing of a purple ocean. "It's bigger on the inside and it can take you to amazing places." She looked at her father and grinned, "And it can travel back in time!"

Keith smiled and then kissed his daughter's head. "Sounds great, honey."

Veronica always thought that nobody would believe her anyway, even when she was telling the truth. And she liked it that way. She loved bedtime stories – the princess and the castle, the prince and the dragons, and now… The Doctor and the TARDIS.

For years, Veronica dreamed about The Doctor; that strange man who would take her on adventures.

When she turned twelve, Veronica didn't think about the strange man she met at the beach. She even thought that she was imagining the whole thing.

She never met the Doctor. She never went to an unnamed planet. She never walked in golden sand and looked at a purple ocean. She never went inside a booth which was bigger on the inside. That was only a dream…right? She only made those up because she was sad her parents were arguing every night; because her mother passed out in the living room after drinking; and Deputy Lamb started to hate her family because he wanted to be the Sheriff but instead her father got the job.

The Doctor and his TARDIS were her imagination.

It was only her fantasy.

They didn't exist.

Veronica met Lilly Kane.

The vibrant and full of life, Lilly Kane – who took her hand and ran across the sandy beach of Neptune. "Run!" She said when she just first met her. Veronica didn't know what to say, but she took her hand and ran with her together, laughing. They were running under the boardwalk and then hid behind the pillars, still laughing. Lilly put her index finger to her mouth and shushed her while giggling.

"Who are we running from?"

"My brother." She peeked from behind a pillar. Veronica also saw two young boys running after them. Lilly giggled and looked at her, "I'm Lilly. What's your name?"

"Veronica. Veronica Mars."

Lilly's eyes widened and she smiled like she knew a good secret. "Veronica Mars? As in Sheriff Mars?"

"That's my dad."

"Nice to meet you, Ve-ro-ni-ca Maaars," Lilly said. "We're going to be best friends."

Veronica didn't know what to say, but she immediately liked her and nodded. "Which one is your brother?"

Lilly peeked again and pointed to one of the boys who was standing around and looking for the girls. "That one: the one who looks like he wants to fart." Veronica laughed, and the boys heard her laughter.

One of the boys had a long hair and parted in the middle, pointed at the girls, "There they are!"

Lilly shrieked and ran away with Veronica in tow. Her brother apparently was very athletic as he ran very fast and managed to corner both girls as they screamed and laughed. The taller boy grabbed Veronica around the waist and held her tight. Lilly's brother tackled her to the sand.

"Let me go, Donut!"

"I'm gonna kill you, Lilly!" He yelled, "Mom is angry because you wrecked her car!"

"Oh, boo-hoo! You don't have proof that I drove that car!" Lilly flipped him and she was on top of him, and she messed his hair and slapped him around jokingly.

Veronica squirmed from the other boy's grip, "Let me go, you tree!"

The tall boy laughed and let her go, "You're pretty strong there, shortstop." He looked at her appearance; she was wearing a soccer uniform and knee-high socks. Her hair was in pigtails – and for a moment there, he thought that she was cute.

Lilly stomped on her brother's back and went to her new friend. "Careful, Logie. Flip your hair like that, girls will swoon."

"Did it work?" He grinned.

Lilly laughed and took Veronica away from him. "This is my new best friend, Veronica."

"Hi… Veronica." The tall boy smiled.

"This is Logan, who thinks that he's all that," Lilly whispered in Veronica's ear. "His father is Aaron Echolls."

Veronica frowned, "Who?"

Logan looked at her like he was in love when she didn't know who Aaron Echolls was. Lilly, on the other hand, looked at her like she was crazy, "Veronica, if you want to be my new best friend, please tell me that at least you own a TV?" Veronica looked at Lilly, annoyed. "Aaron Echolls, the movie star? He's like Bruce Willis and Tom Cruise combined! 'Breaking Point'? 'Breaking Point 2'?" Lilly pointed to Logan, "THIS is his son!"

"That's good to… know?" Veronica said.

Logan laughed and clapped his hands. He then hugged her – Veronica pushed him away angrily. Logan laughed again, "I think I'm in love."

"Silly boy. I thought you're in love with me." Lilly winked. She was about to say something else when her brother cleared his throat. "Oh, this creature who happens to be my brother is Donut."

"It's Duncan." He corrected her and offered his hand to Veronica. "Nice to meet you, Veronica." He was a handsome boy with the nice manner and seemed shy. Veronica immediately liked him.

Veronica looked at the three tweens in front of her, smiling, not realizing those three kids would change her life upside-down.

Veronica was sixteen years old.

Lilly Kane was found dead near her swimming pool with her head busted wide open. Someone cracked her skull with an ashtray. Veronica's life changed dramatically when her best friend, Lilly Kane, was murdered in her own home.

Her father, Sheriff Mars, accused Jake Kane, Lilly Kane's father as the murderer. Jake Kane, the most wealthy and powerful man in Neptune decided that Keith Mars overstepped his boundaries and asked the Sheriff to be removed from the office. From that day on, Keith Mars was the public enemy number one in Neptune.

Duncan didn't want to speak with her anymore, and Logan waged a war against the Mars family – therefore Veronica. Veronica was the public enemy number one in Neptune high.

Every time Veronica walked in that school hall, people were sneering and jeering, bumping into her, calling her a slut while coughing, throwing her spitballs, pushing her onto her locker, and one time pushed her to the ground and stepping onto her hand. She saw Logan was watching with his friends, while Duncan was looking away. Her best friends were no longer thinking she existed anymore.

Logan confronted her one day in the computer lab, looked at her with tearful eyes.

"So does your, uh, does your dad still think that Lilly's father did this? That's my girlfriend. Your friend. Duncan's sister. Your dad is destroying the Kane family. What's the matter with you people, huh? What's the matter with you?"

Veronica couldn't say anything.

And then a few weeks later after she and her family moved to a small apartment, her mother decided to leave. The loss of status, the loss of income was too much for her. They couldn't afford their house, and a month after her Dad lost his job, her Mom split for good. All she left to her daughter was a unicorn music box and a note saying she would be back for her someday.

A few months later, she lost her virginity.

She didn't know how it happened.

All she knew that she woke up in a bed at Shelly Pomeroy's party, naked, and without a memory of what happened the night before.

When she reported her rape to Sheriff Lamb, he laughed at her face. He didn't believe her and told her that she was trying to accuse men of raping her just like her father accused the wealthiest man in Neptune of killing his own daughter. Don Lamb; who used to babysit her when she was a little girl, was laughing at her for reporting her rape.

She felt like a piece of her soul was gone.

Veronica just turned seventeen.

She was standing on a cliff, watching the waves crashing down the rocks beneath her.

She just wanted to get this over with.

She wrote a very long goodbye letter to her dad. It made her sad that she couldn't tell him that she had lost her soul for the past year. She wanted her dad to be happy, and she felt that she couldn't give that happiness to him.

"I am sorry to disappoint you."

She wrote that to her dad, and she wished that she would be forgiven.

Before she took the plunge, she closed her eyes and enjoyed the breeze and the sun warmed her skin. She didn't realize that tears were rolling down her cheeks. She loved her father and wished that he would find happiness again. "Goodbye, dad…"

Veronica took one step over the edge.

As she fell down, she thought she heard a familiar wheezing sound.

Before she realized what happened, she landed on a very soft surface. "Ooof!" It took a solid three minutes for Veronica to actually raise her head and notice that she wasn't impaled on rocks or destroyed in millions of pieces. She was lying on some sort of huge mattress that was as big as a room – then she realized that she was in a huge room as well. She didn't recognize the room, but the coral wall seemed to be familiar. "Am I dead…?" She whispered.

She stood up and tried to balance herself between the soft fabrics. She looked up and saw on the ceiling where there were double doors.

"No, you're not dead."

Veronica saw a thin man with a brown coat, sitting upside down on a chair with a seatbelt on. She widened her eyes and said, "Doctor?"

"Veronica Mars! From Neptune, California! What on earth were you doing? You know you can't fly?" The man cheeringly greeted her. Veronica opened her mouth in shock. Before she could say anything, the whole room shook and they were moving around. Veronica felt like she was inside a washing machine, and with a grunt, she landed on the floor.

The soft mattress inflated and turned smaller, making a plop sound as it was gone under the storage panels. Veronica stood up carefully and noticed that she was inside that room that was bigger on the inside. She stared at the huge console in the middle of the room that bobbed up and down, breathing.

Veronica didn't realize that there were tears rolling down her cheeks as she looked around the TARDIS. She couldn't believe it…

"This is real." Veronica croaked.

After all these years, she finally returned to the TARDIS. It wasn't a dream, it was really happening. She felt so much emotion and indescribable feelings; one minute she was feeling depressed and wanted to die, the next minute she was inside the TARDIS.

She felt overwhelmed.

"Well, of course it's real." The Doctor released his seatbelt and hopped off from his seat, approaching her. "I was on my way to Neptune, the planet, but apparently I took a wrong turn and landed here instead, and I saw you flying off the cliff - which you shouldn't have done because humans can't fly… yet, not for another –" He looked at his watch, "Oh, 500 years or so." He continued his rambling. "And then the TARDIS turned sideways and the mattress popped out like an airbag, which almost CRUSHED me to the wall, by the way!" His English accent sounded thicker than she remembered. "Glad that it's made of Egyptian cotton so you didn't feel any pain when you fell onto it, which is strange enough that it WASN'T made by the Egyptians." He clicked his tongue. "Anyway, the humans of the future develop some sort of exoskeleton that can be planted into humans, so I'm afraid you have to wait…" He touched her cheek, erasing her tears with his thumb. "What am I saying - you'd be gone by then. But if you want to, we can go to the future and check out some of those flying humans." He looked down at the short blonde girl who was teary in front of him. "I mean, I did promise you to take you on a trip." He smiled comfortingly at her.

Veronica didn't say anything. She was speechless.

For nine years, she thought she was imagining it. Maybe what happened at the beach years ago was only her imagination; A fantasy to comfort her when she was feeling lonely.

"Doctor…"

"So what do you say, Veronica Mars from Neptune? Want to take a trip?"

Veronica stared at him with teary eyes. Without saying a word, she hugged him slowly. She buried her face on his chest, and then quietly said, "Yes."