==Chapter One==

The Second Act

"Take care! I don't care. Don't you worry about me! I am as happy now as I have ever been, and that is saying a great deal. But the time has come. I am being swept off my feet at last."

Vwoorp-vwoooooorp!

Beth Lestrade jumped to her feet from where she'd been reading Lord of the Rings out on the porch. She knew that sound! She hadn't heard it in two years, but she couldn't possibly forget it when it had been haunting her dreams ever since!

"Beth, what's wrong?"

"Nothing," she told her little sister and tore into the house and up the stairs. She'd had a duffel bag packed and all but ready for over a year now—the Doctor had said he'd come back when she was older, but he'd never actually said when. She stuffed her book and a few other odds and ends into the bag, then slung it over her shoulder and ran back down, grabbing a coat out of the closet before she ran out the back door, somehow avoiding her siblings and her mother. Thank goodness. With any luck, they'd never even know that she had been gone at all.

The noise of the TARDIS had faded away, but she knew which direction it had come from and ran towards it through the woods surrounding her home. After a minute, she came out into a clearing to find the TARDIS sitting there, looking quite serene in the late afternoon light of an August sun.

The door opened, and a familiar figure stepped out, grinning briefly before the look faded to confusion. "Excuse me? Could you tell me where to find Beth Lestrade? She looks a bit like you, but she's a little girl…"

Beth glared daggers at him, then set her things down and ran forward, flinging her arms around him. "Doctor!"

He hugged her back, laughing and lifting her up off the ground. "Look at you! Oh, it's so good to see you again!"

Contrary to what the Doctor might think, Holmes truly wasn't adverse to seeing Miss Lestrade again - although he did feel rather hesitant at adding yet another female to the group. He soon cheered up, however, at the thought that having a second female for company might help to distract Sally from constantly making eyes at Watson. It certainly couldn't make matters any worse...

He could hear Beth's voice as he approached the door, shrill with excitement, and the Doctor laughing. Holmes wondered briefly how many months they'd been away from her perspective, he should have asked the Doctor for the date... Exiting the TARDIS, he halted abruptly, staring in surprise. The tall, slim brunette that stood before him was a far cry from the tearstained fifteen-year-old to whom he had said 'au revoir' when they were last here...

The Doctor pulled back a little and grinned over his shoulder at Holmes. "Will you look at her? She's a lady now!"

Beth laughed self-consciously. "I wouldn't go that far." She let go of the Doctor and gave Holmes a shy smile. "Hi."

Feeling strangely uncomfortable all of a sudden, Holmes nodded, more stiffly than he'd intended. "Hello, Beth." Why couldn't he think of anything else to say? He couldn't even decide what else to do - a handshake seemed a little too formal, and as for the hug he'd given her last time... well, that might be appropriate for either Doctor, but something in Holmes recoiled at the idea of doing so now.

Thankfully, Beth didn't seem at all inclined to hug him, either, chewing at her lip, looking more self-conscious than ever. Just as the moment started becoming unbearably awkward, Holmes was relieved to hear Watson's voice coming from the control room: "Doctor, Holmes, are you out here?"

His voice grew louder as he approached the open door, stepping outside with Sally. "You might have warned us we'd be landing, we would have..." Then his eyes widened as he saw and recognised the new arrival, beaming in delight. "Beth!"

Beth smiled back widely. "Dr. Watson!" She came forward and hugged him without hesitation. "It's so good to see you again!"

Watson returned the hug warmly. "It's wonderful to see you, my dear!" He pulled back to look at her again. "And look how you've grown –" He grinned in disbelief; "good heavens, you're taller than I am!"

Beth blushed again and laughed. "It's a family thing, yeah." She let him go and turned to Sally, smile faltering a little. "Hi. I'm Beth. Ah, Beth Lestrade."

Holmes was gratified to see that Sally held out her hand at once. "Sally Sparrow. It's nice to meet you."

"Nice to meet you." The two girls shook hands, then Beth looked questioningly over her shoulder at the Doctor.

"Sally just started traveling with us," the Doctor explained, "and I realised—we needed another girl on board. Balance things out."

Beth gave a mock pout. "So I'm the balance. Very nice." She broke out into a grin and shook her head. "I'm just..." She exhaled slowly. "So... I can come along?"

The Doctor smiled solemnly, nodding at the TARDIS. "It would be my honour."

Beth hesitated a moment, then picked up her bag and walked slowly inside, with the Doctor following. Behind them, Sally turned to Watson, eyes widening. "Wait, Lestrade…?!" Well, it had taken the woman long enough to make the connection…

Watson nodded, grinning. "Direct descendant of our own Inspector Lestrade… and one of my former students – remember I told you I was a high school teacher for a while?"

"Oh my god…"

Holmes arched an admonishing eyebrow as he passed them on his way back inside. "We, my dear fellow, it wasn't just you." He found himself smiling faintly, recalling that he had also found Beth a pleasure to teach, before everything went to hell...

"Remind me to tell you about that another time," Watson said to Sally apologetically, the pair following after Holmes.

Beth turned to Holmes as he entered, blue eyes as wide as they'd been on her first trip. "How do you even live in a place like this?"

Holmes gave her a reassuring smile. "A willing suspension of disbelief." Then again, she might not know that particular quote from Coleridge.

She tilted her head curiously, then gave him a rueful smile, shaking her head as she looked around her again. "To say the least…"

Watson nodded at the bag on her shoulder. "If you'd like to settle in, Beth, the TARDIS will have a room ready for you."

Beth nodded, looking decidedly dazed. "Kay… um…" She grimaced slightly, turning to the Doctor. "Where would that even be?"

The Doctor shrugged."There's an entire row of bedrooms now. Holmes can show you!"

Beth looked somewhat tentatively at Holmes, who sighed internally – why him? – but gestured politely at the bag. "If you'll allow me?"

Eyes wide, she allowed him to take it. "…thanks..."

He nodded evenly, leading the way out of the control room and down the passage. As they walked, he wracked his brain for a harmless conversation topic. "You, er, seem to have been keeping well since we last saw you."

She gave another nervous laugh. "Well, I'm only seventeen. I was half expecting the Doctor to find me somewhere in college."

"Perhaps he did not wish to disrupt your studies." He hesitated, curious as to what had happened after they'd left, but not quite sure how to phrase the question.

"Mm." A few moments later, she murmured, "I missed the three of you. I think a lot of kids did."

He nodded again, apologetically. "It is a pity we could not remain longer. I hope your assisting us did not lead you into any trouble with the authorities."

"Not really. This group showed up just as I got back into town and they were asking people in the school for info, so…" She shrugged. "UNIT. Have you heard of them?"

"Indeed – the Doctor has worked with them on numerous occasions, mostly in the 1970s." And the Time Lord had regretfully informed Holmes while they were trapped in the Sixties that contacting UNIT for assistance before they'd even encountered his third self would be disastrous.

Beth nodded. "They weren't surprised when I told them about the Doctor."

They reached the passage with the row of bedrooms, which now had a second new door. Holmes stopped in front of it. "This must be your room."

Beth laughed in disbelief. "Wow…" She opened the door and stood staring at the luxurious apartment in front of her, which seemed to be a mixture of Victorian and late 21st century, complete with a four poster bed.

Holmes coughed lightly to break her reverie, and handed over the bag – a gentleman never entered a lady's bedchamber without invitation. "Please, make yourself comfortable. If there is anything you wish for, you need only ask, and the TARDIS will provide it."

"I think… I could very quickly get spoiled..." she said slowly.

He gave her another reassuring smile - he suspected he'd be doing a lot more of that in the near future. "Simply treat her with respect, and all will be well." Not that he was terribly concerned, the girl's manners were quite impeccable – from her own time's standards, of course.

She smiled gratefully in return. "Thanks."

He nodded politely, turning to leave.

"Sherlock?"

Holmes froze in his tracks, entirely taken aback. He turned back again, looking at her a touch uncertainly, but doing his best to appear unruffled – after all, she was hardly the first of their party to use his given name.

Beth smiled at him tentatively. "It's really great to see you again."

He cleared his throat self-consciously, although by no means displeased. "Er, thank you, Beth..." Wishing he didn't feel so dreadfully awkward, he managed to respond, if a little stiffly: "It is pleasant to see you again, also. Welcome aboard."

Her smile widened, and she stepped into her room, allowing him to make a thankful escape.

The Doctor was grinning at her from behind the central column. "So! All of Time and Space, and you have had two years to decide what you want to see! So how 'bout it?"

Beth grinned back, scarcely daring to believe that this was all finally happening. "Wyndham's Theatre, October 1988." One of the regrets of any dedicated fan of Granada's Sherlock Holmes series was being born too late to go see the great Jeremy Brett and Edward Hardwicke perform their most beloved roles on stage in The Secret of Sherlock Holmes. Only audio recordings existed of the play—no videotapes had ever been uncovered.

Well, Beth was determined to go see that play, maybe even get a chance to meet Jeremy backstage afterwards.

The Doctor chuckled. "All of Time and Space, and you want to go see a play?"

"Doctor, who was it again who suggested Shakespeare?" said Watson, smiling broadly.

"You went to see Shakespeare?" said Sally, eyes wide. "I'm jealous!"

"So am I!" Beth chimed, grinning widely.

The Doctor rolled his eyes. "All roight! Wyndham's Theatre it is." He moved to start the TARDIS up, but Beth ran forward.

"Wait!"

The Time Lord paused expectantly.

"There's just one thing I'd like to do first."

The Doctor's long fingers were tight and warm around her ankle, anchoring her. She had played in zero-G gyms before, but that was nothing compared to the sensation of floating suit-less in space. She felt weightless and naked and chilled, even though she was fully clothed.

The TARDIS possessed a bubble of artificial atmosphere—that was why she still breathed, unfrozen. The Doctor stood in the doorway, holding on to her ankle to keep her from simply floating outside of the bubble into the deadly vacuum of space just a few inches from her face.

It was so quiet, so vast. They were near enough one star that it seemed to be the size of the Moon from Earth. That star was blue-white—her heart ached at the majesty of it. Every which way she turned, there were stars. Space wasn't empty—it was alive. It was alive with myriads upon myriads of points of light, dancing their great dance through the heavens.

When the hand on her ankle began to pull her back in, she realized that she had been holding her breath and that she was crying. Her stomach churned at the reappearance of gravity, and she nearly threw up on the Doctor's converses. She managed to hold it in, though, blinking back tears and whispering, "Thank you."

He simply smiled peacefully in return and leaned on the doorpost, folding his arms and turning his gaze heavenward. "Though my soul may set in darkness," he breathed, "it will rise in perfect light; I have—"

"—loved the stars too fondly to be fearful of the night," she finished softly. His warm, dark eyes returned to her, and she held that gaze: thousand-year-old Time Lord and human child, but they shared a moment of perfect understanding.

Deciding that, since their group had gotten so large, camouflage was becoming more of an important issue, Watson and Holmes both took the time to change into more appropriate attire, returning from the wardrobe room in suits from the late Eighties.

Sally sighed as the party left the TARDIS. "Will you look at these three? They're in suits -"

Beth shook her head in mock regret. "And I left my suit in my other duffle, yep."

"Well, if you ladies would prefer to go back and change...?" Watson smiled. "The TARDIS wardrobe is sure to have something suitable." He supposed he could have found more casual clothing, but this was only his second official date with Sally and he had felt the need to make an effort. Sally, of course, was elegant in whatever she wore - still, he would love to find out how she looked in an evening gown...

The girls glanced at each other, then shook their heads.

"I think we're good," Beth said. "Thanks, though."

Sally nodded. "I don't think it's actually all that formal..."

Watson offered Sally his arm and glanced pointedly at Holmes, who responded with a Look of his own as he offered his arm to Beth. All right, perhaps he shouldn't have simply assumed that Holmes would neglect the common courtesies, but with the way his friend had been acting lately... "And which play are we about to see, my dear -" he asked Beth, "or is that meant to be a surprise?"

Beth suddenly seemed to shrink in on herself slightly. "Well... it might be a play about this detective and doctor I know of..."

Watson and Holmes both stopped dead, staring at Beth, momentarily speechless.

She grimaced. "…hi."

"I think it sounds like fun!" Sally piped up. "Who're the actors?"

Beth gave her a grateful look. "Ah, Jeremy Brett and Edward Hardwicke."

Sally's eyes went wide. "You're joking. No, I actually watched the show when I was a kid—it was brilliant. They were brilliant."

Watson nodded thoughtfully. To be honest, he'd been more surprised than shocked by the revelation. His trawls through the internet had brought him into contact with one or two Holmes movie titles, although he'd avoided reading any of the plot summaries. "Well... as long as they're decent actors, I suppose I've no objection. Holmes?"

Holmes hesitated for a long moment, then sighed in resignation. "Oh, very well, then." This trip was Beth's choice, after all, he probably didn't want to seem a wet blanket.

"They're amazing actors," Beth grinned. "Jeremy Brett actually looks a lot like you, Sherlock, just... older by now."

Holmes was looking thoughtful. "Brett... That name is familiar, actually. Didn't he play the role of d'Artagnan in The Three Musketeers?"

Beth's eyes widened. "Yeah, he did. How do you know that?"

"I worked briefly at a sports center in '69 as a fencing instructor. One of my regulars was a fan of the series – understandable, given all the swordplay."

Beth giggled. "I hear the series was corny—never had the chance to watch it myself."

Sally looked over her shoulder at the Doctor, who was walking behind the four of them. "Doctor... you haven't been saying much."

The Time Lord was grinning like the Cheshire Cat. "Oh, I'm just enjoying watching you people—you're all so adorable." He laughed as Beth looked back over her shoulder and stuck her tongue out at him.

Watson sighed, exchanging a pained glance with Holmes. The Doctor's fanboying could be difficult to live with at times, his colleague hoped he'd keep it to a minimum during the performance.

There was just one thing that Beth had not been thinking about. She hadn't forgotten it—she just hadn't factored it into this trip that actually included the subjects of the play. A rather nasty little plot-twist at the end, the titular secret and one of the crazier things Sherlockians liked to come up with… In the play, Sherlock Holmes was Professor Moriarty, much in Jekyll and Hyde fashion.

Both Sherlock and Dr. Watson had gone white at the revelation, and then Sherlock stood and stalked out of the theatre as quickly as he could, looking absolutely thunderous, eyes blazing.

Beth hurried out after him, cursing herself inwardly the whole time. How could she?! "Sherlock, wait, I'm sorry! I'm sorry, I didn't—"

He rounded on her, and she flinched a full step back. "Didn't what?! Think? Apply the least granule of common sense? No, clearly not!"

"No, I didn't, and I'm sorry!" Her vision started to blur. Zed. "I've always wanted to see this play, and I didn't think of how it would affect you and Dr. Watson, and I'm sorry!"

Discomfort began to seep through the anger in his features, probably because of her zedding tears. Why did she have to lose it now? "Now, really, Beth..." he said, "there's no need for that…" He took a handkerchief from his pocket and awkwardly held it out to her. "Do compose yourself, there's a good girl."

She shook her head mutely, not accepting the handkerchief, feeling thoroughly ashamed of herself. She'd acted thoughtlessly—treated her own heroes thoughtlessly—and now she'd made a complete idiot of herself. Brushing the tears out of her eyes, she took a shuddering breath and murmured, "It's special, actually watching Jeremy and Edward like this. But I didn't think. I'm sorry." She turned back towards the theatre.

"Why?"

She stopped and turned back to him, echoing his confused frown. "For being inconsiderate?"

He shook his head. "No... I mean: why here, why now? I read the programme—Brett and Hardwicke have been playing Watson and I on television for the last four years. What was so special about this play?" His eyes narrowed, and she found it very difficult to hold his gaze. "Beth, did you know how the second act would go? What my 'secret' was meant to be?"

She shrunk back further, hanging her head and nodding wordlessly.

He sighed deeply. "I don't understand you, Beth. You're a Lestrade, for heaven's sake—and yet you were perfectly happy to sit there and applaud what you knew to be a pack of damned lies, regardless of who was telling it!"

Her head snapped back up. "It's completely because of who's telling it! Jeremy was the best, bar none, and he would have gone and done all sixty stories if he could have!"

Sherlock tilted his head, frowning. "Why didn't he?"

Her chest suddenly hurt. "Because he'll be dead in seven years. He's not healthy right now… and it only gets worse."

He exhaled heavily, still looking confused. "And yet you could have chosen to see him perform at an earlier date, could you not? I am sure the Doctor would gladly have found a way for you to be on set at the Granada Studios."

She wished now she'd thought of that—why hadn't she? "Honestly never entered my mind. The play is a big deal—it's the only one he ever did as you. It's the play that all the fans wish they could have seen."

He nodded grudgingly. "He's certainly a talented actor, I'll grant him that. I suppose the question uppermost in my mind is: the man made it his business to portray me as accurately as possible, given what he had to work with... so why would he ever agree to playing this role?"

She shrugged. "It's still kind of connected to Granada—one of the screenwriters wrote the play. From the interviews I've seen, he had fun being on the stage again and doing a two-man performance with his best friend…" She shrugged again. "I don't know. Why don't you ask him?"

His eyes widened with what looked like uncertainty. That was an emotion she'd never thought to see from him.

"I did want to go backstage after the show was over," she said hopefully.

He sighed and smiled faintly. "And I suppose I do owe you for causing you to leave before the end..."

She blushed. "I wouldn't exactly say that…" More like, she owed him…

He shrugged. "Well, in any case… if you would care to have me accompany you…"

She nodded shyly.

He offered her his arm. "Then shall we adjourn to the stage door ahead of the stampede?"

She took his arm slowly. "That would be nice, yeah." Softly, she added, "Thank you."

"Don't mention it," he said dryly, eyes twinkling. "No, I mean that, I should prefer to let this memory fade swiftly."

She sighed, supposing she deserved that.

A/N from Sky: Well, wow. So Beth is finally back, yay—but inadvertently adding to the tension in Team TARDIS, oops. Poor kid—my first choice would be The Secret of Sherlock Holmes, too! But it definitely wasn't the smartest choice with the real-life counterparts around...

Still, I'm delighted that she's back, and excited for the rest of the episode! This is the first time that we have completed an episode before posting it, and that alone is exciting!

A/N from Ria: And this episode is entirely new, not based off any of Martha's adventures! Since we now had two double episodes shortened to singles in our series, we wanted to make sure we kept a full first season. The plot was actually inspired by one of Sky's earlier Jeremy Brett fics... shh, spoilers!

Like 'Stolen', the main cast is obviously a lot bigger for this one, so it was a real challenge keeping the scene perspectives evenly distributed without detracting from the story. In fact, a couple of the scenes in later chapters had to be written from multiple viewpoints - but we've done our best to keep the narrative from getting confusing!

Stay tuned, and please review!