RP for alt!Harry

[rovingsj]

She wasn't quite sure if her fingers itched because of the weather or because she hadn't filed a story in quite some time. Nonetheless, she was safe and she kept meeting many familiar faces and those that weren't familiar had the same experiences and dare she say it, the same ideals as she carried

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[drharrysullivan]

Harry smiled when he came across another Sarah. He could start again with this one.

"Sarah! What are you up to?"

[rovingsj]

She jumped to attention rather quickly, her inner (common sense, really) voice told her to run, but then she saw who was speaking to her and she brightened completely. "Harry!" she greeted happily, nearly assaulting him with a hug, but she stayed back at the last moment.

[drharrysullivan]

Harry wondered what was different between this Sarah and the one he'd just been having tea with that one had greeted him with a hug and the other didn't. It was probably that this one knew he wasn't her Harry. Nevertheless, she certainly seemed pleased to see him.

"Good to see you, old girl. How was France?"

[rovingsj]

"Magnifique," she replied with quite the happy trill to her voice and she beamed, easing closer and feeling at least comfortable enough to rest a hand on his arm. "And you? Now that I've gone and hopped that pesky divide of years."

[drharrysullivan]

"Oh, I've not done anything nearly as exciting as you, I suspect." He did like a quiet life, generally speaking.

He put a hand on top of hers. He wondered how she would react, as he didn't know how different this Sarah would be from any of the others she'd met.

"I did go to another planet, but it looked like Dover, so I don't know if it counts."

[rovingsj]

It was almost scary how comfortably she could settle into thinking that this Harry was nothing too different from the one she had left at home. "Oh, well, that's a disappointment," she said, but was still smiling. "I'd just called you in France, you know. Well, my-you. You made me check up every once in a while and I would tell you what I'd seen."

[drharrysullivan]

"Ah, really?" Although he would have liked to have asked Sarah to do that, back in his universe, whenever she went anywhere she'd have the Doctor there, and he just had to trust her husband would keep her safe.

Given what he'd seen with the Sarahs here, it didn't surprise him that Sarah did keep in touch. He didn't really want to know what the Harry in her universe got up to, though. It seemed generally better not to think about it.

"So what have you seen?" He wanted to ask whether she'd been anywhere dangerous but he didn't think she'd answer - or at least, she'd have a different definition of the word.

[rovingsj]

"Really," she promised, like it was the very one and the same. She was scouting out areas to sit, because standing would grow somewhat uncomfortable and she began to wander (which had the side-effect, unfortunately, of removing his hand from her hand and her hand from his arm). "Well, there was Ireland and a pesky moss species that seemed sentient," she relayed, ticking off the various stories.

"And then I was in Norway, where it appeared that the glaciers were melting at an unthinkable rate and Germany, where there were sightings of strange alien creatures at the Berlin Wall. And then I went to Poland, because they thought that something that looked like a Sontaran was mining potato crops for experiments. And I wound up in Pas-de-Calais," she finished, proud of her travels, "because the museum apparently had cyber-parts there."

"Of course," she added, with something of a disgruntled sound. "They always make me tone down the articles. No one believes the truth."

[drharrysullivan]

Harry followed her, hands in pockets. "You do live an interesting life," he said, well aware of what the well-known proverb said about that.

"Do you ever get tired of it? Chasing round the world after aliens no one believes exists?" What had been different between the Sarahs here and the one he knew, that meant one of them had settled down and had a child? Did she ever wish she had the chance the Sarahs he'd met had? That was something he'd have to wait to ask her, though, when he got back home.

"Although," he added, "I can understand why they don't believe it." After all, he hadn't really believed it himself until recently.

[rovingsj]

The question was a good one and Sarah did pause for a moment to turn and look at Harry. "To be honest, the reason I kept moving around was because I was looking for the Doctor. After I left him, I started having doubts. I needed to know if I'd made the right decision," she said, chin lifting slightly with pride.

"If you're asking if I wouldn't have rather settled down, well..." Well, she had considered it, now hadn't she? "That's another story for another time," she decided.

"As for the aliens, you can skate by with the major publications, but for the real gory stuff, only the tabloids take you in."

[drharrysullivan]

He was interested to hear that she'd left the Doctor. That was different. He was determined not to consider it in any other context though. "And was it the right decision?" It was certainly a story he wanted to hear.

"Oh, well, no one believes the tabloids. You're not writing for them are you?" Even if she was hunting aliens, Sarah Jane Smith was better than that.

[rovingsj]

She stopped in her tracks, hands on her hips as she levelled Harry Sullivan with a dubious glare. "I would not write for tabloids," she said, almost haughty. "I work for reputable newspapers, I'll have you know, and they are very happy to have my work, even if it has to be toned down!"

As for her decision...

She continued to walk along, hair blocking out periphery vision. "I thought that I needed to have something more to my life than just the Doctor. And I do love my career, but it catches up with you, you know. I began to miss the ability to not just travel around the world, but into time and space. I missed it. But at the same time, I don't think I could just give up my career." She stubbornly wanted the both without sacrificing either. That was what she had grown to learn.

[drharrysullivan]

Harry held his hands up. "Good to hear it! You're better than the tabloids." He offered her a smile, hoping she'd forgive him for that comment.

He peered at her through her hair. It sounded like she wasn't in love with the Doctor, but he wasn't going to ask just in case he didn't like the answer.

"You sound like you're doing plenty of travel on Earth. There are more wondrous things right here than on other planets, I'm sure." From what he'd seen there were more amazing things on Earth than on other planets.

[rovingsj]

"I know," she said to the remark of the tabloids, shoulders rising as she smiled quite secretly, knowing that she had worked hard and achieved the result. "Oh, but Earth is good and fine and all, but what of Ancient Italy! Or distant planets!" she insisted. "There are boundaries on Earth. It's not like you can pop off at a moment's notice either. There are customs and taxes and money."

[drharrysullivan]

He smiled at her reaction. He was proud of what she'd achieved, even if he didn't know exactly what, and probably didn't have the right to be anyway.

He wondered if the Sarah he knew was only happy because she'd never seen any of these things. "But what happened if you went to Ancient Italy and changes things so you didn't exist? Or ended up stuck on another planet and couldn't get home?" He wasn't going to tell her that that's what happened to another Sarah.

[rovingsj]

"You always think of the negative," she chastised mildly, peeking in nooks still. "What about on Earth, Harry? What if you got hit by a bus or stepped outside and something fell on you from the sky? Why live your life afraid?"

She knew the dangers inherent in the world. She just never wanted to be crippled by them. "I need a typewriter," she mused aloud.