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[not_on_her_own]

Maria Jackson went to bed last night feeling more content than she had in a while. Her mother's most recent visit had been free of acrimony, and her father had been spared any unnecessary stress. In fact, it had been rather pleasant, which was unexpected. And then, the dinner her father had cooked last night for Sarah Jane and Luke had been

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[splendid_roman]

Teenagers were a speciality with Ian. Well, teaching them at any rate. This one looked like someone who had just gone through the same thing he had, months ago.

When Ian went over, he smiled at her. "Are you alright?"

[not_on_her_own]

Maria was startled by the voice, and looked up sharply. On the one hand, she was grateful to see someone, on the other hand, she was even more worried about what had happened to her friends.

"I...'m not sure. I was with my friends, and then they--everybody just disappeared. Do you know what's happened?"

[splendid_roman]

"The universe is ending, apparently." He offered her a hand up. "Come up, up you get and tell me the names of your friends. They might be here." Not that Ian knew everyone at Sarah's house, but it was always possible this girl knew someone there.

[not_on_her_own]

Maria accepted his hand gratefully, tucking the watch she'd bought into her pocket and taking a shaky breath.

"The universe...is ending," she repeated under her breath, with apparent anxiety. Maria recovered momentarily, realizing she hadn't answered his question. "I was with Sarah Jane Smith and--and Luke. He's her son. We were all...they were right there, and now everyone's gone. And my dad..."

She wondered what had become of him.

[splendid_roman]

"They're probably still there, but it's you that's disappeared." He wasn't entirely sure about that, but the trick with teenagers was always to sound sure. Well, except with Susan, but then she was a special case.

"What's your name? I'm Ian." Maybe discussing something more normal would help her.

[not_on_her_own]

It didn't completely remove her anxiety, but she still welcomed the change in subject, as it was a pleasant distraction.

"I'm Maria," she finally smiled, "nice to meet you, Ian. So, you've seen other people about, or are you by yourself, too?"

[splendid_roman]

"There are other people about," he confirmed. "At the house." He pointed over to where it was. He been in this field before, with Nyssa, in the dark on the way back from the dinner. This time, though, he was not going to put Maria over the hedge. "We have to walk the long way round."

[not_on_her_own]

Maria nodded, following Ian determinedly. At least he seemed to know a bit about whatever had happened, and the fact that there were other people around was a bright spot.

"What were those big blue boxes in that field back there?" Maria questioned, ever curious.

[splendid_roman]

"TARDISes. They must have run out of space in the garden." Which wasn't a surprise, given the relative size of a police box and the garden of the house they were at.

"Did you know the Doctor?" Her question suggested she didn't, but everyone else he'd met here had known him.

[not_on_her_own]

Maria's eyes brightened a bit at the mention of the Doctor. At least he was a somewhat familiar subject to her, even if he was only mentioned occasionally by Sarah Jane.

"No, I haven't met him yet, but Sarah Jane's talked about him before. He sounds brilliant, really, traveling about like he does."

[splendid_roman]

"Ah, well..." Ian considered the Doctor. To a teenage girl he probably did sound exciting. "He is brilliant," he agreed, although he didn't mean it in the same way as she did. "But travelling with him is dangerous."

[not_on_her_own]

"You got to travel with him, too? Must've been exciting. Guess it could be dangerous, too, I mean...if you're going to other planets and times. What's the most dangerous thing that ever happened to you?" He had piqued her interest, so she had to probe.

[splendid_roman]

He frowned, not really knowing how to start with that question. Was it nearly falling off a precipice on Skaro, being tortured with ants or one of the many times they'd all nearly been killed?

It was academic, though, because he wasn't going to give her specific examples, lest she get ideas in her head. "Everywhere we went someone would separate us and try to kill us. We were lucky," he pointed out, since obviously, he was alive.

[not_on_her_own]

Maria frowned herself. Granted, she wasn't naive enough to think that traveling through time and space was as harmless as a cup of tea, but for some reason, she hadn't considered just how much mortal peril was involved.

"Oh, well, there must have been good things about it, too, yeah? The travel, I mean, not the danger," she clarified.

[splendid_roman]

"Oh, there were." Even though at first all he and Barbara had wanted to do was get home, he was glad for the experiences they had. "I've learnt a lot. And been to other planets and other times, and met alien people. I'd never have done any of that without the Doctor."

[not_on_her_own]

She already asked him what the more dangerous stuff was, in his travels, and now she was curious about the positive aspect to that.

"You must have seen a lot, but...what was the best? Was it some sort of planet, or was it going back in time?"

Maria Jackson somehow managed to endear herself to Sarah Jane by being almost impertinent with curiosity, and she saw no need to stifle that part of her personality now, especially when Ian was the only person around at the moment.