Fic: The Scottish Cottage

[paranoidangel42]

Title: The Scottish Cottage
Author: paranoidangel
Rating: PG
Beta: by hhertzof
Spoilers: SJS audios Buried Secrets and Fatal Consequences
Summary: Five people in a cottage in Scotland over the bank holiday weekend. What could possibly go wrong?
Characters: Sarah, Harry, Nat, Josh, OC
Notes: This is a sequel to Dream a Little Dream and won't make sense unless you've read that. Although this is a sequel, it's not the sequel, which I am still writing and will explain why Harry went missing and what happened to him.


It had seemed like such a good idea in the beginning. They all needed the break and Sarah could not think of anyone else she would rather spend the bank holiday weekend with. Or possibly, by this point, she had made more enemies than friends and there was no-one else to spend the time with. She was not going to think about that though.

It helped that Mike's sister just happened to have a cottage in Scotland, which she willingly loaned them. Of course, once they had somewhere to go, that was when all the problems surfaced.

Harry had to be prised away from work with bribes and threats - mostly threats; Josh was not happy about spending time in the middle of nowhere (even though it was not that far away from the city); and Nat worried whether she really wanted to go on holiday with Mike, especially since the cottage only had four bedrooms.

Once all that was finally sorted out, somewhere along the line had been the decision to drive up. They went in Mike's car, since he was the only person who had one that would fit all of them and their luggage. Except that he got a bit precious about it and had to be forcibly removed from the driving seat when they stopped at the services.

They failed to find the cottage on the first attempt, and since they had very nearly all fallen out with each other before they even reached that point, it should have been an indication that it was not all going to be as rosy as it could have been.

Eventually, though, some pizza and wine revived their flagging spirits and they drifted off to bed early. Except Sarah, who had slept on the way up, and Harry, who was not doing very well at hiding his yawns.

"Why don't you go to bed?" she asked him. "Perhaps an early night would do you good, after you've been working so hard."

He shook his head. "I'm fine."

"You're not afraid of having nightmares, are you?"

"Of course not." Given the way he did not quite look at her, she suspected she was right.

She sighed. "That can't be normal. You are doing something about them, aren't you?"

"I don't need you to mother me," he said, harshly.

She bit her lip. She knew it was a touchy subject but she could not just leave it alone. She did not want to start the weekend on a bad note, though, so she stood and made for the door.

Harry called her back as she was reaching for the knob. "I'm sorry. I didn't come here to argue with you."

She turned back to face him. He was at least looking at her now. "Neither did I." She hesitated, thought about saying more but decided against it. "Good night, Harry." They had all weekend to discuss it, after all.

~*~*~*~

Sarah ended up having a disrupted night's sleep. Having Harry so close by only made her worry about him even more. Eventually, once she decided it was not too early, she got up. When she reached the kitchen she found Nat and Mike were already there, sitting at the table, eating breakfast and arguing, albeit quietly.

"They're my friends," Nat said. "I trust them."

Mike leaned back on his chair, waving his hands for emphasis. "But you don't really know them. For all you know they could be paedophiles."

"I think I'm old enough that's not much of a threat."

Sarah hovered in the doorway, trying to decide whether to intervene or leave them to it when Mike spotted her and waved her in.

"Come in here and tell Nat how stupid she's being."

Sarah smiled, not quite wanting to say anything, and went over to lean against the counter where she could see both of them.

Nat sighed. "I arranged to meet some friends of mine in Inverness today, as it's not very far away."

"Okay." Sarah frowned. "So why is that a problem?"

"Because she's only talked to them on the internet, she's never met them before."

Sarah bit her lip. She had to admit, he had a point.

When she said nothing, Mike carried on, "And I've heard stories. Of people who went out to meet people they've met on the internet and not come back. I've investigated some of them, I know what they can be like."

Nat leaned forward. "I'm not that naïve!"

Sarah closed her eyes, took a deep breath and went for a placatory tone. "Mike, I can see you're concerned for Nat, and that's sweet. So why don't you go with her?" She ignored the small shake of her head Nat gave at that.

"I don't know," Mike said, slowly.

"They're just Nat's friends, they don't bite."

Mike still did not look convinced, though. She saw Josh nearly come in, before changing his mind and turning round. Her next words stopped him in his tracks. "Why don't you take Josh with you? That way, once you're sure Nat's friends aren't axe murderers the two of you can keep each other company."

Josh came back, stood in the doorway and frowned at Sarah, before Nat and Mike turned to look at him, and he smiled at them. "What are you volunteering me for?"

"Going to Inverness to make sure Nat's friends aren't going to kill her. It's a city, you'll like it." She hoped.

"Is there a pub?"

"It's Scotland, of course there's a pub," Mike answered. Silly question, really.

"And a bus," Nat added. "Which is just as well."

"Great." Sarah smiled. "So that's sorted then."

There were unenthusiastic grunts from all concerned but it was too late for any of them to back out now.

Sarah put the kettle on and took the opportunity to grab a quick whispered conversation with Nat while Mike took his empty plate over to the sink. "What's wrong?" she asked, leaning over so they could not be heard. "He's just being protective. At least he cares."

"I know. I just need to get used to it, that's all." She picked up her knife and toyed with it before looking up at Sarah. "I think I preferred Luca."

Sarah winced.

"Yeah," Nat said.

Sarah went back to the kettle and was just pouring herself out some tea when Harry interrupted.

"Is there enough for another cup?"

She looked round, not having heard him come in. He looked terrible and she wondered if he had slept at all. She did not want to get into another argument, though, so she said nothing and reached into the cupboard above her for another mug.

"Do you have any plans for today, Sarah?" Mike asked, as he started on the previous night's washing up.

She poured a mug of tea out and handed it to Harry. "Harry and I are going in search of the Loch Ness Monster."

Mike gave a short laugh but did not pause in the washing up. "You're not telling me you believe in the fairy stories."

Sarah looked over at Nat, who raised her eyebrows. Sarah gave her a small smile. She was not quite sure what to say to Mike, though. She hated the idea that he thought her someone likely to believe in flights of fancy - she'd had enough of that with the articles she had written when she was travelling with the Doctor.

Fortunately Harry came to her defense. "There happens to be very strong evidence to support its existence."

"Like the evidence of our own eyes," Sarah said.

"You didn't seriously see it."

Josh was on her side too. "If Sarah says it exists, then it exists."

Okay, fine," Mike said.

There was an uncomfortable pause after that, while Sarah half-wished she could have had that conversation with him on her own. She drank her tea to cover up her discomfort.

Once the washing up was done, Mike left. "I'm going for a shower, seeing as it's free."

Nat very deliberately did not look at any of them, before finishing her breakfast and following him.

Sarah sighed. She had not meant for them to gang up on Mike, just because he did not know the truth. The trouble was she had got used to being able to talk to Josh and Nat about this sort of thing, and it had been nice to say what she really meant around them, so she had not thought through her reply before she said it. Mike seemed so sceptical about the whole thing that she did not want to tell him the truth, even if she had trusted him enough to.

~*~*~

Sarah was glad by the time they were all out of the house and it was just she and Harry on their way to the Loch. She immediately felt guilty about it, but only for a moment as she resolved to enjoy herself. The morning's argument would probably be forgotten by the evening anyway.

It was a nice summer's day with blue sky and sunshine. The scenery was more spectacular than she remembered, although that could be because she was seeing it from a different place. The only trouble was that because of the weather, and it being a bank holiday weekend, the area around the Loch was packed with tourists.

"It's a pity we don't have that signalling device," she said, "save ourselves a lot of trouble."

Harry grinned at her. "Might scare the tourists a little."

She shrugged. "Shake them up a bit."

"And what would we do for the rest of the day?"

There was a pause and then Sarah laughed. "Why don't we go on a boat trip?" she said, when she had recovered. "They promise a history of Nessie, beautiful views and a possible sighting."

"Well, one of the three is right."

She quickened her step. "Come on, it'll be fun."

"Hmm," Harry said, but followed her anyway.

They kept away from most of the tourists by going to the back of the boat where the view was unlikely to be so good. Not that it mattered after it filled up anyway. Then the trouble started, namely the conversation between the couple in front of them. The woman was, naïvely in Sarah's opinion, expressing her hopes of seeing the infamous Loch Ness monster. The man, who might have been her husband had Sarah made assumptions like that, read from a leaflet and told her of the sightings there had been so far. It was when he tried to tell her how Nessie was really a plesiosaur that she had to put her had over her mouth to keep from laughing.

"They don't know any better," Harry said, leaning over and lowering his voice.

Sarah took her hand away and pitched her voice to match his. "I know but he sounds so sure."

"Why did I agree to come with you, again?"

"Because it'll be fun. And you never know, we might see the Skarasen again."

All Harry said was "hmm" but then the boat moved, so they were distracted by listening to the tour guide. It was interesting to hear the history of the legend of the Loch Ness Monster and Sarah wondered where it had all come from. It would be interesting to know how much had been created purely to explain the aliens living there. Since that was not something she could easily find out, Sarah busied herself with admiring the scenery, which was just as pretty as promised.

She could not resist, though, when the guide asked if there were any questions. "What about the rumours that the Loch Ness Monster was seen in the Thames in the 80s?"

Harry groaned but Sarah genuinely wanted to hear the answer.

The guide smiled patronisingly at her and Sarah immediately took offence. "That is, I believe, just a rumour." He looked up to take in the rest of his audience and Sarah scowled at him. "The only confirmed sightings of Nessie have been in this Loch, and the Thames sighting was confirmed to be a hoax, I forget now what the real explanation was."

"But--" Sarah got no further because Harry clamped his hand over her mouth. She looked daggers at him but that did not deter him.

He only removed it when everyone else was busy listening to the next question and answer. "Play nice."

She turned to him. "I just don't understand how all these people can ignore the evidence that's in front of them. How many times has the whole world had aliens revealed to them and they still don't believe it?"

"That's what you did before you met the Doctor."

"All right, fine." She threw her hands up. "You win."

She looked away from Harry at the water and fumed in silence for a few minutes until the boat returned to their starting point. He touched her arm gingerly. When she stood, she smiled at him. She could not really stay angry at him for that. Besides, it was not really him she was upset with, it was the world in general, and that was not something anyone could fix in an afternoon.

When they were back on the shore they went for lunch in an overpriced café and spoke of trivialities. Afterwards they found themselves a hill with a good view and sat down - Sarah on Harry's jacket. She had rolled her eyes but he just ignored her and sat next to it, so she really had no choice. They admired the view and took in the unpolluted air for a little while until she decided this was as good a time as any to broach the subject they had only briefly touched on the previous night.

"Harry, don't get mad, but what happened to you while you were missing?"

At her words he turned his gaze back to the lake and the hills beyond, and said nothing.

"Were you tortured?" she asked hesitantly, unsure of whether she wanted to know the answer, assuming he gave her one.

He shook his head. "No. Not really."

Which probably meant yes but she did not really want to press the point. She had been hoping that with enough time he would be able to talk to her about it and she was just thinking that was obviously not the case when he spoke again.

"They didn't... they didn't really need to tie me up any more, when you found me. I would have stayed anyway."

"Oh god, Harry." There was not really anything she could say to that. "But you came with me."

"Because it was you."

She reached out one arm to take his hand. He curled his fingers round hers and she squeezed a little.

"I don't know if I can trust my judgment on anything else."

She bit her lip and looked away. He was the only one who could answer that. She almost did not need to know what had happened to him, her imagination was supplying a good image right now.

After a pause he dropped her hand and turned to face her again. "I have been trying to get you into NATO."

"You have?" His change of subject surprised her.

"I think there's something you can help with. But they don't trust you."

She gave a short laugh. She knew exactly why. If he had just told her where he was going at the time then she would not have had to resort to such drastic measures when he went missing. Her motivations at the time were not something she wanted to discuss with Harry so she looked around her, searching for a change of subject, for something more pleasant to talk about and found her inspiration in the sky. "That cloud," she said, pointing, "looks just like the TARDIS."

He put a hand up to shade his eyes and frowned. "What, where?"

She moved closer to him and pointed again. "Up there. It's sort of square and it even has the light on the top."

"It's not even slightly square."

"Yes, it is. Well, maybe if you squint." It did not help that it was changing shape already in the slight wind.

He looked back at her. "Sarah Jane Smith, there must be something wrong with your eyesight." He stared into her eyes, until she giggled and turned away, blinking watery eyes.

He lay back, head on his arms, and said, "There's one above us shaped like a Dalek."

She looked up at the sky and even though she tilted her head in a couple of different directions, could not see it at all. "Now there's something wrong with your eyesight."

"Maybe you're not looking at the right angle."

She shifted herself over so her head was on his chest, tucked under his chin and tried to follow his eye line. Then she saw it, a oblong sort of shape with a long thin bit sticking out. "Oh, and that's a dog he's shooting at."

She felt rather than heard him laugh and they spent a merry few minutes picking out shapes.

"It's so peaceful out here," Sarah said eventually, after they had been quiet for a while. "It's so easy to relax and forget the real world doesn't exist."

When he said nothing she lifted her head to look round and discovered he had fallen asleep. She did not like to wake him, so instead she followed his lead, using him as a pillow.

By the time they both woke up it was getting chilly and they walked back to the cottage, arm in arm.

They were first back, and when Nat, Josh and Mike arrived, Sarah and Harry had opened the wine and were working their way through the newspaper Sarah had bought earlier, the sections of which were on the sofa between them.

"Good time?" Sarah said, leaning her head back so she could see them.

"Yes," Nat said, "apart from having to come home with these two pissed."

Sarah winced. It was not quite dark yet.

"I'm not drunk," Mike said, flopping down in an armchair and managing to manoeuvre Nat out of her wheelchair and onto his lap.

"Mike," Nat admonished, as everyone, including herself, laughed.

"I'll get some more glasses," Harry said, getting up.

"If you think that's wise," Sarah said, but he did not reply.

Josh picked through the rest of the paper and settled in the other armchair with it. Sarah took the opportunity to stretch out on the sofa. She could not relax, though, until Harry came back with some water. She had been starting to worry about how much he had changed while he was away. She accepted some for herself as well, because she knew it would placate him.

Once he had done he gave her a look. She just smiled back at first, but eventually acquiesced and moved her feet enough for him to sit back down. After that, though, she put them in his lap instead and grinned at him, daring him to move them. He sighed but rubbed them anyway, much to her content. She lay back with her eyes closed as Nat told them about the friends she had met, and Harry told scandalous tales of Sarah's behaviour on the boat.

She was nearly asleep from a combination of fresh air and a good foot massage when she jerked up suddenly at a crash from the kitchen. A glance round the room told her who was missing.

"Josh, are you okay?" she called but there was no response. She looked over at Nat, who was not in a position to be going anywhere. So Sarah headed to the kitchen to find Josh passed out on the floor, a broken glass next to him, but otherwise he looked unharmed.

Harry had not been far behind her and she moved to one side to let him get a closer look. "Just passed out drunk, it looks like," he said. "I don't think he hurt himself."

Sarah bit her lip.

"We'll take him to bed," Mike said from the doorway where Nat, now back in her wheelchair, hovered behind him anxiously.

Sarah and Nat returned to the lounge as Harry and Mike between them took Josh upstairs. Sarah sat back on the sofa, hugging her knees to her chest. "I don't think I've ever seen Josh get that drunk."

Nat's expression was just as serious. "I thought Mike was looking after him but policemen do tend to drink quite a bit."

Sarah shook her head. Keeping up with Mike could not be the only reason. Josh certainly had not shown any signs that she had noticed of wanting to compete with him. "People don't generally get that drunk without a good reason, but Josh is fine as far as I know. He hasn't said anything to you?"

Nat shook her head. "No. There have been some times when he's been a bit, I don't know, different. But I didn't think anything of it."

Sarah sighed. She had thought the same thing.

Nat continued, "Do you think it's his father's death? He seemed to take it too well at the time, I thought."

"It could be almost anything. Josh isn't the easiest person to get anything out of." She rubbed at a grass stain on her jeans. "It could equally be guilt from all those people he killed. Maybe having Mike and Harry around remind him of Luca and Will and he regrets what he did."

Nat's eyes went wide and she shook her head.

Sarah frowned. "What?"

Nat jerked her head towards the door. Sarah uncurled and twisted round to see Mike and Harry standing there, listening. The expression on Harry's face was blank which was not a good sign. She swore under her breath.

"I think it's time for bed," Nat said.

Sarah nodded and waited for her and Mike to leave. She then knelt up on the sofa to peer over the back of it at Harry, who came in the room and shut the door but made no move to sit down.

"What have you not told me?" His voice was equally expressionless.

"Harry..."

He folded his arms and stared down at her.

She had meant to tell him the truth, but when he was better and when the time was right. The trouble was that the longer she put it off, the harder it was. "Will was mixed up with a group called the Crimson Chapter. They believed I was the herald of an alien invasion. Aliens who were going to wipe us out."

This was not showing Will in a good light and she hated to do that to Harry. But all she had was the truth, so she had to tell him that. "There was another group, the White Chapter, they believed the aliens were benign, that they would help us. The Crimson Chapter wanted to kill me to stop the aliens coming, the White Chapter were protecting me for the same reason. Josh was a member of the White Chapter, I didn't know until after Will was dead."

She stopped to take a breath and give Harry a chance to say something, but he showed no signs of moving a muscle. "Will was sent to kill me. I know he never would, he had the chances but he was my friend. Josh said he killed him in self defence, that Will was going to kill him." She shook her head. "I don't know what really happened." She never would either - she was not going to call Josh a liar now by asking him again.

"And Josh is still your friend."

She ran a hand over her face. "It's complicated, Harry."

"Obviously."

"I meant what I said before, when I told you about him. Will was trying to save lives at the time. We all were. If it wasn't for him the Crimson Chapter might have wiped out half the population." She looked up at Harry, looking for a reaction but he looked steadily back at her.

After a while he said, "I'm going to bed."

"Harry," she called after him.

He paused in opening the door but did not look back at her.

"I'm sorry."

He closed the door again after him, never saying anything or looking at her. Sarah buried her face in her hands and put off going to bed, since she was clearly not going to sleep.

~*~*~*~

The next morning Sarah felt terrible after a night of tossing and turning, but she hoped Harry would be speaking to her at least. By the time she made it downstairs he was already dressed and looked as bad as she felt.

"Harry," she begun, although she was not sure quite where to go from there.

"I have to go," he said. "Work called. I have to go back."

Sarah bit her lip. He was obviously doing it just to avoid her. She could not quite believe she had spoiled their holiday this way. "You don't have to lie for my benefit."

Harry scowled at her. "I'm not lying. You can check if you like." He thrust his mobile phone at her.

She did not take it at first, but he gave her no choice other than to look at the recent calls list. Sure enough there was one there labelled 'Work' who had called only half an hour ago. She handed it back to him. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean--"

He cut her off. "No, you never do."

She raised her voice, though stopping short of shouting. "Damn you, Harry Sullivan. I don't need you anyway."

He said nothing but slammed the front door after him. She stared after him in frustration, sorely tempted to rush after him and ask him to explain himself.

Nat came around the corner, yawning. "What was all that about?"

Sarah turned and brushed past her. "Nothing." She went upstairs to get dressed.

She did not rush and by the time she came back downstairs she was feeling more calm at least.

"There's some toast if you want it," Mike said, on his way out of the kitchen.

"Thanks." She applied herself to buttering it and asked Nat, amiably as if nothing had happened, "Do you have any plans for today?"

Nat gave her an odd look, but said, "I think Mike and I should probably spend some time together."

"Are you guys," she waved a hand, "you know?" Nat did not seem too thrilled with Mike at times, although that could have just been because she needed someone to vent at and that person was usually Sarah.

"I don't know." Nat twisted her half-empty glass round in her hands. "I have a whole load of things I want to talk about. I just need to get him away from a pub."

Sarah grinned. "The lake is very picturesque."

"If we go, are you okay to stay and look after Josh?"

"Yeah. I wasn't really planning on doing anything anyway."

There was silence after that, as they finished their breakfast. Sarah spent most of the time looking at her toast, but she could still feel Nat's eyes on her. She was not going to answer the question Nat was not going to ask. Eventually, Nat sighed and left. Sarah went to take some water up to Josh.

She knocked on his door lightly, not expecting an answer, and opened it a crack to peer in. "Josh?" she asked, softly.

There was a grunt in answer, so she put the glass down on the bedside table along with some paracetamol. "Harry's gone and Nat and Mike are going out," she said. "Drink this and come down when you're feeling better."

She got another grunt in answer, so left him to sleep it off.

Downstairs, once Nat and Mike left, she settled herself down for a quiet morning with her book. It was almost strange that there was no television in the cottage, but a radio had pride of place instead. Although she opened her book and took the bookmark out, she did not get much further than a few paragraphs before she found herself replaying her conversation with Harry the night before, trying to work out how it could have gone better. Eventually she gave up and applied herself to something more useful - namely trying to work out how to repair their friendship.

She was surprised when Josh came in and sat down because she had been lost in her own thoughts and had not heard him coming downstairs.

"Josh." She smiled at him and rested her book in her lap. "Feeling better?"

He closed his eyes and rested his head against the back of the chair. "I could murder a fry-up."

"Well, I might be persuaded to see what we have, if you tell me what happened last night."

He sighed.

"That wasn't the first time you've got that drunk is it? I know there have been other occasions when Nat or I have tried to get hold of you and can't."

He opened his eyes and looked at her. "I didn't think you knew."

"I..." she was going to say that she did not know - not until last night - but it was possibly not a good idea to tell him that.

"It helps me forget."

She waited to see if he was going to continue but when he did not she asked, "What is it you want to forget, Josh?"

"Do you have anything in your life you regret?"

She frowned but answered anyway. "Yes." And that did not even include last night. "Do you?"

"I'll tell you mine, if you tell me yours."

She rolled her eyes but at his serious expression said, "Okay. You first." She hoped this was leading towards answering her question.

"I wish I'd spent more time with dad. And then I wouldn't feel..." He rested his chin on his hand and looked out of the window.

"It wouldn't help, believe me." This was something she'd had plenty of experience of.

He said nothing.

"When was the last time you visited your mum? Maybe you should go and see her, she'll love the chance to look after you for a bit and talk about your father with you."

"She wouldn't, she hates him."

"Death makes people all nostalgic, she probably remembers the good times better now."

"Maybe." He looked back at her. "So what's your regret?"

"If I had to pick one..." She took a deep breath. "After the Doctor left I thought he was coming back. So I didn't let myself get settled, be too close to anyone, have the career I'd wanted before I met him." She picked at the top of her bookmark. "I wish I'd lived my life back then, instead of only really starting now."

They were quiet for a minute, then he said, "So what about breakfast?"

Sarah shook her head but followed him into the kitchen anyway, and delved into the cupboards to see what she could fry for Josh's breakfast and her lunch.

"Where is everyone today?" Josh asked, sitting down to watch her cook.

With everything assembled, she decided to just throw it all in the frying pan. "Nat and Mike have gone out, down to the lake, I think. We can go out there later, if you like, a bit of fresh air will probably do you good. Harry got called into work, so he's gone home."

Josh nodded. "What is the deal between you two?"

"We're just friends, I told you." She jumped back as the pan threatened to spit hot oil on her.

"You don't seem like just friends."

Sarah poked the food, then decided it was best to let it fry for a bit and sat down opposite Josh. "Harry was the only person I knew who had been through the same things I had with the Doctor. For a long time there was not one else I could talk to about it. I think that made us close."

"So you don't fancy him then?"

She laughed. "No. He's like my big brother. Besides, the two of us would never work, we're too different."

He frowned. "How can you be so sure?"

"We tried once." She went back to the pan to stir everything up. "We had a big row and I slammed a door on him."

"And you're still friends?"

"We'd been drifting apart before then. I think the only reason he didn't break up with me was that I was a girl and he couldn't let himself do that." Which, at the time, had only made her more determined not to do it, until she realised she was not doing herself any favours.

She turned back to Josh to see him smile. Reaching up to a cupboard she retrieved two plates and dished the contents of the frying pan onto them.

As they ate they exchanged stories of what they had done the previous day, Josh having little memory of the same conversation the night before. By the time she had finished he was keen to see the scenery Sarah described. They headed towards it at a leisurely pace, taking plenty of time to enjoy the view.

"It's nice," Josh said, "but I wouldn't want to live here."

Sarah grinned and shook her head, but said, "I know what you mean. It's nice and relaxing but the lack of...anything would drive me mad after a week."

"I'm not sure I would even last a week."

She laughed. "You're definitely a city boy."

It ended up being a relaxing day in which Sarah did very little, which was just what she needed. She debated telling Josh that Harry knew that he had killed Will, but in the end she decided against it and instead convinced Josh to go to Switzerland to spend some time with his mother. Hopefully that would give Harry enough time to get over it and with luck, he and Josh would still end up friends afterwards. It would all get a bit tense, if not.

Josh went to bed early, so Sarah was actually reading this time when Nat and Mike came in.

"How's Josh?" Nat asked, before Sarah could say anything.

"Better. He's still grieving for his father. But I've told him to see his parents, hopefully a bit of time away from it all will be just what he needs."

Nat nodded. "I wish we'd realised sooner."

"So do I. But there's nothing we could have done if he hadn't let us."

Nat sighed. "I suppose."

"But tell me, how did your day go?"

"Oh, really well." She gave a big grin.

"Good, I'm glad to hear it."

"I'm going for a bath."

Sarah raised her eyebrows. "Um, okay."

Sarah could not help smiling as in the doorway, Nat met Mike coming into the lounge, and they exchanged long, smiling glances. As long as Nat was happy, though, Sarah did not care.

Mike flopped onto the armchair with a sigh.

"Good day?" Sarah asked.

"Yes." He sat up. "You don't need to give me the 'if you hurt her speech', Josh already did that. Twice."

She put her bookmark back in the book and put it on the coffee table. "So it's going well then."

"Yes." He drummed his fingers on one leg. "I think so."

"You think?"

"Well, I offered to move in and she said she wasn't ready." He stilled his hand.

"Give her time." Sarah could certainly see her point. "Has she told you about Luca?"

"Yes. And I understand, I really do. I just didn't realise how much her not being able to get up to my flat was getting her down."

Sarah shook her head. "She doesn't usually let these things affect her. But I think it was that you were working long hours and she didn't get to see you much."

"I have to admit, it would be nice to get home and have her there, rather than having to make the journey to hers. And sometimes I'm only there long enough to sleep before I have to go back."

Sarah nodded.

"Of course, it would probably be different if she was still working."

She blinked "...what?"

He did not seem to be paying any attention to her and carried on regardless. "Mind you, she always said she hated working for Planet 3 anyway."

She shook her head. "Mike, what are you talking about?"

He frowned. "Wait, you don't know any of this?"

"No."

"Sorry." He winced. "I thought she would have told you."

"So, what is it I don't know? Did she resign, or what?"

"No, they fired her. They had to, she was on a criminal charge for hacking. No-one could trust her anymore."

She gasped. "A criminal charge?" Sarah frowned before she realised. "Shit. NATO."

"Yes." He leaned forward on the chair. "You knew about that?"

"I asked her to do it!"

"She never mentioned your name." He lowered his voice a little. "You won't tell her I told you, will you?"

"No," she said, although she was not really thinking about that. She leaned back and addressed her comments to no-one in particular. "I've been a terrible friend. They caught her and she never told me. Josh was hurting and I never knew. And I'm afraid Harry's got PTSD or something and we won't let me help him. And I was trying, damnit!" She brought her fist down on her leg.

"Sarah," Mike began, but she would not be placated.

"No. You don't know what it's been like and now..."

He put one hand on her knee. "She doesn't think any less of you, I know that. You're her best friends, you and Josh."

"It's all falling apart." She shook her head. "I can save the world but I can't save my own friends."

He frowned. "I'm sorry, you've lost me."

"Go to Nat. I'm going to bed."

The effect of her stalking out was somewhat lessened when she came back in a minute later to retrieve her book.

~*~*~*~

The journey home might have been something of a strained affair except that two sleepless nights took their toll on Sarah and she slept most of the way home. Once there she reminded Josh to see his mother, thanked Mike for letting her sleep, rather than drive much and said nothing to Nat about what she knew. She still had not worked out what to do with her new knowledge about Nat.

She only stopped off at her house long enough to check everything was still there and dump her stuff. Then she headed to the cemetery via the florist. Once there she laid the flowers on Will's grave and stepped back to look at it.

"I'm so sorry, Will. I should have worked it out sooner, I should have done something to stop this." She smiled grimly. It was too late for apologies now.

Out of the corner of her eye she could see a figure sitting on a bench. She lingered for a few minutes more before heading towards it and sitting down.

They sat side-by-side in silence before Sarah worked out what to say. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you what really happened to Will. I wanted to wait until you were better but that never seemed to happen. I want to help you but you won't let me and... Well, I'm sorry for not believing you."

Harry said nothing but after a minute he pulled something credit card sized out of his pocket and passed it to her. She took it but frowned at him.

He was looking at something in the distance, but even so he must have seen her expression because he said, "It's a pass. It'll get you into NATO."

She smiled. "Really? You did that for me?" She really did not deserve the friends she had.

"There's something you need to see. I think you can help us. I'll pick you up at 8.30 tomorrow morning."

"Where are we going?"

He shook his head. "I can't tell you that. Not yet. But it's about the mission I was on when I was captured."

She nodded. She would have to accept that for now and hope for more answers tomorrow.

"I have to go now," he said, standing. "I'll see you tomorrow."

She stood too. "Harry..." But she did not quite know what to say.

He kissed her on the cheek before walking off and she took that as her answer.