Doctor Who - Time After Time: Part Two
Title: Time After Time
For: narciscia
Disclaimer: I do not own the characters of Dr Who or The Sarah Jane Adventures
Pairing/s: Tenth Doctor/Sarah Jane Smith, Liz Shaw/Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart
Rating: Teen
Summary: A call to return brings more then the Doctor bargained for.
--
Part Two: Becoming Sarah Jane
--
“SARAH JANE!”
The impact of the blast spun her around and she barely had time to register the shock in Martha’s eyes before she was falling. Her world was beginning to crumble around her in a way she’d never experienced before. A strong burning sensation spread through her body, pain pulsing through her nervous system with her heartbeat drumming an accelerating rhythm in her head. She arched her back on the ground as she tried desperately to breathe, feeling as though something was crushing her chest in the process.
Someone held her head in their hands, saying something to her and trying to keep her focused. But the pain flooding her system was overwhelming, everything else paled in comparison. She closed her eyes tight, blocking out everything, and bit her lip until a thin line of blood began to trickle down her chin. Lights danced behind her eyelids.
Sounds died out around her, people began to fade away, her ability to exhale completely ceased, and the only thing she could think about was Luke. He was going to be left all alone in the world, a sixteen year old boy with no family and little understanding of what would be expected of him outside of his school life. There was so much he had to learn.
Luke...
Inhaling sharply, sucking in as much air as she could, Sarah Jane opened her eyes only to find the world around her pitch black. As she managed to calm her breathing she had to admit the darkness was a little eerie, particularly if she was in a Hospital. There was always a light on somewhere in a Hospital from what she remembered. And surely the beds weren’t quite as hard, though she couldn’t really complain about the sheets. “No...” The word barely managed to escape Sarah Jane’s lips as it grated along her throat. She lifted her hand up whacking something hard, yet covered with soft cloth. Both hands instantly shot up to touch it, to make sure it was really there.
A coffin...
There was a slight jolt and it occurred to her that she was moving. Up, down, sideways, she couldn’t tell what direction she was going in as she began to panic. She was being buried alive. Or worse still, depending on which way she was moving, she was going to be cremated alive. “No, no, no...” She began to bang her hands against the lid praying that someone would hear her, anyone at all.
--
The small crowd of people were beginning to make their way back to their cars. A ripple of black against the green fields littered with headstones and plaques. The Doctor stood all alone, resting against a tree near the road. He wasn’t welcome, but he wasn’t about to leave. Sarah Jane never would have forgiven him if he left Luke. With his hands buried deep in his pockets, he stared down at his feet as old colleagues joined him. Martha rested a hand on his shoulder in hopes that he might talk to her, but it wasn’t that easy. It was never quite so easy to get the information you wanted out of a Time Lord, so Sarah Jane had pointed out to people many times when they were travelling together. Though she probably only said it to tease him.
As people shuffled past him, some deciding to stay close by, something else took over his senses - something or someone. He stood up straighter, looking around at the people that had come together to say goodbye. A few familiar faces, and then there were those that he assumed Sarah Jane had worked with outside of UNIT, but somewhere amongst them was something different. As though something all too familiar to him, yet unfamiliar to the people around him, had awoken at that very moment.
“You alright Doctor?” Martha asked, watching him scan the crowd.
“Donna’s not here is she...” He muttered, almost too himself. His eyes dancing across over the people for that fiery red head from so long ago.
“No,” Stepping closer to him, Martha frowned as she tried to work out what was going on in his head. “You told us she couldn’t be reminded. We keep an eye on her but that’s all... what is it?”
“Someone here is Gallifreyan,” He finally looked at the few people surrounding him. Martha and the Brigadier shared a puzzled look whereas good old Harry Sullivan smirked, as though he finally had the proof he needed that the Time Lord was one bauble short of a Christmas tree. “Someone here, other than me Harry... I can sense them, hear their hearts beating...”
“Well it can’t be Miss Noble,” The Brigadier reasoned, glancing back to where Liz and Luke stood watching the coffin lowered into the ground. “We make sure to do as you told us on that one, wouldn’t want to cause a mess and all that.”
The Doctor followed his line of sight as the heart beats began to speed up. Whoever it was they were scared. He found himself watching the coffin with them, his own hearts beginning to pound against his chest. “Stop...” Pushing past his old companions, he lept over a headstone and raced towards the open grave. “STOP!” He yelled out, drawing everyone’s attention. He could hear her, the closer he got the more distinctively he could make out her voice calling out.
“Doctor...” Liz moved to step in front of him, her main concern protecting Luke, but he dodged her with ease.
Whipping out his sonic screwdriver, The Doctor managed to halt the coffin before the Undertaker could even work out what was going on. “Sarah...” Without a care for the horrified people surrounding him, he carefully slipped the short distance into the grave and knelt down with one knee on either side of the casket. He rested his hands against the dark wood, feeling the impact of her hands as she beat against the other side. With one last flick of the sonic screwdriver to pull out the bolts in the lid, the Doctor rocked back onto his heels and lifted open the upper half with surprising ease. He paused, taking in the sight that lay before him. Few things in the Universe managed to shock a Time Lord, but what he found really took the cake.
“I have never been so happy to see you in my life,” Sarah Jane gasped as she stared up at him, breathing in as much air as she could possibly handle. Her hands grabbed onto the edge of the coffin, her skin slightly pink from pounding on the lid.
“Didn’t think you’d be late to your own funeral Sarah,” He noted in an almost serious tone, offering his hand to help her up.
Climbing out of the coffin with his help, she looked up at the familiar people standing over them. They stared down at her in shock rather than relief. “What happened?” Sarah Jane looked down at herself, realising her clothes felt a little big. “Oh God, what happened?” She half whispered, staring in awe as she ran her hands down her sides.
“Looks like you regenerated,” The Doctor responded without hesitation as he stared at her in much the same way she was staring at herself, although with less surprise and more fascination.
“Regenerated?” Sarah Jane looked back up again, her eyes locking with Luke’s for a moment before she looked back at her old friend. “But I’m human... and I’m still me, well of course I’m still me, but I look the same...”
“You look younger,” He pointed out, in an attempt to be helpful.
“Gee thanks...”
“No I meant, just that you...” He paused when he noticed the smirk gracing her lips and flashed a goofy grin.
“What the devil is going on here?” The Brigadier directed their attention back to the people above them.
“That’s what I’d like to know,” Sarah Jane raised her eyebrows, her hands on her hips as she looked expectantly at the Time Lord.
Frowning, the Doctor looked her up and down again. He couldn’t for the life of him work out what had happened. Maybe she had travelled with him for too long, some after effects of space travel and dimension hopping... in which case he had quite a few people to check up on once he’d sorted everything out. But no that was ridiculous, that sort of thing only ever happened in those silly human movies that usually involved a probe of some sort. “Maybe we should discuss this later,” He said quickly, realising everyone was looking to him for an answer when he didn’t have a clue what was going on either. “You can have a hot bath, wash your hair, I seem to recall you saying that you enjoyed that sort of thing. Come on then.”
Sarah Jane stared at him a moment longer, as if she was looking even deeper. Almost as if she was reading his mind, but that couldn’t possibly be. “Alright then,” She looked up and noticed Jack and Harry kneeling, ready to help pull her up. She grabbed onto their outstretched hands, and with relative ease found herself being pulled up and out of the ground.
“Watch out Old Girl,” Harry said as she lost her balance momentarily and fell towards him.
“Call me Old Girl again Harry and...”
“I know,” His hand lingered on her elbow, not that she needed any more help standing up. She had been doing it fine on her own for well over fifty years. “Look at you, Sarah, you look exactly the same as the day we first met.”
She considered him carefully, not sure what she was finding so interesting about his comment. From what she could see she did look younger, but there was something in his tone that suggested he was reliving a moment in time. “Well I do believe you just paid me a compliment Doctor Sullivan,” Sarah Jane smiled softly.
“Not the first,” He frowned slightly, confused by her response.
“No,” She held his gaze a moment longer before stepping away and glancing around at her old friends. “I think maybe we should all head back to my house, I would very much like to get to the bottom of... this.” Her hands absently moved to indicate she was referring to her current predicament.
“Excellent idea you go on ahead I just need to...” The Doctor glanced at the Undertaker still staring amazed at the woman who had just climbed out of the coffin. “...fix some things. I’ll be right along.”
“Don’t disappear on me Doctor,” Sarah Jane warned him. “This is rather important, and I need your help.”
“I promise you Sarah Jane I’m not going anywhere until we’ve worked this out,” He shoved his hands in his pockets and cocked his head to one side. “I’m just as confused as everyone else here.”
“Right well let’s go,” Sarah Jane nodded and tried to get the crowd moving. Her eyes fell on her son, keeping to the edges of the small group. As their eyes met he pulled back further, as though he was trying to hide behind everyone else. A sharp pain rippled through her chest and she wondered what was going through the boy’s mind.
Noticing Luke’s hesitation, Liz stepped in and nodded to Martha. “Alistair and I will take Luke with us. We have to pick up some milk on the way back.”
Sarah Jane frowned momentarily, not wanting to let her son go. She wanted to sit down and talk with him, try and understand what he was thinking and feeling. He was only sixteen, almost a man yet still very much a boy. But maybe it would be easier for both of them if she knew what was happening first, and that could take some time. “Okay,” She agreed, a little reluctantly. “I’ll see you at home Luke.”
Luke nodded, paying more attention to his feet, and followed the Brigadier to the car. His hands remained in his pockets, he scuffed his shoes in the dirt as he walked, and he didn’t look back once.
“It’s okay Sarah,” Liz assured her with a smile. “We’re all just a little shocked, just as you are. He’ll come around.”
Sarah Jane nodded somewhat absentmindedly as Liz smiled and headed for the car. She’d known Liz long enough to know she should trust her judgement. Besides she had things to try and wrap her mind around without having to worry about Luke, not that she didn’t worry about him anyway. He was her son after all.
“Sarah Jane, are you ready to go?” Martha asked quietly.
“Yes,” She agreed quietly. “The sooner we’re all out of this cemetery the better.” A shiver ran down her spine as her eyes fell on the headstone, her own name clearly engraved. Thoughts of whatever had happened, or was happening, to her were beginning to invade her mind. A moment ago she’d just been happy to get out of the coffin, but now she was struck with the thought that she shouldn’t have gotten out at all. What did the Doctor mean when he had said she’d regenerated? Humans did not regenerate, they simply died. Pushing those thoughts to the back of her mind, Sarah Jane followed Martha to her car in silence. Above all else she needed some time to think without everyone else asking questions she had no answer to.
--
Part Three
--
For: narciscia
Disclaimer: I do not own the characters of Dr Who or The Sarah Jane Adventures
Pairing/s: Tenth Doctor/Sarah Jane Smith, Liz Shaw/Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart
Rating: Teen
Summary: A call to return brings more then the Doctor bargained for.
--
Part Two: Becoming Sarah Jane
--
“SARAH JANE!”
The impact of the blast spun her around and she barely had time to register the shock in Martha’s eyes before she was falling. Her world was beginning to crumble around her in a way she’d never experienced before. A strong burning sensation spread through her body, pain pulsing through her nervous system with her heartbeat drumming an accelerating rhythm in her head. She arched her back on the ground as she tried desperately to breathe, feeling as though something was crushing her chest in the process.
Someone held her head in their hands, saying something to her and trying to keep her focused. But the pain flooding her system was overwhelming, everything else paled in comparison. She closed her eyes tight, blocking out everything, and bit her lip until a thin line of blood began to trickle down her chin. Lights danced behind her eyelids.
Sounds died out around her, people began to fade away, her ability to exhale completely ceased, and the only thing she could think about was Luke. He was going to be left all alone in the world, a sixteen year old boy with no family and little understanding of what would be expected of him outside of his school life. There was so much he had to learn.
Luke...
Inhaling sharply, sucking in as much air as she could, Sarah Jane opened her eyes only to find the world around her pitch black. As she managed to calm her breathing she had to admit the darkness was a little eerie, particularly if she was in a Hospital. There was always a light on somewhere in a Hospital from what she remembered. And surely the beds weren’t quite as hard, though she couldn’t really complain about the sheets. “No...” The word barely managed to escape Sarah Jane’s lips as it grated along her throat. She lifted her hand up whacking something hard, yet covered with soft cloth. Both hands instantly shot up to touch it, to make sure it was really there.
A coffin...
There was a slight jolt and it occurred to her that she was moving. Up, down, sideways, she couldn’t tell what direction she was going in as she began to panic. She was being buried alive. Or worse still, depending on which way she was moving, she was going to be cremated alive. “No, no, no...” She began to bang her hands against the lid praying that someone would hear her, anyone at all.
--
The small crowd of people were beginning to make their way back to their cars. A ripple of black against the green fields littered with headstones and plaques. The Doctor stood all alone, resting against a tree near the road. He wasn’t welcome, but he wasn’t about to leave. Sarah Jane never would have forgiven him if he left Luke. With his hands buried deep in his pockets, he stared down at his feet as old colleagues joined him. Martha rested a hand on his shoulder in hopes that he might talk to her, but it wasn’t that easy. It was never quite so easy to get the information you wanted out of a Time Lord, so Sarah Jane had pointed out to people many times when they were travelling together. Though she probably only said it to tease him.
As people shuffled past him, some deciding to stay close by, something else took over his senses - something or someone. He stood up straighter, looking around at the people that had come together to say goodbye. A few familiar faces, and then there were those that he assumed Sarah Jane had worked with outside of UNIT, but somewhere amongst them was something different. As though something all too familiar to him, yet unfamiliar to the people around him, had awoken at that very moment.
“You alright Doctor?” Martha asked, watching him scan the crowd.
“Donna’s not here is she...” He muttered, almost too himself. His eyes dancing across over the people for that fiery red head from so long ago.
“No,” Stepping closer to him, Martha frowned as she tried to work out what was going on in his head. “You told us she couldn’t be reminded. We keep an eye on her but that’s all... what is it?”
“Someone here is Gallifreyan,” He finally looked at the few people surrounding him. Martha and the Brigadier shared a puzzled look whereas good old Harry Sullivan smirked, as though he finally had the proof he needed that the Time Lord was one bauble short of a Christmas tree. “Someone here, other than me Harry... I can sense them, hear their hearts beating...”
“Well it can’t be Miss Noble,” The Brigadier reasoned, glancing back to where Liz and Luke stood watching the coffin lowered into the ground. “We make sure to do as you told us on that one, wouldn’t want to cause a mess and all that.”
The Doctor followed his line of sight as the heart beats began to speed up. Whoever it was they were scared. He found himself watching the coffin with them, his own hearts beginning to pound against his chest. “Stop...” Pushing past his old companions, he lept over a headstone and raced towards the open grave. “STOP!” He yelled out, drawing everyone’s attention. He could hear her, the closer he got the more distinctively he could make out her voice calling out.
“Doctor...” Liz moved to step in front of him, her main concern protecting Luke, but he dodged her with ease.
Whipping out his sonic screwdriver, The Doctor managed to halt the coffin before the Undertaker could even work out what was going on. “Sarah...” Without a care for the horrified people surrounding him, he carefully slipped the short distance into the grave and knelt down with one knee on either side of the casket. He rested his hands against the dark wood, feeling the impact of her hands as she beat against the other side. With one last flick of the sonic screwdriver to pull out the bolts in the lid, the Doctor rocked back onto his heels and lifted open the upper half with surprising ease. He paused, taking in the sight that lay before him. Few things in the Universe managed to shock a Time Lord, but what he found really took the cake.
“I have never been so happy to see you in my life,” Sarah Jane gasped as she stared up at him, breathing in as much air as she could possibly handle. Her hands grabbed onto the edge of the coffin, her skin slightly pink from pounding on the lid.
“Didn’t think you’d be late to your own funeral Sarah,” He noted in an almost serious tone, offering his hand to help her up.
Climbing out of the coffin with his help, she looked up at the familiar people standing over them. They stared down at her in shock rather than relief. “What happened?” Sarah Jane looked down at herself, realising her clothes felt a little big. “Oh God, what happened?” She half whispered, staring in awe as she ran her hands down her sides.
“Looks like you regenerated,” The Doctor responded without hesitation as he stared at her in much the same way she was staring at herself, although with less surprise and more fascination.
“Regenerated?” Sarah Jane looked back up again, her eyes locking with Luke’s for a moment before she looked back at her old friend. “But I’m human... and I’m still me, well of course I’m still me, but I look the same...”
“You look younger,” He pointed out, in an attempt to be helpful.
“Gee thanks...”
“No I meant, just that you...” He paused when he noticed the smirk gracing her lips and flashed a goofy grin.
“What the devil is going on here?” The Brigadier directed their attention back to the people above them.
“That’s what I’d like to know,” Sarah Jane raised her eyebrows, her hands on her hips as she looked expectantly at the Time Lord.
Frowning, the Doctor looked her up and down again. He couldn’t for the life of him work out what had happened. Maybe she had travelled with him for too long, some after effects of space travel and dimension hopping... in which case he had quite a few people to check up on once he’d sorted everything out. But no that was ridiculous, that sort of thing only ever happened in those silly human movies that usually involved a probe of some sort. “Maybe we should discuss this later,” He said quickly, realising everyone was looking to him for an answer when he didn’t have a clue what was going on either. “You can have a hot bath, wash your hair, I seem to recall you saying that you enjoyed that sort of thing. Come on then.”
Sarah Jane stared at him a moment longer, as if she was looking even deeper. Almost as if she was reading his mind, but that couldn’t possibly be. “Alright then,” She looked up and noticed Jack and Harry kneeling, ready to help pull her up. She grabbed onto their outstretched hands, and with relative ease found herself being pulled up and out of the ground.
“Watch out Old Girl,” Harry said as she lost her balance momentarily and fell towards him.
“Call me Old Girl again Harry and...”
“I know,” His hand lingered on her elbow, not that she needed any more help standing up. She had been doing it fine on her own for well over fifty years. “Look at you, Sarah, you look exactly the same as the day we first met.”
She considered him carefully, not sure what she was finding so interesting about his comment. From what she could see she did look younger, but there was something in his tone that suggested he was reliving a moment in time. “Well I do believe you just paid me a compliment Doctor Sullivan,” Sarah Jane smiled softly.
“Not the first,” He frowned slightly, confused by her response.
“No,” She held his gaze a moment longer before stepping away and glancing around at her old friends. “I think maybe we should all head back to my house, I would very much like to get to the bottom of... this.” Her hands absently moved to indicate she was referring to her current predicament.
“Excellent idea you go on ahead I just need to...” The Doctor glanced at the Undertaker still staring amazed at the woman who had just climbed out of the coffin. “...fix some things. I’ll be right along.”
“Don’t disappear on me Doctor,” Sarah Jane warned him. “This is rather important, and I need your help.”
“I promise you Sarah Jane I’m not going anywhere until we’ve worked this out,” He shoved his hands in his pockets and cocked his head to one side. “I’m just as confused as everyone else here.”
“Right well let’s go,” Sarah Jane nodded and tried to get the crowd moving. Her eyes fell on her son, keeping to the edges of the small group. As their eyes met he pulled back further, as though he was trying to hide behind everyone else. A sharp pain rippled through her chest and she wondered what was going through the boy’s mind.
Noticing Luke’s hesitation, Liz stepped in and nodded to Martha. “Alistair and I will take Luke with us. We have to pick up some milk on the way back.”
Sarah Jane frowned momentarily, not wanting to let her son go. She wanted to sit down and talk with him, try and understand what he was thinking and feeling. He was only sixteen, almost a man yet still very much a boy. But maybe it would be easier for both of them if she knew what was happening first, and that could take some time. “Okay,” She agreed, a little reluctantly. “I’ll see you at home Luke.”
Luke nodded, paying more attention to his feet, and followed the Brigadier to the car. His hands remained in his pockets, he scuffed his shoes in the dirt as he walked, and he didn’t look back once.
“It’s okay Sarah,” Liz assured her with a smile. “We’re all just a little shocked, just as you are. He’ll come around.”
Sarah Jane nodded somewhat absentmindedly as Liz smiled and headed for the car. She’d known Liz long enough to know she should trust her judgement. Besides she had things to try and wrap her mind around without having to worry about Luke, not that she didn’t worry about him anyway. He was her son after all.
“Sarah Jane, are you ready to go?” Martha asked quietly.
“Yes,” She agreed quietly. “The sooner we’re all out of this cemetery the better.” A shiver ran down her spine as her eyes fell on the headstone, her own name clearly engraved. Thoughts of whatever had happened, or was happening, to her were beginning to invade her mind. A moment ago she’d just been happy to get out of the coffin, but now she was struck with the thought that she shouldn’t have gotten out at all. What did the Doctor mean when he had said she’d regenerated? Humans did not regenerate, they simply died. Pushing those thoughts to the back of her mind, Sarah Jane followed Martha to her car in silence. Above all else she needed some time to think without everyone else asking questions she had no answer to.
--
Part Three
--