Disclaimer: Just playing in the BBC's sandbox. I'll put everything back when I'm done.
A brisk and urgent sounding rap on her door had Sarah Jane setting aside her glasses beside her already cool cup of tea, and rising from where she'd been sitting in the morning sun working on an article. As a pensioner, she didn't strictly need to work, but as with most things in her life she was never very good at letting go. She suspected one of the things she wasn't good at letting go of had arrived at her door.
Moving from the kitchen to the front hall, she swung open her door with a wide smile on her face – only to find her visitor wasn't who she expected at all. Even if at the moment, they seemed to share a habit of entering without asking. "How did you do it, Aunt Sarah?" The tall blonde asked abruptly.
Suppressing the urge to correct her visitor with 'Sarah Jane' – after all Kate had picked up the habit of calling her that from days before she'd developed the aversion to being called just Sarah, Sarah took a deep breath. Days when the Brig would draft her into keeping 'Tiger' occupied while he went off to deal with some alien threat or other. They'd bonded over it – their annoyance over the Brig running off and abandoning them – though for different reasons. For Kate it was her dad not having time for her during her scheduled visits, for Sarah Jane it was being left out of the alien fun.
"Good to see you, Tiger. I'm keeping well, thank you." Sarah deadpanned as she closed the door and moved towards the kitchen, expecting the blonde to keep up. She was fairly certain that wherever the Brigadier was now – she'd heard a rumor that the latest version of the Master had somehow… She shook her head, it really didn't bear thinking about.
"Sorry," Kate at least had the sense to look shamefaced, unlike her other visitor that tended to barge in. A soft look crossed Kate's features. Other than her dad, only Sarah Jane ever called her that.
Sarah waved off the apology. "I expect you're upset given they've defunded UNIT."
Kate's eyes widened. "That's close hold."
"I have sources other than you and Osgood for UNIT news… Well, Osgood-1 is more reliable than Osgood-2 but I'm still not clear if that identifies the Zygon or not. Or if they're both Zygons." Sarah moved to cooker and put on a kettle, expecting that the younger woman would need a cuppa.
Sighing, Kate pulled out a chair at the table and settled into it. "Well how did you?"
"How did I what?" Sarah moved to the cupboard and pulled out an extra mug for her guest.
"You're going to make me say it." Kate huffed. "Fine then. How did you fight alien menaces on your own for all those years?"
"You make it sound as though I've stopped." Sarah smirked slightly and pulled out a plate, then raided the biscuit tin for something to put on it. "And they're not ALWAYS menaces."
Kate's eyes narrowed as she took in the crow's feet around Sarah's twinkling eyes, the hair where silver now overtook the brunette but somehow her adoptive Aunt still didn't look old. "Do you have room for a couple more on your team?"
"Oh the children are already taking the Osgoods through the ropes and most of the other Zygons have been working for me since I reintroduced them to the Skarasen." Sarah smirked.
Kate gaped for a moment then breathed out in a huff. "It might have been better if I'd had you elected President."
"Might have." Sarah chuckled then schooled her features as Kate's offense at that comment was visible in her features. "Tiger, your dad really should have warned you about me. He gave up thinking I was going to report to him, long before he stopped working for UNIT."
"Just makes me feel a fool." Kate grumbled. "Here I thought…"
"You, my dear, got too caught up in being in charge." Sarah said pointedly. "You've gotten too used to having boys with guns. Science can lead without any of that nonsense." Fixing the cup of tea as she knew Kate liked, she pressed the cup into her hands. "Come on. The UK branch of UNIT is gone – at least for now. That doesn't mean you need to quit." She moved to the doorway and leaned against the frame, waiting for Kate to stand. When she did, Sarah pushed off and headed up the stairs. "Of course, I need to swear you to secrecy. It's not as though you owe the government any explanations in this regard, given they defunded you." She pushed open the attic door and moved through.
"I'm still sworn to the official sec…" Kate started as she followed but was caught by the technology in front of her.
Sarah smiled proudly at her little haven having rendered the Brigadier's daughter speechless. It had changed a good deal since the days when the Bane had come to Earth peddling Bubbleshock and had brought Luke into her life. She ran her hand over the TARDIS console like control panel in the center of the room, and the computer banks that had replaced some of her bookshelves. "Mr. Smith?"
"Hello Sarah Jane." The Xylok paused. "Am I to expect a UNIT raid in the near future?"
"Don't be silly. Kate wouldn't dream of it." Sarah replied, her tone pleasant but a definite warning in her voice.
"Mostly because UNIT in England doesn't exist." Kate turned her gaze away from the obviously alien technology that filled the space and onto Sarah. "This shouldn't be here, Aunt Sarah."
"Where should it be then? The Black Archive?" Sarah asked calmly, settling in her favorite arm chair.
It was always unsettling when a civilian knew far more than she expected, even when it was her favorite Aunt. "To put not too fine a point on it, yes."
"You do realize that the reason they moved it to the Tower of London was because of me." Sarah watched Kate. "Originally they'd built a facility on the old Priory grounds. Your father helped me break into that one." She said with some amusement. "I suspect they didn't want to admit that they moved it because of well, me… It was probably blamed on the Bane infiltration. Of course they'd have no idea that moving it to the Tower would only make matters worse."
"How would moving it to…" Kate frowned as a mischievous grin crossed Sarah's face, then her gaze fell on a wall that had suspiciously round shapes on it. "Good grief. You and the Curator?"
Sarah couldn't hold back her laughter. "Oh Tiger, you have no idea." She stood and moved to the blonde, taking her hands in hers. "So are you ready to get down to business? Personally I'm not comfortable with the isolationist idiots who defunded UNIT being in charge of that much alien technology. Are you?"
Kate nodded once briskly. "Right, I don't suppose the memory wipe technology will be much of an issue for you then."