URGENT NOTE: As you may know, the BBC starts shooting the 50th anniversary special this week. If you'd like to see a proper tribute to Sarah Jane in the special, please consider signing the petition at www dot ipetitions dot com / petition/sarah-jane-smith-dr-who-tribute (automatic link removed because we don't want to break any rules) and passing it on to any groups you belong to. If we all pass it on, we can make a difference! Time (ironically) is of the essence! Thanks!

Well, folks, sorry it took us a little bit longer to finish this story than we'd anticipated, but I was sick for almost 3 weeks, and that put us very far behind. I'm better now, though, and we're raring to go!

For those of you first joining us, this is the third in a series of interconnected stories. We promise that each will have a well-defined beginning and end, but they'll all fit into an arc that starts with "The Long Road Home," when a man shows up on Sarah Jane Smith's doorstep with no memory, continues in "Be Careful What You Wish For" when they fight the odds (and Torchwood) to try and hide the fact that Sarah is pregnant with the Doctor's baby, and ends when … well, you'll just have to find out.

As we've been saying, as far as canon, all of these stories mesh with what we've actually seen onscreen in Doctor Who itself, but not necessarily Sarah Jane Adventures.

(OK, everything onscreen in Doctor Who except the Brigadier's history in "Mawdryn Undead", and that's because THOSE writers were fudging dates and hoping nobody would notice.)

Also, if you've come here because we've listed "Tenth Doctor" in the second character pulldown, we should tell you now that he doesn't appear until much later in the series … or does he?

Finally, we've put a lot of work into making sure all the pieces fit together - and believe me, that's quite a job! - so we'd really appreciate your feedback. We also appreciate everyone's patience while we finished things off so we could keep our regular Wednesday/Saturday posting schedule.

Thanks so much, and we look forward to hearing from you!

Sarah Jane Tinker had come downstairs to make dinner when she suddenly heard shouting, and then cheering. She looked out of the window over her sink and started to laugh. Her husband John had been playing football in the back garden with their new neighbor Jack and their dear friend Harry Sullivan for about an hour now, and apparently several of the older neighborhood boys had joined in the game as well.

The younger neighborhood children were all standing around - they were the ones shouting and cheering them on. Sarah laughed even harder when she noticed that their dog Faraday was running up and down the pitch barking at the players.

She couldn't tell who was winning, but she was sure that they were all having a wonderful time.

Of course, it didn't matter who was winning; she was just glad John was alive and well enough to play checkers, let alone football. It had only been two months since he'd been kidnapped by an unsavory unknown group. Even now, Sarah Jane wondered what it was they'd wanted from him. Information? Revenge? She couldn't imagine what anyone would want from someone so sweet. They'd tortured him to the very brink of death and then literally thrown him out of a car onto the front steps, but John had suppressed virtually all memory of the event, so they still didn't know very much about what had actually happened, or why.

She saw Harry being bested by a twelve year old and as she watched him protest to a ten year old referee, she shook her head at "her boys".

How completely life had changed for her. She had been so lost and hurt when the Doctor dumped her. She didn't think she could even survive being back on Earth after all the travels and mad adventures they had known. Now several months later here she was, happy and content, loving the sweet gentle simplicity of sharing her life with John.

She turned, went over to the cupboard and got down several paper cups and a large tin of biscuits. Placing them both on a tray along with a gallon of milk, she headed outside with them. "Here you are, ladies and gentlemen, refreshments for everyone. I can tell this is really thirsty work and you lot look like you wouldn't mind a few biscuits with your drinks. Just don't spoil your dinner."

Setting the tray on a picnic table, she opened the tin and the milk then started filling the cups and passing them around. She passed the tin around and each child politely reached in and helped his or herself, then thanked her. "Break time," she called out to the players.

John left his post as goalie and trotted over, still laughing, "Thanks, Sarah," he said, and gave her a peck on the cheek.

"Hey, do we all get to do that?" Jack asked, flashing what they had come to recognize as his trademark cheeky smile. But it was clear that while he would have accepted had it been offered, he wasn't entirely serious, and he laughed when John jokingly smacked him.

"I only kiss the men I marry, Jack, sorry," laughed Sarah as she handed the milk to Harry and turned to kiss John back.

Harry looked down at the milk in his hands and sighed. "I suppose this means I'll have to get my own milk and biscuits, poor me."

Sarah finished kissing John, then took the milk back and poured out a cup of milk for Harry. Taking two biscuits out of the tin, she proceeded to shove them into his mouth playfully. "There you are, you poor Old Boot."

"I think she just told you to stuff it, Harry," Jack laughed.

"If it means getting fed, I don't mind at all, old boy," he said as a few crumbs slipped out of his mouth.

"Thank you Missus Tinker," the children shouted in unison.

"You're all very welcome," she curtsied at them. "I'm going back in now, John. I'll sing out for you when dinner is ready," she called over her shoulder as she headed back inside.

Harry looked at his watch. "And speaking of dinner, I'm afraid it's time to call this game."

"Awwww," the older boys all moaned.

"No," Harry insisted, "I've got to leave soon, and Mister Tinker is entirely too winded for my tastes."

"Come on, Harry," John said, "I'll take a break, I'll be fine."

"No," Harry said, "I've got to go." He turned to Jack. "Make sure he lays off for the rest of the day, will you?"

Jack nodded. "Will do."

John grumbled, but didn't look entirely upset about their concern. "What's the big hurry, Harry?" he asked, toweling off his face and waving to the boys as they headed home.

"Big date tonight. I've got great hopes for this one. She's a very dishy blond and she thinks I'm brilliant."

"Ah," Jack said, "going off to play doctor, hey?" He wiggled his eyebrows as he and John retreated to two of the three chairs outside the doors of the workshop.

"A gentleman never tells, old boy," Harry said in what he at least considered to be a suave voice. "But I will say that she's quite attractive and a lot of fun to be with."

"I'm proud of you," Jack said, putting his feet up on a crate. "Is it serious?"

"Not yet, but it could be. Why don't you have a date tonight, Jack? I should think a fellow with your looks could chat up someone quite easily," Harry said.

John gave Harry a "oops, don't go there" look, but it was too late.

Jack kept smiling, but his eyes told another story. "My divorce was finalized yesterday."

Harry looked genuinely contrite. "Well I've put a foot in haven't I? I'm so sorry old man, I had no idea."

Jack dropped the smile. "I suppose it's a bit of finality," he said. "I just .. I wish I'd had a chance to say goodbye to my daughter, you know?"

John passed him a bottle of soda. "So sorry, Jack."

"Don't give up hope, Jack, these things take time, but they usually work out in the long run," Harry said, patting his shoulder.

"Oh yeah," Jack said, brightening. "Believe me, there are plenty more fish in the proverbial sea." He stood up and started ushering Harry towards his car. "You go on and have a good time. I promise I'll keep our boy settled down."

"I'm not deaf, you know," John said, "and I'm not an invalid."

"We just want to make sure that you stay that way old man," Harry said, waving goodbye and jumping into his car. He rolled the window down as he pulled out of the drive. "Have a great evening, you two."

John settled himself in his chair and put his feet up. "Sorry about Harry," he told Jack as Harry pulled out of the driveway. "He doesn't mean anything by it."

"I know, and he does seem like a nice enough guy, he's just a little..." Jack paused and thought. Finally he shrugged. "I guess he's just a little quirky." Jack flashed one of his most winning smiles and then gave John a playful punch in the arm. "But then aren't we all?"

"I suppose so," John said. He thought about his own life, from the moment he'd woken up with no memory on Sarah Jane's doorstep. It certainly hadn't been what most people would consider "normal". From the time he'd been captured by aliens and worked with Sarah to save the world, to the plot to convince him that he was a physics teacher from Burnbridge, which had culminated with his being kidnapped and tortured by a shadowy organization sure that he was... He breathed deeply, pushing back the panic that gripped him whenever he thought about it. In a few moments he felt better. Then there was the alien called the Doctor, the man who was the father of his wife's unborn child. "Definitely quirky," he said.

They sat in the early evening quiet for a little while, each absorbed in his own thoughts. Jack had moved to town just after he'd gotten out of the hospital, and they'd become fast friends.

Harry still came around, but now that John and Sarah had been married, Harry had decided it was time to move on with his life, as evidenced by his date tonight. With Sarah diving back into work to make up for the time she'd lost while he was recovering, John was just as likely to be found killing time with Jack as with Harry, and Sarah often (jokingly) lamented the trouble the three of them would get into together.

Today, though, John was unsuccessfully trying to distract himself from the news that he and Sarah were finally almost ready to reveal. "Jack," he said, "can I tell you a secret?"

Jack leaned forward and looked deeply into John's eyes, his own twinkling with obvious delight. "Only if it's a really juicy one. Whatta ya got?"

"Well, I don't know if I'd call it juicy, but you can't tell Harry, OK? There are some other people at work I need to tell first, and I don't want him to feel slighted."

"My lips are sealed, but my ears are wide open," he grinned at him.

John grinned back, like the cat who swallowed the canary. "I know you miss your daughter, and I'm sorry about that, but it looks like there's going to be another baby for you to play with soon."

"Oh yeah? Who's? I hope she's in her mid twenties and nicely put together," he wiggled his eyesbrows at John.

John shook his head. He'd long ago come to realize that Jack was just a sweet guy with a big mouth who didn't mean any harm, and joked to cover his own sadness. "I think that he or she might be a little young even for you, Jack," he said.

"Oh, the loud messy kind that can have stuff coming out of either end. I know all about those. One of the local ladies just find out that she's been blessed?" He held up his hands, "I'm innocent, I swear it's not mine, no matter what she says."

"I know it's not, Jack," John smiled, "it's mine and Sarah's."

Jack hesitated for a moment, then grinned widely. "No! You old devil you. That was fast work, how long have you two been married?"

"Almost two months, thank you," John said. "I guess we got lucky."

"Wow, it must have happened on your wedding night. You got lucky alright," he nudged him. "Beginner's luck. I'm telling all the ladies in the neighborhood not to stand too close to you, you're dangerous," he teased.

John laughed. "I'd comment," he said, "but as usual I really have no response. Besides," he continued, "blissfully, the ladies of the neighborhood seem to have moved on to you as their conquest. I can't tell you how relieved I am. I never noticed, but it drove Sarah Jane mad sometimes."

"Well, now that I'm here, she can retire that stick she's had to carry around to protect you with." He slicked back his hair with his hand. "Personally, I never even try to fight anyone off. That Mrs. Sanderson a few houses down for example, now there's a very lonely lady who likes to cook, if you know what I mean," he wiggled his eyebrows suggestively once more.

John laughed. There was one more thing he wanted to know, but he wasn't sure about it, and didn't want to hurt Jack's feelings. Finally he decided to take a chance. "And I should mention that Mister Thackeray over the road seems to have taken a shine to you as well, though I doubt he'll say anything about it." He waited for Jack's reaction; they hadn't discussed this particular topic before.

"I know," Jack smiled happily. "Isn't he just adorable? We've been carefully flirting with each other for days now. I'm letting it build until he can't stand it anymore. I'm such a tease."

John had to laugh. It made him happy that Jack trusted him enough not to even flinch. After all, he trusted Jack enough to tell him about the baby. "You are that," he said.

"Since we're confiding in each other, I'm going to trust you and tell you something I don't want to get around either," Jack said, taking a swig of soda. "I love to flirt, and while I do have my little flings, I never get involved with someone who is attached to someone else. Take the little number down the street, she flirts because her husband neglects her. I flirt back because it makes her feel like she hasn't lost her appeal." Jack finished off his bottle and retrieved another one from the cooler, popping off the top and tossing the bottle opener back into the cooler's lid. "In the long run, it'll make her more confident, then her absent hubby will notice and he'll start to get more attentive. It could even save their marriage."

He leaned over conspiratorially. "And if I do get serious with someone and it becomes more than flirtatious, I never cheat on anyone I love. I don't tell people that as a rule, but for some odd reason, your opinion of me matters very much. I respect you a lot."

They both sat back in their chairs and stared into the sunset. "Thank you, Jack," he said quietly. "That means a lot to me, though for the life of me I can't tell you why."

Later that evening, when Sarah had called it a day and supper was over, she marveled at how nice and cozy everything was. The weather was getting cooler, so they had started a fire and it was burning brightly while she and John drank their hot cocoa.

Faraday was sleeping peacefully on the mat in front of the fireplace. K-9 had been less than thrilled about Faraday when she had first brought him home, and had gone out of his way, in fact, to prove that the dog was not very bright and far inferior to a mechanical dog, but he was beginning to adjust, and had at least learned to tolerate him as long as he didn't get too much attention.

While John hadn't completely recovered from the injuries he'd sustained when he'd been kidnapped, he was definitely feeling better, and of late had felt well enough to do more than just work on the beacon he'd promised to build her. She was sure it was fruitless, of course, but trying to build a device to call the Doctor kept him busy and still when he needed to be. Besides, it made him happy to try and do this for her so that she could get some kind of closure.

At the moment, John was was busy playing with the computer and K-9 was chatting away with him, going on and on. They were both having such a good time, she had to chuckle warmly at them. She was really enjoying all this domestic bliss. She crossed quickly over to sit next to John on the couch, not wanting to block their view of the TV screen any longer than necessary. "What are you two up to now," she said, smiling as she sat down.

John smiled at her. "Oh, just working out some new calculations for the beacon. I think I can speed up the packet propagation if I can initiate five-dimensional tunneling. That, and K-9 doesn't understand the appeal of soap operas."

Sarah laughed heartily. "Now that's something I can actually understand, the rest of that scientific babble you two keep going on about is totally beyond me."

"Oh, so you're up on five-dimensional tunneling, are you?" he teased. "You should have said something, I could have used a hand."

"Oh you," she said nudging him playfully with her shoulder. "You know perfectly well I meant soap operas. The other bit is completely alien to me. As far as I know, it could be from Pluto or Mars or some such place."

John shuddered. "Goodness, I hope not. After being kidnapped, scanned, and zapped, I've had just about enough of aliens, thank you very much," he said, giving her a quick squeeze around the shoulders.

She gave him a peck on the cheek. "Just remember, you'll be dealing with one in a few months, and I hope, completely loving him or her."

John raised an eyebrow, concerned. "Pardon?"

"Our baby isn't human, have you forgotten that small detail?"

John sank back into the couch, thinking about that. He looked at her tummy, just beginning to give the slightest indication that she was pregnant. "Actually," he said, "I had." He leaned over and talked to her belly, as he'd been wont to do lately. "Baby," he said, "I know you're an alien, but you're going to be a good alien and not a bad alien, aren't you?" Then he switched to a high-pitched "baby" voice. "Yes, daddy," he said. The he sat up and turned to Sarah. "See? No problem," he said.

Sarah laughed at him and at the baby voice. "He or she's not going to have two heads or spit fire you know, after all the Doctor was humanoid, not some weird looking space creature."

"Oh sure," he said skeptically, "when you knew him. Who knows what he looked like when you weren't around?"

"Oh John, that's ridiculous. I knew him for quite a long time and he only shed his skin at night. The only other odd thing about him was his cloven feet and tail. Other than that, he looked just as normal as you do."

John went white for a moment. "Seriously?"

Sarah stared seriously at him as long as she could, then burst out laughing. She put a hand out on John's shoulder. "Oh, you should see the look on your face," she said, still laughing.

He smiled at her tentatively. "So you're just joking, then. He doesn't really have cloven feet and a tail and shed his skin and all that."

"Of course not, he's as completely human looking as Harry or the Brig."

John sighed with relief. "And speaking of the Brig, we're going to have to tell him about Little Peanut soon," he said, patting her stomach. "Maybe Monday morning."