Sarah Jane was born 1951, therefore making her 17 in 1968, the same year The Invasion happened, so I put two and two together (heh, get it?) And came up with this. Please enjoy!
Sarah Jane Smith was very good at getting past forbidden, even when she was a teen, and this time was no exception. Being seventeen she was still considered very much a minor, but with the her mature looks and very much convincing fake ID, she was able to get past the barrier gate leading deeper into the sealed off London. The soldiers took one look at her ID (which, now looking back at it wasn't even the slightest bit convincing,) and let her in.
At first she was completely surprised at how easy it had been, then the exhilaration of rebellion flooded through her veins as it did any teen in those days. Of course, considering the news and orders from the military (and her aunt) she was supposed to be in her home straight after school. But she was part of the High School paper, and this mysterious blocking of the heart of the England city was too intriguing for the young Sarah to resist. If her aunt knew where she was right now, she would totally be in for it, but at the same time she didn't care, she was too excited and enthusiastic about the situation around her.
Soldiers were running all about the place, wearing uniforms she hadn't seen in the papers or on the telly before. The red berets were certainly an upside, in fact the teen rebel in Sarah, who was already totally freaking out at the amazing opportunity she had been given (or stole) was very much considering taking one of the berets when the soldiers weren't looking. Fortunately she managed to keep herself in check and kept moving about how she guessed a professional photographer for a newspaper would. However, as there usually was, a kink arrived in her plan.
"Sorry Miss, your not authorized past here." Sarah took one look at the young soldier in front of her, the embroidery on his military issued jacket named him as Corporal Benton. Briefly considering on pushing her luck the extra mile but soon deciding against it, she nodded in understanding at the soldier, then ducking under the gate and running as fast as her feet would take her as soon as his back was turned. As soon she was sure that the gate was far behind her, she slowed her pace, but still to be sure she hid herself behind a wall. Not even a second later a troop of soldiers ran right past her, so she considered herself very lucky, and decided for good to tread carefully from here.
Stepping out from behind the wall, she looked all about her before moving quickly to the other side of the street to hide some more before rinsing and repeating. This pattern of hers continued for quite a while, with her snapping the occasional photos of the soldiers and cars that they had. She did so as she figured that if she didn't get far enough to the center of the problem to figure out what was going on, at least she'd have some good photos of the military for a sub standard report in the school paper. After some time her teenage sense of rebellion was beginning to wane, along with her interest and she considered turning back and going home while she still knew the way.
"Clear the way, they're coming!" One far off soldier yelled as he ran past Sarah, not even noticing her, and was quickly followed afterwards by large amounts of soldiers in the same uniforms. Sarah watched them run back about a mile before turning back, weapons ready. Wondering exactly would make soldiers run so fast, she looked back in front of her, the image that soared past her and joined the soldiers, was quite the sight.
The short man that ran past her certainly looked like somebody who defiantly did not belong here, even less so than her. He was dressed and looked just like one of the Three Stooges that her Aunt Lavinia and her use to see every weekend when she was younger. The dirty old frock coat, Beatles haircut and argyle suspenders, (that defiantly caught her eye) totally screamed of someone that definitely did not belong in a military operation. Trailing after him was a young Scot (with the whole kilt get up and everything), and the sight of him only further cemented a theory she now had that they might be very badly disguised spies. She wasn't really sure why this was the only theory that made sense to her, until she looked back at them, and remembered why.
The two strange men ducked behind the large trucks that the military had taken with them, and as soon as they were certain that they were safe, they commenced in arguments, the apparent leader of the soldiers and the strange clothed man being the main leaders of the loud dispute. Sarah wasn't really sure what she should do next, since there was obviously some kind of fight that was either going on at the time or was about to happen. Time, that before hand was speeding along with her as she made her way here, was now crawling by as slowly as possible. The men meanwhile, were continued to argue, the Scot and other soldiers now looking rather awkward to the whole situation.
Finally, Sarah decided to regain some kind of initiative in this venture, and looked about her for some kind of ladder that would help get higher, her plan for that being to get better high rise photos. A ladder eventually made itself known by her left side, and she got busy climbing it. The ladder was connected to the fire escape on the side of the building, which was still hidden from the sights of the yelling group of men not that far away from her, but still she kept her head down, just to make sure. She clung tightly to the slightly wobbly frame of the metal work as she took her photos, her every move almost vibrating though the structure as if one quick, unpredicted move could send her falling.
A few snaps of photos taken later and she could already feel her legs growing tired from the careful crouching stance she had to stop herself from falling off the edge, her hands growing cold s they gripped the edges of the practically frozen metal, the other hand getting quite the cramp in her snapping finger. She wanted to get down, but at the same time she wasn't finished as she still didn't know why they were there in the first place. She made sure to get some extra close ups on the strange and his Scottish companion, just so she could check back on them to see if they were actually spies.
"Doctor, look!" The Scottish man yelled to the strange man, just as Sarah was going to take another photo of him. Paralyzed, her mind went into overdrive as she thought over the implications of being arrested by these people, like the fact that she might never come home again. She thought of her Aunt, whom she always snuck around behind, waiting for Sarah to come home after realizing she was gone… only to be informed that she never would. All these fearful images of being imprisoned or shot seemed to blind her from the fact that the Scot was pointing right past her, towards the enemy they were fighting. Eventually Sarah seemed to take notice of that, and looked behind her.
Another sight for the day it seemed, but this one carried more horror than confusion (but there was certainly plenty of that). They were men, metal men that were coming towards the soldiers, and even closer towards her. Her mind was now truly paralyzed as she didn't know what to do; her hands were frozen, though she was more than happy not to make herself known at this point by taking any photos of them. Unfortunately though, it seemed as though that opportunity that never came to reality as the camera she was now holding in a slack grip, (due to her surprise), fell from the actually rather high height of the metal fire escape, bouncing down the metal structure before finally smashing to pieces on the ground. Now, she was definitely done for as the metal men looked at the completely destroyed camera, then back up at her.
They were moving towards her now, towards the ladder to get her. Finally her legs kicked into gear, and she, since the exit seemed to be blocked, started climbing upwards, towards the roof. The soldiers were trailing after the metal men, and of course, firing at them. Bullets ricocheted ff the metal structure of the fire escape, some of them even almost, just brushed past her ear. She kept moving though, the metal men not that far away from her. This had to be the longest fire escape in the world, it just went on and on, with the metal 'things' only getting closer and closer.
She was starting to slow down, and that was terrifying. It as during the moment that she was dragging herself up the umpteenth ladder of the fire escape, that one of the metal men finally grabbed her ankle. Sarah screamed, no longer caring if the strange military caught her and locked her up or whatever, she just wanted to be saved from this situation. She wanted to get away, to get away from here and go home. And while the thought of her going home was very far fetched at this moment, at least the theory of her still being alive was obtainable. She continued screaming but also made the mistake of looking down, and seeing exactly how far from the ground she really was.
"Help me." She mumbled mostly to herself as she saw the soldiers from below beginning to swarm around the opening of the fire escape. The world was spinning now, and the metal man's grip on her ankle was the only thing tying her to one place. She couldn't move anymore, the before mentioned theory of living through this was now flying its way out the window just like the hope of going home from here. Bullets were continuing to fly through the air around her and the strange creatures that were trying to drag her down from the ladder she was currently clinging onto with everything she had.
Eventually one of the many bullets that were flinging dangerously throughout the structure finally made a target, which was, luckily enough, the metal man's wrist. Her ankle was finally freed and Sarah managed to gain quite some distance between her and the strange men, which were currently blocked from climbing any higher by the wounded one. She finally got to the roof, but she didn't stop running. Even though she could hear the soldiers yelling at her to stay where she was, to stop running, but she was not going to wait for them, especially since it was likely that they would lock her up for just being here and seeing what she had seen. There was a staircase opening that lead into the building, and she took it right off the bat. Looking back, she often wondered why she never bothered to take part in the school marathons, seeing how se practically threw herself down the staircases of the building, towards the ground floor.
Sarah could still hear the sounds of guns being fired, of metal men being hit with bullets. This building, which she had ever noticed before, actually turned out to be a hotel. She could tell this as he was currently hiding behind the main desk of the reception area. She wasn't sure what she was waiting for, whether it was for the sounds of the guns to go away, or for someone to find her. Briefly she looked over the top of the desk she was hiding behind, only to quickly drop down again when she saw some of the soldiers entering the lobby of the hotel and walking quickly towards her hiding place. She sunk a little lower, hoping they wouldn't notice her while she tried to slow her frantic heartbeat.
"Hey, do you know who the strange bloke the get up and the Scotsman is? Cuz, I asked the Brig and all he said was that it was on a need to know basis." The soldier's voice was very familiar to Sarah, but it did take a moment to place as Corporal Benton. The other soldier with him didn't say anything else so Sarah assumed that the unnamed soldier had just given him a look. This was later confirmed by Corporal Benton's response, which contained a good dosage of defense on his part.
"I was just wondering if you knew, you are a Sergent after all Yates… I mean Sir." Sarah hears the other soldier sigh and the footsteps of both the men walking further off into the lobby, talking to each other as they went. After some time of silence, Sarah eventually decided that it was best to get going right then and there. She looked over the desk top to the soldiers where on the other side of the room, and was unlikely to see her. Immediately she got up and went for the main doors, only to for the door to open by itself, the people on the other side being that last two people in the world that she wanted to be caught by.
"Aye, but Doc-" The Scot and the strange man stopped in their discussion when they finally managed to notice Sarah, the solders from the other of the room also noticing her at the same time. Silence fell for everyone in the room, as they thought of hat to do next. Sarah was considering whether or not she should just push her way out of here and go home, having seen to much to her liking and not even a shred of evidence that this ever happened, her camera having smashed to completely unrepairable bits, meaning that the photos were definitely lost. The soldiers were obviously considering on wether or not they should arrest her, or help her to get out of here as it wasn't safe, and they were given orders to not let civilians be involved. The strangely dressed men however, didn't seem to be bothered by her presence and wouldn't have minded her just leaving b herself. The shorter of the pair even politely opened the main door for her, gesturing to her to go, and quickly.
"There you go my dear." Sarah took the opportunity and left as fast as she could. She ran down the streets, past the military blockades and kept running, not stopping for anything or anyone until she was right back at home, her Aunt Lavinia waiting patiently for her by the front door. The elder Smith had her hands firmly placed on her hips, a look of ill amusement mixed with patience on her face. The teen in her care said nothing, but walked inside her head hung a little at being caught.
She didn't tell her Aunt what happened that day, in fact she didn't really tell anyone, especially sine there was no evidence she could have possibly used to uphold her word. Besides, her Aunt, friends and school paper would have called her crazy. So she kept it to herself, for the longest time she didn't tell anyone about what had happened to her and what she had seen.
Years passed, Sarah grew into a mature young woman and left that situation (somewhat) behind her. She excelled in her journalistic qualities, and because of that she became the journalist she had always wanted to be. The stories she would report on never seemed to hold interest in her long enough, as if she was waiting for something bigger to come along.
Then one day, during a normal report on whatever it was she had been organized to investigate (times were so sluggish and boring back then that she wasn't surprised that she had forgotten), when she managed to catch a report on TV about a mysterious mass disappearance of scientists in the area. That peeked her interest a little, but it only further interested her when she listened a little more closely to the droning voice of the TV reporter.
"Anonymous tips have been let into this story stating that a secret military collective, known only officially as UNIT-
The image that followed the words was only there for a second, but it was enough to reel the older Sarah Jane back to her memories of the rebellious teen that sneaked out of the house and ran head long into danger, just for the hope of getting front page. The image was of a soldier wearing the uniform se had remembered them wearing, including the beret she had previously considered stealing.
"UNIT…" She mumbled to herself, walking away from the news report to quickly call up her Aunt Lavinia, remembering how well known of a scientist she was and how she had also been asked, along with many of her colleges, to go into hiding to be safe. Of course the older of the Smith women was unable to do so as she had to leave for some business in America, and decided it best a the time not to tell anyone about this, besides her niece. There was still the chance, if Sarah was lucky, that she had left the pass for the secure place behind in her home.
The conversation was rather awkward to Sarah's insight; since it was obvious her Aunt disapproved of her plans to sneak into this place on false pretences, considering the fact that she wasn't sure what could happen to her only niece if she were caught. Apparently she was very right in this worry as she had known about UNIT far before Sarah ever ran into them, and took great care and precise words in telling Sarah exactly what could happen to her should she be caught out.
As it turned out, the teenage fears she had so many years ago were more correct than she could have ever realised. But while that might have scared her off when she was younger, she was made of stronger stuff now and she knew she would be allot more careful than she was when she was seventeen. She promised her Aunt that she would be careful, and quickly hung up before she could hear any kind of words from her guardian that would put her off.
Grabbing her camera (which was made of much stronger stuff than the one she had owned in her teen years, not much unlike herself as previously said), she left out the door of her apartment, getting ready to first go to her Aunt's home to 'borrow' the pass for the safe area, then make her way to what she was considering to be the biggest journalistic break in her life.
But it would actually go on to become more than that, in fact, it went on to become the beginnings of the greatest adventures she ever had.
"Well how do you do Miss Smith, I'm the Doctor."
Back years before and in the hotel, the Scotsman and soldiers just watched Sarah as she quickly left, and then looked to the shorter man in confusion. He however, didn't seem the least bit bothered by the teen's hasty get away, and closed the glass door behind her. The Scot was the first to question him as he was the man's companion, and there was the fact that he was better known by the man than the soldiers were.
"Why'd yea do that then Doctor?" Corporal Benton nodded in agreement, thinking on how much the Brigadier was not going to like the fact that a witness had been simply let go without questioning on what they had seen, or even what their name was. But one look from the Doctor seemed to gesture to the soldier that he knew exactly what he was thinking of, and suggesting that the Brigadier should not be told of this situation at all. His superior that was standing right next to him looked ready to argue his point, but was somehow also silenced by the quiet look the shorter man gave him.
"Just something that will come to fruition at a later time Jamie. Now, if we are all done talking of this, I suggest we start planning on a way to first get back to the UNIT base, then to save Zoe and Isabel." One mention of the kidnapped girls seemed to knock all three of the young men tot the present, and they quickly payed attention to the Doctor's plans, all thoughts on the teen girl that had previously ran out were forgotten.
Even more years later…
Times had passed for the Doctor and Sarah; they had traveled, seen sights and saved worlds. Then they parted on less than expected terms and Sarah moved on with her life, back to the slow and sluggish days of boring and uninteresting stories that needed to be done by someone. Life was boring again, and she couldn't help but wait around or the Doctor to come back for her, even though she knew that he was most likely moving on with different companions and even more exciting adventures. At some point she guessed that he must have known she would not (and definitely didn't) like to be left out of the action when the time came for it. He must have known it, since he sent her an alien sensor in the shape of a dog.
K9 was an amazing companion to have around when those sluggish days were a little to normal for her liking. The technological dog wonder would tell her of the alien comets that were coming rather close to the earth's atmosphere, and the ones that had recently landed, and would need media coverage on. Because of the constant accompaniment of her plus one, the years passed with an easier edge. But while he was a very good alien tracer and information supplier, he was bit rubbish at sensing actual danger from a bug in the fly-screen.
It was on one of those days that K9 had 'sensed danger' that she had had a rather interesting run in with the Doctor once again. At the time she hadn't believed K9 when he had said to be careful, mostly because earlier that day he had detected intense danger from a broken down car. There was a chance that this model's senor circuits had been severely damaged at some point before he was delivered to her. She left for work anyway, despite the fact that K9 had told her of the 'possibility' that the Doctor was involved. That was certainly a far fetched tale to tell her as it had been years since she had last seen the Doctor, meaning that there was no reason for him to involve her in his problems.
Well as it turned out, K9's danger sensors were a little more accurate than she had previously thought, considering the fact that she was transported away not only a few seconds later. Now she was standing in what the other incarnations of the Doctor (don't ask), had called 'The Tomb of Rassilon'. Her Doctor (and by that she meant the first doctor she'd met, what with the other one, for some reason, not being there) and two other doctors were currently discussing some thing about 'old, high Gallifreyan,' when one of them turned briefly to look at her. She, at first, raised an eyebrow at the strange look he was giving her, but suddenly a light bulb seemed to light up in her mind when he winked at her.
The Beatles hair cut, the bowtie…the argyle suspenders! Her mind nearly reeled as she thought back to the memories that were previously well forgotten, of the metal men that she now knew as Cybermen, the young soldiers that would later become the Sergeant Benton and Captain Yates. Her mind was still reeling as he looked back to the small podium he and his other selves were inspecting. None of the other Doctors seemed to notice her change in attitude, the other companions that were around her however, did.
"Hey are you alright?" Sarah looked over to the woman next to her… What was her name? Oh…yes, Tegan. Not wanting to bother anyone with something so unimportant (there was also the fact that the Brigadier was not that far away, and would not like the idea that she had seen something around the time were she was not only a minor, but also a civilian), she just nodded her head, smiling the same smile she'd use in the most boring of interviews and articles she would write, the 'I'm fine and having the time of my life' smile. That seemed to be enough for Tegan, and the rest of the strange venture seemed to pass rather quickly, in fact it was nearly over. In one blink suddenly all the incarnations of the Doctor (bar one) were in the tomb, saying their goodbyes to each other.
"Fancy pants!" the strange man that she remembered from her teenage years yelled at the man she'd traveled with years ago. It just suddenly occurred to her that every strange man she saw in her life turned out to be The Doctor in some way, shape or form, and was actually in the middle of questioning that when the short cosmic hobo of a man walked up to her and shook her hand.
"Y-" she was just about to ask him after why she knew him, what was actually going on that day and why he had never said he'd met her before. There were so many questions that she wanted to be answered, so many things she wanted to know. But he just shushed her, winked again, and put something in her hand as he shook it. Then he left, taking the brigadier with him and disappearing off into the universe, to have more adventures. After he was gone she looked into her hand to see what he had given her, wondering what it was.
In her hand was a roll of film from the old cameras she remembered using when she was a teen and along with the old film roll was a small note, which she had to squint to read. Once she'd read the small print she smiled to herself, pocketing the roll of film in her pocket, planning to do what she could to develop the photos, figuring that she owed it to her seventeen year old self to do so. Her Doctor and her then said their goodbyes, and entered through the TARDIS doors, which lead her into the old TARDIS console room she remembered the incarnation she was with using. She looked about the old console room, memories of the travels she had playing through her head as the Doctor piloted the TARDIS.
"So, what did the Scarecrow give you?" Sarah looked over to the (old? She wasn't sure exactly how this worked…) Doctor, who briefly looked up from his task to look at her curiously, politely awaiting her answer. But she just smirked mysteriously; her hand falling to the pocket where she had placed the present he had given her, along with the note. The note had been a nice addition, and she was sure that she was probably going to keep that note for a long time yet. The note had the following written:
Very nice close ups, you're quite the photographer, though next time I'd suggest not taking photos from a fire escape.
The Doctor.
She could question on how he knew that she was on the fire escape when she took the photos, but really there wouldn't be any point to it, since he was The Doctor. The incarnation she first traveled with was still looking at her expectantly; apparently he really wanted that answer for some reason or another. The galaxy traveling journalist just smiled and shook her head, a statement saying that she was not going to tell him. He smirked and let it go, and he would since he did know what it was anyway.
"So, where to now?" She tried not to sound disappointed, but at the same time, it had been a while since she'd seen this Doctor, or even been in the TARDIS. He seemed to notice her disappointment, and started flicking different switches and buttons than he was earlier. Sarah watched him, but decided that he was just placing in the same co-ordinates (probably just realized that he'd accidentally set it for Aberdeen) as before. But that theory was quickly erased as he smiled, and winked at her just as his earlier self had as he spoke.
"Where would you like to go?" Sarah grinned and leaned on the console next to the white haired mystery man that she'd seen change a long time ago. She thought for a while, and then smiled, remembering the planets that he had told her about all those years ago, though they never went to se them, danger always being in the way. And while it was obviously apparent that the same would happen this time, she didn't really mind, since it was still an adventure.
"Somewhere… new." And that's where they went.
Please review, constructive criticism always appreciated.