Disclaimer: Characters contained within do not belong to me.
Author's Notes: Spoilers through 4x13, "Journey's End." There are also some minor spoilers for "The Sarah Jane Adventures." I hope you enjoy!
Companionship
by Kristen Elizabeth
"You know, I imagined I'd bump into you again someday, but I have to confess, I didn't expect it to happen quite so soon."
As he stood on her stoop, the last place in the universe that she ever expected to see him, the Doctor gave her a weak smile that spoke of deep, bone-crushing exhaustion. "I wanted to meet your son before I left. He had a hand in all of this, too. I owe him my thanks."
Sarah Jane stepped back, gesturing him inside the house with a slightly raised eyebrow. "Well, he'll be thrilled, but unfortunately he's run off to check on his schoolmates. He promised to be back soon, though." She closed the door and turned to see the Doctor standing in the middle of her foyer, his hair damp and flat from the rain storm, a surreal sight if ever there was one. "Can I get you a cup of tea?"
"Thank you."
She took her time in the kitchen as she prepared the tea, acclimating herself to the fact that there was a 900 year old Time Lord in her living room. A different face, a different body, but still the same man for whom she'd waited so many long, lonely years.
There would be no way of knowing why he'd really stopped by until he decided to offer up that information. But Sarah Jane had spent her entire life uncovering secrets. She picked up the steaming mugs with determination. The journalist always got her story.
When she entered the living room, the Doctor set down the picture he'd been looking at, a framed school portrait of Luke.
"He's not really your son, is he?"
"In every way that counts, he is." Sarah Jane handed him one mug. "Believe me, I never dreamed I'd become a mother at my age, but Luke…" She smiled. "He's been my greatest adventure."
The Doctor looked down into his tea, but didn't drink. "Quite right, too."
A sudden shiver ran down the length of her spine. "Is Rose out there, waiting in the TARDIS? She should know she's more than welcome to come inside the…"
"Rose is gone." He swallowed heavily. "Again."
"What do you mean? Did something happen to her?"
After setting down his untouched tea, the Doctor glanced away for a long moment. "Some time after we met you in London…I lost Rose in a parallel universe."
"But you found her again," Sarah Jane reminded him. "She was there with you in the Crucible."
"She found me," he corrected her. "The Daleks broke down the walls of time and space and she searched until she found me. And how did I repay her?" His knuckles turned white as he gripped the mug tighter than necessary. "I left her in that same world, on that same beach for a second time."
"Alone," Sarah Jane guessed with sigh. She was all too familiar with the end of this particular story.
But the Doctor shook his head. "Not alone." He spat out the next words. "With him."
"Him?" Sarah Jane frowned. "Who is…?" She stopped upon realizing the answer. "Oh. Oh, I see." She set aside her mug. "You know, I once told Rose to find me if she ever needed to. But instead, it's you who's showed up at my door."
"She's going to be happy," the Doctor said, sounding as though he needed convincing of the very fact he was stating. "He'll make her happy. She'll make him better. They'll grow old together, watch their children have children, and one day, they will both die." He paused. "And their story will be over."
"Do you envy them that?" When he didn't answer, Sarah Jane tried again. "Our lives must seem like the blink of an eye to you. So short and fragile. But she's different, isn't she?" Still, the Doctor said nothing. Sarah Jane shook her head. "Of all the thousands of creatures you've met over dozens of worlds, at hundred of points in history…can it be possible that Rose Tyler is the one great love of your…"
He stopped her from completing the thought by suddenly grasping her shoulders. "Come with me, Sarah Jane." His eyes were as wide as his grin. Too wild to be trusted. "Let's travel again like we used to!" She opened her mouth to protest, but he cut her off again. "Of course Luke can come! There's plenty of room. And if you're worried about his schooling, our first stop will be Greece, 390 B.C. We'll drop him off with Plato and catch an advanced screening of the Lysistrata!"
As he went on, rambling assurances that the ancient Greek fondness for young boys was blown entirely out of proportion and that Luke would be perfectly fine, Sarah Jane stared at him in complete wonder.
There had been in a time when she would have given anything to travel with the Doctor again. Nothing had held her to Earth except gravity, and she had longed for the day when she'd hear that whirring sound as the outline of a blue police box appeared before her. She had been so alone when he left her life.
But now she should see where the true loneliness lay.
"I always thought we must suffer the most when our time with you ends." The Doctor stopped short, as if frozen by her words. "I had no idea that it was you doing the real suffering."
Sarah Jane picked his hands up off her shoulders and held them between her own. "I can't go with you, Doctor. You've already changed my life. Because that's what you do, you know. Davros was wrong. You're not a destroyer. You highlight potential in people who might never have found it on their own."
She moved one hand up to his cheek, cupping it like she would Luke's. "There's someone waiting out there who needs to travel with you. Show that person the stars. Open up their mind to the endless possibility of the universe. And you'll find that in time…" She squeezed his fingers. "Your heart will heal."
For the smallest of seconds, he looked like a child. "Both of them?"
Sarah Jane nodded through a film of tears. "Trust me. I speak from experience."
The sound of the front door opening broke the moment. "Mum!" Luke called out. "Maria and Clyde are fine. Bit shaken up, but none the worse for…" He came into the living room and caught sight of the Doctor. "…wear." Her son blinked. "Hello, Doctor."
Breaking away from Sarah Jane, the Doctor held out his hand to the boy. "Hello, Luke." As Luke was too star-struck to react, the Doctor grasped his hand and shook it. "Just popped by to thank you for your part in, you know…"
"Moving the Earth back into place after a massive alien invasion," Luke finished up, having recovered his tongue. "Getting to be old hat around here."
The Doctor nodded knowingly. "Stick with your mum, Luke." He locked gazes with Sarah Jane. "She's a very wise woman."
"For knowing you," Sarah Jane added. Moving away from him, she put her arm around her son's shoulders. "We'll meet again, Doctor. I'm certain of it."
"Our story isn't over," the Doctor agreed. "Sarah Jane Smith."
By the time she heard the sound of the TARDIS disappearing, she and Luke were already curled up on the sofa with fresh mugs of tea and a package of biscuits, recounting their latest adventure.
Fin