Summary: Previously published on LiveJournal 10 December 2008. A companion piece to 'Smitten' by lachatdelarue and 'Yearning' by box_in_the_box (unable to link but still currently available on LJ)
Author's Note: Again, like box_in_the_box, I was inspired by both the above stories to add another, altogether different perspective. I hope you guys don't mind!
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Your Dad thinks he is in love with Sarah Jane.
You know you are in love with Sarah Jane.
And Sarah Jane...
...well Sarah Jane is a little confused right now.
You went to America a teenager and came back to England four years later a grown woman. Nothing that happened to you in that time quelled the all-consuming crush you had on your best friend. Since you've been back in the fold and spent almost every waking moment with Sarah Jane, that crush has grown far deeper than you ever thought was possible. And you have now become her confidente, an equal and more recently her lover.
You can't even remember how it started, it seemed as natural as breathing and you've lost count how many times you've made love. She's warm and passionate, nothing like the ice that first greeted you from across the road all those years ago. She comes alive at the touch of your hand, at the pressure of your kisses and at the sound of your declarations of love in her ear.
It's all going fine until your father decides to take her out for the evening and asks her on a date. You're scared for the first time in your life when she comes back and admits that she didn't exactly put him off the idea. You argue until you are both crying and exhausted.
Apparently your Dad fancied her from afar since...well pretty much since you did. You guess you really are your father's daughter. Apparently she had a fleeting lust for him, just before he found out about Aliens and what you all got up to in Sarah Jane's attic.
She swears it's got nothing to do with age, but you suspect that it's mostly to do with age. If your father is too young for her, then you're certainly too young for her. Age really is irrelevant to you, many people say it, but you truly mean it.
It's the first night you spend apart in over a year and it's so very cold and lonely. You cry into your pillow until you're hoarse and spent. Sarah Jane has a lot of thinking to do and you'd rather she did it alone. You don't think you'll win her heart and you don't want it to be anymore painful than it is already. You've sussed out where your most important items are and reckon you could be packed and out of there in twenty minutes if you need to be. You don't have a clue what you're going to do if she decides it's you she really wants. The fact that she even doubted it for a while is telling, and you're not sure you can cope with second best. So you conclude that whatever way you look at it, it's over already. This would make you cry even harder, but you have no more tears left.
You have a sinking feeling that it will all end in tears - for everyone.