In memory of Elisabeth Sladen, our beloved Sarah-Jane Smith.

And as always, I don't own Doctor Who.

An Unexpected Friend

Rose was annoyed. She was mildly annoyed with the Doctor but more so with a certain Sarah-Jane Smith who had waltzed in with a tin dog and sad puppy eyes, stealing the Doctor's attention from her. She had been hanging around Mickey as a result. She didn't dislike Mickey or anything, but if she had her pick, she would prefer to be around her Best Friend in the Whole Universe.

"I'm just saying, this is what it's like when-"

"Mickey, shut up." Rose said, shooting him an angry glare.

"Fine." He said, as he took another sip of soda.

Rose glared across the room at Sarah-Jane and the Doctor who were huddled over a table upon which sat the tin dog, K-9. The Doctor laughed as the metal dog came to life, wagging it's little robotic tail and moving it's ears.

"Rose, come here!" The Doctor said enthusiastically.

Rose rolled her eyes but trudged across the room anyway. "What?" She said a little harsher than she meant to.

He didn't notice. "Rose, this is K-9!"

"Cool." She said flatly and walked back to where she had been sitting.

"Hm. Wonder what's wrong with her."

They walked outside, still talking about old times and the robot dog. Once they got back to the TARDIS, Rose marched off to her room without even saying goodnight. She threw herself down on the bed and stared at the ceiling. Who does she think she is, marching in here with the dog and the sad eyes? He left her! And what if that's what he's going to do to me? She thought about the Doctor leaving her and her eyes stung with tears. She knew Sarah-Jane must have loved him at one point. She rolled over and went to sleep, the poor Sarah-Jane still floating around her mind.

She woke up to a knock on the door and rolled over to see the Doctor walking over to her. He sat down next to her and she pretended to be asleep. He stroked her hair affectionately. Rose had to pretend to snuggle into the blankets to avoid smiling. Maybe he would keep her around.

Upon walking into the kitchen, Rose saw the Doctor and Sarah-Jane sitting at the table drinking tea. Someone had made toast. The Doctor was eating marmalade out of the jar with his fingers. Rose suppressed a giggle.

"Oh, good morning, Rose!" The Doctor said happily.

"I made tea if you'd like some." Sarah-Jane offered.

"Oh, thanks." Rose said. Maybe I was wrong about her. Maybe they're just long lost friends. No weird love interest thing.

They all sat at the table munching on toast and talking. Rose was beginning to understand Sarah-Jane. She was entertained by her stories. It turns out she had started investigating anything unusual just like she had when she had been with the Doctor. Rose actually liked her. She was pretty cool.

They arrived at the school and split up to look for the Krillitane. Rose and Sarah-Jane were supposed to be checking classrooms. They walked down the hall and found a computer lab that was empty. They hunted around for anything suspicious and didn't find very much. They started talking about the Doctor.

"Does he still stroke bit of the TARDIS?" Asked Sarah-Jane with a giggle.

"Oh all the time!" Rose said laughing. "Did he act all nervous when you jokingly asked him a personal question?"

"Yes!" She said, laughing madly.

"And did he look at you all weird when you said something really human?" Rose asked.

Sarah-Jane nodded with a fit of giggles. The two were laughing uncontrollably. They hadn't made any progress on the Krillitane case but that didn't matter. They were giggling madly when the Doctor walked in looking very confused.

"What?" He said, confused.

Sarah-Jane and Rose stopped giggling long enough to look at him only to burst into laughter again.

The Doctor sighed and walked away. "Girls." He said under his breath.

Sarah-Jane and Rose went on telling stories about their adventures with the Doctor and the various things they had seen during their travels. There was lots of laughing involved and a fair amount of jokes about the Doctor. Rose wondered why she had hated Sarah-Jane so much the day before. She was really nice. She realized she was lucky to have met someone she could share all her stories with…at least someone who wouldn't think she was insane.

Thanks for reading and please review!