I originally uploaded this months ago, in fact, it might even have been a year or more ago but I wasn't happy with it and quickly pulled it down. Now, writing has became my therapy and while I have plenty to write, I wanted to re-edit this and get it back up again so I would have some motivation to work on it again. It was perhaps one of my favourite AU ideas and I have various ideas that I would love to explore through this; like all my other WIP pieces, I can't promise how often or frequent updates will be, but once I get to mid-June and have my exams out of the way, I plan on dedicating a lot more time to writing, and hopefully to this piece especially.
A/N: While this begins in the Sarah Jane Adventures episode 'Sky' it will include more elements of 'Doctor Who', hence why I have categorized it as being a 'Doctor Who/SJA' piece; also because there will be more than one Doctor and/or companion making an appear in this piece.
Our Family Portrait / Chapter One / Sky
Family.
That's the one thing Sarah Jane had never truly had in her life.
Even after years of traveling through time and space, meeting some of the most astonishing and perplexing creatures, some of whom had taught her the many secrets of the universe; then there was the blood-curdling creatures that would petrify even the strongest of men; both human and Time Lord.
Through all of this, Sarah Jane never had a true family to call her own.
A dysfunctional family was the nearest thing she had ever had to the compassionate, affectionate and tender family units she had read about during her childhood, through the various novels in her Aunt Lavina's substantial library. Luke entering her life, as suddenly as he had, gave her the slight sense of that family unit that she had missed out on.
Her parents had died when she was only a baby, and their death brought an end to any typical family life.
In this very moment, all she wanted was a family member to turn to.
Bouncing the babbling baby in her arms, Sarah Jane had never felt so helpless. She could fix Daleks, even an army of Sontarns, but deal with a baby? Certainly not. Her child rearing skills were limited to a super genius teenager and his inner circle of friends.
Who would ever leave a child on her doorstep? Her of all people; whose only experience with children was a boy born at the age of 13 with a brain like a super computer, and even before that she had only cared for her Aunt Lavina's ward, Brendan, who had been a few years older than Luke when she was looking after him.
The former time-traveller couldn't even remember the last time she had held a baby, or a child under 10 for that matter. Now, she was desperately trying to calm down a child whose very cries could seemingly blow every illuminated lightbulb and every circuit that fell within the reach of her almighty cries.
Deciding that enough of her lightbulbs had been blown, Sarah Jane cautiously rouse from her tan leather sofa and made her way towards the attic. "Mr. Smith. I need you" She announced in a hushed voice, hoping to keep the infant in her arms occupied by allowing her to gently twist and pull on the ring finger of her left hand.
However, Sarah Jane wasn't met with the usual trumpets, fanfares and smoke; instead she was greeted with nothing at all. Even Mr. Smith had went into hiding from the baby.
"Typical" She accepted with a heavy sigh, allowing her eyes to drop down onto the baby; an alien baby at that. Throughout her adulthood, she had on several occasions remarked on how babies looked..rubbery. This baby however, wasn't too bad, if you could get over her ability to blow things up whenever she felt like crying her little eyes out.
Rummaging around in the deep pockets of her ivory night gown, Sarah Jane managed to pull her phone out. It was perhaps the only electrical thing that hadn't been blown up yet.
Struggling to shift the baby into her right arm, she silently prayed that the girl wouldn't let out another series of cries and bring down the entire house. Allowing her gaze to remain on the infant for a few seconds longer, simply to ensure that she was still content, Sarah Jane tried her best to operate her phone one handed, texting Rani to ask her to come and quickly, after all, she wouldn't put it past Rani to know more about babies than herself, which wouldn't be hard. Waiting for the whooshing noise to sound, confirming that the message was on its way to Rani, she quickly started composing a similar message to Clyde.
Turning up her nose, Sarah Jane came to the conclusion that perhaps she should get Clyde to pick up some nappies on his way - it seemed the baby was in need of them.
The noise of the phone was enough to upset the fussy child. Swaying from side to side, Sarah Jane tried to mimic the motions she had seen various mother's use to comfort their children. It seemed for once that luck was on her side as the infant's cries began to steadily become quieter and quieter until they were nothing more than gentle sniffles.
Thank God for small mercies.
Turning around to face the array of alien artifacts and a small selection of the various novels she had collected over her years as a journalist, she tried her best to find something that might distract the child, at least long enough for her to be able to change out of her night clothes before the others arrived. Yet, every time she moved to place the baby down into her car seat, the girl would drop her bottom lip, letting it tremble slightly as a flood of tears started arise when separated from Sarah Jane.
The sound of footsteps heading up the staircases two at a time were music to Sarah Jane's throbbing ears.
There was only so much crying that the woman could physically take.
Returning to her swaying motion, Sarah Jane just prayed that neither Clyde nor Rani would set the baby off on another crying fit; she doubted her head nor her electricity could take anymore. Moving to slip her finger into the baby's small, soft hand, allowing the child to wrap her gentle fingers around it in order to content herself as she heard the door opening behind her following by a worried call of "Sarah Jane! What's..."
Keeping the baby against her chest, Sarah Jane tried her best to keep up the swaying as it seemed to be the only thing comforting the child while she turned around to face her younger companion. "What's a baby doing in your arms?" Rani inquired, falling into a state of disbelief as she walked towards the elder woman, her eyes fixed on the porcelain child that looked as delicate as a china doll, while her eyebrows disappeared towards her hairline.
"Don't make her cry; she cried earlier and every light in the house blew" Sarah Jane informed her, hoping that the infant had finally stopped her crying for at least a little while until she could talk to Rani. The teenager raised an eyebrow, babies didn't go around blowing things up. The baby couldn't be an alien, could it? "In the street more like" The teenager revealed, taking a step forward to examine the baby whom she was now convinced was an alien.
The creaking of the door as it opened announced the arrival of the third member of their group, breaking the conversation between the two women. "I got what you said in the message but I don't know what you need nappies for..." Clyde's confused tone filled the attic as he stepped inside, trying his best to shut the door with his foot as he struggled to hold a large packet of nappies under each arm, as well as a two bags filled with 'baby essentials', or essentially everything Sarah Jane thought a baby needed. He had to admit, he had started to worry a little whenever he got that text messages, after all, why would Sarah Jane suddenly find herself with a baby?
Now, he had even more questions than before.
Looking down at the bundle in the woman's arms, he almost dropped the plastic shopping bags as he took in the scene. Sarah Jane glanced up at the young man as he stepped inside, praying silently that he wouldn't upset the baby in her arms. Returning her attention back to the infant, she watched as her sea blue eyes began to glimmer a little, as a gentle blush grew on her cheeks and as her pale pink lips turned up in a smile as she moved her hands around in the air.
"Something like that should explain everything...but actually I'm even more confused" Clyde admitted truthfully as he arrived in front of Sarah Jane and the baby, placing the bags down to relieve his tired arms of the heavy load, his eyes remaining fixed on the small infant in his mentor's arms. "Well, I found her on the doorstep..I was going to call the police but I don't think they'll have much luck finding her parents" Sarah Jane admitted, suddenly feeling the growing fatigue wash over her like waves as she adjusted the baby in her arms, holding her slightly higher.
Rani and Clyde shared an equally confused look, with Rani feeling as though her earlier suspicions were about to be confirmed. "Not on this planet anyway" She revealed as the baby began to fuss once more, demanding her attention. If it hadn't of been such an inappropriate time, Rani would have said 'I told you so'. Clyde on the other hand, had to use all his self control not to drop the packet of nappies onto the wooden floor.
An alien baby; and there was him thinking he had heard it all.
As though doing a full 180 degree turn, the momentarily content baby let out an irritated cry as she threw her arms in the air in protest and towards Sarah Jane's face in the hope of grasping her attention. As the cry left the child's pale lips, the reading lamp on the desk blew up, with sparks flying towards the small group. Turning herself to shield the baby from the sparks, Sarah Jane glanced back up as she heard Rani's muffled cry as the teenage jumped and stepped behind Clyde. "It's alright..it's alright" Sarah Jane repeated, even though it certainly wasn't alright! Deciding to try her earlier method, she once again tried to pacify the baby, or at least get her to stop crying.
"Luke was born a thirteen year old boy. Teenagers I can handle, but a baby - an alien baby - I need help" She admitted desperately, she didn't know the first thing about looking after a baby. Teenagers were much more simpler to look after; they were almost adults and could do the majority of things themselves, and most of all, they don't cry every two seconds and they are able to tell you what the problem is, without the parent being left playing a guessing game.
Looking at the pair with pleading eyes, the brunette took a step forward towards them as Rani took a firm step back, putting her hand out and declaring "Don't look at me!"
Perhaps Rani was as inexperienced with children as she herself was?
Turning to look at Clyde, Sarah Jane could feel herself becoming more desperate by the minute. "Or me; obviously" Clyde responded when he caught Sarah Jane look at him, just when he thought he had gotten off baby duty. Taking a step backwards, Clyde fell back into line with Rani as he eyed the baby up curiously.
Looking down at the baby who had began giggling happily, looking rather amused with herself, Sarah Jane distanced herself from the conversation for a moment as she allowed herself to think of a way to fix the situation. What could she do with the girl? All she knew was that she was an alien, dropped off on her doorstep. Was there a reason why this girl was left with her?
Seeing how desperate Sarah Jane was becoming, Clyde sighed softly before announcing. "I only know one way to shut up a baby" His words were enough to pull Sarah Jane out of her train of thought and turn to face him again.
If she could, Sarah Jane would have hugged him there and then.
It was for this reason that she had rather willingly passed the infant off to Clyde before she headed towards her room to clear her head for a minute, and change into something that wasn't her nightdress and dressing gown.
Cautiously walking into the living room, fearing that too much noise could send the child into another crying fit, Sarah Jane stepped inside and watched Clyde as he fed the girl a bottle of formula. It was times like this that she was thankful for the young man - and Rani of course. Waiting until the infant was fed, she fetched the car seat from the attic, deciding that the safest place for the baby was somewhere other than her house, where there were countless alien artifacts that she could unceremoniously blow up.
Announcing to her two younger friends that they were all going to head out, she placed the baby seat in front of Clyde as she went to fetch the keys to her well loved mint green Nissan Figaro. Holding the door open for Rani, who was coming behind with the baby seat, she made the mental decision that the park would be their safest bet. She doubted anyone there would know her, and whoever was after the baby was hardly going to attack them in broad daylight in the middle of a public park. "The park is the best bet I think" Sarah Jane announced as she adjusted her leather watch on her wrist as she headed towards the middle of the driveway where her car set waiting.
It seemed Gita - Rani's mother - had the perfect sense of timing for everything these days.
Seeing the woman marching towards them, Sarah Jane threw a glance down at the carrier seat, how on earth was she going to explain the baby to Gita?
'Oh yes, an alien baby was dropped on my doorstep last night and she has a habit of blowing things up, which is probably why your electricity went out.'
And give the woman a heart attack; she thought not!
"There you are Rani!" Gita exclaimed as she walked towards the group, just as Sarah Jane snatched the car seat from the teenage girl, hoping to find a way to make it go unnoticed by their latest guest. Pushing down the cover, she silently prayed the baby wouldn't cry; or the game would be up.
As typical with Gita, she had seen everything.
"Is there something you've not been telling us, Sarah?" Gita inquired as she let out a cheshire cat smile, her eyes focused on the unmistakable object that was most certainly a baby's car seat.
'How are you going to explain this one away, old girl?' Sarah Jane thought, failing to notice the other woman opening the cover of the car seat and looking inside at the baby who seemed rather confused as to why everything had suddenly went dark. "You've started fostering, haven't you, my darling?" Gita came to her own conclusion, leaving Sarah Jane standing speechless, simply nodding her head to answer the woman's question.
Gita reached forward, moving to touch the soft skin of the baby's hand as she pulled her lips up into a bright smile.
Deciding that it would be better to keep the baby and Gita separated, Sarah Jane moved to shut down the cover a little harder than intended, causing the two teenagers to look at each other in confusion over Sarah Jane's sudden protectiveness. Keeping ahold of the car seat, she listened as Gita spoke of the supposed meteor that crashed the night before.
An alien baby turning up on her door step and a meteor crashing all on the same night? Sarah Jane didn't believe in consequences.
"She's got to have a name, Sarah" Gita announced as she pushed open the cover to look in at the baby once more. "Sky" Sarah Jane answered unintentionally as she thought about the connection between the two events, being drawn back to earth by Clyde trying to explain the name to a rather unimpressed Gita. What had she expected her to call the baby? Leia? So they could get another branch of Star Wars jokes?
Gita moved forward to tickle the child, sending her into a laughing fit, causing Gita's car alarm to start blaring loudly as the lights flashed on and off. Thankfully, it seemed this was enough to finally get the woman to leave them alone. Taking the car seat, Sarah Jane quickly handed it over to Clyde before explaining that she and Rani would go and investigate the meteor while Clyde would stay here with the newly named baby.
As she had expected, it wasn't difficult to Sarah Jane to slip both herself and Rani into the crash site of the meteor. Suddenly she wished that she hadn't left the baby behind, even more so if whoever was looking for Sky was heading towards Bannerman Road. To make matters worse, like most teenagers, Clyde wasn't even picking up his mobile. Sarah Jane had to admit, she had almost broken several speeding laws as she pushed her foot down on the acceleration in a bid to get back to the house as quickly as physically possible.
Pulling into the driveway, a sudden sense of dread filled the woman. Abandoning the car in the middle of the driveway, Sarah Jane stepped out of the driver's seat and head into the house once again, putting an inch to her step while calling out for Clyde in the process.
Heading up to the attic, take the steps two at a time, she went on autopilot as she attempted to form a plan to get the Sky back. She watched as Mr. Smith made his way through various CCTV footage. As typical for a super computer like him, it didn't take long by Mr. Smith's standards before he had found the teenager and the baby, accompanied by a mysterious blonde haired woman. Grabbing her keys once more, Sarah Jane headed down the staircase, mindful not to miss the bottom step before jogging towards the car.
Call it a trick of the trade, but trespassing and entering into private property seemed to have become a skill of Sarah Jane's.
Taking the back entrance, the woman jogged through the grey hallways of the power plant, her trusty sonic lipstick in hand. "I won't let you harm this child" Sarah Jane announced, feeling the anger boiling in her veins as she threw her best death glare towards the blonde woman. If looks could kill, then the other woman would have been at least six feet under by now.
Clyde placed the car seat at her feet and she felt a sudden need to stand between it and the feisty blonde woman, even more so when the metal robot - referred to as the 'metal kind' by the other woman - made his presence known. Flicking the lid of her sonic lipstick, Sarah Jane glanced between the blonde woman and the metal kind, before pointing it towards the latter of the pair, deciding he was more of an immediate threat. It proved to be a good enough distraction for her to pick up the car seat and for Rani and Clyde to get out of the room, but not enough to get both herself and Sky out.
Turning to face the blonde woman, she placed the car seat back down at her feet, standing in front of it as Miss Myers produced the royal purple toned portal. How could the woman see Sky as nothing more than a bomb? Who would ever use an innocent child to destroy an entire race? Never had she met someone so willing to sacrifice a child in such a horrible, horrendous way, and she had witnessed the creation of the Daleks and the destructions of worlds.
"She's not a weapon!" Sarah Jane exclaimed, forcing herself to place her hands over her ears in a bid to stop the screeching noise that penetrated across the room, that seemed to be thousand times worse than any of Sky's cries. As the room filled with coldness, Sky let out a shrilling cry as the voices only got louder. Until suddenly there was nothing.
The portal seemed to stop with one final cry leaving Sky's lips, the voices and the marching of metal feet fell silent and the room was illuminated by a glowing red light.
Allowing her eyes to adjust to the sudden change of light, Sarah Jane bent down in front of the car seat, moving to lift the unconscious infant out and into her awaiting arms. The sound of running footsteps heading down the empty corridor alerted Sarah Jane to the presence of her two younger companions. "Is she okay?" Rani came to a sudden stop in front of the pair, watching as Sarah Jane tightened her grip on the child as she creased her cheek worriedly. "All that energy had to go somewhere. Sky absorbed it all like a light rod" She said, her voice laced with fear and anxiety, suddenly wishing she could hear the child's cries once more, however annoying they had once been.
As if on perfecting timing, the infant opened her eyes and let out a small mumble; a cross between a laugh and some mumbled baby language. Allowing herself to relax, Sarah Jane moved to rest the infant against her shoulder. Never had she been so glad to hold a child in her arms.
It was at this stage that Miss Myers decided to make her presence felt. Taking a sudden step back, she clasped a hand over her heart in shock. "I can feel it, the energy back lash has destroyed her genetic code. She's useless now" The woman spat, unimpressed that her 'weapon' had been rendered completely useless.
Heartless would hardly begin to describe what Sarah Jane thought of Miss Myers. Allowing a weak smile grace her lips, Sarah Jane allowed the infant to distract her as the metal kind stepped forward from the shadows, taking a tight hold of the fur-wearing woman.
Knowing all too well what was to come, Sarah Jane turned herself towards Clyde and Rani, shielding Sky from the dark purple glow that appeared, before Miss Myers let out a shrilling cry of her own, only to disappear along with the metal kind, as though into thin air. Exhaling loudly, Sarah Jane glanced back down at the baby who seemed to find the whole ordeal rather hilarious, or so she assumed by the child's gentle giggling.
"So Sky is a normal baby now?" Clyde wondered aloud, looking down at the infant whom he had affectionately nicknamed as 'Sparky'. "She's been deactivated so to speak, but I'll get Mr. Smith to run a full medic scan" Sarah Jane revealed to the pair, spotting the confused looking worker from the corner of her eye. Typical. Deciding that she was both too tired, and more concerned about getting Sky out of the power plant, she shook her head before heading down the corridor with a rather content Sky resting in her arms.
Pulling into the driveway, there was nothing that Sarah Jane wanted to do more than to curl up on the sofa with a good book and a tall glass of wine; though this situation would probably be replaced with finding something to content the no doubt starving infant.
Deciding to leave the car seat in the car, Sarah Jane stepped out of the driver's seat and pushed back the leather chair, moving to pick the infant up and out of her car seat. Waiting until both Rani and Clyde were out, she locked the car and began to head towards the house.
"Sarah! Sarah!"
Taking a deep breath and reminding herself that Gita wouldn't be sticking her nose out of her private life anytime soon, she decided that she may as well learn to deal with it. "Gita. Haresh" Sarah Jane turned to smile at the couple as she greeted them, her expression becoming gentler as she spotted the arrangement of pastel toned flowers in Gita's arms. "I was telling Haresh all about you fostering beautiful little baby Sky" Gita announced happily, allowing herself to fuss over the infant in Sarah Jane's arms as she handed Rani over the flowers. "Yes well, it was all rather sudden" Sarah Jane confessed, moving to fix Sky's cotton white baby hat as she glanced back up at Gita. "Isn't she just adorable. Sky Smith" The woman gushed to her husband before she smiled at her daughter. "Now, if you'll excuse us" Sarah Jane didn't wait for a response before she headed up the driveway towards her front door.
"I just want to have Mr. Smith check over you" Sarah Jane had never put herself down as the sort to talk to a baby as though they could reply, but she felt a sudden a sense of comfort from the action. Was she really becoming soft?
Sarah Jane pushed the wooden door of the attic shut with her back, looking up to discover a familiar looking red, blue and white toned bird perched upon a brushed gold stand. Tightening her grip of the baby, she turned her head towards her telescope as a man's broad voice filled the room. "Honestly, Miss Smith, how can you even see out of this?" The familiar man asked with a chuckle as he rose from his seat and headed towards the pair. "How did you get in here?" She asked, concerned filling her voice as she swayed on her feet.
Brushing aside her question, he moved up onto the step beside her. "Oh, how well the child is fitting in here" The man announced happily, coming to stop before the bird's stand, folding his hands in front of him as he smirked at the woman knowingly. "You brought Sky here?" Sarah Jane inquired, now more confused than ever as she glanced down at the baby. Ever since being deactivated, the once fussy, attention seeking girl had been replaced with a much more content and generally quieter baby; not that Sarah Jane minded of course. "What a perfect name for a perfect child, young Sky" He kept his eyes on the child whom had seemed to stolen Sarah Jane's heart.
Turning his attention to the bird, he gently patted his head before stepping towards Sarah Jane. "Consider us, 'Caretakers of the Universe'. We put things in the right place, and sometimes a child needs to find a home, and I could find no home safer in all the universe for this child than yours" He admitted as a worried, concerned expression came to Sarah Jane's feature as she felt Sky's short fingers wrap themselves around her ring finger, much like she had earlier that morning, in a bid to comfort herself.
"I'm assuming you're here to take her back" Sarah Jane thought aloud, feeling her heart drop to the bottom of her stomach as she listened to the man. She could almost feel the sudden surge of sadness washing over her. Had she really become so attached to the child, and so suddenly? "Well, that depends on you" He admitted, causing Sarah Jane to give Sky's much smaller hand a gentle squeeze as she bit down on her lip for a short moment. Taking the woman's action as her silent answer, he nodded his head and smiled. "That answers my question. So, that's that then" He concluded, moving to put his arm out for the bird.
Both had disappeared before Sarah Jane could even react; leaving the woman to stand confused and perplexed in the middle of the attic.
"Well..I guess you're going to be sticking around for a while. Sky Smith" Sarah Jane chuckled as she headed out of the room.
She never could turn down a chance to go shopping, and it seemed a trip to Mother Care and a good work out for her credit card was in order.