"Some Things are Worth Getting Your Heart Broken For"

The Gathering of Mourners

The sun was high in the sky; a slight breeze blew the sweet aroma of the scented spring flowers past the citizens on the planet below. Children played and mothers conversed with each other, appearing to have no worry in the world as they went by their daily activities. The outside world seemed unaffected by the loss that the planet had suffered. The sun shone on the church, the panes of stained glass reflecting the rainbow of colours onto the bland pavement like dancing lights. The bright reflective colours did nothing to neither lessen the black dress of the mourners entering the church nor lift their spirits from their sombre mood.

Luke stood outside the church, bearing witness to the sympathetic looks he received from the mourners as they passed him to enter the church. Some offered him a small but forced smile; others would offer their condolences, when the rest would walk by unsure on how to greet the son of the deceased at her funeral. He noticed how many people were shocked by his dress for such an event, wearing white attire with few accessories of black, and Luke knew that those people would soon enter the church to see his three friends dressed similarly.

It was then that he noticed, two people emerge from round the corner of the church, two extraordinary people that he had only had the pleasure to see in his mother's old photographs from her previous travels. Those two people who were in fact the same man, taken out of different timelines within the same lifetime to meet face-to-face at a funeral of a present or recently left companion, several decades later from their place in their respective timeline. As the men approached, Luke noticed the different expressions worn by the men, figuring it to be an indicator to the whereabouts that that version of the Doctor was in, in regards to his mother's life. The younger, yet older in age, man, had pain evident in his eyes, while his 'younger' counterpart looked lost as to why and how much pain he should suffer by the deceased woman who had only introduced herself to his complicated lifestyle.

"I should not be here, I am creating a paradox by being here but I feel compelled to be here despite only meeting Sarah recently." Three confessed. "Are you her grandson?"

"Her son, I was adopted." Luke offered minimally, knowing that releasing anymore information could be detrimental to the universe, and especially knowing that the Timelords still ruled over these two versions of the Doctor. As tradition with the Doctor, they were dressed in their usual outfit for that generation and stood out from the straggling mourners who were arriving and entering the church. When a man clad in a pinstriped suit and trench coat came round the corner did Luke realize that it was nearly time for the funeral to start, and a lone tear slid down his face, in the reality that this moment was truly happening.

"Doctor, I don't think you should be here. It would cause too much of a paradox." Luke suggested to Ten, indicating to Three and Four in hopes that he would accept them as his reasoning behind his suggestion, despite hiding the actual truth.

"I have to say goodbye to Sarah." He stated simply, the look of heartbreak over the loss of the woman obvious on his face. "I left Donna back in 2008 with her family to come here alone." He paused, his expression pensive. "I don't remember being here clearly. I remember the service but there is something significant that I am missing, a blind spot, something you can see but you can't because you brain is telling you that it isn't there. Maybe a person I met but am not meant to know in their incarnations." He said, indicating to his two previous selves.

"Bad Wolf" Ten froze hearing those two words and whipped round to see the source of the voice. A young woman, who was so familiar to him, stood next a young man in a tweed jacket and bow tie. His eleventh body. She looked exactly the same as the day he met her in his previous body, in the basement of a department store and had saved her from the Autons. Despite the two years he had travelled with her before we had lost her at the Battle of Canary Wharf, and the amount of years he was unaware of that had passed where she had spent in the parallel world and his future self, she hadn't aged at all despite her humanity. Her white dress had black lace which hugged her late teen figure, giving the false belief of her true age but he could see the years that had passed in her eyes, the gateway to her soul. She had aged and matured since meeting him in 2005, evolved.

"You'll understand one day very soon, my Doctor." She reassured him at the questioning look. The six people stopped to attention of the commencement of a musical recession, and in unspoken agreement, the collection of individuals entered the church for the funeral of Miss Sarah Jane Smith.

A/N: This is a story that I have wanted to write for a long time, and the push that has made me start to write it is the sudden death of Elisabeth Sladen, may she rest in peace. Originally Sarah Jane didn't die in my story and I have changed the plot in my head which I need to write down as a story. As tradition with Doctor Who, this story is following a timey wimey timeline, and therefore as you can work out we are starting at the end of Sarah Jane's life, and kind of recollecting on Rose's memories of recent years of her life (spoilers!) and it is a sort of fixxit to Stolen Earth and Journey's End. Enjoy and please review.

Dedicated to Elisabeth Sladen, thank you for your many years as Sarah Jane Smith, we will miss you and it is sad to lose such a wonderful person in the world.

All the best,

Whitepurity.