Small Victories
AN: I saw there were no 1st Doctor/SJ fics on here at all, so I simply had to write one! Enjoy!
Sarah Jane Smith entered the supermarket, sighing at the normality and how mundane it all was. It was hardly fighting giant robots or Sontarans or wondering about with that wonderful man. The man with the white hair who took her from the Medieval Times to Metebelis Three and then the man with the ridiculously long scarf who had promised to come back and that he would never forget her.
That seemed like a lifetime ago and Sarah Jane couldn't help but think she had been forgotten by him after all. Every day when she was out and about, she would listen for that beloved wheezing sound and hope that the same man would come out and greet her with a smile and a hug. Even as she walked down the aisles of tedium, putting this can of beans in her trolley and this packet of crisps, there was a part of her still hoping for the Doctor to emerge from behind the fresh fruit section and invite her back on adventures with him.
Sadly, no such thing happened and Sarah found herself at the back of a long checkout line, which would make this encounter even more boring than it was originally. She sighed and shuffled her feet and stared into space, as the line edged closer and closer to freedom.
After staring at the floor in a half-focused haze, she noticed there was a bag of Jelly Babies on the floor next to the man in the queue in front of her, obviously having been dropped from his shopping basket. Sarah reached down and picked up the bag of Jelly Babies, tapping the man in front of her politely on the shoulder.
He turned around and she was met with that beautiful scarf and his ecstatic grinning face, as he said, "Hello, Sarah."
Sadly, this was not to be and she was instead met by the face of a grumpy old man who eyed her up with an almost disgusted look.
"Yes?" he asked in a rather rude tone, as Sarah stood there holding up the bag of Jelly Babies. "What is it? What do you want?"
"You dropped this, sir." Sarah replied, handing the Jelly Babies to him, determined to retain an air of confidence around this man who clearly thought she could be pushed around.
The old man took the bag and dumped it back in his shopping basket, with nary a "thank you" to be found. Sarah, always being known as outspoken, certainly wasn't going to stand for this blatant disregard for manners.
"Excuse me but don't you think a 'thank you' might be in order?" she asked, hands on hips as she folded her arms.
The old man, looking rather confused and angry, looked behind him and answered, "No, of course not. Do you expect to be thanked for every little thing you do, girl?"
Sarah Jane's eyes widened in shock. She had never met anyone with such a blatant disregard for social protocol. She tapped him on the shoulder again and, when he didn't respond, she did it a second time and finally a third time, before the old man turned around and growled, "What do you want from me, you infuriating imbecile?"
"That is no way to talk to another person, sir! I helped you out when you needed it and I expect some form of gratitude for it!" Sarah Jane realized she had perhaps gotten involved in a rather pointless fight but she certainly wasn't going to back down now.
"Helped me out? Helped me out?" the old man repeated in disbelief. "Young lady, all you did was pick up a bag of sweets I happened to drop by accident. An error I would have corrected by myself just a minute or two later! So I don't understand why you want me to thank you for accelerating my recovery time of said sweets by such an insignificant amount! It's madness!"
The argument escalated from there, to say the least, turning into a shouting match between Sarah Jane and this impolite old man. Thankfully, the other patrons in the shop took Sarah Jane's side, as they too saw the Doctor as being unnecessarily rude towards her and he was thrown out. He promptly threw his basket on the floor (which consisted of the Jelly babies and nothing else) and stormed out, face bright red with anger and embarrassment.
At least I can still have the small victories thought Sarah Jane, as the checkout lady scanned her goods with a smile and she left with a warm feeling in her chest. As she exited the supermarket with her bag of shopping, she looked to her left and saw the grumpy old man a few feet away, conversing with someone who looked young enough to be his granddaughter.
"…got me thrown out. I don't know why you ever wanted me to try and get to know them, Susan."
The old man noticed Sarah Jane and they glared at each other for a while, before the old man took 'Susan' by the arm and led her away around the corner. Sarah Jane shook her head at how some people could be so selfish, so unaware of how manners worked, so…
Alien.
And then that sound. The wheezing. Sarah Jane didn't even stop to wonder if she was imagining it and took off running towards the corner, shopping still in hand. It was him, she was going to see him again, that magical man, that wonderful man. That Doctor.
She rounded the corner and her face fell, as she searched desperately for a little blue box. Eventually, she gave up, deciding she had imagined it, feeling overconfident from standing up to the old man. She sighed, dejected, and turned to walk back to normality and away from the Doctor.
Mind you, the old man didn't half dress strangely…