# Little Luke # **A/N: this is not a crossover despite the Doctor showing up**
Sarah Jane wasn't tired. She was exhausted.
Luke had learned-or rather re-learned-another word. This sparkling new word was now his favourite, and this word was 'mine'. This made going to the shops interesting to say the least, as she had to spend half of her time there prying things out of hands. He wanted to possess everything from toys from the children's section to teapots and oven mitts.
Sarah Jane had been apprehensive about daring to venture to the shops again. Now, as they stood at the till, she knew she had been right to be and vowed to shop over the internet from now on as much as she could.
"Luke," she said in her sharpest voice. He looked up at her, stubbornly refusing to release his death grip on the bottle of ketchup in his hands. "Give me the bottle, please." He did nothing. "If you don't give it to me I can't pay for it!"
"MIIIINE!" Luke shrieked at her as she tried to take it, tightening his already tight grip on the bottle. The woman at the till stifled a giggle, and Sarah Jane tried to keep it together.
"It's a bottle of ketchup," she said to Luke calmly. "It's tomato sauce. You don't want it really, do you?"
"MINE!"
"No, I'm paying for it, so it's mine. Not yours, mine."
"No!"
"Yes-"
"Mine! Mine, mine, mine, mine..." Luke carried on in a sing-song voice, and Sarah Jane sighed. She continued paying for the rest of her purchases, giving up on trying to reason with him when he couldn't be reasoned with.
Later that day, there was a small, shining, golden moment of peace after Luke had been put down for a nap. The quiet seemed so much more beautiful, the sun so much brighter...the moment was so perfect, so-
The doorbell rang shrilly, and the wonderful little bubble of calm burst abruptly. Slumped in a chair, Sarah Jane closed her eyes and ignored it, hoping that whoever it was would just go away. The last things she needed was some irritating salesperson at the door, or worse...Gita.
Sadly, the doorbell rang again and again, and then the banging on the door started. Then the letterbox clanged repeatedly as someone deliberately clattered it to get her attention. It was the cheek of this that dragged her from her chair, and it was with some violence that she threw open the door, ready to give whoever it was a piece of her mind.
"Hello!" The man grinned at her cheekily, standing boldly before her as though he owned the place, his hands in the pockets of his suit, rocking backwards and forwards excitedly in the converses he had paired with it. Sarah Jane wouldn't have needed to see his familiar face to know who he was-only the Doctor had dress sense like that.
"What are you doing here?" she asked in surprise, then realised how harsh that sounded. "I'm sorry. I mean, it's good to see you." She stepped back to let him in, and he shrugged as he walked past her.
"Yeah, well. Got a bit lonely, Donna's not with me," he said, then quickly went silent. Sarah Jane guessed that he had revealed more than he would have wanted, and didn't ask about his former companion's whereabouts. She said nothing, and watched him glance around, seeing him take in the toys on the stairs and the books about toddlers on the coffee table. She could see the spark of curiosity in his eyes, and could see his mind calculating and guessing, whirring away...
"Tea?" she asked him shortly, and he faced her, beaming. He looked unsuspicious, but she new he hadn't finished calculating the situation. He had just paused.
"Go on then, I love tea," he said enthusiastically. He babbled away as he trailed after her into the kitchen, and she got the impression that he hadn't had the opportunity to talk to someone for a while. "Do you know, there was this family in London, this time and everything-well, roughly, around the year two thousand and thirty-"
"Sugar?"
"Yep, please. Anyway, they were called Mr and Mrs Grey, and they called their son Earl! As in Earl Grey!"
"No, really?"
"I know! See, interesting names are a passion of mine. I should collect them, start a book or-"
"Say when to stop pouring the milk."
"Got it. So anyway-oh, hang on, 'when'. That might be a bit too much milk. Ah, well, never mind. So, most people I know have boring names, like Martha or Donna or Pete or yours, Sarah, or-"
"Sarah Jane."
"Yeah, so when I met this guy called Earl Grey I nearly wet myself. Don't get me started on Alonso." The Doctor grinned as he took his cup of tea from Sarah Jane. She didn't say anything as his eyes wandered to the high chair beside the table.
"Do you want a biscuit or something?" she asked after a few moments. He shook his head.
"Nah, I'm fine. Um..." He walked over to the table and picked up a children's book from the table, turning it over in his hands. "Has anything, er, new happened recently?" Sarah Jane put down her cup and sighed.
"If you call your teenage son being suddenly turned into a toddler then yes, something new has happened," she said. The Doctor stared at her in surprise and barely concealed intrigue.
"When did that happen?" he asked. "Scratch that, that's not that important. How?"
"An alien parasite," Sarah Jane said. "It's irreversible."
"You seem calm about it," he noted, surveying her in a way she didn't like. It was though she was being assessed. "Do you mind?"
"Yes, of course I mind!" she snapped at him a bit too hastily, and he raised an eyebrow. She took a deep breath. "I mean, it's not too bad. It's hard and it's different, but not terrible."
"If you like, I could double check that it's irreversible," the Doctor suggested. "Where is he, anyway?"
"Sleeping. He'll be up soon, anyway." Sarah Jane sighed, and-as he was still staring at her in an unnerving way-she changed the subject. "I didn't hear the TARDIS, usually it makes such a noise."
"It's in your garden," the Doctor said, suddenly looking guilty. She folded her arms, eyes narrowing.
"What's that look for?" she asked threateningly.
"Those roses in your garden weren't your favourites or anything, were they? The red ones?"
"Yes, as it happens, they were!" Sarah Jane said hotly, and for some reason he smiled, looking pleased.
"Well, that's good, because they're fine. I did land the TARDIS of some daffodils though, but at least the roses-which are your favourites-are OK." He looked very smug at how his little plan to soften the blow and her anger had gone, and for a moment she felt like snapping at him for being such a smart-assed, gobby know-it-all who squashed her daffodils. Then she felt a smile on her face, and her heart swelled with a kind of aching happiness at seeing him again after missing him.
After scanning Luke, the Doctor turned to Sarah Jane.
"There's good news and there's bad news, which do you want first?" he asked her, and her heart sank.
"The bad," she said, and watched as the Doctor used the sonic screwdriver to make Luke's robotic toys move on their own across the floor, causing him to be distracted and chase after them.
"It is irreversible, your computer was right about that," he said. "But he's still got the same brilliant mind as before. The parasite in question creates the traits of a toddler, which he will still have, so as to disarm their enemy. However, the real biological aspects of the person will still remain."
"Right," Sarah Jane said slowly, and he continued.
"So, while he can't change his appearance, he is able to fight off a large amount of the effect on his mind and behaviour. He won't suddenly be ridiculously smart or anything, but he'll quickly be more intelligent than average, pieces of information will surface, he'll work out things in different ways...of course, I'm just guessing. Maybe he will suddenly be Einstein. Maybe you'll wake up one morning and find out he's built a teleport device in his room, I dunno. It's quite fascinating, really."
"That's not the word I'd use," Sarah Jane muttered, although she was still relieved. He would do well at school, but would also have better social skills. It seemed ideal...
...But then the reality sunk in, the thoughts she'd been to busy to entertain or denying. By the time he was five Clyde and Rani would be at university. He would have different friends, friends he would bring to the house, friends who could find out what she did. At eleven she would be well into her sixties. By the time he was ready to leave home, she might be in a home or even dead. What if she had to explain who he was? Should she tell him his past if couldn't remember? Would he have to meet people he already knew all over again?
It was the last thought that sparked Sarah Jane's memory, and she suddenly remembered something, or someone, that had completely slipped her mind, namely Maria, who was supposed to be visiting this weekend.
"Would you mind babysitting?" she asked the Doctor, who was writing on some paper in a felt tip pen he had found whilst showing Luke. She frowned at the writing, which looked a lot like squiggles to her. "What are you doing?"
"Seeing if he can work out these equations. Come on," he prompted Luke impatiently. "It's easy!"
"Look, I have to pick someone up from the airport," Sarah Jane said quickly. "Can you handle babysitting?"
"'Course, it'll be fun!" The Doctor grinned, then looked in despair at the paper Luke was writing on. "Oh, don't try and use pi, it's rubbish."
After grabbing her purse and keys, Sarah Jane sped off in her car, wondering how on Earth she could break the news to Maria, who she hadn't gotten around to telling.
When she reached the airport, she was greeted with a hug by a luggage-laden Maria.
"Maria," she said seriously after they broke apart, keeping her voice low so the bustling people around wouldn't hear. "Listen, there's something you should know about Luke-"
"It's OK, I already know," she interrupted. "If you mean what I think you mean."
"That he's...a toddler," Sarah Jane said carefully, in case Maria thought what she meant wasn't what she meant and hadn't prepared herself for what she actually meant.
"Yeah, Clyde told me," Maria explained, as they headed out of the airport. "Whined, actually. Apparently he got food thrown at him and stuff, and something about not being able to blow up aliens."
Maria fell silent as though loaded her luggage into the car, and she looked worried as when she finally spoke again.
"Do you think he'll remember who I am?" she asked quietly.
"Maria, he seemed to remember me, and apparently Clyde and some way he had wronged him in the past," Sarah Jane said, and Maria gave her a small smile. "I'm sure he'll remember you. This situation is strange and works in funny ways, but he's still him."
Seeming satisfied with that answer, Maria got in the car and instead turned her attention to the woman she considered a second mother. "How are you, though? You look knackered."
"Let's just say fighting a million aliens isn't half as exhausting as looking after one toddler," Sarah Jane said as they set off down the road.
"He can't be as bad as my little cousin," Maria said thoughtfully. "He flushed my Auntie's ring down the toilet twice. And my other cousin, when she was two, got hold of some scissors and cut off her hair. I think she was trying to play hairdresser's. It was probably mum's fault, because she always took her on hair appointments whenever she had to babysit."
Sarah Jane didn't doubt that.
When the returned, by some miracle the house hadn't been blown up or set on fire because of some experiment gone wrong.
"We're back!" Sarah Jane called out as she helped Maria get her bags inside.
"I just showed Luke the TARDIS!" the Doctor's voice shouted back from the kitchen. "I was thinking of taking him somewhere, but thought you might get all annoyed about it so we decided to be boring in the end!"
"Good!"
When they followed his voice into the kitchen, it was obvious Luke remembered Maria. While the Doctor sheepishly tried to hide a mostly eaten packet of cookies behind his back, Luke cried out from where he was sat on the table.
"Maria!" he said happily, and she grinned.
"He does remember me!" she said elatedly, and hurried over, only to stop, realising she had no idea what to say to him. "Um. Hi?"
"Bonjour," Luke said casually, and Maria looked shocked. Sarah Jane shot a look at the Doctor.
"OK, maybe I took him to France just for a teeny-weeny little while."
"He's so sweet," Maria observed. "Aw." She turned to the Doctor next, looking interested. "You just said TARDIS, you're the Doctor, aren't you?"
"That's right. I'm famous then, am I?" he said, looking smug again. "Has Sarah Jane told you the stories, about how brilliant I am?"
"She didn't say you were this full of yourself," Maria noted jokingly, and he pretended to be insulted.
"Well. Bit rude."
Maria turned out to be an absolute godsend. She was a natural with Luke, and easily kept him occupied with games while Sarah Jane caught up on articles. The Doctor had left, but had promised to 'pop back in soon'. Sarah Jane knew that could easily mean that he would 'pop in' in another two or three years, so didn't let her thoughts linger on the prospect.
In some ways, the fact that Luke adored Maria was a little depressing to Sarah Jane. He very rarely played up with her, and she even managed to get him to eat vegetables at dinner. Every time Sarah Jane tried to get Luke to eat even one measly, pathetic little snippet of a vegetable he acted as if she were trying to feed him poison. She had tried every trick in the book, but he either dumped his plate on the floor or spat out the vegetable with a sour expression if she succeeded in getting him to taste one bite.
"How are you doing that?" Sarah Jane asked, a little bitter as Maria got to eat piece after piece of carrot without the any problems. She shrugged modestly.
"I remember a trick dad used to do to get me to eat peas."
Of course, even Maria couldn't be perfect. No matter who much of a natural anyone is as a mother or babysitter, accidents are bound to happen unless you wrap your child up in cotton wool and bubble wrap.
Sarah Jane was washing dishes, when she heard a crash followed by a wail, and soon after Maria's terrified cry.
"Sarah Jane!"
She dropped the dish back into the sink, her best china probably chipping and water sloshing out, and ran into the living room. Luke was wailing on the floor, and Maria looked extremely pale.
"I only left for a second to get some toys, I didn't know he would climb the bookcase," she said frantically, with words that ran together in panic. Sarah Jane ignored her and lifted Luke up carefully, checking him over.
"His arm might be broken," she said, trying to stay calm for all of their sakes. Maria blanched.
"I'm so sorry, I really am so, so, so sorry-"
"Maria, I didn't say this was your fault," Sarah Jane said, perhaps a little shortly. "Go and grab a blanket and a bear, and hold Luke while I get a bag with the rest if his things."
Maria took Luke carefully, still feeling sick with guilt despite Sarah Jane's assurances that it wasn't her fault.
