Chapter Six

A/N: Thanks to my great reviewer, pettypup101. You'll just have to wait and see. Also, to IntoTheVortex, my other ace reviewer.

Sarah Jane could still hardly breathe. It had been a good five hours since the screen had gone dead in the attic and yet she could still hear Rose's scream as the Cyberman converged on her. She couldn't help but feel a great deal of empathy, not only for Rose herself, but for her daughter.

Louise had reluctantly got off to sleep approximately an hour before, tears still rolling down her cheeks as she tossed and turned in Luke's arms. Rani and Clyde had gone home as well, while Mr. Smith reminded Sarah Jane too much of what had happened. So, the woman was sitting almost alone in her sitting room, petting the metallic head of the only friend she could talk to at that point.

"Oh, K-9, what am I going to do? I promised Rose that I would look after Lou until she and John could come back, but what if she doesn't? I've raised Luke for a while now, but he was always independant. Lou needs me, she has no one else if Rose is gone. I'm not cut out to be a mother again. Oh, what am I going to do?" she cried, staring out of the window towards the stars.

"Mistress, the only option seems clear to me. You must keep your promise and look after Young Mistress until Mistress Rose and Master return." spoke K-9, his monotone voice laced with a touch of emotion and comfort for his mistress.

"But what if they don't, K-9? I don't know if I can do this again. Luke wasn't that young when I got him, but she's so young. Not to mention that she's the child of two of my best friends."

"There is a 35% chance that Master and Mistress Rose will survive the attack of the Cybermen. If they can escape the Cybermen, there is a 50% chance that they will be able to cross the Void. Altogether, the chance of their return is 17.5%."

"So not very likely, then." sighed Sarah-Jane.

"Negative, Mistress."

"Alright. Thank you, K-9." sighed Sarah Jane, a single tear streaking another sparkling line down her pale face. K-9's head tilted to the side slightly, his metallic features changing slightly, so as to look almost sympathetic. 'I'm probably just imagining that because it's what I want to see' thought Sarah-Jane.

Sighing reluctantly, the woman rose from her settee, stepping slowly through the door and leaving K-9 in her wake. She faltered slightly when she reached the door of Luke's bedroom, but pushed the door open nonetheless, brushing a single tear away from her cheek as she walked. However, the sight that she saw, although she wasn't sure how unexspected it was. Yes, Luke was lying sound asleep in his bed, but it was just Luke.

Surprisingly, the spare bedroom temporarily Louise's was not the first place that the woman checked to find the girl. Instead, she headed straight to the attic. And sure enough, she was right to.

There, standing at the stargazing window with her eyes fixed on the crescent moon, was Louise. The bright white rays excentuated the redness of her eyes and the shimmering teartracks glistening on her cheeks. Sarah-Jane emerged a little more from the shadows, taking a few more steps towards the girl, who started a little at the sight of the shadow appearing on the wall.

"Lou, it's only me." Sarah-Jane said simply, stepping completely out of the shadows so that Louise could see that the figure was not to be feared.

"I know." she replied sadly, not averting her eyes from the window. Sarah-Jane took little notice of this and stepped further forward until she reached the eleven-year-old's side, where she wrapped an arm around the young girl's shoulders. Louise stiffened for a moment at the touch, but relaxed into Sarah-Jane's simple embrace soon after.

"Are you alright?" the elder asked.

"I don't know. Not really." Louise replied vaguely, her head subconciously coming to rest on the woman's shoulder. It was then that Sarah-Jane opened her mouth to inform the small blonde of what K-9 had informed her of, but quickly close it again. But how could she tell a girl, already so saddened, that her mother and father were so unlikely to return that the possibility was barely worth thinking about. She opened her mouth once more, but the words that came out were not the ones that she had considered.

"Louise, I'm sure that they're alright. I've known your mother for a long time, though I've known the original Doctor for much longer, and through all the scrapes they've ever been in, they've always come through almost unscathed. They'll do it this time as well. Let's just wait and see."

"Do you think they're still alive? Do you think they're thinking of me?" Louise asked nervously, her eyes still unmoving from the twinkle of lights in the sky.

"Of course they're thinking of you, Lou. Why wouldn't they be? I bet that they're standing there together now, looking up at the stars and thinking of you, knowing you're probably doing the same. Because, you know, if you look up at the stars and think of someone when you're missing them-"

"The chances are that they're doing the same and thinking of you. Mum told me that. She said that, when she was waiting for The Doctor, she did that all the time and it worked. He came back. Sarah-Jane?"

"Yes?" the woman asked, her arm tightening slightly around the girl.

"Do you think that, if I do this, Mum and Dad will come back? Like he did." These words took Sarah-Jane by surprise, though she wasn't quite sure why. If it'd been her in Louise's situation, she would've surely asked precisely the same question herself. But she found giving an answer very difficult. So she referred to what she would've wanted to hear.

"Of course they will, Lou. Just you wait and see." Sarah-Jane stated confidently, staring up towards the stars, hoping beyond hope that it was true. For her sake as well as Lou's.

A/N: Thanks for being patient with me. As always, please review!