Disclaimer: I don't own it! Shocker!
A/N: This chapter and the next few have slight bits of the Sarah Jane Adventures in, but you don't need to have watched it to know what I'm on about. Basically, Sarah Jane investigates alien stuff with her living computer, Mr Smith, and three pretty bratty kids, Luke (who's like her son), Maria, and Clyde.
Away, But Where?
I wandered the streets for a few hours, brought some chips for lunch with my remaining pocket money, and sat under a bus shelter out of the rain, to think. Staring blankly at a poster on the bus shelter with the words 'VOTE SAXON' plastered across it (something stirred in my memory; I think he was elected for Prime Minister around this time) I buried my head in my hands and forced myself to think.
After half an hour, all I had thought of was: first, that Mr Saxon was definitely going to win the elections, and second, that no one around here had the faintest idea who I was, aside from Jackie - but she hardly counted, since the 'me' that she knew couldn't even walk.
Then it occurred to me. I actually hit my head in a vain attempt to knock out my stupidity. It was 2007, and I needed to get back to 2022. I needed to find the Doctor. Not even a Doctor from my timeline - any Doctor would do. I couldn't wait with Jackie, since the baby-me was living on the Powell Estate already, and waiting for the Doctor and Rose there could be a disaster. So, who was the last person, living here on Earth, who had seen the Doctor?
Well, as I said, I heard loads about the Doctor and Rose's adventures before I was born. And two people came to mind when I asked myself that question. Two Smiths. Mickey, and Sarah Jane.
I remembered from various stories that Mickey was living in a Parallel Universe, so he was out of the question, but Sarah Jane had been a good friend to Rose for many years - well, not yet - and I'd met her a number of times in my past - or the future, depending on your point of view. Whether she could help me find the Doctor or not, I didn't care; I just needed to find someone who had the slightest idea what was going on. After some calculations, I worked out that the other me would have met Sarah Jane once, at a mere one month old, and she wouldn't meet her again for at least another two years, so I decided that going to her for help definitely wouldn't cause any major paradoxes.
So, off I set, with Sarah Jane's address firmly in my head. 13 Bannerman Road. Easy Peasy.
Well, not quite. But easy enough.
Easy for a Time Lady. Yes. Off I go. Ish.
- - - - - - -
A few hours and many bus journeys later (as it happens, I might be a Lady of Time, but I have nosense of direction), with a very faint confidence for what was going to happen next, I reached Sarah Jane's road. Breathing a sigh of achievement and relief, I looked around myself at the familiar road, not having visited Sarah Jane for at least a year (my future self, that is). Finding Sarah Jane's house, I smiled broadly and walked towards it, only to be called back.
"'Scuse me?" a girl asked from across the road. "Can I help you?" I turned swiftly and my eyes opened in wonder. As I tried to place this young girl, I noticed the way she was staring questioningly at me, and figured she must know about Sarah Jane, or she wouldn't bother asking.
"Uh, d'you know Sarah Jane?" I asked, faking a casual stance.
The teenager, probably a few years younger than me, seemed to pause. "Yeah." she replied uneasily. "Why?"
"She's an old friend." I waved away the question absently. "She still lives here, right? With Mr. Smith?" I added pointedly, to show her that I knew about Sarah Jane's life.
She crossed the road to me with a smile. "Sorry, what's your name?" she asked kindly.
"Al-" I began, then froze. I wasn't supposed to be here. This girl would probably meet me sometime soon when I was brought to meet Sarah Jane. Maybe I should keep a low profile? "-exandra." I finished, opting to use my mother's original name for myself. "Call me Alex."
"I'm Maria." she smiled. "Sarah Jane's out at the moment - you know, doing her "journalism", but you can wait at my place, if you like."
A/N: Review!!
