Chapter Ten

The Doctor, Jack and Rory finished wrapping Sarah Jane's remains in a thick white linen cloth and tying it with cord so they could take her somewhere for cremation. Inside the linen, everyone had laid mementos, drawings, letters or trinkets that would be with her on her funeral pyre. After they were done, all of them pulled up chairs in the small room and rested. The only things in the small room was a long, wooden table where Sarah's body had been laid out and four wooden chairs. The white walls were devoid of any decoration since the TARDIS made the room so they would have somewhere to wrap her remains.

"So, this is how they did it on Gallifrey?" Jack asked the Doctor as he gestured to the wrapped corpse.

"Yes. I'm going to take her to some planet and we'll build a funeral pyre out of wood and light it," the Doctor said. "This shroud is a specialized burial shroud that is found on Varnos Five. It is flame retardant and the heat will seal the shroud over Sarah's body and conform to it like a cocoon. It won't burn but it will allow the flames to burn the body within and as the body is reduced to flames the shroud will shrink and keep the ashes inside it. That way when the creamation is done, we'll have a small bag that holds all the ashes and we won't have to dig through the pyre trying to determine what's her ashes and what's not."

"Wow, that's a very clever idea," Rory said.

"Yes. I've never had to use this type of shroud before but I never had to worry about collecting the ashes and I want Luke to have all the ashes of his mother intact in the jar."

Rory and Jack nodded and gazed at the shrouded corpse.

"I'm gonna miss her, she was a very classy lady," Jack finally said.

The Doctor nodded.

"That she was and more," he said. "The universe is a bit dimmer now without her."

Jack and Rory nodded. Then they noticed the odd look on the Doctor's face and watched him turn his head and look behind him at the empty wall.

"What's wrong?" Jack said.

"Thought someone touched my shoulder, must have been my imagination," the Doctor said, looking at him and Rory.

"Maybe that was Sarah Jane," Rory said with a shrug. "Letting you know she's around us."

The Doctor considered that for a moment and nodded.

"I hope so and it's not some invisible monster that somehow got inside here," he said to them.

He looked over when the door opened and the teens, Alan and Amy came inside the room. They froze when they saw the wrapped corpse and the Doctor beckoned to Luke. Luke came over and put his hands on his mother's chest while he stared down at her in silent contemplation. While he did that, Rani came up to the Doctor's side.

"Um…I don't know how to tell you this but I think Sarah Jane is haunting the TARDIS," Rani said to the Doctor.

Jack and Rory shared a glance while the Doctor turned his attention to her.

"How'd ya mean?" he asked.

Amy came up behind Rani and Rani gestured to her.

"Amy and I were fixing lunch in the kitchen when suddenly we heard someone behind us calling my name, very softly like a whisper, and we turned and no one was there," Rani said.

"I heard it too, plain as day," Amy added. "And right after it happened, I suddenly got gooseflesh and started getting the shivers from this cold spot that came up on me."

"I did as well," Rani said. "And I felt fingers on the back of my neck but there was no one around us. We talked about it and wondered if Sarah Jane was still here."

The Doctor glanced at Jack and Rory.

"Tell them what happened to you," Jack said.

"I thought someone touched my shoulder a few minutes ago as I was finishing up with Sarah's body but no one was near me and Rory mentioned that he thought it might be Sarah when I told them what happened," the Doctor said.

"Do ya think it's mum then?" Luke asked.

The Doctor thought for a moment.

"In my seventh life, I was forced to land in San Francisco after attending the execution of the Master on Skaro. The Master managed to get inside the console and screw it up so I had to land. He got out and possessed the body of a human and took him over. I was shot by these teens who were trying to kill this teenager called Lee and I regenerated. When I was on the operating table, there was a surgeon called Grace who tried to save my life and after I regenerated, I found her again and she helped me defeat the Master. However, the Master managed to kill both her and Lee but Grace was able to fix the TARDIS and program it to go back in time before she died. While I was watching their bodies, I saw this glowing light come down and enter them and they came back to life. I assume that was their souls. I told them that they'd both been somewhere I'd never been and Grace told me it was nothing to be afraid of, so apparently her soul went somewhere pleasant. Sarah said that just before she died, she saw Harry Sullivan and the Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart and her parents standing in the room with her. All of them have died and she assumed they were there waiting on her to die so they could be with her on her journey to the afterlife. I also had another friend die whose name was Astrid Peth. I couldn't save her and I watched what was left of her become stardust, in effect, and she went out a nearby window. So it may be possible that Sarah is here, watching us from another dimension or wherever Heaven might be and she's making contact with us, letting us know she's okay. All I know is I felt a hand on my shoulder and neither Jack nor Rory was behind me."

"So she could be here right now," Rory said.

The Doctor shrugged.

"Never know. I'd like to think that she is, still watching over and loving us from beyond the grave," he said. "It's better than just her dying and that's all…"

He trailed off when Luke suddenly got an odd look on his face, jerked his hand up to the back of his neck and looked behind him at Rory. Rory raised an eyebrow.

"Your mum do something?" he said while everyone laughed.

"Someone just kissed the back of my neck, I could feel it, honestly," Luke said.

"Yup, I have a feeling that we'll be experiencing these odd phenomena for awhile," the Doctor said. "I'm sure Sarah wants to make sure that we know she's still with us even if we can't see her. But for the moment, I think we should concentrate on finding a planet so we can conduct a funeral service for her. So let's find Martha and Mickey and Jo and Santiago and I'll let the TARDIS find us a suitable place to build her pyre while I explain what's going to happen."

(Meanwhile, a universe away…)

Rose snored softly as she lay on her right side in her bedroom. Behind her, snuggled up against her was her husband, John, the clone the Doctor had entrusted to her. They had been married for two years and lived in a large house in downtown London that her mother and father had helped them buy when they first got married. Rose slept peacefully and as she did, she began to dream.

She saw herself standing in the middle of a forest in a clearing. On her right side was an old battered wooden picnic table. She was dressed in black trousers, a pink t-shirt and a black leather jacket. While she was looking around wondering where she was at, she sensed someone behind her and turned to see Sarah Jane walking towards her, wearing a long, flowing white dress and white slippers. A warm smile was on her face as she opened her arms wide. Rose smiled back at her friend and did the same, meeting her halfway as they embraced each other.

"It's been so long since I saw you again, Rose, far too long," Sarah Jane said when she pulled back. "It's good to see you again."

"It's good to see you too but…where are we?"

"Oh, a neutral spot, a place I could find where I could call your soul to me," Sarah Jane said.

"Oh. Um…how are ya then?" Rose said.

"I've died, Rose," Sarah Jane said.

"Died?" Rose said in alarm. "How?"

"I had cancer and the Doctor helped me to die but that's not important right now," Sarah Jane said, holding up her hand. "What is important is I finally got to see you again because I wanted to tell you that I love you and I'm proud of you and I'll be watching over you as I'll be watching over all those I love. The Doctor told me that he did love you and I'm sure he would be happy knowing that you've made a life with his clone and found some happiness with him. I just had to tell you this because you were a wonderful friend and you deserved to know what happened to me. I want you to have a wonderful life, Rose, and be all that you were destined to be."

Rose nodded and smiled and Sarah Jane hugged her one more time and kissed her cheek before Rose's eyes flew open and she gasped as she found herself awake.

John frowned in his sleep and slowly opened his eyes when Rose's weeping penetrated his dreams. He lifted his head and saw for himself that the weeping wasn't part of his dream.

"Rose? What's wrong?" he said, laying his hand on her bare arm. "Why are you crying?"

He sat up when Rose did the same and put his arms around her when Rose embraced him.

"It's Sarah Jane," she sobbed. "I just saw her in my dreams and I think she's dead."

John gave her a shocked look and held her tightly while Rose told him what Sarah Jane had told her.

(Back in the other universe…)

After speaking to everyone about what would happen when Sarah Jane's body was burned, the Doctor asked his TARDIS to find a wooden area somewhere where they could have plenty of wood for the pyre but also have privacy for the service. He had decided to conduct a Gallifreyan burial ceremony and he was on his way to the wardrobe room to find some Time Lord robes when Luke caught up to him. In Luke's hands was a large manila envelope.

"When you lot were cleaning her house, Mum took me aside and gave me a few things that she wanted to give to you and also to Donna."

"Donna, but…"

"I know, Mum knows about Donna but she said that she left you a letter in here that she wanted you to read," Luke said, handing him the envelope.

He watched while the Doctor opened it, reached inside and took out a small crystal shard and a gold bracelet. The bracelet was a gold band that had a heart engraved in the front of it. Inside the heart was a one karat diamond that sparkled when the lights from the roundels hit it. He put the items back inside the envelope, reached inside and found a folded up piece of paper. He took it out, opened it up and read it aloud while Luke listened.

"Doctor, I want you to have this crystal shard. It's from the intergalactic market on Draxus and I've kept it all these years as a reminder of our time together. I would like you to have it since I'm sure you don't want anything else I have to give as an inheritance. I also have enclosed a bracelet that I'd like Donna to have. I know you told me that she can never remember anything she did while she was your companion but is there a way you can give it to her anonymously, perhaps through her family. I don't care if she doesn't know it was given to her by me as long as she gets it. If you can't do this, that's okay, I understand but please keep it safe for me. I love you all, Sarah Jane."

"Is it possible to give the bracelet to Donna?" Luke asked.

The Doctor beckoned to him and he spoke to Luke while they walked.

"There is a way since Sarah said it can be given anonymously. Wilf and Sylvia, her mum and granddad, know the truth and I can give it to them, perhaps tell them that it's a gift from them. Now…Donna did get married and I gave her a lucky lottery ticket that should have made her a millionaire. Surely, she and Shawn now have a house and moved away from Wilf and Sylvia so there wouldn't be a danger of me giving it to them and having her around to see what's going on. I think it's doable, Luke. So let me go program the TARDIS to go to Chiswick and we'll pay Wilf and Sylvia a visit."