And then it was just the two of them.

Sarah stared at the Doctor, her tea cold and long forgotten. Instead her eyes continued to drink in his new form. In his green velvet jacket and cravat he looked every inch the proper Edwardian gentleman, but when it came to the Doctor Sarah was well aware of just precisely how deceiving appearances could be. Somehow she knew instinctively that there would be nothing proper about this one. She could see that from the captivating playfulness that danced in his eyes. And then there were the fine, lean fingers, the silky curls, the sensuous lips…

He shifted uncomfortably, staring into his own empty teacup. "I suppose I owe you an apology," he said finally.

"For what?" she asked, startled out of her contemplation.

"For just dropping into your life again after all these years."

Oh. That.

He lifted a soulful gaze to hers. "I didn't know where else to go. You were the only one who knew about Morbius, and I could feel the toxin moving so quickly…I knew I wouldn't be able to make it all the way back here and still be lucid enough to explain what was happening. I wasn't sure if –" he stopped, looking suddenly vulnerable. "But you didn't forget..."

Sarah carefully balanced her teacup on a tall stack of books on the end table by her elbow as she fought back the tears that pricked the corners of her eyes. "No, Doctor," she said in a choked voice. How could he have imagined even for a moment that she might have forgotten him? How could he not know that he was so much a part of the fabric of her life, her soul? "I didn't forget."

"I'm sorry to have dragged you away from your home and family."

She sat very still for a moment, struggling for control. It was on the tip of her tongue to tell him…that apart from her Aunt Lavinia he was the only family she'd ever had. To confront him with her lingering sense of abandonment and loss, as she had on that bittersweet night when she and his tenth self had sat together repairing K9 in the all-night café. It had been thirty years for her and so many regenerations for him, so much time apart when all she ever wanted was to spend her life at his side. The only place she had ever felt truly at home.

But she resisted the impulse. Somehow it wouldn't be fair to him. Not to this one, in whom she sensed a gentleness and shy vulnerability that would be deeply wounded by being on the receiving end of an unexpected emotional outburst. It would be cruel to do that to him, like kicking a cat. Especially after he'd just apologized to her. So instead she took a deliberately light tone and set a smile on her lips.

"It's all right, Doctor. I don't mind." That was an understatement if there ever was one. "And besides," the smile widened into a wicked grin, "I haven't exactly been leading a conventional life."

He grinned back. "Now why doesn't that surprise me. Adopting a child created by the Bane, making deals with the Slitheen, actually talking to your neighbors – "

"You heard all that?" she interrupted, startled.

"Yes, of course. I may have had a bit of a hearts problem but there's nothing wrong with my hearing."

Sarah rose from the settee, vaguely unsettled by the idea he actually remembered all the nonsense she had been spouting, and found herself looking down into a clear gaze that chased all of her petty concerns away. New body and all he was still her Doctor, and he was with her now – miraculously alive and well. Before she could stop herself she reached out with her fingers and tenderly brushed his curls, attempting to express her fondness in a way that she hoped wouldn't distance him from her. His previous selves had always so scoffed at human emotional attachments that she'd never found the courage to show how she felt for him in any other than the most platonic of ways.

He stood in a quick, smooth movement, standing scant inches away from her. Had it been anyone else it would have been an immediately annoying violation of her personal space, but this was the Doctor and she had always found his close presence welcome and intensely comforting. She could feel the coolness of his body next to hers and cocked her head, to find her eyes trapped by his powerful and concentrated stare.

"I've missed you, Sarah Jane," he said simply, and the quiet honesty that resonated in his voice took her breath away. Then he swept up her hands in his and pulled her into an embrace so fierce and warm that there was no mistaking the truth of his words.

Her mind went blank with astonished wonder. To hear those words that she had longed for, and doubted, and never imagined would ever pass his lips, loosened something deep within her. And suddenly it was as though all the bitterness she felt at having been unceremoniously dumped on Earth without a backward glance, all the anger at being ripped away from the magic and wonder of the universe and left to deal with tax bills and burnt toast, all the grief at having had to sweep up the shattered pieces of a broken heart, was washed away by the release of a tide of joyfulness so potent that the force of it rocked her to her core.

He held her close, their hearts beating in triple time, and gave her a squeeze. "Thank you." His cool breath tickled her ear.

"You're welcome," she whispered, wrapping her arms around his waist and laying her head against his shoulder.

"You've always been my port in a storm," he murmured into her hair.

She closed her eyes and swallowed hard against the surge of emotions that his words caused to well up in her heart. Pride. Affection. Love. And laced through it all a feeling of belonging that she hadn't even known she'd lost until she'd found it again after all this time. She reveled in the feeling of his arms tight about her as the current of joy curled itself around her heart.

Never in her experience had the Doctor been such a romantic, and if she wasn't careful she could find herself falling in love with him all over again. She forced herself to release her hold and take a step back.

His fathomless blue eyes were inches from hers, eyes that seemed to penetrate all the way to the depths of her soul. He cleared his throat lightly. "So…where do we go from here?"

She slipped her hand into his. "Well, I've always wanted to see Gallifrey," she said with a shy smile.