Chapter 11, hope you like it. Think this story's getting close to being done. But I was thinking about continuing to write in this style - pretty close to the show's format, y'know find an alien, destroy an alien etc. got a few more ideas. That way I can resolve the whole Luke/Maria thing over a longer period of time rather than rushing through it and coming up with an unbelievable solution. Tell me what you think; seriously if you wish I'd just stop posting crap tell me! Oh one other thing, there is a serious inconsistency at the start with the whole curtseying thing. I've finally got my plot sorted and that timescale doesn't make sense, so could you just sorta ignore it? Really sorry, it comes from not planning, which I know is the ultimate sin and I will not do in the future. Wow, long A/N, sorry 'bout that I'll shut up now. Hope you enjoy and please, please R&R coz I love 'em. =P

El x


Having put off waking as long as possible, Luke Smith groggily rolled over and slowly opened his eyes in the morning light-

"Whaaaahhhh, what the-"

Jumping up and then quickly propelling himself backwards with his hands Luke practically cowered from the figure. The cause of all the fuss? A small girl's brown eyes.

After blinking a few times and slowly remembering the events of the previous night Luke eventually slowed his beating heart, and, with red cheeks, apologised to April, who's intrusive eyes were now wide with shock, and softly explained that she "Had startled me, that's all."

Grabbing his hoodie from the floor he lead April down to the kitchen, where Rani and Sarah Jane were already up and looking civilised, joking about some article in the paper.

"Morning Luke, April." Sarah Jane greeted cheerfully, the concern of the previous night seemingly non-existent in light of a good night's sleep.

"Morning." Luke mumbled, before, in his zombie-like state, managing to pour milk on the floor, not his cereal, and proceeding to scowl at Rani as she choked on her toast laughing.

April meanwhile hovered in the doorway, looking a little lost without Luke's guidance. Sarah Jane's maternal instinct kicked in and she asked kindly, "Will you be eating breakfast with us April?"

She got only a shake of the head in reply, but carried on regardless, "Well at least sit down, here between me and Luke."

April did as she was told, and sat, back straight at the table, watching without comment, the ritual that is breakfast.

Looking up at the clock and realising the time, Luke left the kitchen with a hurried explanation of, "Going for a shower."

Sarah Jane bit back a comment about making sure he shut the shower door afterwards, she was making a conscious effort not to become a nagging mother, and turned to her guest once more.

"Luke, Rani and Clyde – who you haven't met yet – will be going to school soon. They'll try and find out about your father there, and you can stay at home with me and we'll ask Mr Smith a few questions, is that ok?"

April nodded, seeming to perk up at the mention of her father. As an afterthought she added, "His name is Theodore Harlington."

"I'll ask my dad if he's ever taught at the school, he's got some staff lists that go way back in his office," Rani offered with a small smile. She was finding the whole alien-hospitality thing a little difficult; aliens with guns – no problem, but aliens at the breakfast table, well that one had Rani stumped. There was a lull in conversation as Sarah Jane busied herself unloading the dishwasher, Rani watched the news and April watched Rani watching the news.

Suddenly, in a whirlwind of banging doors, pounding feet and "Morning campers," Clyde arrived.

Sitting himself at the breakfast table, he took a bite out of Rani's toast before asking, spraying crumbs everywhere, "What did I miss last night?"

It was at this point that he noticed April, washing his toast down with a swig of Rani's orange juice he swallowed quickly and held out his hand saying, "Hi, I'm Clyde, the cool one."

April merely stared at his hand in confusion and Sarah Jane quickly came to her aid, placing her hands on April's shoulders she stood behind her and leaned over her, "This is April, Clyde."

"Nice to meet you Ap- Hang on April? As in Luke's invisible girl April?" Clyde did a cartoon double take, much to the amusement of Rani. "What did I miss?" he repeated.

"What did who miss?" Luke asked appearing in the doorway in school uniform, hair still wet.

"You can explain on the way to school," Sarah Jane said, as she handed Luke a Tupperware box and his rucksack, ruffling his sopping hair and frowning she pecked him on the cheek and ushered him into the hallway. Clyde grabbed his bag, went for a last bite of Rani's toast, which she snatched before he took it, saluted to April saying, "Laters" and followed Luke. Rani was last to leave, piling their breakfast dishes, and saying goodbye to April. Once in the hall Sarah Jane said in a hushed tone, "There's still a lot we need to know about April, do what you can at school, but don't draw attention to yourself, especially you Clyde. I'll be here all day if you need me, have a good day."

The three chorused goodbye and Luke shouted, "Bye April," before the teens finally left the house.

~*~

"Come on then, fill me in, how come I can see April?" Clyde asked as soon as they were out the door.

"Well-"

"-No hang on, wait, I want it from the beginning, I saved your butts and then…" Clyde interrupted, gesturing for them to continue.

"Ok so-"

"-Actually just get to the good part, I haven't got time for once upon a times"

"Fine, she's-"

"-Come to think of it, it'll make more sense if you just start from the beginning." Luke was yet to pick up on Clyde's smirk, and would have continued to try and begin recounting the story if Rani had not interrupted him.

"CLYDE! SHUT UP!" she yelled, making her point by whacking him with her school bag; smiling sweetly at Luke she said, "As you were saying."

With warning glares from Rani keeping Clyde quiet Luke began again, finally understanding Clyde's attempt to 'wind him up'.

"So when you left-"

Ironically it was Rani who interrupted this time, "-yeah, what the hell were you thinking, going off like that?"

"Sheesh, talk about gratitude, if you hadn't noticed Miss Chandra I was saving you from your dad, doing the noble, self-sacrificial thing and playing on the fact that he's always gonna hate me, but he'd never let you see us again if he caught you?"

"Aww, Clyde I'm touched, are you saying you'd actually be upset if I wasn't allowed to see you?" Rani mocked, but there was affection in her voice that betrayed her real gratitude for Clyde's act.

Clyde scoffed, "No, if you left us it would just be one less person for me to save, nah, I just, y'know, thought Luke'd be all soppy about it and can't have him freaking out when there's maths homework to be done can we?"

Luke looked a little offended at being called soppy, and would have protested that he never actually did Clyde's homework only helped him, when Rani suddenly wrapped her arms around Clyde's waist and pecked him on the cheek.

"Clyde Langer, I do believe you care" she grinned, and went on to whisper, "thanks."

Clyde looked at Luke triumphantly and replied cockily, "If this is what being the hero gets I could definitely get used to it."

Rani, suddenly aware of the fact she hadn't let go of Clyde, stepped away from him prayed he wouldn't see her reddened cheeks before lightly punched him on the shoulder saying, "So what was your punishment anyway?"

Clyde looked uncomfortable, and muttered, "Just a couple of weeks of detention." Seeing the other's disbelieving faces he changed the topic, "So Lukey boy am I gonna have to wait all day to find out what happened last night?"

Realising the futility of responding, Luke simply began to recount the night's adventure with a resigned sigh. As soon as he had finished Clyde began bombarding them with questions, "I don't get it, it still doesn't explain why only Luke could see her at first?"

"And Sarah Jane." Rani mused aloud.

"What?" Luke questioned a puzzled look on his face.

"Oh I just think Sarah Jane sensed April, that's all, she seemed to feel her presence if nothing else." Rani replied shrugging off the question.

"So how come Luke could see her and Sarah Jane could sense her?" Clyde summarised the question with uncharacteristic astuteness.

There was a thoughtful silence before Luke responded, "Perception."

"What?" Came the simultaneous reply.

"Well, not to blow my own trombone or anything," Clyde slapped his forehead but didn't correct him, "Mum said I've got heightened senses what with being the archetype, so I'm more perceptive, yeah? And Mum's been all over with the Doctor, experienced so much, that surely her perception's been increased above normal people's? So, it makes sense that we're both a bit more in tune with the frequency the Shaan's working at."

"By Jove I think he's got it." Clyde replied in a husky gentleman's tone, taking a drag from an imaginary pipe and swaggering about the pavement.

Rani smiled but continued regardless "Ok, so we know why you can see her, but what I don't get is why the Shaan kept April hidden, why is it staying inside her?"

"I think I know that one too," Luke replied, "See I was talking to Mr Smith last night-"

"Ha! I knew you didn't go straight to sleep." Rani pointed an accusing finger, "Could've got me before you went investigating with Mr Smith."

Luke had the good grace to look a little ashamed, and muttered something about 'not wanting to wake his mum', and 'couldn't sleep with April there' before continuing, "So anyway, Mr Smith said that the Shaan can only move into people's bodies with permission, and they don't like staying out of bodies for too long. Plus he said that the Shaan that's in April is only young, and he doesn't think it's got control over its wave manipulation yet."

Clyde looked lost, "So…?"

"So," Luke was eager to explain, "The Shaan is in April, and it's at a frequency that's invisible to humans, which makes April invisible and silent too, and because of that it can't approach people to request permission to enter their mind, coz it can't make a noise that humans can detect, so until now it's been pretty much stuck inside April." Luke finished triumphantly.

"Brilliant Luke!" Rani enthused.

Clyde slapped him on the back and said, "You got to admit the boy's got skills."

Rani's mind was racing ahead, "So we need to ask the Shaan to leave April, so we can find her dad and send her home, and then it can inhabit one of us for a while until we can figure out how to get it home too!"

Clyde merely grimaced, "No alien creep's inhabiting my body, no matter how nice it is."

"It's not gonna take you over or anything, just sort of camp in your mind for a bit." Rani reassured, but she didn't look too keen on the idea herself. As they rounded the corner of the school gates they were on their ninth game of rock, paper, scissors to decided who'd play host to the Shaan and the decision at that point was that Sarah Jane could do it. Luke shook his head with a smile, "Poor mum doesn't know what she's got herself into."