Hello people, old and new. Welcome to another chapter of Wandering in Wonderland, on a Saturday night. Or early morning wherever you are. Could also be mid afternoon, I only know that in England it's 1.30am. Or 12am. Daylight saving is tonight.

Thank you once again for those lovely reviews that I got for the last chapter: skidney, DragonRose4, sailormajinmoon, and Oswin Reid, you guys have lots of cookies from me. Big shout out to sweetortonlover86 who wrote me a review which was a page long. I loved it. Thank you to ortonlover86, Oswin Reid and AddictedtoHPForever for following the story :)

Disclaimer: Not mine

School Reunion: Part 5

We ran out of the room, trying to get as far away from the Headmaster as fast as possible, "So let me get this straight?!" I said to the Doctor as we ran through the empty corridors, "There are alien bats on the loose that want to change the very building blocks of the universe and they are using the children's souls combined with some weird oil on chips in order to do so?" He nodded, "And on top of that, they've probably sealed the whole school and are accelerated their plans to try and crack it today as soon as possible," we ran into Mickey, who was running the other way "Give us some good news,"

"I've smashed the reception with the car," he answered and we all stared at him, "The kid said that they've taken all of the students and the only way I could get in was to crash the car into the front doors of the school!" He pointed to the boy who was standing next to him, "What in the world is going on?!"

"Aliens are trying to kill us," Rose said to him and he threw up his hands with exasperation. I knew the feeling, he was probably wondering why every time we all met up, was when an extraterrestrial life form from another planet always ended up trying to kill us. And we didn't always ask for it some of the time. And that was just when we saw him...not when we went elsewhere in the whole of space and time. This happened far too often.

There was a loud ear piercing screech behind us and we all turned to look down the corridor, "That would be Mr Finch calling the rest of the vanguard," the Doctor informed us, "Come on...run!" He grabbed my hand and we sprinted down the hallway towards the canteen, "Brings back old memories, Sarah?" He called behind him at the brunette sprinting to keep up with us.

"Oh yes!" She exclaimed and we skidded to a halt in the middle of the canteen, "This would be the trapped part...wouldn't it?" She whispered to the Doctor as Mr Finch and the rest of the Krillitanes stalked into the hall flapping about ready to eviscerate us with their very long claws. I swallowed slightly, looking at them. I wasn't ready to be impaled on them any time soon, "You won't get away with this, Mr Finch," she warned the Headmaster, "There are people that are watching this school and they will know what is happening here,"

"What will it matter when we will have the universal theory at our fingertips?" He retorted, before looking up at his brethren, "We need the Doctor alive," he informed them, "As for the others...you can feast," I picked up a chair readying myself as the bats swooped down onto us, their long fingers outstretched and snatching...tearing at us. I ducked as one swooped over my head, the chair knocked out of my hand.

I rolled under the table as another Krillitane dived towards me and I felt a searing pain across my cheek. I pressed my fingers to my burning skin, and stared at the blood that coated them when I pulled them back. Blasted thing had managed to catch me across the face, slicing across my cheek with its gnarly talon. That was going to be a pain for quite a while. Just typical that it happened to me. I wiped the sticky liquid on my trousers, before poking my head out from under the table. A gruesome face appeared in my vision and I kicked it firmly, before scrambling to stand next to Rose.

"Plan of action?" I inquired of her as she threw a chair at another Krillitane, "Or are we going to have to wait until we run out chairs to defend ourselves with?"

"Works for me," she answered, and was just about to hit another bat when it suddenly fell to the floor, either dead or just unconscious. Finch seemed the scream a horrible rasping sound at the sight of his unfortunate friend.

I turned around to see K9 trundling towards us, a laser aimed at the Krillitanes as he took down another one, "Suggest you engage running mode, mistress," his chirpy voice instructed us, "Maximum defence mode," Rose pushed me towards the door as the little robot dog held the horde of aliens off for us.

The Doctor sealed the doors that we had just run through, "Those will hold for a while, but K9 is running on emergency batteries, he won't be able to hold the, off for long," I looked around the room that we had landed ourselves in. It was one of the physics laboratories. Fat lot of good that was going to be at the moment.

"Are those my teachers?" The boy asked us. I only really realised that he was there alongside us in the hall and I narrowed my eyes at him. Why hadn't he gone to class with all the rest of the students. Somehow the oil on the chips weren't affecting him in any way. An immunity...that would have been quite nice for me, I still didn't like the ideas of spitting out the answers to equations every time someone asked me.

"Err...yeah, sorry," the Doctor said distractedly as he looked around the classroom, "Is everyone all right?" We all nodded and he narrowed in on me, "Well you aren't," he pulled out a clearly ironed handkerchief from his pocket, "Here you go, don't worry about making it a mess," I smiled at him softly, placing it to the cut on my cheek, "Right...plan of action," he paced around, something clicking and I found myself quite enjoying watching when that happened, "It's the oil...Krillitane lifeforms can't handle the oil. That's it! They've changed their physiology so much that even their own oil is toxic to them," he pointed at Rose, "How much was there in the kitchen?"

"Barrels of the stuff," she answered, and I turned slightly towards the door when I heard the noise of the Krillitanes outside the door, wanting to get inside,

"Then we need to get to the kitchens," the Doctor nodded, "Mickey," the other man threw up his hands, clearly expecting to be given another dull job as he was with the surveillance detail, "I need you to get all the children unplugged and out of the school," Mickey nodded, looking actually quite impressed with the job, "Now bats...how do you fight bats?"

The boy walked over to fire alarm, breaking it cleanly. Alarm bells all of a sudden started to ring loudly, "Perhaps you should have eaten those chips," I informed the Doctor as he wrenched open the door, running past the Krillitanes which seemed to be paralysed by the high pitched wailing, "Maybe it might have boosted your own impressive mind,"

"Oh hush you," he answered as we sprinted towards the kitchens. K9 suddenly turned into the corridor, "Good boy," he patted the dog, before locking us into the kitchens, "Rose...where did they put those barrels," my sister pointed to the metal barrels that I had seen them bringing in yesterday, the Doctor tried to prise them open with his screwdriver, "Ahhh! They're deadlock sealed," he murmured, "Finch must have done it, I can't get them open,"

"Master," I looked at the small metal dog who spoke up, "The barrels would not withstand a direct hit from my laser, but my batteries are failing,"

The Time Lord nodded, running a hand through his hair, "Right...everyone out the back door," he ordered, "K9, stay with me," I quickly left with Rose and Sarah Janes through the kitchen doors into the playground. Mickey quickly met up with us, the students pouring out of the school. Clearly he had succeeded in getting them away from the computers and out into safety. We briefly explained what was going to happen or roughly thereabouts.

"What do you think he's going to do?" Mickey asked us as we watched the school, "Think he can get rid of those bat things?"

"Probably means that he's going to blow up the school," I murmured, "Something always blows up in these adventures," true enough when the Doctor came pelting around the corner with Sarah Jane, the school exploded in light and the shock wave almost knocked me back, "Well...that might alert the local authorities," I murmured, as all the students started to cheer around us. I looked over to where the Doctor and Sarah Jane were standing only to find the woman in tears. Ahh...clearly K9 didn't make it out and perished along with the rest of the teachers.

The Doctor waved us over, "Come on," he said, "Best not to hang around while this lot celebrate," he nodded to the crowd of students, "The TARDIS will have relocated herself, it shouldn't be too far from here. Just enough to be out of danger,"

"I..." Sarah Jane stepped back, "I need to go home for a bit," she said to us, "Don't worry, I'll be back but I need to be alone for a little while,"

"I'll call you," the Doctor told her, and she nodded, "Tell you where we are," she smiled, heading towards the exit of the car, "Well...let's find out where the TARDIS has got to then," he turned to leave and I followed him silently along with Mickey and Rose.

The TARDIS it turned out had relocated itself in the middle of a park which must have been odd to anyone that had happened to see it appear. The Doctor quickly got to work on the TARDIS, opening up a grate in the floor. I just closed my eyes, resting against the console, "That's odd," Rose asked me as she looked me over, "Your cheek seems to have healed," I ran my fingers over it, "Looks like the scar is days old," I could only shrug at her words and she decided to change the subject, "So I was talking to the Doctor..." I nodded at that, "I was thinking...we could take Sarah Jane along when we leave here," I looked at her fully, "If that was all right with you...it was only a thought that I happened to have,"

"I like it," I answered, rubbing my cheek self consciously, "I like it a lot and she seems nice, once we got over that initial hurdle of rather pointed insults," she shrugged, "Yeah well if the Doctor likes the idea then I say full steam ahead. It'll be nice to have someone else in here. It'll stop me from going completely mad,"

"What about me?" She asked, placing her hands on her hips.

I waved my other hand, "Oh you went mad months ago, Rose," I quipped, "Haven't you noticed yet? I thought it was obvious," she elbowed me in the side, and I laughed slightly, "We all go mad in this place, and to quote a character that my namesake came into contact with..." I slid my eyes to her, "You can't help that. We're all mad in here, you're mad and I'm mad. And you know that you're mad or we wouldn't have come here in the first place," I looked at her, "Quoth the Cheshire Cat. We live in an impossible reality. Of course we're all mad,"

"I quite like sanity," I folded my arms before looking at her directly, "What? You don't believe that can retain my sanity?"

"Oh I believe you can retain your sanity, I just don't believe that you're not mad," I replied, "We stepped willingly into a box that can fly anywhere and into the face of certain danger with a man that can change his face and who is hundreds of years old...and you think you're not mad? I'm not sure most people would agree with that prognosis," I squeezed her shoulder, "Don't ever leave me, Rose. I hardly think I would be able to smile if that were to happen,"

She shook her head in exasperation, "You don't need me to smile," she teased me and I frowned at her, "Don't think I haven't got a clue what's been happening these past months when you think I've been fast asleep in my room. What's been going on between you and him," she nodded towards the Doctor who's head was stuck down a grate, "Honestly, only someone as daft as you would think that I would have never noticed. I'm not stupid about these things,"

"You know, I believe Mum said something about that when it was Christmas," I said to her, thinking back, "I believe that I never actually confirmed or denied her speculations, and so I shall do that to you," I smiled at her blankly, "And instead I shall turn this wonderful conversation to your ever more illustrious...somewhat boyfriend," she looked away at that, "What is going on between the two of you? Are you together...are you not? Do you still like him or did that ship sail a long time ago?"

"I haven't been the best to him," she informed me, "I disappear for so many months without seeing him and obviously one day I might not come back to see him again," she looked into the distance, "Perhaps it might be best if I said that ship had sailed. Mum always said long distance relationships never worked and...well this is the longest relationship in terms of distance, someone could possibly have with another person,"

I thought for a second, "So you've decided to remain undecided?" I said to her, and she shrugged, "I think that both of us have to think very carefully about these matters and then get back to each other. Just as a point of topic," she nodded, ready to walk off down the corridor, "And Rose..." She looked back at me, "This is just my opinion but I'll give it anyway...if you like him enough then I think that a long distance relationship could possibly work...if you want it to,"

She looked ready to answer what I said but she only jerked her head in a semblance of a nod and then disappeared down the corridor, "Interesting conversation," I jumped a foot in the air at the sound of the Doctor's voice in my ear, and I mock glared at him for doing so.

"Eavesdropping?" I questioned him and he shrugged happily, buzzing a t what looked like a futuristic circuit board, "Might a simple human know what exactly you are trying to do with that?" I nodded to the contraption.

"Present for Sarah Jane," he explained, "Seeing as K9 got blown up when the school did, it is only fair that I give her K9 Mark IV to make up for destroying Mark III," he looked at me over the equipment, "Thought it would be a nice parting gift for her. Not to mention that K9 is always very useful in a fight. Very good on the technology side of things,"

"I think it will be a very good present," I replied, before hesitating, "You don't think that she'll take up the offer of travelling with us?" I added in an undertone, "You never know...she could want to come with us. I would leap at the chance of coming along...actually I think I did," we shared a smile, "Somehow I don't think Sarah-Jane is any different in that respect. It is a offer unlike any others,"

"It's not that easy," he told me, "But if she does want to come then we can bring K9 along with us," I smiled, "Don't knock my metal dog,"

"Wouldn't dream of it," I teased him. A knock sounded on the door of the TARDIS, "Oh...I'll get Rose and Mickey," I slipped off into the corridor, banging on every door before finding the two in the library, "Shift yourself," I informed them, "We've got a visitor," they scrambled to their feet, following me into the main control room.

"How can you remember where you're going?" Mickey asked me and I frowned at him, thinking about it. I supposed that I had just gotten used to how the TARDIS managed to create the rooms, however there was no time to explain once we reached the large room where the Doctor and Sarah Jane were standing round the consol.

"You've redecorated," I heard Sarah Jane say, "I like it," she looked around and I perched on one of the railing, "Yeah. I preferred it as it was, but yes. It'll do," I didn't realise that the TARDIS could change it's appearance as well, that would be interesting to find out. She spotted the both of us, "Hey, you two what's forty seven times three hundred and sixty nine?

I shrugged, having absolutely no clue to the answer. Which was good...who wanted to be a walking calculator anyway? There were much better things to be doing at the moment than knowing the answer to everything. Rose shook her head, "No idea," she answered the other woman's. question, "It's gone now. The oil's faded,"

"But you're both still clever. More than a match for him," she nodded towards the Doctor.

"Oh I hope so," I grinned at her, "It's more fun that way," she smiled back at me, "But you are that as well," I looked at the Doctor, gesturing to Sarah Jane in order to get him to ask her to come along with us.

He nodded to me before straightening up, "Err, we're about to head off," he informed her, "But we were thinking...you could come with us," he offered, "Travelling in the TARDIS again? How about it?"

I saw her sigh sadly, before shaking her head at us, "No. I can't do this anymore," she confided in us, and the Doctor nodded in acceptance, "Besides, I've got a much bigger adventure ahead," she pointed to the Doctor, "Time I stopped waiting for you and found a life of my own. I've got so much to do in that respect...and I can do so much as well. It'll be different but it's just as exciting," he smiled at her, "Besides I'm getting a little old to be still running around after you,"

The was a slight pause of silence when Mickey suddenly chirped, "Can I come?" We all stared at him in shock, and he suddenly snapped to, "No, not with you," he said to Sarah Jane, before looking with the Doctor, "I mean with you. Because I'm not the tin dog," he folded his arms, clearly he was still just a little bit annoyed at that realisation, "I want to see what's out there,"

"Oh, go on, Doctor. Sarah Jane Smith, a Mickey Smith," Sarah Jane said, "You need a Smith on board,"

The Doctor nodded, clearly not bothered about having Mickey on board, "Ok then, I could do with a laugh," he admitted, and I rolled my eyes. Mickey looked towards me and I nodded at him, showing that I was fine with him coming aboard the ship.

He looked toward Rose who was looking towards the ceiling, "Rose, is that ok?" He asked her and I saw her looking at her fingernails.

She grinned at him, "Of course I'm fine with it, you idiot," she replied, and I let out a breath, "Why wouldn't I?"

Sarah Jane sighed, looking around the TARDIS, "Well, I'd better go," she told us, "Lots of things to do and I don't have the time that a Time Lord has," she moved towards the doors, "Maybe I'll see you again soon," she said and I raised a hand in farewell as her and the Doctor stepped out into the sunshine.

Rose placed an arm around Mickey's shoulders, "Well Mickey Smith, let me show you the rest of the TARDIS," she said, both of them disappearing into the corridors that lay beyond the TARDIS console room. I sighed for a moment before heading towards my room. I had a story to write up and some sleep to also catch up on.

It was several hours later when I walked into the TARDIS console room, seeing the Doctor watching something on the screen. He looked old beyond years as he stared at it and I realised that seeing Sarah Jane Smith was probably more painful than had first appeared. It had made him look back on...before. To a time that was perhaps easier for him. Certainly there were more Time Lords in the past than the here and now. I faintly wondered why he had never gone back to the time before they had all died. Perhaps it was too painful to think about, or see them knowing that they were going to die at that particular point.

"You're studying me," the Doctor said and I smiled softly, "I would have thought you would have been sleeping," he leaned against the console, "I've said that before as I recall," I walked up the steps towards him, "But the question still stands. Are you all right?"

"I was just going to ask you that very same question," I said to him, standing next to him, "You look..." I hesitated watching him, "Today must have been difficult for you," he sighed, running his hands through his hair, making it all spiky again, "Friends...new and old. Must have been a real blast from the past for you," he nodded, placing his hands in his pockets, "Was it good to see her again? Even though it was a surprise for you? Must have been quite a while since you last saw her,"

"Couple of hundred years," he replied and I chuckled at that, "I was a different man then...completely. Well," he gestured to his face, "You can imagine it. Looked a lot older than I do now...had the most amazing cravat," he punched in something on the scanner and I looked at the picture that came up, "That's me...quite a long time ago," he drew himself up, "I was very spry back then,"

I leaned towards it, "You have a cape," I snorted with laughter, "Very fetching," he smiled at that, "Do you have more pictures?" He sighed before flicking through several pictures of him. He was old...he was young...middle aged. Blue eyed, dark eyed, green eyed. Blond...brunette...white haired and black hair, "Never ginger then," I teased him and he nudged me, "And I do have to say that some of your clothing choices stretch beyond the fantastical, but they suit you. They're faces of you," I placed my fingers on the picture of his previous face, the Doctor that was my best friend, "Do you miss being them?"

"Now and again," he answered, "However less and less these days," he looked down at me, "I'm still the same man after all,"

"I only thought..." I trailed off, "Well, it must have been simpler back then for you. You had a home...you had your planet. You had so much more than you do now," I shrugged, "Makes me wonder how you manage to carry on every day. You must get tired some of the time. You have been doing this for nine hundred years,"

He thought about it for a second, "Not really..." He informed me, "That was then and this is now. I didn't exactly pop back home every afternoon for tea," I raised my eyebrows, "I was a bit of a troublemaker back then,"

"As opposed to now?" I quipped and he laughed at that, "Can you never go back?"

"No," he shook his head, "Gallifrey is Time Locked," I frowned in confusion, "Imagine a bubble where nothing can pass in or out of the bubble, and that..." His eyes clouded over with sadness, "That is Gallifrey and the Time War and all those Daleks," I placed a hand on his shoulder, and he squeezed it tightly, "And that's why I don't look back...not because I don't want to but because I can't. I just...can't," I nodded at him, "I wouldn't lie to you," he promised, "Not to you,"

"I'm not going to make you promise something that you might not be able to keep," I said calmly to him, "I can't do something that might come around," he thought about it for a second, "All I can ask is that you...don't forget me. Not completely,"

"Oh...don't be so stupid," he laughed, "How could anyone forget about you?" I raised my eyebrows, moving the scanner in front of me, and he nodded, standing next to me, leaning around me, "So we have another passenger on board...Mickey Smith. I do wonder how that is going to play out with all of us," he caught my look and sighed, "You know, you have a unique way of getting me to say more than I mean to," he informed me, "Most dangerous for me, you know?" I chuckled a little, shaking my head, "I am going to predict that you and me are going to be together for a very long time,"

I leaned towards him, "I know," I admitted, "I think so as well," I looked behind me, towards the corridor where Rose and Mickey were undoubtedly exploring, "I just don't think that..." I trailed off, "Times that come and go...people that fade in and out of memory. I just wonder if something can last for an eternity,"

"Eternity is just a phrase, you can make it happen anywhere," he said to me, "The trick is just to keep outrunning the inevitable," he looked vulnerable for a moment, "There have been so many people in my life...Sarah Jane Smith, Jo Grant...Tegan. Other Time Lords, and robot dogs. So many people come and go, never staying, always leaving," he squeezed my hand, "It hurts when they leave, no matter how it is. If you plan to stay then that might come to hand at any moment in time. Jack has already...gone,"

"I know...and I miss him everyday," I said, holding both his hands, "And I know that something...something is going to happen. I can only hope that I can weather it through because I am not leaving,"

He grinned wildly, "Well we better get started then," we looked towards the scanner, "I believe I was teaching you about how to fly this ship before we got sidetracked for several days," he positioned me in front of the scanner, "So I've told you how to begin a flight in the TARDIS. Next, you're actually going to have to know where to direct her so that she can actually go somewhere instead of...the middle of the sun, let's say. And I can teach you all of this,"

"I don't suppose there is a manual of any kind?" I inquired and he laughed at that, "Not even a little leaflet writing down all of the instructions?"

"I thought it into a supernova," he told me bluntly, and I stared at him, "I disagreed with it...Now if we have finished yapping," he pointed to the controls, "You type in the coordinates there and then we set off on our course to where was want to go,"

"Without Mickey or Rose?" I inputted.

"Well..." He leaned on a lever, "I wouldn't like to disturb them in any way. Rose is probably catching Mickey up with everything that has happened and showing him the swimming pool, and then they'll be sleeping. Could be hours before they emerge into the control room," we smiled at each other, "One adventure, Miss Tyler?"

"Doctor, how could I refuse?" I replied, before pulling the handbrake down, and the TARDIS rumbled off into the Time Vortex.

. TReally anything could happen.

So what did people think? Good, bad, meh? Have to say this episode was rather difficult to write. But putting a little note in the box below would be major useful. And I give out virtual cookies to people that do. Win, win situation :)

Reviews:

skidney: Hello :D glad you liked that interaction between them. I always love that part of the episode and glad I was able to do it justice. :)

DragonRose4: Sorry, I'm trying to be better with my punctuality, and I've got lots of alerts on my phone to tell me shift myself into updating sooner. Hope you like the chapter :)

sailormajinmoon: I've just started the SJA and they're actually better than I thought they'd be so I'm definitely going to include some down the line. Hope you liked the chapter and when Mickey asked to come along. I always had the thought that Mary Anne would have sort of grown out of being completely annoyed by Mickey by now, and would have just sort of accepted it. :)

Oswin Reid: Playing this really close to my chest about Mary Anne...it's not going to solve itself over night. Thanks for following the story and reviewing. And I'm glad you like the story so far :)

sweetortonlover86: This review is immense, can't thank you enough for writing it. Must have taken you forever. I'm glad you like the story so much, and reviewed it. It's always wonderful to hear what other people think of my writing, because, well I'm based towards it. I have to agree with you on the reactions of the Doctor in some of the episodes in series 1. Definitely watch 10 played by David Tennant, he's so good, and so heartbreaking at the same time. I'll leave you to watch the episodes to find out what I mean by that :P. Thanks for reviewing once again and hope to hear from you soon :)

Next Time

"So...where are we?" Rose asked, "What's the date? Where are we?"

"Eighteenth century France," I answered distantly, and the Doctor, Rose and Mickey all turned to look at me. I blinked at the, "Sorry...I don't know where that came from,"

So many questions...so little time," she whispered to us, before pushing the Doctor up against the fireplace and kissing him fiercely.

I looked away at that, a feeling of very hot jealousy roll over me, "Don't mind me then," I said plainly, feeling very annoyed with the both of them. "I'll just stand here,"

"Mary Anne...you were so lost down the rabbit hole. I think that you might be still be lost," my smile froze on my face, "Always hiding behind another name...Alice. You perhaps are more like the Doctor in that respect than you think," I shifted uncomfortably at her words, "You are lucky, I think,"

I tried to smile but failed, "I don't think that I know who I am anymore,"