It seemed like an age before Maria joined her in this nowhere place. Sarah had no concept of time here and more than once she'd almost convinced herself that something had gone wrong and she would be lost forever; her children gone, Peter alone and destined for that fateful tumble in two years' time. So when she heard Maria's confused voice it was almost like music to her, and she grabbed the young girl into a hug.

"I thought I'd never see you again," Maria enthused.

"Oh it's so good to see you, I was all on my own." Sarah's head swam with questions but she had to stay on track.

"Where are we? Is this a different planet?"

"We're in limbo," she said, the uncertainty of before gone. "This is nowhere. We're lost."

As Sarah explained about Andrea to Maria, the situation couldn't help but seem familiar.

"It's not a parallel world, if only," she explained, a wry smile on her face. "It's our timeline and it's been changed." The Trickster had done what she'd done; taken a seemingly insignificant moment and just... flipped it.

When she was called she walked through the mist to face it, the Trickster.

"Sarah Jane Smith," it purred. "This is... interesting. I can see the time swirl around you, I can see the chaos that flows from you... This is our first meeting and yet you know me, know of my kind."

"I don't understand."

"You understand more than you should. Oh, the things you have done, the things you have changed! But... the repercussions of that meeting... it should have been more, so much more. What is it about you, Sarah Jane Smith, that keeps you safe? Why does time bend to you in the way that it does?"

"Sarah Jane Dalton," she corrected on instinct.

The Trickster's mouth curled into a grin. "Not really. You shouldn't be, should you? Not yet. I can feel the original path, just hidden. This is... like a fresh coat of paint; it has covered, hidden, not removed."

"How do you know all this?" she asked. The Doctor said nothing, how could the Trickster know?

"I can see the decision you made all those years ago... The same timeline, but different. My own change fought yours, it was hard... So much chaos, so much beauty."

"And Luke? Nicole? Where are my children?" she asked.

"You know already about Luke," it purred. "The Bane never came to Earth in this timeline, he is lost. But your... 'little one'..."

"Don't call her that," she said defiantly.

"You died, no husband. No child. She is lost..."

"Is she here?" Sarah asked, panic beginning to rise.

The Trickster waved its hand. "Events are moving but I will return. Your decisions, your mind... there is so much I can enjoy..."

"Don't you dare!" Sarah called out, over and over, until she was yelling at the mist.

Realising she was alone once more she turned to go back to Maria, but she stopped when she saw another figure stood nearby. "Nicole," she sobbed, reaching out and pulling her daughter into a hug. "Are you OK?"

Nicole didn't reply, just held onto her mother as if she couldn't bear to let go.


When Maria was pulled back, Sarah grabbed Nicole's hand. "It's going to be OK, little one," she said. "Not long now."

Things were being put right, Andrea would withdraw her agreement and soon...

Sarah felt the pull as Alan tried to bring her back into time, but no matter how hard she held onto Nicole's hand, she was wrenched free.

"Mum!" Nicole screamed as she was left alone in the mist, looking around her in panic.

"You are still mine," the voice rasped, "for these final moments at least."

Nicole turned around to see the black cloaked figure stood nearby. "What are you?" she asked.

"I am chaos, I am fear. I am all powerful."

"I am unimpressed," she replied, folding her arms.

"The daughter who should not be," the Trickster said, regarding her with his blank eyes. "You are not real, you are nothing."

"What?"

"You should not be. You cannot be."

"And yet I am. I've been called impossible before..."

"I can see time, I can feel time. Moments of chaos that pass through the ages. But you, Nicole Grace Dalton, the child who should never be, you... you are something else. You... you are wrong."

Before she could respond the Trickster was gone, pulled back into the world by the events going on in the attic of 13 Bannerman Road. Nicole's head swam with what he'd said, but before she could begin to try and work it out she felt a pull on her body and she was back home. Andrea had withdrawn her agreement and all was right again.

Sarah pulled first Luke, then her into a hug, clinging on tight to her children. When Peter asked what was going on Sarah let go, walking over to her husband and giving him a lingering kiss.

The world was safe, everyone was home, but as Nicole wrapped her arms protectively around her waist she didn't feel like everything was going to be OK.


That night Sarah waited until she and Peter were alone in their room before asking him what he remembered of what he'd experiences.

"Nothing really," he said. "I guess when Andrea withdrew her agreement, everything was put back." He sat on the edge of the bed and started to remove his shoes. "Been wondering what I would have been up to though, what kind of a life I would have without you."

Sarah knew all too well what life it would have been, but she smiled and said nothing.

"I've asked Nicole to move back home for a bit."

This surprised her. "Why?"

"Because I think after this we need to have our family together for a while. I don't like the idea of her – or you – being in this... nowhere place. Luke never existing, me off somewhere... It doesn't feel right. We belong together."

Sarah finished pulling on the old t-shirt she slept in, and crawled over the bed towards him. Kneeling behind him she wrapped her arms loosely around his neck.

"I just need my family all together for a bit, OK?" he said.

"No complaints from me," she said quietly.

Peter reached up, putting his hand on her arm. "I can't imagine my life without you in it. Any of you."

"Me either," she said, trying not to think about the life she had lived before.

"Do you think he'll be back? This... Trickster?"

"I don't know," she admitted. She knew that he had tried twice more, but their conversation played on her mind. He had known, he had seen what she had done. What if his next trick was to try and undo it? "The box which protected Maria is upstairs. If he tries anything again, it should protect us."

"Hope so," Peter said, gently pulling Sarah's arms free and turning slightly to look at her. "Love you, Mrs Dalton."

"Love you too," she replied, kissing him gently. It quickly deepened and he turned his body, pinning her beneath him.


Nicole climbed into her old bed and switched off the bedside lamp. Gathering the covers around her she looked around at the bits and pieces of her childhood that she'd left behind when she'd moved out. Tomorrow she would go to her flat, pack up her things and come home. It had been her dad's idea, not hers, but she knew he was right.

She needed to be home right now. She just didn't want to be here.


With Alan's introduction to what they got up to, Sarah was able to go and ask him about the Armageddon virus. She didn't tell him what she needed it for, and she didn't answer his questions about why she wanted it. But he trusted her and burnt a copy to a disc as he'd done before.

What is this, Sarah Jane? Mr Smith had asked as she'd inserted the disc and the program loaded.

"I'm protecting my family," she said quietly. "I won't let you take my son from me."

How did you...? he began.

"I'm sorry," she whispered. "I'm so sorry."

My memory... I'm forgetting... My purpose...

"Your purpose is to defend Earth," she told him. "You will protect me, my family, and this planet. Do you understand?"

Yes, Sarah Jane. Thank you.

And he was gone. The reboot would take a day, a day in which she would hope that nothing big would happen. But when she joined her family for lunch she couldn't take her eyes off Luke. There would be no news report, no fake family. He would never be taken from her, used to bring about destruction. This was one thing she had been keen to avoid this time around : she was not losing her son.


One thing she couldn't prevent though was the one thing she was dreading. The Earth was pulled out of the sky, day became night, and she stood in her attic, flanked by Nicole and Luke, as the Dalek cry reverberated through their ears.

Exterminate. Exterminate.

Sarah clutched her children to her and she prayed that things were not going to change.