As Mr Smith tracked the energy signature of the scroll, Peter reached out and took his wife's hand, giving it a reassuring squeeze.
"They could be anywhere," Clyde said, looking at the map on the screen.
"We'll find them," Peter said.
"Wherever they are, however much time we have, we have an advantage. Luke and Nicole. Remember that."
Target acquired, Mr Smith said, relaying the details to them.
"That's where Horath is buried," Sarah said, grabbing her watch back.
"They're going to be OK," Peter assured her.
"They'd better be. If she so much as touches them..."
"Luke knows what he's doing, and Nicole is not going to let anything happen to him." Peter put his arm around her shoulders. "We've got great kids, love."
"Yeah, we do," she smiled. "Let's go bring them home."
When the car stopped, seemingly in the middle of nowhere, Kaagh ordered them out. When he shoved Luke out of the door Nicole rounded on him.
"Touch my brother again and I'll make sure that not even Mr Muscle will be able to unblock that vent in the back of your neck, got it?" she said, holding out her hand to Luke.
"Oh yes," Mrs Wormwood purred. "I like her indeed." She turned to the stone circle and smiled. "This is it. The resting place of Horath. The birth place of a new galactic aeon. The age of Wormwood."
"And Kaagh," the Sontaran added.
Nicole couldn't help but snort. "Sounds like somewhere Dad would work."
"No female can rule an empire alone. You need me, Wormwood," Kaagh declared – right before he walked into the force field barrier.
"Need an aspirin?" Nicole asked.
As Mrs Wormwood realised what the barrier was protecting and who could walk through it, Nicole glanced around her. They were in the middle of nowhere at this poor man's Stonehenge. No sign of rescue.
"Yet I, Luke, have you," Mrs Wormwood purred, turning to face him. "It was meant that I should give you life, and lose you to Sarah Jane. That you would await my return, for this moment."
"You're talking about fate," Luke said. "I don't believe in fate."
"I do," Nicole said without thinking. "So does Dad." She moved forward, inching her way between Luke and Mrs Wormwood. "Dad always said that it was fate that he met Mum. Without fate they wouldn't be together. Without fate, I wouldn't be here."
"Such a wonderful child," Mrs Wormwood said, lifting her hand to Nicole's cheek. "So open to the possibilities."
"Maybe it was meant that Luke would bring you into my life instead," she considered. "He is my prince but you..."
"Do I look like princess material to you?" Nicole said, folding her arms and hoping that she sounded as defiant as she looked.
"Mum was right," Luke said. "You are mad."
"Nicole," Mrs Wormwood said, ignoring Luke's defiance. "There is so much more out there. Your mother knows; she has seen it. And I can show it to you. You can travel among the stars as she did. What parent wouldn't want the best experiences for their child? Come, join with me and we can walk among the stars like gods."
"Nicole..." Luke began, reaching for his sister's shoulder.
She shrugged, pushing it off. "You know I hate being called that," she said quietly. Without saying anything else, she reached out and took the scroll from Mrs Wormwood's hands.
"Place the scroll in the altar stone, and come out," Mrs Wormwood said.
"No, Nic, please," Luke said as she walked into the stone circle, through the barrier as if it wasn't even there.
The ground shook as the circle activated, and Sarah knew what had happened. Luke would have placed the scroll in the circle and if they didn't hurry then things might be very different indeed.
"How could you?" Luke asked, but Nicole was looking at the circle and the lights.
"Doesn't look much like a grave," she said.
"It's a portal," he realised. "Horath was never buried on Earth. It's a doorway to somewhere else, another dimension maybe."
"And you have opened it for me," Mrs Wormwood said, putting her hand on Nicole's shoulder. "You have earned your place with me and your brother. Luke was a part of your family, now maybe it should be that you become a part of mine. Join us, rule with us. The most almighty power in the Universe will be ours.
"I can see it in you," she continued, "the desire for something more. Come with us, Nicole. Be the most important person in all creation."
"No, Nic..." Luke said, but he knew she wasn't listening to him. Kaagh grabbed at him, unhappy at being replaced by these two half forms, but Mrs Wormwood was swift in dealing with him. "Nic!" he said as she turned to stand, side by side, with Mrs Wormwood.
"Join us," she said, holding out her hands, "my son."
"No. You can't control the portal. It's too powerful."
"How can it be that Sarah Jane Smith made this one so strong and you so... timid? I shall make you strong. You shall be a god."
"I don't want to be a god."
"It is your fate. To sit with your mother and sister and to preside over all creation. You, are my prince."
"LUKE!"
Hearing their mother's voice, Luke and Nicole turned their heads towards the road. As he broke out in a run towards her, Nicole's gaze landed on her father, just a few steps behind.
Sarah pulled Luke into a hug, Peter's arms wrapping around them both.
"Luke..." Mrs Wormwood breathed before turning to the girl still stood beside her. "Yet you remain?"
"You said you understand me?"
"You... look lost. In this world you have grown up in, with a family you were born to, and yet you look lost. You feel as if you don't belong."
"I know I don't," she said. "Which is ironic given Luke's the adopted one."
"Nicole?" Sarah called out. "Let her go, Mrs Wormwood."
"Oh I am not holding her here," Mrs Wormwood replied. "In fact, I would go so far as to say that she may walk away at any time of her choosing. Nic, the choice is yours."
"Come on, sweetheart," Peter said, holding out his hand.
Nicole didn't move.
"Don't do it, Nic. Please," Luke begged.
"Do what?"
"She's going to go with Mrs Wormwood," Luke said.
"Over my dead body," Peter said with venom.
"I merely... gave her the choice. It is only fair, is it not? A child for a child?"
Behind them the ground fell away to reveal the stars as the portal opened.
"Luke? Come with us, Luke. We will see things beyond even your imagination. Come to me, Luke. Come to your mother."
"No. Sarah Jane is my mother," Luke protested.
Nicole watched her mother pull him into a hug and she felt her own heart break.
"Do you hear that, Mrs Wormwood? Luke is my son. Because I have loved him and cared for him... And Nicole..."
"Ah yes, the child you forsake for the other," Mrs Wormwood began.
"I have never forsaken her, I never could!" Sarah protested. "She is my daughter. I have loved her from the moment I knew she existed, before I'd even met her. Every day I look at her and I see my miracle."
"But Luke..." Nicole said, trying to put it into words.
"I thought she just wanted Luke," Sarah said, shifting her attention to her daughter, "and I would do anything to stop her. But you...?" Sarah held out her hand. "You're a part of me, Nic."
"Simple biology," Mrs Wormwood said, trying to keep her hold over one of them at least.
"There is nothing simple about it," Sarah replied. "I love them. People who understand love don't want to crush planets or take over the Universe. Those people aren't people at all, they truly are monsters."
Nicole's gaze flickered to her father and she felt her heart beat faster.
"You're right, Miss Smith," Mrs Wormwood smiled, "and it is so much more fun to embrace one's nature. And what more fun could there be than to destroy you? With your deaths the age of Wormwood will begin."
"Yeah, still sounds like a firm name," Nicole quipped.
The distraction was enough; Kaagh raced towards them, pushing Mrs Wormwood into the portal. She grabbed out at the last moment, her hand closing around Nicole's arm. Just as she thought she was going to go with them, a strong, familiar pair of arms snaked around her waist, pulling her to the ground.
With a final burst of light and energy the portal closed.
"Nicole!" Sarah exclaimed.
"You OK, love?" Peter asked, lifting himself up from where he'd protectively landed on her.
"Been better," she said, letting him pull her to feet and rubbing her hip where she'd landed awkwardly.
It was only seconds before Sarah's arms were around her daughter. "Are you OK?"
"Fine, Mum," she replied.
"I thought I'd lost you," she whispered.
"No such luck," Nicole quipped.
Sarah pulled back, putting her hands on her daughter's face. "Don't even joke about it."
On the car ride home, Nicole was quiet, choosing to stare out of the window. Sarah and Peter tried to talk to her but eventually they left her alone. Luke shifted over in the van so he was sitting across from her.
"Would you really have gone with her?" he asked quietly.
"Why not?" she asked.
"I don't believe you," he muttered. "You'd have left us? She couldn't be trusted."
"I can look after myself," Nicole snapped. "Just... leave it."
Peter listened to the conversation but said nothing. As Luke moved back to his seat Peter glanced sideways at Sarah and he sighed gently.