AUTHOR's NOTE: For those of you concerned about Sarah not getting to talk to the Doctor, please see the note at the end of this chapter.

John hugged Lisa with one arm and Sarah Jane with the other, closing his eyes and just enjoying the feel of her next to him. Finally he seemed to let out a breath he'd been holding for ages. "Let's go home," he said simply, and started herding the boys towards the UNIT truck that was waiting for them.

Harry shot an expectant look at Sarah Jane.

Sarah could tell that John was in serious pain and she was concerned about him, especially after what Harry had told her earlier. "John dear, why are you limping like that? I think you should have a doctor take a look at you before we go home."

John's head drooped. "Sarah, not you too," he said. "I'm just exhausted, that's all. I'm fine. Really." He touched her arm. "I just want to go home and climb into my nice soft bed, next to my nice, soft wife."

Sarah held up a surreptitious hand to stop Harry before he could say anything. "I'm afraid we can't, darling. Sid hurt his hand and Harry wants to x-ray it." She barreled on before he could say anything. "And besides, I think after all I've been through I'd like to be examined by a doctor too. I'm afraid that I'm ready to drop."

John forgot all about going home and turned to her, concerned. "Goodness, are you alright? Harry, can you have a look at her? And what happened to Sid's hand?" he asked looked harder at the boys, who didn't seem to have anything wrong with them.

"Well, considering what everyone's been through today, I'm not surprised Sarah's a bit woozy," Harry said, taking over. "I think you're absolutely right that we should get you all down to the infirmary and have you checked out. John, would you please sit here and keep Sarah Jane quiet while I arrange for some transport?" He hurried off to the line of trucks before John could protest.

John sat down beside Sarah Jane on a bench. "What did I miss? How did Sid hurt his hand?"

"He got hurt when the building fell and I really want that checked out. In fact, Sid needs to be cared for first."

"Oh mum, it's nothing, just a really neat bruise and a bit of a cut," said Sid. Then he had a thought. "Wow, can Uncle Harry put a huge cast on my arm and make me look like it was really mangled? Won't the lads at school be impressed by that!"

"Only if it's actually broken," Sarah said, tousling his hair.

"Yes, well, let's hope it's not," John said. "I wish Harry would hurry up. I'm worried about you. If that building collapse was as bad for you and the boys as it was for me and Lisa, you could have more than a little concussion."

The Tinkers - along with Harry and Kate - got their own lorry back to UNIT while the Brig was still coordinating cleanup (and custody for Torchwood) and the boys made the most of it, pretending they were on their way back from a glorious battle.

Finally they'd arrived, and Harry had started by ordering x-rays on Sid's hand.

"All right," Harry said, "now we just have to wait for the results and we'll know whether you get a plaster cast or not," he told Sid. He took a deep breath, then let it out. "OK, John, you're next. Up on the table."

John laughed. "Very funny, Harry." He motioned for Sarah to take her turn.

Sarah Jane shrugged both shoulders and nodded towards the exam table. "Harry did say the entire family needed to be looked at. Besides, I think I just need to sit here and rest a bit more John. You take my turn and I'll go last."

Harry tried to keep a straight face. Some things never changed. "Come on, John, time's a wasting."

"I'm fine," John said, wearily.

"I'm sure you are, dear," Sarah said, "but we want to set a good example for the children now, don't we?"

Three young faces looked over at him watching to see what would happen next.

Rolling his eyes, John set Lisa down and limped over to the table - by now quite stiff from sitting - and climbed up on it. "All right," he said, "I surrender."

"There now, you see how brave daddy is, children. He's going to let Uncle Harry examine him too."

"Hooray for daddy," said Lisa Jane.

"You're a great sport dad," said Sid.

"He's the best father in the whole universe," said Luke, smiling proudly at John.

John looked over at Luke and smiled, trying not to get emotional after all they'd been through. With x-rays and all, they still hadn't had time to discuss what had happened. "Thank you, son," he said. "And you two as well," he said to his other children.

Harry was inwardly relieved when he finally got John on the table, and went to work checking him out. He fully expected the worst, and had been holding himself back from examining John the entire time he was dealing with Sid.

But to his surprise (and relief) John's heart was going strong, and while he took a blood sample to be certain, he was fairly confident that John had managed to make it through his latest adventure without a major injury.

He took his time filling out the chart. He'd spent so much time in the last 10 years worrying about John's health, and yet he seemed to keep plugging along, as though there were some hidden engine inside him keeping him going.

Harry was beginning to think John would never stop.

"Alright," he finally said, "you can unroll your sleeve and button up your shirt, old boy, I'm pleased to say that except for that hip and the puncture in your hand, you're doing remarkably well. I've given you an antibiotic to stave off infection, but I want you to keep that hand clean and dry, and stay off of your feet as much as possible for a few days. You'll need to see that he soaks his hip in warm water with a bit of epsom salts three times a day Sarah, Jane. About fifteen to twenty minutes at a time should do nicely. I'll have a look at it when I pop round in the next day or so."

"There, you see?" John said. "I keep telling you I'm fine." He didn't even try not to gloat.

"I'm glad you're fine dear," said Sarah Jane. "You're quite lucky as well."

"So are you," John said, climbing down off the exam table. "It's your turn."

"Let Harry look at Luke and Lisa Ann dear, I'm still resting up," she smiled at him.

He smiled back at her. "Harry?" he said, not taking his eyes off her.

Harry examined the two children in short order; aside from the scratch on Lisa Ann's neck, they were both fine, and within a few minutes he was turning back to Sarah Jane expectantly.

Sarah smiled. "Uhmm, would you believe it? Just sitting here for that short time was all I needed, I feel great right now."

"Now, now," John said, smiling at her, "Harry wants to examine the whole family, remember? And you want to be a good example for the children, don't you?"

Sarah shot him a glance that would have wilted anyone else. "Right, well of course if Harry thinks I need to be examined, I'll be more than happy to comply." She gave Harry a quick, 'don't even think about it' look. "Well," she said. "Do I look well enough to you to forgo an exam?"

"I think you'd better let me take a look at you," he said, smiling. "Then you can let me be the judge of that," he said, and began doing a cursory examination. "After a few minutes, he picked up her chart. "Well, aside from exhaustion, you appear to have suffered no ill effects. But I think that the best thing for both of you would be a holiday."

"Ordinarily I would wholeheartedly agree that the whole family could use one, but remember, Harry, this all started for us because we wanted to have a family outing. I think a few days off spent at home would be much better for now." Now that she knew everyone was safe and John wasn't in any imminent danger of a heart attack, the adrenaline was definitely beginning to ebb.

"As long as they're actually a few days off," Harry said. "You need rest," he told both of them. "No repairs, and no coming to work."

Before John could come up with a retort, Sid's X-Rays came back. Harry looked at them for a moment. "Congratulations, Sid," he said. "It's a hairline fracture, and you will indeed need a cast."

"Hooray," said Sid. "Make it a whopping huge one, Uncle Harry. Start it at the top of my shoulder and finish it up at my fingers. I want to look the proper hero."

"Right, I do that and you'll be sorry when your elbow starts to itch," Harry said. "You get a plaster up to here," he said, pointing to just past Sid's wrist.

"Rubbish, I'm a big strong boy. You'll need to put a big plaster on me in case I swing the little one too far and smash it into something."

"Sidney John Tinker, you stop that nonsense this minute," Sarah Jane scolded him, her patience finally wearing thin. "Now sit down at once and do as you're told. Honestly, you boys act as if everything that happened was just some sort of game. We could all have been killed today." It was all too much, being separated from her family off and on all day, Daleks, worried sick about John and the children, she laid her head on John's shoulder and tried not to cry.

"But we weren't killed, mum," Sid said. "Uncle Alistair saved the day and everybody's OK."

"Uncle Alistair didn't save the day," Luke said proudly. "I did. I went and got the Doctor to save us. I even went into his time machine. It was just like mum said it was in her books."

Sarah Jane shot up and looked at Luke, and then at John. "Luke met the Doctor?" Her voice was flat, but her body trembled at the thought.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: For those of you who are upset that Sarah didn't get to talk to the Doctor, we want to reassure you that everyone will get closure in the next story, which will be the final story in this arc. That's right, we have finally, FINALLY come to the end. There's one more chapter in this story, which we'll post next Wednesday, and then the Wednesday after that we'll start posting the first chapter in this arc's last story, "The Last Mile".

So to that end, we would like to ask you two questions:

1) Who do you think John is, and/or who do you WANT him to be? (They don't have the be the same. You might think he's the 10th Doctor but want him to be someone else, or vice versa.) We already know which way we're going, but we are curious to hear what you think.

and

2) Are there any particular loose ends that you're wondering how we're going to tie them up? What about continuity issues that you're just convinced we can't possibly tie into the series as it aired on TV. We'd like to hear about these now, while we still have time to fix it in the last story. Remember, the original challenge was to remain true to the continuity of Doctor Who on TV (and not necessarily Sarah Jane Adventures), and although it wasn't part of the original challenge, we are also going to be true to Torchwood on TV.

Thanks for sticking with us this far, and we're looking forward to your comments!