Sarah woke with a start at dawn, looking to the side of her in panic.
"I'm still here," he said.
"Can't believe I fell asleep," she muttered, rolling over.
"Love, you're not exactly..."
"You finish that sentence and I will kill you myself." She closed her eyes and curled in close to him.
"So... can we get back to normal?" Peter asked. "We've survived your... reset day. We're still here. I'll put money on the fact that Nicole is still unconscious in her room."
"I had to be sure."
"I know," he said, putting his arm around her and pulling her in close. "And if I'm honest, spending the day within sight of my wife? Not that bad." He kissed the top of her head and gently stroked her hair. "Maybe this is how things are supposed to be? This... reset point is arbitrary. We are going to grow old together, love."
"I hope so."
"Still hope?" he asked. His fingers raked through her hair, pulling gently at the knots that sleep had put there. "Sweetheart..."
"I feel like this is all some dream sometimes, that one day I'm going to wake up and you'll be gone. Nicole won't have existed and you... You still died and..." Her arms tightened around his body.
"I won't leave you," he whispered as his fingers resumed their stroking, gentle sweeping patterns across her head. "I won't ever leave you, I promise."
To the sound of his breathing and the sensation of his hand, she fell back to sleep.
The bed was empty when she woke up, but her memory reminded her that this was to be expected. Because Peter had taken time off from work he had missed a number of important meetings with clients; in order to appease them and the other partners he'd agreed to meet them at their offices. He would be driving up to Cambridge right now.
Sarah stretched out in the bed, working out the tension and sleep from her limbs. Maybe he was right. Maybe this "reset" day... She had to stop calling it that. There was no reset, her life was as it always had been. She could hear sounds from downstairs; the kids were up. No, wait, there were too many voices. Who else? She kept her eyes closed, focussing on the sounds, picking them apart. She was tuned into Luke's and picked him out easily. A deep laugh revealed Clyde's presence and she listened for a clue to identify the often-quiet third as Rani or her daughter.
Eventually she realised that it would be easier and quicker to go downstairs, and that way she'd get a cup of tea out of it too.
Getting out of bed she dressed, taking her time as she ran over all the thoughts that had been crammed into her head in recent weeks. Yesterday had been almost boring in its uneventfulness. Nothing had happened, not even out there in the big wide world. Mr Smith had monitored the skies, every news channel around the world, along with various readings that only Luke seemed to understand. Her children had poured over every report that the Xylok could produce, looking for clues or evidence that might suggest that the Universe was freaking out about the presence of a supposed-dead man and a girl who shouldn't exist.
But there was nothing. Yesterday had been the closest to a normal day that Sarah had known since she first met the Doctor, and had her understanding of the world and Universe rearranged.
Last night Nicole had cooked (which, to be honest she was doing pretty much every night now) and they had enjoyed a family meal. Laughter and jokes and everything that came with normal family stuff. Nicole and Luke had stayed up until the small hours playing computer games, while she and Peter retired to their room, talking and spending time with each other. She'd intended to stay awake all night, to just watch him in case something – anything happened. Only she'd fallen asleep because she'd been so damn comfortable, lying there with him. Nearly three decades of lying next to him, sharing a bed, a room, a home and a life with him it was almost impossible to imagine him not being there.
She finally allowed herself to push back thoughts of losing him to years away. Old and grey. Illness or something. She'd lie on the bed next to him, hold his hand, and they'd talk about random stuff as he slipped away. Or maybe it would be the other way around, maybe she'd go first. Maybe he'd be holding her hand.
Shaking her head to rid herself of morbid thoughts, she walked over to the grand window and pulled back the curtains. Her entire body froze; no breathing, her heart seemed to go quiet, her muscles were tense and her eyes couldn't move from the window. After a moment her mind seemed to catch up, but all it could do was what her mouth couldn't : scream.
Hanging in the window as if it had always been there was the dream maker.
In the kitchen Luke stopped what he was doing and glanced at the doorway as he heard his mum calling out.
"What's up with Sarah Jane?" Rani asked, getting out of her seat.
Sarah almost flew into the kitchen, looking at the three of them in near-disappointment. "Where's Nicole?" she demanded.
"Nicole?" Luke asked in confusion.
Sarah's stomach turned over. No, please, no... "Your sister. Where is she?"
"Mum..."
"Where is she?" Sarah asked again, her voice firm but emotional. "Please, Luke..."
"I'm right here."
Sarah turned on the spot and let out the breath she didn't know she'd been holding. Nicole was stood behind her, a morning paper in her hand.
"Oh thank God..." Sarah muttered, moving quickly to her daughter and pulling her into a bear hug.
"Mum, what's wrong?"
"The dream maker is in my window," she managed to say.
Standing in their parents' room, Luke and Nicole studied the dream maker.
"So that's what started this?" Nicole remarked.
"Where did it come from?" Luke asked.
"I don't know," Sarah admitted. "I woke up and it was here. And I just... Your dad," she said, suddenly realising. "Where's my phone?"
She began hunting around her room, looking for her mobile. When she couldn't find it she widened her search, heading downstairs to pull the living room apart.
"What's the point in having a mobile phone if you can never find it?" she yelled in frustration.
"Mum." Nicole's voice cut through her panic and she held out her own mobile phone. "It's ringing."
Sarah put it to her ear, willing him to answer. It rang for what seemed like an eternity before Peter finally answered.
"Nic?"
"It's me," Sarah sighed in relief. "Why'd you take so long to answer?"
"Sorry, had to... pull over... Is everything OK? You sound..."
"The dream maker is in the window. I woke up and it was there."
"Sarah..."
"You need to come home now," she said. "Please, Peter. Just... come home."
"Sweetheart, it's OK. Really. It's all going to be OK."
"I'd feel so much better if you were home, Mr Smith..."
"I need to get to this meeting," he said, his voice quiet and resigned. "I can't miss it, Sarah."
"Peter..."
"This is important."
"More than this?"
"Sarah..." He sighed gently.
"I know, I know," she sighed herself, forcing herself to calm down. "I'm just scared."
"It'll be OK," he assured her. "I'll be back as soon as I can."
"Yeah," she breathed, forcing out the air from her lungs. "Have a good day, yeah?"
"OK," he said.
"Bye."
"Sarah?"
"Yeah?"
"...I love you."
Her mouth curled into a smile and she found herself relaxing. "I love you too." The call ended and Sarah handed the phone back to their daughter. "Thanks."
"So slightly less panicky now?" Nicole mocked as she locked the keypad and put the phone into her pocket.
"A bit."
"It'll be OK, Mum. I'm still here, yeah?"
"Yeah," she agreed. "I just... I can't help but worry. It's a mum thing."
"Were you this bad with Luke? Before?"
"Yeah, a bit."
"Was it worth it?" Nicole asked, sitting on the arm of the sofa. "I mean, you're tying yourself up in knots over it. What if Dad and I just... went? Would it be worth it?"
"If I lost you... I don't know how I'd deal with that," Sarah admitted, "but it would have been worth it." She gestured that they should sit properly, and once they had Sarah linked arms with Nicole. "It's something that I've thought a lot about. Letting go... it's hard. It's painful and it's hard but what helps is that you hang onto what good you had; memories, thoughts, emotions. I was alone before when I lost Aunt Lavinia, I even lost Luke for a while... I lost your dad before... And dealing with that was so hard."
"You didn't deal with losing Dad," Nicole pointed out. "Hence all this."
"I had time after... It was hard. Nightmares, apathy, the works. Luke and the kids, they did what they could. The Doctor even stuck around for a bit. But in the end it came down to what was in here," she said, touching her head, "and here," she added, touching her heart. "I got the point where it wasn't killing me to think about him, where I realised it was OK to still love him and miss him... That was the night I dreamt, I didn't have nightmares. That was the night that gave me this. Gave me you." She smiled, lifting her hand to her daughter's face.
"All the pain and heartache..."
"Worth it. I lost five before you and one after, but the idea of never trying? Of never having you?"
"And Dad?"
"Same principle."
"I... Wait, you nearly lost Luke?" Nicole said, her mind catching up with what her mother had said.
"Yeah, the one thing I actually changed," she admitted. "I couldn't just stand by and... You are my family and I will do anything to protect you."
Nicole smiled and leant over, resting her head on her mother's shoulder.
Sarah was going stir crazy in the house so she took a book and a drink outside. She'd found her mobile phone and it sat on the table, just in case Peter called. The sun was beginning to set as the afternoon began to give way to the evening. As she turned a page, the hairs on the back of her neck stood up before she heard the familiar sounds nearby. Putting the book down she got to her feet just as the TARDIS materialised in her back garden.
The door swung open and there he was, the Doctor, leaning against the frame and just looking at her.
"Doctor?" Sarah ventured after a moment's silence.
"You need to come with me," he said sadly.
"What? Why?"
"Sarah..."
"Not until you tell me why," she said, reading his expression clearly. "I'm going nowhere..."
"I know, Sarah," he stated. "I know what you did."
"And now you've come to take it back? To put it right? Take me back to 1981 and...?" The Doctor moved towards her, but she backed away. "No," she said. "I won't let you."
"Sarah..."
"You are not taking them from me!"
"Sarah, please," he said sharply.
"You knew? All along, you knew?"
He nodded.
"Why didn't you say anything?"
"I will explain, I promise, but you need to come with me now."
There was something in his voice that made her next protest stop on her lips, and she nodded quietly. Leaving everything on the table she walked towards the police box. The Doctor stood back, letting her enter before following. The door was closed and seconds later the TARDIS disappeared, as if it had never been there.