Sarah Jane hurriedly raced over to the stove, trying to avoid disaster as the formula began spilling over. Ellie continued to scream from the living room.
"I'm so sorry, Ellie!" she cried. "I'll ruined it. I ruined it again."
The phone, of course, chose that moment to ring. She very nearly ignored it until she saw the ID number.
"Doctor?" she yelled as she hit the speaker and tried to stop the house from burning down.
"Hallo, Sarah!" the Doctor called cheerfully. "How's everything going?"
"Help me!" she sobbed.
"One sec."
The sounds of the TARDIS filled the living room, startling Ellie even more. The Doctor jumped out with sonic at the ready.
"What is it? Monster? Alien?"
"Baby!"
"Oh, right." He quickly scooped Ellie into his arms. "There now, it's alright. You're safe, I promise."
"I tried to make the formula but it spilt over," Sarah Jane explained, desperately wiping up the spoilt milk. She gasped in alarm as she felt the heat. "And now I've burned my hand!" she said, exasperated.
"Sit down," the Doctor said. "The house isn't going to burn."
"But Ellie needs…"
"She's not even hungry."
"Then why is she screaming?"
"She wants her mother."
Sarah Jane collapsed on the couch, covering her face with her hands.
"She doesn't want me, she wants her real mum! I haven't been able to stop her crying all morning!"
"You are her real mum," the Doctor reassured her, gently handing over Ellie. "Just hold her."
Sarah Jane held her baby close, both of them continuing to cry. The Doctor sat next to her.
"Hi, Ellie," the Doctor said, smiling at her. "You miss your mum, don't you? Mum can't take care of you anymore. So Sarah Jane is your new mum now. She's going to take care of you. And I know she loves you very much, so there's no need to cry all the time."
"She has every reason to cry," Sarah Jane moaned. "I can't do anything right."
"You're still getting used to it. All mums go through this phase, even Rose. She went through it after each kid was born. Luckily she only did it once with the twins. That would have been difficult on all of us."
"Really?"
"Of course. Donna was the first, so there full on panic attacks. Then the twins…well who doesn't get overwhelmed with newborn twins? And then Gwen came so soon afterwards, and she was a drama queen from the beginning let me tell you."
"I thought that was just hormones," she said, starting to calm down a little.
"Oh, it is. But don't think that you don't have new hormones rushing through your body too. I can't believe it took doctors so long to figure out that adoptive mothers also experience postpartum depression."
"I don't have postpartum. I just…I can't do this alone. I thought I could. Evidently so did…the agency. But I can't."
"You're not alone," the Doctor said. "We're all here for you. You have four excellent youngsters between us and the Williams who'd love to come and help out. Plus Clara. I mean, she was a professional nanny for years."
Sarah Jane smiled sadly. "I have her over a lot. But that's not what I mean, exactly. It's just…after the wedding I…"
"Ah," the Doctor nodded. "Weddings are strange events. They bring out the best in everyone…and the worst. They can be the happiest day for some, but the worst day for others."
"I'm happy for Clara and Danny, I really am," Sarah Jane insisted. "But I miss…" She swallowed hard, unable to finish.
"Sammy," the Doctor said. "You still love him, don't you?"
She nodded. "I should have tried to continue the relationship long distance," she sighed. "I would have married him, I think. Then again, it would have made it more complicated for me to leave my own time."
The Doctor nodded. "It would have made it almost impossible. The fact that you didn't have any ties is what allowed me to extricate you so smoothly. And if you hadn't come with me, you would end up in jail."
"I know. I just wish things could have gone a little differently."
"We all do. But even with a time machine we can't always change the past."
"Yeah. I know."
Ellie cooed contentedly from her arms, and the Doctor grinned.
"She is getting hungry now. And she called you mum."
Sarah Jane looked down and smiled bittersweetly. "Well, mum promises to make you a better bottle this time."
Rose poked her head into the TARDIS.
"Oh, there you are. We've been looking for you."
The Doctor didn't respond as he leaned intently on the console, staring deep into the computer. Rose walked over and tapped his shoulder. He jumped, but continued searching.
"Oh, sorry. I didn't hear you come in."
"How long have you been back from Sarah Jane's?"
"I have no idea."
"Did you invite her over for dinner?"
"Completely forgot about it."
"Is something wrong?"
"Sort of. Not really. I just had an idea." He spun the monitor around to face her, where she was greeted by a Navy officer with red-gold hair. "Sammy Brooks. He and Sarah Jane were a thing at one point, then he got stationed on a ship somewhere else. She called off their relationship, afraid of the distance. When he finally was able to return he went looking for her…but she had gone MIA…with us. Anyway, Sammy joined in the search even though she'd been missing for almost a year. But eventually he was forced to give up by law enforcement. He kinda went off the deep end."
"You're not saying we pull him out of time too?"
"The thing is, they both still love each other and want to be together. That's what she told me that made me forget about dinner. And Sammy never loved another person in his life. Although to be fair it was pretty short. He was involved in a car accident crossing the street a few years later."
"Sarah Jane didn't have a lot of close friends and her family had died," Rose reminded him. "That's why we were able to get her."
He started to mess with the controls.
"Sammy drove everyone away when he was searching for Sarah, and since he lost it close to the end, it wouldn't be unreasonable for him to have disappeared. Witnesses even said that it looked like he might have run into the street on purpose. Unconfirmed, of course, but nice and easy for time travel."
"How do you know he'd even want to come back with us?" Rose asked.
The Doctor paused for a moment, then looked up at her. "Because I know what it feels like to be separated from the woman you love."
Rose smiled, feeling herself blush. "Yeah, alright. You know that one always gets me."
"It is true though," the Doctor said, grinning back. "Let's go ask him."
"Come on, Sammy, I know you're in there!" the Doctor called as he knocked for the third time. "Please open up."
"What do we do if he doesn't come?" Rose whispered.
"Shh, he's coming," the Doctor whispered back, hearing shuffling footsteps from inside.
The door swung open and Sammy Brooks held a gun to the Doctor's face. "Usually when a person doesn't answer the door, it means they want to be left alone."
"That's really not necessary," the Doctor said, looking at the gun nervously. "I don't like guns."
"We know where Sarah Jane Smith is," Rose offered.
The gun quickly turned to her. "I have chased down too many red herrings and endured enough ridicule from pranksters like yourself. Don't mess with me, and leave me alone."
"Please don't point the gun at my wife," the Doctor pleaded, carefully stepping in front of her. "We really do know where she is. We can show you a photograph…but only indoors."
"Why?" Sammy growled.
"Because…" the Doctor stammered, "because it's classified information. Technically we shouldn't even be showing you this. We're breaking a lot of rules to be here."
Sammy hesitated for a moment.
"Have people really pulled pranks on you for this?" Rose asked.
"You know I look for Sarah Jane but you don't know about the…cruel tricks that have been forced on me?"
"That's awful…" Rose said.
"We only just learned about this," the Doctor explained.
Grudgingly, Sammy opened the door wider and gestured for them to come inside.
"Where is she?" he asked as he closed the door.
"This is going to sound a little far-fetched," the Doctor began.
"They all do. But I've followed every single one."
"She disappeared without a trace because she traveled in time," the Doctor said slowly.
Sammy blinked. Then he laughed.
"It's true," Rose said, realizing he didn't believe them. "I can show you…"
"Get out," Sammy growled coldly.
Rose pulled out her phone. "This is a mobile phone, it's how we communicate in the future. It's also a camera, among other things."
She opened her photos and passed it to Sammy, scrolling through pictures of Sarah Jane playing with Ellie, including ones with Rose and the Doctor in the background.
"She's alive," the Doctor said.
"It's a fake, it must be."
"Call Sarah Jane Smith," Rose commanded, putting the phone on speaker.
"What are you doing?" Sammy asked.
"I'm calling her to invite her for dinner tonight. At least, dinner in our time."
"Hello?"
"Hi Sarah Jane! Are you feeling better? The Doctor told me you had a rough time with Ellie earlier."
"Oh, yes. We got it sorted, didn't we Ellie?"
"I was just calling to invite you over for dinner tonight," Rose said. "The Doctor was going to but he got a little sidetracked."
"Oh, of course! We'd love that."
"And help me out here, but when are you currently?"
"Let's see. I believe it's October 3rd, 20?."
"Alright, thanks. I got a bit off track."
"Well it does happen to the best of us. Six'o'clock, as usual?"
"Of course. See you then." She quickly turned it off and turned to face Sammy, who was staring in shock. "Believe us now?"
"That sounded just like her…" he breathed.
"It is her," the Doctor said, pulling out the TARDIS key. "But if you need more proof about the time travel…"
A loud whoosh filled the room as the TARDIS materialized in front of them. Snapping his fingers, the Doctor opened the door and grabbed a newspaper.
"You can come with us if you'd like, but you'll have to leave everything behind. You'd never be able to travel back to 1975 again. Or, if you stay here, you'll die in two days time."
He passed Sammy the newspaper which contained his obituary.
"Who's the baby?" he asked.
"She's adopted," Rose explained. "Left on our doorstep randomly, and Sarah Jane took a liking to her. She's doing very well as a single mum."
Sammy sighed, hanging his head in his hands. "Does she even still want me?"
"She regrets not trying to maintain a long-distance relationship," the Doctor explains. "She misses you, but she doesn't think it's possible for us to bring you with us too."
"But…it is?"
"Yes. If you want to."
"Would you like to join us for dinner?" Rose asked.
Sammy looked around the house. "Can I grab a few things first?"
Gwen met Sarah Jane at the door, eagerly taking Ellie from her arms.
"Dad said she called you mum today!"
"Well, not aloud. It'll be different when she actually says it."
"Yeah, but it is progress," Gwen said, kissing Ellie's head. "Come on in, we have a surprise for you."
"Really? You know there's not much more that can surprise me anymore."
Gwen smiled eagerly. "Oh, I think this one will. Go look in the living room."
Shrugging, Sarah Jane set down the baby bag and ventured into the living room curiously. A man stood looking out the window, where she could only see his back.
"Hello?" she asked.
The man slowly turned to face her, and she gasped aloud.
"Hello, Sarah Jane," Sammy said weakly.
"Doctor!" Sarah Jane screamed.
The Doctor quickly opened the door to the library.
"What is it, what's wrong?" he asked.
"I think…I think I'm hallucinating," Sarah Jane managed, keeping her eyes fixed firmly on Sammy.
"Oh. Is that all?" the Doctor asked. "That's good. I thought it was something wrong. Yeah, no, he's real. Carry on."
"But…but you can't be real!" Sarah Jane exclaimed as Sammy walked over to her.
"I am."
"But you wouldn't have left the seventies. You were in the Navy, you were stationed on the HMS Cuffley! You had a duty to serve your country, you would never leave that."
"I was discharged. They thought I went insane."
"But you're the most level-headed person I've ever met!" she exclaimed.
"I was until you disappeared. Then I went looking for you. They wouldn't let me back in after that."
"Why on earth would you travel through time? You hated change."
"I hated to lose you more," he said, taking her shaking hands in his. "Can hallucinations do this?"
"I…I don't know," she said breathlessly.
"If this is a hallucination, then that means we're both having it. But honestly I don't care if it is real or not. I'm just glad I get to see you again. I've missed you terribly in the last few years."
"Really?" she whispered.
"Every day," he promised, leaning in closer.
"If this isn't real, this is going to kill me," she said.
"Then let's make it last."
He kissed her, and Sarah Jane didn't resist. Behind the library door, the Doctor smiled at Rose.
"Told you it'd work."
